the believers will believe

ft. the works closest to my heart (updated sporadically as my grad work allows :’D)

(all dividers by daisy at @firefly-graphics, edits thrown together by me)

rule 34 & however long I stay --

(a Date Everything duology, Hector x non-binary plus size reader)

rule 34: Reading some of Hector's work leads to you requesting he leaves the safety of the attic to come visit you in your bedroom. (18+, 15.5k-ish.)

however long I stay: Hector, missing you terribly after a longer absence from your life than intended, shows up at a Goth Night event in hopes of seeing you. what follows is perhaps a more complex reunion than he intended. (post-Realization, 19k-ish)

phantom of the archive --

(Date Everything human/grad school au, archivist!Hector x non-binary/plus size reader, 18+)

You are a grad student in your last semester of research, preparing to present the project that’s taken years of your life. Due to a serendipitous accident in scheduling, you find yourself with unfettered access to Hector Valentino Earnesto Castillo: a sweet, poetic archivist who can and will find literally anything you need for your work – so long as you don’t try to see what he looks like. The months-long flirtation between the two of you comes to a head one stormy afternoon.

the fic itself

finally, my guide for filtering/avoiding reader fics, for the weak those who insist.

I also have ongoing tags for both my to-be-read list (as I tend to reblog first now so I don’t forget) and fic recs - those are definitely worth checking out for wonderful works by some very talented people!

older/on hiatus works below

To this day it’s still my favorite fic thing I’ve ever read. I don’t reread things often, but I’ve read this several times (both in part and as a whole). Zemo/grad student still live rent free in my head all these years later 💜

I just finished chapter 6 and omg that chapter hits so hard with everything that happened later in the story 😭 reader really said “I’m not going anywhere now […] not unless you make me” and Zemo remembered that. And wow it’s so apparent in this read through how hard & fast that man fell for the reader. I really hope that he feels the weight of his choices while he’s been hiding out. Idk if he managed to keep the photos of the reader that he took this chapter, but I hope he did. He seems like the type of masochist who would hold onto the pictures to remind himself why he’s putting both of them through so much pain 💔

✨anyways✨ I hope you have a great day! You’re amazing 😘

^ me upon reading this ask fr

first of all, this is so impossibly sweet. thank you so much for taking the time to write to me and tell me that you not only enjoy this story that has so much of my heart in it, but that you enjoyed it enough to re-read it, and consider it a favorite. 🥹 that had me literally in the stratosphere. I had to wait to come back down within earth's orbit so I could even begin to answer this. 🖤🖤🖤

^ this was me, except I was hurtling through space at hundreds of miles an hour!!

from sokovia with love is a story that I still love so incredibly much, and honestly, you're not the only one who's had Zemo haunting their brain again lately!! someone else was kind enough to tell me something similar on AO3, and I'll tell you like I told them: chapter 14 is up and open right now on my laptop, finally, now that I've graduated and have time again 👀 I can't make any promises when exactly it'll get posted (mostly because I'm trying to figure out if it needs to be one chapter or two right now, sooooo much is happening bc I feel the need to catch up to what all's been in my brain this whole time), but I have a goal date in mind, and I'm doing my best to meet it!!

I really appreciate your observation on everything that comes after 6. :3c I know Zemo as I write him likes to pretend he's very methodical and detached, but let's be real: the man's a capital-L Lover. he missed being in love. he missed having that warmth and stability to come home to, when he lost Carl and Heike. he wouldn't have torn the avengers apart from the inside if it hadn't been the center of his world, y'know?

and in the grad student, I like to think he met someone who was not only dedicated to the point of believing in their work over their own health and safety (creating a form of mirror for himself, in a way), he remembered what it felt like to want to care for someone again. especially when that person has a problem accepting care or thinking it's transactional; he sees being able to anticipate their needs and reassure them as a sort of challenge, almost. he's used to having money and resources; to be able to show someone else his generosity, and more importantly, his devotion, is an ultimate use of that.

I can't tell you too much about his end of things yet (there's a happening at the beginning of the next chapter that makes it. A Bit Difficult. you'll see :'D), but rest assured, he definitely would have held on to those photos somehow. Zemo with his person is openly affectionate, a true romantic once he finally decides to throw caution to the wind and embrace what's in front of him. but Zemo away from his person? he's somehow even worse.

he was a masochist about it, no doubt. imagine only being able to see the center of your world through a two-way mirror, and they have no idea you're ever there. they're even furious with you about it, and you can hear every angry word they say, until eventually they stop talking about you one day and finally move on (or so you think) and you just. have to watch them go.

one of the songs I have on my playlist for this chapter (I've made so many playlists for this fic, even when I haven't posted a chapter in forever, and the majority of them are private just bc there's a truly alarming amount OTL) has part of a chorus that's like "I keep one in the chamber/I keep one for myself/I keep one of your pictures/So I'll see you in hell" and I think that absolutely sums up his state of mind after he took off with Walker and the Contessa after the gala. ∠( ᐛ 」∠)_ so good call on your part, you nailed the vibe perfectly!!! 🤝