#>notebook binder that was good enough so.. no luck.

[dexaroth]

looong post about missing using backpacks and high-school experiences and personal feelings on the general 'busy/executive' look from carrying luggage and stuff. idk lots of thoughts here to summarize

theres this one hole that being done with high-school left me that's just. having a place to go. being busy, sort of..

having a backpack full of trinkets and your pencil case filled with clips and highlighters. or the rare bunches of printing and colored paper for the art projects or those mathematical rulers you used 3 times the whole year

and most importantly.. the feeling of being a Guy who has Places to go. look at all this luggage! the amount of things I need that goes beyond a simple bag! quite the work eh?

of course half of that perception is just 'wow! executive adult with responsibilities!' but not entirely, there are definitely tasks that require a lot of gear and stuff. filming crews, folks with laptops etc. and then there's the elusive Guy with a Big Bag With Wheels. thats the peak of the ideal

as with everything in my life specifically it all circles back to being disabled and having to stay at home bc I literally am not capable of physically doing anything even remotely close to what the generic student/employed person does and I think that helps a lot to the kind of romanticized view I have of this sorta thing

in a good day a majority of people would rather not have to carry and worry about a pack full of stuff or having to carry the weight of a computer and then some. but it's not that bad if you like/love what you're doing even if it requires those things yknow?

every year of high-school, even if it was the worst experience of my life that degraded me mentally physically and made me so fucked I had to cut myself in between or during classes.. I still looked up to the starting week and the feeling of a kind of new beginning. and packing everything to be super ready to whatever was to come like I was about to spend a month in the wild or climb a mountain

camping and stuff is another kind of 'look at all this shit we're packing and gadgets we have to make fire or little lanterns or makeshift homes (tents) that we have' and its just. holy shit man you sure are busy with a lot of stuff to do huh. and you've got the money to buy it all and friends to enjoy it with you. and you're going to the woods for fun and not to run away from your life because everything sucks. you've got your life all figured out! if only I could also match this unrealistic utopic vision that's sold in every sleeping bag package lol! 🙃

and the rest of this romanticized view also extends a bit to gender and self esteem in a way

of course I, a disabled person, would love to be a person that Can go places and even Has places to go and is important enough to have a complex task that needs all that luggage. and looks like a guy. maybe even a fancy guy with fancy bags and fancy clothing. it's all very important, being all that! unlike being a nobody that has to ask for a seat bc he can't stand for 2 minutes without crumpling like a wet sock because of his fucked up spine and spaghetti muscles

everybody looks up to someone who has something that they don't and wish they had or were like.. and I'm so miserable I just wish I mattered enough to be that average guy crossing the street with his bag on his shoulder. and it just so happens that's asking too much of life in my case

[obeymeswdwritings]

Hi! If you're comfortable with it, can I get the obey me! characters with a transmasc MC who cant transition? I'm going through th at rn and it sucks :(

Of course you can get that, anon! I'm sorry you have to go through that, and I'm really proud of you! Remember that you are who and what you are regardless of anything to do with transitioning, and you have at least the support of a stranger on the internet.

Characters- All

Transmasculine!Reader (he/him and masc/male terms used)

Warnings- Dysphoria discussion and mention, Swearing, romantic relationships/implications aside from Luke

Category- Headcanons, Request answers

Lucifer

Well first of all, would you prefer a male uniform? It's not a bother or anything.

he can get the paperwork changed fairly easily, and although he doesn't know where to get you a binder he can pay for one!

He's a great support, insisting that you keep your chin up. The Avatar of Pride isn't about to let you doubt yourself, not now, not ever.

What can he do to help? Let him know, even if it seems small or insignificant. He wants to do everything he can for you.

Later into your relationship, he proudly refers to you as his boyfriend, regardless of who he's talking to. Even Diavolo's heard him call you that.

Are you feeling down? If there's a reason, he'll fight it, but if there's not, or it's not a physical reason, you'll get your favorite drink, a blanket, and the rare affection he shows.

Mammon

He's not always sure how to be supportive, but he does his best. early on, he wakes you up by yelling boy. Like just the word. He means nothing but the best!

Extra luck for you. Except, instead of being all about gambling, your luck is always centered in affirmation- finding clothes that can hide feminine features while still being nice, people assuming correctly, and so on.

He's more than a bit of a tsundere, but he's massively overprotective, and anyone who misgenders you is gonna have to face the second-eldest avatar.

he's more than happy to bully anyone and everyone into respecting you, and for once they never have something to respond with. Except for an apology, that is.

He likes to refer to you as his treasure, and when you're out of earshot, his future trophy husband. Frankly, that's reserved for when everyone but Goldie is out of earshot.

Leviathan

This man is a regular tumblr user, he knows all the tips and tricks and best places to get gender affirming stuff.

The first gift you get from him is delivered anonymously to your door, and it's a box from Akuzon that, when opened, reveals one of the little coming out boxes and a note in his surprisingly neat handwriting that reads simply "We're all proud of you."

He's shy as hell, but that's not quite enough to stop him from stammering comments about how handsome, masculine, and cool you look whenever he can work up the courage.

He's always happy to love the gender euphoria back into you, wrapping his arms around you, hiding his face in your neck, and murmuring about how lucky he is to have such a good boyfriend.

He gets flustered easily, sure, but he's the Avatar of Envy, and the type of possessive jealousy is well within his realm, showing when he puts his head on your shoulder to show his fangs, hissing his claim on you to any lesser demon with the nerve to act like they can flirt with you.

He can write things without stuttering, so in order to get his point across, you'll start finding notes with all sorts of things written on them.

(Ex. "beautiful boy <3" written in a careful scrawl, a "good morning, handsome" scribbled on a sticky note attached to your tie, everything he wants to say written in a notebook.)

Satan

mwah mwah motherfucker, it's time for reassurance.

He'll often point to male characters and explain which of their traits reminded him of you, smiling both at the book and at you.

Satan likes to remind you that you're valid, but in subtle ways. He leaves neatly wrapped gifts on your bed, addressed to "my lovely boyfriend", and lovingly calling you ridiculous.

Satan's not about to treat you any differently for not being cis, or for not transitioning, he loves you for who you are, regardless of any of that.

He's proud of you! He's proud of you for accepting yourself, for sharing, for doing so well with dysphoria. He's incredibly proud. (In a smug, look-at-my-boyfriend way and a look-at-how-well-you're-doing-good-job way, not a Lucifer way)

"Darling dearest light of my life" prefaces like at least one thing he says at least twice a week. Nothing's cringe if you're the Avatar of Wrath!

He likes to comfort you by reading to you, performing every bit of odd writing in the book.

he'll happily go out of his way to comfort you, even if it means doing something vaguely embarrassing (i.e. put on the cat ears, pretty boy)

Asmodeus

You're definitely not the first trans guy he's met. I mean c'mon, look at him! you think he cares if you're trans? Only in the sense that he wants to gender you properly!

He's always happy to let you borrow cologne or perfume, both because if it helps, yay! and because all of his is custom, so it clearly shows whose it is.

"And this is my absolutely stunning boyfriend!" is how he tends to introduce you later in your relationship, and before that he sticks to "my handsome chaos friend."

Asmo likes to hear your voice, of course, but if you get dysphoria from it he's perfectly fine with carrying the conversation. Still, don't think you're getting out of a compliment about it.

Hmm? You're feeling a bit low? well we can't have that!

Asmo likes to spend casual, domestic time with you when you're upset, knowing you're aware of the fact that to him, time spent doing nothing is the most valuable he can give.

The affection he gives declares loud and clear, he doesn't care one way or the other, as long as you're by his side.

Beelzebub

That's cool! He thinks it's really interesting, and he's happy you told him!

Although he's not entirely sure how to go about supporting you, he'll do his best! He finds it fun to just stand behind you, taking full advantage of his stature to intimidate lesser demons into being nicer to you.

He's always got, at the very least, a smile and your comfort snack, believing firmly in the power of food to help problems. And hey, he's not wrong!

You can borrow his clothes if you want, they'll probably be really big on you.

Boyfriend cooking sessions! just be careful not to let him convince you to let him eat it all, that pout of his is too cute for his own good.

He shares food with you when you're feeling dysphoric, explaining that food always makes him feel better, and even if it's not the same problem, it might help!

Belphegor

His automatic response to someone making any big announcement is “congratulations” before his brain processes it, so that might be a little amusing.

Once his brain’s caught up, he won’t rescind the congratulations, but will ask if you have everything you need. He’s got a lot of comfy oversized hoodies, if you’d like one.

His method for comforting you isn’t all that intricate, he just drags you into a nap and changes your dreams a little bit.

pretty boy (derogatory) and bitchboy (affectionate)

when you’re feeling dysphoric, sleep. It’ll solve all your problems. After all, what are boyfriends who can manipulate the dreams of their boyfriend for if not gender affirmation?

Belphie’s a big fan of casual affirmation, he doesn’t see the point in making a big deal out of it. He’ll just happily call you his boyfriend, and ensure that you know that that’s what you are.

Diavolo

He’s the future king of the Devildom, of fucking course he can make a law that you have to ask for pronouns. 

this walking golden retriever of a man will gladly make sure you know you’re valid, of course! From calling you his boyfriend to cheerfully handing you a binder, he’s determined to make sure you’re fully aware.

Firm believer in affirmation cuddles. can’t have self-doubt if you’re being hugged too tightly to get the oxygen your brain needs! Just kidding, he won’t hug you that tightly, just make sure that you’re getting a good amount of affection.

He’s very proud of you. It takes courage to come out, he knows that, and he’s especially proud of you for doing it in an unfamiliar environment, especially considering you don’t have the chance to transition.

Now, if the only obstacle is money, he’ll get you whatever you need, but if the problem is medical or mental or anything else he’s here to support you. He’s here to support you either way.

Dia’s main form of comforting you resides with his affinity for physical affection, but of course he’ll gladly provide you with verbal love if you’d rather.

Barbatos

As an extremely powerful demon, he’s intimidating. Not in the murderous way of Lucifer, or the hair-trigger way of Satan, but in the way that only he can be. A smile that threatens someone more than any sentence ever could. 

And all that really means is that you’ll never have to worry about getting misgendered or deadnamed, here or in the human realm.  

likes to address you by adding a teasing “Mister” to the beginning of your name, or murmuring something in the Devildom language that you can never quite catch, but that makes Diavolo giggle happily every time he hears it. 

Mr. Acts of Service himself, Barbatos is a big fan of making you a soothing cup of tea and butter cookies after a long day, and if you have allergies, well, that’s what spells are for.

his preferred method of comforting you is just to wrap a blanket around your shoulders, set out a tray of your comfort foods, he pays attention to these things, and talk with you. He likes to carry on a conversation, talking about nothing in particular. 

However long he has to spend with you, he’ll stay with you.

Solomon

Solomon’s human, even if he isn’t technically mortal. As such, he’s met his fair share of trans people, and cheerfully offers you the methods he’s been told of to help dysphoria.

He likes you too much to use you as a test subject, so that’s off-limits as a transitioner. 

You’re quickly going to wind up pulling all sorts of pranks with him, though, and he decides that you shall forever be known as the chaos boyfriends, cheerfully putting it in graffiti or a note next to some of your works. 

Solomon’s main method of comfort is distraction. Be it asking for help with a study, cooking lessons, or anything inbetween, he knows that sometimes getting your mind off things is important.

Solomon isn’t just a tumblr user, he’s practically staff. He set up an account when it was first created because he thought it would be funny and follows exclusively wizard blogs, which you’ll be send screenshots of at the most ridiculous times.

He likes to calm you down from dysphoria by giving you a new problem to worry about cooking!

Simeon

Angel to the end, Simeon’s a calming barrier against dysphoria. He always knows what to say to get you to stop worrying, or shut down dysphoria altogether.

Shows you snippets of writing, his and others, where trans people are there, just existing, without transitioning. “It doesn’t make you any less you” is his simple explanation.

He loves getting to watch you happy, and he’ll do a lot to get the privilege of that! The fact of the matter is, finding you a binder isn't all that hard, once you get down to it. Neither is stealing a male uniform, but that’s totally irrelevant, y’know? I mean really, surely nobody’d ever do that, right? 

He stole like three, sorry, borrowed for a good cause, since he wasn’t sure what size and didn’t want to ask.

Simeon likes to give hugs, just big ol hugs. 

He’s a big supporter overall, and never misses a chance to remind you of that.

Luke

You have achieved what Simeon could not: Luke openly considers you a brother. 

Now he’s interesting in that he comforts people in the way he was comforted, which means that he’ll drag you to his room and start telling you about his stuffed animals.

He might not entirely understand dysphoria, but he does understand wanting to fight people and not being able to because of reputation and also physical strength!

Luke invites you to baking sessions, and he has a sign to put on the door that says “brothers working, enter at own risk” in calligraphy. He likes to make your favorite pastries!

He will genuinely try to fight anyone who bitches at you, gender or otherwise. 

A good solution to all problems is making cupcakes and passing them out. People are always nice to the bakers!

Anon! Remember, they’re all proud of you.

[echo-three-one]

I rly don’t want anything but a ghost x reader :’) because I miss my baby

When I saw this, I wanted to initially bail this ask and apologize. I didn't want to get called out again as a terrible Ghost fic writer and get blocked by more blogs but eh... I guess there are perks of being a writer... Just gotta accept and keep moving on.

Anyways. this one's short and kinda not what everyone would expect from me.

Hope you have fun, readers. (Wait, I have readers aside from notif squad?!)

You unloaded the last box and dropped it on the floor by the door, wiping your forehead as you placed your hands on your hips and looked at your new home. This is it, you were finally living the dream. Leaving your country was never easy, but you thought of spreading your wings and the idea of a fresh start was what's best for you.

Your new apartment room was the most decent you could get out of all your options. It looked like someone left on a rush as you saw a newspaper from last week still on the table by the living room. Guess they left some of their stuff for you.

Oddly enough, the said newspaper attracted your attention as the page was open on an article that showed 2 people, who looked like soldiers, one had a mohawk and the other looked old, had a moustache and an explorer hat. It was labeled 'Most Wanted'. You didn't bother to check the rest of the article and kept the newspaper immediately, thinking that you could use it for when you paint the walls.

Still tired from travel, you decided to unbox your albums and notebooks from highschool, as you felt a sudden wave of nostalgia. You just arrived in the new country for like 2 hours and you already felt homesick.

Among the stack of notebooks and binders, one particular book caught your attention. Your high school diary, which was unlocked for some reason and you were glad it was, because you were sure you never found any key when you packed your stuff.

You flipped through the pages of your vibrant high school life and smiled at the narration, word usage and good memories it had. Until one summer when you found a photo attached to the page.

The photo was that of you and Simon Riley, he was one year ahead of you and you both met at  art club. Well, he wasn't a member there but a football toppled your popsicle Eiffel tower and he stayed up until night to help you fix it back.

You were both sitting by the dock of the lake, your smiles were over the heavens, laughing at something that wasn't remotely funny.

The caption read: 

"I remember how we felt, sitting by the water

And every time I look at you, it's like the first time

I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter

She is the best thing that's ever been mine"

Then you slowly closed your eyes as you remembered him singing that line of the song back in the lake almost 10 years ago. You told him that was the song stuck in your head after you met and he kinda liked the song as well.

This memory suddenly made you cry as you remembered how your relationship with him ended. It was tragic as you two got along for quite a while and even endured the fact that he was in a different school. 

Then one summer, you both met back at that lake, he gave you news that devastated you. He didn't really plan to break up with you that day, but it felt like you should. You couldn't handle the burden of the two of you worrying for one another as it was too emotionally painful to think about.

You no longer had a diary that time but you still remembered his exact words.

"I'm enlisting myself to join the military." he muttered. No intros, no everything, he just straight up said that. You remember your mind process at that moment, thinking about how you two could survive his decision. But no matter how far you've thought about it, it only led to the same conclusion.

"I… I wish you luck." you remembered your voice croaking at that response as you gave him one final hug. You didn't even have to say it, but the context of the two of you splitting up was there. The romance that once bloomed by the water, ended at the same place.

"Be careful out there…" you whispered.

"I will. Take care." he responded with back rubs as you felt your tears drop on his shirt. You were going to miss him. A lot.

"Hey now. Don't cry. Always remember…" he pulled back and looked at you straight in the eye.

"You were the best thing that's ever been mine." he smiled, quoting the line from your favorite song. All you did was hug him again, so tight that you almost don't want him to go.

"One last run at our fave ice cream shop?" he invited and you nodded.

You couldn't help but cry at that memory. It was always dear to you as he was one of the reasons you felt that someone would really love you. But then again, the first love isn't always the last.

You looked out the window and smiled, wondering wherever Simon is right now.

"I hope you're happy, wherever you are. I won't ever forget how you taught me how to love." You whispered as you continued to unbox your stuff. It was going to be a long day.

[cupcakemolotov]

Fall With You

I ended up pinch hitting for the exchange! It was fun, if slightly wild 48 hours to put this together. Written for the lovely @queencarolinemikaelson​. I’m really glad you enjoyed it since it ended up being a fluff fest of roommate co-hab. Also a big thank you to @bellemorte180​ for putting this graphic together!

I put the first but under a cut, bit under a cut, but the full story is almost 9K, so the link to the story is at the bottom. :)

Summary: When life throws her a curve ball in the form of her good looking, yet moody roommate, Caroline takes it in stride as best she can. Her living situation was a favor, after all, and rent is anything but cheap in NYC. Its the part where she actually starts to like him that she can't quiet figure out how to manage. Lust was one thing, but feelings? 

Warnings: Alternate Universe; Alternate; Universe - Human; Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates; Minor Character Death; not otp; Family Drama; Family Dynamics; Fluff and Humor; Domestic Fluff; Tooth-Rotting Fluff; Mild Smut; Human Caroline Forbes; Human Klaus Mikaelson; Living Room Picnics; Wine; Dates That Aren't Dates; They Could Really Get Their Shit Together Faster; but not really; Making Out; Some petting; NSFW just to be safe            

It was almost three am, her feet were killing her, and her key was stuck in her front door.

Seriously, what was with her luck today? The door had always been finicky, but until earlier this week the lock had been behaving itself. It’d gone from not wanting to turn properly to straight up mutiny in four days. It was an easy fix, unlike the door, but it also required a trip to the store and she just hadn’t had time. Amazon could have delivered the powdered graphite, but she was on a budget and believed in shopping local.

Her two year savings plan to finish her degree would not manifest itself if she bought things simply because they were convenient.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Caroline seriously considered just leaning up against the door jam and spending the night outside. It was early summer, and the air had cooled to a balmy sixty-five degrees, leaving the usually stifling hallway almost comfortable. If only she didn’t smell so heavily of beer. Shifting her weight, she winced as her shoes squelched, a reminder of the truly spectacular ending to her night. Her eight hour shift had almost doubled when the night shift manager had called in sick. Usually that wouldn’t have been a problem, but the only other person with keys was out of town leaving Caroline holding the bag to close.

She knew from experience that she had about an hour before she crashed, the rush from kicking out the lingering guests who had been clearly on an epic brawl crawl having mostly faded after the hour long subway ride home. Right then, the only thing keeping her upright was the fact that she was starving, her dinner had been rushed and only half eaten, and the knowledge that if she made it into her apartment she had the next two days off. Tomorrow she could sleep in, and if she was really lucky, her roommate’s night had gone well enough he could be coaxed into making pancakes.

Cheered by the thought, Caroline dug out her cell phone from the backpack she’d slung over her shoulder and checked it for a response. She hadn’t been sure if Klaus had beaten her home or if he was still out celebrating, but either way, he hadn’t bothered to respond yet. Her lips compressed into a thin line.

Usually, she could depend on Klaus to be awake when she finished a night shift, her roommates' hours were only reliable on how sporadic they were and depending on her schedule, hers weren’t much better. But with his big event tonight, she had no idea what he had decided to do. Honestly, would it kill the man to respond to her texts?

She’d expected him to ignore her rapidly typed apology and well wishes she’d sent in-between bites of food. Klaus wasn’t particularly good at handling sentiment of any kind and supremely anti-emoji, and she’d made a point to send several of them. She’d hoped it’d give him something to be annoyed about that wasn’t his evening plans. He needed to schmooze, and a scowl-y Klaus would not accomplish that at all.

He could be charming, when he wanted to be. She’d seen it. He just didn’t deploy full dimples unless he wanted something. Her reminders the night before that he needed to earn his half of the rent without getting carpal tunnel hadn't impressed him.

Too bad. She’d been right, and he’d known it.

He had mentioned a couple of his friends were trying to talk him into drinks afterwards, back when she had thought she might be able to join him. Usually, she would be thrilled that he was getting out and actually seeing people instead of trying to live off granola bars and tea. But right then she really wanted him to be home and grumpy so he could unlock the door. She wondered if texting Marcel with an S.O.S would be rude?

Things were a lot less complicated when she only liked Klaus for the rent he helped cover. Wanting him home, even just for a lock-related emergency wasn’t a thought she would have had even six months ago. Klaus was not what one would label as a comfortable roommate for most of the time. He was far too prickly for that, and he could be snarly in the mornings. Which fair, so could she, but the moodiness. Caroline hadn’t been one to spend much time around the art scene, either at Uni or in high school, but she’d spent the last year learning that there was a lot to be said about artistic temperaments, most of it unflattering.

She was fairly certain Klaus had been born a contrary grump, his winning personality had nothing to do with his chosen profession, she could certainly see how he’d been drawn to the lifestyle, talent aside. Most people immediately laughed off his acerbic tongue once they learned he was an artist, his behavior brushed aside as temperamental. His goods certainly helped his cause, and his accent added a layer of charm that otherwise might not have existed.

She was not so forgiving.

The first few months of their co-hab had not been easy. Klaus was messy, absent minded, and had ruined three of her towels with paint splatter before she’d blown her lid. The apartment was small enough that avoiding each other was nearly impossible, and her preferred kind of stress relief had to be timed for when she was alone, and so they’d been forced to deal with their annoyances. To Klaus’ credit, while he’d been snappish in return, he’d somehow managed to keep a lid on the worst of his temper.

They’d argued, multiple times, they were both stubborn and used to being right, but they’d eventually found some kind of middle ground. Snapping had softened into bickering, and Caroline had stopped nitpicking him about his notebooks being spread across the house and the incorrect way he rolled his toothpaste, and he stopped leaving towels on the floor and made a point to contain his absentminded mess to his room.

And then they started to talk, sometimes about work, sometimes about art, and she’d realized she kind of liked him as a person. She’d started dragging him to her group lunches on her days off, much to Rebekah’s despair, and they might have become something like friends. Except for the part where every so often, she’d look at him and something about the way he stood, the angle of his jaw or the line of his throat left her wanting to jump his bones.

It was really frustrating, when her existence didn’t even seem to phase him.

So she’d done her best to ignore whatever that little spark was between them when it flared up, and not upset the status quo. Because the past year had been better than she could have imagined. Before her mom had died, she would never have considered the life she found herself living now as a good one.

She’d just wrapped her third year at NYU, had exactly 24 hours of classes left before graduation, and had managed to wrangle her schedule so that her final semester would be a cake walk of classes. The cherry on top had been the kick ass internship she’d lined up for the summer. Her five year plan was perfectly on track, her excellent grades gave her a shot at graduating with honors, and she couldn’t wait to show her mom around New York City from the eyes of a local. She’d spent three years putting together a binder, collecting menus from her favorite places to eat and brochures from all the museums and the jam packed tourists locations to offer her mom some variety.

Then she’d gotten that phone call that had thrown everything into a tale spin.

Blowing out a breath, Caroline bounced on her toes and debated best her course of action. She could probably get her key out of the lock if she was very careful, though the past twenty minutes said her luck wasn’t great, Forbes women were nothing if not stubborn, but there was also a chance she would break the key off in the lock and she could already see the little smirk on Klaus’ face if she did. Her hand tightened on the strap of her backpack. He still hadn’t forgiven her for being far more comfortable with power tools than he was and her perfectly reasonable gloating probably hadn’t helped much, if she was honest.

She kind of didn’t regret it. Poking Klaus sizable ego was a favorite past time of hers, and he seemed to enjoy their back and forth as much as she did. Her mental tally had her up two points this month, and she wanted to keep her lead.

Unfortunately, things weren’t really going in her favor just then. Sighing, Caroline tucked her phone back into her bag and admitted defeat. She’d have to figure this one out herself. Either Klaus’ event had run long and he had actually taken her advice to schmooze people or he was home and had drunk enough that he was sleeping like the dead.

Either of those options would not help her now.

Her best bet now was to go and eat a giant piece of pie, drink her weight in caffeine, and trudge her way to the little mom and pop shop that sold a little of everything, including graphite, once it became a reasonable hour. She’d fix her lock and then crash for the following eight hours of hopefully uninterrupted sleep, and leave a very pointed sticky note on the coffee pot so Klaus knew not to disturb her.

Satisfied with the makings of her plan, she shifted her backpack to her other shoulder, mentally reviewing the pie menu, and paused when the elevator dinged from behind her. Sliding her teeth between her lip, Caroline turned and blew out a breath when she recognized the tumble of ruffled curls stepping into the hall. The hallway was dimly lit, so it took a moment for her brain to really understand what else she was seeing.

Klaus was wearing a tux.

Logically, she’d known he was going to be wearing one. His event that night had been important, his work had finally made it into a gallery tonight and it was a Big Deal. His first real show outside of the fancy art school he had attended, and he had spent months fretting over his work and brooding silently in his room as nothing met his incredibly exacting standards. Klaus had even brought home a couple of canvas to work in the questionable light of his bedroom instead of the small studio space he and five other artists pooled their money to share.

Much to her annoyance.

No amount of febreeze really removed the scent of acrylics and turpentine, and she’d been worried if she tried to burn her stash of scented candles something would catch on fire. She’d held her tongue though, because Klaus was never nervous. He was in fact annoyingly difficult to rattle even in the most ridiculous of situations, the man had absolutely no shame, and the way he’d almost jittered had been weird and kind of enduring. Since he’d seen her in numerous states of frantic and alarmed, it was nice for things to end up on a little more even ground for once. She’d done her best to force him to eat something that looked like actual food every so often, and tried to stay quiet when she knew he was working in his bedroom.

She’d even helped him pick out the tuxedo from the catalogue he’d brought home from the store he had planned to rent from. There was a fancy evening gown that she’d rented hanging in her closet that Caroline had planned to wear to go with him before work had made that impossible. But knowing all that, and actually seeing him in that tux were not nearly the same thing.

Caroline blinked rapidly. Her paint speckled roommate, with his surly attitude and annoying dimples, was wearing a tux. And he looked really, really good. He’d undone his tie so it hung loosely around his neck, and his jacket was loose and unbuttoned around his waist, his curls still somewhat tamed along his forehead. Something very much like arousal jolted through her as he looked up, the low light highlighting the scruff along his jaw and the length of his neck. For a moment, he just stared at her, as surprised as she and then his head tipped and his brow arched, lips tugging up at the corners.

“Waiting on me?”

The rest can be found here: A03

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Being A Stark (5)- Peter Parker x Stark!femReader

Word Count: 2153

Warning: None I think

Author’s Note: I had a completely shitty T1D day yesterday and wasn’t able to get this up. However, here it is and hopefully you enjoy!

Becoming A Stark Chapter One | Being A Stark Chapter One | Master List

When Happy pulls up in front of MSST, your heart is pounding in your chest. Everyone else stepped back into the world over a week ago and you’re facing it alone. “You going to be alright kid?” Happy asks, looking at you through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah. Fine.” You mutter before grabbing your backpack and lunch. It felt like deja vu, apart from the fact that you weren’t about to panic when you started ninth grade the last time.

“If you don’t feel ready, say the word and we can head back to the cabin.”

“I’m not a chicken. I can do this.” 

“Never said you were.” Happy smiles at you. Part of you wishes that your mom or dad had come with you, but your dad is still healing and Pepper had to take Morgan to her school near where you live now, so it meant that Happy was your ride. “You’ve got this kid. But if at any point, it gets to be too much, I’m a call away. I’ll just be at SI.” You nod, before opening the car door. From across the street you can hear the paparazzi calling your name, trying to get a look at Tony’s daughter that disappeared. But you’re distracted the moment you hear a familiar voice.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” You look up to see Peter’s hand reaching for yours as you climb out of the car. You can’t help but smile finally seeing him again. Was it your fault you hadn’t seen him since after the battle? Yes. But now he’s here and that’s the only thing you can think about. 

“Hey Parker.” You say, wanting it to feel like old times to try and calm yourself. “Since when are you fine with the paps just seeing you waiting?” When the paparazzi were here, Peter usually walked next to you until you were inside the building.

“Lost each other for five years. I think that deserves not caring about the paparazzi any more.” He shrugs as you two walk towards the front doors of the school, your hand wrapped in his. “You ready?” He asks as he opens the door for you.

“No, but let's do this.” You answer honestly as you walk inside. You expect everything to look different, but it looks… normal. There are posters hanging on the wall about clubs and events. There’s a banner hanging reminding people about homecoming coming up in a few weeks. It was like nothing had changed. Peter’s arm moves to wrap around your shoulder, pulling you into him.

“So ninth grade all over again?” He teases.

“Going to fail chemistry this time. I feel it in my bones.” You say already dreading your third period.

“Won’t let it happen babe. Between your dad and I, we’ll make sure you pass.” Peter smiles as he walks with you towards the lockers. You had already sent him pictures of your new schedule and your locker number last week when everyone who Blipped got their’s. You have three classes with Betty, unsurprising since they’re trying to fit all the Blippers into similar classes. Your English class is only Blipped students according to Betty, because there wasn’t enough space without creating a new class. “Come on, let’s go dump your stuff in your locker.” He stops the two of you in front of your locker. You spin your locker combination and open the door, expecting to find an empty locker, but instead there’s a cup of coffee waiting for you.

“What is this?” You pick it up to find that it’s still warm.

“Thought you might need something to make your day a little better.” Peter shrugs, the tips of his ears going a bit pink. “I went to your favorite shop and got your usual.” You look at the cup in your hand and then back at him. “Almond milk latte, sugar free hazelnut syrup, two Equal.” He recites. Next thing you know, your lips are pressed to his, not knowing how to say what you want to to him. 

“I love you.” You mumble against his lips.

“All I had to do was bring you coffee?” Peter asks as he pulls back slightly, still keeping you in his arms. You had said it to him during your call in the middle of the battle, but hadn’t mentioned it again since then. Peter was sure you had been putting space the past week between the two of you. So hearing it again was music.

“All you had to do was be you.” You shrug, taking a sip of the coffee.

“I love you too.” He adds, realizing he hadn’t said it back. “I should have said it when you did, but I do-” You smirk before cutting him off with your lips. You love his rambling, but right now, you’d rather just kiss him.

“There’s probably an empty classroom if you two want some privacy.” Betty teases from behind you. Peter starts to pull back, but you lean forward to place one more kiss on his lips.

“Make fun all you want Betty, but I just happen to have the best boyfriend.” Your hand pulls Peter’s into your hold as you turn to face your friend who already has her books. 

“You two are in love, the world gets it. However if we’re late to English, Mr. Briggs will not have it.” You place your lunch and your backpack in your locker, before taking the binders and books you need for your first few classes. Peter holds your coffee as you rummage through your bag grabbing what you need. You throw a bag of extra pump supplies into your locker and take some low snacks to throw in your pencil bag. As you do this, Betty peppers you with questions about what school work you reused and what you actually redid to get ready to come back to school. After you slam your locker shut, you turn back to Peter and take your coffee back. 

“Thanks.” You smile, saying both for holding it and for getting it.

“Anytime.” Moving the cup so it sits in your hand that holds your binders, books, and your laptop, you reach with your other hand for Peter’s hand. You and Betty will literally need to pass Peter’s locker to get to your class so you have more time with him. This moment of talking with one of your best friends while walking down the hallway with your boyfriend, it almost makes it feel like the Blip never happened. Peter walks you all the way to your English class.

“You’re going to be late if you don’t get going.” You say, not letting go of his hand. 

“So I get detention. It’s not the worst thing that could happen.” Peter shrugs.

“Until you want to do stuff after school and you can’t because of detention. Go. I’ll see you at lunch.” You kiss his cheek, but as you start to pull away, he turns your face ever so slightly to kiss your lips. “Go.” You laugh as you push him away. Walking into class you take the empty seat behind in front of Betty. 

“You too are too cute, you know that right.”

“Yeah, I lucked out.” You say as you set the stuff in your arms down, while your phone buzzes in your pocket. Glancing at the screen you can’t help but roll your eyes. Peter just left you, why is he already texting you?

PP: You know, I could get used to the taste of coffee if it’s always from kissing you.

Y: You’re ridiculous you know that.

PP: You love it.

Y: That I do.

“Miss Stark, I understand it’s your first day back, however the bell has rung, so phones away.” Mr. Briggs' voice comes from the front of the classroom. 

“Sorry!” You put your phone into your pocket. Betty taps your shoulder and whispers six words to you.

“Peter’s already getting you in trouble.”

“Shut up.” You mumble.

“Now let’s get into our discussion on A Brave New World. We only have today and tomorrow to finish with it, so let's jump right in.” You pull out a notebook and a pen to make notes on your favorite class. Having it first thing in the morning will make taking ninth grade all over again more fun. 

The morning passes with a relative ease. You had to talk to each of your teachers about your diabetes, which is nothing new with a new school year, but seeing as half of them had you before the Blip, there wasn’t as much info dumping for them. By the time you got to lunch though, you’re ready to just curl into Peter’s arms, and honestly, you could go for a nap. You swing by your locker to switch out your books as well as grab your lunch. 

“How’d the first half go?” Peter’s voice is next to you and you’re almost surprised to hear him, until you remember that his Mechanical Energies class is right across from your locker.

“It went fine. Calc 1 is awful already since I missed a few weeks of catch up. But English and German were good.”

“And Chemistry?” He asks, noting the class you skipped talking about.

“Kill me already.” You say as you slam your locker shut and take his hand.

“And have Tony Stark after me? I don’t think so.”

“He wouldn’t hurt you.”

“If I hurt you, he’ll make an exception.” Peter looks at you, seeing you don’t believe him. “Baby, your dad made time travel to bring you back. He would do anything to keep you safe. I’m not risking it.” Peter explains as you walk to the table your friends sit at. “Guys, tell Y/N I’m right. Her dad would definitely kill me if I killed her because Chemistry isn’t her subject.”

“Your dad would probably use the excuse of Peter accidentally tripping you as enough of a reason.” Betty says as she pulls the contents of her lunch out. 

“See, point made.” Peter says as he places his own sack lunch on the table. “Therefore, you’ll just have to make it through Chemistry with some help. I hear you and I have pretty good chemistry anyway.” His eyebrows move up and down at you.

“You’re ridiculous. I already said that once today.” You work on pulling your lunch out.

“And you also said you love me because of it.”

“Because of it or in spite of it?” You tease, adding up the numbers written across your lunch so you can put it in Queenie.

“Both.” Peter says before kissing your cheek.

“Some of us are trying to eat here. Don’t be gross.” MJ teases.

“Honestly, it’s all Peter’s fault.” You shrug as you type the numbers into Queenie to get your bolus started. 

“Fine, I’ll keep that in mind the next time you want a kiss.” Peter teases, making a face like he wouldn’t give you anything you asked for.

“Play for both teams and you always win.” You wink at him as his face falls. “I have other options.”

“What?” Peter’s voice goes up an octave.

Betty rolls her eyes. “Like she actually would.” You know Betty’s right, but you shrug and smirk at Peter.

“Fine, fine, I’ll be the gross one, but I’m not sharing you.” He says wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you into him. “Only one person should be kissing those lips.” 

“Yeah? You’re right. Only kissing Spider-Man from here on out.” MJ, Ned, and Betty laugh as you kiss Peter’s cheek. 

“If that’s how you feel, maybe I need to go have a talk with Spider-Man and see what his intentions are.” Peter says, not letting go of the arm around your waist.

“Probably nothing good.” You smirk as you raise an apple slice to your lips.

“That sounds about right.” Peter says trying to peel his orange with one hand and failing, but not willing to let go of you. You take the fruit from his hand and peel it apart easily before handing it back to him.

“You can use your other hand, you know?”

“I could, but it’s fairly happy where it is.” His thumb moves up and down along your side. You roll your eyes at him as your friends fall back into talking about things that have happened in the past week. Mentions of new memes and stories that happened fill the space as you listen. Your head falls to Peter’s shoulder as you keep eating. The blue sweater he’s wearing is soft against your cheek, but more importantly being where you are, your nose is filled with the smell of Peter. Mainly a citrus note entwined with something earthy. And it calms you immensely. Your dad was right about leaning on him instead of pushing him away. It’s making today easier.

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

...A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway  @iamaunicorn4704  @furiouspockettoad  @daughter-of-stark  @eternalharry  @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff @sunnyoongles @cosmicqueenieb @sovereignparker @bbarnestan @teenwishes08 @iamthescarlettwitch @skyfallstilinski @cutie1365 @a-mnd @youarethereasonimsmiling @thefemalestorywriter @krazykendraisnotinsane @cathy8taffy @letssee2468 @babyreads @riyanna @theatregeek @bubblebunbun @curls-freckles-books

strike won’t let me tag

[liberty-barnes]

Switching Things Up

Louis Tomlinson x Female!Reader 

University AU / Non-Famous AU

Summary: Five times Louis almost asked you out and the one time you asked him.

Warnings: cursing, fluffffff, bit of angst, misunderstandings, and Louis pining.

Word Count: 5k words

ERT: 20 minutes

A/N: i'm so in love with Louis it's not even funny anymore. also, it's finally out!!!!!!!

Inspired by: "Kiss You" "18" "Infinity" by One Direction, that one scene in the This Is Us movie. 

Masterlist | Taglist

Louis's First

It was just another usual day for Louis. Wake up at six o'clock, drink his tea, go to class, pick up the girls from school, have lunch all together, and start his shift at Toys 'R' Us.

He genuinely liked working there. He loved kids, it was fun to be surrounded by toys, and they were quite respectful of his uni hours, so overall, it was quite a nice gig.

He was working on the floor today, greeting costumers, seeing if they need help with anything, trying to keep the shelves tidy. It was quite a slow day so since he was done with all his homework he took some time to play with the toys a bit. 

"Okay, they've got to be here somewhere. Don't worry, we'll find you one just like it."

He lifted his head from where it was bowed over one of the pianos in the lower shelves, giving up on trying to get it to be straight and cracking his knuckles a bit.

The woman sounded pretty young and her voice was very nice so he started playing a random tune on the piano that was a bit more level with him (and sounded better too), just waiting for her to round the corner and spot him.

"Auntie, look, it's right there!"

The girl that passed right by him was absolutely divine. He'd never seen anyone as gorgeous as her and if the way his heart stuttered in his chest was any indication, his body seemed to agree. He straightened his shirt and ran his hands through his hair before turning around, ready to offer his help and maybe get her number after.

And if he pouted when she walked right past him with not the smallest reaction, nobody will ever know.

Louis's Second

He sat on a wooden bench as he waited in front of his youngest sisters' primary school. He was among parents and nannies, waiting for the bell to go off and the children to leave. His fingers tapped a random beat on his thigh while he hummed a melody that's been floating in his brain for a few minutes, trying to match some words to it.

So tell me, girl, if every time we touch

You get this kind of rush

He was about to take out his phone to write it down when a girl sat on the other side of the bench, taking out her headphones and putting them neatly into her bag.

But it wasn't just any girl.

It was the one he'd dubbed 'Future Mrs. Tommo', the girl from Toys 'R' Us. He refused to let her go this time, but he had no idea how to start the conversation.

That is, until she took out a familiar-looking binder, flipping it until she reached her desired page and started filling it out. It had been a mere thirty seconds before she started frowning.

He's never been so grateful to have chosen music as his minor.

"Are you in Charlton's class?"

The girl looked at him and he momentarily froze in place as his blue eyes met her (y/e/c) ones.

"Yeah, are you in his class?"

"Not anymore, I had him last year, though, he's a prick."

She huffed out a laugh and leaned back on the bench.

"Tell me about it, we've been talking about the Renaissance Era for two months and he still hasn't gotten to the interesting part."

"I thanked every deity imaginable that I got Natalie this year, I don't think I could do another year of that old man."

She turned to him and cocked her head.

"I've never heard of a 'Natalie' before."

"Natalie Dubois, she's a new teacher from France. Got a bit of a weird accent but she's a hell of a good teacher, and fun too, she gives us a bit more freedom, nothing like Charlton."

"What year are you?"

"Third, you?"

"Second."

He nodded and she tapped her pen against her binder.

"What're you studying?"

He was quite happy that she kept the conversation going.

"Drama major, music minor."

"Very artistic."

"I live to entertain. What about you?"

"Psychology major, music minor."

"Ooh, a brain doctor, I've always wondered if Psych majors could identify psychopaths from a single conversation."

She laughed at that and he felt his heart wanting to beat out of his chest. He wanted to record that sound so he could listen to it all the time. Use it as a ringtone, a melody for his next song, his alarm in the morning. He was positive he'd wake up in a much better mood if that's what brought him out of his slumber.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted before he could even ask for her number, or name, mind you, by the children's excited cheers.

Sooner than he would have liked, a little black-haired boy came running out and into her arms, Phoebe and Daisy only a couple steps behind.

"It was nice talking to you, I'll see you around!"

He could only wish her luck with that idiot teacher before she was gone and he had to care for his two little girls.

Louis's Third

The music room was quiet as he sat in front of the piano. He took out his notebook and started to play, following the notes messily scribbled on it.

I got a heart, and I got a soul, believe me, I will use them both

We made a start, be it a false one, I know

Baby I don't want to feel alone

He tried out, but something felt off. He tried a different note for the end, content with the way it sounded and scribbling it onto the notebook right after.

So kiss me where I lay down, my hands pressed to your cheeks

A long way from the playground

He frowned, changing a few notes here and there.

It sounded better, but there was still something missing.

"Try a key higher, it might sound better."

He heard her voice from the doorway, heart almost beating out of his chest for two entirely different reasons, though he chose to focus on the "I was startled" one instead of the "My dream girl is here" one.

He did as she told him though, and it did sound better.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She looked entirely too pretty when she smiled. He wondered if the sun was really necessary given that she smiled bright enough to light up this galaxy and the next. He busied himself with writing the changes in his notebook while she went from table to table, searching up and down for something he wasn't aware of. He secretly hoped she wouldn't find it, just so he could stare at her for a bit longer.

"How're classes with Charlton going? Still a prick?"

"The day that man stops being a prick, angels will be falling from the sky."

He didn't see her fall, but he was pretty sure she was an angel. 

"A-ha!"

He saw her lift a blue journal, the word 'Songs' beautifully calligraphed on it in gold. She put it back in her bag and approached him so she was standing right behind him, reading the words in his notebook. 

He felt her shoulder grazing his and smelled her perfume. It was fruity and sweet. Peaches, maybe?

"That's a beautiful song, you're very talented."

He felt his cheeks heat up at the praise.

"Thanks."

He took a deep breath. This is it. He's gonna do it. He's gonna ask her out.

"Hey, I was wondering-"

"Shit!"

She got up in a flash and took her backpack from where she had put it down next to the seat.

"I'm gonna be late for my appointment but hold that thought 'til we meet again?"

She looked so sorry that he couldn't bear to tell her no.

Louis's Fourth

"I'm telling you, Niall, she's the most perfect girl to have ever walked this Earth."

He sighed as he faceplanted onto the couch, the blonde still strumming his guitar as if Louis wasn't having an existential crisis a mere six inched away from him.

"You don't even know her name."

"I'll just call her mine."

The punch that landed on his arm was deserved, he'll admit it.

"The way I'm seeing it, you just need to find out who she is and ask her out, it's really not that hard."

"But I don't know where to find her."

"Wrong, you know that she picks up her nephew at midday. A nephew that goes to the same school as your little sisters. Just figure out the kid's name, find the school records, and trace it back to her. Easy."

He lifted his head from the pillow and glared at Niall.

"That's illegal."

He shrugged.

"Most importantly, though, I'm awful with computers so we'd need to find someone to do it for us."

"I know a guy."

He nodded, that would be plan B, assuming they find a plan A first.

The door opened to the sound of Harry's amazing rendition of Juice, and Louis smiled unconsciously.

"Nialler, you home?"

"Living room!"

The brunette walked into the room and fist-bumped them, lifting Louis's legs so he could slide under them and sit.

"Why do you look like a kicked puppy?"

"I met the girl of my dreams but I don't know her name and have no idea how to contact her."

Unlike Niall, Harry was much more the romantic type. He believed in fate, love at first sight, and all that stupid shit in the books he read his sisters every night. It was no surprise when he gave him the most poetic, love-filled piece of advice Louis had ever heard.

"You just need to have faith, Lou. If she's the one for you then the universe will find a way to get your paths to cross again. Before you know it you'll be married with four kids and a cat, living on a little farm with a giant trampoline in your backyard."

"How did I end up with you two as my best friends? I either get a 'break into a primary school' or 'trust the universe', there is no in-between."

Niall laughed loudly and Harry patted his calves reassuringly before they heard the door open and their friends' voices echoing in the small flat.

"Hey, boys?"

"Living room!"

Liam came in with a couple of packs of beer, followed by Zayn and a third person whose footsteps he didn't recognize.

(Because yes, he'd memorized the sound of his friends' footsteps, sue him.)

"Lou, stop sulking, it's time to drink beers and be happy."

"I'm deeply sorry if my existential crisis is bothering you, Zayn, I'll try to suffer silently."

The laugh he heard made his breath hitch and his heart stutter in his chest.

He knew that laugh.

That laugh had been playing on a loop in Louis' brain for two weeks now.

He tried (read: failed miserably) to sit up naturally, though it looked a bit more forced than he wanted it to.

"Mystery Boy!"

She pointed at him with a gleeful expression on his face and if his soul hadn't left his body before, it sure had now.

"Hey."

Really? 'Hey'? That's the best he can do?

"I never caught your name."

She cocked her head to the side adorably, arm stretched over her knee from her place on the floor, leaning against the armchair.

"I never threw it."

It was stronger than him, he didn't even register his comment until she started laughing and he felt his cheeks burn up, the overwhelming sense of having fucked everything up taking over him.

"Drama majors, always clowning around."

He let out a relieved breath and smiled when she didn't seem to take any offense to it.

"You guys know each other?"

Liam, lovely Liam, looking like a confused puppy but bless his soul for asking because it made her speak and Louis loved hearing her voice so much, it sounded better than any music the world could provide.

"We've kind of met. I'm (Y/n), by the way."

(Y/n).

(Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n).

(Y/n) Tomlinson.

That had a nice ring to it.

A really nice ring to it.

Mrs. (Y/n) Tomlinson.

Perfect.

"Usually, this is the part where you tell me your name. I can't keep referring to you as 'Mystery Boy'."

She giggled and his cheeks heated up again, though he didn't mind embarrassing himself if it earned him a laugh from her every time.

"I'm Louis. Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson."

"Nice to formally meet you, Louis."

He smiled and thanked the sun, moon, and stars for this opportunity. Because really, there wasn't a better opportunity than this one.

She's here.

With him.

(And his friends, but who cares about them?)

And he finally knew her name.

He could ask her out.

No fear.

No time-clock.

No hesitation.

"Here's your juice, love."

"Thanks, babe."

She threw Zayn a kiss and he felt his heart break.

Oh no.

"Guys, I have to tell you about this girl I met."

Louis sat down properly on the couch so he had a clear view of Zayn's face.

"Ooh, gossip."

The younger boy swatted him before letting out a dreamy sigh.

"She's just- She's so pretty and kind, and her laugh, she has the most beautiful laugh I've ever heard. She's a psych major so she always has something interesting to say and her friends are so cool. She's... She's just perfect."

Louis's Fifth

And perfect she is.

Louis left the flat right after he realized that the girl he'd been pining over was the same girl Zayn had been seeing, muttering about homework and essays and studying or whatever.

Now here he was, working the register at Toys 'R' Us, his usually bright and genuine smile replaced by an incredibly awkward and forced one, trying not to let the heartbreak eat him alive.

"Tommo!"

His coworker came over to him.

"Switch with me, James asked to see you."

Great, and now he was probably gonna get sacked from the only job he ever liked.

He walked with a frown on his face to his manager's office and sat down on the chair, waiting for him to finish what looked like a very intense phone call about... mechanical kittens?

He hung up a couple of minutes later and turned to Louis, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Louis. Louis, Louis, Louis. D'you mind telling me why my best worker's been sulking all day?"

He shrunk down a bit on the chair, suddenly feeling very small. Toys 'R' Us is a magical place, workers are supposed to be happy all the time.

"Just... Stuff."

"It's okay to be sad, but we worry about you. I mean, some of our regular costumers asked if you were alright cause you weren't jumping and joking. Just tell me what's wrong so I can try to help."

He let out a breath and let his head fall onto the desk.

"I met this girl and she's amazing, and kind, and funny, and just overall perfect."

"So you're sulking because you met the love of your life?"

"No! I'm sulking because the love of my life is dating one of my best mates."

He froze for a while, definitely not expecting that.

"What?"

"Zayn's dating her. I found out yesterday."

Jame took a deep breath and got up from his chair so he could get closer to Louis.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes."

"Not a Jimmy Hug."

"Shut up, you deserve one right now, no matter how much you like to pretend you hate them."

When he came out of his boss's office, more relaxed and with a small smile on his face, he immediately spotted you next to the pianos.

He took his break at that moment and only returned when he saw you leave through his place in the alleyway right next to the parking lot.

Your First

You took a deep breath and tightened your grip on your nephew's hand, steeling yourself before entering the store.

"We have to get one with brown fur, just like Summer!"

You promised little Lucas that if he behaved at the doctor's you'd get him get a new plushie, a German Shepherd, just like your parents' dog.

"Okay, they've got to be here somewhere. Don't worry, we'll find you one just like it."

You looked up and down aisles, trying to find the plushies but not knowing where to look. You could hear someone playing the piano a couple of feet away and let yourself be lulled by the sound of the song, you'd always loved Tchaikovsky.

"Auntie, look, it's right there!"

Your nephew pointed at the shelves just on the other side of the piano (and the beautiful pianist standing in front of it). You let Lucas pull you towards the shelves and search carefully for the perfect plushie while you tried to not let the man get to you.

He was gorgeous. Like, model tier, plaster his face on your walls gorgeous.

And you were shy.

So you dragged the time out and mentally asked him to approach you, pouting when you realized he couldn't read your thoughts and your nephew was asking to leave.

Your Second

You speed-walked to the school, still riled up because of your class with bloody Charlton.

You wanted nothing more than to sit down on the bench, listen to your music, and people-watch until your nephew got out.

But you weren't expecting him to be there.

You were still too shy to approach him so you just took out your headphones and sat on the other side of the bench, taking out your binder and filling out a few things before purposely stopping somewhere and tapping your pen on the paper, pouting and wishing that he'd 'save you' from your boredom.

"Are you in Charlton's class?"

Bingpot!

You looked at him and were temporarily taken aback by just how blue his eyes were, but forced yourself to speak. You weren't gonna get anywhere by keeping quiet.

"Yeah, are you in his class?"

"Not anymore, I had him last year, though, he's a prick."

You huffed out a laugh and leaned back on the bench, trying to look nonchalant.

"Tell me about it, we've been talking about the Renaissance Era for two months and he still hasn't gotten to the interesting part."

"I thanked every deity imaginable that I got Natalie this year, I don't think I could do another year of that old man."

You turned to him and cocked your head.

"I've never heard of a 'Natalie' before."

That's a lie, you knew who she was, you'd even interacted with her.

"Natalie Dubois, she's a new teacher from France. Got a bit of a weird accent but she's a hell of a good teacher, and fun too, she gives us a bit more freedom, nothing like Charlton."

"What year are you?"

"Third, you?"

"Second."

He nodded and you tapped your pen against your binder.

"What're you studying?"

"Drama major, music minor."

"Very artistic."

"I live to entertain. What about you?"

"Psychology major, music minor."

"Oh, a brain doctor, I've always wondered if Psych majors could identify psychopaths from a single conversation."

You laughed at that. Usually, you hated when people were that shallow about your job but when he said it, it didn't sound shallow or mock-ish. It sounded like a legitimate concern, like those things you think of at three in the morning when you can't sleep.

You were interrupted by the school bell and cursed mentally to not have gotten here earlier so you could talk to him more. Your nephew came running towards you and two little girls followed, walking towards Louis. He looked so good with children clinging to him that you had to physically extract yourself from that situation before you said or did something embarrassing.

"It was nice talking to you, I'll see you around!"

Your Third

You walked to the music room, praying that your song notebook was left behind there. You don't know what you'd do without it. It has every single one of your creations there.

You heard someone play the piano and groaned. You were way too sleep-deprived to deal with human interaction.

But this wasn't just any human interaction now, was it? Because Mystery Boy was there.

(He's been dubbed Mystery Boy in your head since you have no idea what his actual name is.)

You stood in the doorway for a while, notebook be damned, just watching him play, then frown, then play again, and light up like a happy little puppy once he found the right melody. Until he reached a complicated part and couldn't find the right combination.

"Try a key higher, it might sound better."

He jumped a bit and you felt bad for scaring him, but the way he blushed after was cute. He didn't answer, just did as you advised and smiled once he found that it sounded like he wanted it to.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

You smiled and the blush on his face was entirely too adorable and you went from table to table, pretending you didn't remember exactly where you were sitting that morning just so you could spend a bit longer than necessary in his presence.

"How're classes with Charlton going? Still a prick?"

"The day that man stops being a prick, angels will be falling from the sky."

You couldn't stall anymore, it would just be awkward at this point.

"A-ha!"

You showed off your journal before putting it back in your bag and going down the stairs of the auditorium so you could stand right next to him.

Deciding to be subtle but a little more daring than usual, you stood next to him, shoulders grazing while you read the words on his journal.

He smelled heavenly, like cologne and deodorant, and something that had to be entirely him. You wanted to bury yourself in that scent.

"That's a beautiful song, you're very talented."

You'd never get tired of watching him blush.

"Thanks."

You heard him take a deep breath just as your eyes went to the clock and you remembered your doctor's appointment with Lucas, he had to get the second dose for his shots and you were the only one who could get him to quiet down.

"Hey, I was wondering-"

"Shit!"

You got up in a flash and took the backpack from where you had put it down next to the seat.

"I'm gonna be late for my appointment but hold that thought 'til we meet again?"

He answered a small yes and you dashed out of the room.

Your Fourth

You followed Zayn to his friend's flat off-campus. You had met him a couple of months ago through Gigi, your best friend. Those two had been flirting for ages and it honestly made you sick, but Zayn was an easy-going person and you got along great, so when you mentioned that you had plans of getting drunk alone tonight, he offered to take you to his friend's house so you could get drunk with some company.

You entered the flat with Zayn and who you now knew to be Liam, saying hello to the two men in the room and tilting your head in questioning at the man lying face down on the couch.

"Lou, stop sulking, it's time to drink beers and be happy."

"I'm deeply sorry if my existential crisis is bothering you, Zayn, I'll try to suffer silently."

You couldn't stop the laugh bubbling from your chest as you sat down next to the armrest.

He sat up way too quickly to be safe and you smiled brightly once you realized who it was.

"Mystery Boy!"

It was fate, it had to be. This was the universe's way of telling you that you belonged together.

"Hey."

You giggled at his awkward greeting.

"I never caught your name."

"I never threw it."

You started laughing at his sassiness. If you weren't completely smitten before you sure were now.

"Drama majors, always clowning around."

"You guys know each other?"

Liam asked and you jumped into an explanation.

"We've kind of met. I'm (Y/n), by the way."

He said nothing for a couple of seconds and you worried you were being too forward.

"Usually, this is the part where you tell me your name. I can't keep referring to you as 'Mystery Boy'."

He blushed again, he seemed to be doing that a lot and you wondered if that was as unusual for him as it was for you to be this confident.

"I'm Louis. Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson."

(Y/n) Tomlinson.

That had a nice ring to it.

A really nice ring to it.

Mrs. (Y/n) Tomlinson.

Perfect.

"Nice to formally meet you, Louis."

He smiled and you wanted to yell at the sun to hide because it was stopping you from seeing the true brightness of Louis's eyes.

"Here's your juice, love."

"Thanks, babe."

You threw Zayn a kiss and he rolled his eyes, already used to the fact that you were kind of nickname-addicted and very endearing.

And also kind of drunk, which is why he brought you the juice.

On second thought, that might be why you were being this confident.

You thought everything was going well, but as suddenly as it started, the object of your affection was out the door, muttering about appointments, or homework, or something you didn't understand, but that sure made you frown for the rest of the evening.

Your Fifth

You walked into Toys 'R' Us for two reasons that day. 

The first is to get your nephew a birthday present.

The second is to (hopefully) see Louis.

You wanted to talk to him, the way he left the flat was strange, so you took advantage of the fact that you needed to get something from the store to try and see him.

You saw him go to the back as soon as you got here and decided to wait a bit for him to come back, looking at everything slower than you needed even though you knew exactly what to get. After fifteen minutes, you were pretty sure he wasn't going to come back. Maybe his shift ended already? 

You took your present and left the store, looking around to see if you found him, to no avail.

The One

You marched to the door with only one goal in mind: ask Louis Tomlinson out on a date. It's been a week of him ignoring you, running away as soon as he saw you, barely answering your greetings and you were more than done. 

If he wanted to turn you down, then it at least he would do it to your face, none of this ghosting nonsense. You don't want to spend the rest of your life thinking what might have been if you'd just reached out.

So, you talked to Niall, who gave you Louis's address and his schedule. You knew he was home and he had no way to escape you. He was babysitting his sisters, after all, so there was no way he could just run away.

You rang the doorbell and nervously wrang your hands in front of you, taking deep breaths and mentally going over what you wanted to say.

"I'll be right there! No, Daisy!"

His voice rang through the door and you smiled fondly at the sound, imagining him taking care of his sisters did something to you for some reason.

"Hi, sorry for the-"

He froze when he saw you, eyes going wide and mouth hanging open.

"Hi."

You said, and that seemed to bring him out of his stupor.

"(Y/n)."

"Yep."

"(Y/n)."

It seemed like he couldn't quite believe you were here.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out, though."

He shook his head and started stuttering his way through a response, trying to ask what you were doing here, at his house.

"Um, Niall told me where you lived. I had something I wanted to ask you."

When he didn't answer, you went for it.

"So, um, you've kind of been avoiding me lately which is quite unfortunate because I happen to like you... a lot... and so I-"

"Does Zayn know that?"

You were cut off in the middle of your rant and tilted your head confusingly at him.

"What?"

"Does Zayn know you 'like me a lot'?"

He looked angry, jaw clenched shut and arms crossed in front of his chest, which was no help to the attraction you felt towards him, that shirt did wonders for his biceps.

"Why should Zayn know about it?"

"Well, he's your boyfriend after all."

Wait, what?

"Well if he's my boyfriend then I should probably let Gigi know he's cheating."

He seemed to blanch at that.

"Gigi."

"Yeah. Gigi. You know, the girl he's been pining over since the beginning of the semester, they got together officially two weeks ago."

Only his sisters' voices could be heard.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So, um... you and Zayn... you're not..."

"Together? No."

You laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear nervously.

"Would you like to go on a date with me?"

You snapped your head up and grinned devilishly.

"I believe I asked you first."

He laughed and took a step forward.

"Then I will most certainly go out with you, as long as you let me pay. Take it as an apology for how stupid I was."

"I guess that could be arranged."

He was so close you could smell his cologne. Still so, so tasty. Still so, so wonderful.

"Do I have to wait until the end of our first date to kiss you?"

"I think you've done enough waiting already."

"I think so too."

And he kissed you.

And you were happy.

here it is babes! finally out!

i hope you liked it and if you do, don’t forget to comment, reblog, like and stuff

have a nice day/morning/afternoon/night/whatever

-Love, Libby

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

Taglists: (if your name is striked through it means for some reason tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you) 

PERMA TAG 

@jeezkiddo​ @beananacake​ @yoinkyourheart​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @onebigolemess​ @samoney69​ @agirlwithpointlessideas​ @ddaawwssoonn​ @inhumanwithpowers​ @imagineshere-forall​ @stiles-banshees​ @orowit​ @spideynut​ @deathofmissjackson​ @parkersbliss​ @ephemeral-limerences​ @write-from-the-heart​ @cardboard-ben​ @my-alignment-is-bisexual @mendes-marvel​ @shawnsnovel @inthecornerchair​ @lovelynerdytraveler​ @niallssweetheart22​ @incorrect-things​ @lost-in-the-stars03​ @harishaanne​ 

ACTORS/RPF TAG 

@bubblegumbarnes​ @sofiaconlaz​ @hyluas 

ONE DIRECTION 

@hhighlydisfunctional1  

[thenootshoot]

Professor (Sigma x Reader)

College was the last thing on your mind to be honest. You had never really wanted to attend, fearing the environment would be too much for you to handle. However, when you realized you could major in the two things you were most interested in, you decided to give it a try. When you went to schedule classes though, you needed a filler. You decided to take an astrophysics class with Professor Siebren de Kuiper. Why it seemed like a good idea, you have no idea, but it beat having to take a more popular class that would most certainly overwhelm you. After all, too many people in an area at once did freak you out. Anxiety. A blessing and a curse.

Unfortunately, due to your financial instability, you could not afford a dorm. You had your car at least. The back seat was comfortable enough and maybe you would meet a friend who would let you stay with them and their roommate for the winter, which was approaching rather quickly.

And here you were. Walking down the hall to your first astrophysics class. It was the class right before lunch so at least you had something to look forward to. You heard a bit about Professor de Kuiper. You heard he was an absolute genius, especially in this particular field. You also heard he was actively working as a scientist outside of his teaching job, which was why his classroom took up nearly half the building on the far side of the campus. This made it just a tad bit difficult to find the room as well. It didn't help that as you walked, you looked over your notes from your previous classes.

"First day of music history and I'm asked to start writing a song for my final." You paused and looked at a small note at the bottom of the page. "Music due by midterm. Great. Hopefully music theory isn't as bad. Conducting will be fun next semester." You closed that journal and opened the other. "Social psychology was interesting. I'm just glad I took nearly every psychology class I need to major, aside from these last few."

Back in high school, you didn't want to take any classes that wouldn't aid you in the future. With some convincing, you had managed to get out of doing classes such as band a choir and instead replaced those classes with a college class. You did this all 4 years, doing a different class every semester. The four you had on your schedule now were the only ones you had not completed. You never thought you would, but you needed to be smart about your future. Being a waitress wasn't getting you anywhere right now.

"Hopefully these books are  a bit more desc-"

You stopped talking when you ran into something. A small grunt left your body as you fell on your butt, dropping your notebooks and binder. It took you a second to register what had happened before looking to see what you hit. Your face turned a bit pink when you realize the thing you had run into was a person.

"Oh my, are you alright?" He asked as they looked to you.

Whoever he was, he was tall. Very tall. Your anxiety hated how tall he was, memories flooding your mind from just a few short months ago. You pushed them to the side though, giving him a nod before going to get your notebooks and binder.

"I don't recognize you. Are you new?" He asked, offering a hand to help you up.

You took it, doing your best not to drop your stuff as you stood.

"Y-yeah. Um, I'm trying to find the um, the astrophysics class. I just um...I'm not sure where I'm going." You were holding back the anxious feelings best you could. You didn't want to have a panic attack and embarrass yourself on the first day.

The man chuckled. "Well, you're in luck. I teach the class and would be happy to show you how to get there."

You had to hold back the shock. He was the professor?! Wow. What a great first impression. Running into the professor on your way to his class on the first day.

"Come. It's just a bit further down the hall." He told you and began to walk.

You hesitated a bit but followed. You tried not to walk right beside him, staying a bit behind and trying to erase what happened in your head. So many thoughts ran through your head. What if he told everyone what happened? What if he hates you now and is just hiding it?

"Right here." He showed you the open doorway to the room. "Pick a seat anywhere. I'm going to get coffee. I don't function well without it."

You quickly nodded and went into the room before he could say anything else. You for sure weren't going to sit in the front, however your thoughts stopped when you saw just how many open seats there were. Not another soul was in the room. Of course, you were nearly twenty minutes early, but your heart still skipped a beat. Seven rows, all going up. The most on the campus. No wonder he needed half a building. The classroom itself took up at least a fourth of his half!

You settled on a seat in the third row, one closer to the door in case you needed to leave quickly. It was then that you began to look over your notes from your other classes again. You figured now was a good time to start trying to figure out how to write a song in eighteen weeks.

_________________

Seven. That's how many were in this class. The smaller class, much to your liking. The largest was nearly forty-five. The only thing was, there were only two girls. You were one of the two. The other girl seemed to know the others fairly well, all of them sitting near each other and joking around. At least you didn't have to interact with them.

"Alright, if I might have your attention." Professor de Kuiper suddenly said. Silence filled the room and a smirk appeared on his face. "As you might have figured out, I am Professor de Kuiper and I will be teaching you all astrophysics for this school year."

You began writing, starting with his name so you wouldn't forget it. Like you could at this point. You added everything he spoke about, including supplies you would need and what to expect. It took him nearly half an hour to get all of it out. You made a mental note to get more notebooks, along with the extra supplies you now had to get. A soft sigh escaped your mouth. How were you going to afford all this?

"You all may socialize for the remainder of the class." He suddenly announced.

You looked at your watch. You had at least an hour left! Why would he give his students so much time to socialize?!

You watched as he went to his desk, grabbing a small stack of papers and beginning to write on them. A small realization hit you. He was a scientist so he must have science stuff to do. It made sense to do it this class period too. Fewer students meant less noise. Less noise meant it would be easier to focus.

Perhaps this could be used to your own advantage as well. A time to do homework or take a nap. After filling half a journal with notes about the class, you were ready for a nap. Not today though. You didn't want to send the wrong message. Not on the first day.

"This will be fun." You mumbled to yourself, looking to your professors desk...

Only to see he was looking right at you.

[delciastudies]

Advice for staying an organized and mentally-sane student

At the request of @karensesmiles ☺️♥️

1. Be on top of your schedule and deadlines ft. the importance of calendars: only memorize what you need to

First, it should be noted that you don’t want to waste your time trying to memorize deadlines and important dates when you don’t need to -- write them down. Reserve your limited memory space for tests, quizlets, etc.  Doing this actually gives you time to prepare, a sense of ease, and enhances your time management.

The Two Calendar Trick

No matter what, you’ll want a calendar or planner of some sort. The personal trick that I have used and found literally so much success with (as in me taking 5 courses in 10 weeks and maxing my course load type of success, and still having a life and being mentally sane) is the two calendar trick.

*Calendar 1: An Academic Calendar (MyHomework)

This calendar or planner should be solely academic: including deadlines, reminders, homework, and so on. I currently use a digital app for this called MyHomework, which I have used since high school! 

*Calendar 2: A Life Calendar (Google Calendar)

This calendar or planner should hold all of the things you are used to putting on calendars, including events, trips, meetings, birthdays, parties, and so on. I also put my class-times on my life calendar. The calendar I use for this is Google Calendar, just because it is connected to my student gmail, my Google Drive, my notes, my Chrome browser, and everything else I use through Google. For a long time, I was using a hand-planner in combination with MyHomework and taking it with me everywhere I went. I slowly moved away from paper, but a hand-planner is still a wonderful option.

By keeping these calendars distinct, it’ll help you to separate your personal from your academic, but also visualize your due dates and reminders separately from your daily time allotments. 

2. A week or two before the start of the semester

*Check your email consistently in case professors send early assignments.

*Write on your calendar your class info including full class schedule - start day, time, and location (which can be organized on MyHomework even before the start of the semester)

3. As soon as the semester begins (if not sooner)

*Print your syllabus and all class documents, organize them into a class binder or folder (I personally love the folders with little metal clips for three-punched papers since binders tend to take up too much backpack space)

*Know where you want to take notes (either in a class-specific notebook, a binder, an organized google drive class folder, or in a designated place on your laptop like Microsoft OneNote) - keep it consistent with all classes so you don’t get confused and keep it simple enough that you don’t forget where to find it. Distinguish between lecture notes, reading notes, and homework/assignment notes. **Note: if you keep your notes consistent and organized, making a study guide will be extremely simple since you have all of the info you need in one place!

*Organize all of your classes into MyHomework, and use the syllabus to organize all deadlines onto the MyHomework calendar, so you are ready from the start and don’t miss a single thing.

4. Tips on Time Management

*Likes are, if you have a full student schedule, then you should treat your academics like a full-time job, which needs daily attention.

*Check your email and schedule first thing in the morning, and respond to emails or snooze them/set a reminder to respond to them later. Checking your email and having notifications on is going to end up being more important than any other notifications.

*Don’t go into projects or homework assignments blind - prepare for them in advance. Finding out you’ll need to put 3 days of work into a homework assignment you opened the night before it is due is the worst feeling in existence.

5. Other tips

*Contact your professor frequently (and go to office hours), because at some point you’ll need advice, leeway on a grade, help with an assignment, or a letter of recommendation. A good rapport with the professor will never hurt a grade.

*Don’t do what other students around you might be doing: including not taking notes in lecture, skipping lecture, barely making it through homework assignments, etc. If your professor is grading cumulatively, which many will do, then only 25% or less of the students will get an A, and likes are you’re sitting by the majority. And likes are, they’ll be contacting another student to get the information they missed later.

*Sit in the front.

*I do daily to-dos in my notes and in other random places, and used to do it for my #100daysofproductivity :) it’s super helpful to get it down on paper if you’re overwhelmed by it.

*It’s better to know too much and be too “on top of it” than the reverse.

*Scraping along and barely making deadlines induces anxiety, stress, and makes education an unenjoyable experience!! You’ll thank yourself for being organized later!

Lastly, every successful student has some type of organizational routine or set of habits that makes them truly enjoy learning and enjoy how they go about studying. Hopefully, this will be the first step to finding yours.

That’s all for now, good luck students!! xx

[ficsandcatsandficsandcats]

As inspired by Joey being absolutely fricken precious, how about Jaskier (even modern AU if you feel it fits better) helps reader make a DnD character and theyre both just being generally chaotic cuties? Maybe Jask suggested the game as a distraction from stress? (Like forreal, dnd gives me something to look forward to in these times.) 💕

Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Modern!Jaskier x Reader Word Count: 1,298 Rating: G Taglist: @heroics-and-heartbreak​ @whatevermonkey​ @mycat-is-mylove @mynamesoundslikesherlock​ @kemmastan​ @magic-multicolored-miracle​ @writingstudent​ @mlleecrivaine​ @coffee-and-stories​ @amirahiddleston​ @ultracolorfulnerdcollection​ @astouract​ @your-not-invisible-to-me @daydreamer-in-training @morelikebyesexual a/n: Modern!Jask helping Reader through quarantine stress by the power of Dungeons and Dragons. Thank you for this amazing prompt, nonny. Hope you enjoy xo

He’d been watching you grow more and more anxious as you watched the news and tried to telework. Jaskier was grateful that you had a job where you could work from home during these dangerous times, but he knew that it meant you never felt you had a break. You were always checking emails or fretting over things long past the work hours you’d set. There was only one thing to do.

You jumped as the books were plopped onto the table but before you could ask what was going on Jaskier had already turned around and was walking back to his office. This time he returned with a wooden chest that you knew contained his dice collection, as well as a couple of binders. He sat next to you front of the supplies and the azure eyes fixed you with a determined and excited look.

“Y/N, the time has come,” he intoned dramatically. You cocked your eyebrow in question but he saw an amused smirk play about your lips and he was encouraged that he was on the right track. “The time has come for you to play Dungeons and Dragons.”

“Oh! But… how?” you asked. You’d been planning on joining the game he hosted once a week, overtaking the dining room table while you usually relaxed in the bedroom or your office, but the quarantine had dashed those plans. Or so you’d thought.

“My group has decided to try out playing online and you will be joining,” he explained. He slowly snuck the laptop away from you and you didn’t stop him, glancing with interest at the books in front of you.

“I’m so excited!” he said with eyes shining with excitement and a giddy smile that was infectious.

“Ok well you know I don’t know basically anything about this so how do we start?” you asked. He pulled the topmost book down and pulled a couple pieces of paper from a binder.

“First we make your character. Now my group has been playing for a bit so they’re at level five now so I think it’s best to make your character the same level. That just means you’re going to get more cool shit, so don’t even worry about that. Let’s look at races,” he handed you the book opened to a page and you skimmed through them, looking at the different races you could be while Jaskier explained where you didn’t understand.

“Ok so halflings are just, like, hobbits, right?” you asked.

“Yep!” Jaskier answered.

“Well I AM a hobbit basically so I’m going with that,” you said decisively.

“Excellent choice! You’ll get halfling’s luck which means if you roll a one, which is usually a critical failure, you get to reroll. Ok now we move onto classes,” he turned the pages, thumbing through them with the ease that can only be gained by rereading something so often you know exactly where to find what you want. He handed the book over to you again and it took longer to consider your options.

“Let’s break it down this way first, do you want to fight or do you want to cast spells?” he asked, noting your confusion.

“I want to be magic,” you replied. From there he took you through the options again.

“Wait – what’s the difference between a sorcerer and a wizard?” you asked.

“Wizards have to study and learn magic whereas sorcerer’s have a sort of innate magic,” he explained.

“Ooh… see I’m torn because in Harry Potter they’re called Wizards but I like the idea of just having magic within me,” you mused.

“Oh love, you most certainly have magic within you,” Jaskier said with a little wink. You rolled your eyes but laughed, the first time he’d seen you laugh in a while.

“Ok you know what actually I’m going to go with Warlock,” you said suddenly.

“Oh? Going for the sketchy class, eh?” he teased.

“As far as I can see there’s nothing sketchy about it. You work for a god, you get some magic. It’s like capitalism. Or having a sugar daddy,” you reasoned. Jaskier laughed but nodded.

“Alright, the good news is you can pick your sugar daddy. There’s Archfey or some Fiendish ones or-”

“Mephistopheles?” you ventured hopefully.

“Oddly specific but yes, that could happen,” he replied.

“Mephistopheles,” you said decisively, a smile that was borderline creepy coming over your face.

“Do we – uh – need to have a little talk about why you’re so horny for Mephistopheles?” he asked.

“Do you want to have that talk?” you asked pointedly.

“Good point. Just – no summoning demons in the apartment, alright? It would make quarantine just a bit too awkward for me,” Jaskier pleaded. You made a big production of sighing dejectedly.

“Fine,” you grumbled, “Ok what’s next?”

He took you through the backgrounds (“I can straight up be a Charlatan? Like that can just be my identity?”) and the alignments (“ok but it would be too cliché to have Mephistopheles as my patron and be evil, right? Like there would be a more satisfying tension if I was good but he was so, so bad… Hey, come back!”) and equipment (“I want a bag of holding but like I want it to look like an Ikea bag”) and before long you had a character.

“What do you want to name your Chaotic Good Charlatan Halfling Warlock who frequents Fantasy Ikea?” Jaskier asked as he helped you finish filling out your stats.

“Ooh I’m not sure. Would it be plagiarism if I named my hobbit Pippin? Like, will the ghost of J.R.R. Tolkien arise from his grave and shake a finger at me sternly if I do that?” you asked.

“I think we’ll be fine. There’s literally a whole musical called Pippin,” he replied. Your eyes widened in excitement. “Different Pippin.”

You looked decidedly less excited but when you turned back to your character sheet you happily wrote PIPPIN BRANDYBUCK” on the paper.

“Brandybuck eh? Just doubling down on the Lord of the Rings references?” Jaskier asked with amusement.

“I am obviously their child, Jaskier,” you said with a little head shake as if he were being silly.

“You’re such a nerd,” he teased with a look of pride on his face.

“Well you’re the Dungeon Master so….,” you countered.

“Yes, which means you’re sleeping with the Dungeon Master. Don’t expect to get any special treatment. My monsters aren’t going to pull any punches,” he insisted.

“Your monsters won’t need to. Pip is a badass and has the power of Demons and Anime on her side,” you retorted, doodling little hearts around your character’s name.

“Oh you’ll also need to write a backstory. Not right this second but just anything you can think of that you want me to know. Family, any relationships, that sort of thing.”

“She has a great love,” you said immediately, “A bard who travels far and wide. She grew tired of his traveling and that he expected her to just be waiting around for him to come back and that’s why she set off on her own, to have her own adventures instead of waiting to hear about his.”

Jaskier scribbled down some notes on a notebook he pulled from another binder and looked at you expectantly after you’d finished talking.

“That’s all I have for now,” you admitted.

“That’s brilliant! That’s a really good start! See, you’re a natural at this!” he exclaimed. You leaned over and kissed him, and then pulled back just far enough to look him in the eyes.

“Thank you,” you said, giving him a meaningful look, “I didn’t realize how much I needed something to focus on that wasn’t just another stressor.”

He smiled, cupping your face with his hands to pull you in for another kiss.

[scifi-cheddar-cheese]

Crystal’s Duel

“And that wraps up Elusiun history for today class, please pack up and head to your next class. And no running in the hall…”

Odessa ignored her teacher’s droning. She quickly packed up her books. Into her bag went her Elusiun history textbook, Magical studies notebook, Arithmetic binder, and physiology literature. She struggled to zip up her bag before throwing it on her back and running out the door towards her English class. She stopped only once, to not catch the attention of her least favorite peers, Billi and Crystal.

“Look at her. Bet she couldn’t even summon fire if her life depended on it!” Billi joked. Crystal laughed deeply, as if to say that Odessa was nothing.

“Hey, not everyone is born with the ability to summon lighting and animate a chair. Some of us have to learn it.” retorted Odessa. Unlike Billi and Crystal, Odessa wasn’t born with magic, she had to learn it. Odessa was fed up. Every day she would encounter the two, who would trip her and shame her until she could find an escape, usually in the form of the school bell. Odessa knew that they wanted her either dead or far away from her. She didn’t know their motivation, but decided to just avoid them as much as possible.

“If you’re so good, then try and beat me. I’ll see you on the dueling ground, after last class tomorrow” remarked Billi.

“Um..ye..yeah. Sure.” Odessa was caught off guard. She stammered, and immediately regretted what she had said. She didn’t want to duel! Odessa was terrified. Under school rules, duels were technically allowed, as long as no one was harmed. Billi was not one to play by the rules though, and Odessa had heard rumors that Billi had sent other students to the hospital with her duels. Odessa tried to push the issue out of her mind; she couldn’t think about it. She was just being hyperbolic, and paranoid. Nothing was going to happen to her, or at least that’s what she wanted to believe.

Odessa had heard rumors of Billi having sent others home or even to the hospital, and Odessa had a habit of fearing for the worst. She had no idea of what to do; she knew she couldn’t beat Billi through defense or simple attacks, so a different tactic would be necessary. Odessa spent all night at the town library, browsing through old spell books and dueling books for any clue on how to beat her enemies. She slowly and painfully combed through dozens of books; those on spell casting techniques, defense strategies, correct stances, as well as many many more. Odessa was in a frantic state. She had accepted a duel; if she ditched it, she would be in the best case expelled; one could not abandon a duel previously agreed too, and one could not make a false agreement, as that would be a lie. She might be officially dishonored, if it was found that her lie was so great. She didn’t know what to do, but right as she was about to accept her fate, in death or dishonor, she had a bright idea, and hatched a master plan.

Odessa sprinted to the library after class, to try and cram in as much knowledge as possible for the next day. She wanted to learn basic self-defense spells, in fear for the worst. The worst part was Crystal; she was under a subjugation spell cast by Billi. And even worse, Odessa really liked her. They had been great friends for years before Billi; before she was spelled, she was sweet, humble and kind. Since she had fallen in with Billi, she had turned for the worse. She became cold and unfeeling, just a pawn in Billi’s sick game.

Odessa finally left the library and trekked home at 4 in the morning, and hopped into bed to sleep for a few hours before her big day.

She was awoken not at 6:30, as her alarm had intended, but instead at 7:30 by her mom shaking her awake; she was about to miss the school bus.

“Odessa…Odessa! Get Up! You’re late for school! Come on!” Odessa’s mom was yelling.

“Ugh, what time is it? Big day today.” Odessa groaned. She never slept well, but this was something else.

“Where’s dad?” she asked, as he used to wake her up too. Odessa was, at that point, too tired to remember that her father hadn’t even looked at her since she came out. She groaned, and tried to roll back into bed. Her mom hadn’t waken her up for school in a while. She didn’t understand why she would have started today.

“It’s 7:30” With this, Odessa shot up. She was going to be really late. She got out of bed, and her mom ran out the door to attend to their own lateness. She rushed over to her book bag, grabbing her school books and her practice wand. Today, it would not be a practice wand. Today, it would fight.

Odessa didn’t have time to eat morning meal, or say goodbye to her pet lizard Addy. She ran out the door and managed to slip onto the bus just as it was pulling away. As per usual, Odessa sat alone on the school bus. This time, however, she didn’t mind; she was busy plotting out her exact moves. She had to know exactly what to cast and when; time is of the essence when your enemy is casting deadly spells at you.

Arriving at school, the same sight emerged as always; groups of friends huddled together, waiting until the last moment before the bell to run into class and take a seat. Odessa always ignored them; she would run through the hallways, weaving through the cliques and trying her best to avoid Billi and Crystal. She spent most of her free time at the library; she often read books about magic to expand her spell portfolio; she wasn’t born with the gift, but she was going to try damn well to earn it.

First period went as normal; Odessa didn’t understand why she should learn Latin, a dead language. In her mind, it was just a filler class, demanded by the sticklers and the elders who wanted to keep their antiquated traditions alive. If any spells were written in latin, she would learn that but to learn a whole language was useless. Second period was Arithmetic. That was okay for Odessa, she earned decent marks and was somewhat interested in the material. Third period was martial arts. Odessa liked martial arts; she was one of the best students on most days. On this day, though, Odessa was too distracted. She missed several instructions and lost her sparring match. After class, she was approached by her teacher.

“Odessa, are you alright? You seem kind of out of it today.” The teacher was concerned. Odessa seemed to just be staring off blankly into the distance. Shaking her head and finally looking at her teacher, she responded

“Oh yeah…I’m fine. I’m just a little stressed out. Stressed, that’s all.”

“Alright, if you say so. Hurry along to your next class, the bell is about to ring.” With that, Odessa ran off to her fourth class, physiology. Odessa had always found physiology fascinating; it was also a nice distraction from the events that were to happen shortly after.

She took a short break for lunch, where she sat in an empty classroom, analyzing her plan one more time. She couldn’t mess up; an error would result in pain, dishonor, or worse. Odessa questioned why she ever agreed to this, and if she could get away with not going. She eventually had to put her foot down and decide that she had to go; she had to show Billi that she couldn’t get away with this, she couldn’t keep hurting people who didn’t follow her every demand.

The rest of her classes seemed to just flow together like school soup; Odessa couldn’t pay enough attention to her teachers to make out what they were saying. She started to doubt herself; what if her dad was right? what if she was a lost cause? She didn’t think she was going to be able to carry out her plan. But if she did, she would change things for the much, much better.

Odessa walked out of class and to the back of the school with a grim look on her face and a swarm of bees in her stomach. She slowly made her way to the dueling ground out back, where Billi was practicing her casting and Crystal was on the sidelines, chewing bubble gum.

“Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting forever.” said Billi. School had only ended 15 minutes ago, so she had been waiting that long or had skipped class (an activity she was not above doing).

“Billi, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Odessa stated nervously.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years. You parading around, thinking you can outshine us with your books and your learned magic. Only us true bornes can really have magic. You all are just fakes.” This infuriated Odessa. She had worked her entire life to earn her magic; she had devoted every waking moment to it. Odessa almost broke her plan, but managed to keep her composure.

“Can you guys start already? I want to see Odessa in pain! Come on!” yelled Crystal. She was on her 7th piece of bubble gum. This stung Odessa like a bee, a sharp pain right to her heart. She knew this wasn’t the real Crystal, even if it seemed like it was. Odessa walked over to her spot. All she had was her wand, her wit and her luck.

Odessa and Billi both raised their wands at each other. Crystal counted down

“3…2…1…..Begin!” Billi closed her eyes, and being muttering her spell. She opened her eyes to fire only to see Odessa’s wand pointed at Crystal, to her utter shock.

At that moment, time seemed to stop for Odessa. A green lightning bolt barreling right towards her, her wand pointed squarely at Crystal, and a phrase being muttered from her lips:

“Libertas et release” (Freedom and Release). At that moment, everything came back into focus for Odessa. She quickly jumped out of the way as Billi’s spell cascaded towards her, hitting the building behind her and burning the paint. Billi tried again and again, burning the points where she hit. On the other side of the dueling grounds, Crystal shook her head. She was confused. Why was she on the dueling ground? Why was she chewing bubble gum? She hated bubble gum! She noticed Billi, her bully, shooting dangerous magic at her friend, Odessa. Crystal jumped in.

“Hey asshole!” yelled Crystal.

“Thank god Crystal, you’re the most powerful witch I know. Help me!” Yelled Billi.

“Help you? Why? Why are you trying to hurt Odessa?” responded Crystal, confused. Billi had the realization that her subjugation spell had been broken, and her minion was now free. Odessa yelled another spell, for disarmament. Billi’s wand flew straight into Odessa’s hand. She examined it, staring closely at the artistry and quality of it.

“This ends now. You won’t do this to anyone again.” With that, Crystal quietly whispered as obscure latin phrase

“Vento flare ad caelum, ut captivus amittere potestatem a nativitate (the wind blow to the sky, as if to lose power from birth).” Billi fell to the ground. A blue smoke started to emerge from her figure, seeping out of her body and up to the sky.

“Her powers are gone. She’ll have to learn magic just like everyone else.”

Odessa woke up with her alarm the next day. She headed downstairs after packing her bag, Billi’s wand included. Her mom passed through to say hello before heading out to work. Odessa quickly finished her morning meal of beans and bread and hopped on the school bus. She sat alone again, but wasn’t upset like she was yesterday. She didn’t have anything to worry about; she had won.

When she arrived at school, Odessa was surprised to see that everyone was talking about the same thing; Billi. Billi had been shaming and dishonoring students for years, but she had finally been beaten. She lost, for once, and seemed to have lost for good. She hadn’t learned any of her powers, they were all from birth; she didn’t have any left in her. The halls were abuzz with the news that her powers were stolen, or destroyed; maybe even bottled up and kept in a jar.

Odessa saw Billi a few times throughout the day. She saw her trying to win over Crystal, which failed, trying to cheat on her English exam, which failed, and generally trying to maintain some dignity after having lost it all.

Odessa was entertained by this, but again distracted. She couldn’t pay attention in her classes, she was lucky to make out her English teacher’s discussing of literary works, or her physiology professor discussing the shape of the photoreceptors in orc eyes. She had a date; word of her duel victory over Billi spread fast, leading to a secret admirer. Odessa fantasized about who it would be all day, dreaming through her arithmetics and magic studies class, which led to a very embarrassing exchange with Professor Fireshard.

Odessa walked out of school smiling. She was meeting for coffee with her date 30 minutes after school ended at the town cafe. She got there 20 minutes early and took a seat, shaking with anticipation. Right on cue, her date walked in.

“May I sit?” asked Crystal.

[texxasserialroundup]

Incoming college students.. listen up!

I have been asked about some tips or advice for incoming college students, both traditional and non-traditional, so here it is.. enjoy!

So I am what you call a non-traditional student I did not go to college right out of high school it took a couple years for me to realize that it was important for me to pursue a higher education beyond my high school diploma. My very first freshman semester I took two classes, one of these was a developmental math course ( I ABSOLUTELY LOATH MATH!) and of course I dropped out of college soon after, honestly I don't even think I did like a full month of classes I just stopped showing up. I wasn’t motivated and all I really wanted to do was hang out with my friends and do hood rat shit (LOL)  Fast forward 4 years after that, when I AGAIN decide to get my act together, it took that mixed with having some personal experiences to kind of get my head straight in regards to my future endeavors and what I want to do with myself. When I say that it's hard to do college by yourself, y’all... it is so hard, it doesn’t help that I'm an introvert who doesn’t like to ask for help from tutors because I feel like I am burdening them and I’m worried that I will embarrass myself with dumb questions.  Neither of my parents graduated high school so that was no help with homework or studying and at the time I was going to a Community College and so the atmosphere is not quite like a four-year University. Everybody just kind of stays to themselves so it is not like it is easy to mingle make new friends, there is not a lot of on campus activities and stuff like that so that also made it difficult. But also I did not know how to study, honestly I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm currently working on my third college degree and I still don't know how to study and sometimes that really kind of like puts things into perspective about our educational system in regards to the way that they teach towards a specific curriculum. I think that teaching students how to study is extremely important. The way that I get through my college classes is a lot of crying, and I am not being sarcastic, that is exactly what happens. I do a lot of crying, there is a lot of frustration, there is a lot of screaming at myself, there is a lot of self-bullying and personal demons that I battle with. I do not feel like I learn like everybody else, I cannot just read something or watch a video and retain information. Everything must be repetitive; I must read it over and over and over, I must highlight things and make up little phrases in order to remember topics like the Krebs cycle. So, it is repetitive, and it slows me down, it is frustrating, and the experience overall is overwhelming. Especially recently with covid a lot of my classes have been online which essentially translates to teach yourself a brand-new topic, good luck, and may the force be with you kind of thing. For people like me who deal with what my boyfriend calls “impostor syndrome” it really rattles any self confidence that I built throughout my college career and it makes me feel like the achievements that I've done so far aren't valid and that I don't deserve the degrees that I have and that maybe it was a mistake . With these things being said I just want to spread some positivity and some good vibes in regards to anybody who is a freshman going into college, a current college student, or a non-traditional student such as myself who feels like they might be too old to go back to school. Everybody is dealing with their own struggles and college is not easy, if it were everybody would have a college degree. Some tips from myself would be not to be afraid to ask questions, if you're like me, I have really bad anxiety and I don't feel like I can bring myself to ask a question during lecture in front of the class so I'll either email the professor afterwards or I will speak to the professor one-on-one during office hours or I'll try to grab her as soon as class is over before she leaves an ask her a question. The reason why I say this is because college moves very fast and the professors honestly it seems like they're not going to put any extra effort into helping you understand a topic if you don't express your confusion or if you don't understand the topic. At the end of the day you're paying for your college education and you need to create self-confidence and remind yourself that you're worthy and that your questions do deserve to be answered no matter how ridiculous they sound in your head no matter if you think that it will sound dumb. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting your questions answered. My second piece of advice is to utilize any type of group study offered, like I said before, I have really bad anxiety and it's hard for me to just walk up to a stranger and ask to be a study buddy. What I've noticed though is that a few students will get together or it will just be one student and they will start a group chat through either GroupMe or through text message or you know through canvas which is the educational platform that my University uses, and it really helps because you still have access to study guides, notes, or if you miss a day you can reach out and ask what you missed. As well as review and go over important topics and information posted. A lot of the times you don't even have to be face to face with these people, all of it is through text messaging or email. Another really good piece of advice is learn how to use OneNote and Google Docs and learn how to use it in a group format so that multiple people can work on one document together in real time so you can watch somebody else edit a midterm review while you're also adding to a midterm review it.will.save.your.life! Just spend a couple minutes, get on YouTube watch a quick tutorial nothing crazy just a quick rundown, y’all, I am telling you it will do wonders. Next piece of advice will have to be not to compare yourself to other students. My first semester of college at a four-year University I went all out on the school supplies, I bought so many journals, I bought so many sticky notes and planners and different colored pens and sharpies and highlighters. I had index cards, I had binders, I had sectional post-its, basically if office depot sold it I had it in my backpack.  I quickly learned that I did not need half of that crap, but when you're excited about going to your first year of college you want to be prepared and if you're like me I watched other people’s YouTube videos about their experiences and things that worked for them and so I tried to pick and choose what I thought would work for me. Long story short it did not  help and I think that really played a big part in my self-loathing in a sense because I would see all these other students super organized with beautiful handwriting, multi colored notes and just over the top every day, never faltering, just like the perfect student it seemed. It's okay not to be super organized, it's okay not to have the perfect notes, it's okay if all of your notes from all of your classes are in one notebook, if it works for you, it works for you.  No matter what that may be, just keep in mind that this is your college journey no one else’s. Finally, I will emphasize to invest money in a good backpack. Like do not take the backpack from high school with you, I did that, and it was a disaster honestly. It is like my dad used to say growing up, “you get what you pay for.” You are going to be carrying a lot of stuff, probably a tablet, a laptop, textbooks, journals, binders, you name it and you need support for your shoulders, for you back and for your neck. I say this from experience, my college campus is one of the largest public universities in the state of Texas, it takes me 20 minutes to get from my car to the campus, once on campus, I have another eight minute walk to get to my first class. So, it is detrimental to me and my physical health to have a good backpack with support that holds everything and equally distributes the weight correctly. I know this sounds crazy but that is probably the one thing besides getting a good laptop that I would invest a lot of money in. Lastly, I will leave you with this, college is a scary experience for many people and right now we're in very uncertain times which only adds to the stress, but I want you to know that there are resources out there for you and other students and faculty who are more than willing to work with you and accommodate accordingly. Please do not be afraid to reach out to anybody for any type of assistance whether it be academic, mental or physical help, we are all in this together. Be kind to one another and stay curious. -SLR

[not-a-boy-3]

“And that wraps up Elusiun history for today class, please pack up and head to your next class. And no running in the hall…”

Odessa ignored her teacher’s droning. She quickly packed up her books. Into her bag went her Elusiun history textbook, Magical studies notebook, Arithmetic binder, and human physiology literature. She struggled to zip up her bag before throwing it on her back and running out the door towards her English class. She stopped only once, to menacingly stare at her least favorite peers, Billi and Crystal.

“Look at her. Bet she couldn’t even summon fire if her life depended on it!” Billi joked. Crystal laughed menacingly.

“Hey, not everyone is born with the ability to summon lighting and animate a chair. Some of us have to earn it.” retorted Odessa. Unlike Billi and Crystal, Odessa wasn’t born with magic, she had to learn it. Odessa was fed up. Every day she would encounter the two, who would trip her and shame her until she could find an escape, usually in the form of the school bell.

“If you’re so good, then try and beat me. I’ll see you on the dueling ground, after last class tomorrow” remarked Crystal.

“Um..ye..yeah. Sure.” she responded. Odessa was terrified. Under school ruled, duels were technically allowed, as long as no one was harmed in the process. Odessa knew that this wound’t happen; Crystal meant a proper duel. Odessa had never done a duel before, never even practiced; she barely knew any self-defense or attack spells at all. She scurried off towards her last class and tried to put the issue out of her mind. Unfortunately for her, said class was Magical studies with Professor Fireshard.

Odessa sprinted home after class, to try and cram in as much knowledge as possible for the next day. She was terrified, as much as she tried to hide it. The worst part was Crystal; she was under a subjection spell cast by Billi. And even worse, Odessa really liked her. Before she was spelled, she was sweet, humble and kind. Since she had fallen in with Billi, she turned for the worse. She became cold and unfeeling, just a pawn in Billi’s sick game.

Odessa had heard rumors of Billi having sent others home or even to the hospitals, and Odessa had a habit of fearing for the worst. She had no idea of what to do; she knew she couldn’t beat Billi through defense or simple attacks, so a different tactic would be necessary. Odessa spent all night at the town library, browsing through old spell books and dueling books for any clue on how to beat her enemies. She slowly and painfully combed through dozens of books; those on spell casting techniques, defense strategies, correct stances, as well as many many more. Odessa was in a frantic state. She had accepted a duel; if she ditched it, she would be in the best case expelled; the laws and rules surrounding duels were vast and ever changing. She might even be forced into rehab, for lying and ditching a duel. Right as she was about to accept her fate, in death or dishonor, she had a bright idea, and hatched a master plan.

Odessa finally trekked home at 4 in the morning, and hopped into bed to sleep for a few hours. She was awoken not at 6:30, as her alarm had intended, but instead at 7:30 by her mom shaking her awake; she was about to miss the school bus.

“Odessa…Odessa! Get Up! You’re late for school! Come on!” Odessa’s mom was yelling.

“Ugh, what time is it? Big day today.” Odessa groaned. She never slept well, but this was something else.

“Where’s dad?” she asked, as he used to wake her up too. Odessa was, at that point, too tired to remember that her father hadn’t even looked at her since she came out. She groaned, and tried to roll back into bed. Her mom hadn’t waken her up for school in a while. She didn’t understand why she would have started today.

“It’s 7:30” With this, Odessa shot up. She was going to be really late. She got out of bed, and her mom ran out the door to attend to their own lateness. She rushed over to her book bag, grabbing her school books and her practice wand. Today, it would not be a practice wand. Today, it would fight.

Odessa didn’t have time to eat morning meal, or say goodbye to her pet lizard Addy. She ran out the door and managed to slip onto the bus just as it was pulling away. As per usual, Odessa sat alone on the school bus. This time, however, she didn’t mind; she was busy plotting out her exact moves. She had to know exactly what to cast and when; time is of the essence when your enemy is casting deadly spells at you.

Arriving at school, the same sight emerged as always; groups of friends huddled together, waiting until the last moment before the bell to run into class and take a seat. Odessa always ignored them; she would run through the hallways, weaving through the cliques and trying her best to avoid Billi and Crystal. She spent most of her free time at the library; she often read books about magic to expand her spell arsenal; she wasn’t born with the gift, but she was going to try damn well to earn it.

First period went as normal; Odessa didn’t understand why she should learn Guerian, a dead language. In her mind, it was just a filler class, demanded by the sticklers and the elders who wanted to keep their antiquated traditions alive. Second period was Arithmetic. That was okay for Odessa, she earned decent marks and was somewhat interested in the material. Third period was martial arts. Odessa liked martial arts; she was one of the best students on most days. On this day, though, Odessa was too distracted. She missed several instructions and lost her sparring match. After class, she was approached by her teacher.

“Odessa, are you alright? You seem kind of out of it today.” The teacher was concerned. Odessa seemed to just be staring off blankly into the distance. Shaking her head and finally looking at her teacher, she responded

“Oh yeah…I’m fine. I’m just a little stressed out. Stressed, that’s all.”

“Alright, if you say so. Hurry along to your next class, the bell is about to ring.” With that, Odessa ran off to her fourth class, Human physiology. While, as an Elf, not a human herself, Odessa had always found human physiology fascinating; it was also a nice distraction from the events that were to happen shortly after.

She took a short break for lunch, where she sat in an empty classroom, analyzing her plan one more time. She couldn’t mess up; an error would result in pain, dishonor, or worse. Odessa questioned why she ever agreed to this, and if she could get away with not going. She eventually had to put her foot down and decide that she had to go; she had to show Billi that she couldn’t get away with this, she couldn’t keep hurting people who didn’t follow her every demand.

The rest of her classes seemed to just flow together like school soup; Odessa couldn’t pay enough attention to her teachers to make out what they were saying. She started to doubt herself; what if her dad was right? what if she was a lost cause? She didn’t think she was going to be able to carry out her plan. But if she did, she would change things for the much, much better.

Odessa walked out of class and to the back of the school with a grim look on her face and a swarm of bees in her stomach. She slowly made her way to the dueling ground out back, where Billi was practicing her casting and Crystal was on the sidelines, chewing bubble gum.

“Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting forever.” School had only ended 15 minutes ago, so she had been waiting that long or had skipped class (an activity she was not above doing).

“Billi, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“I’ve been waiting for this for years. You parading around, thinking you can outshine us with your books and your learned magic. Only us true bornes can really have magic. You all are just fakes.” This infuriated Odessa. She had worked her entire life to earn her magic; she had devoted every waking moment to it. Odessa almost broke her plan, but managed to keep her composure.

“Can you guys start already? I want to see Odessa in pain! Come on!” yelled Crystal. She was on her 7th piece of bubble gum. This stung Odessa like a bee, a sharp pain right to her heart. She knew this wasn’t the real Crystal, even if it seemed like it was. Odessa walked over to her spot. All she had was her wand and her luck.

Odessa and Billi both raised their wands at each other. Crystal counted down

“3…2…1…..Begin!” Billi closed her eyes, and being muttering her spell. She opened her eyes to fire only to see Odessa’s wand pointed at Crystal, to her utter shock.

At that moment, time seemed to stop for Odessa. A green lightning bolt barreling right towards her, her wand pointed squarely at Crystal, and a phrase being muttered from her lips:

“Libertas et release” (Freedom and Release). At that moment, everything came back into focus for Odessa. She quickly jumped out of the way as Billi’s spell cascaded towards her, hitting the building behind her and burning the paint. Billi tried again and again, burning the points where she hits. On the other side of the dueling grounds, Crystal shook her head. She was confused. Why was she on the dueling ground? Why was she chewing bubble gum? She hated bubble gum! She noticed Billi, her bully, shooting dangerous magic at her friend, Odessa. Crystal jumped in.

“Hey asshole!” yelled Crystal.

“Thank god Crystal. Help me!” Yelled Billi.

“Help you? Why? Why are you trying to hurt Odessa?” responded Crystal, confused. Billi had the realization that her subjugation spell had been broken, and her minion was now free. Odessa yelled another spell, for disarmament. Billi’s wand flew straight into Odessa’s hand. She examined it, staring closely at the artistry and quality of it.

“Wow, this is nice! I think I’ll keep it.” Yelled Odessa towards Billi.

“Oh, one more thing: “potentia damnum (power loss)”. A blue essence seeped out from Billi, up into the sky. Billi’s natural power was draining out.

“Maybe learn to not mess with the wrong person.” Odessa turned and ran to Crystal. They hugged, and cried.

“I thought I’d lost you!” cried Odessa.

“I’m here now.” responded Crystal. They slowly came away from each other, but then hugged again.

“Hey, do you want to maybe get coffee sometime?” asked Odessa, with a laugh.

“How about tomorrow. For now, let’s get Billi home. They’ll need some support, losing their entire personality and all.” They both laughed. They picked up Billi, stammering and in shock.

“Tomorrow?” asked Crystal.

“7:30 sharp,”

[dragon-writes-sometimes]

Once Upon A Time... Not, Chapter 3: Whatever Doesn’t Kill You…

Chapter Summary: With the move out of the way, all that's left is school. Things don't go Virgil's way, however. He and Anastacia do get a new friend, but also an enemy. Why does he have to be different from everybody?

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, a bit of swearing, spiralling of thought, anxiety.

Word count: 2835

AO3 link

Chapter 1

Previous Chapter   -   Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Whatever Doesn’t Kill You...

Well. It’s bigger than I thought it would be. With the limited income we get from Father’s job, I didn’t think we would get this big of a house for that little money. Maybe more people are moving away from rather than are moving to Gainesville. I don’t know. I have no idea how stuff like that work.

“Alright, kiddos. Time to conquer our new home.” Father’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. Right. This is where we live now.

Ann gives my hand a small squeeze and leads me inside. She knows I don’t like change, so she takes the lead and guides me into our new home.

The day goes by fast. We get our stuff moved into the house, choose rooms, boxes everywhere by the end of it.

Father’s on the phone at night. It’s close to the summer break, so I’m imagining he’s talking to someone about school. I’m not sure if I’m ready to go back yet. I really hope we can keep the same arrangements. That would be nice. He already said Ann wasn’t going to go back to school for the rest of the school year since it’s so close to the break.

Speaking of, Anastacia’s in her own room, no doubt decorating it with all her quotes and the drawings from me as well as her own. And the paintings we worked on together. And the ones with Mother. God, I miss her.

Summer goes by mostly uneventful. I don’t come out of my room often. The box I found in my old room I hid away. Under my bed. How ironic. I get back to drawing, Father takes Ann and me to an animal shelter. He wants to get me a support animal since I’m getting panic attacks whenever I’m alone. We end up adopting an albino German Shepherd. She’s very young. The girl who was working at the time said she was waiting for the right owner to name her. I named her Maia. Maia seems to really like her name because she responds every time I say it.

Summer’s ending. I don’t know what Father has found out about school. I’m just cuddled up with Maia on my bed, scrolling through Tumblr. Someone knocks at my door. From Maia’s reaction, it’s Anastacia. She just looked over at the door and laid back down again. Had it been Father, she would’ve moved to my side. It’s astounding how good she is discerning who is knocking at my door.

And sure enough, Anastacia comes in. “Hey.” She gives a small wave. “Father, he wanted me to come get you. I don’t know why, but he sounded serious.” She pauses slightly and looks around my room. “You really need to get the last boxes unpacked. This is not healthy.”

“I-I’ll be ri-right down.” I still don’t talk much, but Maia’s helping. I’m talking more than before the move. Ann looks really happy. She’s always delighted whenever I try and speak. I know she won't pressure me into it, and for I’m grateful. Father, on the other hand… I don’t know. I don’t think he has this whole ‘single parent’ thing figured out yet. I don’t think I have, either.

I look up to see that she’s gone again. I was lost in my thoughts again. Maia starts nuzzling my cheek as if sensing my thoughts. I’m happy I got her. She’s amazing. And she’s jumped off my bed, looking towards the door. Right. Father wanted me downstairs.

I look around the living room when I get there, Maia in my heels. “Y-yeah?” I ask as I spot Father sitting at the table. Something’s off with his demeanour. He looks up as I get closer.

“Hey, sport. How, uh, how’s it going?” he tries with false cheer. I shoot him the most unimpressed look I can. He sinks back into his chair and sighs. “Look, this is not something you’ll like very much, so please sit down, Virgil.” Okay, what’s going on? I’m starting to freak out. Maia nuzzles my leg, whimpering a bit. I scratch her behind the left ear, calming down at the action.

“Father, you’re starting to freak me out. What’s going on?” Ann voices the question for me. Another deep sigh from him. He shifts and produces some papers I hadn’t noticed.

“It’s about school. I talked with the administrator or whatever. We can’t make the same arrangements. You either go to school or not at all. They just don’t have the funds to make it happen. I’m sorry. We’ll go shopping for school supplies for you guys tomorrow. It’s last-minute, but it’s all we can do. I’m really sorry. I’ve spoken with them about, uhm, about you not talking much, Virgil. They say it’s alright. They’ll pass it along to your teachers,” Father finishes. Great. And here I went and thought today would be a good day.

Anastacia is by my side immediately. She starts massaging my shoulders at the tension that’s beginning to build. She’s the best. And Maia is at my feet, creating a warm and grounding sensation. How did I get this lucky?

“Well, when we get our schedules, well make sure to stick together as much as possible!” Ann says, fiercely. And I believe her. She’ll do anything to protect me, as I will her.

The last of the summer break goes by with a blur, and suddenly we’ve reached our first day as seniors at Gainesville High School. We are headed to the Principle’s office to get our schedules and a school guide. I’m so freaking scared. What will the Principle think of me? What will the guide? I’m basically mute at this point in my life, and I’m only 16! They’re gonna think I’m a joke and laugh at how stupid I am! And- oh God! I have to share classrooms with a bunch of teenage strangers! Who will judge me for not talking at all! Oh, God, I’m sweating! Will they notice I’m wearing a binder? No, they can’t. My hoodie’s too big for them to see. But what if they demand I take my hoodie off? Then they’ll know. I don’t like this, I wanna go home to Maia and curl up with her and never leave the house again!

“…il? Virgil, hey, look at me. Please? Virgil!” I’m thrown out of my thoughts by someone circling their finger in my palm. Who? Oh yeah, Anastacia. “There you are, Vee. It’s going to be okay. I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we need to have a clear head, kay?” Anastacia speaks softly. We’re standing in front of a door. Must be the Principle’s office. ‘T. Sanders’, it says. I nod. That’s all I can really do at this point. I certainly don’t trust my voice to actually hold. My fingers are shaking too much to sign, so that’s a no-go, too.

Ann knocks on the door. Three times, softly. We hear a muffled “Come in,” and we enter. I’m just looking at the floor, letting Ann guide me to the chairs we end up sitting in.

“Anastacia and Virgil Blake, I presume?” a man speaks up. We both nod. He sounds nice, so I chance a glance at the man. He looks to be in his mid-to-late thirties. He has a very kind smile. That’s one of the first things I can tell about him. “My name is Thomas Sanders. I’m the Principle here at Gainesville High School. Now, you’re here for your schedules. I spoke briefly with your father at the end of the break. Said he wanted for you two to have schedules that somewhat corresponded to one another. I’ve also let the teachers know about you, Virgil. I know anxiety can be tough, and we’re trying to be all-inclusive.” He hands us our schedules while he’s talking. He has such a pleasant and calming voice. He reminds me of… no. not going down that road today.

The door opens behind us with no warning. I literally jump out of my seat like the scaredy-cat I am. Ann lays a hand on my shoulder and guides me back into my chair. “Whoops, sorry. Didn’t think you’d already be here,” a sheepish voice says from the doorway. I look up and see someone our age. They are wearing all black clothes. Long-sleeved crop top with a view of the shoulders. Skinny jeans which aren’t too tight. Combat boots with yellow laces. And a bowler hat? A very stylish one, with a silver band around it. It doesn’t make them look out of place, nor does it throw off their outfit, but still. A bowler hat. Who wears bowler hats in school?

“Ah, still haven’t learnt to know, I see?” Mr Sanders tells the newcomer. “Anastacia, Virgil, this is Nini Lupa. Your student guide. She’ll show you around the school and take you to your first class of the day.” The other student, Nini Lupa, winks at us and gives a two-finger salute. “If there’s anything, just go to her. “Have a great first day here,” he smiles at us as we follow Nini out the door.

“Sorry about the dramatic entrance. I really thought you wouldn’t be here yet. Anyway, let’s get the run of the place, shall we?” Nini says, clapping her hands together once as she speaks. The bell hasn’t rung yet, so there’s still a lot of students in the halls. They’re all looking at us. It makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

She’s done with the tour just as the bell rings the second time. “If there’s anything else, here’s my number. Just text me,” she smiles at us, as she writes down her number on a small notebook she produced out of nowhere. She hands each of us a little piece of paper. “And this is your first period of the day is at. Good luck, guys. And I’m serious. If there’s anything at all, hit me up. I really won't mind.” She waves us off and leaves to go to her own class.

“She’s certainly an interesting one,” Ann says. We open the door and see that the classroom is already filled. I feel tiny right now. There’s like, at least more than 20 people in here. I can’t remember when the last time I was surrounded by this many people was. And all of them are staring at us like they’ve never seen another person before. Oh yeah, and they are all like, 17 or 18 years old. Ann and I skipped a grade a while back, so we’re always the youngest.

“Ah, glad you could make it!” the teacher says. “I’m your Psychology teacher, Miss Singh. Everybody, these are our new students, Anastacia and Virgil Blake. All the way from England. Do try to be nice, for once,” she says, earning a chuckle out of the other students. “Please take a seat next to Emile and Qikkie. Raise your hands.” Two students raise their hands, and Ann and I walk over to sit next to them. It’s in front of the class. I won’t miss a thing like this, and I won’t have to worry about any strange looks I know I’ll receive. I’m just glad Miss Singh didn’t make us tell about ourselves.

Miss Singh is much different from any teacher I’ve had in the past, so it’s a fascinating lesson, to say the least. The bell rings, and we pack our stuff together. Emile and Qikkie both say hi to us before heading to their next lesson of the day. As do we.

Ann and I don’t share a lot of classes today, and I hate it. There are some faces I end up seeing more than once during the day, though. One being Nini Lupa. Turns out, she also skipped a class and is really smart. Another person I keep seeing is a boy I think is called Jake. Something about him is off-setting. He seems like the type of person you’d want to avoid, so that’s what I’m going to do.

The last lesson of the day is AP History. Great. I know nothing about it. Give me art any day. The teacher, Mr Anderson, seems nice. And it also seems like he wasn’t told about my, uh, mental state. He asked me a question, and I can’t answer it. Like, I actually know the answer, but I can verbally answer it. Luckily, I share this class with Nini. She’s been nothing but kind and helpful. “I’m sorry, Mr Anderson, but didn’t Principle Sanders tell you?”

“Tell me what, miss Lupa?” Mr Anderson looks at her quizzically. He doesn’t know. Great. He actually doesn’t know.

Nini looks at me for my permission to tell him. It’s going to be in front of the entire class, but I still nod to her that she can.

“Virgil doesn’t talk much due to his anxiety. It causes him to not be able to speak a lot of times. I thought Principle Sanders told every teacher.” Mr Anderson look surprised at first, but it soon changes to understanding.

“Oh, I’m really sorry about that then, Virgil. Could you perhaps write down the answer instead? You look like you know it,” he asks. He’s given me a way out, though. I can decline if I want to. I end up writing it on a piece of paper and give it Nini. She reads it aloud, and Mr Anderson looks impressed. Apparently, that was a hard question not many actually knew the answer to.

Rest of class proceeds with tension. Not from Mr Anderson, but from the other students. I get a lot of weird glances. I don’t look at the others directly, but I know. I’m trying so hard not to have a panic attack. How would that look? Oh, the new boy can’t talk. He’s probably doing it for attention. And now he’s having a panic attack in the middle of class. Such an attention whore.

The bell rings. It’s time for lunch. I think. Still haven’t figured the American school system out. Nini says her goodbyes to me, she has to go to the library to meet up with a friend of hers that need help. I go outside to get some air. Father said to call if I became too much for me, and I’m seriously beginning to consider doing so.

I shoot a text Ann’s way to tell her I’m outside. I sigh and find some shade. Everybody in the school probably knows I’m a freak now. High schools are infamous for being ground zero for gossip after all. As long as they think I’m contagious or something, like the students back home, they’ll leave me alone. “Hey, freak!” Or not.

I look over minutely and spot that Jake guy. Great. The off-putting dude. He was in Mr Anderson’s class. Everyone seems to hurry out of his way. Welp, I’m doomed, and it’s only my first day here. This is how I go. Finally, someone decided to put me out of my misery.

“Hey, I’m talking to you! Just because you can’t speak, doesn’t mean you get to ignore you superiors!” he hisses out at me. Oh, so that’s how it goes? I’m suddenly the lowest of the low just because I can’t speak? That makes me stupid, somehow? I steel my face and put on a bold look. I turn to him, and that quickly crumbles when I actually get a good look at the guy. He’s huge. I’m nothing compared to him. I’m just the new scrawny kid you get to throw around like a ragdoll.

I’m standing underneath a tree, but I take a step forward and out into the sun to meet him head-on. Show him I’m not scared of him, even though I’m terrified. Doesn’t look like I’m getting any help from the surrounding students. I’m all alone against a giant.

“Or maybe you can talk, and you just pretend so you don’t have to say anything in class. Nah, I bet an emo like you aren’t that smart.” He’s going for my looks now. This is fine. I can handle it. I just gotta wait until Ann gets here and then it’s two against one. I don’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

And before I know it, I’m on the ground. My head knocks against the tree, and it hurts like all hell! He must’ve pushed me or something. I don’t really recall. All I can focus on is the pain in the back of my head.

“You’re fucking weak. A weak freak! No one’s going to help you. You know that, right? They don’t dare go against me, and they couldn’t care less about you!” he laughs. I can’t help but let out a tiny whimper because it’s true. I can see it on their faces. They won’t help. I don’t know what going to happen now. I just wanna go home and never leave again. I-

“OI! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

[elopez7228]

Scenic Route 10/47

Read on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268208/chapters/43229774 

Start over : https://elopez7228.tumblr.com/post/620919089893933056/scenic-route-0147

Rey woke up cold and aching. It hurt everywhere—her neck, her back, her feet. The back of the car was certainly large enough to sleep in, but it had been an unrestful sleep. Every little thing had made her jump last night. Every headlight that zoomed by was the blonde woman. Every torchlight flitting across the alleys of the campground was looking for her. Every time the dog barked, someone was surely approaching.

She was tired, sore, and already contemplating defeat. She had left London to escape depression. But instead of a sunglasses-and-cocktails vacation, she had found herself in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, 7,500 kilometers away from home. And top it off, she was being chased by a strange woman. Her luck was six feet under and her paranoia through the roof.

She wished that Leia Skywalker (and even Rose to a certain extent) had warned her about what she was getting herself into because she had no clue what to do now. Last night she had seriously imagined leaving the car in a garage somewhere and taking a flight from Jackson Hole to San Francisco. Ciao, stalkers and bizarre favors.

But what about BB8? Rey had taken responsibility of her. Taking her on a flight would require veterinary clearance, a doggie carrier, and all sorts of other complications that she had neither the energy nor the means for.

Her gut feeling told her that this setup had been deliberate on Leia’s part. With a dog in tow, her safest bet was by driving that car back. Unless she could abandon the dog in the woods somewhere...

BB8 chose that exact moment to nuzzle against her, begging for affection.

“You were in the loop about this, weren’t you?” sighed Rey as she scratched the dog between the ears. “You’re the dog equivalent of a honey trap, you conniving little traitor.”

But seriously—it was just a dog, not a KGB spy. She would be fine...

Rey got out of the car and stretched. “Come on, let’s go for a walk and then look for some breakfast.”

She dug out the box of cookies she bought last night and ate one, occasionally giving bits and pieces to BB8 after making sure they were chocolate-free. She let BB roam free this time, sensing that she wouldn’t try to escape from now on.

Tent folded and loaded into the car, Rey packed the rest of her things. BB8 chased an errant squirrel, helped herself to some treats, and took care of business. Rey watched the dog play in the tall grass as she continued checking her phone for messages. A while ago she had even left a voice message to Ben.

Rey here, British and susceptible. Sorry for my reaction the other day, my life is complicated. I saw your band was passing through Jackson Hole on the 5th of July. I’m in the neighborhood, I might come around. Bye.

That message would likely cost her dearly. How was she going to justify contacting Ben again after the scene she had caused at the Four Seasons? To be honest with herself, she hadn’t seen an alternative last night, sitting there on the cold ground. Her family and friends were thousands of kilometers away. Leia Skywalker had disappeared on her.

Whether she liked it or not, Ben Solo was the only person she had maintained contact with since landing, and the only person who had really done her any good without expecting anything in return. She hoped she wasn’t bothering him.

To be fair he had also called her ex and meddled in her personal life when he barely knew her, but due to the circumstances she tried her best to forgive him for that. She had wanted to turn the page on that particular incident and banish Ben Solo from her thoughts forever—before that mysterious blonde woman showed up.

Since then Rey had fretted about traveling alone, with no one to turn to in times of trouble. It’s not like she needed a protector. She just needed a friend, if only for the comfort of knowing that she wasn’t alone. That several hundred kilometers down the road, there would be someone on the other end of the line if she ran into a problem. But it was 7 AM and he hadn’t answered.

In his defense, Rey had texted him around midnight. Maybe he just hadn’t seen it yet.

“All aboard, BB8!”

The dog jumped into the back seat and started chewing methodically on her rubber duckie. The resulting (absurdly loud) squeaking noises made Rey smile.

Hitting the road again, Rey regretted not taking a bathroom break or a shower, or using the washing machines available at the entrance of the campsite. She reeked of dog, sweat, and old car. Strangely enough, it made her laugh. The woman Finn had known had always been a belle, sporting manicured nails and designer perfume. If only he could see her now—he would hardly recognize her.

Come to think of it, thinking about Finn no longer made her balk. Was she simply too tried to be angry? She was just starting down a particularly sharp turn when her phone vibrated. It took every ounce of her willpower not to stop in the middle of the highway to read that text. The Millenium Falcon reached Jackson Hole a few minutes later, and she parked in central town before scrambling for her phone.

Hello, Brit. I see you’ve found my number, Rey. I’m settling in at Jackson H this morning. I’m staying at the Lodge, 80 Scott Lane. I’m free should you want to get coffee sometime—let me know.

It was barely a kilometer away, she could practically walk there. But once again she thought about the blonde trying to break into her car. She would feel much safer parking in the security of a private hotel garage. It only took a few minutes to find the place, a magnificent Swiss chalet complete with exposed beams and stonework. She spotted the infamous black pickup in the parking area and stationed the Millennium Falcon right next to it.

Hello Ben, I found the Lodge. Still up for coffee?

His response was immediate:

You’ll find me in the lobby.

Leia rolled her eyes when another TSA agent approached her as she waited near the baggage claim at Sacramento International Airport. She had been expecting it, but the sheer number of public servants under the First Order’s thumb still managed to surprised her. From the minute she had left the house she had been coincidentally stopped at every traffic checkpoint possible. It was chilling to realize that this sprawling private organization was in some ways above the law.

She had thought about giving up more than once.

What could she do at this age, with only her brother and a handful of rebels behind her? They were up against a massive corporate empire that had the feds in their pocket. But Leia Skywalker had fought her entire life. For the military, for her honor, for the love of her husband, for her son’s education, for minorities’ rights, and for the weary and downtrodden underdogs. Therein lied her definition of the brave: those who defended the defenseless. She could never stop doing that. Leia knew that nothing short of her death would result in her silence.

Leia let the man search her without protest—like every other officer before him. She was wearing a long charcoal dress and heavy ornate bangles of both wrists. Her hair was pinned up in an elaborate braided chignon that added to her height. In her left hand, she carried a cane. It was less for walking and more for leaning on after spending long hours on her feet.

Like every other time, they let her go. He gave her suitcase back after failing to find anything suspicious—the lining was starting to wear. The object they were so eagerly looking for was no longer  in her possession. She smiled knowingly. Knowing that thousands of miles away, an English tourist was on her way.

Leia was greeted by a friendly face as she crossed the line into Arrivals. Her lawyer, Amilyn Holdo. Amilyn was a sixty-something daredevil, her greying hair dyed a striking violet. She was wearing a knee-length taupe skirt suit and violet pumps. Her smile was all dimples. She greeted Leai warmly and grabbed her suitcase.

“How are you, Leia? It sure took you a while—did they hold you up?”

“Like always, Amilyn. My health isn’t what it used to be and they wouldn’t let me go through the baggage claim. Every damn time. I’m forced to just ignore it these days. How’s the mission going?”

“We’ll discuss it in my office, you never know who’s listening. The meeting with Governor Valorum’s staff is in three hours, that gives us some time to plan.” Guiding Leia by the hand, she made her way to the taxi pickup zone.

The law offices of Amilyn Holdo were rather modest. Far from the ornate, high-vaulted, glass and steel monoliths that symbolized the American legal system in popular imagination. A room with a single window and wall to wall bookshelves laden with books and dossiers. Box after box of case files on every available surface, overflowing with papers, binders, envelopes, and notebooks with handwritten memos scrawled on every last page.

Amilyn moved a box stacked on a chair to make space for Leia to sit down. She poured a glass of water for her guest, and rummaged through a small cabinet. She handed Leia a hefty violet dossier held closed by a single strap. “FORCE America: First Order Resource and Capital Extraction”.

All traces of humor gone, the lawyer leaned forward and folded her fingers below her chin. “Tell me everything. Last I heard, you had found someone new?”

“Yes. Rose discovered the perfect candidate. It’s not like we could do it ourselves. We couldn’t use email or the postal service. And we would be spotted from a mile away if we did it in-person. I had to delegate.”

“But who is this girl? How do you know she’s not some FORCE spy?”

“Rose and Paige did a background check, it only took a few hours to clear her. We’re quite certain she’s just a broke tourist. It’s perfect really, FORCE was expecting an activist type, and there’s no way they can stop every single tourist from Colorado to California.”

Amilyn pursed her lips, visibly still unconvinced. “But you gave her the Falcon. Surely it will attract unwanted attention?”

Leia smiled. “They can take the Falcon apart piece by piece is they want, they won’t find a thing.”

“I wish I was confident about this,” she sighed. “This whole operation hinges on the element of surprise. If FORCE finds those documents before the public, we’re back to square one. And this time we won’t get a head start.”

She was interrupted when Leia placed a hand on hers, a comforting gesture. “Hope is like the sun, if you only believe in it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night. Amilyn, this is the culmination of years of hard work. Have a little faith, they won’t win this time.”

“I hope you’re right, if we fail we won’t be able to recover and—“

“Trust me, Amilyn. This girl is very capable.”

The lawyer smiled begrudgingly, not quite uplifted by her client’s optimism. She chewed on the inside of her cheek in silence, avoiding Leia’s eyes.

“What’s eating you, Amy?”

“It’s—Kylo Ren.”

Leia’s smile faltered. Her face fell as she took a sip of water. “What about him?”

“You know he’s been tracking the Tico sisters. Ironically, that means they can keep tabs on him too...but it seems he left town a few days ago. Almost exactly the same time as the girls, Connix, Milham and the others.”

“FORCE already knew we were on the move. We planned for that. The more we scatter our agents, the more resources they spend chasing diversions instead of cracking our strategy,” Leia responded, trying to keep her voice neutral.

“Yes, I know. But Kylo has Snoke’s ear, and Hux’s attention. He knows the inner workings of our organization, he knows you and your brother. And he’s deeply involved with the Order. Are you sure he won’t see this coming?”

Leia’s shoulders sagged, as if burdened by the weight of her grief. She took a deep breath, pausing to find the right words. “Kylo is a brilliant boy. He was swayed by material wealth and prestige. He’ll understand one day. I don’t think he would dare to come after me himself.”

“And you?” Amilyn asked, “If we win, they’ll lose everything. Are you willing to put your own son in prison?”

[melonkooky]

chemistry [jeon jungkook]

not requested

word count: 4685

pairing: student!jungkook x reader

genre: college!au, extremely fluffy

warnings: some swearing

author’s note: i’m at school right now and i wanted to get this posted since i haven’t posted something in a while. i don’t have time to go through and edit it however, so please ignore all my mistakes or inconsistencies. anyways, enjoy the one shot!!! much love!!

please do not copy my work. but please like and reblog it. thank you!!!!

“we need to talk.” you demanded.

jungkook was momentarily stunned by your actions, and your anger for that matter. he didn’t expect you to be showing up in the middle of the evening, notebooks and binders as well as some textbooks still in your arms as if you had just gotten back from a class. your eyebrows were knitted together, and your eyes were trained on him, as if you were trying to burn him to a crisp or melt him into a puddle. he could practically see the hot steam coming out of your ears.

jungkook looked at you, trying to seem completely innocent. he knew why you were there. he knew you would showing up at some point, but not so soon. he assumed that you would be showing up later, after he had time to do what he needed to do. “what?”

you groaned. your hands came up only to be thrown down again, hitting the sides of your thighs and hips in the process. “what do you mean what? you stole my homework.”

jungkook smugly shrugged, his bottom lip coming out slightly more. his eyes wandered around. he was trying to act almost too innocent, too obvious for that matter. or he just wasn’t trying to hide it at all. “no i didn’t.”

“you did! when we had out class together earlier, i placed my finished homework on the side of my desk, like the good student i am. and then at the end of class, when the professor said that it was due tomorrow instead of today, it was gone. poof, disappeared. i wondered, ‘where had it gone?’ i knew i hadn’t lost it or put it somewhere unusual. but the, but then i remembered that you sat next to me. so, you stole it!”

“you can’t prove it.”

you gasped, as if you were offended that he wasn’t confessing to his action. your eyes narrowed as you took an intimidating step towards him. “bet! give it back to me.”

jungkook shook his head. “no, it’s my homework.”

“jeon jungkook! you stole my homework and i want it back!” you yelled as you stormed into his dorm room.

jungkook’s eyes went wide. “wait, y/n. you can’t just let yourself in to the boys’ dorm.”

“watch me!” you said, turning on your heel to glare at him.

jungkook swallowed hard, slightly scared by how angry you were by this whole ordeal. still, despite all that, he maintained his story. “y/n.” he said, shutting the door behind him.

you wandered around jungkook’s dorm, flipped open books and notebooks that the rather bad student had left lying around on almost every surface possible in the dorm. he wasn’t the most clean of students, you had to admit.

you started to get even more annoyed when you were having no luck in finding the homework that you worked so hard on. you felt like you had conducted a thorough search of the premises, but then you laid eyes on his backpack. it sat in the corner of his room, some pockets half-way open, seeming limp and light. jungkook realized this, and immediately hurried over to it. but you beat him to it. “why so scared, jeon jungkook? hmm? is my homework in here?”

you reached into the bag, feeling around. but then your hand came across a rather thick stack of papers. almost getting a few paper cuts in the process, you pulled out the stack, finding that it was two packets, one completed, one only ⅛ completed (his name, the date, and the class period), one with neat handwriting (belonging to yourself), and the other seeming rushed. you inhaled deeply, trying to calm yourself down.

you found your homework, you reminded yourself, it’s here, it’s fine, only a few wrinkles…

you opened your eyes, seeing jungkook by the doorway. he seemed down, regretful, looking apologetic. seeing his expression, your face softened, your anger diminishing in the snap of someone’s fingers. you weren’t going to lie to yourself. jungkook, although looking sad, looked adorable. a blush crept up in your cheeks as everything caught up to you, how you stormed into his dorm, a boy’s dorm, invading someone’s space all because of your homework.

you cleared your throat. “i’m sorry, for showing up here like this and ransacking your room.”

jungkook’s own cheeks turned a bright red. “no, it’s okay. it’s not as bad as me actually stealing your homework.”

now you felt bad. out of curiosity, you held up the packets, placing jungkook’s on top of yours. it was supposed to be due today, although the due date had only recently been changed to tomorrow. perhaps jungkook just forgot to do it. “were you just planning on copying my answers?” you asked.

jungkook nodded. in a way, he looked like a little kid who had just gotten caught doing something bad. his bottom lip was pushed out in a pout, his eyes were on the floor or his bed, his hands were clasped together in front of him, and his was rocking back and forth on his feet. you smiled, “jungkook,” you crossed over to him, bending down slightly to catch his gaze, “you could have just asked.”

his eyes widened. “but, isn’t that bad?”

you laughed. “yeah, it is. but i understand that chemistry isn’t your strong suit.”

jungkook shyly smiled.

“but, you should have just asked for help instead of stealing my homework.”

“i’m sorry about that. you know how this packet is worth a lot of our grade.”

you nodded. “how about i help you then, since it’s not due until tomorrow. do you have any classes for the rest of the day?”

jungkook shook his head. he looked less guilty now, and the sparkle in his eyes has returned. you grinned at him. “i don’t either. let’s get started.”

jungkook smiled as he led the way back into the small living room. with a blush still relatively prominent in his cheeks, jungkook quickly cleared the notebooks, textbooks, and binders off of the coffee table. he cleared the couch of any clothes or blankets. you laughed silently watching him struggle to clean his living room.

once everything was “clean”, you set down your own books and notebooks, the ones that you had been holding since you had arrived, and found that your arms had become stiff. your elbow even popped after you set them down. you dropped your backpack onto the ground, just next to the couch and grabbed two pencils, one for jungkook and one for you. “okay!” you yelled, clapping your hands together once.

you sat down in front of the coffee table, sitting with your legs crossed underneath you. jungkook did the same. you noticed how he scooted away from your a bit, as if trying to keep a distance between you and him. honestly, when you saw him do that, your heart dropped slightly. after all, you and jungkook, in a strange way, knew each other.

you didn’t know if you should classify your relationship with him as friends, or just close acquaintances. you had known jungkook since high school and now you and him were attending the same college, even being in some classes together. but neither of you formally hung out with each other. it was always involved with school.

you weren’t going to lie to yourself anymore. every time you were around jungkook, you felt...different. shy would be the more accurate word. you tried to hide it, but when you were around him, you felt like your heart was going to explode, or your face was going to burn. you felt like you couldn’t function properly around him. just the other day, sitting next to jungkook, he had asked you for a pencil, and when you went to get him one, you found that your hands were shaking and you felt nervous. in the end, you accidentally threw the pencil across the desk, instead of handing it to him. you still don’t know what had actually happened, how you ended up throwing the pencil, and you were rather not think about it at all.

“alright, let’s start with the first problem.” you began, checking your pencil to see if it had led.

jungkook grabbed the pencil you offered to him, leaning forward and reading the first problem. “uh…”

you laughed. “it’s okay, i’ll walk you through it.”

you and jungkook managed to spend an hour working on the packet. it was a rather complex packet, including lots of reading and problem solving, sometimes including math. your own brain was hurting, despite having completed the packet the night before.

just as jungkook circled the final answer on the final problem, you smiled. “see, i knew you could do it.”

jungkook let out a playful scoff. “yeah, because of you.”

you blushed while you put your completely packet into the front pocket inside your binder. “it’s difficult, sometimes even i struggle with chemistry.”

“no. come on, you’re like an expert.” jungkook said, looking at you as if you had said the most stupidest thing on the planet.

you blushed, a smile creeping up on your cheeks. “well, i guess i should get going.”

jungkook’s cheeks blushed suddenly, and he wouldn’t meet your eyes. his hand started to use the pencil and tap a rhythm on the table. “jungkook?”

“i actually had a thought while we were figuring this out.” he sighed, then cleared his throat. he hesitated again, “you know what? never mind.”

your heart dropped again, followed by your smile. “oh, okay.”

you stood up, grabbing all your things before swinging your backpack over your shoulder. honestly, you felt a bit upset. you thought that jungkook was going to say something, you hoped that he would make a move. but, perhaps he just didn’t think of you like that. or he just didn’t know you well enough. “well, bye!”

jungkook waved from his spot behind the coffee table. “see you tomorrow.”

you nodded before finally leaving his dorm. stepping out into the hallway, that when you realized just how different the boys’ dorm was compared to the girls. earlier, you had been so angry about jungkook stealing your homework, focused on confronting him, that you hadn’t realized that the boy’s dorm didn’t exactly smell the best. and it was more bland and boring compared to the girl’s.

as you walked out of the boys’ building, you got a lot of glances from many of the students, either leaving for classes or work, or coming back. on the way, a hand gripped the top of your arm. you turned around, finding a good friend of yours, jimin. he grinned. “y/n! i haven’t seen you in a while.”

you attempted a smile. “yeah, i’ve been busy.”

“hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, his eyes showing concern.

you shook your head. “it’s nothing.”

jimin then glanced at the boy’s dorm. “wait, why were you here? did you see someone? are you dating anyone?”

hearing jimin attack you with questions made you laugh. your chest loosened up a bit. “no, no, no. i actually came back from jungkook’s dorm.”

“jungkook?”

“yeah, he stole my homework. and then i helped him with his homework.”

jimin nodded. “oh, okay.” he paused staring at you, “but why do you seem so sad?”

you sighed. you debated on whether you should tell jimin your secret. although, you were still in disbelief. you tried to convince yourself that they weren’t true, but no matter how hard you tried to bury them, they always showed up, stronger than ever. “i think i have a crush on jungkook.” you spoke quietly, your voice barely above a whisper.

jimin’s eyes widened. they almost looked like they were going to pop out of his head. “what?”

you nodded. “i know. i have feelings for him, as much as i try to ignore them. i try to bury them and ignore them, and then jungkook comes into my life like a fucking bulldozer and suddenly i have feelings again.” you groaned. “it’s hard to be around him.”

jimin looked at you sympathetically. he brought up a hand and gently pat your shoulder. “i’m sure something will happen. maybe you should try talking to him more, show more interest in him.” jimin laughed fondly. “sometimes jungkook can be as dense as a brick.”

you laughed, blush creeping up in your cheeks the more you thought about your crush. you weren’t going to lie, you felt like your feelings were stronger now that you admitted them, as if you were finally accepting them. a weight felt as if it was being lifted off of your shoulders. your felt better.

“i’ll see you around, y/n.” jimin finally said.

you nodded, a small smile on your face. “see you!”

----

your rehearsed a series of conversation starters in your head as you walked to your chemistry class.

“hey, jungkook. i bought this for you.”

“hey! have you eaten yet?”

“i bought this this morning and then didn’t want it.”

“i have an extra muffin. do you want it?”

you mentally slapped yourself. everything that you came up with only sounded stupid. it didn’t help that you were whispering everything under your breath, so you probably looked weird to other students, talking to yourself, seeming angry or confused.

how sighed when you reached the classroom. you peeked your head inside. you immediately spotted him, jungkook, recognizing him from his soft, fluffy looking brown hair. he was sitting right next to your desk again, despite the class no having any assigned seats. the professors didn’t have time for that.

you grew more anxious. all the possibilities of how the conversation could go were running through your head like madmen. with a deep inhale, you forced yourself to enter the classroom. you crept towards your desk, feeling your hands grow more clammy by the second, your heart slowly increasing in speed. you finally reached your desk, gently setting the still warm muffin on top in order to set down your stuff. when you finally were situated in your desk, jungkook’s voice scared you. “hey.”

you squealed before turning to him. he smiled, laughing quietly. “sorry, did i scare you?”

you tried to speak. “u-uh, no, you d-d-didn’t.” you stuttered. this was your chance, you told yourself.

you turned to look at him again. his attention was on his sketchbook. a faint, warm smile was on his face as he gently shaded in some details on his drawing. he seemed happy, peaceful, and cute. you shook your head. do it, you yelled into your brain. “hey, jungkook.”

he looked at you. “hmm?”

you held up the muffin. “i, uh, bought this this morning, and i was wondering if you wanted it.” you felt your cheeks grow hot, hotter than the sun. you wondered if you had turned into a tomato, and was in the end going to be rejected, make a fool of yourself. you tried your best to meet jungkook’s eyes.

jungkook seemed shocked. he was glancing at the presented muffin, and then at you, and then the muffin again. his own cheeks were gradually turning pink. “you got this...for me?”

you hesitantly nodded, pursing your lips together.

jungkook smiled and took the muffin from you. “thank you.”

your eyes widened when he took the paper bag from your hands, his soft skin grazing yours for a millisecond in the process, opening it to retrieve the muffin. but you found yourself smiling, relief washing over your shoulders. “you’re welcome.” your quietly replied. you turned back around in your seat, resting your head on your hand.

just then, the professor walked into the classroom, telling everyone to quiet down. it was a bit difficult to pay attention in class as jungkook was currently swarming your thoughts. and it didn’t help that you couldn’t stop smiling.

----

you were thinking about the chemistry homework as you walked out of the class. you were wondering if you should ask jungkook if he needed help with his homework, since yesterday he attempted to steal your homework and just copy it. it was a bad habit, so he needed to learn the material if he was going to pass the class.

whether it was a coincidence or not, sure enough, you heard your name being shouted by a familiar voice. you stopped in your tracks, quite surprised, and turned around just as jungkook ran out of the chemistry classroom. “oh! hey.” he said sheepishly. “i thought you were, like, way down the hall. i wouldn’t have shouted so loudly.”

you laughed. “no, it’s okay.”

“um, i was wondering if you wanted to come over.” he blushed. “and help me with the chemistry homework.”

you stared at him, eyes as wide as an owl’s. jungkook was actually asking you for help. your own blush crept into your cheeks, practically matching the shade of jungkook’s cheeks. he had a shy smile, pressing his lips together as he waited patiently for your answer. you grinned. your heart was racing a million miles a minute and your stomach was on the verge of becoming a pro gymnast from all the flips it was doing. you chewed on your bottom lips before your reply, “sure. let’s do it.”

he nodded, his eyes temporarily closing as he sighed with relief. you laughed at his reaction.

“well, let’s go.”

----

“hmm…” you hummed, rereading the problem.

jungkook looked at you with worried doe eyes. his eyes kept bouncing between your face and then the problem. your own eyes were trained hard on the problem, your brain trying to figure it out. but, despite being usually good at chemistry, this particular problem was stumping you. you ran a finger through your slightly disheveled hair, having done the same action a few times in the past ten minutes. “i don’t know.” you finally admitted.

jungkook swallowed hard. “but we were doing so well.”

you sighed. “i know. but i don’t understand any of this. i don’t even recall the teacher ever teaching this.”

jungkook scratched the back of his head. he relaxed and fell back against the couch, a dramatic groan sounding as he did so. you set down the pencil and leaned back as well. it was quiet, and despite telling yourself you would give up and move on, you were still thinking about the problem, that is until jungkook changed the topic. “that muffin was really good by the way.”

you almost choked on your own saliva. you quickly smiled though. “i’m glad you liked it. i was worried you’d be allergic to it or not like it.”

jungkook chuckled lightly. “speaking of which, though,” he turned to look at you. “are you hungry?”

you turned your own head, meeting his eyes. you nodded. subconsciously, while you answered, your hands rested over your abdomen. “yeah, actually.”

“great! let’s get takeout. there’s this excellent place that delivers to the dorms around here.”

you could see how excited and delighted jungkook was as he raved about this place. you were starving, so as jungkook described the menu and how great the food was to you, your mouth was salivating and your stomach was calling out. “let’s do it.”

----

you took the final bite of your meal. as much as you wanted to finish it, your stomach was about to burst. jungkook ordered so much food. “are you going to finish that?” he asked after you leaned away from the table.

you laughed. “i don’t understand how you can eat all that.”

he shrugged, already reaching for your plate. “i’m hungry.”

it was a nonchalant move, he was perfectly normal. his eyes were on the food as he finished your leftovers. you, on the other hand, were staring at him. your cheeks were as red as roses, your heart was racing endlessly as it seemed, and your stomach felt queasy.

jungkook looked up. he noticed that you hadn’t said much, or moved for that matter. but, he didn’t expect to find you already staring at him. immediately, his eyes were wide and his cheeks were resembling your own. a smile grew on his face, all while he still had food in his cheeks, making him look like a bunny rabbit. now he just looked cute and it was almost painful to look at him, especially since you had feelings for him. you and him were simply friends, and yet you wanted nothing more than to engulf him into a tight hug and plant numerous kisses all over his face. gushing about how adorable he looked. you could imagine him replying along the lines of, “i’m not cute.”

only he was in your eyes, no matter how hard he would try to deny it.

“is there something on my face?” he finally asked, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth.

you shook your head, looking away. “no, sorry.”

he laughed. “are you okay? you’re acting very strange.”

looking at him again, you tried to be yourself again. you tried to ignore your feelings and your thoughts. “how so?”

his smile slowly dropped. “are you sick? your cheeks kinda look red, and you’ve been quiet.”

“i’m fine. i think i’m just hot or something.”

jungkook didn’t seem convinced, but nevertheless let it go. he tossed the used napkin on top of your now empty plate. you sighed. you wanted jungkook, there was no doubting that. but, you weren’t sure if he felt the same way. you were only here because chemistry wasn’t his strong suit. you couldn’t help but think that that was only how jungkook would ever think of you, the person who knows chemistry, his study buddy, and maybe a friend. that was a stretch.

“y/n.” you heard his soothing, concerned voice. the way he said your name only made you feel worse.

a hand came in front of your face, bringing you back to your senses. you looked at jungkook, “huh?”

he paused. his eyes scanned your face, his eyebrows knitted together. again, cute.

“are you sure you’re okay? you seem out of it. is there something wrong?”

you stared at jungkook. should you tell him? should you admit to him that you have feelings for him? that you wanted him?

“is the chemistry question really stumping you? look, it’s okay. i know that you’re used to understanding every chemistry equation, but there’s always something, you know?”

you felt yourself smile a bit, but you couldn’t tell if it was because of jungkook in that moment, or because you were sad. perhaps he was just as dense as the most dense element on the periodic table.

“yeah, maybe it’s just the equation.”

“okay, now you don’t seem convincing. something is definitely wrong.”

you blushed, looking at jungkook again. you tried to smile. “it’s nothing, jungkook, really. there’s just a lot on my mind right now.”

jungkook turned his body to face yours, tugging his legs closer to him as he scoot closer to you. you blushed as your felt his knee touch your side. how were you going to keep hanging around him when you get excited at every move he makes?

“do you want to talk about it?” he asked, leaning closer, a small smile on his face.

you stared at him, pulling your knees to your chest before crossing your arms over them afterwards.

his smile became more mischievous as he leaned forward again, his head coming closer to your arms and knees. “what are you doing?” you asked carefully.

he tilted his head. his smile was bigger now. your cheeks were beginning to hurt as you tried to suppress the smile that he was causing. “i am trying to make you smile.” he replied. “i’m trying to distract your mind.”

you blushed, more than ever before. it almost looked like your cheeks had turned into bright red apples. “jungkook.” you said while leaning away, a laugh escaping your throat.

“come on.”

he got closer. he knew he was close to getting you to react, to smile, to laugh. when you looked sad and had a blank stare on your face, jungkook thought that something was wrong. and with that thought, his heart felt heavy. he didn’t like that you seemed upset or distracted, and so that was why he was trying to make you feel better.

“jungkook.” you warned again.

“what are you going to do, huh?” he teased.

jungkook got even closer to your, this time placing his chin on your shoulder. it tickled you, so you pushed your shoulder up and leaned your head to the side. and finally, you were laughing. jungkook grinned proudly, retreating back to his spot. “see? do you feel better now?”

you nodded, still blushing. you looked at the young man next to you. he was staring at you, a twinkle in his eye, a smile on his face that made he resemble a rabbit. it was the look on his face that made you smile and giggle even more. his expression was giving you hope, why else would he been looking at you in that way?

“jungkook?”

suddenly he was leaning forward again. his head dipped down, and before you could even process what was happening, his lips were on yours. it was a quick peck on the lips, but it was enough to cause your heart and stomach to explode with emotions. your eyes were wide with surprise, staring at jungkook as he pulled away. he was grinning. “what?”

you swallowed the lump in your throat. “did that really happen or was i just dreaming?” you mumbled.

“it was all a dream.”

you glared at him. “no, it wasn’t.”

he laughed. “then why did you ask?”

“because,” you paused, your words getting stuck on your throat. “because i didn’t expect you to do that.”

“do what?”

you rolled your eyes. “why are you like this?”

“do you want me to do it again? i’ll happily do it again.”

you blushed once more, as if you had ever stopped blushing. you covered your face with your hands, a wide grin on your face. “jeon jungkook.” was all you managed to get out.

you heard him laugh next to you. “you know, you’re adorable.”

“stop it…” you mumbled. your cheeks were beginning to ache from how long you had been smiling ear to ear.

----

you were sitting in class. as always, or rather more so after what happened last night, your thoughts were about jungkook. your gaze was on the blank sheet of paper in front of you, and the end of your pencil was tapping every thirty seconds or so. your mind was replaying the event, mainly when jungkook kissed you. it felt like a dream, as cliche as that sounded. but, you knew it wasn’t a dream.

out of nowhere, snapping you out of your thoughts, a kiss was planted on your cheek. you turned your head just as jungkook was sitting down in the seat next to yours. he smiled teasingly. “good morning.” he sang.

you blushed, still in a state of shock. “m-morning.”

“man,” he said, “i really do have an effect on you.”

you shook your head. “no, i was just surprised.”

“exactly. and look at you, looking all cute and angry.”

“is this going to be a thing now?” you asked.

“what?”

“you and me, mainly you teasing me about how i react. you know what? you’re a bully.”

“am not. i am just showing my affection towards someone that i like.”

you blushed again. “god dammit. this what i mean.”

“hey,” he said, causing you to look at him. “do you like me?” he asked straightforwardly.

you shook your head. “i do.” you felt yourself smile at him.

jungkook grinned, his own blush creeping up in his cheeks. there was a shy smile on his face once again. he turned to sit straight in his seat. he was minding his own business now, pulling out his notebook and writing down the date. he looked cute, and just like that, you were falling in love with him all over again.

[prorevenge]

File a false restraining order against me and threaten to kill me? Ok... Let's dance.

`Too lazy, didn't read` at bottom.

Cast: I don't shorten words, so it's self explanatory to the reader.

A few years ago, my now ex wife filed a false restraining order against me. She was living with her boyfriend (we were getting a divorce) in another state at the time, and had decided that a false restraining order was an excellent way to be awarded full possession of the vehicle I had purchased. We only had one key to the vehicle, and she was in possession of both the key and the vehicle. This is important later.

I was exceedingly upset that she had knowingly filed a false restraining order, and upon being served, I immediately submitted my appeal and request for a hearing. I contacted my company, and had them print off all my department of transportation GPS logs, as well as company internal vehicle tracker data. I also printed out my personal GPS tracking data from the navigation system I was using. So not only did I have federally accredited logs showing exactly where I was... Or more importantly, was not... I also had two very detailed systems information showing my exact speed, cardinal direction, and other pertinent information... Recorded in 2 minute, and 30 second intervals.

After I had compiled my entire body of evidence, I wrote a three page testimony to read to the court/ judge to assist in explaining the entirety of the data, as well as present my side of the appeal. Almost 30 days passes, and I realize that upon adjournment of the case (and subsequent exiting of the courthouse) , there is a chance I will be able to reach my vehicle before my ex does. With this in mind, I decided to contact the dealership from which I had purchased the vehicle, and acquired a second key. As we had only received one key when we purchased the vehicle, I knew she would not expect me to even be capable of driving away in it.

So, fast forward a few days to the court date. I had driven acrossed two states to attend this court judgment appeal, with all my paperwork, written testimony, and key to the vehicle. I arrive approximately 4 hours prior to the hearing time, and patiently wait for the magic moment to come. Bad news... It was extremely anti-climactic... As she was a no show. The judge summarily ruled in my favor, and the restraining order was dismissed. The judge then asked if I had anything further for the court, and if not, I was free to go. So I very politely asked

Me: Your honor, it is my understanding that the restraining order/ ppo is lifted?"

Judge: Yes ma'am.

Me: So am I, at this time, able to retrieve my vehicle?

Judge: Ma'am, as the Judge of this courtroom, I am unable to provide you with any form of legal advice.

Me: Oh, ok, I'm sor-

Judge: However, if you find a seat in the back of my courtroom, my (secretary? Court recorder? I don't remember the term) will provide you with a signed order of dismissal for the restraining order/ppo. If you were to be questioned by law enforcement for any reason regarding property or contact, it is best to have this documentation on your person... As the cancelation of the order may not reach the police system until close of business today.

The way in which the judge had worded her response was very clear in intent... She could not specifically tell me I was good to retrieve my vehicle, but she was taking the extra time to provide me with the paperwork that gave me a legal opportunity to retrieve my vehicle. So I sat down, and after nearly 10 minutes, the court official that was designated with the task of typing and printing the paperwork, got the judges signature on it, and brought it to me. As I put it in my binder of other paperwork, and turned to leave the courtroom, the judged called out to me.

Judge: Mrs. BTK216.

Me: (turning in mild surprise) Yes, your Honor?

Judge: (with a devious smile) Good luck.

Now I had to formulate a plan. See, as the ex wife had not been present for the court proceedings, neither was my vehicle. I had the address for her boyfriends/ boyfriends parents house... As it was all over the initial restraining order's list of protected properties. (and she had accidentally left a notebook with it written upon it when she first left to be with the guy). I decided to utilize Uber to go to the address, and check if the vehicle was present at the address. Upon starting the Uber trip, I requested the Uber driver to wait for me at the address after dropping me off, giving her a quick summary of my circumstances and plan, to ensure that I had a witness present for the intended retrieval of my vehicle. Quite simply, to ensure that no false allegations of fictitious activities during the recovery of said vehicle would have a metaphorical leg to stand upon in court. The lady Uber driver was sympathetic to my cause, and agreed. Even going so far as to give me her personal contact information in the event I required her for a future court appearance.

Upon arrival at the address I had available, the vehicle was, indeed, present. The Uber lady waited until I had acquired the vehicle, left the premises, and she followed be about two miles to witness I had left the property completely, and then she went on her way. (Bless that lady, she was a Saint) So, I make it about a half hour away, and my phone rings. I answered it, and it was my ex wife's boyfriend, and as you can imagine... He was not happy. He rambled off several vulgarities, and other random insulting comments which I entirely brushed off.

Then he made a very large, and unintelligent mistake. He said "if I ever see you again, here, or anywhere, I will blow your head off".

Now... I'm a veteran. I don't take very kindly on threats to my life. I was upset at him, I was upset at her, and I was just handed a gift wrapped means of complete and utter destructive revenge. I immediately hung up with him, and dialed 911 to report a verbal threat on my life. I headed to the parking lot of a local big box store to meet the responding officer, and ensured I didn't leave until I had a case number, attached written statement, and the reporting officers identification information.

I completed my trip to my home state, and the following Monday (this was all on a Friday) I went to my local courthouse and filed for an emergency restraining order/ ppo. The judge that was available to hear my case for an emergency order was, interestingly enough, the same judge handling the divorce. She listened to the case I provided, reviewed the police report information I provided, and issued the requested emergency order.

Doesn't sound like a "pro-revenge", does it? Well... My ex wife was living with the guy in his parents basement. The restraining order/ ppo issued by the judge protected myself, my property, and... My spouse... From him. See, we were still legally married, so I was legally able to list her as protected party. When the restraining order was served, he couldn't be within 600 feet of my (now) ex wife.

As she lived with him in his parents basement, he wasn't the one that had to leave, she was.

But... She no longer had my vehicle. She lost her brand new job. She wasn't able to get to school, so she failed her college course, but was stuck with the student loans for it anyway. She was now homeless, vehicle-ess, jobless, kicked out of college for non-attendance, penniless, as she is atrociously bad with finances, and... To top it all off, she was nearly 4 months pregnant with his kid.

Moral of the story? Don't piss off a lesbian veteran. I don't like to fck fck play games. I will go out of my way to avoid playing fck fck games. I will bend over backwards to make sure I don't have to play fck fck games. But if you force my hand into playing aforementioned fck fck games... I will not be the one that loses the game. Which... Is something I told her verbatim on our third or fourth date. Guess she forgot. Lol.

Too lazy, didn't read: Ex-wife tried to play stupid fck fck games misusing the legal system. She wound up homeless, jobless, vehicle-less, kicked out of school, and was pregnant with her boyfriends child to boot.

Footnote: If anyone wants to use the story of my experiences, for any purpose, you are welcome to.

(source) story by (/u/BTK216)