#strideofpride

gladly!!!! 🩵

Tagged by @strideofpride ages ago, but here I am! eventually! I've collaborated on a couple multi-chapter fics or fic collections with other writers, but I'm not going to include those.

most hits: I Know That Face (logan x veronica; 13,933 hits)

Veronica and Wallace are roommates in Chicago and heading back to Neptune for the holidays. On her first day back she encounters an old friend and she knows he's keeping a few secrets from her. That's cool because she will figure out what he's hiding. The bigger issue, though, is the mystery she's brought back with her to Neptune to try and solve. Now that will take some fine maneuvering.

second most kudos: Wrapped in Ribbons (dan x blair; 771 kudos)

Dan leaves. Blair gets everything she thought she wanted. And they don't ever think about one another.

third most comments: To Know You, To Adore You (kate x anthony; 158 comments)

Mid-s2e1 AU: Not only does the young lady Anthony raced in the park wholly misunderstand both his words and his character, she refuses to listen to his (perfectly rational) explanation, or even allow him the opportunity to offer a defense.

And that simply will not do. Which is why he must follow her inside the ballroom. And then ask her to dance. And then continue to seek her out as the days and weeks of the season progress.

fourth most bookmarks: In Lovers Meeting (logan x veronica; 92 bookmarks)

A collection of ficlets originally written as part of the Veronica Mars Movie Anniversary week, March 2015 on tumblr.

Logan and Veronica meet in seven different ways: college best-friends, best-friend's stepsister, co-workers at the same law firm, childhood next door neighbors, guests at a wedding, cast members in the same play, coffee shop acquaintances.

fifth most words: Wrapped in Ribbons (dan x blair; 20,615 words)

least words: Get Up, Get Out, Get Away (logan x veronica; 1,423 words)

Logan returns from deployment in August but two months later leaves again. He's back in time to celebrate the last moments of Halloween.

ok I did remember the rumor/theory/confirmed plan(????) that Nate was GG, but I didn't want to oversaturate that post with screencaps so I omitted some bits, but in the hospital while serena is ranting about GG, there's this:

why does this kinda look like they're scheming?? 😭😭😭

THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS FIC. I AM OBSESSED.

Also what I love is that so many fics start off from season 4 onwards/ post finale or the AUs from season 1 but a season 2 DAIR is pretty rare? But it works so well! Like I love the combo of their mutual supposed nihilism but also wanting someone to go that extra depth to care!

omg somehow i did not see this one coming. absolutely love this, tho. thank you S!

who wakes up first in the morning: blair, for sure!! but sometimes serena is just randomly up at 4 in the morning and can't go back to bed.

who’s the first to fall asleep at night: i don't think this one is fixed? sometimes it's S, sometimes it's B.

what they playfully tease each other over: childhood inside jokes, definitely. they have known each other so closely for so many years, and had a very deep platonic intimacy, so i think there's a lot of jokes they have that other people may not get. they definitely joke about each other, too - something that can sometimes land badly - but when it does, they work through it.

what they do when the other’s having a bad day: if it's blair, audrey movie marathon. if it's serena.... depends on what serena wants to do. lots of cuddling is involved in both cases. often it's just a "girls’ day" in which they pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist and do each other's make-up and nails and hair and whatnot. blair loves soaking in the bath for long periods of time... i think sometimes she'd drag serena in there too, because she feels unironically like it is therapeutic.

how they say ‘i’m sorry’ after arguments: they... don't. they fight until they're both burnt out i think and then finally, when they're too tired, they both just kind of go "yeah, i shouldn't have done [ whatever they did ], i will be better next time" and they probably try to keep their word, too.

which one’s more ticklish: she'll never admit it, but, blair.

their favourite rainy day activities: serena loved jumping in puddles as a child and actually loves it as an adult, too. blair goes along with it, and they just. spend a lot of time in the rain, and then get home and get dry together. blair likes the aesthetics of the rain and sometimes just sits in the porch watching the rain. serena gets two hot cups of tea and sits with her, but she's not watching the rain, she's watching blair.

how they surprise each other: in the most creative ways, i think? much like that engagement party thingie serena held for blouis - both B & S like planning surprise events for the people they love (see b getting serena a date in 1x06, or serena co-ordinating natie's birthday party) so i think there would be a LOT of that. but also just spontaenity is one of serena's biggest character Things and i think blair would go with it & even... start being spontaneous in her own ways? surprise trips to paris, roadtrips together where serena drives them Somewhere and they end up getting lost, music festivals and carnivals and blair turns up her nose at everything but she's having fun, etc. around serena, blair lets her whole 'dignified persona' thing slip, and just allows herself to have fun. she would also try and win serena things at carnival games and get furious if she doesn't win.

Serenate + 50 …out of love.

A vaguely 5b au

Having Nate as a roommate just…works.

They have similar rhythms, similar tastes, and since they moved into their midtown two bedroom, it’s been easy.

Sure, there are some hiccups—neither of them has lived without some sort of housekeeping service before, but Serena kind of loves doing everything for herself. Except washing dishes. She hates that. It’s lucky she and Nate could spring for a unit with a dishwasher.

Blair had raised her eyebrows at the whole situation, from Serena’s housekeeping to her choice in roommate, but she didn’t fight it. Serena knows her best friend was just as relieved that they would be getting space from each other. With Dan coming around all the time, it was the right thing.

Living with Nate is easier than it ever was with Blair. Definitely easier living with her mother.

Sure, they spend a lot of their free time looking up how-to videos on YouTube to keep everything clean and functional, but their system works, and Serena likes the accomplishment she feels from a freshly scrubbed bathroom or an edible home-cooked meal.

So, she and Nate fall into a routine. They have their own mish-mashed schedules of classes, a weekly grocery list, a dry-erase wall calendar in the entryway. They fall asleep on each other on the couch every other night, and it’s easy.

Of course Serena thinks about having more, in the way that she’s always thought about Nate. At the back of her mind, just out of her reach, if she stretched her hand out too far, he would disappear.

But it isn’t anything. It can’t be. She already fumbled her shot with Nate more times than she cares to tally up, and she’s only just getting over — whatever happened between her and Dan at the start of the year.

So what if it’s easy. So what if Nate makes her laugh more in two months than she remembers in the previous six. So what if their cramped and over-pillowed two bedroom is the first crash pad she’s had in her entire life that feels like home.

It’s home. Even when she does something so incomprehensibly wrong.

“What the…” she trails off as she rummages through the basket of newly dried laundry she just set on the coffee table to fold. She lifts a hand towel, formerly white, now bright pink—“fuck?”

She digs through the rest of the load. Every single towel, sheet, pillowcase. Egyptian cotton, the highest thread count her mother could find on short notice for a last minute housewarming, all white when she put them in the wash, and now they were all pink.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She wonders if there’s a way to fix it. She could call Dan. Or Dorota. Or maybe Rufus?

Except now she can’t find her phone.

She digs through the basket again, dumping the ruined linens on the couch next to her, hoping to find her phone buried in the wreckage.

It’s at that point that Nate gets back from class. Serena’s heart jumps into her throat at the sound of his key turning in the lock.

She looks up, frozen by a little bit of fear and a whole lot of embarrassment, and sees Nate gaping at the scene of her sartorial disaster.

“I have no idea what happened,” she blurts out, launching to her feet.

Nate bites down on his lower lip, inscrutable.

“I swear, it was an accident.”

He nods listlessly as he slowly walks towards her, eyes on their newly pinked linens.

“But –” she swallows, “good news: I’m really good at shopping. So we can just…You’re mad. Please don’t be mad. I’ll –”

Serena doesn’t get to finish the sentence, because Nate is kissing her. Nate is kissing her. Nate is kissing her.

She pulls back, but only slightly, keeping her face cupped between his hands. “What’s that for?”

His shoulders lift in a shrug in her blurred out periphery—she can’t look away from his eyes. “I love you.”

Serena hauls him back in, pressing her smile to his, the two of them meeting in an approximation of a kiss.

She kisses his lips again, and again, then moves to his cheek, to the side of his neck. The most at home she’s ever felt.