Curate, connect, and discover
based on my ongoing project, the one bed hotel project, where fanfic authors on ao3 band together to create a collection of fics with the trope only one bed! note that this is only an example of how the hotel could be written! any interpretation of this is wholeheartedly welcomed :) please check out this link for more details <3
A bell chimes among the bustling lobby of an averagely large hotel, glass doors sliding open to reveal the two rain-soaked main characters of this world’s story. They pass two attendants carting suitcases across the floor, garnering glances from some of the hotel-goers.
They whisper into their earpieces; “They’re here.”
On the second floor, a large room filled with writers stews in chaos. Monitors all over the walls showcased over fifty different couples heading towards different hotels—all sharing, suspiciously, a similar aesthetic. The largest monitor, which had a list labeled ‘INCOMING SHIPS’, added another name to its table, which was steadily increasing in number. One of the assistants of the Setting division took a look at it and sweared.
“We’ve got another Soulmate AU pairing arriving at our entrance in around 2 minutes!”
Someone yelled back; “Send one of the softer demolition teams to stall them! We’ve already got Couple 28356 in the lobby!”
“On it! Explosion Unit 42, to your stations!”
While they may seem unorganized, the system cannot be without faults. The Setting division supervises a large number of ‘different’ hotels receiving a large number of couples from a large number of alternate universes—and plans out their stay, start-to-finish. This is where most authors of the One Bed trope can be found—once their ship has entered the queue, fully planned, they head to the Scene division to iron out the details.
In the Scene division, whiteboards were scribbled on, erased, upturned, and broken as assistants fretted on how to weave the best scene to meet the authors’ needs.
“Author 28356 requested a heated scene in one of the elevators, but they don’t have enough sexual tension!”
“Call the SMUT team! We’ll need some aphrodisiacs, and love potion if they can find any!”
“Give it all to the shorter person in the couple!”
“Got it!”
“How do we make a pool scene?”
“Submit a request to the Lobby! They’ll get some of the actors and Record division nobodies to pose as hotel guests when they go down to swim—if you want there to be people, that is…”
Next to the Scene division lies the Record division, with their own soundproofed sub-room. The snapping of cameras and practicing of background ambient noise is silenced within its walls, while the Record division artists outside hand-make irrelevant characters for the scenes.
“We need an asshole for Couple 28356, Scene 78!” A messy-haired assistant from the Scene Division on a flying motorbike pulled to a stop beside them, reading a paper scroll.
“WHAT?”
“No, not like that! We need a horrible but hot guy who tries to hit on Couple 28356’s protagonist!” With that, the assistant whipped out a printed transcript of the author’s ideas for the character.
“I’ll do it!” An artist at the back with dyed hair offered, sketching a person out.
“Thank you so much.” The assistant groaned, handing the artist the paper and speeding off.
“Anyone done with their nobodies?” Another artist said, adjusting her round glasses.
“Let’s go and relax.”
Once the artists are done with their daily ‘nobodies’, the background people with no name and no face, they print 3D versions of them at the Printing Station and rest. These ‘nobodies’ will soon become an integral part of a scene’s backdrops—or, on rare occasions, be forced a bottle of Personality and then put to work as an actor for a scene or two. The special effects, background music, ambiance maintenance, camera crew and scribes will handle the rest.
And now, it’s time for Couple 28356’s time at the hotel to start.
“Uh… hi.” The taller half said awkwardly, hair dripping. “Do you have any rooms available for—sorry, hold on… um—this much cash?” They offered some slightly damp notes.
The shorter half of the couple stared up at the counter worriedly. The hotel receptionist hid a smile, pretending to dial room services.
“Ah, yes… I believe room 28356 is available,” Her eyes twinkled in barely concealed delight, phone pressed to her ear. “However…”
Faint explosions and screaming could be heard in the distance. The receptionist seemed too calm. Too knowing. But this was their only option.
With a click, the phone was put down.
“… it appears there’s only one bed!”
thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed and didn’t notice the last part was rushed lmao ♡ pls check it out if ur interested in writing any ships for this collection :)