#violet light

This might not even be all of the hidden details I've written in my fics, but these are my favorites! For starters, in chapter one of A Long Way From Budapest, Natasha tells Yelena that Clint used to make jokes when they were on missions together to make them fun for her. And after that conversation, Yelena starts making jokes when they start working on their mission again, more so than she usually would. She's trying to make Natasha feel better the same way Clint used to, both to comfort her and because she's desperate to fill his role as the most important person in Natasha's life, just like Natasha is for her. And when they're at the musical at the beginning, Yelena wants to make a comment about how actor-Natasha can't kick someone in the face without help. Then, at the end, that's exactly what Yelena does to one of the Tracksuits, proving to Natasha that she can do it all on her own. There will be more examples as the fic goes on, but that's a more subtle moment showing how badly Yelena wants Natasha's approval. Oh, and the man with a white mustache and aviator glasses that Yelena bumped into in her mad dash to the Rockefeller Christmas tree? Yeah, that was Stan Lee.

This is something I've tried to hint at in a few of my fics, but the best example is in Bathtime. Yelena talks about wanting a drink multiple times throughout the fic, and even though Kate disapproves, she doesn't say anything. She does bring her vodka at the end, along with the nonalcoholic option of mango juice. And Yelena only drinks the mango juice. Kate would never judge or pressure Yelena, but I believe she would encourage her not to drink as much in subtle ways like this all the time, and I believe Kate is the only one who could make Yelena want to stop drinking. Like I said, this theme is present in a few of my fics, but this depiction of it is my favorite. This fic also has one of my favorite references I've written, even though what I'm referencing has nothing to do with the fic itself. While Kate is washing Yelena's hair, I wrote that it is "...the most intimate Yelena had ever been with Kate- or with anyone..." This is a reference to the show Brooklyn 99, which has a running gag where the character Charles Boyle claims that "washing their hair is the most intimate thing you can do to your lover with your fingers." It's completely unrelated and I knew nobody would clock it, so it's literally just for me and my sister, but I love it and this is the perfect time to mention it! Also, Yelena is asexual in all of my fics, so in their case, it's actually true! I had to make the reference! 😂 And the mission Yelena is getting back from in this fic, destroying a Hook lab, is a reference to the Marvel comics. I'd read one where Sam and Natasha take down some Hook dealers recently when I started writing this fic, and I assumed that Hook was a well-known drug in the comics... but I later found out that it only appears in two issues. That's it! That fact makes me like this reference even more honestly. You have to be a real comics nerd to catch it!

Back to my very first Bishova fic, there are a few hidden details in part two of Violet Light. When Kate is showing Yelena and Alexei the coin trick that Clint taught her, she tells them, "I can use that little trick to knock somebody unconscious from thirty feet away.” I know that Clint told her twenty feet, and so does Kate. But she's exaggerating because she wants to impress Yelena 🤭 Yelena might've been too in her own head to notice, but Kate was nervous too! And a bit later, when they're eating donuts, Kate chooses a bear claw, and Yelena chooses a blueberry fritter. I chose these because I think they would like them, but that's not the only reason. Kate chooses the one with "bear" in the name, an animal that's often associated with Russia, where Yelena is from. And Yelena chooses a blueberry fritter, which, despite the name of the berry, looks mostly purple, Kate's signature color. Only their second day together and they're already subconsciously choosing each other 🥰 And this isn't quite as hidden, but I love the contrast in the lines, “-I remember it so vividly. I had my arrow pointed right at her, and she locked eyes with me and just shook her head.” Kate was staring right at her, and Yelena just nodded dumbly." In the scene Kate is describing, Yelena had all the power, and she conveyed that with just a simple shake of her head. But now, Kate is telling the story and literally controlling the narrative while Yelena isn't even paying attention. Now that she's the one at Kate's mercy, so to speak, she just nods. I love that line, and this incredibly self-indulgent tag game is the perfect place to finally talk about it. And this isn't hidden, but since I don't draw any attention to it, this also feels like a good place to point out that this entire chapter happens while Yelena is in her underwear 😂

And now to the first multi-chapter fic I ever finished! In part two of A Real American Christmas, Yelena agrees to sing Nate's favorite Christmas carol with him when Clint and Cooper don't want to. Now she probably would've done that anyway, but what he says right before she agrees to sing with him is "I want my song!” which is exactly what Yelena said at six years old when they were in the car on the way to the airstrip. That exact phrasing stirred something deep within her, and she jumped at the chance to help Nate have a better childhood than she did. I draw a lot of parallels between Yelena and Nate in this fic, with them both wearing sweaters with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on them and laughing at all the same places during Home Alone. There are a lot of things I love about this fic, but these details are one of my favorites. I see Yelena's relationship with Nate as a second chance at a childhood, and I'm sure I'll write more parallels like this whenever I write the two of them in future fics.

Another thing that A Real American Christmas is littered with is references to my real life! I love slipping references to my life into my work, since real life is always better than anything I can make up. Speaking of Nate's song, The Twelve Days of Christmas was my favorite Christmas song when I was a kid, and I used to be the one who forced my family to sing it every year (the Barton tradition of everyone picking a carol to sing is a tradition I have with my dad's side of the family). And the "Christmas tree" ornament that he made that Cooper talks about in part three? That's a real ornament I made! Except mine is a tree topper 😂 Natasha's fish ornament is also based on an ornament that my cousin made when I was little. But she was 16 when she made it, and she's now a graphic designer, so it's actually a great drawing. I originally planned on making Natasha's good, too, but I thought it was funnier to say she couldn't draw. And the sledding story that Clint tells about her is something that really happened to me and my friends when I was a kid, except my friend's dad didn't actually fall into the creek. And back to part two of Violet Light, just like Kate, I covered myself with dirt while playing softball when I was a kid, and my grandpa told my mom, who arrived late, that I'd slid into home plate. Although I'm pretty sure I was just playing in the dirt, I didn't care about softball enough to want to slide into home. And in Fireflies, the horse pulling the carriage in Central Park is named Brook, which is the name of a horse my great uncle had on his farm when I was a kid. I always name every single horse character I write Brook because I loved her, and she was the first horse I ever rode. And in chapter one of Bishop & Belova, Yelena tells Kate that "...the only things we have in storage are things like guitar strings and slide oil.” Guitar strings are obviously for guitars, and slide oil is specifically for trombones, the two instruments that I play.

Now we're going to go back to some of my older fics from my other fandoms! Unsurprisingly, the story that reader tells Tara about how they started watching horror movies in Meet Cut(e) is exactly how I got into them. I always pull elements of my own personality and life when I write x reader fics, but that reader character is easily the most similar to me. And in my Taivan x reader fic, I Just Want You To Be Happy, the story that Taissa tells Van about Sammy looking at the clouds while playing soccer is exactly the same as what I did as a kid!

This tag game is one of the most self-indulgent posts I've made on here, but I truly am so excited to see everyone's responses!!! If other fanfic writers are even half as excited to talk about stuff like this as I am, then I'm confident this will catch on the way that I'm hoping it will. Please don't hold back when you share, I promise you, people will be interested in what you have to say about your fics! If it helps, you can think of it as a birthday present to me 😉 I can't think of a better way to end my birthday than reading all the juicy secrets about my favorite fics!

And finally, some no-pressure tags for some of my favorite fanfic authors! 🥰

@devskindawritingblog @katethisisnotcutlery @uncleasad @ooga-94-booga @fruityzari @loislame84 @ohthenight @jammatown919 @vidathomir @the0fi @girlonthefireescape @mustyoudothat @cindersaint @doggedworship @rudeamity @avastarred @takadasaiko @animixedarts @sugarskies @nixzephyr3001 @maya444ever @mosquito-queen @f4ggydog @the-gay-canary @kisakisaxo @novelconcepts @teabookgremlin @moringmark @lacyscabinet @fantasylandbitch @axinite25 @alkivm @the-oblivious-writer @celticwolf55 @andsoigotabutterfly @toournextadventure @persevereforahappyending @somewillwin @duskdrawings @bishlova-ship @hard-core-super-star @nonbinary-alien25 @legitgayshit @bri-the-nautilus @theboardwalkbody @elizabeth-mitchells @nerd-at-sea5 @everythingmp3 @crincher @dragonnnfly @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @agreatcheesecakestudentstuff