I've read so many and haven't kept bookmarks so I'm gonna have a quick search through links I've sent friends; filters on ao3; and comments in my inbox. Please heed any warnings!
Ingesting You by Salmulik
Mr. Sandman by Riachinko
take if you can, give if you must by qb_cereal
Tomorrow (it's you and me) by Haepherion
you'll need a new name to survive this by callmearcturus, interropunct
the dirt & the earth by interropunct
Without You I Live Only In The Shadows by sk8erboi_bts
this is an exorcism by callmearcturus, interropunct
One last reunion by this_is_your_lullaby
it'll buff right out by smallerthanzero
The One Who Found You by ChangeTheCircumstances
Fridge Contender by hellblazeit
Marionette by griseldajane
Anatomy of a Fall by eg, sad_stucky_shipper
victims. by Skyuni123
Hot for Teacher by benjidunn
albaharu has great collections of her drawings and comics on ao3, here is one set
I am CERTAIN there are loads of fics I adore but I have left out. There's even one I remembered but couldn't find. Of course, all of these authors have other fics that are amazing so make sure to read them!
❖ fatal familiarity and aaaaany of the benji whump fics, pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseple
❖ pick 2 fics and I’ll combine them somehow
I wanted to have a little bit of fun with this one so here's a non-canon (in my strange little whump universe) crossover.
(The first bit is all copy and pasted for context)
Although he can’t see him, he can hear Lane’s footsteps echo through the room as he presumably walks back to that desk. The possibilities of what that may entail are so worrying that Benji sneaks a glance at him, needing to know his fate. However this time around, Lane makes no effort to hide what he’s selected.
Pliers.
Benji whimpers and turns as far away from Lane as physically possible, squeezing his eyes shut like a scared child who naively thinks that will make everything go away. His breaths turn laboured and loud, unable to hide behind spread lips. He recoils as Lane stalks towards him, letting out a frightened yelp when his hair is roughly grabbed and his face is forced upward.
His eyes stay closed, but the small sounds Lane makes as he prepares his equipment convince him otherwise. Somehow, being in the dark, not knowing what is happening, is worse than having to watch. Cautiously, he cracks them open, but immediately regrets his choice when he’s met with the pliers. Lane’s holding them right in front of his face, taunting him — a reminder that there’s nothing he can do to stop this.
Tears fill his eyes, then fall when the tool moves to his mouth.
He chokes on a sob when freezing steel hooks onto a bottom incisor. Instinctually, his body jerks in one last desperate attempt to get away, but it’s futile — Lane just holds his head steady, completely undisturbed.
The burn of cold metal becomes an awful ache as the strain on the tooth increases. He prepares himself for the horrific sensation of it being ripped from his gums: his eyes squeeze shut and the rest of his body violently trembles in anticipation.
Unfortunately for him, his tooth isn’t pulled. Rather, Lane pushes on it.
It’s a different sort of pain, although it still makes him groan — an unbearable pressure that keeps mounting, and growing, and getting worse and worse until it’s entirely overwhelming and it won’t stop—
BANG
Benji jolts at the sudden noise. Stiff, he keeps his eyes locked shut and stays quiet — unwilling to draw attention to himself. He's not sure what just happened, but there's a few things he does know: the pliers aren't on his tooth; Lane isn't holding him anymore; and the full-body thump that echoes through the room hopefully gives the reason why.
Tentatively, he opens his eyes. It takes a moment, but as soon as he recognises the man standing in the doorway — hands shaking around the gun pointed towards him — Benji crumbles.
Evan...
The relief is instant; his whole body deeply exhales as he slumps into the chair. He hardly takes any notice of Evan approaching, only able to focus on catching his next breath. He doesn't know why Evan came for him, but if he hadn't... Benji shudders and takes a quick glance at the floor to his left — if he didn't have the gag on, he'd smile at the blood pooling around Lane's blown-open head.
Good fucking riddance.
Gentle fingers rush to the back of his own head, fiddling with straps and buckles until the pressure on his skull is released. Evan, so, so carefully, guides the metal out of his mouth and lets it slowly close. Wincing, Benji bites down; opens up; then repeats until the ache in his jaw begins to wane.
"Ben." Evan sounds serious. His fingers brush lightly over his cheek, clearly desperate to not hurt him, but now the soft touch only reminds Benji of Lane. "Are you okay?"
"As I can be."
Evan runs his fingers through his hair and smiles reassuringly. "I told you I'd kill him."
"That you did," Benji replies weakly.
"Why the fuck was he doing that to you?"
The question makes him still. His lips pull together, and he smiles sardonically, but it doesn't quite reach his watering eyes. "I don't know."
He takes one last look down at Lane, his expression darkening as he recounts everything the vile man has done to him.
"I've never known."
Fatal Familiarity
Taking The Light From Your Eyes, And The Glint From Your Smile
for the fic ask game if you're still doing it... 7, 16, and 37? :D
yeah I'm still doing it! I love answering questions hehehe so thank you!
7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?
There's a few things I could choose, so I'm gonna talk about all of them hehe:
I've written a lot of lanedunn fics, most of them collaborating with @safehousebooze , and although we never intended, the more we make, the more they become shared stories. Even if they don't fully slot together because of complications, they are all one universe in spirit hehehe.
I'm super proud of the world I built around Benji and Evan (my OC) in my fic here. I really want to do a post describing more lore and maybe one day another fic. (Sidenote go look at this wonderful artwork @roadkill-square did for Evan! If anyone ever wants to draw art of my fics, or even write continuations/use my characters, I more than encourage it!)
And it's funny because I was talking about it yesterday, but (gosh I think I can say years ago now) me and @marlenacantswim came up with this wonderful AU about Real Angel Nicholas Angel, and I'm still to this day super proud of the idea and all the work we put into it 😌 This fic shows a tiny snippet!
16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?
I'm in the progress of reading a fic where benji is a physical therapist at the IMF. It's a super popular fic and for good reason! Go check it out!
That's the first one that comes to mind, but I'm sure I've read lots of AUs I've loved over the years. I really want to make a post detailing all my favourite fics, but since I don't bookmark I'd have to go through so much... 🥲 I wish I started bookmarking when I first started using ao3 rip
37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?
Oh wow wow wow okay. So thinking about it, a lot of my whump collection fics I believe don't get read because they sort of get all buried together. It's why I've thought multiple times to post them all separately, but it would be too much effort and I'd lose all the wonderful comments people have left. One of my absolute FAVOURITES I've written is about The Andes apologising to Nicholas after the explosion, and I think it could've done quite well if it were its own fic.
Benji + Pull out their teeth for the torture bingo? :D
Taking The Light From Your Eyes, And The Glint From Your Smile
"When Benji wakes, he can immediately tell something is wrong."
Continue on ao3...
Just taking the opportunity here to say how amazing it was collaborating with @safehousebooze!!!! It was so much fun to bounce ideas off each other, and her drawings are ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!!! Go to the fic on ao3 to see them! This is many months in the making, but it was well worth it, and we hope you guys are as insane about this as we are <3
It was super challenging to write from Lane's perspective in Take It All Away because he's not exactly an open book so I had to think a lot about what inside his head is like. It was super challenging but I think it paid off, I'm really proud of that fic.
(Pssssst read Part Two if you want a glimpse into Benji's perspective and what happens afterwards)
13. A fic or artwork by another creator that made you happy
Ugh all of them. Genuinely. I love that people love the same thing as me and we express it all so thoughtfully and amazingly. Gonna link your ao3 because I'm pretty sure commenting on your hot fuzz fics (and you commenting on mine) was how we started talking so YES that made me immensely happy. CLICK HERE FOR HAPPINESS YESSSS
20. Something that made you laugh
Actually i came up yesterday with a joke for a WIP and I was actually cackling. I will not share because I wanna save it. But yes I was laughing. Not just my own, I love it when I read a fic and genuinely burst out laughing. It's the best feeling ever, and I always make sure to comment if I did.
"“Blimey…” The look on Danny’s face is comically appalled; his mouth is pulled into an exaggerated grimace and his eyes are transfixed on Nicholas’ hand which he holds in his own. Slowly, ever so carefully, he peels back cramping fingers to reveal the bloody palm beneath—"
