X-Men First Class COMPLETE fic: Late Bloomer (33/33)

[so_shhy]

Phew. Done. This final chapter is almost certainly full of mistakes, absolutely definitely full of angst and may not make sense, but, you know, DONE. YAY.

I think the whole fic clocks in at around 80,000 words all told. Never again. Seriously. Not ever doing this again.

Chapters 1-28:
Late Bloomer on

Comments

[tawabids]

All my feelings!! All my feelingsssss!!! I managed to load this before I left for the morning so I could read it while waiting in the tourist line for churches. This is the best thing to read outside churches! Oh, those boys, and the sunrise scene, they break me... but what really got me was the Riptide stuff. I feel so much more forgiving of people when they're teens, because almost everybody made mistakes and did arsehole things when they were a teen, and to think that the poor kid lost so many friends over it... obviously if I was Erik I'd still be mad forever, but I feel so much for Rip. Also the bit with Emma and Azazel dancing was vividly beautiful, I ship those two like brimstone and hellfire after this fic

[so_shhy]

*HUGS IN THE MILLION*

You know there's absolutely zero probability that this would have been finished without you, right? Thank you so much for liking it and commenting in enthusiastic and supportive ways and especially for playing with the boys in the TCOA, it really helped me get into their heads again AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN.

Oh, the angst. Yeah, poor Riptide, I figured it's kind of unfair because Erik was just as much of an angry and manipulated fuck-up when it came to Seb (though he didn't have such an easy time of it either). So Rip at least gets a fragment of a happy ending, thanks to Havok (who is still SO NOT HAVOK, but I love his genial ways. Accurate characterisation? What is this thing?).

"They seem so grown up at the end, especially in the way they're clinging to their youth for dear life."

*sniffles* Why must you phrase things so emotively? I swear, this is almost as bad as the termintal-illness-dancing-at-the-prom thing.

Farewell, brave traveller, may fair winds speed you on your way!

[tawabids]

No, no, no, thank YOU for being so receptive and for the TFOA, it was so, so much fun. I went back and read it before we left home and I was like "omg so many cliffhangers arghhh!"

The Erik/Seb relationship and their story within the fic might be my favorite part, actually, and I feel hugely sorry for Riptide getting into that kind of situation. Ah, teen!Shaw. Possibly the only thing scarier than original!Shaw.

Haha but Havok is so wonderful as a rough and ready softie. It's nice because it seems very much like what he would have been like if he'd had less trouble in his life, and a little brother he had to be responsible for. It's definitely one of the great advantages of the AU, retuning things like that!

I DONT EVEN REMEMBER WHAT THE TERMINAL-ILLNESS-AT-THE-PROM THING WAS BUT I REMEMBER IT WAS SAD. OMG WAIT I DO REMEMBER AAAAAH THE POOR GUYS. WHYYYY

Thank you, our adventures right now are all castles and forests, they are rocky but fun! Onwards and upwards (latitudinally) we go!

[so_shhy]

Ooh, I should reread it too. Was it weird to return to its humble, non-epic beginnings knowing what would come later?

Man, AUs make me so happy, ALL PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED! I am writing canon fic now (avengers fandom, self-indulgent, will probably never be posted) and it is sad and I have a longing for a nice fluffy world where they have sensible jobs that don't involve guns and blood and crippling emotional problems. But I'm enjoying writing tragedy anyway. *is worried*

YAY castles, they have much funkier fairytale ones in mainland europe where people were rich and civilised, unlike ours which are lumps of rocks where people ate with their knives and threw the bones to the dogs under the table. Where are you now? Tell me exactly what I should be feeling jealous of :-D

[tawabids]

It felt quite intense from the beginning, as if we both secretly knew its great potential! OTOH I might simply have imagined the initial depth because I knew what was coming...

LOL canon can be such a downer, gawd, why don't people just make AUs for all our favouri- wait a second, all my favourite fandoms right now are already AUs! Sherlock, the various Avengers, XMFC. We're creating AUs of AUs! Aaaaah, the cycle of human myth and the art of storytelling. I freakin' love it

[so_shhy]

OMG DUDE I'm so sorry it's been two weeks and I got your postcard today because I never check my mailbox and YAY Tintin, I loved that one when I was little. Explorers on the Moon, woo! Anyway, rambling aside, sorry to have been terrible about replying. It's been kind of weird here, Flatmate-who-probably-should-not-be-named-on-a-public-post's Mum's ill so she had to go to Malaysia, and I found a flat in the meantime which I think she hates, and now she's back and I can't tell if she's reeeeally jetlagged or just plain not talking to me. Hmm

[tawabids]

Argh I took so long to reply, I'm sorry! Things have been amazing and sometimes scary and full on and sometimes lazy and relaxing, but I should have got to this sooner. I hope [redacted] flatmate's mum is okay and the flat situation is progressing - what's it like? How much does she hate it?

I want to read all the things, I haven't seen Avengers yet but I really should download your Downtown and a bunch of others to read on the plane tomorrow. Man oh man does it sound like I need to get into Avengers fandom (just corrected the typo "Man on man" because of course). I would read that Charles/Erik one. You know I would. Oh the torturous loooooove. YOU SHOULD BE SELF INDULGENT, YOUR SELF-INDULGENT STUFF IS AWESOME

[so_shhy]

DUDE, OMG, SERIOUSLY, PACKAGE FROM THE VATICAN? LOOK, THIS IS ME BEING EXCITED. *FLAILS* (Hmmm... now you actually know what me being excited looks like I feel this is less effective. Just imagine that I run around flailing a lot, m'kay?) But seriously, that is beyond cool, LOVECRAFT FROM THE VATICAN, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to take it out of its envelope.

YES you should get into the Avengers fandom, seriously, the fandom is infinitely better than the film (and the film isn't half bad, I guess I just had too high expectations. I'm forcing a friend to sit through all the other Marvel movies with me so I can go see it again with her, which must tell you something). There are so many feelings and Tony has so many DADDY ISSUES and Steve is SO ALONE, and Bruce is SO TORTURED and Clint has THE MOST TRAGIC BACKSTORY OF BETRAYALS and Natasha is ALL BROKEN INSIDE and Thor is... actually just a kind of happy guy. But still, five out of six isn't bad. And it's all about Clint/Coulson, baby, who do not interact at all, but fandom has

[tawabids]

Haha I will imagine you running around and flailing but quietly, with much dignity

[so_shhy]

*Flails with dignity* Thank you, I will practise that

[tawabids]

"we're making shiny weapons powered by BLUE

LOLOLOLOL that's the most accurate way to explain that plot thread! Hahahaha still laughing...

Oh man, I love the sound of this fandom :DDDD. There's just so many permutations, and everybody is so distinct and therefore every combination of pairings/OT3s/OT5s/OT8s is exciting (omg seriously? Only Whedon could squeeze that many cool characters into a single film). I have been trawling the kinkmeme a bit (always my first stop in a new fandom) but I think I need to rewatch the film once more. I keep losing track of who's talked to who and how much of what I'm reading is even loosely based in canon scenes and which parts are comic canon and which parts must be a fanon thing. Internet piracy, here I come. Also, hey what, where is a link to this "Tony keeps calling in more and more people to see if he can make Steve break a sweat during sex" thing. You can't just throw that out there unattached

[so_shhy]

AAAND JUST FOR NOW...

The "Tony keeps calling in more and more people to see if he can make Steve break a sweat during sex" thing? That would be this one:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/417286

[tawabids]

This is almost unrelated but

I think I want to write an avengers High School OT6 to this prompt. Tell me I'm wrong. Also I will never be able to do a HS AU like you but you inspiiirrrre meeeee.

[so_shhy]

Eee, yeah, the permutations are endless. I've never really gone in for multiples before, but I was forced into it due to my love of Pepper and now... yeah. A whole new world. It is fairly amazing to have so many characters to play with. And I admit, Clint doesn't get much definition in the film, but I keep forgetting that because so many people in Fandom have read the comics and there seems to be a basic consensus on his character traits. (You can tell he's my favourite, yes? Possibly it's the way that he takes over every single paragraph I write

[tawabids]

If you like Clint, you gotta watch Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It's regularly racist, the episodes often consist of nothing but fight scenes, and the only lead female is Just The Worst Stereotypes (oh, and she gets shamed for flirting with guys even though she doesn't have a boyfriend because her crush is an emotionally constipated arsehole). But Black Widow is awesome and Hawkeye... well, Gingerhaze covers the key points here. Especially the part where the Hulk in this show is actually smarter than Hawkeye. For instance... wait, are you kidding me? I search "you left Hulk in the pool" on YouTube and it's a predicated search, but no one's uploaded the clip? Fuck you, copyright laws. The point is, if you like Clint, you will gain 100+ Clint Love with EMH

[so_shhy]

Arr, I will brave the stormy waters of torrents to reach the treasure of EMH! Avast, ye scallywags