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ot3tropetober · 4 years

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Eliot and Hardison are travel journalists for rival publications who keep showing up in the same places

Fic for this (~3500 words) is below the read more! Some notes:

[backstory on why Hardison is writing these comes from this post]

[Eliot, Parker, and Hardison are all commenting on this document, think of it like the chat in Google drive? In-document comments from Eliot are italicized, from Hardison are in bold, and from Parker are plain text]

By the time Will Coffey stepped off the plane in Dallas, all he wanted was a nice long shower and to sleep in his own bed for once. Being a travel journalist for a leading travel magazine had its perks– a month-long trip across Mexico, for example, all expenses paid or at least reimbursed – but after a month on the road he was dead tired and ready to be home.

Is this supposed to be me? Why am I living in Dallas?

Yes, and also, you don’t actually live in Dallas, Eliot, you live here, in Portland, with us.

I know that, I just– you know what, never mind.

Well, Will Coffey likes Dallas.

I am Will Coffey!!

That’s the spirit.

The other thing about being on the road for a living was that sometimes it felt kinda lonely, and as relieved as he was to be home, the first couple of minutes after he walked in, turned on the lights, and looked around at an empty place, that was always a little bittersweet. But the only other person he’d really seen in any kind of serious capacity the whole time he’d had this gig was a fellow traveler who spent just as much time on the road as he did, so it just kinda was what it was. He set his keys and his bag down and headed to the kitchen for a beer, but he hadn’t even opened his fridge when his phone buzzed a couple times. It was a text from Sarah, his editor. He’d known her forever– they shared a couple classes in college. Now they shared the stress of managing a print publication in an increasingly digital world.

“Did you see this?” she had written. There was a link in the next message. “How does this guy get this stuff up so fast?“

Will already knew what he was gonna find before he clicked the link, and sure enough, it directed him to a popular travel blog called The Travel Geek, which was a ridiculous name for a travel blog but people absolutely went wild for it. Will liked it too, not that he would ever really admit it, but that probably had more to do with the guy who ran it than anything else. They had…not a thing, exactly? It was hard to explain whatever was going on with Jeremy Edwards, who by rights Will should probably hate for stealing his stories and his audience. But the problem with that was mainly that the guy was so goddamn likeable.

I’m guessing that’s you.

You would be correct.

You think I think you’re likeable?

No, I know it.

he is pretty likeable

Yeah, yeah.

Will had met Jeremy a couple of years ago, right when he was just starting out with his blog. Jeremy said he’d been reading Will’s stuff for a while and would love some advice from a pro. It wasn’t like Will didn’t know it was a little bit of flattery, and it wasn’t like he didn’t know it was a little bit of flirting, either. It also wasn’t like Jeremy was bad to look at. So Will said sure, he’d be glad to, and they were in Belgium, so they shared some beers, ate fries from a baraque at one in the morning on a park bench, shoulders pressed together, while Will tipsily rhapsodized about gaufre de Liège while Jeremy laughed and laughed.

I have never *rhapsodized* about anything in my damn life.

Have you heard you talk about food? This is not a criticism. I could listen to that all day.

Nothing really happened, in the end, just a good conversation and the promise to keep in touch. That turned out to be easier than it should have been, because they started covering the same damn things, all the time. One big world, and somehow they were always sharing part of it: Will was in India on a camel safari through the Thar Desert, and Jeremy was there, keeping Will up at night tappity tapping on his keyboard. Or Will was in Oatman, Arizona, for a piece on Route 66, and there was Jeremy, taking selfies with the wild burros roaming the streets of the town. Or Will was traveling around Japan, doing a feature on onsens, and Jeremy was there, too, acting like he wasn’t looking in Will’s direction while they sat, very naked, in the soothing hot water. It went on like that for a while until finally one night in Barcelona, in front of Sagrada Familia, he looked at Jeremy, tall and handsome in this absurd brightly patterned scarf, and said, “This is ridiculous, man,” and pulled him in for a long, lingering kiss.

Do you honestly think it would have taken me that long?

I don’t know, baby, it took your cowboy ass five years in real time, so Will’s doing a lot better than you.

OoooooooOooo

We had a lot goin on!!! And what is that supposed to be, parker? are you some kind of ghost?

it made more sense in person

I’ll take your word for it.

It wasn’t a relationship, exactly. It was just something they did, sometimes, if they happened to run into each other on the road. It wasn’t like he was getting invited home for the holidays, or anything, and he was fine with that, really. The long and short of it was, they’d basically been circling each other for years now, professionally, personally, whatever, but the professional stuff was definitely getting in the way of anything else. Because Will would sit down and write out his long, detailed articles with carefully selected photographs that would look just right on the page, while Jeremy had already turned out quick blog entry after quick blog entry, listing off places people should visit with witty little one sentence summaries, and people just ate it right up with a spoon while Adventure., Will’s magazine, slowly saw its sales circling the drain. It stung a little. Maybe more than a little. It wasn’t like he could say the guy wasn’t working hard, but damn. Hell, the best selling issue they’d had in a couple years was the one where Sarah had masterminded a collaboration between Will and Jeremy. Blogging was definitely here to stay.

That night in Belgium was five years ago, and at the time it seemed impossible that the internet would ever really fully overtake print. But bloggers and phones had both gotten smarter over the last five years, and now everyone wanted their news in little chunks that they could read on a screen during their commute, so travel blogs were the hot new thing. Will grimaced as he looked at the blog entries Jeremy already had up from Mexico, where they’d run into each other at least half a dozen times.

Five Reasons You Need to Visit Mexico City Right Now; What You’re Missing Because You’re Not in Monterrey; Everything You Wanted to Know About Agave But Were Too Afraid to Ask

“You gotta be kidding me with this,” he muttered, staring at his phone and thinking about the half-written article he had saved on his laptop detailing the history of agave and how to experience Jalisco as more than just the birthplace of tequila.

He pulled up Sarah’s number and dialed.

“I don’t know how we can compete with this,” he sighed, when she picked up.

“We’re going to have to adapt,” she said. “You know that. I can hear you making a face."

"I don’t want to blog,” he complained. “I like print."

"I know,” she sighed. “I’m working on it. Anyway, I’m glad you called, I was going to call you. I need you to go to Italy. Flight leaves tomorrow."

"No way. Not interested,” he told her. “I just got back to my apartment, Sarah, I’ve been in Mexico for a month. I’m beat."

"It’s not my fault that you spend half your time on extracurricular activities,” she teased.

“You can just say sex,” he said. “I won’t be offended. And it’s not half my time. Like, maybe twenty-five percent. Anyway, I get the job done."

"Yeah, and you’re very good at it, which is why I need you to go to Italy,” she said.

“I’m not saying yes,” he told her, “and I’m not interested. But what’s in Italy that’s so important for me to get to?"

"You’ll love this one,” Sarah promised. “It’s a food festival."

Okay, maybe he was a little interested. "Oh?”

“Yeah,” she said. His phone buzzed in his ear. “I just emailed you the details. Including your flight info."

"Dammit, Sarah–"

"Oops, emergency, the printer’s on fire, gotta go!” she chirped, and the line disconnected.

Yeah okay that’s Parker huh

Yep!

I do know y'all a little bit.

“Dammit,” Will said again, and opened Sarah’s email to read up on his next destination.

The food festival turned out to be a week long international celebration of local food from around the world. It only happened once every few years in October, when a world of people descended on the city of Torino, and more specifically the park by the River Po, where they set up tents and stands and served pretty much every kind of food you could imagine, and Will loved food and could imagine a lot, so that was saying something. It was pretty cool, seeing all these people from all over the planet showing off food that was important to them, sharing it with strangers. It really was the whole planet, too, the way the park was set up you could walk through a continent at a time, with all the countries on it represented at their own space. He figured he’d pay his respects to the hosts first and start with Italy, which was definitely the largest section. Halfway through the displays he found a stall with some folks from Campania selling fresh mozzarella di bufala the size of his fist for a Euro. It was speared on a stick like a candy apple so he could walk around with it, nibbling on the sweet cheese as he checked out the festival’s other offerings. Aged cheeses covered in mud and straw from a little town in France. A swanky tent with wood plank floors where the Filipino agriculture offices had a set up with big displays dedicated to traditional food and heirloom crops. Six different kinds of wild rice were layered in a glass display bottle in the booth dedicated to Indigenous agriculture in North America. There were folks from the Yucatan peninsula displaying cured meats and wild honey. There was a whole series of displays about preserving, protecting, and raising Maasai red sheep, from Kenya. The whole event was really impressive, actually, and even though his body had no idea what time zone he was in, he didn’t feel too tired– although that might have been more because he’d been downing every cup of coffee from anyone selling it.

Okay, this actually sounds pretty cool. But now you gotta fake a whole food festival like this if we ever use these aliases.

I don’t have to. That’s a real thing. Happens every couple of years. I was gonna ask if you wanted to go to the next one. Parker can probably find us a job after, anyway.

I’d love– like that.

Hardison. HARDISON.

Why isn’t this deleting the things I tell it to delete???

Ooh, forgot to tell y'all, this chat records your keystrokes? You know. Just in case you happen to type something sappy about how much you love me, and then delete it before you send it in the chat. Pretty much exactly what just happened.

Dammit Hardison I’m gonna delete YOU

Baby, that doesn’t even make any sense.

im w hardison on this 1. it’s ok if u love things eliot. especially food . or us

Just let me finish reading Hardison’s make believe story so I can get back to dinner prep, ok?

(he loves us)

I know :)

Will strolled around the park, snapping photos here and there, jotting down notes. He talked to folks from all over who came here to run their country’s booths, locals who had come out to enjoy the day, and people who had traveled long distances to be there. After a couple of hours and a really good lunch, he found an unoccupied bench near the river and posted up there for a while, notebook open next to him as he flipped through photos on his phone, the story he could tell about this event already starting to take shape in his head, and he had to admit, at least to himself, that Sarah had been right about this one. Nobody else on their staff knew food enough to get this right. But even though he had a good idea where to start, he couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed, too. You could spend two weeks here and still not talk to everybody, and it seemed important to try, somehow.

“Well, well, well,” said a voice, and Will looked up from his phone and his notes to see the tall form of none other than Jeremy Edwards.

“Dammit, Edwards,” Will swore. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Again?"

Yeah it’s pretty much EXACTLY like that every time

Mmmhmm. You talk a big game, man, but no one here believes you.

What he said ur like that stuff u put on the dessert u made 4 us last wk

Stuff on dessert– the Italian meringue? You really comparing me to Italian meringue?!

Is that the stuff that was kinda hard and crunchy on the outside but actually really soft and sweet inside?

Yep that’s the stuff

This is the worst conversation we’ve ever had.

It’s weird how I can hear you smiling right now, though.

Shut up, Hardison, I’m reading.

Got him! XD

"Looks like it,” Jeremy said. He took a seat next to Will on the bench, despite the fact that Will had absolutely not fucking offered it to him. He grinned. Will looked back at his notes before he smiled back. “We’ve really gotta stop meeting like this."

"Yeah, well, trust me, I’m working on it,” Will grumbled, and risked a look at Jeremy again. Still handsome, and still smiling, unfortunately. He thought about the blog a little and made himself frown. “So, you’re here to blog about this, huh? How many blog posts have you done already?"

"None so far,” Jeremy said, scratching his chin, “but I am working on one right now. Tentative title, How to Tell The Guy You’re Casually Seeing And Have Been Chasing All Over the Globe That His Boss Sent Me Here To Work With Him."

Well, there was a lot of information there, but Will decided maybe sticking with the professional stuff was better for now. "I’m sorry, you’re here for what?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Sarah really liked that collaboration thing she got us to do last year, I guess, wanted to try it again for this. I said yes. It’s good for your magazine and it gives my blog some credibility with all you snooty print folks."

"We’re not snooty,” Will said, although that wasn’t exactly true. Maybe they were, a little. He unlocked his phone and saw the email from Sarah, the subject line of which read: “DON’T ARGUE IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU/US/THE MAGAZINE.” He sighed and looked back at Jeremy. “I can’t believe she sent you to a food thing."

"I’m offended,” Jeremy said, although it didn’t much sound like it. “I know food."

"Oh really? So last year when we were in Beijing and you were looking for a McDonald’s that was just you knowing food, huh,” Will drawled.

“Sometimes you just really want a Happy Meal,” Jeremy joked, and Will just shook his head.

“I guess we should figure out what we’re doing, then,” he said, and Jeremy raised his eyebrows.

“About the story,” he said, “right?"

"Yeah, about the story,” Will grumbled.

“Whatever you say,” Jeremy said affably, just like always.

It was actually pretty easy to figure out how to cover the festival now that he had a partner in crime. They worked out a plan that afternoon, sketched out a couple of pieces, a collab for Adventure., a short guest piece for Will on The Travel Geek, and a short story in the magazine for Jeremy. Sarah signed off on everything from afar– “What time is it where she is? Does that woman ever sleep?” Jeremy asked, as they both got email after email. “I don’t think she does, man,” Will laughed– and they got to work pretty quick. There was plenty to do and they were both here for a few days, so they wandered through the park as they worked, stopping occasionally to sample food or take photos. Eventually they walked all the way out of the park and into the city, up to a big plaza, Piazza Castello, in the center of the historic part of town. They got gelato from one of the many carts set up nearby for the festival, and sat outside, eating and talking as the sun set.

It was nice. It was always nice, when they ran into each other. That wasn’t the problem. But they’d been stuck in the same routine for years now: they’d find themselves in the same place, Jeremy would laugh, Will would pretend he was annoyed, and then they’d spend a good chunk of their time together enjoying each other’s company in as many ways as they could find, and then they’d head to the airport and go their separate ways. And that was that. This shouldn’t be any different, but somehow it was. Maybe it was the sunset lighting up Jeremy’s skin, or maybe he’d just been lonely too long, but maybe they needed to figure out what they were doing with more than just the stories they were here to tell.

“You wanna get dinner?” Will said, before he could talk himself out of it.

“Yeah,” Jeremy said, smiling again, and this time Will let himself smile back. Just a little.

They asked around for recommendations and ended up at a little restaurant in the city, a few blocks from the Piazza. They split a bottle of wine, a margherita pizza, and some perfectly fried fish, and they didn’t really talk about work at all.

“You know,” Jeremy said, about halfway through the wine, “not for nothing, but I’ve gotta say, this looks and feels a lot like a date."

"I wasn’t under the impression that you’d be opposed to that,” Will said.

“Oh, I’m not opposed,” Jeremy told him, “I’m just a little surprised you’re asking. I figured at this point it was gonna have to be me who said something."

Will eyed him carefully, thought back to a lot of nights on a lot of trips. "How long exactly have you been waiting around?"

"I mean, don’t get the wrong idea, here, I haven’t been pining away for you like some Victorian in a bad novel,” Jeremy said, and Will snorted. “But yeah. I played a long game, man. I gotta say, though, after that fishing boat incident in Guyana I really thought you figured out we had a thing."

"Yeah, well, I didn’t have time to notice, I was too busy taking pictures of you hiding behind that skinny British guy when that big old fish jumped out of the water,” Will snickered.

“Big old– that thing was two-hundred and thirty-four pounds of ichthyological torpedo headed straight for yours truly,” Jeremy said, and Will chuckled. “Big doesn’t really describe it.”

“Hmm. It was kinda wild he thought we were gonna get in the water with it,” Will mused. He winked. “Glad you finally remembered you owed me dinner for keeping him from pushing us into the river."

"Ha. You know Sarah wants us to work with that guy again, right?"

"Aw, hell,” Will said. “Really?"

"Yeah,” Jeremy confirmed. “She said she was gonna talk to you about it when we got back from this. Canada this time, so when Mister Fisherman tries to throw me in the water at least the hypothermia will probably get me before the monster fish does."

"Nah,” Will said. “Don’t worry about that. Nobody throws you off a fishing boat. Except maybe me. No. Well. Maybe. No,” he concluded.

Hah. I mean, okay, that does sound like me.

Oh, I am aware, trust me.

“Sarah maybe also mentioned we might do a few more of these little…collaborative things,” Jeremy said, drawing invisible circles on the table. “Maybe even in a more formal capacity."

Will raised his eyebrows. "No way she talked you into giving up the blog."

"Oh, definitely not,” Jeremy said. “But funnily enough, people keep sending me emails about wanting a print version of some of my photographs? But I don’t really have the publishing connections. A magazine, though…” he shrugged. “Me and Sarah figured we might come to some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement, somehow. Might be seeing more of you, is what I’m trying to say."

"Can’t say I mind that,” Will said, and reached out across the table to cover Jeremy’s hand with his.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Jeremy answered, and this time Will didn’t try to hide his smile.

/end

Okay?

Okay, what?

Well where the hell is the rest of it?

What rest of it? It’s clearly implied that they’re dating now. They’re dating, they’re happy, they’re gonna work together for real, happily ever after, et cetera.

they should have at least kissed. i would be into that

This is what I’m saying. Where’s the resolution, here?

Baby, anytime you want a kiss, you know where to find me.

What I want is for you to take this seriously since you’re making us read all of it.

Wow, okay. Here:

They walked around the city for a long time after dinner, still holding hands, and the kiss they shared later under the moonlight felt like a promise. The Actual End.

Y'all happy?

too sappy 4 me but idk what eliot thinks

Not your best work but it’ll do, I guess.

Are you still in the kitchen?

Yeah, why?

I’m gonna come give you a demonstration of my best work, that’s why.

Bring it on, man.

do i get a demo too

You know it.

#author: coffeesuperhero #leverage ot3 #parker x hardison x eliot #hardison x eliot #leverage #ot3tropetober #submission

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savrenim · 3 years

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hi hi hi. so I just got into the Hamilton fandom, I swear I am four years late where did everybody go, and, well. I am apparently a hamburr shipper. bcs that is my life now. anyway I saw your fic ifmlam and I swear it is my favourite of all the fics I've ever read (and trust me I've read literally thousands). I love it so so much, how do you write fics like that??? I cried about four times during the whole thing, I stayed up till 4am reading it even when I had to wake up at 7 because it is just. that. good. I could not stop thinking about it for days afterwards and ifmlam has just ruined me. I can't think of listen to Hamilton without thinking of ifmlam anymore.

on to my qursttion: is it abandoned? of course it's perfectly FINE if it is. don't let anyone tell u differently, your fic is YOURS and u are amazing.

but pls I really need closure from ur fic, it has been haunting me if its abandoned or ongoing and I've read ur other fics and they are just chefskiss and thank you so much for writing them all. thank you thank you thank you, I will never be able to thank you enough for writing this fic and for everything it's done for me. I am probably thousands of miles away but I am sending you virtual jugs through a co.puter screen right now.

(don't feel pressured to reply to this or update it flam, I know how overwhelming it can get with so many messages and after a while u get desensitized to it. u can literally reply "thx. itfmlam is abandoned" and I would still be amazingly star struck. anyway has gotten way too long and I need to sleep and I'm sorry u probably won't see this so I'm just talking to myself right now but bye!!)

and thank you so so much for writing itfmlam.

aaaah hello anon!

thank you so so much???? I am so??? honored??? that ifmlam rates so highly to you, and also that you've read my other fics??????

the answer to the "is ifmlam abandoned" question is probably the worst possible one, which is pretty much "I do want to finish it, both for the folks that still want closure as well as it bothers to me have abandoned projects that are in the public eye/ already partially published, but also, it is last on my current writing projects list"

my current actually active writing projects list, kind of in order of priority, is

I'm literally three chapters away from being Actually Fully Done with the not-quite-first-not-quite-second let's call it 1.5th draft of an actual?? full?? original?? novel?? Opus which of course then goes out to beta readers and then gets who-knows-how-much edited and then maybe beta readers again if a lot does change and then a copyeditor my mom, my copyeditor is my mom, and maybe my little brother he's one of the betas but is very good at catching typos and then I!!! get to publish it!!!! which is the single thing I am most excited for!!!!!!!!! this should be closed up in the next week or two, and then take a while for people to actually read the draft and get back to me.

I really desperately want to finish my open-but-like-90%-written fic, which means we raise it up, the final chapter of to the bottom of the river bc I realized that it was kind of incomplete, and the second chapter of a buried and a burning flame because any more work there will need to wait until the author publishes the next book in the series. this should be closed up in the next month or two.

Speedwrite the draft of the second book of the Opus series so that hopefully by the time book 1 edits are happening, I have an almost complete draft of the second book. this is mostly me side-eyeing myself about taking nearly four years to write the first book, but that is solidly in part because I had so many other open projects which point 2 is about clearing that docket. this should be done in the next year.

And then just have my major projects be, at least until books 1-5 are written and published, books 1-5 of that because that is arguably the first major 'plot arc' of the series, so if I'm looking for a pause point on writing, that's probably where to stop.

There are two or three other short side projects (a weird fun second person short story tentatively titled witch-queen, a collection of four short stories Memoirs about a not-so-evil necromancer and the shenanigans he gets up to trying to rule a kingdom, working title Perfectly Normal Recipe Blog which is a collaborative project about a perfectly normal recipe blog that definitely doesn't include anything out of the normal) that will happen when they happen

There are other projects that are on the backburner -- The Numanok Files, a series of probably 12-15 short novellas about a mercenary/ bounty hunter esque person in space whose specialty is dealing with hauntings, but, like, 80% of their jobs is actually "you are effectively a space home inspector pointing out faulty wiring reacting to solar flares/ there's a weird alien fungus/ it's carbon monoxide okay change your atmosphere filters" and 20% of it is punching ghosts; there's a post-post apocalypse novel that I want to write that I know characters and general pacing and half the setting but need to work out the other half and figure out how much aesthetic I want to commit to; there's Strangeside7 aka spacerace book that is my reaction to how much I love how Redline the anime movie commits itself to "no we are about a race, like 60% of the screentime is just fully going to be an utterly ridiculous sci fi space race"; there's even a ridiculous YA trilogy that I would have to completely transplant the setting but might end up writing because the interplay between angel-physics and physics-physics was one of my favorite things in the world. and I guess the weird ridiculous technically a sequel series to ifmlam that was going to be published as original books that was basically me having fun with 'okay I fucking love star wars prequels old rotting space bureaucracy galactic republic style' except with seers and that also still might happen because it does have some of the coolest sci fi concepts and honestly I thiiiink that's all?

but the tl;dr of that timeline is I'm trying to finish a punch of projects Right Now, so that I can write books 2-5 of Opus, and then when I'm done that (which honestly, my average fiction-writing output is close to 100k a year. if I'm concentrating purely on one project, and writing books that are about 100k, we are talking four years. although my job situation is super up in the air in that period and writing might get put solidly on the backburner as I try to make it in academia, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I will re-evaluate which projects go next, and that's when ifmlam is likely to come up for review.

I do not have any expectations that I will make it as an original author. I'm planning on posting all of my stuff online for free, but, like. it is incredibly difficult to convince people to try out even a piece of free and easily accessibly original work even if one has a huge following, I am a very small fanfiction author, and from what I can tell the majority of the people who are interested in my work are mostly interested in me finishing ifmlam. writing is a hobby for me, and while I'm writing mostly for me--and hence the for me bit at least for the next five years is pretty solidly going to be this series that I am deeply excited about and have sunk my heart and soul into every single aspect of--I'm human, and I don't really like shouting into the void, and I expect if I spend five years publishing to absolutely no response I will either stop writing for a while and do other things gods know my life is busy enough, return to fandom in general to write some other fanfic about whatever I get deeply into, or return to a work that I actually get response to. so ifmlam will probably start getting worked on a bit at that point one way or another. unless, of course, we are in the incredibly rare timeline in which I do make it as an original author, there are people who are deeply hyped for my original works and an actual demand for them, in which case as you may have noticed there are enough ideas there to keep me busy for a decade or two, and they will just get my full attention instead of fanfiction*. in this timeline, I will do what I was considering doing a few years ago, which is officially declare ifmlam otherwise abandoned and make one more giant chapter update which is a full and cleaned up outline of what I was going to write, interspersed with the scenes already written, and have ifmlam be given at least that closure.

*I want to make it clear that I very much love fanfiction and am proud to have been a fanfiction author and in my heart of hearts would keep writing it forever, I just also have a lot of ideas for characters and settings and magic systems and Aesthetics and I have been biting at the bit to write something that is //mine// and all mine and only mine for a while, I don't see original work as superior so much as there are a dozen fandoms that I am currently in and bursting to make content about except oops these fandoms currently only exist in my head, and I want to correct that

of course given how much as writing is my vent activity and I write what I'm in the mood for, there's a chance I'll feel ifmlam cravings before then, just... expect it to take a couple of years for an update, but also for there to be an update one way of another in a couple of years? but as for right now, I'm turning to original writing, because that is what brings me joy.

but I am really deeply honored that it brought you so much joy!!! and while I will never publish spoilers in a public place, if you message me off anon I am perfectly happy to give a run-down of my current plans for the ending, bc I know "wait a couple years and see" is not the most satisfactory of answers! and hey maybe you'll be like me and once you've given Opus a try you'll decide you like it better too, it does have Seers although they are deeply different Seers than in ifmlam but imo it's very gay and fun and at least politics on one side

#my life #my writing #ifmlam

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icequeenoriginal · 4 years

Text

The Meaning of FamILY

Note: I am so sorry for this taking centuries to come out, I blame laziness and writer’s block. So here it finally is, @khadij-al-kubra, the fic you requested. Again, I am so so sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this takes place a year after Intimacy and All Its Forms. Also Happy Late One Year Anniversary of this AU’s blog.

Thank you @theromnempire for editing. You’re the best!

Names of side characters belong to @hi-i-love-u-bitch. This AU belongs to @ask-spiderverse-virgil and @sugarglider9603

Trigger Warnings: Deaths mentioned, two past minor character death, crying (Let me know if I missed anything)

Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality

Roman was ushered into the living room by his older sister. He couldn’t understand why. Normally when his father came home, he would see Roman sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework and his father would walk over and ask about before changing out of his work clothes.

Maybe it was a celebration! Or maybe a surprise! But…why was Amá crying?

Roman’s mother looked up and locked eyes with her confused, innocent son. It made her burst into more tears and Roman ran to comfort her.

“¿Amá?¿Por qué lloras mami?” Roman asked while tilting his head to the side.

Lupita couldn’t help but smile at Roman, almost forgetting what had just happened. She frowned, and more tears fell as she realized what she had to do now.

“Roman ...mi Valiente chico…tengo algo que decirte...se trata de tu padre…”

Roman woke up with a start like he did every year on this day. It’s always the same memory that would wake him up like clockwork, ending right before his mom said the words that shattered his world forever. Roman’s brain liked to torture him but pretend to forget the worst part.

He decided not to think about it and just dressed.

Roman never noticed how quiet the house actually was on this day. Any other day of the year, even if he was the first to wake up, there was some kind of noise. It could be anything from the humming of the ceiling fan or people rushing to get breakfast ready. But today, nothing. All the sounds of the apartment were swept out as if the family occupying the house needed a reminder of what was happening

Maybe Roman just lost his touch with reality on this day. He was never sure, not that it really mattered. He knew the world did not stop just because he is in a shitty mood. Did that ever make him feel any better? No, but it gave him a false motivation to get up and get ready for school.

He walked to the twins' room, like every day, to get them ready for school. Any other of the 365 days of the year, the twins would already be awake, fully ready to run around and make Roman’s morning even more hectic. Today, both had a blanket over their heads and he could hear his little sister sniffling.

He wished it was because of a cold. It never was.

“Vamos, es hora de levantarse,” Roman said, just loud enough for the twins to hear, worried if his voice went any height they could hear how broke it was.

“NO!” both Jenni and Marco shouted, pulling the blanket simultaneously over their heads. Roman wanted to laugh at the sight, badly.

Instead, he sighed “No no, you guys gotta get up and go to school.”

“NO!” Marco shouted

“It’s a bad day today!” Jenni cries

“I know guys but we can’t miss school,” Roman said softly.

“We’ll go to school tomorrow!”

“Yeah, when it’s not Papi’s death day!”

Roman inhaled sharply, it was the first time of the day someone acknowledged what the 17th of February meant. The house somehow got even muter, if that was possible. His sister and brother burst into tears and Roman felt his face heat up. But he couldn’t cry, he was-

A soft, reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as he took a step forward.

“Amá…” Roman said, his voice strained

Lupita’s eyes were full of storms of sadness, threatening a downpour. “Roman ... ve y desayuna.”

Roman shook his head. He could do it, he had to. His mother had enough on her plate. “Pero Amá--” Lupita cut him off.

“Está bien. No te preocupes por eso”

Roman sighed “Okay.” He was too tired to argue. This day seemed to already take so much out of him and it had hardly had started.

Roman sulked to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Something quick, easy and he was least likely to get sick from. He stared absently, unfortunately making eye contact with his father in an old happy family photo. He sucks in his breath as silent memories began to haunt him like they always do. He hated those more than any amount of his siblings sobbing or screaming in agony. He could tune those out with music, his one constant. These just got louder and louder no matter what he tried.

What snapped him out of the pitiful void was a vibration from his phone. He pulled it out to reveal a text notification from Patton.

Bestie <3: I’ll be on the fire escape in a minute! Alex stole my sweater again :(((

Roman frowned, had he really taken that long to get ready? He hadn’t even made anyone’s lunch or even breakfast. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to talk to anyone today. Much less to get their glances of pity. Constantly hearing “sorry for your loss” got old quick. Besides, he didn’t want to bring anyone down, especially his best friends, just because of what today is. He sighed and texted Patton back:

Romaine Lettuce :): It’s okay. I’m gonna swing over to school today, go on without me.

Roman saw that Patton had read his text but he didn’t reply. Roman didn’t think much of it, he figured he was still chasing Alex around, and just grabbed his toast as soon as it was done in the toaster.

“Amá! I’m heading out to school! I love you! Bye!” Roman didn’t wait for a reply and ran up the stairs that lead to the roof as he put on his costume. Web swinging always seemed to calm his nerves, or more accurately, distracted him. Something about one mistake and you can fall to your death really makes your other problems seem small. As he was about to fire his first web, a voice shouted for him to halt.

Patton ran up to him, also in full costume “Wait for me!”

“Pat?” Roman asked, not trying to hide his confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Although Patton had the mask on, It wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling. “I’m going to swing with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know but I want to head to school with you like I always do.”

Roman felt a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl around in his stomach, creating an unpleasant cocktail make just for him. Not that he knew what a cocktail tasted like.

Roman gave a small smile behind his mask “Okay then Pat, I’ll race you” and took off without another word.

They swung without another word, which relieved Roman. He didn’t want to be asked about how he was doing, the answer was obvious and Roman was tired of being asked it.

Unfortunately, this feeling did not last and Roman quickly returns to his self-pity and dark thoughts. Roman was so lost in his brooding thoughts of the bombardment of sympathy that he would receive through the day that he did not see the tall building in front of him. Thankfully, Patton did and webbed Roman quick enough so that he landed on the roof.

Well...landed is a generous term here. With how fast Roman was going, Patton had to quickly web him and throw him on the roof of the building.

Patton landed gracefully next to him. He placed his hands on his hips and said: “Okay, that’s enough swinging for you, mister!”

“I’m fine Patton, I just wasn’t paying attention this time.”

Patton shook his head, “You’re distracted, understandably so and I know you don’t want to talk about it, even though you should, but I won’t make you. It’s not safe Roman! I can’t let my best friend get hurt again! Not on my watch…”

Roman could see the agony swept into Patton’s eyes. He knew that memories of the year before, bad ones brought nothing but pain, were swarming Patton’s mind. Memories of Roman avoiding him, the fighting, the robot battle, all were tearing Patton down. It was a look far too familiar to him.

Roman ran to Patton as he began to shake. Roman muttered an apology that seemed small to himself but was perfect to Patton. Once Patton was able to calm himself down, he hugged Roman tightly, to show he was never going to let him go.

“Let’s walk to school okay? I know a game we can play. It’s called “Beautiful Things’. As we walk, we point out the beautiful things we see and why we find them beautiful. Alex and Georgie made it up after Frankie…passed…and we played it all the time”

Roman raised his mask just above his lip to show that he was smiling “That sounds great, Patton, I’d love to.”

So they snuck off the roof, changed, and walked. They pointed out birds, children, babies, and music playing from cars. Roman had no idea that such a simple game could bring him so much calm, but it did. He never realized there is so much good in the world, that was what they, as heroes, fought for.

When they got to school, Roman headed to his locker. To an outside viewer, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But for the four, it was breaking the sacred tradition. First, they would meet at Logan’s locker as it was the closest to the entrance. Then they would make their way to their own lockers while catching up with one another. Finally, they would arrive at homeroom to get ready for the school day.

However, as Roman watched Patton saunter over and embrace Logan, his feet didn’t want to go anywhere except towards an island of isolation. He didn’t want to ruin the happy mood, especially after making Patton think of Frankie so early in the morning. What best friend forces you to remember your dead brother?

He opened his locker and slowly pulled out the books he would need until lunch. When that took less than a minute. He stared at the objects he taped onto the door of his locker over the course of the year. At the top was a small mirror that he suddenly did not want to look into. At the bottom is a whiteboard with reminders of tests written by Logan, supportive messages from Patton, and quick doodles by Virgil. He felt the tug of a small smile on his lips, though it went away quickly.

He had only begun scanning the dozens of photographs he had before two arms snaked their way around his waist. He felt warmth in his chest as his boyfriend’s lips were pressed on the space between his shoulder blades.

“Morning” Virgil said, tiredness leaking into his speech.

Roman smiled softly and leaned slightly into the touch. “What leads you to my neck of the woods?” Roman asked as if he did not already know the answer.

“I needed to escape before I drowned in the puppy love.”

It wasn’t the answer he was expecting so he pressed on, “What do you mean?” Roman turned his head slightly to look at Virgil. Virgil, without lifting his cheek off Roman’s back, unfortunately, removed one of his arms from around Roman and gestures to his right.

In distance, Patton has Logan’s shirt held carefully in his fingers, playing with the buttons as he talked to Logan. Logan watched with nothing but love and appreciation in his eyes. Roman couldn’t help but sigh at the couple, he was part of the team that got them together after all. One of his best accomplishments, if he’d say so himself..

“It’s so sweet...disgusting.” Virgil continued. Switching from resting his cheek on Roman’s back to his chin, he looked up and said, “Now give me my good morning kiss.”

Roman chuckled and happily obliged. When they pulled apart, Virgil asks “I’m going to ask you a stupid question.”

“No question is stupid, love, ask away.”

“Are you okay?” “I stand corrected.” Virgil elbowed Roman in the side, both happy for their spider-strength for the opposite reasons.

“I mean it, Ro. I know you hate being asked that question, especially today, but I rather you get annoyed with me than let something happen like last time. So I’ll ask again, are you okay?”

“I am.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow “Am what?”

“Fine.” “I asked you if you were okay”

“Same difference.”

“Big difference, people only say they’re fine when they don’t want to admit they aren’t okay.”

Roman just looked away, having nothing to really say, plus he didn’t want to argue. Virgil sighed and hugged him again. Roman doesn’t push away, the pressure behind his eyes getting more and more unbearable. His emotions were already becoming too much for him to handle. He hugged back, relishing in the warmth of another person. It was stupid, in his mind, since Virgil was just hugging him moments ago.

With a sigh, Roman pulled back. He brushed his knuckles gently against Virgil’s cheek and whispered “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay because I’m sorry too,” Virgil said softly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t. And with that, I’m going to spend this whole day cheering you up.”

“Virge…You don’t have to. Really! There’s no reason to-“

Virgil suddenly poked Roman chest, silencing the boy. “Do you remember the day that marked the anniversary of my grandpa’s death?”

“Of course I do, you were so upset. You didn’t even want to leave your room”

“Yeah, and you know what you did? You broke into my room, like some lunatic by the way, wrapped me up like a burrito-“

“It’s called a blanket burrito for a reason.”

“Don’t interrupt me. You wrapped me up, put on all my favorite movies that I wasn’t even aware you remembered and fed me snacks as we cuddled. Not even Logan had thought of doing that, he would just let me lie under my blankets while he just sat in the room.” Virgil paused to smirk before continuing “And I was never more grateful for you than at that moment.”

Roman’s face began to heat up. He couldn’t help it. No matter how big or small the compliment that Virgil would give him, he would turn into a blushing schoolgirl, ready to throw himself at Virgil and pepper him with kisses.

He opted to just hug Virgil again, a silent thank you. They were in public after all. They had some class.

Virgil embraced him for a few moments before the warning bell went off. “Listen, I’m going to make sure today is not going to be total shit for you.”

Roman chuckled in response, “Thanks, stormcloud.” Roman took a step to walk to his class but stopped when Virgil firmly grabbed his hand, “Huh?”

“What? I can’t hold my boyfriend’s hand as we walk to class?”

Roman chuckled, if there was one thing he knew about Virgil is that despite his boyfriend’s wariness of physical affection, Virgil always saw things through. Roman gently squeezed Virgil’s hand, absorbing the love that came from that simple gesture. Logan told him a few months ago about Love Languages and how physical touch was definitely his. It was a nice bonding moment for him and Logan, and it made Virgil really happy. Roman was rewarded handsomely for it.

Compared to every other year since his dad died, this was actually a pretty good day. Virgil would bring him to every class, even the ones were Virgil’s classes were nowhere near. Virgil had to keep reassuring Roman that it was fine, “I will just use my invisibility and sneak in. It will be funny to see how confused my teachers will be.” It made Roman genuinely laugh, something seemingly unachievable on this day.

The classes he did share with Virgil were the best. Virgil left his non-writing hand resting on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze whenever he felt Roman quiver, shake or tense up. Which was often since their teacher would not stop shooting Roman sympathetic looks, even after Virgil glared at her. Other classes that Virgil wasn’t in, Virgil would wrap his hoodie around Roman before he headed off to his next class. People would focus on this action and how cute it was that Roman would forget, even for a few minutes.

Around lunch, Roman’s mood changed from melancholy to calm, relatively speaking. He wasn’t walking with his head down, and even partaking. The numb and somewhat painful feeling in his chest was still present, but it was no longer the black pit sucking his emotions into it like usual.

Already seated at the lunch table were Logan and Patton, whispering and smiling at one another. Before Roman could announce his presence to the couple, Virgil tugged him back. He nearly made Roman fall backward in the process, but they both knew it wasn’t intentional. They always forgot how strong their spidey strength actually was.

“Sorry!” Virgil said instinctively though he did start laughing as Roman caught himself.

“What was that for?” Roman asked once he regained his balance.

“I needed to tell you before I forget, I asked Thomas if we could borrow his living room for a movie night and he said yes. Ask your mom if you can stay over.”

Roman smiled, “That sounds great”

Virgil smiled back as the two sat in their normal seats. As soon as the two entered Patton’s vision, his eyes light and he pushed a plate covered in tin foil towards the couple. It wasn’t anything uncommon, Patton using any excuse to make people food, from “Virgil had a headache” cookies to “You saved a bus filled with little kiddos and the city still won’t give you a key!” double chocolate cake. Roman removed the tin foil to reveal donuts. It shocked Roman, he had a bit of an expectation that Patton would make one of Roman’s favorite desserts; like he always did in years past.

Roman looked up at Patton puzzled and Patton reached over the table to squeeze Roman’s arm as it rested on the cafeteria table. “I know you don’t want to make this day all about you, so I made something we all consider a normal snack. Is it okay?”

Patton’s eyes read desperate and Roman, half because he wanted to be a good best friend and half because he did not want Patton to use his Empath powers, smiled, and nodded.

“This is perfect, Pat.”

Patton pulled back so he could properly muffle his squeal of delight since they were still in school and he did not want to get into trouble for “starting a disturbance.”

Logan whispered to Patton “You told me it was because you did not have enough time to make Roman his favorite cake.”

“...I can have multiple reasons” Patton whispered back, glad that Roman and Virgil were too busy bickering about the best Avenger to listen in.

Everyone ate their lunches and donuts, just enjoying the time they had together. Logan commented on how he heard that Roman and Virgil would not join them on patrol and he hoped that they “don’t burn down Thomas’ apartment”. That earned him a look from Roman, a “Logie!’ from Patton and a kick in the shin from Virgil all at the same time.

“It was a simple precaution!” Logan shouted, only to be told to quiet down by the cafeteria monitor.

It would later become a memory they would always look back on, Virgil even including it into his best man speech at Logan and Patton’s wedding, much to Logan’s dismay.

Once lunch was over, Roman snuck into the bathroom and sent off a text to his mom asking if it was possible if he could stay over at Virgil’s, adding that if she needed him to come home then it would be fine. He didn’t want to be selfish.

Roman figured he would get his reply by the end of the day since he knew his mom would be really busy at work and he wasn’t exactly sure when his mom had her lunch break. He put his phone in his pocket only to scare himself when his notification sound went off in the silent password. He pulled it out and his phone and had a new text from his mom.

Amá: Of course you can, Your sister is watching the twins today, go have fun. It’s what Papí would want.

Roman smiled, a single tear fell down his face. His mom was the best.

Roman’s afternoon classes came and went, nothing exciting or saddening happened of note. Though it wouldn’t have mattered, the prospect of cuddles and Disney movies filled him with so much excitement and joy.

As faith would have it, he had no play practice since their show season had just ended and Mr. Bell always gave them a week off so he could tie up any last loose ends and decide the dates for the next auditions. This gave him an extra two hours to spend with his boyfriend, perfect!

Roman ran up to Virgil’s locker and bounced on his toes as his boyfriend got his stuff together so they could head off. Virgil smirked and tilted his head to Roman, “You seem excited.”

Roman smiled and nods “I’m really excited for tonight”

“Oh?” Virgil teased “What’s happening tonight? I can’t remember anything important”

Roman lightly punched him in the arm “You’re so mean, remind me why I love you again?” “It was your choice to get into this relationship, Princey, don’t forget that” Virgil waved his hand as he spoke and Roman, to Virgil’s surprise, quickly snatched Virgil’s hand.

Roman smirked back “I am very aware, and I am so happy to have you.” He then kissed Virgil’s knuckles.

Virgil cursed his cheeks for the blush that always came when Roman did something romantic. He pulled his hand back and nervously giggled “Oh shush, let’s get going already.”

Man, did he love that boy.

After swinging over to Thomas’ apartment with Patton and Logan, Roman and Virgil quickly went to work on their pillow fort as the two other spider children spoke to their spider dad about the details of the patrol.

Once everything was set up, Thomas said “Great. Patton, you and Logan get my snack bag and go to the bodega on the corner, there is money in the bag so don’t worry about using your own money. Meet me on the roof in half an hour.”

Patton and Logan nodded and left to get their favorite snacks.

Thomas turned to Roman “Hey, Ro? Before you guys start, could you come with me to the roof?”

Roman was confused but agreed. He was a bit nervous, he felt like a child about to get yelled at and tried to think of what he could have done wrong recently.

Once they got to the roof, Roman asked, “If this about keeping your apartment clean, I promise Virgil and I will not burn it down. Logan already gave us the rundown.”

Thomas put his hand on Roman’s shoulder and softly smiled “I can feel you stressing out, even without Patton’s power. Don’t worry, I trust you. I just wanted to tell you something. Sit with me” Thomas patted Roman’s head when Roman released a sigh of relief.

The two sat on the edge of the roof, Thomas in his Rainbow Weaver costume with the mask on and Roman in his civilian clothes.

Thomas gazed over the city before saying “I know you are probably expecting me to give you a speech about grief and how to handle it, but I hated those speeches at your age when I got them because of my Aunt Patty. In fact, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, and I’m not just talking about being a fellow theatre geek. I never wanted to think about when she died and I would throw myself into helping people, with or without the suit. One thing led to another and I ended up beaten and bloodied in an alley on the anniversary of her death. When Talyn and Joan found me, I swear my Aunt Patty possessed them to yell at me for it. I thought Talyn might kill me themself.”

Roman laughed “I can see them doing that.”

Thomas chuckled and nodded “Oh yes. But what they and Joan did instead was patching me up and we had a FRIENDS marathon, ‘the police will handle crime for now’ Joan said. I broke down after three episodes because I love my friends so much. So before I start crying again at the memories, I just wanted to tell you that your friends--including Joan, Talyn, and I--are always here for you. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget” Roman threw himself at Thomas for a hug “Never again, I promise.”

Thomas hugged back “Thanks, kid. Now go have fun.”

Virgil looked up from his phone when he heard footsteps coming towards him “What did Thomas want? Hey, are you okay?” Virgil pops out from under the fort and cups Roman’s face to wipe the tears away.

Roman smiles “I’m fine, really. I’m just...thank you, for putting up with me”

Virgil kisses him “It’s not putting up with you, it’s loving you. Ready to start Tangled” “Of course my love”

Tag list (Ask if you want to be added or removed):

@corkeecoderyt @per-seph-o-nee @3milystuff @asymmetricalgarbage8888 @fairytailtwists @sanders-sides-rebloger @mycatshuman @sanderssidesfluffyangst @unikornavenger @0callmevirge0 @gloomingwitch @roxiefox24 @ijustreallylovesanderssides @unisaurioamorfo @nadja-chamack16 @angelic-cali

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #spiderverse au #prinxiety #logicality #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #joan #talyn

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clean-bands-dirty-stories · 4 years

Text

Let’s Play ~ K.O. (part 1)

A/n: So @httpnxtt mentioned Kyle and a gun kink and I kind of made it my own because she’s nice and let me lol. Big thanks to @sunlight-moonrise and @gretaamyk for beta reading!. Also huge thanks to @april-14-blog for the encouragement to actually write this! Without all of these people, this fic wouldn’t have happened, and even if no one else reads it but them and myself, I’m glad I got it written and published :)

Warnings: violence, death (not any major characters), smut (male on male): fingering, oral, hand jobs, gun play kink, penetration.

Word Count: 5700+

MASTERLIST

Hands were a hard thing to fight off a super strong creature of death with, but it was either that or Y/n was eaten alive, so there wasn't much of an option.

He'd been doing great with his gun until he'd been tackled from behind. His gun had flown off somewhere- he was just lucky that he'd been able to squirm around so he could fight back at all. He thought if he killed enough time then he might be able to get to his gun, but he couldn't even look away without risking those dirty, rotting teeth sinking into his throat and ripping his vocal chords out. Not a great ending to this story if he was being honest. Not the road he wanted to go down.

A gun show went off and Y/n flinched, eyes wide. But he felt no pain and after only a second's pause, the thing above him that used to be the mailman went limp. He shoved it off of him, rolling to his feet. He stared at the creature, waiting for it to move. But then he saw the bullet wound and the blood coming from the side of its head and he relaxed, standing to his feet fully and searching out his rescuer.

There, only a few feet away actually, was a tall man with brown hair and matching eyes. Y/n's gun was in his hands. Hands that were shaking now. His dark eyes had widened in a look of panic Y/n was getting used to. The two men looked at each other for a long moment. "I killed him," the brunette finally whispered.

"Yes," Y/n confirmed. He put his hands up to show he meant no harm and began to come closer and closer. His goal was half to calm the man down and half to get his gun back. The worst thing that could happen is the man would panic and shoot him, and Y/n couldn't take chances with a bullet wound.

The man took a deep breath and finally lowered the gun from where he'd had it pointed to shoot the now-dead thing that had been trying to kill Y/n. "I did a good thing." It was a struggle for him it seemed. He was trying to convince himself.

Well, that one was easy for Y/n. He was a man of truth, but he didn't even have to tiptoe around this one. "A very good thing," he agreed earnestly. "You saved my life." He began to extend his hands toward the other man's, reaching for his gun just as slowly as he'd approached. "Can I have my gun back please?"

A small nod signaled the man's release of the object, and he even dropped the hand that was attached to the arm furthest from Y/n so he could stretch it out to him. "Here, sorry."

Taking it, Y/n relaxed. He felt safer with a way to defend himself if the need arose. "No need to be sorry. Like I said, you saved my life." It was then the man looked at Y/n, tearing his eyes away from the body he was still staring at. When they looked at each other now, Y/n swore that his heart died in his chest.

Perhaps this was the single worst time to notice this, but Y/n couldn't help it as his gaze took in every inch of the man. He was incredibly attractive, simply put. Even with death all around them, who could simply not see such a pretty face? Y/n was a simple man, and the person that had just saved his life was hot.

He looked away, putting his gun at the back of his belt and clearing his throat. As much as admiring was no sin, getting distracted was. He had to think with the right head- there were more important things. But holy shit if there hadn't been... Y/n might have had to ask this guy on a date.

"Well, thanks." Y/n spoke the words to get out of his head. "Officially." He hesitated as the man nodded. "What's your name?"

"Kyle." His voice was suddenly hoarse and it made him even sexier. Goddamnit!

"Nice to meet you, Kyle." Y/n noticed the look the man was giving him and realized he was waiting for a return in names. "I'm Y/n."

Kyle nodded again. Then he pulled a shiny silver gun out of the holster at his side Y/n was just noticing. His lips must have been really distracting for him to just not pick up on the fact that Kyle was armed... They actually had been that distracting. They made Y/n wonder if Kyle was a good kisser.

FOCUS!

"I'm part of the resistance." His grin made him look like a total dork. It was adorable, and Y/n fought not to smile at it. "We have serious firepower, and we're clearing blocks to make sure everyone at the base is safe. Want to join us?"

It was Y/n's turn to nod. "I'd definitely like some purpose in this mass chaos. Where are you headed to next?"

Kyle grinned. "Think you can keep up?"

Y/n cocked an eyebrow. "Do you think YOU can keep up? You look a little too pretty to actually know how to wield that thing."

Y/n's complement seemed to boost Kyle's confidence. "I knew it well enough to shoot that zombie without hitting you."

A soft chuckle resounded through Y/n's chest. "You have me there. Lead the way, Hot Shot."

The pun made Kyle snort. Shaking his head, he turned to look out instead of at Y/n. "Keep up." As he moved forward, Y/n couldn't help but check out the view from the back. "And Keep your eyes on the zombies," Kyle added sharply, though he didn't seem to be shutting Y/n down as much as he was making sure his back was being watched.

"Yes sir," Y/n joked. Kyle didn't respond to that.

Probably because he was distracted by another zombie ducking into sight and turned its hungry eyes on the pair of men. Thankfully, he really was a great shot and he totally nailed the thing. He lowered his gun, smirking as he looked back at Y/n. "I'm already two ahead of you. You sure you can keep up?"

Y/n raised his eyebrows. "Oh, that's how you want to play huh?" Kyle shrugged and Y/n rolled his eyes, searching for his next target. As Kyle went to say something snarky, Y/n found the next dead body. He took aim and shot it stiff before Kyle could even voice his snarky shot. "Careful Kyle. You've unleashed the beast."

Kyle scoffed. "Okay, Mr. Sexy and Smooth. If we're making this competition, what does the winner get?" He shot another zombie, making Y/n jump. "Other than staying alive, I suppose?"

A soft sigh through pursed lips, as Y/n tried to decide. "What do you want?"

Kyle's eyes suddenly ran down Y/n's body and the man shivered under such a look. Before he could respond though there was a scream and both men were rushing to see what had caused it.

There was a small girl pinning a slightly older boy. The boy had a bar in her mouth and that was why he was faring better than Y/n had been earlier. Her nails were digging into his arms though as if she was about to tear his flesh off by hand if she had to. Y/n had to remind himself of two things. First of all, that wasn't a girl anymore. Second, it absolutely would rip his flesh off his bones with its hands if it felt it had to. He went to aim when Kyle helped next to him.

It seemed that between the gunshots and the boy screaming, the noise had drawn a crowd. There were four zombies heading for Y/n and another rolling around with Kyle who was trying to both keep hold of his gun and also get it to the thing's head so he could shoot it. Y/n forced himself to not panic and instead prioritize. He had to keep himself safe first. The boy and Kyle would be much worse off without Y/n there to offer an extra pair of hands wielding a gun.

He took out two before he heard the crunching of the pipe and the gargling of the thing ripping whatever must remain from the boy, going for him again. He'd run out of time, but thankfully before he could switch his attention there was a shot that he found out meant Kyle had taken down his attacker when Y/n looked over to check in on the other man. Kyle got to his knees and turned the barrel of his weapon to the girl, pulling the trigger without hesitation. She fell and the boy collapsed in relief, her fingers falling out of his mouth just as she was attempting to rip his jaw open.

Y/n turned back his attention to the two zombies headed to him to see there were now six.

"Get up!" Kyle yelled at the boy. The kid responded thank god, scrambling between the two armed men who moved to surround Gina s best they could with just two of them. With him between them, they both looked around at the sudden crowd that had come to play. "I have four in front of me and three more to the left." Y/n looked and realized they had less a crowd and more a mob. This wasn't going to go well if they didn't hurry.

"Perfect opportunity to raise those numbers," Y/n mumbled with ease, like he was talking about the cloudy sky or what was on TV. As if this was normal. Kyle chuckled and they both aimed, counting out loud as they took out one zombie after another.

When the street was finally cleared, the silence was deafening. Kyle moves closer to Y/n, the boy having even less room to move around now. "We need to get out of here, in case more show up. At least from the middle of the road. If we just stand here they might overwhelm us, but if we hide and wait for them to come along then-"

"Sounds great and all," Y/n interrupted. Kyle jerked as he was cut off. "But I doubt either of us have many more bullets, and we have a child to get back to safety if you recall."

Kyle hesitated, jaw working as he looked between the kid and the street. Finally, he sighed, shoulders dropping. "Fine. Lead the way."

Y/n felt himself smile at how cute Kyle looked when he was all down trodden like that. It didn't distract him from keeping them all safe and well guided as they made their way back to 'base' as Kyle called it, it did keep him motivated. They returned with only one more dropped body. "What's your name?" Y/n asked as the trio got settled so the two men could stock up on supplies.

"Tyler," the kid responded.

"Tyler," Y/n greeted. "This is Kyle and I'm Y/n. It's safe here. We're part of a group of people who are going to keep clearing the streets so nothing will get to you guys okay?" Tyler nodded.

Just then, one of the much older adults came into the room. "I think we're actually going to call it a night fellas. The sun is going down and that messes with vision. Makes it much easier for them to take us over. They don't have to worry about getting hurt."

"Yes sir," Y/n said in more of a joking way. His words seemed to excite Kyle though, who was getting way too into the spy day dream he was working with. It made Y/n chortle a bit.

When the older man and the boy left the pair of young adults alone, Kyle sidled up to Y/n. "How many did you get? I got fifteen." He said the number with pride and confidence. Y/n already knew this. He had stopped counting out loud, but Kyle hadn't. Too bad his surety that Y/n couldn't beat him was about to be torn down.

"Eighteen."

Kyle deflated even more and, as if stealing that air, Y/n puffed up in pride. Kyle hesitated though before slowly realizing, "What's... your prize?" He seemed half eager and half trepid. It fueled Y/n for some reason, having enough power to make a man like Kyle some levels of both nervous and excited.

Y/n hummed, moving closer very slowly. He moved behind Kyle, Y/n's breath falling on the other man's neck. Kyle shivered. Now on the other side of Kyle, Y/n leaned over and pressed his lips quickly to Kyle's cheek. "I think that's all I'll claim for now." Then he turned away and began to leave. He heard the shuddering breath of a frustrated man behind him but he didn't give Kyle the satisfaction of him looking back to see exactly what state he was in. Even though he was rather curious... for now, he was having too much fun messing with the poor man.

Kyle, on the other hand, was NOT having fun. Not at all.

Y/n and Kyle went on six runs together over the next three days. They slept at night and then sometimes had to get people back to safety, or stock back up on ammo or food, which brought them back temporarily. Every time they headed back to base, they told the other their tallies and every single time Y/n had won. Kyle has even made them begin to count out loud to prove that Y/n wasn't making a number up. He'd had Y/n say his number before him so Y/n couldn't just say some number above what Kyle said. No matter what he did or how hard he tried, Y/n was better at this than him.

It seemed a bit of a reprieve for him when Y/n tripped one day, twisting his ankle. Unfortunately, it had almost gotten him killed. Focused on the zombies approaching him, Y/n hadn’t watched where he was going and had tripped over a stone that had looked smaller in his peripheral vision. When he’d fallen, he’d dropped his gun and the scramble that he’d gone through to get it back had almost cost too much time. He’d had two zombies on top of him and had by luck alone managed to wiggle into a position to shoot both of them as their faces eagerly lowered to begin to take him chunks at a time. He’d stopped one of them with its teeth in his shoulder. THAT was how close it had been.

Now it was over though, and they were headed back. Kyle seemed irritated though.

"At least now you'll get a few days of practice," Y/n attempted to joke as they traveled as quickly as possible before they'd find themselves in a situation that required them to stop and face down any zombies that might head their way. Thus far a few had been pulled down just by Y/n nabbing them as they passed, but if they got any closer than the two men couldn't chance Y/n missing one, and Kyle helping meant he had to have his hands free, which meant he couldn't help Y/n walk which means they'd basically he stuck in place unless Y/n started crawling. And that would be an even worse plan, because Kyle might trip over Y/n if he couldn't see him. He had to keep his eyes on the zombies, he needed to know where Y/n was so his worry didn't distract him from taking threats out.

Thankfully they hadn't gotten to that point yet.

When the house came into sight, both men relaxed. Kyle helped Y/n inside and to a couch where they both collapsed, tired from the journey. "Nice job out there," Y/n gasped around his heavy breathing.

Kyle chuckled. "Don't patronize me. I know you got way more than me today because I dragged you here."

Y/n rolled his eyes. “You know Kyle, I’m not ALWAYS an ass. You probably saved my life today, and even if not you definitely put yours at risk to make mine easier.” He reached out, placing his hand on top of Kyle’s. “Thank you.”

That only seemed to irritate Kyle more, though that was apparent more from the man’s facial expression, as he didn’t move his hand from Y/n’s. “Can’t you just be a little less-” He cut off, shaking his head and standing to storm away, leaving Y/n wondering what he’d done wrong.

The next week passed a lot like that as Y/n stayed home and healed and helped take care of other people as well. He probably could have gone out sooner if he was pushing it, but he didn’t want to take any chances in case his ankle went weak as he put it through too much and Kyle had to drag him back to the house. That was the reason Y/n had decided Kyle was pissed at him for. The day had been cut short when Y/n had been careless and gotten hurt. It was then that he suddenly got so irritable, and he hadn’t been the same since. It made sense that he would be irritated at getting distracted from the work he was so dedicated to, and then that Y/n didn’t seem to care as much as he did about getting back to it once Y/n was well enough to go back.

The day Y/n did go out, Kyle seemed to be really tense. “You okay?” Y/n asked quietly.

“Shut up,” Kyle snapped. Y/n shrunk in on himself, not sure why Kyle was so pissed. The man seemed to notice and sighed, pausing in their stroll forward. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. I just need to stay focused and you’re very distracting.” He began walking again, Y/n scrambling to keep up around his confusion.

Wait what? “Distracting?” Y/n asked gently, unsure. They’d been flirty since the first second they’d met. Sure the sexual tension was obvious but that had never seemed to bother Kyle before. Or did he mean that he was bothered by Y/n’s presence? Or that he was worried Y/n would drag him back again? Y/n wasn’t sure if him being a distraction was a good thing or not, and his brain was beginning to spiral with worry.

Kyle huffed.”I swear to god Y/n if you don’t stop, I’ll make you regret it.”

At that Y/n stopped dead. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Orfman?”

For whatever reason, that was what made Kyle break. The taller man spun around, eyes blazing. He looked at Y/n first then around them. There wasn’t even a sign of a zombie in sight. He gripped Y/n’s arm, pulling him roughly toward one of the houses. Y/n wasn’t afraid of Kyle per say, but he was curious enough to go along. His curiosity also held him from saying anything else, in case any questions made him stop.

Kyle led Y/n to the main bedroom and let him go, racing out of the room. Y/n guessed that it was to check to see if the place was empty, because when Kyle returned he didn’t have anything new. He did, however, have his gun drawn. “Kneel down.”

“Wha-?” Y/n began, stepping forward.

“Do it.” Kyle’s voice was hard. It was a command that demanded not to be questioned. Y/n gulped silently, finding himself very eager to obey. It was something he’d never experienced and it took him so off guard that he just did it. “Shirt off,” Kyle ordered next. Y/n’s eyes widened, finally realizing what was about to happen. As he did so, Kyle paused, allowing room for Y/n to stop this. As frustrated as he was, he wasn’t about to do anything Y/n didn’t want him to.

Far too eagerly, Y/n ripped his shirt off. He tossed it to the floor, still on his knees. His eyes followed Kyle dutifully. For all his flirting and big talk, it seemed that in this moment Kyle had unearthed a desperation that Y/n couldn’t contain anymore. He didn’t just want this, he NEEDED it, and if he had to do whatever he was told to get it then that’s what he was going to do.

Kyle smiled to himself, appreciating it. He just stood there and took Y/n in, making the man on the floor feel self conscious. “Do you want me to do anything else?” He asked softly.

A smirk rose to Kyle’s face. “So eager to be bossed around, huh?” Y/n nodded and Kyle seemed to relax, falling into this role like it was made for him. He came closer to Y/n, his hands winding in Y/n’s hair and tugging to Y/n looked up at him. The gun in his other hand moved underneath Y/n’s chin, the end of the barrel grazing his throat. Y/n jerked in surprise. Kyle smirked wider. “Y/n, do you trust me?”

He didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”

That was exactly what Kyle needed to hear. “Have you ever been with a man before?”

“Yes,” Y/n answered quickly, wanting to please. “Have you?”

Kyle shook his head. “I haven’t, actually. Is it that different?” When he paused, Y/n shrugged. “Use your words,” Kyle cooed.

“Yeah, for the most part. And more than just the obvious as well. Men go harder, but women go louder which makes a difference for some reason. Men tend to be quiet during sex.”

Nodding, Kyle stayed quiet a few seconds, as if considering the information. “Do you think either one is better?” Y/n shook his head no. “Just different then, huh?” Y/n nodded. “Well,” Kyle purred, nudging the gun to keep Y/n’s chin up as he let go of Y/n’s hair. “Show me the difference, Y/n.” He pointed to his pants and the man on his knees was fast to change his focus from Kyle’s face. His hands worked to undo the pants and pull them down, revealing the bulge underneath the black boxers. Y/n made a soft sound that made Kyle jerk forward. “Don’t waste time,” Kyle barked. “We don’t have all day.” With that, Y/n pulled Kyle’s boxers down as well, allowing his member to spring free. The sight made Y/n lick his lips, looking up at the other man with a question he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to ask. “What?” Kyle prompted, obviously irritated again.

“Do you want me to get it all in? Or can I use my hands too?”

Kyle blushed and Y/n felt his fingers begin to fidget. “Do what you think is necessary.” His voice had dropped and the sound went through Y/n in waves. It was the last thing either of them said before Y/n wrapped his fingers around the base of Kyle’s cock to stabilize it before he wrapped his lips around the tip. He hollowed his cheeks to create better suction as he bobbed his head, making Kyle groan, his head falling back and eyes closing. After a second, Y/n removed his mouth to pump the length with his hands. His fingers slid along the dent just under the head where he knew would be most sensitive. Kyle grabbed his hands to stop him. “I- I need to sit down-” He moved out of Y/n’s reach, sitting on the bed. “Come here.�� His eyes were lust blown and Y/n swallowed, crawling over quickly. He didn’t need Kyle to tell him to start again, he just took action. After a few more pumps, Y/n placed his lips on Kyle once more, listening and stealing glances as well as he could without losing focus on what he was doing. He wanted to make sure what he was doing worked, and if it worked he didn’t want to stop doing it. Just when the brunette man seemed to begin to come unwound, he reached forward and grabbed hold of Y/n’s hair again. “Stop,” he growled. Y/n did, pulling his mouth off with a satisfying popping sound that made Kyle shiver. He lifted the hand that still held the gun. “Do you still trust me?”

“I trust you,” Y/n confirmed earnestly, eyes wide and sincere.

Kyle stroked Y/n’s jaw. “Such a good boy.” He leaned forward, pointing the barrel at Y/n’s lips. “Open.” Y/n did, and Kyle fit the thing inside his mouth. Y/n felt his pulse spike. He meant what he said when he’d said he trusted Kyle, but his fight or flight instincts were still responding and it was a little nerve wracking, making it hard to stay still. “Show me,” Kyle demanded softly, his face inches from the side of Y/n’s face. “Show me what you do to make me feel that good. I want to learn so I can duplicate it, but if you do it on me I’m gonna be distracted.”

Y/n steeled himself before beginning to work his mouth around the gun barrel as he did with Kyle. The brunette man suddenly shoved it deeper into Y/n’s mouth, making him gag. Kyle smiled and Y/n blinked the beginning of tears out of his eyes as they threatened to block him from the view. Kyle was obviously getting off on this. The thought was confirmed when Kyle began to stroke himself with his free hand. He watched Y/n, first licking then biting his lip as he touched himself. “God where did you learn to do this?” Y/n paused and he sneered, “Don’t stop. Just because I ask a question doesn’t mean I want you to answer it.” It was a dangerous order. What happened when Kyle DID want him to answer it and he didn’t? Y/n was kind of excited to learn.

Finally Kyle pulled the gun out of Y/n’s mouth. He hummed as Y/n whimpered. “Please,” Y/n begged. “Touch me. Something. Please.”

“So desperate,” Kyle whispered, his breath falling on Y/n’s face. Y/n nodded, scooting closer. His knees were beginning to hurt but he didn’t dare complain. Kyle stood, pointing the gun at Y/n’s forehead. “Stand the fuck up.” Y/n scrambled to his feet. Only now did he realize that Kyle was taller than him. Before it hadn’t been super obvious but now it was clear as day, with how close they were. His thoughts were ripped away from that as Kyle shoved him against the wall aggressively, nestling the gun under his chin. “What do you want?”

“Anything,” Y/n begged, closing his eyes as his head fell against the wood behind him.

Kyle hummed, considering. “Seem to be wearing a lot of clothes for someone who wants me to touch him.” He was grinning when Y/n shot him a complainant look. “Ah yes, what a good boy. Take them off then.” Immediately Y/n was naked, just in time for Kyle to follow as he slid his own shirt off. Kyle returned the gun to Y/n’s throat, but this time moved it to the right. On the left side of Y/n’s neck, Kyle pressed his lips to the Y/n’s skin. First it was soft kisses until he began to sink his teeth into the flesh just enough to make Y/n suck in a breath, but not enough to leave a mark. He did begin to suck though, running his teeth along the skin to ensure there would be a huge, dark purple mark left behind. Y/n released a breath, but his body remained coiled with tension. “Beg me to fuck you,” Kyle mumbled.

“Please,” Y/n immediately hissed, his body shaking with need. His own member brushed against Kyle’s hand and Y/n flinched. “GOD please, Kyle. Please. Tell what I have to do, I swear I’ll do it.”

“I know baby,” Kyle responded evenly, a satisfied smirk on his face. He reached his hand to Y/n’s shoulder, yanking the man around so he was facing the wall. He then moved very close. Close enough that Y/n could feel Kyle’s breath on his neck and his cock against his hip. “Is this what you want?” He let that same free hand up and down Y/n’s length, relishing the way Y/n wobbled between leaning against the wall and Kyle to keep him standing. “Is it? If not, I can stop.”

“God no,” Y/n groaned, his lips parting in an ‘o’ shape. Finally he let his head drop onto Kyle’s shoulder, used to the feeling of the gun barrel making a path from his neck to his stomach. All his focus was on what Kyle’s other hand was doing. “It feels so good, please don’t stop.”

Kyle sighed, long and breathy. “Turn around.” He leaned just far enough away to allow Y/n to obey and Y/n did obey, just as he had all night. Eagerly and without hesitation. When they were face to face, Kyle tossed the gun behind him on the bed, hooking both hands around Y/n’s waist to make sure the man followed him as he began to move to the bed. “Lay down.” When Y/n did, Kyle crawled over him. “Are you going to keep being a good boy?” Y/n nodded. “Good.” His hands were both now free, but the gun was within grabbing distance so Y/n didn’t write it off yet. It’s just that Kyle needed to keep himself propped up as he touched Y/n, and he only had two hands. The first thing Kyle did was stick two fingers in Y/n’s mouth. Y/n sucked on them, making Kyle smile. But he seemed to have a goal in mind as just when Y/n was getting into it, Kyle slid his fingers out, trailing them down his neck to his chest and beyond. His hands drew shapes lower and lower until he dropped past Y/n’s still eager length to push a finger slowly into the man. “How’s this?”

“Not bad,” Y/n responded through heavy breaths, his body tense.

That continued until Y/n relaxed, Kyle giving the man plenty of time to adjust as he slowly stretched out. Then he slipped another finger in, repeating the process and being just as patient every time to make sure Y/n was ready. “God you’re so pretty.” Y/n hadn’t expected that, his body rolling further into Kyle’s hand. He’d been called a lot of things, but never pretty. There was something sweet about the compliment that made it almost intimate. This wasn’t about sex, him saying that. Kyle was just attracted to Y/n on a base level, and that was all. The way it sent shivers all over Y/n’s body made Kyle’s eyes widen in appreciation. “Okay,” he said finally. “I’m going to fuck you now, okay?”

“Please hurry,” Y/n grunted. He wanted his own release so badly at this point he didn’t give a fuck how he got it.

Kyle chuckled, but responded kindly, rather than being as cruel as someone else might have been about how Y/n technically ordered him even though Kyle was in charge right now. Moving his body to line himself with Y/n’s waiting body, Kyle hesitated only a second before pushing in. Y/n hissed a breath in and Kyle moved slowly. Very slowly, allowing Y/n once again all the time he needed. The pain turned to pleasure as it always di, and soon Y/n’s squeaks turned to soft breathing. With him comfortable with Kyle moving, the brunette focused on pleasuring himself. Or, that’s what Y/n thought at first.

As Kyle continued to fuck Y/n, he wrapped a hand around Y/n’s waiting cock, stroking him in time with the thrusts.

Neither man were going to last long.

When they finally did release, Y/n was both filled with Kyle’s cum as well as covered in his own. It made Kyle smile. When they were both done, Kyle pulled out and got to his feet shakily, leaving the room for a few moments only to return with a towel. “I didn’t want to leave you like…” He motioned to Y/n’s wet stomach. Y/n noticed the sudden shyness of the man; the softness to his words, and the way he wouldn’t look at Y/n. The gentleness with which he cleaned the mess, as if he wished Y/n to be unaware of his touch at all.

And also the speed at which he redressed once the job was done, towel discarded in the corner. Kyle retrieved his gun then cleaned it off as well from the spit that was beginning to dry on it and smudge the clean silver shine. Y/n sat up as Kyle began to move to the door. The man winced and Kyle’s expression tightened. “Are you leaving?” His voice was hoarse, making Kyle’s knuckles turn white as he gripped his gun again, as if it was a safety blanket.

Kyle hesitated. “I don’t think we should work together anymore.”

“Was I bad? Did I do something wrong?” Y/n asked as he moved to his feet, nearly tripping over himself as he pulled his own boxers and pants back on. His knees wobbled but he managed to pull it off.

Obviously trying not to smile as he watched only when he thought Y/n didn’t notice him doing so, Kyle cleared his throat. “No.” It was quiet, strained. “But this can’t happen again.”

Y/n stood, still shirtless. “Kyle-”

“I’ll see you back at the base, Y/n.” And with that he was gone, leaving Y/n confused and alone in the room that still smelled like sex.

What had gone wrong?

Male Reader Tag: @sheepfather

#kyle orfman #matthew gray gubler #life after beth #male reader #kyle orfman x reader #kyle orfman imagine #matthew gray gubler imagine #matthew gray gubler x reader #life after beth imagine

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desert-dyke · 5 years

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the things I’ve read in 2020 and some thoughts...

hey blacklist this now because it’s gonna get long from here. I spent NYE home alone and reading and it has really set the tone for this year. Fortunately, I’ve been reading way more for the first time in...I literally don’t even know? Maybe forever? Which is really dope! Books are fucking fantastic and I hope this trend continues for the rest of the year. So I’m gonna use this post (and continue to add to it as I finish books) to talk about the things I’ve read. It could be annoying. I could give up on it really soon. People might not read this at all. It’s okay! It’s my blog I’ll use it how I want and I want to talk about books I otherwise don’t really have a place to talk about them.

The Shape of Water - Guillermo Del Toro & Daniel Kraus

If you know me irl you’ll know that I love this movie. Like, it’s probably my favorite movie as an adult. I love watching a movie and then going back and reading the book to compare and vice versa, but knowing that the book came out after the movie did discourage me at first, making me think it was nothing more than a cash grab. Though I was talking to (my boss) who also loves this movie and is a huge bibliophile and she highly recommended the book, so I figured I’d give it a stab.

The writing style is beautiful and enticing and overall I was impressed with the quality of it. It’s fast paced and switches perspective between characters frequently, though remains easy to follow. The book focuses a little less on Elisa and more on the other characters and stories around her, including, surprisingly, Elaine Strickland, who despite never wondering much about during the movie, I enjoyed being included in the book. There’s a deeper exploration into pretty much everyone’s backstories, and more prominent character development. It’s excellent as a standalone piece, and supplementary to readers who have seen the movie. There’s also some alternative takes on certain scenes, which I don’t necessarily like better or worse than the choices made in the movie, but it makes for an interesting read.

The book explores themes of alienation and being othered, with a main cast that breaks the stereotype of straight white fully-abled male. Elisa is a mute woman, Zelda, a black woman, and Giles a gay man. With the political climate of the 1950′s, all of them are outsiders and all of them find solidarity in each other, despite their unique struggles, and also with the creature.

The only thing I didn’t quite like was the portrayal of the creature. I think greater efforts were put into making him more godlike and otherworldly, but also, simultaneously, he comes off as much more like a wild animal in the book, and the latter came off as strange to me, and not in the way I like it. Overall, even if the movie didn’t exist and I only read this, I’d still think it was a really good story.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate - Becky Chambers

If I depended on the synopsis on the back of the book to decide whether or not I wanted to read this, I don’t know if I would have bothered. To be honest, I only wanted to read this because Becky Chambers is my current favorite author and all other of her works I’ve read I’ve absolutely adored, so naturally, I wanted to give this one a chance, even if the concept wasn’t as riveting as I would have hoped.

She didn’t disappoint.

Whereas her other books take place in a vast space civilization where humanity is integrated with aliens and there’s technology beyond our dreams, this book took place in a different creative universe, a little more closer to our timeline. The book is about space exploration for the sake of learning and taking care to be as least intrusive on the explored worlds as possible. It’s a nice break from what I usually see in sci fi, with colonization and owning space and wanting to use knowledge in order to hurt others. It follows a research crew of four, sent to research four planets in a far solar system. There’s a lag in travel time, since FTL travel had not been discovered yet, so a common device is communication with Earth is off by years. Eventually, the crew realizes they have lost contact with Earth and Earth had likely suffered some sort of devastation. It wonders if Earth has forgotten them or if it’s even worth it to return since they might be the last astronauts of their time.

The worlds they visit and research are unique and vivid and fill me with wonder. They’re realistic to the point where I found myself questioning if the book was prophetic. Chambers makes effort to incorporate science into her novels, but in a way that does not estrange a reader like me who only has a basic knowledge in science. It’s one of the things I find most attractive about her work, because it has this added realism and this feeling of “wow, this really could happen” and yet remains easy to follow.

I found the crew to be likeable and diverse. Three of them are in a relationship with each other, and while polyamory isn’t usually an interest of mine, it’s in the background as well as it’s never used as a point to cause drama. It’s a healthy functional relationship. Also, one of the crew is a trans man and another is asexual, both details that exist within a single line, but yet important to be included to flesh out the characters.

What I didn’t like was the almost rush to the end of the book. It’s a short book, roughly 100 pages, but it seems to me as if it reaches it’s climax and then the book just ends and it kind of feels like it’s still in the middle of things. I’ve had time to think about it, though, and I’ve considered that maybe anything else written would have been redundant or just filler and therefore not needed. So in that case, that’s fair. It still felt a little abrupt to me, but that’s what fic is for.

Overall, if you haven’t read anything by Becky Chambers you need to change that immediately. Please don’t leave me alone and fanning over this incredible author!!

All Systems Red - Martha Wells

This was another short one, and in fact, I read it entirely in one sitting. The concept of the book was really intriguing, and actually I selected it because I liked the opening line so much. I have a lot of feelings about AI and robots, so this was a naturally alluring story to me. Mixed with the fact that the beefed out security robot, who calls themselves “Murderbot”, was absolutely obsessed with soap opera tv just absolutely gets me!

The story is told through Murderbot’s perspective, who is assigned to guard a research team. They had recently hacked their government module, which now allows them full autonomy and no longer having to obey orders from their assigned humans. It’s interesting to see Murderbot actively choose to help the humans. Also, needing to maintain an illusion that they aren’t unshackled, since what they did was forbidden.

The research team is full of interesting characters, who I find tragically under explored. The only couple in the story is wlw, which I vastly appreciated, along with they obviously cared and loved each other and their relationship was not used for drama purposes. In favor of the lack of development with the cast of characters, since the narrator is Murderbot and part of Murderbot’s personality is they are actively trying not to care about these humans, it does make sense. Still, I would have loved to see more of the crew and more development between Murderbot and them.

I like the dark lore that is hinted behind Murderbot’s existence. There’s organic counterparts to their machine made from cloned humans. It’s creepy and morbid, but a lot is with the lore of the universe that the story takes place in. There’s hints towards a heavy capitalist society in space where the humans and Murderbot came from, where the right price will get you anything, regardless of morals. The overall tone of the story is very quirky, but it needs to be to offset just how dark everything that happens actually is. The book explores the concept of corporate greed, from the existence of Murderbot to the deaths that come to humans on the planet the crew is studying.

This book was deeply fascinating, but I didn’t love the way it was written. I love every concept and choice made, but I didn’t love the execution. It left me wanting without satisfaction. It’s not a bad book and I still over all enjoyed it. It is part of a series, which I did not realize at the time of reading it, but the ending leaves room for more to be written, so maybe in the following books there will be the development I desired. However, the ending of the book leaves it apparent that Murderbot will not be interacting with the same characters of the first, but that is just an assumption and I could be wrong. I’m not sure yet if I will read more in the series but I’m not entirely opposed to it.

All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders

This is another one that I definitely would not have read if I had to choose based on the synopsis alone. The synopsis made it sound so run-of-the-mill star-crossed-lovers, which, hey, maybe that actually helps sell the book because its a pretty well loved trope, but for me it was off-putting, as well as isn’t fair to what the book actually turned out to be. But that’s what reviews are for, and I found this book from some sort of list, I think it was best sci-fi books written by women.

The general idea of the book is a witch and a techie fall in love while the world is falling apart due to a conflict between magic and technology. The book is lauded for bending genre and honestly, it fucking has. It’s as equally a sci-fi novel as it is a fantasy novel. There’s advanced technology, such as robots, two second time machines, rocket ships, and ultimately, a portal leading to a different universe in hopes of escaping the destruction of earth. On the magic side, there’s a connection to nature, rules that have to be abided, quirky witches and magicians and mystique. Both Laurence and Patricia are outsiders that have seemingly found these secret niches in the world that becomes their own.

Both plots are interesting in their own, and could possibly exist as two separate books, but what ties the entire story together is the connection Laurence and Patricia have, and their ultimate romance.

The romance is a wonderful slow burn, from childhood friends, to adult friends to lovers. By the time Patricia and Laurence finally get together, you really fucking want them to. They weave in and out of each other’s lives throughout their own personal plots. There’s tensions and there’s release. And most importantly, they have lives outside of each other. Their romance compliments the story, rather than the story being entirely about romance.

Similar to the former review, there’s a lot of quirkiness in the story, that ultimately offsets how dark the story can be. The story doesn’t shy away from complicated relationships with parents and siblings and friends and other people, people of mixed ages and backgrounds. It explores abuse, bullying, natural disaster and loss. The story would have been miserable and a drag to read without the whimsical qualities of it. Plus it’s a fantasy/sci-fi, so it should have some quirkiness to it! And it made for a very enjoyable read!

My criticism for this one is, yet again, the ending. The conflict resolves and the story comes to an end. In favor of how it was written, the way things resolve, I believe the world is about to go through a grand change. While the story is quirky, I think it would have been too corny to have had a glittery magical wave drag across the land, altering the world as it went. So, it’s fair, I guess, that the author chose to end it where she did. Still, it left me craving more. Maybe because the story was so good and I wasn’t yet ready to let it go.

Also, as a side note, the author is a trans woman. So if you’re looking for books written by trans authors to support, put this at the top of your list.

#book review 2020 #the shape of water #to be taught if fortunate #All systems red #all the birds in the sky #idk how to write about books and these are only partial reviews/reccomendations so sorry if it sucks #also I plan on adding to this post so better blacklist it now #feel free to recommend things

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storythievesheadcanons · 4 years

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Both for the fic thing but I was thinking for story thieves or rom

Okay, for ROM, as far as I know there’s only one and it’s the one I wrote: Destiny - it’s a Ria (Rachel x Jia) fluff fic I wrote, though it’s just a one shot. (Definitely wanna write more for them, though!)

As for Story Thieves fics I wrote, they’re all on AO3, but I’ll link them here for easier access:

Everything About You Is Just Terrible - Set between Stolen Chapters and Secret Origins. Tired of constantly messing up, Owen gets a SQUIP from the Be More Chill book in order to fix himself. (While knowledge of the book/musical is recommended, it’s not needed to read the fic.) One shot. No ships. Focuses on Owen/Bethany friendship. Warnings for angst.

The Flesh Will Have Its Way - Inspired by Hadestown/the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. One shot. Kielany. Warnings for character death and implied suicide.

Story Borrowers - A Borrowers Au of Story Thieves. It’s best to know The Borrowers by Mary Norton, or the movie The Secret World of Arietty to know what Borrowers are. Ongoing series. Only one story so far since I’m still working on the second part. No warnings for the story I currently have out, but there may be angst in future stories. I don’t plan for this series to be very ship focused.

Dreams Are Sweet Until They’re Not - A Hanahaki fic where Gwen develops the Hanahaki disease. Mostly a one shot, but I wrote three separate endings because I couldn’t decide how I wanted it to end (I’m planning on rewriting the second ending though, that one was rushed). Mostly Kielany/Gwethany. Focuses on Owen/Gwen friendship. Warnings for a lot of angst.

A Tiny Problem - After a battle with a new villain in Jupiter City, Orion is shrunk down to 4 inches tall. 11 chapters and finished. No ships (unless you want to count Christian x Catherine, but even then their romance is barely there). Focuses on Orion bonding with the Sandersons. Warnings for some angst.

Speaking of Tiny!Orion, I loved the idea so much that I also make other Tiny!Orion fics that don’t fit into the main story for reasons. Read them here! (Plus more to come in the future!)

Riley High School - A high school Au of Story Thieves. Ongoing series. Current canon ship: Kwethany (Gwen x Bethany x Kiel). Focuses more on friendship and interactions between the main seven, though (Kara is joining their group in sophomore year. Sorry to Kara fans who have to wait for her, this includes myself lol). No major warnings, as it’s mostly Slice of Life (there is angst, but I wouldn’t say it’s that bad).

Want a laugh? Here’s a story where I just put chapters of the High School Au through 10+ languages on Google Translate then put them back to English to see the result.

Big Brother - An Au where Orion joins Christian and Catherine in the nonfictional world and gets to be Bethany’s older brother. Ongoing (only 1 chapter up right now). No ships, focuses on Orion/Bethany sibling relationship. Currently no warnings for angst, but no guarantees for the future chapters :)

School Day - Part of a project I did with friends where we wrote about the Story Thieves kids but they’re young children. One shot. No ships. Focuses entirely on Bethany. Warnings for angst (isolation, loneliness, all that good stuff I projected onto her :D)

And I have so many ideas for more! I just have to stop daydreaming and actually start writing them lol

And here are fic recs I have, most of them from my friends! (Most of these links are AO3 links since that’s where I primarily read my fics):

Baby Story Thieves - This is the project I mentioned earlier that I did with my friends. It’s still ongoing, as we still have to finish the other kids’ stories, but aside from mine, we also have a story with young Kiel and Charm, and a story with young Orion. The Kiel and Charm one has some angst, but not too much, it’s more humorous if anything. The Orion one is very angsty. Warnings for character death. No ship focuses in any of these.

Story Thieves: Crashing Clouds - A free verse poem where Owen gets hurt and lands in the hospital. One shot. No ships, focuses on Bethany/Owen/Kiel friendship. Warnings for angst.

I’m Not Scared, Neither Are the Stars - Orion’s feelings after finding out that Christian and Catherine are engaged. One shot. No ships (unless you count the very background Christian x Catherine). Orion focused, along with Orion/OC friendship. Warnings for some angst, but not too much.

Left Behind - What happens to Moira after Stolen Chapters. Ongoing (currently 4 chapters). No ships. Moira focused. Only warnings for some swearing, but there’s nothing really needing warnings outside of that.

Reality Check - I’m pretty sure this is the most popular fic in our small fandom, but I’m recommending it anyway. Au where between Secret Origins and Pick the Plot, Nobody successfully split Bethany in two, and how the events play out instead. Ongoing (currently 54 chapters). Contains Kielany, Gwethany, Kowen, and Chowen, though most of the focus is on Kielany and Kowen. Warnings foR SO MUCH ANGST ESPECIALLY IN LATER CHAPTERS TO THE POINT I TOLD THE AUTHOR SHE LOST HER BONE PRIVILEGES SHES HURT ME TOO MUCH IN THIS FIC

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) - by the same author above. A cute neighbors/high school Au. Ongoing (currently 4 chapters). Kowen fic. Currently no angst (or at least not much) but it does seem to imply emotional abuse with Kara. Not to mention this is from the author of Reality Check and I have trust issues with her because of that fic, so this could get a lot angstier, though she claims she doesn’t plan for it, but also idk.

Halloween Thieves - A cute story about the Story Thieves gang and Halloween. One shot. No ships, focuses entirely on their friendships. No warnings.

you are my home - Set during the end of Stolen Chapters with Kiel and Bethany saying goodbye to each other. One shot. Kielany focused. No warnings.

Nobody the drag queen - Crackfic Au thing where Nobody is a drag queen with mannequin friends. Don’t take it too seriously. Finished(?) two chapters. Second chapter focuses on Nobody x Everybody (if you don’t understand you really shouldn’t. I’ve contributed to this ship and even I don’t fully understand it). Warnings for the usual ridiculousness of a crackfic.

Kowen Secret Kiss Choice - A “hidden” chapter of Pick the Plot where Owen and Kara kiss. One shot. Kowen focused. No warnings.

Pink Lotuses and Cornflowers Blues - A story about Kara and Kiel’s friendship. Involves a lot of flower symbolism. One shot. No ships, focuses on Kara/Kiel friendship, with a bit of Orion with them towards the end. Warnings for angst from Kara’s end, but mostly nightmares.

Home - Gwen and Bethany find home in each other. One shot. Gwethany focused. No warnings.

Souls of the Fictional - Soulmate Au where your soulmate’s first words to you are written on your arm. Owen realizes who his soulmate is the moment he reads the first page of the first Kiel Gnomenfoot book. Ongoing (currently 1 chapter). Gnowen focused. No warnings so far.

The Next Battle - Five years later, the seven have to work together again after finding out that Fowen, Dolores, and the Countess escaped the Time Prison. Ongoing (currently 3 chapters). According to the author, the story will have Kowen, Chowen, Kielany, and Gwethany, though currently Chowen and Kielany are canon. No warnings so far, but I can’t say for sure for the rest of the story.

There’s definitely more fics out there, some I’ve read and others I haven’t, but in my opinion, these are definitely ones to read! (Plus this list is already long enough lol.)

(I already put so many links, so if you guys want to be tagged on your tumblr blogs, let me know and I’ll edit this!)

#asks #anonymous #not headcanons #recs #mod: imma use that tag now for book/fic recs lol

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wallstagram · 5 years

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june - july fic rec: month(s) in review

hello & welcome back to the june - july edition of fic rec: month(s) in review! we have a L O T to unpack this time, so let’s dive right in! throughout june & july, we have been blessed with the majority of @larryabroad, as well as the bulk of @hlsummerexchange2019, all of @wordplayfics, wanker’s day fic fest, and many more that i’m probably forgetting. summer was a great time to be a fic reader for sure, thank you to every author who contributed!!

**disclaimer: not all of these fics were written in june/july, it is simply when i read them. however, a lot of them were. ***note: as always, if you do take my recommendation and read any of these works, please bookmark, comment, and leave kudos for these authors!! it is so important that we support the creators in our community. as an author, i know a sweet comment will often spur me to keep writing when i’m stuck. but, without further ado, here’s my recs below the cut!

J U N E : :

You Were Made To Be Mine by lovelarry10 (@chloehl10)

Louis Tomlinson takes his 6 year old son Jacob to see Harry Styles in concert. Jacob has been a huge fan of Harry's for as long as he can remember, so it's a dream come true when Harry notices him in the pit. But Jacob isn't all that Harry has his eye on...

Louis is a bit embarrassed when Harry picks on him from the stage, but when he's invited backstage after the show, he wonders what Harry Styles could possibly want with a single dad and his kid from Manchester...

This was such a cute read! At a whopping 580k, there is a LOT to sink your teeth into. Though I started it at the beginning of June, I haven’t even nearly finished yet, but it’s so good that it’s made it onto my rec list!

Get Off and Vote by haztobegood (@haztobegood)

Niall lets out a loud laugh, “Hey, listen to this. You know how elections are Tuesday? It says the Babeland on the edge of campus is giving out free toys to the first 100 people that show their ‘I Voted’ sticker.”

“How patriotic.” Louis laughs. “Maybe I should go.”

Haha! This one was great. At 3k, it’s a perfect quick read for some sexy, patriotic fun.

Surprise Me, Space Boy by jacaranda_bloom (@jacaranda-bloom)

Louis is a solo officer on Space Station Zeta and the isolation can present many challenges, not least of which is that it’s really bloody hard to date. He’s pinning his hopes on that changing with a fellow solo officer, Harry, from a neigbouring station who gives great banter and has a gorgeous smile. Maybe online dating has its benefits after all?

OR The Space Wank Fic.

Oh, this one was so good!!! The thing I love about literally anything Dee writes is that she just thinks completely outside the box. I feel like I never quite know what’s going to happen (in the best way!) and her originality totally made this fic amazing. (7k)

rivers ‘til i reach you by embodied (@crossnecklace)

Louis can’t begin to understand how he’s always this close and still can’t manage to make Harry his. He stands up and gets another beer. AU. Louis studies astronomy; Harry studies Louis. They spend their summers on the water and it shouldn't be complicated (spoiler: it is).

This was such a good read! It’s written in such a way that you’re utterly sucked into the verse so much that you’re a bit sappy when the fic is over. Kinda makes you feel a bit lovedrunk just from reading it. (29k)

Found My Hallelujah by crimsontheory (@ireallysawanangel)

As an engagement gift from his parents, Harry and his fiance receive an all expenses paid cruise trip for two. But one week before they're set to sail, Harry walks in on his fiance cheating on him. Newly single, with the cruise tickets in hand, and his bags already packed, Harry brings along his sister instead. And maybe the cute bartender on the ship might just be the person Harry needs to help him put back together all of his broken pieces.

I have so much to say about this one! I had the absolute honor of beta’ing this 35k work (which im pretty sure i just cheerlead you bc nicole you know grammar isn’t my strong suit...lmfao) and honestly it has become a fic that i love so much! nicole is such a talented writer; everything she writes just brings out so much emotion from her audience, and she has such a great sense of characterization! if you liked this one, check out its sequel, Now I’m Moving Up because it’s great too!!!!

J U L Y : :

Whisk me off my feet by allwaswell16 (@allwaswell16)

When Louis locks himself out of his apartment in just a pair of novelty underwear, he hopes his new neighbor can come to his rescue.

Haha! This one was so cute! What a darling fic! (5k)

The Charles Compass Trilogy by SadaVeniren (@sadaveniren)

Louis Tomlinson is a successful writer who rents a beach house on the Cape to try and finish the final book in his successful Charles Compass trilogy.

So I’m convinced that any rec list I make will not be complete if Sada isn’t on it. Here’s the thing - I fell in love with this story before she was revealed as the author, and honestly I had no clue. She’s got this amazing way of being able to change her style to fit the kind of story she’s trying to tell. This is such a good look at the writing process, highly recommend! (9k)

From The Heart series by jacaranda_bloom (@jacaranda-bloom)

Every Tuesday, Louis spends his day off holed up in his favorite coffee-come-bookshop, writing his little stories as part of the WordPlay challenge while daydreaming about the resident barista, Harry. Each week a new word prompt is revealed and Louis adds to his series of short stories about Henry, the owner of a B&B in the Cotswolds who has curly hair and dimples, Lewis, his long term guest who just happens to be a writer, and Tigger, Henry’s cat.

As Louis and Harry’s friendship develops, could his fantasy world spill out into real life? And how does that reader who leaves the lovely comments with the teacup emoji seem to be able to read Louis’ mind?

Okay, Dee really killed the game this time. Because I was OBSESSED. I mean honestly checking my phone at work to see what the newest installment was. This series is so fulfilling and so so hot to think about as an author! (25k)

blue eyes, black jeans, lighters, candy by delsicle (@emperorstyles)

Harry is in Madrid and Louis had a hard week.

So, the whole dom on tour series is really good, but this is my favorite work of the two. I love basically anything Delaney writes but this was extremely hot! (4k)

Could you love me anyway by SadaVeniren (@sadaveniren)

Dear Mistress Lorin: I’ve been reading your blog for a couple weeks now and was hoping you’d give me some advice for something that happened with me and my boyfriend. I’m really worried that I hurt him.

aka Harry and Louis begin playing ping pong during the X-Factor Tour. It quickly gets out of hand.

Okay. If you know me at all, you know that the way to my heart is either spanking, kink negotiation, or both. This just delivers on it all, and it catches on some main parts of BDSM-for-newbies and kink-gone-wrong that people often pretend never happens. I could gush so much about this, but go ahead and just read it yourself because it’s too good to miss!! (13k)

you are half of me (and I am all for you) by angelichl (@angelichl)

One Direction, an obscure indie rock band, is about to embark on their first cross-country tour, living out of Louis' beloved van named Patricia.

Harry is in love, and Louis is oblivious. Or is he?

Featuring skinny-dipping in Texas waterfalls, getting lost in the desert, stargazing under the New Mexico sky, performing in front of crowds that grow in size each night, and falling in love on the road during the greatest summer of their lives.

Okay WOW. I have so much to say about this one!!! So first off, the biggest thank you to adri for writing this fic for me for HL Summer Exchange!!! Honestly I feel like you spied through all my hopes and dreams and loves (including parenthesis in fic titles??? love it) and squished it all into this fic. it’s just the best fic, and it feels like warm summer air and tracing constellations in the stars and falling in love. if you haven’t read this already, please do!!!! It was so good I teared up when I first read it! (25k)

Heading for Limbo by kingsofeverything (fullonlarrie) (@kingsofeverything)

Childhood best friends who’ve fallen in and out of touch with each other since Louis’ family moved away when they were thirteen, Harry and Louis find their paths crossing again and again. Each time, no matter how many miles apart or how many years it’s been, it’s as if no time has passed. They fall back into their easy friendship, until life intervenes and sends them on their separate ways once more.

When Harry discovers some life-changing things about himself, Louis is there for him, however he needs. But it’s all temporary because Louis has plans that will move his life from New York all the way to L.A. and the distance isn’t the only thing between them.

The pieces of their twice broken hearts are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Okay. Okay. This fic literally is one I will remember for the rest of my life, and i’m not even being dramatic about it! So, I really do enjoy leaving authors detailed comments about their fics, but that just wasn’t enough... I really had to message Lauren this whole essay about how Heading for Limbo helped me deal with a lot of emotions I was feeling in my own personal life, and it helped me fully realize that i’m bisexual. (did i just come out?? yikes) it was nice to see a fic where things weren’t perfect over a long stretch of time. It was amazing to see Harry realize his sexuality later in life, because that was one of my main struggles. this fic is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Literally, Lauren, thanks for changing my whole life!!! (101k)

Tell Me This Is Paradise by QuickedWeen (@becomeawendybird)

Harry Styles has been lucky in love but unlucky in the bedroom with all of her previous boyfriends. When her best friend Niall finds out that she's never had an orgasm, she knows just what Harry needs: Louis Tomlinson. Niall sets Harry up to get sorted out.

Okay, if you’re new around here, this fic was also on one of my previous rec lists, but then Molly had to ruin my life and write another chapter of it. Jesus Christ!!!! I literally could read this fic every single day and die happily. It’s so hot, and the characterization is so good. So, I guess this rec is specifically for chaper 2, but you’ve gotta read chapter 1 also! For the betterment of your life, of course. (9k)

Abstract by Star55 (@star55)

After Zayn draws a naked Harry for her art class, she finds that she can't stop drawing Harry and Louis' naked bodies, usually engaged in some form of sexual activity.

Literally - this was hot as balls. Loved it! (8k)

alright guys, that’s it! if you read all the way to the bottom, you deserve a sticker. i hope you guys enjoy some of my favorite fics i’ve read! don’t forget to go bookmark, comment, and give kudos! and just remember: we are all human. if you read a work, and loved it, and didn’t comment, it’s never too late! give your author some loooooooove. my life has been super busy and i really haven’t been in the place to leave the thought-out comments i like to, so most of these authors can expect comments from me soon. thank you to all the authors listed above, have a nice day everyone! also, feel free to send your favorite fics into my ask - maybe they’ll end up on my next list!!!

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devil-may-write · 5 years

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Day off [Fic, DMC, One-shot.]

I've had the word "writer" on my blog description for a while now so I figured that I'd start sharing some of the things I've written for once :> I originally posted this on ao3 and ff.net as the second chapter of a series comprised of fan-servicey oneshots that I intended to be 90% lighthearted. Looking back, I realized that this and the first chapter were haphazardly written, so I decided to retouch them and went for this one first as I felt that it was the one that shamed my Creative Writing teacher the most :--( The title's also kinda meh as I never really intended for each chapter to have a title hnnggg

I took a reaaaally (*cough* years *cough*) long hiatus from creative writing for personal reasons so there's obviously quite a lot of rust for me to shake off :--( Granted, I do think that this was a marked improvement from its original version and I know that the only way to get my groove back is to keep writing, so write I shall. Oh and I edited this meticulously but I still have a habit of missing small errors so I'm sorry if you still find any ;_; I'm just a headass ;_;

If anything, I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it :--)

-----------

The Orphanage was as quiet as a mouse today. Kyrie had taken the kids out to the zoo, caving into their demands after weeks and weeks of begging. Meanwhile, Nero and Nico took another job, leaving without so much as a whisper. With mentions of illegal devil arms being sold out on the streets, it seemed that the up-and-coming devil hunter wouldn’t be back for some time.

For Vergil, it was a rare moment of solace. With all his housemates out for the day, the older Son of Sparda took the opportunity to read and meditate on his poetry in peace. While he didn't necessarily despise companionship, he was unable to lie to himself and say that all the wild antics his companions kept getting themselves into didn't disturb him. As someone who was used to being alone, he enjoyed the solitude; it gave him time to be alone with his thoughts for he certainly couldn’t do so when the children kept asking him to "do the thing" with Yamato again.

Everything was proceeding according to plan. As he was busy soaking up William Blake in the living room with the refreshing sounds of silence in the backdrop, he was starting to think that perhaps this was going to be one of those rare, peaceful, uneventful days.

Until he heard someone ring the doorbell.

Vergil was many things, but impolite wasn't (mostly) one of them. With great reluctance, he slammed his poetry book shut and moved to see who his unexpected visitor was.

The local couriers had already finished delivering the latest batch of newspapers around Fortuna, and neither Kyrie nor his son were expecting any packages to be delivered today. He had encountered what the humans called "girl scouts" at one point, but they fled in fear when he demanded to know which master they served, furthering his suspicion that they were simply demons donning the guise of little girls in order to get closer to their prey. Perhaps they had returned to exact their revenge. If that was the case, then it was fitting that the children weren't present today. He could go all out without worrying about major collateral damage.

However, what greeted him when he opened the door was worse than any demon.

"Heya, 'Verg!”

It was Dante. His brother; his arch-nemesis. The smell of pizza, alcohol, and broken dreams oozed from his unwashed coat and shaggy hair, while his face wore the same shit-eating grin that haunted Vergil in his deepest, darkest nightmares. After what happened in Redgrave city, they were mostly on better terms with each other, but his little brother’s wild shenanigans and extroverted demeanor still annoyed Vergil to no end. He was like a 12-year-old child living in a 40-something man's body.

His reaction was immediate and decisive: he slammed the door shut in his face.

Vergil was about to turn around and return to his poetry when the doorbell rang again. And again, and again, and again. The utter buffoon was mashing the doorbell. To his annoyance, his younger twin brother was nothing but persistent. He didn't know why he was here, or what he wanted from him, but he decided that he'd rather get it over with as soon as possible so that he could return to his peace and quiet. The sooner he was gone, the better.

“What?!” Vergil threw the door open, almost causing his brother to get knocked off his feet.

"Really, Vergil? Really?" The devil hunter regained his balance. "Is that any way to greet your brother?"

"No, but it is how I greet pests who interrupt my peace and quiet." Vergil seethed. "Why have you come here, little brother?"

"I wanted to hang out with my big bro.” Grinning, he held up a plastic bag. “I even brought snacks."

Vergil observed that the bag his little brother carried was full of goodies: junk food, and bottles of what he assumed to be alcohol, all of which were most likely stolen from a nearby convenience store considering Dante's current financial status. He wouldn't be the least bit surprised if law enforcement would arrive to raid the orphanage later.

"Then I am afraid that your journey was in vain, brother," he said. "For I am currently not in the mood to entertain any guests on this wonderful, peaceful morning, especially not ones as disruptive as you."

Vergil closed the door again, this time a little slower. Halfway through, Dante suddenly stopped it with his foot.

"Come on, Vergil." He pleaded. "I came all this way just to hang with ya!"

"Then our souls are once again at odds, Dante!"

The older sibling pulled on the door with as much strength as he could muster, but his little brother had the same idea. They were locked in a battle of wills, with one side refusing to give way to the other.

Just like always.

"I don't have any new jobs today and Nero told me that the kids weren't around!" Dante responded. "When was the last time we sat down and talked or laughed over our jokes, or just drank some orange juice?"

Vergil made a mental note to hit his son the next they met. The fool, his own flesh and blood, had inadvertently betrayed him.

"And can you please just open the door?” the younger sibling yelled. “My goddamn foot hurts!"

Vergil fully intended on making him suffer, but relented and complied with his request.

"The last time we sat down and talked was when we were children," he said with a stern, as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "And if my memory is correct, it ended with both of us having a fistfight outside of the house."

"Oh yeah." Dante gave his big brother a friendly tap on the chest. "That was definitely your fault, though. I was supposed to get that last slice of cake."

Vergil glared in response.

"Okay, okay, fine.” The younger sibling threw his arms up in exasperation. “The point I'm trying to make is that you were gone for a long ass time and since we're not trying to off each other anymore like we used to, I figured that it'd be the perfect time to start acting more like normal siblings, you know?"

"And how certain are you that I won't sever your head when your attention is elsewhere, little brother?"

Awkward silence suddenly fell on both parties like a bomb had been dropped between them. The wind howled, as if waiting impatiently for Vergil to drop the punchline to his joke, but none came.

“T-t-that was a joke, right?” The devil hunter stammered.

"Yes.” Vergil nodded. “That was my attempt at humor."

"You should really work on your jokes."

"Perhaps I should."

"So are ya”-Dante clicked his tongue-“gonna let me in or not?"

Vergil sighed. Deep down, he knew that should he refuse, Dante would pester him until he gave in. Perhaps he was a 12-year-old child stuck in an old man's body. Either way, his hopes of having an entire day all to himself would be ruined, and he supposed that there were worse things that could happen today that didn't involve his dear little brother.

"Very well.” Vergil stepped aside, allowing his brother passage. “Make yourself at home."

Dante gladly accepted the offer. Unbeknownst to his big bro, however, he had ulterior motives today.

While he wasn’t lying when he said that he wanted to spend time with Vergil, there was one question that was always on the devil hunter’s mind: who was Nero’s mother? It was a topic he always brought up whenever he could, but it was also one that Vergil loved avoiding. Every time their past conversations would lead to that, the older twin shot it down faster than a bullet, mostly by changing the topic. Call him an insipid gossip, but his big brother’s peculiar reactions only threw more gasoline into the unquenchable blaze that was his curiosity. He wasn’t even close to getting him to confide his secret, but today was going to be different; Dante felt it in his old, aching bones. He had the entire day to find a hole in his bro’s armor. Plus, this time he brought a secret weapon: alcohol.

Walking into the living room, he wasted no time in picking a spot on the couch to plop down on, with Vergil following suit. The older twin made another mental note to ask Kyrie to give the couch a proper scrubbing when she arrives home later; it would be unfortunate if any of the little ones would sit on the spot his brother infected with his filth.

The younger twin promptly opened a fresh bag of junk food from his loot bag. As he devoured his prize with loud, disruptive crunches, his older brother could already tell that he was going to regret this decision.

“Want some?” He held out the bag to his brother.

Vergil was perplexed by the illustration of a large, triangular object that was displayed on the front side. He had heard of this 'junk food', but was never able to try any on account of Kyrie's insistence on keeping them away from the orphans.

Dante noticed his big bro’s quizzical expression.

"You haven't seen a bag of Doritos before?" he asked.

“My son often keeps these junk foods away from the children at Kyrie’s behest." Vergil answered. “I have seen him eat in secret, but I did not have any interest in asking for any.”

"Go on." His little brother urged, shaking the bag for good measure. "It won't hurt to give it a try."

Vergil hesitated at first, but slowly placed his hand in the bag and fished out a single Dorito, nibbling on the piece as a way of testing the waters. The moment it made contact with his tongue, Vergil felt as if a wave of colors washed over his mouth, painting his grey and colorless palettes with a captivating myriad of bright colors. It was the first time he had tasted such a thing and already his taste buds were in ecstasy from finally being given the honor to behold this hallowed object.

"Good, right?" Dante asked

"Indeed." Vergil chewed. "I am in awe at how exquisite this 'Doritos' tastes. May I have some more?"

The devil hunter tossed his big brother an unopened bag of Doritos, which he caught effortlessly and wasted no time in tearing open like a starving wolf descending upon an unsuspecting deer in the wilderness.

“See, isn’t this just perfect?” He moved closer to his brother, reaching out to casually place his arm on his shoulder. “The sons of Sparda, finally not trying to kill each other, just chillin’ like two normal dudes.”

“No.” Vergil slapped his arm way. “You are an eyesore. To add to that, you smell like the corpse of an animal who has been left in a garbage bin for too long.”

”I don’t smell that bad, do I?” Dante sniffed at his own coat. “Nah, you’re exaggerating. I took a shower before leaving.”

“In the sewers, perhaps.” Vergil scoffed.

Ignoring his brother’s scalding remarks, Dante scanned his nephew's living room. It was a little messy, but that was expected when you were living with a gaggle of children. To her credit, Kyrie was clearly doing her best to make the place look as spotless as possible despite the circumstances.

His attention fell on a framed picture of Nero, Kyrie, and his brother, taken in what he surmised to be the wreckage of one of the old Hell Gates during his run-in with Sanctus and his insane doomsday cult. From the looks of it, it seemed that the new governing body that replaced the Order of the Sword had converted it into a tourist site, almost as if they conveniently forgot that it was responsible for the deaths of thousands and cost the city millions in damages after it unleashed a horde demons on them.

"I see that the photo has caught your attention.” Vergil said between bites "That was taken last week when Kyrie insisted that they bring me along for shopping."

"How’d it go?"

"Horrible." Vergil answered bluntly. "I wanted to use the Yamato to procure a piece of jewelry that Kyrie could not afford, but Nero punched me with such strength that I was knocked out."

Dante bit back a laugh.

“He does have a mean right hook, I’ll give ya that,” he said. “Say, did they really turn what’s left of the Hell Gates into tourist sites?”

“It appears so.” Vergil answered. “They have become quite the popular destination here in Fortuna. Nero tells me that what happened in Redgrave caused demon-related phenomena to become quite popular, especially on what young people call ‘social media’.”

“Facebook, huh?” Dante walked over to the photo, examining it further. “I never really liked using it. Kyrie tried to make me an account once, but the first thing I clicked on was a link to a virus or whatever and it crashed Nero’s PC.”

“Then we share the same sentiment.” Vergil nodded. “All this new-fangled technology and the babble that comes with them confuses me to end. To this day, I still have no idea what a ‘hashtag’ is or how exactly one uses it when they wish to type in a message.

“I remember a time when this hashtag was just a sign used to connote numbers. Now, it is in tags or trending pages. Bah. I will never understand this new generation. They enjoy making simple matters complicated.”

“Simpler times, bro. Simpler times.” His younger brother concurred. “They even have this website where they limit the amount of words you can put on a post. How dumb is that?”

“About as dumb as you are, little brother.”

Stealing a glance at the booze he had smuggled in, Dante decided that now was the perfect time to attack. The ice had been broken. Operation: Nero’s Mom was just given the greenlight to proceed.

“We’re getting old, Vergil.” Dante returned to his seat. “The world’s moving on without us.”

“Perhaps.” Vergil licked off the bits of cheese that were stuck on his fingertips. “If anything, I simply wish to understand what a hashtag is. I cannot rest until I find out how it turns a text blue when it is used.”

”But you know what doesn’t get old?”

His older brother stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to give the answer to his own question.

“Booze,” Dante said.

“Specifically, whiskey.” He held up one of the bottles that he pulled out of the plastic. “I brought more than enough.”

Vergil sighed. He knew exactly what his little brother was suggesting.

“No,” he said without a hint of hesitation. “No drinking.”

“But I can’t help but feel that something’s missing.” He insisted. “My heart says that this moment of brotherly bonding is enough, but my soul yearns for more!”

“Your soul is in dire need of an exorcist, it seems.”

The regret that was creeping up on Vergil was now at a full-blown sprint. He knew not what shenanigans his little brother had in mind but knew enough to predict that, as always, it wouldn’t end well for either of them.

“Little brother, it is far too early for alcohol.” Vergil rubbed his temples. “Unlike you I do not require alcoholic beverages to enjoy my moments of leisure.

“Too early? It’s eleven o’clock!” Dante replied. “C’mon, pull that stick out of your ass, big bro. You gotta live a little!”

“I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than live like you.”

“You know what they say: alcohol is what turns a boring ol’ conversation into a party.” He stood and began to pace around the living room in a dramatic fashion. “How can our souls attune with one another if we don’t take a little drop of alcohol to loosen up?”

“Whoever said that is a fool and you are an even bigger buffoon for quoting such drivel.” Vergil placed the bag of Doritos on the empty spot beside him. “You are free to consume as much alcohol as you wish so long as you clean up, but leave me out of it.

“I’m sure you are well aware of Nero’s temper. Attracting his ire would be unwise.”

“Come on, ‘Verg.” Dante moved closer to his brother, jokingly putting on his best puppy-dog-eyes expression to poke him further. “Just one glass?”

Of course, Dante had been in enough drinking sessions to know that the “just one glass” mantra was a load of crap. “Just one glass” always turned into “Okay, another one but for real this is the last one.” and the cycle repeats ad infinitum. If his gamble paid off today, Vergil would fall into that same vicious cycle, which meant that he’d be more than likely to spill the details about his old flame now that he was a little loosened up or just outright drunk as a skunk. The devil hunter always had shit for luck when it came to gambling, but he legitimately felt that lady luck was on his side today. He was going to bet high and win big.

On the other hand, Vergil recoiled in horror. Terrified, annoyed, disgusted, and angry were just half of the words he’d use to describe his catharsis. Seeing the face his brother was trying to put on was akin to staring into the nebulous maw of the void itself. He wanted to throw-up on the spot, but that would mean amplifying his brother’s already pungent smell of decay, so he opted to hold it in as best as he could despite his feelings of utter disgust at the sight.

His brother’s persistence bothered him greatly; the fool would never stop bothering him about it until he conceded. His presence was already an annoyance as it is, but just as he did not wish to amplify the smell of death by covering him in vomit, he also did not wish to be annoyed even further by his constant bugging. Besides, as he much as he hated to admit, he did miss the feeling of having a drink. He wasn’t a heavy drinker by any means, but he still enjoyed a little alcohol from time to time, and part of him wasn’t opposed to tasting even just a single drop. In a strange, twisted way, Dante was correct: it had been some time since he had a drink.

Perhaps it would be best to humor him for now

“Fine-” Vergil let out a long, deep sigh- “I’ll have a glass, I suppose.”

“Alright!” Dante’s expression brightened. “Does Nero have a bottle opener here somewhere or are we going to use Yamato?”

“Left cupboard.” Vergil replied. “The glasses for drinking are on the right.”

Dante disappeared into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with two glasses of whiskey. Vergil was surprised that he didn’t hear the contents of the cupboard crash into the floor. Taking into account of how much of a buffoon his little brother was, he half-expected him to leave a trail of destruction in the kitchen the likes of which no one has ever seen before.

“Here ya go, big bro.” Plopping back down on the couch, he handed him the other glass. “Fresh from the bottle.”

“How much did you pay for this?” Vergil examined the brown liquid. “I am surprised that someone with such gargantuan debts was able to afford premium alcohol.”

“Hey, the grocery I bought it in was selling it for half-off.” Dante shrugged. “Wanna go ahead and draw first blood?”

“If you insist.”

The older twin started with a small sip. It had been some time since his last taste of alcohol, but the feeling was just as he had remembered: warm, somewhat calming, like something was slowly lifting away the burdens that weighed heavily on his shoulders. Unlike his taste test earlier with the junk food, this was him reconnecting with an old friend, repainting the sections of his palette that were otherwise left neglected through years of disuse.

“Well, well, little brother." He smirked. “Despite your constant buffoonery, it seems that you aren’t completely devoid of intellect.”

“Quality stuff, I know.” Dante took a swig from his share. “It’s expensive as hell, but it’s worth it. Hits you like nothing else on the market.”

“I must concur.” His brother replied. “As much as it pains me to say so, you have fine tastes, brother.

“The last time I tasted alcohol this exquisite was somewhere in the east prior to my visit here in Fortuna all those years ago.”

“This sounds fun.” Dante raised his eyebrows. “Wanna tell me all about it?”

“If I must.” Vergil took another sip from his whiskey. “I would prefer not to, but I presume that I have no say this matter regardless.

"So, it all began when..."

Vergil recounted his tale, with Dante listening intently. As the two brothers were getting lost in their banter about the older twin’s untold experiences, they found themselves drinking more than they intended to, pouring glass after glass after glass. It was a stark contradiction to Vergil’s initial proclamation, who was already on his third refill. Eventually, they started branching out to different topics, which ranged from the mundane to outlandish. This went on longer than they expected, with time wordlessly evaporating in the backdrop.

Dante was beginning to notice that Vergil was a little loose now, to say the least; he was acting less haughty and more candid. He swore that his older sibling was even turning red as a tomato, but he couldn’t tell. After all, he wasn’t one to talk: he was already the feeling the hit of the booze himself. The devil hunter fancied himself to be a pretty decent drinker, but this stuff was no joke. He bought this solely to get the elephant in the room drunk enough to spill his guts out. Vergil didn’t drink as feverously, but he was still going at it more than he probably cared to notice. On certain occasions, he would become lost in thought and start droning on about things outside of the current topic. Hell, he was even starting to smile a little more than usual, which was a weird thing to see from someone whose default facial expression was a frown.

Before they even realized it, the sun was already beginning to set on Fortuna, and their faces were already flushing red from how much they had been drinking up to this point.

“In the end, we lost both the cake and the money.” Finishing his latest tale, Vergil poured himself another round. “It caused quite the ruckus.”

Dante burst out into fits of uncontrollable laughter. His brother wasn't an airhead by any means, but his attempts to reintegrate into modern society always resulted in utter hilarity.

”Don’t sweat it, big bro.” He wiped away a small tear in his eye. “Being a dad’s tough.”

“It is.”

"How is that workin’ out for ya these days?”-The devil hunter gulped down the last of his current round-“Being a dad, I mean.”

Vergil was silent for a moment. He stared off into the distance, combing his brain for a response that seemed distant to him. The older half-demon never really considered himself a ”father”, by any means; Nero would call him dad or pops and he would occasionally refer to him as son but from his perspective, their relationship was more akin to close housemates than family members. It was still an awkward topic for the both of them, to say the least.

Seeing this kind of reaction from his brother was a rarity, but it was a good sign, nonetheless. Lady luck was truly on Tony Redgrave’s side today.

"It is still a very foreign feeling to me." Vergil finally answered. "As always, Nero tries to act like we are a normal family. However, even now I still find it very perplexing that he is my son. He is loud and brash and has no sense of subtlety.

"I wonder why?" He shot his little brother a dirty glare.

"Don't look at me.” Dante shrugged. "The kid was already like that when I first met him. Angry, hot-blooded, always looking for a fight. He punches really hard, too."

"Yes." Vergil nodded. "But at the same time, there is something about that boy that I cannot explain. It's as if there's a part of my soul that resides inside him. I am unable to see it, but I feel it."

“You two couldn’t be any more different, but the kid’s definitely yours, big bro.” He gave his brother a wink. “He even has your eyes.”

Vergil was silent for a moment, as if lost in contemplation. He suddenly found himself feeling wistful. It was odd for him to be this sentimental about a past he barely cared about at the time and as sure as he was that this was simply him being debilitated by the alcohol, he still wasn’t able to stifle these almost alien emotions he was starting to uncover.

He finally said, “Brother, may I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“How did you find my son?”

Dante refilled his glass of whiskey before beginning his tale.

"To be honest? By complete accident," he said. "When Lady tossed me a job about some serious stuff that was goin’ on down here that involved Devil Arms, I sent Trish to infiltrate the Order and get some dirt on 'em before moving in to do business. On the way, I saw this white-haired kid take care of a bunch of demons before going to some ceremony. It was good stuff.

"I barge into the said ceremony and killed the old dude who was running the show. There was obvious panic, a lot of screaming, but I didn't expect him to jump out of the crowd and start attacking me. We had a bit of a tussle, and he beat my face in with that arm of his which, by the way, hit really hard, but I got away. He started chasing me, though. Nero was an angry son of a bitch, so I had to knock some sense it to him more than once but like you said: spirit. I saw a lot of you in him."

Vergil smiled. Perhaps Nero has taken after him more than he initially thought, especially with how much he manhandled his uncle.

"I never even knew I had a son before I departed Fortuna," he said. "In truth, I never expected that one would confront me the way Nero did atop the Qliphoth. Perhaps I wasn't as resistant towards the desires of the flesh as I thought I would be back then."

There it was again. That sullen expression, as if his very soul was plucked from his body by an unseen force. He looked lost in thought, dreaming of someone or something in a distant memory that he could no longer attain.

"Yeah, well even you were young once, big brother.” He patted him on the back. “Don't let it get to ya."

This was it. The path was now open, and Dante wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip his grasp; he was going to ride this sudden burst of good luck all the way to the jackpot.

"Since I answered yours, do you mind if I pop a question of my own?" he asked.

“If you must.”

The devil hunter scooted over towards his brother. Vergil tried to move away, but found himself pressed against the couch’s armrest. His little brother was so close that he feared his coat would melt the moment it touched his on account of all the filth that had most likely accumulated on it from weeks of being unwashed.

“So, who was the lucky lady?” Dante whispered.

Vergil choked on his whiskey. At that moment, he realized his fatal error: he had been droning on so much that he inadvertently opened pandora’s box once more.

“What’s wrong, Vergil?” Dante placed his empty glass on the floor. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Er, I cannot seem to recall.” Vergil crossed his arms. “It did happen a long time ago, after all.”

“Come on, I know you’ve got something for me.” Returning to the photograph, Dante held it up towards his brother. "Who did you hook up with to get this kid?

He stalled by pretending to recall his memories in silence, but he knew that he was starting to run out of time. He needed to think of something right now.

In most cases, Vergil would find a smooth way out of this situation. He would take control over the conversation and shift it towards something else, gradually burying the original topic in a pile of mundane ones until it was laid to rest for the time being. Dante would exhume it in preparation for their next meeting, but the outcome was always the same either way. However, this case was different when one considers the copious amounts of alcohol coursing through his veins that clouded his train of thought. Hijacking the discussion was exactly what he planned on doing right now, but what he had in mind was far from eloquent.

“Before I give my response, allow me to retort with mine." Vergil answered. “What about you, little brother?”

“Excuse me?” Dante blinked.

Vergil’s expression unnerved him. His grin was unsettling, like it was full of malice and scandalous intent.

“Where is your child?” His older brother sneered.

“A kid?” Dante put the photo down and shrugged. “Never had one, never even thought of having one. My job doesn’t really give me time to settle down and raise a little rascal, does it?”

"So, you are surrounded by a gaggle of beautiful women." Vergil continued. "Lady, Nico, and perhaps others you have crossed paths with inside and outside your line of work, and you still have not conceived a worthy heir to our father’s bloodline?”

“I get that." Dante sighed. "But I’m too busy, okay? I’m supposed to be the one protecting the human world or whatever, so a kid’s definitely out of the question.

”I mean hey, we have yours and he already has Kyrie, so the line is saved. There’s no need for another kid.”

“I see, I see.” Vergil nodded. “A fine answer, dear brother, but I believe that you are simply hiding a much, much more different truth that you do not wish to admit.”

"And what would that be?"

“Perhaps the truth is that”-Vergil walked over to his little brother, stopping at an arm’s length away from him.-“You are yet to pop your cherry, so to speak."

With that, lady luck had packed her bags and left for the nearest ferry out of Fortuna. The heat rushed to Dante’s face as he found himself on the receiving end of a topic that he was not keen on discussing, especially with his big brother. He tried to dig up a cool comeback, which was his supposed specialty, but found nothing except the cold, hard realization that his composure was completely broken.

Normally, a shallow, off-handed question like that wouldn’t bother the devil hunter in the slightest, but the booze in his system made it hard for him to think rationally, and he wasn’t just going to let the fact that his brother called him a virgin slide. They were both too drunk to even think about how petty starting an argument over this issue was for men of their age.

“O-o-of course I’ve had sex.” He stammered. “I just don’t have a kid, that’s all!”

Vergil, however, was having none of it and was already consumed by laughter. You didn't this see him this jovial much and, admittedly, in other circumstances, Dante would have felt a small trickle of joy to see his brother this happy. It was rare, like seeing an albino animal in the wild, or a Riot with a stubby tail: there was a sense of wonder that was attached to it; a once in a lifetime find that you'd treasure for the rest of your life.

But right now, all he wanted to do was bash his goddamn face in.

"Oh, dear brother." Vergil was wiping away tears. "Don't tell me that you're incapable of charming a woman?"

“I’ve been on dates before!”

“Then how about satisfying one?” Vergil sneered.

The sight of his little brother becoming flustered pleased him greatly. Dante's face was an even redder shade now as he struggled to mask his embarrassment. Oh the poor fool. Vergil was loving every second of this.

"I see how it is." He gave his brother a hard shove. "You had a one-night stand and got a kid out of it, so now you think you can act all high and mighty, don't ya?”

“Mother always said that I was the more handsome brother.” Unfazed, Vergil retorted. "It appears she was correct."

“We literally have the same face." Dante shot back. "We're twins, dipshit!"

"But I am the more charming sibling." Vergil responded. "With your face and that odor, it is not surprising that women are not attracted to you whatsoever."

"You're delusional." Dante seethed. "Living in the underworld for decades does that to ya."

"And you are in denial, little brother."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Admit it, Dante." Vergil flaunted. "I have inherited our father's charm more than you have, and I am much better at pleasing my partner in bed."

"Are you implying that I'm bad at sex?!"

Dante felt a nerve pop. He wasn't just going to stand here and take this shit from him. The younger brother wanted nothing more than to wipe that his smug expression off his face and make him choke on his words.

"It's not an implication." Vergil locked eyes with his sibling. "It's a fact."

They were both acting like children, but were too drunk on expensive whiskey to care. There, in the living room of the orphanage, a stand-off was taking place. Mirroring what happened atop the Temen-Ni-Gru all those years ago, the sons of Sparda stared each other down, neither willing to give the other ground. The tension was palpable. The silence was deafning, in a way: there was a calm before the storm where one could hear the drop of a pin even if it happened across the street.

Dante conjured his Devil Sword out of thin air. Its blade pulsed in a sickening red glow, signifying that it was ready and able to carry out its wielder's wishes. Seeing nothing but red and the blue hue of his brother's coat, he was determined to make him choke on his words.

The younger son of Sparda raised his weapon and pointed it at his older brother.

"You take that back." He threatened.

Vergil was unfazed and turned to retrieve his own weapon. Yamato was leaning snugly beside the couch, but now it was in its master's hands, unsheathed and poised to cut through whatever Vergil wished to destroy. He didn't intend on using it for the entire day even just for travel, but a change of plans was in order. Holding on to his staunch pride as the eldest sibling, he was determined to teach this insolent little pup a lesson.

"Empty threats mean nothing to me, Dante." Vergil retorted, assuming a battle stance of his own. "But you already knew that."

With the powder now lit, it was only a matter of time before it exploded.

-----------

The Devil May Cry van was steadily rolling down the streets of Fortuna with its proprietors at the helm. Nico took the next right, passing by the pizza place that served as their landmark; they were already a few blocks away from home.

On the front seat, Nero had just finished counting the cash they hauled in from their latest gig. Another day, another devil arms deal busted. This kind of job usually entailed a big fight with someone who knew how to use their new toy (to some degree), but in this case they were lucky that the thugs didn't know how to use their stuff and ended up killing themselves before the fight even started.

"Easiest paycheck ever." He slammed the briefcase shut.

"You bet your ass it was." Nico blew a puff of smoke out the window. "Those dumbasses didn't even know what the hell kinda heat they were packin'!"

"Yeah well, that just means more cash for us." The young devil hunter leaned backwards. "If all the jobs we took went down this smoothly, we'd never have to worry about getting hungry ever again."

He was glad that things sorted themselves out when the dumb bastards started to slice themselves in half by accident. He needed the money, but he hated this kind of job; it always made him feel more tired than he should be after everything wrapped up. Getting to go home with the sun still up was rare for them nowadays, but he welcomed it all the same. Kyrie and the kids weren't going to be home soon, which meant that he had the house all to himself. His dad was the only one left holding down the fort, but he'd sooner eat his own shoe than consider that Vergi of all people would be the one to cause any trouble.

"...in other news, a local grocery store has become the victim of a robbery that took place earlier this morning. Witnesses and CCTV footage have all confirmed that the criminal, who appeared to be a shadowy humanoid wearing a long coat, ran straight into the establishment and started stealing various junk food and several bottles of alcohol in plain sight, leading many to speculate that demons wer-"

At the mention of demons, Nero shot out of his seat and turned off the radio.

"I was listen' to that, shit-for-brains!" The mechanic snapped, tossing the burnt-out cigar to her partner out of spite. "What the hell do you think you're doin'?"

"Look, can we just not hear anymore talk about demons today?" He sighed. "I wanna block all that shit out from my head and just relax for once, okay?

"Whatevuh." Nico rolled her eyes. "Can I at least switch to the music station?"

"Sure, go ahead." Nero flicked away the burnt-out cigar that landed on his jacket. "It'd be nice to hear something that ain't your annoying accent for once."

"Hey, fuck you, asshole." Nico cursed. "Your jus' jealous cause your voice sounds dumb an' borin' in comparison."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

With music starting to flood the van's atmosphere, Nero drifted off and began to imagine all the things he could do without the children or Kyrie around. Maybe he'd go to the rec room first to boot up a videogame, or he could relax on the couch with a cold can of beer to help ease his nerves a bit. He usually wasn't allowed to drink any liquor, but there wasn't anyone there to stop him now. Oh, maybe he could do both. Both would probably be the best. Drinking some good beer wh-

A sudden brake snapped him out of his dream world, causing his skull to collide with windshield.

"Nico?!" He rubbed the spot on his head that had hit the glass.

"Don't lose your tits, hotshot." The artisan tossed another cigar out the window. "Get off your butt and look a' this."

Nero was back on his feet and peering outside through the windshield. He immediately saw what caused Nico's distress: the front door to the orphanage was open. Not just open, but it hanged from its hinges, like someone had forcibly done so during a struggle. Not only that, some of the windows were broken, and pieces of furniture were scattered along the street.

Frustration started to bubble inside him. He was looking forward to having peace and quiet and leisure greeting him, not the face of whatever ugly son of a bitch had decided to sniff around their home.

"What happened here?" Nico wondered out loud.

"Definitely wasn't a girl scout, that's for damn sure." He removed Blue Rose from her holster. "And here I thought that I'd get the day off."

"What the hell are ya talkin' about?" Nico pointed at the carnage "Your dad probably killed whatever knocked on your door, dumbass!"

"Maybe." Nero got up from his seat. "We won't know until we find out and I'm not gonna leave things on a gut feeling when we're living with a bunch of children who'd follow a stranger if he had candy."

Turning to his partner, he grinned.

"Hey, driver? Keep the meter running, will ya?" the half-demon teased.

"Just get the fuck outta here and do what you need to do." Nico flashed him a middle finger.

Dismounting the van, Nero revved Red Queen to life. With Blue Rose in hand, he slowly approached the orphanage, taking care to assess the situation properly and avoid any surprises that may have been left for him if there were any.

"This is your fault, you idiot!"

"You were the one who provoked me!"

No, I didn't! You did!"

"Foolish little brother! How dare you place all the blame on me?"

He heard bickering from inside. It was his dad's, for sure, but he swore that he also heard Dante.

The young devil hunter threw caution to the wind and made a beeline for the doorway. Upon entering, he felt an artery pop upon witnessing the horrors that had transpired inside his own home while he was gone.

A Category-5 hurricane had ravaged the orphanage. Leaks had sprung everywhere; holes dotted the walls and ceilings like they were blocks of cheese. As with the scene outside, pieces of broken furniture were thrown around everywhere, and the wall that seperated a portion of the living room from the corridor was no more. The ceiling above the dining room had collapsed completely, causing everything in the guest room to scatter all over the ground floor, including the bed. It was one hell of a ruckus.

"Dad?! Dante?!" He called. "You guys okay?!"

"In the living room, son!" Vergil answered.

We're upstairs!" Dante shouted. "Don't believe him, he's tired!"

Vergil and Dante began to bicker again, but Nero was too focused on the matter at hand to make out what they were saying. He dashed towards the living room with urgency, worried about the safety of his dad ad uncle, and...

He stopped dead in his tracks. This time, he felt all his arteries explode at once as pure, unadulterated rage began to course through his system.

The living room was a right and proper mess, but the highlights of this destruction were his dearly beloved father and ever-reliable uncle. Dante was sprawled on the floor, impaled with Yamato and looking like he had been fighting an entire army of demons by himself the whole day. Vergil, also looking like absolute shit, was high up on the wall, held in place by the Devil Sword Dante that was embedded in his chest. They looked utterly exhausted from their fight. Nero could spied a bottle of whiskey, as well as several broken ones that were scattered around the scene. They got drunk and had a fight while everyone had their backs turned.

The two brothers immediately ceased their bickering and turned in sync to see Nero, their precious little boy, with an expression of pure hatred that would make even Mundus himself turn around and run back to his mother.

"Oh shit." Dante uttered.

"Welcome home, son!" Vergil faked a smile. "How was work?"

Nero was in hysterics. He laughed at the absurdity of it all. This was much, much worse than he imagined it to be. The orphanage was beyond trashed. They were already in the red with the finances as it is, but now all the money they had left was going straight to fixing the mess that these two had left behind.

"Hey dad, hey Dante." He pointed at the still-intact bottle of liquor. "Watcha got there?"

"Er, a smoothie?" His uncle let out a weak laugh.

"Wrong answer, motherfucker."

Nero's voice was calm, but his maniacal grin said otherwise.

With a bright flash of purple, the young half-demon shed his humanity and assumed his Devil form, opening his ethereal wings to their full wingspan.

"Alright, assholes." The arms that grew out of his wings cracked their knuckles in anticipation. "Which one of you is payin' for all this shit?"

Dante raised his right hand.

"Okay, okay. So, here's how this is gonna work." Nero approached his loving family, making sure that each step was slow and deliberate. "I'll be using my left hand on ya and only my left so that after I'm done, you'll be conscious enough to pay me from your fucking hospital bed. We clear on that, old man?"

"Please don't kill me, Nero." Dante begged. "It was your dad's fault."

"Show me mercy, son. I beg you." Vergil chimed in. "It was your uncle who started this."

"Oh, it doesn't matter which one of you did this or that." Nero cackled "'Cause as far as I'm concerned, you're both gonna need more than just a Gold Orb when I'm through beating both your asses!"

With that, the arms on Nero's wings reached out and grabbed both brothers by their collars.

-----------

Nico was enjoying her 'cigs when she saw Dante fly out the window and land hard on the pavement.

"Nero, please!" he pleaded, trying in vain to crawl his way out of the carnage.

One of the arms from Nero's wings reached out to grab him by the ankle, slamming him around the street like a toy before pulling him back in through the same window he flew out of.

"Who told you I was done?! Get your fuckin' ass back here, old man!"

The mechanic took one last whiff of her cigar. Tossing it out in the street, she rolled up her window and turned on the radio again.

"What a bunch o' weirdos." she mused as the music began to fill her ears, drowning out the anguished wails of Nero's father figures.

#devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #vergil #dante #dmc nero #fanfic #dmc fanfiction #oneshot #writing #creative writing #one shot #fan fiction

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tngrayson · 6 years

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Clueless

A/N: Written based on the request below. My ask box is almost empty now, so feel free to send in more requests for the Punisher, Daredevil (I’m ready to try my hand at Matt x Reader), and Supernatural. This is unedited (aside from some proofreading). I just started writing and hit submit when I finished, so apologies for any major mistakes. Hope you like it, Anon. I know it took forever.

Request: “Hi I Realllllly love your fics! May I request a angsty and fluffy Frank Castle x reader oneshot where the reader is Frank’s best friend and they have feelings for each other but she thought Frank was in love with Karen so she didn’t take any actions? Maybe take place during or after tps?”

Pairing: Frank Castle x Reader

Word count:1000

Warnings: Angst if you squint, little bit of fluff

“I’m back!” you called out after using your key to let yourself into Franks apartment. It had been a daunting task. Frank hadn’t answered the phone when you called for help, and the building's elevator was broken, so you had to take the stairs up to his place with your arms full of groceries. “Not like I needed help or anything,” you mumbled to yourself, placing the bags on the table.

Frank hadn’t exactly asked you to do his grocery shopping for him, it was more like you insisted after he mentioned not having a fully stocked first aid kit—which you also replaced. The two of you had been best friends—or the closest thing Frank had to a best friend—for almost two years now. You’d only started noticing your feelings for him in the past few months. One near death experience after another kinda gives a girl some perspective.

You wanted to tell him; at least to get it off your chest, but when you finally mustered up the courage, Karen kept showing up. She was sweet enough; helping out where she could. Her heart was definitely in the right place when it came to Frank, which you admired, but things got complicated when you noticed how she looked at him like he was the only thing keeping her tethered to the ground sometimes. It was even worse when you saw Frank giving her the same looks from time to time. Bummer.

“Hey, Y/N! Do you need help with any of this?” Karen asked, startling you from your thoughts. She hadn’t been here when you left a little over an hour ago. You fixed your face with a smile and turned to greet her. That smile quickly faded as you saw that she had come from Frank’s room and he was stretching a tank top over his muscles.

“Hey, Karen. No, I think I’ve got it from here, thanks.”

“Alright, well, I’m heading out. Journalism calls,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”

“You’re leaving already?” you asked, genuinely curious. She couldn’t have been here long.

“Yeah, I was just stopping by to check on Frank.”

“Oh, alright. I’ll see you later, Karen,” you replied as she made her way out of the apartment.

You let out an audible breath as you began putting away the groceries. Frank appeared beside you, putting away things that went in the cabinets you couldn’t reach. You could see him wince as he brought his arm back down.

“I’ve got this, you know,” you explained. “I’ll just stand in a chair or something.”

Frank laughed, but you could see that causing him some pain too.

“You look like shit, Frank.”

“Yeah, I kinda feel like shit,” he mused.

“So, sit your ass down.”

Frank frowned. “Nah. You’ve been doing a lot for me lately. Least I can do is help.”

You shrugged, giving up on the unwinnable argument.

‘Now or never,’ you thought to yourself. “You know, I can practically hear wedding bells.” You held your breath while thought about what you were saying.

“What, with Karen?” Frank made a face, shaking his head ‘no’ and quickly brushing off the idea. “Still pissed at me, I think.”

“For someone who’s pissed at you, she’s been by pretty often.”

“She just wants to make sure I’m healed up before I go on any more killing sprees,” Frank joked. The weird thing about Frank was that there was a certain amount of truth to that statement. “Sounds a lot like someone else I know.”

“Hey, until a few days ago, half your face was still purple, give me a break. You’re looking a lot better by the way,” you said, keeping yourself busy putting away things in the kitchen.

Frank was silent for a long while, he had taken a break to lean against the counter and watch as you made your way back and forth in the kitchen; handing you things here and there as you started on dinner. “You know, me and Karen…there’s nothing there, Y/N.”

“What?”

“There’s no wedding bells… ‘case you were wondering.”

Well, that was unexpected. You had considered that conversation dropped a while ago. “Okay.”

Frank cleared his throat, “There is this other woman though.”

“Oh, yeah?” You engaged him, trying to keep the conversation objective and light.

“Yeah. She’s smart, sweet,” Frank paused for a moment, smiling at the thought of the woman. “…pretty god damn clueless though.”

“Frank!” you reprimanded, punching his arm; completely forgetting that he was still sore. You apologized when you saw a flash of pain make its way across his face. If you hadn’t been looking, you would have missed it completely.

“Hey,” he said, rubbing his arm. “I’ve been trying to tell her how I feel for months, but it’s like that shit goes in one ear and out the other.”

Your heart sank. This whole time you’d been so jealous of Karen and how you thought Frank felt about her that you didn’t even notice him pining over someone else entirely for the past few months. She must be some catch to get Frank’s attention.

“Hm. Since whatever you’re doing isn’t working, maybe you should be more straightforward with her.” You bit your lip, keeping your eyes focused on the stovetop in front of you. “Kiss her.”

“What?”

“I mean, not if you don’t think that would fly with her, obviously. Don’t assault the woman or anything, but if the moment is right-”

Frank reached out to you, cupping your chin and gently turning your face to press his lips to yours. Your hands came up to rest on his broad chest and he wrapped an arm around you, pulling you closer for a moment before breaking the kiss.

“Oh,” you whispered, getting lost in his eyes.

“Oh?”

You leaned your head forward, resting it on his chest. “I guess I am pretty god damn clueless.”

Marvel/Punisher Taglist (send me an ask or add yourself here)

@nickthboywonder @the-doctor-9-10 @onjacks-blog @missphanosaur18

@yessy2012 @asongofmarvelanddc @thespectacularjasmine @thesandbeneathmytoes @ravismorgue @xinyourdreamsx @tiredofthisgeneration @lea----b @livingoffsavvyillusions @ladyblablabla @movokepwc @willow-days02 @bluebird214 @russosprettydiamondnow @iwillwaitforyouinthedark @weirdnewbie @heyitslexy @ginger-rae1991 @maz-keen @tina8009 @james-heaven-barnes @belloangelus

#frank castle #frank castle x reader #the punisher #punisher netflix #fan fiction #karen page #kastle #fanfic #request #angst #fluff

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backtothestart02 · 7 years

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Things to note if you’re following this blog as a westallen/Iris West stan:

FIRST, A NOTE: I know there are some commonly held beliefs in the westallen/Iris West fandom. For the most part I agree with them. However, b/c I tend to multiship and love all the characters on most shows I watch, my opinions can run down the middle occasionally instead of on just one side or the other. Some of you have been following me a long time and know where we differ on opinions and are okay with that. But others of you are recent followers. You don’t know what’s up, and you get high key displeased w/ me as a blogger and wonder what in the world made you decide to follow me in the first place when I post unpopular opinions from our fandom that stray from what you believe is acceptable.

This post is a head’s up to unpopular opinions that I have. After reading if you still feel I’m worth the follow, keep on going. Just be aware that on the rare occasion, these opinions may crop up. If not, feel free to unfollow/blacklist and move on to more worthy blogs. I promise you I will not be offended. I don’t want you to come across something that upsets you on my blog, but there’s no way I can please everyone and still feel like I’m able to post everything I want to post. Also, I’d rather not have countless asks streaming into my inbox whenever I post something that may offend you that you weren’t expecting to see. The list below details some (at least what I can think of atm) of those things, so you can be prepared if you do decide to stay.

Last thing, this is not an open invitation to come attack me in my inbox for the opinions I have listed below. This is just me helping you be more aware of my thoughts and feelings on show matters, so you’re not taken off guard for the very few posts where I actually share said opinions. That is all.

1) In the first couple episodes of the Flash, I couldn’t decide between who to ship - snowbarry or westallen (i.e. I thought Grant had chemistry with both ladies and his potential story with both of them appealed to me.) It was the snowstorm backstory in 1x03 that killed any SB romantic feels. I haven’t shipped even the potential of snowbarry ever since.

2) I hardcore shipped spallen while they were together and was sad when Patty left. Even though I didn’t want them to be together long term, I did want them to reach Iris/Eddie status. It should also be noted that I thought Grant and Shantel (as much as I’m disappointed in her irl due to her remarks about Candice/Iris the following summer) had a ton of chemistry. I doubt I’d have shipped Barry with Patty if I hadn’t felt that, because I was not looking forward to Barry having a love interest that wasn’t Iris after season 1.

3) Due to my loving spallen so much, I wasn’t overly aware of Iris being sidelined in 2A, and I didn’t consider Barry a bad friend to her for that reason. (I’ve seen the light since then, but it’s still not an opinion I’m firm on, and I definitely didn’t start out thinking the worst of Barry for what was written.)

4) I didn’t appreciate Iris sneaking off with Wally in 3x11 and deliberately lying to Barry about it (and then that very fact not being addressed whatsoever). Again, I’ve come to an understanding about this as well, but I still didn’t appreciate the lying.

5) Before the “We are the Flash” scene actually happened, I was not a fan of Iris taking on the role of team leader at all - at least not after Barry came out of the speed force. I’m now a huge fan of it, but I didn’t start out liking it.

6) For AU I’m open to almost any pairing in many cases. For instance, I’ve seen SB AU vids that look really good. (I really just love how people are able to create AU SLs in such unique ways w/ unrelated scenes tbh, esp in vids.) In those instances it just looks like Grant and Danielle are starring together in a romantic comedy or whatever, and I have no problem with that. As long as Iris/Candice aren’t also in the scenario and Barry/Grant is refusing her for Danielle/Caitlin (b/c that I’m def not a fan of), I’m pretty open to scenarios that are completely separate from canon as we know it. (At least with vids. It might be a tough pill for me to swallow to read a fic that was SB, even if Iris wasn’t a character w/in it.)

7) I can buy Caitlin having a little bit of a crush on Barry in season 1. I really don’t think Barry ever shared that feeling (though some scenes they shared were clearly ship bait), but b/c Danielle played up those scenes towards an SB romance occasionally, I think it’s totally legit to have shipped them together in that season or shipped the potential of what they could have been. There was ship bait there. If there are feelings on one end, it’s not a crack ship. After season 1, however, (esp after 2x01) there’s absolutely no sign of it. And especially now the delusion is ridiculous. Barry & Caitlin had plenty of opportunity to get together, but they never did. And whatever Caitlin may or may not have felt for Barry even in season 1 never trumped the very deep love she had for Ronnie, so in the end it’s irrelevant.

8) I didn’t like Barry and Linda together. I didn’t buy that they had chemistry either. (Though to be fair, I didn’t even try to be open to it, because I didn’t want it. lol.) Iris was getting jealous, and Barry was shutting her down. With good reason, but still. My bb Iris was finally realizing her feelings, and she was hurt b/c Barry wasn’t responding to them the way she wanted when she couldn’t even say what they were b/c she was in a relationship of her own. It’s not Linda’s fault in the slightest, but - esp given Malese has come btwn two of my ships on two separate shows, one of them being my otp - that ship just rubbed me the wrong way. They were getting in the way of westallen finally happening and that bothered me (b/c it was such terrible timing and proves further why I fully expected to hate spallen before it even happened).

9) I love Felicity (though not a fan of that wedding interruption, obvs), and especially Barry & Felicity’s friendship. So, while I didn’t approve of everyone continually keeping Iris in the dark about Barry’s identity in season 1, I didn’t come away from Felicity’s 1B crossover where she encouraged Barry not to tell Iris about his identity (I don’t even REMEMBER that part of the advice she gave him tbh). I came away being pleased that he was going to fill in Caitlin and Cisco with what he was feeling, and I loved that Felicity was there for him as counsel outside of the people involved with his current struggle.

10) I love love loved what has been called the ‘original’ team flash - Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin. Because of that reason I love platonic snowbarry, and I was sad when they stopped having that many scenes together post-s1. I know it’s because Iris was no longer in the dark, but I really thought they had a special bond, just like he and Cisco do. She’s clearly the person he’s least close with of all the people in his life, but I do really appreciate when we get snapshots of their friendship, and specifically the Barry/Cisco/Caitlin dynamic. That threesome is special, and I like when it’s highlighted. For example: Caitlin actually being a part of Barry & Cisco’s game of laser tag at the beginning of 4x03 brought me so much joy. Also, 3x07 is one of my fav episodes of season 3 b/c not only did it showcase westallen beautifully - and killervibe - but also snowbarry. Iris’ pep talk to Barry and Barry saving Caitlin from herself in almost the last scene are just about on equal significance to me. The WA scene rises above for obvs reasons, but I really truly loved the SB through-line in that episode. It annoys me to no end that I cannot find purely platonic SB vids to watch, b/c that is all I want in life for them. Their relationship is sufficient enough on its own. It doesn’t need to be more, and it’s not canon that is. I think there should be more appreciation for what is canon, rather than what is not.

11) I don’t hate Caitlin Snow. There have been several points in the show - whether it be an arc (her falling for “Jay” so soon after Ronnie’s second alleged death) or a couple episodes (3x15 - her selfishly keeping part of the philosopher’s stone for herself and not only not ever using it to try and get rid of her powers, but keeping it a secret and having basically no consequences for that fact). But in general? I liked her in season 1, and I like her now. It’s true that I’m conflicted now, because she hasn’t apologized to Iris about being onboard team Kill Iris w/ Savitar last season. But the Caitlin she is now is reminiscent of the Caitlin I loved in season 1, so mostly I’m good w/ her. (Besides snowstorm was my second top ship and killervibe is my fav friendship on The Flash. She’s obvs a huge part of both of those relationships.)

12) I don’t hate Danielle Panabaker. I high key disapprove of a lot of the things she said in season 1/2 interviews, and even when she maintains SB was on the verge of happening in season 1, I raise my eyebrows and scoff. But generally speaking, she seems like a sweetheart. I don’t believe it’s a facade the way I do with Shantel. I don’t think Danielle is a bad actress either.

*I’m sure there are more unpopular opinions I have, but these are the only ones that are occurring to me at the moment. I will think of more and reblog when I do.

#psa #plz don't reblog #about me #snowbarry #spallen #danielle panabaker #anti IW #anti LP #caitlin snow #shutting off my asks for a whiiiiiile after this one #things to note

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miguel-manbemel · 4 years

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Aspects & Fanfics: Things I coincidentally guessed from Sanders Sides

Today it’s almost a year and a half since I started “Aspects & Fanfics”, my fanfic blog inspired on Sanders Sides. Along this time, I’ve written 40 episodes of different lengths (I recognize I write them very long, probably too much and I apologize, but that’s how they come out of my mind. I’m trying to make them shorter nowadays). When I started, the last official canon episode was “Embarrasing Phases” and I started from that point.

In the meantime, there’ve been three Sanders Sides episodes and the debut of Sanders Asides, and all sorts of things happened in the canon story. I decided even before SvS that I would ignore anything that would come afterwards and stick to the continuity up to Embarrasing Phases, to write a coherent story, even if I later added portions of SvS retroactively to the story. As such, most things in my fic are very different from how they were portrayed in the canon series, although, even to my surprise, I got to guess a few things that happened in canon. Let’s take a look back and remember some moments of my fic that I got right even if, obviously, not exactly right. Before that, obviously there are spoilers ahead if you haven’t read the fic. You may want to check the index post if you’re interested in giving a chance to it.

Starting from the beginning, this one probably doesn’t have much merit as almost all of us had guessed it already. The theory of Virgil secretly being a Dark Side was what started the fic in the first place in “Virgil’s Revelation”. I only got wrong the circumstances where he revealed it. In my fic, the Light Sides except Patton took it bad and rejected Virgil, while Thomas didn’t take it so bad. In the canon story it was the opposite, the Light Sides already seemed to know about Virgil being a Dark Side, and it was Thomas who got shocked and dissappointed.

ROMAN: And you expect us to believe you after hiding for all this time that you are a Dark Side?

PATTON: What?

VIRGIL: Yes, Patton, I am a Dark Side. I’m sorry I hid it to you all. But I was afraid that you would hate me if you knew my origins!

LOGAN: Well, if you hadn’t done anything bad, you wouldn’t have anything to fear. So if you were afraid, then you did something bad. That’s logic at its finest.

PATTON: Guys, I think we should all calm down…

ROMAN: I’ve got a better idea. Let’s all go tell Thomas. He has all the right to know what you did with Patton and what you are.

LOGAN: Yes, let’s go to Thomas’ apartment. The sooner we’re over with this, the better!

ROMAN: Off we go to Thomas’ living room. Now!

[They all sink down. Then they appear in Thomas’ apartment.]

ROMAN: [rising up, angry] This is unacceptable!

LOGAN: [rising up in the same mood] Agreed!

VIRGIL: [appearing anxious] Guys, please, let me explain!

PATTON: [rising up, worried] Please, kiddos! Don’t fight! Let’s talk like civilized people!

ROMAN: Patton, we are not people, [pointing at Virgil] and certainly he’s not!

In the second episode, I introduced my first original character, Honesty, now known as Ian. He’s sort of Janus’ “Siamese brother”, they were born sharing the same body in turns, sort of like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s kind of a coincidence that Janus’ symbol is a snake with two heads, hinting at the same concept of two Siamese snakes sharing the same body. Another minor coincidence is that I depicted Ian wearing a bowtie. Janus in turn would appear in the courtroom wearing a tuxedo, bowtie included.

In the third episode, Logan argues with Patton about how Thomas shouldn’t eat candy and instead, he should pursue a healthy diet, describing all the nutrients Thomas needs to be healthy. Cue to the ending card of SvS where Logan and Roman argue about if Thomas should be eating a butterfinger or a HelloFresh salsa verde enchilada while controlling his arms. This is a portion of the fanfic episode that reminds me the most to that end card.

PATTON: [rising up, yelling overly excited of joy] Now, it’s time for a candy partyyyy!

THOMAS: [happy] Yessss!

LOGAN: Wait, what? No!

PATTON, THOMAS: [overlapping moaning in disappointment] Awwww!

LOGAN: Thomas, you must stay strong! If you start eating all kinds of junk food now, you’re gonna lose everything you’ve gained!

THOMAS: [squealing begging voice] But… it’s only this once!

LOGAN: [firm voice] One moment in your mouth, one eternity in your tummy! No, Thomas, you must never, ever, overindulge yourself!

ROMAN: [ironic] Said the one who doesn’t devour eleven jars of Crofter’s per day, including the ones I bought for myself. [talking to himself] I think I should put a padlock on my door when I get out of my room.

LOGAN: I don’t have a physical appearance, Roman, therefore what I eat doesn’t affect me in the slightest. It’s your health, Thomas, what is on the spot. You must keep eating healthy, [counting with his fingers] every hour of every day of every week of every year of all the rest of your life!

[Thomas shows a face of huge angst]

VIRGIL: [demonic voice, with his hood on, in an angry mood] Would you mind stop meddling with my job? [back to normal voice, while taking the hood off, still angry] I am Thomas’ Anxiety, not you, and you always overdo it!

In the fifth episode, “Encounters and Departures”, when Thomas’ emotions get too strong to bear, Patton gets overwhelmed and has a breakdown where he feels as if he had a heart attack, then recovers thanks to Roman attending him. That was my interpretation of Patton having a breakdown. No one could have guessed that when Patton goes through a breakdown in canon, the transforms into a big frog. But I got right Roman being by his side when that happened.

VIRGIL: [scared, looking at Patton, yelling] Patton! Oh, my gosh, what’s wrong with you!?

[Startled by Virgil’s yell, everyone looks at Patton]

PATTON: [grimacing with a voice of pain, with his hand in his chest, struggling to speak as if he was running out of air] It hurts! Aw! It’s hurting me so much I can barely breath! Aw!

THOMAS: [scared] Patton, are you okay?

[Logan and Roman look at Patton with a face of confusion and horror, not knowing what to do. Deceit looks at Patton, pretending he doesn’t care, but a brief expression on his eyes that he shows only for a couple of seconds reveals he’s as worried as the others]

PATTON: [trying to breath, with a slight face of relief, but still in pain] It’s okay… It’s okay… It’s getting over… It’s getting over… I’m good… [gets dizzy] No, I’m not…

[Patton shows signs of being about to faint. Roman quickly approaches Patton and holds him on the same shot, and Patton leans on him to recover strength]

ROMAN: Are you okay, Patton? Do you want me to take you to your room?

PATTON: [looks at Roman with a weak grateful smile and holds his hand, still leaning on him, he speaks with a weak, almost whispering voice] I’m getting better, Roman, it won’t be necessary. But don’t let go of me yet, I need some time… Thank you.

ROMAN: [smiles back] Anytime, my dearest friend. Grab on me, I won’t let go of you.

PATTON: I’m sorry for being a nuisance…

ROMAN: Are you kidding, Papi? When I got bruised, you took care of me for a whole day, attended my wounds and even gave me a delicious cream of broccoli you made yourself. Grabbing you when you need me is the very least I could do for you, and it’s not enough to repay that.

[Patton smiles at Roman and leans his head on Roman’s shoulder, trying to rest his eyes for a second]

On episode 13 I made a crossover featuring characters from the Shorts and Cartoon Therapy. One of these characters was the Prince Guy from the Short. I immediately established him as Roman’s twin brother, created by Roman in his fantasy world as the perfect brother. This was exactly two weeks before canon introduced us to Roman’s real twin brother, Remus. And may I say, his introduction allowed me to introduce an interesting storyline about the two brothers’ past relationship and how it influenced Roman in creating the twin brother I had envisioned in my fic, a twin brother that was everything Remus couldn’t be for Roman, and how bitter and jealous my version of Remus would be against Roman because of that.

[the door starts opening]

ROMAN: [swallows saliva and shows a scared face] Oh, no… [takes a deep breath and masks his fear with his usual regal bearing] Okay… dignity. I’m still Prince Roman. I’ll stand my ground. I won’t give in.

[once the door is fully opened, the guard yells from inside]

GUARD: Prince Roman Graham Alexander McDonald Carlos Sanders III, Prince and Heir of the Kingdom of Sandersia!

[Roman starts walking and the others walk a few steps behind. He shows his regal bearing, and he would have fooled everyone into thinking he was confident, if it wasn’t for how much his hands were shaking. After a few steps, Roman looks at the throne room. To the surprise of everyone, at the throne there sits the Prince Guy]

ROMAN: What? You?

PRINCE GUY: Glad to see you again… brother.

THOMAS: What the… Brother? The Prince Guy is your brother?

ROMAN: Where is dad? [to the guard] You said that my father gave you the orders.

PRINCE GUY: I commanded him to tell you that, Roman. You wouldn’t have listened otherwise.

ROMAN: [sarcastic] And of course, the fact that you sent a whole army to get me wasn’t a stronger way of convincing me, I guess…

PRINCE GUY: You never know…

And we end with a scene from episode 31, where Roman doubts he’s a hero anymore or if he really is a villain now to his horror. It was released one month before Roman canonically said “I thought I was your hero”.

ROMAN: Today, I tried to help Thomas’ friends with some projects of theirs… and they all preferred Chris’ help, who excelled at those tasks. I felt happy for him, but at the same time… I felt so bad… I don’t know why… Well, to be honest, I do. I felt displaced by Chris, like… [his voice starts trembling] like if suddenly I wasn’t needed anymore, like… Chris is so much younger and so much better than me in so many things. He’s a better prince than I’ve ever been… and it scares me to think that Thomas… may not want my help anymore. [tears start coming out of his eyes] Suddenly I’m feeling old, and useless… and… and…

[Roman starts crying. Virgil hugs him]

VIRGIL: It’s okay…

ROMAN: [crying on Virgil’s shoulder] I’m sorry I’m being so pathetic right now… You must feel so ashamed of me when I start crying like this, like a hopeless baby… I’m a father, I’m supposed to be strong to support my family, and yet I feel like the weight is crushing me down… Maybe I’m not good enough to be a father…

VIRGIL: Don’t say that, Roman. Of course you’re good enough. I couldn’t think of a better father for Chris than you. We’re just pretty new at this and need some time to get used to parenthood. Especially after the experience we’ve all just gone through, which was not exactly a good start. But it’s only a matter of time, you’ll see.

ROMAN: And yet, all I’ve ever done since I’ve become a father is a total failure after another.

VIRGIL: That’s not true!

ROMAN: Isn’t it? First I let that fiend take our son. I gave Chris to that monster on a silver platter because of my foolish idea of taking Chris to Sandersia while he was still wandering around over there.

VIRGIL: You didn’t know that would happen! None of us could have seen it coming!

ROMAN: And now, I’m jealous and envious of my own son, and I’m feeling him like a threat. What does that turn me into? I’m Prince Roman. I’m supposed to be a hero, and yet I’m behaving like a villain! Chris is the new hero and I’m just the villain that would wish to own everything the hero owns, that would wish to be in his place… I… I’m a fraud as a prince. Maybe I should abdicate the crown on Chris. He’d make a better use of it right now.

And this is it. It was fun going back to Memory Lane and review some of these episodes, and the feeling of seeing how I guessed these moments was also fun and exciting each time. Now that a Sanders Asides episode is on the verge of release, I wonder if I have already guessed something to come in that one or in future episodes, or if I will in the future. Only time will tell. Right now, I’m already working on episode 41 and future episodes. I can only anticipate that the story’s gonna take a dark turn starting from this next episode, so wait for it. Hope you enjoyed this little thing and until next time.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fanfic #sanders sides fic #aspects and fanfics

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