#emberline

it's cherik, politician erik / journalist charles, and charles goes UNDERCOVER on erik's campaign pretending to be a sweet shy virginal omega, which he is not, he is none of those three things, he is in fact a deeply scheming menace running an entire operation on a man who has no idea he's the target

I wanted to write an omega who weaponises every stereotype people project onto him – the wide eyes, the blushing, the whole "overwhelmed little omega" act – purely as a tool to get what he wants, which in this case is access, information, and a career-defining exposé. he's not being seduced. he is the one doing the seducing, on purpose, with a plan, while internally narrating his own performance like a smug little gremlin.

the fun part for me was the gap between what charles is performing and what he's actually thinking – he's constantly telling himself he has everything completely under control while the reader can see exactly how not-true that is. also erik has no idea any of this is happening, which felt important to establish, because watching someone genuinely fall for a con while the audience knows better is just. very fun. for me. to write.

anyway it was meant to be a one shot but will now be 5 chapters. good god i need self control haha

chapter 1 is up now:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/87500836

comments make my whole week btw, I read every single one. also if anyone recognises the destiel fic where there's a country that makes betas wear pointy hats please find me, it's been living in my head for years and I need to know where it came from

My very delinquent Secret Mutant tour continues (tl;dr I was traveling and then very sick in January, so I didn’t get a chance to read and comment on my SM fills until February. Yes I am aware it is February 21st. 😔 @emberlinefics please forgive my glacially slow pace!!!). 

Like @an-affectionate-heart​, (“put me back in it”) Emberline took this prompt: 

November 1963: A nationwide manhunt is underway for the man suspected of killing the president. But said man manages to evade the feds in his roundabout route to North Salem, New York—where he knocks on the door of a former friend, who only hesitates for a moment before he lets him in. Charles (who here is long before the decline depicted in DOFP and is preparing to open the school) is deeply hurt seeing Erik again: he won't leave him to be captured, but he doesn't really want him in his house, either. Erik is torn between gratitude for the protection, anger over (in his view) being dumped by Charles, and guilt over Charles's accident. (Note: Accident aside, would love if this isn't framed around Charles "forgiving" Erik for his views or actions on the beach, as often happens in reconciliation fics. :-/) How do they find their way to some kind of understanding—and eventually, a true reunion?