thank you all the world for all the love and support today and always. i’ve been really struggling with my creative side recently, particularly fic writing, and that’s left me feeling somewhat isolated from the fandom. but today has been so brilliant and positive and i’m genuinely can’t believe so many people enjoy my creations!!!! this fandom holds the most special place in my heart and i am forever grateful for each and every friendship i’ve made along the way. bunch of stars, the lot of you ✨ @eeappreciationclub x
Helping keep fandom going when it was stuttering last year
It was not just fic, but quizzes and rewatches that brought cheer
Never anything less than positive and bright
Everyone is lucky to bask in your light
Heartbreakingly gorgeous- that's the fiction you write
Indescribably beautiful- your stories always end in light
Giving every word written such attention and care
Hogging up all that talent- I'm not sure that's fair!
We are so very lucky as a fandom to have you
A ray of positivity and love to help us through
You're one in a million Soph- don't ever change
Happy Creator Day @sunshinehighway, (the way you will always be dingletragedy to me- and I didn't even watch Emmerdale! lol) - you deserve every bit of love and appreciation coming your way, and much more besides.
I'm sorry that I don't have any discernible talent... whatever mess that is above is the best I can do.
You were the first fandom person I ever spoke to, and you were so warm and welcoming- something I know you are with everyone who talks to you.
The talent you have when it comes to writing- you have such a gift- you write so beautifully. I can't imagine there is anyone left in fandom who hasn't read your fic- but if they haven't they are missing out, and should rectify this immediately by clicking here. I'm not one to pick favourites but 'since that night the moon has never seemed the same' still delivers after many repeated reads. Pure poetry on a page.
Thank you as well for being a friend. It means the world. Loves ya.
merry christmas @benmitchellx 🎅🏼 have a wonderful day and a happy new year. all the love always xx
mon éternel amour / my forever love
rating: mature
word count: 17,666
playlist: spotify link
summary : It’s not easy, kissing, when it’s so cold you can’t feel your own lips, and the sudden snow-flurry makes it so Callum has to fight to keep Ben close enough, both hands gripping either side of his face. They make it work, though, Callum wouldn’t give up these lips for the world.
When they break away, ragged breathing and eyes wide, Callum keeps, Ben's mouth parted with his thumb as they stare at each other. Everything is so still and suffocating and so much, but Callum doesn’t want to let go. Not today, not tomorrow, and definitely not in a weeks time. Even in the dark, he can see the flush of Ben’s cheeks, can feel it, how much warmth is radiating from him. He can’t look away. If he looks away, he might wake up.
“Promise we’ll always have this,” Callum dares to say. Under the blanket of the stars, he feels protected.
“Have what?”
“This,” he whispers. “Us.”
or, callum takes his first ski trip to the beautiful village of morzine, ben is the filthy local he meets on the plane. they have fourteen days to fall in love, but really, it only takes fourteen seconds.
the absolute happiest creator focus day to you, @sunshinehighway! okay first i have to say the url is perfect and genuinely makes me smile whenever i see it okay... but you are genuinely such a light in the fandom, always spreading a wonderful amount of positivity with everyone. and you are an extraordinary writer too!! incredibly talented. i get excited whenever you post, honestly. so, it was hard to pick, but here's just three fics of yours that i adore:
closing walls and ticking clocks - okay, this one gives me chills every time i read it. the situation is something i definitely hadn't considered enough, but safe to say i certainly do now. the angst and hurt/comfort of this is just perfect, and honestly, i won't spoil for those who may not have read it yet but the stuff with callum... heartbreaking and beautifully written. definitely one i reread!
winters kiss - okay i think ive sung the praises of this one a fair few times, but honestly i adore this. a teacher au is something i'd never considered but the way you write this is seriously so lovely, and fits their characters so perfectly. and oh, the hurt/comfort is beautiful, i have such a soft spot for it and i just,,, yes
a light in tired eyes - okay this one is exactly everything i love, i mean callum angst with the most beautiful hurt/comfort and lexi with family fluff? sign me tf up thank you very much. just seriously beautiful, i adore it
so!! my apologies this is a little late, the date escaped me once again but i hope you had an awesome day, and felt very appreciated!!
happy creator focus day @sunshinehighway!!!!! 🥰 i tell you this literally all the time but i will say it 400 more times if i have to: YOUR WRITING IS EVERYTHING TO MEEE!!! it is always so in-character and sweet and i don’t think i’ve ever read one of your fics that didn’t make my heart burst. every time i see you’ve written something new is like christmas morning and i just can’t wait to see how your talent will continue to evolve. we’re all so lucky to have you writing fics for our boys so PLEASE never ever stop!!!!!!! it is so impossible to choose only a few fics to highlight today so i recommend everyone just go to soph’s ao3 page and just read every single fic, but here are some of my personal faves:
mon éternel amour - obv i’m biased bc you wrote this one for me as my secret santa but it is still one of my favorite things i’ve ever read. the vibes, the aesthetics, the LOVE….. unmatched (and let’s not forget this perfect playlist to accompany it!!)
weekend kings - this fic single-handedly changed my perspective on au’s. i have never been an au person and didn’t really see their appeal until i read this and my mind completely changed. the way you were able to take their current personalities and qualities and emulate them perfectly as teenagers under completely different circumstances than they would ever actually be in on the show is just so beautiful and wonderful!!!!
bedtime fluff - “i’m going to marry you someday” “and i’m going to say yes” you deserve jail time for writing this. and it was a full nine months before ben literally said this on the show. for real when ben said “i’m gonna marry that man, jay” my VERY FIRST THOUGHT was this fic. your impact.
there goes my heart - oh my goodness you know i’m a sucker for callum & lexi’s relationship but that combined with ben talking to jay and lola about how much he loves callum, how good he is with lexi, and how he literally has everything he’s ever dreamed of???? this fic is EVERYTHING
Every lunch, every break, every evening. Callum will pop up behind Ben with no prior warning, and lull him into a quiet conversation that lasts the whole of his planning period or break. In turn, Ben arrives at school with two coffees in tow, two pastries, and half a tray of his Mum’s fresh brownies.
Ben likes it. It’s undeniable.
or, the drama teacher ben x english lit teachers callum au that absolutely no one asked for
(dedicating this one to @artsy-highway who unknowingly sent me the prompt which inspired this fic. look at the moment you’ve created leo!!!!!)
like callum, you are the sunshine in this fandom and we and myself would be lost without your talent, your fics that spit out poetry every single time without fail and your love and support💖 we love you!
I know we don’t talk everyday apart from the odd message due to our busy schedules but you are seriously one of a kind and someone who I admire!✨
here are my top 5 fics that i absolutley adore of yours. I could say all of them but we’d be here all day:-
mon eternal amour - i think this is my most favourite from recent which you wrote for the secret santa! it was astounding and it made me fall in love with ben and callum and how they fell in love. my heart broke with callum when he had to say goodbye! i will be waiting for that sequel on when they reunite in the summer👀
winters kiss - this was the teachers au that i never even knew i needed! i remember having a lazy morning in bed (don’t judge) and i read this all in one sitting and i loved it. especially the “happy Christmas you filthy animal” at the end.
call me friend but keep me closer - i loved this fic!! you set the vibe so well and i generally felt callum’s frustration and his pining for ben. at times you just wanted to shake Ben!!
there goes my heart - this was the fluffiest fic ever! i am a sucker for a Ben, callum and Lexi fic and it was just PERFECT💖 it always pulls at my heart strings at the part where Callum taught Lexi to sing sign language🥺
closing walls and ticking clocks - i had always wondered what it would have been like if ben went on the run in January 2020 and came back and this was beautifully written and everything you could have ever wanted to happen! i loved it.
i will always look forward to any fics that you release as they will always be astounding without me even reading them, i just know it. Always continue to be your amazing you.
“Quit touching me, your feet are cold!” please and thank u sophie
i’m not quite sure how but this turned into a fate line reading fic but it did (sorry for the wait!!)
When Ben wakes up, it’s to the sound of flurrying wind and the gentle patter of rain against the their bedroom window. It’s freezing, even with the scalding press of Callum’s front against his back and the thick layer of blankets that leave them trapped. Callum is still fast asleep, lips brushing the back of his neck and making him shiver harder.
“Cal,” Ben mumbles, trying to roll over. It proves difficult with the blankets pulled up so high around him, and Callum’s arms secure around his waist. Not that either of those things warrant any complaints. “Cal, wake up.”
“’m sleeping,” Callum grumbles, palm flattening over Ben’s stomach. “Sunday’s a sleep in day.”
“Need caffeine,” Ben whines. There’s a puff of laughter against his neck, and Callum’s hand starts to trail down. Ben stops it with a huff, and he turns his body roughly, pouting. “Callum! Quit touching me, your feet are cold.”
“Alright, alright,” Callum sighs, sitting up slowly with a yawn. “I still don’t know why I have to make the coffee every morning.”
He crawls over Ben’s body to the door. Ben watches him intently, the way he moves, the stretch of his torso and clench of his arms as he drapes Ben’s own dressing gown over his shoulder. In the calm light of a new day his skin glows, and Ben’s fingers twitch.
“You don’t have to, but you do. Because you love me.”
I love you too, Callum signs before slipping out of their bedroom. Ben’s helpless in preventing the smile that cracks his lips, and suddenly, he’s warm to the bones.
When Callum slides back into bed, ten minutes later, coffee cups steaming on the bedside table, Ben wastes no time pinning him down and getting his mouth on him. Thank you and anything for you is whispered between kisses.
They spend the rest of the morning dozing and watching reruns of Top Gear on Ben’s laptop, ordering takeaway and drifting in and out of sleep with endless soft kisses.
Ben feels a sense of calm that’s been lost recently, watching the rain fall out the window, holding the hand of the man he loves.
It’s late when he wakes again. Beside him, Callum’s face is smushed against his pillow, eyes gentle and caring, while he plays with his Ben’s fingers idly, fingers tracing patterns on his palm and into the dips of his wrist.
“Hold out your palm,” he says out of nowhere, looping his middle finger and thumb to shake at his wrist. Ben grunts. “C’mon, sleepyhead.
Ben turns his hand around and lifts it to rest upon the sheets, palm spread wide and held by light fingers. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m gonna read your fate lines,” Callum says. Ben peeks one eye open.
“You what?” He says in disbelief.
“I’m gonna read them,” Callum scrunches his nose up at him. “Whit taught me how.”
Ben lets out a little sigh, eyes heavy and sated. He doesn’t believe in this stuff; fate or whatever. He loves Callum though. “Go on then, do your worst”
“Alright,” Callum clears his throat, cooling his expression into one of complete professionalism that has Ben muffling soft laughter into the pillow. “Let’s see what trouble you’re going to get yourself into next.”
He runs his fingers over the deep rivets in Ben’s palms, lets out wondering hmms and aahs that Ben rolls his eyes fondly at. Ben, mostly, keeps himself still, breath caught in his throat as Callum traces over his skin, an action some mundane still has his heart skipping like it’s the first time.
“This little cluster of lines here tell you a lot about who you are,” Callum starts softly, tapping his fingers against the three tiny lines at the centre of Ben’s palm. “The first one here, the little one, that tells me you’re altruistic. The middle one, with the double split at the end, that’s determination. And this last one, the deepest one, that’s the biggest portion of yourself. Love. That’s your three.”
“And what does all that mean exactly?” Ben asks, more curious than he’d ever admit.
“It can mean a lot of things,” Callum says. His fingertip rests over the line that reads love. “The determination shows that you are someone who’s had to fight hard to free yourself from difficulties. Altruistic, that can mean that you're someone who likes to put others before yourself, that if you want to you can give wholly without needing anything in return. But you like to receive love back. And love, well love is your deepest line, so it’s the one that you connect with the most. If it gets neglected, that’s when things change for you. That’s when you change.”
Ben says nothing, just nudges his hand closer so Callum keeps talking, so he can ignore the heavy weight over his chest.
“This one here,” he draws his finger over the long crease that runs horizontally just below the spot his fingers meet his palm. “It tells me you’re passionate, that you push yourself hard. Sometimes too hard. You want what you do to be perfect, so that others pay attention, so that you feel appreciated, worthy.”
“This line, the connecting one,” Callum runs his finger along the line that slopes from between his thumb and pointer finger to the bottom of his hand. His voice is a whisper. “That’s telling me you’re someone who nurtures and protects. When those two lines meet together is where you’re the most emotional.”
“When they meet?” Ben asks.
“Y’know, if there’s something in your life that forces you to face those two things together, what you’re most passionate about and what you’re protective over, that's when people see the strongest side of you.”
“Oh,” Ben breathes, staring down at them. “I can see that, I think.”
“The last one,” Ben shivers when Callum drags his hand down the centre of his palm like a whisper. There’s a tiny smirk on his lips. “The way that it runs suggests that you like to be in control, but you like to give, too. You like to make those you love, make me feel safe and feel cared for.”
Ben’s neck is hot, and he swallows around the lump in his throat. “Don’t think you need to read my palm to know how much I love to make you come first.”
“Ben!” Callum’s eyes are bright, lips curled into a suppressed smirk. “I was trying to be romantic.”
Ben hushes him with a soft kiss, then focuses his attention back on his hand.
“Anyway, what this is all telling me,” Callum circles his finger around his entire palm slowly, “is that you crave love so you can share it, so that you can give it right back. You’re quick to be disheartened even when you shouldn’t be, naturally a closed book but once you open up to someone, you find it difficult to do anything else, which can make you feel vulnerable. You prefer life lived in companionship, so you can always share your passions, so you can have someone who bounces off you the same way, even if you’d never admit it.”
Ben is shocked into silence, eyes wide. He can’t tell if Callum is a fate line reading expert, or he just knows Ben better than anyone ever has.
“Oh, also you’re lines also suggest you’re going to have two more children and give in to Lexi’s demand and buy three dogs and live by the sea somewhere,” Callum finishes abruptly, a little frantic. “It’ll all be very fairytale-like.”
Ben laughs, but it’s too quiet, too thickly laced. Callum stares back at him, and Ben can see the scarlet of his cheeks even in the dim lighting.
“Do you think that’s all true?” he whispers, not flicking his gaze away. Their fingers curl together. “The part about the future, do you think?”
“It could be,” Callum bumps their noses together.
“I wouldn’t mind, y’know, if it is,” Ben says, a smile curving over his lips. Callum returns it, but they both soon fade. Ben bites his bottom lip into his mouth, searching Callum eyes. “Only if that life is shared with you, though.”
“Ben,” Callum cups Ben’s cheek soft and strokes his thumb lightly over his skin, eyes so incredibly open and soft, voice barely there. “I think we’re pretty much the definition of fate, you and me.”
“Sap,” Ben blinks, warmth oozing out from his heart and spreading through his veins.
“Maybe soulmates, even,” Callum says, and it’s all Ben can do to press a barely there kiss to Callum’s forehead.
“I want it all with you, you thank, don’t you?” Ben says, heart caught in his throat as his next words break themselves free from the dust coated chambers of his heart, from the hopes and dreams he never thought he’d live. “The house by the sea, however many dogs it takes. The kids. All of it.”
It’s there now, out in the open.
Ben’s palm still rests in Callum’s slack fingers. He turns it over so he can link them together, brings their joined hands up to his own lips, and presses a kiss to Callum’s knuckles, one by one.
“So do I,” Callum whispers, tucking himself closer to Ben. The words vibrate against his neck, sink right down to his heart. “More than anything.”
soph! there’s too much to say about your lovely self and your brilliance. so here’s a little gift of five of my favourite fics of yours that hold a special place in my heart. your talent is astounding. thank you for being such a creative, supportive, loving and kind light on here. i adore you.
beta: @thepurplepanther / artwork & playlist by @ballym
word count: 37,320
rating: mature
summary: “You saved my life, I think,” Callum says, quiet and distant below the stars.
“Yeah?” Ben whispers. Everything feels weighty, suddenly.
“Yeah,” Callum echos. “Don’t know much longer I’d have lasted.”
“You saved mine, too.”
And Callum knows, at that moment, that he’ll see Ben everywhere, in everything he does, until he never sees him at all. Because there’s a moment in which somebody becomes so much a part of someone else, they can no longer be recognised as two separate people.
This is Callum’s moment.
or, summer romance au, in callum spends his summer away from the city, and ben lives down by the coast. there’s never been a better time to fall in love.
sophie, you amaze me with your talent with every story you write and i honestly could’ve picked every one of your fics as my favorite to highlight here because they’re all amazing in their own right. so excuse me for only picking these six to pay special attention to:
call me friend but keep me closer
you have such a way to convey emotion, it’s knocks me every time. i feel every emotion reading this that callum is going through and that’s honest to god talent!
mon éternel amour
this fic makes me want to pack my bags, go skiing and have my own little winter romance. it’s so heartfelt and hopeful and romantic. just all around magical.
ocean blue
you already know how much i love this fic, i’ve said it a million times before. and it’s still true. everything about it feels so raw and emotionally-charged, it’s just such a lovely story.
weekend kings
the ultimate comfort fic i think. it’s innocent but important. heavy but light. heartbreaking but also so warm. truly one of my favs.
stop the world (i wanna get off with you)
i can’t tell you how often i think about the ‘i’m going to ask you to marry me someday’ ‘and i’m going to say yes’ dialogue, you wouldn’t believe me. but i do a lot and it’s all your fault. this fic is so intimate and lovely, you really capture their soft moments so, so well.
winters kiss
this fic feels like the perfect warm hug on a winters day, which is pretty fitting for it i think. the relationship development is spot on and everything feels so flirty and warm.
dailybridgerton
yousharknotpass
pixelskylines
germansingergirl
