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thepoeticfirefly · 4 years

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Always You (Chanyeol x Reader// Baekhyun x Reader) Six

Summary: She never intended to fall in love with her best friend knowing that doing so will hurt what they already have. But what she never wanted was to hurt them both in expense of her feelings (to edit if i think of a better summary than this crap)

Genre: Angst/Fluff; high school to college au; chanyeol & baekhyun x fem!reader

Disclaimer: this story is mine and any stories with a similar plot is a coincidence. this is story is purely my imagination; moodboard is mine, i really worked hard doing it and I know it’s not that good but it was my first time doing one but it was fun😆

Warnings: some mentions of nudity but nothing to be worried nor excited about🤣

Word Count: 2.7k+

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7

Baekhyun’s eyes blinked open, the rays of sunshine hitting his eyes making him squint. For a second, he got confused as to why he woke up on a stranger’s bed but as soon as he saw the back of the naked woman sleeping beside him did his mind recollected the memories of last night.

He groaned, sitting up, making the blanket fall down to his waist, revealing his naked chest. He cursed under his breath, slowly getting off the bed to not wake the woman he apparently slept with. He was hit with a violent headache, leaning against the nightstand as dizziness took over him. He reached out for his boxers and hurriedly wore it, glancing back to the woman to make sure she was still asleep.

After he got into his pants and shirt, he grabbed his jacket and made his way to the door, silently opening it. He took one last glance at the woman then closed the door, slipping his jacket on.

He tsked at the sight of the wasted people lying here and there, still haven’t gaining consciousness from last night’s party. After tiptoeing, Baekhyun successfully reached the door and went outside, the cold morning air slapping him in the skin as he shuddered. He glanced at his phone to see that he still had 2 hours before university starts and so he hurriedly went to his dorm despite the throbbing in his head that screamed at him to rest.

Upon reaching his dorm, his roommates, Jongdae and Minseok were already awake and saw his hungover state and could only shake their heads. For the 9 months they’ve known Baekhyun, he would sometimes go to parties but these days, he was more frequently going to parties than normal. His roommates grew worried and would sometimes accompany the guy to make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. But since they were in college, they couldn’t be there for him always, especially Minseok who is in his 3rd year.

They thought that the reason behind Baekhyun’s frequent partying was because of his ex-girlfriend who he dated for only a month. They saw how Baekhyun smiled often at the start of their relationship but as time progressed, his smile seemed more forced and they thought that it was because they weren’t working out and they weren’t that much surprised when Baekhyun told them one day that they have broken up. They brushed it off, knowing that time would make him move on.

But what they didn’t know was it was him who broke up with the girl. It was true that they weren’t working out, though the girl thought they were and was heart-broken when Baekhyun broke up with her. It was just that Baekhyun’s expectations exceeded and the girl didn’t meet it. He thought he would be happy, but instead he felt empty.

At those times, his thoughts would suddenly cloud with memories of Y/N. It had been almost a year since Y/N left and true to her words, they kept chatting each other but as they began to get busy with college, their communication turned to only a few times in one day to every other day to never texting at all.

At first, Baekhyun felt heart-broken by this, missing her dearly that he felt like his heart was being stabbed a thousand times in pain. But much to his surprise, he actually got used to it and kinda moved on, focusing more on himself and his studies. He would go to parties and have fun, often having one night stands with strangers as he is too intoxicated to even control his actions anymore.

After taking a shower, he proceeded to the kitchen to eat what Minseok cooked for them. Baekhyun felt himself getting better, his headache slowly fading away. With only minutes away from the start of classes, the three roommates moved in fast movements, getting ready and gathering what they needed for the day.

Minseok left first, shouting about having a test at first period while Jongdae and Baekhyun left the dorm together. They walked side by side in silence, too tired to speak to each other. There were also other students walking to their college, the air still cold as it was still early for the sun to turn scorching hot.

While walking, Baekhyun’s eyes fell on a familiar tall person, his hair now dyed pink that called for attention even in the early morning. Chanyeol was walking ahead of him, laughing with his friend. Baekhyun felt a stab in his heart, suddenly yearning to be with the tall boy and laugh with him again. But ever since their graduation, they have not spoken a word to each other. They didn’t spoke to each other that they were both surprised to find one another in the same college. Chanyeol saw this as a chance to reconcile but backed out when Baekhyun avoided him like the plague.

Baekhyun regret this now, watching Chanyeol as he chatted away with his friend. But it was too late and he felt too embarrassed to approach the tall boy, thinking that Chanyeol would probably not want him now.

Baekhyun looked away and started a conversation with Jongdae. At the same time, Chanyeol was laughing and turned his head slightly at the back, his heart thumping out of his chest when he saw Baekhyun a few feet away.

He gulped, turning back to his front, not laughing anymore. He looked down at the ground, his demeanor down as he yearned to talk to the boy just a few feet behind him. Kyungsoo noticed this and nudged Chanyeol, giving him a questioning glare.

“What’s up with you all of a sudden?” He asked and Chanyeol replied, nodding his head no as he brushed it off

“Nothing, I just remembered something” Kyungsoo replied with a “Hmm” turning around to look at who Chanyeol looked at earlier to find Baekhyun and he realized what got his friend so down. Though he didn’t mention it anymore and just listened to Chanyeol jabber.

They arrived at their Anatomy class and sat at the front, much to Chanyeol’s dismay. He glared at Kyungsoo who ignored his presence when their professor entered the room, jugging down important information that fell from their professor’s mouth.

Chanyeol frowned, his chin on his hand, information going in to his ear then going out through the other. His mouth was agape, trying hard to understand whatever the professor was talking about.

His thoughts flew over to music, his heart wrenching at the thought of it. He wanted to write music, produce it and make a living out of it. But his parents was against it and forced him to study in the medical field. And that was how he found himself in their Anatomy class, 9 months into his college with only a month left before summer vacation.

Sighing, Chanyeol forced himself out of his daze, following Kyungsoo’s actions and focused on the professor talk. An hour into their class, Chanyeol found himself reviewing seriously as their professor announced a little while ago that they would be having their quiz regarding what he just discussed. And so Chanyeol crammed, his nerves getting the better of him, not wanting to repeat a year when he just barely survived to get into their 2nd semester.

His phone buzzed in their table, Kyungsoo sending him a glare. Chanyeol ignored this and continued on reviewing. A few minutes later, their professor asked for everyone to hide their notes and phones as he handed their test sheets.

Chanyeol threw his notes into his bag, reciting quietly what he just reviewed. He took his phone to look at the time but froze, all information flying out of his head as he read the message.

Y/N: I’m coming home

Y/N threw her phone to her bed, shaking as she thought she would not do it but ended up doing it anyway. Gulping, she reached for her phone and took a peek if either of them has seen it. Disappointed, Y/N contemplated if she should delete the message or not, but decided against it at the end, knowing that she wanted the two to know.

Sighing, Y/N plopped down to her bed, her eyes watching the night sky through her window. It was a cloudless night that allowed the stars to shine. Y/N smiled to herself. She was gonna go home. She would be able to see her parents again. She would be able to see them again.

She frowned, hoping that the two boys would be glad for her return. Y/N bit her lip, worried. She had not talked to either of them for months, Chanyeol for more than a year now. She felt sad, missing the two boys who she used to hang out with all the time.

“Y/N! Junmyeon’s here!” Her sister called out, snapping Y/N out of her thoughts. Y/N hurriedly went in front of the mirror, fixed her hair and beamed to herself. She ran out of her room and went straight to Junmyeon’s arms who waited for her in the living room.

Junmyeon laughed, sending vibrations to Y/N’s body. She pulled away, her arms still strangling his waist. Junmyeon pushed a strand of her hair and slipped it behind her ears, smiling down at her affectionately “You told them yet?”

Y/N nodded, blushing under his gaze. Junmyeon chuckled at the blushing mess that is Y/N and lead her to the couch, his hand intertwining with hers as he pulled her to him, his other arm behind Y/N to engulf her to a side hug.

Kim Junmyeon was Y/N’s first friend at the US, a year older than her who lived at the apartment next to her sister’s. Y/N was glad to learn that he was going in the same university as her, studying the same course that Y/N decided to take.

The summer Y/N arrived at the US was filled with Junmyeon showing her around the place, going to parks and various itinerary that their place was proud of. During that time, Y/N found herself opening up to Junmyeon about her life back in her country, about her family and about Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

She was hesitant about telling him about Chanyeol, but was glad when he understood her. Even giving her advice that she found helpful. Y/N told Baekhyun about Junmyeon, about how she found a friend in him and how much she wanted to introduce Junmyeon to him. But when college arrived, Y/N found less time to talk to Baekhyun which lead to not speaking to him anymore.

Y/N would text Baekhyun but he won’t reply until a few hours or even a few days after she texted him and vice versa. She realized that the both of them were too busy to talk to each other anymore that inevitably lead to them not texting anymore. For a long time, she felt saddened by this, Junmyeon being her only friend at the time.

But as college turned even more challenging, she found herself forgetting Baekhyun and focusing more on her studies. Though at times that she would remember him, she would feel depressed, very heart-broken that even her friendship with Baekhyun came to an end.

Months passed and Y/N began crushing on Junmyeon, cursing herself for falling for a friend again and not learning from her past mistakes. But was falling in love with Chanyeol a mistake? She wondered. But she wouldn’t deny her feelings as Chanyeol is a kind, sweet and determined man that anyone would fall for if they only got close to him and not know him as just the loud funny overly-excited boy.

Y/N would smile at the thought of Chanyeol, wondering if she had moved on enough for her to start liking another guy.

During her semester break, she spent all her time at home while Junmyeon was nowhere to be found. She felt herself missing him and would sometimes wait outside to catch Jumyeon going home. But much to her dismay, he never went home and only found out why at the end of her semester break that Junmyeon was in his parents’ home.

Just like her, Jumyeon was from her country but his family moved to the US for a better life. The only difference is that she was living with her sister and her family is back at her home country.

Junmyeon teased her, attaching himself to Y/N when the 2nd semester began. Y/N would act annoyed but was actually glad to have him all over her, her feelings growing by the second he was with her.

And 3 weeks later, Junmyeon asked her out and Y/N couldn’t be more happier. She was high up in the clouds, always in the state of cloud nine as she experienced her first relationship with a guy that actually liked her back.

Currently, Y/N is cuddled against Jumyeon’s chest, her attention on the movie playing on the TV. She could feel his heart beat and found herself leaning more into him, wanting to morph into his warmth. Y/N felt loved. Y/N felt happy and Junmyeon was the reason why.

“Y/N” Junmyeon mumbled into her neck, hugging her tightly. Y/N hummed in response, turning her head to face his. He gazed at her warmly, his eyes slightly closed as he took in Y/N.

“I’ll miss you” He said, leaning his forehead with hers.

“I’ll miss you too. But I still got a month left so-”

“But still, I’ll miss you Y/N” He leaned away, his face dangerously close to hers. Their eyes were locked and Y/N’s breath hitched at their close proximity.

“Don’t fall in love with anyone else” He mumbled, so quiet that only Y/N was able to hear it. He began to lean in, his eyes set on her lips. Y/N froze, unable to move nor comprehend what was happening. Just as his lips slightly brushed against hers, Y/N turned away, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

“Oh, umh I-I’m sorry” Junmyeon stuttered, turning away from her. Y/N’s heart filled with guilt as she looked at him refuse to look at her.

“Junmyeon...” She trailed off, getting a hold of his chin to face her. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek “I’m sorry. I-I was just...surprised”

He gave her a slight smile, nodding. He squeezed her from behind, hugging her as if she would run away if he let go of her. Junmyeon was worried. Y/N going home meant meeting her friends and from all he heard from her, it seemed like both of her friends was in love with her, but it also seemed like she didn’t know.

Y/N fell asleep on his arms that night and the next thing she knew was that it was morning and that she’s laying on her bed. Y/N instinctively reached out for her phone and opened it.

Her heart drummed against her chest when she saw that Chanyeol already seen her message. Y/N gulped, worried that he didn’t reply. Baekhyun hasn’t seen it yet and she wasn’t sure if he didn’t know she texted in their group chat or that he’s purposely ignoring her message. But nonetheless, her heart ached, just wanting to talk to them after such a long while.

A month passed by fast and it was time to say goodbye. Junmyeon wouldn’t let go of her hand, begging her to stay even though he knew she wouldn’t. After saying goodbye with her sister and brother-in-law, they left her with Junmyeon who still refused to leave her side.

“Junmyeon...”

“No”

Y/N sighed, pursing her lips as she watched Junmyeon held onto her arm “Junmyeon” She chuckled, finding him cute.

Junmyeon leaned away from her shoulder and looked at her in the eye, still holding her arm with his “I’m just afraid...”

Y/N frowned, brushing his arm away from hers then entangled her hands with his “I’m so afraid and I-” He paused

“I don’t want to lose you” Y/N smiled sadly at him, taking a hold of his cheeks to caress it.

“I like you too, Junmyeon” She chuckled “We’ll make this work” Y/N said comfortingly, though she was also worried. She really like Junmyeon, and seeing him like this broke her heart.

An hour passed and Y/N had to go and Junmyeon reluctantly let her go. Sending him a last wave, she turned around and disappeared behind the wall. Junmyeon stared where he last saw her, a bad feeling in his stomach that maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t have let her go after all.

#chanyeol #baekhyun #chanyeol imagines #baekhyun imagines #chanyeol x reader #chanyeol x y/n #chanyeol x you #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun x you #baekhyun x oc #exo #exo scenarios #exo moodboard #exo headcanons

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lostinthewinterwood · 4 years

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Gen Freeform Exchange 2020

Hey friend!

I’m looking forward to whatever you’re going to make for me—if you want to take what was in my sign-up and run with it, go right ahead! But if you’re looking for more inspiration/ideas, keep right on reading.

If you’re not my assigned person, and are instead a generous person looking at this letter for treating purposes, I’d be happy to get treats in any medium.

General DNW

Rape/non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm*; graphic depictions of suicide; anything E rated; gore; heavy gender dysphoria; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg; full setting AUs (canon-divergence is fine); graphic eye trauma; graphic and/or permanent hand trauma (unless the setting can provide a more-or-less fully functional prosthetic or equivalent); issuefic; unrequested identity headcanons.

*I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

General Likes

– I really like plotty fics

– Secret identity and disguise shenanigans, the more layers to them and more absurdity the better.

– Crossdressing for whatever reason and gender disguises, also for whatever reason.

– Time travel and time loops are always fun, especially as a fix-it. I have a general preference for Peggy Sue style (aka, an older character getting put back in their younger body at an earlier point in the timeline) over the character’s physical body stepping back in time, but either one is good.

– A focus on family and/or friendship, especially characters realizing they’re not nearly as alone as they think they are, and just generally characters who like each other and enjoy spending time together

– Found family; families of choice

– Character studies

– Worldbuilding

All of my requests have way too many tags to relist them here, but if you’re at a loss for what to do, anything in a given request’s tags is obviously fair game; don’t feel bound by them either, since I’m definitely interested in more things than just those which appear in the tag requests.

Fandom-specific prompts and DNWs

Mother of Learning

Fandom-specific DNW: physical parental abuse within the Kazinski family, significant exaggeration of canonical emotional neglect/abuse/general family dysfunction, any implication or presence of romantic and/or sexual Zach/Zorian, either Raynie or the rest of her tribe being portrayed as Absolutely Right And Entirely Justified in all of their actions

Neoluma-Manu Iljatir & Zach Noveda

Solo: Zach Noveda

Zach Noveda & Zorian Kazinski

Fanfiction

I’d generally prefer something set at least in part after the time loop begins, but beyond that I don’t have a strong preference for where in the timeline this might be set. Maybe something from before Zorian got looped in—maybe one of the iterations where Zach and Neolu just went off across the country having fun the whole month? Zach doing whatever, possibly very early on, or maybe him freaking out a little because what the hell, time travel is supposed to be impossible, and yet—what did he do in the start? Some canon-type shenanigans with Zach and Zorian together because there aren’t lasting consequences to their actions?

Or for post-canon, I’d really like an exploration of Zach, who’s got the lived-time of a middle-aged man and the body of a teenager—how does he relate to his classmates/other people in the real world, where everyone’s growing again? Maybe something about his lawsuit against his caretaker, or just a little thing with him, Zorian, and How Do You Live Normally, Again? This Is Hard, or some such thing.

One tag I like especially—though obviously if you didn’t match on it you needn’t include it—is “Character expected to die but didn’t and now has no idea how to live anymore,” since Zach definitely didn’t fully expect he would get a chance to live through the rest of his adolescence/adulthood, and something delving into that would be really interesting!

Raynie & Raynie’s Tribe

Raynie & Kiana

Fanfiction, Podfic

I love Raynie, and I love the little glimpses we get into her character and her past in canon!

For her I was thinking maybe something after the invasion, maybe her going home again. I’d love to see a reconciliation between her and her tribe, and a settling of the issues and problems that led to her being sent away.

If I’ve got my timeline right, her brother should be old enough to have reasonable interactions with; I’d really enjoy something dealing with the tension between them, letting them reconcile and build a better sibling relationship.

Alternatively, if we’re going for pre-canon, I’d really enjoy something dealing with her initial arrival in Cyoria and befriending Kiana.

Cikan Kazinski & Kirielle Kazinski

Solo: Kirielle Kazinski

Nochka Sashal & Kirielle Kazinski

Zorian Kazinski & Kirielle Kazinski

Fanfiction

I’d really like something focusing on Kirielle here—she is, after all, the uniting factor in this set of requests.

I’ve got a few ideas for what could come of this!

-- Kirielle and her mother. For this one, I’d rather it not be anything where Cikan can be described as “winning” a confrontation—I’d much rather have it be a confrontation where it either ends neutrally or in Kiri’s favor, or a reconciliation when Kiri’s a bit older, coming to understand each other better. I’d be down for Cikan realizing that Kiri is her own person, and can forge her own way in life, if you can get a story there, but I’m not sure if there’s an in-character way to do so, given how she still relates to Daimen, a successful adult in his own right.

-- Kirielle and Nochka. They’re adorable and I’d love a further development of their friendship, especially getting to see it grow and develop over the months and years after the invasion.

-- Kirielle and Zorian. I love their dynamic! And again here I’d really enjoy seeing their relationship developing in real time, rather than a constantly looping world. I think it would be great to see either of them defending the other to their parents—and maybe Zorian ends up with custody of Kiri, there’s definitely things to explore there.

-- Kirielle. I’d be here for any sort of character study of Kiri, really, but I’m gonna prompt a few specific things anyway.

---- She grows up a little, and becomes a student mage—what’s that like for her, especially having received Zorian’s tutelage?

---- She grows up a little, and doesn’t seriously pursue magic—does she devote herself more seriously to art? Do something else? Get away from her parents, and get to just be a kid for a little longer than her siblings?

---- By some mechanism, Kirielle gets pulled into the time loop, whether with Zorian, instead of him, or in some utterly unrelated incident. What’s it like to grow older and older in life experience while your body remains stubbornly nine? How does this change the story? If you go this route I’d rather looper!Kiri not be erased in the timeline of the fic—ending the fic before it becomes an issue or letting her escape back to the real world are what I’d rather see.

---- For some reason—there’s actually a fair amount that’d have to change here, but shhh this is my ridiculous self-indulgent prompt—Kirielle is the Controller. How does she react to being in a looping world, with no one else looping she can possibly compare notes with? What does she do with her time? Why did the angels choose her? How does this impact canon—is Jornak even a problem, does the whole Sovereign Gate affair pass much as it was meant to rather than the debacle that became of it in canon?

Solo: The Ghost Serpent

Solo: Quatach-Ichl

Fanfiction, Podfic

So, these two are just… they’re old. They’re very old; QI, the younger, is still a thousand years old, and they’ve just seen so much?? I’d love some sort of exploration of the world’s history through either of their eyes.

For the Ghost Serpent, I’d be very interested in what it saw the other Branded Ones do that put it off of them so badly.

For QI, I’m interested both in the world history around him and also how he became what he is—why/how did he become a lich in the first place? Who was he before? Why did he get a divine blessing? What did he think of the gods falling silent? What was the Necromancer’s War like?

For this prompt, I’d be down for an in-universe document or legend/folktale/fairytale about them, rather than an ordinary narrative. I’d also definitely be down for something like an epic poem or story-song, if you feel so inclined.

Star Wars Rebels

Alexsandr Kallus & Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

Fanfiction

I’m a total sucker for the enemies-to-allies redemption arc that Kallus and Zeb have going and really, anything exploring that dynamic I’d be down for. Post-Honorable Ones is probably better—there’s a bit more to work with there—but mutual respect/grudging acknowledgement from before that point would be great too.

That being said, I would also be super down for one or both of them mentally travelling back in time and whatever ridiculous shenanigans emerge from that—honestly most of my tags can be interpreted as prompts for that, if you squint at least.

Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire

Solo: Zare Leonis

Solo: Dhara Leonis

Zare Leonis & Dhara Leonis

Fanfiction

These poor kids, god. I love them and I love their siblingship and I just, I want more. A lot of the freeforms I’m asking for are geared towards the aftermath of Secret Academy, and Dhara’s recovery and her relationship with Zare throughout that. Do feel free to bring in their parents, too, though it’s by no means necessary.

Other things I’d be interested in include various types of role reversals and how that changes things—maybe it’s Zare who’s older, with a Force-sensitive little sister in Dhara, or the ages are the same and the Force sensitivity is flipped, or maybe Zare’s Force sensitive as well as Dhara, or the ages and Force sensitivity are flipped, making Zare Force sensitive and older and Dhara not force sensitive as well as being younger.

Another interesting thing would be exploring Zare readjusting to a civilian life; he’s quite conditioned into being so careful and military in his dress and his living space—does he keep that going? Let it fade? Deliberately reject it?

Solo: Lieutenant Chiron

Zare Leonis & Lieutenant Chiron

Fanfiction, Podfic

I love Chiron, he’s such an interesting character, and I am Big Sad that he doesn’t appear in any fics on ao3 as of yet. He strikes me very much as a good man who doesn’t really know most of the bad things his government is doing; he cares about Zare and he cares that there’s abuses of power and murder going on at the academy; he truly, genuinely wants to make the galaxy a better place.

I would love to see a story where he lives through the climax of Secret Academy and, however that happens, is thus forced to question his government from that, since I’m also Big Sad that he died before he had that chance; failing that it would be interesting to have a fic exploring his past and how he came to be part of the imperial war machine, I think.

For him and Zare post-canon, assuming an AU where they both survive, I’d be down to see them rebuilding the relationship they had before and regaining some sort of trust/regard for each other.

Original Works

Fandom-specific DNW: the word “queerplatonic” being used to describe relationships (writing something that you’d normally consider it is fine! I just don’t really like the term), fics that are All About Being Trans And/Or Disabled, neopronouns, nondysphoric trans characters.

Archmage & Apprentice

Failed Chosen One & New Chosen One

Girl Who Killed The Dark Lord & Her New Inherited Minions Who She Would Like To Be Less Scared

Fanfiction

I love fantasy, including space fantasy, and so many of its associated tropes: magic, destiny and fate and the subversion thereof, people being fundamentally human whilst caught up in something far beyond them…

This one’s a bit harder to prompt for, but looking through the tags I asked for should give you a decent idea for what I like; see also the general likes section above.

Thank you for creating for me!! I’m sure whatever you make will be lovely, and I’m looking forward to seeing it :D

#gen freeform exchange #genfreeformex #genfreeformex2020 #exchange letters #requested: mother of learning #requested: star wars #requested: star wars rebels #requested: star wars rebels: servants of the empire #requested: original work

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sidgenoangstfest · 7 years

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Prompt Masterlist

Thanks so much to everyone who submitted prompts! We have so many and I hope that one (or more) of them inspire you! Below the cut is a masterlist of all of the prompts from the form/google list. They are separated by AU and Non-AU. The two prompts pertaining to AO3 warning topics are posted separately.

Non-AU Prompts

1. Geno ends up leaving to play in the Olympics, but Sid does the good boy Canadian thing and stays and then Russia wins and Canada not only loses but loses badly and media starts blaming Sid and Geno doesn't know how to make it better

2. Future fic: Sid and Geno had some false starts, could never really get their shit together -- maybe Sid wasn't ready to get married or have kids, maybe Geno really couldn't reconcile living as an out gay man and be committed to his country. Geno retires before Sid, goes back to Russia to raise his family, and try to forget that Sid might have been the love of his life, that he chose country over seeing what could have been. Sid either retires or, for maximum angst, suffers a career-ending injury (not a concussion, maybe, that's even too much for me!), and goes back to Halifax where he continues with his hockey school, get his history degree, billets some kids in the Q, and tries to be okay with being alone. Geno and Anna get divorced but are still close; Sid tries to date some but just can't make a connection. When Nikita is 16, he's drafted to the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL, and Sid volunteers to billet him. He calls Geno to make sure it's okay, it's the first time they've talked in literally years, and it's awkward and terrible and neither one of them know what to say or want to hang up. Nikita says yes and he comes to live with Sid. Cue Sid and Geno dancing around each other from afar, Sid having to see the evidence LIVING IN HIS HOUSE that he couldn't give Geno the thing he wanted, which was a marriage and a good Russian son, and Geno having to get regular updates on the alternate timeline he told himself he didn't think about anymore, Sid and his son under the same roof, puttering around the house and skating on the pond in Sid's backyard, Sid speaking his terrible, flat Russian. Geno comes to visit, uhhhh, I don't know, more emotional shit happens, lots of hurt feelings and UST and then they finally work their shit out and Geno moves back to America and in with Sid and they give it a go and are happy and content but because this is an angst fest the last twist of the knife is that Nikita gets drafted to the Flyers and Sidney is devastated and Geno laughs in his face for five days the end.

3. Sid and Geno as fuckbuddies who are both super emotionally invested and probably in love with each other but both assume the other is just in it for the sex. They break up about 80 times and keep falling back into bed together, each one promising himself THIS TIME would be the last time. They're making themselves miserable along with everyone else who can very clearly see the issue but neither of them can. Lots of sex followed by emotional turmoil rinse repeat

4. I want a good old fashioned Canadian shack fic with a snowed-in plot twist. Maybe during bye week (I think the 2014/15 season would be a good brewing ground for this kind of plot) Sid and Geno rent a cabin somewhere in the Canadian wilderness to decide once and for all where to take their on-again/off-again love affair that spans nearly a decade by now. (Could also be that they've been tip-toeing around their attraction to each other for a decade, unsure whether or not to ever do anything about it.) It's probably not the best time for it. The season isn't going well. They're both worn and exhausted, maybe battling injuries, and predictably they have a fight not long after arriving that ends with Geno (could be Sid) taking off in the middle of a snowstorm. Whoever is left behind has some regrets about what was said when the wind and snow picks up and they're beside themselves, worrying about the one who left. Eventually whoever left comes back, maybe in the car, maybe by foot, and they end up snowed-in together in their Canadian shack. (They're millionaires, it's probably not actually a shack.) Ideally, they resolve their problems (or at least start to work on them) and decide to live happily ever after but I'll leave that up to the writer.

5. Geno's contract is up and Sid doesn't know if he's going to re-sign or go somewhere else (can be future fic or when his bridge contract ended in 13-14)

6. Sid has a big gay crush on Geno and is Not handling it well.

7. Something about Olympics and the political tension.

8. I'd love to see a fic that explores the dynamic of Geno being so emotionally romantic and occasionally dramatic (seriously, he rented an actual tiger for Anna's birthday) and Sid being so stoic and intensely private about his love life. Their differences in personality seems like a great brewing ground for romantic misunderstandings. 9. Ideally features Sid making a grand romantic gesture of some kind.

10. post-loss h/c

11. This isn't really a prompt but PINING. I want all the pining. One of them or both being absolutely convinced there's no way the other could ever love them back. Could be any kind of setting. Fuck buddies. Arranged marriage. Fake dating. Best Friends. ABO.

12. Tournament angst. Olympics for max angst, Worlds for a notch down. Sid and Geno very tentatively start fooling around shortly before said tournament, and Canada’s victory throws a wrench in the emotional works. Lots of sneaking around and feelings.

13. Breakup fic. Geno was ready for kids, and Sid wasn't. Now, Geno's with Anna, she's moved to Pittsburgh, they're both glowing, and Sid's at a low point in his career and is filled with grief and regret. He asks Geno for a second chance, and Geno tells him Anna's pregnant and it's too late. Make me cry.

14. "There have been a lot of changes to the team this summer and the Pens core is never going to be the same and gosh, we're thirty and I'm afraid our best days are behind us" Sid/Geno style. Semi-realist angst. Bonus (but unnecessary) "you're the only constant in a sea of change" type resolution.

15. Lockout separation!! G going back to Russia, and Sid staying in Pittsburgh to mediate, long distance relationship angst!

16. Retirement, "we went our separate ways without telling each other how we feel"--type stuff

17. “I thought things were going great.”

18. Better late than never

19. Sid visits Geno in Russia for the first time since they started getting together, and Geno's awkward about it because internalized homophobia and also Russia's homophobia, and it strains their relationship.

20. in the midst of a great season (and great for him personally), sid vanishes. after the season is done, geno receives his call, and goes to find out what happened.

21. cheating. Just--cheating.

22. One thinks the other is cheating/one thinks the other wants to break up, so they decide to bite the bullet and break up first. authors choice whether or not the communication happens during the break up or days/weeks/months/YEARS after.

23. amnesia fic!

24. Sid overhears a phone call and mistakenly thinks Geno is moving back to Russia/KHL/whatever you want. So he starts to pull away and be cold and distant and this upsets Geno a LOT. And Sid obviously. And generally everyone is sad... until it gets sorted after the team throws him a going away party and then afterwards everyone is happy and S/G fall in love. (I'm thinking they weren't together at first but honestly if anyone wants to write this... they could maybe be a couple. Makes it more angsty!)

25. Geno wants to come out. Sid doesn't.

26. a story about outing, and maybe with some time travel?

27. Pet death.... :( hurt/comfort. Maybe later on, adopting something small and fluffy together.

28. Russia recalls its players, forcing them to choose between leaving the NHL or giving up Russian citizenship.

29. Post-retirement, they meet again at the Olympics, Sid coaching team Canada and Geno on team Russia's staff. They haven't spoken in almost a decade.

30. Unrequited? Sid has a girlfriend that he's talking about marriage with. Seems like it's time for Geno to move on.

31. They've been fuck buddies for a while now, but Sid can't take it any more. Geno makes one joke too many about his booty call and Sid calls it all off.

32. Where they've been broken up for a while and maybe one of them has juuuust started to move on and then they start spending a bunch of time together again for reasons and see all those things in each other that they loved and miss. Just so much sadness and bittersweetness and nostalgia. Doesn't have to end up with them back together necessarily.

33. something to do with Sid having anxiety? I feel like a lot of his rituals and stuff could really be seen as coping mechanisms, and it's be interesting to see if maybe that impacts his relationship with Geno, or if Sid's afraid of it impacting his relationship with Geno.

34. One of them confesses feelings for the other. The feelings aren't mutual.

35. You know that pic from worlds 2015, where Sid is sitting in the locker room and looking (really beautiful and) like he's holding back tears? What is an angstfest-appropriate backstory to that? Is it maybe linked to Sid's not-so-stellar start to the 2015-2016 season too? (Initially I thought about this from Sid's POV, but Geno's could also work really well!) [NOTE FROM MOD: https://sidsass.tumblr.com/post/163755745701]

36. G gets engaged. Sid goes off the deep end.

37. Citing his wish to avoid permanent damage following repeat concussions, Sid "quietly" retires at the beginning of the '17-'18 season on the condition that G gets the C. The reality is that his exhausted from harboring his unrequited feelings AND from G not getting the recognition he deserves. He officially passes the baton but otherwise avoids seeing or talking to Geno and gradually disappears. Years down the line, G finds out the truth.

38. Sid starts exhibiting psychological/behavioral symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. This puts a strain on his and Geno's relationship.

39. Forced outing (of either of them or both) leads to homophobia from both fans and teammates and potentially disastrous consequences

40. One of them wakes up in 2012 again

41. Sid and Geno are fuck-buddies until one of them is outed. The other has to choose - come out or don't come out. And figure out their feelings about each other (can they weather this storm or is this the end of their friendship too?)

42. Geno is forced to go back to Russia for Secret Angsty Reasons. He tries to keep in contact with the team, but eventually they grow further apart until the only contact they have is through social media. Fast forward 10 years, Sid is retired and goes on holiday to [place], where he finds Geno, and Secret Angsty Reasons become not-so-secret.

43. One of them is injured in a potentially career-ending way

44. One of them is outed by a teammate

45. Internalised homophobia

46. Fake relationship where one of them is in love but the other isn't

47. Sid finally makes it to Russia with Geno...for Geno's wedding ceremony.

48. Sid gets a concussion and seems like he's recovering well...except he doesn't remember his relationship with Geno. They had just gotten together, everything still really new, and they hadn't told anyone because Sid insisted they wait until after the season. So Geno has no one to turn to, has to act like everything is fine, even though his heart is breaking because Sid is treating him like nothing more than a friend. More angst potential: Sid dates around! Someone on the team definitely had figured it out and now Geno's wishing for when he was dealing with it alone because the pity is even worse! Geno slowly realizing that maybe Sid did this to himself because he didn't want to ever come out and his brain took the opportunity to erase their relationship before he was in too deep! Just put Geno through absolute emotional hell.

49. Destined to kill each other and there is no love will redeem the other option here.

50. The fallout of their divorce. What now?

51. sid learning how to be less than perfect

52. set before and during the 2023-24 season. sid and geno aren't together but both are privately thinking they should finally make a move. then over the summer geno (who signed a contract the year before that ends at the same point as sid's, so they can retire together) is traded to a team the pens only play once or twice a year because the pens have salary cap/roster problems (I know he has a no movement clause, let's say they didn't put it in the new one for some reason). cue a LOT of pining and separation-induced sadness. angst and stress. pretending not to be as cut up about it as they are. etc etc. maybe they have an emotional/dramatic reunion on ice, maybe one of them is injured and the other is horrified but can't do anything, maybe both... basically how sad can you make pining while still making a happy ending, or at least a hopeful ending

53. Everyone always says how good Geno is at not being bothered by Sid getting all the accolades. How chill he is. How content to be out of the spotlight. How secure. That's... really not how he feels, and there's a point where it gets to be too much.

54. They do the coming out thing so they can be together properly, after keeping it secret from pretty much everyone for years, and the irony is that *this* is the thing that finally fucks up their relationship.

55. Geno never returns from his summer in Russia. Everyone becomes frantic looking for him but he’s not found. It remains a mystery and life goes on. Time passes, Sid still plays and the team still wins games but even after the grief has subsided, there is an ache deep in his chest that won’t go away. Sid *misses* Geno, doesn’t think he’ll stop missing him, doesn’t really understand why he hurts this bad. One day, Geno returns [insert random hockey magic here], Sid is an emotional mess dealing with it.

56. Hotels as liminal spaces. Sid's been hooking up with Geno in hotels in various cities where they play. But it doesn't feel real, so it's not real...right?

57. Reunion fic after a bad breakup (that was due to legit conflict that was both people's faults).

58. Dubcon ritual sex for the good of the team. Maybe Sid and Geno weren't together before this?

59. Professional hockey is indentured servitude, basically slavery. Sexual relationships between teammates aren't allowed, but that doesn't always stop them from happening. At first Sid and Geno are just finding relief in each other from all the pressure, but it turns into more.

60. Unrequited love, written from the POV of the one not pining.

61. AU-canon divergence: Sid put love and dating on hold to focus on hockey. He meets a cute guy while out to team dinner. They get dessert. Geno gets a little jealous.

62. Geno had asked Sid to wait for him to be ready. Not while he was so new to the team, he said. Not while the team was so unstable. Not while they were on the brink of a Cup win. And then he met Anna, and things happened. Geno moved to Russia when he retired, and he and Sid only saw each other at the draft, the World Cup, and now, the Olympics.

63. During the lockout, Sid followed Geno to the KHL. He hadn't thought having to hide their relationship would be so hard.

64. Ovie invites Sid to his wedding. Sid goes stag. Geno pines from afar.

65. canon divergence: the concussion specialists told Sid he'd need at least a year to recover. He goes home to Cole Harbour. The team struggles without him.

66. As much as I love homophobia free!NHL or a NHL with minimal homophobia, the reality is probably a lot less sunny. So, both Sid and Geno aren't out (except maybe to close friends), they're both very careful, and they know to never, ever get caught. Except, after the SCF, they're high on their win and get drunk and kiss each other, and somehow there are photos and somehow the photos are leaked. A shitstorm ensues.

67. one of them is battling an addiction to painkillers as a side effect of so many chronic injuries, and it's affecting both hockey and relationship.

68. Sidney and Geno are happily married and looking to start a family. They decide to foster a little boy (or girl, whichever) they meet at the little penguins hockey program (he's like seven or so) after finding out that his foster family is physically and emotionally abusing him. They do their best to try and help him, but things get overwhelming when trying to balance their careers and raising a child who has faced so much psychological trauma already. Then things get worse when the child's father is released from jail and fights Sid and Geno for custody of his kid. ((preferably nothing super explicit trauma wise, but i would like for there to be heavy emotional moments because the kid has been through so much and is a little intimidated by two very big and very strong pro hockey players. and sidney and geno love kids and don't want to fail this sweet child that is under their care. and i would like for the ending to be happy if the author is ok with it.))

69. sid and geno are in a friends with benefit situation where geno thinks theyre dating but sid just thinks theyre friends with benefits

70. Sidney gets another concussion, but it knocks him out cold on the ice, and he wakes up blind and with amnesia. Geno is shattered because hasn't Sidney been through enough? Geno offers to take care of him, but their relationship is so rocky now, and he was ready to propose to Sid when he got his concussion. Preferably a happy ending, but whatever floats the author's boat is fine with me.

71. Around the time Sid and Geno retire, Geno divorces his wife. He and Sid finally get together after all these years, but haven't really told anyone yet - in particular, not Geno's near-grow kids, because the relationship is new and Geno doesn't know how they'll take it. And then Geno gets pregnant.

72. Sid really IS a baby-snatcher/kidnapper, and Geno finds out. Ideas may include how Sid came to be like this, how he did it, how often (was it just once, multiple times), did he get caught by people other than Geno, what were the consequences (is Geno okay/not okay with this, does Sid do something to protect "his" child, does law enforcement get involved, etc.). Also for consideration: what about the child's/children's perspective(s)?

73. Sid and Geno have been fuckbuddies for over a year, except Geno thinks that they are in a relationship. Geno has spent the last month planning the perfect proposal only to find out on the big day that Sid is dating someone and wants to end their arrangement. Maybe Sid realizes his mistake and fixes it or maybe it's just too late for Sid and Geno.

74. "Hey, G, this is Chris", Sid says, and the man whose back Sid's palm is resting on reaches out for a handshake. He's almost Geno's height, with sandy hair, blue eyes and a warm smile. Geno's stomach does something it's never done before. He doesn't want to shake this guy's hand; he wants to tackle him to the ground and punch his lights out. Or: Geno, has a Revelation about his feelings for his captain. (G's relationship status can be anywhere from single to married with children depending on the level of angst/conflict/potential resolution)

75. Sid loves wearing makeup and girl's clothing/dresses. However he's scared of telling Geno, afraid that he might call him a freak or break up with him. When he does eventually tell him, Geno tries to be supportive but feels a little off about it. However during one particular game during the Flyers, Giroux or Simmonds says something incredibly offensive about Sid and it makes him feel extreme insecure about himself. After the game he's completely shut down and won't talk to anybody and actually starts throwing away his feminine clothing and makeup. Would Geno be able to push away his own feelings about it and tell his boyfriend he's beautiful no matter what, or would he just let Sid to whatever he wants and not let himself be who he is?

76. Sid and Geno have sex once when they're both really young and Sid isn't being dramatic when he says it's the best sex of his life. He figures the feeling was mutual and that at the very least him and Geno could continue to hook up. But afterwards Geno avoids him Anne is super distant and when Sid finally tries to talk to him Geno says "was bad sex don't want to think about it. Nothing else to say" and Sid is kind of devastated because that means HE Was so terrible in bed that Geno feels awkward about it. Cut to years later when it drunkenly happens again and Sid has been practicing for years to make sure he's perfect for Geno. Geno brushes it off again and Sid is like, no no no I know I'm good in bed why do you keep lying. And then Geno confesses that he wasn't ready to be in a mlm relationship when they first had sex and he's still unsure but he loves Sid and doesn't know what to do. Cut to feelings and getting together

77. One of them - let's face it probably Geno - does the grand public romantic gesture thing to woo Sid and, because RL appropriate behaviour is different from the stalker-level shit that gets romanticised by pop-culture, Sid is actually kind of unnerved and pressured and maybe even a little humiliated by how public it was and pretty unhappy about it. Basically they are in different genres, e.g. Geno is in a hollywood romcom and Sid is in an indie drama or psychological thriller :p ;).

78. Sid and Geno make a sex tape that ends up getting leaked. It doesn't show their faces and people don't really know it's them but the shock is enough to send Sid into a spiral of fear that people know that he's gay and that gen bottoms and basiclly internalized homophobia. G tries to comfort him but sid lashes out and they break up. Yadda yadda yadda hurt comfort no more sex tapes

79. Sid has to retire from hockey because of an injury and geno comforts him when he's crying about it. Super angsty and fluffy

80. Sid and Geno have a friends with benefits situation, but Sid, who was in love with Geno for a long time before they started hooking up, thinks they're getting serious. He doesn't know it but Geno is seeing Anna at this time, so when Geno mentions the 'person he's dating' to the team he's talking about her but Sid thinks he means him. He overhears Geno talking to someone like "do you think I should propose?" and gets very excited — until Geno introduces Anna to the team as his fiancee. He thinks he's been dumped but then Geno still approaches him for sex and Sid doesn't know how to say no. So Sid has an internal crisis because he's helping Geno cheat (if you want it can be revealed that Geno and Anna had an open relationship and Geno's just very bad at communicating that to Sid). But a part of him also wants Anna to find out, because then maybe she would break it off with Geno…

81. One of them was previously in an abusive relationship with another man, which the other doesn't know about because they were closeted at that time. They get triggered by something seemingly innocuous the other does, leading to explanations & hurt/comfort.

82. Anything following Sid's POV as Geno gets married and has kids.

83. Pining where they don't say anything because they both think the other is straight, and then a different guy on the team comes out (just to the room or publicly — your choice) and one of them winds up having sex with him, which the team finds out about. (Thin hotel walls?) So the other now knows he's not straight, but thinks he's in a relationship with the third person.

84. You don't stop loving something just because it's hard, Sid said. Well - what happens when it doesn't love you back?

85. One of the reason's Geno has been able to - sooner or later - shrug off those international losses and refocus, while playing on the same team as the avatar of Canada's success over Russia, has been his unshakeable belief always in next time, next time. With NHL players now firmly closed out of the Olympics, and Geno on the other side of 30, he's looking at that "next time" quite possibly being "never", and it's a hell of a hard hit.

86. Geno didn't actually want to leave Metallurg for the NHL; the bribe is Sid, in some kind of arranged-marriage/bond/etc situation. Perhaps Geno doesn't - ever? - know Sid's only in it out of obligation/responsibility.

87. Geno gets mugged, and it rocks his identity/self-image.

88. It turns out that while Sid's a good friend and a great captain, he's a terrible boyfriend. Geno worked so hard to get them here, and now he doesn't know what to do.

89. Their problems in the bedroom aren't staying there.

90. Pictures of Geno kissing a man in a gay bar are leaked somehow. It goes badly with both Russia and the Pens.

91. You know how there are the fics where one person has this kink they're all ashamed of, and then the other person helps them feel okay about it? I love those, a lot, but what if the reveal just didn't go well at ALL? Like, daddy-kink slips out and the reaction is flat-out shock, or they like a little feminisation or lacy knickers and their partner is just uncomfortable and embarrassed about it?

92. Insomnia as a concussion side-effect; they're hardly sharing a bed any more because of the restlessness.

93. One of them is having a hard time getting/keeping it up, or has a much-diminished sex drive (could even be set a few years in the future so it's an aging thing) and they have to figure out how important regular good sex is to the relationship. Maybe one of them decides it's not gonna work anymore.

94. Sid becomes paralyzed from the waist down in a bat hit gone wrong (the hit can be from the Flyers, Capitals, or whoever you want) and it shatters Sid completely, thinking he's never going to play hockey ever again. He starts to become severly depressed and starts lashing out at everybody, especially Geno, who's trying his hardest to be there for Sid. Both of them start to slowly become distant and they separate for a while, but Sid's depression gets worse and Geno is incredibly worried that Sid might do something to himself so he comes back. Cue to support from the Pens/NHL, angst and fluff, Sid and Geno getting back together and (hopefully?) Sid being able to start playing hockey again.

95. Sid and Geno are drafted by different teams (one is still a Penguin though, obviously). They first meet at World Juniors and realize they are "hockey perfect" late one night when they can't sleep and find each other practicing on the ice. Sid jokes that maybe they'll be together in the NHL but the draft doesn't work out. Geno comes over the same time as real life, and they meet again at the ASG in 2007 (get together then too). But it's Actually Serious that they're together. It's totally forbidden and both teammates/orgs/their families would be outraged. It's basically jeopardizing their careers bc they compete against each other, and it's Not Cool. Basically, Sid feels a ton of pressure to be the best, and Geno brings out his best on and off ice, but they can't be together. Obviously they sneak around when their teams meet and it's pretty reckless, but they are overwhelmed by each other. I just want forbidden love and Sid feeling pretty isolated/under a lot of pressure. Also, the Olympics is pretty much the best time of their lives, and there's a lot of sex bc of course.

96. they lose a child (can be their only child or not)

97. sid's pov with supercut by lorde (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL0MtGXNFIk) as the jumping off point - maybe it's during their relationship, maybe it's after. up to you if they get a happy ending or not (and if that happy ending includes them together or not)

98. Person X is invited into Sid and Geno's recently-opened relationship, possibly with a view to them being more involved with one than the other. They're maybe younger, a little naive, but definitely super into the whole concept. Until they realise that actually, Geno and Sid are not the good stable relationship they thought, that they're kind of a hot mess, and that they're in danger of being turned into someone's emotional escape route.

99. Geno never left Russia, Sid comes over after the Pens fail to win a cup

100. Sid/Geno accidentally get outed

101. Sid is asexual (but not aromantic). He's in a relationship with Geno and Geno finds out after they've had copious amounts of sex. He's pissed Sid hadn't told him. Sid tries to explain that he doesn't particularly like sex but he doesn't mind doing it. Geno is not in any way mollified. Sid tells Geno he can sleep with other people if he wants to. Up to you where it goes from there.

102. After years of dancing around each other, they finally get together and it turns out they're sexually incompatible. One wants to compromise, the other doesn't see any viable option other than going their separate ways.

103. They get together. It doesn't work out. Now they have to work together every day and be on a team together and do promotions together and try not to leak feelings all over everyone in the immediate area. Spoiler: they do and it's ugly.

104. AU where something happens that leads to one of them getting traded

105. Post breakup fic- maybe they get back together? Maybe they just have sex and then realize it still can't work

AU Prompts

1. Sid and Taylor are orphans, they live with Mario after Sid was drafted. Cue Geno and his family trying to be a surrogate family to Sid & Taylor

2. One is a hockey star, the other is a reporter. The reporter spends a lot of time digging around, getting little details of the hockey star, writing a massive indepth story along the way and ends up falling a little bit in love. The hockey star resents the reporters invasion into his life and definitely does not feel the same.

3. AU where Sid and Ovechkin are royalty and betrothed in a purely political marriage, and while they are friend they’re not romantically interested in each other, and both alphas so no progeny will come from their union. As part of the arrangement, as their countries need an alliance, they’re gifted with an omega - Evgeni Malkin. Noble enough to be socialized as a gentlemen, but not high ranking enough to marry a prince himself, and as he’s Russian it’s determined that Sid should be the other father, to mix the bloodlines properly. However, at first Sid didn’t want a concubine, was fine in his loveless marriage with Ovechkin, at least until he saw Geno. So there is MAJOR MISCOMMUNICATION, where Geno thinks Sid is just doing this out of duty and not love and Sid thinks Geno doesn’t like him, even hates him.Geno goes into his first heat and is worried because the contraceptives he is secretly taking don’t work during heat and Sid can tell something is up so he doesn’t knot Geno and as a result Geno thinks he isn’t even worthy of Sid’s knot and MORE miscommunication and angst. And then there’s gossip about Geno’s lack of fertility, and oh no is it Sid? Which Geno can’t stand for, so he decides that he’ll get pregnant even though it’ll mean Sid never touches him again. And eventually he gets pregnant and then more stuff happens and then happy ending.(Feel free to change this and make it your own, obviously)

4. Age difference AU. Preferably with Geno being older and Sid being younger.

5. Apocalypse wow! When the world ends Sid is in Canada and Geno is in Russia but Sid isn't going to go out before he does the thing he's been psyching himself up to do for literally years, so he packs a bag and decides he's going to walk to Geno if he has to. I don't know what kind of apocalypse it is, maybe it's a super virus or a zombie kind. Either way, it's terrifying and sad and we follow Sid as he realizes not only might he never make it, but he might die alone and/or horribly, but also most of his friends are already dead, and he has way too much time to reflect on his life and what he did and didn't get to do. Bonus if it's open-ended, him trudging through snow, at the end of the road in Moscow, half-dead on his feet, gets to Geno's apartment, lifts a hand to knock, but we don't get to see the door open. We never see him die, either, but we can't know WE JUST CAN'T KNOW. (The emotional resolution is that he's come to terms with himself, just to be ultra lit-class about it)

6. Noir sidgeno au where sid is a hard boiled detective and geno is the femme fatale

7. Cold war spies.

8. A becomes a vampire and B has to console them because all A ever wanted was to have their own kids, but now that has all be ripped away from them, so B stays with them and holds them in their arms as A cries

9. period/fantasy au - sidney is royalty, and geno is not (or vice versa!)... after years of slowly falling in love with the castle's stablehand (aka geno), sidney's parents force him into a political/arranged marriage. sidney and geno still see each other, but when they are caught, because of laws or anything else hand-wavy, geno is meant to be executed.

10. One of them is haunted by the ghost of the other. Ending options: the ghost passes on after they resolve whatever it is they stayed around for, or they other figures out how to bring him back (cup magic could be useful here!)

11. Romeo and Juliet au - I guess it could be a flyers au, but I'd love to see a historical setting.

12. a bowerbird au where Sid collects all his trophies to seduce people with them. he doesn't actually care about winning just seduction. winning just happens to be the easiest way to seduce people, so he works it. Sid doesn't have time for losers, only winners, but his obsession with winners comes back to bite him. he's so focused on winning/seduction, that he doesn't realize it's destroying his relationships with those around him.

13. Sid and Geno are both omegas. They're only playing in the NHL because they're as good as they are. Falling in love with each other is a complication they don't need and also against all social mores.

14. Sid is an alpha and Geno is an omega. They both want each other, but Geno is already under intense scrutiny as the only omega (or one of the only omegas, if you'd prefer) in the NHL, and he doesn't want to get involved with an alpha. Angst ensues.

15. A wishbaby AU where wishbabies come from the Faerie realm, and you can only keep them for seven years. After the seven years are up, the child goes back to Faerie. But this is Sid and Geno, so they go into Faerie to find their child. They're successful, but it's the Faerie realm, and a price has to be paid. One of them has to stay behind for seven years to pay the debt. Twist: time moves differently in Faerie, and when the seven years are up, he comes home to find out that in the human world, seven times seven years have passed. Extra twist: once you've spent significant time in Faerie, you don't age the same way you normally would.

16. Either Sid or Geno wakes up as a girl one morning. This is a very unpleasant experience.

17. Sid and Geno have sex, and Geno gets pregnant. Geno is in love with Sid; Sid likes Geno but isn't in love with him. Geno wants to get rid of the baby (or adopt it out), but Sid wants to keep it, because he's always wanted kids, and even if he isn't in love with Geno, he's still going to be a father. (Sid falls for Geno too, eventually.)

18. Star Wars AU where Sid is a Senator and Geno is a Jedi around the fall of the Republic.

19. The one where their kid's swapped for a changeling

20. Time-travel trope, feel free to reverse the parties: a younger version of e.g. Geno shows up, and there is infidelity with older Sid. Older Geno does not take it well. Which maybe finally explains to Sid why, sometimes, Geno has seemed to get angry at Sid for no apparent reason, because he absolutely remembers this happening, and resents himself for not thinking it was a problem (because they're together in the future, right? so young, so stupid) and Sid for cheating on him, and himself for staying when he knows this is going to happen. Does he hope it won't? Does he just love Sid too much to not take every moment he can? Maybe they fix it with threesomes. Maybe they do not fix it.

21. One of them's infertile, and nothing available in the fertility industry does a damn thing to fix it.

22. Look, Cup magic isn't all it's cracked up to be, okay. Things can get... unpredictable. Unpleasant. Sid and Geno get off scott free the first two Cups, but it turns out all that wild magic was just biding its time until they won their third.

23. Geno grew up being bullied for being a werebear, and it's made him a defensive asshole about that part of his identity - very Do not Handle, Do not Touch. It takes him a long time to let Sid in.

24. girlSid didn't really have body issues (it was just a body, what mattered was what it could do) until Geno started dating Anna

25. Accidental pregnancy; whoever is pregnant eventually gets an abortion.

26. lady with the pet dog au! geno and sidney are both married and meet while away on vacation without their spouses. what begins is a passionate affair that starts as sex and infatuation but ends with a deeply rooted love. they both return to their homes only to find that they both live in the same city and must brave facing each other in their social circles without exposing their affair. bonus points if it's a period piece and if Geno feels the same guilt Dmitri felt at the end of the story.

27. GOT-esque AU. Geno is a bear-lord from the Kontinental kingdom of Drachma & Sid is a powerful mage from the North eastern part of Drachma, as well as Geno's most trusted advisor since they were teenagers. Geno became infertile (male speaking) after a witch cursed him for trying to bring both a dead child back to life using blood magic. He was severly devastated and has nightmares about deformed, monster-like children in place of the innocent ones he'll never have. He also takes his frustrations out on Sid, cruelly saying slurs about mages/witches whenever he tries to talk to him. Sid is hurt by these comments, but takes them in stride, knowing Geno is just upset. Years later, when they are in a relationship, they try for children and no infertility spells work, until Sid reveals that he himself was working on for years and they can finally have children to be the heir to Geno's kingdom. (Please let Sid be the pregnant one!)

28. Royalty AU. Sid is taking Geno to visit Sid's family and gifts him with jewels and other trinkets for him to wear. To Sid, these jewels represent not just their class system but are a sign showing extreme love and gratitude to consorts. However, to Geno, where he comes from, this is a sign of being something like that of a prostitute. So the more jewelry Sid decorates Geno with, the more Geno believes that Sid is just using him to be a bedwarmer. Geno becomes colder and more distant towards Sid, dressing himself up and acts like he IS a prostitute to Sid and his family's confusion. Sid snaps and finally confronts Geno about his feelings. SO MUCH MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND MISCOMMUNICATION!!!

29. Sid is so wrapped up in the hockey life that he never has time for dating, and when he does, it usually never works out well. So Flower, Tanger and Duper hire an escort who goes by the name of Zhenya as a "surprise" for Sid. Zhenya, whose real name is Evgeni "Geno" Malkin, escaped from Russia in search of a better life in America, but things didn't go through all that well. When he arrives at Sid's doorstep, Sid is of course angry but slowly gets over it once he sees how cute Zhenya is. A single one-night stand turns into more than what Sid bargains for. Zhenya is falling in love with Sid and sees him as more than a client, but Sid doesn't want to get attached for fear of getting hurt and distracted from hockey. Cue tons of angst, miscommunications, and (hopefully?) a happy ending.

30. College AU where they meet their sophomore year. Geno has a somewhat serious girlfriend but doesn't tell Sidney. Sidney finds out that he's "the other women" and confronts Geno about his cheating by breaking up with him. Sid ends up giving Geno the cold shoulder for months until finally Geno corners him after class and confesses to Sid that he had tried to breakup with the gf before but she wouldn't let him, he met Sid and instantly in love so he didn't even think of the girl he no longer like, he also broke up with the gf after Sid left him and has been trying to get back with Sid ever since

31. Both alphas. They have to find alternative partners during their rut/heat, because when they try with each other, violence overtakes sex - the first time it was pretty bad; the second time they tried to maul each other (they'd taken precautions e.g. back-ups who could separate them); they're not risking a third time. Coming back to your partner after marathon sex with someone else, knowing you can't ever have that with them.

32. Zombie apocalypse. Sid's been bitten, and he hides it just long enough to make sure Geno gets to safety.

33. Always a girl AU where they're playing in the NWHL or the CWHL, and they're on different teams.

34. Geno is cursed by a witch so he can get pregnant, but doesn't know it until he and Sid have sex. He always wanted kids, but not like this.

35. royalty/arranged marriage. modern or historical.

36. Sid is pregnant with Geno's baby, but manegment doesn't take it well

37. Teen pregnancy au

38. They get telepathically bonded for hockey. And end up hating each other.

39. their soulbond has broken - writer's choice as to why (suggestions: too many injuries, they have a fight and one of them has it broken intentionally, they spend too long too far apart)

40. Geno is an omega and the usual omega angst that goes with that ~

41. One of them from our universe falls into an a/b/o universe and doesn't get back, or vice versa. Maybe omega!Geno falls into our world, but is still an omega (which means he has to try to hide his heats with no medical support), or maybe he falls into our world but isn't an omega anymore. Body horror, xeno-type scenarios, mpreg... :D

42. The hockey gods require a lot of sacrifice to get to the level Sid and Geno are at; now they're asking either Sid or Geno for more than he's willing to give.

43. Soulmates in a doomed reincarnation cycle

44. Time loops

45. Geno is stuck in a time loop from the beginning of his career to the end. Think Magical Girl Madoka, Homura specifically.

46. One of them is deeply closeted falls into an AU where they got together sometime back. Twist: he never gets back to his own time, and meanwhile the other party figures it out and is mourning his "real" boyfriend.

47. Cup Magic happens after Sids day with the cup after winning back to back. Sid gets sent to Mario's house but in 1992. People are shocked at how this guy is built and how fast he is on the ice and how he won't shut up about hockey when Mario brings him to practice one day. Neither of them know why Sid was sent to the past and can't figure out what the lesson is but snippets of scenes between Sid and Geno show so much UST and hesitation. Sid seems to retreat even more because locker room talk is even more brutal (why are you so good? Steroids?? )and homophobic than it is now. Sid starts to become miserable and lonely and does confess to Mario about his feelings for Geno and Mario is shocked but kinda figures the way Sid talked about Geno and asks how gay people are treated in Sids time. After a while he realizes he could have Geno in his life if only he was a little braver. And he's so heartbroken he might have missed his chance and he does come back to his time. He talks to geno about what happened to him and Geno is so upset Sid has to go through all that alone. they do eventually live happily (please) ever after.

#hockey rpf #angst fest #sidgeno

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citrusandbergamot · 5 years

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you know, for such an amazing and fun-loving and quirky show, the RWBY fandom seems anything but.

people’s reaction to stuff is so extreme. it’s not even discussions on headcanons, it’s outright righteousness. and...a lack of appreciation of characters having very flawed (re: human) reactions to stuff.

I am really flabbergasted at the hatred directed towards team RWBY and JNR for how they’ve handled the big lore reveal. To be honest, it would have felt extremely false if everyone had been hunky-dory with Oz’s secrets. His hair is legit full of big and important secrets and like, everything, absolutely everything has changed. Both teams have gone through hell and they have to reconcile their core beliefs and their understanding of the world to this new information. That’s not going to be easy. It hasn’t been easy. It’s been pretty ugly so far.

That’s not a bad thing? It’s probably actually a good thing because it makes everything about the world more complex. It makes the characters more complex. It’s makes them more human.

In some post, somewhere, about this subject, said ‘realism is bad storytelling’. And just like....what? What?

No like, seriously, what the actual. You think that conflict and angst and doubt is only generated by the bad guys? That...it should only come from the bad guys? How...how boring is that. Oh my god, people. You know, this is why I hate most normal AUs, like coffee shop AUs, because no one ever misunderstands each other. No one ever says less than they mean. No one accidentally hurts someone. No one purposefully hurts someone. Everything’s fucking perfect all the time.

It all feels so goddamn false. Like using big spoonfuls of splenda instead of sugar, it just sticks in the back of my mouth and makes my teeth sore. I want characters who have to make up for something. I want characters who have to change. I want characters who refuse to change and how it changes the way people interact with them. I don’t care for stories about people never having doubt, never saying the wrong thing in anger, never lashing out first in order to protect themselves. It’s not pretty and it’s not easy, but it’s distinctly human. Like, I read a fic yesterday and there was self-hatred and tons of angst but everyone just...said what they meant, all the time. Everyone on the side of the angels was just like, oh yeah, this is what the plot needs to do, I have no other motivation other than helping it along. I’m going to say the right thing at the right time, always. The secondary characters had no drive or thoughts of their own. No doubts, no mistrust. No challenge. No growth. No life.

The RWBY characters have gone through a lot. They’re not children any more. They’re not students. This season, and this reveal especially and everything that’s happened afterwards, has really propelled them into positions of authority within the world itself. They’re always been the main characters to the viewer, but now they are major players to people like Oz, Salem, Ironwood, Qrow. It is extremely important, in terms of the story, that team RWBY JNR have made the decision to keep going, to keep fighting with this knowledge. They no longer trust the adults to fix their problems. And they will hold the adults accountable for their actions. And that includes Oz.

I mean, I love a broken character more than anything in life and Oz is as broken as they come. What Oz has been doing all these years/lifetimes is not enough. It’s not working. Clearly, it’s not working. Him keeping all that shit and trauma and whatnot inside is not working and people keep dying. The information/backstory had to come out, and they had to trust that they got the whole truth.

Plus, there’s the fact that they don’t really interact with Oz on a personal level? They never have? I’m not surprised they didn’t offer comfort in the direct aftermath or since. This is ‘please ignore the man behind the curtain’ tipping point. This is the ‘whole damn saviour ideal is a lie’. There is no wizard, there never was. The great and powerful Oz is just a conman. This was always going to happen. This reveal was integral to Oz’s character and the plot, not just for backstory and lore but in how the main characters interact with him and with the world (re: Salem and the Grimm). Oz was their teacher and leader and saviour - literally more of a concept. He has never been on equal footing with any of them. How do you bridge that gap while still acknowledging how betrayed everyone feels?

You don’t. You wait til the next volume. Cause you know who’s going to be in the next volume? General Ironwood!! Oz’s equal ...ish. But more importantly, a man who knew Oz’s secret. He and Glynda knew and they both knew that Qrow didn’t (rewatch season 2 if you don’t believe me). There’s going to be some comeuppance there. On a narrative level, it makes sense to push that emotional fallout until the story has someone on equal footing to Oz. Someone who clearly disagrees with Oz but still respects him, someone who can challenge both Oz and RWBY JNR and get them dealing with each other.

Oz has retreated at the moment because it makes sense, character-wise and narrative-wise. What’s more, Oz has been retreating for a long goddamn time. I think that Oz has been going through the motions. I think it’s been too long. I think too many people have died. I think he’s stopped believing that there will be an end to this horrific cycle. Ruby is the catalyst that will change his opinion on that. But it’s going to take a long time for Oz to listen to her and to confront himself. And not just because of the ...what are people calling it, abuse? of RWBY asking that question of Jinn. Oz does not trust people. The Jinn thing didn’t help but Oz was never going to trust them anyway. He was keeping his secrets to protect them, yes, but mostly to protect himself.

But that’s going to change. Ruby is going to be the catalyst for that change. Oz is going to learn to trust them. But the story had to get through this first. Oz was never going to tell them. In another kind of story, RWBY would have gotten the truth from Salem. The bad guy taunts the good guys with the truth, blah blah blah, that story is so overdone, I’m really glad they’ve skipped it here. They don’t trust Oz at the moment, but they trust that they know what he’s been hiding from them AND the manner of the reveal and the horrific nature of what they saw is going to engender sympathy and compassion, once RWBY and JNR and Qrow actually step back from their hurt and betrayal. But that takes time. You may not like it, cause apparently people want stories to be super simple and full of characters who always do the right thing?

Lol, yeah, okay

Realism is not a dirty word. Anger and hurt and bitterness are human emotions and certain characters have them in spades (Yang, Qrow, Jaune, Raven). It makes them more interesting. It gives them growth, something to overcome. Remember what Yang was like pre-season 3? She’s a different person now because of what she went through. Her zeal and optimism have been altered, permanently. She’s super depressed. Of course she’s going to be angry. She’s gotta learn to deal with that anger because she’s been angry since the Vytal festival. I would have been shocked if Yang had learned Oz’s secrets and been like, oh man, I’m no longer angry at you and the world because clearly you’re traumatized and you need a hug. Yang’s....not really that kind of person. But she’s not done yet working through her shit. She takes a while to process stuff remember. And there has been a fuckton of shit and her family is tied up in half of it.

We’re going to get STRQ backstory or I’m going to start taking hostages. There’s some hell to pay there. Summer dead, Taiyang clearly not interacting with Oz at all if he can help it. Qrow left in the dark and drowning in alcohol, and Raven. Raven, who turned her back on Oz. Gee, I wonder why?

Oz has very good reasons for keeping his mouth shut but people are still getting hurt. And trust is a two-way street.

As for RWBY JNR reactions being extremely or ...mean? Abusive? Whatever it’s being called? People are going to argue and feel hurt when they find out they’ve been lied to. The person doing the lying might have really good reasons to do so but that still doesn’t mean everyone will be okay with it right away. Characters are supposed to be complex. They’re supposed to struggle and make mistakes and react with emotions first and logic second. The way the emotional arc feels to us is not the same as it feels to the characters in the show. You know when you find out something and it shakes the very foundation of your trust in that person? Was it super easy to immediately go, oh no, it’s okay that you lied and manipulated me because you had your reasons? Can you shut off the hurt and the anger like flipping a switch? Haven’t you ever gotten pissed at somebody you love because you misunderstood something and still felt pissed later, even after the misunderstanding was cleared up?

Emotions aren’t always rational. We don’t always react the way that we should have, the way that we would have, if we had been a little calmer. And there was nothing in that reveal that was calm inducing. All the information about Oz’s traumatic history probably paled in comparison to the reveal about the nature of the fight with Salem. As a viewer, and one who likes angst at that, the whole thing made Oz into my new favourite because aaaaaaangst and trauma are my bread and butter. But to the characters, in-universe?

Yeah. Pretty sure the biggest takeaway was ‘okay, everything you do or have ever done is futile, so you’ve all suffered for nothing, kthanks.’

Of course they’re pissed.

If they had just been super okay with everything from the get go, it would have been false. These characters have gone through some shit and they’ve had their whole understanding of the world turned upside down. Of course that’s going to affect them.

The fallout with Oz since the reveal makes sense, on an emotional narrative and pacing level and on a character level. They’re all going to grow from this and become stronger. Oz is going to find some peace, I just know he is.

this is going to be what breaks the cycle. They’re going to have to confront Oz eventually. I think the reason why they haven’t rehashed any part of the fallout yet is because they want to tackle that in a completely different volume. It’s taken them 3 volumes to finally work through JNR’s issues post volume 3. The impact of that JNR scene with the statue in volume 6 would have been cheapened if the characters hadn’t been struggling with the thought of giving up, post-reveal. And that scene is probably one of the best in the whole series. Emotionally, it’s the most mature thing they’ve ever done. Would it have had the same resonance if they’d all been super okay with Oz? And been like, we’re here for you buddy, our hopes and dreams were based on lies this whole time and our friends died for nothing and we’re all probably going to die too but that’s super okay because your ex is an abusive psycho and you’re incredibly broken inside. Let’s all cuddle.

Like, fuck that. Give me characters who are going to stand on their own two feet, who are afraid and powerless but unwilling to back down, who know they have no hope of winning but continue to fight nonetheless. Who’ll stare into the abyss with eyes unflinching, strength built upon truth, not falsehood. Because they must. Because it’s right. Because they are the only ones who can.

I can’t be the only one who sees it, right? That this was necessary? For the characters to grow into real hunters? For them to truly be the change in the world? For RWBY to enter endgame?

They’re going to break the cycle wide open. They had to have this knowledge and they have to come to terms with it. They have to find it in themselves to keep going. They’re going to prove Oz wrong, that people can learn the truth and still keep fighting. It’s not fate or destiny. It’s choice.

I’ve been thinking about Pyrrha’s ‘do you believe in destiny’ line a lot while writing this. Because I didn’t get it for a super long time. Did she feel like she had to agree, because her life had been leading to the destiny of being the Fall Maiden? All that fighting ability, all that heart. It’s always bothered me that it implied it was her destiny to die like that, that the whole thing was inevitable. And with the reveal, futile.

(What’s in a name, right? Oh Pyrrha, Pyrrha, I’ll never be over you.)

But it wasn’t destiny. It was choice. That’s what makes that scene so goddamn beautiful. It was Pyrrha’s choice and finally acknowledging that has resolved 3 seasons worth of emotional tension. JNR has been so grief-stricken it’s been painful to watch. But necessary. So goddamn necessary. Otherwise, what’s the point of killing characters off? What’s the point of trauma if it can just be swept under a rug and forgotten about and the characters all reset to their base personalities? If reactions are all the same and characters interchangeable? I suuuuuuper don’t care for stories where characters stay exactly the same. I want it to mean something. I want them to struggle. I want them to have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy.

That’s what the characters are doing. They’re making a choice. Oz is super good at taking choices away from people. It’s not necessarily his fault but intentions are not the same as end result. That’s because it’s destiny but the cycle will never break that way.

RWBY JNR and Qrow have to take their own actions separate from Oz’s machinations. It’s the only way they can win. This is what the narrative had to do. It’s not pretty at the moment but it’s going to be so much more satisfying in the end. They’re wounded, they all are. We have to feel how deep those wounds are to appreciate how they can heal.

It’s choice. If was easy, what would be the point?

(My god I love Oz so very, very much. His trauma reminds me a lot of Sam Winchester. And like Sam, the people around him are pretty judgmental of his past mistakes. It may be uncomfortable or aggravating to watch as a viewer because the punishment is widely disproportionate to the crime but. Like, of course Dean is going to act that way? He’s his own character, who is never going to be objective about Sam and Sam’s actions. It also generates a fuckton of self-hatred and angst for BOTH characters AND makes the moments where working together outweighs any interpersonal strife (eg: Dean stabbing Zachariah in season 5). That moment is sweet as fuck. Where the hell would the conflict have been that whole season if Dean had just been super okay with Sam opening the Cage? We knew he didn’t mean to. We knew Cas was the one who let him out. We knew the angels fucked over the voicemail. We knew Dean was being unfairly, disproportionately angry. We knew Dean had been the one to open the first seal.

We knew Dean was being unreasonable and cruel. It made for a frustrating season. A whole season! Of characters being mean and sure, abusive.

So what.

No, seriously, so fucking what? It’s a great season. It’s the season that keeps on giving, in terms of Sam Winchester angst. I mean, post-Cage is where all the fun horror is, but Sam being isolated and filled with self-loathing and guilt, visited in his dreams by the biggest bad of all? They’re Made For Each Other. Egads, that’s some good shit right there.

Can you imagine if Dean had just been....well, not-Dean about it? If he’d been some smol, soft, uwu boy who’d forgiven Sam immediately? Sam is so frigging heartfelt, he tries so hard. How could anyone not forgive him? (aaaah, the endless meta about Sam and forgiveness, Chuck in heaven, that’s som good shit). Not-Dean would have been the perfect, understanding brother. Not-Dean possibly would have comforted Sam during his various, horrifying withdrawals (goddammit Dean) but . That’s...not who the character is. That’s not how Dean was going to react. And what about all the angst? Where would that have come from? Where would those fantastic eps be of Dean losing faith? Sam trying to hold himself together because he is literally the one who never gives up and being scrapped down to nothing, over and over again because of it? And the resolution of all that? That their love for each other is beyond any hurt or betrayal or doubt they’ve caused each other. That’s...that’s good story telling. It’s fucked up and imperfect and there is some goddamn meat on it to sink into.)

Stop sanitizing stories. Especially when the imperfect reactions are literally the driving force of the emotional narrative.

Ugh.

(Sam Winchester/Ozpin is now my favourite crack ship and I literally have half story mapped out in the time it’s taken me to write this rant, don’t @ me

traumatized playthings of immortal bad guys with a side order of identity/possession issues? caught between destiny and a hard place, with nothing but more trauma and pain to look forward to? two beings in the wasteland, suffering beyond endurance, without end, because giving up isn’t an option?

yeah baby. oh freaking yeah.

ship song: apres moi le deluge by Regina Spektor: I must go on standing, you can’t break that which isn’t yours, I must go on standing, it’s not my own, it’s not my choice

yaaaaaaaas)

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revenjolras · 7 years

Text

The 'RED’ exR AU nobody asked for:

Okay so Don’t Judge Me. I was tired and sat on the tube after a night shift - which can only be described as feeling like you are stuck between two planes of existence.

Here is how you can arrange Taylor Sw.ift’s album ‘Red’ into a tale of exR reincarnation!au.

Now not every song fits perfectly. Because Taylor didn’t actually write an exR reincarnation au with her music (someone should tho??)… But each song has enough lyrics to make my brain connect the dots.

Right so backstory: It actually all started with a song that’s not on the album (I’d Lie). On this post (which has inexplicably become one of my most popular posts ever xD)… When I was asked to do a sequel I felt it was only fitting to stick with the theme so I listened to some more Swift to find one I thought would work.

I ended up writing ‘Know You Better Now’ posted it to ao3. Based on the song ‘Everything Has Changed’ which served as a happy-ish canon era follow up…

“ All I knew this morning when I woke Is I know something now, I didn’t before And all I’ve seen since eighteen hours ago is green eyes and freckles And your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like I just wanna know you better, know you better now”

Now… It could have ended there but then one day I was heavily sleep deprived and existing only on some parallel dimension (the London tube) and I was listening to the album again and each song seemed to fit itself into this idea that despite getting together before the end… They do still die in the rebellion… But what if they were reincarnated with limited memories of the events.

Coming at it from that perspective ‘Red’s’ lyrics (which seriously guys are all already so exR) could be heard as both going through life with maybe very vague memories of their past life in general but really clear memories of each other and their relationship despite knowing they’ve never even met… And the feeling of it is so strong it’s hard to let go of and be in other relationships.

“Forgetting him is like trying to know somebody you never met. But loving him was Red.”

“Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes. Tell myself it’s time now gotta let it go. But moving on from him is impossible when I still see it all in my head. Burning Red.”

We follow up by circling back to ‘Everything Has Changed’… But different inspiring lyrics. It seemed important to tired me that there be symmetry in their actually getting together.

“All I know is we said hello. And your eyes look like coming home. All I know is a simple name. And everything has changed”

“Come back and tell me why. I’m feeling like I’ve missed you all this time. And meet me there tonight. Let me know that it’s not all in my mind”

So this is them meeting again for the first time and recognising each other instantly even though it seems impossible.

Next comes ‘State of Grace’. Which is them reflecting to themselves on re-meeting and how unexpected it was and resolving to make up for lost time.

“So you were never a saint and I loved in shades of wrong. We learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts. But this love is brave and wild.”

“And I never saw you coming. And I’ll never be the same. This is a state of grace. This is the worthwhile fight.”

We move on to ‘Treacherous’. Which is them getting to know each other… physically… again =P. But also expressing doubts… Is this a good idea. They don’t really know each other now. Is it too fast? But also… Being kind of excited by that…

“I’d be smart to walk away. But you’re quicksand.”

"I can’t decide if it’s a choice. Getting swept away. I hear the sound of my own voice. Asking you to stay.”

“Your name has echoed through my mind and I just think you should know. That nothing safe is worth the drive.”

Next on the agenda is the first fight with ‘Stay Stay Stay’… Still in the honeymoon period of the relationship so even though they fight they make up pretty fast.

"I was expecting some dramatic turn away but you stayed”

"Stay. I’ve been loving you for quite some time. You think that it’s funny when I’m mad. But I think that it’s best if we both stay”

The thing is that they don’t really get to the route of their problems so this is probably (definitely) gonna come back to bite them later.

So we move on. Maybe through all this they have been finding the rest of Les Amis… So interlude fun chapter for ‘22’. Probably led by Courf because… Of course it would be. He just wants to have fun with his re-found friends.

Then obviously the inevitable happens. The little fights build up into a big fight … maybe Enjolras gets super busy … maybe R withdraws into himself… maybe they both just panic that neither is quite the same person they were in the previous life… or all the above but anyway… they break up!!! Angst-city from here onwards!

So we head into ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’… I feel like this one fits the least well unless you look at it as coming from a place of hurt and anger… So it’s not really the honest truth but rather bitter feelings. Maybe also looking right back to a time before they ever saw past their first impressions.

“And when I fell hard you took a step back. Without me. And he’s long gone when he’s next to me And I realize the blame is on me”

“No apologies. He’ll never see you cry, Pretends he doesn’t know that he’s the reason why. You’re drowning”

So they’re apart and they’ve gone through being angry for the most part. What’s left is pain. So next comes ‘All Too Well’ which follows them trying to deal with not being together any more and pretending they’re fine which they really aren’t. Earlier in the story the memories described in this song would have happened so… Visiting family. Dancing round the kitchen etc

“Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much, But maybe this thing was a masterpiece ‘til you tore it all up.”

“You call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest.”(psst this is R calling Enj for his stuff and being cruel as a defence mechanism because I’m tired of casual cruel Enj.)

So it moves on like that and slowly the pain becomes a dull ache and they start to think maybe they were too harsh to one another but they each believe the other is over them/better off without them. We have ‘I Almost Do’ here.

(so hard to filter these lyrics they’re all perfect)

“And I just wanna tell you It takes everything in me not to call you. And I wish I could run to you. And I hope you know that every time I don’t I almost do”

“I bet this time of night you’re still up. I bet you’re tired from a long hard week. I bet you’re sitting in your chair by the window looking out at the city. And I hope sometimes you wonder about me”

“I bet you think I either moved on or hate you ‘Cause each time you reach out there’s no reply. I bet it never ever occurred to you that I can’t say “Hello” to you And risk another goodbye.”

Enjolras is the first one to make a decision to try and reconcile. This is where ‘Holy Ground’ comes in. He finds himself outside the cafe where they first ‘re-met’ and it reminds him of all the good, but when he rushes off to find R he sees him with someone else and assumes he’s moved on (psst he hasn’t he’s still very sad) so he leaves.

“I was reminiscing just the other day While having coffee all alone and Lord, it took me away Back to a first-glance feeling on New York Time Back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme” “ And I guess we fell apart in the usual way And the story’s got dust on every page But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now And I see your face in every crowd”

Just for fun you could dip into 1989 here and also have ‘I Wish You Would’ as that moment of realisation that they really do want to be back together. R would obviously be the one to instigate it now and Enj is so surprised to find him on his doorstep and they’re both a little scared (but also so happy =)).

“I wish you would come back. Wish I’d never hung up the phone like I did I… Wish you knew that. I’d never forget you as long as I live and I wish you were right here right now.”

“I wish we could go back. And remember what we were fighting for I… Wish you knew that. I miss you too much to be mad anymore.”

“2 A.M., here we are See your face Hear my voice in the dark We were a crooked love In a straight line down Makes you wanna run and hide But it made us turn right back around”

So they make up and agree to take it slower this time and really get to know the people they’ve become rather than just the people they were before and so they arrange a coffee date and we round off with ‘Begin Again’

“And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny 'cause he never did I’ve been spending the last eight months Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again”

TLDR: I hate myself. I am deeply ashamed. But damn it. It fucking WORKS

#Exr #Enjoltaire #I seriously am ashamed I promise

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