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I feel cheeky sending another ask but I lived the interrogation one so much so just 3 so words: snape sex pollen. Perhaps a professor x professor?
(Ps: is their a place that I can support your writing!!!)
Snape x Professor sex pollen coming right up 🫡
Writing is one of my many beloved hobbies; liking, reblogging, giving kudos or commenting is all the support I need! Thank you very much for asking though!
Blue Speckled Mushrooms
(Severus Snape x fem!Professor oneshot)
Words: 2572
Warnings: 18+ Sex Pollen :D - mutual dub-con, some biting, rough smut
Summary: In your continuing efforts to catch the grumpy Potion Master's attention you follow him into the Forbidden Forest - a mistake of perhaps destiny unfolding?
This is play post-war, Sev survives - not that it matters much to the 'plot'
Read on Ao3 or below the cut:

It could have been so easy. Gather these blasted Moon Cornflowers and Speckled Blue Mushrooms and return to the castle. It’s all he asks for. Moon Cornflowers and Speckled Blue Mushrooms to finish the brew currently under stasis in his office. Two plants. Just a few of each. They couldn’t be preserved through either magic or other means and had to be harvested within three hours of being used in a potion and only during a full moon.
Now usually this is no problem for an accomplished potion master such as Severus Snape. A quick trip to the forest and done. He knows the half-forgotten paths, the safe routes. Knows how to avoid the Centaurs and other nastier beasts that live in the Forbidden Forest.
He does not know how to avoid her.
Irritating, stupid girl.
She took over the History of Magic position earlier that year, one of Snape’s first students he taught after becoming a professor himself at merely twenty-one. A seventh year at the time who already stared at him in the library back when he was a student.
She just wouldn’t leave him alone!
“Midnight stroll?” She asks with that irritating smile on her stupid pretty face and follows him into the forest.
“What do you want?!” He growls at her. She keeps trying to make conversation with him, keeps sitting next to him during meals or in the staff room, talking. Always talking. Talking talking talking.
How can a single person be this annoying?
She is still talking. Jesus fucking christ!
“So anyway…what are you doing here?”
“I don’t see how that is of any concern to you.”
“Just curious, is all.” She replies. Stupid girl. And she is still following him!

You have no idea what to do anymore. You’ve tried everything. You’ve tried catching his attention by talking to him, leaving the top button of your blouse undone, batting your lashes at him like a teen on a love potion, you’ve searched his company, flirted like your stupid life depends on it and the cranky bastard doesn’t even recognise it!
You run to catch up with his long strides, wrapping your cloak around yourself to shield yourself from the cold night air.
You were about to go to bed, just finishing up your rounds through the castle on the lookout for students out of bed when you saw his billowing cloak sweep out of the entrance door. You of course followed him. Curious as to what he was going to do outside but also secretly hoping today’s the day he’ll finally notice your intentions.
Perhaps you have to be less subtle. You thought men like to be subtly seduced but Snape is not like any man you’ve known! Maybe he doesn’t like playing cat and mouse, doesn’t enjoy the chase.
You’ll be blunt! Yes, if a stroll through the forest at midnight doesn’t do the trick you’ll gather what little courage you have and just make the first step yourself. You’re an independent woman! You don’t need to wait around for Snape to realise you’re interested in him and make the first step.
“Are you gathering ingredients of sorts?” You ask and walk quicker to keep up, pressing your arm against his by walking closer to him. He glares at you.
“Obviously.” He snarls and looks forward again.
“Cool. cool cool cool….um…which ones?”
He audibly grumbles.
“Sorry, I couldn’t understand you.” You smile. He is making it very hard to be attracted to him. Grumbly bastard. Prickly idiot. Why can’t he just fuck you? Shove you into a broom closet and let out his frustrations if you’re so bloody annoying to be around! Why can’t you fall head over heels for someone normal?
Because normal is boring.
Your eyes glide over his sharp jaw, every muscle tensed, about ready to snap, beneath his pale skin that shines in the moonlight.
“I said, you were a daft, simple-minded girl when I had the misfortune of attempting to teach you potions - I very much doubt you’d understand any more now than you did seventeen years ago!”
His venom cuts deep. You stumble backwards. You thought he was clumsy when it comes to socialising, that he perhaps didn’t understand your intentions, not that he loathes you.
“Oh…” You murmur. “Um…okay…” don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry. “Sorry for bothering you.” You turn on your heels and run. He calls after you but you ignore it, disappearing between the trees into the undergrowth, away from Snape because you are about to cry your eyes out like the stupid little girl he sees in you and you are not about to embarrass yourself any further than you already have! You just want to go back to your quarters.

Stupid girl! Insufferable, annoying, bothersome, foolish girl!
Snape runs after her. He considered leaving her to her own fate and capabilities and collect his ingredients but he had been cursed with a conscience. A nasty, biting thing demanding he not let her run to her death in an Acromantula den.
He’ll tear her a new one when he catches up to her! The sheer idiocy! Running into the Forbidden Forest like that! What possessed her.
“Stop running!” He snarls, draws his wand and sends a non-verbal Stupor at her. She stumbles and falls face-first into the flower field spreading over the clearing they had entered during their chase. Snape lifts his spell.

You spin around, furious. How fucking dare he? Isn’t it enough to insult you? Does he have to embarrass you by forcing you to bear your pathetic little hurt feelings to him?
He stands at the other end of the clearing, pale blue flowers reaching to his calves, emitting a gentle glow. He looks furious. The light of the full moon illuminates him from the back, deepening his already sharp features, cloaking his face and body in menacing shadows.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” He snarls and points towards the direction you were running in. “Do you want to be eaten by enormous spiders?”
“Like you give a damn!” You shout and pick yourself up off the ground. Swiftly you brush loose dirt and a few pedals off your robes and out of your hair. The motherfucker stunned you!
“I might be a cold son of a bitch but I am not letting a colleague run to her death - no matter how annoying said colleague is. The way back to the castle is-” A wind picks up. His cloak flutters behind him, the fabric whispering with the motion. Pedals are ripped from the flowers.
His eyes widen.
You tilt your head to the side, brows pulled together. “Severus?”
“Stay where you are!” He hisses, sending droplets of spit flying. You look around, confused, searching the dark rows of trees for some beastly critter about to attack but you find none. Snape’s eyes are pinned to yours. His chest is heaving, his breath seems shallow. You take a step forward to which Snape instantly backs away, keeping his wand pointed at- you?
“What’s going on?”
“To the castle! Go back to the castle!”
“I am not your student! You can’t give me orders! And to think I’ve been trying to go on a date with you for months!”
“You have to go back to the castle now or- what?” His wand hand sinks a little. A crease forms between his brows. You’ve never seen Severus so puzzled.
“Year really…” You mutter. “Back in school too-”
“I am not in the mood for jokes or pranks.”
“It’s not!” You take another step forward. Severus’ back hits a tree. The wind picks up. A sweet scent reaches your nose, infiltrates your mind, swirls around your brain like vapours of a potion-
Weren’t you cold?
You were! Yes, you were- but it’s so hot- when did it get so hot?
“Stop that!” Snape snarls again.
“Stop what?” You roll your eyes and pause- your cloak lies in the flower field three steps away from you. You have unbuttoned your robes, revealing the white blouse and dark trousers underneath- when-?
“Go. back.” He has his jaw clenched, teeth pressed together. His nostrils flare, his eyes flick down to your chest and he seems to struggle to force them back up.
“Are you hot too?” Your fingers pry open the buttons of your blouse without you even noticing or you’re just not thinking about it…
“Go-”
“What’s happening?”
“Pollen-”
“What?”
“Where you shit in Herbology too?!” He snaps and you glare at him about ready to-
Your blouse slips off your shoulders and falls to the ground. “Stop- you don’t want this-”
“What? What is this?”
“A rare flower.” His voice sounds pressed, as though he’s struggling to speak, to breathe, to exist. He has his back moulded to the tree, clutching at the bark with his hands, straining to keep his eyes on your face.
The button on your trousers is open.
“The pollens they emit to the air to spread and form these dense fields- they have a unique effect on humans-”
“Which effect?”
“Can’t you tell, stupid girl?”
Your trousers push past your hips.
“You should be running from me, not stripping for me.” His eyes graze over your body, standing in front of him in only your underwear, devouring the sight. His eyes trace along the curves of your body, leaving goosebumps in their wake…Heat rushes to your core.
“Sex pollen-” You gasp, noticing you’re standing a mere arm's length away from him now.
“The rather crude colloquial name - yes.”
“Severus- what-”
“Too late, stupid girl.” He snarls and the next moment he’s on you, pouncing at you like a wild beast. His woodsy, herbal scent flows around you, mixing with the sweet smell of the damned flower. His hands grip your arms roughly, blunt nails dig into your flesh. Severus swirls you around and pushes you against the tree. Bark scratches against your skin, stabbing into it but you don’t even notice.
It’s like a trance has taken over your mind and only one thing matters.
He.
Severus’ mouth latches onto your throat. A million tiny explosions rush over your skin where he touches you and you moan, a feral sound ripped harshly from your throat, echoing over the empty clearing. Severus growls in response, even more feral, even less human. His teeth scrape over your throat. His hands roam over your body, squeezing your breasts, your thighs. Then he tears at his own clothes, shedding layer after layer with a quickness and urgency that has your head spinning.
“Stupid girl.” He repeats and kisses up to your jaw, your cheek. Heated, open-mouth kisses that leave your skin marked by his saliva.
You place your hands on his shoulders, searching for something to hold onto, something to pull you back into reality, your head spinning, skin exploding, core hurting. You’re so aroused, so need it fucking hurts.
“Severus-” You moan. His hands find your thighs and he lifts you up. Your legs wrap around him on their own accord.
“You should have run when you still had the chance.” He snarls against your lips, his breath brushes over your skin. “You’ll regret this.”
“Shut up and fuck me, you prick!”
Your lips meet in a violent clash of teeth and tongue. You’re pretty sure he bites you or perhaps you bite him. None of it matters anymore when you feel his prick against your soaked entrance. You’ve never been so wet- never so wound up- so desperate for sex-
You cry out when he enters you, a forceful thrust that buries him to the hilt in your twitching channel. He is big. Too big under different circumstances perhaps. He doesn’t give you time to adjust. He pounds into you, spearing you open, using his grip on your waist to bounce you on his cock in sync with each of his thrusts.
You cling to his shoulders, your nails drawing blood, fingertips running over old scars, exploring the surprisingly defined muscles of his lean stature.
Your breasts bounce, rubbing against his naked chest, his lips lay claim to yours, your face, your neck, your chest.
He stumbles, his left side giving in and you tumble to the ground. You’ve seen that happen before. The venom of you-know-who’s snake has left him with some permanent damage, not only the huge scar on his neck.
You don’t care.
You push him down to the ground, your hands on his chest and move your hips, lifting them, letting them slam back down, riding him. You throw your head back, your eyes closed, lips parted as his cock drags along your inner walls with delicious friction.
“So- so full-” You moan. Your breasts sway. Severus catches them, squeezing them with such pure delight on his usually reserved face. He twists your nipples between his fingers, revelling in the noises he coaxes from you.
“You could have had this so much sooner, idiot.” You hiss and grind down against him before lifting your hips up once again.
“Wha-?” His puzzled expression is almost cute.
“I’ve been trying to get you to ask me out for months!” As though to reinforce your discontent with his lack of romantic interest you pick up your pace. His head drops back into the flowers. The pale blue petals glow in his inky black hair.
“How was I supposed to know?” He asks, bucking up to meet your movement.
“I was flirting!”
“I thought you were acting especially stupid for some reason.”
“Arsehole!” You dig your nails into his chest but Severus seems to like that. His eyes squeeze shut, his lips part, pleasure drawn into every wrinkle of his face.
“Why didn’t you just ask me out?”
“Would you have said yes?”
“I’d have called you stupid. Perhaps laughed at you. Slip poison in your tea.”
“I hate you.”
“I don’t think you do.”
Quicker than you can follow his movements you’re underneath him and your legs on his shoulders. Your head is still spinning when Severus starts pounding into you. The sound of skin slapping against skin fills the clearing, accompanied by your and Severus' animalistic, feral sounds of pleasure.
“I don’t-” You moan and dig your fingers into the dry soil underneath you.
“I know.”
“You’re supposed to say me neither.”
“I do whatever the fuck I want, sweetheart.”
“Shut up.”
“No.”
His balls slap against your arse. His hand drops between your bodies, his fingers find your clit, run over it once- twice-
You see stars. Dots of light exploding all over your field of vision and pulling you into darkness, bringing the complex system keeping your body alive and moving to an abrupt stop. Your lungs refuse to fill with air, your brain crashes, your limbs tense, your whole body forced into a contortion made of carnal desire and the world-ending pleasure Severus Snape brings you.
You twitch. Then you inhale sharply, filling your lungs with air, shuddering, whimpering under Severus who spills inside you with an ear-splitting grunt and then slumps down above you. On top of you. Your legs found the ground somehow. His cock still inside you, throbbing, slowly softening, you lay in the dirt like a starfish, feeling dizzy, overwhelmed and confused.
“Friday.” Severus murmurs, his lips brushing over your cheek as he speaks. “Dinner. Be ready on time or I’ll leave without you.”
“Mh?”
“You really are dense." He grumbles. "Your date, stupid girl. Friday.”

#snape x reader#severus snape x reader#snape x you#Severus snape x you#severus snape x professor!reader#severus snape smut#snape fandom#request#dividers by cafekitsune#sex pollen
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I Promise You This
Chapter One: All That Emptiness Knows Just Where I Live
Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader
Trigger Warnings: Chronic illness, reader with past abusive relationship, canon-typical violence, canon-typical themes, language, future sexual themes
Rating: Mature for mature themes and future chapters.
Word Count: 1k
Summary: Y/N, the newest and youngest profiler in the BAU, is haunted by her past—an abusive relationship and an illness she keeps hidden from her team. Though skilled in her work, she distances herself emotionally, fearing vulnerability. Aaron Hotchner, her reserved and perceptive boss, begins to notice the cracks in her carefully constructed walls as they navigate high-stakes cases together. Drawn to her resilience, Hotch finds himself increasingly protective of Y/N. As their bond deepens, both must confront their own emotional barriers, leading to an unexpected connection amidst the darkness of their work.
AN: I originally posted this story back in 2021, but for a multitude of reasons, I stepped away from the fandom and removed it. Now, in 2024, I’ve decided to return and revisit this fic with a fresh perspective. I’m currently in the process of rewriting the entire 45-chapter story, adding new depth, and refining the plot. As I re-upload the chapters, I will be including trigger warnings (TWs) for sensitive content. However, if I miss something, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Your comments, shares, and likes/kudos are incredibly encouraging and motivate me to keep working on this rewrite, as well as inspire new content. Thank you for being here, and I hope you enjoy the updated version of this story!— Ki
Masterlist | I Promise You This | Ao3
You stare out the jet’s window, your eyes tracing the clouds below. Sleep eludes you, and the quiet conversation among your team members fades into the background. Music hums softly in your ears, a barely audible escape. You know the odds—three missing children—and yet your mind feels curiously empty.
Laughter breaks through your thoughts. You glance over and see Morgan teasing Reid, as usual. The whole team joins in, and even Hotch chuckles. If he’s laughing, whatever Reid said must have been good.
You smile faintly, though it doesn’t reach your eyes. Isolation is familiar to you—whether you're buried in a book or lost in your music, you’ve always found comfort in keeping a certain distance. It’s not about not fitting in, at least not entirely. The team welcomed you when you joined. They accepted you. But you’ve never quite let yourself feel like you belong.
Only in your twenties, you’ve already lived more life than most people twice your age. A childhood overshadowed by responsibilities that shouldn’t have been yours, and a turbulent adolescence marked by health problems that kept you in and out of hospitals. You were the kid who missed weeks of school but somehow still pulled straight A’s. The one who didn’t go to prom, didn’t have a high school sweetheart, and definitely didn’t have a tight-knit group of friends.
Then there was him. The boy who promised you the world but only gave you heartache. The one who made you feel small, unworthy, broken—both with his words and his hands. The one who convinced you to stay, even when every fiber of your being screamed to leave. You did leave, eventually, but not without scars, some of which never quite healed.
No one on the team knows any of this. To them, you’re just Y/N, the youngest, least experienced profiler in the BAU. A fast learner, sure. Someone who pulls her weight in the field. But you’ve made sure your past is buried deep, nowhere near your file. Only Spencer ever asked why your academic timeline was a little... unconventional. You gave him the same story you’ve told everyone else: You took time to travel.
The truth? You finished undergrad earlier than most, and jumped into grad school while working at a local field office. It was around that time the BAU reached out, and suddenly, your life was moving at a pace you could barely keep up with. Your health remained an ongoing battle, but that was nobody’s business. You’ve never let it slow you down, and you’re not about to start now.
Therapy helped. It gave you the tools to face your past and, more importantly, to reclaim your future. Joining the BAU felt like a step in the right direction—a chance to put your trauma to use, to give your pain purpose. And if you keep your distance from the team, it’s not because you don’t trust them. It’s because trusting people still feels like a risk.
The jet dips, signaling the approach to Phoenix. Your body tenses involuntarily. You haven’t been back here in years, not since... him. You’re not sure how you’ll react once your feet touch the ground again.
"What are you listening to?" Hotch’s voice pulls you from your thoughts.
You jump, startled by his sudden appearance across from you. He watches you with that quiet intensity, and for a moment, you wonder how long he’s been sitting there.
"Nothing important," you murmur, pausing the music and slipping your headphones out.
Hotch’s gaze lingers, and you shift uncomfortably. It’s not that he’s unkind—far from it. But there’s something about his presence, his authority, that makes you second-guess yourself.
"You seemed deep in thought," he notes, a rare hint of amusement in his voice.
"Just zoning out," you reply with a shrug. "Long flight."
He nods but doesn’t push. Hotch is observant, more so than the others. He’s noticed the way you isolate yourself on these flights, how you always seem a little more on edge than you let on. But he hasn’t asked, not yet. You’re grateful for that.
"What were you all laughing about earlier?" you ask, more to fill the silence than out of genuine curiosity.
"Reid’s latest hairstyle," Hotch replies with a smirk. "Morgan’s convinced he’s trying out for a boy band."
You laugh softly, surprising yourself. "He does have that early 2000s look going for him."
"Maybe next week he’ll try the ‘classic detective’ look," Hotch says, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement.
For a moment, the tension eases. You almost forget where you’re headed.
"Have you gone over the case file?" Hotch asks, his tone shifting back to business.
"Yeah," you nod, glancing back out the window. The familiar skyline of Phoenix looms closer. You take a deep breath. "I haven’t been here in a long time."
"Family here?" he asks casually, clearly not realizing the weight of the question.
You shake your head quickly. "No, I just... used to live nearby for a while."
It’s technically the truth. But the memories attached to this city are ones you’d rather not revisit.
Before Hotch can respond, Morgan sticks his neck out from across the aisle. "You lived in Phoenix? How did I not know that?"
"It was a long time ago," you say, deflecting with a practiced ease.
Morgan grins and steers the conversation back to the case, but Hotch lingers for a moment longer, watching you. There’s something about you that doesn’t quite add up, something just out of reach. He’s known you for a year, yet you’re still a puzzle he hasn’t managed to solve. And maybe that’s why he keeps trying.
As the jet touches down, you pull your bag over your shoulder and follow the team out, doing your best to leave the past behind. But Hotch’s eyes stay on you, and for the first time in a long time, you wonder if someone might be able to see through your walls after all.
#criminal minds#aaron hotchner#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner x y/n#aaron hotchner x female reader#cm#ipromiseyouthis#kiwriteswords#aaron hotchner x you#aaron hotchner x fem!reader#aaron hotch hotchner x y/n#hotch x reader#hotch x you#hotch#aaron hotch hotchner#aarohotchner#criminalminds#aaron hotchner fanfiction
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2024 WIP Big Bang Schedule & FAQ!
Schedule
All times are by 11:59pm PST. Convert time zones.
Sign-ups Begin- April 15th Sign-ups Close- May 21st Check In #1- May 22nd Check In #2- June 15th Snippets Due- July 1st Art Claims Begin- July 17th Check In #3- July 22nd Check In #4- August 6th Rough Drafts Due- August 15th Posting Claims Begin- August 23rd Posting Claims Ends- September 1st Final Drafts/Art Due- September 7th Posting Starts- September 8th
FAQ
What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!
Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate? No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Dreamwidth and Tumblr and heavily use our Discord server at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.
How many fics can we sign up for? We absolutely don’t mind multiple sign-ups. I know one year someone submitted 50 fics to finish, and got at least half of them done. We just ask that when you sign up with more than one fic you give each fic a unique user ID (please do not use the same ID for all your fics...it’s important to have different IDs for the check-ins).
Will I get emails about the bang? We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.
However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.
What do you mean by minimum word count to enter? This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter.
Can an outline count towards those first 500 words that are needed at sign up? We have admitted work on an outline before so yes, if your outline is fleshed out enough to cover a 7,500 word+ fic, we’ll allow it.
Are multi-chapter fics allowed? Yes, multi-chapter fics are allowed and even more so encouraged if your fic is lengthy.
What about fics that are already posted on ao3 in part? Do those qualify for the bang? It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here. All we ask is that you not post any public updates to the fic until September 1st (or August 1st with the mod’s okay). We don’t want you to lose kudos and comments so don’t worry about pulling the fic down, just hold off on updates for now.
Is there a minimum word count? 7,500 words for each finished fic, but the sky's the limit, right?
I see that the fic minimum is 7500 words and that published WIPs are acceptable - but what if the WIP I’m considering is already more than 7500 words? Is the expectation to add an additional 7500 to it? No. You can add as much or as little as you need to finish the story, though we do expect at least 1,000 or so new words if your WIP already meets the word count.
What happens if an author finishes the fic they signed up with but it’s less than 7,500 words? The intent was to go over the minimum but once they got into it the story was shorter than they thought and stretching it out would make it less good. Do they have to drop out at that point? By all means, we want your stories to feel as natural as possible, and if it’s under 7,500 words you may have two options:
1 - Drop the fic for the main BB event, post it now, and wait to post it to our AO3 collection in February when we run our International Fanworks Day celebration of finishing fics that are less than 7,500 words when finished. There’s no art for the fic, but bragging rights are posted to the communities for a week.
2 - If there are enough fics that fit that category, we can do a special day of posting the fics, but you’ll have to forgo art for the fic. I, as a mod, would probably pick November 30th for the posting day, as it’s the last day of posting for the bang and I don’t think anyone will mind more than one fic that day. You can post bragging rights to the community and share the fic with everyone.
Is there anything not allowed? As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. RPS/RPF is fine. Incest pairings are fine. Things like that I know have been hinted at in questions asked and as long as you tag for them, we’ll allow it. Also, canon settings with mostly OCs is allowed. We just ask that it be tagged properly with any content warnings you would deem fit and be given the appropriate rating for the level of sex/violence there is in the fic. Just bear in mind that while original work is allowed you may not get art for it.
I have a fic I wrote a few years ago, but only the first couple chapters are posted on AO3 because I was never happy with the rest of it and knew it needed major revision. Is that something I could use for WIP Big Bang? The entire fic has been posted, but only on one platform, and it would be rewritten for AO3 and WIPBB. I think revising a fic for posting would work, as long as you have at least 500 words done, will have 7,500 words at a minimum when it’s done, and are planning to add more to the fic. Simply rewriting what you have would be a gray area, but if you’re going to take stuff out and add new scenes, either in the old scenes place or on its own, you should be fine.
What's the etiquette around OC-centric stories? Ones that are set in a well known fandom and use several characters, but still lean a lot on original characters? Are they discouraged, or fine? Based on my own personal experience making art for a story that had a heavy OC presence, it’s not something we discourage at all, but be forewarned when it comes to the art accompanying your fic your artist may not be able to incorporate the OCs into your art. Not everyone makes art of a hand-drawn or digitally drawn nature, so it helps if you have people for face claims ahead of art submissions, and you and your artist communicate regularly. You can also end up with art not featuring the OCs at all, just the canon characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Your other options are to bring in an artist you trust with your vision of your OC or to make your own art (we do allow that, we just need to be told during the check-in before art that you’re bringing in your own artist if you go that route, or that you’re doing your own art…there will not be a need to sign up in the artist’s sign up, however), or to opt-out of art entirely. So there’s plenty of options to call on when it comes time for art.
What are 'check-ins’? These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory. Basically a form is posted that you fill out with your user ID (unique for each fic) and a checkbox to let us know you’re still participating, plus a section for any notes for the mods.
How are the check in IDs used? They are solely for the mods organizational purposes. Each ID being for a separate story allows us to keep all the information you submit during check-ins and for snippets in one line on our spreadsheet. You don’t have to share your check in IDs with anyone else if you don’t want to.
How much progress should authors be making between each checkpoint? (Percentage-wise from our estimated total wc, I guess?) Ideally, with each check-in, you should be at least 25% closer to finishing. The end word count only really matters in that the fic needs to be at least 7,500 words when done, so it’s more your progress towards finishing that should be measured, not so much the word count.
What are the snippets requirements? In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.
What are the rough drafts requirements? For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.
What is, and do I need, a beta? A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.
Where can I post my fic/art? Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.
What does posting look like? Do we have to post the whole thing on the day, or can we stretch it out between when posting starts and our date? I’ve had a few longfics get killed by big bangs forcing posting to happen on a given day, and would prefer to avoid that if possible. For most fics, posting to AO3/FF.net/other places will be allowed to start in September and you can stretch it out as many posts as you want as long as the complete fic is up by your posting date (and posting dates go from September 8th to November 15th with two weeks for emergency posting). However, you can send us an ask/e-mail about posting as early as August if you have an extremely long fic/something with a long posting schedule. Mostly what we want is the fic to be completely up on the website of your choice by your posting date, and I know some people don’t want to overwhelm their readers. So we want to work with writers to give them ample time to post the story up to their posting date.
Now, as for posting to the communities, you get to choose which day your link to the story and bragging rights are posted, and as I said, we have a range of dates from September 8th to November 15th with two to three stories posting a day. If for some reason you miss your posting date, you have until November 30th to post to the community, during the two weeks of emergency posting, with a possible extension after that due to the amount of participants needing to post later. So hopefully there should be plenty of time to get a longfic up and posted to the website of your choice and our BB.
Will the three snippets per story we have to send in be the ones we want the artist to make art for? Or can it just be random snippets and then later the artist and I can check together to see which scenes would work best for art? So ideally, you and the artist will be communicating once you’re each sent each other’s contact information, and you’ll give your artist a chance to read all that you’ve written at that point. That’s what happens in most cases. If your fic gets picked by an artist and they don’t work with you, then the snippets you sent will be what the artwork will be based on. It’s a good idea to know that, while most of the time the artists work closely with the authors, there are a few exceptions to that.
How do I know when to post? Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be four fics, plus art, posting per day between September 8th and November 30th. The post with date claims will go up on August 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by September 1st.
Posting of chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post) generally starts September 1st, but you can post earlier (as early as August 1st) if you let us know you have a long story. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post your bragging rights to the communities on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked or you can email us your bragging rights and we can post by proxy for you. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.
What am I posting to the Livejournal/Dreamwidth/Tumblr community if I’m posting the fic elsewhere? You’ll be posting what we call bragging rights. It’s a small form you fill out and post to the community with a link to your fic (we’ll enable moderated posting to the Tumblr, Livejournal and Dreamwidth communities for members on August 8th). We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.
Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art? There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!
What are 'art claims'? The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. Artists sign-ups and art claims are the same thing; we use one form for both things, and that way the authors don’t have to sign up for an event they may not end up participating in. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. And on until all stories are claimed for art.
If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.
What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist? Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!
If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.
Can I get an extension? Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by July 13th.
Can I swap out a fic if my muse abandons it again? When you sign up, you give us the information on the potential fic(s) you want to write. If, say, one fic isn’t working but one you didn’t sign up for is, you can switch them out while letting the mods know if you need to change a user ID you used. It is absolutely okay to switch fics all the way up until snippets are due. By then, we hope you’ll have however many fics you plan on doing to at least 80% completion since rough drafts are due not much later. Just drop an email to the mods at [email protected] with the new information (title, fandom, etc) and if you want a new sign in ID or plan to use the same one for the fic you’re replacing it with.
Can I drop out? We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by August 13th (if at all possible).
Is it possible to be banned? We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.
Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.
Are we allowed to participate without joining the Discord? Absolutely! The Discord server is optional, as just another way to interact with your fellow writers and get updates on important dates. It’s not mandatory you join, however.
I was just wondering if there’s any way to enter the bang anonymously? Like would it be okay to put our work in an anonymous collection on ao3 or something? Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way for that to work. The collection that we use is moderated but it’s not anonymous, and there are the bragging posts that you post on your posting day, which you would have your username on whichever platform you use.
I was just wondering whether I'm sworn to secrecy on which fics I'll be finishing up, or if I can shout it out to the world? No one is sworn to secrecy once they’ve signed up (aside from posting new parts to fic that’s already up somewhere…we ask that you refrain from doing that until at least July 1st)! We will be running Word Wars, where you can add more to a fic in a certain amount of time, and Whine Bars, where you can complain or ask for help or whatever else you feel like talking about when it comes to struggling with a fic, all after sign-ups end on a weekly basis, plus there’s the Discord server for chatting with your fellow authors and artists.
I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here. If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, [email protected].
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Thank you so much for the tag @therealsaintscully!
How many works do you have on ao3? 48! 30 for BBC Sherlock and 18 for The X-Files.
What’s your total word count? 924,659 (whoa, that's a lot of words)
What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea White Knight Incidents with Dogs, Curious and Otherwise Another Auld Lang Syne The Dead Detective
Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?
I try to. I'm not always as on top of it as I intend to be. I find comments tremendously meaningful and I at times get emotional while reading them. They are important to me. I reread them often.
I often fear that I'm a poor conversationalist and overthink my responses, which can tend to freeze me up.
What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?
Most of my long fics have happy endings.
The Pillar upon Which England Rests is my ode to Mrs. Hudson. As she and John are grieving Sherlock's fall, she tells John all about how she and Sherlock first met. I don't think of it as a particularly sad story, but I suppose that ending counts as angsty, as Sherlock's eventual return is not addressed in the story.
I guess the shorter, more horrorish ones have angsty (or at least uneasy) endings.
Nothing Happened in Belarus has S4 Sherlock, in the throes of his breakdown, somehow briefly traveling through time and encountering S1 John, who cares for him. It's a brief reprieve for him in the midst of a personal hell, but there is no resolution. When he returns to his own time, he is still forced to face what's coming next.
At the end of Leaves, Sherlock and John have either successfully defeated the bloodthirsty plant that has invaded their flat, or they're being digested by it. I leave that decision up to the reader. :)
The Web has Sherlock returned from his time away and reunited with John, but there is a part of him that will always remain haunted and deeply paranoid.
What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?
Most of them, heh. I like to leave my characters in a good place after putting them through hell.
I guess I'd have to say White Knight? I still get a little giddy when I think about the way Sherlock proposes at the end of that one, and how happy and free they both are after the crushing weight of misunderstandings and grief has fallen away.
Whirlwind has a pretty joyful ending, too.
Do you write crossovers?
I haven't written a crossover, but I have done a few fusion fics. The Dead Detective is a fusion with Jumpin' Jack Flash. Whirlwind is a fusion with Twister. Out There is a fusion with The X-Files.
Have you ever received hate on a fic?
Not really. Most responses on AO3 have been warm and supportive. I have gotten a few unnecessarily vicious comments on some of my ficlets here on Tumblr, but I do my best to ignore those.
Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Most of my smut tends to be of the R-rated variety, because I'm frankly just not very good at writing it.
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Yes, sort of, but I don't believe it was done maliciously and I don't intend to call attention to it.
Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes!
Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I have not. I'm open to the idea, but I honestly don't know if I'm cut out for it. I think my tendency to wing things and my utter lack of a consistent writing schedule would drive a potential writing partner mad.
What's your all-time favourite ship?
Mulder and Scully were my first true fandom love. I love Sherlock and John equally as much, if not more.
What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?
There are quite a few WIPs on my hard drive that may never see the light of day. As far as posted fics, my Sherlock/Knight Rider fusion probably won't be finished.
What are your writing strengths?
I like to think that I'm pretty good at capturing character mannerisms, and writing from a perspective that lets the reader feel what the POV character is feeling.
What are your writing weaknesses?
I'm not all that impressed with my smut writing abilities.
What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
I steer clear of it. Although Google translate can be helpful, IMO there are too many opportunities to make embarrassing or inadvertently offensive mistakes.
What was the first fandom you wrote for?
The X-Files
What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?
I really enjoy the character dynamics between Hannibal/Will in Hannibal and Lestat/Louis in Interview with the Vampire. I think I'd have a harder time getting into their heads than I do with Sherlock and John, so I'll probably just continue admiring them from afar for now.
What's your favourite fic you've written?
This is such a hard question! I'm probably proudest of the work that went into Out There, but I have a huge soft spot for The Pillar upon Which England Rests and (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea.
If anyone out there would like to share your thoughts on some of the things you've written, please do! I'll also tag @thetimemoves @arwamachine @raina-at @vulpesmellifera @iheardyou @totallysilvergirl @khorazir
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Can I Keep It?
@spicycinnabun and I's contribution to steddiebang 2023! ❤️️ | Chapters: 2/12 | Rating: M | Read, kudos or comment on ao3 | We have a playlist. ❤️️ | Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Chapter 2: Stupid Hunk
The early afternoon at Family Video was so boring. No one was coming in to rent or return movies. Steve had finished all the grunt work. Rentals that came back that morning were rewound if the customer hadn’t done it already. Everything had been put back in its place, and he had straightened up the store.
Usually, Steve enjoyed the free time getting paid to do nothing, but he was feeling listless about work and his love life.
Now, he was just leaning against the counter, playing with Eddie’s skull ring. He had been keeping it under the counter for when Eddie came back to return A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge or if he saw Dustin.
Steve found it fit perfectly on his ring finger and considered not giving it back.
He had a date tonight. He was taking Brenda to the basketball game. He wasn’t sure about her. She was gorgeous but even denser than him. Maybe it was the blonde box dye that had fried her brain.
The game was almost more exciting than the prospect of getting laid. He’d totally fucked up the year before and had lost state for Hawkins. It had been the cherry on top of not getting into college. Steve was looking forward to redemption for the team and a win for Sinclair.
When the phone rang, Steve answered it within a few rings. It was Dustin wanting him to come play D&D. Yeah, right. He would never socially recover from that.
Steve looked at the ring, spinning it around with his thumb. It chafed a little that Dustin thought he was jealous of Eddie. He absolutely was not. “I’m not cancelling my date with Bombshell Brenda. Sorry, Dustin. You and the freak can have fun without me.”
Steve was relieved when two hot customers walked in, giving him a reason to hang up.
Eddie sat on the bus. It was the last one running, and nobody else was on it except himself and the bus driver. He’d abandoned his van back at the trailer—too conspicuous. What happened was fucked. It was so fucked.
He made a noise of distress, picking his feet up off the ground and curling up into as small a ball as possible on the dirty carpeted seat. His eyes went glassy, locked wide in fright. The driver gave him a wary glance from his rearview mirror.
Twenty minutes later, Eddie had barely moved. The bus lurched to a stop, and the driver cleared his throat. “End of the line,” he said.
A few seconds passed. There was no motion from the back.
“Hey!” he said louder. “I said end of the line. You gotta get off, kid.”
That jolted Eddie. He stood on wooden legs and stumbled to the side door, pushing it open and stepping outside. The doors hissed closed, and the bus chugged away and turned around the corner, leaving him alone on the barren road.
There were no streetlights here. Nobody was around.
Eddie started walking briskly, glancing over his shoulder constantly.
When he reached a fork in the road, he stopped and stared into the depths of the woods. Cutting through it was the closest way to his dealer’s house. It was the only place he could go that he knew would be safe from the cops, who would no doubt be coming after him for the fucking death of Chrissy Cunningham. He didn’t know if it would be safe from whatever the fuck had attacked Chrissy.
Eddie stepped off the road and onto the dirt with a trembling breath.
The branches of the trees were long, spindly, and black. He should have heard the rustle of animals scurrying around and insects buzzing. He should have heard the wind off the lake. It was too quiet and too still. He could only hear his breath and the soft whimpers rising from his throat that he couldn’t control.
He started to run. He ran faster than he ever had before. He ran like somebody was chasing him because it felt that way. It felt like he was being watched, hunted.
His lungs gave out long before he did. Eddie was dripping sweat and heaving when he finally reached Rick’s place. The security light was on and casting a cold glow on the ground that wasn’t very welcoming, but at least he was out of the dark.
Eddie didn’t have a key to Rick’s house, and he didn’t want to break in and leave evidence that he was there or risk someone seeing him. A key to the boathouse was hidden in a flowerpot on the back windowsill. Eddie went around, grabbed it and jammed it in the door, having to try three times before he unlocked it because his hands were shaking so badly.
There was no light inside, except for the scant amount coming from the windows and the moon off the lake. Eddie whimpered again, every creak in the floor and every shadow on the walls making him jump.
“Fucking relax, you coward,” he said hoarsely. The volume of his voice almost made him jump, too.
Miracle of all miracles, he found a case of beer on one of the shelves. He drank two of them. It didn’t do much to calm him. Mostly, it just made him feel nauseous and dizzy.
He still saw Chrissy’s body levitating in the air, her bones cracking to unnatural angles, her eyes sucking back into the caverns of her skull.
Eddie climbed into the boat and curled up under the blue tarp, scrunching his eyes shut as he tried to force the images away. The tarp made crinkling noises as he continued to shake, but eventually, his breath slowed. The adrenaline crash hit him, and he passed out.
But he wasn’t out for long, plagued by nightmares that made him toss and turn in the boat, getting twisted up in the tarp. The third time he woke up screaming, he stopped trying to sleep.
Eddie didn’t do much of anything when morning came. He tried to calm himself by going outside and sitting on the dock. It was a sweet relief to feel the warmth and safety of the daylight, but since it was the weekend, there were people out boating, and he had to retreat to the darkness.
He looked through Rick’s things and took an inventory of everything there. Most of it was junk and fishing gear, but there was a first aid kit and some old food in a cooler he could survive on. He couldn’t risk going to a store. He should have packed a backpack, but he hadn’t prepared anything. All he did was run. All he did was leave Chrissy.
Eddie hacked open a can of expired SpaghettiOs when his stomach started cramping, scarfing them down ravenously and cutting his tongue on the jagged tin. He devoured a Big Hunk bar, saving the other two for later like they were precious gems.
Looking at them reminded him of the video store and Steve. To think, he had been worried about finishing his trig homework. When now… now , look where he was. Eddie buried his face in his hands with a hysterical laugh.
That night, Eddie started hallucinating. The isolation was getting to him.
Chrissy’s deformed body kept manifesting in different places. Once on the ceiling, another time in the boat with him under the tarp, and another time while he was outside taking a piss. She tried to talk to him, but her jaw was broken, so it came out like a long, guttural groan. Eddie had never started sobbing with his dick in his hand before. That was a first he wished never to repeat.
When the sun went down and the darkness hit yet again, Eddie was so delirious he could barely differentiate the floor from the ceiling. He heard voices yelling outside.
They sounded, strangely, like his Hellfire Club gang. That sounded like Dustin’s voice. But that couldn’t be. It was a trick. It wasn't real.
Eddie broke one of his empty beer bottles on the side of the boat and then jumped into it, hiding under the tarp.
So, not only had Steve’s date been a total flop, but he’d been roped into going to Lover’s Lake and aiding in the search and rescue mission of Eddie Munson.
He wasn’t sure that Eddie was innocent in all of this. Of course, Steve believed in all that constitutional shit—innocent until proven guilty—but the freak thing he couldn’t shake despite Eddie’s sweetness and sweet tooth he had witnessed the other night in the store.
Still, he didn’t put up too much of a fight. He’d help. He always helped.
When they arrived at the boat house on Lover’s Lake, Dustin rang the doorbell in quick succession. Steve was more than willing to walk away when they didn't get an answer—mainly because it was super spooky, and it felt like they shouldn’t be there.
Dustin wasn’t willing to give up that easily.
Something was trying to get Eddie. Poking, prodding—one smack would have landed right on the family jewels had it been just an inch to the left. Eddie remained silent as the voices continued. They changed to a buzzing drone that grew louder and louder in his ears.
The poking stopped.
Mustering a burst of courage, Eddie sprang out of the boat and backed his attacker up against the wall, shoving him there and pressing the jagged glass to his throat.
Steve couldn’t feel the pain. He was too frightened. He tried not to breathe because the broken glass was too close. His eyes were wide as he watched Eddie. Eddie tightened his grip, which scared him more, and it got harder for him to breathe. He couldn’t believe Eddie was about to stab him in the throat.
One second, Eddie was holding what seemed to be a normal person, then it was Chrissy and her black hole eyes, and then some indiscernible creature barring its teeth at him. He pressed the edges of the bottle harder against its neck until Dustin convinced him they were who they said they were.
A scent invaded Eddie’s nose. He smelled… coconut?
Everything came into better focus, along with the frightened expression on Steve’s face. Chrissy and the monster temporarily vanished. Eddie could feel the frantic pulse beating away in Steve’s neck under his fingers, but he was still suspicious and let them all know it.
It took some more convincing from Dustin, Robin, Steve, and the redhead, Max, whom Eddie recognized as Billy Hargrove’s sister, who had moved in next to them with her mom after Billy died in the mall fire.
Finally, Eddie let go.
He slowly slid down the wall. His hands were trembling again. Dustin reached out to take the bottle from him, face morphing into something sinister. Eddie flinched as it quickly disappeared, and he was just Dustin again, the goofy, smartass little sheep Eddie had herded into his D&D club.
Steve stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and gently thumbed Eddie’s ring, trying to calm down after all that. He didn’t feel like giving the ring back anymore. If Eddie knew he had it, there was a possibility he could think Steve had stolen it. Then maybe he actually would kill him.
Eventually, Steve calmed as the others got Eddie to tell them what had happened.
Eddie tried not to cry as he attempted to keep his fragile hold on reality. There was no way they'd believe him if he told them the truth. They would probably pretend they did, and then, as soon as they had his guard down, they would knock him out and take him straight to the police station.
His eyes went glassy again as he started telling them everything. Even the part where he was a fucking coward who ran.
Then he learned about the Upside Down.
Monsters were real. Monsters were actually real, and they were way less cool than they should have been. Eddie was still trying to wrap his head around it while the three questioned him.
Robin was watching him closely, and Eddie felt exposed. He had a real-life encounter with something otherworldly, and “run” had been his final choice. He’d failed, and the princess had died.
Nearly getting his throat slashed had shaken Steve up. After a little while, he felt grounded again. Especially once he heard what happened to Chrissy. He kept his arms crossed as he watched Eddie and listened to him tell them what happened.
It was harder to hear than he expected. What Eddie witnessed was brutal. There was literally nothing he could’ve done about it. He knew if it sounded this awful, seeing it in person must have been terrifying. Steve didn’t understand why Eddie was beating himself up for leaving her there. He didn’t know what it was, what it was capable of or if it was coming for him next.
That didn’t change the fact that he was suspect number one. Steve was glad they didn’t bring the police into this, even though he had suggested it earlier.
The sting of Dustin favoring Eddie over him lingered from earlier, but Steve chilled out. While it seemed like and felt like Eddie was going to kill him, he hadn’t, and he wouldn’t have killed Chrissy. He had been scared and was too sweet… like the candy he’d bought at the video store the other night. It was clear the Upside Down had gotten to her somehow in the form of a killer monster.
Now that they had found Eddie and figured out what had happened to Chrissy, they could make a plan. Unfortunately for Steve, the first plan involved babysitting, and this time, it wasn’t the kids.
They were leaving when Dustin asked Steve to stay with Eddie. “If I can’t stay, you should. Seriously though, fuck this. Mom will be fine. She won’t worry if I don’t come home for one measly night.”
That was a lie, and his shifty eyes said it all.
“Dustin, look, man… Eddie is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He has a weapon that he almost slit my throat with, remember? You think he needs a babysitter?” Steve shook his head. Technically, he was already babysitting Dustin and Max. He had to make sure they got home safe with this Vecna creep going around breaking people’s bones and killing them. “We can come back tomorrow. We’ll bring him some stuff he needs, like food and water. He can’t live off beer for long. Plus, we’re the only ones that know he’s here. He’s safe for now.”
Dustin accepted his no since Steve promised they’d come back. Part of Steve did feel bad for Eddie.
Eddie’s cheeks burnt as he overheard their conversation through the open door.
While he appreciated that Steve had saved face for him, it was humiliating for Dustin to suggest it. For a kid to think someone younger than him needed to keep watch over him. Babysitter? Fuck. Even worse, Eddie’s heart was pounding again, and his breath quickened because he was about to be alone again.
Robin was still watching him with her observant owl eyes. When he looked at her, she handed him her flashlight with a sympathetic smile before joining the group outside. Eddie clutched it too tightly and gave her a half-hearted salute, grateful for the small comfort.
After the door shut, he heard the engine rumble as the car started and the quiet as the noise moved further and further away.
“Don’t,” he told his tear ducts fiercely because they were welling up again. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
This was all just… way too fucking much.
Eddie returned to the boat with the flashlight, sitting cross-legged with it in his lap for a few long minutes as he got his sniffles under control. The flashlight flickered, making his heart flutter, but it stayed on after he smacked the base violently with his palm.
Steve seemed like a brave dude. Braver than him, at least, to have been dealing with this other world for so long, these real-life fucking monsters, all while he lived his everyday life and worked at the video store. He was more than just the vain bully of a jock Eddie had pegged him as. Maybe. He bet Steve wouldn’t have let Chrissy get put under a curse. He would have done something to stop that from happening to her.
Eddie picked up a Big Hunk bar and opened it, drowning his feelings in corn syrup and peanuts. “Stupid hunk,” he muttered, taking a big bite, “being all hunky and brave.”
Eddie finished the bar, throwing the wrapper overboard. His head suddenly dipped as exhaustion hit him. He was close to tipping over when he caught himself and cursed, forcing his eyes back open as the boat swayed on its chains.
He wondered if Steve would have stayed and kept him company if Eddie hadn’t almost killed him. It had been an accident, but he hadn’t apologized. Shit.
The next time Eddie’s head dipped, he fell back and let sleep take him.
Eddie jerked awake to noise from outside. He vaulted out of the boat, bottleneck clutched in his fist as he peered out the window, panting with adrenaline. It was light out again, so he had actually gotten some sleep, but he wasn’t focused on that. Someone or some thing was there. The floorboards creaked.
Or not.
His heart had barely slowed before the door clanged open, revealing Dustin, Steve, Robin and Max.
Eddie’s shoulders slumped. He glared balefully at them, but it didn’t last long because he was glad to see them. “Knock next time, or I won’t be tipping,” he told Dustin.
“Uh, I’ve earned a tip for stellar customer service with a smile, thank you. No take-backsies.”
Eddie cleared his throat as the munchkins started unloading the grocery bags and making themselves comfortable. He set down the broken bottle. Robin leaned against a steel shelf and looked out at the water, which was peacefully still without any wind.
Max opened a bag of chips, and Dustin scolded her as she shoved a handful in her mouth. “Those are for Eddie ,” he said, way too overprotectively if everyone’s expressions were anything to go by.
Max shrugged. “Eddie can share.”
“Course I can. I’m not a chip hog. Unless those are Bugles,” said Eddie. Putting Bugles on his fingers like claws was always a tasty and perfectly on-theme accessory for Hellfire nights.
Fuck, was he ever going to have one of those again?
"We got Buges!" Dustin said. He was already helping himself to the chips, arm stuck in the bag, while Max rolled her eyes at him.
Eddie was hungry, but there was something he had to do first. He reached into his pocket, sweaty hand wrapping around the wrapper of his last Big Hunk bar. It turned out the information he’d filed away about Steve liking them would come in handy now. Hopefully.
He nodded at Steve, stepping towards him while everyone was all distracted. He held the bar out as a peace offering. “Hey, dude, um. I’m sorry about last night. You know, the whole…” he trailed off, motioning towards Steve’s throat with his other hand.
Steve wasn’t expecting an apology from Eddie. Nearly getting attacked had left him full of adrenaline after he’d gotten home. It had taken a while to wind down and fall asleep, especially after Eddie had horrifyingly recalled what had happened to Chrissy. Steve hadn’t known what Eddie was capable of until he had been in the thick of it. Eddie was strong and very threatening. Getting an apology made Steve confident that Eddie didn’t have it in him to physically harm him or anyone else. He was probably all bark and no bite.
As Steve listened, he smiled a bit, remembering it almost fondly as he lightly touched his throat. He looked down as the apology hit him and made him bashful that he was even getting one.
“I was kinda worked up. Hadn’t slept much since Friday. Which is still not really an excuse, I know,” Eddie rambled, “So, just—”
This was going swell.
Steve gave a casual shrug of his shoulders and then looked back up to catch Eddie’s eyes.
“Sorry,” Eddie repeated, clapping Steve on the shoulder and giving it a warm squeeze.
It felt like Eddie was looking directly into his soul. Their eyes connected for an abnormally long beat. The intensity made Steve’s eyes drop to Eddie’s lips, and he immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise just like they had when Eddie had the bottle to his throat.
Eddie’s stomach stole the show by rumbling like an angry bear, interrupting Steve’s weird physical reaction to the apology and touch. Steve nodded, understanding. “It’s cool,” he said, brushing it off. He had been over it after Eddie told them about Chrissy, anyway.
Eddie nodded, annoyed at his stomach for no discernable reason. Steve had accepted his Big Hunk and his apology.
Moving away, Eddie sat down and started ripping open the bag of cereal. The smell of the Honeycombs invaded his nose. He was shovelling them into his mouth between sips of sugary sweet Yoo-hoo when Dustin told him the bad news. He always went with the bad news first.
It didn’t surprise him that the police were looking for him and that he was the only suspect, but his lips still trembled, and his appetite vanished, a nauseous feeling replacing it.
The entire town would be lighting their torches and sharpening their pitchforks. Many people already had a problem with him, especially the members of the church, so hunting him down was going to be like Christmas morning for them. He didn’t see any way this could end well for him.
That was until Robin informed him that this wasn’t their first otherworldly rodeo. They had been through this kind of shit before.
Eddie glanced at everyone in the room, lingering on Steve until he nodded in confirmation.
Eddie's eyes bulged as they tried unsuccessfully to reassure him, and his eyebrows lifted. Jesus Christ. Right, there was nothing to worry about. Nothing whatsoever. And a girl with superpowers, so what? That was totally normal.
Sirens sounded nearby, making them all go on high alert.
“Tarp!” said Robin urgently. “Tarp, tarp!”
Eddie ducked under it, pulling it over himself. He clenched his eyes shut as they waited and whispered the chorus of Leper Messiah to calm his racing heart. “Time for lust, time for lie. Time to kiss your life goodbye...”
Fuck, this was it. He was going straight to the big house. He would be reunited with his dear old man, who would be thrilled to see him, especially after their last conversation where Eddie told him about his big plans. About how he was really going to buckle down, graduate school this year, and get his diploma. Hell, maybe even get into a college.
Dad had laughed his ass off, sporting a wide grin through the plexiglass. " You really think you can get into one of those smarty-pants schools?"
It was said with affection, which made it hurt even more.
Steve followed the others to the window as soon as Eddie was out of sight. He hung back slightly. They watched the cops speed right past the boathouse.
Once the sirens dissipated, Steve felt a slight sense of relief. Eddie was still wanted, but at least they wouldn’t have the police snooping around with him only hidden under a tarp. It was the most obvious hiding place. When Steve originally started poking around with the oar, it was clear to him then. Not only that, but Eddie’s broken bottle was no match for a policeman’s gun.
It was only a matter of time before someone else figured out he was hiding here at Reefer Rick’s. They had to prove Eddie’s innocence sooner rather than later. While Dustin made it sound totally plausible, they had a lot of work to do.
“They’re gone. For now,” Steve said, grabbing the top of the tarp. He pulled it back just enough to free Eddie’s face. He still looked terrified. That made him feel bad. Steve didn’t want to leave him here all alone again, so he thought quickly.
“We need to get you out of here,” he told Eddie. Steve’s house was in the direction of where the police were going. No one would expect Eddie to be there. “We’re going to take you to my house. My room is in the basement. My dad is out of town, and my mom is probably passed out on the couch. It’ll be easy to sneak you in. I do it all the time with my dates. What do you say?” Steve thought it was a pretty good idea.
Robin’s eyebrows slowly climbed into her hair. She gave Steve a peculiar look, unseen by Eddie.
Eddie’s brain was now short-circuiting from a completely different reason other than fear. Not even in his wildest dreams would he think he would be offered shelter from Steve Harrington. At the very most, he should have been offering Eddie a hiding place in his dusty pool shed or something—not in his very own, very personal bedroom in his basement.
Eddie’s stomach was unexpectedly flipping the fuck out as he looked up into Steve’s, also unexpectedly, kind brown eyes. “Um…I…are you—”
—really sure you want me there? He didn’t get to say because Dustin interrupted him, slapping Steve on the shoulder. “Great idea, Steve! Then we won’t have to ride out so long to bring him things.”
Robin’s eyebrows said it all. What was Steve thinking? She was surprised. Steve was, too. He had just invited Eddie to stay at his house… in his room.
Whatever, it wasn’t that big of a deal. And there was no taking it back now.
“Can we leave now?” Max asked. She was rubbing her temple, her forehead creasing like she was in pain.
Steve looked at Max. She had really been worrying him. It sounded like whatever had gotten Chrissy was after her now, too.
Eddie sat up quickly, moving the tarp off himself and jumping out of the boat so he didn’t miss his ride out of there. “Well, I’m not going to miss that thing one bit,” he said honestly. Anything would be an upgrade from the boat.
His mind was already off to the races. What would Steve’s bed be like? Hard? Pillowy soft? Would Eddie be sleeping on the floor? Maybe Steve had a couch in his bedroom. Rich people had other furniture in their bedrooms, right? Why would Steve’s mom be passed out in the middle of the day? How many dates did Steve sneak into his bedroom on a weekly basis? Why was Steve doing this for him?
Steve nodded, “Alright, let’s go. The quicker we get Eddie to my house, the quicker we can find out what the police are after.”
Steve led the way out of the boathouse. He got in the car first and waited for everyone else to pile in before starting it. As he backed up, he caught a glimpse of Eddie in his rearview mirror. He seemed less rattled, which made Steve feel better about his decision
#steddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#steve x eddie#steddie fic#steddiebang23#gifs by me#stranger things#stranger things fanfic#stranger things edit
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20 questions for fic writers
I was tagged by @holy-ships-x-red-lips! Thank you so much for the tags. You have given me a lovely way to procrastinate right now. :)
1. How many works do you have on Ao3? Only 16, but there are also fics out there on LJ that I was too lazy (or were just too bad) to find on the group events I posted on and port over. There are also some other ff.net fics on another account that I forgot about, but were from when I was in high school so totally not bringing those over either.
2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 78,839. I expect that to drastically change once I start publishing my one long wip...
3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently I mostly write Battlestar Galactica (spaceparents ftw) and some The Closer/Major Crimes (I'm a Brenda/Sharon heathen. ) But in the past I wrote for Rizzoli and Isles and Grey's Anatomy. There's also some X-files fic out there and a CSI one somewhere.
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Caffeine (Rizzoli & Isles): What happens when Maura consumes an excessive amount of caffeine?
So major note this fic is literally like 12 years old. And super short. And honestly not good lol.
Break All The Rules For You (The Closer/Major Crimes): Sharon Raydor has a list of rules she lives her life by. But Brenda Leigh Johnson very might be the catalyst for her to break each and every one.
This is actually my current active posting WIP. I'm amused it got so many kudos so fast. Guess I'm not the only heathen out there. :)
Frak Me Red (Battlestar Galactica): Wanting Laura to feel good about herself, Bill finds her the perfect gift and they spend an exciting weekend away on shore leave aboard Cloud 9.
Part of my Cosmetics Series. This was a blast and like 70% pure smut.
Pain Management (Battlestar Galactica): Dealing with pain during her cancer treatments, Laura is suggested an unorthodox treatment plan.
This was actually my first fic back after a ten year writing hiatus... :) Never let anyone tell you that you can't return after a long time away.
Spray and Stay (Battlestar Galactica): Laura has a secret addiction that is slowly running out and she can't help but show off her addiction to Bill.
The first part of my Cosmetics Series. Also 50% smut. :)
5. Do you respond to comments? Absolutely. So, I work from home and like responding to them instead of working sometimes.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? So I don't have a ton of angst honestly. So I guess the ending of Auburn Sunsets, Starlit Nights (Battlestar Galactica) is the angstiest? (Or meanest?)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? So like 80% of my stuff is smut... so they all have HAPPY ENDINGS. *snicker*. But I guess I'll go with Frak Me Red ?
8. Do you get hate on fics? Not really. Probably did on some of my old FF.net stuff but don't care enough to go back and look.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. Like thats half of what I write. :)
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not in a long time. But once upon a time I wrote a Grey's Anatomy Zombie fic that had a Doctor House appearance. Its somewhere on LJ. It was BAD, but I am so tempted to find it now for my own amusement.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I am aware of
12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Feel free to reach out if you want to tho.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but definitely open to it.
14. What's your all time favorite ship? So probably Bill/Laura(Spaceparents) from BSG. But Also have a soft spot for Sharon/Brenda (The Closer), MSR (The X-Files), Swan Queen, Janeway/Chakotay, Femshep/Garrus, to name a few.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Love Games. My 12 year old the Closer fic I never finished. May rewrite it one day but I will never just finish it as it exists today.
16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I do a lot of emotional introspection well. And Smut. I can do smut.
17. What are your writing weaknesses? Honestly, I struggle with dialogue.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? As long as its translated or explained, I'm fine with it. Probs would never do it, cause my language skills suck, but wouldn't mind reading.
19. First fandom you wrote for? CSI! I wrote a Grissom/Sara fic back in the day. I was in like High School.
20. Favorite fic you've written?
Thats like asking me my favorite children! My favorite is one I am still writing and haven't published yet, The Symposium of the Stars. One day it'll make an appearance.
But for published? I really loved Auburn Sunsets, Starlit Nights. I have a soft spot for it.
Tagging: @lavenderknivess, @mimine666, @madelineusherspearls. @ofhouseusher, @cryscal, @fracktastic, and anyone else who feels like it :)
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game plan by @thehoyden
sidgeno (2013, explicit, 10.3k)
Unlike Nealsy, Evgeni can cook his own food when he has it. He’s perfectly capable of making breakfast. His kitchen is well-equipped, and he’s got some good basic cooking skills down. In short, he is not going to starve to death if left to his own devices. None of this seems to matter to Sid.
Sid opens the door off the garage with a spatula in one hand. He’s already wearing what Evgeni recognizes as Sid’s lying-around-the-house clothes, a t-shirt that’s thin and well-worn and a pair of plaid pajama pants with a hole in one hem. His hair is fluffy and a little wild in its ungelled state, making it look soft and sort of pettable.
Evgeni is halfway to — tangling his fingers in Sid’s hair? — before he drops his hand and then awkwardly covers it with hug, which starts off kind of weird because they’re not on the ice, and Sid is still holding a spatula and they’re both stupid with half a night of terrible sleep. But then Sid relaxes into it, and goes butter-soft pliant in Evgeni’s arms, and, well, if you can’t hug your captain and friend when he’s making you breakfast after a long road trip, when can you?
i love the idea of a comfort fic. i think we all have them, right? the fic or fics that we know we'll enjoy no matter what mood we're in, no matter what tropes or whatever we might be craving. the fic that can help you relax after a bad day enough to calm down. it's the perfect length—not so long that you lose an entire day (or more!) to it, but not so short that you finish the story before you had a chance to really get settled in.
this one is mine.
there's a certain charm to fics from 2013. the characterizations are by and large vastly different from current trends, and while not all of them are to my taste all the time, it's like entering a time machine and getting a glimpse back into a world where sid and geno had only won one cup, and the OG crew was still intact, and everyone was so young and had so much potential ahead of them still. the concussion years were also fresh, in a way that i think it might be hard for newer fans to understand and honestly for older fans to really remember, and that really comes through in a lot of stories.
and of course, no matter the plot, the trope, or the characterization choice, a brilliant author is a brilliant author, and i think we all know that @thehoyden is a brilliant author.
this fic is simply delightful. geno's clear fondness for sid shines through, and sid's returned feelings for geno take a bit longer to surface, but we as the audience realize them at the same pace that geno does, and it's really just lovely and comforting to immerse yourself in. sid's gentle pushiness about geno coming over to eat, the care with which he prepares their meals, and their physical comfort with each other—yum yum.
speaking of. this fic is gonna make you hungry. this fic is gonna make you want brunch. it will be something you think about until you're able to spend too much money on eggs benedict. i'm not sorry because this morsel is absolutely worth it.
read it here on ao3!
and please don't forget to leave a comment, on this and any fic you read to completion—comments make authors write more, and i personally love leaving them because i know i made someone's day! comments and kudos keep fandom alive :)
#sidgeno#sidgeno fic recs#hockey rpf#hockey fic recs#@thehoyden#per y'alls feedback i'm going to try to publish a new rec every friday#but i'm in the middle of a move and things are a little discombobulated rn#keep your fingers crossed that i get settled in quickly and can get back on track!#also using this to promote positive vibes because yeesh lol
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post-concert highs - Gem and the Scotts Fanfic
Rating: Gen
Relationship: Gen
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Status: Completed Oneshot
Word Count: 1,436
Summary: Gem and the Scotts recently finished performing at a concert. They are just vibing as friends after it. That's it. That's the fic.
Full fanfic underneath the cut! Please reblog, leave kudos on the AO3 fic slash notes/likes here on Tumblr, comment either place, and etc if you enjoy the story :D
Sweat dripped off Gem’s face, down her arms, and soaked her clothing. Working under the heat of the spotlights for an hour and a half would do that to anyone. She was sure she smelled and that her clothes would need to be run through the washing machine twice but these shows always felt so exhilarating that she couldn’t dwell on the discomfort for long.
“Woo!” Impulse enthusiastically threw his hands up in the air once they entered the room. They had recently finished performing and talking to fans at a meet and greet. “Fantastic job, everyone! That was great!”
“I’ll never get over this high.” Scott looked exhausted but the grin on his face was wide. He bent over to grab a few water bottles from the flat for himself and his bandmates. When he turned back to them, he called out, “Hey, catch!” The first bottle was tossed to Impulse, who caught it with ease. Gem was thrown the next one. She had to reach a bit to be able to catch it before it hit something other than her hands but she did manage it. Scott and Impulse both cheered for her.
“It’s so cool that they love our music.” Gem felt pride build in her chest. They had released their first album “Cherry Blossoms” and they were overwhelmed with love and support. Gem wasn’t sure how so many people discovered their little band from the middle of nowhere online but she was not going to complain. Impulse had always been the one to handle their @gemandthescotts social media accounts and then the label whom they now work under. He would be the one to know all of the behind-the-scenes work on that front. Maybe she should ask him in-depth about it one day. “I wasn’t sure if we would’ve ever gotten out of my mom’s garage.”
“I knew we would.” Scott leaned forward to grab one of the towels sitting on the coffee table. He used it to help some of the sweat drifting off of him but he made sure not to touch his eye makeup. The blue would mark the white towel easily, seeing how much sweat would combine with it. “We did win our town’s Battle of the Bands three years in a row.”
“We also sucked for a long time though.” Impulse chuckled as he thought back to when they were still learning and finding their sound. “Your mom tried to be polite but I think we are the real reason she soundproofed the garage when we were ten.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Gem snorted at that. “She did always die on the inside when I said Scott was coming over.”
“Which one?” Scott asked, greatly amused at Gem’s words. Her mom had always been great to all three of them and they all loved her but they did like to joke around about being her annoying children. “Impulse Scott or me Scott?” “Both, duh. Mom would live in fear, never knowing which Scott was coming to haunt her doorstep!” Gem put on her best ghostly voice, even adding little ghost “oooo”ing noises at the end.
“She must have been so relieved when we started calling Impulse by a nickname.” Scott shifted his gaze to Impulse, a sly look in his eyes. “That way she could remember that Impulse was the one bad at the drums.” Impulse gasped, returning Scott’s sly expression with a flabbergasted one. “What do you mean? Are you saying I haven’t always been this perfect? I will let you know that my rhythm has been impeccable since I first held a pair of drumsticks.” “I could say I would pay to experience that again but I value being able to hear too much so I will have to graciously decline.” Scott continued to tease his friend, which just made Impulse gasp dramatically again.
Their lighthearted quips went back and forth for several moments. Gem just smiled lazily at them, taking sips of her water as she listened. She was grateful to have her closest friends as her bandmates. “You both are idiots.”
“How am I an idiot when I am supposed to be the smart Scott?” Impulse’s attention turned to her for a moment before shifting to side-eye Scott. “That guy though… hmm…” “Oh, shove off.” Scott tossed the now-empty water bottle at Impulse. It managed to hit his knee but it didn’t do anything more than make a few little crinkly sounds.
“I don’t know why we’re even friends.” Impulse wiped several non-existent tears from his eyes. “You’re so mean to me.”
“You love me.” Scott blew him a kiss in response. Impulse grabbed the blown kiss from the air and placed it on his cheek. “Hey, where is my kiss?” Gem scrunched her nose at them, a false hurt written all over her face. “Last I heard, it’s ‘Gem and the Scotts’, not ‘Dumb and Dumber’! Don’t I deserve some love too?”
Impulse and Scott shared brief eye contact, mischief radiating off of them now. Oh no. What did she manage to spur both of them on about at the same time? Did all guys named Scott have a telepathic link that she didn’t know about?
Next thing she knew, Scott had plopped down to her right and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Impulse came in on the other side soon after.
“Hey!” Gem squeaked at their sudden attack. “Gross, I can feel your sweat. I said a kiss! I did not say ‘Everyone, jump on Gem!’” “We’re all sweaty already so it’s all good!” Impulse’s yellow face paint smudged against the black side of her shirt. The yellow side would have faded in more but she knew they would get cleaned enough to get the stain out.
“It can be both,” Scott responded at the same time as Impulse. He placed a quick kiss on her cheek and Gem just laughed at both of them.
“Okay, okay! You win!” Gem spread herself out as a way to nudge them off of her. She wasn’t mad at them but she did require to have her space again. “Off now, please. I am already hot enough without you two breathing on me.”
They complied instantly, getting off of both her and the couch she was sitting on. All three of them were laughing to the point it was a struggle to breathe. Their bodies were reacting to their little exchange, the adrenaline from the show, and the exhaustion they all felt weighing on them. Impulse was even doubling over and Scott had his head thrown back as they did so.
“I need to take a shower, change into something soft, and then pass out as soon as I’m under the covers.” Scott yawned loudly, putting his hand over his mouth as if to cover it.
“I need to take a shower and such too.” Impulse agreed with Scott’s plan of action. “Probably before the post-concert energy wears off.”
Gem groaned, leaning her head back against the couch. “I think it’s already worn off for me.”
“This is just an excuse for a sleepover.” Scott slid off his transparent, blue coat before tossing it on the back of the couch. “We will just do the sleeping part a little earlier than usual.”
“Ooo, yes!” Impulse lit up at Scott’s suggestion. “Gem, would you do us, the Scotts, the honor of having a sleepover in your room?” “You two act like we don’t have sleepovers almost every night.” Gem rolled her eyes affectionately. Everything was an excuse for a sleepover with these two. The question wasn’t if they were going to, because they usually were. It was more of debating if they were going to sleep early or if they were going to do whatever various activities they wanted to before sleeping. “Honestly, you two are so clingy.”
“Maybe,” Scott shrugged a shoulder with a cheeky smile on his face, “but you love us.”
“That’s debatable.” She stretched her arms up with a yawn, joints popping as she did so. Gem breathed out a soft sigh of relief as some of the tension left her. She did feel a little bit better but her body was still sore.
“Hey, you don’t mean that!” Impulse gave her the worst fake pout she had ever seen.
“Mhm, fine. I love you both.” Gem reassured them with a content smile. A happy buzz sent sparkling sensations throughout her body. One of her childhood dreams was becoming her reality and she was doing it with two people she cared deeply for. Nothing could be better than this.
#deity writes#gem and the scotts#secret life#secret life smp#life series#traffic light smp#traffic smp#fanfic#trafficblr#life series gem#life series impulse#life series scott#traffic light series#traffic series#traffic life#life smp#life series smp#band au#trafficfic#secret life scott#secret life gem#secret life impulse#life series fanfic#traffic life fanfic#platonic love
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20 Questions for Writers
EDIT: Now with question 17!
Tagged by @cuephrase (ty bb!!)
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
32 (that are attached to my account).
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
283,405. I very nearly posted 100,000 of them last year, and only noticed when I looked at my stats in January. If I'd known, I would have posted something else to get it over that line!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Right now, just Batman, but in the past I've written for Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, Little Men, Tintin and a handful of other fandoms. I have a Road to Avonlea fic tentatively in the works, and might return to any of these fandoms if inspiration strikes.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
All the Corners That Are Left is an outlier in my stats because it has more than three times as many kudos as the runner-up. It's an exchange fic that was my first foray into posting Batfam fics, and I liked writing it so much that it actually sparked a loose series of Post-Crisis oneshots, currently called Corners.
Family Crisis is my beloved canon divergence AU of War Games. It's the first fic I started writing for Batman, and I'm so happy that people are reading it. It's very comics-oriented, but still easy to follow without having touched a comic (imo).
Harry Potter and the Time-Turner is the first multichapter fic I ever wrote and completed, back when I was in my early teens. I won't reread it, lest I die of cringe, but I'm bemusedly grateful that it still gets hits and kudos.
Home Assignment is a Dick whump fic I drafted quite a while ago, and finally had an opportunity to finish and publish when I signed up for a Dick Grayson event. I had fun playing around with unreliable narration in this one!
In Retrospect is a HP fic that was written for a challenge where I was given five prompts and a week to produce five one-shots. I chose to make mine interconnected missing scenes set during and after Deathly Hallows, and particularly like how Painfully Abnormal turned out.
5. Do you respond to comments?
Yes! It's a habit that's carried over from my fanfiction.net days, and I receive a manageable amount of comments, so I try to respond to every one. (The only reason I might not is when someone leaves a string of comments that are all very brief. In that instance, I tend to reply to the final comment only.) I adore reading and replying to comments! 🫶
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I've always been an angst lover. The Last Enemy, one of my oldest fics, ends with (canonical) apparent character death, and For the Sake of Our Son ends with both main characters (canonically) dying. How fun!
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Other than a shipfic that's now anonymous, I don't know! I tend to go for uplifting or satisfying endings without necessarily aiming for happy ones (although I rarely have unhappy endings). Maybe You Know I Love You? I do also have a handful of Batman ficlets that I recently wrote for a zine, and there's definitely fluff among them.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I think I got some on fanfiction.net back in the day, but the most hate I've received that I can remember is people being salty about a couple of fics I began when I was a teenager and never finished. I'm sorry, but it's been almost a decade! Yes, you can and should resist the urge to tell me that you don't respect authors who abandon fics!
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Nope!
10. Do you write crossovers?
While I've toyed with quite a few crossover ideas over the years, I've only published one, which is a Rise of the Guardians and Peter Pan one-shot called Lost Boy.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
I can't recall any specific instances, but many of my fics have been on the internet for a long time, so they've definitely been scraped for knockoff sites, if nothing else.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes, three times! Harry Potter and the Time-Turner has been translated into French, Shirley Not has been translated into German and At Home, They Call Me Tintin has been translated into Chinese. (Links to these translations are in my fanfic masterlist on Dreamwidth.)
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
No, but I'm open to the idea! I'd have to really know the other author and get over my control freak tendencies, though...
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
I don't ship much (to the point where I have plenty of NOTPs), but I do love TimSteph, and I have soft spots for DickBabs and BatCat (Bruce/Selina) as well. All-time favourite, though? That would have to be Anne and Gilbert from the Anne of Green Gables series.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?
Before the War(drobe). Narnia fandom, I really want to return to you someday, but I have a couple things to do first!
16. What are your writing strengths?
My most positive comments almost always mention characterisation. I also think I write dialogue pretty well. In my mind, well-written dialogue is essential to good characterisation.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Even though I write about characters who are superheroes, I rarely write about them BEING superheroes, because I struggle with action scenes. Also description, but I like to think I've grown better at it.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
I don't like to use non-Latin characters in my fics for readability reasons, and I don't like to include dialogue in another language if I don't know the language. So, when my characters speak a language other than English, I either just use an English translation with a dialogue attribution (e.g. She said in Spanish) or just use the attribution without the dialogue, depending on whether or not the POV character understands the language.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Harry Potter! I wrote for it before I knew what fanfic was. I also joined the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum on fanfiction.net back in the day, which led to my most prolific ficwriting period.
20. Favourite fic you've written?
My favourite fics tend to be my most recent ones, because they're the ones I've spent the most time on and am most proud of. I can never pick one of anything (as you've probably noticed), so my current favourites are:
Family Crisis – longtime labour of love and Bruce character study
All the Corners That Are Left – Dick character study feat. Jason
Flight Mode – Tim character study feat. Bruce
Phew, that was a lot of questions! I think a lot of people have already been tagged 😅
Scrolling through my mutuals and no-pressure tagging @silverwhittlingknife @geevesthevieve @batrachised @freyafrida and @silent-silver-slip and any other fic writers who see this! 🫶
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Thanks muchly for the tag, @kaossbells! That was quite a challenge! I had to think really long and hard about some of these questions. 😮💨🥰😘
20 Questions for Fic Writers
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
A measly 5. Yeeeeaaaah…I really need to post more stories more often! 😅 I’m more of an artist these days.
Luckily, I got infected by the writing bug this year thanks to my involvement in the F1 Big Bang fanfic event, so I hope that number will increase significantly this year. 🙏🏻
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
18,354. Again, hoping for more.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Mainly F1. I’m planning on writing more fandoms I have an interest in such as Merlin, Good Omens, Our Flag Means Death, and The Legend Of Zelda. Maaaaaybe some Depeche Mode in the near future as well… 🤔
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
1) Miracles Happen at the Right Place at the Right Time (F1)
2) As Drunk As A Finnish Brown Bear (F1)
3) Deep Tenebrosity (Merlin)
4) For The Sake Of Nature (F1)
5) My Soul Begs For Your Return (F1)
Yep, that’s all of them! 😅
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Yes! 🥰🥰🥰🥰
For comments in general, oftentimes, I read a fic that’s so god tier that I don’t have any or enough words to express myself. If that happens, I always make sure to leave a comment anyway - descriptive or not - that I hope would make an author’s day. 💖
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Probably Deep Tenebrosity. It’s a bit open-ended and left to interpretation though as it’s an alternative scene of an episode of Merlin I wasn’t satisfied with. I’m definitely thinking of including some more angst for future fics though. It’s my favourite kind of ending compared to happy ones. Not that I hate happy endings. I love them, don’t get me wrong, I just love sad and angsty endings more.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Miracles Happen. It’s definitely the happiest ending I’ve written so far. The rest of my fics have either normal endings or sad ones.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Nope! So far, at least.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
It’s not on AO3 (yet!), but I’m working on sneaking some smut into a few chapters of For The Sake Of Nature. 😏 It’s a long way yet though, so don’t get tooo excited. Shan’t spoil… 🤐
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
I’ve never written a crossover before. However, I’m thinking of writing a Depeche Mode/IAMX crossover fic at some point. It’s still in the planning stages, so nothing concrete yet. I need to finish all my other WIPs I have stacked up in my hard drive first before I get too ahead of myself! 😵💫💫 You know how it is.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know of.
I would really love to pitch an idea to fanfic websites to put a watermark or a copyright filter on your own fanfics, if it’s even possible. Maybe a certificate of authenticity of some kind? I would happily do that to every single one of my fics to prevent dirty thieves from stealing them. Please, make it happen!!!!
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, as far as I��m aware.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
No, but I would really love to someday. 🤩
14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?
If it’s F1 RPF, it’s a toss-up between Simi and Martian. But seeing as we’ve just had Simi day, I’ll go for them. They are just the sweetest pairing. 🥰😘
If it’s any other fandom, that’s a bit harder! I’ll say Blackbonnet from the OFMD fandom for now.
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
For The Sake Of Nature, definitely! It’s a veeeeeeeery slooooooooooooooow process. I’ll get it done eventually! Promise! 😬🙏🏻
16. What are your writing strengths?
I love being adventurous in my vocab when it comes to writing. I’ve read so many books and consumed so many dictionaries when I was very young, so that might have something to do with it. You learn a lot from reading books. From knowing how to structure a sentence, to how dialogue is written and where they’re appropriate to use, to certain language and behavioural ticks from characters, to describing unique locations and objects. It’s very fascinating and they help massively with my writing.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
The only thing I struggle with is not so much about the writing side of things, but it’s all about time management. As in making a plan of posting fanfics on certain dates and times and never getting around to doing it because of my usually packed schedule.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
I’m lucky to have friends on Discord and Tumblr who speak in their native tongues to help me out if I ever get stuck. I don’t trust the internet, so I rely on them for language authenticity.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Merlin!
20. Favourite fic you’ve written?
Urrrrmmm…I don’t really have one! Though having said that, I enjoyed writing dialogue for Kimi in As Drunk As A Finnish Brown Bear! You can write absolutely anything when you’re writing a drunk Finn! Easiest job in the world! 🤣🤣🤣
I tag @miss-malheur, @msmirrorball21, @formulaes5, @hungriestheidi, @wanderingblindly, and anyone who sees this and wants to participate. Please ignore if you’ve already done this or don’t want to do it, that’s completely fine. 😊
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5, 13, and 50 for AO3 Wrapped Ask?
I PROMISE I MEANT TO DO THIS LIKE A WEEK AGO I"M SORRY
5. Your most read fandom this year?
This is a wild, wild game - you don't understand. I have 99 tabs open to AO3 on my phone, and that is not an exaggeration. And those fandoms range from Magnificant Seven (TV series), Slow Horses, Ted Lasso, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek (AOS), Outer Banks....possibly Slow Horses might win by the amount of DIFFERENT works because most of them are one shots and I think I read one author's entire whumptober series in an afternoon....
13. Personal favorite fanfic that I read this year
Ok, this is just going to have to be a multiway tie - A Series of Narrow Escapes (Slow Horses) by @altschmerzes; Bridges (Slow Horses) by juicewiththebits; Not the Plan (Outer Banks - bless her for fixing redoing canon) by @fayedartmouth; and Houndsight (Hudson & Rex) by @itsjustdg; Repeat a Decision by Teeelsie
50. Favorite comment I left or received this year
Ooof. Having not updated diddly squat in months - perhaps all this year? I refuse to check now...I don't have that many to choose from, so pretty much any of them. I DID start making an effort to review the ones I liked though, so there's that. But probably the one I like the most is this one from Crash:
"Love this fic so much!! It's one of my most common re-reads for sure, just the right balance of hurt/comfort, badass-ery, angst, friendship etc. Length is perfect for "finish before bed but don't fall asleep halfway through" for me lol. I love all the characterisation so much, especially the dynamics between the characters. Your pacing is perfect, with the perfect mix of internal thought, action, and dialogue, and everything is so naturally and vividly described too, in a way that makes sense for the characters? Like you describe what katsumoto would have noticed and how he would have thought about it to himself. Thank you for writing and sharing it with us!!! Please take this comment as about 30 kudos by now, with at least 30 re-reads on the way xx" - mostly because of the last sentence, that just like made my whole month when I got it. I love return readers! <3 And honestly, that's more of how I wind up leaving reviews because I have to actually set reminders for myself to do it. Also, because Crash is one of my favorites too - I think I wrote it when I was supposed to be doing homework in like an afternoon?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway...sorry for the delay, and thank you for the asks!
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@mahpotatoequeen thank you for tagging me!
How many works do you have on AO3? only 11, but I make up for it in word count.
What’s your total AO3 word count? 468,908 words (sorry)
How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? Only three fandoms. TMBS (show and books, idk if these count as separate) and wolf 359.
Top five fics by kudos:
So...I'm in some pretty small fandoms and only started writing last year so I don't have a lot of high kudos fics. But this is what I got so far:
S.O.S
The Oldest Siblings
Who You Were Meant To Be / Treat Them With(out) Mercy (tied)
It Should Have Been Us
A Joy To Obey
Honorable mention: The highest Wolf 359 fic I have since I only started writing for that fandom like a week ago (it's a nice fic about Renee and Dominik for anyone interested): For Better or For Worse
Do you respond to comments?
Of course! I love hearing from you guys and discuss my work, fandom theories and ideas.
What’s the fic with the angstiest ending you’ve ever written?
My tmbs followers know the answer to that question. Sorry S.O.S. fans (but also: not sorry at all).
Edit: Also, how did I forget, but my tmbs fic The Boys Who Waited, has a super angsty ending. It's one of my lesser known fics, but I do really like how it comes full circle in the end and you don't realize the implications of what's happening until the fic is over.
As for my Wolf 359 fics, I'd say the one with the angstiest ending is my most recent fic about Jacobi dealing with the loss of Kepler. The fic received positive critical review from the esteemed @sophieswundergarten, but the last chapter does end on a slightly ominous note/cliff hanger. Here it is if you want to check it out: The Legacy of the Artist Formerly Known As Warren Kepler (or An Ode to Whiskey Boy)
Do you write crossovers?
Not really. Some of my fics blend the show and book elements of tmbs, or reference the other, but not to the point of what I'd call a "cross over"
Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?
Not on my fics. I think a few times on my blog, but I don't have time to think about or deal with that. I'm also neurodivergent, so sometimes I have trouble knowing whether people are actually insulting me or doing or saying something "as part of a joke". I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Do you write smut?
Nope, it's not for me.
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
I hope not, and I don't think so. I write for really small fandoms. It would be pretty obvious if someone did.
Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, but @sophieswundergarten recently made a podfic of the first chapter of my fic Who You Were Meant To Be and that made my whole day! 🥰 The link to the podfic is in the chapter notes if you want to listen.
What’s your all-time favorite ship?
I don't do a lot of shipping. I wrote a few things about Renee Minkowski/Dominik Koudelka, but they're married in canon so a lot of that wrote itself. (Works are here if you're interested: For Better or For Worse / The Return of the Blessed)
What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?
All of my SOS sequels. I'm going to try though. We'll see what happens.
What are your writing strengths?
Long fic. I can take an idea and run with it. I'm also good a picking up where I series left things off or when a show gets cancelled and leaves a cliff hanger.
What are your writing weaknesses?
Short fic. I wrote around 7k-8k words for a Wolf 359 fic and someone commented how happy they were that they "finally got a long fic about this". And I was flattered, but like. 7-8k words???? LONG????
...who's gonna tell them?
What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?
I've only done this a few times. I try my best and do as much research as I can. I want it to be accurate though, so if you're a native speaker, and I got something wrong, feel free to (politely) lmk so I can fix it.
What’s your favorite fic you’ve written so far?
For the tmbs fandom S.O.S. since it's what I'm known for, but also Who You Were Meant To Be because I love a good redemption story and I've gonna a lot of really nice feedback on it.
For the Wolf359 fandom, weirdly enough, The Return of the Blessed, which is based on my own unhinged crack theory, but I love writing it.
Tagging: @itsgoghtime @oflightningandstars @myfairkatiecat @mysteriouseggsbenedict @heyitsthatonesmolgay and anyone else who wants to participate!
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Narnia Fic Recs-After the Return
I’m starting a short fic rec series to spread some love for Narnia authors, they aren’t in any sort of order other than the really long ones are on the bottom.
A lot of these stories are on ff.net which I know is a pain of a site to use, however, I sorted through a lot of Narnia fics to find these and I think they deserve some love. I did check if anything was on ao3 and put that link instead if I could find it. Please give these authors some love, kudos, favorites, comments, etc. They’re all great and it’s always fun to find older fics!
If y’all have any fic recs you can send them my way, or if you know if any of these authors are on tumblr let me know. I’ll be releasing more rec lists sorted roughly by era so look out for those under #lillys fic recs
Children Do Grow Up by Francienyc
Rated K+, 3k words
This one is short and sweet, based on the Pevensie’s mom and a friend reflecting on how different the siblings are.
Disarmed by Aebhel
Rated K+, 1k words
The classic outsider POV witnessing Edmund’s unusual sword skills (and Peter’s too).
Seriously by ValkyrieVeela
Rated K, 2k words
Another fic with Peter and Edmund showing off their sword skills to confused peers/teachers.
Homecoming by Crimson White
Rated K, 1.5k words
Outsider POV of Helen Pevensie reconnecting with Edmund right when they get home, very cute.
A Good Day by Masterarcher
Rated K, 4k words
Another fic showing how unique the Pevensies are, this time at a Ren Faire, a bit of showing off with archery and sword fighting, fairly lighthearted.
Slip Ups by Aytheria
Rated K+, 22.5k words
The Pevensies make mistakes where they show their true selves/skills a bit too much and people notice of course. Most of the chapters are focused on a single sibling before combining them. A lot is set at school and it’s great.
once a king or queen of narnia, always a king or queen by drigewithoutmusic (@ink-splotch)
Rated G, 12k words, 7 works
A lot of introspection about the Pevensies after leaving Narnia, largely focused on Susan.
National Service by @burntcopper
Not really rated overall, but I’d say T-M, 63.5k words, 7 works
An interesting series really diving into how people see the Pevensies, specifically in a war context as Peter and Edmund join up with the military. More of a otherworldly vibe to the Pevensies as people don’t understand how a couple of kids can be so brutal, charasmatic, and efficient. Little bit of shipping of Edmund in the last works, but not really the focus. The last major story so far is a crossover with Torchwood which is super fun and really brings Susan and Lucy to the forefront.
Stone Gryphon by @rthstewart
Rated G-T, 604.5k words, 17 works (Don’t let the size freak you out, the stories need to be read mostly in order but each plot wraps up in the individual work)
This one has really fun characterization and world building. It’s set after the Pevensies come back the second time, and while it’s set in England, there are lots of flash backs and descriptions of the Golden Age. The world building is unique in the characterization of talking animals and the focus on how the talking animals are similar to actual animals while still being thinking beings. The siblings are split up, Peter makes friends with the professor’s friends and is preparing for college, while Susan starts helping with the war effort. She keeps Edmund abreast of the war through a Narnian code, similar to how they worked as joint spy masters in Narnia.
Be aware there is some shipping of the Pevensies with OC’s especially as you get further and acknowledgement of them as adults because they were adults in Narnia. I’m not sure if I actually finished it, but I still think about it frequently because of how intriguing the world building is and how interesting it is to see Susan and Edmund helping with a human war. Definitely worth checking out.
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WIP Big Bang 2023 Round Schedule & FAQ!
Schedule
All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.
Sign-ups Begin- April 1st Sign-ups Close- April 21st Check In #1- April 22nd Check In #2- May 15th Snippets Due- June 1st Art Claims Begin- June 17th Check In #3- June 22nd Check In #4- July 6th Rough Drafts Due- July 15th Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd Posting Claims Ends- August 1st Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th Posting Starts- August 8th Posting Ends- October 31st (the last two weeks are reserved for emergency posting)
FAQ
What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!
Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate? No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and sometimes Twitter at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.
How many fics can we sign up for? We absolutely don’t mind multiple sign-ups. I know one year someone submitted 50 fics to finish, and got at least half of them done. We just ask that when you sign up with more than one fic you give each fic a unique user ID (please do not use the same ID for all your fics...it’s important to have different IDs for the check-ins).
Will I get emails about the bang? We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.
However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.
What do you mean by minimum word count to enter? This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter.
Can an outline count towards those first 500 words that are needed at sign up? We have admitted work on an outline before so yes, if your outline is fleshed out enough to cover a 7,500 word+ fic, we’ll allow it.
Are multi-chapter fics allowed? Yes, multi-chapter fics are allowed and even more so encouraged if your fic is lengthy.
What about fics that are already posted on ao3 in part? Do those qualify for the bang? It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here. All we ask is that you not post any public updates to the fic until August 1st (or July 1st with the mod’s okay). We don’t want you to lose kudos and comments so don’t worry about pulling the fic down, just hold off on updates for now.
Is there a minimum word count? 7,500 words for each finished fic, but the sky's the limit, right?
I see that the fic minimum is 7500 words and that published WIPs are acceptable - but what if the WIP I’m considering is already more than 7500 words? Is the expectation to add an additional 7500 to it? No. You can add as much or as little as you need to finish the story, though we do expect at least 1,000 or so new words if your WIP already meets the word count.
What happens if an author finishes the fic they signed up with but it’s less than 7,500 words? The intent was to go over the minimum but once they got into it the story was shorter than they thought and stretching it out would make it less good. Do they have to drop out at that point? By all means, we want your stories to feel as natural as possible, and if it’s under 7,500 words you may have two options:
1 - Drop the fic for the main BB event, post it now, and wait to post it to our AO3 collection in February when we run our International Fanworks Day celebration of finishing fics that are less than 7,500 words when finished. There’s no art for the fic, but bragging rights are posted to the communities for a week.
2 - If there are enough fics that fit that category, we can do a special day of posting the fics, but you’ll have to forgo art for the fic. I, as a mod, would probably pick October 31st for the posting day, as it’s the last day of posting for the bang and I don’t think anyone will mind more than one fic that day. You can post bragging rights to the community and share the fic with everyone.
Is there anything not allowed? As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. RPS/RPF is fine. Incest pairings are fine. Things like that I know have been hinted at in questions asked and as long as you tag for them, we’ll allow it. Also, canon settings with mostly OCs is allowed. We just ask that it be tagged properly with any content warnings you would deem fit and be given the appropriate rating for the level of sex/violence there is in the fic. As of the 2023 round, original work is also allowed; however, we recommend you bring in your own artist or forgo art for an original work.
I have a fic I wrote a few years ago, but only the first couple chapters are posted on AO3 because I was never happy with the rest of it and knew it needed major revision. Is that something I could use for WIP Big Bang? The entire fic has been posted, but only on one platform, and it would be rewritten for AO3 and WIPBB. I think revising a fic for posting would work, as long as you have at least 500 words done, will have 7,500 words at a minimum when it’s done, and are planning to add more to the fic. Simply rewriting what you have would be a gray area, but if you’re going to take stuff out and add new scenes, either in the old scenes place or on your own, you should be fine.
What's the etiquette around OC-centric stories? Ones that are set in a well known fandom and use several characters, but still lean a lot on original characters? Are they discouraged, or fine? Based on my own personal experience making art for a story that had a heavy OC presence, it’s not something we discourage at all, but be forewarned when it comes to the art accompanying your fic your artist may not be able to incorporate the OCs into your art. Not everyone makes art of a hand-drawn or digitally drawn nature, so it helps if you have people for face claims ahead of art submissions, and you and your artist communicate regularly. You can also end up with art not featuring the OCs at all, just the canon characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Your other options are to bring in an artist you trust with your vision of your OC/make your own art (we do allow that, we just need to be told during the check-in before art that you’re bringing in your own artist if you go that route, or that you’re doing your own art…there will not be a need to sign up in the artist’s sign up, however) or to opt-out of art entirely. So there’s plenty of options to call on when it comes time for art. What are 'check-ins’? These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory. Basically a form is posted that you fill out with your user ID (unique for each fic) and a checkbox to let us know you’re still participating, plus a section for any notes for the mods.
How are the check in IDs used? They are solely for the mods organizational purposes. Each ID being for a separate story allows us to keep all the information you submit during check-ins and for snippets in one line on our spreadsheet. You don’t have to share your check in IDs with anyone else if you don’t want to.
How much progress should authors be making between each checkpoint? (Percentage-wise from our estimated total wc, I guess?) Ideally, with each check-in, you should be at least 25% closer to finishing. The end word count only really matters in that the fic needs to be at least 7,500 words when done, so it’s more your progress towards finishing that should be measured, not so much the word count.
What are the snippets requirements? In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.
What are the rough drafts requirements? For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.
What is, and do I need, a beta? A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.
Where can I post my fic/art? Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.
What does posting look like? Do we have to post the whole thing on the day, or can we stretch it out between when posting starts and our date? I’ve had a few longfics get killed by big bangs forcing posting to happen on a given day, and would prefer to avoid that if possible. For most fics, posting to AO3/FF.net/other places will be allowed to start in August and you can stretch it out as many posts as you want as long as the complete fic is up by your posting date (and posting dates go from August 8th to October 16th with two weeks for emergency posting). However, you can send us an ask/e-mail about posting as early as July if you have an extremely long fic/something with a long posting schedule. Mostly what we want is the fic to be completely up on the website of your choice by your posting date, and I know some people don’t want to overwhelm their readers. So we want to work with writers to give them ample time to post the story up to their posting date.
Now, as for posting to the communities, you get to choose which day your link to the story and bragging rights are posted, and as I said, we have a range of dates from August 8th to October 16th with two to three stories posting a day. If for some reason you miss your posting date, you have until October 31st to post to the community, during the two weeks of emergency posting. So hopefully there should be plenty of time to get a longfic up and posted to the website of your choice and our BB.
Will the three snippets per story we have to send in be the ones we want the artist to make art for? Or can it just be random snippets and then later the artist and I can check together to see which scenes would work best for art? So ideally, you and the artist will be communicating once you’re each sent each other’s contact information, and you’ll give your artist a chance to read all that you’ve written at that point. That’s what happens in most cases. If your fic gets picked by an artist and they don’t work with you, then the snippets you sent will be what the artwork will be based on. It’s a good idea to know that, while most of the time the artists work closely with the authors, there are a few exceptions to that.
How do I know when to post? Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be three fics, plus art, posting per day between August 8th and October 31st. The post with date claims will go up on July 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by August 1st.
Posting of chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post) generally starts August 1st, but you can post earlier (as early as July 1st) if you let us know you have a long story. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post your bragging rights to the communities on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked or you can email us your bragging rights and we can post by proxy for you. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.
What am I posting to the Dreamwidth/Tumblr community if I’m posting the fic elsewhere? You’ll be posting what we call bragging rights. It’s a small form you fill out and post to the community with a link to your fic (we’ll enable moderated posting to the Tumblr and Dreamwidth communities for members on August 8th). We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.
Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art? There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!
What are 'art claims'? The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. Artists sign-ups and art claims are the same thing; we use one form for both things, and that way the authors don’t have to sign up for an event they may not end up participating in. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with, and on and on until all stories are claimed for art.
If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.
What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist? Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!
If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.
Can I get an extension? Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by June 13th.
Can I swap out a fic if my muse abandons it again? When you sign up, you give us the information on the potential fic(s) you want to write. If, say, one fic isn’t working but one you didn’t sign up for is, you can switch them out while letting the mods know if you need to change a user ID you used. It is absolutely okay to switch fics all the way up until snippets are due. By then, we hope you’ll have however many fics you plan on doing to at least 80% completion since rough drafts are due not much later. Just drop an email to the mods at [email protected] with the new information (title, fandom, etc) and if you want a new sign in ID or plan to use the same one for the fic you’re replacing it with.
Can I drop out? We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by July 13th (if at all possible).
Is it possible to be banned? We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.
Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.
Are we allowed to participate without joining the Discord? Absolutely! The Discord server is optional, as just another way to interact with your fellow writers and get updates on important dates. It’s not mandatory you join, however.
I was just wondering if there’s any way to enter the bang anonymously? Like would it be okay to put our work in an anonymous collection on ao3 or something? Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way for that to work. The collection that we use is moderated but it’s not anonymous, and there are the bragging posts that you post on your posting day, which you would have your username on whichever platform you use.
I was just wondering whether I'm sworn to secrecy on which fics I'll be finishing up, or if I can shout it out to the world? No one is sworn to secrecy once they’ve signed up (aside from posting new parts to fic that’s already up somewhere…we ask that you refrain from doing that until at least July 1st)! We will be running Word Wars, where you can add more to a fic in a certain amount of time, and Whine Bars, where you can complain or ask for help or whatever else you feel like talking about when it comes to struggling with a fic, all after sign-ups end on a weekly basis, plus there’s the Discord server for chatting with your fellow authors and artists.
I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here. If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, [email protected].
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20 Questions For Fic Writers
thank you @garglyswoof and @stars-and-darkness for tagging me!
How many works do you have on ao3?
12, though 2 of those are moodboards so don't really count.
2. What's your total ao3 word count?
553,036. Huh. Lower than I expected. No doubt that will shoot up when the tbbw rewrite is done [fake laughter, hiding real pain]
3. What fandoms do you write for?
TVD, TO a.k.a Klaroline
4. Top five fics by kudos:
The Big Bad Wolf, Into Eternity, The Little Wolf, The Red Wedding and Falling For You.
5. Do you respond to comments?
Yes! I try to respond to every one as I love talking with readers. I figure if someone spends time to write a comment, I'll return the favour and reply. In fact when I'm updating fics regularly, if my reply to your comment turns up in your inbox it's often a pre-warning that a new chapter is about to drop, as I read over comments I've missed before updating.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Does Damon murder count? [I don't really do angsty endings, I need my happily ever after]
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Probably Into Eternity. It's really sappy and makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. What can I say - I'm a romantic at heart.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Yes, kinda. Is it hate if it's just wild interpretations of the characters or plot? Some people leave comments that just make you blink repeatedly and think...are they reading the same fic I'm writing? I remember one time someone left a comment calling Caroline a pushover (honestly had some kind of vendetta against her showing ANY kind of emotion like okaaaaay mate) even though in that very same chapter...she literally kicked Klaus is the balls. Man, that was a weird day.
9. Do you write smut?
No. Not yet. In the future? There may or may not be scenes planned. 😏 I'm picky with smut, I need feelings and the eMoTiOnS, I need to be INVESTED. Porn with plot, rather than just smut for smut's sake.
10. Craziest crossover:
Haven't written a crossover - unless intending to drop Dracula into tbbw at some point coints. There's some great ones in the fandom though, just not really my thing.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I'm aware of [narrows eyes]
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No! But I'd be flattered if one ever was, as long as its translated on ao3 and given credit to me.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
No, I haven't. I might be open to it though, if it was a round-robin kind of thing where the writers take in turns to write the scenes.
14. All time favorite ship?
KLAROLINE!!! NOW LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!
15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
I really want to finish Divided We Fall, Falling For You and Songs of the Sea. I wouldn't say I doubt I'll ever finish them, just that I doubt I'll finish them while I'm still writing the tbbw series. Too much of the klaroline brain rot is invested in that fic alone.
16. What are your writing strengths?
I've been told it's shifting between moods? So I can give readers whiplash in the emotions department - one minute you're crying, the next you're laughing. I like to think my strength is dialogue though. Even the way I write is focused around it.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Historical accuracy. I'll fall down a rabbit hole researching stuff like any writer, but the researching is more out of obligation and crippling writer guilt rather than actual enjoyment. Which is why I often take creative licence and go fuck it, history has its own au now bitches (sorry ella).
18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?
If its little words here and there - even a sentence or two - yes. Full conversations though unless you're fluent yourself are not fun to sift through.
19. First fandom you wrote in?
Star Wars? I want to say Star Wars. Idk those fanfics are over on my ffnet account which I will not be going back to anytime soon. I dare not go where the light doesn't touch, Mufasa speaks wisely.
20. Favorite fic you've written?
It used to be The Red Wedding but I actually love The Little Wolf more now. That one's a true labour of love, fueled on rage and spite, curtesy of Julie Plec.
I will tag @galvanizedfriend @kirythestitchwitch @marxandangels @bellemorte180 @impossiblekryptonitecolor @the-road-betwixt @purplesigebert @that-sarcastic-optimist
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Fictober Day 1: Brother (Let Me Be Your Shelter)
@fictober-event
Read on Ao3
Chuuya gets an unexpected visit from Paul Verlaine — the man who insists on calling himself his older brother — a day after he pulls off a difficult mission. They talk.
Prompt number: 1. "that was good work"
Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs
Rating: T
Warnings/Tags: Nakahara Chuuya & Paul Verlaine (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Paul Verlaine (Bungou Stray Dogs), Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Bonding, Family Bonding, Sibling Bonding, Brotherly Bonding, Awkward Conversations, Nakahara Chuuya & Paul Verlaine Are Siblings (Bungou Stray Dogs), Older Sibling Paul Verlaine (Bungou Stray Dogs), Good Sibling Paul Verlaine (Bungou Stray Dogs), Alternate Universe — Canon Divergence
Notes:
song in the title is "Brother" by NEEDTOBREATHE & Gavin DeGraw
october is gonna be a busy month for me but i'm gonna try getting as much done creatively as i can so here we are with this! i've also wanted to write for verlaine and chuuya specifically for a while so i'm fulfilling that desire too. i really do love them, especially in my fic 'verses
this fic is set in BSPverse, and happens about two years before safe & sound, so chuuya is about 16 here, and verlaine is about 30 (he's 22 when chuuya is 7, as far as my writing goes). this is also set before the canon-divergent events of what would be stormbringer according to the timeline
also chuuya has heterochromia here, as does verlaine. they both have full heterochromia (one blue one brown eye) but chuuya's brown is speckled with blue and vice versa, whereas verlaine's are a total split with no other colors in either eye.
also also the adoptive father of chuuya who is referred to here is an OC of mine, Sean Thomas Connery, who is loosely based off of James Bond and named after the man who played him the longest (and most famously) irl, Sean Connery. you'll see more of him in some of my other pre-hateful eight fics, and he'll be mentioned quite a bit throughout BSPverse
don't forget to leave a kudos AND a comment! comments fuel me now more than ever <3 reblogs here on tumblr are good too
and yes i am currently dealing with hurricane aftermath given that i live in SC so i do apologize for possibly getting even slower in the days/weeks to come :( but hopefully i'll post enough to keep my fics/me as an author from being forgotten
"That was good work."
Chuuya pauses in the middle of lighting up the cigarette in his hand when he realizes he's not alone. Blue-brown eyes pick up movement in his periphery, so he turns his head fully towards it, his expression as unsurprised as it is unimpressed.
The figure emerging from the darkness to stand at his side is none other than Paul Verlaine. Ever since they met officially a few weeks ago, following the man's return to Japan from a mission he'd been on overseas since before Chuuya was brought into the Port Mafia and subsequent promotion to the position of Executive because of that very mission, he hasn't been able to get away from him for as long as he's at work. Considering this same man was once a government spy, who still holds the title King of Assassins and has no plans to ever relinquish it voluntarily, that isn't a surprise.
Furthermore, the reason why Verlaine keeps hovering around Chuuya like some kind of homicidal mother bird isn't a surprise nor a mystery to him either. He isn't at all baffled by it, nor does he not understand why like some of the people he knows assume, either.
Chuuya finally settles on responding to Verlaine's statement with a quiet huff, finishes lighting the cigarette he'd nearly forgotten about, then mutters, "I think you're trying too hard to be nice to me."
Verlaine squints a little, an emotion caught between concern and confusion evident in his expression. "You misunderstand my intentions. I want to be good to you."
He frowns. It's not an angry frown, but rather one more familiar to the kind Chuuya's adoptive father might've made if he had been the one to catch him smoking instead of Verlaine. "I do suppose I could still be trying too hard to do that, and as such, I won't argue it."
The frown that twists Chuuya's face is irritated, as his voice when he hisses out, "Okay, and? What's the difference? Is there really a difference?"
"Being nice and being good to someone can indeed go hand in hand, but much like kindness and niceness, the two can also be done separately. In my eyes, being good to you, in this case, means praising your accomplishments as I see fit."
Chuuya growls at him, a sound coming from low in his throat, soft and half-hearted. "I don't need praise for doin' my job and acting on orders from the Don. You might as well praise me for breathing, if you're gonna do that."
"Would you like me to?"
The earnest look on Verlaine's face and tone of his immediate response catches Chuuya off-guard for half a second, and his response comes out bewildered despite his best attempts otherwise.
"It wasn't a request. I was tryin' to point out how ridiculous doing that would be."
Verlaine stares sheepishly in response, but says nothing in his defense. For reasons far beyond his understanding, it makes Chuuya feel bad, and he looks away, exhaling smoke from the cigarette.
"... my praise is far from baseless. You did do a good job. Outside of necessity, I do not make it a habit to lie to people. I wouldn't want to lie to my little brother, either."
Chuuya bristles a little. "You're still on about that 'little brother' shit?"
Verlaine's expression remains the same, outside of a deep sadness appearing in his eyes as he replies: "Regardless of whether or not you truly were a clone made from code in a laboratory as I was, or whether you are the child of a veteran who was stolen from a seaside village… the fact remains that both of us exist as we are right now for the same reason, as a result of the same desire, shared by scientists motivated by Ability research done on behalf of their wartime governments."
"And you think that's enough to make us family?"
"Last I checked, there was no need for two people to be close in any way for an adoption to take place."
The smile on Verlaine's face is longing as he continues. "Sean only knew you for a few hours before deciding to adopt you, did he not? I knew I wanted to adopt you the moment I laid eyes on you, as well." He pauses, hesitating, then says, quieter now, "Deciding to let you go after that, rather than hold onto you, was being kind to you, rather than good. It was that very action you told me made me a bastard in your eyes when we first met."
Chuuya rolls his shoulders. "I call lotsa' people that."
"You were angry, then. I could tell. It was well within your rights to be, too."
They both lapse into silence. Chuuya shuffles his feet, while Verlaine remains still. There's a distance between them of about three feet, and despite his clear desire to come closer, it's Verlaine who seems to be staunchly maintaining the distance, shifting away an equal amount whenever Chuuya unintentionally leans closer with his side-to-side motions when he shifts his weight and other unconscious little movements.
"Look, it's not you. Only Da praises me like that. He's the only person who ever has. It's weird to hear someone else do it."
"Perhaps it will become less 'weird' with time, then. Assuming time is something you are willing to give me."
Chuuya's breath hitches.
Verlaine continues, "As it stands… if I truly wanted to be kind to you, I would stop trying to stay close to you. I have never had any success in maintaining connections, friendships, or relationships of any kind outside of my beloved Arthur, and that is most certainly no coincidence. A being created on the whims of another such as myself, who cannot truly call himself a human, isn't meant to have friends, or family. Even Arthur was once nearly taken from me. I fear the same may happen to you, as well, someday."
"Don't."
Verlaine fixes Chuuya with a curious stare right as the boy looks up to meet it, a challenge burning in his eyes as he speaks.
"We're both members of the same organization, aren't we? If I'm good enough to earn your praise, you should know by now that I'm not gonna give up without a fight the second some fucker decides to make me a target. Besides, any fate that befalls me in the end? Is gonna be of my own doing. The only person who gets to decide when and how I die is me, and I don't mean that like how that bastard Dazai means it at all, either."
Now, it's Verlaine's turn to let out a short huff of disdain. "I would never assume you to be in alignment with that so-called partner of yours as it is. That would be insulting."
For the first time since they've spoken, Chuuya laughs, a real laugh, a bright smile stretching his face as he crushes the butt of his cigarette under his boot. "Y'know what? Maybe you and I really are brothers, after all!"
As he says that, Chuuya closes the distance between them so he can throw an arm around Verlaine's shoulders, like Albatross sometimes does to him and the other Flags, that earns him an elbow to the ribs on a bad day and an affectionate eye roll on a good day whenever he chooses Chuuya as his victim for roughhousing, and—
For the first time he can remember, Paul Verlaine thinks he just might have what it takes to truly be worthy of becoming a person, a human, of his own right.
#bsd#bungo stray dogs#bungou stray dogs#fictober24#bsd au#bsd chuuya#bsd verlaine#my fic#my writing#cio.txt#cio.org
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