#no one here ever picks correctly 🤔

[pcktknife]

I'm just curious, and don't mean anything bad from this. I didn't see the poll until it was already finished, but do you genuinely think everyone who voted Columbo in that poll is racist?

just joking around 😭. i know the site im on and how the lot of u vote unfortunately. i never expected valerie to win <///3

[eupheme]

Can’t believe the end of PFYT is upon us! 💗 To celebrate your amazing series I had a question and I hope it isn’t weird for me to ask and please don’t feel pressured to answer this if it is! So I remembered how you mentioned in the first chapter that she was on the pill and it made me think about there potentially being a pregnancy scare for her and Alfred in the future now that they’ve become more official. I wondered if you ever thought about how he’d react? I’m sure there’s so many complicated feelings about that for him and her as well 🤔 this may have taken an angsty turn on no lol but yeah just curious what you think, I feel I could pick your brain about a hundred things related to the series!

Hi anon, this message was so sweet!! 💕 I was excited to get it, because it was definitely interesting(and comforting) to think about all the feelings that would be involved. I ended up writing a little, open-ended drabble from Alfred’s POV, I hope you like it. (And I’m also so so happy to hear you enjoyed the series!)

(I do have a couple notes at the bottom but please skip if you’re not interested in my personal thoughts, haha)

What If

Alfred Pennyworth x F!Reader

Rated G - 1.2k

Tags- pregnancy scare (intentionally vague, with an open ending left up to reader’s preferences!), mention of periods and birth control (pill), angst, anxiety, and comforting fluff

He blinks, not sure he’s heard correctly.

“Pardon?”

A crease appears between her eyebrows, her eyes searching his, “Alfred, I’m late. We’ve been so busy, that I hadn’t noticed. But I’m about to start a new pack and…”

Her words are rushed as she swallows, her eyes dropping, “And I think we should-”

Alfred shifts for the first time in minutes, shoulders strung tight as he stands in their bedroom. Mind already racing ahead, and he has to force himself to slow down when she confirms what he thought she was saying.

“Has this happened before? Being late?” His voice is somehow low and steady, despite the way his heart has kicked up.

A moment as she thinks, and then nods, “It has. Sometimes, in the past, but not since… not since we’ve been together.”

He exhales. Finally seeing the tension in her own body, and then he’s trying to soften, stepping closer. She curls into him, cheek pressed into his shoulder, his eyes far-off as his lips press into her hair.

“I’ll buy us a test, then. Would you like to stay here?” He doesn’t really want to leave her, but he needs a moment alone to think, to work things out in his own head.

Always pragmatic, always a planner. She needs him, but he can’t be there for her the way he wants to be with his stomach in knots like this.

She nods again, fingers gripping into his shirt. When he finally steps away, they trail after him for a moment, before dropping.

——

His hands are stiff from clutching the steering wheel so hard. Sitting in the parking spot for just a moment longer before going in.

He’s not stalling, he would never leave her waiting. Just needing one more second to process the endless loop of thoughts from the drive over.

The thought of possibly being a father, though he had never considered himself one. How he hadn’t been, when he need to be. The guilt had gnawed at him for years, slowly stripping him away.

Of course he had - does - love Bruce like a son. Couldn’t love him more, if in another world, he had been. But the memories that have spanned the last twenty years still felt so fresh at times - the loss and the pain and the shaky ground that was just now leveling out. It staggered him.

It’s had only been recently - with the addition to the family, the young master Grayson - that the sharp, aching edge of self-loathing had started to ebb. When Bruce had turned to him, during those first nights - so lost and unsure how to help.

Alfred had seen himself, from those twenty years ago.

It’s then, when he had felt like he had helped, when he watched the way Bruce had slowly and carefully become more confident - when he had smiled wearily at him some days later, offering a low “thanks” and an “I’m glad you were here” that things had changed. Just a little.

It had almost felt like a redemption.

His hands still ache. Alfred had been idle for far too long now.

Making himself move, he opens the door.

——

She’s still in the same spot, back pressed against the bathroom door as she sits on the carpet. Pushing herself up when the door opens, when he coming in holding the small plastic grocery bag.

He can be there for her, now. His hands smoothing over her shoulders, cupping her cheek in his palm - still on edge but he thinks he’s got a handle on it.

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Alfred offers, and she smiles then, nose wrinkling.

“No. I can do that part myself.”

He wonders what she’s been thinking about. Hasn’t even asked her how she’s feeling, too caught up in his own worries. It makes his head duck, pressing his mouth gently to hers.

His brave girl. He’s not going anywhere. He’d never leave her. Would never dream of it.

He hopes she knows that, even if he can’t quite manage to say the words out loud.

“Will you wait with me when I’m done?” She asks, sounding more like herself when they pull apart.

“Of course, love.”

——

He’s so in love it hurts, and maybe that’s why it’s hard. Or maybe that’s why he’s been able to work through his emotions so quickly.

She’s softened him, since they’re met. Showed him things he’s never thought he’d have - things that he had thought about before, when he was younger, but had long given up.

And he can’t pretend, that sometimes… when he comes home from an errand, or from stepping away - seeing her curled on the couch, smiling and laughing as she watches a video on her phone with Dick - that there hasn’t been something.

A lurch in his chest, a wondering floods into his mind, that steals his breath. For just a moment.

One that doesn’t have to do anything with the fact that he’s glad they have her - that he is immensely grateful she gets what the young boy is talking about - because he certainly does not understand why you would watch a video of someone playing a game.

And although the pattern repeats through his head - worries of being far too old, of failing again, of not being good enough - there’s something else there now, small and bright.

Because, he already is a father. And part of him wonders, if he had her with him - if they did this together, then maybe…

But then the door opens, and he’s stepping in. It rests on the counter that she leans against it, face-down. He had bought the best that had available , although he knows they all worked the same. One that spelled out the words, so that they wouldn’t have to try to interpret the little blue lines.

Chewing on the inside of her lip as it closes behind him, as he moves to lean next to her. Their fingers finding each other, entwining tightly.

A moment, before she asks, “How are you feeling?”

He hates that she asked first, that she’s worrying about him. Wondering when he became so readable, over the weeks and months they’ve been together.

She seems unable to help adding, “I just- I know this isn’t what we’ve talked about, what we’ve planned-”

And then he’s softening more - turning her way, filling her line of sight, cupping her jaw and tilting it so that all she can see is him.

“We’ve been through so much, dove. And we’ve always figured it out.” Her face is warm in his hands, where she’s blinking up at him, “No matter what happens, no matter what we decide together, we’ll be okay. I promise.”

A breath, before he tells her again, and not for the last time.

“I love you and I always will. Nothing will ever change that.”

He wishes he understood the look that crosses her face, the tears that seem to spring to the corners of her eyes. And so, as she sniffs - he asks the same, “How are you feeling, darling?”

“Oh,” she breathes, with a small, shaky laugh, “Same, I think.”

A brief moment of relief, at last.

Together, they take a deep breath, leaning against each other for support. His thumb smoothing over his and they wait for the alarm she had set to sound.

And when it does, they flip it over - together.

Notes - And ah, you asked me if I’ve thought about it, and to be honest (and probably way too info, sorry!) one of the reasons Alfred appeals to me so much personally, is that I interpret his character as “older, reluctant father figure” + a disinterest in his own bio children. In the movie, when he mentions Bruce needed a father and all he had was him - I think that’s such an emotional part and has really stuck with me, and I really love the idea that even though he fails there and does not see himself as a father or a father figure, he would have a second chance helping Bruce become a good one as he adopts the future batfam.

But like I said, that hc/interpretation is fueled by my own self-interest!! I can absolutely see the appeal of the above + expanding his family in a way that he had never imagined for himself (purely because of his situation, maybe it’s a dream he felt like he had given up on) - that is a really such a beautiful thought. 💖

[mikaelsrose]

Fic Writer Ask Game

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

💖 What made you start writing?

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. [I actually don't know if you should pick or I should pick, let's pick both. Or just pick one, you decide. You pick a character and tell your headcanon and/or I pick Nik Ryder and you tell me a few headcanons.]

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

(I've already answered this one, so I'll just paste the answer again) I'm gonna go with Where do broken hearts grow? because it's an emotional rollercoaster (for me) and I was very stressed about posting it. At that time I felt that I went too far for a fanfic and if I remember correctly that chapter was 4 different versions which were toned down a lot, but then I thought "meh, what the hell" and posted it at 2 am 😂

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic? I had a class called "creative writing" for two semesters which I liked to call "fanfic writing 101" and I always joked with my friends that I'll ace this class (which I did haha) because I used to be a very prolific fanfic writer since I was 12. So a few people know I used to write but do not know the specifics and do not know I still do it (and they won't find out")😁

💖 What made you start writing?

(I've already answered this one, so I'll just paste the answer again) When I joined tumblr choices fandom there were already many fics, but most of them were still set in the original blades universe, and I wanted something different. I'm a sucker for the domestic vibes and angst (together, preferably, lol) so assuming the "write what you want to read" stance I just sat down and wrote my first fic which I am too ashamed to look at now 😁

❌ What's a trope you will never write? mpreg + any fucked up things like in*est, the rest is up for discussion (but pls be reasonable)

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

I can't think of anything, really. Maybe I'm a mastermind? 🤔

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please! + 🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

I decided to merge these two questions into one. I started writing short fics for Lucifer x MC, but I'm still not sure if I'll ever post them 🤐 Perhaps. But here's a snippet:

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. [I actually don't know if you should pick or I should pick, let's pick both. Or just pick one, you decide. You pick a character and tell your headcanon and/or I pick Nik Ryder and you tell me a few headcanons.]

Okay, call me dumb, but I also don't understand 😂😂😂 Let's just do it like you said, the second option, I'll give you headcanons for Nik in my fics.

I don't have that many for him, honestly, he's still in the making, but here's what I can think of for now:

he curses a lot

after the whole bloodwraith case, he took 3 months off and chilled in Costa Rica 🍹

he started a "secret" project meaning reading about the fae (history, politics, all that jazz) after Cal mentioned to him that Niamh basically disappeared from Earth 🤐

he might or might not have a fling with someone 🤐🤐

he hates portals (and just like Geralt of Rivia he always makes everyone aware of that)

he had a nasty fall out with Cal, so they're not on the best of terms

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write? Niamh and Jude. Niamh because I decided to start my series a year after the events of nightbound + she didn't exactly have much personality in the book, so I feel like a can do basically anything with her - and it's the same with Jude since he's my OC.

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

I don't know if I'd say it broke my heart, but it definitely makes me very melancholic and nostalgic and leaves me with a heavy heart, it's the one I've already mentioned > Where do broken hearts grow?