#been reading a lot of loki centered fanfic

[kahuna-burger]

PSA for writers, including but not limited to tagging on AO3 where this is making me buggy :

If you are writing about an alien species, supernatural creature or alternate human subtype (looking at you, omegaverse) in which individuals can function reproductively as both males and females (at the same time or changing over the course of their lives) they are not Intersex. The correct biological term for a species that reproduces this way is hermaphroditic.

Now, people used to call intersex individuals hermaphrodites, but that language is being changed, not just because it's associated with discrimination and poor medical practices (to put it mildly) but because it is scientifically inaccurate. Intersexuality is not the "new term" for hermaphroditism, it is about real people whose reproductive anatomy varies in many ways but includes true reproductive hermaphroditism only in theoretical possibilities of one specific variation. Trying to make it synonymous with hermaphroditism sounds like a short road to more misunderstanding and fetishization of real intersex people.

Tl:dr, Calling your hermaphroditic aliens or human mpreg engines "intersex" is inaccurate and imho just puts outdated and potentially damaging connotations onto the term.

[primewritessmut]

🍄🦋🦴🪲🎨

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings.

Already answered. Although, I suppose I could come up with another one...?

Okay. This is kind of head canon and kind of supported by actual canon, but I don't think Eddie Brock has a problem eating human brains. There was definitely a long journey to get to that point and I'm sure a lot of arguments with the symbiote BUT I think it stopped bothering him because it was the only way to keep the symbiote healthy and the symbiote is more important to Eddie than some random human.

I do love his very specific morality around a lot of things, but that especially.

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately.

Not fanfic related but just the lack of resources for people in the United States. (It might be true in other countries, but I can only speak to it where I live.) It takes so much energy to scrape and claw and sacrifice just to maybe have that thing covered by healthcare. Or to possibly have enough maternity leave from your job. Or to almost have enough food to keep yourself alive.

There are no social supports here and I think that (a) makes shit so hard for very specific portions of the population and (b) makes it difficult to also juggle, and protest and organize around, all the bullshit that is happening in other places.

I'm not going to get on a soap box or anything, but it's always on my mind. Life is so fucking hard ON PURPOSE, and I hate it.

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?

Not intentionally. But I think my writing is always impacted/informed by whatever media I'm consuming at the time. I can go back through certain stories or fics and remember exactly what I was reading or watching based on what happens in them.

Like, yes, there is a specific piece of media that inspired Need You Like a Gun to the Head (Distraction by Kelly Fox). Or the fact that He Speaks Daggers is a direct insert for a certain season/episode in Loki. But in terms of overall inspiration? IDK. I'm sure the knife thing came from somewhere but I couldn't tell you where.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here.

Mobius’s gaze sweeps Loki from head to toe, partially because he hasn’t gotten to see the front view and partially because—

“Take your jacket off.” Mobius herds Loki a few steps away from the bleeding liability on the floor.

“Most people buy me a drink first.”

“I’ve bought you several drinks. Now take off your goddamn jacket.”

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it.

Is it too self-centered to share one inspired by a fic I wrote? Because I'm going to do it anyway. @wolfpup026 made the most immaculately gorgeous fanart of Loki from chapter one of Midori Sour (like they crawled inside my head and plucked him right out!) and I kick my feet every time I think about it. There's something just so. SO. about inspiring another artist to create something. It's such a feeling of appreciation and community, and it's the time I most love being in fandom.

x

[jokerislandgirl32]

About Me (aka: JIG32 Intro)!

I’ve been wanting to add this to my pinned for a while, so here it is! It is broken up into 3 Sections for you all to get to know me better: General ( the basic info about me), Blog Stuff (what you will see on my blog, my f/o and s/i list), My Favorite Things (some of my favorite things: shows, movies, animals, etc!).

Feel free to ask me/speak to me about anything you read here! I may be slow answering asks/interacting, but I love interacting with my mutuals!

Please see below cut! Tw for moving gifs and trauma mention!

General

💜 27 year old female.

💜 Libra! B-day: October 4th.

💜 Christian.

💜 Demisexual.

💜 College Graduate! Associate’s in General Studies and Bachelor’s of Science in History.

💜 Educator of littles by day (kindergarten whooo), and fangirl of villains and other misunderstood characters by night / when I’ve got a break from work.

💜 I love to spend time with my loved ones, sing, listen to music, obsess over my favorite characters and media, write, decorate, spend time in nature, and organize items!

💜 Cat mom to 4 cats (one boy and 3 girls).

💜 Mommy to an angel baby, Alexandria Rinella Varmitech 👼

💜 I’ve gone through a lot of trauma and hardship in my life, but my faith, my loved ones, and my favorite characters and media have helped me through it all! So this blog is like a love letter to all of that!

Blog Stuff

💜 I’m a fanfic author and wishful artist (I’m not very skilled at either, but I try).

💜 Hugeeee Fan of Zach Varmitech, Arthur Fleck, any version of the Joker, Kevin Wendell Crumb, Loki, Oswald Cobblepot, Cedric the Sorcerer, The Grinch (2018 version my beloved), and Klarion the Witch Boy. My blog content is centered around these characters.

💜 Self shipper! You will see A LOT of self shipping stuff on this blog. My main romantic f/o is Zach Varmitech from Wild Kratts. My self insert is Violet Virginia Varmitech nèe Tyler! I’m iffy sharing Zach, but if you respect me, and Zach and Violet, (show us no hatred), I am fine sharing him!

💜My secondary romantic f/o is the Grinch from the 2018 Illumination Grinch movie. My self insert is Aurora Borealis Who! I am completely fine sharing Grinch!

💜 I selfship platonically with Gaston Gourmand from Wild Kratts, but he’s also a bit of a crush/potential romantic f/o. I ship Gourmand with Zach as well, so I consider Zach, Gourmand, and Violet to have something of a poly relationship. I am okay sharing Gourmand!

💜 Veneer from Trolls 3 is a platonic/familial f/o of mine. He’s like my supportive best friend and brother!

💜 I also selfship romantically with Arthur Fleck, Young Justice Joker, and Loki. My s/i for Arthur and YJ Joker is Clarissa Wane. I haven’t figured out a s/i for Loki yet, but I’m thinking she’ll be called Scarlett. These are more “former relationships” of mine, but I still love each of these characters dearly, and I’m completely fine sharing them!

💜 The specific content you will find on this blog will include: Zach Varmitech Gushing, Wild Kratts content, Ziolet (Zach and Violet) posts, fanfic and au posts, posts about any of my other favorite characters/media, quotes I relate to/ I am inspired by, funny memes, funny/cute animal/nature posts, and fall/holiday stuff (Halloween and Christmas countdowns, etc.).

💜 Ask box/requests are always open, see my pinned post for more info, but I may be slow responding to asks/requests!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things…

💜 Favorite shows: Wild Kratts, A Haunting, Green Acres, Gilligan’s Island, Sofia the First, Young Justice, Gotham, 90 Day Fiancé (and any/all spinoffs), The Waltons, Little House On The Prairie, Andi Mack.

💜 Favorite Movies: Signs, Split (2016), The Dark Knight, Joker (2019), The Conjuring, Sleepy Hollow, Hocus Pocus, Twitches, Corpse Bride, Horton Hears A Who!, The Grinch (2018), Elf, A Christmas Story, The Lorax, Rise of the Guardians, Titanic, The Great Gatsby (2013), Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok.

💜 Favorite animals/insects: Cats are my favorite animals, and butterflies are my favorite insect. I also love all wild cats, foxes, raccoons, deer, turtles, moths, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and fish!

💜 Favorite season: Fall.

💜 Favorite holiday: Halloween, but I also love Thanksgiving and Christmas.

💜 Favorite Music Artists: Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Elton John, Big Time Rush, AURORA, Ellie Goulding, Oh Wonder, Conor Maynard, Taylor Swift, and Selena Gomez are among my favorites!

💜 Favorite colors: Royal blue, sky blue, violet, lilac, emerald green, blue violet, black, gray, silver.

💜 Favorite Places To Be: At the Outer Banks or in the Blue Ridge Mountains!

I will likely update this post in the future!

💜 - JIG32

[lokisninerealms]

Fanfic Recommendations - Loki Edition

Note: These are all the fanfics of Loki Laufeyson/Odison/Friggason/Whatever son you want him to be. I highly recommend reading these as I will also leave my personal review. PLEASE READ THE WRITERS BOUNDARIES/WARNINGS AS YOUR MEDIA CONSUMPTION IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. These are all series or one shots!

Updated frequently as of July 22nd, 2022

One More Week - @sarahscribbles / Smut, 18+ Content

(one shot) the smut in this is absolute perfection. i love how descriptive she is in her writing and how she really brings dom!loki to life while in this intimate moment.

New Jewelry - @stuckylaufeyson / Smut, 18+ Content

(one shot) i live and breathe for smut & y’all this is SMUT. this has literally been stuck in my head and i find myself going back to re-read it.

Hear Me Now - @lokisprettygirl / 18+ Content

(ongoing series) oh my god y’all, i absolutely love how jotun!loki is the main center in this series. bluey is so adorable and i can’t get enough of him. he has my whole heart and i’m excited for the upcoming updates.

Ease Yourself - @yellowwritingpages / Smut, 18+ Content

(one shot) another smutty fic that i always find myself going back to. the intimate details and loki being so caring. absolute perfection.

Shadows of the Past - @vbecker10 / Fluff, Angst, Smut might be added later on so read warnings

(on going) i am completely addicted and obsessed with this series. the angst, the fluff, oh my god. i could go on and on but the writing is outstanding with the different pov’s. loki is very adorable in this series and i would whole heartedly give him the world.

Secrets - @michelleleewise / Fluff, Smut might be added on later, again read warnings

(ongoing series) i love this series a lot, like a lot. there aren’t many loki x plus-size reader fics out there but this series is amazing at really bringing the characters and story to life.

The Prince and the God - @michelleleewise / Smut might be added later, read warnings!

(ongoing series) - LORDDDD when i tell y’all this series is a masterpiece. slow burn fics are my favorite thing in the world and i would give my whole heart for the absolute art of work that is this series. friends to lovers will be the absolute death of me.

Little Maid - @yellowwritingpages / 18+ Content, HEAVY filthy smut

(ongoing series) this series has me in a literal chokehold. i live for dark!loki fics. the absolute filth in this series is a YES. rockie’s writing is so amazing and the way she writes smut is outstanding.

Even In Hades I Am With You - @cherienymphe / 18+ Content

(one shot) i love mythology and this twist with dark!loki is ✨ chef’s kiss ✨ i absolutely love this blog and all of their content, their loki fics are top tier.

I Will Love Her From The Grave - @wheredafandomat / 18+ Content, Contains Smut

(one shot) woah, when i tell y’all that i cried. the author does an amazing job of really telling the emotions of her characters especially loki. this fic sent me through a whirlwind of emotions but i loved every second of it.

The Glass Slipper - @lokiprompts / FLUFF OVERLOAD

(one shot) THE FLUFF. honestly the fluffiest loki fic i have ever read. morgan and lokes are so adorable 🥺 i love it so much, the author is outstanding.

Only Us - @tricksterlokilaufeyson / fluff, fluff, just loki in love

(one shot) when i tell you i was crying. loki had me in a puddle of tears when he asked “what if i hurt you?” i love how the author was able to bring so much emotion and vulnerability between loki & the reader. i’m in my loki feels.

A Dutiful Disaster - @cake-writes / Smut, 18+ Content

(ongoing series) slow burn and smut match made in heaven. one of the first loki series i ever read, i still go back to reread it when i need inspiration for my own works. also arranged marriage trope with moody!loki, yes i’m here for that.

Dove - @rosaline-black / Fluff

(one shot) the cutest fic i have ever read. i had to reread it a couple times bc i couldn’t get over how cute and unique this story is. the female lead is a greenhouse witch and loki is his usual, flirty, adorable self. in love.

Transgressions - @lokisgoodgirl / Smut, 18+ Content

(ongoing series?) ok there’s two parts to this fic and i’m obsessed with it. the smut is absolutely EVERYTHING. jealous loki? yes. possessive loki? yes. dom loki? YES. in part 2, he submits to her and i was screaming.

Dr. Laufeyson - @wheredafandomat / Smut, 18+ Content

(ongoing series) loki or as i should call him dr. laufeyson is so hot in this like yes be my sex therapist. honestly i feel what y/n is going through but their chemistry is so good. i’m addicted to see what happens next each chapter.

Creature Comforts - @mochie85 / Fluff

(ongoing series) the writing in this is is absolutely phenomenal. loki is a sneaky and flirty little bastard which i live for. THE CLIFFHANGER had me on the edge on my seat. i’m practically on my toes for the next chapter.

Bred by a Jotun - @lokisprettygirl / Smut

(one shot) this is literally everything. i’m a whore for jotun loki but the smut in this is perfection. the ending had me screaming and i love how the author always writes jotun loki (our beloved bluey) so well.

Heavy Weighs the Crown - @munsons-maiden / Smut

(one shot) every single detail is written so beautifully, the smut is perfection and i couldn’t get enough of it. i was left feeling hot and bothered at the end, wanting and craving more. a true masterpiece delivered well.

[raifenlf]

Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue.  The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that.  But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc.  But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.  

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist.  But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women.  I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters.  But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character.  So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic.  It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people.  But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is.  If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is.  But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue.  I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell.  She doesn’t have a personality.  I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all.  The writers love to say she’s badass.  That’s not a personality.  

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters.  Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc.  I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character.  And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality.  She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie.  Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly?  He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why?  Because she had a tough childhood?  Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki.  For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.  

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away.  And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason.  She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her.  And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth?  Sylvie’s.  Of course.  Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!).  And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic.  She literally taught herself to enchant people.  That. Makes. No. Sense.  Like, I have so many questions.  Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that?  And how????????????  This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show.  Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her.  And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization.  And Loki just knows he falls in love with her.  There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person?  It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant.  They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her.  He literally tells her she’s amazing.  They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her.  He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her!  Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story. 

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season.  It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma.  Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER.  And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki.  Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her.  Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is.  One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant.  But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki.  I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this.  And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU. 

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!).  And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character.  So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character.  If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

[aelaer]

Hello !

I’ve been obsessed with Dr S. Strange lastly (Aaron Fraser-Nash Evil Dr Strange faults, really) and I kind of struggle to find Strange-centric gen angsty fics. So... would you know some ? One shot are read too fast, and the long (more than 15-20k) Strange-centric fics I found where either Ironstrange-centered or another ship (I don’t mind the canon Christine/Strange ship too much, but the others... tend to bother me most of the time except for amazingly written fics that are exception), or leaned more towards fluff/comfort than angst (and I need angst :p).

So would you know some ?

It would be amazing if you knew of some movie 1 Au with Wong or the Ancient One on top of it ! (I noticed a serious lack of Stephen Strange & The Ancient One fics and that sadden me bcs the Ancient One is amazing :p)

Also I wanted to know if you accepted prompts / fics request ? Bcs my brain is creating plots faster than I’ll ever be able to write them

Hello! Yeah, Stephen-centric gen fic is incredibly rare; at one point I cornered about 10% of all Stephen gen fic on AO3, to give you an idea of its scarcity. Gen fic of the angsty variety is rarer. It's to the point that I read more or less anything with Stephen that I thought got his personality well (which is like, 30% of the fanfics I've scrolled through since 2018 lmao), and I threw away all preferences of genre and pairings because there just wasn't any content.

I'm going to throw a link to my bookmarked fics with a Stephen filter as you'll find at least a decent amount of gen!Stephen there, or angsty!Stephen there. Lots of good one shots. The shipping fics are high quality that write Stephen very well as I am first and foremost and Stephen fan, so I just can't stand fics that use him as a romantic prop and forget his agency.

The first angsty Stephen writer I ran into was @dragonnan so I'm gonna give her a shout out as well; she has a handful of pieces you'll enjoy, as well as art, and a WIP that is said to be very angsty (I am waiting for it to be finished before diving in).

For long-boy angsty fics, I only know of two gen Stephen long fics that star him (that weren't written by me):

Signature Move by perryvic

Born of the Same Impulse by GwendolynStacy

Aurorawest is writing a fic that has Stephen in a lot of it that's still a WIP, but it's not heavy on the Stephen!angst side and Loki/Stephen might be the endgame of that fic so I'm not sure if it will fall into the gen category. Also, it's part of a huge series that more stars Loki and Thor so it's important to read all those to really understand the context of the series, which may not be what you're looking for. Good writer though if you like Thor and Loki too.

If there's any Stephen-centric long gen fics I missed here, please mention them because I actually do not know of any others. All other Stephen-centric long fics I know of are IronStrange and like, a couple FrostStrange. There is a bereft of Stephen gen fic in the fandom which is a bit disappointing for me, at least.

For finding TAO fics, I recommend going into the Doctor Strange (2016) section of AO3 and filtering for just TAO, and then starting at the very end and going forward. You're more likely to find some fics with her that way that match your criteria. Same with Wong, though he'll be harder. If you filter out IronStrange as a relationship that will narrow results significantly to help find stories that match your interests.

And finally: Yes, I do take prompts, but I take literal years to usually get to them. For instance, I still have one 2019 prompt, and 6 2020 prompts that sit half-written in my docs ready to finish but another project always distracts me lol. I got your prompt and I've got to tell you it's less of a prompt and more of an outline of a story you already have in your head. Prompts are usually one to three sentences of a more vague idea to give the person taking the prompt a lot of freedom on where to go with it. What you delivered was a pretty detailed outline of a very long story, and those are not the sort of prompts I usually take because it leaves me with very little creative control. It seems you already have this vivid idea in your head, so you really should go for it yourself! Writing a long fic is definitely time consuming and can be a daunting task, but it's also very satisfying to finish it at the end of the day. And I have two very large fics that I plan on writing over the next couple of years that will take up all my long fic time, so I'm afraid I can't accept prompts of this large of a scope. I hope you understand and decide to tackle it yourself!

Thanks for stopping by :)

[avengerscompound]

Small Gods: Lost Objects - 7

Lost Objects:  A Thor Fanfic

Lost Objects Masterlist | More Small Gods PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Thor x F!Reader

Rating: E

Word Count:  2294

Warnings: Nothing for this chapter

Synopsis: Thor has lost a lot in a very short period of time and he’s worried about losing himself too.  He goes to the one person who understands loss.

Chapter 7

After Thor had told Loki the whole story of everything that had happened since Loki had taken the Tesseract and run, marking the point this Loki diverged from Thor’s life, the trickster god had been quiet and introspective.  He wandered around the large space that made up your cottage on the hill, inspecting the hoards of items that had found their way to you.

He didn’t participate in any further discussion about how Mjolnir might be repaired, and he’d wander off and return at random intervals.  Over the course of the day, Thor found him gathering a strange collection of items together by the couch he’d been sleeping on.  Thor didn’t take a very close look but he did notice a collection of jewelry with large crystals in the settings, some pressed flowers, a collection of mismatched jars, some half-melted decorative candles, and a collection of keys.

Thor was suspicious of his brother.  He’d learned from experience that he should always expect even the least possible outcomes when Loki was around, and this particular version of his brother was the one who still had raw and open wounds from fighting with his family and finding out the truth about his heritage.  Thor left him alone though, most of his attention turned to the repair of his hammer.

There was talk about going to Nidavellir.  There were many reasons that that might not work.  For starters; it was a lot to ask of Eitri now he was alone and without the use of his hands.  Besides, the dwarf had already made one weapon for Thor, and Thor was reluctant to ask for more.  Even if he did, it wouldn’t be quick.  A new mold for Mjolnir would have to be made, and the forge would need to be repaired.  Thor was fine with staying and helping as long as he could, but he couldn’t expect you and Loki to do that.  Not to mention, if he did that, would it even be Mjolnir anymore or just a new hammer made from the old metal?

The other option was to see if it was possible to repair it here using a mixture of each of your abilities.  You seemed to think it might be possible by using Loki’s magic, your powers to gather lost objects, and Thor’s lightning.  The question was if it was possible to hold all the tiny fragments in their correct place and would it be weaker due to the thousands of joins?

“It’s your choice, Thor,” you said.  “She belongs to you.  Only you can decide how to repair her.”

He looked over at his brother, he’d returned to the couch with another assortment of items.  This time he seemed to add a leather-bound notebook, an ancient-looking quill, and some equally ancient coins.

“I suppose repairing it would be best,” Thor said, finally.  “If that fails I can always take the pieces to Nidavellir, but repairing it here will be something we can try sooner, and it would mean that it would be my Mjolnir.  Perhaps not as pristine as it once was - but I am a little worse for wear too.”

You leaned over and kissed him gently.  “I will miss you when you leave.”

“Who said I was leaving?”  Thor asked.

You shrugged.  “You’ll wither if you stay here with me.  You know that as well as I do.”

Thor didn’t say anything for a moment.  He did know it was true, but he wasn’t ready to go yet, and he dreaded leaving you now that he’d found you.  “Well, not today,” he said brightly, breaking the silence.  “Loki!  Brother, come here.”

Loki slunk into the room and looked him over.  “You summoned me,” he deadpanned.

“You know that’s not how I meant it,” Thor argued.  “I just wanted to speak to you about Mjolnir.  Do you have a spell you can use that will help us hold it together?”

“About that,” Loki said, taking a seat.  “I’ve been considering your -” he waved his hand around as he tried to summon the correct word.  “- Circumstance,” he settled on eventually.  “I want to gift you this -” he flicked his wrist and seemed to reach into space itself before pulling out his horned helm.  Or at least one of them.

“What would I do with your crown, Loki?  I have my own helm,” he asked.  “Though I do appreciate the gift.”

“I don’t expect you to wear it, but it is Uru and it was crafted in Asgard.  It contains its own magical properties that might be useful,” he said.  “If we melt it down, you can use it as the glue to hold Mjolnir together.”  He waved his hand again like he was trying to avoid something unpleasant.  “Besides, I have many.”

Thor was genuinely touched by the gesture.  Tears pricked his eyes and he went to pull Loki into a bear hug.  Loki was ready for him though and he pushed his chair back, avoiding the embrace.  “Control yourself, brother,” Loki teased.  “I’m not done.”

Thor looked at him curiously, picking up the helm from the table and turning it over in his hands.  “What else have you been scheming?”

“Scheming, brother?  That makes it sound so base level,” he said.  “But I have been working on something.”  He paused and tapped his fingers on the table like he was considering how best to phrase his plan.  Thor was used to that look, it usually meant there was some trickery to it, and Loki was considering his words carefully so that no one would notice.

“The tale you told me of your life since we diverged,” Loki said.  “It touched me, brother.  It is tragic that you should have to live your life without a version of me in it.  But you and I both know, I cannot stay here.  The TVA will be looking for me as we speak and they are not bound by barriers of time or space.  And the whole reason they arrested me in the first place was due to my universe hopping.  I need to keep moving.  So… I believe that the three of us together may be able to create a device - a key - that if used will bring us back together.  Then you will not have to worry about living in a world without my presence.  Won’t that be nice?”

Thor didn’t respond.  Partly due to the shock of the offer.  It appeared completely selfless.  Loki and Thor had been close as children but that had been a long time ago, and as much as Thor had wanted to maintain his relationship with his brother, it had always been a struggle.  Yet here was Loki - the version of Loki full of the most rage and hurt - and he was offering an olive branch to him.  Was there some kind of plan he was cooking up and Thor would inevitably be burned yet again, or did his brother pity him so much that he’d offer him this one small thing?

“Loki, if this is some trick...”  Thor warned.

“You wound me, brother,” Loki said, putting his hand on his heart.  Something in his face changed and his whole demeanor shifted.  “Not to get sentimental on you or anything, but … I worry about you, brother.  What you’ve been through… If having a way to contact me will give you some relief, then it is a minor inconvenience to me to do so.”

Thor nodded and put his hand on Loki’s shoulder.  “I thank you.”

“And… I can make one for this -” he waved his hand at you dismissively.  “If you would desire.  Then when you decide you’re ready to continue your adventures, you will have an instant portal back to her.”

Thor couldn’t hold back, he grabbed Loki’s arm and pulled him into a tight hug.  Loki sighed as he let his brother hug him and then slowly pushed back.  “Yes, yes, I am wonderful,” he said.  “No need to crush me.”

“How did you propose we do this, Loki?”  You asked.

The three of you moved outside.  While Thor lit a fire and burned it hot enough to smelt the metal of Loki’s helm, Loki set up the things he had gathered together.  He’d created a circle in the clearing using the items he’d been collecting in the house.  He had pulled the gems from their respective pieces of jewelry and set them up around the edge of the circle.  There were three pieces of amethyst spaced evenly apart in the circle’s edge and sitting on each piece was a key.

The circle’s center contained the tray where Mjolnir’s parts lay and beside it a glass jar that already held an ancient coin.

“How fare thee, brother?”  Loki asked.

“Almost ready,” Thor said.  “What would you have me do with it?”

“Just leave it.  When it’s liquid - assuming this works - it will be called during the spell,” Loki said.

Thor watched as the last of Loki’s horned helmet collapsed into the molten pool of metal.

“Now, you -” Loki said, gesturing to you.  “Come by me.  I need you to tap into the power you use when you’re sending things back to their rightful owners.  Only think about returning Mjolnir to Thor as it would look complete.”

You nodded and moved next to Loki.  “Thor - you stand here.  I need you to think about how badly you wish for your hammer to be returned to you, and how much you both believe in and feel for your lover.  When the time comes, you will need to summon forth a lightning bolt.  It needs to be powerful and after it hits Mjolnir, I need for it to split and hit each of the keys.”

Thor moved beside Loki, so you were each standing around Mjolnir in a small circle within the larger one.  Loki closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  He began to read from the notebook he had collected.  He spoke an ancient and primitive tongue that even with the power of Allspeak Thor had difficulty understanding.  It was a language that went back to the beginnings of the universe when his great-grandfather Buri ruled the vast emptiness of space.  He dropped some dried flowers into the jar as he spoke, they sparked as they fell and landed in the jar burning with an emerald green flame.

Thor turned his attention to you and his hammer.  Wishing for its return while also basking in the love he had for you and his faith in your abilities.  Your eyes began to glow, deep gold and wisps of the golden light leaked from the corners.  Loki tore off a sheet of paper and dropped it into the jar with the coin and the flowers and he waved his free hand.  Green light swirled out from his fingers and around Mjolnir and both the handle and the shards began to drift up into the sky.

As Loki continued to read and drop different items into the jar, the feather from the quill, herbs, drops of wine and more sheets from the book the light that emitted both from him and the jar grew brighter.  The gold that you emitted increased too and the two colors mixed in the air around his hammer as it began to form the shape he recognized.

When it looked like his hammer, Loki gestured to the molten metal on the outside of the circle and beckoned to it.  It rose in a long tendril of glowing red liquid and floated to the hammer, seeping into the cracks and sealing them together.  Thor began to summon the weather, his eyes leaking blue plasma adding to the green and gold in the air.  As the last of the molten metal disappeared into the Hammer, Thor called forth a bolt of lightning.  It shattered through the air with an ear-splitting crack of thunder.  When it hit Mjolnir the whole thing glowed red and was swallowed but a flare of gold, blue, and green light.  The lightning forked into three, each bolt passing through a person before hitting the keys on the ground.

Everything turned white, and as the color gradually returned to the world Thor held out his hand, and Mjolnir flew into it.

The hammer had changed, no more was it unblemished.  The silver face was marked with a web of gold that made it more beautiful than ever.  It had been healed and while it carried scars, it now glittered with them.

Thor held it against his chest.  “Thank you, brother,” he whispered.

Loki smiled and touched Thor’s arm softly.  “Don’t get all weepy on me,” he teased.

You went and collected the keys up from the circle.  “Did it work?”  You asked.

Loki took them from you and closed his eyes as he clutched them in his hand.  “I believe so,” he said as he opened his eyes again.  “They have been charged with each of our magic, along with Mjolnir’s.  Our magic connects them, they are ours and ours alone.  But with your ability to call to you what is lost, and Mjolnir’s ability to be called by its rightful owner - when we wish to see one of the others we only need to call to them as we use the key on a door.  It will open that door directly to them.”

Thor pulled both you and Loki into a tight embrace.  He had never been so thankful for something Loki did, and he was glad to have his brother back in his life again.  This felt like a turning point.  A way for him to be truly happy again.  “Come,” he said, as he loosened his grip.  “Let us feast together.  We have much to celebrate.”

// NEXT

[spockandawe]

do you have any recs for more stories with good sincere sibling love

Oh man, I've been thinking about this, but I think I'm going to come up embarrassingly short. I am a sucker for romantic love, I just like to have supplemental strong+intimate relationships on top of that, so it's not the thing I look for... but it delights me when I stumble across it, and I'm like wow, I should look for this more often :p And on top of that, I've been having a lot of trouble with my brain for the last several years, and reading has been a casualty (the cnovels I've consumed over the last year have been an exception, and I'm not sure why I can read those, but not my stacks of physical books). But let's see!

Okay, first thing I saw glancing around was my comic shelf, so let's start with the webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent. Big warning for it being heavy on the horror and body horror, and also big plague themes, but I love it a lot. For the most part, the story itself has been gen, with some plausible ships in the mix. But there's a Finnish family mixed in with the main cast, a brother and sister pair, and their cousin. Oh my god, they came for my throat and murdered me. Onni is one of those fictional characters I don't talk much about because everything I am feeling is just a Lot. And to go with that, I also have to rec @sunderedstar's writing for the fandom, which slays me, and also often has that additional out-and-out romance element that I love. I can't talk too much about why this family destroys me so hard without spoiling important plot reveals, and it won't have the same OOMPH without the art, but I recommend this comic to anyone who can handle the horror elements.

And while I'm off in fanfic land, I'm a sucker for anything that deals with Loki and Thor's relationship, but I have have HAVE to recommend @veliseraptor's Remember This Cold series. The central focus is loki/steve rogers (if that sounds implausible to you, i am begging you to read the stories, the early ones are very manageably sized and the longer ones often address relevant mcu movie developments in ways that i find much more satisfying than the actual movies), but Thor is an important presence in the setting as well. They start off the series with Loki basically refusing to talk to him in any way, and the gradual repairing of their relationship is just as satisfying as the development of the romance. And it's not siblings-siblings, but things about how like, Bucky and Sam Wilson are close to the leads and support them hits me in a very similar emotional spot. I will never be over loki and bucky's road trip adventure. I love this series so much, oh my god.

(I'm sure there are other mcu fics out there that put the sibling relationship front and center, but i don't read all that much mcu and do search for romances, and was particularly 👀 about steve/loki as a viable ship when I encountered this one. so i can't speak to the wider fandom scene, but i know it's fertile ground, and that this specific ship/writer is gold. lise has also done a number of my favorite family-oriented mdzs fics too, so. good stuff.)

After that...... as I look around my shelves, I'm noticing some stories where the relationships aren't romantic, but they aren't siblings either. Breq doesn't Do romance in the imperial radch series, but the way that ships love their people (and the way breq loves her eventual ship) is one of my favorite things ever. Sunderedstar's transformers fics sometimes touch on a similar love when it comes to titans, and while there are robot romances, and robots generally aren't siblings in a human way, there's a lot of non-romantic love as well. Martha Wells is good for this too, murderbot is completely uninterested in romance, but feels other caring/protective/etc emotions so strongly, and those books consistently wreck me. And in the Raksura books, like... the main species seems bisexual+polyamorous by default, and the main character doesn't have blood relatives until late in the series, but the Raksura colonies are definitely families even if he's maybe expected to sleep around in the process. And moon's mother and half-brother, eventually make an appearance and i would DIE for them. The House In The Cerulean Sea was amazing, but the story's emphasis was on parental emotions, and the kids cared about each other, but were all still kids, which is different than what hits my buttons in mdzs.

And after that, I think I'm drawing a blank unless I start picking through my shelves, and even then, I'm not sure how much I'll turn up. MDZS is probably the ideal story I've read in terms of those sibling relationships, because of how many there are, the different personalities of the people involved, and the significant ways those relationships impact the plot. It's hard to fit that much flavor in anywhere else. Since my reading focus has been on cnovels lately, let me just open up my reading list and check that. Martial families are tasty, but most of those have a different flavor, and i tend to be intothe shizunfucking (svsss) or the shixiongfucking (record of the missing sect master) more than the family part of things.

OH, got one more. Every Day The Protagonist Wants To Capture Me. The oversimplification of this is the premise is very svsss, only the main character transmigrates into the book!protagonist's abusive shixiong, not his shizun. Things branch from there, and the main story itself is absolutely shixiongfucking, but there is also a blood-related older brother in the mix too. At first, I wasn't vibing, because the story wants to frame it like he has a little brother complex, and I wasn't into that, but that's not really where they're going, and this sibling relationship HURT me, in a very good way. And one of the extras came in for the kill with the original goods, which i do always love. I was upset, but I loved it, haha. It wasn't my favorite when it first came up, but eventually the main character has to actively work hard at balancing the emotional needs of his brother and his boyfriend, while sincerely wanting to make sure they both feel supported and not abandoned, and I did like it a lot.

I think that's what I've got for you! I'm sorry, this isn't really my area of expertise, even though I do love it a lot. I wish I could help more! But hopefully this suggests something new for you to check out.

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

Loki Episode 5 Response Pt. 2 - The Positive

On to the positive post! I really did enjoy this episode overall, so here’s the stuff I liked/loved:

Hair flip! Only one this time (I believe?), and from a distance (it's when he first stands up in the Void) but glad to see we're keeping with the pattern.

I LOVED Classic Loki and Kid Loki! I had more or less zero expectations regarding them - didn't expect to like them or dislike them - so I was pleasantly surprised to have pretty strong positive feelings for both of them! Both had emotional stories and Classic Loki's sacrifice at the end was really well done. It was interesting how even though he was dressed so ridiculously, I almost found myself forgetting about that? Or at least not really noticing, because the character was so good and the narrative never used the outfit for comedy. I also have a lot of feelings about Kid Loki and Classic Loki's dynamic, thanks to this meta.

And obviously Gator Loki is glorious and I stan him for all eternity.

I have...a lot of feels about Loki calling the other Lokis monsters. Can I articulate said feels? Not really, but just know I have a LOT of them. I also just like his face in this shot - very lost, very sad, (very good lighting), 10/10.

MOBIUS YESSSSS. Loved him showing up in the car, and - "You should be careful jumping into a stranger's car like that" - lmao he is such a DAD

I know the TVA is obviously being framed as the bad guys now, but I appreciate the continued verbal acknowledgement with what Sylvie said about annihilating realities and orphaning little girls, and Mobuis' apology to her. And also, his statement about thinking the ends justified the means - even from episode one, Mobius stuck me as someone who was brainwashed and stuck in an ends-justify-the-means mentality/echo chamber, and who would do the right thing once he got out of it (which is why I found myself liking him even at the beginning, despite some of his actions early in the series) so it was nice to have that confirmed. And this just now occurred to me, but I'm wondering if my sympathy for Mobius early on has something to do with my conservative Christian upbringing and eventual complete belief change, and maybe I relate to Mobius on some level? I wasn't part of a cult like the TVA, and it was stuff like homophobia instead of murder, but still...huh, I might have to think more on that one lol.

I'm actually feeling moderately ok with the romance - better about it than last episode, for sure. I'd still much, much rather it be platonic...but they're just so cute, is the thing. Whether in a romantic or platonic context, I'm always a sucker for the trope of two emotionally closed off characters being soft with each other. And they're both just so awkward but really sweet at the same time, and neither of them are very skilled at this friend thing but they're really trying, and it's cute. I was terrified they were going to kiss (as many of us were lol) but the story really didn't go too hard on the romance this episode - it caught me off guard in episode 4 and seemed so out of the blue and sudden, but now they’ve slowed it down and just kind of focused on the general bond between the two (with some romantic undertones as well, though I think even those could potentially be read as platonic). So yeah it still depends on how they handle a next episode, but at this point I'm pretty ok with it, and it's starting to feel slightly more earned. Do I wish all that awkwardness and cuteness was centered around being friends instead of potential romantic partners? Hell yes I do. But the two of them are still cute together regardless of whether it's romantic or platonic - and I guess it is actually centered around friendship either way, because the romance is at least starting with a friendship foundation? Even if they do go full romance with it (likely) they're at least also friends - and that's something a lot of couples lack so that's definitely refreshing. So I guess my tl;dr on the romance is: I wish Loki's heart-eyes were platonic heart-eyes but either way the heart-eyes are pretty damn adorable.

LOKI WITH A BLANKET. Listen, do you - do you know - do you have any idea - how long and how desperately I've wanted to see Loki wrapped up in a blanket? A thing I once thought would only ever be in fanfic?? Yet here it is, right before my eyes, on my very own screen???? I'll never be over it. I cannot stand how cute he is. LOOK.

Although I must say, I am with Sylvie here - Loki should up his blanket-conjuring game just a little and conjure something fluffier next time. (Also @thelightofthingshopedfor posted some good meta on it being green.)

I loved the “burn it [the TVA] to the ground” and “thanks for the spark” lines. AND THE HUG!!! Talk about things I've been wanting to see for a very, very long time. Loki tearing up was great, always love that, and just...yeah. No words, only feels. 

I liked that Loki was taking charge more in this episode and actually had a plan. While I didn't love that Sylvie ended up having the better plan, Loki definitely had more of a purpose in this episode than in the others. Besides, it was really beautiful at the end when they enchanted Alioth together (I’m proud!!), and it's possible Slyvie saying "we're the same" was meant to contradict Loki's line near the beginning about how Sylvie's different than all the other Loki's? I couldn't tell if that was intentional or not, but I think it was? 

Anyway, I loved this episode overall! In a lot of ways I liked the tone and comedic moments better, I am extremely proud of my son, and I’m excited/terrified for the final episode. 

@delyth88​ @thelightofthingshopedfor​ @iamanartichoke​

[ravenclaw-questions-gone-writing]

Ven Rambles: Abandoned Lore 1

@fanfics-and-fangirling  The lore is long and kinda complicated. I’m sorry, you were probably expecting like a paragraph or 3. I basically wrote an essay on it.

Ok, so I mentioned how it’s a three way interconnected universe and a crossover. The fandoms you need to know are Miraculous Ladybug, Batman (DC), Marvel, and the CLAMP-verses, most specifically Cardcaptor Sakura and possibly XXXHolic which is in the same multi-verse so I’m counting it as one.

Some ten thousands of years ago, several world/dimension traveling magic users - the leading members of which were Clow Reed, the most powerful sorcerer in the multiverse and Ichihara Yuuko, literally known as the space-time witch, and a Loki from an older, alternate dimension - decided to make things easier for others to travel through dimensions while simultaneously creating a safe haven for their kind since there are some worlds where magic users are hunted, either for slavery or death.

They started with connecting universes in 3s, moved onto 7s, and then 9s before creating even more complex varieties of interconnecting field spells. That’s not particularly important because the universes we’re interested is one of the earliest, imperfect versions. I should have but did not make a name for what these interconnected universes are called.

The universes are set in an equilateral triangle with the three universes as cornerstones, the shape that stabilizes the plane at the center - from henceforth will be called the central plane - that is essentially the magical version of an airport. It also has the affect of stabilizing time, so instead of 1 minute to 1 month ratio between the connected universes, it’s a minute to minute thing. And it’s linked to the passage of time on Earth because Midgard is the “center of the universe“ in Marvel-verse, Miraculous-verse doesn’t have aliens (as far as I know), and DC-verse is just outnumbered. Because it’s set in an equilateral triangle, it’s shape is very delicate and a shift or misplacement could cause the entire central plane to deteriorate and collapse.

Because the central plane is entirely made of magic, I imagine it looks something like a cross between a Wuxia world and classic fantasy land. You have magic plants and creatures growing out of random crevices and bizarre weather patterns that are a result of whatever plane guardian - Clow Card creatures, bc Clow Reed would absolutely do something like that and I don’t think the other two wouldn’t really object- is active and doing their job that day. But because of that, central planes is also a treasure trove of magical ingredients.

Over time, this particular one was abandoned in favor the newer, less delicate planes - with different universes as cornerstones - with have higher quality whatever ingredient is needed. The more powerful magic users move out. The remaining magic users 1. don’t know it’s possible to cross dimensions 2. do not have the power to 3. new magic users are brought in after the new planes were created and are sent there instead, completely skipping over introducing our central plane. At any rate, the number of magic users dwindles and at this point in time, only a handful of magic users remember it exists.

(Frick, why does Tumblr keep deleting paragraphs when I just want to delete a sentence. I have to retype all of that and I lost my train of thought. This is the fourth time already.)

By the time the story begins, the ones who know about it are the Al Ghuls, Frigga, the Loki that was born in this Marvel-verse who was introduced to it by his mother for his magic lessons, and anyone who stumbles across the random portals that have begun to appear because the Marvel cornerstone has been slightly shifted out of place by some cosmic event. (Marinette, who’d probably about 8 - 10 years old at this point in time.)

That shift caused the Marvel-verse to start pulling away, which in turn makes the other two cornerstones pull together in an attempt to maintain equilibrium.

Before we go further into that, a quick crash course in magical numerology. The first nine numbers are sacred, each one with a meaning attached to it. The ones we’re interested in for this story are 1, 2, and 3. 1 means unity. 2 means disorder. 3 means harmony.

I apologize for not being able to fully articulate this part but it makes sense in my head and I will do my best to make sense to everyone reading this.

As long as there are 3 cornerstones, the central plane will be stable due to the harmony factor. Problem is, as DC and MLB universes get closer, they begin to merge, made easier by the fact they’ve been bound together for so long. This makes the numbers drop from 3 to a fluctuation between 1 and 2.

Magic begins to separate them as 2+1= 3 rather than a full trinity of 1+1+1=3. Marvel-verse is totally fine (for now) but DCxMLB universes are experiencing some trippy things, news begins to filter between the worlds, abnormal weather patterns, memories merging and many more “ghostly interaction” experiences. For the most part, people can just dismiss it but the magically and spiritually inclined are having the worst time of their lives, especially those with foresight abilities.

The two universes haven’t really merged yet, probably won’t for another 5 years or so, but it’s close enough to be an inevitable event and that causes it to the math to go from 2+1=3 to 1+1=2, which as I have mentioned, destabilizes the central plane. It still exists, but it is now an EXTRA chaotic place, most of the sentient magical flora and fauna are going crazy and the guardian cards are in full panic mode which does affect a whole lot of things. The central plane eventually crumbles and anything inside it at the time vanishes into the in-between of universes, most likely never to be seen again. (Either they die from lack of anything they need to survive, miraculously find their way onto another plane, or descend into the literal hell that is where the most cursed and hated creations ever to exist were thrown into where they must adapt or die, probably die. Unless they have knowledge of the old way of moving between universes, in which case they’d be fine once they’ve re-oriented themselves.)

I hadn’t decided if Marvel-verse will detach completely and accelerate the merger between Maribat verse or if it rebounds and forces another merger which would also accelerate the merger in a different direction. I’d also like to mention that since Earth is where the worlds are linked, that is the place that is most affected, other parts of the universe are like “hey, budge over and make some room for me.“ because before that, it was probably just a void there and only the parts where there is some.

If this isn’t fully coherent, that’s because I was in the middle of world building before angst and crack took over and I had to scrap the idea.

[mari-beau]

Morning Kisses - A Loki Series Fanfic

Title: Morning Kisses

Characters: Mobius POV

Pairing: Poly Sylvie/Loki/Mobius

Words: 1272

Genre: Fluff/Romance

Summary: Mobius contemplates his affection for the craziest sort of beings in the universe, Lokies...

Author's Note: I could only think of that post about how ship wars are stupid and pointless, and when there are 3 or more hot messes, why not ship them altogether. And I guess I feel like these idiots (affectionate) qualify for that. Honestly, not sure where this came from, but it demanded to be written. So here we are.

Spoilers: Nothing specific, but general ones, that these characters exist and whatnot... I have watched the entire first season, so could be inadvertent spoilery details, but really it's just some fluff outside of the canon plotline

Warnings: Allusion to adult situations; kissing... Polyamory/Thruple (if you find that offensive, then this fic is not for you.) Also, I did not do any amount of editing on this (burned out on editing from my original fiction work).

[Fic below the break]

Warmth and peace. It was a good way to wake up, the best way, Mobius decided, snuggling into the body beside him. He couldn’t remember feeling so content… ever. Satisfied with a job well done, yes, but never happy. Always feeling as if something was missing, just out of reach. But not now. For the first time in his memory, there was only the warmth and peace. And Loki.

Well, Lokies… It was hard to think of them as completely different individuals, even though they were. But they also weren’t. But they were. Maybe it was beyond his brain’s understanding, but deep down in his heart or his soul or primal, instinctual being or wherever, he understood them. At least, he understood what they meant to him, the affection he felt for Loki, Lokies, his Lokies.

Head comfortably pillowed on Loki’s shoulder, Mobius enjoyed the moment that found the variants silent, sleeping still, taking the advantage to observe the one he was less certain about. Or rather, was less certain about whether she was certain, about Mobius, about her variant. Because Sylvie could not trust. And Loki could not be trusted.

They were both wrong. Mobius knew this.

He studied Sylvie’s face, for once all the tension of fury and a survivor’s anguish -a Loki’s anguish- undetectable, her face smooth and placid in a slumber she well deserved. It was interesting how she both resembled the variant Mobius had come to think of just as Loki, and also was completely different. They were like two sides of a coin, and Mobius was perfectly fine with the fact that lo-having affection for one was to have affection for the other. They were inextricably linked. And he was tangled up with them both, cosmically, emotionally, physically.

Loki’s hand was tucked under him, had held him and pulled him close as, completely spent, they all had cuddled in to sleep. The man-god-variant-Loki still had his other arm draped around Sylvie, who was curled up on his other side, her cheek resting on his chest that gently rose and fell with his steady, slow breaths.

Of course, Loki had made himself the center, but Mobius knew it wasn’t really the case. At least not on the TVA agent’s side. He was honestly just as intrigued by the woman he’d chased for so very long, the one that brought his Loki crashing into his life, destroying all the lies that had held him prisoner for so long, feeling empty.

Mobius didn’t feel empty any longer, filled with affection for these two crazy, wonderful beings. He could only hope they returned his affection even a little. They’d certainly returned his desire. But they were Lokies, self-proclaimed hedonists. And-

Sylvie was awake, her gaze meeting his. Her eyes were Loki eyes. They all had the same eyes. And yet, different. Like unique cuts of the same gemstone. Hers were somehow harder to read than Loki’s. Mobius took the risk, reached out and brushed his fingertips against the smooth skin of her cheek, cupped her face. There had been plenty of touches, caresses, bare skin on bare skin the night before, but this was different, and he honestly didn’t know how Sylvie would react.

Her fingers curled around his wrist and he stopped breathing, anticipating her pulling his hand away, a small gasp escaping him when instead she slid her hand over his, leaned into his caress, turned her face into it and pressed a kiss to his palm. She looked at him with those gorgeous Loki eyes, so much hurt, so much rawness, so much desperation for love. And then she was shifting, moving closer, and Mobius barely had to move to meet her, brush his lips against hers, feel the flush of warm surprise when she returned the kiss, deepened it. But the most surprising thing was the tenderness.

There had been kisses the previous night, but of an entirely different nature. This was, this was, warmth and peace. And affection. And Mobius reveled in it, kissing Sylvie, leaning over Loki’s chest just above his heart.

They tasted the same. He wondered if they knew that? Rich and heady, their mouths the same sort of silken warmth, their tongues as active and muscular as one would expect from Lokies. And surprisingly, attentive and gentle for supposed self-absorbed beings only interested in their own pleasure. Silvie kissed Mobius like he thought maybe she really did care about him, a lot, maybe even as much as he cared for her, for them.

The kiss waned to a natural end, but Sylvie stayed put, with her fingers playing with the short hair at Mobius’ nape and his hand on her neck, thumb brushing along her jaw. Instead of pulling away, she leaned in to rest her forehead against his. Of all the things Mobius had learned, he treasured this the most; Lokies could be sweet.

“Where’s my good morning kisses?” Loki asked, a pout contorting his pretty mouth but the rest of his face beaming at Mobius and Sylvie, his hands still on each of them, stroking along their backs.

Mobius exchanged a look with Sylvie, who raised her eyebrows, questioning. With a nod of his head, he indicated ladies first and she accepted the invitation, moving in to kiss Loki, who withdrew his hand from Mobius’ flank to take his variant’s face in both hands and embrace her with an affection intensity that was both too intimate to witness and too compelling for Mobius to look away.

His skin tingled with jealously over being abandoned by Loki’s touch, but he did not begrudge Sylvie the attention and adoration of the embrace, merely wanted it as well. And admittedly enjoyed the tenderness and intimacy between the two Lokies. The kiss ran its full course and before Mobius could wonder if it was the appropriate time to get out of bed and slip away, at a loss at what sort of conversation you attempted to have with a pair of Loki variants after you’d spent the night in carnal exploration and bliss, Loki was pulling him into embrace that perfectly mirrored the one he’d just witnessed, the one he’d had with Sylvie himself first.

Loki’s sweet kisses were the same as Sylvie’s. And also different. Mobius could spend an eternity trying to pinpoint the small differences and all the similarities, the way Loki’s fingers stroked the nape of Mobius’ neck just like Sylvie’s, but felt different, large and coarser, the temperature of their lips, the way they favored exploring a specific spot in his mouth with their tongues, the noises of pleasure they made, grunts and moans but in different keys. The way their entire focus narrowed to just Mobius as they kissed him. The desperate need for affection that defined the Loki souls.

He just wanted to give them that affection, to return what they had given him, the completion, the warmth and peace.

The embrace ended, leaving Mobius feeling so happy, he was probably glowing.

“What should we do today?” Loki asked, exchanging a look with Sylvie. They both had smiles twitching in the corners of their mouths.

Mobius frowned in confusion, not in on the joke, the silent communication that existed between two variations of the same being. There was some sort of conversation, struggle happening between them. Then finally, Loki said, “You tell him.”

Sylvie smiled, shone as bright as the brightest variation of earth’s sun, when she turned back to Mobius.

“We’re going to go find Mobius a jet ski.”

Mobius laughed, his heart fit to burst, it was so full of Lokies. His crazy, wonderful Lokies.

[norabrice1701]

An Offer Received - Part VI

A Jaguar Villain Tom Hiddleston Character (Thomas Conrad) fanfic

Pairing: Thomas Conrad x Fem!reader

Summary: Life underwater reveals the grand plan and...victory?

Rating: Sexual content NSFW smut (more sensual than explicit, but still please be ye warned), controlling behavior, f-bombs, discussion of violence happening out-of-scene, Conrad being Conrad 

Previously: Part V - 5 Days 

A/N: And we come to the end! Hopefully the loose economics isn’t too off-putting and semi-plausible (at least for this version of a modern world ha). Thank you to everyone who’s read and enjoyed! 

GIF credit to the original poster via the Tumblr search! 

Part VI - 5 Empires 

As best you could figure, there were three compartment rooms exclusive for your and Conrad’s use. The first was the combined living room and your office. The second was a smaller room, connected to your office, that served as Conrad’s office – his nerve center, as you came to think of it. The third room was a single bedroom with a bed just big enough for two; built-in wardrobe and drawers lining the walls; and a small, functional bathroom. Or head, as the onboard sailors called it.

Beyond those three compartments, your movements were fairly limited and presided over by the seemingly indifferent crew that moved around you. “Miss Fox”, they all called you, inclining their heads politely when you passed or encountered them in the wardroom. Fortunately, no one waited on you hand and foot. You had free reign in the wardroom for food, coffee, and snacks. Hell, you suspected you might gain weight on this voyage with no chance to run or get any real exercise. At least the clothes that had been provided for you were surprisingly practical – suits with both trousers and skirts, tasteful blouses, silken cami and shorts sleepwear – all perfectly in your size.

Between working and surfing channels on the TV, you kept busy enough. It was still surprising that wireless internet or satellite or whatever it was worked so seamlessly underwater for all digital connections during your voyage.

Now that you were trapped with him underwater, living day-to-day, sharing a bed every night...it was disturbingly domestic and not. He still hadn’t told you much that was practical about anything, other than how to operate the shower controls. 

You’d thought that, surely, now that you were here with him and no means of escape - maybe you would finally be privileged to know the grand plan. But you didn’t even know where the submarine was heading. You didn’t have your passport, but somehow you didn’t think that would be a problem whenever you arrived. But if this was his big move - or if he was making big moves - then would you at least be privileged to know if he won? Or if he lost? 

That thought sat funny with you. If he lost. Of course, it was possible and, in fact, quite probable. Supervillains bent on world domination never won in the movies or comic books. But did you really consider Conrad a supervillain?

Hard to say.

He didn’t act much differently. He’d always walked and stood with the authority that he owned the world. With LOKI, he certainly had, and nothing about that had changed now. His cool, controlled demeanor had yet to slip, even though you spent a lot more concentrated time around him. At first, you feared what the single bed in the one bedroom would herald, but until last night, he’d been an unexpectedly, perfect gentleman. And even then, he’d only given you what you all but took from him. 

You hadn’t meant to wake up. But the motion of the bed as he slid beneath the sheets stirred you. His scent enveloped you, always so enticing. Your hand reached out in a sleepy haze, settling to the hard plane of his chest, fingers tangling in the light scatter of hair. The heat of his body permeated the air, a welcome contrast to the chill of the submarine’s filtered air. Your head drifted on the pillow, only wanting to curl closer. 

His minty breath fanned your face as a warm, solid hand covered yours, pressing it flat against his skin. Arousal suffused you, warm and rolling. Your legs twitched against the sheets, brushing his coarse leg hair. His nose skimmed yours as you breathed him in. 

When your lips met his, there was no resistance. No illusion. Half-lucid drowsiness had given way to aching want, and he groaned softly as you rolled atop him. His hand rose to frame your face, angling you deeper into the kiss as his other hand drifted down your spine. You moaned, low and breathy, as tongues tangled and you felt his arousal grow against you. Without realizing it, your hips started to roll in slow, teasing waves. 

In a fluid, tender motion you were on your back with the heat of his body everywhere above you. Those nimble fingers caressed your breast through the silk of your cami as he angled his hips to let you slide down his sleep shorts. Yours went next and you whimpered at the feel of him, hard and heavy, against your core. With no words, no questions, he pushed inside, burying to the hilt before setting a slow, steady pace. 

He brushed that secretive, intense place within you on each stroke, tearing raw moans from your throat. Tears stung your eyes, overwhelmed and overcome, as he continued to move, your fingers digging into the muscles of his back. His forehead rested against yours, noses nuzzling as you each gasped and moaned your shared pleasure. With the deep slide of him inside and the press of him outside, it didn’t take long until your release burst in blinding euphoria. 

And you did the unthinkable. Words slipped from your lips before you could even think. 

“Oh, Tom….” 

You didn’t realize what you’d said until later. Much later. After he’d told you not to wash away the evidence of your shared passion. After you’d fallen asleep, curled into him, despite the tacky moisture pooling between your thighs. After you’d woken to see the sheets stained beyond reuse. After he’d brought enough breakfast and coffee for two as you each dressed for the day. 

And now...now, you braced for his response. For his inevitable retaliation for the liberties you took, either with his given name or his person. He’d never given you permission to call him ‘Tom’. 

You blew another sigh, distracted from your work yet again. And all of that was to say nothing of even beginning to analyze what drove you into his arms at the late night hour in the first place. Was this the beginning of some twisted captivity dependency? Where you were just that desperate for human contact that you turned to your captor? 

Not quite. He hadn’t abducted you. You could have pitched a fit, refused to go, and likely wound up in the bottom of the harbor along with your watch. But you didn’t. You were here.

The VI on the bottom of your foot throbbed. 

But the hours continued to progress, and it proved just another day under the water.

Until it wasn’t. Until he lounged on the couch, oddly close to you, oddly relaxed. His tie had disappeared, along with his suit jacket. The top buttons of his dark shirt revealed a tease of skin, and his sleeves were cuffed just above his elbows. He sipped from a highball of scotch as you nursed your wine. The TV droned mindlessly on global news, current events.

“It’s been four days,” you started softly, “are we still planning to arrive tomorrow?”

He took a slow sip of scotch. “Yes.”

“Is that when I’ll learn more?”

He cut you with a wry, sideways look. “Don’t you want to maintain some plausible deniability?”

You bristled. Sure, you’d thought of that, but you didn’t like the insulation on his voice. You weren’t ready for him to make a rash decision on your behalf and cut off your left foot. “At this point…after last night – difficult to deny I’m not a willing participant in your coup or revolution or whatever you’re terming it.”

“It’s neither of those things.” He paused for another mouthful of scotch. “Certainly nothing so dramatic. Dramatic change invites a dramatic response, which does no one any good. Subtlety is key until the moment of revel.”

You couldn’t hold back a soft snort. “Until you…what? Rise out of the water on a fountain of righteousness?”

“Nothing so fantastical. The dominoes will start to fall tomorrow. You’ll see.” 

You took another drink of wine, debating pushing your luck. Why not? “I thought you might be angry, or...displeased after last night.” 

He hummed softly, his eyes darting up and down your torso as he raised a hand to his mouth, teasing his thumb with his front teeth . “Now, why would you think that?” 

“No one calls you ‘Thomas’, let alone ‘Tom’.” You weren’t going to mention that conversation with Amelia. “I just want to know if I should be on my guard for you to corner me against the bulkhead for another of your so-called ‘lessons’.” 

“In the dark of night with you warming my bed so freely, you’ll find little behind closed doors that displeases me. However, should such an incident bleed over into the daylight, that will be a different discussion.” 

You blinked, doubting you heard him right. “That...that’s it?” 

He turned to you with a distantly annoyed expression. “I’ve told you before - you’re not one for trite questions. You have what you have. And soon…,” his lips curled in a wolfish smile, “we’ll have the world.” 

You’re not sure how you slept that night, but you did. You did, and you worked until he interrupted you, switching on the news. 

“Alright, thank you, Adam.” The anchor turned back to face the main camera. “Again, to recap - if you’re just joining us - we’re 14 hours into what’s already being called the most massive market shakeup in history. The trend started in the Japan Exchange Group - the world’s 3rd largest financial market. A trickle of sales and acquisitions that grew to cascading proportions, with far-reaching impacts into the Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. Financial analysts are now reporting the moves permeated across these markets now have spread through the Bombay Stock Exchange, and are starting to manifest in Euronext. We have our own analyst, Ted Marshall, joining us now. Hello, Ted.” 

The newscast split screens, and a spectacled man in a frumpy suit joined the anchor. “Hello, yes - as you said - the financial world has never seen movement of this magnitude. And, to be clear, we’re talking about movements of tectonic proportions that have left investors around the globe scratching their heads and frantically trying to keep up.” 

“As we’ve already seen, six of the ten largest markets in the world have already been impacted. What risk do you see for the remaining four markets?” 

“I don’t think it’s a risk at all - I think it’s a predictable reality. Pinhole leaks precede a tsunami wave breaching a seawall. We’ve already seen those pinhole streams flow from one market to the next as trading floors open and then the big wave hits. It’s as if someone has found the thread that unites all of the world’s major markets, and is following that thread across the time zones, pulling to unravel and create something new.” Ted shook his head, as if in disbelief. “The world’s top ten stock markets control almost 80% of the global wealth. If what we’re seeing continues on through the UK and US based markets, then we could be looking at the largest redistribution and consolidation of wealth in history.” 

You stared at the TV, nearly agape. This was unreal...it had to be. It didn’t make sense - how could....? 

A cold chill ran down your spine as you glared over at Conrad. Sure, he was normally a man of confident bearing, but the intense pride that suffused his handsome face was unsettling. Slowly, he turned towards you, the corner of his mouth lifting as he spoke. “Admittedly, it was a hard thread to identify.” He muted the TV volume. “It took me years to execute the right contracts, plan the right mergers. And then more time, still, to recruit foot soldiers. But the sales and acquisitions will continue to waterfall through the western markets - until they seize upon the floors of the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange, with LOKI emerging a triumphant victor.” He glanced back at the TV with an almost secretive air. “The reporters have it right - the world’s top ten markets do control nearly 80% of the global wealth, and by the time of the closing bell on Wall Street - 75% of that wealth will be directly under my control.” 

Your eyes widened. “You’re just...you’re stealing the global wealth to fund your takeover?” 

“Did you hear any mention of illegal activity?” He cut back to you with a sharp look. “That’s the beauty of it - all the sales, all of this tectonic movement and consolidation - has been out in the open for everyone and anyone to exploit, given the right resources and strength of will. Surely, I don’t need to remind you that I have both of those fully at my disposal.” 

“But that’s...that’s….” Words escaped you as you turned back to the TV, seeing the headlines and stock market numbers on the screen. It was...dammit, it was smart, it was genius...it was terrifying. You forced a swallow. “So, what then? Once you control 75% of the global wealth, what happens then?” 

“With 75% of the global economy facing bankruptcy, world leaders will have very little choice. But as I’ve said before, it’s a balance act to prove one has enough bases covered. Economic prowess is not enough to bring the nations into alignment, so it must be supplemented.” He glanced down at his watch, swiping through the touchscreen and pushing a side button. 

The TV channel changed to a tactical display - a visual of the world’s continents with major cities marked and identified. Each city had a stock market indicator, tracking the progression of wealth accumulation, and symbols that looked like traffic signals. Most of the cities just had one traffic signal indicator, but some cities like Tokyo and London had two indicators. Washington, D.C. had three indicators. In fact, now that you looked again - all cities had red lights at the top of the indicators, but Tokyo and Beijing’s indicators were yellow. 

You gulped, trying to understand. Both Tokyo and Beijing had a full wealth accumulation tracker, so what did the yellow lights represent? You turned to Conrad, his gaze fixed on you, observing your study of the map. “The yellow lights...does that represent your supplement?” 

The dark grin that curled his lips didn’t reach his eyes. “It represents an inbound warhead. Two targets in Tokyo and one in Beijing - undetectable by radar, too small for anti-missile defense, and enough firepower to reduce the seats of those governments to smoldering ruins.” He waved at the TV. “With a few strategic hits, the old guard will visibly crumble, paving the way for a new world.” 

“That’s monstrous!” You stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief. “Killing all those innocent people!” 

“Innocent is a kind word for those who have brought the world to such a state. A few will perish, yes. Such important buildings are never truly empty, even after hours when the majority of its occupants are off basking in the wealth of their reaping.”

“But you can’t…that - that makes you no better than they are.” 

“There are only so many ways to get their attention, and in this case - it’s best to speak languages they understand.” 

You shook your head, still horrified. “Money and violence.” 

“Precisely.” 

You wanted to keep admonishing him, yelling at him, and even beg him to stop. Each scenario played out with ultimate futility in your mind. This was his submarine, this was his show, and this was his moment. Nothing in his overbearing arrogance would bend to your wishes that he cease and desist. 

So, you watched. You watched the stock market wealth accumulators fill. You watched the traffic signals drop from red to yellow, and ultimately to green. You tried not to think about how many lives each light represented. Occasionally, the TV would revert back to the news - each station overwhelmed with the amount of incoming information, updates on world leaders rushed to safety, financial markets upheaved, buildings exploding into flame in yet another new city. 

It was terrible to watch. Terrible, and yet - like a train crash - impossible to look away. 

After time, after hours - eventually, the last wealth accumulator peaked. The last signal turned green. 

And nothing. Nothing happened. The submarine continued along, just as it always had. Just another day under the water, blissfully oblivious to the destruction raging across the continents above. You’d completely lost track of the hour, feeling a deep bone-weary exhaustion gnaw at you. You couldn’t even recall the last time you’d eaten, your stomach a giant knot from all the anxious news activity. 

Still, you watched coverage of the fallout. Unknown numbers of injured, but significantly less than if the buildings had been occupied. And the list of damage was extensive. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The Great Hall of the People. The Kremlin. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Government of India Building. The Palace of Westminster. Buckingham Palace. The White House. The United States Capitol. But you already knew - you’d seen the map. 

But then came a breaking announcement. After the twenty-four hours of chaos, everything had fallen still and quiet. No more inbound missiles. No more stock market movement. In fact, the governments of the world were beginning to read the outcome in the settling dust, starting to grasp that the vast wealth of the global economy was no longer theirs to control. 

There were too many questions and not enough answers in the chaos - but there was a note. A single message with a concise purpose that arrived at the United Nations conspicuously after the last missile fell. 

It brought a request. A request for a meeting. A request to talk through the global situation. And the meeting was due to start within minutes. World leaders from all over the globe planned to call in and listen firsthand to the discussion. And, of course, the origin of the note was untraceable and anonymous. 

But you knew who had sent it. 

He stood next to you now, dressed in the finest suit of his collection. The crispest cut, the sharpest fit, and the dark navy color did wonders for the crystal blue of his eyes. He looked like a man of power. Like...like the ruler of the world. 

He caught your gaze with a sideways smirk before he turned for the door to his office. “Mustn’t be late, you know.” 

You exhaled shakily. “So...so, that’s it? It’s over? You...won?” 

He paused at the door, turning back for one last glance, steely determination glinting in his eyes. “What other choice do they have?” 

The door closed behind him, and you held your breath.

The End

[fanficwriter013]

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard - 26

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Pairing:  Avengers x OFC, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 3311

Warnings: Drinking and self-doubt, mentions of past physical childhood abuse

Synopsis: The twins are now three and while the Avengers know that Clint and Thor are the biological father’s none of them know or care which blond, blue-eyed baby is related to which man.  When Riley gets the power to control wind and it becomes evident that she is the heir to the Asgardian throne, Elly, Steve, Thor, and Tony take the twins to Asgard to train her.

Not every Asgardian is happy with their king’s choice of consort, nor the impurity of the heir’s blood.  While others expect Thor to make things more official.  What’s clear is, the role of Queen of Asgard is not easily filled.

Author’s Note:  Written with my inspiration to rebel @avengerscompound​

Chapter 25: Worthy

That same night over dinner we plied the boys with drinks.  Just enough for them to get to that relaxed and slightly competitive state they’d get into when they didn’t have a lot of things to worry about.  After the kids were asleep we all sat around on the couch drinking while Nat tried to talk Clint into trying to pick Mjolnir up again.

“Come on,”  Natasha pushed.  “You know you want to.  And now Thor doesn’t have the pressure of losing Asgard.”

“It’s just a trick.  Besides, why would I suddenly just be worthy now?”   He asked.

“Well,” Thor said, sweeping his hand in the direction of Mjolnir.   “She sits on the table.  Whomever wishes.”

“You know your kids were swinging her around earlier?”  I said.

He looked at me with his eyebrows raised.  “My children?  As in plural?  Both of them?”

“Yep.  Both of them.  Piet nearly hit me with her.”  I said and looked back over at Clint “So if the kids can do it…”

Thor nudged me and gestured to Mjolnir.  “Go on, milady.”

“Me first?” I asked, looking back to Thor.

He smiled brightly.  “If the children can do it…”

I got up and looked over at Natasha.  She gave me a sharp nod and I wrapped my hand around Mjolnir’s handle.  Right away, I felt a crackle of electricity that seemed to start in both my hand and the crown of my head before running through my veins.  I pulled up and Mjolnir swung up easily.  “Like that?”  I asked.

Thor’s smiled widely and held his hand out to me.  “Look at you.  Come here, my queen.”

I moved to him and he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his lap, kissing me deeply.  Lightning crackled off our skin and leaked from our eyes as we kissed and Bruce backed away from us a little.

He pulled back and took Mjolnir from my hand, tossing her in the air so she flipped over and he caught her again.  “Who’s next?”

Natasha held out her hand and Mjolnir flew straight into it.  “Very good, my love.”  Thor cheered.

“Boys?”  Natasha asked, flicking her wrist back and forth with the hammer in her grip.

“Sonovabitch!”  Clint cursed.  “This was a setup!”

Steve got up and rolled up his sleeves, stepping over to Natasha.  “Alright, which ones of you had money on this?”  He asked and held his hand out to Natasha.  Natasha dropped the hammer into his hand and for a second it dropped before he lifted it back up easily.

“I knew it!”  Thor cheered and I started clapping.

“It’s definitely rigged,” Clint whined.

“So does this mean I can fly and do lightning and things?” I asked.

“I can’t say for sure about the flying.  It might take some teaching because it’s more like Mjolnir pulls you along.”  Thor said.

“Can you teach me some things?”  I asked.

Thor nodded and kissed my neck.  “Of course, my queen.”

“Sam, you wanna give this a go?”  Steve asked.  “Or shall I just put her back down?”

“Nah, just put her down,” Sam said gesturing to the table with his cup.

“Sam…”  I whined.

“Hey now,” Sam said, firmly.  “She’s a classy lady.  You can’t just hand her around like that.”

“Why not?  You pass me around.”  I teased.

“Yeah, you’re not exactly classy though, princess.”  Sam countered.

“Hey!”  I yelped and threw one of the cushions at him.

“What about you, Buck?”  Steve asked as he put Mjolnir down on the table.

Bucky shook his head.  “Don’t see how Mjolnir can think I’m worthy when I don’t.”

Steve rubbed Bucky’s shoulder and sat down beside him, pulling Bucky close to him.  “You’re worthy.”  He whispered.  “Of everything.”

Clint got up and tugged on the handle of Mjolnir but it didn’t budge at all. “Aw, hammer.  Come on.  Everyone else can do it.”

I got up and came over to him.  “Hey Clint, pick me up.”

Clint looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but scooped me into his arms.  I held out my hand and Mjolnir flew into it.  Clint didn’t even flinch, he just kept holding me.  “There you go.  Now you’re lifting her.”  I teased.

“Oh yeah?  And how do I use her like this?”  He asked.  “Just throw you at things?”

I broke down into giggles.  “Yes.”

“Alright,”  Sam said getting up.  “Hand her over.”

“Oh, now you want to pass her around?”  I teased holding her out to him.

He shrugged.  “Everyone else has tried.  Might as well.”  He took the handle and it sunk down for a moment before lifting it again.

“You’re worthy!”  I cheered.

He smirked at me.  “You doubted me, Elly?”  He moved Mjolnir in his hands like he was testing its weight.  “I like it.  Balanced, but not heavy.”

“I read somewhere that Mjolnir doesn’t move until lifted is that she never moves.  Rather, when you’re wielding her, the universe moves with it at the center.”

Sam gave me a look and I shrugged. “Just something I read.”

Sam put the hammer down on the table and I went and sat back with Thor.  “Can you show me how to do the hand sparks?”  I asked.

He held out his hand and Mjolnir flew into it before passing her to me.  “Hold out your hand, my queen.”

I held out my hand palm up and Thor put his palm down about an inch over it.  He wiggled his fingers and sparks began to dance over them.  Slowly he brought his hand to mine and slid his hand over my palm.  When he took his hand away the sparks were now dancing on my skin.  I moved my fingers, pushing into the tingling feeling and the sparks kept jumping over my hand.

“That’s it.  You shall be fighting alongside us in no time.  With Mjolnir, your new armor, and the gift you receive at the bonding.”  Thor said.

Steve and Tony both scowled.  “I’m not so sure about that,” Steve said.

“I didn’t make the armor for her to be an Avenger,” Tony added.

I clenched my jaw and the sparks dissipated and I put Mjolnir on the ground beside me.  I really didn’t want to start another argument about them not getting to decide what I did and didn’t do.

“How did you all go selecting clothing for the bonding?”  Thor asked.

“We have dresses,” Wanda said.

“And Pietro predicted that you, you, you and you would all cry,” Natasha said, pointing to Steve, Sam, Clint, and Tony.

“Oh yeah, Tony is going to blub,” Clint said.

“Hey!”  Tony protested.

“Yeah, you will,” Bruce said rubbing his thigh.  “You know you will.”

“How about you boys?  Did you pick out what you’re wearing?”  Natasha asked.

“We all do,”  Sam said, answering for himself, Bucky and Bruce.

“I do too, but these two couldn’t agree on anything,” Clint said, pointing at Steve and Tony.  “They are impossible.”

“I must admit, I too have been unable to find something,” Thor added.

“What happened?”  I asked.

“I want something different, just for this event.  Something unlike my other clothing.”  Thor said.  “I have a vision, but I was having trouble describing it to the tailors and Loki became increasingly frustrated with me.”

“I might be able to help,” Wanda said.  “I could act as a conduit for your thoughts, passing them directly to the tailors.”

“That might work,” Thor said.  “Thank you, my love.”

“Why haven’t you got anything, Steve?”  Bucky asked.

Steve shifted and shrugged a little.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “What I’ve tried on doesn’t feel like - it.”

“Do you want it to be Asgardian?”  I asked.

“Wait,”  Tony interrupted.  “I was told I wasn’t allowed to wear my suit.”

“Oh,” I startled.  “I don’t actually know the rules.  It’s just you were wearing a suit when we were nearly tricked into it.”

“I was told that I wasn’t allowed to wear my suit,” Tony repeated.  “And it’s a wedding suit.”

I startled and shook my head like I misheard him.  “It’s a what?”

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath.  “Nothing.”

“Tony…” I said sternly.

“Shit,” he cursed again.  “El, honey, don’t be mad.”

It felt like my heart was going to hammer its way right out of my chest.  I for the life of me couldn’t understand why Tony would have a suit on Asgard he planned to get married in.  I didn’t even know he was planning to get married.  Or who he was planning to marry.  He’d never spoken to me about marriage.  We were a polyamorous group.  Marriage had never even been on the table as a possibility until Asgard.

“But… I don’t… you have it… and you brought it here from there…  And…”  I stopped and looked at him.  “Who were you going to marry, Tony?”

“No one.”  He said.

“Tony!”  I snapped.  “Tell me your thought processes now before I have a full-blown panic attack!”

“Alright… okay… Elise, please.  You need to listen.”  He said getting up and starting to pace.  “I know what we are okay?  I know.  And as you keep pointing out, I’m not getting any younger.  And my name isn’t on the kid’s birth certificates because there’s only room for one father and one mother.  And there’s no one else.  I wrote it into my will who gets control of the company and that the Avengers Initiative.  But those things are contestable.   And I need to know that if something happens that you - all of you - are gonna be okay.  That you’re taken care of.  So I take the suit with me, because if I need to last-minute, then I have it.  Right?  And it’ll be okay.  And it’s you, El.  It needs to go to you.  I know you’ll do the right thing.  And then I know the babies will get it next.”

I got up and approached him, stepping in front of him and taking his hands.  Gradually I pulled him in against me and he melted into me, wrapping his arms around me, his whole body sagging against mine.  “Why didn’t you talk to us about it?”  I asked gently.

He shook his head.  “I keep going to, but then I think it’s okay.  We have time.  And you’re happy.  You like not playing favorites.  Saying yes to marrying me, I thought you wouldn’t because that’s favoritism.”

“Oh honey, I would have understood if you talked to us about it.”  I said gently.  “That’s why you were so ready to say yes when it was sprung on us?”

He nodded against my chest.  “I’ve been ready to marry you for years, El.”

I looked over at the others.  “We can do that, right?”  I asked.  “When we get back.  So we have the legal connection too?”

“Yes.  Of course.  It’s a good idea.”  Steve said.  “We have this here for all of us.  That there to protect us.  And more importantly the kids.”

“Will it matter if we’re gonna live for 5000 years?”  I asked.

“You’re life-spans will be drawn into line with mine, but I don’t think you gain the physical strength of Asgardians,” Thor answered.  “Even if you do, we may be long-lived but we aren’t invulnerable.  We can be killed and they do have dangerous jobs.  So the extra security is wise.”

I ran my fingers around from Tony’s scalp to his jaw and tilted his head up to look at me.  “Was it just the suit you had?”

“Oh uh…” He shook his head and fished his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket.  “No.”  He held a ring box out and popped it open.  Inside was a diamond solitaire ring with a titanium band and the largest oval cut diamond I’d ever seen in my whole life.  “So, do you want to?”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  Alright.  I’ll be your wifey.”

He chuckled and kissed my forehead before taking out the ring and slipping it onto my ring finger.  “Thank you, honey.”

“I love you, you know?”  I asked.

He nodded.  “Sometimes I’m not sure why.  But I know.”

I nuzzled at his cheek and looked over at Thor.  “Why can’t he wear his suit?”

“I’m not sure.  I will have to speak to Loki.”  Thor said.  “She is better versed with the law.”

“It’s okay.  If we’re gonna get married when we get back I can save it.”  Tony said.  “But, could you guys maybe pick for me?”

“Really, Tony?”  Bruce asked.

“Yeah,” he said.  “You all see me better than anyone else.  I want to be dressed how you see me.”

“We can do that,” I said. “It’s gonna be perfect.”

“So what’s going on with you then, Steve?”  Sam asked.

“Everything’s too tight.  I thought we went through this.”  Steve said, closing back up again.

“Alright,” Bucky said, pouring more mead into Steve’s cup.  “Drink up.”

“What are you doing?”  I asked.

“We discovered last night that Steve gets a little more open with his feelings when he’s drunk,” Sam said as Steve sighed and took a long drink of the mead.

“So what are the pre-bonding things we need to know about?”  Tony asked.

“Well, the day before we have to sit in isolation to think and consider our place in the relationship,” Thor explained.  “During this time an artist will paint our bodies, similar to Henna tattoos on Midgard.  Though stylistically it will be different and there will be color involved.  The tattoos will be a map of us as individuals and who we are together.  After that, we will be scrubbed clean and dressed.”

“There’s no bachelor party?”  Tony asked.

“That isn’t a custom here, but if you desire to have one, we could organize it,” Thor said.

“How, if all our friends are on Earth?”  I asked.

“I could send for them,” Thor said.  “Do you know who you’d like?”

“Oh, you gotta get Hill and Coulson here,” Clint said.

“Fury too,” Natasha added.

“I gotta have platypus here,” Tony said.  “Gotta.  Happy too.”

“Viz!”  Wanda said excitedly.  “Scott and Hope seem like obvious additions too.  It would be nice to share this with them.”

“T’Challa maybe?  If he can get here.”  Sam suggested.  “Though it might be a bit of an ask.”

“I’d like Jax and Clarke,” I said.  “What about your brother and sister, Sam?”

Sam shook his head.  “As much as I’d like it if they came I could never get them to support the idea of this in a day.”

“I’m sorry, Sam.” I frowned.

He shrugged.  “It’s fine.  They’re getting there.  If we had longer I could but it is what it is.”

“I think that’s it then, Thor,” Steve said.

Thor nodded.  “I shall send an envoy.  They will bring back those they can.”

“Are there Asgardian strippers?”  Tony asked.

“Strippers!”  Steve cheered and everyone turned their heads to look at him.

“And we have reached optimal level drunk,” Sam said.  “Elise.  How about you come do the questioning seeing as you missed out on drunk Steve last night.”

“Okie dokie.”  I said and moved over to Steve and sat down in his lap.  “You want some strippers, Stevie?”

“Mmm…” he hummed and flexed his fingers on my side.  “Wanna take body shots off you.  ‘Member when we did that?”

I giggled. “I sure do.  What drink did I make you again?”

Steve started giggling.  “You gave me and Buck blowjobs.”

“Both kinds.” I teased and he rubbed his nose on mine.  “Hey, Stevie?  What’s wrong with the clothes?”

“Not good enough.”  He said.

“Why aren’t they good enough?”  I asked as I caressed his jaw.

“Not them.  Me.”  He said.

It felt like my heart broke in my chest.  I pressed my forehead against his.  “Oh, Steve.  Of course, you are.”

He shook his head.  “Couldn’t finish the war.  Couldn’t save Bucky.  Couldn’t stop Schmidt.  Just barely stopped the aliens.  Nope.  That wasn’t me.  Was Tony.  Can’t make the world better for our kids.”

“Honey,” I said, stroking his hair.  “You’ve done plenty.  Everything.”

“I’m a failure,” he said.  “And a fraud.  ‘S not even my body.”

“Honey,” I said pulling back and looking into his eyes.  “You deserve to be happy.”

“Nope.  Not me.”  He said.  “He said.  ‘Cause ‘m gay.”

I tilted my head.  “You don’t think gay people deserve to be happy.”

“Yes, just not me.  ‘M not gay, am I?  But he said…”

“Oh shit.”  Bucky groaned.  I looked over at Bucky and he ran his fingers through his hair.    

“His dad walked in on us once,”  Bucky said.  “We were pretty young.  We weren’t even doing anything.  It was purely innocent.  Just cuddling.  But he beat the absolute tar outta Steve.  He already hated that he was small and sick.  Add being a sissy to it.”

I grimaced and wrapped my arms around Steve, holding him tightly against him.  I knew exactly what had happened because the same thing had happened to me when my dad had found me kissing a girl.  “Steve,” I soothed.  I was worried there was nothing I could say that would get through to him in time.  This was big-issue stuff, and we didn’t have time to figure it out the way it needed to be.  “You can’t let him decide what you deserve.  Stop letting a man who has been dead for 80 years punish you for being the amazing person you are.”

“But I’m not good enough.  Haven’t proved myself.”  He mumbled.

“Happiness isn’t a prize to be one.  You get to just be happy.”  I said.

“But why?  Why me?  Why us?  Why now?”  He babbled.

I kissed his neck and rubbed his back.  “We’ve gotten very lucky that our very lovely space boyfriend got pushed into a predicament that he was told he had no choice in the matter, and by doing that he finally realized that maybe he wanted it too.”

“And we just get a happily ever after for 5 thousand years?”  He asked.

“We do, honey.  Don’t you want that?”

He shook his head.  “Doesn’t matter what I want.”

“We want it.  Does it matter what we want?”  I asked.

“Steven,”  Thor said, getting up and coming over to crouch in front of Steve.  “You are worthy of this, sweetheart.  Please let us in.”

“Space boyfriend,” Steve said softly.

“Let me be your space husband,” Thor said stroking his jaw.

“Space husband,” Steve said and looked up into Thor’s eyes.  “How many husbands will I have?”

“Counting the Hulk you get to have seven husbands and three wives,” Thor said.  “Would you like that.  We want you.”

“That’s so many.”  Steve giggled.

“So many.  With so much love for you.”  Thor agreed and cupped Steve’s cheek.  “Please marry us.  Make 10 people complete.”

“Til the end of the line, punk,” Bucky said.

“Otay,” Steve said, softly.

Thor leaned over and kissed him deeply.  When he pulled back he sat beside Steve and pulled both Steve and me into his lap.

“Now, my love,” I said to Steve.  “Clothes.”

“Has to be perfect.”  He said.

“I’m gonna be sappy, Steve,” I said.  “You ready?”

“Otay.”  He nodded.

“It’ll be perfect because you’re wearing it.”

“Aww…”  Steve cooed, nuzzling at my neck.  “You’re a cheese puff.”

I giggled and stroked his hair.  “Can you choose something?”

He nodded.  “Can Thor help me?”

“I would be honored,” Thor said.  “Now, I think it’s time to get you to bed, my drunken fiance.”

“It is late.”  Wanda agreed.  “Perhaps we should all go to bed.”

There was a murmur of agreement and we got up and headed to bed.  It had been such a good day and even though this whole process was so rushed, a week and a half seemed like it was too far away.

//NEXT

[marta-bee]

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Sherlockians, I want to talk about Mary. Or not about Mary the character, because enough words have been spent on that topic and I’m nowhere near brave enough to wade into that one on a snowy Sunday afternoon, but rather on the way we as readers can (perhaps should) relate to her. At some level what follows is about this Tumblr post, where an anonymous commenter asked for “any fics where Mary’s not the bad guy” and noticed that a lot of the evil-Mary fanworks “gets a bit misogynistic in my opinion”; but I’m also using that as something of a springboard, and don’t mean this as a direct reply to that post. (Which is why I’m not replying in a reblog; please everyone go check out that post and comment on it as well.)

Anyway, let me start with two basic points that I hope are pretty noncontroversial.

Mary is an antagonist, at least some of the time.

Mary has at least some aspects of her character that are bad-making (more on what I mean by “bad-making” in a moment), or at least would be if she were a real person.

The devil’s in the details here, as it is with most things worth talking about, so let’s unpack that a bit.

(Long post is long, and so continued under the cut.)

When I say someone’s an antagonist, I’m not really making a value-judgment. I’m purposefully avoiding that word, “villain,” which calls to mind “villainous” as a description of their personality and character. An antagonist is just someone who plot-wise stands in opposition to the character. They’re wrapped up in the conflict our hero has to overcome.

Let’s take a pretty straightforward (and unrelated to our fandom, so hopefully less emotionally charged for a lot of us) example: the first “Hunger Games” book. Katniss is thrown into a gladiatorial fight to the death with twenty-three other teenagers. With the exception of Rue and (later in the games) Peeta, everyone else is an antagonist in relation to Katniss. She has to hope for their death and be prepared to kill them because their continued existence stands in the way of her surviving the games. Most are reduced to numbers with s knowing precious little about them – certainly not enough to think they deserve death. But they’re still antagonists because they’re obstacles the hero has to work past if she hopes to succeed.

Or take Draco Malfoy, in the early Harry Potter books. He’s a thoroughly unpleasant boy, spoiled and sniveling certainly, but I’d be hard-pressed to call him bad. His biggest defining characteristic is he stands up and tries to fight Harry; but often as not this comes down to inter-house squabbling and the only reason he and Harry are on opposite sides is how they were sorted. As we learn, given the way he was raised and the political situation he was raised in, it’s actually pretty admirable how on the periphery of the Death Eaters he stays. But he’s still the antagonist, he’s the one Harry has to outsmart or outperform or otherwise get around.

It's only natural we cheer when the antagonists fail. We’re primed to identify with the protagonist, after all, and their failure means the protagonist gets to win. Even if objectively know the antagonist doesn’t actually deserve to fail, well. That’s just kind of how stories work.

Getting back to Sherlock, I said it’s pretty noncontroversial that Mary’s an antagonist. So when I say that I don’t mean she’s evil, or even that she’s only an antagonist. But the woman shoots our star character in the chest. It’s her secrets and her very presence that drive Sherlock into exile (and drive Sherlock and John apart) for a second time, undoing whatever victory  Sherlock achieved when he defeated Moriarty’s web. She’s certainly a problem to be addressed and worked past in HLV. In terms of canon and parallels with the Doyle stories, there’s quite a lot about her actions (particular in Leinster Gardens) that all but screams “Sebastian Moran.” Ergo: antagonist.

There’s also a quieter, more ordinary sense that I suspect will be more controversial but is worth talking about anyway. Like a lot of Sherlockians and Johnlockers, I’m a big fan of making space for John/Mary/Sherlock in happy OT3 land. I think Sherlock and John at least want some version of that in canon; maybe not romantically, but they like to imagine their being room in their lives for these different relationships to not be in conflict. But in BBC-canon that hope’s not really borne out. This deserves a full meta on its own, but briefly: when Mary observes that neither she nor Sherlock were “the first” (talking about Sholto), she situates them in competition for the same position in John’s life, rather than in distinct, complementary ones (which an OT3 seems to require); and when Sherlock notes at the end of TSOT episode that “we can’t all three dance,” he seems to come to a similar conclusion. I do love me some good Johnlockary fic, but I don’t think this is where the show was heading

At a more basic level, I’d actually argue it almost has to be this way with these three- at least if we’re to hold on to John and Sherlock being “the two of us against the world.” In the 1800s men and women had such different roles in society, a man would do very different things and relate in very different ways to his close (male) friends than he would to his (female) wife. So Watson could run off with Holmes and have adventure, then return home to Mary for the peaceful, even loving family life, without one really being in tension with the other. But by the twenty-first century those spheres aren’t nearly so different. Even if you don’t imagine them as lovers, it’s hard not to imagine a self-respecting woman today saying as Mary did in TAB, “I don’t mind you going; I mind you leaving me behind.” One of the biggest challenges for a modern Holmes adaptation (or indeed, for a modern consumer of the original Doyle stories) is how to balance Holmes’ and Watson’s private “intimate partnership” – however we understand that term – against (John) Watson’s marriage to Mary with all we moderns expect of that relationship in terms of emotional fidelity, equal partnership, shared future, etc.

Put more simply: Mary should throw a monkey-wrench in the mix; she should be something that must be accounted for and whose presence should affect how Holmes and Watson can interact. Not to mean her presence is incompatible with Holmes and Watson’s close and exclusive relationship, but at a minimum she’s a factor in need of an explanation. She can’t help but be antagonistic, at least to some interpretations of Holmes’s and (John) Watson’s relationship.

As I said, with antagonists, it’s only natural to cheer for the protagonists, which almost inevitably means rooting for the protagonists’ failure. At least we root for them being de-antagonized, converted into some other relationship to the main character. But if you’ve spent any time on AO3, you’ve probably come across fanfic focusing on the antagonists (*cough* Loki *cough**cough* Drary *hacks up a longue* Silm-fandom-this-one’s-for-you *cough*’s). We can be a thirsty bunch when it comes to our antagonists, for characters we by all rights should be primed to hate. And even at the level of primary-canon, one of the biggest ways the primary creator shows their emotional growth is by realizing their antagonists aren’t truly their enemy. Like most readers I had a tear in my eye as Cato suffered through the night, begging for death; and certainly I would have been outraged if Harry hadn’t saved Draco from the Room of Requirements in “Deathly Hallows.” Gollum’s treachery is explained and he is given his own completion; Darth Vader is spared by Luke and allowed to look on his son with his own eyes; and the Klingons, Cardassians, and Borg are given their own sort of redemption in Worf, Garak, and Seven of Nine.

All of which is to say: it’s understandable, even natural, why people would have a hard time rooting for the antagonist, but there’s a long history of fandom peoples steering into the curve on this one. So it’s also understandable, even natural, that people want to hear stories with them at the center, both new stories about them and also versions of the original canon narrative that don’t need them to wear the black hat all the time. Some folks want Mary, Sherlock, and John to all go crime-solving together. I personally think there’s sometimes a danger of turning an antagonist – especially one who is at least morally gray (and I promise we’re getting there) like Mary is – into a protagonist without wrestling with what turned them into an antagonist in the first place; so if you want to bring Mary back to the side of John and Sherlock you need to grapple with what pushed them into opposing roles in the first place, or else risk your plot feeling “cheap” and unearned. (In fairness, this warning could as easily be directed to Mofftiss as anyone in fandom!)

But at an absolute minimum, I think it’s pretty obvious that lots of fans want to imagine the antagonists as at the heart of their own stories, and lots of fan-creators have done a really good job of providing those stories. Just as a lot of fans will almost instinctively be drawn to hate them, well, if you want to go a different path you’re in good company.

Enough about protagonist/antagonist, which as I said is more about the role the character fills in the story than about their morality or character. This, for me at least, is where it really gets interesting.

Before we get started, though, I know a lot of people struggle against this idea of morality when it applies to fictional characters and fictional stories. They’ll point out (rightly) that just because they enjoy a non-con PWP doesn’t mean they approve of rape in real life; that their reading preferences come from a different place entirely than their moral judgments. But at the same time, a lot of people (equally rightly) struggle to enjoy stories that glorify things we don’t consider worth glorifying. It’s one thing to enjoy a story about Draco rejecting the Death Eaters, returning to mainstream wizarding society and joining the Aurors; quite another to imagine him dating Harry while he’s still walking around calling Hermione a mudblood.

Or getting back to the Sherlock fandom, a lot of people are most comfortable with stories with Mary’s the antagonist because she’s got a character history and just personality traits where, if we met someone like her in real-life, we’d consider her morally bad. Or on the flip slide, those fans who want a not-evil!Mary in their stories often like to imagine her as the kind of person we’d describe as good or redeemed or some such thing, if she were an actual person. Mary’s morality, at least the morality of a similar person operating in the real world (because --speaking as a former philosophy Ph.D. student who taught philosophical ethics for years-- let me tell you: talking about the morality of fictional constructs gets very messy, very quickly), seems to matter to a great number of fans. So let’s talk about that.

I said above I thought most people would agree, Mary had parts o her character that were bad-making. What I mean is there are aspects about her that tend to make a person bad, unless they’re explained by some other factor. I’ve got in mind something vaguely similar to W.D. Ross’s theories of prima facie duties (if any of you studied this in your Ethics 101 courses- you would have in mine). Basically, the idea is we have all these duties that apply to us, but they can seem to conflict, and we may decide (rightly) in any given situation that one or the other is the more important one for us to follow. The classic example is the duty to keep our promises and prevent suffering when we can. You can imagine situations where you can’t do both- for instance, if I promised to meet you for lunch and on my way to the restaurant came across a man who fell into a ditch and twisted his ankle along a deserted road, where it’s unlikely someone else would come upon him. If I stop to help him I’ll miss our lunch date and break my promise; and while I still have a duty to keep that promise, I think most people would agree it’s more important to stop and help the person. We’d all be hard-pressed to say if I helped the stranger, I’d failed at my duty to keep a promise; at least not in the same way as if I could have kept that promise and just chose not to. That’s Ross’s idea of prima facie duties: that we have all these general obligations on us, but which actually should govern our choices in any particular instance comes down to the details of that situation.

I think there’s something similar going on with Mary’s character. This is actually a good way to evaluate most of us morally, in my opinion, but it’s doubly useful when it comes to Mary because she’s simultaneously got so many troubling aspects about her that just demand some sort of justification, but at the same time, because Mofftiss really screwed the pooch here, we don’t really have the information we need to give a definitive answer. So it’s useful to say: here’s something about Mary that needs accounting for, even if we don’t have enough information to evaluate her definitively.

Let’s take Magnussen’s biggest accusation against her: “All those wet jobs.” Mary killed people on her own prerogative, and she left behind a lot of grieving relatives who would love their revenge – both a testament to the suffering she caused, and a real risk for John, the baby that will become Rosie, and everyone else in their orbit. But if that’s all there is to it, it’s not wholly dissimilar to John’s decision to shoot the cabbie. It may have been different, but we don’t have the information to know that; it feels different, but most because John was saving Sherlock (who we know), whereas if Mary was saving anyone, it’s not someone we the viewer have an emotional connection to. Still, to borrow a phrase from Ricky Ricardo, Mary, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.

Or to take an even more serious charge, Mary shot Sherlock, was prepared to make John watch him die all over again and force him to go through that grief that so nearly destroyed him the first time around. Unforgiveable, yeah? The best shot at justification here is that Mary had somehow got herself cornered, so that shooting Sherlock was somehow an attempt to escape an even worse sitation. This really demands a full meta to dive in to, but very briefly, I think Mary never intended to kill Magnussen and was instead trying to intimidate him; meaning she couldn’t let Sherlock undercut her power, but equally she couldn’t leave Magnussen with the impression that John and Sherlock were somehow her partners; so shooting Sherlock was the best way to keep him from becoming a full target of Magnussen’s. If that’s the case, the whole showdown in Magnussen’s office becomes markedly similar to Sherlock’s decision to “kill” himself on the roof of St. Bart’s. Mary is willing to cause a lot of pain to avoid even greater destruction, but at the same time, the whole situation that compels this choice was fed by her limiting her options when she decided to intimidate Magnussen. Similar to how Sherlock, once he’s on the roof of St. Bart’s, has no better option than to fake his own death and leave John to grieve; but how he does have some degree of culpability for engaging Moriarty in the first place and egging on Moriarty’s destructive obsession with Sherlock.

My point isn’t that any of these parallels really hold up to scrutiny. Sherlock risked his own life in TRF (and John’s pain) while Mary was prepared to kill another. John was ready to kill “a bad man” to save our hero while whatever murders Mary committed were against unnamed people in undetermined circumstances, and narratively certainly don’t pull at or heart strings in the same way John’s heroic killing of Jefferson Hope does. But the point is, with Mary, so much of what a lot of fans object to involve these vaguely-told stories where whatever factors would excuse her actions just are left untold. What we can say definitively is “all those wet jobs” require justification. Mary’s willingness to shoot Sherlock require justification. These things are prima facie wrong (or bad-making, the kind of things that tend to make something bad in the absence of other explanations) and demand an accounting for.

I’m focusing on Mary’s violence more than what a lot of fans have identified as her abuse toward John. Partly, this is personal: I have my own experience with abusive relationships and don’t entirely trust my ability to parse similar dynamics in fiction; certainly I don’t want to tie that part of my past to public debate, and I’ve not worked out how to talk about Mary and John without over-personalizing it. But I will say, there’s a lot to be considered on that front as well, and people interested in thinking through Mary’s im/morality shouldn’t ignore it. As a starting point, inevity-johnlocked pointed to several of her old posts making the case that Mary was an emotional abuser. silentauroriamthereal’s fic “Rebuilding Rome” looks at a lot of these issues in a really powerful way if you’re looking for an exploration in fic form. I’ll just add, even if I thought Mary was justified and so “good” in some sense (and my internal compass is so screwed up, I’m not really qualified to tell at this point), the way she chose or had to lie about her past to John seems a particularly bad match for a man like him with his trust issues. So even if you think Mary is good, there’s a lot of justification for saying she’s still not good for him.

So what does this mean for reading fics involving a kinder, gentler Mary? First, I’d emphasize there’s no shame or judgment in reading what you want. Much as writers may choose to write about all kinds of things they’d disapprove of in real life, readers have that same freedom to scratch whatever readerly itch they like, with no need to defend that to anyone else. Kinktomato and all that. On the other hand, I know I personally enjoy stories more when I can lose myself in them, and – again, for me personally – it helps me do that if my values are at least compatible with what’s presented as praiseworthy. I don’t have to guard myself as I enter the story. So it’s definitely worth thinking about how comfortable you are with fiction that vilifies Mary or pardons her or something in between, because it may make it easier or harder to really immerse yourself in a fic.

Then again, maybe that’s just me. I am a rather persnickety chickadee with things like this.

I do know that many fandoms have an unfortunate history of coming down hard on the female competition to a popular slash ship. While I’m reluctant to apply “should”s to our consumption of fiction, I think there are genuine feminist concerns here. Not with thinking Mary’s bad/evil or even hating her, but hating her for the wrong. For me, it helps to imagine another character doing something similar, and think about why I would react differently if it was someone other than Mary doing the deed. Also to be aware of the details canon doesn’t answer decisively or answers different ways in different episodes.

(More than most characters, Mary does suffer from a really inconsistent characterization. I’ve often wondered if everything since HLV was Sherlock or whomever trying on different frameworks for her personality/psychology/what-have-you, to see which could account for what she did to him. First she’s a badass villain, then a Mycroftian operative, then a martyr, then a worldclass manipulator, and finally a sanctifier whose own personality was irrelevant, giving her imprimatur from beyond the grave. And that’s without throwing veteran/maths genius and happy homemaker into the bunch. Maybe the showrunners simply weren’t sure what they wanted to do with her. Whatever the situation, I do think we need to be careful about taking any one canon detail at face-value, especially with her.)

I’m also a little discomfited by this trend I’ve seen among Johnlockers, to write Mary as a monster as a way to lessen John’s pain at her… betrayal, I guess? Or just the loss at her death? I remember when a lot of fanfic authors back between S3 & S4 wrote about the baby being fake; or even after S4, as part of John’s “alibi” rather than a true detail. Or even just deciding the baby was David’s or some such. By itself, that could have been really interesting, but what I saw so often happening was people used that as a way to remove the complication of the baby. Or to let John skip the grief he’d feel if the baby wasn’t born healthy- for instance, if it didn’t exist, or died, or if Mary was killed or ran while she was still pregnant. The basic theme was if Mary didn’t deserve John’s pain, John didn’t have to hurt for so long or as deeply.

Complicated grief is a thing, though, and for a lot of people, grieving the loss of someone who hurt them and aren’t “worth” their pain seem to suffer worse and for longer, particularly if they also have to grieve the lost opportunity to make their peace with the person while they were alive. This doesn’t mean fanfic writers or readers have to give us some kind of sanitized Mary; certainly she has the potential to be a true east wind of a character. But I do think there’s a tendency to prefer a more evil Mary because this lets the story move past her or spares John some suffering often won’t feel true. It also runs the risk of disrespecting the suffering of people impacted by these kinds of losses. So while I think this kind of characterization can be really interesting and compelling, it also takes a lot of skill and thoughtfulness to do it well. Here be dragons.

For me, though, the point isn’t to be proscriptive, to say Sherlock fic writers and readers need to limit themselves to a particular read of Mary. Her character has such potential to give birth to such a wide range of fic. As a viewer of the show I wish the writers and other creators had given us more of a sense of who she was because I think it really contributes to my frustration with not understanding the story they were trying to tell. But as a (kinda-sorta-someday-once-again) fic writer, it’s a true embarrassment of riches. The trick, for those of us concerned about Mary’s ethics were she a real person, is to be aware of the dangers of reading her character certain ways and to be cautious around them if we want to play with those interpretations.

[gideongrace]

Talking amongst ourselves - fanfic writer interviews: @ihni

(Originally, these interviews were done more conversationally, but this interview is a LONG one! So I edited it down for tumblr. You can read the whole unedited, uncut interview over on a03! There are pictures involved. :)

Please say your first name, your age, your pronouns, the fandoms you write for and provide a link to your a03. You can also mention your sexual orientation or other details, if you'd like.

 Ihni:

My real name is Moa, but I go by Ihni online. On AO3, I have an account under Ihni (https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihni) but that's for rhymes (and doodles). I only wrote rhymes/poetry for a long time, and when I started writing fic, I wanted to put that under another pen name. I was NOT comfortable writing stories for YEARS. Now, though, I don't care. So, I write fics under the pen name Thei (https://archiveofourown.org/users/thei/).

It's all Stranger Things, these days. Harringrove (because I love the fandom and I like the two of them interacting) and Billy-centric (because I love his character, SO MUCH).

I am ace and aro, so my fics tend to not contain any sex (I have ALLUDED to it a couple of times, but that's basically as far as I go). I am also just as happy to write fics without any romantic or sexual relationships at all. Billy and Steve can be buddies only, as far as I'm concerned.

How do you feel about being aroace when so much of fanfic is all about romance and sex?

Ihni:

I live by the tried and tested rule of "don't like, don't read". 

There is a lot of romance in our fandom, for sure. But it's not like it's lovey-dovey IN OUR FACE romance, you know? 97% of Harringrove fics are two dumb boys who are bad at communication and who can't deal with Feelings. And I fucking live for that! Also, even the lovey-dovey fluffy romance stuff is cute, when it's them. I may not want a relationship for myself, but I don't mind at all if the boys are in one! (If they want it, they deserve it <3)

And as for sex ... well. I can read about sex, if it's well written or if it furthers the plot. If it's too graphic, I tend to scroll past it though, or just skim through it. It doesn't... give me a lot? I guess. Like, it's not like I read "smut" in the tags and go "oooh I have to read this!" - rather the opposite, in fact. I can read it, but it's not something I actively look for, and when I stumble upon it, I don't always read all of it. If I know the writer, I'll probably read through it to honor their work, though.

I just won't ever leave a "omg that was so hot!" comment! XD If someone expects that from me, they'll be disappointed (and I'm constantly terrified of disappointing or offending people for NOT commenting on their smut).

Basically, I am the master of my own fandom experience, and if something makes me uncomfortable I will keep away from it. Simple as that.

More people should live by that rule.

What's your writing process like?

 Ihni:

Uuuuuuuugh.

That's an interpretation of my writing process.

No, but.

I usually get SUPER INSPIRED to write a specific scene, or concept... and THAT part goes well, but then I have to build a STORY around it, and that takes SUCH A LONG TIME and SO MUCH EFFORT!

And also, usually, it gets out of hand.

I usually have to force myself to get the words in, honestly. And also, I get real tired of what I'm writing, real fast. So I have to force myself to finish (I have a few WIPs that are more than a year in the making...) before moving on to other things. (And I usually write the other things inbetween, anyway.)

I get easily distracted, when I write. Like, actually sitting down and writing takes an hour and a half. Then I MIGHT write for like twenty minutes, lol.

Cold Turkey Writer was a godsend XD.

If I have internet on while I'm writing, not a lot will be written, let's just ... let's just say that.

How do you edit?

Ihni:

HAHAHAHAHAHAA

Erm.

Well.

Sometimes, I read through it once, and change a few things, and let that be it.

In a couple of cases, for the longer ones, I have actually made an effort to read through it more than once. (The problem being that by then, I'm so sick of it that I will skim through it just to get it over with.)

A couple of times, a friend has read through it for me, and given me pointers. Which is VERY HELPFUL! But they've offered to do it for me, I would never ask it of someone.

And about the editing process ... I check for spelling mistakes, or when something sounds wrong, or looks wrong ... and then I fix it, so it looks and sounds better in my head. I don't know. That's editing, right?

What fanfic authors do you admire?

Ihni:

In the Harringrove fandom, I have to mention LEMONLOVELY, because I'm in love with the way she writes Billy, and the way she's shaping her fics as she goes, and the way her attention to detail brings a whole mood (I am OBSESSED with her "Words Left Unsaid" fic, and am probably that fic's biggest fan).

LYMRICKS, because fucking hell, they sure can write a fic that draws you in. There's something about long sentences in combination with short sentences that really makes them easy to read, and the language is like a punch to the gut, at times.

CALLIEB, because I love their stories and I'm currently following "Second Thoughts" and I love how they write everyone like ... like they're holding their breath, waiting for something.

And I'm not even gonna mention any others by name because I'm terrible with names and I'm bound to forget someone and I'm just, I don't want to do that. Our fandom is full of talented writers, and I just. If I've commented on your fic, I read through all of it and I liked it. If I haven't - well, I HAVE been writing more lately = less time to read, and I have like 100 fic tabs open on all of my devices ... I hope to get there, some time!

In other fandoms, let me mention PeaceHeather (for how they write Loki and that world), aloneintherain (such good whump!), isaDanCurtisproduction (the absolute best Spideypool!) and gaelicspirit (who writes lovely angsty whumpy Musketeers fics). Like. Just to mention 0.01%, or something.

I don't think any of them, particularly, have impacted my style - because I don't HAVE a style - but I soak up every word of every fanfic I ever read, and if one sentence is a particularly pretty string of words, I will copy & paste it into a word document that is now 170 pages long, or screenshot it to keep it forever. ❤️

Words. <3

What's your favorite story of yours?

What's your least favorite story of yours?

What's your favorite line you've ever written?

Ihni:

Like, in what SENSE? Even though I know my writing isn't up to par, they're still my babies. Still my creations. I love them in different ways! Like. I love "Coming Back" because it was the longest I had written back then, and it's probably the one I am most pleased about, writing-wise, and it's also the one I went through and edited the most. So it feels like the one I worked the most on.

I love "Toy Soldiers" because it was a totally self-indulgent piece of writing that I wrote for the joy of it, and because I wanted to read it and no one else was about to write it for me.

I love "About Apologies" because something about it pleases me, it was an experiment that didn't fail, and I like it more and more with time.

I love "Less of a mistake, more of a miscalculation" because I had fun while writing it, and it turned out kind of like I wanted it to, plot-wise.

I love "Actions and reactions", because I had no idea what I was doing back then, but I still did it, and somehow it got long and I still don't know how that happened.

And I realise that this makes me sound a little self-centered, but I worked hard on them. I love them, even if they're my ugly and imperfect babies. And even if I cringe if I re-read certain parts XD

I guess my least favorite story of mine (and I'm guessing we're talking Stranger Things things here?) is "Not unusual" because a) I never re-read it and b) it was the start of something that I have to actually FINISH at some point and ugh, that was not the original plan. If we're talking least favorite stories in all fandoms, then definitely "In which there are mistakes made", which was a Teen Wolf fic, and the reason why I don't do WIPs anymore. The last chapter was written simply to fucking END it, and ugh, I hate it.

The favorite line I've ever written ...? I don't know. Are we talking in fic? Because I write my best stuff in comments, honestly. :p I don't think I have an answer for that one, actually. Sorry :S

What part of writing is easiest for you?

What part of writing is hardest for you?

 Ihni:

Easiest? Dialogue. I like dialogue. Like, as a non-English speaker I can at least imagine a plausible exchange of words, and banter, and make it sound somewhat realistic, I imagine.

Hardest? The rest. Like, some people are just fucking WIZARDS with words, can write these long descriptive sentences that perfectly sets the mood for when a character gracefully moves across the room ... whereas I am just, "He stood up and walked over. End of fucking story."

What do you do when you're struggling for inspiration?

Ihni:

Give up?

Or do something else.

Or go and read. (That's basically the same as giving up.)

Or, if I'm still writing, I go to another part of the story and write THAT, and hope that I'll feel like connecting the two pieces, later.

Inspiration is a bitch.

Who introduced you to fandom and when?

Ihni:

Oh god. I am old. I don't remember. 

I started writing stories when I was real young, and I was always reading something. I started writing stories with my friends when I was a teenager. Then we discovered the internet (yes, this was around the time when we got internet access in school and at home, told you I was old!) and when doing that, I guess we found more like-minded people.

Fanfics ... weren't an organized thing, back then. But I've been reading them, and been in fandoms, ever since I discovered that there were people online who liked the same things that I liked.

I would say, actively, from maybe around 19-20 years old? Like, that was ACTIVE fandom-ing.

What is your advice to fellow writers?

How often do you jump between fandoms?

How long have you been writing?

Ihni:

As a WRITER, I am not the best person to give advice to writers, I think. I'd rather TAKE advice than give it, at this point.

As a READER, my advice is to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE, because you are doing a good thing and you are creating a version of a world that is yours, versions of characters that you can shape into anything, and SOMEONE out there will love you for it (probably me).

I jump between fandoms ... hmm, as a WRITER? Seldom. Billy's my jam and I'm not moving.

As a READER? All the time. I mean, I'm pretty deep into Harringrove and Billy and Stranger Things, but sometimes I need something light-hearted, and then I go back to some of my basic fandoms, and read something else. I will never run out of things to read. 

❤️

And how long have I been writing? FOREVER. I wrote when I was young, and thought I was going to be an author (wrote in Swedish, back then). Then I wrote when I was a teen, for fun. Then I stopped writing. Then I started writing rhymes, in English, because it was a craft I could do and train in, and it was short pieces. And only in recent years (very recent), have I started writing fics. And now, I write long-ass fics in English, so I guess I have at least come a long way!

Why do you write?

Ihni:

...

I just sat and stared at the screen for a good ten seconds.

I'd say that it differs.

Sometimes, I write because I want to READ something and no one has written it (or is going to).

Sometimes, I write because I want a very specific thing or feeling, and it doesn't exist yet.

Sometimes, I write because I am inspired.

Sometimes, I write because I want to.

Sometimes, I write because of a deadline.

Sometimes, I write because there's something in my head that Won't Leave Me The Fuck Alone until I get it out.

Sometimes, I write for fun.

Sometimes, I write because I want to hurt.

Sometimes, I write because I need to.

Sometimes, I write because I want to become better at it; learn; reach towards the writers whose work I love.

And sometimes, I just sit and stare at a document, don't write a single fucking word, and go watch a movie instead.

[eatsockss]

Irondad and SteveTony Fic Recs!!

I decided to do a fic rec list bc i always see them and am So Grateful for them, esp rn bc everybody’s quarantined so what else is there to do but read fanfic. these are some of my favorite fics/some of the fics I read recently and just have open in safari rn. they’re mostly angst or whump ngl bc that’s my favorite but,,,, enjoy!

Irondad

ever in your favor by @iron--spider

Summary: Peter startles awake when someone shakes him. “Sorry, honey,” May says. Peter blinks a couple times and she comes into focus, her hair pulled back from her face. She’s trying not to look a certain way, but he can see it in her eyes anyway. She clears her throat, keeps talking. “But it’s…” She glances away, wets her lips. “You gotta get ready.” He remembers what day it is, and his heart beats like a drum at someone’s execution. But he tries to put on a mask, make it all seem normal. It’s everything but, despite the fact that he’s been dealing with reaping day since he was born, between himself, Ben and May. That fear that one of them could be taken away. Sent to surefire slaughter. But now Ben is gone, taken despite never having his name drawn from a bowl, and May’s finally safe. Now Peter’s name is in there alone. The last Parker sitting on the chopping block. He doesn’t know how to be. He doesn’t know what normal is, when the Hunger Games are looming on the horizon.

Note: this is probably my favorite ever irondad fic so like ,,, ummm ,,, Please read this

lay your weary head to rest by @the-great-escapism

Summary: “Please.” He means to say it loudly, with confidence, but it comes out as nothing more than a raspy whisper. His ears are ringing painfully, and his head feels like it’s going to explode. It hurts and hurts and hurts. “M-May,” Peter cries out to no one, feeling like a child. “Tony. Please, ‘m so tired.” He inhales and chokes on his tears. He can’t tell if it’s his imagination or not, but he’s pretty sure he hears a laugh. In which Peter gets kidnapped, and that's not even the worst part. The worst part is he's not allowed to sleep.

Priorities by JLMonroe1234

Summary: Tony had been in the cave for a month. Waiting. Planning. Healing. Biding his time until his creation would be ready and durable enough to get him home. With Yinsen's help and Tony's expertise, he would save them both. But when an injured teenager is brought into the mix, Tony must reevaluate his priorities and decide what's more important; a speedy escape, or rescuing the boy with the spider tattoo?

Return to Normal by Singing_Sirens

Summary: On his first day back, he didn’t expect the stares. Well, he expected some stares, but he didn’t think the entire hallway would just… stop. But that’s what they did. They froze, jaws hanging open, eyes wide, as he lowered his head and curled in on himself. He pushed through the attention. He set his jaw and marched forward, because he had been through worse in the last year.

Patient by alifetime

Summary: Just because Tony has retired as an Avenger, does not mean he still doesn’t have a business to run with Pepper. Since both his oldest children cannot always babysit for Morgan, he hires a babysitter. Harley didn’t really know what to think of the babysitter, and always kept a protective eye on Morgan. But she had told him that Skip was nice. She always seems to be smiling and happy whenever Skip comes to stay. It didn’t filter his concern. So when he goes college, he demands that Peter keeps an eye on him. Peter liked Skip. Until he didn’t. However, he will do anything to keep his brother and sister safe.

Identity Theft by KitCat992

Summary: It's been months since the events of Civil War, and the Avengers are doing their best to remain a team, having promised to forgive and forget. Unfortunately for them, Tony Stark's latest invention has been stolen and recovering it causes tension to reappear. Meanwhile, in Queens, Peter Parker has two main priorities on his plate — complete his midterm finals, and track down a fishbowl wearing criminal that may or may not lead him right into the hands of the Avengers. Somehow between all of this, Spider-man's identity is revealed to the Avengers, Steve and Tony's friendship may permanently be damaged due to continued hidden secrets, and Happy struggles to buy a youth-sized casket for Peter's funeral. Things were a lot easier when they were fighting over Bucky Barnes. (Or: The Avengers welcome Peter into their crazy superhero family and will do anything to protect him.) Shameless Peter whump and Protective Tony Stark.

the second law of thermodynamics by fourleafchloe

Summary: It happens the same way it always does. (It's just discipline. It's not that bad. It's fine, Peter is fine, he'll be fine--) Except he really isn't fine, and Tony knows something's up, and Peter's house of cards is falling apart, and so the story goes. — separate from other fics in the series. a recovery story full of soft irondad, found families, and (eventually) tons of fluff.

Note: this is part of a series of separate irondad fics, each one of them is incredible, so go check out this entire series.

how can the body die? (you tell me, everything) by @madasthesea

Summary: Tony felt panic creep up his spine. Something was occurring to him, slowly percolating in the back of his mind. “You said the stinger got you. Is Scorpion’s stinger venomous?” “I don’t—” Peter cut off as he groaned, the muscles in his jaw tight. “I don’t know. He upgraded—he was faster. Bigger. I—I thought I could beat him.”

oh, darling. by luna_e_stelle

Summary: "Peter?" Tony’s voice wavered with an urgency that cut through the thick haze in Peter’s mind. There was so much emotion in that one word that Peter wondered how he had ever doubted that Tony loved him. They had never said it out loud, just showed it in a way that spoke louder than words ever could. — Peter is taken, and he tries to find his way back home.

whumptober series by @iron--spider

Summary: 10 fics that fulfill whumptober prompts (i could many choose one so just go read the whole series)

Pieces of Echoes by @geekymoviemom

Summary: this is like a rewrite of the MCU integrating most of the storylines So Seamlessly with SuperFamily. Amazing series.

uneasy lies the head by @tnyystark

Summary: Two thoughts come to Peter, both at a breakneck speed he can barely handle. One: the world now thinks he is responsible for the attack in London. And Prague. And Venice. And the murder - murder; as if the man is really dead; as if the universe is kind enough to let that happen - of Mysterio. And two: the world now knows who he is.

Long Shadows by Black_Briar

Summary: Peter comes into contact with a foreign substance on a mission, and things only get worse from there.

I’ll Be Your Home (Forever and Always) by ScarletPotter

Summary: Peter didn't plan on being kidnapped, it all just sorta, maybe, happened? Peter was on his way to meet Ned when suddenly everything goes dark. When he wakes up he's restrained to a table and a man introduces himself to be Quentin Beck, and that he's going to kill him.

god did not craft us as alters, but as dying gods by helloitisafellowgay

Summary: Peter Parker is not immune to trauma. Far from it, in fact. (With great power comes great responsibility, Peter.) So when the building collapses, when the dilapidated remains of metal and concrete, and later searing scraps of plane, fall around him? Well, this is practically nothing. Practically. He’s fine, really. It just gets a little hard to breathe sometimes. Like, when he follows Happy into Stark Tower through the parking garage. Or when he turns on the news while doing homework and sees reports of a plane crash. And sure, the small fire that broke out in the chemistry lab had sent his heart racing and caused sweat to bead on the back of his neck until even Ned asked if he was okay, but it’s nothing to worry about. Regardless, he knows where those come from. But this? In which Skip Westcott is a repressed memory, until he returns.

Note: favorite fic title!

Stony

my heart is driftwood, floating down your coast by @kapteniron

Summary: Tonight, there’s a stranger in his backseat. That’s not unusual. He’s also sad. That’s not unusual either. What is unusual is that the stranger is silent. (One night, a stranger enters Steve's taxi. Nothing is the same again.)

Forever Linked by ashes0909 and athletiger

Summary: Before the door even clicked shut, he opened his mouth to let the pink petals flutter to the ground. In the center of all this mess was a single rose, not yet bloomed, but Tony knew, deep down, what this meant. But they were only teammates for sure; nothing else will go further. — “You have Hanahaki?” she asked, barely more than a whisper. He fisted out the petal from his pocket and held it out to her. “If that’s what would cause this to come out of my throat.”

Steve Rogers’ Guide to Wooing Tony Stark by Tonks22

Summary: Steve tries to woo Tony. Steve is not very good at it. Tony is oblivious.

Blue Lips, Blue Veins by @romanoff

Summary: Tony Stark is Iron Man. Before that, he was an man with bigger heart than brain. Before that, he was an asshole with a bigger mouth than sense. And before that, he was was a scared little boy. Not that it matters. Stark's always have had iron in their backbone.

Note: this is more of a character study of Tony Stark but it’s Incredible. Cannot recommend this enough.

The Butterfly Effect by @itsallavengers

Summary: While fighting with Loki, Steve Rogers from 2012 hears the two simple words: "Bucky's alive." And the whole universe ripples with the aftershocks.

Going Steady by @itsallavengers

Summary: Steve has a soft spot for the sound of Tony's heart

Hide A Heart Of War by RayShippouUchiha

Summary: “You’ve got war in your heart boy,” Howard sneers, “don’t ever try and pretend to be anything but what you are.” Tony feels the familiar burn of a flower mark being etched into his skin but he doesn’t look, doesn’t try and check to see what it is. Instead he keeps his eyes on Howard and his hands cupped around his bleeding mouth and nose.

Note: this is technically Stuckony but,,, it’s rly good so it’s going on the list.

Assorted

a primer for the small weird loves by babyloveparkner

Summary: “What are you—?” “Hold on,” Peter says, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as the pen moves across the page. He rips out another page, then seems to grow frustrated and just opens up his notebook to start writing in it rather than stealing pages out of it. Harley feels stuck, flabbergasted and frozen, and he doesn’t know how long he sits there and watches before Peter lets out a huff and finally leans back, satisfaction in his eyes as he hands it all to Harley, all the scribbled writing and torn pages. “Read these.” Harley blinks once, slow, as he takes the offered notebook with the ripped out papers on top. “What…?” And Peter just smiles and shrugs. “They’re poems,” he says. “I looked some up, wrote down the good parts. Maybe those’ll give you that hopeful feeling that you were looking for.” or: harley runs from a homophobic town and finds solace in poetry and peter parker

the spider-man conspiracy by @tempestaurora

Summary: WHO IS SPIDER-MAN? The screen showed Peter Parker, sixteen years old and determined to prove the identity of Spider-Man over the course of the three-part documentary he was making, unknowing that it would become viral within days of the first part being released. Behind the camera, way off screen, was Harley Keener, Tony Stark’s other prodigy child, grinning like crazy as Peter started the documentary. Only a few people knew what was to come, and those few people were about to have a great few weeks. “My name is Peter Parker, and with the help of my friends, Ned Leeds, Harley Keener, and my Aunt, May Parker, who provided me with a lot of red yarn for this project, we’re going to uncover the identity of Spider-Man.” OR "what if peter just decided to fuck with everyone who didn’t know he was spider man and make a documentary about him trying to uncover the Truth."

5 times Tony kissed Rhodey and the one time Rhodey kissed back by lomku

Summary: Exactly what it says in the title.

Note: I wish I had more Ironhusband fics to rec bc i love them but they aren’t as abundant as Stony fics and the ones i’ve read most recently are Stony.