#i have the best friends

[rmd-writes]

a love note (and some fics)

Sometimes I wonder if there's really anything bigger out there - the universe, some kind of higher power, fate - and then I think about how extremely lucky I am that I became obsessed with a certain tv show and its characters at just the right time so that I could befriend someone who then introduced me to a particular book at exactly the right time to fall in love with those characters as well. And then, because of my need to have more of those characters, I went looking for more stories about them at exactly the right time to meet a group of people (some of them together, some of them later, but that doesn't matter) who would go on to become my friends.

There must be something, right? To bring together a group of people who live in five to seven different time zones depending on the time of year. To create my safest spaces on the internet. To share not just our love for a book and its characters, but parts of our lives with each other. To have them all wedge themselves into the soft spaces of my heart and never leave.

I've been thinking about this a lot over the last two weeks, because those people conspired and collaborated to gift me a collection of 10 incredible fics for a milestone birthday (tomorrow!) - even though some of them haven't written fic for months and months, or don't write for this fandom at all anymore, or have recently been finding it hard to make words work and finish fics, or are just plain busy with other projects and life. That they took the time to find and make words for me means everything and more 💖💖

I've been absolutely overwhelmed with love these past 10 days (probably to the surprise of no one, I have cried at every single fic drop and I'm crying writing this now). So, I want to share the wonderful fics that they've written for me with you all because it's the least I can do to pay it forward and they're objectively stellar fics. If you haven't come across them already then you should definitely add them to your to read lists/open tabs/MFL. Please show my friends some love and read their work.

The Rae of Sunshine! collection, in order of publication (with my very short summaries):

Take It Back (4.2K) by @three-drink-amy

Henry is the head chef at a French restaurant and there's one patron who keeps sending his dishes back. How can they resolve this?

Dick, Dick Dick (You Down) (10.2K) by @everwitch-magiks

Alex runs the craft services trailer on the set of actor!Henry's latest movie. Is he the only person who sees behind the façade?

A deceptively soft story, given the title.

Precious Love (1.3K) by floatingaway4

The fluffiest follow up to one of my favourite AUs Amigos y Migas (aka the food truck au).

Midnight ice cream (5.8K) by @the-amber-fox

Emotional support Cornettos? More likely than you think.

Make it Right (5.3K) by @three-drink-amy (that's right, Ally wrote me TWO FICS)

A rogue little Tarlos fic in amongst the firstprince - a post-season 1 canon divergence that sees TK working in a taco truck while he finds his feet.

a taste of life (7.4K) by @indomitable-love

A journey through Henry's life, told through food. (This one is not my summary, indomitablelove already summed it up perfectly)

Risotto + Melanzane + Dolce (a love story) (16.8K) by @villiageidiot

Alex starts working at an Italian restaurant and is terrible at his job. Somehow, Henry doesn't seem to mind.

Cursed is a State of Mind (WIP) by @welcometololaland & @dustratcentral

A 5 + 1 treatise on cursed coffee consumption.

12 Year Starter (6.6K) by @clottedcreamfudge

When Pez can't make it to Henry's Michelin-star birthday dinner, he arranges for Henry's friend, Alex, to take his place. Featuring CCF's signature banter and fun, and a menu that I wish was real.

Pour Your He(art) Out (WIP) by @athousandrooms

A 5+1 ode to latte art (featuring actual art!)

You can find the entire collection here on Ao3.

[veritasrose]

Super excited to wear my new @mayakern for our D&D marathon session today.

And a special thanks to @greyvvardenfell for the early bday gift! I feel so geeky and pretty!

[adharastarlight]

I win.

I fucking win.

[thrillofhope]

Oh my god. I will never be calm about this. I feel like I've been staring at it for hours. Thank you @scriberated for this most beautiful gift!

So I had a silly thought a few months ago: "What if Gil-galad and Celebrían were in love?" It would be doomed, and tragic, and right up my alley. (Naturally from there I devolved into chaos and now I have a new favorite rarepair.)

Into Darkness Fell His Star was my exploration of that question and my love letter to Gil-galad (the best High King of the Noldor).

Here is an excerpt that leads into the scene so stunningly illustrated:

“I want to dance with you beneath the stars,” he says, and then the words come rushing forth. “I want to see you smile as you once did. I want to shelter you from every manner of darkness, every shadow. I want—” He is a selfish bastard for saying these things out loud, for offering something that he cannot give. His life is not his own, his fate is not his own, and yet… “I wanted to lay you down and make love to you until despair and shadow were but faint, passing memories and there was nothing before us save for the very vision of our hope: a home in this world so bright and beautiful.” 

Tears shimmer in her eyes unshed and he hates so much that he could be the cause of a single one of them. But better that she weep now for a time than all the long days of her life when he is not there to comfort her.

“But you cannot,” she says softly. 

“I cannot.”

The words lie heavily between them and he finds himself wishing she would respond in anger because her sorrow is almost too much for him to bear. But she does not spare him her sorrow; she holds his gaze as though begging him to remember this moment. And he will. He will remember it always when he thinks about what might have been in a world without darkness. 

Finally, she takes a step back, toward the stone wall of the garden maze. But she does not turn away from him. She holds out her hand to him. “If this is to be the end, will you not dance with me beneath the stars, my king?”

And because he is so very weak, he takes her hand.

Needless to say, I am obsessed with this is will be forever. It is wild to see something that existed only in your brain come to life.

Art by @ssuzu. Seriously incredible.

[theworldofjazzz]

My best friend gifted me a dildo and it looks so cute and is so heavy (in a good way)

But it's so thick. I really don't know if I can fit it inside. When I have time I need to take a day to streach and play with it 🙈

[laurenkmyers]

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Hi- so I saw a negative comment on your poll post about 2024…. Just wanted to say I love responding to your polls and actually check your blog out just to see what’s next. I sometimes wish people who didn’t have anything nice to say would just scroll past your posts!

Anyway, I hope you have a great New Year’s 💜

Thank you, darling 💜

The negative comment was just a misunderstanding, and the person who said it explained themselves, and we're good now!

It was nice; a rare positive resolution to an internet conflict!

This was such a lovely message though, thank you for making me smile 🥰

(I don't know how I managed to stumble upon just like, the nicest people, but y'all have been sending me the nicest, most supportive and reassuring messages recently, and it's like, re-wiring my brain in the best way. You're the best, xo)

[pandannon]

“I’ll take anything you have // if you will throw me a line”

Backslide // Twenty One Pilots

[miniatureketchupbottles]

I've always struggled with purpose so I think your route of "I will live slowly and I will love doing so" has genuinely altered the way I view my future. thank you I love you, truly

[miss-celestia13]

Positive Fairy 🧚‍♀️✨💫

If it hadn’t been for Duskwood, I wouldn’t have found those souls that light a fire in me and make life brighter when everything feels dark.

Love you all and I will always support you❤️

Not my quote, just one I love!

[jenanigans1207]

Me, to my friends: so I watched buddy daddies—

My friends: we know, we got the ao3 email

[anxiousbabybird]

Just wanted to say thank you to all my friends on here that wished me a happy birthday today 💙 You guys are the best and helped make the last birthday of my 20s one of the best ones yet!

[admirableadmiranda]

Et tu Sangsang?

After we all were rooting for you? Ori-hime sobbed for hours, she could not believe you could be a traitor, not like that purple traitor-

*pulls out script filled with ori-hime's tears*

"After all that fic I beta'd for you - those hundreds of thousands of words of Wangxian falling in love - and still you turn out to be a monster!"

She still holds hope!

Come back to us Sangsang!

Lol. Y’all are gremlins, but I love you so much.

[deandoesthingstome]

Still not happy with the quality but it's the best I could do.

Won't find higher quality stills...

Yenn!!! I will take him! I mean it. I mean them.

I just wanted to stare at that look for hours, but the gif kept looping, and it was killing me!!!

Thank you so much! 😘

[thepunisherfrankcastle]

not me getting to spend part of my 30th birthday with ben barnes and the cast of shadow and bone 😭😭😭

[sylaurin]

Had a great time progging P9s with the group last night! Lots of laughs, and we almost have limit cut done!

Here are some choice quotes of the night:

Tagging @ainyan @sasslett and @crank-it-up-to-elezen