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saintvainglorious · 3 months

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Fics I Enjoyed in January

I was putting together a list of the best fics I read last year and was reminded of two incredible ATLA fics I read in February 2023 ((Never) Forget Who You Are by mindbending and up in the city (until the stars lost the war) by Madseason). Those two fics are absolute perfection and sent me down an Avatar: The Last Airbender rabbit hole this month.

I read an insane amount, for me, even more than I did last year in September/October, when I was chowing down Drarry longfics like a starving dog. There's approximately 993k words of fic in this rec list - if you assume the average novel is 90k, that's about 11 books!

half in the shadows, half burned in flames by r_astra Avatar: the Last Airbender | Gen | 4k | Not Rated

“They say you tried to kill the Firelord,” Hakoda says. "Why?" Zuko doesn’t know how to answer. Because I hate him. Because I love him. Because he wants to see the world burn. Because he knotted one hand in my hair and cupped flames against my face with the other. Because my mother is dead. Because my uncle is dead. Instead, he shrugs tiredly and says: “Someone has to.”

i am through finding blame by sokkaesque/@sokkagatekeeper Avatar: The Last Airbender | Gen | 6k | Teen & Up

Sokka was fourteen the first time he realized people didn’t apologize to him very often. Or, Sokka during The Southern Raiders.

a nation, held by snowdarkred/@snowdarkred Avatar: The Last Airbender | Gen | 6k | General Audiences

It doesn’t take long for the rumors to start. The Fire Nation prides itself on its civilization. It isn’t like the other, lesser, nations who throw their children away by sending them into war. They are to be protected, because children are the future glory of the nation. The crown prince is thirteen when his father burns his face in front of an audience of hundreds.

The Iconoclast by ranilla_bean/@ranilla-bean Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Suki/Zuko | 21k (WIP) | Explicit

After a protracted civil war, the victorious new Fire Lord sends a call for a new bodyguard across the four nations. A Southern Water Tribesman and a warrior from Kyoshi Island respond.

Life in Eden by WitchofEndor/@a-witch-in-endor Avatar: The Last Airbender | Gen | 14k | Not Rated

In which Ursa tries to be a better parent to Azula, and it doesn’t change very much. And then, quite abruptly, it changes everything.

While Mighty Oaks Do Fall by WitchofEndor/@a-witch-in-endor Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 181k (WIP) | Teen & Up

The newly-crowned Fire Lord Ozai offers his firstborn son to service in the temple. This turns out to be a catastrophic mistake.

where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor/@a-witch-in-endor Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 60k | Not Rated

When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them. Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

War Crimes by Lovely_Elbow_Leech/@lovelyelbowleech Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 90k | Mature | Part 1 of All's Fair

Book one ends with two major differences: 1. Sokka went on the mission with Hahn (it did not go well) 2. Zhao survives the North Pole and that proves unfortunate for everybody (except Zhao, obviously). Imprisoned on Zhao’s war ship, Sokka and Zuko have to work together to survive. They are not very enthusiastic about this prospect. And they argue. A lot.

War Games by Lovely_Elbow_Leech/@lovelyelbowleech Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 443k (WIP) | Mature | Part 2 of All's Fair

Sokka is aware that being friends with the enemy is going to bring complications, but he probably should have guessed that being friends with Zuko in particular, was going to be a bit like dunking your head repeatedly into a bucket of angry Fire Ferrets.

Below the Sun by CSHfic and VSfic Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 25k | Teen & Up

Sokka is washed overboard while working on the fisherman's boat during the storm. He wakes on a deserted island. Or... mostly deserted.

Will We Last the Night by CSHfic and VSfic Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka/Zuko | 143k | Teen & Up

Chief Arnook never assigns Sokka to protect Princess Yue, so he goes to fight the Fire Nation with the other men. When the moon dies, and the ocean spirit takes its revenge, Sokka is caught standing on the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Sokka should have drowned… and he would have drowned, if not for a certain Fire Nation raft fleeing the North Pole. [An enemies-to-lovers season 2 rewrite, where Sokka is separated from the gaang during the Siege of the North, and travels the Earth Kingdom with Zuko instead].

#fic recs #fanfiction #atla #avatar the last airbender #zukka

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allgremlinart · 5 months

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Ayo can you recommend some jetko fics?

yipeee !!! oh anon CAN I ... please allow me to organize them for you as well ...

Post-Renaissance:

Empty vessels. by outpastthemoat

It’s just that he wanted Li to come with him and he didn’t; Li hadn’t wanted anything to do with Jet. And he really shouldn’t, Jet’s nothing but bad luck to anyone. But Jet can’t let it go.

Let the City Pull You Under by MadSeason (naive_wanderer)

[He’ll wonder all that, later; but in this moment he kisses a boy who thinks he’s something other than he is, and clings to the bolt of revelation that strikes him in the dark: maybe nothing in life matters except grabbing onto whatever brief moments you have to feel good.] Before joining the Avatar, before choosing his path on the crossroads of destiny, and before he finds a poster for a missing bison, Crown Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation has a teenage affair in Ba Sing Se.

love never wanted me anyway by tiffaniesblews

“Do you really not know how to take a compliment?” Jet questions, turning so that he is leaning on his shoulder, raising an eyebrow over at Zuko. Zuko just shrugs, unsure of how to answer. “Come on, Lee, you’re a handsome guy,” Jet states, giving Zuko a playful shove in the arm. “You have to see that, right?” OR: Jet gives Zuko a compliment that Zuko is unsure of how to answer.

The Classics:

Something to Hold Onto by Wildgoosery

Since the day the walls of Ba Sing Se fell, the Freedom Fighters have struggled to protect what remains of the city and its people. Jet and his second command, a mysterious boy named Li, have spent the summer piecing together an army, hoping for a chance to take the city back for good. But Li is also Zuko, and the time for that secret is quickly running out. Soon, he'll have to decide exactly who he is, what cause he's going to fight for, and where his heart lies.

Something New by Anonymous

Zuko is sick and tired of living in Ba Sing Se. Jet is too. But he wants to make it better anyway.

The Bathhouse of the Four Beauties by jin_fenghuang

Set in Ba Sing Se. Li and the Freedom Fighters are visiting a bathhouse. Can be considered vaguely in the 'The Walls of Ba Sing Se' timeline, but is a stand-alone story.

#jin_fenhuang also known for work as People In The Mirror beta and user who translated half of #that jetko doujin 🫡 their service is appreciated...#fun fact I read half of Something To Hold Onto when I was a kid but then stopped when it made me sad #<- hey doesnt that freak you out. that thats a childhood novel to me basically. I think this is funny.#atla #jetko #allgremlinasks #fic recs

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daedalusdavinci · 1 year

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MY Davekat Fic Recs

i read everythign in the davekat tag a couple years back. yeah. everything. the whole bitch. it was a couple of years ago, so that might date this post, but heres a bunch of fics that i thought were so good i put a little note on them in my bookmarks about how hard they went

>Dave: survive three years on this rock

by MadSeason

Growing up on a flying meteor is hard work. You know this from experience. TG: dude what is this piece of shit you just sent me CG: TO PUT IT IN YOUR HUMAN TERMS: CG: IT’S A FUCKING LOVE STORY, DAVE. Well, it's a bit more than that.

this is a meteor fic, and youve read any davekat fics, thats a summary in of itself. however, from what i remember, this particular meteor fic goes really hard bc it does such a good job of building dave and karkats relationships with the other meteor residents and it leans hard into dave and roses friendship which is so important to me, bc guys they are BEST friends and theyre just so ; ; its just important ok. also according to the note i left for myself on this fic it made me cry a lot so thats always good

catch me, keep me

by CurlicueCal (@curlicuecal on tumblr)

Dave drops by the twinkle vermin class transport-ship Calliope to visit Captain Crocker and her crew. He engages Jake for some repair work, bugs his brothers of the corporeal and non-corporeal varieties, and stops in to harass chat with Karkat. Absolutely no flirting ensues.

frankly everything curlicuecal writes goes hard as fuck, so write that one down. read everything. they never miss. they are SO good at handling side characters and dealing w the complexities of homestuck characters, never shying away from the things that make them miserable little assholes. their fics are always so fun + funny and this is a really good one

just two guys being dudes being moirails and smooching a little

by MisPronounce_and_MisAccent

DAVE: yeah id be down DAVE: just two guys being dudes being moirails and smooching a little im not opposed DAVE: if youre cool with that A few options flit across your mind. The first is picking up the couch cushion next to you and screaming into it for a solid minute. The next is just screaming, sans-pillow. The third is, of course, throwing in the towel and flinging yourself off the meteor, because it is abundantly fucking apparent that you possess an inherent incapability to maintain any simple, good relationship without getting your feelings in a bullshit fucking twist. You decide to do none of this.

if you are like me and you really really love fics where they blur the lines between romantic and platonic and flushed and pale, this is the one. this is the fic.

Car Accident Blues

by ode

Dave Strider is good at looking fly, but he sure isn't good at not getting run over!

fuck i remember this one actually. its really short but its SO fucking funny

midnight soliloquy

by apocalypticTaco

If you had the time, you could wax poetic about every inch of him. Well, it’s past midnight. You could spare a few minutes to wax. If someone asked you what was it specifically about Karkat that you fall head over heels over, you honestly could not tell. It's everything.

its short and sweet, really cute fluffpiece. i CANNOT remember this users tumblr un anymore but they were huge in the davekat fandom for a while and they have a really good grasp on dave and karkat as characters which makes all of their davekat fics hit hard. highly recommend checking out their whole page rlly

We've Got Time

by acedavestrider (@acedavestrider on tumblr i think)

He’s very pointedly trying not to smile, trying not to give you the satisfaction of knowing you made him smile, but his eyes completely give him away. They’re far too fond to give any sort of impression other than absolutely smitten, regardless of how hard he’s trying to seem annoyed, and the way he blinks at you - quickly like he’s trying to clear his vision, like he’s trying to figure out if you’re real or if he’s imagining you - is enough to make your heart swoop in your chest.

another REALLY cute sweet one. honestly i think this is one of my favorite davekat fics ever. acedavestrider writes some of the best davekat in general and you should 100% read all of their stuff, because it ALL goes this hard. ofc anyone w a un this good is bound to have a good grasp on the characters so like what more do you even need me to say

Fait Accompli(cation)

by IntelligentAirhead (@dragonomatopoeia on tumblr, but im p sure it was cowritten w someone else? dunno theirs)

In Which a Mutant and an Alien Meander Towards a Quadrant of Indeterminate Identity at a Glacial Pace While Examining the Internalized Toxicity Perpetuated by Their Respective Societies, and The Nature of Friendship is Determined to Be More Universal Than Originally Theorized [Banned In Alternia]

this IS the best davekat fanfiction. this is the one. ive read it multiple times and its good each time. im just going to copy my notes straight from ao3 on this one, i think theyre from a second reread some time after the first

"ok this does slap. this slaps super hard. its a meteorstuck fic wherein karkat and dave both have to question toxic ideas theyve internalized from their own planets and eventually fall in love and get together. no one is delegated to rosemary therapist, all of the charas are beautiful and just as important, and the characterization is so flawless it couldve been written by hussie himself. this TOTALLY holds up, holy shit

"#literally the most beautiful piece of prose known to man"

The Eurydice Suite, v2.0

by callmearcturus (@callmearcturus on tumblr)

Dream-sharing: a highly illegal little industry in which agents delve into people's dreams, and unearth their deepest secrets and memories. Within this business, the Strider-Lalondes are known as the best there is — until Dirk Strider gets his fool-ass trapped within the confines of his own subconscious, with his Auto-Responder playing malicious prison warden. To save him, the best and brightest dreamers in the world will have to form a team. Backed by the token rich friend, lead by the surliest extractor ever bribed out of retirement, haunted by the shade of the latest, greatest agent in the biz, and on the run through a dangerous tiered dream in a hostile mind... It's going to take a miracle to pull this one off.

ive read this one so many times and honestly its still really good. the writing style is fantastic and i have spent many a year trying to capture the same beautiful atmosphere arc does. its a really creative au with really cool ideas about classpects and the characterization in this fic is awesome

Crash Standing

by Asuka Kureru (@asukaskerian on tumblr)

It's been eight days since the end of Sburb and Davesprite is not coping especially well.

ive already listed my favorite davekat fic, but THIS is my favorite homestuck fic period of all time ever the end. this is the best one. this is the ONLY one, as far as im concerned. you dont want to know how many times ive reread this fic ok. i love davesprite/karkat way more than i love dave/karkat (bc you know me w my doomed characters) and the way this author handles the interpersonal relationships between not just karkat and ds but also like ds and all of the OTHER characters is SO. GOOD. davesprite and kanayas relationship in particular lives in my brain rent free at all fucking times oh my god they are so perfect. shes so perfect. i love kanaya so much in this. oh my god and JOHN. the senor strider thing is so fucking funny sldkjfnsdf just. AUGH. its such a good fic just trust me ok just trust me

there are probably more i could recommend but its been so long since i read them im just going to stick to these bc like. man. i do NOT remember some of the bookmarks ive got in there anymore. ask me again when i finally snap and reread homestuck

#davekat #my recs #homestuck fanfiction #homestuck fanfic

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allbrodennis · 2 years

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Do you know any good slowburn meteorstuck fics?

oh yes indeed i do!

Slowburn Meteorstuck Fic Recs

Take my Hand, Take my Heart by bloomissing

Fait Accompli(cation) by IntelligentAirhead (Dragonomatopoeia), obstinateRixatrix

>Dave: survive three years on this rock by MadSeason (naive_wanderer)

The Screaming Echoes of Your Past by dark_def (dedicatedfollower467) - a deliciously angsty omegaverse take on meteorstuck

the soapbox by MisPronounce_and_MisAccent

what if i was by MisPronounce_and_MisAccent - game over sadstuck that will rip your heart out!! be prepared for a sad ending because ouch

Keep It Down by sburbanite

The Year After The Year of Living Dangerously by orphan_account - this one is unfinished and doesnt get past the davekat friendship stuff into romance, but its still 17k of delightful meteorstuck slowburn feels

an aspiring novelist with a crippling addiction to gay alien porn by sburbanite

Within, Without by reinkist

Parasomnia by paradoxmachine

Can't Stop the Dicks Bro by Natthebakerboy - also features dave selfcest

Knight of Spades by Laurasauras

Fortuitous by Java_bean

#slow burn #ask #davekat #dave strider #karkat vantas #meteorstuck #fic rec list #fic rec #fic #homestuck

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baladric · 2 months

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First Line Patterns

thank u for tagging me in this @worldsentwined!! im takin some liberties here by counting each of the chapters from the second of my posted stories (The Tales We Tell Ourselves) as individual stories, bc they Are separate stories that i keep intending to republish them as separate fics inside the CoW series at some point so... (also skipping the poetry compendium a;lkfj)

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern.

The Cruelty of Water Maia woke with his quartermaster’s stern fingers digging into his shoulder.

See Me (That I Might Not) Maia was never entirely sure if it was the way of the world or some sort of aberration to remember as little of his early childhood as he did.

The Ballad of King Corat' He did not know why he was surprised, but all told, it took a good long while for sailing to become fun.

A Rake's Reckoning She met Freja at the end of the longest week in a string of long weeks, on a day so hot as to be a fever dream.

somewhere in the middle He dreams of falling for a long time after.

nor desire but all at once The borrowed jacket was not cooperating, and Csevet thought his heart might break.

and in thy eyes i see (marnis marnis homosexual) Csevet was not entirely sure why he was surprised by Iäna Pel-Thenhior.

sing, muse, of the torments of exercise Cala would not call himself dramatic—how could anyone carry that descriptor when Deret Beshelar was sucking all the air out of any given room with the palpable force of his indignation—but he would admit to the occasional urge to, shall we say, overstate.

rest thy weary (curmudgeonly) bones "Deret," said Cala Athmaza, exasperation drawn heavy in his every line, "I swear to Anmura himself—thou wilt leave this place."

the dreaming Cala Athmaza was dreaming.

mmm i do definitely tend to start stories with pov character's name, or at least solid pronoun!! i think i like a first sentence to feel like a springboard and that also shows here i think. they have inertia? if that makes sense? i did think i'd fallen into a trap of using people's full names too often though so i'm happy to only see that in here the once

tagging gives me so much anxiety BUT if you wanna do it!! tagging @v0lumnius @arquiving @duckbunny @madseason and i am struggling to think of other mutuals who write but if you write then i tagged you, also i love you

#fic meme

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metal-patches-vinyl · 1 year

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Albums of the Week! The winner was Mad Season’s Above. I hadn’t listened to this one since the 90s, and didn’t really care for it then. But I stumbled across the Deluxe version of this album with the live show, and Layne Staley sings his absolute heart out on it. I had a lot of Alice In Chains stuff going on here, including a Jerry Cantrell solo album. Black metal was provided by Firtan and Malokarpatan. ☠️ 1. Mad Season - Above 2. Danzig 777 - I Luciferi 3. Firtan - Marter 4. Malokarpatan - Nordkarpatenland 5. Black Sabbath - Never Say Die 6. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue 7. Judas Priest - Priest…Live! 8. Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies 9. Jerry Cantrell - Degradation Trip ☠️ What did you play this week?

#aotw #madseason #danzig #firtan #malokarpatan #blacksabbath #aliceinchains #judaspriest #jerrycantrell

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nehistripesseattle · 1 year

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When you browse an early 1995 Spin magazine and don’t expect to read anything worthwhile…..then right when you’re ready to close it, then….BOOM! You spot this advertisement and know you didn’t have to pay for it. I have other Mad Season ads, but not this one. • • • • • —————————————————— #nehistripesseattle #madseason #laynestaley #mikemccready #barrettmartin #johnbakersaunders #marklanegan #seattlesound #1990s #spinmagazine #newmusic (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnV6OoQrnOS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#nehistripesseattle #madseason #laynestaley #mikemccready #barrettmartin #johnbakersaunders #marklanegan #seattlesound #1990s #spinmagazine #newmusic

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sauva7710n · 8 months

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I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING (LIVE) - MAD SEASON

#madseason #laynestaley #above #aliceinchains #90smusicvideo #90smusic #90srock #90s #liveconcert

#mad season #layne staley #alice in chains #90s rock #90s music #90s #above #live concert

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mimeparadox · 9 months

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The Gamble

Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series)

Rating: Teen

Characters: Shadow Jones, Renet, Michelangelo

Ships: Shadow Jones/Renet

Story elements: Teenage human sapphic humans, first dates, dating a time traveler is especially fraught, fantasy age gaps, ninja turtles make the best uncles, I had to research the fashion so you’re getting labels, corsets and corsetry, corset lacing, tightlacing is good actually,

Summary: Shadow Jones overthinks romance, as is her wont. Luckily, Michelangelo is there to help.

Artwork: Shadow Jones artwork by @ninitenebrae. Renet artwork by MadSeason.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49330096

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Michelangelo held the black-and-white underbust corset dubiously, as if it were some sort of snake ready to pounce. “You know you don’t need to wear this, right?” he told Shadow.

“I know, M. ‘You’re beautiful the way you are,’ ‘there’s nothing wrong with your weight,’ ‘you should just be yourself.’ You guys have been telling me for literally years. It’s not a self-esteem thing—trust me.”

“Just checking,” the ninja turtle said, as he inspected the tag embedded in the corset’s inside. “It says here twenty-six inches. That’s not a lot of inches.”

“It’s fine. It’s custom-made, I’ve been breaking it in. Now give it to me.”

Shadow took the corset and placed it around her midsection, atop the vintage Hervé Léger bandage minidress of the sort which she’d been fixated on since she’d been six, and which was currently mercilessly highlighting her every curve. After hooking up the busk and ensuring everything was where it needed to be, she motioned to Michelangelo to take hold of the staylaces, which matched the white of the stripes on the corset’s left side. “Well, ah do declare, Miss Scarlett! You’d best hold on to something!” Michelangelo exclaimed—doubtless a reference to a film or TV show she wasn’t familiar with—and began pulling.

After a fumbling start due to his particular finger configuration, Michelangelo eventually got the hang of the procedure and found his rhythm. As the corset closed in on all sides, Shadow found her back growing more rigid, and what began as a gentle touch became an increasingly firm hugging sensation.

“You okay, there?” Michelangelo asked, after some minutes. “I think I’m going to really have to pull, to get this last bit closed.”

“Go for it, M.” The corset was currently far tighter than she’d ever worn it before, and yet she still felt she could wear it indefinitely without discomfort. One or two extra inches shouldn’t be a problem.

Using his mutant turtle strength, Michelangelo gave a mighty heave, and Shadow eventually felt the two ends of the corset meet. Quickly, the two worked together to tie the excess lace into a bow before any slack could form, and the deed was done.

After a few experimental moments to make sure everything felt right—it did—Shadow walked toward her mirror to take a look at herself.

The look turned into a stare.

Shadow Jones liked her body. While the world outside her family and friends had done its hardest to convince her it was a problem to fix, and was often baffled when she wouldn’t—what else were all those O’Neil Tech millions for?—they had not been able to find purchase in a girl who’d been raised to see beauty and health and worth in all different kinds of bodies, human or otherwise. Being fat hadn’t prevented her from getting a black belt in karate, being the pitcher in her school softball team, getting dates at fourteen and her first girlfriend at fifteen, or being profiled on more than one publication’s 18-Below-18 list (although that one, she fully admitted, owed a lot to her famous parents).

Her fear, when she’d chosen to purchase the corset on something of a lark, had never been about discomfort: rather, it was that it’d do its job too well, and make her hate her own body. What she didn’t expect, though, is for the corset to make her feel grateful.

Her arms were still hers, as were her legs. Between them, however, was a body that resembled those of the women who made her realize what physical attraction meant, back when she’d been twelve. Those bodies had never been hers.

And yet, it was her very fatness that permitted this transformation. It wasn’t, as she’d sometimes thought when first learning about corsets, about trying to be thin. Being thin would ruin the effect in its entirety—it’d be like Michelangelo, the other one, attempting to sculpt his David with no marble. A corset, Shadow now realized, needed mass to work its magic: not to reduce—all her body was still there, and would still be there after the corset was taken off—but to commune with it, to say See all this? Look at what your body can do. Also, your breasts look UH-MAZING.

Shadow pressed her fingers against her newly hard waist, appreciating its firmness. “Okay, so I know you’re ace and really old and I’m barely legal, but I look hot, don’t I?” The sharp indentation as her hips became her waist looked downright sinful.

“I’ll have you know, young lady, that I’m actually still practically a teen, in turtle years,” Michelangelo said, from his new position sitting on Shadow’s bed. “That’s what Donny says, anyway. As for the rest…the words ‘no daughter of mine is going out dressed like that’ come to mind,” he said, in a shockingly passable impression of Casey. “They won’t say it, and April won’t like that she thought it, but they’ll definitely think it.”

“HA! So you think I should change?” she asked unnecessarily.

“After you just made me strap you in a glorified hernia truss? Absolutely not. Besides, this is what you’re supposed to do, at eighteen. And Renet will love it.”

Shadow forced her smile to remain. What the hell? was her first thought, followed by How did he know?, which settled into It’s a trap. All she’d told Michelangelo, when she’d enlisted him to help her prepare, that it was for a date. He couldn’t truly know who the date was. And the fact was, despite his joking attitude, her uncle could be quite devious when he wanted to be. “What makes you think it’s her I’m going out with?” she finally said, a moment later.

“Well, I was just guessing,” he said, allowing himself to look at least somewhat sheepish. “But I’ve seen the way you look when you return from your trips. And that there seems to be a lot of them, and that they actually last a lot longer for you than they do for us. Doesn’t take Donny to figure it out.”

The logic was impeccable, and Shadow would have slumped in defeat, if the corset had allowed it. Instead, she sat down next to her uncle, grabbing hold of one of her pillows in the process to squeeze. “Do you think Casey and April have noticed?”

“They haven’t told me anything, at least. But they’re smart—even Casey, in his own way. I wouldn’t be betting against them. Any reason you haven’t told them?”

“Oh, they’d love that,” Shadow said, with a scoff. “Like, she’s a timestress. An official time traveler. Did you know she’s actually 214 years old? Or she was, the last time I saw her—who knows how old she’ll be tonight. And she’s got a job and responsibilities, and she’s always a hundred years away.” Was it still long distance when the person you dated could appear next to you at any moment? A question for D or L, when next she saw them.

“I get it. It’s a lot. And yeah, Casey and April probably don’t love those things, and they’d have a lot of things to say, if you talked to them about her—for example, slow down. Sure, Renet’s got baggage—who doesn’t. You’re going on a date with her, not marrying her—right?”

Would that be the worst thing? she thought. “Right. I just really like her,” she said—which was essentially the problem. What’s more, in taking Shadow traveling with her, Renet had taken her world and broadened it immeasurably. Losing that, she feared, would be like devolving, becoming a single-celled organism after one had been human.

“Like, I’m not saying you’re a bonehead for thinking of these things,” said Michelangelo. “And I get that Renet is a friend. But you did the hard part already, and we’ll be here for you when the next hard part happens. Worrying about it now is just self-sabotage.”

It was, Shadow realized, precisely what she needed to hear. When she’d asked Renet out, they’d been moments away from a less-hopeless-than-it-seemed-at-the-time battle with mind-controlled gargoyles, and she’d been emboldened by the prospect of sudden death. Once she realized she’d have to live with what she’d done, she began more and more uncertain of herself, even as talk became, somehow, a concrete plan, one which required coordination and dressing up. Complicating things still further was the fact that the fear didn’t make her any less excited, which was in itself cause to be suspicious. She needed to be, lest her emotions run over her like a truck like they usually did every time she had feelings for someone.

And yet, who was that nervousness serving, at the moment? Not her, certainly.

“When did you become so wise?” Shadow asked, her confidence returning as soon as it had left. “You’ve never dated anyone in your life.”

Michelangelo smirked. “Hey, I’m not just a ninjutsu master. I know about emotions and crushes and things. Just don’t ask me about how to have sex,” he joked, getting a pillow on the face for his troubles.

----

Renet looked somewhat restless when Shadow spotted her standing at the front door of Belvedere Castle in Central Park. She waved for the timestress’ attention, and Renet waved back, smiling.

Shadow could feel her IQ going down the toilet.

“Been waiting long?” Shadow asked, as soon as they’d gotten within hearing distance.

“About ten minutes—I wanted to take in the park a bit—it’s really nice in the fall.” It was then that Renet first seemed to really take notice of her. “Your waist! You look—oh, wow.” As Renet quite blatantly checked her out, Shadow thought she heard a word that sounded suspiciously like “grife.”

Like Shadow, Renet had not gotten complacent when it came to dressing up for their date (!). Shadow had not known what to expect from her—this was a woman (her date!) who was just as comfortable wearing mod fashion as she was wearing an 1880’s dress with all the underpinnings, sometimes within hours of each other—and Renet had not disappointed, choosing a gorgeous calf-length backless dress, held up by a web of straps starting from the bust line and ending in a collar. The dress was mostly black, with the exception of two sets of colored pleats on its quite full skirt; these pleats subtly changed colors with the timestress’ movements, the one indication that the dress wasn’t something she’d found at a thrift store. Completing the look were a pair of black Converse sneakers, which, alongside Renet’s usual clock purse, helped prevent the ensemble from looking too formal. Were Renet anywhere near normal, Shadow might assume this meant that the date would involve dinner at a restaurant or something equally fancy; knowing her, this could just as well be a camping outfit (A DATING OUTFIT).

God, I want to kiss her. And she wouldn’t even have to stand on her toes to do it—wearing her Isabel Marant wedge sneakers had been a stroke of genius. “Would it…would it be weird if I told you I want to pin you to a wall and kiss you? You just look so good,” she said. This had the effect of short-circuiting the timestress’ brain for a moment, which made her look even cuter.

Renet wasted no time in retaliating, though: after recovering her senses and stopped blushing, she inched closer to the younger girl’s ear with a downright evil grin, and whispered “Let’s have our date first, and then we’ll see. FYI: your chances are very good,” making it Shadow’s turn to short circuit.

A moment later, Renet produced from her purse her time scepter—the effect of seeing something so large come from a space so much smaller than it always amused her—and waved it in a circular motion to form one of the now-familiar time gates. “So what are we doing tonight?” Shadow asked as both women stepped into the gate’s light. “The Jazz Age? The moon landing?” Each other? Please let it be each other.

Renet’s smile turned into a smirk. “No spoilers. You’ll love it,” she said, taking hold of Shadow’s arm.

And, as 2028 New York blinked out of existence around her, Shadow realized just how right Michelangelo had been. The past, the future…they were both less important than right now, when she was staring at a beautiful woman who was, by all metrics, into her, and whom she trusted with her life. While trusting her with her heart was a different thing, and she didn’t plan to be stupid about it, she first needed to embrace uncertainty and take the risk.

She was so glad she’d chosen to be brave.

“By the way, thank you for asking me out,” said Renet, as their surroundings resolved into something once again resembling reality. “I’ve known I liked you for the longest time, but I didn’t want to be the one to say something—the age difference, you know.”

“Oh!” was Shadow’s only verbal response. I thought it was the corset that was supposed to leave me breathless.

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 2003 #Shadow Jones #Renet (TMNT)#Michelangelo (TMNT)#My Stuff

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