Stories are amazing. Authors create universes, heroes and villains, relationships, and conflicts that didn’t exist, and serve them up for us to enjoy. We don’t know what will happen in a story until we read it—and that’s a big part of why we read it. Diving in and letting a story unfold around us is the magic of fics.

When was the last time you opened a novel and found an author note on the first page the telling you that two characters were going to fall in love by the end of the story and live happily ever after? Have you ever seen a TV show trailer that showed you which main characters die?

There’s a reason creators don’t tip their hand: suspense drives the plot. Not knowing pulls you into the story. You care. You’re invested. You want so much for things to work out for them. Will Rick ever be able to live a happy life that is zombie-free? Will Dean and Cas ever be more than just a yearning in our minds? Maybe they will; maybe they won’t. And it’s that not knowing that makes the journey sweeter.

It’s also why spoiler alerts exist. Those of us who love the suspense of waiting to find out what happens don’t want to have that spoiled for us. Hands over our ears, singing “la, la, la” so we can’t hear you, we are desperate not to find out how a story ends.

Friend: “It’s like what happened with Walter White at the end of ...”

Fan of Breaking Bad: “DON’T TELL ME! I haven’t watched it yet!”

With fanfics, we readers have a rare and beautiful connection with the storyteller that we don’t have in other mediums. But just because you can ask for details about upcoming chapters doesn’t mean you should. Don’t ask which relationships will occur and whether they will be successful. Don’t ask whether a character whose life hangs in the balance will survive.

As in life, stories have endings that are out of our control. Buckle up your seat belt and enjoy the ride.