#i know the other fic was more popular but I finished this one first oops

[sourcherryandsprinkles]

Pretty boy | Ethan Landry x camgirl!reader

Summary: Ethan purchases a private session with his favorite camgirl

Word count: 2k

Warnings: smut, sex work, fingering/jerking off, brief use of toys,

Request: We know Ethan is a virgin. Do you think he would be the type to pay for a private video with a camgirl? I think he would be so shy and blushing. Maybe reader helps him get comfortable and he thank her for making him cum 🥺🥺

my taglists are here + you can send requests here at any time

—

Sex work wasn’t the most glorious job, but opening an Only Fans account helped pay for your college tuition and other expenses. It wasn’t too energy demanding or time consuming — all you had to do was post pictures in lingerie and videos of yourself playing, and talk to your subscribers —, so it was perfect for a busy college student.

You got great tips from livestreams too. Every Tuesday and Sunday, you went live on your Only Fans and that’s where you made the most of your money. Aside from private video sessions. Sometimes, people send you gifts — lingerie sets, toys or accessories — for you to use in future posts.

Seconds after you hit the ‘live’ button, there were already over a hundred people watching. You sat on your knees, your hands lazily running up and down your bare thighs as you watched the numbers of viewers increase with every passing second.

‘’There’s so many of you today.’’

All the way in New York, your voice filtered through Ethan’s dorm room. He was alone tonight, so he was going to take advantage of the situation and…empty his manly bowels. He situated himself on his bed, his laptop on his bed and your beautiful face filling his screen.

‘’Do you like my new set?’’ you asked your viewers, rising on your knees to show off your panty better, making a show to toy at the thin straps on the sides.

The sight made Ethan’s cock strain against the material of his boxers. He lightly palmed himself over the material, wincing slightly at the small bursts of pleasure.

‘’You lot are needy tonight,’’ you pointed out, reading the chat. ‘’Pussyslayer has tipped me 20$ to take off my panties,’’ you read aloud. ‘’And an extra 5$ to play with my pussy. I will…in a few minutes. Can you be patient? Can you be a good boy for me?’’

Ethan typed fast.

goodboy01 Yes. Always a good boy.

You skimmed over the chat. ‘’I’ve got plans for tonight’s livestream.’’ You winked at your audience and reached behind on your bed, grabbing your sparkly pink dildo — a gift from a subscriber — and holding it up to the camera.

A heap of horny and needy men went wild in the chat.

‘’Where should I use it?’’ you asked, holding the phallic shaped object in your hand. ‘’Should I suck on it? See how deep it goes in my mouth?’’ You gave the tip a kitten lick while looking at your camera with hooded eyes. ‘’Or should I put it down here?’’ Your hand traveled down your body and this seemed to be the winner, seeing higher tips being gifted to you. ‘’Okay, okay. Thanks hardcock_69 for the big tip.’’

You chuckled, giving your subscribers what they wanted.

Sitting back, you spread your legs so everyone could have a good view. Your fingers traced the hem of your panties with a teasing smirk on your face, pushing the material of your panties to the side and slowly sinking the toy inside your pussy. Your lips parted in a silent sigh, feeling the girth of the toy stretching you.

‘’Fuck, feels so good,’’ you moaned out, your eyes clenched shut as you slowly started to thrust the dildo in and out. ‘’Feel so fucking full.’’

You continued putting on a show and Ethan could barely remember to breathe as he watched your lips wrap perfectly around the toy. It was an image that would be burned into his head. His sweatpants were pushed down and he tried his best not to moan — whimper — too loud, his hand wrapped around cock as he stroked at a generous pace.

‘’Don’t you wish it’s your big cock inside me?’’ you said to the camera. ‘’You’d fuck me so good, wouldn’t you, baby boy?’’

The tips were coming so fast, some smaller and some more generous, but the audience loved the interaction. You kept going, bringing your free hand to your clit and rubbing it, eliciting a higher moan.

Usually, you dragged out the livestream and interacted personally with your subscribers from the chat, but rent was close and you needed a little more money. So you came and announced that the livestream was going to be short.

‘’Unfortunately, I’m gonna stop here tonight…’’ The chat blew up with people begging you to stay longer and make them cum again or show your tits, but you ignored them. ‘’But if you want more, I will be available for a private video-chat. The places are very limited, so be fast if you want a private moment with me.’’

Looking down at his softening cock and the sticky mess on his hand, Ethan let his hormones type on his laptop and requested a private session. Using his dad’s money on a personal video-chat with a camgirl was utterly stupid, but you were insanely attractive and he really needed to get off — again. He was also dying to have you for himself.

At least for a few minutes.

It was only a few beats before you accepted and Ethan was then rerouted. What first popped up was a webcam that asked ‘join audio and video?’. He clicked on it and a black square appeared, telling him you’ll be there shortly.

While he waited, he tucked himself back into his sweatpants and wiped his hand with a tissue. He didn’t want you to know he had jerked off to your livestream less than seven minutes ago.

When you popped on the screen, Ethan was filled to the brim with lust. You had covered yourself back and had a loosely tied silk robe over your lingerie set.

‘’Holy shit, you’re beautiful.’’ The words had slipped and Ethan covered his mouth, embarrassed by his reaction.

You laughed softly. It was honest and innocent. ‘’Thank you,’’ you replied, smiling sweetly at the curly haired boy. ‘’What’s your name, pretty boy?’’

His flushed cheeks and doe eyes told you he was his first time doing this. It wasn’t your first time though. People tend to be shy and embarrassed at the beginning, and it’s your job to make them relaxed and safe.

‘’E-Ethan.’’

‘’Nice to meet you, Ethan.’’

Pulling your legs under you, you kneeled on the bed as you leaned closer to the laptop. Your cleavage was on the screen and Ethan’s mouth felt dry and his palms were sweaty, remembering how nice your tits were.

‘’I’ve been watching you for a while,’’ he confessed, then immediately regretted it.

‘’Have you? I love my faithful subscribers.’’ You applied a coat of lipgloss to make your lips look juicy. ‘’So,’’ you spoke up again, ‘’what can I do for you?’’

Ethan panicked at the question. He didn’t know what he wanted to see. He didn’t think of that when he clicked on purchasing a private session with you. ‘’Eh, I don’t know. What do you want?’’

‘’You paid for me, pretty boy. What do you want?’’

Most of the things he dreamed of doing to you — with you — were impossible to do through a screen.

You could see his eyes wandering down on the screen from your face to your breasts, so you started from there. ‘’Do you like my outfit?’’ you asked, untying your robe and giving him a better view of your bra. It was lacey and didn’t cover much.

Your hands slipped down your chest and you fiddled with the straps of your bra, teasing your young subscriber. You let them go and reached the underside of your breasts, pushing them up a bit more and letting him see your hard nipples through the lace.

The groan slipped from Ethan’s lips before he could help himself.

‘’You like my tits, baby? Maybe I should take off my bra?’’ you asked him. You removed your robe fully. ‘’What do you say, pretty boy?’’

He nodded and you undid the front clasp, releasing your breasts from the confine of the cups. You rid yourself of it completely, chucking it on the floor.

Ethan’s breath hitched and he reached to palm at the bulge in his sweatpants. ‘’Christ,’’ he cursed under his breath.

A soft grin curled on your lips and you leaned closer to the camera, giving him a great view of your breasts. ‘’You like my tits?’’ Your hands reached up to play with your nipples.

‘’Y-yeah. They're gorgeous.’’

Through your screen, you watched as Ethan’s hand reached below the camera angle and shifted uncomfortably. ‘’Are you hard for me?’’ The boldness of your question seemed to take him by surprise. He nodded. ‘’Show me.’’

Without hesitating, he got rid of his shirt and pushed his laptop back so you could see him, then pulled his cock out of his gray sweatpants. He opened his mouth to apologize for his size, assuming it wasn’t big enough, but you spoke first.

‘’Wow, it’s nice and big,’’ you complimented, swiping your tongue over your lips as your eyes flitter down to Ethan's hand on his dick, eyes sparkling at just how big it looked even in his hand. You had seen bigger dicks, but you were surprisingly impressed by your shy subscriber’s size. It's thick, pretty and pink at the tip. ‘’Stroke it for me.’’

Ethan groaned and began to pump his cock slowly in his hand, wishing that it was yours. Your soft fingers would feel so good wrapped around him. He’s never had anyone touch him like that.

‘’Does that feel good?’’

The curly haired boy nodded, letting out a sigh.

‘’Keep touching, let me hear you.’’

His hand tightened on his erection, the feeling sending shudders down his spine and little whines and moans came out of his mouth, echoing out of your speakers.

‘’You’re being such a good boy,’’ you praised, starting to feel your own arousal sticking to your panties.

Ethan swirled his thumb over the head of his cock and caught the precum before gliding his hand wetly over his length. ‘’Can you play with yourself too?’’

You nodded and complied, slipping your panties down your smooth legs, perfectly shaved and moisturized for the livestream. ‘’I can do everything you want me to. As I said, you paid to see me.’’ You dropped them where your bra was and opened your legs wide so Ethan had a view of your glistening pussy as your fingers came in contact with your clit. ‘’Aah,’’ you sighed as you began to rub it.

You pushed two fingers inside of yourself, already relaxed from having a dildo twenty minutes ago, and let out a moan. Although your job was to pleasure the customer, you were starting to really enjoy this session. Ethan was sweet and good looking — and he had a pretty nice cock.

In his dorm room, Ethan wanted to cry. His cock was aching at the sight on his screen and his hand wasn’t moving fast enough for his liking. Needy whines were slipping from his mouth and turning onto moans, getting louder and louder, and his curly hair was sticking to his forehead annoyingly, but he couldn’t stop pumping.

The counter was getting close to the end of the session — only a few minutes left —, but you chose to ignore it. You didn’t want to stop riding your fingers…and neither did Ethan. He had seen many videos of you playing with yourself, but watching you doing it right before him, for him, was multiplying the pleasure and sending him close to the edge.

‘’I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum,’’ Ethan announced, his face flushed and starting to breathe heavily. He threw his head back, showing the column of his throat and giving you a good view of his Adam apple bobbing as he picked up speed, his stomach muscles tightening.

You activated yourself on your clit, rubbing at it while you were fucking yourself on your other hand. The coil in your stomach was threatening to snap, your thighs shaking with your every move. Your hand was soaked with your arousal, glistening beautifully.

‘’Yes, yes, ye— Aah,’’ he whined out, white spurts of cum shooting out of him as he milked his cock, spurting all over his hand and lower stomach.

You reached your own high at the sight, secretly wishing all that cum was inside you. 

—

Scream taglist: @misfityanii @beautybyfire @iluvscream191 @mariposa555 @bella7866 @o638 @lulubelle14 @luvvtxinityy @frasersgf  @Eddiefrickenmunson @jasperr-the-friendly-ghost @ghostf4cee @thesebitcheslovesosadotcom @wandaswigglywoos @xjennyx2 @jennasslut @thatonesblog  @mikaelsonsstuff @icarly23 @tcddszn  @bt.oliana  @skyesthebomb @a1mzcruml3y @red1culous @iluurmom @popeheywardssecretgf @michaelangdonsslut @byhrxb @kamthecoolest @kattybug @ravenstrueluv @landryslxys

All and more taglist: @spiokybirdstarfish @kenqki @liidiaaag @hawkegfs  @gillybear17  @areaderinlove @acornacreacure @black-rose-29 @fudge13 @cece05 @rosie-cameron @Caxddce @laylasbunbunny @gemofthenight @beautyb1ade  @hi-bored-as-fcuk-rn  @lovelyy-moonlight @mellabella101 @vxnity713  @marzipaanz  @bisexualgirlsblog @queenofslytherin889 @thatbxtchesblog @softb-tterfly

[sunkissed-zegras]

Paige 100% sends those pictures of two inanimate object and goes “us if we were___”

Like two soap bottles touching tips “us if we were soap”

Paige def just scrolls through your phone gallery, looking at your pictures. Staring fondly and going “my wife’s so pretty.” and “Why didn’t you send me this????” (I just thought of a whole fic on this idea oml i’m getting Hot)

Anytime you send a photo to Paige honestly, she’s going off on Imessage just hyping you up.

OMG THEY HAVE A SHARED PHOTO ALBUM. BUT BUT BUT it’s not just photos of themselves, it’s also like “I saw this and was thought of you.” Photos like OSXBUDHANA

Loves listening to you talk so she brings up things she knows you love talking about.

——-

Also that motherfucker definitely makes the manager mad on purpose cuz she thinks it’s cute when the managers angry. (The manager being furious is a whole different situation.) And it doesn’t help that Paige is taller.

Manager will just be ranting at paige whilst paige is just smiling the whole time.

The manager notices and goes “and you’re just smiling like shits funny, ain’t nothin funny-“ “you’re just so cute princess”

oop

that shut her up real quick

“Paige’s get the fuck outta my office.” but like she’s all flustered and Paige can tell

——

I think you touched on this, but when they get together and yk, have to keep it on the low for a multitude of reasons.

One one hand it sucks cuz yk, Paige can’t brag like she wants to yet. But on the other hand Paige is a cocky little shit and will take the opportunity to be handsy and flirty (to a certain degree) knowing that the girls aren’t gonna think too much of it cuz paige has always been like that, But Paige and the manager both know there’s more reason to it now.

BUT NEVER FRETE our manager can play the same game Paige, don’t start stuff you can’t finish. Then it lowkey become just a personal game for them of who could fluster the other more without the team getting suspicious.

Contrary to popular belief I think the Manager and Paige made a bet on how long with would take the team to figure out they were together. So they didn’t tell them outright, but just went along letting them figure it out themselves.

——

I also feel like people started noticing the dynamic change. Like don’t get me wrong the managers job comes first so Paige isn’t getting any extreme special treatment, but the girls and fans start noticing the managers tone switch when she’s talking to Paige.

Her tone just gets a bit softer and more gentle.

Like there’s this clip of manager talking to Caroline normally, then Paige calls her and manager turns and goes “yes baby?” so softly AND LIKE the “baby” isn’t what gets people cuz again, manager calls everyone by pet names. It’s HOW quickly her tone changes as soon as she started talking to Paige.

And we already know Paige’s eye contact game goes crazy and she has a STARRING PROBLEM, if I had a nickel for how many times Paige was caught staring at the manager I would be buying everyone on this blog canes oml.

Manager doesn’t really strike me as a person who shies away from eye contact most of the time, which is evident cuz there’s clips of them just starting at each other and you can FEEL THE TENSION.

But when manager does shy away from it, Paige either grabs her chin and turns her face back to her, or if she can’t Paige moves her head to try and stay in the managers eye sight.

Or let’s say Paige is talking and manager gets distracted by something. Paige is grabbing her cheeks gently with both hands, saying “Hey, I’m right here pretty girl.” while gently rubbing her cheeks with her thumbs, then drops her hands from her face and just goes back to talking.

-🐹

(girl request that fic idea i wanna hear it now) THIS ENTIRE ASK IS GOLD I AM PUTTING IT IN THE MASTERLIST ASAPPPPP!!!!!

the shared photo album is soooo real!!!!! and paige is the one who puts the most pictures cus baby girl is a sentimental person she wants to take pics of EVERYTHING!

i feel like paige wants to think she's the winner every time yall play that "who can make the other flustered without the team noticing" game but honestly, why is the manager lowkey a rizzler????? likeeeeeee paige would pretend not to blush but its super obvious

AND THE TONE CHANGE IS SOOOO SO REAL, ur so right!!!!!! and its kinda obvious but the girls don't wanna say anything yet but they'll def tease them.

the whole eye contact thing made me melttttt goodnight!!!!

[minkkumaz]

WHAT'S THE ANSWER FOR ME + YOU?

although woonhak was deemed the golden boy of your school, he lacked in academics. when he goes to the pretty girl (whom also has a tad bit of a crush on him) in the library for math help, how'd he know you'd be this cute?

PAIRING kim woonhak x fem!reader WC 1.1k TAGS adults dni. so much fluff it hurts. mutual pining. OMI NOTE my sweet boy omg i love writing for him. tbh i wrote this as a distraction for the other woonhak fic i started oops. not proofread sorry for mistakes hehe

november was cloudy, as if the sun was too shy to peek over the soft blankets that covered the sky. despite the dreariness, his spirit was always there. kim woonhak was the golden boy of your academy. the school’s star athlete, good at winning over hearts and games.

though he had far from perfect grades, he was good at getting away with an f every now and then. however this wasn’t the most ideal.

sometimes you sat inside of the library, taking in the smell of new books. you had no practical reason to be there, but the quiet environment was good enough for you. you weren’t used to the popularity scene like he was. and though everything in your heart was telling you to talk to him, you just couldn’t.

that specific day, you settled on the floor with your back against the hard books. notebooks, pencils, and a laptop was sprawled out everywhere, but not so much that people couldn’t walk past you. you had an immense headache from cramming in an assignment last minute. because of this, you hardly noticed the body that was towering over you, until he spoke.

“hey! your name is y/n, right?” his voice was alluring like honey dripping down your throat, and a striped cardigan draped over his messily buttoned shirt and slightly loose tie. 

but in that moment you froze. admiring him for so long wasn’t considered as practice for actually talking to him.

“hi, yes! um, am i in your way?” you hurry to scoot away but he hesitantly places a hand on your shoulder to stop you.

“no not at all!” he tells you anxiously. in his mind he was thinking you were much prettier in person.

“then what’s up?” you felt small in comparison to his large figure. 

“the counselor sent me over to you actually! she said i’d find you here.” he explained, “i need someone to tutor me.”

“you need a tutor?” you questioned with a confused expression on your face.

“yeah.. they’re going to pull me out of basketball if i don’t get my math grade up. and a little birdie told me you were one of the best.” he grinned at you happily and held his hand out for you to get up.

“oh! well i think i have some time right now. i just finished my assignment so you’re in luck.” you quickly grab your things and shove them into your bag before taking his hand.

the touch of his hand on yours made the both of you blush, swiftly pulling away after you were on your feet. you followed behind him to one of the nearest tables, setting your things down beside you before taking a seat.

“so ahm, what specifically were you needing help with?” you ask, pulling out your math notebook and flipping through the chapters.

“literally everything! like how do you even add exponents with different bases?” he whined next to you, letting his head fall onto the desk. 

“no i totally get how that can be tricky!” you laugh, “here i’ll write down an example.”

conversation throughout the rest of the study session flowed smoothly. despite it being your first proper interaction, he knew how to make you smile. 

a stupid joke here and then, sometimes a wink, or his hand grazing slightly against yours. what were you even saying?

meeting up became more frequent between the two of you. it came to the point where you met every tuesday and thursday for the remainder of the month. he wasn’t difficult to teach, but there were time’s he’d zone out in the middle of your mini lesson.

you wondered what went on in his mind, but every part of you wanted to hope you were the one he thought about.

“woon! are you even listening to me?” you frown, snapping your fingers infront of the boy.

“yes yes, i’m sorry i’m just a little sidetracked today.” he sighs, scribbling nothings onto his paper.

“we have our math exam next week and you’ve been doing so much better than when we met for the first time. you can’t be lacking on me now!” you pout at him. it was maybe your eighth time studying in the library together.

“you’re just so pretty, it’s distracting.” he says quietly, not exactly loud enough for you to hear.

“what?” you tilt your head a little.

“nothing! it’s nothing i promise.” he leans his head back, groaning, “there’s just this problem i’m really having trouble figuring out.” “what kind of problem, i’m sure we can find a solution to it.” your interest was piqued. why would he get so worked up over a math problem?

“i don’t think i’m ready to ask you yet, i want to try to figure it out on my own first.” he sighs into his hands, barely getting a glimpse of you through the cracks of his fingers.

“you want to figure it out on your own? when’d you get so independent without me?” you fake a sad expression.

“okay okay, i’ll write it down for you then. but close your eyes!” he gives in, ripping off a sticky note from the pad you took out earlier.

covering your eyes, your other senses seem to heighten. you can hear the rough writing of his pencil against the note he stole from your pile of supplies. he hesitates in between what you can only assume are numbers, before you feel him press the paper against your forehead.

“open your eyes now.” 

your vision is covered slightly from the note, so you can hardly see him fidgeting with his hands. when you peel it off to read, you’re met with a very mysterious question.

‘what’s the answer for me + you?’

“huh? what does this mean woonhak..?” you squint, re - reading the same words over and over again.

“um..” he laughs nervously, “i just don’t want us to be just friends yknow? i really really like you.”

“woon i–”

“i don’t know i just think i’d be a little heartbroken if i had to see you smile so prettily everyday and not be able to call you my.. girlfriend.” he rambled, “but you don’t have to say anything yet! don’t even worry or anything i know this is kinda sudden and we’ve only been hanging out for so long but–”

you interrupt him with a gentle kiss against his lips. he smiles against yours, placing his hands perfectly against your flush cheeks to pull you closer.

“i really like you too, woonhak.” you let your head fall heavy into his hands after finally pulling away, staring at him blissfully.

“i guess i have my answer then, right?”

© 2023 minkkumaz, all rights reserved support your writers by reblogging + giving feedback! it is greatly encouraged and appreciated. thank you! → why feedback + reblogging is so important. ~ (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ if you'd like, donate to minkkumaz !

[dandylovesturtles]

For the ask game! :)

LMNSTU

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Usually as I'm writing it (assuming I don't just do it all in one sitting), I'll come back and give it a read over and edit before I start back to work, and then I read over it once more before I post it. that's usually it though. I'm lazy when it comes to editing lol. pretty much all my fics are first drafts.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

well, I do still want to write the fic about Splinter's son (that he didn't know he had) stumbling into their lives post-movie. I have a post about it on here somewhere.

the fic I MEANT to write after I was done with IMBI (before a different AU plagued my brain, which I've been actively working on) is a fic whose working title is "Mikey and Donnie's Step-by-Step Guide for Saving Your Doomed Family," which is the obligatory peepaw fic. It follows Mikey and Donnie, post-movie, building a cross-dimensional time machine to try and save the bad future Hamatos and bring them to the saved present. It's told from Mikey and Donnie's POVs and has a heavy focus on their relationship, both pre- and post-Krang invasion.

I do still really want to write it, it's just that this other thing completely consumed my creative energy. oops.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

uhhh idk. I have lots of ideas all the time that I'll probably never write just because, you know, time and labor lol, but not really any I can think of to put here.

this is the nice thing about fandom kinkmemes (or whatever you would call a SFW kinkmeme), if you have an idea you don't want to write yourself you can just go drop it in a comment and let someone else write it.

I have already answered S

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

uhhhh I think my biggest thing that is Popular In Fandom but I Don't Like is AUs that bring fantastical canons into our reality and like, have the characters going to college or working office jobs or whatever. so "modern AUs," except it bums me out that that's the name we settled on because actual modern times in the setting of a fantasy canon could be really fun! Like, I don't want the "modern AU" Dragon Age to have Hawke working at a coffee shop and taking writing classes at the local uni, I want it to have them fighting darkspawn on top of a skyscraper. or like, you can have the Gaang going to college, but why can't they bend anymore! just let them have it!

FFXV is one of my favorite canons purely because it actually shows some of the thought behind like, what if a world had normal modern technology (they're driving around in modern cars and using smartphones) but also monsters and gods and magic. but so many fantasy settings in fiction are either medieval or do the bullshit where you have the "magic world" hidden from the "normal world". no! boring! I want to know how legislative proceedings are affected when congressmen can challenge each other to wizard duels. expand your mind!

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

this is list is not in any particular order:

taizi is an amazingly talented writer, there are so many lines in their fics that make me go "wow", and they have such a grasp on character and emotion. they also have some great One Piece fics!

MagicalSpaceDragon is another absolutely incredible writer. their "theseus, and" series is particularly good, but I actually have them in my bookmarks for one of my favorite ROTTMNT fics of all time, "i guess we've really been out of touch (but can it really be so serious)"

and reccing my friend Kiaxet, who is also an amazing writer who mixes hilarity, angst, and heartwarming moments with a deft hand. I'm so excited for the rest of her "Siblingquest 20XX" fic, but all her fics are amazing!

and while they aren't a TMNT writer, I wanna shout out Asidian, who has written several of my favorite FFXV fics (including and especially "Running Behind", which is one of the best MT!Prompto fics, right up there with "poor wayfaring stranger"), and also has some amazing Rise of the Guardians fics (I especially love "Bits and Pieces", which has my favorite trope of "hungry character gets fed", but "Every Boy And Girl" also makes me cry everytime).

thanks for the ask!

[milkteamoon]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @shinyopals thank youuuu

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 42!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 340,042

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently and primarily The Magnus Archives — I only rarely write for multiple fandoms at a time. In the past I've written for Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Deltarune, Victoria's Electric Coffin......a friend and I used to write OC/Black Butler crossover fics in like, middle school lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Cicada Summar (JSHK, rated T, gen) — Pre-canon JSHK backstory fic

No Sort of Name for People Like Us (TMA, rated T, jmart) — mid s3 practice kissing fic

Our Own Personal Hell (TMA, rated T, jmart) — s2 time loop shenanigans

Tongue to Teeth (TMA, rated T, jmart) — victorian monster hunting au

Check Each Box That Applies (TMA, rated T, jmart) — s2 lunch dates and personal discussions

Cicada Summer was posted at the height of JSHK fandom popularity, so I don't think that one is super representative of my "best" fics, though I do think that No Sort of Name is pretty good haha

5. Do you respond to comments? I do my best to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Prooobably Hazy Days of December...I got a lot of people yelling at me for that one haha (even if I don't think it's too bad? It's open ended at least)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Umm I'm not sure! I think most of my fics are happy endings...maybe Worth More Than All the Silence

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've gotten a few weird comments but I don't think I've ever gotten anything outright hateful

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've written a few fics but must of my smut stays in the Google docs. My asexual ass likes things more focused on the humorous lead up and/or kink than the actual sex part haha

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I think the closest thing I've written to a crossover is the doctor who au I wrote earlier this year — I don't really write proper crossovers :,)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Don't think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Me and @indigosienna attempted to write a collab fic back in 2020, but we both ended up falling off of it before we finished (oops). The first chapter is still good though I think!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? HARD question, but jmart and hananene both have very special places in my heart

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Too many fic ideas to list haha

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at humor and getting into a character's head. Also love writing an emotionally charged scene

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue heavy scenes are the WORST (writing dialogue tags without sounding stupidly repetitive...shaking my fist at the sun). Also forever complaining about editing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't know any other languages well enough to do so

19. First fandom you wrote for? I have vague memories of writing warrior cats fanfiction waaaaay back in the day

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? This is a haaaaard question but currently I'd have to say 1. Learning the Ropes — I originally started this for the RQ big bang in June and didn't make it to the deadline, so it felt like a big accomplishment to actually finish it. Plus I just really like delving into that era of canon and Jon and Martin's whole not-quite-dating shtick they have going on. And 2. Tongue to Teeth — I really love this fic and this au and I was noooot at all expecting the love for it I ended up getting on it. I love this silly au and I'm glad others do as well :,)

Not sure who has been tagged so! Sorry for any repeats! @rakel-on-ao3 @asleeb @thatsrightdollface @crit20lesbian @phynoma @lo-fi-charming @pinehutch @cnnmonbimee

[monstersinthecosmos]

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

djasgkasd ahh im blushing

I wanna shoutout @johaerys-writes for leaving fucking BOOK REPORTS on my Sheith fics but I'll give a VC answer since ur a VC friend hahaha

This one is like the first time I ever got a BIG GIANT COMMENT on a fic and I was like ???????? SO MOVED? SO EMOTIONAL??? It made me cry? They noticed all the Easter Eggs I stitched in? The only person who noticed it was a reverse POV of another fic I'd already shared???????? Gosh like. !! I would go back to this comment and read it sometimes when I was feeling down about my writing and it motivated me so much.

This thread from VC FANDOM OLD cloudsinvenice on So Falls the World, she also left comments on the other chapters too and just like, what thoughtful thoughts!!!!! I love that she always understands that I want my comment section to be a comment section like I shared these ideas so that we could yell about it in the comments and get into the meta!!!!!!!!!!! And this fic in particular I think I was working out a lot of stuff about my abusive ex so like some of what she picked up on had been subliminal/accidental for me and I was just so happy and flattered to see !!!!!!!!

Also idk if it's obnoxious to mention two comments on the same fic but a more recent one on that fic was from @apoptoses and I'M JUST SO EMOTIONAL WHEN PEOPLE GET ME i'm sobbing

And this of course is the first Ao3 comment I ever received on my first fic I'd shared in YEARS and I was so nervous if anyone would like it or if anyone would get mad ;.; @megthegreat thank u for making me feel at home in this fandom it meant the world

Really I cannot stress enough how important it is to leave comments on the fics you read. There's a reason why writers love writing praise kink oops. But I've seen this happen when people complain that there's no fic to read but they're not leaving comments, encouraging the writers, making them feel like they are appreciated and welcome in fandom and like the time they spent writing wasn't wasted. I work really hard to balance my writing with internal validation and not leave it to others to validate me but at the same time, it really is hard to be motivated without the feedback sometimes. It's hard to know if I'm an okay writer. Like my most popular popular VC fic has like 6000 hits and 19 comments. I posted it 6+ years ago lol that's like, 3 comments a year. 🙃 It just feels bad like I always imagine people are noping out, not finishing, or don't like it enough to take a few seconds to comment. FEELS BAD MAN. Embarrassing tbh LOL.

I'm so grateful for comments and I hate crying about numbers because there's always gonna be someone whose hit/comment ratio is way worse and I don't want them to feel bad about it but . Man it's not motivating to keep writing and sharing when no one wants to talk to you.

[the-toad-in-your-piano]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged in this by the darling @once-in-a-blue-moon-rising. What a perfect break from my desperate scrambling to finish NaNoWriMo (haha).

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

61!

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

400,820. Blue included an average per work, so I'm going to shamelessly steal that idea--- comes out to a little over 6,500 per work.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Sherlock, principally. I have written a touch of Grantchester (more unpublished than published, solely because I keep forgetting to finish them), one Hotel Portofino fic, and a Downton Abbey/Sherlock crossover. I keep meaning to write more for Downton, but I can never find the time!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All five of my tops are Mystrade, of course!

Our Love Keeps the Things It Finds - I will shamelessly admit that I am very proud of this one. It's 25k words of soulmate-tattoo fic featuring a heavily tattooed Mycroft, which I always found a rather interesting (and enchanting) idea.

Crimson Blaze - My longest fic by far at 123k words. It has a little of everything--- some Mycroft whump, disguises, awkward friends with benefits, and badass Anthea.

Flowers - On a silly little whim, I wrote a funny thing about Greg's teenage daughter meeting Mycroft for the first time. It ended up being surprisingly well-liked and I've since written a few other pieces featuring her. It's about 5k words.

Of Blue Suits and Brollies - I find it hilarious that this is in my top 5. My very first PWP I ever wrote. It's only about 4k words.

No Fear of Shadows - I am still surprised that this one was so popular. I wrote it while in a rather soppy mood because I thought it would be funny. It's 6k words about Mycroft introducing Greg to some of his colleagues at a fancy work function.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do! Not quickly, though. I try my very, very hardest to get to all of them, but it doesn't always happen in a timely manner.

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

I've got two from my Febuwhump series that I think tie for it. Stay Awake, Beautiful wins angstiest just in terms of stress-- the actual ending is ambiguous, but I find it stressful just to read. All Lives End, of course, begins with a death and deals with the fallout. That one's pretty rough.

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

Right after finishing Flufftober is an awkward time for this question, because I now have twenty-something separate fics with stupidly happy endings. But I think the title goes to Forevermore.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I'm very lucky to say I don't!

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

Yes, though it's not the majority of my work. I have only a couple of PWPs and two or three longer works with smutty elements. And my current NaNoWriMo project is turning out FAR smuttier than I had originally intended. Oops.

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

Just one! The only one I've done is the Downton Abbey/Johnlock crossover (Love and the Hunter) for Fandom Trumps Hate. It was loads of fun.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so! I've done a bit of detective-ing to trace others' stolen works, so I occasionally check up on mine just in case. Thankfully, I'm in a niche enough corner of the fandom that no one seems to want to bother me :)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

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

No, but I beta for one! It's a fabulous OCxCanon work for My Hero Academia that I will shamelessly plug at all times. The Stray.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Mystrade <3

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

I've not posted it, but I've got a few thousand words of a Mystrade Hollywood Golden Age AU that I don't think I'll ever complete. I'm okay with that; some things are meant to remain daydreams.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I can be funny, sometimes. I think I'm alright at building moods for whatever I'm trying to achieve.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh, I'm very chatty. I can unnecessarily wax on and on for thousands and thousands of words. I find dialogue a bit of struggle too, sometimes, since my instinct is always to spell out every detail when there's often lots that can go unsaid.

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

I don't really do it; I'm not confident enough in another language to trust it. I have done it, though, but just once. I think. It was a line from La Bohème for Our Love Keeps the Things It Finds and I think it was only said in the original Italian once.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter, at the tender age of ten or so. Written by flashlight in the backs of my notebooks.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Oh, gosh, this question is so hard!! I've written quite a lot that I just adore. The title is shared, I think, between That Breathless Charm and Look After You for being things I reread for my own comfort, haha.

This was such fun to fill out! Open tag here-- if you fill it out, please tag me! I'd love to read it :)

[applesandbannas747]

For the fic writer ask, 10, 34 and 38?

ahh!! thank you for playing more silly ask games with meee <33

10. How do you decide what to write?

whatever makes my brain go brrrr. lmfao I have a million ideas that collect in my brain (and then get jotted down in notes lest I forget them all), and then from them I'll kinda pick what to write based on a couple of things: interest level at the moment of choosing, ship, length, and genre.

Biggest thing that indicates something will be written immediately is when I start composing scenes in my head while falling asleep or zoning out--that usually means it's Time to work on that project, but that's not always how things get picked.

I do try (and I used to be better at it) to stagger my fics in a way that keeps my readers happy/interested. So I try to even out the Nichoji v Eugesse ratio I write, meaning if I just finished a long Eugesse fic, I'd look to choose from a Nichoji idea. And generally when I'm working on longer projects, little ones will pop up to keep the crops diversified in my brain and all that--and those ones always kinda happen on whims/accident and then get stored away for months/years until I have a posting gap they can fill. And genre lmfaooo it was my intention to give people realistic fiction between my fantasy bullshit but that particular criterion has been given up on and I've just accepted it at this point

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

ooo I've said it before but my love for my family and relationship with my siblings really influences the way I write the Labaos--none of the Labao children are based on me or any of my siblings and none of the relationships were copy pasted onto them, but the strong basis of love and bullshittery everything is built on is from my life. and of course the mental illness do be sneaking into all the Fence boys lmfao oops

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

honestly fucking baffled in the best way when my things get popular lmfao i still can't believe people like some of my stories so much! There's probably four that I think completely surprised me

Fairy Bound gained a lot of fans I was not expecting, especially given the size of the fandom (it's not super big and I thought it had died out a lot more than it has because it's older) and the controversy of the ship (human/fairy with large age gap, you know the drill). I think one of the reasons it got so popular is because of it being a T-rated and longer fic for the ship when most of the longer fics for them were M or E and so it filled a niche? Also it was canon compliant (at least until the sequel series came out...but i don't really see those as canon anyway so my thing still fits into the OG canon yknow?)

More was my very first Fence fic that I wrote because I could not find ANY Nichoji kissing fics and wanted those fuckers to kiss. Which, I think, is why other people liked it, but I was so surprised (in a good way) with how many people commented on it and wanted to read more. It remains my most-kudo'd fence fic, which has honestly got to be from its time accumulating those kudos XD but it makes me smile whenever I get a new kudos on it because it's nice to know that people still like it since it was what jumpstarted my time in the fence fandom

Can't Get Over You is one that baffled me for ages because I had a great time writing it, but I don't think it's my strongest fic by far...and then I realized that maybe other people are as terrible as I am and enjoy the trope of Nick fucking up really bad being mean to Seiji and making him cry, then having to spend ages getting him to believe he loves him. Sometimes makes me wonder if I should post more with that trope or if it would be too upsetti spegetti XD

And then Promised Things I seriously didn't expect to get much traction, and yet, it surpassed Truths, my until-then legacy fic...Turns out business romance is a whole genre that people do be enjoying but I just thought I was being boring because how does 'businessman au' sound appealing to anyone at all except the dumb asshole who wrote it??? also i made so many lingerie jokes in that one and am still delighted that y'all just let me get away with it

[zgvlt]

Hello again, this is the same anon from here

Honestly any fanfic would do, a series or one shot that seems to have really good writing. I've been trying to look for well written one shots for awhile on tumblr. My friend on here actually introduced me to your blog, they speak very highly of you. But other than your blog I did find people who write in detail but they're from another fandom sadly:(

A questio, do you know the self aware twisted wonderland AU? It's a very interesting AU. You should see the one shots made for the AU although they don't write in detail as much but their ideas for said AU is very interesting, nowadays most of the things being posted about the AU is all about writing letters to your favorite characters instead of one shots so that's why I was hoping you could give me a few recommendations:)

ohhhh i think i understand better now yes. and yes, i know about the self-aware AU! it was popular in the mysmes fandom too haha, it's a fun au for any game. i think a couple of writers have done their take on it so i don't really know who you're referring to or who did it first haha

regardless i guess i'll recommend fics (and honestly? just writers) i personally enjoy, and you can see if they're to your taste as well! or you can scroll through their masterlists yourself! and also this is my opportunity to talk about my talented mutuals oopsies

sorry for the tags pls forgive me hehe 🤗

i already talked about this in a post a few months ago, but i love anything written by @traumxrei-archive !! one of trau's leona fics titled "the shape of one's heart" is an easy new favorite of mine, i love character studies so much and screams and falls into a pit. and speaking of series! trau has a mini series based on fairy gala, fittingly named "the fairy gala collection"... and then and then just... trau's fics <3 heart eyes only!!

these are short but intimate... which makes sense because "fondness found amongst fleeting intimacy" [part 1 w/ idia, vil, mal, crewel] [part 2 w/ savanaclaw boys] by @twsthearts i just think about them every so often, the title itself enraptured me and i was just compelled to read and i had no regrets knox if u see this i adore ur writing sm i always feel like i'm reading one of my poetry books or the diaries of novelists excerpts from your works feel like they belong on a book, and then a pinterest girlie will be so in love they'll scan it and post it on their board

@twstedstoryshop hi okay so i'm going to admit i haven't finished shopkeep's full catalogue yet but i'm going to say "convenient marriage" (deuce historical AU) is probably my favorite bc i just... historical AUs, but i also enjoy "funny thing called fate" (azul soulmate AU) because i'm predictable and I think soulmate AUs are the best!!

@kaiijo ying...!!! such charming writing...! "magnetic" (azul frenemies to lovers) might be to your taste! although i am a simple human and the love triangle [part 1] [part 2] ones are my favorites dreamy sighing

i haven't actually read any of these yet (bc i want to binge all of them in one day oops) but since you mentioned series of one shots i thought of "the who does the prefect like" collab bc some of my (again, talented!) mutuals are participating in it i think it's worth checking out!

these are all i can think of right now off the top of my head that you might enjoy but if i think of more i'll reblog this!

anyway to whoever else is reading this feel free to recommend me some fics as well because i have not been reading a lot of fanfic lately hjsjsjsd i haven't had the time to finish my mutuals masterlists cries +++

i would love to follow more people ahhhh give me your recs &lt;3

[jeongjaebae]

fic summary 2k22

ayeee so it's that time of year again!! i know i haven't posted much in 2022 (like... just a handful of fics oops) but i still hit a decent word count and made significant progress on long fic wips!

so yeahhh here's my 2022 fic summary which is... basically a chance to introduce my wips LOL

Total word count written: 89,033

Total word count published: 33,243

Fandoms written: tbz and svt

1. Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or what you predicted?

a bit less!! it's about half as much as i wrote last year (which was a whooping 150k word count LMAO), but this range is already more than the average for me in any given year so it's not too bad. in terms of what i POSTED though... i have no excuse for that 😅 most of my word count is from wips/ideas so i didn't have any finished content to post

2. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

last january i definitely didn't know i would write for svt!! i kind of had a feeling that deobiblr was already dying at the time, and that's around when i started watching going seventeen to get into them... but yeah didn't know i'd slip so deep into the carat life (blaming you, kim mingyu 😒)

3. What’s your own favourite story of the year?

it's a time loop au wip that i've written about 19k so far!! where our mc is stuck in a loop trying to change their fate of unrequited love by meeting [boy group member] first before his current gf does. so mc tries to alter events and change the course of fate all while trying to figure out a way to leave the loop

4. Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

uhHHhhH the time loop au i suppose is a risk in itself... bc like... plotting it has been a complete pain when you're trying to consider multiple reruns of the same timeline. every detail has to be in the right place so that when the mc's actions change, we can directly see how that affects the events in the timeline

also writing domestic fluff like i did in best boy... can't say i enjoyed it but it was a good challenge!!

5. Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year?

post the damn hyunjae e2l already 💀 (takes one to know one)

From my past year of writing, what was…

My best story of this year:

the time loop au ahahaha but if we're talking posted fic then the whole truth!! it has a bit of everything: decent flow and sentence structures, some important themes, tiny bit of humour, and gotta love f2l ju

My most popular story of this year:

the whole truth!! i reread this kind of recently and think it really is my best in terms of flow and sentence structure. also i really haven't posted anything else so.... yeah 😶

Most fun story to write:

hmm besides my two biggest wips i'd say it's this jogging au i wrote back in april!! where mc gets roped into a jogging date with [cute dating app boy] despite hating all kinds of exercise. it's definitely the typical jeongjaebae style of humour, secondhand embarrassment, and fluff. very fun to write and has me laughing every time i reread it LMAO

Story with the single sexiest moment:

probably the whole truth, the scene where they're making out in juyeon's room LMAO. srry i have no other contributions this year. BUT!!! my e2l wip has the full and extended scene from want so that's something to look forward to 👀

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:

best boy. maybe it's not terrible but idk i haven't touched it since writing it bc i hate it 🤡 domestic fluff is... not my cup of tea. i suppose it was a good writing challenge tho. maaaaybe i'll write it one day but... needs a bit more practice

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

hmm maybe 1 plus 1? writing it made me obsessed with the (og) guy in it and he shot way up my bias list. and like. i'm still in that phase rn LOL

Hardest story to write:

oh boy it's deffs the time loop au. still stuck on the plot tbh? there's just so much planning and then... the thought of it reaching 50k or something... makes me tired OTL. it's exciting to think about but at the same time, there are way too many details i still have to write. it's a bit of a struggle

Biggest surprise:

surprise surprise who knew i would be writing for svt?!? and the one piece of angst that i wrote: all that we are

Most unintentionally telling story:

let's go with the whole truth. i loved some of the concepts and moral lessons in there, like how we're not made to be someone else's object of desire. why should we exist to be beautiful to others? and the other part about how love is deeper than what an app can tell us.

Favourite opening lines:

ehh nothing i particularly like but here we go

[better than the movies]

the most relatable sentence

If your life was a movie, at this moment, you’d be that introvert at a party.

[jogging date wip]

ahh.... relatable once again. the opening here sets the tone perfectly

"Yeah, of course. A jogging date sounds perfect." That was the moment you knew you fucked up.

Favourite closing lines:

nothing will beat this is how we fall but here are some that i like

[takes one to know one]

this actually isn't at the veryyy end of my wip rn but will probably change it and make it the actual ending later bc it's so fitting!! potential spoiler i guess but not really bc we all knew what was coming right?

When he pulls back and you see the fondness in his eyes, you realize that maybe the two of you aren't so different. He may have been an asshole, but you'd pretty much been one too. You were insanely competitive but only so that you could match up to his level. And even though it took a while for you to understand your feelings for him, now you know that he's felt the same way all along. Indeed, the two of you are more similar than you think. But then again, it takes one to know one.

[the whole truth]

they went through so much and this wrapped it up nicely. the silence especially is a powerful symbol here

When Juyeon takes the final step and crosses into your range this time, the silence is something you’ve never been happier to hear.

Favourite lines from anywhere:

[the whole truth]

important life lessons 101. if someone doesn't like you that's their problem not yours LOL. why should it be your job to be likeable?

"It’s not embarrassing to not be loved back. Painful, yes, but not something to be ashamed of. You weren’t put on this world just to become someone else’s object of desire, okay?"

[time loop au wip]

not quite closing lines but could kind of be similar to that

The two of you don't talk about, but it's all too evident anyway. It's evident when you lean into him as the night gets colder, head against the crook of his shoulder, and then in the way he shifts so that his lips meet yours. It's evident in the way he kisses you, with the sweetest of a first kiss, the bitterness of a last kiss, and the constancy of making the same choice in every loop, every timeline, every lifetime.

Scenes from anywhere you would have choose to have illustrated:

for the sake of referencing posted fics, i would say the ending of redo where they're on the bench under the mistletoe!

(in terms of wips: time loop au where y/n and [redacted] are watching fireworks from homecoming week!!)

New year’s resolutions:

finish and post that damn hyunjae e2l already OTL. and like... probably finish the time loop au if possible

Word Count Totals

Total finished, posted fic: 33,243

Longest posted fic:  the whole truth ~14.2k

Longest wip: hyunjae e2l is sitting at 25k still... and time loop au at 19k... 🥲

Total number of words written: 89,033

[nimata-beroya]

End of Year Wrap Up

I was tagged by my bestie @takadasaiko Thanks dearie!

Total number of completed works

6 in total: Welcome to Yavin IV (Part of Road to Lira San series); Running Out of Air, Something in the Dark, Ramaanla, and The Tables are Turned (as part of Whumptober); and High Above the Ground (for Foxiyo Week).

Total number of WIPs worked on this year

3 new works plus 1 old one. The Enemy Within (from Road to Lira San series); How to Save a Life (for Whumptober); and Deconstructed Reality (Kalluzeb minibang) are the new ones. I also updated Sandawuni Va Umtidagir (Unbreakable Bond) that it was first published in 2020.

WIPs neglected this year

The only one that I truly neglected and was first published in 2022 was Deconstructed Reality, but I have Rough Awakening from the previous year that is even more neglected. Oops 😅

Fandoms I've written in

1 (Counting Star Wars as a whole, or 4 sub fandoms)

Total word count

37,083 words published (+ over 15k words written for unpublished new works/updates)

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you expected?

*sighs* A lot less 😞 I thought 2022 was going to be the year of my comeback to writing, big time! It was not.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I think I did in 2 instances. I started writing for my own OCs in a massive project that will expand to at least 4 multichaptered fics, if not more (Yikes 😬), and I did a little experiment with changing the type of narrator in one of my Whumptober fics.

Do you have any goals for the new year?

My goal is updating the WIPs I neglected last year and continue on the ones are still halfway in the story, and write and publish the 2 first installments of my "Insurrection" series, and work on the third, which is the longest on the series. If I can manage, I'll post that as well if I finish writing it.

Biggest disappointment?

The lack of inspiration brought up by the writer's block that hit me a large part of the year. I thought I was going to write a lot more, since I got my new laptop at the beginning of 2022, but it never happened.

Biggest surprise? 

How the idea of participating in febuwhump (which I never actually did) with a single multichap fic, stringing up all the prompts together, turned into the "Insurrection" series. How 28 whump prompts turned into not less than 4 long fics, I don't know. I guess it was my head adding plot points after plot points. This project seems daunting but I'm determined to pull it off.

Most popular story of the year?

Welcome to Yavin IV, definitely. It's the one that has more hits, likes, and bookmarks of all the works I published in 2022. Although, Deconstructed Reality is the most commented and with more subscriptions, but being for a mini-bang, that it was expected.

What's your own favorite story of the year? 

Oof! That's hard to decide. There's always something special in each of my fics, for a reason or another. I can't choose, so all of them 😆

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion

I think it might be The Tables Are Turned. If I compare its stats with that of the rest of my Kalluzeb fics, it has a noticeable less engagement from readers. I think that since I hinted at kink stuff very mildly in it (and tagged it as such), people were scared off. It's a shame, because the kink stuff I mentioned in the story is so mild, and it's not even smut, which is probably what people think they'll find inside. To be honest, I knew this could happen. I knew that by tagging BDSM in it, some people would run. It's a risk I took because I'd rather tag correctly and not having as many comments than not tagging and receive hate comments for not doing so. I do my part in facilitating that everyone can curate their experience to their liking.

Other story of mine that I could say it's underappreciated is High Above the Ground, which has about the same stats than The Tables are Turned, but being a fic for a rarepair, it's not exactly surprising that has less than 200 kudos.

Most fun story to write

Again, The Tables are Turned. I had so much fun writing it, because for the first time I put the good guys as whumpers and the bad guy as whumpee. It was hilarious to me having an imperial officer sweating in fear.

Most unintentionally telling story

Maybe High Above the Ground. It turned out to be very differently than what I first had in mind when I started writing it. I love the result though ☺️ even if nobody else thinks so.

My favorite part of fandom this year

That I became more confident in writing in this fandom, mostly because I've expanded my lore knowledge watching old shows I haven't watched before and getting very slowly into both canon and legend books. Also I made more good new friends.

Tagging anyone who wants to do this!!!

[whisker-biscuit]

(hello, English is not my native language, so I'm using google translate now lol)

I just want to say how special your writing was to me! It was what introduced me to Ao3 and learning English (which I'm not completely confident in yet). It serves as a great inspiration for my writing. The story I'm talking about was "Harley Quinn Is Not A Good Role Model" which is on hiatus.

I actually have a question about it, if it's not uncomfortable for you. Did you plan how many chapters you would have for this story? Because it was a question I always asked myself, whether we were just at the beginning of it or were we already in the middle of it.

If you don't want to respond, just focus on how much I love your writing. Thank you for everything!

Hi!! I'm so sorry for the delay on answering this, I went on vacation right before you sent it, oops.....

I cannot describe how amazing it is to me that my story helped inspire you to write and to also learn English! Learning a new language is so hard but so worth it, I know you'll be great at it! If you ever write your stories in English and want someone to read through it to check for grammar and spelling, let me know! I'm always happy to help other writers! ^_^

Don't worry, it's not an uncomfortable question. I didn't plan how many chapters there would be for the story, I originally started writing it out of inspiration for an AU I saw on tumblr, and I had ideas for a larger plot as I kept writing. Thinking about the rough outline I started making....I'd say we were definitely a lot closer to the middle of the story than the beginning or end, but that might change whenever I actually return to it. I'll most likely rewrite some scenes when I reread it, because I'm a much better writer now and I'll know how to connect things for later since I have a real goal in mind now.

I'm not going to promise a date for when I DO return to Harley Quinn, because I currently have another very large writing project going on plus a few smaller unfinished ones that I want to finish first, but it's certainly been on my mind a lot more lately. If and when it starts getting updated again, I'm DEFINITELY going to make a big announcement for it. I started on tumblr for this fic, most of my followers here came for this fic, and it's still my most popular story to date (I'm sorry guys ;-;). It wouldn't feel right to shadow drop its return without a little bit of fanfare, haha.

Anyway, this got longer than I meant it to, but thank you so much for the lovely ask! It really made my week to find in my inbox when I got back today. Good luck with your writing and learning English! I believe in you!!

[sherlockruiningmylife]

My Merthur (Merlin) fics masterpost:

In case you don’t plan to spend your extra hour sleeping, from daylight savings time this weekend (for those that use it), here are some Merlin fics you could read 😊

1.) Visiting Home (T | 3,016 words)

Summary:  Arthur and Merlin travel to Ealdor to take part in a harvest celebration. Arthur has known about Merlin’s magic for a while, and Merlin has been named the Court Sorcerer. Wanting to get to know more about young Merlin, Arthur asks Hunith for some stories.

OR – tooth rotting domestic fluff

I had just finished watching the show and wanted something happy to forget canon. This was the result. Not a magic reveal.

2.) The Unwanted Gift (G | 5,649 words)

Summary: Merlin is, by his nature, a kind and gentle hearted person. When a young sorceress sees this in the warlock, she seeks to help others to be able to see this in Merlin as well. She gifts him with an enchantment that bears Merlin’s soul to the world, which leads to some rather unintended consequences for the warlock.

Inspired by this artwork from 2018 by tumblr user @cypress-ess

I had a couple other works in progress when writing this one, but I saw this art and just had to write a story based on it. Not a snow white au, but includes the idea of Merlin being trailed by all sorts of woodland creatures. 

3.) Once and Future Merthur (T | 11,832 words)

Summary: While escaping from bandits, Merlin and Arthur find themselves transported to a different version of their lives. Throughout their journey secrets are revealed and emotions are uncovered. Will they be able to handle the truth once it is unveiled?

One of the longest fics I have written, also the only one I have had beta’d because I did not impulsively write and publish this one. It is one of my favorites and has more plot than most of my fics. Maybe hard to follow initially but it all comes together in the end. 

4.) The Legend of Emrys (G | 4,801 words)

Summary: As the king of Camelot, Arthur is seeking to undo his father’s laws against magic and right his wrongs. As the final step in this process he seeks an alliance with the druids. They inform him that he already has their allegiance because Emrys is at his side. There is only one problem with that, Arthur doesn’t know who Emrys is.

Another one of my favorites, also my most popular fic. I absolutely love Emrys fics and had read through all of the available ones less than 20k words, so in order to read another, I had to write another! The ending on this one is the most shippy thing I have done :)

5.) Not According to Plan (T | 2,294 words)

Summary: While out on patrol, Merlin, Arthur, and Elyan are ambushed by bandits. In order to fight them off, Merlin must use his magic. When one of the bandits cries 'Sorcerer', Merlin is faced with a tough decision. Caution is thrown to the wind, and Merlin is a badass.

I was really enjoying reading BAMF Merlin so naturally I had to go write it. This is one of the fastest fics I have done, maybe 3 hours to write, edit, and publish it. Not as shippy, but there is some character/relationship exploration between Merlin, Elyan, and Arthur. Percival was sadly cut from this because I forgot to give him dialogue... oops

Additional Works posted since the original version of this post below:

6.) The Trouble with Soulmates (T | 17,774)

I love soulmate AUs and I am planning to continue this, it is coming along, albeit slowly!

Summary: Arthur Pendragon is a famous actor, Merlin Emrys is a maths teacher. The chances of their paths crossing are slim to none. That is until Arthur sets them on a rather frustrating journey.

Who knew that soulmates could be so troublesome.  

7.) The Role of Servants and Masters (G | 3,476)

Summary: Thomas is a new servant in Camelot's castle. Before today, he had only heard stories of the prince and his manservant. He had thought them to be the result of the castles working rumor mill, blowing them out of proportion. He will soon find out first hand just how true those stories were.

8.) Camelot’s Protector (T | 5,632)

Small Excerpt:

So far, Thomas knew that the Prince, Arthur, and his manservant, Merlin, were a bit of an oddity in the castle. Their relationship could not be described as that of a servant and his master. Instead, people described it as… well no one was quite sure. Prince Arthur gave Merlin orders, but those orders were either ignored or done begrudgingly. From what Thomas gathered, Merlin did follow the law, he just didn’t seem to adhere to the spirit of it.

Summary: Camelot is forced to battle Essetir when Cenred's men invade. Merlin does his best to stay at Arthur's side when the battle begins, but Arthur is insistent that Merlin get to safety. Both refusing to cooperate, they get themselves into trouble and end up revealing more than they'd planned.

9.) A Grain of Truth (M | 12,179)

Summary: Merlin and Arthur travel to an outlying village in Camelot seeking a stolen amulet. What they find is a thriving magical community with druids wandering the town's market freely. Unfortunately for Merlin, he is recognized as Emrys. How will Arthur respond when he finds out?

10.) Hidden Talents (T | 19,755)

11.) To Know All of Him (T | 4,308)

Summary:  Modern with magic - Aithusa/dragonlord fic.

Merlin and Arthur are roommates in uni. Arthur likes to complain about Merlin's appalling lack of a social life, using this as an excuse to take Merlin with him everywhere he goes. This is convenient for when Merlin is needed to protect Arthur from his own misfortune, but it does make it difficult to keep certain parts of himself hidden.

Summary:  When Merlin and the knights get captured by a sorceress, Merlin is forced to take a truth serum. After revealing his secrets, will Merlin be able to regain the trust of the king and his knights?

[sunookkii]

Hi hi loveeee~ can you please write a super SUPER cheesy Jay and Sunghoon fic? Like Y/n’s cute and bubbly and Jay is her bestfriend, then Sunghoon will sometimes flirt cause he likes her?? (But ofc Jay gets jealous 😣)

(Also SH being kind of a bad boy, ughhh the classic opposites)

Also! I love your layout, so cute!! 💗💗

a/n : STOP IS THIS FRIENDS TO LOVERS?? CUTE please I’m literally melting over how cute this imagine idea is, I’ll try my best!! TT I hope you like it! Also thank uu you’re so sweet,, I’m getting so many compliments today it’s making me so happy 😭💖 [there might or might not be some mistakes in the wording SORRY beforehand oops, and i kind of forgot to make Sunghoon the bad boy type sorrryy^cue jakes sorry voice]

Master link here

three words : I love you

Pairing : Jay x Fem. Reader

Genre : friends to lovers?

Warnings : none [short oneshot]

Requested : yess I can’t get over this cute idea

♡ ♡ ♡

You’ve been friends with the popular kid Jay Park for a really long time, you two basically have been friends since grade one. The first time you guys interacted was when you were a new kid at school and didn’t have much friends until Jay saw you alone and asked you to come sit with him and his friends at lunch time. Ever since then you and Jay have become inseparable, he was always a sweet person ever since he was a child and it was something you really loved and cherished about him~ you were a little similar as him, though you were more bubbly and cute while he was calm and his physical appearance was more of a cool boy type. Everyone who met you simply adored you because of your charming unique personality, but at times you can be a little clueless when it came to love and such. You also had a friend named Sunghoon who was a perfect fit to your friend group, though he gradually caught feelings for you not too long ago. And unfortunately for Sunghoon you had a crush on Jay, but you never told him because you were always scared to ruin the friendship you two already had,,,,soooo you always kept it on a downlow. But it would be wayy obvious at times since you can’t keep your emotions to yourself 💔 fortunately for you, Jay also had the returning feeling but like I said before you were clueless- another thing was that Sunghoon would always throw compliments at you and flirting with you giving you all sorts of hints that he was into you but you never caught on 😔

♡ ♡ ♡ time scape ♡ ♡ ♡

You were out shopping with the two boys since they were both really into clothes and fashion, especially your bestfriend Jay. You loved going shopping with him since he gave you tips and his style was always just *chefs kiss

You were wearing this pretty outfit today which lead to Sunghoon literally unintentionally stealing some glances, until he finally built up the courage to say something to you,,, and maybe even ask you out?

“Y/n you look pretty today” he said as if it was nothing pushing his hair pack then putting his hand in his pocket.

“Thanks!” He was a little flustered after you said ‘thanks’ to him but tbh anything you do can easily make him blush-

“Do you sorta want to go get coffee or something later?” (Sorry I didn’t really know what to put in for a date TT)

“Yeah su-!”

You were about to finish your sentence until Jay came out of nowhere wrapping his arms around your shoulder completely throwing you off,

“Ahh sorry Hoon y/n promised me she’d hang out with me today.” He said

“Ohh, but you always get to hang with her let me take her out once just for today!”

“Sorry can’t do that!”

“Ok fine~ next time then bye y/n!” Sunghoon leaving a bit disappointed,

“Bye?” Right when you saw Sunghoon leave you turn your face facing Jay wanting an explanation but to your luck he just grabbed your hand and went with it, you thought to yourself wtf just happened- was Jay jealous or something, nah he couldn’t be? He just thinks of me as a friend.

“Come with me I wanted to take you somewhere, its a surprise.” He grabbed your hand intertwining it with his causing butterfly’s to grow in your stomach.

He was driving you somewhere at this unknown place, it became dark outside quickly since it was a pretty long drive. You two finally arrived at the place he wanted to take you, you went out of his car and saw bright stars and this oddly beautiful field you have never seen before, is his what he wanted to show you? It’s gorgeous. You thought to yourself looking around the place like a curious smiley child.

“Here, we’re here isn’t it pretty?”

“Wahhh it’s beautiful, why did you take me here?”

“I don’t really know why to be honest.. (He lies down on the fluffy grass guiding you to lie down next to him) I- I guess I just wanted to watch the stars with you..” he says hoping you heard but didn’t at the same time

“YAH Jay Park! Do you have a crush on me or something” you say jokingly but not really joking since you had a small crush on him too- and you wanted to know his answer..

“Uh uh- NO!” He lightly hesitated

“Jay are you lying why are you so defensive all of a sudden?” You giggle a bit finding it cute that the small question made him flustered

You felt brave and leaned your face closer to his meeting your eyes, you didn’t know what you were trying to do but you just went with it,

As you two were getting lost in each others eyes he started to speak stuttering a bit before answering your previous question “I- I do”

since you two were centimetres apart barely any space between your faces, you decided to go in for a deep kiss, “i love y’know” “i love you too”

[washymylifeaway]

Hellllo! I’m back with another request;)) Would love a rec list for long fics or series fics!! Thanks:) (no worries if you have too much in your WIPs!)

Haikyuu fanfic recs but they’re long fics/long series :D

Hi anon! It’s alright, keep sending in the asks cause I like doing them more than the WIPs I have planned LOL. I tend not to read fics that are super long because it’s hard for me to get myself to start them (AHAHAH again, lackin’ the motivation all day err day), so this is gonna be missing some real popular ones :’). That being said, I’m considering long to be like 100k up? And for series, it’ll be at a total word count of the 100k up (rip to MOST of my faves ajkbfajskldbf). I also included a lot from my past posts cause I’ve recommended most of the longer fics I’ve read cause they’re SO good (oops) :( I also wasn’t sure if you meant like long series or just series in general, so I just did the long ones LOL. I hope you enjoy them!

As always, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for fics before reading and make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3 (take breaks and drink water since you’re gonna be here for a while LOL)

CP:

Breaking the Rules by SuggestiveScribe (series) 205.3k // I LOVE THIS SERIES AHHHHHHHHH. Honestly I know the 205.3k word count is SCARY I UNDERSTAND BUT it is SO worth it. This series has a bunch of different ships (and a really cute ending stan AsaNoya) so I highly recommend it! Also if you don't mind smut (cause it is explicit for a reason LOL) then please I beg of you to read the whole series!!!!!!! I love love love this one and it really got me invested in the whole fanfic thing LOL.

love me like you do by crossbelladonna (T) 100.5k /IwaOi/ this fic was SUCH a rollercoaster omg. First, the concept itself was great and the execution was flawless and Ushiwaka was ajfnlajsdnf. AND THE ENDING!!!! THE ending omg. And Lev being a car made me laugh LMFAO. And we love f ups AHHHHH. If this made no sense, you’re right,,, it didn’t,,, so you should go read it so it does HAHAHA. (glad it made the 100k min, whew)

hq detective AUs by valiantarmor (series) 151.6k /BokuAka, KuroKen, IwaOi/ Man do I really love fighting in my fics LOL. This was super good and the plot itself kept me really engaged (what a twist omg). It does talk a bit about mental health issues, but it’s done so well, and they really did this AU justice! The three fics can be read separately BUT they’re all done so well, I think you should read them all :)

Terminal Curiosity by favspacetwink, moonlumie (series) 112.1k /SakuAtsu/ CHECK WARINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES!!! this is one of the BEST series I’ve read for this ship and even though I tend not to read WIP, IT’S WORTH IT! Please read ALL the tags before going into any of the fics in this series because there’s some real spicy stuff that may not be your cup of tea!

The Sky and Guilt Are the Only Feelings I Have Left by oopsthisisqueertoo (NR) 267.7k /BokuAkaKuroo/ ngl I picked it up as a rec from someone else after misreading that it was THIS long haha. But like I kept reading, and the suspense omg. It HAS a happy ending, so if you’re reading it and you start to feel empty, push through (tho take breaks) and finish because it DOES end HAPPY. (PLEASE READ THE TAGS, THERE ARE SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!)

Crumbling Foundations by Captain_Hughes_ZU, ToshiChan (T) 106.3k /MULTI/ I was debating whether or not to put this fic cause it actually doesn’t even have the angst tag (which I personally think it should). Honestly, it’s more a trauma fic than an angst fic idk I just wanted to put it somewhere because it’s written super well and although it was technically a ‘happy ending’ the interviews after prove else. Despite only being rated T, it’s got some intense TW so (PLEASE READ THE TAGS, THERE ARE SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!)

New:

Superposition by todxrxki (M) 102.8k /KuroKen/ honestly, I think this was THE very first fic I’d ever read in general and it’s SO good. Like I really loved the plot and it’s such an interesting story! I also loved how Kuroo goes through a couple different bands and we see multiple relationships as well :D It’s a really fun read.

Ironically, I always say don’t be afraid of the high word count, yet I don’t start fics cause high word count LMFAO. I don’t have any new ones cause I’ve already recommended most if not all of the longest fics I’ve read, so below will be some that are in my to-be-read list cause the plot looks interesting but I have yet to find the motivation to read them LOL :’))))

bbacverse by skittidyne (series of two fics LOL) 894.5k // yeaaaaa you can see why I’m putting it off LOL. But the summary looks interesting and I’ve heard really good things about it SO I do want to read it, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet...

iwfyitd verse by knightswatch, shions_heart (series) 252.7k // I’ve been meaning to read this fic for the longest time, but then when I was about to read it, I got distracted with another ship (AHAHAHA OOPS)..... But yea, once I get back into KuroKen, I’ll prolly read it right?

omam verse by shions_heart (series) 239.3k // another KuroKen where I was like I will read, but then I got distracted LOL. And then I wanted to read it so I could read the other ships in the series, but it never happened :’)

Covered in the Colors by catholicorprotestant (E) 145.3k /MatsuHana/ I love matsuhana which is why I want to read this and the plot looked interesting!

Side A by Chibs (series) 241.9k // I like YakuLev (though I haven’t read a lot of it) and KyouHaba so yea but also the plot looked interesting LOL.

But yea, those are just a COUPLE of the ones I haven’t gotten around to reading, but want to LOL. Sorry about the lack of new fics (that I’ve already read), but I’m glad I could rec superposition somewhere LOL.

[aellynera]

Accidental Anniversary (Llewyn Davis x Reader)

ACCIDENTAL ANNIVERSARY

💜💘 Happy Valentine’s Fic Exchange, @samrockweil​ 💘💜

I am your Valentine’s elf (or maybe cupid?) It was an absolute blast writing this for you!! At first I couldn’t decide which guy to write for, but Llewyn spoke to me and I ran with it and I hope you love it even half as half as much as I did writing it. Happy reading and happy beeps!

Also, huge thanks to @sergeantkane​ for putting this fic exchange together! Love you Clarke!

Word Count: around 8k oops look i had a whole MONTH okay i’m not sorry

Summary: You meet Llewyn Davis one night at the Gaslight, and soon find out that the universe has an odd sense of humor and an even weirder sense of timing.

Warnings: A few curses. Nothing else, it’s 99.999999999% fluffy fluff.

March 14

The air inside the Gaslight is thick with smoke that coils and kinks around the dim lights on the walls and the candles on the tables. Someone at the end of the bar calls out for a whiskey, which you pour and pass down. The sound system shrieks with feedback for three painful seconds as your boss flips the power on.

You’ve been working there for a couple weeks, a side job to help make your rent and keep you busy on the weekends. It’s not a terrible gig, most of the time; the patrons are pleasant enough, the performers hit or miss, and Pappi, your boss, is okayish, so long as you can mostly steer clear of him.

You begin to wipe down part of the bar while the next performer sets up on the small, dingy stage. You haven’t seen him before, but whispers from the stools at the counter hint he’s semi-popular around these parts. You quirk an eyebrow; he certainly is easy on the eyes, at least.

From the minute he takes the stage, your focus is ninety percent on him (you do need a little brain power to do your job, after all) and you find that he is also very easy on the ears. Dark curls, dark beard, dark eyes, dark clothes, but a surprisingly bright voice singing lovely songs. He finishes his set, comes off the stage, and sidles up to the bar. You hand him the requested bourbon with a soft smile.

And the next thing you know, Pappi is on the ground and this stranger is holding his hand, wincing, flexing his fingers. Your mouth drops open.

“Oh my god!” you cry. “What--”

“Jesus Christ, Llewyn,” Pappi groans from the floor. “I was only kidding.”

“Yeah, doubt that,” this Llewyn person mutters under his breath, taking a seat on the stool closest to him. “Can I bother you for some ice?”

You keep a wary eye on him, and on Pappi as he gets up and wanders to the other side of the room like nothing happened, and wrap some ice cubes in a towel and hand it to him. “You decked him.”

He scoffs and takes a sip of his drink. “You hear what he said about you?”

Well, no, you hadn’t actually, but having heard what Pappi has said about others in the club over the past two weeks, you can imagine. “I can handle him,” you say archly.

“I’m sure you can,” a huff of air escapes his lips, “but you shouldn’t have to.” He turns around to look at Pappi, who just glares and shakes his head. The man in front of you flips your boss off.

You refill his glass without him asking and stick out your hand, telling him your name.

He shakes it and says, “Llewyn Davis” with a sheepish smile.

April 14

Llewyn shuffles down the sidewalk towards the Gaslight, really only noticing the early spring chill that hangs in the air. It’s early, before noon, but he wants to run through his set before the night’s performance and the early hour is convenient for him to be able to do so in peace.

He’s about a block away when a sound distracts him. A voice is singing, pure and sweet - if a tiny bit off-key - and if he didn’t know any better - and he certainly does, at least most times - he would call it angelic. No, not angelic. An actual angel. That’s what it sounds like.

Llewyn stops and looks up at an open window on the third floor. He can make out the vague outline of a figure inside, but he’s unable to see any details. But that voice. A few minutes pass as he just listens, staring up at the window, thinking about calling up to get the attention of the mysterious singer. But he doesn’t, and he just stands and listens, until he finds his feet starting to carry him on to his usual destination. 

Three steps into his walk, he realizes he knows the song. It’s one of his songs. Part of him can’t believe it, and the rest of him wants to offer pitch correction. Three more steps into his walk, and his face makes very solid, very resounding contact with the light pole on the corner.

“God dammit,” he shouts.

A few seconds later, the window on the third floor slides open and a head pokes out. “Oh my god. Llewyn?”

Llewyn looks up and groans inwardly as he recognizes your face from that last gig at the Gaslight. “Hey,” he waves awkwardly, leaning on the pole.

“Are you bleeding?” you call down to him.

He reaches up near his eyebrow and realizes he is, in fact, bleeding. Quite a bit, honestly. Before he can answer, you call back down, “Come up the fire escape to the side window!” The window drops shut and he can hear another slide open.

So Llewyn Davis climbs the fire escape steps and meets you at your side window, a first aid kit in your hands as you motion for him to sit. He does and you start to patch up his wound.

“You should be more careful,” you mutter as you worked, stopping briefly to look him right in the eyes.

He holds your gaze. “Sorry, I was...distracted.”

“Mmm,” you return. You fold a gauze pad and hand it to him. “Hold this on that cut. I’m going to get you some ice.” You turn to walk to your kitchen.

He mumbles his thanks and leans his head back against the fire escape railing.

May 14

You glance back behind the bar, making sure the bottles are stocked and the glasses are ready. Another night at the Gaslight is about to start, and although Llewyn isn’t playing tonight, he takes up a spot at the end of the bar and thanks you as you pass him a drink.

“How have you been?” you ask. You’d seen him a few times over the past couple weeks, here and there in the Village, but it’s been several days. You found Llewyn’s company quite enjoyable. You’d talked a bit and even shared lunch once at the diner a couple blocks away.

His lips turn up, a shy smile lighting his face. He opens his mouth to respond, when another voice breaks in.

“He’s been an asshole.”

Llewyn’s head ships around and you follow his gaze. A slender woman with long, straight brown hair and piercing eyes stands about ten feet behind him, arms crossed and glaring. Neither of them says anything for a beat, Llewyn turns away from her, and then she’s on him, daggers flying from her lips, going on and on about assholes and responsibility and electrical tape.

Llewyn keeps his eyes down, the bottom of his glass suddenly staring back at him. “Jesus Christ, Jean.”

You bite your lip as you glance between them. You have no idea who this woman - this Jean - is, but it’s clear she is not a fan of Llewyn Davis. In three seconds flat you decide you do not like her either.

“Is there something you needed?” you break in.

Her eyes flare at Llewyn, then at you, then bore into the back of Llewyn’s head. You resist the urge to literally toss a glass of whiskey in her direction.

“I need Llewyn to stop being an asshole,” she seethes. Llewyn rolls his eyes.

You arch an eyebrow and the words are on your tongue - I need you to back off, you crazy weird bit-- you bite your tongue just hard enough to make your mouth behave. Fortunately, she’s distracted by someone else calling her name and her attention drifts to the stage. With a final mutter of “asshole” and a rude hand gesture, she flounces off.

You point over Llewyn’s shoulder. “Um, what was that?”

He snorts. “A night of bad decisions and a lifetime of regret.” A pause. “It’s...a long story.”

You watch as she adjusts the microphone center stage. “Good lord, is she a singer? Tell me she’s not going to just smile and sing after...whatever that was.”

“Yeah. Well,” he offers by way of explanation and doesn’t say anything else. It’s almost like this woman sucked all the fight out of him and you feel your heart give a little twinge.

You toss the rag in the sink and take his glass. “Do you wanna get out of here?” The air around you has a weird vibe now, and you felt a sudden impulse to get out and take this man - your friend - with you, away from this...whatever she was, somewhere safe.

“Fuck yes,” he sighs, a grateful glimmer passing through his dark eyes.

“There’s a great cafe down the block.”

“But don’t you have to...you know...work?”

You look around and shrug. “It’s dead in here, and Bobby can handle it,” you hook your thumb at a co-worker behind the bar. “And if Pappi says anything, I know someone who can set him straight.”

Llewyn’s eyes glint and his lips turn up in a real, honest smile this time. “So, coffee?”

“Coffee.”

June 14

The summer - or very last days of spring, technically - is starting to get hot and your open windows are doing the bare minimum to alleviate the warmth. Of course, the third glass of wine you’re drinking probably isn’t helping things either.

Whatever. It’s your day off.

Shoes kicked off, jeans rolled up above your ankles, feet up on the arm of the couch, a record on the turntable and your glass of red as the dusk slowly melts into dark. The night is tranquil and relaxing and perfect. It has been a shitty week, and all you want is to ignore the outside world and do exactly this.

The shrill ring of your phone bursts that bubble..

You close your eyes and tilt your head back on the couch. Ignore it. If you just ignore it, it will go away. The phone stops ringing. Deciding to take no further chances, you switch off the ringer, completely, then sigh happily, settling yourself on the couch and sipping your wine.

Perfect.

A resounding, repeated thump echoes through the room. You bit back a shriek. Ignore it. If you just ignore it, it will go away - lightning can strike twice, right? It was extremely rude of people to just call you and knock when all you wanted was--

“Hey, are you home?” a muffled voice comes from the other side of the door.

Suddenly alert and somehow much less annoyed, you spring up and cross to your front door. Yanking it open, you find a very disheveled Llewyn Davis on the other side. He doesn’t seem to notice right away that the door was now open, and you had to jump back as his hand, raised to pound on the door again, almost knocks you in the head instead.

You take a deep breath. You catch a waft like the mat under the taps after a long night at the bar.

“Shit,” he mumbles. “Sorry.”

“Are you drunk?” You take him by the arm and drag him inside, appraising him quickly. His eyes are glassy, red-rimmed, his curls an absolute mess, and there’s a dark mark under his left eye and a split in his lip. He looks terrible, smells just as bad, but suddenly all your desire for a quiet, no-other-humans night evaporates. “And did you get in a fight?”

“...yes?”

You sigh and point to the couch. “Go. Sit. I’ll make some coffee, and then you’re getting a shower..”

“You’re incredible,” he slurs, smiling, “And you’re so…I tried t’call you, from th’phone on the corner but you dinnt answer. An’ then I realized, hey, I’m on your corner, so decided t’come up and see you. You’re pretty.”

You take him by the elbow and lead him to the couch, only stumbling twice and managing to catch him as he sways, precariously, once. “Uh huh,” you bite your lip to hide a smile. “Sounds like you’ve had a fun night. You wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.” He flops down on the couch and buries his face in a pillow.

By the time you make the promised pot of coffee and get back to the living room, Llewyn is snoring, still face down in the throw pillow. Turning off the music and the lights, you cover him with a blanket and take your glass of wine to your room.

July 14

Ring, ring, ring.

You’d remembered to turn the ringer back on three days after Llewyn slept it off on your couch, but your phone hadn’t actually rung again until just over half an hour ago, and honestly you weren’t sure if that was a blessing or if it was just sad.

You are sure, however, that the sheer desperation in the voice on the other end when you answered is the reason you’re on this train to Queens. Are you doing anything, Llewyn had asked, because I could really, really use some help right now. Please, I’m begging you. And now the echo of your phone ringing just, well, rings in your ears.

The train screeches to a halt and you exit, making your way to the given address. You knock on the door of a smallish, nondescript row house and it swings open almost immediately, revealing a very disheveled, slightly panicked looking Llewyn.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he breathes and grabs you by the arm, dragging you inside.

“Llewyn? What is going on?”

“It’s a disaster,” he says. He’s completely serious.

You’re preparing yourself for blood, broken bones, water damage, collapsed ceilings, possible dismemberment, anything, really, that could explain your friend’s current frazzled condition. What you get is completely, unexpectedly, not anything like that.

There are about ten kids, all around ten years old, running around in the living room, which is also full of balloons and streamers. One giant pinata, shaped like a baseball glove and bat, hangs from the light fixture. To Llewyn’s credit, it is kind of...chaotic, but it’s far from a disaster and you can barely contain the guffaw that escapes your lungs.

“Whose birthday?” you grin at him.

He narrows his eyes at you. “It’s not funny.”

You consider this and try to straighten your lips. Nope, not working. “It’s a little funny.”

Llewyn smacks you lightly on the shoulder. “It’s my nephew’s birthday, and my sister forgot some party thing and made a run to the store. I was stayin’ here last night and she just decided, oh, Llewyn can watch the kids, and she was gone.”

“So what’s the problem, exactly?”

“She should be back by now,” his eyes look slightly panicked.

“Maybe she had to go to a couple stores? Maybe she just got delayed by transit?”

“I can’t do…” Llewyn gestures around weakly, shaking his head. “This.”

“Llewyn, they’re kids. They can’t be more than what, ten years old? Just blindfold them and let them whack at the pinata.”

“You’re the people person. I can’t...can you help me, please,” he turns to look at you. Directly at you. You’re fairly certain his eyes cannot get any bigger or shine more pleadingly.

“Fine,” you sigh. “Let’s go wrangle some kids.”

The panic slides from his face and to your surprise, he throws an arm over your shoulder and kisses the top of your head in his thanks.

And when one kid takes a wild swing at that tacky papier-mache sports equipment, misses completely, and lands a clean hit on Llewyn’s thigh, neither of you talk about it.

You just get him an ice pack.

August 14

“I’m making lasagna. Come over for dinner.”

You worked early that day, and said this to Llewyn as you left the Gaslight for the day. He isn’t playing tonight, and he’s really just here to stay out of the sun, and as much as he doesn’t like to push his luck with others’ hospitality, he has to admit that a home-cooked meal does sound incredible.

He has a feeling your invitation was partly due to Jean showing up, ready to do unnecessary verbal battle because she just can’t let it go, and you’d asked to both deflect her and keep yourself from actual physical battle. But whatever.

So he finds himself at your front door a couple hours later, a bottle of cheapish red wine in hand and an odd tingle in his chest. He dismisses it offhand; he’s probably just hungry.

You open the door and Llewyn’s nose is assaulted by the smell of homemade sauce - he’s half Italian, he knows these things - and cheese and garlic. You smile brightly at him. Yeah, he’s definitely hungry.

“Hey! Come in, it’s almost ready.”

He hands you the bottle. “Brought wine.”

“Excellent,” you lead him to the kitchen table and motion to a seat. He settles himself into it and grabs a piece of bread from the basket on the table as you grab two wine glasses.

“What’s the occasion?” he asks around a mouthful of carbs.

The timer dings and you pull the lasagna out of the oven. “No occasion. I just felt like making this and I didn’t really want to eat alone.”

“Lucky for you I like to eat,” he chuckles.

Your face suddenly feels warmer. Well, you did just pull a piping hot casserole dish out of the oven, so that does make sense, you suppose. You turn and put the lasagna on the trivet in the middle of the table, then turn and grab two regular glasses for water. There is an outlandish, metallic ka-chunk-ing noise as you turn on the tap, and suddenly water is shooting from under the sink and halfway across the room.

Llewyn jumps up and dives at the faucet, a chunk of bread clutched between his teeth, at the same time you crawl halfway under the sink to try and shut the water off. The stream blasts you in the face and you sputter.

This is not how you imagined tonight. Blasted ancient, rickety building. You make a mental note to have words with the super tomorrow.

You finally get the water shut off, and Llewyn closes the tap and sinks down onto the wet floor next to you. You lean against the cabinets and try to wipe the water out of your eyes.

Llewyn fares a little better; he’s only wet from his waist down. Your head thumps back on the soaked particle board behind you and you turn your head towards him. For a long moment he looks back at you, then rips the butt off the hunk of baguette in his mouth and passes it to you.

You snort. He bites his lip.

“Sorry, I think dinner might be a bit late,” you deadpan, eyes still on him, and take a bite of bread.

He bumps your shoulder with his. “It’s okay. Lasagna is always better the next day.”

Llewyn has to admit, though, it’s still pretty good a couple hours later, after you’re both dry and the lake in the kitchen is mopped up and you settle on the couch with your plates.

And if you use the water glasses for the wine, well, neither of you mentions it.

September 14

It’s pleasantly warm today, the heat of late August dragging itself into the beginning of September, and you find yourself in Washington Square Park, on a checkered blanket, a basket in the middle and a guitar by your feet. Pigeons wander and plot to steal food, but it’s easy enough to shoo them away.

It takes a little convincing, early that morning, to get Llewyn to agree to join you. It didn’t, really; he’s quickly become one of your best friends, and he doesn’t have anywhere else to be, he just likes to tease you.

But he does accept, and you eat some of the bread and cheese you packed and drink the iced tea you brought, and you get out a container of fruit salad and package of cookies your down-the-hall neighbor, Mrs. Peterson, made for you that morning.

“For you and your lovely man,” she’d said as she knocked on your door. You feel the warmth in the tips of your ears and you certainly see the color rise in Llewyn’s embarrassed face, but you don’t have the heart to correct her. She’s such a sweet old lady.

Llewyn plays a song or two while you enjoy your lunch, and even asks if you want to hear a new song he’s been working on, which you are more than happy to agree to.

It’s such a pleasant afternoon.

Until a small, brownish-gray blur jumps onto the blanket and grabs a chunk of bread and darts further onto the lawn.

“What the hell!’ Llewyn shouts as you yelp in surprise. The squirrel, for its part, just stops fifty feet away and turns back with a triumphant gaze, then scoots off into the bushes, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs in its wake.

He starts to make a comment about the nerve of the wildlife, but you’re not really listening. Your eyes are fixed on the path the squirrel just ran and you tug on Llewyn’s sleeve. He keeps muttering and you tug harder.

“Llewyn.”

He finally looks up and follows your finger. There’s a flock - an honest-to-god flock, not that he has any real idea on the technical makeup of a flock, but there’s more than one so as far as he’s concerned, yeah, it’s a flock - of geese marching directly at the blanket.

Okay, so there’s only three of them. But they look angry.

The leader strides forward deliberately and bites at Llewyn’s shoe. Another yelp leaves your lips and he grabs your hand, pulling you to your feet. He also grabs the remainder of the bread and tosses it in the opposite direction as he takes off running towards the fountain, dragging you behind him.

“Where are we going?” you shout.

“No idea,” he replies. The leader falls for the bread feint, but his loyal minions do not, and they follow behind you, quacking and honking and flapping and Llewyn isn’t sure but he may dislike geese even more than he dislikes pigeons.

He jumps up on the edge of the fountain and pulls you into a protective embrace as the beasts close in. Only Llewyn doesn’t account for, you know, physics, and the force of your bodies colliding sends you both straight into the water.

Spluttering, you try to wipe the water out of your eyes. Llewyn is doing the same when a loud HONK startles you both. The leader is back, flanked by his friends, and they’re all staring at you.

“Um, Llewyn?” you whisper.

“Yeah?”

“...don’t geese like, love the water?”

His eyes flick to you, then the winged monsters, then you again, then the fountain like he’s seeing it for the first time and all he can do is mutter, “Shit!” and grab your hand as he pulls you to your feet and takes off running again.

You manage to swing by and gather the leavings of your picnic, blanket and basket tucked under your arms and his precious guitar clutched to him, as you beeline out of the park, soaking wet and laughing.

October 14

Llewyn slides the key into the lock and turns it, an odd flutter rolling up his spine as he hears the bolt click open. He’s had a key to your apartment for almost two months now. You gave it to him, insisted really, telling him this way he wouldn’t need to worry about finding somewhere to crash. That your couch is always open.

It still doesn’t feel real and he doesn’t always use it, but tonight he really, really doesn’t feel like making the rounds. You’ve been spending more time together recently anyway, and he feels mostly comfortable around you.

He’s greeted by the sight of you wearing a catcher’s mask and knee high rubber boots, and you’re wielding a tennis racquet. He doesn’t know what to say for a full minute.

“What are you...why are you wearing...what the hell.”

“There’s a bat,” is your whispered response.

Llewyn’s nose scrunches and he isn’t any less confused than he was a second ago. “What?”

“There’s a bat,’ you repeat. Your voice is slightly on the edge of hysteria because, well, “there is a bat. In the bathroom.”

“...okay?”

You jab your finger at the closed door. “I was just going to wash my face and brush my teeth and I went in there and it was just...in the corner, by the shelves. It was staring at me.”

He bites his lip, trying his hardest to suppress the smile tugging on his face. It isn’t working. He drops to a whisper himself and asks, “Baby, why are you whispering?”

Your head jerks towards the bathroom, and your shrug nearly sends the tennis racquet into his shoulder. “Because that’s how they...they’re...how they do the...the bat hearing thing!”

Llewyn laughs fully. He can’t help it; you’re ridiculous and his face heats a bit as he realizes it’s entirely endearing. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” he says, his voice sliding back to a whisper. He avoids your death glare as he makes his way to the bathroom door. “But sit tight, slugger, I’ll get rid of it.”

“What’re you gonna do?”

Hand on the doorknob, he pauses and considers this. “Just gonna encourage it to go home? I dunno.”

Your grip tightens on the racquet. “How will that work?!”

“I don’t know! I’m not a fucking bat!” he hisses at you. “Just, make sure a window is open.” He opens the bathroom door.

Several things happen at once. Llewyn doesn’t so much open the door as he flings it wide and it slams into the wall. The bat makes a squeaky-shrieky noise (you were entirely unaware, until now, that they could even do that) and swoops out, recklessly streaking through Llewyn’s mess of curls. You make an actual shriek and fling the side window open as wide as possible. Llewyn makes a sound he can’t describe and you’re honestly not sure if it was Llewyn or the bat. The bat decides to take a few laps around the living room and you duck under the window sill just before it mercifully decides that outside is the place to be. Llewyn slams the window shut and you spring back to your feet, crash into his chest and his arms wrap around you.

Neither of you say anything, and Llewyn isn’t sure how much time passes, but he’s very aware of your hand running through his hair, and your soft words catching as you say you’re just trying to smooth out the bat damage.

He clears his throat. “I, uh, I’ll keep watch out here, make sure that thing doesn’t come back,” he jokes. “You okay?”

You finally - finally, he cheers internally - take off the catcher’s mask and nod slowly. “Yeah, I’m...good. Thanks for...thanks.”

Llewyn lets you go and takes the tennis racquet out of your hands, placing it next to the couch. He throws you a soft smile. “Just in case.”

November 14

It’s been a long night at work, a lot longer than it has any right to be and infinitely insufferable. The Gaslight is packed, patrons nearly crawling the walls and not an empty seat to be found. Drink orders stack up and you try to keep up. It’s so crazy that even Pappi doesn’t have a chance to be a smartass like usual.

Apparently it always gets like this, closer to a holiday.

Note to self - skip holidays.

There are two acts tonight. Llewyn is first, and it’s clear much of the crowd is here to catch him. It cheers you slightly, and it would certainly cheer you more if you had the time to pay more attention to him, but the constant call for whiskey and gin takes most of your focus. But for the time he’s on stage, your heart feels lighter.

Then the second act takes the stage, and Jean launches eye missiles at Llewyn from behind the microphone, and your mood sours instantly.

Yeah, it’s a very long night.

Everything is blurry for the rest of the evening, until last call mercifully rolls around and you can finally get to straightening out the mess the bar has become. You notice Llewyn still sitting on his usual stool at the end of the counter, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Don’t even say it,” you point at him sternly. “When will you stop fussing about this?” Ridiculous man. He has a key to your apartment, and still he worries that he’s an inconvenience.

You toss an orange slice at him, and he allows you a sweet grin.

Finally - finally - you’re home and Llewyn follows you inside, locking the door behind you. He heads for the couch and you head for your room, a mumbled g’night the only word that passes between you. You’re far too exhausted to deal with anything higher level.

It could be minutes or it could be hours later - your alarm clock somehow ended up on the floor and the darkish sky outside giving nothing away, and when did it start raining anyway - when a loud SPRONG and then a yelp and a THUMP from the living room jolts you awake.

It takes a few seconds to regain your senses. “Llewyn?”

“Fuck.”

You stumble out to the living room to find him half-sitting, half-sprawled on the floor, the quilt he normally uses tangled around his knees and ankles. He rubs a spot on his lower back and winces.

“Llewyn! What happened?” you cry.

He points to the middle cushion and you see something sticking up from the padding.

“Oh, Llewyn, jesus. I’m so sorry,” you apologize. You really do feel terrible; your couch hasn’t been in the best shape for ages, and it looks like the squeaky spring you noticed a few weeks ago finally gave up and poked it way through. And stabbed Llewyn in the back as he slept. Damn it. 

“It’s...it’s fine,” he tells you, still wincing. “I can turn the other way, or sleep on the floor. Not a big deal.”

You shake your head. “Yes big deal. My couch just stabbed you, and it’s cold outside, you can’t sleep on the floor.”

“S’fine. Not the first time I ended up on the floor.”

You make up your mind before you even think about it and reach your hand out to him. “Come on,” you wiggle your fingers. “Come to bed.”

Llewyn’s eyes go wide and he opens his mouth to protest, but your look is so firm that he relents with a soft sigh and extricates himself from the blanket. He follows you to the bedroom and asks, no less than seven times, if you’re sure this is okay and says he really has no problem sleeping on the floor. You eventually tell him to shut the hell up and get under the covers.

You both lay on your sides, facing each other, but keep a space between you. Llewyn still looks mildly uneasy but relaxes as you smile at him and the warmth of your duvet and the softness of your pillows pull him under.

“Good night again, Llewyn,” you whisper.

“Good night again,” he replies with a soft yawn.

The rain steadily patters on your window and the sky slowly lightens as morning breaks and you languidly wake, curled into Llewyn’s chest, his arms secure around you.

December 14

Snow falls lightly outside, coats the grass and sticks to Llewyn’s curls, and his breath swirls and makes curlicues in the chill winter air. It’s two weeks until Christmas, and you decide to put up a tree, a real tree, and you tell him he’s going to help decorate it.

You also tell him that a bunch of your light strings have stopped working, and before you can ask him to run to the shop down the block that sells replacements, he volunteers and is out the door.

He can’t remember the last time he was anywhere with a real tree. It was usually those cheap-looking fake ones, the green plastic branches a color that would never exist naturally, if there were any tree at all.

So yeah, maybe he’s a little excited. He comes up the steps to the apartment, a bag perched in the crook of his elbow as he unlocks the door.

“So I got the lights, like you asked,” he says cheerfully, and sets the bag down on the table by the door.

“Help.” That’s...not the response he’s expecting.

It’s two weeks since the entire living room has been rearranged. The new, non-back-stabbing couch is on the opposite wall. You rearranged all your shelves, got a new armchair, and much to Llewyn’s wary delight and bewilderment, a new side table. The side table has blank sheet music and pens and there’s a guitar stand next to it and he doesn’t really know what to make of it. You just smile and tell him he needs a space to be himself, whatever that means.

The newly-opened space under the window is where the tree is going. Or, should be going. Llewyn looks down at the toppled fir and sees a foot sticking out near the trunk.

“Sweetheart? What happened?”

Your voice answers from beneath the branches. “Can you just help get this off me, please?”

Llewyn rights the tree and turns his head to check on you. He’s more concerned about you than the tree, of course, but he wants to make sure it doesn’t take you out again so he secures it to the stand as he takes you in. Thankfully you look fine, a few needles stuck to your sweater and a tiny scratch on your cheek, but otherwise…

He tries to stifle a laugh. “You’re looking very festive.”

Your eyes narrow. “Go ahead and ask,” you bite out, “because I know you’re going to ask.”

“I already did ask, before I had to be your lumberjack.”

You refrain from telling him that lumberjacks fell trees, not upright them. Whatever. You motion your head to the shiny silver tinsel wrapped around your torso. You can’t use your hands, really, and you’re not sure how they got tied up in this mess, exactly, but here you are, sitting on your living room floor in a pile of pine needles, trussed like a Christmas goose in sparking silver twine.

And your best friend is laughing at you. Jerk.

“I was trying to get this around the top part, and I lost my balance. Then like an idiot I tried to catch myself on the tree, and the whole damn thing went down with me,” you sigh. “I don’t even know how the rest of this tangled mess happened.”

He does laugh now, full and rich. “I was only gone for like, twenty minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah. Um, can you maybe...untie me?”

“Oh! Wait, here, I got something else,” Llewyn jumps to his feet. He ignores your request and pokes around in the shopping bag.

“If it’s not chocolate, I don’t want to hear about it,” your grumbled response brings another laugh.

Llewyn’s back in front of you seconds later, holding a small white cluster above your head. The grin on his face is equally charming and infuriating.

“You have got to be kidding me,” you blink at him.

“I mean, I was just gonna, y’know, hang it above the door later and let it happen, but now seems like a better time for some Christmas cheer.”

“I think you’re pretty satisfyingly cheerful right now, idiot.”

He waves the mistletoe over your heads. “Come on. It’s tradition.”

One day, maybe you’ll be able to stop sighing in his presence, but today is not that day. You sigh again, roll your eyes, and lean in, planting a soft kiss on his cheek and delighting in the shade of crimson he turns in response. He clears his throat and places the mistletoe to the side.

“Now will you untie me?” you ask, sugar-sweet.

He does, and helps you get the tinsel where it’s supposed to go and you spend the rest of the afternoon decorating the tree and drinking hot cider.

Llewyn sings you more than one Christmas song to make up for all the teasing.

January 14

It seems like a good idea at the time. One of your friends at your actual day-to-day job offers to set you up with another coworker, and it’s been ages since you went on a date and you figure, why not? What could possibly go wrong?

It turns out the answer is, a lot. A lot can go wrong. So much that you don’t even want to think about it.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. There is no chemistry, no spark, just an hours-long recitation of how your date is god’s gift to pretty much everything under the sun and possibly also the moon. The name-drops are just the cherry on top.

Maybe your first impression isn’t wrong after all.

You trudge up to your apartment, the bag of your favorite takeout under your arm filled to nearly bursting, and get the door open. All you want to do is stuff your face and maybe take a long, hot bath with a glass of wine. Yes, that sounds perfect.

The melody of a strumming guitar stops as you place the bag on the side table and shimmy out of your coat. The lamp in the corner is the only illumination and you tilt your head towards the armchair’s occupant. You’re surprised that he’s there, but only because he was supposed to be somewhere else tonight. Knowing he wouldn’t be around was at least...half the reason you agreed to this stupid date in the first place.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on a date tonight?” Llewyn asks in a low voice through the dim light.

“Aren’t you supposed to be playing at the Gaslight tonight?” you retort, brow raised.

He shrugs. “Might have had a few too many an’ said some things. Might’ve gotten thrown out.”

“Mmm,” you appraise him. He just looks the same way you feel; ridiculously tired. Exhausted. “Might’ve told my date I had to use the restroom but… maybe didn’t mention I meant the one at my house.”

“That bad?” Despite his snort, Llewyn sounds genuinely curious.

You sigh as you flop down on the couch and hold up the takeout bag. “I’d rather not talk about it. You wanna help me eat this?”

In an instant he’s on the couch next to you and you hand him some plastic utensils and a napkin. You get up and grab two beers. For a while you just focus on eating, passing containers back and forth with occasional comments about the food. Your knees bump sometimes as you each reach for different containers or your drinks.

“So what happened?”

You stab a piece of chicken a bit more forcefully than necessary. “I said I don’t want to talk about it. It was a stupid idea to go on a blind date.”

“Kind of a stupid idea to go on a date at all,” Llewyn replies softly.

“What.” It’s not really a question. You definitely don’t mean it as a question and you vaguely think about throwing an egg roll at him but that would be an honest waste of decent takeout.

“I know what the problem is,” he continues in a normal voice. “It’s the fourteenth.”

You look at him with a raised brow. He has an odd look on his face and you wait a beat before asking, “Okay? And?”

Llewyn also waits a beat before replying and points at you with his fork, a green bean stabbed on the end. You lean forward and pluck it off with your teeth. He needs a moment to clear his throat before he can go on. “It’s the fourteenth,” he repeats. “Don���t know if you noticed, but...well..weird things seem to keep happening. On the fourteenth. Of every month.”

“Huh.” He’s right, now that you think about it. You stab your food again. “What do you think that means?”

Llewyn looks like he wants to say something, like he’s going to say something, but instead he just shrugs. You put the container down and lean back on the couch, swinging your feet into Llewyn’s lap. 

He idly strokes your ankles as his expression grows serious. “I think it means we should not go out on any fourteenths, ever. Just to be safe.”

You poke him with your big toe. “You’re an idiot. There are things that can happen inside. There are things that have happened inside.”

A smirk creeps through his beard. “Shit, you’re right. One-a your crappy novels might fall off the shelf and crack me on the skull.” He pauses. “More run-ins with wildlife? Oh! I know. Squirrels, but this time, in the walls.”

“That’s not funny!” you try to poke him again and dissolve into giggles as he tickles your foot. Your combined laughter ricochets off the living room walls before dissipating back into silence.

This time, you’re clearing your throat before being able to continue. “It’s been a day. I’m gonna go take a hot bath.” You get up and walk down the hall to the bathroom.

“Please don’t fall asleep in the tub!” he calls after you. “Don’t forget what day it is.”

Idiot.

After your bath, you head to the bedroom and find Llewyn passed out on top of the covers. He has a key, and he stays over far more often than not nowadays, and even though he’s been told numerous times since the broken couch that it’s okay if he’d rather sleep in a bed, you don’t mind sharing, he rarely takes you up on that offer. Okay, so this is the first time since the broken couch that he’s even sort of taken up the offer.

It’s been a weird day.

You grab a quilt and curl up on the other side of the bed, pulling it over both of you and snuggling down into your pillow. 

“I wonder what happens on the next fourteenth,” you yawn mutter into the darkness of the room.

You’re asleep, so you can’t notice that Llewyn isn’t, really, and he rolls to face away from you and whispers, “Yeah, me too.”

February 14

The air inside the Gaslight is thick with smoke that coils and kinks around the dim lights on the walls and the candles on the tables. Someone at the end of the bar calls out for a straight bourbon, which you pour and pass down. The sound system shrieks with feedback for three painful seconds as Pappi flips the power on.

You glance back behind the bar, making sure the bottles are stocked and the glasses are ready. Another night at the Gaslight is about to start, and Llewyn isn’t playing tonight, and he hasn’t shown up yet, which is strange.

Another thing that’s strange? This weird feeling of déjà vu.  Whatever, you’ve been working more nights at the club recently, and they’re all starting to blend together.

“Your friend’s out back,” Pappi’s voice breaks into your thoughts as he sidles up to the bar and leans back on it.

“My friend?” you ask, confused.

Pappi shrugs. “Said he was a friend of yours. Dark curly hair, worn corduroy jacket, always looks tired or pissed off or both.”

Your expression doesn’t change. “Wait, why is...did he get the crap kicked out of him again?”

“Nah,” Pappi shakes his head. “At least, maybe not yet. Anyway, I dunno, he just asked me to tell you he was outside. I don’t know what the hell he’s up to.” He nods his head towards the back exit and turns to tend to the bar.

Strange.

You duck your head out the door and glance up and down the alley. You see nothing except the usual debris; trash containers, the dumpster, the rusty drain pipes that run down from the gutters, weathered fire escapes. Something skitters off at the far end and disappears between the buildings. Was that a raccoon?

You snort a laugh as you recall Llewyn’s jab about wildlife run-ins. It would be something that happens, in a dark alley behind a basket house in Greenwich Village on the fourteenth of…

Oh. It is the fourteenth.

“Hey,” a familiar voice calls from the head of the alley.

Llewyn stands there, leaning against the brick, dark curls and worn corduroy and all. He holds a single yellow rose in his hands. He looks incredibly nervous, enough to match you looking incredibly confused.

You step fully outside and the door clicks shut behind you. “Hi?”

“Uhm, this is for you,” he says, awkwardly holding the rose out. “Saw a guy selling ‘em a few blocks down, thought you might like it.”

“Thank you? But what’s the occasion?” Why is everything coming out as a question? Even that.

He bites his lip. “You don’t know what today is?”

“Yeah, it’s the four---” Oh. Oh. 

“You wanna get out of here? Have dinner with me, maybe?” Llewyn rubs the back of his neck. It’s a nervous habit you’ve seen him done countless times, usually when he’s thinking about something serious and… Oh.

You twirl the rose in your fingertips and don’t quite meet his eyes. “I thought you said maybe we shouldn’t go out any fourteenths.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, well. Um, I don’t know if you also noticed, along with this whole fourteenth business, but I...I really like spending time with you, just hanging out with you, and...I don’t know. Maybe it’s stupid, but I thought maybe we could, y’know, have a non-weird fourteenth day of the month for a change.”

He’s rambling and it’s adorable. You hum softly. “...on Valentine’s Day.”

Llewyn’s hands twitch in his pockets. “Well...yeah. I mean, I like spending time with you, but...I also like you. So why not?”

He has a point. And really, now that one of you has said it out loud, you really can’t deny it. All the time spent together, all the shared meals and drinks and late-night talks on the couch and letting him basically move into your apartment...it’s no secret, you realize, it never really was, how close you’ve become over the past many months. How easy it is with him. How natural it is.

All the times he helped you. All the times you helped him. All the times you were together, just being.

The fourteenth of the month be damned.

You pretend to think about it for a little longer than necessary as Llewyn watches you anxiously. “Well, I do have to work, you know.”

“I already asked your boss,” he shakes his head, “and he was more than willing to agree. Something about not getting a black eye on your behalf tonight.”

Your laugh rings out into the street. “But it is the fourteenth. What if one of us gets food poisoning or chokes on dessert or something?”

“Vomit doesn’t bother me and I know the Heimlich,” he smirks. “And I’m already asking you out in a dark alley in the Village, how much weirder can it get?”

“You make a fair point, Llewyn Davis.”

He extends an elbow and a hopeful smile.

If he notices, as he brushes his lips on your knuckles as you take his offered arm, that your breath catches and your heart rate increases, he doesn’t let on.

But later that night, as he trails kisses along your jaw and down your neck and asks you what you want to do on the next fourteenth, well, Llewyn Davis definitely notices then.

~end~