#strawhattery

I started 2025 with: Eye in the Firestorm by Yukihanna

Fics I kept coming back to in 2025

January

And They Lived Happily Ever After by @ginger-floor-goblin

Critical Role (Vox Machina), rated M. Completed 2024-10-25.

DEFINITELY SPOILERS FOR C1/LoVM! Proceed with caution! He looked into her eyes, the eyes he knew so well, and saw fear there. But he also saw the anticipation, the excitement, the joy. They sparkled, as they always did. She was studying his face carefully, her arms wrapped around his neck, anticipating a response. She smelled of flowers, of fresh air. She was warm and there and gods, he was so incredibly in love with her. Especially now. “That is the best news I’ve ever heard,” he said softly before kissing her. Keyleth and Vax get their happily ever after, because I said so. So there. Take that, Mercer. Apparently, this is the 1,000 Vaxleth fic on this site, so yay!

February

Pieces Still Stuck In Your Teeth by @howlsmovinglibrary

Baldur's Gate 3, rated M. Completed 2024-05-23.

“I mean it,” she said. “Don’t kill anyone, Astarion. You’ve gotten what you wanted. Seven thousand lives was enough.” “I don’t take orders from you anymore. You just said so, yourself.” “The moment you kill someone,” Rose replied, “is the moment I'll know that my next task is to stop you.” “Darling,” Astarion grinned, “I would sincerely like to see you try.” -- The Vampire Ascendent has crossed a line. Eleven years after making the biggest mistake of her life and losing the man she loved, tiefling wizard (now Archmage) Rosalie decides it’s time to put this Astarion in the ground for good. Hopefully, both her head and her heart are strong enough to see this awful task through to its end. (A lovers-to-enemies, ‘we’re divorced and going to make it everyone else’s problem’, Vampire-Ascendent-aesthetic-but-make- it “I can STILL fix him’ fic)

March

Exposure to Sunlight by LibbyLune

One Piece, rated T. Completed 2021-01-10.

Sanji never escapes from the Vinsmokes as a child, and Zoro finds himself in the path of Germa 66 after the disaster at Sabaody.

April

From a Swell in the Ocean by @goose-smoothie

Critical Role (Vox Machina), rated M. Last updated 2025-01-23.

“Hello there,” Vex greeted as she waltzed into the cell, “I’m Captain Vex’ahlia of the Vox Machina, and we’ve just seized this vessel here for stolen property belonging to the crown of Emon. Now, seeing as we’ve found you as a prisoner on this ship, I suppose that makes you the enemy of my enemy. So I’m going to ask this once; to us, are you friend or foe?”

May

Utilities Included by @strawhattery

One Piece, rated E. Completed 2024-04-19.

Mold in the shower, burns on the carpet, and nothing but hot sauce and pickles in the kitchen. Sanji doesn't know it yet, but the apartment he's moving into—and the alpha he's sharing it with—will change his life.

June

Burning Man by @neonglaceon-main

One Piece, rated M. Completed 2023-01-22.

“You’re lucky, Zoro,” she had spat, eyes turned up towards the sky, like she was trying to hold in tears. He'd never seen Kuina cry before. He’d never seen any expression on her face other than her teeth gritted in determination or her grinning in victory. “I want to be the greatest swordsman too. But girls grow up, and their bodies become weaker than men's. I’m never going to be the greatest.” Kuina tells him this, and Zoro can barely comprehend the words she’s saying. He thinks of the countless hours he’s spent training by the river bed, the green locks of his hair left on the floor after Koushirou helped him shear it all off, of the people he thought of as family a lifetime ago calling him by a name he despised. Zoro puts a hand to his chest, where he’d hastily wrapped bandages earlier that day, remembering how his body had begun changing and he didn’t understand why- “You’re lucky to have been born a man, Zoro,” Kuina finishes lamely. Zoro sees red.

July

One Time Thing by @naromoreau & @summerofspock

One Piece, rated E. Last updated 2025-10-26.

Sharing heats and ruts is nothing but convenience for Zoro and Sanji. Two times a year they fuck like animals and then go their separate ways. Even if separate ways is just down the hall. It works for them. That's what they tell themselves anyway. Then a poorly timed heat makes a mess of everything.

August

Mask by Hailfire_73

Marvel Cinematic Universe, rated T. Completed 2018-11-14.

The Avengers find an orphaned Peter Parker at an Osborn research facility, and after they help each other escape, Tony thinks it's probably a good idea to take him home and have him go undercover as his son to expose Norman and link him to his crimes.

September

drop them bones by @foggynitefic

One Piece (Live Action), rated T. Last updated 2025-09-05.

To get to the Grand Line and leave the East Blue, they have to pass through Loguetown. But that means they have to get to Loguetown first. Or, Sanji starts finding his place with his new crew.

October

Wait, What?! by @chaoticdumbassrogue

Star Wars Rebels, rated G. Completed 2022-06-18.

Kanan was dead, then he wasn’t. Hera was dying, then she woke up. Zeb went to bed while visiting his grandkids, and woke up alone. Sabine had an accident in Wild Space, now she’s home. Ezra was lost in Wild Space, now he’s back with his parents. So how did they wake up in the Clone Wars?

November

Baby Mine by @freshie-owo

One Piece, rated T. Last updated 2025-11-17.

In the dead of night, a teenage boy and a baby show up at the Baratie.

I'm finishing the year with

I Care About You - Invisimech drabbles ( + larger overarching narrative) by cargonomics

sharpen and turn by StarryCleric

Here with me by ArbuscularMycorrhizal

Champion Bound (series) by EchoingArias

Fics saved in 2025 (my notes in bookmarks)

The Arrangement by @goddessofroyalty - The one where Sanji and Zoro might as well use each other to solve their urges.

remedy and relaxation by @ivelostmyspectacles - The one where Orym helps Ashton with period pain.

Something in the Water by pieces_of_ate - The one where Zoro and Sanji have a really bad day involving a fall into some cave water and also an old man with a fictional grudge.

The Fourth Ring by @vamillepudding - The one where Astarion escapes Cazador and meets Gale's mum. And then Gale. And then Gale and Astarion fix each other.

Toska by @bigrhet - The one where Astarion and Cassius (Warlock!Tav) go through the motions of BG3… and also Cassius' own horrid history motions back.

The World You've Grown by Nightwinging_It - The one where Tim's kidnapped/rescued by the BL2 team, and he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

To Ashes by Nightwinging_it - The one where Tim and Gaige hate having to tell people they're trying to kick Aurelia's ass.

The Courage or the Fall by @rowyndodendron - The one where Caleb would rather freeze than show his scars. Molly convinces him not to freeze instead.

Husband and Wife Reunion by MorganNerdzKvM - The one where Liu Kang and Kitana don't quite have the happily ever after, but it's pretty damn close.

How to Save a Life by anthea_tesdinic - The one where Sanji and Zoro are cold. And they know how to fix that.

Learning to Listen by @fivedayslater - The one where Sanji's time on the rock may have made Zoro assume his soul-mate was dead.

First Breath of Air by @hazel-athena - The one where Sanji is rescued from Germa as an adult.

To You, Formerly Me by @trixree - The one where Sanji has to forgive himself.

Bite the Hand by @blasphemlm - The one where Sanji recovers from torture and discovers there's some missing memories.

Retrograde by @hazel-athena - The one where Sanji has amnesia and Zoro suffers a bit.

moonlighters by evils - The one where Sanji joins Zoro's two years.

The New Avengers: Are They Real People? by BB Urich by hellsbells1109 - The one where the New Avengers are on a group chat.

Just Do The Thing by @sugarskies - The one where Bob does the dishes.

A Marriage of Convenience by @conceptstage - The one where Caleb goes to "marry" Beau all for a book, but Beau uses this circumstance to escape from her abusive parents.

Deep in the Lungs by gremlinbehaviour - The one where Azune has a plant growing in his lungs, Teor is restless, and Hal is a dad.

Experimental Trial 1C: Stimulation of Blood Flow via Alternative Method by decayed - The one where Occtis determines just how impactful not having blood flow is.

To The Victor Belongs the Spoils by @ironicveghead - The one where Sanji is a prize to be won in a tournament of strength. Zoro wins.

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I end 2025 having experienced incredible lows and upcoming amazing highs. I finished my Masters degree, I start teaching high schoolers English next year(!!) and finally feel like life is on track. These stories? Each of these stories, and the ones that haven't been mentioned, have kept me going.

why did you choose an alpha/alpha pairing?

i think i was drawn to that dynamic specifically because it felt the most accurate to how i interpret their canon dynamic. it also gave me a vehicle to explore sanji's identity (and queerness), which was a lot of fun.

why did you choose sanji's limited POV?

limited POV in a romance story creates an interesting layer of narrative tension ("how does the other character feel?") that i love. i also knew early on that i wanted sanji to be a chronic overthinker in contrast to zoro's more simple, straightforward approach to life, and i knew that i wanted that contrast in their personalities to be the root of the story's "conflict." so it was easy to decide that i needed to plant myself in sanji's headspace for the story—that's where all the conflict is!

why did i decide to remove sanji's ability to sense pheromones?

when i was first outlining the story, sanji was actually going to move into the apartment as a favor to his friend luffy, who was begging him to take over his lease. but when i sat down to write this, it didn't really feel like luffy to me, so i pivoted to story so luffy has already run off and nami's trying to find a total stranger to take over his lease. this is what you see at the very beginning of chapter one. however, i quickly realized a plot hole in this: if sanji could sense pheromones, he'd immediately know the place wasn't nami's, and he might not even step foot in the apartment to begin with (because i was always going to write him not liking or trusting other alphas). so. uh. i nixed his ability to smell pheromones. and that spur of the moment decision ended up becoming the cornerstone of sanji's characterization and a major part of his internal conflict. i actually forgot until i sat down to answer this question why this became part of the story because it was a decision made so early in the process that it's funny to think there was ever a version of utilities included in my mind that didn't have it!

which part of utilities included did i enjoy creating the most?

chapter 10 is my favorite chapter overall, but the pool scene at the end of chapter 3 is really special to me. it's the first time sanji realizes these people are thinking of him as a friend, and it's also the strawhats (and friends) being petty criminals in a modern AU. honestly, any of the group scenes (with 4+ characters) i had a blast writing. i love the chaos and the silliness and also being able to push myself to make every character sound distinct from one another on the page. but the pool scene is just extra special for me.

while writing sanji POV, did i think of what zoro's POV would be each scene?

generally speaking: no. when i first started writing fanfiction, i had this compulsion to cram every detail i had thought about into my exposition instead of letting the details come up naturally through conversation or character observation. there are different ways you can get out of this trap as a writer (or lean into it, if you want to), but for me the most effective method was the most simple: if you don't need it, just don't think about it! so unless zoro's state of mind was directly contributing to the plot (because of what he was saying or how he was acting), i simply did not think about it. i like to think that gives sanji's spiraling thoughts some degree of authenticity because while sanji was thinking "how does zoro feel about this?" i was also thinking "hm. i wonder how zoro feels about all this." well. to an extent. i knew that zoro was going to be into sanji from the first moment they met (he likes blades. sanji threw a blade. simple.) and i knew that their first kiss was going to be zoro's "little garden" moment where he'd suddenly go from neutrally annoying sanji to actively stoking the fires of sanji's competitive spirit (and sexuality). and i knew that when the "define the relationship" conversation inevitably came to pass, zoro was going to be just as Not Bothered about it as sanji was Bothered. that's it, that's all i planned for zoro's perspective (with the obvious exception of the epilogue). i'm a big fan of working smarter, not harder with this stuff ☺️

what did sanji first smell like to zoro?

i kind of touch on this in the epilogue, but i'll expand a bit here. for sanji's pheromones, i wanted them to reflect the duality of his canon personality: both harsh and kind. so i wrote his pheromones as being both sweet and a little burnt. when i was thinking of how pheromones "work" i was loosely using the formula of "imagine you smelled a subtle scent ONCE, then ten years later your brain had to recreate that scent from memory." so zoro's brain does something like sweet + burned = caramel / sake, another character's brain might do something like sweet + burned = tobacco. it's less about a 1:1 scent and more about what their brain associates with that scent, if that makes sense? and if it doesn't make sense, you can see why i enjoyed writing a 100k story from the POV of the one character who can't understand this crap ☺️ as for their first impressions: when zoro first walked into the apartment, sanji had been contently cooking, so the room was probably very sweet at first. then there was a sudden, sharp burst of that burnt smell when sanji's anxiety kicked in.

was zoro into sanji from their first meeting? did he have an "oh" moment?

i wouldn't call it love at first death threat, but zoro was definitely interested in sanji from their first meeting. nothing like a little adrenaline to jumpstart zoro's attraction. i don't think zoro had an "oh" moment in the traditional sense, just because i think he goes with the flow so well that he's less likely to get bowled over by a sudden surge of feeling? if that makes sense? i think he'd be much more like "damn, i was right all along" than "oh" but that's just my take on him 🙃 as for when he fell in love, i personally like to think it was watching sanji's ddr match against koby. but i'm open to all other interpretations too ☺️

how did zoro feel seeing sanji cuddling with his friends for the first time in chapter three?

this is an interesting question. i didn't really think about it much while writing the scene, but i think zoro would probably not have lingered on the moment very much. i think, to him, it's obvious that sanji would be integrated into (and loved by) the people closest to zoro. if sanji was the sort of person zoro's friends wouldn't love, zoro would never have pursued anything more with him to begin with, and they would have just stayed contentious roommates forever. but zoro knew from early on how much his friends liked sanji, so seeing them all cuddled up together like that was probably just confirming what he already assumed.

we know what happened to sanji, but what happened this siblings?

i haven't thought too much about this because, again, i don't think sanji thinks too much about what happened to them. he was isolated from his siblings as a child—at first for judge's fear that whatever was wrong with him might be communicable, then later as a sort of carrot-and-stick measure (if sanji got better, he could play with his siblings; as long as he didn't get better, they were allowed to bully him). if i had dug into the vinsmoke siblings more, i'd probably have characterized them as people still adhering to the same reductive beliefs judge tried to instill in sanji early in life. they wouldn't have been exposed to the same medical trauma, but they would have been fed a lot of misinformation about alpha dominance and what it means to be the "right kind" of alpha in this society.

are there any canon side ships in utilities included's universe? are luffy and law an item?