#do you guys have any fucking clue how fucking many wips i have eating up my google drive storage

[jonathanrook]

i know that it's a ridiculous thing to be mad about but you have no idea how pissed i am that this fic i'm writing is coming together quickly and easily

[bonebrokebuddy]

Choked on my soul reading your wip thing booster gold being a Tiktok star I beg of you to elaborate

okokok. this is the lighthearted section of a fic concept that deals with the potential political impact and position Booster would have gained & lost as a result of him trying to get the most attention possible. But it backfires, causing him to lose most of his notoriety & alienating the fanbase he previously had. Thus landing him in the position where he is generally in the comics of desperately trying to regain the fame and status he once had & trying to make up for the lost money via so many fucking brand deals.

Because to me, that shit is fascinating and it would also be hilarious to see Booster as a "was been" famous influencer and highlighting his antics when he was in full popularity vs where he ended up after it all went down, would be very interesting. So if you want to know more about that side of this idea, please feel free to send in another ask about it!

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Do you think Booster Gold would be great or horrible at social media/TikTok? Because the guy is from the future. He most likely has a sense of humor that is very different from modern standards & knows about centuries of media and pop culture references that do not exist yet. He’s from the 25th century. That’s four centuries of time for humor, language, and entertainment to evolve.  But do you think Booster Gold would be great or terrible at social media/TikTok with his future sense of humor that’s riddled with slang, pop culture references, and idiots or sayings referencing events that have not happened yet?  Because I think he would make a fuck ton of trends & be very notable online. Mainly because he’d deliberately copy online viral hits that haven't happened yet and essentially is stealing ideas from people in the future. Because he’d absolutely do that to gain notoriety. And people would be fascinated with this weird dude online who simultaneously knows Jack And Shit about literally any modern media but somehow has the most advanced humor online. He’s constantly referring to things that don’t exist and his little robot behind him chirps up that “that film was made in the 23rd century, it hasn’t been made yet.” The younger generation would be fascinated by this superhero. I also bet the fucking merch line he would have would be either the blandest corporate thing ever made by a team he hired or he'd make it a gimmick of slapping a specific logo of his face on everything he owned to the point where it became a meme and people demanded merch of the shitty design. There would also be about a bajillion different plushie versions of Skeets though and I would totally buy all of them if I could.  And here's the thing. Humans Love to see other humans fumble through things that we perceive as common knowledge because it's charming and funny the way they mess up, misunderstand how something works, and are delighted when they finally get the hang of it or find out how it actually works. Sure, it's fun to watch someone who is really good at something. But I also think it's very fun to watch someone who has zero fucking clue what they are doing and are trying their best to find it out as they go.

There would absolutely be a compilation of all the times Booster was super excited after he found out that something very mundane existed: "Guys, I have wonderful news. I just found out that the Cavendish banana isn't extinct yet due to them being genetically selected to grow seedless so much that new plants could not be grown as there are no seeds and the existing plants got slowly being destroyed by a parasite! I forgot that they still were around in the early 21st century! So I'm going to try one for the first time!" Michael Jon Carter, aka Booster Gold, aka @/GoldstarNotBoosterGold then directly proceeded to bring the unpeeled banana up to his mouth and bite directly into it. 

He then proceeded to eat the entire banana in this fashion, his face visibly scrunching in distaste with every bite, very clearly not enjoying this endeavor. When he was done he looked off into the distance for a moment, compiling his next words, "Hm, honestly not bad. Kind of bland but I really wish the skin wasn't so tough. Makes sense that 21st-century fruits would be more of a hassle to eat. But overall, I'd give it a 5/10." Needless to say, the three-minute-long video became viral overnight and he became quickly well known online for saving people and being a hero, making bizarre TikToks with his sense of humor from the future, giving out free merch with a horribly compressed image of his face on it, and for trying out food, activities, media, video games, and etc. from the past and reviewing them.

And here’s the thing. Booster Gold is Not super subtle about wanting to be famous/get popular but like, that makes him actually more liked. At first this causes people to flood his comments and media with negative responses about how he’s “not a real hero” if he doesn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart via comparing him to figures like Superman and how he’s a fraud hero.

His response gets plastered all over every news site imaginable. (oh god now I'm imagining what YouTube apology videos would be like in the 25th century)

He responds very directly that “Yes. I am doing this for the fame and money.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“It seems kind of weird to assume that nobody has an ulterior motive when being a hero. Some heroes help people out of the goodness of their heart but that’s an unrealistic standard to place on heroes. I’m constantly putting myself into danger and could die any mission. Is that not enough to prove that I’m a hero? Why do I also have to have this weird high moral standard that is super unreasonable?”

“Also, people seem to forget, this is my job.”

“I do not have another one. Making online content is how I get my money. I don’t get paid by the government or the Justice League. Just by what I earn from my videos and streams. Plus, everything is so outdated that the effort of adapting to what  a “normal” job in the 21st century is like would take forever. And yall seem to forget this a lot, but having a normal job would mean I would not be able to help anyone between 9-5. I need the flexibility that an online job like this gives me so I can help as many people as possible as I can without having to worry about being fired because I had to fix a time rift and had already used up all my sick days.”

“People criticize me for heavily promoting my merch and gaming the algorithm but people seem to not realize. Heroing is expensive. You think repairing technology from the future is easy with such outdated equipment?”

“Sourcing materials that don’t have synthetic equivalents yet is not cheap.”

“People don’t seem to understand how much money goes into maintaining equipment or the constant medical bills.”

“I have to promote it hard and keep my views up or else I won’t be able to help people anymore. I can’t help people if I can’t pay rent.”

“But hopefully I’ll be able to get enough money to make a company to have other’s take over the job for me so I can retire. That’s just how businesses work. “

“But, I will say that the 21st century has been so cool and it’s been so fun to been to be able to experience things I would have never been able to when I’m from and I wanted to share my experiences with other people even if they don’t really understand where I’m coming from. It’s been very nice to be able to get paid by people who like my videos and are entertained by me fumbling through what it’s like living in the 21st century. “

“But while I like helping people, is it really too much to ask to be paid for my job? This is not the first time I’ve expressed my reason to travel back in time to become a hero was to be able to start his own company and eventually retire. Is it not enough that I’m still a hero? I could just quit that and make making content my full time job? Did you ever think of that? I could just stop being a hero because I now can make rent. But I still put on the suit and help fight bad guys because I want to do good. I also don’t think it’s inhuman for me to want to be acknowledged that I did something good. People are selfish creatures. I deserve to want for people to acknowledge that I looked really cool after defeating a villain! I don’t think that’s too unreasonable.”

“Anyways, make sure to like, subscribe, and ring that bell!”

“My Twitter and Instagram is BoosterGold. Go follow me on Tiktok and Twitch at GoldstarNotBoosterGold. My second channel is BusterGold”

“And make sure to check out the new merch drop on Friday! You guys have been asking for a Skeets plushie and its almost here!”

“Booster Gold, signing off from the future!“

From then on after the video, he just amps it up and is super direct that he’s doing this as his job and for the sole purpose to make money & get more well known.

Like he’ll open up a tiktok or youtube video occasionally with “this is trending and you know me, I’m always ready to cash in on those views” and “I’m not usually a horror guy, but I’ve been seeing a lot of people play this game and you all think its fun to watch me shit my pants. But at least the ad revenue will let me buy a new pair”. 

It actually ends up having people like him more (there are definitely still some critics don’t get me wrong). But people see him as incredibly human. His obnoxious branding becomes a meme and just something to expect of Booster. But despite that, he’s genuinely a good guy and will drop everything if he sees someone in need. 

He’s much more relatable and human than the other god-like beings in the JL. He has videos of him talking about money struggles and rambling about how damn expensive it is to fix equipment that’s four centuries out of date and people relate and laugh at his frustration. 

Other videos about him contain him complaining about his medical bills (in the future the US has a Single-Payer healthcare system and the Medical Insurance industry is abolished. and the history books didn't accurately emphasize how much of a pain in the ass it was) and setting stream goals to pay off bills. He talks about things that people never heard heroes talk about before from their perspective:

- A stream where Booster cleans out the food in the fridge after being off-world for a month and now all his food has gone bad. 

- Booster asking for advice how to grocery shop because nearly all of the brands that make the snacks and foods he wants, haven’t been founded yet. And asking advice on what prices for food is normal because the difference in inflation   

- Booster asking questions about modern etiquette to his followers because those have definitely changed over 4 centuries.

- “Guys how the fuck do you navigate anything online? The layout of all of them is fucking awful! Has that law about standardizing format to cancel subscriptions not been made yet? Because it sure as hell seems like it!”

- A tweet of Booster in the hospital with about a bajillion things attached to him posing with a thumbs up with the caption “I might’ve broken all of my bones but at least they didn’t touch my handsome face”

- The first few times Booster mentions going to physical therapy or doing PT exercises his fanbase goes “Holy shit, I never realized superheroes would have to go to PT after getting injured.” Like, they saw heroes getting injured but it didn’t click in their heads that those injuries would have actual repercussions. To the viewers, it seemed like the heroes always bounced back. And they’re just now realizing that that’s not the case, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes

- “Dealing with Batman is Just as scary as you’d think. The guy gives me the creeps”   (Bruce has 100% worked with booster about spreading rumors about Batman to keep up his reputation so Anything that Michael says about him can only be about confirming rumors that support his reputation or pre-approved stories about Batman being intimidating even outside of fights. Booster does once say that there’s a betting pool in the JL if Bats is a vampire and Bruce was not happy that it wasn’t cleared with him before but it’s been easier to fight goons recently as they’ve been reaching for holy water rather than guns first. Bruce then decides to have Booster keep up these rumors as long as they are actually cleared with him so Bruce can have a firm control over the Batman vampire mythos.)

- “Does Batman go to PT? Pfft, I’ve seen the guy bounce back from every injury he’s ever had with inhuman speed. I swear, it’s like he gets a bullet wound or stabbed and is completely fine the next day!” 

- “Oh yeah, Superman is just as nice as everyone says he is! He overheard me talking to Flash once about how I couldn’t find a soldering iron fine enough to fix some of my more intricate gear and he said I can ask anytime if I needed him to use his laser vision to fix my stuff! He’s great.”

- Booster talking about fighting time monsters and being kinda sad that no one can actually see the amount of effort it takes to deal with those issues because if he’s done everything right, there should be no trace anything happened at all. 

But his streams can also reveal some of the more… undesirable parts of becoming a hero, namely the gruesome injures, trauma, and seeing friends get brutally injured:

And people realize this through Booster accidentally trauma dumping to his audience and them going “oh shit, I knew doing hero work isn’t easy but this guy needs a fucking therapist”: 

-  Briefly mentions how weird it was to hold in his guts in after getting injured really badly during a fight. 

- (warning there’s a description of a burnt corpse so skip this if you don’t like that): “The dishes have been piling up lately guys. I keep meaning to get to it but it’s just - you remember those burning apartments I had to sort though last week? The, uh, slightly grainy and squishy texture of the food under my fingers keeps reminding me of sorting through those houses and I just haven’t been able to get to it.” 

“ I was sorting through the debris, looking for potential causes of the fire. One of the walls was gone and you could see the metal pipes melted into a weird shape, it was kinda cool.”

“But uh, I went to shift what I thought was a burnt piece of furniture out of the way. And when I grabbed it, it like, gave away? sort of? I thought it was going to be burnt wood but the first few layers of the outside crumbled under my touch and flaked away, the non-burnt part way on the inside was still kinda squishy.”

“It, uh- it, turned out to be someone’s arm.”

“The firemen said the person must’ve been crushed under the falling wall and didn’t escape in time. And they just lied there, charred nearly to the bone.”

“The texture just reminds me of that happening and I haven’t been able to do dishes or eat anything with my hands in a while.”

“But anyways guys! I think I’m going to get Beetle to do them when he comes over tomorrow!” (The sudden whiplash of tone definitely gets viewers very concerned because that Cannot be healthy)

——

I also enjoy the concept that people mercilessly bully him online (but with no real ill intent, think Jerma’s fanbase type of bullying and memeing the shit out of the man)  

Ted Kord is absolutely a fan favorite. At first he was often visibly in the backgrounds of Michael’s videos all suited up. Then he was the supervisor and behind-the-camera context giver to Booster for the more stupid stunts he did for internet attention and answered questions Booster had about media he reacted to by filling in the meaning of what he was being shown. 

People Loved their dynamic and sure enough Booster capitalized the shit out of it by pulling Ted into his videos and having Blue Beetle be the voice of reason & the comedic contrast of “guy who knows how to do things” vs “guy who has no fucking clue what he’s doing. Their “High INT, High STR, Low WIS, Low CHA ” & “High CHA (with permanent disadvantage), High STR, Low WIS, & Low INT” relationship is much loved online. 

—

But at the same time, he could also accidentally be the cause of many technological breakthroughs in the 21st century because common knowledge to him would be so absolutely foreign to us as that’s centuries of advancement in the fields of technology, science, engineering, and math between current day and the 25th century. I’d like to imagine he corrects a physics equation with one made in the 23th century that was common knowledge for him, but not so much for the modern century physicist. And now he’s in the media focus for being a superhero influencer online who somehow caused a breakthrough in physics. With the intent of becoming a superhero with the sole purpose of gaining fame & money to eventually form a corporation based around himself to make a comfortable living.

[jackdawandicarus]

WIP ASK GAME THINGAMAJIG

I was tagged by @the-laws-of-physics-were-harmed ^^

Idk to tag so u tag absolutely nobody/whoever sees this and wants to do this

rules: answer as many (or as few) of the questions about your WIP as you can.

1. What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

Chapter 1 babyyyyy. Idk what else to say here I started at the start with no plan (no money, no prospects-) and winged it. All I knew was that Ophelia and Zopyrus had to be bitten by werewolves. Fun fact! Zopyrus was originally going to die in this chapter, but now he doesn’t!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the intro song be?

Uhhhhhh, lemme pull out my playlist real quick… Okay, sooooo, I think either Lights Go Down by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME or Eat Your Young by Hozier could work. ^^

3. Who are your favourite character(s) and why?

Kit because, um, idk I like putting him in situations (mental torture) the most. He’s probably followed by Arabella, because she is mentally unstable and very relatable and incredibly fun to write and- Raymond (formerly “Stevie”) is third because she is just my main chaotic character and has some nice character dynamics going on with the other characters. She is also a mess. All these guys are. I think that says something about myself. Oh, Ophelia is sneaking up on me again because I’m working on planning out her character arc right now.

4. What other pieces of media could share a fan base with your WIP?

The problem with this question is that I know next to nothing about any fandom I’m not part of so all of my possible answers sound self-indulgent as *fuck* to me. Like, I’m going to answer Six of Crows but tell me if that’s stupid (/gen) I honestly can’t tell. 😭✋

5. What has been your biggest struggle while writing your WIP?

🤓🔫 Writing it.

6. Are there any animals in your story?

The first book’s plot is smuggling a dragon across international waters so yeah. Also one of the protagonists (as well as multiple other characters) are werewolves if that counts. There’s also going to be some wolves I think? And some sort of bird motif I haven’t decided on yet. WAIT THERE’S DINOSAURS IN BOOK TWO OH MY GOD I JUST REMEMBERED!!!

7. How do your characters get around?

A variety of ways? On foot, by carriage, Icarus and Daedalus style (wings may or may not actually be real, depending on the character), on horseback, in a boat, on the back of ginormous hulking winged beast, or in a motorcar. The usual ways your average people of varying levels of humanity get around.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

Chapter 2! ^^ I am completely stuck. I hate writing character introductions because I am shit at writing character descriptions, I always write *way* too little or wayyyy too much. I also never know which aspects of a character’s appearance to describe.

9. What aspects of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

The ✨gay✨. The ✨werewolves✨. The ✨sheer genius of my inherently superior storytelling✨ /s. The ✨dragon✨. I really need to ✨stop putting sparkles around things✨ in this section. On a more serious note, I don’t know. Tell me what intrigues you most about my WIP, friend and fellow carbon-based lifeform, for I have no motherfucking clue in motherfucking hell.

[liliaeth]

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!) See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

Well the one pattern I can see is that I have way too many wips, damn my flighty muse

I’m tagging anyone willing to do this one

1. The Weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh (Nicolò di Genova/Yusuf al Kaysani, The Old Guard

Yusuf wasn’t even sure what he was doing, taking the invader with him. He should have left the man behind after the Franks took the city, but when he’d seen the look on the Christian’s face, that thousand mile stare in the other’s eyes, he’d been unable to do so. There had been a plea in the way he knelt there, not even reaching for a weapon, though he and Yusuf had killed each other dozens of times by now. Almost as if he wanted Yusuf to kill him. That might have been why he stayed his blade at first, that notion that he couldn’t give the other what he wanted, not after what the Franks had done. But then he’d seen the man’s eyes and he hadn’t been able to stop himself from feeling pity for him.

2. The Body Remembers (Scott McCall/Theo Raeken, Teen Wolf

He had flinched.

3. We come from Warriors (gen fic, with some Nicky/Joe , The Old Guard)

Solomon hesitated as he reached the door. He didn't want to go in. Not now, not when Mom would have prettied up the room, trying to achieve holiday cheer, desperate to pretend things were normal, that there wasn't another empty chair at the table. He was about ready to just turn around, to take his gifts back to the car and leave, go to a bar, and drink soda after soda, until he got on too much of a high and had to head out in his car, driving till the carbohydrate high was out of his system.

4.Artefacts of history (Nicky/Joe, Andy/Quynh, Nile, The Old Guard)

His first thought was ‘another one’. 

5. Sinking Down (Gen, Andy and Booker, The Old Guard)

Booker wasn’t even sure why he was in this damn room, with these people, none of whom had a clue who he was, or what he’d done. They all had their issues of course, and he wasn’t stupid enough to assume that anything he went through was worse than what they went through.

6. Tomatoes, lettuce and a burger (Gen, Dean and Sam Winchester, Supernatural)

Dean wasn’t sure what it was that made it feel like his heart was torn to pieces. Sam was sitting right there, mere inches away from him. Reading, writing, Dean wasn’t sure what his brother was doing as Dean himself was cooking. 

7. A Soldier goes marching on (gen, Nile Freeman, and Jay, The Old Guard) 

Jay stared at he empty bunk. Dizzy wouldn’t even look at her. Jay would have screamed at her, but she knew it wasn’t fair, since her anger was aimed as much at herself as it was at Dizzy. And neither would do any good.

8. New Wolf in the Old Guard (Teen Wolf/The Old Guard crossover, Scott centric)

Scott woke up gasping for air. It was the third time this week that he had the dream of drowning. The other dreams were weird, and scary, but he’d have any of them over the ones where he drowned. 

9. Good Little Milker (Dean Winchester, Supernatural a/b/o au)

Dean was still sulking. Sam could see it in the poor Omega cow's eyes, the way he glared at the both of them, when he thought Sam or Dad weren't looking. Oh sure, he was playing nice after the rough spanking Dad had given him. Dad had had no choice after Dean's initial tantrum when John had mentioned what was going to happen. It hadn't really been a surprise to anyone but Dean himself, when Sam's younger brother had presented as an Omega. Even during the first signs of his first heat, the boy had still been hoping to present at least as a beta if not an Alpha. But both Sam and John had known better. Dean was a brat, but he'd always been at his happiest when Dad or Sam told him what to do.

10. Clean (JDM/Jensen Ackles, spn rps, non-con)

Jeff couldn't believe his luck. The notion that this perfect piece of slave flesh had never once been fucked was probably the biggest waste of a slave's body he'd ever seen in his life.

11. Light in the Basement (Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, spn rps, non-con)

Jensen wasn't even sure what had happened as he slowly woke up face down on a dusty floor. He stared up at the room he was in. It was dark, stuffy, like there was something in his throat making it hard to breathe. There was a pervading smell of shit and mold hanging around the place, like he was in a badly cleaned toilet in one of the factories he'd been working at over the past few months. He crawled up into the dark

12. The Treaty (Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, spn rps, a/b/o, dub-con)

Peace. After ten years of war, it was long awaited, and even from the throne room, Jared could hear the celebrations spreading across the capitol city. Jared wished he could join the people, spend time with his loved ones and hold his mother, but all he could think of was his father's face as he'd died in Jared's arms.

13. the Wolf who Ran with Hunters (gen Teen Wolf/Supernatural, Scott-centric)

Scott shivered as he woke up. He didn’t want to open his eyes, because once he did, he’d have to accept that he was all alone in some crappy motel room.  Outside the window, he could see the dusty town in Oklahoma which he didn’t even know the name of.

14. Covered in Bandaids (Scott McCall/Isaac Lahey, Teen Wolf)

Isaac wasn’t quite sure what he was doing at the field. He shouldn’t even care about lacrosse any more. He was strong now, and lacrosse had been something he’d done because his father wanted him to be more like Camden. 

15. Breaking Point (Scott McCall/Theo Raeken, Teen Wolf)

The place was cold. Even with the increased body heat of a werewolf Scott shivered in the corner of the cell. He wished he’d been wearing more than a tank top and his jeans when the cops had burst into his room. They hadn’t told him what he was being arrested for, or what they wanted, which as far as he knew, was not the norm.

16. Kindness for the Devil (Lucifer Morningstar/Scott McCall, Lucifer/Teen Wolf)

It was a night like any other. Things were a bit too quiet over at Lux, but then it was early, and it seemed to make Linda happy, making her more likely to stay instead of having her take Charlie and leaving. 

17.Can’t Always hold him back (Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale, Teen Wolf)

Scott looked down at Stiles, carefully listening to his friend’s heartbeat, pushing out the distraction of outside noise. Nurses and visitors talking in the hall outside, the beeping of the machine monitoring Stiles. He desperately tried to follow the pattern. It scared him, how hard his friend’s heart was working just to keep going, how difficult Stiles’ breathing went even with the oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose. Scott had finally managed to get the sheriff to go downstairs to have something to eat, maybe even take a shower if Mom could slip him into the staff showers. They all knew that their stay here could end up being a marathon that might last days more than it already had. 

18. Beloved (Btvs/Angel, co written with @spikesheart)

Sitting at one end of a fully laden table, Buffy looked at the appetizers piled on the finest bone china sitting atop platinum charger plates, studied her matching platinum silverware, and wrangled with the finely woven silver linen napkin in her lap – patently avoiding her lover’s gaze as he sat at the other end. Only the best of everything life had to offer was laid out before her. A wide variety of catered pasta, meat and vegetable dishes filled every square inch of space in between them, yet nothing caught her fancy.

19. Parent Wolf (Teen Wolf, the parents)

She woke up in an endless white room, found her head leaning against the bark of an old tree trunk, staring up and noticing several other men and women waking up alongside her. 

20. Missed Shot (gen, teen wolf, Scott-centric)

Scott stared up at the men coming closer and at the man who had just shot him with an arrow. Derek Hale, the creepy guy who’d lured him here in the first place, tried to grab him and pull him loose, but seconds later he was down on the ground as well with arrows in his leg and back.  Scott stared around in fear, pulling at the arrow, too scared to think of breaking it free.

[drabbleshereandthere]

Tainted.

Word Count:

Pairing: Mafioso!Billy Hargrove x Reader

A/N: another work before all my other WIPS? What a surprise.. :,)

Warnings: general creepiness, mafia activity, illegal acts, cursing, implied dirty desires

Summary: Billy, an infamous mafia crime boss, takes an odd liking to a cute diner waitress.

California seemed like the perfect place for you and your larger-than-life dreams. You could see it now, finding love under the summer sun in Cali, living in beachy bliss among salty air and a never ending sun. It seemed perfect- before you arrived, that is. You started off with a job as a waitress at a small diner with an employer who knew nothing of personal space and living quarters that could be described as nothing more than shabby. However, as time passed, you started dealing with things that were out of the ordinary to say the least.

It wasn’t that you didn’t appreciate it, but you were sure what was happening was a horrible accident, or something to be paid back later. There were huge amounts of money being transferred into your bank account. You didn’t touch any of the excess cash, seeing as how there was so obviously something wrong going on. Which you were sure there had to be, because who willingly gave out that much money to some lowlife waitress?

Billy Hargrove. An infamous mafia boss risen from small town Hawkins, Indiana with a hell of a lot of emotional turmoil that nobody spoke of. Hargrove’s pockets were filled with loads of cash, and he was saddled with anger issues to surpass his own father, along with a rock hard exterior that was only let down for the closest to him on special occasion- if that. That man, he would. Manager with no personal space? Tommy, his right hand man. The small diner you worked at? Connected to an underground meeting place for crime bosses and illegal play- kept down low on the radar and yet just outgoing and friendly enough to closet their criminal activity. Everything was in his hands. When he came around the diner- which was rare- yet now becoming more frequent- he would see you. A pretty new face working the clock. Of course you wouldn't recognize him, you saw plenty of faces every day working that place. Not to mention his work behind the scenes to keep himself just out of your view.

But, he always recognized you, mostly because he was specifically looking for you, but he supposed that didn't really matter. Most people greeted him with some sort of recognition and a shiver down their spine, but not you. It enticed him, the way you greeted him with a smile and pretty plump lips just waiting to be tainted by his sinful ones; being completely unaware of who he was and what he had planned. Naive. Malleable. For that reason, meeting you always felt somewhat wrong, that him even clouding the same air as you would leave you tarnished, but when had he ever been right?

He loved the feeling you gave him, and he planned to make you feel the same way. To crave him so desperately like he craved you. Billy wanted you to look at him and flutter those pretty lashes a couple times, then he’d sit back and watch those cheeks flush at his smile in a silent reply that his affections were returned.

All it took was promising Tommy a little extra cash to get your card information and your phone number. Too easy. The only thing he had to do was wait for you to fall into the trap he’d set for you. Except for the fact that it wasn’t “too easy”. You didn't use any of the money he gave you, and he had been so excited for that day.

The day he’d come in and see you with a new pair of earrings and a shining necklace. Or some nice heels for him to watch you walk to him in. Maybe even an entire getup just for him. That never happened, because you never used anything he gave you, you were pure, you’d gone untouched by the filthy craving for money and power, unlike him. It only made you all the more interesting. It was frustrating, but Billy had plenty of experience holding more than one trick up his sleeve. Luckily, he still had that phone number of yours. He’d get what he wanted one way or another, he always did.

It was finally the weekend. After working long hours in a restaurant with locals who ordered so much food yet couldn’t shut their mouths enough to eat any of it, it was great to have your days off come. Calm days for your own enjoyment. No stress, no problems, no chatty Karens who complained about this, that, and the other thing- no nothing. That was until you received a message on your phone that was more than suspicious.

“Hey doll, you buy yourself something nice and pretty with what I gave you?”

Of course, Billy knew you hadn’t, but toying with you was a given. He couldn’t just clue you in on everything already, it would be too easy for you, and considering you’d already made it hard on him, he decided that a little toying wouldn’t bother you too much. The message you sent him back was almost too good. You were only sweetening the pot. It seemed as if you’d meet him sooner than later. Things were going to plan.

“Do I know you? I believe you have the wrong number.”

“Not yet, sweet-cheeks. You could say that we’ve met. No doubt this is the right number, but you haven’t answered my question, have you doll?”

With what he gave you? And he said you didn’t know him. It’s an unknown number for fuck sake. But then it hit you. Buying nice things with with something from someone you didn’t know? Had to be the money in your account. But you had something up your sleeve too.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Playing coy was a killer. You were toying with him now. Maybe you were untainted, but you weren’t stupid. He liked it, but he needed you to spill. He wanted you to realize everything and lay it out in front of him. There was something oddly intimate about secrets being let out in the open. The anticipation was so thick it was palpable. If he was going to get it out of you, he’d have to give you something to grasp onto. Give you false hope.

“No? You don’t know about my gift ?”

You were smart, but he was filthy. He was raised with a silver tongue, and if he played his cards right, you’d fall right where he wanted you. Not to mention, you’d yet to address the elephant in the room.

When he sent that, your plan disappeared in thin air, because it actually WAS the unknown person giving you money. Gift? The money had to be it. It was warranted for no apparent reason, it made sense.

“The money has gone untouched. And why did you gift it to me in the first place? You said that I don’t know you.

There it was. He never actually said that he gave you money, and even though he was hinting at it, he needed you to say it. Let it be known, out in the open. Billy didn’t want any secrets between the two of you. Well, any secrets being kept from him. You, on the other hand, didn’t need to know everything just yet, and it didn’t make him feel so guilty, since you would know in do time.

“Yet. You don’t know me yet. But, we’ve met before. Remember that. I’ll see you soon, sweetcheeks.”

And that was the elephant in the room addressed. Yet. Although things had been addressed- partly- you were somehow more confused than before. Who were they? Why and how did they give you the money? How did they get your number? Who has that much money to just give away? In what way were you to respond? Were you supposed to respond? Apparently you’d met, but where? In what context? Had you spoken before this? And what did they mean by, “see you soon”?

You found out only two days later. Billy decided that after leaving you to your own devices for so long when he was transferring money, he deserved to see you then, and that he just didn’t want to wait any longer. It was a typical shitty Monday to start out the week, and you were on edge from the weekends events. But nothing during the weekend could have compared to face to face.

You knew he had come here before, but you never recognized him without a third or fourth look back at him. He asked for coffee, black, with some simple sugar packets on the side. When you brought his order to him, he spoke. “Get yourself something pretty yet, doll?” The cup shattered on the floor. There was no avoiding the connection in his words. You’d been on edge all weekend due to those texts, and here he was, saying something like that? No way it wasn’t him. You’d stood on stone legs for a few moments before bending down to assess and clean the mess you’d made before going to reply and being interrupted by his voice once again. “Tommy! Get this for her while I chat her up, will you?” And he did. You were surprised. But you sat in front of him anyway. “Not to come off as rude, but who are you to be making orders?”

There were only so many answers to this question. Two, in fact. The truth, or a lie. He could tell you it was family run, that he knew the guy personally, all lies. Or, he could tell you that he was basically treated as royalty in the underground illegal works of the mafia, and Tommy was his bitch. He needed to entice you, not scare you, but maybe a little bit of danger is what you needed- he always liked to be blunt anyway. “I have a lot of power around here sweetheart. I got a way of getting what I want.” Strange. Blunt. Who even was this guy? “Do you have a name?”

His grin was sinful. Intriguing, even. Did he have a name? Hell yeah, sweetheart. God if you didn’t make him shiver. A name that meant a lot to many. Whether it be negative, trailed by danger, or in the rare case- positive, he did indeed have a name. “Billy Hargrove, sweetheart. But it’s a bit late for introductions, seeing as how I know a lot about you already.” That’s right. He has your phone number, presumably your card number, and with all that he must have known your name. “Then fill me in. What is all of this? The money? The cryptic texts..?” He loved it. He was eating it up. You were curious about him and his game. Your words were giving him leverage without you even knowing. You wanted to know more and god was he willing to let you in, but he wanted to toy with you a little more first.

“Listen, (Y/N).-“ Oddly enough, heating your name from his lips sent shivers down your spine. “- I’ll make you a deal. You give me what I’ve asked for, and I’ll tell you all you want and serve it on a silver platter with your name on it. It’s all yours. But first, I want you to buy a pretty little get-up for me, and you’ll come with me to a nice party in it, alright? That’s all it takes. You just have to shake on it.”

He held out his hand for you to take in yours, which was accompanied by that same sinful smile. As you looked at him, as strange as it seemed, you felt a sense of power about him. Somehow as if he would have it everywhere he went. On the other hand, all you had to do was buy a dress and go to a party, and he’d tell you everything you wanted. Fair enough, right? “You’ll really tell me anything I ask?” He would be lying if he said that the hesitance in your voice and your doe eyes weren’t doing it for him right now. He shallowly nodded and let out a rough “mhm” from the back of his throat in response, with his eyes still on yours the entire time. He was dangerous. You weren’t stupid. But if he’s as enticing as he is cryptic and dangerous, you had to know more.

You reached out and took his hand; the warmth from his palm radiating onto yours, and as you shook it, you were sure that maybe everything wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Everything was really bad after all. You were nervous and overwhelmed. It didn’t matter...yet. You were going to go to that party, wear your dress, and own it too. Then you’d get your way afterwards and forget it ever happened. But things never went exactly according to plan, did they? Billy made sure to keep himself wedged into your mind every day leading up to the party. Whether it was a simple, ”Hey sweetheart, hope I'm on your mind.” or him updating you on how many days you had left to get your shit together, he made sure to keep himself at the forefront of your thoughts even without being physically with you.

Then came the text when the amount of days left hit one. You had one more day until you would see him again and get everything over with. He was a lion that got off on power, you knew that much. When you saw him, you swore you’d give him no leverage, nothing to grow from. But then he pulled up at your front door, walked out in the most lavish tuxedo you’d ever seen, and whispered in your ear that it was time to go. The ride to the party was silent.

He wanted to hear you speak to him and get lost in his eyes just as he’d found himself in yours, but he’d give you your time. After all, you needed all the help you could get for what was to come.

[darkangel0410]

Found this in my drafts and I’m not sure who tagged me in it? Decided to post it anyways, so enjoy.

+Where do you publish your work?

A03. Some of my old stuff is still on the pit and lj. Also on dw, I think? But I just post on AO3 now. 

+What medium/application/etc. you use?

Word and google docs. Docs saves automatically and backs everything up on google drive, which is a balm to my soul because I’ve lost so many words when laptops have suddenly keeled over and died on me.

+Do you collaborate with others?

Sometimes? I’ve written a ton of fic with @007waffles007 over the past couple years, so, yes, I can collaborate with people, I just don’t very often, I guess.

+How much editing do you do before you publish?

It depends, really. If it’s under 10k, I usually just run it through spellcheck a few times and read it over. If it’s over that, I’ll ask someone to look it over for me. But I don’t have a beta, per se. So I guess the answer is: not much, lol.

+Do you listen to music while you write?

Yeah, almost always. I can write without it, but it’s a struggle and I’m usually not as productive as I would be with music playing.

+How do you decide what to write about?

That’s a hard question, because sometimes I don’t have a clue where my ideas come from. I mean, sometimes I’ll see a movie or a gif or an interview or read a book and go, “Wow, what if Nico Hischier was the devil and Nolan Patrick had his demon spawn a la Rosemary’s Baby?” and that’s a definite book/movie that I can point to as inspiration.

But sometimes I wake up in the morning and think, “I wonder what would happen if Jack Eichel’s dad was Poseidon and he could talk to water? And sharks? And what if some of the guys who went to NTDP were also the kids of Greek gods?” and I have no clue where it came from, it was just there one day.

+When do you write?

In the summer, usually between 10 am and 2 pm and at night from 9:30 pm to whenever I go to bed. During hockey season, that goes out the window because I usually have at least two games to watch every night, so usually just the mornings from right about now until whenever my teams get bounced in the playoffs (so mid-April because they’re all awful).

+How often do you write?

I try to write something every day, but a lot of times it doesn’t happen for various reasons. As long as I write a couple paragraphs every few days I consider it a win.

+Do you take requests?

It depends on my mood, really. I’ll ask friends for prompts sometimes if I want to write something different than what I’m working on (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve messaged @007waffles007 and said, “hey give me a Strome bros prompt please” but it’s a lot I’m sure), and I’ll do the headcannon memes that float around tumblr, but really that’s it.

+Is there a genre or type of story you want to write but are hesitant to?

Hmmm, not really? I write all the tropes that I’m really interested in or that I enjoy already, so. There’s some kinks I don’t always write about, if that counts? Hockey fandom is very vanilla in a lot of ways, so, yeah, there’s specific kinks I don’t write that I’d like to. If that counts?

+Any inspirational quotes, videos, tricks, articles, etc that help you stay motivated?

Not guotes, per se, but I like to talk to other writers alot. It helps me to organize my thoughts and walk through my timeline, see any potential problems that may be there.

+Go to page 7 of your WIP, skip to the 7th line, and share 7 sentences:

I only have one fic that’s currently that long, so enjoy some Jack Eichel/Connor McDavid:

He sounds hesitant to Jack, like he’s not sure if Jack’s going to tell him to go fuck off or maybe punch him in the face; Jack knows he can be a dick sometimes, but he’s got to play in this tournament with Connor and they should probably at least be on speaking terms for the next few weeks. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go check it out.”

Connor grins at him, face lighting up like he’s actually thrilled Jack wants to spend time with him. Jack tells himself the flush of pleasure he feels at the sight of Connor’s smile is just for the good of the team.

He doesn’t believe it: he’s always been shitty at lying to himself.

To his credit, Connor doesn’t hang back, he stands next to Jack on the ledge that’s around the pool and cautiously reaches out to touch the manta rays and other animals that come crowd the water by them; he doesn’t say much, either, content to focus on whatever he was thinking about while Jack talks to the sea and everyone else that wants to talk to him.

He’s not sure how long he’s been zoned out for but when he focuses back on Connor, he’s patiently waiting still, taking pics of the pool and the animals; Jack catches himself watching Connor for a few seconds, smiling to himself when Connor makes a face at his phone.

Connor glances up and meets Jack’s eyes, grinning broadly; it makes Jack flush and he can feel his face turning bright red, and he speaks up before Connor can say anything. “I’m starving, want to go get something to eat before we head back?”

*

Tagging @007waffles007 @candy-belle @froggiej and anyone else who wants to do this.