“Stay” takes place in a future canon-compliant timeline within the My Hero Academia universe and follows Izuku Midoriya, who has been studying and working overseas to become a better hero. Armed with a lot more knowledge and experience, he returns to his home and even partners back up with his old hero partner, Red Riot.
This fic is my current Mangum Opus (as of July 2021). It was by far the largest fic by both popularity and sheer word count that I have ever written.
Heads up: spoilers for this fic are ahead. Read “Stay” on AO3 if you haven’t already!
About the ship(s)
KiriDeku is one of those ships that just inspire me to write. I really enjoy how compatible they would be in a romantic relationship with each other. They both have insecurities but are both very hyped for their fellow classmates as I’m sure they would be with each other.
Bakugou and Todoroki are the side ship of the story. I wanted to write good representation for aro and ace characters. Bakugou is aroace and Todoroki is alloace in this story. I really wanted them to serve as a good example couple or big brother figures for Izuku and Eijirou.
My writing experience with “Stay”
I started writing “Stay” last October, planning out how I wanted the entire story to run. I had 10 chapters planned out and wrote the first chapter to be published in November 2020.
I had originally thought that having the main story beats mapped out would make writing a multi-chapter fic easier. It turns out that that wasn’t the case. I ended up pivoting the plot a few times because what I had planned didn’t seem to line up with how I felt the story was going. I hope to incorporate some of the scrapped story beats in future one-shots or multi-chapter fics.
One of the main struggles I experience with my own writing style is lack of descriptors. I come from a technical background and as such, my writing tends to be straight and to-the-point. So, to express the scene I’m seeing in my head in words that are enjoyable to read, fitting of the mood, and accurate is a struggle for me. This is one part of my writing that I didn’t like in this fic, and I hope I can get better at it the more I write and read.
Cool Technology
I’m a programmer for my day job, and I enjoy building things that are useful to me every once in a while. Sometimes I wonder if I’m a glutton for punishment, but I try not to think about it too much. Anyway, “Stay” was the first story where I used an AO3 Work Skin for custom CSS.
CSS is what makes websites look interesting, giving elements on a webpage, a specific shape, color, and feel. I used it style a text message block to look like a screenshot.
If you would like to use this in your own fics, I’m working on a project that may be of interest to you. More information will be coming in the future.
Interested in more?
I plan on writing more KiriDeku fics in the future, so keep an eye out for those. I post all my fics to my AO3. You can also see what I have brewing on my Fanfiction Updates Page
If you like podfics, I will be recording a podfic version of “Stay” chapter-by-chapter as time permits.
If you want to know anything about me, my headcanons, “Stay”, or anything else, ask me a question on Tumblr