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

[so_shhy]

:DDDD Thank you so much for sticking with this fill all the way through and leaving wonderful comments. It's been so encouraging, you have no idea. Please take all my hearts <3

Yes, I think it's quite simple for Erik in all universes. He definitely has the this cannot happen attitude. But canon Erik who lived through the holocaust seems to channel all of that into creating a sort of power-mad, implacable force to protect his people, whereas it feels like an Erik who grew up safe and sound with a loving family would be much less about defense and more about outrage and righting wrongs. He's a little super-hero, really, except for the whole getting people killed thing.

Oh, I'm glad you're getting teary. It's kind of embarrassing, but I did too. Poor Erik, I wanted him to have a happy ending but whenever I tried to write it he and Emma ganged up on me and said NO, SORRY, WE'RE NOT THAT NAIVE. Seriously, those two are impossible

COOKIES

[anonymous]

If there are angst cookies, there can also be secret snuggle cookies, yes.

[eviltish]

I am too full of *emotions* to properly comment on this right now so I will hopefully be back later when I've stopped crying gathered my thoughts a bit more coherently.

Suffice to say, I have loved these characters and this story utterly and completely. Thank you for such an amazing journey.

[so_shhy]

Yay, emotions! But, oh, don't cry, I did enough of that myself they... well, neither of them died, anyway.

Thank you so much for reading, and for making it all the way to the end!

daljsdlaksjdalksd

[anonymous]

AAAAHHHHH

This was such a wonderful fic; I'm sad to see it end, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you!

Re: daljsdlaksjdalksd

[so_shhy]

Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it! I'm kind of sad too, and sorry for not managing to give them a happily ever after. *pokes prompts sorrowfully* I tried!

[rab_rumrunner]

So glad to see this finished! I remember starting to read this last summer!

[so_shhy]

*grin* thanks - and yes, I'm sorry about the wait!

[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