#I never really post stuff like this but this isn't making it to ao3 lol

[bsaka7]

esteban/mick football au not!fic absolutely no research done and all team knowledge extremely out of date

Esteban and Mick first meet at a France vs Germany international friendly. Pierre isn't there even though his club team schedule isn't in the way anyway. he's on loan anyway, to some team in Italy, and it doesn't look like he's going to get called back. Charles probably also plays for France (because this is fic but he's still salty about it) but his club team IS playing and they won't spare him.

because of that Esteban is playing striker when he usually plays left wing because he can score but he's not considered as aggressive on the goal. He does score in this match and he puts the French crest between his teeth and pulls up his shirt, abs on display (Whatever. Hot).

Mick is playing for Germany. he's had a couple of national team callups but usually just in games like this. he's hoping to make the squad for world cup qualifying and then the world cup. He's a right back, maybe, and Seb's there, playing center mid. He plays seventy minutes which is more than he usually gets, these days.

The game goes like 2-1 to France. Mick plays well but not. Standout. He has pretty good stats, but nothing too special. He probably plays for a mid-level german club and he's in talks to play in the epl. he sees esteban score from across the field and he thinks it's a good goal and he bites the inside of his cheek because he really doesn't want to lose but also it doesn't matter and also it was beautiful.

AFTER the game he goes out to a nice but not super nice dinner with his mom and sister. esteban is there with some of his teammates and they're not drunk yet but they WILL be. Anyway esteban comes over to mick and complements his playing and touches his arm and shoulder and mick says (dry mouth) "I'd say nice goal but. Yknow." esteban laughs because he does know and he invites mick out with them and micks sister says he'd love to go and esteban says good with the little smile where his nose crinkles.

So mick ends up at a club with half the French national team and they're nice about it and some of them recognize him because well. His dad. Even though he's wearing a hat (but Esteban turned it around so it's backwards and said so I can see your face and mick doesn't fix it). Esteban mostly stays at a high table, with mick, and his teammates rotate through and they end up doing shots and mick is drunker than he anticipated but he's having more fun than he thought too and he also feels a little bit pathetic because esteban is essentially babysitting him (even though esteban isn't and doesn't care because he feels left out of his own team and he likes mick and he did like his playing).

they end up getting a taxi together and esteban tells mick that he should forget the premier league and come play in France ("your French is good enough they'd like you and we need a solid defender come on. not as much pressure and good play."). mick nods and says he'll think about it and it's early but they're both so earnest about the whole thing.

the taxi takes a turn too fast and mick lurches across and their shoulders brush. esteban kind of catches him, hand around his waist. mick looks up at him. he's a little short of breath and tired from the game and he's like. Oh.

esteban is looking down at him with those big dark eyes and the streetlights go by and some of his hair has escaped the gel and flops down onto his forehead and his hand is so warm.

esteban is like. You can come over if you want. I've got fifa.

mick laughs and says yes before even thinking about checking his watch or texting his roommate or anything.

they go back to estebans hotel room (his roommate said he wasn't coming back at the club idk) and they have a few more beers and play, their shoulders pressed together and esteban says something about how mick plays again and mick is like in fifa and esteban is like. no, before.

mick is like wait you've watched me play in the Bundesliga and esteban kind of looks away and says sure and mick knows it's a yes.

they're SO close together and estebans arm is behind micks back and mick kind of turns to him and he knows he's not supposed to because it's sports and he just lost but he tips his head up and kisses esteban and it goes from there, soft and good and a little awkward but easy too. he falls asleep right there, sprawled across esteban.

In the morning esteban has to rush to catch the plane back with the team but they exchange numbers and esteban tells mick to come visit and mick knows he means it...[insert Disney visit here]...

and then.. world cup callups happen and mick doesn't get called up and of course esteban does (as left wing pierre is striker Charles is center mid) but he was left out of the euro lineup a few years before so he knows how it can feel.

he invites mick to a game anyway bc they're friends and sure - they hooked up that once but since then it's been. Different than estebans other friendships in sport but still - they go out and party and eat and talk at charity events. and then mick is at dinner at his parents house and theyre looking at old trophies and photos of when they were kids and there's one of Charles pierre esteban and mick doesn't say anything about it and esteban just sighs with secret relief. estebans met micks mom and sister and dog and they've gone running together with Angie on a vacation in Italy but - they both had their girlfriends there.

So mick comes to the world cup even though he's not playing and he watches France win their qualifying group and then the quarters by the skin of their teeth vs Australia (sorry dannyric) and then lose horribly in the semis vs idk the netherlands. Mick sits in weird spots, not the best seats. he just wants to watch. sometimes he's with friends and sometimes surrounded by strangers. And he tells himself he's there to watch good football.

still, Germany v Spain are playing soon. Mick can't make both and he chooses to watch esteban play...

They go out to dinner afterward but Esteban just picks at his food (he barely got to touch the ball). mick doesn't get it but he gets it and he grabs estebans arm when they're standing out in the dark waiting for an Uber and esteban is looking down at him and he's looking up. mick has broken up with his girlfriend even if he doesn't totally know why (it just wasn't right) and they KISS and mick is like. Shit. Shit. This is what I've been waiting for this whole time, since the first game, since forever. And he's in talks with estebans team and they're going - okay.

They go back to micks hotel room and esteban takes a shower because he wants to take another one and he just sits there on the bed, so dejected, and mick doesn't know what to do, doesn't quite know what it means that Esteban has trusted him like this, in this state, to be the one here. and they just turn on the TV and fall asleep on top of the big bed, on top of the covers.

When Mick wakes up slightly in the night esteban is crying softly into his shoulder and mick can't pretend he's not awake so he just rubs estebans shoulder til they both fall back asleep. In the morning este pretends it never happened and mick isn't going to SAY anything but they're still both in (idk where this is happening for some reason I'm imagining like LA. Sorry Qatar world cup) for a few more days bc France still has the third place match vs Spain.

they talk about the world cup a little more in vague terms and smaller frustrations and go do all the tourist stuff together and it's fun and sometimes este disappears with his girlfriend but moslty he's with mick and then he tells him she's gone home and mick is. Well he likes esteban so much and he doesn't want to be like this but his stomach is all twisted up from not playing and from everything else (Germany is in the finals). They hook up i think the day before the 3rd place match.

It's good but a little weird. they don't really talk about it after but Esteban gets up and goes to play and mick didn't get tickets to this one so he watches on tv in his hotel room. Esteban scores a goal but France still loses 3-1 and then he doesn't text mick back for hours.

micks flight is the next day so he goes to estebans hotel hoping he might still be there and he goes up to his room and runs into pierre in the hallway who is like. wtf r u doing here.

mick shrugs and says nothing.

Pierre's like weird ok and says something cryptic about esteban.

Anyway esteban doesn't answer the door but on the way out mick runs into him in the lobby like you didn't respond to me r u okay im going home tonight.

Este is like. Yeah sorry and doesn't want to talk about it and mick is SO SAD and he's like. Okay. esteban doesn't invite him up to his room and mick doesn't know what to do so he leaves and gets the airport early and it sucks...

THEN like a week or two of radio silence later he gets the contract with estebans team and signs it and esteban texts him that he's excited for mick to join the team and things sort of slot into place again - they text and they see each other once in France when micks there for a day and the new season is approaching.

before preseason esteban takes mick apartment shopping and they play fifa and it's like before but not Really they're still close but somethings wrong and esteban won't talk about it.

They go out with the team during preseason and end up outside together smoking even tho they really shouldn't and mick says something like i have to go check on Angie.

Este says wistfully I haven't seen her in forever and mick says (rashly) you can come.

este doesn't know that Mick got the apt that este said he liked best because of the windows and the kitchen and the layout. he comes over and they feed the dog and take her out and they're both a little drunk and este is like. Oh. He wants to ask - because of me? But he doesn't.

Mick wants to ask him to stay. But he doesn't. So they stay up all night watching some marvel TV show even though they still have practice tomorrow (just not early). mick is falling asleep and he wakes up and his head is in estebans lap and esteban has his fingers in micks hair and is holding perfectly still and Angie is at his feet.

mick looks up at him and is like. Come to bed? And este is silent but nods and they go in and go to sleep and they wake up early and este kisses him

mick: I can't.

Esteban: Why not.

Mick: in America - you. You stopped talking to me.

Esteban: sorry

Mick: I know

Esteban: tries to kiss him again

mick lets him and then says: we can just be friends or -. I don't know if I can. Play my best when we're going back and forth

Este: play your best (a little amused)

Mick: I have to know where I'm at with my uh new teammates I can't. I can't be always second guessing.

Esteban: (nods)

Mick: and I would rather be friends if you - I thought you had a girlfriend

Este (looks away): not - not for a while

Mick: oh. (and he's sleepy and stupid so he asks) why

Este : silence

Mick: come on, talk to me (soft)

Este: since the world cup. After. I spent the night with you. I just. I knew she wasn't what I - not what I wanted but what I needed

Mick : oh

Esteban: yeah

Mick (repeats) : yeah

And then esteban tries to kiss him again and mick kisses back and mick makes breakfast while este takes Angie out.

they go to practice and someone asks este about pierre and they've got a preseason game coming up. there's a press conference about the season and the new signings and someone asks este how he thinks their new defense looks as that was their weakness before.

esteban looks at mick and smiles so big with such honesty and says something like "i think this could really be the change I - uh, we - needed for the team"

[suzukiblu]

i am literally for real obsessed with your timberkon pink kryptonite fic so i definitely would love to see another sneak peek, but i'm also loving all the superfam stuff you're putting out!!! something that i wish you would write because i love your works (and have since the darcy lewis stucky days) and i think you would do amazing things with the pairing is jaytim, but i know thats not everyones cup of tea

(i realize now that you were probably aiming for an ask rather than a reply so here it is in your inbox too hskdhsh)

Thank you! ❤️ And oh, asks and replies were both fine for this, no worries. I try to just specify in-post whenever I have a preference but it's not gonna bother me either way.

I DO like JayTim to read, but I've never really felt a particular bug to write it myself? At least not yet, anyway, that may one day change. Though I miiiiight still put Kon in the middle because I am who I am and all, haha.

I'm planning to update the pink K fic on AO3 tomorrow, though I'm pretty sure I've already posted enough of chapter two in excerpts on Tumblr to have posted basically all of it by now and I'm trying to avoid doing that with chapter three, sooooo instead please accept the beginning of this very niche Superfam omegaverse pack dynamics AU instead. I've been looking for an excuse to post this whole big long thing anyway, lol.

Read-more for length, 'cuz there's kind of a lot here, haha.

.

The representative from the wet nurse agency shows up fifteen minutes early with an unusual-seeming omega who can't be a day over nineteen, being generous. Bruce makes a note to look into the agency's hiring practices a little more closely. The current situation is something of an emergency, unfortunately, and he's only had time to run the intermediate-level background checks so far.

Maybe this isn't the prospective wet nurse, he halfheartedly hopes, and they're just another representative; one who's in training or just here as backup. The kid smells like milk, though, and also why the hell would the agency send out an omega representative? Omegas are typically secretaries and clerks and almost all do in-office jobs, where they're "protected" from the outside world.

The practice is stupid and demeaning and borderline abhorrent, but it's a step up from the days when an omega couldn't get any job that wasn't as a nanny or a sex worker or some fucked-up combination of the two. Clark being an actual reporter is something that was practically unheard of two lousy generations back, and even now Clark is still an unusual exception in his field. Typically, an omega writing for a newspaper would be doing gossip or advice or something domestic, not investigative journalism.

So no, there's no way that this particular omega is anything but a wet nurse candidate, unusual-seeming and concerningly young or not. And Bruce had insisted on the candidate coming to meet them in person, even when the agency had very unsubtly implied that it would be better to just have the milk delivered.

Bruce is absolutely looking into this agency's hiring practices. An omega this age should barely be presented. One who's already allegedly producing enough milk to be a viable wet nurse for what they're requesting . . .

It's concerning, yes.

"Master Bruce, the representative from the Waterton Agency and her associate," Alfred introduces politely, gesturing between Bruce and their guests. He doesn't look or smell disapproving, even in the mildest notes, but Bruce knows he is.

Of course he is, with an omega who might be being either abused or taken advantage of or outright trafficked in the manor.

Bruce should've run a better background check.

"Hello, Alpha Wayne. My name is Ellen Travers," the agency representative greets tightly as Bruce steps into the parlor. She's a harried-looking blonde beta with graying hair who looks very unhappy to be here and is doing a very bad job of hiding the nervous dissatisfaction in her scent.

She doesn't introduce the omega.

Bruce puts on his stupid "Brucie" grin and strides right up to Travers, sticking a hand out to shake. She puts on a weak attempt at a polite smile in return and takes it.

"Hello there, Beta Travers, thanks so much for coming out here on such short notice!" Bruce greets her with a lie of cheerfulness, but Travers continues to smell nervous and upset and her smile is no less forced. And the omega . . .

The kid smells downright sullen, which is not a typical scent to catch off an unfamiliar presented omega and doesn't do anything to make him seem any older.

And yes, he's definitely unusual. He's much taller than Travers–about Bruce's own height, in fact–and has a very broad build and a surprising amount of muscle on him on top of that. Bruce knows full-grown alphas who'd kill to be built like this kid. He's also much more "handsome" than "beautiful", and frankly couldn't look less like the kind of sweet and pretty little things the agency had advertised on their website if he tried, much less the soft and maternal type Bruce had been expecting to actually have show up, given the specific requests he'd made.

Well, it does make sense. Bruce obviously wasn't going to provide the agency with either a Kryptonian genetic profile or a Kryptonian pup's exact dietary needs in search of a suitable wet nurse, but the nutrient requests that they'd made would likely necessitate an omega of a similar build to Clark's to supply–hell, the kid even resembles him a bit, funnily enough. They've already had four agencies tell them that they simply didn't have an appropriate candidate on staff, and the milk samples they'd been able to provide hadn't proven very helpful.

Bruce has no idea how the Kents ever fed Clark, but Martha had at least had the advantage of having a pack bond with him. A packmate's milk always does miles better by a pup than a stranger's or any kind of formula ever could.

Though she'd had some very odd cravings while nursing him, she'd told them. And Clark had still grown up underfed, even with formula and yellow sunlight to supplement–the Fortress had observed marked evidence of childhood malnutrition in him, he'd said.

Occasionally Bruce wonders what a properly-nursed Kryptonian raised under a yellow sun from infancy would've actually turned out like.

The thought is . . . well. A thought.

A thought that still makes him leery of how Jon Kent might grow up, sometimes.

Those concerns aside, though, the really unusual thing about this omega isn't either his physique or his face. Bruce is perfectly used to omegas with "nontraditional" looks after knowing Clark and Diana this long, to say nothing of various other Justice League members or other superheroes and villains he's known, or of both raising and reuniting with Jason. But this omega isn't as demurely dressed as mild-mannered Clark Kent would be; he's wearing opaque sunglasses and an alpha-cut studded leather jacket and alpha-style jeans and an inconveniently inaccessible plain black T-shirt with no sign of a nursing bra underneath it, nothing soft or appealing in either his clothes or his posture. If anything, he looks aggressive; tense and guarded and ready to start some shit. Even Jason usually puts up a temporary illusion of traditional omega mannerisms when he's meeting strangers as a civilian, if only so he'll be underestimated. This kid isn't even pretending to make the attempt.

And the kid smells completely and undeniably stray, too. Bruce can't catch a single note of packscent coming off him. Not even the scent of whatever pup got him milked up enough to qualify for this job. Unbred omegas sometimes lactate in heat or when under stress or if someone in their pack either has or adopts a pup, but a stray who doesn't smell particularly distressed or anything like he's on his cycle shouldn't be producing any milk at all.

At least not without using the kind of stimulants that Bruce explicitly forbade when filling out the agency application, anyway. Those medications are necessary for some omegas, obviously, but in this situation . . .

Kryptonian pups don't respond well to getting anything like that in their milk, they've already very thoroughly learned.

The omega also has spiked stainless steel piercings in his ears, snake bites under his mouth, and two curved barbells in his left eyebrow. All his other jewelry is heavy alpha-styled rings and bracelets, and his nails are painted a chipped black. And he is, notably, not wearing any kind of collar or necklace, and his neck is completely unmarked.

Bruce is in no way oblivious to the obvious message that an uncollared and unbitten omega's neck presents when left so obviously bared. Especially on a stray one who's dressed like an alpha and standing like he's expecting a fight.

He cannot imagine why this kid is working as a wet nurse.

None of the theories that come to mind bode particularly well, though.

"This omega is our most fitting candidate for your needs, Alpha Wayne," Travers says, her smile turning increasingly forced. Bruce thinks he can safely translate that expression as that of a beta who did not in any way agree with that assessment but was stuck following orders. "She fulfills all of your nutritional requests, including the necessary iron content and the prioritized fats and proteins, and, of course, is not taking any manner of lactation-inducing stimulants or supplements."

"He," the omega corrects, sounding dubious. Travers's mouth tightens. Bruce knows a lot of old-school traditionalists who won't call a male omega "he" or a female alpha "she", no matter what said omega or alpha's preferences happen to be, and makes another note about looking into this agency more thoroughly.

Much more thoroughly.

"She isn't available for direct nursing, unfortunately, but her milk is a perfect match to your requests and she produces both excellently and reliably; her supply will be more than enough for your needs," Travers continues as if the omega hadn't spoken, and the omega's lip curls in obvious annoyance as he rolls his eyes with no attempt to hide his exasperation even in the presence of an unfamiliar alpha.

Bruce thinks of Jason with a brief pang, and pushes the thought aside. It's not the time.

Maybe he could've asked Jason for help with this, if he'd been a better father. A better alpha. A better . . .

But he wasn't, so now there's an annoyed stranger standing in his parlor instead of a content packmate curled up in their nest.

"Really?" he asks, tilting his head and blinking down at Travers with a deliberately surprised expression. "The consultant made it sound like you'd need multiple donors, for the amount we're asking."

If one goddamn barely-presented kid is actually producing enough milk to even half-feed a Kryptonian pup . . .

"This omega produces sufficient quantities for your needs, Alpha Wayne," Travers replies with another forced smile. She must know how ridiculous a statement that is, when she's talking about a stray kid and not a fully mature omega with at least a couple of litters under their belt who's well-established in a stable pack, but she says it with conviction all the same.

"Oh, good!" Bruce says brightly, because he's supposed to be a stupid knotheaded playboy who wouldn't know a damn thing about nursing either way. "That'll be convenient, then."

Frankly, he only wishes one omega could produce what they need right now, but requesting that much milk from one agency for just one pup would be immediately flagged as suspicious, and definitely turned down outright. They're still looking for other candidates under false names, but at the rate they're going, they're going to need to keep supplementing with formula, which already hasn't been going well.

If Clark could get milked up himself, this wouldn't be a problem, of course. A Kryptonian omega could easily produce more than enough for one Kryptonian pup, especially under a yellow sun. Clark nursed Jon without a problem for years and was actually overproducing when he was, Bruce knows very well.

Unfortunately, that's not an option anymore. Not since . . .

Clark would never forgive himself if something like that happened again.

Never.

And Kara and Karen are both alphas, and Jon's a beta and only ten anyway, and the only other living Kryptonians they know of are either remorseless criminals imprisoned in the Phantom Zone or the sickly little pup who's slowly wasting away upstairs.

Formula and concentrated yellow sunlight haven't been enough. Clark can't get milked up anymore. They haven't been able to synthesize any appropriate supplements either in the Fortress or in working with the Justice League or STAR Labs or even in collaborating between them.

And the pup is just getting weaker, and quieter, and sicker.

A human wet nurse probably won't even help that much, at this point, but . . .

Well, it's the best chance they have to keep the pup alive until they can synthesize something. Maybe the only chance, now.

"We strive to provide to our clients' convenience, Alpha Wayne," Travers says, and the omega rolls his eyes again. Bruce is less and less convinced of him being an adult in any way but the presentation of his pheromones.

It's rude to address an unfamiliar unpacked omega directly, especially as an alpha. Technically Travers is chaperoning them in a professional situation, though, and Bruce has increasing suspicions about this omega's personal standards so far as "manners" go anyway.

And everyone knows Brucie Wayne is stupid and shameless, of course.

So he flashes the kid a grin, and he says, "Well, it's great to meet you, we appreciate you making the trip! What's your name, Mr. . . .?"

The kid blinks at him, clearly surprised both to be spoken to and to be called "Mr." instead of "Miss" or "Ms." or even "Omega". Travers looks absolutely scandalized.

Bruce really doesn't approve of the kind of traditionalists who won't introduce an omega or use their stated pronouns, though, so fuck if he cares.

"Her name is Carly, Alpha Wayne!" Travers interjects quickly, her tone a little bit too bright to be genuine. "Short for Caroline."

"Just Carl," the kid corrects, shaking his head. Travers's mouth tightens again. It's not a very typical omega name, so no surprise.

It occurs to Bruce to wonder if Carl might be a trans alpha, which he probably should've thought to wonder as soon as he saw how he was dressed and got an impression of his personality. Obviously the kid's at least not currently on HRT if he's working as a wet nurse, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of him being transgender all the same.

Actually, affording gender-affirming care is definitely a reason that a kid like this one would be working this job, especially if said kid's family weren't supporting them. Wet nurses make more money than most other fields that omegas without a diploma can expect to get into, at least short of sex work, and Carl is very obviously too young to have graduated college yet.

Actually, Bruce still isn't even sure if he's old enough to have graduated high school yet.

He's going to burn down this whole damn agency if they're knowingly employing a minor as a wet nurse.

"Nice to meet you, Carl," he says easily. Carl's eyes narrow consideringly, and then he folds his arms and smirks, crooked and casual.

"Sure," he says. "Nice to meet you too, Wayne."

Travers looks agonized. The last non-alpha stranger who called Bruce "Wayne" instead of "Alpha Wayne" was a beta terrorist who was in the middle of kidnapping him, and he's not sure any omega who wasn't an active supervillain ever has, so he's not surprised by her reaction.

Carl is still watching him with the same cocky smirk, though, an obvious challenge in the expression and his posture both. Bruce puts another point towards the possibility of him being a trans alpha, though he's not stupid enough to actually ask if he is, especially not in front of someone the kid works under. Presentation aside, Carl might not be out, and Travers is currently at least professionally following traditional manners, so Bruce doesn't have much hope for this agency being all that progressive and doesn't want to accidentally get the kid fired.

Though if Carl is a minor, Bruce is going to have to see if he can't slip him a business card and find him another job. Especially if he's going to be burning down the agency he's working for.

"Why aren't you available for direct nursing, if you don't mind me asking?" he asks in a curious tone, because he still can't smell a pup on the kid and most wet nurses who aren't nursing their own pups do direct nursing, and he wants intel about the agency's typical practices. Carl shrugs.

"Stubborn tits," he replies, pushing his chest out as he gestures at himself with no apparent sense of shame or self-consciousness, and Travers looks increasingly agonized. Bruce is just increasingly missing Jason, himself. "Milk flows too slow and the pups always get all fussy and stress out about it. Which, whatever, pups are weird anyway, they're not really my thing."

"'Weird'?" Bruce repeats, carefully noting the lack of possessives in reference to any potentially dysphoria-triggering anatomy. Still not a confirmation, but another point. Carl shrugs again.

"I'm afraid Carly doesn't bond appropriately with pups, Alpha Wayne," Travers interjects quickly, and Carl scowls at her. "She has an unfortunate detachment disorder."

"I 'attach' fine," Carl grumbles sourly, jamming his hands into his jacket pockets. "I just don't like kids."

Travers grimaces. Bruce keeps pretending to be an oblivious idiot. He has met omegas who don't like children. They exist.

They're just all deeply, deeply traumatized people. Or clinically insane.

Or both, frequently.

So . . . "detachment disorder" seems likely, yes.

Bruce doesn't consider either sex or gender to be the end-all be-all of a person, of course, but there are certain biological imperatives that no one can deny as existing, and a lactating omega faced with a theoretical hungry pup–really, just about any omega faced with a theoretical hungry pup–is not ever going to say they "just" don't like kids. Usually the problem with omega wet nurses is them liking kids too much, in fact, and getting distressed or depressed when the parents wean the pups and they won't be seeing them again. The decent agencies have psychological support for that in place and typically offer paid leave between long-term clients. The Waterton Agency does up to a month, which is one of the reasons Bruce chose it.

So yes, Carl is almost definitely traumatized.

Though really, a wet nurse who won't be around much isn't the worst thing, considering. Neither Clark nor Jon started developing any especially noticeable powers until they were older, but they can't assume anything based off a sample size of two, especially when said sample size is made up of biological relatives. And even if they didn't have to worry about that, well, the manor is frequently full of vigilantes and the cave is right underneath it. There's a lot that a regular guest could notice, especially over however long they might need to be nursing. Especially because nursing is a quiet, out-of-the-way activity that takes a while, and it would be very easy for someone to forget to keep their voice down or to not do a damn quadruple-backflip off a chandelier at the wrong moment.

And there's a reason Clark and Lois brought this problem to the shadows of Gotham, as opposed to staying in bright and sunny Metropolis with it. They've got something to hide right now, and a lot to figure out.

Plus if even a molecule of kryptonite gets involved in this situation, even secondhand . . .

Power Girl and Supergirl and Steel are the ones taking shifts watching Metropolis right now, and everyone is just going to leave it at that. Superman isn't coming out for anything less than the apocalypse.

"Well, the Lane-Kents will probably want you to meet the kiddo either way, if you don’t mind," Bruce tells Carl, offering an easy shrug. "Peace of mind, you know how it is."

"Not really," Carl says. Bruce debates slipping the kid a psychiatrist's business card, but he'd probably take it as an insult.

"Er, yes, Alpha Wayne," Travers says awkwardly. "Actually, we were expecting Alpha Lane to be with you . . . ?"

"Lois is currently stuck in Metropolis traffic thanks to Metallo bashing up half of downtown this afternoon and Clark is upstairs getting the kiddo around. Little guy just woke up from his nap," Bruce replies with a pleasant smile, making another note of how Travers left off the omega member of the couple's last name, and also apparently doesn't expect to be meeting said omega at all. He is increasingly regretting choosing this agency, though he may yet manage to do some good in the world by subtly dismantling it. Or maybe just by buying it outright and doing a little restructuring.

Or a lot of restructuring.

"Wait, it's not your kid?" Carl asks, wrinkling his nose with a puzzled expression. Travers looks pained. The Waterton Agency isn't Gotham-based, so Bruce isn't sure why she apparently expects Carl to be up on the Wayne pack's current members, especially considering how she keeps talking over and outright ignoring him. Bruce has a hard time picturing her bothering to provide the information herself, at this point.

"Oh, no, just doing a favor for some visiting friends," he replies smoothly, still wearing the same pleasant smile. Which is a lie, of course, because actually the Lane-Kents are part of his secondary pack and "visiting friends" therefore in no way covers what they are to him. The Wayne pack is both his primary and his family pack, obviously, and the Justice League is a loosely-connected tertiary pack, but his secondary pack lacks both an official name and public recognition, because explaining to the public why Brucie Wayne's secondary pack is two award-winning reporters from Metropolis, a random museum curator in Gateway City, a decorated Navy SEAL, and occasionally a cat burglar with commitment issues is just not going to work out for anyone's secret identities.

And that even without counting how everyone knows about Lois Lane and Steve Trevor's respective very public connections to Superman and Wonder Woman, much less ever explaining anything about Selina. Bruce, meanwhile, still isn't sure how he ended up in a pack with any of these people. Clark and Diana definitely have a lot to answer for either way, though.

Mostly he blames Clark. Diana has more decorum. Clark is just . . . Clark, so now Bruce gets a scarf and cookies from Martha Kent every Christmas, never mind that he's technically Jewish, because God forbid he ever tells her that and she starts sending him Hanukkah presents instead. He cannot handle eight nights' worth of Martha Kent's colorfully-wrapped scarves and lovingly-packaged cookies. That's just not a thing he can do.

He doesn't even celebrate holidays, except when Dick cons him into it. Which admittedly he's been doing more often again the past few years, but–

This is off-topic, Bruce reminds himself, but then gets distracted as Carl cocks his head a little and frowns over something. Bruce instinctively wants to brace himself for trouble at the sight, because that frown actually very strongly reminds him of Clark's "what the hell weird and concerning thing did I just notice with my super-senses" frown, but A) Carl doesn't have super-senses and B) Bruce just heard the stairs creak, which means the actual Clark is finally on his way down to meet them. No one else in the manor would ever make the steps creak any way but deliberately except for Lois or Jon, and Jon is out on a walk with Damian and Titus while Lois is, again, currently stuck in Metropolis traffic. So: Clark, definitely.

Also Clark tends to make the stairs creak a lot louder than either Lois or Jon do, given the very notable size difference there.

"Has Alpha Lane authorized you to make decisions for his pup's care, Alpha Wayne?" Travers asks with another forced smile. Bruce is resolving to check specifically her background too, at this point.

"No, no, that won't be necessary, good ol' Clark's right here," he says, waving a hand dismissively. "It's his pup too, and he knows much more about ones this age than I do anyway."

"Yes, well, omegas tend to get a little . . . irrational about the idea of sharing their pups with a wet nurse," Travers says "politely", like she thinks she's stating a fact. Bruce would say something cheerful-sounding and subtly insulting back, typically, but Carl's frown is deepening and he looks a little bit . . . odd, maybe, or . . .

There's a strange little pup-call from the stairs, very quiet and echoing in unusual registers but still recognizably one all the same, and just as recognizably resigned-sounding. It's a pup-call that clearly expects to go unanswered, at this point, which is something that Bruce would like to never hear again in his life, given the option.

Though it's better than a pup who's given up on calling at all, he supposes.

He tries not to grimace at that thought, though he's sure Clark's grimacing enough for the both of them right now after hearing a call like that. The pup is starving, and they just can't feed him properly. At this point sending him back where he came from might be kinder.

Honestly, if Bruce didn't know exactly who his parents were, he might've already insisted on that.

It's just–

The pup calls again, even quieter. Travers looks perplexed.

"Er," she says. "I apologize, Alpha Wayne, but is the pup ill? We can't be around them if they are, it's against agency policy."

"Oh, the kiddo just sounds like that," Bruce replies dismissively, and then lies, "Vocal chord deformity, apparently. We're not sure what caused it, pediatrician thinks it's something genetic."

Well, it is genetic. Jon calls in exactly the same registers, and according to Martha and Jonathan so did Clark.

So it's genetic, yes. Just not a deformity.

Carl's expression looks–odd, still. Bruce isn't sure what to think of it, but it makes him a bit wary. A detachment disorder doesn't imply an actual negative reaction to the presence of a pup, obviously, but . . .

Clark steps into the parlor with Lor-Zod sitting on his hip, the pup no older than two or so and looking small and listless in his arms, his dark skin all washed out and his previously bright eyes gone dull and tired. When he first crash-landed in Metropolis in the rocket he'd been wrapped up inside, Clark said he'd popped out of it energetic and excited and clamoring for attention in toddler-level Kryptonian, but he's been slowly fading ever since, wasting away without the nutrients that they just can't provide him. He's probably only made it this long thanks to the sun.

Again, Bruce has no idea how the Kents ever fed Clark, though he was already at least three by the time they got him, which probably helped. A pup Lor's age is capable of eating solid food, obviously, but milk or formula is still a major part of a pup's diet until they're four or five, if not older, and the longer the better. Hell, most kids still at least semi-regularly nurse for as long as their dam can manage to stay milked up, or even until they present themselves. No one can wean a damn toddler and expect them to thrive.

Or even survive, in Lor's case.

Lor opens his mouth in another weak, resigned little pup-call, and Clark's own mouth tightens as he restrains himself from answering it and giving the pup false hope for milk he just doesn't have, and Bruce steels himself to–

Carl croons.

Travers startles. Bruce is . . . surprised, a bit. A detachment disorder doesn't really imply the kind of omega who'd croon at a pup they've never seen before in their life, after all.

It's an unusual and unpracticed croon, as if it's a sound Carl doesn't make very often, which Bruce supposes would make sense. Lor responds to it immediately, though, shifting weakly in Clark's arms and pup-calling again.

Carl, with absolutely no manners or decorum whatsoever, sweeps right past Travers and Bruce and Alfred and just plucks Lor straight out of Clark's arms. Which–forget the kid calling him "Wayne"; that's a damn etiquette breach. Hell, Clark probably only didn't take Carl's head off for snatching up his pup without permission because he's so clearly dumbfounded that he actually did it.

Bruce is slightly less dumbfounded due to having spent five seconds in the kid's presence, but still, what is he–

"Carly!" Travers chokes in horror. Carl very obviously doesn't even hear her and just starts purring at Lor and cuddling him close in a way that really doesn't even slightly imply "detachment disorder".

And then Bruce figures out what was "odd" about Carl's expression, before.

"Huh," he says, a little bemused. "Did he just go into feral drop?"

"Alpha Wayne, I assure you, this is not the Waterton Agency's standard of behavior!" Travers sputters, sounding even more horrified, and Clark just blinks and tilts his head.

"I think he did, yeah," he says, looking perplexed. Carl continues ignoring everyone in the room except for Lor and just purrs louder at him as they both nuzzle into each other. Lor makes more very distinctly Kryptonian pup-calls at him, and Carl croons back with no apparent concern over their strangeness, sounding absolutely goddamn enamored.

That is definitely not a detachment disorder, Bruce thinks. There is no possible way that an omega with a detachment disorder just went into full feral drop over a pup at first sight.

Or possibly first sound, he's realizing.

Bruce is perfectly aware that omegas can feral-bond with distressed pups whether they mean to or not, but he's never seen it happen this fast outside of a warzone or a natural disaster. He's heard hearsay and read studies about particularly compatible sets that have done it under less stressful circumstances, but distressed and starving pup or not, he wouldn't have even expected a human omega to be capable of bonding with a Kryptonian pup like that.

Or at all, frankly. Deliberately created and carefully cultivated pack bonds are one thing, but . . .

Lor chirps, the sound still a little quiet and fragile, a little weak, but also undeniably hopeful, and Carl gives him a low, rumbly purr in reply and yanks up his inconveniently-cut T-shirt to expose his chest with no trace of hesitation or modesty. He's already leaking sweetly-scented milk, already adjusting his grip on Lor to let the pup get at his chest as easily and comfortably as possible, and Lor latches without a moment's hesitation and immediately starts to nurse.

And then Lor purrs. Carl just watches him with undeniable adoration, still paying no attention whatsoever to anyone else in the room.

Alright, then, Bruce thinks carefully.

Well, that just happened.

"Thought you didn't like kids, Carl?" he inquires casually, putting on an easy grin, and Carl finally seems to come up enough to remember that the rest of them exist, though he still doesn't actually take his eyes off Lor.

"I would literally become a supervillain if this kid asked me to," he replies dreamily, keeping Lor cradled in one arm and tracing a finger down the pup's cheek with a soft, besotted expression that's unmistakable for what it is even with the sunglasses on. He looks like he might just burn down the world if someone tried to take Lor away from him right now, and his pheromones are so all-encompassing and so cloyingly sweet that Bruce genuinely might need to see a dentist after this.

"Well usually I'd say we keep Batman in the loop on that kind of thing around here, but if the kiddo asks, it only seems fair," he jokes with a laugh.

"I would drop-kick Batman off a roof for you," Carl informs Lor lovingly as he strokes his cheek again and then skims a fingertip along the little barely-visible scar splitting his eyebrow. Lor keeps purring sweetly and Alfred coughs to conceal a low chuckle. Clark looks a little pained to be watching one of his pups nurse from another omega so easily and eagerly, but his mouth quirks in amusement at the comment anyway. Bruce doesn't dignify any of them with a response, because he is an alpha with dignity and also is in no way threatened by a passing comment from a barely-presented kid who clearly isn't even combat-trained.

. . . although he also isn't going to be stupid enough to try coaxing Lor away from the omega he just feral-bonded with just yet either.

Then Tim walks by the doorway, takes one look at Carl with Lor, and trips over literally nothing and into a full faceplant on the foyer floor. Bruce pauses, then raises an eyebrow.

"Alright down there, Timmy?" he asks. Tim scrambles back to his feet, looking more genuinely mortified than he's ever seen him.

"Fine!" he blurts. "Fine. Everything's fine. All the things are fine. Uh. What? Who?"

"This is Carl," Bruce says, gesturing to the kid. "Wet nurse from the Waterton Agency. And his escort, Beta Travers. Carl, Beta Travers, this is my son, Tim Drake-Wayne. And also Clark Lane-Kent and his pup, Chris Lane-Kent, who I'm assuming you've figured out are your prospective clients."

"Yes, Alpha Wayne," Travers says with a grimace. "We gathered."

"Ngh," Tim says, looking at literally everything but Carl and Lor. His face is bright red, which is an unusual amount of embarrassment for him to be showing just over tripping. Typically he masks that kind of thing a lot more effectively. Bruce would almost think he was actually embarrassed by watching Carl feed Lor, but Tim's literally never been affected by anything but passing curiosity when seeing a pup nurse before, so that seems unlikely. And he's a male beta, if still an unpresented one, so it's not like he's got any reason to care all that much about it anyway.

So his reaction does seem a little odd, yes.

Hm.

"Chris," Carl coos adoringly down at Lor. Bruce is in no way stupid enough to think that he absorbed any of the rest of that introduction or has even noticed Tim's presence at all. He wouldn't even put money on him having noticed Clark's presence, in fact, except as a pup-delivery system. The kid is very clearly in love with the pup in his arms and doesn't give a damn about any of the rest of them at all.

Detachment disorder. Sure.

[mellybabbles]

Masterpost?! Me?! Never

so anyways have a masterpost

Hello! A masterpost has been due for a long time- but I've finally gotten around to making one!

Things Change - Chapter 1/Prologue (Bill Cipher x Reader) Dreamscape - Chapter 1/Prologue (multi-sanses x fem reader) Misplaced Royalty - Chapter 1/Prologue (bad sanses x nonbinary reader) Just Add Water - Chapter 1/Prologue (Dust + Killer x Siren!reader) From Me To You (Hiatus) - Chapter 1/Prologue (error x fem reader) Ao3 acc Several other fics on my acc! (mainly dust💀)

Tag List! #melly's silly talks - basically any post that isn't a reblog #melly's silly reblogs - reblogs #melly's reblogs - serious reblogs #my art - my art/drawings/sketches #my animations - my animatics/animations #my writing/my fanfics - writing Tags may differ, I'm really bad at sorting tags LOL

1K FOLLOWERS DITYS HERE!!

Do's and Don'ts!

DNI: Incest, pedophiles, proshippers, dreammare or frans shippers, homophobes, etc

This is a SAFE PLACE. Adults and minors alike are welcome, but please do not make it weird.

Requests are: Open!!

Please refer to this post if you're interested!

Boundaries!

I'm open to talking with anyone, followers mutuals or randoms. My discord is mellybabbles, alt is melatonindepicts, and you can also message me on here! I'm a-okay with being pinged in posts! Tag games, art, etc. Tag me in it all! If I don't respond, don't take it personally, it means I forgot or already have seen it/did it Sexual jokes/flirty jokes are okay! I tend to make them, so please let me know if it makes you uncomfortable. Okay, so this one is a bit weird, but if you are an rp account or impersonate a sans (THAT'S COMPLETELY OKAY, i do it as well), please do not say "guys it's me!" or things along those lines to my art/writing. Especially if it's implied sexual/flirty! This makes me extremely uncomfortable, especially if I don't know your age. Unless you're a friend of mine, then go ham, cause chances are I've already flirted with you relentlessly lol

A lil about me!

Hello! You may call me Melly, Mel, Jynx, or Sharpie! Friends call me whatever hehe I'm pansexual, genderfluid and extremely fuckin flirty and chaotic. I have ADHD and heavily struggle with understanding tones and stuff. I have a small emotion range, so I'm sorry if I'm constantly hyper and happy and that bothers you. I'll be constantly cracking jokes, and if it offends you, please let me know! I'm just mapping you out to figure out what's best for the both of us. I don't tend to approach people first, so if you wanna chill and be broskis, sadly you'll have to extend the olive branch. Then I'll probably cling to it like a desperate bird idfk I swear. A lot. Sorry if that scares you I'm Korean-american! Fuck yea, I'mma come eat your dog- /j /j Anyways, so yea, feel free to come poke me whenever :D I'll be happy to breakdance for you hehe

I HAVE A DISCORD SERVER!!! COME POP IN AND SAY HI!! we're almost at 100 members !! HEEUHUHEUHE

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Funny pinned post time bc it felt more convenient ⬇⬇

Hi I'm Mick aprofessionalwithoutstandards (or Maria, or Mickey), I'm nineteen, bisexual, bigender transmasculine she/him, Latino, weird in the head, all that good. I might talk kinda strangely or not respond at all sometimes, so bear with me, it's all on me n not you. I'm almost always not trying to start shit. I really do love talking to people so always feel free to talk :)

This is my tf2 blog and has always been only a tf2 blog, sometimes I post Portal stuff too

I make posts. I failed to start an original post tag so most original posts are just tagged #tf2

This is not a primarily NSFW blog but I do reblog porn and have genuine, non-jokey conversations about sex and kink from time to time (the latter is much more common than the former). All of that is tagged under "#mick dicks", so block that tag if you don't want to see any of that sort of content

"#open mick night" is a wreck of a tag but technically it's for anything more personal or anecdotal. Sometimes it means "not tf2" but more often it means "gameplay anecdote"

"#mick fics" is my fic tag. I think my art tag is just "#my art" but I don't draw for tf2 a lot </3 "#oc tag" is for my ocs

I tag for slurs (reclaimed or otherwise), excessive gore, body horror, drugs, and mentions of pregnancy more explicit than the baboon uterus. If you want something else to be tagged, feel free to ask me, but full transparency I will not tag for blood, light gore, or guns. They're kind of unavoidable

I like Sniper, I main Sniper, I even, as the kids say, kin Sniper. This isn't like a roleplay blog or anything, referring to me as him and him as me is just done bc it goes to my head

Not like a dedicated ship blog but I do post a lot of ship stuff. Primarily swordvan, bushmed, demomedic, and funny adminsniper, but you'll basically see everything here from time to time. I try to keep it all tagged for your convenience

The only thing I ask is that you don't send me stuff abt sniperscout/speedingbullet, it's not like a "dni" you can interact if you post that idc but it's a big personal preference and I'd like to have that respected, tysm Oh also no scoutpauling asks tysm

I don't really have a dni but I am just going to ask people to be normal. I'm just some guy and people who send me asks and stuff are also just some guys, respect me and respect other people. I know there can feel like a disconnect but I do see everything people say in my notes and I'm generally trying to cultivate a nice positive setting for everyone lmao. When I complain abt stuff don't take it too seriously lol, we're all just here to have fun

Figured I should stick this on here somewhere: I've never watched Emesis Blue, I don't know what Freak Fortress is, I have never played Team Fortress Classic and I do not care, and I have little to no interest in "fem fortress"posting (I do not consider the trans/nonbinary headcanons I have for some characters to be "fem fortress"). Nothing against any of these things, I just don't really care about them and won't be able to answer questions about them

Main is @biracy (so I reply and send asks from here), ao3 is biracy, Steam acc is Grampus Gaming

[yellowocaballero]

Anyway.

How many works do you have on AO3? 54. Hm. I don't remember writing 54 fics. That's weird. But I've been posting since 2017 so when you THINK about it 54 fics over 7 years isn't weird at all.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 2.4 million. What's your point.

What fandoms do you write for? A fuckton. I write both things I'm hyperfixated on and for random shit that comes in my head. I was into TMA for like two years so I have the most TMA fic (16), but most of my fandoms are 3-5 fics maximum. There's also a lot of random-ass fics for random-ass fandoms that just jumped in my head. Artemis Fowl, Beetlejuice, Animorphs...demons that overtook me for two weeks or so and never bothered me again.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Great Gender Heist (Artemis Fowl, no surprise there.), stay out of trouble (Detroit: Become Human, I reliably forget that one exists and I'm still mystefied as to why so many people read it), meek shall inherit (I'm constantly attempting to forget the Be More Chill phase ever happened), someone will remember us (Batman, fic's not great, am still very fond of that au) and dead or alive (DBH, mediocre). Why the hell are the two Detroit: Become Human fics so popular? I hate DBH so much. I was so angry while writing those.

Do you respond to comments? I am absolutely terrible about responding to comments. I am sorry. I do read and appreciate all of them. It's because I always need to give a dialectical so comments take ages to write. If you do want to hear my thoughts on something, my inbox is your best bet for a way too lengthy response.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hope, Etc for certain. I try really hard to write bittersweet at worst endings, and even the sad endings in my fics have hope in them. Hope, Etc definitely ends in a better place than where it began. But it's still very sad. I was thinking about a lot of lost loved ones while writing it. Fishhooks and reel to reel also have downer endings but that is because they are LITERALLY Star Wars.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhh. The ending of Solitaire (and the MLM/WLW hostility series in general) is very sweet. It's meaningful because it demonstrates so much growth from everybody with very little cost. I almost said Go Straight At The Cul De Sac, because it showcases a happier world where horrible historical events were averted, but the ending will always be a little bittersweet because we understand how much Protag sacrificed to create that better world.

Do you get hate on fics? Sometimes people are kind of weird. The worst of it is usually just useless comments, though. I had somebody get pedantic about how briefly mentioning an SUV would be historically inaccurate, and how I should have mentioned a minivan instead - like, did you read that fic and think I was from the suburbs? Do I look like I know what a minivan is? Lol? If I've received any actual more severe stuff I have no idea, since I delete the comment and delete it from my memory. I've never gotten anything too bad. I've been called ablest like three times, which is objectively hilarious.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? If I could write smut I'd be making bank on Kindle Unlimited right now.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Probably the FE3H/BNHA one I'm writing right now that will never see the light of day. Just kidding. I don't actually think I've posted any real crossovers - I DO write them, I just kind of feel like they're cringe so I never post them. I write a lot of cringe shit that never sees the light of day.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not nearly popular enough for that.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Several people have mentioned wanting to do that, but nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not technically. But I do want to give due honors to all of the friends who are SO instrumental in the building of the AUs, stories, characters, etc, that they've had a huge impact on the story itself. I try to recognize them by name in the fics themselves but my stories would look completely different if it wasn't for my friends. Definitely much worse.

What’s your all time favorite ship? I'll differentiate favorite ships and favorite fictional romances. For ships, it's much less about the ship and more about the role in the story. I tend not to pay a lot of attention to that while writing, but sometimes I get lost in my own sauce and I drive myself a bit nuts. I am very fond of Hanyookim, especially in my own ORV story. For romances? My top ten list of fictional romances is as follows: number one: naturally, Sasunaru -

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? If it's up on AO3, it's done (with one or two very small exceptions - The Ending of Han Sooyoung epilogue I'll get to you I PROMISE). There's plenty of unfinished docs on my drive that I'll never finish, but that's because I decided that they weren't worth finishing.

What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and characterization. That's always been the case. I'm also pretty funny.

What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting. Action. Having stories that are not entirely dialogue. Where things happen and it's more than just people walking around talking. You know. Real stories -

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Always valid. I remember reading one Hispanic author talking about how he doesn't like italicizing the Spanish in his stories because it's otherizing, and I agreed enough with him that I don't tend to italicize other languages either. Sometimes I do. I try to do it purposefully, and to convey something that can only be conveyed through the extra language. I'll also only do it if I can have a friend who speaks that language write it out for me, since gtranslate sucks and I want to ask the friend how such a thing would actually be said and colloquialize it. I like using ASL in fics, and I am just in general begging people to a) write it like any other language, and b) understand that it's different from other languages and can't be written exactly the same. If your Star Wars fanfiction has so much gratuitous Mando'a that I can't understand anything the clones or Mandos are saying I hate you.

First fandom you wrote for? Batman Beyond. Yes, I have a FFN account somewhere. Yes, I was eleven. Yes, it was Batman Beyond.

Favorite fic you’ve written? The best thing I've written is Twilight on Owl Creek Bridge. Favorite is New Wave. That sucker took two years to write (INSANELY long for me) and it is exactly the story I wanted to write. Stephanie's a character I've been writing since I was 15, and the feeling of writing Stephanie and NAILING her for the very first time was so satisfying.

Tagging @usaigi and uh any other writer mutuals you all know who you are.

[shares-a-vest]

20 Questions for Writers

I was tagged by the wonderful @hbyrde36 and @sidekick-hero. Thank you both so much for the tags 💖 I always love seeing authors talking about their work!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Six. I really need to cross-post some stuff, including what I wrote for Steddie Love Month and the Flufftober Spring Event.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

16,565 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things and let me tell you, the brainrot is not subsiding (it is settling in to fester now).

4. What are your top 5 3 fics by kudos?

you should come live with me and we can be pirates, then you won't have to cry

Just a Shirt

Eds, I'm Hungry

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! And I'm sure my answers are always too long-winded 😂 It makes me so happy to get comments on the silly things I write. Actually, brb, I'm sure in the initial excitement, I have forgotten to respond to some here and there.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This ficlet (WARNING: BREAK UP FIC). Life got hectic during Eddie Month so I only wrote a couple of things and this one hurrrrt baaad.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmm, tough to pick seeing as I usually write happy endings. Lol, the number of times I ended something with Steddie kissing or saying, "I love you". I think I'll go with the entirety of my Joanie Munson AU because it's where I aim to be as fluffy/sappy as possible.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I am extremely thankful that so far I haven't. And I am sending all my love and hugs to people who deal with/have dealt with hateful comments.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson vs. A Box of Condoms is the closest I have come (hehe, pun). Idk, I struggle to write smut. I'm much better with suggestive language and innuendo, but somehow this fic got the balance right and honestly, gave me a lot of confidence!

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. But I need everyone to know that I have a Riverdale x ST crossover sloshing around in my brain juice on the regular.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. But now I'm paranoid *also proceeds to have an existential crisis about ai scraping my very internet-based soul.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'm more than welcome for someone to reach out.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I am absolutely open to it though! The closest to a collab I have done is Just a Shirt in which I wrote a whole fic from some incredible tags that were left on a ficlet.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I mean, it's gotta be Steddie right? I've never had a hyperfixation give me brainrot like this. Though, if we go back to lame teenage me, the ship that really got me into the fic/tumblr sphere was Sterek.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

I have been returning to a few wips I thought I had abandoned lately, so never say never. I firmly believe in taking a break if something isn't working out and circling back with fresh eyes.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Despite how I am probably answering most of these questions (lmao), I think I am pretty good at keeping my writing concise and moving it right along. It's not that I rush writing, but I am good at recognising when something I have written begins to meander. I like writing dialogue where people are cutting each other off, and crafting stuff that is a quick little ficlet etc. Having said this...

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptive language. I always get so caught up in action and dialogue that I easily forget descriptions of surroundings, objects, clothes etc. Funnily enough, right now I am working on a few quick visual aids (flash-sheet style sketches) for my Steddie BB fic of things that I need to keep in mind/remember to describe as a strategy that will hopefully help.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I could never do it (I only speak English), but honestly, kudos to you if you do/can!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Stranger Things is the first fandom I have written for.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I swear to god this isn't a plug, but I thiiiiink it might be the wip I am oh-so-close to finishing. It's basically a character study of Steve's Mom and is her POV of the end of season 3. I have shared some snippets in the STWG server (and complained during writing sprints). I just need to do a solid edit and get a vibe-check read-through from someone else then it's good to go!!!

Tagging: @momotonescreaming @eyesofshinigami @devondespresso @missberrycake @steventhusiast

(I know this tag game has been making the rounds, so if you see this and haven't been tagged yet, count this as a tag)

[argisthebulwark]

Ao3 20 Questions

thank you @kagedbird for the tag!! <3<3 i will tag some friends @daedrabait @miraakswhore @somethingscarlet13 @queerbashir if u wanna participate <3

How many works do you currently have on ao3? Currently 25. holy shit, i thought it was more than that lol

What's your total ao3 word count? 98,336. Used to be like 200k before i cleaned out some old works i didn't care for anymore.

What fandoms do you write for? Skyrim and Star Trek TOS & AOS

What are your top five fics by kudos? Sorry Lass, Make Me Feel Mortal, Don't Shut Me Out, Fascinating, and Destroy Rebuild

Do you respond to comments? Sometimes! Honestly it depends on whether or not i'm online and see them. if i don't respond right away it feels rude to respond weeks after the fact, but for repeat commenters or usernames i recognize i try to!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Idk i used to like to emotionally beat up Jim a lot, so probably one of the short stories where i explore all his traumas

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Sorry, Lass. I originally wrote it in 2015 and i'm fairly certain it ends with a mushy marriage scene.

Do you get hate on fics? Surprisingly, no. I think i got a few rude comments back when i first started, but honestly everyone's been too kind to me.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Hell yeah brother that's what i do!! I love angsty, emotionally charged smut. my personal favorite to write is angry, hatefuck type of stuff. or when they're using it to avoid talking about feelings.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not that i've ever posted lmao. I don't usually post non canon compliant fics for whatever fandom i'm working in.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Kinda. a few years ago someone let me know that my work had been reposted to a fic site i don't use and one quick message got them to take it down. Also, i once posted a fic as a one off, forgot that i'd done that, and used the same scene much later in a larger story - and some nice commenter on the original let me know that someone had stolen my idea lmao

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope, never had anyone request that and don't want to do so incorrectly.

Have you ever cowritten a fic? Kind of? an old friend and i used to write separate chapters of our self insert marvel fics and mush them together into one story lol. never posted it anywhere, it was just shared emails and google docs.

What's your all time favorite ship? God, that's hard. probably McKirk. as i've gotten older and unlearned all the internal shame about self inserts it's gotten easier to do a self insert story instead of an established pair.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Every few weeks i pluck away at my regency au Miraak fic. i don't think i'll ever actually finish it because it's just so big in my head it's hard to get on paper, but i hope i do someday.

What are your writing strengths? I'm very comfortable writing sex scenes. I think that often when the author is uncomfortable about writing explicit sex the reader can really feel it in the story and i put in a lot of work to get over those mental hurdles. i've been told i'm good at characterization, which is awesome! i love getting in a character's head!

What are your writing weaknesses? Very often i find myself bogged down with the need to describe every little scene. it's a major reason i haven't posted a longfic in a while - i want to write these big stories but find myself getting lost in the little details. i also have a terrible habit of editing myself while i'm writing, which just gets me stuck in an unproductive loop.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Since i'm only fluent in English, this isn't something i am confident in. i've written in a few fictional languages for fics before but would probably reach out or suggest another author if a reader wanted something that heavily involved this.

First fandom you wrote for? Twilight babey!!! self insert oc to smooch Edward Cullen when i was a little middle schooler!!! i didn't know what fanfiction was but i knew i had a big ol crush on him.

Favorite fic you've written? not to be cringe on main, but most of my favorites are things that never got published. they're the little things still hanging out in my google docs that i go back to over and over. i rewrote all of star trek into darkness word for word just to make bones and jim kiss, i made a self insert just to smooch skurge after hyperfixating on thor ragnarok, and the weird time a few months ago where i wrote like 40k words of a cowboy romance. i read them often and wish that i'd written more on many of them but i do not read my published works.

thanks to anyone who read my rambling lmao. love you all sososo much, thank you for reading my silly little stories and caring about them. <3<3<3

[t1oui]

what's up tumblr (yet another blog intro)

i've decided to redo this post itself every time i want to make a new intro instead of making a new post :)

hi everyone, i'm tas, and i post a lot of hp stuff

note: everything in bold is either a favorite of mine or something important

hey everyone :) you can call me tloui or tas. my pronouns are he/it. i'm aroace. idk if there's much else to say there lol

i don't post about much other than harry potter on here, but i do have other interests (of course). my favorite musical artists are ajr, troye sivan, and tate mcrae. my favorite movies are vengeance (2022) and moneyball. my favorite books are red, white & royal blue, the catcher in the rye, project nought, and this was our pact. i also really like all the riordianverse books (and i do actually reblog things about pjo on a regular basis). lastly, my favorite colors are blue, green, yellow, pink, and red, which you can probably tell from the banner image and dividers i made for this post.

as for what i post myself, it's harry potter. just harry potter. (yk... minus that one tbosas post). i despise both jkr and pretty much all canon events (it was a canon event) so if you ship almost any canon ship, you're probably out of luck here. (i do ship some canon ships [cough cough drastoria and jily cough cough] but i almost never post about them anyway lol)

my favorite character is percy weasley and i post about him a lot. i'm a slytherin percy weasley truther all the way and love perciver (it's one of my otps) so if you ever wanna chat about percy (or penelope, oliver, and marcus) i'm here :)

even though my favorite character is percy, most of my fics & fic ideas are set in the marauders era. i'll also write some next gen stuff occasionally, and while i have a ton of ocs for next gen, the ones i reference most are lucy, skye, and katie (perciver oc kids) and henry and luella (deamus oc kids).

out of all ships, i write jegulus the most. even if it isn't the main ship, it's featured in a lot of my fics & wips

⋆ first and foremost, you can find my ao3 here! ⋆ note: fics with a ★ next to them are part of my series as it should be, which is a group of unrelated oneshots in muggle and/or no voldemort aus.

i slam the door and i'm on my way - jegulus, wip, teen and up. currently 3 chapters and 6.8k. ↳ regulus joins sirius at james's house during his sixth year. together, james, regulus, sirius, and the rest of their friends (both the gryffindor crew and the slytherin skittles) work together to bring voldemort down.

if you stayed - jegulus, complete, general. oneshot, 5k. ★ ↳ regulus leaves his family for good and stays with james and harry while he gets back on his feet in exchange for him looking after harry while james works. regulus is sure james is going to make him leave when the summer ends and harry goes back to school, but this might not be the case after all.

one big family - multi, complete, general. oneshot, 1.3k. ★ ↳ harry celebrates his eleventh birthday with his parents, his sister luna, and their friend neville. a no voldemort au with background jegulus, pandalily, and more :)

not quite bright - penelope clearwater & percy weasley, complete, teen and up. oneshot, 1.8k. ↳ a oneshot with penelope & percy where they're pushed to the sidelines, nobody quite understands them, and the world kinda sucks, but maybe that's ok. basically just queerplatonic (& very neurodivergent coded) penelope/percy.

home at last - jegulus, complete, general. oneshot, 352 words ★ ↳ the ao3 version of this tumblr post i made :) just a fluffy little jegulus microfic about how they got together

as a last note, while i do post almost exclusively harry potter stuff on here, i do make my own stories, and a lot of them. i've only made one post about my original work on here, but i might make more if i feel like it, so i thought i'd add a small section talking about basic bits of my original wips

tsbom - tsbom is the world where i put any character that exists in our world, aka a world without magic or fantasy elements. the characters live across the us, but they're all connected somehow. (this is the universe that my one oc post has come from).

tlotlk + the realms - the realms is the wip as a whole, and tlotlk is the first book, which i'm currently in the process of writing. this series follows a boy as he becomes a knight & falls in love with the prince of the kingdom he's protecting :)

twoa, tcon, ion, & bote - these wips all take place in the same universe, which is also collectively called twoa. this is a universe where gods exist and different human/humanoid people are spread throughout the universe. earth shows up a few times, but isn't the main focus of the series. almost all characters are gods, demigods, or mages, but there are also a few other magical beings & mortals mixed in.

tcor - a story about a girl falling into a world she doesn't belong in with few memories and the knowledge that something is after her. (no it's not horror lol). with the help of a few friends, she's determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and fend off whatever's hunting her down.

beachside - ten kids end up in a replica of their hometown, except they're alone and this version of it is considerably more hostile. just a lot of found family honestly.

these aren't all my wips, but they're the majority of them, as well as the ones i work on the most. while it may not be mentioned in the summaries i gave here, all of them are queer & include romance, usually multiple romances. (i may be aroace, but i write a lot of romance.)

thanks to everyone who read through this whole post :) hope yall enjoyed it.

if anyone ever wants to talk about hp/the marauders, my dms are always open! i'm a multishipper to the core so i promise you we will find some common ground

see yall around :)

[stabbyfoxandrew]

for you wip Wednesday posts, do you just post as you write? like are the parts all continuous or is there parts between that you don’t post? (sorry if this is dumb, I’m just curious how you do yours:))

okay so (get ready for a long winded explanation of how my writing works sorry in advance)

for wipw, i have sort of a basic outline for plot points and stuff. i know roughly how each of the stories go and how they end. that being said, i have two docs (or more) per au. one with the outline and the other is the draft i'm posting for you guys. like here's the actual docs in my bookmarks (ignore my joke titles okay)

(ID: a screenshot of my Firefox, with a folder of bookmarks showing.)

cutting here because sweet lord this got long

as you can see i've got all my wipw docs in a bookmark folder so i can find them easily. DIH, BB, OG, 🦊, and 🦊WIPW are all writing folders. DIH is a long fic for another fandom. BB stands for 'big bang' and is for all my 'cosmic lost and found' stuff. OG is my ocs stuff :). Fox is anything aftg-related that isn't for wipw. and finally wipw is... wipw.

ALSO 'strips and tags' is the doc where i keep my little 'headings' for wipw posts as well as the tags so i don't have to type that shit everytime! (ex: 'WIP Wednesday (10/25) | Guardian Angel Neil (Part --)'

anyway! i write on them and cut them into chunks for wipw. the size of the 'chunk' each ask gets depends on how well the story flows and if it's a good stopping point. so sometimes it's just a couple paragraphs and sometimes it's almost a full fucking page because i couldn't decide where to chop it?

also usually i like to work a bit ahead so i'm not starting with nothing the next week. so when i don't and i get a lot for a certain au it stresses me out bc i don't know where we're going and i have to come up with it on the fly so i can answer asks??

this is also why i write in order and i could never write bits and pieces here and there all over the timeline like Ash does. it would Stress Me Out sooo bad lol

to answer the actual question: yeah.

for the most part, it's mostly how the final draft will be. but in the final i'll probably flesh out certain bits to make it make sense. like we just Jump into the scene a lot in wipw posts and it makes sense for wipw posts. but it wouldn't in an actual longfic on ao3? you know?

also in angel neil, some of the events are out of order. i never expected people to care about it so much so originally it was gonna be a lotttt shorter so andrew talks to betsy about it right away. i think in the Finished Fic (whenever that will be) he won't mention neil to betsy for a while?? but idk for sure we still have a long ass way to go.

thanks for asking this i'm sorry if you didn't want to read my life story but i don't have anyone to talk about writing with really and also i'm insane and can't just say yes/no i have to EXPLAIN

[thisapplepielife]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I'm very belated for this, but thanks for the tag @hbyrde36!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

18! But a lot of those are in the Wildflowers series. (Maybe it should have been chaptered? I still don't know what the right answer was, lol.)

So, I basically have 3 things to read, if you count the two parts of the Jagged Little Pill series as one, and I always do. Wildflowers is for those that wanted more of Tuesday's, and not that many people wanted to read Tuesday's in the first place, haha. So it's a niche of a niche. But I hold it close to my heart, and it makes me happy that a few of you have been so on board with it, too. ❤️

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

487,289. Which is kind of crazy. I just looked, and I started writing You Oughta Know on July 30th, 2022. From then until today, that's 457 days. That's averaging over 1,000 words a day. That seems wild. (And I've got a lot of unpublished words still in the chamber, haha.)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Stranger Things right now, but I'm not opposed to branching out as the mood strikes. I think I'd love to take on David/Patrick of Schitt's Creek someday.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Take the Money and Run (by a country mile, lol)

You Oughta Know

I'm Brave, But I'm Chicken Shit

Tuesday's Gone With the Wind

You Don't Know How It Feels (I didn't realize it had overtaken the first part of Wildflowers, so that's fun! More readers must have enjoyed the look at the Corroded Coffin boys, and I dig it.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I definitely try to respond to them all. Sometimes I'm a little slow about it though, sorry!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I like a happy ending. But Time to Move On, I guess? It's just a part of a series, so it's not like the ending is permanently sad, but that one does end at a sad point in their lives.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them are pretty happy, but I'm partial to the epilogue ending of Take the Money and Run. That will always have my heart. ❤️

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a very little, so I feel pretty lucky.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, and I write what fits the larger story, I hope. I've written M/M and F/M, so far. I haven't done a full PWP, though some of the parts of Wildflowers were supposed to be that, but the dang plot kept getting in the way. Whoops.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Just little brief ones, so far. There's a couple in Take the Money and Run that I find fun, but if you don't get them, I don't think they detract from the story.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, and I'm not sure it'd work for most of my stuff, with all the mixed media.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I'm not sure how good I'd be at that. I write by jumping all over the place. That'd probably be annoying for someone else to deal with, lol!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

All time? Man, that's hard. I'm obviously deep in a Steddie hole at the moment. But I'll go with my first. Pacey and Joey of Dawson's Creek. They brought me into fandom, into fic, so they get the gold star. (For more current ships, definitely Steddie and David & Patrick of Schitt's Creek.)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't really post anything I'm not basically finished with. But from my private stash, I like the idea of Here You Come Again, but I just have been writing other stuff. I'm going to take on my other Steddie (Untitled, But Not Really) WIP during NaNoWriMo. I've never done that before, so I thought might be fun, since I saw you can go rogue and write 50,000 words on something that isn't brand spanking new. So, even if that fic doesn't need 50,000 words to finish (and I'm not sure it does) it might give me the push to try to finish it up. I've been sitting on my hands on it since I decided to sign up, which is fine, I needed to finish up Wildflowers. (And get ahead on my Steddie Holiday Drabbles: I've finished 8 of the 30 so far.)

16. What are your writing strengths?

From the comments, I'm going to go with that I can make readers laugh from time to time, which makes me so happy. I also like to dig into the research.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Um, also the research, lol. Sometimes I'll be researching until I'm just wasting time. Some things really don't matter in the big picture. (But they do to me!!) And I need to learn to let them go.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

That's not something I've done, I don't think. But I have tried to respond to comments that were written in a different language using Google Translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Dawson's Creek. Many, many moons ago. At the turn of the millennium. (That's fun to say, ha!)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Unpopular opinion time! I know Take the Money and Run is more popular. By, well, a lot. And I do love it. It gave me the bug to write long fic again. But I have big feelings for Tuesday's Gone With the Wind. It was such an undertaking. All the mixed media. The endless research. And I fell in love with those characters in the process.

It wasn't as popular as TtMaR, but that's okay. It makes me very happy that it reached even as many people as it did. I know that author's note was enough to scare anyone away, haha. Add in the CNTW and it's amazing anyone read it at all. Thanks to those of you that did! You've made me so happy. ❤️

I'm so late for this, I'm not gonna tag, but if you haven't done it and want to, please do!!

[starlightkun]

genuine question, how do you write so fast? 😭 i feel like you’re so quick with your works, both writing and putting them out!!

also i found your tumblr on ao3 and i have to say that you are carrying nct fics on ao3. i hope you never stop writing cause i could be 40 and i would still read your stuff 🫶

i think a big thing has been getting out of my head abt writing! like i only write when i want to, i don't stick to word counts (minimums or maximums), and i dont compare myself to other writers (not that i read a whole lot of fic anymore, but there's a few that i still keep up with and one of them churns out fics way faster than i do, and another who posts like maybe two or three times a year but i still love them!) like i've def said this before, but for me, writing fic is fun, it's something i do bc i want to and if i open a word doc and i'm genuinely dreading it, i'm not gonna do it (my adhd brain simply will not make me lol--tho that is a double edged sword bc i do have to chase myself into doing something i like sometimes, but the ritalin has helped a lot xx)

i also dont go into my fics completely clueless anymore. like, i for sure don't know everything, i learn a lot along the way, and tend to change stuff (and get surprised by my own fics, which is always fun!), but i definitely have more of an outline and general sort of sketch of the fic in my brain and in my word doc before i start actually writing real scenes of any sort, which has definitely helped. like, starting with one little idea isn't bad at all (strawberry sunday literally just started w the fact that i liked the title of a song that i hadn't even heard yet and it turned into like 10 fics??), but i dont just start writing head empty anymore (i used to get a tiny spark of inspiration and try to write everything start to finish immediately because i thought i'd lose it if i didn't, and it'd burn really short. now i sort of just sit with it and slowly tend to it like fire instead and it lasts a lot longer and gets a lot bigger). i ruminate a lot before anything that looks remotely like a story leaves my ideas doc and gets its own doc

idk if this necessarily makes me write faster, but i also edit as i write? like, sometimes i open a fic and i don't have anything in me to write, but i'll reread what's in the draft so far and edit, make little changes, fix continuity errors, etc. not only does it keep the whole plot so far fresh in my mind as i continue writing, but then i have a lot less to proof myself when i finally finish the whole thing because i've already caught a lot of spelling, grammatical, and plot errors! i used to find editing a slog to do bc when i finished my first draft i would be so excited and wanted to just post it! and didn't want to reread all this stuff i just wrote several times to try to find typos, and now it's usually a breeze bc my first draft isn't really my first draft, it's been continually revised as it was drafted. and sometimes i open a doc, won't feel like writing, tinker around with some editing, then suddenly have a lightbulb moment while i'm editing and jump into writing

[solradguy]

RE: @publicbath-ao3

Sorry for not replying right away, I wanted to wait until my brain switched to Jack-O' mode so you could get pure concentrated tumblr user solradguy thoughts on this.

My biggest hot take uhhh actually I thought on this for a while and I can't really think of any "hot" takes, just takes people seem to generally agree with, like how some parts of her story are written poorly and don't give her enough time to shine as her own independent character.

But I can talk about nice Jack-O' takes :^)

I like that she's a bit like Faust where she has really silly/comedic relief moments but her lore and her character are still taken seriously. She's not there JUST to be goofy and even though her lore isn't always written the best, it still does enough to make her interesting as a character, imo, with scenes showing figuring out who she is and the scenes with Raven in Xrd.

Her animations are great too I love them so much. You can really tell ArcSys had fun working on them with how creative some of them are. The way they animated her hair is cool too. It's definitely a 3D model but they made it so fluid. Sol, Testament, and Zato have good hair animations too but this post isn't about them haha

Jack-O's crouch isn't her best pose, it just took off because it's exploitable.

So the 1990s had a bit of a 1960s aesthetic throw back thing with tiedye, bead curtains, flared jeans, and long hair on men coming back into style and Jack-O' has some pretty direct 1960s-70s influences in her design and it's really easy to imagine her as an early '90s kid that never quite got over the '60s throwback stuff. Like it's really easy to imagine her getting excited about stuff like tiedye kits or rainbow flower appliques lol Actually wait they made a mug for one of the popup events that had a date on it that could be maybe Aria's or something

ArcSys was founded in 1988 and Daisuke is definitely older than 1991 so idk what else this year could mean!!

Anyway I just think Jack-O' is neat. I would still love her even if she was a worm

[nellie-elizabeth]

tagged by @awildwickedslip, thank you!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

103.

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

1,825,148

3. What fandoms do you write for?

magicians and roswell, new mexico primarily! Also wrote a good omens fic recently but that might be a one and done for now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

tales from a bookshop (good omens post season 2, fairly sure I'll never write anything this popular ever again because holy shit)

Lover's Touch - Queliot fic!

Promises - Queliot fic!

Maybe This Time - Queliot fic!

Fragments - Queliot fic!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I didn't used to in my earlier fandom days but now I'm pretty consistent about it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I once wrote a major character death fic for Queer as Folk where Justin died. Not really my style anymore. Back in my ff.net days I also wrote Merthur major character death fic, I'm just remembering.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I always try and do happily ever afters! A lot of my stories end with a sense of "and then they continue on their adventures, and life isn't always simple or easy", so in terms of the most pure, joyful ending? I guess I'll go living proof, which is the end of my episode series for Roswell, NM, which is just a "now they're married and happy forever" fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have before, but not as a rule. Once got called an abuse apologist & incest support (oh the horror /s) for exploring the canonical close friendship (not even a romantic relationship!) between two dudes from Shadowhunters lmao. And there's a troll in the Roswell fandom who writes hilarious and idiotic unhinged rants and I've been hit by her before, but she's got a scatter-shot approach and attacks a lot of people, so, at least I know it's nothing personal.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yep! What is meant by "what kind" here? lol. I'm pretty vanilla. Mostly m/m, but I usually don't pass over the chance for m/m/f. I actually recently wrote my very first m/f full-on sex scene ever for a little Magicians snippet, Kady/Penny lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, I don't wrote crossovers in the sense that characters from various worlds don't meet each other in my fics. HOWEVER, two of my favorite things I've ever written have been Magicians AUs that crossed over the characters from that show with the full plot from other films. One is The Old Guard (A Comet Pulled From Orbit), and one is When Harry Met Sally (When Quentin Met Eliot).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few times! Used to happen a lot back with old ff.net stuff, and I recently had my good omens fic translated.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I'm co-writing a series right now! First time I've ever done it and it's a blast.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

uhhhhh don't make me choose? lmao. In terms of fandom engagement and longevity I guess Queliot at this point. But in terms of... the ships that made me discover and appreciate and explore fandom in the first place? Kirk/Spock and Brian/Justin. Classics.

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and tone setting, I think?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot details (I get bored and distracted mapping things out)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

tbh I usually wince when I see it in fic? I'm not a fan. It always feels a little silly. Maybe very very sparingly if there's like a singular phrase or term of endearment or something but I'd rather just indicate that someone is speaking another language rather than write it out. I feel like it can often be tokenizing if you just have one character who's bilingual and you give them little one-liners in a different language. Idk. If the author is bilingual and doing a thing, then that's awesome. But I can usually tell when someone's just using google translate for stuff lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gilmore Girls!

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I'm gonna cheat and name one each for my two big fandoms. Also idk if these are my favorites but they're two I really love that aren't my most popular:

Regrets, or the Absence Thereof (Magicians)

all the roads that lead you there (Roswell)

tagging @portraitofemmy @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier @orchardsinsnow @r-dtoblack and YOU if you're reading this and want to play!

[clare-with-no-i]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank youuu @isahorcrux for the tag! it's been so long since I did one of these omigoddddd

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

37!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

392k. a bit crazy that the next chapter of theogony will put it over 400k. wauw!!!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

publicly? Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. privately? I have an entire folder on my laptop called 'other shit' which is just one-shots for about fifteen different fandoms which I will never publish <3

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

god. this is really making me look at my statistics page which I actively try not to do lol. but it's one long day, I will carry you, color theory, foreigner's god, and growing pains. what can I say, the ppl love the they lived AUs!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to but I'm terrible about it which is a personal failing. I am so sorry. a new strategy that helps with this is that with my WIPs I try to respond right after the next chapter is posted so the person gets a nice lil notif and they have something else to read!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh hmmm. I guess the derelict art of letting go ending was angsty, but the whole thing was angsty. the end was bittersweet. maybe Invictus? ok new problem is I can't remember what I've written

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

foreigner's god! it's always clare why did you write all of that sad stuff into foreigner's god clare why did you write their deaths in such brutal detail clare I made my roommate read this and now she won't stop crying blah blah and it's never hey clare thanks for that nice ending scene where they're just married and lying in bed and vibing!!!!!!!!!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

yeah I do and I think under viking law I'm legally permitted to fistfight the commenters!!!!!!!!!!!! step up cowards!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. Do you write smut. If so, what kind?

god. lmao. yes I do! not often, though, I'm afraid. I tend to write an extremely narrow niche which is just exorcising trauma through sex and personal intimacy. I have no chill :)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no I actually usually dislike crossovers lol. like theogony is a fusion of the outlander premise but I can assure you that James Alexander Malcom MacKenzie Frasier will not make an appearance. crossovers stress me out and I like to keep my little fictional words separate, if I can. ok edit: on further review I've concluded that I enjoy premise swaps (these are just AUs lol), but I can't deal with characters from multiple pieces of media interacting. it's too much. stay in your lanes, my god. this isn't super smash bros.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not a whole fic but someone basically copy and pasted a bunch of lines from NAR into their story and then a bunch of drama ensued. it sucked and I don't like looking at NAR because it reminds me of it. I still think about the anon who told me about it, though. they were so lovely and so caring and kind to me. I hope they're doing well.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! both with my permission and without. ha ha.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

babes I can't even finish the stories that I'm writing by myself

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

percabeth or zelink! or any doomed/short-lived/five seconds of screen time couple in a tv show or book. seriously idk why but I always fixate on the less important characters

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I renounce this question in the name of christ. amen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I exist not with writing strengths or weaknesses but instead a secret third thing (stupidly recognizable style)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

see above

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I actually have a WIP where James lives in Spain to play quidditch and he speak Spanish in it :) eso me asusta mucho pq no he practicado mi español hace muchos años pero…sea lo que sea

19. First Fandom you wrote for?

percabeth! my ffnet account is still out there somewhere with ~four percabeth stories that are terrible :) just very bad :) no good :) horriblé :)

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

theogony or foreigner's god! or suze's bday fic but that's because I have never tailor-made something for someone quite like that fic and she was so sweet about it eye can't deal

tagging my internet wife @thequibblah bestie...knocking at ur door...standing outside with an edible arrangement...

[frankenjoly]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @cursedvibes thanks!!! i love these things

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

68 but for Reasons (a fanweek i'm very hyped for), it's gonna be 69 next week.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

287,330 (and counting ofc)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly bsd, jjk & a bit of genshin, but i throw in ficlets and/or one-shots of other stuff to let Thoughts out.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Connecting the dots. silly pre-canon fluff and humor won people over after arcane's s1 finale.

Between the pages: part 2. mix of bsd ficlets/drabbles, bcs i love doing small thingies (i'm already finishing part 4 laksdjflk).

Misread. aka jealuc from barbara's pov, aka humor that stemmed from a teensy lil angst.

Remnants. more of me letting thoughts out after arcane's s1 ending, this time timebomb with pining Jinx.

Por el amor de estepresidente... the bsd crack fic (or my first one, at least), in which Mori and Fukuchi sort of ally to crash fukuzawa's date with any 3rd person but are also competing against each other.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do, bcs i either have the need to thank ppl or ramble about the fic they're commenting on (or both).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably Remnants, though i intended to go with the "it's not/won't be unrequited" vibe.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i'm a pussy and a slut for happy/hopeful endings, so i have those by the ton aldkjfl.

8. Do you get hate on fic?

not hate per se, but i've had complaints about tagging all ships from the start in my genshin ficlet compilation... when i was gonna throw them all into ao3 in one sitting.

also that one person who came to one of my Utahime Week fics, who was tagged as both gojohime and shokohime, to tell me "nooo shokohime are just friends yadda yadda" while praising gojohime as canon (i love it too, but it isn't). it was odd.

9. Do you write smut?

i have this thing when it comes to nsfw in general and smut in particular, aka up to certain point it makes me uncomfy but below that idgaf and even go like "nice, my ship having sex"... so.

most i can offer is barely-explicit stuff, and for fic specifically i see "depictions of character bein horny" and "pre- and post-sex" rather than actual smut.

10. Do you write crossovers?

not a lot, but the bsd+jjk thingie that came from rp and also birthed the dnd-ish au got me by the throat.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

as far as i know, nope.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

as far as i know, nope (x2). though i do translate some rp solos to turn them into one-shots adding up stuff as well (i could just post them in spanish, but).

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i guess rp is like schroedinger's yes here? but when it comes to literal fic... not yet, but i know what and with who.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

i can't choose, sorry laskdjf.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

not really a wip, but i had one Uraume-centric fic that i'm not sure if it'll see the light for... some reasons. long story short, it's based on another fic that's a roleswap and has modern socerers (and students) Uraume and Sukuna.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i apparently never run out of insp and will to write, so i can go fast as fuck. and my writing is one of the things i'm most confident about like fr.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i still feel like english nerf me, at least when it comes to narrating, bcs i cannot be as descriptive or poetic as i am in spanish.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

as someone who's first language isn't english but writes fic in english, you go ppl. and also, native english speakers can be kiiinda entitled lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

both for rp and my first fic ever, abc's once upon a time (that was also my first fandom being online).

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

another instance of me sucking at making choices alsdkf, sorry.

no pressure tag: @ildi-dragonheart @bungoustraypups @monday-headache @noirewaves @rhymbic @minluce @bunniezai @neonganymede @fyodorkitkat

[sevlinop]

20 Fic Questions

Thanks for tagging me @angelosearch! I've tagged a lot of people recently, so instead of tagging anyone specifically I'll just leave this open for whoever's interested!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 36!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 67,772.

3. What fandoms do you write for? So many. I'd say Final Fantasy, Persona, and Fire Emblem are the big ones though. I'd like to write more Zelda soon!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? -"Nighttime Escapades" (219), "Maya and Tatsuya Offline" (104), "Link Visit's Sidon" (73), "Clumsy Frieren" (66), "A Port In a Storm" (64).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, always! I love reading them, and they make my day! :) Only exception is occasionally I'll get spam or something.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? "From Up On Her Throne" Is my darkest fic so far. An Ultimecia character study, so not exactly uplifting lol.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of what I write is happy or uplifting. One of my Frieren fics, "Anytime, Anywhere". Is probably my fluffiest happy one.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Almost never, only time was this person (or bot.) who kept posting bible verses on any fics with LGBT pairings. Was mostly annoying because the comments were so damn long it took forever to scroll down to the delete button lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? That's most of the fics I've written! At the moment though I'm gravitating away from it, kinda burned out.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? No offense to anyone who likes them but I just really don't care for crossover fics for the most part, hahaha. The most I may do someday is like, a crossover between two FF games or something. Which barely counts in my book.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes!! I recently had my Apothecary Diaries fic, "Nighttime Escapades" translated into Russian. Still so happy about that!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I haven't, closest I've had is a beta reader. I'd be open to trying it though!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Zelink or Cloti! Though I'll admit shipping isn't the primary reason I write fics.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Too many to name honestly. I've written plenty of stuff I've never posted, most of what I've posted the past few months I've been back on Ao3 is stuff I wrote a while ago.

16. What are your writing strengths? The big picture part of writing is where I think I shine. Like establishing the main theme of my story, a character's central conflict, interesting broad ideas I want to explore, etc. I'm definitely a discovery writer mores than a planner.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Honestly I struggle with stuff like descriptions, making a scene progress naturally, giving characters unique voices. All the stuff that's more nitty gritty, it doesn't come naturally to me. Oh, and plenty of grammatical mistakes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I probably would try to avoid it! I only speak English and wouldn't want to just use google translate or something. So unless I know someone who speaks the language, I wouldn't include it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I think Naruto on FFN years and years ago, or The Legend of Zelda.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? It's very bold to claim since it's not far along at all, but already love "A Poisoned History."! Though "Maya and Tatsuya Offline" is my best smut fic, since I did a good job with writing the buildup.