#I completely forgot these fics and now that I'm pretty separated from them

[maximotts]

18. “so perfect all tied up for me.” With your dollhouse au? I’m imagining those silk ribbon bondage rope not just tying you down but wrapped around you because Wanda thinks it’s such a pretty sight <3

I'm a different person posting this than I was yesterday when I started this fic... and then it got Deleted in drafts and I saw my life flash before my eyes. This is edited kinda, but honestlyyy I just needed to conquer it at this point lmao

please don't flag this fic, I have warnings clearly labeled

Doll House AU. masterlist. wc: 1.7 cw: 18+ only, please. smut, fluff. loose ribbon bondage. body worship. inspection. fingering (r receiving). oral (r receiving). size kink if you squint. overstim. mommy kink. snuggly aftercare. and then all the usual Doll House warnings.

Wanda and Doll spend an intimate afternoon in bed, Wanda perfecting her ribbon tying skills while judging your patience

⁛— 2nd birthday sleepover.

"There you go, all nice and pretty..." 

Silk ribbons adorned your figure, wrapping you like an extra present to Wanda, from Wanda. She'd spent the past hour fawning over you atop your plush bed, shedding your morning outfit only to replace it with buttery soft threads. "So perfect, all tied up for me."

It wasn't tight enough to restrain you really, if you truly wanted to wiggling away was an option— but you didn't want anything of the sort. Wanda's undivided attention was the best kind of afternoon you could hope for.

Curious as ever, you still had your questions. "Mommy, why aren't these tight?" 

Shrugging your shoulders showed off the little movement you could make, careful not to undo any of Wanda's hard work. The older woman laughed and kissed your hip above the ribbon she'd tied over your curves, amusement filled green eyes gazing up and instantly bringing a dopey smile to your face. "I don't want to tie you down, not today at least."

"Then what are we doing?" Oh you wished so badly you could reach up and kiss her, but your wrists tied at your middle stopped you from bending too far, again more fearful of messing up whatever goal Wanda strove for. 

And that was the most of what you were doing, Wanda testing your patience, whatever willingness you had to let your reverence of her outweigh your own desires... so far you were performing perfectly.

“We’re playing, of course. Silly thing,” Wanda sat up between your legs, crawling over your prone body until she could reach your neck for her next area of focus. It was an excessive show of possession, biting endlessly along your throat, leaving marks she'd be tending to for days after, relishing in how helplessly you squirmed under her; this could easily become her favorite afternoon playtime. "Aren't you having fun?"

Lithe fingers slid under the thick ribbons at your legs, playfully tugging just to hear your surprised squeak. Your legs fell apart with nearly no coaxing, Wanda’s fingernails scraping over your inner thighs just the way she knew you adored. Small shivers rattled your body as best they could within your restraints, ever conscious of leaving them in place, and the moment she laid eyes on your glistening sex she remembered why she’d decided to keep your lower limbs tied separately. 

“I asked you a question.” The only answer she received was your meek nod, an action that resulted in a faux pout from Wanda, more concerned with how often you forgot you were allowed to speak now rather than whether or not you were truly enjoying yourself. That much was evident.

“It sure looks like you’re having fun,” Spreading your folds apart was just as easy as your legs, leaving you completely vulnerable to Wanda’s impromptu inspection. No matter how long you stayed with her, there was a persistent shyness about you, but your longing for your mommy’s approval always won out. It would be so easy to uncurl your hands where they rested bound together a mere few inches above Wanda’s, to push her away and cover yourself… but you didn’t— just as Wanda expected of you.

Today’s obedience earned you a reward, but Wanda wouldn’t spell it out for you, preferring instead to continue her game of testing self-restraint. It was better to train you into behaving even without possible reward, no matter that she already spoiled you rotten every chance she got. Two wet digits left their examination and came to settle on your waiting lips, your patience forced but steadfast. “Say please.”

“Please mommy, may I clean your fingers?” The drawn out please was so adorable Wanda wanted to suffocate you, but instead she sated herself with your grateful sigh around her, your tongue diligently licking until she drew them away. 

Her hand came back to settle between your supple thighs, fingers sliding easily through your sex, knuckles just barely grazing your clit. Curious fingertips fell down to your entrance, gathering warm wetness from where you were dripping and bringing them to her own mouth this time. She always wondered if you knew how desperate she was to have you, but one look down at your dazed expression answered that for her easily. “Did my playtime make you all icky? Do I need to clean you up?”

Admittedly, the past hour of Wanda’s gentle touches, sweet words and even sweeter kisses left your brain fuzzy. The tingling in the pit of your stomach had grown into a calm and pleasant ache, much gentler than the gnawing, desperate clawing that plagued you whenever Wanda was rough. Sometimes she left you at that painful edge, frustrated to no end and chastising any complaints she caught. Today if she’d left you with nothing, maybe you’d be able to manage the evening with dull nagging, but the notion of an orgasm at the end of your slowly building high was too tempting to pass by; you had to make your need known. “Make it better, please… want it so bad.”

“So now you speak up, whenever you need something from me…” Wanda took her sweet time traveling down your front, lips brushing over every curve and divot so that when she finally placed one last adoring kiss atop your mound, anticipation buzzed through your veins. “You can cum as much as you’d like, but don’t you dare untie yourself.”

Sometimes Wanda’s rewards were straightforward, a simple start and finish before she sent you off. Surprisingly, you preferred rewards you worked towards together, ones like these where her tongue drew intricate patterns over your clit, teasing and testing just how far gone she could pull you while you remained committed to following her rules. It was harder than it looked, knowing you had the ability to twist and turn with every perfectly placed stroke, but willing your body to stay confined, to preserve Wanda’s ribbon-tied handiwork. 

Thankfully they allowed space for the rapid rise and fall of your chest, the clenching of your core as the first wave of orgasm washed over, knocking your head back into your plush array of pillows as you erupted into a fit of moans and pleas. “Mommy.. Mommy, please.. again! Wanna cum again-”

“Such a needy doll, so pretty all tied up for me and begging for my mouth.” It was a brutal inner battle to keep from bucking your hips, fingers fidgeting at your midsection to keep busy in anything other than Wanda’s hair. When she descended again it was all worth it, warm mouth suckling at your swollen bud to distract from the three fingers prodding at your hole. 

The stretch was maddening, an instantaneous full feeling sending you over the edge again before Wanda even got the chance to move. She groaned around you as she felt your walls clench, free hand coming to wrap securely around your upper thigh; instinct drove you to back away from the thick intrusion, but she couldn’t have any of that. “Shh, sweetheart, let mommy play a little longer.”

“O-Okay..” Your previous pleasant need evolved into something more, something starved within that only reared its head when Wanda’s intentions turned heady. Careful not to toss around too much, you relaxed as your thoughts settled into a low hum, taking every thrust and each curl of her fingers until individual orgasms merged to one neverending bliss.. you’d lost count after three anyways.

After some unmeasured amount of time, Wanda granted you a reprieve, leaving you dreadfully empty and weakly clenching around nothing. You felt limp head to toe, unable to even raise your arms without Wanda’s help as she worked to slowly unwrap you. She took her time so as not to startle you, smoothing over any tiny indent her ribbon left from your movements and doting on it with a cautious rub of her thumb. 

Once she was done, she was genuinely surprised you hadn’t dozed off; the act of overstimulation alone was occasionally enough to leave you napping for hours. But today heavy eyes lazily followed her every move, bottom lip quivering more visibly by the second. “You did a wonderful job today, my love. I’m so proud of you.”

The praise was much appreciated as always, but you’d been missing one thing terribly since Wanda had first given the instruction to lay back while she unfurled her ribbon and tired as you were, you needed one last clarification. “Can I touch you now, I want a hug…”

“Of course, we’re long past our game.” You were in Wanda’s lap after the second word, curling into her and wrapping your arms around her middle in the tightest hug you could muster. Any time she searched your thoughts, they were full of her, the urge to be near her so strong Wanda was surprised whenever she got a moment to herself these days. 

It was the sweetest form of devotion she could imagine, the pure need to keep her presence in whatever capacity; your lovey ways never failed to render her heart gooey. “That’s why you were so pouty just now, my poor little snugglebug.”

Giving your tummy the gentlest tickle before drawing the sheets closer, Wanda scooted you both until she could lay you down; not that the position mattered much when you stayed attached at the hip. Content little noises rumbled against Wanda’s arm as you made them, keeping still even as you craned your neck to cover her cheek in appreciative smooches. “Nap with me, mama. I’m sleepy.”

“If you insist,” Now it was Wanda’s turn for restraint. It’d take little to no effort to pull herself from your grip even without her powers; there were a myriad of things waiting for her to do downstairs… but she stayed put. The desire to see your smiling face when you woke up in a while, ever excited to wake up in her arms, far outweighed any living room cleaning.

[bellysoupset]

It's @lisupanddown with a MINI fic request - we haven't seen any motion sickness lately, and I'd love a little, loving drabble with sick Leo and caretaker Jon in a situation where they have to travel, and maybe Jon was in charge of bringing the anti-nausea meds and forgot, and feels so guilty about it because they both know Leo's going to get sick and there's no way to avoid it. Would love to see the onset of the nausea - throat bobbing, swallowing, Jonah hovering and trying to do his doctor best to help while cursing himself for forgetting the meds. And Leo both feeling so sick, but also trying to comfort Jonah because hey, mistakes happen (maybe he can start out being annoyed or stressed or prickly, but realizes eventually that that's not helping the situation). Okay, so this is awfully specific and detailed, lol.

Oh my god, Lis, this is noooot little 🙈. But I'll try anyway.

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

"I'm so excited I'm almost vibrating out of my skin," Leo said, as soon as Jonah pulled over in front of his work building. They were all heading down to Doveport, or rather, just outside of it.

Vince, the overtly friendly person he was, had already stricken up a friendship with one of the older teachers, who just so happened to have a cabin by the lake and was more than happy to rent it out for the weekend for a decent fee.

It was just the weekend, so in order to better utilize their time, Jonah and Leo were leaving straight after work on a Friday. It was court day, so Leo didn't even have time to pack, trusting Jon to do it for him.

Besides, it was just two days away, even if he forgot something like extra underwear, it would be fine, right?

Jonah was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove, completely relaxed, even if he looked pretty tired himself after working all day and with four hours of road ahead of them.

Jon was in the best mood Leo had ever seen him lately, all smiley and soft, probably due to his sister visiting and everything falling into place as his controlling ass had planned. He was overdue a cranky moment, Leo thought with a snort, leaning his head back and planning on napping for his half of the trip as the passenger.

No such thing. The minute they were out of the city and into the open road, Leo felt a pressure between his ears, as if someone was squeezing his head. He let out a sigh, opening his eyes and focusing them on the horizon, immediately recognizing the initial signs of motion sickness.

"We should've carpooled," Leo said, just because their comfortable silence was turning into anything but, given the weird pressure in his head, "there's no reason for all of us to drive separately."

"Wendy left during lunch," Jonah reminded him, unbothered, "and I'm not sharing a car with Luke and Bell, they drive me insane."

"Uhm," Leo rubbed a hand over his face and let out yet another sigh when staring at the sun setting ahead of them didn't help at all, "where did you put the dramamine?"

"Already?" Jonah groaned, "it's in your backpack, backseat, front pocket."

"Already," Leo nodded, unbuckling his seatbelt and turning around to grab the blue backpack. He sat back down on his seat and opened the front zipper, only to frown. Some minty bubblegum, a folded plastic bag, his phone charger... "it's not here."

"Of course it is, search better," Jon rolled his eyes, lowering his window so he could rest an elbow on the windowsil and his head on his hand, yawning, "I brought my fishing gear."

"I didn't even know you had that," Leo mumbled, removing all the contents from the front pocket and glaring at the empty space. No pills. He unzipped the other pockets, now feeling much more urgent as glancing down to search for the meds was making his nausea worse, "it's not here. You didn't pack the freaking meds, Jon."

Jonah frowned, looking away from the road, then switching his hands on the steering whell, so he could shove his right one inside the backpack Leo had already inspected, fully believing his boyfriend had done a poor job of it.

Then he cursed, "oh shit, I'm sorry, Leo- Maybe it's in my bag?"

Leo groaned, covering his face with his hands and rubbing vigoriously as if that was going to help the uncomfortable sloshing in his belly. The thought of his lunch flashed in front of his eyes and Leo swallowed in thickly, turning around once more in order to exchange bags.

It was to no avail, Jonah hadn't brought the meds.

"Fucking hell, Jon," Leo said, grabbing the plastic bag he had iniatially seen and opening it on his lap. He leaned back, breathing through his mouth and rolling down his window, hoping the cool air was going to help some.

"There's a rest stop in one hour," Jonah said in a strained voice, clearly feeling guilty, "I think they have a pharmacy. Can you hold on that long?"

Leo raised a hand and shook it from side to side in order to indicate he wasn't sure. He didn't dare speak, pressing his lips in a thin line as overly sweet saliva started to flood his mouth.

He gulped down, then startled as he felt Jon taking his hand in his, "What-"

"It's a pressure point," the other man answered, keeping his eyes on the road, "maybe it'll help...?"

"Uhm," Leo gulped down when he tried to answer, only to feel his stomach rocket up his throat. He felt cold sweat start to collect over his upper lip, glueing the baby hairs to his nape, "god..."

"Do you want me to pull over?" Jonah sounded every bit as if Leo had told him they'd need to put down the family dog. Leo ignored him, pulling his hand from Jon's hold and grabbing at the plastic bag, bringing it up to his mouth.

Vaguely he could hear his boyfriend saying something else, but Leo ignored him, spitting inside the bag. His mouth felt terrible. He had eaten risotto for lunch and the next weak heave was just spit and some fucking grains that got stuck in his throat and caused him to gag loudly.

The car swerved and Leo groaned, planting a sweaty hand to the dashboard as he felt his head swim. With the bag half open, Leo let out a sick burp, that turned frothy and disgusting at the end-

"Here," Jonah grabbed the other side of the bag since he had let go and moved it up to Leo's mouth, "I got you-"

"Gon'besick," Leo slurred, "pullovr," his words were sticking together, eyes tearing up as yet another wave of hot nausea washed over him, causing his stomach to clench again, "Jon pull over-"

"I did, baby," Jonah's soft hand suddenly was on his forehead, helping Leo support it, and the blonde leaned heavily against the touch, gagging again, "deep breaths, this will pass ina moment."

He forced a breath through his nose, straightening up and dizzily grabbing the door handle, pushing it open.

"Leo, wait-" Jon said, but it was to no avail, as the other man stumbled out of the car and immediately fell down on his knees on the grass, heaving and bringing up a gush of vomit all over the grass.

"God-" Leo whined, coughing to clear up his throat and wiping at the micro tears that had slipped out. His stomach still felt uneasy, but puking had helped some, so had standing on the ground and no longer feeling claustrophobic inside the car. He forced up a burp and it brought up a little dribble of spit and liquidy vomit, then Leo fell back on his heels, startling when his back met Jonah's arms.

"I got you," his boyfriend said, sounding terribly worried and guilty, "you done?"

"Think- think so," Leo interrupted himself with a sour burp and shivered at the taste, "help me up."

Jonah didn't need to be told twice. Now getting a better bearing of their surroundings, Leo could tell his boyfriend was pale as well, how much was sympathy nausea, how much was his nervous stomach Leo didn't know.

"You good?" He rasped, as Jon helped him towards the car. Instead of going inside, Leo collapsed against the hood and happily took the water bottle Jonah retrieved from the backseat.

"If I'm good?" Jon scoffed, stepping aside so Leo could swirl the water in his mouth and spit it on the grass. At least the headlights were not illuminating the mess on the ground just a couple feet ahead, "I'm fucking peachy, you're the one puking."

"I'm okay," Leo rubbed a hand over his stomach, pressing on it and bringing up a little burp that he blew out under his breath, "just give me a minute."

"I'm really sorry," Jonah sighed, stepping closer, "do you wanna lie in the back? Or I can drop you at the nearest gas station, then grab the meds in the rest stop and com-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Leo rolled his eyes, leaning in and planting his forehead to Jon's shoulder, "really, it's just carsickness, it's not like I'm dying. Give me a minute."

Jonah let out a scoff, but hugged him closer, planting a hand on Leo's back and rubbing up and down, "I'm sorry-"

"Please, shut up about it," Leo whined, sinking into Jon's warmth and trying to gather up courage to get back inside the car, "it's fine."

He could almost hear Jon's retort, but at least he didn't say it out loud.

Leo breathed in, measuredly, until the nausea receeded almost completely. He wasn't looking forward to the next hour until the stop, but at least it was just one more hour or so.

He straightened up, "switch with me, let me drive."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded, "and stop kicking yourself over it, it's fine."

"I'll make it up to you," Jonah promised, getting in the passenger side. Leo got in the driver one, fiddling with the seat.

"Oh, yeah, you better. I want breakfast in bed tomorrow morning," he teased lightly, even if the mere thought of food made his stomach churn.

Jon opened a relieved smile at the teasing, "deal, breakfast and head, how about?"

"Sounds lovely," Leo snorted, starting up the car.

[reilliane]

I really love your Tyranny series. I thought that it would be different from other villain series that there would be no one she will end up with because she would die at one of the person who serves her. Like Alatus, Diluc, or Kazuha. A realistic ending and not a love-hate idealistic forced romance upon those mentioned.

I thought that maybe it's because she's a tyrant, even if she's really pretty HAHAHAHAH. She committed crimes, killed bystanders where she ordered Kazuha to do it as he's her dog at this point, though he can do nothing about it. Nor I can feel his emotions after those killings hence why I cannot understand her stand in his heart even though he wants to know her more other than his innocent curiosity.

And as you know, Alatus. His morals and pride would never allow himself to fall for her. I think that a person who values his pride is not an easy one to bend. He's honorable and the romance between them, is uh, I think kinda forced?

Lastly, Diluc, he's being forced to a marriage though our Queen has a reason. It's kinda sus if he gradually fall for someone who's trying to keep him beside her for amusement. Like a kidnapped person falling for a kidnapper.

I can understand if Childe and the Queen had some small romance and talk, but still not her end-game as she keeps scowling at him (and yes I vote for him).

But other than that, I don't know why I feel this way. Or I am getting a deja vu feeling after they made Raiden from an Archon Villainess to her first Story Quest which is basically a dating sim that it disappointed me greatly.

But other than those, I think that the Queen really did great at managing her kingdom. Just that I felt that those romance are forced as she is someone who would no need anyone by her side but pawns to discard. Yes, I think of her very highly as a character who's a tyrant.

I still really like it and would still read it though no matter what the ending(s) are.

I feel like I've committed a crime by telling this as I forgot that you write x reader stories. You can disregard this message. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh dear oh dear ~ I'm actually quite glad you approached me on this! I like that you're attuned to their personalities.

I'm assuming you're relatively new and so, wasn't there when I initially talked about Tyranny and the ending it would get.

Because I completely understand! I thought of the story, after all, and thought of the relationships really well. Ain't no way I'm about to shove "love MC GRRR" down their throats, nono :")

Cauuuuse, yes with the way Tyranny!MC is written it really screams 'I NEED NO MAN!' other than as source of leisure 🥴

NOW BUCKLE UP ITS TIME TO READ AN IN DEPTH- THING! This is long, and will be a pleasant read for those who want to know more about MC/LIs.

And MC's complicated reign. In general. As well as my writing... in general KSHDAJKHDSA

This ask is just too good to pass up!

I have a TLDR utc, but there's a looooong, long message too-

TL;DR: Trust me, the plot is nowhere near the half of the whole. There are plenty of stuff to go through, plenty to reveal (boy im still excited for that) and that includes proper development! Tyranny is a fic where morality is the center of conflict. I don't intend, for example, Alatus/Diluc (who loathes MC) to fall for her so suddenly. As a fanfic writer I strive to write the characters accordingly! There is no 'kiss kiss fall in love mwAH!' especially in the Tyranny universe. It may be difficult to see it for now, but trust me when I say that the endings will be realistic. There's one true ending for the conclusion of the fic. True, in this case meaning it is the canon ending, and separate bonus endings (aka the 'routes', think of this as an alternate world where Tyranny is a world of mercy) for the characters.

—

Now of course, even if this is a fanfiction and may not be as realistic as, well, reality (lol) I still aim to reflect realism when it comes to a character's emotions.

I can go ham with plots and twists but I take emotions and relationships seriously. No kissing on the first date! lmao

You'd see that in Fleur too. Fleur!MC is all 'marry me!' and flirty, but nothing ever happens from 0 to 100. So far it's only Fleur!Kazuha who has expressed interest in a date aside from Venti (hello roommate??/j)

Aether? Maybe. Xiao? Zero.

(Of course, that's Fleur as in the fic, not the arts and comics/omake that are set up as comedic/'harem' on purpose)

Happens too in my SMITE book! It has a sub genre of romance but in the 70+ chapters that there are, nothing vastly romantic has ever happened because? Smite!MC has no time for it.

NOW back onto Tyranny-

If you read the genres listed for it (tyranny) in the 'Observatory' there's no romance at all; it's angst, action, fluff. I take labels/genres to heart. That mirrors into the narrative itself.

Romance is just a smol bonus, a sub genre if you will. It's unlisted because it's not a priority. (Whereas if you look at 'Absconder', there's a romance tag because it includes AbyssPrince!Aether & he's regarded as MC's lover)

Surely you've noticed that, despite the LIs being LIs (really, in the first place there only are 'LIs' because as you said, I'm an 'x reader' writer :D), there aren't any solid, blooming relationships with MC at all aside from what is already present.

Which is resigned fealty.

Kazuha is merely following MC's orders and so are Alatus/Xingqiu/Bennett. They're doing only the absolute bare minimum.

(Well, Kazuha has a more intricate reason- still, there are no mentions about him ever feeling something akin to love. Just pity.)

No one ever smiles around her, either, only Albedo/Childe/Zhongli (he barely even does), who were more linked with her when she still wasn't a Queen.

Heck even Diluc only humors this because his life is literally aligned with hers and he plans to break that.

They loathe MC to the core (Alatus/Diluc).

And the others aside from Childe are on neutral grounds (well Xingqiu hates her too lol) for reasons.

—

1. Murder of the og royal family and villagers who were the cause of her siblings' death aside, MC is one heck of a complicated Queen.

The aristocrats she sent to the gallows were corrupt thieves/traitors who'd leak info about the Crown to other Kingdoms, and the criminals she hung were those who don't deserve a second chance. Really, the only time she spilled red out of her own leisure was that time with the villagers.. Not like that's good either.

She liked sending criminals to the gallows and the only time it was stopped was when Zhongli returned to take over the seat of Justiciar (judge) in the court.

2. She leads Khemia well. It's been mentioned that Khemia has prospered even more and military power has upped after she became Queen. Even the Knights are paid well.

The bit about 'being unfriendly' with other nations (note: Kuni, etc) is a problem long before she was even crowned. Yet, trade is good.

She lets the kingdom's traditions continue, aka the festivals. She just doesn't participate in them aside for a few. Yknow, 'eh go do whatever but dont rope me in it'.

It's also been stated that she holds audiences! Literally anyone can be granted, though its a rarity since they're afraid of her ahfjajcja

—

Such are the reasons. They're extreme and immoral, blown out of proportion. She's not the most merciful, but still she does things for the Kingdom.

Other casualties done by Childe are those who are a threat to her. A normal thing for a sovereign, assassination.

Xingqiu dislikes Albedo for aiding Rhine and MC in their quest to take the throne, but could tolerate him well enough because the reality is that, again, murder aside- it's no joke that Khemia has advanced.

It's also been stated in Conqueror that Kuni and Khemia are on thin ice (on the verge of probable war) yet MC is not initiating nor provoking the former. In fact, she went to Kuni (Queen's Retinue) to allay the bad blood between the two Kingdoms and even graciously welcomed Scaramouche when he came to her.

It's what stunned all the most; the nobles in house Khemia took their seats (Duke/Queen) seriously.

I don't condone MC's acts, but these reasons are just one of the many as to why several are torn with her as a ruler. Yes, she's such a wicked person, but she doesn't do things without basis.

Remember that time when she came to a public event instead of Albedo and was, to the surprise/fear of the public, amicable with the children.

Complicated thoughts from LIs are shown in their voicelines 'About the Queen'. I could go on and on about this but this will get too long lmao.

Fluster? Embarrassment? All those they only show when MC does something that warrants it (e.g. flirt), because it's a natural reaction.

Lmao when Alatus gets flustered because of her he absolutely HATES IT AJDJAJCJAJX like seriously, I don't think there ever is a Tyranny short with Alatus as an appearing character that doesn't include at least one mention where he goes 'UGH I HATE THE QUEEN SMMMM' or 'how long am i supposed to put up with this' 😆

And Kazuha. It's been implied that he knew of her way before she became Queen, knew way more.

He does not tolerate MC's actions (no one does- except for Childe HDJAJFWI) but does them because he intends to find something out. And the only way to do that was to stick by her side.

In most of Alatus/Diluc's POVs he thinks of her as a monster. Kazuha didn't even know that MC could weep until he saw her tearing up ('The Queen was much more human than he thought').

It's quite literally, only Childe/Scara/Zhongli who are interested at MC to some degree.

So do you see it dear? Albeit LIs, there is zero romance at all (again... Except for Childe AAAAAA) because it's impossible for it to grow D:

Now onto the endings ! I've mentioned it in my rambles that are now lost in the masses lol but I'll repeat it no matter how many times.

Tyranny will have one ending at first, the true ending, a realistic one that concludes the fic.

But, as you said it, I'm an 'x reader' writer, so there will still be a second ending (say an alternative, a merciful one) that branches off eventually to routes with specific LIs.

But even then! It's not a whole 'fall in love' route because it's.. insane lol, pacing where -?

And even then, again, romance will not be forced :') I assure you to trust me on this one~

In all of my ficlets where romance is the main focus, nothing wholly romantic happens especially when the characters have just met. Just the occasional tension and the flirting.

Unless of course, it's a pre-established relationship!

With what is presently released for Tyranny now, the concept of having 'romance endings' for the LIs may come off as forced. But, Tyranny is yet to reach half the whole plot, there are many things to uncover.

And whilst those are uncovered, so will the unraveling and development of how the LIs think of MC. It's a whole journey!

An agonizing slow burn. IT'LL BE A SHUCKING HIT IN THE HEART I PROMISE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

Also.. I've hinted that Tyranny.. well, even with that aside, if you know my way of writing in general, nothing really ends happily :)

Those who stand at the pinnacles are the ones who fall the hardest... hehe (resumes evil cackling)

Anyway.... :') yes, just trust me dear JDSHAJDASHJKDHAK

ps. OMG A CHILDE LOVER! He's rejoicing rn, fr frfrfrfr-

[xviruserrorx]

[Image Description: A black banner outlined in a red blood splatter with the text, Whumpmas In July 2023 in red text. Underneath is two separate strings of Christmas light with alternating yellow, red, and green bulbs]

-> Day 13 - "Share some of your favorite whump tags"

Let's see if your new to the whump community here's a list I would recommend of how to navigate some whump stuff (pertaining to AO3 of course) @whumpmasinjuly-archive

Whump: This one is self explanatory, if an author considers there work whump then they'll tag it.

Hurt/comfort: I always search for this tag first and foremost in any fandom I read for. There are variations on this tag too for example, emotional hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort, and then there is usually character pertaining tags like, Hurt [character name], or Crying [Character Name] etc but also

Context: some tags double in meaning or none at all and by this I mean there's some things that are hard to tag or might lead somewhere else. For example if your tagging a QPR you can't it's the untaggable QPR pretty much, if your using Crying [Character Name] it may lead you into some kink Fics, the age regression/age play/de-aging tags are a bit of mess because of some discrepancies with the community and general confusion (which I think should be cleared up a bit so everyone has their comfort place), the tickling tag will most likely lead you to kink as well as the sneezing tag (if you didn't know much about kink well buddy now you do)

Tropes: Find tropes that you love and search for them by themselves. Even you can put key words in the general search because some authors may choose not to tag something or forgot to tag it and you may be looking for that exact fic.

Character: I put this because if you looking for whump for a specific character (especially if their not the main character or mostly whumped character) categorizing by the characters first and foremost will save you a good bit of time. Then from their you can add more tags.

Also I'd like to mention that tagging differentiates between every fandom, author, as well as when the fic was written and posted... One example I can think of is really specific extensive tagging was not very common back in the day. (I mean like 10-ish years ago) What was common was to tag the fandom, the characters, maybe the ship (if you find an older fic on ao3 and it just has certain characters tagged and you read it, I might be likely it's a ship fic but like I said it just wasn't tagged much sometimes) and sometimes the type of fic (ex. Fluff, Smut {lemon, lime, etc the citrus Scale}, Whump, typically the big main genres fanfic is divided in) and you were golden XD.

On the topic of how tagging has changed I think it's also good to mention how some tags have evolved and aren't used much in fandom anymore... Fandom itself has grown up I will say, some years ago we were all teenagers going through stuff but now we're young/older adults still going through stuff but, hey, we've grown up though! Some tags are not used much anymore (the citrus Scale... I mean I still use it and some people do still too just not as common) but when it comes to the whump community.

Woobie/Woobification: This was pretty much the poor little meow meow of then, the only difference was well... A few things actually. I remember (good old memories) that some people did not like this tag/concept because some people said the characters were always written OOC (out of character) amongst other stereotypes I won't go into.

OOC: I'm only listing this by association to the one above. Again, completely up for the readers and authors interpretation. (On a personal note, I've never liked this tag because it just leaves authors open to criticism that they're most likely not asking for) see an author will write something and be happy with it and then a reader may come and say "this character wouldn't say that you need to tag this OOC" but the author may not agree because they think the character would say that and down the rabbit hole of fandom discourse we go 😅... Not everyone will like every fic, and not everyone will agree with another's interpretation of something but remember Don't Like; Don't Read (good old fandom rules 👍) don't harass your fanfic authors please.

And then some authors just hate tagging with a passion (me, it's me, I'm authors) so will only tag what will come to them at the time, or some of us have trouble tagging due to language barrier or health problems. Again don't harass your beloved authors who write your bed time stories, if you think something should be tagged to prevent harm or just so everyone knows for public knowledge, ask the author nicely to tag, a lot of the times the author will (not saying all the time) but a majority of us will. And just have fun.

~~~ VirusError🌸

Wij 2022 Masterlist | Wij 2023 Masterlist [Prev <- • -> Next]

[jourquet]

3,11,29

3. Tell me about one of your fics you think is underrated/underappreciated. that would the magnetic affection duology ( electric kiss + static touch ). it combines the fandoms of fifty shades of grey and the tv series mr robot. also the series i'm currently writing on, which is the last book in that duology; static touch. it takes up topics such as government vs privacy, terrorism and also how toxic romances can be extremely destructive in wrong hands. i do not shy away from taking up topics such as american imperialism, how far people are willing to gain high social rank, and how mental illnesses plays into all this. 11. Share a favourite comment a reader has left you.

Joey! You know he was one character I found myself oddly attached to for someone we only really saw like once before everything went to hell. I remember I replayed the game like twice before I figured out it was him doing the creepy whistling all the time, but I honestly think I felt bad for him. He never wanted to go out into the field, was completely content being behind his desk all day, and then he was one of the very first to die. But now he’s here! Which I’m still highly suspicious of because sir aren’t you supposed to be dead? Is he already infected? So many questions! I’m really excited for what’s to come. I think I said this last time but you’re great with building up a certain atmosphere, and there’s something about the way you write your descriptions of the monsters that really puts me on edge. ”Its long legs spider-like, a big head, and what appeared as fucking wings on its arms.” I think I got so desensitized from replaying the game that I truly forgot how terrifying these things and the situation they’re in are. I’m reminded once again I’d never want to see them in real life, let alone a cave with no exit in sight. And then there’s Jason hearing voices? We got confirmation that the creature he met in chapter one definitely isn’t the one chasing them now and I’m so curious as to when it’ll make another reappearance, but in the meantime who is this Alpha and who’s speaking? Was that Jason understanding the clicks for a second there? Or something else? 😂 See I told you I had a lot of questions. Until next time! Thank you for the lovely chapter! from my stay frosty ( house of ashes fandom ) fanfic, chapter 2.

29. What's your most popular fic? that's stay frosty ( pairing jalim, if i recall shipping name right, aka jason kolchek x salim othman ) on ao3 with its 1,940 hits, 99 kudos, 17 bookmarks, and 27 comments. the fanfic is unfinished, i plan to get back to it at some point. but i've people on wattpad who has waited far longer on my stucky, hannigram, and merthur fanfics. i've always the rule of prioritizing the people who has waited the longest so they don't feel ignored and it has functioned pretty well thus far. on wattpad, my most popular fanfic is the first fanfic i ever wrote ( which is also completed on ao3 as well ) that's called incarnation with the destiel pairing. the original idea was to write two separate AUs; rockstar and god verse. i decided in the end to combine both. it has a happy ending even if its major character death for all main characters. it will make sense if you ever read it yourself, why that is the case.

Fanfic Author Asks

[hirazuki]

11, 12, and 13 for the ask game, please?

11. Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around?

I jump around when jotting down ideas; like, if I'm writing something and then I get a random flash of inspiration, I'll jump to further down in my document to type out the sentence/scene/words/whatever, because I know from experience that I will NOT remember it later when I want it.

But when actually properly writing/editing the fic in full, no, my mind requires me to write scenes in order. It's one of the reasons it takes me so long to finish and post stuff, because if I'm stuck on a scene or sick of looking at it while editing, I can't move on to a different section and work on that instead. It has to be in order.

12. Do you outline your fics?  If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

ALWAYS. Mmm, it really depends. When I think of plot/scene sequence, it's very much like watching scenes from a movie in my head -- location, angle, POV, etc., and I really enjoy switching POVs multiple times even within a one-shot. So for pretty much everything, I'll first create sections in the document for each different POV; or, if it's a single POV, sections for each event/scene that happens. After that, if I'm writing a one shot, it's usually just word-vomiting ideas/phrases

kind of like this in this type of format

in each section, along with any relevant canon quotes/dialogue/research I want to use, plus citation of where I found it, in case I want to look it up in its original context again (learned that the hard way XD). So that I can have all of my material readily available to reference as I am writing, without constantly having to run around multiple places to find it and potentially miss something I had wanted to include but forgot.

If I'm writing something that's multiple chapters, I have a separate document in full outline mode, where I keep track of the content of each chapter and what each chapter will address, plus the timeline. For example:

[November] 

Prologue – Chapter 1: Battle on the roof of Las Noches

Chapter 2: Ulquiorra’s revival

Chapter 3: Zanpakuto rebellion + Ulquiorra in Soul Society

[November-February] 

[end of November -- Gotei 13 invading army arc]

[December 2 – Ichigo loses his reiryoku]

Chapter 4: Zanpakuto rebellion cont, Ulquiorra reunites with Orihime; 

[March-April] 

Chapter 5: Hoshi goes to Hueco Mundo, meets Grimmjow; Grimmjow stalks her in living world

^ these are chapters I've already written, so notes are pretty minimal and basically are only the broad contents of each chapter because I delete as I address/incorporate each thing, but for WIPs, each chapter also has a subsection that includes important points, quotes I want to incorporate, scene breakdown, etc.

I rarely ever stray from my outlines. There may be additional ideas or scenes that pop up in my mind that I want to incorporate, but at most it means maybe reshuffling some things around. It's never big enough to change anything significant about the fic.

13. Do you listen to music while you write?  If yes, what have you been listening to recently?

Nope! Music is very, very distracting to me. I require complete silence. I'll listen to music while daydreaming about fic or planning/researching, etc., and that's usually either character/universe playlists I've made or, if what I'm working from has an OST, I'll listen to tracks from that based on vibe (calm/ambient, sad, cheerful, battle, etc.) that matches the tone of the fic. But never when I'm actually writing, no.

Recently, I've had Darkness, The Other Side, and Moonlight Shadow playing on loop while I'm driving and thinking about fictional things. It was just happy coincidence (a matter of time, really, given how much of their music I have) that one of their songs played while I was thinking of Nan Elmoth, so now Blackmore's Night is officially the sound of that forest for me ♡

[antivancorvo]

so I was rereading a bunch of my ancient Assassin’s Creed fanfictions and now I’m painting Altair because I’m weak

[aetheternity]

This case is wide open

A/N: Did someone ask for a Criminal! reader x Heziou fic? No? Probably not cause I'm def not the first person to do this but his birthday is soon and he deserves a gift. So a gift for him and a gift for everyone that follows me that wishes I wrote more.

Disclaimer: afab reader, sexual situations, one use of the word "girl", creampie, oral (M), Minors DNI.

"Well, well, well a little birdy told me you were back but I was almost hoping they were lying." A click of the main steel door that allowed entry to the cells and several footsteps later and who but Shikanoin Heizou now stood before you. A couple fingers squeezing the metal bars that separated you and him.

His smile just as shitty as it'd been the first day he'd caught you. The first time you'd ever been tossed into one of these cells. Though that look in his eyes was fairly new. A glimmer completely isolated for when he'd caught your eye. One he'd managed to refrain from showing when the two of you were sharing company amongst others.

"Maybe I missed you." You roll your eyes up at him but his smile never lets up. Instead you hear the sharp clink of keys followed by the loud slide of the heavy metal doors.

His sandals click almost harshly over the concreate as he waltzes past you, swiveling around to plop himself down on the cold hard bench in the corner of your cell. "Now, why is our prison's most persistent guest sat way over there on the floor? Wouldn't you be more comfortable up here?"

You click your teeth trying to keep the smile tugging at the corners of your lips at bay. Without standing you shuffle your way between his legs. Your index fingers slithering up the legs of his shorts keeping eye contact with his piercing greens. You nearly catch him shudder but he manages to stave off the reaction straightening in his seat.

"I'd be more comfortable with my freedom." You grimly remark

He merely sighs in response, "Seems you should've thought about that before.. hm? Wait a tick, I forgot to ask what you did this time."

Your hands soon busy themselves with wrapping around the base of his clothed cock. Shifting the fabric of his shorts up and down with your palms. Your lips popping open, almost as though you plan to answer only for your tongue to loll out. It curves along his shaft, flat over every inch of him that you can reach and so effortlessly slow as you work. This time his shudder isn't hard to miss and you relish in it with the shittiest grin you can muster.

His hands find their way to the back of your head, thumbs sliding gently over the nape of your neck. The process of undoing his pants from this angle was a pain but within a minute or two you'd successfully freed his cock. The deep sigh that filtered off his lips made your heart thump impressively hard against your rib cage. That annoying smile of his turned into a pleasured grimace at the smooth rotation of your tongue circling his overly sensitive tip. Pre cum nearly pooling from his slit.

For a split second his eyes shut but you draw them back with your grip on the hem of his shirt. "I want your eyes on me."

A part of you does want to continue your teasing but you had other plans for the most annoying detective of Tenryou Commission. With ease you slide his cock fully into your mouth relishing in the throaty moan that bounced perfectly off the chipping brick walls. You tug his shorts down a bit further as your lips kiss his pelvic bone continuing to hollow your cheeks with each movement of your mouth.

"That mouth of yours.." Heizou grunted, fingers tightening behind your head pushing you to suck faster. "It could do.. such amazing things.. yet you use it for evil.."

"What can I say? There are more fun things to do in Inazuma than sucking pretty detectives off." You say as you skillfully stroke his wet cock between your fingers.

He lets a breathy noise of gratitude out, "Yes.. just like that.."

When you open your mouth it's to pool your saliva over his already wet cock. Rotating your wrist around his tip till his leg begins to shake. The click of his sandal quick and aggressive as he stared into your eyes. Glossy green irises taking in every inch of his cock slowly filling your mouth. And through it all you didn't dare look away.

"Ok, ok stop." Heizou huffs, sucking in breath after breath carefully relaxing his foot to a standstill. "Tonight, there's no one in the station." He announces standing before tapping the seat to gesture for you to lay on your stomach. You do as you're told spreading your legs for him to slide your pants and underwear down to your ankles.

"Not even in the rest of the cells." He leans forward to give your ear a quick kiss before continuing, "So don't forget to make plenty of noise for me, ok?"

You tense for a split second when you feel the nail of his finger being sucked in by your cunt. The muscle quickly relaxing as Heizou worked another finger around your clit.

"So slick.." His exhale is raspy "Was today a special occasion or something? Because I'm starting to believe you wanted to be caught today, seems someone couldn't be without my cock after last time. Did the reminder of being caught and bent over in your own camp come to mind as of recent, hm?"

You huff, rocking your hips back into him. "Just put it in.."

"Don't worry I plan on giving you exactly what you deserve. I'd just like to hear one please."

The tip of his cock prods at your opening so slick with your saliva that you can just tell with the right jolt of your hips he'll slide inside perfectly. Fill you like he always did. Like he had only a couple of weeks prior. You grit your teeth, the hold he has on your hips rough enough that you could tell there would be bruising by tomorrow.

"No?" A second finger plunges inside of you, both digits massaging your sweet spot till you can't stop the high pitched gasps from leaving your mouth. "You always have to be so difficult, I'll never understand."

Like a button he keeps on pressing and like he always has he works your nerves. Works that spot with just two fingers till you're wriggling and pleading his name with tears streaming down your face. Pleas of all kind filing from your mouth like a tidal wave of syllables. By the time he pulls his fingers out you're panting and choking on every breath you take. Hugging the gross metal seat like a lifeline.

"Now wasn't that much easier?" He hums out a chuckle and you audibly grunt.

You feel the familiar sensation of his cock quickly filling your walls and you push back into it until the two of you are sighing in contentment. His hips tenderly thrusting yours against the creaking metal chair beneath you.

You drawl out a brief complaint of, "Harder." but he simply chuckles.

"You didn't answer my question."

"What, your co workers didn't tell you why I'm back?"

His hips snap into yours so hard it rocks the chair in its foundation, "You know that's not what I mean." The sound of his sandal making contact with the metal seat was rough and made you wince that is until you were forced back by the plowing of his cock against your walls. "I want you to tell me just how much you missed my cock.. tell me.. how good it felt when I brought you back to the police station that one time.. full of my cum.. tell me how you came today because no matter how many times we go through this same charade.. no one fucks you like me.. And I wanna hear my name.. flowing off your tongue in waves.. begging me to keep fucking you."

Your eyes sink into the back of your skull and you cave, knees and arms buckling against the seat as you grab for even the smallest bit of purchase.

"Archons.. H-Heizou.." You whimper as his nails sink deeper into the flesh of your hips.

He slips his free hand beneath you, driving his hips deeper with every thrust continuing to abuse your spot till you're barely able to even hold yourself up. You sob your cunt unconsciously tugging him in. Squeezing like it desired every drop of his cum.

"I.. m-missed your c-cock.."

He lets out the prettiest gasp, "What.. else.."

"I.. Your cum.. I.. liked it.. in me.."

"Almost there.. so.. so close to getting that reward.."

"I need you.." You sob throwing your head back. Curses fall off your muddled breaths. "Fuck.. I need you!.. No one.. fucks me like you.. Heizou!"

Without warning he pulls out flipping you over before immediately plunging back inside. His thumb busying itself against your clit till his name rips from your mouth so loud you're almost worried neighboring buildings could hear. Though only for about a second before the only word you can muster is his name, your entire body shaking as your orgasm escapes you too quickly for warning.

Within the next minute of you beginning to come down from your climax Heizou's hips stutter to a stop, his body shuddering violently. The warm sensation of his cum filling you familiar, almost relaxing as you take his full load. Arms settling around his neck, soothing back stray strands of his pony tail until he'd managed to stop shaking.

His breath settles over the bridge of your nose, leaning in closer till your lips are perfectly slotting together. "So, what do you plan on doing now?" He quickly chuckles. "Whatever it is I'm sure I'll see you back here within less than a week."

You simply shrug, "I can't exactly refuse good service when it's right in front of me, now can I?"

[madamxrose]

hi! could i request an angst to fluff headcanon/ficlet of bokuto with an extremely insecure fem!reader because of hairy arms and legs? ((i really want bokuto to comfort me with this insecurity bc it hurts when i keep reminding myself that ill never look good in pretty dresses/sleeveless outfits :’D)) anyway, thank you! im so excited to see what you’ll do with this request since your tsukki fic was so good!! i love it so much! thank you for writing! <3

Bokuto encouraging hairy + fem!reader to wear dresses & sleeveless clothes  

♡ Word Count: 761

❥ A/N: omg thank you so much! 😭 I'm glad u enjoyed it <3 I wrote that awhile back so hopefully my writing isn’t too different now. I hope you don’t mind that it’s more of a story than headcannons lol.  Thanks for requesting!

➷ Deciding on an outfit was easier said than done

➷ With each glance at your reflection, dread seemed even more ready to consume you whole

➷ The dress complemented your figure well, but you couldn't take you eyes off the hairs on your exposed skin

➷ So you tried a t-shirt and shorts, but felt the same

➷ Defeated, you opted for your thinnest long sleeve and pants 

➷ It was blistering hot outside, but you were sure you could withstand the heat better than prying eyes drawn to the hair on your skin

➷ The stuffiness of the gym made matters worse, but you were here to support your boyfriend, so it was something you were willing to deal with. 

➷ You contemplate rolling up your sleeves, but images of disgusted looks and judgmental whispers plagued your mind. So, your sleeves remain untouched, hoping the cool railing and your iced water warded off heat exhaustion 

➷ When Bokuto finds you amongst the crowd in the stands, he's ecstatic

➷ He's lovingly shouting your name while frantically waving his arm to gain your attention

➷ He's internally fawning over your smile, but his focus shifts when he notices what you're wearing

➷ He's barely making it by in his volleyball uniform, so to see you wearing something that's completely opposite of his outfit, he's concerned you might pass out 

➷ Wants to pull you outside to ask how you're managing in this heat, but he knows he can't since the game's starting. Not to mention he's a starter, so his coach definitely won't allow it

➷ In hopes of getting you out of this heat, he's fired up to win. Please pray for the other team, they’re about to be obliterated 

➷ Once the match's over, he's rushing over to you, grabbing your hand to usher you outside the gym

➷ After locating a bench, the both of you sit down and he's instantly asking if you’re okay

➷ You'll insist you’re fine, but he'll proceed to ask why your clothes aren't even remotely compatible with high temperatures

➷ The moment you share your fear of being judged for your hairiness, he's pouting like a child due to his self-inflicted guilt

➷ He'll apologize and pull you into an embrace, feeling as if he failed as a boyfriend. He forgot for a second how hot it is so now he's apologizing for hugging you 

➷ At that point, he'll make sure to go out of his way to help you become comfortable in your body

➷ If he sees you pondering just a bit too long over the dress in your hand, he'll answer the questions you're internally wondering

➷ "Wear it, babe. You'll look amazing in it"

➷ He'll remind you that body hair is natural, and that you're beautiful regardless

➷ If you allow it, he's very touchy with you

➷ Loves to pepper you in kisses and hug your waist when he sees how gorgeous you look in dresses and anything sleeveless 

➷ He'll hype you up all the time: complimenting you and asking to take photos of you so he can look back on them whenever you're separated from each other. Heck, he'll even look at it when you're around, holding his phone up to you asking you wear that outfit again…even though you literally wore it yesterday 

➷ If there's a lack of sleeveless/short clothing in your closet, he'll take you to buy some more

 ⋆ ˚｡⋆❀♡˚　˚❀♡⋆｡˚ ⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆❀♡˚　˚❀♡⋆｡˚ ⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆❀♡˚　˚❀♡⋆｡˚ ⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆❀♡˚　˚❀♡⋆｡˚ ⋆⋆ ˚｡

"How does this look?" The changing room's lock opens with a click, slowly revealing the sundress accentuating your waist and flowing outwards after that. He's in awe, attempting to articulate his thoughts, but turns up speechless. You're growing anxious under his gaze, so you instinctively shield your arms, unsure of what he's thinking. 

Bokuto realizes what he's done, so he's showering you with compliments, suggesting you put it into the already overstuffed shopping bag. A laugh escapes your lips before you make your way to where he's seated, wrapping your arms around his neck, pressing your chest into his face, causing him to reciprocate your hug.  

"You're beautiful, ya know?" it's muffled, but yet so clear in your ears. 

"I know," you hum. Now it's your turn to be at loss for words; but even so, you thank him. You're unsure who'd you become without him, but that's the least of your concerns. All that mattered was that he was here in your arms, showing how you're worthy of love, and you couldn't wish for anything more.

comments and reblogs are always appreciated! ♡

masterlist

[stellaluna33]

Ya know what’s funny, is that we’ve basically gotten to see Jess and Rory in almost every stage of their lives (through fanfic in regards to younger them specifically) but something I never noticed is that I’ve never read or heard about their pre-teen years like 12-14 and now I can’t stop thinking about it. Like in some alternate universe out there where they met where they were younger, what was pre-teen them like together?? Separately?? I’m too curious now. 😭😂

Hmmm! I think a lot might depend on whether they'd met when they were younger or not. What I remember from my own childhood (and observing other kids) is that younger kids are more open-minded and willing to make friends with just about anybody, but I definitely went through a period (roughly from age 10 to about 14) where it felt like people were more insular and I didn't want to associate with boys because they were "annoying" (to be fair, they totally were at that age. 😂). I don't know how common that is, but my mom (a psychologist) says it's a pretty common stage of "child development" or whatever, so apparently it's common enough for that... And then in highschool I became more open to making friends with a wider variety of people again.

So... I guess what I'm saying is that I could see Rory and Lane (because they're inseparable!) being friends with Jess at that age if they'd already been friends for a while, but if Jess was only just moving to Stars Hollow? I could totally see them maybe having a bit of a vague crush on each other from a distance, but they'd probably never talk to each other and attempt to seem disinterested and aloof if they ever had to interact at school (but secretly find each other fascinating and/or terrifying). 😂 I have a definite headcanon that Jess went through a "skater boy" phase around this time, so I can picture him doing skateboard tricks to "show off," but then be completely incapable of stringing two words together if Rory ever tries to speak to him and just stares awkwardly, haha. She probably thinks he doesn't like her. 😂 He would definitely punch Chuck Presby in the nose if he made fun of Rory, though! Let's see... I read a fic once (I forget which one!) where Jess and Dave Rygalski were on the same Little League team and became best friends while sitting on the bench together because neither of them have any athletic ability. 😂. Isn't that ADORABLE?! I immediately adopted it as my official headcanon (for a universe in which Jess moved to SH as a kid), so Jess and Dave are definitely best friends. They're probably JUST starting to really get into music at this point, and it's a mutual obsession. But they also both used to listen to a lot of Weird Al and They Might Be Giants when they were younger, because they're NERDS!

Rory and Lane are an inseparable unit at this point. They don't need anyone but each other. 😌. They are ALSO just starting to really get into music now (aided and abetted by Lorelai, of course), but that doesn’t mean they talk to Jess about it, or are even aware that it’s something they have in common, because he’s a stupid BOY and they don’t talk to him. (And also they don’t talk to anyone but each other...) They turn up their noses at his stupid skateboard tricks and clownery, because they are much too dignified and mature to pay attention to such antics.  As if!  (Rory was the only person in their 5th grade class who knew that Clueless was an Emma adaptation, and she rants indignantly to Lane about it.) Ok, maybe he’s a little cute, but we don’t talk about that (except maybe as a slumber party confession, hyped up on too much sugar and too little sleep. There is much giggling.), and this is all the more reason why we must give every indication that he is Beneath Us.

ETA. Because I forgot about school! Rory is Not Amused by Jess's class disruptions and lack of participation. She thinks it's annoying, and is also confused and frustrated by it, because she sees him reading all the time! But whatever. She just glares at him sternly from time to time, and studiously ignores him the rest of the time. Jess just stares at her shiny hair over the top of his book from the back of the class and hopes no one notices.

[twillightteaparty]

This is pretty long and angsty so if you don't wanna write it it's totally valid!!

If that's okay could i request the first years (possibly togheter?? Like the whole group comforting them) reacting to MC/Yuu being insecure (and jealous) about the fact that they're literally the ONLY magicless student at NRC, and they become more quiet and start isolating themselves to the point they literally don't set a foot out of their room.

Not even Crowley and the other teachers have been able get them out of there and everyone is really concerned about their well being.

When they're asked to try MC finally lets them in and they find their friend curled on the floor being a sobbing mess, MC tells them that the reason they've been avoiding everyone was that they felt left out because of the fact that they didn't have magic and they are jealous of them because of it.

How would they reassure their friend?

also, make it have a happy ending please gwosgsks cause i love them sm😭😭

Meaningless Magic To a 'Meaningless' Mortal: A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic (Yuu x First Years) (Friendship/Platonic)

Sorry, this took so long to get to you, but I got a little inspired and made it a fic because I figured it would be the best way to answer this one, so I hope it was worth the wait-

It started with the thought of 'i'll just take a day to myself' in hopes of making themself feel better. but a day turned into two. then, after one solid sobbing fit that end with throwing their pillow across the room, it became a week.

"I'm never good enough. . . " was one of many things they mumbled to themself in fits of tears. another common line is "... it's not fair"

tucked away in their room yuu hoarded snacks and the ability to make tea, they had no plan in leaving their room any time soon. not even a little bit.

Some of the staff after the week came by to see what was going on. after completely and bluntly telling crowly their most 'gracious' headmaster to leave them alone and to F off in the most polite way they could muster, Sam found themselves in laughter. but even after calming down, Sam couldn't seem to coax them out of their room.

You probably would have chosen to stay in their room for another week or so and wallow in their misery and thoughts a while longer but it seems that their first-year friends are demanding otherwise.

"come on yuu! you can't hide in there forever!" Ace was practically whining for their friend to exit their room. having sat down on the other side of the door and pressed his face up against it.

"Yeah, yuu, we aren't leaving till you exit the room and tell us what's wrong" Deuce states having been leaning on the wall next to the door waiting for any sort of response from the other side.

"guys yelling at the door isn't gonna do much help, they'll only come out when they are willing to," Epel explained to them, knowing all too well when someone wants to be left alone there is no arguing with them on the matter.

"well, we can't let them hide in their room for much longer, how do we know they're taking care of themself? humans do live very long without basic needs being met right?" Sebek chimed in with much annoyance. most of his annoyance is at the door that separated them from their beloved friend.

"do you think we could bribe them out of their room with a freshly cooked meal?" Jack said crossing his arms also being a little fed up with having to wait outside the door for so long and no progress being made.

A silence fell across them as the door suddenly opened, Yuu stood there hair a wild mess. in an oversized shirt with holes and stained with paint alongside whatever soft pants they could find. no one dares to move, let alone say anything. someone among the lot might have even forgotten to breathe. it was ace, he forgot to breathe.

"Are you guys happy now? I opened the door, now can you leave me alone?" Yuu said avoiding all eye contact and basically burning a hole into the wall across the hall. the act alone practically smashed Jacks' heart. Jack practically looks like a kicked puppy in all honesty.

"Yuu. . " Deuce has stood up straight by now. " what's wrong? we're your friends, you can talk to us" he wasn't sure what he should do, but he voiced his worry rather vocally. but what Yuu would say next would leave him scrambling to find words.

"I highly doubt any of you would understand." The bitterness in their voice almost felt like an emotional acid. tears built-in up in their eyes but they tried their best to ignore and hold back from crying.

"well how about trying to get us to understand! instead of just shooting us down and shooing us away? huh!" Ace didn't mean to come across so angry but he wasn't going to have any of this. absolutely none of it. this he has already trapped their legs in a hug seeing as he still hasn't gotten off the floor.

"Yeah, why don't we go down to the living area and like have some tea and talk about it?" Epel suggested relocating downstairs and relaxing with some tea. it usually helped him so he thought it would help at least a little bit. "if your not ready or don't want to talk about it, that's okay too" everyone else was quick to agree with Epel.

"I-. . " Yuu struggled to find the words they wanted to say, or maybe it was a lack of courage in the face of their peers and friends. "just leave me alone. . ." they cut themself off.

It was to almost all their surprises that Sebek was the one to step up and say something "yuu, you can't stay cooped up in your room for the rest of time. we can't help you if we don't know what's wrong"

"what's wrong?" Yuu let out a small bitter 'ha'. as if it was some cruel and twisted joke. though it may all be obvious to Yuu what may be their problem and what's wrong, these lads are far from being mind readers.

"I just-" Yuu went to continue but they found themself trailing off either unable to speak or searching endlessly for the right words to say. no one rushed them, though deuce did find himself placing a hand on their shoulder and offering them a nod of reassurance to let Yuu know there were there for them and listening.

Yuu found any anger and spite towards the world drifting away with the tears that slowly trailed down their face. leaving them feeling better and empty.

"I just - I'm left out of everything! and any efforts I put into things? bluntly ignored or neglected! and- and! you all just do things, and can do all sorts of magic! I'm just completely . . . jealous? ashamed? envious. . . " momentarily their anger had sparked up again almost reminding ace of Riddle about to loses his temper. but just as quick as it came, it was gone.

Epel only softly smiled at yuu, having completely understood what they mean in some kind of way. "Thank you for telling us what's been on your mind. do you want that tea now?" he offered in a gentle tone.

"yeah . . and can- can we watch a movie?" Yuu mustered the strength to even speak at this point as there were pretty much ready to just cry, and nothing more.

"Yeah, of course, we can," Jack answered their question. "I'll get started on the tea" Jack stated before quickly making a B-line to the kitchen.

"Do you want any blankets or something?" deuce asked while helping ace off of the floor finally.

"can you get- the fluffy blanket of my bed?" Yuu asked, "and whatever blankets you guys want so you don't get cold." They stated knowing how drafty and cold their nightmare of a dorm could be.

Deuce nodded and brought ace along with him to help carry blankets and pillows down to the living room. leaving Epel and Sebek to walk downing to the living area of the dorm with yuu.

"If there's anything else you need just let us know alright?" Sebek wanted to make sure yuu know that they're able to ask for anything that they need during this time.

"let's start with a movie night, work our way up from there" Yuu let out a sigh before flopping on the couch.

"Sounds like a plan to me" Epel started. "I'll go help Jack with the tea and snacks then" he declared just as ace and deuce arrived on the scene with any and all blankets they could find.

it was safe to say they all spent the night watching movies and eating snacks. but it wasn't long before they lost track of times and most of them were fast asleep. scattered across the couches and floor of the ramshackle dorm.

"Sorry if we ended up ignoring you struggling Yuu, I'm sure none of us meant to. but don't think for a second that we don't care about you or anything. because you're not useless or replaceable. you often come up with solutions that would have never crossed our minds. we all have things we could learn from you"

----

I hope this is good enough, god I hope it's good enough I really tried but I'm very tired and just ah- just ah. I don't think writing is my strongest suit but there is no way to get better than to write so there's that. also sometimes you just got to say something is done and move on so I'm sorry about not making this fully fleshed out as I would like it to be.

but yeah, sometimes you just need to watch movies with your friends to feel better, yeah?

signed, Admin Tea

[seekingseven]

Last one: Twilight & Legend bonding! I'm thinking maybe they get stuck somewhere after a world-switch, and that means they actually have to talk to each other and work together. And not lamenting over lost loves - rather, learning how to work together despite their differences (e.g. Legend's use of magic and Twilight's avoidance/lack of)

they are my favourites and I'd love to see them together more!

Linked Universe Prompt Request #9!

What an awesome prompt to end off this little series with! It was really fun to work on this one; I hope you'll enjoy it too!

(You can also read the fic here on Ao3, or view the entire drabble series here!)

"You really think they left without us?"

Legend chewed idly on a fingernail as he stared at the ground, eyes fixated on a sprig of daisy blooming in a pavement crack. Beside him, Twilight crossed his arms and huffed.

"Not intentionally, I'm sure, but yeah. They're gone."

"How could they forget us?"

Legend's question was flat-toned, but his syllables pinched at the corners in his characteristically melodramatic way. Twilight rolled his eyes. Of all the people he could be stuck with in an unnamed Hyrule in an unnamed timeline, it had to be the veteran.

Oh well. Could have been worse.

"I guess they didn’t realize we were still here,” Twilight began, taking a seat on an upturned rock and flicking ants off his arms. “Still a surprise to know that those portals don’t wait or anything.”

Black steam curled off the pavement by Legend’s feet, the only memory of the gaping portal that had stood there just seconds ago. Legend carded his hands through his hair and gripped the back of his head.

“What are we supposed to do now? How can we get back to them? Are we permanently separated? Are you even listening? Twilight! Hey, are you just going to stand there? We need to find someone to give us directions!"

"Directions?" Twilight snorted. "We don't need directions."

"We do, too!"

A swing and a clatter of metal, and Twilight was back on his feet. His arms were crossed tight across his chest. 'We're heroes, we don't need directions."

"Yeah, if we want to get lost! Listen, let's at least buy a map."

"For what? Where are we even planning to go?"

Legend opened his mouth, then closed it again, lips pursed and pulled to the side. "Huh."

"Getting all huffy about nothing. I suggest that we just stay here."

"Stay here? We're in the middle of some goddess-forsaken road, who knows what'll come along and trample us!" With a dramatic sweep of his arm, Legend gestured to the crumbling brown pavement underfoot and the greying sky overhead.

Goddess-forsaken might have been a little bit of an understatement.

"Well, what else do you suggest we do? Walk off and let the others try and find us?"

"That's what they did to us, in case you weren't paying attention."

"Do you really think being petty is going to get us anywhere?"

"What, so you think being high and mighty is going to get us out of this?"

Blue locked with blue. Legend narrowed his eyes. Twilight snorted. The veteran's personality was like corn whisky--pungent and sharp, and pleasant in only small doses with a generous distance. The rancher's upper lip curled at the thought.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Legend demanded. Twilight's eyes remained trained on the ground. Legend tried again. "Twilight? You listening?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Listen, man. I'm, uh, sorry."

"...what?"

"Don't--just, uh. Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm a little stressed, obviously, but that isn't an excuse, and I apologize. I didn't mean to make it sound like it's your fault or something." Legend's eyes flickered to Twilight's, whose own had widened to take up half his face. He coughed into his fist before continuing. "I...uh...if you think it's best that we stop here, then we can. They'll come back. Probably."

Twilight was still staring. The muscles along his arm relaxed, and the bitterness from earlier faded to guilt.

"Oh," he began, "I didn't mean to make it sound that your idea was bad. I was just worried...I don't know where we could go from here."

Legend nodded. The move wasn't sympathetic, not yet, but at least his mind was doing the talking. "Yeah. Do you think we should stay?"

"Here? I think so. What do you think?"

Silence. Legend's eyes slimmed in thought. Mind goaded on by the quiet, Twilight slipped into his own brooding bubble. His eyebrows flickered upward as he alighted on a compromise.

"Legend?"

"Yeah?"

"How about we wait? Maybe an hour or so, and if they're still not back, we can move on?"

Legend nodded slowly, then beamed. "Yeah! Let's do that. Okay then, huh, could you scooch over? I want to sit too."

Cloth ruffled as Twilight slid to the side, then patted the grey rock beside him. Legend sat down with an awkward grunt. A hot breeze swirled up debris on the side of the road, and a squirrel hurried across the pavement. Far away, a goat brayed.

"We really are in the middle of nowhere," Twilight mused.

"It's not so bad, though. The sky is pretty."

Twilight glanced at the pinking, sunset-flecked clouds overhead. "Yeah. Huh. It's sort of a nice day, isn't it."

"Mhm. Hey, I've got a question."

"Shoot."

Legend idly knocked the sheaf of rings on his finger against his teeth. "Magic. You have some sort of problem with it. Am I right?"

If Legend's earlier apology hadn't soothed Twilight's prickliness into an ashamed buzz, there was no telling what his response might have been. Yet with the clouds puffing their way across the sky and the gentle hum of music, distant, Twilight's reservations faltered.

"It's just not my thing," he began. "I like doing things myself. With what I've already got. Augmenting things or changing them...that's not my deal." Upon noticing the incredulous look on Legend's face, Twilight's mouth pressed into a culpable smile. He scratched the back of his neck as he continued. "But maybe I'm just old fashioned, favoring my hands and whatnot. It's nothing against you."

It was only upon Twilight's last words that the tight look on Legend's face faded. The veteran really did take things too seriously and too personally, didn't he? Maybe that's why he panicked so easily.

"Well," Legend began, "I guess I can understand that. You should try it sometime, though. Magic."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. That familiar stubbornness, the complete lack of tact...sometimes he forgot that the others were quite literally iterations of himself. "Thanks, but I'm good."

"Really, Twi, I mean it. I mean, of course it takes some time getting used to, but I think you'll enjoy it. It's more down-to-earth than you think."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. And anyway, it takes you way too long to start a campfire with a twig and a flintstone."

Twilight huffed, then, upon seeing the frustratingly serious expression on Legend's face, leaned forward and flicked his nose.

Legend's eyes went wide. Twilight recoiled. Had he gone too far? It was just instinct--he had flicked the champion's nose more times than he could count, but never the veteran's...had he crossed some sort of line?

His internal monologue stuttered to a stop with Legend flicked his nose right back.

"Hey!" Twilight protested, shielding his nose and surprised smile behind his arm, "cut that out! Cut it--cut it out!"

"Not unless you promise to try on some of my spellcasting rings."

"I won't!"

Flick!

"I--hey! Stop that!"

"Say 'Legend, I promise to practice magic with you and I'm sure you'll be a good teacher' and then I'll stop."

"Are you crazy? No way!"

Flick!

Twilight tried to protest again, but his words muddled into an embarrassingly high-pitched giggle. He blinked quickly against the water building in his eyes and tried to hide his head between his knees.

Flick!

"Fine, fine!" Twilight exclaimed, hands in the air and nose pink. "I'll do it! I'll do the magic thing with you. Just--uh, you promise to go fishing with me. Or something. Don't--Legend, I swear to Hylia, if you do that again I'll kick you in the nuts."

Legend paused, pointed finger pressed behind his thumb in a menacing 'o,' and considered the peace offering (and auxiliary threat) presented. After a tense moment, he let his hand drop into his lap.

"Fine. Surrender accepted."

"Wh-surrender? I didn't surrender anything."

Legend smirked and laced his hands under his chin. "History is written by the victors, you know. Now, stand up."

"Why?"

"And take these," Legend added, dropping a few golden bands into Twilight's lap. A faint vibration, like music rumbling from the floor, oozed off the polished metal. "Put 'em on and stand up."

Twilight did as instructed and slipped on the rings. His mind caught up with his arms just as he began to stand up.

"Wait, hold on; are we starting this thing now?"

Legend raised an eyebrow and crossed one leg over the other. He bore a surprising resemblance to an irritated schoolteacher. "Of course we are."

"By Nayru's teeth, are you serious?"

Flick!

~~ Fine ~~

I hope you enjoyed! Thank you so so much to everyone who submitted prompts--I hope you enjoyed how they came out--and a big shoutout to everyone who read them! I hope some of them were able to make you smile :D

Until next time!

[Previous Request]

[snarkwrites]

ssw | juice ortiz ; when he can't go any deeper | m

Notes:

Okay so here's the thing.. This is a bit of a glimpse into the future / what if for a fic I'm about to start writing.. well, re-writing. Despite me knowing jack fuckall about strip clubs / exotic dancing / how to describe someone giving or getting a lapdance or pole work, I got the idea to have Hazel working two nights a week in a club, idk why.. Anyway.. The idea wouldn't leave me alone so here we are, loves.

Also.. I'm no longer just dipping my toes in the filth pool anymore. I went all in with this, oops rip. If anyone wants me to actually write the fic I have in mind for this... Pls.. I beg.. LMK.

Prompts:

taken from either [ HERE ] or [ HERE ] give or take. It could be one or the other or a mix of both at my own choosing.

kiss me up against the wall // moan my name as you come // when he can't go any deeper. - those were all the inspiration / prompts for this.

Fandom / Character:

Sons Of Anarchy / Juice Ortiz x Teller Morrow!OFC, Hazel

Fics Hazel can be found in:

None..Yet.

** the one I've used her in is being discontinued to do a rewrite.**

Warnings:

No minors, full stop. There is NSFW / adult content ahead. If you're underage, this was not meant for you -nor should you be reading this. If you choose to stick around after my warnings, this is strictly a you thing and it's not my problem or fault.

If you choose to go on and read this, these are the things present you need to be aware of: stripper!ofc - I admit.. I really am not too sure on how strip clubs operate, so.. if I'm wrong, sorry. lap dancing. thigh riding. body fluids tw. unprotected sex. That's pretty much it.

Tagging:

@brithedemonspawn

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@kyleoreillysknee

@sassymox

@twistnet

Other Stuff:

[ ABOUT MY WRITING | TAG LIST DOC - IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED, THAT IS. | FANDOMS I WRITE FOR]

I swear I wanted to melt into the floor when I happened to glance out in the crowd and see Juice Ortiz sitting in the back with his eyes glued to the stage. I froze where I stood behind the curtain peering out and for a good five seconds, I heavily contemplated just bolting out the back door of the club.

But if I did that, I’d be out of the killer tips I’ve been told I could get dancing at this place. I wouldn’t have an outlet to express myself freely, either.

,, I had to know this would happen sooner or later. Charming is a small town and the guys from Samcro do come to this club. Even taking the audition and showing up tonight was me, taking a huge risk… So I had to know this would’ve happened at some point if I actually get the gig.” the thought came and I took three deep breaths. The hope was that I’d center myself.

Spoiler alert… it did not happen.

But I did catch sight of a brunette wig. And I convinced myself that between the wig and the dim lighting and the fact that Juice was so far away from the front of the club where I’d be dancing on the stage, he wouldn’t figure it out.

I’d just finished putting on the wig when the club owner cleared his throat and nodded to the curtains in front of me. “You’re up, kid. Do this right and Tuesdays and Thursdays are yours. Fuck it up and you can forget ever getting a chance to try again.”

I scoffed at him for a second or two but he stared me down, humorless.

My favorite Motley Crue song began to play and I stepped through the curtain. Out onto the stage and just as I did, I happened to see that prick AJ Weston and the guy who bought one of the shops downtown making their way to the table right in front of me.

My stomach dropped.

Those cold and emotionless eyes locked on me and he smirked. Nodding to me and leaning in to the shop owner. His best buddy or whatever. I don’t try and keep up with whose pissed off my father day by day, so I didn’t exactly know names.

All I did know was that for whatever reason, my mother’s scared to death of AJ Weston. She thinks she hides it, but she doesn’t. And my mother is not a woman who scares easily.

Suddenly, my biggest worry wasn’t Juice sitting in the back of the club anymore. It was the prick sitting right in front of the stage. I strutted out on the stage, not bothering to make eye contact with AJ Weston, no matter how hard I could feel him staring at me, willing me to do so. I tore off the cropped leather jacket I wore over my favorite red lace bra and after twirling it in the air a time or two, I tossed it onto the stage, hitting the floor. Writhing. Arching my back and crawling around, whipping my hair around to the song playing. I kept away from the center of the stage because I did not want to lock eyes with AJ Weston. I literally had zero desire.

The crowd was starting to get into it. I started to feel that rush like I used to feel when I danced in Las Vegas. I completely forgot about AJ Weston, thankfully. And what started off as a bumpy dance got smoother. Even more so when I found myself searching the crowd. Finding Juice in the back and locking eyes with him. That seemed to cut out a lot of my nervousness.

My hands drifted down my body, and I caught myself pretending they weren’t my hands but Juice’s. Just the thought of him feeling me up, his hands pinning my hands over my head. Pressing into me. The way he’d feel strained against those baggy jeans when he bucked against me in the heat of the moment. I used my dirty mind to fuel the dance. Letting my hands wander down to the waistband of my leather pants, working them down.

The crowd was really getting vocal now. They usually do when the clothing starts to actually come off. My stomach fluttered nervously when I locked eyes with Juice in the back of the club and I actually saw the way what I was doing on stage was affecting him.

He sat up a little straighter in his seat. Spread his legs a little. Squirming around. He nursed a glass of whiskey and his eyes wandered up and down my body slowly. When I hit the floor and started to writhe around, my back arching and my ass up in the air, he bit his lip. Watching intently. Rubbing his chin in thought.

Out towards the front of the club, right in front of me, I heard AJ swearing. Laughing out loud. I wanted to strangle the asshole, especially when he really got started with all his stupid filthy commentary as if he were mocking me, as if he were somehow better than this place even though he was willingly sitting here, of his own volition… But I went back to blocking him out. Focusing all my attention on Juice all over again instead.

Imagining what I’d do if I truly had half the nerve. What I’d let him do to me if I weren’t so damn afraid of falling in love with a Samcro man.

Because if I were going to love one, I’d choose him. Hands down. If I were ever to settle, I’d want to settle with Juice Ortiz.

My song was nearing an end. My dance was slowing down. I made my way up the pole again, grinding it as I inched up it. Slowly. Seductively as I could... Eyes locked on Juice the entire time as I flipped myself upside down and started to wind around the pole, spinning slowly with my arm outstretched as the other arm gripped the pole to hold myself. And just before the official end of my song, I dropped to the ground, crawling away from the pole. Towards the front of the stage, bolder. Getting closer in the hopes I could at least get a little better look at Juice’s face because I was dying to see the expression on it right now.

I smirked in his direction and gave a teasing wink as I pulled myself off the floor and slunk towards the red velvet curtain separating the back of the club from the front.

“Stormy Knight, ladies and gentlemen. If anyone wants the VIP experience, find Vinnie.” the announcer called out over the rowdy crowd. I was just about to reach for the doorknob on the door that lead into the dressing room when a throat cleared behind me.

“Not bad, kid. If you can bring that every single Tuesday and Thursday, gigs yours.” the club owner was standing there, smirking. He almost looked like he felt bad for doubting me in the first place. He added casually, “Had three guys come to me about VIP dances. I usually leave all that to my girls to work out. That’s extra dough in your pocket, makes no difference to me. I know half of ya have extra mouths to feed.”

I eyed him, my mouth falling open.

“Three guys? Like.. altogether?”

“No, no.. Two were together. One was by himself. Belonged to one of the MCs. Just do me a favor and at least attempt to obey club rules, kid. Don’t go gettin knocked up on the clock.” the man laughed and I took a deep breath.

At best, I figured that the biker in question was probably one of the Mayans I’d seen sitting towards the middle of the club.

I was pretty damn sure I knew exactly who the two men were and after mulling it over because it seemed as if my new boss was awaiting a decision from me, I decided I wanted no part of the risk of having to give AJ Weston and his slimy friend a private show.

“I’ll take the biker tonight, man. I’m not feelin up to a three way.”

The owner nodded and mused thoughtfully, “Good idea, kid.. That one guy out of the two of ‘em looked like his elevator didn’t go all the way to the top floor. I’ll go get your biker and bring him back. You got room 3. That was Gina’s old room.” before walking away, disappearing out into the front of the club again.

“Please god… at least let it be the J.D Pardo look alike if it’s one of the Mayans.” I muttered to myself, not daring to get my hopes up that it’d be Juice.

A throat cleared from behind me. I nearly shit myself when I heard Tig Trager mumble with a laugh, “Okay Ortiz. Go get your girl.” before walking away. I did not dare turn around until I knew Tig was long gone.

“Stormy, huh? That’s one hell of a name, baby girl.” he mused aloud.

I turned around slowly. Found myself body to body with him. He was staring down at me intently, licking his lips. Chuckling as he shook his head and leaned in a little closer to whisper, “Does daddy know you dance, Hazelynn? Because if he’d been here… Seen all that…” he fanned himself and gave me a teasing smirk.

My mouth dropped open.

“How? How’d you know?” I stammered out.

“I saw your car parked outside… Life pro tip, princess.. If you wanna keep this a secret, I’d suggest parking around back. Or catching a ride. Because your car? Kind of hard to forget.” Juice’s hand settled on my hip and he pulled me just a little closer. His eyes dipped down, settling on my lips, a quiet groan coming when his intent stare made me lick my lips and fidget a little.. Melting against him a little before I could stop myself from doing it. Giving a sheepish laugh as I glanced up at him.

“Your secret’s safe with me. Relax.” he chuckled. He must have felt how tense my body was as I pressed against him. I let out a shaky breath. Parts of me wanted to ask the logical question, if he came here a lot, but also, at the same time parts of me definitely didn’t want to know. Those parts of me knew that if I did ask and he said he did, I’d get just a little jealous. Because it already happened whenever I’d see him at the bar and he’d have Croweaters flocking to him.

“Guess I owe you a VIP.” I teased gently, nodding towards the door with the gold star and the black number 3 painted on it. I reached down, grabbing hold of his hand, starting to lead him in the direction of the room.

“If you don’t wanna do this…” Juice frowned slightly and acted like he was going to walk away, but I stopped him. Made him look at me.

“It’s fine. It’s part of the job.” I gave him a reassuring smile as I opened the door to the room, stepping inside. Letting him step inside.

He closed the door behind him and we found ourselves body to body all over again. He muttered quietly, “Confession… I saw that Weston asshole and his idiot friend talking to the owner about a VIP dance with you so I went over and offered more money.”

Between the goofy little shit eating grin he gave me as he said it and the fact that he did that because he knows the guy creeps me right the fuck out, I was blown away. Before I could stop myself, I rose to tiptoe, gently pressing my lips against the corner of his mouth. “You’re an actual angel come to Earth, sir. You have definitely earned that dance.” I muttered softly as I pulled back to look up at him.

He bit his lip and my eyes followed the movement helplessly.

If I thought I was making myself wet on stage with my own dirty imagination, it was nothing compared to how wet I got when I locked eyes with him and realized that he was fully aware that I’d been staring at his mouth like a proper idiot.

I stepped close to him again and placed my palm on the front of his cutte, gently shoving him so that he settled in the chair right behind him.

Right away, his hands went to my hips. I lowered my hands, pushing his hands back down as I shook my head. “No touching. Club rules, Juice.”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry.” he gave an awkward laugh and I giggled softly. Sinking down into his lap slowly.

Maybe I was slightly exaggerating out in the hallway when I told him I could do this and made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. The second I settled in his lap and started to grind against it, I could feel myself dripping just a little more. I rose up slightly and he sucked in a breath. His knuckles went white with the way he was gripping the arms of the chair. His eyes were absolutely glued to me and I smirked. Teasing a little. Acting as if I’d take off the cropped leather jacket over my bra only to pull it back up.

The third time I did this, he growled quietly. Bucked himself against me. When I whimpered and grinded myself down harder against his lap, he muttered in a heated whisper, “You feel what you’re doing to me right now, baby girl?”

Oh. I felt it alright. The way he strained at his jeans, cock still twitching and growing harder and harder. The little friction I was allowing myself wasn’t enough. My cunt was throbbing and I was getting so wet that I was pretty sure when I finished giving him his lapdance the poor guy was going to have a wet spot on his jeans.

“Mhm.” I answered in a daze, leaning in so that my lips brushed against the shell of his ear and my tits rubbed right against him. He whimpered and bucked into me all over again and when I slipped out of his lap, he frowned. I hit my knees, parting his legs. Staring up at him from where I kneeled on the floor and he shifted in his seat, gripping the arms of the chair tighter when I started to rise up. Swaying my hips side to side. Leaning in. Rubbing against him as much as I could get away with. Oh, I was definitely using this little VIP dance he paid for as an excuse to do as much touching and teasing as I thought I could get away with.

All those urges to touch him I normally kept at bay were finally being allowed free reign and it felt so good.

I settled on his lap again. He let out a long and shaky breath and we locked eyes. He was staring at me like he wanted to ask me something or he wanted to say something but he wasn’t sure how.

“What’s up?” I asked quietly.

“Nothin, it’s nothin.” he said it quickly. Too quick. I gripped his cutte and pulled him in closer. My mouth inching dangerously close to his as I muttered against it, “Whatever you want to say, say it. Trust me. I can handle it.”

“Okay, you asked for it.” he muttered. After a second or two of staring at his lap, he looked up at me again and asked quietly, “Did you wanna dance for me?”

“I got the owner to come get you, didn’t I?” my heart was beating faster. I thought it’d jump right out of my chest. I did my best to play as cool and casual as I could but every single part of me wanted to tell him that dancing was not all I wanted to do for him.

“I know that… what I mean is.. Forget it.” he went quiet. Looked down again and I gripped his jaw, making him look up at my face. “Eyes up here, Ortiz.” I teased gently, my smile falling away when I saw the serious and somber look in his eyes. I scooted away a little, an attempt to give him some space. Settling myself over his thigh instead of fully positioned on his lap as I had been.

“Talk to me.” the words left my mouth in a whimper as I pressed myself right against his thigh, rocking my throbbing sex back and forth over it. Getting wetter and wetter with each second that passed. And the ache. Oh god, the ache. I was on the brink of frustrated tears. And I couldn’t break down, I couldn’t act anything less than totally professional, because this was my night job and I was on the clock but God.. did I ever want to.

He spread his legs wider and took a deep breath. Trying not to touch me, but I could tell with the way he kept raising his hands only to put them back down on the arm rests of the velvet covered chair he sat in that he wanted nothing more than to do that very thing.

And the thought of those hands on me had me flooded in a split second. If there was any doubt before that I’d leave a wet spot behind on his jeans at the end of this dance, there wasn’t going to be by the time it was over.

Anticipation and desire had my stomach coiled tightly. I wanted, more than anything, to be able to pick up with this back home… Behind closed doors. Just him and I.

But I knew that tonight was most likely just going to be an awkward little secret. Kept between two friends. And it bothered me, because I wanted so much more than that but I was afraid to cross lines and let myself have that… I doubted it was even an option anyway because I just didn’t think Juice even saw me like that.

Sure, we flirted now and then, but nothing ever came of it.

God, did I want it to.

This heavy tension seemed to settle in all around us and I picked up on it. Juice groaned quietly, and after he nearly broke the no touch rule again and very nearly reached out to grab hold of my ass and rock me against his thigh faster, I leaned in.. Pressed against him as I continued to grind against his leg and muttered against his ear, “Most guys put their arms behind their head… Til they’re used to not being allowed to touch.. They get verbal too…” my words hitching in my throat, rushing out over each other breathlessly.

He raised his hands, locking them behind his head. Sprawling back against the chair. It seemed to help ease the tension built in his body too, because I felt him sort of melting into the chair a little and I smiled.

“C’mon.. Tell me what you want me to do.” I coaxed, fixing my eyes on him and biting my lip when I immediately found myself getting sucked far too deep into his gaze.

“Touch yourself.” he muttered. Raising up a little. Leaning forward. “Touch yourself for me, baby girl… Like you were when you were dancin out front.”

I let my hands wander.

They were shaking slightly and I just hoped to God that it wasn’t noticed.

Juice took a few shaky breaths and bucked a little in the seat. “Come closer.. Get on my lap.”

I moved so that I was straddling his lap and the way his cock strained against his jeans and I tried to stop myself, but as I started to rock myself back and forth over it, I whimpered quietly. My breath caught in my throat a time or two and my heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to beat out of my chest.

“I normally don’t buy dances if I come here.” he muttered quietly, shattering through my own current internal struggle.

Knowing this relaxed me a little. It was obvious he didn’t just going off the way he acted, but.. I still wondered. Some guys like to pretend it’s their first lap dance because it gets them going.

I’m not here to judge anyone.

I mean.. I have a good paying day job as a legal assistant and here I am.. Dancing two nights a week whenever I can find a club to take me just so I have some form of release.. Just so I can feel intimacy that for whatever reason, I tend to deny myself in reality.

I almost asked him why, but I remembered what he told me out in the hallway about outbidding AJ because he knew the guy scared me. And I stopped myself, even though parts of me hoped there was more to it than that.

My hands moved over my chest and I rocked myself over him faster. My breath catching in my throat as I felt myself rushing straight into an orgasm I’d been trying like hell to hold back the whole time we’d been in the VIP room.

I could feel my body burning up under his gaze and he leaned in again. Muttered breathlessly against my ear, “If you’re nervous..”

“It’s fine.” I pretended to brush it off. I acted as chill about doing this for him as I possibly could.

“Turn away.. I wanna watch you movin from behind, baby girl.” he muttered. The request caught me by surprise a little, but I kind of realized that he was doing it more for me than for himself.

I did what he asked, turning in his lap so that I faced away. My eyes caught his in the reflection of the mirrored wall in front of us. As I started to rock my ass over his bulge, he growled quietly. Bucking himself up into me. Biting his lip as he did it three more times. Muttered in a lust filled daze “Fuck yeah, baby girl.. Work that ass.”

Just the way he said it had me dripping all over again.

“Faster.” he panted, bucking himself up into me all over again. Harder.

I tried not to, but I found myself imagining that he was taking me from behind. A fist full of my hair and my tits pressed right against the mirrored wall in front of us. And I rocked myself back and forth over his cock, pressing down even harder. Moving even faster. Almost close to a blinding orgasm.

“Fuck.” I swore quietly.

Juice sat up in the chair. Pressing his chest into my back. Muttering against my ear, “ Did you wanna dance for me like this?”

“Juice, I told you already.” my head fell back and my eyes fluttered open and shut. I squeezed my tits and rolled my hips faster. My breath came in short pants because I was so close to an orgasm that I was throbbing. He was leaning in again to whisper. “What I mean is if this wasn’t your job.. And it was just me and you… Would you wanna..” he rocked himself against me all over again. Harder. With more urgency as he swore under his breath and muttered that if I kept it up, he was going to come all over himself.

“ Turn around facin me.” he panted, his lips brushing against my ear and sending a shiver rushing through me. I turned back around in his lap to face him. Raising up a little. Teasing him by putting my tits at level with his mouth. Squeezing them together before lowering my hand. Toying with the waistband of my leather pants. Teasing him like I’d take them off.

“ Tease.” he pouted up at me.

“ That’s kind of what you’re paying me for right now, Juice.” I gave a soft laugh as I tucked a finger beneath his chin. Pulling his mouth dangerously close to mine. He licked his lips in anticipation and when he did, his tongue brushed right against my mouth. I whimpered helplessly.

And I just barely kept myself from exploding.

“You’re tensin up on me, Haze… Somethin wrong?” Juice asked quietly.

Looking at me as if he were bracing himself for something bad to be said.

By this point, I was so caught up in the moment, in the way it felt to grind myself against his cock and get out all these long denied urges to touch him to my hearts content.. It slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“Honestly? I’m a breath away from coming and this never.. Ever… happens to me when I’m givin a private dance.” my words came in a breathless rush and as soon as I realized what I’d just said, I lost my groove for a second or two. Slowing down. Trying to pull myself together.

Hoping to God that I didn’t just make things awkward for him and I in the future because I’d rather have him as a friend than not have him at all.

His mouth opened and closed and his hands gripped the arm rests again. Tighter.

“Do you know how hard it is for me? Feelin you dancin on my cock like this? Knowin I.. Knowin that this is probably as close as I’m ever gonna get? Fuck… If I were ever lucky enough to have you all to myself, baby girl...”

His words caught me by surprise. My heart fluttered a little and I swallowed hard. Going still in his lap just to stare at him.

The lights getting brighter and the music in the room going quiet had both of us jumping apart. I realized that probably meant my time in the room was done and before I could give myself a chance to back out, I slipped off his lap and held out my hand to him.

“ C’mon.”

He eyed my hand and took hold of it, standing. I practically drug him out of the room and then down the hall. Out the door and into the back lot behind the club. Once the door was shut behind us, I started to pace in front of him. Just trying to put it all together.

Torn between continuing to fight what I felt for him and caving in.

When he stepped in front of me and placed his hands on my upper arms, staring down into my eyes intently, something in me snapped and before I could stop myself, I had his back pressed against the door of the building. My hands caught his, holding them over his head as I rose up slightly and crashed my mouth against his mouth.

Devouring. Hungry.

At first, he didn’t really react. But when the shock cleared and he realized what I was doing, he came alive. I melted against him and he growled into my mouth, deepening the kiss. Teeth latching onto my bottom lip and tugging until I felt it starting to bruise. I let his hands go and they were all over me. Settling on my ass. Rocking me up against him and making me whimper and dig my fingers into his shoulders. I couldn’t melt into him any more if I tried. I was so exhausted from trying to hold back in more ways than one at this point that my filter was totally shot. I rocked myself against him clumsily, a begging and needy whine filling the space between our mouths as the kiss broke when I just couldn’t hold it back.

“Do you know why I almost got off giving you a lap dance? Do you know what you do to me, Juice? I.. I tried so hard not to fall for you and yet.. Here I am.”

He blinked in shock. For a few seconds we stared at each other, panting for our next breath. Neither of us saying a word.

Then he bent and scooped me up. Started to carry me towards the end of the alley where he’d parked his Dyna Glide.

I didn’t do or say anything to try to stop him. I didn’t want to.

I’m so tired of keeping him at arms length. I’m tired of fighting the way I feel.

He sat me on the back of his bike and I grabbed hold of the front of his vest, pulling him down. Pulling his mouth down against mine all over again because I just.. I was needy. I craved him on this level I couldn’t even begin to get my head around.

His bike came to a stop in front of his apartment building and he got off. Scooping me up all over again. Stopping just outside the doors leading into the building to grope and kiss me. Letting his lips stray down the side of my neck. Sucking a mark deep into my skin. I clung to him and begged breathlessly, “Juice, please..”

Neither of us was really stopping to think. I didn’t want to.

I wanted him.

More importantly, I wanted to be with him. And tonight just proved to me that I couldn’t fight it anymore.

The whole time he was trying to unlock his apartment door, he kept fumbling with the keys. Rutting right against me. Stopping to kiss or touch me. When he finally got it unlocked, he stepped through the door and stepped over to the couch. Tossing me down onto it gently. Following close behind. Pressing himself down into me and snapping his hips against mine, making me whimper. My whimper echoing off the walls of the quiet room. I reached down between us, tugging at the hem of his white t shirt and he rose up, pulling off his vest and tossing it at a chair nearby. Then pulling his shirt off and tossing it too. It settled on the floor in front of the chair. Then he was pulling me up. Tearing my bra away and tossing it out into the room. My hands lowered, tugging at the waistband of his jeans and he bit his lip. Gazing at me for a second or two with this look of lust and adoration in his eyes. Savoring the moment and what was about to happen.

Because it’s been building for a while, apparently. I just focused so damn hard on keeping myself from caving in and letting myself have what I wanted, with him, that somehow, I missed all the signs.

“Baby, c’mon.” I begged.

The term of endearment slipped out.

He gave me that little smirk. Rubbed his chin in thought as he let his eyes wander.

He worked his way down my body, using his body to part my legs. He worked my leather pants down my legs and I kicked them free at my ankles.

His fingers caught in the thin strap of my panties and they came away with a quiet tear. I tried to get him out of his pants again and he lowered my hands. Slipping off the sofa. I watched intently as he teased me, pouting about it. Begging.

I needed him buried inside me. Fucking me. Slow. Deep. All night long.

His pants fell to his ankles and he kicked off his boots and then kicked his pants free from his legs. When he dropped his boxers, I swallowed hard as my eyes settled on the way his cock stood at attention once it was free from fabric. He was pressing himself down into me all over again.

His mouth roaming over my tits. Tongue teasing my nipples as my back arched away from the sofa and I rocked myself against him. His free hand settled between us, circling his thick cock. Teasing it between my folds and making me shiver and cling to him. Try to rock myself against him urgently.

And then he buried his cock inside me. Shallow at first. Going still to let me adjust to him. I felt like I was being split in two and the feeling had me whining. Nipping at his chest, at any patch of skin I could get my mouth on just so I could muffle the way I wanted to scream his name at the top of my lungs.

I rocked into him clumsily and he growled quietly. His hands going down to my hips. Holding them still as he started to pound me harder. Deeper. So deep he couldn’t go any deeper. When he bottomed out, I dragged my nails down his back.

“Not yet, baby girl. C’mon, hold out just a little longer for me.” Juice coaxed breathlessly as his hips crashed against me with a bruising pace. I begged for release, on the verge of tears. The more I begged, the more he’d slow down. Stop to kiss me or leave marks on me. Torture.

Slow, steady and deep torture.

“You gonna moan my name when you cum?” he questioned, slamming his cock deep into my womb. Going still and capturing my mouth in a deep and passionate kiss. “ God. You’re so.” he panted, snapping his hips against mine, cock pistoning in and out of me with steady deep thrusts, “So fuckin wet I can barely stay in. Fuck. Shit. Shiiiit, baby girl. I wanna cum so bad.”

“Juice! Ah, -ah fuck. Right there.” my back arched away from the couch and my orgasm ripped through me, leaving me weak and dazed, clinging to him as I tried desperately to keep up with his pace, spent. Dripping. My walls vising his cock and clenched around it. Tears flooding my eyes because holy fuck, all I’ve wanted for the entire time was to finally be allowed to let go.

Juice stared down at me from above, a soft gaze. He caught a tear as it made a black trail down my cheek. Chuckling quietly. Going still to pepper kisses soft against my mouth and then trail them down the front of my throat. When he started to move again, he muttered against my lips softly, “It’s okay, baby girl. I got you. I’m right here.” as he pistoned in and out, the wet sloshing sounds accompanying each thrust he made seeming to make him move just a little faster. His hands were all over me and all I could really do was lie there, pinned beneath him. Whimpering his name as I tried to come down from the high. Stare up at him softly as my mind spun, replaying every single thing that led us here, to this exact moment.

“Oh fuck. Fuck baby girl. You want it?” his hips stammered, smashing against mine in a bruising pace and his words were swallowed by another hungry kiss and I nodded. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any deeper, he did. Striking against my throbbing g-spot a time or two and growling, biting. Locking his lips against my neck and sucking yet another big,deep mark into soft flesh. The warmth of his release flooded me, making me whimper. Overfilling me, because I could feel the excess slowly leak down. Puddle beneath me on the sofa.. I bucked my hips against him greedily trying to take it all because I wanted it. I needed it. I craved him so badly I couldn’t have put it to words if I tried. He leaned into me heavily, panting for his next breath. Spent. A fine sheen of sweat gathered on our bodies. I grabbed hold of his face and pulled his mouth against mine. Our foreheads pressed together and he muttered quietly, “Mine?”

“Yours.” it shocked me when the word bubbled out. It shocked me because a, I was saying it and b, I meant it. With everything in me. As soon as I said it, he gave me a soft and lazy grin. Pressing his lips to my forehead. He collapsed onto the couch settling behind me. Pulling me on top of him.

Quiet little soft kisses. Caressing my face as he stared up at me and caught sight of one of the bigger marks he left on my throat, grimacing as he chuckled about it quietly.

“Fuck me. Baby, that was amazing...” I groaned out in a daze, making him laugh and gaze up at me. “Give me an hour, babe.” he teased…

“Careful. I might take you up on that.” I teased back, melting against his body. Letting his arms wrap around me and hold me tight.

[theintentioncraft]

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.

I've been tagged by @lordbelacqua (thank you Dea! <3) to talk about Backlead aka: that one Masriel fic I wrote where I got massively carried away...

Rambling/essay under the cut - fair warning, it's a long one!

Okay so first of all just a little disclaimer that Backlead did not follow my usual writing process - the idea was 110% borne out of self-indulgence and it was also both my first foray into HDM fanfic and my return to fanfic as a whole after a long hiatus from writing, so for me this was really a chance to just get back into the swing of things. Everything from Heavenly Guard through to Swansong and all of my current WIPs follow a more structured process and I'm happy to discuss any of them in a separate post!

PLANNING: I tend to find with my fics that I either have a nice little timeline of events planned out pre-writing or I have a very specific event in my head and I just take that and see how things unravel from there and Backlead was 100% the latter.

All I had in my head initially was the ballroom dance scene and so a lot of my admittedly-minimal planning was around the technicalities of that particular section, as well as some of the more general details e.g Marisa's outfit, the setting of the ball, etc. Planning the dance was the most fun part because it was a chance for me to put a lot of my dance knowledge to good use and think up something that fits the back-and-forth way in which Marisa and Asriel frequently navigate their encounters. In a way though I'm actually very glad that a lot of this fic Just Happened instead of being planned out, sometimes it's nice to just run away with an idea!

MUSIC: This gets its own section because this is one of the most important things in my process. Every single fic I write is written to various pieces of music that just help me to put myself in the right headspace for whatever I'm writing at the time - sometimes its just a single piece of music (I wrote Swansong in one hour with just one track from the Unforgotten - a TV show in the UK for those of you not familiar with it - soundtrack on repeat) and sometimes its entire playlists. I do love geeking out about my music choices for fic writing so happy to talk more in a separate post about music for some of my other fics if anyone's curious!

For Backlead I found a couple of playlist-vids from the lovely raviolae on youtube that really worked wonders for my writing. This comes with a disclaimer that I did not necessarily attribute any of these specific songs to either dance scene and I wanted to leave that open for people's imagination - but it's still brilliant vibes for thinking about two once-lovers-now-enemies trying to one-up each other whilst ignoring how much they still find each other attractive.

The two playlist-vids in question are here: you're stuck on the dance floor with your rival and find out they're an annoyingly good dancer and you're dancing with your rival and both of you want to lead

WRITING: First step every time is to figure out who's POV I'm going to cover because that makes a major difference in the way I'm going to write. Characterisation is the big thing for me and there's nothing I love more than to really get inside a character's head and basically think like them, and figure out what makes them tick and how they'll react to the story I'm putting them in. With my initial idea for Backlead being basically about the subtle power dynamics of a ballroom dance, Marisa felt like the natural go-to for this one and I found it much easier in this instance to write in her headspace than in Asriel's.

I wrote this fic in a very out-of-order fashion. The first dance (the slower, waltz-style dance) was the first part I finished, then I did as hinted at above get very carried away and move onto the section in the hallway, then I went right to the start and covered the entire section leading up to that first dance. Then I revisited the hallway scene because I wanted to rework it (the initial version was planned to be more explicit and involved less dialogue - but I wasn't comfortable with writing out the former at that time and the latter got changed by way of me having a sudden burst of dialogue-themed inspiration). The second, more set piece style dance came last in terms of the 'major events' that I wrote purely because I spent a lot of time racking with my dance knowledge to try and make it work in a way that didn't feel forced.

My final major writing stage is to write the 'transitions' between each major part - small pieces where nothing particularly noteworthy happens but it helps the fic to flow from one conversation/event to the next and also sometimes allows me to sneak in a bit of characterisation that I couldn't fit in elsewhere.

Along the way I often leave sentences half-finished with a bracket indicator so I know to go back to it later or I make little notes if I've added something in that needs explaining earlier in the fic, and I make sure to sort those parts out before I jump to the self review/beta reader stage. A couple of examples are below:

Although sometimes this method does also annoy future me too 😂:

SELF REVIEW/BETA REVIEW: Whenever I finish a fic, it gets put away for a day or two and I stop thinking about it completely - if I'm using a beta reader (usually @thatlavanderbard but I sometimes enlist help from friends on discord), I'll send them a copy of my draft at this point so they can start going through and leaving comments for me to work on, but the idea is that when I go back to my work a few days later I'm looking at it with semi-fresh eyes and can properly sift through each sentence to make sure things make sense.

When I'm self-reviewing I generally tend to follow this order of operations: spelling/grammar check (via docs') -> flow check (making sure any deliberate time skips/POV changes/etc in my fic flow smoothly from one part to the next) -> address beta reader comments (because they almost always pick up on things I myself would've picked up on anyway) -> general detailed final read through to make sure I'm happy with every single line and it all makes sense.

Backlead didn't get a full beta read because I had hit a point with it where I just wanted it up ASAP and my impatience got the better of me, but the rest of the above self-review stages still happened and I still spent a fair few evenings going through it properly and also running the occasional sentence or two by some helpful discord friends if I didn't like the way it flowed but couldn't quite figure out how to remedy it!

POSTING: First step was to reset my AO3 password because I forgot it yet again whoops

On a more serious note this part is pretty straightforward - once I'm ready to post a new fic I generally just go on autopilot for this part of the process (other than when I get to 'additional tags' and immediately get brain freeze...). As soon as it's up on AO3 I swing by here to make a post about it, then swing by discord to drop the link to friends who may be interested in reading it and then I normally nervously scuttle away from my notifications for a while out of fear that people hate it lmao.

That last part was especially true for Backlead because of it being my first trip into HDM fanfic and I always get extra nervous when posting my first fanfic for a new show/game/etc. Thankfully I got quite a few nice comments both on here and on discord that provided good motivation to stick around and post a few more things!

I always panic when asked to tag people lmao but I'll tag @fortheloveofwii for any part of the Onward, Onward series, @lyracordelia for any chapter in Hiraeth or the fic as a whole, and @glassrunner for this absolutely gorgeous gifset of beautiful game soundtracks. Please don't feel like you have to do this if you don't want to though!

[ziracona]

😮 Oh man, with the insight on Frank, it has me so curious. What's going on in the heads of everyone in the Legion lately? I'm especially curious about Joey, after the quality time spent with the survivors (well, in the back seat with Susie driving) during "She's Like the Wind". Or, if you're tired of the Legion, what about Michael in "The Tower"?

I’m totally happy to do the Legion (and I actually wrote up a bunch of stuff on them before deciding p best to wait), but there’s a lot of Legion stuff in the chapter I’m posting in the next couple days with some sort of big status-quo changes, so I feel like I should wait until after that to give Legion updates, or it could be kind of a waste, so I’ll do Michael.

Oh boy Mikey. Let me see. Buckle up, because this is a long one. So, let me start by saying in this fic, the way I write him is based on the canon portrayal in the first film (and some influence from the others—especially 2 and H20), but with my honest best attempt at an accurate psychological take on his situation. Horror’s a great genre, but it does a really shitty job about using mental illness as some kind of blanket excuse for being evil. John Carpenter literally came up with Michael after seeing some 12 year old schizophrenic kid in a mental institution when he was on a field trip that he thought had really dead, evil looking eyes, like he didn’t have a soul. Which is a pretty fucked up way to treat mental illness. And, since there’s no reason I should accept ‘He’s got psychosis and the devil’s eyes and has nothing in him but evil” as an accurate take on an actual human being, I’m not. I’m taking what is canon, and interpreting it (to the best of my ability) like a normal psychologist or person who isn’t Dr. Sam Loomis would. Usually I wouldn’t give as much on a character psych take (because I really, really like seeing how people interpret things), but it’s kind of specifically important for Michael and me doing my best to write him responsibly that while he’s a lot of things, and a lot of them bad, he’s not a mindless wall of walking evil.

Canonically, Michael’s had psychosis since he was at least five, and heard voices that told him to do bad things, like hurt people. He told his parents, in an attempt to get help, and was ignored. When he was six, he did what the voices told him to in an attempt to get them to stop, and killed his sister (without looking at what he was doing while he did it as much as he could [canon]), and then went downstairs to wait for his parents to get home (probably in the hopes that they could fix it, because he was six years old, and when you’re six, your parents can fix everything). Instead of anything getting better, he got sent to court, sentenced (to be tried for murder as an adult in fifteen years when he turned 21, which is absolute bullshit because by no stretch of human logic can a 6 year old child have committed a crime as an adult), and then left in an asylum for the next fifteen years of his life. His psychosis worsened, and he gained other symptoms, such as mutism and catatonia. His mom only visited a few times, with his little sister, and then she vanished off the face of the planet from his point of view. Completely abandoned by his family and everyone he knew, the only human contact he had from ages 6-21 was Doctor Sam Loomis, his psychiatrist, who had decided within a couple of months, that Michael was the human personification of evil, faking his mental illness like the evil genius six year old he was, and a demon in human form hellbent on murder. Now, the human brain doesn’t stop developing until the mid 20s, and it sure as hell isn’t done when you’re six. Kids that age don’t even really have a fully developed understanding of mortality and only a basic grasp on ethics. Emotional empathy doesn’t start really forming well until age seven, and abstract reasoning isn’t until preteen years. When you’re six, you’re not old enough to be evil. You just aren’t. But, if you grow up from age 6-21 with only one constant in your life, isolated in a tiny white room, hearing over and over from said only constant, an adult and the source of authority in your life, that you are evil, and soulless, and you are a killer waiting to kill again, you are dying to get out and commit murder, and they’re onto you, how exactly can you expect a human being to turn out?Especially when they’re already dealing with violent psychosis. You’ve basically convinced a mentally ill child that they are the bad voices in their head, not the person, and their goal in life is to commit lots of murder.

Michael’s personal goal, as much as he has one left, has pretty much solidly always been to do what the voices want so they’ll stop and he can be at peace. What they want is for him to kill his family, meaning his sister, Laurie. Kill Laurie, be at peace. That being the case, ending up in the Entity’s realm is about as shitty for him as it is for her, because no matter how many goddamn times he kills her, he can never, ever kill her for real, so he will never be able to stop the voices. He’s about as tired of being here as she is, which is saying a lot. But it’s been forty years of shit for him too.

I think Michael forgot he was a person a long time ago, because nobody’s treated him like one since he was baby. Since he was six. If you treat someone like a monster their whole life, that’s what they’re almost certainly going to become. In the Entity’s realm, it hasn’t really been any different. I don’t think he thinks about things very complexly, because he’s sort of too tired to, and he doesn’t have a real reason. He never learned a lot of normal human behaviors, including any attempt at even the most basic social contact. It’s like that really depressing scene in Lilo & Stitch when Jumba’s commenting on what it must be like to have nothing, even memories, to visit at night. He has memories, but they’re basically all the same—white room, fifteen years of Dr. Loomis. None of that’s a real human experience. Dr. Loomis didn’t even think he was a human—called him “It” instead of “Him.”

With Laurie suddenly acknowledging he’s her brother, it’s weird to him. Canonically, every time someone in a film reminds Michael he’s related to them, it’s like he gets smacked in the face (it’s actually kind of hilarious. He even takes his mask off for his niece in 5 when she calls him “Uncle”). A family member doing this always metaphorically suckerpunches him with the reminder that he has a name and an existence outside of killing people and there are human beings who know who he is and are related to him and have a lasting concept of him as a person. It’s not like he ever forgot they were siblings, but he didn’t remember to think about it. He spends all his time being the Shape, because Michael hasn’t really existed since he was six years old (not in a Dissociative Identity Disorder way, just, it’s an aspect of who he is that no one has been willing to acknowledge since he was a baby. He puts on the mask and kills because that’s what he’s supposed to be. It doesn’t really matter if he wants to, or if he likes it, or even if he still doesn’t have a completely developed concept of mortality, because he’s known for years now that it’s just what he does. It’s what he is). I don’t think he really knows how to think or feel (which he’s not used to doing period) about his sister or about that and being spoken to. He was definitely relieved at the prospect of having a way out of this, and since then it’s been kind of agonizing that she reneged on him and won’t commit joint suicide, but she’s also just been…weird. Been different. She talks to him like a person, which no one has ever done, and he does remember her from when they were little. I think it’s very confusing. He really doesn’t have the normal human skillset to be able to emotionally understand this. Which doesn’t mean he’s some emotionless zombie, just, he didn’t learn how to properly interpret or respond to things. He doesn’t have a normal human emotional or social skillset, because he never got to develop one. He didn’t get the chance. He hasn’t had a positive physical interaction, a hug, a handhold, a pat on the shoulder, since he was six--he hasn’t had any kind of social contact outside of the hostile psychological hatred and threats from Dr. Loomis period. There’s just not a normal set of human understand-the-world mental structures developed in him at all. Instead he’s got like…just all this shit—this really fucked up way of understanding the world built from fifteen years in isolation with just Dr. Loomis that’s completely separate from a normal human experience or mental scape, and the mental set of tools he would use to try to understand his sister is like, the dusty old normal human set that stopped growing when he was six years old that he kind of forgot about.

Michael’s also never done anything he wasn’t supposed to in the Entity’s realm, and I don’t think this has been explicitly stated in the fic, but he’s been punished now, for trying to break the rules with Laurie these past few trials. I don’t think he knew how to handle that or feel about it or think about it either, because it was a new experience for him. It’s very hard to hurt him at all, and it’s never happened with the Entity before this.

During The Tower, Michael wanted what he’s wanted since it was on the table (a way out by killing her), and when she said she couldn’t do it yet, genuinely misinterpreted that as her meaning she had to help the others finish the trial first. I don’t think he entirely understood why she kept running away from him, but he’s used to that kind of behavior, so it wasn’t that strange. What was extremely weird to him was getting jumped by two kids (when usually survivors wouldn’t touch him with a fifty-foot pole if it was up to them), who proceeded to tell him be was being a really crappy brother and should be nicer. It was. Surreal. I think when Laurie showed up and told him she hadn’t meant ‘in twelve minutes’ when she said later, he didn’t just attack her because he was mad she didn’t want to do suicide yet, I think it also kind of hurt his feelings that she made fun of him when he genuinely was trying to understand and thought she meant something else. Since what he wanted was off the table, he was upset (which was especially volatile becaus he doesn’t often experience hugely strong emotions) and on instinct just did what has been programmed to come naturally instead and went fucking lethal on them all, but got a surprising amount of resistance.

When she came back to fight him alone, I don’t think he completely understood everything she said, but he got a lot of it, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like losing the chance to get out of the realm for good with her, but I think he also didn’t really like being basically told that he was dead to her from here on out. I don’t think he’d exactly think of it that way, or put it into words—I don’t think he’d had long enough or the emotional growth enough to appreciate her caring about him, or to want it, but at the same time, he’d had someone treat him like a person for the first time in fifty some years, and I think it was probably briefly nice to be called by his own name and talked to like a person—I think it would be hard for that not to mean a little bit, even if you didn’t understand way. And then he had it reaffirmed by her before their fight that what Dr. Loomis had always said was true, and he’d fucked up so bad with her that he wasn’t ‘Michael’ anymore to her either, and even if he wouldn’t really think of it like that, I think subconsciously, that kind of had to hurt. 

At the end of their fight, when he was out on the floor, and Laurie didn’t kill him, while he was genuinely unconscious for some of that, he was awake for some of it too—the bulk of it, actually. Michael in film canon routinely not only has genuine resets where he passes out and heals and gets back up, but plays dead as well, to protect himself. So, he did hear a decent chunk of what Laurie said to him. She kind of poured her heart out, and some of it was pretty complicated stuff, and a lot of it was stuff he doesn’t really have the emotional complexity developed to understand right now, but he understood some of it. I don’t think he expected things to end like they did (and not just him getting his ass kicked by her). She basically flipped on him, and said she was wrong, and even like this he was still her brother, and because she remembers how he was when he was six she can’t make herself not love him, even if she knows she shouldn’t, and that she wasn’t going to kill him like that, even if it meant he was going to come after her again and kill her. I don’t think he gets why she would say those things, but it did make him want to know, and I think he’s aware that it should mean something to him, regardless of if it does or not on an emotional level, and it is at least something that interests him. Probably his most intact human emotion is curiosity (and it’s no wonder—he’s basically never seen anything, or been anywhere, or done anything—he’s barely gotten a chance to live, period. Any social interaction where someone isn’t running from him screaming or threatening him and telling him he’s a monster is uncharted territory). What that would mean for him going forward as far as Laurie is concerned is very complicated, though. Laurie interests him and there are things he wants to understand, but he’s just got so little ability to function like a normal human being. So much of him is so awfully mangled and maladapted, and the rest has been stagnating since he was 6 and he’s so very, completely, depressingly isolated. He’s a serial killer, but he’s really also kind of a tragic character. It’s fucked up what happened to him, and most of it isn’t really his fault. It didn’t have to be like that.

[traincat]

I know you've already sort of discussed this but could you please explain the marvel 2 in 1 ending... what I'm getting is that the gist of it is that Reed and Sue are just like 'lol whoops I guess we sorta forgot about u'... which is really kinda anticlimactic and abrupt. Did I read it wrong or something? All that build up and angst just for it to go down the drain... is there something more to it that I'm missing that you know of?

I can explain it, but the answer’s not going to satisfy you, because it doesn’t satisfy me. Long story short: there were implications there was something more to the story than Marvel Two-In-One’s final two issues said, but Fantastic Four hasn’t followed up on that like, at all, and shows no signs that they’re going to anytime soon.

In the interests of putting all of the pieces together, I’m going to lay out everything that happened between the cancellation of the Fantastic Four title and now, because there are a lot of fuzzy periods. The Fantastic Four disappeared from the Marvel universe and from the shelves back in 2015, following Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars event. In Secret Wars, the multiverse has been destroyed and cobbled back together into Battleworld, a realm where Doctor Doom rules as god king, with Sue as his wife, Ben transformed into a huge wall, and Johnny as Battleworld’s artificial sun. It’s a real fractured fairy tale. At the end of Secret Wars, Reed defeats Doom and reunites his family. Using Franklin’s mutant ability to create entire universes and the Molecule Man’s powers, Reed, Sue, and the children of the Future Foundation set out to recreate the multiverse. Ben and Johnny are sent back to their own Earth with comment that “their stories aren’t done yet.” Doom is also sent back with his scarred face restored. 

The cancellation of the Fantastic Four at this point heralds the first time Marvel had been without a Fantastic Four book on the shelves since 1961. We know – partially because it was painfully obvious, and partially because Jonathan Hickman spilled the beans – that the Fantastic Four comics were cancelled because of a film rights dispute; aka, Marvel Studios and Disney didn’t have the film rights, and Ike Perlmutter threw a fit about it. Instead of doing their best to put out a good book that would draw in comics audiences, Marvel instead cancelled Fantastic Four, citing low readership. Marvel has denied this, but the truth is pretty obvious, especially with how the Fantastic Four’s return to comics just so happened to coincide exactly with when it became extremely clear that the Disney-Fox merger was going through. So right from the start we had this very inorganic reason as to why the Fantastic Four were hung up. Reed, Sue, and the kids were retired out of universe under the excuse that they were rebuilding the multiverse – which, to be fair, does work as a pretty good excuse. Johnny and Ben, on the hand, were kept in-universe and distributed to other properties, probably because of Ben – who, let’s be honest, is the most popular of the Fantastic Four and the moneymaker here – and because it made more sense to keep Johnny and Ben than just Ben. 

Immediately post-Secret Wars, there was an eight month (iirc) timeskip in the main Marvel universe, meaning that books that picked up after the events of Secret Wars picked up significantly after it; we see very little of the Secret Wars fallout. Here’s what we do know concerning the Fantastic Four: Reed, Sue, and the kids were largely believed to be dead, although Johnny in particular initially refused to believe that. Sometime during this timeskip, Johnny and Ben had some kind of fight. We don’t know what it was about. Honestly, at this point, we’re unlikely to ever know what it was about. Whatever it was, it was bad enough that Ben and Johnny severed all communication and Ben left the planet to join the Guardians of the Galaxy. What followed was the longest separation between Ben and Johnny that we’ve ever seen in canon. Johnny and Ben are famous for squabbling, but their fights rarely last longer than a few days at most; they’re extremely close, to the point that when Ben was presumed dead, Johnny’s coping mechanism mirrored Ben’s long time love and current wife Alicia’s. This post-Secret Wars separation between them lasted longer than when Ben thought Johnny had gotten together with said longtime love Alicia (it was a Skrull in disguise, but nobody would know that for like 80 issues). This separation between them is completely unprecedented, and like I said, we have no idea what caused it.

This scene from Infamous Iron Man #9 is the closest I’ve gotten to determining a root of the fight – note Johnny says “my family”, all handily bolded for emphasis. Not “our family”, “my family.” Ben is the only member of the Fantastic Four not related by either marriage or blood to any of the others, which has been a very occasional sore spot in the past. But even this scene doesn’t quite make sense – it’s hard to imagine Ben and Johnny having a months long separation over this alone, and to make matters more confusing, before Infamous Iron Man #9, Johnny had tried to get in contact with Ben only to be rebuffed. In Infamous Iron Man #9, Ben gets in contact with Johnny only for Johnny to practically run away from him. Already the new dynamic here feels like it needed more attention in the narrative than it actually got.

I think part of the problem with this whole return of the Fantastic Four storyline – the actual return especially, but even the lead-up – is that it was never established what was keeping Reed and Sue from coming back. On top of that, if they had the power to send Johnny and Ben back, why weren’t they able to send them back with some sort of memory or guarantee that Reed, Sue, and the kids were okay? It would have been very easy to say “well, a supervillain did it!” You know, the easiest comic book plot excuse of all time. But they didn’t do that. And that creates a problem when it’s a well-established fact that Johnny in particular tends to fall into a deep depression and displays signs of self-harm when the team isn’t together. (Fantastic Four #191-193, Robinson’s Fantastic Four run, Ben’s death in Waid’s run.) Which is exactly what happened this time, too, both during the timeskip and in the lead-up to Marvel Two-In-One (2017). 

Marvel Two-In-One (2017) was essentially the test run for the return of the Fantastic Four. The original Two-In-One was to Ben Grimm what Marvel Team Up was to Peter Parker: essentially a team up book that revolved around one character. So it made sense to relaunch it starring Ben and Johnny. In Two-In-One, Ben discovers Johnny at the end of his rope, pulling life-threatening stunts in his grief and depression, and, willed a multidimensional travel device by Reed, decides to – to the best of his knowledge at the time – lie to Johnny and say that Reed and Sue might still be alive. Learning that they’re both losing their powers and will continue to do so unless they’re reunited with Reed and Sue, as their powers depend on the four of them being in the same universe (an interesting concept, though not one we’ve seen before), Ben and Johnny set off, with a worryingly helpful Doctor Doom on their heels, on a multiversal roadtrip to find their family – one Ben thinks will fail from the start because, as far as he knows, Reed and Sue are dead. It’s a really good concept, and a great concept that starts to fall apart as soon as the notion that Reed and Sue aren’t dead starts to float to the surface. In Two-In-One #9, stranded powerless with Ben in the desert in another universe and facing death, Sue appears to Johnny.

(Marvel Two-In-One #10) This brief contact is apparently enough to reignite Ben and Johnny’s powers to full strength. Sue says that her and Reed’s powers were gone, which does seem to track with the plot – except Johnny and Ben lost their powers over a prolonged period of time, not all at once. If Reed had realized he and Sue were losing their powers, he should have come to that conclusion far before this point in time. You can say the times don’t add up because different universes (which the “you haven’t met the Zaklons yet” line would seem to imply), but with no explanation about how Sue was able to contact Johnny – however briefly – at this point, it does make it seem like Reed and Sue could’ve made contact with Ben and Johnny at any point… and simply chose, for whatever reason, not to. Which is, ultimately, the story Two-In-One goes with. 

(Marvel Two-In-One #11) In the very next issue, Reed’s reasoning for why they didn’t take Ben and Johnny with them is that… they would’ve been bored by the science aspect of it all. Which is, I’m going to go ahead say, very out of character and not in the spirit of the Fantastic Four. They’re explorers, and they explore together. This seems like a weirdly brusque excuse to write off the absence so they can get back to the status quo as quickly as possible, using Reed’s science-obsessed image to make him the fall guy. Additionally, in this issue (which I have to say, I overall like – I wrote a whole Doom/Reed fic based off of it), Reed also offers another reason why the world had to believe he and Sue were dead:

In Marvel Two-In-One #11, Reed and Ben visit an alternate universe Doom who exists in a universe where his own Reed is dead. This Doom is a pretty okay dude at the moment – in fact, he and Reed had become, through Reed’s private multiversal travel, close friends. Using this (pretty flawed) logic of “Reed dead = Doom good??”, Reed deduced that if his own Doom thought Reed was dead, he… too would be good? Look, I don’t hate this. I’m a big Doom/Reed fan and the whole thing is pretty shippy and it also depends on Reed having an enormous attachment to Doom and an enormous desire for his own Doom to be like this other Doom, who is his friend. But as far as “why did Reed and Sue stay away as long as they did” explanations go, “Reed was kind of bonkers in love with Doom” is not the direction I expected things to go. Besides, it doesn’t really work, and it doesn’t really work for one big reason: Fantastic Four (2018) #1, the actual return of the Fantastic Four, was published before this, and Fantastic Four (2018) #1 implies a hugely different story.

Fantastic Four (2018) #1 sees Johnny and Ben returned to their home universe after the events of Marvel Two-In-One #10. The reader has no idea how they got there or what they’ve been doing since they got back, or even how long it’s been since they’ve been back. Despite the Sue sighting, at the very end of the issue, Johnny becomes convinced all over again that Reed and Sue are dead, up until… 

(Fantastic Four v6 #1) The staging here is important – Reed and Sue’s battle-ripped uniforms, and the cryptic lines between them, like Sue’s “what you plan to do… seems impossible.” This is compounded by dialogue between Franklin and Val in the next Fantastic Four issue:

“You think you can boost that signal enough… to reach Earth?” “Home? I’m good, but there’s no way I’m that good.” This would definitely seem to imply that, for some reason, Reed, Sue, and the kids can’t contact their home universe, or Ben and Johnny at all. I’m admittedly biased in favor of this version: the more time went by without Reed and Sue contacting Johnny and Ben and leaving them on their own, the more obvious it became that this was the best solution, to create some comic book reason why Reed and Sue simply couldn’t return home. But Fantastic Four (2018) #3 and #4 never really explore this more, and the subject gets dropped altogether, which makes for a very unsatisfying read. The Fantastic Four simply return home together and, some frankly too quickly brushed off anger and resentment from Johnny in Marvel Two-in-One’s closing issue aside, this gets swept under the rug in favor of the Fantastic Four just being back now! Hurrah! Pay no attention to the film rights hungry Mouse behind the curtain! 

If I wanted to, I could make the explanations presented in Fantastic Four (2018) and Marvel Two-in-One (2017) mesh – Reed has massive guilt issues stemming back to the accident that granted the Fantastic Four his powers. He has a bad habit of taking responsibility that isn’t necessarily his, and of not being 100% truthful in situations because he feels it’s for the best for everyone. (The massive amount of time he takes to reveal his powers are failing during Fraction’s Fantastic Four run, or in the two instances during Waid’s run where Reed uses cruel words to distract both Ben and Sue from his plans to sacrifice himself for them.) Reed might have chosen to take the blame on himself – come up with a story he knows will anger Ben, say that he thought he and Johnny would have been bored, because he felt it was somehow easier than admitting that he and Sue found themselves in some kind of situation where they simply couldn’t get back, and couldn’t contact Ben or Johnny. It’s a way of taking 100% of the blame on himself, which would be a very Reed thing to do. But that would be me doing the book’s work for it; this is absolutely not established within the actual canon as of the time of my writing this.

Honestly, I don’t think we’re likely to see this explored more any time imminently – the Fantastic Four were banished from the stands because of film rights. They came back because for three years dedicated fans asked where the Fantastic Four were, yes, but also because of those same film rights. Now that they’re back, there seems to be this huge rush to pretend it never happened: the Four are back together, and that’s that. It’s very unsatisfying, but it’s clear Marvel cared more about pushing the Fantastic Four back together as quickly as possible than writing a coherent, satisfying story that put together all the pieces of their in-universe disappearance.