Name: dreamshadow (Signed) · Date: 11 Mar 2020 06:41 PM · For: (for real)

Kayla! Here for swap 2/3

Naturally I had to pick a fake dating Wolfstar from you next. And I have to give you (and Emma) credit; this 6k never felt long. Truthfully, I wanted more, but given the context of the bet between Remus and Sirius, I can see why you decided to end it where you did.

But backing up! I love that this starts with a casual slip from Remus. It's something so simple and innocent but it works absolutely perfectly for this situation. And of course, James being James, has to go in with the merciless teasing. I do feel kind of bad, though, that Sirius just gets kind of pulled into this situation. Remus seems to be handling himself quite well; he knows all the things to say and do, almost like he's been thinking about this for a while now ;) 

Jeeeez, you'd think James would be a little more supportive of their new-found relationship, but I guess I'd act a little weird if I found out my two best friends had been dating for months in secret. I'm glad he eventually came around when Sirius told him it was for real. 

I was also lowkey hoping there'd be an actual bet running around; like people pooling the money together to see how long they would last or if they were actually dating or something.  

Yes Remus, yes! Kiss him right on the mouth. I like that he's way more put-together about this than Sirius is; Sirius is barely remembering how to function and Remus is right in there, ready and willing to save the day. 

Noo, you boys don't want to go through with step 2. Trust me, you really don't. I like how everything is so carefully planned in this with the various steps of the plan; it really shows their dedication, but Sirius being all flustered about putting it all in practice seems just about perfect to me. 

I'm so glad Sirius finally came around to discover that his feelings for Remus are real, but like, obviously I could've told him that :P I loved the little details and Sirius trying to convince himself while he was really in denial about it all. It's almost like he had himself convinced; almost. 

Ugh thank god they decided not to go through with Step 2. And that Reums was awake and that Sirius blurted out his feelings, because the end was absolutely perfect.

Kayla, this was so great!! I really loved it ♥

Name: LadyMarauder (Signed) · Date: 01 Feb 2020 09:53 PM · For: (for real)

Ok so I love me a fake dating trope, so I clicked on this immediately! This was so funny I was cackling the whole way through it. Drama queen Sirius is my absolute favourite and you write him so well, especially . I LOVED how the whole thing started by just one word and suddenly everyone and their mother is cooing all over them. 

 

I cracked up when in retaliation for all the teasing from James Sirius leaked one of his poems about Lily - because of course James Potter writes bloody poetry (please spin this off, I’d love to read more about that!). 

 

Anyways, his plan was actually quite a good one in theory - with the whole argument break up making everyone feel totally awkward and never bringing it up again - but ultimately it was doomed to fail, especially when Sirius noticed, though it was not “relevant”, that Remus looked pretty adorable with his messy hair and all that - even I was cooing at this point.

 

It was hilarious that James immediately thought they were both doing it to make him pack in his teasing, it’s like he knows Sirius so well. They were pretty revolting though with the playing with the hair and wiping gravy off his face, honestly, no wonder James was getting a bit nervous.

 

OH THE KISS! I know Sirius said they would have to do anything to make it believable, but the plan had only been a plan for five minutes and they were already snogging! James’s reaction was utterly comical. Sirius made him believe the whole thing was real and then make him feel totally bad that he'd taken the piss for weeks that it nearly made him cry. You wrote the dialogue between the two of them brilliantly. I thought Sirius adding on that James might have been a homophobic dickhead and tacking on that he needed to apologise to Remus really sealed it. Poor James, eh! 

 

They actually wrote out the break up. LIKE REALLY WROTE IT OUT like a script. I was cackling by that point. The fact that Remus' furry little problem was off the table and inbreeding was totally on it was just incredible and although I couldn't wait for them to get together properly, I'd love to have seen how that played out. Though it wasn’t long before I got all mushy about Sirius feeling bad about possibly calling Remus boring, especially when he didn’t actually think he was boring, bless him.

 

I loved Sirius finally coming to terms that he really fancied Remus and thought it was really sweet. The ending was so lovely especially because Remus had been pining after him too. I liked that they realised James would never let them live it down if he found out it was all a prank to start with! 

 

Great job as ever!

Name: crestwood (Signed) · Date: 08 Dec 2019 07:10 PM · For: (for real)

Hi kayla! I honestly thought I’d reviewed this one before - it’s one of my favorite on the site. Whenever I’m in the mood for Wolfstar I head to your author’s page and this one caught my eye at some point - so glad that it did. 

I could probably read fake dating stories all day long, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one that began much like this one. I really like that they started fake dating in order to lean into the rumors and get back at James. It’s a ridiculous plan, but you make it make sense in context. 

The beginning scene when Remus calls Sirius love is amazing - I’ve been in that situation where you realize what you’ve said once it’s too late and you did such a good job of painting the situation, especially when they all freeze for a moment. 

Sirius’ constant doubts regarding his feelings towards Remus are portrayed so nicely, scattered throughout the story rather than emphasized too strongly at any one point. I also appreciate that James doesn’t immediately buy into their plan because, as Remus pointed out, he’d be extremely suspicious that he’d never seen any signs before this point. 

I can’t help but laugh once James starts to believe them because Sirius really, really enjoys making him feel terrible about everything. 

The breakup script is an excellent touch - and, of course, Sirius begins to have serious doubts once he sees it laid out in front of him and realizes that things are actually going to do back to normal. (you know, according to the plan that he himself made up) 

I love being in Sirius’ confused mind here - he really did not think through the plan enough - he pictured them going back to normal immediately after their big fight, somehow. He really did skip straight to profit. This is exactly how I imagine his mind working; and honestly maybe I imagine him this way because of how much of your imaginings of him I’ve read. 

I adore the last scene, especially the line “I said ‘for real’ twice, Moony.” You write these characters better than anybody and this might be my favorite of your takes on them. They’re mischievous as always, but they’ve got this really sweet innocence about them as well that I love to read. It’s so comforting and heartwarming and just perfectly written. Such a pleasure to revisit. Thank you for writing!!

Name: Noelle Zingarella (Signed) · Date: 17 Nov 2019 03:45 AM · For: (for real)

Hi Kayla! I’m here for your third prize review :D

 

This is actually the first fake dating fic that I’ve ever read—and I think you’ve really done the trope justice. It was funny, it was sweet, it had the embarrassing moments, it had the tender moments, it had the happy ending—just everything.

 

I remember when you were talking about this prompt in the Gryffindor Tower and I think you pulled off writing the teasing without having it come off as mean. It really seemed like James was delighted to tease someone else rather than always having people teasing him about Lily and it seemed all in good fun. And Sirius seemed to take it as an annoyance and not as something more nefarious. I think you completed keeping it in the fun zone by having James feel so bad when Sirius and Remus convince him that they are actually dating. Having Sirius just flat out ask James if he’s homophobic and then having James feel so honestly bad about the whole thing emphasized that James is a decent guy.

 

Sirius’s progression throughout the story was highly amusing. He starts by being totally focused on is brilliant plan and slowly, without him even noticing, he falls for Remus. There were a lot of moments where I laughed out loud as his feelings for Remus keep trying to make themselves known, but he’s too busy with his plan to admit them. 

 

You also did a fine job of communicating Remus’s feelings about all this, even though the story isn’t from his point of view and Sirius seems oblivious for most of the story how Remus feels. At first, Remus is reluctant to do this play—maybe because he already has romantic feelings for Sirius and he feels uncomfortable being put in this position. But he goes along because that’s just what Remus does. In fact, it seems that whatever Sirius suggests, Remus goes along with for good or ill. And then Remus settles pretty comfortably into the fake dating up to rehearsing the end of it. And when Sirius finally figures out what he really wants Remus is ready to make the fake relationship real.

 

I wonder if James ever finds out the whole truth.

 

Nice work! Thank you for entering my challenge :D

 

Yours,

Noelle

Name: nott theodore (Signed) · Date: 16 Jul 2019 10:13 PM · For: (for real)

Kayla!  Here for the HC finale (and also because I owe this story a review).

 

I probably don't need to tell you again that I loved this story, but here I am to tell you exactly that: I loved this!  I honestly don't think that anyone could have made Remus and Sirius fake-dating work like this, but you, as always, know these characters so well and it was so much fun to read this story.  Plus we actually got to see a fun, happy ending for them for once, yay!  Fluffy feels from a Wolfstar by Kayla!

 

What a perfect start to them beginning to fake date.  Honestly, Remus, could you be any less subtle?  I love that his slip of the tongue (yeah, like he didn't WANT to call Sirius that already) just causes James to take the mickey out of the two of them so much, because of course James would react like that, and then Sirius - oh yes, what a great plan, we'll pretend to date each other so that James just shuts up, there's absolutely no way that this could end any differently than James just stopping teasing us, is there?

 

These boys are oblivious.

 

I have to say though, Sirius's plan kind of worked.  It did get James off his back about the whole you-and-Remus-are-secretly-in-love thing, and the other positive side effect has to be that they actually realised they had feelings for each other?

 

Ugh, there's so much about this that I loved, I could probably just quote the whole story back to you.  But I really liked the way that you built this romance up between them, and them slowly realising the feelings that they had for each other in the midst of this bizarre situation where they're pretending to date because of James's (and everybody else's) teasing.  I loved the humour that you balanced this out with - mostly with how oblivious Sirius, especially, was about his feelings - and the way that they transitioned from being friends to being boyfriends in this.  They already know each other so well and those feelings for each other have clearly been buried for a while (or not so buried in Remus's case - "love" (side note: making fun out of Northerners is the lowest form of humour, James, and only rooted in jealousy)) so reading this, it just seemed so natural that those feelings would start coming out in these circumstances.

 

My favourite thing was probably Sirius's methodical, four step plan that he dreams up at the beginning of this and then his realisation that, although it's going perfectly to plan, he doesn't actually want to follow the plan anymore.  That scene was just brilliantly written (like everything you write, of course) and of course the fluffiness of the ending, when they admit their feelings for each other and there's happiness for once - eeeeee!

 

(I loved this, which you should probably know by now, but just in case you wanted to hear it again.)

 

Sian :)

Name: down-in-flames (Signed) · Date: 11 Jul 2019 02:45 AM · For: (for real)

hi kayla - here with your challenge review!

 

i just… I love your narration style in fluffy fics like, so much?? i feel like i’ve said that a lot about remus in of bookshelves and baby carriers, and it bears repeating here: sirius’ narration and internal thought process is nothing short of fantastic and incredibly entertaining. and his complete denial of his feelings - “It was not that he thought that Remus looked adorable, because that would be a very strange thing for him to think, and he therefore certainly wasn't thinking it.” - is so adorably, because you just know exactly how this is going to end. plan b is essentially is doomed from the start.

 

but even if the plan is doomed from the start, it’s entirely worth it for all of james’ reactions in this. like, I just love that he’s stuck alternating between these moments of terror that they’re actually dating and he’s been teasing them about something that’s actually real, then realizing that they’re just messing with him, and switching back to terror again.

 

and i’m back to harping on how much I love sirius again, because all of his reactions when remus kisses him in the middle of the great hall are just EXCELLENT. he just goes slightly catatonic and leaves remus to be the one to deal with james and peter (which is a fun turn of events, given that at the start of this whole teasing thing, it was remus that kept freezing and getting awkward and *sirius* was the one who was still mostly functional).

 

the conversation with james is great - I think it shows a lot about their friendship that james is so suddenly torn up that he’s realised it was “real” and he’s thought it was just a funny joke about remus’ choice of language instead of actually referencing them dating. (also, it must be mentioned, because i’m a jily disaster: I love all the casual references to james getting soppy over lily and writing her love poems and all that - an excellent little detail.)

 

“These were all perfectly normal things to think about your friends in a situation like this one, in Sirius's opinion.” lol no buddy you’re just head over heels in love and are like five paragraphs from that realisation most likely. 

 

it’s also so remus that he’d literally write a script for their breakup. that just 100% strikes me as completely in line with his character.

 

sirius’ inner monologue as he’s trying to sort out why he’s dreading step 2 so much is honestly just perfect, he’s just going and going and going and then… OH. “He was an idiot who was in love with Remus Lupin and was now going to have to publicly break up with him in less than 24 hours. Shit.” just… an excellent line all-around.

 

but then he gets into remus’ bed and OH MY GOD they’re both just these wonderfully awkward idiots who are both completely in love with each other and it’s SO OBVIOUS. and i’m just quoting this line from sirius because I just love it so much "I said ‘for real' twice, Moony, I don't know how else I can - mmph!" this ending is just great and exactly the level of fluffy happiness i needed.

 

anyways, if it wasn’t obvious by the mildly-incoherent rambly review, I adored this. thanks so much for entering my challenge! <3

 

-taylor

Name: justawillowtree (Signed) · Date: 19 Jun 2019 06:45 PM · For: (for real)

AHHHHHHH THIS STORY.

 

OKAY BUT FIRST I’VE BEEN SAVING THIS ONE FOR YOUR LAST PRIZE REVIEW BECAUSE I READ THE SUMMARY AND GOT SUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT. I’ve also just read the Fake Dating prompt that you got and wow it sounds amazing and I am very hyped to read this one-shot. It’s also a fairly long one-shot, too, so that’s even better! I get more Wolfstar that way haha.

 

This story is amazing. There are so many quality things about it, such as the hilarious narration style [“It was not that he thought that Remus looked adorable, because that would be a very strange thing for him to think, and he therefore certainly wasn't thinking it” is the funniest thing I’ve read all year], and the amazing bluffing skills of Sirius Black [“That Sirius managed to kiss him back within a few seconds, rather than freezing or flailing out of shock, was nothing less than a testament to his amazing pranking skills” because of course there’s no possibility of Sirius liking Remus, none at all].

 

I am the hugest fan of fake-dating fics, and what I love about this one is that the set-up is so convincing. Like, it’s utterly ridiculous that like a series of jokes from James will get the whole of Gryffindor House believing that Sirius and Remus are dating, but also somehow incredibly believable? Because of course the Marauders will get into this situation. I want to believe that this fic actually happened, because the whole thing is amazing. (I keep saying that but it’s true!)

 

And I just love all the thickheadedness from Sirius, how he can’t tell that all these feelings are really romantic feelings towards one of his best friends. It’s funny yet also quite endearing, especially when he finally figures it out at the end. And when he did!! IT WAS SO CUTE. I was basically flailing from happiness when he went over to Remus’s bed and asked if he could sit with him for a bit.

 

Also, I laughed. A lot. This is actually the perfect type of fluffy story to get me through a difficult day, so I definitely think I’ll be returning to this story when I’m low. <3

 

ONE MORE THING. One of the funniest things was how Sirius managed to convince James that he was accidentally a “homophobic dickhead,” as Sirius put it, and the truly flabbergasted reaction that James had. I do feel slightly bad because at this point Sirius didn’t even really realize that he liked Remus, so James felt the soulcrushing guilt for nothing haha, but it was still really amusing.

 

Also, some more of my favorite lines (this story is filled with great one-liners):

- “See, half of Gryffindor house had decided that it was very hilarious to pretend that Remus and Sirius were a couple. Going steady. Betrothed.” (Going steady to betrothed is the funniest jump)

- “Honestly, in Sirius's opinion, this was all very inappropriate behaviour for the Head of House to be partaking in. What was he going to do, though, report James to himself?”

- “However, since he had to do those things, it helped that Remus was actually, as it turned out, a very good kisser.”

- “*Note: This is a guide, not a script - we are both free to improvise, as long as we steer clear of Banned Topics.” (Oh, Remus)

 

Anyway. That’s it for now. I really, really loved this story. Thank you for writing it! <3

 

Love,

Eva

Name: crowsb4bros (Signed) · Date: 17 Jun 2019 08:38 PM · For: (for real)

Hiiiii! I’m so excited to stop by this story!

First impressions: I love that you used the ??? profit meme. I prepared myself for the likelihood of painful, sweet, sweet angst, but IT’S NOT A GENRE LISTED?! Unheard of!

Somehow I highly doubt the validity of the claim that all (or even most) of Sirius’s plans are brilliant. I wonder if there might be a reason why everyone is giving them grief about each other? Hmmm

The start of this is insanely cute. Just a simple slip of the tongue. Heartbeats racing. Awkwardness ensuing. Perfect. Remus turning bright red and stammering when confronted about it is the cutest. This is all just so cute I’m dying here.

I love Plan A backfiring. Poor James, having his art distributed. Also I like you using the word ‘leaked’ for the poetry getting out. I imagine him trying to stealthily plant the poetry around the Gryffindor tower until someone finally picks it up.

I’m sure he doesn’t think Remus is adorable at all! :p

Lol of course Sirius has no limits on what they can do to ‘convince’ Gryffindor they are in love.

“Do homework” is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Peter dialogue is the best dialogue. He’s genuinely so funny to me and so often negected and overlooked completely.

 

The call out line about how they’ve been so supportive that Remus and Sirius no longer had to hide their feelings was honestly perfect. You write expressions so well. I truly felt like I could picture James's guilt and shock all rolled together.

I’m living for James’s reaction when he finally believes them after the kiss. He’s so sweet and flustered and apologetic. Wonderful. I’d like to know how Lily was about it all. Did she care? Did she suspect it all along?

I just really enjoy watching Sirius rationalize all the normal friend stuff like cuddling and kissing. Here’s the thing though. I could do without Step 2. What if we just fake date forever? Fake dating could turn into fake marriage and fake kids and fake grandkids.

The Nearly Headless Nick affair had me legit dying.

Okay, I love real dating so much more. This whole thing was so precious and perfect. I loved it. I think the pacing was just right and we moved from plan to plan, step to step perfectly. This was such a great read! Thanks for sharing it!