#I can promise you better books and movies and fandoms are out there

[vampqueers]

Wtf is it with nostalgia bait and shitty authors who do shitty things and a resurgence of their shitty work

[buckets-and-trees]

First Night

I promised two anniversary fics this weekend, and it's still "this weekend" in a couple of time zones...

Fandom: MCU Series: The Brooklyn Boys Title: First Night Characters/Pairings: Stucky x female!Reader Word Count: 2.3k Summary: Takes place immediately after the events of the final part 10 Steve and the Best Friend. Dinner and a movie and...

Content Warnings: fluff, feelings, soft semi-retired superheroes

Additional Notes: Filling my ninth square for Bucky Barnes Bingo @buckybarnesbingo - U1 "Galaxy" and is the much spoken of (by me) PROMISED ANNIVERSARY EPISODE TO CELEBRATE POSTING PART ONE FOR THIS SERIES A YEAR AGO! These boys meant a lot to me back then and writing for them again to celebrate this with all of you has been a dream.

↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

Bucky kisses the back of your hand, then stands from the couch, checking his watch. “Dinner’s about ready. I’ll go finish it off.”

As he leaves the living room, Steve scoots a little closer. He pulls you into a short kiss, then rests his forehead against yours, eyes closed, and you breathe in the moment.

“I know it’s so predictable to ask you about your day,” he says, “but I’ve been waiting for weeks to just have these everyday conversations with you.”

You smile, though you know he can’t see it. You’re sure he can feel it because you can feel it coming from him, too.

“When we went to dinner that night, I thought that was going to be the beginning of so many days like that, seeing you, texting with you, just sharing everything with you.

Your heart stutters and leaps, “I wanted that, too. I’m sorry it wasn’t–”

He stops you with another gentle press of his lips to yours and cups your cheek. “No, I didn’t mean to bring it up to make you feel guilty. Tony would say if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs. I think we’re coming through for the better.”

In the time that you’ve spent with Steve, you’ve become aware of how influential and powerful his mood is in any situation, and right now he’s feeling a contentment that really does envelop you.

So you sit back a little in the armchair, but take his hand, and start talking. He holds your hand in both of his, idle stroking of the back of your hand with his thumb as he listens. You talk about the bookshop. Bucky has become a regular, but Steve hasn’t been in yet. You’re eager to share that with him soon, too. You tell him about an upcoming book launch event you solidified today with a local author – it’s their debut novel, but they’ve been a frequent friend of your shop for a few years. “Oh,” you suddenly remember to ask, “you mentioned before that you were getting a lot of chatter about some things happening in Turkey. Is that where you and Bucky went?”

“Yeah.” He grins, probably pleased that you remembered. “Turkey was… interesting.”

“I’ve wanted to go to Turkey! Mission stuff aside because I know that’s probably classified, did you get to experience anything?”

“Not too much, but we did get to see a little of Istanbul. It was beautiful.” He tilts his head a little. “I… would like to go back and see more.”

You plant your elbow on the armrest of your chair and prop your chin on the hand Steve’s not holding. “Steve, have you even been on a vacation?”

He shakes his head. “Only day trips or weekends once or twice upstate when I was a kid. We kept on the move and covered a lot of territory when we didn’t agree to the Sokovia Accords, but that was survival and trying to be of use while keeping a low profile, not traveling. And during The Blip, it never even crossed my mind.”

You squeeze his hand.

“We should go.”

“I’ve never done as much traveling as I wanted either. Couldn’t afford it when I was starting out, then… yeah, The Blip, and since the Second Snap, it’s been busy, but now…”

“Now maybe we have even more reason to make it something to prioritize.”

Butterflies flare in your stomach when he smiles at you like that. Your chest gets that happy tightness. This was why you said yes to them.

“So, Turkey,” you say, a little breathlessly.

“I’ll put it on the list.”

You’re melting.

“Dinner is almost ready!” Bucky’s voice calls from the kitchen. “Steve, come set the table!”

“France should probably go near the top of the list.”

Steve nods in agreement and pulls you up as he stands. He keeps your hand in his as he walks both of you into the kitchen.

“Bucky won’t let us eat in the kitchen, not even at the stools at the counter,”

“Damn right I won’t!” he says, already catching your conversation. “The French wouldn’t hear of it, and I worked hard enough for us to eat at the altar of a proper table.”

“Everything smells incredible,” you gush when you enter their beautiful kitchen. Every part of the brownstone you’ve seen so far is beautiful.

Bucky turns and flashes a devastating grin before turning back to his prep. “Glad you think so.”

Steve brings you to a stop right next to Bucky, who is fully occupied whisking egg yolks one at a time into a custard on the stove, a separate pan with melted chocolate set off to the side. You lean your hip against the counter so you can watch.

Standing behind him, Steve puts a hand on Bucky’s shoulder on the other side and leans over the stove to stick his finger in the chocolate, getting his taste before Bucky can stop him.

“Rogers!” Bucky growls.

You laugh, and Steve grins wickedly.

“It’s good.”

“Get to setting the table. Food’s already set, just going to finish this off and put it in the oven.”

“And pour the wine?”

“We’ve got a Syrah, right? Or any Bordeaux blend.”

“I’ll look and see.”

“Can I help?” you ask.

They both immediately frown at you. “You’re not lifting a finger the first dinner you’re eating here with us,” Bucky says adamantly.

You hold your hands up quickly in surrender. “Understood,” you laugh.

“Good girl,” Steve says, his smile immediately returning. “I’ll go sort out the wine.”

He squeezes Bucky’s shoulder before he leaves the kitchen.

It hits you out of nowhere. There’s a short constriction in your chest at seeing how easy that casual intimate gesture was between them. They’ve known each other for years and years longer than they’ve known you. You’re nowhere near close to that ease and familiarity with them yet. Will this work?

“Come here,” Bucky invites you in closer, and as you step forward, he tucks an arm around you and pulls you securely into his side while he continues whisking with his other hand. Did your insecurity show on your face? Did he merely suspect it? Or maybe he just wanted to hold you for no other reason than wanting to. Whatever the reason, it does soothe away that doubt that had tried to creep in. He presses a kiss to your temple. “I missed you. I don’t know if I would’ve been patient enough to wait much longer. Steve was adamant we had to wait for you to set the timing though.”

Your chest blooms with warmth. You’re glad they did wait – you had needed the time to think and sort out your heart so you could feel secure jumping all in – but it also made you feel good to know he’d been eager. You circle your arms around his waist and look up at him. “Thank you.” You could say more, but you think he knows. His eyes and a squeeze of his arm around you say that he does.  “Kiss me?”

“Always,” and he does. It’s a swift kiss because he is in the middle of the complexities of whatever he’s cooking, but he makes sure even the short kiss takes your breath away.

You only just manage not to whimper when he draws his lips away. Instead, you content yourself with resting your head against his chest. “Now what is it you’re making?”

“The boeuf bourguignon was easy to finish off, and I had decided something decadent for dessert was in order. Chocolate soufflé.”

“Damn, Barnes, you know how to impress a girl.”

He laughs. “Honey, get ready for a lot more of this.”

Your stomach flips, but he doesn't leave you flustered for long, diving into normal conversation while he continued working, Steve coming in and out of the kitchen to set the table. Bucky allows you to assist him as sous chef for only a moment, letting you to open the oven door when he was ready to carefully put the chocolate delicacy in to bake.

Then the three of you sit down to dinner, and it wasn’t an oversell to say it is one of the best meals of your life. The food is incredible, and simply being there with the two of them with the conversation, the laughter, the way they look at you, the way they look at each other, all of it is bliss. That bliss bleeds into Bucky taking the chocolate soufflé out of the oven and the three of you devouring the rich masterpiece. Then you settle in to watch a movie together, you tucked between them.

When you wake up, you are no longer tucked between your super soldiers, but instead tucked beneath a set of soft sheets and blanket that are unfamiliar to you, your head rests on a comfortable but foreign pillow, and your body feels the awkwardness of having slept in your jeans and button-down blouse. The latter wasn’t awful, but never ideal. Why were you asleep in your day clothes? You shift and yawn and sink a little more into the pillows and mattress, appreciating how cozy they are but wondering where exactly you were. You rewind your memory and start to recall a few of the last details in your mind – leaning up against Bucky’s side, Steve pulling your legs up across his lap and giving you a foot massage while the opening scenes of a movie played out.

They had let you choose the movie, and you’d gone with The Count of Monte Cristo, one of your favorites, but now you weren’t certain you’d even made it to the Chateau D’If with poor Edmond Dantes before falling asleep. Actually, you were pretty sure it was that soothing foot massage that had you lost to the land of the waking. You do have a vague half recollection of being scooped up from the couch into someone’s arms, but that was it.

It's clearly what landed you here.

You roll onto your back and smile. The ceiling is littered with carefully mapped out constellations, a glow in the dark replication of the galaxy. Adorable nerd, you think, and with a look around the room, the shelf full of books that covers an entire wall of the room and a neatly stacked pile of three books on the bedside table let you know you must be in Bucky’s bed. There is a low level of moonlight casting a glow across the room from the windows, and you remember the distinct thought you’d had about wanting to see how this man kept his books and what else was in his collection, but that would need to wait for daylight. You never would have dreamed this was how things would have played out all those weeks ago.

A little more alert, your throat feels a little dry, and knowing once the thought has crossed your mind you wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep without a drink of water, and it was clearly too late to go home (or late enough to absolutely justify staying in this very cozy place for the rest of the night and seeing your boys in the morning), you pull back the covers and shift out of bed. Sitting at the foot of the mattress you see a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt that are clearly meant for you, and a huge sleepy smile splits across your face. You discard your clothes, feeling immediately comfortable in the alternative – which smell like Steve.

Bucky’s bed but Steve’s clothes.

Your head spins happily as you pad quietly into the hallway and make your way to the kitchen.

Once properly watered, you make your way back to the bedrooms, carefully bringing the partially-refilled glass with you just in case you get thirsty again. It is so quiet in their home, but comfortably so. You will get to see more in the daylight, but you love how it feels already. You pause at the doorway to Bucky’s room, bite your lip, and turn to look across the hallway at another bedroom door.

You don't want to sleep alone in Bucky’s room when they are together in Steve’s.

Heart pounding just a little, you step across the hallway and slowly turn the doorknob, trying to open the door as quietly as you can. You step inside, but then stop and look around. This was an unoccupied bedroom – it had a bed, but that bed was empty, and this room didn’t seem to have much to it. It was a guest bedroom. A little bloom shoots through your heart at the thought that while they had wanted to give you every bit of privacy – leaving you clothed, giving you a bed to yourself – it felt intimate in its own way to know that they’d tucked you in in Bucky’s room, not the guest bedroom.

Not at all nervous now, you step back into the hallway, close that door, and make your way further down the hall, eager to find where these two impossibly wonderful men were slumbering and join them. The next door on the left was a bathroom, but the door on the right is Steve’s. Bucky is asleep, but Steve is sitting up against the headboard and had been engrossed in scrolling in something on his phone, earbuds in, but looks up when your movement pulls his attention. He grins and pulls the buds out, “Hi, Sweetheart.”

“Hi,” you breath, padding toward his side of the bed.

He nudges Bucky as you make your way over. Bucky groans.

“Told you our girl would make her way to us before sunrise,” Steve says to him, and that seems to bring Bucky around slightly.

Steve sets his phone on his bedside table, takes the glass from your hand to set it there as well, and pulls back the covers so you can hop up and crawl in and join them. Bucky immediately pulls you in to his chest, kissing the top of your head. You sigh as Steve closes in behind you, and between your two super soldiers, you quickly drift back to sleep, held safely in their arms.

↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

[buffyspeak]

one of my least favorite book-to-screen changes in thg is a really specific moment between gale and peeta, where peeta is expressing that they should kill him or at least give him something to do it himself with because he can’t control himself and will be a hindrance to the mission.

in the movie, gale says, “i’ll kill you myself before that happens,” in response to peeta saying he needs a nightlock pill so he can die when he needs to - aka, before he gets triggered and tried to kill katniss again. gale’s response in the movie is obviously and exclusively a confirmation that he will kill peeta if it means protecting katniss. which is true enough to his character, but i think fundamentally misinterprets the scene in mockinjay, the book.

in the book, while it’s true that he’s insistent for a while on them leaving him because he’s a danger, when it’s pointed out to him that people from the capital could find him, he is Terrified of that. he says something like, “maybe you think it’s kinder to just dump me somewhere, but that’s as good as leaving me in the hands of the capital.”

and gale’s response is, “i’ll kill you before that happens. i promise.”

and! in another story, in another world, maybe just in a different interaction in this world, this would maybe be a threat, but this is gale showing peeta a kindness! a morbid one, to be sure, but a kindness all the same. he knows what it is to prefer to die over being trapped in the custody of the capital, knows what they did to peeta, and unlike before, when he was too wrapped up in his rage and grief and anger to see the horrible position peeta was in when filming the capital’s props, he is able to extend him this one courtesy. it’s the “i promise” that really gets me because it’s, again, a very morbid but still real display of comfort, of friendship that’s never really between them but that he is able to display here. (it's also a parallel to earlier in the book, when he callously asks katniss if she wants him to kill a hijacked peeta for her, because even though hijacked peeta is so different from his old self, so cruel in some ways in that moment, it disturbs her that gale would offer this because he's still a person. but in this scene, gale isn't saying this callously or to be cruel or out of jealousy. he is saying it because he understands peeta's fear and knows it's not unfounded.)

and i guess this change maybe bothers me because it speaks to a certain fandom rhetoric (and the promotion of the films didn’t really help on this front) that gale and peeta, like. hate each other when they… just don’t?

don’t get me wrong, there are some mutual resentments between them that we see in catching fire and especially in mockingjay, and katniss is right in saying they’re not friends, with gale criticizing him for the capital propos and a hijacked peeta more obviously displaying a callous kind of jealousy that he’s never quite expressed all that much, at least vocally, before. (the closest he got was in catching fire, when he asked katniss if she really only kissed gale once.)

but also. peeta defends gale at the whipping post, helps to carry him back, and offers to watch him so that katniss can rest. and yes, maybe those are both things he does for katniss (though i would actually argue i think he would’ve helped gale even without katniss there at the whipping post). gale helps peeta and haymitch and katniss train with snares and traps, and after, in what i think is one of the most interesting things to note about their dynamic, laments that “it would be better if he were easier to hate.” and that's the whole goddamn point, isn't it? katniss even laughs and says, "tell me about it," lamenting that she couldn't just hate and discard him in the first arena. peeta includes gale in the locket reminding katniss why she needs to live. gale plays real or not real with peeta, and tells him things about their shared, destroyed District Twelve that he doesn’t really remember. he gets peeta water in the middle of the night since he’s restrained and can't get it for himself.

and he promises to kill peeta before the capital can take him, knowing why peeta would consider that the more merciful thing. he's even the one who eventually does give peeta his own nightlock pill. and peeta expresses concern for him, too, in case he needs it, but gale assures him he's got his own detonating arrows and katniss herself if he needs a quick mercy kill.

and yes, a lot of those things are at least partly for katniss, but the point is also that they’re there, these kindesses are there, that people aren’t simply violent, malicious monsters, the way that the games are intended to convince people of. even between two boys who love the same girl and don’t really know what to do about it, who somewhat resent each other for it, there is still the capacity for kindness, for understanding.

and it just bothers me, i guess, because while those other small moments are important, gale’s promise here is one of the few kindnesses between them that doesn’t really have much to do with katniss - who, even knowing how lost and unstable and potentially dangerous to the mission and she herself is, can’t even pay lip service to the idea that she’ll kill peeta if it comes to it. she shows she could do it if she has to, she almost does when the mutts are approaching and peeta is whispering her name along with them in his sleep -but she can’t provide him the comfort of saying it, wondering privately if it's because she cares about him or because she's using him in her own private Game against Snow - but gale can. and gale does.

and it just bothers me, even though it’s such a small moment, because despite gale and peeta’s many, many differences, it is one of the few moments of genuine understanding and camaraderie we see between them, finally unmarred or complicated by their mutual feelings for katniss.

[ace-touya]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

OH NO it’s gonna be so hard to pick just ten- I think I’ll have to just do anime ones so I can narrow it down for myself

Dabi/Touya Todoroki

I have several analyses on this man so if you want my full thoughts look for those I cannot talk about every reason I adore this man right now. Bottom line? He’s incredibly relatable to me and also I feel so many things whenever he is on screen.

Tomura Shigaraki/Tenko Shimura

Shoutout to my sister because I don’t think he’d be this high if not for her love for him tbh. I do adore him tho he is literally everything to me (can’t beat Dabi tho) I just want to give him a hug

Megumi Fushiguro

Another really relatable one for me, he gets bonus points because he’s similar to Dabi (I’m working on a Venn diagram) but he’s so sweet and nobody understands him like I do. I’m more obsessed with Megumi than Sukuna is

Satoru Gojo

AKBDKSNDKSNDKSBX. The wounds are fresh with this man bc I just watched JJK 0. I had mixed feelings about him when I started JJK but I started loving him rlly fast. He’s incredibly relatable also. He’s lower than the others just because I do not understand this guy for the life of me. I love that about him tho, he’s such a weird dude

Himiko Toga

This girl deserves the world. I’d like to formally apologise on behalf of all anime girls that this is the first one on my list and she’s so far down, I’m ashamed of myself. She’s like top 3 for MHA tho so it’s okay. I think. ANYWAY I think the idea of people not understanding the way that you love is just so real and it makes me want to cry.

Katsuki Bakugo

His character development is literally?? So good?? And again there’s a lot of relatability with him. He’s similar to Dabi so that’s bonus points and he’s one of my friends’ faves so that’s also bonus points. I hate to admit that he’s lower down because of the fandom more than anything else

Ochaco Uraraka

SHE IS THE WORLD. Ochaco they could never make me hate you, I’m an Ochaco defender for life because I don’t care what anyone says, she is an incredibly well-written and fleshed out character and she is not just ‘In love with Izuku’ and I’m saying that as someone who ships Izuocha

Kyouka Jiro

Most of my love for her comes from my headcanons because we simply don’t get enough of her in canon. But she reminds me a lot of my best friend which probably plays a role in my adoration of her and everything she does.

Junpei Yoshino

In such a short amount of time this baby stole my heart. I’ve never fallen in love with a character in such a little amount of content. But I relate to him immensely and he deserves so much better than what he got.

The way this is just JJK and MHA- I promise I have watched other anime I just haven’t hyperfixated on them as much as JJK and MHA

This was impossible for me so here are some honourable mentions: Yuji Itadori, Ai Enma, Momo Yaoyorozu, Rin Okumura, Suguru Geto, Kazuho Haneyama, Hizashi Yamada, Oboro Shirakumo, Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, Hodaka Morishima, Mitsuha Miyamizu, Taki Tachibana, Hina Amano

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Eyes and Ears

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: An AU where Barbara finds Jason instead of Bruce.

Chapters: 10/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Sheila Haywood, Original Character(s)

Relationship(s): Jason Todd/Original Character(s), Past Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Older SIbling Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd-centric, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Jason Todd is NOT Robin, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Has a Crush, Adopted Siblings

Chapter Ten: Helplessness

Jim returned the night before Jason's second therapy session, and Jim was startled by Jason's mumbling in his sleep. Jason sat up in Jim's bed, and they locked eyes in the dark. "Pop?" Jason whispered.

"You don't have to get up if you don't want," Jim whispered, "I—."

"How was your trip?" Jason asked.

Jim's shoulders dropped. "You're too young to hear about this, but it could've gone a lot better," Jim answered, "How was your week with Barbara?"

"It was okay... She took me to the gym, and we watched a movie," Jason answered. Jim smiled and nodded as he gathered his pajamas together. "You don't have to take me tomorrow if you're tired."

"I'm tired, but I'll be fine in the morning... Jason, what were you dreaming about?" Jim questioned.

"Mom... I dreamt about my mom," Jason mumbled as he hugged his knees. "I wasn't there for her. I told her I'd be right back, and when I did—."

"That's not your fault, Jason. Sometimes we desperately want to change things that aren't for us to fix... You didn't fail your mother. The system failed her, and it failed you," Jim's voice softened as he messed up Jason's hair.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Jason asked, near the point of tears.

"Never let the world forget about people like her. You know where the system failed better than anyone else would... How could we have stepped in? What should the adults of Gotham do to fix things like this?" Jim explained. Jason wiped his tears away. "You didn't create the problem... Neither did your mother, but you can help us come up with solutions."

"She was a good mom," Jason whispered as if he were trying to convince Jim. "She loved me and—."

"Any woman that could raise a boy like you is a good mother in my book," Jim interrupted. Jason smiled a little. "Do you wanna talk about this in therapy tomorrow?"

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Your parents. I'm sort of the fourth parent you've had so far, and you've gotta have thoughts about that," Jim clarified. Jason lay back down and nodded.

After Jim took his shower, he went to bed, and Jason lay fast asleep. Jim didn't sleep that night. He thought about the little boy he couldn't save. It occupied his mind in a way that he just couldn't escape.

Morning came, and Jason dragged himself out of bed and got dressed. He knocked on Barbara's door. "Barbara," Jason whispered. She opened her door and messed up Jason's hair. "Pop's home," Jason whispered.

"Oh, I know. You look cute," Barbara complimented him.

"Is that code for go change?" Jason asked. Barbara shook her head.

"You look fine... Don't be nervous," Barbara whispered. Jason relaxed his shoulders. "Dad's gonna drop you at the library after, and if you want, we can go to the gym after dinner," Barbara suggested. Jason nodded.

Jim poked his head out of his room. "Jason-. Oh, you look nice," Jim smiled, "Can you put two bagels in the toaster? I'll be right out once I can find my socks."

Jason obeyed, and Barbara made Jason a cup of cocoa. "Thank you... Hey, Barbara," Jason leaned in to whisper. She leaned forward to listen. "I—." Jason didn't say anything else. He couldn't tell her. Not yet.

The bagels popped up from the toaster, startling Jason, and Barbara smeared a generous amount of cream cheese on each half. Jason took a bite, and Jim came out of his room. They took their breakfast on the way out the door, and it wasn't until Jason got to the waiting room that he started feeling nervous.

"Pop?" Jason nudged Jim. "Promise you'll be here the whole time?"

"I promised you, so I'll be here. Okay?" Jim reassured. Jason nodded.

The therapist came out and called their names, and they went in together and did a little small talk. She had a sunny disposition that Jason was drawn to, but she was a therapist. Jason was so afraid of saying the wrong thing to her.

After the greetings and niceties, she eased into talking about Jason's parents. "Do you have nightmares about your parents often?" she asked.

"A lot of the time," Jason answered, "More about my dad than my mom." He waited for his therapist or Jim to say something, but there was only silence. "I'm always hiding from him in my dreams, and I can never get away from him. Sometimes he'll lock me in the dark or a small space, and I'll wake up," Jason whispered.

"Was that similar to things your father might have done in real life?" she asked. Jason nodded. "How did it feel for you at the time?"

"I knew he would find me and that he would hurt me," Jason mumbled.

"I imagine that was a frightening experience for you," she replied.

"I guess... But it wasn't what he did to me... It was how he used to hurt my mom. Sometimes, I could hear her crying when she thought I was asleep, and I couldn't do anything to help her," Jason whispered. She didn't speak, and Jason took a deep breath. "You want to know how I felt when stuff like that happened?" She nodded. "I don't even know. I used to be so sad and angry, and I wanted to fix things... How can you feel when you're helpless? How can you be happy when there's nothing to be happy about, Alisa?"

Jim held back from trying to comfort Jason right away. "There was nothing for you to feel happy about back then... Do you feel any differently now, or is that your current perspective?" asked Alisa. She glanced up at the clock and then looked back at Jason, tilting her head sympathetically. It would've felt artificial coming from most people, but coming from her, it felt like she really cared about his answer. It made him want to respond thoughtfully rather than brush off her question entirely.

"I used to think I would be happy if things were different, but now that I've got a dad that I love and an older sister that I'm close to... But—." Jason stopped talking and looked at Alisa and then at Jim.

"Do you feel like something's missing?" she asked.

"Well, no. I just feel like something might happen, and I might end up alone again... And I could've been okay with being by myself before. I could've. But I'm not okay with it now, because I love Pop and Barbara... Barbara and Pop are all the family I've got," Jason explained. Jim rested a hand on the back of Jason's head.

"I love you too," Jim whispered.

Jason relaxed into his thoughts, and as the session came to a close, Alisa left Jason with a question. "Jason, what do you think you can do to deal with these fears and anxieties as they come along? I want you to think about that," Alisa suggested in a soft voice.

[dancerinthestorm]

Fic Recs: A World in a Grain of Sand Edition.

I love epic tales in which authors slowly build up their worlds and characters. I love losing myself in works slowly outgrowing canon word count to the point of forgetting to go to bed at reasonable hours. However, I am in absolute awe of writers who manage the rare feat of conjuring the same level of immersion with just a short story or even a one shot.

This totally incomplete list of my all-time favorite short(-ish) stories is a tribute to all intrepid souls out there tackling this challenge.

If you aren't familiar with the fandoms yet I still recommend diving straight in. They can be read and enjoyed totally out of context and you might just come out the other end with a new fandom obsession 😉

„Ars Poetica“ (AO3) by Rhune

Helping out around the Devil May Cry you are perfectly content to leave center stage to the devil hunters and demons of your acquaintance. Until the day Dante returns from hell, his stand-offish brother in tow. Suddenly - and quite unnervingly - you find yourself sharing your once quiet existence in the background with none other than Vergil.

One achingly perfect installment full of poetry, searing stares and everyone’s favorite moody half demon.

Devil May Cry (post DMC5). Vergil x fem!Reader. Rated E. 16k words.

+++

„Coming up Roses“ by @eupheme

The new groundskeeper at Wayne Manor is unsure what to make of stoic, unapproachable Alfred Pennyworth. At least at first...

All the yearning and suppressed feels of a 300-page Jane Austen novel condensed into two gorgeous chapters about falling in love when you least expect it. Topped off with some seriously hot smut for good measure.

The Batman. Alfred Pennyworth x fem!Reader. Rated E. 10k words.

+++

„Posterity“ by @whats-rambled-rambled

Posterity. Tenet's operators. Always just a call away to back up your field agents while they flit back and forth through time. It's dangerous work. People die. So you don't get close. Until there's Neil.

I know, I know , 7 chapters with 31k words is putting A LOT of strain on the definition of „short stories“ but I just HAD to include this one. Reading it simply broke me. Absolutely gorgeous prose, two main characters you cannot help falling in love with and a story that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Tenet. Neil x GN!Reader. Rated M. 31k words.

Pro tip: If you are not ready for a 31k word commitment yet (fair enough!) go for „The Way Down“ instead: A hauntingly beautiful 3-parter Battinson!Bruce Wayne/GN!Reader. Rated T.

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"Three Weeks on the Nimrodel" by @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras

Haldir is quiet. Stoic. Solitary. Not the easiest person to be around for three weeks of guard duty up a solitary mallorn tree. He knows that and has made his peace with it. Until a so far unfamiliar fellow marchwarden comes along.

Do you know this moment of utter bliss when you come home after an absolutely rotten day and are finally able to snuggle up with a fluffy blanket, your favorite hot beverage and your comfort book/band/movie? This fic is that exact feeling distilled into 3000 words. Add a good helping of pure love for the more obscure corners of Middle Earth and two absolutely charming, introvert main characters et voila: utter contentment for you to come back to again and again and again whenever that fluffy blanket is out of reach.

Still not an Elves person. But I might have to fess up to being a Haldir person one of these days. This gem surely is another nail in my coffin 😅

Lord of the Rings. Haldir x GN!Reader. Rated G. 3k words.

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„Pinky promises & glow stars“ (AO3) by @softlyspector

Steven bumps into Marc’s childhood best friend in a coffee shop and decides that he wants to get to know her better. Marc decides that's a terrible idea.

Quiet and sad and sweet and absolutely beautiful.

Moon Knight. Marc Spector x Reader. Not rated on AO3. Think M to be on the safe side with everything the Moon Knight boys have been through. 10k words.

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As always: a huge thank you to all creators for your time and your passion and your talent. You guys are absolutely incredible and make this world a better place!

Something missing you say? Please feel free to shout your own recommendations at me in the comments!

[cas-kingdom]

"Why do you care?" i don't mind the fandom <3

A/N: Set after the movie. Reader is Tom & Atlanna’s daughter, born after Arthur (& Orm).

"Why do you care?" The words felt unfamiliar on Orm’s tongue as he spoke them, uncertainty spilling into the softness of his tone. He lay on the single bed, legs stretched out as he sat against the headboard, a book in his hands. You sat cross-legged on the floor, your own book open in your lap, but you looked up at your brother’s words, your confusion obvious.

“About me,” Orm clarified, noticing it. He absently waved a hand, his book forgotten for the moment though he attempted to sustain the appearance of being interested. “Why do you care about me?”

You lowered your book, a frown softening your features. “Where’s this come from?” you asked, his words being the first of a topic you hadn’t yet heard him speak of.

Orm shifted on the bed, rolling over possible words in his mind. “You’ve been coming to visit me for weeks now,” he decided on, peering curiously at you. “Why?”

It was a question that you had been waiting for, though you hadn’t realised it. Why were you bothering with him, the man who had attempted to kill Arthur multiple times, had almost succeeded in causing a grandiose war between the ocean and the surface, and had succeeded in an outbreak of war between neighbouring kingdoms of Atlantis? He’d brought about the death of many and a plentiful rift among the ocean that Arthur was still attempting to close, so why you had been spending a couple hours of your day, multiple days a week since he’d been arrested, with him in his cell...he did not know. Not that he would ever complain. The company was appreciated and the person was valued more than he would have once believed.

Shrugging, you gave him the answer you pegged as obvious. “We’re siblings,” you stated.

“Half,” Orm absent-mindedly corrected.

You blinked, a little taken aback. “That matters to you?”

For a moment, Orm looked straight at you, noting the disappointment glazing your eyes, and he felt a swell of something...some emotion...in his heart. Something he wished to grasp onto and keep there.

“No,” he said genuinely, dipping his head to ensure you could see he meant it. He sat up, stretching his arms in front of him, and you, satisfied, allowed yourself a small smile.

“There you go, then,” you said plainly. “I’d rather have two siblings than one. It’s much more fun.”

“Is it?” The curiosity in his voice, mingled with the hint of longing, reminded you not for the first time that while you’d had Arthur your entire life, Orm had for the most part been alone. While you had a father who’d raised you perfectly, you didn’t think Orvax had been the type to stick around and watch his son’s first steps or laugh at his first words. It was one of the multiple reasons you’d made an effort with him. When he was released, because you knew Arthur wouldn’t keep him locked away forever, you wanted all of you to be friends. Siblings. Two brothers and a sister, overcoming the rocky bumps at the beginning of their journey to sail smoothly through the rest of life together.

“You’ll know that soon,” you promised him, “you’ll feel it just as Arthur and I do.”

Orm let the minutest of smiles appear on his face as he nodded to himself, feasibly attempting to convince himself that that would be the case. He didn’t know Arthur. He didn’t know how much longer he would be here. He didn’t know when Arthur would strike up that talk he’d mentioned. But something in your voice, that optimism he’d come to admire in you, rekindled the fire in his chest a little more each time you came to see him.

He flicked his eyes up to meet yours. “Perhaps,” he agreed, just as you marked your page and closed your book, moving to stand to your feet.

“I’d better go,” you said. “Can I...come back tomorrow?”

Orm breathed a short laugh. “I’ll check my schedule.”

“Bye,” you said with a fond roll of your eyes. You knocked three times on the cell door and waited for it to open. Orm nodded once when you sent him a small wave and left, and then the door shut, and he was alone once more.

“Until tomorrow,” he said, falling back on the mattress. “Little sister.”

Aquaman Masterpost

send me the first sentence of a fanfic and i’ll write the next five, except i don’t know when to stop writing so i guarantee there’ll be more than five

[guardian-of-fun-times]

Ahh, Rise of the Guardians... Happy Birthday! I cannot begin to fathom my life without the books and/or the movie...besides a constant feeling of emptiness. I have no doubt in my mind that I would succumb to the fear of adulthood and not having an efficient way of preserving and expressing my childlike (not childish) nature. After seeing RotG in August of 2013, I found the closest character I have ever connected with. Distant but passionate...daring yet humble...intense but at the same time playful...He somehow manages to balance it all. When I first read "The Guardians of Childhood" novel series- I said to myself, "Y'know...if I were to connect with any other character on a spiritual level, it'd probably be Nightlight."

This was a couple years before William Joyce announced that [SPOILER] Nightlight later became Jack Frost...and then, from that moment, I realized that my connection with this character was MUCH deeper than I could ever imagine. Nightlight and Jack have this distant/ever-watchful dynamic in their personality...something I've always found myself doing. I love people-watching- it is very intriguing to me. Now this might have to do with my love of psychology/sociology and understanding how people work, but it is something I've always noticed about myself. In the movie, Jack is not the center of attention all the time...he is usually off to the side, trying to understand what is going on around him before he commits to anything. Of course I could write an entire essay regarding all my personal connections with Jack and how I can see life through his eyes...but perhaps that story shall be shared at a later date. In time I will share my story... The movie and the books have changed my life for the better. Thank you William Joyce, I grew up with you through "Rollie Pollie Ollie" and continued to admire your work without even realizing it was you this whole time.. .I'm inspired to go back and read all those books and watch all the movies. I'm sure I'll have a deeper connection the second time around.

I'm also inspired to read the books that inspired you! I don't recall you ever mentioning "The Little Prince", but I'm sure you've read it...especially by how much Nightlight reminds me of The Little Prince.

Your eye for the imagination and impossible is right up my alley. In an obtuse mindset, there was a time I felt my creativity and imagination fading- but I then realized it was pushed to the secondary tier of importance. Adulthood got in the way...not becoming an adult, but letting the fears of adulthood and the world fill my head with desensitized nonsense.

I have always believed that children know the secrets of the universe. They understand the secret writings of the "In Between"... the two lines of the theoretical and the fantastical! This knowledge, however, seems to fade slowly with time. The more a child is in the world- the more darkness is influenced. This is not a loss for hope! As long as we preserve this knowledge (like history), we will not forget who we are, where we came from, and what our individual purpose is.

Love, Light and Purpose has been my end goal to this channel. To reflect and remind other's of The Great Light- just as the moon does with the sun's light. To remind people that they DO MATTER, that they ARE LOVED, and have enormous amounts of POTENTIAL!

A handful of years ago, I promised myself that after the new Jack Frost novel came out, I would start directing my focus to The Guardians of Childhood tier of this fandom. More people must be made aware, for the whole story has yet to be shared! This is exactly why I'm building my Viking AU cosplay- to practice my skills with Worlba before I tackle cosplaying as Nightlight.

Getting back on track, I thank you, not only to William Joyce, but to all of you who, despite the common ridicule and doubt by others, continued to believe. That, my friends, is the most humbling truth...and is the driving force in my entire being. I will never cease to share these stories...I will be sure to tell the importance until MY memories are like twilight.

[hexiewrites]

I was gone in the summer so I missed this milestone but: I've officially been in the steddie fandom a year (plus, uh, three months), and wow, what a fucking amazing year it's been

(i do want to shout out to my spouse for BEGGING me to watch this show for multiple years until i finally caved when they were away last summer, and to whoever made a steddie fanvid on tiktok, and the algorithm gods who went 'this bitch likes gay shit' and served it to me, causing my total descent into absolutely madness)

in that time (since august of 2022, and actually almost all between aug 2022-april 2023), I've:

written 16 (!!!) fics

totalling 307,294 words (holy fuck)

my three most popular fics are, by no small margin:

same as it ever was (which was only my 3rd ever steddie fic) (and which is currently being podficc'd by the amazing @n0connections!)

carve your name into my chest (my magnum opus, the steddie hockey fic, which I am still to this day absolutely blown away by the reception to. it's baby brother prequel, clean ice cold hearts can't lose, is much less popular but one of my absolute faves. can be read as a standalone, if you're into that!)

&, there'll be a riot cause i know you (proving that you're all really just here for the smut ;))

I've had other podfics made (thank you, @amanita-fierce, for the amazing pod of when they raise the landing gear (will your heart stay here)

I've gone absolutely crazy with a @thefreakandthehair prompt and accidentally wrote a hallmark movie fic that's the second longest thing I've ever done (make this inn our own), which the incredible @staymagical BOUND INTO A BOOK for me (the craziest and coolest thing that's ever happened in my fandom life, I'm not even gonna lie!) (and then my amazing beta blue bound carve into a book, but they don't have tumblr so they don't get a fun tag, but I also cried very hard about that as well)

I've gotten more fanart than I could even hope to tag, but special shoutout to @oriarts for being the first and for never failing to make me lose my mind over the way you make my fuzzy brain images come to life, and also for letting me brain spaghetti at them literally all the time, many of my fics would not exist without ori (psst if you make fanart PLEASE tag me so i can see it and cry!!!)

and I've made more friends than I ever expected, and have felt so loved and supported by this whole community. I've been part of fandom for the better part of two decades now (yikes) and have never felt so welcome, and appreciated, and I have to thank all of you for that.

I'm so excited to be back, and I'm sorry I don't have a pithy way to end this post. <3

ps. no promises, but hopefully there will be some new stuff coming down the pipeline in the next few months. hope to see you there!

[calebwittebane]

i dont think "fandom" is even a real thing like it's a good shortcut for referring to The Collective Of Fans Of A Thing but as a word to describe an actual phenomenon im starting to think it does more harm than good and provokes the most inane conversations. 90% of the time when people complain about Fandom Ruining X they're in actuality referring to like. personal anecdotes. a specific friends group they dont like. a discord server. the enjoyers and artists/writers talking about some specific idea or ship that gets on their nerves. some specific people they think are twee and annoying. some equally specific people they think have bad opinion about the thing they like. all with an air of prime r/iamverysmart material. i mean look at the "shipping ruined fandom!" posts its like so obviously thinly veiled vagueposts about people doing some Mushing Together Fictional Characters about their favorite series that they personally dont like and are bothered by. and all of the above gets brought up to this range of Societal Problem or like Cognitive Decline etc etc. like #SOCIETY. when at the end of the day its just the same petty stuff. theres a lot of Shelf Conchesness on display because theres always this urge to pretend like your favorite extremely mainstream thing of choice is Different and Really Deep. regardless of its merit it was still created with a wide mainstream audience in mind though so i promise youre not above all of this. you are A Fan yourself. people who write y/n fanfics and whatever else are not some different breed, they just happen to do some stuff in their free time that youre not into. people whose art doesnt appeal to you or contains "mischaracterization" are not taking away anything from the source material. bad posts dont take away anything from the source material. and if the whole issue gets to you this badly... well i hate to say it but... The Fandom-Brain Might Have Been Hiding In Plain Sight. ultimately if you depend on other people for transformative content, your being displeased with what you find isnt a societal issue, its just a normal thing that happens, sometimes you just think stuff sucks and is bad. you dont have to shield your petty complaints with Serious Language. youll feel better when you realize this is kind of futile and you can just do your own thing and not desperately depend on others' fan content or discussions, and if you do browse it, well youre gonna see good stuff and bad stuff. its fine. its fine. people creating bad art and writing bad stories for their own enjoyment for free is a good thing. bad art has the right to exist. sometimes in life you have to say, "wow, this sucks. not gonna ruin my day though" and move along. youll feel so much better. enjoy the source material and maybe make some friends through it and hang out with them and joyfully be Likers and Haters and Understanders. enjoy non-mainstream media. get into non-fiction books. go to a modern art museum. watch a movie from a country youve never seen a movie from. start making art yourself even if its bad. share it with your friends. eat hummus with them. etc

[crowcaws]

I've had some thoughts brewing ever since I finished NATLA, and watching Friendly Space Ninja's review of PJO really brought up a lot of feelings after sitting on it for a month so I'm going to try and articulate those thoughts here.

It's very interesting this fixation on the "word of god" and its involvement making or breaking a screen adaptation, to the point where you get unwavering devotion when a creator is on board, and outright disdain when a creator isn't on board. Both are completely reactionary takes that are unhelpful, especially when adaptations can be, sometimes, excellent without their original creators involved, and awful (cough fantastic beasts cough) when they are involved.

Regardless of whether or not NATLA was bad (it wasn't, it was just fine) I love that people are going "HA I bet Netflix regret losing BRYKE!" as a sort of gotcha, as if Korra didn't prove like a decade ago that Bryke are not infallible screenwriters. As if those same people, when the show was first announced and Bryke were on board, didn't even think to consider that Bryke are just two of the writers that made a great show.

Because fandom has a problem where it doesn't actually care or consider if the original creators are a good fit or not, if their involvement will harm the adaptation or help it, or if their recent work is still up to scratch with their original work. Fandom just wants a security blanket in the form of a name on a credits list, to the point of almost cult-like devotion that makes or breaks their opinion of content before it's even released.

This devotion is how you end up with fans doing logical backflips when their perfect book accurate Percy Jackson adaptation that "Uncle Rick" promised is now changing a bunch of stuff for not very good reasons, and now they have to either do mental gymnastics to justify questionable choices or admit that Rick can be wrong.

Percy Jackson had Rick Riordan on board and that series, let's be honest here, was just fine too. It wasn't groundbreaking, it did not surpass the source material on most points (I say most because all that Sally content was inspired) and fell short in a lot of ways that have been outlined by critics more articulate than I. Some of that, I suspect, was due to Rick's fixation on this adaptation being the antithesis of the 2010 movies to the point where it feels like they refused to let the show be fun and colourful in parts where it should have been. His involvement, as a book author delving into screenwriting, cannot be proven to have been more beneficial than if he had simply consulted and set boundaries and left it at that.

And of course Joanne is a fuckwit. But even creatively, you can't tell me that the fantastic beasts movies were better for her meddling.

But back to PJO and NATLA: I genuinely feel like we got very similar end products with both shows. An underwhelming foray into live action adaptation that suffers from too few episodes and disappointing characterisation save for a few standout roles (In this case, Sally, and Zuko and Iroh), and some problems aside that each show varies on, but ultimately still delivers something entirely and completely watchable. Percy Jackson has at least a tiny bit better characterisation overall, but cannot hold a candle to the fight choreography and special effects in NATLA (partly because in PJO they had a bad habit of cutting away or writing out every time anyone was mean to do something heroic or actually fight.) And yet you cannot speak a bad word about PJO, but NATLA is torn to shreds.

Back to NATLA and the Bryke: Almost nobody, in this whole time from the NATLA announcement to airing, has made comment on the absence of Aaron Ehasz, who was not involved with Korra either. They were happy to celebrate when Bryke was involved, and mourn when they departed, but you should have been mourning Aaron this whole time, if anyone. Aaron wrote Tales from Ba Sing Se, if you weren't aware. Arguably the most memorable episode of the Last Airbender, so emotionally rich and captivating that even hearing the instrumentals of that song in NATLA brought me to tears.

So why wasn't Aaron's absence ever felt? Well, that is because the fans saw "original creators" in headlines and ran with it without question as a sure sign of victory (and then failure when Bryke departed). Because fandom doesn't really care WHOSE name is in the credits, fandom just wants that sense of security -- and it's a false sense of security, because Annabeth and Katara both still ended up gutted of their depth at the end of the day. The presence of Rick didn't save Annabeth any more than the absence of the ATLA writers doomed Katara.

[wolfjackle-creates]

H, K, N for the ask game 😁😁

For this ask game! (Submissions still open)

H: What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Probably TV shows. Though I spent more than a bit of time in the MCU, so serialized film might be a better description. There's been exceptions, of course. (Jane Austen being the notable one.) But I tend to thrive in fandoms where the writers/studios don't quite follow through on all the implications they make. Or something falls just a bit flat that fic can explore the implications of.

K: What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

This is a hard one!

I'm a millennial, so of course I was enthralled by Zuko's arc in ATLA.

Edward and Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist are more character studies I adore. Just... The way they had to confront the truth of what a philosopher's stone required and how their journey changed from resurrecting their mom to restoring their (Alphonse's) bodies to bringing down the homunculi. The way they grew as people throughout the manga/show. I just love them, okay?

Frodo from Lord of the Rings. His journey broke him, but he persevered. At first, he made a promise with no idea what would be required of him. But when it got tough? When he started to break under the pressure? When he shattered? He didn't give up. Because the world and his home and Sam were worth everything.

I just really like heroic characters, okay?

N: Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

[The answers to this are gonna be dpxdc specific. I know some of these are explored more in their individual fandoms.]

I love when people explore the complexities of Jazz's character. She doesn't always have her shit together, she just pretends to. And she's a bit of a know-it-all with a superiority complex around her intelligence. Again, I know this gets explored more on the DP only side of things, but I don't see it as much on the crossover side of things. (And I do have something in the works for this on my end!)

Repeat the above with Dick, tbh.

I would like to see more exploration of Danielle, too. Like, her character tends to be just "chaos gremlin who loves to travel." But... she went to travel because the DP writers didn't feel like actually figuring out how to fit a 12 year old into the show when Danny's parents couldn't know about her. Danny and his friends were 14, Jazz 16. They were entirely incapable of taking care of a 12 year old, so she was mostly written out of the show after her creation for shock value. I'd love to see more of her as a traumatized, abandoned kid who looks 12 but is really just a few months and has no one she can turn to for help. (Something I also plan to touch on with my own fics.)

The above are just my interpretations of the characters! I know a lot of people see them differently. And I do write my fics with the above characterizations in mind, so I'm definitely aiming to be the change I want to see. (We'll see more of Dani in the upcoming scenes of Bring Me Home. And I have plans for some things involving Jazz.)

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

No More Blind Dates

As promised, here is my second fic contribution for the @topwan-obikin fest! I hope you enjoy it, you can also find it HERE on AO3. Fandom: Star Wars Rating: General Pairing: Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi

Summary: Padmé sets Anakin up on a blind date... again, and despite his annoyance he goes and of course he gets stood up, let alone waiting at the movie theatre looking like a lost puppy. Thankfully someone else finds him.

*** MY WORK IS NOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER SITE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION. THOUGH REBLOGS AND COMMENTS ARE SUPER LOVED AND APPRECIATED! THANKS FAM!***

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"I'm setting you up on a blind date."

     Anakin looked up from his book, lounged back on the couch, confused. "What?"

     "I'm setting you up on a date," Padmé repeated, "and no, you don't get a choice."

     She turned and walked into Anakin's kitchen and began rummaging through the fridge. Anakin slammed his book closed and chased after her.

     "No! No, we talked about this after the last time," he said, standing beside her while she crafted a sandwich, "every blind date you have ever set me up on has been an absolute bust. The last guy you set me up with was from some random planet in the outer rim and he was an absolute asshole. I'm done with blind dates Padmé  I'll either find someone the old fashioned way or die alone."

     She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. And I know that in the past my match making abilities haven't exactly been up to par, but this time I am confident that you two are going to hit it off perfectly."

     "Well it doesn't matter, because I'm not going." He grabbed up his book off the counter and turned back toward the living room, but stopped when she called after him.

     "Remember when I said you didn't have a choice?" His shoulders tensed but he didn't turn, he already knew what was coming and he wasn’t pleased. "I already arranged the date with him. Show up at the movie theater downtown at five, your movie starts at five-thirty and I already booked the tickets, they're in your email. He'll meet you in front of the concession stand, so just sit at one of the tables there and he'll find you. And after that I made a reservation for you two at Lamara's for around eight, the reservation is under Skywalker. But if the movie runs late I know the owner and already told him there was a chance you might not show up on time, so he said he'll hold the table for you until nine."

     "Padmé this is crazy! You can't just set me up on a date and make all these plans without telling me." He turned to face her, face red and flustered, a bit angry. "Just call him and cancel, and I'll pay you back for the tickets"

     "I can't, there's not enough time to cancel." Anakin breathed a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. "The date’s today, in two hours actually,” she glanced down at her watch, “so you should go shower and get ready because he'll be waiting for you at the theater.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

     He was ready and out the door of his apartment within an hour, with Padmé rushing him out the door and reminding him to sit near the concession stand. Within fifteen minutes of that he was in the designated meeting area and waiting, nervously, for this mystery man to show up. And he realized that's exactly what he was, a complete mystery. Padmé had only given him instructions on where to meet him, but she hadn't told him anything about this guy. He had no clue what he looked like, what he'd be wearing so Anakin could pick him out of the crowds, he didn't even know his name. But Anakin still sat there and waited. In fact, he waited for half an hour and no one had even so much as glanced over at him. 

     “Padmé,” he sighed into the phone, glad she'd picked up after only a few rings, “this guy still hasn't shown up yet and I've been sitting here for almost an hour now. What does he even look like? Maybe he's sitting here and I don't even know it. Better yet, what's his name?”

     “Just trust me Anakin, he will find you, just stay sitting right where you are.”

     “Or he's not showing up at all, maybe he chickened out.” He scanned the lobby of the theater again, still not seeing anyone who was looking as lost as he was.

     “He'll be there, I promise.”

     “He better be. And by the way, if this doesn't work out as spectacularly as you think it's going to, then no more blind dates.” He heard her chuckle on the other end of the phone and mutter something along the lines of, ‘there won't need to be’, before he hung up the phone.

     Anakin sat and continued to wait and still found himself alone, even long after the time Padmé said his mystery man was supposed to meet him. He sat at the table until almost quarter to six, the movie had already started, and Anakin was ready to throw in the towel. Obviously mystery man wasn't coming and Anakin couldn't blame him. He hated blind dates. Who in their right mind wanted to willingly spend a night with someone they had never met before? He certainly didn't, so he couldn't exactly blame this guy for not showing up. 

     He snatched his phone from the table and jammed it back in his pocket. Next time Padmé insisted on setting him up, he was putting his foot down. 

     He was just about to stand up when two bags of popcorn and a tray of drinks were set on the table in front of him. Anakin looked up, confused, and just tilted his head at the man standing in front of him. 

     “I don't think you're the person I’m supposed to be waiting for.” Anakin looked the man over. He was dressed in a more formal looking version of the uniforms the theater employees wore, his hair was longer, just touching the tops of his shoulders and brushed back away from his face, beard neatly trimmed. He was handsome, very handsome and certainly Anakin's type. He wished he was the mystery man he was waiting for, but based on the uniform he was wearing he was clearly there for work. Anakin's next curiosity was why he was bringing him popcorn and drinks.

     “No,” the man chuckled, “no, unfortunately I am not.” If Anakin wasn't already taken by the man's looks, his voice had him completely gone. “I just couldn't stand to see you sitting here alone and miserable for a moment longer. I'm assuming you were stood up?”

     “Yeah,” Anakin sighed and slumped down further in his chair, “it was a blind date and obviously the guy didn't feel like showing up. I feel like such an idiot.”

     “If you ask me, the only idiot is the guy who stood you up.” Anakin perked up at that and he found it hard to hide the blush creeping up his cheeks. “But clearly his loss will be my gain. I’m Obi-Wan by the way, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

     “Anakin Skywalker,” he answered as he reached out and took Obi-Wan’s outstretched hand.

     “Well, Anakin, it would be my honour to escort you on a proper date, if you'll have me?” All Anakin could manage in his dumbstruck state was a slight nod of his head. “What movie were you supposed to be seeing?”

     “Uh…” He quickly pulled out his phone and searched for the tickets in his email. “A movie called ‘Chasing Shadows’.”

     Obi-Wan nodded his head. “Our newest romance film, perfectly appropriate for a first date.”

     “Except it started thirty minutes ago.”

     “And that is where my job comes in very handy, dear one.” Anakin flushed a deeper shade at the easy use of the endearment. “As manager of the theater I have access to the private rooms in the back that are only meant for special viewings.”

     Anakin sat a little straighter in his chair, leaning forward a bit toward Obi-Wan. “Really?”

     “Yes, now come.” He held out his hand to Anakin who took it and let Obi-Wan lift him from the chair. “I will show you the way, one of my employees is already there waiting for my word on which film to play on the projector.”

     Anakin took the popcorn bag and drink that Obi-Wan offered him and followed the man through the theater and down a back hallway. Obi-Wan unlocked a door and let Anakin into a room with a few short rows of chairs and a fair sized screen. Anakin sat in the middle row while Obi-Wan spoke off to the side with the theater employee who was going to start the movie for them, and once they were finished Obi-Wan joined him and the movie started not long after.

     Normally Anakin wasn't one for cheesy romance movies, but he had to admit this one wasn't half bad, and probably made better since he actually had some decent company this time. Since it was just the two of them in the small viewing room they were able to talk, comment on the movie and laugh as loud as they wanted. Halfway through the movie when they had both already devoured their popcorn and the movie was just starting to get into the heated parts of the romance, Anakin took a chance to glance over at the man beside him. He’d taken off his blazer and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his dress shirt, revealing a patch of auburn chest hair that Anakin was itching to run his fingers through, and the tight fit of the dress shirt left nothing to Anakin's imagination. He could see the outline of trimmed abs beneath, broad shoulders that Anakin wished he could be wrapped in. Obi-Wan honestly made him forget he was actually supposed to be meeting someone else. 

     He brought his eyes back to the screen as the couple in the film came together for their first kiss. It gave him butterflies while he watched the scene so close to Obi-Wan, something he'd certainly never felt on any of the past blind dates Padmé had set him up on, but he decided to take a chance on the feeling. He leaned slowly to the side, first pressing his arm along Obi-Wan’s and testing the waters. When he didn't pull away, Anakin shifted in his seat and pressed even closer to him, shuffling so his head was able to lay on Obi-Wan’s shoulder.

     Obi-Wan chuckled fondly, a deep rumbling in his chest that had Anakin’s butterflies fluttering intensely, and lifted his arm to wrap around Anakin's shoulders and pulled him in. They watched the rest of the movie like that, with Anakin tucked into Obi-Wan’s side with his head rested on his chest, and Obi-Wan’s strong arm around him. Anakin felt comfortable and safe, in a way he'd never felt with anyone else before, and for the first time on any of his blind dates he didn't want it to end. 

     But it eventually did, with the final scene in the movie of course bringing to two star crossed lovers together in a happy ending. Unfortunately for Anakin it meant he would now unfortunately be leaving Obi-Wan, probably never to see him again since this was all because Anakin had been stood up. So who was to blame him if he held onto Obi-Wan a little longer as the credits rolled.

     "Dear one?" Obi-Wan squeezed Anakin's shoulder with his hand and Anakin snapped up and out of Obi-Wan’s space. He probably wanted to leave, he had just finished a shift and then stayed to take Anakin on a pity date. He shouldn't have kept him like that.

     "I'm so sorry!" Anakin blurted, but his eyes were averted and he missed Obi-Wan’s concerned gaze. "I’m sure you want to go home, you've been here for so long already. I shouldn't have made you stay at work because my stupid blind date didn't show up."

     "There is no need to apologize, Anakin, I wanted to stay here with you and quite frankly I am very glad that I did." Anakin's mouth dropped open into a silent 'oh' as Obi-Wan continued with a gentle smile. "I was only going to ask if you were hungry, perhaps you'd like to join me for dinner?"

     Anakin was shocked to say the least, he’d thought for sure he was being dismissed by Obi-Wan. "I…" He stuttered, finding it hard to force the words past the sudden onslaught of chills running through his body. "I-oh! I actually have reservations at Lamara's. It was supposed to be for the blind date I was supposed to meet, but I say we go and enjoy ourselves since he didn't show." He quickly looked down at his watch. "If we leave now we can make it."

     "That sounds lovely." Obi-Wan stood and grabbed his jacket then turned and offered Anakin a hand up. He stared at Anakin for a moment and he was caught completely in Obi-Wan’s gaze, but he didn't mind one bit. Then Obi-Wan hummed, sending an all new kind of thrill through Anakin, before he tucked Anakin's arm into his own and said, "His loss has been most certainly my gain."

~~~~~~~~~~~

     They arrived just in time for the reservation Padmé set up. Their waiter led them to a fairly secluded table off to the side, set up with rose petals and candles. They ordered and their food arrived fairly quickly, and while they ate they happily chatted.

     "Tell me, dear one, how did you end up sitting in the theater lobby alone?" Obi-Wan asked, the endearment had become more used as the night went on, and Anakin did not mind one bit. "Who would set you up with someone who was going to bail on you?"

     "My friend, who I've known for years and has the best of intentions, doesn't always have the best taste when it comes to these kinds of things," Anakin chuckled, "and even though I wasn't exactly happy about her setting me up on this blind date, I'm kind of glad she did, and that whoever they were didn't show up."

     "As am I," Obi-Wan smiled over the rim of his wine glass, "this night has gone very well. I never expected I would have met someone as wonderful as you in such a way."

     "You mean because you felt bad for me."

     Obi-Wan laughed along with Anakin. "I suppose that's one way to put it, dear one, but I just could not let you leave looking so incredibly sad. Your beautiful face should always be graced with a smile." Anakin smirked and this time didn't care to hide the pink in his cheeks. "The blush is cute too."

     Once they finished their meals and sat for a while talking over another glass of wine, Obi-Wan waved down the waiter. "Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end, I'll get the check, dear one."

     "What? No, I'll get it," Anakin said, "I invited you here, so it's my treat."

     "On the contrary," Obi-Wan shook his head, already pulling out his wallet to beat Anakin to the punch, "I invited you to dinner, you merely had a reservation pre-booked."

     "But I-"

     "Excuse me, Sir’s?" They both turned and looked up to their waiter. "Your meal has actually already been paid for."

     "By who?" Anakin asked, and they both followed the waiters gesturing hand to find a familiar face hovering by the podium at the entrance.

     Obi-Wan peered over as well, confused as he asked, "What on earth is Padmé doing here?"

     Anakin's head snapped back to Obi-Wan, eyes wide. "You know Padmé?!"

     "Yes, we've actually been friends for years." Anakin was too stunned to even speak, and they both turned back to watch as she waved to them with a smug smile on her face, before she turned and left. 

     Obi-Wan was the first to break the silence that had fallen over them, and turned back to face Anakin. "My dear," he mused once he had put the pieces together, "I do believe we have been bamboozled."

     Anakin finally gave in and laughed, running a hand down his face. Of course Padmé would do this, go through all these ridiculous hoops to bring him and Obi-Wan together. God, he loved her so much.

     "Yeah, I think you're right. She is far too ingenious for her own good." Obi-Wan merely raised his glass in agreement. "Hey, Obi-Wan, would… would you be interested in doing this again?"

     "Are you asking me on a second date, dear one?"

     Anakinn nodded, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I think it went really well, and I have really enjoyed our time together. I was also thinking that next time we could go on a proper date, maybe at a place where you don't work."

     He smiled at him and reached over the table to take his hand, gently running his thumb along the back of it. "I would love that." He lifted Anakin's hand and softly kissed it, then added, "thank goodness for Padmé."

     "You know she's never going to let us forget that she's the one who brought us together, right."

     "Oh I know, dear one, I definitly know."

     Anakin had a feeling that this time Padmé was right, he wouldn't be needing anymore blind dates.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: And this is the second fic I submitted for the fest! I hope you enjoyed it, and I will be contributing more fics for the fests second deadline coming up, so if oyu would like to be tagged when those are able to be posted, please let me know and I would love to tag you <3

[denjis-chainsaws]

°•●~| Chainsaw Man |~●•°

Character(s): Denji, mentions of Power and Aki Hayakawa

Genre: Headcanons, relationship, fluff

Reader: Male Reader (masc. pronouns and nouns, trans-inclusive), second person (you, your, yours), maybe a little dense pre-relationship?

Extra Notes: As per usual in every fandom I have seen very little male reader content, especially for Denji. If no one else will give him a boyfriend, then I'll write it myself. Also, no real idea for a time frame, this just generally takes place during Part 1, though certain bits can be applied to Part 2.

《 || - - - - - - - - || 》

Denji isn't a stranger to having feelings for someone, that boy falls for anyone who shows him a crumb of kindness. But he isn't used to falling for another boy. He's not opposed to it, it's just very new to him like most other relationship-type things.

So then in comes you to sweep him off his feet. Metaphorically or literally! Either way he is absolutely enamored with you. From your looks to how you carry yourself to the way you speak, everything about you renders him speechless.

At first he panics. He was raised by himself out in a cabin in the wilderness for most of his life, he doesn't have the foggiest clue about social norms and the like. By the time he's brought to Tokyo and is able to read manga and magazines, the only thing he's seen are relationships between men and women. The only time he's ever felt attraction up to that point was towards women. He didn't know if feeling this way about another boy was normal.

It causes him such distress and inner turmoil that it affects his patrols with Power and Aki. Power isn't much help since she has as similar a grasp of social norms as Denji. Aki, on the other hand, tells him quite bluntly that it's fine and shouldn't be causing him this much strife. After that his feelings towards you just kinda click, "Oh... Cool."

Once it sinks in, he's very obvious about his feelings. Everyone can read him like a book, it's embarrassing. Yet somehow it seems all of that has gone over your head, leaving you oblivious to his pining. It takes him asking you out directly to realize his feelings may extend past friendship.

Denji is a simple man that enjoys simple things, so simple dates are up his alley. Walking around the streets in the evening, going to a theater to watch a movie, or grabbing some good grub from a nearby food cart or truck. It would be his treat like a real gentleman, if he had any money to speak of. Though he promises to pay you back! Someday!

You teach him the intricacies of relationships. Largely of how they're take AND give. Many of the women Denji has chased after in the past were always taking and taking, and rarely ever giving if at all. Maybe he isn't feeling that way because he's dating a boy... Are men really that different from women in relationships? Denji doesn't know, and ultimately he doesn't care. He's happy to have a significant other who loves and cares for him as a real person.

Denji has no sense of personal space and is always clinging to you. He loves PDA and is incredibly shameless to boot. If you're walking around somewhere, he's holding your hand. Sitting somewhere to wait for a bus or just to relax, he's squeezed up tight against you and wrapping an arm around you no matter if you're smaller or bigger than him. Hell, at one point he begs you to try that cliche trope of using two straws to drink from the same shake or smoothie together. He saw it in a manga and thought it was pretty cute, so it had to be just as cute to try it in real life, no?

If you're not comfortable with the amount of physical affection Denji provides, you don't have to be afraid to speak up about it. Denji is crass and uncultured, but he's not that uncivilized. He is still getting used to everything, but above all else he wants to make sure his boyfriend is happy and comfortable, so he'll learn to tone down the clinginess if that's what makes you feel better.

You, on the flipside, learn more of his quirks. He loves praise and reassurance. All of this new stuff he's learning can be very intimidating, and as much as Denji can put on a face and handle it, he does doubt himself a lot. A simple pat on the back and words of "Good job!" can go a long way for him.

If you like to cook, Denji devours anything you make for him. Doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a five-star chef, he loves everything you make. His only request is to avoid any kind of coffee or tea, he's not too fond of the "mud" and "leaf" water.

At the end of the day, whether you're staying at Aki's his place or yours, his favorite thing to do with you is unwind in bed together. You could read him a book, he loves your voice and all the fancy words you read aloud. Maybe you have a TV in your room, you could watch one of those late night auction programs and laugh at the people who waste such exorbante amounts of money on mundane things with pretty names attached. Or if you still have the energy to spare, maybe you could let Denji rest his head on your lap and run your fingers through his hair. He loves it when you do that. He loves it whenever he can be close to you and will snuggle up to you at the earliest opportunity. He's so used to holding Pochita in his sleep, and has been using an extra pillow as a subpar replacement ever since Pochita gave him his heart. Now he doesn't need the pillow so long as he has you.

[koulakoukoula2003]

How do you deal with writer's block? Asking for a friend lol

YOU DON'T DEAL LMFAOOOO

ok jk jk there IS a way, but first you gotta figure out what causes you writer's block in the first place and once you figure that out, then you know how to stop it.

What causes Writer's Block and How to deal with it

If you got writer's block it generally means you're out of ideas, but there are three possible causes:

Indifference: If you're writing fanfiction, you are no longer interested in the fandom/character you're writing for. If you are writing an original book, you are no longer interested in it.

Personal Reasons: You are hitting depression. Life gets in the way. You are too busy thinking about your irl problems AND THAT'S OKAY.

Low confidence: Nobody is giving you attention. You write a 400k word slow burn you've DEDICATED YOUR LIFE into, and you're spending your nights writing it and you've literally poured your soul into it, but NO ONE READS IT. You get no comments, no kudos, nothing, no one is excited about this as much as you are (this one hurts like a mf)

(1) is what 50% of writers are going through when they're having a block.

Your friend IS NO LONGER INTERESTED IN THE FIC/BOOK THEY'RE WRITING.

Hear me out, remember that excitement you have when you're watching/reading a series/movie/book/manga and you're like OMG THAT CHARACTER'S SO HOT IM GONNA WRITE A 300K WORD SLOW BURN FOR THEM?

Yeah, when you get writer's block, you know that excitement is gone. Your brain is just no longer interested in that character/story and no matter what you tell yourself "I gotta write this, I gotta finish it, I love this character, I love this story, I gotta-" stop. If you keep this up, you're gonna force yourself to write, and anything you write that is forced will come out terrible.

Then you'll figure out your book/fic is written terribly, and then you'll tell yourself I SUCK AT THIS, I SHOULD STOP WRITING (Which is not true because when you're not forcing yourself, you're probably writing like some god of literature).

And this is when you're absolutely finished and I promise you, you will not write ANYTHING for like a year because your confidence as a writer crumbles.

So DON'T do that.

The first thing you do when you realise you got writer's block, YOU DON'T FORCE YOURSELF TO KEEP WRITING. Subconsciously, you DON'T want to write but you don't know that. Consciously, you tell yourself to write and write and write cuz YOUR LIFE DEPENDS on finishing that fic (or that's what you think) and you just GOT to finish it.

No. This is wrong. Your life will not stop if you don't finish that fic and even if you're going to disappoint hundreds of readers IT'S.OKAY! PUT. YOURSELF. FIRST.

ALWAYS put yourself first. If you're writing fic, your readers AREN'T paying you to write it, so any demands they make of you to finish it, are NOT VALID.

You can't force yourself to do stuff because other people want you to do them, cuz that will drag you down depression and then you'll realise your writing is bad, you're not happy with it neither with yourself, and what was merely a hobby that you used to make you feel better SUDDENLY BECOMES A CHORE.

Writing is not a 9-5 job. Writing is a hobby. You do it IF you want to. If you let other people force you to do things, then I'm sorry, but you must be miserable.

(2) well I can't tell you how to deal with that. Personal Reasons can involve maaaany things.

You're dealing with a toxic bf/gf/x and they're draining your energy and suddenly you can't write?

You got a really hard job and your boss is pressuring you? Or you just got fired?

You got one of your parents in the hospital or both of them, or relatives and friends and siblings are suddenly dying out of nowhere? Heck maybe you're dealing with some terrible physical or mental health problems.

In this case, abandon writing.

I know writing helps you escape your maddening reality, but you got shit to do, and shit to fix.

Life happened. Life is shit. Shit happens.

BUT REMEMBER writing is your escape. It DOESN'T solve any of your problems, but it is an ESCAPE.

When you open that damn word document and you stare at a blank page - it's not just a blank page. It's a fucking portal that you walk through it and you leave this god-forsaken world we live in. Even if it is just for a little while. A few hours? A few minutes?

Don't overdo it, though, because eventually you'll have to come back to reality and deal with your problems.

(3) the rest of 150% of writers suffer from low confidence (yes i know the math doesn't add up, bear with me)

check out this post of mine where i talk about writers with low confidence

are you writing this huge fic that no one cares about?

is it 102394857 million words and no one has read it?

Yeah, welcome to the world of depression LMFAO- ok ahem

You know, back in the old times when ffnet was the only fanfiction site around, we didn't really give a fuck whether people read our fics or not AND THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL! FIC WAS ALL ABOUT MAKING OURSELVES HAPPY

BUT NOW???? NOW ATTENTION MAKES YOU HAPPY, NOT FIC WRITING DSMKFNJH

im a fucking hypocrite cuz attention and long detailed comments make me happy too BUT these days, we've lost the true meaning of fanfiction.

What is fanfiction? Fanfiction is a hobby that helps us escape our terrible reality. Fanfiction is a hobby that makes you happy. Fanfiction helps you put into words all those fantasies you've daydreamed about with your favourite characters.

Fanfiction is NOT a means to attract attention. If you want attention, go post a pic of your juicy booty on instagram or some other social media.

I see fanfictionwriters here on tumblr complaining about not getting enough comments, but when they DO get comments, they don't respond to them.

I had this reader on ao3 who had been commenting for 150 chapters straight. At the epilogue, they told me that the reason they'd been commenting wasn't just cuz of the fic, but also because I was responding to all of them.

You're not the only one with low confidence. You probably got readers who would have commented more if you responded to their comments.

Now this applies to ao3 and ffnet. When we're talking about wattpad, i used to get 4k comments per chapter OF COURSE I CAN'T RESPOND TO THEM ALL LMAO

I'M JUST SAYING show that you are grateful that they read your fic. Thank them in every reply, in every notes you leave in each chapter. Be friendly and interactive.

Now, in the case you're writing a masterpiece that no one cares about and you suddenly got writer's block?

That's why you got writer's block. You're so excited about that fic but no one else is just as excited so you lose that excitement too. I've noticed that we, as writers, LOVE talking with other people about the shit we write.

If you don't have that, you get writer's block. No comments, no kudos, no hits, no one cares. Are you doing something wrong? probably yes, probably not. Get a stranger to read your work. Only a stranger will give you honest feedback. Your mom is gonna tell you your writing is amazing and great and all cuz she wants you to be happy. But a stranger WILL point out what you do wrong.

Look, all fanfictionwriters are attention whores. We are antisocial mfs and the only attention we can handle, it's the minimal interaction of comments through our fics. I GET IT.

My not-so-good advice is - write what you know that most people will read.

Anything that has to do with smut will get you 5k kudos and 100 comments per chapter in just three days LMFAO

YOU DON'T NEED to write an amazing plot. You don't need to write amazing characters with amazing development and your writing doesn't have to sound like Tolkien.

write TRASH.

No don't laugh im serious the world WANTS TRASH

write

the trashiest

MOST trashy TRASH

of all time

it will become a fucking movie i promise you SO LONG AS THERE'S A NASTY AF SMUT IN EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER WITH THE KINKIEST BS AND THE NASTIEST, MOST PERVERTED SCENARIOS YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK ABOUT oh and don't make it bigger than 2 words (lmfao no im serious, ppl don't just want trash, they're even lazy when it comes to reading them)

But if you are a stupid dumbass like me, keep writing that 400k word fic that no one cares about AND IGNORE the lack of attention, because WHAT IS THE POINT of having attention when you're writing something that you don't want to write?

What's the point of attention if you're not happy with your writing?

You'll either get to write the story that you WANT to write, or you'll write some trashy abomination of literature (that many people will def read) just because you want attention.

Your choice.

How to deal with it?

Sit back, watch NEW series. Consume NEW CONTENT. NEW books, new stories, manga, movies, series, ANYTHING.

You are out of ideas and you need NEW ideas and what better than to watch some series? That series might pull out tropes and plot twists you've never even thought about before.

Am I telling you to steal someone else's work?

Remember when you were at school, and you hadn't done an exercise so you did it during the break when your bestie lent you their own response to the problem and you had to copy it BUT NOT ENTIRELY just to show that your own response is original?

That's exactly what I'm telling you to do LMAOOOO SERIOUSLY THO why do we call them tropes? The very famous hurt/comfort trope where the oc has a nightmare and wakes up screaming and the hot character comes in and soothes them and holds them and they get so uwu and the readers get the butterflies

EVERYBODY WRITES THAT

or the fluffy trope where the main ship is literally forced to share one bed? EVERYBODY WRITES THAT

OR the enemies to lovers, where the main ship wanna rip each others' eyes out but they only end up having a hot mindblowing hate fuck against some wall?

EVERYBODY WRITESSSS THAAAATTT

so yeah, whatever you write, there's no way it hasn't already been written. I've been watching that "it's okay not to be okay" series AND I'VE POINTED OUT SO MANY ANGSTY TROPES, IT'S UNREAL I'VE WRITTEN ALL OF THEM MYSELF LMAO

Consume new content, find the tropes you haven't used before, AND USE THEM. I'm not telling you to steal other people's work, I'm telling you to make something original out of them.

And in those new fandoms you're discovering, you'll find the next fandom you're gonna be so obsessed with and you're gonna write madly about.

[licncourt]

As far as engagement with your fics dwindling, I think it’s mainly a result of the ao3 tag naturally being flooded with show verse content and book writers disappearing. There’s also the increasing rhetoric among popular show writers/bloggers that continued art and fic for book Louis and Armand is inherently racist so my guess is no one wants to out themselves as someone who enjoys book fic for fear of being shunned. Which is disappointing but with a large fandom that is mainly centered around a popular show, not surprising (not that there wasn’t gatekeeping preshow but the fandom was significantly smaller). I think most fans of the show think with these new (and improved) incarnations of the characters, there’s no need for their book counterparts. And the belief that people who do still enjoy book Louis and Armand are ignorant and fundamentally don’t understand the vc characters. It sucks because it would’ve been sweet if it could all be enjoyed for the multiverse it’s become since there are fans (like myself) who enjoy both the books and the show but there does seem to be an unspoken rule that you shouldn’t still be interested in producing content for the books. However, I’ve always been a huge fan of your works (and meta/thoughts!!) and the quality of your writing and grasp on the characters is still just as compelling as ever so I selfishly hope you continue writing 🫶 I promise I’ll make an effort to drop comments! lol

Well first of all thank you!! I just want to reiterate that the point of my original post was never to fish for comments or anything, I was just curious about why the engagement was happening on here suddenly vs ao3, but I always appreciate comments, kudos, reblogs, etc, it makes me so happy to know people like my writing because I really love doing it. I have plenty more stuff planned just because I love writing fic and I love the characters, so no worries there!

That also makes a lot of sense actually as far as people wanting to send me anons instead of comment. That's a crazy take though, like the books are forty years old you can't expect them to suddenly not have fans because of a new adaptation...? And I think it's a wild take to say that the original books/fans of them don't understand the characters?? Tumblr discourse is on another level always.

Liking the show better is absolutely fine, everyone can have their own preferences in media, but I don't believe for one second that the show is "less problematic" than the books. They just found a different way to be insensitive and offensive 😭 I think Anne Rice IP is just destined to be a morally bankrupt trainwreck and we all have to accept that. No one has moral high ground here really. And in a way it really feels like people coming into OUR house and saying we suck and aren't welcome.

This might be a selfish way of looking at it too, but I didn't get called literal slurs for months because I was defending the show and diverse casting for people to act like I have a problem with black Louis or brown Armand. Myself and friends of mine were harassed (including racially and sexually) for speaking positively about the casting decisions from day one, before most of these people knew the show or IWTV existed. My issues with it only started after episode 5 and that will always be my reason for jumping ship on the show.

I really wish things could have been different too, I was hoping the show would bring new people into the fold and just generally expand the VC multiverse like the movie did except with a new take on the story, but of course everything has to degenerate into a slap fight on the internet.

**There are absolutely people who don't like the show because they're racist shitheads and that is absolutely not a valid opinion to have btw. Just a blog reminder that I will absolutely never support or tolerate racism surrounding the show/the casting/the actors. It could have been a really great thing, unfortunately I just deeply disagree with how it was handled.**