#i haven't written a break up au in a while this was inevitable

[starsarefire824]

Fanfic Guide

Been meaning to organize this here for a while and just haven't so here goes!

I am JustMyName on A03! (some people have told me they had no idea)

Here are some fics I've written for Stranger Things:

✨Touch Me Like You Know Me ▻rating: M ▻status: Complete ▻words: 14,894 ▻ ship: Byler ▻ description: Mike doesn't go home anymore, not unless absolutely necessary. Instead, he stays far away from Hawkins, quietly shutting himself off from the world, and burying the pain of the things he never said to the boy he'd left behind. But when his mother convinces him to return home for his thirty-fifth birthday, Mike is finally forced to confront just how much he'd given up when he runs into Will by accident. Mike-centric. Estranged Byler reconnection fic. Soft and Sweet.

✨Death Lies in Wait ▻ rating: M ▻ status: Ongoing ▻ words: 13,322▻ ship: Arranged Madwheeler, Byler, Lumax, Mileven, Secret Ship ▻ description: Massachusetts, 1890. Max Mayfield is twenty-six years old and at the hand of her parents, settles for a marriage of convenience to a widowed lighthouse keeper. A stranger she'll be trapped with for the rest of her life on a lonely strip of land surrounded by nothing but endless, lonely sea. But, as she settles into her life, and she and her new husband try to coexist, they get wrapped up in a mysterious presence on the cape. It calls to them. It's lulling and coaxing and sings to them at night. Max discovers the secrets her new husband keeps. Mermaids and ghosts of the past come to haunt them. Madwheeler/Byler//Lumax Gothic AU- Mermaid Will. UPDATED 6/13!

✨The Pact ▻ rating: M ▻ status: Ongoing ▻words: 97,440 ▻ship: Madwheeler, Byler, Elumax ▻ description: A pact between Max and Mike gone wrong gets them both unanimously voted out of the Party and they find themselves stuck with each other the summer after Graduation: fighting, commiserating, and begrudgingly discovering they are a lot more alike than they originally thought. UPDATED 4/30!

✨Certain Slant of Light ▻ rating: M ▻ status: Ongoing ▻words: ▻ship: Byler, Will x OC. description: Will just wants to get through his last year of high school without incident, to feel normal for once in his life, and try to survive the building tension between him and Mike that grows with every word left unsaid. On the first day of school, Will meets someone new who may finally offer him the acceptance he craves, but he’s unsure what to do when it causes his relationship with Mike to hit a breaking point, forcing them both to confront their true feelings. And to make matters worse, Vecna is always there, whispering in his ear, and letting him know his fated role in the inevitable fall of Hawkins. Slow Burn. Will-centric. Mike-centric later chapters. UPDATED 5/31!

✨ Mashed Potatoes ▻rating: G ▻ status: Complete ▻ words: 1,352 ▻ ship: Byler ▻description: "Wait," Mike says, grabbing the carton of milk out of Will's hand. Will blinks, his brows creasing in confusion. "What?" he asks with uncertainty. "We need milk, don't we?"

Mike stares at the carton Will has chosen. It's labeled with red lettering and a stamp of a picturesque farm across the front. Whole milk. Mike shrugs. "I mean----yeah. But-----" he raises an eyebrow. "Whole milk?" Will huffs and rolls his yes. "Yes. Whole milk? What milk did you want?" Mike shifts on his feet and pulls at the waist of his usual black jeans. "Well, I mean----we always drank skim at our house." Now, Will's mouth opens up a little. Offended.

"Skim?!" he asks, completely appalled. "Who actually drinks skim milk? You might as well drink water."

OR

Mike and Will really think the other is wrong in their grocery shopping decisions. NEW!

✨I Held On As Tightly As You Held Onto Me ▻ rating: T ▻ status: Complete ▻ words: 7,014 ▻ ship: Byler ▻ description: After years of life getting in the way---be it by distance or choices made--Mike hasn't seen Will in almost a decade. But one cold winter's night, he's back in town and Mike cooks him a meal.

✨Demons of Change and Wildflower Eyes ▻ rating: M ▻ status: Ongoing ▻ words: 9,609 ▻ship: Byler, minor: Henderhop, Lumax. ▻ description: High school hasn't been easy for Will Byers, and he's had to live with the emotional scars of a loveless father and supernatural worlds as well as the physical ones from the hands of the bullies that make his everyday existence hell. One night, when he's looking for some peace and quiet Will comes upon one of them and something surprising happens. As he and Mike Wheeler tentatively open up to each other, they just might discover they may be exactly what they need to give each other much needed healing and self-acceptance. Can they survive everything that comes along with that?

✨When We Wake Up ▻ rating: T ▻ status: Complete ▻ words: 23,428 ▻ ship: Byler ▻description: Will and Mike having to share a room while waiting for the impending apocalypse and the utter torture it is for both of them.

✨Come Away With Me ▻ rating: T ▻status: Complete ▻ words: 18,760 ▻ ship: Byler ▻ description: “Two shots ring out! BAM!-then a pause-BAM! Mike’s head snaps towards the sound, squinting his eyes to orient himself to the darkness. A guttural, pained wail echoes through the trees as if some forsaken wraith howls at him in this lonely forest, it’s voice sounding all too familiar. Then, a loud screeching roar follows close behind it. Another shot! Mike sucks in a wretched, frightened breath, his heart thrashing in his chest so hard that it feels as if it might shatter his ribs. Dread settles sickeningly in his belly. "Will….” OR: The one in which Mike gets to be Will's knight in shining armor. Tending Wounds Fic.

✨ We Are All Fools In Love ▻ rating: T ▻ status: On Hiatus ▻ words: 13,098 ▻ ship: Byler ▻ description: Fifteen years after being forcibly separated as children, William Bennet recognizes a familiar brooding face, plucked from another lifetime across a crowded ballroom. As his and Michael Darcy's paths begin to merge once more, they discover they are now separated by more than only time and distance, but faults which lie within their own hearts. Matters of pride and prejudice. Regency au of our dreams.

Other Fics:

🌙 I'm Trying All the Time ➢fandom: Turn ➢ rating: E ➢ status: Complete ➢ Words: 22,020 ➢ ship: Townhull ➢ description: In which Abe and Robert end up in the coat room after all. The aftermath of an unexpected moment between them forces Robert and Abe to come to terms with their feelings.

Season 4 alternative timeline. 4 parts.

🌙 We Could Be the Embers ➢ fandom: Turn ➢ rating: M ➢ status: Complete ➢ words: 13,347 ➢ ship: Townhull ➢ description: Robert must stay in Setauket after delivering the intelligence that saved Washington's camp. With Abraham, of course.

🌙 I Find Myself in the Morning's Light ➢ fandom: Severance ➢ rating: T ➢ status: Complete ➢ Words: 2,656 ➢ characters: Devon and Mark ➢ description: Devon and Mark's immediate conversation following iMark's stunning revelation. Season Finale spoilers. Loving Siblings.

[sluttyhenley]

4, 15, 18, 19!

a story idea you haven’t written yet

there are so many i have floating around in my head that i haven't written yet, but ummm, i'm gonna go with the mavnix soulmates au i floated a while back where neither of them have soulmate marks. and this is a fact that affects them both differently. for phoenix is relief, there's no one out there who's her match, who she will get so attached to that it will kill her when they leave her. and for maverick it's a gutwrenching disappointment, because that man has spent so much time chasing love, so like. he doesn't even get a soulmate mark?? and anyway. they're not soulmates but they choose each other anyway. yeah. that. it'd be fun to write that some day.

15. favorite weather for writing

god idk. probably rainy because then i'm not sitting there like, but what if i were doing something else, because i don't like going to do stuff when it's rainy

18. If you keep them, share a deleted scene or paragraph from a published fic

huh, they mostly just kind of get deleted since 99.99% of the time i edit the same document i wrote in rather than a copy. (the exception being #NotDating). i know i've deleted whole paragraphs before, but i can't remember any of them to share. so uhhh, i'll idk cheat and go with the bit that i know i won't write that would technically belong in this mota voyeurism fic i'm trying to write:

gale has to go into work (he used up his fucking leave when he went hitchhiking (???) after the war) but bucky is still in casper visiting. so it's just him and marge in the cleven house. and here's the thing. marge is trying to make this work, because she Loves gale so much. and gale and bucky have a love that is so deep that she doesn't want to break that. and she's falling in love with bucky. but bucky (giant fucking messy king of unhealthy coping mechanisms) is being so weird around her that she comes to the inevitable conclusion that he doesn't even like her. so she confronts him while he's sitting on their couch reading, like 'do you like me, bucky?' and he just kind of looks at her like ...... and she clarifies all that. how she can see how much he loves her husband. how she loves them both. and she's not going to do anything to disrupt the two of them and they'll figure something out but it will hurt like hell if he doesn't even like her. and he just blurts out 'i do! i do like you, marge' to which she says, 'don't you dare lie to me john egan,' and he promises her he's not, but he doesn't deserve them, either of them, doesn't deserve this. and blah blah blah, conversation happens, and uhhh she makes him help her with dinner, and that's how gale comes home to find the two people he loves most in the world actually enjoying each other's company in the kitchen.

how's that for a deleted scene?

19. The most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic.

ok so you remember that spuhura fic that like technically finished but also definitely didn't because it definitely deserves more work? i spent a lot of time researching specific linguistics topics for that, and that was genuinely so much fun. i was basically out there being like, this is the paper i'd write if i were still in an academic setting, because it's so interesting and compelling To Me

ask me about my writing!

[andorerso]

rebelcaptain + “can you give me a ride?”

Jyn missed her bus by thirty seconds.

She’d seen it in the distance, pulling away from the stop, and she began to run but it was already too late. It left without her. And the next one didn’t come until morning.

Fucking shit. Stupid Han and his “just one more shot, Erso, don’t be a killjoy.” Why did she let herself be talked into it?

Now she was stranded; nobody at the party was sober enough to drive her home, and that was ninety-five percent of her friend circle back there. There was no way she was walking home either, not such a long trip, not so late at night. She may have known Krav Maga, but she wasn’t taking stupid risks.

She didn’t really want to waste money on a cab either, and she never trusted Ubers. She could call Baze if it wasn’t for the fact that he and Chirrut were abroad on a holiday…

Jyn weighed her options. Most of her friends were at the party, completely wasted, so they were out of the question. But she could call –

Well, shit.

She swore to herself she wouldn’t drunk dial him but this didn’t really count, did it?

Maybe he won’t pick up anyway, Jyn thought as she took out her phone and scrolled down to his number which she hadn’t a heart to delete yet. It was after all past one a.m., and Cassian never liked to stay up late. An early riser, an early sleeper. Well, except when she kept him up –

“Jyn?” His voice interrupted her thoughts, which was quite fortunate since they were heading into dangerous territories. He sounded bleary, confirming her theory that he just woke up.

Of course. He never put his phone on silent, even at night. Something that used to drive her mad when they were together.

“What’s wrong, are you okay?”

Naturally, that was his first thought. Well, she couldn’t blame him. When your ex-girlfriend calls you in the middle of the night, it was either drunk dialing or something had happened.

“Yeah, no, everything’s fine. It’s just, uhm…” Jyn chewed on her lip as she debated what to say, regretting a bit that she called. But hanging up now would be even more embarrassing, so she pushed forward. “I’m kinda drunk and just missed my last bus. You were the only person available so… can you give me a ride?”

There was a short pause on his end. She wished she could see him. He was always hard to read, but she thought she’d gotten pretty good at recognizing his facial clues. Not seeing him though, it was kind of hard to guess what he was thinking.

Probably something like “this is what she dragged me out of bed for?”

But even if he was thinking that, Cassian was too good to say so.

“Sure,” he said at last, and she was relieved not to hear any underlying frustration in his tone. “Where are you?”

“At the bust stop near Han’s place.”

“Okay. Why don’t you go back to the party, I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Sure,” Jyn agreed, though she knew she wouldn’t be going inside. She’d have to explain that she missed her bus and called Cassian to pick her up, and there was no way she was answering any prying questions about that. She’ll just wait outside the building. It was not that cold, and there was good lighting.

True to his word, Cassian did arrive fifteen minutes later, and she couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped her as she got into his dark blue Toyota.

“Precisely fifteen minutes. I forgot how pedantic you are.”

That was a lie. She didn’t forget much. But it sounded better if she said it like that.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s just a lucky coincidence.”

“Sure, sure,” Jyn agreed easily with a small teasing smile. “Thanks for picking me up.”

Cassian gave her a nod. His eyes on her made her skin tingle, her breath catch. He could still get her heart beating, no problem. Jyn fought the urge to fidget nervously in her seat.

“Don’t mention it.”

He started the engine and pulled away from the sidewalk. The loss of his gaze was both a relief and a disappointment. She had always wanted his attention, but now that she wasn’t entitled to it, it just hurt. It wasn’t enough and never would be. Having him look at her was only a portion of what she’d craved, and if she couldn’t have it all, she’d rather have nothing.

If she expected him to make small talk during the drive, he didn’t. It was roughly twenty minutes back to her apartment, and she spent half of it looking out the window, watching the lights play and the landscape fly by. She knew looking at him was dangerous – she might not want to look away.

The silence between them was distant. Not exactly uncomfortable, but not comfortable either. Certainly not what she was used to with him, and that hurt too. By the ten-minute mark, it felt a little too much; to distract herself, she dug through her bag to find her phone, but her hands came in contact with something sticky instead.

Damn it. The cap of her hand sanitizer must have come off, and now a small spot in her bag was covered with the substance.

“Do you have any tissues?”

“In the glove box,” he nodded with his head but never took his eyes off the road.

Jyn opened the compartment and the first thing she saw was a photo.

It was taken about a year ago around the time they started dating. She remembered it. Bodhi snapped the picture at her birthday party. They were outside on her balcony, and she was sitting on his lap, her hands linked behind his neck, her torso twisted to face him. Their faces were close, looking at each other, wearing matching smiles of affection. Like they had eyes for no one but each other. A secret moment captured without either of them noticing.

The photo was like a punch to the chest. Jyn marveled at how obviously taken she was with him, even at the start. Lovesick, one might call it. And he was clearly just as obsessed with her. It would be nauseating if it was anyone else.

What had gone wrong…

Cassian must have noticed her tense posture from the corner of his eyes, she might have even let out a gasp. He glanced at the insides of the glove box, and his hands tightened on the wheel when he saw the picture. His eyes shuttered close; not that they were that open to begin with.

“I... meant to put that away.”

She might have felt upset, except it was a lie. She knew him well enough to tell. He was just saving face in front of her, pretending like it didn’t matter, that he was over her – but what if she didn’t want him to? What if she didn’t want to be playing these games?

Jyn wordlessly retrieved the tissues from the compartment and cleaned her bag as best as she could. Then she settled back against her seat and looked at him. His eyes never wavered from watching the road, but he must have felt her gaze.

She missed him so much. She wanted to crawl into his lap, have him wrap his arms around her, hold her. She wanted to fall asleep with his heartbeat under her ear. He was safety and warmth, and she missed the peace he gave her. She missed falling asleep feeling like nothing could hurt her.

Jyn didn’t take her eyes off him for the rest of the ride, too drunk and too tired to feel embarrassed. Cassian didn’t comment, even when he parked the car in front of her building and turned off the engine. In fact, he didn’t even look at her right away. She could hear him take a deep breath, almost like he was preparing himself.

“Cassian...”

He finally turned, his eyes burning. Jyn didn’t even hesitate when she scooted over to his side and crawled into his lap. She may have been a little bolder due to the alcohol she’d consumed earlier, but she could see it in his eyes. He’d missed her too.

But she was also tired, and Cassian would never take advantage of her state anyway, so she just lay her head on his chest and let out a content sigh. She really did miss him. She may have even said it aloud, she wasn’t sure. It was becoming a bit blurry, with Cassian’s arms around her, his warmth lulling her senses. Her eyes were slipping closed. It would be so easy to just forget herself for a moment.

“Jyn.” His voice, a whisper, broke through the haze. “Are you going to fall asleep?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

Cassian sighed. “Don’t. You’re drunk.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I missed you even when I was sober.” She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She could see the conflict in him. The need, the longing, but also the want to establish some boundaries between them. Frankly, Jyn was done with those. “Come inside.”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at her.

“Just sleeping,” she added. “Come on. Come on.”

Her voice was nearly whiny, something she would later blame on the combination of alcohol and sleep deprivation. She tugged on his arm, and he relented with another sigh.

“You’ll be the death of me.”

She gave him a tiny smile. It felt a bit like a fresh start. “Not if I can help it.”

[mlwritingprompts]

Submitted prompt: Turtle Miraculous, not Nerfed.

Heart Hunter AU because Fu and Wayzz were seriously nerfed so Hawkmoth can have the upper hand and I hate it.

Fu written as actually competent in using the Miraculous.

Wayzz's Miraculous is Not Nerfed.

Warnings: Implied character death at the end, but it's Gabriel and Nathalie (you know, the terrorists)

---

"Why don't you tell us where the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are, and we will leave you alone?"

As Fu was thrown into the ground, causing him pain, a feeling of sadness and regret also made itself clear to him.

He'd made a mistake, he made a lot of mistakes he was not happy about to be honest.

And he regrets them. A lot.

But!

Even as his back hurt from trying to stand up again, looking at the mocking looks of his enemies, Hawkmoth and Mayura, the Miracle Box in their hands, he knew that this time, he will not run away from this, he will not make the same mistake again.

I should have helped more from the start, and my cowardice indirectly caused this. Not anymore!

As he stood up, he transformed for the first time in decades into Jade Turtle.

He will not allow them to win.

"So much bravado from you, Hawkmoth, since with all the power you have, you still haven't defeated two heroes with more limited access to their full abilities. Clearly you are lacking."

The mocking is stinging enough for Hawkmoth to attack him, and activating his Shell-ter as Mayura entered the battle, their efforts starting to crack the magical barrier.

The villains gleefully mock him, telling him that it is inevitable that he will lose.

He does't say anything, holding with sheer will his place even as the barrier became fully cracked, and with just one more hit, it will be destroyed.

The hit came, the barrier broke, and Fu...

"Shell-ter!"

Had just made another one, and one big enough it hit the villains and caused them to stumble from the unexpected attack.

The shock of what just happened was more than enough for another opportunity.

"Shell-ter! Shell-ter, Shell-ter!"

As quick as he can, Fu, instead of just having one shield, had just created dozens of shields, many separating him from the villains, while the rest...

Locked the two villains inside of them.

"What is this!?"

Hawkmoth looked furious, as he finds himself imprisoned inside the many barriers, with Mayura looking just as angry, as they try to break the barriers.

"Crush!"

The barriers quickly move, closing against each other, forcing the two villains to be slammed and unable to move, almost squashed from the sides if not for their supersuits.

Hawkmoth is furious, and shocked, he can't freely move, and he cannot use enough momentum or force to break the barriers.

"To protect, isn't just to take hits." Fu starts talking as his shield is in his hand, moving closer toward the immobile villains.

"It is also, to be unstoppable and indestructible in your defenses. And the Turtle Miraculous defines that. Did you think that a shield that can be easily destroyed, will not also have a destructive force when used for attack?"

In a second, he vanished few of the barriers separating him and the villains, and immediately slammed Hawkmoth in the face with his shield, before catching him, and ripping the Butterfly Miraculous off his shirt.

Mayura didn't have any time to even catch her breath from the pressure disappearing, before Fu made more, and locked her, and repeating the same process.

In the end, Fu could only look at the unconscious forms of Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sanscoeur, his mind decided on how he should deal with them.

They misused the Miraculouses.

His hands raised his shield...

They tormented people.

His shield was easily stronger than diamond.

All for a selfish desire they think they have the right to fulfill. And he isn't going to be patient with them anymore.

His shield was thrown, towards the very fragile bodies.

Fu didn't regret what he did. He only regretted the fact that this was the only way they would be actually stopped.

And the shield struck.

[storybookprincess]

hi!!! i think i need help with some writing stuff. i have this wip: a hyper-specific and super niche au that requires a lot of research and bullshitting to cover up plot holes. and while i'm super passionate about it, my enthusiasm fluctuates wildly. sometimes i really love it and other times i question myself, saying "this won't work out." because of this, i haven't written anything at all, just random blurbs of dialogue. can you help? how would you tackle my situation? and thanks in advance <3

imagine with me for a second that you’re standing in front of an elephant.  and you have to eat it.  the reasons for this are unimportant, as are your personal feelings towards elephant consumption.  for the purposes of this metaphor, all that matters is that you are standing in front of a 13,000 pound elephant & you have to eat all of it.  how do you possibly manage such an impossible task?

simple.  one bite at a time.

i think very often, we get overwhelmed by the enormity of a task we’re facing.  and we subconsciously believe that we have to do all of it at once.  whether it’s being stuck in quarantine for a year, or writing a big research paper for class, or cleaning a massive pile of dishes at the sink, we look at something huge & imposing & it feels insurmountable.  but in truth, you only have to live through one day of quarantine at a time.  you only have to write one sentence of your paper at a time.  you only have to wash one dish at a time.  and you eat an elephant just one bite at a time.

okay, i’ll ease up on the metaphors now & give straight advice.  instead of feeling like you have to solve every plot issues in your fic or outline every scene or do every bit of research at once, break it up into really manageable chunks & tackle one at a time.  if you want to work on your fic tomorrow, tell yourself “okay, all i need to do in this session is plan out this one chapter.” don’t worry about anything beyond that very small and very manageable goal you’ve set for yourself.  and when you’ve met your goal, take a break.  writing a big, complicated au is an intimidating task, and if you try to imagine yourself writing all of it, you’ll inevitably get overwhelmed & feel like it’s impossible.  instead, just focus on the one task in front of you.  and take it one bite at a time.

it also may be possible that you’re worried, at least subconsciously, that this niche, hyper-specific au won’t appeal to anyone but you, and that there’s no point in writing it.  to help with that, i recommend enlisting a cheer-reader to keep your motivated.  find a friend who you know will be receptive to & supportive about your au.  talk through the plot with them, share your ideas, and let them read chapters & give encouraging feedback.  sometimes, knowing that just one person other than you cares about reading your story makes all the difference in your motivation.

finally, i think it’s worth noting that even if this au never does get completed, the time you spent working on it isn’t wasted.  even if, in the worst case scenario, you don’t finish the whole fic, you’ll have grown as a writer just by thinking through the plot, doing the research, working on the outline, and writing the parts you get to.  writing is much more about the growth & process than the end result, so no time you spend writing is ever truly wasted.  best of luck!!  please know i’m rooting for you!! xo