#wn chess au

[daisychainsandbowties]

Chapters: 3/6 [20k] Rating: E

chess rivals au

/// excerpt

“What you mean you watched me play?”

“I-” Beatrice frowns and, for a moment, looks practically stricken as she stares down at Ava. “You… didn’t notice me standing there? It was your second game.”

Ava remembers that one. The cute girl wearing a black hoodie who met her with a handshake as she wobbled over to the table, feeling a little dizzy after watching Beatrice talking with the tall girl, Lilith, over in the far corner of the room. They stood strangely together, like two magnets who couldn’t decide on their polarisation. Ten minutes later Ava still hadn’t figured out why the sight of them just talking had made her so unsteady.

It was the way Beatrice stood, Ava thought, as she squared up to Lilith – they were just talking, but you couldn’t describe it any other way while looking at them. It was combative but not violent. It was strange.

Beatrice, standing ramrod straight and aggressive while Lilith lounged deliberately in her shorter shadow. Next to her, Ava had listened to Shannon’s breath whistle between her teeth as she leaned closer to Mary to say, “I know this is like… a bad thought, but I really hope they fight again. It’s so funny.”

“They won’t. Lilith owes me 50 bucks if she starts shit.”

“What about Beatrice?”

“She-?” Mary paused, chewing on her bottom lip, and then grimaced - with volume, somehow. “Okay, Shit. I’m going to go interpose myself. Don’t eat any of the pieces while I’m gone.”

Shannon rocked back on her heels, apparently pleased with herself. “No promises.”

That had been on Ava’s mind as she sat down, realising almost absently that she was playing black this time and trying to ignore the sheen of sweat that stuck inside her palm as it came away from the girl’s outstretched hand. Thinking, as she straightened one of her knights so it faced forward, that Beatrice’s palm would probably be warm but dry. Wondering if Lilith knew that for certain.

Her opponent played e4, pushing her pawn out. It made her feel like a dick but Ava really couldn’t concentrate, stuck wondering absently if at the end of the day they cleaned all the finger-marks off the polished pieces. Ava launched into the French Defence, not sure why she was doing it but confident enough to let her hands do what they wanted. She allowed her pawn structure to shatter because it got her bishops out into play. She checked a knight up high, trying to lure the queen into play.

It took her almost ten minutes – well into the middlegame – to realise why she’d chosen the French out of all possible replies to e4.

Beatrice. Sitting at her table up past the wooden dividers while Ava stood watching Shannon eat an oreo and spray crumbs all over Lilith’s shirt. She’d played the French with the not-quite-Tarrasch variation. The thought almost made Ava fumble a piece, taking a second as her fingers hovered over her knight.

She’d spent the rest of the game in denial, pushing aggressively across the board, tapping the clock a little bit cruelly as she took all of fifteen seconds to evaluate each move before making it. Her opponent shifted her feet under the table, hands rubbing at the edge as she took in the scattered positions on the board – a tangled middlegame of sharp lines and ruthless forks, of Ava blithely exchanging her knight for a pawn and then pulling the queen out right where she wanted it to be.

It was no wonder, then, that in the haze of it all she hadn’t noticed Beatrice.

Ava swallows, ducks her head. “That…” She searches for the right words as Beatrice, in turn, tries to recover. It doesn’t make Ava feel anything at all.

The idea that Beatrice thought Ava must have noticed her watching. It was something – that admission - coming from a girl who seems to shy from even the briefest brush of a spotlight.

“That wasn’t the most elegant game I’ve ever played,” Ava says finally, weakly.

Beatrice tilts her head. She looks even more like an owl than usual in pose; her brows knitting together, elbows pulled in against the dip of her waist, her ribs. It’s hard to describe her, really, except in abstracts, in terms of odd things, odd ducks. Owls.

“I think you might have made that girl cry,” Beatrice muses, at length. “But then, she really just gave away her queen like that, didn’t she? It was an obvious enough play. Burn variation with a little aggression thrown in toward the end.”

Again, that same firelit glow in Beatrice’s eyes - the one Ava saw when she talked about burning cities. That, and Ava’s almost automatic use of a variation on the French Defence called burn, which has nothing to do with Volohai or the strategy itself, and yet.

Odd duck, odd duck, odd duck. If Ava gets this girl’s number, she’s going to use that for a nickname, maybe with a few fire emojis and some dark blue hearts.

Putting her arm back up on the chair-back, Ava grabs one crutch, positions it just so, and launches herself up. Beatrice, ridiculously, takes a quick step forward as though Ava might need catching. She braces herself on the table, keeping her fist closed around her conquered king.

“It’s good, I’m good. Sorry.” Ava is breathless, waiting for gravity to remember her. “I have to do that fast or it doesn’t work at all.”

Beatrice only looks at her, one hand still half-outstretched. It’s nice, actually, Ava thinks, as Beatrice lowers it a little sheepishly – how she lets her loss for words sit like that instead of filling up the silence with something else. “And I’m sorry I didn’t notice you watching me play.”

cont on Ao3

[wangxianficfinder]

Sports AU Compilation

~*~

Magical/Cultivational Sports

and so my heart beats wildly by lily_winterwood (E, 106k, WangXian, Modern Era, Athletes, Miscommunication, frenemies to lovers, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Oblivious WWX, Competitive Cultivation, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Olympics, Inappropriate use of an Olympic gold medal, Switching, Bottom LWJ, night-hunting as international Olympic sport, complete with in-story fandom drama; Sect territories as nations; and so my heart beats wildly [PODFIC] by Opalsong)

Rivals AU Bonuses by lily_winterwood (Not rated, 20k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, modern w/ magic, social media, multimedia, world building)

I feel like I win when I lose by so_shhy (T, 25k, WangXian, Modern AU, Sports, basically written as the ATP tennis finals, but with extra swords, Getting Together, [Podfic] I feel like I win when I lose by sisi_rambles)

Speeding up my Heartbeat by Plonk (Not Rated, 24k, WangXian, Modern AU, Basketball, They play basketball but WWX's into cultivation parkour)

(more than) friendly competition by Deisderium (E, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Competitive Cultivation, Athlete LWJ, Athlete WWX, Cold Springs, First Kiss, Vaginal Fingering, Cunnilingus, Love Confessions, Friends to Lovers, a thin veneer of plot, Cisswap)

archer by antebunny (G, 7k, JC & WWX, Modern AU, Modern Cultivators AU, Olympic Sports AU, JC centric, good mom YZY, good bro wwx, No character bashing, only character uplifting, Tournaments, very loosely inspired by the Hunger Games)

in the after hours by surething (T, 19k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Swords, surprisingly no sword-related euphemisms, sword-racing, Getting Together, Injury, Sports AU, Concussions, yunmeng sibs)

Regular Sports

clouds in the whites of our eyes by butchgoth (GremlinGirl) (M, 27k, WangXian, Modern AU, Sports AU, Soccer players AU, Angst and fluff, Hurt/comfort, Head injury, Memory loss, Amnesia, chronic health issues, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Misunderstandings, Single Dad WWX, Partially Comic In Tone, Surgery Mention)

🧡Baby, You're the End of June by panicking (T, 24k, WangXian, Recreational Soccer, Modern AU, Single parent WWX, Fluff, Slow Burn, Mutual pining)

🧡Never Have To Ask by literaryoblivion (T, 14k, WangXian, Hockey AU, Modern AU, Kid Fic, Fluff and Angst, Single Parent WWX, NHL Player LWJ, Past Minor Character Death, Pining, Friends to Lovers, Reunions)

Trebuchet by vesna (mrsronweasley) (E, 61k, WangXian, Modern AU, Chess Players AU, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, rocky reunions, make up for lost time sex, Good Uncle LQR, best boy WN, Oral Sex, Anal Sex Unprotected Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Marry Me Down Here by venagrey (E, 24k, WangXian, Modern AU, Cyclecross, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Major Injury, Caretaking, Friends to Lovers, lawyer!lwj, Athlete!WWX, Anal Fingering, cw that WWX uses an ableist slur at one point in a fit of anger)

For a silver medal by MountainRain898 (E, 140k, WangXian, Modern AU, University AU, Rowing AU, Competitive sports, YL WWX, dragon boat racing, Bullying, Depression, Anxiety, Accidental Child Acquisition, Get Together, some smut at the end, Everybody Lives, Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Found Family)

Don't Let Moments Pass Along by Pip (Moirail) (E, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, PT LWJ, Gymnast WWX, Sports, PWP, Clothed Sex, Mild Painplay, Mild Subspace, Getting Together, Physical Therapy, kind of)

❤️get wild by aroceu (E, 23k, WangXian, Modern AU, Rivals With Benefits, Basketball, Under-negotiated Kink, Dom/sub, College/University, Fist Fights, top LWJ, bottom WWX, Dom LWJ, sub wwx)

Légèreté by perkynurples (T, 65k, wangxian, modern, equestrian au, crack treated seriously, swords = horses, slow burn, friends to lovers, happy ending) modern equestrian AU, so everybody’s got horses instead of spiritual weapons. Beautifully illustrated by sweetlittlevampire (including WWX and Friesian! Chenqing and piyo13sdoodles (including NMJ and Mustang! Baxia.)

varied my velocities by fantasiavii (E, 58k, WangXian, Modern AU, Ballerina LWJ, Football/Soccer player WWX, Enemies to Lovers, Top WWX/Bottom LWJ, Dom WWX, Angst with a happy ending, Internalized homophobia)

Just for the Record by Magnolias-by-the-Window (JustAnotherAbby) (T, 4k, WangXian, Modern AU, Swimming, Getting Together, Mutual Pining, very mild angst, Swim Team)

it takes two by plumorchard (T, 3k, WangXian, Modern AU, Lacrosse, College/University, Fluff, Love Confessions, Angst with a Happy Ending)

what are you defending by betweentheheavesofstorm (T, 43k, WangXian, Modern AU, Sports, ice hockey, Emotionally Repressed, Pining, Minor Violence, Hockey, Injuries, And They Were Teammates, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings)

gold rush by starglace (T, 12k, WangXian, Modern AU, POV LWJ, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication, Angst with a Happy Ending, Inspired by Music, lan zhan's ribbon is now a headband, canonical blushing)

this is a port by typefortydeductions (T, 11k, WangXian, Modern AU, Swimming, Fluff, good boy LSZ, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, long-suffering LXC)

Dancing on the blades (we’ll make it happen) by JungleJelly (T, 13k, WangXian, Modern AU, Sports, Ice Skating, Pining NHS as a plot device, JZX is a Good Bro)

love - all by vastlyunknown (M, 18k, WangXian, Modern AU, Tennis AU, Time jumps)

🧡your heartbeat, across the grass by fakeplasticlily (E, 44k, WangXian, Modern AU, Football/Soccer, Football/Soccer player LWJ, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Childhood friends, Kid Fic)

Waiting for Spring by thievinghippo (E, 130k, WangXian, Modern AU, MLB AU, Baseball AU, Mutual Pining, Pining while fucking, slight angst, Happy Ending)

Night rain (dripping down on us) by pink_fluff (E, 20k, WangXian, Modern AU, Bottom LWJ, sports AU, Sweat, Summer, hip hop dance as modern day Lan musical cultivation, jock WWX, Dancer LWJ, LWJ in Dresses, Wangxian Flirting, Roughhousing as Love Language, Demisexual WWX, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, this is basically a sports anime but with sex scenes, Getting Together)

Just stab me, I trust you by zhenwooliao (T, 13k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, competitive Wushu, Adoption, the Jiangs are a much more functional family, Slow Burn, Swords, WWX has ADHD)

The way of the golden lotus by Dizzidreams (M, 70k, WangXian, Modern AU, Kid fic, Wushu, Martial Arts, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, America, JC & WWX coparenting, Instructor LWJ)

we're on each other's team by lemmnpie (T, 14k, WangXian, Modern AU, Exy (All For The Game), Athletes, yearning, with a side-dish of bittersweet memories, Minor Injuries, mentions of physical abuse)

Let the streetlights guide you home by tellthemstories (M, 36k, WangXian, Modern AU, Underground Street Racing, UST, Car Racing, Street Racing, [podfic] Let the Streetlights Guide You Home by jellyfishfire)

A Sprinter and a Distance Runner Walk Into A Bar by haplessmedresident (T, 20k, WangXian, Modern AU, University AU, CSR & WCZ are alive, Size Difference, Stanford University, Running, Meet-Cute, Awkward Flirting, JZX and LWJ Friendship,Hamilton References)

Unstrictly Ballroom by Ariaste (T, 47k, WangXian, background SongXiao, Modern AU, Everyone's alive, the gang defeats systemic heteronormativity, Stripper AU, competitive ballroom dance AU, really stupid misunderstandings, Yearning, Mutual Pining, the wrist grab, Erotic Handholding, [Podfic] Unstrictly Ballroom by RevolutionaryJo, Unstrictly Ballroom [Podfic] by esbielle)

Keep Holding On (Don't Let Go) by Elhana (T, 3k, wangxian, modern, TV shows, Ninja Warrior/X Warrior AU, future fic, JC & WWX reconciliation, future fic, identity porn, angst, getting back together, pining, flashbacks, WIP)

The Martial Arts Instructor Fic You Didn't Know You Needed by bysaurus_rex (M, 393k, wangxian, modern, accurate martial arts, everyone lives au, WWX has ADHD, autistic LWJ, pining, trans WWX, enby WWX, implied/referenced alcohol abuse, PTSD, slow burn, chronic illness, found family, JC & WWX reconciliation, single parent WWX, single parent LWJ, WIP)

ESports

【为梦想而战】for this dream, i'll fight by paradisetrain (M, 27k, WangXian, Modern AU, Gamer AU, League of Legends, Gaming Jargon, Social Media, Internet Hate, cancel culture, Hacking, Cheating, Internet Scandal, Bad Parenting, Parent Death, Family Issues, Family Feels, Healing, Falling In Love)

Olympics AU

🧡ALLEZ! Climb on! by yesterdaychild (T, 16k, WangXian, Sports, Climbing, Olympic climbing, Sports injury, slow burn, Social media)

Dance Me to the End by venagrey (E, 35k, WangXian, Modern AU, 2021-2022 Figure Skating Season, No Pandemic, teammates to friends to lovers, Eventual Smut, mixed signals: on ice, Oblivious WWX, Bisexual WWX, mortifying ordeal of being known, slightly nonlinear timeline, Unreliable Narrator, gratuitous descriptions of skating, first time nudes, Accidental Phone Sex, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, inappropriate use of medals, Rimming Winter Olympics)

Break the Ice by dedougal (E, 9k, WangXian, Modern AU, Olympics, Ice skating)

You're Home, I'm Home by Pip (Moirail) (E, 8k, WangXian, Modern AU, Ice Skating, Olympics, Falling In Love, Anal Sex, Rimming, Unsafe Sex, Creampie, Ice skater LWJ, Hockey player WWX)

An Olympian's Guide to Chastity and Cardboard Beds by ishaalajusco (T, 22k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Humor, Fluff, Crack, Angst, Olympics, Tokyo Olympics, Archer LWJ, Swimmer JC, Gymnast NHS, WWX works as an announcer and reporter, Family Reunions, Anxiety, mental health, Healing, Friendship, making amends, protective Jiang siblings, Gremlin JL, Past Child Abuse, Breaking Generational Cycles, Gentle Parenting, Childhood Trauma)

riposte by Deinde (G, 14k, WangXian, Modern AU, Sports, Fencing, Getting Together, Cloud Recesses, Study Arc)

star-crossed, across the ice by paradisetrain (G, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, figure skating AU, POV Outsider, partially rivals au, friendly rivals, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Relationship Reveal, Winter Olympics, News Media)

reach for the dream (it’s yours for the taking) by Alaceron (M, 11k, WangXian, Modern AU, Olympics, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Unreliable Narrator WWX)

Let It Snow Series by feenwitch (E, 26k, WangXian, Modern AU, Snowboarding, Getting Together, Huddling For Warmth, Cabin Fic, Enemies to Lovers, sorta, Barebacking, Switching, Switch WangXian, Olympians WangXian)

stop the world (for a moment) by azurewaxwing (G, 14k, WangXian, Modern AU, ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Sports Sports commentary)

[daisychainsandbowties]

love how ava in chess au is like ‘ye i know about chess but also. a lot about dolphins’ and shannon is just there with her smoothie like ‘that sounds normal to me but only because i know beatrice.’

[daisychainsandbowties]

god i LOVE when fic writers choose to include bea's growth and especially her growth in self-love and self-acceptance and by proxy, learning to live for herself, and i especially love when ava is a part of that journey... so all things considered, your chess au fic will destroy me, and i'm looking forward to it!

😭😭 i too am a sucker for Beatrice falling in love with Ava and, in doing so, falling in love with herself. and all because of the way Ava looks at her, touches her, sees her in a way no one else ever has, with the sort of genuine wonder you only get when you’ve come out into the light from a very dark place.

i love these characters a lot & it always feels important to do them justice individually. the fics that really work for me are the ones that make me fall in love with Ava and Bea all over again, fics that love the characters and paint them so beautifully that the romance unfolds naturally, all over again, in every universe.

[daisychainsandbowties]

will you expand on the "it was messy a few years back" and "she's still working things out" of bea in chess au? like, how much will you expand on bea (and ava's) past; how angsty will it be?

one thing about me is i LOVE to expand on character backstories. everything i’ve hinted at so far is based on a (surprisingly) clear plan i have for the emotional arc of chess au. i’ll definitely be expanding on bea’s past (and will of course continue to explore ava’s).

i don’t see things becoming incredibly angsty, but i will say that bea’s story in this fic is about learning to fight (and to live) for herself. how angsty that feels will probably depend on how much you relate to the feeling of living your life for other people and (finally, finally) learning to live it for yourself.

and i think it’s quite fitting that ava will be the one to show beatrice how to do that 🥰

[daisychainsandbowties]

Since you’ll never write it, could you tell us what prodigy/rivals chess au’s all about 🥺🥺👀👀 ? No pressure if you’d prefer not, ofc, it’s just that !!!!6;$&:111!!!! (Device was force powered off as a safety measure in view of imminent overheating) — and i’m not even a chess nerd

okay so i did actually lie about not writing chess rivals au 🫠 so i won't immediately spill the entire story, but i'm super excited to share it ^_^

[daisychainsandbowties]

finished chap 1 of alien au and left u a lil comment on ao3. but again, because it cannot be said enough, what an incredible piece of work im obsessed with how ur mind works and I shall watch alien as soon as I can for u <3

this seriously made me tear up. i poured so much love and grief into writing this part of alien au & seeing someone receive it with so much joy makes it feel very worthwhile 🥹💖

especially bea & ava in this chapter have enormous parts of me in them and i always wanted this story to be, yes, about the source material; the eerie quiet of space and a crew of sweaty human beings trying to be stronger than they are scared, but it’s also about how much i love space and science-fiction and also girls and the ordinary things that still happen out there, like cereal and sex and falling asleep on the sofa together. so 🥺💖💖😭 really glad you enjoyed part 1 🥹

[daisychainsandbowties]

9, 17, 22 (fav wn character to write), 38, 42, 50

9. how do you find new fic to read?

i used to actually just browse the tag every day on ao3 but now that i write probably 80% of the time i only have a few authors i read and then i find stuff on here or i’m forever happy to have people send me stuff.

mostly i don’t have to try find fic anymore because i have so many talented mutuals on here i’m constantly being fed 🥰🥰

17. what highly specific au do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

fjdjsjdjdj well earlier this evening it was my 17776 au, especially the way i’m writing it which is riffing off of This Is How You Lose The Time War in terms of style and approach. ava and bea as deep space probes is like… an out-there concept. i definitely thought i would be the only person interested in it.

aside from that… i have another space au based on the “Swarm” episode of Love, Death & Robots (also would kind of like to do one based on “the very pulse of the machine” AND “bad travelling”. the concepts from that series are kiss forever and ever) i feel like that’s pretty solidly niche, but honestly the people in this fandom are so good about weird concepts so,,,

22. who is your fav wn character to write?

ava. hands down. this surprises me sometimes but GOD. she’s so gorgeous to write and i always have the best time writing ava chapters. especially in star wars au and pjo au and chess au and- nevermind. in everything she’s my favourite to write. my first ever fic (oranges are the only fruit) was ava pov. i just adore her.

this might sound weird because i love lilith and bea so much (and i do i do i do) but they’re… like bleeding to write whereas ava is just,,, she’s light

38. did any of your fics get surprisingly popular? which ones? why do you think they are so successful?

i don’t think any of my fics are very popular by most standards. my style isn’t conducive to it but i didn’t think anyone would read chess au, so that was surprising. no idea why i guess chess is just really sexy and makes me weird and insane. and also it’s ava pov.

42. have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for some reason?

YEAH. kei’s first comment on ligaments made me cry intermittently for three days straight. i have it saved as a pdf and as a picture on my phone. i just couldn’t believe someone had understood my intentions so well and been nice to me like,,, am forever and ever grateful for that comment

but any thoughtful comment does stand out to me, or ones where people say “i read this eating cheerios in bed” or “i saved this for friday as a treat” idk there’s something that just… makes me so emotional about how my fic fits into peoples’ lives. it’s why i write at all

50. answer any question you want or talk about something

oh. well today i was reading about Kēlen, a constructed language that sets out to violate one of the universal features or linguistic rules of human languages - namely that all human languages contain verbs.

it’s worth reading about i won’t explain it all here but i thought that was pretty interesting.

oh i can’t help myself here’s the ring verse from lotr in kēlen

the original for reference

[daisychainsandbowties]

i was tagged by @gohandinhand and @thelastwarriornun. ty guys it’s so so brave to tag people 🥺🫡

favourite colour: i love yellow and i mean pikachu yellow mostly because that little guy was my everything growing up. i remember i had a pika plush and my parents still talk about “the tail incident” when his tail fell off and they had to sew it back on in front of me while i cried. i still have him but he’s kind of gross (affectionate)

currently reading: the poetics of space by gaston bachelard as my academic book of the week (it’s making me insane). then for casual reading i’m slurping down Promise of Blood (caspercore i know) by brian mcclellan and also Network Effect by Martha Wells.

last song: little bird by the weepies (wolfwren song of all time, to me)

last series: star wars rebels season 2 (and no i definitely wasn’t absolutely 😭 at the end of it. i’m too brave and strong for that)

last movie: i rewatched alien again recently. i’m not good at movies they’re chores to me. i prefer longform stories (as much as i respect the crafting of one-breath narratives 🫡)

sweet/savoury/spicy: i should say spicy but actually i love sweet things. mostly those sugar-coated marshmallows you get in Aldi but also the sweet you get from monster drinks. that mind-numbingly artificial taste does it for me 😌 i love hot sauces though but usually ones like sriracha that are mostly just sweet anyway. savoury food isn’t my ballpark i hate crisps and and chips and my ancestors are horrified at my indifference to all potatos. most savoury food i have to make sweet or spicy before i care about it. sad sad sad

currently working on: chapter 3 of my wolfwren fic. i know i posted chapter 2 yesterday but i have 5k of the next chapter written already.m 🫠🫠 on account of getting to stay awake forever and ever.

also my wn star wars au!! need to get my brain back into it but it’s the mental equivalent of rolling around in lava (enrichingly) and also feeling the urge to start on the pjo au again. and chess au. aaaand i have too many things i’m working on.

tagging @gowalkyourself @blueskies-keepraining @goldrushgold @brat-the-wurst and @knightsofrayx no pressure and i know this has been bouncing around for a few days so maybe you already did it 🥰