Originally posted by: putturani
RES!! Mina, I was about to have a lazy Sunday but when I saw you updated Hookup I HAD to jump out of bed and start reading it!
UN RES! Okay first things first lady, take a frikkin bow! Not just for the fic, which was fantastic but I'll get to that, but for the sheer amount of hard work and persistence it took to get here. If you're anything like me (which I think you are a little) it's so hard to persist with one thing when so many ideas are floating around in your head but here we are! 👏👏
Now on to the fic. I'm intrigued by the direction it's going in. So they're going to be "friends with benefits" now, are they? Let's see how this works out for them. 😆 Every FWB situation I've ever seen has either ended up in love or tears and I think I know how this one might 😉 I'm excited that you said the rest is going to be very banter-filled because I'm excited to see their feelings develop through intelligent banter - so hot!
Morning After:
Loved Pragya's reaction! She's just so happy with what happened, I found that cute. 😃
Hahaha that part about the old wives tale was so weird and funny
I also like that the writing style was half your usual fic style and half your drabble style (for the SMSes)
And these lines were just hilarious:
"10:52 AM My boyfriend was very hot so he was a stud. And he was sweet like a muffin."
"2:23 PM Round two isn't really necessary. I got what I wanted."
"10:36PM ...It's your job to make that happen."
🤣🤣 Loving Sassy!Prags
I really also like how you described Pragya's feelings about shedding (not losing) her virginity. You change from the usual narrative of loss to something more empowering.
I also liked Pragya's prediction of how BB would react - "in no time she would've worked herself into a hysterical fit, convinced that Abhi had somehow taken advantage of her Di again." 🤣 So Bulbul, and so me! Bulbul's got her mother's genes sometimes. And I know I would have reacted like this if I were in her place. 😳
And she also didn't really want to talk about that night. It just...meant too much. Even to Bulbul, she couldn't put everything about her incredible experience into words. - YES! Good. How do you explain that, esp to little sisters?
And ooh ominous looks like Prags is leaving Mumbai soon. But knowing you, you will have him follow her there rather than Pragya stay behind. 😆
I also liked the entire bit when you explore Pragya's trust in Abhi and how she finds it so easy to be with him because he has no stake anymore. On point!
"The combination of passion and tenderness was new for him, and he found it surprisingly to his taste. And to think that he'd found complete satisfaction with Chashmish, who'd had no experience and no skill - he almost couldn't believe it."
😳😃
But stupid Abhi STILL thinks all he can offer is no-strings-attached sex - yeah right! Looking forward to seeing THAT explode in their faces.😆 Already Abhi is feeling wayy too much affection towards her.
The sex was hot, hot hot! Especially when he is fingering her and she is more gratified by his reaction to her than his actual actions. 😳 And when he tries to get her to say exactly what she wants! Haaayyee ☺️ Everything is already screaming that they mean more to each other than they'd each like to admit.
But what I really loved was that passage towards the end when Pragya seriously considers whether she should go ahead with him. You outlined all the considerations she should have (and us readers have too) and then dealt with them so convincingly - "for once things would be equal between them".
Well done Minaji! *bows*
Oh god grasshopper tell me I replied to this on WA at the time? because to think i didn't reply to such thoughtful feedback makes me very with myself indeed!! i mean i know you won't care but phir bhi...!
accha chaalo let's take up these points now.
"feelings developing through banter" - omg can we add this on to my life goal/writing philosophy that you already helped me articulate?
"my goal in life is to write consciously feminist romance novels which always valorize affirmative consent, feature desi/desi-background characters as protagonists, use humor as a dominant mode, and specifically use banter to show emotional development"
Tall order or helpful recipe? Idk, only time will tell 😆
Eeeps I just realized you now know a lot of answers to your questions...slaked your suspense or re-ignited it, I'm not sure? I would apologize but I'm not sorry, sharing things with you brings me much peace of mind and helps me keep writing, so...! 😛
I'm glad you found Pragya's happiness cute! It's the only way I can bear to imagine anyone's first morning after - with happy goofy smiles and cute contentment in those first moments. Maybe it can all go to pieces right after than but if there isn't that initial burst of delight at dawning a new day in a happily-no-longer-virgin way...I cannot fully approve of the night that led up to it!!
As for shedding virginity, this is a piece of rhetoric we should probably discuss in detail elsewhere if we haven't already (I forget? 😕). For a long time I absolutely rebelled against the narrative of "losing" virginity - as if it's something that could be found, as if it's something one should feel bereft of, as if it's something one is supposed to carry with one always?!!! Like "shedding" makes more sense to me because I see it as a fact of life, a natural process. Most people will have sex at some point in their life. Ideally as a conscious, enthusiastic, deliberate, mature choice. Which is definitely how I've written it for Pragya. And in that case it's not losing anything, but moving forward. So "shedding" gestures to the notion of "leaving behind" rather than "losing."
And I could go on about that but it probably suffices? 😆
Bulbul as mini-Sarla!! HAILA THE FIC POSSIBILITIES OMG. Now my brain is branching into a completely different direction, wanting to dissect the relative Sarla-ness of each of her daughters...Rani mujhe KKB essays likhna hai...😲
LMAO omg one thing I never considered...I imagine Bulbul and Prags to have an age difference roughly similar to mine and my sister. And even in six years when I am Pragya's age and she is (almost) my current age I cannot imagine discussing hookup details with her...a dynamic I never considered, because BB-Prags are not real life sisters after all! And it really seems like Prags would not have had other confidantes...but anyway yeah. That wasn't a reason that I consciously had in mine for why Prags wasn't more open to Bulbul but it does work.
And uff thank you for saying Prags' motivations are convincing...I can but try...😳😆
Merci beaucoup Rani!!! hugs to you for holding my hand and cheerleading me too <3
621