#zero characters left

was someone reccing ZCL recently? cause damn a lot of people read it last night

here’s a lil moodboard i made for the fanfic, ‘zero characters left’ by @stellarbisexual!! its such a great story and the writing is incredible, so i would highly recommend reading it :)))

When you on the train having feels about your own fic

THE MOOD IS ZCL UP IN HERE TONIGHT, ISN’T IT?  This is from Chapter 13 of Zero Characters Left – the morning after. :D

I mean, on a basic level, this is just one of those delicious moments I needed to create as candy for my own imagination.  There had been so much fucking build-up before they finally gave in to their crazy, simmering attraction to each other, that I felt like they deserved a sexy morning after moment like this.  BEYOND THAT, THOUGH:

1. Richie could not be more fucking g-o-n-e for Eddie at this point. In one of my other fics, I say that when Richie is given a green light, he goes fucking full throttle (or something to that effect), and I think this applies here. He’s been stuck in this excruciating limbo of “will we or won’t we?” and once Eddie kisses him, it’s like the floodgates open.  He’s just so fucking thrilled to be able to touch him that he literally has to get down on his knees and rub his face all over his favorite parts of him.

2. At this point, Eddie is suuuuuuuper fucking vulnerable.  He hasn’t been with anyone in a loooong time, so he’s already out of practice with situations like this.  On top of that, he really fucking likes Richie and is afraid it’s just sexual attraction for him (because Richie was such a brazen flirty disaster from day one)–so he’s essentially playing the only card he thinks he has in this scene by making himself look extra delectable.  His banter with Richie at the end of the passage you chose–while fun–is also a bit of a distancing defense mechanism. Classic Eddie (Richie flirts / Eddie takes him down a peg even though he’s secretly doing cartwheels inside - A DEFENSE MECHANISM WITH WHICH I AM INTIMATELY FAMILIAR).

3. RICHIE, by contrast, makes the effort to be all domestic and lovey because he thinks Eddie only wants him for sex.  So same insecurities and different remedies.

4. In one of my older fandoms, it was a super common trope to have one of the two wake up the morning after all alone in bed and freak out only to realize the other was in the kitchen making breakfast or out at a cafe down the street picking something up.  I’m a sucker and a half for this gd trope. 

Zero Characters Left universe. Richie & Eddie’s first real fight.

This is getting LOOOOOOONG, so I’m posting a preview whilst I continue working on it!

permatag list: @reddie-to-fight @hurleyhugo @raspberrywind @rebel-eds​ @losver-kaspbrak​ @lilgeorgie @geckolover001 @its-stranger-than-you-think @gazebo-motherfucker @waypunsarelife @peonyromance @reddietofall @happytozier

ZCL tag list: @wait-whats-happening​ @reddie-bitch @creamy-brown-eyes

So here he is, standing idly in their kitchen, trying to decide what to wear while pointedly not eating everything in their fridge.  He’s ravenous and he really wants to, but he doesn’t want to spoil it.  He glances at his watch.  Six-fifteen.  It is a little strange that Richie isn’t home yet; the whole reason they’d been able to make these plans is that he’d anticipated an especially early wrap time today.  Their reservation is for eight o’clock.  

Eddie glances at his phone.  Nothing.  Maybe Richie’d run out to pick up dessert or wine or something.  He does always like surprising him in little ways--though, again, he hasn’t really had the bandwidth for that lately.  

Or maybe the shoot is running late.  It’s happened at least ten times in the last two months.  But Richie’s always good about letting Eddie know.

Eddie shoots a text off to Richie: I’m home.  What’s your ETA?  Then he adds a steak emoji.  (Richie really is rubbing off on him.)

Nothing.  Granted, Richie’s version of work is way different than Eddie’s, and he usually can’t just drop everything to reply to a text.

Eddie assumes the best and shuffles into their bedroom to slip out of his cold, damp clothes and into something a little nicer.  He fastens his t-chain bracelet around his wrist.  

“Fuck, I’m so hungry,” he says, walking briskly back into the kitchen, pulling a bag of pretzels from the cabinet, and shoving a few in his mouth.  

Finally--at six forty-five--Richie responds to his text.  Baby, I’m so sorry, we’re running late again.  Probably need to raincheck tonight.  Then a streaming tears emoji.

Eddie slams the phone down on the kitchen counter.  “Fucking seriously, Rich?”  The text is not nearly enough, considering how much they’ve both been looking forward to this.  He doesn’t respond, instead picking up the phone to call the steakhouse and cancel their reservation in a tight voice.  

When Richie finally comes through the door at nine-thirty, it’s quietly.  Eddie’s sitting at the kitchen table in sweats, catching up on the work he’d neglected by leaving on time to make their dinner date.  They don’t greet each other.  Eddie hears him drop all his equipment by the door.

Oof. I should have known y’all would come at me with that ZCL REALNESS. (Also, I think I know who you are, Anon.  You think you SNEAKY.)

For those who are confuzzled, this is from the end of Chapter 16 of Zero Characters Left.

Soooooooo, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: my versions of Richie and Eddie in ZCL are extremely aspirational. They’re grown, they’re well-adjusted, they’ve been through hardcore therapy, and they’re trying their fucking best despite their persistent intimacy issues. Revisiting this passage reminds me just how much more well-adjusted and ready for a relationship Richie is than Eddie–or perhaps Richie is just way more willing to stick his neck out and risk possible rejection, or, really, perhaps he just leans more hopeful than Eddie does, even despite all the rejection he’s had from people he’s loved in the past.

But even though Richie is the one who’s more willing to stick his neck out, he still can’t fucking do it in any kind of real way–both because it’s scary and because Eddie is his boss, and, as he says to Eddie in the following chapter, Eddie actually has all the power.  So what does he do?  He makes a statement by dropping a SHIT TON of money on a piece of gorgeous jewelry for his gorgeous, inspiring, supportive boss who he’s totally fucking in love with. The stakes are high as fuck, and he doesn’t hide it here. The question “you like it?” basically translates to, “Is this okay?  Is it too much?  Because this is how much I care about you.  Can you handle it, or are you going to throw it back in my face and reject me?”

AS FOR THE BRACELET ITSELF: the prototype is the rose gold t-chain from Tiffany’s (because how much can you just SEE Eddie Kaspbrak wearing that?), but I imagine Richie buying it from somewhere less obvious (and a little less expensive–Tiffany’s is bonkers).

Friendsgiving 2018

They have it down to a science now, Eddie and Bev: turkey in the oven before anything else, table set, wine uncorked, biscuits (premade by Pillsbury) on a baking sheet ready to be popped in the oven after everyone’s done with appetizers.

There are a couple of marked changes since last year.  Eddie’s managed to give himself the permission to actually take more than just Thanksgiving Day off, so the apartment looks particularly beautiful, fairy lights along the window frames in the living room and an assortment of unnecessary centerpieces from Pier One.  They’ve got a new addition to the guest list in Bev’s new girlfriend Amy, a pilot who balances her out with her quiet, observant nature and unexpectedly wry sense of humor.

A perpetual bachelorette by her own description, Bev had actually been inspired to get “wifed up” (her words) by Richie moving in with Eddie in early October.  

CONTINUE READING ON AO3

permatag list: @reddie-to-fight @hurleyhugo @raspberrywind @rebel-eds​ @losver-kaspbrak​ @lilgeorgie @geckolover001 @its-stranger-than-you-think @gazebo-motherfucker @waypunsarelife @peonyromance