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to all my demotivated girls

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Many thanks to @janaverse for the inspiration!

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Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

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'leap'

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okay, so the burglar scenario did *not* go as planned and i am not one bit surprised.

i had heero 'fight' him and duo 'confront' him. neither did what i asked - again! no surprise!. duo took forever to get off the computer and heero cancelled my 'fight' request and went upstairs to 'chat' with him. so i x-ed out of that and told him to fight him a second time, and then he did!

'hello burglar'

'fight the burglar!'

'still fighting the burglar!'

pretty sure heero kicked him in the balls here

'enemies to enemies'

directly after this, duo asked heero for sex. ^_~

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reblog this if your icon could kill a man

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when I was 11 years old this guy was the love of my life

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'at his mercy'

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Febuwhump Day 2: holding back tears

“Was that the Princess?” Duo asked, sitting up in their bed. His hair tumbled in loose waves around his shoulders from when Heero had pulled it loose from its braid earlier that night.

”Yeah,” Heero responded from the bedroom doorway, go bag already in hand. “She asked if I could accompany her on her peace tour in L3.”

”Do you have to go?” Duo asked, already knowing what Heero’s answer was going to be. “You’re not her Head of Security anymore.”

”We’ve talked about this so many times, Duo,” Heero chastised. “I don’t know why you can’t seem to understand. I told her that I would always be there for her if she needed me. Something about this tour has her uneasy, so she asked if I could come along, just to be safe.”

“But—” Duo started to protest.

”No!” Heero said forcefully. “I don’t want to hear it! We’ve had this same discussion too many times. I’m tired of it. I need to go. She’s waiting for me.”

Duo bit his lip at Heero’s tone, eyes starting to prickle. “How long will you be?” He asked, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

”About three weeks,” Heero said before sighing tiredly. “Look, I’m sorry for yelling. But seriously, we can’t be having this same argument every time she requests my presence. It’s just three weeks. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Three weeks. So he would be gone during the anniversary of the Maxwell Church. So Duo would be alone when the nightmares of smoke and screams and burning flesh reared their heads as they did like clockwork every year.

”I need to go,” Heero repeated. “I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

”I love you, too,” Duo said softly. He remained sitting in the bed as he listened to the sounds of Heero getting ready and walking out the door.

“You’re there when Relena needs you,” Duo said into the silence of the empty apartment once he was alone yet again, holding back his tears. “But where are you when I need you?”

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'giving duo a hickey'

( yes, it is the other new mod i just got! 'hickies' by llazyneiph on patreon! it is not a new mod, just new to me! hickey pic coming next! i love it that they last for 24 hours! <3 )

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The Date, Part Three: After nearly decapitating the waitress, Heero can't believe Duo still wants to be with him.

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'love at the wall' 9 of ?

pose from @simmerianne93's 'valentine poses 12'! <3

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'pure maxwell'

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Febuwhump Day 15: icarus

Duo sat curled up on the floor in the corner of his kitchen, the cold of the tile sinking into his skin, too weary and in shock to even cry.

Why did he do that? Why did he have to push for more than he deserved? Why couldn’t he have been satisfied with what he had?

No, instead of being content with the close friendship that he shared with Heero, he had pushed for more. He had gotten too cocky in his head and had grossly misread the situation.

Duo buried his face in his knees, his shoulders shaking anew with dry sobs as he recalled what had happened just a few hours ago.

—

“Ah, that was a good run,” Duo exclaimed as they slowed to a stop at the park. They had just finished their morning jog through the forest trail and were now cooling off. As they went through their usual stretches, Duo surreptitiously watched Heero in his peripherals, all sweaty and looking delicious. It wasn’t fair how perfect Heero always looked.

When Duo noticed Heero suddenly focus on him, his back straightened as he turned to return Heero’s gaze. Heero was looking at him fondly, a gentle smile softening his normally stern features.

Duo’s heart began to race despite himself when Heero stepped towards him, closing the distance between them easily. By the time Heero was standing directly in front of him, Duo was surprised that the other man couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart. Duo looked up at Heero in wonder, curious about Heero’s out of the ordinary behavior. He found himself holding his breath when Heero’s large hand came up and carded through his hair.

”Heero?” Duo found himself tilting his face up towards the taller man, eyes falling to half mast.

“A leaf.”

”Huh?” Duo blinked in confusion, thrown off by the unexpected words.

”You had a leaf stuck in your hair,” Heero responded, extracting said leaf and bringing it into Duo’s field of vision.

”Oh,” Duo said, too thrown off to hide the note of disappointment in his voice.

”Why do you sound so let down?” Heero asked curiously.

”I was kinda hoping you were going to do something else,” Duo admitted, deciding spur of the moment to shoot his shot.

”Like what?” Heero’s head cocked to the side.

”Like this.” Duo stepped into Heero’s space, his hands coming to rest on Heero’s shoulders to give himself leverage as he went up on his toes. Not giving himself a chance to chicken out, he leaned forward and locked his lips with Heero’s. He softly licked at Heero’s bottom lip before drawing it between his own lips.

Heero’s muscles relaxed momentarily under Duo’s hands before suddenly tensing like a spring. He shoved Duo away from him, a panicked look in his eyes. “No!” he shouted. “Get the fuck away from me!”

Duo stumbled, barely catching himself before he fell. Heero’s eyes were wide, darting around to clock all the exits available.

Oh shit.

”Heero, wait,” Duo said hurriedly as Heero turned to run away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He reached out to grab Heero’s arm, only to have Heero shove him away again.

”Don’t touch me,” Heero hissed before spinning around and sprinting away.

Duo was left alone in the middle of the park, uncaring of the whispers of the other park goers as his world crashed down around him. Once the ground steadied beneath his feet, he turned and ran towards his apartment, needing to get to safety before letting himself fall apart.

—

Duo had holed himself up in his apartment for the rest of the day. Unable to bear facing Heero at the office after single-handedly ruining their friendship, Duo had called in sick. He had tried to make himself a cup of coffee when he got back, but had ended up sinking down against the cabinet to sit on the floor, instead. He hadn’t been able to muster the will to move ever since.

Duo had spent the day watching the sunlight travel across the kitchen floor, alternating between sobbing his heart out and falling into an exhausted sleep. Now he just sat there in the darkness, too drained to cry anymore. His head throbbed from all of the tears that he had shed throughout the day.

A sudden pounding at the door startled him enough to make him jerk and smack his head against the cabinet door. Lacking the wherewithal to deal with anyone, Duo tried to ignore whoever it was, hoping that they would go away. Unfortunately, the pounding only got louder and more insistent the longer that Duo ignored it.

“Duo, I know you’re in there,” Heero’s voice came through the door. “Let me in, or I’ll let myself in.”

Resigned, Duo slowly got to his feet, stumbling slightly as pins and needles travelled along his unused legs. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. He wearily walked to the front door, taking a deep breath to steady himself before opening the door.

Heero stood before him, nearly vibrating with tension. His electric blue eyes immediately focused on him, pinning Duo in place. An unreadable expression crossed Heero’s face as he looked Duo over.

Duo braced himself when Heero stepped towards him quickly, closing his eyes automatically as he flinched. He gasped when instead of the impact of Heero’s fist that he had been expecting, he felt Heero’s arms wrap around his shuddering frame in a tight embrace, instead.

”Heero?” Duo asked, voice cracking from disuse. He tried to keep himself from reading into Heero’s actions too far. It would be too much to hope that he hadn’t irreversibly ruined their friendship with his stupid actions. Duo attempted to pull back to look at Heero face to face, but Heero just held him tighter, one hand coming up to cradle the back of Duo’s neck and tuck his head under Heero’s chin, the other wrapping around Duo’s waist.

”Heero,” Duo tried again, “what’s going on?” He was trying really hard not to let hope grow from the way that Heero was handling him. This was definitely not the way that you held a friend, but this was also Heero, and the man just did things differently sometimes.

”I’m sorry,” Heero murmured into his hair. “I reacted badly this morning, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I hurt you.”

“No, buddy,” Duo protested. “I’m the one who fucked up. I laid one on you without your consent. Of course you were gonna be mad. I forced a kiss on you that you didn’t want.”

”That’s not true,” Heero said. “I was just surprised. I’ve spent so long telling myself that you would never see me like that. When you kissed me, my brain immediately told me that you didn’t mean it, that you were just messing around, and I lashed out. I should know that you would never play with my feelings like that. I’m so sorry.”

”Stop apologizing!” Duo exclaimed, mind reeling from the implications of Heero’s words. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

”I hurt you,” Heero said mournfully. “You never cry, even when you’re wounded, but I made you cry.”

Duo didn’t bother trying to deny it. With how many tears he had shed throughout the day, there was no doubt that his eyes were swollen.

“I thought I lost you,” he admitted, instead. “I thought I fucked everything up.”

“Even if I didn’t have feelings for you, the way I reacted wasn’t fair to you.” Heero’s arms squeezed around him momentarily. “I should know you better than to assume that you would be flippant with my feelings like that. I’m sorry.”

Duo’s heart skipped a beat. “So you do have feelings for me, then?” he asked hesitantly. He had been trying to keep his hopes under control, but Heero’s wording was leaving little room for doubt.

“Yes,” Heero responded plainly. “I have for a while now. I think ever since I realized that I couldn’t kill you on Barge.”

Duo’s eyes teared up again for the umpteenth time that day, but this time in happiness. “Me, too,” he admitted. “Ever since you put the mission to the side to save me, ever since you saved me from certain death, I just couldn’t look at you the same. You were literally my hero.”

Duo tried pulling away to look at Heero’s face again, and this time Heero let him. What Duo found was warm eyes and a small, hopeful smile. Giving a tremulous smile in return, Duo reached a hand up and gently cupped Heero’s face. Going up on his tiptoes, Duo paused with his lips a hair's breadth away from Heero’s.

”Are you sure, buddy?” Duo asked, his breath ghosting across Heero’s lips.

Heero’s only response was to slide his hands to either side of Duo’s neck, angling his head to the side before leaning down and letting their lips meet.

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Heero