if u ever find a genie and you’re really craving a dessert that looks like this:
do NOT say “i’d like a lifetime supply of raspberry crowns”
while this is, in fact, the name of the pastry, it’s ALSO the name of a species of wasp for some reason. the genie, being a nasty trickster, will no doubt give you a bunch of wasps.
this is an oddly specific post are you ok
@suedescripture Zach did this to some really annoying master a long time ago, didn’t he?
Harriman State Park, NY, 1983, There was an explosion in the number of male deer reported within the park, resulting in concern for the population’s food supply.
An area man later won a local lottery for $10,000 dollars. He was presented with the typical oversized vanity check, but was reported to be highly disturbed when it read “Ten Thousand Bucks”, as the printed space for the words was too short to write out “dollars”.
I think you’re right. I haven’t seen Justice League either, but she looks sad enough in the modern parts of WW to make me think that yeah, they have to be separated somehow… maybe he is on Themascira and she visits occasionally? Because if he’s too long in the real world he ages quickly or something tragic? IDK. I’m here for it, but I hope it’s not tragedy on top of tragedy, with just little bits of happiness here and there. I suspect that will be it, though (just break my heart again, Patty!)
I am almost positive I had posted some variant of this like five years ago, but I can’t find it in my tags. From Rent Control, the one with all the tropes.
“So? It’s great, right?” he says with a stupid grin on the corner of the driveway.
“Oh yeah, it’s a dream,” Zach says sarcastically, “Except, you know, that extra special bit where you decided we were getting married? What the fuck was that?”
“What?” Chris opens his palms to the air in confusion, “It’s legal now, right?”
“Missing the point entirely, that’s great,” Zach throws his hands up. “Did you forget the part where I don’t even know your last name?”
“Pine,” Chris offers, “Like the tree. I mean I could take your name, if you want? Or maybe we hyphenate? What is yours?”
“Quinto. Just… Oh my god! Why did you do that? We can never go back in there!” Zach grabs the handle of his suitcase and stalks off down the sidewalk.
“What? Wait, why?” Chris follows, grabbing his arm, “Why not?”
“Engaged?” Zach pulls away and spins on him, “That’s your angle? Are you certifiable? Why did you tell her that?”
“I dunno, it seemed like a good idea?” Chris’ eyes are wide and earnest, “Come on, Zach, this place is amazing! I just thought… if they think we’re a couple, it’s not weird to have two dudes in one bed, right?”
“Of course, because we couldn’t just, like, tell them the truth?” Zach reels, “Now we have to pretend to play Happy House Husbands because you decided it was a good idea? Did you even think that through for half a second?”
Chris blinks, chewing his lip like an adorable five-year-old, “Wait… what about it isn’t good, though?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Chris,” Zach sighs heavily, “The whole part where one day soon, I’m going to want to get laid, and I assume you will too. I mean, I figured there’d be a whole sock-on-the-doorknob deal, like college.”
Chris thinks about this and shrugs, “So we’ll get laid elsewhere. It’s doable.”
“And what about convincing the pair of surf hippie biker daddies in there of our impending nuptials? The ones with the master bedroom we didn’t see but I’m relatively sure has a set or two of eyebolts in the walls, maybe a mirror above the bed?” Zach challenges. “You’re obviously new to the lifestyle, but us gay guys? We like to fuck. Daily. Twice on Sundays.” He continues off along the walk.
It’s a second before Chris is beside him again, “Okay, yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think it through. But I still think we could play it.”
Zach rolls his eyes and shakes his head, stopping on the corner of the sidewalk to face him, “I thought I was the actor here.”
Chris shrugs and smiles, “Everyone’s an actor here. It’s LA.” He huffs, taking Zach’s hand again. “Come on, please? It’s month-to-month, so If it doesn’t work out, at least we’ll both have some time to figure something else out, right? With a roof over our heads, and a real bed, in a clean, awesome, beautiful house with decent people. And a basketball hoop over the garage. And a jacuzzi. Dude, a jacuzzi! Please, give it a chance? Give me a chance?”
He has Zach’s hand sandwiched between both of his own, eyes doing this pleading puppy dog thing like he’s used this trick on grandmas and teachers and maybe police to get out of all sorts of pissing on the carpet, and if Zach was actually dating this adorable shithead, it might work on him too. Besides that, he has a point. Zach has nowhere else to go, and the place really is nice. He exhales, dropping his eyes to their combined grip and softly conceding, “Okay. We’ll try it.”
Then the asshole smiles enormously and raises Zach’s hand to press two kisses in quick succession to the heel of Zach’s thumb, making his heart do a little flip. Chris’ lips are as soft and pillowy as they look, shit. Zach raises an eyebrow as Chris nuzzles at his hand a little, flicking those pool blue eyes up at him and murmuring, “Shut up, I’m practicing.”
1. Of the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?
You can’t make me pick a single favorite kid. I love Blind Dating, in large part because it was a story I had wanted to write and had tried in various iterations to write since I was a teenager. It has a feeling to it that none of my other stuff has. It’s generally a happy story, taking place in a mostly non-angsty life stage from the perspective of the two leads. It’s hopeful. I recently and pretty briefly considered a sequel exploring Zach’s relationship with his family and memories of dealing with the accident and becoming blind, having recently gone through some shit myself, but… honestly, I don’t know that I really want to go there. Go back there and chronicle the shittiness of dealing with debilitating pain and loss of independence. I’ve gone through it. It fucking sucks. Things got better, and that’s the story I wrote. I dunno. It was an idea that came to me as I was coming home from surgery, and maybe it’s best left there.
I also really love Princess. I was apprehensive going into that one because it was just really fucking complex, plotwise, and I’m pretty thrilled I pulled it off and it worked out pretty much as I intended.
And I love Failure to Communicate, because that was one of those extremely rare stories that grabs you by the ass and demands your write it immediately, this way, right now, these words. And it poured out like a faucet exactly as I wanted; specifically part one. It just worked. Those stories are so rare, and the feeling you get while writing them is even rarer.
I have some others I really like too, older things in other fandoms, WIPs that are still unfinished and deserve to be. My med leave was sadly not long enough to get my writing bug to return and finish All the Things like I wanted.
2. Which scene was your favorite to write in [title of fic]?
The Big Thanksgiving Reveal, of course. I live for that one moment where everything comes together and is explained.
3. Which part of [title] was hardest to write?
LOL the sex scenes. Sex is fucking hard to write. I have no idea how people do it in every chapter.
10. What are some facts readers may not know about [title]?
I don’t personally know anyone who is blind, but my mom knew a woman when she was in college who lived very much the way Zach did. The trope of Blind Character Regains Sight is such an over-done narrative. The first time I wrote this story when I was a teenager, yeah, it seemed romantic at that time, but as an adult, it’s just not realistic. And it does a huge disservice to blind and disabled people who live it everyday. When I saw the movie I stole the title from, I rolled my eyes, and then did what fanficcers do, I fixed it.
Thanks for answering!
I love the Thanksgiving reveal as well!
I love the sex scenes, so yeah, maybe you struggled, but they came out great!
I love that you kept it realistic… Zach is so capable as you wrote him, and worked so hard to get there, I agree it would have been a disservice to have him “healed by love” or a knock on the head or whatever.
Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in [title]?
Oh man. I was agonizing over a speech I was going to make Zach give in (I think) Chapter 10, before I realized I could just jettison that shit, since it wasn’t saying anything important anyway. I am not a speechwriter, lol.
I also cut a bunch of future-y stuff from the last chapter, in large part because I might eventually get around to making it into little add-on ficlets.
I did purposely add the last bit with Anton to give him and Zach a bit more of a good professional and personal relationship and a good send off. I don’t think I would have before Anton passed away while I was in the middle of writing this one, but it was needed. 😦
lol my pile of AUs is far too high already. But its interesting, i am opposite in that I get pretty bored with real world scenarios really quickly, which is why I usually take a hard right into AUs. I have in every rpf fandom I’ve written in so far.
And I am grateful for it! It would be so boring if we all did the same thing. I think I might be dipping my toe in the AU pool now since I keep having flashes of scenes when I should be 1) working or 2) finishing Backspace. That’s usually a sign something won’t go away unless I write it down.
That is… I’m stunned Suede. That is the *best* thing you could have said. It’s *exactly* how I try to come up with stories… who is in what headspace, and what would that make them do in some situation, and how would this other person respond based on their headspace, and where does that takes us? It’s all about getting to different emotional states. Any plot is just what I have to throw in their way to force them to deal with something. I wasn’t sure anyone noticed.
I think that makes me a “gardener” rather than an “architect” for the most part.
Thanks so much! As ever, you are incredibly astute. And I’m pleased you find it satisfying.
I have Sadkid!fic in the brain today. The one where I try to be “””edgy””” and write the past in present tense. Honestly, I don’t know where this is going, and this is basically het and mary-sue-ing and sparkly, slightly out-of-focus backstory, andandand I honestly don’t know how to put this brokenhearted beeb back together and neither does Zach and oh yeah the kid exists too. idk idk. I typed words for the last three hours, read them and tell me I did a good.
Tru didn’t drink,” Chris said, sliding his head sideways to grin wryly over at him, “Right? She tended bar, but she didn’t drink. Not even a beer.” The smile slid off his face as his eyes went dull at the porch boards. “Her dad was a drunk. Had her getting him cans of Bud out of the fridge when she was… barely Maia’s age. She didn’t have a lot of reasons to trust people. Men. Me.”
lol I can tell you, the AU bug bites. It’s hard to go back, at least for me, when there are so many possibilities.
Yeah, I can definitely see that. I’m just generally so fascinated with the characters in their canon situations, and the various ways those might evolve, that I just keep spinning those tales.
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