#also wanted to mostly list people and fics that don't typically get listed :)

[bylertruther]

Hello hai I’m messaging you because you seem knowledgeable about the fanfic sphere and also seem to be one of the few people that actually understand Will and stuff so I was wondering if you have any fic recs that characterize him well. Obviously ur a byler person so stuff like that but if you have any others you think are good (like Will interacting with Jonathan or something) that would also be cool. Don’t answer if you don’t want to but if you do it would be much appreciated <3

ooooh, fun! i love talking about fan fiction, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to gush. :) i haven't read everything out there, but i'll try my best to share what i have come across. i'm very sick right now so i'm most definitely leaving authors out, but here are some that i found myself really enjoying and that resonated with me:

anything by wiseatom and boygirl. their will always reads as really balanced to me, and that same gentleness and whimsy that will has and represents in canon is threaded through and highlighted in their works in such a fantastic, reverent way. they allow will to be as he is, to exist in his every shade, and it's so lovely to read. i always come away from their works feeling like they really love him and don't want or need him to be anyone other than who he is.

belonging to your dreams. it's a series featuring richie and will! the first part focuses on their friendship, and the second part is an in-progress season four continuation that is admittedly more of an ensemble piece, but the will scenes are still fantastic. honestly, this feels like the biggest love letter to will byers ever. they don't make him out to be anyone that he isn't and they really capture his values in such a lovely way. it has so much heart and so much love—for the source material, for will, and for those that see themselves in him. i post screenshots from these fics all the time and reread them over and over again, because they just make me so happy and fill me with so much love for him lol.

anything by byliever. they write married adult byler with kids and i really, really enjoy it! i feel that their writing and characterization is really unique in this fandom—it provides a perspective that i've yet to see in any other works. it feels really true to character, too, and i love the depth they've given them. so, so, so much love in their writing.

anything by pseudologia. it's unfortunately rare to see people break out of that "hyper-repressed will (re: everything, but especially his sexuality)" characterization that's common in all types of fandom works, and this author's work feels like one of the most accurate representations of what an older will could be like. it just feels like a natural progression for him and the journey that he's on now in the show, and i'm so glad that someone sees the vision, too. their will sounds like will, thinks like will, and has little details that i love and personally agree with. another really balanced portrayal, i feel—he's allowed to be so many things and it all just feels so natural and so human.

be the boy. it's mostly mike pov, but my god... it's just so beautiful, fun, and full of love and life. i reread it while grabbing the link and i got all emotional again. it's just... beautiful. that's the only word i can think to describe it. they capture his essence so wonderfully in this lighthearted context—that unwillingness to love anything other than what he loves with his entire heart and his commitment to that, that mischievousness and razor-sharp awareness that he has, his capacity for mercy and hope, the strength that he draws from mike and his love for him—and it really pulls at your heartstrings. the ending scene is perfection. the jonwill is jonwilling. the willel is willeling. a feel-good fic for sure.

an ode to hope (and other funny things). i think about this fic whenever i eat ziti now <3 hehe. yet another fic that i felt captured will's heart, his hope, his love, and his merciful nature so, so beautifully, and with such care, too. it's such a treat to read and it leaves you feeling held.

The Breath That Passed From You To Me. mermaid!will au, who cheered? another author that you can tell really loves will. beautiful world- and character-building. this author captures will perfectly in every single way, i feel. he's brave, sincere, loving, and adaptable. he's just... will. their writing is so dear to me. a must read for sure.

anything by smoosnoom (moonsooms). they're well-known for a reason! i particularly love that they're not afraid to shine a light on and bring out every side of the characters they write about. their characters and the stories they tell are always very human, very layered, and treated with such care.

blackdeathmamba you will always be famous! another fantastic writer with such vision, such creativity, and so much heart. their characters are layered, complex, and so human-like.

I'll Be Waiting, Time After Time. the byler fluff of all time to ever and that will ever. so good, so sweet, and so full of love. will's reactions are so very will and i love his relationships with everyone else here.

Wrathful Wishing Star and Poisoned Apple Tree. a tribute!will x victor!mike hunger games au! so riveting and so beautiful. fantastic writing, world-meshing, and characterization. will is so balanced here, too. he's tenderhearted, brave, strong, scared, smart, determined, loving, sweet, and so much more. this fic really doesn't get the attention it deserves, i feel!

anything by lilacline! oh... my god. whatever i say won't be enough. if you haven't read lilac's work, then don't even look at me. literally click away right now and get to reading! chop chop! seriously just fucking superb all around in every way. no words can do it justice—it's just something you feel. even when will is a bat, he's still will. i just. no words! only an immense sense of love for their writing!

it goes without saying that this is not an all-encompassing list! i've only read a small fraction of all that's out there, and i'm relying on sick-brain memory right now to boot, too.

also, as flattered as i am, i want to reiterate that the king understanders and knowers are ultimately the duffers themselves. these are just the works that i, personally, felt captured will's canon essence in such a brilliant and scratched-an-itch-in-my-brain way that i came away from them feeling... changed? they touched something in my heart in a way that i struggle to put into words (clearly).

anyway, i hope there's something in here that's new to you and that you'll like. happy reading! 💙💛

[theminecraftbee]

Hi! I’m like 90% sure you answered this already, but I was wondering if you had any advice on keeping all the hermits in character? There just too many for me to keep track of.

actually, unlike the answer to "do you have a list of characterization notes for each hermit, i want help writing [x hermit]", i have an answer to "there are too many hermits to keep track of"! and it's, uh, maybe not the answer you expect/want to hear? but...

my advice for keeping all the hermits in character is that you don't actually need to write all the hermits.

some stories ARE served by an ensemble cast! but many stories are not; you'll note most of my fics have a cast that is really only two or three leads deep, sometimes four or five in my larger casts but normally two or three! and that's because trying to keep a bigger cast than that perfectly in-character is REALLY HARD because you do not have the space in your story for it. read a LOT of things; MOST people do not fully flesh out a cast of 26 in their stories! because there just is not time.

there are two solutions to this. the first is, if you are committed to an ensemble cast, accept that everyone won't have as much depth to begin with. in large ensemble casts, it's pretty normal for everyone to just sort of have One Character Trait each, except for whoever the most common POV characters are, and that's okay. 

additionally, you'll note most TRUE ensemble casts are found in things that are long-running; the way something like an ace attorney game or a shonen fleshes out its ensemble cast is that it'll take turns with who's turn it is to get characterization. before it's that character's "turn" to have their backstory/characterization/motives explored, they typically stick to the point in their arc/character traits that have already been revealed, and that is okay! economy of storytelling is important, after all, and no audience is going to be able to follow twenty-six character arcs happening simultaneously. like, that's normal. that's fine. so use shortcuts to get through them!

the second solution is like... just don't write all the hermits! choose the ones you are comfortable with (or, alternately, you want to get more comfortable with by practicing). those are now your leads. focus in on characterizing THOSE GUYS and ONLY THOSE GUYS correctly for your story. use other hermits as bit side characters as needed, but they won't need to be characterized as well, because they are side characters.

and like. okay. that's the thing: it is OKAY if you have particular hermits you write less often or that you use as side characters. fandom sometimes shames people for not having everyone be a richly-characterized, perfectly in-character character, but like... there are TWENTY-SIX HERMITS. you will not be able to write them all perfectly. hell, i take shortcuts to write them all too (mostly related to my ability to write efficient dialogue but that's a thing you learn with practice and i can't really easily teach you to do), and i still get praised for writing them alright! i certainly don't even try to claim i keep track of all twenty-six hermits in every fic i write with them. that would be absurd. it is okay to have leads, to focus in on specific characters, and almost certainly better for your story, i promise.

anyway the third answer here is "also you just need to practice" but i acknowledge that's the boring non-answer. it's true, unfortunately. just... practice, and if there's a specific hermit you're trying to write that you're shaky on, practice them and watch a few of their videos to at least get the cadence for how they talk down, and you'll start to figure out what to do with them.

so,,,,,,,, yes i hope this actually helps with your question,

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Why is the answer always "Levi said this Levi did this" whenever one asks about the signs of Eruri in canon? Levi's side is pretty clear, but every time I talk to an Eruri and I ask "but why do you think Erwin loved Levi" the answer is very long but it's mostly empty and just "I am sure he did" or "but Levi loved him so Eruri is canon". Sorry this isn't a "hehehe your ship is one sided it's not canon" type of question. It's more of a writing-wise question, since you are a writer yourself I thought you'd give the best answer to this.

I am wondering, is this because of lack of Erwin's pov in aot manga or anime? I know Erwin is important and plays an important role and story revolves around him in s3 p2 and all that but when you look at the bigger picture he's mostly just there. He's in the story but you don't see his pov. We don't get to see the inside of his head until the end. Is this why "does Erwin love Levi" question is a hot topic in aot fandom always? Or are there any side stories like smartpass aus that suggest Erwin had feelings for Levi? I'm sorry I don't know those very well I only know the manga and the anime.

Lastly, I am sure you answered this before but my question is very specific, do you actually believe it was mutual? After all it's fiction and you don't need their love to be mutual to ship them. People ship characters who barely interact. It's what fandom is and that's totally normal and valid. I guess I am wondering if you ever doubted, th ship or even yourself which I do a lot (in a "oh I love this so much and I read so much fics I made myself believe" way) Thanks I hope this doesn't sound rude or offensive, my English isn't very good so if I sound rude that must be it it's not my intention :)

Ooof there’s  a lot of different questions here but I think they boil down to the following: 

Are Erwin and Levi’s feelings for each other mutual? / Does Erwin reciprocate Levi’s feelings?

Why do people question Erwin’s relationship to Levi? 

Do I personally believe their relationship was mutual, and have ever “doubted the ship”?

I’ve answered the first question many, many times over the years. You can read all my various answers here.  In short I do think that Erwin reciprocated Levi’s feelings and I think the evidence is there in the manga, the official guidebooks, the Smartpass stories, and the side content for anyone who cares to see it. I’m not going to list all the side content here, but there’s a very old post by @erbeansandravioli that links to a lot of it: Eruri receipts.

As to why people question Erwin’s relationship to Levi, well that’s an interesting one.  Some people clearly just don’t get Erwin’s character (see the previous ask I just answered), they don’t understand his role in the plot or the significance of his relationship to Levi.  For example I’ve seen people arguing passionately that Levi’s vow had nothing to do with Erwin, which is just mind boggling to me. It’s certainly true that Erwin is a much harder character to read than Levi who very much wears his heart on his sleeve.  Erwin is more reserved, and holds his cards closer to his chest.  However the fact that Levi is the only one who he reveals his true self to is significant. Daisuke Ono put it beautifully when he said in an interview that the amplitude of Erwin’s feelings is so great that it can be hard to see.  

It could also be that some, perhaps younger, readers just don’t recognise their relationship for what it is. It’s certainly not a typical shounen romance, but it is a deeply believable adult relationship; one that is based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. This is from a previous ask I answered on the subject:

It frustrates me enormously when people deny their canon relationship, despite Yams being at paints to explain it repeatedly in the guidebooks. I want to shake them and ask what the hell they think a relationship looks like when you’re an exhausted 30 + year old war veteran who has spent their entire life fighting for survival.  It looks like this; finding someone who you can trust with your life. If you were to ask me what characterizes a successful adult relationship I would say it’s exactly this; mutual trust, respect and understanding, and when push comes to shove, the willingness to do everything in your power to help the person you hold most dear, even if that means letting them go. 

And as to whether I’ve ever doubted the ship, the answer to that would be no, never.  Sure we’ve never seen them swear undying love in canon (though some would argue with that and point to Erwin’s "Arigatō Levi".) I wrote this in response to an ask about Eruri canonicity: 

Do you mean that you don’t believe they’re canon because we never see them kiss? Because they never marry?  Because the main focus of the story isn’t romance?  All those things are true, but in my opinion, they’re also not the only things that make a relationship canon.  Particularly when that relationship is between two war-weary 30 year old men who have been fighting for survival almost their entire lives. The irony is that, in some ways, Erwin and Levi’s relationship is actually quite conventional. They really do behave a bit like an old married couple.  They have a long standing relationship that has matured over many years, they have their own weird sense of humour, they’re not afraid to challenge each other, but they care about one another deeply, and they also trust each other unconditionally.  That’s all the canon evidence I need tbh.

Having said that, you are absolutely right that you don’t need any canon evidence to ship a couple.  Hell, I’ve had great fun written Hanji and Petra as a side ship and I don’t think they ever even interacted in canon.  In Erwin and Levi’s case though there is more than enough evidence in canon to attest to the significance of their relationship. 

Hope this answers your questions.

[jomeimei421]

you got any orv fic recs 🙏🏼

BOY I sure do. This list is going to be pretty long, so I'll put it below the cut.

Mei's ORV Fic Reccs

Spoilers for ORV until the epilogue!

Post-Epilogue by the1864

GEN, yoohankim if you squint. This one is one of my favorite ORV fics at the moment so it's going first in this list! It picks up right where 551 leaves off, and every single character is written absurdly well, especially the main trio! Great if you're looking for KDJ recovery stuff.

Rendezvous by WindsofTime

Joongdok. A reimagining of select scenes from ORV, if KDJ and YJH made more use of Midday Tryst, told from YJH's point of view. A tiny bit different from canon, but not enough to call it canon divergence. The babygirl YJH fic ever. Op GETS him.

The False Last Act by younglegends

GEN. If you read any fic on this list, please read this one. I can't say anything about it without spoiling parts of it, and I really don't want to do that. Extremely well executed. Lovely, comforting, and will make your stomach flip like you've stared too long into the abyss. Read this fic TWICE. Read it TWO (2) TIMES.

My Cooking was Always Better with You (Now if only you would eat it) by pave_ment

GEN, joongdok if you squint. For those who lament over the fact that we never got to see any scenes from YJH's 81st regression cooking adventure I present to you: Dungeon Meshi AU, ft. chimera KDJ and bratty chef adventurer YJH. Enjoy!

Tell Me I Did Good Until Now by featherx

GEN. with a little sangsoo on the side. KDJ returns post epilogue, but stays a child in body and mind. This one had me reeling for the whole week when I read it. Sweet and melancholy. I especially loved YJH being bullied by children. KDJ is really, profoundly loved in this one.

An Incomplete Record of Correspondence Between The Magnificent, Unbiased, Genius Author Han Su-yeong and The Jackass Who Dares to Edit Her Work by Dragonomatopoeia

Joongdok. Yoohan's annoying arguments in the ORV shared google doc. The concept and title alone are too funny to not put on this list.

The Prologue Past the Epilogue by AVoresmith

Yoohankim, though mostly just JD at the moment. Of all the ORV fics I've ever read, I think this fic comes to closest to imitating the actual writing style of ORV along with nailing the characterizations with pinpoint precision. Also contains a JD kiss chapter that is more intense than any actual nsfw scene they could have wrote. There are some caveats to this recommendation though:

It gets slightly NSFW in the latest chapter.

Biyoo is several hundred years old and is treated as an adult, not a kid. There will be mention of Biyoo in relationships with adult partners -- including implied YJH. In my opinion it's handled tactfully, but it's also something that might turn some people off to this fic, so please be aware!

LGY has a big puppy love crush on KDJ. Obviously completely one-sided, but it's there.

Home Invasion by misoriri

GEN. KDJ gets shingles and has to be taken to the doctor. YJH breaks a door and then looms in the kitchen like an evil lamp post. JHW bites a tomato like an apple. LJY gets demolished at Club Penguin Card Jitsu. A short read, but hysterical. KCom is so fucking funny in this.

I saw you in a dream by featherx

GEN, Doksoo if you squint. OD meets the HSY of his new worldline, and can't help feeling like he knows her from another time, another place. Had to lay down after this one. Solid 999 and SP fam content, as well as typical YHK style cosmic unbreakable bonds.

We are A Woven Thread by ksalientian

Yoohankim. A reincarnation AU. I read this one a while back but I found it again recently and it still hits just as hard! The cosmic codependence trio finds themselves trapped in another looping cycle, but as is always the case with them, they always find each other and are okay in the end.

A Short Pause by Je_te_veux

GEN, but can be read as JD. An episode set between 517 and 520, a day in the life of YJH, and having some time to think. JTV is a Chinese writer, and you will need to copy and paste into a translator to read their fics, but genuinely they are one of the best ORV writers I've ever read. This fic is one of the ones I always come back to. Really excellent YJH characterization.

Honey and Ginger by Rivani

Yoohankim. Good old fashioned fluff sickfic! The banter is very well done; the three of them are insufferable <3

Too Many Cooks by SonaSona

Yoohankim. KCom makes dinner. HSY makes herself a nuisance. Sona's prose is incredible, and her characterization of the main trio is impeccable. Light, sweet, with just a touch of the ORV brand melancholy. Yoohan is always funny.

There are more but this post is getting pretty long so! Enjoy 👍

[f1crecs]

Fic Rec List - Charles/Max (Top Five)

if your fic is on this list and you don’t want it to be, please let me know and I will remove it immediately, no questions asked. I have contacted most of the authors on this list, but sometimes people fall through the gaps - just pop me a message🤍

have a pairing you want me to do next? please read the faqs and then head to my inbox.

don't forget to give the authors featured on this list some love in the form of kudos, bookmarks, and comments!

I'm sorry you've not been feeling great recently, anon. I hope things start to look up soon, and that you enjoy these recommendations. 😚

This is my personal top five. Let me know what yours is! 🤍

the consequences of domesticism by @altisssimozucca | G | 3.6k Charles and Max live in the same apartment building: slowly, their lives intertwine. This fic is just so sweet. The slow build of their relationship, from acquaintances/co-workers to more is so expertly done, and feels so organic. I didn't stop smiling once reading this fic. Also - Dot. I want her.

'They’re in Max’s kitchen, Max watching Charles fry some eggs for breakfast, when Max has the startling realisation that he knows far too much about Charles.'

heart on your sleeve by @nyoomfruits | T | 4.8k Charles' emotions appear on his racing helmet. The concept here is so unique, and so beautifully done - I loved every moment of this. Typical misunderstandings give way to just the most tender, sweet relationship. Gorgeous.

“Hi,” Max says, and that stupid crinkly eyed smile is back, looking at Charles all fondly. His race suit is soaked in champagne, and his hair is wet with it too, sticking in every which direction. There’s a flush on his cheeks, and he’s taken off the top part of his race suit, revealing his fireproofs underneath, stretches across his broad chest and muscular arms.'

heart of the wind by @piastriachios | M | 13.8k Max and Charles are neighbours, who meet when Charles rescues Max's flying laundry. The relationship build here is stunning - you truly get the feeling that they bring out the best in each other. As always, the imagery and use of colour is beautiful. I love this author and I love this fic.

'They let it sit between them. Floating between the specks of dust that look like golden glitter in the afternoon suzn. A shared understanding. A sense of longing. The more it simmers, the more Max’s smile seems to cut through the light.'

oui chef.by @sunshineyoujustwait | G | 16.2k Max is initially irate when Charles is hired to his kitchen - but not for long. This fic is absolutely stunning. The humour and dialogue is spot on, and the Charles characterisation is genuinely some of my favourite in the whole fandom. The single-minded focus. The competitiveness. The found family of it all. God, I wish I could read this fic again for the first time.

'He’s still staring, he realises belatedly, as Charles glances up and catches his gaze. Amusement twinkles in his eyes, almost as if he knows he’s caught Max staring and he finds it funny.   Max looks away quickly, but not before his brain registers, unhelpfully, that Charles’ eyes are green, not brown like he’d originally thought. Not that it’s important.''

Breathe You In (Like a Vapor) by @fabbyf1 | E | 53.3k Max and Charles start up a friends with benefits relationship, that quickly evolves into so much more. This was one of the first Charles/Max fics I ever read, and it changed me a little. Such a joy. So genuinely funny, beautifully paced, and the smut- yes. Fantastic! Everything this author writes is amazing.

'But now, the sun was starting to dip in the sky, and the living room was mostly dark. Somehow Max had spent the entire afternoon here. It was like they both came out of their trance simultaneously and realized how dark it had gotten in the room.'

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

FNAF Movie Requests - CLOSED

Requests CLOSED as of November 16th, 2023.

(Requests are now closed, and I am keeping this request form up in case I have need for this again.)

So, I highly resisted the urge to fall into the fanfiction hole with the Five Nights At Freddy's Movie characters, but here I am lmao. Josh Hutcherson is so wonderfully sat, wet, and pathetic and I can't help myself.

I have tweaked my prompt list for this fandom, and you don't have to use these prompts when requesting fics, but please keep in mind that I am more likely to write and complete a request if it is simplistic and can be written in a shorter fic. I aim to keep request fics under two thousand words (around three thousand words at most).

Characters I write for: Mike Schmidt, Vanessa Monroe (Afton), and William Afton (Steve Raglan). (I may also write platonic fics with animatronic characters if people want to see that?)

Note: I will be writing for the movie version of the characters, but because I am a fan of the games, I am not against making references to the games and playing around with the canonicity. I care much more about the themes of the games than any solid sense of canon.

Requests can be sent to my ask box here or to my ask box over on my writing blog @sundrop-writes - I am probably not going to get to requests right away because unfortunately I am feeling sick right now, but I wanted to post this request form to help me get inspired. Please read all the rules/guidelines below before sending in a request.

(More information below the cut - please read it before requesting.) 

(Also - warning, this prompt list technically does have some mild spoilers for the movie.)

I will accept requests for poly ships. (Character x reader x character.) I love requests like this - I think for this fandom, the only one that really works is Vanessa x Reader x Mike (which is one that I would really love to do), but under certain circumstances, with the right request, I might write Mike x Reader x William.

In your request, please specify if the reader character is female, male, or gender neutral. When I write gender neutral fics, I do not describe what kind of genitals they have in any way, so I don’t write ‘GN AFAB’ reader fics. If you want the reader character to have a vagina, that would be a fem reader in my fics. 

EDIT: Typically, I don't write for reader characters that have specific traits - like a specific race, height, described as having specific looks, etc. but my one exception to this rule is that I love writing plus sized/fat reader fics. I love spreading love for fat bodies, especially through fics, and I love making people feel good about their fatness through the gaze of a fictional character. So feel free to send in requests for a plus sized reader character, it's one of my favourite things to write!

I will write smut, angst, or fluff, but I mostly prefer writing smut or angst. When requesting smut, please specify if you want the characters to be dominant or submissive. In your request, write ‘sub!reader’ or ‘dom!reader’ or something like this to let me know. I am a big fan of writing submissive men, so know I don’t shy away from that, but I will write any dynamic as long as it’s properly communicated to me. 

I will for a lot of dark topics and different kinks. In general, the list of things that I won’t write is a lot shorter than the list of that I will. So if you’re wondering if a request is okay with me or not, just ask!

Just for reference, my big no-nos are: virgin!reader, sexually inexperienced!reader, or innocent!reader - I am okay with doing a ‘faux’ innocent reader or writing about the canon character being a virgin and having their first sexual experience with the reader. I am okay with writing about sexual cocercion, sexual blackmail, or dubcon.

Also, I don’t write fics about miscarriages, safeword use, or extreme choking kink. While I don’t write about miscarriage, I am okay with writing about pregnancy (and it’s something I enjoy writing about). 

Smut Prompts/Ideas: 

The canon character is a virgin (ex: virgin!Mike) 

“Just the tip.” 

Stuck and Fucked/Situational Bondage 

Hate Fucking 

There Was Only One Bed

Caught Masturbating 

“Can you teach me how to do (blank)?” (ex: “Can you teach me how to give someone an orgasm?” “Can you teach me how to perform oral?”) 

Late Night Semi-Public Sex (bathroom sex, kitchen counter sex, etc.) where they shove a hand over your mouth to keep you quiet (or purposefully try to make you scream) 

Overstimulation 

Breeding Kink (or Faux Breeding Kink with a Strap-On) 

Extreme Dirty Talk

Phone Sex

Underwear Stealing

Them taking dirty pictures of you

Unknown surveillance/Perv!Canon Character/Them getting off to you doing something mundane

Dumbification Kink/Objectification 

Daddy Kink or Mommy Kink (their reaction to being called Daddy or Mommy for their first time) 

Them masturbating to the thought of you 

(There is more kinks that I enjoy writing, but this is just all that I thought to add to this list) 

Angst Prompts/Ideas: 

(You should definitely send in some of these, I love writing angst but people don’t request it as often. I will even write hurt/comfort just to write the angst part, so you can send in a hurt/comfort request if you prefer.) 

They break up with you to keep you away from danger (this one would work really well with Vanessa)

Attending to their injuries after a fight (or, them attending to your injuries after a fight) 

You are attacked (verbally or physically) and they step in to save you 

Their reaction to you being killed/your death (bonus angst: you died before they got to confess their feelings to you) 

One of you has been brainwashed and completely forgets the other 

(Directly inspired by the movie) - you are in a coma and they confess their feelings for you thinking that you can't hear them

They save you from a near-death experience (or you save them) 

They find out you are alive after thinking you had died 

Being reunited after years, but you didn’t part on good terms 

“Who did this to you?” 

Unrequited Love (they see you with someone else, they think that you’ll never love them back, etc.) 

(For hurt/comfort, I can do any of these with a sappy ending!) 

Fluff Ideas/Prompts:

They confess their love for you

Your first kiss together  

They surprise you with a cute date 

(I am really stalled for ideas for this list, I suck at writing pure fluff lmao)

(Again, you don’t have to use these prompts, I just think that these are good examples of things that will fit the 1k-2k mark.)

[kiwisfics]

A/N: Don't read this if you don't like dark fics! Don't come at me if you don't like the content. Triggers are listed and the only non-"constructive" comments I'll take are about any triggers that need to be added. I said I was gonna post this like... three days ago but I kept going over it again so if I don't post it now I'm not gonna. JUST TAKE THIS! Let me know if I missed any uses of my SI's name when I was editing.

Context Needed: I normally keep the fics I write that are lore-heavy to myself, but since people said they wanted the dark fic… Reader is a rifter, which basically means that she’s capable of traveling dimensions, and is conditionally immortal. Reader goes by Black Robin and is implied to have a suit that shows a lot of skin and to have a flirty persona as a vigilante.

TWs under the cut because there's... a lot.

Light TWs: Self-loathing, reader diminishes her own worth, reader has past trauma with being left behind by people she cares about, Dick is giving reader the silent treatment at the beginning but it’s mostly pre-setting, canon-typical violence/blood mentions. “Good girl” gets used condescendingly.

Heavy TWs: Do NOT read this if you have any triggers related to rape/non-con. Nothing actually happens, but it heavily revolves around reader believing that it's going to. Seriously, don't read this if you don't like whumpy stuff, because you're not gonna like it. My love of whumper to caretaker shows through here. Lots of mentions of trafficking, reader is kidnapped by said traffickers, fear of rape/non-con, Dick is very mean. Like, seriously, he’s very OOC for the majority of this fic. Threats/implications of rape/non-con, inappropriate use of one of his escrima sticks (just in the mouth) reader has a spiral at the end where she’d convinced that Nightwing and Red Hood are going to rape her.

If it’s any consolation, this is technically hurt/comfort, so it isn’t all horrible. Just… most of it. Reader also forgives him far too fast in the end, but I can gladly share some more snippets of how this affects the reader character in the future. I’ve already got ideas for some short scenes that I’m gonna write.

-

Nightwing was going to kill her.

He’d been explicitly clear: he didn’t want to see Black Robin out ever again. She’d nearly gotten herself killed, but she knew that wasn’t why he was so angry. He couldn’t have cared less about that, after all, she was a rifter and that meant that she was built to take pain and that death was a moot point. He was angry because she’d risked the mission, nearly let a trafficker that they’d all been hunting for weeks get away because she got too confident for her own good.

She’d snapped back at him when he told her that she wasn’t to wear the suit again, told him that he was just like Batman. That was the wrong thing to say.

He hadn’t talked to her since.

So, maybe she was trying to bait him a little by coming into Blüdhaven in her suit, maybe she was trying to get his attention back because she couldn’t stand being punished with the silent treatment. Maybe this was her fault.

Well, it was definitely her fault, but in her defense, she was thinking with her heart and not her head. She didn’t want to lose him, and in some twisted way, having him level her with lecturing and anger was still better than the radio silence.

She would have been fine. Nightwing would never actually hurt her. That wasn’t what went wrong.

Her suit didn’t have a panic button. It didn’t need one because she was forbidden from going out on her own even before she’d wrecked a mission and been benched. So, when she’d stolen a bike and made her way to Blüdhaven in costume while Bruce was off-world, Tim was with the Titans, Jason was off on a no contact mission, and Alfred was distracted with keeping Damian from abandoning his studies in favor of full-time vigilantism, no one knew where she was going.

She’d even been stupid enough to leave a note saying that she was heading home to visit family, and she wouldn’t be back for a while.

Alfred would have already found the note. Bruce wouldn’t start worrying for at least forty-eight hours with no word.

By then, it might be too late. Too late for her pride and her self-respect at least.

For now, she contented herself with growling and spitting at the traffickers, fighting the urge to be sick over the taste of her own blood soaking the rag in her mouth. She had no chance of picking the locks on the handcuffs, because she’d never gotten the hang of it while Bruce was teaching her, so she didn’t bother fiddling with them, instead preserving her energy.

If no one found her, she’d need her energy if she got the chance to run. They’d have to uncuff her from the chair if they wanted to-

She gulped, pushing down the thought.

Nightwing was going to kill her, but he was also the only chance she had of getting out of this without something worse than torture occurring.

She could see the leering. She could read the expressions. She promised herself that if she got out of this, then she was going to change the layout of her suit. She needed to cover more skin. She needed to flirt less with enemies too, apparently, because the men that had grabbed her had parroted some of her own lines back at her while they gagged her and dragged her back to this warehouse.

It was always warehouses. For once, she wanted to get dragged to a penthouse suite and get threatened and tortured by a classy villain.

Nightwing was going to kill her, but she couldn’t help the way that her chest lurched with relief and happiness upon seeing his form drop to the floor from one of the open skylights.

At once, all of the guns were on him, but, as suspected, he didn’t so much as flinch.

“Here to save your little friend? Awful bold to jump right in the middle of the warehouse full of men with guns, even for you, Nightwing.”

He tilted his head, the clench in his jaw speaking of rage.

She was sure she was saved, because even if he was mad at her and was going to give her a lecture that might have her in tears by the end of it, Nightwing wouldn’t hurt her. Dick wouldn’t hurt her.

“Save her? No. She’s just getting exactly what she asked for.”

Her stomach lurched this time, but it was with fear and a sickly cold feeling that crawled up her throat like it was being swarmed by ants.

Was she wrong? There was no way he would just leave her to her fate. He’d saved genuinely terrible people from situations that weren’t even as bad as the one that she’d found herself in, so there was no way he was going to leave her here, just because they’d had a fight.

Right?

The men’s guns all seemed to lower in the slightest bit, but they didn’t leave his form, “You expect us to believe you’re going to just leave her here? That you just dropped in for a friendly chat?”

“Oh, no. I don’t plan to leave her here. You just saved me the trouble of getting her pinned down is all.” He twirled one of his escrima in his hand, like it was a fidget toy instead of a dangerous weapon. “I appreciate you making my night easier, but I’m going to be taking her off of your hands now.”

So, he was saving her, right? He was contradicting himself, but she didn’t care what he said if he got her out of this.

“Thought you weren’t saving her,” the guns raised back to their full height, the leader scoffed, “you go play hero somewhere else for the night and maybe will give her back when she’s nice and broken in. Might not even charge you the full rate.”

She didn’t like having her suspicions confirmed about what they planned to do with her, but that was fine. She had guessed that, and it didn’t matter anymore, because Nightwing was here and that meant that these idiots were just delaying the inevitable rescue he’d come to pull off.

“Well, I guess you could consider it saving. After all, I might not be quite as into pain as some of your clients are, but you shouldn’t worry, I plan to make good use of her.”

What?

No, no, that wasn’t right. He was not actually implying that he was going to use her exactly how these men planned to. There was no way. He was Nightwing. He was-

They’d been flirting since they’d met, the kind of flirting that made everyone that didn’t know better think they were already an item. Even she knew that he was attracted to her, but… had she really pushed her luck this far? Had she really made him hate her so much that the only way he wanted to make a move on that attraction was like this?

She was having more and more trouble holding back on throwing up the meal she’d had before leaving Gotham.

“Yeah, right. You expect us to believe you want her as a toy?” The leader scoffed.

She wished she was that certain that he was lying about it.

Dick- Nightwing walked forward, still twirling his escrima as he approached her. The men parted for him despite keeping their weapons squarely aimed.

“Who could blame me?”

She could feel his eyes burning into hers even behind his mask. Her own mask was long gone, leaving him an unabated view of her frightened eyes. She was sure there was betrayal there too.

His escrima rested beneath her chin, and she forced her head back, trying to put distance between her skin and the weapon that she knew could easily shock her, “Look how pretty she is when she’s scared.”

She tried to muffle the whine that escaped her throat, but there was no way that he didn’t hear it.

What was going on? This was wrong. Was this- was someone wearing his face?

No, she couldn’t pin it on that, because no one knew about the way he’d yelled at her about never wearing the suit again, and there was no denying that was what he meant when he’d said she was getting what she asked for.

He really did hate her, then. She’d really, really messed up, and now he hated her, and for some reason the sting that knowledge made bite at her heart was worse than the fear at what he planned to do to her.

“And what kind of payment are we getting out of this? We could make hundreds at least by selling a vigilante, especially if we only rent her out. And this one can break over and over again, just to heal back up. She’d a goldmine of opportunities. Why would we just hand her over to you?”

Dick’s—no, no, she couldn’t think of him as anything other than Nightwing, because if she thought of him as Dick, then she was going to breakdown for sure; Dick didn’t hate her, Dick cuddled her during movie nights and carried her to bed when she fell asleep—Nightwing’s jaw ticked with irritation. Apparently, he hadn’t expected them to be so unwilling to give her up just because he wanted her to himself.

Was he waiting for this? Did he know what he was going to do as soon as he’d told her to never put the suit on again? Was he hoping that she would, just so he could use it to justify punishing her like this?

His empty hand trailed up her chest, just barely brushing her shirt, but it was enough to make a jolt go down her spine. He grabbed her jaw, the escrima stick brushing lightly against her cheekbone, “You’re going to let me take her without causing me any more trouble, because otherwise, I’ll be telling the Bat about your outposts in Gotham.”

Angry muttering began among the traffickers, but the leader remained silent, “That’s not much of a payment.” He hummed, like he was considering the offer, but anyone could tell that he already planned to ask for more, “Tell you what, you can take her out of here, no problem. I’m not interested in getting caught by a stray bullet in a firefight, and, honestly, keeping one of the Bat’s things seems like asking for trouble. She didn’t put up much of a fight, so you can walk out with her, after you give us a show.”

She gagged audibly on the rag in her mouth, tears finally escaping her eyes while she put renewed effort into forcing the rag out of her mouth. She wanted to beg and plead and cry. If he was going to do anything to her, at the very least she didn’t want an audience.

For his part, she could see his eyes widen just a fraction behind his mask, but the surprise quickly seemed to settle, and he flashed a smirk to the men that made her feel like she was about to start hyperventilating.

“Fine.”

No, no, no, no, no.

He pulled the gag from her mouth with the hand that had been against her chin, and she instantly opened her mouth to beg, but snapped it shut a millisecond later, her teeth clacking together almost painfully.

His escrima stick was resting against her lips, and his free hand was holding her jaw again, fingers squeezing against her cheeks in an attempt to make her open her mouth, but she wasn’t budging. She wasn’t stupid, and maybe cooperation would make things better in the long run, but she wasn’t letting him put his weapon in her mouth.

“Unless you want this to hurt a lot more later, you should cooperate right now. I’d hate to use this somewhere-“

Her mouth shot open before he could finish, fast enough that her jaw popped.

Okay, so she was letting him put his weapon in her mouth. She’d take the loss.

“Good girl.”

She hated that the praise stroked something in her, making her heart flutter even while he shoved the escrima stick past her lips and far enough into her mouth to hit her throat and make her gag.

Blood. Steel. An iron tang that made her brain go blank for long enough that she missed what he said next.

He didn’t appreciate that.

“Am I boring you?” He growled the words as his free hand tangled in her hair and pulled her head forward, making the escrima stick hit the back of her throat again with what was almost a bruising force. “I asked if you were going to behave, or if I was going to need to make you deepthroat this while it was on, but I guess I have my answer.”

Cold terror battered against her ribcage in place of her heart. All that was left in her chest was a black hole of absolute horror and fear that could hardly classify as a heart.

She didn’t realize that the sobbing in her ears was her own at first, too far into her own head and too tense while waiting for him to flick the switch to make this humiliation painful to know what was going on around her.

She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe!

And suddenly everything around her stopped and went deathly silent before gunfire began and the yelling of the traffickers became frantic and chaotic. The only words she picked up were “it’s the Hood!” and what normally would have made her think she was saved only made her panic more, because if Nightwing—the one that had held her while she cried and always agreed to musicals just because he knew she loved them—was going to use her as a toy, than that meant that Red Hood would too. She was sure he hated her too. She’d thought the way they bantered was fun and games, but she’d also thought that Nightwing cared about her and clearly, she was wrong about that. Nightwing had probably called him here so he could take out the frustration he had with her on her.

And then they’d tell Batman that they’d found evidence that she’d been trafficked and then they’d keep her locked up somewhere and- and- and- and- she couldn’t-

“Breathe.” A familiar hand fanned across her cheek, fingers brushing away tears that were immediately replaced with more, “Breathe for me, bird. It’s alright. It’s okay.”

She couldn’t. She couldn’t catch her breath, but the escrima stick wasn’t between her teeth anymore, so she could beg now. She could plead and promise to behave and maybe if she asked nice enough and they believed her then they’d let her go after they were done with her instead of keeping her.

“Please, please, I’m- I’m sorry, I-I’ll never wear the suit again, I promise. I promise.  I’ll be good. I won’t fight, I’ll-“

“Hey, hey, stop.” He pressed his hand against her mouth, not hard enough to force her to be quiet or to muffle her voice if she did continue to beg, but she silenced herself instantly regardless. “You’re okay, bird. Just breathe. I’d never hurt you. Never. There wasn’t a way to warn you about what was going on without cluing them in. I’m so sorry, bird. I really am.”

He sounded like he was about to cry, and the way he was holding her face in his hands certainly didn’t give her the idea that he was going to hurt her or force her down to her knees so he could-

“I could think of a hundred better ways to have gone about that, ‘wing.” Hood’s voice made her flinch and sink farther down in the chair she was tied to. She didn’t even move her legs or arms when he’d gotten the cuffs undone.

“I needed to distract them so you could get the files and I’m still injured. I wouldn’t even be out tonight if you hadn’t told me that they’d gotten their hands on her. If I’d tried to fight them, then they would have taken me out before finding you, so I don’t want to hear it. Don’t act like I wanted to do or say any of that.”

That was… fair. It wasn’t fair to her, but she had gotten herself into this situation and- she would forgive everything if it meant that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Actually, she’d let him hurt her if it meant that he wasn’t going to use her.

“Dick?” She whined out his name like a kicked puppy, tilting her face against one of his hands in a placating gesture.

“Yeah, bird. I’m here. It’s me. That wasn’t real. None of it was real, and you’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you, especially not me.”

Another sob tore from her throat, and she threw herself forward, into his arms. She was trembling and sobbing harder than he’d ever heard, and she was almost positive it was harder than she ever had in her life. His form wrapped around her, tucking her against his chest as he pressed his face against the top of her head and placed comforting kisses.

Jason sat on the ground behind her, one of his hands running circles against her back in an effort to assist in calming her, and it worked.

After her sobbing began to slow, Dick spoke up hesitantly, “I thought you would know. I never meant- I thought you would know that it wasn’t real. I thought you knew I’d never hurt you.” His breaths shuddered, “I thought you knew that I love you.”

“But you- you were mad at me. You told me- told me I could never wear the suit again and- and then you didn’t talk to me all week and I thought- I thought you hated me. And- and I came here to get your attention because you were ignoring me, so- so I would have deserved-“

“Hey, no. Don’t even finish that sentence.” His hold on her tightened and his voice turned even more tense, edged with anger, “No one deserves to be taken advantage of and you know that.”

She sniffled, tucking her face tight against his neck, and breathing in the scent of his suit and sweat. “You said you love me.”

There was a long pause, and Jason took it as his cue to leave, ruffling [Name]’s hair as he stood and headed out of the warehouse. He landed a boot against the ribcage of the leader of the traffickers as he passed by.

“I’m going to alert Blüdhaven PD. Half of their guys are probably on this group’s payroll though, so I’d get out of here before they show up. They’re probably hoping whoever shut down this location sticks around so they can fill them with lead.”

“We’re headed out now.” Dick stood as he said it, taking [Name] with him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung onto him.

“You said you love me.”

“I did,” he finally confirmed, “but I don’t think now is the time to talk about-“

“I love you too. So much.”

He went quiet again, feet still carrying them away from the nightmare that she’d just gone through, “I don’t expect you to forgive me for that.”

She tightened her hold around him, burrowing against him as a sign that she wasn’t holding any grudges, but also in an attempt to hide from the could Blüdhaven night.

“I knew you were after them. I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in it. I just… I wanted you to talk to me again. Even if you were angry. I… I don’t handle the silent treatment well and… it felt like you were leaving me behind, just like everyone else always does. It felt like you had decided I wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.”

“Never. I’ll never leave you behind, okay? I know that me saying that isn’t going to make you stop thinking that I might, but I’ll prove it, alright? I’ll never leave you behind.” He brushed his lips against her neck, and she couldn’t fight the light laugh that escaped as the gentle touch tickled her skin.

“Okay. I, uh, just… one thing though.”

“Anything.”

“Please keep the escrima sticks away from me for a while?”

 She could feel him cringe, but he nodded, “Yeah. That’s fair.”

[fansplaining]

Do you have any advice, guides, or opinions on how write a good rec list?

WELL! This is Elizabeth, and as the longtime co-curator of "The Rec Center" newsletter (with @hellotailor) I do have *a lot* of thoughts about rec lists. 😊 I'm delighted you asked, because as I'm sure both Flourish & I have mentioned on the podcast, rec-list-making is way less prominent now than it has been in previous fandom eras, and I think that's a shame. Reccing can be a great critical tool, and rec lists make a fanwork space richer—not least because they can move readers beyond the mostly quantitative metrics of the AO3.

I'll put the rest of this under the cut:

So obviously there are different kinds of rec lists, including by category/trope, favorites about a character or a ship or fandom, etc. To me, a true ~authored~ rec list is one in which the writer(s) deliberately put together a batch of fics to make some kind of argument about the works/the ship/the fandom/the source material.

Most of the lists we run in the newsletter are not like this, because we're pulling 5-7 works from our guest submissions bank—and since we don't (realistically, can't!) read the stories that are sent in, I have no idea if those 5-7 compliment each other in any real way. (When I put together one of these lists, I aim for balance: not all M/M, not all white characters, not all Western source material, etc.) (Yes, unsurprisingly, those are overrepresented in our submissions bank.)

But an authored rec list treats the rec list itself like a fanwork: you can tap into connective tissue that runs throughout the fics you choose, and you can put stories side-by-side that illuminate something when read together. You can approach this from two different directions: working from a broader pool of fics you like and pulling out a coherent batch, or starting with a theme, an argument, that connective tissue, and seeing what fits.

When I first got into my current fandom, I kept a google doc with fic titles, links, brief descriptors, and general thematic vibes etc., for future reccing use. (Obviously you can do this with AO3 bookmarks, but I use those differently, so this was a separate endeavor.) These were set up to transfer to "The Rec Center" easily, e.g.:

“Celestial Navigation” by kaydeefalls. 9K words, rated Teen. Canon-era: C & E go to NYC to try to recruit several mutants. Delicate balance sort of story with a soft revelation. No tropes.

When I actually go to rec something, I reread it—mostly because I want to get the content warnings right, but also because reading it to rec is more like reading for work: you wind up looking at the text with a different eye, always lowkey thinking about how you'll make your argument about it in writing. I haven't actually recced the fic above in the newsletter, but here's another X-Men fic I did rec at one point:

“Come Together” verse by blarfkey. 60K words across 4 stories, rated Teen.  Backstory: When Peter gets arrested for breaking Erik out of the Pentagon, Erik returns the favor and breaks Peter out in turn—and takes him to live with Charles. Beautifully awkward father-son bonding coupled with bitter, stubborn exes pining: *chef’s kiss*. The verse spans five years, with really believable character growth, which is really saying something, based on the emotionally-stunted starting point for all parties involved. Rec: Peter is the POV character here, so a+++, and the close third-person narration plays with the spaces between what he feels and what he says while capturing his voice beautifully. This means 50% dragging people and 50% feeling like an idiot, which is a total joy. A lot of X-Men stuff, canonically or...fanonically...sorry...is about found family, and I mean, this one is about finding your literal blood relations, but it’s also about building a true family, and I think the author gives that enough space to really sell it.  Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, torture, ableism, the unenlightened thoughts about women’s bodies that preoccupy heterosexual teenage boys 

That rec is from a whole list I did with @morgan-leigh a few (five???wtf lol) years ago, which I think is a good example of an authored rec list: Morgan and I had overlapping tastes and similar interpretations of the characters, so all the fics here feel like they're talking to each other in some way, and making an argument about who these characters are (in Morgan's beautiful words, many of these stories "capture the exquisite and venal dickishness of both our heroes" lol).

Obviously rec lists don't have to be super formal—we created this reccing format a long time ago to keep things standardized—and I certainly don't think recs need to sound like literary criticism (not that the examples above sound like literary criticism lol...you know what I mean). Some of my favorite rec lists are pure vibes and (performatively? in a good way) emotional, and that's great. If you're a fic author, you know what a delight those comments are to receive. And like someone's AO3 bookmarks, the all-vibes rec list is an opportunity to see if you, too, feel like the selected fics smack you in the face or whatever violent expression of appreciation people are using. They often don't give you a ton of information, but if you and the reccer have similar taste, you know you can trust their picks.

But! I would make the case for reccing as a chance to talk about fic in a way that you really wouldn't in a comment to the author or in a performatively emotional tag: critically, not in the "this is bad" definition of "criticism," but, like, in the lit-crit way. Why does this work—and how does it work? As with all literary criticism, "work" is totally contextual; a good rec list sets up that context, and gives you just enough information to want to click through and see for yourself.

All that being said, you don't need to overthink it—and I say this partly because I'd really love to see more rec lists floating around! The AO3 often primes people to sort in a top-down way, and though there are tons of great fics with lots of kudos, as the meme goes,

Rec lists let you include things that aren't super popular, that hit niche characterization or plot notes, that really worked for you specifically for whatever reason. They're pure human curation—not just recs, but an arrangement of those recs that creates a whole new work in the process. And that's something I really love about fandom! We don't want algorithmic 'if this, then that' for-you pages; we're interested in doing the actual work of reading, thinking about, and sharing what we like with others, and that's wonderful.

[the-alliance-maker]

More art from my younger sister, yay!

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) looks like that because he's worn the Fierce Deity Mask too many times for extremely long periods, and now it's started to stain/scar his skin.

I'm also putting her little doodle she made me bellow too.

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) has a/his shadow following him around. This is apparently my sister's view of their relationship.

(She was nervous about letting me post the gif and required that I clarified that it's a low effort, quick animation she only made to get a laugh out of me, lol. She was correct about making me laugh. I was in tears for, like, an hour.)

More explanations (And lack there of?) about it under the cut.

These pieces of art are both from an AU of mine that we roleplay a lot.

I'd explain more, but it's built off an alternate timeline/universe of @wutheringmights story "Call them brothers". And I'm not sure what her rules are about fanart or fanfics, mostly because I never asked or looked into it and I never intended to.

I make AUs for the fanfics I read, write fanfics for those fanfics with thousands upon thousands of words in them and then never post them or do anything other than hand them to my sister to read. She does the same with her art.

...Fandoms are messy enough without me accidentally stepping on someone's toes. (I think my sister doesn't post her art because she's too unconfident though.)

That aside, Call them brothers is literally my favorite fic I've ever read. I know we like to throw that phrase around in the fandom a lot, but I have every intention of getting that sucker printed and bound once it's finished. I've been reading Fanfiction for nearly a decade and this is the first one I've wanted to do that for.

If you're a person who enjoys darker stories and want a story line with some actual consequences for the characters, I'd totally recommend it. The last time I was this gut punched over characters and their development was Red Rising by Peirce Brown (My favorite published book series ever), and Wuthering's descriptions of a war ravaged country and all it's horrors is fucking immaculate.

I found Call them brothers through my desire to see a longer fic that had Spirit Tracks Link, and it did. not. disappoint.

Wuthering's takes on what Spirit's abilities, character traits, and game culture/lore are currently my favorite I've seen from anyone in the fandom, and I would doubly recommend the fic just for that.

That said, it's not a story for the faint of heart. It's Dark. With a capital 'd' for a reason. Wuthering doesn't add all those tag warnings for no reason. Also, if you can't stand to see one of the Link bois written as anything other than what the mainstream interpretation for them is, this isn't for you. War isn't out of character, but he's certainly a bold take. A fantastic one, but bold none the less.

Plus there's mild mentions of Links being interested in other character's that aren't their Zeldas or their typical love interests. There is NO shipping of the Jojo's characters amongst each other, but if you're the kind of person who can't stand alluding to characters having crushes that aren't Link x Zelda, it isn't for you.

I know there's some people in the fandom who don't like that kind of thing, so I thought I'd mention it. Also, you've been warned so no being mean to Wutheringmights about it!

If you're okay with the things I've listed, please, please, please give it a read. @wutheringmights deserves all the love for writing something so good.

(Anyway, I could ramble for hours about all the reasons Wutheringmights is my favorite Author in the LOZ fandom, but this was supposed to just be a post about my lil sis's art that got waaaaay away from me.)

[modern-day-bard]

Worth The Feeling

Note: this is a completed project but I’ve had major problems posting on tumblr from my laptop! I’m not sure why. If anyone who sees this is interested, I also posted the fic on Archive Of Our Own 🫶🏻

Content Warning: 18+

This story includes explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship (MC is 26, Pedro is in his 40s). Minors, do not interact.

Chapter 2:

Now, I've made some blunders before. Mostly calling talent by the wrong name, which is a big mistake when dealing with big personalities. But I've tripped a few times, spilled a few things, and I even broke a glass in the middle of a take.

Yet somehow, none of those things compare to this.

Treating the lead as if he was a PA? Telling him he needs to get a walkie ?

The thought makes me sprint even harder toward the sound stage. Once inside, I scan the area as quickly as I can. There's at least a hundred people in here now and the more I push past, the more I realize they are turning to look at me disapprovingly. I really should find a new shirt first, but it can wait.

"Lana!" I shout when I catch a glimpse of one of her classic colorful scarves. I can see the bright fabric tied in a bow on top of her curly head of hair, but she doesn't turn around.

"LANA!" This time several people, Lana included, turn around.

"Hey!" She runs up to me and sweeps me in a hug, before pulling back with an uncharacteristically miserable expression. "Why are you all wet? Ava, I can see your bra." She pokes my visible white strap.

I swat her away. "Just wait. That is the least of my worries."

I explain the situation, visibly cringing as I await her reaction.

In typical Lana fashion, she bursts into musical hysterics. She covers her mouth when she notices how pained my expression is.

"Lana, I am this close to panicking. You don't think he'll complain, do you?"

"No, no he won't complain. You said he was relatively cool about it, right?"

"Yeah, I mean, he didn't even correct me."

"Exactly. You know if it was one of the Marvel guys from our last picture, you might be in trouble. But from the sounds of it, he probably won't even remember it by tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Why did that idea not make me feel any better?

Lana is snickering again. "You know I sent you the cast list like a month ago, right? How do you of all people not recognize Javi Gutierrez?"

I lower my voice. "You know I'm not an indie movie fanatic."

"I know. It's your fatal friendship flaw. But he was on a bunch of shows, too!"

"I haven't had time for TV with school! Movies are less commitment. Don't scold me in my time of need." I wack her arm.

"Fine, fine," She holds her hands up in defeat. "But seriously Ava, unless you want to continue to give us all a free show you should really get another shirt. I have to get these mics up and running, but go to wardrobe and find Barb."

She's right. The first scene is at 8:00am, and as a sound assistant, Lana has to be ready to mic up the actors as soon as they're out of hair and makeup. I still have to print out scripts for the first few scenes, and I'm really starting to hate the sticky feeling on my stomach.

"Okay, thank you!"

Lana winks at me as I turn and head for the wardrobe trailer on the far side of the lot. Barbra has been on Norwick Productions sets since movies were invented. That is actually the answer she will give a person if they ask how long she's been working. She's the grumpy, tough-love mom I never had. And since Lana is pretty much the only person I hung out with during hiatus, I missed Barb dearly.

Barb's expression pales as soon as she sees me.

"Ava, it's only day one for god's sake."

"Don't worry Barb, Lana already scolded me for you."

"I do like that girl. And I'm guessing you came by to catch up after break, and not simply because you need my help?" She raises a knowing brow.

"Obviously." I flash her a very over-dramatic smile.

"I should give you one of the ratty uniforms from the end of this film for that."

"But you won't, because you love me." I batted my lashes.

"Uh-huh." Barb sighs, disappearing into the depths of the trailer before coming back out with a clean white t-shirt. No fuss, no fake blood.

"You are my guardian angel." I say after swapping the shirts.

"Bring me real coffee tomorrow instead of this crafty crap and we can call it even." She says in a flat tone, and I know she's not kidding.

I give her a quick hug. "It's good to see you Barb."

That makes her chuckle slightly. "You too, kiddo."

I check my watch again. 7:30am. Barely enough time to print out the scripts. I bid Barb a quick goodbye and head to the closest copier.

After kicking it a few times, and uttering several curse words, I got the copier up and running and several copies of today's script printed. I try to skim today's scenes while walking back to the soundstage. I'm beginning to grow curious as to watch is actually happening in this movie. Since we usually shoot scenes out of order, these few pages aren't helping very much.

Back on the soundstage, I spot Lloyd, our director, and walk over to hand him today's pages.

"Ava, welcome back." Lloyd says in his usual artistic drawl. He takes one of the copies from me, flipping through as though looking for something specific, though I know he is barely even skimming the pages.

Part of me is holding my breath, wondering if Javi would have complained to Lloyd or a production manager at this point. I'm not sure when he would have time for that between hair and makeup, but in a world where my mishap today costs me my job, he would find the time.

But, Lloyd is deep in conversation with a cameraman and doesn't spare me another glance. I take that as a good sign, and slowly slink toward the far corner of the room. This way I can still have a good view of the stage without calling too much attention to myself. I can see Lana across the room micing up one of the actors in the scene. Some older gentleman who I heard was popular on a cowboy show that I've never seen. I recognize his face more than I did Javi's, which embarrasses me further, even though the fact is only known to me.

Then, as though the gods of shame were looking down and laughing at me, Javi walks into the large room. I quickly open the first scene's pages to see if I can figure out whom he is playing. That, and so I can take my mind off of how he looks even more attractive in costume. I steal a glance up from the pages and see Lana micing him up now. He's smiling warmly at her, and she chuckles at something he said. Lana tends to laugh at most things, but I can't help but wonder what words were being passed between them.

The two men step onto the CIA set together, both dressed in impeccably tailored suits, making light conversation. Now is my que to bring them their copy of the pages for a final once-over before we roll the cameras. I inhale deeply and set my shoulders back.

Don't be intimidated, Ava. You can't embarrass yourself any worse than you already have.

Well, I know that last part isn't true. But I repeat it to myself all the same.

I walk up to the men, handing them each a copy with a smile.

The older gentleman gives me a friendly nod as he takes the script. Javi gives me the same smile he gave Lana a few minutes prior. I'm turning to leave, and I'm surprised when he says, "Thank you, Ava."

I pause, half out of surprise that he remembered my name, and half over the hesitation of wondering if I should apologize for earlier. But his attention is already on the pages, and there are so many people around to hear me admit my mistakes. I decide against it.

- - -

After we shoot the first few takes, I think I'm starting to piece together what the film is about. In the way that it is not unlike most other spy films I've seen. Older Cowboy, whose real name is still evading me, has a small role as the experienced head of the CIA who brings on Javi's character, a real loose cannon, despite his reservations. There is something about a kidnapping of Javi's lover that makes him "too close to the case," but he lies about his involvement with the woman to make sure he can be the one to save her. I'm assuming that is when we will be in Italy. Spy movies love a good ol' car chase in Europe.

I'm not blown away by the originality of the script or anything, but I'm still engaged in the scene even on their tenth take. I realize that Javi is actually quite talented. I'm only ever engaged in a scene if the actors are talented. That, or if Lloyd is having a breakdown.

I spend the rest of the scene trying not to notice just how well tailored that suit is on Javi. I never leer at the talent, but I always appreciate a good-looking man in a suit. Plus, there is something different about him. He has a kindness to him that I haven't seen with other actors. We've been working with a lot of big names recently, so maybe I've just become disillusioned. Even still, I know some lesser actors who would've complained about my assumption early, even if they painted it as a joke. They would never want me to fully live it down. But not Javi. At least, not so far.

When they call for a break, I decided it would be best to fulfill some of my other duties on another part of the lot.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. I try to stay away from the soundstage, knowing that they will be working with Javi for the next few hours. I check my watch for the umpteenth today, and I crack a smile when I realize we only have about an hour left. My last stop is Emma Madden's trailer, our leading lady. And then I finally get to drive home and sleep.

I hadn't met Emma before, but similar to Javi, she isn't in the same celebrity category as our last film, so she seems much friendlier. I got a call on my walkie letting me know there was an issue with her food, and with not much else to go off of, I figured I might be in for a celebrity meltdown. However, when I got here, she let me know that she is severely allergic to mustard, and was afraid to touch the sandwich that had been dropped off to her. Sure, maybe it was a little 'Hollywood' for her to have me come and throw it in the garbage for her, but she was pretty apologetic about it.

"Thank you so much, Anna." She says with her knees brought up to her chest, as if she was shielding her center from the turkey sandwich springing back up out of the trash. Her expression is worried and her tone is so sincere that I don't correct her. Not that I would have otherwise.

"Not a problem Ms. Madden." I dust off sesame seeds from my palms.

"Oh please, call me Emma." She smiled at me now, and I couldn't help but like her a little.

"I know a mustard allergy is like, totally random, but it's actually pretty bad. I have an epipen and everything." I know she must be at least thirty years old, but her inflection reminds me of a teenager.

"I'll let crafty know. They should have sent you a food preference and allergy sheet to fill out months ago, that's the studio's fault."

"Oh, they did! I completely forgot about that. I figured it was just if you were a picky eater."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Well, no worries. I'll let them know now." I reach for the doorknob of the trailer.

"Thank you again!" Emma called out as I closed the door behind me.

As I'm finally able to drop off my walkie for the day, I run through all the ways that Emma's Mustard Mayhem could have cost the studio hundreds of thousands of dollars. How did they start production without having her sign a waiver? Why did no one double check that all the talent had sent in their allergy lists? If she were a higher profile celebrity, this could have been a huge issue. But as usual, these are the scenarios I keep to myself. And as I drive home, I try to run through only mustard scenarios, and ignore any that pop up with another actor in mind.

Series Masterlist

[stayevildarling]

Billie Dean Howard x Reader - Until I found you

word count: 3.8k

warnings: fluff

Prompt: You never really believed in true love or love at first sight, that's until she walked into your life, or rather your workplace. You never believed in any of the big romantic gestures or things as portrayed in books, television and social media, that's until you found her.

A/N: Hi there! It's been a while but I had this idea the other day while I was at work. Hope everyone is doing good. This fic and the title are inspired by the song ''Until I found you'' by Stephen Sanchez

Taglist: (if you wanna be added or taken off, send me a dm or an ask):

@lunaticwhittaker, @billiebeanhoward, @lanawinters-ily , @kenzbro, @minaslittleone , @httpfiftyshadesofgay , @whitelotus00, @ninaahs , @vintagepaulson , @isle-of-earle , @paulawand , @paulsonsratched

It was a typical morning in spring, the cold and dark from winter finally lifted, as well as people's mood as the sun and blooming of flowers and trees, reflected in their moods, the way they would great you or enter your workplace. Usually, people don't tend to pay too much attention to other people's moods or emotions, especially from complete strangers.

To you however, it mattered. You wanted to be able to read each customers mood as they entered the boba shop, you had been working at, for quite some time. It meant sometimes they needed a little extra kindness, a brighter smile when passing or taking their orders or some extra boba or toppings added into their drinks. This was just a part- time job to you at first, you didn't plan on doing this for a long time, you wanted something to distract you from your studies and actual job and to also of course earn some extra money. Back then you never realized you ended up enjoying it more than your actual career path and that it had a postive effect on your mental health and mood.

You had always been passionate, having no experience at first working with customers, although you adapted quickly, eventually learning the entire menu and not having to look at instructions whenever preparing a drink. You also got used to the regular customers, the guy in his twenties always coming in, in the afternoon ordering the same drink and sandwich, or the group of teenagers ordering some of the special drinks after school.

This morning something felt off, you couldn't quite wrap your head around it though and with each minute passing and more people walking into the shop to get their usual drink or food item of their choice before work, you tried to go over your little ''to-do'' list that your brain had memorized at this point. Almost at the bottom of your mental list you suddenly remember ''prepare usual order for usual lady in suit''.

That's when something occured to you, you did make the drinks for the same woman that has been coming in for over a year, always wearing a fancy suit or dress, wearing a handbag filled with documents and her phone always ready, mostly on the phone to who you assume to be her boss as she grabs the same drinks, sometimes struggling to carry them all. You eventually figured she was a regular so in the quiet hour before the rush, you prepared her drinks, put them all in cup holders and then into a bag, which was greatly appreciated by the occupied woman, always seeming to be in a rush.

She had been in every single day, apart from weekends (which only confirmed your theory about her working for someone and being their assistant) for over a year. No matter the cold winter days where little droplets of rain turned into beautiful flakes of snow. Or the really hot days when the heat made everyone a little crazy and coping a little harder. So it surprised you when you turned towards the counter today and saw the drinks still there, way past her usual time. You decide to put them in the fridge, figuring maybe she will come in later today.

However she never showed, it wasn't a big thing as you eventually just enjoyed the drinks with your coworker, questioning this choice of drink a little as you never had tried a matcha latte with chia seeds before and you still thought it was very odd and specific, but you also had been curious ever since she first ordered it. During the day your mind sometimes slips to the woman and you question whether she was okay, maybe she had changed positions and you would never get to see her again. As the day comes to an end, the mysterious assistant slips your mind again and you get back into your routine of cleaning and finishing up, before being able to go home and take an extra long walk back to the train station to enjoy the trees and first flowers of the year blossoming.

It took about four days, days of being away for your other job, days of betting with your coworkers on where the regular went, until today when you suddenly recieved a very interesting order. You are standing by the bar area within the boba shop, preparing the previous order and absent mindedly listening to your boss taking the next order, already thinking ahead whether you need to do anything special with the next few cups you picked up. ''Hi there, what can I get you?'' you hear your boss saying. A woman, you guess must be middled aged starts naming a list of drinks and this wasn't unusual to you until you heard the last drink ''And a tall iced matcha latte with chia seeds please''.

As you turn around with the drinks prepared before and calling the previous customers number, smiling at them as you pass them their drinks, you inspect this woman. Now this was definitely not the regular but she just ordered the exact drinks, in the exact same sizes and added toppings. This can't be a coincidence so as you pick up the cups for her order, you take a moment to inspect this woman. She is tall, blonde curly hair and dressed in a very expensive looking flannel shirt, her white pearl necklaces adding a little sparkle to her outfit. You smile, happy that you finally figured out the story of your regular, clearly this must be the lady she was working for.

However, busy with preparing the drinks and trying to make it right, trying to prepare them the best way you can, putting them inside cup holders as you finish them and wrapping them securely in a bag, you fail to realize that your coworkers over at the food stall are staring at the woman who had entered a few moments ago. ''Number 306 please'' you say and smile as the woman comes over. She looks at you a second and it feels as if her brown eyes are piercing right into your soul, inspecting your outfit carefully, which consist of your work t-shirt with the logo of the boba shop you work for, an apron and a name tag.

''Thank you Darling'' she smiles and nods in approval of the bag and the way you secured the drinks. ''Here you go'' she whispers and winks as she hands you a few notes. You nod gratefully and thank her before putting the money into the shared tip jar. As you watch her leave you carry on with your work but your coworkers are still distracted with their whispering. A few moments later the first rush has passed, people satisfied with their drinks and getting on with their mornings. One of your coworkers approach, giving you the little sign, whether you want to join her for a cigarette break. Of course you agree, quickly letting your boss and non-smoking coworkers know so they can take over for you.

''Do you know who just entered?'' your coworker, named Abby asks. ''Yes, so I figured this must be the person our regular works for'' you say while lighting your cigarette. For a second she looks at you baffled, giving you her usual ''What the hell Y/N'' reaction. ''No silly, this was Billie Dean Howard''. A few moments pass and as Abby realizes you have no clue what she is talking about she adds ''THE Billie Dean Howard, Medium to the stars.. REALLY?!''. She shakes her head in defeat, knowing you aren't one to catch up with the tv a lot but she at least hoped you had heard of her. ''I'm sorry'' you shrug and apologize and while listening to Abby about her show and the things she does and has accomplished, your mind slips to the blonde woman again whos name you now know is Billie Dean Howard.

---------

For about a week the woman with blonde slightly curled but perfectly styled hair and manicured nails walked into the boba shop herself, after two days you had the orders ready just a few minutes before she came in, as she also showed at the same times. You started paying attention to her a little more, the small details like her smile. You could tell when it was forced, someone recognising her within the shop or a polite one. But you also realized the genuine ones, like the time she realized you had her orders ready. She thanked you through her genuine smile, knowing you must have made her day a lot easier but it also reflecting in her tips. You could tell she was a generous person but also a very interesting person.

It made you a little sad when the following week, the blonde woman was replaced with your usual regular, assuming that her assistant must be back now. You missed seeing the medium every morning (whos tv show you might have started watching after the time Abby told you who she was-and possibly starting to binge watch it as well). You thought this was it and that you aren't gonna see her again, however the medium and universe had other plans. It wasn't just you finding the medium interesting, it was the other way around as well. Billie was used to people recognizing her but she could tell that you didn't. She liked the change, that your kindness was genuine and had nothing to do with her fame or the fact she tips well. And so Billie had already made the plan to see you again or schedule a lunch date with herself for one of her afternoon offs as she called it.

It was a normal shift today, busy as usual, your days spent with preparing drinks and ocassionally going for a cigarette break whenever you had the chance. As you head outside, you just miss the presence of the medium filling your work . Her perfume lingering in the air and her presence causing for some heads to turn. Billie was used to this attention, the ocassional people smiling at her or some fans even stopping her and asking questions like for an autograph or a photo.

As the medium takes a look around the shop, she feels a little pinch of disappointment as a little part of her had hoped that you would be there. The barista with the pretty hair, interesting tattoos and that adorable little green apron. She internally shakes her head, reminding herself that she is only here for the food and drink for her lunch break. She approches the register, where Abby can‘t hold back a little smile, feeling special that a celebrity would choose this place.

„Can I have a large salted caramel milk tea with the brown pearls-„ Billie starts as Abby types in her order. „And a greek salad please“. Abby nods before asking „To go?“ but Billie shakes her head and tells her she will eat it outside at one of the tables. As Abby takes her money, Billie of course not wanting the change, always tipping well, the medium steps a little closer. „Is the one with the tattoos working today, a little shorter and y/hc hair?“. Abby smiles and nods explaining you are on a short break but you are here today.

As Billie steps outside, sitting down at one of the tables, she feels a little buzz of excitement. A few moments later, you head back inside, missing the medium once again as she is now sitting outside, scrolling on her phone. Abby smirks and hands you a note „Order from a little fan of yours“ and you look at her a bit puzzled. „Billie Dean Howard“ she explains and you can‘t help but hold in a little smile as you realize the order isn‘t to go.

You hurry up, put some gloves on and prepare her salad and drink. Never before have you put so much effort into an order, making the cup look special with drizzles of syrup and adding some extra bread for her as well. Usually customers recieve an order number and step back inside to recieve their order. But you didn‘t like this and often, especially with older people or when it wasn‘t that busy, took out the food yourself. So you adjust your apron and walk outside, quickly spotting the medium.

As you walk over, you can‘t help but notice the beautiful summer dress she is wearing, her hair slightly curly and makeup perfect, you could tell even through the sunglasses. Admittedly it was a little early as summer was just around the corner as spring ended with flowers and trees showing off their true beauty. You could tell the medium was a summer person, simply by the way she dressed and a sense of true peace visible on her beautiful features.

„Hello, you ordered a large salted caramel milk tea and the greek salad?“ you ask, a smile on your lips as you pass her the food. „I did, thank you darling“ Billie replies, abandoning her phone and lowering her sunglasses as if she wanted to observe you a little closer, not wanting the shade of the glasses to obsecure your features. After you pass her order, you just stand there a moment and the both of you lock eyes. You wanted to say so many things, like how you had no idea who she was before but now you have spent every evening binge watching her show.

Of course you stay silent and get lost in her brown eyes. „My assistant tells me you always have our orders ready in the morning, before she even shows up?“ you see a little satisfied and approving smile on her face and for a moment you feel like being praised by your teachers or parents for doing something correctly but something in the medium‘s eyes showed honest gratitude. „I do“ you reply. „I like taking care of our regular customers“ you add before realizing how that sounded. You smile a little embarassed and scratch your neck, a nervous habit of yours.

„Well um- enjoy your food and please don‘t hesitate to let me know if you need anything else“. you smile and apologize as you have to head back inside. Billie smiles and mumbles „Will do“ before turning her attention to her lunch. For the next half an hour you have a hard time concentrating on your work. You can‘t help and peak out the window while you prepare or take orders, making sure she is still there and not in need of something. After a little while, Abby hands you some wipes and sanitizer and smiles before saying „the tables outside need to be cleaned“. As you take it, you smile, knowing exactly what she was up to.

Walking back outside you clean the other tables first before turning towards Billie‘s. She had finished a little while ago and so you ask whether you can take her cup and the plate. She nods and you ask if she needed anything else. „Your number“ Billie thinks to herself but she wasn‘t this direct. Well usually she was but the medium had never been the relationship type, more flings and one night stands but for some reason, despite the little age gap that she assumed, there was something about you, even though she couldn‘t explain it yet. Billie simply shakes her head before saying „Just my usual as well to take back to the office“ and handing you some cash, of course a very generous tip included.

„Of course, my pleasure“ you reply and thank her before heading back inside and preparing her drink, making sure it‘s secured properly. As you head back outside to hand it to her, she already stands by the door, a little smile on her face. „Thank you darling, I‘ll see you in my next lunchbreak“. With those words she leaves your workplace, swaying her hips on the way out (a little more than necessary) and a satisfied smile. Leaving you with a little tingly feeling in your stomach and a big smile on your face, a linger of excitement, keeping you motivated for the rest of your workday.

---------

A few months later:

As you step outside, locking the door behind you, you feel the cold air hitting you. Specifically your face, hands and around your neck. You shiver, your hands shaking as you move the keys. Instantly you regret not having listened about wrapping up warmer for this season. You see the lights of the other shops around you reflecting in the door. This was truly your favorite season and despite being cold you wished for some snow flakes as they were your favorite thing about winter.

You turn around and your breath gets caught in your throat as you see someone standing infront of you. „Hello there babydoll“ you see Billie standing infront of you. She looks beautiful, wearing a suit combination and a long coat, matched with her prada bag and fancy scarf, you weren‘t sure of the exact brand but it must be an expensive one. A smile beams onto your face and your day is instantly forgotten. Today wasn‘t too bad but the winters were always hard because you had to work alone and it took a lot longer preparing a bunch of warm drinks rather than cold ones.

„Hi Billie“ you smile a little shy. You still get shy around her, even though it has been such a long time since she first walked into your work. The blonde notices your shivers and smirks a little bit. „Cold there darling?“ she smiles, despite having warned you several times to wrap up warmer in the mornings. „I got you something“ she beams, doing that excited little tapping with her fingernails. She extracts a box from her handbag and passes it to you. You look at her a little surprised. You were fully aware by now that Billie expressed her love through gifts a lot, of course she showed it in other ways as well.

„You didn‘t have to“ you smile and seeing her excited face you know you have to open it right then and there. Inside the fancily packaged box you find a beautiful set containing a scarf, beanie and gloves. Not just that, they feel very soft, must be a satin material and on top of it, they are your favorite colour. You just look at her, your eyes sparkling as you feel the love for the woman standing infront of you. You are so greatful, not just for the gifts but knowing that Billie took the time to buy these herself. You knew she didn‘t get her assistant to do this and that she went out herself, on top of picking you up from work. Often Billie worked late and you prefered taking the train rather than her sending a driver or taxi. She prefered it for your wellbeing and safety but you convinced her it was okay.

„Thank you so much Billie“ you exclaim and she helps wrap you up, putting the hat on your head and adjusting your hair, boping your nose and smiling, before helping with the scarf as you put the gloves on. „Better?“ she smirks proudly and you nod, unable to say anything, the grattitude and love for the medium reflecting in your eyes. „Let‘s get you home and cozy and pick up some dinner hm?“ she asks gently. You nod and she holds out her hand before you two walk into the cold together.

As you pass all the shops, some of them still open, mostly decorated with fairy lights, you walk past some places filled with memories. Starting with the tables and chairs from your workplace that are now neatly stacked away, reminding you of Billie‘s first lunch there and the several ones that followed, an excuse to see you more and every day in the end, even though Billie convinced herself at first she needed to prioritize her „me time“ and take time to actually have lunch. Next you walk past a fancy little italian restaurant that Billie eventually took you to.

Followed by Billie‘s office that she took you to in the end and introduced you to everyone, after quickly learning you became a super fan of her show. You actually got to meet her assistant as well and being introduced properly. Billie turned your world upside down. You had never been in a meaningful relationship before but she was everything. It was impossible to adore this woman any more than you do. Quickly after Billie‘s lunchbreaks became a regular thing, you got talking more, spending your cigarette breaks with the medium‘s instead and eventually her giving you her phone number.

As you walk past her office and a few of her favorite boutiques, you remember the time she took you shopping, never wanting you to pay with your own money as she knew how hard you worked for it. She treated you like a princess, her princess. After agreeing, what you wanted to take home for dinner that night, you just watch Billie in awe, as she walks up to the window of your favorite places, ordering the food and then waiting, lighting a cigarette. She was a goddess and you couldn‘t wrap your head around how she was yours.

After she finishes her cigarette, the two of you stand there, locking eyes and that same little smile on both of your faces whenever her brown eyes looked into yours. The cold air hits you yet again, causing for your body to shiver. Billie stays silent, moving closer to you and wrapping her arm around you, pulling you in. And in that moment you knew, you could have never fallen in love, at least properly, not until you found her. You also knew you would never let the blonde go. Billie saved you in every possible way a person could save you.

„Here you go“ the waiter exclaims and hands Billie the bags of warm food, which makes your stomach rumble a bit more. You offer to take them but Billie insists on holding them herself, taking your hand into her free one. As you walk towards the way home, you feel like you are in a movie, the cold winter air, the fairylight of shops and the beautiful smells everywhere. Your view is completed as you suddenly see little snowflakes. Billie smiles, knowing how much you loved them.

„Billie?“ you suddenly stop for a moment and the medium stops as well, looking at you. „I love you“ you exclaim before she smiles softly and pulls you in for a kiss, the snowflakes softly landing on both of your clothes and hair. „I love you too babydoll“

[doomsday-dj]

8, 23, 37 from your ask list. Fun!

THREE! Wow. You got it. 8. How slow is a slow burn I'm not sure EXACTLY how long it has to be to count but I do think it's incoherent to tag something that isn't basically close in length to a typical romance novel as a slow burn, and they can't REALLY get together until the final act. They can kiss earlier if they're thrown back into distance or conflict but they better not be consummating until we're like 50k words into this bitch. In my opinion. It's about anticipation and suspense right? I guess maybe it can be shorter than novel length but it's got to really build up some anticipation. Like I want whole ass chapters of description leading up to a kiss, I want them physically aching about it. I want to be physically aching about it! However if I come upon a fic that has tags that are like "slowest of slow burn" "so slow you're not sure if they're moving" and it's like 300k words (AND COUNTING???) there's no way I'm touching it. Not for me. Too slow is a thing. 23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard? It's not "or" it's "and". The hardest thing is mixing the two well. A chapter where a lot of characters are talking can so easily become a wall of dialogue and breaking it up with description that doesn't make the conversation seem stalled is EXCRUCIATING (for me). But you can easily have a chapter or a one shot that's mostly description and it can be very beautiful, so I guess dialogue is hardest BECAUSE you have to make sure there's also description. And ironically, this is my answer because I find dialogue really easy to write. Does this make sense? Dialogue is harder because it's easier. I don't know why you're looking at me like that, I can't say it any more clearly. 37. Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you? Yes. But I'm not one of those writers who spend hours trying to verify that some throwaway sentence is 100% accurate, I'm basically researching as long as it takes to make something sound plausible (which, frankly, I think is what happens when people actually write procedurals -- someone is like: does that sound medically right? and some other guy is like: well it doesn't sound medically wrong). It's neither fun nor boring. It's just a part of the process.

[lorbanery]

I just saw a post about warnings on fanfic and it's making a very good point so I don't want to derail it

But I saw it make this claim

Until AO3 came along, fanfiction did not traditionally warn for content in any significant way.

This is false.

I got into fanfic in the early 00's, before AO3 which was founded in 2008. At the time the major places to post fanfic were Fanfiction.net, Livejournal, and independent archive websites that mostly focused on a single fandom. There were absolutely content warnings and they were absolutely normalized by the time I started reading/writing around 2003.

It's true that you didn't tend to see the long strings of tags of warnings that get into really granular details on AO3. But it was extremely normal and expected to warn for larger more general things like character deaths, explicit descriptions of injuries, and sexual content. This is where those old fandom terms came from, they were essentially genre descriptions that gave people a general idea of what they could expect from a fic.

Whump, hurt/comfort, angst, lemon, lime, character death, porn without plot, noncon, dubious consent, even fluff were all terms that were already in use as warnings in 2003, some of which are still in use to this day. In fact some of them used to have more specific definitions than they do now. For example, my experience was that the "hurt" in "hurt/comfort" almost exclusively involved some kind of sexual assault. "Character death" usually meant a character that didn't die in canon, or in a manner different from their canonical death (though it did also sometimes just involve exploring other characters' reactions to a canonical death in a way the canon didn't explore).

Even though FFN and most independent archives didn't have a tagging system like AO3, even though LJ's tagging system wasn't used the way AO3's is. Even though we didn't call them "content warnings" at the time. It was still very much the practice of fanfic authors to include warnings. There was even a relatively standardized format to introducing and giving a quick overview of your fic that's largely still in use today, including on AO3, they just automated it where, even on FFN, we would write it out ourselves. The one I saw and used most often looked like this:

Title: Fandom: Pairings: (if any) Summary: Warnings: Disclaimer:

Sure, some people wouldn't use warnings at all, even the generally accepted ones. But that wasn't typical. And you still find authors in 2024 who don't use warnings, even though the culture has absolutely shifted from "this is just a standard bit of information to include about your fic" to "this is information that you need to include because not including it could unintentionally harm someone".

And that's not even getting into how the summary itself can also act as a content warning. It's not perfect, certainly, but when you had fics where the main focus was something traumatic happening — whether that was a fight, a war, a serious injury, sexual assault, a death — there was generally some kind of reference to it in the summary. The same with lemons/limes, even though those terms only told you how explicit the sexual content was, you would get more information about the kind of sexual content from the summary, but also from the listed pairing. Like, even if someone didn't explicitly include "incest" in the warnings, even if their summary was just "I'm bad at summaries lol", even if they didn't include one of the warnings specific to romantic or sexual content, they were still warning you that their fic involved incest just by listing the pairing as Sam/Dean, to use a popular example.

Now, I can't speak to how common it was in pre-2000 fandom spaces to include some kind of content warning, so if someone who ran in those earlier spaces wants to chime in please do. All I can do is point out once again that by the time I started reading/writing fanfic in 2003, all of that language I described above had already been well-established.

AO3 deserves tons of credit for everything it's done. But it didn't invent its fan culture out of thin air. It built upon a fan culture that already existed. And I'm sorry, but I just don't appreciate the fandom culture that I came up in being painted like we didn't care about each other. Like wanting people to be prepared for what they're about to read, or to have enough information to know if they should just skip it, is something unique to this current generation of fans.

[council-of-beetroot]

I think most of the infamous aph fics (that I know) are already mentioned in your notes. For Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart, it's mostly infamous due to how /famous/ it is in the fandom if that makes sense. Lots of fic writers get their stuff compared to DeValier's fics cuz of how many people loved Auf Wiedersehen, which made a bunch of people hate it even if they've never read it. (I've never read it, it doesn't sound interesting to me, so I have no opinion.)

Gutters I mostly hear is really sad. Post apocalypse, I think, but I don't care for the Nordics or Sealand much, so I never bothered reading that one either.

Danish Slaughterhouse sounds like guro from what I've heard explained to me, but again, I never cared for the Nordics much, so I never read it.

Acceleration Waltz is another big fic, at least among ger/ame shippers, and IIRC, the author came back and wrote for it again during lockdown in 2020, so I think it's finished now?? It's post WWII and is a human AU. I haven't read it in years, though, so I don't remember a lot of details.

There's a few versions of the Recession Gang-bang trope, so I'd go with the rec in the replies of that post, and while it's not as infamous as some of the others, I've seen Seven Little Killers mentioned here and there. It's a thriller-ish type story, where there's 7 killers, and the Axis trio are the detectives.

Also not as infamous as the others, or at least I don't see them mentioned as much is Book of the Tentacles. It's mainly noncon smut via a tentacle monster, and last I read it, it had almost 70,000 hits I think.

I think The Empty Cradle (ameripan) might count too. I think someone even read it out loud for a stream a while back.

Maybe someday I'll read gutters and auf wiefershen i just can't find the motivation to do so.

I have no desire to read danish slaughterhouse although I've probably read worse

I haven't read Acceleration Waltz but i have read other works by that author. Their sims 4 version of Zachem ya is hilarious. I need them to finish War anthem because it stopped right as Tolys was like alright plan A didn't work, time for plan B *unzips pants*

I've read book of the tentacles i just looked it's the fifth in most read (Excluding Crossovers) on AO3 i always tell my self that no matter what my fics will never get as much fame as tentacle porn and i can live with that.

Seven little killers has it's own tv tropes page as well link here. I skimmed through the document i downloaded it seems pretty typical of fanfiction of that era.

I think i haven't read the majority of these solely because i don't usually read fics outside of my main characters i focus on.

I can't remember if I've read the financial crisis gangbang or not

Now I'm curious about your guy's thoughts on this list of fics that have their own tv tropes page

I've read like three of these on the list.

Maybe in ten years one of my shitty fics will be viewed as fanfic from the days of yore.

[desertfangs]

6. What's a subtle quirk your protag has? How do you convey it in your writing?

(specifically curious about what quirks daniel has in your mind but really you can pick any character and I'll love the answer)

Here are some quirks I think Daniel has, some of which I know you and @rainbowcarousels and others tend to agree. This turned out more like a list of headcanons, whoops:

The first one is not subtle at all and I know it’s one a lot of us tend to write for him, and that's the way he runs his hand through his hair or tugs at his hair when he’s agitated. 

I also always picture him tapping his fingers against the leg of his jeans or pants, particularly when he’s impatient (like, say, when Armand is not answering him or he’s waiting for a towncar or something) and scratching his stubble when he’s mortal and has it. And sometimes even as a vampire, he scratches his chin like the stubble is still there. 

He likes to jot things down. For example, things that come into his head or things he wants to look up, or something funny he overhears, even if his memory is probably vampire-good and he doesn’t necessarily need to write things down anymore. He usually carries a little notepad or notebook, like a small pocket sized one, in case he thinks of something he wants to write down. It comes from his journalism days, but also from when Armand was chasing him around and he wanted to write down some of the more fascinating things Armand said. 

Daniel has always been distractible and he gets lost in thought. Sometimes he stares off into space while he’s going down some mental rabbit hole and doesn’t really notice things going on around him. After his bout with madness, this worries Armand, particularly after they first get back together, but it’s just Daniel mentally going over things. 

Daniel leans. He leans in doorways and against the backs of sofas and on railings. If there’s something for him to lean on, he will typically lean against it. 

He worries his lip when he's thinking. Chews on it when he's trying to work something out.

He can talk a lot when he’s excited. He’s a great listener and he knows how to ask good questions to provoke other people into talking, but if he’s on a roll or jazzed about something, he can definitely go off on a tangent with no room for anyone else to get a word in. Armand can usually stop him by putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. But god help the others when Daniel and Armand are both excited about something because they just feed each other’s chaos. 

He loves listening to talk radio (podcasts, now, mostly) when he’s working on a project. Most of the Portuguese he learned came from listening to the radio while building his models. 

Daniel gets groggy like a mortal when the sunrise starts to tug at his awareness, and he tends to yawn, get sleepy, and stumble around. 

He has an oral fixation (insert blow job joke here). When he was mortal, that meant a lot of a mints stolen from bars and diners and cigarettes. Now he still has cigarettes, but has been known to have a toothpick in his mouth, or a straw if he’s in a bar or restaurant and pretending to drink. 

I guess I incorporate them by having him do these things as they come up in fic, lol, I don't know. I know I have that guy running his hand through his hair way too much but it's definitely one of the habits I picture him having and he's agitated a lot.

[tideswept]

👀

From this ask list!

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Well, tonight's wip is ch2 of the devil is a gentleman! If the muse is willing, there'll be an update late tonight/tomorrow. :D

Rest of answer under cut in case people don't want to hear about Authorly Thoughts and Plans

SO THIS FIC is really funny in that it's a fluffy actors AU, but they're also actors who happen to be filming borderline Dead Dove-esque material, and Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon's whole friend/work group are kind of weird themselves.

So like, if you want to think of it as a dark fic? You're totally valid. You want to think of it as harmless fluff? Also valid.

(I've been struggling with whether I should adjust the tags because of that, but even then, I don't know what I'd tag it AS.)

Obi-Wan isn't exactly the most altruistically well-meaning here, but he's not the psychopath that his character is, either. And yet there's character bleed, from Firth to Obi-Wan and from Daniel to Anakin and back and forth, muddying the waters.

And Anakin is just nineteen. He has no idea what's happening. He's mostly done guest starring bits in your typical primetime lineups. This side of the business is new to him, and he's, yeah, being a little too trusting because he thinks he's big and tough and smart, not realizing he's rather the ingénue in all this.

There's no bad intentions from anyone in this fic, and yet they're caught up in each other's orbits, in the material, in the high of what they're doing. Obi-Wan just wants to eat Anakin up because he is adorable, and Obi-Wan feels he deserves something nice after getting divorced and then having to walk his ex-wife down the aisle to marry his best friend. (He roasted the hell out of them during the best man speech. Because he was BOTH their best man. It's a complicated relationship. And yes, they've all slept together.)