these are the days of miracle and wonder

Rachel. Old-ish. I like TV shows, cats, and car racing. Currently stuck in the Pitt. Header by @divorcedfranklangdon; icon by @mateo-diaz maplemaplemaple on ao3

[miracle-and-wonder]

Hi friends!!

My name is Rachel (she/her), and I'm also maplemaplemaple on Ao3. This is my main and only blog, and the username is from the song The Boy in the Bubble by Paul Simon.

I post almost all of my writing over on Ao3, but I also use the tag #my writing here to organize it.

My asks are always open if you want to chat, ask me questions, give prompts, or speculate wildly about any of the fandoms you see me posting about!

Thank you for being here, it really means a lot, and if you read this whole thing I love you <3

[cricketsatnight]

[xskywalker21]

little moment

[rosenfinchzz]

Art Commission for @disgracedprinceera , this piece is based on a scene from the amazing fic “moondance” Strangers 'Verse (PittFest, baby). I'ts so good read it!! 💖

[langdonfranks]

patrick ball photographed by sela shiloni for vanity fair | august 11, 2026

[theswisscheeserag]

You gotta be really publicly passionate about things if you want your friends to text you. Bc people will forget to text you because they’re human. But if you’re really openly the friend who loves identifying ants your friends will think of you when they see ants. And they’ll text you “what ant is this [blurry photo]”. And then they’ll ask you how you’ve been and we should get coffee sometime. But if they don’t know what you love they’ll never know what you like

[beachcitywalkfries]

I CAN CHANGE! I CAN CHANGE!

[marsbarstothestars]

ASDFH;AJSDFHA SO GOOOOOOOD

[leulah]

guys does anybody know what to do

[cryingondowntime]

and what if i said ...

[kayleigh-rae]

following up on @fellowshipincynicism’s defense of AUs, everyone share your favorite kingdon AUs!!!

i’ll start with what was a game changer fic for me: the doctor by the incredible @manmahal

[fellowshipincynicism]

smoke a little, tease my like you do by @girldadlangdon lives MORE than rent free in my mind

[fellowshipincynicism]

last batch bc i don’t think these have been mentioned yet but:

be the man i need by @miracle-and-wonder

dormwrecker by @annaandtheicecream

oleanders growing outside her door by @kmsk8r

[miracle-and-wonder]

I’m also going to add the most perfect West Wing AU to ever exist: a fair fight by @cvldbones!!!!!

[kayleigh-rae]

following up on @fellowshipincynicism’s defense of AUs, everyone share your favorite kingdon AUs!!!

i’ll start with what was a game changer fic for me: the doctor by the incredible @manmahal

[miracle-and-wonder]

mine is my actual all-time favorite kingdon fic: WALK-OFF by @sawdustandstardust 🩵🩵🩵

[audreyxvoila]

Monday — full version here

[audreyxvoila]

I’m back bitches

[fellowshipincynicism]

IN DEFENCE OF ALTERNATE UNIVERSE FANFICTION.

***disclaimer that this is not aimed at anyone in particular, this is something I noticed maybe a year ago and have been discussing in dms for a couple of months. ***

I have noticed over the past few months that there is a significant contingent of this fandom that have a fear of reading AUs for Kingdon, or they at least have a reluctance to interact with AU fics which I think is a real shame.

There is only so much that can be explored in the canon world with the guardrails set in place by the show. This can be circumvented in AU! Dynamics can be twisted and we can explore these characters in deeper, more tangible ways! AND IT’S FUN! At its core, an AU removes these barriers and puts up new ones. It requires so much skill on behalf of the author to create this new world but to also stay true to the ship we know and love, and I think a well crafted AU is one of the delights of fandom. This strict adherence to canon reads to me as a lack of imagination and curiosity about how unique Mel and Frank’s dynamic is and personally? I think that’s sad. Sorry! Canon is not the be all end all. To write fic is not to be proven right, and it's not solely to just continue canon. At its core the purpose is transformative.

I’ve also been thinking about the lack of AUs a lot recently because I think it’s also a factor in how a lot of people received s2 of the show. I have noticed some people saying they only read canon-compliant fic and have no interest in any AUs which IN MY OPINION (!!) skews their perspective on what canon actually is, and they’re unable to separate the idealised version of the ship from canon. So at several points in s2 people would say they were disappointed in certain Kingdon scenes because it wasn’t blatantly shippy holding hands heart eyes, whereas if they actually removed the characters and their dynamic from the context of the show they’d be able to understand how the interactions we did get were so fantastic for Kingdon. It becomes this vicious cycle of letting fic inform your view of canon characters and then getting mad when said characters are not like they were in fic. That’s not how it works I’m afraid!

A few months back I decided to do some digging: did you know that out of the top ONE HUNDRED Kingdon fics sorted by kudos, only ONE is a total AU. The fact that for a lot of writers their AU fics statistically fare 'worse' than canon compliant fics is damning for a lot of the Kingdon readership.

I maybe understand not being as interested in a specific kind of AU because it's not your type of fiction (historical/sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal etc.) but the way some people have said they outright refuse to read any AU at all when it’s SO broad a label is confusing to me personally I guess.

I'm obviously not saying canon fic should be thrown out of the window (and if that's what you've taken from this I worry for your reading comprehension), I think there's equal value in that too. We should be encouraging and uplifting all corners of the fandom, and I think publicly saying that you’re totally uninterested in a large swath of fic is harmful and not helpful to anyone. I shouldn’t have to feel like I need to literally defend the concept of AU fic! But that is the environment that has been brewing, so. There you go.

[miracle-and-wonder]

listen if the editors and directors and script supervisors can take scripts written by r. scott gemmill and noah wyle (the showrunners and faces of the whole institution) and make tons of edits and cuts between final draft and what ended up on our screens, then i don't think anyone involved in this show is going to take something taylor dearden thinks or says in a youtube interview as the final word of god but that's just me

[pocketsope]

silly mel!!

[kingdoncrumbs]

“mel says lots of nice things about you” hits different when you realize mel had been hearing TONS of gossip about frank at work and refused to participate in any of it for a single second because she reveres him so much. like lmfao becca was really fed up because mel had nobody else to talk to about the kind, gentle, supportive version of her beloved friend that only she remembers!!! her ass was talking becca’s ear off for ten months every day worrying if he’d ever come back or wishing she could tell him about a case and the one day becca comes in she’s like “ohhhhh shit yeah THIS is the guy my sister won’t shut up about. thank god he’s back i see why he made such an impression on her hot damn ok mel” like it’s so perfect