#three guesses what i like about g/t fluff stories (hint: it's the trust and consent and resolving power imbalances)

[smolghostbot]

was explaining Patchwork Melody and what exactly the story is to a friend and i think i gave the best explanation possible about the name and the theme even though i'm currently half-awake

(putting under a cut just because it's a sloppy mess of words and not my usual writing here, but to edit it is to lose something, i think)

and the theme of communication is why like, so much of the writing (though not as much in these snippets since most of them are like. "epilogue" stuff) is about like. just talking and establishing boundaries and resolving communication issues. like mel asking patch if they want to be touched, or waiting for permission before teasing them, that kinda stuff. and why patch's name is a secret kept close to my heart because it's kinda symbolic of the point when they finally Understand each other (which. is definitely not currently editing for a prompt i am late for.)

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if i may infodump, the name itself kinda represents the whole vibe because like, the entire thing is very much about communication. and the name "Patchwork Melody" works as like, wordplay on [****]'s nickname and Melody, obviously, but it also like, brings to mind this image of a very jittery song composed of parts of a bunch of other songs, like a musical quilt, something that maybe starts out discordant but the longer you listen the more you can kinda understand it, it isn't what you expect but it's not bad.

so like. about them bringing out the best in each other, for patch, he starts the story as an anxious fear blob after years of abuse, and then he (eventually) starts being treated like the most important thing ever by mel and sort of learns to see himself as more of a person at the same time mel does. and additionally he sort of learns that even though he can't speak that doesn't mean he can't, express needs and desires, and he doesn't have to just be a wallflower, whether it's asking for things or setting boundaries

and for mel, deep down she's an anxious as hell person with no social skills who is constantly pushing people away by being just too much, and having to learn to intentionally modify her behavior in order to not constantly freak out patch kind of teaches her to be more considerate and personable, not just of him but of everybody. like, learning to meet people's energies halfway without having to sacrifice who she is.

like, their character motivations at the start of the story are Fear (Patch) and Loneliness (Mel), but by the end their motivations become Self-Actualization (Patch) and Kindness (Mel) and neither of those would be possible without the interference of the other

tl;dr i am just a simple gay and sometimes an ADHD transfem dorkass and a traumatized queer fae who are both autistic-coded are a found family and that's okay.