Chapter 16

It’s the morning and with his migraine gone it’s time to talk. Eddie has been firm about that. All Buck has to do is stay calm and not panic too much while Eddie takes his shower. He does his best and that all you can do.

Hello love! Thank you for your ask. I hope some of these fics might be new to you! Enjoy🌸

The Player's Secret, by WrappedUp (52k)

Remus Lupin is a successful documentary filmmaker who is assigned to make a fly-on-the-wall documentary featuring Sirius Black - one of the world's most brilliant footballers - as he competes in the European Championship. All does not go smoothly.

General theme/feeling: fame and pressure, coming out, mentions of suicidal thoughts, on the whole not that dark tho!, happy ending.

Dress up in You, by MsKingBean89 (88k)

Sirius attends a charity rock gig organised by his best friend's girlfriend, and the tall, quiet bassist catches his eye...

General theme/feeling: band!au, famous!remus, angst, pining, dark themes!, themes of abuse, themes of depression and suicidal thoughts, happy ending.

all my cards are here, by haey1 (112k)

Marauders Band AU - When the Marauders kick out their bassist, they ask local bartender Remus Lupin to step in. As the band gains success, Remus must navigate his new friendship with Sirius under the public eye.

General theme/feeling: fame, some angst but not that dark, themes of homophobia and internalised homophobia, happy ending.

Sweater Weather, lumosinlove (156k)

Remus works for the Gryffindor Lions as a physical trainer, and has been half in love with Sirius Black, the Lions' heartthrob captain, for a while now, but he never expected Sirius to return the feelings. Read if you like cute nicknames, slow burn, and pining. Yep. That's it.

General themes/feeling: fame and pressure, forced coming out, found family, pretty fluffy, looots of ice hockey, smutty, happy ending.

Currents, by lunchbucket (109k)

Remus Lupin and Sirius Black arrive in Sydney to compete in the Summer Olympics, both intent on making these games a better experience than the last. The two swimmers have a tumultuous history and intense rivalry, but can America’s golden boy and Great Britain’s notorious bad boy put their past behind them and find some common ground?

General themes/feelings: a touch of enemies-to-lovers, pretty smutty, secret relationship, paparazzi, kinda fluffy, hilarious James, lovely nature-vibes, happy ending.

Finest in Fairford, by bluepeony (5k)

Remus Lupin's job in a Fairford coffee shop is always uneventful, until an exotic new customer begins leaving messages with his tips.

General themes/feeling: coffee shop!au, fluff, writer!Sirius, Remus is a fangirl.

The Most Brilliant Idea, or How Sirius Black Accidentally became a Romance Novelist, by nothingeverlost (9k)

In which Sirius has a Brilliant Idea, Remus is gainfully employed, James is clueless and Lily is always right.

(PS. Sirius is famous under a pseudonym)

General themes/feeling: comedy, fluff, oblivious!sirius.

Turn On My Charm, by Bethanlovescoffee (17k)

Sirius Black is a YouTube phenomenon. A YouTube phenomenon who develops a crush on his video editor.

General themes/feeling: fluff, blackmail, forced coming out, happy ending.

real life has no appeal, orphaned account (8k)

In which Remus is Lily's roommate and Sirius, James and Peter break into places. A YouTuber!au!

General themes/feelings: texting fic, fluff, comedy.

Hey girl!

Okay, so you’d be trying to figure out what to do for your next chapter, and usually you’d be able to flow along with the story line you planned out.

Sadly, like most authors, you completely forgot what you were going to do for the next part. Plus, to top it all off, your laptop didn’t fully save the ending to the chapter you had finished only 2 days ago.

Needless to say, you were sulking as you sat on the bed with your laptop on your lap, countless papers scattered around you that contained information on your novel you had jotted down over the last 10 months.

When Tom came in and told you dinner was ready, he realized you were too zoned out in your writing space, except you weren’t doing as much writing as you were staring at your laptop screen in sadness/pain.

Tom knew better than to disturb you while writing, but you had been at this state for almost 5 hours. Staring at the screen, trying to remember what you wrote last and typing it down before completely starting the paragraph all over again.

Tom walked over, moving some papers so that he could sit on the side of the bed. “You ready to come and eat, love?”

You shook your head, sighing. “No, I can’t until I re-finish this chapter.” You went back to looking through the papers on the bed.

“Didn’t you finish it earlier this week?”

“Yes, but my damn laptop didn’t save it all.”

Tom felt bad, wanting to able to help in some way, but in the end knew that he really couldn’t do anything. “Why don’t you come have dinner and you can try and finish it before we go to bed?”

He may not always have the best ideas, but he was always 100% supportive of your and the career you’ve chosen for yourself. Being an author, and a world wide seller at that, is incredibly hard. It takes a lot of time, money, and most of all, patience. But Tom was willing to help you and be with you throughout all of it.

You shook your head, starting to type away again at the laptop. “No, Tom, I’m sorry but I only have 3 weeks to finish the minimum of chapters for my meeting with the publishing company, and even then it’s a very small chance for them to call me back for a meeting with a full novel ready for them. I need to finish this.”

Tom knew he was going to regret his next actions, but he also knew he had no choice. He reached over and quickly grabbed your laptop and walked out of the room.

“Tom! What the fuck?!”

You went after him, but by the time you found him, he had locked your laptop in the bathroom closet.

“Tom, seriously, I need to finish the chapter. I’m not going to meet the deadline if I don’t.”

You went to try and unlock the door, but Tom had beat you to it and grabbed both of your wrists and pulling you close to him.

“(Y/N), you know I love you and what you’ve decided to do for a living, but you need to learn to pace yourself. Do you think I got to where I am now by constantly worrying about a single audition that could only maybe give me a callback? You have 3 weeks to work on what, 10 chapters, right?”

You nodded.

“You’re on the end of chapter 7, I remember reading it for you. And I remember that once you read over it with me, you found out how you wanted the chapter to end and what you were going to do for the next one. I believe in you and your writing, and if the company doesn’t like it, then they can fuck off and they’ll miss out on all the money they could have made based off your book.”

You couldn’t help but giggle and tear up at his words. He pulled you into a hug and kissed your forehead. “Now, how about you come join me for dinner, we can watch an episode of one of the shows we’re watching, then while I make some desert, you can finish up the chapter and work on some more later?”

And you guys did just that. You had never felt more relaxed and at peace than you did when you were with Tom.

Anteros - On Ao3

To say that Dean was nervous was an understatement. He had triple checked his satchel and had all his notebooks and writing implements. Meg had kept her word, and gotten him an appointment with Castiel Novak, the foremost expert on Greek Mythology.

It seemed almost like fate. He met Meg at one of Round Table gatherings, and the duo was instantly inseparable. Despite how close they had become to each other, it still surprised him how fast she had gotten him the meeting. Dean had been trying for the better part of a year to arrange an interview, and the delays had hindered his book progress. All he had done was mention the part of the book he was stuck on, and when she determined she was unable to help, she got him the meeting with Novak.

That was how Dean found himself standing outside the Classics building at Stanford University, on the other side of the country. He headed up the stairs and entered the building, stopping at the information desk. He smiled at the receptionist. “Sorry to bother ma’am. I have an appointment with Professor Novak?”

She pointed over her right shoulder. “Up the stairs to the fourth floor, right corridor, office number 401.”

Dean nodded. “Thank you.” He headed up the staircase she had pointed to, taking two steps at a time. He was far from out of shape, but four flights of stairs was still a lot to climb. As he reached the fourth floor, he pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. He was thankfully early and took the spare time to sit in one of the chairs outside the office to catch his breath. Meg had warned him that Novak was a stickler for appearances, and he didn’t want to disappoint.

She wondered some days, most days if she was being honest, if he thought of her. If he even remembered her. The girl from the island. The place he'd sought as sanctuary, where she had found him standing in the rain, outside her quaint little inn.

Weeks he had stayed, her persistent, dark-haired, thorn in the side. He was sharp-tongued and had ran out more than one other guest. Their bickering only grew more heated by the day and she was on the cusp of throwing him out on his posh-clad bum during one particularly loud row when he pulled her to him and silenced her with a toe-curling kiss.

The next morning, she woke up in his arms, warm and content, sharing kisses and happier than she could ever remember feeling.

But the feeling wasn't to last.

Two weeks later he vanished from her life without any warning. Just a note on her pillow.

Forgive me.

William.

oOo

One year to the day that he had found himself soaking wet staring up at the small inn he'd only anticipated as his refuge for a single night, he stood outside the same inn, warm and dry. With little yellow flowers in the box windows, white shutters, bright coral door, the inn had not changed a bit.

Picking up his bag, he straightened his collar and let himself inside, the litling bell above the door announcing his entrance.

"Hello! How can I help you..." Her greeting trailed off as she looked up from her ledger. The pen dropped from her hand.

"Hello, Molly."

She gathered herself and took a shaky breath. "What are you doing here?"

"I missed you." At her dubious look, he withdrew a paperback novel from his pocket. "And I wanted to give you this."

He placed it on the counter between them. Her eyes watched him carefully and he prayed fervently she would give him a chance.

He breathed out in relief when she picked it up. The cover showed a dark-looking inn and a silhoutted woman in Victorian dress.

"The Innkeeper's Secret," she read. Her fingers brushed the embossed font and her eyes fell on the author beneath. "W.S.S. Holmes."

"You inspired me. I was at the end of myself, depressed and facing deadlines and ruin, when I found myself outside your door." He moved slowly around the counter. "You saved me, Molly."

Her eyes filled with tears, dropping onto the book. "So why did you leave?"

He lifted her chin with his finger and cursed every tear he caused. "Because I was a coward. I had run away from my life and found you. But suddenly you were becoming more important to me than everything I'd left behind. And it scared me."

"And now?"

"Now?" He took her free hand in his. "The only thing that scares me is a life without you. My muse. My innkeeper. My Molly."

He took a chance and leaned down, his lips brushing hers softly. It was only when she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss that he let himself believe it was real. That the future he dreamed of from the moment he met her was possible.

oOo

She would read it later. After they had talked and kissed some more, when the morning sun was rising, spilling over her bed as he slumbered beside her.

That first page of his novel, the dedication, would dispel any remaining doubts she had that she held his heart.

Epilogue 18/18

So it’s finally time to reveal the winner of E Buckley’s art competition and Buck, Eddie and Chris need to get ready for the announcement.

The aim of course is to stay calm, which they all manage with varying degrees of success.

Hope you don’t mind the tags but it’s done and I’d like to celebrate 🥳 4th longest fic, most comments and subscriptions which is lovely ! Thank you to everyone whose read and supported this monster of a fic that was definitely only going to be 50k 💜

Cover by the talented @ronordmann

Tagged by @eddiebabygirldiaz @elvensorceress @wikiangela @fiona-fififi @inell @tizniz @disasterbuck @evanbi-ckley (I keep forgetting your url change!) thank you 💜

Chapt 1&2 are up and on ao3 weekly posts on a Wednesday

However there’s still no sign of Evan, where is he? He’d better not be late to his own party, it’s more than likely he’s trying to avoid those photos. She’s reconsidering the phone call when one of the side doors opens and Bobby steps through it followed, thankfully by her brother.

Her smile shifts to proud, he’s so handsome. The costume they chose looks so good on him. He looks less good, even from this distance she can see that he’s horribly nervous, all pale and twitchy. She sighs and wonders when or if he’ll ever believe in himself.

Tagging anyone who wants to share