#wow i've forgotten how to tag

[batsplat]

Is Valentino Rossi the best rider in 1vs1 battles?

ehhhhh *shrugs* I mean. the best ever? like. who knows. the best in the field most years he was competing in the sport? maybe, I guess?

this is one of those questions where I don't really like giving definitive answers but am more interested in how you'd even go about assessing it? like, what metrics are you looking at, what are the criteria, can you put numbers to it or do you have to be super holistic about it or what. I think the 1 vs 1 is already an interesting distinctions, because that is a little different from just talking about wheel to wheel skill. they're related skill sets, but it's not the exact same

so. to bring in an example with a sample set of races I imagine most people reading this are pretty familiar with. let's say we're comparing valentino and marc in direct combat with each other. let's say we put the races where they're fighting one-on-one for basically the entire race in one box, so assen 2015 and catalunya 2016. let's say we have races where one of them is working their way through the field - and it's all building towards the confrontation between the two of them, so say a qatar 2013, a qatar 2014, an argentina 2015. let's say you have a very intense fight that doesn't last the whole race, like sepang 2015, or an extended 'duel' that is basically a defensive ride without any actual overtakes, like silverstone 2015. now, you may have noticed that from this list, valentino... kinda wins a lot of these? not qatar 2014, plus sepang 2015 is in the 'this cost both riders too much to have a winner' camp, but except for that? it's a strong record for valentino. however! the moment you take away the '1 vs 1' qualifier, suddenly the record looks way kinder to marc - you have a catalunya 2014, a phillip island 2015 and a phillip island 2017 go in his favour, while only assen 2017 is a multi-rider dogfight that involves both of them where valentino ends up taking the win. I do think when you're considering 'rivalries' and how a particular dynamic develops over time, it's worth looking specifically at what's happening in extended one-on-one combat and differentiating that from dogfights! because it is a different vibe, because it matters if you're just focused on one guy. but of course both categories still matter in assessing direct combat... even if there are also different skills involved in those different types of fights. valentino, even very late in his career, was still particularly adept at challenging and outsmarting individual riders, and it's a specific format he clearly did thrive in. so. yeah. both of these general categories are indicative of w2w ability, even if they're not quite the same - either in terms of the skills required or in terms of narrative implications

here's another issue. valentino tends to win the race-deciding extended confrontations against marc, but obviously that too isn't entirely reflective of what happened when they met each other on-track. this is because during their time together in the premier class, marc was winning a lot more races than valentino and generally had more pace than valentino, so a lot of on-track confrontations that marc came on top of where typically one-and-done type situations. overtake and move on, overtake and move on. so while you still have a misano 2014 (valentino overtakes marc and marc eventually crashes while attempting to keep up) or a brno 2014 (another valentino overtake where he pulls clear), you then also have laguna 2013 (the corkscrew move is the end of that battle), le mans 2014 (a single overtake around halfway through the race after which marc easily pulls clear), indy 2014 (an early tussle that eventually becomes more marc domination), motegi 2016 (similar, except here valentino ends up crashing), thailand 2018 (valentino can't keep up the pace once marc has gotten past)... like, we get to a place where we're risking penalising marc for 'being very fast' and not sticking around once he's gotten the overtake done, which does also feel wrong? it's an odd balance - because, again, when we're talking Actual Rivalries then it does matter who is winning an extended battle, psychologically if nothing else. like if that's the bit that mattered the most to the outcome of your race, if that's the bit people will remember years to come, if you invested a lot into winning that fight, of course it does matter. but that's narrative, not skill... is this really a good way of assessing how good someone is at 1 vs 1 duels?

I picked the example of that specific rivalry not just because it's the one most people are most familiar with or because I love engaging in discourse about that rivalry - but because I think direct rivalry comparisons are probably the most straightforward way you can approach trying to figure out who is 'better'... and marc clocks in just behind casey as the one who has the most balanced record against valentino w2w. like, biaggi is basically a walkover, and honestly you don't really have that many extended 1 vs 1 duels except for welkom 2004. and for sete, obviously a great rivalry (and I've always believed you don't need a rivalry of equals for it to be good and fun), but also once you get past that sachsenring 2003 turning point then the balance does go out of the window. I've been thinking about this in relation to a longer ask I've ended up massively overthinking (surely not), but I was kinda startled looking back at just how one-sided valentino's record is against jorge. like, unless I'm forgetting some major battles, the most extended scrap you can point to that jorge won is for his very first premier class win at estoril 2008 - and that's also pretty much settled by around halfway/two thirds through the race. but the actual 1 vs 1's that last much of the race? catalunya 2009? sachsenring 2009? motegi 2010? well.... hm. races that build to a battle like sepang 2010 also go in valentino's favour, and even extended tussles like le mans 2011 and phillip island 2014 are more valentino W's. hell, even various short and sweet battles like jerez and indy 2008, misano 2009, motegi 2015, aragon 2016, sachsenring 2018 generally have valentino come out on top - though in this category there's some exceptions, like qatar 2008, indy 2009 and jerez 2010 that all involved jorge besting valentino in a short direct fight

which raises another problem... we do need to in some way acknowledge that valentino simply ends up in more of these fights than most of his rivals - and as a direct result ends up winning more of them. like, once jorge clicked into title winning form in 2010, most of his wins became 'shoot off the line and win way ahead of everyone else with metronomic consistency'. I'm not saying all his race wins were like that! and he did win some great duels in his time in the premier class, especially against marc. but of course, he did that kind of dominating races a hell of a lot more than valentino did - whose approach to winning races was more 'qualify wherever, amble off the line, get moving around halfway through the race and figure things out from there'. now, I discussed this point a little bit here in the context of 'was valentino still successfully mind gaming the other aliens' - but just to bring it back, valentino was deliberately approaching his races in ways geared primarily towards being able to fight his opponents, even to the level of how he set up his bike:

you see this most extremely with something like laguna 2008, where valentino flat out knew he didn't have the outright pace to win - his entire strategy was built around not being the fastest but being able to fuck with casey. in that situation, he's not got the speed, he's building his entire strategy for the win around wheel-to-wheel disruption. and this, plus the regularly mediocre qualifying and starts, does just mean that statistically speaking he's overtaking more riders in his average win than any of the other aliens are. like, if that's your primary metric, then yes! he's clearly very good at w2w! by extension he's also very good at 1 vs 1 duels! if you're looking at riders who have clocked in more than a certain number of wins and do the maths of average overtakes per win, then, yes, I would imagine he tops that metric. does that make him the best? ... well, again... it does feel like you're risking penalising the better qualifiers and starters for being better qualifiers and starters and not ending up in seventh place at the end of every single first lap

so, you've got 'how they measure up against their direct rivals' and 'average numbers of overtakes' as ways to begin considering w2w ability as well as 1 vs 1 track record. then you get into increasingly nebulous waters... here's another potential metric for w2w skill I quite like: efficiency in overtaking. not naming any names, but there are certain riders who, when attempting to work their way through the field, will just. get stuck. even though they have a clear pace advantage over the rider directly in front of them. leading to incredible amounts of faffing about rather than just getting the overtake done. obviously, valentino does like to engage in some faffing about too, but generally speaking he's only doing that when he's in close proximity to the race leader and can realistically get himself to the front of the pack fairly quickly. he's very efficient when he's actually working his way through the field. of course, this is something marc is similarly excellent at, as he has shown plenty of times this year... which. well. this is where we run headfirst into another problem: this sport has changed a lot over the years and some things are simply not at the same difficulty level as they were in past years. so, sticking with those two, which of these is a 'better' comeback? 2006 sachsenring, where valentino starts tenth on the grid after tyre problems in qualifying, at a track he doesn't really love and in serious championship trouble, but works his way to the front before having to fend off the chasing pack that is coming back at him all the way until the chequered flag? or 2024 sachsenring, where marc starts thirteenth on the grid after having been impeded in q1, at his speciality circuit that he's visiting for the first time on a new bike, and works his way up to p2 despite his fractured rib and finger in an era where overtaking is a lot harder than it was in 2006? well, first of all, congrats to both of them, very nicely done. but secondly, that's kind of the problem, right? while I'm sure prime valentino in this era would also regularly be doing that marc/pedro thing where they make the commentators go 'oh ho ho they said overtaking was impossible in motogp these days!!' - at the end of the day his approach involved some built-in faffing about that was also more feasible back in the day. if we're assessing w2w ability, we do need to make some kind of allowance for era - which also affects how often riders are likely to find themselves in 1 vs 1 duels in the first place

here's another plausible metric: last lap battles. this is ALSO something that is super era-dependent. casey in his whole time in the premier class gets involved in like? about four battles that are still going on in the final lap? there's definitely a few I'm forgetting, especially if they weren't for wins/podium places, but it's definitely not a lot. compare and contrast with how the 2017 to 2019 era played out. everything back then was tyre management, tyre management and more tyre management, and dovi in particular was big on the 'eh let's win this race at the slowest possible pace' thing, where everyone crawled around the track as slowly as they could get away with before pulling the pin a few laps before the end. obviously, the characteristics of that era were a) very beneficial to dovi, in that they rewarded both those who knew how to make those specific tyres work (and his decline in 2020 was largely linked to the changes in tyres) and those who were very good at managing last lap duels, but b) inherently were more likely to produce last lap duels than a few other eras. like, in the alien era, which regularly featured gaps of. idk. seven seconds between the front runners, the characteristics of those bikes (as well as those riders) just meant you had very few battles that lasted that long. so inherently, it's harder to judge riders like, say, casey on how good they are in that kind of situation, not least because you are working with such a tiny sample size. and those battles are a big feature of how we remember 1 vs 1 duels!! people love last lap duels!!

now, yes, obviously valentino's record in 1 vs 1 last lap duels is very strong, and there's really only a few he loses over the course of his entire career. dovi is another strong contender in that particular category if we're just limiting ourselves to riders this century (which we are). (unfortunately, those two kinda took turns to be competitive so we didn't really get much of a direct h2h, but off the top of my head I think it's a pleasing 2-2? dovi takes qatar 2008 and le mans 2011, valentino takes qatar 2015 and argentina 2019. I feel like I'm definitely forgetting something.) but again, you do end up in caveat central with this metric. look at marc, who was reliably finding himself in last lap duels specifically at tracks he and/or the honda were quite poor at - again, ragging on that record too much does feel like you're penalising him for managing to get there in the first place. on the other hand, is it really fair to take too much credit away from dovi in handling those situations - surely, at the point where you're arriving in the last lap together, you're at a stage where both riders have a decent chance of winning? on the third hand, it is worth pointing out that dovi is more often than not in the lead going into those last laps, and is fending off a sort of on-the-edge last gasp 'might as well have a go' marc attack. 'last lap battles' is inherently quite a loose term, and how much should who's leading going in be considered a criterion? does it matter if you actually have an overtake or not? does it matter when in the lap the overtake happens? it's obviously quite an arbitrary category... sete makes a mistake headed into the last lap at sachsenring 2005 that gives valentino the lead, while marc makes a mistake on the penultimate lap of catalunya 2016 that essentially ends his victory challenge towards valentino. how do you compare those?

and at a certain point, you need to get away from the headline numbers and start thinking about what it actually means to be good at 1 vs 1 duels. you get into categories like 'race management' - choosing when best to make your attack, balancing risk and reward, not making risky overtake attempts for no good reason when you could just wait for half a minute longer, making sure not to needlessly fuck your tyres while pushing too hard too early. there's ability to actually execute overtakes, which is a question of race craft, creativity, and also about being able to play the opponent. there's various defensive abilities - somebody like pecco exemplifies this, who is both very hard to initially overtake in part due to his ability on his brakes, but is also adept at immediately re-overtaking (a favourite trick of his mentor too, as it happens). to borrow from another sport's terminology, you can contrast 'conversion' and 'steal' rate - if you have the superior underlying pace at crucial stages of the race, are you actually converting that into your maximum achievable result, or conversely if you have inferior pace, can you steal a result your pace doesn't 'merit'? obviously, you get a massive blot in the copy book every time you fail to convert any kind of result by crashing out or by bagging yourself a severe penalty for your race conduct. what about the psychological dimension? your ability to put pressure on another rider, e.g. by showing them a wheel here or there, to force them into a mistake rather than 'just overtaking' them via pure skill? is reputation and intimidation part of your skill set when it comes to wheel to wheel ability? the off-track 'work' you're doing on the opponent, and the prior weight of their expectations for this fight... your ability to study and analyse riders to pinpoint where they are at their strongest and weakest, while also figuring out where they're going to expect an attack and where they won't - maybe even sucker them into thinking it will come from somewhere differently than it actually does... on sheer weight of his track record, you'd have to say valentino is pretty much peerless in some of these categories. and, yes, some of these skills are weighted quite clearly towards the '1 vs 1' element over the 'multi-rider dogfight' element of w2w skills. they're more about terrorising a specific rival than thriving in the chaos

so. what does all of this mean. what's the actual answer. is valentino the best at 1 vs 1 duels. well. who knows. even if we're ignoring the historical dimension and limiting ourselves just to this century, there's too many confounding factors - from different racing eras within that time span to different individual approaches to racing - to allow us to truly evaluate who the 'best' is. I think the cleanest way to summarise it is... from the great riders this century, valentino is the one who most depends on his 1 vs 1 skills (and w2w skills more broadly). that's his unique selling point in a way you wouldn't say it is for any of the others... the guy who gets closest is dovi - but I still reckon his biggest skill is his tyre management and that was the most important differentiating factor that made him so competitive in 2017-19. his ability to scrap w2w comes second (and is absolutely a constant throughout his career), but really that's the bit that allows him to take advantage of the tyre whispering skills... it lets him finish the job, if you will. whereas with valentino, his brains and cunning broadly speaking and his w2w more specifically - and especially the 1 vs 1 stuff - is like, his x factor. I mean... obviously he's also good at the other things - I called him a mid qualifier but of course it's worth remembering he has 55 career pole positions in the premier class, more than jorge or casey or dani. this is primarily a function of his longevity and all of them are definitely better qualifiers than him, but like. of course he's not slow. it's just that relatively speaking, when compared to the other aliens, he's the one who is winning the least via his actual raw pace. here's one metric for that: in valentino's seven premier class title campaigns, he only has the highest average grid position in only three (and during his super dominant 2002 season, it's joint with biaggi). in three of those title-winning seasons, he's the second best qualifier on average, and in one of them he's only third best. the only other seasons this century where the best qualifier on average doesn't win the title are 2015 (marc just beats jorge, valentino is quite a distant third), 2020 (joan mir icon winning a title with an average grid position of NINE POINT FIVE SEVEN lmaoooooo, only seventh best on the grid), 2022 (fabio is a little ahead of martin and then pecco) and... that's it

which kinda means that... can you say valentino's objectively better at 1 vs 1 battles than the other aliens? well, no. I mean, sure, I do feel fairly happy to say he's better than jorge and especially dani, more *wiggles hand* about casey and marc - because with those two there's enough confounding factors in comparing them to valentino and they've also challenged valentino often enough directly that you can make the alternative case. in the end you do kinda go... well, it's very much a 'all these guys were at their best in very different versions of motogp' thing. what you can say is that for valentino, 1 vs 1 prowess is a bigger part of his game than it is for his fellow aliens. his route to victory both on an individual race level and on a title fight level is built around engaging in a lot of these fights and winning them - and, given how successful he's been, of course you do have to conclude that bit of his game is clearly operating on a high level. so when you compare that to both casey and marc, those two really do have other bits of their games that are more important to their success. fewer of their race victories percentage-wise have been won through 1 vs 1 duels. casey is dominating enough races from the front he's not even doing all that much w2w tussling. marc might be losing plenty of these close duels, but he's relentlessly at the front enough that this consistency is what's giving him titles as much as anything else. whereas valentino's entire approach is tailored towards finding himself in those kinds of direct scraps, winning said scraps, and then using those scraps as a way to demoralise the opposition... unsurprisingly, he's got the biggest sample size of that style of battle and has a very high success rate. who knows if he's the best, but he is the most dependent on that specific skill. and he sure has had a lot of practise at those duels, which I imagine will have gotten him just a little closer to being perfect

[serenanymph]

Heads Up Seven Up

Tagged by @faytelumos um.*looks at smudged notes* a while ago. Find his post over here. Gently tagging uhhh @space-writes, @macabremoons and @scribbling-stardust, pulling from Beast book 2, Witch's Book:

It’s later in the night – when they’ve brought out the cake and sang ‘Happy Birthday’, and Zephyr has blown out all six candles (one of them larger-sized) – that Madge wanders out of the kitchen where mama and baba are divvying up the cake to track down Zephyr and Kas, who’ve somehow vanished in that short amount of time. The backyard feels quieter than before: peaceful, now, as if all the world is fast asleep. Madge inhales, again, the same way she did earlier with the cake, breathing in the scent of spring – stretching her arms out to the side, her fingertips straining, her head tipping back to look up at the sky. The longer she looks, the more stars seem to appear, spreading out and multiplying, thousands of tiny glittering diamonds spilling across the black. The breath she takes in morphs into a yawn. Murmuring, from up on the roof. She spins towards the ladder leaning against the side of the house, and ah – they must be up there, then.

taglist (lmk if you want to be +/-): @deer-in-headlights-stare, @allianaavelinjackson, @arctic-oceans, @space-writes, @reneesbooks

[delta-piscium]

Steve holds hands for wip Wednesday 💜

thank you so much <3 sorry this is so late, I got stuck on all my writing but it is actually Wednesday today so better timing right (right?)

Steve hums in agreement, "but hey, at least we can keep each other company.” Eddie can’t help himself. He never can but especially not around Steve, he’s like a goddamn siren, or catnip. So he smirks, slants a look at him and in a voice that comes out deeper and raspier than he meant asks, “oh yeah? And what kind of company would that be?” But then, because this is Steve he backtracks, diffuses, “I could tell you about the new campaign I’m planning. I’m thinking no monsters, no fighting. Just a good happy time for everyone.” Steve peers up at him, that frown back between his eyebrows but now there’s also a glint in his eyes. One Eddie has only seen flashes off before, not now though, now it stays. Steve looks at him with interest, with determination. “You keep doing that.”  He looks between Eddie’s eyes, searching and keeping him pinned on the spot.  “You keep saying all these things filled with intent and meaning.” Eddie swallows, can’t look away. “But then nothing happens, you just switch topics, pretend like nothing. Gives me whiplash man” “I- um,” he stammers, tries to find something to say, and finally lands on, “Sorry?” Steve sits up on his elbows, still not breaking eye contact, “I just wonder why you do it?” Because you’re Steve Harrington. Because not only are you hot but so pretty that I don’t actually understand it. Because you’re so fucking kind, so caring, so good, that I can’t help but flirt even though I shouldn’t. Eddie shrugs, “dunno.”

(very late) WIP weekend (or Wednesday)/make me write

[4trackcassette]

well i said i wanted to do my top albums 2022 and that we should have a tag game sooo I'm inventing it myself. this is more the top 5 (ok. 6. Forgive me) albums that i actually listened to rather than my assertion of quality. but. Here goes.

Top 6 Albums*

*in no particular order.

Expert in a Dying Field by the Beths

Review: I've been a bit suprised by how much this album has been cropping up on EOY lists. 45 minutes of good rock music: insightful lyrics, catchy hooks, melancholy, and perfect pop/rock guitar. I feel like I could listen to this anywhere. I wouldn't say this is one of the greatest albums of all time or anything like that, but it's just a good and deeply enjoyable album, and I love it!!

Standout song: "Expert In A Dying Field"

Crash by Charli XCX

Review: Look, I didn't get into Charli XCX until this year. This album propelled Charli to my no1 workout artist. We all know she writes interesting pop bangers, and does great collabs, and manages to pack a lot into just a few words. This album is no different. A rare album that I enjoy listening in order, on shuffle, or just individual songs. Also Charli is REALLY hot in the Hot In It music video which isn't even on this album but I like it anyway. #hotgirlnation

Standout song: "Yuck"

Nymph by Shygirl

Review: This one was brought to me by Tumblr Peer Review. Also an album that I wish was longer but works sooo perfectly the way it is -- no song over 4 minutes and 12 songs clocking in just under 33 min. I feel like listening to thisis scratching an itch in my brain, all the way from the beginning. Again, listen to a lot of this when working out. Great production, and a great journey through so many different interesting sounds throughout the album.

Standout song: "Shlut"

Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain

Review: It's rare I get into an artist based on what they're saying on their music, but I suppose not much about Ethel Cain is standard. I saw her saying things like "You're behind the counter at a diner, taking someone's order, thinking about how your world just ended a couple of hours ago. Life just does not stop" and desscribing her work as overkill American melodrama, and "ridiculous, psychotic, psychedelic." My first response to this album was "this is an epic" -- it must be said that I love a concept album, especially ones based around a complex persona such as Ethel Cain herself. But, as you all know, I was also a Religious Studies major. I like music that reflects back on God in America just as well.

Standout song: "Sun Bleached Flies"

Bonus: I'll share this piece on her from Vogue as well.

MATRIARCHY NOW by Pussy Riot

Review: I've never been a Pussy Riot fan in my life, though I had some sort of vague positivity towards their art-collective punk. I also wouldn't describe myself as much into hyperpop...but, you know. I think like, if you're taking a serious analytical perspective, it's probably like, whatever sexual political pop jam packed with collabs. But I don't CARE because it FUCKS and I LOVE IT!!! And also because ending the album with Big Freedia sells me over any day of the week!!

Standout song: "PRINCESS CHARMING"

A Bit of Previous by Belle and Sebastian

Review: I love Belle and Sebastian. I'm probably most a fan of their first three albums, and have sporadic familiarity with the rest of their discography. That being said, this was probably the album of the summer to me. Like the rest of their work that I love, this is a beautiful album about togetherness and being an adult and a whole bunch of different sounds. Sometimes it's just nice to listen to an album that's nice, and this is one of them.

Standout song: "Prophets on Hold"

Bonus: I enjoyed this interview on the album with Stuart Murdoch on Switched on Pop.

Honorary mentions

Special by Lizzo, MUNA by MUNA, Laurel Hell by Mitski, Palomino by First Aid Kit, I Walked With You A Ways by Plains (Waxahatchee, Jess Williamson), Stay Proud of Me by NoSo, Caroline Shaw: Evergreen by Caroline Shaw and the Attacca Quartet, Bleed Out by The Mountain Goats, Only the Strong Survive by Bruce Springsteen, Dance Fever by Florence and the Machine

Top 5 songs:

"Free" by Florence and the Machine -- my favorite single of the year, easy. also my top song of the year. Every time I hear this, I want to dance with my arms out and my eyes closed.

"The Only Heartbreaker" by Mitski -- I liked both this and "Love Me More," though was vaguely disappointed most of the rest of the album. As you can tell, I love some good synth.

"About Damn Time" by Lizzo -- Never let it be said that I'm completely unaware of pop music!!!!!!!! This song is fun and bouncy and well, I can't help but love Lizzo!!!!!!!

"Out of My Head" by First Aid Kit -- I'm under no qualms about this being one of FAK's best but holy cow does this song click in my head. It's just folky and soaring in the perfect way. Gorgeous harmonies. Also, I like any song with the word "running" in it.

Soul Days (ft. Sam Moore) by Bruce Springsteen -- I love Bruce's old man voice, I love the Sam Moore feature, I love the songs he's covering. This one in particular I think is a tempting languish and just really lovely, easy listening.

I tag....@loiteringdiligently @krysten-knitter @thelittlebirdthatkeptsomanywarm @holdoncallfailed @commontrait @beginnersmind and anyone else who might want to. Of course none of u have to do it to indulge me or write as much as I did... but I always just like to see what people r listening to...

[urfavoritegirlkisser]

"To All of the Girls I've Loved Before" II Hazel Callahan x Reader

“Hazel goes to her favorite diner, ordering her favorite food and a large chocolate milkshake to go with it. It definitely helped to deal with her existential crisis on a full stomach and she eventually calmed her emotions.”

Tags: Cheerleader!Reader who is kinda mean oopsie, girls kissing, fem!reader, no use of y/n, lightly proof read

A/N: Wow, didn't expect y'all to like the first part, again this is based loosely off of the plot of "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" except it's gay and we love it. This is part two, go to the first part if you haven't read it already! Also, don't steal my writing, I only post on Tumblr.

Hazel wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for eternity. She didn’t even wait for the dismissal bell as she grabbed her things and immediately rushed home.

How did the letters even get out? She had made sure to put them all in a small shoe box in the back of her closet…

As soon as she got home, Hazel ran up to her room and searched her closet from top to bottom, but all she found was a now empty shoe box.

“Hazel? Why are you home so early? I thought you had that fight club thing today” Hazel’s mom says as she leans against the door frame in that ridiculously overpriced bathrobe.

Hazel sighed and looked up at her mom, “Yeah…they, uh, canceled today” she says quickly while holding the shoe box and running a hand through her hair in frustration.

Her mother pointed to the box, “I made sure to mail those for you so you didn’t forget, and so they didn’t sit collecting dust.” she says while taking a sip from the drink in her hand

Hazel freezes and looks at her mother, her shock slowly fading into anger, “You were the one who mailed them?”

“I mean it seemed like you had forgotten about them, so I took it upon myself” she says shrugging her shoulders like her decision didn’t cause Hazel to make some of the biggest mistakes in her life.

Hazel throws the shoe box to the floor and rushes out of the house without another word as all of the emotions start flooding her mind and she sits in her car trying to blink back tears. She hits the steering wheel in frustration and then lays her head on it which causes the horn to blare.

“My life is ruined” she groans and then leans back, closing her eyes. She then starts her car and puts it into drive.

She needs to go somewhere and think

Hazel goes to her favorite diner, ordering her favorite food and a large chocolate milkshake to go with it. It definitely helped to deal with her existential crisis on a full stomach and she eventually calmed her emotions.

And then you walked in

You scanned the diner and immediately spotted Hazel, walking over and sitting across from her in the booth. You had your cheerleading uniform on which told Hazel you must have come straight from practice.

“Hey Hazel” you say with a bright smile which Hazel can’t help but return, a small blush coating her cheeks.

“So I just wanted to come over and talk to you about what happened at the track earlier and I also want to offer you a deal” you say with a smug grin, “I need help getting my ex jealous, so I was thinking that maybe we keep up a little charade” you say as Hazel look at you dumbfounded at what you’re saying.

“It’s perfect! I’ll get Josh back for cheating on me, and you’ll finally get noticed by people other than those girls in your little club!” you say, a little condescendingly as you mention the fight club Hazel was apart of.

Hazel decided to try and scrounge up some form of her pride to leave with, “Yeah, look, I just wanted to say that I totally do not have a crush on you, I just needed to make sure another person also didn’t think I had a crush on them” she says confidently, and she isn’t technically lying…more like she was only saying half of the truth, right?

You weren’t going to lie, that made a spike of jealousy shoot through you but were quick to push the feeling down as you looked back to Hazel with a curious expression, “Oh? And who is this mystery person?”

Hazel fiddles with her rings nervously, wondering if she can trust you, “Well…um, her name is PJ but I’m sure you don’t know her-”

“But isn’t she like one of your best friends?” You questioned as you interrupt the brunette.

Hazel rubs the back of her neck anxiously, “I mean yeah, she is, but I never really had a crush on her until that kiss during the game happened and you know things got like super confusing for a while…” Hazel rambles until she slowly looks to see you checking your nails, seemingly uninterested.

“Look…maybe this fake dating arrangement could benefit both of us, you prove to PJ that you are totally not into her and I make my ex jealous, it’s really a win-win situation” you say, trying to push the idea forward again.

Hazel doesn’t know how to respond to this question…could she really date you, kiss you, love you while knowing that you don’t and will likely never feel the same?

She looks up and shakes her head, “I don’t know…this could really crash and burn if we ever get found out” she says softly

“I mean it’s not like we’ll ever tell anyone the truth” You say before sighing, “Just think it over, ok?”

Hazel nods and you flash her a smile before leaving.

“What is my life?” Hazel groans as she lets her head fall to the table in front of her

The next day, you were at cheer practice, running over drills when you heard a voice call your name.

You look to see Hazel walking up to you until she stops right in front of you, tilting your head up a little, you can see a devious grin playing on her lips

“Let’s do this” she whispers to you

You cast a quick glance to your teammates around you and smiled before pulling Hazel into a quick but passionate kiss.

Hazel stumbles back a little after you break away and then looks around at all the people staring, her face starting to turn a vibrant shade of red as she laughs nervously.

“Yep, that’s my girlfriend alright” she says trying to play it cool but ultimately failing as she quickly walks away, “Carry on!” she squeaks out before running away, leaving you giggling softly at how cute Hazel looked when she was flustered.

A/N: Thank you again for reading!! I had no clue that a silly little idea of mine would be enjoyed by so many. Anyways, go drink water you girl kissers.

[like-a-diamondinthesky]

curly fries | s.c.b

-> the first i love you m.list

pairing... bf!changbin x gn!reader tags... fluff, established relationship, beach shenanigans cw... a slightly cringe and unfunny joke that im only a little proud of

you don’t know what he’s about to do, but if the devious glint in his eyes is anything to go by, it’s going to be something loud for sure.

wc... 880 words a/n... thank u xi my love for helping me w this 😽 i've had this prompt in my files for months and i finally got around to writing it, i hope you all enjoy!

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

Seo Changbin is beautiful.

Maybe it’s the way his natural hair curls into bouncy, raven locks. Or how his loose white button-up flows in the wind that blows gently against you, enveloping you in a warm breeze under the golden sun. Perhaps it’s his honey skin glowing as radiantly as the smile he constantly wears on his face when he’s around you—the same smile his bubbly personality urges you to reciprocate. You can’t be sure, really. It’s hard to pinpoint what makes the very incarnation of beauty beautiful.

Changbin’s hearty laugh snaps you out of your daze, his eyes twinkling as he looks at you.

“Baby, if you keep letting your food dangle out of your mouth like that, a seagull is gonna come down and swoop it up.” Teasingly, he points at the curly fry hanging out of your mouth, forgotten from the moment your hand had let go of it and slowly fell during your Changbin-induced trance. “Something on your mind?”

You blink once. Twice. Three times. Shoving the fry in your mouth, you shake your head.

“There’s nothing you’re thinking about?” Changbin probes, tilting his head in disbelief. “The way you’ve been staring at me—for like a whole minute, by the way—like I hung all the stars in the sky says otherwise.”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. Was just thinking about you and how you look so handsome today, I mean you’re always handsome, obviously, and wow, it’s quite hot, no?” You fan yourself with your fingers as heat rushes to your cheeks, though the flail of your wrists does absolutely nothing to help. “Well, I suppose it should be hot. We are at the beach after all, and you know it’s sunny so—”

Fondly, Changbin reaches out and tucks your windblown hair behind your ear. This halts your rambling, drawing out a shy smile as your boyfriend looks at you, admiration swimming in his pupils.

“You’re so cute. I love you.”

What.

Your eyes go wide. Your hand, previously reaching for another fry, stops dead in its tracks, going limp at your side.

Collecting yourself to the best of your abilities (which in this current state, were not a lot), you manage to sputter out a very elegant, “Huh?”

“I love you, silly. Say it back?”

You scan your boyfriend’s face. His gentle smile and sincere eyes warm your heart. He’s patient as he waits for your reply, but you can’t keep him waiting. Of course not.

Reciprocating his smile, you tell him, “I love you, too, Binnie.”

Changbin’s lips morph into a grin, and he leans over to press a sweet peck to your mouth. He jumps up from his beach chair, reaching his hand out, inviting you to take it in your own.

“Come on, let’s walk along the shore while there aren’t too many people.”

Though you lace your fingers with Changbin’s, a pout appears on your face and you make no move to stand. “I don’t want to get up yet. Can you carry me instead?”

Changbin crouches down and kisses your pursed lips, giggling when he feels the corners of your mouth pull into a smile. He brings his free hand to your face, caressing your cheekbone with his thumb. Similarly, he mimicked this with your intertwined hands, rubbing soft circles into your knuckles.

“Of course,” he breaks away from the kiss, gently pulling you up from your seat. “Hop on, bun.”

Gingerly, you climb onto your boyfriend's back, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as he secures his hands around your thighs. He makes his way to the shoreline, leaving you bouncing gently with each step he makes.

“Hey, if I’m giving you a piggyback ride,” Changbin flashes a cheeky smile over his shoulder, "wouldn’t it be called a dwaekkiback ride?”

You roll your eyes, letting out a breathy laugh at the stupidly endearing joke. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t, you loooooove me!” He picks up his pace as he trudges on the wet sand, screaming into the air, “You love me!”

“Binnie, be careful!” You laugh as he runs along the shore with you on his back. “You’re gonna trip and fall—”

Unceremoniously, Changbin loses his footing on a small mound of sand, falling and pulling you down with him.

Rolling onto your backs, the two of you share fits of giggles as the water comes up to brush your toes. Changbin sits up and skips further into the water, turning back to meet your gaze. You don’t know what he’s about to do, but if the devious glint in his eyes is anything to go by, it’s going to be something loud for sure.

“I love Y/n L/n!” Changbin announces proudly.

Loud is an understatement.

A few heads turn at Changbin’s boisterous voice, but you pay them no mind. Your attention is directed solely to the man professing his love for you to the entire ocean. You prop yourself up, digging your palms in the sand behind you. Matching his volume, which was a challenge in itself, you yelled to the water, “I love Seo Changbin!” 

As you stand up to join your boyfriend by his side, splashing in the shallow water, a seagull squawks in the distance, happily munching on an abandoned bowl of curly fries.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

taglist: @kflixnet @jinnixxn @elllisaaa @captainchrisstan @laylasbunbunny @starsandrqindrops @kittymaryam-thebrowniefairy @forlix @mires-empire @quesweebs @the-swageyama-tobiyolo @hanstarrs

comments, reblogs, and feedback are appreciated! © like-a-diamondinthesky 2023

[leclerc-s]

the blonde bitch always with them

series masterlist

arthur leclerc how do i kick someone out of my apartment nicely?

arthur leclerc asking for a friend..

max jones-verstappen you don't... just own it.

daphne jones-ricciardo coming from the man who is cuddling my husband you have no say.

zoya torres LMAOOOO!!! SUCKS TO SUCK LECLERC!!!!

arthur leclerc SHUT UP ZOYA! THIS IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN!

dulce perez he's going through a break-up arthur. leave him alone.

dulce perez HE ALSO LIVES WITH US!!

ollie bearman that's a dick move arthur.

arthur leclerc he's been going through break-ups ever two days. he's literally just watching grey's anatomy.

isabella perez to be fair, that's a very valid reason.

oscar piastri you cried yesterday when you find out that daphne did a mashup of is it over now? and out of the woods.

bailey winters also very valid

dulce perez louis said, 'how am i supposed to move on after mark and lexie's death? i am in pain and also suffering arthur!"

daphne jones-ricciardo that is a very valid excuse arthur. leave the boy alone arthur.

arthur leclerc why can't my third wheel be like joris? why do i have to get stuck with the blonde guy?

pato o'ward not everyone can have a joris arthur. sucks for you.

arthur leclerc i hope isa crashes your next date patricio. gael perez now why would you wish that on me?

fernando alonso pobrecito.

arthur leclerc SEB! HE'S BEING MEAN!

fernando alonso snitch.

sebastian vettel fernando be nice to the poor boy. can't you see he's suffering?

arthur leclerc all of you are fake. so fake.

dulce perez wow. some men just have the audacity.

liked by babs.rodriguez, schecoperez, maxjonesverstappen1 and others

dulceperez baking is a task that is taking very seriously in the perez-leclerc-graham household

tagged: arthur_leclerc, louis_graham

view all comments

olivia.johnson this basically confirms it to me that louis is dulce and arthur's child

liked by babs.rodriguez, isabellaperez and others

↳ louis_graham they feed me, i live with them, i go to races with them. i am their child.

↳ arthur_leclerc you live with us and not because it was my choice.

↳ louis_graham BECAUSE I LIVED THERE FIRST LECLERC! YOU MOVED INTO OUR APARTMENT BITCH!

marcus_42 love how neither one of you is making the same thing

↳ dulceperez everyone had different cravings...

babs.rodriguez hey siri, what do i do when my friends have once again forgotten my existance?

↳ dulceperez you said, 'you don't want me baking. it'll be worse than charles' poor excuse of a dish when he attempts to cook.'

↳ arthur_leclerc then you said, 'i'll eat whatever you people make. except for arthur's. i don't trust a leclerc, except mama leclerc, when it comes to food.'

↳ louis_graham and you proceeded to judge us as if you were gordon ramsay.

↳ charles_leclerc catching strays from the strays dulce brought in 🙄

isabellaperez no invite?

↳ dulceperez you were hanging out with your boyfriend and your 'sons'

↳ olliebearman no invite?

↳ oscarpiastri no invite?

↳ dulceperez and watch you two flirt with arthur? please, i already have louis to do that.

schecoperez el apartamento esta bien? no lo quemaron? is the apartment okay? you didn't burn it down?

↳ dulceperez todo bien tio! arthur tuvo supervisión! all good uncle! arthur had supervision.

↳ arthur_leclerc charles lacks talent in the kitchen. i am a decent baker.

louis_graham posted new stories

😴❤️ some get me away from these two. i live with this now i have to deal with this shit in public? about to beat all these bitches during game night.

dulce perez never trust a word arthur leclerc says.

isabella perez in the words of the great kendrick lamar, 'you a bitch and a liar too'

gael perez it's habitual liar isa.

isabella perez no fucking way i've been singing that part wrong.

arthur leclerc that picture is false! i don't like that man. can't stand his fake ass.

daphne jones-ricciardo lying is not good arthur.

ollie bearman caught them cuddling after game night on saturday.

fernando alonso i caught them cuddling after bahrain.

lewis hamilton could've fooled me if you asked me if they were dating.

max jones-verstappen toto circa 2014 about nico and lewis. rhys jones gp circa 2018 about daniel and max

oscar piastri arthur's in love and not with dulce.

arthur leclerc i can't stand you either.

logan sargeant now that's a lie. you were literally asking him for a kiss on new year's.

bailey winters mr. steal you boy over here.

arthur leclerc LIARS! ALL OF YOU LIARS!!

dulce perez admit you like him!

arthur leclerc lying is not good!

carlos sainz cuando le conviene (when it's convenient)

penelope trevino when you stop ditching me for lando then you can talk.

carlos sainz I SAID SORRY!! bailey winters and why is that we're still getting ditched?

sebastian vettel boys..we talked about this.

lando norris we're trying really hard seb.

dulce perez AS I WAS SAYING!!! NEVER TRUST A WORD ARTHUR LECLERC SAYS!! HE'S A BIG FAT LIAR!!

dulce perez he ditched me this morning to get breakfast with louis.

pato o'ward no mames wey.

arthur leclerc i left to get breakfast and louis followed me.

gael perez wow. i'm telling tio checo.

arthur leclerc DO NOT SNITCH ME OUT! I DIDN'T COMMIT ANY CRIMES!!

isabella perez snitch him out!! through him in the slammer!!

arthur leclerc if i die just know it was their fault.

charles leclerc you deserve it for what you did earlier.

natalia ruiz but did they lie?

charles leclerc 🙄 🙄 🙄

daniel jones-ricciardo i hope you enjoy the couch buddy.

taglist: @burningcupcakefire @arkhammaid @applopie @sunflower-golden-vol6 @lorarri @bb-swift @thewannabewriter @mypage-myfandoms @stopeatread @hobiismyhopeu @lilsiz @alessioayla @niniluvsainz @au-ghosttype @six-call @justtprachisblog @nichmeddar @landonorizzz @unluckyyoshi @cool-ultra-nerd @kami10471633 @1nt3rnetgf @fernandoswarcrimes @arieltwvdtohamflash @brekkers-whore @natcha888 @camdensreg @mycenterfold @dear-fifi @georgeparisole @dan3avocado @nikfigueiredo @namgification @jensonsonlybutton @weekendlusting @trouble-sistar @lesliiieeeee @leclercsluv @33-81 @theseus-jpg @sarah-thatstings-ann @minmira95 @casperlikej @formulaonebuff @hopenshaw @ijustgomessitupx @hwalllllllelujah @doodlehunz @prongsvault

¡leclerc-s speaks! no one act surprised that i disappeared for two days and came back to post this randomly. i have no posting schedule and even if i did i probably wouldn't be able to stick to it.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet for me. enjoy!

[demonslayedher]

Links, why started, and why abandoned:

Rengoku+Akaza Sitcom: It was very silly and rereading it still makes me laugh. I've had passing ideas here and there and have made two separate attempts to continue it, but I haven't captured the same flow. Kyojuro's efforts to get me fired as the lead writer and keep this sitcom canceled have so far panned out.

Low-Key Married AU: When I look at the notes sometimes I am like, "wow, this must be my most popular AU, but it is such a mess and I feel so bad for people trying to follow it." I got as far as The Nezuko Incident, but it was already super long, and rather than being engaging it felt more like it was just trying to give chronology to this AU. ZenNezu Angst (no link): I was in such an indulgent, angsty mood when I wrote it, and I wrote myself into an angsty hole. It was whump with an intended happy ending but by the time I went back to it I was not in as whumpy of a mood and I had forgotten how I was going to build up to the intended happy ending and found it meh. Also, I am embarrassed by how whumpy it is and even considered publishing under a different name.

Raw Sword Production: I want so badly for the fandom to appreciate the intricacies of Japanese sword production, which is why I put it into fiction format in the first place with Teppi being the vehicle through which readers can learn a complicated but fascinating process. I wound up learning a lot more since publishing that, and wanted to fix some details, as well as make it clearer with more illustrations, and add on the full process of smithing (instead of glossing over it in the conclusion and focusing most of the smelting). Got to about the point of polishing (one of the last steps), felt overwhelmed by the amount of illustration it would benefit from to be clear, and lost confidence feeling that even with all that effort, there probably would not be many people who read all the way to the end. Filler Arc w/ Character Beats: I still really like the ideas, have had ideas for how to expand it to a proper flow and make a solid story out of it, it had a very cute start, but I lost steam. I want Ufotable to make it instead and just let me direct. EDIT: So far it doesn't seem this one is going to win the poll, so I reread what 5577 words I had, and gosh dang it, it was cute. So I have posted it.

Again, zero promises of any of these projects getting more attention, even if they win the poll. But knowing what people would enjoy reading might provide more inspiration. EDIT: Guys, if you want "other," ya gotta tell me which one! Also, if you want more than one, feel free to say so too. Again, the point is to see if I can work up the inspiration to finish. If.

[captainjunglegym]

WIP Wednesday - 20/03/2024

wow first day of spring today!

tagged by @sunnysideprince @violetbaudelaire-quagmire @getmehighonmagic @wordsofhoneydew @eusuntgratie @anincompletelist love you guys.

So i posted an RPF today, you can find here: An invitation to join the club

I was hoping to have got more done of my AU where henry doesn't want kids. I'm not posting it chaptered bc its so angsty i thought i might as well post it all in one go. I thought i'd have something newer to post this week but i've been having a Bit Of A Time lately so its this fic again, soz. I promise i'll post it soon!!

If You're Not Made For Me (why did we fall in love)

Henry leans forward where he is sitting at the kitchen table and puts his head in his hands. Sometimes, Alex had said, I wish I’d never met you. Henry thinks back to their first meeting, when he’d fucked it all up with his grief. He thinks back to the night of their first kiss, out by the linden tree on new year’s, and the sound he heard of Alex’s feet treading on the soft snow and how he knew it was him, how it could’ve only been him. He imagines that night if it’d been different. Kissing Alex and having Alex rear back in confusion. He’d have been nice about it, Henry supposes. He’d have placated him and told him that he was flattered but he didn’t feel that way about Henry. He’d have looked deep into Henry’s tear stung eyes and seen the fear that Henry wore everyday back then, and he’d have been kind. That’s probably not what Alex meant. He probably meant that he wished he’d never had gone to the Rio Olympics, or never have spoken to him at Phillip’s wedding. The painful stark difference between the two of them is this: If Alex had never met Henry he’d have been fine. He’d be doing whatever, politics probably. He’d still have his sister and his friends and his life, and Henry would just be another headline in another newspaper or magazine that he’d laugh about with June, their heads bowed close as they mocked how terrible and boring he is. Henry would be nothing. Just a coat hanger for Barbour and Burberry, watching horses and kissing the cheeks of eligible women, of babies, of the elderly, cutting ribbons and opening museums and galleries and nothing nothing nothing. Just existing in his skin, too afraid to just run away and too surveilled to take the shortcut from his bedroom window to the concrete below and finding out the hard way if four storeys is enough to do you in.

no pressure tags under cut (i will get to everyone's tags they've left me over the last couple of days while i've been mia as well!):

@bigassbowlingballhead @littlemisskittentoes @thinkof-england @happiness-of-the-pursuit @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @sparklepocalypse @firenati0n @magicandarchery @nocoastposts and i've probs forgotten people bc i do this from memory but also open tag!!!

[riewritten]

Idk I love every scene you write, mostly Erwin physically touching the Mc, hugging her, comforting her etc. or you can draw one of your favorite scenes

this got nothing to do with what OP was originally talking about (they r talking about dusk in the brightest fanfic btw) but hey. the prompt is suddenly in line w/ my mood.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐄?

ERWIN X GEN!NEUTRAL READER, ERWIN X YOU, NO Y/N

WORDS: 1.2k

idk what to tag aside from fluff & comfort bc the author is having an utterly terrible day again. i am scraping every bit of serotonin boost i could get because :( it’s just so :(

Heap of documents splattered across the table, to-dos that you weren't able to note hence long forgotten, the messages you intentionally leave unopened because it makes you sick, and all your utterances of "Okay, I'll get on to this one once I'm not burdened by the other task," which is, in hindsight, very counterintuitive because you can't even function anymore — because everything makes you sick. And there's this looming worry that, what if, what if this is all I could get?

"Hey,"

What if this is the farthest I could be for the rest of my life?

"Look at me,"

If I can't accomplish more—if I won't be able to finish this all, how dare I say I'll reach places farther than where I am?

What if—

Thoughts were cut off when a warm huge palm took a hold of your cheek.

"I told you to look at me."

"Oh, Erwin, regarding the deadline, I'm currently on it now. Have you seen the email I sent for your approval? A-and—" you panicky roamed at the papers in search of something you can't even mentally grasp as of the moment. 

Only to halt in sheer terror when you hear Erwin sigh as he sat on the table.

Now you can't look at him in the eye, "I'm so sorry. I'll do better next time."

"There's something more important for you to do better right now."

You met his eyes in a hitch. But even before you could respond, Erwin took hold of your hand; his fingers then started massaging your palm.

He first pressed on your thenar—a point just below your thumb. It was an utterly gentle massage, perhaps aware that with wrong pressure, his broad and strong fingers could instead hurt you. "Does your head hurt?"

You think there are lots of questions that are more important to ask right now, but still, "Yes, a bit."

He hummed, then his hands moved a bit. Still below your thumb, but leaning towards its edge. He pressed on it—repeatedly, languidly, while looking at you with features tranquil—perhaps he's trying to pass the same mood to you.

"Erwin, I have lots to do that will become backlogs if—"

"Shh,"

You purse your lips out of instinct.

You could laugh—hell, you would, but that doesn't erase his gentle command. For long you've been with Erwin, you already know that the most serious favors (or orders) are the ones he delivered with sheer gentleness. 

"How about your back? Does it hurt?"

"Uh huh. I've been seated all day."

After a last press, his fingers transferred to the point below your pinky. He silently did his work yet again, and now you feel the effects of it.

"Wow. Where did you learn this?"

"It's called acupressure. I actually already do this to you during the most random of times. Bet you thought I was just playing with your hands."

You chucked; yes, all this time you thought Erwin was just mindlessly fumbling your hands.

"And, for the last one…" He didn't ask a question this time around. His silly giant fingers just automatically shifted to the lower part of your palm, parallel to where your ring finger rests. "Here we go."

"What is this part for, Mr. Smart?"

The question was followed suit with a bell—the signal that the work shift is over. 

Finally, Erwin clicked a warm smile, scooted his head lower and gave your lips a small peck. After all, when the work shift is over, he can go all lovely on you again.

"Thank you," you whispered as soon as he withdraw his lips on yours. "So, what does this part of my palm cure, hm?"

He pressed on that spot again, his smile—while not gone at all—toned down a bit. A slight squint of your eyes and you'd think he turned quite lamentful.

"This part eases anxiety."

Your smile faded, something Erwin already anticipated. 

It's not because he confronted you so subtly, but he also didn't bother asking if you really are before pressing on that part. He saw it so well.

"I'm all fine now," you halted his fingers by squeezing your hand on it. "Let me get back to my work."

"Nuh-uh, shift's done now."

To establish the off-work mood, Erwin worked on removing his necktie. If you weren't so tired you'd gush at how hot the sight was, but then again, he didn't give you time to process everything. He slyly stood up and covered your eyes with the tie.

You are being blindfolded by your man. Why?

"Hey, the hell—"

"Shh," he landed a kiss on top of your head. You heard him roam his pocket, then a opening pop came. Not long after, a strong scent tingled your senses. 

"What is that? It smells like lavender."

"Heh," Erwin proudly huffed. "Levi bought me one. It's an essential oil."

You laughed a bit loudly. Now, despite his eccentricities, you can't help but be endeared. Oh, what were your concerns again? What about staying in the same place for the rest of your life?

Not like the bother would subside just like that, but this is one of the things you'd be willing to stay in for the rest of your life.

"Old fart."

"Am I, now?" Erwin cooed as his finger damped the oil on the tip of your nose—just so you'd smell it more. "Such a handsome old man, am I not?"

You grinned softly. "And all mine."

Despite the constricted vision, you're sure as hell Erwin's smiling from behind too. He genuinely loves whenever you speak of owning him.

"See, your handsome old man wants you to sleep a bit but your mind is not being kind to you right now."

"And what does it have to do with getting my eyes blind?"

"It is so your brain momentarily shuts the fuck up. It would most likely start when it doesn't see anything anymore, no?"

"Watch your mouth, mister."

You felt his lips on yours, teasingly so, with fingers—pleasantly reeks of lavender—gliding over your cheeks. The sweet exchange, soft chapped lips, and little bit of tounge playing at the corner of your lips covered you in utter solace. This is all you could wish for, all you needed. Just the thought of your needs being met at its most tipping core renders you lightheaded.

That's why when Erwin withdrew from the kiss, you were already panting.

"Yeah? What's with watching my mouth, hm?"

"More."

"I'll give your demands once you grant mine."

"What's your demand? Fuck."

"Sleep."

"How can I sleep with this. Please."

Just as if he knew the answer. Erwin grabbed you to stand up, sat on the chair, and had you sit on his lap instead. He urged you to burry your head on the crook of his neck, engulfed your figure to his embrace, and uttered soothing hums.

Indeed, it was answered. Seconds away and you're already lulled to sleep.

What if this is the farthest I could be for the rest of my life?

Well, if you have this lovingly eccentric man on your side, the farthest could never be absolute.

What if this is all I could get?

What is more to get than a love this gentle?

🏷 @frenchdyer (slightly inspired by your OC office AU btw :')) @watyousayin | SUBSCRIBE TO STORIES

MORE OF SWEET SUBTLETIES: EPISODIC SERIES HERE

sorry. i know there are some series u want to be updated more than this, but im just too down and mind fucked to strategize. all i can do is a self-insert. yes, this is the first ever genuine self-insert ive made

bc today i emptied my bank acc due my mom's hospital emergency, spilled coffee on my work laptop, and almost cried with all the work i had to do bc it daunted to me that im not even keeping up with the schoolworks that i missed yet due to the weeklong out-of-town conference we had in work.

and it's seriously taxing questions of what if this the farthest i could get bc of how incapable i am? honestly, i'd rather die than stay in where i am rn.

DILLEMA ASIDE, erwin is the embodiment of my support system in my previous environment! yes, the acupressure and ointment is a habit my ex taught me (hope they’re in a good place rn. theyre such a kind person!!)

[chromatic-lamina]

Hi! You seem quite knowledgeable in this, so I though you might be the right person to ask: I'm trying to find some nice heart pirates fics with them as family doing shenanigans/general stuff. Most of the fics I've found in the Heart Pirates tag in ao3 revolve around a ship involving law and the hearts are just background characters who barely do anything, which isn't what I'm looking for. Do you have any recommendations? (I've already read some of your works, but if you want to recommend those that's good too!)

Platonic Heart Pirates Fics Rec List

Wow! huge compliment.

Yeah, I wouldn't classify myself as a Hearts Pirates writer, but I do write them. I think my best characterisations of them are in my multi-chaptered works, but they're super dark, and the Hearts aren't the focus (but boy do they shine when they get the chance!).

You've probably come across my Bepo's one shots and drabble collection. There's a few shippy pieces in there, but they're clearly marked. Most are just the crew, although focus on the main four. This was also done for the Hearts' Pirates Week, so covers all named crew members (up to that point). This one shot is surprisingly popular: Dark like the North Blue Sea (aka The Sea-Hill you Die On), and you might have come across the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates crews intermingling in this fic featuring Bepo and Chopper. I'm also guessing that you probably saw the piece I wrote for the op summer festival zine: Sun Path Ozoni. An earlier version of that is in Bepo's collection! There's also Bepo's Beptober, which features everyone, but I wouldn't really say explores them in depth!

Okay, RECS!

Any of the fics with the Hearts Pirate tag by @op-sheepy Here's a link to their AO3 dash. There are quite a few Heart Pirate drabbles on their tumblr page too.

@itsxandy 's work, stormy weather, is criminally under-read. That's 22,2221 amazing words on Law's dynamic with the crew in the polar tang in close quarters. Not necessarily happy families, but, oof, it's good. Even a very plausible theory put forward for the recruitment of Clione, I think! Or maybe Uni.

Dragon_in_a_Cypress_swamp has 6 amazing Hearts & Trafalgar Law fics too. Really good (I haven't read all, but what I have read just blows me away).

This is not a place of honor by Hyperbolic Reverie (I'm not guaranteeing that all the fics are sweet). And you've probably come across

the devil knows how to row by fab_ia, is set in Law Novel land, but with flashbacks to Law's time with the Donquixote Family. It's a work in progress. But very good. The author is keats on twitter, and I think one of the guest writers for the up coming Hearts zine. Their AO3 actually has a few Hearts' fics I want to pick through.

Dunno if this counts, but the Scrubs AU with Penguin and Shachi as Law's interns, and Bepo as a trusty nurse is both hilarious and poignant. @thegrimshapeofyoursmile

Cal14's recently been uploading some of their tumblr pieces.

@slashseeker (not getting their blog come up) has some platonic stuff on their AO3 page (their slash is pretty good too though!).

And that's about all I know for now. I'm sure you've read / been pointed towards the big collection: Tales from the Heart.

Almost forgot! If you go through @purplehairedwonder 's page, towards the start of beginning to write OP (so second page), there are about 5 fics that I'd classify as Heart centric, or the Hearts seen through Law's eyes. Not necessarily shenanigans though.

It is a ship fic, and it started before a lot of the Heart Pirates were named, but razbliuto's Methyl Nitrate Pirates really builds character and crew (and it's funny). @fablecore

Hope it helps! Sorry to anyone I've forgotten. Thanks for the ask! Let me know how they go.

Remember all, drop a kudos and comment if the fics strike your fancy❤️ Makes a Heart Pirates Heart loving Heart beat heartier.

[rebelrebelwrites]

Fic Friday! ❤️ Rebel’s Weekly Fic Recs

I'm back. 😊 A day and several weeks late, but I'm back. I've decided I'd like to keep doing these as much as I can. I hope anyone reading enjoys.

As always, this week’s recs are…

As always, please mind the tags on any recommended story for your own personal preferences.

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The Classic You’ve Heard Of But Somehow Haven’t Read Yet: About you, without you by @aylana-ryvain

What you need to know going in:

A lovely, sad, sweet one-shot written for Haladriel Week where Galadriel returns to Barad-dûr after Sauron’s defeat at the beginning of the Fourth Age. Once there, she discovers a treasure trove of trinkets crafted by The Dark Lord in the hopes that she would someday change her mind. 🥹 Another tragic instant-classic, this fic wrenches at your heart in the best way. Be ready to bookmark!

Complete, Teen

Read the story.

Follow the author on Tumblr and AO3.

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The AU You Need to Immerse Yourself In Because, Well, Wow: Someone Taught You Wrong, Kid by @klynnvakarian

What you need to know going in:

The Western AU I never knew I needed! The VIBES in this fic, I tell you—they’re strong, and pitch-perfect. Between the dialogue and the at first tentative, blink-and-you-might-miss-it moments between Hal and Gal, which then blossoms into something that's more matter-of-fact; a frank romance that feels so fitting for this world and time and space for the two of them… it’s lovely. You’ll be swept away the same as they are. Very excited to see the final piece of it!

WIP, Mature

Read the story.

Follow the author on Tumblr, Twitter and AO3.

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The Complete But Never Forgotten Masterpiece: The Nicest Parts of Hell by @myrsinemezzo

What you need to know going in:

Eru have mercy on my soul, my unprecedented foray into dark fic continues with this gripping, dare I say insidiously enticing fic—and, as always, I mean that in the best way possible. This story settles into your psyche; making you feel just as unhinged as the characters feel. You’re probably asking yourself why, so let me get to the heart of it: the story starts with Galadriel stumbling (practically literally) into Halbrand’s arms… Only problem is, he’s her brother Fin’s boyfriend. 👀 From there, she and Halbrand start a toxic, troubling affair that is impossible to stop reading. (Same goes for this story’s sequel, which is still in progress).

Complete, Explicit

Read the story.

Follow the author on Tumblr, Twitter and AO3.

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The WIP That Will Wreck You (In the Best Way): And In That Time, I Have Had Many Names by @the-manatee-hammer

What you need to know going in:

I’ve been meaning to share this fic for a long, long time, and I definitely should’ve done so sooner, so forgive me. Full disclosure: I found out about it from a friend who told me that I’d been mentioned in the notes, so again, forgive me for my slightly unbiased opinion. Regardless of how I came to it, I loved it as soon as I started reading! The story sees Halbrand still injured in the healing halls of Eregion—until Galadriel offers to help along the healing with something he’s never tried before. 👀🔥 Cue sexual healing! Spicy, intimate sexual healing, and I think the first time I encountered a virgin Sauron in fic. And hot damn, it’s hot. Unsurprisingly, Sauron is very eager to learn, and a very adept student. It’s been a while since this was updated, but still so worth checking out and subscribing to for it’s sensuality and supremely well done writing.

WIP, Explicit

Read the story.

Follow the author on Tumblr and AO3.

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The Can’t Stop Consuming No Matter What Time It Is Fic: Stand by Me by @scriberated

What you need to know going in:

Lately I’ve been feeling some major burnout for many reasons, and for me, this fic was a balm at just the right moment! A sequel to this adorable one-shot, it’s an instantly delightful, fully-fledged romcom complete with roommates not-so-secretly pining after each other, fake dating, bed sharing, and that’s just within the first two chapters! 🤩 The premise: Hal and Gal are roommates, and after breaking up with her shitty, absent boyfriend Celeborn in the original one-shot, Hal takes care of Gal while she’s sick. This continuation sees Galadriel trying to navigate their growing closeness, finally agreeing to a trip together to visit Hal’s family—and from there, the romcom shenanigans ensue. This is another one where I can’t wait to see what comes next!

WIP, Mature

Read the story.

Follow the author on Tumblr, Twitter and AO3.

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🤩🤩🤩

Me at all these fics:

Don’t see your story on this list yet? Keyword: yet. Please don’t fret! I can only recommend so many each week, but I am always looking for more stuff to read, share, and generally shower with love, so please feel free to reply with your own fics or your pershaladronal faves. I have plenty more to recommend… ❤️

Until next week!

[sybilius]

20 Questions for Writers

tagged by: @grand-magnificent thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

108! Wow!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,047,840 words! I've been writing a while :)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

My main right now is pro wrestling, currently NJPW with some AEW :) . I've got a lot of different ones on there, but The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is still top with 33 fics

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

burn this city, my first fic, lawlight for Death Note. Nothing special tbh.

ghost in the machine, my first longfic and third fic, also lawlight for Death Note and also nothing special.

acute gifts, which was a Beth Harmon / Benny Watts knifekink fic. I got in the Queen's Gambit tag very early and so it rose to the top. It's not too bad, not in my top 10 of my own fics but definitely quite charming.

sword and the pen, my second fic, lawlight for death note, nothing special.

Oesterle's Derealization Claim, a Disco Elysium Mathematicians AU. Cherished fic and I am so glad and proud it climbed the ranks to be top 5 :)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always! I love responding to comments, it's not always right away but I do get there.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Intentionally? flowers grown in forgotten lungs, probably. Like in a lot of ways, that fic is about L giving up, knowing he's going to die, and saying "fuck that, I'll burn all my ideals and drag as many people as I can down with me". I think other fics that I've written have hit people harder, especially the ones that I intended to make a happier followup and lost energy for it. But that one was meant to be absolutely gutting.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm going to go with the most recent one I'm proud of and say blueprint drift, which I'm sure is more melancholy than some other ones but idk, I love the story that's there, I love to see Takeover lowkey husbanding.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not generally, I can't remember if there was anything too egregious? I've gotten a few passive-aggressive "why won't you finish this" pleas but I tend to shut that kind of behaviour right down.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hell yeah, though less than I used to. I really like writing new and weird scenarios and I've done a LOT at this point. Some of my top 3 weird ones were "skeleton threesome" "the cask of amontillado but it's kink" "spider/bat porn"

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

A few! My craziest is probably Blair Witch Project x The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Grey Desert Mythos. Still very proud of that fic!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No! I have had a fic chapter podficced though, which was a transcendent experience: Static Contact [podfic]

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

SO many. SO many. That's probably why my word count is so high hehe

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

HMMM. In practice my favourite is whatever I'm obsessed with at the moment, in which case Jaykada (Jay White / Kazuchika Okada, NJPW). By the numbers? Blondeyes (Angel Eyes / Blondie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm pretty good about letting go of things I don't think I'll finish, so there's nothing I'm holding out desire for at this point. I have a longfic cooking but at present I do think I'll get it together for it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, strong POV, thematic intensity. People say my settings are very evocative/atmospheric, which is flattering since I worked pretty hard on those.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Humor. I always feel so awkward with clown characters. I don't really do plotty works in the conventional sense, but I don't think that's a weakness, more of just an intention.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

So funny, I'm working on a fic with that right now! I would say the my practice is to write the dialogue however the POV character is able to understand it, and however they parse it. In my mind if you speak the language or know a solid translator, it's all right to actually "quote the dialogue" in its characters for the reader who can speak the language. If you don't, probably best not to use machine translation and only stick to vetted phrases if you can.

For the fic I'm writing right now, it's a lot of fun because the Okada/Jay series spans different stages of understanding they have of each other's language. In the young lion era fic, Jay barely speaks any Japanese, and Okada has patchy English but he's sort of limping along. In the current WIP, Jay's Japanese is better, but not perfect, and similarly with Okada's English. So they sort of speak to each other semi-fluidly and the gaps in understanding are written in the text. So it's fun to think about how in the later fic, Jay speaks fluent Japanese and exclusively talks to Okada in Japanese to keep his language skills sharp.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

In another life, Batman. Specifically I was inspired by The Dark Knight but I based a lot of my work on the comics.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

My favourite fic is always my most recent, which was Shadow Gimmick (a FinJay Fic!). Barring that, the Grey Desert Mythos :)

-

tagging: @girlfriendsofthegalaxy, @jaimehwatson, @blizzardsuplex, @nagdabbit, @elphantasmo and if you wanna do it go for it!

[brother-emperors]

Allow me, if you will, a moment to go absolutely rabid over your blog and everything that goes on here. I’ve always loved history but the USA hardly likes teaching anything that isn’t American History. I’ve forgotten how much I love WORLD history, specifically the rise and fall of empires.

I’ve been smothering myself in your posts and I love it ALL. JC, Pompey, Crassus, Sulla, Octavian, Antony, Cassius, and Brutus. Wow what a mood. You don’t miss on your references or your modern AU’s and I’m over here like- I’m trying to buy whatever web comic you put out, book you write, etc.

Also, if you’d be so kind to list some material with like themes to start breaking into these topics. Preferably materials in English or translated materials.

HELL YEAH LET'S GO

if you really want to start on the ground floor for breaking into something, I'd recommend my personal favorite approach which is picking the figure that's most interesting to you, reading through plutarch's biography on them (free! online! in english!) and then putting their name through a jstor search and reading whatever sounds fun.

other than that, the primary theme I've been wandering around in lately, so these are the materials I've been really enjoyed related to that:

The Deaths of the Republic: Imagery of the Body Politic in Ciceronian Rome, Brian Walters

The Game of Death in Ancient Rome: Arena Sport and Political Suicide, Paul Plass

Ideology in Cold Blood: A Reading of Lucan's Civil War, Shadi Bartsch

Statius and Virgil: The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid, Randall T. Ganiban

Rome, Blood & Power, Gareth C Sampson

I also have a comparatives tag where I play connect the dots with texts that made my brain go brrr

[jokertrap-ran]

[スタオケ] La Corda d'Oro Starlight Orchestra Main Story Chapter 2-17 Translation

*Starlight Orchestra Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Main story tag will be #Main Starlight

Seiji: “Mack the Knife”, a single that was made into a popular jazz classic by Louis Armstrong.

Seiji: The villains in the song are portrayed with sarcastic lyrics, but the way they live life is so carefree and unfettered that it's oddly warm. Comforting, even.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Osakabe (Past): Are you an idiot? There was no need for you to go against the teacher too. Look, you got kicked out of the club.

Akira (Past): Shut up, I was mad. Isn't it normal to be angry over things like this?

Osakabe (Past): It's not something for you to get angry over.

Akira (Past): Ah, why don't we form a duo to perform together?

Osakabe (Past): Do you even know what you're saying? Haha, you really are a fool…

Akira: Perhaps neither of us has changed, even now…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Audience: What a gentle melody… but I wonder why I feel like crying…?

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Boy: Wow… Those guys are really amazing!

Yasu: Kirigaya-san…

Tomoeda: I'd like to say much about how I can't believe President Osakabe is doing it with that guy, but…

Yasu: What a brilliant melody. The Starlight Orchestra's the best! Long live Joyo Technical High School!

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Seiji: We did it… Our best performance to date.

Akira: Well, of course. We have a brilliant team backing us.

⊳ Choice: Thank you…!

Akira: I could say the same to you too. Thank you, this is all because of you.

⊳ Choice: I'm so happy

Seiji: Come now, you're still before the guests. Wipe your tears away.

⊳ Choice: Look, everyone's smiling!

Akira: Yeah, even both the delinquents and the members of the Student Council have smiles on their faces. Everyone from Joyo Technical High School is a good person deep down.

Numahira: *Chuckles* Look at that grin on his face. He has his guard all the way down…

Numahira: Come, Busujima. It's our turn.

Busujima: …

Numahira: Hey, what are you spacing out for? Come on, get up. Hurry.

Busujima: …I can't…

Numahira: Huh? What are you talking about?

Busujima: I can't do it, Go-chan… I can't destroy them.

Busujima: It's my first time…. Hearing such a heart-wrenching melody…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Akira: The concert's finally over. It really flew by just like that.

Seiji: It really did. Did you notice that Busujima from Oba Commercial High School was also there?

Akira: Anyone can be part of the audience. As long as they're here to enjoy the music, of course.

Akira: …

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Akira: …Say, what are your thoughts on joining the Starlight Orchestra to make an impact on the world?

Seiji: Wasn't the criteria to get a full house in the concert hall?

Akira: Come on, now you're just being mean. Surely you've seen just how enthusiastic the audience was today. That's just the start of it.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Seiji: Well, it looks like you've already made your decision. I don't mind taking on the world either.

Seiji: The Student Council and your underlings seemed to have really hit it off too.

Seiji: Looks like we can leave Mito with no incidents now. Although…

Akira: (L/n)-san. Great timing. I was just about to go look for you.

Akira: Huh? Hashizume-sensei from the Mito Symphony Orchestra contacted you? The one who invited you to perform at that concert hall?

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Hashizume-sensei: Sorry about everything. I just heard about what happened.

Hashizume-sensei: It looks like we've forgotten about the purpose of having a Student Orchestra, a place where everyone can pursue their dreams.

Hashizume-sensei: Ahh, yes. There's no need to worry about the matter concerning Osakabe-kun.

Hashizume-sensei: I've already informed Shinomori-kun that under no circumstances will we ban him from participating in the Concours’ selection rounds.

Seiji: Haha… you really are a master at creating miracles.

Seiji: Look at that look of triumph on you. It's truly maddening that I can't turn down your expectations of me now.

Akira: Will you let me join the Starlight Orchestra — your ship of dreams?

Akira: Let's go to the ends of the world, together.

⊳ Choice: I've been waiting for you to say that

Seiji: I made this decision because of your abilities, so don't disappoint me, Concertmistress.

⊳ Choice: I'll be relying on you from now on

Akira: Same here. We'll be relying on each other from now on.

Akira: Let's take our music all the way to the top of this world. We're in your hands now, Concertmistress.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬Main Starlight♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 2-16) Next Part: (Chapter 3-1)

[meggie-stardust]

20 Questions for fic Writers!

Tagging myself via @lucky-bishop because I'm half bored, half a bit loopy on benadryl... And same suggestion; if anyone else wants to do this, say I tagged you <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 73?! Wow that surprised me.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 403,636

3. What fandoms do you write for? These days, mostly Teen Wolf, but I've written a lot for Merlin, Percy Jackson, BBC Sherlock, Gundam Wing, and assorted others over the years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Acts of Man (Merlin/Arthur, Merlin): On the morning of their Annual pre-Christmas Dinner, Merlin is shocked to find out that Gwen thinks his boyfriend, Arthur, isn't good enough. But after a glimpse into Merlin's quirky flat, Gwen realizes that she might not have the whole story. 2. Nightmares (Jason/Percy, PJO): Percy feels lost and alone after returning from Tarartus. And if that's not bad enough, he can't sleep without having horrifying nightmares. Luckily for Percy, Jason is the one person not avoiding him, and the one person that has offered to help. 3. Looking for the Thing We Lost (Stiles/Peter, Teen Wolf): But the thing is that Stiles had already been forgotten by everyone. 4. Here I Am (Stuck in the Middle With You) (Jason/Percy, PJO): Percy and Jason's mission gets derailed when they find themselves trapped in a room with no way out. Luckily, they find a way to pass the time… 5. Know How A Man Becomes a Beast (Stiles/Peter, Teen Wolf): Peter took a steadying breath and stepped into room. He held up his hands and walked forward slowly, the way he would approach any wild animal. “Stiles. It’s gonna be ok.”

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes, I try to, even it take a while -- at least on my newer fics. I haven't gone back to things from like 10 years ago to reply to old comments that I missed, but I try to keep up. I want people to know I appreciate the time they've taken to read and react to my fic, and you never know if you're going to connect with someone new and make a new fandom friend.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Give Me Pure Energy (Stiles/Peter): the alternative season 2 where Stiles craves some normalcy and befriends a new kid in his econ class, only to realize that maybe they both want more from each other than just a simple friendship. This is a super darkfic anyway, and has the kind of ending that's happy only if you're ok with all the awful things that Peter does during the fic... but generally, I like my angst with a happy ending so this is the best I can do.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh gosh, so many of my fics have happy endings... that's how I like em... uhhh. I'm going to go with one of my all time favorites:

Stuck Between Stations (Stiles/Peter): the one where Peter and Stiles are stuck in a time-loop inside The Wild Hunt.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have been so lucky to not get much hate. If people are talking about my work behind my back, it's not getting back to me. And aside from an odd comment or two, I've gotten through about 20 years of fandom without having to deal with random hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yes. I've written m/m, m/f, f/f, and, I think an m/m/f once... but I'm into all sorts of things and have fun writing about it

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have in the past; a Harry Potter/BBC Sherlock x-over that got abandoned. I've also done a few prompt challenges that lead to crossovers/fusions like SPN meets MJN Air, etc.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? god, I hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, I have been so lucky to have a few of my fics translated into different languages. It's always such an honor, and I give full permission for people to translate my work as long as they connect it back to mine on AO3.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have but it's been ages. And I think there may be someone *cough*@punchedbymarkesmith*cough* that would be great to collaborate with if an opportunity presented itself...

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Steter it would seem. I've been reading and writing it since 2016...!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I fully intend to finish It's Only Forever, but I've used some of the ideas for it in other things, so I know it will be hard to get back into where I was going with it. I don't want to abandon it, but it's been a few years... le sigh.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good with dialogue, especially banter. I think I'm also great at taking a small detail from canon and using that to world build something different.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Oh, that's easy: action and mystery. I really wish I could write a good casefic or mystery plot, and I just can't. I have to distract and misdirect at the end... I have to do the same with the action, too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I don't trust myself. I might confer with someone who speaks that language if it was really needed, but I would probably do something like:

"Wow, I can't believe you survived that helicopter crash," he said in Spanish.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing, followed my Newsies and Harry Potter.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I already gave a call out to Stuck Between Stations above, so I'm going to have to go with:

At This Truth We Have Arrived (Stiles/Peter): Five years after the death of Laura, Peter returns to Beacon Hills only to be confronted by the truth that the pack has moved on without him. But the fact that everything he once knew has changed isn't necessarily a bad thing; not when there is someone like Stiles who is so full of possibilities.

OR as my WIP notes for this fic say: "Peter is curious. They do something. Murder murder. Sex sex."