#but for now my lil box dye works just fine

[hikeyzz]

(re)dyed my own hair for the first time 😎

[sirrriusblack]

March 10

“No.”

“Yes!”

“Not a chance.”

“Remus John Lupin get your obnoxious ass down here this instant!”

“Oh, ‘obnoxious ass,’ how classy,” Remus called from atop the stairs. He shook his head and made his way down to Lily, dressed in a stunning green silk dress. She wanted to go clubbing. She rolled her eyes.

“What are you wearing?” She pouted, and Remus couldn’t help but smile. He was wearing the furthest outfit from a club outfit possible. Trackies, mismatching socks, an old t-shirt and a sweater with more holes than fabric. Lily grabbed his sweater from the hem and pulled it off, despite Remus’ shouts of protest and his head getting stuck in the neck. In a moment it was on the floor and Lily was dragging him back upstairs. They reached Remus’ room and he stood in the doorway as Lily began a frenzy through his wardrobe. Every few moments she would pick something up and throw it toward Remus. He didn’t catch any of the items. Finally satisfied, Lily stood up and smiled at him. He shook his head.

“It’s my birthday, shouldn’t I have a say in what we do?” he asked, amused. Lily huffed.

“Morally, yes, but I don’t particularly care. You haven’t been out in weeks!” she half-shouted. Her red hair swayed with her as she moved. Remus ran a hand through his own tangled locks and sighed.

“Fine. But I am not wearing this.” He held up a bright green floral print shirt. He didn’t even know he had owned it. Lily snorted.

* * *

“See! Isn’t this fun?” Lily’s voice was loud in Remus’ ear and he flinched. They were standing by the bar, music with too much bass pumping around them. Remus rolled his eyes. They were searching for a bartender. What kind of club doesn’t have a bartender?

“So much fun, Lils,” Remus said sarcastically. Lily whacked Remus in the shoulder.

“Shut up and smile, dickhead,” she said, right as two people came out of the back room and into the bar. At the sight of the long haired one, Remus smoothed down his hair and shirt, earning him a knowing glance from Lily. He glared right back at her. The bartender, however, didn’t spare Remus a glance. He shook his head. He shouldn’t just assume people are gay anyway. The other bartender—positively straight, Remus decided—came over instead. He looked Lily up and down and smirked.

“James,” he said, introducing himself with a wink. “What can I get for you?” he drawled, staring into her eyes. Lily blushed and Remus rolled his eyes. Regaining her composure, Lily smiled.

“Can we get two birthday specials please?” Lily glanced to Remus as he bit his lip. James leaned closer to the counter.

“Is it your birthday, darling?” his eyes glinted and Remus cleared his throat, feeling like an intruder between the two. Lily smiled sweetly.

“No, it’s Remus’,” she said, placing a hand around Remus’ arm. He grimaced. James leaned back, still smirking at Lily. He tore his eyes away like it was a difficult thing to do and looked toward the other bartender.

“Two birthday specials, Sirius,” he shouted. The bartender— Sirius— looked up. His gaze fell on Remus and he looked him up and down, causing Remus’ cheeks to burn. He thanked the flashing lights for hiding his blush.

“And just what type of birthday special would that be?” he asked, his voice husky. Remus shifted positions and pointedly ignored Lily’s amused gaze.

“The drink type you perv,” James replied, hitting Sirius with a tea towel. Remus found this compeletely ironic with the way James has been ogling Lily a second ago, but he didn’t say anything. James’ mysterious player mask had since been wiped from his face and he grinned at Remus. “Happy birthday, mate,” he said, swinging the tea towel back over his shoulder.

“Thanks,” Remus replied, but James was already at the other end of the bar. Lily took a seat one of the bar stools and looked at Remus, waiting for him to sit too. He rolled his eyes and sat, bringing his feet up onto the bars on the bottom of the stool. In a moment, Sirius had two shot glasses out and was shaking a liquid with brute force. A strand of his hair, which was now held up in a bun, fell into his eyes. Remus wished he could see what colour they were. Sirius, catching his gaze, winked and Remus quickly looked away. James was over talking to another customer, out of breath and sweaty. Remus cringed before a glass hit the wood in front of him. He looked up to see Sirius, fingers still around the glass, looking directly at him. He flashed a white toothed smile and Remus had to try very hard not to reach a hand up to touch his face. Grey. Sirius’ eyes were grey. After a moment and with another quick wink, Sirius let go of the glass and started drying glasses.

“Alright, lover boy, on the count of three,” Lily said. Remus actually looked at the drink now. In front of him was a shot glass, filled with pink liquid and lined with sugar and lemon. He picked it up.

“What’s actually in this?” he asked Lily, who shrugged. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and turned to face Remus more.

“Don’t know. I don’t think I really want to,” she admitted, which definitely didn’t make Remus appealed to the idea of drinking it. “Apparently it’s strong though,” she said. “Or maybe Alice is just weak.” Remus laughed at that. It was his birthday. He might as well.

“Okay. One... two... three,” Remus finished and drank it. Neither Remus nor Lily said anything. He looked up to see Sirius watching and looked back to Lily. She grinned.

“That was absolutely horrible,” she laughed. “No offence,” she threw back to Sirius. Remus laughed and watched Sirius smirk.

“None taken. It’s beer and lemon juice with pink food dye,” he said, laughing. “Positively dodgy,” he added, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do in interest of his job. Remus winced and looked at Lily.

“You let me drink that?” he asked. Lily smiled and nodded.

“You’ll live. Can I get just a shot of vodka?” She called to Sirius. He raised his eyebrows but nodded, walking over.

“And you?” he directed the question to Remus, who was paying notice to the silver dog tags hanging from the bartender’s neck. He blinked and tried to ignore the knowing smirk on Sirus’ perfect face.

“Uh, a whiskey on rocks, thanks,” he mumbled. He pulled at his collar, itchy and tight. Lily laughed.

“You’re such and old man,” she said. Sirius smiled at him and started making their drinks. Remus caught Lily looking over toward James, who was concentrated on wiping a spot on the bar.

“Fancy him?” Remus asked, which snapped Lily out of it. She scoffed and dragged her eyes from James.

“No,” she denied. Lily was never good at acting. “Do you fancy him?” she pat back. Remus blushes as Sirius placed both of their drinks on the counter. “Thanks,” Lily said and downed her shot. Remus was dragged into the dance floor a moment later.

* * *

Panting heavily, Lily requested another shot of vodka, this time from James. Sirius walked through the curtain leading to the back of the bar and locked eyes with Remus, who’d just sat down on a bar stool a little way away from Lily. He didn’t feel inclined to intrude on her and James’ flirting. Sirius placed a box down and started throwing out empty bottles. Remus thought back to the dance floor, where he’d spent the whole half an hour or so looking between Lily and Sirius, who’d spent the whole half hour glancing up at Remus as they danced. Sirius’ bottle duties lead him to Remus’ side of the bar.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked, flashing a smile that caused Remus to practically die. He had two options here, grow an unnatural amount of confidence in the next three seconds or shake his head and smile politely. He did the latter. He sighed and watched Sirius for a moment.

“When does your shift end?” Remus spewed, the words coming out quick and tangled. Sirius looked up and he seemed to get the gist of it. He looked over to Lily and James, still flirting. James was leaning over the bar running his hands through his hair and messing it up even more. Remus looked back to Sirius. His ear was lined with a range of silver rings and studs, and topped of with a silver sword hanging from his ear lobe. His right ear was blank. Remus’ hand went subconsciously up to the thin silver ring on his nose, and suddenly it felt very boring.

“Uh half twelve,” he replied, his voice still husky. Remus nearly sighed. Sirius wiped his palms on his apron and turned around. “So, it’s your birthday?” he asked. Remus nodded before he quickly realised that Sirius couldn’t see him. He’d gone back to throwing away the empty bottles. Over the clinking of the glass and the music—still not good enough to dance to—Remus raised his voice.

“Uh, yeah. 21st,” he said. Sirius raised a groomed eyebrow. Remus ignored the line cut in the other one.

“That’s big. You didn’t seem too excited on the dance floor.” Sirius picked up the box of glass bottles. Remus opened his mouth to reply but Sirius held up a hand and went out the back. Remus looked around the club. Some pop song he didn’t know was playing and an army of sweaty drunks were grinding against each other to it. Remus shook his head just as Sirius came back through the curtain. He looked up and down the bar to see if anyone needed serving, but James was all over it while still watching Lily. Sirius walked back to Remus and smiled.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“It’s all good, you are at work,” Remus pointed out. Sirius nodded.

“So you were saying?” he prompted. Remus thought back.

“Oh yeah, I don’t really dance,” he said. Sirius raised his eyebrow again.

“At all?” he asked. Remus shook his head. “So there is not one song that you hear and just have to dance to?” he smirked, leaning forward to put his elbows on the bar. A chain hung from his neck and it swung with his movements. Remus thought.

“Well, I can’t confidently say that I wouldn’t at least sing along if ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ came on,” he admitted. Sirius barked a laugh.

“Queen,” he said approvingly. Remus nodded. “I like you,” he added. Remus tried not to feel warm at that.

“What about you?” he asked instead. Sirius furrowed his brows. “A song that makes you dance,” he clarified. Sirius smiled like he hadn’t been expecting the question.

“Oh, uh... I’ve gotta say ‘I’m Still Standing’,” he admitted. Remus chuckled.

“Elton John,” he said approvingly. “I like you.” Sirius laughed. ‘I like your laugh, too,’ Remus almost added. Sirius stepped back.

“I’ve got to get another box,” he said, walking back to the curtain. Remus nodded.

“Yeah. Alright,” he said, not quite wanting Sirius to leave. He turned to Lily. Her chin rested on her palms as she watched James. Remus chuckled again and Sirius walked back in without a box. Remus looked at him, confused. He was a little bit away, so Remus wouldn’t have been able to hear him if he had tried to talk, but he tapped his wrist to let Remus know to wait a minute. He obliged, watching Sirius start making drinks for two girls a little bit down. Remus turned back to the dance floor and watched as everyone jumped around, smiling and laughing. The music died down and Remus nearly fell of his chair at what happened next. His head snapped back to Sirius, who was grinning at Remus. Don’t Stop Me Now blared over the speakers. He mouthed a quick thank you before he ran over to Lily, who had already stood up and was waiting for him. They danced for the whole song and Remus smiled wider than he had in a long while. I’m Still Standing came on next. Remus kept dancing, but he found his eyes sliding over to Sirius every few moments. When he wasn’t with a customer, he was harassing James with his dancing, singing into bottles of vodka as he mixed drinks. Remus smiled. The song ended and more generic pop songs played. Remus checked his phone. 12:24am. Lily and Remus sat back down at the bar and watched the two bartenders work under the pink and blue lights for a moment.

* * *

“Are you—“

“Do you want to—“

Remus and Lily started talking at the same time. They could barely hear each other over the music, but the point got through and they both laughed.

“You go first,” Lily shouted. Remus nodded and pushed a curl out of his eyes.

“Do you want to hang out with James?” he yelled out. Lily blinked.

“It’s your birthday,” she shouted back like that was the obvious answer. Remus shook his head.

“Technically it’s not anymore,” he stated. Lily rolled her eyes. It was past midnight and no longer his birthday.

“You’re a git.” Remus flicked her, smiling.

“Honestly I don’t care, you can hang out with him if you want.” He may or may not have been saying that so he could hang out with Sirius. Which was stupid, because Sirius probably wasn’t gay. Though he had been watching Remus, being extra nice. But he was flirting with some girls buying drinks. So no. Unless he was bi? But if he had that many options, wouldn’t he definitely be dating someone? Remus shut off his thoughts as Lily smiled.

“I kind of do,” she admitted. “But only if you’re totally okay with it.” Remus nodded. She held up a hand. “Because if you’re not one hundred percent, totally okay with—“

“Lily. Go ask him out,” Remus cut her off. She smiled.

“You have to ask him out, though,” Lily said. Remus raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t even know if he’s gay,” Remus reasoned. Lily only snorted in response.

“Bye Lupin,” she said squeezing his hand. “I love you!” she finished, walking off. Remus shook his head.

“What does that—nevermind. I love you too,” he said and watched Lily practically skip over to James.

* * *

James had murmured something to Sirius, gone out back and reappeared a moment later. He had a hoodie on in place of his apron, and had gone straight to Lily. She’d grinned and took his hand and they’d walked out the door. I’d ordered a shot of whiskey, needing it for what I was about to do.

“It’s 12:35” I said to Sirius. He nodded, pouring out my drink.

“Indeed it is. I’m waiting for Marlene,” he explained. Remus gave him an odd look.

“Co-worker. It’s her shift next,” he said, handing the shot glass over to Remus. He grabbed the glass but didn’t drink it just yet.

“Is she late often?” he asked. Sirius brushed a strand of hair behind his ear.

“Nah, not usually. She has a date with this girl she’s been in love with for like ages.” Well at least he wasn’t homophobic. He started pouring two cocktails for a guy in a bright blue shirt.

“Huh. Cool,” Remus said. Sirius hummed.

“Yeah. She just ditched you on your birthday?” he asked. Remus guessed the ‘she’ he was referring to was Lily.

“It’s not my birthday anymore,” he pointed out, earning a smirk from Sirius. “But no, I told her it was fine. She seems to really like James, which is odd, because she doesn’t like people very often,” Remus said. Sirius smiled.

“I thought she was your girlfriend at first,” he said. “I was wondering why you weren’t biting James’ head off for flirting with her,” he said. Remus laughed. He really laughed.

“Nope. Just no.” Remus couldn’t even imagine dating Lily. Sirius looked up from the cocktail glasses, which he was very carefully lining with salt.

“Gay?” he asked. He poured the drink into the glasses and handed them to blue shirt. Remus shook his head.

“Bi,” he said. Sirius nodded. “But I just... yeah I couldn’t imagine dating Lily.” Sirius smirked.

“Why not? She’s pretty,” he said like it should mean something.

“Yeah, sure, but it’s just wrong.” Remus shuddered thinking about. So, so wrong. Sirius laughed.

“I get that,” he said. Remus didn’t know what that meant. He didn’t ask, though. Instead he though of how Lily had snorted, how she’d told him to ask Sirius out. Remus downed the shot and opened his mouth, ready to talk past the burning in his chest. Ready to ask him out.

A girl rushed through the curtain suddenly, still tying her apron. There was a hickey on her neck, only just visible behind her long, platinum blonde hair. Only it didn’t look at all fake. She winced when she saw Sirius, her dark red lipstick bold against her white teeth.

“Sirius! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to be so late! We just—uh... got caught up,” she chuckled nervously. Sirius laughed.

“I’d hardly call ten minutes late,” he said. “It went well then?” Marlene smiled and winked at Remus before she looked back to Sirius.

“Very,” was all she said. Remus could guess what that meant. He thought of what he’d been about to do. He didn’t even know if Sirius was gay. It was stupid and he should just leave. He turned to Sirius.

“Uh, it was nice to meet you, Sirius,” he said. “But I should get going. Thanks for the drinks,” he said, laying a fifty dollar bill on the bar. Sirius furrowed his brows.

“That’s too much,” he said, but that seemed to be the last thing he wanted to say. Remus nodded.

“Keep the change. Good service,” Remus said, walking away. He could have sworn he heard his name called out over the music, but he brushed it off and stepped out into the cold air. The music quickly stopped and he breathed in the air. He could have just asked. It wouldn’t have hurt to ask. Maybe he should have gone back. But he didn’t. He called an Uber instead. It was ten minutes away. He sat against the brick wall of the club and looked up at the stars.

A few minutes passed before a face appeared in place of the stars, but Remus wasn’t complaining.

“Sirius?” he said, standing up. He wished he hadn’t. Sirius was changed now, and he was standing in front of Remus, perfectly casual, and dressed in ripped black jeans, a black shirt (too tight for Remus’ own good), Black Doc Martens and a big, chain-adorned leather jacket. Remus could have died on the spot.

“Remus, hey,” he said nervously.

“You’re off work,” Remus replied, pointing out the utterly obvious. Sirius cracked a smile.

“Yeah. Do you—have you got anything on tomorrow?” he asked, playing with a zip on his jacket. Remus rubbed at the back of his neck. It was a Sunday tomorrow.

“No, I uh, no I don’t,” he said.

“Okay, cool. Can I... hang out with you, maybe?” he asked. Remus blinked. What was that supposed to mean?

“Sure... why?” he asked before he realised how much he sounded like a dick. Sirius blinked. “Ah, sorry... I just mean. Well. Yeah, why?” Sirius smirked at Remus’ flailing hands.

“I...” Sirius sighed. “Okay I’ll just... can I kiss you?” He blurted out. Remus’ eyes widened.

“What?” He didn’t know what else to say. Sirius closed his eyes.

“Shit. I’m sorry. It’s just you said you were bi and I just assumed—I’m sorry—“

“Yes.” Remus smiled. “Yeah, you can kiss me.” Bloody hell, he wanted Sirius to kiss him. Sirius smiled.

“Yeah?” Sirius looked into his eyes, and Remus noticed that they weren’t just grey. They were silver and bright and wonderful. Remus nodded. Sirius raised himself up to match Remus’ height, not by much but enough. When he closed the gap between them, though, Remus almost melted. His lips were soft, they were everything. This was everything. They finally broke apart, Remus’ hand tangled in Sirius’ hair and their breaths clouding in the night air. Sirius smiled. “Happy birthday, Remus.” Remus laughed and kissed him again.

“Not my birthday anymore, Sirius,” he said and Sirius chuckled.

“How were you planning on getting home?” Sirius asked. Remus held up his phone.

“Uber.”

“Cancel it. I’ve got a motorbike.”

Oh god.

“Cancelled.”

[starstruck-xavier]

i can’t remember if i ever talked about my ts magic au but i’m yet again alone in the sainsbury’s car park so here we go

context! magic overflow is a thing, where people don’t exercise their magic enough and the energy builds up until it overflows. magic burnout is also a thing where they use up all their energy on magic. overflow/burnout varies with intensity and how it manifests depending on person to person within each user group. the chances of being born with magic powers is to do with genetics, it’s similar to the chances of being born a wizard in harry potter.

the core four have elemental powers and jan n re are in this too.

logan has earth powers (bc he’s so grounded) and can basically just manipulate the earth around him. his overflow is that the ground starts to crack and shift beneath him and his burnout is that gravity strengthens on him, so he might fall down and not be able to move until he gets his energy back. in terms of character design, his hair is blonde and he has brown streaks (it all grows in like this, no hair dye).

patton has air powers (bc he’s an airhead) and controls the wind. he can also kinda cheat and use the wind to make things levitate but he’s still building up the stamina to be able to do that for a longer time. his overflow is that his breathing becomes really strong and he could knock something over by breathing on it, and his burnout is that his breathing becomes light and shallow and he needs to rest until he can breathe normally again. his hair is kinda like logan’s but inverted, brown hair with yellowy-blonde streaks.

roman has fire powers (bc of his fiery passion) and can manipulate fires. his overflow is that he gets too hot and if he’s not careful he could even set fire to something, and his burnout is that he develops symptoms similar to hypothermia, but probably not diagnosable hypothermia because magic do be like that sometimes. having fire magic comes with the inconvenience of being a little too hot all the time so the depletion of fire energy would be a shock to his system. he has dirty blonde hair with red streaks.

virgil’s more complicated: he’s a water-user so he manipulates water, but he was also born with slightly weaker ice magic. my theory for context is that if a water-user and ice-user get together, they’d normally produce another water-user, but there’s a rare chance the child can also have ice powers (but they’re not called an ice-user officially, just water-user), and an even rarer chance that they make an ice-user with no water magic. virgil’s a water-user with ice powers. this means he has two types of overflow/burnout. his water overflow entails water leaking out of his eyes and nose and his ice overflow is creating frost/ice on the ground where he stands or sometimes on whatever he touches. water burnout is just getting very dehydrated and he needs to rest and drink water constantly until he’s okay again, and ice burnout is like the opposite of roman’s, he develops a fever and has to cool down. a nice quirk that comes with water magic is that he’s immune to fire, but i wanna implement the headcanon that he’s still deathly afraid of fire so perhaps in the story it’s gonna take some time for him to warm up (lol) to roman. he also doesn’t wanna hurt him, because roman can melt virgil’s ice (though it hurts virgil a little bit) but he gets hurt when he makes contact with magic water. because of that, virgil doesn’t exercise his magic as much as he should because he doesn’t want to accidentally shoot magic water at roman or something (he never consciously would, but with anxiety it do be like that sometimes), and as a result he overflows quite a lot. in terms of character design, virgil’s hair is icy white due to his ice magic (it works a little differently from the other elements since it’s not a main one, just go with it) and he has blue streaks for his water magic.

side note: stuff like magic water or magic earth is basically the regular stuff when a magic user is messing with it, so roman can drink normal water just fine but if virgil’s using his magic to swirl it around or something, it’d hurt roman to touch. but, when virgil leaves it alone it returns to normal. apart from seeing someone who’s currently messing with it, there’s really no other way to tell if something’s magic or regular.

i think these overflow/burnout things seem like they can easily be made easier to cope with when they have fellow users in their field of magic, but each of these guys don’t have any close friends like that, but they try to help each other out anyway. patton trains to make his air magic strong enough to lift logan when he can’t get up, the cold that virgil radiates counteracts the warmth that roman radiates and they can cuddle to give each other that relief, etc.

now to go onto the dark sides, janus can shapeshift. he can become any animal or person really, but he has to know exactly what they look like and his favourite form is the snake so he mostly only ever does that. his overflow is when animalistic features bleed over, so in janus’ case he’d just become his canon self and start hisssssing when he talkssss, and his burnout just entails a lack of ability to shapeshift, possibly some fatigue as well. it’s luckily milder than most other shapeshifters (and also the author can’t think of anything else hh). he has light brown hair, and hair streaks grow in differently for each shapeshifter depending on their favourite form so janus’ is black because he favours black and yellow snakes.

remus was expected to get fire magic like roman when they were both born, but he inherited electricity. his powers include being able to charge electronics without a charging cable (though he’s obliterated stuff once or twice) and an immunity to electric shocks. he can also make neat lil lightning storms. overflow is kinda crackling with electricity and if he’s not careful he could shock someone, and burnout is temporarily losing his immunity to shocks and a weakness to water as well as fatigue similar to janus. he has dirty blonde hair just like roman but he has yellow streaks. sometimes he gets confused for an air-user since they have pale yellow streaks, but remus’ are much brighter and bolder so it doesn’t happen often.

what shenanigans will they each get up to? i don’t really know yet. i think the main story is gonna centre on virgil just a little more than the others but i’ll give each of them a chance to shine. if anyone wants to know more my dms and ask box are both open <33

[jungshookz]

ceo!yoongi - the proposal

→ pairing: min yoongi x reader

→ genre: ceo!au, the fluffiest fluff, a lil bit of n s f w 

→ wordcount: 3.1k 

→ notes: first drabble ever!!! surprisingly a loT of you guys wanted more ceo!yoongi after i started the character ask game (that is stiLL open pls spam my inbox) so here you go!!! i might do more drabbles like this with any of my stories so if y’all want a particular scenario just let me know and i can make ur wildest dreams come tru and as usual the gif isn’t mine! 

yoongi’s never been so nervous in his entire life before. 

“i’m sO excited like i was literally thinking about ice cream the moment we got up this morning”

you look like a kid with your face basically pressed up against the glass as you look down at the array of ice cream flavours

yoongi mentioned yesterday that he was in the mood for dessert which is honestly suCh a rarity so of course you had to jump at the opportunity to return to the ice cream parlour that is now yours and yoongi’s special lil place

the last time you were here you had the cinnamon toast crunch flavour which was reaLLy good but you wanna branch out and try something different

every time you guys come here yoongi lets you pick out a flavour for him because you refuse to let him get his low-fat low-fun vanilla frozen yogurt

“whoever decided to put s’mores into ice cream is a certified genius” you mutter to yourself and your mouth basically starts watering when you catch sight of cookie dough cheesecake ice cream!!

whOmstve comes up with these flavours???????

you want to eat ice cream all day every day

if only diabetes wasn’t a thing

“close your mouth, baby.” yoongi can’t help but chuckle and he reaches over to tap your chin shut “you take your time. i’ll be over there.”

you roll your eyes when he hands you his card as per usual

he never lets you pay and you have to admit you’re becoming a wee bit spoilt

“no. it’s on me, boss” you tuck his card into his pocket and pat his chest gently

“but-“

“one more word out of you and i’ll make sure to ask them to add extra sprinkles and chocolate sauce on your ice cream”

yoongi’s eyes widen at your threat

the ice cream alone is sweet enough

but with extra sprinkles anD chocolate sauce

he could die

no

he wiLL die

“alright. you got me there.”

“hm. i know.”

yoongi smiles and he can’t help but pull you in closer with an arm wrapped around your waist

it’s pretty late so PDA isn’t a big deal because there aren’t a lot of people here at this hour

“stubborn as a mule, you are”

good god he adores you

“go and warm up our booth for us” you poke his nose

yoongi nods and leans down to give you a sweet little kiss before squeezing your hip and drawing away from you then heading off to your guys’ usual spot

he seems a little off today but the two of you had a long night yesterday (wink wonk) so you’re not that surprised but even after a long night (wink wonk) he’s not usually thIs out of it

you don’t think too much of it though

he’s been super busy at work lately

you should know considering you’re the one organising his schedules

the other day he had like eight meetings back to back

the poor man

when he disappears to the back you turn your attention back to the triLLION and one flavours

every time you come in here you’re always making hard decisions

chocolate chip cookie vanilla swirl vs peach cobbler feels more like a life or death situation

“okay, let’s see…”

meanwhile

yoongi doesn’t know if he’s ever been so nervous in his entire life before

his foot keeps tapping on the ground

his palms are kind of gross and clammy

aNd he’s chewing on his bottom lip which is something he never does because it displays nervousness which he neVER IS

all because of the little blue velvet box resting in his inner suit pocket containing a big fat diamond ring

it’s just burning a damn hole in his pocket

he feels his heart thrumming away

he’s going to propose to you tonight

to the woman he loves more than anything in this damn world

y/n y/l/n

y/n y/l/n who walked into his life wearing skinny jeans and a polka dotted blouse one morning and then a white button up and a tight pencil skirt with stilettos the next morning

y/n y/l/n who talked shit about him tO him the first time the two of you met

y/n y/l/n who was always a hot mess but somehow remained organised and responsible when it came to work

y/n y/l/n who stayed with him after his disastrous date and kissed him after tying his tie 

y/n y/l/n who he slowly but surely fell in love with over time

he loves you

and he wants to spend the rest of his life with you by his side

yoongi’s heart flutters at the memory of when you kissed him for the first time and how your cheeks grew dark and how your lashes fluttered and how you tilted your head and let out a little sigh as you kissed him

the two of you have shared hundreds of kisses since then

that seems like such a long time ago when in reality it’s only been like five or six months? you two have only been dating for a short while but... he knows this is the right decision

yeah

this is what he wants because he loves you

…

but what if you say no

oh

oh no

yoongi didn’t think this through

what if you say NO

then it’ll be awkward at work

what if you break up with him

maybe this relationship is moving too fast

then he just wasted money on this big fat engagement ring that’ll mock him and remind him that you said no every time he looks at it

“okay! red velvet cake ice cream for me. churro ice cream for you. look! there are even little hunks of churro on the top.” yoongi’s broken out of his little panic when you slide in next to him

your excited smile is a momentary distraction from his little panic

“y/n - look how artificial yours looks. no ice cream should be thAt red. red velvet cake shouldn’t even be red! who in their right mind decided that they wanted to dye their chocolate cake red???” yoongi sighs when he sees you shovel a small scoop into your mouth

he swears that you’re probably going to die one day of eating too many artificial things and when they cut you open

“shush!” when yoongi opens his mouth again to say something you pop one of the churro chunks into his mouth and he chews thoughtfully before nodding satisfactorily

“okay listen - i know we’ve been fighting over this, but i’m willing to compromise. i’ll sacrifice the left side of the bed-“

“because that’s my side?”

“it’s mY SIDe too okay if you slept on the right side we wouldn’t have this problem”

“maybe if you slept on the right side we wouldn’t have this problem”

“you’re the one who asked me to move in you idiot!!!!”

“don’t disrespect your boss”

“don’t disrespect your girlfriend!!” you whine and swat yoongi’s hand away when he reaches up to pinch your cheek “anyWAYS- i’m willing to sacrifice the left side of the bed if you give me the right side of the closet.”

“but that’s mY side of the closet”

“oh my god yoongi - half of my clothes are already on the right side of the closet anD i’ve taken up the top two drawers-“

“you made that pretty clear when i went to get my socks and instead i pulled out a lacy red thong” yoongi smirks and licks a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar off his bottom lip

“-that you ripped later that night. you still owe me a new thong, by the way.” you point out

“okay okay. here. i have a deal for you. i’ll give you the left side of the bed, the right side of the closet, and i’ll replace aLL the lingerie pieces i’ve apparently destroyed if you-“

if you

oh god

this is happening

okay yes

this is happening he’s going to do this

he’ll give you the left side of the bed, the right side of the closet, and he’ll replace all the lingerie that he’s apparently destroyed if you marry him

just say it

“if i…?” you’re not even looking at him you’re finishing the final scoop of your ice cream and you’re trying to scoop out every last chunk and you have your tongue poking out in concentration and goD it’s so endearing

everything about you is so endearing

wow

he loves you.

he wants to marry you.

“marry me.” yoongi doesn’t realise he’s actually said it out loud until he notices he can’t hear you talking anymore

and then he’s looking over and you’re staring right at him with wide eyes and with a plastic spoon hanging out of your mouth

you swallow thickly and you feel like your heart isn’t even beating anymore

did he

did yoongi just

m,,,marry

he just asked u to

what

what

whAT??????

yoongi pushes his nerves aside

it’s too late now

and it’s now or never

if you say no you two can just carry on like the way it is now

it’ll be fine

“ʷʰᵃᵗˀ” you squeak out and it’s so quiet you’re not sure yoongi even heard you

yoongi swallows and reaches into his inner suit pocket

his fingers are trembling a little but he manages to pull it together kinda

you nearly bite the spoon in half when he pulls out a petit velvet box and pulls it open to reveal

a glimmering, gorgeous, rose gold engagement ring

“marry me.” you look up from the ring at yoongi and he’s looking right at you with his intense gaze and you’ve never seen yoongi look so damn serious in the entire time that you’ve known him

min yoongi

the man that you love soOO so fuckign much

just asked you to marry him

he wants you to become his w…wife

“your reaction is giving me mixed signals and i don’t know if i should be nervous or not” yoongi chuckles and scratches the back of his neck and his eyes flicker away from you and he slouches a little

he’s not feeling so confident anymore yikEs

“i… i know you might think we might be moving too fast which is totally understandable but i just… i’m very much in love with you and-“

“yes.” you finally breathe out

oh

okay

you

you wanna marry him too

the next thing yoongi knows he’s being tackled and is suddenly on his back staring up at the ceiling and he hears your giggles and squeals of excitement and yES YES YES YES I’LL MARRY YOU yES and he feels you peppering kisses all over his face

yoongi has an arm wrapped around your waist while the other clutches at the top of the booth to keep the two of you from sliding off the damn thing

when you finally calm down you lean down to give yoongi a soft kiss

he can’t help but smile because you taste like red velvet cake ice cream

and then the two of you are sitting back up and you’re wiping away tears of joy with one hand while yoongi slips the diamond ring onto your other (very shaky) hand (which is a result of your sugar high and also exciTEMENT)

you admire the ring and the way it twinkles under the dim light of the lightbulb dangling above the two of you and then you look up at yoongi and he just looks… so happy

you cup his cheeks and he immediately leans in to give you another peck

“i love you” you murmur and nudge your nose against his and yoongi sighs happily

“love you more” good god he’s turned soft

and it’s all because of yoU

“love you mosT” you give yoongi a warning look that tells him you’re willing to play this game all night long and he raises his hands in defeat “love you most but i think i might love this ring even more” you joke and yoongi scowls playfully

seriously tho it’s a beautifuL ring that probably costs more than your entire life

if you look at it for too long it’ll probably blind you

“i love you but i don’t think i can finish this ice cream” yoongi pushes his cup away and you’re not surprised because he’s like the pickiest person on planet earth  

the two of you walk hand in hand back to his car and you feel your insides flutter when he opens the door for you and goes like “here you go, mrs. min” and you respond with a curtsey and a “thank you kindly, mr. min”

he holds your hand the entire ride back home and he can’t stop the wide smile that tugs at his lips when you pull his hand up and press a soft kiss over his knuckles

you have your own set of keys to yoongi’s place obviOusly and as you’re unlocking the front door yoongi has his arms wrapped around you from behind and his chin is propped up on your shoulder

you turn around and kiss him while blindly twisting the knob and walking the two of you into the house

the keys fall to the floor with a clatter

and then yoongi’s suit jacket falls to the floor

and then your purse

and whoops

there goes your skirt

you let out a squeal when yoongi suddenly hoists you up and wraps your legs around his waist while his hands cup you under your thighs

“are we already consummating the marriage? you literally jusT proposed to me” you chide playfully and give yoongi’s bicep a squeeze (he’s been working out recently and it’s…,.,,. really paying off) while yoongi walks the two of you up to the bedroom

“you know how impatient i am”  

the entire time yoongi’s fucking you he has one hand in between your legs (because duh) and the other hand his fingers are intertwined with yours

your ring bites a little when he squeezes your hand and it’s just a reminder that the two of you are going to get married

he wants to marry the fuCk out of you

he also wants to fuck the fuck out of you (which is what he’s currently doing) because you look extra good tonight for some reason

your eyes are all blown out and your lips are swollen from how much he’s kissing you and your hair is perfectly tousled from when you took it down from its bun after work and you smeLL like his shampoo and you taste like ice cream

and you guys have had,,, like a lot of sex but he doesn’t think he’s ever had an orgasm this intense before like his moans and gasps are louder than usual

eventually what pushes him over the edge is when you say “i- ah! nngh i can’t, fuck, i can’t wait to marry you i- yoongi-! oh god yoongi right there - i love you s-so much”

afterwards yoongi has a hand wrapped around you while you snuggle up to him with your hand resting on his chest and he’s never felt so warm and happy and fuzzy before even though the two of you are slightly sweaty and sticky

he pouts when you pull away and slip into his shirt

god you look good in his clothes  

“where are you going?” he makes grabby hands at you and you giggle and look at him fondly

your soon to be husband is adorable

“i’m gonna run a bath for us - yoU stay here” you crawl back onto the bed and lean down to kiss him “i’ll be back, mr min”

“i’ll be waiting - mrs min.”

“HOLY SHIT”

you’re sure the entire floor can hear jimin when you show him your sparkling new accessory the next morning

“I KNOW RIGHT”

and you’re sure the entire floor can also hear yOu

jimin’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when you strolled into the break room and you yawned and covered your mouth with your left hand and u were omG i’m soOo tired and then he caught sight of the monster diamond just chilling on your finger

and then the two of you literally just starting screaming and jumping up and down and no one was formulating proper sentences like it was just a bunch of “YOU-“ “I-“ “OH MY-“ “I KNOW“ 

[unidentifiable screeching] 

of course when yoongi pops in to see what all the commotion is about it all makes sense when he sees you and jimin

the two of you are sitting there acting like you weren’t just screaming your heads off a second ago

in fact you’re just sitting there with your cups of coffee small talking and all that

“the weather’s beautiful today.”

“i know! i heard it’s going to be sunny this whole week.”

[coughs]

“hm.”

“mm.”

[slurps coffee aggressively]

“morning, mr park.” yoongi greets and jimin nods his head and is like good morning sir “morning, jagi” yoongi’s a little more quiet with you because he doesn’t like to show off his soFt side in front of too many people because then they won’t fear him as much ://// but jimin is an exception

he swoops down to give you a kiss and then he’s moving past you to make himself a cup of coffee

you said you’d bring it to him but that was like 10 minutes ago lol whoops

it’s just utter silence as yoongi stirs his coffee

the only thing you can hear is the occasional clink of his spoon against the mug

before he leaves the break room he turns around to face the two of you and is like ….you may continue and he shuts the door behind him and then it’s all AHHHH YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED OH MY GOD OF COURSE I’LL BE YOUR BRIDESMAN

yoongi smiles to himself and shakes his head

[noahsfreckles]

Keeping Secrets from Strangers (chap 3)

I wake up around ten the next morning, Lexi is still sleeping so I reach over and grab my phone.

3 texts from Jamey🐱

1 twitter notification

1 Snapchat 

I open Twitter and check my mentions.

'@winafreeiphone: win one free iPhone. Click link in bio!'

I click the bio then the three dots at the banner and select block @winafreeiphone. I start to close the app when I go back to my timeline when I see a tweet from Jamey.

“@browneyedboy: what's it mean when every dream is about you now? _🎶

I copy the tweet and look up the lyrics. Criminal by State Champs. I click the YouTube lyric video and start listening to the song.

"Are you listening to State Champs?" Lexi asks and scares me.

"When did you wake up?"

"Derek's voice always wakes me up," she says and wiggles her eyebrows.

"Ew, wait who's Derek?" I ask confused.

"The singer in State Champs duh," Lexi says as she rolls her eyes. "Why are you listening to them?"

I look at her bite my lip a little, "Jamey."

"Oh okay," she says and rolls back over like she's going back to sleep. "Whose Jamey?" she asks but stays facing away from me.

"Browneyedboy."

She suddenly flips over and looks at me. "His name is Jamey?"

I nod slowly and look at her. "Yeah."

My phone vibrates in my hand and I look down at the banner; Jamey🐱. I try not to smile when I see he texts me.

"And who is that?"

"Jamey."

"You gave him your number, Mia?!, she says and jumps up on the bed and sits on her knees.

"Yeah. What's the worst could happen?"

"He could stalk you, kidnap you, and murder you!'

"Lexi, he's not going to do anything like that. I didn't tell him where I live or anything and I won't. I pinky promise." I hold up my pinky to her. She looks at it and then at me then back at the pinky.

"Pinky promise on your love for Noah that you won't tell him anything personal?"

"I don't love Noah, but I pinky promise."

We hook pinkies then kiss our thumbs and she eyes me. I pull away and she says, "okay tell me everything."

I tell her everything that happened last night which isn't much and she just looks at me.

"What?"

"Well what did he say /today/?"

I had totally forgot he texted me and I look down at my phone and unlock it and open the iMessage app.

Jamey🐱: morning Mia 😎 @9:17am

Jamey🐱: I hope you have a great day. @9:17am Jamey🐱: hope to talk to you later 😎 @9:18am Jamey🐱: Stuvi says meow. @10:12am

I show her my phone and nods. "I approve," she says and jumps off the bed.

"You approve?"

"Yup."

"Um okay?"

She just laughs as she start to change into her clothes. "He seems nice so I approve of this friendship, but if he steals you away from me it's on!"

I start laughing. "Where are you going?"

"I have to be home by eleven. Didn't I tell you?"

"No." I make a sad face at her.

"Aww my lil Mia I still love you. Don't be sad. I'll come back later." Lexi says and comes over and hugs me tight.

"Only cause you're coming back that I'm okay with it now," I say as we squeeze each other.

We slowly let each other go and she leaves.

"Now what am I going to do?" I say out loud to no one.

I look down at my phone and unlock it.

Mia: morning Jamey 🐱

I open snapchat and see who snapped me when I see it's just from Snapchat. I close the app and open Twitter.

'@heyitsmia: well @heyitzlexi had to leave me and now I'm all alone and bored.'

'@heyitzlexi: sorry babe I still love you though. 💋💋💕💕

'@heyitsmia: you better. 💋💋💕💕

My phone buzzes; Jamey🐱 texted you.

I click the banner; Jamey🐱: wanna play a game?

Mia: what game?

Jamey🐱: twenty questions.

Mia: was that your first question?

Jamey🐱: was that yours? 😋

I giggle a little.

Jamey🐱: did you have any dreams last night?

I think for a minute, did I?

Mia: I don't think I did. Mia: were you dreaming about someone last night? 👀👀

Jamey🐱: maybe 🤐

Mia: Aww that cute

Jamey🐱: I never said I did.

Mia: but you didn't deny it so you did 😛

Jamey🐱: ☹️

Mia: don't be sad Jamey I bet they would be honored to be in your dreams. ♥️

Jamey🐱: ♥️ Jamey🐱: how tall are you?

Mia: 5'5

Jamey🐱: you're tiny.

Mia: yup 🙁 Mia: how tall are you?

Jamey🐱: 6'1. 😎

Mia: whoa you're tall 😲

Jamey🐱: celebrity crush?

Mia: umm Shawn Mendes

Jamey🐱: he's cute 🧐

Mia: you're a dork. Whose yours?

Jamey🐱: Selena Gomez 🥰😍

Mia: She's cute. 🤩

Jamey🐱: are you mocking me?

Mia: is that your question?

Jamey🐱: ☹️

Mia: Jaaaaaaammmmmeeeeyyyyy don't be sad I'm only joking.

Jamey🐱: you're mean. 🙁

Mia: I'm sowwy 💋💋

Jamey🐱: still mean. 😕

Mia: Jamey I will come steal Stuvi if you don't smile.

Jamey🐱: YOU WOULDN'T!

Mia: are you going to smile?

Jamey🐱: 🙂

Mia: I will leave Stuvi alone.

Jamey🐱: thanks. Do you have any pets?

Mia: does Lexi count? 🤣

Jamey🐱: ohh I'm telling her!

Mia: ohh Stuvi. Here kitty kitty.

Jamey🐱: 😲😲😲 I won't tell!

Mia: 🤓 no I don't have any pets.

Jamey🐱: I should of never told you about Stuvi.

Mia: you should be happy that I actually like him enough to wanna steal him. Mia: fave song right now?

Jamey🐱: that's a hard question Mia probably anything by Bazzi.

Mia: I've never heard of Bazzi but I'll give it a listen.

Jamey🐱: what's yours?

Mia: probably Save Me Tonight by Arty I always dance to it no matter where I am.

Jamey🐱: hey I know that song!

Mia: yeah I saw it on one of Noah's tweets and listened to it and fell in love.

Jamey🐱: that's where I heard about it too. Jamey🐱: hey can I text you later? My buddy's here and we're supposed to go to the gym.

Mia: oh yeah that's fine, I'll be here all day being bored

Jamey🐱: I'll be back sooner than you think missy. 😋

Mia: go before I change my mind mister. 🤔

Jamey🐱: bye Mia. 😎

Mia: bye Jamey.

I get up from my bed and realize it's almost noon and I'm starving. I head down to the kitchen and grab a box of frozen waffles and heat up two in the toaster.

It's oddly quiet for a Saturday at my house. I start looking around while my waffles cook when I notice a note on the table;

Honey we decided to go out and visit your aunt Sheryl and I know how much you're allergic to Sammy that we didn't ask you if you wanted to go. Be back around 3

Love you bunches

I put the paper back in the table as my waffles pop up. I grab the Reese's spread and a butter knife and start 'buttering' my waffles. I put the knife in the dishwasher and grab a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and head back up to my room.

I get comfy on my bed and grab my laptop from my backpack and start watching The Kissing Booth while eating my waffles.

I grab my phone once I'm finished and notice I have a notification from Twitter. I click the notification and it opens up to Noah's page.

     "Of course you work out," I randomly say. I laugh a little to myself. I get up off my bed, leaving the movie playing and head downstairs to put my dish in the dishwasher.

I head back up to my room. I grab my phone and start googling hair styles when I see a girl with pink hair and I fall in love with it. I go to her Instagram and look at her pics. I open Twitter and put up a poll;

What color should I dye my hair?

Pink

Lavender

Turquoise

Set timer for 1 hour.

I close the app and continue watching the movie.

Around an hour later I get a text.

Lexi🤪: PINK!!!!

I just laugh.

Mia: I was wondering when I would get this text.

Lexi🤪: let me do it!

Mia: but I wanna do it today 🙁

Lexi🤪: okay but you gotta let me do it next time

Mia: I promise. 💕

Lexi🤪: what are you doing?

Mia: going to get the dye and maybe some Starbs and kinda waiting for Jamey to get back from the gym.

I bite my lip at that and wait for Lexi to freak out on me again.

Lexi🤪: you better not replace me or me and him are gonna fight. 😡👊🏻💥

Mia: I'm not replacing you love. I'm just bored and he's bored too well till his friends came over.

Lexi🤪: I'm watching him 👀👀

Mia: you're a dork.

I get up and start to get dressed; a blue crop top and some black leggings with cut outs up the leg and socks with my Nike's. I throw my hair in a messy top knot and head out to my Jeep.

I head towards Sally Beauty, once I'm parked I get out and head inside when I hear a whistle. I look over at two guys; one trying to hide and the other one brightly smiling at me. I wave a little and walk in the store.

I buy the dye and head back out to my Jeep when I see the guys from before. The one who was hiding is already in the Jeep and the other is still outside so I whistle and he quickly turns, I laugh then wave and get into my Jeep.

I make my way to Starbucks when I see the Jeep again. A__re they following me?

I pull in the parking lot and park as their Jeep pulls through the drive-thru but then decide I don't wanna go in so I get in the drive-thru behind them. They move up in line to pay and wait, my phone vibrates in the cup holder so I pick it up;

Noah tweeted; why is @KyleMcCarthy so embarrassing in front of cute girls?

I click on Kyle's name and follow him, I sit my phone back down and we all move up on line. I order a seriously strawberry venti and a pb&j protein box.

"Is that all?" The barista asks.

"Yes, thank you."

We all pull forward and the Jeep pull off and parks in a parking spot. I pull up to the window and the barista smiles and say, "hi. Here's your drink." I take it from her and sit in it my empty cup holder. "And your protein box." I take that from her and put it in my passenger seat. I turn back to the window, "how much?"

"Oh the guys in the Jeep took care of it for you."

"Oh how nice of them. Thank you have a good day."

"You too," she smiles and closes the window.

I pull up beside their Jeep and roll down my window, and look over at their Jeep. The passenger side window starts to roll down when I hear yelling from the window. The guy I whistled at smiles while the driver is turned and looking in the backseat.

"Hey, thanks for the Starbs," I smile and say.

"Oh that wasn't me, that was my rude buddy, whose too busy looking in the backseat instead talking to a beautiful girl.

"I'm trying to find something!" Comes from the window.

"Okay bro I'll just keep talking to the beautiful girl. Hi beautiful. What's your name unless I can keep calling you beautiful?"

I laugh a little, "Mia but beautiful works too."

"Hello beautiful Mia, I'm Kyle and the loser next to me is No-."

"Jason!" I hear from the other guy.

"Hi Kyle and Jason."

"Hi!" I hear from the other guy again when Kyle turns to look at him and they start quietly arguing.

I just look at their Jeep and wait for Kyle to turn back to me, but then decide I better go.

"Um Kyle? Im just gonna go. I need to get home."

Kyle turns around, "oh okay, hope to see you around Mia," then he winks.

"Bye Jason."

"Bye Mia."

I wave bye when I roll up my window and back out of the parking spot and head home.

[sparkwithinme]

Craft things! Cause gonna be actually tabling at Montreal ComicCon in almost two weeks. @.@ And the rambling tale of Jen’s Resin Adventure...

I really love making wire tree necklaces. It started there and then I started making the sculpture type, but one I couldn’t fit over a rock so had idea to stick it in a candle holder and some glue. ...yeah, that didn’t really work so I was like. WELL. I guess only way to do this is maybe resin. So. I got a small box last year from Michaels (with a coupon), but weather got cold and yeah. So I’ve been waiting for ages for it to warm up, meanwhile having amassed lots of those cute, tiny bottles as well as some glow powder which I was mixing into cold porcelain (a handmade, air dry clay... I get rashes from polymer :( ) so I was like I’ll use these too!

SO. Finally. I went for it tonight. I tried to be prepared... set up beside window with a fan, and sliding door open, so lots of ventilation. Gloves, protected my surfaces, made little funnels for the bottles. All that stuff!

Ah. Hum. Resin is a thing. No pics from when I was working cause didn’t wanna risk getting anything on it. lol So after shots...

I made a fairly big batch for my first try since I was filling two holders now with trees. (The chips are made from glowy clay. :D Yes they glow in the dark super good. ^^b) They were really easy and worked well. \o/ SO that’s something. lol

Then I had made some flat (ish =3=) ovals of clay with glow powder and thought I’d try doming them with resin. Seemed okay, but there’s been more overflow since leaving them so uh. We will see @_@; (I plan to wrap them with wire trees so... any imperfections will be somewhat hidden.) (There’s also a purple one under there, just hidden lol)

THEN onto the bottles. I was using chalk and lil’ artists acylic to dye the resin. (Since some research suggested these both worked fine.) SO mixed it up and first poured some partially into bottles cause I wanted to try the cute origami boats on water. They came out okay, other than being tricky to push the little rocks I’d made with clay in. Shoulda put them in first. =3= But anyhoo.

Then did the other bottles which proved tricky cause I’d been taking awhile at this point and the resin was thickening.

Kinda got it in. >.>

Then tried to throw some of the remaining into a bottle and add some rocks... shoulda put rocks in first again. =_= Couldn’t push em’ in and it was getting really thick now, so tried to throw in some fake moss and... well... uh. We’ll see what I can do with it. I wanted to put in some cute clay glowy mushrooms into it, so we’ll see if I can do that. lol

And the rest.... yeah. It was done. It IS hardening nicely though so... there’s that!

SO then got another cup and started batch 2 to finish the bottles.

This time I prepped my cups with colour and powder FIRST. ...Except I was dumb and put the blue paint in the cup way too ahead of putting resin in. So that blue got all full of tiny bits of dried paint. Oops. DX

The bottles mostly went okay, tossing some glitter and such into the final two. Then tried to fill one bottle with the remainder of the resin colours... and it wasn’t going down the funnel. Poked tooth pick in then lifted the funnel a bit. Lost hold of toothpick, resin started streaming down it into the bottle... and outside the bottle. All over. Managed to get a lot back in, but much was lost. So. Yeah, it’s... interesting. 

Also then realized the resin blue resin for the other boats got down the side of one of the bottles, so used a ton of q-tips trying to clean it best I could. AND YEAH.

Moved them to a spare room with a heater to try and keep room warm/dryish since still quite cool over night and meant to turn REALLY humid tomorrow.

(Yeah, this is where they’re sitting in the spare room. XD This isn’t where I did it. lol Hoping the resin left in the cups will peel out when dry. I hear that works. ...We’ll see. XD)

Popped the boats into the bottles when the resin had hardened to sticky surface. They’re cute, despite flaws. XD

SO YEAH. That. Was my adventure with resin. Still have some left over, but...

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Admittedly, debating giving the rest to a friend and avoiding it for now. (Or just using it for a few more trees... since that was fairly painless. Guess depends if I can sell these ones. lol) I love idea of making my own cabochons, but erf. I might just look into other ways to get that thick gloss on them. (My fave sealants are just brush on polyurethane decoart duraclear stuff. It’s just so low hassle/fumes/etc. lol)

ANYHOO. Here’s also other stuff working on. :D Here’s that one tree I resin’d...

Another tree that’s gonna just get attached to a rock. lol

Glowy jellyfish and stuff in bottles. (Just gonna hang them rather than try to fill these with resin cause quite large.)

My first try at trees over cabochons...

And trying to make a bunch of tsumami kanzashi. ^^

[tumblunni]

MORE UPDATES ON THINGS WHAT HAPPEN

The half week milestone of the hospital house thingie time! I think the term they use for it is "a residential stay"? Cos like its not a hospital its a shared housing block thats just full of doctors. I get to sleep in a real bed and there's a nice community room and board game nights and stuff. But its still really scary how intense the supervision can be! Like they have a window to look into your room once per hour every hour constantly. And they have to go through your undies and catalog them as part of the possessions check. I was not warned about that and it was mega embarassing trying to explain a binder to a bunch of old lady doctors! Oh and i had yo do a urine test today which was possibly the most fuckin embarassing thing in the actual universe. And you're not even allowed to take your own pills! They keep them locked in a big ominous wall of lockers and you have to come into the office and swallow the pill while theyre watching. I guess maybe because some people might be faking their illness and selling their pills on the black market or whatever? But that literally doesnt happen with antidepressants, they have no 'high' or even any effect at all on non-sick people. So it just makes no sense to me and its real embarassing cos like i said i suck at taking pills with plain water and without a straw. The ones i take are real damn chunky things the size of my thumbnail! I think i'l get better at not (literally) choking under pressure over time, tho. Hopefully.

Anyway that's all the bad out of the way! Now the good and the neutral and the just miscellaneous!

Its still nervewracking having to shower in a shared house but they have a cool walk-in shower and ive never tried one of those so it was vaguely interesting. And im allowed to take my showers early at 6am to minimize the chance of anyone else trying to use the door, lol. My biggest fear is having some staff member walk in on me when im naked like back in that homeless hostel. Oh or that time in the homeless hostel where the teenage boys filled the entire bathroom with inflated condoms wall to wall. Like wow so much damn effort to prank the stupid nervous bunni who probably would have been embarassed by literally anything else. Man this place is bringing so many memories of that homeless hostel but at least this time its a place specifically for sick people and they know i'm anxious doing shared cooking and board games and whatever so they dont make fun of me for it. But in a lot of ways that hostel had more freedoms too.. *shrug*

Anyway! A good! I get to have cooking lesson!! I know literally nothing about cooking and now i get to know several thing!! This nice doctor called Josie taught me how to make an omelette and i tasted ham for the first time! That is just how limited my life experiences are, lol. Oh and they want me to say that she's a 'mental health worker' not a doctor, but its all real confusing?? Like they have the staff that look after you and then the only ones we're supposed to call doctors are the ones who actually have the authority to prescribe pills and diagnosies. But like if youre in a hospital you'd call them all doctors, not just the actual surgeon? Or i guess theyre kinda like nursing home staff?? But they cant be support workers cos support workers are specific government assigned inspector type guys like Richard who only meet with you once a week.and i have to remember to not call him a social worker either cos social workers only work with family and custody related stuff. I dunno?? Basically the medical industry has a lot of names that dont really describe what the actual thing is, lol. Anyway the ham omelette was great and now im gonna try and remember so i can try and make it myself next time! HAM ACCOMPLISHED

Also i played bingo with a few other patients and it was fun but funny that i lost 6 times in a row when there were only 3 of us. I got a consolation prize of a pack of neon highlighter pens so hell yeah!!

I'm getting booked in to try some additional classes starting next week on monday and tuesday morning. The computer programming one was sadly unavailable, but i managed tp snag a place in "confidence building group therapy" and "basic how to use power tools". I wasnt really all that interested in that one but i thought it would be a useful skill even if its less fun. And maybe you get to actyally make something to take home at the end? A lil shelf to help organize this awkward lil room better, maybe?

And an unexpected bonus of being semi-hospitalized is that i get a free bus pass! And cos im here cos of my social anxiety theyre gonna help me get outside more and actually use this thing to the fullest! The first thing we did was the trip to actually get the bus pass itself. It was like "bus, take my money to take me to the place where i can never give you money again!" XD Ive been really stupidly nervous about going on tne bus in my old neighbourhood cos MAN it was really isolated there and everything just amplified my mental illness. An almost two hour bus ride to get to ANY SHOPS AT ALL, with only one bus for the whole town so it was always crowded and full of screaming kids and gossipy everyones. Social anxiety: maximum level proud mode!

So yeah i feel BIG ACCONPLISHED! I was able to take this bus for the first time with a doctor coming with me. Power Grandpa The Strong. His actual name is Paul and he has awesome sleeve tattoos of like anchors and dragons and sports teams and stuff! And he likes thrift stores and wearing silly hats too! Its like he's powerful enough to wrestle away everyone's anxieties! I was able to be a bit reckless too and i went out wearing my fave shirt thats like trans pride coloured plaid. A POWERFUL SHIRT IS REQUIRED FOR THIS QUEST! so we went to the office to register this bus pass and i panicked a bit cos apparantky we brought the wrong form and i wrote my name in the wrong box and then my passport photo looked terrible and aaa! But it all worked out and i was kinda freaking out for nothing. And he took me for a lil tour of the place and showed me this cool shop that does spray paint tye dye t shirts with spiderman on them?? Why does this incredibly specific shop exist and how have i never heard of it before?? There was also a new harry potter shop next to the disney shop, and the old used book store i used to visit as a kid was still there, complete with rickety spiral staircase and ominous basement trap door. I'm still not brave enough to go down there, but apparantly its just the history books section so meh. Then we actually went to a fancy coffee shop and i had this brain freeze mango ice frappucchino thing! Im trying all the new foods!!

And i was TOO HIGH ON DECADENCE and made a RECKLESS CHOICE! i blame power gramp's amazing tattoos, they were totally whispering to me that i shoukd screw the rules and ride off into the sunset on a metaphorical harley davidsen of mental health

So i was like Hey Paul I Am Totally Fine Getting Home On My Own, and it was like i was floating off in the distance somewhere begging my body to not speaketh these words. But it ended up working out okay! The excitement of it all and the sense of accomplishmebt from getting there all okay allowed me to mostly not freak out as i spent the day in town and looked at some shops and stuff. Basic Living Skills: Completed! I chilled out in the library (tho i dont have a card yet, alas!) and visited like five comic and anime stores, and got lost but found a Pizza Hut and that was SO NOSTALGIC FOR MY CHILDHOOD and it didnt taste quite as good as i remembered but the waiter guy was super nice and had a similar shirt and it was All Good! Oh and i gave all my money to a homeless person and that's why i'm broke now. And i bought a plastic slug! I just saw it from across the room and was like OH NO I AM BEING MAGNETISED TOWARDS IT OH NO IT HAS ALREADY BEEN BOUGHT. I need to think of a name for this new friend!!

So yeh i got home okay and i felt really acconplished and that was the furthest trip away that i've taken in ages! Man my mental illness makes me feel pathetic, but it also brings ridiculously big joys from the smallest of silly acconplishys!

Oh and thank you so much to the people who sent me emails! It really helped so much to keep me from giving up during the first few days before i made a bit of progress and felt like i could really do this, yknow? Especially big thanks tp the friend who sent me that mysterious super happy song that they found on a mystery disc in a german market?? Im still not sure whether its in greek or hasidic jewish but it sounds AMAZING and i hope someday i can figure out the band so i can hear their other singles!

Ok this is bunni out! BIG HUGS FOR THE EVERYONE AAAA

[anotherfiveyears]

6: School’s Out

"It fucking burns, dude!"

"Well, I followed the directions on the box!"

"Get it off my head!" David screamed, leaning over the bathtub at his house while Jimmy flailed around behind him.

"If we take it off now it won't dye!"

"Just the part on my head, then!"

He leaned into the tub while Jimmy rinsed the dye from his scalp, careful to keep the white bleach in the ends.

"Better?" Jimmy asked, helping him sit up to keep the water from dripping in his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks," David sighed. "Fuck, dude! How do girls do this shit?"

"What are you two morons doing?" Lisa asked, hurrying down the hallway to see what all the screaming was about.

"We're bleaching his hair," Jimmy replied, focused on re-reading the back of the box of dye.

"Shit," she groaned. "Does mom know?"

"No."

"Okay!" she cried, throwing her hands up and heading back down the hallway to her room. "I officially had nothing to do with this!"

*

"Oh... oh my god," Anna stopped short in the doorway when she arrived for her shift at the record shop. "David! What did you do?!"

"I'm a blonde!" he grinned at her, though it looked more like he was bearing his teeth.

Anna stifled a laugh with her hand as she made her way to him, circling him to get a better look at his hair. "Half blonde, at least," she snickered.

"Yeah, well... apparently, bleach is made of actual fire, so we decided against putting it on my scalp."

She burst out laughing at that, unable to contain it any longer. "It's all brassy! Were you going for Dee Snyder or Debbie Harry?"

"Neither?"

"Good, cause you missed both by a long shot," she giggled and ran her fingers through his hair.

He closed his eyes at the feeling and leaned into her. "I did this for you, you know."

"You did not," she gasped, ripping her hand away.

"You said you liked blondes," he gave her the same grin he gave the cop the night before.

"David!" she cried, scurrying back to the counter.

"Anna!" he mocked.

"No, you know what?" she leaned her elbows on the glass covered table and coyly smiled back at him. "I love it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," she nodded and watched him carefully as he got closer to her. "I love that it's different. If you're gonna be my boyfriend, you can't be boring."

"So I'm your boyfriend now?" he teased, feeling his heart pound in his chest.

"Sorry, kitten," she laughed. "After being so gallant last night you kinda have to be. You're just gonna have to get used to it."

"Anna honey, I need you to inventory the-," her dad stopped his interruption short and stared at David over the top of his glasses. "Dear lord, son. What did you do to your head?" He looked around in confusion when both David and Anna began to laugh.

*Early June 1985*

"Anne, the office is asking for you."

She looked up from her calculus final at her teacher and immediately gathered her things into her leather book bag before leaving class. She worriedly jogged down the hallway and into the office where she was met with the dean.

"Anne, your uncle is here. He says there's a family emergency."

She frowned at him and looked around, knowing she didn't have an uncle. Her mom had a couple sisters, but they were unmarried and living on opposite sides of the country. A man in an ill-fitting suit waiting just beyond some glass doors was staring hard at her and Anna turned sharply. "May I please leave my bag with you, Dean Morgan?"

"Of course," he nodded solemnly and took the bag from her. "Would you like me to walk you out?"

"No, no thank you, sir," she whispered, pretending like she was about to cry. "It's just that Gam-Gam has been so sick lately and..."

"I'm so sorry, Anne," he said, awkwardly placing his hand on her shoulder. "I've already rescheduled your finals, take all the time you need."

She kept her head down, darting out the office doors into the breezeway where her "uncle" was admiring a large mural painted on the brick wall. "Come on!" she whispered harshly and opened the doors to freedom. They ran down the front steps and dove into the little blue pickup idling in the drop off lane. Anna slid across the vinyl seat and under David's arm while Jimmy climbed into the passenger seat beside her.

"Go, go, go!" Anna yelled and David threw the truck into gear.

"I can't believe that fucking worked," Jimmy laughed once they cleared the parking lot.

"Where the hell did you get that suit?" Anna laughed, helping him out of the oversized sportcoat and tie.

"My brother," he shrugged. "Can we go get Melissa now?"

*

David and Anna waited while Jimmy ran up the walk to Melissa's house.

"So why'd you spring me?" she asked and leaned into him.

"It's a surprise. No one goes to school the last month anyway, you nerd," he shrugged and kissed her, dragging his arms down her sides to the top of her plaid skirt. "How is it that we've been going out for three months and I've never seen you in your school uniform?"

"Because it's a method of oppression meant to keep girls from getting an equal education," she muttered into his shoulder, sighing when he raised an eyebrow at her. "Because it's itchy and I take it off the moment I get a chance?"

David looked out the truck windows and around the quiet street they were on. "You have a chance right now..."

"Perv," she laughed and punched his shoulder, but let him kiss her until Jimmy returned with Melissa.

The four of them crammed into the bench seat of David's pickup, heading north on the parkway while blasting This Side Up, the latest Scream record Anna had scooped up for David just before it was released in May. He knew she was getting worried, they had been driving for an hour and were just on the outskirts of Baltimore, but he had cleared everything with her father already. "If you can get her out of class without getting caught, I'll buy all four of you hooligans tickets," he had said. The four Scream tickets were waiting in David's paycheck envelope that morning. He slowed down as they passed the venue in downtown Baltimore, an actual club, not some community center or crumbling military building they were used to punk shows being booked in.

"You're fucking kidding me," Anna whispered, reading the marquee. Her eyes slid to David when he only answered with a quiet smile and she shrieked loudly, making Jimmy and Melissa jump. She scrambled to kiss him, pulling his face towards her.

"Anna, I'm driving!"

*

Anna and Melissa sat at the crowded bar while Dave and Jimmy stood behind them, waiting for the support band to finish up. Both girls had fake IDs and had managed to charm security enough to look the other way when their boyfriends followed them to the bar. David had suspected Anna's school uniform had something to do with it and resolved to stick close to her for the night. In an educational setting her knee-high socks, plaid skirt, and white oxford shirt were fitting, but in a punk club, she looked like jailbait or an extra in a Van Halen video. "You guys should go get a spot in the pit now if you want a good one," Melissa said.

David and Jimmy exchanged a look and shook their heads. "Nah, we're fine here," Jimmy replied, though he didn't sound very convincing.

Now was it was Anna and Melissa's turn to share a glance. They had become close over the course of dating two best friends. "Like hell you are," Anna snorted. "Go. We're just fine up here."

"I'm not leaving you alone in a bar in that outfit," he muttered, then immediately regretted it by the look on her face.

"Well if you didn't want me to wear this, you should have gotten me a change of clothes before kidnapping me," Anna said the last words loud enough that several people turned to stare at them.

"Yeah, cause I totally could have walked in your front door and asked your parents to pack up your club clothes, Annie," he shot back.

She frowned and shifted a little on her bar stool. "Will you two just go and have fun? We'll meet you by the car if anything happens."

Melissa nodded and that was all Jimmy needed before setting his beer back on the bar. "Come on, man," he said, nudging David's shoulder.

David stole a glance at the pit which was filling up fast as people arrived for Scream and felt a small shove on his arm. "Go," Anna insisted, flashing him a confident smile over her beer. "Have fun!"

Scream was in perfect form, thrashing their way through the setlist with the kind of vigor that made David wonder if there was a major studio scout in the audience. He would occasionally catch a glimpse of Anna and Melissa leaning against the bar with smiles on their faces before returning to the mayhem that was the pit. Two hours later, the band left the stage and the crowd was screaming for an encore when David saw Melissa and Anna shoving their way through the crowd toward them. He furrowed his brow at the panicked look on Melissa's face and her urgent whisper once Jimmy put his arm around her.

"They do an encore, right?" Anna asked when she made it to his side.

"Everything okay?" he noticed her hair was a little messy but she seemed fine.

"Yes...," she leaned forward to look at Melissa and sighed. "There was a minor altercation at the bar, but it's handled now."

David whipped around to see several bouncers standing in a circle, staring down at someone on the floor. "What-?"

"Some guy wouldn't leave us alone and she laid him out!" Melissa yelled excitedly.

He turned back to Anna, but she was busy watching the band return to the stage. She held her hand up to show him her swollen knuckles and shrugged. "Like I said. Everything is handled," she said over the cheering crowd. *

Jimmy and Melissa had long since fallen asleep, leaning on each other in the tiny pickup cab. Anna rested her head on David's shoulder as he drove with one hand, the other one holding hers in her lap.

"Thank you, kitten" she whispered. "That was so much fun."

"Glad you liked it, lil' lady," he drawled. "Even though you had to get in a bar fight." He was so tired and hoping she'd stay awake to keep him company for the hour and a half long drive.

She laughed a little and turned to kiss his shoulder. "That's gonna be you up there someday." He stayed quiet at that. She was always complimenting his drumming and he never knew how to respond. "I'm serious," she went on. "You're way better than the guy tonight and he was getting paid!"

He snorted a laugh, "Yeah, probably just enough to buy gas to get home."

"You know what I mean. I think you should start auditioning for bigger bands, David. You have the talent. You're that good." Once again he stayed quiet. "Just promise me you'll think about it."

He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, tearing his eyes from the parkway for a moment to look at her. "I promise."

[the-voice-of-hell]

Rent is Theft, part 19

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here.  Note:  My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not.  If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

                                                        ***

      In retrospect, it was a pretty big leap from my success with the allergy medicine to assuming I could make sorcery happen, but I did not hesitate or doubt what I was attempting to do.  My worry of it not working was less about a lack of faith in magic than a lack of confidence in my choices of method.  

But whatever those doubts, once I had my plan, I committed to it.

      I moved all the remaining furniture out of the living room except one tiny end table that would serve as my “wooden altar.”  I used bulk white chalk to create the magic circle, ladled with a little dustpan.  The prescribed seven foot diameter was just about the entire width of my little living room.  Inside that I used the bulk chalk to make an equilateral triangle about five feet per side.  I had put on a face mask and sprayed the surface of that geometry with a fixative I���d brewed up with a combination of research and guesswork.  It didn’t have to be permanent, just last long enough for some use, and I figured the high school technique of using hairspray to fix pastels on construction paper wasn’t going to work here.

      I leaned against my kitchenette to rest, observing the work.  Sloppy, but could be worse.  I went back at it, writing three symbols of Mercury inside the triangle in yellow chalk.  That had to be sidewalk chalk, so it was much more slow going.  The triangle called for “various symbols of Mercury” and the most I could find that seemed legit was the three - the caduceus, of course, with snakes entwining a winged rod; an astrological symbol that looked like Venus with horns; and the periodic table abbreviation Hg.  At the end I used my fixative again.

      That was the hard stuff, and took more than an hour to complete.  After that my room had a chemical smell, but I needed to eat, so I grabbed some string cheese, peanuts, and a bottle of wine to the bedroom.  Rest.  It had been a long morning and would be very easy to fall asleep, but I resisted.  I rolled the glass on my face, cool with condensation.

      I finished the whole bottle, just in case the drunkenness was an important ingredient.  Although when should I be doing that drinking?  Should I have done it before the chalk?  Later, right before midnight?  The bottle had me feeling chill, but not really drunk.  My tolerance was getting high.  Bad shit.

      There were two brushed steel racks holding spot lights for the walls, one on each side of the room.  I ran a string between them as taut as I could get it, and from that hung my St. Hubert bottle of mercury.  Along the rest of the line I used clothespins to hang rumpled blue-violet wolfsbane flowers.  At regular intervals around the outer circle, I placed glass olive oil bottles with their contents drained and replaced with candles - for the time remaining unlit.  On the island counter of the kitchenette, I reserved two places for my blood mixture and for the sulfur-beaverbutt-camphor mixture.  On the opposite side of the circle, out by the window, one of the olive oil candle bottles sat on the little side table with my three wands.

      Were they wands or switches?  They were meant for violence, at least per the book.  The previous night I’d tried to soften the business ends by sanding them and covering them with frayed twine.  I didn’t know how important it was for Knobby to get hit with the very specific woods involved, so it wasn’t perfect coverage.  It was surely going to sting.

      Not drunk enough.  I opened a box of wine in the fridge and poured a glass, then walked out to the living room.  “Evil spirits, your time is nigh!  I am a highly magical bitch!”  I drank the glass to the bottom, then threw it into the far corner of the room, where it broke against the window and lay in sparkling chunks.  I let my head dip, my eyes close.  “I am a highly magical b--”

      There was a knock at the door.  I answered, opening a comfortable crack for my floories.  “Hello guys.”

      Marcie asked, “Eh, are you drunk, honey?”

      “Whu-?  Oh.  Listen, I’m only a lil’ tipsy, and it’s for magical reasons.  I’m serious now.”

      Marcie and Mike had teamed up, and were at the door together.  Mike said, “So, we haven’t found Knobby.  Getting pretty bushed, gotta take a break.”

      “Want to come into my humble witch’s den?  There is no furniture in the living room now.”

      “That’s OK, Courtney.  We’ll go to my place, charge up my cellphone for a bit.”

      “Right on.  You know where Momi is lookin’?”

      “Last time we passed her she was on some floors downstairs.”

      “He won’t be down there,” I thought aloud.  “Thanks, guys.  I’m about ready in here.  I’ll see you later.”

      They left, I drank a bit of water and took a bathroom break, then went out to find Momi.  I still didn’t expect to find Knobby while I was at it, just wanted to be close to her again.  Out in the hall I heard the elevator.  I glanced that way to see Perry coming back from who knows where.  He didn’t acknowledge me, but gave the untended eyeballs in the hall corners a sad look.  I went into the stairwell.  I’ll clean up that crap for you when I get back, buddy.

      I found Momi walking around the eighth floor and smiled as I stumbled toward her.  She gave me a concerned look.  “Are you OK?  You’re drunk.”

      “I’m only a little drunk, and it’s not because I’m losing my nerve.  It’s for magical reasons.  Magical, I swear!”

      “Mmm, OK, I guess.”  She had clamped a strong hand on my shoulder to arrest my sloppy affection, so no hugging was to be had.  That said, her touch made me happy.  Her strength made me feel weak, in a good way.

      “So I was thinking, there’s nobody living on these floors right now, so we should just look upstairs.  Where the biddies are.”

      “Biddies?”

      “The old ladies that are complaining about our dogboy.”

      “Heheh.  I guess a werewolf is just a dogboy, expecially if he’s a teenager.”

      “Shit, you’re so cute.  That’s why I act funny, so I can see you smile.”  I tried to get my paws on her, but she still held me back.  “Weh.  What can I do, baby?”  I gave up and clasped my hands together in a prayer to my goddess, probably giving off Peter Lorre Mad Love vibes.

      “We should go.  You aren’t wearing your allergy medicine.”  She pointed at the carpet.

      I looked down.  She had the pill amulet on and the floor around her sneakers was fine.  The carpet under my feet was puffing and pinkish, starting to glisten.  “Oh Christ.”

                                                        ***

      We got my amulet and took the elevator to the top floor, which again had a different layout from our floor.  There were still a few small apartments available, but the spacing of the doors suggested large penthouse suites.  I remembered how much those cost from the listings when I moved in.  It made me wanna knock the top off the fucking building.       The hall there was designed to admit a maximum of sunlight and had much more powerful indoor lighting as well, keeping it bathed in an overwhelming glow.  Having never seen that hall before, I felt like an escapee from Plato’s cave, about to get shot by the guards and chucked back into the underground.

      But from the brief visit I knew the day was rapidly diminishing.  If we couldn’t turn up Knobby, this full moon might be a bust.  Still, if we couldn’t turn up Knobby, it also meant I could just spend my night loving my girlfriend, which was much more pressing in my mind just then.

      We entered the stairwell, ready to go floor to floor again.  A few steps in and I tripped, about to fall hard and break apart like dry kindling.  Momi grabbed me and held me still on the stairs.  One of my ankles was slightly twisted, my feet were on different steps, my hips twisted in place.  I untangled them and set my feet carefully in place on the closer step.

      When she spoke her lips were right by my ear.  I could feel her breath on me.  “Courtney!  Be careful!  Holy Jesus.”

      “You better hold me just a little longer, I’m not... quite...”  No, I was totally set.  I just loved the feeling, squished against her soft body in her big arms, though my head wrap was probably whacking her in the eyes.  “OK, I’m good.”  I held the rail this time.  I moved slow to trick her into going down side by side with me, then I matched her pace.

      “You ready to wrestle a dogboy?,” I asked.

      “You think he will fight me?”

      “I guess he might come if we ask nice.  If we say we have doggy biscuits.”

      “Good.  I don’t want to hurt him.”

      “Yeah...  So if this works, maybe we can do exorcisms on our heads, y’know?  Unsquirrel your hair.  What would you do with your hair, if you could control it again?”

      We opened the door and looked into the hall of the next floor down.  No Knobby.

      “Ooh, I don’t know.  What would look pretty?”

      “Anything on you, baby.  Maybe just to show your hair who’s boss you could do some crazy punk rock ’do.  Like a big bright red and pink mohawk with leopard spotted buzz on one side and green and purple liberty spikes on the other.”

      “Oh my god, that would be so weird.”

      “Braided pigtails.”

      “I tried that before.  It takes too long, and it hurts.”

      “Trim the sides and back, do a big pompadour.”

      “Like Janelle Monáe?  She can only do that because she’s skinny and pretty.”

      I opened the door to the next floor down and peeked in.  Nothing.  “Uggh, come on, babe.  You can do whatever you want.  And we’re just daydreaming here, right?  Wildest dreams, silly time.  What would you do?”

      “I don’t know.”

      “I’m gonna bleach your ends white and dye them bright fuchsia.  How you like that?”

      “I guess I don’t mind.”

      “Oh you don’t mind, huh?  What else could I do to you, that you’d just sit there and tolerate?”

      “Courtney, do you really wanna know how far you can push, before I put you in a dumpster?”

      “Augh!  Oh no, baby, I sure don’t!”

      “It’s OK.  I wouldn’t put you in a dumpster.”

      “So can I paint your face like a clown?”

      “What?  Why would you wanna do that?”

      “Not a scary clown, Momi.”  I looked in on another empty floor.  “Like a cute clown.”

      “Do you wanna have sex with a clown?”

      “Never thought about it.  Might be fun.”

      “I would sit and tolerate that.”

      “Whoa.  Kinky.  But it wouldn’t be fun if you were a total pillow princess about it.  You’d have to do something clowny.  Like, uh, slap me with a toy fish or something.”

      “I could tolerate that.”

      “That’s just... fucking amazing.  What should I do with this newfound sex power I have?  To get you to do weird stuff.”

      “Hehehe.”

      “That sounds like carte blanche to me.  I’m gonna go mad with power.”

      We looked in on another floor.  Some young dude was walking into his apartment and stopped a moment when he noticed us.  We acknowledged each other with little nods and he went on.  We continued our descent.

                                                        ***

      Marcie reached Richie on her cell, Richie was getting sporadic texts from Olivia, and supposedly the kids were going to come back home before midnight.  Word was that they had found Knobby’s deformity pretty useful for garnering sympathy while panhandling, were trying to make the most of it.

      I had my doubts but through the phone game we found out there were too many possible spots they were using, and they changed spots several times per day, so hunting them down would be a huge pain.  We settled in to wait for them.

      When Graeme came home at eight, he said he’d met Patrick in the hall, and Patrick told him the biddies were at it again - claiming that very afternoon someone had seen a large dog in the hall, urinating this time.  I went floor to floor, looking for the spot, and found it on the fourteenth floor.  When had he slipped by us?

      Marcie got worn out, while Mike seemed more energetic as the night went on, so we let him do some searching by himself - on the condition that he keep his green ass out of sight.  Around ten, Patrick reported back that he’d seen the werewolf, but it got away.  He had barely seen it, only had another deuce it had left in the hall to confirm his suspicions of what the hustling figure had been.

      In response to that, we had Richie text Olivia again.  She got back to say she and Knobby were almost home.  I found that too vexing to really consider.  I shushed Richie when he started following that train of thought to its obvious conclusion.

      Olivia and Knobby took the elevator up and were immediately grabbed up by Patrick and swept into my apartment.  That can’t have been very comforting, but they seemed genially clueless when brought before their queen.

      “Hello kids,” I said.  “This is a bit of a surprise party for you, Knobby.”

      He beamed nervously.  His smile was huge and white for a homeless kid.  I think at some point he had said his dad was a dentist.  “Wha-a-a-at?  Really?  Look like...”  He lost his train of thought as his eyes took in the whole scene - the chalk circle, the single chair in the center of the room over the hermetic symbols.

      Olivia asked, “What the fuck is this shit?”

      By now we had Momi, Richie, Deandre, Graeme, and Patrick in the room.  Graeme looked ready to step in and be politic, but it was my show.  I answered, “It’s nothing bad.  Olivia, how hard are you holding your neck down right now?  You notice we’re all having problems like that?”

      “What’s it got to do with-”

      “What’s it got to do with me?,” Knobby said.

      “This seems like it’s the building’s way of trying to get us caught.  Somebody in particular has been turning into a dog and causing a scene around our neighbors.  We have to stop it.”

      “Oh no,” Olivia said, “They’re gonna kill you!”

      I rolled my eyes and showed them both palms.  “No sacrificial dagger here, kids.  Come on.”

      Knobby went back on his haunches in a truly dog-like fashion, cringing in fear.  “Oh no!”

      “We’re not even going to hurt you, seriously!  I came up with this magic spell.  We have to spank you with those wands and pour some gross magic sauce on you, but you’ll be fine!  Not even a bruise.”

      He clung to her thigh pathetically.  Suddenly her head turned completely upside down, her neck escaping the collar of her unseasonably heavy jacket.  She scrambled to sort herself out, push the neck back in.  “Ugh!”

      “We have to do it guys.  I’ll let you use my shower to clean up after, OK?  Just, please, cooperate?”

      “I don’t wanna,” he whimpered.

      Richie said, “When has she ever hurt us guys?  If Courtney says you’re going to be OK, you’re going to be OK.  Chill, bro.”

      “If this works,” Graeme said, “We’re all going to do it, to cure our problems.  My red hands, Olivia’s neck, Mike’s green skin...”

      Olivia settled her head down, buttoned the jacket collar to hold her neck in again.  “Mmm, I dunno...”

      Knobby finally let go of her leg, tried to prop himself up to a standing position - still a deep crouch.  “I guess if everyone is gonna do it, I don’t like having to creep around like this.  You swear it won’t hurt?”

      “It might hurt a tiny bit.”  I pointed to the table with the wands.  “We’re going to smack you with those sticks a few times, but just a few times, right?  Then I’m going to pour this gross stuff on you - some reheated pig blood and a magic potion.  Both have to be pretty hot, but they won’t be boiling, OK?”

      “Oh God, that’s gross,” he muttered, but he wasn’t trying to get away anymore.

      “I’m glad you’re helping out, because the ritual says we’re supposed to tie you up, and I don’t wanna hafta do that.  We care about you guys.”

      “Speak for your damn selfs,” Perry said, as Marcie brought him into the room.

      “Be nice, Perry,” Marcie said.

      “I don’t know you,” he groaned.

      Patrick took him by the arm off to the far side of the circle.

      I looked to Marcie.  “Only missing Mike now.”

      “He was so rambunctious, wanted to keep looking.  I haven’t had a chance to let him know we found Knobby already, and he doesn’t have a cellphone.”

      “We’ll do this without him if we have to, but I really want everybody to be here.  One, just so everybody knows what we’re all doing - so nobody gets any wrong ideas or loses trust.  And two, I feel like the spell is more likely to work if we’re all in attendance.”

      Grime said, “I sit on my ass all day at work.  I could use the workout.  Anybody else feel rested enough to go bring Mike back?”

      Deandre said, “My feet are tore up.”

      Almost everybody had done a ton of walking around town, or at work, or upstairs and down.

      Richie said, “I’m kinda beat, but it’s important.  I’ll help out.”

     “Alright,” said Grime.  “If we do this logically, there’s no way he can get past us.  I say we have one of us in each stairwell, right..?”  He kept splaining as they went out the door.

      I addressed the rest of the floories.  “OK, you’re all guests here!  It’s a while before midnight, so head on into my bedroom.  I have a selection of comfy seats, I’ll bring in beverages - just watch out for the chalk.  Thanks Patrick, just step over... OK, there you go.”

      They all went in to relax.  I had some bowls of chex mix for the occasion, the kind with bugles and cheez-its.  Hopefully nobody had food allergies or was vegan.  I came back with a box of wine, a sleeve of red disposable cups, and a big jug of cheap fruit punch.

      “Alright, here’s the stuff.  Anybody want anything else?  I can slice some cheese, got some donuts but they might be a bit stale.”

      A few people availed themselves of that hospitality, others started chatting, and a few minutes later I was able to settle in beside Leimomi.  She smiled weakly at me, then we both did the same to Olivia and Knobby, who were sitting across from us.  I realized too late that was probably in creepy unison, and had a dark chuckle.  Knobby laughed nervously, Olivia did not.

      “I’m really hoping this works, guys, and if it doesn’t, the worst that happened is we wasted our time and Knobby had to take a shower.  OK?”

      “I got ya, I got ya,” he said.

      “It’ll be great to get out of these stupid head wraps.  Momi and I are looking like fake Erykah Badus.”

      “Who’s that?,” Olivia asked.

                                                        ***

   Read next chapter here.

[firebirdscratches]

slightly invasive gay asks I decided to do all of them :D If you’re in the alphabet soup and you wanna play along, consider yourself tagged.

1. what’s your gender? I’m a cis woman, even though I’m also intersex. (I was raised female and identify that way.)

2. what are your pronouns? She/her. I’m fine with they/them, especially from online peeps.

3. is your family accepting? Happy to say yes, they are. They could be better on some fronts, but that’s okay. They love me and they’re trying. That’s what matters.

4. what do you wish you could tell your past self? Don’t marry him.

5. what is your sexuality? I’m pan and gray ace. 

6. favorite color? Blue

7. sun gay or moon gay? Hmm...that’s a toughie. I’m probably Moon gay because I’m such an insomniac...but Sagittarius is a fire/sun sign...and I am excited about summer....hrm...maybe I’m a Twilight gay. The sun is juuuuust about to set, and in the other side of the sky, where it’s darker already, you can see the moon and a few stars. <3

8. when did you find out your sexuality? LOL buddy, when I figure it out I’ll let you know. There were signs even when I was a kid, but it took me forever to find a label I liked. I was basically questioning clear through college, and then settled on bi, and then pan, and then figured out I was ace, so...in five years who knows?! Basically, by senior year of high school I had serious suspicions that I was Not Straight™ and by sophmore year of college...yeah there no room for doubt anymore. X,D

9. how was your day? OMG thank you for asking??? It was okay. I went to work....then heated up some leftovers and watched the West Wing. Nothing to write home about, but most of them are like that, when you’re an adult. “This is water,” and all. 

10. do you have any gay friends? LOL yah we tend to congregate

11. what’s your favorite hobby? I sing and act and write fanfic :D

12. who’s the best gay icon in your opinion? Janelle Monae. QUEEEEEEN. 

13. which pride flags do you like the most design/color wise? The original rainbow flag has to be a fan favorite, right? And I like it with or without the pink, and I especially like the recent edit to include black/brown. As far as the aesthetic goes, I like the sapphic flag. It’s sooo pretty. The butch lesbian flag too! Also I think it’s weird and hilarious and perfectly fitting that no one can agree what the Queer flag is, there’s like, twenty different versions and that’s honestly just so queer and great. XD 

14. are you openly out? Unfortunately, you can still get fucking FIRED in this day and age for being queer, which is cruel and ridiculous and makes me so furious. So I am not out at work. I am out to my friends and out to my family. (And to my partners, obviously, when I have them.) Truthfully, you’re never 100% out, no one walks around screaming their sexuality constantly so every passerby is AWARE, you can’t inform the entire planet at once...you continually come out throughout your life based on the situation in which you find yourself. I do resent that I can’t be out at work...but I think I would resent unemployment even more :/ Bitch gotta eat. 

15. are you comfortable with yourself? LORD no LOL. But I’m comfortable with my queerness.

16. bottom or top? Switch. But this question overly simplifies the power flow in a sexual relationship, I find? It’s fine to get a general idea, but the answer’s always more delicious and complex.

17. femme or butch? I define my aesthetic as “Lazy femme.” It says “I like looking womanly, but do not have the money, time, or skillset to constantly tic all the boxes of Femininity.™" In other words, I don’t shave my legs and I wear jeans and clunky comfortable shoes, but I also wear dresses and dye my hair pink, and some days I go whole hog and do my make up. So...Futch? :/

18. do you bind? Nope, only for a play once. And I did it with ace bandages like a moron. Stay safe kids.

19. do you shave? Nah. I have very light/scanty hair anyway. If I didn’t, I’m not sure if I would or not.

20. if you could date anyone you wanted, who would it be? Drew Barrymore and Chris Evans. Both. Happy lil’ triad. (Maybe hook up occasionally with Aidy Bryant or Chris Pratt, just for funsies.) Oh! no wait! Mark Ruffalo. I bet he’s terrific in the sack. And I love his brain and his politics. WAIT Janelle Monae? Tessa Thompson AND Gal Godot.......okay being pan is difficult. -_-;

21. do you have a partner (s)? Alas, no. :( I had a girlfriend for a bit, but it didn’t work out.

22. describe your partner (s)? Tender lesbian, black, musician...insecure, can be kind of passive aggressive. :/ I still think she’s a really cool person and we’re trying to do the friends thing.

23. have you ever dated anyone of the same sex? Yup

24. anyone of another sex? Yup

25. pastel gay or goth gay? Goth

26. favorite dad in dream daddies? I dunno, it seemed kinda fetishistic to me, but most dating sims do?...not passing judgment on folks who like it, it’s just not really my bag. I guess I like the design of the bear Dad.

27. tell me a random fact about yourself? I am blowing on my nails right now so they dry. Indigo-for-it by Essie Treat Love Color, kind of a cornflower grayish blue. (See, I’ve got some femme rattling around in there).

28. do you own any pride flags/merch? Yes! I bought them at Target last year. And I ordered some custom T-shirts for my parents and my best friend.

29. have you ever been to a pride parade? NOOOOO AND I SO WANNA GO I think this year might be the year!

30. any advice to someone who isn’t out or who is exploring themselves? It’s okay to be questioning, you don’t need to have it all figured out yet. It’s okay to be closeted, you aren’t lying to anybody and you aren’t a bad person, some things are private. When it’s time, you’ll know. Don’t let anybody rush you, either to pick a label or to come out. Also? If you wanna say you’re [label] then go for it, there’s no registration fee, if you feel like that you are like that. And you can always change your mind later. People who say differently are called “gatekeepers” and are to be avoided. The gay experience, like all of life, is messy and complex and way too weird and wonderful to be overly simplified. You are you. Just listen to your heart, listen to your body, and trust what it’s telling you.

[camgirlsurvivalguide]

FAKE HAIR DON’T CARE - The what’s what of hair extensions

Come one, come all! It’s the Camgirl Survival Dummies Guide to putting someone else’s severed hair on your head and pretending it’s your own! I was asked by a few people recently to give advice on hair extensions (since I have some experience) and I decided to write up a big old post here for anyone who wants to take a peek at it. 

The best person to talk to about hair extensions is, first and foremost, your stylist. Not all hair types work with extensions. Extensions can and do damage your natural hair, depending on the method you choose, and choosing to DIY any of these methods can cause damage, to your natural hair or to the extensions you buy. Extensions are expensive, and there is almost no way around that. They’re also a fucking pain in the ass, if I’m being honest, but damn do I look and feel twelve thousand times cuter when I’ve got my great big bad hair on - so here are my tips and tricks to making the most out of using someone else’s hair as your own.

GENERAL EXTENSION ADVICE

- Be gentle. Use a soft brush and work tangles from the bottom gently up toward the weft. Remember kiddies: the hair doesn’t grow back after you rip it out, like it does on your own head. Each fucking strand probably costs you like five cents, so treat your extensions like the gold they truly are, and they’ll last you longer.

- Wash sparingly. If you use a non-permanent extension method, this is great, because you can just take them out when you shower, but if you’re using a permanent method ... dry shampoo now is your best friend. Do not scrub permanent extensions near the root/scalp. Don’t blow dry or apply heat near the bonds/near the root/scalp. Use heat tools sparingly. 

- OIL. Your natural hair produces natural oil, which is why your roots look healthy shiny and the ends of your hair look like a shitty split end desert. Your extensions can’t produce oil for themselves, so you’ll need to add oil for them. Always use heat protecting spray before styling your extensions, use a leave in conditioner when you do wash them (in the case of clip ins) or once in a while with your permanent extensions, and be sure to add an oil (like Moroccan or argan) to the length of your extensions to keep them looking natural. 

- Medium length hair woes are usually what cause us to go get extensions, but are also subsequently the worst length of hair to try to hide using extensions. Search “how to blend short hair with extensions” for tutorial ideas on how you can get your hair to look a little more convincing. 

TYPES OF EXTENSIONS 

CLIP INS PROS: Cheaper, longer-lasting, DIY-able CONS: More time consuming, cheapest looking WORKS BEST ON: already long, relatively full hair AVERAGE YEARLY COST: $300ish

Ah, clip-ins. Everyone and their dog had a set at some point in high school, and they looked just as shitty as they felt: dry, thin, and very obviously not growing out of the tops of our own heads. Clip ins can look awful, and they can look pretty damn good - it just depends on how much work you’re willing to put in.

I wear clip ins for a few reasons. First, I’m cheap and I like to do things myself, and clip ins let me experiment. I dye them myself, and (since they just ... clip ... in) I put them in and take them out whenever I want, so I’m not paying a professional their professional rate to help me with them. Second, my hair is naturally quite oily, and I go to the gym 5 days a week, which means I wash my hair a lot, and that’s not wise with more permanent types of extensions. Being able to put in clip-ins only when I want to works for my lifestyle, since I find myself not wanting full, crazy luxurious hair probably 75% of the time. Lastly, for the past year my hair has been a pastel colour, and for anyone with crazy colour hair, you know as well as I do that it fades fast. Being able to dye my natural hair and my extensions myself at my house was the cheapest and most reasonable method for me to have extensions that matched my hair. 

My advice with clip ins is to do it properly: get a good set of extensions, and when you first receive them, go to a salon to have them coloured to match your hair and cut to blend with your style. It’s good to go a little heavy in terms of weight (the fuller the better) because it’s easier to blend more hair than it is to try to blend a thinner set.

TAPE INS PROS: Mid-range price wise, absolutely beautiful, semi-DIY CONS: High maintenance, limited style options WORKS BEST ON: thin/fine hair, jaw length or longer AVERAGE YEARLY COST: $2500+

Long story short, tape in extensions fucking rock. They look amazing. They add length and volume without the clunky bulk at the root that clip ins cause, they blend seamlessly with your natural hair at most hair lengths, and they’re relatively low hassle because once they’re installed, they stay installed for 6 to 8 weeks. The hair can be used for up to 6 months (as long as you take good care of them), too, which means you’ll get 3 or so installs on any given set of hair. It’s also a relatively inexpensive method in terms of install price: my girl put them in for $100, and would remove them for $100 (putting fresh tapes on and the whole nine yards). I loved my tape ins. I really did.

The reasons I got them removed were cost and effort. Sure, they looked fucking fantastic, and when my full time job and only responsibility was to get cute and get on cam once a day, it was something that blended into my lifestyle pretty well. But now that I’m a student with a gym routine, the whole diva hair thing is a lot lower down on my list of priorities, and styling all that hair every day takes time. The biggest bummer with tape ins is that you can’t wear your hair up in a ponytail or a bun because of how the tapes lie. Not even that it would look bad (which it does) but it’s kind of painful if you try, in my opinion. I had to schedule hair appointments every 7 weeks like clockwork and that got expensive pretty quickly. 

Let’s do the math: $200 every 1.5 months = $1600 in installation (not including colour, cut or tipping the stylist). The hair itself cost me between $400 and $600, which I had to do twice a year at minimum, so that’s roughly another $1000 ... that’s $2600+ per year, just in hair and install (again, not including colour and cut and tip, which is a whole other ballpark). They looked amazing, and I don’t regret having them, but for me, it was a limited-timeframe sort of option.

I managed to cut costs somewhat, though. I found that I could remove the extensions myself at home using a tape extension remover I found online for cheap (which was more or less just a blend of coconut oil and rubbing alcohol), and I would usually dye my extensions and my hair from the same box dye at home, too - so when I went to the stylist, I was only asking her to install and cut to blend them. Still, tape in hair is expensive, and you run the risk of ruining them if you DIY. I know there are tons of YouTube tutorials on how to put in your own tape hair extensions but I tried like 40 fucking times and screwed them up each and every time, and so did my girlfriend who tried to help me with it, so ... yeah. Not really DIY-able all the way. 

BEADED/SEW IN WEAVE PROS: Cheap, DIY if you have a patient friend CONS: Heavy, painful, hard on your natural hair WORKS BEST ON: Very thick, full/coarse hair AVERAGE YEARLY COST: $300+ DIY, $1000+ (???) professional 

My best friend has a lion’s mane for hair: super full, crazy thick, super gorgeous. Unfortunately, she fried the living fuck out of it with bleach one day and lost almost all the length she had. Tape ins weren’t an option because in order to have enough hair, she’d have to buy like 4x what a regular person would put in, so the cost just didn’t make sense. Clip ins were fine but she wanted to be able to go to sleep and wake up and still have long hair - so, I watched a couple tutorials on YouTube about beaded weaves, ordered a lil kit off amazon, and viola! We had our own weave salon up and running in my living room.

I don’t have much advice on these, because it really was a pretty hodge-podge DIY sort of situation. We took clip-in extensions, clamped beads to her natural hair and then sewed the wefts to the little beads, which would take me 2 or 3 hours, and we’d do this once every 6 weeks or so. It’s hard to explain and you definitely couldn’t do it alone, but if you’re one of these people with short but super thick hair, it would do you good to look up this process and see if you could convince a friend to help you out. 

KERATIN BONDED EXTENSIONS PROS: Very natural looking, super style-able, practically invisible  CONS: expensive, time consuming, not DIY at all, hard on natural hair, one-time use hair only WORKS BEST ON: very fine/thinning hair  AVERAGE YEARLY COST: ??? it’s expensive as fuck I just know that

I’m pretty sure these are the extensions that Paris Hilton used to advertise. In summary, they’re fucking expensive, but they look exactly like your own hair and they work amazingly for individuals with hair so fine/thinning that tape in extensions would show through. The installation requires really special, intensive training to pull off, so stylists who offer this service usually charge through the roof for it - and you can only use the hair once, since the hair is in tiny strands with tiny bits of keratin as adhesive, that they install using tiny tweezers or something like that. A friend of mine had these and absolutely loved them, but they were very expensive and very time consuming, not to mention very delicate: she had to be super easy on her hair, particularly as the bonds got older with age. 

MICRO BEAD EXTENSIONS / “Dream Catchers” PROS: Super fucking nice. The nicest. The nicest ones you can get.  CONS: Super fucking expensive. The most expensive. The most expensive ones you can get. WORKS BEST ON: Most average hair types - fine to regular to thick, but not thinnest/thickest AVERAGE YEARLY COSTS: probably kajillions. I’ve heard horror stories.

So these are the Rolls Royce of extensions, from what I’ve been told. They essentially combine the techniques of a beaded wave and the keratin bond to create thick individual strands that can add a ton of length in a super natural looking way. I wanted these pretty bad but just couldn’t justify the price. I *think* they can be re-used, too, but I’m not totally sure - I’ve never had them myself, nor do I know anyone well enough to have asked them if they just collect the strands of hair that fall out of their heads or if they throw them out. It’s a weird, kinda personal thing to ask, if you think about it.

EXTENSION Q&A

Q: Where do I buy good hair extensions? A: I bought mine from a store in a mall (bad idea) and from my hair stylist (sort of good idea, sort of bad idea). I’ve heard tons of great things from online sellers like Bellami Hair, but I personally like to touch and see the hair I’m spending hundreds of dollars on in person before I buy it. Call me old fashioned, I guess. My girlfriend bought her hair from Sally’s (clip ins and beaded weave) and they looked great, too. 

Q: What about Amazon? A: If it’s cheap, it’s going to look cheap. Extensions aren’t cheap because they’re an over the top luxury sort of item, so if you’re not willing to pay the price, I argue that it’s not worth it to do them at all. This is coming from someone who literally tried to DIY fix my own tattoo one time because I didn’t want to pay someone to do it. I get it. I’m cheap, too. But extensions don’t work well cheaply done.

Q: I’m not really good with styling my hair. Are hair extensions hard to make look good? A: Yeah, they are - but they’re also an amazing way to force yourself to get good at styling. I sucked at styling my hair before I got tape ins. I didn’t know how to curl or braid, no joke - and now I can do a whole bunch of stuff, because having extensions forced me to learn how to make them look good. They do require work. It’s not like you’ll wake up every day with movie star looking hair - you’ll have enough hair to make into movie star hair, but you still have to actually style it to that point. 

[foursprout-blog]

26 Girls In Strong Relationships Gush About Cutest Thing Their Boyfriend Has Ever Done

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/26-girls-in-strong-relationships-gush-about-cutest-thing-their-boyfriend-has-ever-done-2/

26 Girls In Strong Relationships Gush About Cutest Thing Their Boyfriend Has Ever Done

Unsplash / Vitor Pinto

1. He keeps me company while I cook dinner.

“Whenever I cook us dinner, he sits on the chair in the kitchen and keeps me company instead of just watching tv or whatever.” — Satanfister0218

2. He makes sure we have time to eat together.

“He works nights and I work days. Some days he brings breakfast home to me and we will sit and eat it together before he drives me to work and then comes home to sleep. I will come home from work and make dinner for him and wake him up with it. Its a nice system we have.” — dickback_timothy

3. He tucks me into bed at night. 

“Almost all nights, even though we’re both grown ass adults, he’ll tuck me into bed. I go to bed 4ish hours before him and having him tuck me in is just a super warm fuzzy for me. Every now and then, he’ll also just lay there and hold me until I fall asleep. It makes my heart so full and happy. I hope he does this forever.” — shreksnumber1fan

4. He kisses my forehead. 

“Sometimes while cuddling, my boyfriend will lightly kiss the top of my head.” — Bunjora

5. He calls me beautiful, even when I look like a complete mess. 

“He tells me I’m beautiful when I wake up, when I’m sick, when I look god awful he is always there staring at me with a loving smile, like I’m the most beautiful thing he has seen even though I look like a zombie from lack of sleep.” — The-Goat-Lord

6. He always holds the door open for me. 

“My boyfriend always lets me go through the door first. Most of the time he holds it open for me, but sometimes I get there first and he’ll smoothly grab the door behind me and say, ‘Go ahead babe.’

When he puts his hand on my leg while he’s driving.

But my favorite is when he pulls me closer in his sleep.” — lil-legend18

7. He expresses his feelings without holding back. 

“He tells me loves me and often. He’ll stop what he’s doing and kiss me. Whenever you are having nice feelings about your SO, say them/text them/whatever. Whether it’s love or compliments or physical touch.” — awkwoman

8. He spoils me during that time of the month. 

“Every time I get my period he treats me with ice cream. Since my first two days of every period are really bad (because of cramps and back pain) his little routine cheers me up so much.” — recherchecr

9. He takes care of me when I’m drunk. 

“One night at a party I’d had too much to drink and was passing out. I woke up in a big comfy t-shirt all tucked into bed — he’d taken off my earrings, rings, shoes, socks, everything!!” — MeanGreenLentilQueen

10. He surprises me with flowers. 

“To me, it’s the little things.

He randomly calls me to tell me he loves me, expresses his feelings for me, etc. Also, he will send me long, sweet texts randomly when I am sleeping or throughout the day.

When we’re cuddling in bed and I reach over the side to grab something, he will watch me and keep his hands on my back because he doesn’t want to let go of me.

He calls me every single night we aren’t together to fall asleep on the phone with me.

He wakes me up, whether it be in person or on the phone, to kiss/tell me goodbye, I love you before he leaves for work.

If I tell him I’m craving something, he will bring it the next time I see him if not right then. Doesn’t matter how long it’s been.

He surprises me with flowers amongst other things.

We are somewhat long distance (he lives an hour away), but if I am upset, now matter how serious the matter, he will come to me.

There’s so many things he does, big and small, that make him so amazing. It’s refreshing, my ex never did so much as take me to the movies in our three years of dating. He is everything my ex wasn’t.

God, I love him.” — Iiferuiner

11. He draws a bath for me every single night. 

“He instituted a time called ‘second soaks’. It is basically just him running me a bath every night so I can lay amongst the bubbles. He also snuggles me every night in his sleep, I don’t even think he is aware of it but it always makes me feel safe and comfortable.” — Applesauce28

12. He feeds me. 

“He’s my husband now. So listen up guys!

While we dated, he’d show up to school with food for me (I always order the same thing and he remembered what I like from like 10 different places). After class we’d go to Sonic and get half price milkshakes and just talk for hours. He also cooked whenever I came to his house, he’d have tea to drink too.

So basically food. He fed me, so I stayed.” — ochemimmunohem

13. He acts like my best friend. 

“One thing he does is makeovers and girly stuff. He knows I don’t have any girl friends or a best friend so he is my best friend as well as my boyfriend. ” — Asheswin

14. He is careful not to wake me up too early in the morning. 

“Sometimes he has to get up and go to work earlier than I do.

He flops the blankets over my head so when he turns on the bedroom light to get dressed, it doesn’t wake me up.

He pulls them back down once the light is off. He turns off the box fan because he knows I like to sleep in silence. He needs the white noise of the fan to sleep, so once he’s up and out of bed he turns it off for me to continue resting.

Then he kisses me goodbye, sometimes when I wake up and get ready for work I’ll find he left me a treat on the counter to take with me, like a chocolate rice crispy bar or some pop tarts.” — MermaidAyla

15. He orders me food when I’m starving. 

“He takes care of me. When I’m sick/in pain, or depressed he’ll take care of me and get me stuff when I can’t. He also orders me food.” — Keyra13

16. He warms up my cold feet. 

“You know when you stick your cold feet on your SO and they squirm? When I come over and we sit on the couch together, he takes my cold feet and puts them under his thighs so he can warm my feet with his perpetual warmth… I didn’t know someone could be so kind…” — boopboopadoopity

17. He pays close attention to me when we’re together. 

“He’s content with laying down next to me, just talking and being next to each other. He barely uses his phone, he deleted his social media, he said all of that was just a distraction. He said he got me now, he wants to focus on me. It’s a whole different feeling, just feeling the love even when youre just next to him.

I appreciate that so much.” — 7teen38

18. He cheers me up whenever I’m having an off day.

“If he knows I’m having a bad day and has a moment, he’ll take a break to get me flowers and/or Starbucks and drop by my work with them. I’ve even come in from field work to find surprise treats in my office.” — Saltwaterblood 

19. He defrosts the car for me before I leave for work. 

“My boyfriend takes my dog out in the morning and this morning he went out and then popped back in and told me to give him my keys so he could start defrosting my car for work. Then I heard him out there scraping the ice off my windshield.” — kkcshuber

20. He keeps my personal items at his place. 

“When we first started dating my boyfriend surprised me with a bottle of sensitive body wash and moisturizer to use at his place.

He said he had noticed that I had sensitive products in my bathroom and used sensitive washing powder and didn’t want me to be uncomfortable when I stayed at his place.

I had never mentioned it to him, but he had just paid attention.” — kazburger

21. He opens the car door for me

“When we’re walking to his car and get close, he’ll jog up quickly and open the door for me. He knows I can do it myself, but he likes being old fashioned that way and treating me special by opening the door for me.” — NavyRoses1105

22. He comforts me when I’m feeling uneasy. 

“I have a lot more tasks to complete before going to bed than he does, so when I come to bed he’s always on my side, warming it up for me, and then he slides over.

He also knows I get nervous during turbulence on airplanes, and holds my arm/hand to comfort me, without making me feel like it’s silly to be nervous.” — jerusha16

23. He surprises me with little treats. 

“My husband is super sweet. He makes breakfast on the weekdays. He makes sure I am tucked in and warm in bed every night when he pushes the covers off himself if he gets warm. He loves to cuddle. He will get me little treats occasionally. Sometimes he’s squirrelly about holding my hand but I think that’s more of a game and gives in eventually.

I’m gonna keep him for a while longer. Ten years and counting.” — throwingwater14

24. He gets along well with my dog. 

“The way my dog looks at him. I knew from the second my dog and now-husband met that they were soulmates and I may as well come along for the ride.” — parvoqueen

25. He plays music to help me get out of bed. 

“I have a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning. My fella will give me a few chances to get up on my own, then blast a song on his phone, usually with a ‘morning’ theme. Think Good Morning Starshine, Mr Blue Sky or Chop Suey! It’s cute.” — HerSmokeRoseUp 

26. He is completely and utterly accepting of me.

“Maybe it’s not really a thing he does ‘for’ me, but he is so accepting of my body and what I choose to do with it and that is such a wonderful feeling. Want to shave half my head? Fine! Wanna grow it long and dye it teal and purple? Cool. Want to get my septum pierced? Sure. Don’t wanna shave my leg fur in the cold, dark winter? Go for it. Wanna go to the gym? Yeah! Wanna eat a huge bag of peanut butter M&Ms after the gym? You bet. My fashion choices have done a complete 180 over the last five years and he has never said a bad word about it.

I look the way I do for me, and not for anyone else at all. It’s refreshing.” — juniper-mint 

[foursprouthappiness-blog]

26 Girls In Strong Relationships Gush About Cutest Thing Their Boyfriend Has Ever Done

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/26-girls-in-strong-relationships-gush-about-cutest-thing-their-boyfriend-has-ever-done/

26 Girls In Strong Relationships Gush About Cutest Thing Their Boyfriend Has Ever Done

Unsplash / Vitor Pinto

1. He keeps me company while I cook dinner.

“Whenever I cook us dinner, he sits on the chair in the kitchen and keeps me company instead of just watching tv or whatever.” — Satanfister0218

2. He makes sure we have time to eat together.

“He works nights and I work days. Some days he brings breakfast home to me and we will sit and eat it together before he drives me to work and then comes home to sleep. I will come home from work and make dinner for him and wake him up with it. Its a nice system we have.” — dickback_timothy

3. He tucks me into bed at night. 

“Almost all nights, even though we’re both grown ass adults, he’ll tuck me into bed. I go to bed 4ish hours before him and having him tuck me in is just a super warm fuzzy for me. Every now and then, he’ll also just lay there and hold me until I fall asleep. It makes my heart so full and happy. I hope he does this forever.” — shreksnumber1fan

4. He kisses my forehead. 

“Sometimes while cuddling, my boyfriend will lightly kiss the top of my head.” — Bunjora

5. He calls me beautiful, even when I look like a complete mess. 

“He tells me I’m beautiful when I wake up, when I’m sick, when I look god awful he is always there staring at me with a loving smile, like I’m the most beautiful thing he has seen even though I look like a zombie from lack of sleep.” — The-Goat-Lord

6. He always holds the door open for me. 

“My boyfriend always lets me go through the door first. Most of the time he holds it open for me, but sometimes I get there first and he’ll smoothly grab the door behind me and say, ‘Go ahead babe.’

When he puts his hand on my leg while he’s driving.

But my favorite is when he pulls me closer in his sleep.” — lil-legend18

7. He expresses his feelings without holding back. 

“He tells me loves me and often. He’ll stop what he’s doing and kiss me. Whenever you are having nice feelings about your SO, say them/text them/whatever. Whether it’s love or compliments or physical touch.” — awkwoman

8. He spoils me during that time of the month. 

“Every time I get my period he treats me with ice cream. Since my first two days of every period are really bad (because of cramps and back pain) his little routine cheers me up so much.” — recherchecr

9. He takes care of me when I’m drunk. 

“One night at a party I’d had too much to drink and was passing out. I woke up in a big comfy t-shirt all tucked into bed — he’d taken off my earrings, rings, shoes, socks, everything!!” — MeanGreenLentilQueen

10. He surprises me with flowers. 

“To me, it’s the little things.

He randomly calls me to tell me he loves me, expresses his feelings for me, etc. Also, he will send me long, sweet texts randomly when I am sleeping or throughout the day.

When we’re cuddling in bed and I reach over the side to grab something, he will watch me and keep his hands on my back because he doesn’t want to let go of me.

He calls me every single night we aren’t together to fall asleep on the phone with me.

He wakes me up, whether it be in person or on the phone, to kiss/tell me goodbye, I love you before he leaves for work.

If I tell him I’m craving something, he will bring it the next time I see him if not right then. Doesn’t matter how long it’s been.

He surprises me with flowers amongst other things.

We are somewhat long distance (he lives an hour away), but if I am upset, now matter how serious the matter, he will come to me.

There’s so many things he does, big and small, that make him so amazing. It’s refreshing, my ex never did so much as take me to the movies in our three years of dating. He is everything my ex wasn’t.

God, I love him.” — Iiferuiner

11. He draws a bath for me every single night. 

“He instituted a time called ‘second soaks’. It is basically just him running me a bath every night so I can lay amongst the bubbles. He also snuggles me every night in his sleep, I don’t even think he is aware of it but it always makes me feel safe and comfortable.” — Applesauce28

12. He feeds me. 

“He’s my husband now. So listen up guys!

While we dated, he’d show up to school with food for me (I always order the same thing and he remembered what I like from like 10 different places). After class we’d go to Sonic and get half price milkshakes and just talk for hours. He also cooked whenever I came to his house, he’d have tea to drink too.

So basically food. He fed me, so I stayed.” — ochemimmunohem

13. He acts like my best friend. 

“One thing he does is makeovers and girly stuff. He knows I don’t have any girl friends or a best friend so he is my best friend as well as my boyfriend. ” — Asheswin

14. He is careful not to wake me up too early in the morning. 

“Sometimes he has to get up and go to work earlier than I do.

He flops the blankets over my head so when he turns on the bedroom light to get dressed, it doesn’t wake me up.

He pulls them back down once the light is off. He turns off the box fan because he knows I like to sleep in silence. He needs the white noise of the fan to sleep, so once he’s up and out of bed he turns it off for me to continue resting.

Then he kisses me goodbye, sometimes when I wake up and get ready for work I’ll find he left me a treat on the counter to take with me, like a chocolate rice crispy bar or some pop tarts.” — MermaidAyla

15. He orders me food when I’m starving. 

“He takes care of me. When I’m sick/in pain, or depressed he’ll take care of me and get me stuff when I can’t. He also orders me food.” — Keyra13

16. He warms up my cold feet. 

“You know when you stick your cold feet on your SO and they squirm? When I come over and we sit on the couch together, he takes my cold feet and puts them under his thighs so he can warm my feet with his perpetual warmth… I didn’t know someone could be so kind…” — boopboopadoopity

17. He pays close attention to me when we’re together. 

“He’s content with laying down next to me, just talking and being next to each other. He barely uses his phone, he deleted his social media, he said all of that was just a distraction. He said he got me now, he wants to focus on me. It’s a whole different feeling, just feeling the love even when youre just next to him.

I appreciate that so much.” — 7teen38

18. He cheers me up whenever I’m having an off day.

“If he knows I’m having a bad day and has a moment, he’ll take a break to get me flowers and/or Starbucks and drop by my work with them. I’ve even come in from field work to find surprise treats in my office.” — Saltwaterblood 

19. He defrosts the car for me before I leave for work. 

“My boyfriend takes my dog out in the morning and this morning he went out and then popped back in and told me to give him my keys so he could start defrosting my car for work. Then I heard him out there scraping the ice off my windshield.” — kkcshuber

20. He keeps my personal items at his place. 

“When we first started dating my boyfriend surprised me with a bottle of sensitive body wash and moisturizer to use at his place.

He said he had noticed that I had sensitive products in my bathroom and used sensitive washing powder and didn’t want me to be uncomfortable when I stayed at his place.

I had never mentioned it to him, but he had just paid attention.” — kazburger

21. He opens the car door for me

“When we’re walking to his car and get close, he’ll jog up quickly and open the door for me. He knows I can do it myself, but he likes being old fashioned that way and treating me special by opening the door for me.” — NavyRoses1105

22. He comforts me when I’m feeling uneasy. 

“I have a lot more tasks to complete before going to bed than he does, so when I come to bed he’s always on my side, warming it up for me, and then he slides over.

He also knows I get nervous during turbulence on airplanes, and holds my arm/hand to comfort me, without making me feel like it’s silly to be nervous.” — jerusha16

23. He surprises me with little treats. 

“My husband is super sweet. He makes breakfast on the weekdays. He makes sure I am tucked in and warm in bed every night when he pushes the covers off himself if he gets warm. He loves to cuddle. He will get me little treats occasionally. Sometimes he’s squirrelly about holding my hand but I think that’s more of a game and gives in eventually.

I’m gonna keep him for a while longer. Ten years and counting.” — throwingwater14

24. He gets along well with my dog. 

“The way my dog looks at him. I knew from the second my dog and now-husband met that they were soulmates and I may as well come along for the ride.” — parvoqueen

25. He plays music to help me get out of bed. 

“I have a really hard time getting out of bed in the morning. My fella will give me a few chances to get up on my own, then blast a song on his phone, usually with a ‘morning’ theme. Think Good Morning Starshine, Mr Blue Sky or Chop Suey! It’s cute.” — HerSmokeRoseUp 

26. He is completely and utterly accepting of me.

“Maybe it’s not really a thing he does ‘for’ me, but he is so accepting of my body and what I choose to do with it and that is such a wonderful feeling. Want to shave half my head? Fine! Wanna grow it long and dye it teal and purple? Cool. Want to get my septum pierced? Sure. Don’t wanna shave my leg fur in the cold, dark winter? Go for it. Wanna go to the gym? Yeah! Wanna eat a huge bag of peanut butter M&Ms after the gym? You bet. My fashion choices have done a complete 180 over the last five years and he has never said a bad word about it.

I look the way I do for me, and not for anyone else at all. It’s refreshing.” — juniper-mint