#also pretty sure this pic is off center

[caustinen]

thinking about hollywood! clegan au 🤭

John Egan is a beloved actor who had his big break 5ish years ago and been doing a steady stream of hit movies ever since, 2-3 a year over all genres

Hollywood’s heartthrob but also a versatile actor who’s amazing at talk shows, considered very cool but also your grandma’s favorite celebrity

Has always been very private about his life outside of the films, always manages to make a joke out of everything when he’s (often) asked about his personal life, just wants to talk about his dog and whichever project he’s promoting

He’s been connected to a bunch of singers and actors (he loves a good party and isn’t aftaid of physical contact so he’s shipped with pretty much everyone he meets)

The absolute SHOCK that goes through entertainment world when he shows up to a premiere with a beautiful man on his arm

There are some speculations about this being another goof to get everyone confused but the picture of John looking at the man and rounding his arms around the his waist at any given moment on the red carpet go viral in relationship pages (they’re used in the type of pics “if your man doesn’t look at you like this…”)

Internet detectives quickly discover the man’s Gale Cleven, a publicist at the firm that represents Egan (not his publicist tho they keep work separate from their relationship)

He’s considered one of the best in the industry but hates spotlight and has stayed away from the media completely so far

However… After dating for 5 years John popped the question and Gale said yes, and as a part of their deal with how to deal with all of that Gale allows John’s long-awaited dream of being able to scream his love from the rooftops

He wasn’t kidding either, every single social media post after that is about how much he loves his fiancé, and the wedding plans are pretty much all he wants to talk about in interviews as well (aside from their dog, of course)

The negative side of it is that the internet also starts to thirst after John’s man and it becomes a new widely shared joke, like everytime John goes to talk shows after that the questions are all centered around ‘Hey, is your fiancé single?’

John is a good sport about it but in private he takes any excuse to mark Gale as his, weather it was a seemingly carelessly placed hand on him any chance he gets or a hickey just visible over his collar and esp when they have sex John never shuts up anyway but now he’s particularly keen on reminding Gale he belongs to him

Gale doesn’t care about the public attention one bit but he loves how happy John is about showing him off, and every time he’s nervous when they’re photographed together John makes sure to make him laugh and relax even on red carpets when everyone is trying to get their attention

The one time they give an interview together the internet goes nuts because Gale is so shy but so sweet and John laughs at everything he says and the two of them are just so clearly smitten with each other people can’t help but root for them

It’s also clear form the interview that while Gale hasn’t been at previous premiers or public outings he’s John’s work’s biggest fan/supporter, John’s telling some story about how they managed to keep their relationship secret while also living an active life like ”Oh and while I was doing promo for this project Gale lived in London with me” and Buck’s always very nonchalantly like ”No actually it was for this project dear” because he’s more aware of John’s work than he is and John will always tease him like ”oh you’re right thank you baby you’re so smart” and Gale would fail to hide his smile behind his hand

(additionals: john’s insta — gale’s insta — how they met — media/friends instas — how they first said i love yous — domestic hcs — gale//red carpet look — troubles with media/fans — jealous bucky — pda video leaks — candid pics — discussions about going public+proposal — going viral during award season — buck’s reaction’s to bucky doing sex scenes — stalker attack — reunion — sickfic — stalker attack cont. — photoshoot — divorce rumors — fanfiction — short n sweet)

[iwritesinsnottragedieshoney]

litty swimsuit (spencer reid)

paring: spencer reid x reader

summary: the team vacations at rossi's summer residence while spencer reid deals with insecurities, emotions beyond his control, and a y/n litty swimsuit.

genre: i guess fluff, but towards the end it changes into the beginning of smut, but nothing serious, actually.

warnings: spencer being a little insecure; one or two curses; some sexually tinged comments; maybe some spicy scenes at the end, but, like i said before, nothing hard; a lot of use of the phrase "frown".

word count: 11, 631

notes: this is the first time i post anything here and the first time i write something about spencer so i hope i didn't screw things up. english is also not my first language, some words may be used incorrectly just because the translator thinks it's a synonym and i believe him, so… have fun :) (every pic is from pinterest, i don't own them).

spencer walked out through rossi's glass door, his nostrils filled with the unmistakable smell of chlorine, mixed with a hint of summer afternoon and sunscreen.

the sun was in its full stage and he frowned slightly at the thought of the impact of sunlight on the human body and the consequences of the time spent outside then — he focused mainly on the negative ones, because they came to his mind the fastest. but he immediately pushed them away, frowning even harder. aside from forgetting his sunglasses from his room, he remembered what morgan had told him when they arrived at rossi's summer house: you need to chill out a bit, man. look, a whole week off work and a whole week with y/n in a swimsuit! she told emily it's litty.

spencer didn't understand a few things at the time, and unfortunately for him, they were all centered around y/n.

first of all, he had no desire to chill out a bit and didn't look like he was going to be able to do that anytime soon. two weeks ago there was a chance for a vacation for the whole team. someone (emily) discreetly remarked (gathered everyone in the check-in room thanks to garcia who sent everyone a flashing, unlockable message to the work computers) that it would be nice to spend time at rossi's summer residence at that time, which he readily agreed to (not really, but everyone had time to nod their heads appreciatively over garcia's presentation, where she presented the arguments for and rossi was bribed with the idea of themed Italian evenings).

spencer obviously didn't mind spending time with the team. apart from them, he didn't really have any other friends, and his mother was going to be involved in activities that would conflict with his possible visit, so he had no plans. he even lifted the corners of his mouth for a brief moment. that subsided, however, when the travel talks began a few days later, and y/n elbowed him lightly in the ribs and said she had a bunch of light and silly romances ready so she could read one a day, which is pretty much like as if they were reading at the same pace. then he realized that if he spent a whole week with the team, he'd spend it with y/n as well, and his stress-adrenaline spiked so high he nearly spilled the coffee he was carrying to his desk at the time.

it's not like he didn't like y/n. because he liked. actually, very much so. derek said he's totally head over heels.

and guess that was the problem.

when y/n joined the team, which happened exactly six months, eight days, twenty-one hours and thirty-two minutes ago, she totally turned his head, as penelope said. she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met, and her smiles were either very wide or delightfully stretchy (these were spencer's favourites, because then there were tiny wrinkles around her eyes and her cheeks were slightly pink), and when she greeted meeting him for the first time, she raised her hand in an awkward greeting at the same time he did, then laughed out loud before finally saying her name with the smile still on her face.

he wasn't sure if he was just imagining it, and he didn't even want to check if it was, but he felt that y/n had become a very good friend to him. someone who listened to what he had read last time in a new science article that appeared in a kiosk outside his block and didn't roll his eyes; someone who showed up with coffee and a donut when he was having a bad day; someone who used to come to his hotel room when things were done with chinese takeout to watch documentaries on TV; someone who played cards with him (even if y/n made up her own rules that were often meant to win only her); someone who eventually became more than just a good friend to him.

he couldn't even tell when he wished they were more. all he knew was that there was no chance of any change in that direction between them. girls like y/n weren't interested in guys like spencer, he knew it. he didn't want his stupid feelings to end. he liked the fact that y/n was somehow close, and if only she knew how he felt about her, he wouldn't have survived the humiliation of rejection.

anyway, when spencer realized that y/n would also be joining them on the trip, he panicked slightly. since she'd joined the team, they'd only spent time together at work and on field case, and that made their relationship somewhat limited (reason infinite why spencer thought maybe even their friendship was a bit forced). spencer would never have dared to offer her anything else because she might think he was asking her out (he hadn't asked derek yet, but he was pretty sure going to a museum to see the remains of a newly found tomb didn't count as a date, but he preferred not risk), and then she would surely refuse, which is why they did not meet outside of work. unless it was about going out to bars with the team.

y/n never proposed anything either (derek said it was because spencer wasn't giving her enough indication of his interest in such a proposal, but spencer thought being neutral about everything about y/n was safe and a chance to be too pushy), so spencer only confirmed his conviction. he was destined to be friend.

however, he began to have merciless thoughts about the possible end of their relationship, precisely because of the vacation trip to rossi's summer estate. eventually y/n will have to realize that spencer is actually incredibly boring, and his habits, behaviors, and interests are not at all caused by the situations that another case puts in their way. he will understand that spencer watches TV documentaries not because there is nothing more interesting on the hotel TV, but because he likes to do it. after all, no one willingly watches television documentaries! everyone knows it!

and on the one hand he knew that these thoughts were irrational rather than worth considering, but on the other hand he watched his surroundings for any signs that might prepare him for an imminent farewell to the warm feeling he felt inside when y/n appeared on the horizon.

spencer was sure that there were plenty of other things that y/n could find out about him during the trip and lose interest in him even at the level of work colleagues, so from the beginning of the trip he tried not to drive the stress reel and didn't think about it anymore, and it was either better or worse.

the other thing he didn't understand about derek was the y/n litty swimsuit. to be honest, spencer wasn't very interested in the y/n swimsuit until derek mentioned it. he didn't even combine the trip with swimsuits. but now he was definitely interested in it, and he was horrified that he was beginning to think of his co-worker and best friend in that context. he tried not to imagine it too often, but his thoughts involuntarily wandered in that direction when they were filling out reports at the office a day or two before, when he was in the shower, when he was going to bed, and when they were on the plane here. so, well, he wasn't doing very well.

but back to when he left rossi's house for his backyard swimming pool — derek was right, he needed to chill out a bit.

the swimming pool was rectangular in shape and was crossed by a volleyball net; on one side were hotch and morgan, and on the other side, emily and jj, who were clearly already engaged in the game for good, as the cheers directed at the men indicated victory and their considerable excitement. reid remembered derek's words again and refrained from telling them about the dangers of exerting himself in a place that was so exposed to the sun's rays. chill out a bit.

he descended the small steps to the stone path that flanked the pool, only guessing how hot the slabs of stone could get under his slipper-protected feet. he noticed that rossi, who was doing a crossword puzzle, was sitting at a table covered with a red umbrella, and probably wouldn't look up even if an african elephant ran in front of him. morgan's words rang again in spencer's ears, and he didn't stop to look over the man's shoulder and solve a few passwords. chill out a bit.

so reid walked on, toward white, comfortable-looking loungers. they were tucked away in the shade, far enough away that the noises coming from the pool wouldn't be annoying and that their distance wouldn't seem exaggerated. on one of them was penelope, holding a glass of iced coffee in one hand and a kindle in the other, which she was staring at intently.

spencer looked around discreetly, but saw no y/n anywhere. he knew she was the first to leave the house — at six o'clock in the morning he wasn't awake enough to get up, but he heard her soft footsteps down the hall and the slam of the front door. he didn't know where she was, but when he opened his eyes again, the whole team was downstairs, discussing something quite loudly. it was early afternoon now, and spencer was angry with himself for not being able to get up early enough. he felt as if he didn't know as much as the others. as if he missed something.

he sat down precariously on one of the deckchairs, the one closest to penelope's, and gripped the leather-bound book he'd brought with him a little tighter. he ordered it from his local bookstore a month ago, and the delivery difficulties only made him want to devour it whole, but now, when y/n wasn't around, he somehow didn't feel like opening it. he involuntarily looked towards the garden, remembering that when they arrived three days ago, y/n had disappeared there for a good hour. maybe she went to see that little pond she'd been telling him about...

"what are you looking for?" garcia's suspicious voice reached his ears, and he immediately felt a treacherous blush rise to his cheeks. "or rather, for whom."

she added the last one with a noticeable smirk in her voice, as if she knew the answer to her question all along, and spencer wouldn't be surprised if she really did.

he looked at her, still slightly surprised by her unexpected remark; the blonde lifted her sunglasses so that they rested on top of her head, her fingers gently, almost soundlessly, tapping the kindle's surface.

he noticed that her nails were painted a dark blood red. just like emily wore. and jj. probably similar to y/n. apparently it was the result of their ladies' night last night, which had dragged on until one in the morning, which spencer knew because there was a wall between his and emily's room that was thin enough for him to hear music and laughter coming from the room. that was the main reason why he got up later than the others today.

"i don't..." he began, but before he could somehow prevent a minor annoyance that would surely have lasted into the evening, the patio doors slid open and shut just as forcefully.

spencer looked over at them, frowning at the glare of the sun.

y/n trotted hurriedly towards them, her thick-soled flip-flops making a distinctive sound with each step she took. she was wearing a slightly tight, ankle-length skirt of mesh material with a lining and a light green tank top with thin straps. in her hand was a shopping bag, which she placed between spencer's and garcia's sun loungers. her chest was rising and falling at a rhythmic but not too fast pace, which indicated she was in a hurry.

“i will never go back there again,” she declared, plopping down on the lounger where spencer was sitting. she was clearly addressing penelope, but a second later she was elbowing him in the shoulder. "where have you been all morning? the vacation book club meeting must have started without you, though i swear i fought like a lioness."

even if she wasn't quite close, he could smell her cherry mist, and when he looked a little closer, he noticed that thin strings of a bikini trailed up from underneath the tank top and tied in a bow shape at the nape of the neck. chill out a bit.

"i overslept," he stammered, wishing he was someone with a better explanation.

"oh no, is it us?" y/n looked genuinely worried. „jj and i tried to turn the music down but emily was adamant. and then we went a bit too far with the alcohol and music was the last thing on our minds."

"no, i... forgot to set my alarm clock." thought up on the spur of the moment, but y/n tilted her head slightly doubtfully.

she didn't comment on it, though, because her attention was drawn to penelope, who until then had been interested mainly in the lines of text on her kindle, now clutched it tightly to her chest and, her lips parted in excitement, leaned towards y/n.

"did it work? does the red nail theory work? answer, woman!" her eyelids were wide open and her pale cheeks flushed a little pink.

"what is the red nail theory?" spencer asked, frowning again, this time in confusion.

he was used to the fact that he didn't know much about currently pop culture and usually had to get information from team members or search the internet himself. he did it a bit more often lately, because y/n would run into the office from time to time and tell him in an emotional voice about the latest happenings in the world of celebrities that he had no idea about. but if y/n was interested, he wanted to, if only so he wouldn't stand there stock-still and nod his head in an attempt to understand.

"oh, it's such a stupid notion that if you paint your nails red, guys will stick to you like flies," she replied, as always without impatience, waving her hand dismissively, which only underlined her attitude towards the matter. spencer, however, saw the red on her fingernails.

“it's widely believed that the color red symbolizes passion, desire and, of course, love. a survey was conducted which revealed that…” spencer began, unable to resist sharing this information with her; he stopped, however, when penelope waved a kindle in front of his nose, as if to chase away a persistent insect.

"y/n! did mark make a move?!”

"who is mark?"

in his defense, it had slipped out faster than he had time to think. the tone in which garcia's question was uttered indicated that mark had already been the subject of conversations and was obviously known to someone other than y/n. that in turn meant (spencer unintentionally connected the assumption with his own suspicions) that y/n was romantically interested in someone, and probably someone — how could not — reciprocated. especially since the woman's cheeks had turned slightly pink.

spencer felt his stomach turn inside out; never thought he had any chance with y/n, but sometimes it was nice to daydream a bit. but now those dreams had become almost utopian, though earlier, he liked to tell himself, they had been possible if he hadn't been such a coward and had perhaps agreed to go to the gym with morgan.

“he's a clerk in that little shop we passed on our way here. remember, the one with the white wooden sign and the blue lettering. anyway, penelope thinks he's a muffin ready to munch, which i guess means he's relatively attractive," y/n replied again, in the same tone as before; this time, however, she didn't wave her hand, but ostentatiously rolled her eyes.

"hello? when will it be time to answer my questions?” the blonde got impatient and slid her legs off the lounger and seemed ready to pin y/n to the ground and force all the answers out of her.

y/n smiled softly (apparently the danger in garcia's eyes was no problem for her) and bent down to reach for the shopping bag at her feet. she was clearly looking for something and was knocking over the rest of her purchases as she did so, but she took her time to answer penelope.

"i'm not sure about that theory, pen. i bought you a couple of canned sodas and some magazines from the display at the back of the store, and mark was mostly looking at my boobs, not my nails. this confirmed what i had always thought of him — that he is quite a jerk. i don't know, girls, maybe you should be interested in someone valuable."

spencer lifted the corner of his mouth, the one that the others couldn't see; he didn't know the whole mark, but enjoyed the way y/n thought of him. he just didn't know who he was. he liked to think he wasn't a jerk, but he wasn't sure he was valuable either. he was curious if there was anything in between.

“this is not some husband contest, y/n. it's our carefully crafted hot girls summer," penelope reminded her, and this time she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

reid refrained from asking another question.

“then i'm afraid our hot girls summers are quite different,” y/n replied, finally pulling a few magazines out of the plastic bag and stacking them neatly on her lap, frowning in concentration. “i bought rossi another crossword puzzle because i saw him finishing the one in the morning paper. jj and emily said they didn't need anything but i bought them a gossip magazine anyway. the only thing i didn't know was what to get hotch... anyway, penelope, i didn't spend a dime on you. it's for those stupid messages you've been sending me all morning! and for your information, my inner tigress didn't pounce on a couple of ribs."

penelope moaned martyrdom, throwing her head back and returning to her previous position, turning on her kindle again. y/n didn't seem too concerned about it, in fact, not at all, and turned around a bit to face spencer. her mouth stretched into that familiar excited smile, and her cheeks seemed to still be tinted with a soft pink as the woman proudly held out to him a sealed magazine with a dvd inside.

"dr. reid, here's the second part of the documentary we started watching during this case in baltimore." her tone was high, but spencer still sensed a hint of laughter in it. “on the way back i also saw a nice restaurant that delivers orders. it's not chinese, but i don't mind indian food. you like indian food, right? i can look for something else, i think i saw something at the end of the pier...

“indian food sounds nice, y/n,” spencer said reassuringly, giving her a small smile.

it all sounded nice. it was nice to think that y/n looked at the popular science section and thought of him; about wanting to watch a nature documentary with him and eat takeout. spencer didn't want to think otherwise, and even thought that maybe all his fears about leaving weren't very rational.

"oh god, i hope you guys gonna fuck while doing this or i'll drown you in the pool..." penelope's totally serious voice broke the smiling silence between them like a knife blade.

spencer made an indistinct noise, blushing to the tips of his ears while y/n seemed extremely angry.

“you know what, pen, i'd rather fuck spencer with a documentary on africa insects running in the background than go out with all that mark. i bet he's an indebted loser who doesn't even own a boat, which would be quite derogatory given the name his shop bears." hissed y/n.

spencer felt like he was shrinking with each passing second; y/n's hand and the magazine it held were digging into his chest, and penelope's eyes shone again with a dangerous glow, which together with the accusing finger was quite a disturbing sight.

"i see! so he invited you after all!” she exclaimed, and y/n dropped the magazine from her hand, which with a rustling sound fell to his lap and arranged her hands in such a way as if she wanted to strangle the blonde.

"yes, penelope!" y/n raised her voice. “he said something like maybe we can go out together or something and i said yeah, rather not, or something and immediately left the place. are you satisfied yet?”

penelope frowned a bit and sank back into the chair with a clearly disconsolate expression. she felt a little silly, just like y/n, who tried to straighten up a bit to give herself some dignity and brushed her skirt off her knee as if there were a few crumbs there, but they weren't.

"are you sure he was looking at your boobs and not your nails?" asked penelope after a moment.

"yes."

“well, then he is indeed a loser without a boat. pity. i liked his chin."

"oh, penelope," sighed y/n and smiled slightly as the blonde did the same.

y/n bent down again to put the magazines back in the plastic bag, and spencer moved his leg slightly, hoping the tense atmosphere had just ended. he didn't quite know what he could do if things got worse. he was also pleased to hear about the reunion of mark and y/n. he hoped he'd gotten away with it and wouldn't try to be interested in her again, but at the same time he wondered what he'd do if he heard the y/n words himself. yeah, rather not, or something. it sounded like his personal hell.

"pretty girl is back!"

they looked towards the pool. morgan was walking toward them in red swimming trunks that went past his knees, arms wide open, the corner of his mouth raised dangerously. apparently the little volleyball match had just ended; hotch was disappearing inside rossi's house as jj and emily were slowly approaching them.

"so what? we are going to play the game?" morgan asked, aiming the words at the y/n.

for a brief moment, the woman's face showed surprise, but then her mouth curved into a mocking grimace.

"if i didn't know you, morgan, i'd think you liked being humiliated. sure we're playing, i just need to get changed." y/n got up from the lounger and, grabbing the shopping bag, headed for the patio doors. as she passed the morgan, she looked over her shoulder at him, whispering, "i'll destroy you."

"you wish, honey." derek snorted, but it was hard to tell if y/n had heard his words because she didn't react to them in any way.

you wish, honey. he wondered what reaction y/n would get if he called her that nickname. he wasn't very good with words and it would probably end up painfully awkward. spencer would like to be like morgan — smooth in conversation, which he was able to combine with his appearance. would like to talk to y/n per honey. or whatever y/n finds attractive.

spencer saw the woman stop by rossi and hand him a crossword puzzle book, and the man patted her hand, giving her a smile. he didn't even notice how it appeared on his face as well. y/n was good, generous and open-minded, and spencer knew he could count on her, and that other people important to him could count on her, too.

"come on reid, get ready." threw derek in his direction, waking him from his lethargy.

spencer looked at him with surprise and maybe a little fear in his eyes. after years of being near derek's desk, he was used to the little teases derek gave him — he understood that they were never intended to hurt him, and he usually brushed them off or tried to respond to them in a similar way. but he also knew that sometimes morgan couldn't keep his mouth shut, and he feared that derek's swashbuckling smirk had something to do with y/n. he didn't know what it was yet, but he sure had it.

at the same time, emily and jj also appeared, sitting together on the deckchair on the other side of penelope and smiling at them, clearly tired.

"morgan, haven't you had enough? i wouldn't mess with y/n, she's pretty good at this stuf," emily muttered, scratching her ankle. "if i were you, i wouldn't pick myself up after a second failure."

"oh yeah, she took extra classes when she was in high school." jj supported her, nodding her head.

"oh please. i gave you a head start. like the gentleman i am." derek leaned forward with his hand on his chest, and they shook their heads in amusement.

spencer was about to ask what exactly it was about when the patio doors slid open again. automatically he looked towards the terrace and involuntarily parted his lips.

for a brief moment he thought he couldn't make any sound, let alone understandable and logical words. he didn't know what made him more emotional — how pretty y/n's face looked in the two braids that were now bouncing gently with her steps, or maybe the fact that her swimsuit was really litty and even spencer's mind wasn't in the mood could prepare him for how amazing she could look in it.

it was a two-piece, bottle green. spencer could see the bindings that held the top of the suit together — the ones at the nape of his neck (which he had seen before) and moments ago when she had her back to him for two seconds, closing the door behind her, also the one on her back. in addition, on both sides of her hips there were similar, but indetachable, decorative strings.

despite his sincere wish not to think too much of her in that particular sinful way, he had to refrain from imagining a moment when he would be allowed to pull either of them.

“i was just telling a pretty boy to get ready to kick his ass,” morgan said as y/n stopped in front of them.

"you didn't mention any kicking my ass and i still don't know what you mean," spencer replied, then frowned as penelope put in something from her kindle about how she liked it when he said ass.

"oh yes." y/n grabbed the end of one of the braids and gave him an apologetic look. “so a month ago morgan saw my volleyball medals while he was helping me redecorate my bedroom and said we absolutely had to go against him because he thinks he’s totally rocking.”

"because i rock."

"anyway, this morning while you were still sleeping, i got a little competitive and got you involved too." she sounded like she was genuinely sorry, but when her gaze met derek, her tone changed completely. "so you better stretch yourself morgan or we're going to crush you completely!"

y/n shot both of her index fingers at derek, and he laughed out loud and walked off towards the pool, where the woman's narrowed eyes led him.

spencer swallowed hard and clenched his hands again on the cover of his book. it was a real disaster unfolding to the cheers of the girls as y/n started her warm-up with feigned zeal.

subconsciously, he knew that he wasn't some important part of this two-man team — y/n clearly had no plans to involve him in the game beforehand, and it probably came about as a result of everyone's familiar scuffles between her and derek. yet he felt his stomach turn inside out again as he thought about the fact that he would have to take part in a game in which he was hopeless in front of everyone else.

"y/n." the woman looked at him, with a determined expression on her face, although a moment ago she had just been training her menacing gaze under the supervision of emily, whose role of focused trainer was not going very well. "can we talk somewhere else?"

"sorry girls, we have to talk about our super tactics"

they walked to the opposite end of the pool, hearing the excited voices of the girls behind them, who were just in the process of coming up with cheering slogans. spencer felt even worse when he thought that apparently most of the team knew about the planned showdown between y/n and derek and were looking forward to it.

"the thing is, i hit in your direction and you take straight to his half and so twenty-five times..."

"y/n, i'm not good at volleyball. actually, i'm not good at any sport that requires physical exertion." he confessed, reluctantly interrupting her.

for a nanosecond, y/n's enthusiasm waned a bit, but then she frowned, confused.

"what are you talking about? i'm sure you're great. besides, you're tall!" she remarked, sending him a smile and shrugging.

"and what about it?"

"all volleyball players are tall." she shrugged again, and spencer sighed softly.

then y/n turned serious and placed her hands on his thin shoulders. even though her hands were only touching him through the gray cotton t-shirt he was wearing, spencer felt the tips of his ears turn red gradually.

the team knew about his reluctance to have close physical contact, and spencer made sure that all new people he met were also informed. he knew penelope had told y/n about it before the woman noticed him sitting at his desk, and he was grateful to her that he had missed this awkward conversation. however, spencer quickly realized that he actually doesn't mind physical contact as long as the person he's having it with is y/n.

her acts of kindness and friendship drew him into his terrible crush with each working day, and made him more and more aware of the need for her touch. he had even unconsciously searched for it, provoking occasions for his fingertips to touch hers, to pass documents, for her arm to brush against his as they walked down the not-too-wide corridor to the briefing room, and for his hand to be within reach, when one day the plugs in the office went out and it became completely dark.

he naively thought he was being discreet about it — but the team quickly noticed his lack of aversion to her touch and made jokes about it. spencer hoped that their remarks didn't reach y/n and that she didn't notice it herself — he was able to make do with whatever physical intimacy she unwittingly gave him.

however, he realized that y/n arranged the touch herself, almost on the same level as she maintained with the rest of the team.

now she was staring deep into his eyes, and reid hoped the red didn't spread to his cheeks as well.

"listen to me, spencer. i won't say it's just for fun because i'm fucking desperate to win and i'm not going to give morgan the satisfaction, but i will say that i believe your volleyball player is deep inside of you and just needs a gentle push to bring him to the surface," she whispered, which made spencer look pained.

"i'm afraid he's already there. he's floating, more precisely. because he's dead."

"you see? it's not so bad if you still have your sense of humor," she laughed, patting his shoulder, but her laughter died away as she crossed arms over her chests, leaning towards him with a worried expression. he tried not to show the disappointment of losing her hand on his body. "spencer, i can tell derek you don't want to play. i know i should have asked you first."

"what's going on there?! y/n, you can give up now!" derek leaned against the wall of his half of the field with a grin and waited for them to arrive.

they looked in his direction, but y/n quickly returned her gaze to spencer's face.

he knew that volleyball was not his strong suit. just as he knew the last thing he wanted was to humiliate himself in front of the team and, of course, in front of y/n because of it. but he noticed how excited she was. and he didn't want her to lose the sparkle in her eyes he saw when she explained their rather unreal tactics to him.

"i'll do it," he decided at last, nodding his head a few times, just in case, to confirm himself in this decision.

y/n opened her mouth in surprise and grabbed his wrist as he started towards the pool, forcing him to meet her eyes again.

"spencer, if you really don't want to, you don't have to."

"yeah, but suddenly i felt like kicking morgan's ass," he replied, though he didn't really know if he wanted to. he wanted to give her what she wanted, of that he was sure.

y/n stared at him intently, probably searching for something to contradict his words, but reid made sure his expression was convincing enough. in the end, the girl lost the fight with a huge smile, and from her chest came an excited sound like a combination of a squeak and a giggle.

"i like it when you say ass too!" she said and stole a kiss on his cheek, immediately turning on her heel and stepping into the pool.

spencer turned crimson and involuntarily raised his hand to touch his fingertips to the place where the muted pink y/n lips touched his skin. chill out a bit.

as he had predicted, he was not doing very well. emily, jj and penelope moved the sunbeds a little closer to the pool for a better view and started cheering for their team right from the start, which only distracted spencer and put even more pressure on him.

in addition, although he had suspected it for a long time, but now he was convinced of it, y/n, despite the whole package of good qualities, also had some worse ones, such as an unhealthy desire to compete and a need to be the best.

things seemed pretty stable at first — y/n let morgan go surfing first, definitely determined to win. she hit the first few throws and then ended them with a strong knockout of the ball that sprayed the water, announcing their first point. actually because of her, but y/n held up her hands for a high five as if it was a joint effort.

then there was a slight complication as derek hit the ball towards him, which spencer didn't expect at all and his bounce was too light for the ball to go over the net. y/n reassured him that everything was fine and kept playing, but spencer felt like the worst person in the world, especially since emily moaned in agony, even though that was only the first point lost (she had already taken another sip of something lemon yellow, but it wasn't lemonade and she was getting a little cranky).

y/n quickly rebounded and gained the upper hand, and spencer even managed to hit the ball a few times without sending it to the net or out of the water court. but eventually the losing streak came back and they lost points again, and a crease appeared between y/n's eyebrows that made spencer nervous.

it was twenty-two to nineteen for morgan, and the man had already indulged in a few snide comments. y/n with obvious impatience somehow made the ball finally hit the water on morgan's side and passed the ball to spencer with a serious expression.

reid liked it a lot better when he wasn't closer to the pool walls, and didn't get a few stressful stares on his shoulders while he was surfing, especially since he'd hit the ball out of court way too often. in addition, now he was sure that if he repeated it, he would hear a martyrdom moan not from emily's lips, but from y/n. then he would allow himself a small humiliating drowning.

he sighed softly, rolling the ball over in his hand. the kids at his school bounced it hard on the floor to give it a better bounce. spencer couldn't do that now, and he wasn't really sure if the tactic worked. every time he was in this place, he thought about how what he was best at would help him. however, there was not enough time to mess with physics.

he hit the ball down, grimacing, just in case.

however, contrary to his expectations, the ball went over the net and began to fall within the pool area, not on the stone path outside it.

out of the corner of his eye, he saw the corner of y/n's mouth twitch slightly upwards. the ends of her braids were wet with chlorinated water and dripping drops; spencer, wanting to preserve what little dignity he had, held back with all his might lest his gaze fall a little lower, where the drops ran down her skin and into the hollow between her breasts. he also judiciously ignored the fact that the soaked fabric of her bikini clung to her body, which seemed to reflect the sun's rays and seemed to glisten slightly. plus, her…

he couldn't say exactly what had happened, but he knew that one moment he was watching the y/n body moving in slow motion, and the next he was bended in half, feeling a dizzying, sharp pain shoot through his head. he remembered holding his hands to his face, feeling his nose twitch as still as a cartoon character who had just rung a big bell, and there was sudden chaos around him; several voices rose in surprise, someone close to him shouted his name, and the water around him surged, pushing him against the pool wall. he also felt something drip onto his fingers.

"god, spencer!" delicate, wet yet warm hands brushed uncertainly over his still veiled face, and spencer recognized the terrified y/n in that voice.

"dude, now you've got nothing left!"

"seriously, derek?!" y/n was furious, but when she turned to him again, her voice was soft but still nervous. "spencer, look at me. everything's all right?! pass the towel! rossi, go get the keys, we're going to the hospital! may be broken!"

the nose wasn't broken. which spencer knew as soon as he managed to get his questions answered from the panic-stricken team. no one noticed the swelling, and no hematomas appeared under his eyes; the profuse bleeding that y/n was trying to stop with more and more tissues, and the pain he felt didn't have to be signs of a fracture, though they could. the team wasn't going to take his word for it anyway, and hotch, though the most composed of the group, was firmly pressing on the accelerator.

spencer, apart from feeling like everything was spinning around him from time to time, he felt a bit overwhelmed; there was too much noise around him — his friends were arguing about who was to blame for his accident, y/n had her hand over his face (although he assured her he could still hold a few tissues) and was squeezing his hand tight, increasing the pressure when she was responding to morgan.

when they got to the hospital, and the doctor finally treated their panicked group, he only confirmed what spencer had suspected all along. he didn't even have a concussion, and this disturbingly profuse hemorrhage was caused by the rupture of a larger vessel. recommended ice packs and rest. something spencer could prescribe for himself.

they back to rossi's house in a slightly less nervous mood, though y/n didn't speak to derek, who had repeatedly apologized not only to spencer but also to her. y/n, however, seemed adamant and still preoccupied with the situation. spencer suspected she felt guilty because she had talked him into it, after all, though he had mentioned to her once or twice that it was nothing and that all symptoms would be gone by tonight.

as they crossed the threshold of the house, three waiting heads appeared from behind the living room wall, and again there was a din of explaining everything to the rest of the team, who had to stay because of emily's tip. spencer finally managed to get out of their company and quickly disappeared into his room before anyone noticed him.

from that moment on, two hours passed, which spencer spent lying motionless with an ice pack against his face. he stared at the ceiling and multiplied every now and then the number of panels on the floor. there was an eerie silence downstairs, and spencer wondered if everything was all right down there.

he was about to decide to get out of bed and go downstairs when there were two single knocks against his door. he called the person inside, and after a while a y/n head appeared.

"i have a bowl for your used ice pack and your book you left on the sun lounger," she said softly, smiling, seemingly slightly confused.

"come in," he replied, just as quietly, though there was no reason for them to communicate that way.

the previously awkward y/n grimace turned into her beautiful smile as she slipped inside, closing the door behind her. she was clutching his book to her chest and in the other hand she was holding the purple plastic bowl spencer had seen in the kitchen cupboard this morning.

he involuntarily smiled as he thought of how y/n reminded him of a small child who had just managed to sneak into a friend's room despite the watchful eyes of his parents — she jumped on his bed, then sat cross-legged and sighed heavily as spencer pulled the compress away from his face, to put it in the bowl.

"is it that bad?" he joked, raising his eyebrows to which y/n snorted mockingly.

"you don't even know how much. you look exactly the same!” she laughed as she placed the bowl with compress on the bedside table by spencer's bed. to do so, she had to lean over him, and this time the scent of her floral shampoo and mango lotion filled his nostrils; she must have taken a shower afterwards because he couldn't smell the chlorine on her. however, when y/n returned to her seat, her expression became a little more serious. "how do you feel? i know everyone asked you this way too many times already, but i'm really worried."

"much better. i think i've stopped feeling that throbbing pain, although that may just be because of the ice," he replied, smiling slightly. "and hey, you don't have to worry so much about it. i already told you it's okay and it's not your fault."

"yeah, but still. i don't know what we'd do if you slashed that pretty face."

spencer frowned as if he disliked her words, but y/n just laughed again. in fact, he had already wondered a few times if the fact that y/n called him pretty boy, like morgan, meant anything at all. a large number of voices in his head said that this was just another habit that the girl had picked up from derek, as she had done in the case of throwing balls of paper into the garbage cans. however, there was a part that made spencer's cheeks a little pink when he heard those words come out of her mouth. sometimes hearing it from her was completely different than hearing it from anyone else.

"yeah, morgan has already pointed that out," he said finally, feeling it had to be done.

it seems like y/n was just waiting for spencer to mention morgan because she suddenly gasped and jumped up on the mattress, frowning.

“you know, i was joking now, but it really pissed me off at the time! i was terrified because i had never seen so much blood while doing anything other than catching serial killers, and i thought it could end up much worse than a broken nose. and derek didn't care at all!" y/n's hands engaged the aggressive gesticulation mode that appeared on the horizon when she was really high. "i was so furious with him! and his irritating taunts on the way to the hospital!”

"what taunts?" he asked, confused.

of course he was aware that y/n and morgan had spent the entire drive to the hospital arguing, with garcia joining in from time to time, now trying to get them to agree, now putting in her two cents as if she couldn't hold back any longer. at the time, however, he was too preoccupied with his bleeding nose and maybe a little y/n touch as well to notice what exactly their heated discussion was about.

"never mind, suitably stupid for his level," y/n grunted, blushing unexpectedly and tucking her hair behind her ear, though not a strand fell to her cheek. “anyway, i had a bit of an argument with him, and now i feel a little guilty about him because, i have to admit, i went a bit too far. but i won't apologize to him so he doesn't think about it too much."

"but you'll reconcile, won't you? it would be a bit awkward if you won't," he murmured, partly to her, partly to himself.

before y/n could answer, however, the door swung open timidly after three hasty knocks. derek morgan's head looked inside, as if the man was well aware that they were talking about him and decided to intervene. however, there was a swashbuckling smile on his lips, the kind you couldn't be angry at.

"hey hey..." he crooned, smiling even wider. "how it's going?"

"how it should?" y/n answered the question with a question, annoyance evident in her voice. "he almost got a concussion."

"not at all," spencer interjected, but he was ignored by each of them.

"i'm sorry mom, it won't happened again," derek replied, making y/n utter an exasperated sigh. morgan walked in even though no one had actually invited him and approached them with a mysterious plastic bag in his hand. “penelope gave me a hint so i could think of a way to finally settle the conflict, and here it is: the chinese you obviously love. appreciate my efforts, pretty girl, they had to bring her from another town.”

"then i guess the thanks go to the supplier, mr. morgan," y/n noticed, and spencer saw that there was an amused sparkle behind the sternness of her gaze. the girl accepted the takeaway, much to morgan's satisfaction, and arranged it beside her. "nice of you. i stopped being mad at you about an hour and a half ago, but it's still cool."

morgan reached out to flick her nose and y/n slapped it, laughing loudly.

spencer, sitting with his legs stretched forward, leaned against the back of his wooden bed, watching their interaction. with displeasure he felt a nasty jealousy sprouting in his stomach; something about the sight of their casual touch, each of them knowing that this quarrel and the words that accompanied it had no meaning, made him almost see the green covering his fingers. and they had done it all right in front of him.

spencer laughed mentally. he was really pathetic — morgan and y/n were friends. and y/n still wasn't going to consider him, even if he got punched in the nose.

"oh, dude. i'd like to get punched in the nose too if it meant y/n would look after me," morgan sighed dreamily, turning to spencer, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"i'll take care of you too, morgan, if that's what you want. but before that, i'll give you a nose so we'll have one reason," y/n replied, causing the man to chuckle in an amused tone as he backed away towards the door.

"okay, i understand, i'm leaving now. have fun, kids," he said, then disappeared through the heavy door.

y/n shook her head, turning her body towards spencer. her silken hair, which had been braided since spencer had first laid eyes on her that afternoon, now fell over her shoulders, which were no longer covered by the t-shirt she had thrown on in a hurry as everyone ran around rossi's living room, occasionally catching spencer's shoulder, as if to reassure themselves that he was still standing there. she was wearing something a lot more elegant now, which belied spencer's idea that she had already showered. in that case, she'd already be wearing her yellow turtleneck pajamas, which spencer raised his eyebrows at the first time they had to share a room during the case.

instead of yellow turtles, reid saw a plain, rather thin, black shirt tucked into denim shorts. and it didn't look like a sleep suit. but actually spencer shouldn't be interested in that.

pushing those tactless thoughts away, he reached out for the plastic bag morgan had brought them.

it was filled with distinctive boxes, the sharp edges of which pushed the plastic bag apart, and the smell that wafted from them despite the paper reminded spencer of all those late nights spent with y/n in hotel rooms, during which the television was told by a weary voice about the life of individual species, and the woman was in the so close to him that her shoulder touched his. he only liked the smell for those memories.

y/n leaned over with interest to look at the bag as well. spencer realized after a short while that the girl's forehead was not far from his, and a little surprised by the sudden closeness, he lifted his head to look at her. y/n did the same, feeling his burning gaze on her and smiled softly without breaking eye contact.

for a brief moment, he felt as if there was absolutely nothing else around them. there were only y/e/c y/n irises, her lightly freckled nose that was to blame for the sun, and her pink lips. lips he would love to kiss. or even brush his own lips.

but before he opened it to say anything that might lead to that, his bedroom door groaned heavily, as it did when it was opened very slowly. they pulled away from each other almost immediately, turning their heads in their direction. spencer, for an irrational moment, even thought that hotch might be behind them, about to lead him out of his own room by the ear like a rascal of the worst kind. jesus, spencer, he reminded himself, you're a grown man. if you want to kiss a woman, you will.

however, it wasn't hotch's head that emerged from behind the door, but emily, who didn't seem as frisky as she had been a few hours ago. she eyed each of them and walked inside to the accompaniment of expectant silence from them.

"are you guys kissing?" she asked after a moment, an excited smile on her face as she tilted her head slightly.

"what? no!" spencer thought y/n seemed pretty flustered considering the fact that their faces were inches apart just moment ago and she was clearly trying to pretend that none of this had happened. well, nothing that spencer wasn't prepared for.

"say what you want. reid looks like a ripe tomato."

spencer choked on his own saliva, drawing the women's attention, and his hand immediately reached for the glass on his nightstand, which was half full of water.

"i-it's a compress." he wanted to somehow explain what his face looked like, but no one, including himself, seemed convinced (and the water had been standing here since last night and tasted bad).

"of course…"

"i thought you were going to look for a club," y/n put in a quick, drawing emily's attention back to her.

"because we're going. i just came to drop it off." emily held out a sealed magazine to her friend, in which reid recognized a nature documentary. "what a shame you're not going. it's always more fun with you."

"you'll be fine without me," she replied y/n, getting out of bed and walking over to the small TV set in the corner of the room. she sat down in front of the cabinet he was standing on and began unpacking the magazine with a concentrated frown. "thanks, emily. just don't overdo it this time, okay? you've already had a drink today."

"boredom!" the dark-haired woman dragged out the first syllable, grabbing the doorknob. "you talking like jj! i'm leaving before you infect me with your innocence!"

emily had indeed disappeared through the bedroom door, and after a while the sound of her heels could be heard as they left the floor in a hurry.

there was a silence in the room, one that y/n would surely describe as safely comfortable; such silences sometimes happened between them when they were filling out paperwork at their desks, sharing dried fruit (y/n loved dried apples, a fact spencer consciously remembered) when they were sitting side by side on the jet, sharing headphones because y/n wanted to show him her current musical obsession, or when they sat on the benches outside the office building during their lunch break and ate their breakfasts. they were good silences. and maybe that silence would be good too if spencer's brain wasn't working at full capacity. all the information he had gathered in the last dozen or so minutes was quite plausible.

"a penny for your thoughts, doctor," hummed y/n as she focused on pressing buttons on the rossi player; it was one of the more expensive ones, because it not only read vhs tapes, but also dvds. "i can hear them even from this distance."

"it's nothing, it's just... i wonder why you don't go out with girls," he replied after a moment's hesitation.

from his seat on the bed, he could see y/n's eyebrows frown a bit, but he wasn't sure if it was because of her ignorance about using the player or because of his words.

"i was about to go, i even let penelope rummage through my suitcase," she confessed. the player finally listened to her and slid out the dvd drive, where a disc with a nature documentary soon landed. “but i thought about the first day of our trip that i spent watching some action movie with morgan, and yesterday i got drunk with the girls. we miss each other a bit, don't you think? and today, when we finally did something together, you ended up in the hospital. so we'll lighten our spirits with some fun-facts about the insects of africa. how about that, doctor?"

spencer smiled weakly as y/n looked over her shoulder at him. now he felt even worse than when morgan had hit him with the volleyball — it all sounded to him as if y/n had decided to sacrifice a girls' night out of guilt and resentment for spending time with him.

“y/n, you should go out with the girls. it will probably be much more interesting than here with me,” he said finally, but as the words hung between them, he didn't feel any easier than he'd expected, and even harder. especially since y/n looked over her shoulder at him again, her brows heavily furrowed.

"you're kidding? i'd much rather eat chinese and watch a nature documentary with you than walk emily home drunk." she shook her head as if he had said the stupidest thing she had heard in a long time; the TV brightened up and showed the output page of the document. "by the way... we haven't watched anything together lately... i missed it."

"you miss it?" he stammered, perhaps a little too surprised in a voice judging by the way y/n was clearly confused, blushing.

“well, yes… i have the impression that this is our little tradition. you know, something that's only ours. i can't imagine morgan watching nature documents with us, because who would you whisper additional information into the ear first?” she asked, involuntarily laughing softly.

she got up off the floor, holding the remote in her right hand as she turned off the light with her left. the room went dark, and spencer swallowed hard, seeing the figure of y/n slowly approaching him, crouching by the nightstand to flick the light switch.

the light, dimmed by the lampshade, was a soft red that spread over the walls of the room. spencer felt like y/n had never looked so beautiful, and at the same time he felt the tension in the air.

"it's cool, i like it," whispered y/n, sitting tentatively on the edge of the mattress, near his hips. "but you've been acting weird lately and we stopped doing that."

"weird?" he repeated, frowning. god, he wanted so badly to place his hands behind her ear at that moment and pull her to him; he wanted the moment before emily came back.

“you stopped talking to me, starting conversations on your own and all. i felt like i was the only one trying. every time i walked into the room you and the team stopped talking and all eyes were on me. i don't need to be a profiler to know you were talking about me. but everyone said it wasn't about me, so i guess i let it go a bit and tried not to think about it too much, but it still wasn't the same between us." as she spoke, y/n kept her head down and didn't seem to want to look up at him. "i thought you'd come to my room when we had a case in chester like always, but you didn't. and not later either. and later too. and you acted like nothing happened. plus, it really annoyed me that you stared at me without saying a word, and when i asked what was going on, you said it was nothing, but then you did it again."

y/n jumped out of bed, crossing her arms over her chest. she also began pacing in a characteristic way, as if in thought. her eyes roamed all the furniture she could find, but finally fixed her gaze on him.

"okay, am i exaggerating? i feel like i kind of did, and now i've said all those things and i feel really stupid…”

"no!" spencer raised his voice a little more than was necessary. he sprang up from the mattress, tired of the thought that the woman might think that the matter they were discussing was not important to him. "i…"

"stay still, the doctor said you might get dizzy," y/n interrupted him as she approached him.

"i'm not dizzy," he replied, but y/n had already reached out to him, as if to gently push him towards the bed.

"lie down," she insisted, but without much thought spencer grabbed her hands and lowered them to the level of their hips.

"no, listen to me. i'm sorry i've been acting this way lately," he said, and when he finally realized he was holding y/n's hands firmly, he let go a bit, but not too much; so that he can still touch her warm skin. “i… i was avoiding you a bit because the whole trip was so stressful and i started thinking too much and it influenced my behavior, but…

"stressful? why?"

"because... it's so stupid." he ran his hand through his hair, but his dark strands fell over his forehead anyway; it made him even angrier. “the thing is, i realized we'd start spending time together outside of work, and then you'd see i'm the same spencer from the office when i'm not at the office. and then you'll realize what a boring person i am and you won't want to hang out with me anymore. and i... i like you, y/n. i like you so much that i'm afraid of losing you because of me."

y/n frowned worriedly, tilting her head slightly. for a brief moment she stared at a point on his shoulder, as if searching for the right words. spencer, on the other hand, was feeling more and more nauseous as it dawned on him that perhaps the words he'd used shouldn't have been spoken to his friends, even though they sneakily sounded appropriate.

"well..." y/n sighed, leading him back to the mattress where they sat next to each other. spencer anticipated the worst and was slowly starting to feel like the biggest fool. he had a big mouth and always talked too much, everyone told him so. "i guess it's good that you're still spencer from the office when you're out of the office, right? because i wouldn't want you to be anyone else."

he looked at her and the woman smiled softly, still holding his hand.

"and you're not boring and i can't believe you think that of yourself! you're the most interesting person i know," she assured. “you are the only person in my circle of friends with whom i can watch all the movies in the world, because there is a 99% chance that you will be able to translate dialogues for me fluently! and the only one who can read and summarize the book i forgot to read for my book club, and i didn't have to be an ignorant who doesn't know anything about "pride and prejudice."

“you got all the threads with mr. darcy mixed up anyway,” he reminded her, smiling at the memory.

"i know and that's why i don't go there anymore!" y/n laughed as well, her shoulders trembling slightly.

even now he could picture in his mind the moment y/n walked into the office, heading without thinking to his desk with an expression of pure horror and embarrassment. half laughing, half almost crying, she related to him a meeting of her book club she had started attending. she told him how she got everything mixed up and made a fool of herself in front of the young women. she also didn't hesitate to mention how she drank wine in large gulps until the end of the meeting, and yet she was the first to run out of katy's apartment.

he felt y/n squeeze his hand a little tighter and looked at it again. the nausea he was feeling subsided a bit and he even started laughing at his panicked fantasies — it was y/n; the kind, always natural, and generous y/n who could never think of him that way.

“look, i know who you are may seem boring to you, but to me, you're the coolest person i've ever met in my life. and the nicest. i still remember how you remembered my birthday when others forgot. and when you brought me soup when i was sick. and i had two soups, because my mother had already brought one. you remember all the little things i tell you. that i prefer coffee with caramel syrup over maple syrup. that in 7th grade i fell out of a tree and have a scar on my knee which i'd rather you forget because derek still teases me." their soft laughs echoed through the room again. "you're the best spencer.

"thanks," he whispered.

so that's what it was supposed to be. misunderstandings and inaccuracies are resolved, y/n will finally choose one of the options that were displayed on the screen of a small TV and spend the next hour side by side eating chilled food from a chinese restaurant. it wasn't something spencer would have hoped for if his earlier speech had been worded better, but something he expected when he said what he had to say. but that was fine. he learned to enjoy the little things.

but suddenly he felt y/n fingers under his chin, directing his gaze back to her face. they were so close it hurt.

"and you'll never lose me, spencer. you can't get rid of me that easily," she said, also in a whisper. "i'm like a venereal disease."

spencer frowned.

"it was a disgusting comparison."

"i know, sorry."

"y/n," he whispered, never taking his eyes off the deep hue of her irises that scanned his face.

"yeah?"

he swallowed once more, hoping that the remnants of courage didn't run down his esophagus as well. he wasn't sure and couldn't be, but maybe this was the moment he should have heeded morgan and penelope and emily and jj and rossi and hotch...

"when i said i like you, i meant that..."

"i know, spencer." y/n smiled softly, and spencer had the impression that her face was a little closer than it had been two seconds before. "and guess what... i like you too."

spencer cursed mentally and, sliding his hand into y/n's hair, pulled her even closer to him.

the kiss was a bit tentative at first, and a terrifying thought crossed his mind that perhaps he had been in too much of a hurry and had misread some of the signals — he had done that all too often, after all, and the y/n words might have had nothing to do with what he was saying, with what spencer thought they had. y/n, however, returned the kiss, giving it a new pace for it, tangling her fingers in his hair. then reid realized he had stopped thinking about anything.

all that mattered at that moment was the taste of y/n cherry lip gloss, her hands on his neck, and soon his arms and chest as she climbed onto his lap. spencer thought it was too much — her scent filled his nostrils, completely befuddled him, her hands craving for closeness tracing every curve of his body, making him dizzy — and at the same time he felt that he needed more.

he lifted the hand he'd been resting on the mattress and ran it over y/n's bare thigh, not sure if he was allowed to do it. her skin was smooth, warm and cool at the same time, and spencer wanted to know how other parts of her body felt. y/n smiled through the kiss, reaching for his wandering hand, which she then placed on her hip.

spencer took it a step further and moved her down her back to pull her closer to him. he wanted to be as close to her as possible, possibly even absorb himself into her, if that meant he would always feel the way he did now.

y/n moved her kisses to his cheek, jaw, and behind his ear, where she sucked his skin. spencer moaned softly, surprised, and the girl with a smile headed towards his neck, biting it with kisses.

"thank god penelope left the house," y/n mumbled into his skin, saying the words in between caresses. “she probably would have said her i knew it! or didn't i tell you?!"

spencer pulled back slightly, mouth parting speechless. he remembered perfectly well what penelope had said when he heard that they were going to watch a nature documentary, and now his mind, despite being completely distracted by this unexpected situation, connected the dots — the movie was on but still not quite and the y/n slowly starting to rubbing his hips — coming to an unequivocal conclusion.

"are we going to…?" the unfinished question hung in the air, making y/n's eyes widen.

"what? no! not if you don't want to!” she assured quickly, blushing furiously. “but we can if you want… but we don't have to do anything! kissing is cool too. we don't even have to kiss…"

"no!" he protested, straightening up a bit, for he had been leaning more on the mattress on his elbows than actually sitting on it. "no, i want to. i want… everything,” he whispered, much quieter now, slightly ashamed of his apparent need. after thinking about it, he added, "please?"

y/n's face stretched into his favorite kind of smile, and the woman leaned toward him once more, causing spencer to return to his previous position. out of the corner of his eye, he saw her hand reach for the TV remote. without breaking eye contact with him, she hit the play button and pulled him into a kiss as the documentary began.

spencer felt like he was about to pass out.

"jesus, you're so cute i could bite your nose if it didn't end well," she said, making him snort in amusement.

"what?" he asked, but y/n just laughed along with him and reached for the buttons on her shirt, slowly unbuttoning it, while kissing him.

spencer never in his wildest dreams would have thought that he could be right here — under the thighs of the most beautiful girl who, he was sure, would never look at him the way y/n was now sizing him up, exposing more and more naked patches of her skin. he breathed heavily, stroking the skin of her thighs as she slid off the black fabric. he didn't know exactly where he had landed, actually, he didn't know much at the moment. his iq didn't matter anymore, he was just a jerk who stared captivated at y/n's swimsuit-covered breasts, his mouth slightly parted and his gaze absent.

"something's wrong?" a soft y/n voice cut through his not very coherent thoughts and distracted him from the dark green fabric where the nipples poked through.

"no," he replied firmly, propping himself up on his elbows a bit to bring his lips closer to hers. "you're just beautiful."

he kissed her hard, feeling y/n lift the corners of his mouth, and his hand, previously resting on her leg, moved up to the woman's back, where the strings of her swimsuit brushed the nape of her neck.

[lionhanie]

sungho as your boyfriend! ♡

boyfriend sungho x gn reader!!!!, fluffy fluff, he loves you so much :-(

word count: ~720

warnings: none

a/n: bf sungho everyone CHEERED!!!! i literally geeked writing the last point bc i'm madly in love with him... hope u enjoy ^_^ also he's actually so breathtaking in that pic im going crazy

likes ♡ and reblogs ↺ always appreciated!

i lowkey feel like in the start of your relationship he’s super … well mannered? not that he isn’t normally, but moreso ... the last thing he would want to do is make you uncomfortable so he goes out of his way to make sure he isn’t overstepping any boundaries until he knows you’re okay with something

the two of you are eating dinner with each other & sungho can’t stop looking at the sauce on the side of your mouth; he contemplates not saying anything about it because you look really cute when you’re enjoying the food so well…he eventually holds up a napkin by your face and he’s just like

“can i…?” once you understand what he's asking, you’re a little embarrassed because how long was there something on your face????? but regardless you give him a small nod & he gently wipes the stain off your face, as both of you struggle to keep the smiles off your own faces

always giving gifts with MEANINGS like boy will do his research and go above and beyond!!!!. and will always be so happy to explain said research if you happen to ask about it  

(im specifically thinking about their debut gifts to each other and sungho was so drawn to the Meanings of the flowers he got for woonhak rather than focusing only on what they looked like)

at one of your relationship milestones, he pulls out a jewelry box. there’s a dainty ring sitting inside of it, with two gemstones planted side by side in its center. you immediately gasp because IT’S SOOOO PRETTY? but you can’t help but wonder where he got it because it looks… handmade?

“where did you get this? the gems complement each other so well!”

“ah… taesan and i went to a jewelry making workshop a couple weeks ago, so i wanted to make something for our anniversary,” he grabs your hand to place the ring on one of your fingers, finding it to be a perfect fit. “it’s not the best, but i tried my hardest. i even put our birthstones on it!” 

even if sungho didn’t think the ring was perfect, it definitely was perfect to you <3 

when you give him gifts he will be OVER THE MOON, esp if it was something you got for him /just cause/. he falls in love with you even more knowing that you put in the same effort he does when it comes to gifts

a necklace? he never forgets to put it on before he goes out for the day. a framed picture of you two from your first date? it lives atop his dresser for him to see every morning :3 

i'm a firm believer that sungho will go out of his way to implement constant reminders of you throughout his daily routine (because you're obviously his favorite thing to think about), which is why he adores the things you get for him

u already know this man does not hesitate to serenade you whenever he gets the chance to. omygooooddd his angelic voice paired with a love song you just KNOW he is dedicating to you 

plus i feel like it’d be intimate as hell…. he’s gently strumming his guitar, playing the chords to one of your favorite songs, only breaking eye contact to take a quick look back at his fingers to make sure he plays the next notes correctly OHHHH i’m in love with him i fear

when the time comes for his weekly deep clean of the dorms, he swears he’s ready to propose to you right then and there as you help him tidy up everyone’s mess LOL 

sungho’s accepted the fact that he sometimes needs to clean up after the other members, but now that you’re wiping down the kitchen counters next to him as he washes the various pots and pans that have been piling up in the sink, he almost looks forward to it. it’s oddly domestic-- not that he’s complaining. 

“you know, you don’t need to clean up their mess for them. it’s not like you’re their mom or something,” he says as he places another clean plate on the dish rack beside him. 

“i mean, i know that. but you don’t need to either! i don’t mind helping you out if it means i get to spend some more time with you.” you shyly admit, spraying the counter with disinfectant. out of nowhere, he comes up behind you and places a sweet kiss atop your head, thanking you for everything you do for him. ♡

© lionhanie 2024 ; all rights reserved!

[spooky-circuits]

JD would absolutely unintentionally overstep, but instead of it being because he's self-centered, it'd be because he's so damn relieved that seeing any of his brothers is alive he doesn't see the warning signs. Like, he might not recognize Branch at first because he's grey, but the moment he does, he is sweeping him into a hug and clinging to him. He's very gandsy, always wanting to be holding onto or be in physical contact eith Branch in some way because he's scared the moment he's put of sight or loses contact it'll turn put to be some messed up dream.

He still tends toward treating him like a baby, definitely shows off his baby pictures, much to Branch's horror and everyone else's delight. Like, they knew by this point Branch was actually quite cute, grey skin and gloomy attitude and all, and he was even more adorable as Bitty B, but they never imagine just how cute until they got the pics.

Both Creek and Poppy want a wallet sized copy of the perm.

Satin and Chenille are very much making plans for color coordination both if and when Branch regains his colors while also keeping his more practical taste in mind, of course. At this point, they're pretty sure he'll start regaining his colors again. They just aren't sure to what extent and how, and they want to be ready to make sure he's fashionable when it happened now that they know what his true coloration is.

JD will also probably apologize, albeit probably in a more offhand way than the heartfelt one Floyd gave. The guy isn't exactly the best with emotions and is a little overwhelmed by his youngest, whom he thought was dead, just showing up. I also think he'd have Rhonda, but the little lady is a bit too small to use as transport. She's still an armadillo bus puppy.

This is surprisingly spot on for what I had in mind!

Creek and Poppy both wanting baby pictures makes too much sense. Creek claims they’re for blackmail but we all know the truth.

As cute as baby Rhonda is I am hoping to use her as a set piece for having examples inside about how difficult of a time JD has been having with the search and he needs a place to store the stuff he took from the troll tree. Though him with a big backpack like in the concept art could be funny. He just has like a folding conspiracy board in there. Everyone notices the similarities to Branch.

[as-kind-as-summer]

I finally have a minute to sit down so I'm going to yell about the Lord of the Rings musical for a bit! I'll put everything under a cut so people can avoid spoilers! Pic of me in my cute hobbit-ish outfit first 😊

So disclaimer first, hopefully I'm remembering everything correctly but I recently started a new job and can't take any days off in my first 90 days but desperately wanted to see this show. So I worked a night shift, drove 6 hours, and by the time everything was over I'd been awake for ~21 hours. And also everyone who knows anything about this show is long. Like we were sitting in act 2 and I couldn't remember if they'd sang The Road Goes On in act 1 because it had been two hours ago by that point 😂All this to say, if I misremember please forgive me and feel free to correct me!

My friend and I had the most amazing seats for this show! I'd been debating whether or not I wanted to go through the trouble of going to see it with work and all but then I got an email because apparently I'd signed up for the Shakespeare Theatre's 30 under 30 program and that made everything worth it. I'll post a picture below but we sat second row in the center section on the end of the stage right side. In the picture you can see the stairs literally came down about six inches in front of my feet. I'm not usually a fan of sitting so close but with how immersive the show was it was perfect.

(Obligatory photo with the playbill because I will always be a theatre nerd at heart)

Starting at ~15 til, the actors all started coming out and wandering the audience, just talking to people and having a good ol' time. Again I'm such a sucker for immersive performances and despite being terribly awkward this was still very exciting.

With everyone wandering around and then the show just sort of starting with no big to-do, it really felt like you're a part of the story. Like 'oh I really am here at Bilbo's birthday party.' Again just a really good time, I think it added another really great layer to the show.

I know I just keep saying how fun this show looked but honestly it looks like such a great time and like every single actor on stage is having the best time. The choreography isn't anything terribly complicated but it just looks fun. Also we saw this on a Wednesday at the evening performance which means there would've been a matinee earlier and you never would've been able to tell. I've seen shows where you can tell the actors are going through it during their second show of the day(and rightfully so) but I wouldn't have had a clue if I hadn't known the schedule. Really just such an amazing cast.

The puppetry was phenomenal! I'm not typically freaked out by puppetry but I had a visceral reaction to those Nazgul puppets. Don't know what it was about them but I was legitimately unnerved. One came up next to me and I did not care for it at all. Pretty sure the people behind me were chuckling every time I cringed but like honestly so fair 😂

So I only found out about the existence of this musical in June and it was absolutely my accident. After seeing the trilogy in theaters, I fell back in hard and was just like 'huh I wonder if there's a stage version of this if not there should be' and googled it on a whim. Pretty much been listening to the London soundtrack on repeat since then but there were a lot of songs that I felt very eh about on the soundtrack that are loads better within the context of the show. Like a lot of the Elvish acapella songs being actually just background to the action that happened onstage felt a lot more natural than listening to them on their own.

Speaking of songs I liked more, Lament for Moria was absolutely beautiful. I hate to compare casts because I think every actor brings their own unique take to the role but that was just a song that I wasn't terribly fond of on the London soundtrack. But the actor that played Gimli in this version had an absolutely gorgeous voice. I was telling someone I always assume actors in a show will be able to sing because obviously they've been cast but there are still times where someone opens their mouth and I'm stunned and this was one of them.

I really enjoyed the set design a lot. I love the current trend of having a simple versatile set with smaller pieces that are wheeled on from time to time. Also, such a sucker for turntables and platforms. I don't know what it is but I think it's A+. Also the climbing wall grips in the back so Gollum could climb up and down were fantastic! Such a simple solution but I think it worked so well. I could see them since we were so close but the way they were painted, I'm guessing they blended in really well further back and the effect would've been amazing.

Obviously even at nearly 3 hours long this is still a wildly condensed version of these stories but I was still disappointed that almost all of Two Towers was cut out other than Treebeard. This of course isn't unique to this production, just the way it's written. I don't think it necessarily detracted from the story since most of the action and important bits do take place in Fellowship and Return of the King but Two Towers is still my favorite so this is a personal gripe mostly haha.

The costumes were all great, a lot of it felt sort of generic fantasy-ish but I love generic fantasy-ish costumes so I was happy. However, I thought the orcs costumes were so cool! Especially with the new(? I'll be honest with y'all I have not read the books(yet) and I feel like I heard about this being the ending somewhere. Not sure if they changed it for the movies and the ending of the musical is the actual ending? anyway) ending they were very neat!

I'm also such a sucker for instruments being played onstage especially when it's the actors doing it and especially when a lot of them are playing multiple different instruments. I just will never get over the talent.

I think I've said most of what I wanted to say so I have to talk about Now and For Always. Since my first listen, Now and For Always was my absolute favorite song. Like hyperfixated listening for hours on end kind of favorite song. I just think it's so beautiful, the harmonies are gorgeous, and it really embodies what these stories were about. I saw the snippet Chicago Shakespeare posted before I went and I was iffy about if I'd like it. I could not have been more wrong. The way it was so slowed down, having the rest of the cast standing around Sam and Frodo, the delivery of the last verse from Frodo to a sleeping Sam? I'm tearing up just thinking about it again. Like that's what it's all about, you know? The tenderness and kindness in the midst of horrors. The true power that friendship has to carry you through the absolute worst of things. I don't even have more words, it was just such a beautiful and touching presentation and it's going to stay with me for a very long time.

Oh no wait I did have one more thing to say, they tried to make me like Denethor and no one will ever make me like Denethor! Denethor hater for life, all my homies hate Denethor. I'm sorry, I know they used the explanation of 'he's too close too Mordor it's poisoning his mind' nope don't care. The best thing Denethor did was set himself on fire, change my mind.

All this to say, I had the most amazing time and I am forever grateful I found this production when I did and had the chance to go see it. I don't think it's for everyone, as like 'duh obviously' as it sounds I think you really have to enjoy both LotR and theatre. The people behind us were snickering from time to time because there were some things that were kind of goofy. Most of it was at the weapons, they're definitely on the cheaper side but it's a regional theatre and I'm sure they only had so much budget. You have to be able to suspend your disbelief when seeing any show but especially this one. Forget what you know from the books and the movies and just go in with an open mind. It's a spectacle, it's goofy, it's serious, it will absolutely wrench your heartstrings if you just let yourself be open to it. Everyone is obviously so passionate about what they're doing and it made for such an amazing show, highly recommend to go see it if you get the chance 💜

[hiraunia]

With the final chapter of TCWKTM by @crinklytinfoil upcoming I have decided to celebrate with more doodles. YAY!

(Did I say upcoming, I meant release. Apperently I posted this 3 minutes after the last chapter updated)

I don't know why I have decided that Shrike always wears those night vision goggles(?) now but they look cool at least(GOD I LOVE THEM).

I think I've finally gotten a hang of Dani's hairstyle for my design which is a blessing because in order from the easiest to hardest hair texture to draw is Coily>Straight>Locs>Wavy>Braids>Curly with a jump of times 4 from braids to curly(My hubris for giving Cyan short curly hair has and will continue to keep biting me in the ass).

Speaking of Cyan, I've also updated him. He always has eye bags now cause he feels tired now, more so than the start of the fic at least. Since, unless I've missed something, he's still wearing Black's suit I felt I should make it a part of his outfit. One of the issues I was having when I drew him though was that we still call him Cyan but he wasn't wearing cyan anymore which is an issue when I read the story but when I drew him it just felt odd. My solution to that hangup of mine was to keep the suit and belt black’s but give him the gloves and boots so there's at least some cyan still on him since I don't think it was ever stated that Johnny cut those off, there wouldn't be a reason to and they would fit him better than Johnny's anyways. He also isn’t wearing his backpack thing or helmet(not that I ever drew anyone with theirs anyways) since I figured they probably lost it or some shit. In this pic no one is wearing theirs but that’s just because I wanted them to look like they were chilling, Cyan straight up doesn’t have his.

Funnily enough this is the one that took the least amount of time to make, I started it yesterday and finished it like now though I do attribute that to a stroke of sudden inspiration that I was able to draw in my sketchbook so honestly most of the work was the coloring.

Drawing these guys just kinda being silly is so fun it's unfair, especially Purple. This man has done so much bullshit, I should shoot him on sight but the moment I pick up my pen he appears, the motherfucker! A pretty fun aspect of these purple are, as you can see, he's using Grey's skin. While I'm pretty sure in the story he looks the exact same I figured it would be more fun for drawing purposes to mix the two of them together to create some distinction rather than just drawing Grey with a purple suit.

My design for Grey had him as average height but more stout(at least comparatively for my artstyle) while Purple was a little more scrawny and tall which worked well for what I wanted to do. His bangs are center parted when Grey's bangs are gathered in the center. Also I drew their expressions differently, when it's Purple I draw his more bitter/sour, I decided that most of his expressions are squinty and tend to furrow the brows while Grey's are more, I'm not sure how to put it, genuine?

As you can probably tell I really enjoy trying to come up with the character's designs myself but I know when to throw in the towel and admit someone did better than me. I tried to come up with a design for Olive/Finch myself but I just could not come up with one I liked even equally let alone more than @krysmcscience 's design. They really captured their energy well so I’m just using theirs.

Ayy, I drew my take on good old Johnny boy. I think I did a pretty good job making him look older without him becoming a mass of wrinkles.

Drawing Flayer's ship was pretty fun, I've been trying to draw backgrounds and objects more so it was good practice. We obviously don't know what it actually looks like yet other than it is made of flesh and metal so I definitely had to just make shit up. For these bitches sake I hope it's bigger than what I designed because it is going to suck otherwise. Just as I'm typing this I kinda already wanna redesign it though.

I went for something more simple based of the premise that ships are complicated and difficult to make; the whole thing is kinda supposed to look like the flesh is doing a lot of the work to keep it together to compensate for a lack of technical knowledge and skill but just now I remembered that Flayer was the head of the mechanics so she almost certainly has more than enough knowledge and experience to make a good ship on her own even without the flesh. Oh well, I can redesign it when we learn more. I'm keeping its face though, the face was a completely but incredibly happy accident.

Also, I find it interesting that the Imposter’s missions are usually about them destroying biomechanical technology but one of Flayer's named imposter abilities is to use her genetic material to create machinery that fuses artificial and organic material.

Bounus Doodles!

I'm pretty sure these were all drawn sometime before the new year but they were all I had and I didn't want to post one image of doodles so enjoy them now.

While I am still proud of Brown and Devon making out I think my favorite doodle here is Cyan and his judgmental ass face. Why is he staring at Finch like, he is not in any position to but judging like that.

I also borrowed Kry's designs for Red and Umber, I couldn't help myself for Umber, it was just too perfect!

Not sure how I feel about my take on Skeld!White(Finnegan I CANT-). I'm not sure if it's just I'm so used to seeing Kry's design that anything else feels weird or just that I made him too baby faced and princessy. I tend to draw men that are very pretty and feminine so I think I went overboard when I tried my hand since he was usually described similar to how I would normally design a man.

[infernalmellifera]

it’s totally fine if not but would you ever consider posting some info on how you made your mirage head?id love to cosplay v2 but im lost on how to go about the construction of it lol

HI I LOVE THIS QUESTION AND I WAS ACTUALLY HOPING TO MAKE IT THIS MIRAGE MONDAY ANYWAYS!!! 🩷🤭

🩷Mirage Monday: Construction and Process!🩷

I dont have pics of the template, but if i ever remake it ill be sure to make one sorry ;; BUT before even constructing, ive found that making a small doll-sized prototype! (and fun bonus, if you dont lose yours like i did, you can use it with your monster high dolls!)

The line going straight across the horizontal center is a score line (not cut all the way through) to assist in shape! it helps to give it that little edge to it without having to glue it! i also scored it to make the rounded parts at the bottom of the neck and the inset of the eye :)

each side is its own panel, except the front that is composed of 5 panels (left and right sides, center top, chin, and under chin( and the optional stem, that i ended up ditching because it dug into my neck.

after hot gluing all the pieces together, i filled in the seams with clay foam, but that step is completely optional when working with sharp edges. after that, i spray painted it white (which i regret! it wont get the smell out of the cardboard!!!) as a base coat, but id suggest just using white gesso or white acrylic paint to help get that vibrant colors on. i used acrylic paints for the colors and a light shine finish on top! but if you wanna bypass that step, you can totally use glossy acrylics :)

the face mesh!! mine is made from patio screen, but if you can afford it, there is a mesh made specifically for prop heads that would look better !! acrylic paint also works great here. shown above is my first draft for the face that i ended up ripping off and starting over for, so be prepared to either have two in case you mess up, or start by drafting it out on plain paper to see if you like it.

theres a piece of foam at the chin for stabilization too! i put a headband on the inside for the same purpose, but ive found my hair is too long to actually use that without a wig cap, so its a little obsolete and i push it to the back while wearing it. it kinda hugs the back of my head and stabilizes it decently….. but honestly you could get that same effect with just the foam.

lastly, the mechanics!! i am by no means an engineer by any means, i just happened to have extra LEDs. The Eye is made of LEDs set into two painted ribbon spools glued on top of the mesh screen with a painted fabric-like plastic sheet (from a wig bag) to diffuse the light (and that little extra circle is just a piece of paper) .

in the back of it, i have a little switch! it comes from a pack of string lights from the dollar tree, but i had to dismantle the battery pack because the LEDs only work with 9v batteries (sad!) so i had to figure out how to make a 9v battery cover out of the AA battery pack. its a bit cheugy but its functional! if youre planning on wearing it for a long time, totally install a computer fan!!!! it gets super sweaty in there (ew!) even though the entire face is ventilated :p

i am the worst person to ask about soldering, but im positive you could find a pretty good tutorial on youtube :,) my lights run from the back battery, to the left light, to the right light, and ends at the eye (mostly because the lights had input/output on both sides and the eye did Not).

if ive missed ANYTHING, feel free to ask me in comments, reblogs, asks, or DMs!!

[jimmyaquino]

Seeing IU at the Prudential Center in Newar, NJ on Monday night was an incredible experience. I started my K-pop journey back in 2019 but quickly discovered her in 2020. I have really been getting into her the last year or 2 and have become a giant fan. She's 31 and has been active in music/acting since she was 15. Amazingly talented w/ a gifted voice. So many hits! 

I was so excited to see her & was hoping to go w/ a friend. But understandably, none wanted to pay what I was willing to so I went solo. It's her 1st North American tour ever. And Newark was the 1st stop so I felt I was part of her history. I justified my ticket price since I cancelled a trip I was going to take in June that would have cost me twice as much. I was very pleased w/ my seat as I was the closest I've ever been to the stage at a big arena like that. Speaking of the crowd, def very diverse in race, gender and age. And also very much populated by Asian Americans (mostly Korean). I'd say maybe half the crowd. I pretty immediately made friends to the people next to me and throughout the show we laughed, screamed, teared up, cheered, etc. Such a shared experience. I know most concerts might be like that but K-pop is such a positive community. When I was waiting in line outside til doors opened, people walked around giving little homemade gifts. So sweet! 

The concert was 3 hours long! She split it up into about 4 or 5 parts w/ each part having a theme like "Energetic" & "Heroic". Between parts (while she was doing a quick change), there would be text both in Korean and English on screen with beautiful messages. Or sometimes videos even of the crowd outside before the concert. One interval was quite theatrical w/ a young girl coming out acting a story to music/lighting until IU appeared. 

She did 2 encores. Both expected as she is known to do long shows. 1st encore was definitely planned songs. The 2nd, she actually asked the audience & thousands of us yelled out. I'm not sure if she pretended to pick ones but it did seem like she genuinely picked random songs that will change every show. Alas, my favorite & one of her biggest hits "Hold My Hand" wasn't done. But, she's had a long career so I understood. 

She spent a lot of time talking to us as well both in English & Korean (w/ help of an off-stage mic'd interpreter). Her English is pretty good but she spoke a lot of Korean if she couldnt remember the phrasing or words. She was so damn cute! She kept saying how she couldn't believe what an energetic audience we were for a Monday. She seem genuinely surprised that the crowd was so into it w/ high energy (she said my section was the loudest!), singing along in Korean (and of course the English bits), dancing along, screaming, etc. She clearly got moved at one point. As did I for a couple of songs. Genuinely thought I was going to burst into tears when she sang "Eight", a song she had collaborated on with BTS's Suga. A fave song, I had seen/read interpretations of it being about 3 of her close friends (also K-pop idols) whom had tragically taken their own lives. Whether that's true or not, it still gets me every time. 

IU isn't known for dance skills but she is pretty good. She always claims she's a bad dancer which isn't true. There isn't a ton of choreography as you'd see w/ K-pop groups. I really liked how casual she was with it. She'd dance the choreography almost marking it but not really. It's def a secondary thing as the showcase is her voice. She has a great belt and her head voice is so controlled and beautiful. She switches from both effortlessly. 

She did a cute thing where she did the normal "take a pic w/ the audience". Where as most people just sit in the middle of the stage w/ back to audience and photographer takes the shot w/ the audience in background...she took 3. One for center, one for left side and one for right side. Not sure if other artists have done this but I thought it was cool. Also I am very much in one of those pics and can see myself! Sure I'm blurry because I'm further away but I'm def in it! So I can say I got a pic w/ IU now and was part of her history making 1st American concert!

I'm still reeling from it and haven't come down. It's the concert of a lifetime and I highly recommend grabbing some resell tickets in any of the other cities she's playing in. I know I would have been happy if I sat further up as she really plays the whole arena. You can thank me after. 

Thank you, IU for treating us to a fantastic experience. One I'll never forget. Have a great rest of the tour! #IU

[fairykukla]

Salvaging a childhood treasure.

First, there were the Sea Wees. In the late 70s, Kenner made a set of darling mermaid bath toys with real combable hair! Each one came with a sponge cut to look like a lily pad, and if you inserted her mermaid tail into the center hoke, she floated in the tub or pool!

I wanted a mermaid doll so. Damn. Bad.

I got one! (Not my picture) She had dark brown hair, and a green fin! I loved her!

But they had the crunchiest, most tangle prone, coarsest hair of any doll I've ever owned. I combed her head right off of her neck. My mother's response to this was to basically tell me I couldn't have another one because I'd just "break that, too."

The Sea Wees also did a re release with babies this time, and additional characters.

Then they did a series with a Momma, baby, and mer-pet. And I managed to win one at an egg hunt!

They did two new series: the Tropi-Gals in Bright colors with suntans, and the Icy-Gals, with iceberg sponges and molded on fur wraps.

The last sets were the Bubble Ballet, which was back to the morher-and-baby set, but they had separate floating sponges and could use the comb as a stand.

As a kid, I got one original Sea Wee, one Tropi-Gals Set, one Icy-Gals set, and the bubble Ballet. I'm pretty sure I bought the last two with my allowance money. The above pics are stolen from around the internet and are not my actual pictures, but these were the dolls I had.

We were well into the 80s by this point, and Kenner came out with the Shimmers, which were similar, but more fancifully styled and including more fantasy creatures. (Centaurs, deer-taurs, butterfly hybrids, and birds in addition to the mermaids.) They came with a non articulated baby as well, like the sea wees.

By this point, I had persuaded my mom that I wasn't going to ruin my dolls. I had a nice collection, so she got me two Shimmers sets. But the hair on my Sea Wees was... Not Great. I tried to be more careful with the Shimmers but it was the same hair.

Next: satisfying my inner child, and restoring my treasures.

[vcnusians]

sorry i disappeared, i'm going through some serious shit right now. i don't wanna take up the dash but if you see this, please read it because i need all the advice i can get. this is a serious life or death thing. legal shit.

Saturday my boyfriend and I went to the beach, he had a beatbox and some captain morgan there but we left 3 hours later. we went to the mall for food and so i could use a restroom and when he was turning into a parking lot he made a little too wide a turn trying to avoid hitting the curb trying to turn in, and accidentally sideswiped a car that was in his blind spot, and the impact pushed him into another car that was turning out of the parking lot aisle. it was a really shitty situation but even I didn't see the first car on the right of us because i was looking to my right the whole time looking for a place to use the restroom. if i saw danger coming, i would've alerted him. i had to go use a restroom badly so i quickly got out of the car and found one, and i called him on the way so he knew i wasn't abandoning him or fleeing because he gets anxious and he was already scared to death. he wasn't answering his phone and i panicked thinking when i came back he'd be gone. thankfully his sister called me because she didn't know what was happening but he wasn't answering her calls either and she was worried, so i answered and told her what happened and i ran back through macy's and the whole shopping center and i panicked because several police cars were there blocking the whole entry, both parties were snapping pictures with their cell phones and he was sitting on the curb with his hands behind his back. then both parties involved in the accident left. they asked me questions and for my DL, but they didn't test me. and they didn't test anyone else involved in the collision. i told them what i experienced without lying and nothing i said could've gotten him in trouble. there was one cop who appeared to try and distract me from my boyfriend by asking me personal questions, how we met, where we both work, (how was that relevant? he didn't need to know) and i'm sure pumping me for info and dirt he could use against him and being a shark. i didn't take the bait and just "chit chatted" with irrelevant silly stupid things. then they made him take the field sobriety test... not giving him an option to consent or decline... and then they arrested him and took him in the cop car... and the look he gave me when they cuffed him was absolutely gut wrenching, it just broke my heart and i was doing so well keeping my cool no matter how fucking terrified i was but when he looked at me in tears and mouthed "i'm so sorry, i love you", i lost it and started crying.

but here's the thing. they refused to tell him his BAC which is deceptive and also wrong, and they did not test him again when they took him back to the station. they violated his rights by doing that, which can actually be in his favor because they didn't want evidence that he was okay so they could get away with charging him. but can they charge him for DUI with insufficient evidence? also it was pretty weird how both other parties in the accident weren't tested or questioned, they just snapped pics with their cell phones and left so quickly. nobody in the incident was injured. they separated us and wouldn't let us talk to each other, i tried to say something reassuring and a cop asked my name, barked at me and called me out harshly in front of everyone, 2 other guys came and tried to make me get off the curb when they took him in the cop car with handcuffs and when i walked by a cop blocked him so we couldn't make eye contact. i don't know if the guys were civilians or undercover cops but they made me go into starbucks and got me a water and left me there. today he called the DMV for an administration hearing to fight for his license and his mom found a lawyer this morning and made an appointment for them to talk to him at 2 p.m. but it's 5:20 and i haven't heard from him and i'm honestly freaking out but anyway.

i'm so nervous i'm sick to my stomach and i want to scream. i'm so, so afraid of him going to jail, i don't want to lose him but something tells me they're not gonna go easy on him and i've never been more scared of anything in my life. he's a good person, he's the sweetest soul with the biggest heart and he may have done something really stupid by driving drunk but he doesn't deserve this.

what chance does he have? we're in california. could the cops' failure to test him a second time be in his favor? does anyone have any information that could help?

[iconmochi]

Not really a request but your stuff is so pretty!! Do you have a tutorial of how you make them??

TYSM!!!! i’ve put a tutorial under the cut just for you :3 lmk if you need any clarification or pics for some of the steps!!!

apps used: ibis paint x (putting it all together), pinterest (manga panels, masks), picsart (transparents)

1 ) get the mask you’ll clip everything to!! i found the one i use on pinterest and i simply made it into two separate parts. i’ll attach them below!! import them both into the same 1280 x 1280 canvas and you should be all set!! make sure that the one on the right (hollow circle) is on top

2 ) import the flag you’re going to use and make sure it’s on the highest layer and completely covers both masks. after it’s all imported and sized, duplicate it and move it so it’s on top of the mask on the left (filled in circle). clip both layers of the flag to their corresponding mask (the one they’re on top of)

3 ) color pick each color from your flag and add it to your palette. then, create a new layer and clip it to the filled in circle. just make sure it’s below the flag! turn off the flag layer and set the new blank layer to lighten.

4 ) while you have the new blank layer selected, go into effects and choose parallel gradiation. under the gradiation section of the effect, add the colors you picked from the flag (and remove any that are already on there). space them out as desired. play around with the other settings a bit to get it to line up with the flag (which you should still be able to see on the hollow circle mask). pro tip: even if the flag has white, i recommend omitting it from the gradient unless it is the first or last stripe. if you leave it in the panel will basicalli become invisible in that section due to the white on white.

5 ) now add your manga panels! add them below the gradient layer but still on top of the lower circle. clip them to the lower circle as well. the black on the panels should now be replaced with the gradient you made!!

6 ) after you’ve made the desired amount of icons with the manga panels, you can now create some with transparents/renders. open picsart, choose a transparent canvas, and go to the stickers tool. search up the character you’re making icons of. i usualli do two manga stickers and one anime/colored sticker of the character.

7 ) after you’ve gathered your transparents, go back to ibis paint x and select the color of the middle stripe of your flag. then go to the hex code/color wheel area of the color palette and make that color a bit darker. you can do this by sliding the curser around the square as you see fit. make sure to save this darker color to your palette!

8 ) open a new project in ibis paint x (i use square 1280 x 1280, but it doesn’t matter that much) and use the paint bucket to fill the canvas with that darker center color. then, import the manga transparents you got from picsart. move the color fill layer above one and duplicate if needed to go above however many other ones you have. clip the color layer to the transparent, and set the color layer to lighten. save each newly colored transparent.

9 ) go back to the original project and import the newly colored transparents so that they are above the flag on the lower circle mask but below the upper circle mask. resize them as needed. you can also turn the eyeball of the gradient and manga panels off if you haven’t done that already, but bc the flag is over it, it doesn’t make much of a difference. make sure the transparent is clipped to the lower circle mask as well!

make sure you have all the icons saved and voilà!! you now have super cool pride icons!!

[twilightangel83]

Finally getting around to posting my linked universe gift exchange fits here. For @wispywinds

There’s also related art below the cut. (I made an edit to the pic with the clothes, Windy. Cause I’d forgotten to add her paldrons.

The sound of swords clashing together usually wasn’t a good thing. In fact it would usually have Twilight on his feet and rushing to get involved, but that wasn’t the case at the moment. Twilight allowed himself to relax back against the fallen tree behind him, eyes following the two moving blades as they flashed through the air in a way that was somehow both chaos and poetry in one. The people wielding the swords had been going at it for a couple of minutes now, but Twilight was pretty sure that the match was coming to an end. Especially since the taller of the two was getting visibly frustrated.

Another clang, followed by a thud signaled the end of the fight as one sword was knocked flying from its wielder's grip to land on the nearby ground.

“How do you do that?!” the disarmed man groaned, glaring down at the blade that was pointed just above the bright blue cloth of his scarf. “Your form is a mess and your footwork is sloppy, yet you always seem to get the upper hand over me!”

His opponent huffed a laugh at his expense and stepped back, sheathing his borrowed sword (the golden blade he usually wielded rested in its own sheath, propped up against the fallen tree off to Twilight’s right. Tucked away from even friendly bouts against the other heroes, much like Sky did with the Master Sword).

“You’re a knight, Captain .” He said it like that explained things, but the look he got in return clearly indicated that it did not, so the victorious hero sighed and continued. “Look. All you soldiers fight the same. Soldiers. Knights. Guards. You’re all trained to fight in the same way. So once I figured out how to beat one of you it was pretty easy to use that against the rest of you. I had to adjust it slightly for you, since it looked like your training differs slightly from my time, but it’s not different enough for it to be much of a change to how I fight you.”

“You expect me to believe that you trained specifically to fight soldiers?” Wars gave the other boy a disbelieving look, but his opponent didn’t bother to respond beyond a deadpan look and a raised eyebrow. The disbelief quickly faded to “What the heck, Vet! Why?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Legend mocked, rolling his eyes. Off to the side, Twilight couldn’t help but frown. It wasn’t much, but Legend had tensed ever so slightly at that question. It had made him uncomfortable, but he was trying to hide it. And it didn’t look like the captain had noticed. Twilight shoved himself to his feet, cutting off anything Warriors might have been planning to say.

“Mind if I borrow a spear, Cub?” he asked, looking over at the champion who had been sitting next to him. Wild paused and looked up from examining the Shadow Crystal that Twilight had finally given in and allowed them to pass around (under strict instructions not to grab the pendant itself).

“A spear?” Wild repeated in confusion.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, quicking a smile at the younger hero. “I think our veteran needs some variety in his opponents. He’s getting cocky.”

“I know how to fight against spears!”

“You know how to use a spear?”

Legend and Warrior’s voices overlapped, and Twilight allowed his smile to twitch a bit larger as he raised an eyebrow at his cub.

“Alright then.” Curiosity was burning bright in the champion’s gaze, but he visibly bit back his questions before passing the Shadow Crystal over to the next person in the circle, Sky. Hands now free, he proceeded to pick up his slate to pull out what Twilight had requested. It didn’t take long.

“Thanks Cub,” Twilight grinned as he took the offered spear. He had to bite back a laugh at the obvious Gerudo design to the spear. It was perfect.

Turning back towards the center of the clearing revealed that Wars had moved off to the side, leaving Legend standing alone in the empty space, watching him with undisguised interest.

“I didn’t know you knew how to use a spear, Pup,” Time’s voice rolled easily across the clearing as Twilight stepped into the sparring area. There was a question in those words.

“The spear is actually the first weapon I learned to fight with,” Twilight informed them. Dismissive. Like it didn’t matter. Like that wasn’t a confession in and of itself. “I haven’t had an instructor for it in years, but I made sure to work at it so I wouldn’t lose the skill.” Hours of work every week, hidden deep in the forest, far from prying eyes. Far from any questions he didn’t want to have to answer. Questions people not from his era would never think to ask.

“Ready to get your pride handed to you?” Legend asked him, redrawing the sword and falling back into the stance he always used.

“Only if you are,” Twilight agreed, baring his teeth ever so slightly in playful challenge as he slowly sank into his own stance.

“If you think I’m not experienced fighting against spear users then you’re going to be sorely disappointed,” Legend warned him, but the confidence from earlier was fading as he took in Twilight’s stance. If Twilight understood what he’d learned about the other hero’s adventures, it probably wasn’t a stance he’d ever gotten the chance to see before. Not with how things were in his era. Behind him, Twilight caught the sound of Time’s soft gasp, but he put it out of his mind for the time being.

“Are you both ready?” Wars prompted them, having taken the position of referee. Twilight nodded, watching as Legend did the same across the way.

“Then begin!” Wars stepped back further as the match began.

Legend started to circle, clearly deciding to start off with a watch and see sort of method, leaving Twilight to make the first move. He was fine with that. Twilight darted in, flashing another show of teeth play-challenge-play and they were off!

The match went about as Twilight had expected. Legend was good, with more real-world experience than any of them, but he was unfamiliar with the style Twilight was using. Twilight used that, along with his superior reach and more aggressive fighting-style, to keep the more experienced hero on the back-foot for the majority of the spar. This led to him eventually managing to sweep Legend’s feet out from underneath him entirely before lunging forward to step on the other boy’s blade, pinning it to the ground before he could bring it up to defend himself. Then, while Legend was still processing the fact he couldn’t free his sword, Twilight brought the tip of his spear to the dip of the other boy’s collarbone. Legend froze then, tense, not yet willing to concede.

One beat passed.

Two.

“Fuck.” The veteran relaxed, falling back more fully onto the ground beneath him, releasing his grip on the sword he’d been using.

“You good?” Twilight shifted back, stepping off of the blade and removing his spear from where it had been resting.

“What the fuck, Twilight?” Legend in lieu of answer, glaring up at him. “What is up with your fighting style?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, offering the other boy his hand. Dismissive. Cool. There was nothing dangerous in that question. It was fine.

Read the rest Here

[charlotte-of-wales]

H&M Documentary Review: Episode 4

(my commentary in italics)

- Starting off with them talking about the wedding

- Meghan says it was her suggestion to have Charles walk her down the aisle and Charles agreed. Says she lost a father in all this.

- The designer for her wedding dress says everything had to be perfect because the world was watching....ironic considering the dress didn’t even fit properly

- Harry says there’s an expectation on him having a public wedding because “he is Diana’s boy” hmmmm no babes it’s because you’re Charles’ boy, in direct line to the throne and living on public dime. He sounds quite angry when he says it too. 

- They talk about how monumental it was to have a gospel choir at the wedding, with Serena Williams saying how incredible it was to have Meghan’s culture represented like that. Harry quickly mentions that they had Charles’ help with that when it was *literally* his idea. 

- Shot of William looking very happy at the wedding. Shouldn’t have included that one babes doesn’t fit your narrative.

- LOTS of pics of the wedding, including one of Catherine.

- videos of them in their “cottage” in Kensington Palace. They tried to make it relatable in a way because they were living on a cottage but like....that’s still on palace grounds what’s your point

- very awkward video of Meghan dancing at said cottage and now I wish I was blind

- praise after praise after praise for Queen Elizabeth II. Meghan says she saw her as Harry’s grandmother, not the Queen of England, and she loved having a grandmother figure in her life. Says she has a lot of respect for the Queen. This is so wild to me because do they not see the irony in saying this when she was the head of the institution they so clearly hate. The narrative that William and Charles were the villains and making the decisions in her place is wild and it’s wild that people don’t see the irony and hypocrisy.

- bits about Grenfell Fire

- “Harry and Meghan are the superstars of the British Royal Family” *eyeroll*

- They had to announce the pregnancy because Meghan started to show. That’s what loose dresses and patterns are for but I digress.

- they got these random friends of Meghan talking about the inner workings of the family and it bothers me so much

- ohhh there we go, the Palace was threatened because they were so popular. “Bigger than William and Kate” oh please

- They show a headline saying that polls show Harry is now more popular than the Queen and I’m pretty sure that never happened lmfao The Queen was always the more popular royal followed by W&C then H&M

- Also Harry says it becomes a problem when the married-in royal becomes more popular than the royal by blood.......but like your brother is doing just fine with his wife who is more popular than him. It’s obvious they’re going for the Diana narrative but it’s bs. 

- they bring up this Telegraph headline where after Remembrance - an event where all senior members of the family were at - Meghan was front and center on the front page. Again, Catherine is usually front and center in the media even when other royals are in attendance......very silly point to make. 

- there we go, Diana comparisons. AND the BBC interview. 

- Tabloids critizing Meghan for every little thing yeah they do that buddy they’ve been doing it for decades get with the program

- “is avocado a fruit?” gosh negative braincells in this man’s head I fear

- comparing headlights that Meghan and Catherine got. 

- Harry: “if you don’t see the difference and understand why it’s being reported that way then I can’t help you” *they both laugh* babes if you needed to talk a Holocaust survivor to realize dressing up as a n*zi was bad then I can’t help you either

- WHY IS THIS WHITE MAN LECTURING ME ABOUT RACISM IM LOSING MY MIND

- talking about Meghan’s suicidal tendencies

- GOD this man can’t take responsibility for a single thing. Yeah, he wasn’t able to give his wife the support she needed but but but he was trained to put the monarchy first, just admit you’re a shitty husband and go

- Meghan says she wanted to go somewhere to get help but she wasn’t allowed to because they were concerned about how that would look for the institution. The same institution whose members have openly discussed getting professional help for their mental health. Next. 

- Harry: “if you strip all that away and say the treatment of Meghan in the press was the same as the other female members of the family; so do we still believe she should have just sucked it up like other members of the family” Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying

- “No one would have private conversations with the editors saying: enough” YEAH BECAUSE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS EXISTS GENIUS

- He is talking about the palace playing a dirty game with the media, not as dirty as you selling your family and private pictures of your children to whoever is willing to give you more money bestie

- “So if the comms team want to be able to remove a negative story about their principle, they will trade and give you something about someone else’s principle” 

- this man is bitter and angry and he needs some serious help

- Harry claims him and William saw what was going on with his dad’s comms office and made an agreement it would never happen to their office. Accuses William’s office of breaking that agreement. 

- sorry but Harry the moral superiority card is so dumb to me. Even if William’s team planted stories against Harry and Meghan in the media 1. Sussex’s camp did the same to the Waleses 2. How is this doc, the Oprah interview, the book any better? You hate the media so much and yet you’re feeding into it. Be for real.

- Meghan says everything was controlled and she couldn’t even text her friend a photo and ughhh it’s a known fact the royals have access to their own phones and whats app groupchats maybe you have shitty friends who can’t be trusted Meg

- Meghan’s friends get on my nerves lmfao the dramaaa god 

- “one of my closest friends who happened to be the editor of People’s magazine” girl shush

- Talking about the NYC baby shower now

- not Jessica lmfaoo I can’t

- complaining about the attention of the baby shower as if there wasn’t a thousand ways to avoid it

- Meghan talks about women like it’s straight out of a girl boss 2013 pinterest feminism quote. 

- Meghan says the party was thrown with her friends’ own money (not tax payer money) even though most of the items were gifted to them. Alright. Twist your truth bestie. 

- talking about Archie being a “black prince” yeaaaaaaah

- they brought Archie’s former nanny???? again I know more about this boy than George

- talking about the South African documentary

- Meghan was aware of a pro Meghan hashtag on twitter but noooo they don’t check social media 

- Harry says no one in the family had openly talked about struggling apart from one person (his mother) my brother in Christ YES THEY HAVE

- Harry implies they didn’t get support from the family in the fallout from the South African doc and that made them consider their options (aka leaving the family)

This one was boring, full of lies and weird narratives. Not looking forward to the rest but either way gotta go back to packing! See y’all soon. 

[medicinemane]

Ok, there's no more island of stuff around that center column. If you look at a previous pic just imagine nothing but the chair being there anymore (seeing as no phone for pics)

Now I didn't get rid of everything, though I got rid of a few more things and also found home for a few loose things

However, what's true now is that every last thing needing to be done is along the walls. Just need to find a home for two moderate sized piles, pull all the empty boxes and bags out, move a few mostly packed boxes, get stuff off of and out from under the table... and then... this room's done

And once this room's done all the others on this floor will go a whole lot quicker

So I don't know... maybe by next week I'm finally free of this kind of cleaning, can move to going through things and maintaining

...this would be the first time I wasn't living with the specter of boxes and bags of totally unsorted shit hanging over my head since like... ever

Even as a baby shit was like this I'm pretty sure, and I know it was when I was 6. At 12 my mom had a massive storage unit, which it wasn't till 2020 when I finally emptied it and the trailer all into this house

Like I'll still have full storage areas, fuller than I'd like... and... mhh... if my mom ever (ever) helped with going through things there's a lot we could go through and get rid of cause I was pretty liberal with what I kept, erred on the side of caution by a wide margin (though it's good a transferred my half full trash to the trash that was going out today so I could spot that I'd accidentally thrown away a napkin with some drawing which... can you see why having a bunch of junk, a bunch of ratty old napkins, might make it so you don't look as close at napkins?)

I'll still have a lot to get rid of but... at least I'll be able to move through every room and access more or less every box with just a little work

...maybe some day I can live in an actually clean house (would help if I didn't have to fight against my mom's powers as a god of filth, spontaneously generated mess at a rate you can't imagine)

Anyway... that's how things are coming. Showered so I'm done for the night but... mhh... I'm not confident... but maybe, just maybe can get that room cleaned up tomorrow

[umichenginabroad]

Run Forrest, Run! Tales from the San Fermín Festival

Week 8

With only two more weeks left in my program, I'm already feeling sad about having to leave soon. I like the routine I have with work, I know old town like the back of my hand, and most importantly I'm never let down by my favorite spot for icecream (shoutout Boulevard!). Like the true San Sebastián local that I am, I did a mix of things around the city this week. There's a really cool building called the Tabakalera right by the river and train station that I ended up visiting several times. It used to be a tobacco factory but has now been converted into a cultural center which features exhibitions from local artists, a library, co-working spaces, gastronomy lab, and beautiful view of the city skyline from the top floor. When I was there working on a drawing, I met a woman named Rosalia who does illustrations in her free time. She had something like 60+ drawings on procreate of her comics, and we had a really nice conversation about our shared hobby and how she plans to publish a book of her work in the fall! She also complimented my spanish which really made my day, and I plan to keep in touch with her :).

The main lobby of the Tabakalera! I could spend hours here (more than I already have)

Passing time in Pasaia

Later on in the week, Jayashree, Deidra, and I embarked on a hike from San Sebastián to Pasaia which was around 3 hours total. There was an elevation gain so it was neat to see the city from that vantage point, and the walking itself went pretty smoothly. The trail is part of one of the routes for Camino de Santiago so we crossed paths with some backpackers and had the markings on the trees to guide us. We saw an abandoned fort, cliffsides, bunches of hydrangeas, and a fortress! Sadly could not go up since the path was blocked off. Sorry Rapunzel, we're unfortunately not your rescue crew. There was also a suspicious looking bridge that Jayashree bravely crossed and Deidra slapped a random plant on her arm, but besides that, we all made it out alive. The last time I was in Pasaia I had been stranded with the Penn State kids so this really was a trip down memory/nightmare lane.

Jayashree really does not have an ounce of fear in her body. Can't be seen as well from this pic but the drop from the bridge was pretty steep

Knights of the Wine Table

On Saturday our advisors from the university organized a daytrip for us to a small town called Estella, a monastery, and wine tasting tour at Bodegas Monjardín. We weren't in Estella for very long, but it's special due to having a lot of centuries old medieval architecture. Near the river, we found a super angled bridge (pretty much in the shape of a triangle) which I don't know why it was built that way but interesting nonetheless. The monastery was very intricately designed and had also clearly seen many seasons. Oddly enough, it featured a wine fountain and I have to say that it didn't taste half bad. For an official rating from a self-proclaimed amateur wine enthusiast, 6.5/10 taste and 8/10 experience.

Now, onto the wine tasting. When we first got there, we were welcomed with a glass of the Monjardín rosado and given an introduction to the history of the winery. Everything was in spanish so I really got some listening practice in, but for my friends in the group who didn't know it they just had to rely on catching keywords lol. It was interesting to hear about the fermentation processes and methods of how to make the different wines, such as chardonnay, roble, espumoso etc. In the storehouse area, we got to see some bottles older than us, along with some random taxidermized boar heads. We were then led into a room where the tour guide gave us a spread of bread, cheese, walnuts, olive oil, and two wines to try. It's safe to say that all of us thought the wine was really strong, but Izzy and I made a valiant effort to finish our glasses. At the end of our tour, we left with high spirits for sure.

"When there's a wine, there's a way" -inspired by classic millennial wine captions

Dazed and Crazed in Pamplona

Sunday was the last day for the Running of the Bulls festival in the city of Pamplona. In order to watch, and for my friends who wanted to actually run with them, we had to get there absurdly early. Took the 5 am bus to get there around 6, and stepping out of that bus station felt like entering a separate reality. It was like literal Gotham City or some sort of apocalyptic fallout wasteland with the amount of people passed out, still wandering around drunk from last night's party, and in general just being creatures of the night. Along with that, there was a very noticeable stench wafting through the streets. The best way that I can describe it is an unholy combination of trash, alcohol, smoke, garbage, and pee. One of those smells that you just really can't forget no matter how hard you try (and I've tried). When we made it to the route where the running would take place, I split up from Mateo, Jayashree, Riky, and Ian to claim a spot at the barricade so that I could have a good view. I was on Calle Santo Domingo right across from the town hall, which is one of the first areas that the encierro (running) takes place at. The full route is 875 meters long, and goes straight to the arena as the ending point. My friends were posted up closer to the end so that they could run into the arena and try to juke out the bulls so I unfortunately couldn't watch them. However, being front and center on the fence was very worthwhile since I was able to clearly see the bulls and people run past. It was quite the experience seeing guys do their stretching routines, bless themselves, and throw up right before it all started. Take a look at my POV below:

The runners prepare for battle...

Corre, Corre!

You might be wondering why so many people are wearing the exact same clothes. That's because the official colors of the festival are red and white and you would really stick out if you wore something different. Traditionally, runners usually wear the pañuelo (red bandana) along with the fajín (red sash). However, you don't have to be a runner for that and it's encouraged to wear the full garb. I really ended up taking this to heart and started out with just one of the bandana and sash each, but came out with 3 bandanas and 2 sashes. I fully evolved in the spirit of San Fermín!

The fit is fireeeeeee

I met up with my friends after the events ended in the arena and luckily all of them ended up being okay. Riky got his shirt torn and his side kind of cut by the bull's horn, Mateo saw a guy get trampled behind him as he was running, and Jayashree got pushed into the barricade (and came out unscathed but with someone else's blood on her shirt). I have so much respect for them because I know that I would've ended up worse if I did that. After walking along the streets, seeing some shops, and getting a quick bite to eat, all of us were super exhausted. For a little bit we went to a park and just laid down in the grass to pass the time while waiting for our bus to get there. To summarize this undoubtedly crazy experience, I enjoyed getting to be a part of the festival and see the famous encierro!

¡Viva San Fermín! ¡Viva!

Emily Dobao

Biomedical Engineering

IPE San Sebastian, Spain

July 15th, 2024

[vamosaespana]

Feeling Hot Hot Hot 🥵

Today we awake in Seville. The plan is to take a walking tour of the historical area of Seville in the morning with a planned tour of Alcazar later in the afternoon. We scheduled the tour for 10:00 thinking that would give everyone a chance to sleep in a bit before we headed out. GB had planned on getting the rental car this morning so that we were ready for our drive tomorrow to Tarifa. He took off and I worked on getting the house put together and usher the Branson ducklings making sure they were up and ready. Can never remind them enough about brushing their teeth 🙄 I remember GB had told me to have my phone nearby in case he called but somehow that went in one ear and out the other as I got the house ready. I am super anal about beds being made in the morning. It’s just how I was raised. The kids and GB give me the hardest time but for me I am not right the rest of the day if I my bed isn’t made. There have been times where I’ve been gone all day and GB was the last to get up…he never makes the bed ever. I will literally make the bed when I get home just to get back in a made bed a couple hours later…it’s that bad 🫣 Well needless to say GB did call, MULTIPLE TIMES, and I didn’t realize it till I went down to the first floor. Apparently he needed a pic of his passport at the rental car place and was waiting for me to call him back…oops my bad 😣 I quickly took a photo and sent it in WhatsApp hoping that wouldn’t damper the mood. From then on, the phone was right next to me.

We had discussed that the kids and I would meet him at the meeting point that the tour guide stated “La plaza Triunfo.” Our plan was to leave the house at 9:00 giving us plenty of time to catch a cab and be at our meeting spot well before the 10:00 tour. GB was going to get the car signed in but leave it at the train station to avoid parking. He then was going to grab a cab and meet us at the plaza. We had no problem locating a taxi and he dropped us off right outside the plaza. Thank goodness we had some time as the kids were getting hungry. I don’t know about your kids but my kids are not breakfast eaters. They really don’t get hungry till around 10/11. We try time and time again to make them eat something in the morning but 9/10 times they leave the house early without eating anything. This definitely was no exception. But again, we had time, so I guess ice cream for breakfast it is 🤷🏻‍♀️ it was already getting pretty hot and humid so the ice cream really hit the spot in cooling the kiddos down. By now it was 9:45 with no sign of GB…that’s odd because he should have arrived sooner as he was closer. I can see groups starting to meet up at the plaza and people with tags around their neck signifying they were tour guides. No GB. I finally get a phone call and he says he is by the horse carriages. Perfect! I see the line of them. I walk over but no GB 🤷🏻‍♀️ I return back to the plaza and something told me to ask this woman if she was waiting to meet a family for a tour. She states no…she is waiting for someone by the name of GB. Oh boy….I explain to her that we are her tour which is great but that I currently have no idea where my husband is. She laughs and says let’s take a selfie and I will send him the pic to let him know we found each other.

Our tour guide was excellent yet again! She was a mom of 2 who was in school for history and uses this as a way to make money while using what she is learning. She knew so much about architecture and the history of all the different barrios within the historical center. A lot of people within the city also knew her which was pretty nice. There were times that people tried to hand us stuff or barter with us on trying to come inside to buy things but once they saw her they changed their pushiness. Pamphlets were put back in their pockets and people didn’t harass us. They were all excited to see her and talk with her, says a lot about her lovely personality. She also knew secret places to enter using offices and homes to sneak in so we could see beautiful rooftop views of the city.

She showed us inner rooms of offices that still had remaining parts of the wall of the city with its detail historic of the moors.

She took us to a beautiful park area that was donated to the city from one of the royal family members. Her one mandate is that she wanted to have areas for learning, little libraries if you will, so that people could come and read/learn amongst nature. She had fountains and seats built around bookshelves where people could leave books for others.

We saw the Plaza Mayor which was built explaining the history of Spain and had pictures of each region/city in Spain in alphabetical order. I found the region of Leon so I had to take a pic with the kids for my family. I knew my parents would get a kick out of it being that my maiden name is Leon.

In the center of the plaza is a huge outdoor auditorium where artists will put on concerts. Our tour guide was super excited that she got tickets to see Ricky Martin in a couple weeks….that I’m sure will be an awesome show and I’m not gonna lie I was super jealous. I also saw y hat Gypsy Kings were coming on Saturday but was bummed as that was the day we were leaving for Valencia. Seeing a concert in Spain would have been pretty awesome…guess I’ll just have to come back😁

We wrapped up our tour and thanked her for an amazing time. We asked her about giving us another tour on Friday and she said she would have to look at her calendar but would really try to make it work 🤞🏼 The traditional cheek kisses were given and we said our good byes. It was funny seeing the kids react to the cheek kisses 🤭

When she left, everyone looked pretty sweaty and red in the face with the big question being “where are we going to eat?” As we walked around to our right there was a cafe to sit down and recharge. They had small sandwiches, smoothies and shakes which everyone seemed to be happy with. We are finding out on this trip that 2 isn’t a big fan of the ham ibérico which is truly unfortunate as most places this is their go-to sandwich. It honestly is yummy and hits the spot especially on hot days with it being a lighter meat. GB, on the other hand, reaps the benefits eating all the ham that is on her sandwich. 3, on the other hand, is all things chocolate 🍫 With her, we need to force her to eat some sort of meal-like food before getting her chocolate. The girls got fruit/ protein smoothies while 1, GB and I ate ham and cheese sandwiches. And yes, 3 got her chocolate Oreo milkshake. She did split it with 1 but unfortunately 1 was under the impression that he had to go through the top of the shake to get to the bottom so she was none too happy to see that he had drank pretty much 3/4 of the shake 🙄 Ugg older brothers 🤨 To be fair we were due for a spat as it had been couple hours so I wasn’t too surprised but still very mom annoyed of why can’t we just behave😒

Now that we were adequately fed and hydrated and somewhat satiated with chocolate we had to figure out how to get back the plaza where we started as that was where our Castle tour was. Now GB is the only one with internet access on this trip. He had a heck of a time setting it up in Barcelona but it just made sense to pay the price for one as it wasn’t cheap. The rest of us could join WiFis as able which definitely cut down on the phone use of snapping and texting, that I was grateful for! But in situations like this, GB is the only one with internet to use Google maps to get us directions walking back to our location. Again GB is amazing but his reading of google/Apple Maps is not the best and he gets turned around easily. Give him a map with streets I have no doubt he will get us there but all the things on google/Apple and where they have you turn just turns him around and throws him off. Not to mention, street names aren’t as easily visible as they are in the USA. At this point it’s about 104 degrees outside and we need to walk about 20 minutes back to the castle. The neck fan for GB was left at home but again in this heat I don’t think anything would have made a difference. We make it back to the castle after lots of “active discussions” (we’ll just go ahead and use that phrase) as the map was trying to have us cut through areas that were not allowed for the public to go through. Our tour guide, knew all the ins and outs of where to walk for short cuts. This walk back to the plaza felt like 5 hours. We did arrive with time to spare allowing us time to buy some water and try to cool off. Now our time for our tour says 2:30 but they will only let you in 15 minutes prior. GB arranged for a private audio tour of the inner rooms of the castle to see where royalty sleeps. He showed the tickets multiple times to security and they kept turning us away…legit they were hard stopping on no more than 15 minutes early. It was to one point where GB went and was told nope you have to wait 1 minute 😧 Well we waited our minute and then he allowed us through to the ticket check. The woman takes our ticket and looks at it and says you better hurry your tour starts soon and you might miss it….are you kidding me lady???? You and the security guy obviously need to have a chat as we were here 30-40 minutes early and we kept getting turned away. So here we are again mad dashing to the area of the royal chambers hoping we make our tour. We show up at the chambers and the guide sees us running and red in the face. We explain our situation and she quickly calms us down. She tells us we are fine, no rush, you are here and all is good. She literally has us all take a deep breath and smile. I almost want to cry. I just want to take her home with me and just keep her in my pocket, having her come out when we are all stressy bessies. She had such a calm mood about her and helped us reset our moods. We get our audio guides and are told we are not allowed to take anything in with us as these are areas used by the royalty today. No pictures, bags, purses…nothing. We lock our things in lockers and off we go. The rooms and ceilings were absolutely breathtaking! Ceilings and doors hand carved from wood with such intricate designs and walls of inlaid tile by hand. We were able to see the rooms where visitors are greeted by the king and queen of Spain. We were able to see where past kings and queens of old slept but unfortunately only saw the doors to where the royal quarters are today for the king and queen. The tour itself took about 45 minutes but the nice thing was is that it was air conditioned!!!! All Bransons were able to cool off and even for a short period of time were not sweaty and appeared our normal skin color 😊 Once the tour was over we were free to explore the rest of the castle at our own pace. So our once rush rush rush not turned into leisure and fun. The smiles were back as we posed and took pics and GB was back to his goofy funny self.

We decided after the castle to go back to the house for relaxing down time as 2 clearly let us know she needed her tanning time 🙄 We are now pros with the taxi getting and made it back to our house in no time. Swim suits were quickly donned and it was hot tub time (minus the hotness of the water of course) 2 got her tanning time and we all got a chance to just hang out no stress and do whatever we wanted.

We all cleaned up after a couple hours of chilling and headed out to dinner. GB had found this place called Ojalá. It was a small tapas place with an ice cream store just outside (3 spotted that the minute we found the restaurant 😋) We arrived around 7:30 so we had to wait to order food as the kitchen did not open till 8. We ordered drinks and played a dice game called CLR. It’s a small easily portable game that involves chips and rolling 3 dice. The sides of the dice are indicated with C (center), L (left), R (right) or • (safe). You are given 3 chips and when you roll the three dice you do what the dice tells you to do: pass to the right, pass to the left, pass to the center, or hold your chip. The one with the chips at the end wins. Needless to say this game has been a lifesaver as it has fit perfectly in my bag being so small and it’s an easy quick game to play to kill time. Before we knew it, it was 8:00 and they were ready to take our order. We basically ordered everything on the menu and everything was amazing!!! The plates just kept coming and it was great because everybody tasted a little bit of everything. 1 and I of course had our fill of fish but everyone at least took a taste of what was given. There was a lentil burger that I was bummed we didn’t try but they didn’t have it as a tapas and there was no way I was eating that burger by myself 🥴

We then of course, headed over to their ice cream and 3 of course got her chocolate ice cream along with 2 and I. I honestly don’t know how I had room for it after all that food but I wasn’t going to pass with how yummy it looked. Plus they had mini waffle cones and I am an absolute sucker for waffle cones…can’t turn them down…I think it’s an addiction that may need intervening 😏

Thank goodness we have our walk home to help aid the digestion with all the food we ate. Again everyone is in a great mood upon getting home. We have some brief wind down time before bed and GB teaches 1 and I how to play cribbage. Yes…I live in Wisconsin and I don’t know how to play cribbage…sad but true…please forgive me🙏🏻

Time for us to turn in…tomorrow we have a 2.5 hour car ride to Tarifa where we will be taking the ferry to Morroco. Our feet will actually be on African soil…can’t wait!!