#advent calendar fanfic 2019

[theartofdreaming1]

Advent Calendar Fic Rec 2019, Day 21

This time, it’s not a Batfam-based one-shot... But I finally finished the next chapter of my DickBabs Fanfic, “Partners”, a police officer AU! :) You can also check this chapter out on Ao3.

Partners - Part 7: Revelations

Pairing: DickBabs

Rating: T

Summary:  Barbara finally tells Dick what that mysterious letter contained.

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The Revelation

“Huh?” Dick stared at Barbara, a look of utter confusion on his face.

Barbara took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do. She then repeated: “There is something I’ve got to tell you.”

At this point, Dick had recovered from his initial reaction and the expression of bewilderment that had been displayed on his face before was now replaced by a more serious one, wordlessly urging Barbara on to continue.

Before she could begin, there was another gust of wind of the chilly night air and while Barbara tried to hide the shiver it caused her, it didn’t escape Dick’s notice.  

“Let’s get back inside,” he proposed, gently ushering Barbara into the pleasantly warm bedroom.

Once inside, Barbara sat down on Dick’s bed with a sigh, ready to begin and get this pesky, not-so-little something off her chest.

“I hadn’t meant to bring this up tonight because I didn’t want to ruin the evening,” Barbara began nervously, feeling a little defensive.

But when she caught a glimpse of the expression on her partner’s face, Barbara was relieved to find that there was nothing judgemental in the way he looked at her, only honest curiosity. With her heavy heart feeling a little lighter now, Barbara continued:

“There is something I’ve been neglecting to tell you - something I’ve been trying to ignore for my own sake as well, if I’m being honest…”

The redhead halted, not sure how to go on.

Since she was being honest about this ugly little thing that was bothering her, Barbara figured that she might as well be honest about the nicer things, too. It only felt fair.

“Dick, you inviting me to this party as your plus one really meant a lot to me and I was really looking forward to tonight,” a shy smile appeared on her face before she resumed more gravely, “which is why I haven’t told you about this before. But I just realized that it’s not fair of me to keep this to myself - not when you have been so open with me this entire time, and here I am, keeping secrets from you-”

“Secrets?” Dick knitted his eyebrows.

“Well, one secret,” Barbara clarified, nervously picking at the bedspread, “but a big one. I should have told you sooner, but I just… I just wanted us to have good time tonight, not being weighed down by my stupid mistake-”

Dick still looked confused.

“I have no idea what this is about,” he admitted haltingly, before assuring her, “but you can tell me. No matter what it is.”

The earnest expression on Dick’s face was all the encouragement Barbara needed to lay bare the source of her distress:

“The day you invited me to this ball, I found an envelope from anonymous in my locker, addressed to me personally, telling me in big black letters to “open in private”.

Dick’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything.

Barbara then went on:

“Inside the envelope there was a letter - more of a message, actually: Telling me that the author of this note had been watching me closely and in light of recent events wanted to give me a chance to prove my loyalty to my badge. If I was seriously dedicated, I am to come to Saint Dennis church this coming Wednesday evening, where it will be decided if I am to join their ranks.”

Dick stared at Barbara.

“‘ Their ranks’ ?” he repeated carefully.

Barbara nodded.

Her partner quirked an eyebrow.

“That seems to imply that there are multiple people involved.”

“Yeah,” Barbara agreed, “it certainly sounds like it.”

Dick took another moment to mull over what he had learned so far.

The expression on his face was most serious when he addressed Barbara again: “You think that ‘in light of recent events’ refers to-” “My entanglement with Richter’s ‘early retirement ’? Yeah, I think so.”

Deep in thought, Dick only nodded wordlessly, still processing, before asking Barbara: “Do you think that the sergeant from the 1-9 has something to do with this?”

“Rohrbach? I think it’s not unlikely.”

Intense concentration was etched on Dick’s face. Then, he looked at Barbara, his dark blue eyes razor-sharp:

“This could be a trap. To get you to admit to what you have pulled on Richter… To get rid of you.”

Barbara returned Dick’s stare calmly: “Yes.”

“And you’re going to go?” Dick asked, his eyes never wavering from hers.

Barbara already knew that Dick wasn’t going to like her answer.

“Yes.”

Dick closed his eyes, turning slightly away. He hunched over and let out a long and deep groan, his hands dragging over his face.

“Goddammit,” Barbara could hear Dick mumble under his breath.

She gnawed nervously on her lower lip, dreading what had to come next:

“There’s more,” she said haltingly.

Dick gazed up at her, incredulous: “More?”

“The message also said… it said that I could bring my partner - mentioned you by name - if I chose to; but nobody else was to know about and come to this meeting.”

Dick just kept on looking at Barbara as if he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop: “And?”

“Didn’t you hear me?”

But Dick remained unperturbed.

“Yeah, it means that I can come with you if you let me - that’s the least distressing thing you have told me so far…”

Barbara couldn’t believe how Dick could be so oblivious to the distressing implications of what she had just told him: “They mentioned you… By name!!! Whoever they are, they know all about you!”

Feeling responsible for getting her partner involved into this mess, Barbara hung her head in shame, a stray strand of hair falling in her face.

Her voice sounded small, even to her own ears:

“I’m sorry, Dick, I didn’t mean to drag you into this. Richter was my mistake, not yours!”

“Babs,” Dick said softly, gently cupping her face, “you didn’t drag me into anything - I was the one who didn’t listen to you and went into that abandoned building without any backup in the first place...  I was the one who got caught in the line of fire… You were the one who stopped me from saying something stupid to Richter that could have made everything way worse… I’m in this as much as you are.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Sure I do - we are partners. You have my back and I’ve got yours.”

He’d said all of this completely matter-of-factly, his voice now adopting a more pleading quality: “And as your partner, I’m asking you to please let me come with you to that meeting - I’d rather stand by your side than have you face this alone - if you’re okay with that.”

A wave of relief washed over Barbara. Despite her fierce resolve to go to that meeting and deal with whatever consequences that it would bring with it, she hadn’t realized how much she had hoped to have Dick’s support through all of this. Still, it was important to her to make one thing clear:

“You really, really don’t have to come with me,” she insisted forcefully.

She could see Dick getting ready to protest against her assertion most fervently, making it impossible for her to suppress the fond smile forming on her lips as she reached for his hand, “But I’m more than okay with you coming with me - there’s nobody I would rather want by my side.”

The indignation in Dick’s eyes turned into something softer, warmer: “Good.”

For a short moment, the two of them just looked at each other, tender smiles on both their faces.

Soon, Dick’s smile turned back into that goofy, endearing smile Barbara had come to love over the months of their partnership.

“Now, since we still have plenty of time for you to let me in on that great battle plan I’m sure you’ve already formulated over the course of these past few days-”

Barbara couldn’t help but chuckle: “You know me so well.”

“- and the entire point of today’s evening was to enjoy ourselves and forget about your mysterious message for a moment-”

“Very true.”

“I’ll venture to ask: Could I interest you in some more kissing before we resume our tour of Wayne Manor’s best sock surfable hallways?”

Despite the bravado of his words, Barbara could see the shy nervousness in Dick’s eyes.

A bright grin stretched across her lips.

“You can.”

***

The Circle *²

It was early Wednesday evening, mere minutes before the mysterious meeting was about to take place - Dick and Barbara were sitting in her car, right across Saint Dennis church, eyes fixed on the imposing architectural structure in nervous anticipation.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Dick asked gently. “If you want to call it off, that’s fine, too.”

Barbara’s eyes were still glued to the neo-gothic building.

“No, I’m sure… I want to know, I need to know where this is all gonna lead to,” she found herself saying, her voice carrying far more conviction in it than she currently felt.

She finally tore her gaze away from the church, looking over at her partner instead:

“How about you? I meant it when I said that you don’t have to come with me.”

Dick smiled.

“Well, and I meant it when I said that I’d rather stand by your side than have you face this alone.”

And with that, he reached over the console and took her hand in his. Barbara gave Dick a nervous smile. She glanced once more at the church, then looked back at her partner, when she felt a gentle, reassuring squeeze around her fingers. Her fraying nerves calmed a bit at the gesture. No matter what awaited her behind the church doors, it was nice to know she didn’t have to face it on her own.

She squeezed Dick’s hand in return, earning her an unwavering, warm smile from her partner.

Go time.

Entering the church, they found it to be empty except for the two people talking quietly to each other in the chancel, the area around the altar. Their quiet conversation came to an immediate stop when the heavy door thunked shut, announcing Barbara and Dick’s presence. Barbara could feel her heart beating faster. Nevertheless, she kept on walking towards the two individuals, the sound of her and Dick’s footsteps on the stone floor echoing eerily. Upon their approach, Barbara recognized that one of the people they were heading for was Sergeant Amy Rohrbach, causing the tension in her muscles to lessen.

Suspecting that Rohrbach might be involved with the mysterious message she had received, Barbara had put in the time and effort to find out more about the sergeant from the 1-9. After digging through a plethora of files and reports, she hadn’t found anything that would even remotely suggest that Rohrbach was not an exemplary police officer. Indeed, only one incident in the track record detailing the sergeant’s career had caught Barbara’s eye - and interestingly enough, it had involved officers Hicks and Richter.

The most peculiar thing about said report was that there was nothing concrete to be gained from studying it: The case had involved busting Juan Ricardo Banez, a known drug dealer, at his girlfriend’s home. Simple enough - but the exact circumstances of said bust were shrouded in mystery. All that Barbara had been able to find out was that some shots had been fired from both Rohrbach’s and Richter’s guns, the perp had wound up dead and Richter had taken a medical leave subsequently. It was the bag with half a million dollars that had been filed as evidence, her thorough knowledge of Richter’s history of taking bribes and collecting money for the mob, as well as her and Dick’s own run-in with Richter and Hicks just a few weeks ago, that allowed Barbara to piece together a pretty plausible scenario of what must have gone down that day… And if she was right, Barbara had no reason to think that Amy Rohrbach was setting her and Dick up right now…

“Gordon! I knew that you wouldn’t pass up on this opportunity,” the sergeant greeted Barbara friendly, her keen brown eyes soon flickering over to Dick - “and as I can see, you’ve decided to bring your partner along.”

Dick took this statement as a cue to introduce himself, shaking hands with Amy. On the outside, he was all friendly smiles and easy-going charm, but Barbara knew her partner was actually on high alert, making note of the smallest detail that could be helpful in unravelling the enigma their current situation proved to be.  

After shaking Dick’s hand, Amy went on to introduce the elderly man next to her as Father Mike, who greeted Dick and Barbara warmly.

“He was kind enough to offer the back room of his church as our base of operations,” the sergeant explained, unfortunately neglecting to mention what this “base of operations” was actually for.

“Well, now that you’re both here, we might as well get started,” Amy said energetically, making a parting gesture toward Father Mike before motioning for Dick and Barbara to come along with her: “Follow me, the others are already here.”

Dick and Barbara exchanged a meaningful look behind Amy’s back.

When it came to Rohrbach herself, Barbara felt she had a good understanding of the sergeant’s character - the company that police woman kept, however, was still a different story.

Rohrbach lead the two partners to an unassuming door to the side of the room. The sergeant opened it, revealing a small, dimly lit room, with four indistinct figures already inside. The four shadows were seated along the long side of a medium-sized table that had been squeezed inside the small space, making Barbara feel like she was at a really bizarre film noir job interview.

The trio’s arrival was met with unintelligible mumbling, that soon was replaced by complete silence.

Dick was the first to speak, breaking the uncomfortable silence that was hanging in the air like cold cigarette smoke: “Soo… what is this, exactly?”

One of the silhouette-like figures stirred, a rough, deep voice rasping: “It’s an initiation, son.”

“And if you don’t pass, it’ll go hard on you,” another voice was quick to add.

A third voice practically growled: “We don’t like taking chances.”

“But Amy vouches for you,” chimed in the last person of this mysterious quartet, the voice suggesting a female.

Barbara strained her eyes, trying to recognize any of the people they were facing – why was it so damn dark in here? And why, for the love of god, could nobody get to the effing point?!

Fortunately, Amy seemed to have taken pity on Barbara's thinly-worn patience:

“We’re like a police force inside the police force, you see,” the sergeant said, sending a wry smile in Dick and Barbara's direction,”as I'm sure you have noticed, there are a lot of cops in this town that appear to be under the impression that they can do as they please – as long as the price is right. But our little group here,” Amy gestured towards her fellow conspirators, “we have made it our goal to remind those who abuse their position and privilege that they are not above the law.”

Barbara felt relief rushing over her - she had been right in trusting her gut; Amy Rohrbach was one of the few good cops in Blüdhaven. And even better - there were more! Certainly, they weren’t legion, but even a small group had a better chance at cleaning up the corrupt police force than she and Dick on their own.

“It's a risky business, though,” Amy was quick to remind them, continuing in a warning tone, “should our plans come to light before they are seen through, anyone involved with them would be dead meat.”

The sergeant looked sternly at the potential new recruits for her cause.

“Just, keep that in mind… Now, are you guys in?”

Barbara's eyes darted over to Dick's, the two partners sharing a single, determinant look that  left no room for doubt that they were on the same page-

“Yes,” was their unison reply.

Amy smiled triumphantly: “I thought so.”

“Welcome aboard,” the raspy voice from before piped up, now sounding a lot friendlier than it had before.

With the flick of a switch, Amy turned on the bare light bulb of the tiny back room, finally revealing the four other members of this little circle.

“Please, let me introduce you to Blüdhaven’s few proud and, most importantly, honest cops.”

And just like that, Dick and Barbara made acquaintance with tall and gangly Officer Zircher from the 15th precinct, Sergeant Dixon from the 2-3 (his kind eyes and friendly smile a stark contrast to his hulking physique and gravelly voice), tough-as-nails Lieutenant McDaniel from the 1-8 and young, but fiery Officer Leonardi from Amy’s precinct (the young Italian American woman had started her stint at the BPD only three months before Dick had joined Barbara’s precinct).

Dick and Barbara were readily welcomed by their more seasoned teammates.

“The more cops we bring into the circle, the stronger a case we can bring to the feds,” Zircher pointed out eagerly, his slim face adorned with a lopsided grin.

“You guys have joined us at a very opportune time,” Amy informed Dick and Barbara energetically, ”we finally have found a DA who is willing to pursue this, as long as there is enough evidence to build a solid case-”

“A case Chief Redhorn won’t be able to slip out of,” McDaniel grumbled darkly.

Amy nodded.

“Exactly. Since the problem of corruption reaches up to the very top of the chain, Flores won’t make his move until we have an airtight case that will allow him not only to go after small fry such as Hannity and Hicks, but also make it possible for him to indict Redhorn for his crimes.”

Amy paused for a moment, then turned to Dick and Barbara, fixing them with one of her piercing stares:

“And this is where you two come in.”

***

Teaching Moment *³

Even with their secret mission going on, Dick and Barbara still had to deal with the usual day-to-day of their job.

Today, they had the pleasure of sorting out a reported noise complaint. What should have been a simple affair, was dragged out unnecessarily once the neighbors of the offender had felt compelled to weigh in on the whole ordeal, leading to a heated dispute on the stairs - which, ironically, ended up being way louder than the music blasting from inside the respective apartment.

Once the situation had calmed down and all the inhabitants had returned to their apartments, Dick and Barbara finally left the building, ready to get back to their cruiser.

On their way back to the car, Dick and Barbara could see that a group of four boys had gathered around it - or rather: three of the approximately eleven-year-old kids were standing around the car, while the fourth one was standing atop the hood.

Seeing the two police officers coming their way caused a certain amount of commotion among the kids.

“Kenny, get down! Here they come,” a boy in a red hoodie warned his friend.

But Kenny appeared to be unfazed.

“I ain’t doing nuthin’ wrong!”the kid insisted, his balled up fists raised as if to fight.

Barbara suppressed a sigh; she really didn’t feel like quarelling with an eleven-year-old today.

Dick, apparently, didn’t seem to mind:

“Actually, you are,” he argued with Kenny, gesturing towards the kid’s hands, “if you take a swing at me like that, you’re gonna break your thumbs.”

Surprised, the boy looked down at his hands, inspecting the way his other fingers curled around the thumbs of each hand.

Meanwhile, Dick approached Kenny calmly and Barbara couldn’t help but be impressed by the way her partner had managed to defuse the tense situation with a simple remark.

By the time Dick had gotten to Kenny and his friends, the kids gathered around the cruiser only stared at him curiously, their resentment from before - gone.

“Keep ‘em out, like this,” Dick explained, gently adjusting the position of Kenny’s fingers, making sure that the thumbs were outside the balled fist.

He then put his palms up, facing the boy: “Okay, now try”

Excitedly, Kenny punched against Dick’s palms.

Dick grinned approvingly: “There you go! Good job!”

He then lifted Kenny off the car hood. The boy smiled widely.

“Thanks.”

The boys scampered off soon after, although Barbara could still hear their delighted chattering until they rounded the corner down the street: “my turn!”, “hit me, Kenny, hit me!”

Barbara quirked an eyebrow at her partner while they were both getting back into the car, a teasing smirk on her lips: “Making the world safe for disciplined violence everywhere?”

Dick just shrugged his shoulders.

“I prefer to think of it as teaching finesse and self-respect.”

Barbara smiled and started the engine to resume their patrol.

“You were really good with those kids,” she acknowledged in a more earnest manner.

Again, Dick simply shrugged, making a dismissive gesture with his hands, “Practice - when I was still bartending at Hogan’s, waiting and hoping to get into the BPD, I spent some afternoons at the gym in zee mores, teaching kids some basic self-defense lessons.”

Barbara only shook her head, smiling fondly at her partner.

“How do you manage to fit your halo under that hat, Grayson?”

Dick grinned flirtatiously: “Same way you fit all that brain power under yours, I presume.”

“Flatterer.”

Dick gave her a playful wink, then went on to look out of the window to keep an eye on the street.

“So, what are the plans for the evening?,” he asked casually.

Barbara’s eyes flitted over to her partner.

“Well, I kinda planned on spending it checking out some stuff for Amy - why, did you have any different ideas?”

Dick grinned.

“Well, actually... I thought we could spend a nice evening in, something along dinner and a movie - but how about we combine those two?,” Dick proposed, continuing quickly before Barbara could disagree,”You could focus on working on the thing for Amy while I’m fixing us up some dinner, then, during dinner, you can fill me in on what you’ve found out and, depending how late it’ll be by then, we can check out something on Netflix or something along those lines-”

“Something like the new Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes?,” Barbara suggested teasingly.

Dick ducked his head sheepishly.

“That could be an option... if you insist on it.”

Barbara let out a laugh: “Sure, because I’m the one usually insisting on it.”

She was met with a goofy smile.

“But you know what,” Barbara said, after carefully considering his suggestion,”I think that’s a really good idea.”

“Don’t know why you sound so surprised,” Dick said with a fake pout,”I’m full of good ideas.”

Barbara nodded knowingly,“You’re full of something, all right.”

“Hey!”

They spend the rest of their shift bickering back and forth.

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to be continued... here

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Notes

*² Nightwing #60: The "initiation" at Saint Dennis Church happens in this issue (although Dick thinks that he gets a chance at infiltrating the corrupt cops after acting like taking a bribe wouldn't be too bad - Amy immediately sees through Dick's tough-guy-act, seeing him for the goody-two-shoes he is and instead introduced him to the circle) Nightwing #69: The "incident" between Amy and Richter is from said issue (meanwhile, Dick is in Gotham, helping out Alfred and Tim in the "Bruce Wayne - Murderer?" story arc); Amy is part of the raid out to get Banez, but once Richter suggests taking the money for themselves, hinting that killing Banez and his girlfriend would rid them of any potential witnesses, the situation escalates into a shoot-out between Amy and Richter, during which Banez dies and Richter and Amy get slightly hurt; DA Flores: Mateo Flores, the DA working together with Amy and the gang. He's also the brother of Catalina Flores, the new Tarantula... who is not going to make an appearance in this fic because... no. Just no. (I did not like that storyline at all.)

Zircher, Dixon, McDaniel & Leonardi: I don't think the police officers in the circle are ever mentioned by name, so I just chose the names of some of the most important Nightwing writers and artists from the Pre-New 52 run (and I made Leonardi into a woman, because... well, there are just too few women in those stories and that just won't do ;)

*³ Nightwing #71: Dick interacting with Kenny and his friends is a cute scene from that issue, I just had to include that here; Dick giving a self-defense class in zee mores is also from that issue, although that one is aimed at adults and where we meet Catalina Flores and... well, I decided to change it up Nightwing #142: We see Dick teaching kids how to fly on the trapeze during his time in New York, so I combined both of these instances of Dick teaching into him teaching self-defense to kids

[anxiouslymalicious]

Write Christmas Day 3

“Merry (Gay) Christmas”

Request: Oh can you maybe do one where it's eddie x daughter when his family comes over for dinner and the reader is gay and Sonia is being a bitch and Eddie defends his daughter?

A/N: Wow, I loved this request but this was kind of hard to write. Dear anon, I hope this is alright for you! If it isn’t, please let me know and I’ll try to rewrite your request! Enjoy!

Oh and this is set before Mike called the Losers back to Derry, just fyi!

“Y/N, kiddo, can you open the door please?” Eddie yelled from the kitchen, gaining his daughter’s attention. With a sad sigh, she followed his request. Y/N almost felt like she could already hear Sonia nagging about whatever was wrong with the house in her eyes. It was most likely dirty, or the street they lived in seemed too dangerous for her. She knew something would be wrong and she would have to endure the constant negativity that radiated from Sonia.

Slowly, she laid her hand on the doorknob, praying for something to happen. Anything that would make the night a little more bearable. But she knew that wouldn’t be the case. And so, she opened the door, coming face to face with the paranoid woman she only saw once or twice a year. Which was still too much for her taste. 

“Hey grandma Sonia.” Y/N greeted the woman, trying hard to sound optimistic. She knew that Eddie, who had abandoned his apron and the dinner in the kitchen to welcome his mother, could see right through her, but it seemed that Sonia didn’t because she pressed the young girl right into her chest, almost suffocating her. Y/N polietley wrapped her arms around the woman, but was quick to fight her way out of the embrace again. She moved behind her father, effectively putting some distance between herself and her grandmother. 

“Oh, my little Eddie!” she exclaimed, making Eddie, who usually seemed like a fairly responsible adult, look like a little boy. Y/N rolled her eyes a little, the movement not going unnoticed by Sonia.

“You know, Eddie, I feel like I don’t see you two enough. It seems someone has grown a little disrespectful.” Sonia commented as she released Eddie from her death-grip. 

“Uh… Sorry ma, but we’re always so busy.” Eddie replied, leading her to the kitchen, sending his daughter a pleading look. She sighed but sent him a sympathetic smile, silently agreeing to behave a little for as long as Sonia would stay. Usually she would arrive on christmas eve and would leave after about two to three days, but Y/N hoped that it would be different this time around. 

It wasn’t long until Sonia had thrown almost all of Eddie’s efforts into the trash and fixed the dinner herself. With a growling stomach, Y/N and Eddie were seated at the dinner table, desperate for something to eat when she got a message. It was her crush who had sent a message wishing Y/N happy holidays. A blush rose to her cheeks and she could barely suppress a smile as she typed a quick reply, hitting sent. Eddie watched her, a loving smile on his lips. He tried to remember his own youth, his own first crush, but his mind was strangely blank. Not that he minded though. Eddie just enjoyed seeing his daughter in love. 

“You good, kiddo?” Eddie asked his daughter, not trying to snoop around, but he did want to let her know that he cared about her. Y/N’s blush deepened and she nodded, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest. She hadn’t come out to her father yet. She had wanted to for quite some time, but she didn’t know how. 

“Yeah. Just… a nice message.” she replied, almost forgetting about her grandmother. Sadly, almost was the keyword. 

“Eddie bear, I think you should keep an eye on your daughter. Before you know it, a boy will take her away from you. And you wouldn’t want that, right?” Sonia asked her son as she placed the newly cooked dinner on the table. Seconds later, she dropped her massive body on a chair next to Eddie, opposite from Y/N. It seemed that the woman still had issues letting her son go. 

Eddie shook his head, not daring to speak more than a mumbled ‘no mom’. Y/N knew that Eddie didn’t mind. She knew her father better than Sonia thought she did.

Sonia spoiled the actually quite nice dinner further and further, continuously nagging and complaining about the most random things, but most importantly, she tried to convince Eddie to come back to Derry with her. 

“Can you please just stop?” Y/N asked as her grandmother came to speak of the gay men ‘taking over the town’.

“Are you defending those fags?” Sonia asked, shocked by her granddaughter’s sudden outburst. 

“Mom, it’s enough.” Eddie raised his voice a little, not wanting to take her shit.

“I am one of them.” Y/N spat venomously, sending a sharp glare towards the elderly woman. She had stood up, ready to flee from the room if she needed to. Eddie was surprised by his daughter’s sudden coming out, but he was too focused on something else to let his daughter’s words sink in. 

“Aren’t you ashamed?” Sonia asked, her voice sounded almost heartbroken.

“Aren’t you?” Eddie asked, hand slamming down on the table, earning a shattering sound. “You’re trying to make your granddaughter feel bad for something she didn’t choose. You should be proud of her. Proud that she let’s you know who she is. You should be proud that she loves who she wants to love and doesn’t take shit from narrow-minded people. Y/N is an exceptional human being. She’s so kind and compassionate and works so hard for her goals and I am so fucking proud of her. I’m so fucking proud she’s my daughter. And if you can’t be proud of your own flesh and blood, then please leave this house right now. And don’t fucking come back.” 

Y/N stood shocked as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Eddie had gotten up from his chair, walking towards his daughter and embracing her tightly. It was a matter of seconds until Y/N broke down and sobbed into her father’s chest. Sonia was left untouched by Eddie’s little speech and screamed nonsense through the room. Eddie yelled back. Neither of them stopped screaming, the constant noise quickly becoming too much for the young girl who fled up the stairs. The dull screaming still reached her ears as she was on her bed, but it was easier to deal with than when she was caught in the middle of it all. 

An eternity later, a loud slam echoed through the house, followed by a short silence. Then, footsteps that came up the stairs. Eddie appeared in the doorway, carefully sticking his head into her room, searching for his daughter. His eyes fell on her curled up figure and didn’t waste a second, embracing her, holding her, hugging her tightly. 

“I’m so proud of you, kiddo. I love you just the way you are. And I promise you that you won’t ever have to deal with your grandmother again. Not if I can help it.” Eddie mumbled into her hair, trying to run his hands through her hair in a soothing manner. Y/N only sobbed out a ‘thank you’ as she nodded into his chest. 

“You know what? I think a pride flag would look really good in this room.” Eddie said, looking around, earning a watery chuckle from his daughter. 

[patsdrabbles]

Confessions

Title: Confessions Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster Pairing: Reginald Jeeves/Bertie Wooster Rating: Gen Word Count: 2306 Summary: It’s a dashed strange thing, love, filling the body with warmth as it does, isn’t it? Bertie comes out as ace. Fluff. A/N: Part 19 of my Daily Fanfic Chocolates calendar :D This is the first fanfic I ever wrote for this fandom, tbh, and I’m really happy to finally be able to share it with you guys! Please enjoy ❤

(links to AO3 and the DFC masterpost are in the reblogs!)

It’s a dashed strange thing, love, filling the body with warmth as it does, isn’t it?

As I agree with Jeeves that this story isn’t, unlike much of my other writing, to hit any bookshelves in the future, I am, for once, rather not feeling compelled to provide a deeper introduction to the matters that form the ‘beforehand’ of this story. There are no readers to disappoint with a lack of an introduction to one of my aunts Dahlia or Agatha, or Gussie Fink-Nottle, or my cousin Angela, nor are any introductions further than my own and that of my long-time paragon of a valet, Reginald Jeeves, required.

Jeeves had been by my side for several years already, seeing to my getting dressed, cooking, cleaning and other needs – albeit with occasional stern opinions regarding my sartorial choices and the never-abandoned wish for the young master to face the day at an earlier hour than ten ack emma. The first I had been aware of for a long time despite not often addressing it directly, unless a much loved article of clothing suddenly vanished or became an irreparable victim of ‘accidents’. The latter, however, Jeeves never told me about till some time after the following occasion. He admitted he rather liked me being up early as to be able to spend more time with me.

Jeeves does know how to get what he wants – which is one of the many reasons I love him – and I started, slowly, changing my habits soon after. We started becoming happier by the day... but I am getting ahead of myself. Instead of talking about the very satisfactory state of our relationship as it is now, many years later, I want to narrate the occasion that resulted in Reggie’s and my happiness.

How exactly it all came to be, I can’t quite remember, but through one thingummy that lead to another, we had arrived at the understanding that we were mutually fond of each other. Quite fond, you might say, and going together like salt and pepper, like the ocean and the waves.

It was at this point that it occurred to me, before an exchange of lip-pressing or anything of that kind had even happened, that it might be wise to bring up the matter that had had me worried for months by then – ever since I’d realized that I had started falling for Jeeves, in fact. I fidgeted a bit, trying to calm the old nerves. We Woosters had been present at Agincourt after all, so who was Bertram Wooster to shy from talking about matters of the heart – and body – with his valet turned beloved?

“You need to understand, Jeeves.”

I halted, unsure how to proceed. I’d never before expressed this condition of myself to anyone else before. I must admit, the old Wooster corpus was bally shaking, resulting in a concerned gaze from my man.

“I... I feel for you no different than Gussie feels about Madeline Bassett – or the other way round, I reckon. However... some of my feelings are not of that nature? That is to say, I am not acquainted with them – at all?”

I paused again and scratched my chin, trying to find the words that would explain to him a concept that made sense to myself but that I had never explained aloud before.

Jeeves, ever respectful as he is, regarded me with a patient gaze, not seeming to mind self humming and hawing about.

“Jeeves,” I began. “You are a splendid specimen of a man, no doubt, and in more than one regard. But–” I halted and looked at him more closely to see if he was already showing any signs of wanting to leave. Instead, I just found him looking at me patiently as he listened to my explanation. “I love you, Jeeves – and in a way that goes beyond the fond love one feels for one’s oldest friends. But I do not feel that...” I grasped for the first word the old bean could think of. “That ‘urge’ everyone else seems to feel?”

I looked at him expectantly, feeling the heat that had risen to my cheeks.

However, I should have known better than to underestimate Jeeves. That man is, as anyone who knows him is aware of, a paragon of a man and brilliant beyond words. My, I dare say his intelligence would even take it up with the best of them if he were to stop eating fish this very instant and never eat it again. In short, he seemed to understand where the y. m. was coming from.

Jeeves cleared his throat gently. (Can one clear one’s throat gently? I wonder, but it seemed to me like that was what he did.)

“While I can’t deny that your physical attributes are extraordinarily pleasing to myself, sir, and I won’t deny I haven’t entertained certain thoughts regarding... yourself and my person,” he paused and I saw a little smile start to form in the corners of his mouth.

“It would be an easy part of a prospective… understanding with you to give up on.”

I studied his face.

“But wouldn’t that be awfully hard on you, old thing?”

He gave me an odd gaze, tinged with something like amusement.

“From... what I understand, all of my chums are rather enthused about exchanging such kind of favours with their wives. I reckon it’s much the same between two chums, not that the sex makes much of a difference about the interest in such.”

I fell quiet, pondering the matter.

Jeeves was the one to break the silence, interrupting my train of thought which had once again arrived at my romantic feelings where chaps were concerned and my lack thereof when it came to fillies. I wished I had a word for such feelings, but at least I had found a way to express myself to the one to whom it mattered.

“I’ve... been spending time with other gentlemen I’ve had an understanding with before. That is to say, before my employment with you. I lost interest in spending time suchlike after that, not deeming it right considering... what I started to feel for you, sir.”

The ‘sir’ seemed odd to both of us, and I had the feeling that it was his way of preventing to give away too much of himself. I felt I had to reassure him and let him know that it was perfectly alright. It was one of my biggest wishes that he would come to trust me as much as I did trust him eventually.

“You can call me Bertram or Bertie if so you like, Jeeves.”

I smiled up at him and, after a visible internal struggle that I saw mirrored in the minor shifts of his expression, he seemed to relax. His shoulders seemed to relax and there was a certain whatsit in his eyes. I had not yet found evidence enough to prove that Jeeves was, in fact, a rather soft chap beneath his mask, but I feel rather confident when describing his e.s. then to have had a kind of softness to them.

“Bertie... Bertram.”

He seemed to ponder the taste of my names on his tongue for a moment and a smile made its way to my face. Hearing him call me by my given name made my heart grow warm and the old bean glow. I realize that I’m starting to sound like the earlier mentioned M. Bassett, but in that moment, I could, in fact, understand her sentiments and way of expressing herself to a certain degree.

“In my previous experience, such defined understandings were of a rather pleasant kind,” Jeeves continued. He seemed to remember those times fondly, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. I wondered if maybe, somehow, I wouldn’t feel as uncomfortable with it as I currently felt about the mere thought, were I to give it a try. “However–”

Add to that that I didn’t want to lose Jeeves, less so now that I knew he reciprocated my feelings for him. I took a deep breath.

“I could... give it a try, I reckon,” I interrupted him, mulling the whole thing over.

If it were to give Jeeves satisfaction, then I would not deny it to him. I wasn’t entirely keen on the prospect, but I valued him too much and I wanted to see him happy. Maybe the uncomfortable feeling the mere thought gave me would simply disappear once we... Well. I can’t say I was truly confident that it would, shuddering slightly, but I had a while ago realized that I loved Jeeves rather dearly, the long-lasting kind of love that no soup could stir.

And everyone around me but self seemed to consider those understandings between spouses most natural, even required. Even between chaps... I found that my gaze had turned to the floor as I had been pondering and looked up to my man again.

Instead of being on the receiving end of enthusiastic agreement, however, I found him staring at me. The face that once, many years ago, had been an undecipherable mask for me, now clearly showed me the inner turmoil he was feeling. It was all in the slightly deeper frown than he usually allowed himself and the downward tug of the corner of his lips. And I was sure that it was worry I detected shimmering behind his clever eyes.

“Bertram, I cannot allow for you to do such a thing, knowing that it wouldn’t be in your honest interest. I simply cannot–”

“Jeeves, it wouldn’t be a burden for me if I could do this one thing for you that would–”

“Sir!” It came out rather sharply and shocked the both of us jolly good.

“Bertram,” Jeeves corrected himself, running a hand over his face, the agony seeping through from behind his stuffed frog mask now visible to me as if in plain daylight. He sat down on the bed right next to me and remained silent for a moment. Then, after a moment of hesitance, he took both my hands in his and began caressing them softly.

“Bertram, I know just fine that your utmost goal, the code by which you live, is pleasing the people whose presence you grace. However, let me make this clear for you, for I don’t want you to feel like you need to offer this – ever again. This sort of understanding is not something that I require to be happy – or to be satisfied, for that matter. Bertram– Bertie – all I need to be happy and satisfied is to be allowed to be with you, bask in your delightful presence and share whatever of your life you are willing to share with me and do so in return. I..." He held onto my hands now, thumbs stilled, and looked me in the eyes, more serious than I had ever seen him before. "I love you, Bertram, and knowing that you love me in return is everything I could ever have hoped for, everything I ever silently wished for.”

He raised one of my hands to his lips, gently pressing a kiss to my knuckles. I felt the tears that had started building up in my eyes over the course of Jeeves’s speech pinch at the corners of my e.s.. I was rather at a loss of words, truth be told, and thankfully, my wonderful man could tell. He pulled me into a hug that warmed the y. m.’s soul to the core and made his heart grow a tenfold in size all at once.

"Jeeves– So... I would be enough?" I could tell that he had just told me so in an utterly moving manner, but the old uncertainty was still nagging me, making me feel like I wasn’t the best there was on offer in the market of love, so to say.

Jeeves pulled back for a mo and looked at me with a rather rummy look in his eyes, then pulled me closer again, his arms holding me steadfastly, and pressed a kiss on top of my head. I felt my worries being reduced to a crumpled pile of now unimportantness and leaned closer into the warm hug and comfort Jeeves was offering.

“I say, old thing,” I said, noticing Jeeves’s hold on my corpus tightening just the smallest of bits before I continued. “I never thought I’d ever find the real, rummy kind of love. Yet, here you are – and I know I shall never want another!”

I turned my head to see Jeeves’s face being painted by an enormous blush and a smile that he finally allowed himself to show fully unguarded. It made me feel quite giddy, knowing that it was us having got so far that made him let go of his mask at last.

“I love you, too, Bertie.”

Despite it being the second time he had told me he loved me now, it still was quite unanticipated and new and had the blood rise to my cheeks rather quickly.

I was firm in my understanding of my feelings, and my feelings were rather soppy and certain of Jeeves. I leaned in and rested my forehead against his.

“And I love you, dear one.”

I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips (I was glad to find that this was perfectly fine by the both of us – I admit I had wondered what those kisses would be like before and found that I was unable to see myself kissing anyone else) and smiled when our eyes met. I felt like I could face the future, no matter what aunts, threats of engagements and sticky situations of old school chums it might entail. For now, I had Jeeves, and Jeeves had me.

[rainbow-of-the-lord]

The Big Gift

My contribution to @notfunnydean‘s 2019 SPN Advent Calendar! Yeah, I’m sort of a day behind, but... I can catch up. I’m relatively sure. I plan to do one for each day, so keep an eye out on my blog! Day Two should be out fairly shortly!

The first day prompt was “Snow Globe”. Hope you enjoy!

Next: “Blizzard”

Read on Ao3

It didn’t snow that much in Kansas, Dean had grown to learn from a fairly young age. Sometimes, of course, things would be a little different, and one year it would all get shaken up somehow, Mother Nature sending a few inches their way. But Dean never really had that Bing Crosby feeling when he looked outside and saw a green lawn, or bare, smooth roads without any plows shoving through the piles of white powder like he saw in other Christmas movies.

And that was fine, really. Dean knew he could live without a white Christmas for as long as he lived. Besides, it wasn’t always bad. Sometimes around Thanksgiving, back when they traveled with Dad, they would get stuck in the Adirondacks hunting a vampire nest, or in Colorado to get a wendigo, and during that time white, little flakes would fall from the sky. Sam was always found pressed up against the glass, watching in awe at the snowflake dance. Dean would sit in the back or the passenger seat, hiding that he was watching them with the same intensity.

And then Dean grew up, and went through life, and found out that it hardly mattered if it was a white Christmas or not, because in the Bunker there were no windows. Whatever Hallmark and Frank Capra liked to spew, he didn’t need it. Really.

Sam, he never knew about. Sam, he had always tried to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for. Whether that meant actually going out and snatching presents somehow, or trying to decorate whatever hotel room they were in for the week with paper ornaments. Mom would want that, Dean was sure. But sometimes Dean thought of the Christmases he would spend at Stanford, what they might have been like. If they were more of the kind of “homely apple pie” life he said he didn’t need or want anymore.

Dean eventually learned not to question it or dig too deep.

But no, he did not need snow. Which is why he came into the room he shared with Cas one night and saw the little thing on his desk, he was puzzled at its existence.

“Cas… what is that?”

The angel looked up at Dean and then over at the desk. “It’s a snow globe.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Genius, he thought to himself . “I was wondering what it was doing here.”

“Oh. I was driving back here… And I noticed it in a window for one of those Christmas stores.” Castiel put the book down and all but flopped out of the bed as gracefully as possible to grab the snow globe and bring it over for Dean’s closer inspection. It wasn’t big, just a small white vase with a cheap plastic casing. It was exactly something you’d get at a tourist trap gift shop, and Dean quickly learned that this one was from Wyoming, of all places. It had a crude representation of the Rocky Mountains in it.

“And you actually bought it? How much did it cost you?”

“I’ve heard it’s rude to ask for monetary value of gifts, Dean.” Castiel reminded him, quite serious about the whole thing, especially when he placed the globe in Dean’s hands.

“A gift?” Dean repeated, not completely understanding. “Why would I… I never asked for a-”

“They snow, however. Let me show you-” Castiel’s outstretched hands were quickly batted away.

“I know exactly how these work, Cas.” Dean humored him and shook it, albeit gently, and soon little pieces of glitter were floating everywhere inside the globe. “And I needed this because…?”

“You don’t see much snow here.” Castiel blinked, as if it was obvious. “And… And it is nice to imagine. To capture nature, or an equivalent, in such a small container. It’s a little marvelous, I think.”

And God help him, Dean couldn’t resist when Castiel’s eyes and face got all soft and earnest like they were now, darting between the globe and Dean’s face as if willing him to see what the fallen angel saw. So he merely sighed, quietly, and kept the snow globe close.

“One of these days we’ll go look at our own snow, man. And I know you’ve seen snow before,” Dean quietly cut Castiel off, knowing exactly the protests he would make of Dean I’m several millennia old and how he probably invented snow in Heaven, “but it’s different, believe me on that.”

“Whenever you wish to go, Dean. I can’t take us now as maybe I could before, but…”

“That’s alright with me.” Dean wrapped an arm around Castiel’s waist and pulled him close for a kiss in his dark, unruly hair. “Besides… maybe I’ll get to enjoy my present a bit more while we’re here.” He shook the snow globe up and down again for emphasis and Castiel smiled; that was sealing the deal right there.

[expo63]

24+ Maurice fanfic recs for the festive season: a belated advent calendar

Just over a month ago, I received a lovely Ask from @lavenderandheatherfield who’d fallen down the Maurice rabbit-hole and was seeking some fanfic recs. Apologies for my chronic slowness (i.e. semi-hiatus) but, I hope, good things may come to those who wait (if you haven’t read every single fic already by now!)

First, a shoutout for my old Maurice Ficlist (fic-finder) project: it’s not up to date but has its uses: https://mauriceficlist.dreamwidth.org/

The Maurice fics I recommend below are favourites for all sorts of different reasons, and this is not a rigorously ranked list. The list includes short and multi-chapter fics and occasional crossovers, serious Maurice fics, humour and outright crackiness, gen and not. As you might expect from me, there’s a preponderance of Maurice/Alec – but also some of the (IMO) very best Clive fics, occasional Maurice/Clive, some selected very good fics focused on the women of Maurice (Anne, Kitty) – there are more on AO3 – and one Risley (and Risley-esque) tour-de-force.

I’ve purposely picked older Maurice fics, and some beautiful fics not on AO3, on the principle that these won’t be on everyone’s radar. The current/recent Maurice writers active on AO3, whose work I also love, are also very worth reading, but feature only indicatively/tokenistically in this list as I’ve assumed readers are already finding them. Last, I’ve taken the liberty of reccing two of my favourites among my own fics ... not the most ‘obvious’, most-kudos’d ones. Anyway ... enjoy, and festive hope, cheer and health to you all. xx

1) Aurora Mundi by stuffwelike (Yuletide 2010)

After WW1, Clive & Anne travel to Florence & encounter some figures from the past. Healing, affirmative story.

2) Feels Like Snow by sandpipersummer (2009)

Maurice/Alec spend Christmas Day together in their modest cottage, some years after WW1. Beautiful, raw Christmas fic.

3) Bincombe Tunnel by sandpipersummer (2009) [requires AO3 sign-in]

An absolute favourite. (Not sure why the author has locked this; if you prefer it not to be recced, please get in touch.) Alec’s turbulent thoughts and feelings as he travels home after the hotel...

4) Happy Ending by devo79 (2012 on AO3) (earlier on dreamwidth)

Multi-chapter. For those seeking a Maurice/Alec WW1 fic, carefully researched, with very different twists and outcomes from a certain $27 book published this year.

5) Kitty by angie_silvie (2009)

There are a few fics on AO3 centred on Maurice’s sister Kitty Hall, but this predates them and is very good. Inspired by Forster’s abandoned 1914 Epilogue to Maurice.

6) Someone to Last Your Whole Life by chippy8833 (2013)

One for everyone who’s read Forster’s posthumous short story ‘Arthur Snatchfold’ and everyone who hasnt. Maurice and Alec’s first time, reimagined.

7) Someone Else’s Now by aldiara (2013)

A guilty pleasure. One for fans of class-war Alec and uppity Maurice being, ahem, put in his place. Tagged #rough sex #angry sex but consensual.

8) Somebody With Whom to Dance by Ea (eacalendula) (2010)

Post-canon, bittersweet. Clive & Anne on UK holiday in the 1920s. A furtive encounter opens tentative possibilities for Clive.

9) Unless We Remember by MissRizu (2013)

One of a couple of worthwhile multi-chapter Maurice/Alec fics that are solely on ff.net (the other is Bianca Pearl’s The Town Experiment). Some years post-canon, Alec is collared by Clive Durham in the street near the tenement he shares with Maurice.

10) A Most Unpromising Youth by etal (2019)

Inspired, hilarious, cracky, hot, just brilliant. Alec Scudder/Freddy Honeychurch, briefly. etal captures Freddy’s voice to perfection.

11) Jeeves and the Angels Unaware by toodlepipsigner (2010)

Another guilty pleasure. 10-chapter Jeeves & Wooster crossover with Maurice/Alec and a bit of Clive. Not one for the Clive lovers. Definitely one for lovers of pastiche, satire, a bit of smut and a satisfactory ending.

12) The Home Front by kindkit (Yuletide 2009)

Alec-centred with background Maurice, set in England during WW1. Maurice and Alec have refused the draft and live off-grid, subsisting as charcoal-makers.

13) Citizens of the Greenwood by polkadot (Yuletide 2014)

Maurice & Alec’s future together: seven vignettes following them through seven ages of 20th-century/queer history.

14) Alec by Basingstoke (Yuletide 2013)

Post-WW1. Alec, left with a physical disability by the war, is irrepressible as ever.

15) Travels and Investments: Two Gentlemen Abroad by julie_anne (2018)

One multi-chapter story in a wider universe / collection of post-canon works and series by julie_anne. Here, Maurice/Alec, in Italy and wider continental Europe after 1929, amid the rise of fascism.

16) Stories from the Greenwood by annethepancake (2021)

Maurice/Alec, multi-chapter fic post-canon fic, with some lovely ideas, great original characters, and (for me) nice echoes of some earlier Maurice/Alec post-canon fics.

=17) Make You Sorry for It by 12XU (2013)

Blatant self-promotion numero 1. A highly charged reimagining of the non-book-canon scene in the film where (at the suggestion of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) Alec shows up without warning at Maurice’s stockbroking office in the City instead of writing his second letter. Inspired by a long-ago Tumblr post abou the scene concerned. ;D

=17) A Place I Always Fancied by 12XU (2015)

Blatant self-promotion numero 2. Written for the legendary @fengirl88 in response to the prompt ‘make our boys very happy’. Maurice & Alec at the boathouse the morning after. Alec has planned elaborately to ensure there’s no rush for them to leave.

18) Somewhere to Begin by geoviki (2006)

Early Maurice fic, written for what then seemed a non-existent fandom, and absolutely wonderful. Post-canon, post-WW1: Maurice & Alec, both invalided out of the war, take up employment in Cheltenham. But will their secret be discovered on their first day?

19) Anne Clare Wilbraham Woods by angie_silvie (2009)

Anne learns the truth: about the physical requirements of marriage for women, and more than that.

20) Pan Metron Ariston by athousandwinds (2010)

Or, ‘moderation in all things’, LoL. Maurice/Clive, E-rated.

21) A Breath of Liberty by chippy8833 (2014)

A bit more Maurice/Clive fixing: what might have happened if their creaky-chair UST hadn’t been rudely interrupted.

22) Clive’s Bloody Front Porch by eyeslikerain (2018)

Crack, smut, cheeky af. The Alec/Clive fic (after Maurice/Clive’s break-up, before Maurice/Alec; much reference to dog kennels and holes) you didn’t know you needed.

23) A Gentleman’s Tale by OpelForever (2021)

Contemporary multi-chapter opus starting at the tail-end of the 1990s, feat. Clive Durham, scion of Durham Logistics in Amsterdam, ‘coffee’ houses, Alec, much brand placement, and IDEK. This, and OpelForever’s wider millennium-and-after Maurice!verse, are some of the best fun I’ve had in these past Covid months. Just don’t ask me to explain.

24) Divagations of a Prig, Or: The Risley Reshuffle by HotUtilitarian (2017)

I was honoured to win this in a fic exchange: ‘HotUtilitarian’ is a nom-de-plume of a nom-de-plume of a terrifyingly gifted author. Book’verse, Cambridge: Risley and Clive ‘compete for the affections’ of dark!jock Maurice, ‘hairy as a boar’. Just leaving this here.

[ereri-lost-and-found]

Can you help me to search for ereri fanfic where eren or levi did a time travel?

Try these~

Second Time is the Charm by Dreamy_Heichou

(Rated T, 24,112 words, multichapter, complete)

Levi rejected Eren three years ago and deeply regrets it now that he realized how profoundly in love he is with the man. As he hears the news that his girlfriend proposed to him, making Levi lose all hope of winning back the love of his life, he is given the opportunity to go back in time and make things right with Eren. Levi will make the most of the second chance that has been given to him and will fight for a future with Eren by his side.

For Ereri Week 2019: Day 4 - Time Travel

-

Maybe It'll Be Different This Time by magiciansplay

(Rated M, 39,172 words, multichapter, ongoing)

“Eren, listen to me,” when Eren couldn’t focus his eyes on Levi, the man slapped his face gently a few times with both hands, the brunette blinked slowly and then rapidly before Levi knew he was paying attention. “When you get back, no matter what, warn me to not let Isabel and Farlan alone in the 23rd exterior scouting mission, tell me that they could die otherwise, that Erwin doesn’t have the documents I’m looking for but everything will be alright, we won’t have to go back underground. Make me agree to it. That may be able to change something. I’m not asking you to do it, I’m commanding you. You also have to follow my every command in your next try, not anybody else’s but mine, you got that?”

[Or: Eren is in a time loop, but in his ninth loop, he meets Levi before he's even named Squad Captain and before Isabel and Farlan die.]

-

Time Travel by SupaKawaiiDesu

(Rated T, 2,087 words, oneshot, complete)

Suddenly, one of the two doors opened and –Eren couldn’t quite believe his very own eyes- Levi and a second Eren strutted into the room, half-naked and only covered by very revealing towels. He stared at them open-mouthed, unable to do anything.

“Well, this is awkward”, he muttered, trying to brace himself against a shit storm coming from his Corporal and himself. Really fucking awkward.

Or: Eren travels in time and meets himself and Levi ten years in the future.

Part 3 of Ereri Advent Calendar

[fullmetalscullyy]

royai advent calendar 2021

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 happy st andrews day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

tomorrow is december so u know what that means 👀 back at it again with the advent calendar. 24 days of oneshots for royai!

the last few years there’s been a clear christmas theme but after doing 48 oneshots over two years i feel like i’m kind of. spent with the royai christmas theme lol so this year is trope season baybeee. good ol’ fashioned fanfic tropes (and some not so ol’ fashioned) for royai, as well as some fun wee aus i thought up. they each have a wintery~ theme and some have a mention of christmas-time, but not all are directly related to the holiday

to add to the surprise for each day i’m going prompt list-less :) but know that some pure, wholesome, cheesy royai moments are on the way. there’s a wee bit of everything, from coffee shop aus, meet cute fics, and ofc young royai

the oneshots will be posted on ao3 as part of one fic and i’ll post them on tumblr as well at the same time. hope u enjoy them! happy holidays!

2020 advent calendar

2019 advent calendar

[mrs-underhill22]

Inspired by GanMiniMe fanfics for Horizon B7 Advent Calendars 2019 and 2020.

[backslashdelta]

My Fanfiction in 2020

Last year was the year I started writing fanfiction. I was aware of it long before that, but I hadn’t read any fanfic until late 2019, and then several months into 2020 I just had the urge to start writing.

So, I did. What started out as a quick one-shot turned into a 7k fic. And then that turned into a 50k fic, which turned into a whole series (1/2 of which is complete and posted, the other half which remains to be written). And then I started having other one-shot ideas, and other long fic ideas, and now I’ve barely been reading because all I want to do is write but there’s not enough time.

Anyway, after a while, simply looking at the AO3 stats page was not enough for me. Where is the historical data? Where can I see how things change over time?? I made a post about this a while ago. I thought now would be a cool time to look back on some trends since I started keeping track.

If you want to look at some fun charts that will mean nothing to you but do mean something to me, they’re below the break. :)

User Stats

Quite the jump in bookmarks at the end of December! That’s interesting. I also had a significant increase in user subscriptions this month, which I attribute to my ridiculous posting schedule (which I was actually concerned would drive people away from all the emails lol but it looks like I was wrong).

Fic Stats: General (excluding IWOAK)

Still astounded by the immediate popularity of I Want The World To See You’ll Be With Me. I guess there really is a market for fluffy Kurtbastian that I was unaware of. It’s also interesting to see the hits on The Hazards of Love 2 trail off after I finished posting it. Someone decided to unbookmark There Must Be Something In The Water, which left The Hazards of Love 1 as my most bookmarked fic (other than IWOAK, which we’ll get to). I also lost some subscribers to THOL1, but that makes sense because it’s been finished since early September.

Fic Stats: It Was Only A Kiss

By far my most sucessful fic, to the extent that if I included it with the last set of data you wouldn’t be able to see the differences in the other fics very well, they’d just all be mashed together at the bottom. A couple little dips in subscribers, but overall this has been going up very quickly.

I’ve excluded graphs for the Kurtbastian 2020 Advent Calendar series I co-authored with @unhappyending​ just because presenting them all in the same chart gets very cluttered (since there are 25 parts, and the colours become really hard to distinguish from each other) and I don’t really want to break them into sets to present the results. But, as far as stats go, December 1st has the most kudos, comment threads, bookmarks, and subscriptions, but interestingly December 6th beat it out for the highest hit count (just, there’s only a difference of 5 hits).

I’m also not going to bohter presenting podfic results because, well, there’s not a whole lot to present there. Podfics don’t get much traffic, so it’s not very interesting to look at.

Anyway, if you’ve read all of this, I hope you’ve found it at least mildly interesting! I’ve really enjoyed taking some time to look back at all of this.

[theartofdreaming1]

Advent Calendar Fic Rec 2019, Day 17

 “I don’t need a hero, I need a husband” by @babswonder

Super cute DickBabs drabble! <3

[anxiouslymalicious]

Write Christmas Day 4

“The most wonderful present.”

Request: A request for it chapter two Eddie kaspbrak? Where the reader is married to Eddie and pregnant and they go into labour on Christmas eve and gives birth on Christmas Day?

A/N: I hope you like this! I’m not feeling too proud of this work, especially because I’m really not good with children and know almost nothing about pregnancies and childbirth (although there is a newborn in my family) but I hope you’re content with this. If not, hit me up and I’ll rewrite it! Thanks for the request!

To say that Eddie was ecstatic when she broke the news of her pregnancy to him was an understatement. Eddie had done everything in his power to make sure that Y/N felt nothing but comfortable throughout the pregnancy, had bought everything the doctor recommended and bought only the best furniture for the coming baby.

To say it frankly, Eddie was nervous. His wife’s belly grew and with it, so did his nerves until he almost had a panic attack whenever he saw his very pregnant wife wobble around the flat, putting up the last of the christmas decorations that Eddie had missed a few weeks prior. It was Christmas Eve and she wanted everything to be perfect, especially because it might be the baby’s first Christmas.

“Love, maybe you should sit down and let me do this.” Eddie said anxiously, taking the piece out of her hand as she stretched far beyond what he thought was reasonable.

“Eddie, my love, I’ll be alright. This isn’t even light activity.” Y/N chuckled in reply. The doctor had put her on bedrest if she didn’t want to spend the holidays giving birth, but Y/N really was starting to feel restless. Eddie wouldn’t even let her do a single thing around the house, making her feel almost useless.

“You know what the doctor said. Bedrest for you and the youngster.” Eddie replied, pushing his wife gently towards the sofa in the living room. Y/N groaned in return, rolling her eyes playfully.

“You just don’t want a holiday-baby.” she teased her husband who softly pushed her away from him. A gentle kiss was placed on her cheek before Eddie scurried off, continuing what Y/N had started. She leaned back, watching him with eager eyes, sometimes throwing comments at him as to where he should put what, hand always resting on her stomach. The baby was kicking relentlessly, not letting the woman rest for a second. Eddie stopped by Y/N’s side every now and then, asking her if she needed something, telling his child to behave for their mum, but sadly, to no avail.

It wasn’t until late at night of that evening, after a grand dinner shared just between the married couple, that the baby finally gave their mother the chance to rest for a bit. It was only the calm before the storm, though.

In the late hours of Christmas Eve, just as Y/N felt cozy enough to drift off into a hazy state between full consciousness and slumber, she felt a strange sensation in her lower stomach, followed by a warm trickling between her legs. Y/N gulped a little, sitting up. She was nervous, yes, but she knew that she had to remain as calm as possible. For her husband.

“Eddie, babe, please don’t panic, but uh… I think my water just broke.” she spoke as calmly as possible. Eddie’s head whipped around, eyes the size of plates, mouth twisted into something between pure bliss and utter fear.

“Holy fucking shit.” Eddie said, trying to move out from under her body, running around the place to gather everything they would need.

“Y/N, do you know where the hospital bag is?” Eddie screamed from the bedroom. Through the pain of the contractions, Y/N managed to groan out a ‘next to the coat rack’. After a few minutes, Eddie was ready to carry his pregnant wife to the car, driving as fast as possible to the nearest hospital, careful not to speed.

Whenever she let out a sound of pain, Eddie would hold his wife’s hand as best as he could while still navigating through the surprisingly light traffic. And even as they arrived at the hospital, nurses and doctors continuously checking in on the pair, Eddie did his very best not to freak out fully and instead comfort his wife.

“Fuck, we’re having a baby. This is happening. We’re having a baby. Baby, we’re having a baby.” Eddie kept on repeating whenever they were left alone in the room, although he wasn’t sure if he was babbling out of excitement or fear. Probably both, and more. After all, he had been pushed into the biggest emotional rollercoaster of his life. At least, his babbling managed to put a smile on his wife’s face.

“One last push, Mrs. Kaspbrak.” the midwife said after countless hours of labour. It came as a relief to Y/N who was sweaty and scared. But happy. With an animalic scream, she tightened her grip on her husband’s hand, making the man whimper as he kissed her forehead, and pushed.

Screaming filled the room. A baby’s screaming. Eddie gasped, eyes glassy with unshed tears as his lips twisted into the biggest smile.

“You did it, baby. You did it, my love. I’m so proud of you, thank you so much.” Eddie whispered as he placed a sloppy but passionate kiss on her lips.

“Would the father like to cut the cord?” asked a nurse, carefully holding the newborn. Y/N looked at her husband, a teasing yet tired smile on her lips as she watched his features twist with insecurities.

“I- uh,” Eddie looked over to his wife who nodded encouragingly, “uhm… Yes, yes, I want to.” he said, following the trained medical’s instructions. The baby was still wailing in discomfort, that was until the newborn was finally placed on their mother’s chest.

“Hello baby, I’m your mommy.” Y/N breathed out, ignoring the actions of the medical team around her. Eddie joined her, hands gently travelling over his wife’s head, eyes fixed on the tiny being.

“Your little angel came just at the right time. Merry Christmas.” The nurse said, handing Eddie a few fresh towels. He grinned at his family.

“Merry Christmas indeed. Thank you for the most wonderful christmas present anyone could ever ask for.” He mumbled as he turned back to his wife.

“I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak. With all my heart.” Y/N whispered, eyes wandering from the little being on her bare chest to the man she married a few years prior.

“And I love you, Y/N Kaspbrak. More than life itself.” Eddie whispered back. The littlest Kaspbrak made a noise, seemingly complaining, feeling left out one would think. Eddie chuckled a little, as did his wife.

“And I think it’s safe to say that we love you the most, baby Kaspbrak.” Eddie said, a finger gently travelling over the baby’s soft cheek.

[patsdrabbles]

Not Leaving Till You Smile

Title: Not Leaving Till You Smile Fandom: M*A*S*H Pairing: Hawkeye Pierce/BJ Hunnicutt Rating: Gen Word Count: 600 Summary: “I’m not leaving you till you smile, y’know?” There’s a gentle squeeze of his hand and BJ looks up at Hawk through heavy eyelids, his eyes red. (hurt/comfort; tw for animal death.) A/N: Part 4 of my Daily Fanfic Chocolates calendar :D Another fic that I wrote for a prompt writing challenge I did with my friend @onekisstotakewithme a couple of months ago. ^^ Please enjoy ❤

(links to AO3 and the DFC masterpost are in the reblogs!)

“I’m not leaving you till you smile, y’know?”

There’s a gentle squeeze of his hand and BJ looks up at Hawk through heavy eyelids, his eyes red. Hawkeye crouches down and pulls him into a hug before the movement even registers to BJ. It’s a soft, warm hug and BJ wants to bury himself in the steadiness that is Hawk’s body against his.

He almost starts crying again, but he feely silly about it – and the next second, silly about holding back the tears.

***

Yesterday evening, a little kid had stood at the entrance of the Swamp, one hand in Radar’s, one hand deeply buried in a brown dog’s fur. The dog hadn’t been alright; they had been able to tell so at a glance. Hawkeye had gone and asked Potter if anyone would be able to help the animal, but upon taking a look at the dog, Potter had only shaken his head sadly. “Nah, son. I may know little of animals that aren’t horses, but this one, we can’t help anymore except by giving him a nice last couple of hours.”

BJ had been devastated to hear that the colonel’s assessment was the same as their own assumption. He offered to run a few blood tests, mostly for the kid’s sake, but with none of them a veterinarian and no clues regarding what was wrong with the animals but its heavy, rattling breath they were at a loss of what to do.

They did run the blood tests (as painlessly and quickly as they could) but it was hard to give the young kid any real hope regarding the animal’s chance of survival. Radar stayed by the boy’s side the entire time, trying to calm him down. BJ felt like Radar was the only one accomplishing anything, whereas he and Hawk were grasping at straws.

It was a mere hour or two later that the dog – named Bomi as they had learned from Radar – passed away.

Hawkeye ushered BJ outside, when he saw that Radar was doing a good job at comforting the kid and Colonel Potter was coming to help him.

“You’ve been shaking for the past hour, Beej,” he stated matter-of-factly. It didn’t have the sound of a question but BJ knew that it was one.

“He.. The dog reminded me a lot of my own dog, from back when I was a kid,” BJ eventually replied. Then, suddenly unable to hold back tears: “He got hit by the neighbor’s car when I was nine.”

Hawkeye led him toward the Officer’s Club and ordered him a drink.

***

“Tell you what, you’ll crawl into my cot with me and I’ll read you some of that novel my dad sent to me last month.”

“You’ve already lent me that one twice.” BJ’s defeated voice makes Hawkeye pull him even closer to himself.

“Yes, but Charles is in post-OP all night and you need some snuggling and a terribly bad crime novel to keep your mind off things for a while.” He pushes himself up from where he is crouching, pulling BJ up with him.

“Alright?”

There’s a tear running down BJ’s cheek and Hawkeye carefully swipes it away before giving him a peck on his cheek.

“Come ‘ere,” he asks him as he gently pulls BJ toward his cot and down.

BJ snuggles up closer when Hawk places a hand on top of his head, fingers running calmingly through his hair as he begins reading the story, and the smallest of smiles finally starts forming on BJ’s lips as he allows his eyes to fall shut.

[rainbow-of-the-lord]

Merry and Bright

And with this I am completely caught up on @notfunnydean‘s SPN Advent Calendar! Thank you for reading! This prompt was “Advent Wreath”.

Previous: “Blizzard”

Next: “Eggnog”

Read on Ao3

Making your own Advent Wreath was a tradition Castiel knew spanned back quite a few generations, though no one in his family knew exactly how it started. But it was honored and revered, and Castiel knew that his first Christmas in his new apartment with Dean deserved to be honored in the same way.

Convincing his stubborn mule of a boyfriend who barely did anything outside of his comfort zone that this was important, though, was an entirely different story.

“I’m not just going out and buying one, Dean, Advent Wreaths are meant to be homemade.”

“Even the candles?” Dean stood in the middle of the doorway to the kitchen of their apartment, where Castiel had set up shop. He was dressed in a loose track shirt from college and gray, soft pajama pants, the outfit one Castiel used when he was cleaning or doing anything creative so he didn’t get too messy.

“Yes, Dean. No, don’t give me that look. I wasn’t about to order four wax candles from halfway across the world when the craft shop was a block away and half the price.”

“Cas, I love you, okay? So much. Ride or die. But you have to clear with me the next time you bring pine and wax into our place. I don’t even do this stuff.”

“This ‘stuff’ is our tradition, and it’s important. I respect that you don’t exactly ‘subscribe’ but please be respectful of me as well.”

Dean seemed to give up, simply opting to step over the crafting supplies and working open the fridge to get the meatloaf leftovers from the other night. He only ever went for leftovers when work was hard, and it made Castiel’s heart almost hurt to see it.

“You’re welcome to help me, Dean.” Castiel hesitantly offered, sort of judging Dean out of the corner of his eye. “All I’m really doing is shaping the wreath and making the candles. I’ll likely be done by tonight, or early tomorrow.”

“I dunno, Cas.” Dean swirled the mashed potatoes on the side of his dish with a one shouldered shrug. “You know I don’t… do, that kind of stuff. We already bought the tree your sister used.” The tree in question was a five and a half foot plastic tree that they had yet to take out of the box; it was more than a little hard in the area to chop down a tree and bring it up to an apartment for a month at most before tossing it aside. Luckily Anna had given them the deal when her and her new husband have moved away. “Where does it even go?”

“It can go anywhere. Though the table might be nice.” Castiel noted, taking stock of their small, square table. “You’ll like it when it’s done, I’m sure. It looks so pretty when it’s done.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Dean gave a small smile and things fell silent after that. Castiel hoped he could deliver on what he said; and more than that, he hoped he could get a bit of cheer on Dean’s face instead of seeing the holiday as an obligation and the season as an unending cycle of cars breaking down in the snow and frost. And when Dean walked away, tired but still with enough energy to run his fingers through Castiel’s hair slightly, he doubled down on his efforts.

The candles, for what they were, were relatively well put together; they weren’t lopsided, for one, which Castiel was exceedingly grateful for if nothing else. Yes, he had some pricks on his hands that were still slightly itchy to the touch from nettles, and was sure there was still some around on the floor, but it looked rather nice and his chest swelled with pride gazing at it.

“That’s it?” Dean came up next to Castiel once he was called in.

“Yes, that’s ‘it’.” Castiel gave a small smile. “And just in time to light the first candle. Dim the lights, please?” Castiel was slightly surprised to see Dean actually go along with what he said, but he gladly accepted it as he struck up a match and lit the first purple candle. The little flame danced in the dark and Castiel admired it for a long time.

“So… What’s it all about, anyway?” Dean asked as he came up and wrapped an arm around Castiel’s waist, though his voice sounded almost disinterested. Castiel looked over and found dean staring at him through his eyelashes. The dim candlelight in his face make him look younger than he was, in some strange way.

“You light one each week until the week of Christmas. This one… this one signifies Hope. For good things, for better things.” Castiel pointed to the lit candle. “Then the next week is Faith. The pink one is Joy… and the final purple one is Peace.”

“You get philosophical sometimes, you know that?” Dean joked slightly, earning an elbow to the ribs.

“You’re an assbutt, these are important.”

“Why can’t you light candles just because?” Dean asked. “For what you want?”

“That’s not how it works, Dean. We have the weeks for that.”

“You’re adorable with how heated you get sometimes, you know that?”

Cas was only glad the low candlelight hid how his face heated up.

“I’m gonna be honest… You don’t normally do this stuff. I know you don’t, not since you moved out.” Dean murmured after a long time, eyeing Castiel again. “I can’t remember the last time you went to a church activity that wasn’t a fundraiser.”

Castiel leaned into Dean more and considered his next words for a long time, looking into the tiny, flickering flame. “It’s not so much the worship itself. It’s the matter of family. We had our traditions at home. We would all work together and make a family wreath, or- Or Gabe would give us ungodly amounts of sugar and tinsel and let Anna and I decorate our house. And I understand you don’t have those traditions, really. I’m not trying to sound like I’m whining. I… I just want us to have a happy first Christmas as a couple. Make things all “holly jolly”, you know.”

Dean spoke after a long time, with fondness and loved laced in his tone underneath the words. “You dummy. I don’t need all that. You’re here, aren’t you? I don’t need strings of lights and garland and all that, really. Don’t go bending over backwards. But if it really meant that much to you, I would’ve helped you. ‘M sorry if you didn’t think I would…” Dean rubbed the back of his head. “I guess I’ve just been busy and grumpy with everything happy. But really, Cas. It’s important to you, so I’ll make it important to me. I’ll even light the next few candles, if that’s what you want.”

Castiel watched Dean and could tell he wasn’t lying, even in the candlelight. He meant every word he said. And it was enough to bring a small smile to his face. “I love you, Winchester.” He intoned very seriously.

“And I love you, Novak.” Dean smiled and kissed him gently before pulling away.

Through persuasion and a good deal of love, the wreath made it onto the front of the Christmas cards. And on the back were Castiel and Dean -- per great insistence from the latter -- in matching ugly sweaters.

[branwyn-says]

2020 fanfic review meme!

Thanks to @livenudebigfoot for tagging me and providing me with a legitimate excuse to reflect self-indulgently on my special interest: writing obsessive amounts of fic for Michael Emerson vehicles. What fic did I disgorge from my brain maw this year? This was the year I started writing for Person of Interest, the fandom that changed my life! I found a fannish community on the Subway discord and joined a whole bunch of exchanges, which I’d never done before. 

In February for chocolate_box, I wrote 7 stories:

The Life of the World to Come (Person of Interest, Reese/Finch): Canon compliant fix it in which Reese wakes up in a lakeside cabin about 6 weeks after he died. Unspecified magical bargains were involved.

Arctic Flower (POI, Grace/Jessica): An AU in which Jessica rushes to assist Grace when a cyclist knocks her down in the park, and their friendship enables her to leave Peter before it’s too late.

A Bird of Foreign Tongue (POI, Reese/Finch): A sequel to Arctic Flower in which Harold finds still-in-the-CIA Reese and offers him an escape route.

Objet d’Art (POI, Finch/Grace): During a coffee date early in their pre-canon relationship, Harold has a guilty conscience about all the secrets he’s hiding from Grace.

Kintsugi (POI, Finch/Grace): The longer sequel to Objet D’art. Grace gets sick. She doesn’t have health insurance. Harold panics and decides to take care of her himself.

Incentives (POI, Reese/Fusco): John’s in the trunk. 

Fixer-Upper (POI, Reese/Zoe Morgan): In every fandom, I write gender AUs. This one is Zoe Morgan taking always-a-girl!Reese under her wing.

Then in the spring, I wrote one story for the Hurt/Comfort Exchange and two for Exchange of Interest:

Line of Duty (POI, Reese/Fusco) 14k about Fusco making really self destructive life choices thanks to low self worth and unresolved trauma, while Reese is forced to stand back and wring his hands. And then, you know, exact a lot of vengeance. Harold has soup.

Number Every One (POI, Reese/Nathan): AU in which Nathan saves Jessica, and Reese comes asking questions.

Eden (POI, Reese/Jessica): A perfect, ordinary moment in John’s relationship with the one person who connects him to the world.

And then I wrote some stories for @livenudebigfoot because I enjoy making her happy.

An Indulgence (POI, Finch/Fusco): Fusco is having an emergency and Finch is there for him. My first foray into ABO and literally all they do is hug; is this my brand?

Bunnymoon (Lost, Ben Linus/John Locke): I acquired this whole new fandom/OTP without meaning to, and then I wrote 8000 words of animal shelter AU for it.

Shipoween was next, and I was very proud of the two stories I wrote because both of them are short and this is hard when you exhale novel-length plot outlines instead of carbon dioxide. Also they are both creepy and kinda experimental, like back in my Buffy days. It was also my first time pinch hitting for an exchange and I got a nice little buzz off pulling that off with one day to deadline.

a lucid dream (Lost, Ben Linus/John Locke): Ben is having a very bad dream, and it’s all his own fault.

One In the Eye (POI, Finch/Fusco): Harold’s a monster. Fusco’s a cryptid.

This was my first year doing a Big Bang exchange and the story I wrote for it is, in my own opinion, the best thing I have ever written.

Kingfishers (POI, Reese/Finch/Grace): An AU in which Harold didn’t introduce himself to Grace that day in the park. Years later, after Harold starts working with John, they receive her number. 

I wrote a popular Star Trek fic in 2019 and then went more than a year and a half without updating, two chapters before the end. I’m sorry, I’m a monster. Now there’s only one chapter left before the end. I’m shooting to get it finished by the end of January. I’m sorry I suck so much.

K’diwa: A Steamy Novel of Interspecies Romance (Star Trek AOS, Kirk/Spock) And then, after a swift crash course in participating in fics and exchanges, I took on managing the POI Advent 2020 Calendar. I needed to write a five-parter in order to plug holes in the posting schedule, and a Muppet crossover was born.

A Muppet Christmas Carol, Starring Harold Finch (Person of Interest, Muppets)

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other:

I’ll be 39 next month. I’ve been writing seriously since I was 15. I was a very good writer for a 15 year old, for a 19 year old, but I could never have dreamed of writing the way I do now. No amount of hard work, practice, reading, conferring with other writers, editing manuscripts, or thinking about craft could have made me the kind of writer it’s possible for me to be in my late 30s. Youthful geniuses are a myth. I’m really grateful my agent couldn’t sell my novel 10 years ago--when I finish the next one I will get to introduce myself to the world as the writer I am now.

Most surprising fic you wrote this year:

Oh, definitely Bunnymoon. I had no idea I would be writing fic for Lost at all, much less that I would be writing a mundane AU with comedy and my first E rated scene in years. It is entirely the fault of bigfoot, who infected me with the fandom in general and the animal shelter concept in specific.

How you’ve grown as a writer this year:

I’ve learned a lot about what not to say--when to trust the reader--and I have benefited hugely from thinking hard about formal structure. Every idea used to turn into a novel whether I wanted to or not, but revisiting high school English lessons about short story structure vs 3 act structure has changed my whole game.

What’s coming in 2021:

I would really like to write one more story in my Harold & Grace series, another story in the Jessica Lives AU, and I’ll def. sign up for HCEX and Shipoween. But also, this year I am writing a novel.  Tagging @theimprobable1, @liz-squids, @argylepiratewd, @sidewaystime

[its-captain-sir]

2019 Star Wars Advent Calendar!

Slapped this thing together way last minute but here it is! A Star Wars countdown from now to the end of the year! There's really no rules for this at all, it's just something fun to do. Want to wait till the end of the week and post all of those at once? Go right ahead! Don't want to do a few of the days? Totally fine! You can just write your answer, post a pic, draw, anything! Whatever you want to do is up to you!

Favorite movie

Favorite show

Favorite era

Favorite planet/place

Favorite species

Favorite non-sentient creature

Favorite character

Favorite side character

Favorite droid

Favorite villain

Favorite Jedi

Favorite line about the Force

Funniest moment

Saddest moment

Favorite scene

Favorite outfit

Favorite blooper/deleted scene

Favorite actor

Favorite movie poster

Favorite Skywalker

Favorite quote

Favorite meme/joke

Favorite fanfic

Favorite canon pairing

Favorite non-canon pairing

Favorite book/comic

Favorite ship (the flying kind)

Favorite thing from legends

Favorite piece of lore

One death you would change

Your perfect AU

Since this is being posted so late, I'd appreciate if people reblogged it, even if they aren't doing it themselves, to help spread the word to anyone else who might want to try this!

Hope everyone enjoys their month of Star Wars! :D

[doctorroseprompts]

Thanks to the overwhelming support by our wonderful fic writers, 31 Days of Ficmas is back for its third year! There are some new words on this list, in addition to old classics. 

What is 31 Days of Ficmas?

It’s a writing challenge based on the old fanfic advent calendars that have been around for ages. We’ve provided you with a list of 31 words, one for each day in December. You can write a fic based on each one or combine a few prompts into one story, or just skip around and use the ones you like. No rules!

I don’t like holiday stories.

That’s okay! Very few of the words are strictly holiday-themed. Several of them are wintery instead of holiday, and honestly most of them could be used for completely non-seasonal fics.

Do I have to wait until December to write?

Nope! In fact, we encourage you to write ahead. As many people discovered last year, trying to keep up with a daily fic in December can be… its own kind of challenge.

Is there an AO3 collection like there was last year? What about a Tumblr tag?

Yep! You can add your stories to the 31 Days of Ficmas 2019 collection on AO3.

And on Tumblr, you can tag 31 Days of Ficmas. (Please tag doctorroseprompts as well. Finding things in our activity in December is impossible.)

If you have any other questions, you can send us an ask. For now, let us present…

31 Days of Ficmas (2019 Edition)

1. Workshop 2. Tinsel 3. Cider 4. Tree 5. Gingerbread 6. Eggnog 7. Garland 8. Ugly jumper 9.  Party 10. Cookies/biscuits 11. Ornaments 12. Family 13. Celebrate 14. Peppermint 15. Love 16. Naughty and/or Nice 17. Wreath 18. Santa and/or Elves 19. Chestnuts 20. Gifts 21. Coal 22. Ribbon 23. Joy 24. Stockings 25. Unwrap 26. Friends 27. Rooftop 28. Earmuffs 29. Star 30. Mistletoe 31. Bright