Of Course Stede Is Getting High On The Attention He's Receiving He Was An Outcast All His Life And His

Seven Sentence Sunday!

Happy Sunday everyone! And thank you for the tags @happiness-of-the-pursuit, @littlemisskittentoes, and @blairwaldcrf! 💙

Here's a snippet from my eSports AU I'm working on that I really need to get back to, one of these days. The game is Valorant (because I'm a degenerate, stay with me here) and Alex and Henry play on opposing pro teams. 😁

Having your team's marketing and PR manager be your sister is a funny concept to Alex. On one hand, he's able to talk shit with her about the games and not have to explain the context, but he also feels weird having her go through his accounts during social media checkups every other month on the other. He'd feel a lot better about it if it were someone he didn't grow up with. “Nice try, but you’re dreaming big if you think you can draft statements for me lil bit.” “I can make a mean notes app apology, you know,” Alex proudly states, pointedly ignoring the disagreement that immediately comes. June scrunches her nose at him, “A point in time I hope we never reach.” There’s laughter from his team, who all receive Raf's embrace with delight.

I shall now be tagging you people in return (with absolutely no pressure, as always): @read-and-write-, @inexplicablymine, @kiwiana-writes, @44whispers, @14carrotghoul, @affectionatelyrs, @rockyroadkylers, @treluna4, @user-anakin, @movetoheavens, @hypnostheory, and anyone else who comes across this post! (Am I allowed to re-tag those who tagged me? Because if yes, all three of you too.)

RWRB New Year's Gift Exchange!

Had the absolute honor to write for @raysletters' prompts in this event. I hope it's up to par, and a good read. Hehe.

Three prompts were given, but I went with this and put my own twist into it: Henry and Alex don't know each other, except they end up fake-dating for the chance to buy their favorite pastry at their local coffee shop, who is apparently now selling said pastry ONLY on a promo combo for couples.

This guy, Henry, Alex remembers hearing that earlier, was now widening his eyes in bits while his mouth continued saying words Alex isn't quite registering at the moment. Alex is almost convinced he could watch and hear this man talk forever and he’d never get tired of it. “Would you want to be my fake boyfriend then?” Those words register to Alex perfectly. “Do I look gay to you?” Is the first thing Alex ever says back to Henry.

Once again, thanks for setting this up, @rwrbnygiftexchange! Happy new year to you too! 🫶

WIP Wednesday!

I was tagged by @ssmtskw and @littlemisskittentoes this time! (both your fics look SO GOOD)

I'm really excited this week because. Okay, listen. I started a new WIP. I had, like, five already, but we were talking in the server last week about how there are almost no "Alex fell first" fics, which is kind of understandable because it's hard to come up with a scenario where it would be him instead of Henry, BUT! I was thinking about it a couple days ago, and I swear, it was an actual lightbulb moment.

Everyone who's read the book knows Alex had a massive crush on Henry way before he realized it for himself, and I'm convinced that crush goes all the way back to the days of J14 magazine. I mean, come on, sneaking into June's room to touch a picture of Henry's hair? Multiple times? 😂 Alex, bless your heart, babe.

Anyway, that led my train of thought to Alex getting snubbed at Rio, and the whole concept of unrequited crushes, and then came the lightbulb moment: Hanahaki AU. I've seen a few where Henry has it, but only, like, one where Alex does. And now there will be another! This is not the kind of vibe I usually go for with my writing, but it's been fun to branch out!

It's, um, slightly evil (big whumpy angst vibes), as I have already been told several times by multiple people in the server who have seen snippets, but I'm having so much fun writing it. So, here's a snippet from my newest WIP, which will either be titled "i picked the petals, he loves me not" OR "come and meet me in my garden"

---

Alex has been snubbed by political peers plenty of times before, and he would be probably snubbed by plenty more, but for some reason this rejection had hurt a hell of a lot more than any other. His heart had dropped into his stomach when Henry turned away from him, with that look on his face like if he didn’t get away from Alex fast enough, he might give him fleas.

The thing is (and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, even to himself), Alex used to look up to Henry. Until pretty recently, as a matter of fact.

Recently, as in, about two hours ago.

He’d always been aware of Prince Henry as a general concept. The royal family is always in the news for some reason or another, so Alex grew up seeing candid shots of Henry with his parents and siblings in magazine spreads, in waiting rooms and grocery store check-outs. But he can still remember the first time he saw a picture of Henry in one of June’s magazines where he hadn’t been with the rest of his family, just featured on his own in one of those locker-sized tear-out posters, with his name printed across the page in big block lettering and a little blurb about his hobbies in the corner. Henry had looked so bright, and happy, and full of life, and easy-going. Alex had been maybe a little bit obsessed with that picture for… a solid two years. Though his obsession with the boy in the picture ended up lasting much longer.

For all the fucking good it did him, in the end.

How does the saying go? Never meet your heroes. Alex gets it, now.

If Henry really is the reason he’s spending his evening coughing up flowers instead of getting wasted at the diving finals with his sister and best friend, Alex doesn’t know if he should be madder at Henry for being a dick, or at himself for being naive enough to believe they could be friends.

---

I think I've already seen some of these people's posts on my dash today, but I'm gonna go ahead and tag @read-and-write-, @suseagull04, @affectionatelyrs, @inexplicablymine, and @anincompletelist!

2. 5+1 fake frat boy Alex

3. ATLA AU

feral for both of these tysm xoxoxoxoxo

HEHEHEHE HI ROOP. Thank you for asking about these babies. OKAY. SO.

2. 5+1 fake frat boy Alex

— is basically the five times all signs point to Alex's reputation of being a frat boy, and the one time Henry finds out the truth behind it himself. (The truth being that he's just really an animal shelter volunteer who obtains all kinds of possible scratches and minor injuries from animal-related activities. LMAO.) It's mostly light-hearted and meme-ish. Here's a snippet instead since I've been sharing a bunch of this already.

The second time Alex's bad boy reputation is brought up, it’s when he makes his way through the cafeteria door with a number of bandages on one side of his face. Donning them like they were little scars of triumph.

Now, Henry is only about twenty percent convinced Alex is actually some mafia/biker gang/fraternity member — he's still adamant on not falling victim to everyone else's opinions about Alex's true nature, lest Alex is actually just a gravely misunderstood individual who actually has a heart of gold beneath his varsity jackets that always wrap around his figure.

3. ATLA AU

— As the working title¿ states, YES I MEAN Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'll give you some of the details about it since it follows the show's progression, which I know YOU'RE already familiar with a Good Amount. It will be multi-chaptered so I don't have an estimate on when I'll ever finish this yet, just that it exists (partially) as of now.

Characters:

Aang - Alex Katara - Henry Sokka - Bea Toph - Nora Zuko - Liam Appa - David Ty Lee - Pez June - non-bender

Parts I've written for Book One so far:

The Southern Air Temple Kiyoshi Island Fortune Teller Waterbending Master The Claremont-Diazes in the Iceberg Fire Nation Dispatch

ANYWAY. Yes. I don't know what to put here but thank you again ILY. 🫶

i've come to realize there are only two kinds of tragedies: preventable and inevitable. preventable tragedies are the kind where everything could have maybe worked out if only. if only romeo had gotten the second letter. if only juliet had woken up earlier. if only creon had changed his mind about antigone sooner. if only orpheus hadn't turned around.

inevitable tragedies are the kind where everything was always going to end terribly. of course macbeth gets deposed, he murdered his way to the throne. of course oedipus goes mad, he married his own mother. of course achilles dies in the war, he had to fulfill the prophecy in order to avenge his lover.

both kinds have their merits. the first is more emotionally impactful, letting the audience cling to hope until the very end, when it's snatched away all at once leaving nothing but a void. the second is more thematically resonant, tracking an inherent fatal flaw in its hero to a natural and understandable conclusion, making it abundantly clear why everything has to happen the way it does.

I love you polyamory. I love you, girlfriend. I love you boyfriend. I love you partner. I love you partner. I love you, partner. I love you, partner. I love you p--

WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much for the tags @ssmtskw @sherryvalli @cha-melodius and @read-and-write- ❤️❤️ I wasn't gonna post today but I resurrected my Shaan character exploration so here you go!

As he's sprinting to Henry's rooms, he texts Gerri with shaking fingers: Get B to H's room NOW He keys in, grateful that Henry is still sleeping and that he didn't find out alone or from someone far less sympathetic to his circumstances. A flash of an old memory rears its ugly head: his brother and the devastation on his face when their cousin outed him at a family dinner. How he was only a child and didn't even know what being gay meant but understood in an instant that his eldest, most daring brother was afraid, and there was nothing he could do to stop the ugly chaos that followed. Henry wakes with a start, shocked to see him. "Shaan? What's wrong?"

Open tag because I've done a terrible job at keeping up with who has posted!!

Hello and welcome!

Replacing my pinned with a list of the stuff I've written for anyone checking my account out. Heh. Everything is sorted by fandom, and then word count! (And if there's something I should add to the tagging, please feel free to send me a message about it so I can make the edits.) Enjoy... hopefully!

RWRB

some part of me came alive - 10,979 words [college-ish AU, 5+1]

"Bye David." David's head snaps back to Alex's direction, eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly you'd think it wasn't even there. Alex, having just removed his glasses again as he yawns once more, doesn't see it. David takes a couple seconds before slightly shaking his head, like he's just imagining something and is now actively wiping the thought away. He opens the door before he responds. "Bye Alex."

(Or: The five times Alex unintentionally calls Henry by his dog’s name, and the one time he does it on purpose.)

Francesca - 10,189 words [graphic depictions and references of violence/abuse/injuries]

Once, in a much worse place before all of this; Alex had worked for someone with one side of his office overflowing with books. He'd read all sorts of things there: Anatomy, selected works in philosophy, Oliver Twist, war hero accounts, law. Anything he could get a hold of in the dark, really. Among those books were a bible. There's a passage there that stuck— something he'd only read past but had barraged into the walls of Alex's mind three years ago, Book of Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9: The heart is more deceitful than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?

Love Songs in the Key of Liam - 8,152 words [Liam POV/centric, 5+1]

It's fucked. He's fucked — Liam, that is. There was no way this was going to work. Ever. What's the next worst thing to growing up closeted in a typically close-minded neighbourhood? Probably developing a crush on your best friend who lives in said neighbourhood. (Or: The five times love songs reminded Liam of his now estranged best friend, and the one time it reminded him of someone else.)

Terrible Things - 4,038 words [Hanahaki AU, hurt/no comfort]

"How long?" That, he can answer. "A year or so." He croaks out, not really wanting to strain himself any further.

water in my hands - 3,521 words [sickfic(?), has references to illness, hurt/no comfort]

It takes Alex a good amount of time to realise; sometimes love just isn't enough to keep the world going, even if he desperately wanted it to.

no question (he'll hold your heart if you let him) - 2,837 words [June POV/outsider POV, post-canon]

June doesn't think much about it at first, putting the box along the pile, but she belatedly realises what it is and gets an idea. A satisfied grin makes its way onto her lips when she finally finds it, an edition of Astrotalk that detailed star sign compatibilities. June doesn't open the magazine all the way to the Libra section, stopping short at someone else's instead. (Or: June finds a box that contained one of her teenage fixations and goes through it for old time's sake.)

Smoke Slow - 2,026 words [shotgun kissing oneshot basically]

“Hey.” Alex says, just for the sake of saying something, the silence between them wasn’t stifling but he didn’t want to risk their interaction coming to an end just because he’s not engaging enough. Henry gives him a sideways glance. “Teach me how to do that.”

“Do what?”

“That. The shotgun.” For a moment, Alex briefly considers how idiotic that probably sounded to Henry. It wasn’t a hard task to mimic, but Alex had long thrown out his composure out the fences of Pez’s house when Henry put the goddamn stick into his mouth. 

i'll be happy (just to have known you) - 1,855 words [hurt/no comfort]

Henry resigns himself to the reality that Alex—albeit distant and unattainable—still managed to break through his dismal world and grant him a light he never imagined was still possible to exist. This was enough. This was more than he'd ever expected for himself. It was the universe's way of extending an olive branch in response to the cards he'd been dealt with. He'd be stupid not to take it.

dreamy little you - 1,666 words [crack-ish AU, post-canon]

"Of course, love, but would you love yourself if you were a worm?" This visibly stumps Alex. If the way his mouth just opened for a rebuttal and coming up empty is anything to go by.

only got a hundred - currently at 4,008 words

An ongoing collection of 100-word drabbles written according to the Brownstone server's prompts.

Haikyuu

Ceilings (he thinks it's not real, it is) - 6,009 words [light angst and pining with a happy? ending]

“Yo, you sleepy?” Takahiro meant to say that no, he isn't. That Issei looks stupid with his hair messed up like that. That he should be asking Issei that, with the bags under his eyes speaking for themselves. Instead, what comes out is, “I miss you.” It would be so easy to take the opportunity now. But still, Takahiro is terrified of ruining things. Or: Takahiro has graduation blues, and Issei makes him feel better, but things don't just end there.

Bloom - 1,444 words [two-dialogue challenge oneshot, retrospective? angst/no comfort]

Matsukawa Issei is not much of a sentimental person, save for special occasions where he has no choice but to reminisce.

Cruel (what your mind can do for no reason) - 1,012 words [light angst/comfort, implications of dissociation]

Issei struggles through a bad mental health night, Takahiro breezes him through the tail end of it.

Shameless (US)

big guns out, shoot now - 3,257 words [first kiss oneshot]

It's kind of out of character for Ian, really, he's always careful about not blurting out or doing shit that tapped into his feelings on the brunette, around the very subject of his affections. Has been, in fact, for the last two years and counting. Not that it got any easier to maintain, there are always slip ups (Exhibit A: right here, right now), but that's solely his problem.

On the Off Chance - 5,780 words [soulmate AU, ongoing]

To say Ian was relieved when he hears Mickey confirm how he did not, in fact, get his soulmate mark just a couple days after coming of age would be a huge understatement. (Or: Soulmate marks only show up when the younger of the pair turns nineteen– which isn’t uncommon, to say the least.)

hold on a fucking second. delaware is a state?? i thought it was a river? or is the river more important than the state? why don't i know this? (i should mention i don't like in america, i'm just confused)

there is delaware (state) and delaware (river) 

both are equally strange

the state is a tiny little cryptid thing

the rive is a monster that spans new york, pennsylvania, new jersey and delaware. also washington crossed it once and that was like kinda a big deal i guess. like crossing the rubicon in rome.

the state tries to me more important with its “im the first state!!!” bs (seriously its even on the fucking license plates) but we all know. its the river.

WIP Tag Game!

Thaaank you for tags @gayrootvegetable, @songliili, @read-and-write-, @rockyroadkylers, and @hgejfmw-hgejhsf! 🫶 Always love you guys.

RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I'm so bad at keeping track of my own files so this for sure isn't all but I tried retrieving and recalling as much as I could that I know have some sort of outline/words to them already, sooo here goes.

RWRB:

1. VCT-verse / eSports AU 2. 5+1 fake frat boy Alex 3. ATLA AU 4. Amortentia Oneshot 5. Drops of Jupiter Oneshot 6. Exes to What? (the happy one) 7. Wedding Exes (the angst one) 8. 5+1 ode to Oxford Slut Henry 9. Death-cast AU (Book: They Both Die at the End) 10. 5+1 Alex and Henry discovering some secrets of the universe 11. Bea and June Oneshot

Shameless (US):

1. On the Off Chance (Soulmate AU) 2. Wasted Youth 3. Hanahaki AU 4. To Break in a Glove Oneshot

Haikyuu: (I can't find everything here)

1. Internship AU 2. Matsuhana Childhood Friends AU 3. Gig Goer!Issei/Tattoo Artist!Hiro

I'm not sure if I can tag as many people as the numbers on this list (who haven't done this yet) so feel free to skip this if you already made yours! But also, open tag to everyone who wants to do it too (tag me back, I want to see). @inexplicablymine @ladygoddess87 @later-2-dae @movetoheavens @cricketnationrise @14carrotghoul @44whispers @happiness-of-the-pursuit @starlikesithot @kiwiana-writes @leojfitz @leaves-of-laurelin @littlemisskittentoes @user-anakin