#geets.txt

[hephaestiions]

dearest @garagepaperback tagged me on this feral little flintwood snip to share a last line while i was already on the gdocs grind. the latest from james/teddy being awful:

The needy, clinging dark leaches shape and detail until the straining body under him— tousled curls, muscled shoulders, divot of fragile spine— could be another, could be— Teddy, please, please— fucking damn it. He grips the hair curling at the nape, drags— him— up, bowstring tight and reachable, whispers shut the fuck up so close to the soft whorl of ear that his next instinct is to bite and hold until the scream— wrong, so fucking wrong, too high, too pleading— erupts; a loud excuse to twist and push until James’ open, leaking, stupid little mouth is buried in the duvet. Muted, perfect. “One thing you’re good for,” pushing in where James, the slut, is still holding himself open through it, “and it isn’t fucking talking.”

not a line, but i wrote this graf in a single breath, so. no pressure paging @yiiiiiiiikes25 @citrusses @desertforestfic @twnkwlf @flightspathfic @sleepstxtic @kamaela + anyone who sees this and wants to play to share the last of whatever's been added and/or marinating.

[geetswrites]

i have an aptitude test for college in approximately 15 minutes and i have never lost my mind to this extent for an exam before, is this how academically stressed people live, oh my god i’m so sorry 

[hephaestiions]

'24 retrospective

thank you, @kamaela & @hollyhawthorn for the tag on ruminations from 2024, we're going to pretend i'm not a whole week late to it.

sometime in— march?— i got high and thought— wouldn't it be fantastic if draco and harry did that too? started writing what became almost 7k words of porn with feelings about harry being taken care of, which marked a return to ao3 and my first fic since 2021. win! i posted some shorter, quicker stuff to tumblr, of which i particularly enjoyed writing this auror partners transfer request, about harry, lettuce & embroidery yarn, and grace.

it's been a year of figuring out style & character, what works, what doesn't, what holds weight & water, slips, comes back. which is mostly to say it's been a year of drafts, writing & scrapping, letting things marinate in docs, coming up with several thousand wips & resisting the urge to take down older fics and repost them in a style i agree with more now.

2024 was also the year of getting into reccing, which i've enjoyed far, far more than i expected. my three author reclists for plor, wolf & tacky were my favourite to do, i loved the immersive invite of them. given my need to devour back catalogues of every author i adore, i'm hoping to continue these; we are well and truly blessed with enough writers here to keep me going for a lifetime.

writing (mostly) individual recs for hprecfest was also absolutely glorious. i have so much to say about works that stick with me, and saying it all to get others to go delight in them was brilliantly fulfilling. the process made me write my own love letters to reccing & reccers & the light they are in fandom, which may be my own most cherished post. i don't always have the bandwidth to write or read new stuff, but showing love like this keeps me involved, immersed, and importantly, very happy.

i've read a lot this year & listing everything will unfortunately have us cataloguing the colours of the sky. instead, i'm going to make a list of what i consider my priority tbr of fics & authors, people & works i wanted to get around to this year, couldn't, want to gorge myself on soon.

@garagepaperback wrote 300k words in 9 works this year, and i need to read every one as soon as possible. their style demands savouring & i've saved up so much garagefic for when i have the time to do them justice. @eleadore writes such a deliciously abrasive, petulant drarry dynamic; i'm really, really looking forward to being in A Mood to cut my teeth on their diamonds. (additional shoutout to the remaining reads these two's pile with @yiiiiiiiikes25, reserved for when i need a good smut fix). i read @kamaela's got me started earlier in the year, fell in love with their sharp characters & sharper writing & now everything else they've written, but especially mirror, me is up, up there in needing to be read asap. everything i've read by @sleepstxtic has been fantastic, fantastic, but rush was especially spectacular & i am foaming at the mouth to get to the other two sports fics in the series.

@dodgerkedavra's clear, warm light looks absolutely epic, can't wait to sink my teeth into it (and everything else from dodger's catalogue i haven't read yet). @epitomereally's LA, who am i to love you? has some fantastic tags, a fascinating summary & been on my mfl for an age. this is also maybe-perhaps-potentially the year to work through @mintawasalreadytaken's tit for tat which sits at almost 400k & promises my favourite things (angst & porn), but even if not, it is the year to read the rest of minta's catalogue that i haven't gotten to yet.

& finally, i'm bad at wips, but i'm so very, very excited for @tackytigerfic's first watch of night to finish posting so i can swim around in it.

this is a v small sampling of everything i hope to read this year, i've left out so many wonderful, wonderful authors whom i will end up loving. the goal is to read slower, read steadier, take my time with craft & phrasing, work through catalogues i admire & leave myself space to appreciate with care & specificity.

in the other life of odds and ends and grad school and employment, it was a weird year, kind of a— nothing year? scales weren't tipped too far in either direction, which is different, which demands recalibration, which has left me time & energy in measures i usually don't have. dawn has broken over this fresh swivel around the sun and i'm allowing myself some slivers of tentative, brittle hope. it's new, and i'm putting stock in that being a good thing.

paging everyone i've mentioned above to tell me what you're hoping to do more of in 2025 (fandom/otherwise) if you'd like! cheerleading all of you from here <3

[hephaestiions]

i write, sometimes

thank you @citrusses for the tag!

how many works do you have on ao3? 17

what's your total ao3 word count? 234k (since WHEN)

your top 5 stories by kudos? — all drarry

you are safe (i know) (e, 42.5k)

though your world is changing (e, 16k)

it's you (e, 1.2k)

dinner and diatribes (e, 4.8k)

my hands are of your colour (e, 8k)

do you respond to comments? i... try

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? ebyt is the obvious answer, but i think my other bite-sized mcd is sadder: nothing to declare here (t, 1k)

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? in retrospect, most of my endings are kind of fucked up, and i think dinner and diatribes is simplest in its offering of stable love & care.

do you write crossovers? i don't, it doesn't really interest me, but never say never!

have you ever received hate on a fic? though your world is changing often gets me called an infidelity apologist (uh.) + everyone seems to hate harry in that one (fair fucks). ebyt sometimes gets some "but WHY didn't they just TALK, author?" (fair, but also. uh.) nothing egregious, though

do you write smut? copying cits: often, and with great joy

have you ever had a fic stolen? couple uploaded to goodreads to be rated, but not wholesale thieving that i know of

have you ever had a fic translated? not yet, but huge shoutout to translators out there, it's such a labour of love and access!

have you ever co-written a fic before? no, and i don't know if i could? but again, never say never!

what's your all-time favorite ship? stupid wizard boys (pynch comes v close though)

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? i love all my wips! i don't want to relegate any to the "never finish" category. my 50s/60s drarry photography fic is probably the most de-prioritised one right now? there's also a storyboard i once made for a case-fic where chef!draco is framed (or is he?) for poisoning the british minister during a diplomatic visit to romania, but that's really not a wip, i never put a word of that on the page. inspiration is a flighty thing though, who knows when it'll strike for what

what are your writing strengths? uh. uh? don't know how to judge this myself, but i think atmosphere is what i care for most & have sharpened skills to write accordingly

what are your writing weaknesses? many, but i suck at narrative humour especially, which is a travesty because i'd really like to write situational hilarity. also REALLY struggle with dialogue

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i haven't done this yet & don't know if i'd feel super comfortable if i didn't have some familiarity with the language (though if a fic calls for it, i'd do my best to approach someone who does know the language to help me out). i might use the indian languages i know (hindi & bangla) if i ever write the india sequence follow-up to my erised, and my werewolf anti-ministry wip might put my very rudimentary german to use at some point. i do love it when a fic uses different languages to serve a narrative/experiential purpose though!

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? trc! i'd love to write a pynch fic someday, once i've done a reread of the original four.

what's your favorite fic you've ever written? the dronarry fest fic i'm currently writing has been quite fun and new, the jeddy fic i'm currently writing also exorcises some nasty demons and is a delight to work on. i don't know if anything in my already published stuff really qualifies as a favourite (they either signal really difficult periods in my life and/or just aren't up to my current standards), but nothing to declare here, again, was short, sad & experimental, and close to four years later, i wouldn't change much about it.

i don't know who's done this, but paging @flightspathfic, @kamaela, @desertforestfic, @sleepstxtic, @phoebe-delia to tell me everything. and if you have already done it, let me know in the comments so i can go peer in your windows.

[hephaestiions]

Draco turns up at the door of Harry’s bedroom one night, wild and askew. Harry hadn’t even known he was in the house. 

“Weasley’s asleep,” he pants, as though he’s run on a whim from Ron’s bed. 

Harry opens his door wider.

“Did he fuck you?” 

Draco’s breathes, closes his eyes. Nods. 

Harry pulls him in by his rumpled collar, bends him over the ornate study table, stretched and tender and warm. Draco comes within minutes, almost sobbing, and spends the night in his bed. 

In the morning, Ron has coffee ready for Harry, tea for Draco, breakfast muffins sitting demurely on the table. None of them meet each other's eyes.

—

been a bit obsessed with the @dronarryfest fic i'm writing, it's due ages later, but some scenes just wouldn't leave me alone.

[hephaestiions]

Ron is background buzz, warm and honeyed solace, voice like a blanket, like a balm. Draco, though. The world is in serrated focus around him. 

Harry is— three sheets to the wind and a goopy mess at the kitchen counter where they’ve gathered for coffee. 

“I hadn’t thought it through,” Draco’s saying. “The matter of you being my boss’ younger brother.” The two of them have been talking for ages, a lulling rhythm. Harry hasn’t kept up with what they’re saying, words and phrases souping in and out of his grasp. “Maybe this encounter isn’t quite as calamitous as I thought.” 

“Cala— cal— calamitous,” Harry stumbles over Ron’s reply. “Who the fuck says that shit while drunk?” 

They both turn to him. “You’re drunk,” Ron says, so affectionate that Harry wants a hug, to be held in that glow. “If it didn’t mean being left alone with Malfoy here, I’d put you to bed.” 

Harry looks to Draco, anxious, but he doesn’t seem offended. Smirky, rather. “Right, yes, Potter, you’re all that’s standing between Weasley and I having a go right at my Aunt Walburga’s kitchen counter.” The smirk fades and the tips of his ears turn crimson. He shifts, taps his foot. “Like— a duel! With wands! Having a go at each other with our wands— oh, Merlin.” Draco’s shoulders come higher up by his ears with every word. 

“Maybe you should also be put to bed,” Ron says after a pause, low and amused and rich. 

“And would you tuck me in?” Draco asks and immediately bites his lip, hard. “Morgana, what is the matter with me today?”

“Today,” Harry mutters.

@kamaela tagged me to do trash tuesday/wip wednesday on this delicious snippet that had me frothing, drooling, snarling, etc (big boy auror turned needy mess! dear LORD). my contribution is the latest unedited snip from my @dronarryfest wip that i'm having a ball of a time writing. paging everyone who sees this & would like to share their trash or treasures!

[hephaestiions]

was just organising my tbr when @hollyhawthorn's tag came through so here are 9 books for 2025 i'm excited to read (excluding required reading & theory):

[hephaestiions]

i think instead of unqualified & effectively surface constant positivity, more of us need to start championing the idea of generous reading because lord knows some of the staunchest defenders of never speaking 'negatively' about fanwork are somehow also the most unforgiving of mistakes & inconsiderate of other people's context