It’s about time I made a masterlist for Bartender AU! Thank you to everyone who’s supported my Bartender Erik from the start. What began as a fun escape— just an excuse to draw muscular Erik— has grown into something I’m truly proud of. Now that the lore is expanding, it only makes sense to keep things organized. I’ll be updating this list regularly, so grab a drink from Erik and stay tuned! ✨
──── ⟡ AU Posts in Timeline Order ⟡ ────
🍸 Meg & Erik: The Snark & Sass Saga || pt. 1
🍸 Meg & Erik: The Snark & Sass Saga || pt. 2
🍸 Meg & Erik: The Snark & Sass Saga || pt. 3
🍸 Meg & Erik: The Snark & Sass Saga || pt.4
🍸 Erik & Christine’s First Meeting
🍸 Carlotta at the Rosy Hours
🍸 Raoul’s Very First Time Visiting the Rosy Hours
🍸 Nadir & Erik’s Conversation
🍸 How Intense Can Eye Contact Be for a Seasoned Professional to Mess Up?
🍸 Christine Billboard
🍸 The Insomniac Sleeps After All
🍸 My Utmost Desires
🍸 Drawing for @nerdywrite36’s Fic
🍸 A Surprising Face in the Audience
🍸 The Heart I Know I’m Breaking is My Own (Fic by @nerdywriter36)
I realized how I've never posted anything dedicated to Bartender AU! Nadir, so now it's time to fix that. Which one of you was giggling outside his office when he was busy calculating profits and filing taxes??
Also tried out 2d animation for the first time with this one, and it kinda looks like one of those lofi girl animations, or as @erik-carriere calls it “Persian beats to study/relax to” 😂
All jokes aside, I wanted to do some character study with Christine’s outfits and came up with this, with each outfit representing a stage in their relationship (I should do this with ALW E/C at some point too…)
With a snowstorm raging outside, there’s no better time for a bit of reflection.
Bartender AU was something born out of three random sketches I made in January of 2024. I was actually at a really dark and stressful place then, juggling college transfer applications, school I didn’t feel invested in, family separated in two countries, and becoming my younger brother’s temporary guardian, all at freshly eighteen. The three sketches were something I drew as a way of escape real life, something to remind me that there’s still art and beauty in the world, born of my own hands or otherwise.
People’s enthusiastic love and acceptance of this random AU was a surprise, and it gave me something to hold onto when things felt overwhelming. Now, 2 years later, things are much different and better in many ways, and I have no clue if I would’ve pulled through without this AU and all of you supporting me, from different corners of the world.
Not long after those sketches, I started imagining this AU as an actual story, with a real plot and bits and pieces inspired by the media I love (hence all the thirst traps and memes, lol). I finally have an overarching story I want to tell, and this year I hope to share more of it with you. Thank you for sticking with me— and I hope you’ll stay until the end and beyond <3
It's wild to think it's been two years since I posted those random bartender-inspired doodles that grew into the Bartender AU we know today. Thank you so much to everyone who's supported this series (and me!) over the past two years. I can't wait to share more of this universe's lore with you (that's my goal and focus this year :>)!
Happy New Year from me and my bartender AU cuties!! 🥂💕
2025 was a very interesting year for me. From a summer internship, to a semester abroad in Europe, to making so many incredible friends (both irl and in the phandom) and somehow finishing two full-length animatics… I’m still kind of amazed we made it here.
Here’s hoping 2026 brings more fun, more pleasant surprises, and plenty of time to draw my Bartender AU babies again (I may have neglected them for a good part of the year 😬).
To everyone who supported me and stuck around in 2025— thank you from the bottom of my heart. Happy New Year, and I wish you all a wonderful 2026! (And thank you to @nerdywriter36 for lending me her masquerade dress for Christine when I didn’t know what to draw her in)
Finally hopping on the trend because @nerdywriter36 convinced me to. This is not canon to the Bartender AU lore, just something fun to play around with 😆
Put the name of one of your OCs into this headcanon generator and paste the result. (If the generated headcanon is wildly out of place in your character's world, you can generate another headcanon.)
Celine (Bartender AU!Meg’s girlfriend) writes down every piece of juicy gossip she learned from Meg, because Meg always somehow puts herself in a position where she learns or gets involved in drama (9 times out of 10 she’s near either Christine or Erik)
Did I mention that Bartender Erik is an uncle? No? Okay
Thought it fitting to post some of the doodles inspired by @nerdywriter36’s fic. I’ve always wanted to include Reza in one of my stories, and it ended up working really well for this specific AU. At this point in the story, Reza Khan, son of Nadir and Rookheeya Khan, is a healthy and playful 11-year-old boy who enjoys hanging out with and annoying his godfather/uncle. Of course, Erik spoils Reza rotten, teaching him magic tricks and allowing him to play with Ayesha whenever he wants (Ayesha doesn’t really appreciate it though, she bolts the moment she sees Reza). One of Reza’s favorite things to do is teasing his uncle about his more than apparent crush on a certain Rosy Hours regular, often asking when he’ll get a cousin 🤭
I can’t wait to tell you more about the Khan family, but since it’s closely tied to Erik’s backstory, I’ll have to let you guys wait a little. Until next time!
I return! I haven't posted anything in a while, and that has been a combination of a lack of time to write and writing things in the background, mostly with @brendadaaedestler.
Now, though, I bring you another oneshot inspired by the Bartender AU created by the wonderful @rose-margaritas, the comics for which can be found over @phantom-margaritas. We have fallen into a cycle of gifting each other fic for fanart and vice versa, and this is no different! This oneshot was inspired by this piece of art, a beautiful look into this great slowburn AU.
Margaret, my friend, I hope you enjoy first and foremost, and I hope everyone else does too!
I thought I couldn’t love @nerdywriter36 more than I already do, but she continues to prove that otherwise! I was shown snippets throughout the writing process, and I can’t believe it’s now out in all its glory!
Eternally grateful that Emily took such good care of my babies, especially Reza, whom I struggled to introduce in the Bartender AU lore. This fic is very much considered canon, so if you’ve been starving for new bartender AU content, have your fill here! I already got a few drawing ideas inspired by this fic swirling in my head… 👀
I was just going through my drafts and realized that I never posted this! Nearly a year later, and after it’s been featured in several posts, I bring to you: my logo for the bar in my friend @rose-margaritas’s Phantom of the Opera bartender AU! I remember having so much fun creating this, and I can’t believe I never posted it until now.
If you’ve not checked out Margaret’s bartender AU art yet, then you are severely missing out! It’s gorgeous, and I’m absolutely obsessed with it, so definitely go check out @phantom-margaritas! Bartender!Erik is a walking thirst trap, you guys 👀
“I’m getting to it!” Christine exclaimed, laughing and playfully slapping his arm. “It was much smoother tonight, I think I’m finally settling into it. You have to come and see the show, Erik.”
He smiled, committed to surprising her the night of with the fact that he had purchased a ticket for himself to the next day’s matinée. “Yes, so you’ve said.”
Here is another drawing inspired by @nerdywriter36’s bartender AU fic! If you still haven’t read it, consider this your official reminder to GO READ IT!! I actually did the line art for this almost a year ago, but only just had the chance to finish it a few days ago (oops 😬). And no, I totally didn’t choose this scene just to draw Erik looking hopelessly lovesick… Wait, who said that?! 🫣
While Erik loathes leaving his station— the bar is his pride and joy, after all— he occasionally makes an exception, stepping away for a quick ten-minute pool game with customers at Rosy Hours. However, he sometimes gets a little too caught up in the game…
Bartender AU lore accurate version and bonuses under the cut:
