#poppy will definitely become centric in this story
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The Half of It - 2 (Poppy x MC)
Summary: Bea, the town’s outcast is recruited by the school jock to win Poppy’s heart. But what happens when she starts falling for her as well?
HIGHLY recommend you read/re-read part 1
No warnings this chapter
Word Count: 2.6k
Chapter 2: How to write a love letter 101
“In love, one always starts by deceiving oneself...and ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance.”
- Oscar Wilde
I was tasked with what was probably the hardest piece of writing I’ve done in all of my years of highschool, and I wrote eight different versions of the analysis on David vs Goliath my freshman year. That’s besides the point, it wasn’t like any normal research essay. No. For some reason I found that my one and only letter to Poppy would have to be the best thing I ever wrote in the entirety of the universe. Too bad I had to make it sound like it was written by Carter, that big stupid jock. You can guess how severely depressed I became after reading what he had initially written…
“Dear Poppy, I think you’re really beautiful. Even if you were ugly, I’d want to know you, because you are smart and nice, too. It’s hard to find all those things in one girl. But even if you were only two of those things, I’d be into it. But you’re, like, all three, just to be clear.”
Bea reads off the paper, turning her head with cringe and confusion at the confident jock sitting next to her. Carter smiles, “She’s all three, like you know all three backs of football. The running back, the fullback-”
“Thanks for clarifying...:”
Carter stares awkwardly, waiting for her to continue on. And Bea does, with a big ass sigh.
“...About me. Some people think I’m the cutest one in my family. Those people being my grandma...who’s dead now...Never mind about my dead grandma. All I’m saying is that I like fries. I like dipping them in my milkshake. Is that weird? It’s actually really tasty. Would you like to try that with me sometime?
CJ, school quarterback.”
Bea takes a good five minutes to compose herself. Yeah this was definitely gonna be a long week. She lowers the paper slightly and turns to Carter, a puzzled look in her eyes. “So what you’re trying to say is-”
“I’m in love with her.”
That confession definitely would have sent her sprawling a few feet back if she hadn’t been sitting. Love? What was love? And why does she despise it now that Carter has mentioned it.
“...Have you ever spoken to her?”
“Well...no, I’m not good with words. Besides, would I be here with you if I did talk to her?”
Bea rolls her eyes and huffs exhaustingly. “Carter, you're not in love. You’re just stubborn.”
“No I’m not! It’s love, I know it’s love. Love feels different, it doesn’t feel...real. It almost feels impossible. But we indulge in it because of the thrill, the adrenaline of chasing someone mindlessly...and wanting to be present in everything they do. There’s that ‘what if?’, the question that could make or break that love. Even if the ending isn’t what you had hoped for, at least you know how it felt to feel so much joy, so much want.”
Carter stares up at the ceiling in thought, his eyes seem to be unfocused, staring at nothing and everything. Bea gazes over at him in part shock and part admiration, a smile painting her face. “...Wow.”
“...Hm, yeah. I heard it in a dating app commercial once.”
Bea gasps and smacks Carter repeatedly with the letter in her hand, clearly disappointed.
“Wha- Ow!”
“And here I was thinking you were being original.”
Bea eventually sits back in her seat, her shoulders slumping as she reads the letter over and over again, trying to make sense of it. That was the problem though, it didn’t make sense, well maybe the fries part did, but the blonde had a lot of work to do. Carter watches her silently until he can’t hold back the lingering question in his head. “...Haven’t you ever felt it? That screwy feeling that love gives you? Poppy makes me feel screwy.”
Bea continues to read, her eyes glued onto the words that are slightly falling out of the printed lines of the notebook paper. But her mind is fully elsewhere, she heard his question loud and clear. The only thing she could muster was an annoyed “no” in efforts to not become vulnerable.
He intertwined his hands together, leaning back on the bench. “...Oh I get it, you’ve never been in love have you?”
Bea’s legs were already one step ahead of her mind as they sprung her out of the seat. She grabs her bag and swats the papers in Carter’s direction, a scoff leaving her lips. “You want a love letter? I’ll give you a love letter!”
“Yeah but will it be something that makes her fall in love with me and not walk away like you’re doing right now-” Carter’s voice rings out hurriedly yet Bea can’t hear anything except the pounding of her heart getting louder as she stalks out of the church. Love, love, love, what even is it? Will I ever feel it? There is nobody who could make me feel-
The blonde was cut abruptly out of her thoughts as she crashed into someone, who was most likely on their respective part of the sidewalk. All of the materials in her arms fell to the concrete and Bea rushed to pick them up, “I’m sorry I-”
A familiar blonde set of locks and porcelain skin came into view and she immediately stopped and looked up. Poppy’s eyes were already boring into hers, a look of slight concern, and maybe annoyance? on her face.
“...I’m-I’m Bea Hughes…” She could only stutter, all those moments that she pretended to talk to Poppy in her room were definitely not paying off.
But maybe it did pay off because a small smile, masked with sparkly pink lip gloss started to form. Poppy bit her lip as her eyes crinkled with amusement, “...Yeah I know. You’ve only been playing my dad’s services on Sunday for, like, four years. He does favour you...even if you are a heathen.” Poppy peers over at the church that Bea had just come out of and raises an eyebrow in curiosity. She picks up a stray book from the ground and grins with an impressed look. “Remains of The Day...Loved it. Mr. Stevens is quite the character.” Okay, so Poppy has great taste in literature, that’s another thing to add to the list that Bea totally doesn’t have stored in the notes app of her phone. Listen, she has to write a love letter to Poppy Min Sinclair, so every piece of information is vital.
Poppy hands the book to Bea, their eyes never leaving each other while standing up. Say something Bea. Anything. It’s almost like the strawberry blonde was waiting, hoping, for her to speak .
But she said nothing. No, all the insecure blonde could do is stare into Poppy’s eyes, almost as if she wasn’t afraid to turn to stone.
The sound of car tires scraping against the pavement caused Poppy to break eye contact before smiling one last time at Bea. “This is me.” Bea watched the shorter girl stroll past her so casually, the complete opposite of what she was feeling in the moment. She didn’t speak until Poppy closed the car door and the driver took off, a frustrated sigh escaping her lips. “I’m Bea Hughes? Really?”
***
Bea sat in front of her tv, a pen and notepad in her hand. She couldn’t think of anything to write down. How do you write a love letter, or a confession? This is the one thing she had trouble writing. The tv blasted on with 1987’s “Wings of Desire”. Bea cocked her head to the side when the man started to profess his love. She put her pen to the pad and started writing.
Poppy,
You don’t know me, and truth be told I see that as a good thing. You know that saying, there are plenty of fish in the sea? Well I am not a fisherman, nor do I think you are a fish. Letters are not the form of communication that I would personally prefer, but I am the one writing to you. So no more complaining. I think you are interesting. Like a book I want to read. I’d even read the author’s notes at the end just to get every bit of you. I don’t desire a lot of things, but I long for a wave of love to swell up in me. That’s what makes me so clumsy: the lack of pleasure.
Yours,
Carter
***
Bea pushes down on her pedals, pacing her breath with each turn of the wheels beneath her. The voice of Carter appears as he races behind her, careful not to send her flying last time. Then she’d never write a letter again. “Bea! She wrote back!”
The blonde pulled the brakes on her bicycle so hard a wheel might have popped off. She was out of breath but suddenly the reason for it was different. Bea grabs the letter from Carter’s hands and makes haste to read the words she imagined would sit on the paper.
Carter,
I like Wim Wenders too. Wouldn’t have plagiarized him though.
-Poppy
“Who’s Wim Wenders and why’d you cheat off of him? Bea I looked up what plagiarism meant.”
“I didn’t cheat off of him!...Okay maybe I did but this is a good thing!”
“HOW?”
“It’s...it’s like a game. She’s challenging us..but in a good way.” Bea nods to Carter but also to herself. There was a response. She didn’t think that Poppy would write back but she did and it has changed Bea’s outlook on everything. She was in, and there was no way it could stop now.
“So...are we back in the game?” Carter’s words jumble Bea out of her thoughts and she stutters, “Yep..yes we are.” No you are. “We are definitely back in it.” Nope just you Bea.
Bea leaves Carter with an awkward fist bump before peddling away, her mind racing with a million thoughts. But they always seem to close back into one familiar blonde who danced and did everything Bea couldn’t. She sighed, the adrenaline pumping its way out of her lungs.
“Game on, Poppy Min Sinclair.”
***
Bea spent the following days perfecting her next letter to Poppy. This one would be more heartfelt, and less cringe and plagiaristic like her last one. It would come from her and only her...but for Carter of course. The thing is, when Bea started writing again, she didn’t think about the fact that Carter would take credit for everything on the paper, and that he would be the one that develops a *possible* relationship with Poppy. Maybe she didn’t want to think about that part, but the other parts brought just the right amount of serotonin to make her shitty day better. Everything she read, everywhere she went reminded her of the strawberry blonde, and of the unfinished letter. Bea attempted to step into the life of Carter’s and speak like a jock would, without making him seem like something he is not. But that was hard. Because it was her words, her mind. Carter would take that from her, even if it was unintentional.
It didn’t help that Carter didn’t want them to be seen together in public. He would slide to the opposite end of the bench in the church when his football buddies would come in. Bea didn’t take it personal. She of course had other things going through her mind.
It took 7 days. One week. To finish the second letter, a very short one. Bea wouldn’t describe herself as a perfectionist, but every word that Poppy would read had to be perfect.
Dear Poppy,
Okay you got me…
Now that that’s done, let’s start over yeah? I’ll start by saying that I sometimes hide behind other people’s words. For one thing, I know nothing about love. I’m 17 and I’ve lived in Farmsville my whole life. I hang out with my friends, I keep my head down. I’m a simple...guy. Which is to say, if I knew what love was, I would quote myself. But I don’t. I have a question for you, please answer it in any way you want. Are you happy where you are right now?
-Carter
Bea sat in the church, silently tapping away at the keys of piano, a simple soft melody following the nod of her head. Carter had found her like that but didn’t want to disturb. Except, Poppy wrote back again, so this was big news. They both sat in confession booths as Bea read the letter quietly, her hand gripping the edges a little too harshly.
Dear Carter,
You know that it takes eleven muscles to yawn? This is the sort of weird fact I find myself recalling to keep myself from...well yawning. Or showing anything I feel really. And I find myself doing that a lot. So yeah..believe it or not, I turn to other people’s words too.
When you’re a pretty girl, and I know it makes me sound conceited, but sometimes I am, but that’s why you’re even writing to me right? I mean my image is what gives me attention, I’ve grown used to that fact. When you’re a pretty girl, people want to give you things. What they really want is to make you like them. Not like them as in, “i like you”, but like them as in, “i am like you.” You may think I’m different, but I’m like a lot of other people. Which makes me kind of no one. It looks like I’ve found my place but I really haven’t. Just a girl who’s lost in the mix. I don’t know why I feel like I can tell you this, but you provide the sort of safety I always craved. You’re interesting Carter, I like you.
-Poppy
Bea read the last sentence more times than she should’ve. Carter watched her silently as she stared into the lines of the paper, maybe hoping that more words would magically appear. The blonde couldn’t describe the feeling in her chest, but it hurt. Physically.
“Uh...can I text her now?”
“Too soon.”
“No, I'm gonna do it now.”
Bea felt herself starting to get frustrated, but calmness always overtook any other feeling she had. She was taught to be rational.
“You do that and she’ll think you’re just like everyone else.” You’re not like anyone else Bea, she needs to know that.
Carter lets out a heavy sigh and pulls out his phone. Bea felt a buzz in her pocket and pulled hers out as well. A message pops up alerting Bea of another income of $50 being sent to her.
***
Bea slogged through the crowded halls trying to find the exit but before she can walk any further, a firm hand grabs her and pulls her into a familiar classroom. The blonde turns to scowl at the perpetrator which was probably Bradley, but instead she sees bright red lips and black glasses. Ms. Kingsley. But she doesn’t look too happy.
The older woman holds up a paper which Bea recognizes immediately as her letter to Poppy. How in the world did she get that?
“So...this is why half my class is failing their essays?”
Bea could make a snarky comment back to her, but the sight of the letter sends her thoughts spiraling once again. She lets out a defeated sigh. I mean how did this woman know she’d written that letter? Ina Kingsley knew everything. “Look...I’ll be reopen for business soon enough.” Bea starts to turn to leave and looks at Kingsley one more time. “I can’t do this for much longer.”
Bea couldn’t hold in her feelings for much longer as well. But not even Kingsley knew that. She walked out of the classroom with her head down, hoping to avoid eye contact with the one she wanted to see the most.
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End Note: Part two is here woah. Thought it would never come.
Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme @baexpoppy @zigxryanz @uselesslesbianfr @aleiramacaii @thedaft1 @alexlabhont @iamsimpforpoppy @cloakanddaggerthings @straightlikewetspaghetti
#queen b#poppy min sinclair#poppy x mc#mc x poppy#playchoices#any feedback is appreciated#my brain is toast#poppy will definitely become centric in this story#starting next chapter
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2021 Marichat Fic Rec List
We've decided to compile several recommendation lists out of our contributors' favourite fanfictions that were published during 2021! We'll be sharing these lists with you throughout December, in order to provide you with plenty of reading material before the ML Big Bang fics are published in January.
Crushed by @p-artsypants
6,633 words, Teen, 1/1 Chapters
Hurt/comfort, half-identity reveal that ends in full identity reveal, it's sweet but not cheesy (sorry Plagg), and it is a well-constructed story overall. This was one of the first ML fanfics I ever read, and while I love all of P_Artsypant's work, this one is near and dear to me (as is I'll Handle It).
There's an early half-reveal under strained circumstances and the two use conversation and laughter to get through it and it warms my heart
An Iron Dare by @agrestebug
2,505 words, Teen, 1/1 Chapters
It's cute how Adrien is flustered about asking Marinette out in the fic, he asked Marinette for help as Chat and the irony of the situation is funny.
the way i loved you by @sha-nwa
44,681 words, Teen, 7/11 Chapters
It's so different than all of the classic Marichat Fics I've read, It does have the chat noir visiting Marinette and becoming friends thing but this one starts with them breaking up and then there are flashbacks of their relationship. It's so beautifully written and laced with angst, making me me cry with every update. I would say it's the best of all the Marichat fics I've read💖😭
still a WIP, i feel like this fic is different because marinette and chat are dating and break up in the first chapter, which is not what you would expect (at least definitely not me lol). it's also beautifully written, and the author even includes songs to play while reading every chapter :)
One Lucky Christmas by @day-writingdaydreams
5,650 words, Teen, 1/1 Chapters
This was written based off of a prompt I came up with, and I really just enjoy the general hilarity of the premise. Playing around with the French Christmas market is fun.
La Belle et la Chat by MidnightSkydancer
10,667 words, General, 4/? Chapters
i've always been in love with beauty and the beast fics, and one with chat noir? the rose? his mother? his dad being the reason why he's like this??? the idea is so sublime!!! instant fave
poppy seed lilies by @fragileizywriting
5,638 words, Teen, 1/1 Chapters
It's a Red Riding Hood, Magic AU wit Chat Noir being a self-conscious idiot who doesn't know how to appreciate himself and Marinette who loves him soooo much. It's written beautifully and even though it's fairly short, even the world-building is amazing.
(seam)ingly by Lunelle
13,918 words, Teen, 3/3 Chapters
Amazing AU involving time travel and shenanigans.
parentheticals by @aerequets
25, 605 words, General, 11/? Chapters
so this fic is actually lovesquare centric (not just marichat), but because it focuses mainly in the reverse lovesquare, i decided to put it here. it´s got a lot of amazing scenes for all the other ships too, though!
heart's not in it by @rosekasa
2,821 words, Teen, 1/1 Chapters
some tension between their r/s. chat misses his lady but he's afraid of letting her know, until sabine came in and talk to him, and he finally lets her know what's wrong
tell me something i don't know by @carpisuns
120,597 words, Teen, 29/29 Chapters
It's a soulmate au done in the best way that focuses on choosing to love; it combines text fic and normal prose, as well as lots of flashbacks that build the story sooo nicely. It's sweet and funny and aching and heartwarming and I really can't recommend it enough!!
#miraculous ladybug#ml big bang#ml big bang 2021#ml#fic recs#marichat#marinette dupain cheng#adrien agreste#chat noir
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Not so much a prompt as hc ask but whats your take on RC culture regarding relationships, platonic or otherwise? I always found it interesting how close Crookedstar was said to be with Silver and how Oakheart was implied to be very involved in his kits lives, but were they outliers due to the tragedy of their circumstances/experiences or nah?
Also love thinking about how Mistyfoot and Stonefur took on Silver’s kits as apprentices...Like in part it was probably bc of the half-clan revelation thing sure, but I love to imagine they were all a friendly cousins trio even if Misty and Silverstream closer.
Side note: loving a lot of aspects of the kinship system you use, but particularly the concept of “maara”!!! Very helpful for explaining relationships and wholesome to boot
...an excuse to talk about my culture hcs? heck yeah anon let's go!!
okay so in general, riverclan has the closest "nuclear family" units. in fact! riverclan is the only clan where the father is expected to help name the kits. in every other clan, it's the right of the queen. (altho in skyclan and thunderclan the father is often allowed to help.)
riverclan is also just generally touchy-feely and friendly, in part because in the forest, they had very little external pressure. they share a border with windclan, and windclan and riverclan have very incompatible hunting styles, and thunderclan, with whom they fought over a pile of rocks.
but they were always well-fed, since in most winters, it's not going to get cold enough to completely freeze over their water sources, and even then, they can hunt on land. i do not subscribe to mistystar's omen and the implication that riverclan can't hunt on land, because that...implies that there's a lot of fish in the river. like, a lot.
so while thunderclan is trying to seem Tough because of their border with the twoleg place, windclan had shadowclan to feud with, and shadowclan had prey-poor territory, riverclan was just chilling.
(imo, the thunder/shadow rivalry was a very new development in tpb. in basically all the prequels, thunderclan and riverclan fight far more than thunderclan and shadowclan. specifically, in bluestar's prophecy, we see a battle with riverclan and windclan (and they don't even share a border), but no momental battle with shadowclan unless my memory is really failing me.)
so anyway, riverclan's culture is that of abundance, and that means art and family.
specifically to crookedstar's family, his relationship with silverkit is pretty common, especially considering willowbreeze is dead. now, adoption by choice sacrifices the kit's previous bloodkin, but silverkit losing her mother is not that. sunfish is definitely silverkit's mother, but crookedstar is still her father.
if willowbreeze was alive, their dynamic would probably be less father/daughter bond and more family bond, but they'd still be close.
usually, when a kit loses one parent, it's their father. just, statistically, their father is more likely to be the one who goes to battle, and if the queen dies, the kits are very likely to die. so there's established "behavior" for that: (riverclan) queens will take their kits to the shrine of their father, tell them stories, etc.
but in this case, crookedstar isn't really welcome in the nursery, so even without his mapleshade problem, until silverkit is old enough to leave the nursery, he stuggles to bond with her. once she's about three moons old, and he's gotten over his mapleshade problem, though, he's very close with her.
so, uh, a little of both: he'd be close with her no matter what, but the father/daughter bond is definitely fostered by tragedy.
as for oakheart, it's a similar deal. when he gives the kits to greypool, they become her kits, but she's allowed to invite oakheart to be a father to them, which she does, and he takes his role very seriously.
if, say, bluefur had gone with oakheart to riverclan, that relationship would have been pretty much the same.
as a side note, oakheart and crookedstar are also definitely involved with all the kits. because they're brothers, they have the same relationship to each others kits (seya), and oakheart especially fills that role for silverkit while crookedstar is working on his mapleshade problem.
he backs off when crookedstar is repairing their relationship because he wants to give them space, but he's close with silverstream. i'd like to think that he has a good idea of what's going on with greystripe, considering he had a similar past.
and on that note! yes, so: to recap, by my kinship rules, mistyfoot and silverstream are sisters, so when silverstream dies, mistyfoot is definitely very involved in featherkit and stormkit's upbringing. doubly so considering their father can't provide a riverclan culture.
(stonefur is the brother of their mother, so he's uhre to them, which is a pretty minor relationship in the clan's eyes, but he's fond of the kits.)
but misty, stone, and silver are definitely close. silverstream is a fair amount younger than mistyfoot and stonefur, but willowbreeze and greypool are sisters and crookedstar and oakheart are brothers, so they're like, double siblings?
that's not how it works, my point is just they're close. silverstream is a generally popular cat, but she looks up to mistyfoot and stonefur. the fact that her kits get mentored by them means a lot to her, up in starclan.
and lastly! thank you! i designed it in part out of an enjoyment of worldbuilding, but also because, hyperspecifically, i was thinking about the po3 apprentices (berry, hazel, mouse, poppy, cinder, mole, honey, holly, jay, lion), and they all have a close bond. lionblaze and berrynose have a rivalry, they're all friends, and i haven't forgotten that in the sight, hazelpaw is the one to help jaypaw find a nest in the apprentice den.
(it's a really cute scene)
and i wanted a word to describe that! because cats are very clique-y and form very close relationships in a group that tend to stick for a lot of their lives, especially in cat colonies.
anyway thanks for this ask if you have any more questions! i love excuses to ramble at length about this. riverclan especially because i feel like i never talk about riverclan? but i have a lot of ideas about riverclan they're very well developed because i have the dovefeather au that's riverclan centric but also very long and i'm trying to finish it.
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