and it was warm

Dear diary this list came to me in my dream! Looks like AU-gust 2026 is here...

What is AU-gust? It stands for Alternate Universe August, and it is a creative challenge for everyone. Writers, artists, fans; anyone can join! Be sure to check out our FAQ for more answers! Join us on BlueSky, AO3, Discord and under the tags #au gust and #au gust 2026.

Special thanks to @yaoyorozoops for creating our wonderful graphics!

For the fourth year in a row now, it's time for Small Fandom Summer! Join me for Small Fandom Summer! It's real easy to play:

Make a fanwork for something that has fewer than 1000 English-language works on AO3

Post it to AO3

And then you've done it! You've made a thing and you've diversified the fandom ecosystem! You're basically a hero.

Q: The fandom I want to create for has more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but the specific pairing I want to write for has fewer than that. Does that count? A: Yes! Q: What if it has more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but, like, just barely? A: Okay! Q: What if it actually has a lot more than 1000 English-language works on AO3, but it still feels small? A: Sure! Q: What if I don't want to post it to AO3? What if I don't even have an AO3 account? Can I post it somewhere else? A: Wherever! Q: What if-- A: Just do a thing, friend. Make a thing. Share the thing. This is not meant to be restrictive; this is meant to be inspirational. Create the fanworks you want to see in the world. Make a stranger happy by appealing to their niche interests. Bring joy.

And if you want to give yourself some silly little Steam-like achievement badges to commemorate your accomplishments, well, you're in luck! I've made a bunch of them right here! You can grab the ones that apply to your work and paste them wherever you like and feel good about what you've done. Here's a few of my favorites:

So you see? This is meant to be silly and fun.

There's nowhere to sign up. There's nothing to commit to. There's zero pressure. You just do it if you do it, and don't if you don't. But if you do want to play (yay!), tag your stuff with #small fandom summer so we can all swoop in and appreciate everyone else's efforts.

It is time to spread the love with our June 2026 Comment Bingo. Try and fill four in a row, column, or diagonal, or let all the creators out there know how much you appreciate them 🤍🩶🖤 and go for a full black-out!

(textual version behind the readmore ↓)

Brag about your progress and inspire others to follow in your footsteps! Use the #fandomwithbenefits and #FwB2026 Comment Bingo tags to make your post findable.

As a reminder of our general rules, there is no deadline to contribute, if you wonder 'Is X allowed?' the answer is probably yes, and we highly appreciate all kind of works—not just fanfic or fanart!

If you have any questions or feedback, drop us an Ask or a DM! ❤️ Need even more inspiration? Check out our previous events.👀

Zhao Yunlan & Dean Winchester

daddy issues

dead mommy issues

weird jacket fetish

has a special gun their daddy gave them that kills a specific kind of monster

acts like they don’t care and masks true feelings under humor but they actually care very very much

both are smokers in their original texts but are not in the actual show

cannot keep a girlfriend or boyfriend

bisexual coded

their job is to catch and/or kill “monsters”

despite their job they marry befriend a monster and is surrounded by monsters who are their friends

has a cosmic fate that is supposed to end in their soul being burned up to save the world

BAD ENDING

Shen Wei & Castiel

sibling issues

No (absent/dead) parents issues

accused of betraying their family/people but truly just want to save their love the world and the people in it

falls in love with a human but is a “monster”

ends up becoming feared and revered by their people

is millennia years old and acts like it

struggles with modern references and appliances

has almost unlimited powers where they reach out with their hand and [does things]

dresses like an accountant

risks everything for their human and is constantly aggravated by their human who refuses to realize they are breakable

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: 许你浮生若梦 | Xǔ Nǐ Fú Shēng Ruò Mèng | Granting You a Dreamlike Life (TV), 沉默的真相 | The Long Night (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jiang Yang (The Long Night)/Luo Qingeng Characters: Jiang Yang (The Long Night), Luo Fusheng, Luo Qingeng Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Co-Parenting, Slice of Life, Angst and Humor, Fluff and Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, References to Depression, Conflicting morals, Rivals to Parents, Kinda, Implied Sexual Content, Fade to Black, POV Alternating, Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong Character Combinations Series: Part 6 of Weilan Derivatives Week 2023 Summary:

In another universe, during the stalemate in the Hou Guiping case, Jiang Yang doesn’t marry. He buys a house and moves away, trying to keep himself from falling apart.

He still gets a kid though. This time, with a rather troublesome co-parent as a bonus.

—

ATTENTION ROBOT PERVERTS: i finally (mostly) finished this how-to guide on using a workskin on AO3 to imitate computer stuff like bluescreen, pop-ups, command prompt, and retro monochrome green screens. So now you can add stuff like this to your AO3 fics:

All the code is included in the work, you just have to copy/paste the CSS into your own custom workskin, add that to whatever fic you want it to go in, and then add the HTML code for it. I tried to be thorough with the how-to guide but if anyone has questions I’m happy to answer them here or in the comments section of the fic