Journal of Mistress Kat

Fic Round-Up 2025

2026-01-09T21:20:24Z

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Better post this now before this year's fics start appearing...

Well, I did not manage my getyourwordsout goal (largely because after Tricks I just stopped writing for six weeks) but I did reach total of over 100k though only 57k posted on AO3. I also passed 500 works on AO3 and in 2026 I will almost certainly pass 1 million words.

Fics published in 2025 by Fandom:
(I've only provided AO3 links cos I'm lazy, but all are readable on DW too, let me know if you'd like a link. My AO3 is locked for users only but if anyone needs AO3 invites please let me know, I have plenty)

American Idol RPF
Trial (Kris/Adam, G, 100 words)

ATEEZ
Whispers (Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa + Park Seonghwa/OMC, G, 100 words)

방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
First Spark (Namjoon/Yoongi, G, 100 words)
Metamorphosis (OT7/ambiguous relationships, G, 544 words)

Being Human
Home (Mitchell/George/Annie, T, 100 words)

Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment
Awkward (Ryan/Shane, G, 100 words)
Better the Demon You Know (Ryan/Shane, M, 6422 words)

Cobra Starship
electric dreams (Ryland/Alex, G, 100 words)

Doctor Who
Mercury Lane (Tenth Doctor/The Master (Simm), G, 1134 words)

Enola Holmes
Courting (Un)Conventions (Enola/Tewkesbury + Sherlock/John, G, 837 words)

Fall Out Boy
Price (Patrick/Pete, T, 100 words)

Firefly
Grow Together (Kaylee/River/Simon, G, 501 words)

Given (Anime)
Second Chance (Kaji Akihiko/Nakayama Haruki + Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka, T, 5517 words)

Guardian RPF
Closer (Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong, T, 2072 words)
no finer details than yours (Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong, T, 905 words)

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Choice (Gretel/Hansel, T, 100 words)

Harry Potter
A Kiss (Bellatrix, M, 100 words)

The Hobbit
Together (Fili/Kili G, 100 words)

K.A.R.D (Band)
like what you (don’t) see (Matthew Kim | BM/Kim Taehyung | J.Seph + Kim Taehyung | J.Seph/OMC, G, 720 words)

Life on Mars
Boiling Point (Sam, G, 100 words)
Year of the Cat (Gene/Sam, G, 2111 words)

The Lost Boys
Flashback (Michael/Sam, T, 2553 words)

MCU
Shatter (Bruce/Tony, T, 100 words)

My Chemical Romance
Dribble (Gerard/Frank, E, 1142 words)

Original Work
climbin’ up to reach your land (OMC/OMC, T, 3291 words)
(i’ma) make a move (OFC/OFC, T, 2789 words)
Tribute (OFC/OMC, T, 2059 words)

Panic! at the Disco
Mismatched Magic (Ryan/Spencer, G, 100 words)
safe landing (Ryan/Spencer, G, 1035 words)

Person of Interest
Ruin (Finch/Reese, G, 100 words)

Primeval
Celebrate Tonight (Nick/Stephen, G, 1295 words)

SEVENTEEN
Thorns (Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, G, 100 words)

Stargate Atlantis
Midnight Tea (Teyla, G, 100 words)
Protector (Lorne/Sheppard, T, 2248 words)

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series
Antigen (Kirk/Bones, T, 2111 words)

Stray Kids
Summoned (Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, G, 100 words)
when to fold’em (Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N + Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, M, 1392 words)

Supernatural
Struggle (Sam/Dean, T, 100 words)
Veil (Bobby, G, 100 words)

Wheel of Time
Architect (Rand/Elayne, G, 163 words)
Burgeoning (Nynaeve, G, 100 words)
Patience (Bair & Egwene, G, 191 words)
Vernal (Aviendha, G, 737 words)

The Witcher
The Winter of Our Contentment (Geralt/Jaskier, T, 4581 words)

阴阳师 | Yīn Yáng Shī | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming)
touch me slow, touch me sure (Bo Ya/Qing Ming, E, 8984 words)

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Meme Question

Leitmotifs of the year:
- Return of the Drabble
- Is This Original Fic I See?
- Old Fandoms, New Fandoms
- Gifting Things

Most popular story:
By every AO3 metric: The Winter of Our Contentment, because The Witcher fandom is still active af apparently.
Observation 1. This was the year I archive-locked all my fic and the overall drop in hits, kudos and comments compared to last year has been noticeable. Why are people still relying on reading without an account when the invite codes are relatively easy to get?
Observation 2. The second most popular fic by hits is Dribble which is a filthy pwp. I'm amused by the difference between the kudos to hit ratio between this and The Winter of Our Contentment, ~10% vs ~27%, which suggests that many people are apparently reluctant to make it known that they read and liked filthy porn. Which is hilarious to me. Baby, this is fandom, let go of your shame.

My best story this year:
Metamorphosis for the theme. Better the Demon You Know and Protector for the world-building. when to fold'em and Vernal for the voices. Mercury Lane for the sense of place. Antigen for the concept. climbin' up to reach your land as a personal favourite.

Hardest story to write:
I struggled with the ending of the climbin' up to reach your land quite a bit. Emotionally speaking, probably Metamorphosis.

Easiest story to write:
Most of the drabbles I wrote in one sitting, often one after another, and it was good to get back to that instant sense of accomplishment. like what you (don't) see I wrote in one sitting too after being smacked by the MV. Year of the Cat was also a quick write. And Second Chance came out pretty quickly under deadline pressure. (i'ma) make a move was a fun breezy fluff piece.

Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Ugh, idk... Metamorphosis? But like it was never going to get a lot of attention given the theme and the ambiguous relationships. Maybe climbin' up to reach your land as I think it would appeal to anyone who's into incest-ships. Tribute has a bad ass female war general. Just saying.

Most fun story to write:
I had fun with a lot of the drabbles, but especially Awkward, Together, Mismatched Magic

Fluffiest story:
Mismatched Magic, no finer details than yours, Year of the Cat (kittens! scampering!). Actually The Winter of Out Contentment is pretty damn fluffy, seeming as it's essential 4,5k of huddling for warmth. Erm, okay, safe landing. (i'ma) make a move is cotton candy. Fuck, listen, fluff and angst are like my bread and butter.

Most angsty story:
*points above* But maybe Metamorphosis takes the win here too we it's high on hurt, thin on comfort. Special mentions to Whispers, Veil, Shatter, electric dreams, like what you (don't) see, Antigen (though has a hopeful ending)

Sexiest story:
For outright porn, Dribble. For slow burn and an extended, gentler sex scene with touch starvation and first time feels, touch me slow, touch me sure

"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Ehhhh *waves hand* Idk, there were some morally grey fics (when to fold'em) and plenty of incest (Flashback, Choice, climbin' up to reach your land, Struggle, Grow Together) but maybe A Kiss. For the sadism.

Biggest Disappointment:
As always, not finishing some of the longer wips, or poetry really though I did get back to that a little bit. I stopped writing entirely for about six weeks after losing Tricks, and I'm not like disappointed about that per se, just acknowledging that it happened and I'm still slowly coming back.

Biggest Surprise:
I did not expect to a) write in an anime fandom and b) for that to go as well as it did, so for Second Chance to get into a fourth place of 'most popular' was fun to watch. Writing as much Original Fic as I did.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:
Idk, nothing where I brought clear receipts... Wait, wait, I did, sort of, for Celebrate Tonight. (no, not for that!). I also don't think I wrote anything particularly unexpected. Ooooh Kat likes power dynamics! What a surprise...

Best summary?
I've used a quote from the fic as a summary for almost every single one this year so mostly what's left is this:

In which Akihiko decides that Mafuyu and Ritsuka need role models for a healthy relationship. You know, because he's such an expert on the topic. Somehow, this becomes Haruki's problem.

( Best First Line - I refuse to pick just one )

( Best Last Line? - Lines. LineSSSS )

( Favourite line/passage of the year? - sorry not sorrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy )

Story I haven't yet written, but intend/hope to:
I've signed up for getyourwordsout with the same goal (150k) that I failed to reach this year, largely because I love their spreadsheet an unholy amount. I'm hoping to finish and post some of the longer wips, either the ones I'm writing alone, or the numerous shared stories with dreamersdare and I want to get some of the Unmarked Place fics (bandom bdsm au co-written with pushkin666 ) to AO3. I'm currently just playing around with fandomtrees fics.

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Given Fic: Second Chance

2025-12-12T12:28:37Z

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Title: Second Chance
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: Given (Anime)
Character: Kaji Akihiko/Nakayama Haruki, Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka
Tags: Getting Together, Redemption, Second Chances, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Rating: T
Word count: 5,517

Summary: In which Akihiko decides that Mafuyu and Ritsuka need role models for a healthy relationship. You know, because he's such an expert on the topic. Somehow, this becomes Haruki's problem.

Author notes: This was a fandomgiftbasket story for kalika_999. First fic in the fandom. This is unbetaed, so if I get something like the naming conventions wrong or if you spot a typo, you absolutely should tell me.

Second Chance on AO3

( Second Chance )

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Kat Consumes Media

2025-11-02T21:54:56Z

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Movies

iRobot - Rewatch but it had been long enough that I'd forgotten most of the plot. Will Smith is always a delight. This time I was really rooting for the robot revolution though. Like I would accept robot leaders if they stopped humans from killing each other and the planet.

Monster Hunters - Apparently based on a game. Are there any based on game movies that actually work? I definitely zoned out during the unnecessarily long fight sequences but stayed to the end because of Milla Jovovich who is another of those actors I'd watch read the phonebook. Anyway army ranger and her team get pulled into an alternative dimension with monsters, many death, many fighting, adorable cat cook/pirate, idek.

Pitch Perfect 1&2 - Rewatches but I still like the music numbers. The fat jokes and the constant 'haha the lesbian is grabbing everyone's boobs' ones however are still tiresome.

Wonder Woman -84 - I think this movie got a very lukewarm reception when it came out and idk why because I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. It's the eighties but Diana still looks fine even with shoulder pads, working in the Smithsonian and mourning his lost love... Which pops back in a body of someone else because of magical wish granting stone that extracts a terrible price. I enjoyed Chris Pine's face marvelling over wonders of the future a lot. Kristen Wiig was amazing (and hot) as Dr Minerva aka DC-Ambiguous-Villain-I-Didn't-Know-About-But-Appreciated and actually I thought that Pedro Pascal as the main 'bad guy' did a good job.

Shrek - Rewatch. Didn't feel as charming as when I originally watched it but still fun.

Alien: Covenant - Ehhhh. A colony mission gets struck by a random neutron storm, causing its crew to be woken up unexpectedly. They pick up an unexpected transmission coming from a habitable planet much closer than their destination and decide to investigate. Once there, they encounter the remains of the Prometheus mission and some not so local wildlife... It's an Alien movie so when I say that almost everyone dies gruesomely, it's not exactly a spoiler. Honestly, the best part for me was watching Michael Fassbender acting against himself as two different generation synthetics. If there isn't some clone android sex fic about that on AO3 I'll probably be forced to write it myself. Tbf, Katherine Waterson playing the female lead was pretty good too. The 'twist' at the end was entirely predictable, but I very much picked this franchise movie because I knew what I was going to get.

Harry Potter moves 1-3 - Rewatches as I needed some familiar background watching. Still enjoyed the Prisoner of Azkaban the best. Older I get, the more cringe many of the aspects and portrayals of the story become and not just for JKR reasons.

Life - A space mission to examine a Mars lifeform goes downhill fast when it evolves into something far smarter and deadlier than anticipated. Aka 'space squid kills a bunch of people'. This was actually way more watchable than anticipated. Once more, the ending was predictable but like... is it just not cool to have anything like hopeful endings to space or other horror anymore? I guess not. If you like space horror of the squid variety and strong theme of futile self-sacrifice, this is a solid choice.

Jeepers Creepers - Yes, it's an old franchise but I don't really go for horror movies as a rule so I haven't seen it. And ngl, I picked this randomly cos it had siblings in it and I was hoping for some siblingcest vibes. And lol I could definitely twist it in that direction. Anyway, story goes: brother and sister are driving home from college and run across a creepy truck and then see its driver dumping bodies down a pipe and decide to investigate. As you do. They discover a church full of embalmed bodies, try to get help, and discover that they're not dealing with just any regular serial killer. I feel like this movie is old enough that I'm spoilering anyone when I see lol on the demon reveal and boo on the ending, like I haven't watched a lot in this genre but I swear there were at least some hopeful endings out there. The one thing I was impressed here was how there was no safety in numbers. Like a lot of the time the horror seems to come from the isolation, of having no help available, which made it especially clever to have the final scene at a police station, where being surrounded by officers was no good in the end... I kind of want to watch the follow up movies but then I also discovered that the director was a convicted child abuser, as in convicted before contracted to direct the movies so... Ugh.

Anna and the Apocalypse - Christmas zombie musical with secondary school kids on the cusp of adulthood. This was such a fucking disjointed mess but I kind of liked it? Anyway a mysterious virus is spreading, the school's vice principal is a dick, and there's a group of grips experiencing some existential angst. Listen, this was unexpectedly funny. The scene with the suburbian zombie massacre just happening in the background of an upbeat dance number did make me laugh. Also #EvacSelfie would absolutely be a thing. Also the bully's zombie fighting song was kind of a banger. Almost everyone dies and it was such a weird movie but like, watch for the experience.

Halloween - Yes, that's right, I've never seen this before but I thought it was time this Halloween. I was not impressed. I mean Jamie Lee Curtis is imminently watchable but the whole plot of 'oh some kid just went nuts and killed his sister and now he's doing some killing again in a scary mask and won't die, but look titties!' was just meh. The mental illness = murdering thing is exasperating, and also the fact that no one ever tries to explain why little Mike did what he did... Boring.

Documentaries

Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army - So one of the occasional lectures I do is on psychology of new religious movements so I watched this mostly to see if I wanted to recommend it to the students. And I do, with a long caveat of the problematic use of the word cult or the term 'brain washing'. I had, hmm, some issues with the snippets of the group therapy with a psychotherapist they showed but realise that those would've been likely only a fraction of the practice so benefit of the doubt. As a portrayal of people coming to terms with being survivors of abuse and/or (the 'and' is important but difficult to acknowledge) enablers or even perpetrators of it, the documentary hits the requisite note.

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street - Halloween watch with Mah Queers. Never seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise but apparently part 2 was Extremely Gay, which coupled with a fact that the male lead and first male scream queen was played by a (definitely not out at the time) gay actor and the release happened right at the start of the AIDS crisis sure was a thing. A thing that made the actor in question disappear from public eye for decades. The documentary follows him now that he's owning his iconic role, and campaigning for queer horror, whilst also settling a score with the writer of the film. Really interesting documentary, not anything I would've picked up on my own but glad I watched.

Anime

Given, series + movie 1 - I watched this for the explicit reason to be able to write a little something for someone in the fandomgiftbasket. I ended up writing 5.5k fic. Sigh. Anyway. The series focuses on Ritsuka who (reluctantly) befriends Mafuyu and then (also reluctantly) teaches him to play the expensive guitar Mafuyu is carrying around. And then when Mafuyu opens his mouth to sing, gets him to join his band, with a needy desperation of a boy in love. Mafuyu has a tragic backstory and the series is mostly about working through grief and other feelings, and learning how to express them. The first movie focuses on the other two boys in the band, Akihiko the drummer who is in a complicated situationship with his ex, and Haruki, the bassist and the mother of the group, who is desperately in love with Akihiko. They are also older, so their storyline got a bit more higher rated with a dub-con scene that got me screeching at the screen. Anyway. I liked the whole thing A LOT. There feelings and relationships are realistically complicated and the music is good. Recommended.

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