#new tag for excerpts from this case ->

[luthienne]

from South Africa's genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice [ID'd]

[writingwithcolor]

I’m afraid my character has stereotypical traits. How do I avoid making them a caricature?

Is your character composed of several stereotypical traits, or is it just the one? Are they allowed to act and think in ways that are not confined to stereotypes? The more three-dimensional your character is, the less they are defined by the stereotypes.

One strategy that works in some cases is the “offset” character. This refers to weakening character A’s stereotype by including a character B of the same identity who isn’t stereotypical in that way. Say you have a selfless, “motherly” Black woman who looks after the cast. In addition to developing her own arc and her own desires, try adding a Black woman character with 0 maternal instinct who goes full steam ahead with her goals.

Trace your logic as to why you decided to give certain traits to a character of a certain identity. Our aptly named #trace your logic tag contains examples where we prompt the asker to interrogate their intentions behind certain ideas. Try to ask yourself the same questions.

Further reading:

Tropes and Stereotypes

Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception

---

This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. For more advice on writing with diversity, start there!

-Writing With Color

[rjzimmerman]

I'm going to invite these scientists to our house and yard. We have dozens and dozens of grackles at our feeders, making their grackle noises and bullying away our other "resident" birds. But in case they're right, here's an excerpt from an Audubon story:

As people have remade the American landscape, they’ve also shaped the fortunes of Common Grackles. The iridescent blackbirds flourished in the grain fields and pastures that European settlers cultivated after cutting down forests in the 18th and 19th centuries. By the 1970s, an estimated 150 million grackles inhabited a vast stretch from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains, and today they are regulars across much of the continent. But the birds are disappearing—and no one knows why. A new tracking project aims to reveal what’s driving the mysterious decline.

Birders were among the first to gather evidence of the species’ troubling trajectory. In winter, grackles join Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, and other birds in giant swirling congregations. Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) long tallied roosts of up to tens of millions of birds. But in the past couple of decades, participants have rarely found flocks of more than a few million, says former CBC director Geoff LeBaron. Other blackbirds are in decline, too, but grackles have become noticeably absent from winter roosts.

According to CBC data, Common Grackles have been dropping at a rate of 3 percent per year, which amounts to a roughly 78 percent decline since 1970, says Tim Meehan, a quantitative scientist at Audubon. Meanwhile, federal Breeding Bird Surveys, which take place each summer, have found at least a 50 percent decline over the past half century. These data clearly indicate that there are fewer grackles across the board, Meehan says: “It’s a slam dunk.”

Michael Ward, a University of Illinois biologist, is one of the lead scientists delving into the conundrum. In 2021 he and his colleagues ruled out a hunch that grackles were failing to produce young: 60 percent of chicks in nearly 200 nests that he monitored fledged successfully, a higher rate than most songbirds achieve. Whatever is harming grackles is likely affecting adults, Ward says.

It’s possible the resourceful foragers, which eat everything from grubs to grains to garbage, are exposed to something dangerous in their diet. The researchers suspect insects and corn could be hazardous meals: Both may contain high levels of neonicotinoids—insecticides commonly applied to grains that have been linked to a decline in avian biodiversity in North America and beyond. Ward’s group plans to study what grackles eat on their breeding grounds to help determine how great a risk their food poses.

Meanwhile, the scientists want to better understand the challenges grackles face after leaving their breeding grounds. In addition to stringing up mist nets to snag birds in residential neighborhoods and at roost sites, Ward and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kelly VanBeek set live traps baited with seed and mealworms at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Goose Pond Sanctuary. They outfitted 14 Common Grackles with satellite tags throughout the summer and early fall of 2023 as the birds prepared to depart for their wintering grounds in the Southeast and southern Midwest.

On those journeys, VanBeek says, there are plenty of opportunities for the migrants to encounter other possible chemical culprits like fungicides, which may disrupt birds’ hormones and metabolism and are typically applied in the fall when grackles are on the move. Blackbirds’ penchant for foraging on farmland in large flocks makes them a target for culling as well. Between 1974 and 1992, the federal government killed up to 18 million Common Grackles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama to reduce damage to agricultural crops. The pace has slowed, but the practice continues: Wildlife Services, a USDA division, killed more than 630,000 Common Grackles over the past decade. That’s on top of birds taken by farmers under FWS permits.

[caldella]

Thanks for the tag, @fuzzandfeathers and @theradiodaemon !

No doodles this time for me, so have one of my favorite excerpts from my WIP fanfic. It's over 9k words now. I've been sick & down for the count for a couple days, but I'm getting back to it now that I'm upright. I debated between if I post angst from it or some more cunty Stolas. Cunty Stolas won out. He's just too much fun to write. 🤣 There are parts of this I still want to edit, but for now, here we go!

I've already posted about it before, but for context: the fanfic's theme is "Cash comes to IMP trying to guilt Blitzø into giving money, IMP finds a way to legally tell him to ✨ get fucked. ✨"

--------------------------------------------------------------

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Cash's claws dug into the furniture. Now Blitzø was the one standing up on his chair, just in case his dad tried to leap across the desk at Stolas. “This is between me and Blitzo – I told you, you're not getting shit from me!”

“Oh, of course not,” Stolas pulled the paper back, resting his hand over it so Cash couldn't tear it up. “These are Blitzø's finances, of course, as well as his business. It's entirely up to him what direction he pursues. If you're concerned about the potential results of this statement, there's a chance he could be generous enough to, perhaps, reject your invoice request, thereby nullifying the whole thing. But if not? Well, it seemed only fair to alert you to the potential repercussions of your blatant attempts at extortion. Based on this pile of counter-evidence, you've racked up enough missteps for us to create a new, personal Ring of Hell for you and name it Litigation.”

“Is that a fuckin' threat?”

“It's simply an indication of the likely outcome, based on his company's evaluation.” Stolas flattened the small feathers around his facial disc; Blitzø could feel the sarcastic smile radiating from him. “Of course, Blitzø is welcome to choose as he pleases, but from his employees' standpoint, we've found enough counter-charges to advise against any settlement out of court. If you disagree and wish to press further, plan on retaining a lawyer.”

The lanky secretary bent forward over the desk to meet Cash's eye level. His back hunched, feathers flicked out aggressively from his slim frame. “But of course, in that pursuit, do understand that your claims would be overwhelmed by the multiple legal violations you'd have to admit to in the process.” Fucking Christ on stick, that back view pulled Blitzø straight out of his confused stupor. That tone, his posture: an excited shiver threatened to crawl up his lower back. If only he could see Stolas' face at the same time. He sounded territorial, challenging - even predatory in a 'too hot to think about now, definitely think about later' way.

“AND, need I remind you,” the owl continued, “you'd be attempting legal pursuit against not only your own child, but the only imp in history to have survived a death sentence from Satan himself. Do you think the public – and the court – might not consider that? Do you think you'd stand a chance of winning with your years-old complaints and lack of substantiating paperwork?” His head quirked sideways again. “Personally, I'd say your odds are rather fucked.”

“You think you can just tell me what to do?!”

Loona crossed her arms confidently. “Right now? Yeah, he can. And he's telling you to suck a dick.”

Stolas' shoulders hunched in a very specific way - he was holding back a laugh. “Yes, thank you. I believe that's an accurate statement. After reviewing the initial invoice against our own calculations, our official conclusion is for you to suck a dick: preferably an unpleasant one.”

[akashis-waifu]

Excerpt from Beyond God and Evil (Aizen Sōsuke/Female Reader)

Continuation of An Eternity of Mind Games with You

Canon-divergence set months after TBYW. Reader is the new Soul King, so is Aizen if you squint hard enough. Your name is "Hana" for plot-purposes.

Tags: Romantic comedy, fluff and angst, enemies to old married couple, banter as love language, mutual pining, immortality, so good luck with the slow burn, Aizen is a menace but your menace <3

THAT NIGHT, in the Greater Soul King Palace, Aizen can be seen looking for you as you were not in your shared office nor in your personal quarters. He eventually finds you in the tearoom, reading a scroll while leisurely sitting on the tatami mat, near the window.

He stops himself from speaking, simply staring at you from a short distance away. You are already dressed in your usual nightwear — a white yukata so plain that it does not seem to befit a woman of your status. Nonetheless, with the gentle moonlight shining down upon your form and accentuating your regal yet serene features, the soothing breeze swaying your long, ivory strands in languid waves, the sight is incontestably ethereal — the image akin to a goddess in a painting.

Except that you are actually one. In every sense of the word.

After minutes of engrossed reading, you rise to return to the table when you finally notice Aizen standing in the doorway. He saunters towards you and stops in front of the low table, his eyes — that were previously appreciative — instantly narrowing in disdain upon sighting the poorly-written characters on the scattered papers.

“Can you, for the hundredth time, get off my case?” you groan while taking a seat.

He makes no retort and merely picks up your calligraphy brush and a blank paper, demonstrating how to write characters properly before handing the brush back to you.

“Like this. Do it again,” he commands, sounding like a stern teacher dealing with a wayward student. You repeat his strokes but the result is nowhere near satisfactory. You glance at him gingerly.

Although the displeased frown is ever-present on his face, he surprisingly does not insult you and simply sits beside you.

“Again.”

This time, he carefully guides your hand, pressing against your knuckles and fingers as he adjusts your grip. It is arguably an intimate gesture yet both of you pay it no mind, your entire focus on your calligraphy.

Strange enough, when he moves your hand along with his, you are able to write beautiful characters. But when left alone, your penmanship is almost comparable to that of a toddler. Hence, it is probably no exaggeration to claim that your innate inability to write legibly remains to be one of the greatest mysteries in the Three Realms.

Aizen observes your crestfallen expression. A mischievous idea suddenly crosses his mind, causing a smirk to spread across his face.

“Shall we make this more interesting? Every time you fail to write correctly, you will have to do one thing I want.”

You regard him with an look that screams you find his suggestion idiotic. “You must be out of your mind if you think I will ever agree to that.”

He leans closer to you, his grin widening in taunt. “Why? Do you have zero confidence in your own writing skills?”

“Your obvious provocation won't work on me.”

Aizen simply stares at you for a moment before leaning back with feigned nonchalance. “Shame. And here I was thinking of treating you to your favorite restaurant for the next decade should you win.”

Your ears instantly perk up at his offer. “Really?”

He barely stops himself from laughing derisively at your piqued interest. The way you fell for such an obvious bait, like a child who has been promised a treat, was downright pitiful.

“Do you accept the challe—?”

“Wait a minute,” you interject with a hand raised. “But your money technically comes from the Soul King Palace.”

“Which is my palace,” he argues with arms crossed over his chest. “Your point is?”

“It actually belongs to me but since I’m feeling particularly generous right now, I will share it with you,” you start rambling to buy yourself more time to consider his offer. “Anyway, your money is my money. Even if you say that you’ll treat me—”

“Hana. Do you want the unagi or not?”

Your mouth instantly shuts at his question and the way he called your name, sternly but also in a familiar manner. After a long moment of silent contemplation, you surrender with a sigh.

“Fine, but make it a millennium.”

He raises an eyebrow at your bold haggling. “Five decades.”

“Millennium.”

“A century.”

“A millennium, Aizen,” you declare with finality. “I refuse to play your game unless you agree.”

“Alright,” he relents. “I’ll treat you for the next one thousand years if you win.”

However, unbeknownst to you, the game is but a scheme, as per usual, to make you spend more time with him in the next decade — which you unknowingly extended to a millennium. Aizen smiles to himself, beyond pleased to witness you digging your own grave.

“Then, let the challenge begin.”

After handing you the brush and paper, he gives you the first character to write. You have never been so focused in your life as you are determined to win at all costs. However���

“Huh?” you mutter in disbelief as you stare at your own disastrous handwriting.

Aizen smirks, having seen your failure coming from a mile away. He already has an order in mind but feigns uncertainty to prolong your agony. His index finger drums the table, pretending to be deep in thought. “Hmm, shame. What should I make you do now?”

You watch him with narrowed eyes, already well-acquainted with his antics. “Stop beating around the bush and say it already.”

“How about this?” he deliberately pauses for dramatic effect. “I want you to say ‘All hail Lord Aizen, the new Soul King of the Three Realms’ ten times.”

A deafening silence falls upon the room as you meet his taunting gaze with a bemused expression. When he shows no indication of changing his command, you unwillingly surrender but not without a catch.

“All hail Lord Aizen, the self-proclaimed new Soul King of the Three Realms,” you deadpan.

Obviously, Aizen is far from impressed. “If you refuse to adhere to the terms, you will not get that unagi even if you win.”

With your beloved meal held hostage, you grit your teeth in annoyance and reluctantly heed his order. The grimace on your face worsens as you watch his shit-eating grin widen with every repetition you make, his head nodding with purposeful slowness to further grate your nerves.

Once you’re finished, he praises you with a sarcastic applause. “Well done, Hana. I never knew you appreciated me that much.”

You hiss under your breath and impatiently pick up the brush, glaring down at the empty paper, determined to win the next challenge. However—

As Aizen has predicted, you still fail at your second attempt. And miserably at that.

Slamming your hands down onto the table, you stare at the paper with profound disbelief, eyeing the barely decipherable scribbles as if wanting to wipe them from existence. How is it even possible to be that bad at something that was supposedly easy to do?

At the realization that you lost to him again, you look down, refusing to meet his gaze due to humiliation.

Aizen only sighs before shaking his head in mock disappointment. “I’m starting to think that you’re losing on purpose so I can get to order you around.”

“Please shut your mouth and just get on with it,” you beseech almost pathetically.

Thus, without further ado, he declares:

“You have to sit in my lap for the rest of your calligraphy practice.”

[daydreamer-in-training]

Ohhhhhh this is fun! Thank you for tagging me (I will be doing this later once I finish all household chores that await me and I'm currently procrastinating...).

So I want to know about your: New year's smooch with Law. Because Law gives me life... 🤤🤤

❤️ u Coco! 🫶🏻

@pandora-writes-one-piece

Pandora 🫶🏻🧡 hello! Can't wait to take a peek at your WIPs!

I wanted to write a little fic with New Years kisses with Law, but as i started, this Idea kinda ran away with me. We will see where this goes!

Excerpt:

"Law....",

Your soft voice cuts through the tense silence like a knife, causing his grey eyes to flicker for a moment, his gaze fixed on your face relentlessly. Wandering from your eyes to your lips, again and again.

"What...what are you doing?" you couldn't move, you didn't want to move,, anticipating his next move with anxious eagerness.

Slowly, he moved his big hand up against the wall next to your head and moved his face closer to yours. He was deliberate and slow in his movements, taking note of every small change in your expression. He leaving you an opening in case you wanted to get out of this situation.

His eyes, which had previously looked between your orbs, now dropped to rest on your lips, "Figuring things out," he confessed, his voice a low hum.

Your eyes turned round, looking up at him before closing them for a second to collect youself.

"Do you hate this...?" his deep voice carried a slightly insecure tone that still made you shiver.

Edit: WIP Game

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph!!! 💜💜💜 I was hoping you could help me find some fics with John as an active medical doctor or E.R. nurse?? Ideally when (or how) he meets Sherlock? *eyebrow wiggle*

Not sure where the urge comes from, but just have a hankering for some hospital shenanigans, haha.

Ty babes!!! 🫶 - Liri

JOHN IS CURRENTLY A DOCTOR

Hey Liri!!!!

Oooo good question!! First off, of course I will rec these probably-John-related-medical-themed fics:

John at the Surgery

Doctor / Caretaker John

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 2

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 3

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 4

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 5

Quarantine / Lockdown / Pandemic (MFL’s)

Coronavirus / CoVID-19 (MFLs)

Then, I have a few where he meets Sherlock as a doctor, though I haven't read them I don't believe... from a tag search and quickly skimming the descriptions. I know I've probably missed a tonne or effed up somewhere, but I'd love to make another list, so if anyone has more for Liri, let me know <3

BOOKMARKS

Non-Toxic by NinjaNina2 (M, 1,713 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Parentlock with Rosie, Established Relationship, Oneshot, Stubborn Sherlock, Worried John, Doctor John, Fluff and Humour, Misunderstandings)  – Based on previous experiences, John has every right to be worried when gone for a medical conference, but what is the extent of damage This time…?!?

Q 1 HR by stillwaters01 (G, 1,795 w., 1 Ch. || New Year's Eve, Hurt/Comfort, BAMF John, Friendship, Doctor John) – On New Year’s Eve, Sherlock discovers that sometimes it’s the seemingly innocuous, rather than life-threatening, conditions that can keep John from The Work. And John is reminded just how deeply their friendship runs.

Excerpts from Purgatory by reapersun, what_alchemy (E, 5,829 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, Doctor John, Reunion Fic, Rough Sex, Angry Sex, Bottomlock, Fic with Pics)  – John serves community service in homeless shelters for chinning the superintendent. Unbeknownst to him, the Homeless Network has his back.

And A Doctor by stillwaters01 (T, 24,962 w., 6 Ch. || Five and One, BAMF John, Hurt/Comfort, Doctor John, Friendship, Character Study) – It was only when people actually saw John working as a physician that they began to understand: that it wasn’t just about bullets and IEDs and trauma care under fire. That “doctor” actually covered a pretty wide field. And that John was bloody good at covering ground. 5 times Dr. Watson treated others and 1 time he treated himself.

Turn Left at the Park by Glenmore (NR (E), 37,409 w., 28 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting / ASiP Divergence, Case Fic, Depression, Suicidal Ideation, Loneliness, No Mary, Possessive Sherlock, Fluff & Angst, Nightmares/PTSD, Sherlock Saves John, Sherlock Whump-ish, Doctor John) – So what would have happened if John hadn't walked through the park and met Stamford? What if, instead, he walked around the park and just went home?

Points by lifeonmars (E, 53,791 w., 42 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || HLV Rewrite / Canon Divergence, Married Life, Pregnancy / Baby Watson, Drinking to Cope, Boxing / Fisticuffs, Clueless John, Angst, Minor Medical Drama, Tattoos, Christmas, First Kiss/Time, Eventual Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Doctor John, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Case Fic, Drugging, Blow/Hand Job, Emotional Love Making, Parenthood, Passage of Time) – What if His Last Vow never happened? This fic picks up a few months after John and Mary's wedding, in an alternate universe where Magnussen doesn't exist, but Mary is still pregnant. Life continues -- just in a different direction. And slowly, Sherlock and John find their way to each other.

Realigning Gravity Series by Raina_at (E, 69,159+ w. across 2 works || Series WiP || Sci-Fi / 24th Century Future AU || Post TRF, Cybernetic John, Estrangement, Reconciliation, Developing Relationship, Anniversary, Case Fic, Happy Endings, Doctor John) – Two years ago, Sherlock Holmes jumped off the roof of New London Hospital. Two months ago, he walked into John's clinic as if no time had passed at all. John hasn't seen him since. But then Sherlock knocks on John's door with a case he can't say no to, and while figuring out why the biggest manufacturer or synthetic limbs in the System is going after veterans, they also need to find out whether there's a way to fix what's broken between them.

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Facial Shaving, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship's surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there's more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin' the eye, he has to choose... is it a pirate's life for him?

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court. Part 1 of the Care And Companionship series

MARKED FOR LATER

Take me to Baker Street by MorganeUK (G, 2,087 w., 1 Ch. || Adult Ballet AU || Ballet Dancer Sherlock, Doctor John, Song Fic, Pre-Slash) – I always loved Sergei Polunin interpretation of Take me to the church so I decided to write a version where Sherlock is a ballet dancer in serious need of a doctor…

A Doctor's Touch by my_dear_man (E, 3,275 w., 1 Ch. || ACD Canon || First Time, Taking Care, Sick Sherlock, Hand Jobs, Fluff and Angst, Blow Jobs, Love Confessions, Hallucinations, Guilt, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Angst with a Happy Ending) – "I will be there, you may be sure. "I was ill at that time but not on the brink of my death bed, a nasty flu was the case, and yet, he came by to our old rooms, like the good doctor that he is and ever will be.

Fugue (n.) by reyiosa (NR [G], 3,281 w., 1 Ch. || Alternate Universe || Post-TRF, Hospital, Hallucinations, Coma, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, It Was All A Dream) – A Sherlock AU were it turns out Sherlock has made up his whole life with John as a consulting detective while stuck in a coma caused by an overdose. The real John is just a kind doctor at the hospital that sits by Sherlock’s bed and reads him detective stories.

John Hamish Watson Lestrade by MidnightMonster (G, 4,731 w., 1 Ch. || John is Lestrade's Son || ASiP, Alternate First Meeting, Older Sherlock, Younger John, POV Sherlock, Protective John) – John is Lestrade's son and is 23 years old training to be a doctor and planning to be an army-doctor. Greg's concern about John being a soldier however is pushed into the background when a new problem presents itself. Sherlock Holmes. He is worried that Sherlock will hurt John or get hurt because of him in some way. But despite his concerns and efforts of keeping them apart it seems that they can't be kept away from each other.

Wretched and Divine by meet_me_in_samarra (M, 5,130 w., 1 Ch. || Punk AU || Pining John, Seductive Sherlock, Slow Burn, Sherlock is a Doctor, Implied / Referenced Drug Use) – Dr. John Watson is on call at the A&E when he attempts to treat a very special patient. Instead he finds himself a very special treat. Part 1 of the Wretched and Divine series

Practically Perfect by vitruvianwatson (E, 6,303 w., 1 Ch. || Sugar Daddy AU || Age Difference, Younger Sherlock, Older John, Finger Fucking, Anal Sex, Hand Jobs, Office Sex, Emotionally Insecure Sherlock, Barista Sherlock, Doctor John, PWP) – There was a knock on the door, and then it opened. John shook the thoughts out of his head and looked up with his fake “I’m your kindly doctor” smile plastered on his face, but a second later his jaw dropped because his “patient” wasn’t a patient at all. It was none other than Sherlock bloody Holmes. Not only that, but he was dressed in one of his more indecent outfits—skin tight jeans that looked like they’d been bloody painted on, and a purple button-down that was straining, to say the least, to remain buttoned. John wondered if he’d worked at the coffee shop in that outfit today. He shut the door and leaned back against it with a wicked smile, and John heard the click of the lock.

The Curious Incident of the Detective, the Doctor and the Dogs in the Night by mydogwatson (T, 7,652 w., 1 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting AU || Dogs, First Kiss, Honeymoon) – A meet-cute. Dogs and cases and romance. [TRANSLATION: Русский]

Not Your Doctor, Not Your Captain by weneedtotalkaboutsherlock (E, 8,645 w., 1 Ch. || AU || Daddy John, Barista Sherlock, Legal Age Difference, First Kiss/Time, Blow Jobs, Texting/Phone Sex, Anal, Rimming, Felching, Praise Kink, Hurt/Comfort, Pet Names, Doctor John) – "Coffee for John Watson," a voice calls, a low, deep rumble that sends a shiver down John's spine. The thought is pushed aside, his shoulders sagging at the sight of his long-awaited coffee. "Thank God." His eyes lock with long, elegant fingers around the rim of the cup, dimpling the carton in a way that John can only describe as sensual. It shouldn't be. It's seven-thirty in the bloody morning. "I'm afraid that God had not much to do in making your coffee this morning," the barista replies. "I, on the other hand…"

The Full Package by Kalimyre (E, 9,675 w., 3 Ch. || Omegaverse || First Time, Sex Toys, Virginity, Doctor John) – Kinkmeme fill. The clinic where John works caters specifically to Omegas experiencing their first heat. They provide top of the line service, and do anything necessary to ease their patients' discomfort. Omega!Sherlock is his latest patient.

Quid Pro Quo by J_Baillier (T, 10,035 w., 3 Ch. || Alternate Professions ||  Doctor John, Medical Conditions, Developing Relationship, Bisexual John, Sherlock’s Violin, Minor Injuries) – John Watson is a sports surgeon who thought he was at peace with his career choices but this morning, he's meeting a new patient who might just break the brittle life balance John has constructed.

Iris by Leloi (E, 11,302 w., 1 Ch. || Omegaverse || Time Travel, Mpreg, Infertility, Virgin Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Established Relationship, Omega Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock) –John Watson was quickly learning to hate the Victorian Era. It wasn’t just the lack of proper medical care… Although that was a rather large component. It was the filth. It was the misery and the lack of regard for human life. Ok… So maybe the lack of proper medical care was a major component. It was difficult being a 21st century medical doctor stuck with 19th century technology. There was some sort of time travel involved. The really strange part is that there was a past version of himself living with a past version of Sherlock Holmes. Ok… So maybe that wasn’t the strangest part either. He seemed to be stuck in an alternate universe.

Assistance Required by Soft_Light (E, 12,162 w., 4 Ch. || PWP, Viagra, Sleepy Sherlock, Sleepy Cuddle, Doctor John, Hurt Sherlock, Developing Relationship, Bisexual John, Demisexual Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Hair Playing, What Boundaries, It’s an Experiment) – Sherlock takes Viagra for an experiment. You can probably guess a lot of what happens next.

Transference by Jean Elizabeth (E, 16,846 w., 6 Ch. || Mental Hospital AU || Schizophrenic Sherlock, Psychologist John, Paranoia, Affairs, Friendship, Sexual Tension, Forbidden Love, Pining John, Sherlock’s Feelings, Sick Sherlock, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Angst and Humour, Sherlock/Victor, Dev. Rel. Johnlock) – Sherlock Holmes has been admitted to a mental institution for paranoid schizophrenia. He is assigned to psychologist Doctor John Watson who he inevitably begins a love affair with. John must wrestle with his guilt in putting not only his job, but Sherlock's mental well-being, in danger. Sherlock struggles with his mental disorder while living in a confining and controlling environment. So much angst and pain that can only be dulled one night a week.

keywords: Gay, Loving, Boyfriends by lookupkate (E, 17,771 w., 17 Ch. || Doctor John AU || Alternate First Meeting, Hospitals, John Writes Smut, Sherlock Reads Smut Fanfiction) – John starts writing gay romance while holed up in hospital. Sherlock reads the first fic on accident, and it sticks with him for days. He can't help but read more from the unknown writer. Little does he know, the writer isn't exactly unknown to him. The writer happens to be the A&E Doctor he's feuding with. Christ, can you imagine what he'll think once he finds out? 

Hello, Hamish by Norma_de_Plume (M, 23,833 w., 18 Ch. || John/OMC and Johnlock || Pre-TRF, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Confused John, Mild Knife Violence, First Kiss/Time, Friends to Lovers, Jealous Sherlock, Doctor John, Mutual Pining, Scheming Sherlock, Possessive Sherlock, BAMF John, Hurt / Comfort) – John and Sherlock never imagined that their relationship could ever be more than flatmates and best friends. Hoped, perhaps...but... *ahem* Could one person change that? What if someone else had their eye on Dr. Watson? What if it wasn't a woman?

The Scientist's Method by spacemutineer (T, 26,607 w., 7 Ch. || ACD / Granada Holmes Canon || Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt / Comfort, Time Loop, Blood / Injury, Doctor John, Developing Relationship, BAMF John, Temporary Character Death, Guilt, Drug Use / Addiction, Grief / Mourning, Friendship / Love) – Sherlock Holmes has always known the world through the straightforward lenses of evidence, logic, and reasoning. But when Watson is caught in a tragic preventable disaster, his trusted clear lines of reality start to shift and blur, and the scientist detective begins to piece together a grand discovery far beyond even his exceptional imagination. Detection is a way of learning and science is a way of knowing, but as Sherlock Holmes is about to realise, love is a way of understanding.

When We Were Young by Calais_Reno (T, 27,230 w., 10 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting AU || First Love, Nostalgia, Pre and Post TRF, Doctor John, Angst with Happy Ending) – John and Sherlock met at school, and were a bit more than friends. But they didn't stay in touch afterwards. Life goes on, and when John returns from Afghanistan, he takes a position at Barts as a trauma specialist, working in the Emergency Department. As he reports for work one day, a man jumps off the roof of the hospital. John's world tilts on its axis.

We'll Meet Again by isitandwonder (E, 29,306 w., 7 Ch. || 1940′s WWII AU || Semi-Public Sex, Blow / Hand Jobs, Anal Sex, Period-Typical Homophobia, Love Letters, Prolonged Separation, Implied/Referenced Rape, Epistolary, War Crimes, Infidelity, Reunion Sex, Magical Realism, Ghosts, Suicide, Sad with Happy Ending) – London during WW II: Doctor John Watson has a hot, anonymous brief encounter with a beautiful stranger during blackout. But they get interrupted. Will they ever meet again? Bittersweet Johnlock WWII AU with a twist to the present day in the end.

No Power of Mind by ab_initio (M, 29,436 w., 12 Ch. || Mental Hospital AU || Sherlock Sees Dead People, Mystrade) – On Monday, it's the Woman. Tuesday brings Henry Knight. Wednesday is Magnussen. Greg is Thursday followed by Moriarty on Friday. Sherlock see dead people in his palace of white. When Mycroft hires Doctor John Watson to take care of Sherlock, Sherlock wonders how long this doctor will last. As time passes, the doctor-patient relationship drifts away and Sherlock's visions begin to take control. As his sanity slips away, John tries to hold on and bring Sherlock back from the depths of his mind.

A Doctor in the House by KittenKin (T, 32,394 w., 24 Ch. || TEH Fix It, Hurt/Comfort, Doctor John, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, First Kiss) – A replacement for Series 3 Episode 1 of BBC's "Sherlock", because my John would never. Part 1 of the A Doctor in the House series

To Help Another by DrFish (E, 38,898 w., 20 Ch. || Omegaverse || Rape/Non-Con, Omega Sherlock, Alpha John, BAMF John, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Procedures, Mating Cycles, Bonding, Non-Con Drugs, Violence, Knotting, Oral Sex, Past Sexual Abuse, Illness, Doctor John, Case Fic, Come Inflation, Porn With Plot, Vulnerable Sherlock, Pillows and Blanket Forts, Nightmares, Kidnapping, Grief/Mourning, First Time, Virgin Sherlock, Dirty Talk, Discipline) – Dr. John Watson has been invalided out of the Army and he is struggling to come to terms with what's left of his life. When he agrees to help out with a difficult case at the hospital where he works as an emergency room physician, he not only saves this particular abused omega and others like him, but he discovers a new and better life for himself in the process.

The Montague Street Doctor by The_Circus (T, 61,488 w., 13 Ch. || Post-TRF, ACD Canon-Feeling Relationship, Gen/No Slash, Montague Street, Doctor John, Care in the Community, Reunion) – Just because Sherlock stopped, doesn't mean the Work has to. London is John's city now and he will keep it together with stitching, string, his healing, the food off his table, and sometimes the clothes off his back. John Watson keeps going. He's good at that.

A Telling Touch by MiyakoToudaiji (E, 91,656 w., 28 Ch. || Post-TRF Divergence, Reunion, Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Soldier John, Friends to Lovers, BAMF John, Doctor John, War, Syria, Violence, Blood, Injury, Fighting, Soulmates, True Love, First Kiss / Time, Slow Build, Romance, Christmas, Family, Holmes Manor, Childhood Memories, Sherlock’s Violin, Case Fic) – After Sherlock’s death, John manages to get himself re-enlisted and is sent back to war. But when two series of gruesome murders link home and outland together, John is suddenly faced with more battles than he could have imagined.  

You Go To My Head Series by 7PercentSolution and J_Baillier (E, 987,192 w. across 23 Works || Surgeon AU || Medical Realism, Autism Spectrum, Anaesthetist John / Neurosurgeon Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Addiction, Angst, Slow Burn, PTSD, Pining, Insecurity, Additional Tags Under Link) – This series is an alternate universe one, featuring the exciting medical and romantic adventures of doctors Watson and Holmes.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

How They Move In Silence by Breath4Soul (M, 5,186 w., 4/? Ch. || WiP || Doctor John, Doctor/Patient, Voiceless Sherlock, Sick Sherlock, Texting) – Sherlock loses his voice and has to communicate through texts which leads to love confessions.

we are more than the footnotes my love by poechild (T, 17,874+ w., 1 of 2 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, Unilock, Drug Addict Sherlock, Caring / Doctor John, Protective John, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-ASiP, Pining John, Massage, Shaving, Hurt Sherlock, Concussions, Drug Withdrawal) – A druggie kisses John on the street then steals his wallet. John, of course, takes him home.

20,000 leagues under the sea: A Victorian Sherlock AU by MorganeUK (G, 30,544+ w., 15/? Ch || Victorian Steampunk AU || WiP || Scientist Sherlock, Submarines) – The Holmes Brothers are living under the sea, protected from the world violence and general stupidity… Alone, with only a small crew, they explore the world inside their submersible. Perfectly satisfied and unaware of their loneliness, until they meet Captain Lestrade and Doctor Watson from the Royal Navy.

Only Yesterday by Berty (T, 47,530+ w., 18/20 Ch. || WiP || Alternate Timelines / 'Yesterday' AU || Post-TRF, POV John, Grief, Mental Instability, Angst, Unrequited Love, Suspense, Scotland, Hurt John, Developing Relationship, Doctor John, John is a Mess) – Sherlock has been gone for two years and John Watson is doing okay. He goes to work. He sleeps (sometimes). He eats. He has colleagues, some of whom are even friends. He has purpose. If it's not a life as others might view it, it's a fair approximation. It's fine. He's fine. One night the lights go out and when they come back on everything is the same except for one important thing. For John it's the most important thing. And suddenly John is not fine at all.

Vampires In London Series by Madam_Fandom (E, 148,590+ w. across 4 works || Series WiP || Vampire AU || Vampire Sherlock, Psychic/Empath John, Mutual Pining, Blood Drinking, Feeding, Jealousy, Angst, Implied / Referenced Rape/Non Con, Graphic Violence, Past Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical /Emotional / Psychological Abuse, Vampire Sex, First Time, Doctor John, Bisexual John) – John is a doctor and nothing ever happens to him, and then it does. He meets two fascinating men at a fundraiser...he soon finds out vampires are real and they are in London.

Care And Companionship Series by elldotsee and J_Baillier (E, 209,820+ w. across 5 works || Series WiP || Me Before You Fusion || Angst, Romance, Depression, Medical Ethics, Insecure Sherlock, Serious Illness, Permanent Injury, Sherlock Whump, BAMF John, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Physical Rehabilitation, Medical Realism, Assisted Suicide, Awkward Sex, Friends to Lovers, Alcoholism, John Whump, PTSD, Anxiety, Family Drama, Caretaker John, Alternating POVs) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

UNEXPECTED OCCURENCE by Victoria557 (M, 295,878+ w., 124/? Ch. || WiP || Post-TRF Divergence, Unexpected Parenthood, PTSD, Trauma, Child Abandonment, Slow Burn, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Self-Harm, Intrusive Thoughts, Doctor John, Self-Esteem Issues, Anxiety Disorder, Misunderstandings, No Mary) – Barely five months after Sherlock's death, John was slowly yet so ever damn surely falling apart. Every day since then, he had just been surviving not living. When Lestrade phone him, with nervousness and uncertainty in his voice, asking for some help with a case since Anderson who usually did the forensic stuff, and another worker who examined the body had been unfortunately unavailable and with the downfall of Lestrade's record recently, he couldn't afford to risk another scolding from his supervisor, John agreed, despite the forming of the painful twist in his stomach at the thought of being at a crime scene without a certain arrogant high-functioning sociopath. Never did he expect to encounter such a surreal event and never did he expect to find out Sherlock having a secret - well secret would be unfitting as the man himself didn't realize this.

[thecoffeelorian]

Fandom Friday, 7/04: Fanfiction!

Hello and good morning to you all, and welcome once again to another Fandom Friday. As always, this is your host Coffeelorian or if you prefer, just plain Coffee, back with another round of fanfiction from around the vast fandom that is Star Wars.

Before we get started...if anyone is able to handle news about a death in the family--and more specifically, my own--please go to this link for a hot minute, especially if you're curious, somewhat thrown off, etc. as to why this entry wasn't made last week.

If not...I'm using my first of three vacation weeks as a somewhat plausible excuse, as well as the idea that I needed to rest up before the summer holiday madness took place today.

Anyways. I hope you will all still accept this (obviously late) entry and the inclusion that I wish for it to represent, and therefore...here are my picks of the week.

THE CLONE WARS

The Clone Wars Fanfiction--"One-Sided Rivalry", by @mcwulves. The Clone Wars Fanfiction--"Isolation", by @cyarikacyare. The Clone Wars Fanfiction--"Cross Your Thoughtless Heart: Chapter 1", by @ireadwithmyears.

THE BAD BATCH

The Bad Batch Fanfiction--"A TechPhee Approved Beach Date", by @aknightreaderr. The Bad Batch Fanfiction--"The Apology", by @rebelbird12.

ANDOR

Andor Fanfiction--"all that's left is us", by @starwuvs. Andor Fanfiction--"Rebellions Eat Their Own: Excerpt", by @kweenhera.

STAR WARS REBELS

Star Wars Rebels Fanfiction--"i see a darkness", by @primasveraas-writing.

In conclusion, as part of my mission to poke around the Star Wars fandom and highlight those writers who might otherwise go unnoticed…I hope you will check out the links I have included for yourselves and like, comment on, and reblog them, as well as also giving the writers a few more followers to their Tumblr pages.

Please also like and reblog this latest installment so that these links can be spread around to as many other fans as possible, just in case not all of them can tune in at the same time.

An additional thank you goes to @djarrex for making the divider I used earlier in this post, but still want to give credit for.

If anybody likes what they see here AND would enjoy seeing more posts like this; please drop the rock star emoji (👩‍🎤) into the comments or reblogs, and I’ll be sure to tag you when the next update comes.

And finally, so that I do not forget…thank you to my friends, thank you to this fandom, and above all else, please stay safe out there.

No Pressure Tags: @algo-o-nada @the-osborn-way @everybirdfellsilent @skellymom @totally-not-your-babe

@leos-multifandom-corner @maggie-dylan @leenathegreengirl @gun-roswell @tazmbc1

@bluedeedeedoop @its-time-to-rise-above @tlmtwelve @snoowply @apocalyp-tech-a and anybody else who might be on the lookout for new SW fanfiction.

[dcocca]

Yup, the moment has come.

Here we are. The Epilogue.

Thank you for all the love.

Thank you for reading.

See you in the ending notes with a proper thanks (and a teaser!).

I hope you have a helluva read. ❤️

👇👇👇 Read Chapter 31 here👇👇👇

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61024075/chapters/169784116#workskin

An Excerpt:

Aziraphale’s bookshop was quiet, save for the steady ticking of the grandfather clock, filling the space with its faint but constant rhythm. The shop’s lights were, as always, soft, warm, and inviting; the brightest source of illumination at the moment was the Christmas tree, which this year was even bigger than the one from the previous year. A few more wooden angels had been hung from its branches—depicting a couple of new shopkeepers as well as some friends and members of Aziraphale’s found family, like Muriel and Maggie’s parents.

It was late afternoon, yet the ‘Open’ sign still hung on the door, despite it being far too late for any last-minute customers in search of a Christmas gift barging in. Still, old habits died hard, and Aziraphale was a workaholic at heart. One could never be too sure with these things; perhaps someone out there was in desperate need of a bookseller eager to find them the perfect Christmas read, even with mere minutes to spare. In fact, the challenge of making a good recommendation in such a short time was rather thrilling.

In any case, the arrival of a customer was unlikely. For that reason, Aziraphale had taken on a special task—one that required time and careful thought.

At the moment, he was standing before a small, empty bookshelf, a box at his feet, newly opened, its contents waiting to be arranged: a fresh batch of arrivals, a new addition to A.Z. Fell & Co.’s catalogue.

Tagging @goodomensafterdark 💙❤️

[pentapoctopus]

📒 WIP Weekend 📒

weekend of July 18: Make me write!

Thanks @hbyrde36 for the tag, and thanks as always to the @strangerthingswritersguild!

Rules: send me an emoji in an ask, and I'll write 50-100 words from that WIP.

👿 Fuck Me Like You Love Me (5k, 5/6, E): Miscommunication hate-sex. Enemies to FWB, or is it?

🏅 Unmet Needs Forty Ways (11k, 2/7, E): Sub Eddie enlists the help of life coach Steve after breaking up with his lifestyle Dom disrupts all his routines.

This week, I've narrowed the options down to the two updates I want to post in the next several days.

Tags: @beingmissbatty @queenofshenanigans @yesdangerpls @penny00dreadful @vthx @tinytalkingtina @mission2mordor @anthrobrat @machtaholic @soaringornithopter

Excerpt from Unmet Needs Forty Ways under the cut!

Eddie saluted again. “Yes, coach.”

Steve shook his head, fond but exasperated. “You know you don’t actually need to call me that, right?”

“What, am I not allowed to?” Eddie asked, half-joking, half-begging him not to tear down the only bit of structure he had, the last vestiges of hierarchy keeping him from going off the rails. 

Steve flushed, his eyebrows raising as he smiled and shook his head in a surprised sort of denial. “No, I just— when I texted you I kind of joked that you had to call me that and I want to make sure you knew it was just a joke. No one’s ever actually called me that.”

“What if I want to?” Eddie asked defiantly but was quick to add, “I mean, not if it makes you uncomfortable or anything.”

Steve blinked. “No. I don’t hate it. It’s just… new.”

“Cool. Cool. I just— I need structure, you know? And discipline. Makes me feel like someone’s in charge. Like you’re not just some guy, you’re the guy. Like, the man with the plan, and all I have to do is follow it.”

Steve nodded, but he looked a little uncertain. “You don’t think you’re in charge here?”

“You don’t have to actually have all the answers,” Eddie said, as if he were letting Steve in on a secret. “It just helps me trick my brain a little.” And with that, they were officially too close to talking about the very weird secret that Eddie had no intention of telling Steve. A little too close to talking about what was actually going on.

And to his horror, Steve looked like he understood perfectly. Eddie was sure that wasn’t actually the case, but he gave him a very knowing look. When he spoke, it was low and gentle. “If it helps keep you motivated, I get that. As long as you never forget that you’re the one in control.”

And that was way too close to an old adage, a bit of the BDSM knowledge that Eddie had spent his entire adult life learning. Way too close to that tired debate he’d heard a thousand times in after-hours clubs and bedrooms, online chat rooms and blogs.

The submissive is the one who really holds the power.

He’d learned it in fight choreography, in DMing, in baby’s first BDSM lesson: despite what you think, the person taking the punches is actually the one in control. 

That’s right, the Dom may look like they’re in charge, but it’s the submissive, in fact, who holds all the power. Isn’t life funny that way?

The trouble was, it was a fucking lie.

It’s just a thing you say to people who are new to the scene— something to tell new subs so they don’t get the wrong idea and get themselves into trouble, something to tell red-flag Doms who shouldn't be trusted with real submission anyway, something to tell your vanilla friends to get them off your back and reassure them when they see the bruises. 

It was a necessary oversimplification. But Eddie knew better.

He could write an essay on exactly why every argument to the contrary was bullshit, but it truly was as simple as it appeared. It was no trick of the light. The simple fact of the matter is, Doms hold the power.

Fucking… obviously. That’s kind of their whole deal. 

So Coach Steve could preach all he wanted about independence and and self-determination. But Eddie knew himself, and he knew he was an absolute slut for a man in charge. And he’d found just the man to listen to.

Eddie? In control? As fucking if.

He smiled faintly. “Sure. Yeah. I’ll keep that in mind.”

For now, at least, there was no rule against lying to Coach Steve. Still, the guilt of it simmered. Maybe he’d be punished for it, someday. For now, all he could do was hope.

(from Unmet Needs Forty Ways)

[majnoonathelibrarian]

Mornings After Nights Before Chapter 2: The Second Morning

Words: 8,582 Chapters: 2/3

Rating M just in case for future chapters. T for this one.

Tags: Fluff, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Soft Crowley, Aziraphale is a Mess, Crowley is Patient, Happy Ending, Binge Drinking, Hopeful Ending, Awkward Conversations, Meet-Cute, Alternate Universe - Human

Summary:

Overworked publishing executive Aziraphale has fallen into a bad habit of late night excess and ephemeral one night stands but this time, when he wakes in a stranger's bed, he doesn't get to sneak away.

Chapter Excerpt:

Aziraphale awakens, rolling his face away from an unfamiliar surface. It’s certainly not his hypoallergenic pillowcase encasing his ergonomic pillow. The space under him is far too stiff, narrow, and confining to be his memory foam queen bed. Oh, no, no, he had sworn off! He had – He presses his face into the… the… it’s a leather sofa cushion? Why, he’s not even in a bed!  Surely this was a new low. His stomach sinks, and he braces himself for the inevitable.  

Continue reading Chapter 2 on AO3

Special thanks to @SpectrallyDistractracted for a super fast turn around on a beta read and dragging my prose into the present! Thanks to @GroovyNightStrawberry for beta reading and laughing, repeatedly, at my jokes.

@goodomensafterdark

[sunsetcurveauto]

Niko Sasaki, #8, Goalkeeper

An excerpt from the popular exy blog, Don't Be Daft:

Outlook So Far, So Good

Any casual exy fan knows the sport originates from Japan. Any respectable exy fan knows the ULF Ghosts have a goalkeeper who hails from the same country.

Like her teammates, Niko Sasaki's route to ULF was paved with obstacles—but this wasn't the case at its inception. Sasaki was born in raised in Osaka, Japan, three hours or so from the site of the birth of exy. As such, Sasaki was quick to join a youth exy team as a goalkeeper. Years flew by, and she became quite formidable in her position, her father a steady source of encouragement. Thus was her life until, in her mid-teens, her father passed.

Soon afterward, the decision was made for Sasaki to move to America to put some space between herself and the death of her father. Though intended to be for her betterment, the loss of her father took a toll on Sasaki. She lost motivation to complete coursework at the boarding school she attended in Port Townsend, WA, then lost motivation to attend school at all. Without her father's morale to keep her afloat, Sasaki eventually lost the joy she once had for exy, too.

However, this did not mean exy had fully left her life. Sasaki moved out of the boarding school and into a rented room in town, owned by Jenny Green, the local butcher and then-part-time Port Townsend youth exy coach (the latter of which, I have been emphatically told to clarify, was born out of financial necessity and boredom). When the two caught wind of each other's involvement in the sport, Green asked Sasaki to tag along to practices in an assistant-manager-type position—which primarily consisted of inventory and child wrangling—but some habits are difficult to quit. Green noticed Sasaki absentmindedly landing shots in empty goals during water breaks, and was promoted to coach Sasaki as well (casually and time permitting, as I have also been requested to clarify).

As Sasaki neared what would have been the end of her senior year of high school, Green was offered a position as an assistant coach at ULF. Green responded that she would accept the offer, on one condition: Sasaki also be signed onto the team.

"I'm still a little rusty, and I have a lot to learn," says Sasaki. "But I'm so excited to be returning to the game I grew up loving—and with new friends who want the best for each other, no matter what."

[mutopians]

a new not quite canon au fic is here! was suddenly struck by inspiration after reading some batman fics yesterday. it's time to return back to jason's pov for this installment—with a splash of tim's and maybe even someone else's ;)

here's an obligatory summary post, as well as an excerpt from the chapter underneath the read more!

gotham's ghosts

After dying and becoming Jason Todd right after Jason stole the tires off of the Batmobile, Jason thought he knew Gotham. After spending several months living on the edge of Crime Alley with Damian Wayne after he accidentally destroyed canon and adopted him years before Bruce was even supposed to know he existed, Jason thought he had learned how to make canon his own. But when a string of drug cases and a new vigilante emerge in the heart of Crime Alley, Jason quickly discovers that he doesn't know Crime Alley—or himself—nearly as well as he thought he does. Also known as: the fic where an original character gets reincarnated as Jason Todd, finally bonds with Tim Drake, meets a certain blond-haired vigilante, and starts to question why he was brought back to life in the first place.

There was a girl standing there at the counter. Jason felt a jolt of something, seeing her there. Familiarity. It took him a moment to realize it was because she was wearing his Robin costume, the one he had worn right before he died. The one that he had died in. A pit formed in his gut, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of the memory of that moment, or because it was strange interacting with someone who liked him as Robin when they didn’t even know he was Robin. …Not that he was Robin now. That was Tim. But it wasn’t like someone would dress up as Red Hood here.  “Hi,” the girl said. Jason wasn’t the best with telling ages, but she must have been in high school from her face and her voice. Probably on the younger side. Jason glanced down at her name tag out of habit. It said Annie on it. “How can I help you?”  Jason looked up, still feeling that tug of familiarity. “I’d like to order two…” He looked up at the board that showed what they had. “...batburgers?” Jason said. “With two medium fries and two vanilla milkshakes.”  When he looked down from the board, the girl was staring at him in a way that Jason couldn’t quite describe but didn’t exactly like. A wave of guilt washed over him, which didn’t make any sense at all. She just seemed sad, looking at him then.  She took a breath in. The look vanished. She gave him a friendly smile, the kind that was clearly customer service and nothing else.  “I really hate asking this part,” the girl admitted, “but do you want to jokerize your fries?” Jason froze.

[overtea]

wip weekend

(A little late, but it’s still Sunday somewhere… not here, though, LOL.)

thank you @epiphainie for the tag! <3 you’re poking me to write which is much appreciated for an extremely slow writer. tagging anyone who feels like it! This is the same robby x abbot fic I’ve been writing (most recent excerpt plus other links here), though this excerpt doesn’t really cover much out of context. We are in section three, "i forgive you" which is some years before the present, post-residency.

Memories are funny, though. They dig their heels into your mind and you don't even know until something unearths them. The sound of someone singing when their favorite song plays. For Robby, it's the Yiddish songs he hears when he makes his way to the Kosher market. Those steps in past partners' morning routines have popped out especially when he realizes he has unconsciously picked up some of their habits. And after a breakup, when Robby notices how quiet it is in his bedroom—finally piecing together that the thing that was filling the silence was the way the person next to him breathed when they slept.

Or he's hearing someone run past him in the ER and for a moment, it's someone else he hears. For a moment, it's the sound of the footsteps Robby learned to use to distinguish between a bad and a good day. A day where all of their medical training felt useless, and humanity felt so far out of reach, versus one where cases might have been gruesome all the same, but they didn't have to have any of the conversations that never get any easier. And the thrill of saving a life has never worn off, and it was still relatively new then.

The first time he hears those specific footsteps again, ones he'll come to memorize once more, is in a bar five blocks down from PTMC. He last heard them in their previous form in a clinic in New Orleans, running or walking down the hallways depending on the urgency of the case. Before that, he trailed behind or ahead of those same footsteps in the walls of their university library, and throughout the rooms in his medical school apartment. A cornerstone of many of his medical school and residency days.

It has been—God, he doesn't even want to count the years between them. Too long. They left New Orleans on weird terms, shaky ground. Even shakier than that one summer the third year of medical school. The very hospital that they moved through room after room together, spent hours upon hours, saved patient after patient, and lost patient after patient—shuttered its doors only a few years after they both said goodbye.

It's the first time he has heard these footsteps in years. He doesn't even notice they're different at first, and he won't until later that night when he has already returned to his home, but he's already rebuilding the memory in his mind. Like he's already expecting to hear them again, over and over. Like he has been waiting for his and Jack's paths to reconverge, for their footsteps to fall in line once more as they stand shoulder to shoulder.

[beerok23]

The Trouble with HELL

A GO Podcasters/Investigators AU (rating: eventually E)

The Trouble with HELL (4168 words) by beerok23

Summary:

Award-winning true crime podcast Va-voom, sorted! has been on hiatus since his author, Anthony Crowley, has published his first murder mystery, Murder on the M25. When his associate Nina begs him to follow a story on a train crash, he meets PI Aziraphale Eastgate, and he soon realises that the charming Apparition in tartan is the real voice behind his favourite podcast, Mr Fell's Mystery Haven. Crowley can't possibly imagine that Aziraphale is starting his own true crime podcast to investigate the same story. Feeling the pressure of competition, Crowley goes back to his first love and wages a Podcast War against the angel until they both realise that the case is bigger than they originally thought. With so much at stake, will they keep working against each other, or will they put their differences aside and learn to trust one another to uncover the truth?

Hello Good Omens Fandom and welcome to my third long fic! I am back with a new story that draws on the action/rom-com I love Trouble (1994).

With the fundamental support of my beta @hermiola (who's also the author of the banner ⬆ 🥰). Let me know if you want to be tagged 💛💜💙

Chapter 1/19: The Podcasters (4.1k words) Summary: Anthony Crowley, the brilliant mind behind true crime podcast Va-voom, sorted! enjoys the fame he’s gained since he published his first novel a couple of years ago. A suspicious train crash forces him to get back into investigating.

Excerpt from Chapter 1:

“Your crush certainly values his privacy, if no one is bribable enough to spit out his real identity.” “He’s–” Crowley was the one spluttering now, “Ngk… he’s not my crush!” “Oh, puh-lease! You’re totally smitten with him–” “Stop it!” “When you hear his voice you start drooling–” “For fuck’s sake.” “It’s pavlovian, by now.” Crowley muttered some more consonants, but didn’t reply. What was he supposed to say? That he was infatuated with a secretive podcaster who used words like ‘alas’, ‘tickety-boo’ and ‘jolly good’ and publicly stated that he thought ‘tartan was stylish’? That he felt proud of the fact that there was just one single comment Mr Fell had ever replied to, and it was one of Crowley’s? That he cherished in his heart the reply Mr Fell had given to him as a treasured memory? Come on, Crowley had too much self-respect to admit to being that ridiculous.

[triptychgrip]

Fic Recs (April 2025)

And now for my 4th rec post of the year; lol, these are coming out later and later in the month :D (My January/February/March ones are all linked, but you can also search #my fic recs or #fic rec on my blog to find other posts I've made)

As a reminder, I'm using these 2025 monthly rec posts to prioritize spreading the word about stories by authors that are not already on Tumblr (or who appear inactive), with a focus on 1) WIPs/recently written fics (updated or completed within the last year) and/or 2) NSFW fics, because those could always use more love! 

If something is a WIP, I've noted that in bold/purple next to the author, and if something is NSFW, I've noted that in bold/red, also next to the author. With that, see below the cut for 6 Yuri!!! on Ice and 4 Fruits Basket fics that I recommend you check out!

Yuri!!! on Ice fics

1) I melt with you (7K, by maddymoonr)

Relevant Ships/Tags: Viktor/Yuuri, Character Study, Slice of Life, Victor Nikiforov Needs A Hug

If you’re in the mood to get into some “Viktor as a lonely god on a pedestal” feels, then this beautifully written character study definitely delivers.

I’ve always imagined Viktor might have had emotionally neglectful parents, and this fic executes this headcanon as well as “the Nikiforovs couldn’t stand one another and got a divorce when Viktor was still quite young” backstory headcanons in a way that felt very authentic. This was especially the case with the portrayal of Viktor’s mother as someone who wasn’t necessarily cruel, but nonetheless, did significant damage by way of not knowing how – or, to even more precise, not interested in learning how – to be present for her child.

I also was struck by the economy of language in this story, because there are some really brief but very powerful passages that cut right to the heart of Viktor’s personality. The below two examples (the first from when Viktor is 16 and newly having won the Junior World Championships) illustrate why, even from a very young age, Viktor always seemed destined to be such an exceptional talent:

He thinks for a minute. “Nobody’s the best,” he amends.

Victor knows each and every technical and biological flaw that he carries, each and every time he makes his way to center ice. He notices when his leg is not entirely straight, and this hypercriticism translates into the way he views others, too. He is scrutinizing and over-focused, knows this is a trait he must keep at least partially under cover, lest he unduly offend the masses who never quite seem to grasp his particular brand of honesty.

And this part, too, from when Viktor is in his early 20’s:

Your lungs constrict with the cold, your cheeks flush and burn and you can never find a comfortable temperature, no matter what you wear. You wake early, meticulously plan each meal to best utilize each muscle and bone sewn into your skin to their fullest potential. You stave off each illness with the surety of years of consistency; you will not miss a week simply because of a cough. You do not speak to your parents anymore, although every now and again your mother’s Facebook alights with a new relationship status update, and you respond by maturely not congratulating her. You stretch. You skate. Your ankles are calloused beyond repair, and bruises inlay like ivory against the satin of your kneecaps.

My favorite part of this fic, though, of course, is when we get to see the dramatic shift in Viktor’s priorities after the banquet, and after he sees Yuuri’s video/comes to Hasetsu. It’s this later part of the story that I’ve borrowed the below excerpt from.

Excerpt: 

Victor laughs some more at this, at the absurdity of a younger Yuuri and playful Phichit navigating teenager-dom in Detroit. Getting caught sneaking out and taping up holes in a makeshift shot glass. Like this, Victor can see his resemblance to Mari, older sister and younger brother both quietly rebellious and quick-witted. What he’s noticed, as of late, through peeks like this, although Yuuri is still a bit more reserved than he’d expected, is that Yuuri is an onion.

A poor metaphor, perhaps, but accurate all the same.

Peeling back the layers of him is taking time. Layers that Victor hadn’t known were there, or rather, quite so thick.

In getting to know Yuuri, in trying to peel back his layers to get to the core of him, Victor is slightly uncomfortable to find that, when he looks in the mirror, he has unintentionally stripped back some of his own layers, as well. His skin feels more paper-thin, these days. Yuuri knows that his mother smoked cigarettes, although he doesn’t press for more information. Minako knows that his back pain stems from a phase where he’d tried to convince himself that he could be flexible.

With time, as the months elapse, these glimpses of Yuuri become something that Victor covets. Victor does not covet. Coveting is for the tangibles; it is certainly not a good idea to covet a human being, who could so easily lose every ounce of spark that makes him special. Somehow, though, Victor doubts that.

Because, he is special.

2) The Lily of Kasagiya (30K, by Aurum_Auri) - NSFW 

Relevant Ships/Tags: Viktor/Yuuri, Historical AU, Geisha Yuuri, Crossdressing, Period-Typical Homophobia, Switching

OK - so where do I even begin with this fic??? This is a gorgeously written story inspired by Memoirs of a Geisha, and begins when 5-year-old Yuuichi – who only later goes by the name Yui and then Yuuri after he enters training as a geisha – is adopted by his Aunt Minako after his parents pass away from illness.

Minako takes him to Gion in Kyoto (which feels massive compared to sleepy, seaside Hasetsu), and introduces him to the kind/motherly Hiroko as well as Hiroko’s husband, Toshiya, who own a nearby kabuki theater where Yuuichi is put to work. Needless to say, Yuuichi is overwhelmed by the sudden changes in his life, and his stress/grief build up soon after his theater work begins, only softened by the first time he sees Minako dance.

Up to that point in Kyoto, Yuuichi is aware of the geisha, but it's Minako’s dancing that really forces him to open his mind to this entirely new way of life. It’s when Yuuichi begins learning how to dance like Minako in secret – wanting to be just as pretty as she or Mari or the other geisha are – that things really begin moving.

“I want to do this,” he breathed. “I don't care if it's hard.”

“You would have to act like a lady, you understand? No more playing in the dirt, or whatever little boys do.”

Yuuri hesitated. He thought it over, then redoubled. “I can do it. I can, I want to be pretty like Mari and Minako. I want to wear the kimono and dance and play shamisen and do all the things Mari does,” he said.

Of course, given that Yuuichi is a boy, it’s not so simple as him just wishing to be a geisha; he has to learn from Minako and Mari how a girl his age would act, and behave around others his own age.

And then, of course, shortly before puberty, he begins to learn of the terrifying things to come that could expose his secret, throwing away years and years of hard work dancing as well as pretending to be a girl. 

While the romance aspect of this story is obviously what drives the later parts of the fic, I found myself super invested well before Viktor ever enters the picture, because there was such wonderful detail about Yuuri growing into his role as a geisha. In particular, I loved the development given to his and Mari’s relationship; every geisha is assigned an older sister as a mentor, and Mari is Yui’s. 

Mari’s mentor had been Minako, who had taken on several younger geisha-to-be over the years. And now Yuuri’s mentor was to be Mari. She was a woman now, willowy and beautiful the way Minako was, and though she wasn't the most outwardly enthusiastic geisha, she was witty, ribald in the best sort of way, and she was well-liked.

The Katsuki family had become his, over the years, but this was never as true as it was between Mari and him. They were as close as real siblings could be. In private, she would ruffle his long hair and call him her little brother, and in public, she would help him comb it out and call him her sister.

Yui and Viktor meet when Yui is 13, and shortly after a peace treaty is signed between Japan and Russia over rights to the territory of Manchuria. Viktor is the son of an important Russian diplomat, and when cheeky Mari suggests that Yui escort Viktor to the bathroom during Viktor/his father’s visit to the Kasagiya tea house in Gion, Kyoto, it ends up signaling the beginning of Yui’s first ever crush: a phenomenon he can’t really understand, even if he knows that the way Viktor makes his heart race is something he’s never experienced before. 

I don’t want to give too much away regarding their adorable relationship development, which, obviously includes Yuuri ultimately revealing to Viktor that he is actually a boy – but I’ll say that this is definitely one of the best and most tender historical AU’s that I’ve read

Excerpt:

He stared deeply into Victor’s eyes, finding himself falling harder than ever. He felt like he couldn't breathe.

He had seen love before, on rare occasions. His first mother and father, his birth parents, curling up together before bed. His new parents clasping hands and pressing their foreheads together when they met, missing one another deeply, despite their work keeping them apart.

More often, he'd seen lust. A geisha didn't sleep with her customers the way a prostitute did, but the things she did on her own time were her own prerogative. Victor knew that. Nikiforov-san had said expecting a geisha to have sex with a client would have been like expecting a prima ballerina to sleep with an audience member.

But despite it being against the rules, he'd seen Mari bring a man back to the okiya once or twice, heard the shallow, breathy gasps as they fumbled in the dark.

When he looked at Victor, suddenly the thoughts of both were there in his mind.

Victor enjoyed the company of men in his darkened fumblings. Things seemed a little off center, like it was hard to breathe, like things were different. Victor liked the company of men. But Yuuri wasn't dressed like a man. He was a geisha, beautiful as he had always dreamed, and completely wrong.

He wanted to cry.

Victor was leaning closer, their gazes locked. Victor’s touch was so light, tracing over his jawline as lightly as a feather, so faint that Yuuri couldn't even feel it through the thick white makeup he wore over his face. He knew how he must look, his eyes dark and ringed in flashes of alluring red, his lips as bright as blood and inviting like the unfurling petals of a flower.

He felt Victor’s breath skim over his lips, his breath smelling sweet of the plum jelly he mixed into his tea.

Victor suddenly jerked back, startling Yuuri. Yuuri snapped back to himself, catching his breath in the wake of the moment. “I… sorry,” Victor said hastily. “I- I just… I can’t-”

“No, it's fine,” Yuuri said quickly. “For the best, probably. My mizuage…” he trailed off.

“Mizuage?” Victor said. “I'm sorry, I don't know that word.”

Yuuri blinked. Of course. Victor wouldn't know. If his father did, it wouldn't be something to mention. Yuuri flushed. “It's the ceremony for a maiko to become a full apprentice. We hold a small ritual, eat dinner to celebrate, and then the man who sponsors us… ah… well, he shows a maiko her… ahem. Her first sexual experience.”

“Oh,” Victor said.

Yuuri nodded, looking away. “Yes. It's a little embarrassing. I apologize for bringing it up.”

“No, please, don't worry about it,” Victor said hastily. “It's fine.”

Things felt uncomfortable suddenly. The air was thicker and the silence left them both taking uneasy steps in the soft night. Their footsteps crunched quietly in the dusting of snow on the ground.

Victor was leaving again tomorrow, and who knew for how long? “I'll miss you,” Yuuri said quietly.

“I'll miss you as well,” Victor said simply. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a box. It was slender and long, wrapped in a lovely ribbon.

3) The Brightness of Gold and Silver (33K, by katineto (mistalagan)) - WIP 

Relevant Ships/Tags: Viktor/Yuuri, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Monastery, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Religious Themes, Suicidal Ideation, Attempted Sexual Assault

Ok, so I ADORE this author’s writing style, and was first introduced to their work a few years back when I read their hilarious story The Virgin and the Fool (https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871188), and then more recently again when I came across their fic carry me down to the water (https://archiveofourown.org/works/16549817/chapters/38773010) which has such inventive, poetic prose. 

The Brightness of Gold and Silver is similarly captivating, with really rich worldbuilding and a fascinating setting: a medieval monastery that the recently widowed, childless omega Viktor is sent to stay at while in mourning for his late husband, King Mstislav Nikiforov.

His and Mstislav’s marriage seems to have been quite loveless, and so while Viktor is not necessarily devastated by his late husband's death, he is still very out of of sorts as he tries to adjust to life at St. Stepan’s Convent. Viktor sticks out like a sore thumb as a royal omega, unused to not only the solitary nature of monastic life, but also the manual labor assignments that Brother Celestino assigns him after Viktor complains of feeling bored.

After some uncomfortable experiences learning about beekeeping (with blunt/unfriendly Brother Seung-Gil), field sowing (with the enthusiastic Brother Guang-Hong), and beer brewing (with the chipper Brother Kenjirou), things seem to take a turn for the better when Viktor is assigned to help translate a holy text into French alongside Brother Yuuri: someone that Viktor so far has only seen pacing endlessly around St. Stepan’s grounds.

Up until he and Yuuri begin working together, Viktor had been desperately hoping for his brother-in-law Sudislav to make a formal request for him to be retrieved from St. Stepan’s and returned to the royal quarters, but he finds himself strangely drawn to Yuuri and the work they are assigned to complete together, with Yuuri teaching him about the painstaking work that goes into bookmaking (scraping/smoothing out parchment, chalking and folding it, etc.).

I want to make the disclaimer that I’m not fully caught up to all eleven chapters of this WIP (I’ve read up to Chapter 10, and it currently looks like it’ll close out around 16), but even so, this fic has me SO INVESTED in not only Yuuri and Viktor’s developing relationship, but several other things as well: the backstories of the other brothers, daily life at the convent and the implicit and explicit “rules” around the monastic vows as it pertains to Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, and the politics of this fic-verse as it pertains to Rostislav Nikiforov’s assumption of the throne (and barbarians in faraway lands potentially destabilizing his new reign).

Weaving all of these different things together in a way that’s not too heavy-handed or confusing is super impressive, and there’s such a great balance between the relationship development and other aspects of this fic-verse

Excerpt (from Chapter 5):

In reaching his hand out, Yuuri’s body has come closer to Viktor as well, such that they’re almost touching. When Yuuri turns his head to face Viktor’s, he must realize the position he’s put himself in; his eyes widen, and he shuffles back, his hand still in place but his torso twice as far.

“Yes,” Viktor says, “Please do,” so Yuuri with a slightly pink face rests his palm down.

“Like this,” he says, and guides Viktor, pressing and pulling across the surface of the parchment. “Do you see?”

Viktor almost wants to say no; there’s something odd in him that wants Yuuri to keep going. “Let me try,” he says instead.

Viktor scrapes, and Yuuri watches; he makes few remarks, but occasionally repositions Viktor’s hand or reiterates the circular pattern. “It’s good,” he says at last.

“It’s passable, at least,” Viktor sighs. He lays down the stone and stretches out his fingers.

“It’s good,” Yuuri insists. “Now we take the powdered chalk…”

Yuuri, Viktor learns throughout the day, is given leave to not attend the daily prayers if he so wishes, but to instead pray in solitude. This, it turns out, is why Viktor rarely ever saw him, even when Viktor himself attended the meetings. “When we copy over the writing,” Yuuri explains, “It’s as if we were reciting the prayers. That’s what Minako always said.”

They do not even fold the pages that day; the time speeds by, occupied with sanding and polishing the parchment, before Yuuri pulls out a case of fine, brightly colored threads. “Minako always used to make repairs this way,” he explains as he deftly stitches a hole over in red. “With colors. After the pages are inked, we can go back and add more; but this keeps them from stretching out further. Here, you try.”

Every time Yuuri shows Viktor something, he is in short order instructed to try it himself. Yuuri is a patient teacher, even when Viktor’s embroidery comes out ragged and imperfect. He’s not entirely gentle, though—“I thought the noble omegas spent all their days picking out embroidery,” he jabs, but that faint hint of a smile is there for Viktor to spot.

“It turns out I was perhaps not a very good noble omega,” Viktor tells him, careful to avoid the implication of bitterness.

“Perhaps not,” Yuuri says, eyes down on the work.

A few minutes of quiet later, he glances up and remarks, “I think perhaps most of us were not very good omegas,” and then goes back to his needle and thread as if he’d said nothing at all.

4) Love Language (1.5K, by gyuzizi (roselightsaber)  

Relevant Ships/Tags: Viktor/Yuuri, Press Conference, Extended Scene, Language Barrier

I’ll never tire of fics in which we get glimpses of Viktor becoming more and more comfortable in Hasetsu, and this one shows the wonderful acceptance the Katsuki family showers him with after Yuuri’s pivotal theme reveal press conference speech. What I really love about this story, though, happens later once Yuuri has returned home to Hasetsu. They’re enjoying the privacy and peace of the onsen, and Viktor gets to reciprocate Yuuri’s feelings, bridging the distance between them so that Yuuri knows that Viktor is also invested in their evolving relationship.

Excerpt:

Some clouds gathered across his face, the conflicting storm fronts of wanting to shout about his feelings for Yuuri, and wanting privacy for both of them, and still learning what was acceptable culturally rumbling through his mind. And, of course, the fact that he wasn’t completely sure what Yuuri had said. It did seem a lot longer and a lot more energetic than what they’d discussed.

He didn’t have to weigh his options for long, however, before Hiroko took notice of his frown, his flailing for words.

“Mari-chan,” she chirped pleasantly, putting a genuine smile on Victor’s face just with her presence. “Could you put the kettle on? I thought we’d get some snacks and things together for our guests.”

Mari glanced between them, and Victor realized what was about to happen just too late to grab Mari’s hand to beg her to stay. “Ah – thank you again, for everyth–”

“Vicchan,” she stopped him with an affectionate little tap on the hand. She spoke even more slowly than Mari, like he was a child, and he might have thought it condescending if this tiny woman hadn’t already proven to him to be a remarkable font of generosity and compassion. This was her home too, after all, that he’d crashed into like a whirlwind, and she’d immediately welcomed him in even before Yuuri had. “Yuuri’s words – did you understand?”

“Some of them. Not every one.” He flashed that smile again and Hiroko sent a nerve-wrackingly knowing one right back at him. “All about love, right? Yuuri’s love.”

She appeared to study him a moment, and Victor felt strangely vulnerable, uncertain. His mother was not like this kind woman. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for in his face, but he was suddenly very afraid of disappointing her with whatever she might find. “Yuuri’s love is you.”

“Me…” He blushed. If only Yuuri could have seen. “He–well–we’ve talked about that, a little bit–”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” She stopped him again with that little hand pat. “I know.” She narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer. “Vicchan. I know everything.”

He realized he had no idea how to steer away from this topic in Japanese – so Victor leaned in instead, with a disbelieving little laugh. “You know I love him, then.”

5) That Good Boy Attitude (5K, by pursuitofnerdiness) - NSFW

Relevant Ships/Tags: Yuuri/Viktor, Dom/sub, Established Relationship, Rope Bondage, Victor’s Foot Thing, Face-Fucking 

Things I never knew I needed in a Dom Yuuri/sub Viktor fic: Yuuri tying Viktor to a chair, (carefully) tipping that chair over so that Viktor is on the ground, and then hovering over Viktor to fuck his face/give him a facial…like aldfjlasdfjalskdfj!!!! That scene is without a doubt one of the hottest things I’ve ever read (and I will say, quite shamelessly, that I’ve read a lot of Viktuuri smut). Not to mention, that comes after Yuuri has performed a striptease/lapdance, indulged Viktor’s foot kink (while he’s already tied up), and straddled Viktor to ride him. 

Yeah.

This story is super detailed, has great pacing, does an AMAZING job of portraying the trust/chemistry between them, and contains a great bit of aftercare.

Excerpt:

He brushed Victor’s hair out of his face and tangled his fingers in the strands, fingernails pressing against Victor’s scalp. “Such a pretty face, and it’ll look even prettier all covered in my come.”

At those words Victor moaned around Yuuri. He knew for a fact he looked like a hot mess right now: hair askew, chin covered in saliva, tear tracks staining his cheeks, but that was precisely how Yuuri liked him, completely undone by Yuuri alone.

“I’m glad to hear you like it too, darling, but you’ll have to work a little harder if you want it.” And with that, Yuuri was fucking his mouth and Victor was gasping for breath around him as he tried desperately to use his tongue or suck or do something.

Yuuri’s fingers pulled his hair harder, breathy gasps of pleasure tumbling from his lips as he snapped his hips forward into Victor’s mouth and Victor choked around him. “Yes, ahh, yes ,” Yuuri panted, and Victor was simply delighted . He loved to see Yuuri losing himself in pleasure like this, especially when it entailed using Victor like this. Oh, how he loved to forget about being Victor Nikiforov, living legend, and simply let himself be Vitya, Katsuki Yuuri’s personal plaything.

After a particularly throaty moan, Yuuri pulled out of Victor’s mouth and pulled his hand out of Victor’s hair, gripping his cock with it as he steadied himself over Victor’s face with his other hand against the floor. Victor opened wide, desperate for a taste of Yuuri, as Yuuri pumped himself, moaning Victor’s name.

Lastly for Yuri on Ice, I’m reccing one of my own WIPs (rated Teen), which is part 2 in my post-canon series about how Yuuri and Yurio’s drunken Instagram livestream during the 2019 GPF banquet accidentally reveals the scandalous truth of how Yuuri and Viktor first met, 4 years prior. 

Part 1 of this series - How Skating’s Favorite Ice Husbands ACTUALLY Met - details the public’s reaction to learning about what went down in Sochi, while part 2, which is currently at 2 chapters/9K words, details how Yuuri, Yurio and Viktor cope with the whirlwind of activity that takes place the morning after the banquet.

Needless to say, Yuuri’s anxiety kicks into high, HIGH gear once he realizes that he’s once again gone off the rails a bit due to alcohol. And Yurio, too, is caught up in a mix of guilt plus worry, the reason for which is detailed in part 1.

While I’m no stranger to writing post-canon hurt/comfort stories, this series is an interesting challenge because I usually prefer to write Viktor being the one in the position of being hurt/receiving comfort. And in this fic, Viktor and Yurio are the ones being protective of/offering Yuuri comfort. And all three of them are dealing with the public relations nightmare that has kicked off.

Below is an excerpt from the most recent chapter that I hope piques your interest! It’s from Yurio’s perspective, though this story switches back and forth between all 3 of them.

Excerpt (from Chapter 2):

He hadn’t had a hangover this intense, ever. 

Hell, Yuri had actually only been hungover twice before, the most recent occasion being the day after Yuuri and Viktor’s wedding, back in April in Hasetsu. Thanks to Minako Okukawa’s heavy-handedness while bartending the couple’s deceptively potent Stammi Vicino cocktails, it seemed that a good 80 percent of the guests had been in similarly woeful states. (Incidentally, Otabek had drunk far more than him and yet had seemed completely unaffected...the traitor.)

But unlike that particular morning-after, Yuri was now privy to a strong sense of unease that had built steadily from the moment Mila had shook him awake: a feeling that something monumental was staring him in the face. The sensation had only intensified once he’d become aware of the fact that he couldn’t find his phone, as well as the nervous manner in which Mila had eyed him as he began searching her and Sara’s bedroom floor for his tie, dress shoes, and suit jacket (which, inexplicably, had been tossed into the bathtub). There was something like guilt lurking in both her and Sara’s eyes, and coming from the person who was loathe to apologize even after literally dropping him face-first while doing “lifts practice”, it was more than a bit unnerving.

To her credit, Mila didn’t beat around the bush. 

As Sara had handed over his phone – looking oddly skittish – his rinkmate had said the words that had eventually spurred Yuri onto a flurry of texting with his publicist, Irina, as well as a phone call frenzy to Viktor.

“Yura, it’s our fault, we’re so sorry. You and Yusha–, you guys kind of…went live on Insta last night and let slip some stuff you maybe weren’t supposed to? And now Yakov’s pissed and Irina already issued a statement and Sara and I will do anything we can to help make it right! We didn’t expect you guys to get so drunk when we insisted on the grappa!!!”

The last two sentences had come out in a somewhat garbled rush, and Yuri had been only vaguely aware of how Mila’s eyes had refused to meet his gaze after she’d finished. His brain had been too busy replaying her words, over and over and over again.

Some stuff they weren’t supposed to? Which had apparently been so buzzworthy that Irina had already had to weigh in…before he’d even woken up???

Flashbacks of the prior night – eyeing Katsudon impatiently while he and Viktor had held one another during their nauseatingly romantic dance, stumbling through the hotel room’s hallways in search of more appetizing food, dropping his phone and then apologizing to his and Yuuri’s livestream guests (and as this last memory materialized, Yuri’s head gave a massive throb, and he almost threw up, right then and there) – had arisen in his mind’s eye, leaving him feeling wrung out. 

Fruits Basket fics

1) The Gift (21K, by 8_characters_or_less) - WIP

Relevant Ships/Tags: Tohru/Kyo, Kazuma & Kyo, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Angst, Physical Abuse*, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism*

Fellow Kyo and/or whump fans, this WIP is everything you could ever want!

In particular, if you adore the relationship between Kyo and Kazuma, I think you’d love this story. Note that the above tags for physical abuse and alternate universe - magical realism are my own tags, but they’re important enough aspects of the fic that I felt it was necessary to include to give folks a quick glance at what they might be getting into.

Without giving too much away, this is a canon divergent story in which Kyo is slowly revealed to possess a gift of extraordinary healing, but one that comes at a great cost to him, personally.

He first discovers this gift at only 8 years old, when he cradles a dying kitten in his arms in Kazuma’s garden. Kazuma happens to be nearby when he witnesses a blinding flash of light, after which Kyo begins to bleed from his nose, and collapses, whereas the dying kitten is seemingly fully healthy. 

Over the years, Kyo and Kazuma believe this gift to be one exclusively directed towards other cats. That is, until Tohru begins living with him, Yuki, and Shigure. During a seemingly mundane morning in which lovably clumsy Tohru trips and injures herself – resulting in a long cut on her arm – Kyo discovers that his healing power can extend to humans, too. Tohru’s healing by way of his hands sets off a chain reaction of events that directly butt up against the approaching timeline of high school graduation and the looming dread surrounding Kyo being confined for life in the Cat Spirit house.

This story does such a good job of capturing both Kyo and Kazuma’s sense of helplessness around the former's future, as well as the fleeting sense of hope/promise that this gift could perhaps signal a way out of Kyo’s imprisonment.

I won’t say any more as to do so would be to give too much away regarding this fic’s intense trajectory, but I’d urge you to heed the Physical Abuse tag. There is a scene in Chapter 9 that is EXTREMELY vivid, so I wanted to caution folks about that if you’re sensitive to that particular brand of whump.

Excerpt (from Chapter 4):

He looks at his hands. Opens and closes his fists. Just normal, nothing special, hands. And yet he’s done extraordinary things with them. 

He can barely remember the first time it happened. He only remembers holding the sick kitten in Master’s yard, then waking up and finding out the kitten had been healed. When it happened again years later Kyo had been walking home from school when he heard mewing sounds coming from an alleyway. He wasn’t going to stop. He had outgrown his fondness for cats long before, but something in his gut told him to go and look. When he did he found a mangy old tabby laying on it’s side. It looked to be on its final breaths. He didn’t intend to heal the poor creature, only to move it out of the path so that it wouldn’t be trampled…so that it could die in peace. 

But when he reached down and touched it, his fingertips sparked and his hands ignited in dazzling light. The cat got to its feet just as Kyo sank to his knees. It purred and rubbed it’s head against him in gratitude, then it darted down the alley and out of sight. Kyo had to keep a hand on the dumpster beside him to keep himself from falling forward. In an instant all the strength in his body had drained, he felt dizzy and disoriented. Darkness creeping into the edges of his vision. He didn’t know how long he stayed like that before he finally regained strength enough to stand. The streetlights had come on by the time he was able to stumble home, weaving from wall to wall to keep himself upright. He was on the verge of collapsing when Kazuma saw him coming up the path and ran outside to assist him. He spent almost 3 days sick in bed that time. He didn’t bother with cats anymore after that. He thought if he just avoided the pesky felines he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. 

2) In A Year Or So (3K, orphaned) - NSFW

Relevant Ships/Tags: Akito/Kureno, Akito/Shigure, Angst, Underage Sex, Character Study, Unhealthy Relationships, guilt complex

I don’t often seek out Kureno-centric fics, but reading this story made me want to change that.

Given that Akito keeps him away from the rest of the family for the large majority of canon, there’s not much opportunity to get a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind, however, this fic feels like a very poignant and faithful portrayal of what I imagine he canonically might have thought/experienced, especially after his curse breaks. 

Please heed the tags on this story; I think the ‘Overall Just Pretty Damn Grim’ one is very apt, plus, if you get squicked out by the Arisa/Kureno ship – which, I definitely find uncomfortable but am still willing to read about – I would avoid this altogether.

It’s clear that Kureno feels trapped by the curse, but I think one of the most painful as well as realistic parts of this story is how that feeling of suffocation has turned inward, transforming into such utter self-loathing.

Excerpt:

Akito slams the door in front of shocked faces, and then the two of them are frozen in thick silence. 

She stands by the doors, hunched over like she’s sick and she’s mumbling, a mantra that crescendos louder and louder until he can make it out; “Why, why, why…” she says, her last legs of life. “Why was it broken?!”

“I-It was sudden,” he stutters, once again a nervous little boy in front of his God. “I don’t really know what happened… ”

She turns slowly, faces him and glares into him. “That look,” she steps forward, a girl possessed, “You’ve had that look for a while. So distant…”

And then suddenly, violently, Akito grabs for him like a lifeline, as though she is drowning. She says, “That you would look at me so distantly—I hate it!”

With a desperation unlike anything Kureno has ever faced, she shrieks, “Don’t go!” Like a banshee, “Don’t go! Don’t go anywhere! Don’t ever leave me! Stay by my side forever!”

She is crying, and unbeknownst to him, he is too. It is heartbreaking, a crushing burden, when she begs him, “Don’t leave me!”

Akito repeats it faintly “I beg you… don’t leave me…” and collapses, a sobbing heap in his lap, and what is there that he can do; what left has he to possibly do than obey?

And Kureno does. He embraces her tightly, whispers like a God breathing life into the shell of her ear, “I promise, I will not leave your side.”

She looks up at him, smiles and says, “That’s what I thought!” but the tears flowing down her face don’t dare cease.

That night, she offers him her virginity—as though it is any consolation for the price of his freedom. He beds her, and when she wraps herself tightly around him and he is buried deep inside her body, Kureno likens it in his mind to being trapped within a cage. 

She gasps for him, climaxes with a cry of his name, and he feels dirty and sullied; he is a cruel child, that he would tarnish another in tar. 

All this for the sake of her happiness.  

Kureno lies in their bedding, awake in the dark, and though he is no longer the Rooster, he is no longer human, either. 

He is something much deeper, much darker, than that. 

3) Say You’re Mine (1.5K, by appaoffmain) - NSFW

Relevant Ships/Tags: Shigure/Akito, Porn Without Plot, Under-negotiated Kink, Unhealthy Relationships, Face-Slapping

Listen: I won’t apologize for reading/enjoying intense smut starring these two, lol.

Their dynamic is one that I think about so, so much, and my opinion on the way their relationship ends in canon (with them continuing to stay together) is something that changes frequently. Sometimes, it makes sense to me for them to have chosen each other, while other times I wish we could have seen Akito go her own way. 

There is a self-awareness in this fic – on Shigure’s end, as it’s from his POV – that just really works; Shigure knows exactly how to goad Akito into snapping, and from there, the smut comes in a whirlwind of passion that feels so achingly desperate.

But even before the story gets to the actual porn, there are some passages right at the beginning that I absolutely loved, when Shigure first walks into Akito’s room and observes her looking out the window. It’s this part of the fic that I wanted to highlight below.

Excerpt:

Shigure itches for her affections, but he would settle for her anger. Each coupling was a reaping. He syphons her hate and pain into himself, thinking he is better able to handle the emotions.

Akito is resting in her usual spot at the window, looking down at the world below. The stars twinkle beyond the outline of her face and like this, she really looked like their God. Wrapped in her kimono, Shigure thinks about how the Akito under there is lithe and delicate, just a wisp of a woman. Her handlers always scolded her for not doing enough exercise. You’ll be too weak to go anywhere, they would chide.

Why would I want to? Everything I need is here.

Nevermind that some of the younger Zodiac spent most of their time away from the Estate, even Shigure lived outside and was often out of town for work. Nonetheless, Akito was trapping herself here, and the Zodiac could only orbit around her. The curse was an edged but fragile thing. It could break, but not without cutting you first.

And so he enters the room, ready to spill more blood for the cause.

It’s not important what they said. He is a writer, so words flow from him in a steady stream. Shigure just had to choose the right ones to nudge her like this and goad her like that. Then she is on him, kissing him like a punch, all forceful pressure and anger.

His hands grip at Akito’s body, sliding across every fold of the layered fabric that covers her. Akito surges up to return the assault, stealing and swallowing each sound that falls from his mouth. After removing the obi, Shigure’s hands make their way into the robe and between Akito’s legs. She shifts herself closer, arching her hips up into Shigure’s touch.

“Shigure,” Akito says. And his name in her mouth is enough.

Shigure unwraps her robe and leaves it hanging from her shoulders. Akito likes the traditional elements of the Sohma family and clings to as many of them as possible. She often let that long haori hang half off of her, the dark fabric flowing like tendrils, spreading and taking over the space of any room she entered. It made the servants weary because the garments are a tripping hazard. Not everyone can absorb Akito’s anger like he can.

Now the cloth flows away from her arms, making her impossible presence even larger, and he leans back to appreciate her form.

4) this winding path (15K, by maestrapomelo) 

Relevant Ships/Tags: Ren/Akira, Pre-Canon, semi-character study, the Sohma household itself is a weird environment

Ok, so I’m going against my own “rules” a bit by reccing something that is neither NSFW or written recently, but I can’t help but include this fic, since it’s so unlike anything else I’ve read in the fandom.

I’ve longed to find pre-canon stories featuring Ren’s perspective, and this one delivers beautifully. Like, it’s hard to even describe just how impressive this story is in terms of portraying the fucked up environment that is the Sohma estate/family in general with its power plays, mystifying hierarchy with gossiping/backstabbing maids, traditions around leadership and gender, etc. etc.

And then of course there’s Ren who is an obviously deeply troubled individual, who is impacted so much by the class expectations and the maid hierarchy within the estate long before she ever becomes Akira’s personal caretaker. 

I wouldn’t say that you empathize, exactly, with Ren by the end of the story – it’s hard to, when she holds such disdain for Akito, and, ironically, disparages the bond the zodiacs share while at the same time uplifting her own bond with Akira in a very unhealthy way – but what you do come away with is some semblance of understanding around how just being in an environment like that is enough to make anyone go mad/form extremely twisted ideas around what healthy relationship dynamics look like.

(Incidentally, if anyone else has fic recs that get at this same premise, please send them my way!! This is another great Ren character study, but I can’t really think of others that delve so thoroughly into her POV).

Excerpt (from Chapter 2):

Her messiness was complete with her legs covered in liquids, long dark strands clinging on haphazardly on her forehead and the cotton robe clung carelessly on her clammy body covered in sheen of sweat. “Ren are you alright?” he said as he took another step towards her and she willed herself to be herself again for her beloved.

But the head maid intercepted him and deposited the white bundle in his arms instead. The maid inclined her head to encourage the new father to look at his newborn, and Akira stared down. In that instance fresh horror unfolded before Ren’s eyes that caused the hours of labour to pale in comparison. Akira’s face was radiant – his face shone like the full moon, all ethereal and so gentle that it hurt to look at, because for the first time since Ren came into contact with Akira it felt like she was staring from the outside.

“The blessed child.” she could not miss the awe and longing in his voice which were fresh stabbings to her soul. 

“The boy.” Her voice was not her own, it was a hoarse croak that eked itself after she summoned every ounce of strength she never thought she had but was willing to squander to make Akira see her. To see Ren who was his beloved and wife and the woman who had provided him with an heir to continue the family line, who provided the ultimate vindication of their naysayers within the clan when they tried discrediting the marriage between the lovers.

Both Akira and the head maid turned their heads toward her. It must be the darkness of the room that played a trick on her eyes, but Ren thought she saw a milky film that covered Akira’s eyes as he puzzled who she was while the maid’s expected flinty gaze communicated that Ren was nothing but dirt that ought to swept away. It was less than a second before Akira’s gentle voice floated across the room, “You must rest Ren these hours were not easy for you. You have brought such happiness to me and to the family.”

“Akira-sama,” the maid interrupted as if the moment between husband and wife did not exist, “the Jyuunishi have gathered since the beginning and are ready to meet their God. We should go.” Ren wanted to scream in protest.  The presumptuousness of those unnatural creatures was galling for they were encroaching on a moment that ought to belong only to her and Akira. There was nothing that the Jyuunishi could give Akira that she could not yet they continue to loiter like pests that would never leave them alone. The cursed ones already had each other and the baby if they wished to claim the newborn, but they were still greedy to monopolize Akira’s attention.