mr. bad-time fanfic guy @htt-words-mode - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
mr. bad-time fanfic guy
@htt-words-mode
i'm the NASCAR rpf longfic problem guy (ao3 username hatedthat_thanks ) known for the existential terror timeloop and the mecha political thriller about abandoning sports to become a gay communist class traitor. anyway i would protect shane van gisbergen w my life. he/him while we're at it
time for a NEW PINNED POST hi hello it's me i'm hatedthat_thanks on AO3 and you may know me for writing DEALER'S CHOICE but i have dedicated the first half of 2026 to something else entirely.
DEPTH RECORDER is:
a motorsports RPF longfic
a WIP, currently 260k words of likely 400k~450k when done
a PLOT HEAVY sci-fi political thriller
rated mature for character death, violence, and sexual content (consensual, among adults)
main pairing: connor zilisch/shane van gisbergen on a very slow burn also feat. endgame pairings bubba wallace/scott mclaughlin, lewis hamilton/valtteri bottas, martijn wydaeghe/martin järveoja, & eventual max verstappen/daniel ricciardo
IT'S ON AO3 AND THERE IS FURTHER INFORMATION BELOW.
note i said slow burn and i am not kidding, including: not actually unrequited love and mutual pining and friends to enemies to lovers and second chances and, due to sci-fi circumstances, an adult age difference where the numbers will end up closer together.
a lot of hurt/comfort : the former via grief/mourning and touch starvation and implied/referenced torture and emotional manipulation and guilt; the latter via sexual intimacy AND non-sexual intimacy and literal sleeping together]
structural note: this fic has 2 rotating third-person POVs. the main "Act" segments are with Connor Z and are longer (40k-60k words) Dale Jr. is our POV character for the prologue + intermissions, which are shorter (10k-25k words) but are plot-critical to show you things that Connor doesn't see, do not skip them, you will get lost.
niche warnings: people will sleep with each other outside of the endgame pairings, and we can all be mature about it; [mild spoiler] that "friends to enemies to lovers" tag involves one half of the main pairing almost getting the other killed; [MUCH LARGER spoiler but maybe thematically interesting to you if that's your thing] that tag is there because we're functionally spending acts 1-3 with a minor villain, and then meeting up with him in act 4 when he's got his head together and knows who his friends are, but there will be consequences.
The AO3 Summary as of 5/12/2026, which has big spoilers for the prologue so this is your last chance to go in sight-unseen and scroll down to the fic quickly:
Up in orbit, it's the year 318, and 21-year-old mechanosports pilot Connor Zilisch has come in 2nd in the Exo-L finals, losing to his former best friend, Jesse Love.
Up in orbit, it's the year 319, and 21-year-old mechanosports pilot Connor Zilisch is the only survivor of the Shuttle 635 Disaster, which claimed the lives of dozens of other passengers, Jesse Love included.
Up in orbit, it's the year 320, and 22-year-old mechanosports pilot Connor Zilisch has disappeared.
Down on planet Earth, a supply truck drives slowly along what's left of a dirt road. The young man driving wears a standard-issue motorcycle patrol jacket. A privacy helmet, like the kind worn by mechanosports pilots, sits in the passenger seat. The truck continues eastward across what was formerly North America, before everyone with money went up into space. In the year 322, when the explosion throws this truck off the road, this driver will know exactly why. But you'll have to start back in December, C.Y. 318, and take the long way here to meet back up with him.
Getting in there:
you can jump into Depth Recorder cold here
a book-style blurb for the first half is here
a very short video trailer for the prologue is here
my depth recorder posts tag is here
a slightly spoilery Q&A about the fic's title is here
a general connor/shane info post is here and last year's is here
and finally, this is a joke summary i wrote on bsky but it remains true:
i know i had a couple of hatless shane pix in the svg saturday post but i would just like to say for the record i will never take the coward's way out. look at this tall soft smiley dandelion puff of a man. the homosexual urge to rub my gay little hands all over that noggin
y'know i wasn't going to make funny ones for Depth Recorder Act 2 because it's where all the very serious high-stakes "oh FUCK. oh god :(" stuff starts happening. unfortunately there was a really good pool of options
happy wip wednesday i finished Depth Recorder Intermission E so for those keeping score, the wordcount is 267,000 now. Act 5 will add 63k to make it 330k. Intermission E will make it 350k. I literally do not know how long Act 6 could get if i really go sicko mode so uh epilogue also, i guess, we might pass 400k actually. very likely. depth recorder where we don't get OSHA wallet cards but we all have a good time! do not ask me where in the wordcount the slow burn is finally resolved i will have to go into witness protection
happy wip wednesday i finished Depth Recorder Intermission E so for those keeping score, the wordcount is 267,000 now. Act 5 will add 63k to make it 330k. Intermission E will make it 350k. I literally do not know how long Act 6 could get if i really go sicko mode so uh epilogue also, i guess, we might pass 400k actually. very likely. depth recorder where we don't get OSHA wallet cards but we all have a good time! do not ask me where in the wordcount the slow burn is finally resolved i will have to go into witness protection
happy SVG Saturday it's another beautiful See That Man Saturday it's Stare At Him Saturdayit's Soft Sweet Smile On That Handsome Face Saturday it's So You're Looking At Him Saturday,
the worst writing crime you can ever commit in my opinion is watering down the dirty talk because you’re self-conscious that it sounds like it’s from a bad porno…..i cannot stress this enough……leave it alone. the moment you tell yourself he would not fucking say that you’re doomed. people will say almost anything if their dick is hard enough
living in the nascar rpf tag has freed me. i'm out here doing stuff nobody wants and at length. this is my weird little cave where i just keep reading novels from the 1960s and becoming more of a pervert for semicolons than i already am. passers-by go "there are horrible noises coming out of that cave nobody goes in all the time" and the neighbors are like man listen. just keep walking,
