#all tag games really for the past few months like the quiz ones i can’t do either because reading is hard right now so i just lie down on

[arklay]

i have so many picrews to catch up on 🧍🏼

[july13th2004]

Happy Remaster Release Day!!! My copy of the Chosen Edition (Switch version) is probably not going to arrive until sometime next week, hopefully, so I won’t be able to play quite yet (I also want to take photos of it), but as I have some more fic writing to do (amongst other things), that’s perfectly all right with me.

Anyway, here’s a full screenshot of Sheena from the login bonus in Asteria that’s going on right now to celebrate the Remaster! I decided to place her against one of the cherry blossom backgrounds that I have from other characters in the game, since cherry blossom season is right around the corner in Japan and it does go very well with the obi on her outfit.

And I know most of you probably know about this quiz already, but I’m going to post about it anyway...

So there’s this character quiz, which you can find here (English, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese are the supported languages), where Colette asks you to first pick your favorite gel from Apple, Orange, or Lemon, and then she asks you a few more questions to determine which character you are. I think this quiz might include more than just the main cast too, as I think I’ve seen people get Mithos and Noishe over the last couple of days since this quiz has been out.

Anyway, it’s just a fun little game you can play if you’re curious about which character you might be, and I also think there’s new art for each character (I’ve mostly seen people get Kratos on Twitter, because I follow his Japanese tag, and I can’t recall seeing this official art of him before).

And then here’s a couple preview photos of the snow bunny plush I bought from a seller on Mercari that arrived a couple days ago. It’s so, so cute, and I can confirm that it’s squishy like mochi just like what the host of that YouTube video I linked to a couple weeks ago said, lol! Anyway, I’m going to take better photos of this and the other lottery merch I bought (which is most of the Kratos merch, lol) after I take some photos of the Yomiuri Land merch I bought a couple months ago (though I’m still waiting for a couple items I bought during the post-sale period, so it’ll probably be after that arrives).

Lastly, I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in or supported the Countdown event this past month. It has been so wonderful seeing all of the fanart, fanfics, cosplay, and music that people have worked so hard on these last couple of months. It was also an honor for me to write a fanfic for such a large scale event like this, and I am so, so happy that many of you like what I wrote for this event. When I started posting my fanfics on here a little over three years ago, I had a ton of anxiety around whether any of you would actually like my writing, and I am so happy that many of you do. So I just want you all to know that I really appreciate the support that many of you have given me over these last three years since I’ve started posting my fanfics to this blog. Thank you all, so, so much!

[narrie]

2020

thank u @sophism for tagging me 💓 what a better way to end this awful year than relive it am i right 🤪

rules: answer the questions about 2020 and tag some people to pass it on!

5 favorite films you watched in 2020:

parasite

tenet

the greatest showman 

the half of it 

portrait of a lady on fire

5 favorite tv shows you watched in 2020:

the witcher

derry girls

sex ed

idk if that counts but cheer was so good

fleabag

5 favorite songs you listened to in 2020:

no judgement - niall horan 

levitating - dua lipa 

if the world was ending - julia michaels, her bf 

always you - louis tomlinson

golden - harry styles 

Top 5 albums of 2020:

four (deluxe) - one direction

heartbreak weather - niall horan

fine line - harry styles (come on it counts) 

future nostalgia - dua lipa 

(s)ex tapes (it counts even tho it’s an ep) - fletcher 

Top 5 books you read in 2020:

i feel like i deadass only read 5 books this entire year and i can’t even rank them bc 3 of those were the hunger games series since i somehow started revisiting my childhood obsessions during quarantine and ordered all the books then 😭☝🏽 speaking of childhood obsessions, another book i read was midnight sun ofc 🤪 and lastly, never let me go - which i’m very proud of personally bc it’s been sitting in my book shelve for 4 years and i never managed to read past the first 100 pages, god bless

How did you spend your birthday this year?

had dinner with the family, then we drove downtown to look at the christmas lights, came back and had cake + watched a movie 😌

What was your most memorable day this year?

gotta be the blm protest in hamburg! i loved that so many ppl (i think it ended up being around 15-20k ppl) came together, even tho it was basically canceled by the police, and it really left me proud and empowered ✊🏽

What was your most memorable meal you had this year?

i made gigi hadid’s pasta recipe for my sister and it’s mostly just memorable bc i never actually cooked for someone that isn’t me 

Did you find any new hobbies or interests in quarantine?

besides baking banana bread, having quiz nights on zoom, and taking walks literally every day - not really ✌🏽

What was the last big event/thing you remember doing BC (before covid)?

going to the jonas brother concert in london with @hunrising - a show that was supposed to be the first one of many this year but sometimes life throws u a pandemic and u just have to deal with it! also driving to sweden for a few days and coming back the very day before denmark closed its borders and everything started to go downhill 🤪

5 good/positive things that happened to you in 2020:

i think the most positive aspect of 2020 was that despite everything it was very didactic: i learned and grew sm and i tried to apply it as best as i could 

i made my first blood donation this year which felt great!!! 

i tried to make the most out of october and went to two (2) pumpkin patches which was lovely 

i got less anxious checking my emails which i believe is a HUGE win bc online classes would’ve been a lot harder if i just ignored my inbox for months

i’ve been very grateful to be safe and healthy this year and that my loved ones were close by. i know how good i have it and it’s def been a year that reminded me of that in so many ways 🙏🏽

Biggest messages or lessons learnt from this year?

use ur privilege and make ur voice be heard to stand up for what is right 

don’t take anything for granted and appreciate everything u have while giving back 

being depressed on campus > being depressed in the zoom meetings 

And what are you most looking forward to in 2021?

apart from starting and hopefully finishing my bachelor’s thesis (and consequently finishing uni for now) i don’t have that much on my agenda for 2021 since i’m still trying to recover from the canceled 2020 plans, so to quote a true legend: “You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. You know why? Because life cannot be planned. [...] You can't go wrong with no plans. We don't need to make a plan for anything. It doesn't matter what will happen next.” 

i’m gonna tag @hunrising @honeydxp @newangelmp3 @mullingar @imsogoldeen @merrystylans @harrydykwya if ur up for it, happy new year 😌❣️

[aetm-malereaderimagines]

Hey! How about a male reader scenario where the reader has an intense crush on Sawamura Daichi and finally confesses to him ( after a LOT of struggling) only to find out Daichi was also about to confess to him on the same day. Also i love your effort to make male reader scenarios. It really makes it easy for queer males to also have the same experience as straight female fans. Keep it up!!

Firstof all, thank you for your request! Second of all, duh XD I’m a gayguy myself so ofc I write gay fanfiction! Mymain reason to start this blog was actually my frustration caused bybeing unable to find decent HQ!! reader inserts where the reader islegitimately gender-neutral. Yes, even gender-neutral. There are some nicemale reader inserts out there but they’re few and far between.So I usually end up looking for gender-neutral insterts, headcanons, and scenarios but… Some of them areblatantly meant for female readers. Some of them claim to be gender-neutral but you can clearly see they’re actually not or just employ male and female gender stereotypes I’m definitely not comfortable with. And some ofthem are female reader inserts that are tagged as x male reader… SoI decided to say “fuck it” and create some content myself that myfellow queer readers can actually enjoy! LGBT people are alreadydenied the same experience regarding love and sexuality that straight people get so if I can somehow contribute to making this world ofours a little less fucked up for my fellow queer folks, that’s all I could ever wish for!

Okay, but enough of myinconsistent rambling and let’s get into the actual scenario!Although I probably have a crush on every and each HQ!! character(well, maybe except some of the older guys lol), Daichi is actuallyone of those I’d probably consider the best boyfriend material soI’m really glad you requested a scenario for him! Justfyi, I made the readerKarasuno’s 2ndyear manager so that Ihave something to start from, hopefully you don’t mind. Ireally hope you’ll like it! enjoy!

Also let me apologize that it took me so long to write this but for some reason, I’ve been feeling utterly uninspired lately :/ It took the first episode of S4 and a volleyball match I watched yesterday for me to finally get some inspiration to finish this scenario XD

Pairing: Sawamura Daichi x Male Reader

Word count: 1659

告り告られ — A Double Confession

“Oh come on, just confess tohim!”

“You know I can’t!”

“You can and you will!”Yachi’s eyes bored into you and you turned your gaze away, feelingas though those two goldenorbs were penetrating your very soul. “Why do you have to make itharder than it actually is? You like him, you confess, you gettogether. Simple!”

“Like hell it would go thatsmoothly,” you scoffed. “I don’t even know if he’s gay.”

“Oh come on, have you not seenhow close he is with Sugawara-san?”

“But that’s precisely theproblem!” You looked Yachi in the eye confrontingly. “If he’snot gay, I don’t even have a chance, and even if he is, I stilldon’t have a chance since he’s probably already inlove with Suga-san.”

“…you will confess to himeventually anyways,” Yachi cut the conversation, pouting.

You looked away. You knew she wasright. You were going to confess to him eventually. It’s just… Itwas so fucking hard to work up the courage. You’dhad a crush on Daichi since your first year, since a while afteryou’djoined the volleyball club.

Atfirst, it was all fun and games. Youjoined the club simply because you liked volleyball but getting towatch pretty boys get all worked up and sweaty while playing was anice bonus for you. Once you realized you liked Daichi, it got evenmore fun… for a while. Howmany people could say they get to see their crash shirtless on adaily basis?

But the longer you watched, thecloser you got to him, the more painful it got. Daichicould look scary at first, especially during practice sessions whenhe had to rein in first and second years, but asalways, appearances couldbe deceptive. Youmanaged to befriend him, also getting closer with Suga and Asahi inthe process, but soon yourealized that being just friends was hardly enough for you. Youstill couldn’t forget that one time when Daichi said you were “likea younger brother to him” and how much it hurt.

“All right!”

What snapped you out of yourcontemplation was Daichi’s voice. Whileyou were bickering with Yachi standing on the side of the court, theboys were actually training. Shimizu was in charge of taking notestoday so you and Yachi didn’t have much to do at the moment.

You turnedyour eyes in the direction Daichi’svoice had come from. Andthere he was, looking asgood as always, with that damn smile of his he always had on his faceafter a good receive, just a few feet away from you.

So close yet so far.

It was the day. It was the dayyou were going to confess to Daichi.

It had been a month since yourargument with Yachi. Over the last 30 daysand even more late-night phone calls with Yachi, you decided toconfess your feelings to Daichi. Even if he didn’t like you back,you wanted him to know what you feel. The days were growing longerand Spring High wasgetting closer and closer. Regardless of whether you won or lost, thethird-years were going to quit the club once the tournament was over.And once that happened,you were bound to grow more distant with Daichi, let alone having achance to confess to him. If you were going to do it, you had to doit now.

The morning sun was shininggently upon you as you walked through the schoolyard withyour heart pounding in your chest andyou still had like half a day to go before the actual confession. Youreally hoped your teachers wouldn’t quiz you today. You’dprobably fail it miserably since you couldn’t focus on anythingelse but the dreadful perspective of what was going to happen thisevening.

Yourplan was simple. You were going to take alittle longer cleaningup after practice so that you end up staying alone in the storageroom. Then, Yachi was going to “notice” that you’re missing andask Daichi to go and look for you because she had “somethingimportant to talk to you about.” If everything went smoothly, youwere going to end up alone with Daichi in the storage room. That wasgoing to be your chance.

When you were going overthe plan in your head walking down the hallway, your phone rang. Youpulled your phone out of your bag to find out you had a new text fromYachi.

“I’m sorry m(_ _)m”

You tilted your head. That wasall she wrote.

“What do you mean?” youtexted back as you entered your classroom.

You spent the first periodstressing over Yachi’s message. Whatever she was sorry about, itwas bound to be nothing good.

Turnedout Yachiwas sick.

Accordingto Yachi herself, he had suddenly felt really unwell last night whichhadturned out to beonly the beginning of a long, feverish night. Whenher mom had taken her to the doctor this morning, she’d beendiagnosed with a bad case of influenza. Shewould probably be staying at home for at least a week.

Yourplan was ruined, which of course made you very upset… but somewheredeep in your heart, you also felt kind of relieved that the momentyou were going to confess to Daichi was put off by at least a week,and you hated yourself for it.

Youlet out a deep sigh as you leaned against a mop you held in yourhands. Youended up being the last one left in the gym anyways, no matter yourplan. You’dlied to Shimizu and the guys about needing to clean up the storageroom—you needed some time foryourself.

“Needsome help?”

Youturned your face up to find the source of the voice only to be facesby Daichi leaning against the door frame, looking at you.

You gulped.

You didn’t even need your planto be left alone with Daichi.

If this wasn’t the heavenstelling you it was high time you’d confessed then what was.

“Yeah,actually, I’m really glad you’re here,” you said, lookingstraight at Daichi. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Yougulped. “I like you.”

Youfinally said it.

Daichi stood in front of yousilently, as though processing what you had just said, and you justwaited. You weren’t going anywhere until you got an answer,especially given that Daichi was standing in the doorway, blockingyour way. You had quite a spectacle to watch anyways.

Thefirst few seconds, Daichi’s face just… froze, as he stared at youunblinkingly. Then came a slight blush which gradually turned moreand more red eventually taking on the color of an especially ripebeet. Hecovered hismouth with both of his hands, as though he was in an utter shock.Which he probably was. It took him like half a minute to calm down.Once his blush subsided a little bit, he lowered his hands andfinally let himself blink.

“I… I like you, too,” hesaid quietly, turning his eyes away from you.

“No, I don’t mean it likethat.” You smiled sadly. “I mean it, like, in a romantic way.”

“That’s what I mean, too.”

This time it was you that foundyourself shook to the bone.

“What…wait, what?!”

“I actually came here toconfess to you,” Daichi explained, his blush growing brighteragain. “Shimizu told me you’d said you’d stay in the gym alittle longer and everyone else has already left so I thought it wasmy chance…”

You stared at each otherwordlessly for a few seconds. You were the one to start laughing.

“Whatthe hell is this?! Whathave I even been worried about this past year?!”

“Iknow, right?” Daichi giggled as well. “Wait,you’ve had a crush on me fora yearalready?!”

“Over a year, I’d say,” youresponded. “You?”

“You beat me on that one.”Daichi’s smile was really the most beautiful thing you’d everseen. “I’d say since the previous Spring High? You remember howyou cheered me up after we lost? That’s when I realized.”

“Isee.” You couldn’t stop grinning. “So I guess we’reboyfriends now?”

“I guess so.” Daichi grabbedyour hand and pulled you toward the door. “Let’s go hometogether.

“That’s so amazing!!!!!!I’m so happy for you two!!!!!!!!! And I’m so so sorry I couldn’thelp you today T_T”

You smiled at your phone. Yachiwas really the sweetest.

“If you hadn’t supportedme this whole time, I wouldn’t have confessed to him in the firstplace!”

“Sorry you had to wait.”

You put your phone back into yourpocket as you turned your eyes to Daichi. He had to grab hiss stufffrom the club room and you’d been waiting for him downstairs.

“No problem,” you responded,readjusting the strap of your bag on your shoulder. “Shall we gothen?”

“Let’s.”

You walked down the streetleading up to the school. You were talking and laughing, enjoyingeach other’s presence. It was late and there was nobody around.Daichi grabbed your hand and you squeezed it back.

“Hey,” Daichi started, hisvoice sounding a little anxious. “Don’t you wanna come over? Myparents are at home but I’m sure my mom will be happy to have youover for dinner. We could watch some movies or something.”

“Sure thing,” you respondedwith a smile. “I’d love that.”

Daichi smiled at you again andyou couldn’t hold yourself back any longer. You leaned in placing agentle kiss on his lips.

A clap of distant thunder rumbled throughthe skies. You couldn’t know that yet but it was just the beginningof a thunderstorm that was going to force you to stay the night atDaichi’s house.

Not that you minded.

[honeyvoicehwang]

Writing Quiz

tagged by @ph0ebevix

1) what is your ideal setting for writing?

actually, a really good question.  i have to either be on the move or really in the groove to write well.  something that has also proven to be good is when i’m in class.  but i have a difficult time just sitting there and writing because i can’t seem to focus (i’m trying to get tested for adhd but it’s hard with corona - there are a lot of other factors included), and i have to have something in the background, but my conditions are just so insanely specific and constantly changing so it’s really a wild ride and is more guess-and-check than anything.  but moving around and staying in one place for only a few minutes makes me write best.

2) what is your favorite genre to write?

my favorite genre to write is either tooth rotting fluff or hurt/comfort.  i find smut easy to write and it tends to get more attention than my fluffy fics, so it’s really hard, but i’m a huge huge fan of hurt/comfort and i’m currently writing an angst and hurt/comfort series for haikyuu that will be on my haikyuu account @tkagayama

3) do you prefer writing on paper or digitally?

i do both.  most of the time, i start physically on paper and then i edit by writing digitally, but if i’m doing something like nanowrimo, i write almost solely digitally because i’m just typing into the website and it’s easier for me to do it that way, unless i’m in class and cannot use my phone/laptop.  hell, i’ve even been in gym class and because i always have a pen or marker on me, i’ve written on my arms and legs and even my torso when i got desperate and my teacher was like “what the fuck” and my friend was like “this is-- just a normal occurrence,, don’t question it” and immediately typed it when i got home bc gym was my last class of the day.

4) it’s the middle of the night and you wake up with an idea, what do you do?

depends.  what i try to do is go to my notes app and write as many of the details as i can down and some lines if they come to me, but if i have the entire thing or i literally can’t stop thinking about it, i will just start writing it.  but chances are i’m already up oop.

5) who is your favorite person to write about?

i don’t know.  it always changes.  i’m in a ton of different fandoms, ranging from one direction to harry potter to anime to k-pop, so it’s always sort of changing.  i’ll say for the past few months, it’s been a rotating cycle of stray kids members as well as the haikyuu characters and i have a huge series coming up, like i mentioned before.  that’s been the most fun for me because i can gauge their personalities really well and that shows through in my writing, but i have also been told that my characterization of shane madej and ryan bergara from buzzfeed/unsolved is really good as well.

6) do you like making your own characters or do you usually write about real people?

as someone who does want to be a published author in the future, i thoroughly enjoy writing my own characters as well as writing people that do exist and characters that already exist.  all of them except for three that i can think of off the top of my head are my babies and i will protect my own mind children with my life.  precious babies deserve to be protected, especially reno,, such a babie.  now, if only i could STICK TO MY OWN PLOTS AND NOT WRITE FANFICTION I’LL BE GOLDEN. 

7) have you ever written a book or story with more than 15 chapters/100k words?

yes.  my longest fic is currently 45k words (i think, i have to check the google doc again), but i’d rather it would die so i will not be providing links and it is 20 chapters.  i am working on another fic (shyan, can be found on my ao3  and is currently 30k words and is 15 chapters, but will be 21 chapters when i’m done with it).  as for novels, i have about 16 chapters, but planned about 25 or so for a novel i’m putting to the side for now and it resides at about 35k, i forget exactly. 

8) how often do you get ideas?

depends.  sometimes something will happen in my life to impact a story idea (like my current one i’m working on that will be uploaded here in a day or two that i mentioned in my last post that will have a sfw and an nsfw counterpart uwu), or i’ll see something and go “i need a story with this in it” or it’ll just happen.  i don’t have them all the time, but i do get more chaptered ideas than one shot ideas, though it doesn’t seem like it because i don’t post everything i write.

9) do you ever get an idea that you really like and just can’t seem to finish?

absolutely.  i have plenty of ideas that i’ve started and lost interest in or can’t continue.  if that’s the case, i take them down because i’m a firm believer in not letting people down with “last updated 3739 years ago,” but if it’s one that i’m just taking forever to write like my shyan fic (going on a year) or the one that i won’t link (took three years to write), i’ll let people know that every once in a while that it’s not forgotten about or abandoned, i’m just having massive writer’s block with the story or the chapter i’m working on, but will eventually come out. 

10) what is your least favorite plot?

my least favorite plot to read has to be mythical type stories.  they aren’t done right and are absolute hell to get through (i.e: mermaids, fairies, demons, angels, pirates [not like the actual somalian pirates but the pirates of the carribean-type pirates], etc) and it just sucks oops.  i also don’t like reading overly gory stories but that’s generally just not my cup of tea.  i also really hate reading little/non-sexual age play fics unless it’s done in a hella specific way, but i’ve found very few fics that actually cover it well so i just tend to avoid them like the plague.

my least favorite plot to write as i recently found out, is fighting!  i’m writing a mafia au and you will literally find, like, no fighting in it whatsoever because it’s a bitch to  write and i have no experience (i used to go to the library for fun -- what do you expect), and sports type of fics/stories.  it’s just too hard for me and i don’t understand how most games work and i don’t have the patience to sit there and learn the sport just to write it accurately, soooo... yeah.

11) tag writer friends

i have no writer friends that weren’t already tagged so uwu this is open to anyone that wants to.

[share-the-damn-bed]

📺 Show Quiz!

I was tagged by @stoprobbers (thanks for always giving me the opportunity to be unproductive at work 💖)

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Don’t cheat. Tag 10 peeps. (The following shows are ones I’ve either watched recently and/or multiple times and were ranked by a random number generator and definitely not preference)

Game of Thrones

The Office

The O.C.

Stranger Things

Bojack Horseman

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

Of all the shows above, of course this question is about The Office where my favorite character changes season to season and sometimes episode to episode. Also, I love all the characters so much and relate to each of them in some way... I have been compared to Erin Hannon on multiple occasions, I loved the development of Michael Scott’s character, and of course Pam... But you know what, Creed. Creed Bratton is my favorite Office character because of how hard he makes me laugh. Sure, he’s never made me cry or made me emotional because of his story arc... but I still crack up at all of his jokes even after hearing them a million times. 

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Okay so with GOT, I have a weird take on the show compared to long-time fans because up until this past May, after the show ended, I had only seen one or two random episodes and knew some details about the characters and a few major plot points. Then, I binged the entire show in 2 weeks. So yeah, I knew going in Geoffrey was horrid but I also knew he was going to die (and I didn’t have to endure him too long). Ramsey was also horrible but I found his death so so so very satisfying.

That being said, I hated Theon for so long and kept waiting for him to die but he never did. Then I kept waiting for him to redeem himself, and again (imho) he never. did. So when he finally did die in one of the very last episodes, my first though was fucking finally. 

If you love Theon, I’m sorry.

3. What is your favorite episode of 4?

Season 1 episode 6 because JANCY OVERLOAD

4. What is your favorite season of 5?

Season 3 is the height of Bojack Horseman. Especially the last two episodes. Though I still love the series and enjoy all the seasons, I think the show could’ve ended there on an ambiguous gray note and I would’ve been happy. 

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3?

You mean my half dead OTP that broke my 12 year old little heart into a million pieces? The OTP of my life? That couple? Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper.

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2?

When watching it the first time, Jim and Pam, obviously. But through rewatches and considering the series as a whole, there’s just something so beautiful and rewarding about Michael and Holly. 

7. What is your favorite episode of 1?

Like I mentioned before, I binged this 8 season series in two weeks so many of the episodes bleed together in my memory but I definitely really enjoyed 'Battle of the Bastards' in season 6 and it’s arguably one of the shows last really good episodes. 

8. What is your favorite episode of 5?

9. What is your favorite season of 2?

Season 2 probably but every season had its merit

10. How long have you watched 1?

a month or two. And I’ve only watched it once, and I’ll probably never sit down and watch it all again. But I really did love Sansa.

11. How did you become interested in 3?

My friends introduced me to the show and then I became obsessed. I actually still have The OC keychain my best friend gave me back in 2006 on my key ring. 

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4?

That’s really hard because everyone on the show is so. good. I really can’t choose between the main ensemble, my heart won’t let me. So beyond the main kids, teens, and adults, I’m going to say Matthew Modine who plays Dr. Brenner mostly because I have been missing the eeriness his character brought in season one and he executed it perfectly. Having his brief cameo in season 2 was fantastic and I felt his absence in season 3. Not to discount Dacre’s performance which was fantastic as well, just different.

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

Bojack Horseman 

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

Oh, The O.C. for sure.

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Nancy Wheeler. Which isn’t a surprise to anyone following this blog.

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

Only in a very stranger fever dream.

17. Pair two characters in 1 4 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Okay, so I don’t want to do this for GOT so I’m cheating and am going to do this for Stranger Things because I’ve actually thought about this before.

So my favorite ST crack ship is Mr. Clarke and Officer Callahan. I know they’ve never (maybe only briefly) interacted on screen, but they’re both sweethearts and Mr. Clarke is so smart and Officer Callahan is a bit dumb so I think they’d compliment each other well. 

18. Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Bojack 100%. I love The OC for nostalgia and I love the characters more than anything, but I’m not about to sit here and pretend like it was a good show (especially after season 1). 

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

Both are memorable, but Stranger Things. Definitely.

I tag @storybookwolf because I’m interested to hear her thoughts.

[wroteasongabouther]

fratboy!harry - part 20

i wrote out like three different paragraphs here to apologize for not uploading fratboy!harry in so long, but really i can’t apologize enough... sometimes you knew find inspiration in other idea/writings and some pieces get left behind ya know. thankfully i won’t ever completely leave behind fratboy!harry, he’s my first love tbh :)) regardless, hope you guys liked it!

fratboy!harry tag >> story page

“Music?” You question, your eyebrows pulled tight together as you lay back in bed and watch Harry walking around his room.

“Yeah, is that so hard to believe?” He chuckles, but you can heard the hint of annoyance in his voice. You shake your head and sit up cross legged on the bed now, picking at the blanket to distract yourself from his narrowed eyes. You notice Harry shake his head a bit before disappearing into his bathroom once more.

“I just, i just didn’t take you as a music major,” you say louder in order for him to hear from further away. “I mean, what about computer sciences? Are you just dropping that after all these years?”

“M’not dropping anything, Y/N,” he states, “I’ve already got all the credits for my major this year, just decided to fill my time with something I’ve been interested in for a while now,”

Never had Harry ever really mentioned being interested in music. Sure he loved music and had a large collection of it. And you’d notice him humming along or tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, but nothing like what music majors would focus on. Did he play any instruments? Did he want to like produce music? Your so deep in thought that you don’t even notice when Harry walks back into the room, leaning on the mattress so he could capture your unprepared lips in his. You blink quick a couple times, then it registers and you kiss him back.

“Just trust me, little bird,” Harry smiles, face still mere inches away from yours, “I’m gonna be the next big thing,” he adds jokingly.

You chuckle and push his shoulder gently. Of course he retaliates your playfulness by tackling you completely, your back flat against the mattress again as he lays on top of you. Full on laughter comes from the both of you and for a moment you’re in your own head again. But this time you’re thinking of how good things have gotten between you two after such a frightening fight. That week of not talking, another fight upon your return to Arizona and then the few days before all was forgiven - that was the absolute worst. You couldn’t imagine life without Harry now. You loved him.

“So pretty,” Harry mumbles against your cheek before pressing a kiss to your skin. There goes the flutter in your stomach again.

“Okay, okay,” you sigh and gently push away Harry as he begins to kiss your neck. He pulls back and furrows his brows. “I’ve got class in like an hour, I cannot be late on the first day,” you tell him with a stern face.

Harry pouts. You just shake your head yet again and smile at him. Another ten minutes or so of kissing and then he’s driving you onto campus. As you walk through campus alone you find yourself passing the arts building, you’re pretty sure you’ve never even been inside and now your boyfriend wanted to be there every day? It was just a bit weird that’s all. You sigh and pull open the doors to the building your class was in. 

The best part about your class was the fact you shared it with one of your best friends. Thomas had saved you a seat near the middle of the class, giving you a smile and asking how you were before your professor got the class going. 

“How are things with Harry?” Thomas asks about half way through the class.

“Good?” 

“Answering a question with a question doesn’t sell yourself you know,”

“Yeah, I know,” you sigh and jot down a few notes in your notebook. “Things just aren’t the same and we’re trying to get back there,” you add with a shrug.

Thomas puckers his lips as though he’s in thought. You simply turn your head to the side, resting your chin in your hand while resting your arm on the table and look at him. He’s one of your best friends and you’ll always value his opinion. It’s been clear since you and Harry started dating that Thomas wasn’t the biggest fan of your relationship - which made his opinion right now even more interesting to hear.

“I don’t know,” Thomas shrug, “just give him a couple more days and he’ll probably forget all about it, us guys are kinda just like that. The moment things are good again, all the bad shit just goes away,” he explains. You give him a smile, his bit of advice warmed your heart.

“I hope you’re right,” you say.

“Well I always am so,” Thomas jokes, which causes you to chuckle and shove him. That’s when your professor raises his voice, meaning to catch anyone attention who wasn’t listening and thankfully it wasn’t just you two. And then you’re back into learning mode, this semester was going to either be super easy with Thomas helping you out or the worst as he distracts you.

—

Thomas was right - of course. After another few days everything was feeling good between you and Harry. There was still this small piece of you that wanted to open up to him about Luke and your dark past, but things were too good now to bring it all up again. You and Kate are walking across campus after an afternoon spent in the library studying and quizzing each other for the quiz you two had in your class Monday. And with today before Friday, you two had cut the long hours of cramming to hurry to the dorms.

“I think I need a nap before tonight,” you yawn while Kate holds open the lobby door for you.

“Yeah, I’m definitely drinking red bulls tonight to keep up,” she says, “I’m a little surprised there’s no theme,” she adds while you make your way towards her room first. You shrug and shuffle your books in your arms to grab your buzzing phone from your pocket.

“Harry wanted to, but I convinced him a raging college party would be good enough for his birthday celebration,” you explain.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they held a party next weekend with some Valentine’s Day theme honestly,” Kate jokes.

You roll your eyes, “they did last year, Quinn told me and I questioned Harry all about it. It was like one of those green yellow red parties or something,”

“I think I remember hearing about that actually,” she says.

“I’ll meet you in a bit,” you wave as she gets to her room and you get towards yours in order to get yourself together for tonight’s party.

Harry’s birthday was tomorrow, but him and the boys decided on throwing the big party tonight instead. But Harry still had big plans tomorrow too. Some frat house tradition of getting day drunk and playing golf you believe. While you planned to stay inside and study your ass off again - there was no way you were going to fail this quiz just cause it was your boyfriends birthday.

Tonight was about Harry, so you dressed in a cropped black hoodie and jeans while keeping your hair in a sort of messy pony tail and touching up your makeup to finish getting ready. There was no need to be that girlfriend who wanted to outshine her boyfriend on his birthday. Plus that really wasn’t just who you were in the slightest but. You’ve literally wore sweatpants while the guys threw a party before. Jess shows up about half way through you getting ready, out of breath from running home from class while the sun starts to set. Kate and Liv arrive soon after all dolled up with a bottle of wine to pass around till Jess is ready to go too.

“God I’m getting flashbacks,” you grumble in the backseat of the Uber. Jess turns to you from where she sits in the front seat and smiles.

“First party of the year, the one that we dragged you to and it changed your whole life?” She questions in a taunting voice.

“Yeah, that one,” you reply, fighting off a smile while narrowing your eyes at her.

“You’re welcome,” she sings before turning back around to face the front.

“I really wouldn’t have guessed that would be how that party turned out, I mean Harry literally had to like carry you out of the house,” Liv exclaims.

“And now he carries me to his bedroom,” you shrug.

All the girls scream and laugh at your words while you sit there and smirk. Suppose your kinda glad the universe worked how it did or whatever. You really do believe Harry’s that guy who’s going to change your whole world - as if he hasn’t already. You’ve fallen in love with him this year and it was all because of that night you bitched and complained while the girls took you to some frat party.

When you all arrive and walk into the frat house it’s already pretty packed. You don’t have a doubt in your mind that word spread about Harry Styles’s birthday party and this one would be one for the books. You and the girls walk together to the kitchen, earning stares as you get through the house - suppose you girls were known for being around the frat guys at these things now. Another thing you would’ve never guessed when you first walked into this house all those months ago.

You spot Harry playing a game of beer pong. A smile is on your lips as you tuck yourself into his side and kiss his cheek as he waits for his partner to take the first shot. Then he takes his and sinks it, earning a cheer from people watching of course.

Harry turns and holds you in his arms, “ma good luck charm s’ere,” he muses. It’s obvious to you that he’s already pretty buzzed. You roll your eyes at him and simply chuckle at how cheesy he is.

“I’m going to get a drink, chat and stuff,” you tell him. Harry only nods and smiles before kissing your lips.

After you’ve reached up on your tip goes and pour yourself a drink, you stand around with the girls and a few of the guys too and just talk about anything really. Then about an hour or maybe two - you’ve had about double that in drinks already - you’re sitting on the arm of the couch in the living room and grinning like an idiot. Harry and the boys are singing at the top of their lungs to, you’d never guess it, but it’s that old 500 miles song your dad used to listen to. God it’s hilarious.

“And I would walk 500 miles!” Harry shouts and dances around with the crowd that’s formed. Then he’s wobbling over towards you, causing you to reach out and grab his arms before he falls on his face.

“You’re pretty drunk,” you comment with a smile as Harry stands close to you.

He meets your eyes, his squinting but there’s no missing the drunk glassy look in his. “Proper pissed, yeah,” he nods, his accent in full glory - that’s how you know he’s really drunk and you freaking loved it.

Then he’s smashing him lips onto your so fast you nearly knock teeth. Give it a second and you two are full on making out in a crowded room of people. The feeling of his fingertips on your skin, his tongue clashing with yours, it sobers you up a little honestly. You finally lean back and meet his gaze, he’s got a smirk on his lips and a look in his eyes that only sends a chill down your spine. It’s then that you see Brandon waving his arms at you just over Harry’s shoulder as he stood by the kitchen doorway.

“I’ll be right back,” you tell Harry and peck his lips, “need a drink,” you add for good measure. And then you run off before he can stop you or tag along.

The boys thought it was best if you held the cake out on the back patio for Harry to blow out his candles and all that. The thought of being the actually centre of attention gave you butterflies, but you agreed. Suppose it was their way of thinking it wouldn’t start a food fight. So you teetered on your feet with the cake in both your hands while one of the guys cut off the music and ushered Harry and everyone outside.

“Happy Birthday to you,” you start out the singing and are soon drowned out by everyone else as Harry walks towards you.

He’s looking around at the crowd of people, some you assumed he had no idea who they were, before he meets your gaze and stops in front of you. He grins as the singing comes to an end and everyone cheers. Harry blows out the few candles before leaning forwards and kissing you. Queue more cheers. 

You lean back, blushing, and pluck off the candles slowly as the music starts up again. “So what did you wish for?” you ask. 

“No need for a wish, got it all already,” he smiles. 

“You’re so damn cheesy,” you chuckle while scooping up a chunk of the cake and mushing it onto his cheek. Harry’s mouth gaps open in shock while the people still around you gasp, cheer, and laugh at the scene before them. There’s a mischievous look in Harry’s eyes, and you barely have time to run off the porch before Harry has the cake in his hands and starts chasing after you. 

Harry’s arm wraps around your waist while you let out a screech, turing into a dramatic gasp as a handful of cake is dragged down your face. You turn around in Harry’s arms and look at his face, illuminated by the lights on the back porch, cake and frosting on his cheek and love in his eyes - or maybe it was your buzz and the excitement playing tricks on you. Could Harry be in love with you? As you think this, Harry leans forward and you think he’s about to kiss you but instead he licks the frosting off your face. 

“Ew,” you say and wiggle out of his arms. But then you grab the cake from him and shove the entire thing in his face. That’s when you realize some people are still watching you two, oo’s and ah’s coming from the small crowd. 

“Shit, Harry, she got you good,” Eddy says loudly as you start jogging away from Harry - you needed to get away from him before he got his payback again. 

As you step up on the porch again, standing just slightly behind Eddy for protection, Harry wipes the cake from his eyes and down his face before shaking the pieces off his hands and lifting on hand up to give you the finger. You just let out a laugh and pucker your lips at him. 

“Happy Birthday baby,” you sing before turning on your heels and walking into the kitchen. 

“What the hell happened out there?” Kate chuckles as you reach the sink and open the drawer beside it to grab a clean washcloth before wetting it. 

“Cake fight,” you shrug and smile. After you wipe your face off, you rinse the cloth again and walk over to where Harry had just enter the house in a hit of laughter with Eddy and some other guys. 

“You’re evil when ya wanna be, huh?” Harry questions, raising a brow while giving you a smirk. 

You return the smirk and shrug a shoulder, “maybe,” you say. Then you wipe his face free of cake while the other boys start to set up a game of beer pong. After you get just about all the cake off, you lean forward and lick off some frosting just by his mouth - then kissing him afterwards. 

The kissing only stops because someone calls out Harry’s name, so with one last kiss Harry gets back to his friends and you get back to yours. At some point later you end up sitting on the kitchen counter, while Harry is standing between your legs slouched back enough for you to wrap an arm around him loosely. The nights turns into early morning and you kiss Harry’s cheek before getting him to turn around and help you off the counter gently. 

“You can stay up,” you yawn. 

“Yeah?” Harry questions, hands on your waist as he pushes you back against the counter. As you look up into his eyes and see the dark lustful look in them you know he has a better idea than letting you go to bed alone. And as you follow him hand in hand to his bedroom, you’re suddenly not tired anymore.

--

You’re both panting, laying on your backs while staring up at the ceiling after yet another orgasm ripples through the both of you. 

Harry’s birthday party had gone on through till daylight. After some damn good sex, Harry had gone back out and partied with his frat brothers. And for some reason he thought five hours of sleep was enough for him before he woke you up with his hard on pressed against your bum. And now, two rounds later, it’s almost 11 in the morning and the day had to get going. 

“This has probably been the best birthday already,” Harry hums as he turns on his side and throws an arm over you. 

“And the day’s still young,” you smile.

“Too bad I have actually responsibilities today,” he sighs. 

“Your professor understands it’s a Saturday and that it’s your birthday right?”

“Yup, he’s old and could care less it seems,” he states before a yawn escapes his mouth.

You pout and snuggle closer to Harry, “to be fair, I have to cram study anyways,” you exclaim. 

“So dinner? I can pick up something on my way home and then the best birthday will continue,” Harry suggests and presses a kiss to your forehead before he sits up and stretches. 

“How are you not hungover?” you question, following his suit and getting up from bed now too. 

Harry leads the way to the bathroom and starts a shower for you two. It’s innocent, just a normal shower shared between you two getting clean before your day starts. Well, your day consisted of sitting around and studying but whatever. 

“I just drank water after I left you last night,” he exclaims. 

“Wow, a changed man?” you tease him after turning off the water and grabbing the towel he hands you. 

Harry just rolls his eyes as you both head into his closet. Of course after you get dressed, you and Harry make out on his bed for a while before he’s running late and has to rush out of the house in order to get to his meeting in time. That’s when you get your plan into gear and text Jess. 

Victoria’s Secret bag under my bed behind a stack of textbooks!!

Jess arrives only 30 minutes later with the bag in hand, letting herself into Harry’s room to see you in a mess upon his bed with your studying notes and such. Jess sighs and sets down the bag beside you before taking a seat on the end of the bed. 

“Eddy saw me in the foyer and thought the bag was for him from me,” she exclaims. You chuckle and shake your head while setting your notebook down in front of you. “So show me what you got!” she smiles and waves her hand at the bag. 

“It’s just a little something,” you blush and pulling the lingerie from the bag. 

It was black lace, completely lace, with some floral detailing around the bust and it flares out like a babydoll style. It’s simple but sexy and you got a black thong to match too. Jess raises a brow and smirks.

“It’s definitely little, that’s for sure,” she teases. 

“Okay, enough from you,” you say jokingly and put the lingerie back into the bag. 

“I should get going now, I have a bunch of homework too,” she sighs. 

“Yeah I feel you, I work tomorrow so today’s really the only time I have to study,” you explain with a matching sigh. 

“Well, enjoy your night and fuck him good,” 

You grab a pillow from behind you and throw it at Jess as she gets up and runs out of the room. Then you’re left to study the rest of the day away. It’s about two hours later when Harry texts you. Reading over it, you frown at your screen and bring the blanket closer to your chest as a chill runs through your body - this lace lingerie really wasn’t a whole lot of material.

Things are dragging along here, sorry babe.. Order something in and I’ll be back as soon as I can okay?

okay :)

You had added the smiley face in order to not make him feel too upset about leaving you at his house longer than planned. You know he would rather be here with you in this sexy lingerie he has no idea about than with his weird old professor. So you just lay back in the bed and set up your phone with Netflix playing. Suppose you’d waste time watching Brooklyn Nine Nine till your boyfriend came home and surprise him with this new lingerie you bought for him.

“Baby,” you hear Harry’s voice cooing you, “hey, little bird, wake up,” he continues in a soft sweet tone. You let out a small whimper while stretching out across the bed. You hear Harry chuckle softly while he runs a hand up and down your arm. Then as goosebumps rise on your skin, you remember why you’d laying in bed to begin with. 

“I’m up, I’m up,” you say frantically while sitting upright. You look down and fix the lingerie you had bought last week to surprise Harry with tonight. Suppose he’s still surprised though. 

Harry lets out another chuckle as you glance back to where he stood beside the bed. A pout immediately forms on your lips as you realize how badly you had messed this up. The one birthday present you knew he’d like, and you had managed to fall asleep before he could get it. You close your eyes and lean back into the headboard. 

“Just give me like, one minute and I’ll be fully awake and ready to give you your present,” you mumble out while tucking your legs up towards your body. 

“No, no,” Harry sighs and you hear him move around a bit. Sounds of his belt coming off, followed by a small grunt as he struggles to remove his jeans - you peek through one eye and see him stumble around the bed it’s obvious he must be a bit tipsy at least. A part of you wants to question where he’s been, getting drunk while you feel asleep alone in his bed waiting up for him. But it’s his birthday and you’re just too tired to start arguing right now. “We don’t need to have sex, it’s fine, we always have sex,” he exclaims as he pulls at the blankets and covers you both up. 

“We do,” you nod, a yawn surprising you as it escapes your lips. “But tonight was going to be birthday sex,” you pout again. 

Harry chuckles, “baby, we had sex this morning,” he states. 

“I know, but I bought this whole get up and like got into it and everything for you,” you continue to explain with the pout on your lips. Harry grunts again as he pulls your body down so your head rests on the pillow right beside him. You smile as you look at his face - eyes closed and a lopsided smile on his lips. 

“Y’can wear it some other time,” he suggests. 

“Okay, fine,” you sigh. 

You snuggle into him, he brings his arms around you and holds you close as his breathing evens out. A few moments pass in silence. You’re focused on his heartbeat and the sound of someone walking in the room above you. Biting down on your bottom lip, you feel Harry toying with the string of your panties. 

“Are you sure you don’t wanna?” you ask, propping yourself up on Harry’s chest to look at his face. He smiles as you yawn again. All that homework today really did kill you. 

Harry takes a moment to respond as his eyes hold onto yours. They soften as you lay your chin down on your hands linked together on his chest. Harry chews on the inside of his lip, you can tell by the way his bottom lip screw up a little bit. You loved the way he looked while so lazily gazing into your eyes. As your lips curl up into a smile, you blink away your sleepy daze and are about to lean forward to kiss Harry when he breathes out three little words. 

“I love you,” he says softly. 

Your eyes widen while your lips part, your body had chills that you really couldn’t even explain it. He had really just said that, aloud, to you. Wow. Then in your state of shock, you see Harry’s facial expression drop. You’ve taken too long stuck in your own head that you scared the damn guy. So you lift your head up again, bringing one hand to touch his fluffy hair that touches by his shoulders.

“I love you too,” you smile.

Harry leans forward to meet you half way and kiss you. It’s just as amazing as any other kiss between you two but this one has the three words attached to them this time. He loved you. You smile as the kiss breaks and you stare into his eyes again. 

“M’sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” he mumbles before yawning. 

“It’s okay, you can tell me all about your meeting with your professor tomorrow, now I’m tired,” you say and snuggle back into his side.

“Yeah,” Harry sighs and his breathing evens out as you shut your eyes. “I love you,” Harry says again and in your half asleep state you smile. 

“I love you too,” you repeat. 

It wasn’t even your birthday, and this was most definitely the most birthday ever.

[bevioletskies]

you make my dreams

characters: peter/gamora, guardians-centric

summary: peter and gamora attempt to figure out the nuances of personal space on a cramped ship, now that they’re a couple. first things first? sleeping arrangements, and what to do about those reocurring nightmares of each other’s deaths. how fun.

word count: 15.6k

a/n: if you haven’t read the main fic, all you need to know is: a) the guardians attend a superhero school on earth, b) therefore they are in their early-to-mid 20s (except for rocket and groot), c) peter and gamora were fake-dating but are now dating for real, and d) they've been playing an "endless" game of twenty questions since they started fake-dating as a way of getting to know each other.

warning for the nightmare sequences that peter and gamora have. they're relatively angsty and sort of creepy, so if you want to avoid them, they're the paragraphs in full italics, and there's a summary of them in the endnotes.

fic title is from the song you make my dreams by daryl hall & john oates.

ao3 | tag | masterpost

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Gamora began as she strolled up the loading ramp of the Milano. It was a somewhat overcast Saturday afternoon, the school year was beginning again (which meant very little at the academy, being year-round regardless), and there was a sense of anticipation for new beginnings in the air.

“That’s good to hear,” Peter mumbled from where he was face-planted into the couch, limbs dangling over the edge. He had his ass kicked in fight training just a little over an hour ago, and had no intention of moving, no matter how bad the cushions smelled.

She frowned, dropping her bookbag with a loud thump right by his head, folding her arms over her chest. “Peter, we’ve only been dating for one week. Don’t let that be our record.”

He scrambled up into a sitting position like someone had lit him - or at the very least, the couch - on fire. “Right. Yes. Go on. Did I mention how nice your hair looks today, because wow - ”

Gamora let out a slow exhale of complete and utter exhaustion. They were all of sixty seconds into the conversation and she was already tempted to give up. “I’ve been thinking,” she huffed, “that we need to start talking about how to share space on the ship. We’ve never really talked about it before, and now that we’re romantically involved, it kind of...complicates things.”

“Complicates things?” Peter was confused. “I thought it would make things easier. Y’know, since we’ve been sharing a bed since before we started dating.”

She took a few steps back so she could sit across from him in the armchair, neatly folding one leg over the other, her face set in defiance. “Right. But doesn’t the change in our relationship heighten our emotional volatility? Do you really think we’re never going to fight again? Never going to want to sleep separately at any point in time?”

“We’ve got the dorms,” he protested.

“Only if we’re grounded. But what if we go on a mission, and we argue, and we have no desire to be in each other’s presence? Then what? Someone has to sleep on the couch?” He winced. The cushions really did smell kind of more than, well, absolutely terrible. He was eighty percent certain that Rocket had been experimenting with toxins in here. It would, at the very least, explain the suspicious oil stains. “And what if the fight lasts for more than a few days, or what if we break up?”

Peter deflated near instantly, hurt. “One week, and you’re already thinking about breaking up?”

Gamora reached to squeeze his hands reassuringly, her gaze softening. “Peter, I’m just trying to be practical. As much as I’d like to move into your room permanently, it’s not a good idea. There could be all sorts of complications in moving our relationship forward too quickly, and think of how it would affect the rest of the team if we spent too much time in each other’s company. It would give us more opportunities to clash. We wouldn’t be very good influences on Groot if he saw us fighting more than usual, and going back and forth between sharing a room and sleeping out here in the common area. We need to get used to being separate when we’re together.” Noting the storm beginning to form in Peter’s cloud-colored eyes, she leaned forward to rest her forehead against his. “And I’m not saying we’re anywhere near breaking up. The complete opposite, in fact.”

“I agree,” he murmured, pecking her briefly on the lips, pleased to feel her smiling into the kiss. “But what’re you suggesting?”

Still grinning, she pulled away. “A trial run. For this week, at least. Friday and Saturday, we share a bed. It’s the weekend, nothing stress-inducing should be happening - in theory. The rest of the week, we sleep separately, whether we’re here or back at the dorms.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try,” Peter allowed, gently tugging Gamora by the hand so she would join him on the couch. He slung an arm over the back of her shoulders, pulling her into him. She automatically moved to rest her hands on his chest, smiling up at him encouragingly. “So...that means we’re sharing tonight, right?”

“Did you have other plans?” she teased.

He lowered his head so his mouth was by her ear. “Plans for you, maybe,” he whispered. She shivered a little at the implications, leaning in to kiss him again, when -

“Can you two stop mackin’ for a second, and one of you get up here? Twig’s got himself tangled in the wires again,” Yondu called from the cockpit. Peter let out an annoyed groan, pressing a quick kiss into the crook of her jaw before standing up.

“My turn, I guess,” he grumbled. “It’s like we can’t go five minutes without being interrupted.”

______

Dinner, as always, was anything but peaceful, especially with the entire team sitting down together. Drax was convinced Groot had stolen one of his favorite knives, Rocket was out of bullet casings for at least three of his guns and wouldn’t stop bringing it up every two minutes, Yondu had somehow failed his very first quiz of the semester despite it being a “getting-to-know-you” icebreaker, and Nebula had found out about Mantis having a crush on a mysterious someone, and was, oddly enough, teasing her about it.

“And you can’t figure out if she feels the same way? Some empath you are,” Nebula snarked.

“Who even told you?” Mantis whined, burying her face in her hands.

“Leave her alone, Nebula,” Gamora sighed. “Drax, Groot had nothing to do with your stolen knife, I found it under the couch where you dropped it after our last sparring practice. Rocket, I don’t know how you managed to run out of bullet casings since we haven’t had a mission in two months, but you can make the trip to SHIELD quarters yourself. Yondu, I...have no words. You couldn’t even answer what your favorite color was?”

“Who has a favorite color?” Yondu exclaimed. “Is that a thing Terrans think about in their spare time? Seems like a waste of time t’ me.”

“Peter’s favorite color is red,” Gamora retorted easily. Peter smiled privately to himself, pleased that she had remembered.

“Doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out,” Rocket snorted. “Just ‘cause you’re dating Quill now, don’t mean you’re the leading expert.”

“Anyways,” Gamora said a little louder than necessary. “If we can move past all of our petty problems, the Director has informed me that we’ve been taken off the mission roster until the month is through, aside from galaxy-wide emergencies. Apparently, Janet has been putting in a little toomuch effort into planning more school events since prom was so successful, so she has something called homecoming week starting soon. She doesn’t want anyone to go out of town unless it’s urgent. We should be financially covered though, since we came into quite a bit of money from the yearbook contest.”

“Yeah, and you won’t let nobody actually see it,” Yondu complained, tossing his fork down onto his plate with a loud clatter. “Where you hidin’ the money, Gamora?”

“I would speculate it is under Quill’s mattress,” Drax said thoughtfully.

“Why’s that?” Rocket asked, cocking his head in confusion.

“Because no one wants to go near Quill’s room, now that he and Gamora are...copulating,” Nebula smirked, leaning back in her chair triumphantly. “Who knows when he last washed those sheets?”

“I am Groot?”

“I am not telling you what she meant, Groot. Trust me, you don’t need the mental images I got going on right now.”

Peter turned to Gamora, a deadened expression in his usually mischievous eyes. “I have never wanted to bash my head into the wall as much as I do in this exact moment.” She only shot him a warning glare in return.

“No one’s getting their hands on the money,” she said as calmly as she could, though mentally she was writing a list of what order to punish the others in, and how exactly to do it. “We have to be responsible. It’s a lot of money, more than we’ve ever had at a time, but it’s not endless. We can’t afford to be frivolous.”

“You’re no fun, girl, you know that?” Yondu drawled.

“Hey, come on, she’s right,” Peter interjected defensively. “The money can go a long way if we spend it right. Long-term investments, you know?”

“Someone’s been paying attention in econ,” Nebula muttered.

“Thank you, Peter,” Gamora exhaled, relieved. It was comforting to know Peter was becoming more financially responsible, especially after the incident from when they had first arrived on Terra. (He may or may not have gotten too excited at discovering the advances in Nerf Blaster technology since he’d left Earth, and invested in about five too many toy guns. Gamora had to hide them in her dorm’s private bathroom cabinet, behind her tampons. To this day, she still couldn’t understand why boys were so afraid of feminine hygiene products.)

“But if I had to make one request…” he began. She immediately slapped a hand over his mouth.

“No,” she said firmly. “No toys.”

Sullen, Peter gently pushed her hand away and turned to Nebula. “And another thing,” he continued. “I mean, copulating? First of all, who even uses that word anymore, and secondly, we’ve been pretty polite about it since you guys also sleep on this ship - we’ve been sticking to the dorms. Mostly. Sometimes, the mood just hits.”

“Peter, I will do more than ‘just hit’ if you don’t stop talking right now,” Gamora hissed.

“I am Groot?”

“Seriously, I’m not explaining, so stop asking.”

“Oh, for the love of everything!” Gamora groaned, slumping forward onto the table.

“I am scared to find out if she feels the same way because I cannot handle that kind of stress!” Mantis wailed very suddenly, causing Nebula to jump. “I would not know what to do with myself if she does not, or worse, if she does!”

Drax reached across the table to pat her on the hand, a little awkwardly, but otherwise quite gentle, a stark contrast to his usually brutish way of showing affection. “I hope she finds you as disgusting, yet endearing, as I do,” he said sincerely.

It took another minute before Gamora recovered her composure and joined the conversation again. Honestly, they couldn’t even get through a single meal without it turning into dinner and a show.

______

After tucking Groot into bed (and reading him Goodnight Moon for the third time that week), Peter returned to his room to find Gamora lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, wide awake. “Hey, you alright?”

“Of all the things I have been through, I don’t think I’ve ever been as exhausted as I am when I’m with the team,” she said slowly, causing Peter to chuckle. “And don’t think you’re off the hook just because you’re my boyfriend.”

He smiled goofily at her as he climbed into bed, immediately snuggling into her side. “I love it when you say that. Uh, the boyfriend part, not the other - you know what I mean.” He slid his arms around her waist, squeezing her hips affectionately. “I’m gonna miss being able to hold you like this every night.”

“It’s only an experiment for this week,” she relented, turning onto her side to face him, her gaze softening as their eyes met. “I just think we need to consider establishing boundaries before it complicates the team dynamic, so sleeping separately is a good start. And I worry about what might happen the next time we go on a mission, how much will change now that we have an added layer to our own relationship. Can we be objective anymore?”

“Um, I’m never objective,” Peter said, looking oddly proud of that very fact. “I care about all of you, and maybe this is selfish of me, but other than you know, me, I tend to put you first regardless. Well, depending on how Mantis or Groot are doing.”

“And that’s my point,” Gamora said softly, cupping his jaw, though she couldn’t help but smile at how easy it was for him to admit that he was looking out for her the most. She wasn’t sure how to vocalize the same sentiment in return, though he probably already knew she felt the same way. “Maybe we’re already too codependent to begin with. We need to not rely on each other to the point of being unable to function alone, you know?”

“I get it.” He bent to kiss her on the nose, causing her to scrunch up her face so adorably that Peter’s heart melted a little. He maintained she was both one of the deadliest and one of the cutest women in the entire galaxy, her reputation be damned. “I don’t want to be like that either. But I also don’t think that sharing a bed is what’s gonna make it or break it. There’s other stuff that are signs of dangerous codependency, like…” She interrupted him with a sudden yawn, stretching, letting out a soft mewl like a kitten. Peter was pretty sure he was a puddle at this point - he really did love her to no end. “...maybe we can talk about this when you aren’t exhausted,” he chuckled.

“Sorry,” she laughed. “I promise that wasn’t in response to what you were saying. But yes, we can talk about that another time. And I’ll concede by the end of the week if you’re right.” She pecked him quickly on the lips. “Goodnight, Peter.”

He couldn’t resist chasing after her mouth for one last kiss, enjoying the feel of her arms around his neck, pulling him in close. “Night, honey.”

______

Sunday passed by in a rather lazy fashion - the start of a new semester was always relatively slow - with the Guardians dispersed across campus, going about their day. Rocket took Groot with him to SHIELD so he could pick up his bullet casings, Drax went to the gym to get in some combat practice with Thor, Yondu holed himself up in the Milano’s cockpit so he could chat with Kraglin, and Mantis found herself being dragged around by Nebula who was strangely insistent on seeing who it was she liked.

Gamora managed to get Peter to go to the library so they could get a headstart on their homework, promising she would make out with him for five minutes on one of the plush leather couches in the secluded study area if he finished. (“Can I make a case for ten?” “No, Peter.”)

She could feel eyes on them as she sat closer than usual, laying her head on his shoulder after she had been long done, while Peter was still struggling through his abstract on psychological warfare. For some reason, she felt more self-conscious now than she had been when they were fake-dating and playing up their physical affection, despite the new emotional security in knowing that they really did love each other. Janet had slowed on her insistence of Snapchatting whenever they held hands in public, and Kamala no longer shrieked every single time she saw them kiss, but it was still unnerving to be watched, and to be known as the so-called cutest couple in school.

Peter’s voice broke her out of her reverie. “Hey, you wanna go grab an early dinner?”

Gamora glanced down at his laptop screen to see his word count was only half of what he needed. “But you haven’t finished.”

His voice dropped to a whisper. “Yeah, but you’re clearly uncomfortable. It’s the staring, right?”

She nodded, biting her lip in worry. “It’s like the beginning of our ‘relationship’ all over again,” she muttered, downcast. Then, a bit louder, “I could go for some food. But you better not hand in that abstract late, or Madame Hydra will kill you. And with her, anything’s a possibility.”

After a much more pleasant dinner than the previous night’s, on account of being completely alone, the two of them stretched out in a leisurely manner on the lawn by the quad, watching other students pass by every now and then, breathing in the crisp air of early autumn. Already, Gamora felt much more at ease, though there was a knot forming in the pit of her stomach at knowing she and Peter would have to separate by the end of the night. And maybe that was a sign, the kind she’d been dreading - that she already spent too much time with him, had become too reliant on his presence.

“Question number I-don’t-know-what-we’re-on,” Peter said, grabbing another fry from Gamora’s take-out container and getting a playful punch in the shoulder for his efforts. “If you had to pick one person on campus to be Nebula’s significant other, who would you pick?”

Gamora laughed. “Oh, that’s awful. I’m not sure, maybe Barnes? They both have metal appendages and long, regretful histories of assassination. That sounds like a match made in Hel.” She smacked Peter’s hand away before he could steal more of her food. “By the way, do you have any idea who Mantis has a crush on? I was unaware she was even spending time with anyone but us.”

“My baby sister’s growing up,” he sniffled dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. Gamora gave him a look that he was pretty sure translated to “you are ridiculous, please stop”. “No, I haven’t gotten any hints or anything. I wanna help her, though. I want her to be as happy as I am with you.”

“Your overly sappy nature is incorrigible,” she said fondly, moving a little closer so their shoulders were brushing. She laid a hand over his, fingers splayed across his chest, delighted to feel his heartbeat speed up a little at her gesture. “But you will hear no complaints from me.”

“Now can we make out?” Peter asked hopefully.

Gamora rolled her eyes, leaning in closer. “Find us somewhere quieter, and I’ll acquiesce.”

Apparently, the spot Peter had found them wasn’t quite secluded enough, as thirty minutes later, they were shooed off by Pepper, who gave them a stern talking-to about public displays of affection, but then admitted she was glad they had won Cutest Couple (“I’d never hear the end of it from Tony if Steve and Peggy won, trust me.”). They walked back to the dorms, feeling light as air, with Peter in particular letting out hysterical little giggles at recalling the murderous expression on Pepper’s face.

It was a little sobering, however, when they stopped outside her room, fingers loosely tangled together, as he slowly pressed her against the door, kissing her languidly, wishing he didn’t have to let go. “Peter,” Gamora said in that half-stern, half-affectionate manner she usually reserved for him and him alone. “You can’t come inside tonight.”

“There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere,” he mumbled, reluctantly pulling away.

“Remember how I vaguely threatened to break up with you yesterday? I’m getting that urge again,” she deadpanned, patting his chest. “You’re meeting me at the gym tomorrow, right?”

He sighed, apologetic. “I can’t, I have to meet Cindy at the café after class. We have a presentation on Friday.”

“Cindy Moon? What’s the presentation on?”

“Whether superhero origin stories have a positive or negative effect on the psychological health of said superhero. It’s actually a debate - I’m for positive, she’s for negative. Obviously.” He smiled teasingly at her. “Why do you wanna know if it’s Cindy Moon specifically?”

“Your insistence on turning my curiosity into jealousy is exhausting,” she frowned. “Anyways, I guess we won’t be seeing each other after all. I’m having dinner with Natasha and Elektra after sparring practice, so I won’t be going to the Milano tomorrow.”

“Aww.” He pulled her in for one last embrace. “Then I’ll text you after class?”

Gamora took a few steps into her room before turning to cast him a glance over her shoulder. “If you text me and leave poor Cindy to do all the work, I’ll just text her and have her yell at you on my behalf.”

“You have Cindy’s number?” Peter asked incredulously, but she simply gave him one last smile and shut the door in his face.

______

“Peter. Peter. Peter. Hey!”

“I didn’t do it!” He practically flew out of his seat upon being prodded in the arm with a pencil eraser. He looked around wildly before his eyes landed on Cindy, who didn’t look particularly impressed.

“Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, did you?” She handed him a Starkbucks napkin (how Stark hadn’t been sued by Starbucks yet was beyond Peter) so he could wipe the drool off his sleeve.

“Your spidey sense tell you that?” he snapped a little louder than he meant to, though he accepted the napkin regardless.

“Wow, okay. You don’t get to talk to me like that,” Cindy retorted, narrowing her eyes at him.

Peter held up his hands in surrender before running them through his hair, sheepish. “Shit. Sorry, Cindy, that was mean of me. You’re right, I didn’t sleep well. Uh, me and Gamora, we’re trying this thing where we sleep separately, but I guess I’m not really used to it yet.”

She chewed thoughtfully on her pencil, confused. “What for?”

“She thinks we’ve been spending too much time together and wants to establish some boundaries before we get too codependent,” he said, glancing down at his laptop screen. Apparently, he’d nodded off on his keyboard and had typed about a hundred rows of zeroes in the process. Whoops.

“And she thinks sleeping in separate beds is gonna change that? Interesting,” Cindy hummed.

It was Peter’s turn to look at her suspiciously. “What?”

“Nothing, I just…” He waved a hand, indicating he wanted her to continue. “...maybe in another life, where you and her, or really any of us, aren’t the people that we are, it might be kind of weird to be around each other all the time. Like, there’s stories about people who get weirdly obsessed with their SOs and stop talking to their friends and family because they’re too busy being with them. But it’s not another life, it’s this one, where we’re so-called heroes, with varying degrees of messed-up backstories. And honestly, where else are you going to find someone who can love and understand you the way that she can? And I’m not trying to be nasty when I say that, Peter, but I’m saying it’s hard for us to be with someone who doesn’t get it. There’s a reason you feel everything so deeply about her, even moreso because you run a team together. I think it’s natural, and it’s not unhealthy, which I’m guessing is what she’s really worried about."

“So...you’re saying it’s justified,” he said slowly. They fell silent for a moment as he mulled it over - admittedly, there was a lot of truth in Cindy’s statement. Before becoming a Guardian, he had found it so easy to be around others that were nothing like him. Now, he was finding it harder and harder to have conversations with people that didn’t also spend their time saving the world. “Wait, are you just trying to get me to see your side of the argument so I’ll lose the debate?”

“Damn, you saw right through me,” she said sarcastically, snapping her fingers in defeat. He stared at her for a second before they both dissolved into laughter. Still, maybe Cindy was onto something.

______

Peter: hey, how was dinner with nat and elektra?

Gamora: good, we actually had some pleasant conversation for once instead of elektra telling us about her latest outing with ‘matthew’. also, no one stole my food this time

Gamora: you get lots done with cindy?

Peter: it’s not stealing, it’s sharing :p

Peter: yeah, we’re basically ready to go but we’re gonna do a runthrough during lunch on friday

Peter: k honestly i’m super tired right now but i just wanted to check to see how you were doing

Peter: so i’m gonna head to bed now and i’ll see you in class tomorrow

Peter: goodnight - love you :)

Gamora: goodnight, love you too

She plugged her phone into its charger and set it on her side table, rolling onto her back to fixate on the ceiling. It was still somewhat foreign to her to see and hear Peter declare his love for her so easily, like it was as natural as breathing, but she tried her best to return the sentiment whenever he did. She did love him, of course, and he knew that she did, but being the first to say it, however, was a different story.

The first week of their relationship hadn’t been the smoothest - after all, they had gotten pretty angry at each other only a couple days ago, when Peter didn’t want to go on a mission for the sake of keeping the team safe - but it surprised her how easy it was to be with him. Maybe it was because they had been faking a relationship for three months beforehand, or maybe it was the fact that it changed very little about their existing relationship.

Either way, Gamora still couldn’t help but worry that they were already too attached at the hip. She had no basis for what relationships were like, aside from those she witnessed on campus, and that of her mother and father (the little she could remember of them, anyway), but she wanted to be sure they were on a healthy road and not a downward spiral. There was no harm in being cautious, after all.

She settled down into her pillow, burying her nose into it and realizing it still smelled a bit like Peter’s shampoo. They had slept here a few nights ago when she had gotten a little desperate (she may have unbuckled his pants in the hallway, it wasn’t her proudest moment). Smiling to herself, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Gamora was running - no, sprinting - through a thicket of tall grass, if she could call it that. It was nearly twice her height and incredibly dense, scratching her face and hands, but she didn’t care, couldn’t afford to pause, not when she could hear the desperate cries of poor Groot in the distance.

Still, it seemed like the grass was endless, dizzying to the point of causing hysteria. She stopped to rest, hunching over to support her hands on her knees, panting, nearly gasping for air, the atmosphere becoming thicker by the second. She had only been running for a minute, how could she possibly be tired already? Was there some poison making its way through her veins? An airborne virus, perhaps?

Another moment passed before she realized everything had gone silent. Not silent in the way a classroom fell quiet after a teacher hushed their students, but like her ears had been clamped over by an airtight seal, not a single whistle of wind or hum of a fly to be heard. Or, more importantly, the whimpers of an injured child, desperate for help. Gamora twisted around, nearly tripping over her own feet in desperation, longing to hear something, anything again, when she found her surroundings being whisked away like some twisted house of mirrors gone mad, replaced with something familiar, and yet all the more eerie.

She now stood in the quad of the academy, but the campus was empty as far as the eye could see. There was no rambunctious laughter, no loud conversations, no students whizzing by with their super speed or magic powers or whatever it was that made them so quick on their feet. It was clean, too - sterile, almost. No chewed gum stuck to the pavement, no buildup of food wrappers in the garbage cans. It also smelled too fresh, like someone had taken a can of pine-scented aerosol and doused the entire area with it in an attempt to hide something.

Gamora was almost mesmerized by the whole ordeal, entranced, even, when she heard a wheezing noise from behind her. Whipping around immediately, she was horrified to find herself looking at Peter, tied to the bulletin board, head lolling about like he no longer had any control of his neck, and judging by how the rest of him had gone limp, had no control over his motor functions, period. He was devoid of any visible injuries - bruises, cuts, scrapes, not even a drop of blood, but there was a blankness in his eyes that made her heart stop.

She was by his side in an instant, hands grasping at the ropes that bound him there, trying to find a knot or an end to pull him free. “Who did this to you?” she said frantically, tugging with every last bit of strength she had. It seemed like a very simple rope - the kind they used on Terra to teach young children how to tie knots - so she would usually be able to snap it like it was nothing, but it had no give at all, no slack anywhere for her to slip her fingers into.

"Th...Th…” His voice was frail, lacking the energy she’d come to expect of him, but she didn’t need him to complete his sentence to know who he was talking about.

“He’s here?” She tried her best to choke back the bile rising in her throat, burning hot. “Why is there no end on this rope?!”

“G...G’mora,” Peter panted, his fingers grasping at her but not quite finding their hold. “I...I love you.”

With a final raspy breath, hollow, echoing about in his chest, his chin dropped downwards, every last bit of posture he’d been struggling to keep going slack. “No,” she breathed, her hands moving to grab his jaw. “No, Peter...no...you can’t be...no…”

“NO!” Gamora shrieked, bolting upright. Gasping, she clutched at her own chest, thrashing about, legs tangling in her duvet as she tried to get her bearings. You’re in your dorm room, she told herself sternly, once the pounding sensation in her throat had ebbed. Even the voice in her mind seemed to be shaking. Her eyes flickered over to her phone. You fell asleep, it’s midnight, Peter went to bed two hours ago on the Milano. He’s okay. You’re okay.

Am I okay? Gamora wondered, shoving her bedsheets aside. Despite the cold sweat beginning to form on her brow bone, the rest of her was burning up like a furnace. She stripped off her hoodie and sweatpants - it seemed like a good idea at the time since it had been quite chilly outside when she returned to her room, but now it felt like she was drowning in excess fabric.

After turning on her bedroom light, she tentatively made her way over to her closet. She was hedging on whether to just sleep in her underwear when she found one of Peter’s T-shirts on the floor by her bookbag. She deliberated for all of ten seconds before picking it up and pulling it over her head, staring contemplatively into the mirror. She could practically hear Peter’s voice as he explained its significance to her (“Oh man, I should really show you Flash Gordon sometime, it’s incredible”), cracking a small smile as she did. “Screw attachments,” she said to herself, making eye contact in the mirror. “It’s just one night.” Her breath finally evening out, she climbed back into bed and settled back under the covers, managing to close her eyes once again.

______

Peter strolled into Professor Pym’s lab, whistling idly to himself as he settled down on one of the benches, when he felt fingertips grazing his bicep. Flinching slightly, he turned towards the perpetrator and relaxed instantly when he saw it was Gamora. “Hey you,” he said cheerfully. “You’re wearing my shirt.”

Gamora had indeed worn the shirt she slept in over her usual leather pants. “Do you want it back?” she asked as she sat next to him.

“I told you, I like it when you wear my clothes. Just don’t take literally everything I own,” he chuckled.

She nodded absentmindedly as she began unpacking her bookbag, laying everything out on her desk. “I think I’ll be sleeping on the Milano tonight,” she said as nonchalantly as she could. She hoped Peter wouldn’t notice the slight tremor in her voice, though he was usually pretty observant when it came to her. “My dorm room was oddly cold last night.”

“Did you check with your RA? The thermostat could be broken. Or maybe the boiler,” he suggested.

“That was the first thing I did,” she lied, neatly lining up her pens alongside her notebook. “They might need to bring in maintenance and see if there’s a draft anywhere. Regardless, I’m not taking my chances on freezing in my sleep.”

“Well, it’ll be good to have you back. Groot missed you at dinner last night. So did I, obviously.” Gamora bit her lip to hide a smile, though Peter’s shy grin in return only strengthened her fondness for him. She leaned over to quickly kiss his shoulder, just as Professor Pym strolled to the front of the room.

“Alright, students, there was a little mishap in the computer lab last night, and I don’t want to point any fingers, but there’s one student with a hankering - hankering - for arson and skulls, am I right, Mister Reyes…?”

After classes were over, Gamora convinced Peter to go to the gym with her before heading to the Milano for the rest of the evening. There was something peacefully domestic about being on the treadmills together despite not having any conversation, Peter with his headphones on as always, bopping his head enthusiastically and nearly falling off twice, while Gamora was listening to a TED Talk on her phone (Natasha had gotten her hooked, and it was her alternate way of learning about Terran knowledge and culture outside of Peter’s admittedly narrow influence). It almost made her forget about the sudden terror she had experienced last night.

“So, what’d you get up to after I went to bed?” Peter asked as they moved over to the weight benches. It was like he read her mind.

“Going after the paperwork from past jobs that you haven’t filed away yet,” she replied. It felt like every lie she told was making her tongue feel heavier in her mouth, She hated keeping things from him, but she wasn’t ready to admit defeat just yet, and she knew the moment she vocalized that something was wrong, Peter would start to fuss. “I didn’t realize the Director would require so much documentation.”

“I think that’s more Pepper’s doing than Fury’s,” he laughed, sitting on the floor in front of her. “I’ll spot you. Ready?”

To their relief, when they returned to the ship, the only ones on board were Rocket and Groot, the latter being a little sad, now that he was starting to shed leaves instead of grow them. The four of them had a surprisingly pleasant dinner, with minimal teasing from Rocket when Peter kissed Gamora in the kitchen. “You two are ridiculous,” Rocket said, waving a fork at them, though he didn’t look as put off by their romantic display as his tone would suggest. Groot was staring up at them with wide, puppy-like eyes from the kitchen counter, his mood instantly brightened at the sight.

Once the meal was over, Rocket went to put Groot to bed, and then was off to spend his night working on some weapons he didn’t want the others to know about that were stashed away in his room. Peter, on the other hand, requested Gamora spoon him on the couch while they watched a couple episodes of Happy Days on his holo-tab.

“You look tired,” she commented quietly, reaching around his back to gently pat his face. “I thought you went to bed early.”

“I did,” he protested, turning around to look at her. “One good night’s sleep isn’t gonna suddenly make me more awake.”

“Alright, I’ll concede,” she chuckled. “How was your day?”

“Good, good,” he nodded, resting their heads together, his eyes twinkling with warmth. “I had lunch with Mantis, I’m no closer to cracking the case on her crush. But asking questions makes her uncomfortable, so I’m not gonna be an ass about it. I also stopped by Avengers Hall to check out the announcements since Janet said something about peer tutoring. Figured I could use all the credentials I can get, you know? I didn’t sign up for anything yet, but I got a pamphlet if you wanna check it out. Oh, and…”

Eventually, she laid her head on his shoulder as he continued to talk, the even lilt of Peter’s voice rumbling through his body and keeping her heartbeat steady. She inhaled slowly, taking in the smell of his sweater. In all honesty, she had hated it the moment he had first put it on, having bought it last autumn - it was the sort of open-weave knit that snagged on hooks and corners, and made everything it came into contact with quite itchy, such as her own skin - but now, it just felt like home.

Gamora didn’t realize she had nodded off until Peter was shaking her shoulder, having set the tablet aside and was now supporting the entirety of her body weight, one hand on the small of her back, the other running through her hair. “Speaking of tired,” he chuckled. “Bedtime?”

“You’re quite comfortable,” she replied, yawning as she got off the couch. “I’ll see you in polisci tomorrow?” He nodded, patting her on the hip and kissing her goodnight before letting her go. Peter made a few last paces around the Milano, checking the doors and appliances, before heading back to his room.

He let out a somewhat disappointed exhale at the sight of his empty bed. Of course, he knew not to expect Gamora to be there, but he was half-hoping in her drowsy state, she would have returned to his room like she had been doing for weeks, acting on pure instinct. He turned off the light and climbed into his bunk, hating the way it felt to spread his limbs outwards and never brush against another person, to hear only the sound of his own breathing, the sheets cool to the touch at the presence of only one body.

Peter turned over onto his side, realizing he was occupying half of the mattress in the way he had become so used to, and promptly planted his face into the pillow, where he could smell the faint scent of Gamora’s shampoo. That, at the very least, gave him some comfort, allowing his muscles to relax as his eyes slid closed.

It was warm, the sort of warm that one only felt on a beach in the tropics. It made everything a little hazy, the air rippling with the lack of humidity, making one’s limbs feel oddly light, like it would be easy to lay flat on one’s back and float away into nothingness. Peter opened his eyes to find Gamora sitting cross-legged beside him, leaning over his prone form. “Hey.” He was disturbed to find that his voice sounded disembodied, as if he weren’t physically present. One glance down at his own hands relieved him of his fear, though they were a little cleaner than he remembered. Peter wasn’t a slob by any means, but he often had blisters from the way he gripped his dual blasters, and he had scraped knuckles after his latest combat training session. These hands - his hands? - were free of flaws.

“Good, you’re awake.” Her voice was sharper than his, blunt as the edge of her sword. It reminded him of the way she spoke to him when they first met - irritable, no-nonsense, condescending, almost. “We need to talk.”

“Uh, sure. What about?” He sat up, looking around. They appeared to be in some sort of sterile white room, the kind that made him think of evil lairs in futuristic movies, where they did unethical experiments on animals and humans. Shivering, he turned back to look at Gamora, noting the lifelessness in her expression. She had been so warm as of late, with her teasing grins and gentle smiles, that the utter blankness of her face made him feel colder than the room ever could.

“About breaking up.” She wasn’t meeting his eyes, instead electing to pull out her phone and start scrolling through...something.

“I - what? I thought you said we weren’t anywhere near - ”

“Your persistence may have won me over, but now I’m realizing how wrong you are for me,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Remember when you asked me what I looked for in a partner? Discipline, intelligence, level-headedness. You may have fooled me into seeing those qualities in you with your thoroughly detailed plans to pursue Thanos, but now I realize you’re still the immature, self-absorbed, impulsive child that you were when we first met. Not to mention your surprising lack of confidence in your own abilities, and your reliance on me to make yourself feel good about the decisions you’ve made. I’m supposed to be your girlfriend, and yet, you treat me like both your child and your parent. I’m not your pet project, and I’m not your mother, either. Your attempts to both take care of me and get me to take care of you are tired, your constant pursuit of physical intimacy with me is unwelcomed, and your crude sense of humor offends me. Therefore, I wish to be in this relationship no longer.”

It was like she had taken the Godslayer and pierced it straight through his heart. Frankly, Peter wished she had done that instead. “Gamora,” he choked. “You said I was different than how I was before - I’ve been trying so hard to be more responsible, for all of you - so I can take care of the team and be a good leader - but I know I failed you - please - “ He could feel his face growing hot, tears brewing in his eyes, his fingers trembling as he reached for her.

She got to her feet, looking away from her phone briefly so she could glance down at him like he was a particularly uninteresting bug she’d squashed beneath her shoe. Without another word, she turned and began walking away. He moved as if to stand as well, but found that he could not - his feet were now glued to the floor. Crying out desperately, he began tugging at his ankles, wondering why he was without shoes, and where they were, and what had happened, and what to do - when suddenly, something dropped out of the ceiling in front of Gamora, causing her to leap backward in shock.

It was Awesome Mix 2, the cassette tape that Ego had broken before Peter’s very eyes.

Brandy, you're a fine girl...what a good wife you would be...but my life, my lover, my lady is the sea…

“Gamora!” he yelled. He changed his strategy instantly, beginning to claw at the floor in a futile attempt to drag himself towards her. He could feel his fingernails breaking from sheer force, the pads of his fingertips starting to bleed. Peter froze when Ego suddenly appeared in a cloud of nothingness, crushing the tape under his foot into dust. “GAMORA!”

“Remember, Peter,” Ego said, his voice just as charmingly affable as ever, the sort of kindly voice that had gotten his son to follow him to his planet in the first place. “The girl is temporary.” With one swoop of his arm, he picked up Gamora by the neck and squeezed. Peter could only sob helplessly as she dissolved into ash, crumbling beneath Ego’s fingers.

“You already killed my mother,” he wept, slumping against the floor. “And now...my best friend...the girl that I love more than anything else...why? Why would you do this?”

“You’re letting the human side of you win, Peter,” Ego sing-songed, wagging a mocking finger at him. “We’re Celestials. Everything is temporary. We can’t let emotions get in the way of our one true purpose. If you don’t obey me, I’ll go after ol’ Yondu next. Or maybe Mantis. She did betray me, after all. And for what? Love?”

“You leave them alone,” Peter panted, struggling to prop himself up on his hands. “I don’t wanna be a Celestial, not if it makes me a maniac like you. Small ‘g’ or not, I ain’t playing god.”

“Shame,” Ego said, stroking his beard like he was in deep thought. “I always did like Yondu. Only met him a couple times when he was still with Stakar, but he was a feisty kid.”

“NO! DON’T HURT HIM!” Peter hollered, but Ego disappeared once more in a cloud of smoke.

His eyes flew open in shock, choking violently as he did, despite his mouth being bone dry. Peter began grasping around desperately until he found his Walkman, and with trembling hands, slid the headphones over his ears, hitting play.

And I love you so...the people ask me how...how I've lived till now...I tell them I don't know…

“Shit.” He began running his fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands like they’d offended him somehow. “That’s three nights in a row now.”

And yes I know how lonely life can be...the shadows follow me...and the night won't set me free...but I don't let the evening bring me down...now that you're around me...

______

Despite being more tired than usual, Peter practically sprinted to his morning class like he was going to be late (and he wasn’t, not this time). An unusual sense of relief flooded him upon seeing the telltale red fin, bobbing over the heads of their other classmates.

“Yondu,” he exclaimed, sitting down beside him and nearly tumbling out of the chair in his desperation. “You’re okay.”

Yondu’s eyebrows shot up immediately in suspicion. “Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I had a dream about Ego comin’ after you,” Peter confessed. “It’s stupid, but I was kinda worried I was gonna wake up and find that you were gone.”

“You’re right. That is stupid,” Yondu snorted. “I’m fine, boy, relax. Though you don’t sound so good yourself.”

“I mean, I’ve been better,” Peter said hesitantly. “Ego killed Gamora in the dream. That wasn’t so fun.”

“You two are ridiculous, you know that?” Yondu let out a hearty laugh like he was remembering a particularly funny joke, twirling his yaka arrow in a way that made the students around them look a little nervous.

“So I’ve heard,” Peter mumbled.

“I don’t mean no offense by it, honest. I still remember comin’ after you on Knowhere and gettin’ yelled at by her ‘cause you spent a lot of time talking shit about me. Guess she didn’t understand the...complicated parts of our relationship. But you been mooning after her ever since you met her, and now that you’re actually datin’, you’re still making a big deal outta everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the whole sleeping separately thing,” Yondu said, brandishing the arrow at Peter in a way that even made him jump. “Ain’t gonna make a bit of difference. You’re gonna be crazy about each other no matter what. So stop making yourselves miserable to prove a point. Y’all already did that when you were trying to pretend you weren’t in love, and look how that turned out!”

In lieu of a response, Peter glanced down at his phone. “I should text Mantis,” he mumbled. “Make sure she’s okay, too.”

“Fine. You don’t wanna talk about your girl. What’s this about peer tutoring I’m hearing?” Yondu leaned back in his seat, folding his arms, kicking his feet up onto the desk in a rather precarious manner.

“It’s a new thing they’re trying out,” Peter said as he tapped out a quick “doing the big brother thing and saying good morning” message to Mantis. “Some students have more experience in specific areas than others, so they wanted to do like, group sessions. And Gamora is still trying to get her fight clinic with Nebula off the ground, but she has to get it approved by the Director first.”

“What were you thinkin’ of? Gun-slinging? Weird-ass improvised strategies?”

“Communication and leadership, actually,” Peter replied, smiling a little at Mantis’s reply of “good morning :D”. She was the only other Guardian who used emojis as often as he did. “There’s also a family component to it, and you know, considering Groot’s basically like my kid, I can kind of help with that part, too. But, uh, I dunno if anyone considers me a good leader. They probably want Captain America or someone like him to tutor that class instead.”

His mind wandered back to what Gamora had said to him in the dream, all the harsh barbs she’d thrown his way, like she had taken millions of tiny needles and dug them into every square inch of his skin. It wasn’t like anything she said was new to him - it was all variations of things other people had said about him, or worse, to him - but it was the way she had said it, like she’d been dying to say it for weeks and wanted to get it all out in as little time as possible.

“I didn’t run the Eclector for too long, but I spent enough time with Stakar to know the diff’rence between good and bad leadership,” Yondu said sagely. “Bad leadership’s when people follow you ‘cause they’re afraid of what you’ll do if they don’t. Good leadership’s when people follow you because they know they the best version of themselves when they do. And that’s you in a nutshell, Quill. We’re all good because of you.”

“Weirdly nice of you, but I’ll take it,” Peter chuckled, clapping Yondu on the shoulder. “Thanks, Yondu. I don’t know why you keep ‘dad speech’-ing me but I think it’s actually starting to make me feel better.”

“You can talk yourself into a frenzy real easy,” Yondu shrugged, though he looked pleased. “Someone’s gotta get you outta your funk.”

By the time Peter arrived at his last class of the day, the usual spring in his step had returned, his mind occupied with thoughts of potential lesson plans for peer tutoring instead of the way the nightmare version of Ego (though really, wasn’t every version of him a nightmare?) had taken hold of his brain. He happily kissed Gamora hello, and was relieved to find that she didn’t notice anything different about him. Maybe they wouldn’t have to talk about this - he didn’t want her to get mad, or worse, worry about him unnecessarily.

They returned to the Milano in good spirits, discussing the semester’s curriculum and what their favorite classes had been so far. When they approached the loading bay, they could see Rocket and Groot sitting on the ramp, working on Rocket’s chemistry project together. Well, Groot was watching in rapt fascination. Rocket was trying his best not to swear every five seconds whenever he burnt his claws with the Bunsen burner. “Hey, should you be doing that out here?” Peter called.

“Live a little, Quill,” Rocket smirked, holding up his test tube as if to toast him. “No one ever got shit done by following the rules.”

“Nothing you said just now was true,” Gamora informed him haughtily, though she relaxed as Groot came running to wrap his arms around her ankles in greeting. She knelt to pick him up, bringing him closer to her face. “Hi, Groot. You have a good day today?”

“I am Groot,” he answered happily, nuzzling into her cheek. Smiling, she sat him back down next to Rocket, and she and Peter made their way onto the ship. To their surprise, Mantis was sitting on the couch with Drax and Nebula on either side, looking oddly flushed, her hands twisting in her lap.

“What’s going on?” Peter said, frowning. “Mantis, you okay?”

“We have almost cracked the case of Mantis’s infatuation,” Drax said eagerly. He sounded just as enthused as he did right before engaging in combat. “Would you care to help?”

“Drax,” Gamora said sternly, as Peter groaned behind her, slapping a hand over his forehead. “Leave her alone, both of you. If she wanted to tell you, she would.”

“Such a buzzkill, as always,” Nebula hummed, getting to her feet. “I thought you wanted me to take interest in the other’s lives.” Before she could retreat to her room, Gamora stepped forward to grab her sister’s wrist.

“Not at the expense of their comfort.” Gamora gestured at Mantis, who had curled into herself on the couch, looking just as withdrawn as the day they met her, like she wasn’t entirely all there. “Do your homework together, or help her make dinner, I don’t know. But do not emotionally torture her for your own pleasure.”

“Whatever.” Nebula made to move again, but Gamora only followed her down the corridor, her footsteps getting increasingly heavy.

“Nebula! I’m serious,” Gamora hissed, trapping her against the wall with her arm. “Mantis may seem more well-adjusted than you and I, but she grew up with a grand total of one person in her life, and I don’t need to tell you how screwed up he was. At least we had siblings to socialize with, as much as we despised them. She’s already experiencing new emotions for the first time by having her first crush, you don’t need to complicate it with your insistence on being hateful to everyone who happens to bore you.”

“She doesn’t bore me. Frankly, her romantic drama is far more interesting than yours,” Nebula retorted, rolling her eyes. There was something in the way Nebula had said it that made Gamora a little suspicious, as if...

“You don’t...like Mantis, do you?” Gamora hoped she didn’t look as uncomfortable as she felt asking it.

“Gods, no,” Nebula spat. “I just want her to get this over with already, or she’ll turn into Quill. His mopiness when he was convinced you didn’t like him was insufferable.”

“You want her to be happy,” Gamora translated, a grin beginning to form on her face. “Your persistence is admirable, but the way you’re going about it is not. Just leave her alone, and let her tell you about it when she’s ready, okay?” Nebula only grumbled and shoved her sister aside so she could make her way into her bedroom, though she didn’t slam the door quite as loudly as she usually did.

Still smiling, Gamora made her way back into the common area, only to be practically ambushed by Drax, who looked woefully ashamed of himself. “Gamora, I would like you to know that I have apologized to Mantis. Once again, my blunders have caused great distress to someone I care about, and I wanted to rectify it. It seems I still haven’t mastered the expectations of socialization.”

“You and everybody else in the galaxy,” Peter called from the couch, where he had an arm slung around Mantis. She looked completely at ease now, her sweet (if a little unsettling) smile having returned.

“Peter’s right, Drax, you aren’t expected to be perfect. But I appreciate you apologizing,” Gamora said, patting him on the arm. He smiled at her, nodding silently before moving into the kitchen to begin making dinner.

It was then that Yondu strolled on board, his boots clattering loudly against the metal grates as always, whistling idly, though his arrow remained tucked into his jacket. “Hey, losers,” he said cheerfully. Gamora rolled her eyes as she joined Peter and Mantis on the couch. “Quill, you tell Gamora ‘bout that nightmare of yours yet?”

“I - no, I - Yondu!” Peter exclaimed, agitated.

“Nightmare?” Gamora asked, leaning around Mantis to look at him. “What nightmare?”

“Dude, why’d you have to say that?” Peter groaned. Yondu held up his hands defensively as he threw himself down into the armchair across from them.

“Y’ told me about it, and you tell your girl everything. Figured I could bring it up just fine.”

“That doesn’t mean - ugh.”

“Peter. Your room, now,” Gamora said firmly, getting to her feet once again. Letting out a reluctant whine, he followed her down the corridor, ignoring Yondu’s wolf whistle trailing after them, and shut the door behind him. “Listen, I only ever ask for two things in relationships with other people. Trust, and honesty.”

“As you’ve said before,” he grumbled. She only gave him another warning glare in return. “You also said we were entitled to secrets.”

“Not if Yondu, of all people, cares enough to bring it up.” She sat on his bed, folding her arms over her chest. “Peter.”

“I don’t need you babying me, okay? I’m a grown man,” he shot back.

“Then start acting like one!” she yelled, causing him to reel in alarm. Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose, falling silent for a full minute before looking back up at him, despondent. “Look...I don’t...I don’t know how to be a girlfriend. I don’t know what the difference is between being your friend and being your girlfriend. So if I’m being overbearing, it’s because I care about you in more than one way. Does that make sense?”

Peter sat next to her, resting one hand in her lap, and using the other to tilt her chin upwards so their eyes could meet. “I don’t know how to be a boyfriend, either. But from what I can tell, there really isn’t a huge difference between being a friend or a partner. After all, people always say, ‘date your best friend’, and that’s what we’re doing, right?”

“It is,” she said quietly, a rueful smile crossing her face.

“The only difference for us, really, is the physical stuff.” He paused, remembering one of the things she had said to him in his nightmare. “Gamora...I’m not forcing you to have sex with me, am I?”

“What?”

“Like, you’re not just having sex with me because you think it’s what I want, right? It’s something that you want, too?”

“I thought I’ve vocalized my desire, my consent, and my enjoyment very thoroughly,” she murmured, squeezing his hand. “Peter, I just want to know. You’ve told me about your nightmares before, what’s different about this one?”

“They’re...not the kind of nightmares you want to be having when you’re trying to be independent.”

“You dreamt about me dying,” Gamora guessed. At his surprised expression, she added, “My nightmares are of your death as well. It wasn’t exactly a hard assumption to make.”

“You didn’t tell me you were having nightmares,” Peter said accusingly. “Come on, now.”

“You’re right.” She slouched a little, defeated. “I apologize. It’s hypocritical of me to ask you to be honest when I’m not being honest myself. I’ve been having a few bad nights in a row, the last two featuring your death.”

“How did I die?” He was almost scared to find out, though he could make a reasonable guess about what it would be.

“Thanos.” Exactly what he thought. “How did I die?”

“Ego.” He turned to lie on his back, gazing at the photos they’d taken over the course of their fake relationship that he’d stuck on his ceiling long ago. They hadn’t taken any pictures since they started dating for real, but neither felt like they had to - there was no need to prove their relationship anymore. Gamora laid down next to him, her eyes also traveling across the photos. He briefly wondered what she was thinking about. “There was some...stuff. That the nightmare version of you said to me.”

“Was it about me trying to baby you?”

“It was a lot more than that. It was stuff that hit really close to home, you know? And hearing it from you...so angry and tired…” His breath trembled slightly as he trailed off, unsure of what else he wanted to say. What else could he say, really, that wouldn’t make things worse?

“Like I was saying,” she whispered, staring almost unblinkingly at the ceiling. “I don’t know what it’s like to be in a relationship, but ours is only a week and a half old, and it already feels like we’ve put too much at stake here.”

“Comes with the job, I think,” Peter offered. “Cindy was telling me that she thinks it’s the life that we live that makes us feel everything more intensely. We’re still learning how to be together, so we can’t give up yet.” He turned to look at her. “New idea - Mantis used her powers to help my dad sleep, right? What if we got her to do the same for us, until we get so used to it that we can sleep without her help and without each other?”

“That’s quite clever of you,” she admitted, brightening. “We should try that tonight, then. But in the meantime…” In one fluid move, she’d rolled onto her side, gripped Peter’s shoulders, and pushed him down, her knees braced around his hips.

“W - what?” he stuttered dumbly.

Leaning in, Gamora murmured, “You’re worried that I’m not having sex with you because I want to, but because you want to. But ever since escaping Thanos’s clutches, I’ve never done anything I don’t want to do. Now, we’re in here alone, the others know not to disturb us when your door is closed, and dinner’s not for another few hours. But I’m already hungry, and I’d like to put your hesitation to rest.”

Peter let out a high-pitched squeak he wasn’t proud of, but once Gamora began sucking bruising kisses along the column of his throat, he was pretty sure he couldn’t be held responsible for any of the noises that escaped his mouth over the following hour.

“Your inclination to leave bites on Quill’s neck where others can see implies you think other girls will want to steal him away from you, and I can’t imagine anyone would find Quill attractive enough to do so,” Drax said to Gamora once they’d emerged from Peter’s bedroom for dinner.

“He has his admirers,” Gamora said dryly. At Drax’s raised eyebrow, she added, “I know, I was surprised, too.”

“Hey!” Peter exclaimed, but was immediately distracted by the basket of bread rolls Mantis had waved under his nose.

“Mantis, are you free tonight?” Gamora asked, wrinkling her nose a little at the sight of Peter stuffing his face with bread. “I was thinking we could do some homework together.”

Peter shot her a look of what are you up to?, to which Gamora answered with a cocked chin that clearly said trust me. “Oh,” Mantis said, a little surprised. “I did not have anything planned. Sure!”

After dinner was over, everyone slowly dispersed to their rooms, aside from Gamora and Mantis, who remained in the common area, set up on the couch, their books and papers spread across the coffee table. “I talked to Nebula about leaving you alone,” Gamora said after they’d been studiously quiet for about two hours. “She shouldn’t be bothering you anymore.”

Mantis let out a soft chuckle. “You and Peter are always trying so hard to protect me. I appreciate it, Gamora, but I am not that fragile.”

“Sure, but I also have the responsibility of taking care of Nebula as well,” Gamora replied. “She can’t go around thinking it’s okay to treat people like that.”

Hesitant, Mantis reached across the couch to lay a hand on Gamora’s knee. “You both had to be mean to survive, didn’t you?”

Gamora swallowed, but the lump in her throat that had suddenly formed didn’t seem to be going away. “Yes. Nebula more than me, since I was Thanos’s favorite daughter. If the others were cruel to me, Thanos would be cruel in return. It was not out of actual care for me, though, it was so I wouldn’t get caught up in fighting back.”

“I suppose that is where you and I differ,” Mantis said, smiling sadly as she leaned back against the armrest, removing her hand from Gamora’s leg. “You were raised to be ruthless, and I was raised to be submissive. But I do not think either of us are like that anymore. We are somewhere in the middle.”

“‘Ruthless’ is a generous word to use.” Gamora idly flipped through the pages of the article she was reading on her holo-tab, not really absorbing anything she was supposed to take in. “I agree, though. We’ve both grown substantially since becoming part of this team. It would be interesting to see who we become when we graduate.”

“I am secretly hoping we do not leave Terra once that happens,” Mantis confessed. “I know the Milano is our true base, but it has become so comforting here.”

“I always thought Peter wouldn’t want to come back because of his mother,” Gamora said thoughtfully. “You know, he hasn’t actually returned to his childhood home? To this place called ‘Missouri’?”

“Maybe it would be too painful for him. He could need time, or perhaps never return at all,” Mantis suggested.

“Or he’s waiting for the right time.” They both startled a little at the sound of Peter’s voice. He was descending the ladder from the cockpit, where he’d been running a software check for the past hour. “How’re my two favorite girls doing?”

“We’ve gotten quite a bit done,” Gamora shrugged, Mantis nodding eagerly in agreeance. “Milano’s okay?”

“She’s steady,” Peter replied, smiling. “So, Mantis, before I forget, we have a favor to ask of you…”

______

“Good morning!” Mantis said cheerfully as she practically skipped into the kitchen, stealing Peter’s multigrain bread from the toaster before his reflexes could kick in. She plopped it down onto a plate and began rummaging through the fridge for some strawberry jam. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Like a baby,” he beamed. He was in too good of a mood to berate her for toast-stealing. “I’ll bet Gamora would say the same if she were here, and didn’t leave for class super early like a crazy person. Thanks so much, Mantis.”

“No problem,” she grinned in return, settling down at the kitchen island, directly across from him. “You should have asked me earlier. I was not aware you were both having sleep troubles. I do not like seeing either of you in pain.”

“How did it work on my dad?” He leaned forward on his elbows a little. “You said he was occupied with the thoughts of his children and the so-called Expansion. How long could he go without your powers?”

The smile on Mantis’s face faded a little, her antennae drooping as she lowered her chin to fixate on her toast. She began picking at it, crumbling it between her fingernails, her appetite lost. “He did not need it that often at first,” she said reluctantly. “When I was a young girl, I could not do it as easily, so he only asked it of me when he was really overwhelmed. But as I grew older and stronger, he would ask me to use my powers every night. Sometimes, even more than once per day, if he exhausted his cosmic abilities and needed to take a nap. It was like a drug to him. He was addicted to what I could do, and I feel that if we had left him alive...who knows what he would have done to get me back.”

“So...it would actually be dangerous for us to ask you to do it every night?” Peter’s heart sank.

“I would only advise it perhaps once a week, and even then, it depends on the person,” Mantis said, apologetic. “If you have an addictive personality, then your reliance could develop by the third occurrence.”

“Dammit.” Peter stood and turned away from her, pacing over to the living area, rubbing at his temples, head bowed. They had come so close to a plausible solution - he should’ve known this was too easy.

“I am sorry,” Mantis whimpered, shoulders slumping in defeat. “I should have told you, but you both seemed so excited at finding an answer, that I did not want to turn you down. I did not want you to hate me.”

“Hey, no, Mantis, we could never hate you.” Peter almost half-sprinted back into the kitchen to put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, okay? It’s our problem, not yours. You know, maybe this whole thing was a mistake to begin with.”

Mantis’s eyes widened. “You do not mean your relationship with Gamora is a mistake, do you?”

“No, no, of course not,” Peter said reassuringly, squeezing her shoulders one last time before stepping away. “But she might be right. We rushed headfirst into being together without talking about what it means.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you two are being very mature about it,” Mantis offered, smiling tentatively. “I do not think most couples would discuss these things until it is too late. But at the same time, I think you are both making it a problem before there is even a chance of it actually happening.”

“Honestly, that’s what I’ve been thinking too,” Peter admitted. “But you know how Gamora is about preparation and contingencies, and I don’t want to disappoint her.”

“Which is a sign you are very much in lo-o-o-ve,” Mantis sing-songed, the stiffness in her posture melting away in favor of playfully poking Peter in the cheek. Laughing, Peter swatted her away before moving to finally get another slice of toast going.

Predictably, Gamora wasn’t too pleased later that evening when everyone had returned to the Milano, in which Mantis confessed what she had been hiding from them. However, it was hard for her to remain mad at Mantis (it was hard for anyone to be mad at Mantis), and she forgave her by dinnertime. “Just don’t do that next time, okay?” Gamora said sternly. “Imagine the consequences if Peter had never asked.”

“I thought we was finally done with your relationship drama,” Yondu teased after the meal was over.

“We are never done being the ‘Quill and Gamora Show’, apparently,” Nebula sneered, kicking her feet up onto the length of the couch before Yondu could even consider sitting next to her. “Are you always going to be like this?”

“You know, for a bunch of people who tried really hard to get us together, you seem to have issues about us having issues, which, by the way - totally normal thing to happen for couples!” Peter exclaimed, accusatory.

“Let’s discuss something else,” Gamora said, joining him in the armchair, her eyes ablaze as she stared her sister down across the room, who seemed nonplussed, and as always, in a perpetual state of casual disinterest. “We’ve had a few jobs sent through the Director. We can put them off until October, but we should review them in advance and decide what to accept.”

“Whatever gets us units,” Rocket said gleefully, hopping onto the back of the chair to peer over Gamora’s head at her holo-tab. “Lemme amend that. Whatever gets us the most units. And none of them bullshit jobs with the Sovereign again.”

“Moving precious cargo?” Peter pointed at the one on the top of the screen. “That sounds a lot like ‘being shot at. Repeatedly’.”

“This one wants us to be bodyguards for a gala? That sounds vastly underwhelming and a misuse of our skills,” Drax said, hovering by Peter’s shoulder.

“What is this one about a duchess who claims to know you, Peter?” Mantis poked at the job in question, causing a profile to pop up. “Oh, she is very pretty.”

“Uhh - ”

“I am Groot!” A tiny wail caused everyone to jump, looking around wildly for the source of the crying. To their dismay, Groot had tripped over one of the metal grates (Peter really needed to make baby-proofing the ship one of his priorities) and gotten his hand stuck inside, and was now desperately tugging on his arm. Instead of leaping into action, Gamora found herself stumbling backward into the armchair. Peter shot her a perplexed glance before rushing over to help.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, Groot, just stop movin’ for a second,” he said soothingly, cupping his back. Rocket was already by Groot’s side with a screwdriver and a tub of grease he had grabbed at seemingly lightning speed. They worked in tense silence for a couple minutes, coating Groot’s arm with the grease and using the screwdriver to loosen the grate and ease him out. The others hovered nervously, except for Gamora who had seemingly frozen where she was. Finally, Groot was freed, immediately turning to bury his face into Rocket’s belly.

The others moved closer to console Groot - even Nebula was nearby, straining her neck to see how he was doing - but Gamora continued to remain seated until Peter kneeled in front of her, ducking his head slightly in an attempt to make eye contact. “Hey,” he murmured, reaching for her, but making no actual physical contact. “Can we talk? My room?”

Nodding wordlessly, she followed him down the corridor and, once again, sat on his bed as she did last time. “I dreamt that Groot was dying as well,” she said quietly, before he could ask.

“You don’t have to tell me - ”

“But I do,” she interrupted, letting out a hysterical laugh. “Because that’s what people in relationships do, right? They talk about their feelings, and spend all their free time with each other, and - ”

"Gamora.” He knelt in front of her again, cupping her face in his hands. “Breathe.”

They fell silent, aside from the steady, slow inhales and exhales as they took deep breaths together. “I feel like I’ve become an entirely different person, these past two years. But what kind of person am I?” she muttered, once the tremble in her chest had subsided.

“I can tell you what I think,” he offered. She nodded, wanting him to continue. “I think you’re someone who went from having to take care of herself to someone who wants to take care of others. But if I’m wrong…”

“That’s an apt description, if a little generous.” She smiled, bending to kiss Peter briefly. “I just feel like I’m not in control lately. Like I’ve turned over my emotions to be handled by everyone else, and I hate it.”

In all honesty, Gamora was angry at herself for being so emotionally volatile, and Peter could tell. She wasn’t used to losing control like this, to put it all out there for everyone else to see. She had gotten so used to watching Peter being so open - laughing, crying, making faces so full of expression, so full of life, that she had started to do it herself. Hell, they had all picked up so many of Peter’s mannerisms in their short time together, vocabulary that hadn’t existed to them previously, little quirks or habits that they had once thought to be annoying, and now had become subconsciously ingrained in their minds. It was like Nebula often said - Gamora had become too attached to ever let the others go, found it extraordinarily difficult to imagine a life without the team, and deemed it impossible to leave them behind.

“Then talk to me about it,” Peter said imploringly, his hands moving to rest on her lap. “Because you’re right. People in relationships talk. And somehow, we’re still really terrible at it. We never continued our conversation about signs of codependency, you know, the one we were trying to have on Saturday night?”

“Then what are we doing here? Are we healthy, or are we cause for concern?” she asked.

He didn’t respond immediately, instead electing to stand and then lie down on the bed, gesturing for her to join him. They rolled onto their sides, face-to-face, though didn’t touch. “Let’s find out.” At her furrowed brow, he chuckled softly and said, “Question. Do you think of me every minute of every day?”

The bluntness of his question caused her to snort. “What? No.”

“Do you always want me to be around?”

“Not necessarily, though I don’t mean that negatively,” she said slowly.

“Am I the only person who can make you happy?”

“You might make me the happiest, but you aren’t the only one.” Gamora was starting to catch on, another smile beginning to form on her face as she did so.

“Am I the only person you can talk to? About anything?”

“No. I have my sister and your sister.”

“Can you go an entire day without seeing me? Can you sleep without me being there?” Peter continued, determined.

A crease had formed between his eyebrows, and Gamora had the urge to reach out and smooth it away. “Yes to both,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t aware you were taking psychology this semester, Peter.”

“My answers are the same as yours,” he said, grinning. “So I’d say we’re fine. We’re co-leaders who happen to be a couple, but we don’t get weirdly obsessive over each other or fall apart without the other person around. That sounds perfectly healthy to me!”

She couldn’t help but grin back, relieved. Once he put it like that, it all seemed so simple. “So should we stop this stupid experiment of mine?”

“It’s not stupid.” He reached over to push her hair out of her face, tenderly tracing the silver in her cheekbones with the pads of his fingers. “You had good intentions. I just think we got ahead of ourselves here. I think we’ve just been worried about spending too much time together because we already hung out so much. But that’s because we were friends first.” He leaned in closer, their eyes locking. “Also, for the record? I’ve loved you for much longer than the three weeks it’s been since we first kissed.”

Gamora bit her lip, shuffling forwards so she could wrap her arms around his waist. He really did have a knack for throwing out casual statements of unfiltered sentiment like no one else did. It was the way he was in combat as well - catching people off-guard, throwing them off their game. But unlike his quips at villains, his words for her were always simply intangible tokens of affection. “Same,” she murmured, unable to form prose of her own. Maybe someday. “But what do you suggest we do now?”

“You said one week,” he shrugged. “So we’ll try it one more time tonight. No Mantis or anything. Let’s see what happens.”

“But you have your debate tomorrow,” she protested. “If you don’t sleep well…”

“One more time,” he repeated, kissing her forehead. “We’ll be okay. Also, I’ve been meaning to ask if you’ll come watch the debate? We’re the last pair to go, and you’d only have to leave class, like, ten minutes early - I mean, if you don’t want to, it’s not gonna be that interesting, but I just thought if maybe - ”

“Please stop,” she chuckled. “I’ll be there.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” She gave him a mischievous grin. “I’m curious to see how adequate you’ll be at making speeches under six minutes.”

______

Gamora stretched leisurely, yawning as she did so, rolling over onto her side and grabbing her phone off her side table. She hadn’t slept this well since Saturday night, even noticeably better than the previous night when Mantis had used her powers. Her back ached a little from the stiff mattress (they really needed to get a start on buying new ones), but she was otherwise well-rested, the dull strain in her eyes and sinuses from yesterday’s little meltdown having gone away with sleep.

She got dressed, grabbed an energy bar from the pantry, and made her way off the Milano to her first class, wondering what had changed. She had drifted off the minute her head hit the pillow, and only woke up once to get a drink of water. Her mind had been utterly clear, devoid of visions of a dying Peter or the horrid sounds of Groot’s pain, despite him being in very real pain yesterday. It was like her brain had forgotten about the whole ordeal in the first place, as if it hadn’t been plaguing her for the past three days, but that couldn’t have happened, could it?

Gamora went through all of her classes with relative ease, and received permission from Ares to leave combat class early to watch Peter’s debate (“You’ve already at the top of the class, just go already.”). She was weirdly nervous for him - he could make a damn good speech when the situation called for it, but a structured one could be cause for concern. He had come a long way from the rambling, oversharing, foot-in-the-mouth boy he had been when they first met, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t still worried about him going off-script.

She arrived at the lecture hall just in time to see Cindy sitting down after receiving polite applause for her opening statement. She scanned the room for open seats and was surprised to find one next to her very own sister. “I didn’t know you were taking this class,” Gamora whispered, slipping in beside her.

“I’m not,” Nebula replied, rolling her eyes. “Nothing good was on television, so I was hoping to get some entertainment out of watching Quill crash and burn.” Gamora could only shoot her a warning glare before the debate started again.

“The superhero origin story,” Peter began, taking his place at the center of the whiteboard. “It’s the kind of stuff that writers and creators can only dream of - and they have. At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s where we all started. And really, what determines where it ends? We carry so much of it with us, with every job we take, with every one person that we save.”

“Crash and burn, huh?” Gamora murmured, a sense of pride beginning to well up in her chest.

“I want to tell you a bit of a personal story. My origin story, if you will,” he added. “I don’t know how much you guys know about me - I’ve been told I talk a lot of crap - sorry professor - but I was kidnapped when I was a kid. Taken in by a bunch of super cool space pirates, just minutes after my mother died right in front of my eyes.” The room seemed to have sobered up, everyone falling silent as they watched Peter slowly pace around the front. “I managed to grow up pretty well-adjusted, pretty happy, all things considered. But what I wasn’t, was good.”

“I was never really concerned about being good. I didn’t think it was as important as being happy. I know, it sounds super selfish. But my priorities changed when I met the other Guardians, and after we did the whole save-the-world-and-be-awesome thing, I realized the kind of heroism I was capable of,” he continued. “You might be like, ‘what does this have to do with the psychological effects of your origins?’. ‘How does this prove that it’s a positive thing?’. ‘You’re just one example of a so-called good outcome from a bad history.’ But let me point out my teammates, and what they’ve also had to go through. I’m not saying that tragedy is a good thing - I don’t wanna romanticize trauma, because that shit’s not fun - sorry, professor - ”

“It could go all downhill from here.” Nebula sounded way too delighted for Gamora’s liking.

“I’d like to single out one person who really brings it home for me,” Peter said, trying his best not to make eye contact with the teacher, who was getting increasingly irritated. “My co-leader and best friend, Gamora.” He waved at her - she wasn’t even aware he’d seen her come in - causing several heads to turn. She sank a little deeper into her seat. Oh god, what was he doing? “I don’t think I have to tell you guys what she’s been through. I’m also not gonna tell you about her motivations, or her goals, or any of that stuff, because I don’t speak for her. That’s what gets me in trouble in the first place.” Laughter rippled through the crowd. Even Nebula looked somewhat pleased at the joke. “What I can tell you is who I saw when we first met, and who I see when I look at her now.”

“I saw a girl who suffered, and lost her family.” His voice broke a little on the last word. “I saw someone who had to take care of herself, and only herself, because that’s all she had left. But then she saw an opportunity to save other people, and she took it. Not because she wanted recognition or money, the way that I did, but because she knew despite all the awful things she had done in the past, she knew that this was the right thing to do. And that was it, really. She just happened to pick up a bunch of losers along the way, myself included.” More laughter rippled across the lecture hall. Gamora had leaned forward in anticipation at some point in Peter’s heartfelt story, gripping at the edges of the desk as it creaked, threatening to break under her fingers. “She was fierce and fearless. Diplomatic but headstrong, determined beyond belief. A real fighter, you know, and not just in combat. And guess what? She’s exactly like that now. The only difference is that she’s fighting for more than her own life. She’s fighting for the lives of everyone in the whole galaxy.”

“Quill is so incredibly gone for you, I may vomit,” Nebula commented.

“You might argue that her quote-unquote ‘backstory’ was finished when we arrived on Terra and joined this school, but I disagree. I think, like all of you, Gamora takes it with her every day of her life. The stuff she’s gone through, the life-changing moments that she’ll always remember. I think all of us carry a piece of our past with us because it’s what makes us who we are. Sometimes, it’s a physical item.” Peter turned to pick up his Walkman form the table, holding it up high for everyone to see. There were nods and smiles of recognition throughout the crowd. “Sometimes, it’s a memory. Or maybe it’s both, I dunno. And yeah, sometimes we need counseling, or therapy, or to beat up some bad guys to get us through the next day. But being able to wake up from a nightmare and still keep going is what makes us heroes.”

Gamora might have been biased, but she was pretty sure Peter’s applause was louder than Cindy’s as he sat back down at his desk. Nebula was quiet for the rest of the debate, and though her expression was relatively neutral, her silence spoke volumes to Gamora - she was impressed.

Cindy countered with several strong arguments of her own, the entire lecture hall tense with anticipation as they watched the two go back and forth. It was a spirited debate, though they kept it professional - Cindy and Peter were casual friends, there were no heated remarks made whatsoever. By the time they reached their closing statements, Gamora was smiling into her hands, attempting to hide it from Nebula before she could tease her further.

“There’s no denying that a lot of us have gone through some of the worst kind of pain to get to where we are now, and we probably don’t wanna remember it ever happened,” Peter said, making one last lap around the front of the room. “I’ve done things that I’m not proud of. I’m sure all of us have. But it’s naive to pretend that everything’s black and white - that we can divide every single event in our lives into good and bad. Which is why, in the end, I believe that where we come from isn’t something we just forget or shove aside. It shaped us, but it doesn’t define us. We can’t write off our histories and pretend we’ve been the people that we are this whole time. We can’t deny the things that have happened so we can be just a little bit happier now. We can talk to people about it, we can get help, but that’s where it all starts. Because we have to learn from our past - ” he waved the Walkman once more “ - to take charge of our own futures.” Peter smiled bashfully, almost shy. “Thank you.”

The lecture hall burst into polite applause - many students were starting to get bored by this point - as the professor approached Peter and Cindy to congratulate them on their successful debate. She then dismissed the entire class, causing most students to practically sprint out the door, hoping to catch the last rays of sunshine before early sunset. Gamora, on the other hand, made her way down to the front to approach Peter, who had his back to her as he packed his bag.

“I’m impressed,” she said, leaning against the table. Peter turned, his expression immediately softening upon seeing her. “I know you like to talk, but I have to admit - I didn’t think you would be very good at debate. You have a tendency to ramble.”

“I still do,” he chuckled, closing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. He took her hand and began leading them out of the lecture hall. “I got a B minus.”

She frowned. “What, really?”

“Yeah. Prof was expecting me to look into more case studies to back up the facts, but there aren’t any on superhero psychology specifically - I mean, frankly, this school is the one writing those papers - which is why I went for real-life examples,” he replied, pausing to glance at her. “I had a pretty great muse.”

“Incorrigible,” she repeated, though she was blushing somewhat. “Your arguments. Were they part of what made you so confident about us being okay?”

“Sort of.” They passed through the rest of the campus, silent, as there was too much typical rowdy chaos happening around them - students chatting, showing off their powers, swapping study notes - the kind of noise that Gamora found herself glad to hear. Despite the occasional stare from other students, eyeing their clasped hands, she found she couldn’t be bothered by it anymore - she was pleased to be surrounded by people again, after knowing how eerie the school could be when it was utterly vacant.

The two of them didn’t get a chance to pick up their conversation again until they returned to the Milano, where the others were milling about, also engaging in rambunctious behavior. Sighing, Peter once again led Gamora to his room, ignoring the identical shit-eating grins on Rocket and Yondu’s faces that followed. “I think talking about everything that was bothering us and the kind of nightmares we were having literally made us sleep easier. When you first brought up sleeping alone, we probably got so stressed out about what could go wrong that it did go wrong. We didn’t have nightmares because we weren’t together, we had nightmares because we thought we would have nightmares.”

Gamora let out a defeated sigh, sprawling face-first across his mattress, unusually pliant. “I really don’t know what I’m doing,” she mumbled into his pillow.

“Hey, come on. Like I said, we’re learning together,” Peter said reassuringly, resting a hand on the small of her back. “We both have - or in my case, had - crazy homicidal dads, a laundry list of insecurities, and zero experience in relationships. Look how much we have in common!” He winced. “That was too much, wasn’t it.”

“Your sense of humor is odd and sometimes crude,” she began, turning to look at him consideringly. “But don’t tell anyone that I actually find you funny. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“So rude to me,” he faux-whined, laying down next to her, his entire arm now slung across her back. “Let’s make a deal. We stop talking about how bad we are at relationships, and instead talk about our actual relationship when stuff’s bothering us.”

“Okay,” she replied, smiling. “But I’m still terrible at being a girlfriend.”

“You help me deal with my crap, you’re really fun to hang out with, and you’re generally just a super cool, badass, all-around awesome person. For the record? You’re an amazing girlfriend.” Gamora chuckled, patting him on the chest affectionately. “By the way, this is the part where you tell me the same thing.”

“You’re adequate,” she responded teasingly. Her eyes flickered to meet his, holding steady, before leaning in to quickly peck him on the mouth. “And I love you.”

If he was surprised at her saying it first for the first time, he didn’t show it. “Love you too,” he mumbled, cupping her face. “Okay, so, here’s my plan for the rest of the night - we go back out into the living room, make out on the couch until the others get grossed out because it’s funny, then come back in here after dinner, we do homework like a bunch of bores until we fall asleep, and figure out the next step in our sleeping arrangements tomorrow.”

“Or we can determine it right now,” Gamora shrugged. “We share your bed, but I keep my room the way it is, for whenever we have fights. And I do mean ‘when’, and not ‘if’. I also get to steal your clothes whenever I want.

“I’m certainly not complaining,” Peter laughed, leaning in for another kiss. When they pulled apart, he looked oddly inquisitive. “Though I do have to ask about where you found my Flash Gordon shirt, because I swear I lost it, like, the week we got here…”

this one-shot was supposed to be like 8k words, but once again, like the main fic, peter and gamora just decided to have feelings all over the place and it turned out way longer than intended. hope you guys enjoyed it anyways!

some quick things - the song peter listened to after his nightmare was and i love you so by don mclean, which is a song peter has on his "for gamora" mixtape. also, there is a hint about the next one-shot hidden in here somewhere. finally, a brief summary of their nightmares if you skipped them over: gamora dreamed of hearing groot being hurt, and then witnessed peter dying (implied to be thanos's doing). peter dreamed of gamora listing all his insecurities as reasons to break up with him, and then ego showed up to kill her and threatened to go after the others.

once again, thank you for reading, likes and reblogs would be much appreciated, and I hope you're enjoying this series :)

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

obedience training for puppies | puppy wont walk on leash

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obedience training for puppies | puppy wont walk on leash

Keep a schedule Self-Publish with Us HomeoPet (5) (1) You said potty first thing in the morning. Let’s say 7:30 am. Then if I feed him at 7:45, does he need to potty again before 8:00, less than half an hour from the previous go? Pet Health GIVE A GIFT (Left) Remember, very young puppy’s need a lot of rest, crate training takes advantage of this need. As soon as the pup awakens take it outside. Walk him on leash until he goes, then praise him happily. Encourage him with an expression, “Do your business,” “Go pee,”. Both are popular commands. Be consistent with your reward. By Category Potty training is obviously one of the first things you’ll want to teach your puppy. If done properly, potty training is not difficult. The key is to be consistent. Yes! We board. We have two options. Our “Stay and Play” option or our “Suite only” option. Sarah Richardson, PhD, CPDT-KA, CDBC, CSAT, is the owner of The Canine Connection, a boarding, training, and daycare facility in Chico, California. Over the past 12 years, she and some of her assistant trainers have often modeled for photos that illustrate articles in WDJ, but this is the first article that Richardson has written for WDJ! Experts recommend that you begin house training your puppy when he is between 12 weeks and 16 weeks old. At that point, he has enough control of his bladder and bowel movements to learn to hold it. Take your pup out in the car for short trips. Not only does this get puppies used to car travel, but also gives them the chance to see the world. It also gets them used to loud motorbikes, lorries, sirens etc. Housesoiling is also a temporal problem: either the puppy is in the wrong place at the right time (confined indoors with full bladder and bowels), or the puppy is in the right place at the wrong time (outdoors in the yard or on a walk, but with empty bladder and bowels). Respond immediately and consistently to the bad behavior. As soon as you see your puppy acting up, remove it to the time-out spot. Be sure to do this every time you notice the bad behavior. HomeAbout wikiHowJobsTerms of UseSite MapMobile view Articles Congratulations! You’ve just entered the Twilight Zone. In a good way, of course. For the next 10 or more years, you are going to have more fun and love and licks than you know what to do with. Let me help you get started with the first month, and then you and your puppy will be off and running to a great life together. Judges Education – AKC Canine College Sign up Jerseys & Team Sports ALERT Next ► Michelle Schreiber This is Zoe. She is my dogs’ biggest cheerleader!! Pet Insurance STAR Puppy Class Tagged: housetraining, potty training, dogs, puppy training, puppies, puppy, dog training, puppy training los angeles Fertility Quiz How to toilet train your puppy Join Hill’s® My Pet Companion Some puppy’s go 2 minutes after eating, some after half an hour. This is how you find out. When you start to house train, follow these steps: Dog Training and Puppy Obedience Classes Offered at Our Clinic × Berkeley Teach your dog to Give It or Drop It. This command is necessary in case you need your dog to drop something she’s picked up off the floor that she shouldn’t eat or if you want her to give you a toy, piece of food or your shoe that she’s chewing. Microcyn Stock AKC Canine College Tap the cushion and instruct “Up.” PUPPY START RIGHT FOR INSTRUCTORS AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy LATEST NEWS 148 Wild Bird Time: 2018-07-27T05:34:27Z Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution: The Complete Guide to Raising the Perfect Pet with Love Kindle Edition Tips to Better Manage Your Migraine Reward good behavior. Always praise good behavior with lots of gentle love and cuddles. Use rewards effectively to reinforce good behavior. For example, if your dog successfully responds to your request to drop a toy, say, “yes!,” or “good boy!” Verbal rewards work well when you’re playing and may have your hands full of toys.[8] Training For Life Nature’s Miracle (3) The best dog crates Sign Up Rally FrEe The Perfect Dog (2) copyright information (84) Weikel added, “The tool they were using was a Wiffle bat that had been modified to cause a snap, you would say, but no harm to the animal. It’s more loud that anything.” Potty training Stage 1 – establish the toilet area Vote Up13Vote Down  Reply © Depositphotos.com / Madrabothair 3.9 out of 5 stars Estate Planning whether I am with them or not. They’re also doing just fine with the other aspects of clicker training. Book Get A Quote Expert Blogs Coastal Pet Products Start reading Puppy Training on your Kindle in under a minute. However, I’ve purposely made this ‘how-to‘ guide as complete and standalone as possible, so reading the previous articles isn’t essential.

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fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); A one-on-one session for PetsHotel guests only. While your dog visits us at PetsHotel or Doggie Day Camp, our Accredited Trainers can help your dog master good manners and basic cues during a private session. We’ll take the hassle out of training, while your pet is in our care. 15.96 My PetCareRx Points Small Pets News & Experts For example, maybe your child opens the door for the mailman, and the puppy dashes out. Or the little guy decides to make friends with the black and white stinky visitor—skunk!—and you notice too late in the backyard. Even tiny puppies travel faster on four pudgy paws than people, so there’s no way to catch him—and in fact, chasing a puppy becomes a racing game you won’t win. Teach “come” and your new pup will stay safely within reach, even without the benefit of a leash. Remember, you must be the one who sets the limits of ALL good and bad behavior. Helping Your Dog Overcome His Fear of Water Between 8 and 12 weeks (when weeing seems spontaneous), my puppy spends a fair bit of time in there and I paper train them to use puppy pads. How to Potty Train a Small Dog or Puppy in a Big Home Don’t try to teach tricks. Your puppy may be able to pick up a few things, like “spin”, but she is still not as coordinated as an adult dog and some movements are difficult for her. If she becomes frustrated she is going to be more difficult to train later on. SUBSCRIBE (Left) OR More Contact Options Learn at your own pace, through 7 lessons and 20 coordinated learning goals, with many videos and hands-on exercises―in as little as six weeks. Your teacher and classmates are there to support you all along the way! Pets 101 toggle menu My newsletters SDT believes in helping you create an unbreakable bond with your dog and a relationship of love and mutual respect. We also believe in utilizing positive reinforcement, structure, appropriate discipline and good clear communication between you and your pet to achieve the finest results. Your canine is unique for many reasons: breed, age, appearance, genetics, environment, past experiences and general personality. For this reason, we believe in customizing canine training programs that fit your puppy and your lifestyle. Puppies have immature digestive systems, so they can’t really handle a lot of food. That’s why it is recommended that you break up the feedings into three small meals. Another thing to keep in mind is the food itself, which should be the highest quality. Whatever you choose, make sure it agrees with your puppy. R&R Belgian Sheepdog AKC Canine Retreat Finnish Lapphund Puppy Development Muse® Use an extra-long “training lead” to practice recall in public places. Start by giving your dog five feet to roam, and practice calling him back to you for a squeaky toy. Add length until he’s at the end of the lead. If you’re calm, your puppy will be less excitable. And please, no yelling — your puppy is just a baby. Remember, you are teaching your pup how to do things correctly because it does not know any better, the poor thing. With house training, the fewer mistakes you allow your puppy to make and the more they are rewarded for doing the right thing, the quicker they will learn and the faster you will find success. Home, Yard, and Beyond In-home obedience will teach your dog the essentials. Dog Love TRAINING APPLICATION Academy for Dog Trainers Slideshow Things That Can Hurt Your Joints GG Subscribe to Petwire Newsletter Monday – Friday 7am – 7pm Grain Free Food With house training, the fewer mistakes you allow your puppy to make and the more they are rewarded for doing the right thing, the quicker they will learn and the faster you will find success. What type of crate or confinement area works best? This method of training a puppy to walk on a leash is suited to very young puppies, it requires no pulling from you or your dog. The result is a nice loose leash hanging down between you and your dog. All it takes to achieve this is to follow the above steps, then apply some patience and persistence. Please read this article for leash training older dogs. You can also teach your puppy or older dog to walk on a loose leash using a clicker – loose leash walking. puppy training videos | puppy training videos puppy training videos | best way to train a puppy puppy training videos | crate train puppy Legal | Sitemap

[foxyatlas]

85 Question Tag

Rules: Answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people

Thanks for tagging me @lilacskylester!

THE LAST:

1.. Drink: Waqua (water)

2.. Phone call: My grandpa

3.. Text message: talking to a friend about a quiz

4.. Song listened to: Without You by Oh Wonder

5.. Time I cried: within the last month? Crying is so necessary and I'm really glad that I'm mentally healthy enough again that I can cry 6.. Dated someone twice: a few years ago, I dated this /donkey/ who I have /strong negative emotions/ towards.

7.. Kissed someone and regretted it: never kissed anyone, but I have regretted not kissing someone

8.. Been cheated on: kinda? Few years ago

9.. Lost someone special: my great uncle, a few years ago

10.. Been Depressed: Depressed mood in the past week, my depression officially ended somewhere in 2016?

11.. Gotten drunk and thrown up: never

3 FAVORITE COLORS

12.. blue greens

13.. soft pink

14.. cosmic latte (the color of the universe)

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

15.. Made new friends: yes!

16.. Fallen out of love: no!

17.. Laughed until you cried: yes! (A few weeks ago, you could have found me laying on my kitchen floor sobbing with laughter.)

18.. Found out someone was talking about you behind your back: all good things, all good things

19.. Met someone who changed you: Everyone has some affect on you, even if you don't realize it. But no one comes to mind.

20.. Found out who your friends are: yes, in a very low-drama way

21.. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: lol nop

GENERAL:

22.. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: all of them (I think?)

23.. Do you have any pets: a cat and a dog. I used to have parakeets too.

24.. Do you want to change your name: I've always thought my name was very bland/girl next door, not something that really made me seen powerful or confident or whatever. But now I'm just going through the process of giving my name new definition

25.. what did you do for your last birthday: had friends over and played a board game! It was my favorite birthday party yet.

26.. what time did you wake up: 7am. I set an alarm for 10, but naturally woke up at 7, right on the dot. School is messing with me.

27.. What were you doing at midnight last night: snoring (in a very attractive, aesthetic way, I'm sure)

28.. name something you can't wait for: a good relationship with someone who I get along with well

29.. when was the last time you saw your mom: like two minutes ago

30.. what are you listening to right now: my little brother spinning a bowl on the table

31.. have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yes! He was like five years older than me in this youth group thing, and he always asked me how my day was, and it was very sweet.

32.. something that is getting on your nerves: AP classes

33.. most visited website: YouTube

34.. hair color: on the darker spectrum of blonde

35.. long or short hair: mid-bra length

36.. do you have a crush on someone: like... kinda? Like, I'd date him, but I think we're probably better off as friends

37.. what do you like about yourself: I'm smart and able to think deeply + I'm creative

38.. want any piercings: I've never gotten a piercing, not even my ears. Maybe in the future, but for now if I do anything drastic to my appearance, it'd be dying my hair

39.. Blood type: yes

40.. Nickname: I have a few from old writing stuff. My username had to do with dumpsters, so this one girl called me 'Dumpy' and 'Doopadoo'

41.. relationship status: stuffing all my feelings into writing

42.. Zodiac: Aries

43.. pronouns: she/her

44.. favorite tv show: I like Fraiser, Jane the Virgin, and The Santa Clarita Diet

45.. tattoos: none, but my sister asked me to design a tattoo for her and I'm high key procrastinating

46.. right or left handed: very right. Like... I have to switch the utensils in my hands when eating dinner.

47.. surgery: wisdom teeth, eye stuff, and some random stomach whatevers

48.. piercing: none

49.. sport: I did volleyball this summer, which was actually pretty fun. But I've never really done a sport

50.. vacation: Mexico (Cancun and Guadalajara), Puerto Rico, and around the US

51.. Movies: The Martian, and lately I've also watched (on Netflix) To The Bone, What Happened To Monday, and Deathnote (I never watched the anime so the live action movie wasn't horrible)

MORE GENERAL:

52.. Eating: I'm such a foodie it's horrible. Soon I'm going to go and get something to eat (probs junk food)

53.. Drinking: Waqua

54.. I'm about to watch: some old DnP games stuff

55.. waiting for: enough motivation to write

56.. want: to survive the school year with good grades

57.. Get married: yes! Not now, but eventually. Meanful relationships have always a top priority for me.

58.. Career: who knows. The plan now is to go into premed, maybe become an anesthesiologist? Or I might end up a writer. Or a firefighter, lol. (Every career test I've ever taken has suggested I be a firefighter)

WHICH IS BETTER:

59.. hugs or kisses: Kisses. They're more intimate.

60.. lips or eyes: eyes

61.. shorter or taller: I'm going to guess these next few are in the case of a relationship. I'm decently tall, so it'd be nice to date someone even taller than me.

62.. older or younger: older, or around the same age. But probs older

63.. nice arms or nice stomach: It's horrible, but nice stomach. It really doesn't matter, it's not like I have a model stomach, but I definitely am obsessed with nice stomachs.

64.. Hookup or relationship: 120% relationship

65.. troublemaker or hesitant: TROUBLEMAKER. I want to live life as an adventure

Have you ever:

66.. kissed a stranger: nope

67.. drank hard liquor: probs? Not intentionally, but sometimes my parents would spike their coke and I would sneak a sip without realizing it had alcohol.

68.. Lost glasses/contacts: I'm currently not sure where my glasses are, just that they're somewhere between here and Wyoming. It's not the first pair I've lost, either

69.. Turned someone down: yeah. One guy, who I initially said yes to, and one girl, who I just wasn't interested it.

70.. Sex on the first date: nope

71.. Broken someone's heart: m a y b e ?

72.. Had your heart broken: yes

73.. Been arrested: nah

74.. cried when someone died: yeah.

75.. Fallen for a friend: yeah. (Were not really friends anymore)

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

76.. Yourself: yes

77.. miracles: yes

78.. love at first sight: potentially

79.. Santa Claus: no

80.. kiss on the first date: if you want to

81.. angels: yes

OTHER

82.. current best friends name: Mary

83.. eye color: bleu

84.. favorite movie: lol i answered this one earlier instead of favorite tennis shoes

85.. fav actor: Keira Knightley

Idk who to tag. Whoever wants to do this, i challenge you to just do it

[starsinursa]

Shout-out to @saminzat for tagging me! Like I needed an excuse to waste time. ;)

LAST

1) Drink:  Coffee... it’s like 10 p.m. at night, but I’m trying to stay awake to finish some work from the office (and yet I’m on tumblr doing this quiz instead, oops).

2) Phone call: A coworker called me so I’d have her new phone number.

3) Text message:  “FYI, they don’t give you the money right back, you have to wait 4 - 6  WEEKS for a check in the mail, uggggh”. I bailed the same coworker out of jail about three months ago and went to the city municipal court today to get the bail money back... turns out things aren’t that simple.

4) Song listened to:  Umm...so I’ve been listening to the Moana soundtrack pretty much non-stop for the last week. :D

5) Time you cried:  A couple of weeks ago, reading the fic “Cursed or Not” for the first time (hey, you get to chapter 18 and try not to ugly cry, okay?).

HAVE YOU EVER

6) Dated somebody twice:  Yep. Good ol’ high school.

7) Been cheated on:  Not that I know of.

8) Kissed someone and regretted it:  Yep. Good ol’ college.

9) Lost someone special:  Yes, a couple of times.

10) Been depressed:  Yep, special shout-out to my Prozac and Wellbutrin, love you guys. ;)

11) Gotten drunk and puked:  Yes, a few times, unfortunately. Again, good ol’ college (although I can’t use that excuse for the last time because I had already graduated... to whomever had to clean out that train car up in Minneapolis, MN, about 2.5 years ago: I am so, so sorry, I’ve learned my lesson about taking it easy on the Everclear, you have every right to hate me).

THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS

12) Green

13) Purple

14) Blue

IN THE LAST YEAR YOU HAVE YOU

15) Made new friends:  Kind of? Do work friends count? 

16) Fallen out of love:  Nah, gotta be in love for that

17) Laughed until you cried:  Yes, most recently was while watching “Impractical Jokers” with my aunt (they took a guy who is terrified of cats and made him teach an improv “how to bond with your cat” class, okay, I found it hilarious as a cat-owner).

18) Found out someone was gossiping about you:  Yeah, there’s a lot of gossip about everyone at my second job. Look, I’m sorry I go through all the water bottles, okay? I drink a lot of water...

19) Met someone who changed your life:  Not anyone specific in the last year that I can think of...

20) Found out who your true friends are: Meh. I’ve always kinda known.

21) Kissed someone on your Facebook list:  Nah

HOW MANY/MUCH

22) Facebook friends:  256

23) Pets:  Two! One dog, one cat, the best of both worlds.

24) Want to change your name:  Nah, I like my name.

WHAT

25) Did I get for my birthday:  Books, I always ask for books.

26) Time I woke up:  Around 8:30 a.m. this morning

27) Were you doing at midnight: Probably surfing tumblr, tbh, I am sadly predictable

28) Can’t you wait for: MY VACATION THIS NEXT WEEK

29) Was the last time you saw your mom:  A couple of weeks ago when I went home for a dentist appointment

30) Is something you wish you could change about your life:  I need to buckle down and really focus on paying off a couple of bills. It helps having a second job, but I’m just so impatient.

31) Are you listening to right now:  Nothing at the mo

32) Gets on your nerves:  Whiners. Don’t get me wrong, I love to bitch and complain as much as the next person, but people who blame the world/ everyone else for their problems? Just....yeah.

33) Talked to a person named Tom:  ...this question doesn’t make any sense. “What - talked to a person named Tom”? Also, no, I know several Tims, but no Toms.

34) Is your most visited website:  Pffft, tumblr, of course, is that even a real question

35) Elementary school/primary school:  [Name of my hometown] Elementary School

36) High School:  [Name of my hometown] Jr./ Sr. High School

37) College:  I’ve already mentioned in a couple of posts where I went to college, so I guess I’ll just say it: Kansas State University. EMAW!

38) Hair colour:  Dark brown

39) Long/short hair:  Long! It’s currently the longest it’s ever been in my entire life, I’m so excited (although holy shit, I shed a lot).

40) Crush:  Nah, not for a while. I creeped on a cute security guard a few months ago, but he turned out to be a jerk with a classic “crazy ex-girlfriend” (I put that part in quotation marks because I have no idea if she’s actually ‘crazy’ but he kept insisting she was...which is, just, y’know, a red flag on his part).

41) Do you like about yourself:  I’m actually pretty fond of my hair now, after a lifelong love/hate relationship. I also like to think I’m okay at singing sometimes.

42) Piercings: None at the moment, actually

43) Blood type: A+

44) Nickname: My family has always called me “Foo” (as in, “little bunny foo-foo”)

45) Relationship status:  Single, ayyyyy

46) Zodiac: Leo (pffft, but not really)

47) Pronouns: She/her

48) Favourite show: Supernatural (of course!), Psych, Once Upon a Time, Firefly, Scrubs, Nikita, Game of Thrones

49) Tattoos: None. I’m too fickle, I’d get one and then change my mind two weeks later.

50) Left or right handed: Right

FIRST

51) Surgery:  I had my tonsils out when I was 17 thanks to multiple bouts with strep throat. Oh my god, never wait until you’re that old to get your tonsils removed, it was absolute hell. 

52) Piercings: My ears. If we’re talking unusual piercings, I had a “nape piercing” for a while in high school.

53) Best friend:  Probably my cousin Kayla, since we grew up together

54) Sport:  I played softball for several years as a kid, until I got a bloody nose when the ball hit me in the face. Then I had to quit because I was gun-shy. To this day, I’m still afraid of balls flying at my face (hehehe).

55) Vacation:  I visited my dad in San Diego, CA for a week when I was ten years old

56) Pair of shoes:  First pair of shoes? I don’t know, I was a baby. Probably some over-priced cutesy pair that never even got any use because I was a baby.

RIGHT NOW

57) Eating: Spicy Doritos

58) Drinking:  Still drinking coffee

59) I am about to:  Sort through my tumblr “Saved Drafts” and add tags for everything, then try to get some writing done

60) Listening to:  Nothing at the mo (this is the same question at #31?)

61) Waiting for:  Saturday when I leave for vacation! *o*

62) Want to see: Honestly can’t think of anything. I’d like to watch Moana again but it’s not on DVD yet?

63) Want to get married:  Sure, someday

64) Career:  Human services/ social work-ish? Basically, I work at a non-profit agency helping adults with developmental/ intellectual disabilities to get/ maintain services. Oh, and I also have a part-time job at an adult store. Gotta make ends meet, y’know.

WHICH IS BETTER

65) Hugs/kisses:  Really depends on who they’re from. Probably hugs for the most part. :)

66) Lips/eyes: Aaagh, I don’t know... I love gorgeous eyes, but I also love me some tasty lips... y’know what, I’m gonna go with lips. Yep.

67) Taller/shorter:  Taller

68) Younger/older: Older

69) Romantic/spontaneous:  I can be romantic when I have someone to be romantic for, but I’m not the most spontaneous. :D Like, let’s just stick to the PLAN, okay?

70) Nice arms/nice stomach: Arms. I like squishy cuddly tummies anyways.

71) Sensitive/loud: ...I don’t know. Sensitive, I guess, because being around loud people wears me out pretty quickly. But sensitivity needs to have limits too...

72) Hookup/relationship:  Relationship. Been there, done the hook-up thing, not worth it. Good ol’ college.

73) Troublemaker/hesitant: At this point in my life, I’d say hesitant. Trouble-making was fun in the past, but, like, I’ve got an actual career now that I could lose if I go around trouble-making/ hanging out with trouble-makers.

HAVE YOU EVER

74) Kissed a stranger:  So, so many times. Good ol’ college.

75) Drank hard liquor:  Yep. Still love me some vodka. It just mixes with everything, y’know?

76) Lost glasses/contact lenses:  Contact lenses, yes, but luckily I’ve never lost a pair of glasses

77) Turned someone down:  Yes. I hate doing that. I’m a horrible, cowardly person who would rather “ghost” someone than have to deal with an uncomfortable confrontation. 

78) Canoodling on a first date:  Depends on the definition of “canoodling”. Are we talking cuddling or snuggling up during a movie? Sure. Making out? Maaaybe, depends. No copping a feel on the first date though, c’mon now.

79) Broken someone’s heart:  Yes. Breaking up with someone in high school is intense. 

80) Had your own heart broken:  Kind of, not really? The only person I legitimately had feelings for, I never told them how I felt, so they never really had the opportunity to break my heart but it hurt like hell anyways. Have I mentioned I’m a cowardly piece of shit? :D I mean, that was like 10 years ago in high school, but I haven’t changed that much.

81) Been arrested:  No, thank goodness. There were a couple of close calls during my partying days, I’ve definitely been luckier than I probably deserve.

82) Cried when someone died:  Yes. Doesn’t happen often, luckily.

83) Fallen for a friend: Not really? Had crushes on friends, had friends-with-benefits, yes, but never technically “fallen for” a friend.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

84) Yourself: Depends on what we’re talking about here. In general, yeah, I like to think I do okay...

85) Miracles:  Ehhh, I can’t decide. It’s a wonderful thought but I’m also kind of a pessimist realist. You know what they say: “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”.

86) Santa Clause:  Not for many, many years

87) Kisses on a first date: Sure! End-of-the-date kisses are sweet.

88) Angels:  I...think so. 

89) Love at first sight:  I don’t know? It’s a wonderful thought but I’m just not sure. Maybe not love at first sight, per se, but I think there are definitely people out there that you can just tell right away they’re going to be special to you.

OTHER

90) Best friend’s name: None, at the mo

91) Eye colour: Brown

92) Favourite movie:  That’s a tough one... I think it depends on my mood. Do I want to laugh? Something trashy like “Sorority Boys”. Do I want to cry? Probably something steeped in existential crisis like “A.I.”. Do I want a feel-good adventure with talking animals? “Homeward Bound”.

Holy crap, that took like 1.5 hours. Anyone need an excuse to waste some time/ procrastinate/ be distracted? Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast, @helianthus21, @destielmixtape, @beesandangelkisses, @emotionally-compromised-idiot, @castielsgracex, @apritelleorai, @honeybee-and-batman, @sunshine-hunters, @waaaaaayward-assbutt, @cool-fallen-angel , and anyone else who wants to do it. :)