#ask arov

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

Would love your list of college recs, fine with them being hockey players or not I’m not picky I just love college AUs, fine with me if they aren’t “canon” compliant!! Thank u 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

hello to you and the anon who asked similarly a few hours earlier!!

lord i LOVE college fics. i have so many to recommend and to be honest i’ve probably already recced half of these before but i don’t care they all deserve to be loved and read!

“not my monkeys but somehow my circus” by natemacknibbles - my faaaavourite willmack fic! i read this anytime im sad tbh. frat president will x best friend mack who isn’t part of the frat. theyre not dating but everyone is convinced they are

“white camellias falling” by valoa - top five willmack fics for me. frat boy mack who isn’t secure in his sexuality and sharks player will who very much bisexual. so fucking good, i think about this fic once a week.

“shipwreck champagne” by valoa - another valoa work (valoa supremacy tbh!) where will and mack are best friends on campus and pretend like they’re dating to get into a valentine’s day party

“the promised land” by alltimecharlo - will gets drafted to the kings and will and mack strike up an unlikely friendship over their year at bc/bu

“you spin me right round” by alltimecharlo - another alltimecharlo fic and i love this one!! figure skater will x hockey player mack and mack is down baaaad from the first sighting

“you were my favourite colour” by golden_hestia - frat boy will x nerd mack with the situationship of all time

“dont read the last page (but i stay)” by thepresentisteal - this is still updating - last one may 1st. i am also not up to date with it but what i’ve read so far was rly good!! hockey player will x english nerd mack

“hug & hurt & kiss me” by kathonys - will’s friend connor has a roommate called macklin who hates him for some reason. so fun!

“dont you lose my number” by gaythermos - mack receives an unsolicited bicep pic from an unknown number… but the guy is really hot so he thinks it’s okay

“sacred proximate” by pseudini - will and mack makeout at a party because leno’s trying to convince two girls to makeout and they’ll only do it if two of the guys do lmfao

ok im going to do a dump of a bunch of fics by dalsy because they are all perfect and amazing and all of them deserve to be highlighted:

maneater: college slut mack hooks up with will (top will! everyone thinks mack tops though it’s a whole thing)

bad idea: mack tames campus slut will

picture perfect: photographer will and hockey player mack who become best friends

stick season: this one is high school sweethearts au but it still deserves to go here!! best friends who are so close everyone thinks they’re dating, and then mack has to move back to vancouver

okay im stopping here otherwise i could go on for days. there’s so many good college au’s in this fandom so if you want more search under the “alternate universe - college/university” tag because there’s like seven pages lmfao

as always if you have a recommendation or a fic you wanna promote drop it in the replies or in my asks!

recs from anon 1

recs from anon 2

recs from anon 3

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

I need a fic where will and Mack have actually been in a secret relationship since NDPt / Steel days and that’s why there was no rumors or stories of will in college and all the sightings and rumors of Mack hooking up with people in his car and around campus was actually him and will.

They get drafted together and that’s why they appeared so close so quickly.

They aren’t necessarily hiding it with the team etc but no one seems to click and just things they’re weirdly co-dependent

I just need all the fluff and love of them finding each other and beinf with your forever person since like 16/17 years old and getting to play together etc.

nonnie… you have sparked an idea in my brain. and i cannot have another fic idea right now but you have given me one.

someone please correct me if i’m wrong but i don’t believe there is a fic like this!? like there’s “byline of this prologue” by zejeni that i think will eventuate to this idea, but it’s of them both at the chicago steel instead of mack there and will at usntdp

anyway give me like two months to crank out the current fic im working on and maybe i’ll lock into this one after it…

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

Untilwefind on ao3 has awesome collage/uni fics https://archiveofourown.org/works/66617227/chapters/171850315 , https://archiveofourown.org/works/66255109/chapters/170805727, https://archiveofourown.org/works/67259779/chapters/173728969, https://archiveofourown.org/works/69194106/chapters/179349356, https://archiveofourown.org/works/73664711/chapters/192058731

thanks for the recs nonnie - i haven’t found or read these ones before!!! definitely will be soon :)

“nothing scares me, least of all you” - unfinished

“stick to you” - unfinished

“line chemistry” - unfinished

“home ice advantage” - unfinished

“rivals with benefits” - completed *i have been advised this fic is tagged improperly and includes a non-con scene in the last chapter. please read with this in mind!

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

hii! I'm out of my wits trying to find a Willmack fic, and I hope you or someone who follows you might be able to help me find it!

details i remember: - takes place in Boston - Will and Mack are still rivals at the start. - Mack comes across Will while on a late night run, Will is smoking a blunt in park somewhere. Mack keeps coming back and they talk for hours. - They go from rivals to lovers - Mack and Aiden share a dorm room - Aiden finds out about will and mack because Will gave mack his sweatshirt one night and he finds it. - Mack's parents find out and react badly, take him out of school before the year ends if you or anyone knows what fic i'm talking about I will be eternally grateful!! xo, Josi :)

hi josi!!!

this sounds like an incredible fic and i am extremely sad to say i have not read it :( i’ll pass off to the wm tag so if anyone’s read pls drop in my asks or the replies!!!

ill have a look soon to see if i can find it and i’ll let you know if i come across it:))

edit: josi it’s been found!!!

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

hiii so sorry to use ur ask box like this bc this is not a fic rec exactly but I've been noticing a fair few Ai fics in the WM tag lately :( mostly longer form multi-fic chapters and I feel like im going a little crazy when people aren't pointing it out ahahah

anyways there's so many talented authors out there and I love using ur blog to find them! Im pretty scared of navigating the wm tag on ao3 myself lately bc I'll find something that's exactly what I want and then when open it i'm hit in the face with ChatGPT writing lol

thank you for all your work on fic recs, for leaving such encouraging comments on pics, and for engaging in incomplete fics!!

hi nonnie!!!

thank u for the love, i love this little community we have and i’m so glad the internal archivist in me is appreciated by so many people!! which is why it’s important for me to respond to this properly:

first and foremost i want to say i will never recommend a fic that i know is ai. fuck ai. i do not support ai “writing” or “authors”, and if you do please block me.

it gets hard because this conversation can be nuanced, as there’s no definitive way to prove a fic or an author is using ai. unfortunately, ai was trained by fanfic, so a lot of writing style from fics are easily replicated by artificial intelligence. things like em dashes and oxford commas can be called “ai writing” or “ai language” or “ai style” but it’s literally just formal writing techniques. it can be really disheartening to authors who grew up developing their own writing style to include these things.

there’s so many talented writers in the little willmack community present on ao3 and that overlaps onto this app. i want to spend time uplifting those talented authors rather than constantly talking about or raising speculation about fics/authors that use ai, whether to plan or edit, or writing the whole fic. if there’s any suspicion of ai usage, or the author states they did use ai, i won’t recommend the fic.

because of this above, i will not engage with people who use anonymous asks to try and tell me a fic is ai. for example, i got this ask the other day:

if you didn’t catch it, i recommend this new, ongoing work to my blog, and received this a few days later. i understand why anon is doing what they did, but if you clicked the link, and read the notes of the damn fic, you would see that the author addresses ai usage. have the direct quote from them:

“!! there is absolutely no ai usage involved in the creation of this fic !! this is my writing style. i'm an avid reader. good grammar/vocabulary ≠ ai use”

also reading it, there’s a few small grammatical mistakes that also indicate that it is written by a human being, not ai. the reason it may read as ai is because ai was trained on fanfic - as i mentioned earlier. the fic is fucking incredible, which is why you may assume it’s written by ai, but as they said, just because they have good grammar and vocab, it doesn’t mean it is written by ai.

if an author suggests they use ai to plan, write, or edit a fic, or there are clear indicators being included in the fic (like “Sure. Here’s your newly revised concept:” or something idk i dont use ai and idk how generators sound etc.) please do not point fingers and accuse people for using ai. if it is not clearly acknowledged in the notes or comments of the fic or tumblr post, you absolutely can RESPECTFULLY ask if they used ai in the creation of the fic. if yes, block and move on. don’t leave hateful comments - it is not worth it. if not, trust the author is telling the truth.

if you come across a fic that i’ve recced where an author has admitted to using ai, either in the notes or comments, please RESPECTFULLY let me know. i will absolutely remove the rec i have put up. but please do not come to my asks and randomly accuse people and fics of being ai, especially when the author has said they aren’t using it.

anyway, tldr: fuck ai, i do not condone it in any way, shape or form. however, don’t go around accusing authors of using ai willy nilly; the accusations on a fic written by a real person can be real harmful. if i know a fic has been influenced by ai in any way, i will not rec a fic, nor will read it myself.

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

hey!! was also wondering if you (or maybe any of ur followers) would be able to help me find a fic!! it was a post-olympics fic and mack was hiding in the bathroom and robyn was trying to get him to go out but he wouldn't! and i think rick ? was the one who called will then i think they slide the phone under the door and will talked to him?

thank youuuu

nonnie! i spent about half an hour looking for this fic for you. i’d sworn i’d read it but could not find it for the life of me!

but i think this may be it: “no good state to receive” by somewereroses. it’s a long fic but the specific scene itself is about halfway down!

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

didn’t know who else to say this to but I’m hoping you’ll like it

I had a dream where willmack were getting married and supposed to to the whole “can’t see each other before the wedding thing” and so we’re staying at different apartments with like their respective wedding parties (read Mack w his siblings and will w grace Leno and gabe)

anyway both are like buzzing so excited for the wedding the night before and also super upset they’re not with each other, so their siblings put them to bed all like “the sooner you go to sleep the sooner you’ll see each other again”

but Lo and behold the next morning, grace goes in to wake Will up and he’s no where to be seen. Of course the whole house starts panicking, thinking Will got cold feet or freaked out because of the whole catholic thing and grace is trying to be the voice of reason bcuz she knows her brother but the boys are Not listening and even she’s a bit doubtful. But the one thing they agree on is that Mack absolutely cannot find out and they need to find Will and convince him to come back for the wedding.

Little do they know the exact same thing is happening at Aiden’s apartment because MACK IS GONE TOO and Will absolutely cannot find out.

Unfortunately both phones are off and locations cannot be tracked.

Now the reality of the sitch was that Will had been quietly sad this whole time that they can’t get married in a church by a priest like everyone in his family ever, but he never says anything because he’d rather just be married to Mack. And to make matters worse his childhood parish priest is proper homophobic and won’t even bless their union. And Mack being a certified will expert knows all this despite will never saying anything.

So he sneaks out to wills at 6am the morning of their wedding and wakes him up and they drive 2 hours out from Boston (stopping for a cute diner breakfast together on the way there) to make it to an lgbt friendly parish so that they can get their blessing. He times it so they can make it to the 9am service before meeting the priest afterwards and will spends the whole time looking at him with heart eyes because not only because he fixed something will was upset about but because he volunteered to go to a mass for wills sake despite being majorly personally atheist, when he’ll usually only go to the Xmas/easter services, because they could have timed it for after the service and gotten an extra hour’s sleep, but he knew it would mean even more for will to do the service before hand.

Anyway my dream ended there but I like to imagine they turned their phones back on after leaving the church, found some cute markets for charity or something across the road and spend the last few hours before they have to go back for their afternoon ceremony just wandering around.

Both their siblings (+gabeleno) eventually turn up at about the same time and they turn into that 3 spidermen meme pointing at each other in a square or smth as everyone figures out what’s been going on. And ofc everyone’s pissed bcuz they were all freaking out but Willmack are being as insufferably in love as ever AND they broke the wedding superstition!

nonnie this was a DREAM?!?!?!?! your mind omg

this is so sickly sweet im like gonna cry. mack knowing will so wholly and understanding just how upset he is to not be getting married in a catholic church is just So. it’s So Them. they pay attention to the little details, which is what makes them so special. and mack might not be good with words but he shows up and shows through actions and moments and doing things for will and him waking will up at 6am the morning of their wedding really reaffirms to will that he’s absolutely doing the right thing by marrying mack. and will’s reaction (i’d assume includes some sniffling, if not tears, and a strong hand hold on the drive) proves to mack that he’s not being silly or taking it too far or just assuming he knew what will wanted. but he did know will as well as he thought he did, if not better; if he could do that, he thinks he’s good enough to be by will’s side forever, including in the eyes of the catholic church.

i need 20k words of this on my desk by monday. who wants to lock in!??

[0rdinaryth1ngs]

heyyy! trying to find a fic where wm were playing gay chicken & kept coming to a draw then started dating except mack didnt know they were dating?? does this ring a bell :(

hey nonnie!!!

you’d be talking about “winner winner chicken dinner” by caesarontv! i looove this fic so you’ve inspired me to do a reread!

happy reading! :)