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kaidsos · 3 years

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Exposure || Hitoshi Shinso

summary :: your relationship with Shinso is exposed.

warning: cursing, smut, monoma is a bigger ass than usual, probably grammar/spelling errors

note: university!ua, aged-up, secret relationship, bsf bakugou, spanking, daddy shinso, begging, slight fluff

———————————————————————

The breeze whipped against you as you stepped out into the night. Your arms wrapping around yourself and fisting the thin material of your t-shirt. It was well past curfew, but you had grown accustom to sneaking out.

You slipped behind the building, being mindful of your steps as you moved further into the shadows. No lights were shining through the windows as the other students had long since gone to bed. Despite the full moon hanging high in the sky, there was nothing to illuminate the path and you had no choice but to rely on muscle memory.

Then there was a soft wisp of fabric and a tentative touch to your waist. Warm fingers grazed the skin where your shirt had bunched up and you relaxed into the familiar sensation.

"There's my kitten."

Shinso dug his fingertips into your sides as he pulled you flush against his chest. His head dipping until his face was tucked into your neck. "I was worried you didn't get my message."

"My phone died before I could reply." You mumbled as you twisted in his grasp. "I didn't want to make you wait too long."

Your hands lifted to his waist, thumbs hooking in the band of his UA sweatpants. The dark patches beneath his eyes hadn't worsened since you saw him last and you knew he’d been overworking himself. A frown etched onto your features as you pressed closer to him.

"Stop pouting," he murmured as he dropped his head to rest on yours. "I've missed you."

With exams quickly approaching you hadn’t been able to see each other through the week. Your days consumed with class or training while your nights were spent studying and preferably rest. That was something your boyfriend had clearly missed out on.

"I missed you so much." You sighed, leaning into his touch.

Keeping your relationship quiet had been relatively easy before. You had slipped away with one another at any given chance and when the weeks were long you had always had the weekends!

Until you didn’t.

His training with Aizawa only became more time consuming and you had fully immersed yourself into studies. With the weekend coming to an end you couldn’t help but wonder if the secret was worth it.

It had made sense in the beginning. With a best friend like Katsuki Bakugou it was a bit difficult to attract romantic attention. He was protective and moody and he already disliked the sly general studies student.

Shinso had been an outcast among his peers. It had improved after the first Sports Festival, though not everyone had been swayed. You heard the whispers that followed him, noticed how eyes would linger on his broad form as he sulked down the halls. When the words didn't cut deep enough, some got bold enough to step up and if they were foolish enough to challenge him—

"Kitty," He said lowly, hand lifting to wrap around your throat in an attempt to pull your attention back to him. "What's going on in that mind of yours?"

You let out a soft gum as you met his gaze. “Would you be happier if others knew about us?"

The thumb that had been caressing your jugular paused, his brow furrowing for a moment as his eyes narrowed. "I've never cared about others. I care about you. As long as you're mine it doesn't matter who knows."

"In other words you're leaving it up to me." You grumbled, not bothering to resist the urge to roll your eyes. A low growl pushed past his lips as he twisted you on your feet, pushing forward until your back was pressed against the cool stone. You gasped in surprise, back arching away from the cold. "Toshi—"

"You've got an attitude tonight." His hips knocked against yours as he pressed forward again, chuckling when you whimpered. “Where's your jacket, kitten?"

"I-I was in a hurry to see you and forgot it."

A lazy grin tugged at his lips and his eyes flickering over your frame before he moved away. He reached back to grasp the hoodie, pale skin catching your eyes as the material bunched above his hips.

Shinso had trained hard to get into the hero program and it showed. His frame had broadened, muscles strengthening to the point that they rippled without his intent. You had found yourself staring at him far more than you cared to admit. Whether it was in class, the commons, or across the cafeteria— he always stood out among the others.

Suddenly a ball of fabric hit you in the face, spurring you into a fit of giggles as you fumbled to keep it off the ground. You wasted no time pulling the sweatshirt over your head. It was still warm from Shinso and you inhaled deeply at his lingering scent.

When you finally met his gaze again his brow was quirked in amusement. You rolled your eyes, quickly adverted your gaze so the hood dropped to hide you from view.

Shinso slipped his hands past the hood, gripping the base of your neck and tilting your head back. "Silly kitty," he hummed, lips brushing against yours. "I didn't realize giving you my sweatshirt would have such a thrilling response."

His words did nothing to ease your embarrassment. A soft whine slid past your lips as he forced you to hold his gaze and you barely began stuttering out a response when he closed the space between you.

Your breath caught as his mouth moved against yours and he lazily rolled his tongue along the seam of your lips. When you didn't immediately part he snarled, a hand dropping to grasp your hip as he shoved a knee between your thighs. A harsh jolt of his leg caused you to inhale sharply and he took the opportunity to shove his tongue past your lips.

"Alright, kitten," he spoke into the kiss. "Time to go back inside before you get sick."

Your brow furrowed in hazy confusion, " I thought we were..."

"You have no idea how badly I want to." Shinso grumbled, mouth trailing along your jaw. "But the next time I touch you I'm not stopping until I've had my fill, and kitten, I'm starving."

His teeth sunk into your neck at his words, pulling a soft moan from you as your fingers threaded through his thick locks. Just before you were sure a mark would be left he pulled back, pressing a soft kiss to the irritated skin.

"Like I said it's getting cold and I don't want you getting sick." He placed a final searing kiss to your lips before pulling away.

•

You overslept the following morning.

It had been thundering fists against you door that had woke you up. Bakugou had called you every name but your own as you fumbled to let him inside.

"You're late, dumbass." He snapped, pushing his way into the room and plopping onto your bed.

You scoffed, but said nothing as you began racing around the room. It wasn't until you had shoved your things into a bag and started gathering your uniform that you paused.

"What the fuck!" You snapped, throwing your hands up in defeat. "I don't have a shirt."

"Wear your extra." He replied dryly, earning a glare from you.

You didn't bother hiding the roll of your eyes. "Wow, why didn't I think of that?"

"Watch it, idiot! I'm not the one who loses everything." Bakugou snarled before pushing to his feet and marching across the room. He grabbed the black sweatshirt that had been draped across the desk chair and slung it at you. "Go!"

A groan pushed past your lips as you stomped into the bathroom. You were quick to pull on the pieces of uniform you could find. There was a slight shake to your hands as you got dressed and you weren’t surprised with your abrupt morning. You fisted the fabric of the sweatshirt, lifting it to your nose and inhaling deeply before taking a final glance at yourself in the mirror.

Aizawa had very little to say about your uniform mishap. His gaze had only lingered on the black material for a moment before warning you not to make it a habit.

"I've never seen this before, Y/N." Mina chirped, reaching out to pinch the hoodie between her fingers as she flashed you a cheeky grin. "I'd have stolen it by now."

"I just got it the other night— day! I got it the other day." You nearly cringed as Mina's eyes narrowed.

"What are you looking at, extra?" Bakugou suddenly snapped, pulling your attention away.

You followed his gaze to the back of the room and locked with purple hues. Shinsou's lips quirked up for the slightest moment before looking past you to meet the explosive blond's eye. The warmth that his features held for you was nowhere in sight as he scoffed at the other male.

However, no words were spoken before the bell rang out.

The remainder of the day seemed to go by without any more incidents. You had felt an overwhelming sense of comfort wearing your boyfriend's sweatshirt. Though you would never admit it the time without him had been hard. Harder than you ever thought it would be.

You had enjoyed sneaking around, you both did, that's why it had gone on without a hitch for months. There was something about rushed touches and stolen glances that left you spinning in delight.

Before you were able to succumb to your thoughts your name was called. Your eyes trailed over the campus grounds in search of whoever had called for you and sure enough you caught sight of Kirishima waving you over.

A laugh had barely slid past your lips when you slammed into a solid frame. You let out a surprised yelp as you stumbled to the ground and landed on your bottom with a groan.

"I thought class 1A students were meant to be agile."

You didn't bother hiding the look of disdain that crossed your features as you looked up at Monoma. He had the nerve to sneer as is he hadn’t been the one to knock you off balance in the first place.

"Go screw yourself." You hissed, pushing yourself to your feet.

Before you were able to move past him he grasped your wrist. "Why don't you do us all a favor and drop out of the hero course? I think you've wasted enough of UAs time."

“Let go of me." You pulled harshly at his grip, which only tightened in response.

"Let go of you?" He feigned a moment of thought. "I'll tell you what, if you can—"

Whatever game he had been wanting to play died on his tongue as a sharp smack rang out. You were released so suddenly you nearly lost your balance.

The hand that had been holding you was in the crushing grip of Shinso, who stood tall between you and the other male. You couldn't quite catch a glimpse of his face, but the frightened gleam in Monoma's eyes told you enough.

A crowd had formed around your trio, the sudden intrusion unsurprisingly catching their interest. You instinctively shifted closer to Shinsou, who was still barring down on the stuttering blond. "W-what—"

"Stay away from things that aren't yours." Your boyfriend snarled, fingers tightening around Monoma’s wrist until it popped.

"You think she's yours?" He snapped, glancing nervously at the crowd before finally ripping his hand free. "You're delusional.”

Shinso didn't gift him with a response. Instead, he turned his focus on you and for a brief moment, you understood why Monoma had looked so frightened.

The purple-haired male easily towered over you both and his stature seemed to double in size as he held himself firmly between you. His jaw was set so tightly you were surprised his teeth didn't shatter and there was a predatory gleam to his usually passive gaze that made your chest swell in excitement.

Mistaking your observation as hesitation, Shinso held his hands by his sides. His palms turned towards you in surrender as his gaze softened, "kitten?"

The secret seemed so pointless.

Shinso had claimed you and it was as if everyone held their breath for your response. He had every bit of faith in your ability to protect yourself, but he had reacted out of instinct. You knew by the way his back stiffened beneath the curious eyes that he hadn't thought it through. He looked desperate and seraphic and you could not remember why you had kept him hidden for so long.

"Hitoshi—"

That was all it took. With a single stride he had closed the distance between you, head dipping to press his forehead against yours.

Wordlessly, he plucked the hand you had been holding protectively against you. A low rumble that could only be described as a growl vibrated from his chest as he stared down at the blooming marks. Had he really grabbed you that hard?

"Monoma?" Shinso pressed four fingers to your wrist, dangling it softly in the air as he turned on the blond with a heavy gaze.

His wide eyes flickered between you and your boyfriend before he replied. "What?"

The moment the word had left his lips his frame froze and a murmur rolled over the crowd. His shoulders had a strange slouch to them, his back was straight and his eyes were still locked with yours.

"Why are you looking at them? Look at me."

Unsurprisingly, he obeyed.

"Your quirk doesn't quite work when you can't think for yourself, does it?"

There was a humorless jape in his tone, a low rumble that shot straight to your core. His tongue clicked against his teeth as he spoke once more. "I'll make this quick. You don't look at them. Don't speak to them. Don't even allow them to cross your mind."

And it was over.

Monoma stumbled back in shock as he regained control over himself, heat flooding his cheeks as he hurried away from the crowd. You didn't bother to watch him retreat as you reached out for Shinso.

He let out a soft sigh as you grasped at his uniform blazer, turning his attention back to you. For a moment his gaze flickered down to your wrist, but this time you tugged the sleeve of his sweatshirt down.

"Can we please leave?" You asked softly, all too aware of the crowd around you.

"Of course."

•

"That's my good kitty."

Your back arched from the mattress as Shinso pressed his tongue flat against your clit and lapped at it lazily. His thumb rolled over your hip, attempting to soothe the area he had gripped when he trapped you beneath him. He ran his tongue along your slit before finally delving inside of you.

A moan tore from your throat and he pressed his palm flat again your stomach to hold you in place. Your thighs trembled as the coil in your stomach tightened, so close to bursting free if he would just—

"Hitoshi!" His name pushes past your lips as your thighs clench around his head. Your hips rocked against his face and he moaned into your heat, licking and sucking at your core.

Then he was gone.

You couldn't bite back a whine of annoyance, however, the feeling was short-lived as long fingers curled around your throat. Shinso’s broad frame hover above you, eyes heavy with lust as an almost cruel smirk twisted at his lips.

"What's my name?"

"Daddy!" You blurted out, face heating as you realized your mistake. "I'm sorry daddy, I didn't mean to!"

He sucked a sharp breath through his teeth, head shaking slowly as he held your wide gaze. "You know better kitten. I'll have to punish you."

Another whine in protest fell upon deaf ears as he pulled you up by your neck. It wasn't until the both of you were on your knees, chest to chest, that he released your throat in favor of gripping the back of your neck. "Bend over for daddy."

You did as he ordered, heart jolting in your chest as he led you to press your face against the mattress. Your back arched in an attempt to grind your ass against him, desperate for some type of friction. A low groan vibrated in his chest as his clothed cock rubbed between your soaking slit. "Take your punishment like a good kitty and daddy might let you cum."

"Look how pretty you are." He purred softly, smacking his palm down on your ass in contradiction to his tone. "That was one. Count for me."

Another harsh slap sent you forward, teeth sinking into your lips as you spoke. "Two."

"Three." Came another. You felt yourself clench at the painful pleasure, eyes screwing shut in an attempt to suppress a moan.

Shinso let out a low chuckle as he bent down to press a soft kiss to your reddening skin. "You're not meant to enjoy this, kitten."

"I'm sor— four!" You rushed out as his hand connected with your opposite cheek. Then again, "five!"

"You're fucking dripping." He murmured and for a moment you weren't sure if he was taking to you or himself. "I bet you'd cum on my cock the second I shoved it inside of you."

His fingers kneaded into your rear before smacking against you once more. You had barely gotten out the number when it broke into a moan as Shinso reached around to pinch your clit between his fingers.

"You want daddy to stretch you with his fat cock? Do you think you earned it?"

"Yes! Please daddy, I need you so bad. It's been too long!" You whimpered and despite your frazzled state, you were able to murmur the next count of his hand.

Then you felt the head of his dick at your entrance, prodding slightly as he split you over his tip. He was thick and veiny and despite the number of times he had fucked into your pussy he always seemed to stretch you just right.

You couldn't hold back your moans as he fully sheathed himself inside you, hand connecting with your ass once more before holding you in place. When he made no motion to move you whined, attempting to roll your hips back against him only to earn another smack.

"Two more for missing your count." He snarled, "don't you dare fucking move."

Another smack rang out and you whimpered, cunt clenching down around his length as you fought the urge to shift. "N-nine."

His cock jumped inside you, spurring another moan from your lips as you fisted the sheets. The final slap was loud and it stung against your raw skin. You stuttered out the final count and he pulled from you, only to slam his hip into your tailbone as he sunk deeper than before.

Shinso let out a groan, fingertips digging into your asscheeks and spreading them as he watched himself fuck into your tight heat. "I can feel how close you are. You wanna cum on daddy's cock?"

You nodded wildly as you pushed back to meet his thrusts despite your trembling legs. "Please let me cum. Please, please, please!"

His lips covered every inch of skin he could reach, sucking and biting as he shifted hips to buck deeply into you. "Cum for me, kitty."

All of your self-control vanished at his words, your body twitching against him as you finally allowed yourself to succumb. Your cunt pulsed around him, spurring curses and moans that echoed in your ears as you finally reached your peak.

Shinso shifted his hips, hitting against the sweet spot he has grown all too familiar with, spurring you into a moaning mess beneath him. "Roll over, baby— I wanna see you."

Despite the haze from your orgasm you caught the change in his tone and your brow furrowed as you rolled onto your back. He wasted no time gripping the curve of your knee, pushing it into the air to get a clear view of your sopping pussy. His other hand wrapped around his hardened length, pumping it slowly as he stared down at you.

He drug the head of his cock along your slit and he let out a low hum as he slid the tip in, only to pull it out again. You were a moaning mess by the time he sunk into you, babbling nonsense as he hit up into your sweet spot.

Shinso dipped to press his lips against you, praise spilling from his lips as his hands sought out your own. He laced your fingers together, effectively pinning your arms to the bed. Your second orgasm took you by surprise and you arched from the bed, legs tightening around his waist as heat licked up your spine.

He fucked you through it again, however, when the bliss began to fade he waste no time running slow circles against your clit. You jumped at the contact, brow furrowing as you met his gaze with a whine.

The haze you were losing yourself in had a moment of clarity as he stared down at you. His eyes were blown wide with lust, however, there was an ounce of something else you hadn't seen before. He almost looked sad—

"You're mine." Shinsou muttered breathlessly, and while it had been a statement you couldn't help but see the concern in his gaze.

"I'm yours." You whispered and moment the words left you his mouth was on yours, smothering you with a searing kiss as his languid thrusts picked up once more.

"Mine, mine, mine.” He growled, enunciating each word with a hard thrust. The fingers that were on your clit sped up in time with his hips, "come with me— fuck! Come with daddy."

You spiraled over the edge for a final time, fingers tangling in his purple locks before you pulled him into a kiss. Shinso sunk his teeth into your bottom lip as he fucked into you, chasing his own climax. He moaned into your mouth when his hips rolled against yours and hot ropes of cum covered your fluttering walls.

After a few more lazy thrusts he rocked onto his knees, reaching between you to grip the base of his cock as he slowly pulled out. He let out a groan as he watched his cum seep from your used cunt, hot and white and all his.

You were his.

"Are you okay? That was differ—"

"I love you."

Your heart leaped at his confession, eyes widening as you stared up at him. Your words were barely above a shocked whisper as you replied, "I love you too."

•

"Open the fucking door, extra!"

#hitoshi shinso x reader #shinso x reader #shinsou x reader #hitoshi shinsou x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #hitoshi shinso smut

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wa-royal-tea · 3 years

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Previous | Beginning | Next

(Transcript under the cut - Click Pics for HQ Version!)

@thebrixtons @windenroyal

Glam Street, Britechester (2:00pm)

Indirah (on speaker): You just got back from grammy’s again? You’ve been visiting her a lot lately.

Alfie: I know. Grammy keeps asking for Lina and I to go visit her. She’s closer to Lina than to me now.

Indirah: Aww, that’s cute. I want to go see grammy too…But mum and dad are always so busy.

Alfie: Maybe you can ask mum if she can arrange for someone to send you and Hugo to grammy’s during the weekend?

Indirah: I don’t know. I’m busy too. I have training on the weekends. The competition is in a few months and I don’t want to slack off.

Catalina: I’m sure you’re going to do just fine, Dira.

Indirah: I hope so...Speaking of. You’re coming to my competition right?

Alfie: Of course! I wouldn’t miss it.

Indirah: Lina, you’ll be there too right?

Catalina: You want me to be there?

Indirah: Yeah, you’re like my sister now and it’d be cool if you came to give me some support.

Catalina: *smiles* Well then, I’ll be looking forward to seeing you.

Indirah: Yay! I can’t wait!

Indirah: Oh, got to go. I need to write a speech for tomorrow’s assembly. We have a transfer student program going on right now and the school wants me to give the welcoming speech.

Alfie: Alright. Say hi to everyone at home.

Indirah: I will. Bye~

UBrite School of Communications

Alfie: Hey, I’m going to stop by my school for a sec. My professor wants to see me.

Catalina: Yeah, sure. It won’t be long, right?

Alfie: I hope not. Do you want to stay in the car or do you want to walk around? I think there’s a park nearby.

Catalina: I’ll walk around. I don’t want to keep the car running.

Alfie: Alright, I’ll call you when I’m done.

Catalina *thinking*: His school is bigger than mine. It even has its own park.

???: Lina!

Catalina: Marie? What are you doing here?

Marie: I’m waiting for Lucia. She’s in a meeting with her professor right now. Why are you here?

Catalina: Oh! I’m waiting for my fiancé. He’s in a meeting with his professor too.

Marie: You came here with him?

Catalina: Yeah, we were on our way home and he asked if he could stop by.

Marie: I see…So he’s in the same school as Lucia and my other friend. Maybe they know him.

Catalina: Probably.

*phone rings*

Catalina: Sorry, I need to take this.

Marie: Go ahead.

Catalina (to the phone): Hello? Yeah, I’m at the park. Are you done?

Phone:......

Catalina: Okay, I’ll be right there.

Marie: I’m guessing that’s him.

Catalina: Yeah, he’s done. I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Marie. Take care.

Marie: You too.

Lucia: Sorry for making you wait for me, Mare.

Marie: It’s fine. I met with Lina just now.

Lucia: O-oh? You did?

Marie: Mhm. She was waiting for her fiancé. He’s probably in your class.

Lucia: R-really? That’s...that’s nice.

Marie: Is everything okay?

Lucia:...I’m fine. I just feel a bit drained from the meeting.

Marie: Do you want to cancel tonight’s movie so you can rest?

Lucia: I’m okay. Don’t worry, alright? Come on, we have an hour before the movie starts.

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specsforwoo · 3 years

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Son of Lachesis | Demigod!Jung Jaehyun

Parent Deity: Lachesis (Goddes of the String of Life; the Second Fate)

Allegiance: Hades

Dark Humor was a thing

He probably picked it up from his dad

His dad was this super successful thriller author

So they had this huge penthouse in New York but Jaehyun was your normal edgy emo teenager

He claimed to hate his life, hate his family, hate his friends

But like, his dad wasn’t bothered by it???

At first Jaehyun thought it was because his dad just didn’t care about him

But then he started to realize that his dad was the same way

He would rather disparage himself in the name of humor than anything else

It was more of a coping technique but oh well

And for some reason, Jaehyun’s senior year of highschool, he moved to Korea

Still doesn’t know why tbh

Something about his dad telling him that it was safer for their family to be closer together

But like his family only comprised of himself and his dad

And his beagle Chu-Chu but that’s it

As far as he knew, he didn’t have any family in Korea

But surprisingly, he fit in well

His last year of high school went by quickly

And soon he was accepted into the medical examiner’s program @ KAIST

What?

He felt more comfortable around cadavers than live humans

It wasn’t weird he just had hella social anxiety

He had a real gift for it too

He could just look at a body and be able to tell how they died

He was oddly able to tell how long ago they died too

He was actually starting to get creeped out by it

So he started talking to the only person he could ever confide in

His dad

It was a long weekend off of uni

And the Friday before he got into a huge argument with his toxicology professor about the substance that one man ingested that led to his death

His professor swore it was Croton tiglium

And he doesn’t know why but something in his gut was screaming that the diagnosis was wrong

So what did he do?

He stole the toxicology report to review it

And he barged into his professor’s office claiming it was actually Daphne mezereum

What scared him the most was that he could swear the man who was lying helplessly on the table was the one who told him what the poison was

So back to his dad’s apartment

Jaehyun was in tears explaining what had been going on to his dad

And sure his dad was the one to lighten up any room he could

But his dad just laughed

And for the first time he actually felt like he was going crazy

He thought that if anyone would be able to help him understand it would be his dad

I mean what was that Ph.D in psychology hanging on the wall for then

But his dad placed a hand on his shoulder and talked to him very calmly.

I think it’s time that you met your mother.

Sniffing, he looked up

I thought she had been dead since I was a baby.

Sorta…

How can someone be ‘sorta’ dead?

She’s more like… undead?

Suddenly a gray smoke started swarming around his feet.

And a young woman, dressed in black with a rose in her hair appeared behind his dad

Jaehyun almost screamed

Dear, Many people are in need to relief so why are you calling me up?

She spoke and her voice was as light of as the mist swirling around her feet

She looked up and made eye contact with Jaehyun

Dear, you know how dangerous it is for them to meet their other parents… why is he here?

She didn’t break eye contact with Jaehyun as she spoke to his father

It’s time he knew. Maybe Taeyong or Yuta could help him? They’ve been through this before.

The anxiety and stress was piling up on Jaehyun until he couldn’t stand it anymore

Knew what? Who is this? Why is our apartment filling with smoke? What have Taeyong and Yuta been through before?

You are a demigod Jaehyun. The woman spoke up, inching closer to his side.

My son, the son of Lacheses.

Lacheses…. The goddess of the string of fate.

I’m the son of a death goddess.

He burst out laughing

He couldn’t tell if it was from shock or denial

Everything made sense

His ominous ability to tell how people died

How long they would live for

So you are telling me Taeyong and Yuta are demigods too?

He looked between his mother and father

Yes, sons of Themis and Bia, respectively of course.

So that summer Jaehyun ended up going to camp with Taeyong

He didn’t feel that comfortable in the Hades cabin, and ended up rooming with Sicheng in the Achelios cabin instead

He also tended to help out with medical care when super dangerous competitions were taking place

If he remembered correctly, Sicheng asked him to because your weird ass ability to tell how long people have to live comes in handy so I can override it.

He said it with all smile on his face too, like people thought Jae was creepy

He is still actively attending uni, still the top student is his toxicology class, despite his prof throwing the hardest cases his way

HE EVEN GOT AN INTERNSHIP AT THE POLICE STATION YAY JAEHYUN

But camp is his life now

He never knew what he would have done if he didn’t have the support system that he did because of it

Yuta is his best friend

Partly because they are apparently first cousins

But also because they just mesh really well together

Whenever Yuta is fighting or practicing

He is there to makes sure to call game before anyone gets fatally injured

It actually got close one time

But other than that

His life is really normal

He eats out a lot

He studies a lot less than he should

He has made lasting friendships

And he has the hugest crush in the world that he refuses to reveal

hey , you

Just tell me! You know I can keep a secret from the hyungs!

Cue Jisung pestering him as they run the track at camp

How do I know that?

Taeyong still hasn’t found out that Chenle and I sneak out every Saturday to go to the arcade and that we were the ones who broke his cat mug.

Good Point.

Sooooo?

Still not telling.

Honestly though, not like it wasn’t obvious enough

Sometimes he wonders if everyone is oblivious to him staring at the back of your head while you run rounds for Sicheng

Or how his eyes follow your figure when he spots you in a crowd

Dude has it bad

And might be a little possessive too

He saw Taeil hug you once and he refused to talk to Taeil for a week

Until Kun saw what was going on and forced them to make up

But you

Girl you might have an even bigger crush

Who knew volunteering was so fun when you got to see Jaehyun every day

Highkey only Renjun knows that you both like each other

What? Renjun knows E V E R Y T H I N G

At least he is like ‘passively’ helping Jaehyun score a date with you

And by ‘passively’ I mean he straight up walked over to you and asked you if you would want to grab dinner with Jaehyun on Thursday, something about studying for toxicology finals

And by ‘passively’ I also mean him straight up telling Jaehyun that you were going to be a the hole in the wall diner on 53rd street a 7 o’clock and if he didn’t show up he was going to kick his ass

So you both showed up

You with study materials

And him with flowers

Johnny told him that flowers were always the way to go

And Jaehyun was beyond embarrassed and confused when you looked up and saw him standing there in a button down shirt that definitely wasn’t his holding a bouquet of flowers

And you were sitting there in sweatpants and your glasses falling down the bridge of your nose

So he did what he does best

Laugh it off

Oh, these are to thank you for helping me study.

Of course, you didn’t have to get me anything though.

In his head he is sitting there cussing Renjun out while also trying to create that empathy link with Yuta so he could tell Yuta to go beat his ass

But he brushed it off and starts studying with you

Only after ordering pecan pie and hot chocolate

Because everyone needs snacks for studying

Right

But you suddenly looked up and stared him straight in the eyes

Why do you even need my help? Aren’t you like top of this class, and IDK you can talk to dead people? Just ask them what happened.

Jaehyun is back to being embarrassed and this time he can’t laugh it off

Well– ummm— you see– Renjun— I—-

Oh for Zeus’ sake can’t you just say that little twerp set us up on a date?

Well… yeah, yeah he did.

YoU — umm— you can leave if you want, I understand if you don’t like me

Why would I leave. And you shouldn’t understand because you are a great guy, of course I like you.

You gave off a cheeky smile before stealing a bite of his pie

Y’all started off really casually

Like a group date here and there, nothing alone

Something in Jaehyun told him it wasn’t going to get serious unless he made the first move

Your father was probably to blame

Zeus was known for being a little aloof when it came to love

But Jaehyun

God Jaehyun had no guts whatsoever

Not until his best friend from New York came to town

Jameson had come to visit over his own spring break, claiming he wanted to see why Korea was so special and “Jeff” as he knew him, never returned to the US

And Jaehyun had taken you with him to the airport, better than dragging along Jeno or Jungwoo, who for some reason was terrified of planes themselves, and Yuta was out of town for a competition and Johnny was still passed out from last night’s party

And when Jameson stepped off the plane, he came barrelling towards Jaehyun, screaming JEFFFFFFERRRRRYYYYY as loud as he could and tackled him into a hug.

After that he began speaking in English a mile a minute

To say you were a deer caught in the headlights was an understatement

Jaehyun obviously wasn’t fazed, he was able to talk back to Jameson at the same speed, not even stuttering

So you felt kinda lost, shrinking away from the boistering boys, opting instead to starting rolling his friend’s luggage to the car

Jaehyun caught wind of your suddenly shy personality and cut off his friend to instead walk over to you

In a much calmer voice, and this time in a language you were actually able to understand, Jaehyun asked if you wanted to be introduced to his friend

You nodded and Jaehyun grabbed your wrist before shutting the trunk of the car.

Pulling you back over, Jaehyun spoke in English again

You could barely make out something along the lines of This is my friend, Y/N, daughter of Zeus.

You gave a small wave and bowed, hoping he wouldn’t speak to you directly, prompting you to speak in your broken tongue.

Just a friend, or something more? Jameson smirked at Jaehyun before looking back over at you

A friend that you can’t have. You couldn’t really understand what Jaehyun said but you could tell that whatever was said, he wasn’t happy about his friend’s comment.

After that you all got into the car where Jaehyun made you sit in the front seat, holding your wrist the entire time, in obvious view of Jameson

Things died down for a while and it went back to the usual

You were still on the track team (more like Pegasus Racing team but whatever)

And Jae came to cheer you on at every game

And Jae was still top of his classes @ KAIST

And you came to cheer him up when the workload got to much for him

But it STILL wasn’t serious

So one night

Specifically, Jameson’s last night in Korea

Everyone decided to head out to Hongdae to go club hopping (pls tell me you people know what club hopping is)

And you were all having fun, dancing, most were also drinking, especially Jameson

Jaehyun somehow ended up being DD after a brutal battle of scissors, paper, rock

So he was sitting there on the side lines, nursing straight tonic water watching everyone else get shit-faced drunk

You weren’t any better to be honest

Jameson started having a habit of trying to get you alone or get you to dance with him

So you thought that if you had to deal with that all night you had to have a couple shots in your system.

PSA TIME PEOPLE!!!!!! PSA!!!!! If someone in your group keeps trying to get you alone or get you to dance with them, both men and women, DO NOT I repeat DO NOT resort to drinking to deal with it. If they don’t get the hint by you avoiding them, tell them straight to their face that you don’t want to be with them. If they still don’t get the hint, seriously consider just leaving wherever you are. Under no circumstances is it okay for them do that. PSA OVER!!!!

Jaehyun had been watching you try to avoid Jameson from the bar all night and after Jameson came up behind you and grabbed your waist he was done

The vision of fully sober, properly pissed off, ready to throw punches Jaehyun was not a pretty sight

Thankfully, at the moment he had enough self-control in his system to not deck his friend straight in the throat

He instead opted to grab your wrist, much more forcefully than last time, and drag you out the back door of the club into the alley way

Then, much more gently, backed you into the wall of the club

He was so close that you could feel his breath on your forehead

Muttering to himself in English, you couldn’t understand what he was saying

Suddenly he looked down and his eyes kept snapping from yours to your lips

I’m probably going to do something I regret right now

Poor you couldn’t even understand him because of him still speaking in English

Next thing you know he was kissing you, pushing you up further against the wall, wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer

After he let go, worry flashed across his face, like he finally realized something

Oh my god, did that bastard hurt you?

He started checking your arms and wrists, even running his hands along your waist to make sure there wasn’t bruising there

For once, Jaehyun actually had the guts

He ended up calling everyone rides, and left early with you so he could take you out on an ‘official first date’

To an ice cream shoppe

Mind you average temps in Korea during, let’s say March is still around 28 degrees Fahrenheit @ night

He realized his mistake after seeing you sit there in the booth, shivering as you picked up your ice cream

So he quickly shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it around your shoulders and grabbing your hands in his to warm them up

First date was still a success in his mind

And all the dates there after

Renjun takes full credit for your relationship, but so does Sicheng, they actually fight about this

Jameson actually isn’t in Jaehyun’s life anymore

And Jaehyun is madly in love with you

Proposes after he graduates, in front of all of his friends, @ the stupid little hole-in-the-wall diner that he claims was his first real date with you

While they all scream JEFFFERRRRYYYY in the background.

really tho, Yuta has it on tape, along with Doyoung forced feeding Jaehyun wine, and him sleep talking about your first official date, all of which he plays at your guy’s wedding

Good luck having all of these idiots as brother in laws :::)))))

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artxyra · 4 years

Text

The Secret Life of MDC | Part 2

Part 2 – DuPont believe anything they say

Part 1

Marinette was ready for anything they could throw at her because now she can bring them all down at once. Today was the start of her first time as a spy student for the School board and splitting her time between two classes. The first half of the day would be spent with Mlle. Bustier and the second half as a TA for a new teacher that recently just began over the summer.

“Are you ready, Buggy?” She heard Adrien ask her from behind.

“Buggy? That’s a new one, Kitten, and yeah I'm ready. Just one more school year with Lila and her mindless followers.” Marinette answers, absently playing with the ends of her blouse. Adrien feeling a shift in the air, grips her hand and gives the one person he sees as a sister the biggest reassuring smile he could muster.

“C’mon losers, I only have so many fucks to give out and I don’t want to blow it in the first half of class.” They heard Chloe call out behind them wearing sunglasses indoors that clashed with her golden outfit. Marinette had to prevent herself from scoffing at the fashion choice the blonde teen had made. It was a crime against fashion and the girl is the daughter of a fashion icon.

“Chloe, you know I love you, but what in the world prompted you to wear sunglasses indoors?” Marinette somehow managed not to raise her voice at a person she claims as a sister.

“Oh hush, Manette. I’m doing this to prevent future murders on my hands.” Chloe responded as Adrien and Marinette look at each other communicating with slight head shakes and hand gestures that went from them to Chloe and back to them.

“That makes no sense, Bee, and I’m afraid to know what you meant. Should I message Tim to get a lawyer on hand or just pretend that I didn’t hear anything and go on into the nightmare that we call class.” It was Marinette that took the charge like she always does in these situations where she and Adrien are at a loss when it comes to Chloe’s hidden mindset.

All Chloe gives them is a mischief smirk causing the two friends to fear what is to come.

~*~

“Good morning, class. Today I have exciting news!” The teacher, Mlle. Bustier, announces as she setting her things down and turning to the chalkboard.

The trio never would have thought they would be stuck with Caline Bustier since the beginning of their collége years to the end of their lycée years. The only reason why this is a fact is that many of the teachers in the surrounding Paris area moved out once Hawkmoth’s akuma attacks began to become more vicious. They didn’t want to teach in an area that could lead to death or effect their trauma even more. This caused the school board committee for all of Paris to let the teachers teach their current class up until graduation with only the senior teachers teaching two sets of classes which meant teaching a younger generation outside of their grade group. So far, the change has been going well with minimum out rejection.

For Mlle. Bustier’s class, it was the best transition ever; however, it only solidifies their downfall and future in the real world. Caline, a generous carrying teacher, has little to none of a backbone. Her teaching methods are questionable especially when it comes to her classes' growth, which is why the school board's deal to Marinette was to become a student spy rather than letting her go free once she passed the Baccalauréat.

Caline turns around to view her students. She’s happy to see every single one of them, but her inner smile fades away once she caught sight of Marinette. The girl had so much potential in the teacher’s eyes and it was a shame to see it go to waste. She tried to get Marinette to be an example for her peers, but the girl did nothing but cause a rift in the classroom.

“I have some amazing news. Starting today up until our class exchange program, each and every one of you will be working on a presentation choosing an infamous city in the United States. You can work in pairs no bigger than three for this assignment.” Caline began before going into detail regarding the largest project of their senior year.

The trio already knew what city they were going to pick; however, for Marinette, she was slightly wary. This assignment has little to with her problems, but she had forgotten about the exchange program that the class was selected last year to go on for this year.

Every year a certain senior class is chosen to go on an exchange to one of the partner schools in the United States. When Marinette graduated, she had forgotten that her class was chosen, so now she needs to find out how that will change her teaching assistant job plans and how she and the principal will overcome this.

“Ooh, we should Gotham! I personally know the Waynes. They are a nice family. You know?” Of course, it had to be Lila to ruin a good mood. The trio could feel the liar’s gaze lingering on them as they mentally plain on what to do. “You know Adrien, you could join my group and we’ll get an ‘A’.” Lila begins to sweet-talk her way through Adrien, ignoring the heavily implied discomfort the model was giving her.

“Huh, Lie-la, I’m actually planning on working with Chloe and Mari for this one. I’m sure Alya and Nino would love to be a part of your group.” Adrien speaks up as he repeatedly tapes the desk for help from his two surrogate sisters.

Lila huffs putting on the waterworks, like always does when she didn’t get her way.

“Adrien? C’mon sunshine, can’t you just work with Lila. She was really looking forward to doing the project with you. Nino and I decided to be a duo, anyway. I’m sure Chloe and Marinette can handle it on their own.” Alya may not be physically violent towards anyone, but she did know how to pressure someone into doing something.

Adrien shakes his head and decides that it was best to stay close to Chloe and Marinette in case something goes sideways.

Feeling the attention away from her, Lila knew she had to come up with something spectacular. However, it would be unfortunate for Marinette who decided to take a drink from her water bottle. “I know I shouldn't say anything, but I’m dating Damian Wayne.” Immediately the loyalist of flies surrounds the liar gushing about the latest news.

Marinette, on the other hand, chokes on her water creating a coughing fit. She stares aghast at the liar once the coughing died down. Chloe and Adrien couldn't help but laugh at this.

“Calm down, calm down, class. I still have much to discuss with you including the trip.” Mlle. Bustier states trying to reel on her students as the talking increases in volume.

Fading out of the class the trio opens their group chat. Marinette looks up every so often to make sure that their teacher was paying them no attention.

Queen Bee: Our class is filled with idiots. [insert screaming GIF]

Katana’s Bitch: Uh, Bee what happened?

My Voice is Music: Aren’t you like in class?

Gotham’s Princess: Yes, but that is not the point. Besides, I already did all this shit and just in class for "fun".

R U Kitten Me: Luka, my love, I’m gonna need loads of therapy?

My Voice is Music: Liar?

Katana’s Bitch: Liar?

Queen Bee: She tried to guilt Kitten into being her partner for this large assignment. Ooh, how I can’t wait until he comes out of the closet.

Gotham’s Princess: It will be something like this: [insert a WTF GIF]

R U Kitten Me: Ooh that’s a good one Mars.

Gotham’s Princess: [insert bowing GIF] Thank you.

Queen Bee: 10 o clock, Bustier’s looking right at us

Marinette looks away from her phone to be greeted by Mlle. Bustier stern facials. She sheepishly smiles at the teacher and begins to write in her notebook, but the content had nothing to do with what Mlle. Bustier was teaching.

A grueling class period later, Marinette rushes over to the other side of the building. She sets up the classroom for the teacher and waits for the students to arrive.

While Marinette becomes the TA for a different class, Chloe and Adrien are forced to deal with the idiocy of their classmates alone.

Chloe nearly got into a yelling match with Lila and Alya about Marinette’s whereabouts as everything soon became aware that the fashion designer was missing for the second half of the school day.

Lila, once again, tried to dig her nails into the model to be her partner for the presentation project, she even tried to pull the daddy card over the blonde not knowing that Gabriel has little power over him since he unofficially moved in with the Dupain-Cheng home and rarely makes an appearance at the Agreste home unless it was dire.

“I can’t believe how selfish you are?” Alya attempts to scream into Adrien’s face but is pulled away by Nino, once the DJ realizes what was going on. He even mouths his apologies to his friend as he pulls Alya to comfort Lila, who was making a big hissy fit.

“I just wanted him to have a good grade on this project. My Damiboo would have been a large help when we choice Gotham.” Lila sniffles in her limp hand as if she was the victim of a major crime. Chloe and Adrien just roll their eyes and continue to ignore their classmates as the second half begins.

~*~

Marinette laughs at the messages on her phone about the class before walking into Principal De La Fontaine's offices. Due to the constant attacks and akuma victim from Dupont, the Paris school board officials declared Principal Damocles unfit to be a principal and opted for De La Fontaine to oversee college and lycée of the Dupont schools seeing as they are short-staffed.

“Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, you needed to see me?”

“Good evening, Principal De La Fontaine, and yes I do. It’s about the exchange program. The class that I’m spying for was selected to go last year and I was wondering how that will affect my teaching assistant job?” She asks taking an empty seat opposite from the Principal.

“Why yes, we probably should discuss this before you go. This might be the last piece for the school board in regards to Caline’s teaching habits. I have already discussed it with Mme. Margaux about your month's departure.”

A sigh of relief escapes Marinette’s lips. The feeling of knowing nothing will happen to her job on the school grounds with her being gone for a month.

“Merci.” She says once their conversations end and as she walks out of the office.

Nette @GothamsFashionSense Guess who’s returning to Gotham for a month?? This fille right here!! [insert a Dottie screaming & kicking her feet GIF]

Immediately, the tweet receives dozens of replies, all ranging from screeches of who is she to can’t wait to play “Spot the Nette game” on twitter. Marinette couldn’t help up chuckle as the replies from her extended family proceeds to enter the replies.

Maybe the trip wouldn’t be so bad?

Yeah, that was a lie. Before the trip started, Lila made a tearful excuse about the presentation project then saying that Marinette and her group stole the presentation from her as their city was the same, Gotham, New Jersy. That ended up becoming a large battle about right and wrong, to which Chloe and Adrien won because they did most of the project.

The moment before the trio stepped into the airport, saying their goodbyes to Kagami, Luka, and closet family members was just as emotional. Adrien tried his hardest not to breakdown in Luka’s arms but the reminder of seeing Jon made him excited. Chloe was a weeping mess saying goodbye to her girlfriend, who promise to send messages every day to keep the bee miraculous holder sane. For Marinette, she knew that Paris was in good hands and always having Kaalki on hand has been a huge help when traveling between the two cities.

Upon entering the airplane, there wasn’t a single moment that Lila didn’t lie about her experience in Gotham. She somehow managed to get every Wayne boys' name wrong except for Damian’s and Bruce’s. Like whom the hell is Tom Grayson and Drake Todd. It took every bone in the trio’s body not to breakdown laughing and cursing at the liar for such ludicrous names. Though parts of her conversation went into the ultimate group chat where everyone from Gotham to Paris is on. Let’s just say Jason was craving for a bullet to hit the liar in an “accidental” way.

Part 3 >>

Tag List: *View my Tagging System guidelines for how to to be properly tagged or removed. The Specific tag List has been CLOSED.

#maribat #daminette #teacher assistant Marinette AU #teacher assistant au #mild salt #ml x dc #ml crossover #fic:The Secret Life of MDC #mlb x dc

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hiimsociallyawkward · 4 years

Text

Dear Lara Jean,

HI. so i watched TATBILB: A&F a few weeks ago, and I have some words. Before I begin, i'd like to preface that i'm literally 17 and have no film experience, and that I've read this book once maybe 4 years ago but here it is.

ps. if you haven't gotten it already: there will be spoilers. Heavy spoilers.

first of all, i'm sorry but i really didn't like the little edit things. Maybe I've reached that point in my life where I don't f with that anymore. Like when theres a drawn house and it slowly fades so it's real life?? no thanks

the music choice... I honestly didn't have that big of a problem with it, but my korean friend kept going "wtf is this music choice" so i'm quoting her on that.

the filming and editing. well maybe it's just me but I didn't really like it. yk when you're watching a youtuber and they do those zoom in things and it's sort of fast and funny? I think there were a few times the movie did that and i didn't like it.

literally, lara jean looking directly into the camera?? it feels like it's breaking the 4th wall and maybe they're doing it to be edgy but no thanks i didn't like that either.

WHY???? Her breaking the 4th wall added NOTHING to the movie. It just took me out of the experience. I especially didn’t like it when they did it in PS I still love you when they temporarily broke up.

THEY SET THE MOVIE IN OREGON. WHAT WAS THE REASON. THE BOOK WAS SET IN VA, AND I LIVE IN VA SO I FELT A CONNECTION TO THE BOOK. AND THEN THEY GO AND SET IT IN OREGON. WHAT. WAS. THE. REASON

OREGON DIDN’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING WITH THE COLLEGES. THEY’RE STILL PRETTY FAR AWAY FROM STANFORD. IN THE BOOK, UVA WAS CLOSE BY SO LJ WOULDN’T HAVE TO BE TOO FAR AWAY FROM HOME. NO OFFENSE TO THE STATE BUT WHY OREGON. THEY COULD OF PUT THEM IN CALI AT LEAST

ONE OF THE REASONS WHY LJ WANTED TO GO TO UVA IS BECAUSE HER FAMILY WOULD BE CLOSE BY. BY PUTTING THEM IN OREGON, YOU TAKE AWAY THAT REASON. i just want to 👊 whoever’s idea this was

FURTHERMORE: THEY CHANGED UVA AND UNC TO STANFORD AND NYU. I AM INFURIATED. THE WHOLE POINT WAS THAT THEY WANTED TO GO TO UVA BECAUSE IT WAS LIKE 10 MINS FROM WHERE THEY LIVED AND IT'S A STATE SCHOOL. LARA JEAN FELT LIKE THE WAS GAURANTEED TO GO TO UVA AND WHEN SHE DOESNT, IT ACTUALLY HURTS THE READERS.

in the book, LJ was waitlisted from UNC, rejected from UVA, and accepted to W&M. I’m sure you can find like 40 people at our school who can relate to this situation. I doubt 40 people in our school can relate to being rejected from Stanford BUT accepted to NYU. dear writers, please give teens across the nation (your target audience) realistic expectations for college admissions.

YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME THAT PETER AND LARA JEAN WERE ACTUALLY QUALFIED ENOUGH FOR STANFORD. LEMME JUST SAY, I'VE APPLIED FOR COLLEGES THIS YEAR AND I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD GRASP ON WHAT IT TAKES TO GET INTO CERTAIN COLLEGES. YOU'RE TELLING ME THE TWO OF THEM. REALLY. GOT. INTO. THOSE. SCHOOLS. pls.

DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE KISSING BOOTH. ELLE AND NOAH ARE POSSIBLY THE DUMBEST CHARACTERS I HAVE EVER WATCHED. I DON’T SEE THEM DO A PAGE OF HOMEWORK AND I DON’T EVEN THINK THEY ATTEND CLASS. LIKE MAKING A KISSING BOOTH FOR ONE FUNDRAISER FOR A CLUB THAT CONSISTS OF 2 PEOPLE DOES NOT COUNT AS ENOUGH TO GET INTO HARVARD. but that’s a different movie...

this is literally the idea that television and movies have in making it super easy to get into ivy leauges. as if some in state college isn't up to society's standards of where or where not it's ok to go to college. it's when gabriella montez goes to stanford, troy goes to berkely, ryan evan goes to julliard, teddy duncan goes to yale, cody martin is accepted to princeton, HANNAH MONTANA does to stanford.

and lara jean wants to study english lit. she never says “i want to go to stanford because of their great english lit program”. it’s only “i want to go to stanford because my boyfriend is going and i have no other life outside of him

fine. make your characters seem awesome by making them go to awesome colleges. but still. this is upseting.

you know how awesome it is to hear UVA, the college I've always wanted to go to, in a published book? and for them to just rip it away- espeically when UVA is so attainable?? Yea yea movie directors, i get it, UVA isn't good enough for you. whatever.

They had AT LEAST 5 MONTAGES. 5. FIVE. WHO NEEDS THAT MANY MONTAGES. To quote my friend "the movie is all montage and 30 mins of plot" AND I CAN'T FIND IT IN MYSELF TO DISAGREE WITH HER.

AND THE DANCES. I REALLY DIDN’T NEED TO SEE NOAH CENTINEO DO WHATEVER HE CALLS “DANCING” IN 2 MONTAGES. I know everyone fell in love with noah in the first movie, but i’m pretty sure everyone fell out of love with him in this one.

again, i know nothing about movies, but 5 montages?? it seems like you're just filling space and trying to make everything seem ✨awesome✨ and ✨amazing✨. SURE. everything might be awesome and amazing, but this movie was 1 HR AND 55 MINS. and you decided to add 1 HR of montages? WHy. AND. one of them was in slowmo. i can't

THEY HAD VOICE OVERS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MOVIE. sure. 1 at the begin and 1 at the end, I think that's cute. BUT THE WHOLE MOVIE?? WHY. like bruh- have a focus.

literally did anyone read the freaking book? Remember how- in the book right? Margot was actually really not ok with Trina bc she's sort of replacing their mom? and Margot is rlly not ok with it but gets over it?? see how that was summarized in like 5 seconds in the movie? Oh i'm sorry you used all your time for the movie making STUPID MONTAGES but can we get some actually emotionally beats next time?? thanks.

ok this is a big problem i have with the movie. in the 3rd book, peter tries to have a relationship with his dad who ran away from him years ago. He struggles with that relationship the whole book. This is good stuff. people can relate to this. the scene in the diner where peter “confronts” his dad was CRINGEY. It could be noah’s acting but i couldn’t take him seriously. AND HE FORGIVES HIS DAD AFTER 30 SECONDS. the movie tries to include these smaller storylines but can’t because of the time limit. i’m no screenwriter, but i’m sure there could have been a way to subtly move that plot line during the entire movie rather than that one conversation in the diner

and in the book, peter has to train for lacrosse so he has to eat healthy which stresses him out. i specifically remember him getting mad at someone (maybe it was john ambrose, i don’t remember fully) for EATING HIS CARROTS. this just shows that peter has a life too. he has to worry about lacrosse along with losing lj. but no, the movie makes him look like the perfect boyfriend who has no other worries in life except for the girl in front of him

remember how- in the book (right?? bc they had a book to go off of???) Stormy was a part of the 3rd book? like a BIG part?? They LITEALLY just used her as John Ambrose's grandmother (WHICH IM PRETTY SURE THEY DIDN'T EVEN DO IN THE MOVIES). literally, stormy and john ambrose were throw away characters in the second movie and i am infurriated. BUT ALSO I LOVE JOHN AMBROSE HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO HIM??

and remember, how in the book, how the dog's name is "Jamie Fox-Pickle" and they changed it to HENRY??? where is the flavor. what was the reason. SERIOUSLY.

BUT ALSO. CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG BUT THERE WAS A POINT IN THE PLOT WHERE PETER'S MOM TOLD LARA JEAN TO BREAK UP WITH PETER. DOES NO ONE ELSE REMEBER THAT?? AND THEY CUT IT ALL OUT OF THE SCRIPT?? LIKE WHY. WHAT WAS THE REASON.

ok those are my biggest book grievances I think. but lemme just say, they NEVER went to NEW YORK. They literally wrote that in for the purposes of NYU. in the book, Chris and Lara Jean DRIVE to UNC because that's ATTAINABLE. BC THEY'RE STATE UNIVERSITIES. ANYWAYS

LJ’s and Chris’s spontaneous trip to unc showed their friendship in a good way. I never really liked chris as a friend to lj but during the trip, they are besties and it shows. the movie tries to do that in ny but peter is also in ny for some reason. she should have fell in love with ny WITHOUT peter at her side nagging her to sneak out and go on a date. she should have spent more time with chris rather than thinking about peter while she was watching the band.

the scene where Lara Jean is in New York and at the party and she sees the band? To all the boys I've loved before: Always and forever?? more like To all the boys I've loved before: gay awakening time.

when they moved the pink couch to the subway? WHy? They wanted snazzy pics.

when Lara Jean and Peter were making up and it was a really cute sequence AND THEN THEY MADE HER LOSE HER V CARD. FINE. I GET HOW THAT'S REALISTIC BUT IT WAS A CUTE SCENE. MY FRIEND ALMOST STARTED CRYING AND THEN LJ LOST HER V CARD AND WE COULDN'T STOP SCREAMING.

this is different from what was in the book (for the 100th time). In the book, they don’t do it and it shows that you can be in a high school relationship without being physical. I strongly appreciate that message. This darn movie had to have her lose her v card. WHY. IT ADDED NOTHING TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THE YEARBOOK SIGNING WAS SYMBOLIC ENOUGH

the montage where it's a montage of all of lara jean's and peter's cute moments?? ok fine. that was cute. but they literally just took scenes from past movies. imagine the impact if we like hidden moments from their relationships. maybe they're laughing in the car together. maybe they're watching they sunset. maybe peter is looking at her lovingly while she sleeps. WHAT IF. it WASN'T a montage of all the "bigger" moments of their relationship, and we got to see them just exist.

UGH. THE VOICE OVER AT THE END OF THE MOVIE IS SO CRINGEY I CAN'T

"WE AREN'T LIKE OTHER COUPLES. NOT US, LARA JEAN AND PETER KAVINSKY. BECAUSE WE HAVE SOMETHING BETWEEN US. WRITING LOVE LETTERS" please. b freaking s

Some redeemable qualities

while i didn't like most of the songs, "like me better" by lauv will always be loved. especially since it's a call back from the first movie?? I can ftw

WHY WASN’T “LIKE ME BETTER” THEIR SONG???? I really thought it was a good song to be their song and they referenced it in the beginning. No offense to the “beginning middle and end” people, but i felt no attachment to that song.

they customized her phone. it looked like it was a 7 (idk rlly, i don't know crap abt iphones) but they customized it. Granted, I KNOW lara jean would be the one with the aesthetic background with color coded folder, but still- they did give her relevant apps. some to note include; tiktok, spotify, instagram, netflix, notes, messages, facetime, maps, whatsapp and the STANFORD APP?? whatever- i'm chill.

they did make lara jean make choices so that was good.

the prom ask?? That was cute. with the pancakes??

at the end when Peter played the song even though earlier he didn't like it?? I liked that. i liked that a lot. ok fine i more than liked that a lot. There are multiple texts where my friends are screaming at each other. In fact, 26 separate messages.

chris in general. granted, she was more present in the books, but i'll take what i can get.

some notable quotes by her, the queen

"I'm dead inside"

not wanting to do a gigantic walk down from the stairs and asking the boys not to turn around

peter said he liked lara jean's forehead kisses and that reminded me of emma chamberlain so that's a positive only bc of emma

I remembered that they were the class of 2021, and I'M class of 2021 and it just hit for a second.

my friend cried over their graduation but i felt nothing bc we're literally living in a pandemic and chances of me getting a real graduation?? we'll see

again, these are all just my opinion. my friend doesn't like the movie bc she says she's sad and bitter and seeing these cute couples makes her feel lonely but i'm just diappointed. the books were GOOD. they were gold.

there was so much they could’ve done with the movies, and i just feel like they didn’t deliver on anything. Jenny Han, i’m sorry. The movie overall, ik someone who cried about it and someone else who gave it 7/10. props for them but jeez i just wish for more.

ok but that’s the show folk. i mean, obviously everything i said was opinion and literally don’t listen to anything i’ve said. BUT. feel free to add what you hated or loved abt the movie too. thanks. i love you guys. “always and forever” :,)

p.s- omg not them ripping off taylor swift. jk jk. ok bye

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lonelypond · 5 years

Text

Midnight Question

Love Live, NicoMaki, 2.2k, 1/1

A/N: This is perhaps the start of an AU that takes some themes from my Idol Protection Program AU, throws in a dose of Terrace House, and Maki gets to choose music instead of medicine. And the future will factor in the second season of Love Live Sunshine.I also wanted to write something short for our favorite redhead's birthday, I just finished it a bit early. I'm posting it so I don't talk myself out of it. Now back to jazz.

Summary: Otonokizaka Second Year student Nishikino Maki runs into some academic trouble. What's behind her slump?

Midnight Question

R: Hey Maki Maki, what’s up?

Nishikino Maki picked up her phone, frowning. She’d just seen Hoshizora Rin at school and her goofy ginger BFF and Rin’s girlfriend, Koizumi Hanayo were planning to hit three different ramen shops tonight to celebrate Rin’s highest grade on a project ever. So there should be no time for interrupting Maki with casual chatter.

M: Working.

R: Studying?

Maki hated lying so she didn’t. She also didn’t clarify. She did hit pause on the track she’d been composing on her Korg synth.

M: Not exactly. Aren’t you and Hanayo restaurant touring tonight?

R: We are. Just resting between bowls. And we want to know why I got a better score than you on the project.

M: You worked hard, Rin (^^)ｂ

R: You didn’t.

Maki didn’t reply.

R: Do you miss Nico that much ╥﹏╥

Yes, Maki missed Yazawa Nico, her very busy, very talented girlfriend, and member of last year’s Otonokizaka graduating class. Contrary to the opinion of her family and friends, that was not why Maki, the pride of the Nishikinos, former top student was now treading water smack in the middle of her class. But letting them think Maki’s academic slump was about Nico kept them from getting too nosy. And Nico, now an executive producer and rising star resident of the 𝝁’s inspired inaugural season of Idol House, had been too busy to ask about Maki’s schoolwork. Maki made sure Nico was thinking about other things when they had dates. Because Maki was too often thinking about other things and too little anywhere near Nico. And now, thanks to Rin, Maki felt a wave of longing, to have Nico sitting there, headphones slotted in next to Maki’s, listening to Maki’s latest creations, suggesting a chord, occasionally reaching over to run her fingers across Maki’s neck, ruffling hair, glowing at Maki when the tune reached its full potential, leaning in now that Maki had...but that was fantasy Nico. Actual Nico met Maki for burgers and midnight makeout sessions every couple weeks when she was free and in Tokyo. As discontent started to froth in Maki’s stomach, her phone buzzed her out of the Nico haze.

R: So that’s a yes. Call her.

M: It’s more complicated than that.

R: ＝(￣□￣;)⇒ WITH NICO? WHAT HAPPENED? IS IT THAT AKI-SAN GIRL.

M: No, no Rin, don’t start rumors. Nico’s fine, just busy. So am I. We text everyday.

R: (⊙︿⊙✿)

Maki sighed.

M: Enjoy your night. I’ll tell you sometime soon. EVERYTHING’S OKAY.

R: If you say so (๑´╹‸╹`๑)

R: We’re here for you, you know, me and Kayo-chin (っ⇀⑃↼)っ

M: I know.

M: ₍ఠ ͜ఠ₎ Thanks

R: Get some sleep, Maki-chan ꒰◍ᐡᐤᐡ◍꒱

Maki put her phone down. Don’t think about Nico, she told herself, get back to work.

###

Hours since the Rin text chat...Maki reached up to slide her headphones off. Her parents were probably at the hospital, she might have eaten something, what time was it? Sadly, ramen sounded good. Rin would probably know what Maki could keep up here with her electric tea kettle that wouldn’t taste like cardboard and worms. Prep for college. Maki shoved her seat back...college, more books, less Nico, and another year of high school still…

The NicoTone...Maki glanced at the text.

N: Ladder

Nico was here. And not at the front door. It had been half a year since Maki had snuck Nico into her room this way...Maki pulled open her bottom desk drawer. Yep, the fire ladder was still there. She took it to the window, made sure it was braced, and lowered the rungs, watching out the window as Nico scrambled up. The tiny singer pulled herself up, swung her legs over the window, and then sat back, “Hey.” Her long, black hair was pulled into a ponytail under a pink 𝝁’s ballcap, she was wearing a loose gray sweatshirt over a black bra, capris leggings that looked like Samurai armor, and pink kicks. Sporty casual. A big switch from the business formal Maki had gotten used to seeing her in when they'd meet after Nico finished all day meetings.

“Nico?” Maki impulsively hugged Nico, a sweaty, tempting musk pushing sleep even further away. Then Nico wiggled loose.

“Good guess...now why are you flunking out of high school?” Nico’s eyes were narrowed and much darker, both in color and mood.

“I’m not flunking…” Maki balled her hands into fists, “What did Rin tell you?”

“Her grades are higher than yours and you miss Nico so much you cry yourself to sleep every night.” Nico pushed herself out of the window, examining Maki’s laptop and synth setup curiously. “Got any snacks up here?”

“In my backpack.” Maki pointed, exasperated. The 𝝁’s rumor mill aka Lily White, Rin, Nozomi, and Umi, continued to function at rocket speed. “I don’t cry myself to sleep.”

Nico grabbed Maki’s backpack, bounced onto Maki’s bed, made herself a nest in the pillows, and started digging for calories. “So Rin DID score higher than you?”

“Yes.” Maki sat, closing tabs on her laptop.

Nico whistled, “Do your parents know?”

“Not yet.”

“Are they also going to call Nico up and accuse her of neglecting you?” Nico’s eyes were brighter but not happier.

“I told Rin we were fine. Look!” Maki slid her desk chair closer to Nico, offering her phone.

Nico unwrapped a cupcake with one hand, Maki’s phone in the other, her voice suddenly chilling.“Why are you texting Tsubasa? About lyrics?”

Maki froze. “Uh…” Oh right, you could see at least 6 ongoing conversations from that screen.

“Uh?” Nico bit into the cupcake, threw Maki’s phone down the bed, and spoke while chewing, “It’s no wonder you don’t miss Nico. Everyone’s ‘texting’ you.” She pulled a pillow in front of her, between them, chin pushing down into it, mouth twisted, eyebrow raised, “I thought the latest A-Rise song sounded 𝝁’s nostalgic....it’s not just because Tsubasa’s mad crushing on you or Honoka or...is it.”

“Tsubasa’s not crushing on…” Maki leaned from chair to bed.

“Maki.” Nico’s voice snapped.

Maki had a sudden thought and put her knees on the bed, crawling Nico-ward, “Do we have to talk right now?” Maki paused, feeling a little silly but somewhat feral, and decided to go all in with a wink, shaking her head, curls bobbing, eyelashes fluttering, coyly gazing at Nico, which rated an eye roll from her visitor, “I’ve missed you, Nico-chan. You look so cute on my laptop screen.”

Nico snorted and dropped Maki’s backpack to the floor, “Watch Nico on a bigger screen. It’s worth it. You’ll be saying sexy.”

“Sexy.” Maki mouthed it slowly, tongue flicking, desperate, close enough to Nico that she could feel her girlfriend’s breath on her lips, and then Maki forgot she had any kind of plan and surged forward. Nico was here, close enough to…

And Maki was flipped, Nico had taken the moment when Maki scrambled forward, off balance, to drop the redhead to the side, rolling Maki on her back after a brief wrestle, and straddling her waist, “Nope. Nico came to talk.” Nico only sounded slightly smug.

Maki pouted, Nico laughed, “Nico missed Maki” and there was a quick kiss and Maki surged up, but Nico had her solidly pinned, “but Nico seems to have missed Maki turning into a two timing delinquent.”

“I AM NOT.” Maki couldn’t help it, she shouted, and Nico’s finger was on her lips.

“Shush.”

“I am not two timing.” Maki could feel her jaw clench.

A sigh, “I know. What are you doing?”

“Writing music.”

Maki was watching Nico’s face and she would have sworn Nico was angry, but her voice was full of casual disinterest, “For A-Rise?”

Maki was getting uncomfortable. She was only wearing boxers and a tank top and Nico was very warm and actually touching her. And Maki had had too many dreams that started like this recently. It was why she’d given up sleeping. She wanted Nico to shift, to a more advantageous position for...conversation, but no, Nico was persisting in using her like a tatami mat. All while Nico was being silent and judgy and thinking. Maki was too much a bundle of nerves not to be pacing right now. Which Nico knew. And yet, here she was, cold bloodedly dropping one hand on Maki’s shoulder, the other on her hip to discourage fidgeting.

“Nico…” It wasn’t a whine, not really...

“Writing music for…” Nico’s chin jutted with the verbal nudge.

“A-Rise...a couple of singers they know...I haven’t been doing it for long…” Way to sound confident, Nishikino, Maki thought as her voice quivered.

A staring match. Maki still thinking Nico might be mad, the eyebrow was at low grade twitch level, but Nico’s voice remained terribly, terribly calm.

“And Nico is the last to know.”

“No one knows, Nico-chan…”

“Tsubasa does…” Ah, now we were mad, Maki realized, as Nico pounced forward, causing Maki’s heart to race with wild hope, but then Nico just pushed up and was back sitting in the window, arms crossed, before Maki could react. “You could have written a song for Nico.” Finally, impatience cracked Nico’s tone.

“I did, before…” Maki pointed to the laptop, “You can listen to them…”

Nico’s eyes widened, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’re talking to professional producers now.” Maki knew she sounded petty, but it had stung, the first time she saw Nico working with a talent the Idol House producers had set her up with, “And you didn’t ask me to.” Maki also knew she sounded bitter, but this was a grudge she’d been holding in for the past three months of filming. “You and Papa made sure I have nothing to do with Idol House.”

Nico dropped her head, then sprang to her feet, Maki watching fascinating as the genuine YAZAWA NICO raged across her bedroom, hands flying, voice cracking, nearly hopping with rage, “I WAS LETTING YOU BE A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT.”

Maki wasn’t sure if her parents were home and she didn’t care. Nico was here and she was finally noticing Maki the musician again, “THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT.’

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN 17 YET.”

“I KNOW WHAT I WANT.”

Nico hesitated, hands hovering by her side, she and Maki were nose to nose and her eyes were deep ruby temptations but Maki dug her nails into her palms.

“WHAT?” Nico inhaled, “WHAT DO YOU WANT, MAKI?.”

“YOU. I WANT YOU.”

Shocked, Nico retreated back to the window, “You want to be Nico’s child bride?”

“Yes.” Wait, Maki wasn’t a child, that was annoying, but Nico said bride, was that a proposal…

Nico watched Maki for a minute as the redhead raced through thoughts, paying no attention to her, then spoke at a normal volume. “That wasn’t a proposal.”

“Oh.” Maki thought for another minute, grabbed Nico’s hand, dragged her over to her desk, yanked open a drawer and pulled out a jewelry box, “This is. Marry me, Nico-chan.”

The ring was platinum, with a cluster of pale pink gems designed to look like cherry blossoms. Maki had seen the ring at an art fair and knew it was meant for Nico’s hand. Like Nico, it was unique, an original, the designer had only made one, beautiful, striking, irreproducible, breathtaking, lustrous, every adjective that suited Nico. Was Nico crying?

“Nico-chan?” Maki whispered, maybe she was down on one knee but it was only to see if Nico was crying, taking off the ball cap, gently sweeping strands of Nico’s silky hair back.

“You’re impossible.” Nico was bawling. Her outbursts no longer terrified Maki as much as the first few times, but it did make her cautious, Maki put the ring box on her desk, and took Nico in her arms, sitting them both on the bed. Nico had her head on Maki’s shoulder. Maki could feel her skin getting wet, although Nico’s crying had turned silent, “What is Nico going to do with you?”

“Marry me.” Maki suggested, kissing Nico’s hair. “We run away together, I write songs for you, you sing, we tour, we teach our children all the words to the 𝝁’s songs…”

“Children?” Nico sat up.

Maki shrugged.

Deft, delicate fingers stroked Maki’s hair, Nico whispering in her ear, “Nico needs to visit more. You daydream too much.”

Maki just hummed, squeezing Nico tighter, enjoying the sable hairs tickling her nose, and the fruity shampoo Nico always used. “Just enough.”

Red eyed with crying, Nico tried to recover some of her dignity, tapping Maki on the shoulder, “Nico’s songs need to better than Tsubasa’s.”

Nico hadn’t said no. Nico hadn’t said no. Maki giggled, silly and triumphant. “Of course they will be, they’re Nico-chan’s,” With the gentlest of touches, she turned Nico’s head so their lips were practically brushing, and with the softest of whispers, confessed again, “So am I.”

#nicomaki #Nishikino Maki #Yazawa Nico #Hoshizora Rin #author is a raging sentimentalist #etc #hello there

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nakialevi-blog · 6 years

Text

Nakia Levi Readerly Exploration #1

Due Date: September 14, 2018

Titles of Readings: “Toward an educationally relevant theory of literacy learning: Twenty years of inquiry” by Brian Cambourne, and “Building a Literacy Community: The Role of Literacy and Social Practice in Early Childhood Programs” by Susan J. Britsch and Daniel R. Meier

Cambourne’s main takeaway: Certain conditions that promote oral language acquisition can be adapted into the literacy classroom to similarly prompt literacy learning. At the heart of these conditions lies student engagement, which is the essential component to literacy success.

Cambourne nugget: “How could a brain which could master such complex learning in the world outside school be considered deficient with respect to the kinds of learning that were supposed to occur inside the school?” (Cambourne, 1995, p.183). I found this quote and discussion surrounding Cambourne’s statement fascinating, as he related this disconnect in learning to the way in which things are taught in different “settings.”

Britsch and Meier’s main takeaway: Literacy learning must involve active student participation. It is important for teachers to stray away from rigid instruction and strive to make literacy a creative and proactive process for students to achieve ownership of learning.

Britsch and Meier nugget: “…literacy becomes more than simply encoding and decoding print on the page; it makes literacy into a ‘life world’ where children matter” (Britisch & Meier, 1999, p.214). This quote that concludes the article was really a game changer, as it encompasses the whole purpose of the text. It helped me to rethink the goal of literacy instruction and refocus it from an inward understanding to an outward expression of understanding, where thoughts and insights are shared within the class community for the benefit of all students.

Pre-reading author research:

About the author of “Toward an educationally . . .”

Brian Cambourne: “He has since become one of Australia’s most eminent researchers of literacy and learning . . . Brian devoted his research to literacy learning and teaching. His major interest is in professional development for literacy education and he is committed to the idea of co-learning and co-researching with teachers” (Cambourne, n.d.).

Having no prior background knowledge of Cambourne and his work, I quickly realized that he is highly recognized in education for his literacy research. Gaining this insight before reading his article allowed me to appreciate its credibility, and it also built excitement and anticipation to learn his perceptions and conclusions regarding teaching and learning literacy in the classroom.

About the authors of “Building a Literacy Community. . .”

Susan J. Britsch: Britsch is a professor of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at Purdue University and has done a significant amount of research, including, but not limited to the topics of English Language Learning and visual literacy. She has several publications surrounding these topics, and more! In addition, many of her project focus on literacy in some way (Purdue University, n.d.). From this information, it is evident that Britsch is well qualified and educated in the area of literacy, which results in a very relevant text.

Daniel R. Meier: Dr. Meier is an Elementary Education professor at San Francisco State University and “[h]is research interests are in young children's multilingual and literacy development, narrative and memoir, early childhood international education, and teacher research and inquiry” (San Francisco State University, n.d.).

It is helpful to have this context and biographical knowledge about Dr. Meier as it allowed me to see the personal connection between his field and passions and the research which he conducted.

This was my first readerly exploration, so I chose to begin with a task that would better prepare me for reading the text. The author information above was the result of my pre-reading author research. The formula I used for this exploration was:

Engage in the reading process to increase the likelihood of text comprehension (pre-reading, reading, responding, exploring, applying) + Before you read, learn something about the author(s) of the assigned course reading(s) and note how what you learned impacts your motivation and/or your purpose for reading

As stated above in the formula, I began the process by doing some background research on the authors of the texts, in which I included the most relevant information that would be helpful in adding meaning to my reading. Since the main idea of these articles centers around learning literacy, I used this as my trigger word in my pre-reading author research. I included to the best I could any information regarding accomplishments or titles that dealt with literacy teaching and learning. Doing this research allowed me to tap into the minds of the authors in order to better understand their motivation and passions behind literacy, and to put a face and context to what were only names in my mind. After reading some background information, I preceded to read the articles and highlighted main ideas and results. The reading itself was not challenging, as it was very interesting and though provoking, however, I did initially struggle to find the key connection between the articles. In the search for this essential connection, I skimmed the articles and reviewed my highlighted information to draw conclusions about the two pieces. I concluded that the one main idea presented surrounds the truth of student engagement in active literacy learning, and the importance of the bigger picture of literacy in the lives of children. Something that I will strive to implement into my future literacy classroom is the promotion of an environment of outward learning – where students take initiative and participate actively with their own thoughts as well as those of their peers. Overall, these articles and knowledge of the authors enhanced my understanding of both the student and teacher roles in the literacy classroom, as well as demonstrated a successful means of thinking about and doing literacy in the classroom and beyond. From incorporating this particular readerly task into my reading process, I realized how beneficial it is to have some sort of author background prior to reading a text, and I will continue to adopt this practice into my life as a reader.

This photo was taken to capture a moment of pre-reading author research!

References

About Brian Cambourne. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cambournesconditionsoflearning.com.au/about-brian-cambourne.html

Britsch, S. J., & Meier, D. R. (1999). Building a Literacy Community: The Role of Literacy and Social Practice in Early Childhood Programs. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(4), 209-215.

Cambourne, B. (1995). Toward an educationally relevant theory of literacy learning: Twenty years of inquiry. Reading Teacher, 49(3), 182.

Daniel Meier. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://edd.sfsu.edu/content/daniel-meier https://edd.sfsu.edu/content/daniel-meier

Susan Britsch //. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://collaborate.education.purdue.edu/edci/britsch/default.aspx

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setepenre-set · 7 years

Text

Safe If We Stand Close Together: Safety Instructions Not Included (chapter 7)

The Roxanne and Megamind are friends as children AU.

K+ rating

AO3 | FFN

(Follows Safe If We Stand Close Together and Happy Returns.)

There aren’t any guidelines for being best friends with an alien, no map key, no index, no safety instructions.

Roxanne tries, so very hard, to get it right in spite of this.

Syx and Roxanne linger outside the doorway of the classroom that day after school until everyone but Miss Anderson is gone.

As the last of their classmates disappears down the hallway, Roxanne glances over at Syx. He looks pale, but when his eyes meet hers, he nods.

Roxanne takes his hand and gives it a quick squeeze, then lets go of him and ducks back into the classroom, leaving Syx hidden in the hall.

Miss Anderson is at her desk, sorting through papers; she looks up when Roxanne comes in.

“I just wanted,” Roxanne says, moving to Miss Anderson’s desk, “to say thank you. For letting Syx do the demonstration with the Read-Write today. At our old school…” she trails off, making a face.

“You both had a rather rough time of it there, it seems,” Miss Anderson says with a sympathetic smile.

“Yes,” Roxanne says. “Especially Syx. Miss Simmons—she didn’t treat him like a person.”

Miss Anderson frowns, her head tilting slightly; she clearly doesn’t completely understand.

“Because he doesn’t look human,” Roxanne says. “She didn’t treat him like a person because he doesn’t look human. She called him ‘it’.”

Miss Anderson sucks in a sharp breath, looking horrified. She shakes her head—a small movement, more an expression of abhorrence, rather than disbelief, Roxanne is pretty sure. For a small moment, her mouth works as though she might say something.

“And she’s not the only one,” Roxanne says, before she can. “When Syx was little, a bunch of people from a government lab tried to get him classified as non-sentient.”

Miss Anderson looks pale, and rather as if she might be sick.

“They said he was like a parrot,” Roxanne says. “Some kind of—a trained animal. They made him take tests. There was a hearing and everything before the judge finally said he was sentient.”

“I’m so sorry,” Miss Anderson says faintly.

“Yes,” Roxanne says. “Well—Syx did fine with the tests, of course, but—that’s why Syx is so worried about his brother. Because—reading and stuff like that doesn’t come easy to him, the way it does Syx, and what if he doesn’t do so good on the tests?”

“Oh,” Miss Anderson says, “but—if Syx has already been classified as sentient, then surely his brother—”

“They’re not blood relatives,” Roxanne says. “And he isn’t the same species as Syx. He looks less like humans than Syx does. That’s why he doesn’t go to school.”

“—I’m so sorry," Miss Anderson says again.

Roxanne swallows.

“Yeah,” she says. “Me, too. They turned in his brother’s sentience paperwork, but it’s going to take a while. And his brother really wants to go to school.”

Again, Miss Anderson seems to be trying to find the words to say. Syx, though, comes into the room now, just as he and Roxanne planned.

“Roxanne?” he says, hovering in the doorway. “The bus is going to be leaving soon.”

“Right, sorry,” Roxanne says. She puts on her backpack and starts to walk to the door. “I was just—we were talking about the Read-Write, and your brother’s paperwork.”

(it’s important that Miss Anderson knows Roxanne’s not telling her this behind Syx’s back)

Syx makes a noise of understanding, and nods.

“I hope your brother’s paperwork gets approved very soon, Syx,” Miss Anderson says. “I look forward to him joining us here at school.”

“Yes,” Syx says, and bites his lip. “If he does get to come to sh—school—would you let him use the Read-Write for class?”

Miss Anderson blinks.

“I certainly would,” she says slowly. “And—your brother…it sounds as if he has some form of dyslexia? The Read-Write is an assistive technology device. Schools are legally required to allow students with disabilities to use their assistive technology devices.”

The sheer and utter relief on Syx’s face is almost painful to look at.

“Thank you,” he breathes.

“You really should patent the device, you know, Syx,” Miss Anderson says, “it’s quite amazing; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Syx looks as if Roxanne could knock him over with a feather. She takes his hand; he glances down at their joined hands, then up at her face.

“—ah!” he says, “I—yes, right; we should—the bus—”

Roxanne leads him to the door, and out into the hall.

“So?” she says in an undertone. “That went good, right?”

“Yes,” Syx says dazedly. “Yes, it did.”

Roxanne squeezes his hand. He gives a breathless kind of laugh, shakes his head, and squeezes back.

“Phase two of the plan tomorrow,” he says.

“If Minion is ready,” Roxanne agrees as the very impatient bus driver motions them onto the bus.

“I wonder if you could adapt the Read-Write for other people,” Roxanne says thoughtfully, as the bus pulls out of the school driveway.

Syx looks at her questioningly.

“Like—the scan part of it, instead of having it in cursive, you could have it in bigger print, for people who have trouble seeing. Or if you added a voice to it, then it could read it out loud to you…”

Syx’s face lights up.

“Oooh, I like that!” he says. “What else?”

“Oh—” Roxanne frowns, considering. “Well, you could—”

The next day, Syx’s backpack looks very full again, and he puts it very carefully on his lap when he sits down next to Roxanne on the bus. Roxanne looks at him sharply and he nods.

She gulps, her stomach flipping over with nerves.

Syx tightens his hold on the backpack tightly. Roxanne puts her hand on top of his and takes a deep breath.

Okay.

Okay, they can do this.

They can do this.

Roxanne’s nerves wind themselves tighter and tighter; by the time the lunch bell rings, she’s almost ready to scream. And if she’s feeling like this, she can’t imagine how Syx must feel.

The other kids file out the door and into the hall; Roxanne and Syx move aside into the Science Corner and wait for them to go. Miss Anderson, seeing them waiting, looks at them questioningly.

“Miss-Anderson-may-we-please-talk-to-you-about-something-important,” Syx says, words running together.

Miss Anderson blinks.

“Yes, of course,” she says.

“Is it okay if I close the door?” Roxanne asks. “It’s—we don’t want anyone else to overhear.”

“All right,” Miss Anderson says slowly.

Roxanne closes the door and goes back to stand beside Syx.

“You remember we told you about Syx’s brother,” Roxanne says.

“Of course, yes,” Miss Anderson says.

Roxanne glances at Syx; he’s looking pale again, and clutching his backpack so tightly his knuckles have turned white.

“You remember the first day of shool,” Syx says.

(he doesn’t even try to pronounce the word correctly; Roxanne can tell he’s fighting simply to get the words out.)

“You remember—what you told me,” he says, voice tight, “about show and tell.”

Roxanne shifts her weight so that she’s closer to Syx, presses their shoulders together. He takes a quick, uneven breath and, like he’s tearing off a bandage, unzips his backpack.

“I’d like you to meet my brother,” he says. “Minion.”

Minion squints slightly when Syx takes his sphere out of the backpack—adjusting to the light after the darkness of being inside the bag. His eyes meet Roxanne’s, and she gives him the most reassuring smile she can. Minion turns towards Miss Anderson.

“um—hello,” he says, voice nervous. “It’s, uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

Miss Anderson’s eyes go very wide.

“Oh,” she says faintly, “oh.”

She swallows hard, shakes her head.

“—and I assumed you were a pet,” she says, “I am so sorry.”

Minion flutters his fins in a surprised motion..

“Oh,” he says. “That’s—thank you?”

Syx puts his ball down on the desk.

“But, really,” Minion says, “we were—I do pretend to be a pet mostly; we figured it would be safer, but—”

He hesitates, and rolls the ball so he can glance at Syx, who touches the tips of his fingers, quick and light, to the sphere. Then Minion looks again at Miss Anderson.

“—but I want to stop doing that now,” he says. “I want—I want to go to school with Sir and Miss Roxanne.”

This time, when he rolls the ball, it’s Roxanne Minion glances at. She touches her fingertips to the glass the same way Syx did.

“And we thought,” Roxanne says, “that maybe you would help us make that happen.”

Miss Anderson swallows visibly, and then she nods.

“Yes,” she says, “yes, of course, I will.”

Beside Roxanne, Syx lets out a shuddery breath, the tense line of his shoulders relaxing. Roxanne takes his hand and holds it tightly.

“Oh,” he says, sounding near tears. “Oh.”

He can’t seem to say anything else.

Things do get a bit—messy—after that, but, then, they always knew that was going to happen if they used the plan.

Miss Anderson has Minion rest on her desk until the end of school, and then she asks Syx to stay after school. She doesn’t ask Roxanne to stay, too, but she doesn’t seem surprised when Roxanne does.

And then the phone calls start—first Miss Anderson calls the office and has the superintendent, principal, and the school’s special education teacher all come to her classroom, and then she calls the Warden and Dr. Kelley, and they both come down to the school.

The Warden is glowering and gnawing at his mustache, and Dr. Kelley looks—well, Roxanne always thought that hopping mad was just a weird thing that people said, but Dr. Kelley looks mad enough to start hopping at any moment.

The adults all send Syx, Minion, and Roxanne out into the hall, close the door, and argue. Luckily, the classroom door is thin enough that when Roxanne tries to eavesdrop, this time she’s able to hear some of it.

“—even without citizenship and sentience documentation—”

“—legally required not to share that information about our students, Dr. Kelley; they’d have to have a warrant—”

“—called an Individualized Education Program; all children who receive special education will—”

“—wanting to speak to you concerning Syx as well; he’s very gifted; an IEP for him would—”

Roxanne doesn’t hear who it is who decides to call her dad, and she’s not completely sure if he’s there as her dad or as a lawyer.

By then, the whole thing’s gone on long enough that it’s almost time for Roxanne’s mother to be home from work, so Roxanne’s dad calls her, and she comes down to the school, too, and joins in the—by now very heated—discussion. Roxanne’s still out in the hall with Syx and Minion, but they can all hear the upraised voices.

Eventually, it’s over, and the adults all come out into the hall. Roxanne’s mother takes her wrist in a very tight grip.

“Does Minion get to go to school?” Roxanne blurts out, as he mother starts to walk quickly down the hall.

Her mother doesn’t answer, so she glances back at the rest of them. She catches Miss Anderson’s eye, and Miss Anderson gives her a very small nod.

Roxanne grins and lets her mother pull her the rest of the way down the hallway.

Not even her mother’s angry lecture, after they get home, about respecting authority figures and not interfering with Syx and Minion’s parents, can’t dampen Roxanne’s spirits. She doesn’t even try to argue, but just lets her mother go on until she’s finished.

Even when her mother insists that she write the Warden and Dr. Kelley each an apology note, Roxanne doesn’t argue.

The notes she writes are as full of lies as the apology note her parents once made her write to Miss Simmons, but she writes them with a light heart.

The next day, Minion, wearing his robotic suit, stands at the front of the classroom and introduces himself.

Miss Anderson writes his name on the board—in print, first, and then after that she writes it again in cursive.

And then Minion sits down at his own desk.

“I’m grounded for a month,” Roxanne tells Syx, grinning.

“Oh, us, too!” Syx says happily, and Roxanne laughs.

Her mother drives her to the prison after she gets home from work, and marches Roxanne up to the Warden’s office. She hovers angrily in the doorway as Roxanne hands the apology note to him.

His eyebrows go up when he takes it, and his mustache moves thoughtfully, as if he might speak. Finally, though, he just nods.

So Roxanne takes that as her cue to leave, and to let her mother march her down to Dr. Kelley’s office.

Dr. Kelley’s eyebrows snap down when he takes the letter, and he actually reads the whole thing in front of her.

Then he looks up at her, wearing that expression of sardonic amusement.

“You,” he says, “didn’t mean a damn word of this, did you?”

Roxanne hesitates only a moment.

“No,” she says honestly, “I didn’t.”

Behind her, in the doorway, her mother makes an angry noise.

Dr. Kelley glowers at her silently for a long moment.

Then lips twitch, and, to Roxanne’s surprise, he suddenly bursts out laughing.

“Oh, go away, you awful child!” Dr. Kelley covers his face with one hand and waves her out the door.

After Roxanne, Syx, and Minion are all finally un-grounded, Roxanne helps Syx work on creating additional assistive technology features for the Read-Write.

When Syx patents it two months later, he puts her name down on the form as co-creator, and refuses to listen when she tries to convince him to take it off.

Minion does get one of those things the adults were talking about, an IEP. He’s still able to stay in their classroom with them most of the time, but sometimes he goes to see the special education teacher for help with reading and writing. And he’s allowed to use the Read-Write, which really is helpful.

Syx gets one of the IEP things, too; him being allowed to work on other things after he’s finished with his classroom work is one of the things that gets written into his.

Minion is very popular with the other kids—and with the parents of the other kids, too, although it usually takes the adults a little longer to get past the whole fish-and-prosthetic-suit thing than it did the kids.

A month after Minion joins their class, Gary tells them excitedly at lunch that his parents finally are going to let him be in special ed for math.

“They said they didn’t want me getting made fun of,” Gary says, waving a french fry, “but I told them Minion is in special ed, and nobody makes fun of Minion!”

Gary and Minion also join a extra tutoring group for children with learning disabilities at the community center.

When Syx and Roxanne make several more Read-Writes with various experimental features, Minion gives them to the other members of the group so that they can test the devices and suggest improvements.

Minion’s sentience and citizenship paperwork is approved that summer.

Nobody even attempts to contest his sentience.

Roxanne, wearing a nice dress and new shoes that pinch her feet, sits beside Syx during the hearing, holding his hand tightly. When the judge signs the papers, they both jump to their feet excitedly, bouncing up and down and hugging each other.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Roxanne says, as Syx laughs joyfully.

“Sir! Miss Roxanne!”

Minion, robotic suit clanking, moves swiftly towards them, and the two of them pull him into the hug.

the end.

HAPPY DAY NINE OF MY NINE DAYS OF MEGAMIND!!! o<{}( :D~

A big thank you to @siadea for giving me information about special education (during the holidays too!)

Thank you for continuing to read, like, reblog, and comment; I’m so glad to have you guys as my readers! I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to Safety Instructions Not Included!

The Safe If We Stand Close Together universe will continue! The next story in the series is the already-published Terms of Endearment. Following that will be a story called Changing Times (yet to be published as of 12/25/17). While waiting for that fic, you can re-read my story Given Names, which serves as a prequel to it (as well as to Code: Safeword)!

(I plan to continue the Safe If We Stand Close Together universe after that as well; my current outline has it going on through their high school years and into their first year in college!)

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING! <3

#megamind #roxanne #minion #fanfiction #safe if we stand close together #safety instructions not included #child megamind #child roxanne #child minion

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conordakidd · 5 years

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BCT

I’m en route to Fort Benning and I guess it’s a good time to write down everything that happened at Basic Combat Training (BCT). On my first attempt I tried writing everything that happened from the very first day of leaving and realized that a large percentage of it wasn’t interesting and it was taking too much time. So I guess I’ll just condense it and try to jot down the important stuff.

So after waiting , delays at the airport and more waiting I arrived at Fort Jackson and taken to Reception which is a certain place on the base for incoming recruits where we were assigned to dormitories and given our PT uniform and camelbacks. The first five days we woke up super early -around 0330/0400- and proceeded to get shots, uniforms and our first buzz cut. Most of the time we would march around in groups getting issued gear and then at certain parts of the day go to the DFAC for food. It wasn’t really that hot where we were and I was like hey, It’s not that bad. Finally we were done with Reception and boarded a bus with all our issued stuff in a laundry bag that we carried onto the bus and our duffel that was stowed onto another truck. A drill sergeant was on the bus, started screaming at us to put our head into our laundry bag when we sat down and to shut up. You are thinking a million thoughts with the first one being, what is going on? All of a sudden you pull up,the drill sergeant starts screaming at you to get off with your bag and you run down this long street with everybody in your face yelling at you and it is complete pandemonium as everybody is trying to get down the street. The drill sergeants were completely on you foreverything you did wrong. And it was like the entire Red phase where they were on top of you and all sorts of rules were enforced. It definitely sucked in the sense that you got treated like a dumbass 18 year old -which there were plenty of- and had to dumb stuff like run to a place right after lunch and get a pinecone and bring it back. We dove into things pretty quick, probably one of the first few days at basic we picked up the remaining gear we needed and couldn’t bring from reception such as IOTV (bulletproof vest) MOPP gear (chemical top and bottom) rucksack and got issued a gas mask that we would have to carry on us for FTX (Field Training Exercises ( {Anvil,Hammer, Forge} ) and daily training. In our company, which I was in Charlie 3-60th, we split into four platoons in alphabetical order and I wound up in 3rd platoon with “R”. We originally had 3 Drill Sergeants assigned to the daily management of our platoon, SDS Connelango, DS Deck and DS Allen. Connelango was a Ranger who was making his way up the NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) pipeline and would leave less than halfway to take a First Sergeant position, Deck was a Sergeant First Class and was originally was Infantry/Ranger and DS Allen, well to be honest I don’t know much about her since she changed platoons in about the first week but she seemed nice. Our platoon was about 50/50 guys and girls, the majority 18-22 who were doing National Guard or trying to do this as a 20 year career. It definitely was a different dynamic having a lot of girls because it definitely changes the mindset or thought process of why you are going into the military. I never expected to meet someone in the service, and still dont, which delayed me from committing 3.5 years to the military. But it definitely changes things as it goes to being “this is your job.focus.” To social hour mindset which people noticeably followed victim to.

Week 1

First week was a rough introduction to basic. The first three days consisted of endless correction training aka getting “smoked” where you did all these exercises in a row that at times went on for more than an hour. PT which was something different all together, began at 0530 lasted about 1 hour depending on the activity, and would rotate between pull-up exercises on a bar to running on a track. You have to do all these cool exercises like the prone row where you had lie prone on your bellyand push your hands back before the main event exercises of pull-ups or running. If it was a running day good lord. That meant you were doing the stretches on a black track with topographical features. Others would call it a parking lot with rubble and a major depression in it blocked off, but #perspective .

We didn’t take a shower the first night we were there which definitely made me worried and very sweaty, but we eventually got to shower and privileges to the laundry machine which made an interesting time when all we had was sweaty gear. I didn’t think it was fun, maybe other people did I didnt. we got our gear and got tutorials on how to install it and put it all together. I’m terrible with small basic technical stuff like putting together an army bed so it definitely was a struggle and a lot of peer review from the people next to me. We got our gear set and it was ready to go.

Week 2

The second week we pretty much dove into things, which I guess is to be expected with a program that has only 9/10 weeks in it. First we went to the Gas Chamber which was a about 2 miles from barracks with a ruck and some weight on our back. We learned some fundamentals about a chemical attack and what not to do and then went into a gas chamber that had CS gas on the room with our gas mask. Mine really didn’t seal all the way or was too large because the moment I stepped in starting messing with my eyes just a little but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. We did some exercises once we got into the chamber including wallsits and foot fires where you jumped up and down just trying to get some cardio going. We ended up taking off our mask for a couple seconds and immediately you could barely breath, the gas filling up your lungs and making your eyes tear. You had to wait in line to get out and it took a couple minutes outside with fresh air for everything to get back to normal. Everybody was like o yeah that was so easy but I personally thought it was challenging.

Next that weekend was Victory Tower which was this giant fortress looking contraption that had all these ropes and walls that you shimmied up and down in various manners and eventually did one of those rappel type things down a wooden wall. All of it was doable and everybody had to do as a graduation requirement, it was the waiting, anticipation and waiting in line that made it anxiety inducing. You would laugh and be like really if you saw the Tower but it becomes bigger and harder from below the longer you wait and then you realize it wasn’t that bad or bad at all it was the buildup or thinking that made it that much worse.

The last thing we did worth mentioning that week was Fit to Win, which was an obstacle course. It wasn’t that far from battalion so we had to walk there with our rucksacks and it looked like it was about to rain and to me, rain=cool so I was hoping and praying that it was going to rain and it would be somewhat of an interesting walk. Let me tell you this. When it looks like it’s going to rain in South Carolina it’s not. I take that back but there’s a 90% chance that the sun is going to break through and it’s going to be fucking hot. That’s exactly what happened that day where we covered our rucksacks with the tarp we brought and then maybe 30 minutes after we put it down the sun started to come through and try to murder us with intensive UV rays for the entire day. The obstacle course wasn’t bad it had kind of what you would expect to a elementary school to have. Monkey bars where I popped something in my shoulder, a waking balance beam, a cargo net and some other little obstacles that made it vaguely interesting to go through. And again, it was hot.

Week 3

It was either week 3 or week 4 things started to get a little more psychologically challenging. It really wasn’t the activities that started to get to me but the heat and being stuck with a group of people talking in formation about things that either you didn’t care for or didn’t want to talk about and realizing that there was a nice chunk of time at basic. Someone actually made a countdown timer in SECONDS of when graduation was gonna happen. Things like I just didn’t want to hear. But it was finally time to embark on our first Field Training Exercise (FTX) “The Hammer”. Basically we would march 5 miles with a rucksack & M4 to a campsite, dig what would amount to a liveable hole in the ground, and basically practiced simulations of drills we would later conduct. We were in a shaded area most of the time so it really wasn’t that bad. At night, everybody else’s drill sergeants would fuck with them by making them amounted to stop drop and roll type drills😬. Our platoon was let’s just say in flux as our Senior Drill Sergeant got promoted, DS Deck and DS Allen were on “training leave” for a week and a half and DS Shimer who would eventually be our DS had all of 1 day underneath his belt. So all night long we just chilled, some of us with the anticipation of getting fucked with. We didn’t and probably should of just went to bed. When you went to get water in the middle of the night all you heard in the distance was all the stop/drop commands and you were like ooooh. In the real early part of the morning they got us up and smoked us all. I was the back dogging it because I was hungry and I was like can we stop this dumb shit and all of sudden the DS comes starts yelling behind me so I’m like ooh maybe I should start planking for real but apparently she was going after this girl who was like crumpling next me and I was just like ooh the sight and sounds of basic.

Additionally, we started to go to the ranges with our M4 and started to zero our weapons “on ironsights”. Zeroing is the process of aligning your weapon to shoot straight and “on ironsights” is the method of optics your going to aim. Theres a straight tip at the end of your weapon that you used and try to get a straight shot. There’s a lot of corrections and feedback that comes through the whole process and it’s a long day of just shooting and trying to get a weapon that you know is aiming straight on qualification day. It was a super frustrating process there was a limited of time and instruction and you were just thrown in the fire. At the range it was definitely anxiety inducting that I wasn’t gonna get it. But what bothered most was not really having a way to fix it. Because we were a big class, the majority of us didn’t get individualized attention and it wasn’t like we could go on YouTube or call a pro in to help ourselves. In a lot of ways, we were at the mercy at our level of preparation coming in or just good luck.

Week 4

Week 4 picked up pretty much where it ended, trying to zero+group for our M4. This week tho we spent one day at LOMA Range which had actual targets 300 meters away instead of the shooting at pieces of papers that had a super small target in the middle and was proportional sized to represent 300 meters. While I had my hopes up that I would finally zero as this was allegedly easier, I was still super worried that it wasn’t gonna happen. I didn’t know or remember all of the techniques they were talking about and it wasn’t like I was really being helped. O well. On my first attempt it was still a mess and didn’t zero. It was a good range though in terms of shade and temperature and I was trying to pry tips from drill sergeants, so things were working in my favor and I was trying to make it happen. The problem though was that every round of shooting was followed by a 2-3 hour break as other people went to shoot. It was insanely frustrating and not a good feeling. The waiting and sucking wasn’t a good combination. Finally, on the second round I finally zeroed. The coach I had gave me some useful corrections and I somehow managed to get it together. It was a relief because this would be the hardest section of shooting and to get it off my shoulders was big. The second thing we did that of importance was prequalify on ironsights were we went to a range where little signs popped up and we shot them from three different positions. The prone supported, where we lied on our stomach and had the weapon resting on sandbags for 20 shots, the prone unsupported where we lied on our stomach and shot with a sandbag on the magazine for 10 shots and the kneeling where we took a knee and shot for 10. The whole idea behind prequalify was to determine the position you would go during qualifying, even though it didn’t really matter as everybody was going to go, just the people most likely to qualify first would get it out of the way. I didn’t do as bad as I thought I was going to but still didnt qualify. I even had to suffer through a smoke session a very hot one I might add where we had to point, squat down with the weapon still pointing straight and then get in the prone over and over again but I wasn’t worried as I was before. I had a little more breathing room and had a lot of time to qualify.

Week 5

This was the week of qualifying and the anxiety -whether real or imagined- was back. Qualifying would entail going to a range and having to hit targets at different distances 300,250,200,150,100 and 50 and would pop up at different times, sometimes two at a times. Same deal as pre-qual, but this time it counted in order to check the graduation requirement list of qualifying on a M4. It was a long day and to make a long boring story it played out pretty much like the zeroing process went. Didn’t make it-anxiety-waiting-anxiety-last go around make it. It was a good feeling and while the range broke down on the last time I went, and I probably got passed through on a technical error, it still felt good to get it done. After that, we attached a giant scope on top of the M4 called a CCO and began to zero on that later in the week. A CCO is different than ironsights in the sense that it aimed with a red dot in middle and the whole purpose of zeroing was to make sure that that red dot was aligned correctly. Even for me this was not a problem as all you had to do was point the red dot straight and you would hit the target. Instead of being stressed out about making it through, my partner discussed Lamar Jackson and how he was doing in the NFL. It felt good to finally to have non stress day.

Week 6

Week 6 was were it started picking up as we well past being halfway done and there stuff in our immediate future that I didn’t want to do. First there was prequalification and qualification on CCO’s which I’m not going to bore anybody with and “The Anvil” which to me was the hardest thing we did as a platoon. It was three days and two nights and it’s was basically a longer version of “the hammer” but this time our Drill Sergeants straight up smoked us at the most random times of the night and had us doing high crawls and low crawls (look it up, it sucks) on both Asphalt and sand. The MRE’s that I was getting to eat were not filling me up and I was operating on straight will, as I was soo hungry. We had to do land navigation the last full day of the FTX and I was in straight zombie-mail it in mode as I was hungry and in no mood or condition to be a explorer at that very moment. Where there is a will there is way. And actually, on our way to land navigation this young looking guy in a drill sergeants uniform starts yelling at us as we (perhaps just me) are trekking on water and maybe an energy bar and we are like who is this guy. It turns out it’s our new Drill Sergeant Vork whose taglinw through basic who would be “ Cheese + Rice” whenever somebody did something ridiculous. Interesting guy. But I got through it and somehow made it back to the CTA in one piece. Uncomfortable but I did it.

Things got really fun but at the same time really hot. It was early October but the sun was still beaming. The week before we got a preview for our FTX that it was going to be 98 at The ANvil and while It wasn’t that hot for it, Week 7 was definitely hotter so it was inthe 90’s at the very least. We had two events on the calendar for the week as usual being Buddy Team Live Fire and Omaha, both of which turned out to be really fun and totally worth sitting in the heat (at times) for. Buddy Team Live Fire was essentially a quick 2v2 paintball in your neighbors backyard with 🌲 ‘s, some barrels, a mini Bunker with rocks and we were shooting with specialized ammo that exploded upon impact and generally left a black and blue . Offense would start out on patrol and take fire from an dug defense team and the whole point was to practice the cover/fire drills we did on the FTX, just now simulated with actual fire. It didn’t go as smoothly when I went on offense as one of the people on defense failed to retreat so my partner basically surrounded her and then we opened fire and then when we were on defense my opponent’s cover was this skinny tree with no branches and I was behind this giant cement wall just waiting and let’s just say I won that battle as well 🤣.

Omaha was basically the structured version of Buddy Team as you were practicing covering and moving but this time there moving targets instead of people, your were using real ammo and had to follow a strict protocol of movement while lying in the prone being behind small wooden walls. Basically you covered your partner by returning fire, he moved up and then started firing, and then at that point you got up and moved to the next stage. There was some stuff to remember as you always had to have your weapon on safe as you ran and there were proper routes and positions to take, but for the most part it was pretty simple. At the very end you got to throw a grenade and then duck and take cover. It was pretty fun and glad to complete a graduation requirement without a hitch or stress.

Week 8

Week 8 was the week of the big Kahuna, the granddaddy of em all, the Mountain 🏔 of Mountains, “The Forge”. I’m not completely positive of what the Forge was intended to be other than a culminating event which I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ what that even means but it was the last graduation requirement and probably viewed as the hardest. We were going to do our night programs/exercises at night and sleep for part of the day which ended up making a lot of sense because of the level of conditioning/exercise involved. We left the first day at around mmm I want to say 330 in the morning and did a 10 mile rucks with breaks in then middle to campsite where made our Hastings, ate breakfast and I took a little nap to get some rest. We did some FTX’s which were awful as they were FTX’s and I really wasn’t interested in doing them. After that, we got ready for the Night Interval Course (NIC) where we were going to low crawl underneath barbed wire with a machine gun firing above us. While it turned out not to be that bad, as I just low crawled the entire way it had gotten a lot of hype and seemed to be really tough. We had heard the M240B going off during the Hammer 🔨 and that thing was loud. So after a really quick walk we get there and have to wait for a decent while, and then finally we start moving. We walk along this fence for a while where we end up at the entrance of an obstacle course which we ended up going through in the darkness of night. It finally came to an end after just lowing through a tonnage of sand and you come out to this area after running through dark foliage and there’s all these IOTV vests laid out and second platoon who had finished the course just before us. We put on the vests, line up and are lead to this trench where we line up and there’s no official start to NIC, people just start climbing the wall after they hear machine gun fire. After climbing the wall and low crawling 💯 meters in which I see nothing but sand and barbed wire, I emerge from the pit. It’s a crazy metabolic workout as you go 100 meters under barbed wire as fast as you can with a 20lb weight vest and all your tactical gear. While everybody wants the first night to be over, it’s not. We have to team carry a 175lb (it said it was that heavy, it wasn’t but it still was heavy) two boxes and water jugs 2 miles to our next campsite. It was a struggle to say the least. But we finally get there and we just go to 🛌. Over the next two days it followed that same routine of doing FTX in the mid dayish and then doing our traveling with our boxes. We did combatives, pugle stick fighting, relay races and other stuff during the night which finally culminated in a soldier ceremony where we got our berets and removed this blue patch on our left ocp top with the “US ARMY” patch showing that barring us doing something really dumb between then and graduation 👩‍🎓 we were going to be soldiers.

Week 9&10

After the Forge, there was a massive drop in activity and intensity. There wasn’t really more for us to do or requirements to get so we ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. We unceremoniously handed in our M4’s (not like I expected a little bugle boy to accompany us when we did but still) and 6.49 lbs of weight that had to accompany us practically everywhere was gone. The day before graduation, one of the DS makes us all grab sand bags and start doing workouts and running back and forth to the cattle gate with it in our ha. Tough.At the very end of my time at basic, my parents showed up for Family Day and Graduation and it was nice to see them. We went out to dinner, among other things and begrudgingly had to go to in my ASU uniform, which was my nice dress gear that made use wear for graduation. On the last day we spent the entire day and I mean the entire day packing and cleaning and then got rounded up on to coach buses headed to all our perspective places.

I don’t have a romantic view of BCT because the whole experience was butt, BUT you felt like you did something to earn that US Patch. Funny way to put it because I was constantly being accused of not doing anything by 18 year girls. (Untrue)

By the time I finished this, I am no longer en route to Fort Benning but rather in my second week at Fort Benning waiting to “class up” trying to get into a class. So many people, not enough slots. Gotta work on my pushups. And sit-ups. Working on land navigation and trying not to completely get lost when the time comes. also excuse the run on sentences, and punctuation etc. written on iPhone notes while on the go. Let’s gooo

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clubpassim · 5 years

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Women in Folk - McKain Lakey

Hey there!

Katie here with the next installment of the ‘Women in Folk’ blog. Today’s interviewee is McKain Lakey!

McKain is a freelance folk musician who primarily plays solo. She started playing guitar at age 11, writing original material at 12, banjo at 13 and has been singing since before she can remember. While she’s been mostly a solo artist (who toured for 8 months last year), she used to be in an old-time music duo called Woolly Breeches, and has made appearances with other bands as well; her electro-folk duo with Aseem Suri, Wyman Street, will be releasing their debut single June 30th. McKain came out with a 4-track solo EP entitled West about a year ago. While the EP stands on its own, McKain mentioned that one of the tracks entitled Sadie’s Song, became the beginning to an entirely different project she’s working towards now;

“One of the songs on the EP was inspired by a murder ballad entitled ‘Little Sadie’. Most murder ballads tend to represent only one side of the story. The stories are often told by the person that survived - the person doing the killing. That’s the side of the story that gets passed down from generation to generation. In researching a lot of old ballads, I found myself pretty frustrated by the lack of women’s stories, women’s voices. so I decided to write a response to the ballad of Little Sadie, taking it and re-writing it from Sadie’s perspective as she’s dying. The song talks directly to the person that killed her. Since writing ‘Sadie’s Song’ I’ve been working to develop that concept into a bigger project, which will hopefully culminate in a full-length album eventually. I hope to make it a collaborative project with other women musicians who are doing similar work.”

McKain did a 10-day writing residency in February with Hedgebrook in support of this project where she researched many of the old stories from which these murder ballads came. Her biggest musical influences for this album are “bad*ss old-time ladies” such as Hazel Dickens, Ola Belle Reed, and Ginny Hawker.

She attended the Berklee College of Music where her primary focus was on Audio Engineering, and it was being on the “fringes” of the Roots program there that introduced her to Passim, where she has since given three shows.

The next part of the interview reflects on her experiences of being a woman engineer and artist. (*strong language is used in the following interview*)

[full interview under the cut]

Club Passim: Talk a little about your experiences as a female artist in the Folk/Americana genre.

McKain Lakey: I’ve worked for many years as an audio engineer so most of my more pointed experiences with gender in music have been on that side of things. That is a big reason I became a performer actually. I did want to pursue my own music but it became pretty clear to me that that was my career path after delving into the world of live sound and getting burnt out from dealing with misogyny all the time.

Even though there are still a lot of stigmas and challenges to being a woman performer, I find it is a lot easier to be a woman performer than be a woman audio engineer. We are definitely underrepresented in both areas but I definitely experienced a lot more blatant sexism as an audio engineer than as a performer. But I really wouldn’t have it any other way. I feel like the experience of being a woman really informs the music I make and informs my perspective in a different way. I feel like we’re coming to a time where that perspective is becoming more valued, and it feels like a really ripe moment to make an impact as an artist by being true to those experiences as a woman in the world. It’s a cool time to be a woman artist.

Being a part of this community of women folk musicians reminds me of when I wrestled in high school. I was on a women’s wrestling team which was still a pretty new concept, so most schools didn’t have a team with girls that filled every weight class. This meant we wound up wrestling for each other’s teams a lot because if your team had two people in one weight class you would loan a wrestler to a team that didn’t have someone in that weight class. It really felt like a ‘wild west’ of women’s wrestling. But what was cool was that whenever I went to a tournament, there was always this huge sense of camaraderie. Even though we were technically in competition with each other, we were also rooting for each other because we played for each other’s teams all the time. You’re all in it together as women wrestlers, and I feel that same sense of camaraderie within women in folk music. There’s always this sigh of relief when you see other women, like “oh, my people”. The bond is very strong for ladies in folk music and that feels very cool.

CP: Do you notice a difference in how you’re treated by other artists, venues, audiences, and industry professionals before vs. after you play?

ML: Yes. Most of the time before I play people don’t take me seriously, but after my set they’ll understand I know what I’m doing. I’ve had a lot of luck with different venues that are very supportive, but every once in a while you have to play that sh*tty gig where no one really cares until you play your set and have a chance to make an impact.

CP: Often, all-male bands have a heavy female fanbase that buys merch, go to shows, support, etc. Do you feel your music is supported by men in this same way? Why or why not do you think that is?

ML: I would say so. If I look at the statistics online of the people who are streaming my music (though I don’t think it is a very good indicator), it’s more women than men, but it’s actually pretty evenly split. At shows, I hear positive responses from both men and women. Actually, for the song I wrote about Little Sadie, I get more comments from men telling me, “Hey that was a really interesting perspective. I’m going to think about that more, let’s have a conversation”.

CP: Incredible classical artists such as classical pianist Yuja Wang use their performance attire as a way to express themselves. This provocative style of dress has been viewed as “distracting” from the music by some. What are your personal thoughts on women using fashion and sex-appeal as a means of bringing in more audience members and assisting in selling their music?

ML: I don’t think it’s my place to judge what any woman wears on stage, period. Whatever your personal style is, whatever is authentic to you is what you should be doing. Women claiming their sexuality is a very powerful thing, so if that’s a big part of your art, then f*****g go for it, that’s rad. I don’t see any problem with that.

There’s a big focus on what women wear, but that conversation distracts from what they’re actually saying with their music. Maybe they’re trying to make a statement with what they’re wearing and we’re completely missing the statement because we’re focusing on the fact that it was “provocative”.

That is definitely something I struggle with as a woman artist. ‘What is the appropriate stage attire that is going to be reflective of who I am as an artist but still comes across as professional’? It’s something I think about a lot, and it frustrates me that men don’t have to think about that. They can show up in jeans and a t-shirt and no one’s going to really think less of them. I also struggle with what feels authentic to me vs. what comes across as authentic. That’s something I encountered a lot in my duo Woolly Breeches- we often experimented with gender-bending, wearing a lot of men’s clothing. If I were a man I would wear pearl snap shirts every day, but wearing pearl snap shirts every gig as a woman was often seen as a gimmick. That’s the line that I struggle with and feel a lot of frustration towards. It’s completely uneven between the genders with stuff like that.

CP: In your opinion, how can men be more aware or informed about their women co-workers and collaborators in the music industry?

ML: Listening is a big part of it. On the personal accountability side, I’ve been trying to be okay with having any conversation that I would have with a female artist with a male artist. I think sometimes there’s this weird secret club of ladies where we’ll talk about our experiences of being woman musicians together, but we’re not super visible to our male peers. I’ve been trying to focus on being very transparent with where I’m at and not catering the things I talk about based on the gender of who I’m talking to. That has done a lot to spur conversations with male peers who have the potential of being strong allies but don’t necessarily know how to do that.

It’s definitely a two-way street, though. Males need to be actively listening to women. That goes in any setting. From listening when women are advocating for themselves and paying them what they’re actually worth, to listening to us in musical settings. Dudes - don’t just play over women musicians, make sure you’re listening to woman bandleaders just as well as you’d listen to a male bandleader. There are a lot of really subtle ways that men are socialized to ignore women or downplay their contributions. The simple act of listening and being present for women musicians is the foundation of implementing change.

CP: What do you do in a situation when you feel disrespected by the artists/co-workers you’re surrounded by?

ML: It’s very circumstantial. I am really picky with who I spend time with. Going to Berklee, I learned really quickly that I just don’t believe in forgiving a**holes based on their musical merit. I can always find another good musician to play with or hang out with who is a good person too. There are so many amazing musicians who are working hard to make this world a more equitable place, so when I see people being disrespectful, I just leave it. I don’t need to be in this situation, there are so many other places I can go where I WILL be respected.

However, there are those moments where you do need to confront the situation right away. The introduction to a person has been the biggest point of asserting myself actually. I learned this as an audio engineer. If I didn’t assert myself as having power and knowledge within the handshake of meeting an artist, then they would walk all over me for the rest of the night. I’ve definitely carried that with me in my interactions with other people. You have to introduce yourself as someone who is friendly, but also won’t take anyone else’s s**t. It immediately puts a damper on any further disrespect that might occur. That’s usually how I confront the issue before it even happens, though it sucks that that has to happen in the first place.

CP: What message do you want to display as a performer in folk music?

ML: To have respect and compassion for people’s stories. A big part of my work has been exploring perspectives of marginalized people throughout history. I focus mostly on women and queer folks because those are identities I carry. But at the heart of it, it’s about going into your interactions with people with kindness and compassion and to be present for the people you’re around. In the end, it’s all about respect.

CP: What words of wisdom/encouragement do you have for aspiring women in folk?

ML: The women in the folk industry, both musicians and tech, are a really good group of people. Having so many amazing women mentors, colleagues and friends that I’ve gotten to know through this scene is what I cherish most. Collaborating with these women is one of the best parts about doing what I do.

My biggest words of encouragement would be ‘Welcome!’ There are people here that really love you and want to support you. Your best resources are the women around you. We have to keep working on building this community together because it’s a really important one to have. There is a lot of potential for us to express ourselves through this genre, we just have to dive in.

Perhaps my favorite thing McKain said in the interview was that she doesn’t believe in forgiving people for their attitude or behavior based on their musical merit. While attending Eastman I have most definitely run across this issue a number of times. Being an incredible musician does not excuse nor warrant the poor treatment of friends, peers, and mentors. Unfortunately, this still seems to be lost on many musicians today, men and women alike, though in my experience this attitude tends to appear more frequently in men.

Thanks, McKain for bringing this up and sharing your thoughts and experiences! We can’t wait to see your projects come into fruition.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next installment of the ‘Women in Folk’ blog!

Katie

#womeninfolk #clubpassim #songersongwriter #solo #feminism #boston #folk #murder ballads #womeninpower

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thethottest · 7 years

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HASM Prologue

HIGH AND ALL SO MIGHTY

Prologue

I always knew I was different.

From an extremely young age, I was faster, stronger, and intensely more intelligent than my peers. My father knew this also and signed me up for things like piano class, and Spanish guitar, also things like kickboxing, figure skating, and my all time favorite, fashion class.

But one thing I excelled at was lying.

All my life I had been taught, to tell the truth. Or else I would end up screwing up big time and have to pay the consequences. What they don’t want young kids to know is that when you lie, you not only stitch up a problem, but you quietly heal it too. Lies built America, they make sure we pay taxes, and why people all over the world keep their mouths shut about the quiet notion that some of us have a bigger and better advantage than everyone else.

But some of us don’t have that crutch.

I was born into an extremely wealthy family. An heir to oil companies, fortune 500 companies, several underground government funding programs, and thousands of connections all over the world. I was taught to control these things, not only with my mouth but with my actions. My father was a mysterious seeming, extraordinarily wealthy African American, man so he taught me how to uphold heritage, my mother was European, french. She taught me class and elegance. Together they made me, a beautiful monster, full of deception, lies, jokes, humor, and love for all things abstract.

I’m Ryker Jackson, and I built an empire.

The thing they don’t teach you about running an empire is that it can be a bit tedious. Like the diner dash equivalent to hell. The fun part is that I’m independent, I bought my first car on my sixteenth birthday, a Lamborghini Gallardo. My dad told me I couldn’t take it to school so he paid for an Audi A7 to drive instead.

I was living an expensive dream. Until it all came crashing down.

When I fell in love with the quarterback. Jason Harvey, on the varsity team, he was only a sophomore but already had himself a guaranteed full ride scholarship to the University of Southern California. The whitest person you could imagine, sparkling green eyes, blonde hair that he liked to get messy, built by a gay scientist in a lab made of diamonds and R&B. He was the best mistake I ever made. He ended up ruining me, somehow he tore down everything I had, reached right into my very soul and pulled me out of it. Jason had one flaw, he knew exactly what could hurt me. He liked to use that to my advantage. Then he went a bit too far and broke my heart.

Then there was Frost Noble, silver hair and gray eyes. She was stunning, hilarious, wittier than anyone I had ever seen. Basically the female version of myself. Voice so thick it was sweet. Lips so plump they looked supernatural. Her smile could stop time. The way she moved could only be categorized as dance. She was the moon, the sun, and the eclipse that tends to break reality. She became my second addiction. When I fell in love with her it was like going hard on acid. Her body was like THC, her life was like cocaine. She too ended up ruining me, and when she did it to me, I felt like I was going through the craziest withdrawals I had ever experienced.

This story is about us. About our lives, our friends, about our pasts and our futures. The boundaries we dared to step over. All the times we drank too much, or went hiking and got lost. This is not a love story, it’s a life story. It’s about love and it’s awesome bullshit detector. It’s a recording, a translation, a heartbeat, a laugh. It’s water spilling over the tub, and gasoline poured oversleeping corpses. Late night phone calls, driveway sunsets, midnight adventures, bad news, good news, and the why-the-hell-is-that-news news.

In the end, it’s the reason I am so far off from the way I once was. It’s the reason why I still dream. It’s why I pretend to laugh at dumb jokes. It’s why I dance with no music. The way I feel in the rain and why I feel that way. All those foreign smells, unknown territories, and perpetual excitements lead me passionately to tell this tale. About monsters and caffeine. Dry kisses in the moonlight. Wet hair and good nightmares.

It’s about all these things. At least I think it is.

If anything it’s about the way we love.

#HASM #High and All So Mighty #Gay #Gay book #Gay fanfiction #love story #love #teen #novel #chapters #akastai #free novel

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juniperallura · 8 years

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Rebellion: A Shallura Garrison AU

For @shallurasundays prompt

“So what’re your plans for Thursday, Shiro?”

Shiro raised a brow, looking up from the cafeteria’s excuse for mashed potatoes. “Thursday? Uh- going to class…?” His classmates exchanged pointed glances across the table. “What, Dev?” Shiro sighed, laying down his spoon. “What’re you guys doing on Thursday?”

“See, Matt, he doesn’t even know-” Dev shook his head.

“It’s skip day, Shiro!” Matt cried, gesturing with his fork. “Y’know, we all go out and have fun on Thursday, then get our asses handed to us Friday and have a big laugh about it. It’s tradition, man, you don’t know?”

“Oh, yeah,” Shiro shrugged, “I’ve heard about it, but… I don’t know, it doesn’t really sound-”

“-Nope, no way,” Dev cut him off, “You’re coming. I don’t care if we have to drag you kicking and screaming off campus. This only works if we all do it!”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Matt leaned in with an air of secrecy, “Besides, we’re mostly worried about her.” He pointed over his shoulder; with no sense of subtly, all three simultaneously turned to stare across the cafeteria.

Shiro’s brows knit together. “Allura? Why?”

Matt snorted, “Are you serious? She’s got a bigger stick up her ass than you.”

“I don’t have a-” Shiro cut himself off. “You think she won’t?”

“Well-” Matt smiled mischievously, “Not unless someone convinces her…” At Shiro’s hesitation, he continued, “Listen, you guys are two dorky peas in a pod! I know she’ll come out if you do.”

Shiro flushed at the implication of Matt’s tone. “I’ll talk to her, but I don’t know what it’ll do.” With that he left the table, unable to stop the heat in his face as he passed a silver-haired figure on his way out of the cafeteria.

| g | a | r | r | i | s | o | n |

He couldn’t sit still the whole class period, his foot tapping like an exosonic spectrometer gone haywire. Every chance he got to lean over and whisper across the row was interrupted by Mr. Iverson’s chilling glare. So instead, he studiously took notes for an hour, then waded into the sea of students that flooded the halls as everyone filtered back to their dormitories. Shiro quickly spotted the head he was looking for, a pencil sticking out of its white bun.

“Allura!” Shiro slipped through the crowd, catching her before the entrance to the girl’s dorm quadrant. Sparkling, almond-shaped eyes turned to greet him, prompting something to squirm in his stomach.

God, he hated when Matt was right.

“Oh-” Allura held her books to her chest, giving a slight smile. “Hi, Shiro.”

“So, um,” Shiro’s mind drew a blank as it tried to conjure an excuse to bring up skip day. Instead, all he said was, “Aerodynamics, huh? Iverson’s really got it out for us.”

Allura raised a brow, “You seemed to be on top of it; you certainly proved me wrong on that ground glider question.”

Shiro’s face flushed. “Oh, I’m sorry-”

“-Don’t be sorry,” Allura cut in, “You were right, after all. I didn’t factor in gas properties.” She bowed her head for a moment, looking almost embarrassed. “But, I’m sure you didn’t come over here to talk about gas…what’s up?”

“I, actually, was wondering-” Shiro ran a hand through his dark locks, glancing down at his books, “-If you maybe wanted to start a study group? I could help you with Iverson’s class… you help me with Tech Programming?” He paused for a second. “Maybe we could meet up after we all go out on Thursday?”

Smooth, Takashi.

Allura’s gaze flitted to the rapidly emptying hallway. “Are you really doing skip day?” She hugged her books tighter, a mixture of incredulousness and curiosity in her tone.

Shiro scratched at the back of his neck, looking into those beautiful, crystal blue eyes. “Well, I-”

“You’re what?”

“Calm down,” Shiro sighed, tucking his hands behind his head as he stretched out on his bed.

“I can’t believe you, Shiro,” Matt threw up his hands, taking a break from pacing to jab a finger toward his friend, “You were supposed to convince her to go, not the other way around!”

Shiro merely shrugged.

“Lame!” Was the only response he got from Matt before the door slid shut behind him.

| g | a | r | r | i | s | o | n |

Her eyelashes were white, too. He had wondered. The command line interface follows these formatting methods. How did her hair get so luminous? One lock kept falling in her face; it was embarrassing how much he wanted to brush it away for her. Long range sensors can be activated from the sub-menu.

Shiro wasn’t sure what was more distracting; the words coming out of her mouth or her.

“-Cadets?”

Finally, the dark and light heads popped up to find Sergeant Johnson smirking at them from behind crossed arms. “Hard at work, I see.”

Allura and Shiro exchanged glances, both suddenly becoming conscious of their knees touching under the table. Allura cleared her throat, drawing back from the table where she and Shiro were rubbing elbows over their notes. “Yes, Sergeant. Tech Programming.”

Johnson shook her head, smiling as she looked around the otherwise deserted library. “Y’know some of the teachers didn’t even go to class today?”

Shiro straightened up in his seat. “I- we just didn’t want to miss Mr. Iverson’s class. There’s a test next week.”

The sergeant studied them for a moment. “I can’t believe I’m saying this to a student, but you two work too hard; you’re young, enjoy it.” After another glance at their pile of books she turned to leave, calling over her shoulder, “Knowing how to de-stress is important for Cadets, too.”

Shiro leaned back toward his tablet, but Allura seemed preoccupied, tapping her pen against her chin with a pensive look. “-Allura?”

After a moment she tossed the pen down, turning to him with a mischievous look he had never seen on her. “I think Sargent Johnson is right. We need to play hooky.”

He raised his brows, letting out a disbelieving puff of air. “Really? After all that earlier about your perfect attendance record, scholarships, the aerodynamics test— do you remember that group project we worked on together last semester where you didn’t let Neil go to the bathroom?” He crossed his arms, challenging, “But now you’re a rebel?”

“-Skip day is organized rebellion, which isn’t rebellion,” she countered, leaning closer to him. “I’ve never missed a day of class, and I plan on walking straight out of graduation and directly to my Garrison assignment. When will I have an opportunity like this?” She glanced at her watch. “We’re at…eighteen hundred hours right now. If we study another three hours now, plus Saturday and Sunday, then we can make up for Friday.”

Shiro couldn’t help the smile that slowly spread over his face. Damn those beautiful, blue eyes.

| g | a | r | r | i | s | o | n |

They met on the shuttle heading into town at noon. Shiro zipped up his dark jacket, pulling a baseball cap over his head. Allura’s hair was neatly plaited, and she pulled tight at the tidy laces of her sneakers, perfect for running from whatever authority figure she was sure would be chasing them down with a club. The pair exchanged sly smiles from their seats in the back, confident that they didn’t look the least bit suspicious.

As they hopped off the shuttle Shiro couldn’t help the tightening in his chest, a mixture of excitement and anxiety welling up inside of him. From the look on Allura’s face, he guessed she was feeling the same way.

She glanced at him with a prompting smile. “So, where to first?”

A few minutes later found them looking up at neon that buzzed even in the middle of the day. “I didn’t even know there was an arcade here,” Allura mused.

A nostalgic smile spread over Shiro’s face. “I found it freshman year. There’s one just like it, actually, near my apartment in Tokyo.” A laugh escaped him, “When I was little I always wanted to run out of school and spend the day in the arcade.”

“I’m sure your parents would’ve loved that.”

“Well- my mom, I think she would’ve laughed about it.” He held the door open, following Allura into the room that twinkled with game lights.

Allura smiled, her own memories coming back to her. “I think my father would’ve felt the same way- only because he would’ve been so shocked.” She paused, her eyes drifting across the room before coming to rest on Shiro. “But I guess we don’t have to worry about that so much anymore.”

Shiro’s jaw clenched, his mind at once turning to his mother, probably just waking up for work in Japan, and to the day last year when whispers ran through Garrison’s sophomore class as a blur of silver hair was abruptly rushed home. Swallowing hard, he reached out and grabbed her hand. Soft and warm. She smiled.

“-Oo, target practice!”

Allura left the joystick of some ancient plumbing game to pick up one of a pair of plastic guns. She pulled a coin from her back pocket, holding it out to Shiro with a raised brow.

He accepted, grabbing his own toy weapon with a grin. “What is it Sergeant Peng says?”

“Plant your feet-”

“-Bend your knees-”

“-Make a damn triangle!”

Shiro bit his lip, eyes trained on the screen as purple figures disintegrated with every pew pew from his fake gun. After a few minutes the screen went black, revealing a victorious 100% on his side.

“Ha!” He called triumphantly, turning to see Allura covering a smile with her hand. The other half of the screen read 40%. “Forty percent, Cadet?” Shiro crossed his arms with a smirk, “Were you this terrible in Weapons Training?”

“No!” Allura folded her arms over her chest, refusing to meet his eyes. “I was worse,” she muttered.

| g | a | r | r | i | s | o | n |

The sun had slipped behind the distant mountains when Allura and Shiro made their way back to the shuttle stop. The sleeve of his jacket brushed against her arm but he couldn’t muster the courage to take her hand again, even with the evening breeze egging him on.

There was a pause in their chatter, and at the same time they started, “I just wanted to say-” Shiro laughed shortly, gesturing for her to continue.

“I wanted to say thanks- for coming out with me.” Allura offered a smile.

Shiro ran a hand through his hair. “I was going to thank you for making me come.”

Their gazes met, beating hearts betraying what went unsaid in the foot of space between them. Suddenly Allura leaned toward him, her cheek grazing his as her lips pressed against his skin, a sweet scent floating off her neck.

Red faced, they climbed onto the shuttle and took their spot in the back. Hands folded together, they enjoyed the waning moments of their little rebellion as the lights of Garrison’s campus blinked into view.

#sfw (the cut is bc of length)#shallurasundays #did not intend for this to be so long lol #writing #shallura #garrison au #shiro #allura #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #shallura fic #shiro fic #allura fic #voltron fic #vld fic

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brittanyyoungblog · 3 years

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Does Listening to Sexy Music Get Us in the Mood for Sex?

Guest post by Katie Adams

“I've been really tryin', baby / Tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long / And if you feel like I feel, baby / Then, c'mon, oh, c'mon / Let's get it on.” — Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On” (1973, side one)

Imagine turning on the radio and hearing Marvin Gaye sing those sexy lyrics. If you weren’t already in the mood for sex, would his music help get you there? The popular media sure seems to think so, as evidenced by numerous articles and blogs presenting playlists guaranteed to “get you lucky” or put your partner “in the mood.” For example, Cosmopolitan published an article listing “23 sex songs you need on your bedroom playlist” and Thought Catalogue published a post titled, “17 Super Sexual Songs That Will Make You Drop Your Panties Immediately…With Lyrics!” [1, 2].

Music is known to alter mood in general, especially through its mode (major or minor), tempo, and pitch [3], but can it also alter libido? Does listening to Marvin Gaye and other sexy song-makers really make people want to “get it on” and, if so, why?

Analyses of popular songs dating back to the 1940s shows that as many as 70 to 90% of songs contain sexual themes [4]—that’s a lot of sex songs! And people sometimes incorporate these songs into their intimate lives, with research showing that people, and especially those who desire short-term or causal relationships, often report using love songs for sexual purposes [5]. This kind of music could potentially assist in regulating mood (e.g., making you calm and happy), increasing arousal, or conveying a message (e.g., “I want sex”). This, in turn, could get both partners in a sexual mood and facilitate the initiation of sex.

It may also be the case that sexually suggestive lyrics might make sex-related thoughts and behaviors in one’s mind more accessible and cause you to continue thinking about sex even after the song is over. You may also become directly physiologically aroused by the sexual messages in the song’s lyrics (or the sound of the performer’s voice). All of this might add up to increased interest in sexual behavior, should a potential opportunity arise.

In light of this, I wanted to test whether listening to sex-related song lyrics would prompt more interest in casual sex. To do so, I conducted a study on the immediate influence music has on individuals’ internal states, including their thoughts and arousal [6]. I anticipated that after hearing music with sexual lyrics (compared to hearing music without sexual content), participants would be more likely to indicate interest in a short-term sexual relationship if given the opportunity.

I asked 108 undergraduate students to complete a hypothetical dating profile while being exposed to either a playlist of sexual songs, instrumental covers of those same sexual songs, or generic instrumental songs. Participants answered a variety of multiple-choice questions modeled from various dating websites, which covered topics such as relationships, politics, and faith/religion, as well as a question about the desired length of their next relationship—the key variable of interest.

I expected that sex-related lyrics (as compared with the two control conditions) would decrease the desired length of their next relationship—in other words, they’d be more open to a casual fling. However, contrary to my expectations, there was no effect of sexual lyrics on desired relationship length compared to the other music conditions.

In thinking about why the results didn’t turn out the way I expected, one possibility that came to mind is it might be due to the choice of music. All songs were pre-selected by the research team and consisted of pop and R&B songs from the 1990s-2010s (except for “Let’s Get It On” from 1973). Perhaps it is not sexy music per se that is the key—maybe the effect depends on listening to music that is sexy to you, which can be highly individualized. Allowing people to select their own sexy song playlist might therefor have a very different effect. Also, we cannot be certain which aspects of the music are most important. Is it the sexual lyrics themselves, or is it the sound of a sexy voice, or the mental image of a musician you find sexy that matters most?

It is also possible that any potential effect of music might be different for different people—music is more powerful or impactful for some than others. Perhaps for those who are more musically inclined or sensitive to sound, sexy music could have a bigger effect than for those who are not.

Another possibility is that even though music has been repeatedly found to impact mood [7], it may be that it does not create something out of nothing. One’s own motivations and desires, especially regarding mating and sexual behaviors, may be the driving force behind our actions. Similar to how people chose to listen to music that matches their current mood [8], listening to sexually themed music may only serve to amplify an existing mood or desire—not create a desire that otherwise does not exist.

A recent study worth mentioning found that non-sexual music can prompt feelings of sexual arousal—but only when that music had been previously paired with sexual cues [9]. Thus, when we psychologically associate a song with sex, listening to it can create a feeling of arousal, even if the song itself is not necessarily about sex. This opens up a whole new way to think about when music is likely to put us in the mood—what feelings or memories come to mind when you hear a given song? If it reminds you of something arousing, you may very well start to feel aroused. But because different people may be reminded of different things by the same song, they might experience very different effects.

In light of this, you probably can’t just put on some sex-themed music and expect sexual magic to commence. However, if you and your partner have a song or playlist that you both associate with sex or with a positive sexual memory, it might very well help to put it on when you want to set the right mood.

Thanks to Katie Adams for this guest post! Learn more about her below:

Katie Adams is a Doctoral student at the University of Kansas in the Social Psychology program, working with Dr. Omri Gillath. Her research focuses on close relationships and the underlying motivations of attraction, sexual behaviors, and short- vs. long-term commitment. She is currently heading research projects on (1) the creation and validation of a measure for pornography consumption motives, and (2) the motivations for, and outcomes of, communicating infidelity to one's partner. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Rochester (2014) and her Master’s degree at Villanova University (2016). This is her second guest blog post for Sex and Psychology.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for more from the blog or here to listen to the podcast. Follow Sex and Psychology on Facebook, Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram.

[1] Gilmore, P. (2017, October 20). 23 sex songs you need on your bedroom playlist. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved from http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk

[2] Tarkoff, N. (2015, March 30). 17 super sexual songs that will make you drop your panties immediately…with lyrics! [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://thoughtcatalog.com/nicole-tarkoff/2015/03/17-super-sexual-songs-that-will-make-you-drop-your-panties-immediately-with-lyrics/

[3] Västfjäll, D., Juslin, P. N., & Hartig, T. (2012). Music, subjective wellbeing, and health: The role of everyday emotions. In R. A. R. Raymond, G. Kreutz & L. Mitchell (Eds.), Music, health and wellbeing (pp. 405–423). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[4] Arnett, J. J. (2002). The sounds of sex: Sex in teens’ music and music videos. In J. Brown, K. Walsh-Childers, & J. Steele (Eds.), Sexual teens, sexual media (pp. 253–264). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Image Source: 123RF/Pawel Sierakowski