i had this fic on hold for the longest time bc i knew i'd be in for such a wild ride, it had been long since i sat down and read a modern au longfic in one sitting, esp for kzx!! when i saw this au teased awhile ago on twt on my tl, i was super super ecstatic as a another dedicated kzx fan deprived of content. i cried with xiao, got upset with xiao, and was absolutely overjoyed with his development. and the fic delivered so hard, it blew me out of the water. i could rant about xiao, kazuha, their baseball career, and literally everyone here but, to sum it all up, this was phenomenally written!!
i know little to nothing about baseball, but i loved your descriptions and the details were impeccable. i just adored how xiao had gone through various stages of coming to terms with what was happening in his life and accepting what was going to be next. when they made their amends, he'd finally accept himself for who he really was: a kid who genuinely loved playing and then dealing with the fallout of what had happened afterwards, and grew up as a hardened adult. his development throughout the fic, coupled with the realization that his feelings for kazuha was never fleeting was so satisfying to witness!
i kept standing up from my seat to punch the air whenever kzx had their cute lil moments, kept pausing to stop myself and let my tears fall when said consequences for actions happened, etc. it was that intense!!!! i love the tidbits of sideplots going on, mingyun's relationship being the catalyst to xiao finally being comfortable enough to pursue what he genuinely wanted to do, the presence of xiao's friends and family having their own moments outside of the central plotline, and even how all the characters that cameoed in a fic can make that much of a difference! it just felt so...whole and fulfilling(?) and makes the whole world felt lived in, if that made sense.
a genuine underrated dynamic in this fic was xiao and ganyu. he was so focused and dedicated on his dream, yet always trying to best for her when she would praise his performance, so there was that unwavering supportive sibling aspect to them both, even during some of the peak of xiao's turmoil. ganyu thank you for being xiao's and kzx's diehard supporter, im forever in love with you, xiao is your sister single
personally im a SUCKER for all!xiao content, so imagine my surprise and delight reading through how MESSY heixiao were!! the bitterness and petty scheming was honestly chef's kiss, i could almost feel how sour i would be seeing my ex situationship on a date with another person LOL glad that kzx still were a surefire endgame after so long... honestly though, the sheer amount of build up, pining, and tiptoeing for all these chapters makes the payoff soooo worth it!!!!
there was just SO. MUCH. more i could gush over, but i feel like the best thing i can say is i'm looking forward to whatever next thing you'll whip up because i know the quality is just through the roof! truly an amazing, fulfilling fic and you've definitely reignited a thirst i hadn't felt in forever! i'm stoked to see you rock the boat with your upcoming work(s) too!!!
this comment was so good i had to reread it twice (will probably reread it in the future). thank you so much for the long comment ... i can't begin to express how this just made my day!! ive been a fan of kzx for so long so this really was my love letter for the ship after like close to 2 years of silence on my ao3 account, and it brings me so much joy to know that other fans enjoy the story as much as i do!!!
a huge point i wanted this fic to have is xiao's character development outside of the pairing since all previous kazuxiao stories mostly focused on the relationship, which is why the plot ended up being so convoluted and 100k+ words long ... he's my all-time favorite character, so the character study was just me gushing over how incredible and messy xiao could be given the circumstances of this world LOL i'm definitely with you over how satisfying it was to finally make them kiss and get together. ive never written kazuxiao rivalry before so it was super fun having them tease each other, mess up as teenagers and make up once they were adults.
i love adding other side characters and ships into my fics, it's a thing i've been doing for a long time! to me, it's both feeding myself content and also exploring their possible dynamics, like for mingyun and heixiao for example! i was worried i dragged it out with their little side plots, but i think you put it perfectly when you said they made the world just more lived in. and yes i am such a sucker for xiao and ganyu's sibling relationship to me... they mean the absolute world to me and are each other's rocks !!!! i didn't expect her to become such a huge character in this fic but i think xiao really needed it to get his shit together lolol
thank you once more for this comment, again it makes me so happy knowing other kzx fans loved it since we're such a small community !! longfics can be intimidating so thank you so much for giving it a chance and leaving a brilliant review, i'll hold it close to my heart! im currently working on a heixiao fic, but trust that there will be more kazuxiaos in the future!!! viva la kzx amen!
Comment on is it really a homerun if i'm not running to you?
xiaopervert (userhoax) on Chapter 6 Wed 22 Jan 2025 09:01PM UTC
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akinaluvr on Chapter 6 Thu 23 Jan 2025 07:58AM UTC
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