#and now it’s 1:47am and i still have homework to do

[tiptapricot]

Age switch AU where Jason was Bruce’s first partner and is older than Dick

Read on AO3

Jason has been working with Bruce for years by the time Dick comes into the picture. The kid is small, athletic, and bright eyed, clashing horribly with the muted browns and reds of the manor.

And he takes an immediate liking to Jason.

Dick follows him everywhere, talking non stop and pestering Jason to play with him. It’s annoying. It’s annoying as shit. Jason really doesn’t have time for this, but Bruce insists that he spend time with Dick.

So he does.

And Jason doesn’t like Dick, he doesn’t, but he makes sure the kid stays out of trouble, knows his way around the manor, that sort of thing.

He doesn’t hang out with him because he wants to. He doesn’t help him with homework because he wants to. He does it because it’s what’s expected of him, because he’s told to. He and Bruce had been just fine before, Batman and Sparrow: The Dynamic Duo, but Bruce had decided to pick up another kid, and now Jason is stuck babysitting.

So what if Dick makes him laugh? So what if the kid has a fiery temper and a heart to match? So what if he makes the manor feel just a little bit brighter? It doesn’t mean Jason has to like him.

But he does.

Shit.

***

Jason calls Dick everything under the sun: Kid, Squirt, Bud, even ‘My little brother’ when talking to an interviewer one time (to Dick's utter delight).

And, surprisingly… it’s not that bad.

It’s great.

If he has spare time between school and patrol, Jason sits with Dick in the library and reads him his favorite stories. They fall asleep on the couch more often than not, but Jason doesn’t mind. Trips to the park become normal, Tuesday movie nights unskippable (“Sorry Old Man, no patrol tonight, I’m showing squirt Hercules.”), manor hijinks a worse pain in Alfred’s neck.

Dick becomes family, and as much as Jason doesn’t want to admit it, he fits perfectly.

***

When Dick finds out about Jason and Bruce’s nightlife, he’s ecstatic. He starts staying up every night to talk to Jason about patrol, eyes wide and shoulders shaking in excitement as Jason describes epic fights on the city’s building tops and long hours spent hiding in the shadows (he only embellishes the stories a little bit).

One morning, Dick triumphantly announces that he wants to grow up and be a crime fighter.

“I could be Robin, like my momma used to call me!”

And while the rest of the family is resolutely opposed to letting Dick anywhere near the hero life, they still let him wear Jason’s (much too big) costume from time to time.

“Guess this means you’re the ‘Baby Bird’ now, huh Squirt?” Jason says affectionately, ruffling Dick’s hair.

And Dick responds with the fiercest smile Jason has ever seen.

***

One night, Jason wakes up in the cave, head pounding, Dick sleeping softly by his bedside. He remembers going out with Bruce to bust a drug trafficking ring, but nothing much after that. If the bandages are anything to go by, he must’ve been knocked out cold.

He rouses Dick with a soft nudge, the boy blinking blearily at him for a few seconds before he sits bolt upright.

“You’re awake!”

Jason chuckles softly and props himself up on his elbows, the motion making his vision swim for a moment. “‘Course I am. Couldn’t leave you alone with the old man, could I?”

Dick lets out a watery laugh and pulls him into a hug.

“I thought… When Bruce brought you back, all bloody n’ stuff... I thought you were dead, Jay. I thought” Dick chokes on the last word and starts to cry, pressing his face into Jason’s shoulder.

“Oh Baby Bird, no no no, It’s okay, I’m alright, I’m here.” Jason whispers, rubbing comforting circles against the small of Dick’s back. “I’m so sorry I worried you Dick. Listen, look at me for a sec,” he pulls Dick off and looks him straight in the eyes, “nothing can hurt your big bro, alright kiddo?”

Dick sniffles and scrubs at his cheeks.

“You sure?”

Jason smiles and nods.

“Promise.”

***

The first time Dick gets kidnapped, Jason notices first.

They’re getting ready to leave a gala, late enough to have each made the required appearances, but still early enough to spark a few rumors. Jason is planning to drive Dick home on his motorcycle, because the kid just loves riding on the cycle, but he can’t seem to find him in the crowd.

Dick had said he was feeling a bit off earlier, but Jason had chalked it up to nerves. He’d gotten him another glass of apple juice from the bar and settled him in a seating area away from the main crowd. Jason had left Dick to continue socializing, expecting him to be back on his feet within a few minutes like he usually was, and hadn’t thought much of it. But now…

Now that little bit of paranoia, that piece he carries with him as both Jason Todd-Wayne and as Sparrow, nags at the back of his mind.

He finds Dick’s juice glass, still half full, sitting on the table, but nothing else out of the ordinary.

When he asks around, Jason can’t find anyone who saw where Dick went, and it’s then that his brain kicks into overdrive.

Jason grabs Dick’s juice glass, a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, and steps to the side of the room. Smoothly, and as inconspicuously as he can manage with shaking hands, Jason pulls a small tablet out of his jacket pocket. It’s a modified version of the ones manufactured by Wayne Tech to detect date rape drugs, used for more potent poisons and sedatives. Bruce had given them to Jason once he’d started coming to parties, but they hadn’t given them to Dick yet.

The tablet fizzes red when it comes in contact with the drink and Jason curses under his breath, rushing back into the crowd.

He tugs Bruce away from a gaggle of reporters and pulls him quickly towards the exit.

“Jason what’s-?”

“It’s Dick. Someone’s got Dick.” And Jason tries to keep his voice level, but he knows Bruce can hear the slight rush of his words, the hint of panic.

“We’ll get him back.”

“I know.”

***

It’s hours before they figure out where Dick’s being held. Jason grows more anxious with each passing minute it takes to suit up, chest tight and breaths coming rough and stilted.

Bruce grabs hold of his arm just before they climb into the Batmobile.

“What are you doing?” Jason snaps. “We need to go!”

The grip tightens.

“You’re on edge, Jason, angry. I need you to calm down and focus."

Jason stills for a moment.

“For Dick’s sake.”

Jason knows, he knows, but when he sees Dick’s wide eyes, his wrists chafed from the ropes and cheeks wet with tears, he descends in the thugs in a flurry of rage.

Their jaws crunch under his fist, each bruising kick a little more satisfying than the last, a little harder. He keeps landing blows until Bruce grabs his wrist in a death grip, the expression of surprise clear even behind the mask.

Jason steps back and looks down at his bloodied gloves, red dripping over the black, and up to his little brother’s terrified stare and his stomach drops.

The ride home is silent.

***

“I don’t think I want to be a crime fighter anymore…”

It’s the first thing Dick has said since they got back to the manor, his voice soft and fragile under the comforter. Jason smiles weakly and pulls him into a hug.

“I’m sorry bud.”

“I know.”

***

Over the next few years, the arguments with Bruce get worse.

Jason is standing at the edge of his bed, shaky hands putting the last few things in his suitcase, cheeks still hot with rage, when a voice rings out from behind him.

“You’re leaving?”

Jason turns sharply to see Dick standing in the doorway, a pack of colored pencils and a sketch pad tucked under one arm.

“Bud, I-”

“You’re leaving?!”

Jason bites his lip. He can’t seem to find the right words, guilt gnawing at his gut. He has to explain, he has to make him understand.

“Dick… Bruce is... he and I, we... I don’t-” he swallows the words I don’t think I can live here anymore and lets out a long sigh.

“Baby Bird, I’m so sorry.”

But when he looks up Dick is gone, and a door slams from somewhere down the hall.

***

Cold concrete pressing against his cheek.

Blood dribbling over cracked, swollen lips.

His chest hurts.

His head hurts.

His body hurts.

How did he ever think he could do well on his own?

Another blow slams into his ribs and he screams, the sound dampening into a whimper.

How did he ever think he could amount to anything without Bruce?

Laughter echoes through the warehouse.

A door clicks shut.

Not even a year solo and he’d gotten captured.

Each breath is a labor.

His eyes sting.

His skin burns.

He pushes himself to his hands and knees and inches towards the exit, knees dragging against the floor.

The first try, his fingers slip uselessly off the door handle, leaving a smear of blood in their wake. The second try, he gets a good grip, ignoring the searing pain that erupts through his fingers.

Locked.

He hears the tick of a clock.

His breath hitches.

Pathetic.

Heat kisses his flesh and slides sharp fingers through his hair, enveloping him in a wave of fire that rips through his body.

And Bruce is too late.

And Jason is dead.

***

Bruce arrives back at the manor, to the darkness of the cave, at almost two in the morning. His gloves are still covered with flecks of concrete and wood, the dried blood thankfully too dark to see against the Kevlar.

The corpse is in the trunk of the car, sealed inside a body bag.

He has to figure out a cover story.

He has to plan a funeral.

He has to live with letting his son die.

Because Jason was so close, just a few miles outside of Gotham. If only he'd caught on quicker, driven faster, maybe... maybe. But he'll never know now, will he? Bruce takes a deep breath and tightens his hold on the steering wheel.

He shouldn't be thinking about this right now.

Dick and Alfred are waiting for him by the computer, both turning slowly when they hear him approach.

“Dad…” Dick's eyes widen, “where’s Jay?”

Bruce freezes.

He can’t. He can’t tell Dick right now. Not this soon, not when it’s so fresh he can still taste the smoke.

“Dad…? Bruce?” Dick stands up and takes a step forward. “You said you were going to save Jay, what happened? Where is he?!”

Bruce stays silent, letting Alfred usher an increasingly panicked Dick upstairs.

When he’s alone in the darkness of the cave, Bruce collapses in a chair and weeps.

***

Dick is quieter in the following months.

Most nights, Bruce is interrupted by screams from down the hall. He always gets to Dick as fast as possible, holds him close, and rocks him until he manages to fall back asleep.

After all, Bruce isn’t really sleeping anymore.

The dreams are too vivid.

He’s better off without them.

***

Dick doesn’t go down to the cave anymore, but Bruce has seen the costume, the one he stole. The one he stuffs in the bottom of his backpack when he goes to school, the one he carries around the manor, the one he fiddles with when he’s sitting in bed or doing homework.

Bruce sees the familiar brown and black and red, the colors that make his chest ache, but he doesn’t have the heart to have Dick put it back.

And so a little piece of Jason follows him wherever he goes.

***

Dick is furious.

Because Bruce can't be serious when he says this guy is going to be his new partner.

Tim Drake is tall and lanky, with dark hair and blue eyes so very much like Jason’s. He’s maybe four or five years older than Dick at most, with an obsession for photography and the gall to think he can become a hero.

Because what about Jason? Bruce can’t just replace him, not after everything that happened.

How could he?

Dick yells and screams, but it doesn't get him anywhere.

So instead he tries avoiding Tim as much as possible.

It’s not easy. Tim spends most of his time at the manor (even though he has parents, Dick notes), moving between the cave and the kitchen.

He always talks to Dick if they run into each other, carrying a pleasant conversation even if Dick makes a point not to respond.

“Hey Dick, how was school? I joined photography club today. I’m excited to show them my composition skills.”

“Oh hi! Do you want some cereal? I got some out for myself but I can pour you a bowl if you want.”

It's slow, but Dick starts to notice that Tim is actually… alarmingly comforting to have around. He doesn’t force his way into Dick’s life, he doesn’t make him reply when he talks to him, he’s careful about what he says, about how he talks about… the job.

And Dick’s thankful for that, even though he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to fully relax around Tim, he’s thankful. And it gets better… over time.

A year passes and Tim’s parents are killed. He moves into the manor and takes the room a few doors down from Dick’s, not Jason’s room, but close.

Dick knows Tim is struggling, not just with his parents’ deaths, but with the damage they left him with. He hears talking late at night, Bruce using the same, smooth, low voice he uses to calm Dick down when he’s scared. He can’t really make out words, but once or twice Dick is sure he hears Tim call Bruce Dad.

One morning, he and Tim lock eyes over the dining room table. It’s just them that morning, Bruce and Alfred having left much earlier for a company meeting in Metropolis.

Tim looks tired, the bags under his eyes darker than usual, his hair mussed and tangled.

They look at each other.

A moment passes.

Then another.

“‘M sorry about your folks.” Dick mumbles. “And ‘m sorry for being kind of a jerk.” He adds.

The corners of Tim’s eyes crinkle when he smiles.

“Thanks kiddo.”

And even though those words make Dick’s heart stop, make his hands tighten around the table cloth, he manages to hide it until he gets to his room.

There, he has privacy.

There, he doesn’t have to block out the images of dark hair and a wide smile and a loud laugh.

There, Dick still has Jason’s costume hidden under his bed.

He takes it out when he needs to talk.

“You wouldn’t believe what Tim did today. He gave away their position on patrol and got sent back because a thug broke his arm. That never would’ve happened to you, huh Jay? Nothing could ever hurt you.”

“The manor’s still so quiet. Remember that time we played tag and you broke one of Alfred’s tea pots? He was so mad. You grabbed my hand and we hid in the garden for hours. Remember that Jay?”

“Hey… I miss you.”

***

It’s a rainy night and the manor is quiet. Bruce and Tim are out on patrol, investigating a new string of chemical robberies, and Alfred has long since gone to sleep.

Dick is sitting on his bed with Jason’s costume spread out over his lap, crying quietly and rumpling the fabric between his fists.

It was the same nightmare he’s been having for the past two weeks. Jason is drowning in a pool of inky black liquid, sinking slowly below the surface. Dick tries to hold on, to pull Jason out, he always tries, but Jason slips into the darkness, just like he always does.

But this time… this time Jason had been screaming.

Dick can still hear it, the cries ringing in his head. Ear splitting, blood curdling, bouncing against his skull like a pinball.

He takes another shuddering breath, shoulders shaking.

He hasn’t had a nightmare like that in years.

Dick almost doesn’t hear it over the patter of rain.

Almost.

A light knock, coming from his window.

Dick stands up and hides the costume back under his bed, wiping uselessly at his cheeks as he makes his way to the window.

He pauses for a moment before opening the curtains, letting a faint sliver of moonlight spill into his bedroom.

Nothing’s there.

The world outside is dim and dark and filled with the distant sound of thunder.

Dick is about to turn away when something large crashes through his window, tumbling into the bookshelf next to his dresser. It takes a few seconds for him to recover, to make out the shape of a human in the dim light and see the glint of metal hidden under their jacket.

Dick retreats towards the door and watches as the stranger gets to their feet. The jacket is leather, thick and sturdy, covering a dark Kevlar body suit and several loaded holsters. Dick tries to make out a face, but the head is smooth and featureless, gleaming red in the low light from the window.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

The stranger takes a step forward, reaching out.

Dick takes a step back.

The stranger hesitates, hand recoiling, and settles awkwardly against Dick’s dresser.

After a moment of silence the stranger sighs.

“This isn’t how I wanted this to go.”

They shift and press a finger to the back of their helmet, releasing it with a soft hiss.

With the helmet removed, Dick can make out a mop of black hair and ginger roots, the outline of a mask, the curve of a jawline.

The stranger steps closer, face coming further into the light, and Dick feels fresh tears spill down his cheeks.

“Jay?”

“Hey Baby Bird. Sorry I took so long.”

[heartmarierose]

Rules: Copy this post into a new text post, remove my answers and put in yours, and when you are done tag up to 10 people and also tag the person who tagged you… And most importantly, have fun!

I was tagged by @heyimreese

A - age:  20 and 11 months B - biggest fear: spiders, losing friends C - current time: 1:47am D - drink you last had: water, and before that a wild strawberry smoothie E - every day starts with: Banjo @banjo-the-blue-heeler-mutt waking me up so I can take her outside F - favourite song: I’m really into Hamilton right now G - ghosts, are they real: good question. I know @ohioscreamo is real and they’re vaguely ghost-ish  H - hometown: Rochester, MN I - in love with: I’m quoiromantic what do you want from me J - jealous of: cats. Why can’t I sleep all the time.  K - killed someone: only in dnd I - last time you cried: when I had kinetics homework due at midnight and at 11pm I still hadn’t started it because I couldn’t focus M - middle name: Marie (haha, now you know where I came up with Marie-Rose) N - number of siblings: 2 younger sisters O - one wish: to graduate college P - person you last called/texted: my ex, who is actually one of my closest friends now. It’s like...bf/gf to friends...?  Q - questions you’re always asked: "how do you pronounce your last name”  R- reasons to smile: I get to sleep in tomorrow THANK S - song last sang: good question I don’t actually remember?  T- time you woke up: the first time or the time I actually got dressed? 5am and 8am, respectively. Dog’s gotta pee. And I’ve got a 9am.  U - underwear colour: tan V - vacation destination: France  W - worst habit: procrastination, picking nails/scabs, staying up entirely too late X - X-rays you’ve had: my teeth probably?  Y - your favourite food: blueberries all the way  Z - zodiac sign: taurus

It’s 2am I’m not tagging anyone but if you wanna do the thing consider yourself tagged

[wlg-cdg-blog]

Week One / January 8 - January 14

Sunday 8 January 2017 4:37pm - Auckland, New Zealand Today, I set off on my journey. Mum, Dad, Chadz, Nana, Grandad and Amanda came to see me go. We said goodbye at the airport, and I know that if I’d turned around to wave them goodbye properly, I would be crying for days. I was still crying when I sat on the plane. The lady next to me made sure I was okay, giving me hugs and sharing her own experiences of he exchange. She’d been back in New Zealand for six years and shared lots of stories about her love life and job. She’s a chef, and prior to returning to New Zealand, had been overseas for 25 years, learning how to cook. She helped a lot. Currently sitting just outside duty free in Auckland International Airport, waiting for my gate to appear on screen. Too nervous to vlog at this moment - maybe I’ll start once I get to France, on the prep course. 6:53pm - Emirates Plane AKL - BNE Meal has just been served. For dinner, I have a mini fruit salad, dried fruit, fruit bread, water, salmon (both hot and cold), with a mini salad (lettuce, a cherry tomato, some other vegetable I think) and hot carrots, courgette and mashed potato and a little chocolate too!! I’m going to eat while watching ‘The Light Between Oceans’ - I now don’t have to pay $10-$16 for it! Going to eat, drink and then sleep - my priorities for the night! 7:04pm - Emirates Plane AKL - BNE The other vegetable in the mini salad is cold cubed potato. 4:23pm - Emirates Plane AKL - BNE, AU Time Zone. Cold cubed potato is not nice. Also, gluten-free bread is always dry. That’s okay! I added the dried fruit and have orange juice now too! The highest abomination is that the FRUIT SALAD HAS GRAPES WITH SEEDS IN IT!! SEEDS!!! 7:05pm - Brisbane International Airport, Gate 75 Arrived at about 6:45, took about twenty minutes to leave the plane. I went up to Gate 75 to transfer, and found it completely deserted! Needless to say, I started crying because !! I’m in a new country, there’s no passengers or staff around, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to be there or not. At this point, a wonderful young family, who were waiting for their daughter, came up and asked what was wrong. After explaining the above predicament, they assured me that everything was fine! Although, they did say then say that they were on the same flight and didn’t know where to go. At least we had each other! I entertained their two year old and chatted with the mum while the dad went to find answers. Unknown time, somewhere over Northern Australia I slept for three hours, had dinner (chicken breast, mini salad, bread roll, chocolate brownie) which was great! Chicken breast came with mashed potato and tomato paste, both of which I mixed together and put on the roll as gluten-free rolls are BLAND, and mint mushy peas. Chicken itself was lovely! Salad came with a slice of chicken, chopped tomatoes and cucumber and spinach - yum! But the BROWNIE was so good - so rich and chocolatey! I had two glasses of apple juice and one cup of water too. Now my eyes are straining, so I’ll head to sleep. There’s a super nice flight attendant called Charlotte who calls me Miss Maisie. She’s from England. Also, HELP! My nose is running and I only have two hours left to last 11 hours! Monday 9 January 2017 1:55am - Emirates Flight BNE - DXB, above Colombo, Sri Lanka According to the screen, we have 4 hours and 20 minutes left to Dubai. I’ve used all my tissues so have resorted to using the ones in the bathroom - which is both a negative and a positive as I’ve run out of tissues but at least it lowers my chances of deep vein thrombosis! I just popped up to the galley to ask for water or juice , it seems like I slept with my mouth open - it’s all dry and funny! I may go brush my teeth on my next trip for tissues. My in-flight entertainment unfortunately has not been working the entire flight - it used to only play Finding Dory for anything I selected, with no audio, and once that finished, it just went black and I can’t play other movies, tv shows, music or games! It’s alright though. Instead of looking at the flight cameras, which were also affected by the Finding Dory situation, or turning off the screen (ditto), I’ve been doing homework that’s I’ve set myself (Year 12 French textbooks), been sleeping, or been playing games on my phone. Fingers crossed that it works on the next flight! I’d like to watch the last half hour of The Light Between Oceans and then the movies below: Imperium: Harry Potter pretends to be Muggle white supremacist (alt-right?) to get information for the police. The man next to me was watching it and I saw a clip on Graham Norton, so I know it looks interesting! Finding Dory: Ellen Degeneres finds herself. Good reviews from my brother and sister. Let’s hope it doesn’t break my entertainment system again! I JUST LOOKED UP AND THE AISLES HAVE TINY LIGHTS THAT LOOK LIKE STARS. I love space. So much. I’m sitting next to the Big Dipper! Obviously I’ve never seen it before, having lived in the Southern Hemisphere all my life, so that’s amazing! Probably not as cool as the real thing, but I’m still in awe. I’ve also calculated on my next flight (DXB-CDG), I’m sitting really close to the front, so I can get off quicker! TV Screen up fronts announced there’s four hours now until we land. I might play some Broken Age - Mum, tell Alby that for his birthday I’ll transfer $20NZD into his account, but only if he uses it to buy an iTunes card and get the game. He loves it, after all. I forgot to mention! There’s another exchange student from the same company on this flight, she’s going to France too! Except she’s going home. I just realised my Flight Information isn’t working either. It still says 7628 miles until destination. 3:46am - Emirates Flight BNE - DXB, across from Delhi I BROKE A NAIL! I was trying to pop my wallet back into the seat pocket and my nail caught on the tray table and snapped! Quite a shame, considering I just got them done two days ago. Anyway, I wanted to write down how many people are watching various films (that I know of and can see) 1x The Magnificent Seven 1x Florence Foster Jenkins 1x Iron Man 3 1x The Avengers 1x The Avengers: Age of Ultron 2x Now You See Me 2 (they’re sitting right next to each other) 8x Bridget Jones’ Baby (at least). Breakfast is here soon. The lighting for morning is so much better for my eyes than the lighting for the night, but I still have a bit of a headache. Will tell you what I get for breakfast when it comes. 3:21am - Emirates Flight BNE - DXB, somewhere over India 1.5 hours left to go! Breakfast is: Bread roll (1) Jam and margarine (1 each) Fruit salad (pineapple, grape, melons) Omelette (1) Baked Beans (1 serving, multiple beans) Yogurt (1) Roast vegetables (courgette, potato, pumpkin) 4:04am - Emirates Flight BNE - DXB Coming into Dubai now. Had a splitting headache so tied scarf tightly around my head and eye. Eye socket feels swollen. Got paracetamol from flight attendant, as mine was in the overhead locker. Started crying because I know Mum always carries parasol on her, so I could’ve asked. Half an hour away from destination, says the screen.  11,791km away from Brisbane. -19 degrees outside. Unknown Time - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Lunch is: Water Coleslaw, a slice of tomato, ham, salmon Fruit salad ( pineapple, melons, a grape) Gluten Free muffin Strawberry reserves Milk Will be grabbing lemonade asap! 10:21pm in Paris. Emirates Flight DXB - CDG I just put on Tarzan after the man next to me caught me watching his screen - he’s watching The Shallows. I got confused with time. The previously described lunch was actually SECOND BREAKFAST. I truly feel like a hobbit now. Actual lunch was: Mini salad (chilli chicken, cucumber, lettuce, lemon, tomato) Fish and quinoa, broccoli and tomato Bread and margarine Chocolate and a little chocolate cake, which had yummy vanilla frosting. I just got spooked because a man sitting behind me stretched out his foot and I thought it was an animal. Anyway, we’re currently flying over Budapest! This is cool, I’m officially in (or over) a part of the world I haven’t been to yet. An hour and forty minutes left of the flight - just enough for a nap. 10:02am local time - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Update! Flying over Germany - caught sight of Munich on the monitor. Only one hour left! 11:37am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG The home stretch! I just saw on the map both Lille and Paris - so close now!! 11:41am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG 27 minutes left!! We are coming up to flying over Ardennes. I’ve also realised my camera won’t turn on, which means iPhone vlogging but that’s okay!! It’s very foggy in Paris apparently - only 700m of vision and you can’t see the sky, but it is clearing up! At least, that’s what the pilot told us. 11:47am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Passed Luxembourg and had the PA for landing. 11:51am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG it’s quite unfortunate that the weather is allegedly so dull in Paris, the skies above are beautiful and bright. 11:53am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Passed Reims! Honestly my sense of geography is so bad, I don’t know what that really means, but we look pretty close on the map. Only 16 minutes left until arrival now! My screen says 61 miles until destination, but that means nothing. I’ll have to look at the main screen. Apparently 90km!! Not long now!!! You can tell I’m getting excited by the amount of exclamation marks I’m using!!! 11:75am - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG 9,153ft. Outside temperature is -4 degrees Celsius. I can see Dijon on the main map and am eagerly awaiting seeing buildings below us on the cameras. 12:00pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG We are 61km away, and still above the clouds :( 12:04pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG GOING THROUGH CLOUDS 12:07pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Still going through clouds. Watching three different screens to see different angles of plane. Looking at the screen of the main next to me, we’re getting close! On my screen, I can see dark through the clouds but nothing definitive yet. The outside temperature is 2 degrees celsius, I’m expecting it to stay around this temperature due to the winds and general winter coldness. 12:10pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG The cameras were blocked by cloud for a bit and then we came through that… to see more cloud. At this point, Paris may as well just be Cloudland. 12:12pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Definitely in fog now, the tail camera is getting wet I SEE THE RUNWAY 12:13pm - Emirates Flight DXB - CDG Landed. It is 5 degrees outside. It is surreal just being on the runway. 2:44pm - the TGV to Lille I had to run to get the train! My representative met me after I collected my baggage. We went to Paul, a patisserie (I’m making the assumption it’s like Brumby’s, as I saw two of them in Dubai Airport as well). I got a ‘le Parisienne’ - that is, a ham sandwich. She also bought me a chocolate tart for the trip, as well as water. And now I’m zipping through the French countryside, trying to catch my bearings. I’ll be in Lille at 15h37 according to my ticket. Tuesday 10 January 2017 17h38 So sorry for not writing! We had a bunch of activities and dinner, after which, I was too tired to write. We had tartan at L’Arriere-Pays followed by crêpes for dessert. Before that, we quite literally got lost in the streets of Lille, and had to ask for help. We stopped at the supermarket and H&M, the latter of which had Wi-Fi. We also stopped at Notting Hill Coffee for… coffee, where we people-watched. This morning, breakfast was a slice of apricot jam toast, fruit and juice. We had classes today, going over the rooms of the house, school, holidays and body parts. We also had ‘galette du rois’ for l’Epiphanie. We broke for lunch - ciabatta with ham and cheese, pain au chocolat, water - and managed to get lost again by retracing our steps from the night before. We stopped by H&M so I could grab tights, and I stopped by the supermarket again to buy two packets of lollies for Alby’s birthday, just like he asked. He also asked for a souvenir from France, so i might pick one up tomorrow when we do our day trip to Paris. Iris at this moment is getting the same, unless she messages me asking for something else. I did see a cute shop I might go to and see if there’s anything. I’m going to head off for dinner and then I think we’re doing laser tag. Talk tomorrow about Paris and laser tag! Wednesday 11 January 2017 9h04 - the TGV from Lille to Paris We haven’t left Lille yet, maid aujourd’hui, nous voyageons à Paris! I think that the plan is to go to Sacre Coeur, then the Louvre, the down the Champs-Elysées to l’Arc de Triomphe and then La Tour Eiffel. if we have time, we’ll go to Notre Dame. When we get back, there’s going to be a trip to the shopping mall if we’re not too tired. A man has sat next to me, and I don’t know if he knows that I speak French or not. Going to put this away and do some reading Much love, will talk on the way back. Fingers crossed that I’ll vlog from Paris! Saturday 14 January 2017 10h15 - Perpignan I have so much to write about! In keywords: Laser tag was exhausting, but tremendously fun Paris was beautiful, I vlogged, it looked like pictures La Piscine (the museum) was gorgeous The train was long, I slept Perpignan is also gorgeous. Ma famille d’accueil sont très sympas. In detail: Laser tag! After dinner at La Chicorée, we went to laser tag, where we had two twenty minute games and we found out just how competitive everyone is. In the second game, we played teams, and the blue team (not mine) figured out how to attack us from above. Paris was amazing! We visited Sacre Coeur first, where I was swindled out of five euros, but then I found five euros on the side of the street so all was restored in the world. We then went to the Louvre, and ate lunch there. Unfortunately, we didn’t go inside, but the pyramid itself is gorgeous (I use that word a lot, I’ve realised in this entry.) It was just surreal. We next wandered along to Notre Dame, where all I could think of was Philippe Petit, the tightrope walker (The Walk is one of my favourite films, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt one of my favourite actors.) The inside of the building is BEAUTIFUL, After that, we went to the Eiffel tower, which was very exciting, and I bought two Eiffel tower souvenirs for Iris and Alby. After that, we went to the Arc de Triomphe. where alas, we couldn’t go up. That was because as under-18, we were free, but we also needed an adult with us. We then wandered the Champs-Elysées, where I bought a new knit jacket from Zara. On Thursday, we went to La Piscine, which is a museum in Roubaix. The story behind the name (which translates to ‘swimming pool’ in English) that the main building itself used to be a swimming pool. You have to go through an old changing cubicle (or at least, we did) to get to the museum. The main hall’s architecture is beautifully structured, with high ceilings and coloured glass in the shape of the sun. There’s many sculptures spanning the length of the old pool, and even more in other rooms. There’s even more paintings in all the rooms, and even one on the ceiling!! And yesterday, I caught the TGV from Lille Europe to Paris Nord, from Paris Gare Lyon to Perpignan - all in all, it took six hours, which was okay because I slept most of the time. I can’t say much, it was nice and warm on the train. I was picked up at the station by Marc, Rose, Marion, Myriam, and Myriam’s student, Clara. We went to school and I got my timetable and textbooks. I’m in Premiere-L, or Premiere focusing in literature (English literature or litterature anglaise is one of my subjects). I thought I was going to be in Seconde, which meant struggling through maths again! We had pizza for dinner. Today, I’ve been sitting at the dinner table while Marion does homework, I work on both the blog and the vlog, Rose makes lunch, and Maxime plays rugby. I’m about to find music for the vlog, but I think that tonight (or this afternoon), we’ll head out to get school supplies and anything else I need, like my bus card, shampoo and conditioner, etc. There may be another update tonight, otherwise I’ll chat next week. 

[booksbroadwaybbc]

Lets Transform Ourselves 3 Weeks Completed ! "Bulky bulk" (Pics on /r/dailyprogression) via /r/selfimprovement

Lets Transform Ourselves 3 Weeks Completed ! "Bulky bulk" (Pics on /r/dailyprogression)

Background information:

I'm a 20 year old Middle-eastern guy who's very figgity, impulsive and really only thinks about the short term benefits of everything. I used to be addicted to Gaming, but ever since i became 18 years old i decided to leave that part of me behind. I live in a lower-class home, we live off of welfare and I've had the fortune of being born with an above average-IQ which has led to me being able to go to university with a loan.

Last year 2017 December 17th I quit university, broke up with my girlfriend (whom i lived with for 4 months), ditched all my junky friends and moved back to my hometown.

So this is what I'll be doing every single day.

Waking up in the morning at 7:30 AM

Meditate for 10 minutes

Practise a skill/craft in my case Programming for 2 hours (not currently bec of holiday)

Walk for 2 hours per day

Do 60 Pushups + 240 Situps And Plank for 1 minute straight

Read a book (Currently : 4-Hour work week) for 2 Hours

Go cycling for 1 hour (not currently bec of holiday)

Be hygienic

Eat clean and track the calories that i'm taking

Log of 25th of August 2018 - Current time 1:00AM :

It's so late right now I don't know why I am doing this to myself but fuck it lets write another log ! Giving up is for losers, therefore I will not quit untill I am a winner. Now before I get into my daily do's and things, I need to inform you guys that I will be attending university this year. this means that from the 30th of august on I will be attending "computer science" at the university of amsterdam. Which will also mean that i will constantly be working on my programming skills on a day to day basis whether I like it or not. i'll be getting homework and will be working on projects as i'm on my transformation journey. So later on i'll be editing the whole structure of my routines and when I'll be doing them so it fits right into my school schedule.

Now the juicy stuff! What did I even do today? Honestly I can't remember a lot of it because I was sleeping for like half of the day. Today we were going to be leaving our apartment in Tirana the capital of Albania and we'd be moving to a hotel nearby the beach in the city Durres. We all slept till about 10 PM so we would be energized for today since we'd be packing up everything and moving it to our next place. Before we packed everything up and moved, I skipped brushing my teeth and I had a terrible breakfast full of sugar and junk. I should've brushed my teeth but i couldn't find my tooth brush since that was already packed, the reason i eat garbage is because there's nothing else in our fridge that looks slightly better than the junk we have(been eating cheese and butter for days). When we started packing everything up I noticed that my Ankle was still hurting, and it's just such a drag. I had difficulties bringing all the luggage we had with us downstairs to put in the taxi that was taking us to our next destination.

Once we got into the taxi and were up and running, i felt sleepy because of the sugar i had taken in. I was half asleep in the front seat next to the taxi-driver who asked me questions every 3 minutes or so. Obviously I did reply, but damn didn't I sound woke at all. At some point the taxi-driver didn't know where to go to, because of his stupidity and we had to stop in the middle of the street to ask the people who lived there where we had to go to. We ended up at the hotel that we had a reservation at and all was good.

The hotel we were at looked quite small and simple, it wasn't high class or low class it's right in the middle. we had a reservation for 4 days but wanted to change it to 1 day and switch to a different hotel due to the fact that it was way too expensive (70 euro's per day). However we already paid the cash for 4 days total and when we asked if we could just pay for one day and receive our money back the receptionist got really angry, started to cuss us out and threw his phone at us. We accepted that we had to stay in this shitty hotel, with tiny rooms for tiny people and we wrote an E-mail complaining about the service to our bookingsite.

When i got to the room at around diner time I fell asleep on the bed and had a terrible nightmare. When I woke up at around 19:30 PM i couldn't remember a thing about the nightmare and just felt like it was morning. my ankle gradually felt better, but i couldn't leave the room since my mom and siblings were out shopping. I waited for around 30 minutes untill they got back and we then all left to have diner. I had eaten around 2800 calories worth of food at that point and going to diner was absolutely overkill, but i thought fuck it it's holidays i'm meant to enjoy my time. So I ate a "big burger" and some bread which upped my daily intake to 3800 fuckin' calories. (ridiculous i know). After diner I thought it'd be a great idea to go to a barber since they're so god damn cheap here in albania. I checked the prices at the nearest barber and it cost about 4 euro's (5$) to cut my hear and shave the beard + do my eyebrows. I was satisfied with the numbers and had decided to stay at this barber to fix me up, in the end i stayed for about one and a half hour just to get my hair and face fixed.. It was worth it though.

It's 22:00 PM and I really haven't done anything productive, I take off my shirt and shorts and start doing my daily push-ups. This time around my ankles can handle the pain and i'm able to do the full 60 push-ups that i usually do. However I felt a bit of pain going through my shoulders or rather tension, which i usually don't feel. I did 15x4 sets and after that I began doing my sit-ups. Per usual it was 40 sit-ups per abs exercise and i switch the exercise every 40 reps. Most of my abs exercises focus on the upper abs which is also the reason why you can see those so well on my progress pictures (maybe after today you won't since i bulked up a lot :( ). The planking went really well after the sit-ups variants, I did 1 minute and it felt like it were 30 seconds. I think the next time I plank i'll be increasing the time by 15 seconds.

Today i walked a little bit more than yesterday but not enough to pat myself on the back at all. I did my meditation session once i got done showering and couldn't really focus on it because of the background noise. So i don't know if i should count that session in. The next couple of meditations sessions are about motivation and being able to formulate what I really want out of life. after this failure of a meditation session, around midnight time I read my book "4 hour work-week" by Tim Ferris. My goal was to read just a couple of pages before I'd sleep and I managed to read about 11 pages. This time around I learnt about skipping information that you don't need and not overloading your brain with useless information. How many times do you read facebook posts or just things in general that will not add any value to your life right now. Think about it, the news, facebook posts and maybe even youtube video's that you watch for entertainment. Those things are sources of information and causes your brain to become unfocused. You don't need that shit in your life and should be cutting it out with a razor sharp blade as if it's a tumor. Not that entertainment is not a good thing, just use it in the right way. as a reward.

Alright this should be my log, I was about to go to bed but then i decided to still write my log because well.. I don't wanna give up. If you want me to keep writing then tell me how much you like these posts. Pics per usual on r/dailyprogression.

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Submitted August 26, 2018 at 02:47AM by AttackPrince via reddit https://ift.tt/2wb9Kyw