#ciog

[pert1nents]

there isn't ceiling in our garden

rated E, 70k-ish, Nicklas Bäckström/Alexander Ovechkin

Nicke’s never going to believe him. What’s the point of trying? They’re just barely getting back to things being normal between them. Even if he does manage to convince him, the day just resets. No matter what Alex does, no matter what he tries to fix or set right, it resets. It takes everything he does and wipes it clean, and nobody knows except him. The floor wobbles. Alex’s eyes fall to Nicke’s lips. Involuntarily, he thinks of melted, gooey chocolate, Nicke’s lower lip chapped and boy-rough under the pad of his thumb. About all the times over the years—on the ice, in the snow, in the water—Alex had felt certainty click into place when they looked at each other. Without him wanting it to, his mind is pulling at some pearl of opportunity. The day just resets. And nobody knows but Alex.

time loop fic that begs the question: what if you were terrified of change and clung to your time loop for dear life?

[pert1nents]

having officially christened latest WIP and gotten to the midpoint of the story.....first webweave! right person, wrong time....wrong time....wrong time....

"For Grace, After a Party" by Frank O'Hara // tweet by FOREVERTHERAPY // still from Aftersun (2022) // "At the End of Our Marriage, in the Backyard" by Maggie Smith // tweet by pangmeli // "Cloudland" by Amy Hempel // snowy streets of moscow // "The Shirt" by Jane Kenyon // still from No Dogs or Italians Allowed (2022) // moscow dynamo stadium // from "everything is romantic" by charli xcx // still from Before Sunset (2004) // comic from the Daily Mirror, 1923 // dupont circle station in washington, d.c. // post from @vodkatales // "We Catch Up Over Beers After Your Divorce" by Isabelle Correa // still from Before Sunset (2004)

[pert1nents]

and can i just say........these were the original big unsettling hazels.

[pert1nents]

last thing i wrote tag!! ty @nosurprisetome

Nicke rolls over and stretches, languid, his toes squeezing, then contracting, on Alex’s shin. Alex turns to him. Nicke's hair dries curly, same as always—little wisps of frizz already curling around his ears. Alex fits a hand on his delt and squeezes, watching Nicke’s face fold into a crinkled, fond smile. “I never thought we’d—” he says, his voice soft. Afternoon sunlight filters in through the curtains, their faces close together, Nicke’s breath hot on Alex’s nose. “Did you—” “All this fuckin’ time,” Alex says, and bows his head. Nicke reaches up and runs a palm over the back of his head, his mostly gray hair, down to his neck. “Always, I wanna.” “Yeah?” Nicke asks. “Since—” Alex leans up to kiss him. “Since Moscow. Since [major spoiler redacted]. Before, even. I don’t know.”

Tagging @sweethomeblue @ambiguityenjoyer and @betokeneth because i feel (?) like i have seen you all recently mention writing on the dash. egg on my face if not. & of course no pressure.

[pert1nents]

when everyone left. when god abandoned me. google drawings was there

[pert1nents]

no idea if you take moodboard suggestions but mary oliver's 'in backwater woods' goes hand-in-hand (to me) with a specific margaret atwood poem from you are happy, from the circe / mud poems:

Your flawed body, sickle scars on the chest, moonmarks, the botched knee that nevertheless bends when you will it to

Your body, broken and put together not perfectly, marred by war but moving despite that with such ease and leisure

Your body that includes everything you have done, you have had done to you and goes beyond it

This is not what I want but I want this also. 

Well!!!! Yes. Exactly. Eerily exactly tbh. At the risk of excessive self-promotion I see us having much to dialogue about in approximately two weeks.

[pert1nents]

I am counting the days until your nicke ovi fic!!!! I literally was just doing a deep dive of some of their greatest hits on ao3 and was lamenting that no one writes them anymore, because their lore and story is so absolutely psychotic and insane…They’re the stuff of fanfic pairing dreams, truely. So excited to read! Obviously no rush, just know that I am so so hyped for it!!

No truly they’re insane and it kinda surprises me that there isn’t more stuff from early 2020s to now in the tag. Honestly to me the last few years of Nicke being on IR while Alex breaks the records Nicke took him like 85% of the way to are as narratively rich and ripe for analysis as anything else in their intertwined careers and fates. So much in there about like sacrifice and devotion and confronting your own mortality and legacy!!!

And thank you for saying you’re excited about my fic! I’m pretty psyched about it, I think it’s probably the strongest and most technical/complicated writing I’ve ever done, and because of that it’s also taken a ton of time and focus and rehashing to get it to where I want it. Really trying to finish strong and feel totally happy with the outcome. Also have been kinda preparing myself for it to be more of a rarepair (they’re not a rarepair but you know what I mean) response, but I gotta write the things that make me feel excited and some version of this has been rattling around in my brain for forever. SO I really appreciate you being excited with me!!! 🫶💓

[pert1nents]

the historical constraints of my 2008 period piece spoiling my fun (smoking in bars was still permitted)