I think your writting is amazing! would you happen to have an acotar fic recs or general book recommendations which you like, are obsessed with and or just have good writing that you think inspired you.
its okay if you don't have any fics or books which have driven you to write the way you are writing now but im in dire need of some acotar or regular book reads😩 so what ever youve got ill take it.
unless of course.....you have some fic crumbs to drop 😏 (no prssure btw just cracking a joke)
awww thank you, anon!! you're sweet :)
*cracks knuckles* okay, recommendations. i have. many. for my writing style inspirations scroll right the way down after the fics !
this ask got me curious as to what the first acotar fic i read was, and therefore what inspired me to delve into this world. looking at my ao3 history, it was actually a feysand fic by flamesandshadows on ao3.
light bulb suddenly goes off in my brain because their Nyx fic Reputation is incredible. it deals with Rhys' legacy and has great worldbuilding. there's a conversation between Nyx and Eris that stays in my head even now. and, lo and behold, i too wrote a Nyx fic all the way back in 2024 because of it. without it, you wouldn't be asking me anything at all! seriously. read Reputation. i go back to it all the time.
but anyway, if you're wanting to indulge in some delightful fics:
Amongst the Shadows and Threads by @sburnheart is very fun and also another of the og fics i read - i'm afraid modern girl in x world is a guilty pleasure of mine and here we are. azriel x oc. no spoilers.
if you've not read any of the Eris x Rhys!Sister!Reader Gingerfucker series by @daycourtofficial, i'd highly recommend it! it has fluffy fics and angsty fics and smutty fics so, peruse as you will.
reminder to go read Lady of Fire and Bloom by @frostystarlight if my constant banging on about it hasn't yet convinced you. long-form erislain. sexy lucien. sexy koschei. beloved vanserra brothers ocs (sevan, the man that you are). indeed, any of frosty's fics.
Sycamine by @olenvasynyt. the world building. the character work. just the LoA pov here alone should make you want to read. the unpacking of religion............. scrumptious.
@eatsbooks of course, iphigenia of course. lick it better is a personal fave. beron x oc. the doves are so dead here. heed the warnings, and heed the High Lord.
The Stars Come Out At Night by whichdirection (not sure if they kick about on tumblr) is a very cool Feysand Hockey AU with hella formatting and cool art to go with it.
Again by @ysmtttty is a very dope laywer Neris au that i fw tremendously. eris is also a bit of a softie, which i love
the price of the ticket by @macneiceisms is also a very cool Neris au and the chemistry there with them. masterful
but ah ha. i see you, anon. you want to read lucien going down on elain like his life depends on it. Undone. @buffy-vanserra. so long as you like artistry in your smut (which i do), its for you.
The Night Court Lounge | Tribeca, NYC by @jules-writes-stories is impeccably written and yeah. azris inspo for sure. fair warning for the tags, but the opening chapter will hook you and never let go.
don't fuck your ex raw? but what if he's good with kittens? modern au post breakup elucien awaits you with Sugar by @musty-old-claptrap.
as ever, @jon-snows-man-bun is a delectable writer. even more delectable is this elain x fem!oc one shot after which you will never see peaches the same. or, indeed, rhysand.
Spirit Meets the Bones by @trovesoftreasure must be an eris x oc hall of fame fic by now. been a long while since i read it.
Blush by @kymawrites also a hall of famer for azriel x reader enjoyers. its so fluffy and cute.
i hope this will sate you, anon. book recs and writing inspo below <3
my style of writing now is very much a bastardisation of Sally Rooney's (plus a bit of everything else i've ever read). her book Normal People is why i switched to the present tense and i think reading her books really pulled me into the world of "character first, plot second" work that i like to do. she has written three other books - but i have to say i did not very much enjoy Conversations with Friends. Intermezzo is fantastic though and is what i'm reading now. beloved stream of consciousness how you infect me. my friends tell me the tv adaption of Normal People is good, and if you prefer consuming it that way, go for it. its different apparently tho. Sally Rooney. Normal People if you havent already taken a look at it.
equally, for other books that inspired me specifically: Fight Club gripped me like nothing else when i read it; the sprawling descriptions of Germinal by Zola defo have an effect on the way i do details (for better or worse cos that man cannot stfu); beyond me to rec anything from A Song of Ice and Fire because i'm still making my way through it, but for a balance between world building, character building, plot, intrigue and everything else, it's great; as a kid i read the Alex Rider books and i still (try to) write fight scenes like Anthony Horowitz, i sincerely doubt the whole thing would thrill me now since they're for teens, but i remember reading Russian Roulette and thinking i must be able to write a character like Yassen Gregorovich, and my penchant for a corruption/redemption arc definitely comes from the fifth book in that series, Scorpia. the action scenes in those books are compelling even to the adult eye i think. in fact his writing style very much impacts how i write now, still. formative childhood memories innit. i digress. read the captive prince series if you're into it. look it up first because it has some heavy themes. but its really good and i need to finish it asap.
anyway. Sally Rooney. you can read one of her short stories about the characters in Normal People here for free to see if you like it.
oh.
you read to the end of this long post?
fic snippet for you then ;)
Please, he thinks stupidly, fist curling on the handle, please open the door.
Oh, but what good will it do him to will it?
He can open it. Should, even. The lock is just a lock. It can be broken, picked, the pegs in the mechanism moved with only a flick of his wrist as her wards do not object to him. In the cupboard under her chopping board in her kitchen, there is headache powder. Sprinkled over a meal, his pain will clear in minutes. He knows this because he has seen it, that little vial of reddish grain, taken from the seeds of flowers which bloom on the border of Summer and Spring, when she had retrieved some antidote or dressing for him not so long ago.
What good does it do him to know such? The flower and its grains are banned in his Court anyway.
He knocks again though it makes him feel a fool. Begging for her attentions, her help, her touch and the spiced, rich smell of her should be beneath him. The spoils of this world are yours, Eris. Never forget that. Those who are not wont to take what they are owed are more lowly than the dogs in the villages, whimpering for the scraps of their betters.
He scoffs, a haughty, terribly familiar sound, then he sets his jaw. Grits his teeth. Feels the stinging pang again in his head. Spoils, he thinks. What a horrible word for her.
If only they were suitable enough for a mating bond, then he could tug and she could come running, but they are not, and he can’t think of something he would want less than to bind her anywhere or to anyone, least of all him. So, if only he were brave enough to give her some way to communicate with him, so that they might be connected, and he wouldn’t have to wait.
He knocks again and knows it’s the last time he’ll try. Shouldn’t even be here. But he wants it. By all the gods, he fucking wants it.
Eris pulls away from the door abruptly, the daylight fuzzing the edges of his vision, what feels like pins sparking against his skull.
He can get fucking headache powder anywhere in this fucking city. Healers galore in this city of medicine and magic. What does he need Cleo for?
What good can the calloused hands of a healer do for the tinder box at his temples that a vial of powder cannot?
Unless you don’t celebrate Christmas? Then I guess Happy New Year a week early?
Anyway, I was not able to do any Christmas fic this year, due to *waves at the world* but for those who didn’t see it last year, here’s a link to last year’s collection of seasonal stories:
Boundless Love
50k+ of romance, angst, fluff and the overall ineffability. 😉 Read through the end — every short story has a happy ending, promise!
Got a new lippy I really like from Avon. Added it to my collection 😁 I dare not count how many lipsticks I have now! Also had a busy and very tiring shift at work yesterday so when I went out for a meal with the mister I had a lovely glass of prosecco 🍷 We then watched the new Star Wars movie and OMFG the cinematography was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I also wore my silly hat to work one day. It was a fun day up until some kid asked me if I scalped Rudolph!
Can you give us a little snippet of either of the fics you're writing? I need some cheering up :(
DO NOT BE SAD, ANON. DO NOT.
Here, have snippets from everything unfinished in my Harry Styles folder. (Spoiler: there isn’t as much Harry as that folder name might suggest). I HOPE THIS HELPS.
Contents:
1. Louis/Nick AU, Louis works in a cafe, Nick is a businessman. Sugar Daddy AU. (co-write)
2. Easy As All That sequel
3 something from an early draft of the Harry/Liam(/Nick) homeless AU I posted the first bit of, About You Now.
4. earlyish draft of the I Had Rather sequel that’s taking up a lot of my head.
5. and a bit more from the I Had Rather sequel, not sure that I’ll use this exact set up anymore so I’ll probably joss myself out of this one.
6. Liam/Louis where Louis auditions for X Factor with a kid
7. Liam/Louis AU where Louis is at uni with Zayn and Niall, and Liam is a pop star, and no one knows that Liam and Louis even knew each other, let alone, almost four years earlier, were together.
8. regency AU I’m never going to finish
9. more of the Louis/Nick fic for checkthemargins where Louis has been in an accident and is in ICU and no one knew that he and Nick were together.
10. The Youth Branch of Magical and Fairy Tale Creatures and Beings Anonymous (Volume Two)
11. Liam/Louis office AU I’m probably never going to finish.
12. Wild Child AU (always a girl boarding school AU, in case you’re not familiar)
13. Won’t Get To Space Harry/Louis/Liam sequel
14. Opening bit of Not Your Fault But Mine.
(3. and 9. are set in hospitals, fyi)
1. Louis/Nick AU, Louis works in a cafe, Nick is a businessman. Sugar Daddy AU.
Nick shakes his head, grumbling. “I ought to take you over my knee.”
There is, just for a moment, a flash of something bright in Louis’ eyes, but it’s gone too soon for Nick to catch it. It doesn’t stop him thinking, aha! and it takes all his energy just to school his expression into something that doesn’t scream, let’s run away and do that right the fuck now. He has a day full of meetings, for a start. He fucking hates meetings. It’s a lot of telling people he’s brilliant—which he’s good at—and then waiting an hour for them to catch up and agree. They always agree. He really is quite fantastic.
"Yeah, yeah," Louis says, and there’s a faint pinkish tinge to his cheeks that Nick is stealing and filing away for future reference. "I’d like to see you try."
"Maybe after you’ve brought me some real breakfast," Nick says, pushing the porridge to one side. He raises an eyebrow. "Any chance of something edible, this time around?"
Louis drops down onto the seat opposite him again. “I’m in charge of the kitchen,” he says. “Harry’s got a dentist appointment. Don’t ask me for anything that actually requires cooking. I could do you a bagel and cream cheese if you want fancy.” He makes a face. “Or cornflakes. How do you fancy cornflakes?”
There are a lot of people here not actually eating anything, and Nick suspects that if Louis really is in charge of the kitchen, they’re going to end up wishing they’d ordered cornflakes too. “Do you actually serve cornflakes?” Nick asks. “Like, for real, and not just inside that head of yours?”
"I’m thinking of adding them to the menu," Louis says airily. He gets to his feet again. "One bowl of cornflakes, coming right up."
Nick watches him leave, not bothering to hide the fact he’s looking at Louis’ arse as he goes. Fucking cornflakes, honestly.
Louis looks back over his shoulder at him when he gets to the kitchen door, and honest-to-god, he winks.
2. Easy as all that sequel
Nick looked down at his phone. “It’s your mum.”
“Well, answer it then,” Harry leaned back in his seat, and crossed his legs. God, his smile.
“If she bollocks me, you and me are having words.” He swiped his thumb over the answer button. “Anne.”
“Nicholas. Have you got my wayward son with you?”
Nick poked at Harry’s ankle with his toes. “Yeah, he’s here.”
“Well, if you wouldn’t mind telling him that the next time he runs away from home, leaving me a note that says more than gone off to London town to seek my fortune might be in order.”
“Oh my god, he didn’t.”
“He did.”
Harry was smirking at him across the table. “Harold, did you really leave your mum a note that said, gone off to London town to seek my fortune?”
“He also signed it Dick Whittington,” Anne added.
3. something from an early draft of the Harry/Liam(/Nick) homeless AU I posted the first bit of, About You Now.
Liam waits until Harry’s gone to the toilet before curling his hand around Nick’s wrist. “Nick.”
“What, babe?” Nick tries to sound casual, but he can see the way that Liam’s watching over his shoulder for Harry to come back.
“When you found me, did you see a puppy? Was there a dog?”
“What?”
“A puppy,” Liam says urgently. “BEAR. His name was BEAR.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Nick’s confused.
“I had a dog. When I was out there. A puppy. He wasn’t there when you found me? I don’t remember any of it.”
Nick’s glad about that, at least. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to forget the sight of Liam slumped in that doorway, wrapped in that filthy blanket, looking half-dead. For a second, he’d been half-convinced that he’d found him too late, that he was dead in a doorway and they’d come too late. “I don’t remember a puppy.”
“Oh,” Liam says, and although he tries to hide the devastation he’s clearly feeling, he doesn’t do a very good job of it.
“I could go and have a look round, though.” It’s probably pointless, but Nick’s felt nothing but helpless these last few days, and even though the rasp in Liam’s voice is the only lasting reminder of his time on the ventilator, and he’s looking less and less like he’s at death’s door every time Nick sees him. “I could try, at least.”
Liam looks desperately, desperately relieved. “Will you?” he asks. “I can’t tell Harry; he’d feel responsible for leaving him in the first place.”
And I wouldn’t? Nick thinks, but he knows the burden Harry’s been under these past few days. He’s not stupid. There hasn’t been much that he can do, but this, at least, is something he can try.
4. earlyish draft of the I Had Rather sequel that’s taking up a lot of my head.
When Zayn finds him, Louis is sitting on the edge of the swimming pool in the hotel basement, legs dangling in the water.
"Been looking for you everywhere," Zayn says, sitting down next to him and gingerly dangling his legs over the edge.
"I’m here," Louis says. He kicks his feet a bit. He’s been here almost an hour, just thinking. "You found me."
Zayn bumps his elbow into Louis’. “So. You and Nick Grimshaw, then.”
"Niall told you?"
Zayn nods. “I thought he was joking.”
"He wasn’t." Louis hasn’t heard from anyone else, not his mum, not Harry, not the other lads. His phone is upstairs in his room, though, and he’s been wandering the hotel corridors for the last couple of hours.
"Christ."
"It’s all right," Louis says. "I know it’s weird."
"Yeah." There’s a pause. "Like, are you sure? About this? Because what were all those tweets about? I stood up for you. I don’t get how you went from that, to this. To, like, going out with him."
"I was so jealous," Louis says, after a minute of saying nothing. "I’ve been so fucking jealous. I miss him all the fucking time. Like, every fucking second."
"Jealous? What of?"
"He had this boyfriend." Louis’ fingers are going pruney. "He wasn’t with me."
"Lou—"
"Don’t, okay. I know how awful I was."
"I’m not." Zayn sighs. "I’m worried, that’s all. It’s Nick Grimshaw, and two weeks ago he had a boyfriend, and you hated him, and you’ve been weird all tour, and now you’re going out with him? You can see why we’re confused."
"I love him," Louis says, softly. "I love him so much it makes my fucking chest hurt, okay, and it’s been ages, all right? It’s not new. I’ve been sleeping with him for months."
"In secret," Zayn says. "Behind everyone’s backs. Behind Harry’s back. And he had a boyfriend?"
"No," Louis says. "It’s not how you think. None of it’s how you think. He didn’t have a boyfriend, not when we were, god. He was the one who wanted us to be together. He was the one who wanted to tell Harry. I was the one who told him no. I was the one who told him I didn’t want him. It’s not Nick’s fucking fault he tried to move on."
5. and a bit more from the I Had Rather sequel, not sure that I’ll use this exact set up anymore so I’ll probably joss myself out of this one.
Louis finds Nick in the kitchen.
"Hi, love," Nick says. He’s dancing with the jug of vodka cocktail, a little paper umbrella sticking out of his quiff. He dumps the jug on the side and holds his arm out for Louis to duck into his side. He kisses the top of Louis’ hair, and Louis doesn’t think he’s ever really going to get used to this, to being Nick’s boyfriend, to people knowing.
Louis closes his eyes and presses into Nick’s side. He smells faintly like sweat, familiar and, fuck, all Louis’. “Do you have a minute?” he asks quietly, because the kitchen is full of people like Caroline and Olly and Sam and Daisy.
Nick glances down at him. “Course,” he says, and pretends to shepherd Louis out of the kitchen, arms around his waist, dick pressed against Louis’ bum. There’s a quiet corner in the hall by the front door, and Nick presses Louis into the corner, one arm above Louis’ head.
Louis should stop, at some point, feeling protected by the way Nick can cage him in like this.
"What is it?" Nick asks, kissing his jaw. He cups Louis’ cheek in his palm.
Louis rests his hands on Nick’s hips, his thumb brushing underneath his shirt to stroke across his skin. “Do you remember how I said I wanted to come out?”
Nick’s hand stills. “Lou.”
"Do you remember?"
"You wanted to hold hands in the street," Nick says. He doesn’t sound so drunk anymore.
"Yeah," Louis says. "You’ve seen the photographers outside, right?" There are always photographers outside Nick’s friends’ parties.
"Course," Nick says. "Lou, what are you saying?"
Louis’ heart is pounding. He feels sick. He just—he can’t anymore. He just can’t. He’s sick of hiding and sick of lying and sick of pretending that he and Nick aren’t together. “I’ve called for a car,” he says. “I texted Pete and told him to wait at the corner instead of outside the door.
"Did you get a second one for me?" Nick asks, softly. He strokes at Louis’ cheek with his thumb, and Louis shivers with it.
"No," he says, bringing his hand up to close around Nick’s wrist. "I thought we could share. If it’s okay with you."
"They’ll get pictures," Nick says.
"Yes," Louis says. "I know."
Nick lets out a ragged breath. “It’ll just be pictures of us getting into the same car, though.”
"No," Louis says. "It won’t."
"Christ. Fuck, Louis. What are you saying?"
"Kiss me," Louis says. "Walk down the steps and kiss me, and then fucking hold my hand, and then get in the car with me. That’s what I’m saying. That’s what I’m asking."
Nick pulls him into a hug, arms wrapped so tight around him that Louis is breathless with it, with everything he wants, with everything he needs.
"I love you so much," Louis says, clinging. He doesn’t care if there’s anyone around and looking. He doesn’t care any more. "I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry I’ve made you wait so long."
"God," Nick sounds choked up. He presses his mouth to Louis’ ear. "I would always fucking wait. I love you. Are you sure?"
"No," Louis says, "but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to." Everyone’s going to know he likes cock. Everyone is going to know he likes Nick. He hates the first part. He’s so proud of the second part he kind of wants it tattooed across his heart.
6. Liam/Louis where Louis auditions for X Factor with a kid
The first time Liam hears that Louis Tomlinson is a dad, they’re at Boot Camp, and Louis is doing three things all at once: a) pinching Niall Horan’s nipples, b) hanging backwards off the back of a sofa and managing to keep himself from falling by what looks like sheer force of will, and c) singing How To Save A Life at the top of his lungs.
"How on earth can you be a dad,” Niall snorts, batting Louis away. “Stop that. Leave my nipples alone.”
"I am a spectacular dad," Louis says, in satisfaction. He goes for Niall’s balls this time, and topples backwards off the sofa. "I am the best dad in the world."
Liam thinks there must be a joke he’s not getting, because Louis isn’t old enough—or mature enough—to be a dad. Louis refuses to get enough sleep and is always messing about and pushing people around, and Liam can’t quite separate Louis’ laughter from that of the boys at school, who’d spent much of the last six years pushing Liam around quite gleefully.
"You’re a nightmare," Niall says, poking Louis in the side, and Louis beams up at him from where he’s sprawled across the floor.
"Thank you, Niall. You are now second choice to be my personal husband for the rest of forever. After Harry Styles, obviously."
Niall just laughs at that, and tugs Louis to his feet.
7. Liam/Louis AU where Louis is at uni with Zayn and Niall, and Liam is a pop star, and no one knows that Liam and Louis even knew each other, let alone, almost four years earlier, were together.
"We’re going to have words," Louis told Zayn, trying to look severe. Fuck, he hoped Liam wasn’t here. His night was going to be totally and utterly fucking fucked if Liam was here. Louis tried very, very hard not to think about Liam. Ever. That whole period of his life was locked away in a box in his head, behind a door with a tiger sitting guard outside and a sign that said, go the fuck away, Louis, herein lie dragons. And fire. And pointy stones. Don’t come in. Tonight the guard-tiger had a little hat on that lit up, and was wearing a duffel coat.
Wow, this alcohol was good.
"Fuck," Niall said, hand going heavy on Louis’ shoulder. "There he is. Look. It’s really him."
Louis swung around. Christ, he needed better impulse control. He should have walked away the moment the rumour had gone round the club that Liam was here. Surely the tiger in his head should have said something. He and that tiger were going to be having words in the morning.
But—god. Liam. Liam was here, in Louis’ eye-line, and other people were looking at him too. Louis wasn’t making him up out of his head, or anything. He was really here.
The last time Louis had seen Liam in person, he’d been curly-haired and shyly determined, inching towards broad-shouldered, and with the best fucking voice Louis had ever heard. Now he was taller, and broader, and his hair was cut into a fauxhawk, tattoos sliding down over his arms towards his wrists. And everyone knew he was a fantastic singer. It was no longer Louis’ secret, to have and to hold.
He was standing by the edge of the dance floor, holding onto a bottle of something that looked alcoholic—and when had that happened, Mr I don’t really drink, not even if you’ve been on the internet to check to see if I can Payne—and leaning in to hear what a huge, beefy guy with massive muscles was saying.
All the breath slid gently and irrevocably out of Louis’ body.
Liam wasn’t looking in Louis’ direction. Louis needed to walk away before Liam turned around; he needed to leave before Liam saw him. He needed to turn right the fuck around and get outside. He needed to go home, drink the remains of that bottle of Midori that neither Zayn nor Niall could stomach, have a serious conversation with an imaginary tiger, pass out, and wake up in the morning with little to zero memory of this entire night. Preferably zero. He’d be happy with zero.
But then Liam looked up, glancing round the club. The expression on his face was easy and open, and he was laughing at something the huge muscled guy was saying. There was a slow, pale shift in his expression when he clocked Louis standing there, staring at him.
There was a desperate, breathless twist to Louis’ gut as Liam’s eyes met his.
Three years and seven months. All those endless, endless months.
Oh god. Niall was saying something to him, but Louis wasn’t listening. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Liam’s, because somewhere in his head an imaginary tiger couldn’t keep an imaginary door shut in the face of imaginary marauding dragons, and it was all tipping out in his head, everything that Louis tried desperately not to think about, everything Liam-shaped and awful.
Liam hesitated; he stumbled a step forward, and then back again. He dumped his bottle down on the ledge by the edge of the dance floor, and then Louis was moving, and so was Liam, pushing past his entourage to meet Louis somewhere in the middle. Around them people were whispering, and pointing, but Louis didn’t give a fuck. Just for this moment, he didn’t give a fuck.
"Lou—" Liam said, and then Louis was wrapping his arms around Liam, pulling him into the tightest, most desperate hug that Louis could manage, and Liam was hugging him back.
8. regency AU I’m never going to finish
"Harold, you didn’t.”
Harry makes a face. He did. He really did.
"Harold." His mother rolls her eyes. "Do you think that maybe, one day, I can trust you to spend one season in town without being caught in flagrante? Just once, can a member of my family not bring shame down upon us all?”
"It was a masked ball, Mother. Surely the point of a masked ball is to behave badly. It wasn’t like anyone saw her face."
9. more of the Louis/Nick fic for checkthemargins where Louis has been in an accident and is in ICU and no one knew that he and Nick were together.
~*~
Louis’ room in the Intensive Care Unit has a long window all along one side, with a view down to the car park and the little green space where half a dozen smokers are huddled round the covered area, the wind catching in their dressing gowns and pyjamas. Louis’ bed is right in the middle of the room, surrounded on three sides by machines and wires and things that beep and whirr and count and measure.
Nick presses the heels of his hands to his eyes, and tries to breathe. There’s a chair by the side of his bed, and he sits down carefully. The boy in the bed looks like Nick’s Louis, but it isn’t him. It can’t be. There’s a tube down his throat, and stitches across his cheek and through his eyebrow. His shaggy hair is shaved away on one side of his head, a three-inch nasty cut stitched together and held with steri-strips the length of Nick’s knuckle and more. His arm’s in a pot, and so is his leg, and there are so many wires and drips and he’s like a stranger laid out in front of him, a stranger who shares Louis’ tattoos but nothing else. His chest is a mess of bandages and dressings and there’s a bag half-full of red gunk that Nick thinks must be blood that’s attached via a tube that goes directly into Louis’ side.
It makes Nick want to throw up.
He closes his eyes for a moment, and then covers Louis’ hand with his own.
"Hiya, love," he says, and his voice doesn’t break. "It’s Nick, sweetheart. Haven’t you been in the wars, Lou? I let you out of my sight for five seconds and you go and get yourself hit by a lorry. We’re going to have to have a talk about this when you wake up. I think we should make it a rule that you can’t get yourself hurt anymore. Like, not even a papercut, okay? We’re going to make it a proper rule and everything. You’re not allowed to get hurt, even a tiny little bit. Not ever." His voice catches, and he wipes his nose on his sleeve. He’s got no tissues, and he’s not letting go of Louis’ hand. It’s hot in here, his skin flushed an unnatural pink. "I love you, Louis. I never told you, and now you’re flipping asleep for it. You’re missing my fucking declaration, you total idiot." He trips over his words, tears running down his face. "Just wake up, okay? Just wake up. We all want you back so fucking much."
When he looks up, Jay’s watching him from the other side of the glass. She’s crying, hands cupped around a Styrofoam cup of tea.
Nick leans in and presses his mouth to Louis’ hot temple. He’s only allowed a couple of minutes; Louis’ abdominal injuries are so severe his condition is still critical.
"I’m not going anywhere, duck. I’m going to be right here when you wake up, I swear. Just concentrate on getting better. We’re all going to be right here."
He sits in the family room afterwards, a cup of tea from the little tea maker in the corner going cold in his hand. Jay sits next to him, silent in their vigil, the minutes stretching away from them like hours, and the hours never fucking passing.
Louis’ life is measured in the beeps of the equipment and the rhythmic huffs of the ventilator. His boy can’t breathe by himself, and Nick has never, ever been so scared in his whole entire life.
~*~
10. The Youth Branch of Magical and Fairy Tale Creatures and Beings Anonymous (Volume Two)
“Well,” Liam said. “This is weird.”
“Can we actually have a meeting?” Niall asked, from where he was sitting in Zayn’s lap. “Can we be the youth branch of magical and fairy tale creatures and beings anonymous, if we’re no longer, you know, magical? Or fairy tale creatures?”
Louis made a face. “This is shit. This is so shit.”
“Maybe it’s temporary?” Harry said hopefully. He hooked his foot around Louis’. “Maybe your granddad will come around.”
Liam reached into the Tesco bag by his feet and came out with a packet of value bourbon biscuits and a multipack of value cartons of apple juice. He handed them round, trying not to let on how weird it was that there weren’t any mice or pigeons or rats or dogs or cats doing their level best to make his life more complicated by trying to tie ribbons in his hair or helping him do his chores. “Everyone take a drink and a biscuit,” he said, in his most hearty voice. “Then we can get on with the agenda.”
“I’m just going to ask again,” Niall said. “Can we really have meetings if none of us have magic powers anymore?”
“It’s well shit, being human,” Zayn grumbled. “Nobody’s needed rescuing in days, now. It’s shit. Usually there’s at least a kitten in a tree. Nobody’s even desperately needed a cup of tea. What do humans do with their lives? It’s been dead boring.”
“You can rescue me if you like, baby. I’ll get stuck up a ladder or something. I’ll demand you come rescue me.” Niall kissed his jaw.
Zayn looked a bit mollified, and held Niall’s hand. “Suppose.”
“Anyway, I know you like it when we play princesses.”
“Too much information,” Harry kicked Niall in the ankle.
“Sorry, guys,” Louis said. “This is all my fault. Last time I try being mischievous. I’m just going to go back to being crap at it, once Grandad stops being furious at me. It’s much easier when I’m rubbish.”
Liam wasn’t having any of that. He had a lot of feelings about Louis, all of them more complicated than just feelings for a friend you occasionally had wing-related threesomes with. He hooked his foot around Louis’, and gave him what he hoped was a terribly friendly and not overtly sexual smile.
Louis just looked a bit sad, even when he smiled up at him.
Seriously, Liam hadn’t imagined his life going like this when he’d packed up his belongings into a handkerchief on a stick and headed off for London Town.
Admittedly, things had got a bit easier when Parcelforce delivered the rest of his belongings right to the door of his flat a week later, but whatever.
“It’s not your fault, Lou. We all agreed to crash your grandad’s party.”
And now they’d all learned a valuable lesson: don’t fuck with Loki, because he’ll fuck you back, only harder. He’d stripped their powers from them, each of them in turn, without an end date in sight, and all because they’d played a trick on him that they’d got from Private fucking Benjamin. Don’t put dye in anyone’s shower system, because then you end up with a green-faced version of Loki, and that’s a life lesson they’d learned in about five seconds flat. An angry Loki was pretty terrifying.
So: it had been four days without powers, and all of them were beginning to feel the strain.
“I miss being a fearsome wolf,” Niall said morosely, once he’d taken his biscuit. “I was really fearsome, wasn’t I, Zayn?”
“Totally fearsome,” Zayn was quite obviously lying. Niall was a teeny tiny fluffy wolf cub when he changed, whose growls sounded like tiny little fluffy yelps, and who mostly attempted to inspire fear in all those around him by furiously licking their faces and snuggling into the curves of their jumpers for added warmth.
11. Liam/Louis office AU I’m probably never going to finish.
Louis missed his train home. He hated missing his train. There was a twenty minute wait for the next one, and it was always just the wrong side of full. It was that stupid bus’ fault. There was always a fucking accident or a traffic jam, and the driver would never let him off if they weren’t at an actual stop, even though he could see the train station beyond the line of rush hour traffic.
He fumbled in his bag for his iPod, even though his headphones were kind of buggered and the tinny muffled shriek was more annoying than not having anything to listen to.
"Hi," someone said, and then Louis turned around to see that guy from the common room at lunchtime. He was still smiling. Maybe it was a thing. “Liam, remember? From this lunchtime.”
"Oh," Louis said. "Yes, sorry. Hi. I’m Louis."
"I remember," Liam said, with a grin. "Is this your train too? Brilliant."
"Brilliant," Louis echoed, and some days were like this, where he could remember how the old him would have responded, and laughed, and made friends easily. It was one thing remembering, though, and another actually going back. He could at least make an effort, though. "So, uh—you work at the uni too?"
"Yep." Liam shouldered his rucksack, and got his lanyard out of his pocket. "Just started, last week. ICT. Basically I’m the guy who sets up your AV and stuff, if you book it. Kind of wanted to be a sound engineer, but, you know. Life."
"Tell me about it," Louis said. He picked at the cuff of his denim jacket. It was frayed. "I’m in the geography department. I’m that person who photocopies all the lecture notes and processes all the lecturers’ expenses claims." There was more to it than that, but none of it was interesting. The fact that processing expenses claims was the highlight of his job description probably summed it all up fairly well, though.
"Bummer," Liam said.
"Oh, I don’t know. I order their catering too. And their stationery. I am at one with that Office Depot catalogue, you have no idea.”
"Well, if you’d told me about the Office Depot catalogue,” Liam said. “Do you have highlighters in like, fifteen different colours?”
"I have three highlighters. When I can prove that one of them no longer works, I am allowed to request another one—but not allowed to pick a colour—from the keeper of the stationery. But only then."
Liam made a face. His eyebrows made little U shapes. Interesting.
12. Wild Child AU (always a girl boarding school AU, in case you’re not familiar)
"Are you kidding me?" Louis said, when Liam got out a fucking Nokia to hand over to Matron. “A Nokia? What is this, 2007?”
Liam, whose skirt was probably exactly regulation length, smiled and nodded. Beth and Janey had laughed themselves silly at the Abbey Mount prospectus the week before, and especially hard at the rule that said skirts should be no shorter than two inches above the knee. “It makes phone calls and sends texts, what else could I want?”
"Oh my god," Louis couldn’t believe these girls. "What about like, a camera? Or fucking Facebook?"
"Detention," Matron said, holding out the tray like this wasn’t the worst punishment Louis could imagine. All of her friends were back at home in Doncaster, and the only way she could keep in contact with them was by phone.
"You can’t take my phone," Louis tried not to sound desperate, but she couldn’t get landed in boarding school with these awful girls and not have her phone, she couldn’t. “I need that.”
"You can have it back at the weekend," Matron told her. "Niall, phone please. And Zayn."
Niall, whose blonde hair stuck out at the sides like a hedge, rolled her eyes and dumped a Motorola into the tray.
13. Won’t Get To Space Harry/Louis/Liam sequel
Half five shows up, but Louis and Harry don’t. Liam sits outside the garage with his jacket zipped up, and passes his phone from hand to hand, waiting for them. He doesn’t want to ring in case they’re driving, so he sits outside and hopes that he hasn’t got the day wrong.
They don’t show up until ten to six, by which point Liam is already about ready to leave to go home. Harry pulls his Range Rover up in front of the garage though, parking it totally skewiff, and Louis is already tumbling out of the passenger door even as Liam is standing up to meet them.
"Hello," Louis says, bounding over and pushing Liam up against the wall. "Happy Captain America Day, Steve."
"What?" Liam says, but Louis is kissing him hello. Liam can’t quite bring himself to be bothered about who might see.
"Captain America Day," Harry says, carefully pushing Louis out of the way and kissing Liam gently. "Here, we got you a t-shirt in honour of the occasion."
Louis pulls open his denim jacket to display a t-shirt with Captain America’s shield right there in the centre. Harry is wearing one with a giant Avengers A in the middle. The one they’re holding out for Liam is royal blue, with a white star in the middle and red and white stripes at the bottom.
"What—"
"Suit up," Louis says. "Here, preferably. Where we can stare at how hot you are."
Liam swallows, and looks down at his t-shirt. “Why are you here?” he asks, because ninety-five per cent of the time, he has no idea why Louis and Harry even bother with him.
"Because Steve’s your favourite, and because you’re our favourite, and because we wanted to take our boyfriend out," Harry says. "We’ve got tickets for the eight o’clock showing, we’ve got a table at that burger place near that bowling alley that we went to first, and then we’re all going to go back to yours afterwards and let you talk about how hot Captain America is whilst we fuck you."
"That last part’s my favourite," Louis says, leaning in. "That was my idea, that bit. You can talk about how you’d like Steve to fuck you, if you like. Whilst we jerk you off. Make you come all over yourself."
"Oh," Liam says. Luckily he works on a nice, quiet road. It’s good, that, because he’s sporting a semi. "Right. That’s good, then."
"Brilliant," Harry says. "Now, are you going to change your top, or what? It’s been a whole week since we’ve seen you topless, and we’re getting withdrawal symptoms."
"All right," Liam says softly, and pulls open his jacket.
14. Opening bit of Not Your Fault But Mine.
The envelope is waiting on the mat when he gets back from the supermarket after dropping his mum off at work on Monday morning. It says Mr Louis Tomlinson on the front, and has his university’s logo in the bottom left of the envelope.
He shoves it at the back of the hall table, underneath a pile of junk mail that’s probably been there for ages, and goes to make a cup of tea.
If his hands tremble as he fills the kettle, then at least there’s no one there to see.
