Deep Conversations

Title: Hesitation Dribble
Pairing: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Rated: Explicit
Word Count: 4,326
Summary:

The technique called hesitation dribble involves dribbling with speed, then slowing down for a split-second to make your opponent think you’re going to stop.

Ryan is a point guard for his college basketball team. Shane finally makes it out to watch a game, and is properly impressed.

A/N: I started this LAST March Madness but then the bad sex bingo square porn-based expectations gave me motivation to finish (ha!).

Fic on AO3

( Fic under here )

Festivids premiered!!! These are my favorites so far:

You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate; Shane &/Ryan, Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher
Why do I do the dumbest things for you? This lyric is EVERYTHING. I cannot stop smiling while I watch this vid. There's so much about their dynamic that is perfectly captured, namely how much fun they have together. Also there's plenty of Ryan facing his fears and Shane just being a goofball, which I can always appreciate.

Trust+Fall; Romeo+Juliet (1996)
Parachute by Ingrid Michaelson as a tragedy?? It works so well! The irony of Romeo being Juliet's parachute! The ending gave me chills. There was so much joy contrasted with violence and sheer stubborness in an impressive way; I felt like this was a fresh take on one of my favorite films!

I'm That Queer; Janelle Monae
I don't know that much about Janelle Monae, but this vid seamlessly weaves together their alter-egos/personas and it feels like an immersive music video and a fight against authoritarianism at the same time! I love how high-energy it is.

We Can Be Anything; Evelyn & Joy, Everything Everywhere All At Once
The editing is so sharp and elegant! The changes in tempo are handled so well, and I loved the uplifting ending. This is a wonderful retelling of the film imo.

Didn't Come to Play; Women's 100m Sprinting
I know nothing about this sport, but that didn't matter because this vid mixed in a bunch of headlines and tweets and news captions to tell a whole story about these incredible women! It's just an absolutely delightful and uplifting watch.

Finally watching the final season of Buzzfeed Unsolved (it came out October 2021). I was putting it off because I was sad it was ending. But now I know the ghoul boys are making Ghost Files, and that has definitely eased the nostalgia/emotional factor.

My expectations for that first episode were too high. They went to the Conjuring House (the place the first film is based on)! I'd still go visit, but there weren't a lot of memorable moments.

For the second ep, the ghoul boys visited the Villisca Axe murder house. I'd never heard of it before, and the story is SO creepy. ( Spoilers )

Third episode was my favorite so far because the ghoul boys dressed up. I promptly looked for Civil War AUs but I could not find even one. That's a real shame. Ryan opened the door for "General" Shane which made me want an officer and enlisted fic... and the both of them definitely got some digs in at the expense of the confederates, so I think they really set up the whole premise quite nicely.

And this is the episode where we get an EXCELLENT Shane quote.

*Ryan pulls up his shirt to sit down on a bed*
*Camera pans to Ryan's ass*

Shane: That's a... *awkward chuckle* quite the view

*Chef's kiss*

ETA: They talk about this moment in TWO post-mortems. And Shane literally says Ryan has a dump truck ass, which I very much thought was just a fanon quote.

Day 8: Crack!fic - We all know it. What's your opinion of it, and if you want, show us an example.

I love crack that has to do with fandom inside jokes. Instant depomine. I also like really outlandish premises that are taken seriously in fic. Here are my top 3 crack reccs! ( Featuring a Buzzfeed Unsolved Vid, a Stony fic, and a Turn fic )

Day 9: Drop the cast of a fandom you follow into a reality tv show - who/what/why? If you need a list of reality TV show examples, click here.

I've always had this vague idea where Scott and Stiles enter Derek into a home makeover show. Then a whole crew comes out to completely renovate the Hale house, and make it actually livable again. They would give the big staircase some dramatic railing, and then the living room would be this huge open-concept thing with a shiny new L-shaped couch. Of course the kitchen would get a trough sink and marble countertops. It would be very modern, like his apartment. Randomly throughout the show, people would show up and help or wonder aloud if Derek was actually going to be happy with the changes - sort of freaking out the makeover crew. But then when the big reveal happens, everyone is there. Boyd and Erika and Isaac call dibs on some of the new rooms, and Scott and Stiles won't stop grinning and trying to get Derek to admit how much likes it, and Allison and Lydia are pretty impressed but also giving Derek a hard time about "living in luxury now." And of course Peter shows up and claims that he owns at least half of the place, that is until Cora makes an appearance.

Fandom specific:
I love how organized cap_ironman is. They run so many great fests. I got a little burnt out last year and didn't participate as much, but this year I will hopefully be participating in the Reverse BB and Tiny Reverse Bang.

looselipssinkships runs the new HBO war prompt meme. All of the new prompts make me excited to write HBO war fic again.

For Teen Wolf fests, the Teen Wolf Discord is where I get all my fandom news. I can get the link if you're interested. The Official Thiam Library on tumblr runs some great events and also posts fic reccs. There's also a Theo/Liam Discord server that's really fun.

For Buzzfeed Unsolved, I follow Shyan Writing Events on tumblr. It is very well organized and has seasonal events.

Multi-fandom fests and exchanges:
seasonofkink is my favorite bingo challenge. They have a great kink list/guide. I really like story_works for the interesting prompts. You get at least a month to write, which is perfect for me because I like writing ~5k works with a solid deadline (although I'm pushing myself to write longer fic this year). holly_poly fics are due soon. This fest always produces some great works. I also really enjoy fandom5k. And iddyiddybangbang is a really welcoming space to explore your id!

Halloween/October is my favorite time of year for fic. There's trickortreatex, spook_me, shipoween, and spooktoberchallenge to look forward to.

I'm looking for more comms/fests/etc. so if you know of any (especially Merlin, MCU, Buzzfeed Unsolved, or Teen Wolf related), feel free to recc them.