thatrcooper: (golightly)

So due to a cold and depression I was in bed waaay too long this morning, and daydreaming about how Raf getting Chico to move in with him was SUCH A BIG DEAL. Like, it probably took over a year of dating and Chico admitting that Davi could probably use the money from a real tenant for Chico to finally finally “move in.” –All his stuff was there already. He probably had claimed a room for his fabric and sewing machine and everything sometime in the first six months of dating.

And Raf had never lived with anyone in that sense before, and Chico was nervous he would lose himself again, so for like another few months it was very strange before they both finally settled into it and relaxed.

But also, the second Raf got Chico in his house?? For real? You know he bought a ring.

And then Chico’s nerves and their period of adjustment made him realize he should maybe play it cool and wait a little longer.

But a few months of hiding the ring and Chico finds it.

And then is another BIG DEAL. Because whoa would Chico panic. And be delighted. But also panic. Because how long has Raf wanted this and not said??? He’s a big strong Chico, he could have handled this (no he could not). And there is a big of a tempest in a teacup, and they sort of end up in this place where Raf keeps the ring, and it’s kind of unspoken that at some point, Raf is going to actually ask Chico to marry him. And they both know it. But he’s going to wait until Chico seems ready.

Which is great. It’s what Chico wants. Totally. Except… now he’s thinking about being married to Raf and now he sort of… wants it. But Raf isn’t asking, and Chico can’t tell if now Raf is messing with him by not asking,or if he is not getting all the clues Chico is throwing his way–which seems impossible because sweetie baby Chico has his feelings all over his face all the time, and Raf reading Chico’s emotions is like Raf’s second favorite thing in the world. Raf is probably gun shy, because of the last time they talked about it. Which Chico gets.

But also… he wants that ring. He wants it on his finger.

So eventually, with after much frustrated discussion with Davi, he would go out and buy a ring (on a payment plan, he’s not rich but he wants something nice) and oh lord holding a ring and waiting to propose is so nerve-wracking, why didn’t anyone warn him? But he keeps it in his pocket a whole day, and watches Raf teach kids (and he is so GOOD ugh Chico cannot handle it) and then they are alone in the studio at night, and Chico’s in the sewing room.

That’s his strong, safe place.

And Raf comes in to get him for the walk home (home. Chico cannot believe he resisted that idea for so long) and Chico pretends to be sketching because he can’t manage words, but his hands are shaking, so before Raf can ask what’s wrong, he takes out the little box and slides it across the desktop toward him and anyway that was my happy thought this morning you are welcome. 

thatrcooper: (golightly)
Q: Prompt: You can ask me a millions times, I will NOT wear tights with a back seam again. I do not care if my clothes don't match the christmas tree. *Legit conversation I heard when my cousin phoned his boyfriend, but he wouldn't explain, although he blushed a red so deep we thought he'd die of embarrassment for real. Care to do it for him?*
Asked by: Anonymous

“No. Nope. Nao,” Chico hissed into the phone, desperate enough to use one of the twenty Portuguese words he knew. Raf, of course, only sighed dramatically in his ear.

“But they’ll match the tree. It’s for charity, Chico, and you have such pretty legs.”

“I DO NOT HAVE PRETTY LEGS!” Chico snapped back immediately, in order to avoid all the warm, happy feelings in his middle at the compliment. He glanced down at his legs, though, currently encased in jeans, and then up, into the faces of his sister and mother. Camille had wide eyes.

Chico turned around toward the corner and held his phone closer to his face.

“Chico…” Raf whined. Which was dangerous, because he never actually meant it when he whined. It was more like a funny voice he did to make Chico smile, and it was not working, dammit. It would not work.

“No. I don’t mind dressing as an elf. And I don’t mind the burlesque look–” he stopped at the scoffing sound Raf made, because Chico had spent days lovingly adding details to the corsets and bustiers of the drag queens of the Boozy Cherries for their charity Christmas review, and yes, Raf knew that. He also knew Chico had made himself a pretty holly green and crimson elf jacket for the occasion.

And a jaunty hat. But that didn’t mean anything.

“But I draw the line at burlesque elf!”“ He finished his thought in a furious whisper.

“They’re short ticket takers. Come on, Chico. It’s for a good cause and you know it.” Raf was using his coaxing voice now. It wasn’t fair. “I’ll do it if you do it.”

“Ha!”Chico tried to laugh, but his throat was suddenly dry at the thought of Raf’s dancer’s body in black silk stockings with a back seam. “Oh God,” he said aloud. “Thats not the same. You were in ballet. You’re used to tights. Your ass is–”

His sister coughed–loudly–behind him.

Chico made a strangled sound and was not amused when Raf laughed, warm and pleased. “My ass is yours, if you do this”

“It’s mine anyway,” Chico grumbled at him, okay yes, a little warm and pleased himself. But he was standing firm on this. “The stockings are pretty, okay, but I have twig legs and do you know how hard it is to keep a back seam straight?”

“If you’re asking me to keep an eye on your backside for you, I’ll happily obey,” Raf offered softly, setting Chico’s face on fire. He tried to squeeze more of his body into the corner. “And I don’t think your legs are twigs at all. I mean, just last night you had them wrapped around my waist and I thought–”

“YES OKAY. JUST SHUT UP NOW!” Chico shouted at him, wanting to hear more and absolutely mortified at the same time.

Raf, evil, beautiful man, just chuckled.

update

Jun. 15th, 2016 10:33 pm
thatrcooper: (charlie and will)
Look, I, uh, am supposed to be doing this promotion stuff right now. There's a lot to promote. However, to be perfectly honest, with all the crying/raging/feeling sick to my stomach I've been doing all week, I don't have the energy to do it well or without feeling tacky as shit.

But, at the same time, what I've been doing for the past few days is talk about stories and discuss online comics and analyze every single moment of books/pairings/series I love with other people, and... the distraction helps. Or maybe that's how some writers and book nerds and daydreamers deal with horrible things.

I mean, I was shouting at and then blocking assholes online for a while there. And then crying with friends, and just... yeah. But for some of us, fantasy is a weird coping mechanism. Making up headcanons about characters who aren't mine, and being silly stupid in love with all of them, and imagining how their stories might play out is just... so oddly comforting.

So to make my publisher happy, and also maybe for anyone who wants to know, or just likes fantasy romance as a distraction, I'm just going to list some promotional stuff today. Not-quite Arthur style.


This weekend (June 17-19) Dreamspinner is offering three of my titles (Dancing Lessons, Play It Again Charlie, and Wicklow's Odyssey) for 99 cents (each? I think?) on the new Dreamspinner website. (Of those, Wicklow's Odyssey is the one I like to make up headcanons about the most. Idk why. But Charlie and Will have so many AU versions of them)

Next week, A Dandelion for Tulip comes out. I got my paperbacks in the mail today. I'd completely forgotten about them. So, June 24th, all the fluffy, yearning boy-meets-fairy you can stand. Book Six in the Being(s) in Love series.

Speaking of, Dreamspinner just today accepted what will be Book Seven. Treasure for Treasure. Yes. That is the one involving the sugarbaby dragon. :)

I wrote a short story/novella and will self publish it soon. I'm just waiting on a cover, and then a bit more free time so I can format it. Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter will probably go on sale on Smashwords and Amazon for a short amount of time, and then just Amazon for a while.

What else? (All this stuff happens at once) Oh, the Beings series is going to be translated into French, apparently. That's cool.

I will be messing about on my Tumblr for the weekend after Tulip comes out, as usual, if people want to join/bug me. :)

And oh. I am doing a blog tour (Which, now that I've done it, I'm not sure I would do it again. It's like speed dating in author bio form, and I am much too awkward for things like that.) But, here are the dates for my posts. Some of the sites might do reviews as well? I'm not really sure how it all works.

June 17 - MM Good Book Reviews
June 23 - Alpha Book Reviews
June 24 - Divine Magazine
June 26 - Love Bytes
June 28 - The Novel Approach
June 30 - Long and Short Reviews


Yes, I did a different post for each one. And no, they probably don't make much sense. Especially toward the end. But there are some excerpts and me musing about fairies and shine and why I write the Beings, and things like that.


So I hope everyone is safe, and can find something somewhere to give them comfort. if it's my cheese, that's awesome, but if it isn't, I get that too.

And now I leave you with the cover, because these sweet, romantic fools are so not my usual dorks at all.

thatrcooper: (Default)
So.... I got a little obsessed with something I was working on and disappeared again. It's a thing I do, and it's how the stories Come to Be, but if you ever want to bug me or just pop in and lurk to see what I am doing, you can always go check out my Tumblr. Sweetfirebird

Lots of randomness happens over there in the strange lands of tumblring. Mostly I reblog geeky things, or fannish things, or ranty liberal things, and in between I make comments about what I am currently working on. Also people sometimes Message me or send me Asks about book stuff, which you are all always free to do. (You could also do this on Goodreads, or here, or Facebook, but that seems to be pretty rare. And I don't think LJ even notifies me about messages. Sigh.) Anyway. The Tumblr. You can even ask stuff anonymously if you want.

All right. Now. back to deets, which is very important they tell me.

The next book in the Being(s) in Love series is coming out at the end of June. A Dandelion for Tulip is released on June 24th. What's it about? Well, there is a doctoral student named David, who is so very much in love with a fairy named Tulip. But, Tulip doesn't date humans.

Of course, there's a reason for that. But poor David doesn't know it. And he isn't going to ask, because of some past heartbreak of his own. It's, um, a little awful, to be the kind of noble, pure soul who attracts Beings and who shines in every fairy's eyes. (I mean, ask Arthur. He'll tell you. It means more than you being nice or kind, it means you are brave enough to continue trying to be a good person, and that... is one of the most painful things you can do. The shiny ones are in such need of a fairy's care. It's a shame that some fairies are incapable of staying for long, but can make you feel like they might.)

So, um, yes, much pining. Light yearning and bittersweet feelings and longing and *Valentine's Day* and uuggghhhh.

Also, a bit more on North American (American) fairy culture. Because I'm sure everyone has been wondering what the hell fairies do amongst themselves, right?

A Dandelion for Tulip

(Also, I should point out for those own/want to own the paperbacks, the paperback preorders are on sale right now.)


Aaaaanyway. I submitted my sugarbaby dragon to DS and I'm waiting to hear back. So that would be the next Being(s) novel if they like it. Dragons!

In other Beings news. The Little Wolf audiobook is available on Audible. Apparently, it is 19 hours long (hotchi motchie!) and from what I've been told, the narrator had complete fun with it. I, of course, turn into a weird anxious baby when it comes to things like that and can't actually listen to the audiobook.

(If audiobooks *are* your thing, however, Dancing Lessons is now also available in audiobook form, also at Audible. And no, I haven't listened to it either. Someone tell me if it has a soft Chico.)

And, uh, I just finished something that was going to be a short something, but of course went a little longer because it's me. I hope to put it up on Amazon soon. Basically... me rereading my beloved LMM short stories, and thinking, oh wouldn't one of those be great, but set now, and queer, and maybe a bit kinky? Hmm. Not sure I succeeded there, but I did try. That should count for something.


And now for something completely different:

On a personal note, as someone who does NOT like discussing private matters (and who considers almost everything private), and who is also intensely anxiety ridden in social situations, I have a very small group of real llife and in person (not internet) friends, and one of them, knowing me, and just being supportive and lovely in an unspoken way, sent me a link to the Pride Converse. And while I have issues with commercialism in general and in this area, (and pieces of canvas costing $60-70) I also love Converse, and am one of those demi/bi what-have-yous--which is obvious if you know me, but not something I really talk about for the above reasons (and you know, to be left alone at work and not have my hours reduced etc). Anyway, the link was intended as a 'I know. I love you. And these shoes are cool, you could maybe get some?') and I am just so pleased and have been quietly atwitter about it all day today. So. Sharing.

NOW LET'S NEVER TALK ABOUT IT AGAIN. FEELINGS? WHAT ARE THEY? I DO NOT KNOW.

I am going to put more cherries in my ginger ale and read silly hockey boys in love.

More updates when I know more. :)
thatrcooper: (sleepy holly by holly_ita)
Sorry, everyone! I did the thing where I wanted to finish what I was working on, and I basically just did that and the day time job full time nonstop until it was done.

Which it is now. Although I am forcing myself to take a break before I edit. This is very difficult for us obsessive types, but it Must Be Done. (Or so they say.) I suppose I should attend to all those real world errands and necessities I was putting off in the meantime. Oops.

But you know, adorable sugarbaby of a dragon and his sensitive artist treasure. Like, I HAD to finish them. (And then I got mentally sidetracked a bit by some of the additional characters and randomly paired them up even if they don't speak to each other in the story aaaah the things my brain does.)

Anyway. So while I was finishing Joe and Zarrin's story (Treasure for Treasure is a good title, right? Adorable.) I got some other news. Dancing Lessons will be getting an audiobook! I think I was told it would be released in June. Or July. :) Either way, that is awesome. I also got to see the cover for A Dandelion for Tulip, the next in the Being(s) in Love series. Sadly, no nakedness on the covers, so this fairy will be dressed. (He wouldn't normally be, though. Just fyi. Tulip is like the old kind of fairy. The kind in story books.)

I wish I had more to say. My brain is still in Everlasting right now though. (Everlasting being the town that belongs to dragons. Not that there are any dragons around anymore, except one. The youngest dragon is the soft-hearted disgrace of the family, but determined to show the humans they have not been forgotten... okay... one human in particular at first and then the rest of the humans. One pretty human who he can barely get to talk to him. Which is so distressing. How does one talk to humans? What does it mean when they frown at you and give you presents? Why will the pretty human not accept *his* presents?  Humans are so maddening.)

Hopefully, I will have more concrete information in at my next update. And maybe snippets or something now that I can take a small break for some fun stuff. (I wish I had more dragons, because creating a sub-series within the beings series called The Dragons of Everlasting would be amazing.)
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