#icfyt

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First and befofe the begging love <3

thank you thank you <33

no excuse writing game

first:

There are certain universal truths that Thomas has come to accept over the years. Some are simple—things he’s been learning since the first day of primary school.

before the beginning:

Thomas rolled his shoulders back and took a deep breath. The longest he’d ever spent away from his family was an overnight trip with James and Uncle Will to Paris, and now he was leaving for a whole year.

Well, he’d be leaving for a few months, and then he’d be back for a week, but then he’d be gone again. It certainly felt like it would be a long time. But he couldn’t back out now. He was sixteen, for heaven’s sake--he could handle boarding school.

Mind made up, he let his breath hiss out through his teeth and turned the knob of his bedroom door. Time to face the world.

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POV 👀

YES i was wanting to do this one so bad lol

no excuses writing game

cw: depiction of underage smoking, brief discussion of (canonical) neglect, death and grief

Alastair lazily traced a constellation in the smoky air with his finger, mind drifting back to the dozens of books on stars piled up in the library at his family’s house. He hadn’t read them in years, hadn’t taken the time to look up at the sky like this in just as long either. The last time he’d read those books had been with his father peering over his shoulder, drawing Alastair’s attention to different myths and stars and phrases. 

Back when he actually cared.

His copy of Frankenstein was laying face down on his chest, its weight a comforting anchor as his mind wandered. It was the copy he’d sent with Thomas, back to London for his sister’s funeral. He’d found it back on his bed when he’d returned from dinner, that and the reappearance of his sweatshirt the only indication that Thomas had returned.

Alastair shook his head, jaw tightening. He wouldn’t pretend to understand the kind of grief Thomas was going through now. He couldn’t imagine losing his own sister. 

He took another drag and watched the stars through the swirling smoke, a smile tugging at his lips. It wasn’t that he liked smoking. It was more that his parents hated it. And it kept him a bit warmer in the harsh winter air.

“Alastair?” 

He jolted upright, startled from his thoughts by the sight of Thomas standing there on the edge of the roof.

“What are you doing up here?” Thomas asked, shivering rather violently. He was dry-eyed and overall looked rather put together, but Alastair didn’t let that fool him. He could make out bags beneath his eyes, could see where his usually neat hair was mussed and greasy. 

Alastair opted for deflection. He pulled on his most dazzling smile and exclaimed, “Thomas! Fancy meeting you here.” He pushed himself up, and his book fell sideways onto the roof. He ignored it.

Likewise, Thomas ignored Alastair’s attempt at charm and repeated, “Alastair, what’s going on?”

Alastair stretched, a shudder ripping through him at the feeling of brisk cold air on his skin. “Well, if you must know, this is my new secret hideout. Our room was too empty without you here, so I had to make other arrangements.”

It was the truth, or as close to it as he was willing to get. He wouldn’t tell Thomas that the empty room had reminded him of late nights stumbling home after retrieving his father from whatever bar in whatever town after whatever number of failed attempts at getting sober. He wouldn’t tell Thomas that he hadn’t realized just how much he missed him until he’d turned around while doing homework to make some remark about the English assignment and found no one there.

He brought the cigarette to his lips again as Thomas studied him. It was a bit unnerving whenever Thomas did that, almost like he was seeing past all of Alastair’s layers and walls and into his heart.

After a moment, Thomas wandered over to Alastair’s side and sat down beside him. “What did you do while I was gone?” he asked casually.

Alastair shrugged. This time, he opted for the whole truth. “Waited for you to come back.”

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🌹

hii

“Thomas!” Alastair exclaimed, pushing himself up to a sitting position and smiling lazily, even as the book was displaced and fell sideways onto the roof. “Fancy meeting you here.”

send me a 🌹 and i'll give you a line from a wip

[rainingpouringetc]

🌹!

hii <33

Thomas mostly texted Alastair for coffee. He would deny this to his last breath.

send me a 🌹 and i'll give you a line from a wip

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Ok first of all, unbelievably impressed by the sheer breadth of ur wips holy crap?? I can’t choose so I’ll ask a question which u absolutely do not have to answer — which fic are u most excited about (if u can choose) and which fic are u most nervous about and why for both??

Also. Would rlly love 🎶🖋 if u have time. Thanks Artie :)) huge huge huge congrats <33

aksdjf thank you i have that many because i cannot control myself when i have a new idea lol :))

right now i think i'm most excited about 'i could forgive you, then (for never seeing it coming)' which is going to be the first installation of a series called 'i had all (and now none) of you.' i'm excited because it's kind of a combination of two of my favorite writing styles, where it has a lot of introspection but also a lot of narration and description. it's also a story i'm enjoying writing :)

i'm nervous about 'leave your fingerprints on my heart' because it's a very complex story and is going to take a lot of plotting and outlining before i'm ready to even think about starting to release the first chapter lol but i'm also really excited too cuz i get to apply a bunch of stuff i learned this year in forensics so it'll be really cool

a song:

going with my first thought which was where's my love - acoustic by syml

and a poem: the orange by wendy cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange— The size of it made us all laugh. I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave— They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy, As ordinary things often do Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy. I did all the jobs on my list And enjoyed them and had some time over. I love you. I’m glad I exist.

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🌹

hiii

Boarding school was like a chance to get away from all of that—a place to start his life.

And so it began, in a too-cold, too-small two-person bedroom with a little window that faced the Square.

send me a 🌹 and i'll give you a line from a wip

[rainingpouringetc]

Rainie Rainie Rainie! 🌹🌹🌹!

hiii :) <33

There are certain universal truths that Thomas has come to accept over the years. Some are simple—things he’s been learning since the first day of primary school. Others are more hard won, things he’s had to learn and resign himself to.

send me a 🌹 and i'll give you a line from a wip

[rainingpouringetc]

Hi! 🌹

hiii <3

So Thomas went back to stacking his books and organizing his papers and resolutely not thinking about how lovely Alastair’s smile must look, how brilliant his laugh must be.

No, he didn’t think of that at all.

send me a 🌹 and i'll give you a line from a wip