#i totally thought it was a standalone but apparently I read the sequels!

[bookwyrminspiration]

2 and 16! :]

2. top 5 books of all time?

Oof this is difficult--I'm going to do standalones instead of series to simplify it a little. In no particular order: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd Jones, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, The Martian by Andy Weir, Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke.

(obligatory disclaimer that at any given point in time I've forgotten the majority of the books I've read, so it's entirely possible I'll post this and then go augh!! how could I have forgotten so and so book it rewrote my brain chemistry)

16. how many books have you read this year?

I'm at 31 so far, a bit of a slow year because at the beginning of 2023 I was still working through the books my teacher had lent me and trying to prioritize them, but they're different enough from my normal books that they took more effort to get through and put me in a bit of a slump (I only read 2 books in february). But hopefully now that it's summer and I'm reading my own books again I'll catch up :)

i very much enjoyed being lent books but fact of the matter is they're harder to read sometimes

[fruitjedi]

Of course, we are! (Wait! We're married? sequel)

Can be read as standalone but I wrote a sequel to "Wait! We're Married??" From Eddie's perspective.

Eddie Diaz didn’t believe in jinxes but after the intense shift he’d been having ever since the new transfer said the Q-word Eddie was starting to believe his teammates had a point.

The call they just had was brutal. There had been a massive housefire and Buck had gotten stuck inside when the roof collapsed while he was trying to rescue a little girl. Buck had made his way out (with the girl) but never in a thousand years was Eddie going to forget that helpless feeling as he just had to stand by and watch as the only apparent exit became blocked.

That’s why as soon as Eddie got back to the station as soon as He and Buck were alone he clenched Buck’s turnovers fiercely in his hands and kissed Buck silly. Eddie didn’t need a declaration. Eddie didn’t need flowers or a parade. He just needed this. He needed Buck in his arms safe.

After they kissed Eddie worked up the courage to go up to Buck and ask him to dinner. He was petrified but Buck just nodded and said “Sure dude”. The only mistake Eddie made was not mentioning the kiss or even mentioning it was a date (He thought it was implied).

That one mistake of not mentioning it was a date was the catalyst to the whole relationship. It started with makeouts and not discussing them because Eddie assumed they were dating by then and it grew by not specifically telling Christopher they were dating (and just letting him figure it out) or not telling the team cause Eddie assumed Buck never brought it up because he wanted to keep it a secret.

By their third “date”, Eddie had brought a ring and stashed it in his dresser with plans to propose.  By their fifth Eddie had asked Bobby for his permission. When Eddie finally proposed  Buck hadn’t even let Eddie get his speech out before “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes”. Looking back at it Eddie decided not specifying it was a marriage proposal was a mistake when it came to Buck.

They had moved in together after the proposal when Buck’s lease ran out but they never actually discussed moving in. It just kinda happened. Slowly Buck had moved his things over and one thing led to another and then bam they were living together.

When they got married they just did it on a whim cause Buck had almost died again and Eddie was sick of not being family. They didn’t even say vows.

Eventually, the day came when it all came to a head. The new guy had asked Buck about being Queer and Buck said he was straight. Eddie had heard this from Hen who thought they were married (they were) and was quite confused. Eddie was confused too. Buck wasn’t the guy to lie about his sexuality (especially in such an accepting place).

So Eddie stormed over to his husband, asked him what the hell he meant by saying he was straight, and then after a quite confusing conversation Eddie finally accepted that he married a complete and total idiot (Who the hell is married to a man, still thinks their straight AND doesn’t even know they were dating in the first place)

Buck’s not knowing he was straight (or that they were together) wasn’t mentioned again until the day they adopted their daughter Minvera Grace. They were doing the paperwork for her and the lady mentioned they were getting more and more queer dads and Buck was like “Why is that important I’m straight”.

That required that for the second time, Eddie had to correct his husband and tell him that by definition he was queer.  It was a very confusing hour but at least they made it out of it with an adorable baby girl.

It was late one night and Eddie and Buck were resting with Minnie between them and Eddie turned to Buck and asked him “Why do you never remember that your not straight?”

Buck laughed and smiled and brushed Eddie's hair out of his face “Because babe when I look at you I don’t see gender or sexuality or any of that I just see the person I love, The parent of my children. Plus before you, I was only attracted to women and I haven’t been attracted to another man romantically or sexually since. You can call me queer. I just simply don’t see myself like that”

Eddie laughed “Ok, Love. I understand now”

[anika-ann]

The Winter Tale (S.R.)

(Of Snowflakes, Hard Fallings and Soft Landings)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader    Word Count: 3900

Summary:

Scoring a date with Steve Rogers is not easy. One’s gotta be patient.

Fall might blend into winter before you get to go out with him, but know one thing; Steve Rogers makes things worth your while.

Warnings: swearing and tooth-rotting fluff (no really, it’s strong with this one, and it’s me saying that, so...)

A/N: Sequel to The Fall Tale, works as a standalone too I guess

The Fall Tale (previous one-shot)

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Fall was reluctantly letting winter take over, as it usually happened towards the end of November, and you were still painfully single. Technically at least, because you yet had Steve Rogers to take you out on your first date.

How was that possible? Glad you asked. It was because fate was a bitch, to put it eloquently. Steve had got your number with almost a scout’s-honour promise to call you soon, and then he didn’t. He lied. Like a liar.

To be fair, after three days of you being mad at the embodiment of truth and justice for all, Steve Rogers did call you, awfully apologetic and sounding truly regretful and either he was that good of a liar who even hired foreigners to be his alibi, or he really was on a market somewhere in Eastern Europe, catching his breath in a middle of a mission.

Being angry with him got considerably harder after that, especially since two days later, you read about a major showdown in his supposed current location and saw a brief footage of him protecting innocent civilians.

Because Steve damn Rogers just had to get more perfect.

The thing was, right after that mission, there was another one, this time lasting twelve full days. You were incredibly pissed at the circumstances – and maybe a little bit angry with Steve too – but mostly mad at the circumstances that didn’t want you to get romantically involved any time soon.

Sure, you could have just told Steve off, bid him goodbye and find someone else, but you couldn’t.

Because Steve tried his best to stay in contact whenever time and safety measures allowed it, texting, calling and on one precious occasion, even facetiming. And once he relaxed a bit – which seemed to be always happening rather soon into the communication, allegedly because you made him feel like a normal guy – Steve could be an entirely nice guy and you couldn’t make yourself let go.

Steve Rogers was kind, charming, witty, which was a cocktail you would never say no to, but on top of that, he was panties-dropping gorgeous. So even if the chances were that eventually, after the date actually happened, you might only end up like friends due to the immense distance between your league and his, you would feel like an idiot if you didn’t try to make it work, hence waiting for him to have a damn day off.

And you didn’t regret it; the date was totally worth the wait.

Yes, the weather sucked, so your clothes was perfectly damp just like your hair just from walking from your door to the cab due to the wildly swirling snowflakes, but Steve held the car door open for you, standing right there in the cold just to be a gentleman for you. He also reluctantly took your hand once inside the cab and even dropped a shy kiss on its back, his demeanour and bright blues reminding you exactly why you had been patient.

The restaurant was nice but not too fancy, which didn’t prevent Steve from opening doors for you, pulling out your chair, letting you order first and generally doing swoon-worthy things that made you feel both touched and aroused. The less posh environment didn’t make either of you feel bad for laughing and being entirely unsubtle, as the conversation varied from light to serious, laughter blending into chuckles and need to touch each other’s warmth for comfort. There was teasing, there was touching, there were unexpectedly dropped lines that made your heart flutter and there was inevitable falling deeper into the pit labelled ‘adoring Steve Rogers.’

“You really are going for the whole shebang tonight, aren’t you?” you teased him lightly when he helped you put on your coat and informed you that he made a reservation to a cinema.

The blush that crept up his neck caused you to feel even giddier than before. The wine you had both ordered might have not affected his brain as he had told you, but it had definitely coloured his cheeks rosy – and yet, now they grew even hotter.

“I mean, we don’t have to-- I don’t-“

You took his hand and squeezed, which shut him up effectively, his expression puzzled and hesitant.

“I would love to spent more time with you, Steve,” you assured him and he smiled sweetly as the cold air from outside caressed your face.

Your breath caught in your chest at the sight you were offered. Yes, New York never lasted long as a winter wonderland, but right now? Now it seemed almost magical as the freshly fallen snow proudly displayed its silvery white.

“Is the reservation paid?” you blurted out, your head snapping to Steve’s only to see disapproval on his face.

“I don’t want you to worry about that-“

“Not an answer.”

“… it’s not,” Steve replied, frowning a bit. “I wasn’t sure how long we would need for the dinner or if you’d even like to go. So… you don’t? Want to go?”

You wondered how Steve did not see the child-lie enthusiasm radiating off you with how perceptive he appeared to be so far. He missed it altogether, apparently, because he sounded disappointed.

It dawned to you that he didn’t get many chances to just go and see a movie and you instantly felt bad for rejecting something he kept his hoped up for.

You couldn’t have Steve sad, even if he was barely showing it. Not to mention that he had been treating you almost like a princess, you sure as hell wouldn’t treat him like you were the evil queen.

“Well, if you really do want to go, we can…”

He only shrugged his broad shoulders, charming a small smile for you.

“It’s up to you. I can cancel the reservation if you have something else in mind. Whatever to keep that beautiful smile on your face,” he offered and your stomach actually flipped as butterflies filled it for the hundredth time that day.

That was your thought exactly about him, but nope, of course he beat you to it and on top dropping a line like that, he was the embodiment of perfection when delivering it.

Steve looked so hot and adorable at the same time that you had to fight yourself not to jump to his arms and kiss him senseless. Pink plush lips, slightly red cheeks, gorgeous blue with a drop of green of his eyes twinkling and he wore such a kind expression that it made your heart simultaneously weep and race.

He kept complimenting you so effortlessly and was so considerate the whole evening too and you weren’t sure how much more you could take before you forgone all self-control and pinned him to the nearest wall; or casually confessed your undying love for him.

“Steven, you are a dangerous man. You should wear a damn warning,” you grumbled insetad, smiling so widely your mouth might actually tear.

He pursed his lips a bit, head tilted to side a fraction, looking like a confused kicked puppy.

Jesus, Steve, stop it or I’ll have to kiss you and I want you to kiss me, so please, be considerate of my lack of self-restraint.

“What did I do?”

“You’re being annoyingly perfect-“ oh now he was frowning hard, “-not like annoying annoying, but—you know. Just… I have a hard time believing this is actually happening. I really like you, Steve Rogers.”

The lines of his forehead smoothened out at your admission, his expression softening as did his gaze.

He helped you put on your gloves, fingers skimming over the first bare and then clothed skin tenderly, small sad smile playing in the corner of his lips.

His eyes met yours, the twinkle in his eyes you which already learned to love dimming. “Well, I did sort of make you wait for almost a month. Not so perfect. No warning needed.”

You had to physically fight yourself so you wouldn’t snort unattractively at the remark; yeah, the said waiting did nothing to protect your heart now. Sadly, your brain-to-mouth wasn’t fully functioning, still letting out more than it was appropriate for a first date.

“Steve, even with that, you’re making it very hard not to fall for you.”

Well, shit. The first admission had been playful. This one sounded pretty clingy. Now he was about to run off and think you a crazy girl-

But Steve didn’t. His face lit up with gratitude and affection and then a smirk found its way to his lips.

“That’s good to know. But I happen to recall a particular moment when you have already fallen-“

A surprised exasperated laughter erupted from your throat, and you actually had to gasp to gather both air and your wits. That little sh-

You yanked your hands free from his, raising your index finger towards his face.

“You know what, forget it, I’m taking it back!” you exclaimed, taking a pointed step back as Steve chuckled. “You are not perfect, you are a jerk and I think I should go home-“

“No, no wait-“ He reached out for you, but you took another step away, squinting at him playfully.

“I wanted to walk with you in the park, taking in the romantic sight of clean New York snow, but you know what? I don’t think I wanna anymore-“

Steve made a lunge for you and grabbed your hands, raising it to his face to drop kisses on your gloves- well, damn, now you regretted that he had so kindly put them on you.

“No, wait, doll, let’s walk. Unless you’re going to be cold-“

“There are some thermal microfibres in those tights or whatever, I won’t be,” you grumbled and he beamed as you unwittingly showed him that you weren’t really mad even despite his little-shit display earlier.

You said won’t be not wouldn’t have been and Steve appeared to be entirely content with you yielding so easily.

Well, damn it, it was really hard to keep up with Steve’s wits and humour; you loved it.

“Very well then. May I offer you a walk in the park, ma’am?” he said, holding out his elbow in invitation – the one farther from the road, of course, gentleman – and you chuckled, unable to help yourself.

“It was my idea, you know. Also, depends – are you going to be a jerk?”

“You wound me, miss,” he clutched at his chest theatrically, but definitely tugged you a bit closer when you slipped your arm through the loop of his own just in case you were about to change your mind when another of his jokes inevitably arrived.

“Sure I am.”

You barely made few steps without a word, when his gaze fixed on your face for long enough for you to get nervous.

“…what is it?”

He smiled, gently tugging at your joined arms, and looked you dead in the eye. “I really like you too.”

Oh. Oh. Okay. Where did all the oxygen go? And when did your heart started pounding so loudly in your chest?

“And for the record, I find it impossible not to fall for you.”

You lowered your gaze under the intensity of his, watching your feet walking in tandem as your cheeks burned and your head spun.

“A friggin’ warning,” you muttered under your breath darkly, drawing a breathy chuckle from Steve, followed by his ‘I mean it.’

Truth was, a warning wouldn’t have helped, probably. Because Steve Rogers was impossible not to fall for; but he was definitely worth it.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

You weren’t sure what possessed you; must have been the wine, lowering your inhibitions.

Once again, you couldn’t contain your child-like behaviour.

One moment, you were walking in the park, dim street lights causing the snow glow brighter, fluffy and pure, as not many people were here to disturb the peace. Even the city fell almost silent in the first snow’s honour, as if grateful for the good two inches it was given.

The next moment, you freed yourself of Steve’s warm hold and hurried from the path to gather enough of the wet delight to make a snowball – and hit the pole nearby streetlamp with a surprising precision.

You turned to Steve with a grin, finding him mirroring your expression and clapping, a sound muffle by his own thin gloves.

“Very good aim. I’m impressed,” he assured you and you curtsey for him like the child you were and went to try again.

Before you could finish making a perfect ammunition, three balls hit the very same pole in quick succession, causing you to gasp and swiftly turn to Steve – who winked at you with a shit-eating grin on his face.

It was a justified display of smugness, because he stood almost ten feet behind you, the distance from which he hit the pole actually impressive.

Wow.

“Show-off,” you called out silently, drawing a shrug from him. You went to try your aim again to settle the unofficial score and whined when you missed. “Okay, you win, Rogers.”

Steve, on the other hand, continued his strike and hit three more; you noticed him bending for more snow, making a quick and very dumb decision as an idea popped up in your mind.

As he was busy showing off his skills, you got your own two bullets ready and shot-- one of them did hit your target, which just happened to be Steve’s chest.

His mouth formed a theatrical ‘o’ and you couldn’t but double over in laughter despite missing with your next attempt.

“You didn’t!” he gasped, clearly genuinely shocked that you in fact had hit him with a snowball. “Now you’ll get it!”

In hindsight, you should have known that it was like waving a red cloth in front of a bull; you should have realized that Steve would take it as a challenge to a snowball fight.

And it was very obvious from the start that you stood no chance, even if he was blatantly holding back as you tried and failed to hide behind a bench, behind a tree and anything in your reach, your and his laughter carrying through the park as if you were damn children, both of you. You hadn’t felt so alive in years.

Steve however stepped up his game upon you hitting a point of him so high that some of the snow clearly got behind the collar of his coat. The hiss he let out and the flames in his eyes when they met yours after your perfect hit made you run away with all you got, your heart thumping in your ribcage frantically as you knew all too well that there was no escaping a supersoldier.

You tried and failed to speed up as you heard him closing in; perhaps it would be much easier to catch your breath to run faster if you weren’t laughing at the expression of pure shock that had been on Steve’s face when the snow tickled the sensitive skin of his neck.

A yelp escaped you as he grabbed you a tackled you to the ground, spinning you to he would take the brunt of the impact and only then he rolled you over – trapping you against the cold wet ground, making you squirm at the biting sensation on your own neck.

“No! No, Steeeeve,” you whined miserably, but your cheeks were hurting from the laughter and he was a solid mass on top of you to keep you warm, so you didn’t have any reason to complain. You in fact enjoyed the feeling and the intimacy of it a little too much, considering that this was still only your first date.

How? You felt like you knew him for months now; it was like having an unfairly handsome best friend you not-so-secretly had a crush on.

“You brought this upon yourself,” Steve exclaimed, grinning down at you and for the first time, it dawned to you that not only his torso way lying on you and that his hands were caging your head as he tried not to crush you with his weight, but also his gorgeous face with his tempting lips were in dangerous proximity to yours.

Dangerous to him – if he wasn’t careful, he might get kissed very soon.

You stared up at him, lost in the beautiful colour of his eyes and you were only mildly ashamed to find your gaze wandering down to his red lips.

“I—I suppose,” you whispered as your laughter died down, your breathing still heavy and only growing heavier with each second spent mesmerized by Steve’s face so close to yours.

“You suppose right,” he whispered back, voice slightly hoarser than a moment ago, his gaze roaming your face with intensity that had your heart stumbling in your chest. “This is a nice trip down the memory lane.”

“I-uhm… I remember it being the other way around.”

A smile grazed his mouth, still so damn tempting and you really found yourself barely noticing the snow melting into your clothes when—him.

“You complaining?”

You smiled right back when he lowered his head a fraction, so so painfully close you would barely have to move to finally taste his lips.

“Well, the snow is cold, but-- you know how it is… I had worse things happen to me than having a handsome fella land on me.”

Steve chuckled, the vibrations of his chest sending liquid fire through your veins, especially when his eyes seemed to brighten despite the dilatation of his pupils.

“You remember that, huh?”

“You kidding?” you mused quietly, wondering if Steve decided to torture you; if he wasn’t about to kiss you in the next thirty seconds, you might actually combust. His gaze was now more on your mouth than anywhere else and if you were honest, you might have been trembling with anticipation a bit. “That was the line, Steve. I thought you were so smooth.”

An inch. One damn inch, if not less of a distance remained between his lips and yours, practically touching, his radiating warmth and begging for yours to lick at their sweetness.  

And yet, Steve still spoke, words you could almost taste: “What do you think now?”

“I think that I’d really like you to kiss me.”

This time, his lips brushed yours, a soundless ‘kay’ tickling deliciously, your eyelids fluttering shut.

Your hands automatically gripped the lapels of his coat, using them as leverage when he withdrew, giving you space to breathe and process what happened. Too bad you didn’t want to, you needed more right in that moment; you tugged at the fabric, chasing after his lips and lifting your head without even opening your eyes.

You could feel his smile as he kissed you again, lingering this time, a tender dance of lips, parted a fraction to breathe in each other’s air. Your head was spinning, your tummy tingly and you truly felt like you could fly, not even ashamed if Steve was grinning at your eagerness – he seemed pretty board on with continuing to kiss you too.

So you smiled back, happy to let him take the lead as long as he stayed-

A discontent hum rambled in your throat when Steve retreated again, even if he caressed your icy-cold nose with his, dropping a kiss there too to warm it up.

You met his eyes, heavy lidded, misted with emotion and you found yourself smiling wider.

“Can’t have you catch a cold, doll,” he rasped and before you realized what was happening, before you could as much as frown in confusion, a silent yelp left your throat as Steve rolled you over again, one arm secured around your waist, keeping you on top of him.

You might not be lying on the snow anymore, but your wet back was exposed to the cold night air now, which wasn’t much any better.

But you were too busy to care, because Steve lost one glove, cupping your cheek for a better angle and he sank his lips into yours again, causing you to see and feel the stars.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

If Steve walked you all the back to your apartment and you invited him in to dry off, only for him to end up spending the night, well, no one needed to know – even if you kept each other warm with nothing but tea and cuddling under the covers.

Whether things got a little more spicy than sweet in the morning… that was only for the two of you to know.

Either way, you decided that while the fall, early or late, had its serious downsides… you were willing to put up with it, because it had brought someone as amazing as Steve into your life.

Which got even more handy when you ended up catching cold from your snowy adventures.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️BONUS❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Blissfully wrapped in each other, not you nor Steve (which was more of a wonder) noticed two pairs of eyes focused on you and your shenanigans in the snow. Neither of you heard Bucky sigh under his breath either as he lowered the night-vision binoculars.

“Thank God, I thought for a minute that the punk wasn’t going to go for it,” he muttered under his breath, handing the device to his field partner.

Sam took one glance through the binoculars before rising his hand for a high five, which Bucky instantly complied with.

“With the way they eye-fucked in the restaurant, I would have to rip him a new one if he didn’t,” Sam stated.

“You’d have to get in the line behind me,” Bucky retorted, but grinned, truly happy for his friend.

“More like get ready for being ripped a new one,” a voice behind them opposed, causing both soldiers to nearly jump out their skin in surprise – and literally jump to their feet in fright, ready to face their enemy.

Their enemy seemed harmless to an untrained eye: the one and only Black Widow, watching them with her arms crossed on her chest and a raised eyebrow.

“We knew you were there,” Sam blurted out instinctively, earning an eyeroll from the redhead.

“Sure you did,” she scoffed and nodded in the direction of the pair still rolling over in snow in the distance. “Now that you know that Rogers still got some game, you going to stop stalking him or do I have to keep an eye on you?”

“Please. You were just curious as we were, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” Bucky smirked and Natasha shrugged with one shoulder dismissively.

“Maybe. Maybe I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t crash their date to ‘help’,” she said, taking care to make air quotes with the last word. “Now let’s get out of here. If you really want to help, you can start looking up some chicken soup recipes to cure her inevitable sniffles.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky replied dutifully with only an edge of irony, while trying hard to remember the recipe for the soup Mrs. Rogers or his ma used to cook back in the day when the always sickly Steve Rogers refused to take normal (disgusting) medicine.

The thought of Steve not being on the receiving end of that treatment and instead being the caretaker had his lips curl up in a smile.

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

S.R. masterlist

💙❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️🤍❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️💙

Thank you for reading!

I don’t often write sequels to one-shots when asked, but inspiration struck this time (I went to a wedding and caught very mushy feelings). I hope you enjoyed. Don’t sent me your dentist bills, you’ve been warned.

[scarletwelly-boots]

Books Read 2020

I started off really good this year, what with quarantine and all. And then I got sidetracked by reading one hundred and forty-nine fanfics (and counting) (mostly Destiel; CW can kiss my ass). 

I read 30 books this year, which I thought was bad, but apparently I only read 24 last year, so not awful. I did the Popsugar reading challenge for the fifth year. There were 50 categories this year, so 60% isn’t too bad. So without further ado, let’s get started under the cut.

1. The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea, Maggie Tokuda-Hall (a book that’s published in 2020). This book, y’all. My god. It has it all: pirates, queer relationships, genderfluid characters, an intense plot. This book was so good. I definitely recommend this book. Pirates!!! And gay!

2. Somebody Told Me, by Mia Siegert (a book by a trans or nonbinary author). I don’t know how Siegert identifies, but I know they use they/them pronouns. This book was... okay but frustrating. A bigender teen, Aleks/Alexis, has a traumatic experience and moves in with their aunt and uncle, who is a newly converted Catholic priest. I liked the queer rep, but sometimes it felt like the author had these assumptions or prejudices about the Catholic church. Some of them were right, granted, and I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore so I don’t know why it pissed me off, but it bugged me anyway. So I guess if you don’t mind it seeming like the author did little to no research on Catholicism, then it’s a good book.

3. All the King’s Men, by Nora Sakavic (a bildungsroman). Who, me? Rereading my gay comfort trilogies during quarantine? It’s more likely than you think. Love the All for the Game trilogy. This is the third book in the series. It’s the best book in the trilogy. It is a series about a college sports team who play a made up sport called Exy, which is basically a more violent version of lacrosse. I’m not a huge sports fan, but the way she writes Exy matches had me on the edge of my seat. The team is made up of all “at-risk” students, the main character being a kid on the run from his mob boss dad. Trigger warning for the series for violence, sexual assault/rape, abuse, drug use, I may be missing some things. It was so good though.

4. Captive Prince, by C.S.Pacat (a book with a map). Back again with the gay comfort trilogies. This is the first book in the Captive Prince trilogy, and whoops, did I say love All For the Game? Love this series more. It’s awesome. It’s fantasy and gay and romantic. But the romance isn’t even the central part. Laurent is my favorite asshole. Damen is so sweet and sassy as fuck. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Seriously. I can’t do this series justice.

5. The Foxhole Court, by Nora Sakavic (a book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club). First book in the All for the Game series. What are you still doing here? Go start this trilogy!

6. Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (a book that passes the bechdel test). This is such a good book. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. It’s basically a retelling of Cinderella, and if you’ve seen the movie version with Anne Hathaway, the book is way, way better. 

7. Loki: The God Who Fell to Earth, by Oscar Basaldua (a book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it). God, I cannot WAIT for the Loki show. Anyway, this is a new comic about Loki (obviously). I love anything with my disaster wife in it, so 100% I recommend it. 

8. As Drowning Men Clutch at Straws, by EA Roisin (a book by an author with flora or fauna in their name). Okay, so. Roisin is an Irish name that means rose, and EA Roisin is my (unpublished) pen name. In my defense, the manuscript is 186 pages long and it felt like an accomplishment when I finally finished rereading it for the first time since I finished it in 2015. Do I recommend it? I’ll let you know if it ever gets published.

9. Red White and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston (a book that won an award in 2019). I’m still rereading this book. I got interrupted because my sister wanted to read it and then I got a new book for my birthday. But this is, far and away, my FAVORITE BOOK. It’s so beautiful. It was very romantic (once they stopped “hating” each other), and gay. The premise sounds far-fetched: First Son of the United States falls for the Crown Prince of England. But, guys, it’s soooo gooooood. Highly, highly, highly recommend. 

10. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, by Hank Green (a book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics). This is the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. This was just as great as the first, but I spent a good chunk of the book vibrating with anxiety. The stakes were way higher, and I don’t think I’ve been scared while reading a book since reading Jade Green (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor) in junior high (which was fucking terrifying, btw). But I definitely recommend it!

11. Crush, by Richard Siken (a book with a pun in the title). Guys. I read this book almost every year, because it’s quick and gorgeous and the title is accurate because it absolutely crushes me. This is a collection of LGBT (more specifically, gay) poetry, and OH MY GOD. This is in my top five favorite books. I read it all the time. This is the book that made me fall in love with poetry, back in high school.

12. The Raven King, by Nora Sakavic (a book with a bird on the cover). The second book in the All for the Game series. Trigger warnings for All the King’s Men apply to this one, too. 

13. 1014: Brian Boru, by Morgan Llewelyn (a fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader). If you know me, you know I’m a complete Irish history nerd. This book is about a very important battle that took place in Ireland, and the last great High King of Ireland, Brian Boru. High Kings are mostly just an elected title, who get paid via taxes from provincial kings and chieftains, but Brian was the only one who saw as close to a united, free Ireland as it got until 1921 (although since the island is split between the North and the Republic, it’s still not totally unified). I recommend if you like history.

14. The Magnolia Sword, by Sherry Thomas (a book by a WOC). Oh. My. God. So this is a retelling of the ballad of Mulan. Mulan is a very important story to me anyway (tomboy as a child, genderfluid, bisexual as fuck), and this retelling was so good and interesting. It also features one of my favorite tropes, Surprise Gays. I highly, highly recommend.

15. My Own Ways Through This Life, by Chris Viau (a book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads). Okay, so it miiiight have a four-star rating because of me and my camp family all rating it, but it counts. This is a mixed media autobiography by one of my camp friends. He has written at least three books, and all are available on Amazon. This is the only one I’ve read so far, and it was really interesting. I definitely recommend it. 

16. Insomniac City, by Bill Hayes (a book you meant to read in 2019). This book was beautiful and heartbreaking. It was a Christmas gift from my brother. It’s a memoir about Bill’s time in a relationship with Oliver Sacks, a famous neurologist. It’s sweet and melancholic and funny. Huge recommendation.

17. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens’ Agenda, by Becky Albertalli (a book about or involving social media). Still such a wonderful book. Better than the movie, I’m telling you. It was really good, and I definitely cried. If you liked the movie, read the book. It’s different in several ways. I think if you’re thinking in terms of trueness to the book, the movie was maybe not as good, but they’re both good as their own standalone things. But I highly recommend both.

18. Loki: Agent of Asgard, by Jason Ewing (a book that has a book on the cover). This is such a good series. It’s a great characterization of my disaster wife.  I love this graphic novel series. I love how they depict Loki, how he finally gets a goddamn redemption arc. It’s a really fun read. Check it out.

19. Kings Rising, by CS Pacat (a book with a made up language). This is pushing it, since they never actually speak in the made up languages on paper. But UGH. Third book in the Captive Prince trilogy, and hands down the best. Laurent and Damen finally let go of the goddamn longing and actually do something about it.

20. The Deep, by Rivers Solomon (a book set in a country beginning with C). This is pushing it, because it’s about mermaids (basically), but I think they’re in the Caribbean. I loved this book. It was so interesting. It’s based on a song by clipping., Daveed Diggs’s group. The premise is the wajinru (the mermaid people) originated as the infants from pregnant Africans that died and were thrown overboard during the slave trade. So like, it’s a pretty heavy book. But it’s heartfelt and sweet, too. Also more Surprise Gays, which came at an excellent time (November, post-Supernatual finale) for me. I highly recommend.

21. Written in the Stars, by Alexandria Bellefleur (a book you picked because the title caught your attention). I just finished this book tonight and it was so. good. It’s basically a modern, lesbian, fake dating rendering of Pride and Prejudice. And let me tell you, if there’s one thing I love more than Pride and Prejudice, it’s lesbians. It’s really really great. I highly, highly recommend. 

22. Running with Lions, by Julian Winters (a book with a three-word title). Thanks to All for the Game and movies like Handsome Devil and Boys, I have discovered that I have a huge thing for queer sport stories. So this book was really, really good. It’s got friends to enemies to friends to lovers, which is great. It’s got soccer, which is way more homoerotic now. And it’s got gays, which is really why I picked this book up. But it’s well written and the story is interesting, too. I definitely recommend.

23. The Prince and the Dressmaker, by Jen Wang (a book with a pink cover). Oh my god. AHHHHH!!! This book is amazing. It’s a graphic novel, so it’s a quick read. It’s fantasy and feels a little Cinderella-y, but that’s not the best part. The queer relationship is amazing, but that’s not the best part. The prince is genderfluid! Like me! And his mask name is Sebastian! Like me! (Okay, so my name is Bastien, but close enough) This was so so so good. I got it at a convention in February, and I was practically vibrating with excitement as I read it. I highly highly highly recommend. 

24. Girl Crushed, by Katie Heaney (a book by or about a journalist). I think I’d have liked this book better if it wasn’t so...similar to my life. The main premise is the main character is getting over a sudden and painful break up, after being dumped by her long-term (maybe first? I can’t remember) girlfriend. The ex has the same initials as my ex and acted very similarly, so maybe I ended up picturing her when the character came up in the book. The ending pissed me off. It was very gay and that wasn’t the entirety of the book, so maybe you’ll like it more than me. It was just too true to life for me and opened up some old wounds I didn’t want to open up. The author is an editor at Buzzfeed, so that’s how it fits into this category. 

25. Date Me, Bryson Keller, by Kevin van Whye (your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge--a book published this year). This might be my second or third favorite book, goddamn it’s that good. It’s queer, obviously, and sort of fake dating? Bryson is dared to date someone new each week. He’s assumed to be straight, so all the people he dates are girls until Kai asks him. It’s really sweet, and there’s some issues with coming out to your family that don’t always sit well with me, but overall it was really good and it ends well. I definitely recommend.

26. Loki: Where Mischief Lies, by Mackenzi Lee (a book written by an author in their 20s). AAAHHHH!!!! Fuckin.... Okay, y’all know I have feelings about Loki. He’s my spouse and I love him to death. This book was so, so good. Loki gets sent to Victorian London to solve a mystery and meets a group of humans who know about Asgard and basically keep Midgard in order for Odin. Loki is canonically pan and genderfluid (as he should be), and Theo is a sweetheart. I wrote a 10k fic coming out of reading this book (Phantom Limb by Irishavalon on AO3, check it out.). I seriously recommend!

27. Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo (a book by an author who has written more than 20 books). I read this with my third graders at the beginning of this year. Such a good book. I read it as a kid too. The movie is great but as always, book is better. Recommend.

28. Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant, by CS Pacat (a book with more than 20 letters in its title). This was a reread of a short story that comes after the Captive Prince trilogy. Charls, the cloth merchant, was such a great side character in the CP trilogy, and telling the story from his perspective was great. It doesn’t have to be read after the other CP short stories, but at least the trilogy should be read first.

29. Fence vol.1, by CS Pacat (a book from a series with more than 20 books). I’m pushing it with this category. I read the first volume, but this is a comic book series, so the 20 books is more issues. This is very good too. It’s another gay sports story, and is probably going to be enemies to lovers, but they’re still enemies by the end of volume 1. Still recommend. 

30. Prince’s Gambit, by CS Pacat (a book with a main character in their 20s). Book 2 of the Captive Prince trilogy. Very very good. 

[annerbhp]

2018 fic year in review

Now that I’m fairly certain I won’t be posting anything else before the end of the year.... (are we still doing these? We should!)

Total word count: ~164,000  Total fics written: 4 and a half? and a handful of ficlets never posted to AO3?  Fandoms written in: 1. all Harry Potter this year

Chronological list of fics

finished off we can still be, who we said we were (Harry/Ginny) - second story in the Armistice Series covering Slytherin!Ginny’s last year at Hogwarts - 124,000 words

you don’t have to stay (Harry/Ginny) - short prompt response ficlet about Harry and Ginny navigating life in the public eye together - 2,000 words (And the smutty sequel here, only posted to tumblr)

i just really need you here right now (Harry/Ginny) - short prompt response ficlet about Harry’s struggles with relationships and communication - 2,000 words

we can’t control (watch me unfold) (Harry/Ginny) - smutty friends-with-benefits Harry and Ginny meet as adults fic - 73,000 words

in my head we do everything right (Armistice Series #3, Harry/Ginny) - 26,000 words - WIP

(I did also write an answer that turned into a ficlet of sorts here about what would have happened in The Changeling if Harry had died. Do I need to warn for major character death?)

From my past year of writing

My best story of this year: Well, I only really completely finished and posted one fic this year other than the little prompt response ficlets, so I guess I’m gonna go with we can’t control.

My most popular story of this year (by kudos, comments or notes): Well, as sometimes seems to happen, the smutty we can’t control has the most hits of any of my stories this year, but when it comes to kudos and comments, the award goes to we can still be. Not sure if that is a preference for the latter fic, or if there is a hesitance to kudos and/or comment on something explicit. Or if people just re-read the explicit fic a lot. It’s a mystery! 

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I don’t feel particularly underappreciated this year or anything. I feel I’ve been very lucky. If we are talking about everything I’ve written and posted ever, I still have a ridiculous amount of love for the Greer/Ginn fic I wrote for Stargate Universe, which I keep wanting to somehow turn into a much bigger novel. You know, maybe minus all the Stargate stuff. Lol. But it’s such a small fandom and a minor character that went a completely different way on the show kind of thing that I get why not many people got into it. (who i am at the end of the day)

Most fun story to write: I really loved writing chapter 1 of in my head we do everything right. It was fun to write normal teenaged-shenanigans and people just being happy for once. And it had a kind of atmosphere that I think I forget to include sometimes as I’m just trying to churn out chapters or getting to the next plot point. I love giving places a real feel beyond just being a place for characters to exist.

Hardest story to write: Um, it’s all hard? Honestly, just finishing things is so tough. Or maybe the hardest part is really taking the beta criticism I ask for and doing the hard work of editing, even if it means tearing things apart, deleting things, taking everything in a new direction. It always makes the story better, but it can be tempting to ignore and just post as is.

Biggest disappointment: No really big disappointments. Just the rare comment here or there that sting a bit and linger far longer that I should let them. I have a tendency to give the odd negative comment far more power over me than I should.

Biggest surprise: Actually writing little response ficlets to prompts people gave me. That never happens anymore, even though I used to do it a lot in my last fandom.

Most unintentionally telling story: That would certainly be telling. ;) I think all stories have pieces of the author in them. We build the fics from our own memories and traumas and observations and experiences. It’s inevitable.

Favorite Opening Lines: None of them, honestly. I’m laughing as I go through them. I apparently have a thing for starting with a line of dialog. Or short declarative sentences. (One, I notice, starts with “Ginny hates London,” and another starts with “Harry hates to be nagged.” I start with people hating things? Lol) 

Favorite Closing Lines:

Everything but him.

Reflection time

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? I’m actually impressed I managed a few ficlets and an entire standalone fic. Most of the time the majority of my fannish brain is focused on Armistice Series. I’m pretty happy with what I came up with.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? I was pretty boring this year. (I think my bizarre Helga/Salazar thing was in 2017.) Or I was just dedicated!

What’s your own favorite story of the year? I’m really happy with the way we can still be, who we said we were wrapped up in the end. There were some things I didn’t plan at all in there that just showed up and set up camp that I loved quite a bit in the end. I loved writing all the stuff back in Hogwarts, the wide variety of characters, but now with Harry, Ron, and Hermione thrown in the mix.

Did you take any writing risks this year? Uhhhhh, I STILL can’t believe I wrote we can’t control, let alone posted it. That was definitely a first for me, all that smut. I blame @weatheredskies and @blvnk-art forever and ever for that one.

Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year? Oh, millions. I really, really, really want to finish in my head we do everything right as well as Armistice #4 (the devil’s right there, right there in the details). I’d like to do even more than just those two, but I’m not gonna be greedy.

I’d also like to finish this drunk!hinny one-shot that someone requested that is almost done. I’d be happy to get the sequel to my coffeeshop Muggle!AU at least started.

Beyond that? I hope I can play with this ‘Harry comes to go to school at Hogwarts for the first time right after defeating Voldemort’ fic that I have titled as Perceptions at the moment but will doubtlessly change. That one will play with having tons of different POVs, and I’m excited to try and stretch myself to other character POVs, such as Ron, McGonagall, Hermione, Lupin, etc. There’s a Harry travels through time fic I would also like to finish or at least get a bit more done with.

And anything else that might catch my attention! Maybe try to do some sort of prompt/exchange/ficathon type thing.

[prompt-and-circumstances]

We Were All Medicated

We Were All Medicated

Characters/Pairings: No Pairings! OCs, Reader Insert, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester

Prompt: Medicated (from A Brand New Hurt by Louden Swain) for the 2018 Louden Swain FanFic FanArt Project (third year!) by @mrswhozeewhatsis

Word Count: 1,997

Warning(s): Angst, Sorrow, Guilt, Death. Look here, this piece hit me in the feels and I’m the joker who wrote it!

A/N: This is a reposting of last year’s challenge piece. It is the sequel to the 2016 Louden Swain Challenge piece “Pop Tart Heart.” All lyrics were used and are not bold or marked in any other way. I didn’t want them standing out like a sore thumb, I wanted this to read smoothly. This can be read in one of two ways: the first way is to go back and read Pop Tart Heart first and then this piece. The second way is to just read this fic as a standalone piece. I do reference the first piece and summarize it in one paragraph within this piece. There will not be a part three, the story ends here.

We Were All Medicated

Holy Chuck. That totally hurt. Of course, that was expected. What wasn’t expected was how relieving the pavement actually was. One would naturally assume that when you get knocked down onto pavement, you a) get the wind knocked clean out of you and b) you get hurt in two directions. Once from the attack and second from the pavement catching your flesh and bones. You braced yourself for more beatings from the group, but they walked away once you hut the ground. Weirdest bullies ever.

You just lay there for a few minutes, okay, maybe more than a few. The pavement seemed to caress the treads of your distress; it was as if the coolness from the concrete was seeping into your very being and washing away the stress, and pain, and guilt. Oh, how you wanted to lay there for eternity! But as Tommy always said, “you gotta grip onto that cow as your seat and speed the plow.”

To be honest, you didn’t have clue one what in the hell that actually meant, but you always assumed it was his version of the age-old adage “if you fall off the horse, get back on.” Good ‘ole Tommy Bandenberry. He was your best friend your entire life until he died with the rest of the scholastic team in a freak bus accident. One year later, that creep Colin Rottergut raised them and the entire cemetery with voodoo. You, your boyfriend Toby, Tommy’s little sister Chelsea, and your nerdy friend Maddox banded together and defeated the zombie dudes. The town “re-died” because of two strange men, brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester. They apparently did this stuff for a living. They stopped Colin and made the four of you swear to never get into hunting monsters.

And the four of you kept to that promise. At least, you tried. You were seniors in high school when the zombie apocalypse happened. Then you all went off to college and not the same ones. You and Chelsea went to one, Toby to another, and Maddox got into an Ivy League school and none of you were surprised. The guy was a total nerd. You all genuinely gave that promise the college try…but it wasn’t enough.

You still didn’t know what happened to Maddox, it was like he ceased to exist or something except you still remembered him. He disappeared without a trace, it’s honestly the damnedest thing. You certainly hoped it had nothing to do with the actual damned. According to the Winchester brothers, monsters are real so it only makes sense that angels and demons are real too, right?

You got into this series of books in college, Supernatural. Some guy named Chuck Shurley wrote them, and they were scarily accurate. You and Chelsea started saying things like, “I swear to Chuck,” and “Oh my Chuck” instead of God’s name. Neither of you knew if God was real, but this Chuck fellow seemed like a good substitute. He just knew too much. You always wondered if the Winchester brothers knew about him and his novels. Did he even have their permission to write that stuff much less print it?

You and Chelsea even got a book club going on campus for those novels. Everyone thought it was great fiction, but you and Chelsea knew the truth. They were real. A slight breeze washes over you and reminds you, you’re still lying on that pavement. You sit up but continue to sit on the cool pavement. You know, for a sidewalk it was awfully clean. There weren’t any markings, or gum spits, or dog droppings, or anything. Not even chalk from a kid during summer. It was just so, pure.

“Like your words, so gentle in their reflection in my window. I knew you would be the kind of girl I could talk to.” Chelsea was special, she was super girly and followed all the latest cosmetic trends. The girl never had a strand of hair out of place and didn’t know how to not accessorize anything and everything. She was a beauty queen, but she was also kind and bubbly. Everyone always assumes the pretty ones are mean, but she wasn’t. She refused to be placed into that mold. She was Tommy’s little sister after all, so you guys have known each other forever.

You remembered when they moved into your neighborhood, right next door to you. You were both five years old. You were sick with a cold and watched them unpack from the window in the downstairs living room. You were so curious but couldn’t join your parents outside to greet and help. You had to stay inside. That’s when you met her. She must have seen you watching them, and she practically bounced over to your window, breathed on it and started writing on it. The two of you did that for hours while the grown-ups unpacked. You’ve been best friends ever since.

Chelsea and Maddox always had a thing in high school. Maddox always seemed a little strange and sometimes you both wished he was a little less insane. All that nerd mumbo jumbo made your heads spin, but not in that creepy Exorcist way. Maddox was always proclaiming, “I may be crazy, at least I’m medicated!” He was such a dweeb sometimes but he always made you guys laugh. The guy was a true gem. You just can’t believe he’s gone without a trace.

Toby went looking for him a few months back. Your boyfriend was eerily protective of you, ever since the zombie dudes incident. He was hell-bent on making sure you didn’t lose another friend and take the blame for it, especially when it couldn’t possibly be your fault to begin with. You remembered calling Toby and telling him to stop the search. You could feel your gut telling you, this wasn’t normal. Something happened, a Winchester kind of thing, and you guys made a promise. A pact even. You were not to go a-hunting.

You turn your head to the sky; the sun is beginning to fade and the Nebraska sky is showing why it’s Nebraska. You sigh, still not ready to stand up on the pavement. You’re getting too lost in your thoughts and memories. “I was intense, you said. To that I silently took offense while you laughed, but I didn’t think it was funny.” Toby insisted your gut instinct was just fear and he continued searching. Two months ago, there was a report on the news, a young man had been found. Dead. Toby was dead. No one knew how, when, where, or why. He was just found. Police say where he was found is not where he died.

You never even went to the funeral. He should have listened! Tommy, Maddox, Toby, and then your worst fear realized; it was Chelsea’s turn. She invited you to some weird ass event her beauty class was doing, and you agreed to go but never made it. You got swamped at work and then your car stalled. You tried to call and let her know you’d be late and possibly miss the event altogether. She never picked up. You assumed, and justly so as any person would, that she was busy with her event. The next morning you got her voicemail, Hey, it’s Chelsea. It’s filling up in here so I was saving your place. I was scared you’d be replaced and I didn’t want to sit with a stranger. Hope to see you soon!

It was cryptic to say the least. Fear of getting replaced? You never did figure out what she was talking about. Later that afternoon, she was declared missing and three weeks later her body turned up, just like Toby’s. You were the only one left. You couldn’t stop asking yourself if their deaths were your fault. It seemed like the only common denominator in everyone’s deaths was you. So how could you stop yourself from making the same mistake?

You knew you couldn’t go looking for Maddox and you couldn’t try to discover what happened to Toby and Chelsea. You placed a call to Dean’s phone and Sam’s phone as back up, in case Dean didn’t get the call. You left messages on each. You never heard from them either. You felt utterly helpless. And alone.

Whatever was coming for you, you knew it was coming. It had to be. You did attend Chelsea’s funeral. It was awful. The only thing as awkward as goodbye, was standing up in your seat to let her by. You should have been a pall bearer, but you just couldn’t handle it. You didn’t know how you fought the tears back as her casket solemnly made its way past you.

The pavement’s coolness seemed to finally dissipate. It took you way too long to realize that it was backwards. In the hot afternoon sun, it should have been warm and in the evening, it should have been cool. It was cool in the afternoon and cold in the evening. You thought on it, and it seemed as if everything else was normal except for that one thing. The pavement was horribly off, like someone forgot how it worked when they made a world just for you. A world. Just for you.

Sam and Dean were very solemn as they built a funeral pyre. They were preparing yet another hunter’s funeral. This one was different though. They were used to burning their friends and family, that was the hunters’ way after all but this was for a kid. A kid they knew once, a kid they rescued and swore to secrecy. The Winchesters had gotten the kid’s phone messages too late; they arrived too late. The brothers had investigated the deaths of Toby and Chelsea, and while it took a little longer to get done, they did find Maddox.

Maddox was just as dead as the other two were. Sam and Dean tried to keep hope that they could save the last one, but they were just too damn late. Two years ago, they taught these kids about hunting and monsters, but they clearly didn’t teach enough. The Winchesters hoped none of the kids were aware of what happened, that the dreams were real enough so they’d never know the Djinn were feeding off of them.

They burned the carcass of Maddox where they found him, and Toby and Chelsea had been properly buried. They didn’t have the heart to dig them up to burn them; they wanted to leave them undisturbed for the grieving parents. Sam struggled to light the match, his tall frame sagging with sorrow. He remembered how brave this kid was, two years ago leading the assault against a zombified town. He knew he’d never meet this kid again, never speak again.

Dean was blaming himself. “Dean, it wasn’t your fault.” Sam tried to console his older brother.

“I know Sammy, I just can’t help thinking if I had gotten to my phone sooner. Maybe in another life, maybe we could have been…”

“I know, I know.” Sam choked back tears, “maybe we could have saved them, all of them. But we didn’t, we couldn’t. You remember the Djinn, it’s likely these kids died pain free, not knowing what was happening. We can take that with us, knowing they didn’t suffer.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just light the damn thing up, I want to get back on the road.”

Sam just looked at Dean and bit his tongue. Dean was dying inside and standing here watching an innocent kid burn in a funeral pyre, was just too much right now. Sam flicked the lighter on and tossed it onto the mound. Neither brother would ever admit it, but each said a silent prayer to Chuck to watch over these kids in heaven. Sam prayed for Chelsea to be reunited with her brother Tommy, and Dean just prayed that they’d have better heavens than they did final medicated dreams.

[panhasapen]

I finally read The Neverland Wars and !!!

[lovphobic]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR RECS!! A lot more thorough than I thought to say the least.

I’ve BEEN wanting to read station eleven for so long actually. And I might add it to my basket next month if I actually remember to.

Wilder girls & survive the night are books I’ll definitely keep an eye out for when I’m done with the current two series I’m tackling which are. A lot.

I’d read merciless and good girl’s guide to murder but honestly I’ve had my fill of reading long series (these two past years for me have nothing but binge reading the grishaverse, the lunar chronicles, the raven cycle, etc) so I feel anxious when thinking about tackling something that isn’t a duology or a stand-alone nowadays unless it’s some like… old as hell, pre 2000s series. Which is lowkey hypocritical cause I may or may have not added the long way to a small angry planet to my to-read list after seeing you talking about it.

Also I know that struggle of trying to slither out of YA hell… I’m trying to make Iron Heart, the sequel to Crier’s War by Nina varela the last YA book I read cause I’d been putting off finishing the series for way too long. YA isn’t bad but a lot of its writing is so cookie cutter almost unfortunately. Which was so apparent to me since I’m reading a book that came out in 1998 and the difference is STARK as hell.

AHH UR WELCOME !! im glad some stuff was useful to you!! 💗💗💗 im honestly SO SHOCKED youve read the merciless... ive Never come across someone whos read it without me talking about it so thats REALLY FUN!!! :D but i totally understand the series thing... i have such a long tbr that even thinking about reading any of the series before i finish the standalones is FRIGHTENING. also hypocritical on my end bc. i mean, i started the wayfarers series. thats 5 books LMAO 😭 but i did it because my brother got it for me !!! i know i have to get to the series at some point but like <3 man idk. ive dug a grave for myself w these bricks of paper

speaking of my tbr.. SOOOO much of it is ya because a lot of it came from early to mid 2020 when i was still HEAVY into ya. and youre SO RIGHT about the cookie cutter shit.. i see so many ya thrillers in stores that id like in theory but i have to step back and tell myself ive already read like 3 books Just like it. its so sad :( i think that + just generally getting older is the main reason im wanting to branch out. in turn lmk if YOU!! have anything u think i might like!! i wouldnt say im too picky, just not very into fantasy :3c

[lgbt-teenager-support]

books about bisexuality?

(books and captions from barnesandnoble.com) 

Not Otherwise Specified - Hannah Moskowitz

Etta is black, bisexual, and in recovery from an eating disorder, and that combination of things doesn’t mesh with being a ballerina living in Nebraska. It certainly doesn’t help her stay friends with her old lesbian besties who consider her tainted. But Etta refuses to be put in anyone’s neat little boxes, and as she finds the right people to surround herself with to help her love who she is, she also discovers they may be her key to getting out of town and finding her best life in the future. Putting this book at the top of the list is a Bi Visibility Day no-brainer; if you’ve ever wanted to feel the literal urge to fist pump from the bi pride in a YA novel, put a copy of this in your cart, plus one for everyone you know.

Far From You - Tess Sharpe

Mina and Sophie were best friends, even through a car accident that changed their lives. But now Mina’s dead, and Sophie’s determined to find out who killed her. Along for the ride is Mina’s brother, Trevor, who not only wants justice for his sister, but wants Sophie as well. But as the two get closer, Trevor learns Mina and Sophie were more than just BFFs; they were in love. For many YA readers, Sharpe’s debut is the first time they saw the word “bisexual” in a novel. For still others—present company included—it’s the first time we saw an on-page sex scene between two girls in a YA. Whether it was a first for you—or will be—there’s no question this is one of the most important bi YAs the category has to offer.

Coda - Emma Trevayne

Anthem has a passion for music, but as a conduit for he Corp, most of what he listens to is work, powering the grid through him while shortening his life span. All he has to live for are the twin siblings he takes care of, the girl he’s smitten over, and his friends, including his ex-boyfriend. Sexuality is a non-issue in Trevayne’s dystopian society, but passion for music and rebellion? Is everything.

The Art of Wishing - Lindsay Ribar

You know the drill—girl finds genie, girl gets three wishes…girl falls for genie, who happens to be in the form of a high school boy, and learns the villain gunning for them both is her new guy’s ex-boyfriend… totally run of the mill, naturally. While I loved the first book in this duology a lot, I managed to like the sequel even better—it’s in The Fourth Wish that Margo and Oliver discuss not only what it means for him and for them that he’s bisexual, but the gender fluidity inherent in his continuously taking the bodies that would be most pleasing to his new masters.

Otherbound - Corinne Duyvis

If the fact that this debut has a bisexual protagonist doesn’t sell it to you on its own, consider this: 1) it’s a super-rare standalone fantasy, 2) that also has disability and racially diverse representation, and 3) is the closest thing to Sense8 in YA form. Amara is a mute slave girl, charged with protecting a princess. Nolan lives in an entirely different world, but when he blinks, he is transported into seeing through Amara’s eyes. As dangers grow for Amara, and the control dynamic between her and Nolan changes, the two of them will need to work together to keep themselves, and the princess for whom Amara has begun to develop feelings, safe.

Under the Lights - Dahlia Adler

Actress Vanessa Park may be new to realizing she likes girls, but Brianna Harris, the publicist’s intern sparking that discovery, has been an out-and-proud bi girl for years. While Vanessa works to process what it would mean for her friendships, family, and career to come out, especially with her being Korean American already putting her in a precarious place on the Hollywood food chain, Bri’s experience with bi erasure tie in to her own hesitations about moving forward with someone who’s not ready. As its author, I’m probably a little too biased to tell you if this book’s any good, but there sure is a lot of making out (and then some).

Trust Me, I’m Trouble - Mary Elizabeth Summer

When you read this book’s predecessor, Trust Me, I’m Lying, you don’t know the main character, teen con artist Julep Dupree, is bisexual; frankly, neither does she. She falls for a guy, things happen, and…well, that’s all I’ll spoil about that. But she also meets Dani, a 19-year-old Russian mob boss who’s back with a vengeance in the sequel, resulting in my personal favorite girl-girl couple in YA this year.

About a Girl - Sarah McCarry

There’s no missing from that cover that there’s a relationship between girls in this book, the third and final of the Metamorphosis trilogy. But as the book opens, main character Tally actually has feelings for her best friend, Shane, which he seems to reciprocate, resulting in a fan-yourself-level sex scene. The emotional aftermath isn’t quite as fun or romantic, though, and when she sets out on a quest to find her maybe-father, she’s free and clear to fall for the mysterious and alluring Maddy.

Over You - Amy Reed

Max is the calm, responsible girl to her best friend Sadie’s wild child, but when they go away together for a summer to a farm commune and Sadie gets mono, Max finally gets to emerge from her shadow and be her own person. Newly independent, she finds herself drawn to Dylan, the very same guy who piqued Sadie’s interest before she got sick, and an unusual choice for Max, since she usually prefers girls. I loved this book for being a great novel about toxic friendship, and it’s a great pick if you’re looking for a novel with a bisexual main character that doesn’t revolve around a romantic relationship.

Empress of the World - Sara Ryan

This was my personal first read with a bisexual main character, and I suspect I’m not alone there. When Nic goes to spend the summer at a program for gifted youth, she certainly doesn’t expect to fall for a girl; after all, she likes guys. But when she falls for the beautiful and talented Battle, she falls hard, and the girls’ mutual and confusing feelings give way to a sweet romance that transcends labels or expectations.

Grasshopper Jungle - Andrew Smith

It’s hard to put Smith’s neon-covered apocalyptic opus into a genre, but it’s here for its rare bi male character in YA, caught in the confusion of having feelings for both his best friend, Robby, and his girlfriend, Shann, while also fighting to survive an infestation of human-size praying mantises that have descended upon their Iowa town.

Pantomime - Laura Lam

Gene is the daughter of a noble family, but she doesn’t feel at all at home in female trappings. Micah’s a runaway, who joins the magical circus of Ellada as an aerialist’s apprentice. As he becomes a bigger star in the show, he also finds himself drawn to two other performers—female aerialist Aenea and male clown Drystan. But Pantomime isn’t about a character who falls in love; it’s about a character’s evolution and understanding of identity. Winner of the 2014 Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction, the story continues with Shadowplay.

Cut Both Ways - Carrie Mesrobian

Will’s finally had his first kiss, but he didn’t expect it to be with his gay best friend, Angus. Determined to put it behind him, he starts to date Brandy, but it doesn’t stop him from gravitating back to Angus over and over again. The thing is, Brandy’s no beard; he genuinely likes her, too, and he has no idea how to balance them both and make a choice. Though Will doesn’t consider bisexuality or use the word (which is addressed in the author’s note), to the best of my knowledge, this is the first realistic contemporary YA from a major house to be narrated entirely by a male character engaging in sexual activity with both a male and female character, and that’s no small thing.

Adaptation - Malinda Lo

When birds start flying into planes all over the country, it’s impossible to call that many collisions a coincidence. Then Reese and her crush, David, get in a crash of their own, and when she wakes up a month later, she has no recollection of what she missed. Her life only gets more confusing when she meets the beautiful Amber, and realizes she’s confused about more than just what’s going on outside; apparently her sexuality isn’t quite what she thought it was, either. As she works to solve the mystery of what happened to her during the month she was unconscious, she also must confront her feelings for both David and Amber, an issue which continues in sequel Inheritance.

Love in the Time of Global Warming - Francesca Lia Block

It’s the end of the world as Pen knows it, and with her family disappeared after natural disasters rock Los Angeles, there’s nothing for her to do but search for what comes next. As she embarks on her Odyssey-mirroring quest, while thinking about her parents, her little brother, and her best girlfriends—one of whom had been on her mind in a new, kissing-related way for a while now—she finds a new band of friends to join her, which includes the alluring and mysterious Hex, taking her sexuality in yet another turn as they fall in love against the backdrop of a world falling apart.

you can find more bisexual books here, here, here, here, here, and here

hope this helped!

-Mod Charlie

[brunettereader]

Klance fic recs

Just a collection of some of my favorite Keith and Lance fics. I’ll probably add to this as it goes.

Bold - Favorite Fics ★ - VLD Verse but knowledge of specific details of canon plot is not required

calling me to come back by aknightley Teen and Up | 50,464 | 1/1

Keith is a witch who owns a shop where he breaks curses on both magical items and people under spells. Love spells, family curses passed down generations, cursed heirlooms lurking the attic -- he can handle them all. But one day a boy named Lance walks into his shop, and his curse is darker and more difficult to break than anything Keith has ever seen before: the curse is draining his magic, and without his magic, Lance will die.

the universe has moved for us by aknightley General | 6,850 | 1/1 | Sequel to calling me to come back

Keith carefully waits until the bell stops ringing and then makes his way to the back of the shop, into his office, where Lance is slumped over the desk with a dozen books spread out in front of him. A huge red and white cat is laying on top of the keyboard of the laptop shunted off to the side, her tail flicking back and forth. They both appear to be asleep.

it’s all in my head by aknightley ★ Teen and Up | 7,660 | 1/1

"Uh," Pidge said, "Lance? Buddy? What's the deal?"

"That's Lance?" Hunk shouted, somehow still ramming ships away from the castle; Keith felt like bubbles were bursting in his head, effervescent pops of giddy fear mixed with conviction. Lance, he thought, Lance feels like this. "Thank God, I thought I was going crazy for a second."

so why don’t we fall by aknightley ★ Explicit | 8,218 | 1/1

Five times Lance used a pet name for Keith, and one time Keith used one for Lance.

Keith has no basis for having a relationship with someone, so he's trying to follow Lance's lead.

the stars are bound to change by angstinspace ★ Teen and Up | 50,828 | 9/9

Both paladins turned to their new, small alien companion. She lifted her head to look at each of them in turn, her eyes round. Keith laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“How about you, Zola?” he said. “Are you ready to go?”

She didn’t answer right away. Then she hesitantly asked, “Where are we going?”

As he made eye contact with Lance over her head, Keith could have sworn he felt something electric in the air: a simultaneous resurgence of determination.

“We’re going to take you home.”

Keith and Lance rescue a little alien girl from a hostage situation and bring her home ... and learn a few things about themselves and each other along the way.

pepsicola by corydalis ★ Teen and Up | 10,328 | 1/1

It starts like this: Lance looking up at the scoreboard only a few days into his Garrison training and muttering to himself, “What the hell kind of a name is Keith?”

-- Or, Keith and Lance fall in love. Eventually.

phlogiston by corydalis ★ Teen and Up | 2,101 | 1/1

When Lance was eight years old, his abuelita sat him on her knee and told him; love is a leveler.

At the time, Lance had no idea what she meant. Love was still a rather far-off and foreign concept, but he was enamoured with the general idea behind it, even if it seemed a bit confusing. The phrase stuck with him, but had ultimately been pushed to the back of his mind when he couldn’t figure it out.

Now though, his back arched against the wall and Keith burning caustic kisses into his skin, he thinks he might get it.

nothing’s quite as sweet by dimpleforyourthoughts Teen and Up | 50,369 | 1/1

Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street.

For the Soul by kali_asleep Teen and Up | 4,835 | 1/1

Her eyes are glued to the glowing screen in front of her as she, with surgical precision, cuts straight to the muscle of the matter: “I'm a scientist, not a love life counselor. Tell Lance to quit being a baby and drag his congested ass to a healing pod.”

Lance is sick. Keith isn't sure how to help.

left on read ✓ by lancemclain Not Rated | 35,509 | 17/? (not completed :( )

(bi)tter: allura i love you marry me right now lesbean: you know if i wasn't so gay (bi)tter: [white girl voice] all the hot ones are gay edgelord™: why thank you lance (bi)tter: shut up, my chemical romance

(OR, once upon a time lance created a group chat and things didn't exactly go as planned)

Today, anew by MemeKonVLD ★  Mature | 5,910 | 6/6

“Lance.”

Lance’s eyebrows furrow in concern for a second before his whole face goes gentle and open.

“Hey buddy, everything okay?”

Keith nods. Then shakes his head, then opens his mouth to let out a noisy sob before he’s hugging the air out of Lance, grip vise tight.

Lance hugs him back. That’s one of the great things about him— he doesn’t— he doesn’t need explanations for things like this. He doesn’t make Keith jump through hoops, the way other people might— he’s just— he just knows what Keith needs in times like this. No façades, no posturing.

(Or: the one where Keith is trapped in a time loop. A time loop from hell.)

How to Steal a Prince by Ms_Towa Teen and Up | 20,295 | 1/1

“Your eyes just—they just light up whenever you see Lance though!” Hunk argued. “Let’s compare how many times you’ve been in New Orleans Square back when you were working attractions and now. I’m pretty sure the numbers have definitely skyrocketed. You’re totally seeking out Lance, man.”

“I am not,” Keith tried. “They have good churros there.”

“Keith, they have good churros literally everywhere,” Hunk quipped. “You cannot walk three steps in Disneyland without seeing another churro cart.”

Or, an alternate universe where, come summer, most of Keith's pining happens at the happiest place on Earth.

The Six Gun Sound (Our Claim to Fame) by Mytay ★ Mature | 13,403 | 1/1 | Part 2 of Trouble’s Making Everything All Right (NOTE: This is my favorite part of this series, and it can be read as a standalone.)

“We’re not robbing the bank of the biggest crime lord here, Lance. Do you have a death wish?!”

“Let’s just do our damn best to not die. I am too gorgeous to expire this early, dude — I haven’t even hit my prime yet.”

Six weeks after crashing landing on this miserable world, the Red and Blue Paladins are on the verge of losing everything. This is how Lance and Keith turned it all around and earned their badass reputation as The Two McClains: Mercenaries That Get The Job Done.

Where the Lions Roam by Mytay ★ Teen and Up | 7,002 | 1/1

“ ... tell me why Blue is making the moves on Keith.”

Pidge stared at him, a touch incredulous. “You really haven’t figured it out?”

“Pidge. I am very intelligent, but I am not a genius,” Lance said patiently. “Spell it out for me.”

“Well, you just sort of answered your own question,” Pidge said, snorting. “Your Lion is making the moves on Keith — and by ‘moves’ I mean responding to your abject terror whenever Keith is in danger.”

Cuddle Puddle by nothingwrongwiththerain ★ Teen and Up | 46,782 | 6/6

Unexpectedly, Shiro’s hand landed on the top of his head. Apparently with Lance and Hunk taking up all the shoulder real estate, Shiro would settle for ruffling Keith’s hair.

Keith was fairly certain his soul was about to detach and abandon his shaking body on the couch. He was surrounded, in the complete and total sense of the word, by other people. Not once before, not in his whole life, had he dealt with a situation like this one.

Or, five times Keith found himself too close for comfort and one time he couldn't get close enough.

Though he be but smol, he is fierce! by Reader115 ★ Teen and Up | 16,827 | 1/1

It started like this. One second, he was shooting at sentries, and the next second he was on his ass on the cold metal floor of the Galra base due to an extremely rude shove from Keith.

Of course, from his new horizontal position, he got a front row seat to the shiny purple beam — that had previously been aimed for his chest — hitting Keith directly instead.

And then Keith disappeared.

Sort of.

I mean, he's not the science guy, so disappeared is probably the wrong word. Regular-sized Keith disappeared anyway. And Lance was left staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at a tiny, oh so very smol Keith unconscious on the ground beside him.

We’ll Be Counting Stars by southspinner Teen and Up | 2,958 | 1/1

Keith's just trying to navigate the collegiate mine-field of tests, social circles, and sleep-deprivation while still maintaining a fragile grip on his sanity. The last thing he needs is some snapback-clad fraternity president making him re-evaluate his entire existence, but of course, because the universe hates him, that's exactly what he gets.

As If by surveycorpsjean ★ Mature | 6,924 | 1/1

The five times Lance was his impulse control, and the one time he wasn't.

Like Devo by surveycorpsjean Explicit | 8,371 | 1/1

As rival jammers, they're rough, skating around the rink, giving bruises, bloody noses, broken ribs and snapped fingers-

But when the cops show up, Keith grabs his hand and yanks Lance into the storm drain.

And that’s how they start dating.

Nightmares by Trashness ★ Teen and Up | 14,864 | 1/1

Lance's nightmares are getting out of control. It's effecting his and the team's performance, but he's at a loss for how to fix this.

Apparently sleeping next to a warm body helps.

it grows stronger by tylerproposey Teen and Up | 8,979 | 1/1

College campuses are a cesspool of awkward encounters. Some more unnerving than others, as Lance comes to find. He thinks it's important to note that in all those instances, Keith is there to witness them. Actually, that's unfair. Admittedly Keith happens be useful in getting him out of those situations. Affection, as it goes, grows stronger when you're constantly being "saved" by a protective rival – but mostly friend at this point.

Or 5 times Keith helped Lance out of a situation and the 1 time Lance tried to pay back the saves.

No Greater Gift by usernicole ★ Teen and Up | 20,062 | 1/1

Keith gets a cat, learns the True Meaning of Family, and falls in love. In that order.

your favorite ghosts and planets by xShieru Teen and Up | 16,664 | 1/1

In hindsight, an asthma attack in the middle of the day wasn’t such a terrible way to give up the ghost.

Except this isn't how he imagined afterlife.

An AU about being dead.

call me, beep me General | 85,591 | 1/1

(00:31) Do you think she gave me the wrong number on purpose? (00:31) Or was it a genuine mistake? (00:32) Like maybe she writes funny and I misread it? (00:32) Some of the numbers do look a little dodgy... (00:33) Cause, you know, her threes could very easily be poorly formed eights? And maybe she writes her sevens like her ones? (00:45) What (00:46) The (00:46) Fuck??? (00:47) Oh good, you are awake!

where lance messages the wrong number and things kind of snowball from there

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

what're your thoughts on Nier/Nier Automata? i figured you'd love that game since...well... everybody loves that game

you ever played Nier? I hear it has better writing then P5. 

@tehsharkster why didn’t you want Nier to win anything? I thought you liked it o3o;; (At least liked it more than P5) 

Sorry I wanted to wait on answering these questions after I had played the PS3!Nier and after I had finished my finals (still have one more to go but hey procrastination is my middle name, and it’s 4 am so it’s time to make bad decisions I’m gonna regret as soon as I wake up haha 8U). Anyway since I broke one rule for myself might as well break the other, since I haven’t played the PS3!Nier yet (our copy got sold before I could get it ;w;). Haha.... (also sorry Tehsharkster I’ve been meaning to reply, again wanted to wait to play OG!Nier I just didn’t think it’d take this long to get a copy).

So as for PS3!Nier (which I’ll just call Nier from now on, and Automata for Nier Automata)......I want to play it. I didn’t even realize Automata was even coming out when I finally came across Nier (for a Laura Bailey video). In all honesty if I didn’t see Laura Bailey cursing up a storm I probs wouldn’t have even cared to want to try it tbh. So yeah....I plan on playing this. 

As for Automata....haha.....oh.......yeah no I hated it. Go ahead, burn me at the stake....... Trust me I “got it” but I didn’t like what I got (well more like I didn’t like how it was handled). No it’s not too zany for me (I loooooooove Suda51 and I like Metal Gear Solid, or at least of the games I’ve played so far....slowly making my way through that series ;w;). The reason why I wanted to wait to say this is cause......I’m judging the game as a standalone game. Like if when I first played P4 back in 2009 before playing the other games.....because everyone kept saying “Oh you don’t need to play the original Nier to understand Automata, some of the cameos might go over your head but that’s ok!” And no.....no it’s not.....it’s not ok. The reason why Persona fans can say “oh yeah if it’s a mainline game you can jump in anywhere. Tho I recommend playing P1 before P2 and P2IS before P2EP but you know it’s not like it won’t kill you if you don’t.” it’s because it’s true. Automata? For me it felt like I was missing a lot of key information that I possibly could’ve gotten from Nier....and from what I’ve spoiled for myself that seems to be the case..... It also doesn’t help that apparently this is a sequel to a play we never got so whatever I guess. >.>

As for Automata vs P5.............I dunno.....I think I dislike P5 more, but it doesn’t mean that I like Automata. P5 had a really good first arc with Kamoshida.....and Automata’s route A was a good opening......but it’s what follows after those two that it just......does a nose dive. I think Automata.......tried more (they seem to be more consistent with their philosophy....even tho they shoved it down your throat every 5 seconds iirc).....They just didn’t do enough.....it felt vacant of content..... P5 it felt like they just didn’t care and were just going to go with whatever they wanted regardless of structure or consistency.....but it feels more fuller than Automata did (which is kinda bad since I think P5 is pretty vacant for a Persona game)..... It’s just they have different pros and cons. With both games....cons outweighed any and all pros I guess...... 

I will say this. I liked Ending E a lot. Do I think the game deserves it? No. It’s like how I feel with the DR3 anime ending. Good ending, bad journey. The journey didn’t deserve the ending. (tho for DR3 Chiaki should’ve totally been alive and the actual mastermind and the DR2 kids should’ve been more mutilated you know add some dark stuff to that happy ending but all in all even with that it’s still happy but whatever DR3 was a mess so I dunno what I was expecting anyway that’s besides the point. 8V actually if someone has a good fanfic of the DR3 anime where they fix all the issues with both sides I’d be happy to read it). Also the ending music is leaps and bounds better than P5′s ending song, the rest of the soundtrack was “yeah that’s pretty” but there were only a few songs I liked. I’d rather have given Cuphead Best Soundtrack of the Year (cause I just didn’t want either Automata or P5 getting any awards), but Automata def deserves it more than P5′s soundtrack so I’m chill with Automata winning it. (also I didn’t hate it right off the bat, I was fine with it till route B and was livid by route C......so....yeah.....)

So yeah......Also another reason I want to play Nier is cause I heard from some people who didn’t like Automata (I KNOW! I was surprised too *insert M&Ms commercial “They do exist” gif), they said that Nier had a better story....worse gameplay tho of course (but hey if it’s serviceable, which is what I’ve heard, I’m not too picky)....so.....*shrugs*

Also, question, I can’t for the life of me figure out why on earth 2B has Kaine’s(? Laura Bailey’s character?) costume for the DLC....... Isn’t A2 based off Kaine?????? I thought she had Kaine’s memories implanted into her (unless the wiki is lying to me). I mean yeah A2 is the prototype model for 2B iirc.....but.......A2 has Kaine’s memories I thought............WHY???? WHY IS IT LIKE THIS???? ;W; (I’d also complain about why A2 doesn’t have Kaine’s VA in either English or Japanese, but I mean Labrys doesn’t have Rei’s voice in either English or Japanese.......but that’s cause Labrys was based off Rei when she was a little girl and Rei we see in PQ is grown up and has lost the accent so I get it..... And I could buy the same for A2 if she was based of little!Kaine but.........that’s only if Little!Kaine isn’t voiced by Laura Bailey too in Nier and kalsfda;nfdkal I guess I’ll just find out but it’s been ticking me off...... ;w;)

Sorry if this is a messy ramble......I don’t want to go too in depth cause I want to judge it as a sequel which means waiting till I get Nier (and also cause it’s 4 am)...but.....sigh....Didn’t even have any hopes up and yet still came out disappointed.......On the bright side I didn’t have to pay (or really I got a refund since I finished it in 7 days) and I got a plat so it all works out I suppose.....

[blooming-blooming]

Saw I - VII: A Comprehensive View

This is something I don’t normally do, but have been meaning to do for a while when I consume a large series of media in a short period time. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to start.

As of recently, I’ve realized that I am a fan of horror. Like, a really, really big fan of horror. I’ve always flirted with my fascination of it (The Green Ribbon had more of an impact on me in the walls of my elementary school library than it probably should have on an 8 year old, in hindsight), but I never really knew where to go about getting into the genre until I started dating my girlfriend, who has horror as a special interest.

Growing up in the 2000’s with an older sister that was going through her middle school goth phase when the first film in the franchise came out, it was hard not to know about Saw. Such an iconic franchise I knew very little about past the gore (and, let’s be real -- I’m a huge fan of gore); so me, my girlfriend, and a friend of ours decided to spend my last weekend of Summer marathonning all 7 movies. Both of them had seen the first two films and we’d all read plot summaries, but besides that, it was a blind watch through. Here’s my brief stance on each one.

Altogether, I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this experience. I was expecting to mostly suffer, and maybe find some small nuggets of enjoyment along the way to keep me going, but after every movie (except III), I found myself wanting to watch the next one right away. These movies are by no means good movies, for the most part, but they’ve become a guilty pleasure for me. Among all the egregious, torture porn-y gore and a plot that beyond transcends making even remote sense, I found myself having a lot of fun. And, at the end of the day, that’s the purpose of a cash cow franchise like this was: to entertain you. In that regard, the Saw franchise succeeded.

Saw (2004)

The first in the franchise, and the most iconic. We’ve all heard of the reverse bear trap and the part where Gordon cuts his foot off.

I didn’t know what to expect when I dove into this movie, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The atmospheric building is top notch, and the twist at the end has much more impact than I expected it to. I enjoyed the tension and distrust between Adam and Gordon; I felt it was just as realistic of an approach for them to never trust each other as it would have been had they slowly learned to trust each other.

What’s really important in this one, though, which every sequel lacks, is Kramer’s portrayal. He’s not painted as philosophical or in the light, he’s painted as downright sadistic and cruel. The fact that he isn’t a murderer in the absolute broadest sense of the term is only ever mentioned by Gordan, and not constantly used as a justification for him. His cancer is only ever brought up to give him a connection to Gordon and Zepp; not something to make the viewers empathize.

This especially makes the final scene, the one where he stands up, have so much more impact: “The key was in the bathtub,” and Adam’s subsequent reaction is the ultimate punch in the stomach to the viewer because it’s so evil. The entire time Adam thought he had a chance, that there was a spot of hope for him, only to have it viciously jerked away as he realizes he was damned from the beginning. Because this is a franchise with a narrative built entirely on retconning, this impact is diminished severely in later installments, but as a standalone film, it’s top notch.

Also, apparently the ship name for Gordon and Adam is “Chainshipping”. I have no idea how that, of all ship names, wasn’t taken by the YuGiOh fandom at least a decade ago, but I’m mildly impressed that a ship that obscure has a name at all.

Overall score: 8/10

Saw II (2005)

The second installment in the franchise. It’s worth noting that the original screenplay wasn’t intended to be a Saw film, but rather an original story that got adapted to work into the Saw universe.

The story follows eight people who have all been locked in a house. The doors will open and they’ll be free in three hours, but there’s just one problem: there’s a neurotoxin in their systems that will kill them in two. They need to work together to find out what their connection to one another is while overcoming challenges to gain antidotes to the neurotoxin before they die. Meanwhile, a police team lead by detective Eric Matthews has located and is interrogating Kramer on the location of Matthews’ son, Daniel, one of the eight people in the house.

Right off the bat, the drop of quality from the first movie is extremely apparent. Very few members of the cast are properly developed, and many die before they even get to their trap. Most notably, one of the characters, Obi, is an arsonist who is very heavily implied to be an accomplice of Kramer’s. This aspect is explored for all of about two minutes before he gets burned alive in an incinerator. It’s hard to get invested because there are too many characters who have nothing going for them.

Despite that, there are good things about the film. The needle pit scene is well done in just how tense and unfair it is. Likewise, the twist at the end that the house game happened before the police found Kramer is really creative and interesting. Sadly, these positives don’t make the movie worth watching overall, though.

Overall score: 4/10

Saw III (2006)

I honestly don’t know what to say. This was the worst movie I have ever watched in my entire life. Sadism and cruelty in a story should have a narrative purpose and should ultimately be shown to be bad, but it’s not here. You are honest to god supposed to think John Kramer, the serial killer who took one of his victims, a mentally ill recovering drug addict, and brainwashed her to carry out his torture with him, is in the moral right when said victim finally lashes out. You’re supposed to think it’s cool when Amanda, who has been deliberately manipulated and abused by this man, gets told she couldn’t meet up to his standards. You’re supposed to think she deserved her death for being “irrational” when she calls Kramer out on his bullshit, hypocritical, half-assed “philosophy”. Fuck that. Fuck that so hard with a stake wrapped in barbed wire.

Also, the dad was an unsympathetic piece of shit and all of the traps weren’t violent in a way that was thematically appropriate (minus the crucifix one, but that one was disturbing for a million other reasons, anywways, so who the fuck cares if it was good conceptually), they were just gross. I have never wanted to unwatch a movie as badly as I wanted to unwatch this one immediately after finishing it in my entire life.

HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.

Overall score: -∞/10

Saw IV (2007)

Lord knows why I decided to continue watching these movies after the misanthropic, nihilistic, faux-philosophical sack of trash that was III, but I’m surprisingly glad I did. I feel like I could just say, “A pedophile dies one of the single most brutal deaths known to man, and a man who abuses his wife and daughter has a terrible death, too,” but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what makes this movie amazing.

This is the first film where Kramer is dead (or so we’re lead to believe), however, Amanda is dead, too. So the franchise needs a new accomplice retconned in to take over after this film when Kramer and Amanda are dead For Real. Enter detective Hoffman, who had a grand total of one line of dialogue in III, to take that spot.

The plot and pacing of this film is stupid. And when I say stupid, I mean stupid. Everything is so ridiculously convoluted with multiple plot lines and involvement in the FBI that I honest to god could not describe to someone what happens. And, somewhere along the way, the film goes full circle. It becomes so ridiculous, so hard to follow, that it becomes brilliant. It’s so convoluted that you can’t help but laugh at the absolute absurdity of it all. This movie is a shitshow, but it’s an entertaining shitshow.

Overall score: 3/10

Saw V (2008)

The first film where Kramer and Amanda are Dead For Real, following the fallout from the incidents of Saws III + IV. FBI Agent Peter Strahm is onto Hoffman’s identity, and is deadset on bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, five people are trapped in a sewer and need to learn what connects all of them, and also go through some traps to attract viewers to theaters because nobody would see this otherwise.

This film is ultimately disappointing because it could have been good. All five contestants in the sewer game are really interesting, and it takes the concept of II and fixes up the ideas from it. Sadly, this cast and their story gets even less development than those in Saw II. I’m not joking when I say that they’re only there for the sake of a murder game to attract viewers; 90% of the film is focused on a boring game of cat and mouse between Strahm and Hoffman. It’s really a shame, since I absolutely love the twist at the end that they were supposed to work together for all of the traps and none of them had any idea until it was too late. It’s a concept I might make something of my own with, since I’d really love to see it done well and properly developed.

Overall score: 2/10

Saw VI (2009)

This movie is, quite frankly, surreal. I’m not sure if all of the previous sequels simply wore down my standards for what is or isn’t a high quality movie, but this film was legitimately fantastic.

A very common criticism for this movie is that it is far too political for a franchise that is known for just being senseless gore -- and it’s true, especially because of how hypocritical it is that a franchise based entirely around killing/punishing people for arbitrary reasons is making social commentary on the insurance industry deciding who deserves to live based on arbitrary reasons. Despite that, though, there’s something about it in this film that works so well.

The storytelling in this movie is the closest any of the sequels get to matching the quality of the first film. Following protagonist William Easton, the CEO of an insurance company that is notorious for rejecting potential clients coverage when needed or prematurely terminating contracts, he is lead through several traps where he is forced to put value on the lives of his employees. Meanwhile, Hoffman is dealing with the consequences of trying and failing to frame the now-deceased Strahm for his crimes.

I really don’t know what to say about this film other than it’s bizarrely well done. The Merry Go Round trap is my favorite trap in the franchise (after my Number 1 Hall of Fame favorite, The Bed Trap from IV, anyways); the direction of the arguing employees begging for life and Easton ultimately leaving his second choice up to chance just so he can get it over with is handled chillingly well. A lot of people find the twist diminishing to Easton’s storyline, but I disagree. The fact that the game was never Easton’s and was always the wife and son of one of the people his company was responsible for the death for reminds me a lot of the first film in a good way. It has the same cruelty to it that is satisfying because it works within the narrative; just because Easton realized the errors of his ways in an extreme situation does not mean the people he has hurt in his practices have to forgive him. This is pointed out as such in both Tara and Brent’s dialogue as they make the choice in the end to kill him. It’s just as appropriate of a response as if they let him live.

This is also the first (and only) movie where I even find myself interested in the extended “plot” throughout all seven movies; Hoffman has completely screwed himself over, and it’s surprisingly suspenseful to watch him try and crawl himself out of his hole.

Overall score: 7/10

Saw VII (2010)

Overall score: Torture porn/10

[scarletwelly-boots]

Books Read 2018

I read 20 books in 2018, about 15 fewer books than last year (I work longer hours and have a further commute is my excuse). Technically I’m not even done with one of them, but I have like an hour or two to go of it and it’s an audiobook so it’ll be read faster than I could read it.

This is the third year I have done the Reading Challenge, which lists a number of categories to read books under (there were 40 categories this year, so I got a solid 50%). You can find the challenges I’ve done at least last, this, and next year, on Popsugar. (I don’t remember if I got the 2016 one from the same site). I also took some liberties with the categories and even changed a few to entries from last year’s list.

1. Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (A book made into a movie you’ve already seen). ‘Kay so. I liked it, of course I did. I like the movie and I’m in love with Ian Malcolm. It was interesting because it provide some context fro scenes in the movie or left out of the movie that I didn’t get when I watched it. It was different from the movie in a lot of spoiler-y ways that I won’t get into. Most of these differences were good with one exception that really upset me. I would recommend to read it anyway.

2. Leah on the Offbeat, by Becky Albertalli (The next book in a series you started). This is the sequel to Simon vs. The Homosapien Agenda and I’m gonna be honest. I LOVED it. Was it better than Simon? No, probably not. But the representation made me really happy. I’m also a fat bisexual and though I’m not always a woman, I was raised AFAB, so it was still really relatable to me. There were some plot holes, because I’m pretty sure Albertalli decided Leah was bi after Simon was published. I thought it was really cute, though, and I definitely recommend it.

3. Weird Ireland, assorted authors (A book involving a mythical creature). A very small, independently published book about paranormal, supernatural, and extra-terrestrial sightings in Ireland. It was okay. I finished it in two hours. I knew everything that was in it, and some of it they even got wrong. Even if you’re crazy-obsessed with Ireland like me, you can skip this one.

4. Wild Irish Women, by Marian Broderick (a book set in a country that fascinates you). This is the kind of history book I like. Each chapter follows the biography of a different person and provides some context about the time period in which they lived. I learned a lot about Irish women I had never heard of, learned more about women I already knew about, and reread what little is known about my hero and historical crush, Grainne Ni Mhaille. One shortcoming of this book was their inclusion and insistent misgendering of Dr. Barry, an Irish physician who made great strides in natal care for women and who at this point is pretty widely believed to have been a transman. As a genderfluid person, this frustrated me so much that about three sentences into his entry I grabbed a red pen and actually corrected the pronoun usage. All the same, I recommend the book if you like women’s or Irish history, or los dos, like myself.

5. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle (a book with a time of day in the title). Hey, it had the word ‘time’; I say that counts! Guys, if you have never read this book, you need to. Even if you watched/sobbed during the movie. Dear god this book is so good. The theoretical physics is confusing, but that’s to be expected (my fifth graders were like ‘wth does this mean’ and I was like ‘you got me; this is why I teach elementary’). But it had some of my favorite themes, and Meg does her job as the oldest sibling, which as an oldest sibling, I respect and expect. (Never bring up the movie The Wind that Shakes the Barley with me; I am very, very firm about my Oldest Sibling Job responsibilities.) Anyway, read this goddamn book please.

6. Heart of the Fae, by Emma Hamm (A book with a villain or antihero). I am a sucker for all things Beauty and the Beast and all things Ireland, so when I saw a recommendation for this independently published Irish retelling of Beauty and the Beast on tumblr, I ordered it immediately. I really loved it. It’s also the first in a series and listen, the only thing better than a Beauty and the Beast retelling is a TRILOGY of a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I started the sequel but I haven’t finished yet. This book is so good. I highly recommend it.

7. The Upside of Unrequited, by Becky Albertalli (A book with alliteration in the title). This was...okay. It’s a companion to Simon vs. the Homosapien Agenda, and it follows Abby’s cousins. In a way, it was gayer than the others, because her cousins have two moms and one of the cousins is gay. But it’s from the POV of the straight one, so not as gay. Plus I really like the characters from the first two, and we didn’t even get very much Abby in this one. You kind of have to read it like its own novel with a couple cameos from Abby. As a standalone, it wasn’t bad, but as a series it was a bit of a letdown.

8. The Once and Future King, by TH White (a book about time travel). Look, Merlin ages opposite to the passage of time, so it counts as time travel. I have been trying to read this book for ten years. I liked most of it. I had a few qualms but given the climate in which it was written it makes sense for the time period (not that that should excuse some of the cringe-worthy parts). The last like fifty pages White waxes poetic on the capitalist system and it’s like, we get it, you’re a white man from the middle of the Cold War, but read a goddamn book. Additionally, at least three men were raped by women with some not-so-subtle victim blaming which pissed me the fuck off. But the overall story, the legend of King Arthur, was good. It’s definitely a cornerstone in the Arthurian saga. I might try to read Le Morte d’Arthur next year and see how it compares.

9. All the King’s Men, by Nora Sakavic (a book with song lyrics in the title). Humpty Dumpty is close enough to a song. This is book three of the All for the Game trilogy, and holy shit you have to read this. It’s the best book in the trilogy. It is a series about a college sports team who play a made up sport called Exy, which is basically a more violent version of lacrosse. I’m not a huge sports fan, but the way she writes Exy matches had me on the edge of my seat. The team is made up of all “at-risk” students, the main character being a kid on the run from his mob boss dad. Trigger warning for the series for violence, sexual assault/rape, abuse, drug use, I may be missing some things. It was so good though.

10. The War I Finally Won, by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley (A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist). This is a really great sequel to another children’s book. See below for the synopsis.

11. The War that Saved My Life, by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley (a book about mental health). Okay, I don’t know why that is the category I put it in, other than the protagonist was told by her mother all her life that she was mentally disabled even though it was just physically. This book and it’s sequel above were AMAZING. It’s about a little girl and her brother in World War II England. The girl has a club foot and spends her life locked away in her abusive mother’s flat in London. She teaches herself to walk, and then she and her brother run away to join the other children being evacuated to the country. They are taken in by a woman who doesn’t want to care for them but in less than a day becomes totally ride-or-die for them (I love that trope). The woman is heavily implied to be gay and is grieving the death of her companion (hence the category above). I loved both books and highly recommend them.

12. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (a book by an author of a different ethnicity than you). British isn’t that different of an ethnicity from my pasty ass, but I was hard-pressed to put this wonderful book in a category. Apparently my disaster wife Loki is a dumbass and they just look clever because the other gods are stupider than they are. I loved all the stories but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t just pick this up exclusively because I’m fucking in love with Loki. I do really recommend it though.

13. Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow (a book that is also a stage play or musical). I’ve been meaning to read this for ages. It was really interesting, and a lot of it didn’t make it into the musical since it’s like 600 pages long so I learned a lot. I’m still reading it, and I’ve reached the duel so I’m almost finished. Thank god for audiobooks; if my slow-ass self were reading this, I’d still be on page like 100 and I’ve been reading it for a month. If you liked the musical I recommend you read this.

14. Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee (a book that you borrowed or was given to you as a gift). I had a hard time following this book. Lee went back and forth between the present (Scout in her twenties) and the 15-or-so years in between the end of TKAM and the beginning of GSAW. It wasn’t bad, but given the stories from Scout’s high school years that were really amusing and the most engaging of the whole book, I’d have preferred if the sequel took place during those years. I think this is the proof as to why most classics don’t have sequels. Read it, but don’t expect much.

15. Making Thinking Visible, by Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, etc. (a book by two authors). I had to read this for work. Meh.

16. Fence, by CS Pacat (a book about or involving a sport). This is a comic by the same author as The Captive Prince trilogy. I’m behind in issues, but I did really like it. It’s about fencing, which I love, and it’s supposed to be gay eventually. And I’m pretty sure there’s a genderfluid or gnc character which I was super excited about. I recommend it.

17. The Orphelines in the Enchanted Castle, by Natalie Savage Carlson (a childhood classic you’ve never read). Okay, don’t tell my mother, but I don’t remember anything about this book. This year (at twenty-four) was the first time I read this old, old book that I have had since I was six or seven (don’t tell my mom that, either). It was from my mom/the tooth fairy and she loved it as a kid. I guess read it if you can find it and remind me what happened in it?

18. Simon vs. The Homosapien Agenda, by Becky Albertalli (a book you meant to read in 2017 but didn’t get to). Obviously I really loved this book if I also read the sequel and companion books. It was really good, and I definitely cried. If you liked the movie, read the book. It’s different in several ways. I think if you’re thinking in terms of trueness to the book, the movie was maybe not as good, but they’re both good as their own standalone things. But I highly recommend both.

19. Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo (a book that involves a bookstore or library). This book is so good. It was interesting to reread it as an adult when I last read it as a third grader. I think I understood more than I did then and got different things out of it. I think everyone should reread books from their childhood because the books can still impact you, and they’ll probably affect you differently than when you were a child. So if the last time you read this book was as a young child, pick it up again. If you’ve never read it, still read it.

20. Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo (your favorite prompt from the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Popsugar reading challenges: the first book in a series you haven’t read before). This was so good. It was a really interesting book with characters I’ve already kind-of met since my DM recycled some names from the book into our campaign. But I’ve come to know Waylan with similar traits but in a different context, so it was fun to be reintroduced to him. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where I was already attached to a character in a different context before reading the book, so that was new. I’m terrible at synopses, so if you want to know what this book is about, Google it I guess. And then read it.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: Trouble on the Way - Chapter 1/4 (Ao3 link) Fandom: The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (total AU) Pairing: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, very very mild hints of possible Barry Allen/Leonard Snart/Mick Rory if you want to read them in there Series: Sequel to Bad Moon Rising Warning: explicit adult content

Summary: It occurs to Len that maybe he's been willfully ignoring reality when it came to Mick's new condition. Oh, sure, he'd done the basic research, the public stuff, but he'd been so determined not to make Mick feel like any more of a freak than he already did that he'd perhaps skimped a little on some of the details that were turning out to be more relevant than he'd originally thought.

Time to fix that.

A/N: Will only make sense if you've read the first one in the series, as it follows straight on it, but I think the first one is one of my best standalones, so I'm making this a sequel instead

An executive decision was made that (in the spirit of the first one) this series is going to be like a minimum of 70% kinky smut, because we can always use more of that in this fandom, so, uh, mind the full set of warnings on Ao3.

Specially shout-out to @prouvairablehulk, who wanted very much to see this as a birthday gift - consider this a very belated one!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mick ends up making the chocolate chip pancakes, too, and insisting that Len eat some of those as well.

Len tries to sulk while he eats, because Mick is, as usual, cheerfully obstinate about explaining any details about, well, anything, but...it's very hard to convincingly sulk while eating chocolate chip pancakes piled high with whipped cream and maple syrup.

Not eating them when they're hot from the pan is, of course, unthinkable.

When Len is all full up on breakfast, to the point where he is seriously considering rolling himself back to bed for a nice follow-up nap, Mick finally stretches and pads out of the kitchen to start putting on his boots.

"Where are you going?" Len asks, twisting and frowning at him.

"Need to check out the various safehouses we’ve got," Mick says. "Full moon's coming up tomorrow."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Len asks. "You haven't needed the, uh..." He nods in the general direction of the old bank safe that they'd reserved for Mick's monthly complaint the first month or two. "...in a while, and you said you’d be better…?"

"Nah, nothing like that," Mick says. "Just some instinctual stuff. Don't worry about it. I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Okay," Len says, and waits for Mick to leave before going to get dressed himself. He gets the feeling that Mick intended for Len to stick around the house, lazing around the way he usually does after a night filled with adrenaline, but it occurs to him that he might have been willfully ignoring reality when it came to Mick's condition. Oh, sure, he'd done the basic research, the public stuff, but he'd been so determined not to make Mick feel like any more of a freak than he already did that he'd perhaps skimped a little on some of the details that were turning out to be more relevant than he'd originally thought.

Time to fix that.

He finds a WiFi hotspot with a public phone line he loop his burner phone into - three cheers for modern convenience - and dials the City Hall hotline.

"Welcome to Central City's supernatural service hotline," a perky recorded voice tells him. "We are happy to assist you with any supernatural issues you may be dealing with. If you're a homeowner concerned about the supernatural, press one." Len rolls his eyes. Of course they go first. "If you're a business owner looking for additional information about Central City's newly passed Supernatural Being Anti-Discrimination Act, or SBADA, please press two. If you've been recently transformed into -"

Len presses three. He didn't want the city's standard relax-its-fine patter; he wanted whatever the hell sort of intel it was that Mick got.

He ends up having to select werewolf out an increasingly bizarre list (vampire, sure, he gets, but he didn't even know you could be transformed into a dryad or a selkie - though maybe that's just more anti-discrimination measures?) and then waiting to be transferred to another line.

As he waits, he notices that some guy walking by is giving Len the eye. Like, he’s full on stopped walking and is staring, which, rude. Len knows he’s probably got a hell of a hickey (...hickies, plural, let's not lie to yourself, Leonard) from last night, which is probably what’s caught the guy’s attention, but still. Staring at Len like a yokel gawping at a tourist attraction is just not on. Len flips the guy off, making the man flush, cough a little, and skitter away.

"Thank you for calling the Central City Supernatural Hotline, werewolf division," a pleasant tenor chirps in Len's ear, drawing his attention back. "My name is Dan. How recently did you suffer the bite and are you in need of immediate medical assistance?"

"I feel like that question’d work better if I hadn't had to navigate a message tree to get here," Len says automatically, then shakes his head. He's here for answers, not for snark.

"We're aware of that difficulty," the man - Dan? Dan the werewolf? Really? Talk about family-friendly packaging - says apologetically. "While there is a supernatural division of 911 designated for immediate calls, sometimes people call this number instead. Is everything presently all right on your end?"

"Uh, yeah," Len says. "It's been - a few months already. Four or five or so." Very nearly seven, actually, if you counted by moons. "I just had a couple of questions about, uh, social aspects?"

"Oh, absolutely!" Dan trills, sounding legitimately delighted. They've got some heavy-duty telemarketer training over there, that's all Len's saying. "If you've been turned for a few months, then you should definitely be feeling the werewolf's innate need to join a pack. We have several excellent options right here in Central City -"

"Let's say I'd rather not," Len cuts in hastily before the guy can do his whole spiel.

“I would recommend against trying to stay on your own,” Dan says, in that irritating sympathetic voice people get when they think they know better than you but also that you’re only disagreeing with them because you’re poor, stupid and misguided. “As I’m sure you’ve realized, werewolves have extremely strong social instinct, much stronger even than regular humans. We’re not a species meant to live on our own. The pack instinct is one of the most dominating inclinations a werewolf can have outside of the moon, much stronger than either human or natural wolf instincts, and –”

"What if I wanted to start my own pack?" Len interrupts. “How’d I go about doing that?”

"Well, I wouldn't recommend that," Dan says, his voice notably less peppy. "It's a difficult and uncertain process, and -"

"Let's say I want to do it anyway. What happens?"

"Well, traditionally, self-started packs reflect natural wolf social standards, that of the family unit, which means you need to find a mate - and you must understand, it can't just be someone you're fond of, but someone strong and admirable that you can put first above all others -"

Well, so far, so good.

"- because the strength of a pack, you see, is judged a mix of two things: the power of the wolf and the strength of will of the mate, and that judgment can mean a lot of things for future social interactions with other packs, so it's really not a decision that ought to be entered into lightly. You have to think about the issues involved in taking a mate: commitment, for one thing; you don't want to commit to someone who isn't just as committed to you, especially in light of the changes that -"

"Yes, yes," Len says dismissively. He didn't really care what other changes Mick would undergo; Mick is his partner, damnit. Len is as committed as you get. Besides, Mick had said he would be calmer and more controlled now, which was all to the good. "What happens next, after you pick one?"

"Well," and now Dan sounded quite dubious, "the next step involves setting up a territory, usually a house or apartment, and engaging in acts of territorial display of both the location and the mate in question - especially in the beginning when the mate will be particularly appealing to other competitors in the period before the final claim, the degree of attractiveness depending on the desirable qualities of the mate you’ve chosen – demonstrations of willpower and independence in particular being the most attractive – but that's less important, really, I feel we should go back to discussing the issue of selecting a mate in the first place, which absolutely should not be done independently by a brand new wolf, without first bringing the intended mate in to talk with an established pack about the adjustments they will face -"

Len is not going to drag his relationship with his partner, now thirty years running, to goddamn City Hall for approval. Certainly not now that it’s apparently developed a sexual aspect, which they both seem to be pretty into and interested in continuing even now that the sorceress’ malediction has worn off.

Well, Len’s at least interested in continuing it, and judging from what Mick had promised over breakfast – plenty of pretty words about fucking Len till he couldn’t walk anymore, if Len recalls correctly – well, it sounded like he’s pretty interested in keeping it going, too.

"Got it," he says shortly. "Now, about mates, um - are there any sort of -" He hesitates a little, because he's not a shy man but he's in public and this is his and Mick's private business, but he's got to ask. "Are there any sort of unexpected sexual elements -"

"This hotline is not available to appease prurient interests," Dan cuts in, his voice suddenly steely. "If you want additional details, I suggest that you come down to City Hall and ask for them from a wolf in person - though you may not survive the encounter, so I'd recommend against it. It is absolutely none of your business; you're clearly not even a werewolf."

"But -"

"Thank you very much for calling, and have a nice day."

Then there's dial tone. Len stares at the phone. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he says, disbelievingly. Fucking Dan just hung up on him. He got hung up on by a hotline.

Well, that was a waste of time.

He didn’t even get to ask if lycanthropy could be sexually transmitted.

Len shakes his head and turns around and standing right behind Len, creepy as anything, is that fucking guy who was staring earlier, staring again. His nostrils flare like he's trying to smell Len or something, which is even creepier, and Len is taking a second to wonder how this guy snuck up on him, which is why the guy manages to stutter out, "Um, hi - I just -" and then he reaches out and cups Len's cheek with his hand.

What the fuck no.

Len snaps his hand up and catches a finger of the hand on his face, bending it backwards to the point of near snapping, sliding his leg forward and using his bulk and the man's own momentum to spin the guy around and slam him face-first against the nearest wall, arm jerked around behind his back until it's straining painfully out of its joint and Len still twisting the man's hand. He does it in one smooth move, so the guy barely has time to yelp before his face meets concrete wall.

"Now you listen here," Len says, very calmly. "I don't know what you think are proper manners when coming up to a stranger on the street, but I'm going to say that you're a very lucky man. You see, I gotta get back home, or else I'd show you, in detail, how inappropriate you were just being." He pulls the man's arm, forcing the man onto his tiptoes in an effort to reduce the strain, whimpering pitifully. "That being said, if I ever catch you just walking up to another person, any other person, that you don’t know and don’t know you and touching them like that again, you will lose the hand you did it with. We clear?"

"Clear!" the man squeaks.

"Good," Len says, voice still calm. Grabby assholes like this aren’t worth getting angry about, though he must admit that he hasn’t had to deal with them that much personally since his height first cracked six feet. "Then we're done here. No, wait -" He spins the man back around and slams his fist into the tender part of the man’s stomach, making the man retch and clutch at his midsection and fall back on his ass, back against the wall. Weakling. "- now we're done. Keep the bruises as a reminder."

With that, he turns on his heel and stalks off in the direction of home, uncomfortably aware that the guy behind him on the ground - and a small handful of other people in the milling crowd - are staring after him. Not creepy-staring, at least; more "put in their proper place" staring or "unaccustomed to public violence" staring, but whatever. Still staring. Fuck all of them.

Dan on the phone was basically useless, but he did say something about Mick being extra territorial for a bit, which means Len's got to get back to the safehouse before Mick realizes he's gone and starts burning things to relieve his anxiety.

Len was gone maybe thirty, forty minutes, tops, but Mick still beats him back home and is looking through the rooms of their safehouse with an anxious expression that eases when he sees Len. "Where'd you go?" his partner asks, stepping forward and pulling Len effortlessly into his arms, which is - unexpected, but rather nice, actually, the way Mick does it, all telegraphed motions and slow enough that Len can break away if he wants. Len can feel the tension from his earlier encounter seeping away into Mick's warmth. Mm, maybe he can ask for another massage. That is definitely a relationship perk that Len is going to insist on keeping.

"Nowhere important," Len says. "Wanted to jack the WiFi from somewhere that won't lead back to our safehouse, s’all."

Mick puts a hand on his cheek, right where the other guy had it, and pulls Len into a kiss. A hell of a kiss, too; it's messy and hard, just right, less a greeting than the promise of a real good fuck later, Mick's hands sliding down to cup Len's ass and bend him backward a bit as Len puts his hands on Mick's arm and back and kisses back as hard as he can.

Screw a good fuck later, that’s a promise of a good fuck now.

Yeah, Len's definitely okay with this whole mate thing. Pancakes, massages, and Mick's total devotion - what's not to like? He can handle Mick being territorial for a while; honestly, he can't see it being that different from usual. Even before the transformation, Mick was a possessive bastard, looming at Len's shoulder like a warning; back when they were in prison, especially in the beginning before Len had developed his reputation for viciousness and all people had to judge him on was his pretty face, Mick'd started fights over Len like that was his job.

Len chuckles a little at the memory and Mick breaks away.

"What's so funny?" Mick says gruffly, his voice deep like it had been yesterday, sexual and hungry, and it sent a shiver of lust through Len's spine like he’d already developed Pavlov's dog reaction to it. Fuck Mick's voice; how does he get it to just the right timbre to bypass Len’s conscious mind and go straight to his cock?

"Just thinking about being in the can, back in the early days," Len says. "You getting into that fight with the entire bleachers gang -"

"Yeah," Mick says, his voice getting deeper, somehow, his eyes glazing over with memory. He presses up against Len and Len can feel how hard he is; looks like bringing up that memory is like touching a live wire for Mick's libido right now. "Yeah, I remember that - they wanted your ass and I put them all down, every one of them, for even thinking of touching you -"

Territoriality, check. Len hides a smile; thank you, hotline Dan.

Mick's pressing his mouth against Len's jawline and kissing along his cheek, like he's determined to cover every square inch of where his hand had been earlier. "Yeah," he says again. "Len - Lenny -"

"Yeah?" Len says, rocking his hips back against Mick's, teasing them both with the glancing contact. It's been hours and hours since yesterday, and Len's sex drive has always been pretty high octane; he's ready to go again, definitely. All this talk of territory is revving him up as well - no one ever said Len wasn't a possessive bastard, too. No fucking City Hall pack taking away Mick, no sir, not while Len's around. He can handle this even without full information, so fuck you, hotline Dan.

"I want you," Mick says like it's not obvious.

"Sure," Len says agreeably, reaching down and cupping Mick's ass with both hands. "And how, exactly, do you want me?"

Okay, so the dirty talk yesterday really worked for Len. So sue him.

"I'm gonna fuck your face," Mick says, eyes gleaming. "I'm gonna take you up to bed, gonna push you down and climb on top of you; you'll be lying back, head on the pillows, no leverage at all, hands trapped under my legs - you won't be able to do anything but take it, how and when I feel like giving it to you -"

Len groans and kisses Mick, filthy and wet and open-mouthed. "What're you waiting for, then?" he says goadingly. "Let's do that."

Mick slides his hands down and Len knows he's going to try to lift Len before he does it, so Len helps, sliding both legs up around Mick's waist, trusting Mick's enhanced strength to carry him, and fuck, he loves it, he loves how easily Mick hoists him up; he liked being pinned, being manhandled, back when he was a teenager and waiting for that final growth spurt, and no one'd ever managed it properly since. No one until Mick, and that was even better - the hands that supported him on every mission, in every endeavor, pulling him up and moving him however Mick pleased; the guy that had his back, the guy who always listened and was the very first person to ever call Len 'boss', now taking charge and taking control, taking anything he wanted and Len letting him because he trusts him -

Len groans and starts working on a hickey on Mick's neck as well. Stupid werewolf healing probably meant it'd be gone within hours, but everyone on the street got to see that Mick had marked Len, so everyone should also see that Mick had been marked by Len as well. A sign to everyone: this one is taken, this one is mine. Yeah, Len likes the sound of that.

And if it fades, well, Len will just have to do it again. It's a sacrifice he's willing to make...

Mick carries Len to his bedroom - Mick's, not Len's, which Len doesn’t mind in the slightest - and they can't get their hands off of each other the entire time. Len's managed to get Mick's suspenders off, hanging down low by his hips, and his hands under Mick's shirt, and then Mick dumps him on the edge of the bed, pulling away to strip off. Len pulls the stuff out of his pockets and dumps it on the bedside table, peeling off his pants and stripping off his shirt and sweater - why did he bother putting on so many layers again? - and he's just gotten naked when Mick is on him again, pulling him in for a kiss before pushing him back on the bed.

Len wiggles back until he's comfortable, his shoulders and neck supported by pillows, Mick watching him hungrily the entire time and then throwing a leg over him, settling down on Len's chest. Len's arms are pinned down by Mick's legs, just as Mick had said; he can run his hands along Mick's calves or the back of his thighs, but he can't get the leverage to escape, and he can't get free enough to touch himself at all.

Pinned down at Mick's mercy.

"You want my mouth?" Len says, looking up at Mick, who was so goddamn beautiful naked; his arms and chest and legs well-defined, muscles straining - real muscle, the sort you get from hard work and exercise, from lifting safes during heists and picking fights, and the slight plush curve of his stomach that Len had the sudden urge to run his cheek against, feeling the softness in contrast to the rest of Mick, warm and giving. And Mick's cock was big and heavy and hard and right there, making Len's mouth water. "You gonna give it to me, Mick? Shut me up?"

"I like it when you talk," Mick says unexpectedly. "I like how fucking smart you are, even when sometimes you go on about it too long." He smirks. "It's great background filler."

"You dick," Len says fondly.

"Yeah," Mick says. "Glad you noticed it; otherwise I might have to question your eyesight."

Len snickers. "Well, when the evidence is right in front of me -"

"You know what, I think you’re right, it’s definitely time to shut up, Lenny," Mick says with a chuckle of his own. He reaches for Len's head, wrapping one hand around the side and using his other hand to thumb Len's mouth open. "Time to use that smartass mouth of yours for something more useful."

Len would retort, but Mick's fingers are sliding into his mouth, heavy on his tongue, and he opts to suck on them instead, laving them with his tongue as he does, his eyes looking up at Mick's face. Mick starts moving his fingers in and out a little, mimicking the act of fucking, and his face is rapt with attention. Like he can't get enough of watching Len.

Len tries all the tricks he knows, using his tongue to show off what he'd do to Mick's cock if only he got a chance, but Mick keeps his fingers there instead, moving gently and infuriatingly slowly, until Len pulls back his head just the littlest amount the pillows allow him and Mick immediately removes his fingers in response. "Well?" Len pants, looking up at Mick. "You want my mouth or not? You just gonna play all day, or you gonna fuck me?"

Mick smirks and Len abruptly realizes that this is what Mick's been waiting for, that they've been playing a game of chicken and he hadn't even noticed. "You want my cock, huh?" Mick asks. "Is that what you want? My fingers not enough for you, huh? You need more? Gotta have more?"

"Yeah," Len says, because shame is useless to him when Mick is there instead, because Mick of all people will never use anything Len says against him. "Yeah, I want your cock, Mick, I want it in my mouth. I wanna taste you, I wanna suck you - I want my jaw to hurt 'cause I've been sucking you so long, 'cause I can't get enough of you; want to be on my knees or back for you all day, please, Mick, give it to me - let me blow you, let me suck you off - please -"

"Fuck," Mick breathes, eyes wide and cock twitching. So beautiful, Mick is, at the mercy of Len's voice even in a position where he has all the power. "Fuck, Lenny, you're so goddamn pretty when you beg for my cock -"

Len runs his hands over Mick where he can reach, looking up at Mick through his eyelashes. "C'mon, Mick," he coaxes. "Don't keep me waiting, don't keep me hanging - I want you to give it to me, I want you, I want your cock in my mouth -"

Mick groans and finally, finally, slides forward, pushing Len's mouth open with his fingers - Len's happy to comply - and using his other hand to guide his cock in. Len hums happily and takes it, sucking as best as he can in this angle, but this position gives Mick all the power, all the control; he can move as slow or as fast as he likes. And he's chosen slow, torturously slow, fucking Len's face with gentle, rocking motions of his hips, giving Len just a taste of him.

Len whines a little, wanting more, and Mick snarls with pleasure, thrusts changing until he's deeper, still moving slow but letting himself pull almost all the way out and the sliding in, big and relentless until Len's almost choking on him, would be choking on him if he hadn't gotten rid of his gag reflex years ago, practicing on other, lesser people. There's nothing Len can do, his own cock twitching untouched, his hips jerking futilely; he just lies there and takes it, takes whatever Mick wants to give him, and what Mick wants to give him is slow and intense and fuck, Len's going to go crazy -

Len's phone rings.

What the fuck.

Both Mick and Len stop where they are; Len can't even turn and stare incredulously at the phone like he wants to, his mouth still wrapped around Mick, but - seriously? Who the fuck is even calling?

Mick reaches over - the temporary change in angle making him slide in just that little bit deeper - and picks up the cell phone to look at the caller ID.

Len would ask who it was, but, again, his mouth is stuffed full of cock. He expects Mick to hit ignore and get back to what they're doing, but unexpectedly Mick chuckles.

And then he answers the phone, what the hell.

"Hi, Flash," Mick says, and then Len does actually choke a bit, mostly in surprise; shit, the Flash must be calling to arrange their post-fight download - normally Len calls him, not vice versa, but Len had totally forgotten about it today in light of pancakes and werewolf issues -

Len tries to wiggle a little, trying to indicate to Mick with his eyebrows that Mick should pull out and give Len the phone, but Mick ignores him, reaching down with his free hand to wrap his fingers back around Len's head, and he starts moving his hips again, thrusting into Len's mouth in long, rolling thrusts just like Len likes.

"No, Len can't come to the phone right now," Mick says into the cell. "He's a bit pinned down at the moment - "

Len can't believe Mick sometimes. He isn't seriously -

Yes, yes he is.

The worst part of it, too, is that Len can feel his cock twitching at it, because he likes this, too; he likes the idea that Mick's talking to the Flash, casual as anything, while Len gags on his cock, sucking him off as best as he can. Fuck, and the Flash would have no idea, of course, just talking on the phone like normal, no idea that Len's pinned there and Mick's taking his mouth like it's his right, not unless he hears the slick sound of Mick's cock moving in and out of Len's mouth -

Len moans around Mick's cock, his voice muffled, and starts sucking again in earnest.

"Yeah, he's all filled up with other stuff today," Mick says into the phone, hips moving faster now. "Schedule's totally -" he thrusts in again "- full, I'm afraid. And tomorrow's the moon, so I wouldn't recommend it - maybe the day after?"

Len whines a little, knowing there's a risk the Flash could hear him - goddamn supernatural senses - and finding himself unable to care, the thought of it spurring him on, making him moan and whimper under Mick, suddenly vocal, and that just makes Mick go faster, too.

"Yeah, that'll work," Mick says, voice straining a little to keep his calm. "I'll tell him. He'll call you. Yeah, sounds good. Bye."

He pulls the phone away from his ear and clicks the end call button with a vicious jab of his finger, throwing Len's phone carelessly across the room a second later.

"You liked that, didn't you?" he growls, voice making Len's hips jerk up helplessly in automatic response. "You liked moaning and whimpering like that, liked the idea of him hearing you, hearing how much you want me, how much you're mine - you don't care, you're shameless, you'd be on your knees for me in a heartbeat, no matter who's around, you'd let me push you over the bar at Saints, let me have you right there where everyone can see, show them all that you belong to me, that you want me - me and nobody else -"

Len keens a little. Yes, yes, Len's Mick's, whatever Mick wants, yes -

" - yeah, you can't keep off of me, can you?" Mick says, and his voice is ragged, breath coming hard. "You can't stay away, you need me, my Len, my Lenny - you're all mine, body and soul, my mate, and no one else gets to touch you - just me, whenever I want, however I want, and you'll let me do anything I want because you want me that fucking much -"

He pulls out of Len's mouth abruptly, wrapping his hand around himself and starting to jerk himself off. "Gonna come on your face," he pants. "Gonna mark you up, gonna show everyone you're mine -"

"Yeah," Len says, voice raspy. "Yeah, Mick, all yours, always yours, anything you want, because you're mine, too -"

He closes his eyes and opens his mouth, and with a grunt Mick comes, spurting on Len's lips, Len's cheeks, and Len lets his tongue flick out to catch some because it makes Mick groan, makes him pump out a bit more until Len's dripping with it. Definitely more than a human would produce, Len thinks to himself, and then Mick's thumb is there, rubbing it into Len's cheek.

"Show them," Mick mutters to himself, sounding almost dazed. "I'm gonna show them you're mine - they shouldn't touch you, how dare they touch you -"

The man from earlier, Len suddenly realizes; Mick must've smelled his hand or something. He can't help but smirk - if this is what it gets him, then maybe Len shouldn't have been so mean to the man.

Nah. Creepster deserved it.

Mick leans down and kisses Len, hard, possessive. Len's breathing hard when Mick pulls back.

"You know," Len pants, "I think we're forgetting something important here."

Mick draws back a little, letting Len prop himself up on his elbows. "How's that?" he asks, starting to smirk a little.

"Yeah, me," Len says tartly. "Only one of us got off just now, if you remember."

"Oh, I remember," Mick says, his smirk growing wide and wolfish. He rolls off of Len onto his side on the bed, running a lazy hand down Len’s torso teasingly.

"Well?” Len prods, pointedly arching his hips up a little. “You going to do something about it?"

Mick’s hand goes lower and lower and right as he gets an inch away – "Nope."

"Nope?!” Len yelps. “What do you mean, nope?"

"I mean, nope," Mick says, and stretches lazily. Len's protest catches in his throat as he watches Mick, glorious in his nudity.

Well, if Mick won't offer a hand for some reason known only to him, at least he provides a hell of a visual. Len's been jerking it to Mick on the down low for years anyway; Mick sated and post-coital is even hotter than he imagined it being.

But as Len reaches for himself, Mick catches his wrist.

"Mick," Len says warningly.

"Nope," Mick says, smirking.

"I wanna get off, Mick," Len says, aware that he's perilously close to whining.

"But you're not going to," Mick says confidently. "My werewolf metabolism means I'm gonna be ready to go again in a couple of hours, but if you get off now, you'll be too tired for more than one other round today. So you're going to keep your hands to yourself like a good boy, and I'll let you ride my cock later on."

Len swallows. "You make it sound like something we wouldn't do anyway," he says haughtily, but unfortunately he's naked and Mick can see the way his cock jumped a little at his words, which Len is choosing to ascribe to his stupid Pavlov's dog reaction to Mick's voice.

"Oh, I'm going to fuck you later," Mick says agreeably. "That's not in question. Full moon's tomorrow, and I'm going to spend all night and day fucking you till you forget your own name. But I want it to be good for you, so if you just be good for a few more hours, till the sun sets, I'll let you set the speed for the first round, let you crawl up into my lap like the needy thing you are and make me give it to you as long and as hard as you like. Or you can jerk off now. The choice is all yours."

He leans in close, his eyes fixed on Len's, face close enough that Len can feel his breath. "How's it gonna be, Lenny? You gonna be a good boy for me?"

"Yeah," Len breathes, and Mick kisses him like a reward.

Then he pulls away and gets up out of bed. "I'm going to pack our stuff," he says. "I've decided - as much as I like this place, lots of nice memories already - that the house on Sullivan will be most appropriate for the full moon this month."

The house on Sullivan is in the rich man's district, empty for the summer as they flee to cooler climes. It's a long abandoned house, ugly as sin on the outside but sweet as hell on the inside. It's got a king sized bed, soft as a cloud.

"Okay," Len says. "Sullivan is fine."

Mick pads towards the door.

"Hey, Mick," Len says. Mick looks back, raising his eyebrows. "How will you know if I've listened to you or not?"

Mick smirks. "I'll smell it on you. Like I said, Lenny; choice is all yours."

Len watches him go, then looks down. He's hard enough for it to start to ache with the need for release, between the events of yesterday and today, and he's never gone without unless circumstances meant he had to. Besides, it's not like Mick won't fuck him either way, and it's not like he needs a particular position or -

Fuck.

Fucking Mick and his way of finding kinks Len didn't even know he had. Len wouldn't put up with this shit if it wasn't Mick, but Mick has a way of making it seem like it would be worth it and damnit, Len actually does trust him that it will be worth it.

Len rolls out of bed, and pulls on his pants grumpily.

Len’d never tell anyone, but the smile Mick gives him when he joins him in the packing is worth it already.

[iatethepomegranate]

Homecoming Chapter 17

@iontorch @darkmagicianknight @prettybeefballs

The whole fic is a sequel to Human Connection (can be read as a standalone, but character personalities make more sense if read together)

All chapters

Read on AO3

Pairing: DickTiger

Rating: Mature

Length: 4.6k (this chapter)

Summary: Tiger didn’t want to do this.

Notes: I am very sorry. More torture, of the suffocation and electrocution varieties.

Chapter 17

Tiger had known all along this was going to happen, but that didn't mean he was ready. He could never be ready for this. Dick had been worn down by hours of being chained to that pole without food or water. There was only so much Tiger could do without arousing suspicion. Helena believed Bannon would know Tiger had helped Dick even the small amount that he had. Tiger could not bring himself to care.

Helena had a smaller office than she used to, when she was director of Spyral. She also took less pride in its condition, half-heartedly dusting it every so often when visitors were expected. There was one window, looking out at distant mountains. They were oddly hypnotising, or maybe that was simply Tiger's exhaustion leading him to stare at them for long periods of time before Helena would finally catch his attention.

Helena joined him at the window. “Can you do this?”

Tiger was unsure, but that answer would not satisfy her. “Yes.”

“It may be more difficult than anticipated,” Helena continued. “We didn't account for the deprivation treatment. He may not handle it as well as he would have otherwise.”

That had been weighing on Tiger's mind ever since he'd discovered Dick's situation a few hours ago. A tiny amount of food, water and bladder relief would not help much.

“You need to have the strength he won't have,” Helena said.

Tiger nodded curtly, eyes still fixed on the mountains. Better out there than in here. Why had he ever thought returning to Spyral had been a good idea? It was difficult to not be bitter about Bruce Wayne's behaviour now, given what it had ultimately led to. Tiger never should have let Dick become involved in this.

“Bannon is interrogating you as much as he is Dick. Remember that. Remember your cover. Do not let either of them see how much it hurts you. I'll use the time he's down there with you to break into the director's office.” The one that should've been hers, which Bannon was currently using but didn't actually own. That honour went to whoever was in charge now, whose identity Helena had taken upon herself to discover.

Bannon found the two of them in Helena's office shortly thereafter. Tiger had to fight nausea every time he saw the man. He hadn't had a single good night's rest ever since Bannon had shown his face here.

Bannon smiled horribly. “I have a job for you, Tiger.”

Tiger didn't bother asking what that was.

Bannon turned on his heel and marched out the door, evidently expecting Tiger to follow, which he did. “Our guest has provided some limited information, but his attitude irks me. I would rather not continue wasting time with his word games in order to receive scraps of information. Perhaps you can help with that.”

Tiger would have to communicate to Dick after this what Bannon wanted. Maybe if Dick acted defeated, Bannon would go easier on him. Tiger wouldn't know. He hadn't been captured for long enough to reach that point, even if it had not been far away when Dick found him.

Then again, doing that was totally outside Dick's nature. Maybe it wouldn't be convincing if one session with Tiger seemed to break him. The thought of needing more than that to convince Bannon Dick's changed attitude was real made Tiger feel sick all over again.

Stop thinking. Compartmentalise. Getting through this first trial was all that mattered right now.

Dick was still chained to the pole, pallid from both the terrible lighting and hours of restraint. His eyes sharpened when Bannon and Tiger entered, but not by much. Tiger couldn't determine whether it was the pain, hunger, thirst or just plain exhaustion that had dimmed him.

Tiger unchained Dick per Bannon's instructions and half-carried him to the chair, doing his best to ignore the half-swallowed gasp when Dick was forced to use his shoulders in any way. Tiger strapped him in, focusing on the leather straps rather than Dick's face. They both needed a moment.

Then Bannon handed Tiger a stun gun.

“Something easy for your first time with us,” said Bannon. “All you have to do is press a button when I say so.”

“You're a real asshole, you know that?” said Dick. His voice was scratchy, likely from dehydration.

“Shock him.”

Tiger touched the stun gun to Dick's torso, well away from his heart, and pressed the button for as short a moment as he dared. Dick jerked in his seat, but didn't make a sound. This time. It wouldn't take long for Dick's muscles to be exhausted in his current state. Potential burns aside, the buildup of lactic acid would, at the very least, result in aches and pains and general fatigue after this was over.

“Now, I am very interested in how you managed to seduce our friend here,” Bannon said to Dick.

Dick tried to shrug, gritting his teeth as he evidently remembered the shit his shoulders had just gone through. “Just kinda happened. Take your victories when you can, you know?”

“And...?”

Dick came visibly close to rolling his eyes. “We slept together a couple of times. Shit happens. I figured having Agent 1 on my side could be handy, so I took it further. Clearly, that ended well for me.”

Tiger consciously reminded himself there was no way Dick was about to tell the truth to Bannon. Not on this. They had been through enough to know their relationship was secure. Dick had come all the way out there for him, after all.

“Feel free to shock him again,” Bannon said. “He is being quite rude to you.”

That was less of an invitation and more of a thinly-veiled order. Tiger pressed the stun gun to Dick's torso again, earning another jerk and a grunt this time. Dick exhaled loudly afterwards, and probably wouldn't have remained upright if he wasn't strapped securely to the chair. This was wearing him out quickly, and Tiger was only doing the bare minimum.

“And how did you come to sleep together?” Bannon asked. Oddly personal.

“I don't do well with isolation. Realising that, Tiger came onto me. I rebuffed his advances, then realised it was probably a good idea. Get in his good graces.” Close to the truth, but not quite there. Sometimes it was better not to stray too far from the truth so it was easier to keep the story straight. Other times, like the Batman communication question, the further from the truth they were, the better.

“You are aware Spyral has rules about fraternisation, yes?”

“Which generally aren't enforced,” Dick pointed out. “Don't tell me no one knew I was sleeping with Agent 8 once upon a time.”

“Any other agent lovers I should be aware of?”

“If there were, you'd already know.”

“Is there a point to this?” Tiger found himself asking.

“Oh, I'm just trying to determine the true breadth of Nightwing's influence on our agents,” Bannon said mildly. “No matter. Nightwing has clearly proven he is incapable of hiding his sexual conquests.”

“I feel like I should be offended,” Dick said. Tiger wanted to tell him to shut up.

Blessedly, Bannon ignored that. “Where did you and Tiger go after leaving Spyral?” It was a question Bannon could've asked Tiger, but maybe it wasn't as fun to ask someone you weren't torturing at the present moment.

“Gotham, obviously.”

“How did you convince Tiger to leave with you?”

“Spyral was a mess after the Daedalus thing. I figured that was my best chance for getting out and, at the time, I believed Tiger to be of the same mind. Just as well he never met my family, then. I'd hate to tell the big guy I brought a traitor into the batcave.” Dick made sure to voice that last part very pointedly at Tiger, who showed no reaction. There had to be a reason for the lie. Perhaps it would be safer if Tiger didn't appear to know the identities of the Gotham vigilantes.

“You should shock him for that,” Bannon said.

Tiger had to oblige. Dick cried out once as his whole body stuttered, and groaned once it was over. Sweat was collecting at his hairline and he was breathing far too heavily for Tiger's liking.

“You should really curb that tongue of yours, Nightwing,” said Bannon. “It seems to be getting you into trouble.”

Dick opened his mouth to make a smartass reply, but apparently thought better of it at the last second. Good. Maybe they could get out of this without too much more pain.

“Ah, you're learning.” Bannon retreated to his table—Dick and Tiger both held their breath—and picked out a... plastic bag? “You might want to get that breathing under control, Nightwing, before I do it for you.”

Dick had already been quite pale due to his previous treatment. This did not help.

“Now, your fellow vigilantes in Gotham City have proven to be quite a thorn in Spyral's side,” said Bannon, shaking the bag out until it formed a more open shape. “They have proven quite adept at finding our footholds and removing agents from the city. How were they able to find our agents so easily?”

“Tiger and I were followed into the city,” Dick replied. “Not that hard to figure out there are Spyral agents there. The rest was good old-fashioned detective work.”

“They completely bypassed our dummy bases. How did they know to do that?”

Dick and Tiger had provided their share of information about operation tactics in the time they'd spent at Wayne Manor. But Tiger, according to Dick's lie, had never been there. Dick had provided useful information, but most of it had been Tiger's. Whether Bannon would believe Dick had provided all the information himself was anyone's guess.

Dick seemed to realise that, too, because he was playing hard to get with the information Bannon sought. As in, he remained completely silent. Tiger hoped he was doing that on purpose to make whatever clever lie he had seem more plausible when he finally shared it.

“Shock him. Don't stop until I say so.”

Tiger had been dreading that order. He placed the stun gun in a new position—Dick probably had a burn in the old one—and turned it on. Dick's body shook, teeth jammed together. Tiger wanted to stop already, but he couldn't. Dick grunted from the pain, again and again, louder each time. Tiger was of a mind to kill Bannon and get the both of them out of here. Fuck the mission.

When Bannon finally told him to stop, Dick barely had a moment to gasp before Bannon had shoved the bag over his head, wrapping the base tight around his neck to stop any more air from getting in. Dick jerked weakly, locked in place by the restraints and his exhaustion. Bannon only let up when Dick stopped moving.

Dick was conscious, but only barely. He sucked down air.

Bannon shoved the bag into Tiger's hands. “Now. I'm going to ask again. How did your allies know how to tell the difference between a dummy base and a real one?”

“I stole files,” Dick said quietly. He breathed. “Before.”

“Before you left Spyral?”

Dick nodded.

“What files?”

“Field ops. Decoy protocols. Agent assignment algorithms.” Dick and Tiger had taken a whole lot more than that, plus the information stored in their brains, but the less Bannon suspected Batman knew, the better.

“Of all the available files, that's all?”

“We were in a hurry.”

“And how did Batman receive this files from you?”

“Ever heard of a flash drive?” Dick bit out, apparently having recovered just enough to be pissed off by the whole situation. “I handed it to him. Did you think I used some kind of high-tech brain link to beam the information to him?”

Tiger backhanded him before he said anything else that would get him in trouble. He couldn't pull back his strength as much as he would've liked, given Dick's condition, so his head snapped right to the side. Dick closed his eyes for a moment.

“It seems you want us to hurt you,” said Bannon. Tiger wanted to say anger was a natural reaction to what he'd been through, but wasn't sure how to phrase it without sounding like he was defending Dick. Even if that was what he wanted to do.

“I am uncertain he will provide any more useful information in this state,” Tiger said, hoping that would suffice. “Additional torture would be more entertaining than useful at this time.”

“I am quite enjoying myself, I will admit. Shock him again.”

Damn it. Tiger found a new spot, still far enough from Dick's heart that it wouldn't cause immediate heart failure.

“Don't stop until I say so.”

Tiger pressed the button, half-watching Dick's reaction and half-watching Bannon putter around his table of torture implements, putting the plastic bag away, straightening his knives, stroking the hammer. Dick screamed, breathless, barely loud enough to count. Tiger had to force himself to keep doing this. Stopping now, raising suspicion, would make everything Dick had suffered utterly pointless.

Bannon packed up his kit, taking his time to make it all neat and ordered. Dick's head listed to the side, eyes closing, and it was only then that Bannon finally gave the signal to stop. He took the stun gun from Tiger's hand, sliding it into the leather toolkit.

Dick's head drooped forward, shirt transparent with sweat.

“Put him back in his cell,” Bannon said, smiling his way out the door.

Tiger reached for the nearest wrist strap, slowly feeding it out of the buckle until it was open. “Are you with me, Dick?”

Dick's breathing shifted deeper, but he didn't respond. Tiger unstrapped his other wrist and knelt to free his ankles.

It was that point Dick's breathing hitched, fingers on his uninjured hand clenching around the arm of the chair. He didn't try to move, even after his ankles were freed. Tiger leaned sideways, to try and meet Dick's eyes. They were still closed, screwed shut, lashes wet.

“He's gone, Dick,” Tiger said, as gently as he could manage when all he wanted to do was chase after Bannon and snap his neck. “We're alone. I'm sorry.”

Dick had lost track of everything as soon as the last shock had begun. He came back to himself much later, head pillowed on Tiger's chest as they lay on the bed in his cell. Dick was lying more on Tiger than the bed, which would be a problem if Bannon returned, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Dick's whole body was wrung out. He couldn't have moved if he wanted to. A few spots on his torso burned, but dealing with them would require getting up. Evidently Tiger had been unable to do much about them while Dick had been out of it.

“Are you with me now?” Tiger asked softly.

Dick nodded, not even bothering to lift it.

“You should eat something. Have some water.” But neither of them moved. “Are you in pain?”

“A little.”

“Burns?”

Dick nodded.

Tiger sighed, his chest lifting and dropping Dick's head. “Helena will look for me soon. And scold me for wasting time down here, most likely.” Not that he was making an effort to do anything about that.

The door squeaked open. “I heard that, Tiger,” Helena said, jabbing at the communicator in her ear as she stepped inside.

“No one told you to listen in.” Tiger's response was a little snappier than usual.

Helena ignored it, resting against the bars. “Injuries?”

“Burns,” Tiger replied. “I was unable to examine them earlier.”

“You should do that now. You've already spent far too long down here.”

The look Tiger gave her could've stripped paint off the walls.

“Don't look at me like that. You're well aware it's a risk.” She was right, but Dick also didn't want Tiger going anywhere. Being alone right now was... not ideal. In his exhaustion, he had no control over his body language. His thoughts were damn well on display, which sucked because Tiger was having a hard enough time without Dick telegraphing his anxiety all over the place.

“This was a bad idea,” Tiger muttered into Dick's hair, holding him closer.

“We're committed.” Helena was doggedly sticking to being the voice of reason. Someone had to, and Dick and Tiger certainly weren't up for it. “I got into the director's office. It's as we expected. Alia is behind this.”

“Do we know when she will return here?”

“In five days.”

“It is possible she will simply order Bannon to kill Dick. We should arrange the attack to begin just before she arrives. Too soon for her to aid the defence too much, but too late to retreat.”

“I'll find the exact timing and make the arrangements. Tiger, when Dick is feeling better, help him memorise the building's layout.”

Dick had to endure this for five more days. How could a unit of time be so short and yet horribly long at the same time?

Helena rested her forehead against the bars. “Dick? Have you eaten?”

Dick shook his head.

“I'll bring you something. Tiger, check his injuries.”

Tiger pushed him into a seated position and helped him remove his shirt. Tiger had hidden a first-aid kit under the bed, since Bannon didn't seem to give a shit about the cell. All the more reason to get the attack underway before Alia arrived. She probably would care about such minute details.

Tiger cleaned the three burns from contact with the stun gun. Dick tried not to flinch, but he had little control over his body, which was aching all over as if he'd run a marathon without warming up first. Lactic acid was an asshole.

Tiger pressed his lips to Dick's bare shoulder and used stick-on bandages to cover the burns, just for a little while. Helena returned with a small amount of fruit and fresh water, plus a clean shirt. Dick didn't feel like doing much of anything, let alone eating, but he wasn't about to give either Tiger or Helena the opportunity to force it in his mouth if they had to. Which they totally would.

“Don't stay much longer,” Helena warned Tiger, taking the finished tray away with her.

Tiger helped Dick into the fresh shirt and they lay down again.

“You'll have to leave eventually,” Dick said.

“I'll leave when I'm ready,” Tiger muttered bitterly. “When you're ready.”

Dick was never going to be ready. He'd spent hours chained up, in pain and alone, and had just been tortured by the man he loved against both their wills. He wanted Tiger to stay, both for his own sake and for Tiger's.

Tiger made a slow circle on Dick's back with his palm. “Get some rest. I'll leave when you're asleep.”

Despite his exhaustion, sleep wasn't really on the cards. He was more in the mood to lie here and be miserable. Maybe it would've been kinder to make Tiger leave, knowing the man was paying very close attention to how Dick was feeling, but Dick couldn't bring himself to enact that kind of selflessness right now.

“We can do five more days,” Tiger promised.

Dick almost said he didn't want to, but that wasn't helpful, even if he'd rather have a complete nervous breakdown than spend another minute in this place. But he had to. He chose to do this.

But, fuck he hurt all over. If he never had to move his shoulders again, he would be a happy man. So far, he'd been able to lie his way out of providing accurate information that he didn't want Bannon knowing. But he couldn't rely on that. Sooner or later, his creativity would fail him. He certainly couldn't have come up with a lie if he'd been asked something sensitive at the end of today's interrogation.

Tiger cradled the back of Dick's head, resting his chin on top. “Dick. You need your rest. I will wake you in a few hours, I promise. You will need to eat small amounts at regular intervals anyway.”

Dick had managed to sleep while chained to the pole, but it seemed impossible now. He'd known this thing with Tiger was coming, but that hadn't helped. There was no way he could voice that without making Tiger feel worse than he already did.

“You're quiet,” Tiger said. Dick didn't have it in him to be a smartass, even with Tiger stating the obvious. He dislodged his head from beneath Tiger's to meet his eyes, which were full of concern. Dick managed the weakest of smiles and reached up with what little strength he had to kiss his cheek.

Bannon didn't always call on Tiger to assist in interrogations. Helena continued using Bannon's interrogation time to investigate restricted areas, passing the intel onto Batman.

Tiger, when he could afford to linger, set about helping Dick memorise the building's layout and the plan they were putting together. There weren't many points of entry available to outside forces, so the bulk of the family would be entering through the front door, with a few slipping in through other, smaller, entrances. They would wait to enter until Bannon was with Dick and Tiger would then help him take the man out.

“And what about those allies you and Helena were going on about?” Dick was propped up against the wall on the bed, nursing a nosebleed into a tissue. Nothing broken. It would pass soon enough.

“Most are not interested in fighting either side,” Tiger said, passing Dick a fresh tissue. “Those people have escape routes planned. A small group have agreed to assist. Gloria is one of them.”

“Huh. Been a while. Would've thought she'd want to escape so she could see her kids again.”

“She wishes to make sure we succeed. Desertion will put her family at risk if we do not.”

“Fair enough.” Dick pushed the map further down his legs, the better to see with his tissue-holding hand in the way.

“How's the bleeding?”

Dick dabbed at his nostrils. “Getting better.”

“Did you tell him anything?”

“He asked how much Batman knew about hypnos. He had to make this nosebleed happen before I answered, so I guess I convinced him Batman hasn't had a chance to study them properly.”

Tiger dampened a tissue in the sink and passed it to Dick, who cleaned the dried blood off his face. Tiger took the tissue from his hands after a few moments, taking over the task. That was fine by Dick. His shoulder had been killing him anyway.

“Will you be able to fight when the time comes?” Tiger asked, swiping the damp tissue across the corner of Dick's mouth.

“In this state? Probably. I don't know if my answer'll be the same if I have another round with that pole.”

“Just three more days, Dick. Are your shoulders still hurting?”

“When I use them too much, yeah. I probably won't notice it as much in the middle of a fight.”

Tiger threw the tissue into the toilet on the other side of the cell and hid the map underneath the mattress. “I'll try to get to you as soon as the fighting starts. You will not be left alone if I can help it.”

“I'm starting to suspect I'm more of a hindrance than a help.”

Tiger cupped Dick's cheeks between his palms. “No. You are providing a useful distraction for Helena's investigation and, to my shame, I prefer having you close, even under these circumstances.”

“You smooth talker, you.”

Tiger made a sound of disgust. “You must be feeling better.”

“For the moment.”

Tiger pressed his lips to Dick's forehead. “I love you. I'm sorry I put you in this situation.”

“Well, to be fair, you did try to stop me.” Dick could just feel Tiger wanting to argue, but he kept quiet. They were both doing a lot of that. Some things were better left unsaid, especially in a situation such as this.

They kissed instead of arguing. The door squeaked and they separated, which was just as well, because Bannon had returned.

“Well, isn't this cosy?” The man looked like he'd just won the lottery. Fuck.

“Someone had to clean up the mess you made of my face,” Dick shot back immediately. It wasn't technically a lie, so...

“Still mouthing off, Nightwing? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?”

“I'm a slow learner.”

Tiger shot him a look that clearly said shut up. It was probably in Dick's best interests, but he'd never been good at looking after himself.

“Who did you think was patching me up after you were done with me, Bannon?”

That just made Bannon smile even wider. “You seem awfully keen to defend your betrayer.”

“I don't see many people down here and you're a grade-A asshole, so I don't have an endless supply of people who'll patch me up and talk to me every so often.”

“Guilty conscience, Tiger?”

Tiger always seemed to struggle with answering back to Bannon, which was no surprise. “A healthy prisoner will last longer,” he finally came out with. “The longer he survives, the more information he will give us.” Dick made sure to school his expression into that of hurt, though he couldn't telegraph it too much or Bannon would realise he was bullshitting. This whole plan could fall apart if Bannon stopped believing Tiger's handing Dick over to Spyral was an act of betrayal.

Bannon's face was positively gleeful. “Oh, I'm sure. Perhaps you could convince me further. But don't bruise your knuckles too quickly. Or perhaps I'll let you borrow my brass ones.”

That was all the warning Dick got before Bannon had Tiger deliver him to the torture chamber once again.

Multiple sessions in one day wore Dick down, breaking him faster. Perhaps that was why Bannon always made sure he'd had his own session before he brought Tiger in to do the dirty work.

This time, however, Tiger was not permitted to stay and tend to Dick's medical needs. Dick's head throbbed as he lay in bed, lights out in a mimicry of night. No dinner had come, but Dick probably couldn't have eaten anyway. His ribs were definitely bruised and there had been a few gut punches that made him want to vomit.

But the door squeaked on its noisy hinges. Dick thought, for a second, maybe Tiger had managed to get away for a moment, but...

“Hello, dear.”

“Gloria?”

“Matron sent me.” A flashlight clicked on and she unlocked the cell door. “Your partner couldn't get away from Bannon. I only have a moment, so show me where you're hurt.”

“Not much you can do without ice,” Dick said, lifting his shirt to show her the bruises on his torso. Gloria produced a handful of washcloths.

“These won't work as well as ice, but better than nothing.” She dampened them in the sink, pushed Dick onto his back and laid them over the worst of the bruising. She put one over his eye, which had swollen slightly. “Whoever is bringing you breakfast will take them, but be sure to hide them just in case.”

“Do you think Bannon suspects Tiger now?”

“Bannon suspects everyone. If Tiger's position is too tenuous, I will take over his caretaking duties until the reckoning begins.” She patted his hand. “Matron tells me you're Nightwing. I take it that's your preferred name?”

“Around people who can't know my identity? Yes.”

Gloria's smile was barely visible in the thin beam from the flashlight, but it was refreshing all the same.

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

Well things are about to get real interesting around me. The county I live in in Ohio just got its first confirmed case of COVID-19, but as of right now, my workplace is still open. We’ll see if that changes by the end of the weekend. Is it wrong that I’m hoping things stay open long enough for my book order from yesterday to reach my house? Like that package should reach me by Tuesday or maybe Wednesday. Just let me have those 8 books and then everything can go on lockdown. I know that sounds ridiculous, and I do want people to be safe, so I understand if my shipment is put on hold. I just, the books will be so lonely locked up in a warehouse for a couple weeks.

Okay, so I saw this post over on Sahi’s blog, My World of Books, and it sounded like a fun book tag. And I haven’t done a tag in a while, so this seems like a good time to do one. Anyway, please go check out Sahi’s blog because there is a lot of great content over there, and Sahi is awesome.

Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you

Answer all the questions down below

Pingback to the creator: Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx

Nominate 5+ bloggers to do this tag

*Feel free to not take the term ‘book’ too literally, please recommend graphic novels, comics and other works too!

1. Recommend a book from one of your favorite genres

My favorite genre is fantasy. I read a whole bunch of it, so that’s going to make this a little bit difficult. Let’s see what I can come up with.

It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I haven’t talked about this book in a little while, and the sequel is out in July.

Here’s the unfortunate part about this duology…a deadly plague is sort of a bit plot point. Apparently it’s bigger in the sequel/conclusion than it is in the first book, but it’s still a fairly big point in the first one. So, if that’s going to affect your current anxiety or mental state then perhaps stay away from this recommendation.

Is it weird that I sort of want to re-read this book soon because of the global situation? Am I just a very weird individual? Yeah, that’s probably true.

2. Recommend a short book

For a short book…how about a series of short reads? The Vox Machina Origins comic series is about to complete its second arc. The first arc was 6 issues of like 24 pages each, or collected into one volume, and the arc has 5 of the 6 issues out, again like 24 pages for each issue. There is action and magic and camaraderie and shenanigans. It’s a pretty good read.

And if you can’t leave your house then you can totally get the digital version through places like Dark Horse Comics or Comixology.

3. Recommend a book-to-screen adaptation

Okay, this one is easy for me. But you know what, I’m just going to go ahead and give you two recommendations. First up is Black Clover, and I definitely recommend both the manga and the anime (Just take my advice and watch it dubbed, not subbed–main character Asta has a habit of annoyingly yelling everything in the subbed; it’s not fun. Dubbed has it mellowed out a little bit). It is a fantastic adaptation.

And honestly, I’ve read both story collections from the Witcher series so far, and those books are what were used to adapt the first season of the Netflix show, and I have to say that they did a pretty darn good job adapting the world, the monsters, the magic, and the story. I’m definitely impressed.

4. Recommend a book out of your comfort zone

I’m still not the biggest reader of science-fiction. I love to watch it but I don’t read it that much. This book was one that took me a while to read because it was out of my comfort zone, but it is one that I’m glad I read and I actually need to read it again. Oh, and there’s also a fantastic TV series based on this 9-book epic sci-fi series, so feel free to check out “The Expanse” as well, either before or after reading the books.

5. Recommend a book series

Hmm…what series shall I recommend for you all today? Okay, you know what, I’m going to recommend a comic series for you guys. Actually, as I tried to find the appropriate image from my WordPress media collection, I realized that I actually have a few different completed graphic novel/comic series that I haven’t talked about in a while, so I might have to do a graphic novel recommendation post soon.

I love Sandman. It’s a great series, with so many different tropes and genres mashed together into a truly wonderfully epic story. Follow Dream, his sister Death, and all of his other siblings, plus a huge host of other characters through this 10 volume set. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

  6. Recommend a standalone

You do know that I mostly read fantasy series right? This is not cool, to make me try and find a standalone book to recommend. Oh boy. Let’s see what I can come up with.

Okay, okay, I found one, and it’s one where I’m immensely sad about the fact that it is a standalone. I was really hoping for this to be like a trilogy, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Anyway, this is a pretty fantastic fantasy read. It’s Pokemon meets Avatar: the Last Airbender, which I thought was a very intriguing concept.

7. Recommend a book you don’t talk about enough

Oh man, this one is hard, I talk about a lot of books quite frequently. Hmm…let’s look through my WordPress media and see if I can find something for this one.

Okay fine, so this is technically more than one book, but you know, I haven’t talked about them in a while, and now seems like a good time to recommend some completed series that people can totally binge-read right now if they so choose.

I was way more into the spin-off series Bloodlines than I was the original Vampire Academy, though both are great series. I just liked Sydney and Adrian more than I did Rose and Dmitri. No hate, please. They are both good couples.

Actually, hmm, I probably am overdue for a re-read of these slightly angsty YA vampire romance books.

8. Recommend your ‘staple’ book

My staple book, my go-to recommendation for the past like 5 years continues to be Colorworld by Rachel E Kelly. I am obsessed with this series and think it is just an absolutely fantastic read. I could gush about these books over and over again, and for a rather long time as well. Actually I do have reviews up for the whole series, so you can check those out: Colorworld, Teleworld, Lumaworld, Shadoworld, Dreamworld, Waterworld: Ezra, Waterworld: Charlotte, and Waterworld: Xavier.

9. Recommend the book/s that got you into reading

Umm…Dr. Seuss???? I have literally been a reader my whole life, so I was too young to recall what book really got me into reading. If you want to go with what book(s) I first majorly fangirled over, that’s a different story.

Why yes, I do have the complete Animorphs series on my bookshelves. I pretty much ordered every single one of these from the Scholastic bookfair/booksale thing they did back in elementary school. And no matter how many book unhauls I do, I just can’t bear to part with any of these books. There are a couple I want to get nicer copies for, because childhood me was not always as good about taking care of books–so #9 and #13 definitely need replaced. I think everything else is fine.

I actually need to re-read these sometime. Oh, I actually did see online that for right now you can read the whole 54 book main series for free, so if you’re at all interested, you can check that out.

10. Recommend 3+ bloggers who recommend great books

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile

Kathy @ Books and Munches

Sofii @ A Book. A Thought

Okay, well I guess this is where I’m supposed to tag people. This is always my least favorite part of doing tags, honestly. So I’m going to slightly cheat, and tag the three bloggers I recommended above and then two more so I hit that 5 blogger mark in the rules.

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile

Kathy @ Books and Munches

Sofii @ A Book. A Thought

Danielle @ Life of a Literary Nerd

Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog

YOU! (if you want to, dear reader)

The Ultimate Recommendations Book Tag Hey all, Dani here. Well things are about to get real interesting around me. The county I live in in Ohio just got its first confirmed case of COVID-19, but as of right now, my workplace is still open.