#also check out my hot topic haul from today

[platsicbeach]

i am so cute . rly feeling this accidental pastel pink btw

[yuzukult]

—saccharine

pairing: seokjin x reader word count: 2,319 prompt: seokjin doesn’t believe in love at first sight. so... what’s this feeling that’s churning in the pit of his stomach when he meets you for the first time? warnings: none. minor cursing. fluff attack. a/n: to celebrate my follower milestone! thank you all for supporting and reading my fics, it means a lot to me!

Everyday is a continuous, recurring cycle. 

First, the alarm rings. Then, he slams the snooze button on his phone before resuming into a light sleep for another eight minutes. The annoying horn sings again, and a wash of regret hits from never changing it out of the default, so he finally accepts this by getting up and sliding his feet lazily into a pair of slippers by the side of his bed before making way into the bathroom.

His hair is a mess. But it’s a mess everyday. Life has gone to the point that even brushing his teeth has become a dreadful chore. Shuffling through his bin of hair products, he finds the mousse he consistently loses and finds on repeat and then slaps a boatload of it onto his head.

This is basically a day-in-the-life of Kim Seokjin. Except it’s everyday. It’s never ending. It feels like one of those time loop movies where when he ends his day, it starts back off exactly like it did yesterday. 

To be fair, he can’t complain. He’s got a roof over his head, an apartment all to himself (that means without a roommate), plus a well-paying full time job. It’s hard to whine and cry about how his life seems to have no excitement, other than the occasional meeting with his friends, but contrarily… there’s not much to look forward to.

It’s the same mundane activities. Opening the cabinet above his kitchen counter as he usually does at this time, he grabs his favorite Cheerios. Good starts with happy hearts, as their commercials say, but Seokjin isn’t entirely sure that’s true. 

He’s a “cereal first and milk last” kind of guy. Not that he judges those who do it backwards, but he thinks if anyone does the routine in the opposite order, they might actually be backwards. It’s a condition—he makes it seem, and it’s a rather controversial topic for the guy.

Nonetheless, he enjoys his bowl of breakfast goods. He reads the news on his phone, and when the reminder on his watch dings, Seokjin rushes to put his dishes into the sink and hauls himself down the hall, in direction to his walk-in-closet that evidently is just too big for it being only himself. It’s a constant indication that he’s alone. 

By the time it’s 8:30AM, he’s dressed in his suit and tie, hair slicked back, and has a satchel slung over his shoulder in preparation of yet another day at the office.

But maybe he’d stop by that new place this morning. Change of pace. Maybe it’ll liven up his day and give him something to look forward to. Maybe he’d like it.

The place is around the corner, less than a three minute walk the moment he leaves his apartment building, and if he timed himself, it probably takes longer to leave his home and out of the building. The shop is cute; decor stickers are laid out delicately along the windows, the walls are painted a pretty blush pink, and there’s smiles on all the workers’ faces as if they enjoyed being there.

There’s a smile on your face in particular that captures his attention.

Seokjin is a relatively kind guy, or so he thinks he is. He’s never pinned over girls like those shows he’s seen on TV, but he’s had his fair share of relationships. He’s not shy, but he’s also not outgoing. He has an abundance of friends but only a few are ones he trusts. 

And the girlfriends he had were great but… no one really appreciates his generosity as much as he’d like.

He thinks he’s crazy at this moment, quite frankly, because he doesn’t believe in love at first sight. It’s this theory and idea that writers of a romance genre film and story that people whipped up together to make it seem more appealing to their audiences. But he doesn’t actually think it’s true.

Or is it?

Hair up in a messy bun, there’s a swipe of flour that coats your one cheek, and a smile that dresses your face so beautifully. You’re in a simple outfit that’s a combination of a white tee and blue jeans with the shop’s apron on top, while running around to keep up with all the orders coming through. He has hearts brimming in his pupils and he can’t seem to stop the way his chest tightens the second he lays his eyes on you. Is this what love at first sight is?

Seokjin doesn’t only regret not changing the default ringtone of his alarm this morning. He also regrets not asking for your number.

When he reaches his office, he realizes he forgets to ask for cream and sugar at the bakery. The dark, warm liquid glides down his throat with some difficulty; the bitterness layering his tongue but the memory of you sparks sweetness from within. Who were you? He doesn’t even know you and you’re on his mind like crazy.

Now, Seokjin has seen How I Met Your Mother. He’s watched the nine seasons, totaling out to two-hundred and eight episodes, so needless to say, Seokjin knows what goes on in that show. And ironically, he hates Ted. The guy is a hopeless romantic that thinks every girl he has his eyes on is ‘the one.’ Seokjin refuses to become like Ted, and he would be caught dead replicating those same actions.

Then why the fuck is he caught up on a girl he’s seen once? 

The second time Seokjin comes by the bakery, it’s a hell of a lot less busy. In fact, it’s only three people that man the storefront, rather than the six that he saw the first time he stopped by. He has his fingers crossed behind his back as he waits in the queue patiently, hoping you’d be the one taking his order this time around.

Luck must be on his side because you’re greeting him with those pearly white teeth. “Good morning, nice to see you. What can I get for you today?”

Abort, abort! He can’t talk. He swears that his heart has found its way up into his throat, and he can’t get any words to come out.

You blink. Those gorgeous long lashes brush your cheeks so deftly, and it swells his heart that’s now lodged in the path of his airways. “Sir?”

Seokjin swallows. “Oh—yeah, sorry sorry. Uh, can I get a medium hot coffee? Cream and sugar, please. Forgot to mention that last time and I almost died from the bitterness.” Was that an appropriate comment to make? Did it make you laugh? Or were you offended that he just insulted your workplace’s coffee

He cheers in success on the inside when a soft chuckle escapes from your lips. “Aw, I’m sorry to hear. I guess we should have also done our part and asked if you wanted any. Did you want to order anything else?”

Ah. Was the conversation already ending? But it’s so soon! He barely held the dialogue for a couple seconds, and since he’s got your attention, he can’t let go now. Quickly, his eyes skim the menu and the display case full of baked goods. “Uh, what do you recommend?” He asks, gesturing to the sweets. 

You wave your hand for another coworker to take the next customer’s order. Walking over to the sweets, Seokjin trails over as well, observing your expression. You’ve got your brows furrowed, deep in thought with a quirk of the side of your lips, engrossed with the plentiful of options. “Do you like tarts?”

—

Seokjin is a regular now. 

Whenever the clock strikes 7:30AM, he’s already in his work attire, hair at its best, and has checked his face in the mirror for the fiftieth time. Then, he’s on route to the corner bakery.

He wants to look good before he meets you. Handsome guy for a pretty girl. It’s only right.

The bells at the front door of the shop ring loudly the moment he enters in, and immediately his ears are filled with that beautiful laugh of yours, but you’re not alone. It’s accompanied by someone else’s, a voice that doesn’t match any of your other coworkers and his jaw clenches at the thought. Who is this male that claims to be the purpose of your giggling with a mop he calls hair on the top of his head?

“Oh!” You beam, lifting up the cup of hot coffee in hand. “Seokjin! Come here, I have a new pastry for you to try, and your daily caffeinated beverage to pair it with. Plus, I want you to meet my friend.”

His name is Taehyung. The freaking guy looks like a model, strutting into the café like it’s his runway, and when his gaze meets Seokjin’s, it makes Seokjin feel small.

Seokjin likes you, if the amount of times he comes in a week is evidence for it. He doesn’t just do that either; he often stirs up a conversation, asks how your day is going so far, and even goes out of his way to remember small details so he can bring it up next time. But he can’t help but wonder—do you have a boyfriend? Are you being kind only because Seokjin is a customer? Or are you normally this sweet as those raspberry filled pastries you set him up with? 

And those questions are only emphasized when Taehyung smiles, extends his hands and offers Seokjin a firm shake. “I’m Taehyung.”

Seokjin’s entire work day has gone to shit. All he could think about was who Taehyung was and why you were so adamant about Seokjin meeting him. 

After taking the last bite of the delicious pastry you packed for him (free of charge, too), it hits him. 

If Seokjin liked you, he should just confess his feelings, no matter what the consequences. Instead of sitting here with his shoulders slouched, eating this treat you gave him with a pout upon his lips, he shouldn’t continue waiting around and feeling sorry for himself anymore. Why would he make himself suffer like this when there’s a way to end this vicious cycle? 

Seokjin concludes that he’s going to confess tonight. 

—

What Seokjin learns about you is that you are by far not close to his ideal dream girl. 

You’re the “milk first, cereal last” gal, and he believes you’re ass backwards. You like consistency, and your favorite ringtone is the sound of those stupid horns he has for alarms in the morning. You enjoy the first few hours of your day, basking in the routine that you’ve put together yourself, including the one that had recently involved seeing Seokjin’s face. 

And although you’re not his dream girl, you’ve become it.

“I like you,” He finally confesses, a bouquet of flowers in his hands that match the decor stickers plastered on the shop's windows. “Would you… go out with me?”

Seokjin isn’t here in the mornings like he normally is, opting that since this is definitely a change of pace, he might as well go all out. Maybe this will be different. Maybe he’ll be happier.

Stunned, your mouth drops open. You’re stuttering over your own words, practically malfunctioning like a machine. “Wha—Like—what? Like… you like me as in like… a woman? More than a friend? You want to take me out?”

“Uh,” Seokjin scratches behind his ear anxiously. Was his plan backfiring? “Yes? I… like you. As in, I come here in the mornings for coffee, yeah, but I mostly came to see you. I enjoy hearing your laugh, seeing your smiles, and listening to you talk about these pastries like they’re your world and I—“ He pauses, inhaling a sharp breath, “—then you introduced me to this really good looking guy named Taehyung and I didn’t know what my chances were with you anymore, so here I am. Confessing.”

You’re silent. Truthfully, Seokjin’s not feeling good about this. His palms are sweaty, his heart is racing, and you still haven’t said a word and he’s sure that over thirty seconds have already passed by.

“What—“ You start again, quickly stopping yourself with a shake of your head. “Thank god, really.”

The front of Seokjin’s brows dip in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

You laugh, combing your fingers through your loosened locks. “I’ve been trying to tell my coworkers that I had this stupid crush on you since you first came in. You’re such a great listener, you’re handsome, and fun to talk to. They think you’re too good to be true, so they thought you wanted to be my gay best friend. Hence… the Taehyung test.”

“The Taehyung test?” Seokjin reiterates. 

Chewing on your bottom lip, your eyes are swirls of apologies. “He’s cute, right? Either you’d get jealous that a guy like him has my attention and you like me, or you like him and you’re jealous that he’s making me laugh instead of you.”

Seokjin’s shoulders drop in relief. “So… does that mean you’ll go out with me?”

You smile softly. “Of course, Jin.”

He doesn’t think those mundane activities he identified before are boring anymore. No, not with you, they’re not. He doesn’t mind watching you pour milk instead of cereal first in the mornings because he’s glad he gets to be the one who pinches your side teasingly and call you a weirdo. He doesn’t hate the sound of the horns—okay, a lie, he hates it so much, but they’re bearable when you’re around since you don’t hesitate to shut it off the minute it rings, and immediately hop out the bed, without using the snooze button. Brushing his teeth is a delight, especially when he sees your toothbrush sitting in your own designated cup on your side of the sink.

Everyday is a continuous, recurring cycle. 

But Seokjin doesn’t mind those things if it’s done with you. 

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 7: Simon Furman and His Lack of a Relationship with the Singular They

The Lost Light is still being attacked by Ammonites, like it has been for the last few issues. Hound’s taken over as acting field commander and is calling all the shots. Chromedome uses his stupid beefy arms to punch things. Trailcutter is screaming. Swerve’s got his My First Blaster™ strapped to the top of his alt, and saves Crosscut.

Crosscut is our toy tie-in character for this issue. He’s a senator, and drafts play scripts. Arguably one of the more interesting tie-in guys, at least in theory. In practice, all he’s doing is forgetting Swerve’s name, which isn’t going to help the guy with his through-the-floor self esteem.

Crosscut points out that Swerve’s communicator is flashing, and while he’s checking his voicemail, all the Ammonites seemingly vanish… at least, until the gang realizes that they’re instead heading for Metroplex.

Inside, it would appear that the Rod Pod Squad aren’t actually dead, though their ride is probably toast. Before everything went to hell, a wall slammed down from the ceiling, protecting everyone from being utterly destroyed. Skids has figured out what all the arrow graffiti is about, earning himself a BOMP from Getaway. Looks like the internal structure of Metroplex has been shifting, and that’s why they got the runaround last issue. Also, Whirl’s gone missing, but we don’t have time to worry about that, because Swerve just called back with some bad news: the admium flakes they saw earlier mean that Metroplex has an alchemical virus.

Don’t you look at me like that, I’m getting to the explanation.

Alchemical viruses turn the metal of the body into admium, a rare, incredibly soft metal that will break down very easily and also kill you. It’s pretty bad to have. Also, contagious. Fellas better get outta there, posthaste.

The Ammonites are also storming Metroplex, so that’s an additional issue. God, it just never stops, does it?

Over in the Dead Universe-

Is

Is that a fortress of evil in the shape of Nova Prime’s head?

Is that a goddamned fortress-

Anyway, the center of Nova Prime’s universe is Kup, who was the guy who got oh-so-dramatically revealed at the end of the last issue. Unfortunately, Orion Pax also considers Kup to be very near and dear to his heart, and the whole “being turned into a space bridge” thing is going to be an issue.

This is the weirdest love triangle I’ve ever seen.

How the hell did Kup even get here? Well, in order to know that, you’ve have to had read Infestation, the bullshit zombie crossover comic miniseries that ran in 2011.

But I’m not going to do that.

Because I don’t want to.

After a bit of showboating, Nova Prime orders Nightbeat to take Team -Imus to their cell.

Over on Cybertron, Shockwave is getting real sick of Galvatron’s shit, but Galvatron is too busy posing dramatically to notice. Waspinator, Metalhawk, and Dreadwing float in the air. I’m not sure what they’re up to, but I’m sure it’s important. Jhiaxus shows up with a gaggle of goons, one of which seems to have forgotten his face in the jar by the door.

Galvatron gets shamed for tearing Megatron in half, since that sort of broke the space bridge in his torso, but he’s too busy being classist to care. Waspinator floats in the background. What are you doing back there, pal?

Shockwave orders Waspinator to carry Megatron to his quarters, but Galvatron’s decided that he’s going to be an asshole about everything today, even when he’s being helpful.

…Okay, Boomer.

Waspinator still ends up hauling Megatron’s ass away, and Shockwave and Jhiaxus have a little chat.

Back in the dead universe, Team -Imus are in their cell, as Nightbeat double-checks the locks or some shit, I dunno. They’re gonna get their sparks ripped out later in the day, so that the space bridge Kup’s got running in his torso finally has enough juice to actually friggin’ work.

Then Rodimus flashes his mystery hand at Nightbeat and makes him fall down. In order for the whole brainwashing thing to work, Nightbeat’s true nature had to be suppressed; however, whenever Rodimus shows off his mystery hand, it makes his brain kickstart back on, messing up the brainwashing.

Well, you know what, Cyclonus? That’s not my fucking fault. Blame Roberts and Barber. I certainly do.

ORION PLEASE.

We finally get a look at what Rodimus’ hand mystery is, and if you read Eugenesis, you might know where this is going. It would seem Nightbeat has not- which is for the best, really, given what happens to him in it- but he’s still a pretty smart cookie and can suss it out through the power of deductive reasoning. Here’s what he’s working with:

After a moment’s deliberation, he asks Rodimus, who he knows to be the captain of a ship, how many folks are riding around in the space yacht. Rodimus tells him 190, and shows off that he’s got his lipgloss on, and it would seem that Nightbeat’s a free man again. He lets everyone out of the cell, and they gear up to go pick up Kup. Orion Pax is confused as to what the hell just happened here, and Rodimus promises to explain why he’s carved a division problem into his palm once they aren’t in immediate danger.

Back on Cybertron, Galvatron and Waspinator are dragging Megatron’s halves towards Shockwave’s quarters, when Bumblebee pops out of nowhere with a gun and a mouth full of swears. He’s here for Megatron, and he’s not taking “no” for an answer. Galvatron thinks that this is super fucking funny, and tosses Megatron like an empty soda can into the wall so he can squash a bug.

It looks pretty grim for ol’ Bumblebee, but suddenly Galvatron realizes he left the oven on that Megatron’s gone missing.

Oh, there he is!

Megatron blasts Galvatron in the torso, then- in a surprisingly polite manner, at least for him- tells Bumblebee to grab his legs so they can get out of here. As the two of them traverse the burned-out husk that is Cybertron, Megatron decides to be a complete bastard, as he smiles at the idea of Starscream suffering. Like, dude, I know he kept you in weird hamster ball jail and spouted soliloquies in your general direction every single day you were there, but folks are dying right now.

Speaking of Starscream, he’s having a moment, as he sits on his knees and stares at the sky in abject horror while the world burns around him. Scoop comes by to yell at him for being a harbinger of death, and generally being a less than stellar leader, and Starscream halfway calls himself a dumpster fire.

Back inside Metroplex, the Rod Pod Squad are fortifying their defenses against the Ammonites, even though they really need to be getting the hell out of there before they get turned into talcum powder through the power of alchemy. Whirl shows back up, the Ammonite hanger-on in his grasp, and we get the skinny on why the hell the Ammonites are involved with this whole debacle anyway.

The answer is Shockwave.

The answer is always Shockwave.

Then the little dude explodes. It’s fine, they do that sometimes.

Before he went kablooey, little dude uttered the phrase, “if the dead are not enough.” We’ll get to what all that’s about later. Right now there are far more important things going on.

LIKE MOTHERFUCKING LADY ROBOTS.

But why is this such a big deal? Why is it that non-male coded robots who aren’t Arcee haven’t been seen up until this point? What’s up with that, huh?

Well, in order to understand IDW’s complicated relationship with gender, we’re going to have to do some digging into the history of Transformers as a franchise.

We’re going to have to talk about Simon Furman.

We're going to have to talk about Prime's Rib.

And we’re going to have to talk about Spotlight: Arcee.

Simon Furman wrote a lot of Transformers. You cannot get away from Simon Furman, because the man is so ingrained in the franchise. He was there for Marvel UK, he was there for the back half of Marvel US, he wrote for several other publication runs of Transformers, he worked on the Earth Wars mobile game-

-and, of course, IDW publishing.

Because Furman is so very well established and known in the industry, he gets the benefit of not being questioned on a lot of the calls he makes.

Which is a problem, because the man is a massive misogynist.

In 1989, Marvel UK #234 came out, containing the story entitled “Prime’s Rib!” in which the Autobots built Arcee in order to appease a group of strawmen feminists. Of course, one female Transformer isn’t enough for them, and they yell at poor Optimus Prime for trying his best. This is the point where Hot Rod is used as a writer avatar to try to smooth things over with the reader, because you see, the Transformers don’t even know what sexual dimorphism and gender identity even is, so of course they wouldn’t have female members of their race! Jazz is used for a breast joke. Arcee acts like a massive, stereotypical bitch the whole time, despite not having been written like that at all in the other issues. It’s a bad comic with hideous ideology leaking out of it, and I'm halfway sorry I read it, so I’ll just give you the essence of this nightmare.

Oh, those big, mean, scary feminists are bullying the robots for living their lives, huh Furman? Life is just so goddamned unfair when a woman exists in your fucking line of sight.

Furman has gone on record saying that he doesn’t see the point in including the concept of gender in a race of non-sexually reproducing robots. He sees them as “genderless.” Which, if that statement existed in a vacuum, I could perhaps see where he’s coming from.

But Simon Furman does not exist in a vacuum. He exists in a world where sexism exists, something that he’s willingly participated in.

Let me back up that little tidbit with a bit of a disclaimer: I’m not in any way an expert on gender. I didn’t study it in school, I’ve not read an obscene amount of pieces on the topic. I’m not even sure about it on a personal level.

Maybe some of y’all have noticed the whole other set of pronouns I slapped into the bio in the last month or so. It doesn’t really matter, 90% of people don’t read the FAQ/About, I know that, and then 95% of those people only read it once, and this has been a relatively new self-revelation.

BUT ANYWAY.

Let’s be… fair about this. 1989 was a while ago, a lot of research on the concept of gender has taken place, maybe he’s ch-

Oh, what’s that?

Misogyny?

Transphobia?

Transmisogyny?

Treating women as an aberration being forced on Transformers as a whole?

And the writing is clunky and overstuffed?

Well, that’s just fucking fantastic, Furman, thanks so much.

This was in 2008. Because Furman established that female Transformers weren’t something natural, but rather made, and forcibly at that, and nobody fucking smacked his little hands away from this terrible idea, AND nobody tried to fix it for years, there was a lack of gender diversity within IDW until 2014, with the release of Dark Cybertron Chapter 7. Because we waited six years to fix this nightmare, things couldn’t be done quite the way that Roberts had been hoping, in that he intended for our female robots to not have the whole… fembot build happening. IDW wanted them immediately clockable, because this was very clearly a problem that needed rectifying.

So, in short: because of boys’ club mentality and a lack of understanding of what gender means or why it’s important for roughly 50% of the world’s population to have representation in media, Nautica and Chromia are here now.

And despite the convoluted road they had to take, I love them very much.

[maddie-the-princess]

If You Love Me, Let Me Go Part 6

Fandom: Sanders Sides

AU: High School 

Pairing(s): LAMP

Summary: Virgil and his family are new to the neighborhood. He starts a new school where he learns to love himself, and maybe, love his new friends. 

Warnings: Cursing

Thank you to @kuroyurishion for helping me with this chapter. Please enjoy the story. 

Chapter Six: Introducing the Gossip Gays

Virgil’s POV

And just like that, I received three new numbers on my phone. That brings the current number of contacts on my phone to five. Sighing to myself, I walked home after school in a comfortable silence. No one was home, as per usual, so I went upstairs to my room and began my homework. Slipping my headphones on, I played a playlist, appropriately named ‘Emo Playlist’ and worked. 

Hours later, while I was grumbling over Math homework, the playlist stopped. There was a new text from Remy.

-Group Chat: The Dark Sides-

Mr. Sandman: I’m borreedd

Double Dee: You’re always bored.

Trash Goblin: Put Redbull in your coffee!

I laughed out loud at Remus’ comment. Thinking quickly, I texted a reply.

Me: What’s up Remy?

Mr. Sandman: Babe! So glad you can join us!

Double Dee: Hey there shortstack.

Trash Goblin: Heya shortie! 

Mr. Sandman: Remember what I said earlier at lunch? About the new store opening up?

Mr. Sandman: It’s opening on Saturday. We can go then.

Double Dee: Wonderful idea. My parents already said yes.

Trash Goblin: My parents don’t give a shit, but I told them anyway!

Mr. Sandman: Sweet. Hbu babe?

I bit my lip. Would my parents even say yes? I texted back.

Me: Let me ask them.

Mr. Sandman: Let us know babe. 

Trash Goblin: Even if they say no, we’ll break you out of your house!

Double Dee: That’s illegal, Re.

Trash Goblin: Boo, you’re no fun. 

I smiled at their texts. I felt happier. I’ve never been invited out by anyone before, even if it was just to go to the mall. I placed my phone down and resumed by playlist, looking again at the math worksheet in front of me. 

Hours later, I hear the front door opening just as I was finishing up my homework. I peaked out of my room and heard the grumbling of my parents. I go down to greet them.

“Virge, honey? We’re home!” my mom calls out. She smiles at me. My dad follows her, holding a pizza box. 

“Hey sport.” he says, placing the pizza box on the table. “Our co-workers treated us to pizza today, so we brought home some for you. Hope you like onions on yours though.”

I didn’t like onions on my pizza, but I nod nonetheless. Taking a deep breath, I decided to ask them. It’s like a bandaid. You just have to rip it off.

“Hey mom, dad?” I asked hesitantly, hoping my voice wouldn't waver. They give me a hum in response. Hurry, before I lose my confidence. “Can I go to the mall with my friends on Saturday?!” I ask quickly. The two of them stopped in their tracks. 

“You have friends?!” my mom exclaims. “And they’re inviting you out?” I flinch. I know she didn’t mean for that to sound harsh, but still. Even my dad was giving her a questioning glance. 

“What your mother means,” my dad interjects, “is that we’re surprised you’re making friends this quickly. But sure, sport. We have work on Saturday, but it seems ok with us.” He turns around and grabs a slice of pizza from the box and presents it to me. “Now, wanna have a slice?”

After the pizza dinner, I went back upstairs to get ready for bed. I texted my friends before I slept.

Me: Raincheck on breaking me out of my house, Re. They said yes.

Trash Goblin: Aww man! My services are still available to you if you ever need it!

Double Dee: Remus, no.

Trash Goblin: Remus yes!

Mr. Sandman: Enough you two. Thanks for letting us know babe. My dad will pick us all up at about noon, so give me your address.

I sent my address to them.

Mr. Sandman: Thanks babe. See you tomorrow at school!

Double Dee: Good night shortstuff.

Trash Goblin: Do let the bedbugs bite tonight shortie!

Me: Thanks guys. Good night.

With that, I plugged my phone in and got comfortable underneath the comforter. Today was Wednesday, and I found myself waiting excitingly for Saturday to come. 

***

The rest of the week went by quickly. I was getting accustomed to class, and to Patton, Logan, and Roman in them. Before I knew it, it was Saturday. I was pacing nervously in the living room. My mom left for work already, but my dad was still getting ready while giving me a talk.

“If you’re ever in trouble, don’t hesitate to call me or your mother. Or find mall security.”

“Ok dad.”

“Don’t wander from the group. Use the buddy system if you have to.”

“Got it dad.”

“I’ll let you borrow my card if you want to buy something.”

“Thanks dad.”

I continued to pace around, looking down at my outfit, making sure it was ok. I wore my signature black ripped jeans and my black Doc Martin boots, with Fall Out Boy T-shirt and a purple flannel wrapped around my waist. I wore my usual black eyeshadow but decided to paint my nails a dark purple this time. My black backpack contained my sketchbook, phone, wallet, and other necessities. 

There was a honk outside the house. I raced towards the door, and found a large silver car with Remy in the front seat. The window rolled down, and he smiled cheekily at me. “Hey Mr. Sullivan!” Remy called out as I went towards his car. My dad smiled and waved me a goodbye as he also left the house for work. “I’ll have your son home at a reasonable time!” Remy said as I got into his car. Dee and Remus were already there with Remus sitting by the window. I greeted them happily. I was excited for this little excursion. 

“Looking good shortie!” Remus cackled. I sent him a kind hearted glare and Dee sighed in exasperation. 

“Let’s get this show on the road babes!” Remy cheered and we drove off. Along the way, Dee pointed out different places around town that we could visit at a later time, like a coffee shop, ice cream parlor, and other restaurants, and some small businesses run by families. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the mall. It was huge, maybe with about 2-3 floors! Remy grinned at my stunned expression. “Haven’t seen a mall this size, huh Vee?” he teased.

We entered, and Remy dragged us to the store that just opened. Turns out it was a piercing store, and there were people already lined up for it. Remy whistled. 

“Damn, there’s already a bunch of people here.” he exclaims. A woman holding fliers spotted us and grinned, walking towards us earnestly. She had long neon pink hair and was heavily inked. 

“Hey!” she greeted, handing each one of us a flier advertising the new store. “This is Tears for Pierce, a piercing store that also doubles as a tattoo parlor. This flier I gave you tells you guys a bit about what kinds of things we do here.” 

I looked over it. There were a lot of selections, including belly button piercings or ear piercings, and some selections for tattoos. The prices are beside the selections. The girl continues, “If you want to have a tattoo or body piercing done, you have to be at least eighteen or older. But that excludes ear piercings.” She points to the top of the flier. “My name is Amelia Stone, and there’s my contact info if you have any further questions.” She walked away to hand out more fliers. 

The four of us were in stunned silence. “None of us are eighteen yet.” Dee noted seriously, looking straight at Remus, who was pouting like a child. Remy whistled and pocketed the flier. 

“We have a couple more years.” he said, and the four of us went on our merry way. Dee, Remy, and Remus showed me the best places to go and hang, pointing out their favorite stores and restaurants. Remy obviously liked Starbucks, but also liked tea stores. Dee prefered Aeropostale or Hollister. Remus’ favorite store was hands down Spencers. When they asked me, I answered Hot Topic with no hesitation. 

“Of course the emo loves Hot Topic.” Remus said fondly. He slung his arm around my neck, draping it over my shoulders. “We’re gonna head over to some shops, but first, let’s have lunch.” And we had lunch at the Food Court, with Remus stealing put fries and having a mini food fight. Then, Remus hauled us over to the various stores scattered throughout the mall. 

Around we went, in and out of stores, checking out what they had. Remy went and bought a couple new leather jackets and comfy sweaters, while Dee bought a new pair of pants and a couple new shirts. Remus dragged me to Hot Topic, and the two of us had a fun time picking out different band t-shirts and jewelry. I bought some chokers and more band T-shirts, because you can never have too many band T-shirts. Remus bounded over to Spencers, where we found him in the very back. 

We continued like this, trying to find styles that we liked. After hours of walking around, trying to find what I liked, Remy and I walked into a store while Remus and Dee took a small break. Remy hummed as he looked through racks of pants, picking and choosing what looked good for either him or me. I wandered off and looked at flannel shirts.

Then, something caught my eye. It was a gothic black and purple plaid skirt, with black ribbons in the front. I picked it up, and internally cheered when I found out it was my size. I admired it for a bit. It looked pretty, and I really liked how it looked. It kinda… suited me? 

“You want it?” I heard a voice ask. I whirled around in surprise. Remy was looking at what I have with an amused smirk. I blushed in embarrassment.

‘Oh god, what if he thinks I’m a freak.’ I thought miserably. And before the second week of school, here I believed a friendship had been ruined, ‘He’s gonna gossip about me to the entire school. He’s gonna bully me and everyone’s gonna think that I’m a weirdo and-’ My thoughts were stopped when I felt Remy gently place his hands on my shoulder.

“Vee,” he said soothingly, “breathe for me. I know what you’re thinking.” He took the skirt from my hands and observed it. “Frankly, I don’t give a shit if you wear a skirt. If you’re comfortable in it, then go on and wear it. But if you want my opinion, I think you’d rock this skirt.” he declared.

I perked up. “Seriously?!” I exclaimed. Remy nodded. I nearly cried happy tears. 

“You lack confidence, Vee.” Remy said, turning away with the skirt in hand. I followed after him. “You're shy and anxious. As your friends, Dee, Ree, and I want you to be comfortable with yourself. He went to the counter and paid for it before I could protest. He stuffed the skirt in my bag. “Don’t worry about it babe.” Remy said when I asked why he paid for it. “Think of it as a welcome gift.” 

When we walked out of the store, Dee and Remus looked proud.

*** Before we left the mall, we stopped at Starbucks. The barista took one look at Remy and immediately started making a cup of coffee. I looked at him amused. “Kinda famous in this place.” Remy muttered fondly. “What do the rest of you want?”

Minutes later, the four of us were sitting at a high table, chatting idly. 

“So shortstuff,” Dee starts off, “I’ve seen you getting a little close to some boys in our class. Care to share with the class what’s been going on there?” 

I choked on my drink. “What?” I coughed. 

Dee rolls his eyes. “I know a lot of things shortstuff.” he says teasingly. “That day when you had a misunderstanding? I did some observing.” 

Remy raised an eyebrow. “Spill the tea, Dee.” he demanded lightly. “Seems I’ve been missing something.”

I signaled for Dee to stop talking with a light glare. He didn’t. “It seems to me that shortstuff over here is pining over three boys.” he drawled. “Patton Hart, Logan Owens, and Roman King.”

Three things happened simultaneously. One, I put my head down and tried to hide from the world. Two, Remy outright laughed at me. Three, Remus actually spat out his drink all over the table. Dee grimaced and went to clean up the mess with Remus’ help.

“Holy shit.” Remus cackled. I shot my head up and glared at him. “I fucking knew it! Roro’s gonna be so jealous. I didn’t even tell him that you were coming with us today!” 

I stared at him. “You’re brothers.” I stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Remus nodded. “I’m the older twin, by like a minute, and obviously the hotter one.”

“Yeah, sure.” I teased. Remus gasped, offended.

“I totally am!” he declared. “Double Dee, you think I’m the hotter twin right?” Dee didn’t even grace him an answer, so Remus pressed again, leaning against him with a pout on his face. “Double Dee?” he whined. He leaned further into Dee’s space, his face close to Dee’s. Remy and I were looking on with suppressed giggles. Looking closely, you could see a faint blush on Dee’s cheeks.

“Yes, Remus.” Dee answered with a sigh. “You’re the hotter twin.” At this, Remus cheered happily and turned to me with a victorious look on his face. Remy snickered under his breath, and muttered “whipped”. Dee turned to him with a teasing grin.

“And what about you, Remy? Keep in touch with a certain cartoon loving person?

Remy spluttered. Damn, nobody is safe from Dee today. I tilted my head in confusion. 

Dee explained. “Remy hung out with an upperclassman last year, and became really close. He’s in his first year of college right now studying to be a therapist.”

I gaped at my friend. “An older guy, huh? In college no less.” I teased. I couldn’t help it. The three of us laughed as Remy groaned into his hands. 

“You’re all terrible people. I hate you all.” Remy grumbled. That sent the three of us into another fit of laughter. 

Remy’s dad brought me home near 10:00 in the evening. “We’ll see you at school Monday Vee!” Remy called out. “And you better wear some of the new things we got you!” With that, the car drove off after making sure I was safe inside my house. 

Putting all of the new clothes away in my dressers, the skirt remained folded and placed gently deep inside my closet, I did my nighttime routine. I lay in bed, thinking about today. I had fun with Dee, Remus, and Remy. They’re really nice, really accepting, and just generally an awesome group of people. I really liked them. Smiling to myself, I turned underneath the covers, glad that I found a group of friends that like me, and I like them in return.

Anyone wanna be in my taglist? Let me know!

Taglist:

@sure-i-exist

@theoretically--speaking

@sups-stuff

[shes-an-oddbird]

Christmas at River’s End Mall

Summary -  A Christmas AU in which everyone navigates their seasonal jobs, relationships and Christmas spirit, or lack there of, through woven together tales inspired by holiday prompts.

Chapter 9 - Christmas Parade

Summary - While at the annual Christmas parade, Mack and Elena discuss Hope getting older and Mack steps into help when when one of the parade floats breaks down.

Prompt - Christmas Parade Relationship - Mackelena POV - Daniel

Mack wonders if they should have brought chairs with them. Unless there was snow on the ground, they’ve always just watched the parade from the curb with a blanket folded up underneath them and another one pulled around them for warmth. But considering they invited Elena to join them, maybe a chair would have been nice to offer her.

“Dad I don’t see her!”

“Calm down Sparkplug, I just texted her a minute ago.”

“Well, that’s all some of us need.” His heart does a skip at the sound of her voice behind them. Her hands land on his shoulders, her long hair and festive red scarf falling over his shoulder and she leans down to say hello.

“Yoyo, you made it!”

“Of course, the parade is a tradition right?”

Hope nods. They have a few minutes before the parade arrives, although he thinks he can hear the first of the sirens that lead the parade in the distance. The parade, which sets up in the mall parking lot, would makes its way down the main road just outside the mall and then head down towards the small downtown area. They always stayed close by the start so they could head inside after for more activities.

Elena sets her own blanket on the ground next to theirs, sitting close although there wasn’t much other option as the street became more and more crowded. As they wait for the parade to come around the corner they talk about work and weather and other mundane topics.

“So what are we up to after the parade?”

“We’re going to go see the drones, dad finally decided on the right one which is the same one I wanted from the start.” Hope turns her eyes back on him. “Do you think Fitz will be there?”

“I’m sure he will be kid, he’s probably starting to think you’re after his job you ask him so many questions.”

“CANDY!” Several kids scream in excitement as a float from the public library drifts by and the riders dressed as reindeer toss candy canes and chocolate kisses from the sleigh. Hope and the other kids surge forward to collect them.

“I have to buy that damn drone today, I’m afraid if we go back again without buying anything their going to think we’re casing the place.”

“I’m sure they’re used to it, kids are obsessed with those gadget demonstrations.”

“That’s true and half the time we don’t even go in, she just talks with Fitz, the guy who demos them, goes well beyond what I know about them.” Elena looks at him curiously. “What?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head but she’s grinning like she knows something he  doesn’t.

“What, tell me.”

Still looking far too amused she gives in. “It’s just, it sounds like Hope has a crush on him.”

“What?” Mack laughs. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“Oh come on, she’s only eleven, she’s not old enough to be having crushes yet.” Was she? No she was just a kid, it was ridiculous.

“Oh please, what do you know about it?” Elena laughing now at his utter disbelief.. “I was eleven when I had my first crush, and that was well after all my friends started too.”

“That’s just not like Hope, she still thinks all the boys in her class are stupid.”

She just shrugs. “Maybe that’s part of it, look I bet Hope is the smartest kid in her class right?”

“In the whole grade, maybe the whole school.” He answers proudly.

“Exactly and all her friends are starting to get crushes on these boys who are probably so boring to her, she starts to feel left out.”

That was reasonably to assume but he still only agrees with a hesitant, “I guess.”

“Then she meets Fitz, and Daisy’s told me about him, a brilliant engineer, someone who can have a conversation on her level who’s also nice to her and let’s her test all these drones and gadgets she’s preoccupied with.”

“But he’s– “

She cuts him off. “But he’s what, a grown up, you never had a crush on a teacher before?”

“Alright, I get it.” Mack contemplates this new revelation. When exactly had Hope gotten old enough to have crushes. Was he supposed to do anything about it. He had promised they would go there to get the drone after the parade. “Should I take her back there?”

“I don’t see why not, if you don’t and she finds out why she might think she’s done something wrong,” Elena advises. “But maybe give Fitz a heads up, it’s hard having your first crush at eleven but having your first heartbreak at eleven is ten times worse.”

Mack nods, making a mental note to pull Fitz aside and explain. Then he looks back at Elena a little in awe. “How did you get so good with kids?”

“I’m not, but I was a little girl once, it’s a tough life.”

She’s so pleased with herself. That was one of the first things he realized about her that he really liked; she was confident. Determined and straight forward.

And now they’re exceptionally close together. Forced into each other’s personal space as kids return to the sidewalk, arms full of treats. He blinks and she’s closer again, leaning in towards him.

There’s a deafening screech and they snap apart. The parade has rolled to a stop and a horrible grinding noise is emitting from the truck hauling the River’s End High School’s float. It rolls to a stop and cuts off. The crowd around them chatters in concern while the students frantically dismount the float and the truck bed.

“What’s going on?” One girl yells from the float.

“The truck must have stalled.” Another answers.

“Flint, what’s going on up there!”

The skinny young boy driving the truck leans out the window and shouts back at them. “It won’t turn back on.”

“Gabe, I thought your brother fixed up this thing.” A girl with white-blonde hair storms around the float, frustration evident as she addresses a boy still sitting in the bed of the truck.

“He had the guys at the shop take a look at it.”

“Well can you fix it?”

“Yeah Ruby, let me just jump right down from here and look under the hood.” The boy snapped back sarcastically.

The boy driving the truck jumps out and runs around to the front to lift the hood. “Yeah, I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for here.”

“This is going well.” Elena whispers to him as he watches them concerned.

“Old model, bad engine, probably something one of the kids picked up for cheap.” Maybe it was the mechanic in him but he was already assessing everything wrong with the truck. Even if it hadn’t stalled making it to the end of the parade would be a Christmas miracle.

“Dad, do you think you can help them?” Hopes asks.

“I haven’t got my tools, not sure there is much I could do.”

“I don’t think it could hurt.” Elena says, her eyes wide a the boy at the hood yanks his arm back as it crashes down. He’s joined by a girl with lots of dark curly hair and they open the hood again, steading it on the support.

“Alright.” He pushes himself off the ground “before someone loses a hand.”

Mack jogs out into the parade chaos. He has to clear a path through the crowd of students now converging at the front of the truck.

“This truck belong to one of you?” He shouts.

“It’s mine sir.” The girl with the dark curly hair speaks up.

“You have this problem before?” He asks. A glance over the engine and its not as bad as he anticipated, it’d clearly already had some decent work done on it but unfortunately it doesn’t show any obvious cause to the problem.

“Yes, but someone was supposed to have it checked out for me.” She glares at the boy now wheeling his way towards them.

“Shut it Tess, I’m trying to get Robbie on the phone.”

Mack tries hard not to groan. He’s so not ready for Hope to be on the verge of her teenage years.

He needs to check the radiator and fuel but its too hot to reach for anything with his bare hands. “Have any of you got an old rag or t-shirt?”

“There’s probably one in the truck.”

“Grab if for me, what about a flashlight.”

“I’ve got my phone.” Flint grabs the phone from his pocket and holds it out over the engine.

“Thanks kid.”

“Here.” The girl hands him a stained t-shirt. He manages to get the cap off the radiator but it doesn’t appear to be the issue.

“Was there any odds smells when you were driving?”

Flint shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

Alright, that rules out a few possibilities.

“No, Robbie its fine, someone else is here already,” Gabe listened for a second, nodding along unimpressed before holding the phone out to him. “He wants to talk to you.”

Mack begrudgingly accepts the phone. “This is Mack.”

“Hey,” a voice with an accent like the boy’s greets him shortly, “the truck stalls on inclines and my brother won’t tell me where you are.”

That explains a lot. “They didn’t make it far, we’re on the main road outside the mall.”

“Dammit, my crew was supposed to fix the problem.”

“No worries, I think it’ll start again, its been down for a few minutes, doesn’t seem to have any other issues unless it’s the extra weight.”

“Give it a try, if they can get off that hill the parade levels out, should make it to the end.” Mack nods at Flint who jumps back in the truck.

“Easy.” He calls. Flint starts the engine which, after a long moment, stubbornly springs to life and relief washes over the students. “Alright its going.”

Robbie sighs. “I’ll get a backup truck over there just in case, first I gotta go fire somebody.” Mack chuckles, he doesn’t know this Robbie fellow, but he thinks they’d probably get along.

“I’ll follow along behind them down the hill.”

“Appreciate that.” Mack hands the phone back to Gabe.

“Alright everyone back on board, if you can make it down the hill you should be in the clear.” If there wasn’t a damn marching band in front of them, they could just throw it in neutral and roll. It takes everyone a minute to get back in place so he hurries over to Elena and Hope who are still watching from the curb.

“Everything alright?”

“Should be fine but I’m going to follow them for a bit make sure they don’t get stuck again.” Mack explains. “Do you mind hanging here with Hope?”

“Can’t we walk with you?” Hope asks.

“She can ride with us if she wants.” Tess, the curly haired girl offers. Hope’s eyes light up and she looks pleadingly up at him. Personally, he doesn’t want her anywhere near that truck but at two miles an hour she’d probably be safe.

“Alright, let’s go.” Mack lifts Hope up onto the float. Tess takes her hand and backs her away from the edge.

“Let’s go Flint!” Gabe shouts and the other boy waves his hand out the window. They being to roll and the crowd bursts into applause.

“You saved the day.” Elena nudges his shoulder as they begin to walk along side the float.

“I didn’t really have to do anything.”

“Well, you get credit for trying, I didn’t see anyone else run out there to help, just heard a bunch of moaning and complaining.”

“Yeah well, they’re good kids, but now all I can think about is how that’s going to be Hope in a few years.”

“Don’t worry about that, she’ll be just fine, she’s got an excellent role model to look up to.” She nudges his arm again, this time slipping her hand into his as they walk.

[jcmorrigan]

Stop! Hammer Time!

The F/O? Giovanni Potage from Epithet Erased. The S/I? Rachel Scribere - mundie, writer of much fanfiction, independent contractor supervillainous minion who has also given up on adulting. (Most of those things apply to me IRL!) This is the longest thing I’ve written for us - it’s 12 pages in MS Word - so no one’s obligated to read it; I’m just putting it out there because I’m lovestruck and need to get this out of my system. I’m only YT-current, not VRV-current, and it’s been four episodes, so I’m well aware this ship could get sunk at any time. I’m just having fun while I can. Anyway, here’s the whole big love confession thing - there’s some contextual stuff that you just gotta Roll With and also I have lots of headcanons in play here that Word of God is probably gonna disprove (trans biroace Gio anyone?). Anyway, enjoy. Or don’t.

***

I would say the part where it all went to shit was the Fog of Lost Souls.

           To be fair, we were losing pretty badly before that. It had seemed like the perfect crime: overrun the mall. Jewelry stores galore! Expensive video game consoles! A Hot Topic for Rachel!

           As for Miss Scribere, she had done the usual, for the usual fee. A detailed floor plan, thorough reconnaissance, surveys of the entrys and exits, locations of all visible security cameras, proximity of the Hot Topic to the ideal entry point. After all, her cut was going to be enough gems to pay off her rent and also every piece of Kingdom Hearts merch in the entire boutique. (Mostly that Kairi hoodie.)

           That’s me. Miss Rachel Scribere. No, I don’t have an Epithet, least of all one to do with writing. I wish. I am a writer, however. It’s just that I’m a mundie of a writer.

           So, fast forward. I, the independent contractor who is a Banzai Blaster associate by a technicality, have brought the intel to the legit Blasters (as “legit” as the Blasters can be – seriously, there’s a reason I’m an independent contractor). We’ve thought through every obstacle that could probably have happened to us (and, thanks to one certain gorgeous boss, several that could improbably have happened). I’ve already deliberately repressed several outpourings of affection toward said gorgeous boss.

           Oh, yeah. That’s an important part of this story. The fact that Crusher isn’t the only person crushing on Giovanni Potage. Just that he’s the only person who got nicknamed after it.

           Keep your finger on that fast-forward button. So we’re in the middle of the food court, about twelve of us trying to bring out our haul, and I’ve already had about five of those moments where Giovanni and I would have to interact directly (including him wandering into the Hot Topic as my hand was hovering over that Kairi hoodie, and then I had to pretend that I wasn’t a complete and total gamer nerd and give it up until another day when I would probably pay full MSRP for it) and I would get just too flustered to say anything in return and move on over to talk to Ben or Darkstar or anybody but Crusher, really, since he was quite steamed at me for being the Romantic Rival.

           We had it all in the bag, quite literally, when the other guy showed up. With another crime syndicate. And these guys were wearing black to indicate they were really, really serious. My danger senses went off almost immediately, but Giovanni, being Giovanni, had insisted that the Banzai Blasters had first dibs on this mall, so the other guys would just have to leave.

           That was how we found out the other guy’s Epithet was “Hammer.” Whose Epithet is “Hammer,” anyway? Stupid question: this guy’s. Marcus Malleus, he was called. His syndicate didn’t have a name, because apparently naming your crime syndicate is for losers (never mind that we didn’t even pick the name). And even without the gigantic hammer of solidified aether that he hoisted like a dark Mjolnir, this man was enormous. He probably could have killed us with one blow.

           And we’ve now arrived at the place where it went to shit.

           “Whose Epithet is ‘Hammer,’ anyway?” Giovanni asked derisively. (No, I never have had an original idea in my life; why do you ask?) “What’re you gonna do? Knock us all into the ground like nails?”

           “Exactly,” Marcus said as he grinned, showing off a few broken teeth to demonstrate that he’d survived his fair share of scraps.

           “Don’t be silly!” Giovanni waved him off. “We’d never…survive…that.”

           It seemed he was the last one to realize we were in some deep shit.

           “That’s what I’m countin’ on,” Marcus said as he advanced.

           I could see that Giovanni’s knees were beginning to tremble. I wanted to run to him, to throw myself between him and the threat, but I was frozen, rooted to the spot by fear of all flavors. What a failure, failure, failure I was –

           And yet he didn’t admit to his own terror. Instead, he put up a hand and demanded, “STOP!”

           That was enough to at least distract Marcus into holding still. “What the – “

           “I hope you’re prepared to find your way…” Giovanni had put his arms out to either side now. “THROUGH THE FOG OF LOST SOULS!”

           The steam filled the food court quickly and thoroughly. We all heard Giovanni shriek “SCATTER!”.

           So we did…as iffy as I felt about leaving him behind and fending for myself.

           Turned out that shouldn’t have been my priority at all. Turned out I couldn’t fucking see anything in the fog-bomb, which worked in our favor insofar as it meant Marcus not chasing us but had the big downside of me being unable to find my way through an unfamiliar environment.

           I ran into a fucking table.

           I screamed as I went down, hitting the tile hard. At least it was only the ordinary sort of fall. Nothing broken, nothing bruised – not even my glasses.

           That relief only lasted momentarily, because I’d been tripped up just long enough for the fog to clear and Marcus to find one and only one Blaster (or rather Blaster-adjacent) left on the field. And guess who that was?

           The moment I’d gotten to my feet, I felt the hammer’s blow.

           I was thrown all the way out of the court, hitting a wall before going down. In a panic, I made a check that I was still alive – well, duh, or I wouldn’t have been panicking. But there was pain, so much pain. Something was broken, but I couldn’t quite tell what, because my head was fucked up as well. I was pretty sure I was concussed, or on the verge of it. Consciousness became less of a black-and-white state and more like a soupy gray area where I was suspended between dreamland and knowing just how many steps away from death I was.

           In the flashes, I knew what I was dreaming about. Him. Kneeling over my prone body, hands pressed to either side of me, his voice breaking as he lamented, “Composer…no…not my beautiful, amazing Composer…he…he fucked her up…!” The hitch in his breath that indicated he was crying.

           Wait a minute.

           That wasn’t the dream half.

           I attempted to pry my eyes open to see Giovanni hovering over me, shivering with concern. Was he all blurry because I was half-dead or because my glasses had been shattered and lost? Did it matter? His cape was draping almost protectively around both of us as he wept.

           My heart skipped a few beats, even though I knew damn well he did this for all of his minions. I wasn’t special. I wasn’t a favorite. He loved all of us so much…and that’s why I loved him so specially. Because he had room in his heart for so many people. Because he didn’t have to have a crush on me to do this, to cry for me when he worried I was –

           I had better try to indicate I wasn’t actually dead.

           I pushed out a laborious groan. Things were getting clearer…sort of. I managed the words “I’m…fffffine.”

           “Then COME ON!” He seized my forearms. “We gotta get outta here! I think this guy might be having a lucky enough day to beat us today!”

           “Mmh…okay…”

           It seemed a Herculean feat to get to my feet. Thankfully, my vision wasn’t blurring in and out so much – more like normal lost-glasses blind than concussion-blind. We could still make a run for it.

           Or so I thought until I put weight on my right foot and crumpled immediately with a yelp.

           It took me a moment to realize that he’d gone down with me as I’d fallen to my knees, keeping his hands on my forearms. “Not fine,” I panted, “not fine…”

           “Then I’m gonna get you out of here.”

           It was that determination in his voice that always signified he was about to do something absolutely asinine.

           Before I could talk him out of it, he’d swept me up like a bride, one arm behind my back and the other under my knees. It would have been like a scene from a dream had I not known that Giovanni could not lift my weight, and he was doomed to fail from the start.

           We tumbled over together, screaming in two-part harmony.

           “Okayokayokay – “ Giovanni muttered as I rolled off of him, now pretty much sobbing from the pain. What all had that Malleus guy broken? “Oh! I know! I know EXACTLY how I’m getting you out of here! You’ll be patched up in no time!”

           I then felt the rim of a warm cup of liquid being pressed to my lips. Was he serious? “Is this – “

           “Just drink it, dammit!”

           I wanted to refuse, but we didn’t have time for that fight. As the health-replenishing soup coursed through me, I could feel the aches and pains disappearing, mellowing out, the throbbing and buzzing in my head subsiding.

           He’d actually done it. And I immediately wished he hadn’t.

           “Why did you DO that?” I screamed.

           “WHAT?” he barked. “Are you grossed out because it’s from my SWEAT? I would think it’s better than being DEAD!”

           “I don’t CARE about your sweat-soup, and you know it! But you can only do that once per fight! Now you can’t use it on YOU!”

           “Oh, please.” He stood to full height, and I rose with him, trying to focus on his facial features through my half-blind haze. “Like I’m gonna let this jerk best me. Trust me, that fog’s gonna keep him lost for a while, and I’m gonna – “

           I may have been half-blind, but even I could make out the shape of the hammer swinging through the fog.

           For once, my reflexes were on-point enough to carry me out of the way.

           Giovanni’s weren’t.

           I saw him sideswiped, then peeled off the floor so Marcus could hold him up by the collar; “Payback, you little bitch!”

           I could hear his whimpering. His screaming. I wanted so badly to fling myself at Marcus Malleus, to tackle him, to land my own critical hit, to save my boss, my friend, my Giovanni –

           And I turned and ran instead.

           But not without a strategy. I was half-blind, disarmed, and no good in a fight at this moment. I would just have to hope Giovanni would hold out until I’d gotten my plan in motion.

           Please.

           The other Blasters had taken refuge in a Claire’s we’d designated as our rendez-vous point should we need to scatter. I stumbled in, nearly knocking down a rotating display of earrings.

           “Where is he?” a voice called out. Crusher, of course.

           “He’s back there,” I said in a panicked rush. “The big guy has him.”

           “Why the HELL did you leave – “

           “I need you guys to run the Gazpacho Maneuver,” I declared.

           “But we’ve never practiced that before!” Car Crash argued.

           “Well, you’re gonna do it NOW,” I insisted, “or the boss is gonna get crushed.”

           By the time we got back to the food court…I’ll admit I couldn’t see a lot of the details. Just a strip of yellow lying on the floor, a shadowy mass hovering above him with an instrument held high.

           However, if the Gazpacho Maneuver went to plan, which I know it did, here’s what happened: first, Artful Dodger ran at Marcus to distract him, getting his attention only to duck every blow. (Contrary to what you’re thinking right now, he actually got his nickname from his love of Dickens. Go figure.) Then Crusher and Car Crash rushed him from either side to blindside him from two directions. During this time, Flamethrower and Sharpshooter arranged themselves around the food court in order to sharpshoot and flamethrow at Marcus, respectively, from an optimal distance – and no, I did not mix up that order. Meanwhile, Ben and Darkstar teamed up to spirit Giovanni away, carrying him away from the danger zone. On the way out, Ben tugged my sleeve, indicating I needed to go with.

           So I did, leaving the others to carry out the other thirty-six moves of the plan that would either leave Marcus incapacitated and bound on the floor or just buy them some more time before they were also smacked halfway across the mall.

           We re-convened in a JCPenney. We’d almost gone to the Claire’s, but then realized that had no bed for a patient, and had to relocate to a department store with some of those little short bed-sets that look comically small. When I was younger, I always used to think those things were perfectly kid-sized. Huh…I wondered how Molly would think about these beds, since they seemed the perfect length for her.

           How was I going to tell Molly if the closest thing she had to a dad died protecting me? Hell, Sylvie didn’t have the best relationship with Giovanni, but…how could I tell him either?

           Ben and Darkstar had Giovanni settled as best they could across the bed widthways, adjusting the pillow beneath his head, giving worried mutters of “Boss…boss!”

           I held my breath, praying he’d answer.

           “Wh…why’d you do that? I was winning…”

           It was like being dunked in an ocean of relief. I practically collapsed. Very nearly started crying when I heard his voice, weak as it was.

           “We know you were!” Ben replied. “But we thought it was best to leave that hammer guy with the humiliation of defeat while we made our getaway!”

           “No,” I broke in. “No, I’m not playing this game. Not today.”

           I could see all eyes turning upon me. All heads, anyway. Vision was still shot, but I could make out outlines and colors.

           “You almost died,” I said, now feeling the tears coming. “Because I fucked up. I fucked up, and you healed me instead of yourself, and I just…I shouldn’t have come here, and I’m so, so sorry…”

           “What?” Giovanni’s voice cracked. “Composer…you did great out there! You rallied the backup! I knew you were a great choice for team strategist! You probably would’ve played a really epic victory theme for that team attack if you’d had speakers! …We gotta start bringing speakers on our heists.”

           “Just STOP!” I shrieked, shutting my eyes to let the tears gather up. “DON’T talk me up! I don’t need your pity! I just need you not to die! I…I…”

           I couldn’t say it now. No. He didn’t need that. But there was something else I wanted to assert.

           “I think…you’re wonderful…” I choked. “To all of us…and without you…we’d be fucking nowhere…you make all of us feel so special, and…and we can’t lose you.”

           No. I wasn’t going to confess, but in times like these, I couldn’t keep myself completely sequestered. Not when he, too, was probably in need of somebody to be a comfort.

           I approached the bed, prying my eyes open far enough to see it clearly, placing my hand on the edge of the mattress and scooting it toward him. He got the hint, catching my hand in his and squeezing it so tightly that I knew deep down, he was far more afraid than he was letting on.

           “I know,” he said softly. “And you’re not gonna. But we need you too, Composer. You’re emotional support. You’re, uh…you’re really valuable emotional support. Like when a person who isn’t necessarily me is in a lot of pain and needs a really, really good friend…”

           I closed my other hand around his. “I’m here,” I practically whispered. “I’m gonna be shit at doing anything but crying, but I’ll try.”

           “Thanks, Composer. I knew I could count on you. You know I love you, right?”

           I froze. Then it hit me all over again: he said that to all of us. I wasn’t special. But I didn’t need to be. The last thing I needed was to be throwing myself a fucking pity party while he was lying broken and beaten on a mini-bed.

           “I know,” I choked. “How…how bad does it hurt?”

           “It’s not bad! I think he only broke my leg. Upper body’s just fine! That’s enough to put up a fight, right?”

           That got a laugh out of me. Even though I knew he was probably serious about his leg being broken. His pain tolerance was rather incredible. “Which leg is it?”

           I knew he was thinking over which of his hands formed the “L.” He eventually came up with “Left.”

           I was on his right side, so theoretically…no. That would be pretty damn selfish.

           But maybe not. Because I knew he wouldn’t ever admit to wanting, needing more. “If it wouldn’t hurt you too much,” I said softly, “I might need a hug.”

           “Sure,” he said, too enthusiastically. I had been right. “Bring it in, Composer.”

           I practically fell into him, wrapping his upper body up tight in my arms. I cried over him as he’d cried over me. He leaned into me, and I could feel him shaking, trying so hard to hide it. I thrust my hand into his hair, the only thing I could think of, stroking through the pink locks to give him any extra comfort I could.

           “You’re gonna be okay,” I whispered. “I…I’ve got you.” I’d always wanted to say that to someone. I hadn’t really considered the dire circumstances that would warrant it. Turned out it was absolutely as intimate of a thing as I had thought.

           His hand clutched at the back of my dress. Trying to pull me tighter.

           “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.

           “I’m not,” he whispered, and I knew he meant it.

           “Uh…Boss? Composer?” Ben broke in.

           Right. We were making a pretty big scene. We let go at that, and I turned back around, only to see the real reason that Ben had gotten our attention. The other Blasters had arrived en masse.

           “Wait,” I realized. “If you’re here, and Boss isn’t healed up…that means…”

           “We lost,” Car Crash sighed, and though I couldn’t see the details, I could imagine the bruises and cuts riddling them.

           “Anyone down?” Giovanni asked in a panic.

           “Nope,” Flamethrower stated. “We did lose the haul, though. Everything except the one bag with the Special Thing you told us to protect.”

           Now I was lost. “What was the Special Thing?”

           “Don’t worry about it,” Giovanni said quickly.

           “Boss, what did you take?”

           “I SAAAIIIIID DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! WHAT ARE YOU, MY MOM?”

           “I sure HOPE you don’t think of me as a mom,” I grumbled.

           “What?”

           “What?”

           Giovanni sighed. “Well, the important thing is we don’t have any boys down.”

           “Speaking of down,” I realized, “did anyone think to pull the grate – “

           “We’re locked in,” Flamethrower assured me. “No one’s getting in…no one’s getting out.” Then the ramifications sank in. “We’re actually stuck here until the morning.”

           “We shouldn’t move him, either,” I said softly. “I don’t know what to do about that, but…maybe things will look better in the morning.”

           “C’moooonnnn, I can make it,” Giovanni sighed. “Just carry me out like you did here.”

           “Not if your leg’s broken.”

           “That is seriously not gonna mess it up.”

           “Yes. It. Seriously. IS.”

           “WILL YOU STOP TALKING FOR ME, COMPOSER? ARE YOU THE BOSS? NO! I’M THE BOSS! THAT’S WHY MY NAME IS ‘BOSS’!”

           “I’M TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOUR LEG DOESN’T GET FUCKED UP ANY WORSE, OKAY? WILL YOU JUST SLOW DOWN FOR TWO SECONDS?”

           “Oh, I’m sure it’ll heal up just fine IN JAIL WHEN THE COPS SHOW UP TO DRAG US ALL IN!”

           I clenched my teeth. Then sighed. “I am not doing this. Okay. What counts as a fight?”

           “Wha – “

           “What. Counts. As. A. Fight.”

           “Okay, I totally see where you’re going with this,” Giovanni replied, “but you should spell it out because I don’t think Spike gets it.”

           “Hey!” Spike snapped. “Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you have to point it out!”

           “You can make one healing soup per fight,” I reminded him. “You spent your hammer-guy soup on me. How long do you have to wait to get in another fight to spawn it again?”

           “…Three hours?” he guessed. “I dunno; I’ve never timed it out before.”

           “And if you got in a slap-fight with one of us, would it work?”

           He shrugged. “Probably?”

           “Good enough for me,” I decided. “We wait three hours, then stage a fight, and then we can probably get you out of that bed.”

           “Fiiiiiiine,” Giovanni sighed, folding his arms and looking for all the world like a petulant child. “We’ll do it YOUR way. Now we gotta kill three hours! I’m gonna be so booooooored!”

           “God.” I rolled my eyes. “Stop being so immature for like two seconds. There are PLENTY of ways we can be not bored in here. Like, I dunno…playing wed-bed-behead or Would You Rather.”

           “Oh, I’M immature, and THAT’S how you want to pass the time?”

           “Screw this.” I turned to storm off toward the eyeglass shop. “I’m getting at least SOME of my vision back.”

           I felt a little bad about leaving him, but he seemed able to snark for himself at the moment, so I decided to just let him stew while I went shopping for some new glasses. Shopping without paying, that is.

           “Uh…Composer?”

           I turned to see a certain purple-haired minion tagging along – pretty much my one teammate who was shorter than me. “Hey, Spike.”

           “So…I was just wondering,” Spike brought up. “You and Boss…you ever notice how you two kinda fight like a married couple?”

           I nearly froze. Yet I kept up my stride, my one shoe (when had I lost a shoe?) clacking on the tile. “No, we don’t.”

           “You kinda do.”

           “We do NOT.”

           “I’m just saying…”

           “Do you WANT me to like him?” I snapped at her. “Last time I checked, you were the one who loved him. You and Crusher.” I then immediately regretted it. “God. No. That came out wrong. What I meant – “

           “I know you wanna keep the peace and everything,” Spike replied, “but you can go for him. I mean, he won’t notice, he never DOES, but you don’t have to hold back for my sake or Crusher’s.”

           “Yes, I do.” I sighed. “Spike…I already tried.”

           “…Oh.”

           “It flew over his head about thirty times, and then I gave up,” I sighed. “He loves all of us. And I love that about him. But I’m never gonna be more than just…another one of the boys. And that should be fine! I’d rather have a life WITH the Boss than a life WITHOUT the Boss! But…it’s just not meant to be. And I have to put up with that.”

           “Well, I’m sorry,” Spike lamented. “I mean, I came over here because I thought you should know that I really am jealous. There’s a reason Crusher’s so jealous, too. A lot of us are jealous. Boss is just…always so happy with you. I guess there’s something about you that gets to him.”

           “Don’t get my hopes up,” I said somberly.

           “I’m not trying to,” Spike replied. “But you two are really good friends. You shouldn’t avoid him so much.”

           “…Am I that obvious?”

           “He WANTS to get to know you better. But you keep running away, and I was right about why, which means Flamethrower owes me five bucks!”

           “Well, maybe I’ll have to think about it, then.” We’d arrived at the eyeglasses. “But no promises. Like I said…I tried. Maybe I just…have to try harder to aim for the friend zone. The friend zone isn’t bad. It’s where you make friends.”

           “That’s the spirit, Composer!”

           I began to cycle through a rack of glasses.

           “What’s your prescription?” Spike asked.

           “I have no fucking idea,” I replied.

           Eventually, I found one that improved my vision enough for me to get by. Now I could see how many little bruises Spike was sporting beneath her visor. My stomach twisted; I wondered if technically, that, too, was my fault.

           I wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.

           I kicked off my other shoe on the way back; the asymmetry was bothering me. I did my best to listen to Spike complaining about the loot Marcus got away with, especially the rhinestone-studded smartphone case (which she seemed to be angrier about than him taking an actual smartphone from our haul). All the while, I couldn’t help but mull over all the things that were my fault. Her getting hurt, them getting hurt…

           Giovanni getting hurt.

           Everyone else was thronged around him, him still reclined on the mini-bed, when Spike and I returned. I tried to hang to the back of the crowd, trying not to draw attention to myself. No need to kick up that fight again.

           “All right, boys,” Giovanni stated. “Like we planned.”

           And then they all began to disperse.

           “Wait, what?” Spike asked.

           “Boss wants us to investigate all the departments,” Flamethrower explained. “We might be able to pick up some replacement loot!”

           “Um…okay?”

           Spike and I turned to join the mission, but I was held back by a sharp demand: “Not you, Composer.”

           It took me a while to be able to turn and face him once the others had scattered. Then, once I met his eyes – even from that distance, I could see the gold flecks in them, or maybe that was just my memory filling in, since I was wearing under-prescription glasses – I gave a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

           “For what?”

           “What do you MEAN for what?” I was snapping again. “For being rude, I guess.”

           “You really think I’m that immature?”

           He wasn’t smiling. He was actually asking. I felt like I’d just been stabbed in the heart.

           “No,” I admitted. “It’s…just kind of an easy target. Well, okay, I do think you are kinda immature, but it’s…fun immature. The whole kid-at-heart thing. That’s one of the reasons I love…running missions with you and hanging around base.”

           “Okay. Just checking. That’s kinda what I thought, but I had to make sure before I said anything.”

           “Said anything about what?” I was baffled.

           “I’m having a bit of a crisis,” Giovanni said rather casually, turning to face the ceiling. “You’re good with strategy and tactics and all that brainy stuff. Maybe you can help me.”

           Gingerly, I approached the bed. Sat down beside him on the edge of it. “I’ll try.”

           I thought, for a moment, I saw him tense when I sat down. I wondered if I was too close, if I should leave.

           “You know I love each and every one of my minions,” he stated. “All of you bring something special to the team! Together, we are an unstoppable force of unadulterated evil AWESOMENESS! But I’m not supposed to play favorites! If I think one of my minions is better than any of the others, then what happens? Do I lose all credibility? Do I stop seeing how valuable they are? I can’t do that to my boys!”

           I wasn’t sure exactly where he was going with this. I wondered if maybe he’d latched onto someone he actually did have feelings for. Oh. He wanted me to advise him how to progress with his actual crush.

           Fuck.

           “I…don’t think it’s bad to have a favorite,” I muttered. “Not necessarily. I mean, having a LEAST favorite would be a problem, but you’re not gonna lose sight of how great everyone is if you pick a fave. You’re you. You’re Giovanni Potage.”

           “I mean, that is true.”

           My fingers interlaced with each other. “Wh…who is it?”

           He was silent a while before saying, “I don’t wanna tell you their minion name, but her – HIS legal name is…uh…Ray…bert…Flibere. Raybert Flibere.”

           I swear I was legally dead for the next three seconds. Heart stopped and all that. Even I wasn’t spacey enough to let that one fly over my head.

           “And…how does Raybert make you feel?” I asked.

           “Well,” Giovanni sputtered, “it’s – it’s complicated because – she has a – I mean he has a great smile, and he always laughs at my jokes, and I’m not saying my jokes are HORRIBLE, but let’s just pretend I did make horrible jokes. He’d still laugh at them. I dunno, I guess I have fun with him all the time, and I wanna make him smile, and also he makes me kinda out of breath and my heart gets this weird fluttery thing that I’m thinking is a genetic condition and GOD…DAMMIT, IT’S YOU.”

           I gave an overdramatic gasp. “I had NO IDEA that Raybert Flibere was secretly a codename for Rachel Scribere!”

           “Yeah, I know. I was pretty slick with that one. But I can’t freaking keep it inside anymore! You’re my best friend on the whole team, and I was really looking forward to doing this heist with you, and I…I think…”

           The expression on his face was one I had never seen before. Eyes wide as they could be, as though he were facing down some existential demon. “I think I want you to be my girlfriend,” he choked out. Then, at the speed of light: “I mean, I am pretty charming and all, so I figure I have a shot, and this is just a casual thing, like you being my girlfriend casually, not that I wanna make a big deal out of it or – “

           “Boss.”

           “What? Can’t you see I’m trying to explain myself so I don’t look stupid here?”

           “Do you remember what I was trying to tell you a couple months ago?”

           “What, that thing about the dates?” Giovanni replied. “I TOLD you, dates are delicious, but not as good as figs no matter how you slice – OH.” He looked like he’d just been whacked with a two-by-four. “You were asking me ON a date.” He raised a hand to wave it off. “Which I knew, of course. I was just playing it cool until I sorted out my own heart. You know everyone wants a piece of me. It’s not easy figuring out who I should reciprocate to.”

           “So you know about Spike and Crusher wanting to date you too.”

           “THEY WH – I mean, yeah.” He swallowed hard. “But even with that in play, it’s still you. I can’t really explain it. You just make me smile a lot, I guess.”

           I turned away from him. “You know I’m not a happy person.”

           “You seem like a lot of fun to me. Especially at the compulsory Banzai Blasters dance parties.”

           “I’m pretty high-maintenance.”

           “Uh, yeah, duh. I KNOW. That’s why I want to prove I can MAINTENANCE you. Challenge accepted!”

           “I hate myself,” I muttered. “I act like I don’t, but I do.”

           “Well, then, you need somebody to point out what’s good in you, because there’s a damn lot of it.”

           His hand wrapped around mine again, and I just about jumped. It was like static electricity. A new charge between us that hadn’t been there previously.

           “And…I…maybe wanna thank you for…you know…this.” I still was turned away, but I could tell how flustered he was. He didn’t have to explain what “this” was. The memory of holding him close was still fresh in my mind. “I WANTED to use that soup on you, you know! How am I gonna keep doing awesome crimes without my Composer?”

           “Well, I sure as shit can’t do anything without my Boss.”

           “…’Boss.’ Y’know, that sounds kinda impersonal for this.”

           “Are you serious?” I asked. “You even have your kids call you ‘Boss.’”

           “One: she’s not my kid. Technically. Two: if she was, she’s my ONLY kid. The glasses nerd ISN’T.”

           “Lies,” I teased.

           “But seriously! If you wanna be my girlfriend, and you want me to be your boyfriend, you’ll still be my minion, but you’re my FAVORITE minion, so you should get to call me whatever you want!”

           “You can still call me ‘Composer,’” I told him. “I like it now.”

           “Good, ‘cause it’s a good name for ya! It shows off how creative you are! That’s why I like saying it: to remind everyone who’s the smart one around here without admitting it isn’t me!” He said the next words in a hiss: “But don’t tell the boys I said that. They don’t know I’m kind of an idiot.”

           “You’re a TOTAL idiot,” I affirmed. “But…I love that. It works for you. It doesn’t really hold you back.”

           “So, uh…you…you wanna do this or what?”

           I knew I had to face him for this. So I turned. It was the most strangely vulnerable I’d ever seen him – hanging on a thread for my answer.

           “Yeah,” I told him. “Let’s do this.”

           “Cool! Now we’re officially partners in crime!”

           “Yeah!” I smiled. Then realized what the deal-breaker might be. “Wait. There’s…there’s something I need to tell you.”

           “Is this where you give me my cute pet name?”

           “No,” I sighed. “It’s where I tell you that…you don’t get to fuck me.”

           “Huh?”

           “Because I’m asexual. Like, REALLY sex-repulsed. Ice-cold. And that ain’t changing. So if you want somebody you can fuck, you shouldn’t waste your time – “

           “You thought I wanted to do THAT?”

           I flinched. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all.

           “I keep forgetting that’s a huge thing in this dating stuff,” he grumbled.

           I hardly dared to believe it. “Are…you…?”

           He gave a nervous laugh. “Funny thing…I’m kinda…asexual myself.”

           “NICE!” I squealed. “This is PERFECT!” I’d known he was biromantic – that was common knowledge around base – but not this.

           “And, uh…” He was now the one turning away from me. “There’s…more. I kinda…don’t have…guy things? Downstairs?”

           It took me a minute to figure out what he was saying. Then my jaw dropped; “I KNEW IT.”

           “Yeah. That was a thing. I picked the name ‘Giovanni’ out myself, y’know. Sounds sexy, right?”

           “Incredibly sexy.”

           “So if that’s gonna be a turn-off, nowwouldbethetimetotellme.”

           I thought it over, just in case my first instinct wasn’t right. Then I squeezed his hand gently. “It’s fine. It’s seriously fine. I wasn’t planning on using anything in the ‘downstairs’ area to begin with, so it’s not a big deal. I’m into guys. You’re a guy. There we go.”

           He rolled his head back over to look me in the eye, as though questioning if I were genuine in this sentiment. I gave him a gentle smile, and he flashed me a mischievous smirk. “Don’t be mad because I get THREE pride flags and you only get ONE.”

           “Well, I wasn’t until you SAID that!”

           “Okay. So that’s about everything, except…oh, yeah. The big thing.”

           “Your pet name, I know,” I recalled. Then, due to my general chickenshit nature, what I said next came out as a mumble.

           “What was that?”

           “I said I…” I could feel my face going red.

           “What, is it embarrassing?” Giovanni teased. “You wanna call me ‘Shnookums’? ‘Cutie Pie’? ‘Sugar fangs’?”

           “Wha – NO!” I snapped. “I was thinking…more like…” I finally managed to squeak it out: “Gio.”

           “I like that!” he cried immediately. “It has panache!”

           “All right. Then you’re not Boss anymore…Gio.” I couldn’t help but smile. I was finally calling him it out loud. I could’ve said it all day, over and over, Gio, Gio, Gio…

           “But that wasn’t the thing that was gonna wrap it up, Composer.”

           “Wait, what?”

           His free hand searched beneath the blankets of the mini-bed. “The Special Thing. I was gonna say this to you tomorrow, after I got it for you. Actually, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get to make this as dramatic as possible, until I saw you looking at this in the nerd store. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody you’re a nerd if you don’t tell anybody I’m a dumbass.”

           He passed me a plastic bag containing a folded piece of fabric. A black plastic bag. I knew it immediately.

           “YOU. DIDN’T.” I pried the bag open; my jaw dropped. “Do…do you even know what this means to me?”

           “I know it’s from one of your nerd games. Maybe you wanna tell me about it sometime? I like the looks of it.”

           I removed the pink-and-plaid hoodie from the bag, slipping it on over my dress. (It didn’t match at all. I didn’t care.) “It’s from a character I’m not sure you’d like,” I admitted. “She’s like the sweetest hero. There is literally no evil in her. But she just seems so nice and friendly, and everyone calls her useless, and I love thinking about her potential.”

           “She sounds like you. Except without a fun side.”

           “That’s actually a compliment, believe it or not.”

           He was biting his lip now, fangs almost piercing it, and I could tell he wanted to say more. “What?”

           “…Also, she’s not useless. I’m not…a super fan or anything…but I know she gets that huge moment in the second game when she jumps off the balcony and starts beating up the monsters. And that’s also a lot like you when you get down to it.”

           I lightly slapped his shoulder. “You. FUCKER. You KNEW. And you let me think I was ALONE here?”

           “Look, I’m already hiding the whole dumbass thing!” Giovanni hissed. “You think I can live down being a nerd AND a dumbass AND the guy who cried when she bit it in the third?”

           “Ho…ly…shit. You and I need to have a SERIOUSLY long conversation.”

           “Well, we have some time now. And three hours to pass later.”

           “What about the boys?”

           “We’ll just send them to check out more distractions. They’re probably trying on formal wear right now.”

           (I later found out that was exactly what the bulk of them were doing.)

           “You can get more comfortable if you want,” Giovanni invited. “There’s room.”

           Again, it took me a while to grasp his meaning. He was really trying so hard to climb out of the hole of flustered-ness he’d tripped himself into. I did get it, though. I pulled my legs up onto the mattress, lying down beside him. “Is this too close?”

           “No. It can be closer, you know.”

           I scooted closer to him – pressing right up beside him. His arm came up behind my back, and I shivered as he cradled me there. I pivoted, laying on my side so I could put an arm around him, as well – after all, he was still the one with a shattered leg. And so many more little bruises and marks I could see now that I had better glasses.

           “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

           “Will you cut that out?” he sighed. “It’s really better me than you.”

           My arm pried off him so that I could gently stroke down the side of his face. Looking into his luminous, sparkling eyes. Smoothing down those long, unruly pink locks. He was mine, mine, mine. And my heart would damn near break if I let this happen to him again.

           “I’m not the kind of badass you think I am,” I said hoarsely. Great. Now I was on the verge of crying again. “I don’t have a whole jump-off-the-balcony-and-slice-monsters thing. I just…stood there and watched him beat you up.”

           “I don’t care. You’re valid in so many ways, Composer. Just…stay with me now?”

           “Yes. I will.”

           My arm was replaced over him, protecting him as best I could from what few threats could reach us here in this bed – loneliness, misunderstanding, betrayal.

           “So tell me exactly how many ‘nerd games’ you’ve played,” I said with a playful smirk. Turning it on him for once.

           “Ohhhhh boy,” he sighed. “So this is gonna turn into a pretty long explanation…”

[decaffeinatedcatastrope]

Sorry for not posting much this week, it’s the busy season at my workplace and I’ve been doing 60′s!  Mostly just teaching people how to not be stupid or lazy.

Anyway, have this snippet from the fic-in-progress; Red and Sans meet for the first time.  

aka: Sans is pissed that he got blamed for dumb stuff Red did, got thrown in jail for three days, and wants to ‘talk’ to Red.

aka:  Red thinks Sans is gonna kill him (he’s not) and falls off a roof, and Sans gets threatened with dick biting.

There’s some weird perspective shifts, since Red still thinks of himself as Sans at this point in time.  There’s also some Papyrus being a cutiepie.

warnings:  cursing and injury

‘should be a good haul this time’  Sans thought with a grin, as he practically jingled with loot he’d lifted off random humans around town.  Cash and coins were all well and good, but so many humans only carried those stupid plastic cards protected by PIN codes that were completely useless to him.  So, he’d moved on to sneaking off with watches and jewelry, sometimes whole handbags and even sunglasses.  So many humans owned stupidly expensive pieces of garbage.

The door to the pawn shop beeped as he entered, and the pawn broker, Johan, beamed at him.  He’d become a regular in the past few months, and the shady little shit of a man never questioned exactly where he’d gotten all his loot.  Sans swore he’d stolen the same custom Rolex off three different people already.  But as long as he got paid...

“’ey bud.  got some good stuff for ya.”  Sans sauntered up to the counter and began to empty his pockets.  

The door beeped again, another customer, but no one got in line behind him, so he ignored it.  He was well disguised enough now that he didn’t worry about getting recognized.  Curiously, he plucked a ring out of the pile of shit he’d stolen before the broker could snatch it away.  Thick band, gold with a ruby red gem.  Fake, but pretty.  Some kind of class ring or something, probably not worth much.  

It fit on his middle phalanx nicely, and he just grinned as Johan gave him an incredulous look.  “Cheap.  It suits you.”  He replied, mildly amused.

“fuck you too bud.”  Sans grumbled, also amused.  He felt pretty good today.  Less pain.  Today was gonna be a good--

He jolted as he felt himself being checked, and barely stopped it before it completed.  Whoever had entered the store was a monster, and one with shitty manners at that.  Hardly anyone just randomly checked him anymore, unless he freaked them out.

Curling in on himself, Sans hid his hands in his pockets and looked over his shoulder.  He didn’t see anyone, but he knew they were there.  He could feel them staring daggers into his back.  “...hey, i’ll be outta yer way in a sec.”

Johan was just finishing up the tally on his haul before dumping it all into a box and setting the case full of cash on the desk.  “Alright, I can give you 250 for all of--”

“250?  the fuck man, you know that watch is worth at least a hundred on its’ own.  350.”  Sans snapped.  

Johan rolled his eyes and sighed.  “Fine, you’re right.  300?”  

“fine, you frugal ass.  gimme.  ‘m in a rush.”  Sans held out his hand for the cash, and as soon as Johan was done counting, he turned to leave.   “alright i’m out.  see ya.”

“Until next time, friend!  Maybe rob a Hot Topic this time so you don’t smell so much like a fast food dumpster!”  Johan called after him, laughing.  Sans snarled and flipped him off, before taking all of three steps before he ran right into whoever had checked him.  

Sans glanced down to see his alternate in all his short, shitty glory glaring up at him, his sockets dark.  Welp.  “...hey buddy.  i think you and me need to have a talk.”  Spoke an all too familiar baritone.  Just barely an octave deeper than his own.  

Of course it has to be him.  Fuck this day.  Fuck me.  Just fuck.  Sans paused for just a second before shoving his alternate out of the way and bolting for the door.  

“shit shit SHIT.”  He hissed, slamming through the door and running for the corner, before he felt himself bodily flung against the side of the pawn shop, held there with blue magic.  “fuck, why did it have to be him!”  

“well that was rude.”  Other Sans replied, approaching him cautiously.  His left eye was blazing with magic, and he hardly looked like he was putting any effort into keeping Sans pinned.  It was actually infuriating how easy the weakass bastard made using Blue Magic look.

“the fuck’s your problem, man?  put me down.”  Sans demanded, trying to play the ‘i have no idea what’s going on so you better stop’ card.  Hopefully his hood was keeping his face hidden.  

Other Sans caught his bluff and simply scoffed.

“nah.  you and me, we’re gonna have a chat.  if you behave, maybe i’ll put you down.  but maybe not, since you’ve got some pretty heavy LV going on there.  you’re probably pretty dangerous, actually.”  Other Sans commented.  

Sans flinched.  He’d stopped the check, when had he...?  Oh god, was this Sans also The Judge?  The cold, knowing look he was getting told him that yes, this was The Judge of this world and his ass was getting Judged real hard.

Sans tried to speak, to say something, to do something, but he was panicking.  The way he was now, he was way too weak to do much damage, even backed by strong intent.  But all it would take was one hit, just one, his alternate only had one HP.  But...he didn’t want to do that.  What kind of damage to the timeline would that cause?  What would happen to him if the anomaly reset while he was here?

Other Sans raised a brow bone at his silence.  “...uh, you okay there pal?  you’re looking a little rattled.  heh.”  He asked, sounding almost concerned.  Almost.

‘do something anything fuck fuck FUCK’  Sans’ mind finally screamed at him, and he delved into what little magic he’d stored back up.  His alternate jumped in shock before being thrown across the street into traffic, causing his hold on Sans to falter.  Unfortunately, Sans’ own hold failed not long after, letting his alternate shortcut safely out of the way of a passing truck.

“shit.”  Sans whispered, ducking into the alleyway before forcing himself into his own shortcut.  Just getting on top of the building hurt like a bitch and made his soul scream in protest, and he barely rolled out of the way in time to dodge a set of bones flung at him with surprising accuracy.  For someone with such shitty stats, Other Sans sure seemed to have good aim.  

It took him another moment to realize that now he was actually being attacked by his alternate, and decided he’d probably pissed the smaller skeleton off enough to be worried.  Another set of bones came a second later, and he took off sprinting across the roof.  There was a pop as his alternate appeared behind him, and Sans managed to escape another attempted pin by shoving Other Sans back with his own Blue Magic.  But his alternate barely stumbled.

He was nearly at the edge of the roof when a wall of bones shot up to block him.  Out of instinct, he pulled himself into another shortcut - at least, he tried, before he felt the most god awful stabbing pain in his chest and he screamed.  His magic had refused, and he tumbled into the bone attacks before slipping off the roof.  

Looking back, he barely caught the shocked look on his alternates face before he crashed against the railing of a fire escape, bounced off a closed dumpster, and tumbled onto the asphalt to lie in a heap.  

Everything was pain.  Drawing in air for non-existent lungs was pain.  Trying to moan in pain was pain.  He shuddered and felt the tingle of shortcut magic shoot up his spine, his soul screaming at him for magic he wasn’t using.

“--oh fuck.  i thought you’d shortcut around them, not run right through them, geez.”  His alternate whispered harshly, tentatively reaching out to touch his shoulder.  “i’m sorry, i just--”

Sans snarled, and snapped his teeth in an attempt to bite the little fucker’s hand.  “don’t fuckin’ touch me, you little bitch.”  He hissed.

His alternate pulled back and glared at him.  “wow, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?”  He spat.  “sorry for actually worrying about you, asshole.”  

Sans managed to choke out a laugh.  “y-you should be sorry.  for being a f-fuckin’ creampuff.”  He shook with the effort of talking, and everything was just...pain.  Why did this hurt so much??  “...although, for someone with only 1 ATK, this...hurts.  a lot.”

His alternate actually looked...remorseful?  “that’s because of your LV.  only one attack, but it hits you once for every LV you have.  So, five bone attacks multiplied by your 13 LV--”

“i know basic math, dipshit.” Sans coughed.  He tried to get up, and cried out in agony as his bad arm gave out.  His alternate had the gall to try and hold him down.  

“don’t move, you also took some pretty nasty damage in the fall.  just, uh, don’t try to bite me again.”  Other Sans let him go after a moment, and pulled a monster candy out of his pocket, offering them to him.  “here.”

Sans’ soul clenched at the sight.  He wanted to, he knew that the candy was full of magic he so desperately needed, but he also knew it’d probably kill him at this point.    “god no, please.  no monster food.  i can’t.”  He moaned, almost sobbing.

His alternate pulled back in confusion.  “what?  you need to heal, this’ll--”  

“i know what it does, i just - i can’t take it.  yer fuckin’ creampuff magic is trying to kill me.”  Sans explained.  It didn’t seem to help.  “ugh, i’m not...from here.  this universe.  so turns out, my magic is different enough from yours that they’re incompatible, or some shit.  i dunno...”  He felt something in him give way, and everything went dark for a moment.  But at least the pain stopped.  

Wait, that was probably bad.

“...so you are me.  how did you even - wait don’t fall asleep, you gotta stay - oh fuck.”  

---------

Holy crap, so this was actually Sans’ alternate from another timeline.  Or universe.  An entirely different set of timelines, so different that he said his magic couldn’t even process their food.  And he’d probably just killed him by chasing him off the side of a building.

“paps, it’s near the pawn shop.  yeah, i’m fine.  i’ll explain everything in the car, just hurry.”  Hanging up the phone, he cautiously gave the other skeleton a quick check, since he couldn’t just cheat his way out of it this time.

Sans

LV: 13

ATK: 60 DEF: 10

HP: 12/145

*His bark is worse than his bite.

Sans grimaced.  Just...what kind of twisted hell verse did this guy come from, where any version of himself was forced to have so much LV?  At least his HP seemed to finally stabilize.  He sighed, deciding that there wasn’t much else to do but wait for Papyrus, since he’d figured a shortcut would probably do more damage than good.  

Cautiously, he reached out and touched one of his Other’s distal phalanges.  The ends were slightly darker, curled into barely noticeable claws.  He wore a well-worn leather jacket that held the lingering scent of Dust that he’d hoped would stay in his nightmares.  

And his teeth, they were jagged and pointed, one of them having been knocked clean out at one point to be replaced with a false, gold one.  The bone around the area was still cracked, and Sans hoped that was from the fall rather than being a lingering injury - it wouldn’t scar like that unless it’d had to heal the natural way.  The long and painful way.  

It...hurt, to see someone, anyone, this...worn down.  And yet...he couldn’t ignore that LV.  There was no way anyone got that amount of EXP just by defending themselves.  And yet, his alternate hadn’t attacked him.  Actually, no one had been attacked.  It would’ve been on the news.  And, if he was correct in thinking that this was the suspicious ‘doppelganger’ that’d gotten him thrown in jail for three days for missing curfew too many times, he’d clearly been here for months already.  But where?

Then he realized.  The pawn broker had taunted him about smelling like a dumpster.  He’d...he’d been on the streets for months.  Had resorted to petty thievery to survive.   Was literally starving to dust because of some kind of...magical incompatibility?  Sans jumped when the skeleton in front of him groaned.

“hey, don’t move too much.  you passed out.”  He said, his tone as gentle as possible.  It didn’t stop the doppelganger from jolting and struggling to scoot away from him, staring at him and at his surroundings in confusion.  In complete terror.  

“it’s okay.  you’re okay.”  Sans assured him, and his Other focused on him for a moment before slumping in exhaustion.  Sans noticed his eyelights, the normal ones, were red instead of white.  Maybe another result of his LV twisting his magic?   He certainly recalled Frisk’s eyes having a crimson glint in the bad timelines...

“...ugh.  well, ‘m still alive, so...i’m guessin’ yer not gonna kill me.”  His alternate whispered, his voice hardly audible.  Sans looked heartbroken.  

“no, i’m not going to kill you.  also, what the heck kind of accent is that?”   He asked, genuinely curious.  Maybe he could make light of this situation, kind of put him at ease.  The doppelganger snorted.

“...picked it up off mobster movies, to sound intimidating.  it, uh, kinda stuck.”  He replied quietly, and Sans was surprised to hear just how similar they sounded when his Other got rid of the accent.  Similar, but different enough.

“whoa, that’s...so weird.  to hear you talk in my voice.”  He commented.  

“that’s my voice, you asshole.”  And the accent was back.  Along with the anger.  

Sans shook his head.  “stars, are you what i would’ve sounded like if Paps hadn’t forced the swear jar on me?”  

His Other stared at him in shock, and after a moment he realized it was because he’d mentioned Papyrus.  “do...do you have a Papyrus?”  The doppelganger’s eyelights went out, and he started to shake a little.  Sans backpedaled, holding his hands up in apology.  “hey, s-sorry i mentioned--”

“yeah.  yeah i do.”  His alternate choked on the words.  “i...i was hopin’ to avoid yours.  i miss paps so much.  he’s still...back home.”  

“...oh.  i’m sorry.  i can’t imagine...”

His alternate let out a shuddering sigh.  “it - it’s fine.  he probably doesn’t even care that i’m gone.  probably thinks i’m dust.  he’s better off.”

Whoa.  Hearing that shook Sans to his very soul.  It just sounded so wrong, Papyrus would never just...not care.  About him.  They were brothers.  “that’s not - stop.  don’t think like that, i’m sure he’s worried about you.”  Sans tried to assure him, and his alternate just gave him an empty laugh.

“that’s a nice thought, princess.  i dunno what yer paps is like, but sounds like he’s a lot better than mine...”

“that’s not what i meant, your brother can’t be that--”

“SANS!”  Papyrus ran towards them, before skidding to a stop at the sight of the other skeleton.  “WHAT...SANS, WHAT HAPPENED??”

“it’s...a long story, bro.  just help me get him home, he’s hurt pretty bad.”  Sans said, getting to his feet.  His doppelganger didn’t even try to fight him when he looped an arm around him, he was too busy staring at Papyrus.  

Papyrus shook himself out of his shock to help Sans lift the stranger.  “WHY ARE THEY INJURED??  AND...A SKELETON?”  He asked.  Sans ignored him to wheeze at the effort it took to lift his doppelganger.  

“oof, why the fuck are you so heavy?” He asked, only to wince when Paps glared at him.  “LANGUAGE, SANS!  ...HE IS ODDLY HEAVY FOR A SKELETON.”

“oh for fucks sake, let go of me you absolute fuckin’ weenies.”  Sans’ alternate snarled, and the brothers jumped back in shock.

It took some effort, especially with his injured arm and barely being able to stand, but the doppelganger finally managed to shrug off his jacket.  It landed on the pavement with a disconcertingly heavy ‘thud’, and the brothers looked between the jacket and it’s owner for a few moments before Papyrus reached out to grab Sans’ other before he toppled over again.

“what the heck is that thing lined with, concrete?”  Sans asked incredulously.  

“special metalized-polymer i developed back in my lab days.  stronger than concrete but heavy as shit.”  The doppelganger panted slightly, before yelping when Papyrus picked him up bridal style, his face flushed faintly with red magic.  He seemed so much...smaller without the jacket, too.  More similar to himself.

“WOWIE!  THAT WAS CERTAINLY WHY YOU WERE SO HEAVY, YOU HARDLY WEIGH ANYTHING WITHOUT IT!!”  Papyrus chimed, before heading towards the car.  

Sans looked back at the jacket for brief moment, before turning to follow.  

“you better not leave my fuckin’ jacket back there you dick!”  “LANGUAGE!”

Flinching, Sans rolled his eye lights and retrieved his Other’s coat.  It must’ve weighed 100 pounds, at least.  Thankfully, Paps had the trunk open and he wasted no time hefting the stupid thing into it.  Panting, he headed towards the passenger seat before he noticed his brother shaking his head and pointing to the back.  

“i can’t sit back there, the uh...our friend is back there.”   He said through the door.  

“BECAUSE HE IS INJURED, I DON’T WANT HIM TO ACCIDENTALLY ROLL OFF AND HARM HIMSELF FURTHER.”  

“sooo...?”

“SANS, JUST SIT BACK THERE AND HOLD ONTO HIM, PLEASE.  YOU SAID IT IS URGENT THAT WE GET HIM HOME AND, WELL...”  Papyrus fidgeted shyly.  

“ah, right.”  Paps was...well, to call him a hazard behind the wheel was a understatement.  Sans opened the door to find himself being glared at by his flustered alternate.  “heh...hehe, you’re lookin’ a little red there, bud.”

“shut the fuck up and get in before i die in your brother’s car.”

“PLEASE DO NOT DIE IN MY CAR.  OR ANYWHERE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER.”  Papyrus tensed, upset.  

Sans shoved his alternate further into the car so he could sit and put on his seatbelt.  His other elbowed him in the knee, before scooting back so his skull was resting on Sans’ leg slightly.  Sans raised a brow bone at him curiously.  “...w...what are you doing?”

“makin’ sure i can bite you in the dick if you let me fall on the floor.”  

Sans tensed, his look shifting to one of horror.  “wh - i don’t even have it - what the actual fuck is wrong with you??”  

“LANGUAGE, SANS!  AND DO NOT BITE ANYONE, Uh.”

“...let’s just call him Red, bro.”  

“that’s not my name.”  

“do you wanna tell him your name?  be my guest.”

“...name’s Red.”

“HELLO RED!  PLEASE REFRAIN FROM ACTUALLY BITING ANYONE, ESPECIALLY IN...INAPPROPRIATE PLACES.  LIKE MY CAR.”  

Sans’ doppelganger, now dubbed Red, broke out into wheezy laughter at Papyrus’ statement, before whispering “oh my god, creampuff, he’s precious.”

“Paps can you please just drive?  now??”  Sans hissed, his face dusted with blue.

[apocryphalfemme]

Solum Sonus

The successor to my previous fic Veritas Revelata.  Happy (end of) Pharmercy Week 2018!

Please enjoy below the cut, and see you in the air.

“In fact, when she thinks about it, reasons as to why she shouldn’t be in a relationship begin to pile up.  Orphaned before she began her education.  Jumping so many grades at a time that she was in med school before she hit puberty.  Abused and manipulated by the monster that Overwatch became.  Scarred by a toxic amour who inflicted wounds that still haven’t fully healed.  Scorching her soul and breaking her body to heal others.  Thanks to the hellish cocktail that constitutes her life experience, Angela’s interpersonal skills are about as developed as those of a cinderblock.  Fareeha doesn’t deserve to have to put up with this kind of mess.  Maybe…  Maybe they shouldn’t be together.

The thought shakes Angela to her core.”

Or

While awaiting the solider’s return to Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Angela considers the nature of her relationship with Fareeha.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Ti-

-ck.

“Verdammt.”  The clock is broken.  And Angela is losing her mind.  Every five seconds, the accursed thing hangs for just a moment too long.  It’s absolutely infuriating.  

In truth however, it’s been broken for several weeks now.  Usually she’s so focused on her work that the sound it makes is little more than background noise.  Plus, who pays attention to analog anymore?  Athena keeps time accurate to the zeptosecond displayed on the holopads throughout the Watchpoint.  But that’s besides the point.  For some reason, Angela has not for the life of her been able to ignore the noise today.

Of course, today is no ordinary day.  Today, Fareeha is finally returning to Gibraltar from an extended deployment to Nunavut, Canada.  She’s been gone for two months, two weeks, and four days.  Angela has kept very precise track.  She did try to let the time pass of its own accord, but… well.

Call it a scientific foible.  Call it a neurosis.  Call it whatever you want.   Angela has been eagerly counting down the days to Fareeha’s homecoming this entire time.  Part of her can’t wait to hear all about the progress that’s been made in the frozen north of the Americas.  Part of her just can’t wait to see Fareeha again.  Another, more primal part of her wants to press her girlfriend up against the wall and just-

Wait.

Girlfriend?

Are they… girlfriends?

Angela slouches back in her chair, pinching her brow.  This is the other reason she’s so eager to have Fareeha back home.  Because a mere week and a half after Fareeha first professed her love to Angela, Winston had sent her halfway around the world.  Angela had been livid.  Fareeha needed at least a month to recover and acclimatize to her new prosthetic leg.  But mainly, she was angry because they’d never had a chance to… talk.

Oh, sure, they’ve called each other during their separation, almost every day.  But they have yet to take the time to discuss the nature of their relationship and where it’s going to go.  Especially in light of Fareeha’s confession.  To be fair though, neither of them are particularly good at this sort of thing, even under normal circumstances.  Fareeha, charged with the burden of command, is always so very busy marshaling their forces, or organizing briefings, or allocating resources.  And Angela is no better.  She practically lives in her lab.  Sometimes literally.  Though she’s now begun to make an effort to venture out into the world, usually with Fareeha, almost all of her time is still consumed with the fabrication of the pico-structure of new strands of nanite, or the refinement of older surgical impedimenta, or endless experiment documentation, or… something.  There’s always something.  So whenever the two of them are alone together, they’re loath to do anything but simply be; to exist in tandem away from the pressures of responsibility.  There had been months, months of skirting around what they meant to each other before Fareeha’s near-death experience had forced them to broach the topic.  So while they very clearly are something, Angela’s not sure either of them knows what.

And even then, what is that something?  What exactly is the foundation of their relationship?  Fareeha has made it very clear that she’s in love with Angela, desperately so.  Does she love Fareeha in return?  She thinks so.  But the thing is, Angela isn’t good at relationships, she knows this for a fact.  The only other romantic connection she’s ever had was…  Well.  Frankly, it was the relationship equivalent of dumpster fire, and certainly not a confidence builder in terms of her ability to have a healthy relationship with a partner.  The last thing she wants to do is hurt Fareeha by jumping into something that she isn’t prepared for.  

In fact, when she thinks about it, reasons as to why she shouldn’t be in a relationship begin to pile up.  Orphaned before she began her education.  Jumping so many grades at a time that she was in med school before she hit puberty.  Abused and manipulated by the monster that Overwatch became.  Scarred by a toxic amour who inflicted wounds that still haven’t fully healed.  Scorching her soul and breaking her body to heal others.  Thanks to the hellish cocktail that constitutes her life experience, Angela’s interpersonal skills are about as developed as those of a cinderblock.  Fareeha doesn’t deserve to have to put up with this kind of mess.  Maybe…  Maybe they shouldn’t be together.

The thought shakes Angela to her core.

She also knows that’s the last thing she wants.  Even if she knew for certain that leaving Fareeha would be the best thing for the soldier, Angela’s not sure she could do it.  Fareeha is always there for her, always dropping everything to help Angela through the fire.  It’s selfish, she knows but…  Angela moans quietly, holding her head in her hands.  For ten and a half weeks these thoughts have whirled unceasingly through her mind.  On some level, she doesn’t even want to have this conversation, doesn’t want to be thinking about this in the first place.  Honestly, all she really wants is…

Fareeha.  What she wants is Fareeha.  When she wakes, when she dreams, at the forefront of her mind is always, always Fareeha.

Why do they need labels?  Why can’t they just be together?

Enervated, she checks the time, and jumps when she reads the digits on the holopad.  03:45 AM.  Fareeha’s flight is slated to touchdown in fifteen minutes.  She glares at the report in front of her.

“Screw this,” she mutters.

Pulling her lab coat over her shoulders, she’s out the door without a second glance at her shambolic desk.  She can file that report later and Athena can kill the lights.  Angela’s got somewhere she needs to be.

Winding through the empty halls of the Watchpoint, she decides to push her perturbation to the side, if only for the time being.  For Fareeha’s sake.  The soldier’s probably exhausted and the last thing they should do at this hour is have a conversation about the nature of their relationship.  So when Fareeha gets off the dropship, Angela will greet her with a warm, yet calm demeanor.  Maintain composure.  Perhaps invite her back to her quarters and treat her to a well deserved hot meal, if she feels up to it.

Eventually, Angela pushes through the industrial double doors to the landing pad.  She hugs herself for warmth, shivering as the cold night air of Gibraltar nips through her clothing.  Why the hell do they make lab coats so ridiculously thin?  She looks at her watch.  Arrival in T-minus 2 minutes.  Surrounded by slumbering aviation machinery, Angela waits anxiously.  

All at once, a dropship roars overhead, swinging around in the sky before commencing touch down.  They’re here.  The engines thrum thunderously, whipping the air as the craft sinks to the landing pad, causing her coat to billow wildly behind her.  She starts to fidget with the high neck of her sweater, and slaps her hand when she realizes she’s doing so.

Remember.  Composure.  For Fareeha’s sake.

The colossal VTOL thrusters proceed to cool off and the loading ramp begins to extend.  Angela scans the people disembarking, trying to catch a glimpse of golden loops braided in sable hair.  First come the team members who were deployed.  They’re clearly exhausted and quickly filter off the landing pad to bed.  Then the freight unloads itself, running on automated protocols.  And finally comes… the flight crew.  Laughing, joking after a long haul across the Pacific.  They wave cheerfully in her direction, but quickly depart when the pilot suggests they go get drunk in town.  

The landing pad falls quiet.  

Angela’s poise falters.  

Where is she?

And like an answer to a prayer, Captain Amari abruptly appears at the top of the ramp hauling her oversized duffle bag, yawning into the back of her hand.  She’s here.  She’s home.  Angela tries to call out, but her voice sticks in her throat as she stares for the first time in weeks at the strapping woman sauntering down the ramp.

But when Fareeha catches sight of her, the soldier falls stock-still.  Their eyes lock.  For several long, heavy moments, neither of them move.  And then Fareeha is letting her duffle bag fall to the ground, starting to sprint in Angela’s direction.  Angela’s composure flies out the god-damn window.  Suddenly, she’s running across the tarmac, in her heels no less, to meet Fareeha halfway.

They collide solidly, arms wrapping tightly around each other.  She buries her head in Fareeha’s chest and feels strong arms curl further around her back, pulling her close.  Warmth floods Angela’s body, eradicating the chill.  Silence reigns, interrupted only by shaking breaths.  

Until Fareeha finally speaks, tremulous voice muffled in Angela’s hair.

“I missed you.”

Angela almost laughs, but emotion chokes her.

“I missed you.”

Again, silence falls.  

Well.  Not quite silence.  

In Angela’s ears, Fareeha’s heart beats powerfully.  It grounds her like an anchor, focusing her in the here and now.  The worry, the doubt, the fear melts away, immaterial.  Suddenly, clarity strikes Angela like lightning.  She knows what she has to say.  She knows exactly what to say.  Gently, she leans back in Fareeha’s embrace before reaching up to take the woman’s head in her hands.  She gazes into kind ochre eyes and speaks, quiet but unafraid.

“Fareeha, I want to be with you, but I don’t know how.  I’ve never… Never before have I felt about someone the way I feel about you.  Never so strongly.  It scares me a little, and I would be lying if I said I knew how a future together would play out.  I am far, far from perfect.  It will not be easy.  But I do want to be with you.  If you’ll have me.”

Fareeha doesn’t even hesitate.  In lieu of speaking, she pulls Angela close once more, the taller woman leaning down to kiss her fervently.  It’s exactly the answer Angela had hoped for.

Minutes pass before she breaks away to breathlessly speak.

“Now come to bed.  You must be exhausted.”

Fareeha’s eyes twinkle mischievously.

“Why Angela, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were propositioning me,” she teases softly.

Angela snorts and lightly cuffs Fareeha on the chest.

“You are shameless, you know that?”

The soldier goes to retrieve her duffle, calling over her shoulder,

“I only do it because you’re cute when you blush!”

Angela feels herself redden, a fact that has Fareeha grinning when she returns to wrap an arm around Angela’s shoulders.  She slips her own arm around Fareeha’s waist, and they slowly walk towards the doors to the Watchpoint.

“Fareeha Amari, I swear…”

“Oh you know you love it.”

She’s right.

Angela does love it.  

She loves it all.

She pulls Fareeha a little closer as they walk to try to show her just how much love she feels.  Things may not be perfect.  But with Fareeha by her side, Angela feels at peace.  Finally, at peace.  Together, once more.

[tylerwritez]

3:38 p.m. Wednesday June 30 2021

Song reccomendation:

Hey guys. We went to the mall again because it's too hot to go outside. I l1fted a bit but I did buy a blue and purple tie dyed tank top for summer and a Slayer shirt from the hot topic.

We had funsies, me and my friend were chatting and stuff. Not much to say.

I'm feeling sucky now cos we got lunch at the italianos store and I wanted to get Dulce De Leche because what's the point of going to the italianos if ur leaving with NO dulce de leche....?? Its so yummy. My mom said yes but my 11 YEAR OLD SISTER LIKE FLIPPED OVER THE CAN AND READ OFF THE GRAMS OF SUGAR AND CALORIES!!!!! liKE WHAT??? ITS NONE OF UR BUSINESS JESUS!!!!!! thanks for triggering my uh disordered eating...  cos after that I wanted to cry and I just put the can back and remembered how fat I am and I ALMSOT HAD A BREAKDOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE LIKE IT WAS THE WORST FEELING...

Now I'm worried about my CaLoRieS and jesus it's the worst feeling... thanks sister who is eleven and REALLY MEAN?? she literally calls me short fat and ugly all the time... I think my mom and sister make me the most insecure. My mom is always ragging on what I eat how much I eat what time I eat it's the WORST PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE???? like I'm trying. You think I don't ALREADY feel bad??? Like okay way to shame your HEALTHY BMI (bmi 22) child for... eating a sandwich for lunch? I can't even. Like YEAH IM A BIT CHUBBY BUT IT HURTS MY FEELINGS FOR Y'ALL TO POINT IT OUT COS IVE BEEN INSECURE MY WHOLE LIFE AND I JUST CAN'T EVEN. I CAN'T.

.... but we had fun at the mall. So yeah.

I think I ended up l1fting like, a choker, some masks (for covid), fake nails (for my sister), and some hair bands (since my hair is crazy in the morning and always gets in my eyes)

Also some mentos XD but I won't be eating those since I feel like shitttt thanks family ily ♡ /s no I don't

Also that stuff I was talking about being upset over the divorce? Last night? I'm better now so dw.

.... I'm ravenously hungry right nowwww  but. We are going to ignore that. Because hungry is good. Itz good to be hungry it means you're on the right track and if you stay hungry long enough you DO lose weight. You just gotta stay hungry. ALSO, ALSO IM TRYING TO AVOID BLOATING because if I bloat then I get insecure with no top on,,, and it's hot out, so what I wanna do is keep my tummy flat ALL DAY so I can wear like just my sports bra or smthn... i hate saying that I'm wearing a bra but like thAt's what it is if I called it anything else I'd confuse you.

If you're on this blog for the first time,,, I'm MALE, so like don't just assume I'm a girl.

I feel like I dont pass enough but also I dont really mind? Like people keep calling me a girl but I dont see it? I personally dont think I look feminine??

.... I guess when I'm naked... JAY.

and when I dont bind, and my voice, but that's about it.

Also uhm. I'm kinda a kleptomaniac. I'm gonna check the diagnostic criteria for that because... I sorta l1ft every time I go out. Even if I dont NEED anything. It's not a problem, since I'm not getting caught, but it's still a CRIME and I should try and slow it down a bit.

At least I'm not HAULING as much as I used to.... I would FILL my mfing backpack, bro. I would go nuts. So I gotta try n be more careful so I don't get caught. I take too many risks... sex!!!!, theivery!!!!, and light drugs.

But isnt that what being 15 is about? Idk. I'll post pics of what I l1fted to my l1fting blog after I remove the metadata/exit data (location data) so I don't get doxxed...

Also I dont know if I told yall this but I might get contact lenses :) I think glasses make me look ugly so i dont wanna wear em. Also i hate having em on my face all the time it's just plain annoying.

4:18 p.m. update: okay so we're going home.

My mom is being kinda annoying shes like mocking me... Whateverrrrrrrrr idc. Jay is at his friends house rn, Eden is busy and Erin proabably won't come if Eden doesn't come so I guess I'm resigned to biking alone tonight.... probabaly after I pack all my shit of course.

11:20 a.m. update:

I didn't end up going biking... we took the bottles to the bottle depot, I got 20 bucks, and so did my sister even though she didnt even come :P

I got home and just went online. I was scouring Encyclopedia Metallum for any good active local metal bands that I could potentially see live in a concert in my city! 

I ate okay today, kinda ate more than I intended to before I slept because I was so hungry :| willpower 0 (zero)

Anyways I ate to maintain today :/ which is okay I guess.

I'm a bit upset since my dad was crying about the divorce and like I tried to comfort him and said it's okay to cry and stuff but... MAN THATS PAINFUL.... and like... shouldnt it be the other way around? I hate this. I hate everyone feeling bad. And I hate having to be so grown up.

Oh well... I was always the hound of hell, not the lamb of god.

4:15 a.m. update

Everyone wants to hang out with me XD so I gotta ask about that

Roadtrip soon.

Idk, not much to say.

I'm uh, listening to MUSIC right now. I love music and I wanna play bass again. I also feel very insecure and want to cut my junk off so that's fun.

:P

Goodnight ig

[baby-blossoms]

The Tree

Evan Hansen x Reader

Warnings: Reader is not specifically a boy or girl. Alana x Zoe is canon in this. Unedited and written nonstop from 9:00 pm to 3:00 am and I think that should be a warning in itself, Evan’s suicide attempt mentioned, some light cursing, nothing else I think, but tell me if you find anything that should be in the warning section

Character Count: 23,868

Summary: Evan Hansen Soulmate AU where you can feel the physical pain your soulmate feels, and you have a small tattoo on your wrist of what your soulmate is currently most passionate about. You just moved into town and its basically your first day of senior year and you meet Evan, your soulmate, yay! It also has a really flufftastic cheesy ending so don’t read it if you’re not into that, my friend.

   A little tree... A little oak tree to be specific. You’ve had a little oak tree on your wrist for the past eight years. Before an oak tree it was a music note, before that it was ice cream, and even before that it was many little kid things, like trucks and airplanes and dinosaurs. But apparently your soulmate was dead set on trees. Your mom had long since explained to you why a damn ice cream cone was on your wrist for months, and apparently it was what your soulmate was most passionate about, she also explained why you’d have sudden waves of pain, and why you sat sobbing in the middle of a park, clutching your arm a few months ago. Soulmates feel each others pain, nothing else, just pain, because the universe was a cruel and strange place.

 You often sat and wondered what your soulmate had on his wrist, you were passionate about a lot of things, so maybe it just rapidly changed every couple of days. You wondered how they felt about that, maybe they thought you were too indecisive, or maybe they thought it was funny… You had kept a journal of everything your soulmate was most passionate about since you could remember, you wondered if they did the same. You wondered about them a lot, you could probably write a list of all the things you wondered about them through the years alongside their passions.

 “Y/N!”

You were abruptly pulled out of your thoughts by your mom quickly shoving the last box from the U-Haul into your arms, casting you an annoyed glace.

  “Yeah, sorry mom.” You mumbled, trudging to your room upstairs, and dropping the box unceremoniously on the hardwood floor.

  Flopping down onto your unmade bed, you groaned, holding your head in your hands as you peered at all the boxes you had to unpack. Moving to Pennsylvania (A/N: oh gosh I have no idea where DEH takes place so I just picked the first state with beautiful trees that came to mind) was stupid, starting a new school was stupid, life was just stupid right now. The only bright side to this dumb move is that your dad got a raise along with it.  

 Grumbling to yourself, you took the nearest scissors, opening the first box of many to unpack. After about five unpacked boxes you looked at your large handwriting on the side of each box, every single one was labeled “Y/N’s stuff” which was not helpful in the slightest if you were trying to find something specific. You sighed heavily, annoyed at your past self. You angrily took a bite of the slice of pizza your mom had delivered to you around the middle of unpacking box number four. She had then delivered the delightful news that she was taking you to register for your new school the next day at seven in the damn morning. You weren’t elated to say the least. After days of driving across the freaking US, you weren’t keen on going right back to school and you had hoped she’d maybe give you a few days to adjust. You should’ve known, that was nothing like your mother.

  Heavily sighing to yourself you set up your bathroom so you could take a shower before you had to sleep. Unfortunately, setting up said bathroom proved to be a hell of a lot harder than you had thought it would be. Finding the shower curtain was an adventure, but finding your suitcase under the pile of random things you had created by unpacking proved to be an intense workout session. Sweat was nearly dripping off your face when you finally struggled the heavy suitcase out from under a major pile of art supplies and an old karaoke machine that you had yet to assemble and couldn’t fathom why you still had.

   Finally taking a proper shower in your new house was a paradise compared to the low pressure odd smelling showers you had seen throughout the trip. The Kansas hotel was probably the worst, and you shuddered just thinking of it. After your shower you looked around your room, frowning at how bare and bland the walls were. You hung about every single one of your paintings on the walls, grinning to yourself at the intense barrage of colors anyone would get when entering your room.

 The next morning you threw on a dark green baggy sweatshirt that you practically drowned in, it was old and worn out, and the small tree printed on the front was slowly fading away. You had bought the sweatshirt because it was soft and the tree reminded you of your soulmate, which never failed to make you smile. Plus, it was one of the only things you owned that wasn’t paint splattered, seeing as you were passionate about painting, once you got into one of your paintings you didn’t really care about the mess, resulting in endless angry sighs from your mother as she tried to scrub the already dried paint away. Quickly you shoved on a pair of jeans, which of course were covered in multiple shades of green paint, because even if your clothes were messy, worn, and covered in paint, you still liked to match.

    Soon you were off to your new school, and you couldn’t find an ounce of enthusiasm about it. Trudging into the office, you caught a glimpse of a group of kids staring at you intently, your eyebrows furrowed as you blushed and quickly turned away, trying to keep up with your mom.

  After a short and very boring meeting, you finally tuned in when the counselor said,

  “Well it’s her first day with us, and our first class is advisory,” she checked the clock, “and it’s just going to end, so I can go ahead and give her a schedule right now and send her with a buddy so she can see all her classes today if you want!” you were seconds away from protesting when your mom quickly said,

“Oh, Y/N would love that, wouldn’t you, sweetie? I’ll pick you up after school at 3:05, I love you honey!”

she was practically pulling out of the school parking lot by the time you had processed everything she said.

“Um,” you glanced at the counselor, who was smiling sweetly at you, “well, thank you...”

  You cringed, not knowing what to say. She simply nodded, printing out your schedule and calling in a “reliable” student. A girl you assumed was also a senior practically floated into the room a few minutes later, she smiled at you kindly, thrusting her hand out for you to shake. You noticed she had what looked to be an ‘A+’ for a soulmate marking. Grinning, you knew instinctively that she was definitely not your soulmate.

“Hi, I’m Alana, and welcome to your new wonderful High School! I’ll be sort of ghosting around you today to make sure you get to all your classes on schedule and don’t get lost!”

Her beaming smile was almost blinding, and you shot back a crooked grin, introduced yourself in return.

 Alana practically dragged you down the hallway to your first class of the day. She sucked in a bit of air through her teeth,

  “Unfortunately for you, Y/N, you’ll be sharing this class with Jared Kleinman, and Connor Murphy.” A small smile tugged at her cheeks when she said softly, “On the bright side you’ll be sharing it with Zoe Murphy,” you watched her eyes flicker to her wrist for a short moment. “Connor is her brother, and I’m in this class too, so you won’t have to worry about a place to sit!”

You both paused outside of the classroom as you analyzed her face for a moment,

 “You were staring at me earlier weren’t you?”

Her smile turned slightly bashful as she said,

“Yeah, sorry about that, Evan pointed out your hoodie so we all looked at the same time, that must’ve been weird for you.”

You laughed lightly as you shook your head,

“No, that’s okay, it was just surprising.”

   Alana nodded, opening the door to the classroom quietly. What you thought was going to be a nice and quiet entrance was abruptly ruined when Alana bounded into the room, dragging you along while calling out to the teacher,

 “Sorry we were late, Mr. Destler! This is a Y/N, she’s new to the school, and transferred here from California!” the teacher glowered at her for a moment for interrupting his class, then nodded his head at you in greeting, and continued his lesson. Your face must’ve been bright red as Alana lead you to her group, a girl with a kind smile, light brown hair, and a floral dress caught your attention first. Mainly because said girl beamed at Alana as soon as she saw her.

    Alana took the empty seat beside her, and to her left sat a scowling boy with longer dark hair, he glanced toward you with indifference for a moment before going back to mindlessly doodling in his notebook. You sighed softly as you sat down at the opposite side of the table, next to a paler boy with glasses and a wide grin.

“I’m the insanely cool Jared Kleinman.”

You quirked an eyebrow before muttering,

“What a title. I’m Y/N.”

His grin faltered for a moment at your less that enthusiastic greeting, but he smiled again as he asked,

“Yeah I heard when Alana dragged you in. So it’s just Y/N? No last name?”

  You sighed quietly as you whispered your full name, quickly pulling out your sketchbook as Jared took it upon himself to introduce the rest of the group.

“Well Hot Topic over there is Connor Murphy, and part two of the lovebird extravaganza is Zoe Murphy, his sister. You’ve obviously met Alana, so you should know by now they’re soulmates.”

 You chuckled softly as you glanced up to see them whispering and smiling to each other.

“I guess they’re lucky they met so young.”

   You said absentmindedly as you pulled out your colored pencils. Deciding to add to your nature page, you started a sketch of a cherry blossom tree, the page already crowded with them.

 “So, you like trees? I have a friend you might get along with.”

Jared said, his voice betraying his boredom with the subject. You chewed your lip thoughtfully for a moment before quickly whispering,

 “I like to paint, draw, and look at nature. I don’t love interacting with it too much.” Shrugging, you continued, “My soulmate likes oak trees, so I guess I do too by default.”

You held out your wrist for Jared to see, then flipped through your sketchbook.

“Well, we can get that right off the table then, we’re definitely not soulmates.”

You snorted a soft laugh as you started a new sketch of a cat.

  “So what’s your soulmate into then, Jared?”

  You glanced up to find him grinning ever so softly as he showed you his wrist proudly. A small video game controller was printed onto it. You glanced at the boy across from you, Connor as he scoffed, glowering at you and Jared.

“Can people survive ten minutes without droning on about their soulmates? We get it, everyone has one, you’re not special.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as you shot back,

“Oh sorry, we were just trying to have some conversation, what would you like to talk about, Edgelord? How about you feeling high and mighty because you’re not into soulmates, when really; you’re not special.”

 Your eyes narrowed as he avoided eye contact. Finally, he sighed in defeat and held out his wrist for you to see a small bunny printed on it. You couldn’t help but smile at Connor as a small laugh escaped your lips.

 “Now, that’s adorable.”

  You could see Connor visibly biting back a smile as he lowered his wrist and continued to sketch. The rest of the period was filled with Mr. Destler’s lessons on vocal chords, and Alana and Zoe’s giggles and side remarks.

   You furrowed your eyebrows as you peered at your schedule when the bell rang, your next period was art 4, but the class after that had you confused.

 “Alana, I think there’s a mistake, I never signed up for Gardening.”

Alana nodded in sympathy,

 “Yeah, you probably requested a class that’s too full, like pottery or oil painting, they put you into the least full elective as a default. Hey, on the bright side I’m pretty sure there’s only one other kid in that class with you.” She frowned thoughtfully for a moment, “On the down side he loves that class the most because he’s surrounded by nature and no one is there to bother him… Evan has really bad anxiety, so just… I don’t know, don’t think he’s weird or anything, he’ll eventually warm up to you and it’ll be easier for him to talk to you.”

You nodded for a moment before asking,

“Is the gardening teacher there too, or?”

Alana laughed,

 “You’ll soon see how small our school is, Y/N. The Gardening teacher, she teaches Girls Soccer and got stuck teaching that class. She hates it and usually finds an excuse to get out of there. Poor Evan is too scared to say anything, so you’ll most likely be alone with him every other day during third.”

     You laughed along with her as you walked to your next class along side Connor, who apparently also really loves art. During your art period with him and Alana you learned that Connor was also very talented with copic markers and digital art. You couldn’t help but be slightly jealous, as you had tried digital art for months on end to no avail. Normal pencil sketches or acrylic paints were more your line of expertise. Connor promised to teach you little tricks and tips with digital art if you promised to do the same with acrylic paints. You practically threw yourself across the table to hug him and quickly agreed.

 After art Alana led you outside to a beautiful greenhouse filled with thriving plants, all different types of flowers surrounded you as you walked around in awe.

You spun around abruptly as you heard a quiet voice,

  “Alana? What are you doing in the greenhouse, I mean, not that I mind, I just thought you have AP Physics right now with Zoe…”

You peeked your head around a rather large Hibiscus bush, and waved shyly to who you assumed was Evan. His eyes grew wide and his cheeks reddened as he hesitantly waved back.

  “Evan, this is Y/N! She transferred here from California and is in this class with you. Cool, right?”

Alana grinned at you, and Evan replied a few seconds later,

“Oh, yeah… that- that is really, um, cool.”

You turned to keep analyzing the flowers, holding back laughter at his less than honest response. You smiled at his attempt at being polite nonetheless.

 “Okay I know this is a really bad time to legitimately turn into a ghost, but I have a test in physics right now and I really can’t afford to miss it. I’ll come back at the end of the period, but meanwhile you two get to know each other! Have fun and do some, um…” she paused for a moment before weakly cheering out, “do some gardening!”

 You smiled at her as she bolted out of the greenhouse, trying to make it to physics before the bell rang. A tree sapling caught your attention, two bags of mulch lay beside it, and it desperately needed replanting. Without thinking, you strolled over to it and read the label, it was a Scarlet Oak Tree. You smiled softly to yourself,

 “Scarlet Oak, my second favorite.”

You jumped slightly when you heard Evan behind you, closer than you thought, asking,

 “You have a favorite tree?”

Your face flushed as you turned to look at him, getting up, you brushing yourself off and grinned at him.

“Yeah, I really love Cherry Blossom trees.” You rubbed the back of your neck as Evan quickly responded,

 “Oh, that probably sounded like I thought you were weird or something- which I don’t! I have a favorite tree too, it was just pleasantly surprising to find someone else who, um… you know... also has a favorite tree…”

He trailed off, his eyes darting away from yours as he played with the hem of his shirt. You seemed only notice his cast right then, and was pushed back into the memory of sitting in the middle of the park crying over your arm.

  “Your arm.”

You stated dumbly. Evan jumped ever so slightly, like he didn’t expect you to talk to him again, he raised his casted arm, nodding.

“Um, yeah, its broken.” He blinked hard, his face tinting red, “That’s probably why you pointed it out though, cause you can see that it’s broken.”

You nodded slightly,

   “Sorry, it just…” you shook your head, “Never mind.”

You didn’t want to just outright say, hey are you my soulmate? Cause that’s weird, right? I mean hundreds of people must break their arm every day.

“Oh, did your soulmate break their arm?” Evan’s eyes widened, apparently he didn’t realize he had said it out loud until it was too late, “oh, sorry forget that- wow that was weird, I shouldn’t have brought it up because that’s such an awkward thing to bring up! Soulmates, I mean, obviously not breaking arms.”

  You smiled softly at him, picking up the sapling as you started to walk toward the doors.

“That’s okay Evan,” you assured, “I don’t know my soulmate, so I don’t really know. I just felt a lot of pain in my arm a few months ago.”

Evan nodded as he followed you,

  “Oh okay, that’s cool… I mean not the arm breaking pain part or the not knowing your soulmate- I guess its not really cool actually.”

You laughed, glancing back at him as you set down the sapling in what you deemed to be the perfect place to plant it.

 “I guess not. So how did you, you know, break your arm?”

His eyes darted down to his arm, then to the ground.

 “I was climbing a tree this summer, and I kind of… fell.”

You tilted your head, an eyebrow raised.

“How do you kind of fall?”

You asked, and poor Evan’s cheeks grew even more red, his eyebrows furrowed as he replied.

“Oh, well I stepped on a branch that I thought could hold my weight but, well, it couldn’t.”

You grinned slightly at that, finishing up planting the sapling.

 “Well, I’m sorry you fell out of a tree, Evan, it doesn’t sound fun. I know if it hurt as much as my wrist did when my soulmate broke their arm, then it not only doesn’t sound fun, but it is indeed not fun.”

Evan smiled shyly,

“No, it really wasn’t fun.”

You wiped the dirt off your hands, holding one out for Evan to shake. He stared at it for a moment before processing what you wanted. He let out a soft ‘Oh!’ then wiping his hand nervously on his khakis. He shook your hand gently and smiled at you.

   “It’s nice to formally meet you, Evan! I’m Y/N Y/L/N, and I love painting and autumn.”

You glanced down at his wrist out of instinct and did a double take when you saw a small print of one of the favorite paintings you’ve ever made, half-finished on his wrist. You recoiled, your eyes probably as wide as saucers, you didn’t know you were going to meet your soulmate today. You thought you would meet him in your twenties or early thirties like most everyone else. You weren’t prepared and didn’t know how to react to meeting him now. Your stomach twisted into a knot as he gazed wide eyed at you,

 “Did- did I do something?”

You quickly shook your head,

 “No, you’re... you’re totally fine, Evan.”

 When you heard the bell ring in the distance, it jolted you into motion, and you briskly walked away.

  “Y/N?”

He called weakly after you, but you were already halfway through the doors, practically sprinting down the hallway. You frantically searched for Alana, or Jared, just anyone you knew.

 “Hey, Y/N, what’s the rush?” Jared called from behind you. “You look like you just saw Freddy Krueger walk out of your daydream.”

Jared smirked at you as you practically smacked into him.

  “Oh my god, thank god I found you Jared, I just had- I… just take me to my next class, please.”

You sighed in defeat, not knowing how to feel or what to say as Jared looked over your schedule.

“Oh okay, cool, you have next period with me! What did you lose Alana in your sonic dash?”

  You shook your head,

“It’s a long story, believe me.”

It wasn’t a long story, really. Evan was your soulmate and you found out last period, and you were so scared that you practically ran away from him before he could know any better. It was that easy to say, but you were too ashamed of your reaction to admit the truth. Now what were you to do? You lost Alana, and Evan, your soulmate, probably thinks you’re a psychopath... Did you mention the part where your soulmate probably thinks you’re a psychopath?

  Arriving at your next class, you breathed a sigh of relief. Environmental Science, now that should be a breeze. You nearly screamed when Alana abruptly grabbed your shoulder and spun you around, frowning in a mom friend type of manner.

“You couldn’t wait for me? Evan was practically having an anxiety attack trying to figure out what he did wrong. I told you to go easy on him, didn’t I? Gosh, it’s a good thing I printed out a second copy of your schedule just in case something like this happened.”

She sighed, briefly waving the copy of your own schedule at you before continuing.

“Anyway, let’s go in, you’ll sit with Jared and Evan this period, I assume?”

Your heart must have stopped beating.

“Evan?”

You felt all color drain from your face, and Alana arched an eyebrow,

  “Seriously, Y/N, what happened last period? You’re acting like he threatened to burn down your house or something.”

You shook your head, gluing your eyes to the floor as you stumbled into class after Alana. The period was long and painful, mostly consisting of you and Evan catching each other staring and cringing, both your faces beet red, while Jared and Alana both witnessed this. They looked to each every so often, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

 When lunch finally came around, you decided to go see how the sapling was doing instead of sitting with your new friends. You didn’t want to explain why you couldn’t stand to make eye contact with Evan for more than two seconds without shrinking into yourself.

  “Y/N?”

This time you did scream in surprise when you were abruptly turned around by Alana. You were met with Zoe, Jared, Connor, and Alana all staring at you, Evan lingered n the back, looking at anything but you.

“We want to know what’s going on. You were totally fine with us until you met Evan and now you won’t talk to any of us.”

You glanced around, trying to calculate the fastest escape route.

“Don’t even try it, I have much longer legs than you.”

Connor grumbled, noticing your darting eyes.

 “Well, I…”

You cringed, your face bright red as you ranted out.

“Evan and I are soulmates, and I didn’t expect to meet him for at least five more years so I wasn’t ready today. I kind of panicked, and now I’m scared he thinks I’m a freak, so I kind of just avoided you all because with you comes Evan and…”

You blinked a few times, looking at all their shocked faces.

“W-We’re soulmates?”

Evans eyes were wide, tears making his eyes glisten as he stared at you, taking in every feature of the person he was destined to be with.

“Your wrist print is one of my paintings.”

You laughed, almost in disbelief as you both held out your wrists for the other to see.

 “Holy shit.”

Connor mumbled.

 “Fucking called it.”

Jared said smugly.

“Come on, lets give them some privacy.”

Alana beamed at Zoe, probably thinking about how they met only last year. As soon as they were gone, you tackled Evan in a hug. He fell to the ground with a thump, and slowly hugged you back.

 “I’m sorry… I just didn’t know how to react, I didn’t know you were going to be so beautiful and I felt so many emotions that I haven’t before. I didn’t know what to do so I just...”

Evan cut you off as he whispered in awe,

“Can… can I kiss you?”

His face was red and blotchy, tears still sparkling in his eyes when you finally broke too, bursting into tears and nodding, kissing him softly. You pulled away from the kiss a short while later, holding each other as you finally whispered,

“I was so excited to meet you, I kept a journal of every single passion that appeared on my wrist.”

Evan replied by practically sobbing. You slowly wiped away his tears, and kissed his cheek, helping him calm down.

“What’s wrong, Evan?”

He finally managed to respond after a few minutes.

“I lied.”

You shook your head in confusion,

  “About what?”

“I didn’t fall out of the tree, Y/N. I climbed to the top of the highest tree I could find and let go.” He paused, watching your reaction, “I never thought I would be good enough, I didn’t think I deserved a soulmate, I was so scared you wouldn’t like me, I never thought you would care so much.”

This time it was your turn to cry again as you hugged him tighter than you’d ever held anyone in your life. You promised him you would never stop caring, and that you would never stop loving him, he didn’t need to change for you.

 “I love you Evan Hansen, because you are you, and for me that will always be enough.”

--

@courfeyracs-swordcane

(A/N: oops thats a cheesy ending sorry its 3 am and i want to sleep at least i didnt kill him off lol)

[legocitytoys]

Today we get to share exciting news with you. We have the brand new Hot Topic exclusive Disney Dumbo mystery box. It is filled with exclusive Funko Dumbo surprises. From Pop figures to pens to pins & more. Let's see what you can find inside this awesome collector box. #HotTopic #Disney #Funko **Thanks to Hot Topic for sending this to us for review. All opinions expressed are our own.** Join the PSToyReviews Crew - subscribe here **************************************************************************************************** Welcome to PSToyReviews where Paul, Shannon & Simon the cat open all kinds of fun toys. We love blind bags here including Shopkins, Disney, My Little Pony MLP, LOL Surprise, squishies, Lego & tons of others. We also love hidden surprise eggs & mystery toys. You will find us opening unboxing toys, playsets and all sorts of kids toys including reviews, play & arts & crafts fun. Don’t forget bath bombs or slime either because it’s so much fun. Leave a comment while you are here, we love hearing from our fans. **************************************************************************************************** Other Places To Find Us For custom shoutouts visit us here **************************************************************************************************** Check Out Some Of Our Other Videos In Playlists Shopkins - all seasons, Playsets, Shoppies Blind Bag Treehouse Episodes Paul vs Shannon - Who Will Win? Bath Bombs Fizzies Play-Doh Surprise Eggs & Challenges Blind Bags Paloozas Disney Fun Including Princesses Arts & Crafts (Crayola Coloring, custom DIY Shopkins & more) Toy Hunting, Surprise Presents & Hauls **************************************************************************************************** Don’t forget to like, subscribe and share our channel with your friends. This way we can keep bringing you even more videos. :-) **************************************************************************************************** Business inquires only pstoyreviewsofficial@gmail.com ****************************************************************************************************

[that-one-viet-writer]

Suffering Success (F)

Genre: Fluff

WC: 1918

Muse Seungyeon of Uniq

TW: Financial problems? 

A/N: I’ve had this idea for a while now. Its kinda based off a true story? Like the luck of the friendship has happened and I just thought it was a good story, but I turned it into a one shot. 

~~~

Suffering Success

It was the only way that he could achieve his dream. The only way he would ever succeed is if I suffered. He didn’t need to know about it. As long as he was happy and achieving things, I’m okay with living my life how it is now.

He gets to travel the world and meet people with fans gushing over him. Whilst people look at me with pity as I roam the streets, looking for jobs to sustain my survival. He was living the life he deserves. All because I gave up my dream for him.  

It was the day before my birthday. I was meeting up with him tomorrow. The cherry blossoms had just bloomed a few weeks ago. Parks were littered with flower petals, couples having picnics, and small children running around. I was on shift, wiping down the tables, cleaning up after the customers who had left. The bell at the front of the shop rang. I looked up at the person who had entered.

“Customer!” I yelled, proceeding to a particularly dirty booth that had spilt chocolate milk all over it. I heard one of my co-workers place the order, and trying to make the customer as comfortable as they can by starting a small conversation with them.

It was near closing, so there weren’t many customers. It was mainly people who wanted something warm to hold, or who were about to take off to work the night shift. I hauled the heavy bin of dirty dishes to the back and started washing them. I only had another half hour before my shift was over.

“(Y/N), can you finish off the night for me? I’ve got some things to do tonight.” My co-worker asked.

“Yea, I got it.” I dried off my hands and she throws me the keys to lock up. I caught them with great difficulty.

I closed up the cafe about an hour later. The grocery store closed in an hour, and I still had to get some food to eat. I ran to the grocery store, and barely made it with only fifteen minutes to spare. I grabbed some instant noodles, and walked over to the register.

“Is that all for you?” The boy at the checkout asked me. I nodded, not making eye contact, and handed my card. He took it from me and swiped it. “Uh, excuse me? Your card declined.” My eyes widened.

“P-please, try again.” I said in a soft voice.

‘This can’t happen again.’ I thought to myself. He swiped it, again, and again.

“I’m sorry, it doesn’t seem to go through. Do you have any other form of payment?” He asked. I let out a breath that I had been holding, and took out some crumpled bills from my wallet. He processed my money and gave me my exact change before handing me my bags.

I quickly walked out the store and to my apartment. I opened the door and turned on the lights. I looked at my single room apartment with no feeling. I was use to this. All I needed was a bed, running water, hot and cold, fridge and a microwave. All of this was in one small, square room. I took out the noodles and stacked them on the two foot tall fridge. I wasn’t feeling that hungry, so I just went to go brush my teeth and head to bed early.

‘You get to see him tomorrow.’ I thought to myself. ‘It’s the few times a year. Be happy, for tomorrow, for him.” I sighed, and closed my eyes.

~~~

I woke up to my phone buzzing like no tomorrow. I groaned and looked at the caller ID.

‘Seungyeon,’ I thought before quickly answering.

“Hello?”

“Hey, (Y/N), get ready for today! I made sure you have today off! Although, I’m not too sure though, as the place I called said they were a cafe…” I froze. “Anyways, can you give me the address to your place so I can pick you up?”

“Ah, no, no it’s okay. I’ll just meet you there, where are we going?”

“Uh, how about the park in front of that cafe then? I’ll meet you there, then we can go to what I wanna do.” He laughed.

“Alright, I-I’ll see you there then.”

“I’ll see in an hour then, bye.”

“Bye.”

I let out a breath, after I ended the call.

‘That was extremely close.’ I layed back in bed. Then realizing what happened, I quickly shot up and ran to the shower, almost tripping. After my shower, I dried my hair the best I can with the towel and went to the stack of clothes I never bothered to by some kind of storage for. ‘Where is it..?’ I thought to myself. Then, I finally pulled out the same clothes I always wore when I hung out with him now-a-days. ‘One day, I’ll be able to buy something else.’ I quickly got dressed, brushed my hair, and went out the door. It wasn’t a far walk from where he wanted to meet. It was right in front of the cafe I worked. I got there with twenty minutes before I was suppose to meet him.

“Hey! (Y/N)!” I heard him call out.

“Seungyeon?” I questioned as I turned around. He waved at me with the dorkiest grin on his face.

“Hey it seems like forever, how are you?” He engulfed me in a hug.

“I’m fine, how about you? You’re traveling the world and meeting new people all the time.” I laughed.

“Ah, it’s not that great.” He rubbed the back of the neck.

“Oh come on, you’re living the life that everyone dreams of.”

“We’re not that big. We only come back once a year.” He laughed. “You know, every time I see you, you’re wearing this? I was going through some pictures yesterday and recently, all the pictures are of you wearing the same clothes.”

“It’s probably just a coincidence.” I tried to ease off the topic.

“Anyways, let’s go. We have a whole day in front of us.” He threw his arm around me and we made our way.

~~~

The whole day consisted of us just rekindling our friendship that had been ignored for the last few months.

“That was a fun night.” I smiled at him.

“Yea, who knew that you could chug three bottles of water in 20 seconds?” He laughed. “Hey, it’s getting late. I should take you home.” He says as he checked his phone for the time.

“No!” He looked at me.”I mean, why go through all that trouble when your dorm is right here.” I told him.

“I just want you to get home safe. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.” His eyes softened with concern.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon Seungyeon.” I hugged him and went off my own way.

-Seungyeon-

I followed (Y/N) home that night just to make sure they were safe by the time they got home. They made a few turns and then I realized we were back near the dorm. Then, they went the opposite way that they had originally went.

After an hour of walking, we reached the not as nicer area of town. I quickly became worried.

‘What is (Y/N) doing here??” I questioned. They entered an apartment complex and I followed. I saw them go up the stairs and take out their keys before entering. ‘Do they live here?’ I asked myself. I texted them asked if they made it home. They said yes. I looked at the door in question, before heading home.

~~~

-(Y/N)-

“Hey, (Y/N) there’s someone at table who requested you.” My coworker informed me. I nodded, drying my hands on a towel before heading out. I stopped in my tracks when I saw him.

���S-Seungyeon? W-what are you doing here?” I asked him, trying to act like I haven’t lied to him about my job and frankly everything about me since I dropped out of the trainee program.

“The real question is, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you at that company you work for, huh?” He casually asked, taking a sip of his drink.

“I- uh…” I stuttered, not being able to come up with any reasonable explanation. He put his drink down on the table and stood up.

“Why did you lie to me?” He asked. I froze.

“Wh-what?”

“Why did you lie to me that you were fine off all by yourself? Why didn’t you tell me that you were in such a crisis?! We’re suppose to be best friends. Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Look, Seungyeon, not here. I go on break in half an hour. I’ll tell you then if you’re willing to hear what I have to say.” I said in a low voice. He let out a huff.

“Fine, you better be back, or I’m not gonna attend to my schedules till I see you.” He sat down. I quickly turned on my heel and walked back to the kitchen.

~~~

“Now, tell me what’s going on.” He pleaded as we sat down on the bench.

“Have you ever noticed that there’s a pattern with us?” He cocked his head at me in confusion. “Like, whenever one of us succeeds, the other fails in something. Like, whenever you got a perfect score on a test back in school, I would always be close to failing. Whenever you won anything, I lost. It was the same pattern over, and over, and over again. I realized it back in middle school. I would purposely not study for some tests because I wanted you to get a good grade. I thought that this would go away eventually, but then it never did. When we both became trainees, I thought that maybe we both could succeed in something together. It didn’t turn out like that. You were getting better throughout your training and you worked hard. However, I could not improve no matter how hard I worked. Remember that day you hurt your ankle?” HE nodded. “That was also the day that I was given the opportunity to do a solo performance for the CEO. After I heard of your accident, I couldn’t accept that I would be getting some spotlight if you were in pain. So, I quit training. It was a tough decision for me, but since you were oblivious to it, it had to be done. After that, things really went up for you. You were placed in Uniq, you debuted, and now you’re traveling the world.” I was starting to get teary from my little speech.

“Yea, but you could have told me how hard it was for you to survive. I would’ve helped. You’re suffering because of me. You could’ve at least told me everything.” He grabbed my hand and looked at me in the eyes.

“I didn’t want to look like a leech. I’ve been able to support myself for the past year. Though I’ve had some card declines.” I looked down.

“Hey, you’ll never be a leach to me. I’d always be happy to help you, no matter how bad your suffering, and how I’m succeeding.” He engulfed me in a hug.

For the past few years I’ve felt alone. I struggled to live. Now, I’ve found a light. This is the end of my suffering, and the beginning of my success.

[heatherrdavis1]

Bitcoin Pre-Halving Dump?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Despite what everyone is telling you, that the Bitcoin whole thing will go down in approximately eight days. This is based on a 10 minute block time. But since the hash rate is still going up. And on some charts, even shows and new all-time high and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks. Blocks are getting mined faster than in 10 minutes. So the Bitcoin Halfan will go down in approximately one week from now. But nevertheless, the price of Bitcoin already correct back down from its local high of approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars by 10 percent. Why is that? Why do we see a pre haul thing dump right now? And can we see even a bigger pre hoarding dump? All that and more in this episode. And now let’s jump right into it. And with that said, what is going on? Everyone, Sunny, the here. And welcome back to the episode before we’re going to start. If you guys want to support this channel for free, please make sure to leave alike. And if you’re new to the channel. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. And also hit the post notification bell. All right. Now let’s talk about the bitcoin whole thing. And when exactly it will go down. Well, we can not say it by the minute when it will go down. But what we know right now is that blocks are getting found faster than in ten minutes. Those times that you can see right here, Bitcoin block reward Hofman count on the eight days. That is based on a 10 minute block time. But because the hash rate is still going up right now and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks, well, blocks are getting found faster. As I already said in the intro. So the whole thing is also going to go down faster. And here is something very, very interesting. I’ve not shown you that. But also, CNBC was talking about the Bitcoin, having a potential rally offer to having. But also, Abida. Rumour and sell the news event. This is very interesting. I know this is from the first of May, but I want to play the most important part here. And this will definitely be our topic for today. And we’re going to discuss this. But I think in the medium to long term, you now have an asset that is going to be more scarce than gold based on the stop the flow ratio. In an environment where the entire world is printing money, why isn’t this a sell the news event? It very well maybe. I mean, you look back at the last two, we got quite a run-up. You could look back at the last two. It took about 30 to 60 days for this really to filter through the market. So you could have after this. Remember, this is how the miners make their money by those big corner rewards. So some of the weaker miners might actually have to sell out. But 30 to 60 days now, we could see a nice run. So what Brian Kelly is saying in here is very important and also true. Don’t expect a massive pump on the day of the whole thing. Don’t expect a massive pump in seven days because this can definitely be a buy the rumour and sell the news event. What does that exactly mean? Well, what we can see right here on Google Trends is people are very hyped up for the Bitcoin huffing and maybe that the price was going up is due to exactly debt. But on the day, on the Bitcoin hot thing, maybe some people figure, hey, wait for a second, the price is not moving right now. Okay, I’m gonna sell my Bitcoin again. This could definitely trigger as cascade to the downside. I’m not saying or I’m personally not seeing prices lower than the lows we have already seen. But I would not be all too surprised if the price of Bitcoin would dump massively again and then over the next couple weeks and months, gain momentum again and then slowly grind to new all-time highs by the end of this year. Because remember, the price of Bitcoin never reaches new all-time highs of the previous top before the Bitcoin huffing. So can we see a sell the news event here? Yes, definitely possible. It does not have to happen. But please have that on your radar as a possibility. All right. Now let’s jump into the charts and let’s talk about the most important timeframes. First of all, I want to talk about the Bitcoin weekly chart. Well, you can see right here is a massive trend line. You can see here the twenty thousand dollar top back from 2017. And you can see here to fourteen thousand dollars, top back from June 2019. Here you can see that ten thousand five hundred dollars top here from February 2020. And this is the most recent top at approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars that we have just seen here a couple of days ago. Well, it goes without saying that Bitcoin first has to break this trend line to go into the direction of twenty thousand U.S. dollars again. But as I’ve already said, me personally, I need to see ten thousand five hundred U.S. dollars to be broken. Before that, I cannot term fully bullish. I’ve already been talking about the ten thousand five hundred dollar mark for quite a while, actually. We’ve retested that level already back in a day. Got rejected. But we’re going to see that on the daily chart right now on the Bitcoin daily chart. What we can see is that if we keep falling right now, the next support level in here or next important support level right here would be the 200 daily moving. Average, that is what we’re seeing right here. And here’s something very interesting about the 200-day moving average, some people are saying, well, the 200 days does not hold all too much significance anymore. But I’m gonna show you something here in the stock market when to come to that later as well. If I plot the 200 daily moving average right here, you can see dead that stocks almost went up to the 200 daily but got rejected pretty much exactly around those levels. I mean, not quite, but almost. And you can see that the 200-day moving average held a lot of significance already here in the past. And on Bitcoin, from time to time, we see exactly the same picture. So the 200 daily moving average definitely very important in here. If we sume out a little bit more. And also check the volume profile. We can see that the volume profile also gives us some support. Slightly below 200 daily moving average. That would be here at approximately, let’s say, seven thousand two hundred U.S. dollars. I personally hope we’re not going to fall to those levels. But once again, if we see a pre thing dump, that could definitely happen. So there are entry levels we could keep an eye on perhaps having, but I would not bet on them. So if you are one of those people not having any Bitcoin at all. Not having any exposure to Bitcoin right now. I would not be sure that the prices of Bitcoin are going to come back down and give you a nice entry point, because you are definitely not the only one out there waiting for a nice entry point. And if the train leaves the station, you don’t want to be the guy chasing the train out of the train station. Right. You don’t want to be the guy buying Bitcoin at fifteen thousand eighteen thousand twenty thousand when everything goes up when all people are informed. Again, that is when you want to be invested already. So later on, when prices are really getting too absurd numbers that you can sell with a nice profit. That is how you want to play this market. That is what I’ve learned over the last years since I am in Bitcoin. And this is my personal strategy in here. OK, so make sure that your dollar-cost averaging. Make sure that you’re accumulating and make sure you’re ready for both directions if prices go lower. You want to buy a little bit more. If prices go up and you already are exposed to Bitcoin, well, nice. You are in profit, right? So that is the strategy. So be ready for both directions. A pre huffing dump is possible but doesn’t have to happen. And just in case that you guys want to trade the Bitcoin volatility around the whole thing, I personally recommend that some X platform where he can leverage trade Bitcoin, a theorem X or P chain-link tells us like a coin and also gold. A video tutorial is popping up on top of the screen right now. And what my sign up the bling. Down below. You’re not just supporting the channel, but also you can get an up to one hundred and twelve dollars bonus. But this is only recommended for experienced traders. And now let’s continue with the episode. All right. Now, let’s go on the Bitcoin one hour chart real quick. As I’ve already said, the price of Bitcoin already rejected from nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars. We’re currently trading at eight thousand six hundred U.S. dollars. Bitcoin fell 10 percent. And I have some bad news for you guys, but you probably already figured, well, the S&P 500 futures started not all too well today. We have definitely seen a fall in here in the S&P 500 after opening. And Bitcoin once again reacted to that. You can see that right here. That was basically the reaction to the lower opening. Of course, it looks like that the S&P 500 futures are going up again right now. But basically does downfall in here from the 9000 or almost nine thousand dollar mark was due to the fact that the S&P 500 futures once again started lower as yesterday. That is my personal belief. That is what I see. So, yes, the correlation is still going on in here and we’re still waiting for that decoupling, sadly. All right. Now, something we have not been talking about for quite a while is the performance of all Quints. Just a few seconds about that. Well, if we see a mountain here on the Bitcoin dominance chart here on the daily. We can see an increase in here in the Bitcoin dominance once again. And if we have a look at all coins in here, we’ll kick or do all coin performance. Over the last seven days. You can see that all coins are bleeding compared to Bitcoin here on the seven-day chart. On the one month charts, all of them are in the Greens, but most of them are indirect. Still, three months charting here. So, yeah, it looks like that all season is not really starting yet. But let me know, European about all season. And let me know your strategy. Are you loading up on all coins? Are you getting prepared for the next potential all-season or do you think? Well, it is all over with all coins. All coins will never come back as they did in 2017. I’m very interested in that. Let me know. Downbelow, Orion and the last piece of information for today. Very interesting. Is this right here? What’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway? And here off go back to the S&P 500 chart. Some of the experts are saying this is a perfect V bottom in here at the economy’s going back to normal and we’re going back up again in stocks. I personally believe that this is a dead cat bounce and it could be that the right in here to temporary, right to the upside. Is already overwrites here and we’re going back down. Not quite sure if this is the pop of the dead cat bounce, but it could be. I’m personally not expecting new all-time highs for the stock market. And if we see new all-time highs in the stock market, I believe that at some point later it will crash. I’m not heavily investing in stocks right now, although I have an eye on the stock market. And if stocks are falling low, I try to allocate a little bit of my portfolio into stocks and a good indication or a good confirmation that this is not that V shape rally right now. The V shape reversal is what’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett stays on the sidelines with cash rising to one hundred thirty-seven billion U.S. dollars. And here you can see the charred Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and short term investments quarterly. And they are on a cash all-time high. So if they would believe that this is really the V shape recovery, well, there wouldn’t have such a high cash position. So Warren Buffett is kind of betting against the stock market. And it looks like that they don’t believe that this was the V shape recovery and that lower levels are about to come. Of course, Warren Buffett hasn’t always been right, thinking about airlines and so on. But I mean, I’m not the only one seeing this picture, and I’m pretty sure some of you guys see exactly the same. But that does it all ready for today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to leave alike. Thank you guys very much for your awesome support. And I hopefully see all of you in the next one by.

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-pre-halving-dump/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/bitcoin-pre-halving-dump

[scottmapess]

Bitcoin Pre-Halving Dump…?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Despite what everyone is telling you, that the Bitcoin whole thing will go down in approximately eight days. This is based on a 10 minute block time. But since the hash rate is still going up. And on some charts, even shows and new all-time high and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks. Blocks are getting mined faster than in 10 minutes. So the Bitcoin Halfan will go down in approximately one week from now. But nevertheless, the price of Bitcoin already correct back down from its local high of approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars by 10 percent. Why is that? Why do we see a pre haul thing dump right now? And can we see even a bigger pre hoarding dump? All that and more in this episode. And now let’s jump right into it. And with that said, what is going on? Everyone, Sunny, the here. And welcome back to the episode before we’re going to start. If you guys want to support this channel for free, please make sure to leave alike. And if you’re new to the channel. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. And also hit the post notification bell. All right. Now let’s talk about the bitcoin whole thing. And when exactly it will go down. Well, we can not say it by the minute when it will go down. But what we know right now is that blocks are getting found faster than in ten minutes. Those times that you can see right here, Bitcoin block reward Hofman count on the eight days. That is based on a 10 minute block time. But because the hash rate is still going up right now and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks, well, blocks are getting found faster. As I already said in the intro. So the whole thing is also going to go down faster. And here is something very, very interesting. I’ve not shown you that. But also, CNBC was talking about the Bitcoin, having a potential rally offer to having. But also, Abida. Rumour and sell the news event. This is very interesting. I know this is from the first of May, but I want to play the most important part here. And this will definitely be our topic for today. And we’re going to discuss this. But I think in the medium to long term, you now have an asset that is going to be more scarce than gold based on the stop the flow ratio. In an environment where the entire world is printing money, why isn’t this a sell the news event? It very well maybe. I mean, you look back at the last two, we got quite a run-up. You could look back at the last two. It took about 30 to 60 days for this really to filter through the market. So you could have after this. Remember, this is how the miners make their money by those big corner rewards. So some of the weaker miners might actually have to sell out. But 30 to 60 days now, we could see a nice run. So what Brian Kelly is saying in here is very important and also true. Don’t expect a massive pump on the day of the whole thing. Don’t expect a massive pump in seven days because this can definitely be a buy the rumour and sell the news event. What does that exactly mean? Well, what we can see right here on Google Trends is people are very hyped up for the Bitcoin huffing and maybe that the price was going up is due to exactly debt. But on the day, on the Bitcoin hot thing, maybe some people figure, hey, wait for a second, the price is not moving right now. Okay, I’m gonna sell my Bitcoin again. This could definitely trigger as cascade to the downside. I’m not saying or I’m personally not seeing prices lower than the lows we have already seen. But I would not be all too surprised if the price of Bitcoin would dump massively again and then over the next couple weeks and months, gain momentum again and then slowly grind to new all-time highs by the end of this year. Because remember, the price of Bitcoin never reaches new all-time highs of the previous top before the Bitcoin huffing. So can we see a sell the news event here? Yes, definitely possible. It does not have to happen. But please have that on your radar as a possibility. All right. Now let’s jump into the charts and let’s talk about the most important timeframes. First of all, I want to talk about the Bitcoin weekly chart. Well, you can see right here is a massive trend line. You can see here the twenty thousand dollar top back from 2017. And you can see here to fourteen thousand dollars, top back from June 2019. Here you can see that ten thousand five hundred dollars top here from February 2020. And this is the most recent top at approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars that we have just seen here a couple of days ago. Well, it goes without saying that Bitcoin first has to break this trend line to go into the direction of twenty thousand U.S. dollars again. But as I’ve already said, me personally, I need to see ten thousand five hundred U.S. dollars to be broken. Before that, I cannot term fully bullish. I’ve already been talking about the ten thousand five hundred dollar mark for quite a while, actually. We’ve retested that level already back in a day. Got rejected. But we’re going to see that on the daily chart right now on the Bitcoin daily chart. What we can see is that if we keep falling right now, the next support level in here or next important support level right here would be the 200 daily moving. Average, that is what we’re seeing right here. And here’s something very interesting about the 200-day moving average, some people are saying, well, the 200 days does not hold all too much significance anymore. But I’m gonna show you something here in the stock market when to come to that later as well. If I plot the 200 daily moving average right here, you can see dead that stocks almost went up to the 200 daily but got rejected pretty much exactly around those levels. I mean, not quite, but almost. And you can see that the 200-day moving average held a lot of significance already here in the past. And on Bitcoin, from time to time, we see exactly the same picture. So the 200 daily moving average definitely very important in here. If we sume out a little bit more. And also check the volume profile. We can see that the volume profile also gives us some support. Slightly below 200 daily moving average. That would be here at approximately, let’s say, seven thousand two hundred U.S. dollars. I personally hope we’re not going to fall to those levels. But once again, if we see a pre thing dump, that could definitely happen. So there are entry levels we could keep an eye on perhaps having, but I would not bet on them. So if you are one of those people not having any Bitcoin at all. Not having any exposure to Bitcoin right now. I would not be sure that the prices of Bitcoin are going to come back down and give you a nice entry point, because you are definitely not the only one out there waiting for a nice entry point. And if the train leaves the station, you don’t want to be the guy chasing the train out of the train station. Right. You don’t want to be the guy buying Bitcoin at fifteen thousand eighteen thousand twenty thousand when everything goes up when all people are informed. Again, that is when you want to be invested already. So later on, when prices are really getting too absurd numbers that you can sell with a nice profit. That is how you want to play this market. That is what I’ve learned over the last years since I am in Bitcoin. And this is my personal strategy in here. OK, so make sure that your dollar-cost averaging. Make sure that you’re accumulating and make sure you’re ready for both directions if prices go lower. You want to buy a little bit more. If prices go up and you already are exposed to Bitcoin, well, nice. You are in profit, right? So that is the strategy. So be ready for both directions. A pre huffing dump is possible but doesn’t have to happen. And just in case that you guys want to trade the Bitcoin volatility around the whole thing, I personally recommend that some X platform where he can leverage trade Bitcoin, a theorem X or P chain-link tells us like a coin and also gold. A video tutorial is popping up on top of the screen right now. And what my sign up the bling. Down below. You’re not just supporting the channel, but also you can get an up to one hundred and twelve dollars bonus. But this is only recommended for experienced traders. And now let’s continue with the episode. All right. Now, let’s go on the Bitcoin one hour chart real quick. As I’ve already said, the price of Bitcoin already rejected from nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars. We’re currently trading at eight thousand six hundred U.S. dollars. Bitcoin fell 10 percent. And I have some bad news for you guys, but you probably already figured, well, the S&P 500 futures started not all too well today. We have definitely seen a fall in here in the S&P 500 after opening. And Bitcoin once again reacted to that. You can see that right here. That was basically the reaction to the lower opening. Of course, it looks like that the S&P 500 futures are going up again right now. But basically does downfall in here from the 9000 or almost nine thousand dollar mark was due to the fact that the S&P 500 futures once again started lower as yesterday. That is my personal belief. That is what I see. So, yes, the correlation is still going on in here and we’re still waiting for that decoupling, sadly. All right. Now, something we have not been talking about for quite a while is the performance of all Quints. Just a few seconds about that. Well, if we see a mountain here on the Bitcoin dominance chart here on the daily. We can see an increase in here in the Bitcoin dominance once again. And if we have a look at all coins in here, we’ll kick or do all coin performance. Over the last seven days. You can see that all coins are bleeding compared to Bitcoin here on the seven-day chart. On the one month charts, all of them are in the Greens, but most of them are indirect. Still, three months charting here. So, yeah, it looks like that all season is not really starting yet. But let me know, European about all season. And let me know your strategy. Are you loading up on all coins? Are you getting prepared for the next potential all-season or do you think? Well, it is all over with all coins. All coins will never come back as they did in 2017. I’m very interested in that. Let me know. Downbelow, Orion and the last piece of information for today. Very interesting. Is this right here? What’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway? And here off go back to the S&P 500 chart. Some of the experts are saying this is a perfect V bottom in here at the economy’s going back to normal and we’re going back up again in stocks. I personally believe that this is a dead cat bounce and it could be that the right in here to temporary, right to the upside. Is already overwrites here and we’re going back down. Not quite sure if this is the pop of the dead cat bounce, but it could be. I’m personally not expecting new all-time highs for the stock market. And if we see new all-time highs in the stock market, I believe that at some point later it will crash. I’m not heavily investing in stocks right now, although I have an eye on the stock market. And if stocks are falling low, I try to allocate a little bit of my portfolio into stocks and a good indication or a good confirmation that this is not that V shape rally right now. The V shape reversal is what’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett stays on the sidelines with cash rising to one hundred thirty-seven billion U.S. dollars. And here you can see the charred Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and short term investments quarterly. And they are on a cash all-time high. So if they would believe that this is really the V shape recovery, well, there wouldn’t have such a high cash position. So Warren Buffett is kind of betting against the stock market. And it looks like that they don’t believe that this was the V shape recovery and that lower levels are about to come. Of course, Warren Buffett hasn’t always been right, thinking about airlines and so on. But I mean, I’m not the only one seeing this picture, and I’m pretty sure some of you guys see exactly the same. But that does it all ready for today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to leave alike. Thank you guys very much for your awesome support. And I hopefully see all of you in the next one by.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-pre-halving-dump/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/05/bitcoin-pre-halving-dump.html

[jeffrmayhugh]

Bitcoin Pre-Halving Dump…?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Despite what everyone is telling you, that the Bitcoin whole thing will go down in approximately eight days. This is based on a 10 minute block time. But since the hash rate is still going up. And on some charts, even shows and new all-time high and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks. Blocks are getting mined faster than in 10 minutes. So the Bitcoin Halfan will go down in approximately one week from now. But nevertheless, the price of Bitcoin already correct back down from its local high of approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars by 10 percent. Why is that? Why do we see a pre haul thing dump right now? And can we see even a bigger pre hoarding dump? All that and more in this episode. And now let’s jump right into it. And with that said, what is going on? Everyone, Sunny, the here. And welcome back to the episode before we’re going to start. If you guys want to support this channel for free, please make sure to leave alike. And if you’re new to the channel. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. And also hit the post notification bell. All right. Now let’s talk about the bitcoin whole thing. And when exactly it will go down. Well, we can not say it by the minute when it will go down. But what we know right now is that blocks are getting found faster than in ten minutes. Those times that you can see right here, Bitcoin block reward Hofman count on the eight days. That is based on a 10 minute block time. But because the hash rate is still going up right now and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks, well, blocks are getting found faster. As I already said in the intro. So the whole thing is also going to go down faster. And here is something very, very interesting. I’ve not shown you that. But also, CNBC was talking about the Bitcoin, having a potential rally offer to having. But also, Abida. Rumour and sell the news event. This is very interesting. I know this is from the first of May, but I want to play the most important part here. And this will definitely be our topic for today. And we’re going to discuss this. But I think in the medium to long term, you now have an asset that is going to be more scarce than gold based on the stop the flow ratio. In an environment where the entire world is printing money, why isn’t this a sell the news event? It very well maybe. I mean, you look back at the last two, we got quite a run-up. You could look back at the last two. It took about 30 to 60 days for this really to filter through the market. So you could have after this. Remember, this is how the miners make their money by those big corner rewards. So some of the weaker miners might actually have to sell out. But 30 to 60 days now, we could see a nice run. So what Brian Kelly is saying in here is very important and also true. Don’t expect a massive pump on the day of the whole thing. Don’t expect a massive pump in seven days because this can definitely be a buy the rumour and sell the news event. What does that exactly mean? Well, what we can see right here on Google Trends is people are very hyped up for the Bitcoin huffing and maybe that the price was going up is due to exactly debt. But on the day, on the Bitcoin hot thing, maybe some people figure, hey, wait for a second, the price is not moving right now. Okay, I’m gonna sell my Bitcoin again. This could definitely trigger as cascade to the downside. I’m not saying or I’m personally not seeing prices lower than the lows we have already seen. But I would not be all too surprised if the price of Bitcoin would dump massively again and then over the next couple weeks and months, gain momentum again and then slowly grind to new all-time highs by the end of this year. Because remember, the price of Bitcoin never reaches new all-time highs of the previous top before the Bitcoin huffing. So can we see a sell the news event here? Yes, definitely possible. It does not have to happen. But please have that on your radar as a possibility. All right. Now let’s jump into the charts and let’s talk about the most important timeframes. First of all, I want to talk about the Bitcoin weekly chart. Well, you can see right here is a massive trend line. You can see here the twenty thousand dollar top back from 2017. And you can see here to fourteen thousand dollars, top back from June 2019. Here you can see that ten thousand five hundred dollars top here from February 2020. And this is the most recent top at approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars that we have just seen here a couple of days ago. Well, it goes without saying that Bitcoin first has to break this trend line to go into the direction of twenty thousand U.S. dollars again. But as I’ve already said, me personally, I need to see ten thousand five hundred U.S. dollars to be broken. Before that, I cannot term fully bullish. I’ve already been talking about the ten thousand five hundred dollar mark for quite a while, actually. We’ve retested that level already back in a day. Got rejected. But we’re going to see that on the daily chart right now on the Bitcoin daily chart. What we can see is that if we keep falling right now, the next support level in here or next important support level right here would be the 200 daily moving. Average, that is what we’re seeing right here. And here’s something very interesting about the 200-day moving average, some people are saying, well, the 200 days does not hold all too much significance anymore. But I’m gonna show you something here in the stock market when to come to that later as well. If I plot the 200 daily moving average right here, you can see dead that stocks almost went up to the 200 daily but got rejected pretty much exactly around those levels. I mean, not quite, but almost. And you can see that the 200-day moving average held a lot of significance already here in the past. And on Bitcoin, from time to time, we see exactly the same picture. So the 200 daily moving average definitely very important in here. If we sume out a little bit more. And also check the volume profile. We can see that the volume profile also gives us some support. Slightly below 200 daily moving average. That would be here at approximately, let’s say, seven thousand two hundred U.S. dollars. I personally hope we’re not going to fall to those levels. But once again, if we see a pre thing dump, that could definitely happen. So there are entry levels we could keep an eye on perhaps having, but I would not bet on them. So if you are one of those people not having any Bitcoin at all. Not having any exposure to Bitcoin right now. I would not be sure that the prices of Bitcoin are going to come back down and give you a nice entry point, because you are definitely not the only one out there waiting for a nice entry point. And if the train leaves the station, you don’t want to be the guy chasing the train out of the train station. Right. You don’t want to be the guy buying Bitcoin at fifteen thousand eighteen thousand twenty thousand when everything goes up when all people are informed. Again, that is when you want to be invested already. So later on, when prices are really getting too absurd numbers that you can sell with a nice profit. That is how you want to play this market. That is what I’ve learned over the last years since I am in Bitcoin. And this is my personal strategy in here. OK, so make sure that your dollar-cost averaging. Make sure that you’re accumulating and make sure you’re ready for both directions if prices go lower. You want to buy a little bit more. If prices go up and you already are exposed to Bitcoin, well, nice. You are in profit, right? So that is the strategy. So be ready for both directions. A pre huffing dump is possible but doesn’t have to happen. And just in case that you guys want to trade the Bitcoin volatility around the whole thing, I personally recommend that some X platform where he can leverage trade Bitcoin, a theorem X or P chain-link tells us like a coin and also gold. A video tutorial is popping up on top of the screen right now. And what my sign up the bling. Down below. You’re not just supporting the channel, but also you can get an up to one hundred and twelve dollars bonus. But this is only recommended for experienced traders. And now let’s continue with the episode. All right. Now, let’s go on the Bitcoin one hour chart real quick. As I’ve already said, the price of Bitcoin already rejected from nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars. We’re currently trading at eight thousand six hundred U.S. dollars. Bitcoin fell 10 percent. And I have some bad news for you guys, but you probably already figured, well, the S&P 500 futures started not all too well today. We have definitely seen a fall in here in the S&P 500 after opening. And Bitcoin once again reacted to that. You can see that right here. That was basically the reaction to the lower opening. Of course, it looks like that the S&P 500 futures are going up again right now. But basically does downfall in here from the 9000 or almost nine thousand dollar mark was due to the fact that the S&P 500 futures once again started lower as yesterday. That is my personal belief. That is what I see. So, yes, the correlation is still going on in here and we’re still waiting for that decoupling, sadly. All right. Now, something we have not been talking about for quite a while is the performance of all Quints. Just a few seconds about that. Well, if we see a mountain here on the Bitcoin dominance chart here on the daily. We can see an increase in here in the Bitcoin dominance once again. And if we have a look at all coins in here, we’ll kick or do all coin performance. Over the last seven days. You can see that all coins are bleeding compared to Bitcoin here on the seven-day chart. On the one month charts, all of them are in the Greens, but most of them are indirect. Still, three months charting here. So, yeah, it looks like that all season is not really starting yet. But let me know, European about all season. And let me know your strategy. Are you loading up on all coins? Are you getting prepared for the next potential all-season or do you think? Well, it is all over with all coins. All coins will never come back as they did in 2017. I’m very interested in that. Let me know. Downbelow, Orion and the last piece of information for today. Very interesting. Is this right here? What’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway? And here off go back to the S&P 500 chart. Some of the experts are saying this is a perfect V bottom in here at the economy’s going back to normal and we’re going back up again in stocks. I personally believe that this is a dead cat bounce and it could be that the right in here to temporary, right to the upside. Is already overwrites here and we’re going back down. Not quite sure if this is the pop of the dead cat bounce, but it could be. I’m personally not expecting new all-time highs for the stock market. And if we see new all-time highs in the stock market, I believe that at some point later it will crash. I’m not heavily investing in stocks right now, although I have an eye on the stock market. And if stocks are falling low, I try to allocate a little bit of my portfolio into stocks and a good indication or a good confirmation that this is not that V shape rally right now. The V shape reversal is what’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett stays on the sidelines with cash rising to one hundred thirty-seven billion U.S. dollars. And here you can see the charred Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and short term investments quarterly. And they are on a cash all-time high. So if they would believe that this is really the V shape recovery, well, there wouldn’t have such a high cash position. So Warren Buffett is kind of betting against the stock market. And it looks like that they don’t believe that this was the V shape recovery and that lower levels are about to come. Of course, Warren Buffett hasn’t always been right, thinking about airlines and so on. But I mean, I’m not the only one seeing this picture, and I’m pretty sure some of you guys see exactly the same. But that does it all ready for today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to leave alike. Thank you guys very much for your awesome support. And I hopefully see all of you in the next one by.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-pre-halving-dump/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/617402577086234624

[cryptosharks1]

Bitcoin Pre-Halving Dump…?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Despite what everyone is telling you, that the Bitcoin whole thing will go down in approximately eight days. This is based on a 10 minute block time. But since the hash rate is still going up. And on some charts, even shows and new all-time high and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks. Blocks are getting mined faster than in 10 minutes. So the Bitcoin Halfan will go down in approximately one week from now. But nevertheless, the price of Bitcoin already correct back down from its local high of approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars by 10 percent. Why is that? Why do we see a pre haul thing dump right now? And can we see even a bigger pre hoarding dump? All that and more in this episode. And now let’s jump right into it. And with that said, what is going on? Everyone, Sunny, the here. And welcome back to the episode before we’re going to start. If you guys want to support this channel for free, please make sure to leave alike. And if you’re new to the channel. Also, don’t forget to subscribe. And also hit the post notification bell. All right. Now let’s talk about the bitcoin whole thing. And when exactly it will go down. Well, we can not say it by the minute when it will go down. But what we know right now is that blocks are getting found faster than in ten minutes. Those times that you can see right here, Bitcoin block reward Hofman count on the eight days. That is based on a 10 minute block time. But because the hash rate is still going up right now and the difficulty adjustment only happens every two weeks, well, blocks are getting found faster. As I already said in the intro. So the whole thing is also going to go down faster. And here is something very, very interesting. I’ve not shown you that. But also, CNBC was talking about the Bitcoin, having a potential rally offer to having. But also, Abida. Rumour and sell the news event. This is very interesting. I know this is from the first of May, but I want to play the most important part here. And this will definitely be our topic for today. And we’re going to discuss this. But I think in the medium to long term, you now have an asset that is going to be more scarce than gold based on the stop the flow ratio. In an environment where the entire world is printing money, why isn’t this a sell the news event? It very well maybe. I mean, you look back at the last two, we got quite a run-up. You could look back at the last two. It took about 30 to 60 days for this really to filter through the market. So you could have after this. Remember, this is how the miners make their money by those big corner rewards. So some of the weaker miners might actually have to sell out. But 30 to 60 days now, we could see a nice run. So what Brian Kelly is saying in here is very important and also true. Don’t expect a massive pump on the day of the whole thing. Don’t expect a massive pump in seven days because this can definitely be a buy the rumour and sell the news event. What does that exactly mean? Well, what we can see right here on Google Trends is people are very hyped up for the Bitcoin huffing and maybe that the price was going up is due to exactly debt. But on the day, on the Bitcoin hot thing, maybe some people figure, hey, wait for a second, the price is not moving right now. Okay, I’m gonna sell my Bitcoin again. This could definitely trigger as cascade to the downside. I’m not saying or I’m personally not seeing prices lower than the lows we have already seen. But I would not be all too surprised if the price of Bitcoin would dump massively again and then over the next couple weeks and months, gain momentum again and then slowly grind to new all-time highs by the end of this year. Because remember, the price of Bitcoin never reaches new all-time highs of the previous top before the Bitcoin huffing. So can we see a sell the news event here? Yes, definitely possible. It does not have to happen. But please have that on your radar as a possibility. All right. Now let’s jump into the charts and let’s talk about the most important timeframes. First of all, I want to talk about the Bitcoin weekly chart. Well, you can see right here is a massive trend line. You can see here the twenty thousand dollar top back from 2017. And you can see here to fourteen thousand dollars, top back from June 2019. Here you can see that ten thousand five hundred dollars top here from February 2020. And this is the most recent top at approximately nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars that we have just seen here a couple of days ago. Well, it goes without saying that Bitcoin first has to break this trend line to go into the direction of twenty thousand U.S. dollars again. But as I’ve already said, me personally, I need to see ten thousand five hundred U.S. dollars to be broken. Before that, I cannot term fully bullish. I’ve already been talking about the ten thousand five hundred dollar mark for quite a while, actually. We’ve retested that level already back in a day. Got rejected. But we’re going to see that on the daily chart right now on the Bitcoin daily chart. What we can see is that if we keep falling right now, the next support level in here or next important support level right here would be the 200 daily moving. Average, that is what we’re seeing right here. And here’s something very interesting about the 200-day moving average, some people are saying, well, the 200 days does not hold all too much significance anymore. But I’m gonna show you something here in the stock market when to come to that later as well. If I plot the 200 daily moving average right here, you can see dead that stocks almost went up to the 200 daily but got rejected pretty much exactly around those levels. I mean, not quite, but almost. And you can see that the 200-day moving average held a lot of significance already here in the past. And on Bitcoin, from time to time, we see exactly the same picture. So the 200 daily moving average definitely very important in here. If we sume out a little bit more. And also check the volume profile. We can see that the volume profile also gives us some support. Slightly below 200 daily moving average. That would be here at approximately, let’s say, seven thousand two hundred U.S. dollars. I personally hope we’re not going to fall to those levels. But once again, if we see a pre thing dump, that could definitely happen. So there are entry levels we could keep an eye on perhaps having, but I would not bet on them. So if you are one of those people not having any Bitcoin at all. Not having any exposure to Bitcoin right now. I would not be sure that the prices of Bitcoin are going to come back down and give you a nice entry point, because you are definitely not the only one out there waiting for a nice entry point. And if the train leaves the station, you don’t want to be the guy chasing the train out of the train station. Right. You don’t want to be the guy buying Bitcoin at fifteen thousand eighteen thousand twenty thousand when everything goes up when all people are informed. Again, that is when you want to be invested already. So later on, when prices are really getting too absurd numbers that you can sell with a nice profit. That is how you want to play this market. That is what I’ve learned over the last years since I am in Bitcoin. And this is my personal strategy in here. OK, so make sure that your dollar-cost averaging. Make sure that you’re accumulating and make sure you’re ready for both directions if prices go lower. You want to buy a little bit more. If prices go up and you already are exposed to Bitcoin, well, nice. You are in profit, right? So that is the strategy. So be ready for both directions. A pre huffing dump is possible but doesn’t have to happen. And just in case that you guys want to trade the Bitcoin volatility around the whole thing, I personally recommend that some X platform where he can leverage trade Bitcoin, a theorem X or P chain-link tells us like a coin and also gold. A video tutorial is popping up on top of the screen right now. And what my sign up the bling. Down below. You’re not just supporting the channel, but also you can get an up to one hundred and twelve dollars bonus. But this is only recommended for experienced traders. And now let’s continue with the episode. All right. Now, let’s go on the Bitcoin one hour chart real quick. As I’ve already said, the price of Bitcoin already rejected from nine thousand five hundred U.S. dollars. We’re currently trading at eight thousand six hundred U.S. dollars. Bitcoin fell 10 percent. And I have some bad news for you guys, but you probably already figured, well, the S&P 500 futures started not all too well today. We have definitely seen a fall in here in the S&P 500 after opening. And Bitcoin once again reacted to that. You can see that right here. That was basically the reaction to the lower opening. Of course, it looks like that the S&P 500 futures are going up again right now. But basically does downfall in here from the 9000 or almost nine thousand dollar mark was due to the fact that the S&P 500 futures once again started lower as yesterday. That is my personal belief. That is what I see. So, yes, the correlation is still going on in here and we’re still waiting for that decoupling, sadly. All right. Now, something we have not been talking about for quite a while is the performance of all Quints. Just a few seconds about that. Well, if we see a mountain here on the Bitcoin dominance chart here on the daily. We can see an increase in here in the Bitcoin dominance once again. And if we have a look at all coins in here, we’ll kick or do all coin performance. Over the last seven days. You can see that all coins are bleeding compared to Bitcoin here on the seven-day chart. On the one month charts, all of them are in the Greens, but most of them are indirect. Still, three months charting here. So, yeah, it looks like that all season is not really starting yet. But let me know, European about all season. And let me know your strategy. Are you loading up on all coins? Are you getting prepared for the next potential all-season or do you think? Well, it is all over with all coins. All coins will never come back as they did in 2017. I’m very interested in that. Let me know. Downbelow, Orion and the last piece of information for today. Very interesting. Is this right here? What’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway? And here off go back to the S&P 500 chart. Some of the experts are saying this is a perfect V bottom in here at the economy’s going back to normal and we’re going back up again in stocks. I personally believe that this is a dead cat bounce and it could be that the right in here to temporary, right to the upside. Is already overwrites here and we’re going back down. Not quite sure if this is the pop of the dead cat bounce, but it could be. I’m personally not expecting new all-time highs for the stock market. And if we see new all-time highs in the stock market, I believe that at some point later it will crash. I’m not heavily investing in stocks right now, although I have an eye on the stock market. And if stocks are falling low, I try to allocate a little bit of my portfolio into stocks and a good indication or a good confirmation that this is not that V shape rally right now. The V shape reversal is what’s going on at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett stays on the sidelines with cash rising to one hundred thirty-seven billion U.S. dollars. And here you can see the charred Berkshire Hathaway’s cash and short term investments quarterly. And they are on a cash all-time high. So if they would believe that this is really the V shape recovery, well, there wouldn’t have such a high cash position. So Warren Buffett is kind of betting against the stock market. And it looks like that they don’t believe that this was the V shape recovery and that lower levels are about to come. Of course, Warren Buffett hasn’t always been right, thinking about airlines and so on. But I mean, I’m not the only one seeing this picture, and I’m pretty sure some of you guys see exactly the same. But that does it all ready for today’s episode. If you enjoyed it, please make sure to leave alike. Thank you guys very much for your awesome support. And I hopefully see all of you in the next one by.

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