Mint (IT fanfiction)

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Fanfiction
Title: Mint
Author(s): Parker Leigh
Date(s): 17 October 2019
Length: Mint and Honey, Archived version: 173,281
Genre: No Pennywise, A/B/O, College AU
Fandom: IT
External Links: AO3, Archived version, Patreon, Archived version & Tumblr, Archived version

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Mint is the name of an of IT fanfic series written by Parker Leigh. The fic is mainly centered around Richie Tozier's budding romance with Eddie Kaspbrak and his relationship to the rest of The Losers Club, although other pairings are heavily featured. It is both a No Pennywise and College AU that features A/B/O of the werewolf variety, with the Losers Club being a pack as well as Eddie getting pregnant.

The fic is split into two separate works because Parker Leigh asked readers if they would prefer one long book or two shorter ones and readers indicated that two would be preferable.[1] Mint and Honey is the first at 173,281 words.[2] The second book, Ginger and Mud was posted shortly after, but seemingly abandoned in June of 2020.[3] On 14 Feb 2022, however, Parker Leigh posted an update to the story indicating the intent to continue the story, citing covid-19 and school as reasons for the story falling by the wayside.[4] Mint is notable for being among the longest IT fics on AO3, as well as the longest A/B/O fic in the IT fandom by a considerable amount.[note 1]

On February 20, 2020[5] the first 'book' of Mint, Mint and Honey, was deleted from AO3 apart from the first chapter.[6] Its summary was updated to state that the book was slowly being added to Patreon.[7] The author also plans to move Ginger and Mud to Patreon after it is completed on AO3. [8]

Mint and Honey

The summary for the Mint and Honey is as follows:

Richie and Eddie are in their last year of high school and out of all of the Loser's Club, Richie is the only one who hasn't presented yet. But he hasn't turned eighteen yet, either. It's Bev that helps him out and helps him find out what he's meant to be. But who is he meant to be with? No one, if the town of Derry has any say. Characters are aged up and Pennywise was not a thing.[2]

Even though the summary makes it clear that Reddie is the main ship, the fic is tagged with a number of pairings. The Losers Club has multiple orgies, and several of the other pairings are significant, but Stenbrough is perhaps the only one that can be considered a secondary pairing. Benverly is the other couple in the Losers Club, but Ben Hanscom is absent for large portions of the fic so it's not particularly featured within the story. Mike Hanlon is asexual in the series and is therefore not paired with anyone, although he does participate in at least one orgy.

Several commenters made note of the fact that earlier on in the story Richie's typical alpha behavior, noting his inability to share Eddie with anyone despite the fact that Richie sleeps with Beverly several times and kisses multiple other people.

Fucked up that Richie can just sleep with Bev, but Eddie talking to some guy has Richie mad and possessive. Also it seems like Richie only likes Eddie because of biology, their relationship is really fucking weak and forced.[9]

That's so not fair of Richie. He can make out with whomever he wants (aka, Bill and then Bev) but Eddie's not allowed? Typical alpha smh[10]

While the fic is a Mundane AU without Pennywise, the town of Derry is portrayed similarly to canon in that it is virulently racist and homophobic to the point where Stanley Uris being subjected to antisemitism and not allowed to date Bill Denbrough because of it is a significant plot point. Both the main pairings of Stenbrough and Reddie face problems of homophobia, but Bill and Stan face more homophobia because Bill is an alpha and Stan is a beta. Even though Richie and Eddie are both male, they're an alpha and omega which makes their relationship more "natural." Mint and Honey also features several instances where Mike faces racism, although these instances are less plot-important than the antisemitism.

The racism really jumped out in this chapter poor mike. I was so happy about Ritchie presenting that I forgot they lived in Derry.[11]

The author was also explicit that the characters were aged up from their part 1 counterparts, probably to warn off potential anti harassment, and that they weren't thinking of any particular version of the IT characters. They did, however, use the more recent film characters as reference.[2]

Yes I understand that they're underage and yes I understand how disgusting it is so I've changed their ages completely. And if that still isn't enough for you then you can imagine it as completely different people altogether because I adore this story and I've been working on it for ages now.[2]

Chapter 33

Many readers of the fic were upset after Chapter 33, in which a heavily pregnant Eddie is brutalized by Henry Bowers and his gang, resulting in the loss of his pregnancy. This plot point was not warned for, although the chapter's Author's Note did say "Trigger Warning" in a Choose Not to Warn space. This on its own, however, was not adequate warning for some readers:

[trigger warning] for . . . what???? you haven't warned for anything else???? YOU CAN'T JUST SAY "TRIGGER WARNING" WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHAT THE WARNING IS FOR

is the warning for the attempted sexual assault? the racism? the ableism? the battery of a pregnant omega? WE JUST DON'T KNOW! LITERALLY IT COULD BE ANY OF THESE![12]

While the fic is a choose not to warn space, it's considered "best practice" for a trigger warning to include at least a slight explanation of what's being warned for rather than simply stating "trigger warning." Another reader, jo, called kaspbrakian_kid out for their lack of warnings in the comments of Mint and Honey:

So, I'm all for people writing what they want, but you REALLY need to fix the tags on this fic.

First of all, it needs to be rated explicit, not teen and up. There's lots of explicit sex and graphic violence. This is rated R, not PG-13.

Also, you need to tag for mpreg, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, anti-Semitism, and gore/injury, at the very LEAST.

If you're writing "trigger warning" at the beginning of the chapter, please specify what you're warning about.

Again, you can write what you want, and it's impressive how much you've written, but the tagging system on AO3 exists for a good fucking reason, and your fic is NOT tagged adequately, even for an omegaverse fic. Please, please fix it.[13]

Another anonymous reader left an earlier comment stating much the same thing:

You should put something like miscarriage or child/foetus murder bc this could be a trigger for someone[14]

After responding to jo's comment, Mint and Honey's tags were updated with many of jo's suggestions, including the later suggestion of adding "Don't Let The Tags Scare You" so that readers wouldn't be "scare[d] them off without them having any context."[13] The author's notes that merely stated "trigger warning," however, were not updated.

Even readers who weren't concerned with the lack of warning for the sudden turn of events in Chapter 33 expressed their sadness with stardust_writer commenting:

I'm genuinely depressed. The heartbreak of losing a child is unimaginable. I'm literally unable to do anything else but cry right now. I mean, I know Eddie and Richie will get through this, but it's just really painful and sad.[15]

Part of the reason Chapter 33 upset so many readers is that Eddie's pregnancy was presented as a happy thing within the narrative of the fic and it looked like things were starting to resolve toward a happy ending. Just a few chapters earlier, stardust_writer left a comment with a very different tone:

I feel like my heart has never been so full! Stenbrough is back, they've got a plan for Reddie, and the pack is just genuinely doing well! Everything is soft and everything is in order and the world is at peace and I can die happily at last![16]

Ginger and Mud

The summary for Ginger and Mud, Archived version, the second half of Mint is:

Richie and Eddie finally have a chance at a life together after everything that happened to them in Derry. They're doing their best with what they have in every situation but is it enough for the rest of the world?[3]

After the events of Mint and Honey, the Losers Club pack has moved and left Derry behind and the story starts to take on more College AU aspects as both Stan and Bill are studying at college.

Related Works

untitled, Archived version by haflacky on Tumblr, Archived versionFandom: ITDate: Dec 18th, 2019Medium: FanartStatus: Complete
- for my book series Mint and Honey/Ginger and Mud! Look how beautiful 💙 I hope you guys love it because I really do! Thanks so much! This is a gift for getting Mint to 10k on Ao3 and for getting Ginger to 2k already!

Notes and References

Notes

  1. ^ Extremely technically, Where Love and Fear Abide by No_Soap_Can_Clean_My_Dirty_Mind overtook Ginger and Mud as the single longest A/B/O work in the IT fandom. However, since Mint is one story split into two works, it's still technically longer.

References

  1. ^ From the author's note on Chapter 44, Archived version of Mint and Honey: "Do you want one really long story or do I make a second book for this on a separate work? Let me know what you prefer, please. Because this can either be something like an 80 chapter book or two books of 40 chapters."
  2. ^ a b c d Mint and Honey, Archived version on AO3. Posted 17 Oct 2019. Last updated 6 Dec 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  3. ^ a b Ginger and Mud, Archived version on AO3.
  4. ^ Chapter 37: Update, Archived version]. Posted 14 Feb 2022. Accessed 20 Feb 2022.
  5. ^ kaspbrakian-kid. Now on Patreon!, Archived version. 20 February 2020.
  6. ^ EditSans. Comment, Archived version on AO3: "What happen?? A second ago I was on chapter 15 going on to chapter 16 of mint and honey and then all the sudden I'm sent here. What happened to all the other chapters there was 46 chapters already done." 23 February 2020.
  7. ^ kaspbrakian_kid. Mint and Honey Summary, Archived version on AO3: "BOOK IS SLOWLY BEING ADDED TO PATRE*N." Accessed 08 March 2020.
  8. ^ kaspbrakian_kid. Ginger and Mud Summary, Archived version on AO3: "Book will be completed here and then moved to Patre*n. Prequel Mint and Honey already moved." Accessed 08 March 2020.
  9. ^ Comment thread, Archived version on Mint and Honey. Posted 14 Jan 2020. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  10. ^ Comment thread, Archived version on Mint and Honey. Posted 5 Nov 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  11. ^ Comment, Archived version on AO3. Posted 3 Feb 2020. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  12. ^ Twitter Thread, Archived version by flyingthesky. Posted 7 Dec 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  13. ^ a b Comment Thread, Archived version on AO3 between jo and kaspbrakian_kid. Posted 10 Dec 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2019.
  14. ^ Comment, Archived version on AO3. Posted 24 Nov 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  15. ^ Comment, Archived version on AO3. Posted 24 Nov 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
  16. ^ Comment, Archived version on AO3. Posted 20 Nov 2019. Accessed 4 Feb 2020.
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