#i love this version of fictional!Matty and fictional!George so much

[allylikethecat]

Chapters: 14/22 Fandom: The 1975 (Band) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: George Daniel/Matthew Healy Characters: George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Ross Macdonald, Adam Hann, Carly Holt, Jamie Oborne, Charli XCX (Musician) Additional Tags: Equestrian, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Past Drug Addiction Summary:

“Why the hell is Matthew Healy riding Carly Hann’s horse?!” George exclaimed, flinging open the door to storm into Jamie’s office, taking care to make sure the door was shut again behind him. He was surprised Jamie was even out so early, sitting in front of the computer with his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. “He’s bad fucking news, Matthew Healy?!” George said, shaking his head as he ran his fingers through his close cropped, bleached hair.

[betweenthings2]

talk shop tuesday!!

how’s your day been? are you working now that it’s summertime?

the first chapter of loads of crisps was so cute omg it was some much needed tenderness and fluff. (not to say i don’t love your angst and sadness) i related too hard to matty immediately wanting to adopt the kitten not thinking about the actual responsibilities that come with it lol. is this fic gonna have an upload schedule or are you gonna continue to surprise us? also did you write/come up with this fic as its own universe or is it kinda like standalone/oneshot situation put into chapters? going with that, do you see your fics (besides the big light bc we already know it’s its own universe) as their own little universes or completely independent entities? like are george and matty from the other one shots completely different “characters”?

🥤

Hi, Smoothie Anon(? Are you Smoothie Anon here? I'm going with it.)!! Thank you for the ask!! 💚💚

My day has been good--I has some orientation Zoom meetings for school, and I've been working on packing to move. I technically have a job, but I won't start actually working until wheat harvest starts here, and it's been cool and rainy here so harvest will be a little later than usual. I'm not at all upset about that--I love being a functionally unemployed freeloader =)

Thank you for the complaints about Loads of Crisps! Fictional!Matty's heart is in the right place, but he's just not really thinking things through here. At least he has fictional!George to remind him of things.

There is no update schedule as of now. It will get updated as the vibes dictate. The next chapter will be Or Something Worse, and I haven't decided if it will be fictional!George breaking his shoulder, or if I need to come up with something worse. It's my writer's block project right now, kind of like prompts often are, and my priority is Antichrist right now. I'm sure the next chapter will be done sooner rather than later, though.

Every chapter of Loads of Crisps is part of the same little universe--it's going to be a nonlinear narrative but they're all interconnected--I have a general premise for almost every chapter so I can reference future chapters as I go. Have I given this too much thought? Maybe, but the nonlinear nature is mostly because I didn't want to do the work to make it work in a linear way. The not-so-secret secret is that I'm lazy.

Excluding all of my The Big Light fics and Learning How to Lose a Thing I Never Laid a Hand On and Five, I do see all of my fics as being their own little universes. The things that are true for fictional!M+G in one are not necessarily true for others. I think it's easy to find continuity between some of my fics and I'm certainly not saying that it's somehow wrong to view certain fics as existing in the same universe, but I am, again, lazy, and want to preserve a kind of creative freedom in writing so every version of fictional!M+G are different characters in my head.

Thank you for the ask and I hope you've had/are having a wonderful day! =)

[drinkurkombucha]

also following up with that, is there a possibility for a catharsis part 3/ fics/ prompts from that universe?😳😏 i love those versions of fictional! matty and george so much u have no idea

I just saw this and I have plans 👀. Definitely want to get my teeth into a longer fic once Relinquish is done, but yeah… plans!

[vinylandcoffeecollection]

The Masterlist

Here are all my fics on Ao3 from most recent to oldest)

Me and You Together Song (mini series fic, new, ongoing)

The fic that was supposed to be the Christmas 2023 update to the Poses-verse, that went all Matty-coded and became a mini series fic - enjoy the journey, wherever we end up!

"Me and You" used to be Matty, Ross and Hann knocking about as kids. Then for a while, "you" was something much darker. Then "Me and You" became Matty and George (and Hann and Carly and Ross and Waughy) and since then Matty's been the happiest he's ever been. It's loving and passionate (even after three years thanks very much) and comfortable and trusting and Matty never wants it to change. He might be 35 but he's looking for the least possible amount of responsibility. But then again, maybe he isn't. Maybe, this Christmas, Me and You could turn out to be something else entirely, and maybe, just maybe, it might be the most terrifying but the most wonderful version of Me and You yet.

Lost Boys (series fic- complete 20/5/23)

Sequel to “The Cellophane House” in which 18-year old Matty and George try to negotiate their new relationship and the challenges of adult life. 1st person George’s POV. Angst, yearning and horny chaos part 2.

Wintering (or Poses part 3, complete)

Chaotic self-identified Cool, Sexy, Still Relevant teacher Matty continues to resist #Adulting while supporting his mates through various life crises and generally winding up George. Five short seasonal “snapshots” but not technically a Christmas fic. Spans comedy, fluff, emo ness and smut 💕 It’s not that Christmassy really!

Give Yourself a Try (series fic - complete)

(A collab with my fic ride or die @drinkurkombucha )

Sequel of sorts to “Stranger Than FanFiction” by Drinkurkombucha and part of my Poses-verse (kind of). Basically STFF Matty and George start a conversation about who of the various fictional Matties and Georgei on A03 they would most like to get it on with, and it all becomes super meta! 1st person various Matties POV!

The Cellophane House (series fic- complete)

Moving into a shared house together after leaving school opens up a lot of suppressed memories and desires for 17-year old George. 1st person George’s POV. Angst, yearning and horny chaos part 1.

Poses (series fic- complete)

My OG fic that started it all, and by all I do mean ALL. Matty is a chaotic college lecturer just about holding it together when mature student George walks into his class one day and completely unsettles his life. 3rd person Matty’s POV.

“The perfect story for the gay and insane population.” Gorgeous tumblr anon!

Poses - part 2 (complete)

3-part festive special that continues the narrative of Poses but you really don’t need to have read it to enjoy this! Fluffy and very smutty and humorous and just a bit political too! 3rd person Matty’s POV.

Poses (Valentine’s Day mini oneshot)

Matty hates Valentine’s Day. But that doesn’t stop him and George from showing their love for each other in other ways. Very sexy ways. Again you don’t need to have read any of the other Poses fics to enjoy this! 3rd person Matty’s POV.

Love Me (oneshot)

What I imagine happened during the filming of the “Love Me” video. Basically just rampant smut. 3rd person George’s POV.

He Gets Me So High (oneshot)

Inspired by the events of Latitude summer 2021. Dreamy and just a little bit smutty. 3rd person George’s POV.

[theyellowgrassgrows]

2020 in review (fanfic version)

Thanks @sugarhillpark for the tag!

Fics (finished and WIP!) written this year:

This has been a slow year for my fanfic wise. I’ve been focusing on my original fiction more but that doesn’t mean I didn’t work on any fics this year - just not as much as I wanted to.

Here’s to the Heartache which is my take on a Frerard teacher/student fic is still in progress. One of my goals for 2021 is to finish that story because I’ve been dragging it on for far too long.

Long Live the Car Crash Hearts is a prequel to my Frerard fic When Both Our Cars Collide but it’s actually a Peterick/Ryden. It’s only posted on Wattpad so far but once it’s closer to being finished I’m going to put it on AO3 as well. It shows how Pete and Patrick met in high school and how they ended up the men they become in WBOCC.

I finally finished Only You this year. This was my first attempt at a full length Matty/George fic and although I did rush the ending and a part of me wishes I did more with it, I’m pretty proud of how it turned out overall.

What am I now? was my Falling inspired oneshot which is basically just my angst at the lack of Gryles this year.

Comic-Con Collateral was a short sequel to one of my very early Frerard oneshots that a reader requested and I had a lot of fun writing. Basically Frank and Gerard like to bet on anything and everything and it usually ends in sex - that’s the plot.

I don’t need the snow to fall was my last bit of writing for this year. It’s a fluffy Christmas Gryles oneshot that basically rotted my teeth with how sweet it is.

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other:

I think for me - I will always write. Whether it’s fanfic or not it’s become intergral to my being at this point. This was definitely a very tough year and that in part is probably why I haven’t written as much as I wanted to but I still did a lot and I’m proud of what I have accomplished this year. Here’s to 2021 being a much better year!

Most surprising fic you wrote this year:

Probably “I don’t need the snow to fall” because I wasn’t planning on writing it at all and I’m not usually one to write fluff without a side of angst but it’s probably one of the sweetest things I’ve ever written.

Best thing that happened this year because you write fic:

That’s a tough one. Writing fic in general is so rewarding in my opinion. I love getting feedback from my readers and just being able to spew my emotions onto a character and have people like them is so gratifying. I do think I have to say meeting @sugarhillpark though. She is so inspiring and actually chatting with her and getting to know her better has been such a bright point in my day.

How you grew as a writer this year:

I feel like I’m constantly growing and changing as a writer but I think this year my grammar got a lot better. I’m also finding my style and starting to get more comfortable with how I write which is a really nice feeling.

If someone’s going to read just one of your 2020 fics, which one should they read?

That’s tough...it probably depends on what ships you enjoy since I’ve been writing such a variety of them. I think my favorite overall is probably Only You (even if the last few chapters aren’t the best) but I put a lot of work into that story and I feel like it’s one of my best smuttier fics.

What’s coming in 2021:

I would love to start on my tentative Gryles fic that I’ve been wanting to write for ages featuring a coke addicted Harry who runs into Nick at a club and Nick knows he’s not good for him but they keep meeting and they fall and love and it ends a bit tragically. Besides that I will probably pump out some more oneshots when I get inspired and a part of me really wants to write a Larry at some point but I have no definitive plans there.

I tag: @obviouslyryanross and anyone who wants to fill it out, especially if any of my followers are fanfic writers and I don’t know you write!

[traincat]

I've just read that post on bridges in TASM films, and it reminded me: Before the Spider-verse comic event, Gwen Stacy was essentially the Lost Lenore of Comics. Now Spider-Gwen is popular enough that her fans, and probably younger generations would balk at the idea of Gwen dying. I'm aware that you're a fan of The Night Gwen Stacy Died story, so I hope this doesn't come off as judgmental: It's a major part of the main Spider-Man comics, but does it NEED to be part of general narrative?

This is something I do think about a lot actually because, as you’ve said, it’s pretty well known I’m a fan of The Night Gwen Stacy Died (or a Gwen Stacy deathfucker as some of my friends have delicately and tactfully put it), but I’m also a fan of Gwen, and additionally as a woman who loves big two superhero comics I do think it’s important to consider the treatment of women within that particular media. So I don’t think this question is rude at all, and I think it’s an interesting thing to debate and to talk over. As famous female characters deaths go, Gwen’s is definitely up there, and it is a storyline I personally love and have a lot of feelings about, because, to put it simply, I love a well-done fictional tragedy. I find a lot of the rhetoric around this death to be iffy – Gerry Conway’s own statement that Gwen died because she as a “non-entity”, as compared to the current hyping up of Spider-Gwen as the “Gwen we’ve always needed”, which seems to imply that it was Gwen’s own fault that she died for not being an interesting enough character, or that Gwen is only a valuable or relatable character if she herself has superpowers or is leading a book. There’s a lot to unpack here, no matter what your stance is. I think it’s particularly telling that Gwen’s death is very up there with, say, the deaths of Jason Todd or Bucky Barnes, and yet Gwen, as a female character, does not get a violent “return from the dead” vengeance storyline along the lines of Red Hood or Winter Soldier. Even the recent reframing of Gwen Stacy-65 as Ghost Spider is totally divorced from this subject, despite the fact that the name alone seems to tease the idea of Gwen, back from the dead. The fact that even with Gwen’s resurgence in popularity following The Amazing Spider-Man franchise’s portrayal of her still doesn’t mean she gets a revenge saga the way young and tragically at one time dead male characters do is I think very telling. (I could write the hell out of a Red Hood-esque Gwen Stacy revenge murder miniseries, I am just saying, Marvel.)

But to go back to the question at hand, if I’m being a hundred percent honest, I think that to keep a version of Peter in line with his 616 character development, he needs to suffer a loss of this magnitude at this particular point in his life. Personally, I don’t think that loss needs to be Gwen, but within the adaptation that is being told I think it needs to be of equal weight and importance to what 616 Gwen meant to 616 Peter. Gwen traditionally only ever gets spoken about as his girlfriend, but if you look at the period of comics surrounding her death, it becomes abundantly clear that Peter and Gwen were planning to get married shortly before her death, which adds a certain amount of weight to the relationship that simply referring to her as his girlfriend doesn’t lend:

(Amazing Spider-Man #99)

(Amazing Spider-Man #103)

Additionally, for me, I think it’s important that Gwen’s death isn’t just a one and done – she’s dead and it means something, both to Peter and to the rest of the cast that knew her. The definition of fridging is when a woman is killed for a man’s emotional development, true, but I think a key issue is that often when a woman is fridged there isn’t much emotional development when you actually look at the text. The man is sad but then he moves on, and maybe it comes up when he gets into a new relationship with a different woman because he needs to angst about how she can’t end up just like Poor Dead Previous Girlfriend. But I think Gwen’s death has a real weight in the series. She’s not a non-entity; her absence matters. I once saw a post about how Gwen’s death didn’t really have an effect on Peter and I think about it all the time over how incredibly wrong it was:

(Amazing Spider-Man #127)

(Amazing Spider-Man #136)

(Spider-Man & Black Cat: Evil That Men Do #6)

(Webspinners #12)

So this is a loss that deeply  and consistently haunts Peter and not one he ever fully recovers from. It’s a loss with very lasting impact, like I said, not just for him, but for other people who knew Gwen.

“How lovely she was! What a wonderful couple she and made! I hoped we’d friends for life!” – Amazing Spider-Man #365

“Gwen was our light.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #250.

“She fell… and, in a sense – we all fell with her.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #200.

“Peter… loved Gwen. I loved Gwen! She was a good person.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #180

“Maybe because she knew Gwen, and was also friend.” – Amazing Spider-Man #509

Roughly speaking, I would say that to keep Peter on track with his 616 character development, the loss needs to be of a person in a serious and committed romantic relationship with Peter. The circumstances need to be duplicated, in my opinion, to track with 616 Peter’s development, but Gwen doesn’t necessarily have to be the character that dies. I personally have several WIP AUs where I’ve subbed out Gwen in this role for Harry; combined with Harry’s drug addiction and Peter’s natural protectiveness, as well as Norman’s role in this particular murder, it makes for a very interesting version of events. This sounds like I’m framing things around the man, but Spider-Man comics are a story about Peter, and so what Peter feels can’t be discounted from the story, and I do feel Peter needs to feel deeply about this. There are a lot of Spider-Man female characters death I feel very negatively about: Mattie Franklin, Ashley Kafka, Marla Jameson, Jean DeWolff, to name a few. But I feel negatively about them in part because if you’re going to kill a character, it should majorly impact the story and the main character. Gwen’s death does that in a way that the character deaths listed above don’t. In my opinion, if you’re going to kill an established character, it should matter beyond the story they die in. For me that’s a big part of what separates a character death I enjoy from I don’t.

At the end of the day, I think loss is built into Spider-Man as a story at its core. Look where everything starts: Peter, an established orphan, losing his uncle to violence. Right from the very beginning, we have an established loss. Then those losses add up: his parents, Uncle Ben, George Stacy, Gwen Stacy. Later, Harry Osborn, his and Mary Jane’s child, his clone Ben Reilly. Loss is embedded into the story on such a deep level that I think when you remove it, you ultimately remove Spider-Man’s identity itself, which has always been part of my complaint about the total refusal to even reference Uncle Ben within Spider-Man: Homecoming. And while I may love The Amazing Spider-Man 2′s retelling of The Night Gwen Stacy died as an adaptation, I also totally understand why some people might not want to watch a movie that ends in a young woman’s brutal death. As much as I joke that everyone deserves a version of their favorite problematic comics death, I also know not everybody wants that, or even has a favorite comics death scene. But when it comes to Spider-Man as a story and a narrative, I do think loss is an important piece of the puzzle. Take it away, and you end up with a less meaningful and human story. So no, ultimately, as much as I love the original scene in part because it’s so painful and haunting, I don’t think you need to kill Gwen to insure a 616-esque character development and emotional journey for Peter, but I do think you need to have him suffer a loss of the same magnitude if you’re invested in keeping the character on the same or on a similar track. But those are just my personal feelings on the story, and I do feel this is a topic where personal feelings are a make or break king of deal, and that not everyone is a slut for fictional tragedy, so I think this is very much a case that’s up to personal interpretation.

[thatsnotcanonpodcasts]

The Catch-22 Sandwich

Just when Ol’ Matty thinks he’s got it made, escaping the island, making a new best friend, headed to a new island of wine and people, he start to suspect a strange truth when he is drafted into World War II. Ol’ Matty and his new-new best friend Yo-Yo navigate the perils of the war and, worse, Joseph Heller’s ultimate paradoxical tragedy Catch-22. Thrilling dogfights, tomatoes and potato peelers bloodily fly with Ol’ Matty through the bullet drenched sky as Ol’ Matty comes to learn Joseph Heller’s ultimate truth and confirms his initial suspicion: People are trash, and that may just make life worth living. Damn you, you beautiful Catch-22.

EPISODE NOTES:

A contradiction from beginning to end, when Catch-22 was published in 1961, to a harsh contemporaneous reception and no awards, and then became a best-selling classic, renowned as a masterpiece of the 20th century. Yet Joseph Heller, former WW2 Bombardier and one of the greatest satirists of literature, still found a way to be bitter. Now, everyone’s other favourite contradiction, so he tells me, Ol’ Matty tries to eat the legendary catch. It’s not a fish.

Ol’ Matty has escaped the tropical Tartarus that was his island, filled with malevolent tribes with lasers and laserdiscs, boars as paddlepop sticks and Jim Pawsby doing a wicked sick unicycle flip off the volcano into the unknown. Perhaps that’s the last we’ll see of him. Hopefully. How Ol’ Matty thinks that bear would make an interesting and enduring series nemesis is anybody’s guess, but I won’t bother. He is, as he tells me, a “Stupid genius”.

Ol’ Matty’s salvation came in the form of Major ____ de Coverley, recruiting our inept intrepid hero for his skill (?) of turning literature into sandwiches. What Ol’ Matty thought was a free ride to the vineyard island Pianosa was a cunning ruse (not that cunning) and he was immediately drafted as a bombardier, meeting his newest best friend Yo-Yo. Together, they read through The Match by Colson Whitehead, a hard-hitting short story rife with tragic contradictions, graduate bombardier academy and fly head first into the dog fights of World War 2. Ol’ Matty was having too much fun.

The dogfight in the skies, already a questionable expression, becomes all the more confusing with the addition of more assorted animals, enemies and mischief. I’m pretty sure I heard a nuke somewhere in the mix. He couldn’t just have a simple little World War, could he? No one questioned Ol’ Matty’s paws at the joystick, however, so small victories. But then the Colonel wanted them to finish their mission count and get the hell off his base, so Ol’ Matty made the great sacrifice for friendship and pulled some strings to keep them in the war. Friends will be friends. Yo-Yo was…displeased, and before long, so was the entire airbase. Help the war effort, Ol’ Matty, and leave. Please.

All the same, Ol’ Matty has created a scrumptious enigma of a delicious word sandwich, an edible contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, with all the brutality, perseverance, wit and cynicism of Joseph Heller’s story, along with all the beauty, humanity, tenderness and poetry of that very same story. I’m surprised he didn’t put a coin in there, or, better yet, a nickel. Do so at your own risk, Quixotes.

Catch-22 is the satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller about WW2 bombadier Captain John Yossarian, the perfect audience surrogate being a deeply flawed anti-hero. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th US Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, an island not nearly big enough to hold an airbase. Catch-22’s non-chronological structure may at first seem random, but it is, in fact, highly structured based on free association. Okay, I’m calling it there. Ol’ Matty really latched onto this tragic beacon of the paradox. It is not for everyone, Quixotes, but it is undoubtedly a masterpiece.

Love stories? Love hearing about the tales of old with Ol' Matty but want to know them yourself? Want to join the Book Club Sandwich but don't have the time or desire to sit down and read? Well, you dolt, check out Audible, where you can drive to your destination and faraway lands all at once. P.S. Audible, please sponsor me.

For more short stories like the one featured here, The Match by Colson Whitehead, see The New Yorker either online or subscribe to have the magazine delivered for those delectable morning reads. You sponsor me too, New Yorker.

I have only ever read the book with my own eyeballs so I can't personally vouch for any version on Audible, however there is a highly lauded recording of Catch-22 narrated by Trevor White. That being said, I believe this is a book best read as all the unique characters can come to life in your head in your unique way.

In terms of film adaptations, there’s the Stan Original mini-series directed and produced by George Clooney, which is I think the best and most faithful translation of a novel that is borderline unfilmable with Christopher Abbott as an impeccable Yossarian, and there’s the classic 1970 adaptation starring Alan Arkin as John Yossarian with Orson Welles as General Dreedle. All is swell when you watch Orson Welles.

Until next time, my Quixotes!

Ol' Matty's sources:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/01/the-match

https://www.thespruceeats.com/veal-cutlets-prosciutto-sage-saltimbocca-alla-romana-2017913

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catch22

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22

https://www.notablebiographies.com/He-Ho/Heller-Joseph.html

#bookreview, #bookworm, #bookish, #bibliophile,#booknerd, #booklover, #bookaddict, #literature, #readinglist, #read, #library, #reading, #author, #plot, #kindle, #stories, #books, #catch22

Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, or EMAIL us on deliciouswordsandwichpodcast@gmail.com

www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com

[allylikethecat]

our timezones are NOT in alignment (booo timezones) so i ended up listening to ttpd first and THEN i read atkh!! the only thing ill say about ttpd is that but daddy i love him was a win in my books and watching the hateful swifties lose their minds over the fact that a lot of the album was ab matty was gold. ANYWAY

todays chapter omg the build up i’m so excited to see what’s next with george maybe (hopefully?) talking to matty and more tragic matty backstories!!?? i love how charli is like “u guys are so dense ofc yall would be perfect together” and omg carly being protective over matty is the best thing ever i just need to wrap him up in a blanket forever

-🥤

Hello My Dear Smoothie Anon!

Timezones really are the worst! Mixed with me not getting it together and posting the chapter during my lunch break like I said I wasn't going to do lol But alas I couldn't sleep last night and woke up late and was rushing to get to work a lot more than anticipated lol

I had a lot of very complicated feelings about the album - but you're right, I'm glad that But Daddy I Love Him was at least a middle finger to the "fans" who were so awful about Matty last year. In terms of the rest of the album, I hope he's actually doing alright like that US Weekly article said. That was like... the perfect PR move and I'm so glad that someone on his side got it together enough to make it happen.

Now on to ACTUAL important things (at least in my delusional world lol) Thank you SO MUCH for reading omg I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the new All the King's Horses chapter!! I love Fictional!Charli so much and was like I must find a way for her to be there again lol She just wants Fictional!George to be happy and she is fully convinced getting together with Fictional!Matty would make them BOTH very happy! Fictional!Carly is also very much looking out for Fictional!Matty- they grew up together, she knows what he went through with his mother when they were kids- and she knows a lot more about that situation with the jockey than she's sharing... Fictional!Matty keeps everyone at arms length, even her, and if fictional!George gets past those defenses she will NOT be letting him hurt Fictional!Matty.

Thank you so much for reading and for sending me this ask and just like being all around lovely? I love chatting with you here in the inbox! I hope your Friday was lovely and that you have a great weekend!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

the new all the kings horses is so good!! my jaw dropped when he switched back to thinking of him as matthew instead of matty because thats what he called him earlier when he didn't trust him. i feel so bad for matty though 😭😭😭

AHHH thank you so much for reading! I hope it was worth the wait and I apologize again for taking so long to post it. My body was being very rude and falling apart on me. Thankfully I think I'm better now (even though I did accidentally set my alarm last night for 4:30PM instead of 4:30AM so I was rather late for my 6am riding lesson lol)

Poor Fictional!Matty is really going through it. He thought he was giving Fictional!George space because that's what HE likes / wants when he is injured/unwell and also is absolutely shitting himself that he is now expected to travel and go to all these horse shows this summer. That's not what he signed on to do, he hasn't shown properly in YEARS and he basically got ran out of the sport before. And now Fictional!George is accusing him of stealing medication?! (He didn't by the way) and also for setting him up to steal his rides on the horses (also did not do)?! Like he thought Fictional!George loved him and he was thinking maybe he loved Fictional!George as well and instead he has somehow managed to get his heart broken standing in the aisle way at his place of employment.

AHH I'm so glad you noticed that bit about calling him "Matty" vs "Matthew" it was a switch that I know people noticed but didn't comment on when it first happened and I was so excited for it to flip back to "Matthew" when things went south. If you can believe it though, the outlined version of this chapter was set to be even more devastating but then I back tracked a little and was like "Ally chill." Thank you so much for reading and for the continued support! I hope you continue to enjoy this fic and that you are having a wonderful Wednesday and a fantastic rest of your week!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

Ally! life is such a crazy busy thing how dare life gets in the way of me reading fics!!! Anyway, I hope you’ve had a good day today (and a good father’s day if you celebrated!)

having 2 atkh updates was a rollercoaster! I’m very surprised on the direction we’re going because you’ve treated us so kindly with soft and gentle George in the past but seeing this version of him is really intense and complex i love it!! It’s like one minute he’s all loved up with matty and then the second he starts feeling threatened all that love and care is just gone which is heartbreaking for poor matty whose just nervously trying to make his boss and coworkers proud. We’re starting to see that George really just liked the idea of Matty that he made up in his head, was it pity? was it lust? did he think he could somehow “save” him? I guess we’ll find out omg I’m so nervous but in a good way

Anyway I hope your week is great and try to stay cool we don’t want another heatstroke!

🥤

Ahhh hello my dearest smoothie anon!!! As always it is such a joy to hear from you!

I feel the same way - I am also very behind on my fic reading (not to mention my fic writing!) real life needs to chill and stop getting in the way! My day Sunday lovely, thank you for asking! I had a lesson with Pop in the morning, Facetimed with my father, and then went to Father's Day lunch with my Uncle and cousins since my own dad lives on the other side of the country. It was nice! No complaints (other than the heat lol) and I hope your Sunday / Father's Day (if you celebrate) was lovely as well! Now I have hit the ground running on Monday with work, one of my colleagues is on vacation so I'm monitoring all of his clients while he's out and WOW they are a lot needier than mine are 😂

Thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the new ATKH chapters even though they were for sure *a lot* ATKH Fictional!George is obsessed with Fictional!Matty in a very unhealthy way - he spent a long time being jealous of him, and that only kind of went away when he was in a position of power over Fictional!Matty and was thus *winning* now that the tables have flipped and Fictional!Matty is the one getting what Fictional!George wanted and feels like deservers things are not great. Regardless Fictional!George liked the idea of Fictional!Matty that he had created a lot more than the actual Fictional!Matty. The actual Fictional!Matty is just trying to make it through the summer without having a complete nervous breakdown (or his back giving out) as well as nursing his broken heart. I'm excited for this story to continue to unfold and I hope you continue to enjoy it! I am so grateful for your asks and your continued support! 🥰 I hope you are also having a great week! I will try my very best to stay cool! I am armed with all the electrolytes now haha

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

ahhh omg the new chapter of atkh was so cute!! george telling him he deserves all the kindness and matty not knowing how to respond is just SO !!!

Ahhhh thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!! Writing something so cute and sweet and fluffy is very different for me and I was a little nervous that it came off as too cheesy but Fictional!George is really out here doing the MOST he wants Fictional!Matty to see that he really likes him! (He also might be trying to make up for how he acted towards him when they first met- but Fictional!George might not even realize that yet...) Fictional!Matty is trying so hard and he deserves nice things! He went into his little barren apartment and cried Tuesday morning when Fictional!George showed up with a fancy sugary coffee for him and a bagel, he just couldn't compute that someone would care enough to do that for him.

Thank you SO MUCH for reading! I'm so happy that you're enjoying ATKH and that you enjoyed the new chapter!! I had so much fun working on it! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

i just finished the new chapter and oh my god the amount of ANGST. i just wanted to go through the screen and give matty the biggest hug :((. protective george standing up for him was everything thank u for such an amazing chapter now if u don’t mind me i’m gonna go reread it again and again and again

Yay!! Thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed it! Not going to lie that one even hurt a little bit to write which was why it took so long for me to finish 😂 Poor Fictional!Matty is really going through it, but thankfully even if he's a lil dumb and hasn't made his feelings totally clear, Fictional!George LOVES Fictional!Matty and is in it for the long haul! (He also made sure to give him a very good and well deserved snuggle!)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and send me this ask! I am so blown away by and so grateful that people are 1) reading this fic at all 2) still reading it even though we are way past Christmas and my updates have been so painfully slow and 3) that people are willing to read it more than once- like WHAT?! Thank you so so much!

Thank you so much for reading, your continued support and for sending me this ask! I hope you continue to enjoy the Christmas Fic and that you have a FABULOUS rest of your week!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

Hey! I’m sure you did some already at some point in here but after Fridays adorable atkh date chapter I’m desperate for more scenarios of fictional Matty and George together so do you have any more sickfic hcs for atkh? Both characters are rlly different than they are in all the other fics

Ahhh first off, thank you so much for reading! I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying All the King's Horses and how fluffy Friday's chapter was! I've talked about ATKH head canons before- they can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The most important being that Fictional!Matty is a blue raspberry vape enjoyer, obviously lol

In terms of more sickfic head canons for those two... hmmm

Fictional!George is for sure more dramatic when he is ill/injured, he really wants Fictional!Matty to like take care of him? But honestly Fictional!Matty doesn't really know how? No one ever took care of him so why should he be taking care of anyone else? Like he doesn't mean that in a malicious or ill willed way at all, but like being vulnerable is embarrassing why would you WANT someone else around to see that?!

Meanwhile, Fictional!George tries really hard to take care of Fictional!Matty when he's unwell, but it's hard sometimes for him to even know when Fictional!Matty isn't feeling great - he hides it very well, is maybe a little more snappy (which isn't like him at all) but nothing major - he's also extremely uncomfortable with Fictional!George taking care of him be just doesn't know how to accept that kind of care / help

The biggest thing though, is that sometimes Fictional!Matty's back will bother him, maybe he twisted the wrong way in his sleep, maybe he was riding a horse that was a little special, maybe Fictional!George got a little too rough in bed, whatever, something has triggered it and Fictional!Matty would really like to just lay on an ice pack on the floor and feel sorry for himself in private (especially because even though he's been clean for two years, that's when the urges and cravings are the worst, it would be so easy to just take something and make the actual physical pain that he is very much feeling stop.) Slowly, eventually, maybe, he'll start to realize that Fictional!George wants to help him because he cares.

Thank you so much for reading and for like being interested in head canons about these two! This version of Fictional!Matty and Fictional!George are so special to me and so different from any of the others I have written and I love them SO MUCH and I'm just so grateful others have been so accepting and welcoming of them too!

I hope you continue to enjoy ATKH and that you are having a wonderful weekend!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

I have been binging your The 1975 works and I love you. I'm such a fan fo sickfics and I love that most of your fanfics can be read as such, but with the added bonus of having such a wonderful storyline other than the injury/illness the character has. I specially love the Infection Verse, I feel it's a good example of what I just wrote. I love you and here's to many more stories from you❤❤

Oh my gosh thank you so much for reading! I love you too dear Anon! I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying my fics! I love reading and writing angsty sick fic situations and I'm so grateful to hear that others are enjoying them as well! The Infection Verse has snowballed so much and taken on such a life of its own, which has been so much fun! I absolutely adore writing that version of Fictional!Matty and Fictional!George, even if that Fictional!Matty might need to be wrapped in bubble wrap for his own safety lol I hope you continue to enjoy my works and I can't wait to share what I have brewing!

Thank you so much for this lovely message, for reading and for the support! I hope you are having a wonderful Friday and that you have the BEST weekend!

❤️Ally

[allylikethecat]

infection!verse mentioned!!!

LOL Don't worry I haven't forgotten about the Infection Verse!! I have a new Ducklings chapter for tomorrow but I'm hoping to have a new chapter of The Birthday Fic finished soon! I may very much love ATKH Fictional!Matty and Fictional!George but the Infection Verse is my baby and I love that version of them way too much to ever abandon! Thank you so much for reading and the continued support! I hope you had a fantastic Monday and a wonderful rest of your week!

❤️Ally

[betweenthings2]

what motivated you to start writing gatty fic

Thank you for the ask!! The original post is here =)

This is a good question and there's a path here. I started to get really into The 1975 and watched some interviews and I think I saw that clip from, like, 2013 of Matty and George talking about how they were closer to each other than ever were with girlfriends and I was like, 'oh, this is definitely a whole thing.' Then I was looking at AO3 and someone who had routinely left kudos on my fics had published a Gatty fic that was, and still is, unfinished, but I read it and then I read a bunch of other fic and then I had the idea for Like Death. It didn't work for what I'd been writing, so I wrote it for Gatty, which worked really well, so it became an option. I wrote All This Barely Getting By because I saw a very clear path to put a horse in my fic and a productive use of the years I spent volunteering with therapy horses, which my little horse girl heart loved, and it did really well on AO3. I also had a version of the kitchen scene from Second Letter From St. Julien in my notes for ages and I just didn't have anything to do with it, so when the first two fics did well, I figured I could write a Gatty fic around that scene and it would also work.

I love being on '75 Tumblr with you guys so much, which has definitely influenced what I chose to write. There are also some themes that I find easier to explore through fictional!Matty and fictional!George, which is mostly just me doing whatever I want. I also find fictional!Matty very easy to project on to--you can read into that however you like--and I love The 1975.