#i'm not taking time off to go on Friday and I'm only buying One (1) photo op

[alsaurus-loves-dean]

.

[yougavemeyourheartyouknow]

On thin ice (Hockey player! Miguel O’Hara x Ice skater! Fem! Reader)

A/N: Not me saying I’m back then disappearing for a week… I made this chapter a bit longer as an apology. I also saw the Arctic monkeys on Tuesday so I was a bit focused on that lmao. Excuse any grammatical errors, typos and Miguel being ooc. Also there will probably be only 2 or 3 chapters left of this series before I start working on my academic rival series.

(Y/N)- your name.

Cursing, angst (?), fluff (???) , mostly reader and friends but Miguel shows up at the end, promise it’s worth it.

Word count: 1.8k

Series Masterlist

Chapter 11: Sad to see you go, was sorta hopin’ that you’d stay.

—

You felt your body fill with anxiety as you watch Kate cross out another box on the whiteboard in your shared dorm, it felt like you had blink and suddenly the time flow would passed you, leaving you at the beginning of midterms, and regionals coming close the following Friday, you felt like if you blinked again time will fly out ass you again. You weren’t sure if that’s what you wanted or not. It’s like time was either moving antagonizing slow or so fast it was almost dizzying.

“Do you have a Halloween costume picked out for the party we’re gonna go to on frat row yet?” Kate’s question made your head snapped over to your shared bathroom, not even realizing that she had moved from the whiteboard in the first place.

“Maybe i should lay off the coffee…” you thought to yourself before shaking your head, it took you a second to realize she can’t see you from were you sat on top of your bed, before clearing your throat slightly to reply. “No I haven’t, have you?”

“Nah, I was gonna go after my last class, if you want I can wait for you and Logan to get out of practice and we can go as a group.” Kate offered as you heard the water from the sink start to run, probably Kate doing her skincare.

“Yeah, I'm down, I’ll ask Logan later.” You smiled, the thought of doing so silly yet mundane as going to Spirit Halloween to look at costumes and having each other set off the display animatronics in the store would help you calm down from the stress of the past two months and the anxiety you were feeling for the upcoming few days.

“Yay!” Kate squealed in excitement, causing you to chuckle at her reaction as the water from the skin was shut off, before she walked out with a big grin on her face, her hands still rubbing her moisturizer into her neck.

—

“I think I'm gonna be a vampire.” Logan said as he grabbed a random costume package with his free hand, the other one holding a pumpkin spice latte, the one he insisted on buying for you, him and Kate, saying it would go with the “fall activities vibes” if you guys weren’t drinking the lattes while costume shopping.

“Mmm,” Kate hummed as she took a quick sip of her own latte, her hand coming up to wipe some of the liquid that started to run down her chin due to how quickly she brought the drink back down. “I thought we should all wear matching costumes this year.” She smiled as she looked at you and Logan, her expression brightening at the thought.

You let out a snort, a hand coming up to cover your smile as you let out a small giggle at the thought of you three matching. “What are we going to do then? I don’t think there’s a lot of 2 girls and 1 guy costumes out there.” You point out, your hand coming down from covering your mouth, also taking a sip of your drink.

“I’ve already convinced my boyfriend to do one with us.” Kate said in almost a smug attitude, seemingly proud of herself for already having this whole thing planned out before you and Logan could get a chance to agree. “We should go as the teen titans.” She added, being a big fan of the show since her boyfriend made her watch it last year.

Logan gave her a confused look, “Aren’t there 5 of them? We’d still be missing a person.” He pointed out as he placed the vampire costume back where it was hanging before he grabbed it. Your eyes travel back to Kate, watching her excitement falter slightly.

“Shit… you’re right.” Kate mumbled before letting out a groan. You gave her a sympathetic pout, your hand going up to her shoulder in a playful attempt to give faux comfort, before her face lit up once more, Logan and you exchanged a knowing smirk. “Oh I know! His roommate! Boom that’s 5! So you guys in?” She asked, but you and Logan both knew resistance was futile when Kate had something on her mind, no matter how much you’d protest, she’d find a way to get her way regardless.

You let out a sigh, before nodding your head, the ends of your mouth twitching up into a small smile. “Okay, okay.” You say with a giggle, your smile widens when Kate starts to jump up and down while letting out a small squeal from joy and excitement.

“Hey hey, I didn’t agree to this.” Logan said after a beat, crossing his arms. His words and body language instantly made Kate stop her little celebration.

“Wh-“ she stuttered, her eyes widened and her bottom lip trembled slightly, she almost looked like a kicked puppy. You were about to turn towards Logan and hit him on his arm, when he started to laugh at her expression.

“Nah, I’m just fucking with you. I’ll do it.” He smirked, taking a sip of his latte.

—

With the costume planning out of the way, you were slightly more at ease, despite the small amount of importance that it was compared to what else you had going on, the ability to cross it off your to-do list gave you some more sense of control with life regardless. Kate had decided to take up the responsibility to buy everything and all you had to do was wear the costume when it was time for the Halloween parties that was set to happen on frat row at the end of the month, most likely going to end up jumping from one party to another.

Pushing the thought to the back of your mind as you put on your skates, Logan was a bit preoccupied trying to get a number from one of the new members of the figure skating team, having only 30 minutes left until your practice starts, and knowing him, he’ll find a way to get it. You take off your skate guards and step onto the ice, as you wait for Logan and Couch Kavinsky to show up. Deciding to mess around on the ice while you wait, marking your moves for the short program when you heard a nickname you haven’t heard in a while.

“Hey Ice princess.” God who knew 3 words could make you feel like you were losing all ability to function like a human being, you almost lost your balance as you come to a stop and face the source of the voice, your train of thought did stop though, and your ability to talk was thrown out the window as well. You look like a deer caught in headlights, Miguel would have thought it was cute if it was for the pit of anxiety he felt in his stomach as he walked to the edge of the rink, but not getting in. If Miguel told himself from a few years ago that he gets nervous around you, hell, if he told himself from 2 months ago he felt nervous around you, he’d laugh in his own face. Yet here he was, standing in front of the girl he’s been thinking nonstop about despite the fact you had ghosted him after the kiss, butterflies in his stomach that he’s desperately trying to stomp dead. Trying.

It wasn’t working.

“Hey…” You finally managed to finally spit out, although your voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. “You know it’s Monday right? We have the ice till 5.” You managed to say a bit louder, finding more confidence in your words, your arms crossing in front of your chest. You watched as Miguel stepped onto the ice, you didn’t even notice that he had his skates on, and made his way towards you. The fact he was currently ignoring your question was pissing you off a little, but you decided not to speak on it. Miguel finally came to a stop once he was in front of you, giving you a quick look over as a smirk formed on his face, one he would always give you before saying some rude or sarcastic remark, you let out a short huff of air through your nose, your lips formed into a thin line, as your eyebrows scrunched together. “If you’re gonna say something rude, I’m not in the-“

Your words quickly stopped coming from your lips when you felt a sudden pressure on them, a sudden pressure from Miguel’s lips. This wasn’t the first time he pulled a sneak attack kiss on you, but that doesn’t mean it still didn’t make your brain short circuit and your heart to bang against your ear drums. Your eyes fluttered shut as he wraps his arms around you, one around your waist and the other on your back, you found yourself kissing back without even realizing it, as you bring your hands up to his chest. This kiss was a lot different from the first one, the first time, it was heated, it was sloppy, it was almost animalistic, all the pent up aggression and frustration between the two of you being released through the make-out session, it was almost like a hatefuck, with out the actual fucking. It was a bit closer to the second smaller kiss he gave you after the make-out session, loving? Was that the right word? It was soft, gentle, warm, yet loving didn’t feel like the right description for what you felt for each other. You didn’t love him, and he didn’t love you…right?

His arms moved so he was now holding your hips, and despite the tender kisses he was giving you, you couldn’t stop your mind from running a mile a minute. You were in love with him. You couldn’t be, you couldn’t imagine yourself in a relationship with him right?

Wait.

Relationship.

Miguel was in a relationship.

Fuck-

You swiftly push him away from you, causing you to glide backwards slightly, your hand coming up to cover your mouth as you attempt to catch your breath and your train of thought. Miguel just looked at you confused, wondering why you pushed him away like you weren’t returning the kiss in the first place.

“You-you’re-“ you stuttered as you shook your head, your body feeling on fire despite the air conditioning blasting about you two. “Um ... you should go ...my coach is gonna be here soon…” you managed to spit out after a few seconds, glancing at the time, then dropping your gaze to the floor, your gloves hand coming up to nervously scratch at your cheek.

“(Y/N)-“ he starts to say your name but was stopped when the double doors opened up, you glanced up and saw Logan coming in with a smile on his face (mostly likely from him successfully getting the phone number) but the smile drops slightly and his pace slows down a bit as he give you a confused look.

“What are you doing here O’Hara? We’ve got the rink til 5.” Logan said to him as he neared the ice, Miguel didn’t answer, rather he just shook his head and made his way off the ice, but not before giving you one more quick glance as he skates past Logan who’s now on the ice. You didn’t really catch much of it, but the look in his eyes made a shiver run down your spine.

You blamed it on the air conditioning.

—

Taglist: @tayleighuh @cowboylikeevie @coralineyouareinterribledanger @jukioku @loser-alert @miguel-ohara-eater @serpentstarr @littlexscarletxwitch @darksidescorner @sukioyakio

[wintersoldiersoul]

Ease the Pain

My first post on this account!! I'm currently having the worst period ever and I wish I had Bucky by my side to help me.

Synopsis: Bucky helps you feel better on your period

Word count: 850

Warnings: one small mention of throwing up but it doesn't happen actively in the story

Bucky walked inside after a long day at the Avenger’s compound. He got through the long hours by dreaming about the moment he could go home to your shared apartment and wrap you into a hug. 

It was Friday, which meant date night. The fleeting weekend was the only time you and Bucky could really just soak up each other’s company with your busy schedules, unless he got called away on a mission, of course.

He expected to find you in your bedroom in front of the mirror blasting Taylor Swift while you got ready. But the apartment was silent when he entered.

“Y/N? Baby are you here?” he called out into oblivion. He opened the door to your bedroom slowly where he found you curled up in a ball under the blankets. Every light was off and the curtains were drawn shut. “Baby?” He sat down next to you on the bed, carefully placing a hand on your back. “You okay?”

You groaned, fighting the protests of your body as you slowly turned to face him. “Period,” was all you could muster.

“Oh baby…” After so long together, Bucky was all too familiar with the debilitating pain that your periods brought you. Some people were barely affected but you? Yours came with cramps that filled your entire body. Blinding pain that made you see spots. Migraines, vomiting, and a whole bunch of discomfort.

“I don’t think I can go out tonight. I’m sorry,” you whispered, the pain preventing you from being able to speak too loudly.

“Don’t even worry about it, okay? We can stay in and watch a movie or just lay here. Whatever you want, my love.” He tenderly kissed your forehead and you weakly mustered a smile. Thank god for this man. “Now, what do you need? How can I help? Did you take medicine? Do you have a heating pad?” 

His questions made you smile. He was so attentive whenever you weren’t feeling well. He knew your body better than you knew it yourself at this point, always firing off a laundry list of essentials that could ease your pain.

“Both,” you replied, bringing your legs further into your stomach in hopes that the pressure would relieve even the slightest bit of pain in your abdomen. “The heating pad isn’t really working well though. I’m in too much pain to go buy another one.” 

“I’m so sorry, my angel. Maybe I can help.” He lifted up your shirt and placed his metal hand on your stomach. You watched as he fiddled around with a small button on his shoulder until you felt a rush of warmth from his metal hand.

You nearly moaned at the feeling. “Since when can your arm do that?” 

Bucky smiled. “I may have asked Shuri if she could make some improvements. I figured this could be helpful for you when you’re on your period.”

The words practically brought tears to your eyes. “Buck, are you serious? You did this for me?”

“Darlin’ I would steal the sun out of the sky if you asked.” He began to gently apply pressure onto your stomach, knowing that it always helped your cramps. “Does that feel good?”

You nodded. “So good. Thank you.”

“You got all the curtains drawn. Is your head bothering you, my love?” He was so attentive. So in tune with you and your habits that he knew that complete darkness meant migraine. 

“Mhm. Started around 1. I left work early, I couldn’t see straight.”

He looked at you, blue eyes filled with worry. “Did you drive yourself home?” He continued you massage your stomach as he spoke.

“Didn’t wanna bother you. Know you had a busy day lined up.” 

Bucky sighed. “Darlin’ I don’t want you driving when you feel that way. I know the migraines affect your vision. It’s not safe.”

“But Buck-” 

“Shh,” he cut you off. “You’re never a bother. You’re my angel, the love of my life. And if something happened to you because you got it into your pretty little head that you’d be a burden to me, I’d never forgive myself, okay?”

You look up at him with big eyes, full of love. “Okay, Bucky.”

“Good.” He kisses your forehead again, making you feel warm inside. “Now what can I get you? You hungry?” 

You nuzzle your face into his neck, taking in the warmth and comfort of your soft, supersoldier boyfriend. “Pizza.” You mumbled into his skin.

“I’m on it, my love.” He picks up his phone and starts to order pizza. “Anything you want, don’t hesitate to ask. You know I’m here for you. I like taking care of you and I just hate seeing you in pain. So anything that will ease it even a little just tell me, my angel.”

The two of you spend the rest of the night cuddled together in bed watching movies. Whenever you need something, Bucky doesn’t hesitate to sprint out of bed to get you whatever you need. The pain might not have been gone, but the man by your side helped.

[saintescuderia]

welcome to the mini series of the random, mindless thoughts had by a poet disguised in an orange jumpsuit watching cars speed by all weekend. enjoy!

--- note: 5am starts, 7pm finishes. all four days. gotta love formula 1!

thursday: media day!

i want the ferrari jacket

there are school kids here?

i don’t want the ferrari jacket

$7 for a small can of red bull is THEFT

especially since they broke the cost cap

me walking through the “accredited personnel” gate and tapping my special lanyard is a CORE memory

i think my uber driver dropped me off on the opposite side of the track

*stressing about being unable to admire the sights of albert park bc i’m stress-running from the opposite end of the track to my station*

pls don’t be a dick and say i’m late - i know

how is a 5am wake up not early enough HOW?

“last year i was stationed at the corner where charles spun out.”

sole thought = 💀💀💀💀

i. fucking. love. cars.

the whole SENSORY experience of a race ffffffffffffuuuuuck

“be careful taking pictures because that security camera is on us and is straight to race control and the FIA.” is such a cool sentence to hear

a porsche gtr should not be covered with branding idc

i’m definitely going to abuse caffeine this weekend

friday: FP1 / FP2

the sun is rising over the lake as i walk on the albert park track and i’m happy to be alive

especially as i found a toilet that isn’t a port-a-loo

ah, a cafe that does good decent coffee thank GOD

am i going to pay $10 for a croissant?

i'm going to pay $10 for a croissant.

i lived in paris but this one fresh lune choc croissant has topped it all

no like there will never be another croissant experience to beat me eating a fresh pain au chocolat on a f1 circuit as the sun rises over the water with the melbourne skyline in the background

aramco engineers are walking behind me as i shit talk about f1, nice

“it is an increasingly unique experience peeing in a port-a-loo beside a formula one track as cars race by.”

120’000 is a LOT of people

how has the float not broken yet?

metro boomin has released an album as i stand before live formula one. life has PEAKED

fernando alonso is the first F1 driver i ever saw live

there is a shift in formula one as the heritage fans of motor racing are on the out as the next generation of fans absorbed in driver hype and social media takes over and we see this in how F1 has created the new US tracks and made them all into spectacles and fans are here because of it being “cool” instead of caring about cars

… maybe i should buy the redbull jacket instead?

bonus: sole thought during the pitlane walk for the marshals

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

saturday: FP3 / qualifying

the relief of thinking you’re late and then seeing someone you know HA

commentators are now contractually obligated to bring up saudi arabia every time they talk about ollie bearman

jesus they’re as bad as the f1 girlies

i have to watch the grand prix replay after all of this i have no idea what’s actually going on

CHARLES GOES FASTER THAN MAX HA

kimi spinning out has me actively wanting to cry

a safety car FROM THE PIT EXIT

welcome to F2 everyone 👏👏👏

not me lying to the cute irish guy hitting on me about @saintescuderia

a big fat ha at the eshays holding their puffer jackets - even they can’t stand the heat

don’t flex on me that you’re here at F1 when you don’t even know what’s going on yourself bruhhhh

to the red bull fan telling me i’m “dramatic” for rolling under the fence (it’s how marshals have to do it) pls get help

$7 for a calispo is a JOKE

recording F1 quali isn’t even worth it bc they're TOO FAST

JOKES I GOT A PHOTO WITH ALBONO

i’m very lucky for my team of marshals :))))))))))

i’m only going to eat half my muffin

*finishes the whole thing*

sunday: race!

KIMI ANTONELLI!

do i ask for a photo?

*every photo of charles leclerc being abused flashes through my mind*

nah leave him be

five minutes later: i regret not asking him

the group of aussies dressed as lance stroll drunk at 9am have my heart and my respect

i need a coffee

seeing kimi walk right by me has now made so much invested for f2

i really need a coffee

yep they screwed kimi with all those safety cars

i really, really need a coffee

we get to go ON TRACK? for the DRIVERS PARADE

*starts practicing “get well soon” in spanish*

my heart is BEATING

lol jokes carlos didn’t even look at us

*checks footage to see that i accidentally just recorded guanyu zhou next to carlos the whole time :))))*

lol are they putting lewis and charles together all the time?

every marshal: “that was the shittest parade ever.”

i need a drink

pls don’t talk to me for the next two hours

don't meet your heroes kids

but also why the fuck did they do the float in one big car? and do INTERVIEWS? this is legit the one time the drivers can be there JUST for the FANS

F1 can PISS OFF

race start = okay it's happening

waitwaitwaitwaitWAITDIDIJUSTSEECARLOSOVERTAKEMAX?!

nevermind i love him

"race control has asked that you calm down, marshals are supposed to be neutral."

lol at the entirety of albert cheering that max is slowly coming to a DNF

mclaren swapping oscar for lando is DISGUSTING fuck zak brown

somehow, i've forgotten that charles is just there

SEND IT CARLOS VAmos

(this is all because i told you que te mejores pronto!)

daniel ricciardo....man..... aus gp can't market you like this.......

damn yuki got HANDS

ferrari and mclaren having the top 4 places is just *chefs kiss*

lewis just had to stall just pass my sector like i hope ur okay but couldn't u not be ok in front of me?

red bull deserves this after all the FLACK i've copped from red bulls fans ("dramatic" MY ASS)

wait george russell ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

singapore all over again. i can already see the memes.

somehow marshalling a gp has you closer and more removed from the whole thing i have no idea what's going on

(literally the only time i used my F1TV live timing)

finishing after the safety car means i can't stick my head out and clap for carlos FUCK OFF

wait, he came up right UP TO MY SIDE OF THE TRACK TO WAVE

... do you think he noticed me?

[3lle-l-black]

could I request a little oneshot of the reader just playing with Georgies hair😊 only if you’re interested of course <33

Requests for Fred and George are open //Headcanons, oneshots, little things//

Hi babe 🧡

Ok 1° - English isnt my native language and is my first oneshot so... be careful. I'm sorry for any mistakes omg im so afraid

Just fluff

Tired day

The day had been good. Was a busy friday at work but nothing you couldn't handle, you even managed to get home before going to your boyfriend's. Right now, you're currently sitting on George's bed, your back against the headboard waiting for him and Fred who were still in the WWW. "Apparently, the day hadn't been calm for the twins."

After a few minutes you hear the sound of the front door opening and footsteps in the hallway, your boyfriend's head appears in the bedroom door with a smile and a tired look – Was it too long? Did you miss me darling? – He says entering the room, closing the door behind him and taking off his shoes.

– I did, i almost thought i had been abandoned – You place your hand on your chest with false drama and the best sad look you can do – Oh no, it offends me that you think i would do that – He takes off his coat and climbs on top of the bed, laying his head on your lap.

– I couldn't live without you sweet – George never stopped showing that he loves you but whenever it happened, your heart was beating fast like the first time. – Just say that you like me and be done with it. This is embarrassing – He let out a laugh and wrapped his arms around your waist, relaxing his body on top of you

– Tiring day baby?

– You can't even imagine, Fred went to buy food so we didn't have to do anything – He lifted his face from your lap, took one of your hands and placed it on his head murmured a little "Cuddle" and hugged your waist again. Unable to hide a smile, you started playing with the orange hair you love so much, it was a little long so was easy to make small braids on top.

A comfortable silence settled in for a few minutes until George's sleepy voice could be heard. – I can’t wait to fall asleep like this every day – You felt your heart warm as you continued playing with his hair.

– What do you think about telling me how your day was, my boy? Hm?

– Oh you won't believe what happened today...

It was short, right? anyway, i hope you like🧡

[4-arab-gay-slave-fantasy]

My Summer Internship.

Under Master Abdul

Skiviesman@aol.com

CHAPTER 1

8:00 pm on a Friday. It's true that being a litigation summer associate at a large law firm is generally an easy gig, but sometimes stuff has to be done. Better reflection of real lawyer life, I suppose. I finally shut my computer and got ready to head out.

My name is John. I'm 25, just finished my second year of law school in Athens at the University of Georgia, and interning in a large Atlanta firm for the summer. I grew up and went to college and law school in Georgia.

I'm 5'6”, about 150 pounds, with straight, short brown hair and brown eyes. Thanks to my Anglo—Saxon ancestry I have a naturally smooth torso. I have a fairly average to below average cut 5 inch cock. I'm gay, and openly so, but not very experienced. I've bottomed a couple of times, and generally have no interest in topping.

I walked to a nearby gym where I liked to work out. I used to be a soccer player through high school, but I was intrigued to find out that there was a gym with exercise equipment in the downtown area. I discovered there was one immediately next to the building where I work. The gym tended to close early on Fridays so it was pretty dead. There was just one guy there, manning the front desk. His name was Jake, and he was the evening manager. He was 6 feet even, 180 pounds, brown hair, and green eyes, with a trim build. No indication he was anything other than straight, which was a shame. He wasn't exactly a genius, but he was nice enough.

I smiled and flashed my gym card. As I ruffled through my bag, I was dismayed - I forgot my gym clothes! I looked at Jake, and asked, "Hey - I forgot my gym clothes. Do you have any I can buy and use?"

"Sorry, no," he said. "We just ran out of stock and I forgot to order new ones, so we won't have any until next week."

"No problem," I responded. "Hmm, any chance you'll let me workout in my boxer briefs, socks, and undershirt? I'd just hate to have to go home to grab my gym stuff - it's a good thirty minutes away. Plus, I was going to use the gymnastics stuff, anyway - no need for gym shoes."

"I don't know about that," he said. "The gym is pretty strict about not using underwear in the gym." He pulled out the manual and looked at the rules. "Undershirts, underwear, and socks are all off-limits. You can't work out in those."

"Damn it!" I was frustrated. "Any workarounds we can do?"

Jake read further. "So, it technically says: you can't wear underwear as your outermost clothes on the gym floor. But, you just need to have a collar and cover your male private parts. And, no pubic hair is allowed to touch the equipment. I think I saw something that might work..."

I was perplexed, but the gym was empty and I wasn't going to miss this chance. "What do you have?"

He looked in a lost and found box. "I think these two could technically work." He fished out a thick, black, leather dog collar - big enough for a fairly large dog. "This could fit around your neck, I guess."

"So I'd wear my undershirt with a dog collar?" I asked. I was a little confused, and to be honest, a little turned on - I hadn't really done a lot of BDSM play but I was intrigued.

"Well, no," he answered. "Just the collar. No undershirts, remember? But there isn't really a rule against being shirtless as long as you have a collar..."

"OK," I answered. "But what about the rest?"

He fished out a silver metal chastity device, still in its box. "Looks like someone left it here. It might be small. But, the book only says your penis must be covered. Nothing about balls or ass..." he mused.

At this point I was terrified but also very turned on. "I think it'll fit. So I just need to wear this collar and this chastity device. Is that it?"

"Hmm, maybe one more thing," Jake began. "No pubic hair. Think you can use this hair removal cream?"

I was so turned on at this point. I nodded. "OK," he said, "you can go in the locker room and get ready. I can take that key," he gestured towards the chastity device.

I headed off to the empty locker room and stripped naked. I put my clothes on the bench and stared at my naked self in the mirror.

Just then, Jake walked in. "Hey man, sorry, I was about to take a piss. Hey, need some help with the hair removal cream?" I nodded in a daze. He rubbed it on my cock and balls and my asshole. "Should we do your pits

and legs too? I guess they technically come around puberty, right?" I was not in a position to object, so he did it. I was hairless from the neck down.

My hard dick would have to go down in order to fit in the device, even though I was smaller than average. I thought about some un-sexy thoughts uand finally got it in. The steel coldly but firmly kept my persistently

stiffening dick in check.

Jake then put the collar around my neck and tightened it so it was firm but not strangling me. "How's that?" he asked. "Good" was all I was able to sputter out.

"All right, then. Enjoy!" Jake smiled and waved as he headed out.

I stepped into the exercise room, naked except for a collar and a locked cock, my dick straining against the steel and dripping pre-cum. I felt the cool breeze of the Air Conditioner and went off to hit the exercise equipment when I noticed the gymnastic equipment. I was interested since watching the recent Olympics and wanted to try on them. There was the rings, the pommel horse and the female event parallel bars and balance beam.. I felt exposed and turned on, even though no one was there. I was humiliated but also horny as fuck.

I imagined people watching me, eying my naked body. Watching my smooth, muscular frame. I wondered if people would lust after me as I held a handstand. I spread my legs in mid-air and felt the cool air on my exposed asshole. My dick throbbed in its cage.

I wondered if men would look at my smaller than average cock cage and wonder how small I must be in order to fit in there. I was humiliated, but turned on. The idea of critical eyes looking at my body and evaluating

how it did - and did not - measure up.

I thought about how smooth my torso already was naturally, due to my background, but how much more boyish my body looked without pubic hair, armpit hair, and even leg hair. I wondered if men would deride me as a lesser man. Would they think of me as a weak boy. Was I a boy who deserved to wear a collar and be locked away, for real men to teach and play with. I thought of all the men fully dressed, and how much shorter I would look standing in bare feet. I felt vulnerable and exposed, but that only made me hornier. An hour and a half must have gone by. I heard the maintenance folks go into the locker room and leave. I was about to head back to the locker room when I heard a male voice. "John?" I turned around and my heart dropped.

===================

CHAPTER 2

Standing there were four full-time corporate associates at my law firm; all of them were dressed in work clothes, and had their gym bags with them. I didn't work with them, since I was in a different practice group, but I knew them all since they were friendly folks and worked a lot with the summer program. I forgot that this gym had a basketball court, and that these guys liked to play 2 on 2 after work on Fridays.

ABDUL- was an Arab corporate associate - he had been with the firm for many year. After having moved

from his home in Saudi Arabia to attend law school in the Atlanta area he had decided to stay in the area to live and work. He was a young 49 years old. A dark masculine guy who was an avid gym goer. He stood 6’4” had short dark black hair. On his face he seemed to have constant heavy 5:00 shadow no matter how much he shaved, dark eyes, a vivid white smile which gave him the appearance of enjoying life but at the same time had an imposing, almost threatening demeanor that was animal like. He was a natural leader of men.

PHIL - the guy who spoke - was a 32 year old corporate senior associate. He had played lacrosse at university and was still a generally muscular, if a little less rock hard, 6’ tall. He was pale and had fiery red hair and blue eyes. He had a bit of a southern accent as he had grown up in North Carolina.

MIKE was a lawyer in our international arbitration group. He was married - he met his wife at the law firm when they were summer interns years ago- and had a bit of a beer belly, but was a handsome guy. A little bit of dark chest hair poked out of his shirt. He was also 32 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, had brown hair that was between wavy and curly, and dark eyes. Belying his New England roots, Mike was always seen wearing boat shoes around the office - luckily, not a big issue at the firm, since it wasn't one of the really stuffy ones.

Finally, ANDY was a soft spoken guy who worked in tax. I had heard he was engaged to a woman he clerked with for a judge the year before. He was 30 years old, had curly brown hair, green eyes, and wore glasses. Andy was more of a co-rec sports guy in college - somewhat fit, but never really jacked. He was the shortest in the group at 5 foot 10, but still noticeably taller than me.

"Hey guys," I responded. "It's not what you think -"

"No worries, "Abdul said. "We used to joke that the rules for what you can and can't wear had some weird exceptions. But I guess those exceptions are real!" He quipped. All four laughed, and I laughed uneasily along with them.

The four guys approached and I began to feel more comfortable. "Don't even worry about it," Andy said. "We're not telling anyone at the firm. You do you!"

We chatted a little bit about how the summer was going. Like I said, these guys were nice and friendly, and I didn't feel threatened. I felt more and more at ease as we continued the small talk.

"I can't help noticing," Mike started, "how smooth you are. Are you naturally so smooth?"

"Not really," I said, "they have that rule about pubic hair and all, so I used hair removal cream on it."

"Can I feel?" Peter asked. It seemed like a weird request, but like I said, I was getting more comfortable. "Sure," I said. Peter ran his hands on my chest. I shivered a little bit.

The four guys began getting a little more comfortable about it. "OK if I feel your pits?" Abdul asked. I nodded. "Can you put your hands behind your head?" I complied. "They're so smooth," he murmured as his rough hands grazed my exposed armpits.

Mike looked at Andy and asked, "I wonder how smooth his dick and balls feel." Andy responded, "go ahead, he doesn't seem to mind." Mike held my cock and balls, feeling the bare skin. No one even asked me at that point. It was humiliating but kind of exhilarating, like I wasn't even there. I was just being inspected by these men.

Peter touched my nipples, and they firmed up. "Perky!" he exclaimed. The guys laughed. I gave a small smile.

Without saying anything, Andy knelt down and gently touched my ass cheeks. "Can you spread your legs a bit?" I did. He spread my ass and touched my asshole. "This is definitely smoother than mine," he observed.

The guys chuckled.

"This is alright, right?" Peter asked. I nodded. "I guess you're pretty much naked and exposed anyway, right?" I looked at the floor in shame. "Nothing to worry about," Andy chimed in. "It's just like biology class, looking at a body that is so different than ours." The other guys expressed their agreement.

Mike looked at Peter. "This cage is pretty small, but looks like it fits him." Peter nodded. "Definitely smaller than me." Andy and Ryan agreed. "How big is it," Mike asked, holding my cock cage and looking at Peter

and Ryan, not even looking at me. "Um, 5 inches when hard, I think." "Yeah, that's smaller," Mike said. I was humiliated. But why was I enjoying it so much at the same time?

Abdul looked down at my dick in his hand and noticed I was leaking quite a bit of precum. "Looks like you're a little turned on!" The other guys laughed. I reddened and sheepishly nodded. "Happens to all of us. But now, my hand is a little...sticky."

"Oh, and it's getting on the floor too," Andy chimed in, standing up after prodding my asshole for a couple of minutes. "I think the cleaning staff has left for the night though."

Peter looked around. "I don't see any cleaning tools. We should probably clean that up though."

Out of nowhere, I blurted out, "I guess I could lick it up?" The other guys were stunned. Mike broke the silence: "yeah, makes sense. It's your mess, anyway. Go ahead."

I knelt on the ground and licked the pre cum. I looked up and saw Abdul's hand also with a little pre-cum. "Would you like me to clean that up as well, Abdul ?" A small smile spread on his face. "Yeah, please." I licked

the pre-cum off the palm of his hand. I heard Andy nearby say, "that's so humiliating." Peter agreed, "yeah, but he's gotta clean it up, right?"

I stood up. "Well, we should probably get going," Peter said. "Off to Abdul 's to play some poker. You take it easy, John!" I nodded and waved as they walked away chatting amongst themselves.

I headed to the locker room and made a horrible realization. My clothes were gone! The maintenance folks must have taken them. Also gone was the key. A post-it note was left on the desk, which stated: "put in lost-and-found, pick up on Monday." The gym was closed for the weekend, and the staff wouldn't back for a couple of days!

I frantically looked around, wondering what my next move would be. I was stuck in nothing but a collar and a chastity device! What was I going to do?

=================

CHAPTER 3

Not really knowing what to do, I started after the four men, who were just leaving. "Hey, wait up!"

Phil looked back. "What's up, buddy?"

"I'm kind of in a pickle," I began. "My clothes are gone, and looks like the staff is gone for the weekend. Any chance you guys could lend me some clothes?"

The four looked at each other. "I don't know," Mike said. "All my gym clothes are sweaty, and they're too big for you anyway. You'd look ridiculous in them." The others nodded in assent.

"Wait," Abdul said. "We can't leave him here, though. Maybe we bring him to my place, we were going there to play poker anyway." "Sounds like a good idea," Phil responded. "But should we check with the guard of the parking garage in the building? Might look a little suspicious having this little guy walking around pretty much naked." Phil flicked my cock cage, and it bounced up and hit my abdomen. The guys laughed, and Andy patted my ass. I shivered gave a shy smile.

"I'll go talk to him," Mike said, and he walked off to find the night guard. While waiting, the rest of the guys conversed about work without me. I stood there naked, ignored, like I wasn't even present.

A minute later, Mike came back with a middle-aged white man in his 40s, with a scruffy red beard and a satchel in tow. "This must be the guy," he mused, and the four associates burst into laughter. "Well, I can release him into your custody, but he's clearly got a penchant for trouble, so you'll need to make sure you can control him."

Control? Custody? Those words struck me as odd, since it wasn't like I belonged to the four guys, or anything. But that stirred something in me. My cock swelled up and my nipples perked up. I felt a little pre-cum flow once again.

The guard rummaged around in his bag. "Someone left this dog leash, but I think it should work with the collar. Just to make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He handed it to Abdul, who attached it to my collar. I was a little shocked but said nothing. "You probably don't want him running off," the guard continued. Abdul gave the leash a hard tug, which jostled me off my balance, and everyone laughed again. "He's not going anywhere

I won't let him," Abdul declared.

The guard looked in his bag some more. "You probably don't want him distracted either. How about this blindfold?" Phil agreed. "He's already very stimulated by the whole situation." He placed the blindfold on me and I could not see at all through the thick leather blindfold."

"One last thing," the guard said. "He's probably a little freaked out, and probably would be better if kept it shut."

I heard some movement, and felt two rough hands hold open my mouth. A clean, leather bit was inserted in my mouth and locked around my head. I could no longer see or speak. But for some reason, it only turned me on more.

"I think that's it!" I heard the guard conclude. "Hope you enjoy this boy and he gives you no more trouble."

"Thanks, man," Abdul said in his deep Arab accent spoke, as the guard's footsteps indicated he was walking off. "Let's go, boy. Gotta get to the poker game." With nothing else to do, I followed as they tugged me along. The four associates continued to talk as if I wasn't there. I wondered where the night would take me.

==============

CHAPTER 4

I couldn't see, but I could hear and feel as the four associates led me through the underground parking garage of our building. I didn't hear many cars or people, so it must have been pretty empty. Made sense, since it was late on a Friday in the business district, so it was pretty dead. We stopped and I heard Abdul say: "here's the car, hop in!"

There was a pause. Mike asked, "where do we put him? I don't think you want his bare ass messing up your precious leather seats?" All laughed. "I guess not," Ryan started. "But can we just put him in the cargo hold

of my Escalade, all trussed up like that?"

"Wait," Peter responded. "I just dropped off my dog at my parents' house last weekend. I think I still have the pet carrier in the back. I was planning just to leave my car here until Monday since parking is free over the weekend. How about that?" The guys murmured in agreement.

I felt a wave of humiliation as I heard them get the dog cage and herded me in the back. I heard the trunk door close and the car start. I had never felt so humiliated, so mistreated. And yet, my cock had never been harder. I could feel pre-cum dribbling out, even though I couldn't see it. All of this, of course, was restricting my cock keeping me from getting fully erect.

After about half an hour - although it felt like eternity - we arrived at a swanky apartment building. I heard the guys get out and Abdul hand his key to the valet. "We've got some cargo in the back," I heard him say. "Could you bring it through the loading dock and have them bring it up to my room?"

"Sure thing, sir," I heard the valet respond. The car moved again, this time with me and just the valet. I heard him whistling as he drove into the parking garage.

The car stopped, and I heard the guy get out and open the trunk. I heard him chuckle. "What do we have here?" I heard the valet yell out, "hey guys, here's a delivery for 1007." Two guys came by and lifted my cage out. "Nice," I heard one of them say.

"You know the drill," I heard the other start. "Need to make sure they aren't hiding any contraband here." I felt the two men's hairy hands probe my asshole, jiggle my cage, and feel around my mouth through my gag. "Nothing here, but this asshole will probably be full by the night," the other said.

They opened the cage and yanked me out by the collar, and brought me to attention. I could not see anything but I knew there were several men around me Again talking like I wasn't there, I heard the first one say "bring this to 1007 using the service elevator. Make sure to bring it to the back entrance, wouldn't want to scandalize the neighbors." The other guy led me by the leash through what i assumed was the hall to a service elevator. As the elevator started moving, I heard him say, "you're in for quite the time, kid." He laughed.

The elevator stopped and he tugged on my leash for me to move forward. I heard a door open and felt him latch my leash to a hook somewhere. He forced me to kneel where I was standing. He started scratching behind my ears like I was a puppy "Wait here for them to pick you up. Maybe your new Master will have me take you out when you need walkies to do your business" the man said. I heard him laugh as I heard him shut the door and walk away.

After five minutes, I heard a different door in front of me open. “Our delivery is here!" I heard Andy say. He unhooked my leash and tugged me forward. I felt Phil's hands unhook my blindfold and gag. The light of the apartment was blinding as I was finally able to see for the first time in about an hour.

====================

CHAPTER 5

I could see that I was in ABDUL's dining room. Ryan and Andy were seated and chatting as Ryan shuffled a deck of cards, and Andy opened a case of poker chips. Phil smiled as he set down the blindfold and gag. "Sorry about that," he said. "The guard was right, wouldn't want you freaking out or running off in this state. Probably the best that we kept you in check."

"Yeah, no worries," I responded. "Never done that before, but I didn't mind."

"The pre-cum did suggest that!" Ryan mused from the table. The three guys laughed raucously. I felt my cheeks burning. They weren't wrong - it was a foreign feeling, and I felt a rush during the whole experience, but I didn't hate it. I was turned on the entire time.

"Speaking of which," Abdul noted, "looks like you're leaking a bit again."

He looked down at the floor as pre-cum leaked out of my caged dick onto the floor. "Any chance you can clean that up? My hardwood floors are certainly cleaner than that gym floor." He was right, I suppose - I knelt down and licked up the pre-cum.

"Good boy!" Andy exclaimed.

I heard a toilet flush from a nearby door and Mike walked out, zipping up his pants. He smiled as he saw me. "John is here!"

I suddenly became very aware that I alone was naked, except for a dog collar and a chastity device. "Hey, Abdul," I started. "Any chance you have any clothes I can borrow while I'm here?"

Abdul started to respond, but Andy called out from the table, "everything Abdul has is going to be too big on you. Plus, just us guys, right?" The others nodded in agreement. "I suppose that's right," Abdul said. "Plus,

it isn't too cold in here, is it?" I shook my head.

"Then it's settled!" Mike concluded. "Come join us at the table!"

I started towards the table to take a seat, but Ryan interrupted: "Hold on, Abdul, these chairs are really nice, very expensive. Wouldn't want to ruin your purchase from your last bonus, would you? The boy's sweaty ass and balls wouldn't do great things to these chairs." The group laughed.

Abdul turned to me. "Is that OK? Perhaps you can just stand right next to this table?" I shrugged. "I don't mind, all I do is sit at a desk anyway." "Great," Abdul acknowledged.

The guys played a first game. Mike won that one. The guys groaned as they handed him their chips. "Great start, I need a beer now!" Mike proclaimed, as he stood up towards the kitchen. "No, I can grab it," I blurted out. "Really?" he asked. "I don't mind, plus, I'm already standing." "Thanks, John!" Mike gleamed as I turned to grab a beer from the kitchen.

As I fumbled through the fridge and looked for a bottle opener, I overheard the guys talking, apparently not realizing I was in earshot. "Is it just me, or is it kind of hot to have a naked guy waiting on you and and foot?" Abdul said. "Yeah, I agree," Andy responded. "It's kind of hot that he’s a small southern white boy, I wouldn't really feel comfortable with that but he obviously is."

Mike responded, "yeah, I hear you. One, it's like you have a naked colleague in the room, and two, white guys are hairier, bigger, and have bigger dicks. Doesn't feel right having them serve you, and usually I don't get turned on seeing guys like me naked."

Abdul added, "Being an Arab it seems kind of historically right to have a white guy serve me, you know? Especially a southern guy. A form of ancestral karma. He is smaller, docile, and smooth. Plus, no question who's the superior man - you can see it in the classic signs of masculinity - our body hair, our larger dicks, et cetera."

I knew I should feel demeaned, but all I could feel was my dick struggling against its cage at hearing all this. I walked back to the dining room.

I handed Mike his beer as the guys chatted. "It's nice to have someone grab stuff from the kitchen for you," Mike said, as the others laughed. "Yeah, kind of like having a white slave boy," Andy added. Those words startled me, but in a good way - and perhaps in a visible way. "Seems like he likes it," Ryan said, pointing at my dick. It must have jumped a bit when Andy called me a slave boy.

Abdul turned to me. "Sorry about that, we're not meaning to offend you or anything. We don't want to make you uncomfortable. Guys, stop." The guys all murmured apologies. "No, not at all," I responded. "I don't mind. I kind of like it. I guess I'm a little submissive, and I like, well, serving bigger masculine guys."

The guys all looked at each other. "Are you sure?" Abdul asked. "Yes," I responded. I am here to serve my masters." The four looked at each other and smiled.

"Well then," Abdul started. "For the rest of your time here, you'll call us all 'master.'" "And," Andy added, "we will call you 'boy,' 'slave,' or really whatever we want." The others nodded.

"You'll wear just that collar and that chastity device," Ryan continued. "Nothing you can do until Monday anyway; Jake has the keys, and the gym doesn't reopen until then." The others laughed.

"What about a wager, then?" Mike started, looking to the other guys. They began to talk as if I wasn't there. "Tonight's poker prize is a small southern slave boy for the weekend - sharing encouraged." The group laughed. I sheepishly stared at my feet in the background. This was going to be a long weekend, and I was more turned on than ever.

===================

CHAPTER 6

Part 6

As the night went on, the four masters played a competitive series of poker games. It turns out all of them were equally good - or equally bad, or lucky. As midnight approached, all four were in spitting distance of winning.

For the most part, I was sent back and forth from the kitchen to grab food and drink. The masters didn't even look me in the eye; they simply called out instructions, like "Boy, I need a beer," or "Slave, my martini is empty."

In one exciting episode, Master Andy decided that we should order a pizza. When the delivery guy rang the doorbell, Master Abdul directed me to grab the pizza at the door. "But I'm not wearing real clothes..." I started. "And you shouldn't be," Master Abdul cut me off. "Slaves do not protest when their masters instruct them to do something. Get the pizza, boy."

I gulped and walked to the door. Upon opening it, the delivery guy - a young white guy probably 18 years or so -looked at me with wide eyes. I handed him the cash and took the pizza. I realized Master Andy had forgotten the tip. "Excuse me," I said, "I need to grab the tip."

I walked back in and asked Master Abdul for the tip. He pulled out some cash, but a smile crossed his face. "I'll walk back with you, boy," he answered. He attached my leash to my collar and led me to the door.

Master Abdul handed the delivery guy the tip. He also handed the guy the leash. "Would you like to use our slave boy for 10 minutes? No permanent damage to the property, but you can use him for some fun." He gestured to a guest bedroom off to the side of the entryway. The delivery boy nodded. Master Abdul smiled. "Make him lock the door, wash up, and head back in when you're done."

The delivery boy pulled me in by the leash and pushed me down to my knees, swiftly and hard. "Unzip me, slave," he said in a harsh but hushed tone, nervous that he would disturb the audible party going on. I pulled

out a thick 7-inch cock, pale with a bright pink head. "Suck me off," he demanded. I choked as I slowly tried to get the whole thing down my throat. He grabbed my ears and fucked my mouth roughly for a few minutes.

I gagged and slobbered all the way through, until he shot his no load, emitting a moan. The moan was apparently a little louder than expected, as I heard the masters cheer from the other room.

The delivery guy smiled. "You better not let a drop spill out," he warned, as he buttoned his pants and walked out. I cleaned up and locked up as he left.

As I walked back to the room, Master Ryan said, "good job boy. Nice to know you have some oral skills." The group burst into raucous laughter. "Why don't you get us some more snacks and beer?" Master Mike commanded.

As I was getting together food and drink for the masters, I heard their conversation, and at multiple times felt my dick struggle against its cage:

***

MASTER ABDUL: I could really get used to having a slave boy. Somewhere down my family line, we owned slaves. Something idyllic about that, even though it's not legal anymore.

MASTER MIKE: There is something natural about it. Seems natural that white men like us take charge. Plus, I can't help but notice that the slave looks more natural naked, locked, and collared.

MASTER ABDUL: He did take those things pretty well - almost like it was second nature to him.

MASTER ANDY: In a way we did him a favor, right? He seems to have taken well to it, and it does indeed seem like the natural scheme of things.

MASTER MIKE: So boys, what are your plans for the slave if you win tonight? All of us seem well poised to do so.

MASTER ANDY: My fiancé is away for a work trip, so I could really use a slave to take out my sexual frustrations. Truth be told, I'm getting a little hard thinking about it

(others laugh).

MASTER ANDY: I would just use all of his holes - I have only done anal once, and it was amazing, but my fiancée doesn't do it. So yeah, just tie him somewhere and fuck him every which way.

MASTER ABDUL: It's nice when you don't have to worry about consent.

MASTER RYAN: Well, slaves can't consent, right? That's the whole point about being a slave.

MASTER ANDY: Exactly. It's nice to worry just about your pleasure and not have to think about whether you're hurting someone else for a change.

MASTER MIKE: I take it you like doing it rough?

MASTER ANDY: Rougher than my fiancée would like

(others laugh).

MASTER PHIL: I, for one, am going back to my college to meet up with other members of the lacrosse team. I would love to offer them a slave boy for the overnight.

MASTER RYAN: That poor boy - he'll be destroyed by all of those players.

MASTER PHIL: Haha, probably. Some of those guys are twisted. I think one of them might fuck him in the ass with a lacrosse stick or something.

MASTER ANDY: Well that will be something - either a sex slave for me or a house slave for a bunch of lacrosse guys. What else - Mike, Ryan?

MASTER MIKE: I used to make performance art pieces with human elements, and had this idea for one called "Colonization." My idea was to have a man - be shackled in a cage with a bit in his mouth, a cage on his dick, and a dildo stuck up his ass. The dildo would be remote controlled, and viewers can change the settings in intensity. They could also reach through the cage and touch the man, grab his nipples, etc. Well, if I had a slave boy, I wouldn't need to convince anyone to do that.

MASTER ANDY: That does sound hot. If laws weren't laws, you could even sell the art to a wealthy buyer.

MASTER MIKE: Don't get me started; one of the downsides of performance art

(others laugh).

MASTER MIKE: Maybe things could change anyway. Ryan?

MASTER ABDUL: I'm more old school, I guess. I long for the days when we had slaves in the fields doing our work. I have a large farm here in rural Georgia; I would take the slave there and work in the fields. I do have other workers there; maybe they'll get some more ideas.

MASTER PHIL: Maybe - like they'll use the slave boy for his holes? Or realize they wouldn't mind also being naked slaves to a white master?

MASTER ABDUL:: The possibilities are endless!

(others laugh)

MASTER ABDUL: Perhaps even put a bridle on him and make him pull me around like a pony slave.

***

I was more turned on than before as I walked back in. "You've got an interesting future, boy," Master Andy said. "And it all depends on this final hand." I gulped.

As the game wound down, one of the masters dropped his cards, and won the wager.

=================

CHAPTER 7

They say “to the winner belongs the spoils.” Now I knew it was true.

I could hear people milling around me but I couldn't see them through the leather blindfold covering my eyes. I heard waiters passing around hors d'oeuvres and glasses of champagne while male voices murmured in the background.

"It's vulgar, isn't it? An attempt to shock the audience?"

"Is it? I think it almost feels at home, familiar. Like it was meant to be. This beautiful, slight, body chained, immobile, subject to whatever men want to do with it."

"I suppose so. I can pinch this dark nipple and he is powerless to do anything." I felt a sharp pinch on my left nipple and couldn't help myself; I flinched and winced, but the handcuffs and humbler around my legs and chained to the ground didn't let me go that far.

"Interesting you say," another voice said. "I see it as an artwork, an object. Yes, there is what looks like a human as a part of it, but the human has become part of the piece." I heard others murmur in the background in agreement. I felt my cock stiffen in the chastity cage.

"Look, it is leaking precum!" yet another voice said. "I think it feels at home in this position."

"Have you seen the interactive part yet?" I heard a familiar voice say. It was Master Phil. "No," responded another man, as I felt his rough hands touch my stomach. "I thought touching the artwork was interactive enough!" A group of men laughed nearby.

Just at that moment, I felt the dildo in my ass start to pulsate. I couldn't help myself as a moan escaped my throat - although it was muffled by the bit in my mouth. The audience heard the vibrating sound and I heard a few chuckles.

"There is a vibrator in the ass that can be controlled by the audience," Master Phil stated. "Interestingly, it's in another room of the gallery. You might have confused it for a thermostat or something, but if you look closely, it's labeled 'intensity' and goes from off to low to high. Part of the artist's messaging. Ah, here he comes now," I heard Phil say, as I heard footsteps. The group murmured and clapped.

"Thank you all for coming," I heard Master Mike say. "I heard Phil talking about the control in the other room. I think of it as a symbolizing white men's control over all bodies from a distant Western metropole, without them even knowing what is really going on."

"Powerful," I heard one man say. "Indeed - and both as symbolism, and as indicating the white male art patron's control over the art piece." Another responded.

"Is that why all of the patrons here, and even the staff, are white men?" Asked an inquisitive member. "Yes, that's right," Master Mike said.

"It also makes sense to me that you used a white human body. And one that is short, and not well endowed," stated another viewer. "It feels right that this human is part of the art piece, controlled by white men. A stronger, more muscular, taller, white man would not fit the bill." The comment garnered much agreement from other viewers.

"I'm glad the message came through," Master Mike said. "Now, please, enjoy yourselves, interact with the artwork." I heard applause as the crowd returned to chatting, eating and drinking, and playing with my body. I felt the vibrator start pulsing intensely. The pleasure was quite intense, and I felt my body sweating.

My sense of time was a little warped, but I knew it was Saturday – the day after the poker game. I had been there for several hours now. Before I was put into place, I was given a medication that kept me hydrated, and

preventing me from needing to use the bathroom for 48 hours. That would span the weekend - and the time Master Mike got to own me after winning.

"It's a beautiful piece," I heard a man say to Master Mike. "Are you looking to sell it?"

"You know, I hadn't thought about it," I heard Master Mike say, "but the offer sure is tempting."

"My name is David Andrews," the man said. "I'm a connoisseur of sorts in the colonial art space. Most of my collection is historical artifacts, but this would be a lovely addition to my gallery in the UK."

"Is it in London?" I heard Master Ryan say. "No," Mr. Andrews responded. "I don't think folks in London would go for this." I heard a small group of men laugh. "I have an estate in the country, members only, for men who appreciate art hearkening back to colonial days."

"How would you even ship the art?" I heard Master Andy ask. "Well," Mr. Andrews answered, "it would have to go through customs and I'd need to ship it either private or via one of the big shipping companies. And I would probably let the officials in charge have a little fun with the art

piece as a thank you."

"Interesting; I've never thought of being able to sell a performance art piece," I heard Master Mike say. "Well, yes, do you have the title to it? You can register any piece of art as property," I heard another man say. "I'm Brian Windgate," the man introduced himself. "I'd be interested in purchasing the piece for display in my private home. And I would use the human piece for my own pleasure use as well. It will be nice to have a human object I own legally."

"Now wait a minute," I heard Master Abdul say. "I'd like a chance to throw my hat in the ring; I do have quite a bit of money in my trust fund. I could still use a field slave."

"Isn't this getting a little out of hand?" I heard Master Andy whisper to Masters Phil and Mike. "I mean, didn't we only win John for the weekend?"

"I'm not sure he can do anything about it," Master Phil said. "Yeah, and by the looks of all that leaking pre-cum, he doesn't seem to mind," Master Mike said in jest. "Well, that or someone is really turning up the intensity." The three laughed.

And honestly? To me, it was a little of both. I wondered what would happen as I remained immobile, unable to see or speak, and incredibly turned on.

=====================

CHAPTER 8

I could smell freshly cut grass in the air as I tugged the cart behind me. With blinders on, a bit in my mouth, and my cock locked, I could not see, but I could feel Master Abdul tug to tell me to change directions. Next to me, I could feel another man tugging the cart as well.

I should explain. Master Abdul did end up taking me after my stint as an art installation. The guys decided that it would be too risky to let me out of their group, just in case some of the other men at the art gallery got a little too creative. I was brought to Master Abdul’s expansive farm in North Georgia, where I met his three farm hands - Jose, a muscular 6 foot tall 30 year old single Mexican man with Native American blood: Pierre, a 6 foot

5 tall absolute tank of a man with dark black skin from Senegal; and

Karim, a hairy, 5 foot 10 recent immigrant from Syria.

The three men were surprised when I walked in wearing nothing but a collar and a chastity device. They weren't slaves, so Master Abdul simply told them I was a new addition to their work team to help prep the farm for an evening with Masters Andy, Phil, and Mike. They shrugged and we all went off to do chores around the field.

The men were curious and asked me why I would do something like this. I told them my story - which they all found funny - and how Master Abdul had won the right to own me that weekend.

"Do you like it?" Lupe inquired. "He seems to," Karim said, tapping my locked cock and noting my leaking dick after recounting my story.

"I was nervous at first," I said. "But Master Abdul and the other men just seemed so confident and like owning me felt natural." I smiled and noted the other men had grown significant bulges in their pants.

We continued to toil in the fields and the sun continued to rise in the sky. Soon, it was in the high 80s and everyone was sweating. Jose took off his shirt, revealing a smooth chest and a large tattoo on his right

pec. Soon, Karim and Pierre joined in. After a while, Pierre wondered aloud, "perhaps we should all strip? Would certainly save us having to wash all these clothes." The others agreed and soon we were all working

naked in the fields - with me of course wearing a collar and a lock on my cock.

About a half hour later, I heard Master Abdul calling out. "Hey! You can't all work naked here - what if someone catches you and you get in trouble for public indecency?"

"Sir, we were all just hot," Jose said. "Well, we have to cover you up a bit," Master Abdul said. "I have some collars and chastity device here if you wouldn't mind putting them on." The other guys looked at each other, but it looked like they had been thinking about it too.

Everyone else struggled to put the chastity devices, especially Pierre with his 11 inch thick monster, but Jose's 9 inch uncut cock and Karin's 8 inch circumcised dick also put up a fight. Everyone was clearly turned on and excited - sounds like it wasn't just my fantasy? After that, we all just started calling Master Abdul "sir" and "master" - it kind of felt right.

That evening, Master Andy noted that Master Abdul had somehow quadrupled his stable of slaves. The masters all laughed, as the four of us served drinks and served as footstools. Initially, it was just me who was stuck under the table sucking off each of the masters as they won games of poker. I went from Master Andy's 7 inch light pink uncut cock, to Master Phil's 8 inch thick dick, to Master Abdul 9 inches, to Master Mike's respectable 6 inch tan cock. I didn't think any of the other slaves to be interested in sexually servicing men, but they too joined in. It was especially humiliating to see Pierre service Master Mike, a man whose dick was literally half his size.

The word "stable" resonated with Master Phil, and there was a discussion of what Master Abdul could do with four slaves. In the end, the masters decided that Master Abdul could use two of us at a time as ponies, one as a house slave, and one as a sexual slave in the bedroom. "And perhaps I can loan them out to you once in a while," Master Abdul quipped.

That was about a month ago. I went back to the office that Monday, since Master Abdul knew I still had to finish my internship. But, the entire summer, I was to not wear an undershirt under my dress shirts, and to wear my chastity device at all times. I was also to stay at Master Abdul's farm with the other slaves on the weekend.

The rest of the slaves stayed permanent slaves; after all, they were previously just hired workers. But now, they lived in a stable during the summer and were owned by Master Abdul

As the summer ended, Master Abdul asked what I wanted to do after. "You'll get a return offer to join the firm, of course. But think about whether you've found something else you're more natural at."

I did get the return offer to return to the law firm.

I was hones with Master Abdul and he was honest and supportive of my needs,

With his guidance I was able I accepted the offer that was best for me.

The Offer Master Abdul made to me.

I am now Master Abdul’s legal Assistant. I live in his apartment as his “pet” slave during the week

Every Friday afternoon after work Master Abdul strips me, collars, me loads me into my dog carrier in the back of his car. Off we go to his farm where I eagerly get together with my fellow slave Jose, Karim, and Pierre

The four of us spend the entire weekend serving my legal associates Master Phil, Master Andy, Master Mike. And my life time master, Master Abdul.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Several Sentences Sunday

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

"Their Firsts, At Last" - A Buddie Future Fanfic Series

Parts 1-11 are available on AO3 and Part 12 will be posted soon.

Their Firsts, At Last - 163.1K Words; Currently 11 completed works: A multi-part fanfic series about the romantic “firsts” Buck and Eddie share as they journey through life in an established relationship and their lives as a couple will include some of Buck’s individual “firsts” too. It’s filled with the FANON love, romance, fluff and domesticity their relationship should have been allowed to experience in CANON.  The second part of the series title was adapted from the song “At Last” by Etta James.

This series of FANON future speculation fanfics is being written on a continuous timeline that begins with the start of season 7 (if it were to start in September 2023). Each part ends at a specific point in Buck and Eddie’s relationship so the next part can begin with the ending of the previous part. Therefore, parts 1-10 should be read prior to reading part 11 and the series will continue in that manner until it’s complete.

___________

It's been a few months since I finished Part 11 in this series but I'm working on it again because I want to finish it. My plan is to have it done soon and once the last fic is done, the series will be complete.

In Part 11, Buck and Eddie had just learned Eddie won an all-expenses paid trip to Italy and since they were trying to decide what they were going to do for their honeymoon, this trip came just in time. They'll spend 8 days and 7 nights in Roma, Italia and they're leaving the day after their wedding. Also, Buck's godparents offered to let them use their beach house on Will Rogers state beach for their ceremony and they only have 5 days to get Buck moved out of the loft, buy their suits and invite everyone to the ceremony. Time is of the essence and they're working towards getting everything done before Friday so they can get married.

___________

Here's a snippet from Part 12 and it's from one of Buck and Eddie's romantically fluffy conversations while they're lying in bed.

___________

After they climax together, it takes a few moments for their vision to return and for them to come down off their euphoric highs but once they do, Buck collapses on top of Eddie and his head falls onto the pillow right beside his.  A couple of seconds pass then he slowly pulls out but he stays on top of him with both of his legs in between his.

They’re both sweaty and sticky but instead of getting up to take a shower, they continue quietly gazing at each other with their faces mere millimeters apart until Buck leans down, closes the space between them and places a soft kiss onto his fiancé’s lips.  When he pulls back, he takes a moment to look at him like he always does because Eddie’s the most beautiful man he’s ever seen in his life.

He’s absolutely mesmerized by him and even while Eddie’s forehead has beads of sweat on it and his cheeks are flushed and rosy, he’s still gorgeous.  His honey brown eyes have golden flakes in them that sparkle and with his head lying on the pillow that’s covered in a white pillowcase, to him, he looks almost ethereal.

Ever since they met, he’s marveled at his beauty and not long after they agreed to have each other’s backs, he wondered if he would be fortunate enough to call Eddie all his.  To this day being with him still takes his breath way because he never thought he’d be here since his feelings of being abandoned have always been an issue for him.  Every person he thought loved him never did and all they wanted was a good time but deep down in his heart, he knows Eddie will never leave and being with him is everything he’s dreamed of.

Every time he looks at him, it still boggles his mind a little bit because at one point, he was preparing to live a life alone like Red did but that’s not his fate. 

They’re engaged and they’re getting married in five days at a house located on Will Rogers State Beach and the next day they’ll be leaving L.A. traveling to Rome, Italy and he can’t wait to spend all 8 days and 7 nights with his husband and their son.

While looking into those ocean blue eyes he loves so much Eddie’s smiling and enjoying just being this close to him but when he notices Buck has a faraway look in his eyes, he gets concerned.  He lightly traces his fingertips from Buck’s forearms to his shoulders and whispers, “What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head, smiles then he leans down and kisses him once more but this time it’s even softer.  After he breaks it, he talks against them and says, “You’re so beautiful.”

Eddie playfully rolls his eyes and to Buck it’s one of the most adorable things he’s ever seen.

He kisses him again.  “I mean it, Eddie… you’re gorgeous and I love you more than anything”.

Eddie bashfully smiles, lifts his head and kisses his cheek and once his head is resting on the pillow again, he replies, “You’re gorgeous and I love you with every part of me.  You’re my angel Buck”.

He blushes in response then his million-dollar Eddie smile graces his lips. 

“You are and I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful than you.”

They fall silent as the magnitude of their admissions fill the room and while they dreamily look at each other, Buck takes a few seconds to contemplate something he’s been wanting to ask for a month but he’s not sure how to approach it.

Eddie notices and says, “Tell me what’s on your mind my love”.

“I love you and I love everything we do when we make love but…”  He trails off when he sees Eddie’s eyes widen and his eyebrows go up and immediately, he knows he needs to explain so there aren’t any misunderstandings.  He kisses his lips again then continues.  “It’s nothing bad I just… I want to know would you ever, uh… I mean I know we talked about this back in October but do you want to… make love to me sometimes?”

How will Eddie respond to Buck’s question? 👀

____________

First Love Confession -Buck and Eddie share their first real and meaningful love confession.

First Date - Buck and Eddie go on their first date.

First Kiss - Buck and Eddie share their first kiss.

First Argument - Buck and Eddie have their first argument.

First Couples Therapy Session- Buck and Eddie go to their first couples therapy sessions.

First Time - Eddie and Buck make love for the first-time.

First Morning After - The night after Buck and Eddie make love for the first-time, they spend their first morning after together.

First Relationship Reveal - Buck and Eddie’s first relationship reveal.

First Mourning - Buck and Eddie experience their first mourning after a loss together.

First Marriage Proposal - Eddie and Buck’s first marriage proposal.

First Fiancé Introductions - Buck and Eddie’s first introductions as fiancés.

Part 12 - Will be posted soon.

__________

Parts 1 - 11 are available on AO3

[jahnavisurenda-21]

Jujutsu Kaisen||Nanami X Reader||For Every Moment||Moment Part 1.||Fluff, Peace

Daydreaming while studying again, And I got another character who I wanted to spend my evening with. Drink Water. Don't stare at the screen too much. I have seven drafts.

You worked as a Data Scientist, in the company, you just got off from a very unplanned overtime shift, but you just wanted to have your weekend free. So, you took on that shift.

Your eyes felt strained and needed something more relaxing, as usual, every Friday you visited the bookstore and headed to the romance section,

Your reading goals were to try and indulge in books your long-term boyfriend often reads in the morning to newspapers or non-fiction, but after a long day, you just want to hurl yourself into your comfort zone, maybe on your next day off you would borrow a few of his books to make him proud. You smiled at the thought.

You searched the aisle to see if you would find any titles you had put down on your BTR.

You didn't maybe there were some on the other sections, but you just sat down at one of the reading corners, to simply scheme the book.

You got a book you liked and were just about to head out when you noticed the skies had darkened out quite a lot and it was starting to pour.

Your car was at service, so you swiped up your phone, to dial your boyfriend's number.

"You're going to start to worry me when you don't even inform me about a late-night shift Y/n, where are you right now?"

"At the bookstore."

You heard an audible sigh from the other end of the line. Nanami got up from the couch and loosened his tie before taking it off, you heard the keys jiggling, "Don't go anywhere Y/n, I'm coming to pick you." Nanami instructed.

"Thank you."

The line got cut when you noticed how heavy the rain poured, maybe a few minutes had passed when you felt incredibly drowsy.

When suddenly you felt a shuffle too close to you, you flinched you stepped back a little when you were shocked at this man, yeah, he was the one who was at the romance section he had asked you for a recommendation. You didn't think he was approaching you again to ask for another recommendation.

It creeped you out, you just hoped your boyfriend would feel like he had done enough overtime and hit the escalator a little harder.

Then you started recalling all the times, your boyfriend would ask you to not wander, and all the wise words you failed to follow flashed before your eyes.

"Hey, the book you had recommended to me I didn't buy it." The guy gave a smirk, which could mean all the wrong things. "You know why?"

You deduced, this guy was up to no good, and decided to buy some time for yourself, "Why?"

"Because I had that one, I have to say you have great taste. The spice. the Romance." He emphasized the word, 'Spice' more, which made you all the more uncomfortable.

Then he began really pushing the boundary when he started walking up to you, this was going to get really ugly, one piece of advice from Nanami you could use, what was it?

"Whenever a cursed spirit approaches it not only comes to devour the soul, but if it is a male and it sees a woman, it cannot see them as a human being. You must run."

So, you did, not that you're classifying this man as a cursed spirit, but all your primal instincts screamed to run, just don't look back.

To your horror he chased behind you, you were afraid you might slip the footpath was slippery with mud and gunk. Which made it difficult to really run with your professional attire and pencil heels, The bookstore was quite far from where you came.

Then you bumped into someone, and you sighed so much again and again, a wave of relief, gratitude, and a thousand blessings felt like had washed over your breathless body, and shaky breaths, your ankles felt like they would scold and yell if they could,

Nanami, steadied you with an arm around your back, as you still looked scared and shaken up, his face remained as usual stoic, and calm. You fell onto his broad chest, and as he did not remove the arm around, you the other arm carried an umbrella that loomed over your frame.

"Thank god..." You whispered again, and again breathlessly. You saw that guy had come with two of his friends? Partners? You didn't want to find out.

When he saw those three, had chased you down one look at them and then you, he understood the entire story. He protectively pushed you behind him, "Is there a reason you're chasing her?" He asked his voice cold as the howling winds.

Nanami had a frighteningly cold and unforgiving demeanor, "Just who are you exactly?"

"Listen, she's my sister okay, she acts crazy--"

"Enough. Go." He ordered.

Nanami ushered you inside the car before he got behind the steering. "Don't think too much Y/n. Your alright."

"Because of you..."

When Nanami hit the brakes at one of the signals, he turned to check on you, he leaned from his seat to kiss your forehead,

"Do you want some hazelnut, chocolate, the one with marshmallows? I'll get you some cookies as well."

You smiled, "Yeah...I would like that, Thank you Kento."

"I'm just relieved you're alright."

[dailypokemoncrochet]

Closing out Patreon on September 1, 2023

Hi all! I posted this on Patreon yesterday, but I thought I should also put it here. I'm going to officially unpublish my Patreon page on Friday, September 1, 2023. I've been manually pausing the billing cycle every month this year, and I don't think I'm any more likely to start posting there again, so it's time to take it down.

Once I unpublish the page next month, there will be no more access to my patron-exclusive patterns or photos. I already unpublished all the tiers thinking that would prevent any new patrons from slipping in only to find out it was closing, but apparently there's an option to still join?? So uh, I don't really know what to do about that and lack the wherewithal to figure out, because I'm still closing down (on patreon, not tumblr) on September 1 regardless.

I'll still be around here on Tumblr, but in a more limited, sporadic way.

Also hopefully to head off any common questions to this:

1) NO, there are not patterns for every single one of the 600+ pokemon I've crocheted. There are around 50 and you can figure out which ones by looking through my #patreon tag here

2) NO, you cannot currently request or buy any specific pattern. What's currently there is all that will be for the time being

3) I don't particularly mind if you join for this past month just to see what all is there or download what you can. But I am not going to walk anyone through it since I'm closing it soon. This was more of a courtesy thing and idk how new patrons appeared anyway.

4) DO NOT distribute my patterns in any capacity.

5) IDK when/if I'll open it again, for lots of Life and Grief and Personal reasons

6) I'm managing, it could be worse, I do still hope to come back to this all someday. I think about it often,I appreciate y'all for supporting me and my art through it all

[1starqi]

Cool Guy Gone Cute

genre: fluff, highschool!au

pairing: danceteam!chan x studentcouncil!o/c (again, could be x reader but I did give the o/c a name

summary: you need to do a bakesale

wc:

P1: 377

P2: 835

Total: 1.2k

a/n: this is all Sora's POV! I'm editing the next two parts and they're both Chan POVs. Also, all other people are made up. Even though Chaeyeon has the same name as an idol they aren't necessarily the same person but they can be if you want, I don't really care I just want my story to be enjoyed! Also look at me posting

Part 1

12:30, Wednesday

A storm is moving in. A translucent ray of light peeks through the windows in Mr. Kim’s math room where the Student Council is meeting. You couldn’t help but sneak glances at the clock hanging above the whiteboard, counting the seconds until you could grab your bag and rush down to the lunch room. 5 minutes.

“Alright,” The lanky student body president, Park Junyeop, says, “one more thing before we go.” Damn. “So we spent most of our budget on the festival last week, but the yearbook club switched to a different paper this year, so we need some more funds… Any ideas?” The window is suddenly pelted with the first of the storm.

“How much more?” Next to you, your best friend and irritated club treasurer, Chaeyeon, raises her hand lazily.

“Like $700?” Junyeop says tentatively. You’re pretty sure you heard someone groan.

“A bake sale?” You tilt into Chaeyeon.

“It doesn’t look like anyone else has anything to say...” She whispers back. Abruptly, she seizes your limp wrist and forces it up in the air.

“Chaeyeon? Sora?” Chaeyeon stays silent.

“We could do a bake sale…” You say weakly. You take a quick look at the clock. 4 minutes.

“That would raise some money. Any other ideas?” Rejected, but you’re not exactly sad about it. You look around the room. Not a single hand is up. The rain is pouring torrentially against the window. 3 minutes. Junyeop shattered the blank silence with a timely, yet undesirable interruption. “Fine. If no one has any additional ideas, we'll do a bake sale. Who wants to do it?” 

“It’s spring break next week! I can't believe Junyeop expects us to take on extra work. Who does he think we are?” Chaeyeon gripes, right in your ear. 2 minutes.

“I’ll assign it if no one wants to speak up.” He menaces. 1 minute. “Okay.” He sighs. “Sora, you suggested it, so I’m going to give this to you.” You’re actually joking, you think. There’s hardly any time between homework and… you time, obviously.

Only one correct answer gives you a chance for re-election. You surrender, “I’ll do it.”

“Taking one for the team, nice,” Chaeyeon says. You smile and kick her under the desk right as the bell rings.

Part 2

18:00, Wednesday

Your arrival is heralded by the jingling of the door chime, and the minimart smell hits you like a 4-wheeler. It’s a stark contrast from the fresh spring rain, it smells like incense and cleaning products. “There’s no way I can have an entire bake sale ready by Friday! I put like… two adverts up this morning in the hall, but I doubt anyone saw it.” You complain to Chaeyeon and Yoonseo as you enter the aisle you've been looking for. Hell yeah, Cheeto puffs. 

“Hey Chae, are you free after this?” Yoonseo grabs a bright red strawberry soda from the big steel fridge and checks the price.

“I would not be walking three miles to Sora’s house with you two if I had to be somewhere after this.”

“Sora~ we’ll help you! We can have a baking party!” Yoonseo exclaims from across a snack aisle. She is always one for a party. Your lips curl in a smile. You appreciate your friends’ enthusiasm even if the baking itself is only half the problem. You can buy pastries, but you can’t buy off Ms. Yang to let you do the sale—you can send a strongly worded email, though.

Nonetheless, you couldn't resist the opportunity to make a mess with your two best friends. “Oh my gosh, you two are lifesavers.” You grab another soda for her as thanks, melon flavored. You grab a lemon-lime for Chaeyeon and wipe off the condensation on your blue pleated skirt.

Chaeyeon pipes up from somewhere unseen, “I don’t think that there’s any mix here, do you want to pop over to the place across the street to get some?”

“Yes! Let’s check out, and then let’s get chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies and cinnamon buns!” Yoonseo eagerly chirps. You flash her an ok signal with your hand. 

“Let’s make brownies too! The really fudgy ones are my favorite.” You add.

You unload your groceries onto the checkout counter with Chaeyeon and Yoonseo. Assorted sodas, chips, and a couple of hair ties. It’s an overall outstanding purchase. You look up to talk to the cashier—and he is cute, even behind his black cotton mask. He’s wearing a uniform black polo and has silver earrings hooked on his ears. He checks the final item as you remember something else—you just ran out of gum. 

“Cash or card?” His voice is deeper than you expected but still pleasant.

“So sorry to bother you, but could I add a pack of gum to that?” You ask him, hesitantly.

“Ah, I already put the—” He stammers.

“Oh, nevermind then.” You can't help but blurt out the words as you fumble to return the gum to its place.

“No no, it’s fine. It’s on me.” A clearly athletic arm rubs his neck as he makes the proposition. You could swear you see a red tint develop on his ears, maybe he’s embarrassed?

“Seriously? Thank you so much!” You stuff your purchases into your backpack. The girls are totally giggling behind you.

“Yeah, it’s no problem.” After exchanging an appreciative smile with him, you grab your bag to head out. Together, you three swiftly make your way out of the cozy store and into the midst of the pouring rain, bracing yourselves against the elements as you head out.

As you giggle entering the store across the street for the mixes, Chaeyeon turns to you with an almost deviant smile dancing across her face. “Isn’t that Chan? You know, the captain of the dance team?”

Yoonseo looks positively floored, “Oh my god. That was totally him! That’s crazy, did you see how he was blushing?”

“He was probably just embarrassed.” You brush them off. If you were Chan, you'd guess it’s embarrassing to be caught stumbling over your words. It breaks his cool guy facade. You don't want to accept the fact that he was blushing because you really don't need to deal with that at the moment. He’s like the archetype of a standoffish nonchalant guy—which isn’t exactly your style.

“Come on, you know you’re lying! He was totally blushing.” Chaeyeon stares at you, waiting for a reaction. “Ha! You’re blushing too! Oh my god, do you like him?”

“No way! He’s just cute. That’s all. Every other girl in our entire school thinks so too! It’s not like I’m weird.”

“I don’t think he’s that cute…” Yoonseo states unhelpfully. Chaeyeon shoots you a look that practically screams I-told-you-so.“Whatever! I don’t want to date him anyway.” You pause, “Ugh, that’s so far out of the picture! I literally ran into him at a minimart. We didn’t even talk about anything interesting. You’re making me overthink!” As you scold them, they exchange a meaningful glance with each other, conveying their shared understanding that maybe it's not that far out of the picture for you to have a crush on the dance captain Chan. Based on what they've been told, it was really unexpected for him to go out of his way for you.

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

hi . what is blaseball. looking it up i cant find anything except that it Ended which is extremely unhelpful . but i'm intrigued by ur au

YAYAYYYYY YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY AUTISM TRAP CARD. whisp i also have an uncompleted beastlife one that i'll offer you here once i'm done explaining.

so! blaseball was (rest in violence) a live play video game that combined aspects of roleplay, fandom, and TTRPGS with text based video games, and it ran from July 2020-June 2023 (specifically starting on july 20th, hence my reblogging of all my au posts today). blaseball was a surrealist horror game based off of america's favorite past time, baseball! in order to play blaseball, you had to make an account on the website and choose one of 24 teams to be a fan of. you then watched as the seasons played out, with one full season taking one real life week.

each season was made up of 99 games plus a postseason of indeterminate length. games were played every hour on the hour, with the regular season playing out monday-friday. the post season had it's wild card rounds on friday afternoon, and then the rest of the post season played out on saturday. sunday had no games, with the entire day being reserved for the election results, which came out at 3 PM EST every sunday.

what is the election? well, this is where the fans come in! throughout the season, you could bet on games (as well as do some other stuff that's not wildly relevant) in order to get coins. you could use these coins to buy votes, and use these votes to change the game in the election. each election had a few things you could vote on (two in the first 11 seasons of the game, and 3 in the last 13. i will only be discussing the first two of them here, as the third isn't super relevant.) the first was decrees, of which there were usually 3-6, and they were new rules that would apply to the entire league. only 1 or 2 would pass every season, based on which got the majority of the league's votes. the second was blessings, which acted as boosts for your team and/or handicaps for your opposing teams. there were usually 10+ blessings available, and they would all (usually) be rewarded to the team that put the most votes into them.

elections are where the surrealist horror comes in. in the first election of blaseball, there was one decree titled "open the forbidden book". it had no description, and fans were repeatedly warned against voting for it. as you may expect, it got 60% of the vote immediately. upon it passing, we were punished for our hubris. the moab dessert became a hellmouth, the world began to fracture, and umpires began to be able to "go rogue" during games played under solar eclipses. when umps go rogue, they straight up kill players by setting them on fire. the best player in the league (at the time) was also instantly killed as further punishment for opening the book. so yeah, that sure is where the horror came in!

there's a lot more that happened after all that, but that's the basic primer. if you want more, i'd really recommend the blaseball roundup, which was a recap show made by the company that made the game, the game band. it covers seasons 1-22, so almost the entire game, and it was made by an in universe character (the anchor), so you get a good grasp on the vibes of the whole thing as well. there are 5 episodes, all under 20 minutes, so it's not too much of a commitment and it's a lot of fun.

a quick primer on how my aus work- each au (the life series, empires, and hermitcraft) are separate universes from each other, all running simultaneously alongside one another. they pretty much just follow the plot of actual blaseball, but with a focus on these new guys instead of that aforementioned plot. some of them do fill in for actual characters, but the majority of them do not, and the ones who do fill in for those actual characters just go through said character's story beats.

now, beast life au! i'm just gonna copy paste all my google doc into this under the cut, as a special treat.

SATURDAY LEAGUE

Dingo: Batter for the Hellmouth Sunbeams. Dingo becomes much more boar when the Hellmouth opens, having been a pretty normal human prior. Had an unhelpful modifier rerolled during the Expansion Era, giving them a Debt. Thus far the only victim has been Bree, but the Debt remains.

Modifications: Debt, Life of the Party

Kiki: Pitcher for the Yellowstone Magic. Has spearheaded many a resurrection, drawing the ire of a lot of the league to the Magic, as players with Debt keep ending up on the team because of him. Sonic and Kiki both picked up the Siphon modifier at the same time, but Kiki makes much less use of it. His only successful saves as a Seeker have been for Fishie. He also picks up the Traitor modifier during Expansion for. Reasons.

Modifications: Siphon, Seeker, Traitor

Sonic: Starts as a pitcher for the Boston Flowers. Very, very good at what she does, partially due to pure skill and partially due to Siphoning a lot of other players. They rocket up the Idol Board as a result of their skill. They spend at least some amount of time Shelled as a result, though she gets pecked out pretty frequently as well. He is taken by the Shelled One to play for the PODS and falls to the Charleston Shoe Thieves after Season 10, Day X, where she has stayed since. At some point in the Expansion Era, Sonic Shelled Null, hence Space’s one sided hatred of them. 

Modifications: Siphon, Parasite, Honey Roasted

John: Batter for the Miami Dale.

Modifications: Redacted, Electric, Life of the Party

Fishie: Pitcher for the Baltimore Crabs. Fishie has a penchant for being swept Elsewhere, having had two particularly extensive stints that resulted in her returning with significant memory loss until the Scattered modification wore off. The first time lasted about a season, and the second one got close to it, but both of these stays were cut short by Kiki dragging her back. Unrelated to the above, but due to the carcinization, she has a crab arm.

Modifications: Scattered [sometimes], Life of the Party

Phia: Batter for the Houston Spies. Phia lies low most of the time, managing to avoid the ire and love alike of the fans, which is pretty much entirely to faer benefit. Phia is/was the member of the Spies that Broku is/was closest to post-alternation, as she didn’t know Oku well at all and didn’t have the cognitive dissonance after all that. Pregame ritual is making stew.

Modifications: 0 No (this is technically a Blood Type and not a Modifier, but whatever)

Null: Batter for the New York Millennials.

Modifications: Shelled (that one time), Redacted

Space: Batter for the Hawai’i Fridays.

Modifications: None

Joe: Batter for the LA Unlimited Tacos. Joe was one of the victims of the Wyatt Mason-ing, an event where the universe fragmented and the entire LA Tacos team was turned into the worst player on the team briefly. Don’t worry about it. Joe was one of the players who did not get their full name returned to them, with the last name “Flyaway” being replaced by “Mason”. After the fact, Joe had a relatively normal time as the Tacos deliberately put themselves through God’s silliest hell. Joe became a Receiver (hooked up to the Microphone, which is possessed by the previously mentioned Wyatt Mason, again, don’t worry about it) due to nebulous shenanigans mostly because I thought it’d be funny. Receivers have a lot of weirdness going on that I think suits Joe’s “guy from the real world who got put in here” vibe, just trust me.

Modifications: Receiver

Bree: Batter for the Breckenridge Jazz Hands. Oku and Bree were together before season 4, when Oku was affected by the Alternate Reality decree. Bree originally attempted to maintain a relationship with Broku, which did not work, and Bree took this very poorly. Bree made an attempt to get herself alternated as well, but players have no voting power, and Bree’s stats weren’t enough of a nightmare that it occurred to any Fans to Alternate her. At some point in the Expansion Era, Bree was killed by Dingo, and now makes frequent ghost appearances via Haunting Echidna.  

Modifications: None

Oak: Batter for the Hades Tigers.

Modifications:

Oku: Batter for the Houston Spies. Oku and Bree were together until season 4, when Oku was affected by the Alternate Reality decree and Alternated, switching places with Broku. This obviously put significant strain on the relationship, and Broku has become far more involved with/close to the Spies in the wake. Broku also potentially got Redacted? Not sure about that yet.

Modifications: Alternate, Redacted[?]

Echidna: Batter for the Hades Tigers. 

Modifications: Haunted

Gery: Batter for the Tokyo Lift.

Modifications:

Moch: Batter for the Seattle Garages.

Modifications:

Mei: Batter for the Mexico City Wild Wings.

Modifications: Redacted, Life of the Party

FRIDAY LEAGUE

Dingo: Pitcher for the Atlantis Georgias, originally a pitcher for the Dallas Steaks

Modifications: None

Kiki: Batter for the Boston Flowers

Modifications: None

Tom: Batter for the Hades Tigers

Modifications: Siphon, Supperyummy

Sonic: Pitcher for Hellmouth Sunbeams

Modifications: None

Eker: Batter for the Kansas City Breath Mints

Modifications: None

Phia: Batter for the Miami Dale

Modifications: None

Viz: Batter for the Houston Spies from their shadows, spent a season on the Canada Moist Talkers but went back

Modifications: None

Jack: Batter for the New York Millennials 

Modifications: Haunted

Echidna: Batter for the San Diego Saltines who died in Pre-History and Haunted Jack for a while

Modifications: None

[roo-bastmoon]

Remembering Nana today...

Interestingly enough, it was my 93-year-old grandmother who sort of led me to BTS. Today is the second anniversary of her passing, and my rambles about that are under the cut.

So, just to give you a visual: my Nana was a lot like Rose from the Golden Girls but, like, not in any way a ditz. She was a very practical Capricorn, but she looked and spoke a lot like Betty White from that show.

Nana practically raised me. I spent literally every weekend with her, from the day I was born until my parents divorced and we moved away when I was 13. Every Friday, my folks would drop me off at her apartment, and she'd make me homemade mac and cheese for dinner and vanilla ice cream for dessert (I did NOT like to try new things). Then we'd watch Full House, Perfect Strangers, Golden Girls, and Empty Nest on TGIF. After that, it would be bath time and bed.

Fun side note: I was an extremely independent and stubborn only child. So I always insisted on bathing myself. Not wanting me to drown on her watch, Nana would sit in the bathroom with me and read me poetry while I played with my Tub Town toys. But the poetry would always be the most macabre stuff--like The Spider and the Fly, or The Wreck of the Hesperus. I am not saying I was scarred for life by this, but I'm also not saying I'm normal, either.

Anyway, those were our Friday nights. On Saturdays we'd get up at the crack of dawn to go flea marketing with her two younger sisters. She would give me $1 to spend on my "trashy treasures" -- but it was the 80s, so I could make it stretch. After that, we'd all go to a buffet lunch. Then she'd take me in the afternoons to the local library, where I would pick my books for the week.

Another side note: My parents were not big on buying toys, but I could have any books I wanted. As a young kid, I used to take a flashlight and hide in the bathtub at night so I could read past bedtime. I figured I was being super sneaky because they couldn't see the light coming from that room. But we lived in a tiny house with only one bathroom, so of COURSE they knew. Mom told me years later that they thought it was funny I was being rebellious by secretly reading YA novels in the bathroom when I was in elementary school. Nana, of course, let me stay up as late as I wanted to read. I digress.

As the years passed, even when I went out of state and the country for school, or moved across America to take jobs, Nana and I emailed every day, called once a week, kept in constant touch. When I moved back to my home state 13 years ago, I sort of became her caregiver and weekend companion.

This time it was my turn on the weekends to make her food, take her shopping, drive her around, get her books from the bookmobile. She raised me, and then for 10 years, I took care of her.

I loved my Nana. She was funny and soft-hearted and well read, but she grew up *dirt poor* and never got to see the world except through books and the TV, so she was always very humble and a bit shy. She loved me so much--she was the only person in the world who would listen to me drivel on about anything, and still be interested.

At 93-years-old, she died of a sudden heart attack on August 30, 2021. Emergency personnel were with her in her apartment, so she wasn't alone or in pain very long, but I couldn't get to her fast enough to say goodbye. Mom and I identified her later, at the hospital.

I am grateful she had a long life, and didn't suffer, and wasn't alone. But my family is very, very small. Just Nana and Mom and me. And after the whirlwind of taking care of her funeral and packing up her apartment and donating everything, suddenly there was just all this free time--these empty hours I usually filled taking care of Nana.

I just was so lost.

I started trying to read, or quilt, or watch movies. I got into some K dramas for a bit. Nothing really interested me. Then I started watching dance compilations on YouTube before bed.

And one snowy December night, I found a Steezy video where Brian Puspos was reviewing Jimin's dance style. I had no idea what it was. It was like this weird impulse--as if someone moved my finger to hover over and click that video...

You cannot imagine how every nerve-ending woke up. My brain suddenly came online. (I was a semi-pro ballet dancer as a kid, and I knew the absolute second I saw Jimin that he was a master who trained relentlessly--nobody had to point it out to me.)

For the first time in months, I FELT something other than grief.

I watched every single video of him I could. I had no idea who BTS were, didn't know anything about Kpop. But eventually I found more videos, I listened to their songs, and later I discovered Jikook, and I made online accounts and I watched RUN episodes, and I got to go see Yoongi as my first-ever concert, and now I'm making my way through In the Soop and Bon Voyage.

In fact, pretty much every day since I discovered Jimin, I've been thinking about, learning about, and trying to support Jimin and the people Jimin loves.

Jimin and BTS got me through the grief at losing the person I loved most in the world. They saw me through uterine cancer, and the surgeries, and mourning the fact that I can never be a bio mom now. They got me through the medical tests and the chronic fatigue and pain I've had for the last 4 months.

I really love our boys. I may not understand or love everything about them or their company or their industry, but loving someone doesn't mean thinking of them as demi-gods; it means being loyal even as they grow past any flaws.

To be honest, I feel like I owe Jimin my life, in a way. I was in a really, really dark place a year and a half ago. Jimin was the only joy, the only reason to keep going (besides my mom and kitties, of course).

Now I own every digital release BTS has put out--the whole discography, even the skits. I try to vote on all the apps whenever I can, and stream on premium family bundle accounts for Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora; I also do free trials for Tidal and Qobuz. II've never done any of this stuff before, never been a fan of any musicians, but I really, truly do try to return the favor.

It's a bit hyperbolic to say they "saved me" because lots of people cope with grief and illness and loneliness and it doesn't mean they just throw in the towel.

But BTS helped me stop surviving, and made me want to really live.

Plus, even when I'm too sick to go out or call up my friends, I can always get on my phone and come here, to chat with my fandom friends. I don't know most of their real names or faces or anything about their real lives, but we all love BTS; we all talk about and work together for BTS.

Nana would have loved that. (She also would have let me talk her ear off every day about Jimin and Jikook and the Tannies because that was her love language.)

Is BTS a replacement for real, genuine human interaction? No. Of course not. It is, at the end of the day, a band. Not a life.

But it also feels like getting to know 7 people I'd be honored to be friends with, if we ever met. People I want to support so they can achieve all their dreams--because they always pay it forward, too.

I sometimes wonder if Nana guided my hand to click on that video that day. Maybe she was looking down at me and thought "Ah, this will be good for her. This will be healing."

Probably not, but still, I'd like to think that. I'd like to think it was Nana who led me to the Magic Shop.

I miss her. I love her. I still can hear her voice in my head every day.

But I'm gonna be okay. (The future's gonna be okay.)

There's still so much to look forward to and work to be done. Fighting!

[galacticcfangirl]

La Carcacha

Pairing: Young!Din Djarin x Reader (F)

Part 3 of the Amor Prohibido Series.

Words: 512

A/N: hello!!! Happy Friday :) idk why but i'm kinda using different styles in every fic, I hope you like this one!

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“Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away there was a Princess. 

And no, we are not talking about a relevant, soon to be Queen with lots of responsibilities. We are talking about a “my-only-job-is-to-have-fun-be-happy-and-pretty” kind. 

And of course there was a Prince. Wait. No. Was it a knight? No. Oh. Of course. 

It was a Mandalorian. Well, not exactly. A soon to be Mandalorian. 

They met exactly how Princesses and Mandalorians meet. At the market. 

He was buying supplies for his people, they used to live underground, not like now, freely and fearless.

Some may say it was love at first sight. Since he wasn't wearing a helmet yet, they had the chance to look at each other’s eyes and smile. Of course, at that moment she didn’t know who he was but he knew who she was. 

They saw each other a couple of times around the town, but one day everything changed

Her father, the king,  decided to sell some ships that the Empire wasn't using anymore, one of them was a Razor Crest Assault Ship with a cost of 1500 Imperial Credits, and that man bought it in cash. 

It was a piece of junk that needed repairs, and the Mandalorian spent his free time keeping an eye on it while it was being repaired in the mechanic shop. And the princess, just by chance, spent the exact same hours around the mechanic shop while he was there. 

And that’s how it all started. 

He had the most beautiful brown eyes and smile, he told her he was training to be a bounty hunter to help his family with the money and the supplies, “it’s a big family” he said, “Would you like to go fly around for a bit when the ship is done, Princess?” he also said. 

1

2

3

The amount of times the Crest took to start up, with an uproarious sound during the take off and vibrating

“Please, don’t fail us now” she used to think, “I have to be at the palace before midnight”

And of course, some of her 5 siblings used to cover her, not without a laugh of course. The youngest princess dating a commoner, and one with a flying piece of junk. And it's ironic how the galaxy works. She wasn't born to be a Queen, and he definitely wasn't born to be a King, but who would imagine they would end up just like that?

But she was so happy, waiting for him on the fields almost every day in case he came back from a hunt. 

But things weren’t always that nice, things got complicated when he…-”

Snores interrupted her.

-”Grogu?’- She asked. “Are you still awake?”.

He was lying on his small bed, being held by his Mother, deeply snoring, with his eyes closing and his little brown blanket on his fists. She looked at him and gave him a small kiss on the forehead.

-”Still with that story?”- Din asked, leaning on the door frame. He was out of his armor, without his helmet, like he is nowadays. 

-”Is the only way he falls sleeps, he loves listening to it”

-”The story about how we met?”

- “ Exactly. And I didnt get to the most exciting part”

[cloverdaisies]

SNAP OUT OF IT: ERIC SOHN 2

read chapter one here !

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TV interviewer: As you can see we’re reporting live from outside of the venue that global sensation rock band The Boyz will be performing at live tonight, it’s chaos, there’s screaming, crying and the boys haven’t even arrived yet! How are you guys feeling in the queue?

Girl 1: Better than ever! *screaming into the camera* I’d sell my soul for you Juyeon!

Boy 1: Hyunjae Lee you were my gay awakening!!

Girl 2: My mom accepts our marriage Eric!!

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y/n pov

A Friday night from hell, I don't think it could of been any worse. First of all being ditched by my friends back at the cab service, second of all being forced to walk home at such a late hour through the city's night club zone. Last and certainly not least almost being kidnapped by a shifty man in a burnt out junk car on the sidewalk.

Yanking at my dress ties, I strode in my heels over the sidewalk in tired drags - echoing with a concrete sounding graze below. The unknown fawn haired boy that rescued me from being thrown into the man's car following closely behind. I insisted on buying the drinks at the nearby convenience store, since he didn't have anything on him like a wallet or credit card. The little white plastic bag looped between my fingers as I placed the goods on the metal table between us with a clink. I cracked open two dark brown tinted bottles, sliding the other one across to him - which he caught casually with one hand, leaning back into his chair lazily.

"So, what's your name?" I asked briefly, looking up in confusion as he thought about his answer - who has to think about their name?

"Youngjae, Youngjae Sohn." He replied, setting his bottle on the table. His smile was cunning, his teeth white and sharp.

"Young.. Jay? " I looked at him like he'd just told me some terrible rap name before chuckling to myself lightly.

"It's Korean." He laughed to himself, enlightened by my reaction - teasing another flash of his pointy top teeth. "What about you?"

"I'm Y/N, Y/N L/N." I smiled flatly taking a swig of the open necked bottle between my fingers before asking further.

"So do you go to University or anything?" I added with a short sigh.

"Uh, no. I dropped out of high school." He responded, shyly scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh." I nodded knowingly, "I mean who needs the education system anyway."

"Too true." He giggled to himself once again, leaning over the metal table and lighting a cigarette between his lips.  "Do you smoke? Is it okay if I-"

"No but go ahead."I shook my head with a nervous laugh, as he closed the packet. Even If I did smoke, I was in no way shape or form taking a cig from the decrepit, crumpled, god knows where it's been, box he drew a light from.

"What are you doing for a living yourself?" He asked taking a puff of the lit tobacco between his lips.

"I'm just a waitress, this is the first Friday night I've had off in months." I raised my eyebrows lightly in reply, stretching back into cool metal of the chair behind me.

"Oh yeah, that's another thing." He reiterated, taking the cigarette from his lips briefly, "How come you were even stood alone in a sketchy area in the first place?"

"My friends only bought a 4 seater cab and decided to just leave me out of the ride home." I scoffed, my tongue poking the inside of my cheek in annoyance.

"That's something my friends would do to be honest." He replied with a chuckle, empathizing with me bittersweetly.

"Self absorbed assholes?" I asked with a cock of my eyebrow, referring my own friends to his own.

"Pretty much." He nodded with smirk, meeting my eyes for the first time in the entire conversation.

"I could have sworn he looked just like Eric, it was the same blonde hair." Two girls approached the convenience store, wearing matching shirts and flannels tied around their waists.

"But he had his hood up." The other one giggled, ignoring the conversation I took another sip of my drink.

The boy in front of me jolted, pulling his hood over his head and resting on the table. The girls jumped slightly at the sudden action as they walked by - shrugging it off strangely and giving me a strange look before waking inside. I took the time to notice the slits on his fingers, all shredded and the skin on them cracked toughly. His knuckles were bruised, as if they'd just been in a fight - or punched a nearby wall.

"Are you okay?" I asked as he lifted his head slightly, checking the surroundings before sitting back.

"Y-Yeah, fine." He shuddered, keeping the hood over his head conspicuously.

"Did you know them?" I pointed back into the store the two girls walked into, my bottom lip protruding curiously.

"Something like that." He chuckled nervously, quickly ducking back down as the shop door reopened.

"Uh Miss, you might wanna check your friends pulse.." One of the girls pointed to the slumped over boy in front of me.

"You might wanna stick to your bed times." I smiled bitterly at the two teenagers, watching them scoff sending me their pathetic dirty looks with their narrowed eyes. Turning on their heels, they continued to walk and turn a corner at the end of the street.

"You can get up now." Informing the boy with a light shake of his shoulder, watching him lift his head in a slight daze.

"They're definitely gone?" He asked peeping his head over my shoulder cautiously.

"Who are they?" I scoffed at the man in front of me, lips quivering like a poor train wreck, all because of some bitchy teenage girls.

"It doesn't matter." He rolled his eyes with a nonchalant flick of his wrist. I shrugged the interaction off, throwing one of the potato chips I bought on to my tongue and crushing it with a muted crunch.

The disruptive click of a camera and distant flash alerted the both of us - snapping our heads in the direction of the shuttering snap. Upon a balcony in the apartment block opposite the store, an older man holding a chunky black camera peered over the spindled balcony with a smirk.

Furrowing my brows and taking a peculiar glance at the boy opposite me. Confusion kicked in when he grabbed my hand and pulled me from the table. He pulled me down the next street, feet plodding heavily until we'd reached a busier street.

"What was that?!" I tugged my arm away from him with an alarmed huff.

"I'll explain later, I need you to trust me, so I can know you get home safe." He breathed out, signaling for me to walk ahead with him.

"Ah yes, let me trust the strange hooded man I met on the sidewalk an hour ago, the same man that I've just been photographed with by some random guy on a balcony. How do I know you're not about to put me in a car and throw me across the border?!" I asserted with a sneer dripping from each sentence that passed my lips.

"Listen I'm not taking you anywhere sketchy, there's plenty of people nearby. I'm just gonna need you to come with me, you won't believe me if otherwise." He elaborated calming the situation with his hands and trying his best to bring any comfort he could.

"Fine, but if I'm making the wrong decision right now, just know you're a piece of shit." I gave him a slight look of malice, which he shrugged off and continued to walk ahead.

Bringing me to a towering theatre looking building, supported by large brick pillars that reached from the ground to the top floor. As he said there were many people around, making sure his hood and cap covered his face. We stepped inside, cleaning staff dotted across the lobby as well as some music fans with matching shirts - the ones those girls were wearing earlier. Reading down one of the fronts of the T-shirts, in a gothic font it read:

THE BOYZ

JUYEON

ERIC

HYUNJAE

SUNWOO

On the back, a bunch of cities and venues they'd played. It was clear they had a concert here tonight, to add to the confusion being yanked back stage confused me even more.

"ID?" The guard asked the boy in front of me, taking his hood and hat up momentarily. The guard's eyes appeared shocked for a second, standing aside and letting the both of us pass.

"ERIC!" Somebody's voice boomed through the hallway, it was a male's strangely soft pitched for the yell they'd produced. "What the fuck? Where did you go?" A black haired boy stormed down the corridor, stopping when he reached our feet. Softening up when he saw me, he sent me a flirtatious nod which I returned with a weird look. If there was one thing about this boy, it was that he reeked of weed - and it was disgusting despite his attractive nature.

"Lay off Juyeon, I need to help this girl get home, her friends ditched her and the only way to get to her neighborhood is sketchy." He explained, finally taking his cap and hood down with a elongated sigh.

"No offense to this lovely lady." The boy named Juyeon sent me the same smile before switching back up, "But this is why our manager says your too nice."

The only thing passing my mind was Eric, flashing back to the T-shirt earlier... We were stood talking to Juyeon, they're in a band? A popular band? So why would he lie?.. If anything that's extra lady magnet points.

"She can take one of our cabs, where abouts is your neighborhood?" Juyeon asked further as the both of them looked at me attentively. Snapping me out of the many questions I had circling my mind.

"Just out of Central." I replied as they both shared a nod between each other.

"Yeah you're not walking through Downtown alone to get there in that." Juyeon laughed lightly eyeing up the short black dress I was wearing. I returned the chuckle nervously, partly in disgust as they brought me through to one of the back rooms , where staff were frantically wrapping things up and fanning the two other celebrity looking boys sprawled out on couches. There were electric guitars and other hardcore instruments being shoved back into their cases. Speakers and amps lying around with their wires tangled and spewed out on to the floor.

Now you tell me, who had I met on the sidewalk again?

——

For a moment, I felt as if my life had stopped in time, I stared at the ceiling for hours whilst the band smoked, drank and partied in the next room. The two other boys hadn’t bothered to greet me, instead they just stared with blank doe eyes that felt as if they stared miles past me. To be completely honest, I just wanted the warm linen of my own bed sheets wrapped around me, the comfort of my own home. It seemed as if I'd been trapped in this venue for decades before the music, the screaming, the sound of youthful life even had time to fade out. I'd already had my night out before I arrived here, but these boys wouldn't stop until the night eventually became morning.

That's how I slipped out.

With no money to get a taxi, I grabbed a merchandised hoodie that had been draped over a nearby chair and threw it over myself. The venue was like a hellish assortment of back rooms, every door led to either a cluttered storage room filthy and covered with layers of thick dust, or another room filled with feeble chairs and a stage for local performances.

There it was. A fluorescent, flickering green light attached to the ceiling 'EXIT'. It led me out to the back alley of the place, it was quiet, quite comforting actually. Whilst I made my way out to the front of the building, the sun coming up and streets clear of anyone from the night before, I looked back at the huge billboard flashing at the front of the venue.

"THE BOYZ. UK & EUROPE TOUR."

I continued on with my journey just out of town, along the deserted main road, not a vehicle nor even another pedestrian in sight.

Despite my heels feeling as if they were about to snap off, my knees shaking, struggling to stand, my eyes ready to collapse shut any minute - I managed to make it home to my block of apartments just in time for it to hit 7 AM.

Living alone has its benefits, despite failing secondary school and having no financial stability whatsoever, not having any parents screaming into your ears or any siblings you have to floor - it was a piece of complete serenity. My waitressing job seemed to be going well for me, as long as there's no proper numbers or any Scottish serial killing monarchs to get in the way of me - I'm sure I'm going to do just fine in life.

However I couldn't help but envy the absolute monstrosity of a lifestyle people like Eric have the audacity to live. It must be so easy, racking in so much money for bare minimum talent and a pretty face. It must be so easy to have women chasing after you 24/7, I bet that privileged nepo baby doesn't have a clue what the cost of living crisis even is.

Less Thinking More Sleep

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[ethicallysourcedhumanmeat]

god. so my current crochet class was miss-advertised and I've got a class of folks who have mostly never touched a hook before

and that on it's own is like frustrating but its fine. I have tutorials I have personally made, I sourced and purchased beginner level patterns, I took 2 classes to go over terms and stitches sent them home with materials to practice. I explained in class what to buy where to buy all of that.

basically I adapted, and supplied as many learning resources as I could and devoted 2 classes to beginner instruction while actively informing everyone multiple times that this is a project based class, you will pick a project and work on it.

I've also been clear that anyone who needs extra in person instruction can come to my drop in session on fridays for free. I'm also available on socials and by email for extra help, I'm willing to video call or make extra tutorials. I'm very clear on this, I get paid and extra 90mins a week just cover this availability.

But the class WAS STILL advertised as a project based class. where you pick a pattern and spend the classes working on it with me to instruct and help as you go. people have registered for this who do know a little or have taken a class from me and its really unfair to them to have me spending the entire class with the same people every week like???

and at the end of last week's class I stated clearly that this week we'll start projects, buy materials if you want to make a larger project. I explained how to read a yarn lable, how to read the material list on a pattern.

guys the emails

here's the thing, crochet feels awkward when you start, a lot of the issues people have can only be solved by doing it more. getting comfortable with the movements, getting your tension better it all comes with practice. crochet is forgiving but you have to actually start.

every time i teach i tell my students if you start with a square just finish it, dont keep restarting trying to figure out where you went wrong, make the whole square, then look at it. I say this because often there is nothing wrong but its new and it looks weird bc you're new, but the shape will cone about only if you keep going.

this is the first time I've gotten to the 4th hour of classes and none of the first timers will finish a square. and they can do it is the thing that bothers me. they hand me round 1 of a granny square and say "i just do not know what is going wrong" and i tug the stitches so its square, (showing them that that is all Im doing) tell them, "no its fine you're doing great!" they take it from me, unwind it and have me explain it again.

one woman is having tension issues, so I show her where on the hook to tighten the yarn, explain that even tho it feels like you should dont tighten the chain as you pull it off your hook or after you've pulled it off. I offer her a larger hook, the hook she brought is very small, i use that size on lace weight yarn. she refuses the larger hook, i watch her tighten the yarn after its off her hook. i explain again that these things are the problem. I get her a larger hook. she didnt use it.

like there are people there that make me feel like I'm on a reality show or a bad sitcom. I was begging them to just continue. To stop restarting to just have faith in themselves to set their goals to completion not perfection because its not going to be perfect the first time but it can get done. And again all these people CAN do it, I'm seeing them do it, anc telling them theyre doing it and they just literally tell me theyre not and restart whatever practice thing they tried.

I got an email response today from a lady that started last week and was 100% making perfectly good single crochet stitches by the end of class (2 hours), saying she didn't even know where to start and maybe she'll use the in class yarn and make granny squares because patterns will be too hard, maybe this class is too advanced.

this woman could crochet by the end of her first 2 hour class. i communicated that to her then like???

so i sent her a yarn label and explained (again) how to read it, told her that most of the patterns I provided last class were beginning friendly and like i said in my reminder email if she wants to start with a granny square project I can help her design it in class but she should by her own yarn and she won't really learn anything if she doesn't have a project goal.

i just genuinely do not understand how these people thought they were going to learn? if you want to learn to make something you have to start making the thing.

[darlenealive]

Back from my Scandi vacation!

Felt like I took it for granted leaving my brain back in SG and letting Ax do the planning and the navigating. I brought my spirits though! Spending my day off today looking back at the trip which was such a great use of my time. Really appreciating this extra day off after my vacation.

Some tips for Norway and Denmark travels first

1. It's cashless even in the small towns. Cash was more of a liability as it forced us to spend it all

2. Hotels cost as much as Airbnb for 2 pax so opt for hotels as there's guaranteed shampoo, soap, hair dryer, heating and laundry. Most of our airbnbs were missing soap or shampoo which we didn't bring any of, in order to travel lighter. The bnbs we stayed in were also commercialised houses so there's absolutely no feelings attached. Checking in and out would also be more convenient with hotels. We had to return one of our keys from a convenience store which wasn't open in the early morning, in time for our flight.

3. Groceries are marked down on Friday if they expire Monday. If you're in Norway, go to Kiwi or Coop for basic groceries as it seemed to be the cheapest. However, each shop will hv their own discounts (not standardised across the same chain). Eg. We went to a place with 40% discounts on Freia choc which was only available at a particular store.

4. Northern lights chase was the coldest we experienced. Basically, the guide said that if its frost on the floor, it's worse than snow as there's no insulation for your feet. Not the coldest real temperature but coldest we felt. Bring extra clothes and heatpack just in case. The bonfire didn't do anything for me because it's too cold. We went with GuideGunnar which updates its aurora sightings on a daily basis. These guys are crazy and would bring you as far as Sweden just to chase the lights so bring your passports along! They also offer a 50% off the next trip if you don't see it on the day.

5. There's no heat packs there so bring them from home.

6. In Copenhagen, we recommend the Copenhagen card. It's only 65USD for 24hrs and you get free transport, museum pass and boat rides. We only decided to get the card after our boat ride which cost about SGD25-30, which was already a quarter the cost of the card. In Copenhagen, checking of bus tickets was a regular thing.

7. Useful apps for riding public transport: Oslo uses Ruter, Tromsø uses Troms billet, Copenhagen uses Dot tickets. Ticket checking was not very often in Norway. We did not cycle as it felt too cold for more wind to hit our faces.

8. Skip Oslo if you dw to visit a city. We spent 3 nights there and it felt too long. We wanted to do our last minute shopping at Oslo but everything was expensive throughout the whole trip that we started to buy souvenirs earlier when we saw marked down prices. With one more day in Tromsø, we could've gone whale watching.

9. Take into account daylight savings from 29/10. You have 1 more extra hour to sleep but your days are much shorter. We slept a lot because of the cold, about 10hrs of sleep each day and it felt just right.

10. Personally I would have brought instant noodles as the food there isn't flavoured with the same umami as I'm used to. I would also bring a thermal flask there to enjoy my hikes even more, taking a comfortable and warm rest at the peak.

11. If driving, please remember to pay for parking. There's usually a machine to start your parking. Otherwise, the fine is 660NOK. Don't let the rental company settle it as it'll still be billed to you with an extra fee. We would also recommend full insurance since we aren't used to left hand driving and Norway is famous for its narrow roads (at least from Stavanger to Odda where we drove).

12. We used waze for driving and it seemed that speed cameras are only in tunnels but nobody was following the speed limit anyway.

That's about all of the suggestions Ax and I thought of!

Hope these suggestions come in useful for someone.