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#Shout out to those amazing writers
tennant-the-tigger · 2 years
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This part, in every fic. If you know, you know. What are your top fics? Reply with recs! I've devoured a lot but I'm still hungry for more content.
My Stranger Things Art | Steddie Fanart
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hyeque · 2 years
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messenger [tsukishima kei]
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synopsis: you and yamaguchi are best friends with tsukishima. nearly everyday girls come up to the two of you to ask about the blonde and you both have had just enough. little do you know that yamaguchi has a plan of his own to get the chatting to stop...
notes: based off the sole fact that it's canon that girls only go up to yamaguchi to ask him about tsukki, which obviously means he's popular with girls. this was originally written as a stand-alone but i decided to submit it for lexi's @suckerforsugawara first time for everything collab! i apologize for how late this is, writer’s block got the best of me.
warnings: reader is very much in their head, angst at first but eventual fluff with good ending
word count: 4kei
for as smart as tsukishima kei is, he sure is oblivious to how girls flirt with him.
everyday a good number of girls around campus whisper and talk about how they find the blonde middle blocker attractive. about how much a good boyfriend he would make. it amazes you to no end how much the tall and silent type attract people. you could probably end up rich with how much you hear about him, because there's seriously not one day where you don't hear his name.
at first, most of the comments make you laugh. over time though, you begin to roll your eyes and scoff. you don't understand why so many people like him. half the time you see how tsukishima interacts with hinata and kageyama and it isn't in the nicest or most pleasant way. it just looks like a complete circus act. you truly feel sorry for daichi and suga.
tsukishima is just...mean. if you had a boyfriend who treated you like that, you'd dump him on the spot.
but maybe you are a hypocrite because while you think of all these things, you're still friends with him.
...if you can even call it that—you're sure tsukishima just 'tolerates' you. but the fact that you and yamaguchi are the two he spends the most time with obviously means something. he also begrudgingly helps you with your homework and walks you home from class all the time.
it means something...right?
today is no different from many other days as you watch hinata and kageyama get into a heated screaming match about god knows what. tsukishima is on the side snickering to yamaguchi. everyone else is helplessly by standing.
but you, on the other hand, are in your own little world. you're one of the managers for karasuno university's volleyball team. currently, you're filling up water bottles for the team. being in the role as manager, you've become a master at zoning out hinata and kageyama's bickering.
but you did not expect that this skill would one day work against you.
"hinata, kageyama! watch out!" ennoshita shouts, but it's already too late. you feel the unruly force of a volleyball hit you, making you drop the bottles you're filling up and spill water on the ground.
"are you okay?" yamaguchi rushes to help you to your feet, shooting the offending people a small glare. kageyama and hinata shiver at tadashi's gaze and begin to profusely apologize.
"i'm okay, yams. thank you." you dust off your clothes and laugh, "it's nothing i can't help when those two get carried away."
"we are so sorry!" hinata cries, nearly tripping over himself to get to you. kageyama sheepishly let's out a 'sorry' before his face flushes a bright red.
you open your mouth to assure them you're fine, but a certain voice beats you to it.
"are you two that incompetent that you'll take out our manager in the middle of one of your childish games?" the voice hisses. "i knew the two of you were stupid, but you both surprise me every day. i have to start lowering my bar more."
you don't have to turn to know who it is.
tsukishima turns to you, a displeased look on his face. if you squint, you can see his concern. "and you really need to work on watching your surroundings. i'd rather not have to take you to the hospital." he scolds, picking up the bottles from the ground. he swats your hand away when you reach out for them and you puff out your cheeks, frustrated.
he always does this, where you can't tell if he cares for you, or if he's just being mean. maybe you’re reading into things too closely.
you watch his eyes scan your figure intently and you flinch when you feel him touch you. your breath hitches at how close he is, close enough to see the specks of gold in his eyes from behind the lenses of his sports googles.
his hand gently turns your face to either side, "are you hurt anywhere?"
at the feeling of his hand on your arm, you feel it burn at the source of his touch.  you quickly recover and answer that you're fine. he studies your face for a moment longer to detect if you're lying but doesn't prod for any more answers.
not too far away does yamaguchi note the gesture between you two, but doesn't say anything.
the rest of practice runs by smoothly and you have practically forgotten that you were hit with a volleyball. before you know it, it's over and everyone calls it a day before filing out to the lock room.
tsukishima announces that he has to go somewhere after practice and for you and yamaguchi to not wait up for him. neither of you question him on his whereabouts because chances are he won't even tell you anyways.
as punishment for hitting you with the volleyball, kageyama and hinata are responsible for cleaning up the gym and locking up, which gives you the advantage of getting home early. down to two, you and yamaguchi start your trek home, the convo floating between school, volleyball, and other interests.
"yamaguchi-san?"
the two of you turn at the sound of a girl. she looks anxious and nervous and holds a pink envelope in her hands.
"hi! what can i do for you?" he smiles, green eyes bright and inviting.
the girl seems to gain confidence at yamaguchi's smile. "i have this confession for tsukishima-kun...but i don't know how to give it to him, so i was wondering if you would give it to him for me?" the girl explains shyly. her eyes shift to you and widen. "you're not dating tsukishima-san are you?"
your eyes widen at the accusation and you bust out a laugh, hard. maybe too hard.
"me? date him? i could never!"
after your embarrassing and short-lived laughing party, yamaguchi reluctantly agrees to take the letter to give to tsukishima. a strange feeling wells up in your chest at the sight, and you don't know why you felt disappointed in him doing so.
as soon as the girl leaves, you see yamaguchi's shoulders sag and his smile fades. 
"what's wrong, yams?" you nudge your best friend in the side, noting the way he picks at the skin on his hand anxiously.
"nothing," he answers, "we need to get going now."
you pull him back. "it's not 'nothing'. come on, what is it?"
you watch as he takes a moment to gather his thoughts before he replies, "i appreciate and care about tsukki and all, but it really sucks that girls only talk to me about him." he pouts, puffing out his cheeks.
"it's probably because you're much more approachable than mr. blonde beanpole." you suggest, shrugging your shoulders. "frankly, I don't know why or what people see in him. he's not very people-friendly. plus he always walks around with a scowl on his face. but i too wish they would stop asking us about him. what did suckyshima do to get so many confessions all the time..."
your freckled faced friend raises his brows, amused by your passionate rambling. "are you jealous?" he asks, head tilting in inquiry.
"w-what? no! why would i be?" you scoff, feeling your heart race in your chest. "the only thing i'm jealous of is that beanpole blonde's attention." you say. "i would very much like to be confessed to as often as he gets!"
"you would hate it," yamaguchi chuckles, "you don't even like getting attention. especially from guys."
you click your tongue, not knowing how to disagree with him. "maybe, but it wouldn't hurt to have it happen once in a while, you know?" you sigh, "i can't go my entire life without experiencing a confession!"
you must've had a terrible past life to have such an unlucky dating experience. you've never had a guy ask you out. and while you don't like to be arrogant you consider yourself cute and a decent person—more so decent than glasses-kun.
"well, more guys would approach you if it wasn't for tsukki." yamaguchi says, and immediately upon speaking covers his mouth.
you raise a brow at your friend, "eh? what do you mean by that?"
before he can answer, you huff, "you're telling me blondie is messing up my love life? what does he gain from doing that?" you huff, feeling irritated that the number of cute boys you could've encountered is very little due to the fact that they were being cockblocked by the most annoying person on the planet.
yamaguchi would never tell you, and god bless your soul, but he's forever thankful for how oblivious you are at times. his skin is saved from having to explain to tsukishima why his crush on you has been outed.
but on the other hand, he desperately wants these confession shenanigans to be over with and for the two of you to confess to each other. to him, it's painfully obvious that there are shared feelings but neither one of you want to acknowledge the fact that there's something going on. he'd rather take the risk of tsukishima biting his head off if it means you two will end up together.
"let's just say that the two of you complain about each other too much for there not to be something going on between you two." yamaguchi says. "i just wish you'd both make out with each other or something."
panic swarms you, at the meer thought of locking lips with blondie. "tadashi, i would never be caught kissing him. i'd rather be dead." you say sternly, although an itch in your throat tells you otherwise.
"yeah, i totally got the vibe of that earlier when he came over to see if you were okay." he laughs, rolling his eyes.
"it didn't mean anything, he was just oddly nice..." you argue, the rapid beating of your heart mocking you.
the sudden silence could be cut through with a knife as you two walk. your knuckles grip your bag tightly as you focus on your feet in front of you.
"your crush never went away, right?" yamaguchi stops walking and looks at you intently.
when you don't respond, he knows his answer.
"that's another reason why i don't like getting these confessions. i don't want to see you get hurt by all of this." he reveals, his hand gripping the pink envelope he was given earlier.
"it doesn't matter, though. what i feel is irrelevant.” you shrug.
yamaguchi perks up, a light bulb going off. he presses the envelope to your hands. "you give this to him. you can find out what he says about the letter and how it makes him feel. he might act differently. that way, you can also decide if those feelings for him are still there, or if you've moved on. if you haven’t, then confess."
you turn away, not taking the envelope. your feet then move briskly. "what makes you think that he would accept my confession? there's no way he would."
"what's stopping you?" he presses, following you. "you don't know that unless you try."
a sharp exhale of air escapes you, your nerves taking your own words out of your mouth. "because i don't want to make a relationship awkward possibly. besides, he'll just make fun of me for having a crush on him and then reject me. so no way is tsukki going to accept it."
"he wouldn't do that. and you know he wouldn't. look, we both know tsukki better than anyone else does. i'm surprised at how blind you are to how he feels about you. or maybe you're denying it?"
before you can reply, you realize you've reached your apartment.
"just think about telling him? it'll ease your mind somehow, won't it? at least you'll have your answer and you can stop letting this eat at you the way it has for years." yamaguchi says, concern written on his face.
you sigh. "sure, tadashi. i'll think about it."
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you don't get a wink of sleep that night. and despite you wanting more time to think, you are meeting up with tsukishima and yamaguchi to hangout the next day. so even if you want to put off your thoughts about the situation, you can't.
"you look like shit," tsukishima says once you sit down at the cafe the three of you always meet up at. "like a zombie with the life is sucked out of them.”
“wow, how did you guess?” you say, response dripping with sarcasm.
a guilty look appears on his face before he changes it to a softer expression. "here, i already ordered for you." he says, pushing your favorite order across the counter.
"oh, thank you. you didn't have to." you reach into your bag to pay him back, but he pushes your hand away, a grimace on his face.
"yeah, well i did anyways." he says, turning away. a faint hue of pink can be seen across his cheeks. “you should really try not to over exert yourself. we can’t afford to have our manager collapsing.”
you stare at the drink, mind rambling. “right…”
tsukishima distracts himself with the time, noticing how late yamaguchi is. it isn’t like him to be late. once the male checks his phone, everything clicks into place.
"tadashi says he won't be able to make it to the movies." tsukishima tells you, slipping his phone back in his pocket.
"really?" you go to pull your own phone out of your bag to check, but something else catches your eyes first.
the pink envelope.
you gasp, gritting your teeth. "tadashi, you bastard..." you hiss, wondering when he slipped it into your bag.
"yeah, something about feeling sick..." the tall man's eyes slide down to look at you, and as attentive as he is he asks, "what are you grumbling about?"
you eyes glance between him and the letter, panic washes over you as you try to improvise a lie.
tsukishima leans over, peering into your bag. “what is that?” he asks.
solemnly, you hand him the pink envelope. cotton has lodged itself in your throat but you manage. "this...this is for you."
“from?” he questions, but he already knows it’s not you. you don’t dot your i’s like that.
“the usual. some girl with a crush on you.” you answer, “she didn’t know how to give it you directly.”
opening the letter, his brown eyes scan the contents carefully, silence overcoming him as he drinks in each word.
meanwhile, your heart races rapidly. you can feel yourself beginning to spiral in your mind, thinking of all the possibilities of what could happen next after he finishes reading the letter. instead of hearing anything, the blonde simply puts the letter back in the envelope.
“let’s go.” he says, standing up to leave.
wait...that's it? you watch him leave the cafe and scramble after him, confusion trailing you.
when you catch up to tsukishima, your eyes glance at him, trying to gauge anything. something.
"well?" you ask, brow arching up.
"'well' what?" he replies, staring at you expressionless.
"are you...going to accept?" you prod, leg bouncing.
the man seems to contemplate your question, not answering for a moment. the anticipation is killing you. swallowing you whole. you have to say something before you’re buried alive.
"don't accept that confession." you blurt.
"huh?" the blonde slips the envelope in his pocket. "and why not?"
you shift uncomfortably in your spot. "b-because."
"'b-because', isn't an answer. i hope you're aware." he mocks before stepping closing to you, a sly smirk on his face. "why do you look like you're about to throw up? is the thought of me getting a confession that repulsive to you?"
"shut up!" you hiss, the burning in your cheeks spreading like wildfire now. "i never said that."
"you didn't have to. your face said everything that i needed to know." he replies, "why are you so eager to know anyways?"
you shrug, "i mean, we're friends right? why wouldn't i be curious?"
a soft chuckle leaves him. it's pretty, and pretty looks very good on him. how annoying for your nerves. "right, and let's say i do accept the confession. what would you do then?"
you blink, your hands clammy, body scorching at this point. "dunno, maybe throw a party with a sign that says 'congrats kei, you're lovable after all'."
"you're a horrible liar, you know. it's very annoying." tsukishima scowls, grabbing your wrist and turning you to look at him.
"who said i was going to accept the confession?" he tilts his head to the side, leaning in slightly. "hmm? i think you put that idea in that pretty head of yours all by yourself."
you huff, irritated by his teasing manner."it's not funny to joke like that."
he blinks. "when did i make a joke?"
"you always do...i don't understand you, tsukishima." at this point you can feel your face burning up. you look away from the blonde, frustrated and also internally panicking. when you go to walk away, his large hand catches your wrist, pulling you back.
"so now we're back to tsukishima?" he asks, distaste in his tone.
you bite your lip, too scared to say anything.
he clicks his tongue. "listen, i didn't have to read the letter to know my answer. i didn't even need to receive one. i've already had my mind made up."
a soft 'oh' leaves your mouth. "is that right?"
"yes, because i already have feelings for someone." he confesses, and your heart nearly stops.
you weren't expecting this at all. you bargained for more than you wanted, but it’s your fault and your fault alone. you start to yell in your head about how wrong yamaguchi is, about how you're too late to confess now, because someone else has already stolen—
"this is for you." tsukishima hands a eerily similar pink envelope to you with a small plushie. your eyes widen as you look at the plush, recognizing that it's your favorite animal. you remember talking about how you still sleep with stuffed animals and made the mistake of having tsukishima overhear you. the teasing that day never ended.
when squeezing the plush to you, you're surprised to hear it play your favorite song. reading the letter, you recognize the handwriting as his immediately. you're familiar with how he loops his y's and g's. you recognize the eloquence in his words. but you feel alien reading how he pours his emotions—about you—into words. words that are a lot kinder and sweeter than his usual moments.
"why would i joke about my feelings?" he answers, pulling at his hands, fingers fidgeting. "if you don't reciprocate them—"
"no! i-i mean, yes! yes, i do!" your face is on fire at this point. "i'm just shocked, i-i wasn't expecting—"
"for someone to be into someone like you?" he finishes.
you blink, stunned by his response. "well, yeah."
and tsukishima kei does what tsukishima kei does best.
he flicks your forehead.
he rubs the spot where he flicked your forehead and his gaze becomes soft as he stares at you, his large hands not pulling back from how it gently cradles your face.
"i've been into your annoying ass since you yelled at those bullies for picking on tadashi." he mumbles, a fond look in his eyes.
your eyes look over him rapidly. "i don't get it. how? why?"
he pinches your cheek, rolling his eyes. "you keep saying that and it's really annoying." he continues, "it's simple. you're...you're a much better person than i am. you're smart...and funny. and you understand me even when my words don't always say what i mean. you've pushed me to be a better person." he tries to make himself smaller, wanting to escape his vulnerability, but it's hard when you're a walking lamppost.
"i can't stand the sight of other guys looking at you. at thinking they have a chance with you. call me a hypocrite because i know i'm the last person who deserves a chance with you, but—" he cuts himself off, fiddling his his hands.
"but what, kei?" you push, heart pounding.
"but i want one anyways. i've never felt like this with anyone before and i don't want to stop now. i...i'm willing to take the chance to ask to go out with you...even if i know you deserve better than me." he explains, head bowing low.
this time, you reach up and flick his forehead.
"ow? what the hell, dumbass?" he scowls.
"it's annoying when you do that, too," you say, teasing, "you always undermine how brilliant you are and it has to stop. you may be an asshole, but you're also perceptive, and caring, even if you don't really know how to show it in conventional ways."
he doesn't say anything because he knows you're right.
you speak again. "for the record, i think that you're pretty amazing. and a lot of other people think so too. learn to give yourself more credit, kei."
"i can say the same about you." he says, brushing hair back from your face. his eyes shift down to your lips before looking away just as quickly. his single strand of vulnerability left snaps.
"c-can i kiss you?" he stutters, and you're shocked to see the snarky blonde asshole you know in such a shy state.
"yes," you breathe, "please."
he can’t resist when you ask so nicely and look so pretty right in front of him.
and what you learn is that kei's kisses are sweeter than any words that can come out of his smart mouth. how that is possible, you don't know. but you surely don't mind at all.
he tugs you close to his body, his scent overtaking your senses. he smells like mint and whatever cologne he put on today and it's easily your new favorite aroma.
you pull away and can't help but note how pretty kei looks after kissing. hair disheveled, swollen lips, glossy eyes, and glasses nearly falling off his face. you quietly laugh and push the frames back up his face.
"i love you, you know." you say, holding his face.
he leans into you, kissing your palm as he reciprocates the words in a quiet voice. a quirk in his lips and he adds, "i would hope you do. i don't want to be seen having to return to build-a-bear for a second time to return a bear."
you grin, holding up the bear teasingly. "this plush?"
"oni-chan said i should give you something...that you'd appreciate. it's yours as long as you don't replace me with it." he answers, red creeping up his neck. "if you do, i'll return it."
"don't worry, kei. i promise not to replace you with a stuffed animal when i need cuddles." you latch onto his arm, clinging to him easily. he tugs you impossibly closer.
sending yamaguchi a text thank you and a picture of you with your new bear—now named tadashi—with an annoyed tsukishima holding you tight in the photo. 'new family photo! you were right!'.
yamaguchi only grins at the message, laying back on his bed as he smiles. his work as cupid is over. he'd figure out the third wheeling issue later.
for now, mission accomplished.
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do not copy and or repost. likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated though! (c) 2022 hyeque
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be-with-me-so-happily · 10 months
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Hey I was wondering if you had any good angst recommendations with some smut??
Holy shit, it's so difficult to name them all! Haha! Here is a list of my favorite fics (at least the ones I've had time to write down because there's a lot!)
But... I do wanna give some shout-outs to some of my top, all-time-favorite series'. These are in NO particular order, and again, there's so many that I love, so check out those other recommendations.
in my feelings - @harrystylescherry
completed series featuring famous Harry and Vogue journalist YN, an amazing story of enemies who end up having sex and catching super complicated feelings. It's crazy how chaotic these two are together but it's amazing.
wish upon a star - @mysweetestcreature
completed series about stepbrother Harry and stepsister YN, who have basically grown up together, with a taboo and secret love that nobody can know about, especially their parents.
spare parts - @around1302
completed series (definitely one of my top faves) about Harry and Charlie, who are put into a band together with 3 other guys. She hates him, and maybe he hates her, but things get complicated when they make a secret sex pact.
since 2010 series - @watermelonsugacry
ongoing series (another top fave from my love) about famous Harry and 1D bandmate YN who aren't allowed to have feelings for one another, but they do, unknown to each other until they have a very complicated, on and off again situationship. Amazing song inspos and so much detail!
the queen's secret - @gurugirl
ongoing series about royal Harry and Queen YN, who are forced into an arrangement to conceive a baby for YN's husband, the King. But of course, things get complicated quickly, and their secret love puts everything in jeopardy. This is probably the definition of angst and smut combined!
you're just someone i want around - @adashofniallandasprinkleoflunacy
ongoing series about vampire Harry who only goes to clubs to satisfy two needs- sex and human blood. He comes across YN and everything about her begins to change everything about him, except his immortality. This isn't as angsty as some of the others but it's so smutty and so good.
mr. & mrs. hey soul sister - @freedomfireflies
completed series (from an amazing writer) about famous Harry and YN, who wake up from a drunken night to find out they got married. With Harry's reputation at stake, they try to figure out what the best course of action is, which becomes unclear when feelings get involved
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librarycards · 5 months
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hello! i apologize in advance this is probably something that you get asked a lot. but do you have any recs on literary magazines to submit to? im a trans poet, ive been writing for over a decade but never shared anything and ive been wanting to try to send my stuff to get it published somewhere. obv ive been google searching but theres so many big and small publications and i was wondering if you have ones you like especially and/or tips on how to choose a magazine/journal to submit to. thanks a lot! <3
no worries, thank you for reaching out!! i've been publishing for like 8 years + an editor for almost 4, so i always appreciate the opportunity to help people new to the world find ethical publications that will treat their work with the care it deserves.
first and foremost: there are going to be pubs out there that are awesome and i don't know about. you may be the one to discover them for yourself! one aid in finding the best mag for your work is the wonderful, writer-created chillsubs. it's a fantastic platform that keeps a huge list of mags and presses and their relevant stats, and lets you create an account and bookmark those you're interested in. everyone i know uses them, and it's very worth it given the sheer volume of mags out there.
i also have some recs of my own, ofc. i'm going to list them below. if they pay (which i prioritize) I'll mark them with a $. some are trans/queer focused and some aren't, but all are pubs i've either edited and/or published with and can confirm their ethics + respect for writers.
manywor(l)ds - my mag! i'm co-founder and eic. break genre _ shapeshift with us. ($)
Sinister Wisdom - old, well-regarded lesbian+ lit mag, now open to everyone who is/loves a dyke. I'm guest-editing an issue on Madness with them, now open for submissions!
fifth wheel press - run by a beloved friend and comrade of mine. i've published here. excellent transparency, care, great for first-timers. ($).
kith books - headed by trans literary icon kat blair. a mag/press/community centered around bodymind non-conformity and noncompliance.
Honey Literary - QTPOC-centered, unabashedly pop-culture + social justice oriented. the vibes are simply immaculate.
Whale Road Review - not queer/trans focused, more oriented toward....'grown up' poetry/prose/pedagogy papers. Katie Manning (eic) is a fucking gem.
Graphic Violence Lit - just had my first experience publishing with them, and their care + consideration for the whole writer is amazing. they publish boundary-pushing work.
beestung - one of the brainchildren of Sarah Clark. nb/gq/2s SFF. I just edited a few guest issues w them and have published with them. amazing work. ($)
A Velvet Giant - genrequeer work. the editors are experienced, enthusiastic, and amazing at promoting writers long after publication. it's a family! ($)
Ethel Zine + Press - handmade with love by Sara Lefsyk (as you can see, trans/nonbinary/2s sarahs dominate indie publishing, as well we should :3). Sara is a sensitive and care-full editor and bookmaker whose every publication is a work of art.
Protean - pro- as in proletariat. awesome left mag with a mix of politics and culture and everything in between. they take reprints! ($)
Mudroom - publish your work along with a picture of your mudroom/shoe rack. very responsive editors who will hype you tf up. ($)
The Institutionalized Review - for psych survivors. the editors concreteness of vision and dedication to their community know no bounds.
Just Femme + Dandy - queer and fashion-focused! led by the inimitable Addie Tsai. They pay *handsomely*. ($)
In addition, there are also some "big" mags I have had excellent experiences publishing with and wanted to shout out. These are harder for a beginner to break into, but worth keeping on your radar + have been fantastic to me as a writer.
Electric Lit
Split Lip Magazine
The Offing
Nat. Brut
Santa Fe Writers' Project
Bodega
New Orleans Review
Augur Magazine
I hope this is helpful to you + others! the literary world is ever-changing and this is just a snapshot. Hopefully you find some that you like!
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cartierdreamx · 11 months
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HER MUSE (18+)
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hi my little honey bunches! i hope your weekend was amazing and that this week brings you joy, laughter and love, as promised, this is my 400 follower smut oneshot special!!! congrats to @tamberandwenclairenjoyer for guessing my name but definitely a special shout out to those who tried so so hard to guess, and wow you guys tried hard, and a big shout out to you, my fellow readers <3 i may not be the biggest writer or get a lot of notes (it’s a hit or miss most times), but i wouldn’t be here with my little family if it weren’t for you, so thank you <3 i appreciate every single one of you and am 4ever grateful you enjoy my work. J <333
to my beautiful muse, @talialeih 🤍
Pairings: jenna ortega x fem! Reader 
Warnings: SMUT, just pure filthy smut, the filthiest thing i have ever written, possessive jenna. 
Summary: sometimes you seem to forget that you’re hers and only hers. 
Words: 5k+ 
This fic is STRICTLY 18+, as it involves adult themes, minors DNI, you are responsible for your own social media intake, which includes reading entertainment, which this fic falls under, so one last warning- this fic is 18+. Thank you!
*though my fics have real people, my fics are just for entertainment and far from reality*
~~
“Baby?” You hear a distant voice in desperation, “are you doneee?” Your beautiful yet very impatient girlfriend annunciates from the other side of your door, you can’t help but giggle at her childlike attitude, she was older than you by just a few months but sometimes you can’t help but think you’re the older one.
Placing your second earring in, you take one more look at yourself in the mirror, wink, and glide towards the door where you’re your restless love sits on the other side. Once you open the door, Jenna’s clearly annoyed facial expressions soften up, the sight of your beauty had enough force to relax her eyebrows and jaw, unhinging it from itself as she subconsciously drops her mouth wide open, you swear you see saliva build up as she salivates over you. Walking over to your girlfriend as she leans on the back of the couch, placing yourself between her legs, you close her jaw and lift it just slightly, so your eyes are locked.
“Perfection takes time.” You say as you jokingly wipe the corner of her mouth as if some of her drool escaped her lips.
“You are always perfect, mi cariño, so time is nothing.” Jenna coos at you, now caressing your waist and looking you up and down as she bites the inner tissue of her lip, making your cheeks erupt in red.
“What happened to the rush? You were practically begging me to hurry up.”
She lets out a huff, still locked on your figure, the grip she has on your waist even tighter and possessive than before, her entire body was on fire. On fire, because of you. “I don’t even think this dinner is that important, let’s just stay home and relax, I can help you take your dress off.” She mumbles trying so hard not to let you see her desperation, but it was too late, you could see how hungry she was for you, how she wanted your sweet nectar smeared all over her lips.
Lucky for her, you felt the same way, the way you longed for her slender fingers to be in you, hooking the tissue around it, her fingers were sure to be cold resulting in an extra loud gasp as you welcome her in. How you craved to sit on her lap with your arms slinged over her neck, whispering nothing but seductions into her ear making her neck hairs stand. The hunger she felt was mutual, you were just doing a better job at hiding it. Ironically, being the better actor despite you being a writer.
You tsk at her lust, “Come on baby, we can’t be late,” leaning in you tease, “maybe later you can take this off.”
Despite Jenna claiming this dinner wasn’t important and staying home would be the better choice, to absolutely no one’s surprise, not even the flies the linger in the backyard, she was lying, this was Anne Hathaway’s annual formal dinner, at first you were Jenna’s plus one but as your writing grew, as you made a name for yourself, that didn’t have Jenna plastered on it, you became a guest, just like Jenna. Of-course, being each other’s forever person, you two always went together, politely denying Anne’s generous plus one that she gave every guest.
“What car do you want to take, baby?”
“The McLaren.” You cheese at her, “can I drive?”
“Perfect choice! And no.” She cheeses back at you; except she was playfully mocking you.
Without fail Jenna always opens the door for you and guides you in whilst she holds your hand, tonight was no different, no matter the occasion she always held doors for you, ever since meeting Jenna, whenever you were with her, all the doors would be left untouched by you. “Mi princesa,” she air kisses at you when sliding into your seat, all you could do was laugh and roll your eyes.
Once in the car, your hands head straight for the radio, connecting your Bluetooth to the screen, scrolling through your endless RnB playlist you finally settle on a song.
Don’t. Don’t play with her, don’t be dishonest (ayy).
“WHEWWWW” You scream out as Jenna starts the engine, giving it a rev before she zooms off, “I LOVE THIS SONG.” You exclaim making Jenna laugh at your infatuation with this song, RnB in general. “SING IT GIRLFRAND.” You scream one last time, hoping Jenna joins in with the singing.
Though her eyes were on you now so she could sing to you, she was a great driver and had eyes everywhere so you two were always safe, “I want you bad as EVERRRR, don’t let me just let up.”
“I wanna give you better, baby, it’s whateverrrrr.” Continuing on, a few more lines of you two belting each word out as if you were front row and Bryson’s concert, you two were so in love, so filled with raw emotions and lust and you didn’t think you could melt anymore in this car but as soon as the line left hand is steerin’ the other is grippin’ your thigh, Jenna grabs your thigh almost man handling it that her fingers divots into your skin making you gasp a little and in retaliation she giggles.
You can’t help but cheese at her as your cheeks paint with blush, your eyes sparking at hers as your Fenty highlighter compliments your eyes, its colour and configuration, and once Jenna sets her gaze on you again, that same hungry look as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks, hadn’t eaten you in weeks, when in reality she was drowning in your ocean last night, the way your slick coated her lips and tongue and the way she transferred it to you as she made her way to your lips devouring every inch of your mouth, her tongue sliding down your throat.
A bunch more RnB songs later, mainly consisting of Frank Ocean and Giveon, Jenna pulls into the location mentioned in the invitation. Anne was a host genius, she never held her dinners at the same place and never served the same food, this year, the location felt so regal, like royalty, embodying and making homage to her Princess Diaries days. Though you two were at the gates waiting to get the all clear from the guards, you could see the tan palace adorned with ivy all over from the distance, at the end of a long drive way with pine trees and rose bushes on the sides.
“Wonder if they’re running by foot to Anne to get the confirmation.” Jenna jokes out considering it was taking a while for them to open the gate, as she grew even more restless by the second, that same hand that was on your thigh slowly starts making its way towards your garden making you perk up a bit as the soft ticklish feeling takes you by surprise, and as much as you wanted her to keep going, you know you can’t let her.
“Baby...” You breathe out, trying to collect your senses as her warm fingers hooks underneath an opening of your panties, her middle finger right above your now pulsating clit.
“Say please, pretty girl.” Jenna practically barks at you, your mind is telling you no, but your body is indicating the opposite, your desire for her to dive into you, two fingers in you and another rubbing circles on your clit as she marks every visible inch of you purple.
You lean into her ear, making your hips buck up so her finger was resting on your clit, making you seethed into her ear, “baby, no, be patient.” In scenarios like these, you barely said no, you two were always down, bathing in pleasure, juices and cum. Not wanting to take your ‘no’ for an answer she whispers back, her attempt to seduce you, “if you were a sin, you’d be the one I’d indulge in.” God, after that you weren’t sure how much self-control you had left, when most of the time, your sensualities would have none. But one of you had to remember what decorum is and unfortunately, it had to be you.
As you guide her hands out of your panties, you hear her sigh and “aww,” as she licks the finger that made contact with your clit, making you giggle, but before you could reassure her that she was sure to have all of you tonight, the guards finally come back with their confirmation, opening the gate.
“We apologise for the delay Ms. Ortega and Ms. l/n, but you’re all clear, welcome.” You and Jenna flash a smile as she starts driving off, acting as if they didn’t nearly witness a free show. Once Jenna puts the car in park amongst the other luxury vehicles, Bugatti, Porsche, a white Ferrari even, the same scenario played out, your door would remain untouched by you as Jenna scurries out and opens the door for you, taking your hand and kissing it as you step out.
As you walked side by side, arms linked, Jenna made sure to slow down when walking up the stretched out tan stairs that led up to the glorious door, not wanting you to slip and hurt yourself. Jenna was also in heels but not as high as yours and the fact that she was wearing a suit made it easier for her to walk, not having to worry about slipping on a floor length dress.
When you two reach the top, the double doors are opened from the inside with doormen in fashionable, yet regal suits on both sides, bowing their heads slightly as you both walked in, almost as if you two were royalty. And the first thing you noticed was the grand staircase that stretched from one side of the room to another, adorned with an emerald, green runner, complimenting the gold railings that had sculpted art attached to them going downwards. “Fucking you on that staircase would be a dream.” Jenna whispers into your ears, you’re not surprised that she’s still horny and fiending for you because you felt the same.
“Y/N! JENNA!” You both turn your heads and see Anne in this gorgeous gold gown with a matching cape that was longer than her dress, greeting you both with open arms. The two of you greet her with glee, exchanging kisses on the cheek, making jokes about how long you two waited to get in, which made her laugh too, she ushered you two where the rest of the guests were, the decadent dining room with a pure crystal chandelier hanging from above, the décor was on point like every other year, and despite the dinner being a big executive dinner, the ambiance felt warm and welcoming, seeing people you’re close with, people you’ve seen at Anne’s annual dinner and some new faces you cannot wait to meet. Anne’s hospitable nature tells you to help yourself to the giant charcuterie board that was almost as long as the the table itself, she also mentioned that not everyone was here, but dinner will commence then.
For the next twenty minutes you catch up with old friends, well, you don’t think you can consider them as friends as all they ever did was treat you like a daughter so if anything, old mother figures? You hoped to talk to more people, but you hadn’t seen Sandra and Sarah in so long, it was set in stone that you three would stick together, gossiping and devouring the soft cheeses and spicy cured meats laid out in front of you, making sure not to spoil your appetite for the main event though whilst Jenna mingled with others across the room.
Once everyone arrived, Anne had everyone find their seats, the name cards above the plates indicating where you were sitting, obviously Jenna would be sitting beside you, on your left, and then she sat Sandra and Sarah in front of you, as you go to check who would on your right, the fangirl in you jumps out as you silently squeal, grabbing Jenna’s attention.
“What is it, hermosa?” She asks all confused as to why you reacted like this.
“Does this card read Malina Weissman, or am I tripping?” Pointing to the card a few inches away from yours.
Jenna leans in past your shoulders to read the card and confirms your statement, “yes, baby, that does say Malina, what about it?” And once Jenna confirmed it, you try so hard to contain your excitement, you swear you nearly vibrate the entire room, “baby?”
“It’s Malina Weissman.” You finally manage to spit out, only making Jenna more confused and slightly threatened seeing you gush over another woman.
“Yes, it is, she’s an incredible and very underrated actress but what’s with the fangirling?”
“I used to be OBSESSED with her when I was younger, I fell in love with her and her character Violet when I watched ASOUE.”
“In love?” Jenna softly scoffs, she won’t admit it, but jealousy was plaguing her, and it was so obvious that everyone around you two were snickering, and this included, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, AND Anne Hathaway. You glare at them, giving them a ‘don’t instigate anything’ look but you knew they would either way.
“Well, not in love, I just had a slight crush on her, that’s all.” Pouting your lips as you lift your shoulders up and down, and before she could relax and let all her worries float away, your so-called mother figures who weren’t supposed to instigate anything, INSTIGATED SOMETHING.
“Uhhh, actually,” Sarah starts, “we heard it was a big crush, lasting a few years.” You shut your eyes hopping this wouldn’t go on, but your hope wasn’t strong enough. Rih continues, “and she even wrote and published a story on Wattpad where she was a love interest and wrote herself in as the main character.”
“YOU WHAT?” Jenna raises her voice, jealousy pouring out of her ears, you start laughing even though you wanted the instigating to stop, cupping her soft face yet tensed jaw, you reassure her, “baby, it was a long time ago.”
“Oh!” Anne starts.
You crane your neck past Jenna’s head to look at her, “oh, don’t start PLEASE.”
“We forgot to mention that y/n actually posted a tik tok about how infatuated she was over her and Malina saw and liked!” You lift your palms to your face, wanting your suffering to end.
“Both tik toks.” Sandra and Helena say in unison.
Jenna looks back at you with furrowed eyebrows, “TWO?” You give the five of them death stares, a stare only a daughter would give their mother, making them sit down and start fidgeting with their plates and start engaging with each other instead.
“Baby, you have nothing to worry about, she has a boyfriend and plus she doesn’t even swing this way.” You reassure her.
She pulls you in by your waist and nibbles your ear, whispering in “you’re mine and mine only.” Making your spine stand up straight and your neck hairs stick up, along with raising goosebumps all over your exposed skin.
“I’m yours and yours only.”
Before you two could break apart, you hear a soft cough behind you, “uh, I don’t mean to interrupt this cuteness, but it seems I’ve been seated next to you.” You turn around and see a beautiful woman with brunette hair, bangs, legs for days, the bluest eyes and the softest white skin you’ve ever laid your eyes upon. Brunette and bangs, it seems like you have a type.
Your eyes light up, “hi! Sorry, it’s so nice to meet you,” you extend your hand out, “oh, get that out of here.” She softly slaps your hand out of the way and pulls you in for a tight, welcoming hug, which you gladly reciprocate, however it gets the jealousy in Jenna starting again. After introductions, well tense introductions on Jenna’s part, Anne addresses the guests and has everyone seated and excited for the first course, a seafood marinara accompanied with pieces of fresh baguette.
Once settled in, you and Malina start talking more, laughing at each other’s jokes and enjoying the delicious food plated in front of you, you didn’t mean to, but it made Jenna even more jealous, seeing her girl, her lady, her woman entertaining another. To be fair, in Jenna’s eyes, everything was exaggerated.
“NO WAY, you used to have a crush on me?” Malina asks with wide eyes.
“Yessss way, you liked my tik toks too, made me freak out so hard.”
“Ahhhh, I’m flattered really, and if I so didn’t have a boyfriend and I did like girls that way, I so would’ve asked you out.” She confesses.
Woah oh. To no one’s surprise, the instigator fives and Jenna were listening into your conversation and once the five heard what she said, they all looked at each other with yikes on their faces. Jenna on the other hand had jealousy painted all over it, red for jealousy and green for greed, the way she was so possessive over you, how she couldn’t bare seeing you being flirted with. It wasn’t toxic or anything because it didn’t hurt you, actually you found it hot and attractive. Knowing she can’t make a scene, she grits her teeth and digs into the main course a surf n turf, which included seared steaks and the biggest lobster tail your eyes set on.
Halfway through eating the main course, you feel cold slender fingers caress your thigh up and down, you try your best to ignore it as you and Mali were locked in a conversation, but the more she moves towards your pussy, the harder it is for you to hold conversation with Mali. But because luck was on your side, someone from the other side of Mali, asked her a question, which she politely paused your conversation to answer them, giving you the chance to once again guide Jenna’s hands away from your pussy.
“Jenna, come on, decorum.” Was all you could say to her before turning back to Mali as her conversation was over with the other person, the fire in Jenna was burning with jealousy and now she was starting to get mad at you, the way you keep entertaining Malina, how Malina was gawking over what’s hers.
After the food part of the dinner was over, everyone was free to roam and mingle around the palace, Jenna was quick to leave her seat but you didn’t think anything of it, instead, you and your new friend Mali decide to continue your convos while touring the place. After five minutes, you find yourself admiring this giant painting and its colours with her along with talking about other things.
“Oh my, I forgot to mention earlier, but congrats on the new season of Black Mirror!”
“OH EM GEE, you watch it?”
“YES! I’m a big fan of Black Mirror and when I found out you were writing for season six, I was so stoked, I’m a huge fan of you and your work, so this was such a cool thing to experience.”
“Well, I am flattered, thank you very much.”
“Nooo, thank you.” Both of you guys start laughing, you don’t notice that Jenna found you guys and now is walking towards you two, but Mali does.
“Ah, there she is, your muse.” Mali points to Jenna and waves hello, Jenna waving back even though her feelings were all over the place.
“Her muse,” Jenna repeats, wrapping her arm around your waist, holding onto it tightly, a lot more than usual but it felt nice so you didn’t object to it.
“I really do hate to barge into this conversation, but could I steal y/n away for a moment?”
“It’s no problem at all, please go head, go do some cute couple shit, I’ll be around.” And with that, Jenna smiles at her, and whisks you away, you didn’t even have time to collect your thoughts or say a proper bye, to be fair you thought you’d be back. But now, Jenna leads you into one of the many luxurious bathrooms and locks the door shut.
“Baby?” You ask all confuse.
“The only words that will leave your mouth next is yes ma’am.” She says, ever so dominantly.
Not wanting to piss her off even more, which clearly you have, you comply, “yes ma’am.”
“Am I yours?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Only yours?”
“Yes ma’am.”
She takes a step closer to you, pinning you up against the wall with her own body, “then tell me, pretty girl,” all of a sudden, she brings her hand to your neck and grabs it, softly choking you, you can’t help but moan in the process, “why are you entertaining others?” Your mouth drops.
“Baby, I’m not.” You release in gasps, trying so hard not to moan, knowing she’d use it against you.
“No?”
You shake your head. Jenna notices the breathing pattern you’re releasing and realises it’s the same one you harbour when she’s fucking you senseless. “Oh, baby, are you my good girl?”
“Y-yes,” you manage to spit out, “please, just.”
“Just what? You want me to fuck you so hard that it’ll shut you up? Punish you for entertaining others, and you’d enjoy every single second of it, like the naughty girl you are, taking pleasure in something so dirty.” The grip on neck was stronger than ever, but Jenna knew how to do it properly, the safe way, making sure she didn’t suffocate you and that you were still able to breathe.
“God, yes, please, J-Jenna.” You start begging.
“Begging already?” She laughs at you, now letting go of your neck and grabbing both your hands and pinning them up above your head, “you’re pathetic, and easy.” She spits out.
“Please, I take pleasure in you, mark every inch of me, let the whole world know who I belong to.”
She scoffs, “you’re such a good girl, you’d let me do anything to you, let me mark every single inch of your body to show everyone that you’re mine and only mine, my good, obedient slut.”
“Yes.” You breathe out, lunging your head forward to get even the slightest taste of her.
“Oh? You want a kiss, not that easy, baby, you have to work for it.” She slowly lets go of your hands as she starts sucking on the top of your boobs, on the skin that is exposed, but she doesn’t stop, her hunger takes over, she pulls down the fabric covering the rest of your boobs and then she goes ham, sucking in your nipples, pleasuring your areolas, devouring each boob as if they were her last meal.
Your moans started soft, Jenna couldn’t hear them as she was too focused on smothering herself into you but as her force grows stronger, your moans grow louder, “nope,” she mumbles, she lifts her head up and locks eye contact with you, “you start moaning, and I stop, you think I’d give you the satisfaction of moaning after your little stunt? You thought wrong.” The gulp you let down was so strong you almost choke but you didn’t want Jenna to stop so you give into her commands.
Once she’s satisfied with your boobs, she starts caressing your curves as she starts kissing downwards, once she reaches your pussy, she takes one leg and slings it over her shoulder and you instinctively wrap it around your neck, lucky for her, the slit in your dress made it an easy access of her. She pulls down your panties and starts kissing the base of your vagina, working her tongue down to your clit, making you gasp, quickly realising what you had down, you place your palm over your mouth, hoping you don’t start moaning.
As she continues to lick every inch of your pussy, sucking the folds, sucking your clit and occasionally sticking her tongue into your entrance, you buck your hips towards her, wanting to make the most out of her tongue. She’s eating you out so good, she has all of you, every inch of your skin, every syllable that leaves your mouth, every letter of your name, it’s all hers. That tight coil feeling you know all too well starts building up and from the countless times Jenna has fucked you, she knows you’re close. But she can’t let you off that easily, once your eyes roll at the back of your head and your mouth opens, just waiting for a moan to escape, she pulls away. Looking at you with an evil grin plastered on her face.
“Fuck.” You mouth off, “why’d you stop?” Almost sounding annoyed.
“Well, well, well,” she laughs, “look who’s annoyed now, you want me to keep going?”
“Yes.” You moan.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, please, please Jenna, I need you in me, need your tongue to devour every bit of me, please.”
“Begging for me to fuck you?” She looks at you with pride on her face, “how pathetic,” she spits. “I want you to kneel like the good slut you are ang beg for it, beg me to fuck you mercilessly.”
You lean in to kiss her and as you let go of her top lip, you find yourself slowly kneeling down, not breaking eye contact and once you’re on your knees, you look at her with soft eyes, she grabs your jaw and lifts it slightly upwards, raising her eyebrows at you.
“Jenna, baby, please, I need you, need you so bad, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to entertain her, I’m all yours, all yours to love, to use, to fuck, like the good slut I am.”
“Whew, hermosa, you drive me crazy, you want me to fuck you so bad?” You nod like a spring bouncing up and down. “You want me to use the strap?”
You gasp with excitement, “yes, baby, please.”
“Okay,” she caresses your cheek with her thumb, “we’re going to go home, tell Anne you don’t feel well, and then when we get home, I’m going to fuck you mercilessly, you want to be my slut so bad? Then my slut you shall be, and you’re going to take every single inch of me like the good girl you are, you’re mine, y/n, I’ll have you wishing that you never disobey me again.”
~~
The drive home was tense, there was so much tension in the air, you swore Jenna was going to stop the car and fuck you right there, on the side of the road. “God, you’re so tempting,” was the only thing she said to you on the way home, and as the metres grew shorter, the more your excitement grew stronger, once the car was in the garage, Jenna practically leaped out of her seat to open the door for you, once you stood up, you grabbed her collar and started violently making out with her, she pins you up against the car, slowly untying the back of your dress, as you slowly undo her buttons.
“Well Ms. Ortega, your lapel seems to harbour a lot of buttons, trying to make me work for it?”
“Always.”
As both of you are tongue deep in each other’s throats, you lead one another to your bedroom, slowly removing clothing on the way, where all carnage breaks loose. You start whimpering as you beg for her to take you, impatience as she attaches the strap and as she turns around, your mouth starts to salivate, moaning at the sight of her.
She signals at you to come forward, and you obey, “I bet you’re so tight and wet.”
“Come and find out.” And with that, she pushes you onto the bed making your boobs bounce as a result of recoil, she lifts both of your legs up and slings it over her shoulders, once again wrapping them around her neck as a reflex. She starts pounding into you and all those moans you held in earlier were letting loose, each pound resulted in a moan louder than the last. She was ravishing you, and though her strap was artificial, she could feel your walls closing in, she could feel the warmth and the slickness, you were so wet, she swore you formed an ocean.
With each thrust into you, the pleasure is too overwhelming that grab onto the bed sheets, with one hand near your mouth as you bite down on the side of your wrist, ensuring you leave a mark. “Yeah? You like that baby, don’t you.”
“F-fuck, yes, yes I do.”
“Say my name, y/n, say it.”
“J-J-Jenna, fuck, Jenna.” You moan out in small, short breaths, barely being able to say her name correctly.
“Good job, my sweet girl, now say your name, your pussy deserves praise too.”
“Fuck,” you start but now she’s pounding even stronger with long forceful strokes, “fuck, it’s.”
“It’s?”
“It’s- baby, I can’t, please, I need to cum, please let me cum.” That same coil feeling in your stomach is back but now it’s stronger than ever, considering you didn’t get to cum back in the bathroom. You can see the sweat illuminate Jenna’s beauty, her mouth open as she’s close to cumming too, your orgasms were always in sync.
“Mhmh yeah? Me too, fuck, fucking you so good, you forget your own name.” She moans, now grabbing your boobs and squeezing them like two big oranges, “who do you belong to?”
“You.”
“W-who?” She stutters out as her climax reaches ever so closely.
“Y-you, baby.” The same stutter gets to you as your climax is inching closer.
“My name, y/n, fuck.”
“I’m y-yours, Jenna-”
“Y/N!”
“FUCK.” You both say in unison as your orgasms crash into you two like a freight truck, her strokes slows down, helping you ride out the high, her breathing labours and so does yours, gasping for air like it was a contest, and as she pulls out, your slick connects your pussy and her strap, taking off the strap she then takes her hand and collects your juices and spreads it along your lips, tempted to lick it off, you don’t, you know what’s next. She crashes onto your body, onto your lips kissing your juices, your cum off your lips.
“You taste divine, cara mia.” She mumbles in between breaths, making you giggle, and as she moves off of your body to lay next to you, still kissing and biting every inch of your lips, “you drive me absolutely crazy, sweet girl.”
You pull away, “that’s the plan,” you cheese at her, shuffling your body down a bit so you could lay your head on her boobs, relaxing as the night goes on, you two are sure to fall asleep within the next hour but now you bathe in the pleasure, the lust, the love you two share with each other and no one else.
“You’re mine, and mine only.”
 ~~
a/n: you get a cookie if you can find all of the frank ocean references in this fic hehe, a kiss if you’re my wife, also extra points if you can guess the singer in the second pic i used 😚. fun fact, the entire Malina Weissman thing is 100% real, real to me, I used to have the FATTEST crush on her (still do) and she did like two of my tik toks!! Oh and that wattpad story… uh, next question😁
also sorry if like there’s mistakes, it’s 9am and i haven’t slept in like 19hrs so bare with me 😭🤍
tag list: @talialeih, @alexkolax (idkw it’s not working but you asked me to add you to my tag lists!! <3), @iamthewoe
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getawayfox · 6 months
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My favorite reclist of the year! It’s the best excuse to reread beloved fics and shout about them again. I couldn’t wait any longer to post it, so, without further ado: here are my personal favorites from 2023 and why I love them, along with a banner I’m really pleased with. 
Thank you, sweet writers, for giving us your wonderful stories. Wishing everyone a happy December and an amazing and soft new year!
I Fall On Grass by @tackytigerfic Drarry, T, 3.1k
I adore stories with mature characters and this one is no exception. It’s so charming: gentle pining over the years, throughout the realities of life and parenthood, written with such a light hand. And lovely worldbuilding of a slow life that they built for themselves, which left me smiling the whole day after reading it. It feels like a soft caress for my soul.
It’s Me or the Peacock by harrows Drarry, T, 4.6
Do you ever feel like reading a fun, lighthearted fic that will have you grinning all day? Look no further, this is the one. Picture this: established Drarry taking the plunge to move in together, except Draco is bringing his “avian third wheel” with him, adding a feathered twist to the mix. Harry can’t quite believe what’s happening and that’s not even the half of it. This fic is a delight!
Sun Shower by @moonmanatee Drarry, T, 6k
Meet Orkie (short for Snorkel), the delightful cat who loves his boy Harry very much. They share a special bond, silently understanding not to delve into the origins of their pasts. What matters most is their companionship and the comforting routine they’ve woven together. Now, enter Draco Malfoy, a fashion icon with phenomenal outfits, his mud-loving dog, Hubert, and a dash of mouthwatering culinary creations. Your heart will grow three sizes by the time you’re done reading; mine certainly did.
Birds Behaving Badly by @peachpety Drarry, E, 10.5k
Oh, this fic!! I swear my whole body was wiggling with delight when I read it – it’s hilarious and hot and so witty. Draco has a type, which leads to a fun case of mistaken identity, all artfully resolved with the intervention of a conniving seagull, Kevin. Brace yourself for some sassy Slytherin banter, side characters so vividly portrayed they’ll steal your heart (Goyle, I’m looking at you), and the enchanting backdrop of a magical Brighton in the summer. Cue the squeals of delight! 
A Saviour’s Guide to Manners and Decorum by @wolfpants Drarry, E, 13k
I have read every fic Wolf has written this year and, let me tell you, choosing just one feels like an impossible task – I wish I could include them all. But here is my pick, and it’s not because it happened to be my birthday gift. This fic is a gem, seamlessly blending humor with a soft, wistful touch (oh, and do I need to mention it’s also incredibly hot?). It resonates because Harry just wants to be accepted for who he is, refusing to change for anyone (as he rightly shouldn't!). Enter Draco, who is here to help, and not to “fix him”. Sprinkle that with a subtle hint of D/s dynamics, a generous serving of UST, and a sensual shaving scene, and you have got the perfect fic. LOVE!
I only want the ones I envy (I envy) by @porcelainheart3 Drarry, E, 13.5k
This fic is so stunning! A coming-out story with writing so clean and sharp it made me laugh out loud through (lots of) inevitable tears. It has a very competent magical inventor Draco, who wears sock garters(!). It has Harry on a self-discovery journey that feels so very real; with a heart-wrenching childhood flashback that will leave you shattered. It has the most supportive friends. It has banter and flirting and so many wonderful details (look closely at the newspaper in the fic for an extra dose of laughter). And let's not forget the most incredibly emotional blow job; talk about smut with feelings! It’s one of those fics that made me read the rest of the author’s catalog immediately (and trust me, you should too!).
A Time, Dark and Divine by @moonflower-rose Established Drarry, Draco/Ron/Harry, E, 17k
Oh boy oh boy oh boy, this fic is so scorching hot. And their dynamic is so complex: jealousy and possessiveness wrapped up in a delicious package of a boys' trip in Thailand. A stunning Ron POV filled to the brim with complicated history and tension, incredible characterization for all three of them, culminating, inevitably, in hot-hot-hot sex. I couldn’t get this story out of my head for days. If you, like me, like feelings with your smut, this one’s for you! 
Waking Up Slow by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm Drarry, E, 22k
This story is so charming and whimsical! First of all, this Draco is such an utter delight that I fell in love with him right away. He’s so entertaining! The concept of Christmas in July gives the story a wonderfully atmospheric and slightly wistful tone. Add to it a very domestic and playful dynamic between Draco and Harry, top-notch dialogue, so many creative details, and an absolutely delicious and intimate sex scene. From beginning to end, this fic is so warm and touching; a gentle romance that feels as if it was enchantingly sprinkled with a cheering charm.
the first in line by @oflights Drarry, E, 29.5k
This fic is hilarious, mischievous, and sexy all at the same time. And also a little bit unhinged in the best possible way. It had me in its grip from the very first sentence: “When the clock strikes midnight on his 25th birthday, Harry is having a threesome with a werewolf and a vampire.” (chef’s kiss!) and it didn’t let me go. We have a reluctant and grumpy Veela Harry, an over-the-top Draco, summer vacation vibes, a magical yacht, wooing with a hot air balloon (and more!), plus an absolutely delightful non-monogamous background Romione. Gah!!!
Of Magical Beings Being - Magic by @rockingrobin69 Drarry, E, 30k
What’s actually magic here is Robin’s writing. It’s… wait, I don’t think I have words for how rich and full this world is, how special! There’s pining and soft angst and an unreliable narrator and exes to lovers, but somehow all that doesn’t even begin to describe what this story is. It’s witty and fascinating and soft and playful. It’s about loving the other person so much that you do the wrong thing because you think that’s what they want, even though it hurts you. It’s about manifesting them in everything you do until they come back. It’s about Love, about Happiness. It knocked the breath out of me. It’s unbearably lovely.
Winner takes it all by @skeptiquewrites Drarry, E, 41k
This fic is absolutely devastating in a sort of gentle way. My heart broke a million times for this wonderful, hardworking, cornered Draco – who’s looking after his mum – as well as for a whole bunch of beautifully written side characters. The story starts with a bet, and from there, it unravels with Tee's razor-sharp writing, infused with nuance that makes the narrative incredibly rich and undeniably real. If you're in the mood for a cathartic cry, followed by a sweet, happy ending, don't walk – run to this fic!
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princemick · 4 months
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GOOD EVENING (for european standard time) EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO!!
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the results of the f1blr survey (if you dont care about the graphic or the most mentioned blogs here's a direct link to the form results!
if u want to leave now all I wanna do is to encourage you to take 10 minutes of ur time rn to send a kind lil message to ur fav blogs to keep the vibes going n I hope ur day is wonderful! <3
now for the most mentioned blogs which also counts as a short blog rec post according to the 73 people who answered this form!
(for clarity, I choose to remove myself from all these replies because I think it's incredibly biased and so not relevant or interesting to mention myself)
NOW ONTO THE MOST MENTIONED!!
ARTISTS!
@penaltyboxboxbox with give or take 23 mentions!
@storm3326 with give or take 13 mentions!
@ilikecarsandlike4people with give or take 13 mentions!
GIFMAKERS!
@yesloulou with give or take 12 mentions!
@argentinagp with give or take 9 mentions!
@userhamilton and @arturleclerc who both got give or take 7 mentions!
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS!
@argentinagp with give or take 18 mentions!
and then there were a lot of different people mentioned most of which about 2/3 times so here's all of those:
@queerbenched @alpinelogy @livetogether--diealone @formulaonedirection
WRITERS!
there were...lets say the most answers came form this category, most of the people mentioned were in there 2 times so here's a bunch of blogs that were all mentioned around 5-3 times!
@officialmood @bejwled @toastandvegemite @yekoc @effervescentdragon @hourcat @hungriestheidi @veryspecificfantasies
COMMENTARY!
@vegasgrandprix with give or take 7 mentions!
@karlmarxverstappen with give or take 6 mentions!
@raceweek and @race-weekwith give or take 4 mentions I think but I wouldn't be surprised if people forgot the dah so here they are together <3
and lastly, here are some replies to the share with the class question that I personally really liked!
"I love F1 even if it’s “boring”! Watching cars go 300km and hour is always fun even if the winner is always the same . For me, there’s always been Seb winning, and then Lewis winning and now Max, so it’s fun! Plus there’s always so much tea and all drivers are hilarious and I’m so fond of them! And the history is so cool!!!! And I count all the wdc champions before sleeping instead of sheeps! All I need are ferrari bedsheets, and I’m done I’m 22 how did I get to this point?"
"I've been so thankful for the support f1blr has extended to me, and it's a fandom I really feel at home in, so I'm so happy to get a chance to shout out some of the wonderful and talented people in this fandom with me! Such a fantastic idea."
"I am legit so grateful we have so many creative and brilliant people in f1blr, it makes my enjoyment of the sport I've loved for so many years that much better"
"i’ve only been on f1blr since the summer but i’ve felt soooo welcomed and made so many nice friends <333 love u guys"
"I’m so bad at remembering names but all of you have made my first year on f1blr a lovely experience!"
"Keep doing what you love! Stay safe, enjoy life, and be happy. I love you all!!! 🫶🏻"
"Looking forward to spending the '24 season with this amazing community!!"
and so so many more kind responses! thank you to everyone who participated it was really nice to see this and watch us come together for a lil pls do keep spreading the love and send out some asks to your fav blogs!!
and thats all for now, goodnight and until next time!
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heyitschartic · 5 months
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I've seen a lot of people complain on tumblr about how Worm fanfic is nothing but altpower Taylors. It's not a complaint without merit, I've been hearing it since 2017. Hell, it's something I complain about a lot too. It's true, the fandom is filled with crappy altpowers that really add nothing. But to an extent, I always feel I should push back a little against it.
Even if I do advocate for just writing your own thing, there's a really good reason so few people do. There are a good amount of Worm fanfics out there that use original characters, niche characters, or do a wild take on the premise. Not a ton, not the majority, but a good amount.
But nobody reads them.
Rank is probably one of the best stories in the fandom. Long, filled with original charscter's, and with an interesting focus on a PRT officer working in San Fransisco. It's got an amazing scope, working from when Leviathan attacked Kyushu all the way to Gold Morning and has so many brilliant setpieces and bits of world building. It's earned its spot as one of the best, if not the best, story in the fandom.
It pulled in a paltry amount of comments and likes over the years it was being posted.
I remember when I first entered the fandom, there were already people warning new writers that, while it would be cooler if you wrote about someone other than Taylor, that you'd be getting a fraction of the views. And it sucks yeah, but it's the truth. I've seen a lot of writers over the years get discouraged because stories they love and put a lot of time into just get ten likes and maybe one comment an update. A good friend of mine will only pre-write her OC stories because the absolute lack of interest is so disheartening its caused her to just give up in the past.
And it's not like people who critique Worm Fanfics for being filled with shitty altpowers even really read this stuff. Say what you will about the Cauldron discord, but it's one of the few places I've seen people push HARD for others to read this niche weird stories, and even then there's pusback or luke warm reception. It's sad to see people talk shit about altpowers, but just not really check anything else out but that in the first place. It's just as bad as if you were only reading them.
Check out stories trying something original! Luz Mala, Rank, Agent of Cauldron, City of Bones and Teeth, Diary of a Professional Knock-off, Fault, Lend Me Your Ears, Mouse Trap, Sunspot, Nightcrawler, Raccoon Knight; and those are just the ones I can name off the top of my head! There are a lot out there waiting for you to find!!!!
And how to fix it? Well, I'm not sure if there is a fix. If anything is going to work though, at least be the change. If you aren't someone whose actively reading and commenting on new fics about OC's or similar, well, what incentive is there for people to write them? Sure, a love of just creating something might push you to post, but if you feels like you're just shouting into a void, it might feel better to just not shout at all.
If you want people to write good stories, give them a reason to actually do it.
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lowkeyrobin · 3 months
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Mcyt bbut a Karen makes their S/O cry? :0
It's the readers first ever encounter with one in the wild and at first Y/N just,,, tries to ignore the woman/leave but the Karen does the usual of not letting em leave and then Y/N gets overwhelmed and starts crying?-
BAHAHHAAB I LOVE FUCKING WRITINF ABOUT KARENS I CANNOT LMFAOOOOOO ; thank you for the request lol ; I got a random strike of writers block halfway through and its very obvious I'm sorry
MCYT ; wild karen encounter
includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, tubbo, badlinu, nihachu, quackity, & foolish gamers
warnings ; language, iterations of homophobia/transphobia & fatphobia, Karen activity, reader is described as nonbinary
masterlist
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TOMMYINNIT
you two went different ways while clothes shopping and you were looking at more fem/masc (whichever doesn't conform with your sex) clothing
you felt someone glaring daggers at you so you glanced up and saw some random ass woman staring at you, accompanied by her 13ish year old son
she started making remarks about how you shouldn't be looking at those clothes and it's not "modest" for a little young man/woman like you
like mf you're nonbinary huh
you try to ignore her, meanwhile her son looks SO uncomfortable and wants to very obviously leave
she starts recording you out of no where to call you slurs and the sons just like "mom stop" and of course she doesn't
you end up crying and trying to hide it while you defend yourself but you get quickly overstimulated and flustered
the yelling caught Tommy's attention so he quickly walks over like "woah, woah, woah, what's going on?"
and she starts SCREAMING at poor Tommy about you
he looks at you literally wiping your tears while she's STILL recording it and he just peacefully flames her ass
"it doesn't matter what the hell they wear, clothes don't have gender and I could care less about what my partner buys and wears and how they express themselves. go post that to Facebook and look like a fuckin' idiot."
he pulls you away to the changing rooms so you can talk in private and eventually try on the clothes you were looking for
while he was going that he got a hold of a nearby security officer and told them about the situation since you'd both been illegally recorded on the premises of the store
he didn't wanna press charges for you or anything but at least wanted the woman escorted out to look more like a dumbass, considering the security guard had to call the police because what she did was a crime
couple days later you found the video and bodycam footage of the woman being detained and arrested for resisting arrest and recording someone without consent on private property, which is marked as a felony where you live
live laugh love Tommy bc everyone in the video description was hyping him up and saying how bad they felt for you and even the son 🫶
TUBBO
you were out looking for an outfit for the streamer awards
you were trying on a suit/dress (whichever conforms with your sex) and you spun around in front of him while he was clapping
then some fuckin asshole dude shouts a bunch of slurs at you and tells you you're going to hell??
he instantly turns around and shouts like "can you fucking stop? mind your own business, you dick!"
you were just so in shock and didn't know what to do that you started tearing up a bit in front of him and niki
tubbo sits there and argues with the guy until he's escorted out by staff, informed by niki who quickly went to go get someone and record for proof if the situation escalated
once the man is escorted out, he quickly wraps you in a hug and apologizes for getting loud, thinking he was the one to scare you to tears
compliments you and hypes you up after that and reassures you that the guy was just being a dick to get a reaction out of you
"you look amazing, don't worry, you're absolutely gorgeous in that outfit"
RANBOO
dude you can't even go grocery shopping without people bitching about you guys
you were just trying to pick out some chips and this lady walks past with a scoff
ran quickly turns around like, "Sorry, can we help you?"
she quickly starts yelling about how you gay people are all going to hell and shit
ranboo quickly spits back but you get overstimulated and really take it to heart and you tear up a bit
the lady notices and points it out
she then follows you around the store, yelling at you and shit while they're on the phone dialing the non emergency police line because wtf is wrong w this lady???
before you're questioned and after she's detained, you guys stand alone and try to calm yourself down because you were just getting really stressed about it because wtf do you even do in that situation
gives you a big hug and reassures you that it's okay to cry
he's generally just proud of you in general for being able to hold yourself together for the most part
FREDDIE BADLINU
you two were going out for a little movie date, and dressed in tuxedos to watch Saw X
some dumbass dude was making snarky comments to his wife about you two considering you were holding hands while ordering snacks
Freddie turns around, having heard the guy talking about you thinking he dropped something "can I help you?" He asks in the nicest tone possible
the man and his wife both start making nasty comments about "this generation going to hell" and how you're brainwashing Freddie or something???
you almost immediately start crying because you're trying to ignore it and talk to the girl behind the counter filling your popcorn bucket who doesn't know what to do
she quickly pushes the security button under the counter because she can see your distress and how Freddie was just like stunned as he looked between the couple and you cause like wth
once they're escorted out you're the first in the theater so you guys sit there and talk it all out because you got really overwhelmed
he gives you a hug and reassures you that you did nothing wrong and you're gonna enjoy the movie
the dude had a warrant out for his arrest for not paying child support anyways L
NIKI NIHACHU
you two were out on a walk in a park holding hands and shit and passed this little family down by the creek
the mom just goes full fucking demon mode and starts recording you guys and shouting at you
niki quickly retaliated with a "leave us alone!" before walking off
you were visibly pretty shaken but she reassures you everything is okay and she probably wasn't even recording
she ends up finding the video a few days later
thankfully all the comments were supporting you two and flaming the lady's ass lmao
QUACKITY
you guys were out doing stuff (getting shit at home depot for quackitys new house and peojects) and some Karen was judging your abilities to handy-man basically
"actually, my partner is the best handyman I know! so shut the fuck up"
the Karen immediately goes to the front to get a manager or some shit
meanwhile yall quickly checkout and leave
while leaving you see her getting detained for resisting an officer with violence and threatening an officer 🥰
that becomes a story you tell at every single "family reunion" (meetup with friends)
he still boasts about yelling at someone like that
FOOLISH GAMERS
you guys were out getting snacks for a movie night with friends that were staying over
some Karen made a comment how you needed to go on a diet or some shit since you were the one carrying the basket full of unhealthy snacks
foolish quickly whips around and flames her ass
you just kinda stand there like "wtf"
foolish slings an arm around your shoulders and leads you away since she wouldn't stop blabbering and was threatening to call the cops for some reason
back in the car he reassures you that you do not need to go on a diet and you don't need to listen to the lady whatsoever
movie night was 10/10 you watched Barbie & roasted Saltburn bc that movie wasn't good like at all
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drabbles-mc · 7 months
Text
It'll Get Done (Pt. 2)
Richie Jerimovich & F!Reader
Carmy Berzatto & F!Reader
Find Part 1 Here
Warnings: 18+, language, alcohol, canon-typical vibes
Word Count: 1.8k
A/N: My writer's block has been brutal lately because of lift things, which is deeply unfortunate because I wanted to NaNo this month. But! I did write this for these guys. I just want to put them in rooms and let them talk to each other forever.
The Bear Taglist: @garbinge @withmyteeth @narcolini @hausofmamadas @ashlingnarcos @darqchilddaydreamz @justreblogginfics (If you want to be added to any of my taglists, plesae let me know!)
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Richie didn’t make it back before the end of the day. You only noticed because the kitchen was a little quieter. Not quiet, of course, but quieter. There was one less person that Carmy was yelling at and arguing with. It was amazing how much it cut down on the noise level.
Every now and then as Carmy raced back and forth between the front and the back of the house, you could feel him lingering behind you. The kid exuded stress in a way that you didn’t know was possible. You understood why, because most people if they were thrown into his position would’ve jumped off the sinking ship rather than trying to scoop the water out with a soup ladle, but sometimes you still felt like you should strap him to the chair in the office and force-feed him some of Richie’s Xanax.
You empathized with him. Or you empathized with him at least more than Richie did, which was a low bar these days. But despite the compassion you were dredging up to give him, there were still plenty of times when you felt him standing behind him and all you wanted to do was spin back around to him and ask him what his fucking deal was. It was easier to refrain from doing that on days when Richie was there because he would say it for you.
Carmy came all but skidding back through the kitchen towards the register, going back and forth between muttering and shouting, “Behind,” as he made his way through.
“Calm down, Jeff,” Tina said with a laugh as she went to take her pot off the stove.
You felt your jaw clench on Carmy’s behalf. Tina was knowledgeable about a lot of things and one of those things was, most definitely, how to get under Carmy’s skin. It wasn’t a difficult code to crack but there were so few people in the world who could do it with such expert precision. Her and Richie were two peas in a pod that way.
“It’d be easier for me to calm down, Tina,” Carmy snapped as he kept walking, “if we were able to pay our goddamn vendors!”
She was shaking her head at him—you caught it out of the corner of your eye. But you also noticed that she didn’t say anything more about it. Content to go back and lie in wait for something else to pop up that she could nettle him about. The end of the day might’ve been approaching quickly but you had the feeling in the pit of your stomach that she would be able to find something else before she clocked out without having to work too hard.
When Carmy came back into the kitchen a little while later, he was walking at a much slower pace than he had been before. You were sure that some of that had to do with the fact that the last of the customers had left, and presumably whatever vendor that had showed up looking for money had also left.
He looked on as everyone slowly but surely worked through their cleanup processes. He wasn’t looking at you, but you still asked him, “All good?”
His head snapped in your direction. “What?”
You couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out of you. It wasn’t funny per se, but if you didn’t laugh about it you’d end up crying. “What can I help you with, Carmen?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. N-nothing. No one can help me with,” he let out a huff, raking his hands through his hair, “fuckin’ anything.”
“Little dramatic,” you replied honestly, sarcastic but kind, “but alright.”
It got a weak chuckle out of him. “You know what the fuck was going on in Mikey’s head with all that shit?” he asked as he gestured to the office.
You didn’t have to turn and look where he was pointing to know how bad the mess was. You’d seen it while Mikey was making the mess. You’d been seeing it as Carmy made almost no headway in cleaning any of it up. You didn’t blame him for that. If you’d been in his position, you wouldn’t have any idea where to start either.
“Thank fuckin’ god no,” you finally answered him.
He pressed his lips into a thin line for a second as he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah that seems to be…yeah.”
“You should—”
“You can head out, Chef,” Carmy cut you off, and you didn’t know if he even realized that he’d done it. “I’ll finish cleaning up.”
You shook your head. “I can clean up my shit.”
He motioned for you to leave. “It’s fine. I got it.”
“Carm…”
“Seriously,” he reiterated. “Go.”
You looked at him for a moment, and that’s when you could see it in his eyes, the silent plea to just let him have some time to himself. You knew that feeling—it was the whole reason you’d shown up as early as you had that morning in the first place anyway. You knew better than to tell him that he should leave. He wasn’t going to and all it was going to do was turn into an argument. You didn’t need another one of those.
“Fine,” you said with a nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
You ditched your apron and switched back into your casual shoes, stuffing everything else into your locker while you grabbed your bag and your jacket. Neither you nor Carmy spared each other another goodbye, or any other words in general as you headed out.
There was no point in getting your car keys out of your bag, not when the bar you went to with Richie all the time was within walking distance. The couple blocks felt way longer when it was cold out, but it wasn’t that bad yet.
The bartender recognized you when you walked in, giving you a smile and a nod as he moved to start pulling your drink together before you even sat down. He waited for you to get situated before asking, “Flying solo tonight?”
You laughed as you pulled your phone out of your bag. “That’s an excellent question. Let me call—” The rest of the sentence died on your tongue when the door to the bar flung open and Richie strode through. You instantly let it drop right back into your bag, eyes fixed on Richie even though you were talking to the bartender. “I’m not flying solo tonight, no.”
“Can’t believe you came over here without me!” Richie said as he walked over to you.
“Yeah, well,” you looked up at him from the stool you were sitting on as he clapped his hands down on your shoulders, “least I ordered you a drink.”
He laughed, leaning more onto you. His tone shifted completely as he spoke. “Have I ever told you that I love you?”
You rolled your eyes. “You can always tell me again.”
He kissed the side of your head. “I love you.”
“Damn right,” you said with a nod as Richie plopped down on the seat next to you. You waited until he was comfortable in his seat, leaning forward with his arms braced against the edge of the bar with his breathing evened out, before you tried to have anything resembling a real conversation. “Where the hell did you go all day?”
“What do you mean?”
“You expect me to believe that it was guys and places all day?” You were only bringing it up because, much to Carmy’s dismay, Richie usually was at the restaurant all day every day the place was open. He’d pop in and out briefly for whatever errands he assigned himself, but other than that he was present and accounted for. Being gone all day was noticeable, at least to you if no one else.
It was written all over his face that he was thinking about not elaborating. You saw the shifts in his expression as he tried to come up with a joke, or a lie, or anything besides getting into the reality of it all. But then when he looked you in the eyes again, all he could do was be honest with you. “Tiff called. Had to go pick Eva up from school.”
You nodded. “Got it.” You paused. “Wanna talk about it or—”
“No, no,” he laughed, shifting back into his usual demeanor. “We’re not doing that. You don’t get to do that.”
You let out a confused laugh. “I don’t get to do what?”
“You don’t get to try and use Eva to get out of telling me what the fuck your dumbass boyfriend did!” He paused as the bartender set both your drinks down, taking a moment to thank him before shifting his attention right back to you. “You first.”
You huffed, wishing that you could get out of it again. Even with things that were much lower-stakes, there was only so long that you could dodge Richie and his endless line of questions. You took a long sip of your drink as you tried to figure out what you wanted to say, how you wanted to try and say it. There was no way that you could tell the story that would end with him being anything but pissed off about the entire situation. You couldn’t blame him for that, either. After all, you were still pretty pissed off about it yourself.
“It’s nothing new,” you said, a cop-out you knew that he wasn’t going to accept.
He shook his head, looking down at the glass in his hands before looking at you again. “Tell me the old news, then.”
“I’m done being angry about it, Richie.”
“I’m not,” he replied with no hesitation.
It got you to laugh, at least. “That’s because you’re never done being angry about anything.”
He waited for you to look at him. “You’re really not gonna tell me what he did?” He paused, and when you didn’t say anything, he added on, “That bad?”
You shook your head, drumming your fingers on the outside of your glass. “That pointless.”
“Ah,” he waved you off with that same smirk you’d seen from him so often over the years, “another drink or two and I won’t be able to get you to stop talking shit about him.” He missed the look on your face as he looked back down at his drink and shook his head. “Fuckin’ jagoff.”
You chuckled, nodding. “Yeah—that we can agree on at least.”
“Speaking of which,” he gestured towards the door of the bar, “how was the fuckin’ executive toddler chef the rest of the day?”
You smiled, rolling your eyes. “An absolute gem once you walked out the door.”
For a split second you could see it on his face that he almost believed you. Then he smartened up and gave you a playful bump against your shoulder with his own. “Fuck you.”
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ivyblossom · 2 months
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Thank You
I'm so grateful that fandom is there and acting as the infrastructure where fanfiction can go and exist.
I realize anyone could just write fanfiction at any time and it could exist without a fandom to hold it. But people who have the creativity, strength, and courage to create things that don't have a place to exist are rare. Those are paradigm-shifters. Not everyone is a paradigm-shifter.
I'm not a paradigm-shifter. I think if I'd known that fanfiction had a place to go and exist when I was tiny, I would have started writing it the moment I could hold a pencil. But I didn't know, and without that infrastructure and a place to hold the thing, it's just so much harder to see it as an option. It's not always so easy to just do what you want, especially when you're younger or less confident, or if you still follow rules, or believe that rules like that are real things.
So whenever I see posts about the importance of feeding fanfic authors with kudos and comments, I hesitate a little. Because, sure. I get it. It's good to know you're not just shouting in the void, and the engagement with other people who dig your idea is absolutely amazing, it is. It feels great. Feedback is terrific. And I have been incredibly lucky in that regard for the whole of my fanfiction career to date. I wrote shitty fanfiction when I started out, and someone was kind enough to very gently school me to make me better, too. So what would I know about voids and silence? Nothing.
But I can't stop marvelling at the fact that I get to write the thing I feel compelled to write, this thing that's fighting its way out of me and will keep clawing at me until it gets out, because there's a place for it to go where it will be understood and it can exist. I can write it and then look back at it and tell it it's pretty and I love it, and then I can put it somewhere where it can live and where it can be understood, where it will part of a larger community of things that look like it, where it belongs. And then I can look at it and say, there you are. You're where you need to be now, and I'll always know where to find you.
Other people engaging with it is a whole other level, and it is so incredibly delightful, but the relief and pleasure of having what amounts to permission to lovingly expel a super self-indulgent, or silly, or wacky story and see it safely home is so immense I don't know how to properly articulate it.
Comments and kudos are amazing, I love them and I'm grateful for them, and there are so many brilliant and insightful people in fandom who have turned my world upside down with their commentary. Their work in that regard matters a lot, it's life-changing stuff, but comments and kudos aren't the cost of admission. Comments and kudos are fanwork in the same way that fanfiction or fanart is fanwork, as far as I'm concerned. As a fanfiction writer, my fanfiction exists because I wanted it to and I need it to. It's my self-care, it's my hobby, it's my joy. Engagement with it is fanwork and a gift, not payment.
Thank you for being the community where fanfiction can go and exist. Thank you for making space for it to belong somewhere. Thank you.
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gatorskulls · 4 months
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Super excited to finally share my full piece for @mcrswarmzine !! I'm so happy that I was able to be part of such a massive project with so many incredible artists and writers. Also, shout out to the mods Cieara, Amanda, Nick, and Luca for undertaking the logistical side of this zine. Y'all are amazing.
If you're unfamiliar, SWARM: Answering the Call is a charity zine with the goal of bringing artists and writers together from all over the globe to express how the MCR return tour personally impacted them. The preorder period for physical copies and merch ended in October, but you can still purchase digital copies here! As of December 2023, the zine has raised $10,000 for Black & Pink, an organization dedicated to prison abolition and supporting incarcerated LGBT+ people and those living with HIV/AIDS.
Again, I'm so honored to be part of a project that brought the fandom together in this way.
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Ayo Sidebar for the Writers
Am I the only one that genuinely feels really really bad for that person on here who hand draws those really really nice portraits of Miguel??
EDIT: THEY'RE DIGITAL WHICH IS ALSO INSANE BECAUSE THEIR ART STYLE GOES SO HARD EXCUSE ME
Because the amount of writers in this fandom that are comfortable with just taking and cropping their art for their fics is deadass disrespectful as hell.
Like.. it's everyday. Multiple people do it. You know the artist I'm talking about. Like -
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Very bold of y'all. Stealing art then posting it in the SAME TAG as the artist like they wouldn't see it.
That takes a lot of nerve.
Some are y'all are cheeky and put it at the very end - some of y'all just don't fucking care.
'the signature is in the photo so-'
Okay but thank them. Tag them and shout them out and thank them. Thank them for making art that is bringing in readers.
Go ahead and thank them.
But you can't. Y'all won't. Cause you know they don't want you using their stuff without asking first.
Posting someone else's art with credit but without consent is already one thing. But y'all don't even care about credit.
But let someone take y'all writing and you'd be kicking off, rightfully so.
I feel real bad for that artist because their work is stunning and top tier and they're amazing talented.
Yet there's some ppl that be like -
'thanks!' *likes, doesn't reblog, crops their signature out and uses it without consent*
????????????
Like.. having uncredited art at the top of your fic doesn't make it look prettier or more inviting to me.
In fact it makes me wanna read it less. I try and check profile pictures so I remember who to avoid in the future.
Like every time I see it I'm like
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Uuhh uuuum okay yeah -
Why should I respect your art when you clearly don't respect someone else's?
I'll open the fic and scroll to the bottom knowing they didn't give credit. Or they put it in tiny font.
That artist deserves better. A lot of artists in this fandom deserve better. Y'all do it to Miguel artists. Y'all do it to Hobie artists.
Not cool. Not cool. Lame. Boooo booooooooooo Me and Hobie shouting BOOOO!!
Writers, Artists are protective of their art too!
Not nice working 10+ hours on art just to see it on the post of a complete stranger with no credit or attempt to contact you for consent.
If you do this - you can change. Doing this may in fact be HURTING your numbers but driving people away. But the point is not the notes but respecting other people. If you do this, please stop. Credit them at the top if anything - some artists don't even want that.
Credit them AT THE TOP - not at the bottom. Everybody who scrolls by sees the art. The credit shouldn't be saved for the people who actually read the whole fic.
If you defend this - KICK ROCKS!!!!
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mabermaple · 10 months
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Pawsitively Persistent 🧶(1/2)
pairing: ellie williams x reader
synopsis: ellie so desperately wants to adopt a cat, even with you saying no to her multiple times, she stays persistent in asking for one. with her birthday coming up, you decide it's the perfect time to get her one!
warnings: sfw!, reader is more of the desicion maker in their relationship! ellie being cutesy n all.
a/n: hi! this is part one of two. this is my first ever fic so pls be nice or i'll cry <3 shout out to all those amazing writers, you've given me so much inspiration and help on how to format! this is my own idea but idk if anyone has done it before, so if it seems familiar pls lmk, i dont want trouble 🥲
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Those were just the very few conversations you and Ellie would have. Her being persistent as ever, and never taking no for an answer.
Of course there were times where you felt bad turning her down, you both always got each other what you want! But having an animal in the house was a different conversation.
Ellie specifically wanted a kitten, she said "It's so that the kitten gets used to us! What if we get a middle aged cat and it hates our guts, then what?" ...By middle aged, she probably meant like a three or four year old cat, but you cant really bring yourself to disagree with her, neither of you've owned a cat before anyways..
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a couple days later
It was your day-off from work today! After watching endless tiktoks for whoever knows how long, you get up from you and Ellie's shared bed and head towards your door to get a snack in the kitchen. As your hand meets the bedroom door handle, your eyes catch sight of your calendar, which hung right behind your door. There, written in pink ink, Ellie's Birthday! "Oh right! only a week left" you say. With that, you head on over to the kitchen as you make a mental note to yourself to come up with gift ideas for the girl.
As you sip cold water from your tumbler, you scroll through pinterest for gift ideas. Somehow, none of the gifts seem to spark an interest within you. They were nice, but they all felt a little bit too simple, or too extravagant. Ellie would appreciate anything you gave her, hell, you could literally just present yourself and she'd be happy! But no, you wanted to give her something.
Almost thirty minutes of scrolling has passed, still nothing. You tried tiktok, still nothing. You decide to just give up, and text Ellie in hopes of finding out what she wants for her birthday. As you click on her contact, your conversation from a couple days ago suddenly pops up in your head. Ellie really wants a cat..
Finally, you get the perfect gift idea! You wait till her break time to text her.
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Oh shit, I did not think my replies through
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She has no idea for what's about to come..
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After getting dressed and picking up Ellie from her workplace, you were finally here! "Ready to go inside?" you ask. "You have no idea how excited I am right now!" Ellie says. And she looks so giddy, like a child whose father finally gave in and allowed them to buy what they want after saying no multiple times. You cant help but chuckle. You were definitely gonna be like that father, but not today, she'll have to wait!
You were greeted by the shelter attendant once you came in. "Hello! Welcome! I'm Clara, the shelter attendant, may I know if you have a specific appointment? Or if you're here to just look around?"
"Hello! Just to look around! Specifically the cats though." You say. Clara smiles warmly at the both of you and ushers you to another employee. "This is Julie, she supervises the cat kennel, she'll lead you two inside." You both nod and say thank you, and head inside with Julie.
As you and Ellie step inside, you're both met with the sounds of cats meowing and the sight of cute kittens, which were secluded in a different area as to not get trampled by the many cats zooming around. Your girlfriend can hardly contain her excitement, as she pulls you away with her and rushes over to sit down. She's immediately stormed by cats, some literally just running over her and some crawling in to her lap. You giggle at her eagerness. Her hands going crazy petting every cat in sight.
Together you spend time interacting with the several cats up for adoption, and as Ellie busies herself, you carefully go up to Julie. "How exactly do the adoption processes go? I told her we aren't getting one at all because I'm saving the surprise for next week, her birthday" You tell her. Julie explains everything, and afterwards secretly hands you the adoption papers which you're now keeping hidden in your bag. You thank her and head on over back to Ellie, who's playing with just one cat now. Looks like she found the one, huh.
Ellie looks over to you as you crouch down beside her. "Baby look, isn't he so cute?" You take your phone out and snap a picture of her and the cat. "He does look so cute!" You eye his collar, engraved on it is his name, Biscuit. You pet him, running you fingertips on his soft fur and he gives a purr at your actions. Now that just makes you feel extra guilty– darn cat.
Your girlfriend's heart is melting at the sight of Biscuit. You can see the connection between Ellie and Biscuit growing stronger by the minute, and it warms your heart to witness their bond. You have to leave eventually and it pains you to do so. Seeing the solemn look on Ellie's face makes your heart crumble. As you leave the shelter, Ellie can't stop talking about how much she adored Biscuit and how she wishes she could bring him home.
You talk as you walk hand in hand towards the car.
"D'you have fun Els?" you ask.
"Yeah," she says with a sigh. "Reallyy wish we could've brought him with us y'know.."
You notice the defeated look on her face and it makes your heart ache. "I know baby, I'm sorry." You give her a kiss on her cheek as you say so.
You both arrive home. Kicking off your shoes as Ellie walks to the bedroom to grab a fresh set of clothes. "I'm gonna go take a shower!" Ellie yells from the bedroom. "Alright, go freshen up! I'll make us dinner!" You reply. You opt for Mac N Cheese. Homemade of course. You reheated it on the stove and air-fryed some extra bacon and chicken tenders.
After thirty minutes, you started setting the table and you called out Ellie. "El! Dinner's ready!" She was brushing her hair out when you called her. Walking in to the kitchen, the smell of bacon hitting her straight in the face. "Smells so good babe" She says, as she walks towards you and hugs you from behind. "C'mon let's sit an' eat now"
You sat beside each other, comfortable silence surrounding you both as you ate. Ellie kept moving closer to you, she keeps looking like she has something to say but is hesitant. Having enough of it, you pull her closer to you by her waist. "What's going on inside my baby's head, huh?" you ask her as you look in to her eyes. Your actions slightly catching her off guard, making her blush and shake her head signaling nothing. You drink water, still holding her close to you, "Ellie." you call. She looks at you replies timidly with a "yes?". You ask her, "Are you upset? Over Biscuit?". Her eyes moved away from your face and she looks down, she definitely isn't hiding this well.
"No?" she says.
"Are you asking me or are you telling me?"
"Okay fine– I am. I am upset over him. He was just so cute babe! I really wanted him for us.."
"Oh baby.. You know I couldn't say yes because we're both always busy with work. Who's gonna take care of your cat if I allow him, huh?" You were gonna take care of him too of course, your work schedules would allow it! You're just saying this so she loses hope.
"My cat? He's gonna be ours, not just mine." She says as she rolls her eyes. She's getting mad cause she didn't get what she wanted.
"Okay, whatever– hey! don't roll your eyes at me. Like I said, no. I'm sorry baby but no. I know you really like him but now is not the time. Maybe next year, alright?" you say as you rub her side affectionately.
Next year?! That'll take forever, but if it means surely getting a cat then she'll wait. "I'll hold on to that 'next year promise!'"
You both clean up the kitchen, you offer to wash the dishes and you tell Ellie to get some rest upstairs.
"You sure sure you don't want help?"
"Yes Ellie, now go get some rest. You've been up all day!" She hugs and kisses you before heading upstairs to your shared bedroom.
Now that Ellie's gone, you pull out the adoption paperwork from your bag and fill up all the details needed. You and Ellie were cleared to adopt already, but neither of you actually chose one to bring home, so this was gonna be a smooth process. After fifteen minutes, the paper was complete! Now all's left is to hide it, go to the shelter on Ellie's work day, and wait till her birthday.
You glanced at the clock, 12:45am it read. You kept the papers and checked the house one more time before shutting the lights and heading upstairs. Finally, you can lay in bed with Ellie and go to sleep. She was already passed out when you came inside, rough day probably. You placed your phone on the night stand and scooted closer to Ellie, you were facing her, moving to hug her in her sleep. She looked so pretty, so at peace in her slumber that you couldn't help but smile as you closed your eyes and nuzzled in to her.
Oh you couldn't wait for her birthday.
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irisbleufic · 12 days
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Of all the bullshit I never expected to be back on with the same intensity of October through December of 2000, Beetlejuice was not it. But I finally got to see the musical yesterday, and the part of me that has adored all 94 episodes of the animated series from the moment I started watching them on ABC Saturday mornings in 1989 just fucking flared—this fond, awful tightness in my chest. It’s the first TV show I ever imprinted on; it’s been with me since childhood. Surreal.
About 4 years into watching the cartoon, I finally saw the live-action movie that the cartoon was based on. I hated it, because it was so malevolent and empty compared to the incredible world-building characters in the animated series. Serious shout-outs to Stephen Ouimette and Alyson Court for all that stunning, hilarious, and often moving voicework.
Now, okay, I need to go back to 2000 again to make this all make sense. I’d watched the show from 1989 until whenever the 4th season ended. It wasn’t until I was in my first semester of college, newly transplanted to New England, that I found a couple folks within my program who had loved the show growing up, too. I ordered all of the episodes on VHS. It was difficult to track them all down in 2000, and it was expensive. But I pulled it off, and we had Friday night watch parties for weeks over the month of October. But that is not where this ends.
I was in the process of winding down the writing I’d been doing on Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow for the entirety of my senior year of high school. Suddenly, I’m in college and watching this fucking cartoon and thinking, there is so much heart in this. How the fuck is there so much heart. I haven’t seen two characters this wholesome codependent in, well, ever. I went looking for forums and mailing lists devoted to the cartoon. I found a mailing list. There were a handful of artists drawing amazing fancomics on there, and they were like, what do you do? Oh. I write. And they were like: do you understand how desperately some of us have wanted fic, but just can’t find it?
That is the wrong thing to say to me when I’m on a downward spiral of realizing I’m not going to escape a fandom without getting myself into a project so long that it’s all I’ll be doing for fucking months on end. If you’re one of the people who knew me back then, you know what I did for those four months in the fall/winter of 2000. I wrote a novel. Sure, I came close to failing a couple of classes, but it was the first time I understood exactly what I was capable of building as a fanwriter. Maybe even as a real writer.
“Time Will Tell” was hosted on a friend’s Angelfire site for a handful of years. People found it via LiveJournal, too, because I linked it there. I put it on AO3 somewhere circa 2012 and took it down again in 2017 because I didn’t feel there was enough interest in it, and also, my 19-year-old editorial foibles and typos were aspects I wanted to amend in it.
The musical took more inspiration from the cartoon than the film. I’m stunned and grateful for that. I found the “Time Will Tell” file buried pretty deep in my Gmail folders. I’ve been reading it since the drive home last night. I just can’t believe there’s now enough of a fandom for me to consider finally polishing it and getting it back online. It’s one of my two oldest surviving pieces of writing.
Anyway, sorry for the Gotham fic delays that I’d been trying to get a handle on. Now that the semester’s over, I feel that getting this thing I wrote twenty-three years ago back to the light of day is the best use of my time for a couple weeks.
If you’re one of the people who read “Time Will Tell” back in the day, thank you. I don’t know how many people out there still remember it beyond maybe ten or so friends I’m still in contact with all these years later. I’m sorry it disappeared for a while.
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bahbahhh · 11 months
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begin again
a lot of change happens in between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. let’s fill in the gaps.
zelda pov | zelink | totk spoilers | rated T zelinkweek2023 | @zelinkcommunity [first] [ ao3 ]
Again, big shout out to my beta reader @zeldaelmo who is an amazing writer for the LoZ fandom and is posting for zelink week as well. I had the pleasure of returning the favor for this totk zelink oneshot and absolutely recommend it.
chapter 2
for the prompt “forbidden”
Link’s just publicly recommended they destroy the most valuable resources available for the restoration of Hyrule and Zelda has no idea how to save him. 
Everyone just stares, and with the company they find themselves in, it may as well be the very eyes of Hyrule itself that are on him. Zelda can’t find her breath. She’s back in Blatchery Plain, drenched in rain and despair, surrounded by a swarm of corrupted guardians. Link faced a sea of eyes then, too. He stands with his back to her, just like he does now, and she watches his silhouette light up with constellations of crimson. 
He’s about to be blown to pieces right in front of her. 
She starts to raise her hand to protect him like she did that day, only to remember she hasn’t felt the hum of power, nevermind summoned the glow of golden light to her fingertips, since they destroyed the Calamity six months ago. She’s a star burnt out with nothing to show of her once formidable brilliance, but an ugly scar on her hand.
“All of it?” Impa asks, calmly.
Link nods. 
“Even the Divine Beasts?”
“Especially those,” he asserts.  
He has yet to make eye contact with Zelda again since the smile; that red herring of a smile that had her daydreaming while he nocked a kill shot. She gives up on trying to summon his gaze with her mind and glances desperately at Impa. The keeper of their histories, a guardian of lost tapestries and lessons of the past, a voice of reason in the hundred year storm—
But Zelda sees none of the women she thought she knew in the way Impa considers him. She’s got her head tilted pensively, like she might actually be contemplating what Link has said, which is impossible because he is suggesting they dismantle all the ancient relics of her people. 
Impa rotates her gaze out to the crowd and extends her hands to welcome the discussion, looking like a statue of the Goddess herself. Zelda’s heart drops into the pit of her stomach with a splash. She wants to scream, at both of them, but the continued and calm silence of the crowd is starting to feel less like they are preparing to strike and more like Link’s found the hidden door they’ve all been searching for. An emotional outburst could compromise the cogendy of any argument she might make. 
Goddess, she can still hear her father’s voice in her head after all these years. 
“Where would it all go?” Reede finally asks. 
Link crosses his arms over his chest, thinks about it for a half a second –1 like they are talking about something as simple as mending a pasture fence – and offers, “Sheikah Slate has a limitless inventory. Load it all into the Slate and then get rid of it.”
“How do you suppose we do that?” 
“Smash it with a hammer?” 
Purah gasps. “That would be such a waste, Linky! We still haven’t unlocked a quarter of the Slate’s potential.”
“You’ll build something better.” 
“Like what?” Robbie says, visibly shaken and pale.
‘That’s your thing, isn’t it?’ Link signs.
“If I may, wouldn’t destroying the Sheikah Technology prolong restoration efforts?” says Hudson of Tarrey Town. 
Link nods. 
“Did you yourself not benefit from the technology during your travels?” Traysi asks in a strangely formal tone. She lifts a pen and paper out of her lap without looking away from Link.  
He shrugs and Traysi’s expression sinks. She must be remembering he’s Hyrule’s worst interview subject. She rolls her shoulders back and tries again. 
“Wasn’t it Sheikah Technology that saved you from death?” 
An unbearable amount of guilt seethes out from wounds deep inside Zelda. Questions she’ll never feel brave enough to voice echo in the silence that follows Traysi’s: Did I make the right call? Is it what you wanted me to do? She can’t see his face, but she imagines it is unsettlingly neutral, as it always is in crucial moments of outrageous tension.  
Do you resent me for what I did? She’s screaming inside her head, glaring at the back of his skull. Unbearable heat swirls in her chest like dragon’s breath. You must! Just say you do! 
“It trapped his soul inside his body,” King Dorephan says.
Link’s body flinches. It’s microscopic. Zelda only catches it because she’s so focused on him, but she sees it, and pain blooms in the very center of her chest. 
“Mipha’s soul was trapped inside Vah Ruta after all these years, too.” King Dorephan continues. He is a monolith of a presence and yet, when he speaks about his late daughter, somehow, he’s transformed into something smaller and broken. This is the price of a long life. The Rito who flew with Revali, the Gerudo who marched with Urbosa, the Gorons who laughed with Daruk; they have all since passed. If there is grief, it is distant and therefore, instinctively more bearable. Only the Sheikah can begin to relate and still, with the Champions, the Zora stand alone. Zelda’s here. The Sheikah’s Princess returned.
The title suddenly feels too heavy again. 
“Father, her body was gone,” Prince Sidon says gently. He has tears in his eyes. Unapologetically emotional as ever, and instead of responding with rage or shame, the great King of the Zora places a hand on Sidon’s shoulders. His eyes, set beneath the mighty crown of his people, swim with tears as well. 
Zelda wilts with envy. 
“The Zora second Link’s motion to destroy all Sheikah Technology.”
“We-we would be forfeiting artifacts that have withstood the test of time and have proven immensely useful,” Robbie proclaims. For the first time, he looks his age. Shaking where he stands, shoulders crested with fatigue, his hands braced on the back of Purah’s chair.  
“When they function properly,” Teba’s chimes in. He has the kind of call that booms across the Tabantha sky. A few Ritos whistle in consensus. “Vah Medoh terrorized our people for decades. Too many Rito warriors took their final dive after it claimed the sky for the Calamity.” 
“It didn’t get you though, Dad,” Tulin says. 
Teba grins, “Right. Thanks to Link. Kaneli?”
“The Rito soar with Link.” Kaneli flashes his massive wingspan. “Destroy it all.” 
“Forget a hammer, the Gorons will take care of anything that needs smashing,” Bludo grunts.
Yubuno clenches his fists and blows out a sphere of molten light around him. “Yeah, goro! We got this!”
“We passed many guardians and shrines during the march here from the desert. They are a map of tremendous loss across Hyrule. The Gerudo cannot remember a time when this technology was useful. We only know its devastation. It is time to let the past go. Hyrule is ready to move forward.” Riju sets her hands on her hips and nods in Link’s direction. 
“Our research…we would be throwing it all away!” Purah cries, and like Robbie, she’s looking her age. Six and completely devastated the grown ups are planning to take away her favorite toy.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, Purah, Robbie, but weren’t the shrines and the Slate originally created specifically for Link? For the chosen hero?” Impa asks.
“Yes, that is correct,” Robbie says.
“And we all believe Calamity Ganon is finally vanquished, yes?” Impa turns to look at the crowd. 
“Mipha’s Grace.” One of the elder Zora crosses his fins at the same time Buliara and the other Gerudo soldiers raise their spears. Teba whistles and the Hylian’s offer the sign of the Goddess with their hands. It is a resounding and unanimous ‘good riddance’. 
“So, with this in mind, have the shrines and the Slate not served their purpose?”
“Well, yes, I suppose that’s true,” Robbie says. Purah starts pouting. Zelda can see the defeat starting to take root around the Sheikah researchers. Feels it starting to wrap around her own ankles. She feathers a hand up to touch the spot where her voice is trapped in her throat. All those years resisting her father’s guidance and now, it’s the one thing keeping her from damning herself. To this group, so revitalized by new hope, united and rising from a hundred years of ruin, her proposal of clinging to their ashes might feel like poison. 
Like malice.
“I know it feels like a waste, dear sister. Robbie. But I ask that you both consider the possibility this is not another squandering of our efforts.”
“It’s the fulfillment of them.” Paya’s voice is exceptionally steady. She folds her hands over Robbie’s and helps him peel back his fingers from the back of Purah’s chair. 
“The Zora will continue to look to the Sheikah for guidance,” Sidon says.
“It would be foolish to ignore the knowledge of the Sheikah,” Kaneli agrees.
“Like Link said, this is our opportunity to build something new for Hyrule.” Yubono pumps his fist in the air.
“Something better,” Riju adds.
“We will all have a hand in rebuilding Hyrule. From the ground up this time.” Hudson rubs his hands together like he’s ready to get started.
Tulin lets out a cheer. His voice is youthful and hopeful and infectious. The perfect song for the future of Hyrule. A few out Rito echo him and then the Gerudo join in. Then the Gorons, and the Zora and the Hylians. Impa holds her arms out to Purah and both she and Robbie lunge forward to embrace her. Link claps a few times and then finally looks over his shoulder at Zelda. His eyes are brighter than luminous stones.
He has no idea what he’s done. 
The smile was just a smile. A pathetically desperate misinterpretation on her part. He smiles because he’s polite, not because she’s something special or they are together in any of this. 
Link died on the field that day. And with him–
The pages slip from her hands. Her proposal scatters across the grass at her feet. 
She scurries to gather them up and Link immediately takes a knee to help her. Zelda snatches the pages back into her chest and recoils like the wounded animal she is. He blinks at her, a wordless question forming on his lips. The hand outstretched for the pages turns over slowly to offer his palm to her. He’s trying to help her up without any idea he’s the one who put her here.
“What says the Princess of new Hyrule?” It's Traysi’s voice. Probably ready with her pen, eager to draft a report and spit the plan for the restoration out to the Rumor Mill by sunset. 
Her hands are shaking. Dozens of eyes on her, fire in her throat, nothing but a scar on her hand. She glances down at the mark, a nameless cluster of triangles. In stasis, she decided they represented the holy Springs. For a time, she held all three in her hand, but Courage and Power only flowed through her. For some reason, predetermined by fate that has proven nothing but cruel, she is the vessel for Wisdom. 
And Wisdom tells Zelda her thoughts have no value. They never have.  She looks around at the faces of her people. Unknowingly, they’ve not only stolen her newfound sense of purpose–they are making it forbidden. 
And now they are asking for her blessing. 
She swallows what feels like acid and looks back at Link. At some point in her reeling, she’s risen to her feet without realizing it. He remains on his knees, looking up at her with an innocent tilt of confusion, Master Sword strapped to his back. Her body blocks out the sun and casts a looming shadow over his face. The pasture falls away from her. She’s surrounded by cascades of water and trees twisted with age and swarms of fireflies. Beneath her feet, an altar with a space for a traveler’s gift lifts her even higher above him. Zelda tries to keep the horror from washing over her face, but the restraint necessary only makes her feel like she might turn into stone. 
Is it a crown they want her to wear or a halo?
Zelda gathers herself and says the only thing she can summon from the depths of her panic, “May the Light of the Goddess shine upon you.”
—-
The Summit lasts four days. Link has all of the shrines, towers, and the majority of the remaining guardians already mapped out on the Slate, so it is only a matter of divvying up the work. Each group is responsible for their assigned regions and are free to do what they please with the guardian parts once the cores are removed. The Gerudo and the Zora verbalize their intent to destroy all the Sheikah tech in their territories, but the Gorons, Rito, and the Hylians (who stand the most to gain from recycled materials) plan to repurpose. 
The plan is to harvest the ancient cores and store them in the Slate. Link will travel across Hyrule to load the cores into Slate, along with any unwanted materials it has the capacity to absorb.  Once the guardians are taken care of and they figure out how to dismantle the shrines, they’ll destroy the Sheikah Slate, smother the ancient furnaces, and bury the Divine Beasts. They will reconvene as needed to collectively approve next steps. The Sheikah are tasked with what to do with the towers because everyone agrees there is value in preserving a modern mapping system as long as a new network is created.
It is Link’s task to figure out how to handle the shrines since he is the only one who can enter them. He disappears into the shrine near his house the first night only to emerge several hours later, circling it like a wolf. He eventually settles down and appears to just glare at the terminal until the sun rises. He does the same thing the following night and the night after that. Zelda knows this because she’s been watching him from Purah’s second floor window.
Seeing him struggle with it doesn’t make her feel better (okay, it helps a little), and it’s hard to stay upset when she sees how well-received his recommendation is; how necessary it feels for the rest of Hyrule to start planning their future. It’s just when this anger completely deflates, she knows she’ll be left to deal with what actually lies beneath it, as is often the case with her anger, and it’s a sorrow she’s afraid she will drown in. 
“He’s still at it?” Zelda jumps back from the window at the sound of Purah’s voice. 
“What? Link? I wasn’t–” Zelda sputters.
Purah waves her tiny hands and tip toes across the floor to a desk. “Don’t worry about it. He’s a fascinating subject.”
“Why are you up so late?” Zelda wraps her arms around herself. Purah gets a guilty look, but as Zelda draws closer, she hears a soft, excited hum coming from the researcher. Like Zelda’s presence alone lit some internal fuse and Purah is on the verge of bursting into sparkles. 
“If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone else?”
Zelda knows this is a dangerous game, Purah used to say the same thing a hundred years ago, right before she launched into an explanation as to why the western castle wall was damaged, again.
“Did you break something?”
“No!” Purah sets her fists in her hips, insulted. 
“Are you going to?” 
“Princess!”
Zelda lifts her eyebrows. 
“Come on, do you want to see what I’m working on or not.” Purah stomps her feet very softly in an exaggerated manner, obviously trying to keep the noise level down. 
“Okay, okay, I promise.”
“Pinky promise! I mean it, I need you to have my back like old times. You were the only reason my research didn’t get shut down back then.”
“It was threatened.” Zelda smiles at the avalanche of memory that befalls her. It didn’t feel funny at the time, – lying to her father, tempting his wrath – but it felt good to protect something she was equally as passionate about. 
“I know.” Purah rolls her eyes. 
“Multiple times.”
“I know! So, so, so?” Purah holds up her pinky and wiggles it at Zelda. Zelda rolls her shoulders back and sighs. 
“Okay, pinky promise,” she says and loops her finger with Purah’s. 
Purah flings open a wide drawer filled with blueprints. She throws the top half of pages to the floor with enthusiasm, mumbling about how Symin can pick them up later, and rummages around the rest with a hushed frenzy. Zelda spots a copy of the new Hyrule map from the Summit with the restoration territories outlined. Purah’s already marked all the Sheikah tower locations and made notes on possible spots for relocation.
Even she’s found a purpose in the path forward. 
Purah fans out the papers hidden at the very bottom of the drawer out on her desk. “I’ve expedited my experiments with the Anti-Aging Rune. I just want to reverse this,” she gestures to herself extravagantly, “and then they can do whatever they want with the Sheikah Slate.”
“You’re going to return to your original state? You’ll be over a hundred and–”
“No. I just want to look old enough so people stop telling me I need to take a nap whenever I raise my voice.” A beat. “And I want to be able to reach the jar Symin hides the honey candies in.”
Zelda scans over Purah’s design, which calls for the Guidance Stone, the Sheikah Slate, and something called ‘cellular maturity milestone marker’ coding. 
“Does Impa know you're working on this?”
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than seek permission, Princess. And besides, I’ve already got ideas for a better Slate with an even better name, so that should buy me a royal pardon if I need it, right?” 
As if Zelda holds any authority in any of this. 
Zelda backs away from Purah’s desk and the ugly feelings of jealousy starting to bubble up inside her. She ends up back at the window and turns her face to the cool night air. Link’s pacing in front of the Shrine again. 
“Do you think he’ll figure it out?” Zelda asks.
“The shrines? Yes.”
“He’s always been good at puzzles.”
“Yeah, but so have you. Aren’t you going to help him?” Purah quips innocently. With the way her hushed voice carries in the night, it’s like she's speaking from Zelda’s shoulder.  
—-
Zelda hasn’t spoken to him since the first day. If he’s noticed, he hasn’t made it known. He’ll occasionally catch her eye and smile, but she’s learned not to read into that anymore and hardens herself to any tenderness that attempts to sidetrack her thoughts.
Purah asks her to retrieve the Sheikah Slate from Link when he’s done with it so she can run a trial on the Anti-Aging Rune before Symin wakes up. If nothing else, it gives Zelda an excuse to wander down to the shrine while she’s still deciding if she wants to help him. 
He’s sitting cross-legged on the terminal gate with his chin in his hand when she approaches. The Master Sword lays unsheathed beside him. Weathered and dull, unable to glimmer even in the moonlight. Like her, it hasn’t glowed since the final battle.
It takes a second for him to return from wherever his thoughts are, but she can tell he’s been aware of her somehow since she started climbing the hill up to the shrine. He paws his chin with his fingers and then flops backward in the grass at her feet with a frustrated sigh. 
“Can’t figure it out?” She asks. 
He puffs some hair into his bangs and signs, ‘Not yet.’
She sits down beside him. “Do you think there is a core inside?”
He crinkles his nose and shakes his head.
“You told me you think the Shrines, like Divine Beasts, run on some kind of spirit-based energy, right?”
He nods. 
“But when you clear a Shrine, the spirit of the Sheikah Monk inside disappears?”
“Right.” Link sits up on his elbows and rolls his head around his shoulders.
“But the Shrine stays semi-active, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t that imply a power source remains?”
Link shrugs. Zelda follows the curls of cerulean along the walls of the shrine up to the peak where the Sheikah Eye glows. The symbol always brought her comfort. The presence of a friend, the company of like minds—a buffer of protection against the unbearable amount of pressure building on her shoulders since the day she turned seven. But the symbol feels different now, as most symbols tend to do with time. It doesn’t bring her much comfort. It’s just another thing from her past she has to let go of; the sign of something else evolving without her. 
It stares unblinking and focused on some distance point she can’t see. 
He taps her on the shoulder to pull her attention back to him. A tiny pulse of electricity moves from his fingers down into her belly when he seems to appraise her face before he signs. 
‘Any ideas?’ He looks tired. Overdue for a visit. She can feel sleep reaching for her as well. Her attention drifts back to the Sheikah Eye and she imagines it closing shut. Resting like they both should. Like she could if she had a bed.
A home. 
“You said you think the Shrines work like the Divine Beasts? So in theory, those stopped working because our friends—” Grief, unexpected and sudden, crackles in her voice. She clears her throat. Pivots. “You can’t use their gifts any longer, right?”
Link flexes his fingers slowly. Like he’s just missing something that keeps passing through his fingers. “I let them go.”
She thinks about what King Dorephan said about the Shrine of Resurrection and Link’s soul. How he had been unable to die because the Shrine kept his soul tethered to his body while the waters healed it.  She thinks about eyes closing and Tulin’s cheering and the sadness that comes with at last fulfilling one’s purpose. 
“Can I see the Slate?” She asks. Link unclips it from his belt and slides it over to her in the grass. Purah would slap him if she saw just how casually he handles it. Zelda wants to tell him to be careful, that Purah might be tall enough to reach his face soon, but she has a pinky promise to keep, and the Slate will be gone before too long, anyway. She weighs it with her hands a few times and then stands to approach the terminal. 
“How do you activate the Shrine if there isn’t a slot?” She feels Link come up beside her. He leans over and mimics holding the Slate over the Sheikah symbol with an empty hand. The hair on her arm stands on end in his closeness. Will this feeling ever go away? Or will it always feel like she is about to be struck by lightning whenever he’s near? 
“Have you ever tried to do it again once the Shrine is activated?”
“No.”
Zelda lifts the Slate up to the terminal. Nothing happens. The shrine glows calm and blue, the door stays shut, the Slate screen blank–as she suspects it would. She bites her cheek and hands the Slate back to him. “You try.”
The second he holds the Slate over the terminal, the light at the center of the Sheikah Eye blinks once, calling the Slate to life. He turns over and inspects the screen. The name of the Shrine, which Zelda assumes is the name of the Sheikah Monk whose soul powered it for thousands of years, has a check mark next to it. She assumes it is because Link completed the trial inside. 
Below the name is a single, pulsing command:
> Rest? &lt;
They snap their heads up to look at each other at the same time. 
Link’s shoulders collapse. An irritated puff air escapes his nose. 
Zelda leans over him, presses her thumb against the word, and watches it dissolve into the darkness of the screen. The steel shifts under her feet, and they immediately scramble off the back of the entryway because the Shrine has started disintegrating around them. Link wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her flush against him so his body breaks their fall when they hit the grass.
They watch the last bit of light in the Sheikah symbol disappear into nothing. In a matter of ten seconds, the only evidence the Shrine was ever there is a round footprint of dirt. There are no materials to sort through, no cavern to fill in. She shifts and sits between his bent legs, frantically turning on the Sheikah Slate where, on the digital map of Hyrule, the symbol marking where the Shrine was is completely gone. 
“I…I can’t believe that actually worked!” She laughs, collects herself, holds the Slate out at another angle and laughs again.“You were right about the spirit energy,” she insists. Funeral pires, ashes in the wind, a deliberate letting go; one way or another, a soul needs to be put to rest. Otherwise, it just spins like a windmill blade even after the wind is gone. 
“How did you know?”
“I’m just good at solving puzzles.” Purah deserves a honey candy for reminding her of that. “It will speed the restoration up significantly if that’s all you need to do…” Her voice trails off slowly. He’s got his head next to hers, eyes fixed on the Slate in front of them. It takes everything inside her not to fold back against him, so viciously desperate for touch – for his touch – her hands start to tremble with urgency. The last drop of anger left inside her vanished with the shrine.   And as predicted, the misery left behind is deep and agonizing and it goes by another name:  
Loneliness. 
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