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I love this scene SO much

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My art submission for @glimmering-goldfish as part of the @aftg-mixtape, inspired by Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold.

I spent several hours listening to this song on repeat to get ideas, and it kept reminding me of this scene on the roof from tkm. I couldn't stop thinking about that scene from Andrew's perspective, about how tired and raw he must have felt from not only being re-traumatized by Drake, but then going through withdrawal while being tormented by Proust. How that was his first opportunity to be on that roof since he was sent away to Easthaven, and how some part of him must have wondered if it was even worth holding on anymore. And then Neil goes and does that, right after insisting that Andrew is worth protecting, that Andrew is worth risking his life for. And maybe, just maybe, that's enough to convince Andrew that surviving is worth it after all.

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„Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag. He didn't want the nicotine; he wanted the acrid smoke that reminded him of his mother.”

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They grow up so fast

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[🤍🦌🤍]—Скоро вернусь —Мхм…

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You keep talking about the origins of AO3 as this group effort by an actual group of people who were friends and who spent time discussing this with each other in person. It's kind of blowing my mind. Is there a post or a journal somewhere that specifically keeps record of this?

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I'm dying.

Nonnie, seriously?

No, that's mean, I know you're serious. It's just flabbergasting how much fandom has expanded and how much there isn't a direct link to the past.

Astolat and Cesperanza floated the idea at Vividcon and various places, I think, though I wasn't going to cons in that era. We were all on LJ in those days, and Astolat made a big post nailing her theses to the door. Discussion in the comments was instant and prolonged.

A LJ com was set up to discuss. It was later renamed to otw_news, but if you go all the way back to the beginning, you can see brainstorming mess instead of official news posts.

Fanlore page linking to Astolat's post and giving a little context.

Early brainstorming: https://otw-news.livejournal.com/2007/05/

For example, here I am collecting links to older archives to look at for research when designing AO3.

Fun fact, we never intended to call it AO3. There was a whole call for name suggestions, but nothing was as evocative as astolat's original post title referencing Virginia Woolf. (For those who haven't thought about it, AO3's name is a reference to A Room of One's Own.)

Here's the name discussion

Here's the poll that came out of it

But also notice how many people voted: 562.

That's how many people cared at the time: a few hundred. Maybe a thousand if you count lurkers, but frankly, that community was not as lurkery as now. It wasn't just ten friends. It was a community effort. But what "our" community looked like at the time was vastly different. It was six degrees of Kevin Bacon astolat, not a vast sea of strangers like fic fandom on AO3 is now.

Here's an early post suggesting we ban the under 18s from the site entirely. Pity we didn't do so, given the rise of antis.

Here's the invite to a fundraising party at astolat's in NYC that following Halloween. I dressed as Amanda from Highlander, not very well.

You can tell we knew each other by looking at those comments on astolat's initial post. You can also tell how discussion-based that part of fandom was back in 2007.

The way my tumblr is now with a ton of text, back and forth, and hopping around between threads of conversation, all featuring a consistent set of faces, is very much like LJ. Most of tumblr is not.

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And now I'm just thinking about a sequel from Katelyn's pov where Aaron is so relieved that she's so normal after all that shit with Josten and Katelyn internally panicking because while the Foxes are off doing their mafia nonsense the Vixens are spies saving the world a la Kim Possible.

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hi! do you have any recs for long form fics that explore the characters of all of the foxes, not just andrew and neil? AUs are fine if the characterisations are done well!

Sometimes AO3 goes down and you give yourself permission to stop reading long fics about everyone but your otp…. But seriously, without this ask I would have missed an intriguing starcrossed lovers tetsuji/wymack character study and a well done nicky/seth situationship to lovers (the first two new recs below). Witchcraft. So, maybe other readers will find something to enjoy outside of their norm, too.

We’ve asterisked some faves for you in previous recs. -A

kevin centric + pairings (including kandreil)

*‘A Falling Star’ series here

*‘Common Tongue’ here

‘All This and Heaven Too,’ ‘The Pit Within’ (both updated) and 'A Sick Day' here  

*‘coming loose’ here

‘The Way We Are’ and ‘daydream in pink’ here (both completed)

*‘the life and times of kevin day,’ ‘100%,’ ‘(Pas) Peur,’ and ‘peu à peu’ here

‘Stand on your own feet’ and ‘Best of You’ here (both updated)

‘My Favourite Colour Is You,’ ‘all of the things (that i'm not),’ and ‘I See You’ here

‘Kevin's Night of Catharsis’ here

‘A Record of Life’ here

*‘my one, my dear’ here

‘Can We Burn Something, Babe?’ here

‘the name of the game’ here

‘all that looking down’ here (completed)

aaron centric + pairings

*‘progress comes in small steps’ series - part 7: ‘this red is for you’ here, and part 9: ‘the roads I traveled with you’ here (completed)

‘When growing up feels like burning out’ here

‘The one with Kevaaron’ and ‘The home we built’ here

*‘False Equivalence’ here

‘Growing Sharp Edges’ and ‘Every Sinner Has A Future’ here

*‘Twilight and Daytime’ here

‘Fucked up by the blame’ here

‘Love Hurts’ here

‘We Grow Apart, Up, Together and Again’ here

‘I Want to Believe’ here

‘An untold story’ here

*‘just a footnote’ here

nicky centric & nerik

‘I will leave the light on’ here

*‘It’s Not Family without Love’ here

‘on strike against god’ and ‘prayers’ here

‘All we need is somebody to lean on’ here

‘The Cousins’ series, ‘Better Weather,’ and ‘Heimkehr means Homecoming’ series  here

‘All We Got Was Bruised,’ ‘Struggling in Silence’ (completed), and ‘Nicky is the sun that shines even through the clouds’ series here

renison

‘Armour, Warpaint and the Lies We Tell’ here

‘You, Just You’ here

jerejean

‘Force of Nature - English Version’ here (updated)

‘Play Pretend with Me’ here 

*‘fire meets gasoline’ series here

*‘playing on,’ *‘a bicycle made for two (or three),’ *‘Drown,’ and ‘Staring at the Sun’ here

‘love looks better in colour’ (completed), ‘Leaving Marks,’ and ‘Je Reviens’ here

‘philtatos’ here

*‘Marrow Without Bone’ here

‘Saturday Sun’ and ‘between hoping and believing’ here

*‘Chasing the Night to See the Stars’ here

‘He Could Taste the Stars’ and ‘You are like music in my ears’ here

‘i'm not the same as i was,’ ‘Oh the mere sight of,’ and ‘At Your Service (Dog)’ here

*‘sixteen hours’ and *‘Aurora’ here 

twinyards

*‘never said that i didn't need you’ here

*‘I‘d die to be somebody you could love’ here (completed) 

‘The One With Daddy Issues’ here

*‘Nor are we forgiven’ here

*‘If I Knew You’ here

*‘i'd promise you anything for another shot at life’ and *‘under there surface (try to pretend)’ here

‘Counting Stars’ series here

‘I'm leaving this town (and I'm changing my address)’ here (completed)

you may also like:

*‘Fluent Freshman’ here (completed)

‘The Years of John Doe’ here

Metal by satancalledmedarling [Rated E, 65423 Words, Complete, 2025]

"You better start talking fast." Tetsuji didn't blink. He stood there like he was part of the darkness, the moonlight turning his features sharp and unearthly, like a ghost who'd come for him at last. His face, as always, betrayed nothing. "David," he said, as if he had any right to that name. David clicked off the safety. Long before there were Foxes and Ravens, David Wymack fell in love with a sport in its infancy and the two people behind it. When an empire crumbles twenty-five years later, he finally learns the price of the game that saved and destroyed them all. A story of Exy's tangled roots, told over three decades through the eyes of a man caught between a dreamer's vision and a family's iron grip.

tw: explicit sexual content, tw: implied/referenced human trafficking, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: alcohol abuse/alcholism, tw: homophobia, tw: racism, tw: classism, tw: unhealthy coping mechanisms, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: violence, tw: abuse

can’t turn back now (i’m haunted) by sensetia [Rated M, 17955 Words, Complete, 2025]

“Seriously?” he hissed. “You’re really going to pretend this is all just random rage? Like it’s some mystery why you can’t stand being in the same room as me? It’s been obvious for years. You’ve always had it out for me. And it’s clear why.” Seth shoved him again, harder this time. “I don’t want you.” “You do,” Nicky taunted. “You want me so bad it makes you sick. You want me and you hate that you want me and so you say slurs and act like I’m a fucking disease.”

tw: homophobia, tw: internalized homophobia

Saving the Day by ok555 [Rated M, 50305 Words, Complete, 2024]

“I think they should focus more on Exy and less on making out on the court.” The olympic gold medalist had said in an interview for the national sports channel. One wrong move and Kevin is facing the accusations of being homophobic. He has to fix his image or no pro team will want to sign him. “But, yeah, I would like to comment on what Kevin had said. You see, Kevin has a dry sense of humor and I think no one can blame him for trying to rile up his boyfriend’s brother.” Aaron just wants to help his friend. or they pretend to date and fall in love in the process.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced alcoholism, tw: blackmail

The Way We Were by jude_staveley [Rated E, 386974 Words, Complete, 2025]

What happens when 'happily ever after' has its own ending? Jean Moreau had never truly believed in those words. 'Forever' was as much a fantasy as his fourth year at USC had been. It was as much a fantasy as Jeremy himself was. Dreams ended. The sun set. Nothing good lasted, so of course they didn't either. It was best not to hope. Jeremy Knox did believe in those words, even after so long of having to live one day after another that tried to prove him wrong. Dreams could be made real. The sun always rose. They'd had such a good life and hard times never lasted forever. Hope was the best thing to hold close. Three years after the End, Jean and Jeremy find themselves on the same professional exy team in Chicago. As past, present, and future collide, they have to confront old wounds and long silences to make the most dangerous decision of their lives: What is worth a second chance?

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: violence, tw: panic attacks, tw: alcoholism, tw: noncon kiss, tw: negative self image, tw: nightmares, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: explicit sexual content 

NB: Spotify playlist for ‘The Way We Were’

and i'm hoping that you'll stay series by orionauriga [Rated T, Collection, Complete, 2023, Locked]

Part 1: you give me something to think about (that's not the shit in my head) [30449 Words] Aaron shouldn’t want two people at the same time but he doesn’t know how to make it stop, Kevin tries his best to make sure one of the only good things in his life doesn’t blow up in his face, and Katelyn comes to the unfortunate realization that she might have a thing for guys who are assholes.

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: alcohol abuse/alcholism, tw: nightmares, tw: ptsd

Part 2: call the parents, tell them i'm okay [32889 Words] Aaron doesn’t know how to handle a family that acts like an actual family, Kevin goes undercover at a wedding, and Katelyn wishes she’d taken self-defense lessons before vacationing with the scarier Minyard twin.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: implied/referenced drug addiction, tw: internalized biphobia, tw: homophobia, tw: implied/referenced alcoholism, tw: self harm

Part 3: i've known this dream for a long time [32709 Words] Kevin has everything he’s ever dreamed of, so he has no idea why it feels like the end of the world, Aaron made it above rock bottom and isn’t going to test his luck by asking for anything more, and Katelyn finally finds a practical use for her insomnia.

tw: alcolism, tw: panic attacks, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced drug addiction, tw: involuntary outing

NB: the following series is a progression of matt/aaron from friends to lovers to established relationship and parenting; we are only featuring some of the longer ones here.

One or the Other series by orphan_account [Rated M/E, 18 Complete Works, Updated 2017]

Part 1: The Fool and the Knight [E, 11691 Words] An AU in which Aaron isn't nearly as homophobic as he always acted - it was all just a front. He's actually bi and bangin-awesome. :) "Sometimes, everything became too much. Too much to take in, too much to handle. Most days, he was okay. Most days, he could call Katelyn and everything would be okay. Most days, he could still function. But there were other days where he couldn't. Some days where he couldn't be bothered to crawl out of bed. Days where he couldn't pick up his phone, couldn't bother Katelyn with everything that was going on in his fucked up head and fucked up life..."

tw: depression, tw: drug addiction, tw: alcohol abuse, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: ptsd, tw: negative self image, tw: mild violence, tw: blood

Part 4: Jekyll and Hyde [M, 11239 Words] Previously recced here In which Aaron is mistaken for Andrew, there's an attempted kidnapping, someone gets shot, the bad guys die, the twins get some of their issues cleared up, and there's a happy ending - sort of.

tw: gun violence, tw: stabbing, tw: blood, tw: mild gore, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: self harm, tw: homophobia

Part 6: The Heart and the Knife [E, 50712 Words] Previously recced here "Someone’s knocking on the door. He climbs into the tub and closes the shower curtain. He hunches over himself, covering his head with his arms. He remembers doing this when he was little, back when he still tried to hide from his mother. .... He’s shaking, shaking so bad. He remembers the way it felt to withdraw from all of the shit he’d been on, when Andrew had locked him in the bathroom at the house in Columbia. It feels sort of like that, but worse.

tw: suicide attempt, tw: self harm, tw: homophobia, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: violence, tw: drug use, tw: nightmares, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: major character death (alternate ending)

Part 8: Slipping [M, 3689 Words] Previously recced here “Because Dad called and asked if I wanted to go out there for a party. I said no, but I just can't stop thinking about everything.” Matt rubs his thumb over Aaron’s scarred knuckles. “I forgave him for all the shit he put me through. Yeah, he shouldn't have offered it, but I accepted it. It's just as much my fault as it is his. Even if I forgive him, I can't forget. I won't forget. That was...too hard a lesson learned. Twice.”

tw: implied/referenced drug use, tw: scars, tw: alcohol abuse, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

Part 14: Protect and Defend [M, 27421 Words] He doesn't call Andrew, but he does text him. I am taking care of Katelyn's kid now, he types. Katelyn and her husband are dead. He hopes that's enough. Andrew probably won't respond at all, so Aaron turns off his phone and sets it on the arm of the couch. He uses his arm for a pillow and he closes his eyes. He's bone tired from working for sixteen hours and being awake for nearly twenty-four. He curls around Sophie protectively and falls asleep within minutes from sheer exhaustion. He has nightmares, but he doesn't wake.

tw: minor character death, tw: infant death, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced drug addiction, tw: implied/referenced murder

NB: for background on the dysfunction with Katelyn’s extended family, read the andreil-centric part 13 of this series before part 17

Part 17: Prompt: Sophie's Birthday [E, 15672 Words] prompts: Sophie's birthday, her extended family (read: mom's family) shows up, protective Aaron and Andrew and soft fluffy aatt after Matt's been away for Exy for a while

tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: dysfunctional family dynamics, tw: assault, tw: violence

fallback by Anonymous [Rated M, 32155 Words, Complete, 2022]

It takes three and a half breakups and way too long for Kevin, Katelyn, and Aaron to realize that maybe they’re better when they’re all together.

tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: ptsd, tw: panic attacks, tw: internalized homophobia

dance 'til you find someone to die for by codename_adler [Rated M, 42938 Words, Incomplete, Updated June 2025]

What if instead of Seth, Riko had tried to get rid of Aaron? The night Seth was supposed to "accidently" die, Ravens found their way to Aaron instead. By pure dumb luck, Kevin answers his call for help and from then on, Kevin and Aaron are thrown together to brace themselves for every deadly trap sent their way. The dangerous game they play isn't just Exy anymore, and their hearts might get caught in the crossfire.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: nonconsensual drug use, tw: implied/referenced drug addiction, tw: ptsd, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: alcohol abuse/alcolholism, tw: assault, tw: blood, tw: major character injury, tw: vomit, tw: death threats, tw: bomb threat, tw: bullying, tw: ableism, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: canonical character death, tw: suicidal ideation, tw: mental breakdown

*NB: The vignette format of this fic makes it readable as if complete.

Love You, Bye by liternee109 [Rated M, 14325 Words, Incomplete,* Updated 2016]

Dan leaves her stage sisters voicemails about life with the Foxes. Sometimes she needs to go through a couple of iterations before there is a voicemail allowable to be shared. Responses are also included.

tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: major character injuries, tw: implied/referenced nonconsual drug use, tw: implied/referenced murder, tw: implied/referenced abuse, tw: violence

Art

don't act like you don't like Rico and #6 seth gordon art by @/wee.__.wee on instagram

why climb when you can stand on Kevin art by @thefluffiestbird

Post Eden’s Aaron & Kevin art by @1980salienboi

The world full of blood and pain art by @frckldmnstr

Jean, Jeremy, Cat and Laila + Barkbark and Andrew, Aaron and Kevin art by @hamrikaa

renison - find your way back and birthday kisses for Renee art by @verdiris

the fox girls! art by @creekgods

Katelyn & Marissa’s adventures being normal cheerleaders art by @02511213942

Dr. and Dr. Minyard will see you now art by @noblenico

Neil and Matt‘s friendship art by @z0mbiemind

my CHILDREN!! |  andreil  | Kevin and his son | Matt and Dan | Renee and Allison  | Seth & Nicky by @feluart

‘Why the hell am I here?’ art by @rainbowd00dles

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Sketchy Andreil for my @yourinsomnea that I have to cropped bc the original art is much more explicit. AND it’s free! So come and get the full one on my X

https://x.com/aftg_art?s=21

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Dear diary,

We have been stranded for 8 hours now. Morale is at an all-time low. Resources (downloaded fics) are growing increasingly sparse. Any longer, and I fear we shall have to resort to eating the dogs (wattpad).

God has left us, or else has no love to spare for mere mortals such as we. For no evil such as this could prevail otherwise.

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i love when ao3 comes back from downtime and they're like "thank you for your patience" and we Were Not Patient at all

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I beg you, please stop deleting your fics on ao3.

Please use the orphan function if you don't want to be connected to a fic any longer or if you want to delete your account.

Ao3 is an archive, please use it as such.

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outage highlights from r/ao3:

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idgaf sun and moon dynamics will always win

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Obviously Into the deep already has the best art and fanart, but I love this merdrew so much, I had to try a dtiys with him! Hope you like it @fortheloveofexy 🩵