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nhasablogg · 11 hours

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Tickle fics

Fandom: Red, White and Royal Blue

Characters: Henry/Alex

Summary: Alex reads a tickle fic about them aloud and Henry is having a totally chill reaction to it.

A/N: Soooo I do admit not a lot of tickling happens in this one (if any?). It's more of those fics with (the concept of) tickling that I love writing. BUT if you're nice maybe I will write you a sequel with the thing Alex mentions toward the end ;) Actually I probably WILL write it either way, although maybe I won't have the fics be connected. I hope you like this regardless!

Words. 1.2k

Alex finds it funny, and Henry likes watching him giggle over the phone, but, respectfully, Henry is about to die if he keeps it up.

Gripping the pillow he’s fighting against covering his face with, he tries to keep his features neutral, the opposite of Alex’s animated movements. He’s all hands and expressions, all laughter and voices. Maybe it’s Henry’s silence over the voice Alex has chosen to adopt each time Henry’s character speaks - too high pitched, not even the right British accent - that finally makes him look up from the phone, eyebrow raised, sentence dying at the tip of his tongue. “You don’t like this story?”

“It’s a great story.”

“But you’re barely reacting.”

“I was simply just enchanted by the descriptions. You know-” He sits up straighter, eyes on the back of Alex’s phone. “My interpretation of the story relies on how you read it to me. What words you choose to emphasize. What tone you adopt.”

“So you’re saying the way I’m reading is boring.”

“Not at all.”

“Hmm. Okay, look.” He shoves the phone in Henry’s face. “Read this.”

All Henry sees is giggle and tickles and it makes him want to scream. “Okay.”

“Read it aloud. I wanna see how you’d read it.” He leans back, grinning at him. “Since apparently I’m not a good narrator.”

“Oh my god, Alex, that’s not what I meant. I simply thought it was an interesting observation which was entirely on topic by the way-”

“You’re trying to get out of this.”

“I am not-”

“So read.”

They’ve done this before. Henry has never cared about the world of fanfiction, which Alex finds interesting since he is a man of letters and stories. Alex, on the other hand, was looking up fanfiction about the two of them the very moment they started sleeping together, sending him links and screenshots with lewd emojis. It was only after they became official that he started reading them aloud to him, sometimes as a joke, sometimes to see what Henry thought of certain, uh, activities. Henry has never called him out on it, mostly because it’s been quite effective.

“Look,” he said earlier that evening, tapping Henry on the arm. “I found a tickle fic of us.”

Henry nearly broke his own neck from how quickly he turned toward him. “S-sorry?”

Alex took his spluttering in the wrong way and nodded eagerly. “I know! Apparently that’s a thing. Listen to this.” He cleared his throat. “This is in the middle of the fic, it doesn’t start like this. Henry managed to call out a panicked, “No!” before Alex had switched spots, fingers curling over the area and making Henry howl with laughter, much different than June’s quiet pleading, but nowhere near Alex’s yelling. I don’t yell by the way. Also it’s a little weird that June’s in here. But oh my god, I need to read you the whole thing, it’s glorious. It’s about me compiling a list about my favorite things about you and putting you being ticklish on there, which I guess is kinda true. The author’s this weirdo called N-”

Henry grips the phone tighter now, scanning the screen. “Where did you stop?”

“About here.” Alex points and Henry tries to breathe.

“‘I should pin you before you fall off,’ he said, and Henry positively whined- I don’t whine.”

Alex waves his hand. “You do. Keep reading.”

“‘You liked that?’ ‘Let go of me, you brute.’”

“It does kinda sound like you, doesn’t it?” Alex has his cheek pressed to Henry’s shoulder, eyes on the phone. He can probably feel the heat radiating off of him and Henry tries to calm down, he really really does. “You’re certainly just as ticklish. Not sure if you like it when I tickle you, though.” He turns to grin at him, all cheeky innocence and Henry deserves a prize for the way he doesn’t look away.

“Right.” The prize should promptly be taken from him due to the way his voice wavers.

Alex sits up, as if he only just now realizes how not chill Henry has been during this entire interaction. “Wait, do you?”

“No.”

“Baby.”

It’s so unfair when Alex baby’s him. “I don’t.”

To Alex’s credit he seems to be trying very hard not to smile now. “You’re blushing.”

“It’s very hot in here.”

“Come to think of it, you’ve been blushing this entire time.”

“I have not.”

“Did you write this fic?”

“What? No!”

“But it’s not far off, is it? You don’t mind when I tickle you.”

Henry finally covers his face with that stupid pillow. “Please god, what did I do to deserve this.”

Alex is laughing as he pulls at the pillowcase. “Come on, don’t hide. It’s cute. I swear I didn’t pick this fic to embarrass you. I hadn’t connected the dots until literally just now.”

“There are no dots.” Henry gives up on the pillow and lets Alex take it. “This fic is simply not good.”

“Oh, come on now.” Alex makes a move as if to touch him and thinks better of it. “You almost never protest when I tickle you. You always seem to be in a better mood afterward. You don’t have to be into it or anything to not mind it.”

Henry whines - stupid N being right - and shuts his eyes. “I- okay, fine, I don’t fully mind it. Not when you do it.”

“Baby, that’s so cute.”

“I will literally murder you.”

“Tell me.” Alex is suddenly closer. Henry can feel his breath at his neck, but he refuses to open his eyes. “Did it do something to you to hear me read that fic?”

“Alex-”

“Did you enjoy it? I certainly like watching you squirm.”

Henry opens his eyes and Alex is right there. “I won’t answer that.” A breath, and, “You already know the answer.”

“Oh, that I do.” A fingertip on Henry’s thigh. Henry imagines it moving further in, touching his most delicate skin. He rarely allows himself to think this - shame and guilt always gripping him - but sometimes, when he’s alone in bed or has Alex sleeping beside him, he imagines what it would be like to fully lose control to teasing fingers.

He’s never thought this fantasy will play out. He doesn’t know how to approach it now.

But Alex is there, so certain with it. So nonjudgmental.

“Tell me,” he says now, finger still but still touching. “What would you want me to do to you, if you could have me do anything? Pin you? Tie you up? Tickle you so gently you nearly scream? Or maybe you’re more into the playfulness of it. Maybe you like it when I’m quick and brief.”

“I don’t know what I like.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Oh. Well.” Alex grins, all teeth and glee. “Maybe one of those fics can help us figure it out. Combined with some experimentation, of course.”

Henry doesn’t know if he should curse N out or thank her. Maybe both.

#tickling #ticklish!henry #firstprince fic #tickle fic #rwrb fic #n writes #tickle fics #lmao idk what else to name it

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kiwiana-writes · 3 days

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FirstPrince on Mars.

Ao3 username is the same without the dash, and no rating restrictions.

Congrats on the big milestone, you deserve it.🥰

Ash!!! Congrats on being the first but CERTAINLY not the last space-related prompt lmfao. I really waffled on the rating; I think it's a high-ish M? Mostly it's just... less explicit than I usually write, somehow 🤣

ONE DAY WE'LL BE LIVING IN THE STARS for @ad-astra13 [rated M, 1262 words]

Alex has been on Mars for a grand total of half a sol when his world flips upside down.

“My name is Henry Fox,” the Greek God come to life tells Alex and his twenty-three other shipmates, his voice somewhat muffled by Alex’s heartbeat roaring in his ears. When they departed Earth nine months ago, these people were strangers; now, they’re a weird sort of family, complete with the annoying cousin no one likes. (Hunter, not Alex.) If this guy—this Henry—had been on the ship… well. Family is absolutely not the word Alex would be choosing to use, that’s for sure. There’s an itch under his skin that Alex is pretty sure has nothing to do with the artificial atmosphere and far more to do with the mole on Henry’s lip that Alex suddenly, frantically wants to taste.

So, okay. He’s bi? He’s on a totally new fucking planet, and he’s not allowed to join his parents or his sister or anyone who migrated here before him for another thirteen and a half sols, and he’s ragingly fucking bisexual, apparently. That probably shouldn’t be more shocking than the fact that he’s on literal fucking Mars, but… well. Mars, he planned and prepared for. Guys with jawlines that could cut glass and legs for days, not so much.

He’s vaguely aware that he should be listening, and not just staring, but he can’t help it. He only tunes back in as Henry tells the group they can come to him at any time if they need assistance during their adjustment period. Henry locks eyes with Alex as he emphasises ‘if you need anything at all’, and that…

That feels like an invitation.

Fuck it.

When on Mars, or however the saying goes.

[READ MORE ON AO3]

#kiwiana-writes #subscriber shindig #fic collection: kiwiana's subscriber shindig #rwrb fic #rwrb fanfic #rwrb fanfiction #firstprince

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nico-di-genova · 1 day

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i come to your inbox with Heavily Researched News™ (i listened to off track and did some quick googling) containing info for your 'a lesson in braking' alex.

so, in 2022 there was a huge prank pulled on conor daly on day one of the indy500 (dubbed Beadgate), where someone filled his hot tub with what he estimated was 400,000 orbeez. his top list of suspects were josef newgarden, callum ilott, tony kanaan, colton herta, kyle kirkwood and scott mclaughlin.

in hindsight, daly thought he'd heard some noise outside his trailer

'there was a lot of guilty faces in the paddock this morning, and i can’t figure out which one is the culprit,' daly said. 'it’s a tough scene. i think the primary suspects are the dads of the indycar community, too, because apparently children like to fill up these little fake guns with water balls and shoot them at people.'

newgarden called daly that night 'in a very scared manner' to try to convince daly that he wasn't guilty of the prank. daly suspected callum of being involved 'cause he was hanging out with him a lot as he was looking for the culprit and wondered if callum is keeping himself close to the situation to throw daly off.

callum meanwhile, claimed he’s innocent because he wasn’t prepared for the shenanigans to ensue so quickly. (but as a rookie, he was fully prepared for being pranked himself and had bought supplies to retaliate if that was the case)

ilott said that it was a genius and clever prank and wondered why daly was considering him a prime suspect and why alexander rossi wasn’t being considered at all.

kirkwood said he spent $40 on chlorine and test tubes to keep the hot tub running properly so why would he ruin it?

marco andretti also wondered why nobody was considering rossi, as well as james hinchcliffe.

'I’m so busy worrying about my race car right now, but it is funny to look at on social media,' andretti said. 'hinch has some time on his hands. rossi is always a culprit, isn’t he?'

but rossi claimed to have an alibi 'cause he and hinch was with daly as it happened on monday night, so he couldn't have done it... right?

wrong. guess what?? turns out he really should have listened to callum and andretti 'cause it very much was alex (with the help of sage karam) who filled daly's hot tub with 1.76 million orbeez (which cost him 483 dollars which was almost as much as the hot tub itself btw). he just didn't do it on monday night, he did it on tuesday morning.

and this is how he confessed:

daly's reaction to finding out btw:

and alex explained it all in detail on the 'off track' (don't know which episode, i watched the youtube clip titled 'the hot tub prank') where he claimed to have done legitimate research into how many orbeez it would take to fill a 242 gallon portable hot tub (which is apparently how large daly's hot tub is), which honestly? very believeable to me.

the cherry on top of it all? the way daly found out about the prank to begin with. 'cause daly had guests over and he wanted to show them his brand new hot tub.... cue him lifting the lid on the hot tub and finding 1.75 million orbeez instead of water.

and the reason behind this hilarious prank??? daly did this to rossi TWO YEARS EARLIER in 2020:

so essentially, when it comes to pranking alexander rossi? fuck around and find out.

…so when I said alib Alex breaking the water pump in the fountain at school…where he dumped a fuck ton of soap in there senior year…after researching which brand of soap would produce the most bubbles…I was actually underestimating the lengths he would go to?

Jasmine honest to god this is the best possible Alexander lore dump you could have given me. I am absolutely in tears. What the actual FUCK goes on in his brain??? He plotted, he planned, he did THE MATH to figure out how many fucking orbeez he would need to fill this thing? Because…the wheels were taken off his golf cart TWO YEARS PRIOR??!!

He’s so insane, he’s so absolutely crazy insane. Nearly $500 on orbeez beads…I love him. I opened this ask with absolutely no idea where tf it was going and now I am sitting here laughing so hard I am actually in tears. I can’t get over the image of him researching this. He absolutely was not fucking around.

And not only did he own up to it, he shows the actual receipts. My respect for his commitment is through the roof rn. When people say race car drivers are competitive this is actually what they mean. I am now also a little scared of him and his unwavering resolve to finish what is started.

What I’ve gathered from this is you should probably never engage in a prank war with Alexander Rossi. It is a guaranteed loss and he will decimate you to the point that you are preparing to proudly show off your brand new possession, only to find it has been broken by toxic water balls.

#the way I burst out laughing upon reading this and just haven’t stopped #what the fuck Jas?????#I love you for sending this and I love him for being crazy #I can’t stop crying this is so fucking funny #alexander rossi #alex lore #indycar

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justrainandcoffee · 2 days

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Against all odds (Alfie Solomons x fem!oc) part 9

Crossover Peaky Blinders - Hunger Games

Masterlist. Parts One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

Summary: During the 72th Hunger Games, Panem meets Heaven Lavey the girl apparently angelical from district 7. But the eyes of the country are also on District 9, not just because they are the last winners but because of its tributes. The youngest of this edition Desirée and Charles, 12 years old. And twins. || Rose finally meets Aberama Gold. || The rebellion finds its symbol.

Warnings: The usual. Violence and death but it's not graphic (I tried, I couldn't write it.)

Words: 3.2 k || I think you need to listen to this song because I mentioned its lyrics here.

A mother is crying. A father, also devastated, is trying to comfort his wife and oldest daughter. District 9 is moaning the death of its tributes. As always but this time it hurt. This time it was cruel. The 72th games finished with a victor from district 7. A pretty girl called Heaven whose name didn't match what she did in the Arena.

The thing is that no one is blaming the girl, clearly traumatized, but the voices claim for Coriolanus Snow's head. And at the same time Coriolanus Snow wants the head of the the director of the gamemakers.

Contrary to the people, Snow receives what he wants.

Everything happened in just two weeks.

15 days earlier.

Rose was in her studio when she saw the tributes from district 9. She was used to see girls like Nina. Thin, around 15-17 years old. Or boys around the same age, usually taller than their counterparts but more or less the same height, some a bit heavier. But the difference between different tributes along the years she had been working on the games were minimal. That's why she prepared the costumes with anticipation. Usually very few things needed to be fixed when they wore the clothes for the first time.

But now…

12 years old, both of them.

Desirée Goldwyn was reaped first. Rose never saw such small girl before, she seemed around 10. She was scared and had her eyes full of tears. No one volunteered to help her. Of course not. No one of the girls were staring at Desirée as she walked to the stage where Alissa was waiting for her. Rose saw the forced smile the woman had in her face

The unexpected happened next.

A boy name Alexander Thomas was reaped. But a voice prevented him to follow Desirée steps.

"I volunteer as tribute!"

For a moment Rose's heart stopped. And she was sure that Alfie and Nina had the same thought as her in that infamous second.

No.

Desirée Goldwyn had a dark brown curly hair and intense green eyes. The boy, had the same hair and eyes. Also the same height and probably weight.

Alexander Thomas saw the boy, clearly younger than him, walked very decided to the stage. Alex would never have the chance to thank him.

"A volunteer!" said Alissa "What's your name, darling?"

"Charles. Charles Goldwyn. And Desirée is my twin."

Twins.

The Capitol exploded. Even before their arrival, the Goldwyn twins were the sensation of the games. Pure innocence, a fraternal love so strong that the boy decided to accompany his sister to the Arena. The fact that they were pretty helped a lot. They were exactly what The Capitol wanted and they received two.

Rose hid her face in her hands, before throwing the things over her table in one fell swoop, screaming in frustration at the same time. Frustration and anger weren't enough to describe her mood. Every single kid that she dressed had a special place in her heart. And nightmares. But the image of those twins that seemed to be younger than 12, were devastated.

They didn't have a chance. Not a single one.

Alfie was in silence in the train. He was facing the landscapes that by now he knew by heart, listening to the kids.

"I'm going to protect you," was saying Charles. "I'm quick! I can distract them so they can't touch you!"

"You should stay with mom and dad. And Leo," she said refering to Leonela, their older sister only 14. "Who's going to feed the chickens?"

"Mommy can do it, De! And Leo, too! Leo can help dad, too! And when you come back home, they're not going to worry about anything else."

"Don't say that!" Desirée had her eyes full of tears, too "You're going to come home, too, Charlie!"

"You know there's only one victor, De."

Nina and Alfie stared at each other. What do you say to two kids, twins, who were together from the moment of their conception, that one of them is going to die? That with the odds on their favour. But as Alfie knew very well, odds were never on their favour.

"So," Nina interrupted forcing the kids to think other things "what are your talents? Caesar likes to know what makes you happy!"

"Desirée is a good singer," Charles said to her "our nana always sang us a song when we were kids and then taught her how to sing. She tried to teach me too, but she gave up."

Nina chuckled and smiled at the boy "so, sing us something, Desirée."

[When I was a little girl, my mama said to me

"What's your favorite flower, darling? I'll get you the seed"

I said "Dandelion, Dandelion," that one's so pretty

She said, "Child, that one's not a flower, that one's just a weed"]

Alfie turned his head to listen to the girl. She indeed had a pretty voice.

["You can't stop me multiplying

No, you don't want me in your garden

Dandelion, Dandelion.

Then my fragile flower turned into a ball of grey

So I took a breath

and made a wish and blew them all away."]

"That's a pretty song, Desirée," said Nina.

"Our nana always said that her grandmother sang it to her and probably for generations. I always liked it."

"Leo, our sister," said Charles "sing it every time she sees a dandelion in our little backyard."

"I'd do the same," said Nina smiling again to both kids.

Alfie watched at his former mentee and asked himself if Nina also thought that the twins had any chance against the careers. No matter how quick Charles said he was.

The Capitol was excited to see the new tributes face to face, as always. But this time was a morbid pleasure behind it. Were the twins really that young? Were them really that precious?

The voices inside the building were disgusting. An hour after the reaping she already saw people trying to bet on them. Their faces were in every screen. People cheered every time that the reaping was repeated.

With her blood boiling, she went to the ninth floor and picked up some of the cookies that a month ago Alfie, and also Nina, baked when they went to their monthly visit to the Capitol. The cookies were in a perfectly closed jar so they were good. She picked up only five. And using a tweezers delicately put a piece of paper inside all of them.

Those cookies had a destination. Rose put them in a box and went to the post office.

Communication between districts were highly forbidden but inside the Capitol people were allowed to send packages or letters. And for few years she kept certain address just for her. It was time to used it.

A little cardboard box with his name on it was what Aberama Gold received when the sun was going down. It wasn't uncommon for him to received packages. But usually those were clandestine and contained guns. This one was from the official post office and it had just five cookies.

Soon Aberama understood that they were more than cookies and that the person behind that was important. Five little papers that formed a message:

We need to talk. Send your answer, same way you received this. To the tribute centre. Rosebeth Evert.

Aberama Gold didn't trust the ones involved in the games. And Mrs. Evert's face was in every news since district 9 won the previous games. He knew who she was. And he also knew that the woman was one of the very few members of the Capitol who were allowed to be part of the auction.

So why, such lady wanted to talk to him? And way she used such cryptic way yo do it?

He considered a trap. Wasn't Mrs. Evert, Snow's personal stylist? Aberama was sure of that. If she wanted to open a shop, Aberama was sure that people from the Capitol would kill for her clothes. But Mrs. Evert had a low profile and only appeared during the games.

Still, Aberama Gold ordered to his cook to bake some cookies and he left a message for her inside them.

"Five days after the games. Under the bridge. Go alone. Promise you'll be safe. A.G"

Alfie, Nina, the kids and Alissa arrived the next morning. As always people, citizens and those working there, were more annoying than usual.

Rose spent big part of the day adjusting the costumes and ordering every one around her in the studio to remain calm.

"You're going to be the most beautiful tributes ever," she said to them when finally they were ready. The same hairdresser that visited district 9 with her six months ago was the one in charge of comb their hair. Although Rose forbid the makeup artist to put anything on them to make them look older. The public wanted kids, she was going to give them kids.

Exactly what they were: just children.

She only found time to talk to Alfie only at night after the parade and when finally the city was in silence. There, in his bedroom, she could confess to him that she finally communicated with Aberama Gold.

"But he didn't answer yet," she said. "If he doesn't give me an answer soon, I'm going to visit him."

"It's dangerous."

"It is but I reached my limit, Al. We're going to see these kids die. You know that. You know they don't stand a chance."

"Do you trust him?"

"I trust no one here. They'd sell you to Snow for a corn chip but I need powerful people, too I can't do this alone. We can't. Do I have other options? No. It's the best I can do, love," Rose sighed deeply "how are you, Al?"

"I'm tired, luv. I'm very tired of everything. The only thing we can do is to expect the best."

"And that means…?"

"Hope, I guess."

She snuggled up against him and closed her eyes "Hope. I like that word. I really liked that word."

As expected the twins had no extraordinary ability. They couldn't throw knives, they didn't know how to use a bow. Nina commented that Desirée knew how to make traps because her father taught her. That's how they trapped rabbits and another little animals. Charles was right that he was quick, so Alfie spent some hours teaching him how to use a blade. Maybe he'd hurt some other tribute as he was running away. But they couldn't do more than that. Not with the careers showing themselves like peacocks around the arena.

And three days weren't enough to teach them how to kill.

The Arena was a foggy forest. The Cornucopia was made of wood covered with moss. Alfie always said the same to his kids "run away from there" some listened to him and others, like Nina, did not. But fortunately for the twins they did listen to him.

The bloodbath was always terrible and deadly. But this time…

That blonde girl from 7, Heaven Lavey, was the first one to be noticed as a menace despite her score wasn't that high. Alfie remembered that years ago, Lucy spoke about a tribute really unhinged and it seemed to be that the prophecy was true. It was cruel to say the least.

The careeers survived, same as the twins and tributes from other districts but compared to other games, the number of survivors was low.

All Panem witnessed the dawn of the third day. Heaven Lavey killed two careers in the same moment and by now the number of victims rise to eight. And she was about to add two more.

The twins were hiding in the bushes. They survived eating berries that weren't toxic but it wasn't enough. Charles was hugging Desirée who was incredible dehydrated. He too, but his sister was in worse condition.

"Sing to me, De," Charles said. "The song about dandelions."

"I can't. I think I'm going to die, Charlie."

"You're not, De. After the song I promise to search for water. Just sing to me, De."

And the girl did. And whole Panem listened to the song.

Charles knew better than people could think. No one knew Desirée the same way the boy knew her. And although young, he was old enough to know about death.

"I found a real dandelion," Charles said picking up the puffy flower "Make a wish, De."

"I want the games over," she said and blew it away.

Not long after that the deadly Heaven found them. They were still hugging each other when they died. Together they came to the world, together they left.

Some people said that in district 9, a woman cried so loud that some near mockingjays mimicked her screams and soon the whole district was hearing the lament of mother who witnessed her children being murdered.

Five days after the games.

The night is warm and calm. After the games it seemed that people disappeared. And that year in particular was a very agitated event.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

The song is in her head sounding like an infinite record player.

Rose left her car parked far away from the bridge that Aberama Gold mentioned and walked all the remaining blocks to that place.

Now, under the yellow streetlight she sees everything around her. She feels eyes on her although she can see no one. Probably they're spying on her to see if she's alone.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose sees a man wearing a hat walking towards her. He's wearing a brown coat despite the hot night. Rose doesn't know Mr. Gold but she knows it's him. She asks herself if the man has a gun hiding there. She knows that's very possible.

"Mrs. Evert," says Aberama approaching her, shaking her hand.

"I thought you weren't coming."

"I was here before your arrival, Mrs. Evert. I was just waiting, I'm sorry but I needed to know you were alone."

"I'm risking my own life coming here, Mr. Gold. Not because of you but him. So, I'm not that stupid to ruin my only chance to get help. We need to talk alone, please."

"What do you have to offer?"

"Not here. I'm not going to talk unless I'm sure we're on the same side, Mr. Gold."

"I'd say the same. I do not offer my help to anyone."

"A person you trust gave me the address to locate you, thanks that they trust the same person as I do. No one against this hell here can survive alone, Mr. Gold. We're part of the same chain. It just happens that not all the links know each other."

Aberama snorts and with his head orders her to follow him. That poor side of the Capitol reminds her of district 8. Grey buildings, dirty streets… Last year, during Nina's tour, when they stopped in that district, that was the first time in over a decade that she visited her birthplace. And it wasn't easy. Her mother and brothers were near as ever since then but she couldn't visit them. It hurt her to know that for example last time she saw her baby brother Louis was 8 years old and now he was a 24 years old man. She couldn't recognise him and probably for him, his own sister was a complete stranger. She didn't regret her choice to leave her house to help them, but she paid a high price when she did it.

Aberama invites her to enter into an old house. Its walls are covered by vines and it seems to be an abandoned place but as soon as he opens the door, she sees that it's in perfect conditions. There's a young man there, too.

"That's my son, Bonnie," he says. "Bonnie, she's Mrs. Evert."

After offering something to drink and a chair, Aberama sits down in front of her. After looking at him for one last time time, she finally shows to someone else what she has. Rose is still restless. What if…

And yet, she knows that she can't do this alone. The folders and papers she collected over the years are now in other hands.

"You did this alone?" he asks.

"But I can't do more."

"Ma'am, I don't know how to say this but this is a lot."

"Not enough," she insists. "If we want to start phase two, we need more than that. I need people, smart people. The kind of people you can find in district 3, those who know how to do this."

"When do you want to finish this?"

"Three years. Two and a half. We're going to sabotage the Quarter Quell, Mr. Gold."

"Then you need to know something that probably you don't know, but I do," Aberama opens a drawer and pulls out a cardboard folder that gives to her. Blueprints and a map are there "if we want to fuck Snow, I'm not enough, you're not enough. My people isn't enough… do you want this? Play bigger, Mrs. Evert. Go to district 13."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

And it's that night, that moment in the Gold's household that she learns that District 13 is still alive. Rose learns about the pact between the capitol and the rebel district. The nuclear weapons… and Chester Campbell.

"They have a president?"

"Same way we have ours. No one chose him, but he's there. I don't know him personally, but I heard things about Campbell."

"And what do you think?"

"I think, if I were you I'd approach him the same way a mouse approaches a cat. In his own favour, Snow is charismatic he'll let you talk. Campbell is… well, more complicated. At least he's not Snow."

"Are there any other options?"

"No."

"I don't want his hands on this, Mr. Gold. I don't give a fuck if he's the president of Lostland. I'm trusting you with this, the afterwards is up to District 13 if you want but this? Just us and your people."

Aberama scratches his chin and offers his hand to her "I give you my word that this is just our mission, Mrs. Evert. This part, but we're going to need their help."

"It's fine. We have a deal. We sabotage the games and they take care of the rest. Burn everything once is over, Mr. Gold the good thing about papers is that can be consumed by fire."

"I'm a professional," smiles the man.

"In six months, I'm going to contact you again. I'm sure you know that I'm part of the auction. But I'm not part of them. I'm not them. I'm not my husband."

"I can see that. I see you in six months, Mrs. Evert."

"Use the cookies," she says before leaving his house.

"I will. Goodnight."

A single dandelion is in middle of the street growing up in the pavement. She takes it and blows it all away. The seeds fly with the wind.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

Fascinating that rebellion found their symbol in something so simple and mundane as a dandelion. But it was also a powerful thing. Growing up were it shouldn't.

[You don't want me in your garden.]

Snow was walking through his garden full of white roses, thinking about the girl named Heaven and the twins.

The twins and their song.

[You don't want me in your garden.]

There in middle of his roses dozens of dandelions were growing up. Imperceptible under the beautiful flowers. But they were there.

And in every district.

“Make a wish, De.”

“I want the games over.”

Hundreds. Millions of dandelions around Panem. Stronger than ever, even if in the eyes of the Capitol, people from the districts were just weed.

[You can't stop me multiplying.]

And it was just the beginning.

#alfie solomons #alfie solomons x oc #alfie solomons x ofc #alfie x rose #peaky blinders #hunger games au #alfie solomons fanfic #alfie solomons imagine

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not-poignant · 3 months

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For the behind the scenes asks 20, 21 & 26 about A Stain That Won't Dissolve please!! <slightly obsessed w it rn

Ahhh - so I have 21 in the queue, it's coming! The TL;DR for that one is 'I didn't expect so many people to apologise for the way the town behaves towards Alex, and it's like watching abuse apologism and self-defense of inaction around familial abuse in real time, which is a weird phenomenon that happens sometimes when you write trauma narratives.'

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

Hmm.

I don't know if it's something I wish for, so much as something that I think people don't notice as much and I think it would be interesting if they did.

Things like... it's a shame more people don't realise that the reason Alex isn't a 'good communicator' is because no one in that town is except for maybe Dr Harvey. Even Haley, who is getting better, is a people pleaser who undercut herself and her skills all her life. People can't learn what isn't around them to learn. So when I get comments like 'I wish Alex would just open up to these people in the town' I can't help but always think: 'Why would he based on how the town has treated him for a solid 25 years.'

For me, connecting these dots naturally flows together, but I've had 10 years of practice writing trauma recovery, and 43 years of practice experiencing many different kinds of abuse and many different flavours of trauma recovery and I think, actually, I now have a weird skillset in this area that other folks don't have, or don't even know exist. So it's not something I 'wish' they noticed because firstly it would likely mean more readers who are victims, but secondly, I also appreciate having this be something more subtle, and it's not like I'm upset or angry when people say that Alex is the poor communicator because like, he is. He's a symptom of the entire town.

So it's like, it's normal for people to notice what's right in front of them (Alex not communicating well and then thinking his problems would be solved if he just talked about stuff, because there's this presumption that everyone wants to listen if he'd just...talk), that's actually the fun part of writing? I love the comments people leave so much, and I learn a ton, and I love the insights folks share. I'm sure people are noticing a lot of stuff like this and just not saying so. Especially folks who have lived these situations and just can't be fucked talking about it in comments because life's hard. (And it's also possible to notice that and still be mad or frustrated that Alex doesn't communicate more).

I don't think there's really anything else though. I think that's partly because I'm not... uhhh, sitting there going 'PLEASE NOTICE THIS' because the gift of writing serials for the most part is pivoting when people aren't noticing something subtle, and thinking 'this might be me not meeting the reader where they are, I can step it up in the next chapter.' So, I feel like I flow towards pushing the things I want people to notice or gravitate towards, and as a result, they almost always do.

And with the stuff they don't, there's usually extremely understandable life-experienced-based reasons for that!

...This response is really long x.x

26. Wild Card! I'll tell you a fun fact about this fic!

I have actually always imagined Alex and Sebastian making out together. I imagined it even before I wrote The Wind that Cuts the Night, but Alex/Sebastian fics existed, I didn't like them (no shade to those authors, but I clearly wanted a very specific crunchy kind of angsty toppy Sebastian fic and very understandably no one was writing my fantasies they were writing their own lmao), and I thought Elliott/Alex would be faster to write. (It was).

That's actually one of the reasons I make it clear that Sebastian is gay and topping the farmer in The Wind that Cuts the Night! And also why I felt it was important for Alex to know that. Even back then, I couldn't resist just a little tiny glimmer of some kind of chemistry, even if it was just friendship chemistry.

I find Sebastian really annoying as a spouse. He's one of my favourite NPCs to romance, and my least favourite to marry of the ones I marry. The storyline of Martingale divorcing him is based off me daydreaming about doing that (I can't because it's mean) in one of my farms. I found him cold and detached compared to many other NPC spouses, and too work-focused. So the premise of an older Sebastian recovering from being divorced for these exact flaws was extremely appealing and vindicating to me. Most people don't feel the same way about in-game Sebastian as I do, but I'm like 'you have so much potential and then oh no.' It turned out Martingale felt that way too, and eventually did something about it.

And that gave me a really flawed Sebastian to work with and that's been awesome.

I did always imagine him as being a dominant/top/sadist though. It's actually really hard for me to imagine him as anything else.

I don't think this fact is fun but it is a fact! Sebastian is a character I love but he's also literally 'I can improve him' and this fic is me doing that lol

From this meme!

#asks and answers #memey goodness #thespectaclesofthor #a stain that won't dissolve #i like a really flawed sebastian who thinks he's not as flawed as he is #and i like a really flawed alex who thinks he's fundamentally flawed and broken when he's not #and apparently smashing those two together is like sdaklfjsad #just fun right now lmao #administrator gwyn wants this in the queue

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