#happy new year!! 2022 was weird!! onto the next one!!

[aquilaofarkham]

motivational post for everyone going into 2023

[dem-obscure-imagines]

New Year’s Eve Drabbles 2021

New Year’s Eve Drabbles 2021

What a hell of a year it’s been, huh? Here’s to hoping 2022 is a little kinder and things start going back to normal soon. Happy New Year, everyone.

Fandoms: The Santa Clause, MCU, DCEU, Once Upon a Time

Total Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: None

 Bernard the Elf

Word Count: 0.6k

The weeks following Christmas were always weird at the North Pole. Bernard especially had a hard time figuring out what to do with all of his free time. He wasn’t used to such a light workload. There were some things to do, sure, but they didn’t begin to compare to the mountain of work he had leading up to Christmas.

One of these smaller responsibilities, however, was arranging the Elves’ New Year’s Eve Party. You’d think that after the massive post-Christmas celebration the elves threw every year, they’d be all partied out by the time the New Year rolled around the next week, but you would be wrong. If there was anything the elves knew how to do, it was party.

“Bernard, are we a go for the mistletoe?” One of the elves on the decorating committee asked, a basket of mistletoe branches tucked under her arm.

He thought about if for a long moment and then nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. Sadie, how much eggnog do we have prepped?”

“I think it’s enough.” Sadie nodded.

Bernard nodded, checking the drinks off of his checklist. “Great. Party platters?”

“Assembled, sir.” One of the younger elves saluted. “We gathered the most gorgeous meat and cheese tray the pole has ever seen. There is also a veggie tray.”

“Perfect.” Bernard nodded, turning around when he felt a finger tap his shoulder only to come face to face with you. You’d done your makeup all sparkling and silver and you were wearing a classy outfit for the party. “(Y/N), you look…great.” He said, his voice all soft and sincere. You swore you saw some red creeping onto his cheeks.

“Oh, thanks.” You tucked a piece of hair behind a pointed ear. “Just wondering if you needed any help getting the place ready for the party.”

“I think we’re just about done, actually, but thank you.” Bernard said, looking at his clipboard before looking back up at you. “How has your uh, vacation been so far?”

“I’ve finally been able to get some sleep.” You chuckled, wrapping your arms around yourself. “Have you?”

Bernard chuckled and shrugged. “A little. Well, a lot more than usual, that’s for sure.”

“Good.” You grinned and touched his arm gently. “I’m gonna go help some of the other elves get ready. See you in a bit.”

“Y-yeah, see ya.” He smiled, watching you go. As soon as you were out of earshot, he looked up to the elf holding up the mistletoe. “Do we, uh…have any more mistletoe lying around?”

***

A few hours later, the New Year’s Party was in full swing and Bernard could not find you anywhere, but he’d been looking for you all night. He blamed it on the low lighting and the loud music. And then, suddenly, the countdown started. He looked around frantically. Now was his chance, the first time in the two-hundred something years he’d been in love with you to finally take that next step and you were nowhere to be found.

Until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Bernard turned to find you there, glittering in the pink and purple lights, as sparkly as a fae.

“Hey, thank you for everything this year.” You said to him. You smiled.

“Yeah, of course. Thank you for, uh, all the hard work this year.” Bernard smiled, rocking onto the balls of his feet. “It was a great Christmas.”

The numbers of the countdown began to dwindle and you didn’t know what to say, staring into his eyes until midnight finally hit. You glanced up and your gaze softened as you realize there was a little bit of mistletoe dangling above the two of you.

“Mistletoe.”

“Huh, how’d that get there?” Bernard chuckled, looking down at you. His features grew more serious. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I do want to.” You assured him, leaning in until finally, finally, your lips met his and you welcomed the new year in the sweetest way possible.

 Bucky Barnes

Word Count: 0.6k

Tony Stark, as everyone knew, was a bit eccentric. He had money and liked to flaunt it. This was especially evident when New Year’s Eve rolled around. This year, to celebrate yet another year, he was throwing a 1940s themed party. Why it was 40s themed and not 20s themed, you weren’t sure, but you had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that two soldiers from the second world war were members of your team currently.

You were surprised about it a bit, but Bucky had somehow been convinced to don his old uniform. And damn did he look good in it.

“Careful, you might drool if you keep staring at him like that.” Sam quipped, nudging you with his elbow and smirking.

“Oh shut up. Like you don’t do the same with that one.” Your eyes flicked over to Natasha, who was chatting with Wanda, the two of them laughing over glasses of champagne.

“Alright, alright.” Sam shook his head, chuckling. “You gonna do anything about it?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” You shrugged, twirling a piece of curled hair around your finger.

“You know, he’s the one who had Stark pick this theme.”

You raised an eyebrow and took a sip from your glass. “Oh really?”

“I think he wanted to see you all dressed up.” Sam smirked.

“Hmm…Might just have to test that hypothesis.” You winked and walked over towards where Bucky was leaning against the bar.

His face lit up as soon as you approached, his eyes scanning down your form as a grin spread across his handsome features. He’d gotten a haircut, you noticed. He’d also shaved. He looked really nice cleanshaven. Very handsome.

“Hey, doll! Happy New Year.” He straightened up and adjusted the brim of his hat. “You look great.”

“Thank you. You clean up nice, Sergeant Barnes.” You grinned, taking another sip from your drink.

He chuckled. “Thanks. Had to pull some strings to get this uniform here in one piece.”

“Vintage?”

“Yeah; borrowed it from the Smithsonian.”

“Wow. Authentic.” You chuckled. “I now understand everything that’s ever been said about ‘men in uniforms.’”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well in that case…do you think I could talk you into a dance?”

“I think you might have some luck with that, yeah.” You smiled and set your now-empty glass on the bar just in time for Bucky to take your hand and lead you out to the dance floor. The two of you swayed to the music for a long time, Bucky teaching you a few things when the music picked up pace.

“I think I’ve still got it.” He smirked, spinning you out and then pulling you back to his chest.

You scrunched up your nose. “Yeah, I think so too.”

The two of you were so close, you could feel his warmth radiating off of him, your hand held carefully in his metal one. You were so close, you could just about…

And then the music faded out and the countdown started.

“You know, there’s a New Year’s Eve tradition…I don’t know if it’s still popular these days…” Bucky chuckled, suddenly a little flustered.

“If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it still is…” You nodded, smiling. “And, uh, there’s no one else I’d rather share it with than you.”

“3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!” The room erupted in shouts and cheers and you leaned in, kissing a one-hundred year old assassin when the clock struck midnight.

When the two of you pulled apart, he chuckled. “You know, that was my first kiss since 1945.”

“Was it worth the wait?”

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against yours. “Without a doubt.”

“Well, Sarge…would you like another one?”

 Diana Prince

Word Count: 0.5k

You honestly hadn’t expected the Justice League to do much to celebrate the New Year. You weren’t sure why you’d thought that, especially when Bruce Wayne of all people was the head of the team. What you were surprised about, however, was the fact that he’d invited the team to one of his fancy schmancy Bruce Wayne parties.

So, you were currently dressed to the nines, your hair and makeup fancier than it had ever been. You walked into the party on your own, hesitant and unsure. Everything about the event felt too fancy for you to be there.

Nope. That was it. You were bailing.

“Not so fast.” You felt an arm wrap around your waist and turn you back towards the party, Diana’s warm voice in your ear. “You just got here. Leaving already?”

“I suppose not…”

“Let me get you a drink.” Diana said, smiling warmly. “You look lovely, by the way. That is a good color on you.”

“Says the literal goddess.”

“Demigoddess.” She corrected, walking over towards one of the servers to retrieve two flutes of bubbly champagne. She walked back elegantly and handed one to you, clinking her glass against yours gently. “Not your usual scene?”

“Not even close.” You laughed. “I spent last New Year’s at my apartment with my cat.”

“You should have brought him along. I’m sure Bruce wouldn’t have minded. He is rather fond of cats, after all.”

That quip almost caused you to choke on your champagne. “Yeah, he sure is, isn’t he?”

Diana smirked. She linked her arm with yours and started introducing you to other guests you weren’t familiar with. And despite all the strangers surrounding the two of you, Diana was positively glowing, a social butterfly in every sense of the word.

At the center of the stage in the middle of the room, there was a giant golden clock and every minute, it ticked closer and closer to midnight. Diana caught you watching it, your expression anxious.

“Somewhere to be at midnight, Cinderella?” Diana asked, amusement in her tone.

“What, no, I just…” You shook your head, shy. “It’s silly.”

“I assure you it’s not. What’s going on?” She was serious, but there was still compassion in her tone.

“I don’t know, I was just…hoping to get a kiss this New Year’s Eve. But I…”

“Nothing is impossible.” Diana’s arm wrapped around your waist and she pressed a kiss to your cheek. “If you still want that kiss, come find me at midnight, alright?”

You nodded, silent, your eyes widening. You were sure there was something in your champagne because there was no way this was reality. So, you did as she said, and found her when the countdown started.

“I was beginning to think you’d changed your mind, love.” Diana said, her hand wandering up your arm to your shoulder. She pulled you closer to her. “I am so glad you came to join our team. And I’m so glad we’ve grown as close as we have.”

“Me too.” You smiled. And then, when the countdown hit zero, you spend your first moments of the new year kissing a goddess.

 Killian Jones

Word Count: 0.5k

As the New Year approached Storybrook, everyone gathered in Granny’s diner. Granny had cooked up a bunch of pies and was serving it by the slice. The dwarves had brought all the alcohol in town, and the Charmings were celebrating the new year over in their booth. Meanwhile, you were in your own booth in the back of the diner.

“Spending the New Year on your own, eh? Mind if I join you?”

“I’m not alone, I’m here.”

“Sitting alone in a booth.” Killian pointed out, sliding into the seat across from you. “I remember you, you know?”

“Oh do you?”

“The princess in the tower.” Killian nodded. “Everyone knew who you were.”

“And yet no one came to find me until the curse swept in.” You shrugged. “It may not have been great for everyone, but at least I got to have a life here, an art studio, something to do.”

“I’ll admit, this new world is…strange, but it hasn’t been all bad.”

“Oh yeah, Captain? How so?”

“Well, I got to meet you, for one.” He smirked that famous smirk of his.

“Cherry pie for both of you?” Granny asked, sliding one slice in front of you.

“Yes please. Thank you, ma’am.” Killian said, smiling up at her, in a better mood than you knew him to be, generally.

You picked up a little piece of pie on your fork and ate it. The cherry filling was ever so sweet, and as always, it was the best pie you’d ever had. She returned a few moments later with another slice for Killian and the Dwarves came over with glasses of champagne, giving one to each of you.

“Thank you, Leroy.”

“Don’t mention it, princess.” Leroy gave a knowing look before leaving you alone with the pirate captain once more.

“You have any New Year’s traditions from back then?”

“Drinking with my crew. Trying not to die at Pan’s sword.”

You chuckled. “Sounds pleasant.”

“More so than you would think.” Killian took a sip from the champagne flute and then grimaced, staring at the liquid. “What is this?”

“Champagne. Probably pretty different than the rum you’re used to.” You chuckled, taking another bite of pie.

“Very.”

“So what does a new year in this world bring?”

“Well, as someone who’s spent twenty-eight of them here, there usually some fireworks, the new year’s broadcast from New York, pie at Granny’s, some music, all the couples kiss at midnight…”

“Kissing at midnight?”

“Yeah.” You shrugged, taking another sip of champagne.

“Huh.” He nodded, picking up a fork and digging into his pie. “Noted.”

Later, when the new year got closer, everyone crowded around the TV. And when midnight hit, Snow turned to Charming, Emma turned to Neal, and Hook turned to…you?

You raised an eyebrow.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to, love.” He reassured you, his voice quiet and earnest.

You stared at him for a long time, thinking, and just as he was about to turn away, you reached up and turned his face towards yours, leaning in for a long-awaited kiss.

 Pietro Maximoff

Word Count: 0.5k

It wasn’t a glamorous New Year’s Eve by any means. You and the rest of the Avengers were currently holed up in a safe house somewhere in Minnesota. There was a blizzard outside raging and most of you were pretty beat up. None of you were gravely injured or anything, but you had all taken a beating. Well, aside from Bruce, but it was pretty much impossible for him to get hurt.

Currently, you were in the kitchen, going through the cupboards to see what there was to eat that would feed all of you. Where Thor was involved, you weren’t sure there was enough food in the entire house for him. So, instead, you decided to whip up some mac and cheese to offer to whoever was hungry.

It didn’t take long, and in a few moments, you were sitting up on the counter, eating your bowl of mac and cheese before you invited the others in to have some. It didn’t take long for Pietro to catch a whiff of it and come running in, though.

“You’re cooking? It’s almost midnight.”

“Mac and cheese. Want some?” You asked.

He nodded and used his superspeed to scoop himself a bowl at record speed. He looked up at you, his eyes soft, and one of them noticeably bruised and swollen.

“Oh shit, when did that happen?”

“About an hour ago.” He shrugged, sheepish all of a sudden. “I got punched, but it did not bruise until we got here.”

“Come here.” You motioned him over.

“Draga, don’t waste your energy on me. What if you need it?” He said softly, but still walked over towards you anyways.

“It’s not a waste if it’s you.” You said softly, taking his face in your hands gently. His chin was bruised a bit, too. Energy began to glow from your palms, trickling up his face, past his shrinking chin bruise to the large black eye he was sporting. Then, slowly, the skin lost its purple hue, returning to his normal skin tone, the swelling deflating as well.

He grinned at you, his smile warm and as charming as always. “You never cease to amaze me, draga.”

“I do my best.” You shrugged, his chin still cupped in your hands. He had a bit of scruff. It had been a few days since he’d shaved, but he was still as handsome as ever.

“You’re staring.”

“Oh, am I?” You asked coyly. “Didn’t notice.”

Pietro took a step closer, positioning himself between your legs and wrapping his arms around your waist, your bowls of mac and cheese long forgotten on the counter beside you.

“Another year together, draga.” Pietro all but whispered, leaning his forehead against yours.

“There’s no one else I’d rather spend it beside.” You whispered back.

In the other room, you could hear the other Avengers ringing in the New Year, despite their exhaustion and various injuries, but all you cared about was the charming speedster standing right in front of you as he leaned in to seal the previous year with a tender kiss.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

Megaman Production Art Scan of the Day #382:

Mega Man 6 US Box Art Advertising Film Cel 

Let’s start off the new year in 2022 with something a little different from the usual settei sheets. 

As some of you may know, a bunch of film transparencies of the American Mega Man box art, originally created by Greg Winters, went up for auction last month, and I was lucky/appreciative enough to be able to purchase 3 of them: MM6, MMIV, and Wily Wars:

Judging from the agency sticker on the protective sleeve, these were most likely just used in the creation of advertising/marketing pieces for the game. 

You also might remember I came across one for X3 a couple years ago. Only problem being I didn’t have a scanner that could scan film properly, as there needs to be a second light source, one for both sides of the film. So the quality of my scan then wasn’t all that great.

So, now that I have more of a reason for it, I bought a fancy new scanner specifically built to scan film before Christmas, and I can happily tell you I’ve been able to preserve them at high quality. How HQ? Well...after messing around with settings, and maxing out the limit of memory on my computer, I was able to get it up to 3200 DPI. So, this little 4x5 film was able to be maxed out close to 10000 x 14500 pixels. Cropped. ^^; 

Can you see that full resolution on tumblr or twitter? Certainly not. But, hopefully my solution works, keeping it at full resolution in a Google Photos album. However, due to the sheer size of the file, I’m only going to upload the crop of the main artwork in HQ, not the full film. I actually think the full film file size is too large to upload. It’s failed on me twice.

This film is interesting, because it has obvious sets of push pins holding down the main art on both the left and right side of it, which stay preserved in the image. The art itself is slightly crooked, probably due to how they captured it, as well. Only this one is weird like that.

You will see some natural flaws in these. I rescanned them a few times to make sure it really wasn’t a strand of my hair on my new scanner (it wasn’t, there really was a strand of hair forever etched onto one of these). But I have attempted to use the clone stamp tool to touch up a few glaring imperfections (like push pins) and film deterioration.

Have you ever seen Knight Man or Wind Man in this detail?

It’s pretty doubtful any of us will be as lucky as the guy who owns all of the original paintings to ever see these in all their glory, so this is my best attempt at doing that for you. And I will bring you the other 3 over the next few days, as I try to get back on track with daily-ish posts again. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!  

Full Resolution Scan Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YpTDgUofJzeBs27TA  (be warned, image is 147.8 MB!)

[EDIT: Google Drive link if Album download does not work]

[kjhmyg]

christmas/ny (drabble)

pairing: jungkook x reader | jungkook x oc

genre: fluff, steamy at the end

words: 1.7k

summary: re!couple celebrating christmas and ny with jungkook after the holidays

a/n: um first of all, sorry. this is so bad im cry but also it’s kinda ok? idk. sorry anon if this isn’t what u wanted. i’ll try again next year 2022 lmao

𝄖

As patient as he is Jungkook can’t wait for your nightly call. You try to stay off your phone for the most part being back home, leaving time to talk to Jungkook only when it’s dark out. Of course, some days you miss him so much that you break that rule to sneak in a couple of texts or photos. Today’s not one of them. 

Unfortunately, he had missed your earlier call. Horrified seeing two notifications of your failed attempts to reach him, he’s decided not to do anything else till he hears your voice. 

Jungkook shoves a spoonful of Suga’s homemade microwave spaghetti into his mouth, eyes not leaving his phone.

“You’re staring at that thing so hard the screen’s going to crack.” Suga judges him from across the table. 

“I’m expecting a call.” 

“Yeah, I know.” He sighs, “But it’s not like your phone’s on silent. It’ll ring once she⎼”

Jungkook jumps within the first few seconds of his phone lighting up, your name flashing across the screen. Leaving Suga to himself, he rushes into the room and takes a deep breath before accepting the call. “Hi.”

“Hey you.” Your chirpy voice makes him smile. “Missed you earlier.” 

“I know, sorry. Was busy. Did you have fun today?” 

“It was okay. We got a cute little tree and I managed to do some really last minute shopping because I just found out my cousins will be here tomorrow night.” You sigh. “Did you miss me?” 

“So much. I hate being apart, you know that.” 

“Well I did offer you to come home with me.”  

Jungkook had declined again. He doesn’t think it’s the best time to introduce himself to your family yet. Though, he had no qualms about letting your dad know. Funny enough, you decided not to. But you’re certain you heard your grandmother telling him about the couple photo you have as your homescreen. 

“Maybe next time.” He hums, thinking about the possible future. 

“I think my dad will like you.” The sound of your giggles has him cheesing so hard. 

“Is that why you chickened out on telling him about us?” 

“I did not! The timing isn't right.” 

“Sure baby.” He laughs. “You’re not embarrassed of me are you?” 

“I’m embarrassed someone like you is even interested in me.” You both laugh and let the silence engulf you. “You know I love you right? I hope we can spend the holidays together next year.” 

“I hope so too.” There’s a tiny amount of sadness in there if you’re listening right. 

“I might not be able to call you the next few nights. Since my cousins will be over. I promise to text though.” You say. 

“That’s okay.” You hear the smile in his voice. “Just have fun okay? I’ll be here when you get back.”

“One more week.”

“Right. One week. Seven days. I’m sure I can handle being without you till then.” 

“Merry christmas my love.” You send him a kiss over the phone.

“Merry christmas to you too.” 

When the call ends ten minutes later, he trots back outside, face looking even worse than before. Suga, now done with his food, shakes his head disapprovingly as Jungkook takes his seat and goes back to the sad, cold dish in front of him. “You’re pathetic.” 

𝄖

Jungkook holds his breath as the train slowly comes to a stop at the platform. Yesterday was the first day of the new year, which means today’s the day you come back. He’d planned out his route. First he’d get coffee and bagels to-go with chocolate danishes for you, in case you hadn’t had anything during the long trip. Then a short stop at the florist to get you a single rose before going off to the station.

It gets messy as everyone starts alighting and he struggles to catch you among the crowd. That’s when you come into view, head popping out between other random faces, wrapped in a beanie and scarf. Your face lights up when you see him, making hurried steps and dragging your luggage behind you. 

“Jungkook!” You squeal, running into his arms. 

He kisses the side of your face. “Hey stranger.” 

“I’m so happy to see you.” You say, squeezing him tight. “How are you?”

“You’re asking me that as if we aren’t constantly texting each other.” He laughs, handing you the rose and letting you cling onto his arm with your luggage in his other hand, headed for the car. 

“I know I’m just trying to break the ice.” 

Inside the comfort and warmth of the car, he kisses you deeply. Something he’s been looking forward to for the last three weeks. “How’s that for breaking the ice?” 

You roll your eyes but a smile plays at your lips as you properly adjust the seat belt. Gasping when you’re handed chocolate danishes, you pout at him, “You’re so sweet. Come here.” It earns him more kisses which he happily accepts. 

In the back seat you notice an odd shaped item, in purple wrapping, done quite messily. “What’s that?” You ask knowingly. 

“A surprise.”

“I have one for you too.” You smile smugly. 

 “Yeah? Can’t wait.” 

On the way back, you give him a run down of what went on back home. When he ended up confessing that he hadn’t done anything special for the holidays, not even with Suga, it made you feel bad. Even though he tries to assure you he didn’t want to celebrate it anyway. 

Back home, you lug your baggage into the room and dig something out of your bag. A packet of cookies lands on Jungkook’s lap as he takes a seat on the floor in front of the couch. “For me?” 

“Mmhm.” Nodding, you tear open the paper bag, behaving more excited than he is. “My grandma said she packed this for my friend. She winked when she told me that. And I’d already brought some back for Hana. I think she knows.” 

“About us? How?” 

“She’s always been nosy.” You giggle. “I guess she doesn’t want you to get left out.”

“Aw. She’s kind just like you.” 

“Wait!” He pauses, startled by your hand on his, stopping him from pulling one of the cookies out of the bag. “Hold on.” 

You get up and run to the room. Carrying as many pillows as you can with a comfy blanket somewhere in between, Jungkook watches as you make a barrier with the pillows and spread the blanket over him. Then, you’re off to the kitchen. 

After a minute of cabinet doors opening and closing and the clinking of glasses, you come back with two mugs of hot cocoa, marshmallows on top of course. Just the way your dad makes them. You place it right next to him then push the coffee table all the way forward to make more room to spread your legs. You put on a lame christmas movie on netflix, then snuggle up next to him. 

“Now it’s a real christmas party.” 

Jungkook laughs, holding you close and kissing the top of your head. You do the most unexpected things at the most random times. But he appreciates the way you always try to make sure he’s not left out. “Thank you baby.” 

You grin up at him and watch carefully as he takes the first bite of the cookies. His eyes go wide and you nod knowingly. It’s your grandmother’s famous recipe. One even if you had, wouldn’t even be able to replicate its taste. He hums in delight, stuffing his mouth with one cookie after the other. 

“So. Let me guess what happens after cookies and cocoa.” He says after finishing almost half the packet. 

“What?” You ask, eyeing him. 

He reaches round the side of the couch and pulls out the odd package you had seen in the car. “Presents?”

“Presents!”  

You run back to your room and appear with a small wrapped box. The rule was not to buy anything that costs more than your monthly rent. You both had agreed to this a while back. Which was difficult for Jungkook because all he wanted to do was to spoil you with expensive gifts. 

“What is this?” Jungkook holds the box to his ear and shakes lightly. “Hm.” 

“Wait I think I can guess what mine is.” You giggle, pressing into the soft parts of the wrapping. 

“Okay then you go first.” 

“Okay.” Tearing away the wrapping carefully, you find inside a soft, pink bunny with funky eyebrows. On the bottom of its little feet, there are hearts and in those hearts are both your names embroidered with a plus sign in between. “Aww no this is so adorable. I love it so much.”

“It’s not a diamond necklace but⎼”

“No this is so much better. Thank you.” You give him a hug with the bunny squished between your bodies. “It strangely reminds me of you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah it’s weird and I like it.” You giggle, pinching his cheek. “Now open yours.” 

The wrapping comes off easy and he immediately realises what it is as the box comes into view. He looks at you for a second before unboxing it and pulling out a matte black polaroid camera. Jungkook takes his time with it, carefully looking at it from each side. 

“Do you like it?” You ask. “I know you like taking photos so I thought you might like this.” 

“Y/N I love it.” He smiles, bringing the viewfinder to his eye and getting a feel of it, then putting it down to focus on you. “Let’s take one together.” 

You scoot next to him as he loads the film cassette. Then hugging his middle, he hooks his arm around your shoulders and your faces press against each other. He clicks the shutter and you both wait for the film to develop. 

It comes out perfect, both your smiling faces perfectly in frame and even bunny made it in which makes Jungkook laugh. He can’t stop staring at it, holding it by the edges so carefully like he’s afraid he’s going to ruin it. 

“I love you.” He says, looking at you when he finally sets it down.

“I love you too.” 

He kisses you, tasting of hot cocoa and love. You’re being pushed onto the pillows with the blanket beneath as Jungkook hovers over you, pushing the hair out of your face. As Jungkook removes his sweater, you pull your shirt over your head. Jungkook smiles down at you, kisses you, then reaches for the camera. “Merry fucking christmas to me.” 

You shimmy out of your jeans and hook your ankle over his shoulder. Snap. “And happy new year baby.” 

[dancedance-resolution]

here's my design for goty 2022 (in an au where copyright isn't an issue)

FACTS

name: nia mahdi

age: 11

ethnicity: persian

religion: muslim

family: nia is an only child. she was born in charlottesville, va, after parents immigrated there from iran.

notes: nia is autistic and trans <3

DOLL

face mold: nia would get a new face mold that is designed based on ethnically persian features

skin tone: 25 ("tan skin with warm neutral undertones")

eye color: dark brown

freckles: yes

hair cut: wavy, very long (kanani length)

hair color: dark brown

meet outfit: a trans pride flag colored scrunchy for her hair, a light blue zip-up sweatshirt that says "i am proud to be autistic" on the back, this t-shirt (a light blue t-shirt with fan art of dreamer with a trans pride flag cape) beneath that sweatshirt, these shorts (pastel plaid knee-length shorts), lindsey's striped leggings beneath those shorts, and sperry shoes

meet accessories: bright purple ear defenders, an AAC tablet, a doll-sized version of the 2021 dc pride comic book, this pink kryptonite chewelry

BOOK 1

(these books would have three authors - me, an author who is muslim and a second generation immigrant, and an author who is a trans woman of color. the reason for three authors is so that we can tell nia's story authentically - i'm autistic and have autism gender like nia, the second author is muslim and an immigrant like nia, and the third author is specifically a trans woman of color like nia.)

in chapter 1 we'll briefly go over this background information:

nia came out to her parents as trans on the car ride home from the last day of first grade. she chose the name "nia" because she wanted to name herself after nia nal, a character on her favorite show (supergirl) because nia nal is trans like she is, nia nal is an alien (and nia mahdi oftentimes feels like an alien around other humans), and nia nal is a really cool superhero! (unspoken: nia nal is nia mahdi's special interest.)

it took nia mahdi's parents a little bit of time to wrap their heads around her truth, but soon, they fully accepted nia for who she is.

that summer, her parents informed nia's school of her correct name, pronouns, and gender. and nia started growing out her hair, and she's never cut it since! nia loves her long hair.

when nia started second grade, nia's classmates sometimes accidentally called her by the wrong name and pronouns, but they always apologized and corrected themselves when nia pointed out their mistake. a few kids were confused, but once nia explained that she knows she's a girl just as well as you know you're a boy/girl, they all understood and accepted her :)

now onto the real content of the first book, which takes place from september to december:

nia's just started sixth grade at a new middle school. it's really loud, big, and hard. but she has a friend, ender. ender doesn't speak english well (he moved to america from turkey just last year), but that's okay because nia has trouble speaking sometimes too.

one day, nia's parents take her to a doctor, and she has to answer a lot of questions and take a lot of tests.

a few weeks later, nia's parents sit her down and tell her that she has been diagnosed with autism.

nia researches autism and feels very relieved and validated. (unspoken: autism becomes one of nia's special interests.)

at school, nia gets some cool accomodations: she's allowed to wear ear defenders at lunch and in the hallways, she can keep a tablet in her backpack to use for AAC when necessary, and she can use the school's sensory break room when necessary.

one time, nia gets very upset after receiving a "bad grade" on a reading test. a few of the questions asked her to identify characters' emotions, motivations, etc., and nia wants to explain to her teacher that her autism makes "emotional reading between the lines" hard for her. but she's so upset that her mouth isn't working properly, so she uses her AAC to talk to the teacher.

after that, one of nia's classmates makes a rude comment about her AAC. speaking through her AAC, nia explains to him why she uses her AAC. she stands up for herself.

in her free time, nia keeps researching autism and disability justice advocacy. she begins to think that her friend ender might be autistic too - he has a lot of autistic traits, and she's never felt alien around him in the way she does around most people.

she tells ender about her theory. ender says he's not sure whether or not he thinks he's autistic. but he does know that the hallways are far too loud, and he would like to be able to wear ear defenders like nia. so nia lends ender her spare pair of ear defenders.

the next day at lunch, ender gives nia back her ear defenders and reveals that he got in trouble for wearing in the hallway. the teacher thought he was wearing headphones and listening to music (which isn't allowed), and ender couldn't remember the english words to explain to her that they were just to shield him from the noise.

nia wants to help ender be able to wear defenders. she schedules a meeting with the guidance counselor. together, she and ender explain to the guidance counselor that ender just wants to wear ear defenders in the loud hallways. the counselor says that ender can't do that since he doesn't have an official accommodations letter.

nia leaves the office very upset. she knows from her research that autism diagnoses are very expensive and hard to get. she wants to find a way to get ender this accommodation without an official letter.

so nia makes a plan: she and ender write a long essay explaining why ender should be allowed to wear ear defenders.

they present the essay to the counselor, and she's convinced by their arguement. ender is now allowed to wear ear defenders in the hallway :)

to celebrate their victory, nia buys ender bright purple ear defenders (the same type she has) so that they can match :)

and that's the end of book 1

BOOK 2

book 2 takes place from january to march

nia goes on puberty blockers. nia's glad that she won't have to go through male puberty, but she also feels weird about it. nia is very excited to start wearing a hijab, and her mom says that she can start wearing a hijab when she goes through puberty and transitions from being a girl to being a woman. so, if nia isn't going through puberty now, when will she get to start wearing a hijab?

nia talks to ender about her problem. ender suggests that she should talk to her mom about it.

nia talks to her mom about her concerns. nia's mom explains that the shift from girl to woman involves more than just her body changing: it involves growth, strength of spirit, and learning about oneself. nia's mom will be able to tell when she's ready to start wearing the hijab, even if nia isn't going through puberty. nia feels a lot better now.

the next day at lunch, nia tells ender the good news. he is very happy for her. he then tells nia that he's scared of puberty too. he asks nia how she knew she was a girl, and nia explains how it was this strong internal feeling. ender reveals that he feels like he's not a boy or a girl. he's afraid that that means he's weird or broken. nia explains that he's not weird or broken - some people are non-binary, which means that they're not fully a boy or fully a girl. ender really likes that word. nia also tells ender that some non-binary like to use the gender-neutral pronouns "they/them" and asks ender if he would like her to start using those pronouns for him. ender says that he's not sure. he likes he/him pronouns, he thinks, at least for now. nia smiles and tells him that she's proud of him.

the spring dance is in march. nia and her mom go shopping for an oufit. at first, nia drifts towards the pretty dresses. she loves how they look and feels great in them, but she wants to try on suits too. she feels a little bit insecure when she realizes that she loves how she looks in the suit too. (plus, this navy suit will go better with her purple ear defenders than the colorful dresses will.) she's scared that her classmates will think she's not a "real girl" if she comes to the dance in a suit, but then she remembers her conversation with ender - when ender asked her how she knew she's a girl, her answer was that it was just something she knew. her gender isn't defined by her clothing preferences - she's just as much of a real girl in this suit as in those dresses. so nia buys the suit, and she feels very happy and confident.

at the dance, she finds that ender is wearing a skirt (and a tuxedo shirt and blazer). she runs up to him, and they both happy stim. they have a lot of fun dancing and snacking on cheez its together.

BOOK 3

book 3 takes place from april to june

the main plot of book 3 is going to be nia's grandmother visiting from iran for three months. nia learns a lot of new information about her family culture.

in june, to celebrate the end of the school year, nia's school has a multi-cultural night.

ender signs up to bring in some traditional turkish food and share some of the poetry his dad has written in turkish. he encourages nia to sign up for multi-cultural night too!

so nia signs up.

together, nia and her grandmother cook a ton of traditional iranian food to share at the celebration. she and her grandmother also work together to sew a special kaftan for nia.

the night of the celebration, nia dresses up in her kaftan and grabs the containers of food. as she's getting ready to leave, her father asks her to stop so he can take a picture of her. her mother says, "wait! i have one other thing for the picture!" (but spoken in faarsi). she emerges with a hijab for nia. she helps nia put on the hijab and tells nia that she's seen how nia's grown into a woman this past school year (aka, over the course of these 3 books). nia is so happy that she cries.

at the multi-cultural night, everyone loves the food and nia's kaftan and hijab. when ender sees nia's hijab, he starts happy stimming, and nia starts happy stimming too.

that's all my plans for goty 2022!

[necro-romance]

HAPPY NEW YEARS !!

It’s hard to believe it’s 2022; honestly, I’m still stuck in 2020 T~T

In celebration of New Years (and the New Years event in Bandori) here’s a short story of my rarely shown ship- Misaki and Kaoru ! >u<

CW for mental health issues !! (No violence)

Misaki fell onto her bed with an ‘oomph’ and just let her face smoosh against the covers. Recently, her life had been kind of miserable. She’d kept lashing out on people she loved without meaning to, and the guilt was overbearing.

Misaki flipped onto her side and stared into the darkness of her room. Tears started to form in her eyes, the emptiness inside her heart becoming more and more apparent.

What’s wrong with me? Am I really such a monster?

The guilt became too much to bear and Misaki opened her phone, going to her messages with Kaoru.

“I’m sorry.” She said, simply.

“DONT KILL URSELF OMG” Kaoru quickly rellied.

Misaki chuckled. “THAT’S NOT WHY I SAID SORRY 😭”

“oh- then whats up??”

Misaki stared at her phone. That simple light-hearted moment fled and the emptiness returned. “Everything. I’m sorry for hurting you. For hurting everyone.”

“mii is this ur emo phase”

Misaki exhaled through her nose. “I had that already. But seriously, I’m sorry. You accept my apology, right..?”

“no. i dont. cus u didnt do anything”

“I told you. I keep hurting everyone and I’ve probably hurt you, too, so many times”

“did you snap again ?”

“Yeah.”

“hold on mii- dont do anything just stay for a second”

“?”

But Kaoru was already offline.

What are they doing?

Misaki sat up and stayed like that awkwardly, staring into space, until she grasped the blanket at the end of her bed and wrapped it around herself. Her brown hair fell past her cheeks and she tucked it behind her ears. Misaki stared at her bed’s sheets while in thought.

Everything’s just been so stressful recently. Is that why I keep snapping?….That’s no excuse, though. I feel like I get no appreciation, whether at home or at school or with the band. With the band it’s all “Michelle this,” “Michelle that.” At school my grades are slipping and the teachers are scolding me left and right, and at home my parents expect me to be “normal.” To “be like other kids my age.”

Teardrops fell onto her bed. Misaki bit her lip to keep it from quivering. The best thing to do is distract herself, she thought. Misaki laid back down onto her side and pulled up a YouTube video while snuggling under her covers.

Minutes had passed, and Misaki had completely forgot about Kaoru’s weird demand. That was, until a certain tall girl with purple hair burst into her room. Misaki instantly sat up, staring at her panting friend. Kaoru walked over to her bed, fists clenched, at a aggressive pace.

“Kaoru, what’re you doing he-”

Kaoru hugged Misaki so hard it felt like they were squeezing the soul out of her. Misaki slowly wrapped her arms around them, as Kaoru gently rested their hand on the back of her head.

“You’ve done nothing wrong. Seriously, Misaki.” Kaoru quietly assured. Something was different- her typical dramatic inflection was gone and was instead replaced with a soft and concerned one.

Misaki’s face became wet again, along with Kaoru’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

Kaoru let go and looked Misaki in the eyes. Misaki blushed from the sudden attention. “But, why did you come here?”

Kaoru sat up straight and put their hand on their chest. “Of course I had to help a friend in need!” Their regular dramatics were back. “…Plus, I really care about you.” They added, quieter this time.

Misaki smiled and dried her face with her arm. “I care about you, too.” She gently grabbed Kaoru’s hand, rubbing it with her thumb.

Kaoru seemed surprised by the sudden gesture, looking from their hand to Misaki and back to their hand again. Misaki adjusted so she was sitting sideways and patted the space next to her. Kaoru scooched next to her and Misaki laid her head on their shoulder silently.

Kaoru looked at Misaki and then outside her window, at the starry night sky and her neighborhood.

They were glad they came. No matter how dramatic and strange a choice.

(Sorry this was so fast-paced!;; I wanted to get it out asap TuT)

[butterflyinthewell]

So I’m working on a fanfic about Hannibal being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and Will struggling to come to terms with that.

I’m realizing it’s really a commentary on how society treats people whose brains work different.

There is no point where Will loves Hannibal any less and he never sees him as less than human, but doctors and other people do.

Most of the story is from Will’s POV, (I start each chapter in Hannibal’s memory palace as it’s crumbling) but I have Hannibal’s perspective running in my own mind too when we watch him through Will. So when Alzheimer’s causes Hannibal to act weird, I know exactly what he thinks he’s doing or where he thinks he is in place / time, and his behavior makes perfect sense according to where / when he thinks he is. Will and the readers won’t have that side of it, so to them it seems Hannibal doesn’t know how to behave. He has his lucid moments where he’s acutely aware that “I have Alzheimer’s and my brain is failing me”, though they diminish as his brain deteriorates. But he really doesn’t know what he’s doing when he’s not lucid, though sometimes he can remember it later and tell Will what happened. Those moments are heartbreaking.

So as an example of visible behavior vs what I know and don’t tell you: Will sees Hannibal smashing a rolling pin against the kitchen counter, but Hannibal thinks he’s cleaning up to prepare for a dinner party the next night and he’s frantic because there’s a lot to do and not much time, and he can’t get the counter clean. Once Will figures out Hannibal is trying to clean, he trades the pin for a sponge and helps him “clean”. Hannibal forgets why he was so frantic once they’re done, so now he can go to bed and sleep instead of keeping Will up by banging on the counter for hours.

You can’t reason with a confused person with Alzheimer’s once they’re past a certain point. It’s easier to just step into their reality and guide them gently in the direction you hope they’ll go. (Will is very hit and miss at doing this initially, but will get good at it later!)

Most people would suggest take the rolling pin away, but that would get in the way of the need Hannibal is trying to meet and lead to a fight. From his side it looks like Will is preventing him from getting ready for esteemed guests. Will trading the pin for a sponge is meeting Hannibal where he is, calming the anxiety he’s feeling and gently nudging him where he actually should go (to bed). Hannibal is happy with that because his need was met.

There’s another scene in a grocery store where Will doesn’t pay attention to Hannibal’s signals that this isn’t working, and it leads to Hannibal causing a bit of a ruckus. The store is restocking and there’s boxes and chaos everywhere. Hannibal can’t handle that, so he starts taking things out of the cart and putting them on the shelf like he’s at the checkout counter because that’s what you do when you’re about to leave the store. But Will misses that signal and puts things back into the cart, and suddenly a very angry Hannibal flips the cart over and hollers that “this isn’t correct” because he can’t access the language to explain he’s afraid.

Will has to talk him down from a panic attack and help him out of the store. Later, Hannibal is able to explain to Will that disarray frightens him because it looks like his memory palace, and when that happens he can’t tell his inner world from the outer world and doesn’t know which one he’s “speaking” to. But small bits of disarray become something Will can use to calm Hannibal down by giving him messy things to organize. (Hannibal is obsessive about organizing stuff, it’s soothing for him.)

Their love language evolves too. From speaking in metaphors to just speaking, then they progress to actions and finally end on touch.

Will needs to realize it’s less about what Hannibal is losing and more about what’s still there.

Hannibal is going to lose who Will is, but he never loses the fact that he loves him. Some days, he will look at Will and fall in love with him over and over like the first time he saw him in Crawford’s office, because in those moments every time is the first.

And that is what Will needs to realize. Their love hasn’t been lost.

Btw, Hannibal doesn’t stop being dangerous till the final stages of Alzheimer’s. He’s about midway through it when he almost mauls the staff at a hospital because they’re being nasty to him when he’s confused! (They chemically restrain him with Haldol and are super shitty liars about it). That experience is actually what gets Will to see that people are going to treat Hannibal like he’s not really a person anymore. Let’s just say the doctor who ordered the Haldol isn’t gonna survive. It’s Hannibal...that means people get eaten! 😌

Also, the fanfic starts after they’ve been married for 10 years, so the year is 2030 at the start of the fic. I’m writing this pretending the story of Hannibal began sometime in late 2010, Will pulled them off the cliff in 2015, they got some aliases to disappear and moved around America dodging the FBI for another five years.

The pre-story post-fall timeline goes like this:

December 2019: Will and Hannibal have been on the run for a long while, but they stop in Hawaii to have a nice, tropical Christmas. Hannibal can’t remember the volcano’s name is Kilauea.

January 1: 2020: They get married on the beach. It’s sort of spur of the moment, but they took the time to buy tuxedos and rings. Their tuxes are white with silver accents. Hannibal has a silver vest and bow tie. Will has a silver bow tie and cummerbund. They say their vows at sunset by the water.

Late February 2020: Will and Hannibal leave Hawaii for Cuba just as Covid-19 is hitting. They’ve already bought a house, so they move in. Both test positive for covid. Will stays asymptotic and never gets even a tickle in his throat. Hannibal gets the whole deal without getting sick enough to end up in the hospital, but recovers. He has some long covid issues, like shortness of breath and fatigue.

2022: Hannibal survives the widow maker heart attack and it’s discovered he had the heart attack because covid damaged his heart. He gets quadruple bypass surgery and spends a lot of time in ICU recovering. As he gets better he realizes his memory isn’t what it should be. Doctors tell him his heart stopping from the heart attack and the bypass surgery can sometimes cause some memory loss. Hannibal starts relying on his phone and GPS more and more. Will begins to suspect something is wrong, but the doctors reassure him that it’s temporary, so he lets it go.

(Fanfic begins here.)

2030: Hannibal is making mistakes in cooking, cleanup, paying bills and just everyday stuff, but he doesn’t think it’s weird. He blames “kids” when questioned about why he put dishes away dirty or burned dinner. Will is noticing things aren’t right, so he begs Hannibal to see a doctor. Will thinks it’s something solvable, like encephalitis or some other organ. But no, Hannibal gets looked over from head to toe, inside and outside, sent to a neurologist and finishes with his diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s. (He’s 58 at the time of diagnosis, but the disease process started when he was 48 and it was missed for so long because of the heart attack.)

As soon as he’s diagnosed, Hannibal starts making plans for Will to be his medical power of attorney, in control of their bank account, in charge of his advanced directives, etc.. He sort of drops it all onto poor Will, who barely gets time to absorb the news before he’s signing stuff. Will is in a tailspin of emotions.

It’ll take Alzheimer’s 20 years to chew through Hannibal’s brain. It’s not always gonna be pretty or easy to watch. At the end it becomes clear Hannibal is waiting for something, and he passes as soon as those final needs are met. Hannibal always has to have control of something, right? Right!

I’m gonna throw all your feelings into a washing machine and spin them. It’s what I’m good at with fics like this.

Anyway...

I have very specific images of how Will and Hannibal look at the start of the fic. Will is still pretty af, but a lot less friendly looking, and Hannibal looks like a scruffy Norse dad.

The most beautiful part about writing this (for me, anyway) is watching how Will learns to understand Hannibal’s communications as his language abilities deteriorate. He will continue to see and hear him even when most other people won’t try to watch or listen. He learns to be less “stop that, it’s annoying” and more “what need isn’t being met and how can I meet it? How can I step into his world to be with him where he is?”

Finally, their wedding song is important to the story. This was their first dance song. It’s their song. Will sings it to Hannibal a few times in the fic, and if he plays it on his phone it can break through the Alzheimer’s fog and take Hannibal back to the bank safe in his memory palace where he keeps their wedding day. Yup, he keeps that memory in a safe and it’s the last thing to go. ❤️

[etraytin]

west wing gang on day 14 of self quarantine?

(Okay, assume for the purposes of this fic that the US election schedule is based on reality and not the show’s weird two-year offset, okay? So everything is happening in 2020 instead of 2018 or 2022.)

“Does my face look flushed to you?” Josh demanded. 

“Well, you’ve been yelling for the past ten minutes, so...” Donna pointed out. 

Josh frowned, leaning closer to his laptop. “No, I’m being serious. Do I look flushed to you? I feel hot.” 

Donna flicked her eyes down, studying him through the screen. “Nope,” she decided. “Just normally enraged by politics. Did you take your temperature?” 

“Well yeah, of course I took my temperature,” he replied, grimacing. “I took it three times.” 

“And what did it say?” she asked patiently. 

“98.9,” he admitted. “But I normally run cool! That’s high for me!” 

“Are you coughing?” 

“No, but my throat feels scratchy.” 

She smiled faintly. “Did I mention the part where you’ve been yelling for ten minutes?” 

“Well I can’t help it!” he insisted. “We’re less than four months from the convention, we haven’t sewn up the nomination, we can’t hold a single goddamn rally or let the candidate shake anybody’s hand, we lose every news cycle to a new report about how sneezing is bad for you, I’m four hundred miles away from you and the kids and I can’t come home, the SATs are cancelled so god knows what that’ll do for Jo’s college search-” 

“Josh,” Donna began gently, then more insistently. “Josh! JOSHUA! Calm down, take a breath!” She smiled when he subsided, for all he was still glaring at the screen. “I know it’s frustrating, and I miss you too, but it’s going to be okay,” she promised. “Sam's the prohibitive favorite atthis point, and the virtual Q&As have been very well-received.I've got data here showing a solid fifteen point lead in primarystates that have yet to vote, and twenty-five points against theRepublican candidate. Everything we're doing is working,” shereminded him.

 “Not well enough!” Josh insisted. “I mean, how do we know?Maybe people aren't answering their phones. The only in-personpolling they can do is from people too stupid to stay home, so that'sgotta be skewed, right?”

 “I think it's a pretty good indicator still,” Donna told himpatiently. “And yes, the SAT was canceled, but that just puts us inthe same boat as thousands of other families. Jo has a 4.0 GPA andgreat extracurriculars, plus a letter of recommendation from JosiahBartlet. I think she's going to be just fine.”

 “Maybe,” Josh had to assent. “I feel like I have body aches.Body aches are a symptom, right?” 

 Donna's eyes sharpened. “Where are they at?” 

 “My lower back is killing me,” he informed her, “and myshoulders.” 

 She eased back. “Have you been using the lumbar cushion?” sheasked archly. “And how many hours have you been hunched over thatscreen?” 

 “What else is there to do?” Josh demanded, skirting the pillowquestion entirely.

 “How about some exercise? You guys are in a three bedroom suite,right? There's room to at least do stretching. Oh, CJ's pinging me,I'll patch her in.”

 Donna tapped a few keys and the screen split, now showing both herand a somewhat disheveled CJ. “Christ,” CJ muttered, brushing herhair flat, “I didn't realize we were video calling.” 

 Josh grinned at her, happy to see at least one person less puttogether than himself. “Hey CJ, long time no see! Are those yourpajamas?” 

CJ glared at him. “I'm in quarantine, what do I have to getdressed up for?” 

 “Are you back in the States now?” Donna asked. “Did you haveany trouble?”

 “Not much, all the restrictions are on Europe, but we're stillsupposed to quarantine for fourteen more days.” CJ adjusted thecamera up so only her head and neck were showing. In the background,Danny was wandering around the kitchen in a pair of University ofCalifornia boxer shorts, apparently unaware of the webcam. “How'sthe campaign?” 

 “Stalled,” Josh groused.  “Dead in the water. Momentumless.” 

“That's the spirit!” Sam told him cheerfully, coming from hisbedroom and fastening his cuffs as he leaned over Josh's shoulders.“Josh has been talking to Toby,” he confided to the womenonscreen. “I think we'll have to stop him.”

 “Sounds like a good idea, Mr. Senator,” Donna agreed,grinning. 

 “You'll probably have to tie them both down in separate rooms,”CJ advised. “Long time no see, by the way. You're lookingremarkably happy for a man in quarantine with his campaign staff.” 

 “That's because I have America in my heart,” Sam told her withmock gravity. “Hi, Danny!” CJ glanced down at her own screen and abruptly yanked the webcamfocus back onto herself. 

“Hi Sam!” Danny's voice echoed over theline. “You should be nicer to the press pool.” 

 “They're never nice to me back!” Sam pointed out. “I'mhaving a lot more luck with the women's magazines.” 

 “I bet you are,” CJ cackled. “Hey, have any of you heardfrom Abbey and Jed?”

 “They're all right,” Donna reported. “Zoey, Charlie andtheir kids are out with them, and that farm is so remote it's aboutthe safest place they could be. Abbey says they've got enough cannedgoods in the basement for a year , if you don't mind a lot ofapple-based dishes.”

“And apple based trivia, I'm sure,” Josh put in. “How aboutyou, you're not going out, are you?” 

“I'm being very safe,” Donna assured him. “I'm fromWisconsin, we stock up when there's a storm coming. Hey, Garret!”she called, snagging a fast-moving blur behind her chair. “Say hito Dad and everybody!”

 Garret leaned down into the frame, all lanky body and light brownhair and a dimple just like his dad when he grinned. “Hi Dad andeverybody! Hey Dad, I can use your car while you're gone, right? Ipromise not to go where there are people.” 

 “What?” Josh squawked. “My car? No!” 

 “We'll talk about it later, kiddo,” Donna told Garret, shooinghim away. 

“Donna!” Josh protested. 

“Listen, mister, you haven't been stuck in the house forfourteen days with two bored teenagers,” Donna reminded him.“Even the internet has stopped being enough. It's your own damnfault for buying that middle-age crisis testosterone-mobile.” Josh frowned and tried to ignore the fact that CJ was alreadylaughing. “Fine, but when our insurance rates skyrocket, I'm goingto be the one saying I told you so.” 

 “That's a price I'm willing to let you pay,” Donna replied,serene once again. “You guys have another Q&A in a couple ofhours, right?”

“It's on healthcare in America, so it should be a barn-burner,”Sam agreed. “Are you going to watch?” 

“Oh, I have a list of questions,” CJ assured him smoothly. 

Sam's eyes widened. “That sounds a little terrifying.” 

“I like to think of it as getting you prepared for the bigchair,” CJ told him. “You'll do fine. Josh, don't let him haveany more coffee.” 

 “I'll drink it all myself,” Josh promised. 

 “Josh!” Donna protested. 

 “Good man. Good luck!” CJ called cheerfully. “We're rootingfor you!” 

“Just make sure you vote for me!” Sam called back as CJ'swindow blinked out. “I'm gonna go make some coffee,” he muttered,wandering off into the kitchen.

 “Still feeling warm?” Donna asked when it was just the two ofthem again. 

 “Not as much,” Josh admitted rolling his shoulders. “Stillpretty stiff, though. I miss your backrubs.” 

 “As soon as you can get home, I'll make sure you get one,” shepromised. “Go take a long shower and some Advil, it'll help.” 

 “I miss you, too,” he told her seriously. “This sucks.” 

 “Yeah,” she sighed, slumping visibly. “But it's not forever.Take care of yourself, okay? Come home soon.” 

 “Doing my best,” he promised. “But next time we getquarantined, I'm bringing you with me. Love you.” 

“Sounds like fun,” she laughed. “Love you too. Go do a job.”The picture winked out. Josh took his temperature again. 98.9. Stillokay for now. How long was this thing going to last? 

This fic can also be found at Archive Of Our Own, username Etraytin, under the title   Isolated Cases.

[passingdaysthings]

8.09.2022 - Complicated Feelings

Today is Tuesday. 

I am writing this super early in the morning because I just couldn’t fall asleep. I woke up after sleeping for about 2 hours, but it seems like I have a lot on my mind. Before I address those complicated feelings, I would like to give a quick update: 

1. I am now a student at the University of Denver, and I will be pursuing a Masters of Science in Data Science. Classes will be starting Sept. 12.

2. I have a job, but it’s more of a for fun one and allows me to have extra spending money. 

Back to what this post is really about. I broke up with my boyfriend of 5.5 years at the beginning of May this year because I felt like our relationship had become very one-sided, and I was putting in all the effort to maintain it. I also felt that he didn’t “love” me the way he use to, and that realization came with a new friend I had made online. My ex and I met in college when I was 20 and he was 21, and we were both relatively new to dating. I really enjoyed our relationship, and I have no regrets dating my ex. I broke up with him, but we did it on amicable terms. I think that he just didn’t know that he was losing interest in our relationship. Another big factor that contribute to our break-up was the fact that we were in a long distance relationship between the US and Hong Kong so COVID really lessened the time that we saw each other and talked. There was also the fact that I was focused on getting higher education, and he had a demanding full-time job. There were other cracks too like he wouldn’t call or message me, he wouldn’t tell me what he was up to, and he would spend time playing games rather than talking to me, but tell me he is busy. He was also saying things that made it clear he was done with our relationship, but he just didn’t know it. We also had a lot of arguments about his inattentiveness, and it just didn’t change so I chose to end it. 

Now that I have added some context, I will circle back to how my online friend helped me realize that it was time to end my relationship and move on. This is the start of my complicated feelings. I met this friend around Oct of 2021 through a video game, and we were just gaming friends. I’ve never met him in real life, and we did not talk much one on one until around April of 2022. We spent a lot of time talking about a lot of random things outside of gaming once we started talking, but it was all friendly. We even talked about our romantic relationships, but I did not tell him about all the issues I was having in my own relationship at the time. He made me realize simply that if someone wanted to talk to me then they would. I have never met this online friend in real life, but he would talk to me everyday about the most random things which I really enjoyed. I think it was really enjoyable because we had a lot in common, and this realization really put a nail in the coffin for my relationship with my ex. I did not enjoy talking to my ex nearly as much as this friend, and I felt like I only wanted attention from him because he had the title of “my boyfriend”. That’s when I decided I should just end it because I was only holding onto our 5 years together and memories, but it wasn’t the same anymore. 

On to the next order of business, and why I am probably awake after only 2 hours of sleep. My online friend for the first time since April has ignored me for a whole day, and yes, it is weird. We have talked everyday since April, but we barely exchanged 10 words today. This isn’t exactly something that happened suddenly though. Last night, I had called him after gaming because he had been a dick to me randomly for the past few days, and I wasn’t really happy about it. He told me that he had a lot going on since he had gotten COVID and his brother got shot in the face during a road rage incident. He apologized and told me that he didn’t really know how to process everything and that he didn’t mean to make me upset or take it out on me. I knew about the incident with his brother prior to me calling him out though, and we had spent all his COVID quarantine together playing games and watching anime and Korean dramas together. I enjoyed our time so much that I actually hadn’t played many games with my irl friends. He also told me that he would most likely distance himself from me simply because that’s how he is. He didn’t know how to handle everything and just kept apologizing to me even though I reassured him that I was only trying to understand why he was lashing out randomly. 

Here is more background information on my relationship with my online friend and things that we do together that will make the complication more understandable. We both acknowledge each other as best friends, and I believe that I was the one who started this because I wanted to make it clear I was not interested in a relationship after my break-up. He also stated that he was not interested in a relationship after this previous ex had cheated on him so I felt like we were on the same page at the beginning. As our relationship deepened, we began to flirt (?) more, and we did more things that made us seem like a couple, and this was to the point where my little sister had asked me if something was going on between us because we spent so much time together. Some things that made my sister question our friendship, our messages (flirty ones), staying on the phone all night, sleeping on the phone together, staying up all night watching anime and dramas together, and the fact that we both acknowledged that talking to each other had become such a big part of our daily routines that it felt really weird and unusual if we didn’t talk. Note: he didn’t say much to me today after our altercation. First off, I am fucking sad that he didn’t even message me back today, but he did say some words to me while we played games. I would like to confidently say that I have a crush on him, but we have never met in-person (I know what he looks like, and we have face-called). Some issues I have with him though is that he tends to bottle issues and problems up as much as possible and push people way which he acknowledges that he does due to childhood trauma, but I am someone who values all of my friendship so I like to get to the bottom of things. I am not sure what I should do now. I don’t want to push him too hard. Do I give him time to process what happened to his brother? Do I continue to message him in support? Do I not send messages because he isn’t responding? Am I being over-bearing? I am just not sure what I can do, but I know for a fact that I am an important person to him. I think the biggest thing that really pushed me to acknowledge my feelings was a trip we had planned. I called him one night recently to just have our usual late night talk, but then we started planning a trip together because I am going to see my sorority sister soon. He was being cute and whining about how our time together would be limited due to my trip, but he was excited for me. In response to this and his suggestion for a friendship sleepover, I suggested that I just take another trip to see him for a week during my winter break, and we could hangout in-person for the first time. I did this not expecting much because he had become super anxious after getting cheated on, and he wasn’t very fond of seeing me irl or so I thought. He started by making jokes about how I should just stay for a day or half a day or even just fly over his house which I responded with “okay, maybe I just go for 3 days instead of a week”. This is where I was shocked with his response. He responded to me with a “you hate me” which he does anytime I do something he doesn’t want, and I think it’s pretty funny. I told him fine, I would stay for a full week, and he said he would take the whole week off of work and house me as well. Quick fucking change LOL. I was shocked because my offer was just another senseless cute thing to add to our conversation. I thought it would just end there, but then we talked about places to eat and hike (we both like hiking). He even suggested we take a smaller trip within this trip to go hiking and eat at a really nice restaurant. This was a place he had previously gone to with his ex so I initially rejected the idea because I’m jealous. It legit sounded so fun, BUT he did it with his ex. I told him “No, I don’t wanna go if you went with your ex”, but he responded with “No, we should go and re-write those memories”. That really got me. I did my best to act cool and accepted the idea. Like.. that is so cute.. and it sounded so fun.. 

To end this post, my question is now... are we just friends or does he have feelings for me too? I just don’t know what he considers things he would do with a “friend” vs a “girlfriend”. I do my best not to think too much into what he says and take them as face value, but there are some things that are hard not to read into. 

-P

[paghihina]

july 5th 2022 6:17am 2 years and 4 months into the pandemic and i have no life?

as of writing this, i just stayed up another morning and will be expecting myself to sleep the whole day off once again

currently summer. i go back to school next month. in a new school in an ultra cool university! but rn i really have nothing to do but literally lie around

very lucky to not even worry about anything else rn apart from the dread of workload that this ultra cool university will give me but idk i really do feel i dont have a life apart from school rn

dont get me wrong i have best friends and acquaintances, i just dont talk to them a lot or even hang out with them despite our free time because of a multitude of reasons. we havent even spent time as a complete quintet for 2 years now. we only had that one prom night—which was very fun dont get me wrong though it was underwhelming for my little ambitious movie making brain— but one of us wasnt there. she even pops up in my dreams every once in a while and its great i still remember her face. our friend group just doesnt converse a lot online because it's just the way it is. we don't always have the energy to message and reply to one another and we have a mutual understanding of that. though i wish it was a bit diffferent.

in another universe, we would make use of our summer by playing in the local timezone and make memories and collect memorabilia, but that's just not the case.

to go back to the main point, i basically do nothing here. i did apply to mcdo last week (?) in hopes of a one-month summer job to fuel my spending bursts though i havent gotten anything back.

i tap through my friends' friends' insta stories and just see everyone doing something. theyre getting licenses, theyre hanging out with their friends, joining contests, doing stuff they like, celebrating birthdays, even partying, all of that stuff.

not that i have anything of interest. actually that's one of the things that upsets me the most. i lack passion haha. i don't have a good hobby that gives me a drive or eagerness to improve in. i feel like a speck more than ever.

a heavy speck at that. along with this little "i've officially wasted two years of my life" thing i have going on, i've gained weight. from 90lbs to 120lbs this summer. i know, still quite thin but to put that on a barely 5'2 teenager, it's got impact.

though, can you blame me? ive barely been able to go out of my family's condo unit and who am i to reject the food just staring daggers at my direction whilst they sit in the closed pantry.

my self-image has gone a different path as well. don't know how in-depth i'll get on here but let's see.

first, my arms. it's now as wide as... something. can't think of anything to compare to it rn but certainly not the twig i want it to be so badly (meant lightly though kinda not? not sure). hate wearing sleeveless tops and anything that would wrap around it snugly, adds onto the weird feeling it gives to my armpits because of the arm holes.

secondly, my face. a good circle with flabs on the bottom. i look like the fucking moon emoji. ruins my day right when i see it in the mirror outside of my door. that added to the constant ridiculing my parents do as a hobby. it's like they want me to hate myself? of course it's all for jokes. but cmon.

ill keep the last item short but lastly, my tummy. just envision it as one of a fucking tito who drinks religiously.

—

it's just very funny—to me, at least—that i've grown into someone lame. not that i dream of becoming the stereotypical cool kid who parties like it's a 9-5 job but it's just not the way younger me wanted things to go i guess. i just hoped to be someone happy in something they do and is enjoying life in whatever way it may be. just not the case rn.

—

a song i like at the moment:

swaying with #the one as this plays while we watch the sun go down yeahhhhhhhhhh

[tsukidrama]

hii!! i'm sorry it's been a while!! (i know you always say it's okay but you'll have to accept my apologies 😤)

i did not notice it either!! this is the kind of detail that make the show really great (if you notice it aksjzkkzkz). but i finally got to s2e4 and i get why it's your favourite episode it's hilarious omg the vampires panicking about the email, guillermo's weird phone call, the whole bloody mary thing, everything about this episode was perfect.

of course! your apologies are always accepted even if they aren't necessary. which btw i'm glad you know.

haaahhhh yes! that episode makes me laugh until my stomach hurts. "woah man, don't you remember what happened to Arianna?!" plus that's a good episode for guillermo vampire hunting badsssery

it is!!! that's partly why i wasn't too happy about that aot movie rumour to end the series because that would have been hard to watch. which btw!! the new episode is tomorrow!! i hope you won't mind me talking about the episode with you, i'm as excited to see annie leaving the crystal as to talking about it with you lmao

is there a specific reason you don't want it to be a movie? because i've actually been converted and i'll explain why. it's a LOT of content and once you get to ~~131 or 132~~ the story does get to the point where i would... absolutely SCREAM if the episode ended on a cliffhanger. i see the arguments against a movie but i think it'd be easier on the animators (most important) and secondarily: try to imagine getting 20 minutes of traumatized once a week for 12 weeks? fuck that i want to sit there and watch it all at once. i don't mind if it takes a while to come out. and ik how cynical this comes off if y'all don't agree that's fine, but i already know that the ending blows ass so like Annie titan fight scenes being animated is all i'm holding onto at this point. ALSO PIECK! and Yelena with her lil fever

YES!!! i'm so excited too, we got one single shot of her for .05 seconds in the intro and i'm still losing my shit about it 24 hours later 😩😫 MA'AM

don't apologise for rambling, i hope your holidays went well, may 2022 be annie's (and our) year 🙏

(ps : i am scared about next chapter) - j

2022 year of Annie Leonhardt... sounds about right! it's gonna be a good year. hell yeah.

(im so sorry, you should be i dont know what happened)

[malkkins-blog]

I wish you would write a fic where Sid and Geno decide to come out post-retirement by dropping the puck hand-in-hand at Pride Night or a similar event.

Idk, I hope you like this. My plan is to take moments from the flashback parts and write about specific events.

“Please welcome to the ice, to drop the ceremonial first puck, your former captains, numbers seventy-one and eighty-seven- Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby!”

The crowd goes insane. Sid feels the hand holding his tighten and, yeah, he made the right choice.

They’ve been together for over twenty years at this point.

After the Cup win in 2009, Sidney knew something had changed between him and Geno and before either of them knew it- they were in the front hall closet of Mario’s house, sloppy handjobs done because both of them were too wasted. At twenty-one and twenty-two, they aren’t too good at handling their alcohol.

The day after Mario’s pool party, they decided to give dating a chance, both admitting that they had crushes on each other since Geno came to Pittsburgh.

When Sidney hoisted the Cup for the third time in the middle of Bridgestone Arena, he knew that this is what he wanted for the rest of his life. He wanted the Cup and he wanted Geno. Nothing could stop him from getting the Cup every year and marrying Geno. So, a week after defeating the Predators, Sid dragged Geno out to center ice during the locker clean out.

“Not suppose to be on ice, Sid.” Sidney let out a small laugh as the scoreboard came  to life. The employees of PPG Paints Arena would do just about anything for Sid.

Sid and Geno both looked up at the scoreboard with smiles; Sid knows that the video showed, he’s the one that made it. It shows various pictures of Sid and Geno from the start, when they’re all just hockey pictures until 2009 comes around.

Suddenly, the pictures are no longer solely press photos- there’s a photo of Sid and Geno kissing with the cup in between them, a photo just meant for the two of them. There’s another one that Sid knows Taylor took one night when Sid and Geno fell asleep on Sid’s parents’ couch when Geno came to visit Cole Harbour in 2010. The years pass by, and the photos are more and more personal as they go on. There’s one Sid took after their playoff loss in 2015, while Sid is watching a video on his laptop, trying to figure out what went wrong while Geno has his head in Sid’s lap. Then the photos turned back to more professional ones, where they win the Cup in 2016 and the repeat the year after. The video ended with a video of Sid on the scoreboard saying that he had a question to ask his amazing boyfriend.

Geno turned to look back at Sid, who was already on one knee. “Will you be my partner forever?” They both had tears in their eyes as Geno noded his head.

They’re married two years later, with their team and the Cup in attendance.

Soon after though, Sid suffered a bad concussion and was forced to retire. The first time he saw  the ‘C’ that adorned his jersey for so long on Geno’s, he felt like he was going to cry. They built their team together and it seemed so fitting that the Captain duties got passed onto G.

2022 came  around, and Geno decided that he’s had enough. His knee is close to giving out and there’s just nothing left for him to accomplish in the NHL anymore. As a couple, they were working on adopting their first child,so it makes sense for retirement to be the next step.

Two months after his press conference, Geno becomes a dad to a beautiful little girl they name Rooney Natalia Crosby-Malkin.

Six years and three more kids later, Sid and Geno stand in the middle of PPG Paints Arena. They’re holding hands as the lights around them create rainbows. The puck, decorated with the Penguins’ official rainbow logo, is held by both him and his husband. Jake is standing next to Sid, the new Captain of the Penguins and one of the few members of the team left from the back-to-back run. The crowd is cheering for them, it’s obvious to Sid that the fans have missed both Sid and Geno.

After the puck drop, they’re interviewed by Dan Potash for the first time in nearly seven years. He asks them how it feels to be back and they both agree that it’s weird, but they’re happy that the Penguins asked them to be a part of Hockey is for Everyone night. They mention that they love to show that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or country of origin, can play in the National Hockey League.

When they decided to come out, shortly after their wedding, Sid had never imagined that they would be such advocates for LGBTQ hockey player- but there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to prevent someone from the feeling the way he felt during the beginning of his career.

Yeah- Sid made the right choice. He choose hockey and Geno.

[actutrends]

Who deserves a playoff spot most: Kings, Suns or Timberwolves?

The Kings, Suns and Timberwolves are all theoretically in the playoff hunt in the Western Conference. Who needs that spot the most?

So it looks like the NBA draft lottery works! Three teams who miserably tripped over themselves en route to top-10 picks repeatedly over the course of a decade are right in the playoff hunt this season. They are the Kings, Timberwolves and Suns, and at most two of them will make it.

As NBA languishing goes, these franchises are about as bad as it gets. They fumbled around for years to get to this point, and are only here because they got lucky a couple of times in one of the dozen drafts in which they should have found a star. None of them truly deserves it.

There’s also a chance they all fail again. FiveThirtyEight gives Oklahoma City and Portland the best odds to nab the seventh and eighth seeds in the West. Seven teams currently sit within five games of one another in the standings, meaning this thing is far from wrapped up.

When we talk about who is most deserving, though, it’s a whole other discussion from who will make the playoffs. The Trail Blazers and Thunder each were top-six seeds last year. They dueled in the first round. And while we’re discussing deservedness here, the Thunder are probably at the bottom of the rankings based on the fact that Damian Lillard turned the whole franchise into a corpse with one shot:

Newness is just more fun thing to root for when other options have run stale. Circling back to Sacramento, Minnesota and Phoenix (who combined for one playoff appearance this decade), let’s establish criteria to determine which depressing franchise ought to get to the playoffs in 2020:

1. How depressed is the fanbase?

2. How insufferable would the fanbase be if they made it back in?

3. How likable are the players? Are there any guys you especially want to see in the postseason?

4. Are they actually trying to win right now?

5. Is there hope for the future or is this their best chance to make the playoffs?

With those five categories in mind, let’s answer each question for each team and see who wins/loses the most categories. This exercise will totally have an impact on the actual outcome of the race.

1. How depressed is the fanbase?

Phoenix Suns: Relative to the other franchises listed here, the Suns still haven’t outlived the goodwill they collected last decade. The near-Finals berths and 60-win seasons and back-to-back MVP celebrations is too much to give them a full 10-of-10 here.

Still, the past decade has been atrocious. They’ve won 63 games combined the past three seasons. Minnesota and the Lakers are both on pace to make the playoffs this year alone. The Suns’ closest season to a playoff berth was 2013-14 when they accidentally won 48 games and became one of the worst teams in league history not to make the postseason.

The Suns have had a different head coach during each of Devin Booker’s five years in the league. They fired their general manager eight days before the 2018-19 season and James Jones is in his first full year running a franchise. It’s bleak.

Sacramento Kings: The Kings haven’t made the playoffs since 2006. They cannot possibly be less optimistic right now. A random click on a recent article at Kings’ blog Sactown Royalty quickly leads to the word “playoff drought.”

BUT Sacramento is the team many smart people picked heading into the season. They were the ninth-best team in the West last year. They have several promising young players, including Marvin Bagley III, Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox. It’s been ugly for a long time, but I can’t quite say it’s been miserable when last year was so promising and their encore has been promising thus far.

Minnesota Timberwolves: The team who made the playoffs most recently is somehow the most miserable. That’s because the savior who got them to the promised land, Jimmy Butler, was so frustrated with the infrastructure in place from top to bottom in the Twin Cities that he left six months after their playoff berth.

Before that, the last playoff appearance was in 2004, when the star of Uncut Gems was on the team.

A sampling from Wolves blogger Andy Grimsrud of A Wolf Among Wolves: “Wolves fans will tolerate losing — a lot of it, in fact. But there needs to be something to cling onto so that hope is not lost. For a stretch of games this season, we had reasons to believe: a suped-up Towns, rejuvenated Wiggins, and an improved team defense. Lately, however, those have gone out the window.”

Winner/loser: Minnesota

2. How obnoxious would the fanbase be if they made it back in?

Phoenix Suns: There aren’t a lot of obnoxious Suns fans. Internet fandom rose to prominence while the Suns were still good, and because their home city is full of old people and parents, theirs are a boring, silent plurality rather than any sort of insufferable monolith. It would be super weird for anyone to say something like, “I hate Suns fans.”

Sacramento Kings: Both Sacramento and Minnesota are going to be jubilant if and when their teams return to the promised land on the back of their young cores. And rightly so. It’s splitting hairs to see who would be worse in this regard.

Worse means the kinds of people who can’t be happy internally. In short, who between Kings and Wolves fans would act least like they’d been there before? With this new rubric in mind I can’t help but jump immediately to Sacramento.

They do this thing where the joke of how bad they are actually takes up way too much headspace among larger NBA fandom relative to how much they actually matter. Their place in the Sam Hinkie Trade Hall of Fame gave them an outsized place in the basketball conversation despite them being mind-bogglingly terrible for a while.

Somehow, I have a feeling we would talk about the Kings making the playoffs more than we did with the Wolves and more than we did with, like, the Indians making the World Series or whatever.

Minnesota Timberwolves: See above.

Winner/loser: Sacramento

3. How likable are their players? Are there any guys you especially want to see in the postseason?

Phoenix Suns: Everyone seems to hate Booker. All of the veterans are guys we’ve already seen in the playoffs. Nothing to really see here.

Sacramento Kings: The main guy of note here is Hield. The continued rise and unexpected development of the Bahamian sweet-shooter is one of the coolest things about basketball this decade for people who watch college basketball. After a wild explosion as a senior at Oklahoma, Hield was drafted to a Pelicans team that had no interest in developing him.

Remember the DeMarcus Cousins trade? Apart from the one year Cousins played for New Orleans before rupturing his Achilles, Hield has been better than the big man since the deal. The Kings have undoubtedly gotten more value out of Hield than the Pels did out of Cousins.

Aside from Hield, the other stories are the Harrison Barnes playoff redemption and seeing Fox on a big stage for the first time. This would be pretty fun.

Minnesota Timberwolves: In Minnesota’s five-game loss to Houston in the first round of the 2018 playoffs, Karl-Anthony Towns averaged 15.2 points on a paltry 54.2 true shooting percentage. Minnesota allowed 120 in the closeout games of the series as the Rockets basically got a break before the semis.

Towns and Andrew Wiggins had a chance to prove we should be excited about seeing them in the playoffs and failed. All the other guys are really young. Pass.

Winner: Sacramento

4. Are they actually trying to win right now?

Phoenix Suns: Undoubtedly. They traded away all their second-round picks until 2022 and signed Ricky Rubio to a big new contract in order to compete this season. The bigger form of pressure is Booker’s continued contentedness, a storyline that will only glow brighter as his new maximum contract goes on.

Sacramento Kings: Not necessarily. They are still playing the long game — and should be. They passed on extending Bogdan Bogdanovic this fall and for once this summer did not sign any guys near retirement to big last-hurrah deals. They have lots of talent, but most of it is young and they can afford to be patient.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Again, not so fast. After trading Butler, they finally immersed themselves in a more traditional build around Towns, hiring Gersson Rosas and Sachin Gupta to lead the overhaul. Their entire core is under the age of 25. They have pressure — like Phoenix — to appease Towns before he starts to look around the league and imagine greener pastures.

Winner: Phoenix

5. Is there hope for the future or is this their best chance to make the playoffs?

Phoenix Suns: There’s plenty of time. Booker is in the first year of his second contract, Deandre Ayton is in his second NBA season, and just about everyone else is on their rookie deal. Though veterans like Aron Baynes and Dario Saric may leave after this season, they are replaceable talents. The young guys are on track to help Phoenix compete for the foreseeable future.

Sacramento Kings: Losing Bogdanovic would hamper the Kings next year. By failing to agree on an extension with Bogdanovic but doing so instead with Hield, Sacramento definitely appeared to pick one over the other. In fairness, they are redundant players. Keeping both doesn’t make much sense.

However, losing Bogdanovic in restricted free agency this summer would leave someone like Justin James to replace that bench scoring production for next year. That means this season may be their best chance to compete.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Rosas’ vision is clearly deep into the future. Placing Jarrett Culver and Josh Okogie in the starting lineup when they’re not all the way ready is one bit of evidence. The decision not to sign anyone except Jake Layman to multiyear deals is another. With Towns and Wiggins locked in long-term, Minnesota has no need to step on the gas right now.

Winner: Sacramento

The part where I decide who will make the playoffs in the West

It has to be the Kings. How crazy is that?

This is exactly why we do this stuff. Combing through all the various factors at once is overwhelming. Laying it all out shows you that yes, in fact, the Kings of Sacramento have the perfect mix of misery, urgency and talent to be the most deserving of a playoff spot in 2020.

The post Who deserves a playoff spot most: Kings, Suns or Timberwolves? appeared first on Actu Trends.