#20 questions challenge

[gremlin-girly]

Nightmares

Part of the 20s Challenge

Pairing: Jake Jensen x f!reader

Quote: "Do you think sharks get sad about their representation in the media?"

Trope: Grumpy x Sunshine and Only One Bed

Tags/warnings: FLUFF, pure fluff, cuddling, nightmares mentioned but no descriptions used

Not beta'd. I do not give permission for my work to be copied, reposted or translated (or put through AI)

Summary: When you get stuck sharing a bed with Jensen on a mission, you think having him talk your ear off is the worst of it. Turns out, him finding out one of your secrets is far, far worse.

Word count: ???? I keep writing these on mobile I'm so sorry haha

A/N: Hello! I'm trying to get so many fics out in the next two weeks. Reblogs will be out tomorrow I think (on my way to work) so I apologise in advance since I'm behind on about two weeks worth....

Dividers by: @/cafekitsune

20s Challenge Masterlist | Jake Jensen Masterlist | Navigation

Missions with Jake Jensen were different from anyone else. Maybe your disposition as serious-means-business meant that Jake naturally irritated you with his playful, positive attitude. You also knew that being with Jake meant that you wouldn't have a moment of peace, knowing he spoke every thought that popped into his head.

Even if that included when you were trying to get to sleep.

"Do you think sharks get sad about their representation in the media?"

"Jensen."

"I mean, coconuts kill more people than sharks. You don-"

"Jensen." You hiss into the darkness. "Go to sleep."

It was bad enough that he'd accidentally booked a room with only one bed, but doubly so when he was talking your ear off right next to you. You couldn't escape him; and you couldn't tell if it was a blessing or curse.

"Yeah. Right. Sleep." You can hear the gentle clack of his glasses hitting the nightstand. He clears his throat. "Goodnight."

"Night."

You're wide awake. Your heart aches, you feel so bad for snapping at him. But now you're also thinking about sharks.

You sigh through your nose and let your eyes close slowly. You'll apologise in the morning. Your more-grumpy-than-usual demeanour can only be attributed to his nearness, not that he could ever know that. He was sunshine incarnate; kind smiles, positive-thinking and you weren't sure if you wanted to tell him that he made you feel warm and fuzzy. But, you needed to apologise to being extra snippy.

Eyes closed, breathing steady, mind made up; you drift asleep.

A whimper startles you from your slumber.

Jake twitches fitfully beside you for a moment before stilling and you think it must be him getting comfortable. However, just as your eyes flutter closed again, there's another whimper more pained than the last.

Jake's head tosses to and fro on the pillow across from you and it takes a few more moments for your freshly-awoken brain to register he's having a nightmare.

"No! Don't go in there! Don't-"

Another pained groan. Through the darkness you can see his face his contorted uncomfortably, brows furrowed and sweat beading over his temples.

Your heart twists in your chest. You were on a mission, you had to stay focused, get some sleep. But listening to Jake was torturous. Golden ray of sunshine Jake Jensen was having an awful nightmare, probably one related to his time in the army or special ops, and you couldn't sleep knowing you didn't at least try to bring him some comfort.

He was your partner on this mission after all and you wouldn't admit it to anyone ever, but you had a soft spot for Jake Jensen.

You turn into his side, shoving his arm upwards so you could nestle half onto his shoulder and half onto his chest. Your legs wrapped around his like vines, your right hand resting above his heart to monitor its rate (which was ridiculously fast) and let out an elongated sighed.

Jake's heart slowed, barely, so you began to whisper.

"Its okay." You say gently, feeling sleep begin to fight back against you. Jake is too warm, too cosy, for you to stay awake. "I'm here. You're okay, Jensen."

Your eyes flutter but you feel Jake's heartbeat begin to slow. His whines have stopped along with his thrashing.

"I've got you, sunshine." You sigh, squeezing him close. "I've got you."

Your hand eventually moves when you're in the throes of sleep, leading you to practically clining him like a koala bear. Which wouldn't have been so bad if you had woken up first.

"Morning." Jake yawns. "What time is it?"

"Were you cuddling me?" His sleepy face breaks into a grin. "Are you a cuddler? Is big, tough Y/N a cuddler?"

"Morning." You yawn back, getting up slowly, blinking away sleep. "I don't know."

Jake stops you with a soft tug to your arm and you peer down at him curiously, brain still waking up.

You can't move away from him fast enough, cheeks burning with heat from the very true accusation. But even without his glasses, Jake can see the redness spread across your blurry face and immediately tries to stop you from moving out of his grasp.

"Aw, you are!" He teases. "You like cuddles and snuggles and-"

"I'm going to fucking kill you Jensen." You growl, yanking your hands away and reaching over to the bedside table to grab your phone. "It's six-thirty-two. Go back to sleep."

You huff as you turn away from him, pulling covers up your shoulders, regretting ever having cuddled his nightmares away.

There's a shift under the covers and you frown slightly as you feel Jake's warm chest radiate heat against your back. You bite back a soft sigh of contentment, letting your frown deepen instead when you feel an arm drape across your waist.

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm?"

You twist your head to try and glare at Jake who yawns lazily before snuggling close.

"You're secret's safe with me. I like cuddles too." He murmurs. "Especially ones from you. You're like a good luck charm to help me sleep."

You stiffen against him but Jake doesn't seem to care, or notice, huffing a soft breath onto your neck.

"You-"

"I've got you." He mumbles into the pillow, sounding sleepier by the second. "Your sunshine's got you."

End

Taglist

Add yourself here

@stargazingfangirl18 @irishhappiness @awkwardgiraffe726 @looking1016 @jeremyrennermakesmesmile @cieraboobear

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[queer-froggit]

...huh?

huh?????

[firewolf111]

I could sleep, or-

Hear me out-

More fanfiction.

[gnaga37]

it always comes back to the curse like even when it's not about the curse it's always about the curse

[themyscirah]

This is technically a Diana's age poll but I framed it partially around Julia's rescue because that's the event I need to contextualize and whether or not Diana is a thing yet is p important for my purposes. I would keep the Pérez run and postcrisis continuity in mind when answering this bc that's when this is relevant but I'd keep in mind that even though Diana is very young there (like early 20s) we don't know I don't think if she ages differently as a child (esp as a themysciran AND being made from clay) and in some versions she is older than she looks and was made earlier

Edit: I accidentally logic-ed this out in the tags lol 🤦‍♀️but feel free to still vote however you want. Going to publish this anyway bc I think I made some good points later in my tags

[villainsidestep]

fawniel thoughts hour….

[some-stars]

i have finally started the project of going through HoL and dividing it into portions, so we’re looking at a September 1st start date for a book club/readalong! i will keep the tag posted on my progress

[chiechie97]

20 Questions

Tagged by the wonderful @practicecourts! Thank you for the tag 💗💗

*

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10!!!!

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

188,018 which feels insane!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter (More specifically the Marauders)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

These Cruel Delights

Stage Lights

Tiny Miracles

Paint Brushes and Spell Books

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to!! For me comments encourage me to keep writing and I like to let people know that I appreciate them taking the time to comment on my work.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

*Sit's there awkwardly with a pil of unfishinshed fics*

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Definetly Charred Pineaple Margarita's and a Bagel. One of my fluffier fics and has a cute ending imo

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No thankfully!! I could never imagine hating on an individual fic, if you don't like something just leave. Fandom discourse is a whole other bucket of worms.

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

I dooooo or rather I tryyyyyyy. It's pretty regualr run of the mill smut, and it's absolutley plot driven. I want to get better and feel less awkward while writing it!!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No i do not. I don't really enjoy cross over personally, borrowing other worlds can be well done thought.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No I haven't thankfully!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but that would be so cool if it was!! I'd love to see These Cruel Delights translated into either French or German once it's done, but my written language skills in both languages aren't good enough.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No but i'd be very open to it. It seems like a lot of fun and getting to play off of another authors style would be fascinating.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Jily, duh. 😉

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I will finish ALL of my works I'm not putting that energy out into the universe 😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

100% dialogue. I adore writting dialogue, it's so fun and allows you to build relationships and dynamics. I really want to try my hand at a text fic one day because i feel like it's a great way to build a dialogue only fic.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

description and scene building. I feel Like i haven't captured a way to describe a scene in a natural and flowing manner.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it can be done so long as it's either translated or feels properly placed.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Narnia actually, back on the good ol' fanfiction.net as a wee baby teen. (but we don't talk about that one😗)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

The Devil In the Cloakroom and These cruel Delights!!! The devil in the cloak room was SO much fun to write and i can't wait to finish it either this week or next <3

I THIIINK everyone has been tagged, but i tag @uncertainwallflower and @tiffanytoms

[gremlin-girly]

Grem's 20 Characters with 20 Questions for 20 Tropes Challenge

In celebration of 250+ followers (thank you all very much!!), I wanted to do a type of writing challenge. So here is the 20 characters with 20 Questions for 20 tropes Challenge!!

You can really tell this is my first time making something like this - why the hell did i pick such a long title lmao??? I do love a bit of silly fun tbh so here we are

I should also point out that regular postings (like the Green Collection, Sun, sea and sirens AND whatever long fic wins this poll will still be posted regularly!)

How to play:

You have to be 18+ to play :)

Tag me @gremlin-girly and use the tag #grem's 20 questions so I can read, reblog and tag fics onto the masterlist! If I miss a fic, please remind me either by tag in the comments or dm!!

Pick a character (or characters) from the list below, a question and a trope.

You can pick any number of questions and tropes but there must be at least one of each. (E.g. no character + Q2 ; it would need to be character + Q2 + Trope 4 OR however many tropes/questions you wish to use)

Either send in a submission (✨️) or send me a request (🍑) with your question(s) and trope(s). E.g. Caracter(s) + Q__ + Trope ___

The fic(s) you enter/request can be fluff, smut, angst - whatever you want! (As long as they are tagged accordingly and if you want to know what I will NOT include/write you can find them in my blog rules here)

Make sure you tag your work accordingly (trigger warnings, content warnings etc.)

There is no word count limit but any work over 250 words needs a wee "read more" section

I am being silly and saying you can request/submit an unlimited amount (but beware!!! I will be reading/writing these so they may take time to get through them)

Submissions will be open from the 14th of February to the 30th of June 💕

Your work will be added to the Grem's 20Qs Masterlist and shared accordingly 😉

Happy writing! I'm looking forward to see what comes out of this 💕 if you have any questions please message me and thank you all again 🥰

Navigation | 20qs for 20 tropes Masterlist

The 20 Characters

Chris Evans Characters

Ari Levinson

Lloyd Hansen

Jake Jensen

Curtis Everett

Ransom Drysdale

Steve Rogers

Johnny Storm

Andy Barber

Frank Adler

James Mace

Pete Brenner

Sebastian Stan Characters

Bucky Barnes

Nick Fowler

Chris (Destoyer)

Lance Tucker

Sheriff Lee Bodecker

Blaine (Hot Tub Time Machine)

Mickey Henry

Other Characters

Loki

Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl)

The 20 Questions

1. "Do you think sharks get sad about their representation in the media?"

2. "Do you ever shut the fuck up?"

3. "How much have you had to drink?"

4. "Why do you insist on wearing that?"

5. "Why do all of my problems lead back to you?"

6. "When were you going to tell me about this?"

7. "Will you stay as far away from as humanly possible please?"

8. "Welp... looks like this is it. How do you wanna do this?"

9. "Please tell me you remembered to turn off the oven?"

10. "Sweetheart? Sweetheart?"

11. "What time do you call this? "

12. "Do you taste as pretty as you look?"

13. "What are we going to tell the others?"

14. "Are you trying to die?!"

15. "What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck is that?"

16. "How the hell did you get up there?"

17. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

18. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

19. "I love you. You know that right?"

20. "What have you done to me? I used to be scary and now I'm all gooey inside."

20 Tropes

1. Only One Bed

2. Soulmate AU

3. Enemies to lovers

4. Cowboy AU

5. Grumpy x Sunshine

6. Dad/Brother's/a relation's Best Friend

7. Mutual Pining

8. Meetcute

9. Supernatural AU

10. Fake dating

11. Arranged marriage

12. Amnesia

13. Second chance

14. Forced proximity

15. Opposites Attract

16. A/B/O

17. Mafia AU

18. Time Travel

19. Sex Pollen / Fuck or die

20. 5 + 1 things

No pressure tags for some moots who may enjoy ☺️

@steviebbboi @stargazingfangirl18 @mrs-elsie-barnes @brunchable @late-to-the-party-81 @brandycranby @bigtreefest @vunblr @mercurial-chuckles @stellar-solar-flare @ronearoundblindly @misscherry-26 @buck-star @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

i appreciated this study: "They Can't Read Very Well: A Study of the Reading Comprehension Skills Of English Majors At Two Midwestern Universities"

[ETA: if you are somehow finding your way here pls note some - not exhaustive!!!! - follow up notes in this reblog. sorry again i mixed up megalodons and megalosaurs]

essentially, a pair of professors set out to test their intuitive sense that students at the college level were struggling with complex text. they recruited 85 students, a mix of english majors and english education majors - so, theoretically, people focusing on literature, and people preparing to teach adolescents how to read literature - and had them read-while-summarizing the first seven paragraphs of dickens's bleak house (or as much as they made it through in the 20 minute session). they provided dictionaries and also said students could use their phones to look up whatever they wanted, including any unfamiliar words or references. they found that the majority of the students - 58%, or 49 out of the 85 students - functionally could not understand dickens at all, and only 5% - a mere 4 out of the 85 students - proved themselves proficient readers (leaving the remaining 38%, or 32 students, as what the study authors deemed "competent" students, most of whom could understand about half the literal meaning - pretty low bar for competence - although a few of whom, they note, did much better than the rest in this group if not quite well enough to be considered proficient).

what i really appreciated about this study was its qualitative descriptions of the challenges and reading behaviors of what the authors call "problematic readers" (that bottom 58%), which resonated strongly with my own experiences of students who struggle with reading. here's their blunt big picture overview of these 49 students:

The majority of these subjects could understand very little of Bleak House and did not have effective reading tactics. All had so much trouble comprehending concrete detail in consecutive clauses and phrases that they could not link the meaning of one sentence to the next. Although it was clear that these subjects did try to use various tactics while they read the passage, they were not able to use those tactics successfully. For example, 43 percent of the problematic readers tried to look up words they did not understand, but only five percent were able to look up the meaning of a word and place it back correctly into a sentence. The subjects frequently looked up a word they did not know, realized that they did not understand the sentence the word had come from, and skipped translating the sentence altogether.

the idea that they had so much trouble with every small piece of a text that they could not connect ideas on a sentence by sentence basis is very familiar to me from teaching and tutoring, as was the habit of thought seen in the example of the student who gloms on to the word "whiskers" in a sea of confusion and guesses incorrectly that a cat is present - struggling readers, in my experience, seem to use familiar nouns as stepping stones in a flood of overwhelm, hopping as best they can from one seemingly familiar image to the next. so was this observation, building off the example of a student who misses the fact that dickens is being figurative when he imagines a megalodon stalking the streets of london:

She first guesses that the dinosaur is just “bones” and then is stuck stating that the bones are “waddling, um, all up the hill” because she can see that Dickens has the dinosaur moving. Because she cannot logically tie the ideas together, she just leaves her interpretation as is and goes on to the next sentence. Like this subject, most of the problematic readers were not concerned if their literal translations of Bleak House were not coherent, so obvious logical errors never seemed to affect them. In fact, none of the readers in this category ever questioned their own interpretations of figures of speech, no matter how irrational the results. Worse, their inability to understand figurative language was constant, even though most of the subjects had spent at least two years in literature classes that discussed figures of speech. Some could correctly identify a figure of speech, and even explain its use in a sentence, but correct responses were inconsistent and haphazard. None of the problematic readers showed any evidence that they could read recursively or fix previous errors in comprehension. They would stick to their reading tactics even if they were unhappy with the results.

i have seen this repeatedly, too - actually i was particularly taken with how similar this is to the behavior of struggling readers at much younger ages - and would summarize the hypothesis i have forged over time as: struggling readers do not expect what they read to make sense. my hypothesis for why this is the case is that their reading deficits were not attended to or remediated adequately early enough, and so, in their formative years - the early to mid elementary grades - they spent a lot of time "reading" things that did not make sense to them - in fact they spent much more time doing this than they ever did reading things that did make sense to them - and so they did not internalize a meaningful subjective sense of what it feels like to actually read things.

like, i've said this before, but the year i taught third grade i had multiple students who told me they loved reading and then when i asked them about a book they were reading revealed that they had absolutely no idea what was going on - on a really basic literal level like "didn't know who said which lines of dialogue" and "couldn't identify which things or characters given pronouns referred to" - and were as best as i could tell sort of constructing their own story along the way using these little bits of things they thought they understood. that's what "reading" was, in their heads. and they were, in the curriculum/model that we used at the private school where i taught, receiving basically no support to clarify that that was not what reading was, nor any instruction that would actually help them with what they needed to do to improve (understand sentences) - and i realized over the course of that year that the master's program that had certified me in teaching elementary school had provided me with very little understanding of how to help these kids (with perhaps the sole exception of the class i took on communications disorders, not because these kids had communications disorders but because that was the only class where we ever talked, even briefly, about things like sentence structures that students may need instruction in and practice with to comprehend independently). when it comes to the literal, basic understanding of a text, the model of reading pedagogy i was taught has about 6 million little "tools" that all boil down to telling kids who functionally can't read to try harder to read. this is not productive, in my experience and opinion, for kids whose maximum effort persistently yields confusion. but things are so dysfunctional all the way up and down the ladder that you can be a senior in college majoring in english without anyone but a pair of professors with a strong work ethic noticing that you can't actually read.

couple other notes:

obviously it's a small study but i'm not sure i see a reason to believe these are particularly outlierish results (ACT scores - an imperfect metric but not a meritless one IMO for reading specifically, where the task mostly really is to read a set of texts written for the educated layperson and answer factual questions about them - were a little bit above the national average)

the study was published last year, but the research was conducted january to april 2015. so there's no pandemic influence, no AI issue - these are millennials who now would span roughly ages 28-32 (i guess it's possible one of the four first-year students was one of the very first members of gen z lol). if you're in your late 20s or early 30s, we are talking about people your age, and whatever the culprit is here, it was happening when you were in school.

i think some people might want to blame this on NCLB but i find this unconvincing for a variety of reasons. first of all, NCLB did not pass because everyone in 2001 agreed that education was super hunky-dory; in fact, the sold a story podcast outlines how an explicit goal of NCLB was to train teachers in systematic phonics instruction, because that was not the norm when NCLB was passed, and an unfortunate outcome was that phonics became politicized in ed world. second, anyone who understands anything about reading should need about ten minutes max to spend some time on standardized test prep and recognize that if your goal is truly to maximize scores... then the vast majority of your instructional time should be spent on improving actual reading skills because you actually can't meaningfully game these tests by "practicing main idea questions" (timothy shanahan addresses this briefly near the top of this post). so i find it very difficult to believe that any school that pivoted to multiple choice drill time in an attempt to boost reading scores was teaching reading effectively pre-NCLB, because no set of competent literacy professionals would think that would work even for the goal of raising test scores. third, NCLB mandated yearly testing in grades 3-8 but only one test year in high school; kansas set its reading and math test year in high school as tenth grade. so theoretically these kids all had two years of sweet sweet freedom from NCLB in which their teachers could have done whatever the fuck they wanted to teach these kids to actually read. the fact that they didn't suggests perhaps there were other problems afoot. fourth, and maybe most saliently for this particular study, the sample text was the first seven paragraphs of a novel - in other words, the exact kind of short incomplete text that NCLB allegedly demanded excessive time spent on. i'm not really sure what universe it makes sense in that students who can't read the first seven paragraphs of a novel would have become much better reader if everything else had been the same but they had been making completely wack associations based on nonsense guesses for all 300 pages instead. (if you read the study it's really clear that for problematic readers, things go off the rails immediately, in a way that a good program targeted at teaching mastery of text of 500 words or less would have done something about.)

all but 3 of the students reported A's and B's in their english classes and, again, 69% of them are juniors and seniors, so like... i mean idk kudos to these professors for being like "hold up can these kids actually read?" but clearly something is wack at the college level too [in 2015] if you can make your way through nearly an entire english major without being able to read the first seven paragraphs of a dickens novel. (once again i really do encourage you to look at the qualitative samples in the study, lest you think i am being uncharitable by summarizing understandable misunderstandings or areas of confusion that may resolve themselves with further exposure to the text as "can't read.") not to mention the fact that most students could not what they had learned in previous or current english classes and when asked to name british and american authors and/or works of the nineteenth century, roughly half the sample at each college could name at most one.

the authors of the study are struck by the fact that students who cannot parse the first 3 sentences of bleak house feel very confident about their ability to read the entire novel, and discover that this seeming disconnect is resolved by the fact that these students seem to conceptualize "reading" as "skimming and then reading sparknotes." i think it's really tempting to Kids These Days this phenomenon (although again these are people who in some cases have now been in the workforce for a decade) and categorize it as laziness or a lack of effort, but i think that there is, as i described above, a real and sincere confusion over what "reading" is in which this makes a certain logical sense because it's not like they have some store of actual reading experiences to compare it to. i also think it's pretty obvious looking at just how wildly severed from actual textual comprehension their readings are that these are not - or at least not entirely - students who could just work harder and master the entirety of bleak house all on their own. like i don't think you get from "charles dickens is describing a bunch of dinosaur bones actually walking the streets of london" to comfortably reading nineteenth century literature by just trying harder. i really just don't (and i say that acknowledging i personally have had students who like... were good readers if i was forcing them to work at it constantly... but i have also had students, including ones getting ready to enter college, who were clearly giving me everything they had and what they had was at the present moment insufficient). i think that speaks to a missing skillset that they don't know are missing, because they don't have any other experience of "reading" to compare it to.

just wanna highlight again that although they don't give the breakdown some of these students are not just english majors but english education majors a.k.a. the high school english teachers of tomorrow. some of them may be teaching high school english right now, in case anyone wishes to consider whether "maybe some high school english teachers can't read the first seven paragraphs of bleak house?" should be kept in mind when we discuss present-day educational ills.

[fadewalking]

no more difficult watch than an older man throwing an absolute fit at someone so much younger just because he dared question his ideas

[humanjarvis]

lads LIs when you're hesitant to initiate kisses

sylus understands your hesitancy to make yourself vulnerable, but he also can't stand to see you unfulfilled. the first couple times he catches you staring at his lips, he offers nothing but lazy blinks and slow smirks, challenging you to come to him first. but when you look away in uncertainty one too many times, seemingly content to watch your own desires slip away as long as it saves you from embarrassment, he saunters toward you, maintaining eye contact all the way. placing one hand on your hip and the other on your chin, he bends to capture your lips with his, making you stumble with his intensity. his grip on you only tightens when he breaks the kiss, and before you can ask what he’s doing, he tugs you toward his lips. when you lose your balance and fall into his embrace, you realize his game: he’s making you kiss him first 

zayne empathizes with your shyness and hesitancy, afraid to so much as look at you the wrong way in case he offends you. since you’re both too frozen in overthought to make the first move, you don’t become intimate as quickly as most couples, trading physical closeness for emotional understanding. when he walks you to your door after a visit to the bakery, he leaves you with a warm goodnight hug, and you both assume the other is satisfied. only when you think he’s asleep on the sofa one evening and press a fond kiss to his cheek does he realize you share his private desires. the next day, after stoically psyching himself up for 20 minutes, he finds you in the kitchen and kisses you deeply, a pink tinge on his cheeks when he pulls away

caleb wants you to kiss him first—or at least ask him to kiss you—but what if you won’t? he needs to know that you want him—that you’ll willingly give him the privilege of kissing you—so he gives you a few pushes in the right direction. he teases you with heated glances and not-so-accidental touches until you walk up to him, dumb with desire. when you stare up at him helplessly, he settles a large hand on your waist and hovers over your mouth, giving you the chance to push him away. when you don’t, he leans in slowly, tantalizingly, as if wanting to drive home the fact that you’re letting this happen to you—letting him claim your mouth in a slow, consuming kiss. this way, maybe, just maybe, you’ll find the courage to take what you want from him next time—if you let him taste you, there’s no need to be shy anymore, right?

you know rafayel, so you know he would be upset if you expected him to initiate everything—would it kill you to show a little interest in him? that said, you also know that initiating things isn’t really your thing. so, you find a trick that works like a charm: you goad him into kissing you. you’re comfortable enough with kisses to other places—anywhere but the lips—so you adorn his cheeks and neck with soft, chaste kisses until he’s riled up and flushed, his breath coming out in soft pants from the pleasure of feeling wanted. when you pull away, he chases your touch, and all it takes is an innocent giggle from you before he’s pinning you down and stealing your breath away, his tongue tangling with yours in passion and power.

xavier is confused and a bit discouraged when he realizes you never initiate—he thinks you just don’t want to kiss him. one afternoon, you find him sulking in bed, huddled under his comforter with the lights off. worried he’s sick or hurt, you ask what’s wrong, and he gives you 4 pouty non-answers before finally giving in. you can feel your face heat and gut tangle in guilt when he questions if you ever want to kiss him, and with one hand stroking his hair, you confess that you’re simply too shy to kiss him first. he responds with a blink and a whispered “so you do like me, then?”, and when you nod, he tackles you at the speed of light, pressing kisses all over your face before finally claiming your lips

a/n: anon who asked me if i’d ever write for zayne and i hinted at later this week this is not what i was talking about don’t worry, just an impromptu writing exercise to convince myself i’m not washed. also while this technically counts for xavier and raf i’m the least familiar with their cards so idk if/when i can write anything much longer than this for them (love them tho)

[imastoryteller]

20 Compelling Positive-Negative Trait Pairs

Here are 20 positive and negative trait pairs that can create compelling character dynamics in storytelling:

1. Bravery - Recklessness: A character is courageous in the face of danger but often takes unnecessary risks.

2. Intelligence - Arrogance: A character is exceptionally smart but looks down on others.

3. Compassion - Naivety: A character is deeply caring but easily deceived due to their trusting nature.

4. Determination - Stubbornness: A character is persistent in their goals but unwilling to adapt or compromise.

5. Charisma - Manipulativeness: A character is charming and persuasive but often uses these traits to exploit others.

6. Resourcefulness - Opportunism: A character is adept at finding solutions but is also quick to exploit situations for personal gain.

7. Loyalty - Blind Obedience: A character is fiercely loyal but follows orders without question, even when they're wrong.

8. Optimism - Denial: A character remains hopeful in difficult times but often ignores harsh realities.

9. Humor - Inappropriateness: A character lightens the mood with jokes but often crosses the line with their humor.

10. Generosity - Lack of Boundaries: A character is giving and selfless but often neglects their own needs and well-being.

11. Patience - Passivity: A character is calm and tolerant but sometimes fails to take action when needed.

12. Wisdom - Cynicism: A character has deep understanding and insight but is often pessimistic about the world.

13. Confidence - Overconfidence: A character believes in their abilities but sometimes underestimates challenges.

14. Honesty - Bluntness: A character is truthful and straightforward but often insensitive in their delivery.

15. Self-discipline - Rigidity: A character maintains strong control over their actions but is inflexible and resistant to change.

16. Adventurousness - Impulsiveness: A character loves exploring and trying new things but often acts without thinking.

17. Empathy - Overwhelm: A character deeply understands and feels others' emotions but can become overwhelmed by them.

18. Ambition - Ruthlessness: A character is driven to achieve great things but willing to do anything, even unethical, to succeed.

19. Resilience - Emotional Detachment: A character can endure hardships without breaking but often seems emotionally distant.

20. Strategic - Calculative: A character excels at planning and foresight but can be cold and overly pragmatic in their decisions.

These pairs create complex, multi-dimensional characters that can drive rich, dynamic storytelling.

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[febuwhump]

FEBUWHUMP 2025 PROMPT LIST

this year's prompts were chosen through an open suggestion poll (in which we received over 4,000 prompts) and a subsequent vote, where 5,019 votes were submitted. the top 28 make up the core prompts, and the febuwhump mod's favourites that remain have become the alternates. the first prompt in the 28, "vocal chords", was our number one prompt of the vote, with 1,625 total votes.

i am so insanely excited to see what you all create with these prompts, and i hope they're inspiring enough to trigger a whole month's worth of creativity for you!

as an extra added challenge, some creators will be undertaking another, smaller goal, of including apples in each of their prompt fills as an ode to the wildly popular prompt suggestion of "apples" that didn't make it through to the poll. this is totally optional, but is a good extra challenge if you'd like to take part in it!

if you have any questions, please check out the faq before sending an ask, or skim the blog's previously asked questions to see if your question has already been answered.

please note: notifying the blog of completionist status will happen through a google form released towards the end of febuwhump, and if you are interested in joining the febuwhmp discord server, the link will be available to do so for one week towards the end of january.

full write-up of prompts and rules under the cut:

FEBUWHUMP 2025 PROMPTS:

DAY 1: vocal chords

DAY 2: holding back tears

DAY 3: pinned down

DAY 4: hivemind

DAY 5: not trusting reality

DAY 6: forced to stay awake

DAY 7: alternate timeline self

DAY 8: bleeding out

DAY 9: necromancy

DAY 10: magic exhaustion

DAY 11: demonic possession

DAY 12: used as practice

DAY 13: “i don’t trust anyone else”

DAY 14: becoming the monster

DAY 15: icarus

DAY 16: eaten alive

DAY 17: power instability

DAY 18: living weapon

DAY 19: death wish

DAY 20: “i did good right?”

DAY 21: put on display

DAY 22: “grab the little one”

DAY 23: gunshot wound

DAY 24: forced to beg

DAY 25: bound and gagged

DAY 26: concealing an injury

DAY 27: post-victory collapse

DAY 28: recovery

ALTERNATE PROMPTS:

is there a specific day’s prompt you don’t want to fill? here are ten alternatives you can switch them out for!

ALT 1: major character death

ALT 2: blowtorch

ALT 3: pick who dies

ALT 4: body swap

ALT 5: die a hero

ALT 6: emergency surgery

ALT 7: body horror

ALT 8: on the run

ALT 9: in another life

ALT 10: feeding tube

RULES:

soft rules:

prompts should be answered in the form of whump

creators can produce any kind of media they want

you don't have to complete all the prompts to take part

you can use the prompts after the event ends

you can complete them in tandem with any other event

you can post to any platform you want, however this blog will only be sharing links and prompt fills posted to tumblr

if you want to be featured on the hall of fame, you must inform this blog by the 3rd of march that you have completed all of the days using the provided form

if you have questions, consult the faq before asking

hard rules:

to be a completionist, you must complete all 28 prompts, in order, in whatever medium you want, before the end of the event

(specifically for being featured on the blog)

when uploading febuwhump content to tumblr, please use the tags:

febuwhump (or febuwhump2025)

the relevant day's tag e.g. febuwhumpday1, febuwhumpday2...

nsfw (if relevant)

any important trigger warnings

you can also tag the blog: @febuwhump

I cannot guarantee your work will be archived on the blog. a random selection of properly tagged works will be reblogged every day of february.

[n1pp]

25 Questions for a Fresh Start

Reflect and take the next step toward your goals!

1. What are my top three priorities for 2025?

2. What is one habit I want to create this year?

3. What personal qualities do I want to develop?

4. What will success look like for me in 2025?

5. What is one bold goal I've been hesitant to pursue?

6. How will I take care of my mental and physical health this year?

7. What do I need to let go of to move forward?

8. Who in my life supports my growth and goals?

9. How can I add more joy and fun to my daily life?

10. What financial goal do I want to achieve by the end of the year?

11. What new skill will I commit to learning in 2025?

12. How will I organize my time to stay productive and balanced?

13. What motivates me to reach my goals?

14. How will i track my progress and celebrate small wins?

15. What does my ideal work-life balance look like?

16. What experiences or adventures do I want to have in 2025?

17. How can I be more present and mindful in my daily routine?

18. What will I stop doing that no longer serves me?

19. What is one relationship I want to improve this year?

20. How can I contribute more to my community or causes I care about?

21. What are three books I want to read for self-growth?

22. What limiting belief do I need to challenge and overcome in 2025?

23. How will I make time for rest and self-care throughout the year?

24. What is one risk I'm willing to take for personal growth?

25. What legacy do I want to build or continue this year?