Shadowhunters / Shadowhunter Chronicles Ace Mini Bang 2022
Schedule
June 1 Sign-up opens
July 17 Sign-up Writers ends (open until August 13 for Artists, Pinch hitters, and Betas)
August 7 Check-in Writers (fic summary due, 1200 characters max & at least 1500 words finished)
August 14 Art Claims start
September 25 Full Bang Check-in
October 7 Writing needs to be finished to give betas enough time to work.
October 23 Posting starts and ends October 29 (Ace Week)
General Info
1. We want to create more fan fiction and fan art representing the ace community in our fandom. You don’t need to be ace yourself to participate. The more the merrier.
2. Everyone 14 years old and above is allowed to participate. Minors are excluded from works that are M and E rated. In the sign up, you can choose if you feel comfortable being paired with minors/adults.
3. If you aren’t ace, please use resources like The Trevor Project and this Huffpost infographic to educate yourself before signing up. More resources are available on the bang discord. We want to create healthy content that is safe for ace and allo people alike.
4. Asexuality is a spectrum, and we welcome works of any variety representing people identifying as ace.
5. You are expected to keep to the submission dates and contact me immediately when you know you want to drop out or can’t keep to the schedule.
6. We’ll communicate via Discord, so it's mandatory to have an account there.
7. Posting can be done on any public platform. There will be a master post on Tumblr and a collection on ao3, too, that you can join, but you’re not obligated to.
8. It’s okay to share snippets of your work before the publication day, but please keep in mind not to spoil too much. Whenever you post about your work for this Mini Bang, please use the hashtag #SHAceMiniBang2022 on all platforms that support them.
9. Keep your project between author, artist, and beta. We want to celebrate together.
10. Tag your work with SHAceMiniBang2022 on all platforms that allow tagging.
11. This is meant to be fun, so please be nice to each other. If any problems arise, I’m happy to help.
For writers
1. Your fic needs to be at least 3000 words long. It must be readable as a standalone fic.
2. The fic can be created in collaboration.
3. Your fic needs to include at least one character that is on the ace spectrum. Their asexuality doesn’t need to be the main focus of the fic, but their aceness shouldn’t only exist in subtext either.
4. All pairings and ratings are welcomed, canon and AUs alike. Excluded are incest, Real Person Fiction (RPF), and works about sex involving minors.
5. Your fic must be beta-read. If you need help with finding a beta, just say so at the sign-up.
6. Longer fics can be posted split up in several chapters over the whole week. The posting must be finished on October 29 latest.
7. There is no entitlement to receive artwork for a fic. But if you are paired with an artist, you must embed it in your work and link to the creator. If you aren’t paired with an artist, you are allowed to create your own or commission artwork for it if you like.
8. There will be a banner for this bang which we ask you to use when you promote your work on social media. If your paired artist wants to create a banner for you, you use that instead.
9. If you register both as writer and artist, you can’t illustrate your own work.
10. Your tags on social media and other platforms need to include #SHAceMiniBang2022. You’re also obligated to tag your work on ao3, Tumblr, etc. with ‘Asexuality’, ‘Asexual Character’, ‘Asexual [insert character name]’, and ‘SHAceMiniBang2022’.
For artists
1. You agree to create at least one work (incl. paintings, drawings, mashups, moodboards, videos; digital or good quality photograph of a physical one) for each fic that you claimed.
2. The fanart can be created in collaboration.
3. The artwork needs to be relevant to the core message of the story and must show that you put in a solid amount of time to create it.
4. If you submit several fics you’re interested in in each round you participate in, you’ll make the process easier.
5. You can submit artwork for several fics.
6. Your artwork(s) will be embedded in the fanfic and must therefore be hosted online. When you post your art separately, you must link to the fic that inspired it.
7. There is no entitlement to receive a fic for you to create artwork for. But I will do my best that every artist will have a writer to be paired with.
8. In addition to your artwork(s), you can create a banner to promote your writer’s works on social media. This is optional. If you decide to create a banner, it must be clear that the work is part of the Shadowhunter Ace Mini Bang 2021.
9. If you register both as writer and artist, you can’t illustrate your own work.
10. Your tags on social media and other platforms need to include #SHAceMiniBang2022. You’re also obligated to tag your work on ao3, Tumblr, etc. with ‘Asexuality’, ‘Asexual Character’, ‘Asexual [insert character name]’, and ‘SHAceMiniBang2022’.
If you have questions or need technical support, please contact me per DM or via [email protected].
Izzy kicks her high heels off and throws her keys on the sideboard standing in the foyer of her mansion. She winces at the loud noise it makes. Simon surely is already asleep. Or was, until she clopped into their house in the middle of the night, half-asleep after several days of night-shooting in a row.
It's still new that Simon lives here, and Izzy still can't help grinning every time she sees his minivan parked in their garage.
She only has a few hours until she needs to return to the set. She loves her job as an actress, but sometimes, the fee is much more smart money than wages.
Izzy finds Simon sleeping on the sofa, the DVD screensaver running over the TV screen. She smiles down at him. She knows that he hates to lie in their bed without her.
She breathes a sigh and nudges on his leg. Simon stirs in his sleep, his nose scrunching up in the most adorable way.
"Come on, Si. Time to go to bed," Izzy says, and he blinks his eyes open. He adjusts his glasses and sits up.
"How was your day, babe?" he asks, voice rough from sleep.
"Long," Izzy replies. "Come to bed. I'm falling asleep on my feet."
They undress and meet each other naked under the sheets. This is what coming home truly feels like to Izzy. It could happen in a fleabag anywhere. Izzy doesn't need all this luxury her success in the film industry bestowed on her. All she needs is curling up around her boyfriend and sleeping in his arms.
***
Sometimes, Izzy still can't believe this is real.
Izzy had been so ambitious. She wanted to make it in Hollywood, come hell or high water. She didn't have time for men, saw them as dispensable for the longest of time. Most men in the business were too shallow for her taste, and those who weren't were already taken. But Izzy would never intrude and break up a marriage. She had seen how much her mother suffered during her parents' divorce. Izzy would never be the reason for such heartache.
While the press speculated about secret lovers and her sexuality, Izzy took one of her brothers or friends to awards shows, learnt to deal with paparazzi, and focused on becoming a better actress and getting more trying roles.
Deflecting in interviews had become second nature by then. Laughing off questions about her being lonely cut her heart into pieces. Of course, she wasn't lonely. She was way too busy for that. That didn’t mean she didn't feel lonely in a hotel room somewhere in the world, despite video calls home and after-shooting meet-ups with the crew.
But her brother Alec aside, she didn't tell anyone. It had been during a video call, and she was more than just a little inebriated, when she told him how much she envied him for his happy little family. She wanted that, too. Not the kids. Not yet, maybe never. But someone who felt like home.
Little did she know that the very next day, her dreams would come true.
***
It was a grey autumn day three years ago. Fog was lying over the small town where Izzy was shooting a psychological thriller. Like every morning, she walked down to the breakfast room where she heard her co-star yelling at the poor serving staff.
"What do you mean there's no coffee? Not that I expected much from this shithole in the boondocks, but coffee is the least one should offer."
"Sir, the machine broke down," the poor server tried.
"I don't care! Bring me the manager!"
Izzy turned on the spot and left the hotel. The world thought her colleague was a kind, beautiful man, but she had seen past the facade on day one.
It wasn't only his sleazy manners and 'innocent' touches that weren't necessary for the scenes or the social situations they found themselves in. It was also the nonchalance with which he hit on every woman on set as if there wasn't a gorgeous wife with three beautiful kids waiting for him at home.
If Izzy could avoid her caffeine-deprived and handsy co-star, then she would take the chance.
She should have gone back to her room to grab a coat, but the early morning sun shone, and she didn't want to risk running into the scumbag on the upper floor, if he should decide to go back to his room.
The autumn leaves crunched underneath her feet as she walked down the pavement. She caught sight of a paparazzi on the other end of the street, but she ignored him. Instead, she hurried to the sweet little café she had seen through the car window every time she had been brought to the set.
From the outside, it seemed cosy and inviting. As soon as she entered, the smell of freshly baked scones rose into her nose. A patron sat on either side of the café, one glanced up from his newspaper, the other ignored her. No one approached her, so she went to the counter and waited as any other customer would.
The café looked like a mix between a comic book store and an art studio with original drawings adorning the walls and antiques scattered around the small space.
Curiosity spread in Izzy's chest. Who might be the owner of such a place?
The answer came instantly in the form of a glasses-wearing, Batman shirt sporting man about her age, who entered from the back. He nearly let the tray with fresh scones fall to the floor when he caught sight of her. A few scones rolled over the ground, and the man dove down, nearly losing even more until he put the tray aside to fish for the others.
Izzy snickered at the sight. The man looked adorable as he apologised a thousand times for being so clumsy, cheeks dusted in a beautiful pink, and his glasses sliding along his nasal bridge, causing him to stop his task and adjust their placement again and again.
When he finally got back on his feet, the fallen scones pushed into the pockets of his apron, he also got around to greeting her. "Go-od morning, Ms Lightwood. What can I do for you?"
Izzy snickered. "Call me Isabelle. And if you can manage, I'd like a cherry scone and the biggest cup of black coffee that you can handle." She smiled at him brightly, making him blush crimson.
"But of course. Please, take a seat."
The coffee was actually very good, the scone to die for, and that's how Izzy started to have breakfast there every single morning for the rest of her stay.
She talked with the owner—his name being Simon, as it turned out—talked about comics and how a New Yorker like him had ended up in this little town.
The little café became Izzy's shelter from bothersome co-stars and paparazzi. Simon wouldn't let in either, and the locals kept a respectful distance after everyone who wanted one had received an autograph and selfies with the movie star.
Whenever her schedule allowed, one could find Izzy at Simon's café, marvelling at the latest addition to his own graphic novel that he was writing and his best friend Clary was drawing, and the latest songs he practised, some of them his own compositions.
They exchanged childhood memories of growing up in the Big Apple, and shared private stories after closing time. Never since she had become a household name had Izzy opened up to a stranger like this. But Simon wasn't a stranger anymore. Far from it.
"When will they wrap up the filming?" Simon asked one day when Izzy hadn't left after breakfast.
She smiled at him shyly. "We finished two days ago."
"And you're still here? Not fed up with the locals yet?" he smirked.
Izzy tilted her head to the side and looked at him through her eyelashes, only her perfect makeup covering up the blush crawling into her cheeks. "I like it here. It's peaceful."
"But don't you miss your family? I'm sure Max and Rafael have grown like crazy since you've been gone."
Butterflies stormed through Izzy's body, not for the first time. The ease with which Simon soaked up every bit of info, cared for her well-being and her as a person, always set them in motion. Simon saw her. Not a famous actress, despite being a fan of her work. But she was also a friend now. Izzy wondered if only she wanted them to be something different as well.
"I guess. But they'll have to wait until Tuesday."
Simon chuckled. "Why's that?"
"Because," she started, stretching out the word, "if everything goes as planned, I'll buy the estate house on Monday."
Simon's mouth fell open, and Izzy pushed it close with tender fingers that lingered for a long moment.
"You wanna live here?" he croaked.
"If there's someone who'd like me to stay," she replied cautiously. "I'd still be away a lot, but… I think I might find…"
"What?" he whispered, leaning heavily against the counter.
"A home here."
Izzy's heart nearly beat out of her chest. Here she was, offering it on a silver platter, not knowing if the gift was wanted.
Sure, they had had moments over the last few weeks—long looks, lingering touches, private smiles. It all felt so real, especially compared to her workplace where pretty much everything was fake. But she had to leave soon, and she had to play her hand, not sure if they were even playing the same card game.
"With you," she said, time frozen for a moment that felt like an eternity.
But then, Simon's lips curled into a wide smile. "With me?"
"Yeah. I mean, I get that you might not want to move in right away. But I'd like to try this. With you. I haven't felt this alive for a very long time, the way I feel when I'm with you. So… what do you say? Should I buy the house or leave and never come back?"
Simon worried his lip between his teeth, still grinning. "If it's in your means, I think you should buy it," he said. "I'd really like that."
Izzy sat at the counter for the rest of the day and helped Simon to close up the shop at the end of the afternoon.
"Can I finally see the backroom?" she asked, putting the last chair up on the table.
"You wanna see my stockroom?" Simon asked, surprised.
"No," Izzy grinned. "But I wanna kiss you and these blinds aren't paparazzi proof."
"Oh," was all that Simon managed before he stumbled to the rear of his shop, Izzy on his heels.
Some bags of flour got damaged in the process of their first kiss and Izzy's dress ruined. But it was absolutely worth it.
***
Izzy's alarm goes off at 7 am after only five hours of sleep. Simon tightens his hold around her waist. "Don't."
Izzy presses a kiss to his pouting lips. "Just one more week, and then, I'm all yours, babe."
His hold grows even tighter. "See you tonight. Take care," he murmurs and pulls her into a deep kiss. "I'll try to stay up till you come."
She knows he likely won't make it. But as long as she can sleep in his arms, it's worth the two-hour drive through the night until she's home.
