#Second wave roundup

[thankyoudanielfest]

Thank you, Daniel! Fest – First wave roundup post.

Here's the second wave roundup post.

Did you feel that outpouring of love yesterday? That was all the creativity unleashed within the first reveal wave of our fest! As promised, here's the roundup post so you don't miss out on anything!

Fics:

The Designated Alternate Universe Driver (DAUD) by @fiveredlights

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 483 words (chapter 1/2)

Daniel doesn't pass out when he finds out who the 2025 DAUD is. Benjamin wishes he did. There was a whole bet going. 

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In The Eye of a Hurricane (there is quiet) by @shineon3

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 5,1k words (complete)

Max is the one who gets the call. He steps outside to take it, surprise and shock bleeding through his body language. Daniel watches over him until he comes back inside the small coffee shop, flashing him a small smile. “Good news?” “Great news,” Max’s grin widens. Or: Love, healing, and all the ugly in-between.

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Putting Cares To Rest by @sillystappen

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2,8k words (complete)

Daniel has changed the way his room looks quite a bit this year. OR f you want 100 words(ish): The 2024 season has not been kind to Daniel, in fact he doesn't know if Formula 1 ever was. The narrative seems to have doomed him from the start. Part of him wants to beg, to scream, to cry that his time is not over, that he can still be one of the greats. But he's being realistic, and despite the hurt he knows that it's all good and done. He's going to let it all go, change his point of view, and move forward. What else can he do?

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Late night pick-up by @sequinsandfins

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 4.7k words (chapter 1/2)

Ricky Bob Motors is a full service garage. Daniel likes hot guys and hot cars, and luckily for him, he is not in short supply of either. When he finds a hot guy who likes to be fucked over the hood of his own car, even better.

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Worth Everything by @beth1814

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2,4k words (complete)

After Singapore, Daniel went home to Australia, Max shows up after Abu Dhabi saying he is retired. Does Daniel risk everything and admit his feelings to Max?

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a star in the face of the sky by @champagneshoey

girl!Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 4,8k words (ongoing)

Always the media’s darling, endless articles get published in the wake of her departure. She doesn’t need to read them all. She knows they draw the same conclusion: The future of women in Formula 1 does not include Danielle Ricciardo.

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Get It Right Back by @overtake

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 6,6k words, (chapter 1/4)

Daniel grips cold porcelain between his fingers and watches the veins in his hand push against the skin with the effort. He takes one long, deep breath and takes stock of himself. His hair is freshly cut. His suit is tailored perfectly. When he smiles at his reflection, he can see a brief glimpse of the guy who once had a C over his chest and skated more naturally than he walked. Toronto is going to be different, he promises himself. If this is his last chance at a Stanley Cup, he isn't leaving without a fight.

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formless shape by anonymous

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3,3k words (complete)

One week after he comes home for real (for good, maybe), Daniel makes himself text Max, even though thinking about anything and anybody related to F1 feels like raking himself over hot coals. It wasn’t Max’s fault, even if, in the end, Max wasn’t enough to save him. Or: a story about an alternate Daniel who isn't living his best life after he gets kicked out of F1 and needs a little help getting there.

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growing sideways by @thewindowatkirkland

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 20,8k words (complete)

“We’re in Monaco,” Max says, “and you haven’t lived in either of those places for a very long time, Daniel. Since 2013.” It must be fucking amnesia, Daniel reasons, because when he went to bed last night it was July 2012. And here a grown up Max Verstappen is, telling him 2013 was a very long time ago. OR: daniel wakes up in a bed he doesn’t recognise, next to a man he doesn’t know.

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tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow – podfic by @tkaptains, fic by whimsicule

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.5 hours (chapter 1/3)

But before Max leaves them all in the dust, it’s Daniel’s turn. It has to be. Christian doesn’t get to decide that it isn’t. Because Daniel has given his all to this team, and he has waded through shit for this team, and this – retirement after fucking retirement – cannot be the end of the road. He deserves – no. He has earned it; to be there when this shitbox of a car finally improves and the gap to Mercedes closes. So despite a voice in the back of his mind saying, get out while you still can, dipshit – Daniel is staying at Red Bull.

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Edits and creations:

Daniel and the shoey by @overtake

Daniel themed necklace by @alasarys

All good, All Ways embroidery by @pitforwets

Music video by @notthehardtyres

Please show some love to everyone who participated! All of the people above have done an incredible job and we applaud them.

There is of course more to come but all in due time ❤️ See you on 24th of December for the second reveal wave!

[fruitcoops]

Do They Know It's Christmas?

Happy holidays, lovelies! And most importantly, happy noot fic exchange/ secret Santa to @itsaash --you're a legend, a sweetheart, and a friend I hold near and dear to my heart. I hope everyone is staying safe and sound! You've made it through the shortest day of the year; it's only up from here! Thanks to @veryspacecowboy for coordinating the exchange and @lumosinlove for the characters!

TW for implied smut and mild Vaincre spoilers

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane…

“Fourth line, take it left!”

…and all the fun we had last year…

“Good work, boys, remember we’re working clockwise.”

Run, run, Rudolph, Santa’s gotta make it to town…

“I know, I know, but we need to get that down before we break today.”

…come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with…

“Keep those crossovers clean in the corners, Sunny!”

…the very next day, you gave it away…

Arthur frowned at his clipboard. An ache had started up along the inner corner of his eye, and not even the steady working of his thumb brought relief. The song changed to something bright and tinny with silver bells; the things he would give for a nice, quiet O, Holy Night right about now. Something soft, with minimal jangling. A saxophone would be lovely.

They had a schedule. They always had a schedule. The boys were used to rotation exercises—he had even taken pity and not added anything new or complicated to the roundup. The whole damn thing was laminated and taped to the damn glass around the damn bench on both damn sides of the goddamn rink.

Arthur’s eyes ticked typewriter-smooth down the list, but his ears alone would have told him it was a lost cause. Messy crossovers. From Sunny. Crunchy, scratchy steps from skates of perfect sharpness. Low muttering, barks of laughter, rollercoaster-arcs of chatting when they were supposed to be focusing. Cap did his best, but Harzy looked about two laps from chewing his way out through the boards.

Well. It was almost Christmas. He could be kind.

The whistle broke through Brenda Lee’s second chorus; 20 heads popped up.

“Revision!” Arthur called across the ice, drawing a steady line through the end of his list. “Bring it in.”

Their rush to the bench was the cleanest they had sounded all day.

“We’re going to finish a little early today—”

A wave of cheers cut him off, then petered out at his unimpressed glance.

“We’re finishing a little early,” he repeated when the Christmas spirit had released their souls at last, leaving only a faint ringing in the upper levels of the bleachers. “Because I’m taking off the last rotation.”

Arthur slipped his pen back into the clipboard clamp. Olli raised a tentative hand. “So…we can go…?”

Arthur frowned. “What? No, we’re going ‘til noon, if you just—guys, the schedule is right there—”

“Nooo—”

“But Coach—”

“—Christmas!—”

“I haven’t even—”

“—been here so long—”

“—like you don’t even love us—”

“—mom’s gonna kill me if I don’t—”

Unbelievable. Simply beyond words. Arthur looked over Nado’s pleading hands, hoping for an ounce of solidarity from the one person besides himself who was literally appointed for this duty, and was met with only a beleaguered, whale-eyed stare in return.

Arthur raised his eyebrows.

Sirius gazed back.

For such a large person, he could really pull off ‘sickly Victorian child begging for gruel’ when he wanted to.

“Alright,” Arthur muttered. It was lost in the sea of writhing and wailing. “Alright!”

The team (finally) fell somewhat silent.

“I am very sorry,” he began, pausing to slide his clipboard onto the bench hook. Their anticipation was delicious. “That I assumed a group of grown men playing their favorite game for millions of dollars would be able to handle one morning practice for their last competition before a holiday break.”

Pots’ eyebrows pitched as if he had been stabbed. “But Coach, it’s Christmas.”

“It is December 22nd.”

“I haven’t even found something for my dad yet!” Walker piped in.

“Sounds like a personal problem with time management.”

Pascal—the traitor—shuffled on his skates. “I was going to make holiday cookies with my children,” he said sadly. “They grow up so fast. We might not have many years of it left.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I’m letting you go at noon, not locking you in here overnight. And I know you make cookies on Christmas Eve, because you put them on my doorstep every year.”

Pascal tsked, but didn’t deny it.

“You get cookies?” O’Hara perked up, craning his neck to look at Pacal. “How come we don’t get cookies?”

“Because I don’t need you to like me,” Pascal said with a smile.

“What if we need to catch flights?” Knut interrupted.

Arthur squinted at him. “Knut, we have a game tomorrow. You better not be going anywhere.”

“Well, no, but the sentiment stands.”

“No, it does n—you know what, fine, if you make it through…” Arthur leaned around the glass to squint at his beautiful, crisp schedule. “Your next two—TWO, I don’t wanna hear it—rotations before 11:30, I will let you out then.”

“And no lift tonight?” Kuny asked hopefully.

“Don’t push it.”

“Veto.”

Budding protests froze over in one collective puff of breath.

…the stars are brightly shining…

“What?” Arthur asked at last.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…

Sirius licked his lips, shifting from one foot to the other. “Veto.”

Arthur opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Every eye in the room was fixed on their captain. He rested his chin on top of his hands, folded on his stick. Lupin’s gaze flickered back and forth.

“But I…” Arthur faltered, gesturing at the schedule.

“I get three.”

“It’s not even 9:30.”

“No questions asked.”

“We have a game.”

“It’s snowing outside.”

“How do you know that?” Arthur asked despairingly.

A grin skipped across his face. “I’m Canadian. I can smell it a mile off.”

“Also, Tremzy texted everyone right before practice,” O’Hara added.

“It’s snowing, have fun at practice, you fucking losers, ha-ha,” Knut recited with a grave nod.

“No, no,” Sirius corrected. “My bones are made of snow and I was born with hockey skates in one hand and a thermometer in the other.”

“That, I believe.”

Arthur waved his hands between them before the already-unbearable situation could get any worse. “Let me just…” His headache was coming back. Going home early was starting to sound less terrible by the minute. “You, as captain, get three vetoes across the span of your contract.”

“Ouais.”

“Which you can use to veto any practice you want, for any reason, with no questions asked by me or other staff.”

“That’s what I signed, yes.”

“And you’re using it on a snow day? With barely two hours left of practice? Before a game and a week off?”

Sirius smiled. “Veto.”

“Lupin.” A last-ditch effort. Perhaps a dirty play, but it was warranted. “Lupin, don’t you have anniversary plans? Birthdays? Anything else he can use this on?”

The captain’s barely-contained mischief was bad enough. Lupin’s mild bemusement was worse. “I’m sorry, Coach, but I can’t question a veto from my captain.”

Arthur scanned the crowd of hopeful faces. Sometime in the last minute and a half, Knut had slipped his phone off the bench and was doing his best to text under Winter’s elbow. Kelly Clarkson sang along to his imminent defeat. He sighed, shook his head, and opened the gate. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Nobody moved.

Arthur blinked. “Merry Christmas?”

Not a twitch.

“Ho-ho-ho, get out.”

The dispersal was the most active they had been all day, surging forward in one mass of whooping red and gold. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Moody turn the music up a notch before hustling back into his office.

The herd had vanished down the tunnel in a matter of seconds. Arthur shook his head, turned his smile toward the empty rink, and pulled out his phone.

--

The locker room was a disaster.

“Don’t pull so hard!” Leo grunted as he fought to wriggle out of his jersey, hopping on one socked foot while Finn tried to help him out of his remaining skate. “I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall, Kasey—”

An elbow to the ribs righted him. “Yeah, no, I’m on my way out,” Kasey called over the ruckus, sandwiching his phone between his ear and shoulder. “Yeah, lemme get my shoes on. Al’s driving? Jesus, maybe I’ll just walk.”

“A tie is bad, right? That’s a bad gift?”

“T, I’m sure your dad will love anything you get him.”

“But I got him one for his birthday.”

Remus grimaced for just a moment, but it was enough. Thomas dropped his head into his hands with a groan.

“No, hey, it’s a good gift!” Remus tried, patting his shoulder. “Does he have a lot of ties?”

“He’s more of a sweater guy.”

“T.”

“I know, I know, I know.” Thomas sighed. His head fell back against his stall, then rolled toward Remus as his lip slid out in a pout. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Did Remus have to give him a minute with this one? He was a little afraid he did. “T,” he started. “Your dad likes sweaters.”

“Yeah.”

“So get him sweaters.”

“But what if he doesn’t like them?”

Remus took him by the shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. “He likes you.”

Thomas made a desperate sound and rolled his head the other way, then heaved himself upright. “I need to go outside. The cold clears my mind.”

“Way ahead of you!” Finn shouted over his shoulder, one hand clasped in Leo’s and the other on the doorknob with his skates teetering dangerously over his shoulder.

Leo hoisted their duffel bags, shuffling through the narrow doorframe with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. He gave them one last clumsy wave with a glove half-on. “Lo sends his love, even if he’ll never say it!”

“Yes, I’m coming,” Kasey laughed, presumably still to Natalie. He caught the door with his foot just as it was beginning to close; Remus grabbed the edge of it from him and waved off both his grateful look and mouthed thank you. “Yes, baby,” Kasey repeated. “Usual spot. On my way.”

It was a disaster, and then as fast as they had all tumbled in, everyone flooded out. A few of the newer guys remained, muffled by the hum of the showers. Dumo ruffled up Sirius’ hair as he passed, preoccupied by Celeste’s rapid-fire French on the phone and the hustle of his light jog. Remus was pretty sure he caught some mention of the park; there was one near their house with a pond that froze around this time of year. He was a little surprised Logan wasn’t already staking his claim on it.

Sirius’ arm was around him before he even started to sit. It made for the perfect guide and counterbalance, settling him firmly on a denim-clad thigh with a kiss to seal it in seconds. “Hey,” Sirius mumbled against his shoulder blade.

“Hi, trouble,” Remus laughed.

Sirius hummed, obviously pleased, and gave him a squeeze around the waist. “That felt good.”

“Using your powers for evil?”

“Mhm.” Another pulse, this time with a cheeky pinch to his hip. “And you.”

Remus scoffed, swatting at him, but couldn’t help leaning back into his warmth all the same. He was lucky Sirius couldn’t see the heat of his face, too preoccupied with nuzzling his way across the span of Remus’ back to leave a kiss at the top notch of his spine before burying his nose in the divot below. Odd creature, that one. Remus liked him far too much. “What are you doing?”

“You smell good.”

“I haven’t showered.”

“I noticed.”

Remus bit the inside of his cheek for a moment. He gave the room a cursory glance—the stragglers were just finishing up, too engrossed in whatever wisdom James was bestowing on them to notice the graze of Sirius’ teeth over the arch of his shoulder. “I was thinking,” Remus started, then lowered his voice. “Was thinking we could do it at home instead.”

Sirius’ smile pressed bright and devious to his skin. “Yeah?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Am I invited?”

“Unless I’ve started using the royal ‘we’,” Remus teased, digging his elbow lightly back into the curve of Sirius’ rib.

His laugh was soft, but the pat to Remus’ outer thigh was perfectly heavy with promise. “Get your bag.”

News of their early departure had obviously reached the ears of the rest of the training staff, because the halls were stark in their emptiness on the way out, after many goodbyes to James and promises of dinner tonight. Remus had been dying for some actual holiday time—he had planned gifts months in advance, dedicated an entire Monday to wrapping, agonized over delivery times and game schedules and delays.

But he was craving the substance of it, the literal meat and potatoes of people coming over to ooh and aah at the ornaments over dinner by the fire. Most of all, he wanted some time that was theirs. A brief moment to enjoy the lights and the smell of fir with just himself, Sirius, and the dog. It had been…three weeks? More? Since they put the wreaths and boughs up around the house. He was pretty sure that was the last time they had been able to do holiday things that didn’t involve obviously sneaking off to get gifts for each other.

Sirius seemed to feel the same. They had hardly made it past the PT room before he was pulled into an empty hallway for a kiss that melted in his mouth like butterscotch. He hummed, pushing into it, but Sirius just took him by the hips and pressed him back against the wall. Okayokayokayokayokay came the giddy whirl of the end of his thoughts.

“This.” Sirius’ mouth moved against his jaw, threatening a mark above his pulse point. “This is what I was after.”

“Cancelling practice just to kiss me,” Remus said, breathless already. His throat caught at a flash of teeth under his ear. “So irresponsible.”

Sirius’ eyes were bright and playful. “And I’d do it again.”

They got away with another minute—or five—before footsteps sounded down the other hall. Remus took him by the hand and pulled him toward the parking lot at a brisk, tumbling clip, sneakers pattering on the floors Filch was waiting to wax until they were all gone for the break. Hooligans, he called them. It echoed in Remus’ head as he kissed Sirius stupid in the hall beside the display cases. If only he could see them now.

The air bit his face as soon as they stepped outside, hot and kiss-fresh. Remus could hear voices around the corner but Sirius’ hand was sliding ever-lower and he just—“There’s people!” he hissed, fighting his grin with a blind bat backwards.

Sirius was too fast. A firm grab made him hoot, startling a laugh from both of them. “The entire world has seen us making out in a car, loup,” he snorted. “I think that’s worse.”

It was only the Cubs, after all, and half a snowman wearing a disjointed collection of gear. Leo’s oh-so-subtle text must have done the trick to summon Logan out of his holiday relaxation. He had only flown in that morning after the Rangers’ last game, but he seemed plenty awake despite the journey.

“You’re making me cold just looking at you,” he argued, adjusting his beanie over Leo’s ears while Finn finished rolling the head beside them. “You’ve lived here for years, and still you forget a hat?”

“Merci, baby.” Leo tried to sound begrudging while he obediently bent to let Logan work, but it only came off as fond. Remus could relate.

“And Fish just lets you walk out of the house like this. Unbelievable. It’s snowing.”

“It wasn’t snowing when we left,” Leo pointed out. “I seem to remember a ha-ha, losers text informing us of the change.”

Logan’s tsk was sharp as black ice while he tenderly tucked Leo’s curls under the hat’s knitted edge and kissed each of his cheeks. “Completely frozen over,” he informed Leo. “You’re welcome.”

“Now you’re going to get cold.”

Whatever disbelieving expression Logan made was lost to Remus as Sirius ushered him around the back of the car, but his scoff was plenty audible. “I’m Canadian. I don’t get cold.”

Sirius’ forehead hit the steering wheel the moment their doors closed. “I want to be home,” he complained.

“You’re in the right place to get there.”

“I don’t want to drive.”

“I can do it.”

A pathetic sigh heaved his back and shoulders. “I don’t want to wait fifteen minutes.”

Remus tugged on the back of his hat. “Not that I’ll ever say no to a little New Year’s action, but I feel like we just covered why that’s not a great idea in broad daylight.”

Sirius groaned, grumbled, and turned the car on.

Between salt and the morning commute, the roads were mostly clear. The familiar crunch of snow under tires pulled half of Remus’ brain from the rink; the other half followed at a sluggish pace, coaxed away by radio carols and the mindless chatter the two of them somehow managed in spite of spending eighty percent of their time together. The window was cold on the side of his head. Remus never liked freezing, but there was something about a snow day that always felt like home.

The house lights cast red and green glimmers over Sirius when they pulled in. They were working on getting decorations he liked; things he actually wanted, not just what Instagram said he should use. It wasn’t a lot yet, but it was a start. The icicle lights above the door had been a particularly good find.

They were greeted by a loud bark and the scrabble of paws. Hattie careened around the corner from the living room (she had taken to dozing under the tree) and spun herself at their feet in a few tight circles for maximum petting efficiency.

“We’re home so early!” Sirius cooed, gathering her wiggly body up in his lap like she was still tiny. “Oh, you’re so excited. Did we surprise you?”

“We were so mean to poor Coach,” Remus agreed as he dodged her lolling tongue. “Yes, baby, so mean, but now we’ll be home all day.”

Hattie keened and whined and nibbled on everything in reach for a tolerable thirty seconds, then launched herself out of Sirius’ lap and made a beeline for her toy box. She had hardly made it halfway to them when a cardinal flitted past outside—her ears spiked up, body puffing on a low bwoof. Remus barely got the screen door open before she was off like a bird-seeking missile, cutting through the snow in leaps and bounds.

They dumped their gear in the mudroom, made a snack, planned lunch, played with the dog, dried the dog, cleaned her paws, and finally—finally—they were standing in the same room, with nothing to do for another hour at least.

“Hi,” Remus said, heart kicking.

Sirius smiled. “Hello.”

Hattie’s teeth squealed on her peanut-butter-filled toy.

They wasted no time for foolishness on the stairs. A sweater on the ribbon-wrapped banister; socks in the hall. Sirius’ pants didn’t even make it across the bathroom threshold, belt clattering on the floor. Remus turned the shower on with his eyes closed because he quite simply could not be bothered to spare more than one hand.

“C’mere,” he murmured into Sirius’ mouth, even as he stepped backward under the spray. “C’mere, don’t move.”

Sirius’ response was wordless and perfect.

Steam built around them, chasing off the chill. The house was decorated. The presents were wrapped. Meals were planned, the dog was busy, and Remus was tired but he was so, so awake now, with ink-black hair wound around his fingers and a boy that held him so the hot water never left him.

Sirius rested his head on Remus’ shoulder and went lax at the drag of a soapy hand over his back. “So good.” His mouth rested at the curve of Remus’ jaw. Every word cooled his skin. “So good to me.”

“Doing my best,” Remus joked with a scritch to his nape.

Sirius raised his head, blinking sleepily around the water that spilled down his face. “I don’t remember the last time I wasn’t scrambling for gifts this time of year.”

“I do.”

“Mm?”

“Last year.” Remus smudged a few soap bubbles down the bridge of his nose. “Shopping for you.”

Sirius’ forehead wrinkled. “Me?”

“I was being cranky,” Remus assured him, running his thumbs over Sirius’ collarbones. He didn’t have a lot of soap left, but he would be shameless and greedy about touching like this. “Lily knocked some sense into me.”

“She’s good at that.”

“The best.”

“And she’s lucky to have you.” A kiss pushed the side of his hair into a cowlick; Sirius grinned as he smoothed it down with one hand. “Trop mignon.”

Hot hot hot hot hot. Remus wrapped both arms around his waist and sank his teeth into the knot of soft muscle above Sirius’ heart. Sirius’ laugh jostled him, but that was fine. He was used to it. “I love the holidays with you.” One last little kiss to his neck, to the spot he had bitten the other night and made Sirius’ leg tremble. “I love you.”

“I’m going to veto every single practice forever.”

“No,” Remus laughed, swaying them back and forth. He covered Sirius’ wicked smile with his hand and kissed the back of it. “No, non, not allowed.”

“But I get kisses and showers and I love you’s and dinner—” His hands skimmed up and down Remus’ sides, running over wet skin with the expertise of someone who knew all his soft spots. “—and you bite me and our dog loves us and we get to see James and Lily tonight—”

Remus cut him off with his lips this time. “Your perfect day,” he whispered, though it was just them in the house. “Sounds pretty close to mine.”

“Copycat.”

“Maybe we should just stick together,” Remus offered. Sirius’ fingertips found his own, lacing together all too easily. “For maximum perfect-day concentration, you know.”

“Nothing else, of course,” Sirius agreed.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“I put mistletoe above our bedroom door when we were decorating.”

“Amateur. I put it on the ceiling above our bed.”

[hivemuthur]

What was that? - Ch. 15.

viktorxfemale!OFC explicit!

friends to lovers, co-workers, sexual tension up to the wazoo, pinning and banter that got me frustrated when I was writing it, attempt at humour, some angst and a slow burn with a happy ending and a classic Viktor for once

Ch.1. | Ch.2. | Ch.3. | Ch.4. | Ch.5. | Ch.6. | Ch.7. | Ch.8. | Ch.9. | Ch.10. | Ch.11. | Ch.12. | Ch.13. | Ch.14.

word count: 9,1K

tag: #what was that

author’s note: @rennethen as beta reader and co-author of nsfw and aftercare scenes. I won't say anything other than this is the second final chapter I am publishing this weekend and I feel oddly emotional.

Cross-posted on AO3

—

Renly was squeezing Jayce’s hand so hard he could feel his pulse, her pulse—but not his fingers. Taking the trolley to the Undercity was easy. Getting off it without drawing attention? Not so easy. Especially since Jayce kept stopping every few minutes to stare at some graffiti or a piece of artisan metalwork that had seen better days, exclaiming a quiet, “Wow!”

The streets were swarming with enforcers. So much so that Renly had already altered their route at least ten times and nearly got them lost. Twice, they had to duck into a random alleyway that led nowhere, forcing them to wait out a wave of roundups in the area. Once, they managed to sneak through the back of a gift shop. Zaun was very clearly under some sort of silent siege—many locations looked like they had been abandoned in a hurry—and the sight unsettled them both.

They were standing in front of a deserted tattoo parlour, calculating their next move, when Renly spotted an officer approaching them at a brisk pace. She immediately dropped her head, covered her face, and fumbled with the bag to make them look less suspicious—which, of course, had the opposite effect. Panic tightening her throat, she whisper-shouted, “Someone’s coming. I don’t know what to do—they’re coming from behind you, we have to… we have to do something, Jay—”

She didn’t get to finish before Jayce’s lips landed on hers. And they just… landed. He pressed himself against her in an awkward attempt to dissolve suspicion, mumbling an exaggerated, “Hmm, you taste so good, don’t be shy, girl,” as he walked them into the empty shop.

The officer paused by the door, peering through the crack. Jayce shot Renly a do something look, and in blind panic, she blurted out, “Oh yes, mister, you are so… big,” immediately cringing at herself.

They remained like that—clumsily pressed together, hands cupping each other’s faces, mouths making fake obscene sounds—until the officer gave up and moved on with a chuckle.

Jayce immediately jumped back and blurted an awkward, “Sorry, I had to… improvise.” He scratched the back of his neck, growing increasingly stressed by Renly’s stunned expression.

And then she laughed. So loud that Jayce had to shush her. “By the gods, Jayce—” she wheezed, wiping tears from her cheeks. “What a diversion. You taste so good, girl’” She mocked him mercilessly before bursting into another round of snorts and cackles.

Jayce let out a shuddery exhale before paying for mockery with mockery. “Mister, you are so big? What are you, eighty?” he howled, clutching his chest. Giggling and sniffling, he propped himself against the dusty counter and asked, “You’re going to tell Viktor about this, aren’t you?”

“Honestly, I might wait until he’s a bit better, because he could suffocate on his own cackle when he hears about it,” she barely choked through her laughter. “But seriously—very good diversion. You made me laugh for the first time today,” she said breathily, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Jayce spread his arms, grinning. "You can laugh, but it worked. Maybe this is how we should walk through the Undercity—pretending we’re a couple. It’d be easy to hide the bags between us."

Renly hummed, tilting her head. "You might be onto something." They could pass as a couple, definitely. And maybe seeing a girl walking hand in hand with a big mister would in fact, discourage the enforces from bothering them.

They fumbled with the bags, shoving them under their coats, pressed between them where they were barely visible. It took some awkward repositioning—Renly nearly dropped hers twice, and Jayce got an elbow to the ribs—but eventually, they managed to secure them. With a shared nod, they wrapped an arm around each other’s waists and stepped out onto the street.

Jayce exhaled dramatically. "And here I thought we’d never get to go out on a date."

Renly shot him a sideways glance, caught off guard. "You thought about us going on a date?"

Jayce shrugged, smiling like he hadn’t just casually dropped that into conversation. "Yeah. Briefly. Before Viktor called dibs on you."

Renly stopped in her tracks, staring at him. "Jayce Tallis, I will never—ever—believe that Viktor called dibs on anyone."

Jayce burst into laughter, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe not exactly dibs, but I caught him saying that you were quite comely. And these are his words. It was kind of terrifying, so it burned into my memory."

Renly snorted. "Quite comely? Alright,” she relented, shaking her head. „That does sound like Viktor. And when was this?" Renly asked, trying to sound innocent and unbothered, but her voice quipped quite high at the end of the question.

Jayce made a show of calculating, tapping his chin. "Hmm… about three years ago, I think?"

Renly did her best to chase away the blush creeping into her cheeks at the thought of Viktor actually making that comment. He had done absolutely nothing about it all this time. So all those blushes were real. All those stolen glances were real. All the little flustered moments they shared—completely real. She hadn’t imagined any of it.

Finally, she chuckled, clasping a hand to her forehead to hide her embarrassment. "The resolve of this man will end me one day."

Jayce only smiled knowingly, the remark that her stubbornness would most likely end Viktor first hanging from the tip of his tongue. Instead, he just hugged her tighter and laughed.

They kept walking, the streets growing tighter, darker, more uncertain. The closer they got to the Lanes, the more enforcers loomed—clusters of them stationed at corners, patrolling in pairs, their presence thick and suffocating. Renly grew fidgety, shoulders tensing as her eyes darted across the alleys, tracking movement.

Jayce gave her side a reassuring squeeze, murmuring, "Almost there."

When they finally stepped through the door of The Last Drop, the air inside was eerily still. The place was nearly empty, save for Vander and a couple of men hunched over a quiet conversation. The second they entered, the talking ceased. Vander’s eyes flicked up, sharp and assessing.

"We’re closed," he barked.

Renly stepped further in, lowering her hood. "Vander, it’s me." She lifted the bag slightly. "I’ve brought something."

Vander shushed the group with a raise of his hand. He stood up, his eyes widening slightly before narrowing again at the sight of Jayce. He gave him a suspicious look before striding toward Renly. Placing his large hands on her shoulders, his voice dropped into something close to disbelief.

"You weren’t supposed to be here, darlin’."

She laughed sheepishly, pushing the bag into his chest. "Well, how long have you known me for? Sending me a note to tell me what not to do, Vander—" she tsked a few times, shaking her head.

"You’re just like my kids," he grumbled, taking the bag with one hand and pulling her into a one-armed hug with the other. His grip was firm but warm, the kind that said you are family. Then, his gaze slid back to Jayce, eyes raking over him in quick assessment. "I have to say, you do have a rather… eclectic taste in men."

Jayce, who had been standing awkwardly to the side, smiled and waved stiffly. "Uh… hi."

"Oh, he’s just a friend," Renly quipped, scratching the back of her head. "He’s helping me."

"Other one was a friend as well, as far as I remember," Vander mused, wiggling his eyebrows with a ridiculous smirk.

Renly blushed, lowering her gaze. "Well, the other one actually got promoted recently," she mumbled, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Vander let out a low chuckle, voice dropping just for her. "I’m glad. I like the other one better."

She gasped, smacking his chest lightly, but a giggle slipped out despite herself.

Vander's teasing softened, replaced by something more serious as he lifted the bag slightly. "I’d offer you guys a drink, but it’s not very friendly around here. And if you insist on doing this…" he sighed, eyeing the bag under his arm. "I’ll arrange drop points with Ekko, so you don’t have to travel this far."

Renly opened her mouth to protest, but Vander squeezed her shoulder firmly.

"Don’t," he said, voice quieter now, but firm. "We can’t afford to lose you, Ren. This… this could change a lot of lives. Thank you."

Her throat tightened, but she swallowed it down and nodded. "O-okay. Um…" She shifted on her feet, suddenly hyperaware of the silent stares from the men in the room. "There are masks in the bag. And some medical supplies. And notes—notes with dosage instructions, and—"

"We’ll be alright, kid," Vander interrupted gently. "Go. Do you have masks for yourself?"

"No, I wanted to save them for you. We’re fine, I took a safe route."

"Renly," Vander said, his tone carrying a quiet warning, "take the masks."

"No, no, it’s really fine!" She gave him a quick hug and raised her hands in defence, stepping backward toward Jayce. "I promise we’ll be alright. It’s just a trip back—easy peasy."

Vander’s brow furrowed, but he relented—they did need every bit the could get. "Let me know when you get home. And… say hi to Viktor."

Jayce and Renly pulled their hoods back up, shrouding themselves once more in the quiet anonymity of the streets. Jayce shot the group at the table a stiff, awkward wave before following Renly out. The moment they stepped back into the cold air, Renly exhaled, shaking out her shoulders.

"Well, that went better than expected," she murmured, adjusting the bag beneath her coat.

Jayce chuckled. "Yeah. No fists were thrown, no drinks upended. I’d call that a win."

They set off at a steady pace, side by side, the tension in their steps easing as they left the Lanes behind. The streets were still lined with enforcers, but they kept their heads down, talking in low voices. The conversation drifted easily between them—Jayce making a joke about Vander’s approval ratings, Renly rolling her eyes but unable to hide her smirk.

They grew less mindful of the twists and turns they took, no longer focused on the careful, calculated route they had planned. That was their mistake.

It hit them in an instant. A shift in the air. The telltale fog curling through the dim light, thick as mist.

Renly was the first to react. She inhaled sharply, then choked—her lungs seizing, knees buckling. A violent cough wracked her chest as she stumbled forward, disoriented.

"Renly?" Jayce’s voice turned alarmed, his hand flying to her arm. Viktor was going to have his head for this. "Shit—hey, hey, stay with me—"

She barely heard him. The world wavered, distant, as her vision blurred at the edges. Her body felt like it was folding in on itself, unsteady, her breath strangled in her throat. The Grey curled around them, clinging, suffocating.

Jayce didn’t hesitate. He hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her close as she sagged against him.

"Help! We need help!" His voice boomed through the street as he spotted a pair of enforcers nearby. He strode toward them, half-carrying Renly as she fought to stay conscious. He fumbled in his coat, yanking out his academy identification card and shoving it in front of them.

"I’m Jayce Tallis—Piltover Academy, Hextech research! She needs medical attention—now!"

The enforcers exchanged glances, hesitation flickering between them.

***

Hours passed before Viktor finally got a general sense of what Renly was doing. And it wasn’t because her work was disorganised—on the contrary, her notes were kept with such care and diligence that it made him vaguely embarrassed about the state of his own journaling and documentation. No, the difficulty lay in the simple fact that he was not a chemist. But he was smart enough.

Smart enough to follow her instructions and calculations, to set a new batch of the cure to brew while Renly and Jayce were off gods knew where, doing gods knew what. And that uncertainty did influence Viktor’s focus, if only slightly—he found himself zoning out, wondering if everything was alright.

Step by step, he grew more aware of the elegance in Renly’s methods—practical, precise, and entirely her. Simple on the surface, yet intricate beneath, where time and patience had to be given to yield results beyond human jurisdiction.

With time to kill, he wandered from blueprint to blueprint. A sad sigh escaped him as his fingers traced the white lines of an old hextech project—something that now felt like a distant dream, an abandoned path. Moving through Renly’s notebooks to ensure nothing had been overlooked, he stumbled upon the very thing that had first made him realise she was braver than she let on—her strange device, the one Jayce had dismissed so hastily.

Oh, sweet irony.

Viktor tapped the end of his pencil against his chin, eyes flicking between Renly’s sketches and the notes she had scrawled in the margins. The device was a bold idea—with a potential for a small revolution—but it still had flaws. He could see where the design would struggle under pressure, where efficiency could be improved.

He exhaled, rolling his shoulders back. If he was going to be stuck waiting, he might as well make himself useful.

Pulling out a fresh sheet of paper, he began drafting his own modifications. The dispersal mechanism needed to be more precise—Renly’s design allowed for widespread coverage, but it lacked a controlled release. If too much of the cure was expelled at once, there was a risk of wastage. He sketched a new valve system, one that could regulate output based on environmental factors, ensuring the mist spread evenly without oversaturating any one area.

His mind raced ahead of his hand, refining, adjusting. A reinforced casing to withstand Zaun’s harsh conditions. A pressure gauge to monitor release. A failsafe mechanism to prevent clogging. The more he worked, the more the device took shape—not just as a concept, but as something tangible, something that could work.

And perhaps most importantly, something that could distribute the cure efficiently, safely.

His fingers hovered over the page, hesitating. A device like this—its potential extended beyond Renly’s intentions. In the wrong hands, Jayce wasn’t wrong, it could be weaponised. But in the right ones… in the hands of someone from Zaun?

Viktor let out a breath, shaking his head as if to dispel the thought. No use spiralling. Not yet.

Instead, he scribbled a few final notes in the margins, refining his calculations. Then, satisfied with his progress, he set his pencil down and leaned back in his chair. He would show Renly when she returned. If she returned soon.

Inevitably, he ran out of things to do. Glancing at the clock, he winced—both at how long it had been since the two people he cared about most had left the lab and at how much of that time he had spent working instead of resting, as he’d been told to.

With a resigned sigh, Viktor packed up the blueprints, set the correct temperatures and timers on the cure incubation chambers, and gathered his things to head home.

The walk home was dreadful. Without the distraction of work to occupy his mind, his thoughts caught up with him—spiralling, relentless. Worry gnawed at his ribs, carving space for possibilities he did not want to entertain. He pulled his coat tighter around himself, but it did nothing to ward off the creeping unease.

By the time he reached his apartment, exhaustion clung to him like damp clothes. He fumbled with the key, stepping inside with a sharp breath. The air was still, unwelcoming. He barely made it to the kitchen before slumping heavily into a chair, his cane clattering against the floor as he let go of it.

One minute. That was all he was granted to sit in the weight of his worry, hands clasped together, fingers gripping too tightly. One minute for doubt to settle, for worst-case scenarios to take root.

Then came the knock. Firm. Urgent.

“Viktor?” Jayce’s voice cut through the silence, muffled by the door but unmistakably there.

He jolted upright, pulse stuttering. Reaching for his cane, he pushed himself up on unsteady legs. If he could, he would have run to the door.

The door swung open, revealing Jayce—sweaty and panting—Renly with a breathing mask clasped to her face, and a stone-faced enforcer. Oh.

“What happened?” Viktor asked, already knowing the answer. Worry overshadowed his anger, and before he knew it, his hands were reaching for Renly, cradling her against his chest as he cupped her cheek.

“You should be more careful next time. Though I do hope you two will find a more suitable environment for a date than Zaun,” the officer deadpanned, not even bothering to look at Viktor. His expression betrayed utter confusion at the strange dynamics between the three of them.

Jayce scoffed, embarrassed. “Thank you,” he muttered before Renly could spit out a sharp, “Fuck off.”

Everything happened so fast that Viktor barely registered slamming the door shut, pulling the mask from Renly’s face, and patting Jayce on the shoulder—all at once. His eyes burned with silent questions as he cupped Renly’s face, his brows furrowed, tethering between anger and concern.

“Don’t look at me like that. You didn’t keep your promise either,” she said weakly, her gaze flicking over him. His dishevelled clothes, loosened tie, and the way his hair stuck up from where he had clearly run a hand through it while hunched over his desk for hours—almost caught in the act.

Viktor ignored her entirely. His head snapped up. “Jayce?”

“Ah, just a small mishap on the way out. All is fine, though, I promise.” Jayce placed a shaky hand on Viktor’s shoulder, offering reassurance he barely believed himself. He didn’t want to worry him further—even if, for a terrifying ten minutes, it had looked far worse than he’d ever admit.

He barely breathed as Renly slipped from his hands. And he held his breath while she lost hers, momentarily. He only allowed himself a gasp of Zaun’s tainted air once her eyes fluttered open and her mouth moved in an inaudible, “Jayce?”

Viktor’s gaze snapped to Jayce, catching the flicker of emotions that crossed his face—relief, guilt, something heavier that lingered in the creases of his brow. He swallowed hard, his lips parting as if to speak, but no words came. Then, with a sharp blink, he pulled himself together, offering Viktor a tired smile.

“I promise, it’s all good now,” Jayce said, his voice steady but edged with exhaustion. “Let’s talk later. I’ll leave you two to have some time alone.”

Gratitude surged through Viktor, chased swiftly by a chilling realization—had he gone with Renly, he might not have been able to hold it all together. The thought unsettled him more than he cared to admit. So, instead of speaking, he reached out and pulled Jayce into a half-hug, Renly squeezed between them. Jayce huffed a breath of something like laughter, then pressed a brief kiss to her forehead before stepping back.

“Take care of her,” he murmured, then strolled off, no doubt to curl up beside Mel and sleep off whatever hell they’d just endured.

In the quiet corridor, Renly and Viktor remained, her weight leaning ever so slightly into him. She exhaled, then rasped out, “When will the hearing start?” A half-hearted joke, her tone wry, but laced with exhaustion.

His serious expression didn’t waver at first. But then his eyes softened, and with a slow exhale, he pulled her closer.

Or rather, he pulled the stench of Zaun’s pollution into his arms, the acrid tang of smoke and chemicals clinging to her clothes, her hair. It should have made him recoil. He didn’t. Instead, his knuckles whitened where they gripped her shoulders, then the back of her head, holding her there as if she might disappear again.

“Later,” he murmured, voice quieter now. “For now, you get the asylum.”

Renly hugged him back with equal need, sinking her face into the crook of his neck, her fingers closing around his vest, crumpling it further. "I don't deserve you," she whispered, letting out a long breath as the full capacity of her lungs finally returned to her.

Viktor pulled away to look at her and whispered back, "You do. You also deserve a bath. Or rather, I deserve you not smelling like this." And he was no longer able to hold back the disgusted twist on his face.

Renly huffed a quiet laugh against his skin, the warmth of her breath sending a shiver down his spine. She didn’t let go, though, and neither did he.

“Fair,” she murmured, voice still raw. “But if I let go now, I might fall over. And you’re hardly in a state to catch me.”

Viktor smirked, though his grip on her didn’t waver. “Then I suppose we are at an impasse.”

For a few beats, they just stood there, suspended in exhaustion and relief, until Viktor finally exhaled and loosened his hold just enough to guide her toward the bathroom. He pressed a kiss to her temple before stepping back completely, already missing her warmth but refusing to let it show.

“Go,” he said, waving a hand. “Before I am forced to open a window.”

Renly rolled her eyes but obeyed, shuffling off with all the energy of a corpse reanimated purely out of spite.

Viktor lingered in the corridor a moment longer, rubbing a tired hand over his face before heading to bedroom to retrieve some clean towels and clothes for her. He would wait. He would let his mind settle. And then, when she was clean and warm and back in his arms, they would talk.

Viktor stepped into the bathroom, taking a moment to look at Renly as she stepped into the shower. He turned the dial, adjusting the temperature before nodding at her to get under the water. A familiar, peaceful silence settled between them as the steam began to swirl around the room.

He offered her a small, tender kiss on her forehead as he switched out the towel from her shoulders for something cleaner, the motion slow, almost reverent. There was a soft hum of contentment between them as Viktor wrapped her hair up in the towel, his hands lingering on her shoulders for just a moment longer than necessary. Something in the ordinary act—so domestic, so unspoken—made his stomach flutter in a way he couldn’t explain. He found himself standing under the stream of water a moment later, still dumbfounded by the strange warmth pooling in his chest, imagining her leaving the bathroom in his clothes.

By the time he emerged, she was already settled in bed, curled on her side. Without a second thought, he crawled toward her, needing to be close. His hands reached for her thighs, pulling her flush against him, a quiet shiver of closeness filling him. “You smell like me,” he murmured, breathless against her skin.

Renly let out a quiet laugh, tugging at his hair playfully. “So… what have you been up to?” she asked, her voice warm with the softness of their moment. Viktor smiled into her neck as he kissed her there, continuing their slow, intimate dance.

“Ah, you know,” he said softly, his lips brushing her skin, “I found solace in work, as usual.”

“Work on what?” Renly asked wearily, her voice quiet but sharp with the knowledge of what was likely to come. The Hexcore was locked away, and Viktor hadn’t let go of it yet. Either he was still fiddling with it, or he’d already begun something entirely new. She knew which one was more probable.

“Well,” Viktor murmured, his lips teasing along her collarbone, “as you took every last drop with you, I’ve set a new batch of your genius cure to brew. I must say, I was very impressed with your note-keeping.” His voice was soft, appreciative, as though musing on how she could manage to keep everything so meticulously organized.

Renly froze, her eyes wide with disbelief, her heart swelling with affection for this man of hers. How could he make even the mundane feel so thoughtful, so... beautiful? She reached up, brushing a stray strand of hair from his forehead, unable to hide the wonder in her voice. “You... are incredible.”

Viktor paused, pulling back enough to look at her, his hands still caressing her. “I had to keep myself busy with something, so I might’ve just taken up something useful,” he said, his words soft but carrying an air of quiet satisfaction.

Renly was stunned. She couldn't find words, only the small, affectionate pull she felt in her chest at how Viktor was constantly doing the unexpected. He shifted, brushing his lips over her shoulder and down her neck, easing the tension in both of them.

“I might’ve thought of a certain compromise while you were away,” he added after a moment, his voice low. The word caught in her chest, and her brow furrowed, the undertaste of it sinking in. Viktor didn’t like the idea of her risking her health. She couldn’t blame him for it, but the thought of him compromising...

He sucked in a breath, and she held her own, waiting. “Your notes and research are readable,” he continued, his voice steady. “Simple enough that manufacturing could be handled by someone in Zaun. Alongside the blueprints for your device, which—well, I may have tweaked a little.” He leaned in, pressing a kiss to her lips, his hands continuing their reassuring journey along her skin.

Renly froze again, processing the depth of what he was saying. Zaun? The device she’d created, tweaked? Her mind was spinning as she tried to keep up with his words, her heart stuttering. “Someone smart,” Viktor continued, his voice reassuring. “Someone driven. Like... say, a young gentleman who seems hellbent on keeping Zaun safe.”

She pulled back slightly, her gaze searching his face, her voice quieter now. “Viktor, are you telling me that you’ve already arranged—?”

His smile softened. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t, not without your blessing. But I thought that would make things simpler. And I believe you know who I’m talking about.”

Renly's heart skipped. The weight of what Viktor was suggesting hit her. The idea that he’d already thought of this, already figured out a way forward without her needing to lift another finger, was overwhelming.

For a moment, there was silence. She pressed herself against him again, her arms around him now, the tension in her body easing as she let the weight of everything sink into their shared space. In his arms, everything felt like it was finally in its place.

Viktor's voice was softer now, the words just for her. "I have to admit. I thought of another thing too. I would like to know your opinion."

Renly raised an eyebrow, her mind still processing everything they’d already discussed. "Is there more? Have you moved into a pocket dimension while I was away?"

Viktor’s lips twitched into a faint smile, his eyes narrowing slightly as he carefully chose his words. "Eh, something like that." He paused, running a hand through his hair in a gesture that almost seemed absent.

In reality, the thought had plagued him ever since Renly had left. His brain had to work overtime to keep the rush of anxiety at bay, and yet he still found himself filled with something strange—a quiet hope—when he spoke about it. "Looking at your aperture, I thought… it could be used as a base design for a general filtration system for Zaun. Making The Grey, well, obsolete. Maybe it’s a solution upon which new problems will arise, but—"

Renly blinked, her expression softening with disbelief as she absorbed his words. "You really think it possible? Don’t joke with me like that."

Viktor looked away for a moment, his hands rubbing together in a slight nervous gesture, before turning his eyes back to her. "I know it’s entirely possible." The certainty in his tone was quiet but unwavering, as though he’d already come to terms with it himself. There was a spark of hope behind his words, like he truly believed it could work—could change everything.

"But…" Renly's mind raced, the idea still a bit too large to fully grasp. She shook her head slightly, furrowing her brow as her voice softened with genuine confusion. "I am no engineer. I’m a chemist, a biologist, I have no idea—"

Viktor’s eyes lingered on her face, his voice careful, yet edged with something that might have been excitement or perhaps the vulnerability of laying himself bare. "Well, if you only had an engineer that was willing to help you." The words left his lips almost too quickly, as though he couldn’t quite keep the hopefulness out of his tone.

Renly blinked, once, twice, her mind struggling to process what he had just said. She stared at him, her voice faltering with surprise. "You… want to work… with me?"

Viktor's lips twitched again, a soft smirk on his face, though there was an unmistakable warmth in his eyes—something he rarely allowed anyone to see. "Am I not worthy?" he teased lightly, the question laced with the faintest trace of his own insecurity, despite the hope that lingered in his voice. He wasn’t sure how this would go, or how she would react, but the weight of what he was suggesting seemed to hold a quiet promise in the air between them.

“Viktor. If anything, I am not worthy. Is this truly what you want?” She kept asking, giving him a way out, hoping that he wouldn’t take it. Working with Viktor, really working with him, was beyond anything she could have hoped for. And now that the opportunity presented itself, she felt an unbearable pang of expectation surging through her. It made her fingers clutch onto his shirt, her eyes wide.

“Renly, I—” Viktor started and then bit his lip.

“I see no future without you in it. I want everything to do with you. I—” Here, Viktor didn’t know if this was something he had thought about before or not. But it just bubbled out of him with an unstoppable force, not dissimilar to the first time he told her that he loved her. Before fear could grip him, he heard himself saying, “Marry me.”

Renly froze. And just… stared at him, blinking. Frankly, it was terrifying, and Viktor almost said, “I’m joking,” when he saw a single tear escaping through her eyelashes. And then, her mouth was on his. And her hands were in his hair. And her legs were wrapping around him. And then, she mumbled, “Forgive me, but I will not ask if you are sure about this. Yes, a thousand times yes and you don’t get to back out,” between kisses.

Viktor, barely able to get a second where his lips weren’t occupied managed to muffle out, “I would nev—“, the rest eaten by Renly’s greedy mouth. He could feel the tension fleeting his body. Silly thing really, but a split second fear of rejection did linger somewhere underneath his abrupt question, until it got exchanged for something completely different as his mouth started moving hungrily under Renly’s.

“Wait,” he murmured breathlessly, placing a finger on her lips. She pouted, took his finger in her mouth and Viktor rolled his eyes at this display of impatience and at something else entirely. He pulled himself up to have his neck rested against the pillows, while Renly’s fingers dug into the buttons of his pyjamas shirt, reverently undoing each one, her fingers ghosting the dense skin of his chest.

Her eyes never left his, and Viktor found it difficult to draw breaths under the weight of that gaze. She took him in under her lashes as his torso hugged by the brace became exposed and her hand travelled up across the leather, still faintly damp after the shower, across the prickling skin of his chest, to run up his long neck and cup his face. A gentle stroke across his cheekbones, before her lips graced his forehead with a soft kiss. Then, her lips came to his mole, a soft peck left there, burning under his eye, before the touch ghosted the bridge of his nose to finally land above his upper lip. And then on his lip, a chaste kiss.

Before he knew it, her hands guided him up, her lips distracting him as she sucked on the petal of his ear and her fingers slid the shirt off his back. He was barely able to let out a breath when her weight left him momentarily and with the corner of his eye Viktor saw her hand snatch the wrench from his bedside table. The mattress dipped behind him and her fingers begun their gentle work of loosening the contraption of his chest, bolt after bolt, strap after strap, every patch of revealed skin granted a gentle rub.

Her mouth followed and Viktor felt little parts of him melting away under the soft skin of her lips. Then, her chin filled the crook of his neck and when he looked down he could see her fingers working the front of the brace, before it was finally pulled off him and air wrapped itself around his ribs. He spent two seconds alone on the bed, while Renly stood to place his armour on the dresser.

The mattress dipped once again, as she knelt between his legs and halted her fingers at the waist of his pants, a silent plea for permission painting her face. And Viktor did three things at once—nodded eagerly, muttered a quiet yes while lifting his hips for her. He watched doing all of this—holding his ankles as she slid him out of his trousers, propping his knee while the leg brace clicked away from his muscles, and she kissed the indentations it left on his skin.

“I want you all,” she whispered, cradling his leg, and it had meant so much more than just “I want both your good leg and your bad leg,” but Viktor was unable to fit it in his heart. Instead, he whispered, “I’m yours. Use me,” with his cheeks flushed red and his voice barely there.

So much love in her eyes, his heart almost popped out of his chest when Renly propped his bum leg up on her shoulder and kissed his ankle. Then, her lips travelled up his calf and the inner side of his knee. She spent a long time on his thigh, just kissing and humming into his tired muscle. Then, hot mouth continued its journey up, up his leg to lick across the crease where the hip turns into navel and Viktor’s neck flexed his head deep into the pillow at the wet glide on his lower belly, so close he could feel the heat of her cheek on his cock.

But it passed him, needy and leaking, as Renly moved to the other side to suck on the sharp edge of his hip, a faint bruise blooming under her mouth. Only when he was marked she finally, finally pressed her mouth to the base of his cock and his body jerked, smearing the pearly precum on his stomach. A trail of slick open mouth kisses led all the way up to the tip, when her fingers wrapped around him, and she spread his slick all over her cheek.

And when Viktor thought he cannot possibly become more worked up and the muscles of his stomach cannot clench further, she licked a stripe across his slit with the tip of her tongue, causing him to squirm embarrassingly. He clasped a hand to his forehead and his hips jolted upwards, meeting her mouth as she took him in, her tongue rolling across his head, as if tying a cherry stem into a knot.

Fingers wrapped around what she couldn’t fit, she kept a steady pace with both her hand and mouth, milking him slowly, her drool mixing with precum. Viktor tried to will his hips not to move, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, listening to the sounds of his hoarse breathing and her hot mouth bleeding into one, undoubtedly his favourite kind of noise.

And she knew he was close, once his moans grew unrestrained and his legs begun to shake around her, so she gave him a long, thorough suck and pulled the orgasm out of him. He spilled into her mouth and Renly swallowed it all, saving every last drop to herself.

One glance of her eyes to his blissfully fucked-out face, red and panting, coated in a thin layer of glistening sweat, before she released him and continued her journey up, kissing his sensitive stomach, dragging her mouth across his sternum, leaving a loving bite above his left nipple before taking it between her lips. Another bite, greedy, on his collar bone, when Viktor threw his head back to gift her his neck. And her lips travelled there, sucking into it mercilessly, marking every inch with red hickeys.

Before his lips got to completely dry out through all the heavy breathing, Renly closed her mouth around them and licked across the seam. His hands found her ass, kneading her flesh, when one palm travelled up to grip the back of her neck and keep her pinned against him for a second longer. Their mouths parted by an inch and Viktor breathed out a soft, grateful, “I love you.”

“And I love you,” she whispered back, pressing her forehead to his, as Viktor’s hand slid down to play with the hem of her shirt.

“I think it’s hardly fair that I’m naked and you are not,” he murmured against her lips. “Lift your arms, please,” Viktor said tugging at the material and before he could complain further, she obeyed, giggling when a button got tangled in her hair.

He took a moment to ogle her shamelessly—this was his, potentially forever. And now forever seemed not that far from possible.

He pressed his face to her chest and just breathed in, through mouth and nose. Then, placed a reverent kiss on her breast, another on her collar bone, another on her sternum. He could feel her heart beating under his lips.

She hummed at his touch, tugging on the short hair at the base of his skull, while Viktor’s mouth closed around her nipple. His hand brushed against her other breast, rolling the bud of tender skin in his calloused fingers.

At that, a moan escaped Renly’s mouth, her fingers tightened the grip on his hair and Viktor groaned into a smile. His teeth grazed gently, before he switched sides and lost the tenderness on the way. A bite on her other nipple caused her to coil inside and clench her thighs on Viktor’s lap, while he was licking over the love mark blooming on her chest.

“Those need to go too,” he breathed into her heart, hands already sliding down her waist and grabbing handfuls of her ass. She nodded, propped herself on her arms, lifted her hips, and pressed her breasts back into Viktor’s face, while his thumbs blindly pulled down on her waistband.

Once her pants, well, Viktor’s pants, got tossed onto the floor, his hand travelled between her legs to palm her sex and Viktor sighed at the state of it. “Already so wet for me,” he whispered with awe, and she couldn’t fight the heat of a blush creeping up her neck. His fingers brushed her hole, before taking a shallow dip inside and pulling her slick all the way up to her clit.

Renly gasped when Viktor retreated his hand to examine the webs of her arousal coating his fingers. He stretched them apart and pulled them back together, playing with it in front of her eyes and she just watched, transfixed, feeling herself getting more and more drenched. Her eyes went wide once Viktor put his fingers into his mouth and sucked himself clean, humming loudly, his lips curving into a smirk.

He spat on the heel of his palm, before snaking his hand back to her cunt, the meat of it pressed against her clit, while his fingers teased the entrance. His free arm wrapped around her, pressing flat against the small of her back, and Renly hugged his neck.

Slowly, fingers pushed inside as Viktor begun to pump her lazily, grinding his palm against her core. The pace punishingly unhurried as Renly wiggled her hips, patience wearing thin, and she whined, “Please, can you go a little faster?”

Viktor snorted and said only, “Maybe,” a shit-eating grin blooming on his mouth. Before she could sigh in exasperation, he picked up the pace, snapping his fingers in and out, finding the spot that made her toes curl, and a complaint died in her throat, reborn as a breathy moan.

Her head dropped onto his shoulder and legs began to shake. When he felt her walls clenching down and breathing getting heavier, Viktor nudged her with his chin to face him. He clashed his lips against hers, kissing her roughly through her orgasm. She bit on his lip and whined into his throat, rocking her hips on his hand throughout the release.

Drawing raspy breaths against each other, they sat together through her aftermath, foreheads touching. Renly placed a flat palm on Viktor’s heart and just held it for a moment, feeling the flutter under her skin. Then, with a smirk, she gave him a firm push, making his back meet the mattress and his head fall onto the pillow, having him splayed flat beneath her.

This time it was Viktor’s eyes that went wide at the sight of her lifting her hips and aligning his cock at her entrance. She sank onto him slowly, everything so tight as she took him in inch by inch and Viktor watched, mesmerised as his length disappeared between her folds. His mouth fell open, and a hand travelled to rest against her sternum, feeling her heartbeat. And it fluttered beautifully once he filled her up.

Her hips began to rock back and forth, and Viktor felt himself hugged from all sides. He bit his lip, watching her move and whispered absent mindedly, “You are so beautiful.”

She blushed, gods know which time today and her walls clenched further. He could see himself bulge out in her lower abdomen and run his fingers through the hill poking out through her skin, eyes wide with wonder.

“Lásko, I want you closer,” he breathed, propping himself on elbows and bending his knees to rest against her back. She giggled stupidly, asking, “Closer to what?”

Viktor huffed a laugh and shook his head, nudged her with his thigh as his hands came to rest against her hips. He added a gentle rock to his pelvis, meeting her in the middle, and Renly’s back went to rest against his legs, her head falling back with a moan. Her lips parted, eyes rolled in her skull as Viktor’s cock filled her up so sweetly her hands began to search for his. She entwined their fingers to pull herself back up and rasped, “Now I want you closer.”

And to his luck, Viktor said nothing. He said nothing, just looked at her like she hung the moon, because he would grant her every wish. This was his wife. Soon, hopefully. A completely soul-crushing feeling surged through him as he used her arms to pull himself up and bring her close to his chest. “I always want you close.”

His mouth fell onto breasts, kissing and licking, hand travelled between her shoulder blades and Renly brought her arms around his neck, fingers tugging at his hair. Viktor groaned at the tightness around his cock as his hips jutted upwards. She kept meeting his thrusts with downward push of her hips and felt him twitching inside her, his breath coming in hot pants.

And when she was close, unbearably so, she moved her face against his to moan straight into his mouth, wrapping herself around him, arms around his neck, legs pressing into his hips, walls quivering around his cock, and brought him with her to the peak as Viktor spilled into her tightening cunt and curled around her with a strangled groan. His stomach flexed, eyebrows knitted together, and nose pressed into Renly’s cheek. She creamed all over him with a few more spasms of her core and Viktor muttered a quiet curse against her skin.

With a couple of steadying breaths, she let out a laugh—blissful and honest—as she brushed damp hair away from his forehead and looked into his eyes. “You really mean it, don’t you?” she asked, the answer written all over his face.

“I meant each of those two words. Marry me. Be close to me, always,” he whispered, breathing into her neck, kissing, licking, not knowing what to do to truly convey everything he was feeling. The only word coming to mind: whole. He felt whole.

Stumbling back onto the mattress, tangled together, they simply stayed like that for a little while, basking in each other’s warmth. A series of deep breaths passed between them, muscles relaxing, skin cooling. With a faint sound of protest from Viktor, Renly untangled herself from between his legs. His softening cock slipped out, seed spilling down her thighs. She kissed his forehead and shook her head when he tried to pull her back in.

As she waddled to the bathroom on unsteady legs, Viktor couldn’t help but giggle at the sight—part of him amused, part still disbelieving. How odd. How utterly and crushingly strange to feel so complete when so much of him was still imperfect.

“Do you ever use your bathtub, Viktor?” came Renly’s voice from the bathroom, the sound of running water humming in the background.

“Eh, not really,” he called back, splaying himself out on the bed like a starfish. “I, uh… am not very good at getting out of it, if you catch my meaning.”

Her head peeked out from behind the door, her face surprised as she asked, “Never? Like, never ever? Not even once?”

“Well, it would be an eternal bath then, until someone finds my dissolved body,” Viktor sang toward the ceiling, smiling, not minding the admission in front of her at all.

The mattress dipped next to him, and he felt a warm cloth sweeping across his chest, wiping away the sheen of sweat. “What if I make sure that doesn’t happen?” she asked, combing her fingers through his hair.

“Anything you want, my love. My wife,” Viktor murmured, seizing her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

Her eyes dropped to the marks she’d left on him, and she whispered absentmindedly, “I got you good this time.”

“Good. I might consider loosening my cravat rules—just so everyone can see,” he teased, propping himself up and wrapping his arms around her. He buried his face in her hair as she rested her forehead against his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s give this a try,” she murmured into his skin, taking his hands in hers and helping him up. They walked slowly, Viktor draped around her like a sleepy child, humming and pressing lazy kisses to her neck. Once inside, she sat him in the chair and poured bath liquid under the running water. Viktor simply watched her from under hooded eyelids, a tired smile playing on his lips. He was so blissfully spent he could only breathe in the scent of juniper and sage twirling in the steam.

Renly got in first, dipping her hair back and stretching her limbs. “Come on, then,” she urged. Viktor stood lazily, yawning and flexing his arms above his head. Her hands hovered near him as he lowered himself into the tub, arms wrapping around her waist, a leg hooking over hers, his face nuzzling into her throat. A long sigh escaped his lips as Renly poured warm water over his hair.

She worked the tension from his muscles with a gentle touch, rubbing out the knots in his shoulders, neck, and back. Then, she took his palm in her hand and pressed into the heel of it, making him sigh and drift off.

“I love you so much,” Viktor slurred, his body close to dissolving—in a good way this time. Renly tilted her chin down to place a kiss on his brow.

“I love you too. Sleep. I’ll wake you before you drown,” she whispered into his hair. Viktor chuckled, the sound fading into a hum.

As the water lapped gently against the sides of the tub, the world outside their small, warm haven felt distant—insignificant. Viktor's breaths had slowed, his body heavy against hers, lulled into a rare, quiet peace. Renly traced lazy patterns over his back, her touch featherlight, as if grounding herself in the reality of him. He was here. They were here. Against every force that had tried to pull them apart, they had found their way to each other. And now, there was nothing left to run from, nothing left to prove. Just the steady rhythm of their heartbeats, the promise of tomorrow, and the certainty that whatever came next, they would face it together.

***

EPILOGUE

“Please tell me this is the last box,” Jayce huffed, wiping sweat from his forehead. His cheeks were flushed, hair dishevelled, and dark patches of sweat clung to his armpits, neck, and the small of his back through his shirt. “Viktor, how did you accumulate so much junk in such a small apartment?”

“It’s not junk, Jayce, it’s just… things. Important things,” Viktor replied distractedly, giving one last proper look at his emptying flat. How odd, he thought. A space that had once felt so cozy, so his, now gutted of everything that made it a home. A fresh start lay ahead of him.

“I can’t believe that, between the two of you, Renly had less stuff to move,” Jayce grumbled under his breath, lifting what appeared to be the final box.

“I think the key difference here is that my junk is small, while Viktor’s junk is big,” Renly quipped, utterly pleased with herself.

Jayce groaned, shaking his head. “You’re disgusting.”

Viktor only stifled his cackle behind his palm before stepping toward Renly, gently taking her hand in his. His fingers traced over her ring—his soul buried within it. He had never thought himself capable of crafting something so delicate, yet once he began, it had practically made itself into existence.

Viktor’s thumb ghosted over the ring, feeling the cool metal against his skin. It was not gold, nor silver—those were too soft, too ordinary. Instead, he had chosen something stronger, something that could endure: darkened titanium, polished just enough to gleam under the light. Set into the band was a stone unlike any other—a raw-cut sapphire, its surface uneven, its depths swirling with fragments of darker blue and violet. Imperfect yet undeniably beautiful, just like him. Just like them. The design was unconventional, unrefined in a way that made it wholly unique. A piece of his mind, his hands, his devotion, shaped into something she would wear always.

She picked up his hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles before asking, “Scared?”

“Out of my mind,” Viktor huffed a laugh. “But in a good way.”

“Me too.” She smiled, threading her fingers into his hair. “Also in a good way.”

“Well, I am just deeply wounded,” Jayce announced, appearing back in the doorway, panting heavily. “Viktor never gave me a ring, and I’ve known him the longest!”

“Back off, Talis. This one is mine.” Renly rolled her eyes and smacked Jayce’s chest. He doubled over in mock agony, groaning as if the light hit had finished him completely.

“Alright. I think we’re done here,” Viktor said solemnly, wrapping one arm around Renly’s waist while resting the other on Jayce’s shoulder. His gaze swept over the empty flat, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Jayce, you reek.”

“Oh, do I?” Jayce caught on quickly, and in an instant, he yanked Viktor into a tight embrace, grinning wickedly. “This is what love smells like, Viktor. And I love you enough to haul your junk from one end of Piltover to the other.”

This wasn’t entirely true, of course, as Viktor and Renly were only moving to the border between Zaun and Piltover—right next to the bridge on Zaun’s side—settling them equally close to both the Academy and the Undercity. A compromise between old and new.

“Alright, I surrender,” Viktor said, waving his hands weakly as he tried to weasel out of Jayce’s embrace.

Jayce and Renly picked up the last loose items clattering around the space and went ahead to pack it all up into the transport. As Viktor turned back one last time, he let his gaze linger on the empty space that had once been his. The walls, stripped bare, held no trace of the life he had built within them. Just echoes now—of late nights spent scribbling equations, of the soft hum of Renly’s voice filling the silence, of solitude turned into something else.

For a second, he wondered—what was that? That thing which had held him back from pursuing joy for so long. That weight, that vice grip of doubt, convincing him he was never enough. And yet, somewhere along the way, Renly had chased it away with her kind hands and infuriating persistence. How she had done it, he did not know. Where it had gone, he did not care.

All that mattered was that it was gone. That his lungs were better. His heart felt lighter and fuller at the same time. A new dream was unravelling itself before him. And he was finally free.

With a quiet breath, he stepped forward, placed the key on the counter, and let his fingers rest on it for just a moment longer than necessary. Then, with no ceremony, he turned on his heel and pulled the door shut behind him.

From ahead, Jayce’s voice rang out. “What was that? Sentimental? Viktor, are you getting soft on me?”

Renly snorted, lugging the last of their things down the stairs. “Oh, he’s been soft for a while now. You’re just late to notice.”

Viktor exhaled a laugh, shaking his head as he descended after them. “Let’s go home.”

[allwaswell16]

All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in May 2024. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup [ @1dmonthlyficroundup ] which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #62 |  ko-fi | fic recs

- Louis/Harry -

🍃 Ocean Wave Blues by babyhoneyhslt / @babyhoneyheslt

(M, 49k, pirates) After the gruesome death of his Alpha, Harry takes over as the Captain of the Rose Arrow. Trying his best to uphold her reputation as being the most dreadful pirate ship to sail the Seven Seas.

🍃 and so I have to say (before I go) by we_are_the_same / @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed

(M, 27k, mystery) Sometimes falling in love is taking a leap of faith, jumping into the unknown with your eyes closed, hoping someone will be there to catch you. Sometimes falling in love is seeing the person in front of you, all their flaws and imperfections, and taking that leap nonetheless.

🍃 Room For One More Troubled Soul by patdkitten / @babyarcanacasey

(M, 25k, supernatural elements) Louis Tomlinson is the chief medical examiner of the Centre for the Law Enforcement of Supernatural Beings - more commonly referred to as simply "The Centre".

🍃 High heels on, 'm feeling alive by thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

(M, 14k, uni) Harry damages a car when drunkenly stumbling home after a fun night out with his friends. Feeling horribly guilty, he tries to find the owner and make it up to him.

🍃 oh so familiar by @insightfulinsomniac

(E, 13k, witch Harry/vampire Louis) A story of misguided enemies to lovers brought together by a stubborn orange tabby.

🍃 I Dig Your Cinema by @silverstuff50

(E, 12k, exes) It wasn’t that Louis didn’t want to see Harry’s latest film; it was a tragically pathetic fact that Louis had watched every single show and film, every interview, every red carpet that Harry had done since his ex-boyfriend had decided to leave Uni in the second year and pursue an acting career.

🍃 Haze on the horizon by @lunarheslwt

(E, 6k, established relationship) Louis finds himself unexpectedly going into soft heat. Which would’ve been fine, except he is hundreds of miles away from his alpha, Harry, and he needs him. They make it work.

🍃 You're Already Home by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(G, 5k, magical realism) It's Christmas Eve and Harry's life is normal. Then he finds someone's barred the door to his favourite hiding spot -- the old groundskeeper's cottage -- and suddenly Harry's life isn't normal anymore.

🍃 just a couple of my cravings by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(G, 3k, crush) Summer's just around the corner and Louis' battling his addictions... Cigarettes and Harry Styles.

🍃 I'm not that other guy by @jaerie

(E, 3k, omegaverse) Harry has just come back from maternity leave when he unexpectedly goes into heat. He runs into a coworker on his way out.

🍃 Change of Plans by @haztobegood

(G, 2k, omegaverse) Harry and Louis plan to visit their families over Christmas. Sometimes, plans don't work out.

🍃 Into the Woods by @kingsofeverything

(E, 2k, tree adjacent porn lol) Whenever he hikes, Harry keeps an eye out for trees with knots and scars that resemble buttholes. What started as fodder for his silly little Instagram account has become his favorite way to masturbate.

🍃 Lights Are So Bright by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird

(G, 2k, famous/famous) Newly first-string quarterback Louis Tomlinson mentions enough times in interviews that he's a fan of mega-famous popstar Harry Styles that people start to notice. At least one person does...

🍃 mosquito bites and cheap beer by @juliusschmidt

(M, 2k, exes-ish) Harry’s careful not to look at Louis as he plays. At least, he starts out that way. Part 2 of Cabin on the Bluff

🍃 Different Than You Do by galactic_larry / @galacticlarry

(T, 2k, love confession) Louis and Harry have been friends for a little over four years. Louis has been in love with Harry for most of those years, even if he didn’t want to admit it at first. What happens when he impulsively decides to tell him?

🍃 On Love's Doorstep by @hellolovers13

(T, 1k, neighbors) Harry Styles: a day in the life...Stuck in a dress, Abandoned by his best friend, Date with hot neighbour. All in all, not the worst day ever

🍃 My heart's in overdrive, and you're behind the steering wheel  by @louisthiccsexyglitteryass

(E, 1k, uni) Being late to class means Harry and Louis have to pose together for figure drawings. That being said, the hate each other, but maybe they don't?

🍃 Expresso by @reallynotmemoi

(NR, 880 words, uni) Louis falls in love at first sight with a boy from his Tuesday lectures, and proceeds to make a fool out of himself in front of said boy. But maybe not all is lost…

- Rare Pairs -

🍃 better latte than never by @disgruntledkittenface

(M, 1k, Zayn/Harry) Harry was looking forward to the coffee cart at work. Until the subject of the previous night's fantasies lined up next to him.

🍃 No Constraints by @lululawrence

(NR, 863 words, Louis/Greg James) Louis is really not understanding this particular section of his Vector Calculus course, and his tutor doesn't seem to get what Louis is having a hard time with. Until he does.

[emyn-arnens]

2024 Fic Roundup

Thanks for tagging me @hobbitwrangler! 💛 2024 is over, but I spent the past week in Galadriel fic lockdown, so I'm doing this now.

Total Words Published at end of year: 73,559 (including a handful of fic from other fandoms)

Fandoms: Mostly LOTR and Silm with some brief forays into Narnia, the Sevenwaters series, and Timeless.

Highest Everything (raw kudos, hits, comments): Keeping this to Tolkien fics:

Kudos: Like a Wave That Should Engulf the World (G, Faramir/Éowyn, 0.7k)

Hits: Across So Wide a Sea (G, Galadriel, Finrod, Celeborn, Celebrían, and more, 33.1k)

Comments: Across So Wide a Sea again

New Things I Tried: Quite a bit! I dug deeper into writing horror; wrote a number of characters and relationships I'd never written before; wrote my first all-OC fic; wrote my first epistolary fic; and wrote about the Second Age and early Third Age, which I had previously avoided because they're time periods I wasn't as familiar with. And, best of all, I finished a long fic for the first time! 🎉

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Across So Wide a Sea, by far. I spent about three quarters of the year on it, between researching and writing. I hadn't initially planned on the fic covering such a sprawling length of time (end of the First Age to end of the Third Age), so I had to give myself some crash courses on parts of the Second Age and early Third Age that I wasn't as familiar with.

Writing it also brought up a lot of questions about things I had previously taken for granted and not thought much about, including things like "did the Elves try to figure out what happened to the Ring after Isildur's death and its subsequent vanishing from history? If they didn't, why, and if they did, how did they do so? And didn't they wonder why the Istari showed up in what was largely a time of peace (about one hundred years before Sauron took over Dol Guldur for the first time)?" And so on and so on. I spent a lot of time working out what Galadriel would have plausibly known and how she would have reacted to some of Tolkien's less-described events.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: Any of my ficlets for the Three Sentence Ficathon, really, but probably either As Watchful As Any Living Thing (G, anthropomorphic Nargothrond, 0.1k) or As Thunder Echoing in the Deep Hills (G, Oromë, 0.1k).

Favourite Thing I Wrote: Not to keep going on about Across So Wide a Sea, but Across So Wide a Sea. I spent a lot of time digging into Galadriel's mind this year, and I'm proud of what I created. She's a hard character to capture (and I'd avoided writing her for a long time just because of that), but I feel like I truly understand her now. Who knew first person POV could be just the thing for getting into the heads of characters who intimidate you!

Favourite Thing(s) I Read:

the plain sight of our destiny is the cruellest thing of all by @hobbitwrangler (T, OCs, 4.3k): A fascinating, horrifying look at Umbar during Sauron's takeover, with a rich cast of characters and perfectly claustrophobic horror.

The Manner of His Return by @thelordofgifs (G, Faramir & Denethor, 1.6k): An aching depiction of Faramir's complicated relationship with Denethor.

call it peace by simaetha (G, Celebrimbor & Galadriel, Celebrimbor & Sauron, 3.6k): A hard-hitting timeloop fic about Celebrimbor's attempts to undo what he's started.

One day, but not today by @hobbitwrangler (G, Elros/Elros' wife, 3k): Do you want a thousand feelings about Elros and his unnamed wife and the inevitability of death? If so, read this.

with every seed you sow, let is wash away, wash away by @rarepairnation (G, Faramir & Éowyn & Legolas, 4k): The Faramir, Éowyn, and Legolas in Ithilien fic everyone needs, with a delicious chaser of the specter of Denethor and Minas Tirith hanging over Faramir.

Chrysalis by @cuarthol (G, Andreth & Bregor, 1.3k): The sweetest, tenderest depiction of Andreth and Bregor's relationship.

The Spinner by @searchingforserendipity25 (G, Galadriel, 1k): A proud, ambitious Galadriel who is just so determined to stick it to Fëanor. What more could you want.

A Sea Change by @sallysavestheday (G, Curufin & Finrod, 0.7k): A beautiful depiction of Curufin and Finrod's relationship, post-reembodiment, lyrical and full of forgiveness.

Writing Goals for 2025:

Finish some of the WIPs that have been wallowing in my WIPs folder for two or three years or more.

Really, just kick some WIPs out of the WIPs folder. Any WIPs.

Tagging everyone previously mentioned as well as @dreamingthroughthenoise @thescrapwitch @camille-lachenille if you're interested in doing this!

[goodbysunball]

Their legacy shall die

One last gasp before the year-end roundup. All hardcore this time, in various flavors from satisfyingly straight to exhilaratingly destructive. You oughta hear what's comin' outta Budapest. Onward:::

Balta, Mindenki Mindig Minden Ellen 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Second 7" from this two-piece out of Budapest, delivering more pummeling, noisy hardcore across nine tracks. This isn't quite the blown out "noise not music" ethos of other bands; the vocals fight through the waves of distortion blasted out of the guitar's amps, and the drums are reasonably clear, if not caked in the mud being kicked up. There's even a bit of a breathing room on the heaving "Patkány Élet," but for the most part the vocals, guitars and drums are all competing to outpace the others. Makes for an exhausting, thrilling ride, because there are killer riffs and expert fills buried underneath the caustic vapor. Irreverent hardcore, setting fire to hardcore, hardcore for change.

Berosszulás, Az Öl​é​sr​ö​l 7" (Stoned to Death)

Another one from Budapest, and from what I can glean, Berosszulás have been around a while, so it's likely they've had an influence in the burgeoning hardcore scene there. The six tracks here have the structure and feel of Die Kreuzen's self-titled LP, albeit wrapped in a lo-fi recording that serves as the source of noise hovering throughout. Sounds almost like a live recording to me, but the energy is well-captured, or at least the vocal performance is strong enough to push it all over the top. The last track's my pick, the final scream of anguish sharp enough to tear flesh. Best hardcore scene of 2024.

Brain Tourniquet / Deliriant Nerve split 7" (Iron Lung)

Allegedly a challenge from one band to the other to "[strip] everything down to its most primal form," this is a healthy serving of D.C. powerviolence served two ways. The Brain Tourniquet side is my pick, the band ripping through ten short, potent bursts not unlike those found on their first two 7"s. "Unclouded by Conscious" and "Retch" do the grinding speed-into-heaving breakdown bit better than most anyone, and tracks like "Cost of Life" and "Eyes Shut Blind" rip through their sub-30 second runtimes with teeth gnashing. Deliriant Nerve has more of a thrash/death metal influence to their sound, which is done well enough. The distorted guitars and vocals drown out the drums (except the cymbals), and lacking the clarity of the Brain Tourniquet side, all the tracks tend to wash together. Still, worth it alone for the BT side, which is strong enough to be one of my favorite 7"s of the year.

Cicada, Wicked Dream 7" (Unlawful Assembly)

Killer debut 7" from Richmond's Cicada following a 3-song flexi on Total Peace, and they've apparently got a new demo cassette making the rounds now, too. Hardcore played fast, vaguely metallic, with distorted, raspy and buried vocals that ride the chopping, frenetic waves of riffage from the band. Sometimes the vocals seem unaware of the music being played, spilling out across the scorched earth the band leaves behind, which makes for a very intense, almost nerve-wracking listen. The parts when the band slow things down give off a slight whiff of black metal, but the artwork and lyrics betray a sense of humor (as does the clapping locked groove at the end), though it's anyone's guess if they're laughing along with you. Truly demented hardcore, the kind that still feels very volatile and dangerous without succumbing to gimmickry. Heavy duty, right down to the packaging; highly recommended.

Desist, Demo 2024 (625/Thrash Tapes)

Always have my ear to the ground for more west coast powerviolence, so this Desist demo was a no-brainer. Ignorant, "delinquent" (so says the label) lyrics collide with grinding tempos, knuckle-dragging riffs across these nine tracks, along with a fair amount of movie samples and substance abuse. "Greened Out" and "Opportunistic MFer" are the tracks I can recall off top, but the thing's only like six minutes so let it roll over a few times for full satisfaction. I see you, Sacramento. Rips hard, delivers the goods, leaves 'em wanting more.

Gen Gap, Hanging Out With Gen Gap 7" (MF Records)

Nabbed this without hearing a note, as it had the MF Records stamp of approval. Turns out it's not quite the furious hardcore of Delco MF's, but instead a more clean, sorta glammy 'n hammy take on the genre, easy to digest but without much flavor. I didn't find a whole lot to grab onto here; you've probably heard other bands do the same thing better.

Heaven, 4-Track EP 7" (Iron Lung)

Pretty good second 7" from this Texas D-beat unit, dutifully checking all the boxes you'd expect with a few moderate twists. I like how the riff on "S.C.U.M." sounds like it gets caught in a locked groove, and the closing track "Peace Lies" serves as a fittingly rowdy end. No real surprises here; what you see is what you get, and for some, that's good enough. Kudos for prominently including a "Free Palestine" banner on the cover.

Norms, 100% Hazaarulas 12" (11PM/Total Peace)

Yet another wild, noisy hardcore record from Budapest, and probably the best of the three featured here. Norms have been around a while, releasing a demo back in 2013, but their discordant, feverishly alive brand of 'core is new to me. The band plays with tempos that are often uncomfortably fast, the drumming unbelievably tight and right on the edge of spilling out of control, but the band's always able to pivot and set things up for another assault. No idea how they keep it all together on a track like "Valóság 9.0" or "Fogyasztó, termelóand," their many movements packed into less than two minutes, every one of 'em careening straight toward Valhalla. Feels like a meeting of Void and Masayuki Takanayagi's loudest works, and has more than whiff of Rusted Shut or Harry Pussy in the mix, too. Not a second too long, burning bright and out in about 15 minutes. Even though I want neither more nor less when it's over, 100% Hazaarulas is the most vibrant, blistering, gleefully destructive music that's passed through here in ages.

Problems, Beg For Release 7" (Adult Crash)

A welcome recommendation via @fearofgod, and one that I've not seen written about or mentioned elsewhere. Problems are from Oslo, a fact which may or may not hurt their exposure, and Beg For Release appears to be only their fourth recording in 15 years of existence, and their first in eight years. Here they've located the perfect midpoint between burly and bouncy when it comes to hardcore, every song seemingly more pit-ready than the last, bolstered by a crisp, clear recording. Almost every song opens up to a slower riff at some point, something that'd be an issue with less confident or capable musicians, but the band is airtight on this record. The yelled, intelligible vocals are the cherry on top: as angry as they need to be, all clenched teeth and lips split by mic contact, but aware of what each song calls for, always flung headfirst into the slower parts. Real hardcore heads may not like how easy the band makes this sound, but for the rest of us, it's a gift.

Suffocating Madness, Unrelenting Forced Psychosis 12" (Toxic State)

Unpopular pick for best Toxic State release this year! Really dug the slept-on first 7" from Suffocating Madness, and was stoked to see they remained an active concern with this LP released in October. Discharge is an obvious influence, but on this recording, I'm reminded over and over again of Bastard's classic Wind of Pain, from the nuanced-but-apparent thrash metal influence to the lyrical content, which meshes the sociopolitical with the personal. From the jump, the record's as advertised, a blistering assault augmented by searing solos and the occasional bone-crunching slowdown. Tracks like "Slaughter" and "Wankers" are a blitz on apathy, "Shove Yer Cross Up My Ass" is a nice upending of the usual punk rhetoric, and the call-and-response vocals on "Pressure" ramp up the intensity tenfold. Gotta shout out "Their Legacy Will Die" as an oddly comforting idea to tie things together, and like the majority of Unrelenting Forced Psychosis, the band refuses to accept the feeling of having no control in an increasingly aggressive late-capitalist society. In the end the record feels like a real on-ramp to action, a caustic cleanse with a galvanized finish.

[ratwavekayla]

I'm changing how I approach my newsletter this year to make it a little less of a diary of what I've been up to. I'm moving to starting off with a roundup of links to things I've done and then devoting the rest of the post to a blog post.

I'm also trying to cross post the blog bits on my website.

I've kicked off this change with a project announcement that tries to go a bit more into depth than what that usually looks like. I'm talking about my space noir game, what inspired it, a bit about how it will work and what the intention is there, and the moods and emotions I'm trying to create. There's also a real title reveal.

In the proper newsletter I point to some things I'm thinking of writing more blogs on; experiments in minimizing second person address, what noir is going into the mix, how I'm figuring out setting detail, big thoughts about women in noir, bringing in exercises to a game text, a film-informed approach to design and why I hate how the term cinematic is used in tabletop.

[a-crow-is-white]

2025 media roundup: confessions of a mask 📚

Back in 2024 I wanted to write little excerpts from art I got to look at/ listen to/ experience etc, so here is my first instalment! After a long and arduous drag to get myself to finish this book, I finally did this January! So let's dive in...

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima originally 仮面の告白 (Kamen no Kokuhaku)

I should preface this with my own anecdote of how I know of Mishima's work-- the song "I'm Afraid of Japan" from Owen Pallett's 'He Poos Clouds'. It's one of my favourites on the record, and the last lines "Will no one read The Sound of Waves? / Oh, oh, I am afraid" has left an impression on me since I first heard the song in 2008... it wasn't until about 15 years later my beautiful girlfriend gifted me a copy of the book, and I absolutely loved it! So while browsing Toronto's Glad Day Bookshop with friends on an outing I spotted this book on display and had to bring it home...

As for my review of the novel itself, I found it a good read! As the story is told from a first person view with majority of the narration coming from the protagonist's inner thoughts, it certainly has a "dream-like" soliloquy quality to it. I have read many books, but I can't say there are many first person accounts that really felt I was probing around inside their mind; Which leads to a lot of second-hand embarassment or whiplash from reading this.

Looking back I feel like the first two chapters are a bit of slog, as they detail the Kochan's early life. The clarity he describes upon becoming obssessed with death, St. Sebastian, and the crush of having to hide your true thoughts really resonated with the me I remember as a child. (Especially all the parts about a Knight dying and being covered in blood...) I do also think I wasn't putting enough time to really digest the first bit of the book, but by the last few chapters I was hooked.

In the last two chapters where the story stays firmly in the years of World War II, Kochan really struggles with trying to fit himself into "normalcy". The line "..I constantly told myself it would be better to die than become a lukewarm person... a person who wants only to be loved without knowing how to love." hit me like a moving truck I had to re-read that same paragraph over and over... Because then right after having this deep and dark reflection the story pivots with the most unbashed clarity to write about how he tried to masturbate by imagining a woman and couldn't do it.

While those bits certainly made me laugh at the absurdity in the lucid train of thought Kochan has, overall these dense paragaphs really put into perspective how deeply ingrained putting up a front is...

Overall I think if you are interested in the classics and want a decently short "coming out" book to read, I would reccomend it!

[tim-pierce]

Starter for @nishroy

When: Present

Where: The Paxton Roundup (after hours)

“Nish!” Tim greeted as soon as the door chimed his arrival. With it being an hour since the office closed for the day, the Roundup was basically empty. Except for Tim, of course, and now Nish. Tim turned in his office chair. The whiteboard off to the left of his desk was covered in diagrams and frenetic scrawls. They were planning for the next issue which meant relative chaos for anyone who didn’t understand the madness.

“Ignore that,” Tim said with a wave at the board. He sat a greasy paper bag onto the coffee table — takeout from Mesa. “How’ve you been since Elias got the second report about Randall Kastings? I’ve been meaning to ask before now, but the last issue took up a lot of time between Oceanview and Grayson Hall’s passing, it’s been difficult to keep track of everything not day-job related.”

[thankyoudanielfest]

Thank you, Daniel! Fest – Second wave roundup post.

Here is the first wave roundup post.

With this, we'd like to wrap up Thank you, Daniel! Fest. As promised, a roundup of more incredible works made by even more incredible people!

Fics:

Google Translate What Does This Mean? by @ararararo

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1,5k words (chapter 1/2)

Google Translate couldn't possibly be lying to him but Max couldn't possibly be lying to him either. There's no way his younger teammate has been teaching him to how to say 'Impregnate Me' and 'Cum in Me' in Dutch, made him repeat it every time they were together under false pretence that they were confidence boosting sentences. It must be Google Translate that's lying to him, because his Maxy could never... right?

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The Final Part in the Unlimited Kiss Coupon Universe by @saapphicx

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.7k words (complete)

The season is over and Daniel is home for Christmas. But he’s not alone. Max has made good on the offer Daniel gave him, and has packed himself up to the farm for the winter break. Maybe it’s time for Daniel to finally get what he’s wanted since the first day he received that coupon. Maybe it’s time for him to be brave.

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Feeling like I'm on a Hook by @naanima

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 12k words (complete)

He knew he should talk this out with Blake, contact his lawyers, and make sure the rest of his team wasn't asking questions they shouldn't. But he couldn't, because the first thing you learned as a rookie on a F1 team was that you don't fucking ever talk about the free use clause with anyone that wasn't your team principal, the head of HR of your team, and the two FIA representatives - the medical specialist and the monitor who inspected both drivers after each “incident” on FIA premise. And of course the other party involved in the free use clause. Agents were viewed with disdain. (The free use clause is activated in Daniel's contract post Singapore).

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Ain’t That Kind of Movie by @annebd

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 2k words (chapter 1/2)

Daniel is the two-time World Drivers' Champion, and at the FIA Awards ceremony, he meets Max, who is charming and funny and gorgeous. And an escort.

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surrender my heart by @f1thememp3

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 1.9k words (chapter 1/4)

There weren’t any subs in formula 1. not for a long time, and at least not publicly. Statistically speaking there were likely quite a few somewhere along the line, but the general perception that subs were far too fragile to handle the demands of the sport kept them fully in the dark. You either fit the mold or got out of the car.

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Last by @flawlessassholes

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3.8k words (complete)

Ten years after Max's first time is Daniel's last.

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Love Blind by @mvlionheart

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 3,2k words (chapter 1/12)

“What are we going to do?” Danny ventures asking, voice a thinly veiled attempt at composure. This was their moment, it was all coming together. The years of hard work, the pay-out just around the corner. He couldn’t stomach thinking about letting everything slip through their fingers. “Open auditions?” Noah replies. OR When Danny's band Enchanté loses their drummer right before a big show, they have to find a last-minute replacement. It's a good thing the bass player's sister knows a guy. It's a bad thing, for Danny at least, that the guy is a hot, young, drum prodigy who really knows how to work his sticks.

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Stranded by @mvpanda1

Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, 5,8k words (complete)

Daniel is having the time of his life. Shining sun, clear calm waters, a yacht full of the best friends a guy could ask for, and the love of his life. Max. It’s hard to believe they are here together now. Out in the open. No longer sneaking into empty rooms or dark corners. They have been inseparable the entire trip—two becoming one in every way possible. His friends don’t care, they’re just happy Daniel finally feels comfortable enough to be himself. OR Daniel is having the time of his life until he isn't.

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Edits and creations:

enjoy the butterflies by @thebirdsareafterme

Daniel and butterflies piece by @avida-heidia-5

Cute Daniel edit by @mango-yoyo

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Please show some love to everyone who participated! All of the people above have done an incredible job. This wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you who participated and we cannot thank you enough for dedicating time to show some love towards Daniel.

Right now, we're giving you all a big, warm hug... but do keep an eye out for something perhaps coming in January ;)

with love, mods <3

[maddie-grove]

2024 Reading Roundup: General Fiction

I've decided to write a roundup of all the books I read by genre last year (plus a separate post for rereads) before sharing my top twenty. These are the general fiction (not YA or romance) novels I read last year, in order of publication date:

The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb (1953): In the bleakest days of the Great Depression, the Reverend Harry Powell roams the poverty-ravaged Ohio River Valley, consumed by a twisted religious fervor. Following a lead from a condemned man, he courts young widow Willa Harper and charms an entire small town...except for Willa's ten-year-old son John, who fears him intensely and has guessed at his ulterior motives. This is a tense, beautifully written book, but honestly I think seeing the more-famous 1955 movie first spoiled it for me. The movie is very faithful to the book and has the added benefit of featuring gorgeous visuals and electrifying performances.

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage (1967): In 1920s Montana, awkward, gentle-natured rancher George Burbank marries delicate widow Rose Gordon. It's a fine match, but George's brother Phil, a complicated man who rarely bathes or holds back his cruel remarks, despises both Rose and her sensitive teenage son Peter. It turns out, though, that Peter is pretty complicated himself. This is also a book where I saw and liked the movie first, but this time I liked the story even more in novel form. I really enjoyed getting into the characters' heads, and the ending hits even harder when you read it.

The Siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon Williams (1969): American professor George Magruder and his English wife Louise are living unhappily in a small Cornwall town, partly because their marriage is strained and partly because they don't fit in with the clannish locals. When the escape of a child murderer from a nearby prison coincides with a little girl disappearing from a Christmas party, the couple finds themselves dealing with much more immediate threats: home invasion and mob violence! Sam Peckinpah based his controversial movie Straw Dogs on this novel, but I've never seen Straw Dogs so that's not important right now. I have no idea how seriously I'm supposed to take the gender politics of this story--at different points, it feels like Williams is endorsing the subservience of women or mocking those who find that idea attractive--and honestly that ambiguity enhanced my experience. The exciting, gruesome action sequences were also excellent.

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (1972): Joanna Eberhart is ready for some culture shock when she moves from New York City to the suburban Stepford, Connecticut with her husband and children, but she's not prepared for single-mindedly devoted most of the women of Stepford are to their homes. She makes friends with women who still have their own hobbies and interests, but, as their ranks thin, she begins to suspect something more sinister than ordinary conformity. Based on its reputation, I was expecting the novel to be sharply written and offer insight into the backlash against second-wave feminism, but I wasn't expecting it to be so genuinely terrifying. It delivered on all counts.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (1983): Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor, travels to coastal northeastern England to settle the affairs of a remote estate, but finds himself trailed by a gaunt, black-clad figure with malevolent eyes. This gothic horror novel has some top-notch spooky shit going on (lots of fog, a house that's only reachable at low tide) and an absolutely devastating payoff.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (2015): An unnamed North Vietnamese spy in the South Vietnamese army moves to Los Angeles with his former general and many other refugees following the Fall of Saigon. With flexible morals, a broad mind, and a generous heart, he tries to balance his ideals and his personal desires. This book doesn't have a ton of momentum until the ending chapters, but it was vibrant and often very funny whenever I picked it up.

Slade House by David Mitchell (2015): From the 1970s to the 2010s, a mysterious house becomes the final resting place of several lost souls: a lonely young boy, a washed-up cop, an insecure college student, and others. I'm a sucker for stories about a house/monster/artifact/whatever that uses your deepest insecurities and desires to kill/consume you; it's such a great way to study a character. Unfortunately, like many stories of this type, the deal with the Scary Thing (in this case, the house and its inhabitants) is less interesting than the deal with its victims. It's so cheesy. It doesn't really detract from the rest of the story, though.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (2020): In a world where magical beings exist and the government systematically oppresses them, middle-aged social worker Linus Baker is sent to investigate a remote orphanage for unusual children, run by the eccentric Arthur Parnassus. I should say upfront that this isn't really my kind of book; I have a limited capacity for magical-school/orphanage stories even when they're for kids, and the adult version interests me even less. It's a sweet novel, but it bashed me over the head with whimsy and drowned me in therapy-speak. I was exhausted by the end. Also, Klune sets up the government as this sinister, all-powerful force, but as an antagonist it feels less like Big Brother from 1984 and more like the douchey bosses from Office Space.

Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch (2021): After her husband announces that he's gotten a Fulbright grant to study genocide in Namibia, Silicon-Valley-based breadwinner Amanda agrees to move with him and their nine-year-old daughter Meg to Windhoek, where she soon finds herself at loose ends. Ambassador's wife Persephone, lively and frequently intoxicated, strikes up a friendship with her. Meanwhile, Meg becomes friends with the daughter of a Namibian minister, whose beautiful wife has a secret history with Amanda's husband. This novel is kind of an odd duck. The beginning foreshadows all kinds of danger and dark secrets, but it's ultimately a soapy beach read. It did keep me turning the pages, at any rate.

The Turnout by Megan Abbott (2021): Dara runs a ballet school, inherited from her mother, with her fragile sister Marie and her retiring husband Charlie. Just as Nutcracker season is beginning, their lives are disrupted, first by a fire in the attic and then by Derek, a crude, insinuating contractor hired to fix the damage. Derek has his eye on both the family's ramshackle Victorian house and their secrets, but the extent of the danger he presents is unclear. I liked this book well enough; however, it's not Abbott's best. The lurid reveal is lurid in a pretty predictable way.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2021): It's December 1985 in small-town Ireland, and Bill Furlong, despite a hard economy and a somewhat rough childhood, has managed to build a decent life with his wife and five daughters. An encounter with an abused teenage girl from the nearby Magdalene Laundry, however, has him questioning his values. Tender and contemplative, this deserves to be a new Christmas classic.

Tracy Flick Can't Win by Tom Perrotta (2022): The ambitious, lonely teenage heroine of Election is now a forty-something vice-principal at a suburban New Jersey high school, expecting to become principal once her boss retires. The school board has more ambitious ideas, though, and once again she finds herself competing with a less qualified but more popular man. Times have changed since the novel was published in 1998, so it's no surprise that the sequel is gentler towards Tracy than the original (which at least raises the possibility that Tracy's ambition presents some legitimate threat, even though I think it ultimately answers that question in the negative). This approach could feel toothless, but it doesn't, because Tracy has lived a whole life since the events of the first novel and come out mature yet totally recognizable. Perrotta's best decision is making her a competent, reasonable, compassionate person...who's still kind of a mess. It works really well.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff (2023): Circa 1610, a servant girl escapes from the starving, disease-ridden Jamestown Colony into the Virginian wilderness, where she struggles against man and nature to survive. I did not enjoy this book so much. The style was overwrought, the author didn't seem to know the difference between Anglicans and Calvinists, and the message about colonialism was muddled.

Old Crimes by Jill McCorkle (2024): In the opening story of this collection, Lynn, a first-generation college student in the nineties, notices the cracks in her relationship with her upper-middle-class boyfriend when they go to stay in a dubious inn. For him, it's a novelty that would shock his uptight family's sensibilities; for her, it's an uncomfortable reminder of a past she almost didn't even think of escaping. At her best, McCorkle is one of the finest short story writers ever, and this is one of her best collections that I've read. She packs so much meaning into stories that seem simple and gravitas into stories that are funny.

[nasuversekinkmeme]

Weekly Roundup: Prompts (June 27-July-04)

Tsukihime

Screw it, Akiha ABDL

Pet play: Ciel takes Arcuied round the back and puts her down like Old Yeller

Fate/Stay Night

Shinji gets isekaid after that one time he gets killed in canon but life isn't any better for him in the new world(by his standards at least)

shiki vs taiga swordfight. battle of the ages

taiga learns tiger drop which negates all damage

okay , for real , outta all the f/sn masters, i bet shirou would have the easiest time adjusting to the chaos of life at chaldea . an rin is stuck on the struggle bus with now way out the second she meets BB.

a wave of peace and quiet flows through the clocktower , why ? rin & luvia were tf'd into hex maniacs and no one wants to turn 'em back to normal b/c they aren't total assholes in that state . hell, shirou's even okay with those remaining like that , especially since luvia's taken up gardening. having a friend bring fresh produce when they pop over unannounced has done wonders for his cooking.

Rin Tohsaka being TF'd into Luvia's trophy wife

Smut, unsanitary, Ruby fully re-brainwashes Rin like when she was a kid and makes her piss herself live on stage in front of thousands of people in her old Magical Girl costume. The brainwashed Rin of course finds this very erotic and ends up fingering herself as she pisses buckets.

Fate/Extra

edit BB.exe, setvar arousal=TRUE, setvar canorgasm=FALSE, setvar pleasure=5*pleasure, exit

FGO

Gudako after eating Van Gogh's flesh from her valentine present is in great need to get another bite

kadoc & gudako should bond through shoplifting at sephora

Smut, there’s plenty of content about morgan and her husband. where’s the content of morgan and her wife??? I wanna see gudako dutifully satisfying her witch wife’s needs in the bedroom; bonus if Morgan has a dick (as in in a trans way, because fuck yes). let gudako suck her wife off dammit!!!

somebody at chaldea figures out after xxx or more years of repression they are not straight and/or cis. specifically a servant because post mortem milestones of life are extremely funny to me

Smut, I humbly request for mash/morgan porn where morgan refers to mash as her "trophy."

Ophelia Phamrsolone learns her last name is entirely because of a centuries-old typo. Several typos. Drunken insistence a scribble was legible, really.

all of the support servants of Chaldea (such as Scathach Skadi, Merlin, Waver, etc) decide to go against Gudako because she always overworks them during grinding sessions. It’s up to the writer to decide if they succeed or DIE because of Chen Gong

Raikou and Tiamat fight over who's Guda's mother. End up solving the problem by marrying each other.

The Chaldea mom club learn about the amount of servants in love with Gudako and decide as Gudako's mother(s) that they need figure out who is worthy of taking the masters hand in marriage. Cut to B.B hosting the matchmaking equivalent of America's Got Talent with them prize being to marry Gudako.

let's put beryl in the chen gong cannon

castoria and guda use each other as chew toys and nobody is sure whether or not its a sex thing or not(correct answer is sometimes yeah but not always)

Guda finds out that she has a weight gaining kink/wants to fatten up after spending too much time watching how happy Caesar and Cleopatra are

warhammer 40k tournament at chaldea ,

a few people at chaldea play 2 truths and a lie : here's gudako's list: i run a salamanders army on the Warhammer 40k table top ( true) when i took this job , my main goal was to not die a virgin & by the emperor did i succeed !(true) and i have my coochie pierced ( false)

Chaldea holds a pride parade. Turns out every single servant is queer in some way, at least once modern concepts of gay and bi and trans and whatnot are explained to them, so there's a 100% turnout rate. Somehow nobody saw this coming.

this is a *big* request but with most of his lines being translated now i crave bhima gorging the absolute hell out (wg, stuffing, anything in between)

Smut, Due to the presence of a large number of people who can actually go blow for blow with her in Chaldea, Barghest regularly engages in battle sex. Powerbomb into mating press is a hell of a drug.

Smut, After Morgan tells Gudao to get rid of all his other Berserkers and asserting that she's the only one he'll ever need, he finally puts his foot down and disciplines the former Queen of Fairy Britain. Things don't go quite as planned and naturally, this has unintended (sexy) consequences. Now, Morgan starts causing problems on purpose just so she can be "punished" by Gudao, much to his consternation.

Smut, Gudako gets sent with Mash to Aesc and the threesome is so good that all their traumas vanish, the Lostbelt is fixed, and Queen Morgan has two new Consorts.

gudako convinces castoria to kill gudao so castoria can stay with Gudako. unfortunately castoria and Gudao murder each other, and what will gudako do?

There’s a reason why despite the constant Arts farming, Castoria is still alive: She drinks 10 cups of Monster just to stay awake and alive. Bonus points if her stash of Monster Energy Drinks are stolen or is found.

Arcueid & Kukulkan, ultimate one squad

Smut, Dobryna getting summoned in place of her husband to protect him and then fucking Guda sounds like an ntr plot, so why not write it like one?

Alexander/Iskandar meets Berserker Darius only to realize his ancient rival is nothing like he remembered. Can be played for comedy but I'm imagining more the scene from Sopranos where Tony and Junior meet for the last time

Scheherazade plans for, and goes on a date with, Nitocris. Swaps back and forth between Scheherazade being anxious and hyper-over-planning for every negative contingency and Nitocris comforting her as things go very well actually.

Smut, nitocris says she wants to marry master( which ever one you want) and the other pharaoh/egyptian servants and their partner help her become a good wife in-n-out of bed due to this master pass out the first time they have sex.

Baobhan Sith keeps trying to be a mean girl, but ends up accidentally helping everyone, and gets mad about it. The last straw is when Guda praises her, so she decides, in a fit of impulsiveness, to do the most diabolical thing she can think of doing to Guda; Baobhan Sith steals their first kiss. The only problem is that Guda was actually saving their first kiss for them anyway, so it was all for nothing.

arjuna & junao try out the twin- switch trick , their success in fooling people will depend on the prompt filler

Dinofucker Olgamarie

Join us on our new Chaldea game show, “Justify! That! Atrocity!” Starring featuring guest stars like Gawain, Mordred, Abigail, and many more!

Ereshkigal and Ishtar inherited Rin's dumb Bissexual rizz and end up creating their own harem without even realizing it

chaldea summoning galahad by complete accident. meanwhile, lancelot is FREAKING OUT about this

Berserker Lancelot is always just emitting that freaky growling noise of his due to the chronic pain, and thus is constantly miserable. That is is, until Tomoe Gozen shows him Microsoft Flight Simulator, and the simple happiness overtakes the pain and rage

Smut, Director Olga Marie can't stop masturbating

Smut, Castoria + prostitution. A country girl gotta do what she gotta do all alone in britain yknow.

After Guda is captured by the mages Association so they can transfer their command seals to a more trustful user who will give better use to their army of servants, a servant finds them and begs them to escape, that Chaldea can keep them safe, while Guda begs them to kill them, that way nobody will go after Chaldea and there won't be a risk that these command seals will fall in dangerous hands

the real dobryna already had imposter syndrome due to being just a squishy human while his wife & daughter(s?) are some pretty dang strong monsters. and his wife committing identity theft in order to join chaldea just rubbed salt in the wound. now it's up to the koyan twins to solve their dad's problem , because if they don't , he's gonna run off & elope with gudako.

due to boredom, Castoria tries the Grimace Shake. It is up to the writer to decide if she dies or not from drinking the shake

FGO, again

Rasputin has a skill with a chance to trigger guts, chaldea plays a game and bet how many times they will have to kill Rasputin before he dies

Chaldea ends up summoning Saber Galahad Alter AKA the Cooler Galahad from Fate/Requiem, and Mash ends up experiencing what it's like to have a big brother, while the original Galahad is low-key seething because everyone likes his far more approachable Alter self, including Mash.

Smut, Morgan x Ronald McDonald smut

Gudako and Castoria left too many bite marks on each other just for Oberon to tease them about it.

warhammer 40k tournament at chaldea : you've got gudako with her salamander army, tomoe of all people is running a chaos undivided set up, osakabehime has her Astra Militarum (aka guardsmen) & a back up adeptus mechanicus army, and sei is in possession of some very impressive Ork kitbashes., and then there's morgan spectating ; she currently does not have a good grasp on how to play the game , but she did enjoy painting a few sisters of battle minis with gudako.

locusta finds out that people on the internet call her nasu.

Due to the constant pause in the flow of time due to the world nearly ending and the constant rayshifting that puts their physical body in suspension Guda's mind has aged much faster than their body, so i propose: Mid 40s Guda that still looks like they're is in his early 20s and acts like they're in their 60s

Jing Ke runs out of her monthly supply of booze, and Moriarty has cut her off from the bar due to making a mess last time- leaving her with only one option, Shuten Douji. She starts drinking Shuten’s Oni-wine, and begins developing Oni traits because of it.

Tiamat comforting a character with mommy issues, Raikou, Mordred or Jack would be ideal, but given the amount of tragic backstorys in this franchise, everyone needs some motherly love

Sei Shōnagon called Scheherazade’s summons pokemon once a week ago, and she’s been in an existential crisis ever since, trying to figure out if she needs to collect gym badges or not

Li Shuwen is not allowed to fist his partners anymore :(

[consultingsister-a5]

continued from x / @arkhameir

"Princess Cee..." she repeats with a happy little hum. "You should change my name on your phone to that. Although I suppose I'm getting to Queen age these days."

Celia pulls the paper out of his line of sight, flicking it open to read the inside pages. Sunday papers used to be a luxury of a normal work week; she misses it. Hot coffee delivered to the house, something sweet for breakfast, curled up in the duvets with the New York Times or The Independent. It was so civilised. These days most of her news comes from a roundup podcast on her run or Apple news headlines.

"Perhaps if they have lived longer, they would have managed it. But hey, I would marry you in a second. It's you being married to me you need to worry about. There is your Gotham Globe headline. Black Widow traps Gotham's first son in her web," she waves her hand through the air, marking out the headline in front of them both.

She wished she was kidding. The day she introduces lucky number four to the world? The press will have a field day. He'll lose all the respect he barely had. Poor guy.

"This is you charming? Oh darling, you've got a long way before I publish your Bumble profile," she giggles from behind the paper, lifting her long legs into his table. Somewhere, her grandmother is crying. "You ever been close? To marriage, I mean."

[cart2indiagroup]

Cart2India Review Roundup: Best‑Rated Products by Buyers

Finding authentic global goods can be a headache. You hunt multiple sites, worry about fake listings, and pay surprise customs fees. This is why many shoppers turn to Cart2India online. The platform focuses on imported items and publishes clear delivery expectations. Still, new customers often hesitate. They ask whether the service is trustworthy, how the products perform, and which items stand out. Today’s roundup answers those questions. By studying verified Cart2India reviews, we highlight the best‑rated products and explain why buyers love them. The goal is simple. You will leave with practical knowledge that helps you shop smarter and avoid costly mistakes.

What Products Earn Top Ratings on Cart2India?

Real buyers rave most about health supplements shipped from the United States. Protein powders, omega‑3 capsules, and multivitamins dominate the five‑star section. Shoppers praise the sealed packaging, recent manufacturing dates, and clear nutrition labels. They say these details prove authenticity and justify slightly higher prices. Another high‑scoring group involves premium skincare. Brands like CeraVe and The Ordinary receive constant applause for delivering visible results without harsh reactions. Reviewers note that bottles arrive unbroken, with intact holograms and batch numbers. Gourmet snacks also attract stellar feedback. Imported chocolates, nut butters, and sugar‑free candies get credit for fresh taste and longer shelf life. Because Cart2India stores these treats in temperature‑controlled hubs, melting or spoilage rarely occurs. Each of these categories tells a similar story. Customers enjoy niche items unavailable nearby, and they reward the platform with glowing ratings.

A second wave of praise surrounds smart gadgets. Bluetooth trackers, ergonomic keyboards, and mini projectors rank high on the site. Buyers appreciate the straightforward warranty support. If a device fails, replacement units ship swiftly after an email conversation. Those positive after‑sales stories encourage more people to try technology orders. Finally, parents give high marks to imported baby formulas and feeding accessories. Consistent stock and strict lot tracking ease safety concerns. Collectively, these findings show that when Cart2India focuses on freshness, certification, and sturdy packaging, ratings soar.

Why Do Buyers Trust These Cart2India Reviews?

Online comments can look exaggerated, yet Cart2India reviews lean credible for two big reasons. First, the site verifies each reviewer through completed orders. Only customers who received their packages may post feedback. This filter limits fake praise and malicious criticism. Second, the platform displays detailed rating snapshots that break down delivery speed, packaging quality, and product accuracy. Shoppers see which element impressed or disappointed peers. That transparency helps future buyers judge relevance to their own needs.

Users mention that consistency across multiple channels strengthens trust. They check Cart2India online listings on Amazon and Flipkart and notice similar star counts there. Matching scores on global marketplaces reduce doubt. Customers also appreciate seller responses under negative comments. Representatives explain delays, offer refunds, or share updated tracking numbers. This public problem‑solving proves accountability and raises confidence. Because of these practices, new visitors treat the review pool as a reliable research tool rather than marketing fluff.

Who Are the Shoppers Praising Cart2India Online?

High‑frequency reviewers fall into three clear groups. Fitness enthusiasts lead the chart. They rely on American workout supplements and niche gear that local stores rarely stock. Their detailed reviews discuss mixability, flavor accuracy, and lab certificates, helping future buyers judge value. Next come skincare devotees. These users chase specific ingredient lists and international formulations. They post before‑and‑after photos and share patch‑test tips. Their passion drives long paragraphs that guide cautious newcomers. Parents form the third strong cohort. They hunt toddler snacks without artificial dyes and gentle lotions free from parabens. Because safety sits at the core of their shopping, they craft meticulous reviews about expiry dates, seals, and country‑of‑origin marks.

Digital nomads and gadget collectors also contribute solid feedback. They document tech unboxing sessions and benchmark tests. Though smaller in number, their technical language aids anyone considering high‑ticket electronics. Together, these communities keep the review section vibrant and informative. Their firsthand stories shorten your learning curve and reduce buyer anxiety.

Where Does Cart2India Source Its Best Sellers?

According to official statements and multiple Cart2India reviews, the company engages licensed distributors in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Goods travel in consolidated air shipments to minimize handling and avoid long warehouse layovers. Once items land in India, they pass through customs clearance and reach temperature‑controlled fulfillment centers. Employees scan barcodes to log batch numbers, then store products by category in climate‑appropriate zones. This method preserves fragile goods such as probiotics and chocolate.

Buyers note that each parcel contains an import sticker listing original country, Harmonized System code, and maximum retail price after duty. These labels match invoice entries, adding another layer of transparency. The supply chain appears designed for traceability over speed. This is why delivery takes ten to sixteen working days yet rarely exceeds the promised window. Slow but steady handling keeps damage rates low and customer satisfaction high.

When Should You Place Your Cart2India Orders?

Shoppers looking to maximize savings may wait for global sale periods. Black Friday and Cyber Monday trigger site‑wide coupons that can slash prices by up to fifteen percent. Festival seasons like Diwali and Christmas also bring free‑shipping thresholds and bonus reward points. However, many Cart2India reviews argue that waiting too long risks stockouts, especially for best‑rated goods. Limited‑edition skincare kits and seasonal snacks vanish quickly. Therefore, a balanced strategy works best. Track upcoming promotions through email alerts, yet secure must‑have items as soon as inventory appears.

Time of week also matters. Orders placed early Monday usually process before the weekend export cycle, shaving a day off total transit. Although not a guarantee, this timing pattern shows up repeatedly in user timelines. Planning ahead ensures products reach you before birthdays, fitness milestones, or gifting occasions.

How Can You Optimize Your Cart2India Experience?

Successful buyers follow several simple habits. They double‑check product sizes and quantity details because international packaging may differ from local expectations. They pay online rather than cash on delivery, which accelerates customs clearance and prevents returned shipments. They keep tracking numbers handy and watch updates every three days. If a parcel stalls, they email support quickly, citing order ID and screenshot evidence. Speedy communication nudges the team to investigate, reducing wait anxiety.

Another best practice involves combining multiple small items into one order. Consolidated shipping often costs less per unit and lowers the carbon footprint. Reviewers also advise signing up for Coin rewards. Each purchase earns points that convert into coupons for future carts. Finally, storing product manuals and outer boxes helps in case of warranty claims or returns. These proactive steps transform a standard purchase into a seamless journey.

Conclusion

Real customer voices paint a clear picture. Cart2India delivers strong value when you seek authentic imported products, especially supplements, skincare, gadgets, and gourmet snacks. Verified Cart2India reviews highlight freshness, careful packaging, and responsive support. Delays do occur, yet transparency and problem resolution keep satisfaction high. By ordering at optimal times, reading labels, and using reward points, you can stretch your budget and minimize friction. If global brands matter to you, Cart2India online remains a dependable bridge between markets.

FAQs: Cart2India Review Roundup

1. Why do delivery times vary between products? Transit depends on supplier location, customs clearance speed, and domestic courier workload. Supplements and electronics usually clear faster than food items requiring extra checks.

2. Are duties included in Cart2India prices? Yes, listed prices generally cover import duties. Rarely, courier partners may request a small surcharge for remote areas.

3. What if an item arrives damaged? Contact support within twenty‑four hours. Provide photos of the packaging and product. Replacements or refunds are processed within seven days.

4. Can I track my parcel in real time? A tracking link activates once the shipment leaves the origin warehouse. Updates appear at key milestones such as departure, customs entry, and out‑for��delivery.

5. Does Cart2India accept returns for buyer remorse? Returns for change of mind are limited to unopened items in original condition. Shipping fees may apply. Always review the specific return policy before purchasing.

[malaliusmanshaikhc]

Latest Gadgets That Will Change Your Life in 2025Title: 10 Game-Changing Gadgets to Transform Your Life in 2025Introduction

From smart rings to AI-powered fitness trackers, 2025 is ushering in a wave of innovative gadgets designed to make your life smarter, faster, and more efficient. These devices blend cutting-edge technology with practicality, revolutionizing how we work, play, and stay healthy. Here’s a roundup of the latest gadgets that will change your life this year.BodySmart Rings (e.g., Samsung Galaxy Ring, Oura Ring 4)Discreet health tracking with heart rate, sleep, and stress monitoring.Up to a week of battery life, outlasting most smartwatches.Perfect for minimalists who want wellness data without bulky wearables.  Portable Smart ProjectorCompact projectors for big-screen entertainment or presentations on the go.Syncs with smartphones for seamless streaming.  Noise-Cancelling EarbudsAffordable models now rival premium brands, offering distraction-free audio for work or travel.Ideal for productivity and immersive music experiences.  Digital Smart NotebookDigitizes handwritten notes and syncs them to the cloud.Eco-friendly and perfect for students or professionals.  Smart Plant Care SystemMonitors soil moisture, light, and temperature to keep your plants thriving.Sends alerts to your phone for effortless gardening.  Amazfit Active 2 SmartwatchBudget-friendly with offline maps, AI voice commands, and 10-day battery life.A steal at $99 with premium features like sapphire glass for $30 more.  Swippit HubA toaster-shaped charger that fully charges your phone in seconds using a compatible case.Supports iPhone 14–16 and Samsung Galaxy S23–24.  Keychron Q6 HE KeyboardA gamer-friendly mechanical keyboard with Hall Effect switches and RGB backlighting.Long-lasting 4,000-mAh battery for uninterrupted productivity.  Withings Omnia Smart MirrorA futuristic health screening tool that tracks heart health, body composition, and sleep.Integrates with other Withings devices for a holistic wellness hub.  Reolink Duo 3 WiFi Security CameraDual-lens 4K cameras with a 180-degree view and Motion Track for condensed footage.Supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6 for reliable connectivity.

These gadgets are more than just tech—they’re tools to simplify your life, boost productivity, and enhance well-being. Which one are you most excited to try? Let us know in the comments!Caption for Social Media

[number-one-gaming-blog]

This Week in Gaming: AI Hubs, Big Money Moves, and a Culture at a Crossroads

The gaming industry is evolving rapidly — not just in how we play, but in how it’s built, funded, and talked about. Here’s a roundup of the most important stories shaping the future of games.

AI Takes Center Stage: UNLV Launches Research Hub

UNLV just launched the AiR Hub, a major new initiative designed to explore the risks, rewards, and realities of artificial intelligence in gaming. By partnering with both academia and industry leaders, the hub aims to study how AI can enhance game design, storytelling, and player interaction — while also addressing ethical concerns and long-term impacts.

“Stupid Money” Fallout: Industry Spending Under Fire

Former Sony President Shawn Layden didn’t hold back this week, blaming the industry’s current struggles on reckless COVID-era spending. He described it as “stupid money,” arguing that the boom led to bloated budgets and unsustainable development timelines — which are now causing painful layoffs and restructuring across major studios.

Gamers Speak Out: Patches, Microtransactions, and Reboots

Gamers are becoming increasingly vocal about the direction of the industry. Recent community discussions reveal growing frustration with day-one patches, aggressive monetization, and a heavy reliance on nostalgia — as publishers continue to push remakes and reboots instead of original IPs.

Teens Are Spending, Indies Are Winning

With younger players driving profits through microtransactions, the big studios are doubling down. But indie developers are fighting back — offering more complete, immersive experiences without the endless upcharges. It’s a clear pushback against pay-to-win and freemium fatigue.

GTA 6 Breaks the Internet

The second trailer for GTA 6 just broke YouTube records with over 475 million views, becoming the biggest video game launch in history. Rockstar’s hype machine is alive and well — and fans are watching every frame for clues.

A $7.8 Billion Surge in Gaming Investments

The first quarter of 2025 saw a whopping $7.8 billion invested into the gaming sector, driven largely by excitement around AI tools and blockchain gaming infrastructure. Investors are betting that the next wave of innovation will come from smarter, faster, and more adaptive development.

Developers Stay Optimistic About AI — Even Amid Layoffs

Despite widespread layoffs across major studios, 79% of game developers say they’re optimistic about AI’s potential. Many see it as a way to streamline repetitive tasks and unlock more time for creativity — even as the workforce continues to shrink.

Representation Still Lags: Women in Gaming

Industry leaders are calling for more female representation in all areas of game development. Beyond equity, many believe a broader range of voices is key to fixing the toxicity and ethical blind spots that continue to plague parts of gaming culture.

The bottom line? Gaming is at a major turning point — from how games are made, to who gets to make them, to how we define value in a digital world. Whether you’re a developer, player, or investor, now’s the time to pay attention.