#i don’t bookmark stuff so I had to go looking for the ones I’ve read

[yikesmary]

BEDTIME ROUTINE — jeon wonwoo x reader

summary: where you loved times like these with your boyfriend, wonwoo.

notes: book boyfriend wonwoo is back! i wrote this completely out of the blue so apologies for any mistakes. also this went into a direction i didn’t expect it to go to, but i love it so much. it might be my favorite fic i’ve written so far on this blog.

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“You’re staring at me again,”

“Can you blame me? I have a beautiful man as my boyfriend,” you teased, enjoying the pink blush that was developing on Wonwoo’s cheeks.

“I’m not even doing anything, I’m just reading a book,” he told you.

“To look this good and still be doing something so simple is incredible!” You overexaggerated, throwing your hands in the air dramatically.

Wonwoo playfully rolled his eyes, but pulled you closer to him, your body practically glued to his. It was nighttime, and your usual bedtime routine consisted of Wonwoo either reading a book or playing a game on his phone and you went on your phone.

But there were moments when you and Wonwoo felt particularly clingy towards each other, and sometimes you found yourself falling asleep to Wonwoo’s voice as he read aloud the book he was reading while cuddled up to him. He didn’t mind whenever you fell asleep as he read, because he knows how much you loved his voice, so he takes it as a compliment.

“How’s the book so far?” You asked, resting your head on his chest, recognizing the book as the one you gifted to him on his birthday.

“It’s good, I’m glad I finally found the time to read it,” he smiled.

“I was worried whether or not it was a good book. I didn’t know whether or not you were going to like it,” you said.

“It could’ve been a book that had the same word printed on the pages hundreds of times and I’d still read it because you gave it to me,” Wonwoo said.

“Don’t be silly,”

“I’m serious! I keep everything you give to me,”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” You challenged.

“The bookmark you made me on our first date, I still use that. The letter you wrote me on our first anniversary, and the bracelet you made with Joshua for me while you were drunk,” he recounted.

“Really? You’ve kept all of those things?” You asked, and he nodded.

“We live together, how have I not seen these things in the house?”

“Because I hide them in places you’d never think to look,”

“Like where?”

“There’s a reason why I haven’t told you! It’s a secret,” he said, and you playfully rolled your eyes at him.

“It also helps that you’re small and there are places I can reach that you don’t,” he teased.

You gasped and said, “I would move if you weren’t so comfortable,”

As if to ensure you wouldn’t move, Wonwoo moved you even closer to him, if that was even possible. In the middle of the conversation, you didn’t realize that he closed the book and put it on the nightstand that was on his side of the bed.

Silence fell between you, neither finding a reason to say something. You just enjoyed the moment between the both of you while Wonwoo was fiddling with your fingers with his hand, in deep thought.

“Do you have anything from when we first started dating?”

“I do, but since you won’t show me yours so I won’t show mine,” you said, playfully twisting your head away from him.

“How about this, I’ll countdown to three and we both get the stuff from our hiding spots. That way we don’t reveal our locations,” Wonwoo negotiated.

“Deal.”

“One... Two... Three!”

At the final number, the both of you tried leaving the bed, but because of how close you were cuddled together, the farthest you were able to go before falling was the floor of your bedroom. It wasn’t a far drop, but it was funny enough that both you and Wonwoo erupted in laughs and giggles.

You had struggled so much trying to get up with laughing and trying to detangle yourself from your boyfriend that by the time you had managed to stand, you were practically out of breath. But that didn’t deter you from your mission, so you tried moving to where you hid your stuff.

Spotting the box that was labeled with your name, you grabbed the box and dashed back into the room. Wonwoo would never look through something that had your name on it, since for the most part, neither of you felt the need to mark anything as your own since you guys knew whose belonging belonged with who. 

So, if it was labeled, there was a purpose and Wonwoo would never violate your privacy like that.

By the time you arrived in the bedroom, Wonwoo was already on the bed, his legs crossed and waiting patiently with his box. You got on the bed and sat right across from him in a similar position as you.

He moved back so you had enough room to put the box in front of you and that was when the both of you exchanged looks and then without saying anything, switched boxes.

You opened the box and were both happy and touched to see the exact items that he had described beforehand, with more things that weren’t mentioned and you didn’t realize he kept them.

When you looked at him, you saw that he looked a bit confused about the items, so you decided to refresh his memory. “That ticket was from we went to the aquarium together, the picture is when we went to that one petshop and you couldn’t stop playing with the cats,”

He smiled at you, remembering those moments. You were about to say something else before a tiny, brown, leather book caught your attention inside of Wonwoo’s box. You took it out and showed it to him asking, “What’s this?”

At the question, Wonwoo turned sheepish. Then he said, “When we first started dating, every time we went out somewhere to eat or drink, I’d write down what you ordered so the next time we went there, I could order for you. Eventually, I memorized everything so there wasn’t a need for a book,”

You felt like you were in school again, feeling like your middle school crush just confessed to you and love was everything at that age. Putting the stuff to the side, you moved to kiss him and your hands were on his shoulders.

When you pulled away, you decided that the kiss wasn’t enough so you peppered him with kisses on your face. “That was so thoughtful and sweet of you to do. I love you so much,” you said, placing one final kiss on his lips once more.

He was only able to smile like a lovesick fool in response, which he was.

You looked at the clock and were surprised to see how late it was. “We should go to bed, it’s late and we should’ve been asleep an hour ago,” you told him.

“Maybe we should make this a part of our nighttime routine,”

taglist (crossed out means I wasn’t able to tag you): @belladaises @smileyneos @xuenihao @winterpaos @wonhuiful @minhui896 @baekhyunimochibbh @itsrachelsplace @x-alightinthedark @whywontyousetfree @minghaossv @coffeesandrains @slaveofmydreams @bmkgemz @dandycharmer @yoonzinoooo​

[distractedducky]

So I was thinking about it… why sterek

I’ve shipped a lot in my time. From the classics like spirk and destiel, to the straight vampire diaries nonsense, from murder husbands to buddy to name a very small few. They all hold weird little places in my heart and mind but they fade and as I flow in and out of fandoms I move on to the next hyperfixation. But sterek just keeps sticking around.

It’s an old ship for me. If you go on my ao3 all the way back to 2013 you’ll see my first ever book mark was a sterek fic. That fic is still a comfort fic for me today and is something I read when my anxiety is uncontrollable.

It was something I read late in 2022 when the reality of the pandemic and the last few years hit me hard and got me back into Teen Wolf so hard it actually pushed me out of the supernatural hole the start of the pandemic put me in.

I’ve always been a shipper and I have my ride or dies, my OTPs and Ot3s, and so on and so forth, but fandom has always been weird for me. I started young and witnessed the birth in Tumblr and ao3, as a tween my taste can only be described as pure trash* Affectionate * but as I got older, like most things in life, my taste changed. And though I still love me some hot garbage, I engage with it differently than that little 12-year-old who thought werewolves and vampires were cool no further explanation necessary.

Now I’m an academic, a librarian, who actually studied critical lit analysis, book studies, and religion. Who spent years learning how to dissect prose and poetry to look beyond text in an professional setting. And though I don’t regret it and it has led to some fun changes in the way I engage with fiction it also kinda ruined the fun engagement I had with things back in the day when baby me bookmarked that first fic.

I need more from my characters now, more from my fandoms and it has led me away from and into the arms of content that I never saw coming. (Looking at you Danny phantom phandom) I needed depth or the potential for depth that some shows just didn’t lend themselves to cleanly enough to satisfy me and yet… sterek persisted.

One of my problems is I didn’t really engage with the fandom when the show was airing and only watched a few season sporadically until recently, so I wasn’t there when things were forming organically. It has left me out of step with the primary directions fan content creators have taken with the ship and the directions they took, though fun and interesting, aren’t really my usual thing.

I hate the infantilization of stiles and other teen wolf characters like Isaac. I generally hate infantilization of adults, hyper feminization of certain types of characters and so on and so forth and it has to do with my own gender stuff, but I usually avoid it in fanfiction. I am also not a huge fan of modern werewolf romance erotica. I have a lot of opinions on real supernatural mythology and legends and I don’t like the anthropomorphism that shows up a lot in werewolf stories. Not that I haven’t read some amazing takes on werewolf lore, especially in the Teen Wolf fandom but I’m speaking generally. I’m also not a fan of pack mom stiles (again my own gender stuff) and though I think Scott’s inconsistent character and writing throughout the show lens him to be whatever your fic needs to be (best friend, hype man, wingman, idiot, genius, villain, so on and so forth) I don’t like a lot of the 'Scott sucks just because' fics. I don’t like the hate in the fandom around that. I also don’t like the hypermasculine depictions of Derek in a lot of fics and on and on. I have read a lot of TW and sterek and by all accounts, it should be a fandom I wouldn't personally engage with this much. Yet for all that, I have found there is an exception to every trope I hate, every hard line i draw for myself, because the fic was just so good. For every dozen or so fics that seem to tell me that this isn’t the fandom for me, there is that one amazing thing that says “No! This is exactly where you wanna be”.

Like I said, I need more from my fandoms now a days and most of what that boils down to is plausible deniability. I need enough gaps in the narrative to fill them in myself, but with enough connective pieces that everything can make sense when put together. The fatal flaw of telling without showing, which allows people to extrapolate out what they want from certain things -all the subtext with none of the text - is exactly where my degree comes in handy.

And sterek well… I think what it is for me as a shipper is the inconsistencies. That is kind of why I still ship it so far and for so long. It's the fact of why was Stiles in Derek's dream at the end of 3b? We can talk about all the things with him being his anchor and the grasping at straws that we as shippers all love to do but the narrative fact is they did not spend that much time on screen together or even saying they were doing things off-screen together. That leads us to a lot of whys. Why were they together at the beginning of season two talking about the alpha pack? Why were they in certain situations in season four that ld them to work so well? What happens in all of this dead time? What happens in season six? We see stiles in episode one be like "Oh my God Derek is a mass murderer wanted by the FBI" and at the end of the season, they've apparently driven and or flown back to California together, apparently spent some time together. They're not on the run from the FBI so that got cleared somehow, stiles isn't limping so his foot healed. There's so much dead time like that throughout the show so when scenes happen like the hand on Derek's shoulder after the death of Boyd you're left thinking that's kind of off, we haven't seen any interactions with them that would show that they have that kind of deep solemn relationship where comforting him would make sense.

The show notoriously has a terrible timeline, but all that does is fuel the fact that we don't know how much time any of these characters are really spending off-screen together. We can only assume that it happened in this weird dead time. This is why somehow Derek's view of Stiles in his head is like a calm stable dependable figure who can help him talk through an issue. This is why they always gravitate towards each other in fights. This is why they work so well together in a crisis. Like we have to assume that happened before which is stupid and I know it's so much reaching, but in my little brain, it's the only way that makes all of this random shit fit together- so I gotta ship it. Obviously, the real-world explanation is inconsistent writing plus putting space between them once the writer stopped wanting people to ship it, but because you get all of these disjointed scenes where they're too intense for what we've been previously seeing there is some type of disconnect here -what is that? and if you're looking at the show, not as a work of fiction, but as a narrative, what else are we gonna do then assume that they have spent way more time emotionally connecting than we have seen on the screen.

And for me that’s everything I want in a ship, that ability to play and extrapolate random events and ask, okay now how would these all fit! And that’s what spawns great ideas and stories and art and why I ship it, dispute the fact that it really shouldn't work for me personally.

I think it’s why a lot of people still stop sterek despite the fact that the attitude towards it and the show has shifted a lot and in many different ways in the last decade.

Sorry for the rant, I’ve been thinking about this for days and had to get it out there. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. I truly love the Teen Wolf fandom and everything it’s done and everything it created and I’m so happy to be able to engage with it.

[kastlenetwork]

Hi! So I'm pretty new to the kastle fandom and wanted to know if there are any like- classic fics or interviews or memorable moments in panels and cons (with the actors) that I should know about? I know about the interviews that are on the kastle wikifandom page but only because I've read them.

helloooo! welcome to the family! it's been quite quiet lately, but frank and karen are always in our hearts lolol and every now and then there's a little resurgence, so that's nice. umm first up interviews. there's a lot of little quotes here and there that were a big deal. we didn't get many interviews of the two of them together, if i remember correctly. i think two comic cons were pretty exciting.

here are some interviews from comic con 2017 yup

this is a cute clip from last year, where deborah talked about how jon's intense but really uplifted her. and that they want to work together again.

(i'm looking at kastle's wikifandom and, really, the big interview quotes all seem to be there.)

“ … just in terms of whether this is Jon’s story to tell or my story to tell, you just want to kind of be respectful of everybody’s contributions. Jon and I have certainly felt that there is room for a romantic story in there. And there were certainly scenes where we took it farther in some takes than we did in other takes. We’ll have to sort of wait and see what the editors chose, and how far they decided to push it. But we as actors allowed for that possibility.” -deb cinemablend

deborah and jon were both supporters, but deborah was always including frank into karen's romantic potentials:

“But all of the romance I’ve gotten to play, with any of the characters in the series, whether that’s Frank or Matt, they all come from a need. From a lonely person, a person who doubts whether she is deserving of love.” -deb collider

**

“I like that Karen can say, ‘How far down this road of violence of revenge do you go before you’re ripped apart?’ and he can look at her and go, ‘I’m already ripped apart. And you are, too.‘” -deb 92.1 bobfm

**

“When professor [Jeph] Loeb [Marvel TV head] told me we were gonna do a series on The Punisher,” Bernthal continued, “first thing i asked him is would I have the pleasure and the honor to work again with one of the most honest, the most kind, and the most talented actors I’ve ever had the privilege to work with.” --jon ew

oh! karen page being announced for the punisher. very cute.

"i just want to say, you guys don't love him as much as i do" was very exciting when it happened lmaoooo. the hope for kastle was high.

*****

i'll be honest up front and say, i tend to forget a lot of stuff? so, basically, i can read a fic and then read it again months later and it's like a brand new experience. which is both a blessing and a curse. so, i basically just zoomed through my bookmarks to try and find some things?? 😩😩

(i'm scanning my bookmarks and.............a lot of them are basically just smutfdjklgsdfjglkdfjglkdfjg)

ballads for a dead man ❤❤ [three parts, unfinished] Safe up in the mountains with Frank following a bloody showdown in Hell's Kitchen, Karen wonders just how much more complicated things between them can get. She's about to find out.

these heavy words, your open heart 😘😘 (this was a kastlechristmas gift to me from @carry-the-sky 😊❤) “You told me once that I was honest. That I don’t lie to you. But the hospital—you asked me to start over, and I said I didn’t want that.” Karen sucks in a breath. Frank’s eyes are still on her, wide and bright. It’s the most vulnerable she’s ever seen him look. “I lied,” he says.

The Reporter  [kinda iconic ❤👀] Force Recon missions keep Marines isolated, entrenched for long periods in covert locations. They rarely received visitors, and in Frank’s long experience, the visitors were almost never civilians, let alone gorgeous blondes with mile long legs and sky blue eyes. Frank was trying not to stare. They all were. Well, everyone except Bill, who’s face had just split into a shit-eating grin.

The Flower Cam [oh god, the flower cam! i just remembered!! ❤] It had been a long time since there had actually been any flowers in the window. She must have trashed the white roses after his latest bullshit at the hospital with Madani and the kid. Good. Good for her. She should forget about him. But still… Frank couldn’t help but check every once in a while.

actually just, everything in their ao3. i have all this bookmarked.

(..................god, my bookmarks are really all smut. this says a lot about me.)

Castle’s Auto Shop ❤❤ yes. yep. Karen Page is in need of a car mechanic. Castle’s Auto Body Shop seems a reasonable choice. There’s just one problem: This little auto shop has become a well-known spot where less than honorable people to go get their car fixed…only to have justice find them at the next stop light. Having her brother’s truck fixed there means Karen will have to own up to a few secrets in her past.

Blood and Bone ❤❤❤! this is the fic that has seared itself into my brain. i've never once forgotten this. iconic. Frank Castle is a boxer at the top of his game. Laconic and anti-social, he has a reputation for being an incredibly-tough interview. Karen Page is a sports reporter trying to prove herself in a male-dominated field. She's done playing games--trying to be the "Cool Girl" who caters to the male fantasy--and now she's on a mission to take no shit. "For a while, the fact that an interview with Castle lasting longer than 5 minutes even existed was big news. Splashed all over the message boards—circulated among boxing and Castle fans alike. The very concept that someone actually got the man to sit down for more than a breath of time and give multiple-sentence answers to a question—it was huge. Massive. It was the only thing Castle fans could talk about. Until three months later, when Frank Castle disappeared. Then that was the news. It was the only news."

this is hard lmaoo how ludicrious. i have about seven collections from some of our events, as well. there's loads of good stuff in there:

kastlesmutweek 2018

kastlesmutweek 2019

kastlechristmas 2018

kastlechristmas 2019

kastlechristmas 2020

kastlechristmas 2021

kastlechristmas parent collection

[thepunkmuppet]

UNHOLYVERSE CLOSING THOUGHTS YIPPEEEE YIPPEE YIPPEE

it’s 1am and I’ve finished it :)

the plot was fucking amazing as was the writing, it was like a really really good tv show, or maybe an amazing movie (pt1) and its slightly more deranged sequel (pt2 and 3). I think I definitely preferred all things unholy as a whole, but yeah the next parts really did feel very sequel-like, in that the first one was The Story and the second and third were building on that first core story, expanding the characters and world. which ummmm btw the lore is insane??? so much going on lmfao but I think it all worked really well. the fallout boy stuff was fucking wild though icl because WHAT 💀 I’m also obsessed with the idea of god talking to frank in the form of the cardinal dream, that worked soooo well and still leaving it open at the end is great. I’m so glad frank and gerard got a happy ending, I ship those stupid twats SO hard I’m literally clawing at the walls they make me INSANE RRAAHHHH!!! icl I really didn’t care about mikey and ray’s romance like at all but it worked as a source of conflict and was pretty cute

I kind of forgot it was meant to be mcr fanfic for a while lmfao, which brings me on to I guess the most important part which is my main takeaway on the whole rpf thing

as I’ve said in a post before, I really struggle to picture voices and faces accurately in my head when reading. well except when it comes to buffyverse characters, but that’s just because those shows are so deeply ingrained into my psyche forever that istg I could literally channel buffy summers at this point and just become her. lmfao but yeah I really struggle with that! so when I’m reading, I just kind of create a vibe, a vague mind’s-eye image of a character, it’s very hard to explain. so for me these frank, gerard, mikey, etc characters were subconsciously already way far removed from the real people, like I had to consciously make an effort to make them sound and look exactly like them in my head. but like I said, it felt like a real piece of media like a tv show or something, so to me the unholyverse characters are just that - characters. it really felt like mcr playing movie roles lmfao which I was perfectly happy with. the romance and other relationships were written soooooo well, the real problem was ofc the smut!

I don’t like smut in general, not in a judgy or censor-y way, I just get no joy or kick out of reading it and all it does is make me feel awkward. but with rpf smut, even though I see unholyverse frank and gerard as fictional characters, I can’t ignore the fact that THIS IS FULLY EXPLICIT WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY PORN BEING WRITTEN ABOUT REAL PEOPLE 💀 read it write it all you want, personally I find it uncomfortable and it just doesn’t do anything for me. made me think too much about the fact that it WAS rpf, yk?? got me thinking about the real frank and gerard and how fucking weird it would be to read smth like that about yourself idk, also the fact they have wives and kids…. 😟 gosh idk it was very very well-written smut, it just made me so icked out the more I thought about it

but anyway, OVERALL: I loved it. it was so good, will definitely reread, bookmark, and think about it for a very very very long time. possibly scream and cry and tear my hair out too, idk. part 1 was my favourite by a long shot, it’s so iconic, and feels pretty removed from parts 2 and 3 in a nice way that makes it feel like a movie and its strange sequel. I’ve discovered I like rpf when it’s good and when it’s a complete au and the people feel like original fictional characters in their own right. I don’t enjoy rpf smut, though, AT ALL, which isn’t a surprise bc I don’t enjoy smut in general, the rpf aspect just made it way more uncomfy for me personally. kind of feel the need now to bleach my brain out and consume normal mcr content just to remind myself of the disconnect between unholyverse frerard and the real people lmfao

OH ALSO THAT

I do NOT ship frerard irl, that shit’s fucking weird don’t do it. yes there is a difference between fic like this and saying two married friends and colleagues in real life are actually in love with and attracted to each other. I do for sure ship unholyverse frerard, as I’ve said they’re fictional characters to me

[feralcorpses]

Little rant abt Grian in my au below ^^

Also I’ve been trying a new way too like texture my art, it’s literally only a small change but just a heads up ya know?

(Sorry for making the beginning ‘A’s’ capitalized in Avian it’s just so I can see it better) ((My reading is kinda odd ok and my eyes go blurry way too easily so the ‘A’s’ are like a weird bookmark for me ok-))

In my au the term Avian is like a loose term for all bird like creatures (so feathers, wings, bird legs, etc) some of the basic terms to spilt the Avian’s up are omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores (little dino coded silly’s) omnivores make up majority of avians with carnivore Avians being rarest. Then there’s also more specific terms to do with wing patterns, birth area, actual species and cultures that I haven’t decided on names and some ideas for just yet but will eventually.

Now some silly facts about Avians, shiny obsessed with jewelry, craftsman ship, just anything shiny and steal-able. Avians nest a lot but not for things like mating or whatever, it’s actually comforting and relaxing for them to have some sort of nest esc things they might put some of their stuff they collected within the nest. Their just trinket obsessed silly’s. Now not every Avian does this constantly or even does it all it really depends on species and personal preferences.

Grian is one who loves this and frequently takes friends clothes to add onto to his nest to protect his little trinkets.

ALSO YOU GET TOO SEE SOLE OF THE GRIAN REDESIGN!!! =D

Now GIVE him your shiny jewelry or crystals. (not an option btw/j)

Poor guy even had his hands “reaching” out for them.

(Click for better quality)

Btw the reference I used says to give credit and I was wondering if the picture in the corner is good cause I’m pretty sure their on tik tok but I don’t have tik tok cause let’s be honest I have enough distractions but this means I can’t rlly check. I did find it on pinterest and looked around a little on pinterest and the credits usually just said piss.net on tik tok so I presume that’s what it is. (great user btw piss.net 💀 honestly is pretty funny for no reason though.)

I really need to stop posting at like 1-5 am man-

[msmargaretmurry]

I’ve recently got into hockey fics and it’s completely taken over what little brain space I had left. Do you have any recs for a baby new to this wonderful new world? 💕💕

hello friend and welcome to hockey! i’m sure you sent this ask looking for a nice little list of links but unfortunately because of who i am as a person i’m about to give you way more information than you asked for. 

before we dive in: i have a terrible memory when it comes to stuff i’ve read, and i have a pathological lack of bookmarks, and there is a LOT of hockey fic, so despite a fair bit of crowdsourcing from friends this list is obviously by no means exhaustive. there is SO much good stuff out there that isn't linked here. hockey fic to me has always felt like a very choose-your-own adventure fandom, and i want to empower you to choose your own adventure. there is so much hockey fic, there is truly something for everyone, but of course it’s all also subject to personal taste, so please read on for a little smorgasbord from which hopefully you can find some stuff you’ll love.

a very brief history of hrpf

when i say there is a lot of hockey fic, i feel like it is fun context to know that people have been posting hockey fic on the internet for more than 20 years. i have not been reading it for 20 years, so even having many years of this fandom under my belt, i am still building off the hard work of the beautiful weirdos who came before me. a lot of the pre-ao3 stuff has sadly but understandably been lost to time, but if you’re interested at all in seeing a bit of how we got to where we are now, @lovethygoalie has compiled some links here, and he has an nhl fandom history tag with some more fandom history!

hockey fic, due to the nature of the sport and the inexorable march of time, has always kind of happened in waves/cycles of certain players/pairings/teams being popular in the fandom for a little while, then fading away as new players/pairings/teams become the new hot thing. every time there’s a new wave of a popular thing, new people get sucked into the fandom, which creates this very charming-to-me phenomenon where i can often guess the ballpark of when they joined hockey fandom based on who their faves are, what teams they’re into, even what teams/players they’re NOT into, lol. (but obviously there have also always been people shipping rare pairs and medium-popular pairs and rooting for less popular teams and players, too! it’s a big fandom!)

anyway, that’s something i have found super fascinating to observe over the years and also something i wanted to touch on here to explain why there’s going to be some fic recs in here featuring players who you might never see mentioned the current hrpf zeitgeist. some of the players have retired, some of the pairings have simply waned in popularity, some of the teams are just not currently “in” in hockey fandom, but i still think it’s totally worth going back to dig into older stuff in addition to having fun with the current popular narratives and pairings, etc.

but onto the recs!

(it should go without saying, but please heed the tags/warnings on anything linked here! i’m offering these links mostly without commentary, but a lot of it is going to be mature/explicit-rated, some of it will deal with sensitive themes, some if it might have stuff you just don’t care for! not knowing your personal tastes, i tried to curate a selection of various lengths, types, tropes, pairings, teams, etc.)

i saw you just read my behemoth matthew/leon fic, so let’s start with more of that. it’s a popular pairing right now! very fun characters and narratives to work with! here are a few authors whose matthew/leon stuff i definitely recommend across the board (links go to their ao3 pages; there’s no point in linking individual fics because i would just be linking all of them):

bropunzeling

daisysusan

ohtempora

and some short one-shots that i really enjoyed:

if you handed over your body by photovoltaic (mature, 2.7k)

truce by anonymous (explicit, 2.1k)

and i will not come back the same by void_fish (explicit, 4k)

partly crowdsourced from pals, here are additional fic recs for pairings/players/narratives that are varying levels of currently relevant:

Fragments by heartequals (cole caufield/nick suzuki, explicit, 20k)

wait a year by daisysusan (quinn hughes/brady tkachuk, explicit, 16.8k)

cover love’s bruise by addandsubtract (johnny gaudreau/sean monahan, explicit, 8.3k)

don't ever be a stranger by bropunzeling (jamie drysdale/trevor zegras, explicit, 24k)

For the Summer by gigantic (jack hughes/trevor zegras, explicit, 3.5k)

Lionheart by Aliquis (nico hischier/jonas siegenthaler, explicit, 53k)

All Your'n by jvrcus (mathew barzal/anthony beauvillier, teen & up, 13.8k)

let's make it cinematic by kitnita (mathew barzal/anthony beauvillier, explicit, 13.2k)

@grittyreadsfic is a mostly-hockey fic rec blog! they read much more widely than me and definitely have recs for a lot of currently popular pairings not covered here, as well as rarepairs and more niche stuff.

@postoperation compiled a great list of older-ish hockey fic recs that i HIGHLY recommend, and not just because one of mine is included in there. 😂

more older fics, in no particular order; a once again partly-crowdsourced-from-my-friends list of recs:

so collect your scars and wear them well by addandsubtract (connor mcdavid/dylan strome, mature, 26k)

A Month of Sundays by Kelfin (erik johnson/gabe landeskog, mature, 68k)

Friday Night Arrives Without a Suitcase by marycontraire (danny briere/claude giroux, not rated, 14.6k)

Something Old by uraneia (danny briere/claude giroux, explicit, 13.4k)

if courage is a live wire by redheartglow (adam henrique & taylor hall friendship, teen & up, 15.5k)

Like an Explosion by Dark_Eyed_Junco (nic dowd/derek forbort, mature, 4.3k)

Lions in Arms by xihale (alex ovechkin/sidney crosby, mature, 4.7k) 

Hockey at the End of the World by ionthesparrow (jeff carter/mike richards and tyler toffoli/tanner pearson, mature to explicit, a series of five fics totaling 383k)

@deepbutdazzlingdarkness has a washington capitals fic rec list; i haven’t read everything on there but i have liked what i’ve read! [i am very picky about caps fic because a) i’m a snob about local details and b) i can only read so much smut about dudes i might run into at the jeni’s ice cream in tysons corner. but there is some very good stuff. similarly, a rec i haven’t read but it comes from a friend whose writing i deeply admire and whose taste i trust implicitly:

mouth-deep by saintsideways (nicklas backstrom/mike green, explicit, 30k); the reccer says, “it’s a wild time and coated with an absolutely visionary layer of grime I can only aspire to.”]

@bunnymcfoo also has an extensive rec list, much of which i have not read, but definitely worth checking out if you need more!

anyway, sorry if that was too much, but hopefully it is just enough to get you started chasing your own hockey fic bliss. my ask box is open if you have any questions! ❤

[specialagentlokitty]

Saul silva x reader - sulking

I saw your post… sorry for requesting that I didn’t saw your post why not… what about writing just silva being grumpy cause he can’t get what he wants - Anon💜

You were up long before your husband, you had a busy day, and you wanted to get an early start in the hopes that you could finish early.

The moment Saul realised you were gone he was pouting, he thought you would’ve stayed with him, and you weren’t there.

Saul decided to go back to bed for a few more hours, and when he woke up you were in the room, looking through some papers at the desk.

He sat up and made his way to the kitchen and you watched.

“You slept late.” You said.

Saul walked back in with glass of water and sat back down on the bed, picking up his phone to go through it.

“Are you really pouting with me right now?”

You turned around to look at him, and he didn’t look up at you.

“Saul?”

Nothing.

“Sweetheart?”

Again, nothing.

“Darling?”

No response.

“My love?”

He didn’t even acknowledge you.

“Okay, while you pout I’ve got to finish marking these papers. I should only be a few hours.”

You got up and grabbed some stuff and left the room, and Saul watched you go.

He did feel kind of bad for ignoring you, but he was pouting with you right now, so he didn’t let it affect him.

He got up, got ready for the day but he decided he didn’t want to leave the room, so he didn’t.

He sat in bed reading a book, and when you came back in, you kicked your shoes off.

You yawned a little and looked at your watch before you took it off and swapped your shirt for one of his jumpers and crawled into bed.

Saul still didn’t look at you.

Sighing, you rested your head in his lap, looking up at him.

“Why’re you pouting dear?” You asked.

Saul didn’t even looked at you.

Reaching up, you plucked the book from his grasp and grabbed the bookmark next to him, and set the book out of his reach.

Saul looked down at you, and you looked up at him.

“Why’re you being grumpy?”

“I’m not.”

“You so are. You’ve been ignoring me all day.”

“Have not.”

“Have too.”

“Have not.”

“Have too.”

Saul rolled his eyes a little and you smiled softly, moving so you were laid next to him you held out your arm.

Saul looked at you and huffed a little, reaching over to grab his book again.

“Nope.”

“Saul!” You whined.

“Nope. I wanted to spend the day in bed with you and you just left me. So you’re not allowed to be cuddled.”

You playfully slapped his leg.

“Don’t be such a bully Saul! Please?”

“Nope.”

You huffed a little and stood up, getting out of bed you grinned a little to yourself.

“Fine, I’m going to go find someone else to cuddle with me cause you’re a big bully.”

You grabbed a blankets wrapped it around your shoulders and slipped your shoes on as you made your way towards the door.

“Also I told you I was busy today so you’re pouting for no reason.”

“I’m not pouting! I don’t pout!”

“You do pout! You always pout!”

With that you grinned at him and left the room, making your way a few doors down you let yourself into the room and looked around.

“Farah!”

Farah come out of the study and rose a brow at you.

“Saul is pouting and being stubborn, I want to be held like a baby, so now I’ve come here. Cuddle with me.”

“We’re adults.”

“Yes. And you’re my big sister, so you’re responsible for making sure I’m happy, please!”

Farah rolled her eyes at you and walked to the kitchen, pulling out a large tub of ice cream.

“Come on then, let’s go complain about your husband, eat ice cream and watch that horrible film you like so much.”

And that’s what you both did, sitting on the sofa, you tucked into Farah’s side, eating ice cream, watching movies and trash talking Saul.

Saul on the other hand was still pouting and he was hoping to finally win something against you, every time he always gave in.

And he didn’t want to.

But as time went past, he was finding it hard to keep sticking to his choice.

And finally he gave in.

He left the room and went to the room he knew you were in and he threw open the door.

Walking over, he reached over and move the ice cream tub, setting it on the table, then he grabbed the blanket from you and threw it over his shoulder.

“No.” He said.

He reached down and picked you up with ease and you hung your head back grinning at Farah.

“I win again.” You beamed.

“See you later.” She laughed.

Saul carried you back through to the room, and he sat down, holding you tightly in his arms as he laid down, rolling over so he was on his side.

Saul buried his face into the crook of your neck and you smiled, playing with the hairs on the back of his neck.

“See that’s not so hard is it. Are you done pouting?”

“I don’t pout…” he grumbled.

You laughed softly and closed your eyes.

“You do pout… you always pout…”

“Shut up…”

You laughed again, and rested your chin on his head.

He always pouted, even if he wouldn’t admit it, saul pouted, and he was a cuddlier, he loved to cuddle, he liked being the little spoon.

But he’d never admit that either

[sweet-s0rr0w]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much to @citrusses, @danpuff-ao3, @tackytigerfic, @maesterchill and @squintclover for tagging me in this! I loved reading your answers, which is what made me finally decide to do this one. I'm really awful at these, and I'm stuck in that endless blank early period of motherhood where my focus is so inwards, so survivalist, that I've lost all sense of popular songs/films/sport, which is a big part of why I don't generally do other 'about you' type posts. So I'm also tagging @elskanellis, @epitomereally, @mallstars, @oknowkiss and @thecouchsofa who recently tagged me in other posts to say thank you <3 and I appreciate you, and here, do this one if you like <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

25, good grief

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

332,461!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Just Harry Potter. Can’t see that changing any time soon, but never say never. Meanwhile F1 will remain the One That Got Away!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Nor All That Glisters (111k, E, Drarry)

Kept in Cages (77k, E, Drarry)

Dreaming Skies (21k, E, Dron collab with @tackytigerfic)

When The Party's Over (5.4k, E, Drarry)

Among the Elements (8.3k, E, Drarry)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Embarrassingly enough, not usually. Basically, I got very overwhelmed last summer after writing Kept in Cages, because I pushed myself ridiculously hard to get it finished in time for Wireless (last fic in Wireless, but I made it!!) Combined with a lot of stress in my personal life, I then experienced massive burnout and had six months of complete writer’s block. Meanwhile, I got some really wonderful, brilliant, thoughtful comments on that fic, and I felt just awful and like a total fraud who couldn’t put a sentence together, and couldn’t bring myself to even respond. And now I don’t feel like I can reply to anything more recent until I’ve got through the old comments, etc etc. I guess I should just get over myself and crack on though, because I love getting comments and do really truly read and appreciate every single one.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I tend to give them at the very least a hopeful ending, so I had to look through my account to work this out, and I think this has to go to my weird tiny little dark fic Not Waving (M, 3k, Drarry).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

As above, I do like a happy ending, but rarely is it unqualified happiness. Kept in Cages, maybe, because I like that they’ve built a life away from everything, and that it’s something that they’ve each freely chosen. Or perhaps Silhouettes (E, 17k, Dronarry), which now I think about it does have a rare conveniently-packaged ending!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet! The odd lightly offensive bookmark rating, but nothing that especially bothers me. I got caught up in the top/bottom trolling early in my time in fandom, but that stuff was so ridiculous I just deleted the lot of it and didn’t think of it again.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I write what I want to read, really, which (naturally) involves smut. I can’t do PWPs though; there’s a Tumblr post that says, like, ‘I’m going to write a quick PWP, the starting premise is that character A has lost their faith in god’, and this is kind of me. Sex in fic for me is a big part of relationship development, and so I usually slot in whatever works best for the characters from that point of view. I’m actually writing something right now that’s fast sexual burn/slow relationship burn, and it’s a very new dynamic for me, to try and take the feelings away (a bit, obviously they’re going to catch them sooner or later).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t really enjoy reading them, so it doesn’t really enter my mind to try and write one. I suppose sports AUs are the exception to the rule – does that count? I haven’t written one, but I’ve read some I’ve adored (@sleepstxtic, @citrusses) and I could see myself having a go.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A couple, I think. Someone translated NATG to Brazilian Portuguese, all 111k of the thing (although looking now I think it might have been taken down!), and Nice I think got translated to Vietnamese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, Dreaming Skies with @tackytigerfic. Dream come true, etc etc. I have to say, I’d absolutely be up for another collab with someone in the future (time/life/etc allowing, which is a big if for me).

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Drarry. Twenty-one years and counting!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh, I’d never say never! Good to always have something on the backburner, I say.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, I think. And I used to think pacing, but currently having a slight crisis about this in my latest fic, so get back to me! But yeah, dialogue; as I was saying to @fluxweeed the other day, sometimes I feel like I write my fics by just filling in the gaps between dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that’s not dialogue! No, I’d say probably endings. I don’t think I’ve mastered the art of ending strong just yet. I’m too keen to satisfy readers, possibly, or maybe it’s the dialogue thing again, I want to end on a quip or something, and it never sits quite right. I should really start looking at what I think makes a good ending, I guess.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Fine? I mean, I wouldn’t personally do it using google translate or anything, because I’d have horrors that I’d accidentally end up insulting someone, but if I know the language a bit and/or have someone I can trust to help, that’s fine.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First and only, HP. I read HP back in the early 00s – a broad range of stuff, following the well-known authors (Cassie Clare, Maya, Rhysenn, Aja etc), but was always just a lurker, never part of fandom (was too nervous, and too busy with F1, which was a very niche fandom back then, consisting of about 30 of us and an unhealthy number of screenshots of Jarno Trulli’s backside after every race – I ran a fic archive and modded fests etc, but never wrote). Then when I got back into fandom, it was immediately HP, and immediately Drarry <3

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Don’t make me choose between my children!

Tagging: gosh, I think I've tagged enough people just in the course of my ramblings! Oh, maybe also @shealwaysreads, and @skeptiquewrites if you haven't done it, and the Aussie crew @moonflower-rose and @shiftylinguini, I'd love to know your answers if you have the inclination. Anyone who gets a tag for the post please feel free to do it and please do tag me with your responses <3

[the-lavender-creator]

Hi! I’m new too tumblr. But I like Toradeen and Lagoona and DracuClawd and I’ve seen a lot of your stuff on Ao3! I am absolutely in love with them! I hope you are the same person I just typed it in like it was on Ao3 and nothing came up so I just tried it with - instead of _ ? I think the other one also had some purple logo but I ddont remember.

Sorry! I hope I’m not talking your ear off. I just wanted to say I really like your fanfics! And I was wondering off you took requests? Sorry! I didn’t see anything on your Ao3 but your writing is so nice and I just wanted to ask pls don’t feel like your obligated too. I’m just horrible with writing but I have so many ideas you know?

Also I don’t have an official Ao3 account so I thought I’d try tumblr since I’ve just used it to look at stuff for a while!

I hope you have a marvelous day!

-Lainey

Hello, Lainey! You've got the right guy.

I'm very very happy that you enjoy my fanfics, and I do take requests! I have a writing blog (@vwritesawholelothm) and I take prompts on the form of asks there.

Also, I highly recommend you take a stab at writing!! The only way you can get better at something is if you try, even when you feel like you aren't doing great at it. A good idea would possibly be to hang onto some of your favorite ideas and write them on your own. You can still send those ideas to me if you'd like (I fully understand wanting to read something rather than write it yourself) but you shouldn't let your inexperience or the lack of "quality" in your work deter you from writing! You don't have to share anything that you write until you think you've improved of course, but I really hope you get there one day if writing is something you'd really like to do.

Anyways! Yes I take requests, and thank you very very much for reading ^-^. Also I recommend going ahead and going through the process of creating an AO3 account. I like gifting prompted fics to the people who asked for them, and it would allow you to create bookmarks and have a reading history, you know?

[aziraphales-library]

Lost Fic #140

1. Hi dudeeeee, your blog is sick! Helped me find good stuff and have a nice time! I'm totally a sucker for bottom Aziraphale but that's another thing.I'm looking for a fic, I found it once and never found it again. It's one where Aziraphale possess a bookshelf by mistake and  when he tries turn normal, Crowley sees his true form...which he finds amazing. (Even with an scar) - anon

2. Hello! First, allow me to thank you for the wonderful work you're doing. You guys rock! Now, the question. I remember reading a fic where I think Crowley hears someone mention that Aziraphale looks positively cherubic or something like that and he suddenly adds two and two together and realises that it was cherubs who were guarding the Garden of Eden, and it was them who were operating as single special-ops angels with fiery swords as opposed to principalities who usually led angelic units which would mean Aziraphale was lying about being a principality. I think there might have been a scene after where Crowley was genuinely terrified of Aziraphale before realising that he was the same angel he had always known. Any idea what fic that is? because I'd like to read it again and can't find it. - anon

3. hello! may i request for help in finding a fic? it was one of the first good omens fic i've read and it was centered with warlock and nanny ashtoreth. each chapter being a specific lesson that warlock was told, the most memorable thing about the fic was in a chapter, a glass baking pan exploded and crowley shielded warlock and he had to get aziraphale to help crowley get glass out of his eyes, and warlock didnt buy glass bakingware due to that incident and i think it was a adam/warlock fic as well. i keep forgetting to bookmark that fic :'( it would be wonderful if the fic is found it was a good fic - anon

4. I'm gonna ask, hopefully no one else has asked about this yet, if they have I apologize. It's been a while, it's probably from like 2019 or 2020? I read a fic, I don't remember much else about it except that I think they, (Crowley and Aziraphale), have their first kiss but in the back of Crowley's mind he's thinking he's still going too fast and then (involuntarily?) turns into a snake and hides in the bookshop. If you're able to find it for me that'd be great. I admit, I don't remember if it's very well written but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think about it from time to time so.... - anon

5. Hello! I love this blog, so many wonderful recommendations to read! I've been searching for a fic for weeks and coming up empty handed. Crowley is snatched by a random angel, held naked in a church and whipped. He gets into it much to the disgust of the angel who leaves him there. He's rescued by Aziraphale who figures out that he's into that stuff and offers to be the one who does it. There was a riding crop involved - anon

If you know any of these fics please include the number in your reply! Thank you :)

- Mod D

[lil-tachyon]

Who are some of your biggest influences in your art?

I’ve answered this question or something like it a couple times (1 2 3 4 + archive of interviews I’ve done with people)  so I’ll hit the main points and then talk about some different stuff I’ve been into recently. 

Favorite artists who have influenced me the most in no particular order:

Wayne Barlowe

Moebius

Mark Schultz

Simon Roy

Cosimo Galluzi

CM Kosemen

John Howe

James Gurney

Katsuya Terada

Hayao Miyazaki

I could name more, but those are the main people that I come back to, year after year.

Picture above by John Howe

General art movements/styles that have influenced me

19th century academic art, especially Orientalist painters (to be clear, I don’t endorse any of the harmful racial attitudes behind many of them, it’s just stuff that I saw as a kid that I thought looked cool and different and mysterious)

Ukiyo-e, Shin Hanga, Japanese woodcuts generally

Late 80s to 90s anime

Most comic art

Online spec bio art communities

Video game character/creature designs: Sonic, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Shining Force, etc

Art Nouveau

Fuck it, basically all Gilded Age, Fin de siècle, Belle Époque, late 19th/early 20th century European art movements that were more or less representational or illustrative

Picture above by Ludwig Deutsch. I had a bookmark of this painting for many years and I would often get distracted while reading and just stare at it.

I think I’ve talked about all that stuff before but if you want more details or specifics just ask!

For the last couple years, my really big influences have all been other artists I’ve met online. I mean I made a whole book with @ordheist and @bagb0ss. There’s a sort of loose cloud of (mostly) SFF artists that I’ve been really lucky to work and speak with and we all kinda know or know of each other or end up in the same Discord servers, or working on the same RPGs, etc. I’m not gonna link everybody but if you go through the interviews I’ve conducted for my newsletter or check out my side blog you’ll start to figure out who I mean (seriously a lot of these people are coming to tumblr now from twitter and I’ve been reblogging the hell out of them.) Seeing all the stuff my peers are putting out and talking with them is the source of like 90% of the ideas for my personal illustrations these days. It’s cool to be part of a community. I wish there were more opportunities to meet in person, but it’s still cool.

The other stuff that’s really been in my head lately is art that’s less illustrative, more abstract and graphical. Not pure abstraction mind you, but I’ve really been digging stuff that’s more about communicating a concept, feeling, piece of information, or idea than a narrative. More about design and composition than rendering. I recently read Philip Meggs’ History of Graphic Design and that’s turned me on to so new many artists and styles. In particular I’ve fallen in love with all the Vienna Secession guys, the Glasgow Style artists, and all the graphic and bookmaking ideas that came out of the Arts and Crafts movement. I don’t know how I want to work these ideas into my drawings yet and I haven’t had a lot of time to experiment lately but they're definitely bouncing around in my head.

Above from top to bottom: two pieces by Koloman Moser, two posters by Frances Macdonald, and two pages from The Glittering Plain, written and designed by William Morris.

There’s a whole lot of art that I really love but it rarely gets reflected in my drawings- American Regionalist paintings, gig posters, childrens’ storybooks, Eastern European Mosaics, Native American art, outsider art, colonial Americana …. One day I’ll find a way to synthesize it all.

Anyway, hope this is interesting/fun/informative and if you have any follow up questions don’t hesitate to ask!

-Logan

[penguinmerchant]

Go Astray Binding

Strap in everyone, I have binding woes galore for this one! So this next binding is @liesmyth​‘s excellent work Go Astray. It’s actually two stories in a series, and the book I made contains both. If you ever want a masterclass in how to write character development through amazing sex scenes, go and read this! It’s so great, it’s one of the few stories that I love to death that IMO rivals the canon material. It’s SO well done.

Anyway, I promised woes. Before that, behold the glorious author copy that I made.

This is oatmeal duo cloth, and it’s fantastic. It looks SO rich and fancy in person. The foil is sisal, which I will get to in a moment. I wanted something really clean and fancy for the cover, so I went with the “astray” theme and did a compass rose that’s off kilter. The “Astray” in the title is also off kilter, although I’m not sure if that comes across so well. It’s more evident in person, I think. The font is Cinzel, which was the closest thing to the Captive Prince font that I could find. And I wanted this to be nice and clean because when you open it:

I’ve got these crazy, blood red endpapers. I LOVE the contrast between the cover and this, I think it fits with the book SO WELL and also this paper is just gorgeous. Also peep the little ribbon bookmark! The gold doesn’t go along so well with the gold in the book, but I think it’s cute.

If you’re not interested in my tale of woe of how I got here, please feel free to skip, look at the pretty pictures again, and go about your day. If you’re interested in a lot of technical book bindy stuff (as much technical stuff as a relative beginner is capable of, I guess) then keep reading! Warning, it’s long.

Okay. Here’s where it all went wonky:

I ordered some short grain paper from Colophon. You know, as a treat. What I didn’t realize, because I am a beginner, is that 80lb paper is fucking thick. And that the Mohawk paper in eggshell finish, while a freaking gorgeous paper on its own, is fucking hell on my printer. So I had to redo about 5 signatures, cleaning the drum after every one, just to make it legible. And there are still parts that have smudges on them. I don’t know if it was the weight or the finish, but my printer absolutely cannot handle this again. I would NOT recommend this paper if you have a standard brother toner printer.

The other fun thing I realized after sewing and gluing everything together was that 150 pages of 80lb paper, while technically under the 200 pages my guillotine says it can handle, is too fucking thick to fit through the guards. Luckily I had another guillotine I could use, but if I didn’t this thing would’ve been dead in the water. While I was waiting for the opportunity to use the other guillotine I decided to make my own copy out of normal printer paper, which would fit in my cutter. And here is that, on top of the author’s copy.

Yes, you’ve seen that correctly. I wanted to try and round my copy, despite not having any of the correct tools. Why? I can’t exactly say now, except I guess I thought I could? Reader, I could not. The rounding turned out extremely wonky, and as you can make out a bit in the picture, something weird happened to the bottom end of the spine (it creased? or cracked?) I’m not sure, but I think it happened because the textblock itself is twisted a bit. I had to make two cases for this thing and I don’t think the one I ended up covering works well. I measured everything like a crazy person and it still turned out too big, I think. Here’s a pic of the spine from the top and bottom.

And of course, not having any tools I just did this by hand with a normal hammer. I watched the DAS video like seven times! He did it by hand and it turned out great! (And he’s a freaking expert at book binding and had a real rounding hammer lol) I just don’t know. The gutters are weird, but I couldn’t really work out why. The crease in the bottom (second picture) is way more pronounced the further you get down, and it just doesn’t hug the book right. All in all rounding isn’t worth it for me, and I don’t particularly care for the look even when it’s done right. It helped with the swell of the signatures, for sure, but I’d rather deal with a triangle book than try and round another one. I actually really like the flat spine.

Also, you may have noticed the endpapers on this one are not quite the same as the first:

Because I cut the the red papers with the correct grain (more idiot me), I didn’t have enough left over for a second copy. HOWEVER, I love this blue (blue’s my favorite color) and I love that one copy is red and the other is blue. It doesn’t hit as well as the red when you open it, I don’t think, but the SYMBOLISM! Also I messed up the cover lol

I forgot to weed out just a few areas there, and as difficult as this stupid sisal HTV was to stick on I didn’t notice until there was no coming back from it. SIDE NOTE: I hate the sisal foil paper. It’s way easier to weed than the cricut, that’s for sure, but it sticks so much worse. It takes forever for it to stick (same as cricut, honestly) but it gets really gummy and it’s way harder to take it off the transfer paper than the cricut is. I am for sure not going to use this brand again, although after a little crying and begging it eventually turned out looking pretty good. Except for that “y” on the spine, lol. It’s peeking up there.

Also, if you want to see the difference between 80lb paper and 20lb paper, here you go:

Same book, same amount of pages. 80lb paper is over 1/4 inch thicker. It sits so well though. It’s very nice paper.

My last note, I swear, is that this is the first book I’ve done with these dimensions. It’s about 5.5 by 8 (the rounded one is a bit smaller in all directions) and it’s great. It has a great feeling when you hold it, it was easy to cut (printed on 8.5x11 paper, cut .5 inches off of each side once bound) and as long as the books are long enough I’m probably going to make everything else I do going forward this size.

Look at her. She’s beautiful. And soon she’ll get to live on her author’s bookshelf! @liesmyth​, thank you so much for gracing us with this wonderful work, and I hope you enjoy!

[disgruntledkittenface]

Thank you @hellolovers13​ and @neondiamond​ for tagging me! I loved reading your answers to these questions.

1. Number of stories posted to AO3 this year: 11

with love on the line

i get so lost inside your eyes

still, somehow

like sun on the rise

subverting expectations

Darling, so it goes

baby, you’re the end of june

The Referral

something to dream about

enough to make a girl blush

make you mine this season

2. Word count posted for the year: 288,979

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction

4. Pairings: Nick/Harry/Louis, Niall/Zayn, Liam/Louis, Nick/Harry, Harry/Louis, Louis/Harry/Tom Hardy, Niall/Louis, Zayn/Harry, Nick/Louis

5. Story with the most:

Kudos: baby, you’re the end of june

Bookmarks: Darling, so it goes

Comments: make you mind this season

the rest under the cut!

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): Darling, so it goes. I’m proud of myself for finishing it, because it took about three years to research and write and I had about three bouts of horrible writer’s block on it during that time. And I’m proud that it’s exactly what I wanted to write and that I posted it even though I wasn’t sure if people would respond to it. It has the heart and warmth that I try to infuse my writing with. It’s me, on a page. 

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): something to dream about. I still feel like reworking it, even though it posted in October. I don’t think it’s bad, but I think it could be better.

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: I would say this year it was the experience of posting make you mine this season and getting comments and reactions every day. I’ve never had people engaging with a fic that way because I’ve never posted a wip before. I gave myself some anxiety a few times (Will people be mad I didn’t write the scene with Louis’ family?? Is this zarry ending the kind of happy people want???) but everyone was so kind and lovely and it really made my heart grow three sizes.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: It’s kind of hard right now. I don’t feel very motivated or excited about writing, even though I really like my current wip. I think it’s because I’m having a hard time at work, it’s kind of killing my motivation to do anything, I just want to curl up on the couch and self soothe all day.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: In enough to make a girl blush, I thought it would be more of a slow burn before I got to the smut, but truly the first time the Louis and Niall characters hung out, they wanted to hook up right away, so that’s what they did!

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: from like sun on the rise

“I don’t know if like is a strong enough word,” she confesses, continuing to open boxes so she doesn’t have to look at Louis while she spills her guts. “Like… if that was anyone else trying to talk to me about casting a circle, whatever that means, I would think they were full of shit. But with Harry, it’s like I can tell she really means it, you know? And I start to think, oh, maybe it’s not so bad, I guess I get how that might be comforting to believe in.”

“Whoa.” Louis stops unpacking the box and just looks at Nick.

“I know! It’s like, who am I?” Nick stops working too and sits on one of the unopened boxes. “With every other girl I’ve had a crush on, I’ve always kind of mentally edited out the stuff I didn’t like about them. You know? Like remember Ariana?”

“Yeah, she was hot.”

“So hot, and funny and cool and smart and–”

“Pretentious.”

“So fucking pretentious,” Nick agrees, running a hand through her hair. “So I kind of just ignored that part. That way, I could still have a crush on her.”

Louis shrugs, laughing. “Been there.”

“But Harry.” Nick blows out a breath. “Harry is different. All of her weird stuff, like auras and spells and whatever – that’s exactly the type of thing that I would usually just ignore. I do this all the time, I get a crush for a few weeks, I ignore some stuff, maybe we go out a couple of times, and then it ends because they were all wrong for me. But with Harry, everything I learn about her just makes me like her more. It’s… intense. And I know I haven't known her that long, but I’m starting to think that maybe this isn’t just a crush.”

“So why do you look sick to your stomach? Isn’t this a good thing?”

“But what if she doesn’t like me back?”

“Nick.” Louis levels her with a look. “Are you serious?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, or–”

“Of course she fucking likes you back,” Louis says, turning back to the opened box next to her and unearthing a bag of filters. “She’s been coming here to study every time you have a shift. You text constantly when you’re not together. You speak in shorthand, you two don’t even need to finish sentences around each other.”

“So you think–”

“I know she likes you. And listen, Nick,” Louis says, looking over her shoulder, “don’t fucking hurt her, okay? Or you’ll have me to deal with.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: By trying different things! I love challenging myself that way. I wanted to see if I could good alpha/omega girl direction smut (and I think I did!). And I wrote my first advent fic! After I came up with the basic idea, I had to think about how to pace two stories and interconnect them and keep each chapter short enough so people could read along if they wanted to, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: By continuing to try new things!

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): I have SO MANY positive influences, truly my little community is an embarrassment of riches. I’m going to say @queenofquiet17​ who doesn’t even go here but always cheerleads my fics and helps me when I need it. She gave me a lot of suggestions for queer literature to include in make you mine this season, and then for my birthday she went to the bookstore from the fic and bought three of the books for me! When I opened the package, I cried. She always makes me feel like I’m part of the queer community and like I’m enough, and that means so much to me. 

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: I wrote still, somehow after my husband trimmed my split ends for me. I was in the middle of a depressive episode and I didn’t realize until I was writing in Liam’s voice that I felt guilty about it, even though it’s not something my husband would ever resent me for.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Take each piece of writing advice with a grain of salt. Something that works for one person might not work for another. If you want to use adverbs, use adverbs. Write for yourself. 

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I definitely feel more excited about the american tragedy au idea after posting about it, so I might actually attempt it this year even though it’s a darker idea and my fics always end up being nicer than I think they will.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

@uhoh-but-yeah-alright​ @homosociallyyours​ @louandhazaf​ @kingsofeverything​ @wabadabadaba​ @littleroverlouis​ @onesweetworld18​ @brightgolden​ @absoloutenonsense​ @allwaswell16​

[yolowritter]

A Case of Ladybug Luck Chapter 4

Hello there everyone, and welcome back to Hell! Holy Nooroo it's been so long since I posted abt this AU. Mostly because I'm busy actually writing it and 300k words are apparently nowhere near enough to finish what I started a year ago! Anyway, I'm just going to do a speedrun of posting these early chapters because I want to get to the good stuff already! Believe me, it's worth! So, from now on I won't have a note at the beggining of this, just the snippet and chapter link, kay? Cool! Asks are open btw if anyone wants to chat about ACOLL! Enjoy my suffering!

Nathalie was curled up on the couch, definitely asleep. She looked pale, the same way Marinette would pale when she was worried about him. Like she’d literally been worried sick. His father was sitting in an armchair beside her, reading a book. Gabriel didn’t notice his approach. One of them had wheeled out a TV from the guest rooms down the hall, and it was tuned in on…the news? TVI, it looked like, and they were on an add break. Adrien took a deep breath to steady himself, to throw the image of his seething father almost breaking the dinner table with his fist, right out of his mind.

Gabriel glanced at the screen, stared at the advertisement, something about a new hair product, and went back to his book. It had a full black cover, Adrien noted as he approached. Gabriel heard his footsteps, used a bookmark to not lose the page he was on, and shut the book, placing it next to him on the chair. For a moment, Adrien saw the title. “The Illusion of Living.” Wow. Macabre, much?

“G-good morning father.”, Adrien tried as a greeting. This…was weird. He wasn’t used to seeing his father relax…or at all, to be honest. He looked uninterested, indifferent. Gabriel glanced at the TV, saw the news hadn’t come on yet, and turned to face his son.

“Ah, Adrien. Did you sleep well?”, he asked, seeming genuinely curious. Oddly, Adrien noticed his father wasn’t wearing his tie clip. The empty white spot where it should be drew his eye, but Adrien reigned himself in and nodded an affirmative.

“Yes. But…father, I don’t mean to disrespect you but…don’t I have a photoshoot today? Two hours ago?”, he asked, hesitant.

Gabriel’s expression shifted from his calm. Like a porcelain mask, the façade cracked, and for a single second Adrien thought he saw guilt and sadness in his father’s eyes. He looked so…forlorn. Defeated, even. Guilty.

He nodded, seeing that his father wasn’t going to say anything else. Adrien glanced at Nathalie, concerned. His father’s assistant, always a stern but constant presence…looked so frail. She looked like mom- like she desperately needed the rest. Gabriel sighed when he caught him staring.

“Nathalie is fine, son. She’s just tired. We had an…interesting morning.” A morning that nearly cost Gabriel his sanity, and some pocket change to top things off. Some 50.000 thousand euros to ensure the silence of the hospital staff and discharge him as soon as he was stable. He was fine, really. The problem wasn’t physical. Dizziness overcame him, suddenly. Emilie had said the same thing, once.

Adrien nodded again, not knowing what else to do. “I…Am I free for the day, then?”, he asked his father.

Gabriel didn’t even pretend to consider it. “Yes, free for the week. I’ve cancelled all your lessons and photoshoots. You’re…welcome to stay home, if you’d like. I’ve delegated my own duties for today, so if you require anything…please come talk to me.”, he said, sounding like the words struggled to leave his mouth.

“Adrien, remember. You are my son. I am your father. It’s my responsibility to make sure you are well. I will be there when you need me.”, Gabriel tried, testing the words. They sounded…right, this time. An odd sense of numbness washed over him again, and he turned back to the television. “You should go to your room, sleep some more. It’s been a long week for you, I’m sure.”, he added as an afterthought, his tone monotonous and dry. Almost robotic.

“…Right. I- I’ll go and lay down, then. Good morning, father.”

Gabriel blinked, as if the time was news to him. Right, the night was over. It was a new day, now. He didn’t feel like it. He barely felt like anything at all. “Of course, son. Now go.”, he insisted, eyes glued to the final, fading advertisement, before the screen switched to Nadja Chamack. Adrien obeyed and began to ascend the stairs again, and Gabriel unmuted the broadcast.

“Welcome back, Paris. As I said before, there have been no further news on the case. Poor weather conditions lasted all throughout the night, and police have had no luck finding any trace of…”

Adrien stopped in his tracks, midway up the staircase. He breathed deeply. “Father…did something happen?”, he asked hesitantly. Something had to have happened. This…couldn’t all be because of Lila, could it?

Gabriel’s eyes seemed to glance back at him, even though his head didn’t move an inch.

“We’re standing by for news on any new developments, and are hoping for the best. Please wait for more information.”

“Not to me. I’m fine.”, he said coldly, the air of indifference returning to his tone.

Adrien hoped it wouldn’t be followed by another outburst. He hung his head, and obeyed his father’s order, going back to his room. Maybe he could mess around with his piano? Last they’d met, Luka had given him some inspiration for a song. Hadn’t he said something about…masks? Adrien would have to text him, see if he remembered.

Plagg was there when Adrien opened the door, hovering over his unlocked phone. He looked…sad. Making a face of realization the same way Adrien would do when he could guess that more photoshoots would be added to his schedule. Like an inevitability had just come true. The kwami spun to face him when he came in, but Plagg’s face betrayed nothing of what Adrien had just seen.

“Hey kit! Morning! Wow, good thing your pops let us sleep in today huh? Say, I’m full of energy! How about we go for a run, huh? Get your muscles going?”, Plagg said, looking frantic and desperately pretending to be happy and excited. Adrien knew a thing or two about playing pretend.

Plagg never lied to him. Not unless something was very wrong, not after the Sandman incident. He’d promised. Plagg hadn’t lied to him since. Adrien let the worry he felt for Plagg show on his face. Words weren’t needed between them sometimes, and he didn’t think he should say what he could show. Plagg tried to keep his smile up. Adrien saw him strain himself, the widening of his eyes to look restless, the same expression he’d make when he got bored of flying around his room.

Adrien stared at him. Plagg stared back, a pleading look to please pretend he was oblivious, go along with it. After a moment, the Kwami faltered, and his mask broke.

“K-kid.”, he tried to speak, voice cracking as if his throat had been hit by a Cataclysm. “Do me a favor.”, Plagg begged him. Adrien had already opened his mouth to agree when his phone rang. “Don’t answer that. Please.”, Plagg insisted.

Adrien checked the caller ID. It was Nino. He shot Plagg a look. The cell rang again. Adrien ignored it to swipe down on the screen and check his notifications. 37 missed calls from Nino. 2096 unread messages. Half of those from Alya. What the fuck? The ringing seemed to get louder. Plagg’s whiskers dropped, his face fell.

Adrien reached out a hand to pet him, to offer comfort for whatever was wrong, but Plagg retracted. “Kit…I’m so sorry.”, he offered meekly, and flew up to his spot, curling up in a ball. Adrien thought he heard him sobbing. He picked up the phone, worried and confused. Why was his father acting like that? Why was Plagg acting like that?

Nino’s voice sounded horrible. Like he’d been crying. “A-Adrien?”, he asked, stuttering in near disbelief. “Thank fuck, are you okay? No, sorry, stupid question. How are you…holding up, dude?”

Okay, now Adrien knew something was very, very wrong. He tried to mask his fears with confusion. “Nino? What happened? I just woke up, are you okay?”, Adrien asked with genuine concern, trying not to panic. He’d kept himself together while fighting supervillains, he could get through one conversation without letting his worries eat him up.

Nino sobbed on the other end. Went silent. Adrien heard Alya’s voice, just barely, as if they’d moved the phone away from them.

“Nino…do we tell him?”, she asked, sounding frightened.

Nino failed to hold back a sob. “Babe…we have to.”

Nino moved the phone closer. “Uh…dude. You might want to check the news…”, he said awkwardly. Adrien was downright panicked now. He didn’t respond to Nino, he rushed back downstairs to his father, to the broadcast. What was happening? Why were his friends walking on eggshells around him? Had he done something? Did Lila do something?

“Please hold on, we’ve just received a statement from Officer Raincomprix. Stand by for-”

Gabriel had the book in his lap, reading calmly. Miss Chamack’s voice didn’t seem to bother him. She paused mid-sentence, and moved off screen.   

She came back into frame, looking like she was about to cry. Her professionalism was in shambles, Adrien saw the way her face twitched with silent tears, holding back the urge to sob.

“I- I regret to inform everyone that we’ve received official word from the Parisian Police Department. Marinette Dupain Cheng has been confirmed dead. It was ruled a suicide.”

[bromcommie]

HI HI HI MAXIMILLION! hope you are well ;)

for the fanfic ask game! 👻, 🏷, 📚, 💌, 🎨

Hello helloo! Thanks for the ask <3

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

Answered this one here (It’s really not wild lol)

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

Really depends on what I’m in the mood for. And for a while now I’ve relied more on either a) recs and going through the bookmarks trail of the writers I like on AO3, or b) just searching in one major tag/pairing and then filtering out the stuff I know I /don’t/ want to see and perusing recent works. And tbh, some of the best fics I’ve ever read had very few to zero “established” tags. So If I do look something up specifically it’s usually by character, setting or era (i.e. Howlies, Red Room, pre/post a certain movie, etc) rather than trope.

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Answered this one here! (knowing your preferred characters/era, I think you might especially like The Old Words ;) )

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Oh god, I don’t know if I can pick out one favorite. Overall I’m definitely partial to some of the classics like mutual pining/slow burn/friends to lovers just by virtue of the characters I write.

Hurt/comfort where no one really knows how to handle the comfort part but they make it there in the end somehow. +bonus points for wound care/nightmares. And on the note of that last one, dreams in general and in the case of Bucky (and sometimes Natasha) unreliable narrator.

Found family too, I guess, but especially in contexts of unique teamwork where it’s a bit complicated and they’re all still pretty hostile to each other (Red Room, anyone?). Forced proximity via roadtrip or case is another good one, esp if there’s a conflict that needs to be resolved.

So basically any trope that’s ultimately meant to be soothing and sappy but that I can, in the meantime, add unnecessary levels of tension to, lol.

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Aaaand this baby here!

[16woodsequ]

Hi! I’ve been following your Steve fics for a while and just wanted to say I really really love everything you’ve written, especially the Alternatively series.

Idk if you give writing advice and sorry if this comes out of the blue, but do you ever struggle comparing yourself to other writers on Ao3? I’ve been posting on and off lately but get so discouraged when I see fics with hundreds of thousands of hits and thousands of kudos and comments. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever compete with that, you know?

Hello! Thank you for your kind words! It always lifts me up to hear things like that :D

I've been thinking about this ask a lot to think of how I handle that feeling. Because it might surprise you considering how many people read my fics, but I also feel discouraged sometimes when fics don't get the engagement I'd love sometimes.

Here's some things I've done to help myself:

First, I added a skin to my AO3 to turn off numbers on fics. This blocks comment numbers, hit counts, kudos, that sort of thing. @ao3commentoftheday has good tutorials for ao3 skins. I made a google docs with the coding for the skins I use if you're interested.

I find hiding the numbers really helps me, because I found I was beginning to focus a lot on the numbers of my fics. These skins block the numbers on your fics and other people's. Doing this helps me not fixate on the numbers and take more happiness in the fics themselves.

When I first changed my ao3 skin I didn't turn it off for several weeks, to wean myself off of it, but now I turn it off on Sundays and give myself the day to enjoy looking at the bookmark numbers and stuff like that, because now it sparks joy more than discouragement, which is the goal.

Second, I try to treasure the good stuff. When creating things I find it very very important to remind yourself of the good things. Our brains are kind of wired to forget the positive reception we've gotten for things and we keep chasing more, which can leave us discouraged.

So find ways to treasure whatever happy things you've gotten from your fics or fandom experience online.

For example, I have a personal discord serve with just me where I save screenshots of amazing comments, touching notes, tags, bookmarks, asks etc that people have left on my fics and posts. This way I can go back and look at them anytime.

I also save my favourite comments in my ao3 inbox instead of deleting them.

And I've also started a scrapbook with my favourite comments so I can hopefully really remember them and imprint them into my brain.

Train yourself to truly appreciate the interactions you get. That's a whole person there! And that's pretty amazing.

Third, often what fandom people are truly looking for is community. That's why we want people to comment on our fics and art because we want to share this amazing idea we had and we want to talk about this thing we love!

So find a community that will listen to you. On tumblr or on discord or with a mutual. Find people who will be excited when you share a headcanon with them or a meme or an in depth analysis of a character.

I find that helps me feel appreciated and excited for what I'm working on and that really really helps.

Fourth, Don't compare your fics to someone's fics that have been posted for a year of more!! This is really easy to do, I do it with my own fics all the time.

But we forget that numbers accumulate over time! Of course your new fic doesn't have as many hits or kudos or whatever as a fic you posted three years ago!

Comparing the two is like getting to the party, putting your cake down and feeling bad because no one's taken a bite, while Brenda's cake, which has been here for two hours is mostly crumbs. These things take time sometimes!

Anyways, I hope this helps. Thanks for the ask!