#my fantasy queerplatonic marriage

[ghostscrown]

Don't you understand. If I get a queerplatonic partner one day, I want a queerplatonic "marriage" but you could barely even call it a "marriage". It would be more like. A platonic ceremony. Nothing official, so it wouldn't even be an official marriage, because fuck the marriage institution. I want this to be the most chaotic, confusing ceremony ever. The whole thing would be a go to hell to the relationships norms.

It would be like. A small ceremony. With the Anne With An E flower party aesthetic, ykwim? I want NONE of these wedding aesthetic. Just... A GIANT cake, that'll be the closest thing ressembling a wedding. And flowers everywhere because I love flowers, but flowers of all kind. Multicolored. Decoration theme is flowers and stars. Because it's cool.

Not too many guests, just a few, close people to us, because there's no way I'm gathering a full social event. Fuck off "guests have to be classy but not too much to not outshine whatever". I want everyone to get their fanciest, most extravagant outfits. Theme is victorian-pirate-steampunk-medieval. I want cloaks/capes, vintage dresses, top hats, pirate shirts, everything. And everyone will get a free colorfull flowercrown.

Me and QPP are wearing the biggest, most giant flowercrowns. I'm wearing the fanciest medieval cape ever.

We do vows, but like. We say so many romance spiteful things. Like. Promise we'll never downgrade this relationship to romance. But also things like. Promising to be queerplatonic partners and best friends for life (reminder that queerplatonic and best friends aren't the same, but if I get a QPP they'll probably also be my best friend, so both at the same time, because I'm like that) etc.

Instead of wedding rings, we exchange friendship bracelets.

There's an officer, just for the sake of it, even tho it's not an official thing - so it could just be anyone really. They have to wear a fancy costume too of course. And at the end they'll say "I declare you... Best friends forever." (It would be more appropriate to say queerplatonic partners or something, but this is funnier.)

And then. Instead of kissing, even in the case we wouldn't mind kissing, we fistbump. Just because it's funny.

[aroaessidhe]

Queerplatonic book recs, that actually have QPRs, inspired by me seeing someone listing qpr books that were literally just queer people being friends 🤦‍♀️

These all have the main characters in queerplatonic relationships,  explicitly and/or unambiguously in most cases.

The Thread That Binds

solarpunk-fantasy about queer bookbinding witches, 2/3 MCs are an aroace & an ace in a QPR

Baker Thief

superhero fantasy with a bigender aromantic superhero / demisexual woman QPR 

Not Even Bones

YA supernatural trilogy where the main characters initially seem to be developing a romantic relationship, but eventually realise neither actually feel that way, and settle into more or less a QPR (without labels, but it’s pretty clear)

Two Dark Moons

YA fantasy where an arospec girl & ace lizard kid accidentally get fantasy-married & develop a friendship/qpr

The Wolf Among The Wild Hunt

dark fantasy novella with an aroace wolfman & nonbinary knight qpr

Our Bloody Pearl

NA fantasy with a siren & ace pirate, originally marketed as a romance, but it is pretty much a qpr and that’s what the author intended!

The Reckless Kind

historical YA with an aspec girl becoming a family with her best friend and his boyfriend

Fire Becomes Her

YA, 1920s inspired fantasy world, demiro girl breaks free of her relationship and instead ends up in a QPR with a nonbinary transmasc ace.

If It Makes You Happy

YA contemporary about a girl navigating her queerplatonic relationship with her best friend, and a possible new romantic relationship.

Royal Rescue

high fantasy with an amatonormative royal marriage system, where the aroace MC has had enough, rescues himself, and starts to dismantle the system, finding a QPR on the way

The Heretic’s Guide To Homecoming (duology)

slow introspective high fantasy following two characters on a journey, doesn’t explicitly have them define their relationship in a QPR-like way, but undeniably focuses on complex platonic relationships and narratives

Mindtouch

this is one that’s been on my tbr forever - a sort of cozy/slice of life sci-fi that centres a platonic relationship between two aliens, which is quite reminiscent of a QPR. apparently there’s like 5 books now, I’ve only read the first so far!

Archivist Wasp / Firebreak

honorable mention because it’s not explicitly a qpr - but all of the author’s works focus on platonic m/f relationships in a very aspec way, and have absolutely no romance anywhere. one of the central relationships is very much platonic soulmates/ qpr vibes (postapoc ghosty sci-fi/fantasy YA & dystopian anticapitalism)

[lily-alphonse]

Rarepairs mentioned - I HAD to ask for my beloved Abigail x Maru 🖤

I feel like these lesbians could pursue world domination if they wanted. Good thing we have video games and anime to distract them with.

RIP Abigail you would've loved Baldur's Gate 3

Genuinely they would get along so well? Like.. really straightforward friends to lovers. Maybe not even technically lovers because one of them is AroAce and they just have a lovely queerplatonic thing going on.

SOME AO3 RESEARCH LATER (because I don't know what to do with this)

Okay actually yeah they need a cool AU. A Scooby-Doo AU, murder mystery AU, zombie AU, fantasy AU, something where they have to put their minds and muscle together, that's where they would shine. WHAT ABOUT A SPY AU AAAHHH

Sorry I'm about to just get crazy with this one I know you won't mind Crispy

It's too perfect! Maru is like the Q, the gadgets, the control center, the medic, etc. But its a two-woman vigilante operation and they have like a will-they-wont-they thing throughout their missions. Maru is always worried about losing Abigail when she puts herself in danger.

AND THEN AASJDFNWEFPIU AND THEN OMG WAIT IM GETTING TOO EXFCITED

AND THEN MARU GETS TAKENNNNN!!!!!

AND ABIGAIL GOES ON A RAMPAGE JOHN WICK STYLE AAAAAAAHHHH

Lmao I feel like this post is the most authentic look into my process as a writer it's just all out there in this post rn.

And then when she finally saves her and she's covered in blood (some of it hers) she makes some inside joke and they both laugh and cry and Abigail finally admits that she doesn't know what she'd do without her and loves her so much and Maru just smiles past the tears and says

"I know"

roll credits

Send me any Stardew Valley rarepair and I will tell you how I would make them work! (Even non-marriage npcs) If youre lucky you may get a mini fic out of it. Check the list below to see if Ive already answered yours

Rarepair Masterlist

[v-tired-queer]

I want to get married and have kids one day, hopefully soon, but like . . . I don't necessarily think I want to be/will ever be truly "in love" with someone. I've always envisioned getting married to a kind and honest man, going on adventures together, being silly with each other, having a great time as best friends, but I never really thought about being romantically in love with this fantasy guy. I want someone who I'll be excited to walk through life with and who'll be excited to walk through life with me, too, going through major milestones together and cherishing each other, but like, literally as ultimate best friends. That's always been all I want.

And listen, I don't even care if this person is asexual or not. Sex, like romance, has never been something that caught my interest or was a big desire for me. It's nice for others, but like, I really just want some cuddles and hand holding, even in public, and best friends can do that. Maybe some kisses as a way to further show love for each other, but platonically. If they happen to not be interested in sex except for reproductive purposes, too, then great, but if they do like sex then that's fine, too--go out and have a good time while I stay in and read, just don't bring any diseases back for when we try for babies, ya know?

Just. A queerplatonic relationship that leads to marriage and kids with a good fellow Christian guy that makes every other person who sees us go, "Aw! A wonderfully in love couple!" but we're over here laughing like "Nah mate, this is my ULTIMATE BEST FRIEND and I love them SO FUCKING MUCH but like, no romo." Ya know?

Does . . . does this make any sense to anyone else??

[twistedwonderlandshenanigans]

TWST AU's - Feel Free to Ask About Them!

Legit have like 25 aus for TWST I'm not even joking and most of them are self indulgent and the list WILL grow sfhkldjfhksd

Coffeeshop AU (fleshes out Khan x Leona (this is a bad ship lmao they are NOT GOOD) and more sibling shenanigans between Vizzie and Leona)

Summer Camp AU (focuses around Sebek and Epel having been childhood crushes that reunite as camp counselours at a camp Viz and Leona run, there are Many Side Stories)

Pokemon AU (self-explanatory, I made teams up with my s/o and a bunch of bg)

Assassin AU (Students are all sleeper agents, operating under STYX as their test subjects basically, and they have no idea until one student's tech starts to malfunction.)

Prison AU (everyone has fucked up reasons for being in jail, they are All Prisoners, you'll notice in almost all my aus I have a shit ton of angst)

Circus AU (self explanatory, my LeoVil AU and Idikei AU)

Robot/MurderDrones AU in which Ortho's creation is the catalyst for STYX to make more androids for commercial and industrial use, and as they gain more intelligence Ortho would like to find a way to free his fellow bots from being pawns to the humans.

Rarepair AU literally put everyone's names in a wheel and just said Yep to every pair, very fun, have not fleshed this out at all lmao

Zombie Apocalypse AU pretty self explanatory except there are shit like blot zombies and varying degrees of those, Cheka grows into quite the little leader, I have not decided whether the ending is "happy" as in everything is resolved, or happy as in it's Actually Happy

Tattoo/Soulmate AU People with magic typically get into tattooing because they have the ability to make soulmate tattoos, but it varies depending on romantic, platonic/queerplatonic, familial feelings or other ones. Trey, Vil and Leona run a shop together, Deuce wants to join, Viz accidentally becomes his adoptive sister it's all fun and relatively low on the angst actually lmao

Monster AU hehe I've talked about this on this blog before, check out my pinned post!!

FNAF AU lmao this one has so much angst but you probably knew that already, inspired more by the pizzaplex/security breach than any other FNAF game, but a lot of the same type of lore

Coraline AU in which Viz gets to be Leona's big (half) sister for once. Falena is the eldest and treated with respect, everyone knows Viz isn't the king's biological daughter but they have to put up with her because the queen does, and Leona was the attempt between the king and queen to fix everything - it didn't work and he feels that. Ends up using an escape to another world to try and avoid that feeling, only to realize something much more sinister on the other side.

Biological Sister AU not super intuitive, seeing as above, Viz is Leona's half sister, but in this au she is also related him, just via the king this time. Don't ask me why I named it this, but it is what it is, she's taken in by the royal family early on and tries to bring it together. Idk it was a fun idea at the time.

Genderbent AU I wanted to explore Vizzie's trauma if she was around a bunch of other girls instead of guys and it goes Poorly but it's fun lmao

DnD AU b/c I've never played DnD and wanted to kinda learn so it's DnD inspired but the rules/roles aren't super strict but the worldbuilding is SO MUCH FUN (there are SO many dynamics all going on at the same time its GREAT)

Medieval Fantasy AU This is moreso my S/O's AU than it is mine but I wanted to talk about it because it also has a lot of fun worldbuilding in it that we did together (like the effects of OB and whatnot in this world)(also heavily inspired by DnD)

Arranged Marriage AU Viz and Riddle both have very overbearing, traditional moms and end up together against each others wills and have to unlearn their distaste for each other before they can start really working together to find ways to make each other happy

Greek God/Epic AU In which Viz takes on the Odyssey with Leona as her guide - he wants to prove himself worthy of the title of a God, and she will do anything to protect her people. It gets Complicated fast. (I actually have art I drew for this au lmao)

Poppy Playtime AU Really fucking depressing tbh, again, upon the perfection of Ortho's robotic aids (he never died, just severely incapacitated), all the other children that were used as test subjects were abandoned as half done projects and experiments that resembled toys

Dance AU I throw a bunch of the characters into dance. Vil, Riddle and Neige are on top but all three of them are having Gender Issues but in Big Denial about it.

Fairy AU My S/O also developed this one initially but I have a few different headcanons from them :D

Petsitter AU Cater is more of the focus in this one, he's recently left home, in between jobs and down on his luck and ends up calling in an old favour. He stays with Trey (and Che'nya) in their apartment and gets to know the people in the complex as he starts to heal <3

And then I have 4 other aus I might take to Ao3 just because it seems people can filter tags better on there and uh. They Need Tags lmaooo

[basalamander-corner]

❦ - The Shifting Tides: NEW WIP INTRO

We fight for a future we ourselves cannot see.

❝ Blood spills at the drop of a hat. Lives are taken every day. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to fight, or be devoured. ❞

Cursed by the blood of a goddess, Saran Turakina has known a life of being less-than-human. His people are holindal, once regular humans now given the ability to shapeshift into draconic forms. To improve relationships with the Kingdom of Askana, Saran’s grandfather has arranged a marriage with their prince. While on a seaward journey to meet his future husband, Saran’s boat is intercepted by pirates, and he’s taken prisoner for a ransom.

On a ship far from home, and with only his two closest friends for company, Saran is forced to come face to face with the pirate king: Viridian Kambiri, captain of the Howling Wolf and charming leader of the Wildlings.

As Saran traverses the maze of secrets and betrayals that fester beneath Askana, it doesn’t take him to realize there’s more to the oppression and hatred towards the holindal diaspora than the monarchy is letting onto. And the secrets they hide is one he must bring to the light. But if violence is the only way of stopping them, then does that not make Saran a murderer, like them?

And if so, how will he stop them without losing his soul in the process?

More info below the cut.

❧General Information

A series that has been on my mind for at least five years. The current version of this draft started in 2020 during COVID, although I’ve had this idea in mind since early 2018 at least. It’s currently taken some inspiration from We Hunt the Flame, The Tiger at Midnight, and Beasts of Prey, although it has evolved into its own story at this point.

I consider it somewhere between Young Adult and New Adult in terms of ratings: most content is aimed towards a 16+ audience. I consider the genre a low/mid-fantasy romance. There’s a bit of extensive worldbuilding, but canonically the series takes place in an alternate universe where the meteor that killed the dinosaurs ended up being imbued in magic. Said magic spread through the earth, and is what eventually caused the holindal mutation. In addition, this Earth has a ring system of a similar intensity to Neptune, caused by the colliding of Theia. If I have to describe the aesthetic, it is an Afro-Victorian world on the cusp of its own industrial revolution.

❧Featuring

The tropes of idiots to friends to lovers, found family, secret royalty.

Themes of coming of age, trauma recovery, rebellion and war, self-discovery, sins of the father, and the deconstruction of “if you kill them, you’ll be just like them”.

A transmasculine and vincian MC. A bisexual MC. A queerplatonic relationship between three major characters, one of the MCs included. An aro/ace major character.

A cast made up of entirely dark-skinned characters.

❧Trigger Warnings

Typical fantasy violence

Blood and gore

Childhood abuse

Physical and mental abuse/trauma

Panic and anxiety attacks

Queerphobia

Racism and xenophobia

Sexism

❧Tag list

Ask to be added or removed!

@sharliexth @thecrookedwriterspath @andromeda-grace @wildswrites @hottubraccoon @likegemstone @iriswords @starlightelegy @words-after-midnight @andromedaexists @writeintrees @thegrievingyoung @pure-solomon @aalinaaaaaa @tate-lin @gltownsend

[saunne]

ERASDE : WIP INTRODUCTION

Here I am to introduce the project I've been working on bit by bit for more than two years and my wip for the July Camp Nano and the next NaNoWriMo.

Genre : High fantasy ; Queer romance

POV : Third person multiple

Status : Heavy worldbuilding during July Camp Nano and First Draft for NaNoWriMo 2023 !

Themes :

Academic Life and Research

Knowledge versus Ignorance

Search of the Truth

Love and Sacrifice

Find Oneself in Others (Found Family)

Duty and Free Will

Convention and Rebellion

Dichotomies and Similarities Between Deities and Humans

What's in it :

A significant cast of queer characters and relationships, with gay main romance, non-binary characters, aroace representation and queerplatonic and polyamorous negotiations.

A found family can be : an outcast who uses himself as a research project, a divine emissary disconnected from reality, a prostitute turned noble heiress, a God (press X to doubt), a pretty girl with way too many knives, a semi-accidental arsonist and the local emo teen adopted by his teacher.

A “fuck around and find out” type of magic system : no one knows yet how everything works and what can explode will explode.

Tourism disguised as study trips, whether to a remote island or to another plane of reality. All with more or less reliable guides, to spice things up.

Religious conflicts between New Gods, Old Gods, and Even Older Gods and their followers who are dragged in the wake.

Political intrigues based on murders, marriages, betrayals and typical court drama. It's Tea Time almost everytime around here.

Blurb

In the Human Academy City of Terenta Mari, everything is always in motion. This year, though, is a little special : after more than a century of isolation, the Raven Clan once again open themselves to the world. And what better way to do this than to send their Sramana, their divine emissary, to the greatest Magic research center ? "Magic no longer belongs to the Divine… for better or for worse."

Content Warning :

Graphic Description of Violence (Injury Details, Blood, bit of Body Horror)

Death (Natural, Murder, Suicide)

Ritual Cannibalism

Imperialism and Colonization

Slavery

Coming soon: posts presenting the main characters of the cast, excerpts from worldbuilding points, snippets and other things !

[questinwitchface]

Master List of My Fics

All of my fics are posted on AO3, no where else. All of my fics are tagged and rated to the best of my ability, but please check ANs at the beginning of each fic/chapter for additional CWs.

One Shots:

The Valentine Struggle 2.5 k, G, Kate Bishop/Yelena Belova/Joaquín Torres, Fluff, Queerplatonic Relationship, AroAce Yelena

Just Things 2 k, T, SamBucky, Angst w/ a Hopeful Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Coffee Creamer 6 k, T, SamBucky, past Sam/Riley, past Sam/Natasha, Angst w/ a Happy Ending, Fluff

These Wings That Strain His Shoulders 5 k, T, SamBucky, Angst w/ a Hopeful Ending

Bucky Barnes's Poetry Project 2 k, T, SamBucky, Poetry Collection, Love Poems Written By Bucky About Sam, Companion Piece to You Probably Think This Poem is About You

Bucky Barnes Hates Christmas 20 k, T, SamBucky, Angst, Fluff

Bucky and His Books 7 k, T, SamBucky, Fluff, Getting Together, Bucky loves books, Sam loves Bucky

I Want to Love You 7 k, T, SamBucky, Canon-Typical Violence, Kidnapped Bucky Barnes, Hostage Situation, Truth Spell

The Kind That Bring You Home 4.5 k, T, Kate Bishop/Yelena Belova/Joaquin Torres, SamBucky, Angst with a happy ending

The Guy Next Door 12 k, T, Joaquín Torres/Shang-Chi, Fluff, Small Amount of Angst, Happy Ending

Multi-Chapter Fics:

Pride Brought Us to Bad Decisions 54 k, T, SamBucky, Peter Parker/Male OC, Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau (mentioned), Angst/Comfort, Crack Treated Seriously, AU: Post-Endgame everyone lives/nobody dies/Steve stays in the present

Pet Names 35 k, T, SamBucky, Slowburn, Rom-Com, Part 1 of a series

Sam and Bucky Discover that KYJ Is a Thing 30 k, M, SamBucky, Kate Bishop/Yelena Belova/Joaquín Torres, Angst w/ a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Dual POV, Part 2 of a series

Dear Sam 18 k, M, SamBucky, Angst and Fluff, Love Letters, Coming Out, Getting Together

The Pirate Fic 100 k, M, SamBucky, other ships that aren't the focus, Pirate AU, Fantasy AU, Pirate Captain Bucky, Navy Medic Sam, Morally Grey Characters, Romance but with Dark Elements, Dual POV

You Probably Think This Poem Is About You (and That’s Because It Is) 24 k, E, SamBucky, Fluff, Domestic, Light Angst, Mostly-Prose Fic w/ Some Poetry in It, Companion Fic to Bucky Barnes's Poetry Project

Date Night 20 k, E, SamBucky, Fluff, Established Relationship, Dating, Marriage Proposal

The Promise of Cheesecake and a Decent Wine 217 k, E, SamBucky, past Sam/Riley, past Bucky/Arnie Roth, Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Slowburn, Lots of CWs, Lots of Beloved Tropes, Emotional Parkour

There Was More Than One Bed (But Who's Counting?) 15 k, E, SamBucky, Angst with a Happy Ending, Inverted "There Was Only One Bed" Trope

Falling/Already Fell 30 k, E, SamBucky, Fluff, Dating for Convenience, Falling in Love, Pining, Domestic, Friends to Lovers

The Offering 20 k, E, SamBucky, Vampire AU, Vampire Bucky, Human Sam, Smut and Angst and Fluff, Blood Drinking, Christmas fluff

WIP Fics:

There is Something Beneath E, Sharon Carter/Joaquín Torres, Lies, Deception, Fluff and Smut and Angst, Sad Ending

Break; Walk Away; Come Back; Rebuild; Stay Unrated, SamBucky, Breakup and Getting Back Together, Happy Ending

Happy Birthday, Cher E, SamBucky, Fluff and Smut, Doting Bucky Spoiling Sam for his birthday, part 3 of a series

[multi-lefaiye]

!!

why hello hello!!!! :D another ask, another oc to share some lore about sadfjkl;

hmmmm i'm gonna do two for the price of one, 'cause these two characters never really got developed all that much, and they're kind of a package deal! :'D

anyway this is beaux lancaster and phoenix sycamore! two characters i came up with based on a dream i had about a silly queer fantasy romcom. i ended up not writing it but it was fun to think about! maybe someday i'll revisit these two.

the basic premise was that phoenix was a wizard in a queerplatonic open marriage with a vampire, and he develops a crush on the mage living next door, beaux. and his wife helps him try to impress them <3 shenanigans ensue.

[Image Description: Two headshot sketches of my OCs Beaux and Phoenix. Beaux is a young, feminine person with a pink undercut, tan skin, and warm brown eyes, wearing fuschia makeup and with an eyebrow piercing. Phoenix is an older person with light skin, two piercings in his ear, and long, dark hair streaked with lighter grey. he has violet eyes and a light beard. Both characters have their names written next to them, as well as their pronouns. End ID.]

[qqueenofhades]

20+ Books That You (Might Actually Want) To Read During Pride Month!

Right, so. I got annoyed after seeing the list referenced in this post last night, told myself that my books are all packed up so I couldn’t do anything about it, and lasted all of a whopping 10 minutes before picking up my phone and attempting to make my own list instead. Behold, my from-memory attempt to present 20 books with strong LGBTQ plots, characters, and/or authors, that DON’T just rely on Suffering and Identity Politics and are... you know... fun.

Listed in alphabetical order by title. Links take you to Bookshop.org, where you can buy them from your local independent bookstore at a discount and NOT from the evil empire.

1. A Master of Djinn – P. Djeli Clark * author of color * steampunk Cairo in 1912 * djinn! magic! murder mystery! * butch Arab lesbian main character * devout hijabi Muslim badass assistant * anticolonial alternate history

2. An Accident of Stars – Foz Meadows (Sequel: A Tyranny of Queens) * trans author * bi, pan, trans, aro representation * racially diverse characters * all female POV characters * high-fantasy world adventures

3. Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall * queer author * look I love this book SO MUCH and have absolutely screamed about it before but also I LOVE IT SO MUCH * contemporary M/M fake dating in modern London, complete with full cast of disaster found-family queer friends * it is. fucking. HILARIOUS. I almost died the first time reading it * there is a sequel called HUSBAND MATERIAL scheduled to be released in 2022; I am a normal amount of excited for this book

4. Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir (Sequel: Harrow the Ninth) * the book cover says “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted palace in space!” * that is exactly what you get * slow-burn enemies-to-lovers F/F main romance * I cannot describe this book, it is dark, genre-bendy, science fiction-y, Hunger-Games-with-lesbian-necromancers-in space? Kinda? I have literally never read anything like it * also fucking HILARIOUS

5. One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston * queer author (who wrote Red White and Royal Blue) * bisexual fat girl from the South/lesbian-daughter-of-Chinese immigrants from the 1970s-riot-grrl main romance * time traveling mystery involving the Q train in Brooklyn (mentions Brighton Beach ahem) * magical realism * many more found-family chaotic queers including a trans Latino psychic and a Black accountant by day/drag queen by night and the mean little gay disaster who has a hopeless crush on them

6. Parasol Protectorate (series) – Gail Carriger * this is one of my favorite series, and there are five books: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless * steampunk vampires/werewolves late Victorian London, like Jane Austen crossed with P.G. Wodehouse (they are all fucking hilarious) * pretty much everyone is queer; we got your flamboyantly camp gay vampires (Lord Akeldama ftw!) We got your gay werewolves! We got your lesbian French inventors! We got your big disaster idiot werewolf main male love interest! We got your crazy adventures! You name it we got it! * two spin-off novellas: Romancing the Werewolf (M/M) and Romancing the Inventor (F/F) * she has a ton more books in this same universe and writes sexy queer supernatural romance as G.L. Carriger

7. Plain Bad Heroines – Emily M. Danforth * queer author * historical horror-comedy set between a haunted girls’ school in early-1900s New England and in the modern day * all sapphic female main characters * plays with style/form/voice, a story within a story within a story

8. Red White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston * you’ve probably heard of it but here I am reccing it again * the biracial son of the first female POTUS falls in love with the Prince of England; shenanigans absolutely ensue * yes, the British monarchy still absolutely sucks a big fat dick * hilarious, heartfelt, reads like fanfic, just go get it, it will change your life

9. Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake – Alexis Hall * same author as Boyfriend Material, this is his newest * bisexual female protagonist * absolutely perfect satire of The Great British Bake Off (you can tell this man has watched EVERY SINGLE SERIES and all of the holiday specials) * sweet and surprisingly thoughtful

10. Starless – Jacqueline Carey * genderqueer/transmasculine main character of color * almost all main characters are brown people! * lush Middle Eastern/India-inspired fantasy world * gods, prophecies, monsters * the best Oh God Why Me I Am A Horrible Mentor wise-old-mentor

11. The Future of Another Timeline – Annalee Newitz * nonbinary (they/them) author * time travel but make it The Handmaid’s Tale * will probably make your head explode * feminist, queer, subversive * diverse characters

12. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee * queer author * technically YA but historical/magical adventure set in the 1700s * bisexual disaster main protagonist and love interest of color * (mis)adventures across Europe * has a sequel (see below) with the badass asexual sister of the protagonist

13. The Hate Project – Kris Ripper * nonbinary/genderqueer author * M/M enemies to lovers/sex with no strings attached (spoiler alert: strings attached) * HECKING HILARIOUS * sweet, escapist, and very low stakes * diverse characters, including fat protagonist with realistic anxiety disorder

14. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy – Mackenzi Lee * PIRATES, obviously * sequel to Gentleman’s Guide * asexual female protagonist * strong queerplatonic f/f friendship * more historical/magical 18th century adventures

15. The Last Rune (series) – Mark Anthony * Imma be real with you chief, I haven’t read this series since I was a clueless teenager with no idea why I liked Gay Stuff so much, so if it does turn out to suck now, don’t throw rotten veggies at me * but especially since it was written in the NINETIES, this series was hella progressive?! * gay characters, disabled characters, characters of color, all playing significant and heroic roles in six-book epic fantasy cycle * people from Earth end up in high-fantasy world of Eldh * endgame M/M romance for the main character * books out of print, I think, but you can find them cheap somewhere like AbeBooks; first one (Beyond the Pale) linked above

16. The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith * queer author * heaven-hell-Valhalla supernatural adventures * The Good Place x Good Omens x Lucifer x The Librarians * Pansexual Black badass female heroine * Queer found families * The Sassiest TM Bisexual Villain Turned Reluctant Hero (is he my favorite? Why on earth would you think that.)

17. The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon * epic doorstopper science fiction/historical fantasy set in a vaguely 16th-century world * main F/F romance between a queen and her sorceress bodyguard * sassy old gay alchemist whose backstory will give you Feelings * so many strong women and characters of color * no homophobia! marriage is fully gender-neutral, spouses are called “companions”

18. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller * likewise one you have probably heard of but still * a little light on the myth/historical part imho, but the writing is beautiful and will give you many feelings * M/M romance between Achilles and Patroclus  * reimagining of The Iliad (her other book Circe is also really good)

19 The Stars are Legion – Kameron Hurley * all-female apocalyptic space opera * messy messy antiheroines * grimdark war fantasy * queer sci-fi drama

20. Witchmark – C.L. Polk * author of color * M/M romance * main character is a veteran and a doctor dealing with his own hidden magic and repressed war trauma * gaslamp fantasy set in a world reminiscent of post-WWI England * strong sibling relationship

[iclaimedtobethebetterbard]

i’m taller than you - chapter 1

Fandom: Sanders Sides Characters: Logan, Janus, and Virgil; background Roman, Remus, Romulus, Remy, and eventually Patton; a couple other characters will eventually be briefly mentioned. Rating: Teen & up Relationships: Enemies-to-lovers/arranged marriage Loceit; queerplatonic Virgil & Remy; Janus and Patton are brothers; Virgil and Logan and the Creativitwins are brothers; there will be a couple of briefly mentioned/background relationships later that don’t come into the story. Warnings: Language, mention of a character having transphobic parents, mention of past panic attacks/anxiety Word count: 8651

Summary: Prince Logan has known his whole life that he is to be married off to a stranger; Prince Janus only found out about his lifelong betrothal to Logan when he was seventeen. A chance encounter before their wedding day seems like it may warm them up to each other, only to go terribly wrong. Now Logan is roommates with—and technically married to—a man he's convinced he can't stand, even if Janus is charming and handsome and clever. Will Janus's wit and snark and love of debate be enough to break down Logan's walls? Will they find happiness? Or will they only make each other miserable for the rest of their lives? Info: Royalty/fantasy AU; arranged-marriage, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers Loceit. Trans Logan, trans Janus, aroace Virgil.

Notes: My piece for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange ! My giftee is @icecoldflames . I did my best to include something from each of your wishes—I hope you like it! This story has 5 chapters, which are all complete; I will be posting one of them every day until they are all published. Let me know if anyone wants to be added to the taglist!

Read on AO3!

My writing masterpost

start - previous - here - next - masterpost

–

Chapter 1

Logan jumped to his feet, shoving his chair back from the table so hard it fell over. “I said to leave me alone, Roman!” he shouted, hands shaking where they gripped the edge of the table.

His younger brother looked shocked, caught off-guard by the outburst. “But I just—”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Logan snapped.

Remus, sitting by his twin’s side, raised his eyebrows. “Wow, what’s up your ass?” he asked through a mouthful of lunch.

“Remus,” their father King Romulus said warningly. “Watch your language.”

“Whatever. It’s not like this is news, I don’t know why he’s so upset—”

Logan turned on his heel and stalked from the balcony into the royal children’s suite, ignoring his father and brothers calling after him. Holding his head high and his shoulders straight, he made his way to his room, where he slammed the door to his room behind himself and locked it.

Logan pressed his back against the door, cast the silver key back onto the table it belonged on, and tipped his head back too hard to stare at the faraway ceiling, receiving a painful bump on the skull against the molding of one of his tall white double doors.

He groaned and slid to sit on the plush navy carpet, drawing his knees up to his chest.

There was a knock on the door.

“Go away,” Logan called, summoning his best imperious tone.

“It’s just me, L,” the voice of his older brother, Virgil, sounded. When Logan didn’t respond, he went on, “Dad asked me to come talk to you, so if I come back and say you wouldn’t let me in, probably someone else will come and bug you.”

“Just say I let you in and said all the right things, then,” Logan said into his crossed arms.

His brother let out a small, amused huff. “Sure. Sure.” There was a pause and another gentle knock, as of a single knuckle. “Logan….”

Logan groaned again, but scooted to the side and reached up to unlock the door without standing up.

“Thanks,” his brother, Virgil, the Crown Prince of Sanders, said, cracking the door open just enough to step through. He closed it again and plopped down to sit beside Logan, offering one arm. “Hug?”

Logan looked away for a moment before his will crumbled and he slid closer, allowing Virgil to wrap an arm about Logan and pull Logan’s head to rest on his shoulder.

The pair of them were quiet for a moment.

“I don’t want to meet him,” Logan whispered. “My fiance. Not yet. Not today.” His voice rose slightly. “I’m not—I just—I saw the entourage arriving this morning, and I thought I would be fine, but then Roman wouldn’t stop talking about it and I—” He broke off, voice shaking too hard to trust it to carry his words.

Virgil nodded, rubbing Logan’s shoulder. When he’d waited a minute, probably to ascertain that Logan was done talking, he drew in a long breath and asked, “It’s probably not going to help if I talk about when I got married, is it?”

“No,” Logan said, frowning. He began to tick off reasons on his fingers. “You were old enough when you were betrothed that your personality could be taken into account during the matchmaking process, you are aromantic and put an acknowledgement of that and boundaries around it into your wedding contract, you were allowed to know Remy for years before marrying him, you are friends with him, you—”

“I know,” Virgil interrupted gently, tousling Logan’s hair. “It’s kind of my life you’re telling me about, there.”

“It’s different for me, is all I’m saying,” Logan said plaintively. Though Virgil was four years older, Logan had been betrothed earlier than him, since before his first birthday, sealing a political alliance the kingdom badly needed. Virgil, as the crown prince, had taken far more political negotiation to engage, and hadn’t been officially betrothed until he was six.

“I know,” Virgil repeated softly, tone compassionate and understanding in a way Logan would hate if he didn’t know how sincere it was. “Is there anything you want me to say that would make it better?”

Logan shook his head.

“What do you want me to tell Dad?” Virgil asked.

Logan sighed. “Tell him that I will be… fine. I will do everything right. I will be on time to dinner and I will greet our guests politely and behave nicely to Prince Janus when I am introduced to him. I will behave with the utmost propriety and do everything I can to ensure our wedding goes smoothly. I understand the importance of this alliance for the kingdom and I do not intend to undermine it in any way.” He pressed his lips together and pretended they were not threatening to quiver. “I just…” he went on after a moment. “I just need to be alone right now, in order to be able to do all of that later. I—I need to—” He struggled for words. “Have time to—panic about it, I suppose.” He wrinkled his nose. “Don’t tell Dad that part.”

“Of course.” Virgil held him a little more securely. “I get it.”

Logan pressed his face harder into his brother’s shoulder and nodded. “Thank you.” He hesitated. “But—I need to be left alone, I think. Just until dinner. And then I promise I’ll do everything perfectly. Just as long as I can be alone until then.”

Virgil snorted. “The twins aren’t going to like that.”

Logan laughed softly. He’d seen the parchments scattered all week across the floor of the twins’ playroom-turned-workshop, scribbled with writing and a heading that read Things To Ask Logan About Wedding. He suspected that the questions they had overwhelmed him with at lunch just now had been intended to kick off this list. “True.” He hesitated, then looked up, catching Virgil’s eyes. “Were you—scared? At all?”

“Logan, I’m scared of everything,” Virgil said with another amused snort. “Have you met me?” He examined Logan’s face and his expression grew more serious. “But… yeah. I was really nervous about my marriage. I think that’s pretty normal.”

Logan absorbed this, staring at the carpet. “I’ve tried so hard to find out what he’s like, and I still feel like I know nothing about him.”

“Yeah?” Virgil said, soft and encouraging, a clear invitation to spill out any thoughts troubling him.

Logan took the invitation at once. “I haven’t even seen a picture of him! He’s refused to sit for portraits ever since his transition, and obviously I don’t want to go digging up portraits from before. And I can’t figure out anything about his personality. All the answers people give me when I ask about him feel so vague.”

“How so?” Virgil asked.

“Like—like, they say he ‘reads.’ So what? That could mean anything! He’s a prince, of course he reads something. You know what I mean? I mean, you’ve even been to the kingdom of Philos, you’ve met him, and even you still can’t tell me anything about him!”

“I mean, I’ve really only properly met his older brother,” Virgil said apologetically. “Prince Patton. We’ve become friends and we keep in correspondence, but I’ve never actually spoken with Janus. Just had a formal introduction to him and been to a few dinners he was present at.”

“Exactly!” Logan flung his hands in the air. “Nobody seems to have anything more than the barest, most surface level knowledge about him! The only details I can pinpoint are that he likes philosophy and fencing and he’s supposed to be politically savvy. I still know nothing about what he’s like! I have all these—these scraps of information that I keep trying to piece together into something cohesive, and it’s not working. I can’t get a read at all on what kind of person he is.”

Virgil held his younger brother a little tighter. “I know how much you hate not knowing things. I’m sorry.”

Logan nodded. “Thank you,” he mumbled, his voice coming out small.

“Is there anything I can do? Anything I can tell Dad you need?”

Logan shook his head. “I do not need anything that either of you can provide me. I will—tell Dad that I will be fine soon.”

“Mmkay.” Virgil dropped a kiss on the top of his brother’s head and got to his feet. “Need some space now?”

“Yes, please.”

Virgil nodded and slipped out the door. “He’s napping, leave him alone,” Logan heard him say—probably to one of the twins.

Logan waited until Virgil’s footsteps had faded away before locking the door once again and heading for his closet. He pulled out one of the outfits he kept in the very back and changed, shedding his silver doublet with the fine navy embroidery threaded all across it in favor of a blue linen tunic with a brown lace to draw the collar closed, his navy velvet trousers in favor of simpler breeches in a plain gray fabric with straight legs, and his silver shoes with large buckles in favor of brown leather boots. He ran his hands through his dark curls, disheveling them slightly, and grabbed a brown leather satchel, which he slung over his shoulder as he crossed to his wide bay window. Climbing up into the window seat, he pushed open the window and climbed out into the tree outside.

Watching for guards or nobles walking around the gardens, he climbed down the tree to the ground below. His room was only on the second story of the palace; this made sneaking out very easy.

Running his hands along the embossed pattern on the leather of his satchel to ground himself, Logan snuck through the palace gardens. He avoided the guards with a well-practiced step, darting behind sculpted bushes and turning down side paths at all the right moments to avoid every point where he might be spotted and sent back to his room. The gates of the palace, of course, were well guarded—but the loose stone in the wall beneath the trailing ivy curtain was not, a fact that Logan and the twins made frequent use of, despite all Virgil’s (hypocritical) worries.

Logan generally was not fond of being reminded of how tiny he was, but the fact that he had never outgrown the little gap in the wall that was his hidden way out to freedom was… well, he was deeply grateful for it, dislike for his slight physique aside. (He had been tall for his age, once. People used to comment on it frequently when he was a child, and he had delighted in it since well before he’d put the name gender euphoria to the feeling it sparked in him. But the days where he would be singled out as tall were long gone, and he’d never quite stopped feeling salty about it.) The twins, at fourteen, were just hitting another growth spurt, and Logan had heard Roman complaining to Remus about how much more awkward it was for them to squeeze through than it used to be. If his memories of Virgil’s teenage years served him right, Logan would wager the twins had another year of use out of the secret exit, at best. Not so himself, who had retained very nearly the same body mass since he was twelve years old.

Logan replaced the stone behind himself, erasing all trace of his disappearance from the palace grounds, and climbed down the steep incline of decorative plants to the cobbled road below. He brushed a few stray leaves from his attire and set off down the road, sticking to one of the narrow dirt paths on either side of the cobbles, making his way briskly away from the palace and towards the small town that was hardly ten minutes’ walk away.

Logan was perfectly aware that the town, for all its novelty and quaintness to him and his brothers, was a thing of relative opulence and existed mostly for the purpose of the local nobility’s sightseeing and entertainment. He was also perfectly aware that most—if not all—shopkeepers in the area recognized him for who he was, and that a town guard would doubtless trail behind him just out of sight for the duration of his visit. That notwithstanding, the town was a welcome reprieve for Logan from his more official duties. Even under the vague pretense of strangerhood most people there bore to him, he was able to relax somewhat and forget about all the duties he was endlessly beholden to; for at least an hour or two, he could do as he pleased, for no other purpose than that he chose to.

It was little wonder, really, that his back straightened and he felt a spring in his step as he passed through the town gates. He exchanged a nod with the guards, and was pleased to note that the one who peeled off from the group about twenty paces behind Logan was Rodolfo, an old man with sturdy calloused hands and a story for every occasion. He was by far Logan’s favorite of the town guards, and much more discreet than the younger guards who’d tailed Logan on his last few visits. Unless Logan chose to engage him in conversation—which he did on occasion, but not today—he knew Rodolfo would stay out of his way and let him have his moment of escape.

Logan made his way to the town’s bookstore, which stocked many fine new wares, but also had a small section of secondhand books in the back. To some patrons, this used section—hardly more than a nook, really, but at least it had a window seat in the midst of the piled stacks—might seem cramped and uninviting, but to Logan, it was a tiny paradise. The shelves were pushed so close together, keeping the space as small as possible so as not to encroach on the finer and more impressive areas of the store‚ that once one stepped into the nook, it was as good as a private room. Logan could browse as he pleased for hours on end, or curl up in the window seat that had room enough to spare and read his heart out. He liked to look for books that had notes in the margins, liked to puzzle out the handwriting of strangers he would never meet and see what he could glean about their lives, make up stories to himself about the kinds of people they might have been and what adventures these books might have seen before making their way to this shop.

It was one of his favorite activities, and one he was in sore need of just now. It was relaxing, a good way to unwind and distract himself from his cares; and oh, did he have cares to be distracted from. He perused the shelves, selecting volumes that seemed promising until the stack in his arms reached to his chin, and settled into the window nook. He didn’t have to be back at the palace until four, when he would dress and prepare for the dinner he would meet his soon-to-be husband at, and that was still hours away. After all, he’d hardly started lunch with his family when Roman had asked one too many questions about what Logan thought his fiance would be like, and his nerves had overcome him and his stomach had turned and he’d all but ran to hide in his room.

It wasn’t exactly that he was upset about the idea of this marriage. He’d known it was coming for practically his entire life, and while he wasn’t thrilled, he felt ambivalent about it, which he considered to be quite acceptable. But his wedding had seemed far away and theoretical for so long, and it was now approaching reality at a hurtling speed. It had finally hit him that this was something that was going to change his whole life, starting now. He would meet his fiance in just hours; their wedding was in a week’s time. He should have readied himself emotionally earlier—but he hadn’t realized he wasn’t ready until it had all hit him at once.

That aside, from the unfortunate luncheon to now, hardly three-quarters of an hour could have passed. He had plenty of time to relax here in the little corner of the bookshop that nobody else ever visited.

But as an extra precaution against running late, he reached into his satchel and drew out a silver pocketwatch; he placed it so that it dangled by its chain down the side of his stack of books, with one particularly heavy tome set on top to hold it in place, so that he could keep track of the time and leave before he would be late. Satisfied with this measure, he adjusted his seating position and flipped open the worn, well-annotated almanac of some five years’ past in his hands.

***

Logan lost track of time quickly as he read and daydreamed, sending only the occasional glance towards the pocketwatch to ensure he wasn’t running late. He was not sure how long he had been there by the time soft footsteps sounded nearby.

They were so soft, in fact, that he assumed they were not all that close, perhaps someone looking at the fine, gilded history books in the next section over. He didn’t bother to raise his head until—

A well-manicured finger slid over the edge of the book in his hands, prying it away from his face. “Pardon me. Is anyone sitting here?”

The speaker, gesturing to the empty half of the window nook, was a young man of about Logan’s age, with strawberry-blond hair that half-covered his face and did not quite reach to his shoulders. He had a sturdy, chubby build and was dressed in a mustard-yellow sleeveless doublet with half its buttons undone, over a white blouse with loose sleeves gathered at the wrists and long cuffs that half-hid his hands; the shirt’s lacing was tied loosely, allowing just a glimpse of a chest-binding garment beneath. On his head, the young man wore a black tricorn hat; his breeches and shoes were also black, the shoes with large buckles of burnished brass.

The boy had one foot propped up on the edge of the window seat and was leaning an elbow on his knee in order to rest his chin on his hand, which seemed like a horribly complicated way to appear languid and at ease when standing was a perfectly good option. His snub nose and round cheeks were splattered all over with faint freckles, only a shade or two darker than his ruddy, lightly tanned skin. He had gray eyes and the faintest hint of a smirk playing as if by habit at the corner of his mouth.

Logan frowned. He did not appreciate the interruption of the last hours of freedom he would be able to snatch for at least the next month, until the festivities and formalities that need must surround his wedding would finally die down and the spotlight would turn somewhat away from his doings every hour of the day. “Yes,” he said tartly, lifting his book to his face once again.

He gained only a second of blissful silence before the man again nudged the book away from his face. “Is it you?”

“Pardon?” Logan said, perhaps a little irritably.

“The person you say is sitting here. Is it just you? Or is there really someone whose seat I would be taking?”

Logan glared at the altogether far too nosy man. “I fail to see why that is any of your business.”

“Excellent, just you.” The man clapped his hands together briskly. “Do shove over and make room, there’s a good fellow.” Ignoring Logan’s spluttered protests, he climbed into the empty half of the window seat, examined Logan’s stack of books between them, and plucked one from the center, only just avoiding toppling the lot. “Ooh, The Young Gentleman’s Guide to Table Arrangements for Every Occasion,” he read off the cover. “Sounds riveting.”

Logan glared harder. “I like to educate myself on a variety of topics.”

“I’m sure,” the other man said, running a finger delicately down the spine. “So, are you from around here?”

Logan blinked once. “…You could say that.”

“Hm.” The man looked him up and down with pursed lips, tapping a finger to them. “You don’t look old enough to be someone important.”

“I’m almost nineteen!” Logan protested, indignant.

The man scoffed. “Me too, you’re not special. And that’s not old enough to be someone important, generally speaking.”

Logan spluttered for a moment, unable to decide what part of that little display of impertinence to object to first.

The man ignored this and went on with his appraisal of Logan’s person. “Also, your clothes are too fine to work here.” He nodded decisively. “So! Either you’re an apprentice at one of the flashy shops in the town square skiving off work, or else you work at the palace and are skiving off work there. So which is it?”

“Couldn’t it just be my day off?” Logan inquired, half amused in spite of himself, and absolutely fascinated by the fact that this man seemed to truly have no idea who he was.

The man laughed and waved a hand. “Oh, it could, but not with how defensive you’ve been. So, which is it? Town apprentice or palace servant? Come on, tell me.”

“I shall do nothing of the sort,” Logan, who did not trust himself to sell an outright lie, said primly. “I see no reason why I owe my time or conversation to someone who would so rudely accuse me of such dishonest practices.”

“No need to be so touchy,” the man said, that stupid smirk never leaving his lips. “I’m in the same boat—I’m rather supposed to be on the clock myself, just now. But I’d much rather explore, and I’m sure I won’t be missed for an hour or two.” He rolled his eyes. “Lord knows they sent enough attendants to accompany Prince Janus.”

Logan felt a shot of nerves run through him. “You came with the prince?”

“Ye—es,” the man said, stumbling over the word slightly, then went on more quickly, “I did. I work for him, I’m—I’m his valet. Yes. Yes, that’s right. His valet.”

“What is he like?” Logan asked at once, even as a small part of him was bitter that of course the person who was ruining his time alone had something to do with the man who was the entire reason Logan so desperately wanted to snatch the time alone in the first place. Still, a chance to learn something, anything about his husband-to-be was not one to be passed up. Anything to be just a little bit more prepared.

“I’m sure I don’t know,” the man said, shrugging. “I’m new and he doesn’t talk much.” He grinned. “There’s a rumor going around some of the entourage that we only got chosen to go with him because he threatened to start a war if his parents didn’t hire any trans attendants for him! Isn’t that funny?”

“…Not particularly,” Logan said, horrified. “Why—why would he say such a thing?”

There was a half-second of silence. “Which part?” the man asked, tone still light but his gaze pinning Logan down much more warily than before.

Logan gestured in a bewildered manner; was it not obvious? “Wars are no laughing matter! Surely with his—his level of prestige and influence, if he wants such a small favor as that, all he has to do is ask? Why threaten something so serious?”

The man, bizarrely, relaxed just the slightest amount. “I’m sure he had his reasons.” He shrugged. “The whims of nobility are beyond me, really.” He stared at the book in his hands, but Logan was certain he wasn’t reading it; his gaze was still and unfocused. “Maybe he thought he couldn’t get it any other way,” he added after a moment. His pink lips were pressed together into almost nothing. “I mean, my parents were none too pleased with me being a man. Who’s to say his aren’t the same in private? It’s not that uncommon.”

“I—what, transphobia? In Philos?”

The man gave Logan a thoroughly unimpressed look. “No, yellow orchids. Yes! Obviously that! Are you thick in the head?”

“I’m told I am in possession of a brilliant mind, actually, and I’ll thank you not to insult it,” Logan fired back, though his thoughts were hardly occupied with his response. He had never accompanied Virgil on diplomatic trips to Philos—he’d always had schedule conflicts that seemed coincidental. But in light of this new information, he found himself suspecting that he needed to have another conversation with his father and Virgil about not withholding facts from him simply because they were unpleasant. He would far prefer knowledge over being protected from pain. “I’m sorry,” he added, more kindly. “That’s awful.”

The other man huffed out a sigh. “Thanks. It’s nothing, though.” He shrugged. “I deal with it.”

“But—” Logan began.

“Anyway, you wanted to know about the prince?” he interrupted. “He—he, um, he often goes riding. He tells me he hates it, though.”

Logan’s brow furrowed. “Then why—?”

“Yes, that’s what I asked! He said something about ‘getting away from it all,’ but he clammed up right away after that.” The man shrugged. “There you have it.” He tilted his head to one side. “What of your royal family? I’ve heard stories, but what’s it like as someone who lives here?”

“They—” Logan swallowed, already struggling to choose his wording carefully and not give himself away. “I believe they are for the most part not disliked, and Prince Virgil in particular is seen favorably. They are friendly to servants at the palace and during public appearances. The twin princes are known to be a little rowdy, but they’re hardly more than children yet.” He hesitated. All of these were sentiments he had heard from many different sources; they seemed safe enough. “Is there anything in particular you wanted to know?”

“Just curious,” the man said with a lazy shrug. “Have you ever met any of them?”

“I—on occasion, yes,” Logan admitted, heart racing. “They’re generally rather busy. With… royal things, I suppose.”

“Mm, yes. I do hear that’s what royals do. Royal things,” the man said, tone grave but face splitting with a grin that was far too contagious.

“Oh, shut up.” Logan stifled his laugh with a cough.

The other man made a small, amused noise. “Are all the books you brought over here this dull?” he asked after a minute, holding up The Young Gentleman’s Guide to Table Arrangements for Every Occasion.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Have you looked inside it?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t much interest in the intricacies of table arrangements, thanks,” the blond man said, smirk toying at his lips once again.

Logan took a measured breath. “I did not choose these for the subject matter.”

There was a pause, in which the other man gave Logan a baffled stare. “What the hell did you go for instead?”

“If you try opening the book, maybe you might have some idea.” Logan raised his own book to block his face from the man’s view, encouraging him to either do as Logan suggested or to be quiet and leave him alone.

There was a short quiet punctuated by the quiet rustling of pages and shuffling of books as the man glanced through a few of the books in Logan’s stack.

“…Is it the way they’re all marked up?” the man inquired at last.

Logan nodded. “Indeed.”

“Why?”

“It fascinates me,” Logan said. “It’s a small glimpse into the minds and lives of people whose paths will otherwise never cross mine. I enjoy reflecting upon what I find.”

The other man—who Logan was realizing he did not know the name of, but he did not wish to bring this up and then have to disclose his own identity—blinked, face slowly clearing up. “That’s… not nearly as boring as anything I imagined you’d say.”

Logan quirked an eyebrow. “I am not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”

“Me neither.” The man shrugged, running his finger down the dwindling stack of books between the pair of them. “Oh!” he exclaimed under his breath, drawing out the book that was second from the bottom. “I know this one.” He sounded pleased.

Logan glanced over, curious. The book the man was now happily flipping through, running his fingers along the pages as if greeting an old friend, was a title Logan recognized: a philosophy tome he’d studied a few years ago. “Ah,” he said, trying not to sound too disparaging—the bond between a person and the books they loved was not one he chose to treat lightly. “I can’t say I’m much of an admirer of Carenn myself.”

The blond man looked up, seeming scandalized. “How so?” he demanded.

Logan shrugged. “I just don’t think that her ideas on human motivation and desire hold up when you compare them to more recent theories put forth in the field.”

“Bullshit,” the man said heatedly. “You’re not taking into account that—”

Logan quickly discovered that the other man was a good debater. True, some of his points were unsound and easy for Logan to pick apart, and when he got upset, he started to play fast and loose with ethical rules of debate—which did not go well for him, given Logan’s own stellar grasp of those same rules. Even so, he was easily one of the best opponents Logan had ever debated. He was witty and sharp, countering Logan’s arguments almost as fast as he could make them, an eager grin on his face like he was having the time of his life constructing logical threads as fast as he could think.

Logan found himself half reconsidering his assessment of the man as an annoyance. He was—he was Prince Janus’s valet, he’d said; yes, that was it. So it was entirely possible that Logan would see him with some regularity in future. He would, after all, be sharing a room with Janus. The pair of them had had the opportunity to negotiate personal terms for their marriage contract over the last six months, via messengers sent back and forth between them; one of Janus’s non-negotiables had been sharing a bedroom. Much to Logan’s displeasure, no amount of bargaining had gotten his fiance to back down on this point or even to provide an explanation for why he was so insistent upon it.

Still, if Logan was to spend so much time in close proximity to his new husband, it was likely he would meet this valet again, and not infrequently. With the man’s skill in conversation, Logan would admit that this was… an acceptable prospect. He would, of course, have to make it through the awkward conversation that would no doubt be required when his identity came to light; but that could be dealt with later. Not now. He was enjoying himself too much now to ruin it all.

“No, because—” Logan reached for one of the books strewn all across the window seat, the stack that had divided the space between the two men so neatly now long gone. His hand landed on a cool, textured thing that shifted under his fingers—the chain of his pocketwatch, which had been cast aside as the blond man picked apart the stack of books and forgotten in favor of the conversation.

Logan drew in a sharp inhale, dragging at the chain until the watch emerged from beneath a book and dangled in front of his face. “Shit,” he hissed, jamming the watch into his satchel and swinging his legs down to the ground. “I need to go now.” He wasn’t late—not quite—and he could make it back to the palace on time, but it was going to be a much nearer thing than he’d planned.

“Already?” The other man seemed disappointed.

“You’ll have to as well, I suppose,” Logan said over his shoulder, making his way out of the nook. He waited for just a second, weight shifting back and forth between his heels, until the man followed.

“Why, what for?”

“It’s nearly four. You’ll have to help your master prepare for the evening soon, I expect,” Logan said, taking off once more at a brisk pace. He caught a glimpse of Rodolfo, lingering near the entrance to the store, who gave him a nod that Logan almost didn’t return in his panic.

“My—what?” the blond man asked blankly, following him down the street.

“Prince Janus?” Logan supplied, not understanding what had been confusing about his own statement.

“Oh. Oh! Yes, of course. The prince. Who I work for. Yes.” There was a pause. “Wait, it’s nearly four? Already?”

“Yes,” Logan snapped, speeding up his pace once more; he was nearly sprinting at this point. “We need to get back to the palace now.”

“So you do work there! Ha. Point for me.” The valet sounded altogether far too satisfied with himself.

“Yes, certainly, whatever, just keep moving,” Logan said irritably, pulse thrumming. So much for relaxing and destressing at the bookshop.

“You’re in an awful hurry. What’s so urgent that you have to be back right now?”

“I—I—” Logan struggled to come up with an explanation. “I’m expected to be—at work. Right now,” he managed at last, which was, technically, true, since, technically, being a prince was, technically, his job. “I lost track of time.”

“Are they that strict with you?” The man seemed alarmed.

“Today is rather important, if you hadn’t noticed!” Logan snapped. By this point, they’d left the town behind, and were making good time in the direction of the palace. “There is no room for error.”

“I suppose you’re right,” the man said, sounding somewhat subdued. After another moment, he added, more concerned now: “Oh. Oh, I do have to be there right now.”

“Yes!” Logan snapped. Was that only just now getting through to him? Logan had brought it up whole minutes ago.

“No need to be so touchy,” the man grumbled.

“I am a little keyed up,” Logan said tightly. “You’ll have to excuse me.”

“Oh, I’ll have to, will I?” the man teased. “Gracious. How demanding of you.”

Logan groaned. “Now is not the time.”

The valet huffed. “You’re no fun.”

“Now is not the time for fun!” Logan said, the distress he was trying so hard to contain leaking through to his voice.

“Well, there’s the palace up ahead now, and it’s not yet four. So you can calm down,” the man said, gesturing at the palace gates that had just come into view.

Logan stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn’t thought this far ahead. He was supposed to be inside the palace already, as far as the palace guards were concerned. Walking up to the front gate would raise questions he did not feel like answering. And he couldn’t show this near-stranger the secret way in—that was only for Logan and his brothers; he was almost certain that even their father didn’t know of it.

“What’s the matter now?” the man demanded, exasperated.

“I—I can’t go in that way,” Logan managed stiffly.

“Whyever not?” The man’s brow wrinkled.

“I—I can’t. I’ll—I’m not—I should—” He swallowed. “I—”

The man sighed. “Listen, just—stop worrying. Come with me. Whatever the problem is, I’ll vouch for you. It’ll be fine. Come on.” He grabbed Logan by the arm and dragged him down the road, ignoring Logan’s immediate and high-volume protests.

“You don’t understand!” Logan said, desperately trying to pull free.

“Then tell me!” the blond man, still exasperated, shot back, not letting go.

Logan, who would rather do almost anything else, bit the inside of his cheek and fell into fuming silence as they approached the gate.

“I’m with the entourage from Philos,” the blond man told the guard who stepped forward to stop them. He gestured to an insignia embroidered on his breast pocket.

“Unhand him,” the guard said, ignoring the man’s words entirely. Her voice was not outright threatening, but still very firm.

Looking a little confused, the man released Logan at last, who shot him a dirty look on principle.

“Your Highness, what are you doing outside the gates?” the guard asked Logan with a sigh, clearly trying not to sound tired.

“I think that is my own business,” Logan answered coolly, not feeling like explaining himself.

“Highness?” the blond man interrupted.

Logan froze, stiffening, shoulders drawing up towards his ears.

“You—wait—” The man stared at him for a second longer, shock written plainly on his features. “Are you Logan?”

“I—” Logan swallowed; he didn’t have time for this. He glanced around, then threw his pride to the wind and bolted in the direction of the tree beneath his window.

“Your Highness!” the guard shouted in an exasperated groan.

Logan ignored her; he knew the woman wouldn’t give chase now that he was safely within the palace grounds. He had three minutes until his own valet would be knocking on his bedroom door to help him dress and prepare for dinner. If he hurried, it was just possible no one would know he’d been gone.

Well. Except for his fiance’s valet, apparently. But neither he nor the guard at the gate would have the opportunity to tell Logan’s father, and so Logan would not get a stern talking-to about it. So that was fine.

He scaled the tree quickly, hands and feet finding their way up almost by muscle memory, and hoisted himself over the windowsill. He closed the window behind himself, threw his satchel into the closet and his boots after it, and climbed into bed, hastily depositing his spectacles on the sidetable. Virgil had told people Logan was napping; who was Logan to prove him wrong?

A bare thirty seconds after he’d successfully made it to his bed, there was a soft rap at the door. “My Prince?” his valet called.

Logan drew in a long breath and threw back the covers. Time to face the music, however unpleasant.

***

An hour and a half later, Logan had been cleaned from head to toe—not that he had been particularly dirty in the first place. His loose, dark curls were set into neat coils atop his head, combed through with oil till they gleamed and held their shape perfectly; a silver circlet, set with three diamond-shaped sapphires in the front, rested on his head, just at the juncture between where his hair was kept very short and the longer curly area on top. His outfit, likewise, was all of silver and sapphire—his long-sleeved shirt and stockings were sapphire blue, and his knee-length trousers and matching jacket were heavy silver brocade, with piping along the hems bordered by several rows of of tiny sapphires. The jacket, which tucked in at the waist and then flared out just slightly, had puffed elbow-length sleeves with slashes showing off a brilliant sapphire silk lining; its collar was high and buttoned all the way up, forcing Logan to raise his chin and keep his posture perfect. He wore short boots made of a very soft sapphire-blue suede, with cuffs that folded down about his ankles and fine silver detailing on the toes and heels. His nails were clean and tidy and several rings had been placed on various fingers—most of them to match the outfit, plus one to represent his engagement and another bearing the crest of the royal family. A cape was pinned to his shoulders, made of the same silver brocade and lined with sapphire silk; silver rope trim and tassels trimmed the area where it was attached to his shoulders.

He looked every inch a prince. He was also not certain he’d be able to stomach any food at all from how badly his gut was churning with nerves.

When he was deemed ready at last, Logan was shooed out to the common area of the suite he shared with his brothers—mostly the twins, since Virgil had technically moved into his own separate suite after his marriage, just as Logan would do next week—where his brothers were waiting for him. The twins, chasing each other around the room and hardly taking any notice of Logan’s arrival, were wearing silver outfits clearly reminiscent of Logan’s. Instead of blue, their outfits were accented with the customary green and red that the palace tailors had long ago decided would be used to differentiate their public images. Virgil, whose presence was a surprise to Logan, was standing by the door out of the suite, wearing his most formal crown and a velvet outfit all of dark purple—he was higher-ranking than Logan and did not have to defer to him in dress style tonight like the twins did.

Virgil opened one arm as soon as he saw Logan; Logan gratefully rushed into the hug. He was not generally the most tactile person, but hugs from his father or Virgil were an exception—they were warm and protective and grounding and made Logan feel safe.

“I thought you’d be arriving with Remy?” Logan asked. Usually Virgil accompanied his husband to events, not his brothers; Logan had not expected to see him until he arrived at the event itself.

“He’s meeting us partway there,” Virgil said. “I thought you might appreciate a bit of support beforehand.” He squeezed Logan’s shoulders, firm and soothing.

“I do,” Logan said. “Appreciate it. You being here. Thank you.” He struggled to keep his voice steady.

“Of course.” Virgil released Logan and carefully poked the puffed sleeves of Logan’s jacket, slightly displaced by the hug, back into place. “Ready?”

“Does it matter?” Logan let out a shaky laugh.

Virgil gave him a rueful smile in acknowledgment. “Fair. But it matters to me.”

“Thank you.” Logan swallowed. “I would rather not think about it, though. Let’s—let’s go.”

Virgil nodded. “Hey!” he called, sharp and loud, and Remus and Roman both looked over from where Remus was repeatedly whapping Roman about the head and shoulders with a throw pillow. “Time to go,” Virgil said firmly.

“So I win!” Remus said, throwing the pillow in Roman’s face and darting across the room to wait by the door.

“No—no, you cheated—” Roman tossed the pillow back onto the sofa and joined the rest of his brothers.

Virgil took a moment to smooth each of the twins’ ruffled hair and outfits, then nodded. “Alright, let’s be off.”

“Sore loser,” Remus muttered, poking Roman in the ribs as they followed Virgil out the door.

“Cheater,” Roman grumbled back, swatting his twin’s hand away.

“How do you cheat at pillow fighting? No, come on, tell me. I want to know.”

“You are the worst!”

“Hey,” Virgil said again, warningly. “Save it for later. We’re princes tonight.”

Both the twins grumbled at him, but Virgil’s word was law among the brothers, and by the time they made it to the hall where Virgil’s husband Remy was waiting, Logan’s younger brothers were as close to demure as they ever got.

“Thought you got lost,” Remy greeted with a teasing grin, falling into step beside Virgil.

Logan, walking just behind them, didn’t need to see Virgil’s face to know exactly how he was rolling his eyes. “Don’t give me another thing to worry about tonight, Remy,” he said, sounding amused.

“Rude. Being an inconvenience is what I live for.”

“I’ve noticed, thanks.” Virgil set his shoulders as the group came to a halt outside a set of gilded doors that led into the largest dining room, the one used to host public dinners; these particular doors were for royal entrances. He looked back at his brothers. “Ready?”

Logan fell back; as one of the guests of honor, he was to be presented last. The guards opened the doors a moment or two later, allowing Virgil—Remy’s arm laid formally on his—through first with the fanfare that accompanied him as Crown Prince; then the twins, together, each getting in one last shove at each other’s ribs before they stepped through the door and their demeanors became just a little more composed and formal.

“His Royal Highness, Prince Logan of Sanders,” the herald announced, and Logan stepped through the doors, head held high and heart thrumming rapidly in his chest. There was polite applause, and Logan stepped forward. Virgil broke away from Remy and the twins, escorting Logan towards the dais where their father waited. “Logan, sir,” he said formally, accompanying the announcement with a bow, and then he stepped away, allowing the focus of the room to undoubtedly fall upon Logan.

King Romulus gave Logan a tiny, reassuring smile before smoothing his face back to the placid, confident look that he wore in public. He rose to stand beside Logan, putting a hand on his shoulder. “On behalf of the kingdom of Sanders, we would like to welcome Prince Janus and the envoy from Philos,” he announced.

That was the cue for the High Chancellor of Philos, the head of the envoy, to approach the dais and present Prince Janus. Logan closed his eyes briefly, drawing in a deep breath and willing himself to be calm, willing the nervous adrenaline coursing through him to dissipate, willing his hands to be still and steady.

“His Royal Highness Prince Janus of Philos, my lords,” the High Chancellor said, and Logan opened his eyes just as the woman stepped aside, presenting Logan’s fiance.

The man from the bookstore, now dressed in a resplendent outfit of gold and with his hair tied back so that the famous snake-shaped birthmark high on his cheekbone was visible—though “snake-shaped” seemed to be an exaggeration; it was a crooked red mark, a squiggle at best—gave Logan a somewhat sheepish grin and wiggled his fingers in a tiny wave that would not be visible from off the dais.

The nervousness churning in Logan’s stomach abruptly resolved itself into embarrassment, then fury.

So—so this was Janus? He’d been talking to and arguing with and laughing with Janus, that whole time? Logan felt irrationally betrayed. What kind of person just lied about his identity to his own fiance? He’d been trying so hard for so long to learn anything about Janus, to form some kind of connection, learn what the man he would be in the company of every day for potentially the rest of his life was like, and Janus had repaid him by lying to his face? How dare he.

Janus took in the furious expression on Logan’s face; his own expression wavered, uncertain and vulnerable for a split second, then smoothed over into a patently false impassiveness.

Logan could not find it in himself to care. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, rote and cold and making it as clear as possible that he meant the opposite.

Janus’s lips pressed together. “Likewise,” he responded with a careful neutrality.

Logan’s father sent him a warning look. “We welcome you to our kingdom, your highness, and hope that your stay will be a pleasant one,” he said to Janus.

The introductions thus made, however perfunctorily, the dinner could get underway; Logan, much to his displeasure, found himself seated between Virgil and Janus. Across from them, Remy and the twins quickly got into a debate over the best methods to a food fight—presumably as the second best option to actually having a food fight—which left even fewer avenues for Logan to avoid conversation with Janus.

“Small world, I suppose,” Janus said after a minute or so of Logan pointedly ignoring him.

Logan frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He didn’t need a scolding from Virgil for sneaking out, not on top of everything else.

“Fine, be like that,” Janus mumbled, but after a minute he tried again. “…Are there any philosophers you do like?”

“No,” Logan said, which was patently untrue. He glared at his plate, stabbing a chunk of potato viciously with a fork.

Virgil pressed the side of his foot warningly against Logan’s shin. “Weren’t you just telling me last week about Quelby’s philosophy of the mind?” he said mildly.

Janus visibly perked up.

“No,” Logan repeated more emphatically. Virgil’s foot pressed harder against his; Logan ignored it.

He proceeded to continue ignoring Virgil’s less and less subtle kicks to his shin throughout the evening, and pointedly rejected every attempt both Virgil and Janus made to draw him into conversation. Eventually Virgil gave up and simply kept up a conversation with Janus, asking after his brother Patton, and how Janus’s journey to Sanders had been, casting Logan disapproving looks every so often.

The dinner lasted two hours; it felt much longer. But at last, with the requisite formalities completed and a formulaic farewell uttered, Logan was ushered from the dining room and away towards his chambers.

It was a brief reprieve. Virgil followed him only moments later, catching up to him just outside the door to the royal suite. “Hey. What was that?” he demanded, grabbing Logan by the shoulder and turning him around to face him.

Logan avoided his eyes. “What was what?”

“Your behavior towards Janus was unacceptable. You said—”

“I’m still not going to do anything that will jeopardize the marriage! I just—I don’t like him!”

Virgil absorbed this, lips pursing disapprovingly. “You know what? I do not care in the slightest what you think of Janus as a person. The way you treated him was completely inexcusable.” He shook his head, looking disappointed. “I thought better of you.”

Logan felt Virgil’s word like a physical blow to the gut, throat closing up. That wasn’t fair. Virgil wasn’t even considering Logan’s point of view. He was displaying blatant favoritism towards a near-stranger over his own brother. Logan dug his nails into the palms of his hands until the pricking at the corners of his eyes went away. “But—but Virgil, he—”

“The first time I visited Philos as the head of our kingdom’s envoy,” Virgil interrupted, voice frighteningly level, “I had five panic attacks in two days. Prince Patton helped me through three of them and afterwards helped me to get accommodations to lower my anxiety—at great inconvenience to himself, I might add. His kindness is the only reason I was able to remain collected enough to represent our kingdom well, and that experience helped shape me into the man I am today. I came out stronger and more sure of myself because of it, but my anxiety that week could easily have destroyed my political career. I believe it would have, if it weren’t for the kindness Patton chose to extend to me when he barely knew me. Do you understand?”

“I—Virgil—” Logan protested weakly, voice growing less certain.

“And I was there as a visitor,” Virgil drove the point home. “For only a week. Janus is all alone and he is going to spend the rest of his life here. I don’t care how you feel about him, you are to be his husband. Do better.”

Logan felt very small, his gut churning with shame—not so much out of regret for his actions as it was for the disappointment and anger in Virgil’s tone, Virgil who normally praised and encouraged him, Virgil whose approval meant the world. Virgil who was now giving Logan the kind of angry stare he usually reserved for particularly annoying diplomats.

Virgil looked at Logan for a moment longer, then turned on his heel and walked away without a word.

-

Taglist (ask to be added/removed!): @theimprobabledreamersworld

[inevitably-johnlocked]

((my account is @mymiddlenameslove tumblr is still being weird lol)) do you have any fics where john and sherlock hold hands for the first time? i just love the build up/panic that leads to some good fluff thank you (*´∇｀*)

Hi Lovely!!!

Bah, sorry about Tumblr being dumb!!!!

What a fun fic req!! I know for SURE I’ve missed a lot, so these are either fics I remember have hand-holding, are tagged with it, or I’ve just re-read and found it in there :D Hope you Enjoy!!

HAND HOLDING / for COMFORT

The Four Incidents by TheGirlWithRedHair22 (K+, 1,064 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, John Whump, Accident, John POV, Hand Holding, Worried Sherlock, Sherlock’s Self Esteem) – The first time John was present when someone insulted Sherlock, he brushed it off as a strange coincidence.

Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

Random Numbers by songlin (T, 1,671 w., 1 Ch. || Ace Sherlock / Straight John, Cuddling / Snuggling, Massage, Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Post-TRF, Slice of Life) – A collection of moments in the relationship of asexual!Sherlock and straight!John.

Giveaway Fic #9 - Angsty Sick Fic/Sherlock is Sick by ConsultingPurplePants (T, 1,734 w., 1 Ch. || Sick Fic, Hypothermia) – The next time he awakens is even more chaotic. Two doctors are shouting at each other in the corner, and John is holding his hand so tightly Sherlock is worried he’ll break it. Part 9 of 1000 Tumblr Followers Giveaway Fics

Once is Enough by Jominerva (T, 3,030 w., 1 Ch. || Love Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Whump) – Just as the earth rises to meet the sun at every mountain crest, John reaches out for Sherlock and takes his hand in his own."Tell me it won't end like this," he says, blue eyes holding grey while he laces their fingers together. Sherlock lets out a shaky laugh and shakes his head. "I wish I could."

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

A Gossamer Dream by CarmillaCarmine (E, 15,985 w., 4 Ch. || Writer/Teacher AU || First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Writer John / Teacher Sherlock, Fluff, London, Holding Hands, Online Friendship / Romance, Phone Sex, Anal Sex, Happy Ending, Alternating POV, Scottish John, Online Relationship, Internalized Homophobia, Hand Holding, Forehead Touching, First Kiss/Time, Texting/Sexting, Rimming, Toplock, Sherlock Speaks French) – Sherlock had never realised one could care so much about someone they'd never met in person. Now he is about to meet the friend with whom he's been chatting online for months and his anticipation is reaching a crescendo.

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION || Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

A Love with No Name Series by aceofhearts61 (G to M, 49,955 w. across 20 stories || Asexual Sherlock / Straight John, Est. Rel, Queerplatonic Relationship, Romance, Cuddling, Fluff, Platonic Romance, Domestics, Rape/Non-Con) – In which Asexual!Sherlock and Straight!John are platonically in love life partners.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU ||  BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships) by ShirleyCarlton  (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) – Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,100 w. across 45 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They've been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

[tssidesfics]

TSSides Anti-Fairytale AU

I’m not coming for fairytales. They have their place, but as an aromantic person...I do not feel seen. And then I decided to re-watch Enchanted (pirated, of course, because fuck Disney). And then this idea happened. 

Patton was a child-king who married his best friend when forced to, and then she died in childbirth. He’s given Roman everything he could, but he’s lived his life dictated by the advisors who’ve used him as a puppet king his whole rule. He’s miserable because he doesn’t like how the system functions but he thinks he’s chained to tradition.

Roman copes with his complicated relationship with his father by questing and almost dying, like, every other week. Anxious attachment for days. Boy keeps trying very hard to find a princess and can’t seem to figure out why nothing will stick. To which Patton goes “oh. He got it from me. Oops.”

All I know is Remus is aromantic and aplatonic and exactly as chaotic as he should be.

Roman’s birthday. Ball. The classic. He greets all the noble families and he’s seen those losers a bunch before, but this time, he meets a new “girl” with a family he usually hates who intrigues him. He is not a girl and I will not be misgendering him because ew, but, gist: Virgil, transphobic rich parents forcing him to conform to gender roles, absolutely miserable, in Peak Bitch (gender-neutral) form. Roman mistakenly believes he’s cured and talks Virgil up a lot. Convinces himself he’s fallen madly in love.

Problem is, he tells Patton, who’s shocked he found a “girl” but absolutely is on-board, and then goes to the family to ask for Virgil’s hand and there’s no Virgil.

Thus begins the Mulan ripoff but openly trans where Virgil poses as a boy servant at the castle because his parents can’t get into the castle willy-nilly and it’s the safest place to be. Absolutely loathes Roman’s very existence because that dumb bitch flirted with him while he was a girl and therefore VIrgil thinks he is The WorstTM. Then Roman catches him grouching about and decides to solve this by teaching him sword-play, mostly to give him the excuse to beat on a dummy with a sword-shaped stick. 

Meanwhile Roman is just le sigh I did it again. I connected more with a boy than a girl. Why did she have to run away? Now I’m doomed to be weird.

Well then assassins break into the castle and Ever-Paranoid Virgil immediately susses them out as bad news and uses the remnants of the ball to absolutely wreck them when they try to kill Roman and his father while they’re taking a rare opportunity to chat and bond. Patton decides he is Adopting This Child, fuck you, advisors, he’s as thin as a stick, and Virgil now gets to eat with the royal family. 

It’s the first time Patton has ever actually told his advisors to go fuck themselves. It’s the first step toward a positive turnaround and it happened because Patton’s dad instincts took over and nothing in the world is more valid than that, fight me.

Enter genderqueer icon morally neutral witch, Janus, all pronouns, who’s trying to topple the monarchy to enact lasting change and didn’t want to dirty her hands right away, but honestly people are so unreliable. So he gets onto Patton’s crew as a handmaiden and excuse you who gave the king permission to be actually endearing?

Roman feels slightly weird because Patton’s calling Virgil “kiddo” and he’s not calling him his son but he also treats him very similarly as he does to Roman and Remus, which isn’t great but is significantly better than it could be, but Roman’s got a crush. 

Then Janus finds out Virgil’s trans and reveals this. Virgil thinks he’s about to get blackmailed into murdering the only people who have ever cared about him and then Janus just rolls their eyes like “excuse you I’m evil not psychopathic. I can give you a potion to make your body reflect your mind. You in?”

“Great, so my only cure to stop feeling like frozen trash reheated in a forest fire is to accept the highly dangerous bribe of a definitely evil witch! Thanks! I hate it!”

Yes Virgil memes even in a fantasy world where Tumblr doesn’t exist.

Also Virgil and Roman are bonding. A lot. They’re getting very close and Virgil even lets slip that he loves Roman and then tries to fling himself out a window. Roman gets touched, stops him, and tries to kiss him, but Virgil leans away. Roman expresses confusion.

“I...I love you, but I don’t want to kiss you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. But I’ve...never wanted to kiss anyone. For any reason.”

“But...you still love me?”

“I do. I’m sorry.”

Roman...doesn’t feel as rejected as he thinks he maybe should? Honestly, it’s not totally a relief, but it’s just kinda...neutral. It’s not even a disappointment. 

Well, Janus is not evil and actually wants to run a kingdom (instating a committee mixed of educated rich fucks and working class receiving education) a whole lot more than Patton, who thinks she’s just...kinda awesome and very misunderstood. There’s a lot of hissing and grumbling that they’re not misunderstood, they’re evil, they don’t even have a tragic backstory, they just kill people to enact the change they want to see, just because they got ditched in a forest as a baby and was raised by a magic snake means nothing. The snake was a very loving and supportive parent.

Roman talks to Patton and Patton is like “fuck marriage rules. Fuck heteronormativity. Fuck my advisors. My kingdom is a haven for the gays. All the gays. Of every color. Come here and be merry and queer.”

Virgil’s just like “yo no reason but in this new world where it’s okay to love whatever gender is it maybe cool to be a boy when the world says you’re a girl?”

Janus draws a knife and glares at Patton and Patton’s just like “even if my partner wasn’t threatening to kill me I’d say it was fine why?”

“No reason.”

“Virgil.”

“What?”

“Is there something you want to share?”

“No.”

“Is there something you need to share?”

“Fuck you.”

“You’re being defensive again, Storm Grouch.”

Virgil sticks his tongue out. “Fine. People used to think I was a girl and I have a stupid body. Happy?”

And Patton learns from Janus the fine art of Validating The Fuck Out Of Gender.

The advisors stage a coop and lock Janus in an anti-magic cage, and then at the same time Virgil’s biological nightmares track him down and steal a spelled green apple from Janus’ shop they give Virgil. You know the drill. Deep sleep like death, yadda yadda.

Well, they immediately claim the body making a big dramatic deal about how they have to bury “her” and they’ll take “her” home to see her off and it’s so tragic, just as they were reunited, when the reality is they have the antidote back home, they’re just looking for control over his life again.

Except Roman goes off. “He is staying here where he--where he will be buried under the name Virgil dressed properly and if you came anywhere near his body I’ll kill you myself.”

Guess what constitutes a totally platonic, non-kiss related act of queerplatonic true love, bitch? Fighting your transphobic partner’s parents over their dead body.

Kingdom’s retaken, sweeping reform while Patton retires to be a stay at home dad to fix his relationship with his kids. Virgil gets formerly adopted. The stepparent is actually a morally neutral genderqueer witch who runs the kingdom fairly and justly, the central love story is trans and aromantic, and my queer ass is something resembling happy.

Logan is probably one of the advisors and the only one with sense who probably starts knocking off his coworkers after the coop because they’re all deeply, deeply stupid. Remus probably spends half the story making friends with a troll he brings in to save the day in the third act.

[awarmbowlofhomemadesoup]

AceAro Miles Edgeworth’s Platonic Crush on Phoenix Wright Headcanons

Platonic crush: the desire to be platonically intimate with someone without romantic or sexual attraction. Intensity like any kind of crushes can vary. 

In Childhood:

When they were children, Miles would often talk more about Phoenix than Larry, to the point that Ray Shields began teasing him about having a crush on Phoenix. And Miles would be like, “No?” because last time he checked he wasn’t experiencing that “heart stuff” that he sees in zany cartoons.

When they have to sit and rest somewhere, Miles would read a book with at least his knee touching Phoenix. Or if there was enough space, his back touching Phoenix’s side. No, Larry, it’s not a snuggle, now hush. (Similar to how a cat would lounge at their favorite owner’s side while casually not looking at them).

As much as he enjoyed them as the Signal Samurai trio, his favorite moments were just talking with Phoenix about anything under the sun -in the early hour before class or when they have dropped Larry home and it was just him and Phoenix. 

He often looked forward to the quiet instances that Phoenix would hold his hand while they’re walking home alone since Phoenix is more at ease with affection than he was.

Some teenagers hollered at them for it and Phoenix let go, embarrassed, while Miles was wondering why he was embarrassed when they both know it was because they were good friends. So he just stubbornly grabbed his hand again and dragged him away from those immature buffoons.

Miles was neutral when it comes to Valentines Day. But when Phoenix received a box of chocolates from a girl he likes, Miles became more aloof and disinterested. He wondered why there was no celebration for friendship. Idle time was spent on thinking what gift he would give Phoenix if there was a proper day for celebrating best friends. (Larry is also his best friend but he doesn’t have the word that distinguishes his friendship with Larry and friendship with Phoenix.)

Miles was disappointed that he was unable to find the specific term between best friend and deeper best friend. Even his father doesn’t know. Gregory Edgeworth assured him he would find it someday.

Being someone who thinks ahead, Miles knew that someday Phoenix might not prioritize and value their friendship as much as he does once Phoenix would get a girlfriend. Miles tried very hard not to think of the time they would be in middle school.

After Gregory’s death, Miles never received Phoenix’s letters as von Karma wants to isolate him from his original home. Even when Miles appreciate the song request from Phoenix dedicated to him, von Karma made it clear that sentimental relations will distract him from perfection. Plus, Miles thought it was a one time and that Phoenix probably had a girlfriend to dedicate himself to by now.

In Adulthood (Platonic Crush to Queerplatonic Attraction to QP Love):

Early Career. When Miles received college Phoenix’s letters, his first reaction was confusion. Out-of-the-blue this ghost from the past was asking him why he was being called Demon Prosecutor. Second reaction was stonewalling. There was no point delving about how a person used to make him feel. 

State vs Fey. After the trial, Miles told himself he developed an intellectual hyperfixation towards Phoenix Wright as he arranged his brand new custom chess set with the “spike-y” pawns. He was half-right. If only he wasn’t so entangled with von Karma’s opinions on “sentimental relations”.

State vs Powers. Miles’ platonic crush resurfaced somewhere after Will Powers’ case and Phoenix asking to defend him.

State vs Edgeworth. He faintly realized at the moment Phoenix had smiled at him in relief once Miles got acquitted, that Phoenix was someone he wanted in his life. If only Miles deserved so. 

Miles would never admit he finds a unique sense of enjoyment in working with cases where Phoenix had to defend. He doubted if a lot of people experience intimacy in rivalry.

State vs Skye. Unfortunately, Miles have bigger things to deal with like coming into terms with a mentor that had both raised and twisted him, struggling to find a new norm as eyes watched him, his very story available to the public, then having to face the Skye case that made him question everything he was as a prosecutor. 

It all became too much and he wasn’t thinking straight and one of those thoughts was that Phoenix was better off knowing a better person than him. 

State vs Engarde. The belief was instilled when Phoenix got mad at him for faking his own death.

After having a talk and Miles realizing that cutting people off abruptly was more of a dick move than he thought, he and Phoenix kept in touch after.

In the space he had given himself in Europe, Miles decided that aside from becoming a better lawyer, he wanted to be the friend Phoenix deserved to have in his life, with the same intimacy they had in childhood that he still couldn’t name. 

State vs Iris. Miles was pretty much neutral around Iris. If Phoenix would decide to rekindle his relationship with her (though the deception made him wrinkle his nose no matter how true Iris’ feelings were at that time), he wouldn’t care as long as he and Phoenix would still be in good terms as partners. Even if Phoenix would not put as much special connotations as he would in their partnership. That was all he could ask for after everything. 

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Whenever Kay would tease him about “that man”, Miles would just look at her dryly. At this point, he should know not a lot of people would understand.

7-year Disbarment. Phoenix’s disbarment drew them closer together after Miles’ was finally able to contact him when Phoenix shut everyone out. Miles couldn’t do much being in Europe but he does what he could from flying them to Europe so that Phoenix could help him with his cases to caring for Trucy.

Their commitment for each other only grew from raising Trucy together to righting Japanifornia’s legal system. 

Miles wished he could kiss Phoenix on the forehead without making it weird. It just felt like Phoenix needed it. Comforting Phoenix with hugs and handholding, at least, was never questioned for romantic interest.

When Phoenix began to study for the bar again, Miles often enjoy Phoenix falling asleep on his shoulder. Unseen, Miles would smile before poking him awake.

He enjoys movie nights with the Wright family where Trucy and Phoenix would snuggle close and dinner/banter with Phoenix every week. 

Fantasies of sleep-snuggling with the man he admires and trusts the most and has an intense emotional-intellectual connection? Of course, he does. “So near and yet so far” has never been so painful in that one time they have to share a bed.

After Phoenix got his badge back, Miles was pretty much satisfied. His life was more stable, inner and outer, than it had ever been. Phoenix and Trucy’s life were also stable. Miles now felt more confident and comfortable in their bond and Miles would do what it takes to keep it as a part of his life.

He may have felt a little thrill when they both become comfortable enough for Phoenix to be casually affectionate with his touch -an arm around his shoulder as they laugh about something, a hand on his arm when asking about a case- it felt like back in their more carefree childhood. 

State vs Wyatt. Miles was pretty much ruffled with questions about marriage directed at him of all people. But if he has to marry someone, it might as well be someone he knew so well and trusts so much. Miles may have opted out some of his opinions in marriage but he was no longer the person who would lie to himself of who that someone would be.  

He wanted... something. He wanted a sort of exclusivity with Phoenix. The idea of Phoenix dating other people made Miles realized he wasn’t the type to share. The revelation itself was frustrating when he was neutral or repulsed of varying degrees when it comes to different romantic and sexual acts.

With a combination of finally having the words to describe what he wanted in Google Search and help with his therapist, the name of what he wanted with Phoenix was a queerplatonic relationship with a compromise on whatever would be Phoenix’s romantic/sexual needs from him. If Phoenix would have him as so. And if Phoenix wouldn’t... well, their friendship had been through a lot of things, this one event wouldn’t change it much. 

(This is from my own experiences and wants as someone in the acearo spectrum. I’m not the universal experience for acearo and it can be different for everyone else.)

[starberry-cupcake]

Free Short Stories: Aromantic Recommendations

Aro week is over but I spent it reading aro stories that are entirely accessible online (with their authors' consent) and thought I'd share some with you, as well as some extra resources. I’m going to include under “read more” content warnings and specific details, like the kind of rep included or important notes, so if you want to be sure and safe before reading them, you can click “read more” for all that information, or if you prefer just the blurb, avoid it easily enough. There you will also find the extra links of interest and other masterposts.

Edit: This post used to be split in two parts, I’ve integrated them into one whole post for everyone’s convenience. 

1. Nkásht ii by Darcie Little Badger

Josie and Annie set to investigate a strange death that may involve more than they expected. Sometimes the love that heals isn’t romantic and bonds that are strong are those chosen.

2. Hope of the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

In a fantasy setting, a human cleric finds an elf bard and a strong female dwarf, all cast aside for their identities, and create their own home and family. The same characters also appear in another poem that continued their story: The Underground Gardens.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Ash is left with the loss of Tanith, after she sacrifices herself to save the world. Tanith's memories resurface in people's minds and Ash has to navigate their identity, their memories and how to label for others’ sake their lost relationship.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Ro is a human who forms an unlikely bond with an alien refugee, discovering a different layer of proximity that doesn't chain to the type of physicality humanity sets. In that process of discovery, Ro learns about the other side of the social oppression in their own city.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

An exploration of the background and re-telling of the story of the goddess Xihe. Marrying out of the obligation of customs and pressure, this story explores the feelings of Xihe, her relationship with Di Jun and the freedom she ultimately seeks.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Another tale set in Native American culture (the author is a Lipan Apache writer), this story is about family, sacrifice and forms of non romantic love and devotion that transcend the limits of life and death.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

The narrator can’t find a place in a family that seems so determined, so certain, painted each in a specific way. A poetic prose filled with magic and the colors that we paint ourselves with, which can sometimes change with time.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

A queerplatonic couple in a fantasy setting deals with social pressure in a story written in poetic verse.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

A woman is chased by fear, memories and a being that affects her relationship with her own identity and mental health, while finding refuge in a found family. These characters are also included in a previous story called To Sleep.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman

Emma, a Relator, finds out that her best friend Rania, a World Saver, is being used by her boyfriend and can lose her credibility as a Hero for it, so she enlists a tech-savvy Number Fiend, Deborah, to crash a high school party in a forbidden sector to confront the guy.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Mathilda is in peace with her solitude until she communicates with energy beyond her understanding and finds the voice of a murdered woman who asks her for help to deal with her killer: her ex boyfriend.

Content Warnings and Extra Details

1. Nkásht íí by Darcie Little Badger

Details: urban fantasy, folklore, suspense, aromantic lead character, main platonic relationship between female characters. CW: minor characters deaths, accidents, the death of a child is mentioned, domestic abuse in flashbacks.

2. Hope for the Future by Elizabeth Barrette

Details: aroace male lead in a poly relationship with a female and male character, fantasy, story in poetry, happy ending. CW: arophobia and acephobia, family abandonment.

3. Tanith’s Sky by Penny Stirling

Details: fantasy, sci fi, drama, hurt/comfort. Main qp relationship between an aroace cis female lead and a non binary allo lead. The aroace lead is dead by the start of the story, which I had my hesitation about, but the story does a wonderful job capturing Tanith’s life in an aftermath of what would be another untold story, as well as Ash’s identity and their relationship, as well as the process of grief and moving forward. CW: major character death, grief, depression, transphobia, arophobia and acephobia.

4. And If The Body Were Not The Soul by A. C. Wise

Details: explicitly touch-averse asexual non binary lead, very likely aromantic (expressed but not named in the text), sci fi, social strife, hurt/comfort, found family and friendship (nb and cis female, nb and alien friendships). Many commenters have expressed that Ro is potentially an autistic character, some autistic authors and reviewers have agreed or disagreed but I couldn’t find whether the author stated that at any point. CW: mild depictions of violence, xenophobia, social issues and unrest, happy ending.

5. The Crows Her Dragon’s Gate by Benjanun Sriduangkaew

Details: the goddess Xihe is depicted as aroace yet marries the god Di Jun for a time in which she lives troubled. Fantasy, mythology, re-interpretations, angst with a happy ending. CW: internalized acephobia and arophobia, dubious consent, violence, animal death, toxic marriage, there is a side wlw couple of mortals who die.

6. The Girl Turns West by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there isn’t romance in the story, the lead character doesn’t seemingly have romance in the future and there is a side female character who explicitly rejects suitors and prefers to live independently yet with her family. Considering that the author has written several aroace characters, I decided to include this one and another story in Part 2 as strong potentials (there is another story by the same author that other sites recommend as aro-representative, but I think these two are a lot less vague). Fantasy, mythology, folklore, bittersweet ending. CW: death mentions, wounds and accidents, blood mentions.

7. Kin, Painted by Penny Stirling

Details: poetic prose, fantasy, aromantic lead character, trans male character, non binary characters.

8. Cucumber by Penny Stirling

Details: fiction in poetry form, queerplatonic relationship in a fantasy setting. CW: arophobia and acephobia, social pressure.

9. The Famine King by Darcie Little Badger

Details: mystery, suspense, horror, folklore, hurt/comfort, angst w/optimistic ending, explicit non romantic & non sexual main relationship between to female characters. CW: blood, wounds, cannibalism mentions, mental illness with hallucination episodes, racism.

10. How My Best Friend Rania Crashed A Party And Saved The World by Ada Hoffman.

Details: high school setting, uplifting, sci fi, aroace lead character in a friendship with a heterosexual girl and a bisexual girl. CW: arophobia by the best friend, which is not confronted or discussed, mentions of racism. Notes: I read this story for the Pride list last year and I didn't include it because I had a bone to pick with Rania's character. The story is fun, a lot more lighthearted than many of the ones here and has a distinct tone that makes it good to include, plus Emma (the lead) is a very friendly, social and well-liked person, rather than the traditional robot/alien foil aro, ace and aroace characters tend to receive. So, even if I'm still uneasy about Rania and how her bad attitude is not acknowledged in the story, I’m still including it for all its perks.

11. Unlike Most Tides by Darcie Little Badger

Details: there is a protagonist who prefers to live in solitude and speaks about it and about her favorable feelings towards it. It isn’t explicitly stated that she is aromantic but, much like The Girl Turns West in Part 1, I’d say it’s a good addition to the list, though it's probably the least explicit of the bunch. Mystery, supernatural, sci fi, suspense, positive ending. CW: murder, corpses, side character death, blood, femicide.

Other masterposts:

@coolcurrybooks's first and second masterpost I consulted

Penny Stirling's recommendation list

LGBTQReads recommendations list

Claudie Arsenault recommendation list

Aro and Ace character database

Aroaessidhe recommendations list

YA Pride masterlist

My own LGBTQ+ free short stories rec list from last year, some of these stories are in it but the majority is not

[yesokayiknow]

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

@taardisblue tagged me thanks babe xoxo these are all wips bc why not lmao & im not tagging anyone bc im tired & scared ✌ (also i think my favourite one is the schitt’s creek one ngl)

1. untitled wandavision post canon scarletvision & wanda/agatha poly negotiations :) (document title: gay witch time)

‘So,’ Agatha says, not looking away from the television screen, ‘you two aren’t really married, right?’

2. untitled schitt’s creek post canon stevie/alexis

"David," Alexis hisses, "why the fuck does Stevie still think she's straight?"

3. untitled beetlejuice the musical post canon beej & delia

“Hey,” Beej says, trying and failing to sound casual, as though he didn’t just spend ten straight minutes awkwardly pacing by the kitchen door before entering.

4. untitled wandavision au darcy & wanda

‘Okay so, I only took like, half a semester of psychology,’ Darcy says, ‘but I’m like, a bajillion percent sure that you need therapy.’

5. untitled arrow s6 au siren pov where everyone defects from ota to the bby team (doc title: ehhhhh ill give this an actual title later but you already know what this is bitch)

“We would’ve helped sooner if we’d known,” Drake says.

6. untitled firebringer reincarnation au (doc title: IDK MAYBE THIS HAS CHAPTERS WHO KNOWS)

“Y’know,” Schwoopsie says, as Zazz jabs the doorbell for the fifth time, “we should’ve just, just called ahead.”

7. untitled original work (fake marriage fantasy story!!)

It’s a wet Tuesday morning, and your father is dead.

8. untitled dw (doc title: s10 family and make up)

“What,” Missy says, “is that.”

9. original work (title: Ostriches Have Twice as Many Knees as Us and That's Where We Went Wrong)

‘Don't stand like that,’ she says, ‘it makes you look like you're giving a TED talk.’

10. untitled dw timeless children au (doc title: OKAY MARTHA & SPYDOC LETS G O)

"What did you do to her?"

11. untitled ocean’s 8 queerplatonic heist wives (doc title: god why dont they just kill me)

It didn’t take Lou long to realise that Debbie Ocean isn’t wired in the same way that most people are, that she isn’t motivated by love or sex or money.

12. untitled dc’s titans dick/kory/dawn/hank/donna

“You know,” Kory says, one day, apropos of nothing, “on my planet, children are raised communally.”

13. untitled killing eve s2 au (doc title: i hate u maddington)

it hurts, but it’s the wrong kind of hurt.

14. untitled unreal post canon

“so, now what?”

15. untitled the good place zombie apocalypse au

“I dunno, dude,” she says, in a rare quiet moment.

16. untitled star trek discovery michael/tilly mutually oblivious pining ;-;

“We need to discuss your daughter and her intentions,” Georgiou says, and Stamets chokes on his cereal.

17. untitled arrow au (doc title: winter soldier!laurel except its the league not hydra thank fuck no nazis in this)

This time, you have two full days of memory.

18. untitled dw s9 au clara/missy

“This,” Clara says, for the fifth time, “is not a date.”

19. untitled dw clara/12 the sad existential wingfic au (doc title: wf)

You can fix this, you say, and even though your expression is carefully neutral, and your voice is calm and steady, your feathers shudder in your anxiety.

20. untitled original work (this is my creative writing bachelor’s project aka the thing i need to write instead of writing fic haha oh no)

There’s a monster in the woods behind your house.