#they did some really cool formatting stuff with the fic too

[urarakamysocksoff]

"I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but..." Art inspired by @jellojolteon's izuocha guardian angel fic Sanctuary, Manifest. Give it a read! fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25139329/chapters/60911446#workskin

[gamerwoo]

[skz] In Between: Felix and...

characters: felix x gn reader (if there are any she/her pronouns that i missed while editing i'm so sorry it's an accident)

genre/warnings: idol!felix, streamer!reader, fluff, humor, established relationship, the whole fic is set up like an interview video, reader is bigger than felix, reader's online alias is saturn and is sometimes referred to as such, it's mentioned that reader is older than jeongin, one mention of a fic about a threesome but nothing explicit happens

word count: 3,800

summary: welcome to the couple's interview called 'in between:' where your favorite couples answer some questions to show a little background and insight to their relationships. today, we're exploring in between: saturn and felix!

a/n: i've done this kind of format for a fic before and i've always wanted to revisit that bc it was a lot of fun and sooo much easier imo so here we are!!! also don't ask me why the header is so low quality it saved normal i swear i think tumblr fucked it up 😔

chan | minho | changbin | hyunjin | jisung | seungmin | jeongin

[a short preview of the video plays where _____ is staring deadpan into the camera.]

_____: I behave. Gotta keep it cool with JYPapi.

[felix stares at _____ without expression. they don’t look back at him. they just continue to stare at the camera without any expression. a screen saying ‘technical difficulties’ pops up before the video cuts to the beginning of the interview. _____ and felix are sitting on stools beside each other.]

_____: Hi, I’m _____, or you might know me online as Saturn.

Felix: And I’m Felix from Stray Kids.

_____: And today, we’ve been invited to Gamerwoo to do a fun little interview all about our lil’ romance [they start drumming their fingers together like some sort of villain].

Felix: [laughing] This is In Between: Felix and Saturn.

[the intro card plays, and in the background, felix can be heard still laughing with _____ loudly asking, 'what?!'. then it changes to the question card before going back to the couple.]

[what was your first date?]

Felix: Is it, like…real date? Like, in person?

_____: Yeah, we went on Minecraft dates and even an Overwatch date once.

Felix: We don’t talk about the Overwatch date.

_____: You’re just mad that I picked Roadhog.

[felix slowly turns to look at _____. they continue to just stare back at him. a card that says ‘technical difficulties’ pops up before the video jumps back to the couple.]

Felix: Our first date was shortly after the first stream we did together, I think.

_____: [nodding] Yeah, it was. Because we were supposed to meet not too long after that stream, and then a couple days later you were like, ‘do you wanna go grab street food and I can show you around?’ and I was like, ‘haha okay!’ and then you ended up holding my hand and I stopped functioning.

Felix: [laughing loudly] No, ‘cause I could literally hear your brain trying to work! I just held their hand and they suddenly just stopped eating their ice cream, their face went blank, and even their walking kinda stopped so I stopped to look at them and they were so flustered.

_____: I wasn’t expecting it! I genuinely had no idea you liked me romantically so I was just like, ‘oh, we’re hanging out and he’s being nice,’ and then it was actually more than that and I was like– [_____ just stops and stares intensely wide-eyed].

[how did you meet and what were your first impressions?]

_____: So I stream online and I mostly play video games, and Felix really likes video games, too. And I knew that already because I’m a Stay and I was a Stay before I met him, and I would talk about them and Seventeen and New Jeans and stuff on my streams a lot.

Felix: And I just found _____ one day when I was looking through streams trying to find something to put on in the background, and I just really liked their stuff and kept watching. They were really funny and just fun to listen to, and they’re good at games, which is a bonus. It was fun to watch and _____ started to become one of my most watched streamers.

_____: But then this **********er–

[felix starts laughing loudly.]

_____: –starts telling Stays on one of his lives that he’s been really into my streams lately. And then suddenly my chat is going off, and ****’s being sent to me on Twitter and Discord, and I’m like, ‘what’s happening? Did somebody die?’ and then I died.

Felix: But then from there, y’know, we kinda reached out to one another – I think… [he looks at _____] Actually, I DM’d you, right?

_____: I tweeted something at you saying, like–

[the tweet in question comes up on the screen, reading: hi mr jyp, if i could ever play some games with felix on stream, that would be super cool :) thank u <;3]

_____: ‘hey, would love to play with felix sometime’ and I tagged Stray Kids or something, and then you reached out on Instagram and said you’d love to play a game sometime so we figured it out and ended up streaming the first time we played together, and I was absolutely terrified and panicked for the first 15 minutes of stream until we got into a call.

Felix: You were so shy, too. [he smiles brightly and chuckles]

_____: I was so afraid of saying or doing something that could get you in trouble. I literally lectured chat from the day we finalized everything all the way up until the day we played just telling them to not be too vulgar or inappropriate or whatever because I was so scared of just ****ing something up.

Felix: And now you swear in any video we do together. [chuckles]

_____: Not your lives, though. [_____ looks right into camera very deadpan] I behave. Gotta keep it cool with JYPapi.

[felix stares at _____ without expression. they don’t look back at him. they just continue to stare at the camera without any expression. ‘technical difficulties’ comes back up before cutting back to the couple back to normal.]

Felix: I will admit, I was nervous, too, when we first played together. I was basically just a fan getting to play with their favorite streamer.

_____: [grinning back at felix] I know! You were so cute! I was, like, internally squealing.

Felix: And externally. There’s proof in the VOD.

[_____ turns to look at the camera again with felix laughing at them. their face is scrunched up despite how flustered they look.]

_____: Next question.

[who asked who out and how did it happen?]

_____: Felix. [they point to their left].

Felix: [shyly raises his hand] Yeah, that was me. I just– Okay, so we were both pretty shy with each other at first, but we got a lot more comfortable and were just kinda best friends, but there were moments I feel like where we’d both get kinda shy again [he starts to look to _____ for confirmation] like we both felt something there but we were both too shy to say anything.

_____: [smiling at the camera like it’s a bad infomercial] Take a shot every time Felix says ‘shy’!

[he snorts and bats their hand away when they give a thumbs up to the camera. it jump cuts to them after they’d calmed down from giggling at each other.]

_____: Honestly, I will say we kind of poked at the topic but never did anything for a while. Like we’d be like, ‘oh, let’s go on a date in whatever game we’re playing’ and I think there were serious undertones for both of us. But I was like, ‘there’s no way he actually has feelings, he has to think about his career, i’m just some idiot online,’ so I never said anything, and he was– Well, I don’t wanna say it for you since it was your feelings.

Felix: I was nervous about, like, scaring off a really good friend, especially since I did become a fan of theirs. I was watching _____ for over a year before we actually started talking so I think I was the same kind of starstruck as they were. I was just nervous like they were that this was all just a friendship and there wasn’t anything more from it.

_____: [looking at felix] I think I just started making it really obvious, though.

Felix: I definitely started to get a feeling that you were interested and the playful flirting was actually kinda serious. Like, you know how friends flirt? It was a lot of that, but I started getting a feeling they were trying to kinda be serious. So we went on that date and, like, I had planned it as a date but didn’t tell them. I just said we were hanging out, and then after I held their hand I was like, ‘so is this a good first date?’ or something like that, and yeah.

_____: And then he asked me out literally that night.

Felix: Oh, yeah, I couldn’t wait. I was scared I’d chicken out if I waited longer.

_____: I will admit, though, I took a couple days to give an answer because I was so nervous and scared.

Felix: [shrugs, looking at _____] Yeah, but we talked it out and then you said yes.

_____: [looking at felix] Yeah, I was worried about, like…ruining your career [laughs softly]. You made me feel less anxious about it.

Felix: [grinning] I try.

[what did the members think of _____, and what did _____’s friends think of felix?]

_____: [grinning] My friends were so ****in’ excited to meet Felix.

[felix starts laughing.]

_____: Like, I feel like kpop has become really popular with a lot of streamers for whatever reason, so a lot of them already knew who Stray Kids were. So when we played that first time– [suddenly turns very deadpan and stares directly into the camera] We played Bread & Fred, by the way. Very awful game to meet someone on. But anyway [they go back to normal] we decided to set up a time that Felix could play with my friends and I since I know a few popular streamers and we play together. So I reached out and asked if I could invite Felix from Stray Kids to play a game with us and they all lost it. They were so ****ing excited to meet him and then they were, like, obsessed with him when we did finally play. 

Felix: I was honestly excited to meet them, too. Some of them I had been a fan of for a while so it was fun to get to meet them and play and stuff.

_____: [scoffs and rolls their eyes but it’s obviously in a joking way] And yet you weren’t a fan of me yet.

Felix: You were newer!

[the ‘technical difficulties’ screen pops up for a few seconds again before going back to the couple.]

Felix: Yeah, the guys really liked _____. Chan would sometimes watch their streams, too, and I.N and Seungmin liked seeing them Overwatch gameplay. I remember the first time we planned to have a 5-stack in Overwatch with me, _____, Chan, Seungmin, and I.N, after we all got off and left Discord, I.N came into my room and was like, ‘Whoa, we gotta have them in our stack all the time’.

_____: [laughing softly] They only like me because I’m their carry.

Felix: [suddenly turns his head to look at them] Hey! Untrue!

Interviewer: Who’s the best at video games between the two of you?

Felix & _____: Me.

[the couple turns to look at each other. ‘technical difficulties’ pops up again before cutting back to the couple.]

_____: There’s literally proof. Should we pull up our Overwatch ranks? If you want, we could compare your League rank to mine.

Felix: You don’t even play Lea–

[he stops like he realizes something, and _____ starts laughing. he deflates and looks grumpy despite the smile growing on his face.]

_____: [still giggling] Exactly. You’re higher ranked than me in League.

Felix: [grumbling] Next question.

[who said ‘i love you’ first?]

[they both go to say something, mouths open. felix looks happy while _____ looks embarrassed, and they put their hands over felix’s body to try and keep him from speaking up first.]

_____: In my defense, I was very intoxicated so it doesn’t count!

Felix: [still grinning] It so does. [looks at the camera and tries to fight off _____ who is physically trying to get him to stop talking] So we had been playing It Takes Two together, which we did on their stream, and we were drinking for that, so after stream, we played some Minecraft just so we could, y’know, hang out in private and whatever. We were working on our new farm and stuff. But anyway, before _____ went to sleep and we were saying goodbye… [starts giggling] They literally just go, ‘I love you’ after the ‘goodnight’ and I just stopped because I was like, ‘did I hear that right?’ And then they started panicking and trying to take it back, and then they ended the call before I could even say anything!

_____: Because you were dead silent and it was embarrassing!

Felix: I just couldn’t believe you’d said that! But I left you a voicemail.

_____: He did… He called me and I didn’t answer and he was like, ‘hey, hope you sleep well. Also I love you too,’ and I died. I literally still have the voicemail saved.

Felix: [giggling and smiling brightly at _____] That’s so cute.

[has felix ever written a song about you and released it? if so, what was it?]

[the couple speaks at the same time]

_____: Not that I know of…

Felix: I have not.

[_____ looks to Felix and lets him speak.]

Felix: I’ve had, y’know, like…inspiration. But I’ve never written just one entire song all about _____. Not to say I haven’t tried, but they’re still just lyrics. 

_____: You did cover our song, though.

Felix: I did! We have a song that we decided we think of the other when we hear it, and I covered it once and it was posted on Youtube. It was before we were public, though, so I don’t think anyone thought it was anything.

_____: Dude, people were definitely shipping us before we were officially together.

Felix: [shrugs and chuckles] Okay, yeah, you’re right.

_____: You’re not slick.

[who’s the driest texter, and what are your names saved as in each other’s phones?]

_____: I’m so…painfully dry.

Felix: You are not.

_____: Compared to you, I feel like I am. Like, I feel like you always have a good reply to everything and you always seem interested and invested. I feel like I come across as like, ‘yup. sure. okay.’

Felix: No, you just…– Sometimes you only reply with a meme and I kinda sit there for a minute like, ‘okay, what do I do with this?’ [laughs]

_____: [shrugs] Sometimes I don’t know what to say.

Felix: What’s my name in your phone? [smirks and wiggles his eyebrows at _____]

_____: [dramatically clears their throat and shifts in their seat] So let me walk you through the timeline. At first, it was just ‘Felix’ with, like, the chick emoji and a heart because, y’know, I love Stray Kids. Then I changed it to ‘my little pogchamp’ when we started dating for shits and giggles, but I didn’t like that you weren’t in alphabetical order anymore, so I changed it back to ‘Felix’ with a few different heart emojis. Now it’s ‘Lix’ with the sun emoji and some hearts.

Felix: [laughing loudly] My little pogchamp?!

_____: I know yours is gonna be something super cheesy currently, so don’t even.

Felix: [pulling out his phone] It used to be. It’s normal currently.

_____: Walk me through the timeline.

Felix: So it was just ‘Saturn’ at first. Then it changed to _____, and then it was your name with some hearts, and now it’s just ‘baby _____’ with a sunflower and some hearts [he shows them his phone]

_____: Why a sunflower?

Felix: Because Stay call me the sun, and you’re my sun but I thought it should be different. So a sunflower…

[as felix trails off, he gets more flustered, and _____’s smile widens until they’re just looking at each other and smiling and giggling quietly.]

_____: You’re too cute sometimes.

Felix: [shrugs while putting his phone away, still grinning] Yeah, I try.

[do you read fanfiction about each other?]

_____: There was one time on stream where we somehow got onto the topic of fanfiction, and chat was asking if there was any of specifically me and Felix so I looked it up. For the record, there is, but I didn’t read it.

Felix: What was it about?

_____: The warnings were very much not safe for me to be reading on stream, that’s what I’m gonna tell you.

Felix: I haven’t looked up anything about us. I mean, when we first debuted, I was kind of curious and looked up about myself, but nothing about _____ or us together.

_____: Well, it’s out there.

Interviewer: Can you give us a hint as to what it was about?

_____: It was a threesome. [laughs] Can I say that?

Felix: [eyes wide, staring at _____] A threesome?! With who?!

_____: It was a reader insert.

Felix: [slowly turning back toward the camera, looking traumatized] I preferred not knowing.

_____: We’re bonding by both of us knowing this information. But now I kinda wanna look it up and see if it was any good…

[felix slowly turns back to _____, and the ‘technical difficulties’ screen pops up again before changing to the next question.]

[what item of yours does the other steal the most?]

_____: My entire ****ing setup!

[felix laughs evilly.]

_____: Anytime he stays over, he takes over my desk when I’m not using it, whether it’s before or after stream. He’s already there.

Felix: Everything runs so smoothly, and you have so many games! 

_____: You just built a new PC. You were bragging on Instagram about it.

Felix: [sighs] Yours is just better. It’s also very…aesthetically pleasing at your desk. And your chair is so comfy!

_____: I don’t even really steal anything of yours, though, so.

Felix: You can take whatever you want if you give me your setup. [he smiles and leans in, trying to seem persuasive]

Interviewer: You don’t steal anything from him?

_____: [shrugs] Not really. We don’t really share clothes or anything because of the size difference. I might’ve, like, accidentally stolen a pair of his socks a few times, maybe.

Felix: Oh! Your fuzzy socks are so comfy!

_____: All of the stealing is one-sided.

[which member of stray kids is _____ closest with?]

_____: [grinning] Innie!

Felix: Yeah, _____ and our youngest member, I.N get on really well. They play a lot of co-op games together. I think they stream with him more often than me, actually. [chuckles]

_____: I doubt that.

Felix: You guys are really close, though.

_____: I’m currently helping him build his first PC. [smiles and happily shrugs their shoulders] He’s like my little brother.

Interviewer: Do you ever fight when you play games together?

_____: Sometimes, and in that aspect, he reminds me of some of my friends I used to play games with a lot when I was first starting out. It was a lot of playful bickering, and that’s how it is with Jeongin sometimes. But it’s always fun playing together.

[what’s something the other does that you don’t like?]

[felix and _____ look at each other as they consider the question, but both of them just shrug at each other.]

Felix: Nothing, really.

Interviewer: Not any pet peeves?

Felix: [starting to chuckle] Okay, I actually have one that’s kinda weird…

_____: [looking somewhat scared] What is it…?

Felix: So…for context, one of our friends was saying how you know you love someone when you’ll fart in front–

[_____ starts loudly whining.]

Felix: [laughing] –of each other. And they refuse to fart in front of me! We’ll be hanging out on the couch or in my room together or something, and they’ll literally leave the room!

_____: Only if I think it’s gonna be smelly.

Felix: You can tell?

_____: Sometimes. Or if I know I can’t make it quiet.

Interviewer: Is there anything Felix does that you’re not super fond of?

_____: Um… Sometimes he looks at his members a certain way and I’m like, ‘...why aren’t you looking at me like that?’

[felix turns to look at _____ in confusion.]

_____: Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame you! Y’all are handsome guys. But, like…c’mon, man.

Felix: …What are you talking about?

_____: [puts their hand on his shoulder] You know exactly what I’m talking about. I know how you look at Changbin.

[felix and _____ stare at each other in silence for a moment before felix suddenly looks at the camera with wide, knowing eyes.]

Felix: Ohhhh, yeah. Yeah, [laughs] I get it. I get what you mean.

_____: Look at me like that, Felix!

Felix: I do! I do. [turns back to _____] I swear I do.

_____: I don’t see the same panic in your eyes.

Felix: You want me to panic?

_____: Kinda.

[what’s something you especially love about each other?]

_____: Felix is always positive. I tend to get kinda pessimistic and, like, worry about things a lot. If I bring it up to Felix, he’s always looking at things from a good perspective or is always reassuring me that everything is okay.

Felix: I don’t think you’re pessimistic.

_____: I am when I’m stressed, which is usually. God, especially at the beginning of our relationship, or like, before we were even dating when people thought we were. [looks straight into camera with genuine worry] I was so convinced I was gonna get swatted. I was fully prepared to move my entire life to make sure it wouldn’t happen.

Felix: [reaches over to put his hand on their knee, rubbing it with his thumb] You do worry about a lot, but I wouldn’t say it’s pessimistic. It’s just anxiety. [shrugs]

Interviewer: So Felix, what do you like about _____?

Felix: I feel like I never get drained being around them. Like, you know how being social a lot makes you feel really tired? Being around _____ I feel like recharges me instead. They always just make me feel better by being around me, and they always make me laugh.

_____: See, that’s how I know I am pessimistic because my jokes are all dry and come from a place of trauma. [gives a very straight and boring smile right at the camera]

Felix: [chuckling] I’m begging you to just take the compliment.

_____: [shyly] Thanks, man.

Felix: [snorts] Yeah, sure thing, bro. No problem.

[_____ holds out their hand and they dab each other up.]

[the logo appears once again before cutting back to the couple sitting how they were at the beginning of the interview.]

Felix: Thank you so much to Gamerwoo for having us in the studio today to answer questions about us and our relationship. We had a lot of fun here today.

_____: If you want to learn more about us individually, you can see my boyfriend, Felix in the kpop boy group, Stray Kids. And if you’re interested in anything I’m doing, you can find me on most live streaming platforms at slrsatrn.

Felix: This has been…

Felix & _____: In Between: Felix and Saturn!

Felix: [waving with both hands] Byyyye, thank you!

_____: [doing a thumbs up at the camera] Adioso, friends!

[as the logo card appears on the screen again, felix and _____ can be heard laughing before they both say, ‘done!’ and laugh some more. The screen goes black and the recommended videos come up.]

«─── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───»

perma tag list [italics are unable to tag]: @minluvly @awkwardnesshabitat @woozarts @septicrebel @4kwp @thepencilkorner @bubblelixie @byunhoebaek @dejavernon @ahandfulofkeys @slut-for-dabi @avyskai @pussymode @sunoosult @moonlightcandy00 @missrobyn81 @day6andetcetera @ritzy-roo @casualtaelyn @skizzel-reblogs @itbtoblikethatsometimes @crazyllamasurfer @wonderfulshinee @ladylexis @bangmechanpls @army-stay-noel @reiheis @pretty-npeach @icarusthorn @saythenameseventeen178 @stay-gray @olivehues-blog @ulavenger64king @lillijay @twistedsiren @svintsandghosts @stellarstacysstuff @xxluckydreamsxx @chartrucewhore @dwaekkiracha @ssstraykiss @lukeys-giggle @bobrouxsky @strayKidsFamily @vensweety @seoli-16 @smilefordongil @flirtyskzbutterfly @freckleboilix @immortal-imagination

[vaguely-concerned]

GARASHIR FICS I HAVE LOVED RECENTLY

That’s right it’s fic recs o’clock baby! 

This Be The ‘Verse series by Vermin_Disciple

If the end of the show hurt you, this is a soothing balm to ease that pain, and in such smart and enjoyable ways. There are more ensemble-focused installments as well as more Garashir & Cardassia ones, and they all rule. This is technically kid!fic, but I implore you to check it out even if that’s not normally your thing, it really is that good and it’s Playing Around with the form in some ways you might not expect. The first fic in the series, This Be The Verse, sets the stage for how all the characters end up post-show. Tell Me You See Me is set earlier in the timeline, and has an amazing suspense/mystery plot going through it as well as a really interesting exploration of Julian’s relationship with his mother, on top of all the wonderful Garashir stuff, and A Bag Full of God is a *chef’s kiss* perfect deployment of deaging as a trope to examine character development and relationships. Also incredibly funny, in the best and most character-affirming of ways. 

In general I have loved every single fic by this author I’ve had the privilege to read, so just go forth and devour it all and I hope you have as good a time as I did!  

Too Wise To Woo Peaceably series by TakePenAndInk

I hadn’t thought I’d ever be interested in a full human!AU DS9 fic, and never in my LIFE have I been so ecstatic to be proven completely wrong! The pacing of character— and relationship development is immaculate, the prose in general and Garak POV voice in particular is so deeply charming, and it has one of the best and most painful deployments of The Little Julian That Lives In Garak’s Head I’ve ever seen. Add in astonishingly well-written, stupendously well-characterized sex scenes with so much emotional depth and joy and intensity in them, and this is one of the best experiences I’ve had with reading in general in a long, long time. 

primary, secondary by robnauts 

This fic does such cool and interesting things with the epistolary format, and also goes ham on a part of the worldbuilding of Cardassian society that’s always weirdly skirted away from in the canon itself — how queerness would fit into the whole ‘family above all (except the state let’s not get excited here)’ idea. Absolutely nails the tone of Garak’s ‘writing voice’, and builds the other characters so skillfully too. Had me crying like a baby by the end, extremely cathartic.

TL;DR you wanna have feelings about Garashir and the field of queer history? Because you’re gonna and it’s fucking great!!!

[f1nalboys]

Back To The Old House - Bo Sinclair

Bo Sinclair x Fem!GN!Reader

WORD COUNT: 2492

WARNINGS: this is a darker fic than i normally post. more accurate to canon bo and reader is not in a wanted position in the story. heed the warnings people, dead dove do not eat etc. pre-relationship, sorta stockholm syndrome-y, gore, violence, blood, wounds, threats of violence, medical stuff (mention of stitches and a scene of bo cleaning up your wounds, a mention of being strapped to the bed like trudy while you healed), bo calls reader ‘good girl’ multiple times, wrist and ankle cuts, mention of broken bones and last injuries and past threats of violence, mentions of the garage and being stuck in the chair, starvation/malnutrition, bo struggles to have normal relationships with people, bo refers to past victims as ‘bitches,’ reader is Stuck in Ambrose and has been there for 2 1/2 months or so, bo is really his own warning fr, not rlly a warning but reader eats pizza? idk just in case, proofread but could have missed some stuff, posting from my phone so sorry about any formatting mistakes!

Your body ached from the inside out. Your bones felt too big for your skin and your skin, in turn, felt stretched across your body, tension high, the slightest touch enough to snap it apart. The chair underneath you was cool against your skin which felt like it was on fire. The sound of footsteps above you no longer put even the smallest glimmer of hope in your chest; too many times it had been short lived, sometimes your possible saviors being led away and the other times it was just him.

The door unlocks and you keep your eyes closed, your breathing level even as he approaches you, boots that had once pressed on your chest until you heard a snap just a few months ago land soft on the concrete floor until he’s right beside you. You don’t flinch when his calloused hand drags down your arm; in fact, you almost involuntarily lean into it.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’re you feelin?” His voice seems to soothe an ache inside you, one closer to your heart than you’d like to admit, but you can’t talk. You hum and it’s low in your throat and you can’t see his face but you can see his frown deepen. “Gonna take you up to the house for the night, alright? Let me let ‘ya out.”

He works on your ankles first, the flick of his pocket knife causing you to move away from him ever so slightly despite the straps and tape digging further into your skin. “Why?” You croak and his movements pause. His hand, the one with the ring, lays gently on your calf as he works on cutting off the thick layer of duct tape and he slowly begins to peel them off, shushing your pained gasps and whimpers as they peel up your skin.

“Shh, I know. Did so good for me down here these last few days.”

“I…I did?”

“Mhm,” He confirms and you let out a content sigh. The pain was worth these small moments with him, however few and far between they were. They have been happening more and more recently, however. It was almost strange the kindness, if you could call it that, he had shown you these last few days. Or was it weeks? “Gotta reward you, don’t I? Unless you wanna stay down here?”

You shake your head, swallowing heavily. You didn’t want to stay down here. You hadn’t wanted to stay down here since the day he had dragged you kicking and screaming into the chair you were still sitting in without so much as a muscle twitch a few months prior, but he hadn’t offered you the chance in such a soft voice before. The times before he had asked if you wanted to leave it had been mean, taunting your own cries back to you. But now there was no hint of sick pleasure or lying in his voice.

“Good, good,” He says, finally taking the rest of the tape off of your ankles, undoing the leather straps and looking at the raw skin and thick scarring that had begun to warp your flesh like his own. He sounded almost relieved you didn’t want to stay down here, but that couldn’t be right. You were tired and hungry, hearing things in his voice to calm your nerves of having him near. “Gonna clean ‘ya up and feed ya, let you sleep in a bed.”

You finally open your eyes, blinking away the fuzz at the edges of your vision to make a point to look over at the dingy mattress thrown in the corner of the room. Bo notices and looks over his shoulder at it, turning back to your ankles with the tips of his ears tinged pink. “A real bed.” He corrects and you don’t bother fighting back your grin like you normally did around him and his shitty jokes. “With a headboard and sheets and shit. Gotta treat my girl right, you know?”

“Your girl?”

“Yeah.” He had begun to work on taking the tape on your wrists off at this point and at your question he pulls harder, ripping the tape - and a layer of skin - off in one fell swoop. You let out a pained groan, wrists pulling at your restraints without meaning too, and your eyes snap to his blue ones. His eyes are narrowed in an accusatory way that sends a shiver down your spine. “Ain’t you mine?”

“Yes, Bo.”

“So then you’re my girl. If you were just some random bitch I’d’ve left you to rot in this fuckin’ chair like the rest of ‘em. You want that?” You shake your head quickly, stuttering out an apology to him and that easy smile is back on his face just as quick. “Good girl, that’s better.” You stay silent, watching him as he carefully removes the other duct tape on your left hand, lips pressed together to keep back your winces of pain. When the leather straps are removed he looks over your wrists just as he had done to your ankles, tsking to himself.

Your wrists were the worst of it. Struggling when you’re strapped to a chair by a strange man was normal, and the first week that’s all you did, day and night until you’d pass out from exhaustion. You’d tug at your restraints, desperate to break free, hoping that somehow, someway, you’d snap them and be able to leave. But everyday when he’d come to visit you, he’d retighten them, add another layer of duct tape, even once held his own knife out over your wrists and told you the only way out was to saw off your fucking hand, that he’d wait and watch you do it.

After that, you only struggled when he was gone, ignoring the way the leather rubbed at your skin until you swore they hit muscle. He had put out a camera to watch you while he was away after he came in after being gone for two days straight and had seen the puddle of blood underneath you. He had to bring you to Vincent for him to stitch you up. That was the two weeks he had you strapped to the bed in the house, just like his mother, drugged to high heavens to keep you from moving around too much.

When he put you back in the chair later on, you hadn’t even begged him not to. You knew there was nothing you could do to leave. He’d have to kill you himself and with how gently he had positioned you back in the chair, you knew it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

“Not too bad.” He finally says, eyes flicking to yours. You nod; you believe him. “I’ll clean ‘em and wrap ‘em at the house. You like pizza?” You shrug and Bo grunts in annoyance, standing up. You weren’t trying to be difficult, you just couldn’t really remember if you did. The last few months had been filled with half-moldy bready and tap water in the same plastic cup and you weren’t sure what you’d do if you tasted anything with flavor at this point. “Well that’s what we’re eatin’.”

“Okay, that’s fine… Can I ask you something?” Bo hums and you chew at the side of your cheeks. He steps away from you slightly and stares down at you, waiting. “Why are you taking care of me?”

He doesn’t say anything for a second, just blinks down at you, before shrugging, turning away from you. “Just want to. Why? You don’t think I’m bein’ honest or somethin, Y/N?”

“No, no, I know you’re being honest, it’s not that…”

“Then what is it?”

“I guess…I guess it’s just confusing. For my brain, I mean.” He doesn’t turn around, doesn’t say anything, and suddenly you feel the need to fill the silence, scooting up in your seat despite the ache in your body. “I just mean that it’s hard going from how it was in the beginning to now, not that it’s bad or that I’m angry.” Still silent. You stare at his back as he busies himself fixing up his tool cart and you swallow down the bile rising in your throat. “I’m really happy things are changing between us.”

He turns around at this, eyebrows stitched together. “What makes you think anything’s changin’?” He asks, stalking over to you slowly and you can’t help but slink back into the chair. “What, you think you’re my girlfriend or some shit?” He shakes his head and you watch as he runs his hand through his sweaty hair roughly, as if he were berating himself, not you. “Just cause you’re mine don’t mean I’m yours, you got that?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Bo.” That’s all you say and he visibly softens, nodding once more before holding his hand out for you to take. You’re weak, both from exhaustion and lack of food, and you heavily lean on him as he slowly walks you out of the room and up the small flight of stairs to the garage. Bo’s arm was wrapped around your waist and he seemed to relish the close contact, taking the time every few steps to plant a soft kiss to your cheek.

Even though it was him, you still find yourself enjoying the affection.

You weren't sure you’d be able to make it up to the house, already winded beyond belief from just the short walk out of the basement. “Stay here, sweetheart.” Bo whispers into your ear, breath hot against your skin, and he helps you lean against the counter top before heading out of the shop. The sound of his truck starting has you sighing in relief; he was going to drive you. The banged up blue pickup idles in front of the shop and in comes Bo, ever the gentleman, helping you out to the car, buckling you in and closing the door.

“Thank you, Bo.” You say when he hops inside and he nods, hand resting on your thigh, thumb brushing up and down as he drives off towards the house. Your eyes close and you focus on the sound of the cars engine, of his hands on you in such a gentle way, of the knowledge you were safe right now even with the person who had made you feel unsafe in the first place. The car rolls to a stop in front of the house and you open your eyes as Bo gets out, coming around to your side and opening your door.

His arm is around your waist again as you step out of the car and he brings you up the porch and into the house, not letting you stop moving until he’s placing you down onto the couch. “Stay there.” Bo says before disappearing down the hall and a small part of you, the little sliver left over from before Ambrose, wonders how long it would take you to run off, if you’d have the ability to, if he’d kill you when he caught you or if he would strap you to the chair again.

You don’t have the time to even daydream of the idea before he’s back, sitting down in front of you with a chair and hauling your feet up onto his lap for him to clean. “Shit,” You hiss as he wipes the cuts down with an alcohol wipe, trying your best not to flinch, though your hand digs into the worn leather of the couch underneath you.

“Good girl, there you go,” Bo praises, slathering on some ointment before wrapping it with gauze, and you lean your head back on the chair, trying to ignore the stirring deep in your stomach at his praise. You were used to the other Bo, the one that talked to you like you were nothing, who made sure to beat your spirit down and smash it into the concrete for good measure all while touching you, not the one who cooed at you like a child getting their skinned knee checked over. “Now your wrists.”

He carefully places your feet back down onto the ground and takes your hands in his own, kissing your knuckles. “Oh!” You aren’t able to hide the shocked noise you make at the gesture and Bo grins at you, repeating the action on the other hand. “Th-thanks,” You murmur when he finishes cleaning your wrists. His own wrists were visible to you in his shirt and he catches you staring at them.

“They stop hurting after a while,” He says quietly, beginning to wrap your wrist. “After the cuts and shit heal, they’ll itch. Sometimes they hurt if it’s too cold or too hot, or if your skins dry they’ll crack, but you just gotta keep ‘em moisturized or whatever and you’ll be fine.”

“How’d you get them?” Bo pauses mid wrap of your second wrist when you ask and you wonder for a split second if he’s going to hurt you. But instead he takes a deep breath and continues to wrap your wrists.

“Don’t matter.” You decide to leave it. You had pushed when you had asked anyways and he had granted you a second chance; he didn’t do that often. “There. All done. Let me get you a slice or two, we’ll eat, and then it’s off to bed.”

You nod, watching as he stands and walks off into the kitchen. The rustling sounds almost lull you to sleep but then he’s back, handing you a plate with two pieces of pizza, and he’s flopping down beside you on the couch with his own. You chew silently, salivating at the taste, as he grabs a remote and turns on the old tv, flicking through the channels. “Wait!” You say and he pauses, glancing at you. “Go back! That’s my favorite movie.”

Bo listens, flicking back until you grin at the movie that was on. Silently the two of you eat, watching the movie, and you laughed a few times, leaning further into Bo. He hadn’t heard your laugh before and he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t music to his ears. Eventually your pizza is done, plate abandoned onto the coffee table, your head on Bo’s shoulder.

He smiles slightly at the feeling of you beside him, cheek squished on his shoulder, and he knows you’ve fallen asleep. The movie ends and his plate is placed beside your own and instead of waking you, taking you into his bedroom and laying beside you like he had planned, he simply allows himself to drift off on the couch, arm loosely slung around you. He would just have to have you stay in the house another night, then, to make good on his promise of a restful sleep in a real bed.

You were Bo’s, that much was certain, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was yours.

[ask-the-bone-boys]

ATBB's Future

Hiiii y'all, its uh. been a minute huh

Now that it's been a bit over a year since I put this blog on hiatus, a loootta stuff has happened and changed and i've been doing a loootttta thinking!

Looking back on it, like really really looking, my biggest reason for the hiatus was that at some point the blog just kinda became more of a chore than something I wanted to work on for fun. Ask blogs are a lot of work, even when you're just using talking portraits rather than drawing out every individual answer, and with how much ask culture on tumblr has died out over the years there just wasn't really enough payoff to make it feel worthwhile to keep burning myself out.

I think it's a really good thing I stopped it when I did, because having to deal with all that in my senior year of high school would have been a nightmare. I've actually just finished up my first semester of college now, and there's no way in hell I would've been able to keep up at any rate! With all of this in mind, I've gained a newer perspective about how to approach things going forward.

I'm still really attached to this story. With how much time I've spent thinking about it and developing it in my head, I can't let it go, even if the blog isn't really working out anymore. I keep thinking of different ways I could fix the decisions I made early on, as well as the super cool directions I could take it in in the future, and I just. I GOTTA.

So, I've decided to reboot it entirely as a fic series!

This means that, unfortunately, there won't be nearly as much artwork to accompany it, but it's far more likely for the story to actually progress! Writing is way less draining for me and once I get going I can do it much quicker than art anyway, even though I do still sorta wish I had the spoons to just turn it into a full-blown webcomic instead haha

This DOES mean that updates won't be nearly as linear as they were here, seeing as right now I've mostly been working on backstory fics that took place before the blog's main story, but that can at least give you guys more context for how the characters interact with each other! I'll also state that while I do write faster than I draw, I still do it a hell of a lot less, so updates will still probably be pretty infrequent. But at least they'll happen at all, right?

As for the state of this blog itself, obviously I'm going to leave it up! I still love looking back on the old interactions you guys had with my characters and your reactions to certain plot points (your reactions to Fluff tagging along with the rest of the group were my favorite by far) and I think it would actually kill me to erase them. I'll be posting the fic updates here too, just like I did for Self Hatred!

And even if it's not going to be an ask blog anymore, because of how much I still miss that kind of interaction with you guys, I think I want to do a sort of "last hurrah" event, to finally send off the asking format with some good vibes.

You see, there's a character I made up around this time of year two years ago. He's a pretty cool guy, but he doesn't actually show up until a specific turning point later in the story. I've been excited for you guys to talk to him since the day I made him, but a little bummed lately that you may not ever get the chance. I still need to get a lot of stuff prepared, so I'm not quite ready to announce or start anything just yet, but there's a reason I waited until my winter break to start thinking about this seriously.

I think you guys would really like to meet him.

But anyway, that's about all I wanted to say for now! This is a very long post already so it's time I start wrapping it up. As always, thank you all so much for sticking with me, even though I really haven't been consistent through the years. I hope this change doesn't come as too much of a disappointment, and that you'll keep sticking around for the reboot!

[retro-vagabond]

So I wrote a fic for @batboysxprompts for Pumpkin. It's a #steddie Halloween fic. That became a little longer than I anticipated. Reminder I haven't wrote since high school and this was done on my phone notepad so I apologize for format being kinda meh. Anyway hope you enjoy and Happy Halloween!! 🎃:

He stands on the porch holding the horror tape he was asked to bring, fixing his glasses one more time. Almost hesitating to knock, he doesn't want to seem too eager, he told himself to ease into things with this. Eddie and him had found something in each other that clicked since the Vecna incident happened.

The kids were growing up finally free to roam without the threat of a ticking clock or whatever creature that stumbled into this dimension. They were out at a monster/horror double feature at the drive-in, Wayne out with Jim for beers and bowling, leaving him and Eddie alone for the night.

He could smell Wayne's famous chili through the door, as he raised and knocked. Eddie had invited him over for a surprise, he honestly wasn't sure what to expect, but a night in with him sure beat any Halloween rager that would be going on tonight.

It didn't take long before he was greeted with big earthy brown eyes and smile, pulling him in for a warm embrace, "I was wondering what was taking you so long out there big boy. C'mon I need your help, what we need is in the back of the van still."

"Back of the van-? What do you have planned?", he follows puzzled after letting go of him.

"Well I didn't want anyone to smash them before we had our fun with them!", opening the back doors to his van to reveal two big pumpkins. "I stopped at Merrill's Pumpkin Patch on my way home. Figured we could carve them, have some of Wayne's chili he left in the crock pot for us, and maybe watch whatever movie you picked out."

He looks at Eddie taking him in as he's nervously fidgeting with his hair, "This isn't to lame for Steve Harrington is it? This is probably lame. I mean we could do something el-"

"N-no no! This is actually perfect," he cuts him off to stop the self doubt. He rubs the back of his neck, "I've just never carved a jack-o-latern before."

"What!? How have you never done this before?!", he shrieks theatrically.

"Dad didn't like getting dirty, said mud would ruin my our clothes. Same with trick or treating, they were never home so I'd order pizza with the money they left and just watch movies until I pass out. Then high school happened, that stuff just wasn't cool anymore.", Eddie just pulls him into his side, gives him small kiss on the temple. He knows all too well what it's like to have a shit father too.

"Well we're going to change that Pumpkin make this our new tradition. Mom did this with me up until she passed, Wayne and I carried on with it after that, now I get to share it with you.", he reminiscences before pressing another kiss to my cheek and going in to grab a pumpkin to hand it to me and grab the other before closing the door.

"You're such a sweetheart, you know that? My knight in shining armor", I say as we make it into the house. "Only the best for you my liege," he smiles back, if their hands weren't full he playfully swoon into his arms.

Setting up at the kitchen table, Eddie had laid out newspaper and utensils to carve and scrape out the inwards. They come up with designs, Eddie of course meticulous with detail. When he sticks his hand to pull out the guts, it's definitely a weird experience. He has to remind himself that the Upside Down is gone that this thing won't bury its teeth in and drag him under.

He looks at Eddie, his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth and the look of determination is enough to push all those bad thoughts away. He's such a kid at heart, and he really loves this man for it. He settles with something that would make Laurie Stroude proud, which is fitting for the movie he brought. Eddie makes sure to save the seeds to rinse, salt, and cook for Wayne later. Tea lights are lit and put into the finished jack-o-laterns. Eddie has out done himself with a tall tower with a dragon wrapped around it. Light shines through the tower window. Eddie takes a snapshot with his Polaroid camera to preserve the memory.

They settle in with a bowl of chili that always hits the spot with this chill in the air. Steve will have to tell Wayne later this one was for the books as he sets his bowl to rub his stomach. Once Eddie finishes he picks both bowls up to set in the sink to soak and wash later. He hurries back to Steve on the couch resuming his spot cuddled up to him.

Steve laces their fingers together, bringing them to his lips to kiss Eddie's knuckles, "Thank you sweetheart, I really needed this."

"Anything for you pumpkin," he grins before pulling him closer to kiss him properly. They settle in for the night eventually dozing on the couch.

When Wayne gets home he smiles getting out of the truck. Lights dimly flickering in the pumpkins on the porch brings a warm smile to his face. Going in he's sure to be quiet, his boys asleep on the couch. Taking Steve's glasses off and putting them on a nearby table before pulling a blanket over the both of them. He's happy deep down seeing Eddie find someone who understands him, he was reluctant at first, but over time he could see Steve needed and loved him just as much. And with that he turns off the kitchen light and calls it a night knowing this house finally feels like a home.

[whattimeisitfic]

Hey, Hey! I wanted to draw some stuff for your fic, but I had a question. Do you have more details on how Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael look? I know Gabriel has some fem-characteristics and Michael seems to be the largest of the angels. No pressure tho!

Okok, I’ve actually had someone ask me about their appearances before so I’ll just post my response to them to give you a guideline, and if you had anymore questions just let me know duckling. The format of this is: there will be a number w/ a question they asked, and below that I answer it. (The questions came from @the-stress-express if you wanna check out their WIP)

Anyway, here u are:

1. Are Micheal, Gabriel, and Raphael kind of like copy-paste versions of Lucifer? Like, do they have Lucifer’s red cheek spots? Do they all have white ass skin like Lucifer?

- I imagine they all have white skin, and that Rals has the cheek spots, but Micheal and Gabriel do not. They’re kinds copy and pasted, but with a bit of variation in body structure (Rals being more rounded, Micheal a tad bit more square). And also while I’m here, I’ll say that Raphael is a little bit taller than Luci (probably just under Charlie’s height) and that Gabriel and Micheal are the same height, and quite a bit taller than their two brothers.

2. What kind of hairstyles, textures, and hair colours do they have? I’ll probably take some creative liberty, so don’t feel too pressured for detailed explanations, but I want to hear your designs so I can make it accurate to your vision. Also, I’ve heard theories that Micheal’s hair is a lot like Lucifer’s but idk if you are having that there.

Okay, we’ll go through this character by character.

Micheal - Same blondness as Lucifer, but perhaps a little shorter. Maybe a little fluffier at the top? Idk. No real big picture ideas.

Gabriel - Long, silky, straight dark brown hair. It comes down to about his mid-back/chest area, and it’s all like flowy and elegant and pretty well maintained. Shiny probably too

Raphael - Pretty much a mix between the others. Kinda like Lucifer’s style, but curlier, and with a similar brown hue to Gabriel’s (tho a little bit lighter). Again, no real preference other than that, go wild!

3. Eye colour. I remember you stated that Micheal has gold eyes, but what about Gabriel and Raphael? I feel like you mentioned it at some point but I forgot.

I honestly can’t remember what I said either, but I’ve been picturing Raphael with green eyes, and Gabriel with something more greyish-blue hued? I think. Idk if that reflects in what I’ve written but that’s what my brain had decided they look like now.

4. Did you have specific designs for the 3 angels’ robes? Or does it matter what they look like? If it doesn’t matter to you I’ll just let creativity take over there.

Not really. Just that Micheal’s are white/gold, Gabriel’s are a pretty pale blue, and Raphy’s are a pale, rich green (with the green being more on the blue side than the yellow). I struggle w/ outfits so I usually just don’t put much thought into them.

5. I will obviously include Raphael’s beautiful hummingbird wings. So do Micheal and Gabriel have specific wing styles? And furthermore, we know Lucifer had 6 wings bc he’s a former seraphim. I forget but, in this fic, are his brothers seraphims too? I feel dumb for asking but whatever lmao.

Yeah, they def all have six wings. I imagine Micheal’s looking more eagle-like, and… idk about Gabriel. It might be cool if he had more of a “pigeon-y” shape to them as a fun little correlation to his messenger status, but idrc. Do what you think looks best

[zeltqz]

niyaaaa do u have any tips for people who wanna get into fic writing? 👀

i don’t really get how the whole posting format for fics works on here tbh 😭 and like your info area it’s so cool

YEAH OFC!! btw dm me your username so i can follow and support you <3

tip 1- the posting format isnt that hard to get used to actually its just you create a tumblr text post and then copy and paste your fic onto it, add the tags and stuff then post it. if you want to add banners, headers and stuff to make it look better then go ahead, just add images to the text post

tip 2- the info area is the same as above, just add pictures of your choice etc to the text post, add your information, name, age, fav things etc and then to link posts to your post, highlight where u want the link to go, then copy the link of the post u want linked then press the hyperlink that looks like two chains linked together when you highlight the text if that makes sense? sounds like a lot but its rlly not i promise haha

tip 3- always type your fics on other apps like word or google docs since they have an auto save feature!! i dont reccomend typing your fics on tumblr since one if the app crashes, it doesn't automatically save your work so everything you wrote will get deleted (some versions of tumblr do have autosave, my laptop has it but my phone and iPad doesn't, so i dont rely on it)

tip 4- idk if you want tips on actual fic writing or just how to get your fics onto tumblr but ill help you with that anyway. with me when i write fics i always imagine it out in my head. theres some of my fics where i just went with the flow and wrote wgatever came to mind and those are the fics i hate the most because they dont rlly make sense to me. theyre always so random and it just seems rushed and bad.

i picture my fics like a scene in my head and whatever i want the character to do, think, say or feel i write that shit down asap. i use other online sources to help get more descriptive like the emotion theasurus <- honestly one of my favourite things to use ever, they have so much body language to use for every emotion in the damn book

dialogue is also something i find difficult. i've improved i personally feel like but its still hard for me especially if im writing a new character. i never want to make the character seem OOC so i do lots of research before hand. i normally use the wiki to read up on a characters personality.

for example i'll use ran for this since he's like 99% of my account lmao. in the wiki, he's described as "naturally whimsical toward others which makes him inscrutable" though ran doesnt have many scenes in the manga (which i hate bc i love him sm) its impossible to actually write him down to a tee so i use that naturally whimsical description to make him playful, charismatic, carefree etc, going off what little information i have with him.

getting a characters personality down is what can make or break a dialogue. for me when im reading a fic of a character and their dialogue is so OOC it puts me off and i dont even wanna read. so i apply my same fic icks to myself and think if I don't like seeing this and that in a fic, why would I incorporate those in my fics and have ppl get put off it if they have the same fic icks as me?

hope that makes sense!!

tip 5- dont rush yourself at all. i used to rush a few of my fics and i just ended up hating it so much after and fought bck the urge to delete them so many times but then i'd see people's comments and realise i was being too harsh on myself. i'd keep them up but i'd just hate seeing them get attention.

rushing only makes you hate your work and the quality of your work will decline if you are not in the right headspace.

thats also why i have the don't rush me thing in my rules because not only is it annoying to see people constantly asking for updates, it also makes me mad because i know i'll just put out a piece of garbage if i did rush.

also another tip don't give yourself deadlines!! if you know your writing consistency can be a little sloppy, don't tell your followers that you're going to upload every so and so day. if something happens and you miss the deadline, you'll feel bad and rush something out and most times out of ten, a rushed fic doesn't do well. so take your time and don't rush.

tip 6- dont listen to what other people say or feel obligated to write something you don't wanna. establish your boundaries!! for example, from day one i started this blog i said im accepting requests but i will not write anything to do with non-con, incest or minors. i made sure that was out there so i wouldn't feel uncomforable writing anything i wasn't comfy with.

there are people on this app that may like your writing and request you to write something for them. you are not obligated to write anything for anyone! don't feel like you have to just because they asked nicely.

if you want to accept requests you can im not saying you shouldn't, im saying don't feel like you have to. you always have a choice. its your blog.

tip 7- remember this isn't a job. you're allowed to take breaks, allowed to have a personal life. don't feel like you need to be updating every day. i used to think i was obligated to be uploading consistently at least every week because i was obsesssed with engagement and seeing peoples comments and was scared if i took a break ppl will unfollow. now i honestly don't care. i'm not active as much as i used to because of school and that's fine! if ppl want to leave, let them. don't feel like you're forced to keep being active in order to keep your follower count stable.

tip 8- this app can get really toxic sometimes. luckily enough i've only had one toxic anon in my inbox and i've been on this app for a year. some people have so many, some ppl get harrassed etc. if that happens to you just be prepared since there's no actual way to find out who's behind anons. you can turn off your anon options which means if ppl want to inbox you something then their account will be showing. some people arent comfortable with that and that's fine! i keep mine on because i want people to feel comfortable on my page.

just remember though if you ever feel like this app is getting overwhelming take breaks! for the sake of your mental health take breaks. i know so many writers on here that took breaks and came back healthier and stronger.

i feel like this tip goes for social media in general. as much as i love social media im aware how unhealthy it is. breaks are so important for you. remember that.

i can't think of anymore tips right now but if i have some more i will edit the post and add it on.

if u have anymore questions about the tumblr posting format dm me and ill help you out :))

[kitkatt0430]

I don't like writing fanfiction of real people like Dunkirk or Band of Brothers. Especially real person & y/n. It feels so wrong.

I also don't like fanfiction of things like Dunkirk but that's because I'm not a huge historical fiction reader to begin with. I did enjoy the Dear America series some as a kid, which was a series of fictional diaries written primarily - if not entirely - about what girls who lived through different time periods and historical events would have experienced. There was one for the Titanic I remember enjoying in particular, though I can't for the life of me remember what actually happened beyond the girl surviving the ship's sinking. And I do have a special place in my heart for tv shows like MASH and Hogan's Heroes, so I don't automatically check out on something for being historical fiction - I think I just tend to prefer my historical fiction not to be in written format.

To me, fanfiction that use real life historical settings are pretty much the same thing as historical fiction and historical fiction is basically someone writing a 'more legitimate' fanfic about history but with (mostly) original characters. Explains a lot about Abraham Lincoln fighting Vampires if you look at it through the lens of fanfic, anyway.

As for RPF and self-insert fics like Y/N types... I can definitely get why a lot of people don't like those. I wouldn't call those genres wrong - with the many recurring puritanical movements that have come and gone over the years, I don't want to fall into the kind of trap that valuing certain expressions of fandom as bad and others as good. Though to be clear this is a personal preference for how I talk about fanfic and not something I expect from others.

I think a lot of the criticism of RPF tends to forget that Real Person Fiction is a very popular sub genre of historical fiction. It's Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires and Doctor Who having the Doctor and Martha inspiring Shakespeare's writing or Rory putting Hitler in a closet or fighting ghosts in the gaslight with Charles Dickens. That a lot of RPF fanfic is centered on current celebrities instead of historical figures... well, today's celebrities are tomorrow's historical figures. There's really no difference beyond 'fanfic' RPF being amateur work and published fiction isn't. Why do I like Doctor Who doing it but not random fanfic authors? Doctor Who does it better and is more likely to pick celebrities or historical figures I actually find interesting. And then next week it's pepper pots armed with plungers. Though, to be perfectly honest, I just don't care all that much about the personal lives of today's celebrities or yesterday's historical figures either way.

Y/N fics are basically original character fics with the names filed off at heart so those have never bugged me all that much. I know that the 'insert your name here' thing is what makes them unreadable to a lot of people - being told that to read this fic you have to put your self in there and imagine yourself doing or saying whatever the Y/N character does... it can be really off putting or even turn into a major squick, especially when you know you'd handle things radically differently from the Y/N in the story. But they're still, at heart, just original character fics. After all, a lot of OCs have historically started as self insert characters with cool names. So when I'm in the right mood, I can read a Y/N type fic and just substitute in a cool name that is not mine and enjoy a fic about someone's OC getting to hang out with (or romance, admittedly, Y/N is primarily a romance heavy genre) some of my favorite characters. If I'm not in the right mood for it then the Y/N stuff gets annoying because I'm having to mentally sub in whatever name I picked (I know there are browser extensions that'll do this but I'm lazy) and it's too much mental effort. But even then it's not about the fact that the fic is a Y/N but that I'm just not in the right headspace for it.

[penncilkid]

Hello hello! My name is PK and I'm a fervent enjoyer of non-canon ships. I'm not a fic writer exactly but I've been told "Where's the fic OP" twice now by my friends. So I thought I'd format one of my fic-adjacent ramble sessions for Tumblr!

Pairing: Milo/David [No Sweetheart or Angel, wanted to go easy on myself] [MDNI*] [Let's call this "canon reminiscent /lh]

Word Count: 3.2 K

*(I wouldn't consider this smut by any means but there's a few lines that make me want to add this as a tag)

[As a reminder, I diverge from canon quite a bit with this. This is just one route I could see leading to Milo and David getting together]

My vision for this pair is that they start getting closer in a more than just friends way a little bit after Gabe dies. Not immediately because have some decorum, but it would start during that transition period for David as Alpha. Asher is trying his best to help but is also grappling with the whole Beta thing, so he feels like he's in a complex position. But him and Milo can see that David's not doing great so Milo's like "Fine, I'll bite the bullet" and tries to confront David about it.

At first it's subtle, asking David if he needs help with something, if he wants anyone from the pack to stay after for meetings, if he wants them to pick up a shift so he can have the day off, etc. But David is too stubborn to accept any of it so he keeps brushing them off. This ends up culminating in a "fight" one day where Milo again tries to make an offer that David shoots down. Milo sort of snaps and is like "Alright, what the fuck gives? Why are you acting like you're too good to get help anymore, David?" David says he doesn't know what he's talking about, Milo calls bullshit. It doesn't turn into a screaming match but it's enough of a heated argument that Milo storms out of the den.

In the days following, Milo either calls out sick, switches shifts with people, anything to avoid seeing David. David brushes it off, thinking he's got more important things to worry about if Milo's going to throw a fit. But of course, Ash being Ash means this stuff can't fly for long, so he tells both David and Milo that he needs help with something at an odd time of day and then "coincidentally" doesn't show up. When Milo gets to the den, he's real tempted to get back in his car and leave. It's a mix of still being a little frustrated with David and being embarrassed that this "fight" has gone on for as long as it has. He walks up to David (who was waiting outside for Asher) and is like "Lemme guess, you're waiting for Ash?" "How did you...?" "Fucker told me the same thing."

They do some lighthearted bitching about their friend, which eases the tension. There's a bit of silence and right as Milo gets ready to apologize for speaking out of turn, David apologizes first. He acknowledges that Milo was right in what he said and that he's been struggling with everything changing, but he hasn't wanted it to show on the outside. Milo makes a light jab at David, "Alright well did you really expect that to go over my head? C'mon, David, we've known each other since we were kids. Gimme some credit" To make up for it, the two of them go out to eat, all that's chill. Cut to when Milo gets home, maybe has a drink or two as he's winding down. David sends him a message, confirming he made it home alright (because I've always latched onto the idea that he's super attentive to that given what happened with Gabe). Milo sends David a quick reply and wonders why seeing that message made him feel some type of way (romantic? Who knows, not Milo that's for sure /lh)

Now if I remember correctly, the audio where Angel learns about Gabe, it's been around 3 years since his passing. Keeping this in mind and in the spirit of being canon reminiscent, I think around/after this point is when Milo's feelings for David start to really bubble up. They've been building for awhile, much to his dismay. He's trying to play it cool, but his heart's in his damn throat any time David touches him casually or whenever the two of them are assigned to a job together. And he knows it's getting bad enough where he might lose focus, so he swallows his pride and does what he's been avoiding for months, if not years: asking Asher for advice.

"Alright, look: You and me both know that you had a lil crush on David when we were in high school. How the fuck did you get over it? I'm drowning, Ash." If this conversation is happening on the phone or at Asher's place, cue him yelling to Babe that they owe him 20 bucks (because it's funny to me <3). Asher asks Milo why he wants to get over the feelings so bad and Milo's like "'Cause this is David we're talking about." "So what?" "We've got... history. That complicates shit all on its own." "And?" "....Alright fine, and I'm also terrified he's not gonna feel the same. Happy?" Asher is being the little shit that he is, putting his arm around Milo's shoulder. "Listen. If I know David— And believe me, I do— What ya gotta do is be direct. If he doesn't feel the same, that's one thing. But if you even want a chance, you gotta be straight up with him. If you tried to ask him out casually, he'll just assume you're being friendly because that's what you are right now. Friends." Milo takes all this in and is like, "Nope, just gonna shove these feelings down for eternity." "I'll tell Marie—" "I will beat your ass." He knows Asher has a point though. Any idea Milo might've had could be easily construed as them just chilling as friends. But he doesn't really act on anything for awhile.

Now, before we get into the next phase of this, some added backstory: David had a crush on Milo growing up. I'm thinking a little after high school (won't say college necessarily since I don't picture them in college but like, young adulthood phase). He'd always found Milo incredibly attractive and found his boldness admirable in general. David was constantly thinking about what he had to do for others and how to make the pack look good (since he was the Alpha's kid then the pack Beta). Milo always felt incredibly refreshing to be around. But he figured Milo would never be interested in because David's just himself so he eventually got over it. Cut to that argument him and Milo had a few years back. He remembers that night when they made up because dinner had been fine but all he could do was focus on Milo. It felt nice to just hang out with him without the pressures of being Alpha. And he enjoyed listening to him talk about anything because he always had a strong opinion. I think around then is when his past feelings awoke again but there was a new obstacle: He was the Alpha of the pack. It wasn't like before, things were different. He'd never have a chance to pursue Milo without feeling like he had pushed Milo into a corner somehow. So again, he tried his best to push his feelings down, appreciate and value the friendship he had with Milo and leave it at that. It was enough to just have Milo in his life, even if it wasn't going to go any further.

Back to how these two end up together: the Moonbound Solstice. They're all at David's place, everyone's having a good time together. Milo's chilling, talking to someone from the pack when Asher cuts in and is like "Sorry, just gonna steal him for a minute" "Ash, you can't just— AY okay okay I'm coming" They walk off, somewhere far from the kitchen to minimize the risk of David overhearing. In hushed voices: "Alright, so what's the plan?" "Ash, what the fuck are you talking about?" "Milo, it's the Solstice. This is the perfect time to make a move." "Are you out of your damn mind? This is the last place I should be hitting on— On you know who." "What are you talking about it, it's perfect! The whole pack's here, no one would even notice." "Look, he's already got his hands full hosting the Solstice at his own place for a change. I'm just gonna chill and enjoy the night for what it is." Asher is pouting as Milo walks off, immediately thinking of what he can do to help nudge David Milo's way. (Unhinged alt route: Ash giving Milo a flat so he has to stay the night)

Cut to the end of the night, people are heading out and whatnot. David is subtly trying to get people out because he loves his pack but his senses need a break. Asher (+ Babe, package deal) and Milo offer to stay and help clean, and David lets them since it's only a handful of people. Milo's keeping his cool, vibing to the much lower playing music when: "Babe, what do you mean you have a work call you need to take tonight? Can't it wait?" "Sorry, Ash, I need to be home in the next twenty minutes" "Alright. Guess we're heading early." Milo thinks nothing of it until he makes eye contact with Babe. They smile with a sickeningly sweet wave. Those bastards. Before Milo can try to rope Ash into staying somehow, the two of them are gone.

When Milo and David are alone, Milo tries his best to focus on the task at hand because feelings or not, he's not gonna do a shit job at cleaning so David has to clean up after him. Once the bulk of it is done, David mentions that he needs to grab something from upstairs or maybe says he's going to go change out of his clothes (I imagine he put on something better looking but not as comfortable for the solstice). Milo's chill with that, getting his keys, phone, other personal belongings together. He happens to slip into the kitchen though, stealing a bit more of the food David had made for the solstice. While he's stealing (said with love), he hears very close to his ear: "You can take some home if you want." He nearly punches David, gripping his arm as he tries to slow his heart rate. "You tryin' give a guy a heart attack, Shaw (/lh)" because he legit didn't hear David come back downstairs. "Maybe if you weren't busy trying to steal some food, you would've heard me— Greer (/lh)." Milo rolls his eyes with a grin and there's a moment of quiet when he realizes his hand is still on David's arm.

He lets go, clearing his throat, confirming that it's actually cool if he wants to take some of the food home with him. David says sure, giving him a container to fill (or Milo takes whatever the food came in, not sure what I'm picturing David's cooking set-up to be). David walks Milo to the door (as a good host does) and the two of them talk in the doorway for a few minutes about upcoming jobs, responsibilities, all that formal shit. There's another quiet moment as the two of them watch each other. Inside, Milo's like "Alright, no one else is here. This is as good a chance as any." The second he gets ready to ask David out on a more proper date, David instead says "Good night, Milo" and essentially closes the door in his face. Milo stares for a moment before cursing himself in Spanish (my HC), walking to his car and muttering about how "Of course he was just being polite, what the fuck were you thinking?" On the other side of the door, David is groaning into his hands, face warm as he tries to calm down because he came way too close to making a move on Milo.

Intermission (Wow, you're still reading? Damn /pos): I wanted to think of how to push them closer to a confession before they actually get together and eventually settled on "sickfic shenanigans". Insert deliriously sick Milo whose phone died and he can't find a charger for the life of him so David goes over to his place to check on him. Initially, he's trying to get David to leave because "I can handle myself fine". But that doesn't last long because admittedly, he feels like shit and has been for the past 12 hours. The dynamic quickly turns into Milo convincing David to stay then being so sick his filter is hanging on by a thread (/lh). "Why do you have to go rush off so fast?" "Milo, I have a pack to take care of—" "First off, I'm part of the pack— (cue Milo coughing) And second, they'll be fine without their Alpha for a few hours." Milo's playing it off as lighthearted but David can tell he doesn't want to be cooped up inside alone on top of feeling like shit physically. A little later, when Milo's on the verge of falling asleep (as many do while sick), he's like "Y'know, it's fucking wild you don't got a mate, David. Like look at you. Doesn't make sense" David laughs at first, thinking Milo's sick delirious (which he is, but that's affecting his filter, not the validity of his words). He's like "ay, why are you laughing, I'm serious. Look— if I were ya mate, I'd treat ya right. I'd cook, I'd work extra hours so I could see ya, I'd make sure we're the best dressed wherever we go— not to mention, I got a great dick." David writes this off as Milo being sick and spewing nonsense but never forgets the words. Meanwhile, Milo (after getting over the sickness) is convinced he dreamt saying any of that to David.

Back to the present, David's been a bit stressed with work as of late so Asher suggests the pack take a trip/weekend vacation. He says he'll handle figuring everything out, letting David take a backseat this time. They go somewhere, a resort, a hotel, something that involves people having rooms they're staying in. Everyone's having a good time, chilling all day, night rolls around. David's in his room when he realizes he forgot to pack something— can be anything. Toothpaste, a charger, something for his hair, the specifics aren't important. He texts Asher, asking if he has the thing he forgot and Ash is like yeah. David asks Ash which room he's staying in, Ash texts him the room number. David leaves his room, goes there, knocks and waits patiently. Door opens, and who's standing there? Milo, shirtless and in the middle of brushing his teeth or some shit.

David's checking his phone to see if he went to the wrong room but nope, numbers match. "Asher must've made a typo. I just needed to borrow something from him." "Well, what did you need? Maybe I have it." Before David can leave, Milo's busy ushering him in, closing the door so he can finish brushing his teeth before finding what David needs. They're making idle conversation, talking about what they spent their respective days doing. While Milo's talking, David's kind of staring at his back, not processing a word he's saying. Milo turns around and notices and is like "What? Don't tell me there's a bug on me and you didn't say shit? (/lh)" and David is trying to think of a good cover up. Milo tries to lighten the mood, says he's just messing with David before going to find whatever David's looking to borrow. He finds it, hands it over when for a split second, his eyes land on David's crotch. David leaves shortly there after but all night, Milo's like "...That was a boner... why the fuck did he have a boner?" But again, Milo's mind is like "Nah, I'm reading this wrong somehow."

Now, I'm painting a picture: it's the next day, Ash, Milo, David, few others from the pack plan on doing something together while on the trip. Asher gets there a bit late but is somehow on time compared to David, who shows up minutes after (that man was up all night pining). Ash notices Milo's not here yet and has a devious idea (as always). He asks David to go check on Milo so they can go. "Why me?" "You were the last one here, it's only fair. Now shoo." David rolls his eyes but goes, getting to Milo's room, knocking. He can hear Milo's definitely inside because he's cursing and complaining. He knocks again before the door swings open to reveal a mildly disgruntled Milo Greer (my vision is he's in pants and a white tank with his name chain. The in between outfits outfit).

He asks what David is doing there, David explains that Asher sent him to pick up Milo, Milo's like "What time is it— Jesus fucking Christ." The issue at hand is Milo can't find an article of clothing that he swears he put in his bag. He's been trying to get by with alternative options but none of them look the way he wants them to, which is making him quietly lose his shit. David stifles a laugh, to which Milo lasers in on. "And what do you think you're laughing at?" "You haven't changed since we were kids, that's all." Milo scoffs but admittedly, the sentiment puts a smile on his face. Almost immediately after that moment, he finally finds what he was looking for (tucked under something, irrelevant right now). He starts to get ready, pulling his shirt on, buttoning it up but let's say a button or two is fighting him for whatever reason. Without a second thought, David walks up, buttoning it for Milo. Milo's having an internal moment as a result, staring at David's hands then his face. David finishes and looks up to catch Milo staring. He clears his throat, saying something about waiting in the hall when Milo catches his wrist.

"Can I take you out on a date?" "What?" "I don't know what or where yet, but I just— I know this is probably stupid and I'm shooting myself in the foot here, but Asher's gonna kick my ass if I don't do something so— Can I take you out on a date, David?" David's taken aback. "Wait... so you were serious. That time you were sick. All that stuff you said about being a good mate for me." "THAT WASN'T A DREAM?" Cue Milo letting go of David's hand and nearly cursing himself out, running a hand through his hair because now he's mortified. "I can't believe I actually said all that shit to you—" "Did you mean it?" "Huh?" For the first time, David's not looking at Milo like a friend or pack Alpha. The look in his eyes screams pure, unfiltered attraction. "Yes or no, Milo." Milo's face is hot, "Course I meant it. I'd treat you great if you gave me the chance to show you." David steps closer, gripping Milo's face gently and tilting it up towards his. "Show me." Milo grins before pulling David down to him, the kiss they shared far better than the ones he remembered from spin the bottle games they'd played as teens. This kiss felt deeper and closer than that could ever compare. The moment they break away, gasping for air, Milo's busy unbuttoning his shirt. David asks what he's doing, to which Milo replies "I'm about to savor as much time with you as I can before I have to see Asher's smug face. Unless you'd like to explain how your hair became a mess between the time you left to find me and when you get back?" David laughs before pulling Milo to him again.

So yeah, that concludes this fic adjacent ramble (/lh)! I love rarepairs and rambling, so if people enjoy this, I may format some other rambles as they arise. I think I've got some Sam/David tucked away somewhere, so let me know. If you actually read all of this, wow, okay, thank you (/lh /pos)

[sprinklenoodles]

Both because I got tired today and because I remembered something, I decided to re-read Everything Stays (But it Still Changes) and also read some of your older oneshots out of curiosity. Or, tried while being tired. Specifically, I will highlight A Togami Doesn't Lose. Also, after thinking about A Legacy Will Be Crowned, I felt it would be interesting. Also read Also, again, I am very tired. I really need to stop staying up till 12am. I'm not a struggling highschooler anymore T-T Side note: Hopefully I will not blabber too much into delirious tiredness (spoiler allert from futer i didddd) but that could be the case. So, lowkey warning maybe? Perhpahs? I spelt that wrong but it looks funny to me right now so I'm keeping it.

Everything Stays- This fic was interesting because it gave some more insight into Kijo. It felt really fascinating seeing his more sympathetic thoughts, after all, he still cares about his heir to at least some degree. Like, how Kijo looks at the portrait of him and Byakuya when the heir won and reflecting on how he never seen Byakuya look quite like that ever again. Obviously, it's clear he's not going to change. Kijo will still be cold, calculating. Also, side tangent, I realized in my tiredness that, one, this is part of a series kinda and also, two... That Really Wasn't Supposed To Happen. One, I actually read a bit of it when it was ongoing and not finished back before I had a tumblr, so last year. And two... my gosh is it long. I will of course read it but also golly gee 62. Big numb (numb short for number heehee) So spooooooky! But I am so reading this in full which, gosh. I think I just need to plan it or chip away cus I can't pull an all nighter like I did with the others hehe. But also not a chapter at a time thing either cus I'll forget stuff. Also, the more I think about it, this might be the 2nd longest fic I will ever read... so far. Winner goes to a freaking DBZ fic I read in middle school that was around like... 72 chapters. So, if I could do that as a more anxiety riddled twerp, I can read this!! It's got my favorite booooooi! BBQ!!!

A Togami Doesn't Lose- Was very short but fascinating to read cus it feels like a precursor to what would become The Heir of Despair. Not fully since so many twists and turns for that fic haven't been revealed. It was interesting though. Can also see the improvement in how you write too just from a year. Like, the deaths in this fic are short and sweet which fits the oneshot format. At the same time though, I can tell that, if written in the future, there'd be even more insight into Byakuya's thoughts, more detail in the deaths, stuff like that! So, it was really cool seeing how far you've come! So yeaaaaah. I wrote wordss :=] I hope the BBkuya was... insert verb here I dunno what else to say now. Or well, TYPE cus words on text do not speak unless they are Microsoft Sam, Bonzi Buddy, or some other text to speech guy who is less cool than those guys and sound like they'd do top 10 vids on the downlow. Legit almost 1am from the time i type this and my golly gee wilikers, batman

so um, same batchanell, not say bat time cus my gosh do i not wanna stay up this late again but also i said that in reverse cus it's actually same bat time, same bat channel and i dunno if that refernece is referencing right now since the 60s Batman show isn't exactly relevant in the minds of the many and um... i put too much effort in this tangent so it's staying SO YEH! >:DD

Those two fics are defenitely a bit on the older side. Like, I'm pretty sure that EVBISC was my first time writing Kijo for more than a few sentences.

And looking back now, how I write him has changed a lot, and for the better. Technically it still depends on the universe, but I like how I write him now much more.

And A Togami Doesn't Lose was a silly little thing I wrote for Byakuya's birthday. And in a way it's like The Heir Of Despair. It's one of the older one-shots I still fairly like.

But TRWSTH is a long fic for sure. I mean, there are much longer fics out there but it's my longest fic. I also have to warn you that it was my first ever long fic.

So, especially in the beginning, the writing might be... something. Same goes for my old one-shots. You're entering dangerous territory there... You don't want to scroll down to see my 2 non danganronpa fics...

But thank you that you are putting so much thought into this!!

[prentissluvr]

seeing the smau fics going around gave me an idea to do a similar thing but with their Spotify y’know? which is obviously going to take a lot of time but i wanted your opinion on what Sam’s music taste would be. so far i have mitski/sad girl music, or indie? i’m leaning more towards the sad girl music. the obvious choice would be country or something but i hate country music with a blazing passion so i’m not doing that. my friend told me he looks like he listens to ayesha erotica 💀 that’s honestly kinda valid but anyways what are your thoughts?

@just-be-the-cowboy HEHEHE OMG I LOVE THAT IDEAAA if i can figure out how to format that i might steal that idea if i have permission cuz i LOVE IT !!

hehe sad girl music FACTS LMAO i don't listen to a ton of mitski/sad girl music but i can so see what you mean!! i think we would listen to it, it feels like sooo younger sam vibes especially.

i actually don't think he'd love country tbh, esp earlier 2000s country because it's often about stupid shit like trucks and being misogynistic and i don't think that's his vibe tbh HAHA ik that's an over generalization but i also hate country and even if he looks sort of like he likes country when he wears boots, jeans, and flannels exclusively, i think he's far more tasteful LOL sorry people who like country :) i think he does like a select few songs from the genre because they can be good sometimes. like he'd like country from women not men if he did. play picture to burn by taylor swift and before he cheats by carrie underwood HAHA he's a girls girl!!

but! that being said, i think he might like some country adjacent things like american folk!! from here on out i am 100% projecting my own music taste onto sam so disclaimer for that LOL. i love the idea of sad girl music sam, but since i know more indie better, that's what i think he'd like. specifically indie folk, some indie rock, and ofc indie folk rock LOL. i think in terms of artists (once again, just projecting my own taste), he'd like hozier, noah kahan, sea wolf, maybe some vampire weekend, and other random folky indie artists! i don't think he loves the more pop-ish indie that's more popular these days, but he wouldn't mind it! he also might like shoegaze?

and he'd be interested in music from other languages because of how much he likes learning new things. maybe he'd be into indie japanese music? i think that's a pretty cool music scene that he might like. in season 12 he also canonically likes the vince vincente music which was like 80s rock i think?? so he probably likes similar stuff. he probably also listens to classical music LOL which actually i think is so valid. he might like jazz too, begin challenge do you think i could make sam like laufey LOL

idk so yeah obviously this is really just me projecting because that's basically my music taste outside of kpop and i don't think he'd like that LOL he'd be fascinated by that music industry tho haha. but my excuse for projecting is that i think it's kinda accurate anyways and sam is basically me! he's so masc lesbian so ofc he likes my masc lesbian music LMAO

i don't even know about ayesha erotica BUT THAT'S SO FUNNY TO ME HAHA not sure if older sam would but stanford and early seasons sam was that kind of cunty sooooo what can i even say LOL

[gutsfics]

pls tell me all about devi before the events of ilitw!! what kind of activities did he do? who were some of his friends? did he still talk to any of the people from his childhood friend group? if so, who? etc. etc. anything else you want to share!!

ok this is gonna kinda jump around a bit bc thats how my thoughts are rn :3 i love this ask though thank u for letting me talk about my special guy

so after Jane's death, he did try his best to hang onto the friend group for a while (especially Noah) but due to not having a very good therapist, his kid logic made him think "thinking about Jane makes me sad, and not thinking about her i can be happy, but i'd rather think about her and be sad forever than evetually move on and forget" so he kinda shut himself off from everyone so he could hold his memory of her forever

his parents tried their best to help him but the therapists they took him too didnt believe him when he told them about Mr Red (or when they did believe him, they only believed him if they were reading lines that weren't there and assuming that Mr Red was a real living guy in the woods and jumping to conclusions about it) so maybe like a month or two after Jane died he just... stopped talking, bc what was the point of speaking if no one was going to listen? and then he stopped talking to anyone ever until half way through his freshman year of highschool when he told Cody to "gargle my cock and balls"

because of Devi being mute for all that time, he didn't really have any friends (which he was fine with for reasons stated earlier) & a lot of people found him kinda weird and offputting for the most part, especially when he got really into expressing himself through art, specifically photography. a lot of "ew that weird quiet kid is taking pictures of things again what a creep" but for the most part he just shrugged it off

Cody used to think he was kinda cool bc he was quiet and goth and in 6th grade asked him to the fall formal but Devi turned him down and that's when he started bullying him. he tried to turn it into a "HAH WELL OBVIOUSLY NO ONE WOULD WANT TO GO OUT WITH YOU YOU CREEP WEIRDO YOURE STUPID TO THINKING I WANTED TO GO WITH YOU" which somehow worked on everyone around them despite the fact Devi turned him down

after he started talking again, he joined the yearbook club & got really good at the composition of pictures of people & formatting them on the pages, but bc he was still a bit of a loner at this point no one else in the club realized just how much he did? especially after the older kids in the club graduated, bc they were the ones encouraging him and teaching him how to do the formatting and stuff. ive actually been rotating a fic in my head where post ilitw Lucas goes to the yearbook club to see how theyre doing bc its almost time to get em printed and its like. not even half done and also theres a memorial page for Cody but not for Devi????

in Sophmore year he took a Japanese class for an easy foreign language credit, which Tom was also in for the same reasons and they became friends :3 not as close as Tom and Andy at this point, but they'd hang out at lunch when Andy was busy and sometimes go to eachother's houses after school. but after that year the teacher for the class made sure to put them in different periods bc they would kinda. make fun of him a little bit in japanese bc he was a white guy who thought he was way better at the language than he actually was and that made him big mad

of the original group, he was probably closest with Lily when he started talking again. and then not as close w Ava and Andy but he talked w them fairly often. Lucas, Stacy, and Dan he really only saw when he was doing yearbook stuff, w that conversation he had w Dan junior year being the longest conversation he'd had w any of those three in a while (all three 100% knew he was the backbone of yearbook btw. & when people were being like "ew that weirdo goth kid w the camera is here again" they were the ones to be like "ITS FOR YEARBOOK, ASSHOLES.")

he and Noah avoided each other as much as possible. sitting next to Noah during that assembly the first day of senior year was the first time in years that one of them didn't immedeatly turn around and walk out of the room upon seeing the other in it (they lowkey had each other's scheduals memorized to better avoid each other) (for the most part Any picture of Noah that might show up in the yearbooks were not taken by Devi) (although. ngl. Devi did take a few candid photos of Noah occasionally. which he promptly would delete bc he felt bad about it. a little bc he and Noah hadnt talked in forever but mostly bc he felt like "creep weirdo with a camera" was an accurate description of him when he did that)

[dreamescapeswriting]

Hellooo!! I've been reading your fics for a while and you inspired me to start writing! I wanna continue and maybe even post some stuff on Tumblr! (not really mentally stable enough to post on AO3 and or Wattpad atm) I've been thinking of starting a new Tumblr blog just based for fics! I'm unsure how to start it or how to really have it play through or what I should do.. like the formatting or the wording and stuff... I'm still fairly new to making fics so I haven't posted anything, I do have a few fics I've made but I just haven't posted it since I'm still really unsure.

I really do love your writing and your fics and I want to try it out! You make great fics and I just seriously love it UGH! Anwys sorry bout that..

Any advice or help?

(ps: can I be 🎹 or 📜 anon?)

Hiya darling, Oh my gosh you're so sweet! Honestly feel you about posting on AO3, Wattpad isn't the best place tbf as a lot of plagiarism happens there but I get your apprehension!! asdfghjkl; I'm not sure if I'm the best help but I'll gladly try and help (or even if I cant I'll post it for other writers to be able to give advice)

Thank you so so much!!!

Formatting wise I have some videos on how to make masterlists and linebreakers/page breakers if those are of any use to you?!

Writing/wording wise I would go with whatever is best for you? Sometimes I find that writing in third person is easier but other days it's easier for me to write in first POV and I can change it up when I've finished the piece. I use grammarly a lot as it catches my grammar mistakes but after I place it in a google doc just to change the font and reread it (as I have dyslexia so seeing it in another font helps me pick up on small or big mistakes I make)

My biggest advice to give. Don't pressure yourself about it, take your time and remember why you're doing it in the first place. For example. I love writing as it helps me escape my reality and I really enjoy being able to do what I love on a day to day basis. I remind myself I'm mostly doing it because it makes me happy.

Find a routine that it's great for you. I used to write ALLLLLLLLL the time. When I first started I was post 7 days a week and twice daily (how the fuck I did that I'll never even know) but it wasn't good, I burnt out within about 6 months of doing that and ended up changing it all up. I have a schedule now.

Posting on set days and having it written on your account somewhere can really help too. I do Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then I have a time I post to as well to help people keep track of everything.

When writing, try and take regular breaks, don't stare at your screen for too long. I try and use the Pomodoro methods. Working for 20 having a 5 minute break, or 30 minutes and a 10 minute break. There are some cool videos out there to help. I've been using a lot of different streamers recently as it helps me focus more.

If I (or anyone else) can help let us know!

[scritch-scratches]

9, 10, 11 please if you're still doing the ask game 🥺 would LOVE to see Dominoes in a manga format, imagine how cool that would be!

That would be so freakin' cool!!!!!

Here ya go!

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

I think I've mentioned this before, but Dominoes would benefit from a visual adaptation, because the Pandora Effect could get some cool signifier like, people under its influence get red pupils or something. I think that would be pretty hype.

And also, for comprehensibility. Most of the cast would be spending Part 1 with some subtle but permanent indicator that they aren't quite themselves, something I can only hint at in written form when constricted to the POV of the mostly oblivious characters. Besides Hakuba and Yuusaku, none of them recognize when they're under the influence, so it's tricky to try and convey it through writing alone without being too obvious.

Also, fight scenes. The fight scenes would be cool.

10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

Titles are easy for me, in that I put zero effort into them, and they usually happen at last minute. Up until right before I hit publish, I usually just have placeholder titles. The original draft of Dominoes is still named "Reporters" in my drive.

I usually either go with a pun or a reference to some scientific concept, ie Schrodinger's Detective, Fata Morgana, and Uncertainty Principle. When I really can't think of anything, I just resort to basing the title on the place I wrote the first chapter, usually a fast food chain. Hence, Dominoes.

(Spy x Enemy was almost named after KFC or Raising Cane's, but the discord crew intervened.)

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I was about to say I don't do that much research until I remembered how thoroughly I answered the question "how to become a rocket scientist" for a fic I haven't even published. Did you know you can take an virtual tour of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab now? Technology is amazing.

I researched NGO and government structures for constructing ISHA and how it functions as an organization, as well as looked into research labs in Tokyo and yada yada yada.

A lot of other stuff is based on experience, like the university lab the RSC rob is based on the one I used to work in, as well as Sherry's research that was stolen from there. The titles of her papers on based on real shit, with some sci-fi/fantasy liberties taken. Shinichi's spiels about his reporter work are based on what I learned from working with freelance reporters during my activism days.

I also consider watching/reading Detective Conan as research for my fics as well, because I like to use actual people, companies, and etc from the canon world for Dominoes.

But its fan fiction, so I don't hold myself to reality too much. Rule of Cool trumps all else in my mind, so I'm not afraid to disregard accuracy in favor of "shit that would be awesome".

[adecila]

My heart stops whenever I see a white rimmed square moodboard with writing in the middle because you trained me to think about For The Cameras so whenever I see that I just immediately think you updated. And yesssss last night you did😍 the way I ran to ao3 🏃‍♀️💨 Speaking of the moodboard I have a question about the text you put there. Is there a particular logic behind it? How do you decide what goes up? All the love to you and mutt 😚

Anon ilysm 🥺

Okay so storytime from the Making of FTC 😂

Back in 2020 when we started posting FTC I knew from the start that I wanted the moodboards to be something different than what I did for the other fics. I've been making moodboards for years now (and by that point it had already been 2 years worth of work) and I've developed a certain style and preference, but even so, I really really wanted the ones for FTC to be different and special, and I knew I wanted to keep the same style of moodboard for the entire fic. Because I'm annoying like that about certain things aesthetic wise 😂and idk I just thought it would be a cool thing to do for a multichapter (idea that carried over to the moodboards for Moonlight 😉).

I was immediately sold on the 3 vertical pics - blank middle - 3 vertical pics format, even if my go-to is usually 2x4 horizontal pics. Something about it screamed showbiz to me!

As for the text, I knew from the start that I didn't want it to be the chapter title. Nothing wrong with it (I do that for Moonlight) but I wanted something else for FTC. In most of my moodboards I really love to include a bit of text if possible, and by 2020 I was a lot into making an edit with a quote from the fic itself. So it felt natural to do the same for FTC but I wanted the text ✨️ to pop ✨️ and also be something that hints to the content of the chapter. And I found a pretty good solution imo 🤭

Chapter 1 moodboard has the question that Margaery asks Jon: "Have you made your choice yet?" Because it's just so central to that first chapter, isn't it? By the time we were ready to post chapter 2, I fixated on the idea that I should always stick to things other characters tell Jon or/and Dany. This is why the chapter 2 moodboard has the line that Margaery says to Dany: "Hope to hear from you soon".

I try to switch it up every chapter so you don't always get something that's being told to Jon for example. Oh and obviously some chapters have a line that's said to both of them together (ex ch 3 "Speak now or forever hold your peace" — again, Margaery saying this to jonerys before they sign the contract).

And the font reminds me of Hollywood or something you'd see on a magazine 🤭 so that's why I picked it.

Okay this was waaay too long of a reply but your question was very cool and I loooove talking about this stuff! I obviously take it way too seriously sometimes 😂 *coughs* like when I did that storyboard for Amy's fic. I clearly have issues 😭