second rule of fight club

my ratiorine fwb comic is done! i started this about a year ago and really wanted to challenge myself to illustrate a longer scene with these two, one where you could really see how deeply they care about each other but also their difficulties in putting those feelings into words.

reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.

reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.

These are the prompts for the 2026 Disabled Whump & Hurt/Comfort writing challenge, a 30-day challenge running from May 1-May 31, 2026 (works may be written in advance but should only be posted on/after May 1). The FAQ Page is here and the AO3 parent collection is here (check it for this year's subcollection).

Below the read more are the content and posting rules for this challenge. The prompts are divided by themes, but can be mixed up or taken out of order or only a few at a time. See rules for more information.

Remember to tag your works #disabledwhc2026 !

PROMPT LIST

LIVING WITH IT Established disability

1. Hurt: Targeted vulnerability | Stigma and discrimination | New or worsened symptoms

2. Comfort: Not backing down | Confidence | Friendship between disabled people

The Long Haul

3. Hurt: White-knuckling | Fatigue | “Not this again”

4. Comfort: Solidarity | Planning ahead | Stress tolerance

Acquired disability

5. Hurt: "You'll never come back from this" | Mystery condition | Self-injury

6. Comfort: Adjustment period | New strengths | Learning from others' experience

Recovery

7. Hurt: Manipulative "care" | Painful recovery | Failed treatment

8. Comfort: Reaching out unexpectedly | Rest | Emotional support

Adaptation

9. Hurt: Frustration | Progressive conditions | Stubborn

10. Comfort: Inventiveness/creativity | New aid | Practice makes perfect

PAIN AND PERIL Environmental

11. Hurt: Re-injured | Situational trigger | Deprivation/neglect

12. Comfort: Hiding place | Saving yourself | Tearful reunion

Sensory

13. Hurt: Acute symptoms | Overwhelmed | Sensory trigger

14. Comfort: Calming strategies | Breathe through it | Getting away

Trapped

15. Hurt: Stress position | Deliberate exacerbation | Failed escape

16. Comfort: Just in time | Out of harm's way | Field medicine

Medical

17. Hurt: Contraindicated | Emergency intervention | Malpractice

18. Comfort: Welcome visitor | Place to rest | New treatment

Breaking Point

19. Hurt: Over the limit | In denial | Breakdown

20. Comfort: Confession | The universe will catch you | Non-linear recovery

EMOTIONAL HURT Loss

21. Hurt: Unfair choice | Without support | "There's no way to fix this"

22. Comfort: Space to grieve | Safety net | Moving forward

Autonomy

23. Hurt: Infantilized | Denied control | “Let me decide for myself!”

24. Comfort: Self-advocacy | Major decision | Self-assurance

Psychological Effects

25. Hurt: Self-blame | Complex effects | Mental fatigue

26. Comfort: Coping strategies | | Post-traumatic resilience

Stoicism

27. Hurt: Masking | Minimization| Warped tolerance

28. Comfort: Respecting privacy | Breathing room | “I trust you”

Intimacy

29. Hurt: Touch | Alienation | Misunderstanding

30. Comfort: Unconditional love* | Trustworthy | Offering without pressure

31. Free day

*Any kind; platonic, romantic, spiritual, sexual.. have at it.

Rules below the cut:

A whump event set in August, run by @starryybrained

Write-up of prompts & rules under the cut

because even as a non-profit organization, ao3 still needs money in order for it to function. a non-profit organization does need money in order for it to run and operate.

being a non-profit organization does not mean "we don't need money to run it yay". it does not mean "we pay everything out of our own pockets, so we don't need any donation" — that's not how it works.

as for palestine, the site doesn't "forbid things that are related to palestine only". it forbids "anything and everything that 1. is not fanwork 2. involves money" — which happens to include palestine-related stuff.

ao3 is a site for fanfiction (and original works, which according to them, counts as fanworks). the only things ao3 allows are fanfiction and original works — aka FANWORKS ONLY. NOTHING ELSE.

palestine-related posts are not fanworks, therefore they are not allowed.

political statement is not fanwork, therefore it is not allowed.

anything that is not fanwork (fanfiction or original work) is not allowed.

as for your question about donation — a non-profit organization can (and they do) ask for donation, because a non-profit organization cannot function without the donation money keeping it going.

"so why don't they allow users to earn money through their site too? why don't they allow users to raise money for palestine too?"

the answer is because:

be it the money you earn and keep for yourself or donation money meant for other organizations, to a non-profit organization like ao3, that is the same thing. it's still "users earning money through their site" or "users using their site to promote ways for other organizations (someone else) to earn money". intention or who gets the money doesn't actually matter here. anybody or any other organizations earning money through ao3 is NOT allowed.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" and "fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted characters" are NOT the same thing.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" and "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote ways for other organizations to earn money" are NOT the same thing.

but "fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted character" and "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote ways for other organizations to earn money" ARE the same thing.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" is allowed because... without the donation money, ao3 would not have existed in the first place, it would not have existed today, it would not have been able to continue functioning.

"fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted character" and/or "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote way for other organizations to earn money" are NOT allowed because fanfiction is already in a legally grey area. the only reason ao3 and fanfic writers are not being sued by companies like disney or netflix is because "no one is monetizing fanfiction, and ao3 is not used as a tool for users — or any other organizations — to earn money in any way, shape or form".

that's the only reason ao3 isn't being forced to shut down by companies like disney or netflix, the only reasons it's not being bombarded by lawsuits. "no money is involved because the characters belong to their respective studios". fanfic writers just have fun with them. but they are NOT being monetized. NOTHING that is posted on the site can be used to earn anybody — be it the writers or any other organizations — any money.

so no "please donate to xyz". no "commission is open". no "here's my patreon".

be it directly or indirectly, if it involves money, it's against ao3's terms of service.

"but what about original works? they are the writers' original characters. can we monetize our own original works on ao3 or can we promote ways for people to donate to xyz under our original works on ao3?"

no, you still cannot mention or even imply donation or commission on ao3, even if it's your own original works. why? because ao3 doesn't differentiate original works from fanfiction — since it's impossible for them to do that. now I know it's super easy to distinguish between fanfics and original works. but the real issue is that ao3 is KNOWN AS A SITE FOR FANFICTION. it allows original works, yes. but its main purpose is still fanfiction. it hosts millions of fanfiction about other people's copyrighted characters. so basically the entire site is "fanfiction site" — therefore, for legal reasons, anything that involves money cannot be allowed.

the measure ao3 takes to ensure nobody can sue them and force them to shut down is to forbid any mention or implication of money on their platform. it's like them telling companies like disney and netflix "hey, I'm cool here. no one monetizes anything on our site / our site isn't being used as a tool for anybody or organization to earn money." which is the main reason it's not being sued left and right by these companies.

their rules are very simple:

they're a non-profit organization. they're run by people's donation.

they do not allow any monetization or any mention/implication of money on their site, this is how they avoid lawsuits.

anything that isn't fanwork is not allowed on their site, as their site was made only for fanworks.

respectfully, ao3 is NOT a social media platform. it is an archive meant to host fanworks.

Does that mean I can't ask people to support a charity or non-profit organization?

You are allowed to link to a charity's website, encourage people to learn more about the charity, or explain why you believe in its mission. However, you may not link directly to the charity's donation form, promote their fundraisers, or request that people donate to them.

You may still educate others about charity work or social issues in the author's note field, for example.

hi. so. me and my mom need some help

the more or less full story is on the gofundme page, but the gist is that we need somewhere to move soon, we have 4 pets, i'm too disabled to work but can't get on SSI for a while, and honestly she shouldn't be working either. she'll need to get set up with my state's government assistance and everything and in general we need somewhere to live while all of that is ongoing. so i set up this gofundme and it will go directly to her bank account.

my face is not on it, my legal name isn't either, but it's still pretty personal and that shit scares me but we really need this. anything helps. she just left a severely abusive marriage from a man who threatened her life and i'm at risk of eviction and neither of us have the funds we need to do much of anything.

she needs to be out of where she is by the end of january. we'll use whatever we get to figure out where to go from there.

no of course not

He proceeded to stress them again three more times during orientation. No biggie, I figured, and set a reminder on my phone for 2:45 just to be safe. Other than that I was just shown how to work the ticketing machine and where to find the spare D Batteries for the ancient flashlight they provided me with.

At 11:50 PM the last scheduled train departed. By 00:20 AM all the disembarked passengers had milled off. There was only one other person at the platform, a young homeless man missing a leg. Probably a veteran of one war or the other, there had been so many recently. He was sleeping on one of the benches. My manager had said I was to politely urge any passengers remaining after midnight to leave. He did not seem like a passenger so I let him sleep. It is how I was raised.

At 2:45 AM my alarm went off. I put aside my book, made sure my booth was tidy in case the executive's wife or mother or whoever would come was going to inspect it.

At 2:47 AM she was there.

I did not hear a car, nor approaching footsteps. The Babusia was simply there when she had not been before. A heavily wrinkled old woman, with a crooked nose and a scarf tied around her brittle-looking grey hair. A knobbly wooden walking stick was held by an equally knobbly left hand. She did not seem like the mother of some rich rail tycoon. She reminded me of my grandmother.

But I had never met my grandmother.

"One ticket, please." she requested in a firm voice, placing a small handful of coins on the counter without looking up at me. Most of the coins were obsolete Kopeks, and even counting those it was not enough for half a ticket, but as I was told before I nodded my head and accepted her money. "Of course. "

It suddenly occured to me that I was not told how to print a ticket for this unscheduled train. Before I could remark about it, I saw that the ticket was already at the mouth of the machine. It was green, with red lettering, something the black-and-white printer should not have made. But yet it did. The printing seemed in cyrillic of some sort, but I could not read it.

"Your ticket." I presented, and without thinking added "Do you require assistance to climb the platform stairs, grandmother?" It is how I was raised.

"Yes. Assist me." she replied curtly, beginning to shuffle slowly through the dark station towards the platform. I locked up my booth, and caught up with her just before the stairs. I switched on my heavy flashlight with my right hand, and offered the woman my right to brace herself. Her grip was strong. She probably would have had no issue climbing by herself, but assisting a grandmother was always the right thing to do, even when her sharp fingernails dug painfully into my palm.

We arrived at the platform. The clock hanging from the ceiling read 2:56. She released my hand and took a few steps, then looked at the sleeping man on the bench. "A friend of yours?" she asked. I thought about lying; if she was truly an executive's family, perhaps hosting a friend would be a lighter offense than turning a blind eye?

"No, grandmother." I responded truthfully. "He is not breaking the rules, so I left him alone." It is how I was raised.

The woman hummed. She seemed taller than before. Taller than me. The night draped her shoulders like a shaul and my torch did not reach it. Her gray hair shone like woven starlight, and her eyes were the night sky. I could not look away.

"You are a well-mannered girl." she said, her voice echoing in my ears like silence. She placed something small and hard in my hand.

A train arrived. It had only one car. I think it had a steam engine. It may have walked on chicken legs. I could not look at it.

The Grandmother boarded her train without another word. I was alone in a perfectly dull train station. Almost. The homeless woman behind me mumbled and stretched her legs in her sleep.

the febuwhump 2026 prompt jar is now open!

until 8 december, you can submit your prompts to the official febuwhump prompt jar for the chance of seeing them in the final prompt selection! submit as many times as you like, as many prompts as you like, and then just hope that i like them enough to put them in the prompt poll in the middle of the month!