#but our friendship would be just as awesome if we weren't

[reuptakeinhibitor]

might be developing feelings for my coworker 🙈

[ashestoroses018]

Things Can Only Get Better (Part One)

Originally posted in 2017. 18+

It is late October, 1985, when your car breaks down near your old friend's house on a freezing, rainy night. What you thought would be an uneventful and awkward night with someone you've barely spoken to in over four years has, quite literally, turned your life Upside Down.

Steve Harrington/reader, one-sided Dustin/reader

It's with a heavy heart that you walk up to the front door of your ex-friend's house. The thing is, it's raining quite heavily outside, and you're not fond of the idea of walking around at night in Hawkins, with all the weird shit that's happened the last few years; much less walking alone at night when it's raining heavily.

Knock, knock. You wait. It's likely his parents aren't home, but you're certain Steve, himself, is, because you've heard that he hasn't gone out partying as much recently, especially since Nancy Wheeler dumped him. After a moment with no response, you ring the doorbell, hoping you aren't waking him up, considering it's after 9.

“Come on, Steve,” you grumble under your breath, already starting to freeze half to death in the late October weather.

“Coming!” You hear him shout from inside. Oh, thank God. After a moment, he opens the door.

Your eyes meet his sheepishly, and a look of unmasked shock crosses his face. “Hey, Steve. Been a while, huh?”

He just nods; after a moment, it seems like he realizes that you're dripping wet. “Oh shit. Come on in. Let me get you a towel. What the hell happened?”

You follow him to the bathroom, explaining all the while that your car broke down a few blocks back, and his house was the closest of anyone you know.

“Shit. It's freezing out there. You're ice cold.”

“Thanks, Steve. You didn't have to do this. It's been forever since we were friends.”

He sighs as he helps you dry your hair, while you focus on warming yourself up with the other towel. “I'm sorry about that, you know. I've missed you the last few years.”

You glance up and accidentally meet his eyes, suddenly realizing just how close your faces are. Heat rises unbidden to your face. “I've missed you, too. What the hell happened to us, Harrington?”

Subconsciously, you pull away from him by a few inches, as he stops drying your hair to respond. “A lot of stuff, I guess. Once high school started, we sort of just...went our separate ways?”

You nod in agreement. “Yeah, you got caught up with those assholes and became King Steve, while I stuck around with my nerdy friends.”

Steve coughs and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “My friends were idiots. I feel like a dumbass for even having hung out with them.”

“Shit happens, Steve. Can I use your shower?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. I can grab you some dry clothes, too.”

“That'd be awesome. Thank you.”

He tosses you a nod and half-wave as he walks out of the bathroom and shuts the door behind him, so you can undress in privacy. What a turn of events, indeed. Aside from a few awkward hellos and short conversations during shitty parties, you and Steve haven't talked since, what, '81?

As you wash your hair, you think over the last couple of years. Since Steve and Nancy had dated, you'd noticed a change in the boy, as had everyone else. It knocked him out of the “top tier” of high school popularity; but if you're being honest, for you, it feels like your old best friend is coming back. Maybe there's hope for your friendship, yet.

A few minutes later, Steve shouts through the door that he's putting clothes onto the toilet and not looking. You just laugh and thank him, imagining that awkward look from earlier painted across his face once again.

It's when you're half-dressed in Steve's spare pajamas (why'd he give you pajamas? Was he assuming that you'd just stay the night, like you used to do in elementary school?) that are about four sizes too big for you, that there's a frenzied rush of knocks and doorbell rings on the front door.

“Steve! Open up! It's Dustin. We have an emergency, and we weren't sure where else to go but here. Please hurry!” You're not a hundred percent sure who Dustin is, but it doesn't seem like Steve is going to answer the door, so you wrap a towel around your hair and run back to the front door.

When you swing it open, you're greeted by the surprised gazes of six fucking kids. “Who the hell are you?” asks a kid who sounds like the 'Dustin' from before.

“I'm F/N L/N. You could say I'm an old friend of Steve's. You guys okay?” It isn't hard to figure out that the kids are absolutely terrified.

“Just let us in.” A black-haired kid interjects, and you just nod. “Where's Steve?”

“He's around here somewhere. Go sit in the living room, or some—holy shit, are you okay?!” A red-haired girl is nursing a huge cut on her arm. “Oh shit, don't go to the living room. Mrs. Harrington will have a conniption, if blood gets on her carpet.” At least she will, if she's the same as I remember, you think idly. “Kitchen. Come on.”

The six younger teens follow you to the kitchen. As the redhead sits down, mentioning offhand that her name is Max, Steve happens to walk into the kitchen.

“What the hell are you guys doing here? Shit, Max, are you okay?”

“Does it look like I'm okay, numbnuts? I'm gushing blood right now, and you were the only place we could go. Hop would lock El back up for another year, if he found out.”

A chorus of agreements sound from the boys, while the other girl just nods silently. She must be El.

“How the hell did you do this to yourself, Max?” you ask her quietly, as you press a clean dish towel onto her wound.

She exchanges a meaningful look with her friends. “We can't tell you.”

“Look, dude, I'm not going to tell anybody. I don't really give a shit; it's just that I need to know how deep the cut goes and what type of cleaning I should do. Steve,” you address the slightly older teen, turning to face him. “I need you to get the purest alcohol you have, okay?”

He nods, while Max just stays quiet.

“Seriously, Max. You don't want me poking this thing to see how deep it is. Did you get stabbed or something?”

She shakes her head. After a moment, the other girl speaks up. “Demogorgon.”

You blink. “The demon prince? You hurt yourself playing DnD?”

“Oh my God, you play DnD? Steve finally picked a cool girl to date,” the curly-haired boy – Dustin – says, excitedly.

“Not dating,” Steve says with a tone of finality. “Here's the strongest shit my mom has.”

“Do you have a needle and some dental floss? I'm going to have to stitch her up. Max, you should really be in the hospital. This shit is bad.”

The girl gives you a look that brooks no argument. “That's out of the question. My stepdad would kill me.”

With a sigh, you nod. “Steve. Needle and floss. Quickly. The bleeding isn't slowing, and if this shithead isn't going to go to the hospital, we need to stitch her up.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Are you seriously going to stitch her up?” the African American boy asks suddenly.

“Yeah.”

“Be...be careful.”

“Boyfriend?” you ask Max in a slightly teasing tone. She just nods, with a slight blush. Cute. “Okay, Max. This is going to sting like a fucking bitch, but I don't have anything better. Steve's family isn't the best about keeping first aid kits.”

“Wait, I just found one under the sink,” says the only kid you actually recognize – the Byers kid. Will.

“Thanks, Will. Can you hand it here? Let me see if there's any alcohol wipes in here. Uses a different kind of alcohol, but it has basically the same effect. Max, hold the towel on your arm, okay?”

Not waiting for her to answer, you begin rummaging through the first aid kit. You find some gauze wrap, which will help a lot, as well as some antibiotic ointment. After a further few moments of searching, you find a singular alcohol wipe. That's not going to be enough for her giant cut – that thing spans nearly her entire forearm.

“Looks like we're using the vodka after all, Max. Sorry. Like I said, this is going to burn like a bitch.” You grab some cotton balls out of the first aid kid, before dousing three of them at once. “Breathe in, okay?”

She nods, as you begin gently cleaning the wound from the outer edges, inwards. As you take a closer look at it, with the blood being cleared off, you realize it looks like some sort of bite wound, rather than a slice or anything like that. You look up and make eye contact with Dustin, and he averts his eyes. Looks like the kid knows what you realized.

“What the fuck kind of animal in Indiana bites like this?” you ask under your breath.

Again, the quiet girl speaks up. “It's not an animal. It's a demogorgon.”

“El,” hisses the kid you suddenly realize is Nancy's younger brother, Mike. “why are you telling her? We don't even know her. Party rules, remember?”

“Well, Mike...She's kinda involved now, isn't she?” asks Max's boyfriend.

Dustin and Will nod in agreement. “Majority rules,” El says simply, right as Steve walks back into the room.

“We telling F/N about our double life then?” he asks, almost jokingly, but, even after all this time, you know him well enough to realize he's dead serious underneath the sarcastic facade.

Mike sighs. “I guess. Who wants to explain this shit?”

“I'll do it. She's my friend, so it makes sense that I tell her, right?”

“What the hell is going on, Steve?” you ask, before realizing he brought the needle and dental floss. “Disinfect the needle. Boiling water, ten minutes.”

“How do you know all this shit?” he asks, complying.

“Don't worry about it. Why don't you start telling me about your secrets first, hm?”

“Okay, but you need to trust us. This is completely, a hundred percent true, no matter how crazy and unbelievable it sounds. We could literally be killed for telling you. We all signed documents and shit saying we wouldn't spill.”

You blink in surprise. You've never heard Steve so serious before. “Alright. I'll do my best to believe you.”

He takes a deep breath, turning to you after he starts heating a small pot of water on the stove. You briefly meet his eyes, before returning to disinfecting Max's injury. You've gone through at least 20 cotton balls by now. You're going to run out soon, at the rate this is going. Glancing up at Max, you give her a warning look, which she seems to understand, before you pour some vodka directly onto the skin surrounding the bite. She hisses in pain, which makes you wince, but she says nothing, instead choosing to clench her teeth.

While you finish up disinfecting her and Steve puts the needle into the now-boiling water, Steve explains what has allegedly happened over the last two years here in Hawkins, and that it's been a year since the last time anything happened – but it seems like that quiet is going, now that Max just got bitten by one of the sons of bitches; it sounds like she was lucky to survive and only did so because of Eleven – which is apparently El's full name.

“Needle's done,” Steve says, after a moment of silence.

“Okay. Wash your hands, then dry it with a piece of gauze. Then bring it to me. Max, you should probably take a shot of vodka. The pain's going to be way too much otherwise.”

“Are...are you sure? I'm only fourteen.”

“Do you want to be screaming like a little bitch?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay, then. You're gonna take a shot. It's gonna taste like shit, but it's gonna be nothing compared to the pain of getting amateur stitches with no anesthetic.”

She nods, understanding. Steve brings over the needle and a shot glass. You thank him with a smile. At the moment, you can't even fully comprehend the story you were just told – and you're a little shaky about the fact that you're about to stitch a kid back together, quite literally.

Even with the liquor in her system – and it definitely is, judging by her red face – Max is squeezing her eyes shut, with tears coming out of her eyes. Steve whispers to the boyfriend, Lucas, that he should go hold her hand, which he does after a moment. Max thanks him with a look of gratitude; it's obvious she doesn't quite trust her voice, at the moment, as her teeth are still clenched.

Ten minutes later, she's fully stitched. “Okay, Max. Almost done. We're just gonna put some antibiotic on it, then wrap your arm, okay? If you don't want your parents finding out, I suggest wearing long sleeves for the next couple weeks. We're going to need to change your gauze every few days, though. And I need to check on the stitches every few days, to make sure you aren't getting infected. Where do you live? Or do you just want to meet somewhere?”

Steve stares at you in a mix of shock and awe. “Seriously, where the hell did you learn this shit, F/N?”

“It doesn't matter, Steve. I'm trying to help her and make sure she doesn't get an infection, despite being an idiot.”

“Fair enough. You guys staying here tonight?”

After a moment, the kids nod. Steve sets them up in the living room to sleep, with the understanding that they'd explain exactly what the hell happened tonight in the morning; after all, it's after midnight, and the kids are obviously exhausted.

After they're set up, Steve comes up to you. “That was fucking amazing, F/N. Seriously, where'd you learn to do all that?”

“Look, Steve. I...don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just say it has to do with some serious emotional baggage, okay?” You give him a strained smile, as you clean up the massive mess in the kitchen. He moves to help you.

“Alright. Just...tell me when you're ready, okay? I think it's awesome that you were able to help them. I wouldn't have had any idea what to do.”

“They obviously trust you a lot, Steve,” you say, leaning against the counter and facing him with crossed arms, while he picks up some of the garbage you missed.

He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck before meeting your eyes. “I'm a damn good babysitter.”

You can't help but giggle at the look on his face. “I have no idea what the fuck I just got into, but I missed you, Harrington.”

“I missed you, too, L/N. Thanks. Seriously.”

After you've cleaned the kitchen, you look over at Steve. “Where should I sleep?”

You don't want to tell him that you're a little bit freaked out after their unbelievable tale, and that you don't want to sleep alone. Luckily – or perhaps, unluckily – he notices almost immediately that you're nervous. He comes close to you, so you can hear him whisper without the risk of the kids overhearing.

“You can sleep in my room if you need to, F/N. You look terrified.”

You try to break the tension with a little joke. “You won't try anything, Harrington?”

“Never. You need to be protected, right now. Not taken advantage of.”

It's at that exact moment you realize Steve Harrington has become someone worthy of every ounce of trust and care you could afford him – a dangerous feeling, indeed.

[iamstartraveller776]

Feel free to ignore, but you mentioned that the fandom landscape has changed drastically from twenty years ago, and I’m curious what that means for you. I’ve seen lots of posts on the topic, but am interested in your experience if you want to share.

I absolutely can share!

Twenty years ago, I found fandom through bulletin boards or message boards (depending on what you called them). Trekbbs was my first one, and it's still standing. High speed internet was relatively new, and it was easy to keep up with "threads." Whenever you logged in, it would take you to where you left off with any given thread so you could catch up. (Discord does this...kinda, but Discord moves at warp speed where BBS's moved at impulse power.) It was easier to stay connected, to get to know people. Also, the boards were (and are) heavily moderated. Trolls were banned, and folks who got too heated under the collar were usually temporarily banned until tempers cooled. So it was generally a safe environment.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the vast majority of the boards were grown-up only. That's not to say that minors didn't sneak through, but they were on their best behavior lest they get found out and kicked off the board.

And from the boards, we learned where to find fanfic. Back then, even though FFN existed, fic was primarily archived on private sites. There were no such thing as likes and kudos back then. It was fandom etiquette (at least for my corner of the Trek fandom) to leave a comment/review if you read a fic (and be nice about it!). It was the era of Kink Tomato (your kink is not my kink and that's okay) and don't like don't read and simply fun. We had challenges, did round robins—where someone would write a chapter of a fic, then another author would write the next, and so forth.

Even when I made the switch to posting more on FFN, it was pretty normal to send a message to someone to thank them for favorite-ing your story even if they didn't comment. And often they would message back, telling you what they enjoyed. I have some friendships born from this! It was normal. Writers weren't called "needy" and "self-absorbed" for hoping for more interaction with their readers. We were all in this together.

I also did yahoo groups for a time, and had a fantastic time with my friends in an email chain.

LiveJournal was kind of the peak of fandom, IMO. I think it was the first "public" website, rather than something privately owned, where we could build communities (private or public) as well as have our own pages (private or public). Some of the best fandom events happened on that site. But LiveJournal ended up imploding. (Cyber attacks then the new owners started wiping out entire communities without warning for violating the new terms of service. It was horrible.)

So we all moved to Tumblr. (And we were slowly moving to AO3. Some also moved to the site formerly called Twitter.)

Tumblr was pretty awesome back then. Because fandom people took the same community with them when they came. We didn't have replies back then, but dagnabit we screenshot tags or reblogged comments and posted them with replies. It was easier to follow tags and even some fandoms created blogs that were archives for fics. (Myself included.) The downside was, and continues to be, lack of moderation. Not that I think fandom should be gatekept, but it isn't as easy-going when you do have to worry about putting up with trolls as a rule rather than the exception.

Alas, life happened and I had to step away for a few years. When I came back...it's so much quieter. Significantly less interaction. Less comments on fics. There's just...less connection in general. People tend to flit in and out of fandom more often. And on top of that, there is the odd movement that fanworks shouldn't contain anything that would make a reader/viewer uncomfortable or is unrelatable to the general masses. As a fanworks creator, there have been times I felt more like a monkey dancing for a demanding audience rather than a squee-ing fan sharing things with fellow sqee-ing fans. I seriously questioned for a long time whether I would bother anymore.

(This also doesn't mention how streaming and binge-watching series rather than weekly releases have affected fandom. It's different when you get one episode a week for an entire season of 20-24 episodes than when a streamer releases the entire 8-10 episode series at once.)

A part of this is me, too. I don't have nearly as much time to invest in fandom as I used to. I can't be too critical of the changes in fandom, but it is different.

And so I hang onto a few of the friends I've found (like you!) and continue to find here and there. I write whatever I want and delete rude comments. I always reply to the others. And I keep plugging on!

Thank you for asking! And thank you for being part of what I love about being on Tumblr even after all these changes! (Sorry I got a bit verbose!)

[ericshoney]

Fashionista ~ Choi Chanhee

It was an ordinary Sunday morning. You were sitting on your sofa, curled up with a blanket and a morning coffee. You didn't have any plans for the day, that was until your best friend Chanhee called you.

"Good morning!" His cheerful voice called as you answered the call.

"Morning, you sound cheerful." You replied simpily.

"Of course, we've got a free day and I was thinking we could go shopping~" He sang.

"Sure, it sounds good to me." You said.

"Awesome, I'll come by your place in an hour!" He exclaimed.

You laughed as he hung up the phone. You loved when you could spend time with your best friend, especially with how busy he could be, while being an idol and all. It was good to have some down time, and hope there weren't too many fans to interrupt.

After placing your phone down, you went to your bedroom to get changed for the day. You checked the weather and saw it was slightly breezy, so you slipped into a pair of light blue jeans, a black t-shirt with a white bomber jacket. You grabbed your bag and just in time, there was a knock at the door, you opened it to see Chanhee, in an outfit fairly similar to your own.

"Great minds think alike~" He said, making you giggle.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yes, there's this pair of shoes I've been looking at for a while." You answered, making the male laugh.

With that, you both started walking into the city to do some much needed shopping and chill time together. It had been a few weeks since you really hung out with Chanhee, other than a quick chat.

When you arrived at the shops, you quickly went to show Chanhee the shoes you liked. He was quiet when you did, his fashion brain thinking them over. After a few minutes, he smiled and nodded.

"They would suit you, with some jeans or a skirt." He said.

"I'm so glad you approve." You said, slight sarcasm dripping from your voice.

Chanhee laughed and shoved you gently. You went to find if they had your size, asking the worker, who soon went out back to look. You took a seat, looking at Chanhee, who stood next to you, still looking around.

"Did you dye your hair again?" You asked him.

"Hmm, yeah it's for the comeback." He answered.

"It suits you." You replied.

He gave you a smile, "Thanks," He responded.

"The others are asking about you too." He added.

"Oh yeah?" You called.

"Yeah, asking when your going to come over again, Sangyeon offered to cook your favourite." He said.

"How about next weekend, you guys all free?" You suggested.

"Yeah, we're good. You could sleep over too if you wanted, just don't tell our manager." He said, making you giggle.

The worker then came back, luckily with your size. You thanked them and paid for the shoes, before you and Chanhee decided to go grab a drink and something to eat. You both headed to a small cafe nearby, taking a seat by the window.

"So, how have things been?" You asked, once you were both settled with some drinks and treats.

"They've been good, as I said earlier we've got a comeback soon." He answered.

"Can't wait to see it~" You said with a wink.

"Yes little miss Hyunjae bias~" He replied, making you laugh.

"Jealous?" You called.

"Not one bit, I'm your best friend, not him." He said with a scoff.

You laughed and rested your head on his shoulder, happy to have a close friendship with Chanhee and be able to joke about his group members. You were lucky to have him and he was lucky to have you.

"So, where to next?" He asked, once you both finished eating.

"Anywhere, I'm just happy to spend some time with my best friend." You answered.

Chanhee smiled as you both linked arms and headed off to continue your fashion shop and spend your free day together.

[1-800-call-ria]

The Summer that lasted forever (teaser)

paring: female!reader x NCT, (ft. Aespa)

genre: camp counselor!au, fluff, angst, literally everything (i haven't finished wrtiting LMAO)

WC: 0.6 k

AN: this will not include Lucas, but might include the SMRookies. (if this goes right i might make a gn and male!reader versions) also ideas, critism is encouraged!! I would love to hear from you <3.

series masterlist || the interview

As a college student you found your summers to be open. But this year you wanted a fulfilling vacation. Three months of pure nothing for the past few years left you empty and just as exhausted as before you left for break. Yes you had time to relax and de-stress, but something seemed to be missing. So this year you promised yourself to step out of your comfort zone and at least find a job to occupy your free time.

As a college student you found your summers to be open. But this year you wanted a fulfilling vacation. Three months of pure nothing for the past few years left you empty and just as exhausted as before you left for break. Yes you had time to relax and de-stress, but something seemed to be missing. So this year you promised yourself to step out of your comfort zone and at least find a job to occupy your free time.

Finding a summer job hadn't seemed that daunting then. It was definitely scary now. Looking online and even through newspapers to find any places hiring.

You knew for a fact fast food was something you wouldn't do. Handling food, customers and the occasional Karen was not on your bucket list. Retail hadn't seemed that bad, but it seemed like all the places weren't hiring. You've considered volunteering but again the places either weren't looking for more volunteers or the application process took at least four months.

Just as you're about to give up though, you see a bright green banner sporting a black and white "Camp Neo" on the bottom of your screen. When you scroll all the way down you see a "now hiring" button flashing right in the middle. You've never heard of this place but you continue to click it and it brings you to another website. The website honestly looks thrown together and shady with its neon green highlights and blurry photos. And the age categories were also very suspicious with the huge gap of 8-16 years old. The reviews though told another story.

"This camp will forever be my kid's happy place. The friendships he's made over the last two years are still going strong!"

"My daughter went here for about 5 years, and she loved it. I would totally recommend this camp for other parents. Each age is divided and my kiddo loved it here. Said it was always the highlight of her summers."

"The counselors are amazing and always put me and my friends first :) "

Scrolling past the reviews and comments about the camp you come to the end of the page and see a link in bright red reading "Our awesome team of counselors that we hope you join!" After you come to another part of the website you're met with a video with the Camp director, Lee Soo-man, introducing each counselor.

First were the women counselors Minjeong, Jimin, Aeri and Yizhuo. Each had their own charm and honestly were so beautiful. For the past few years Minjeong (known as Winter to the kids), Jimin (Karina) and Yizhuo (NingNing) had been counselors for the 13 year-olds and when Aeri (Giselle) joined last year the group had to be split. After explaining that there was a move towards there being three counselors-per age, the last few years were exceptions (this explained why there was another spot open) each girl introduced herself.

After the last of their introductions the video cut to the director going on about how each counselor was hand chosen by him and the prior/ current ones. It was a very deep and long process only to choose the best option for not only the other team members, but for the kids as well.

Seeing the way director Lee was talking about it, it really did seem like a long and time consuming. The man was passionate about only finding the best option out there. Maybe this wasn't the right job for you. Just as you're second guessing yourself and about to close out of the website all together. You see a group of the most beautiful men you have ever seen go across your computer screen.

...Okay...so maybe that deep and long application process wasn't really that bad. I mean you would be working with fine women and men

[livingfictionsystem]

So, my adhd/autistic freind has a grandmother with NPD who was extremely abusive towards her family, but i’m worried about my friends ableism towards other people with npd. she’s not met very many but she’s under the very common impression that everyone with npd is an abuser and an asshole, and idk if should get involved because her family was so hurt by someone with npd, but at the same time i’m worried about the way she’d behave if she met another person with npd in the future. do you have any advice?

Oooof.

Sparrow here. I'm sorry about your friend's family, sounds like some real generational trauma going on there.

Anecdotal storytime, sorry if this is rambly.

I did, a couple years ago, have a pretty big grudge against Borderline folks. My most recent abuser, Rowan, had borderline. We were on a pedestal, yknow, until we weren't. Same with my cohost's ex, AJ. A shitty ex-metamor of mine has BPD. I was straight up sick of pwBPD.

I know a lot about psychology but even I had this unfair anecdotal stereotype of someone locking themselves in the bathroom and hating you/needing you until you were stressed enough to give them what they wanted.

I knew *I* had some kinda serious disorder and was looking into bipolar when the highly ironic suggestion of Borderline hit me right in the face. And I mean I was TEXTBOOK, still am. I was in denial for a WHILE. The last thing I wanted was to see any reflection of my abuser in me. And people around me didn't really disparage NPD because they already had Xanthe's glittery, spotlight-hogging, self-aggrandizing self and thought they were p cool, but even people I was close with would take jabs at Bordies and I'd laugh along with them. I kept doing intense research just to prove it wrong in me and ended up proving it more and more right.

Then finally, I saw some positive examples. One of my besties in the outerworld has Borderline. Bojack Horseman, of all things, really helped me accept it in myself. I joined some online support groups. I see how loving we are, how creative, how most of us make fun of our own mood swings and our sui-ideation. How protective we are, how our impulsivity ends up with some really cool experiences and connections.

Now I've accepted it. But it would've been a lot harder of a road if I didn't have positive examples. And yknow Borderline is p much a half sibling to Narcissism.

Xanthe and Jasper were my great examples of NPD. Their hyper-independence, how that manipulative side can be used to talk friends out of spirals or abusive relationships, how they make sure everyone who benefits them has some sort of give-and-take even if they have to pull strings to do it, the intense insecurity and self-loathing under the arrogant facade. And omg are they masters at social chess, which is awesome when my tactless ass is floundering in turmoil and people wanna cancel me by proxy.

It's really only gonna be positive rep that does it for some people. Maybe your friend has a fave character that actually fits the NPD profile. (Alastor from Hazbin gives me NPD vibes p hard tbh.) Tons of creatives have it, like literally being self-absorbed is part of being famous lol. If you've got good examples to work with, it becomes a Lot easier.

Even better if you've got someone willing to poke fun at their disorder and educate. I can also always drop more NPD stories/memes/resources for you to have in your arsenal. And even just educating about other traumagenic disorders like BPD and DID and stuff may help other disorders by proxy, the same logic does apply.

But your friend may never accept it. And that would suck. But people want to blame a set of stereotypes rather than the casual cruelty of the universe. It's up to you whether that becomes a topic that you two just can't talk about or if it ends a friendship tbh.

But yeah sorry for the ramble, I hoped the more raw experience might help the perspective. Lmk if you have any specific scenarios or anything!

-Sparrow 🧷

[mxstball]

❛ can you tell me more about your adventures? ❜ for zinnia?? emmet doesnt know what the heck a lorekeeper is, but hes interested. as far as hes concerned that just means she has awesome stories

"Oh, yeah. I got plenty of stories." Zinnia laughed. "Y'see, thanks to lots of recent events and the change of the world, I have the fortune -- or misfortune depending on the Legendary Pokémon -- to try to find, check in on and interact with every active Legendary Pokémon and the humans that they partner with. So, take your pick and I bet that I got somethin' wild on said Pokémon."

Zinnia reached into her pouch and took out a Friend Ball.

"Like, for example, you know that girl Hilda, right? She and I met because we both were going down Resolution Cave to find Zygarde -- me to check on it and her to battle it. Y'know her. I genuinely don't think anyone loves to battle as much as that girl. Anyway, bitch sent a damn ZEKROM on me, thinkin' that she had the upper hand, so I brought out Rayquaza. Duked it out in the middle of that cave for an hour until Zygarde got mad and kicked us out... and then for another two after that. Good thing Poni Island don't got much there, lest I'm sure it would have been on the news."

"Anyway, Rayquaza eventually won, even without Mega Evolution and Hilda and I became real close buds after that. So, as a showing of our close friendship, she gave me a 'cool rock' that she found..." Zinnia facepalmed. "It was a Mewtwonite Y! Like, what the fuck???? And then she said that she likes to give cool gifts that she finds whenever we go through important events that she wants to celebrate."

"Anyway, here's where it gets a bit crazy. Sometime after my girlfriend and I started dating, Hilda visits my place and gives us both a gift. She said that she found replicas of the Light Stone and the Dark Stone and gave us one of them. Girlfriend got the Dark Stone, and I got the Light Stone. Said they weren't real or anything, but that she wanted to give us the opposite stone than she thought we would represent as a way to show a sort of union." She paused. "...You know where this is going, don'tcha?"

Zinnia tossed her Friend Ball behind her.

Zinnia sent out Reshiram!

"Hi, so this is Shiro. He's a Reshiram, but not the one from the Plasma Incident. This is an extra one that we have in this world???? That was a doozy to get written down when I learned that." She shook her head. "Anyway, this is about the level of stuff that I have to deal with as a part of my duties. Don't mind though. makes for fun stories."

[ilikepjo24]

Here's a little story time about something that happened in the beginning of September 2022 and I'm still not completely over it cause I'm a spiteful little bitch!

So, I had this online friend that I was talking to for months, I'm pretty sure that some of you know who I'm talking about already by the date that I gave you, but of those of you who don't know, let's call her Emma.

Emma was a good friend of mine, we met through Tumblr and we started talking a lot on discord. She was very nice but also very sensitive and chronically online (although that last part I hadn't realized until after we had stopped talking). She had told me about herself, her life, her family, her trauma, and I had done the same. We were very close and we talked to each other about everything.

We got along pretty well and we only ever disagreed over opinions and ships on Atla. So nothing serious that could main a friendship, right? Wrong. Because as I said, Emma was chronically online and overly sensitive.

One day, like all the others, she posted something about her favourite character, (which wasn't really correct, but I said nothing) and someone disagreed with her, let's call that person Tom. While character x was one of Emma's favourites, Tom didn't like them a lot, and so they pointed out how the flaws of character x actually affect the subject Emma was talking about and Emma did not like it because, well, she's chronically online and a dickrider.

Now, Tom and I had talked before. We weren't as close as we were with Emma, but we had similar views on a lot of things and had interacted with each other's posts a lot of times. Emma did not like that I agreed with someone who disagreed with her, because she thinks she's the main character and she's overly sensitive so she thought that me having a different opinion on something meant that I wasn't a good friend to her?

So she blocked me.

She ghosted me on all social media without even doing as much as saying bye.

I tracked down a common friend we had, let's call that friend Olive, and I asked her if she could talk to Emma for me, because I didn't know what was going on, and since Emma was valuable to me I didn't want to lose our friendship over a reason I didn't even know.

Olive talked to Emma and found out that the reason Emma ghosted me was her conflict with Tom and the fact that in a past tent, I had agreed with Tom on a different subject. I apologized, even tho I hadn't done anything bad, and I decided to give Emma space. Unfortunately, Olive and I drifted apart as well (although she's an awesome person and never and never dud anything wrong).

Soon Emma left Tumblr and Discord and moved to Twitter, where she proceeded to say shit about me and my other friends.

I was obviously was pissed because you don't just use your friend to trauma dumb, then ghost them forever for a stupid reason and then shit talk them behind their back under a different name. That's just bullshit.

Even later, Emma left Twitter and returned to Tumblr, again under a different name, and decided she'd continue doing what she was doing and would simply ignore the existence of her past friends.

I was still upset with her, and I was still hurt by the fact that I never got closure so I decided to ruin it for her because as I said, I'm a spiteful little bitch. I made a second blog and I confronted her. I told her about how much what she did had hurt me and I made sure to mention that she's a trashy person and an even trashier friend.

And she left Tumblr again without even responding 💀

Now, I don't know where Emma is or what she's doing. I also don't care because at least this time I got my closure. I don't have any tender feelings for her anymore, I wouldn't want to talk to her again and I'm not hurt by the memory of her now. However, even tho it doesn't make me sad, I'm still not 100% over it, which is why I'm making this post. I'm still angry at her and if ever saw her. I don't think I'll even be not angry at her. I'm a formal believer of "you can move on without forgiving or forgetting" so I'll probably die upset, which doesn't sound bad tbh.

I don't talk with Olive anymore and my relationship with Tom is the same as it was. I'm glad that my bond with Tom wasn't affected by Emma's bs. He was a better person and blogger than she was either way. I still talk with all the other friends I had back then, and I've made some new ones and every single one of them is better than Emma could ever dream of being.

I actually started talking with one of Emma's "enemies" XD. Emma used to trashtalk that girl 24/7 and was calling her lesbophobic, which made me, a lesbian, want to keep my distance, but after Emma left, I started talking to that girl and realized that she is not, in fact, lesbophobic and she's quite pleasant to talk to.

So if I were to come to a conclusion that would be that sometimes you might interact with shitty people and if you're lucky, at some point they'll walk out of your life and you might be sad when that happens but in the future you're life will be better without them.

Rot in hell Emma 😊

[emisirrelevant]

Thoughts on Zombies 2:

I like that overall it kept some things from the first movie- like the animation in the beginning and telling more lore again- with the werewolves like they did with the zombies. Also the minor breaking the fourth wall moments Zed and Addison do.

The football coach running a fro-yo business in his off season. I love that for him.

Zed's impeccable timing (this is sarcastic) of trying to do a prom-posal and ending up making the entire cheer squad bus crash.

Addison telling everyone with her quality leadership skills (again, sarcasm) to remain calm, but then jumps out of the bus herself to go find Zed.

Interesting to see that silver was a weakness to the werewolves in this movie- I always like to see what people's takes on supernatural creature myths are when they do these things.

Bree and Bonzo in a relationship was very cute for me. I knew I was right to stan them in the first movie.

Also Zoey and Wynter's interaction. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Wynter: Trying to scare the shit out of Zoey

Zoey: Just wants to make a new friend and finds the weak spot in 2 seconds

If you hadn't already guessed, I added Wynter and Willa to my stan list in this movie. (every time Wynter's necklace would malfunction I was like NOO)

And Eliza too- I wasn't too sure of her in the first movie, but Eliza is iconic. She makes some valid points. Our resident woman in STEM.

Bree being confused when Addison said she wanted to be with the werewolves and then Addison saying "I needed help with the chemistry homework, did you not see the beaker emoji?" "Oh- I do now" 😂😂😂 I LOVE BREE SM like the first thing she saw was HELP she didn't even check to see the emoji she went straight to MY BESTIE IS IN DANGER mode

Werewolf Addison eating breakfast with her parents and Addison's dad asking her if she joined a rock band😂

When the zombies and the werewolves show up to Prawn and Lacey is like "they do look good" for once I agree with her 😂

The reprise of Someday in this movie too- I might be a little emo about that actually

Lifting up the moonstone and carrying it with THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP™!

Bonzo doing the wolf howl and Wyatt saying "You said that perfectly"

The choreography and songs still being pretty decent for me.

One For All having that line "no wristband required" actually being low-key genius bc if you think about it the zombies were able to take off their Z-bands and embraced who they really were.

Me being low-key sad actually for our main zombie himbo Zed in this because he felt like he might lose Addison and all he wanted was to take her to Prawn. Obviously he could have found another way than stealing the necklace from her, but also he was more resistant to the werewolves while Addison being the welcoming accepting character that she was invited them to the cheer squad. At times I think they both had their moments. If it weren't a Disney movie, I think that they could have handled their relationship in other ways that were more in depth, like a good heart to heart, but obviously we get our classic good ending.

Finally, I was wondering who the Great Alpha would be since it wasn't Addison but then it made me smile to myself when I realized they actually didn't need one in the end because they all came together, and I think it would be so awesome to give Willa more spotlight in a prominent role. Because she deserves it. Also because it would have been awkward if someone else took over as the alpha when Willa was already looking jealous/upset whenever Wyatt would say something like Addison's the one!

Edit: I almost forgot this but I was thinking, if Zed and Eliza were able to take off their Z-bands and didn't go after living people as their zombie selves, would the wolves ever be able to take off their necklaces? I had to take a moment when Zed asked if their necklaces kept them from "wolfing out" and Willa was like no, we wouldn't be human either, we'd die- like wait what- also Disney said the word DIE and didn't censor it or try to use a different word? This is very interesting to me. Maybe the werewolves will still have their necklaces though because Willa also said they show their true selves?? Idk. Personal brainrot.

I will be watching the third movie/Zombies 3 and I will share my thoughts on it as well when I finish it.

[rayroa]

Judy Collins Q&A for Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Judy Collins returns to Tampa Bay on Jan. 28, 2024, and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has a feature story advancing the gig, but here's our Q&A for anyone interested.

—

Merry Christmas. What's that like in your house?

It's beautiful. It has a beautiful tree, and all my favorite possessions, and my husband. It's full of beautiful plants, and beautiful lamps and lights—so it's perfect.

And this is in New York, right?

Yep.

You talked about all your possessions and things like that. We obviously catch you at a very prolific time in your career. Still heavily gigging on the road, feeling great. What does Judy Collins ask for for Christmas? And what does she get for Christmas at this point?

Oh, I got a fireman Santa Claus ornament. An ornament of a microphone. I got a beautiful scarf from my sister and one from my husband—they're beautiful, gorgeous. And I love those things. They cozy me up on the road and they help me get through things. And books, and of course wonderful little tchotchkes from my sister and my granddaughter. I got a candle in a beautiful cup that has butterflies all over it. I love butterflies.

That's awesome. Gifts are really nice when you can figure out how to attach them to warm memories of the people that give them to you.

Exactly.

I want to ask you about Leonard Cohen a little bit. Obviously the story is well told and has been told a lot. He asked you why you weren't writing your own songs. You told him he's got to sing his own songs. And then you wrote "Since You've Asked" right after that. But I haven't seen you kind of talk about what you think Leonard would say about this latest album of all originals.

I know he'd love it. He'd love the one about Thomas Merton, certainly and he'd love the one about Spellbound. He was always generous with his praise. I would send him songs since I wrote them, and he would send me notes and tell me how wonderful they were. So I was always grateful.

Was he a good songwriting collaborator in terms of...

Oh, no I never collaborated with him on anything. He was a friend, and he was a fellow artist, and he was a great inspiration to me. And I think that's really where his  friendship helps me out. Because he inspired me with that first question. He got me going. And then after that, it was up to me, of course, but I did send him everything to get his response.

Did he ever give you constructive criticism?

He always said "That was wonderful." And that's the way that's the way he rolls.

For 32 years you learned that bel canto style under Max Margulis. He's the reason you can still work like a dog and I know you picked up a lot of good practices from him..I know that today is as good as it gets, you and I are both alive—and I know you have songs on the album that talk about some bad times, thinking of Arizona and tuberculosis in 1962—what about your own New Year's resolutions what are you working on this year?

Work harder. Keep on the edge. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Delight in the present. You know, keep your weight steady. Do your exercises and your bone strengthening. And take care to think of all your relatives and friends every day. Try to pray for them in this difficult time. It's always a difficult time on this planet. I don't know how we get by, or what we're supposed to do, but hang in here and try to exist and survive. Art's the thing that helps us which is why I treasure what I do. I think about the past year—I've had, in my experience, some of the best performances of my life in the past year. When I come off the stage, and I have that feeling that I have been present in something unique and transformative, it's transformative to me as well as the audience. I am so blessed because this is what keeps me going. This ability to get out there and do what I do, and sing and sing and sing, and talk, and tell my stories. It's just such a great privilege.

Yeah to be helpful for people's lives, too.

Absolutely. And the people who follow me and who come to my shows, they know what I'm going through because I'm always honest with them, I always tell them. This whole past month-and-a-half when I've had this cold which wouldn't go away, I was still able to sing and perform and I didn't have to cancel anything, thank God. So, you know, they know you're human, and they accept what you can do. Max has taught me what to do. So that makes my life much easier. Because I know how to get around these barriers to the voice.

You've kind of alluded to the cyclical nature of things in the human condition, and how the human condition kind of asks us to have art. Art gets us through things. And obviously, throughout your career, multiple people told you things like you know, "You got me through Vietnam," and I know that for poets hope is everywhere, but as you alluded to, there's this circle—and we love to kill each other for some reason—what is some of the art that gets you through these days?

Well, it's just the fact that being able to embody something that is of the nature of the other. Of the emotional, the spiritual, of the perception. You're dealing in something that's not on a foursquare basis. It's on the basis of spirituality, understanding, hearing, learning, listening, creating, dreaming, and that's what our life on the planet really is all about. I mean, the rest is a lot of work. And as far as writing and creating, my friend who's a mystery writer says, it's like laying pipe. You have to get up and do it, and practice it and write it and paint it. And that's the work that goes into it. But the result is just this connection between the spiritual and the practical. And that's what gets us through life, I think. I don't know what we would do without art. From the beginning, the caveman was drawing pictures on the walls of the caves because it had to express their experience of nature and of the powers of nature—and they did. And that's what we do. We basically were expressing what's happening around us—the nature, the growing things, the birds, the air, the clouds, the sun, the light, the morning, the night, the stars, the moon. So we see ourselves reflected in the universe, and we try to make something out of it that can inspire us, inspire one another.

And obviously reflection and song is its own special art form. Expression in songs is its own art form. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard. It was interesting to hear you say that you'd like to forgive more in the new year. You're so expressive in your music. You're always also a very vivid storyteller in your music. Oftentimes, your songs can take somebody back to a year, or a moment in history, but what are some of the things that you find hard to express? Is forgiveness one of those, or what's hard for you as far as expression goes?

The hardest thing to express is my being vehemently against war, and sometimes that has to come out with a song by Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie. I have shied away from singing "Masters of War" lately. I usually sing it in my shows, but since this disaster in the Middle East, I'm not singing it. I just can't even bear it. It's too painful. I don't want to take people to that place in the moment. I mean, "Amazing Grace" will do it. John Lennon's "Imagine" will help—a song that transcends the moment instead of leaving us to have to live in that feeling of despair and horror and hunger and human suffering. We don't have to live through that through a concert. We have to be given something to lift us over that and through that. And also, I think that helps the planet. I don't think it's important to poke people's eyes out with the information that everybody has. I can't even watch the news.

Yeah, I totally understand that. And you know, listening to you talk about not wanting to sing "Masters of War" was interesting. Because I have a four year old and they did a Christmas program a week ago, and I didn't know what they were singing. And they did "War Is Over." 

Good.

And it was so crazy to see a bunch of four year olds, you know, singing like, "War is over if you want it." And I'm in Florida, like, this is where woke goes to die, you know?

(laughs)

So I was like, really happy to see these kids like singing this song. I couldn't believe it. And you know, and it makes a lot of sense now that you wouldn't play "Masters of War." You talked about Leonard a little bit, and I was gonna ask you, you know, because he was an Orthodox Jew and I think you've played you know, in front of Jewish audiences, but I think you kind of answered the question in the previous answer. I was going to ask you how you thought your conversations about the current war would go with Leonard, but I feel like you answered that. Do you feel that way, too? Or do you feel like you have more you want to say about that?

Well, you know, he was so explicit. Also there was a point in I think '73 when one of the wars—the Six-Day Way, I think, happened—he went to Israel and sang and wrote a song…(hums it out, trying  to remember the song title)... I forget, anyway, he was always expressive. On You Want It Darker, some of his last material is so powerful and so painful, because we wanted to darker—and we're getting it darker. This free formed mental illness that's what it is, it's freeform or mental illness.

My brother in law's in town and we've been talking a lot about Martin Luther King and his quotes about how violence could change somebody but also change a country, you know. You're one of the most famous activists in American history.

I don't know about that.

I don't know, I think your career is really interesting, because you have sung activist songs and you've, I mean, you're a woman also making music and art through all those really hard years for women. And you talked about the cyclical nature of things and thinking about the song "Mama, Mama" and that brave story that you told about traveling to Nebraska when you were 23. And I think the last time I talked to you was early 2022. And since then, in the last year, we saw the right to abortion fall, and I was wondering, why are men still so obsessed with telling women what to do? You'd think we could exercise that out of our humanity.

I don't know. I mean, the fight might be there to keep our seal up and to make us aware that it's not right, and that we have to take action. Maybe that's what it's all about. I don't know. It has to be so hard. Why does it have to be so hard?

The animal kingdom is very hard and very simple. The rules are very simple. The aggression is based on hunger and predatory, land grab, and survival. And maybe that's all that it is. It's survival. It's predatory, land grabbing, and knocking off the neighbor who's annoying you. That's sort of historically what it's all about. War and fighting and anger and ferocity is part of our planet, life. Everything has a time. And then it goes, and species die out. Ours may. I mean, we're sort of forcing that on the planet to get rid of us because we're damaging it so badly. We may get retribution from the planet. And maybe war is part of that retribution? I don't know. I don't know the answer to any of these questions, except that I do know that it's one day at a time. That is getting through your own battles and your own struggles with this degree of kindness, gentleness, and understanding.

If you can't see that on the planet, you have to do it in your life. To show gentleness, to show respect, to show forgiveness, to be an even handed neighbor and friend. The kindness to one another is essential. The fact that we can learn to hold our tongue unlike some of the forces around us, people who cannot hold their tongue and have to say everything on their mind. That takes us back to mental illness.

I wanted to ask you something about your dad. I think he woke up every day, I think I remember you telling the story of him maybe singing like Dorothy Dandridge.

Yeah.

And being smiling and kind of ready to work all the time and learn something new every day. And obviously, your dad was also an alcoholic who got the job done. But then you've also described him as you know, a blinded man in a sighted world which  could be a beautiful metaphor, but also quite literal, in his life, but that joy that you talked about, that your dad brought to every day—smiling, ready to work and learn something new—what are some of those things that he taught you either directly or indirectly by example that you kind of bring to your work every day and maybe want to amplify even more this year?

Yeah, show up on time. Your work to the best of your ability. Always be present. Always be cooperative, always be enthusiastic. Always be happy. I mean, he was happy most of the time except if he was dead drunk. But, you know, that's the challenge. He overcame it. He knew how to do what he had to do. And I learned that from him. I had the benefit of discipline. In terms of my studies, I had to practice several hours a day. I had to show up. I had to do my homework. I was helpful. I was industrious, and that's part of why I do what I do. I love to be happy. I can tell you that some people in my family think I'm a cockeyed optimist. Why am I cockeyed? I have to be an optimist. You have to think there is something beyond what's going on, which is going to come out well. And I think even in chaos and the death and the destruction that's happening. The other side of that—it's like the fire burning in the forest and the next spring, all the wildflowers come bursting out dancing around in their colors and their shapes and their shifts—we have to look beyond the depths into what can be the brightness of the outcome. That's what we have to think of.

Right, I know we're getting short on time. I wanted to squeeze in a couple more questions. I think you kind of alluded to this. You've said people lose sight of everything—and you were just talking about that big picture—but you also said they watch too much television. They're on social media too much, which is not surprising but then you also said, "I'm also guilty of that sometimes but I tried to stay away from it." I don't imagine you like doomscrolling on Twitter or Instagram much. Do you?

No, I tell you, I do my due diligence. I check my email. I check my Facebook page. My Facebook is really a wonderful place because I get things that I love. Lots of paintings. A lot of scenes of herding dogs, sheep dogs—they excite me a lot—and horses. I get a lot of rivers and wind and trees and things like that. So I dip in there but I don't stay very long. And last night we watched “Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim. That's a yearly event—we always watch that—it's the best film.

Real quick, do you still do the Canadian Air Force exercises?

Well, I do everything I can to stay healthy. I run. I walk. I have a FitBit that tells me my steps; I quite often get 2,000 a day. I try to do my stretches. I try to work out. Now I have a trainer for my weight bearing exercises so that I can increase my bone mass. The Air Force Exercises, I don't know if I could do them now, but I'm pretty fit.

And last question. I want to revisit “Arizona” again. The stories it conjures up for you, whether it's being brought to the lung doctor after the ash alley gig, the custody battle with Peter, but what about the writing of a song like that? Does it sting emotionally to have to revisit all of that over and over until you land on lyrics and an arrangement you love?

Well, it was a long-term song. I started it years ago. I worked on it on and off. I put things in it that I liked, and eventually when I was writing songs with Ari Hest, that's where the whole concept of Spellbound came because when I was writing with him, I realized that I just had to get down to start writing a poem every day, and also finish some of the things that I've been working on. He was very helpful. It’s a very mysterious process. And I'm very grateful to have it in my life.

I'm very grateful that you made a little bit of room for me in your life this morning.

It’s been wonderful talking to you. You're very inspiring.

Thank you. You're also very inspiring and I'm proud to talk to you and I'm proud to tell my parents that I get to talk to you and your music has meant a lot to my family over the years. 

Have a beautiful holiday Happy New Year to you.

Enjoy those scarves. Happy New Year.

Bye bye.

[loorain]

Sims 4 Fontenot Legacy - The Next Step

Towards the end of a long day at the restaurant, a familiar face saunters in to see Sabrina.

Sabrina: Laks! What are you doing here?

Lakshmi: Came to see my friend! Have some time for a chat?

Sabrina: For you, of course. Come, let's sit.

Lakshmi and Sabrina settle on the couches in the waiting area to chat.

Sabrina: So how was your Winterfest?

Lakshmi: Wonderful, actually! Tabatha and I just spent it quietly at home. It was nice just enjoying everything, the two of us.

Sabrina: That's awesome! So, things between you two are going well?

Lakshmi: More than just well, actually. Tabatha is amazing. She makes me so happy. I never thought this would happen, but I'm so glad it did.

Sabrina: Laks, you deserve this and more. I know you and Tabatha have what it takes to make it for the long haul.

Lakshmi: Well that's why I came by today, actually. You see, Winterfest was nice not just because it was quiet and intimate. Tabatha... well, she proposed.

Sabrina: What?! Laks, that's crazy!

Lakshmi laughs.

Lakshmi: I know. See, here's the ring.

Sabrina finally notices and admires the ring on Lakshmi's left ring finger.

Sabrina: Laks, it's beautiful! Tabatha's got good taste.

Lakshmi: Thanks, I love it.

Sabrina: This is-- wow, I'm speechless honestly! I thought Nyla would be the one of us who settled down first, but look at you and Tabatha on her heels!

Lakshmi: Well that's the thing, Tabatha and I don't want a long engagement period, we just want to get married as soon as possible.

Sabrina: How soon we talking?

Lakshmi: We were thinking first thing after New Year's.

Sabrina: Wow, that soon? If you two weren't both women I'd ask if this was a shotgun wedding.

That makes both of them giggle.

Lakshmi: I know it's quick, but we really just want to do it, y'know? Be married, live our lives together as wife and wife. We don't need all that time to know we want to be with each other for the rest of our lives, so why not just do it?

Sabrina: Well you know I'm behind you every step of the way.

Lakshmi: Thank you, Sabrina. It means so much to both of us that we have your support.

Sabrina: So tell me the plans! If we're going to have a wedding so soon we need to be ready!

Lakshmi: Well Tabs and I aren't really feeling a big wedding. We don't have any extended family to invite, and since we're doing this so quickly we've decided to just do a courthouse wedding. We just want you, Beau, Nyla, Alex, and little Roddy and Juno there. The most important sims in our lives.

Sabrina: We'll be there, no doubt.

Lakshmi: And I know it's nothing super fancy, but we want you and Nyla to be our Sims of honor.

Sabrina: Laks, I'd be honored. Whatever you need, I'm there.

Lakshmi lets out a sigh of relief.

Lakshmi: Great. Wow, feels good to get that all off my chest! I've been bursting to tell you and Nyla since it happened, but I wanted to tell you in person.

Sabrina: You told Nyla already?

Lakshmi: Yeah, earlier today. Think she's already picking out your outfits for the wedding.

Sabrina: Ah, leave it to Nyla! Her fashion sense is the best anyway. I trust her judgment. Laks... this really is great. I'm so happy for you.

Lakshmi: I'm glad I finally found my person. It just feels right, y'know? Like my life has been leading up to this moment.

Sabrina: Well if it feels right, I say go for it. We'll be right here to cheer you on every step of the way.

The two friends continue their conversation, planning the wedding, catching up on the latest on each other's lives, and reminiscing on how far they've come.

At the beginning of their college days, neither could ever imagine their lives would pan out the way they have. Nyla's a mother with a longtime partner, Sabrina became a parent too with a great co-parenting partner and a rekindled relationship with their college sweetheart while also starting their own business, and Lakshmi ended up with an unlikely love of their life after years of heartbreak.

Through it all, their friendship has stood the test of time. After all they've been through, good and bad, they know that their relationship can withstand anything. And that is a future they both look forward to.

[ofgentleresolve]

FERRE MIGHTY FERRE DID I EVER MENTION HOW DEAR YOU ARE TO ME? LET ME COUNT ALL THE WAYS I CARE YOU~ Seriously, though, you're one of those people that I sigh about dreamily while kicking my leggies, one of those people I don't need to double check on name-spelling anymore because I'm always yelling about you, one of those people who both on mobile and on laptop my searchbar auto-fills the url of because I'm simply that big of a stan.

To have you not only as part of my Tumblr experience but also as someone I am so blessed and thrilled to call my friend, I can't begin to describe how soft it makes my tiny heart. The warmth you add to my dash and my DMs simply by being there, because I can't ever get enough of the notion that I get to cradle our friendship to my chest like a goblin would a precious gem.

I seriously can't put it into words, I am so happy that I know you? You're such a wonderful presence in my life that I don't even want to entertain the memory of when you weren't, the relaxed maturity with which you talk about certain things, your thoughts and your views and the way you treat life as a whole, you've somehow become a presence, an energy in my life that I didn't know would feel this awesome and wonderfully right.

You're so cool and neat and dedicated and?? I can't even gather all the adjectives I want, seriously. It's why I throw 'mighty' around so often, you are simply THE MIGHTIEST, I love your emojis (weird thing to add out of nowhere but I just LOVE THEM SO), the way you reach out and check in, I'm enough of a stan and simp to genuinely find it so neat how you communicate. It's just I LUB all aspects of 'Ferre' I get to experience and that I got to do so all the way to the end of 2022 is a blessing I can't thank you enough for.

For into 2023 and as long as you'll have me, I hope to be able dedicated more yeeting and blabbering to my massive case of 'Ferre Stanning' so I can have even more to yell about at the next New Year ♥

@mythvoiced so len is making me go 🥺🥺🥺

LENA LENA MY DEAR LENA 🥺🥺🥺🥰

Not me smiling SO WIDELY when I saw this in my inbox 🥰🥰🥰 I will admit, I had not been the greatest of moods coming into the new year BUT THIS?? Gave me LOTS OF SERATONIN in which I am SO HONORED to have the respect and attention of someone who is so sincere and kind and just gives off both REAL and positive vibes 🥺 makes me really wonder what I did to get ur attention fsjdklfjsdl  :’D

But but!! Lmao I am glad you straight up admit to having my url in your autofill for ur searchbar….bc I am also very much the same way with ur blog JFLSKDJF I PROMISE IT’S FOR A GOOD REASON 😂😂😂 but let me get back to my point here- I know you probably know this about me already, but coming back to tumblr rpc for me back in 2021 had been a rather daunting experience and one thing I really wanted this time around was to be surrounded by genuinely good and sincere ppl who cared about their mutuals both as writers BUT ALSO as ppl….i will admit, I did lurk from afar for a like, a month or two before following to see what kind of person could possibly be running this blog- and I will say!! From when I started lurking, I already got very good vibes and once we started actually writing and plotting 2gether, I was not disappointed 😌😌😌

I think for me, what sticks out the most about you on this hellsite is just?? you’re so sincere in how you present yourself here and there’s something so inherently cheerful about the vibes I get from you, but it never like?? borders on toxic posivity?? I think it really has to do with the fact that we get to see both your highs and lows the fact that you are never trying to masquerade it, and that you are always truthful with yourself on here- what your limits are, which makes me in turn?? Feel comfortable with also being more open about myself knowing that when I do interact with you, I’m not going to be wondering if the person on the other side of the screen is being nice to me for ulterior motives….they’re ( you! ) being nice because they WANT to be :’DDD

but , but!! I just also wanted to note?? That like, you know how within the rpc there’s always like these posts about how ‘you should interact with your mutuals’ or ‘spread kindness and positivity throughout the community’ and like, sure!! It’s good to see those post, but I think one thing that really really makes me admire you is how you?? actually PRACTICE that idea of being kind and positive- I see it in the way you seem to never run out of energy to give and show LOVE to ur mutuals, the way you go out of your way to bring some cheer onto their blogs  whether that’s thru messages such as these but also in ur tags and comments…but then also making a priority to make them and their characters feel seen and heard….i honestly think that is SUCH a rare thing to find in an rp partner :’D and I am 100% honest when I say this- I think anyone who gets to be mutuals with you and gets to write with you is a VERY LUCKY individual….makes me wonder how you came admire me :’DDD

LMAO THANK YOU FOR ALSO NOTICING THE WAY I USE EMOJIS TOO 😂😂😂 I just?? feel more comfy with using them in sets of three bc I like the way it feels when press command+v three times – didn’t realize that’s supposed to be a stylic choice JFLKSJDLFJ

As we jump into 2023, I hope can continue?? To be a warm presence on ur dashboard and dms as you have been for me and I WILL DO MY BEST!! To be that sorta older sibling figure on here 4 u as well ( lmao fun fact, I’m actually the youngest sibling so this is very new to me 🥲🥲🥲 ) for as long as you’ll have me around <3

I hope your new year went well len and I HOPE ?? YOU’RE HAVING A WONDERFUL DAY- care u and adore u lots 💕💕💕

[libratitsandcoffee]

Thanatos(p.5)

Okay, so hello. Back again. I keep ghosting this account, it's my toxic trait. I have decided that this story about my failed friendship is not at all finding me closure. So I will summarise it, down to it's very basics. I will miss details that will make it seem like I was irrational, but I wasn't. Trust me. Here is a timeline form.

March 2020- Fell into the deepest, saddest feeling I have had in years. A depression so strong that I didn't know if I would see April. Beanbag didn't notice, didn't care.

April 2020- Feeling a little better about myself, Bookcase started noticing my terrible feelings and was there for me in her odd way. I swapped my eleventh form classes around, I had only one class with Beanbag and now four with Bookcase. That really helped me.

May 2020- Lock down for the first time, that was crazy. Beanbag and I started talking again, more and more just like we used to do. I took Drama with this girl in the grade above me, who happened to live just 5 mins down the road and had a sister who was best friends with my sister. Our sisters wanted to have a sleepover together at their place, and because I had been locked in the house for weeks on end, their mother asked my "friend?" (I'm not sure what we were at this point?) if she wanted me to come as well. She said yes, and I will always be grateful for that decision. Something about me is that, I don't do casual friends, I am strong with my friendships, very passionate. It's all or nothing. And like clockwork, this friend of mine, I'll call her Frog, became so instantly close so quickly. It was different to Beanbag and I. Beanbag and I had the same interests and hobbies and that's what brought us together, but not much else, it wasn't a deep connection, like, very soulful. But this connection with Frog was so easy, freeing. Everything was funny, we had the same intuition and feelings. It was like a bloodbond, a real reminder of what friendship was supposed to be.

June 2020- Beanbag and Tennis decided that they should just be fuck buddies. Jesus fucking christ.

July 2020- That shit ended up in flames and they didn't talk for months. Naturally, IT WAS ALL I FUCKING HEARD FROM BOTH OF THEM THIS TIME PLS LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEEEEEE.

September 2020- Not much happened this time around, I had my birthday and spent it playing Among Us with my work friends, and then we made a joint minecraft server. Awesome. Beanbag and Tennis weren't invited to my sleepover. I had Bookcase and another friend come over instead, the same people that are coming over for my birthday tomorrow.

December 2020- We were all friends again, Beanbag, Tennis, Tennis's best friend (who I cannot remember the name of(her fake name I have her, not her real one, i remember that). We stole baby Jesus on nye, had an epic sleepover. Everything was so nice.

Then we started our final year of school, and we drifted apart.

[ellena-asg]

I know that we all know that Danny (and Steve too) is a very good person with heart made of gold. That he can be all that "yadda yadda yadda me don't like it" but deep inside he likes it ;) he's a very open, very sensitive, loving and very understanding person. I know that there are his I love yous. I know that there is his You do good = You are good. I know that we have Danny being completely ok with being so close with a man, that one and only man, Steve. Hugs, other touching, intensive eye contact and so on. And we have other hints to know that he would be ok with being (officially) Steve's boyfriend although they both aren't into men. And yeah, yeah, we have that awesome scene with his "I personally would've gone with the, um... the gay thing to keep our cover" ❤️ Yeah, I know. But this:

That scene where McDanno are watching Enemy mine.

Yes, you can say that it's just about them watching it and having different opinion. But let me share something:

That's disgusting.

Whaf if Steve just pretends? What if he just makes that face and pretends that the scene is really disgusting for him just to... provoke Danny? To test the waters? It's season 2, it's still the beginning of their friendship and there are still many things to discover. Sometimes he can't just ask about X, Y, Z so he uses the situation, the opportunity. He dances around.

So. "I've just said: That's disgusting! What will Danno say?".

"Danno, come on. Say something! I need to know what you think. Is that disgusting to you?". "Oh, are you crying now?". "I need to know everything so I'll provoke you with my rant".

"You weren't moved by that little moment right there, that scene?", Danny asks. So... Aha! Danny seems to be ok with that scene. "Evidently not as much as you", Steven lies. "Come on, Danno. Say more". Then Danno says "Okay, I'm sorry that I got drawn in to a beautiful film about sacrifice and friendship". But nah, it's not the answer. Steve needs to show Danny...

The dude just gave birth!

The dude. The man. Gave birth. "Are such things ok to you, Danno? Are such things normal to you, as normal as these ones you experience?". "Would you be ok with you being man... a pregnant man?". "Would you be ok with, for example...".

He's an alien, okay? They got different plumbing on this planet! They're all hermaphrodites or whatever!

Danny is angry. But also: Danny is very ok with everything. Danny supports everything. He's open-minded. He loves everything what is full of love in his eyes. For Danno that pregnant alien dude is a picture of love. Danno sees friendship there. And thinks that this scene is beautiful and touching. Danno isn't any -phobe. So... It's possible that being in love with an alien would be ok for him too. And other things different than their "traditional" hetero life would be ok too then. "Sex with a man", Steve thinks, "being in love with a man. Alien man. Human man. Or such human alien like me. Okay".

Danny is talking and talking but Steve is now processing thoughts. "Soo... No problem for Danno. Okaaay. So he could be, uh, hetero man in love with another hetero man. Because there would be a love. And friendship. And it would be beautiful. And it's not about falling in love with a sex (gender) but... with a person, that person's soul, huh? So... if alien is ok, then neanderthal Super Seal..."

He tries to hide the smile 😈

Danny is now trying to explain his feelings, poor Danny thinks that Steve just wants to know why Danny likes that movie and that Steve needs something like 1000 reasons why Enemy mine is a great movie 🤭 [oh, Steve likes that movie! 😈 as he said at the beginning, when he came to Danny's room: "Enemy mine? Mm-hmm. That's awesome. I feel like I'm in a time machine"].

Poor Danny. Steve just wanted some answer. And he's just got it. So, Danny, you can stop now xD "You know what? Forget it" - Steve says. "I know what I needed to know", Steve thinks.

Danny is like WTF? And Steve...

Steve can't hide his smile ^^

I mean... That scene is very special imo. I just... I see one big "Danny would be ok with being supersealromantic/sexual" there. I see "Sometimes people in Hawaii may think that Danny is Mr Nope, Mr Conservative, Mr Give me sexy Girlssss Please but... it's not like that". I see there something similar to that scene from season 5 (with that gay cover and being ok with that and smiling when Ruth says "gay marriage") - similar but more hidden. I see there Danny showing that he is really sensitive and that all he needs in the world and all what matters to him is love and friendship. And yeah, I see there:

Steve: Me as your husband... Problem?

Danny: No problem!

*green light*

;)

[anystalker707]

Silver on your chest

Pairing: Party Poison x Reader Word count: ~ 2 100 Genre: Smut / Fluff Summary: (K/n) has a certain liking for Party's pierced nipples. Kind of content: Oral fixation / Nipple play

a/n: Old thing I decided to post here!

"Here," I mutter, handing the paper back to Fun Ghoul – he grins happily with it, observing the small heart with wide eyes and holding it like it was the most important thing in the world, currently.

"That's awesome, thank you!" He doesn't even look at me before jumping away to wherever. Ghoul spent some good ten minutes trying to get me to make one of these hearts for him, which are basically folded paper. Apparently, Poison refused to do it for him, so he recurred to me, knowing the red-haired had taught me how to make these some weeks ago.

Poison follows Ghoul with their eyes and shakes their head to themself, finally approaching to take the seat beside me. "Annoying."

"You're the annoying one, you could've easily done it for him, but no!" I roll my eyes, leaning my head against their shoulder, practically slouched over the seat, nuzzling them lightly.

A low complaint comes from Poison, but their attention is mainly on the radio they've got in hands, fidgeting with it in what I assume to be a poor attempt of fixing the object after stubbornly refusing to let Jet do it instead.

I met Poison some years ago. Both of us are similar, in a way, but the fact actually set us apart for a long time. Now that time enough has passed for us to look back and think well about what has happened, it's clear things weren't exactly our fault and, if we're going to talk for real about this, there was almost a start of a good friendship in one of the first times we talked to each other, when we were in a party.

Unfortunately, things started taking another way when people started noticing us and seeing us as competitive extremes battling to be the greatest influence in the zones and I don't know when we get lost in the reality of the rumors. Nothing that a few drunk confessions couldn't solve, fortunately.

"I think we should go out later," I mutter, taking a hold of Poison's jaw, and turn their head to press our lips together. They hum, like if saying they'll think about it.

Stupid.

Give me attention.

A comfortable silence falls between us. I observe Poison. The sun is bright out there, almost setting itself, thankfully in a direction the light is not hitting us and, still, the light that comes from the outside casts over Poison. The light tones contrast against the dark ones of the diner, making them look so beautiful – well, they are beautiful, but they're aren't any less or any more, what's be impossible, right now, it's just a different kind of beauty.

My eyes drift towards the radio. All the seriousness and concentration that Poison has almost made me believe they actually know what they're doing, which is immediately proved wrong once I take a look at their job.

Telling them what they should've done will just get me in trouble, so I just move to show what needs to be done, briefly, just a hand motion towards one of the main parts and I believe they're able to take it from there. All that time observing Dr. D and Cola fixing radios sometimes do turn out to be useful, sometimes.

Some minutes go by. Poison gives up. Predictable. A sharp sigh escapes their lips as they roll their eyes, just placing the radio on the table rather carelessly – carelessly enough to show their annoyance, but not that they'll cause any useless damage to the object, which will probably continue there until someone like Kobra or Jet decide to fix it instead because Poison will not be touching it again and admit they failed on something.

"Okay, let's go." Poison stands up in a sudden manner that would send me falling to the cushion if I weren't fast enough. Their tone holds no patience, something comprehensible and that'll most likely end soon.

I can't hold back a grin as following Poison, wrapping my arms around their waist from behind, pressing soft kisses to their neck.

"(K/n)!" They protest with a chuckle, hands over mine. With me glued to them like this, our steps towards the front door turned into messy and slow ones while we try to not step on each other's feet. I grin against their neck, hugging them tightly for a moment before finally pulling away and taking their hand in mine, rushing towards my car, both of us giggling in the way.

Once we've taken our seats, Poison presses their lips to mine once again, their usual clinginess starting to show and I've got no complaint about that. I can remember people commenting about how it doesn't even seem we used to be so competitive in the past when seeing how we can be protective over each other and do not let go of each other, but little do they know how things can be even cheesier between us.

Being with Poison means midnight car drives, lots of unusual dates and neck kissing, sometimes it's just hanging out in their room while wearing each other's clothes and a lot of cuddling.

Things go further than that, even.

Poison isn't just a person with red hair, an immense bulletproof ego and outgoing attitude. They weren't made this way, but shaped up to such a point by life and there's still a bit of what they used to be. You find out being outgoing, stubborn and egocentric is just a defense mode and they can be shy and easily impressed.

Knowing Poison trusts me enough to show other sides of themself makes me so damn happy.

A few more kisses are shared before I finally pull away so I can start driving. Soon, Poison starts fidgeting with the radio until music starts filling the car. One of the songs of the CD Dr. D got me with my favorite tracks, like usual. Driving without music feels even weird now.

The car ride is rather calm, there's not much words to describe the moment besides saying we're enjoying each other's presence. It is enough. I glance at them and Poison is looking out the window, red bangs sent flying with the wind, their attention on watching the desert passing by – I smile a bit, a pleased sigh escaping my nose.

Finally, I stop the car. There's a place where we usually hang out – it's got an extremely beautiful view while dracs hardly ever show up around here, but it would be easy to spot one if that was the case. Well, people don't usually come here at all. A diner with other three or four people doesn't give you much privacy, neither does an abandoned gas station with another two, in a way we were obligated to find somewhere else to hang out and it's usually here or another gas station down Zone Five's south, but it's too far, though the best for fucking. Anyways, wherever we go, we're always with our guns.

We share a look the moment I let go of the steering wheel and kill the engine.

There's an unspoken agreement with us leaving the car at the same moment, just to get back in, taking the back seats this time, and our lips are connected once again before the doors are even thrown shut.

Poison's kiss is filled with a certain kind of urgency – not just because of the way their lips move against mine, also because of how their hands grip onto my clothes, pulling me closer. Understandable. We haven't had proper time with each other for almost a week. Too many dracs.

"Goddamnit..." Poison mutters under their breath.

They pull away briefly and I open my eyes lightly to see them looking down at us for a moment. Resuming the kissing, their hands now trail down my torso, pushing me until I’m in the middle of the seat, and I finally get their goal once Poison throws one leg over my legs then sets themself down on my lap with a satisfied smile.

I raise my eyebrows in amusement, earning a smirk in response while Poison starts removing their jacket, followed by their shirt, both thrown to the front seats. It doesn’t matter how many times I see their body, their bare skin, I’ll always find it impossibly beautiful.

The light coming from the sunset bathes a slice of pale skin down their chest in an orange tone, making a wonderful contrast, which gets even better considering the car’s dull tones and the colors playing on the sky, going from a strong pink tone to a soft yellow one dying the clouds in the sunlight’s way. And it’s so calm. It’s just us and nothing else; me, Poison, my hands tight around his thighs, lips pressed against their chest and, damn…

A quiet gasp comes from Poison, their fingers tangling themselves with my hair, creating a light pressure with pushing me closer to their chest. Knowing what they want, I start to pull lightly on the warm, soft skin with my teeth, earning myself a groan from them.

My fingers dig into Poison’s thighs, a task that demonstrates itself to be harder than I thought due to the tight jeans, though appreciated by them anyways. Still, what seems to really please Poison is my thumbs rubbing circles into their hips at the same time my lips now meet this special spot on the base of their neck, sucking and nibbling on it.

“(K/n),” they whine quietly, breath growing heavier according to how much I continue with it.

At some point, one of my hands follows along with the jeans’ waistline until meeting the trail of hair that starts a bit under Poison’s belly button and dives into their underwear, pressing down onto the skin in a sort of kneading motion, while my other hand takes place on the curve of their ass. I know when to stop because of the clearly involuntary jerk of hips coming from them.

I breathe a chuckle, also out of breath, but not as much as Poison. They look at me with something between an extremely pleased expression and an annoyed one – the first one is clearly stronger, even more judging by how tighter their jeans are getting by the seconds.

Poison wets their bottom lip. Their cheeks are almost as red as their now messy hair, with also red marks covering their body. They’re just so perfect and gracious and at the same time I would let them do whatever they’d like, that superior look they hold also makes me want to wipe it away from their face at the same moment. These continue in an internal debate inside me, the place and the situation not really allowing me to take a strict choice.

Throwing their head back slightly to push their chest forward, the gaze Poison shoots at me through half-lidded eyes is yet another invitation for my lips to meet their skin once again. My eyes drift towards their nipples.

The exact moment when Poison got their nipples pierced is another memory lost in my mind, turned into a blur through the time, but I still can remember the healing process and how they almost freaked out whenever accidentally hitting or brushing their nipples in a wrong manner. Nonetheless, I think it’s just one of the best fucking ideas they’ve ever had. I simply love these.

The rings are cold against my tongue – an opposite to the warm skin –, a familiar metallic taste following it. A few words of appreciation come from Poison, groaning softly as they pull me into them once again, so I start working more with my tongue and consequently snatch a string of quiet moans from them.

My name leaves Poison’s lips repeatedly, in what’d be desperation if it wasn’t due to them liking this so much. Maybe it’s really both. Their state makes the words turn out in a barely coherent mumbled manner, but it’s heaven to listen to them.

All the need is returned. My arms snake around their waist, tightly holding onto them, pulling them closer to me and I can feel their thighs pressed tighter to my hips.

Poison’s rant, however, is interrupted by a loud moan – I wrap my lips around their nipple, sucking lightly on it before sinking my teeth light in the skin around it. They push their hips forward, sounds getting louder according to how my motions continue, but I don’t stop until some seconds later.

When I finally pull away, Poison clearly needs a moment to recompose themself, still breathing heavily. Their head is thrown back and I judge their eyes are also pressed shut, so I limit myself to letting my lips linger over the skin of their heavily moving chest, pressing light kisses to it.

“(K/n),” Poison says as looking down, making me pull away enough to face them. “Touch me. Right now,” they demand, pressing their lips to mine.

_____________________

Tagging list: @lubbockshusband

[aquamoonchaii]

CHEERS TO US >> JUYEON

⍣ genre: fluff; slice of life; comfort!au

⍣ warnings: none

⍣ pairing: juyeon x reader

⍣ word count: 2.7k

⍣ collab: This is for the collab Summer Love - The Boyz from lovie @bangchan-fairy

⍣ charlie’s notes: juyeon is here! i did a comfort au so you guys can read it to feel better always uwu, this lovely banner was made by the precious @halliney

⍣ summary: juyeon needs to talk to someone, you appear with a glass of wine ready to make his life a little better.

This was his second night in this bar, he would never have expected himself to be alone in a small town drinking beer with snacks on a friday night. But he was desperate and he had to do something, his mind needed to relax.

He has a beer in his hand as he smiles back at the pretty ladies that pass by his table and look at him with desire and interest. JuYeon likes the attention but turns down any invitation to go to another table or even to hotel rooms, he already has a target and is not interested in anyone else.

At least tonight.

Because his target is special, he wouldn't be able to talk about this to the other girls.

Usually summer vacations are all about relaxing after the hard work of a whole year, thinking about all the goals he has reached and the new goals he wants to set for himself. But not this time, he gulps down all the beer and sighs.

JuYeon feels trapped in some kind of existential crisis thinking about if what he is doing is correct and if his life is turning out the way he wanted. Usual stuff that makes young people think a lot.

He is just here waiting for the girl that said would be here around the same time as yesterday, where she literally just came to take care of a drunk friend who was heartbroken. He wasn’t heartbroken but her words certainly had some healing effect on him and he seemed really anxious to talk to her or...

...to anyone really. He is used to being the one who is reliable and the man all his friends go to have some type of advice or comforting words. And being him the friend in need? Hell no.

The irony on him not being able to ask for help or even having the strenght to let out all his weak thoughts is stupid and makes him smile bitterly against his beer. He wonders what the hell he is actually doing here, maybe he is desperate for some comforting words coming from a wise stranger.

“Are you really drowning in alcohol for a woman that cheated on you, idiot?” It was late and the only thing he could hear was the voice of the girl that just entered the bar, she waved at the bartender and he finally noticed the loud sobbing of the wasted man that was two tables apart from him, his whining was part of the whole mood of the bar so JuYeon didn’t even pay attention to the scandal, his own problems were loud enough in his head. He turned his attention to them when the crazy wasted man hiccups and finally shuts up, not even the bartender or the other drunken friends of his could do it. The scene was pretty unforgettable: a tall strong drunk man that was pretty aggressive when someone asked him to lower his voice while sitting down holding a glass of vodka is now hugging the waist of the woman that just called him an idiot. But your next words made his mind explode, he wonders if he is as drunk as the crying guy there.

“If you want to scream, do it to let go, cheer yourself up and move on, don’t just drink and act like an asshole with people.”

Random but effective words. He expects her to mock the man there, instead she hugs him back and pets his hair and talks with a gentle voice but it also sounded strong. JuYeon found her words weird and comforting even if they weren't directed to him or even to anyone to hear he was just close to them and it was pretty late so there was little noise and he could eavesdrop. “Let’s go, you can cry at my house. I won’t look, I promise~ Then we will be sober, you are going to write down all your happy feelings, smile at them and that’s it. The other paper with all the bad feelings is going to be burnt and we are going to kick ass, ok?”

She didn’t make a fuss of it, the woman just petted his friend’s hair until he calmed down and probably passed out when the bartender came to her. “Y/N! You are the drunk whisperer, that was awesome! Why don’t we put him to bed, he can stay the night up in my room and you have some snacks here? I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“I would love to have a snack from my favorite bartender but the taxi is waiting for me to let my drunk one at home, I promise I will come tomorrow at this exact time. I’ll eat like crazy I promise!”

JuYeon came here at the exact same hour.

He isn’t sure why he came because he didn’t know anyone or had planned anything really, he just hopes you read his mind and approach him to talk about your weird speech that made him feel good for no reason. Or something like that at least.

So when you appear, he notices something.

He is completely sober tonight and doesn’t know what to do to approach you. You are a pretty woman indeed but you intimidate him for some awkward reason. He feels like an idiot but it feels like you are going to read him like a book after looking him in the eyes. So JuYeon stands up and goes to the restroom to gain courage, he will do what he knows best: being a charming perfect boy.

A bit of flirting, maybe a date. That’s all he needs to have a little conversation with you.

"Jacob, can you please stop staring at the random guy? Is he that good looking? Your eyes are glued to him." You laugh as you eat the snacks your friend put on the bar for you to eat as you chat about a whole month of not seeing each other.

"Dude, this guy comes and kills all the ladies. But he is looking at your way too much, I own this place~ He wants something and I will not offer you as a tribute." Jacob follows the tall man's steps with his gaze, he stops when he sees his figure disappear in the restroom. His face is recognizable because well, he is quite handsome for the girls that asked a lot for him that came only yesterday and Jacob just said he is a regular to gain a few more female clients. Actually, he never saw him before and it's a big no for you to even look at his direction.

"Ok but stop staring and what makes you think I'll agree to something? I just want to have this awesome glass of wine as I talk to you about our Sunwoo and his broken heart." He laughs as he wipes the glasses that were recently washed. "I want to slap some sense back to him."

"He needs some time. Let's just be patient with his wailing at least this week, he needs to let it all out." There is this untold secret that only Jacob knows too: your feelings for the guy you took home drunk last night were strong and you decided to let Sunwoo go so your heart was also healing, it was a slow and silent process that was shut by a glass of bitter wine. You would always drink a glass of wine when your feelings were out of control as Sunwoo falls hard and easily and suffers too because of girls.

"Is this your last glass of wine?"

"Of the bitter one, yes. My heart and my liver are all good now, I'll take sweeter things this time." Jacob smiles and nods, he understands and pats your head. A client comes in and he excuses himself to go attend them.

"Is this seat taken?" JuYeon asks and when you look at him, he shows his biggest smile. You pat the seat next to him. "My ego usually needs an extra seat but I guess you can take it." He seems taken aback for the quick answer but he quickly smirks triumphantly and sits next to you. You've met him before but apparently he doesn't remember you.

"May I offer you a drink?"

"No, because this is my last glass of alcohol but we can share snacks as you seem lonely." JuYeon must feel like a champ because he sticks his tongue out sexily and nods, grabbing a toothpick that holds a little cube of cheese on your plate and eats it. "You don't remember me?"

"Is that a pick up line? Because I'm trying to think of one that will make you swoon."

"So you don't." You see JuYeon’s mind wandering at your smirk and trying to read something in your eyes.

It was indeed unexpected a target to flirt back or to be this mysterious because- Wait.

Holy crap.

You caress SunWoo's hair as he blacks out completely on his bed. Of course you feel bad for him, you treasure him a lot but your heart is finally at peace, you’ll be there to pick up the pieces of his oftenly broken heart but yours who used to suffer in silence is okay now. You let him go just as you kept your crush on him. In a blissful secret.

"I'll be right here for you. And I'm voicing out this because it's over and you are half-dead. I liked you so much it's crazy how I could keep it to myself. My crush on you is over and it was beautiful for me and our friendship stays strong as always." You smile at his passed out figure and make him company until his cousin appears to take care of him and calls a taxi for you. The taxi will wait for you in the convenience store as you wanted to buy some things, it’s pretty late but this small town is safe, or at least this neighborhood is.

"I'll have these cereal boxes and these snacks please."

"Is SunWoo still sad for that bad ex- girlfriend? He used to come here and buy her favorite snacks all happily until yesterday when he just bought beers with swollen eyes. We talked for a bit as his first question was why women were so unfaithful."

"Oh really? He came crying? Oh dear, this guy… Yeah, he is a sad single person now. Hopefully, he will cheer up quickly as always. He is now half-dead so he won’t feel any pain." The old lady who attends there knows you because you hang out a lot with Sunwoo and Jacob who lives nearby too. She nods and laughs until he stares over your shoulder.

"Me! Me! I want snacks too! I'm lonely, we can share them!" A man behind you makes you startle with his loud voice as you are paying your stuff, you turn around and find the cute man you saw at Jacob's bar. He is more than tipsy, his cheeks are red and he has droopy eyelids. "I heard you talk to the crybaby~ Talk to me too!"

"Young man, you are drunk. Go to your house!" The lady explains she saw him coming with luggage and he is staying at the house in front of your sad friend. He is pretty quiet and always arrives at the store early with hangovers asking for ramen, she points out he is indeed a gentleman and he must be here for summer vacations so party nights must be his thing or something.

"I'm not a young man, I'm JuYeon sweet lady. I wonder where my money went, my whole wallet disappeared just like my motivation to do stuff." He huffs and you laugh sharing one of your snacks. “Is this for me? You are so sweet, can you be my life mentor? I’ll treat you well I swear!” The store lady laughs at the cute behavior the drunk handsome man has and hushes you as she sees your taxi at the entry. “Wait! Don’t go, I’m trying to propose, drunk whisperer!”

JuYeon’s seductive mood dissipates with the beer foam in his glass. He wonders how the blackout and don’t remembering a single thing after getting drunk should have its negative side. Like this moment, he feels so embarrassed but of course, his stoic face remains the same.

“Oh God, this is so embarrassing. I can’t even pretend I don’t remember stealing your snack, can I?” You shake your head and clink your glass of wine with his glass of beer. “Well, I guess I should use my drunk self to start a conversation.”

And he did, JuYeon initially tried to start a casual little conversation to ask about you and stuff but he ended up spilling about why he is in a small town searching for some peace but apparently it’s his mind the chaotic one instead of the city and its loudness. When he started speaking about it, there’s this feeling of a really heavy load slowly leaving his shoulders and maybe he understands now the american movies that use this plot about talking about your problems with a stranger. He felt relieved, JuYeon is the kind of guy that seems impassive at everything around him and he is praised a lot because of his drive and his determination of not give a single fuck.

But he cares. He notices everything around him. And feeling like he could appear vulnerable sounds awful, just thinking about it makes him regret even approaching you. JuYeon suddenly falls silent, half studying your reactions and half awkwardly shutting up because this was too much information.

"Sometimes a lot of thoughts just turn in a big skein. It's okay to feel weird about it too." You said emphatically (or at least that's his conclusion as you don't mock or roll your eyes), he can't help but stare at you. He was right all these hours thinking about you and your words, his drunk self was right too. You can be a life mentor. The conversation ends when Jacob introduces himself and says he is going to close the bar and that if JuYeon is even trying to talk more with you, he needs to promise he will let Jacob chop his head off if he does something inappropriate.

"Date me."

“No?”

“No, why would I?” This is the fourth night of a long conversation about life and deep topics he thought no one would want to talk about, JuYeon forgot about seduction tips after the second night of just one beer and lots of good talking. He feels comfortable and his mind thinks less of his apparent poor self worth and he now feels encouraged. “If you feel happy singing and being a performer, why are you doubting?”

Good question.

He wants to date you.

It’s kind of impulsive coming from him and basically you two are already hanging out meeting in Jacob’s bar every night. He wasn’t expecting you to say no that easily, it’s shocking and honestly sexy, his ego feels slapped too.

“What?”

“Yeah, we clearly have a mental connection and yes, you are pretty attractive” You say like it's pretty obvious. "But why would I date you?"

"Because… I don't want to eat alone?"

"...and?"

"And I am kind of attracted to you and your amazing brain?"

"...and?"

"Because I feel like you are pretty as fuck and also a friend I will treasure a lot and I will probably scream because I don't know if Jacob is your friend or your boyfriend?"

"What?" You laugh at his sudden confession and at his reaction that seems pretty surprised at his own words. "Well, that kind of convinced me."

"You always make me talk, it's embarrassing and really interesting. How am I supposed to meet another person like you- Wait, I convinced you?" You nod and feel your cheeks heating up as he stares at you and laughs happily.

You can be a life mentor and he will protect you from everything. Maybe you could be a couple.

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