#(whoops. I'm sorry did you want drama and angst?)

[imxthexhandler]

“ i’m not asking for permission. “ (from buck)

( @ghostsandmirrors)

“Damnit, Barnes! That wasn’t a request! That was an order!” Amelia snapped, glaring at him through the locked door that separated them.

Too many errors, and she’d been locked inside, and now, the sealed room was being filled with water. Drowning was not a pleasant way to die, Amelia was not looking forward to it, and she sure as hell did not want Bucky witnessing it. Already, she was having a difficult enough time to keep some composure, but she was determined not to break down in front of him.

[ofmermaidstories]

Hello mermsie! Forever and ever ago you brought up a rejected mates fic idea and at the time I was like 👀 but hadn't read any... well this last week I read like three and a half rejected mates books so now I'm all 👀👀👀!!! So - if you were gonna write a rejected mates fic, what reason would the boys have for rejecting a reader? I can see bakugo doing it out of stubborn pride pre-character development but I wanna know what you think!

Also I know the One True Soulmate thing makes you bitey so if you want an interesting subversion of the trope, may I recommend Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh? The psy-changeling series is one of my all-time favorites, I've listened to the audiobooks a dozen times each while working in the studio. My favorite book in the series is a tie between Shards of Hope and Silver Silence.

Love, 💎

did you enjoy the ones you read, gemmy? i couldn’t rec any, bc i was reading mine through tiktok LMAO whoops. 💀 luv that app. 🩷 but as for how i’d write one… idk! 🧐 i’m too much of a sook—i couldn’t write anything where bakugou or deku or whoever else rejects us, LOL. that would be their first and only chance with us, the fic would immediately devolve into a different pairing from there on out LMAO. like, bakugou rejects us because he’s a fucking wanker, and then reader runs away to a small rural town and ends up washing radishes for a living and ends up falling in love with like, shoji or something. someone kind and patient, who’s overcome his own hurt. 🥺 NOT deku bc he is basically an extension of kacchan, the fucking traitor. 🔪 die die die. 🔪

i’m sorry gemmy. 💀 you’re asking out of genuine interest and i’m like “REJECT US? NO! 🔪” LOL. u were right about bitey. 😭 i’m possessive. 😭 ur my person forever, or one of us dies. 😙 easy peasy.

i think if was doing it in a proper attempt though, and not just going with my “immediately deviating off-course into a different pairing” idea, i guessss i’d try to subvert the trope by making our Reader be the one to reject the love interest? but my concerns with that would be: is it stripping what people enjoy out of said trope, and am i doing the subversion for the right reasons? like, subverting tropes or cliches only works if you love and respect the original recipe, and as someone who’s never been particularly interested in soulmate-and-related tropes, i would wanna afford it the same dignity and earnestness that a mega-fan would.

like, idk if this is your experience with reading them, you’ll have to chime in gem-anon, but like, to me rejected-mates type stories are about the high-octane angst and drama (being roughly and cruelly shunted to the side, regardless of the MC’s genuine feelings) and then the grovelling (the way the Love Interest comes crawling back, begging forgiveness for their mistake and thus showering our poor mistreated MC with non-stop love and affection). so i think my question would be, could you deliver that in a different package (Reader being the one to do the Rejecting TM)? is it even possible? 🧐 like, why would Reader be rejecting them in the first place (fear, i guess? 🧐 of what? them? what being fated-mates would mean? is there an inherent loss of personal freedom involved in that (like, is Reader free to pursue their interests still, like schooling, even if it meant having to move away from ur Mate for a few years?), or is Reader just like, paranoid, LOL)? what’s the appeal? like, where is the fantasy fulfilment if it’s Reader pushing the guy away??? i guesssss off the top of my head, i’d say it’d be like: oh, the fantasy here is even though you have thrown a wall up between u (the rejection of ur magical bond), ur would-be boyfie would relentlessly still try to prove that he wants to be there, that he wants to stick around, that he will wait and that he considers u something precious to wait for. 🥺 which i think is fun, LOL, but it’s like: does it work as a point of difference to the melodrama of the original trope? 🥺😭

‘cause like, you’re right gemmy—pre-development bakugou would be good for the trope in it’s original packaging. 😩 unfortunately, LOL. tbh im kind of sitting here like, why do i like him again….. LOL dsflkjsdklfjdslkf. hmmmm. 🧐 if we strictly had to write this trope, as-is, then i guess i’d probably employ a “doing it for your protection” type trope/reasoning. 😩 and then there’s a bit of miscommunication, bc Reader is like, understandably hurt (although tbh if had to rework how the soulmates thing worked, in this AU, i would make rejection instantly painful LMFAO. bam, now Reader’s disabled for most of the fic thanks to fantasy-sad-heartbreak disease. which actually hm… could be interesting. 🧐 living with illness that wipes you out and makes day-to-day living is hard enough as it is, without having that be inflicted on us by someone who is, ostensibly, meant to not hurt us 🥺).

idk idk!!! i guess what im saying is that we could probably go one of several ways, if we were trying to introduce a rejected-mates fic into the WIP pile. 🥹 i think it would just depend on what the others here would like—expect and want out of it!!! 🥺 what would you want out of it, gemmy? what would you wanna see? 🥺

(p.s., i added the three titles you rec’d to my library wishlist—i have a series to try and speed through first (i’ve been so bad with reading this past month 💀) but then i will borrow them out, unless you recommend reading the series chronologically??? 🥺)

[goosemagician]

Oh also https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5TUOAr8oDXuC1PsvxH53Sp

I made another playlist but this time it's dedicated rather than inspired (ngl I interpret your au as very angsty so there's a lot of rgb and hero angst songs in there whoop)

I don't even know if it's obvious why i chose most of the songs i did lmao but they all relate to them in some capacity

Also the song "Soup Song" feels fitting to them for some reason like

"Your name is an anagram and mine is a joke"

"People ask me why you’re acting so strange, and I say I don’t know"

And "My backpack’s full of hate mail that makes me want to cry" and "I hate you and I loved you for a very long time" especially like-

Feels like how hero might act under the influence of hate (if it even works like that, i always imagined it as hate making hero despise rgb or strengthening those thoughts she might've had when she was younger)

And then some of it being rgb like "The shoes I bought you crunched my necklace" or "I wish that I was lovable like a warm cup of soup... I try to be lovable like a warm cup of soup"

I'm not crazy right this kinda fits

Lmao

Oh shoot this ask got very long, much sorry

The angst and sheer family feels in this au just kills me in a very good way

aaaAAAAALDSJFKLD YESSS

this is so so SO SO GOOOOD THANK YOU FOR SHARING

This accidentally turned into a whole essay so it's under the cut if you'd like to read just so many words of excitement about characters

The combination of Angst/Family in this AU is STRONG, and that Hate and Hero interpretation is SPOT ON. It's what Hero fears the most about Hate. She spends a lot of the (eventual) story telling herself that all of the anger and sadness and trauma just marinating inside her and causing her to lash out is because of Hate herself, but Hate explicitly tells her that "It's all you. Everything. All the anger, the regret, the guilt, the Hatred. I'm just a magnifying glass."

The Soup Song is actually SUCH a perfect song for them, and especially Hero with "If I had the tendency to yell your ears would be numb. If I had it in me to tell you off you would be done. I'm not used to feeling so down and so dumb." She doesn't WANT to be mad at RGB, and she Hates the part of herself that IS, so she tries to ignore it entirely. (Spoiler alert! It Does Not Go Well.)

She loves RGB SO much but there's a part of her that is just SO mad at him for dragging her into this. Emotions are complicated, and she's the master of feeling two things at once. She understands his motive, and even sympathizes with him, but that doesn't change the fact that she wishes he hadn't. But then again, if he hadn't, she never would've known him at all, and she is in fact extremely grateful to know him and LOVE him as both a friend, and as a father figure.

They're So similar and So different at the same time and it's just...AUUUGH

There's an animatic I have planned from the radio drama "Dangerously Yours," where Hero's in her Knight form, but she's also very clearly not just parroting Hate. She's saying stuff and it's coming from her HEART, and it TERRIFIES her. She feels betrayed, and lied to, and conned, but she also LOVES him and how he's cared for her and tried SO SO HARD to make up for all that he's done and for bringing her here in the first place.

The Hero Knight thingy is basically a way for Hero to finally voice everything she's been trying so hard to keep in and under control. If you've ever seen Steven Universe Future, you know that cactus episode, where Steven talks to the cactus about all his feelings and problems but then the cactus gets out of control and Steven ends up fighting it in front of the people he loves, but also has complicated feelings about. (I'm aware of how strange this sounds if you've never seen it, but just trust me). Hero NEEDS to let all the contempt, and guilt, and regret, and, yes, Hate, go, but there's no way in hell she would do that on her own, so...Hero Knight!

It's pretty much just a glorified version of me shoving them into a locked room, shaking them violently, and saying "TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS"

There's a line in that radio drama that I LOVE for this AU, and it's "You forget how close Hate is to Love."

They have to fight with themselves and each other OFTEN, but in the end, they just want the other to be alright. They want to PROTECT each other, and BE THERE for each other, because RGB shouldn't have had to beg for another chance, and Hero shouldn't have had to help him try to save the world. Their situation is SO unfair, and they both know it.

They both have things they despise themselves for, as well. Hero Hates herself for not saving the world and, in her eyes, letting RGB down. He needed a Hero, and she couldn't save him, or anyone else for that matter. RGB Hates himself for dragging all those people, but most of all Hero, into this whole mess. He wishes he would have just given up, but he didn't. He fought, but did so in the most clever but cowardly way a person could, and others paid the price HE should have paid.

This AU is about the characters working through their flaws and the complexity of emotions. "When you first revealed your betrayal by first reaction was 'how dare you rob me of my trust?' But not even this would be able to shake out foundation 'cause it was created by us." (My Heart Still Beats--Marina Mena). Hero and RGB have been through SO MUCH together, and the bond that they share, despite the undercurrent of other feelings that may reside there, is something truly special. they LOVE each other, and nothing can change that. "It hurts but I'm not about to give you up" (same song).

In short--This playlist is AWESOME and I love EVERY SINGLE SONG CHOICE AAAAAAAAAA <3 <3 <3

[wildernessuntothemselves]

I know writing with two endings is like such a huge hassle and its so much hard work put into it but i really wanna see the series end with Beomgyu ;-; many people want it to be soobin tho and honestly I'm also curious about that ending too so I'm not exactly complaining either 😭😭 but i do want the beomgyu ending more (i feel too soft and sorry for him 😭☠️) so i was wondering if you could actually make both endings cause please this series is so amazing. Like I'll keep my filthy side aside, its just so much angst, drama, and just IT KEEPS ME ALWAYS ON MY TOES? 😭😭😭 So here I am publicly (well as an anon, but still, everyone will see my desperate ass if u answer this ask) begging you to give us both endings, although the majority (the difference in the poll still isn't that huge wants soobin, mamy want gyu too and i honestly wanna see the turn of events in both scenarios) wants soobin, can we just get both endings 😭 it's still fine if the elected ending gets published first and we have to wait longer for the alternate one but still😭😭😭😭

Actually a lot of the time I'm very open to writing two endings (and even said I'd write some but never did whoop) but for this fic the ending I've been laying the ground work for it for the past two chapters and it's pretty much set in stone. There is really no space for an alternative ending sorry babe