#i've been checking my notifs like 1-2 times a day to make sure there's no *major* issues but otherwise just letting things go

[do-you-know-this-queer-character]

Sorry i've been a bit absent from the management side of this blog (posts are queued and go out without my direct management), it's finals week and I'm very stressed lol, there's some asks in my ask box that are important topics that I want to dedicate the necessary time to respond to and I just haven't been able to yet. If you're one of the people who sent in an ask, just know that I'm not ignoring you, I promise I will answer when I'm not cramming for my O-chem final in a few days.

[sukuna-dees-nuts]

rizzless sukuna pt 3

FINALLY!! i've finished it. it's much longer than i planned but what're you gonna do?? lmao happy late late valentines day everyone! have a sukufushi date

@nessieartss you wanted me to tag you so here i am tagging you!

part 1 | part 2

---

Sukuna hasn't been able to stop thinking about his date. 

Yes, it's only been about two hours since he and Megumi have set up their date, but that doesn't mean that Sukuna can't be excited. He's never had a date before (if that wasn’t obvious by the way he totally fucked up his pickup line). It’s a mystery why Megumi had even agreed.

After the initial excitement had worn off, Sukuna found himself wondering if Megumi only said yes out of pity, even if he had been amused by Sukuna's fuck-up. 

But as soon as the thoughts came, he pushed them away because since when does Sukuna think about the consequences of his actions? He should be thinking about what the hell they're gonna do for this date. 

Sukuna had half the mind to ask Maki what they should do, whether she had any suggestions about what Megumi might like, but then he remembered the “advice” she'd given him earlier and a scowl came to his face. Even if it had worked, he refused to send her a text. 

“Hey, Sukuna!” 

The older boy looks up at the sound of his name, seeing Yuuji making his way over with a grin on his face. He doesn't allow Sukuna to speak before he nudges his brother with an elbow. “We should go to that new Boba place! Gojo told me that the Mango flavor is amazing—”

“No—”

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Yuuji pulls away, looking affronted. “You don't wanna spend time with your favorite brother?” He gives Sukuna his best puppy eyes, sticking out his bottom lip for added effect. 

Sukuna rolls his eyes and pushes Yuuji's face away from him. “Well if you'd let me finish my damn sentence,” he grunts. “Not today, I have plans.”

Yuuji snorts. “Plans? Doing what? Throwing rocks at police cars?” 

“None of your business,” the older boy replies with a sniff, keeping his face impassive. Yuuji opens his mouth but Sukuna already knows what he's going to ask. “And no you cannot come with.”

“What? Why not?” He pouts once again. 

“Because.” That's all Sukuna says. He pulls out his phone and checks his messages. His heart does a stupid little flip when he sees Megumi's name on a notification, letting Sukuna know that he's reached the spot where they're supposed to meet up. Sukuna responds to let him know that he's on his way. 

Putting his phone back into his pocket, he reaches out and ruffles Yuuji's hair, earning an annoyed grunt from his brother. “See ya later.”

Sukuna turns on his heel and heads in the direction of where Megumi is waiting, missing the intrigued look on his brother's face. 

The closer he gets, the faster his heart starts to beat and Sukuna runs a hand through his hair. Briefly, he stops himself before he rounds the corner just dust himself off and shake out his hands as if it might get rid of the anxiety that he’s feeling. Once again, he pushes his hair back and takes a deep breath. 

Rounding the corner, the corner of his mouth lifts up when he sees Megumi waiting patiently, scrolling through his phone. He looks up at the sound of footsteps and he immediately pockets his phone when he sees that it’s Sukuna. A small smile comes to his face.

“Hey,” Sukuna greets.

Megumi replies with a “hey” of his own. 

Silence stretches out between them and if it were anyone else, Sukuna would be inclined to laugh at just how fucking awkward it is. He really didn’t think this through.

Megumi doesn’t seem to mind however and asks, “So, where are we going?”

“How about that new Boba place?” Sukuna suggests. 

“Sure. Better to go with you than be dragged along by Gojo. He was late to class this morning because he was getting a drink there.” Megumi shakes his head and Sukuna huffs. 

The two of them turn to begin walking in the direction of the Boba shop which Sukuna realizes that he has no idea where it is. Hopefully Megumi knows where they’re going. The older boy would hate to make himself look like an even bigger fool by getting them lost. 

As they walk, the two of them make small talk and Sukuna finds it easier to keep up a conversation with Megumi than anyone that isn’t Yuuji; he feels his anxiety melting away by the minute. There’s still something nagging at him in the back of his mind that Megumi is only humoring him, but Sukuna ignores it, as he does with most of his internal turmoils. 

When they arrive at the shop, Megumi and Sukuna reach for the door handle simultaneously, their fingers brushing. Both pull away instantly, eyes wide as they meet each other's gaze. There's a pink blush dusting over Megumi’s cheekbones and Sukuna's brain short circuits at how cute he looks. The thought alone makes Sukuna's ears burn and he clears his throat, forcing himself to look away. 

They both hesitate only to reach for the door at the same time, again, both retracting their hands before they can touch again. This time, Sukuna does chuckle at how ridiculous they're being, trying his best to ignore how fucking adorable Megumi is with his cheeks red (and ignore how his fingers are still tingling after he and Megumi barely touched). He grabs the door handle to yank it open much harder than necessary. 

He gestures for Megumi to enter first and Megumi nods, stepping around Sukuna quickly to enter the shop. Sukuna shakes his head at himself, pressing his hand to his chest, willing his heart to slow the fuck down. He's on a date, not running a fucking marathon! 

Stepping up next to Megumi, Sukuna looks over the menu, briefly considers asking Yuuji to recommend a flavor, but immediately brushes that thought aside. He would not hear the end of it considering he just turned his brother down to come here. Now Sukuna is on a date with his little brother's best friend at the shop that Yuuji wanted to come to.

Megumi and Sukuna step up to the counter, and as Megumi gives the person at the register his drink order, Sukuna is already pulling out his wallet and card before the other boy can even think about paying. The second the barista gives the total, Sukuna is tapping his card on the terminal screen. When he glances over, Megumi looks unimpressed. 

“Hey, I asked you out first,” Sukuna points out as they find a table to wait at. “It's common courtesy that I pay.”

“Then I suppose I'll have to pay for next time,” Megumi hums, a smirk playing on his lips. 

Sukuna feels his heart flutter in his chest and he internally scowls at himself for such a stupid reaction; what is he? Some little school girl? 

Grow up, Sukuna, he scoffs at himself mentally. 

He hates that the idea of a second date gets him so excited. 

“Bold of you to assume you'd wanna go out with me again,” Sukuna responds with a quirk of his lips. 

Megumi arches an eyebrow, leaning forward. He rests his arms on the table. “Why wouldn't I?” 

Sukuna drums his fingers on the table, holding Megumi’s gaze. “Well for starters, I'm an asshole.”

“Yeah,” Megumi nods. 

“I'm also Yuuji's older brother.”

Again, Megumi nods. “Correct.”

“Gojo doesn't like me. Or rather, I don't like him.”

Megumi snorts. “Gojo enjoys having you at the school. He just thinks you're fun to tease.”

Sukuna pauses momentarily. “He's a terrible influence on Yuuji,” he grumbles. 

This time, Megumi laughs, tucking his face into the collar of his school uniform. The sound makes Sukuna's chest grow warm and he wants to hear that sound again. Who knew such a pretty sounding laugh could come from Megumi Fushiguro?

“That is very true,” Megumi sighs once he's finished laughing. 

Sukuna gets to his feet when their names are called for their drinks, and he’s thankful for the out to give himself a moment to take in a deep breath, to regulate himself before going back to the table. He slides Megumi’s drink across the table and watches as the younger boy easily stabs his straw through the top of his drink and takes a sip. For a second, Sukuna is so transfixed on watching Megumi’s Adam’s apple bob that he doesn’t register the fact that he’s being spoken to. 

“Huh?”

Megumi huffs in amusement. “I was asking why you asked me on a date.”

“Oh,” Sukuna breathes. He blinks and rubs the back of his neck. With his free hand, he takes his straw and stabs it into his own drink so that he can take a sip, stalling for more time to try and give an answer that wouldn’t sound stupid. “I don’t know.”

Perfect. Great answer you fucking loser, Sukuna  tells himself. 

“I, uh, well—” He stutters over his words, making himself look like an even bigger fool. The biggest fool in the Goddamn world. He’s reminding himself of Yuuji at this exact moment. “I’ve been thinking about it and, uh, ah fuck.” Finally he gives up and leans back in his chair, rubbing his hands over his face. 

“I just wanted to and Maki told me to just do it,” Sukuna says, his words muffled by his palms. By now, the tips of his ears are red and he’s sure that his face is the same. Dropping his hands, he continues staring at the ceiling before looking back at his date. 

An amused smirk spreads over Megumi’s mouth and he snorts. “You asked Maki for advice?”

Sukuna takes a sip from his drink as his other hand runs through his hair (he needs to break this habit sooner than later). He scowls, more at himself than at Megumi as he says, “Listen, it’s not my proudest moment, but I’ve never done this before—”

“What?” Megumi gasps dramatically (or as dramatically as Megumi can be), interrupting Sukuna. “Date Man has never had a date before?”

“No,” Sukuna grunts, “and why do you keep calling me Date Man?”

Megumi simply shrugs in response. 

“If I'm Date man, that means you’re Raisin Boy,” the older boy decides with a firm nod. This earns an amused snort from Megumi who doesn't disagree. 

They go back to sitting in silence again, sipping their drinks. Thankfully, the other boy speaks up first.

“Are you as big of a movie buff as your brother?” Megumi asks.

Sukuna looks up. “Only by association,” he replies. “If he's not watching with his Junpei friend then he's forcing me to watch them.” A pause to take a sip of his drink. “Though, I do love a good horror movie; it's my favorite genre.” 

Perking up in his seat, Megumi leans forward a little. “What's your favorite horror movie?”

“'The Exorcist'. A classic.” Sukuna kisses his fingers. When his eyes land on Megumi again, the other boy has a look on his face that says he doesn't agree. Arching an eyebrow, Sukuna asks, “What?” 

Megumi gives a lame, one-shouldered shrug. “It's alright.”

Sukuna gapes at him, jaw dropping slightly and he blinks, shaking his head. “Alright? What do you mean ‘it's alright’?” 

“It's alright,” Megumi repeats while he mixes his drink. “I'll agree with you that it's a classic.”

There's a pause and Sukuna waits for him to continue, but he doesn't. Sukuna gestures for Megumi to continue. 

“I just think 'The Conjuring' is better.”

A loud laugh escapes from Sukuna's mouth and he claps a hand over his mouth. He clears his throat, glancing around to see if anyone noticed. Turning back to his date, he folds his arms and rests them on the table.

“You're just saying that,” Sukuna decides, eyeing Megumi over. “There's no way you think 'The Conjuring' is better.”

Megumi almost looks offended. “It is better. I prefer the first movie out of all of them, but I'm not too picky. Not to mention they're based on true stories and I'm a fan of nonfiction.”

“'The Exorcist' is based off of a true story,” Sukuna points out.

“Very loosely,” Megumi retorts. “Don't get me wrong, the actress who played the little girl—”

“Linda Blair—”

“—did a fantastic job, as did the actress who played her mother—”

“Ellen Burstyn,” Sukuna supplies helpfully.

Megumi smirks at him. “Not a big movie buff, huh?” he teases.

All Sukuna can do is shrug. “It's my favorite horror movie. I've done my research, alright?” 

Shaking his head, the other continues, “but with that being said, I think the plot of 'The Conjuring' is better. It's more suspenseful. Keeps you on your toes. Nothing terribly exciting happens in 'The Exorcist' until the last 20 minutes of the movie or so.” Seeing unimpressed look on Sukuna's face, Megumi asks, “When is the last time you saw 'The Conjuring'?”

Sukuna thinks for a moment. 

When is the last time he's seen that movie? Yuuji isn't much of a horror fan, and recently, Sukuna has been busy dealing with his stupid feelings and training that he had really watched any movies. 

“It's been a minute,” he finally says. 

The corner of Megumi’s mouth twitches up. “Maybe we should get together again and watch them back to back, you know, to see which one truly is better.”

The suggestion throws Sukuna through a loop and his brain stops thinking for a second. His heart skips a beat in his chest, his stomach twisting into knots and he wants to punch the table for getting so giddy. He can't stop the smile that comes to his face. 

“It's a date… Raisin Boy.”

[pinkacademiaprincess]

Hi! I’m about to start uni in October (law)

Can you give me a list of to-dos to mentally and physically prepare for this new journey? Like, things to bring, items to buy, notebooks etc 🥹💘

Operation Straight-A Student: A Comprehensive Guide to Prepping for a Successful Uni Experience 🎀📚💗✏️

ty for the ask! i'm not a law student, so this is gonna be more general uni advice that i hope can apply for you. best of luck in your journey, you're gonna do amazing things!!

step no. 1: plan, plan, plan!

for me, being organized & prepping ahead of time has been so helpful. even if things get a bit hectic or tough, having a routine to fall back on is key. here's how i do it!

google calendar

as soon as i have my class schedule, i input all my class meeting times on google calendar. then, based on whatever free space is left over, i allocate time for schoolwork and studying. here's the schedule i designed for this upcoming term:

make sure your study/ classwork time accounts for whatever online courses you're taking too. you should also include blocks for work, club meetings, etc. if they're recurring. i have google calendar linked to my phone so i get notifs for each time block.

planner

i recommend having a good planner. whether this is online or physical, depending on your preference, a weekly planner of your own is helpful for staying on top of work & having peace of mind.

the planner i use is the moleskine weekly planner. here is what it looks like inside:

on the left side i write all the tasks i have on each weekday (similar to the google calendar). on the right side, i list all the tasks i have to complete during that given week - i open the syllabi for all my classes and input whatever hw, assignments, projects, etc. are upcoming. i write them down in a checklist along with the date they're due. then, during my study blocks, i can check this page & decide what to work on!

note-taking & classwork

you should also have supplies for note-taking. some ppl prefer to take digital notes, so this means using your laptop or a tablet & stylus. personally, i like to take handwritten notes, so i bring loose-leaf lined paper & pencils to my lectures. i write the class name & date as the header for each page. when i'm done taking notes, i write the key topics in the top left-hand corner of the pager (in "no-man's land") so i can easily find the notes on specific topics when i'm flipping through them.

in terms of classwork, i recommend having a folder for each of your classes where you can store notes, assignments, tests, etc. i know some people use one big binder for all classes, but if you have a separate folder for each, you don't have to carry them all around on days when you only have two or three classes. i like the brand five star bc the folders are very durable and i've had the same ones all throughout uni!

for me, i've never been a huge notebook person b/c i like to keep my subjects separate so i rarely fill up an entire notebook. you can buy one to start with, and see once school starts if you think you need more!

other supplies

in terms of supplies, i'm honestly pretty minimalistic. the necessities for me are my planner, a folder & loose-leaf paper, and a pencil pouch with plenty of pens & pencils. i also bring my laptop & charger with me to school bc i use that for my online classes.

i do enjoy having cute supplies! i have a cute pink pencil pouch, glittery mechanical pencils, and fun pens. i also put stickers all over my laptop to give it a personal touch. i did a bit of embroidery on my backpack as well. you don't need to spend tons of money on aesthetic supplies, especially if it's something you won't have for long. but, finding simple ways to add a personal touch to your items can be fun & motivating!

step no. 2: make an action plan

i feel like it's easy to tell yourself you wanna do certain things or be a certain person during school. for example, i always want to be super studious, outgoing, & involved, but i used to struggle sm to actually do that. instead of only thinking of how you want to be, create actual steps/ tasks for yourself. here are my action items for inspo:

sit in the front row of every class - this can be daunting, but in my uni experience, wherever you sit in the first week becomes your (un)official assigned seat. get to class early, take a deep breath, and sit yourself down at the front! you'll be forcing yourself to stay at the front, but i promise it's fine! i really prefer this b/c if you & the prof get to class early you can chat a bit. also, when i wanna participate, i can speak at my regular volume & they'll hear me (rather than if i'm in the back row and had to scream). if nothing else, you'll become a familiar face!

attend office hours for each class at least once - i sometimes felt nervous/ anxious to go to office hours and talk to the professors & ta. but when you do it once, you realize they truly just want to help! getting to know the ppl who grade your assignments can be super useful. they might give you advice or info you don't get in lectures. plus, they are super knowledgeable!

raise your hand once per week - this forces you to be engaged with the content. i used to have such horrible social anxiety & the thought of speaking up in class & getting an answer wrong was my worst nightmare. and when i set this rule & began forcing myself to participate, i did make mistakes. but guess what... everyone moves on immediately. you might feel like the world is ending. it haunted me for weeks after 😢 but no one else cares! in the end, ppl will only remember that you were confident enough to raise your hand & speak up, not what you said. pls don't let your education suffer just b/c you're afraid some classmates might judge you! if raising your hand to answer problems is too daunting, start with asking clarifying questions & slowly build up to whatever you're able to do.

start a conversation with a classmate - having classmates that you're friendly with is so important. if you miss a lecture, need help on a concept, etc. you'll have someone you can turn to. and that's the least of it - you can end up making long-lasting friends! yes, it's scary to talk to a stranger. so, force yourself to do it as early as possible in the semester. an easy one - if you see someone sitting by an empty seat, ask if that seat is taken. if not, yay! it's go time 😊 sit by them and find something else to talk about - give them a (genuine & non-creepy) compliment, ask them if they've seen the syllabus, ask if they know the prof, etc. just something to get the convo started!! figure out their name, major, and other stuff too. once you've talked with them long enough to feel like you're getting along (whether that's after one class or multiple) ask for their number/ discord/ whatever so you can keep in touch! if they share your major, you should keep in contact with them b/c you might have other classes together in the future. but, again, in the best-case scenario, you have a new friend!

wear a cute outfit once per week - sometimes i would get a bit embarrassed or self-conscious to dress up for class. i forced myself to do it once per week, starting the first week of class, to set a precedent for myself. slowly i eased my way into wearing cute, fun outfits every day! no one is judging you as much as you are judging yourself, so have fun & be true to you.

step no. 3: study smarter, not harder

attending class is one thing, but you've got to put in the effort to study if you truly want to succeed. but, not all study methods will work for every single person. figure out how to study so you don't waste time with methods that don't work for you.

determine your learning style(s)

there are a few widely accepted learning styles. you've probably tried all of them throughout your time at school, so think back on which learning experiences have been most and least successful for you. then, connect them back to these learning styles to figure out ways you can most effectively study.

visual:  if you learn by seeing info visually, such as with maps, graphs, diagrams, charts, etc.

auditory: if you learn by getting info in auditory form, aka when it's heard or spoken

kinesthetic: aka hands-on, if you learn by doing & applying

reading/writing: if you learn info best when it’s in words, aka by writing it down or reading it

you might find that multiple of these learning styles are effective for you, maybe there's one that sticks out as the most similar to your style of learning, or maybe one that just doesn't work for you. now, you don't need to assign yourself one and forego the rest, but you can adjust the time you spend on various study methods based on how well they work for you.

for me, i've realized over time that i am NOT a reading learner. in high school i would diligently read all the textbook assignments, spending hours getting through the chapters, only to retain none of it & do poorly on assignments & tests.

on the other hand, i respond really well to kinesthetic learning - when applying concepts hands-on, such as with practice problems, i have a much better understanding of concepts & retention.

fast forward to college - i spend very little time on assigned readings. in fact, sometimes i skip them all together 🫢 b/c if i spend an hour reading the textbook but retain none of it, that's an hour wasted. especially if the content from the textbook is going to line up with the lecture, i'm much better off paying attention & taking good notes in class, and then spending my study time doing practice problems. if i really do need to read the textbook, i have to make it interactive for myself - i answer the questions at the end of the chapter, take notes, quiz myself, etc.

now, my advice here isn't to skip textbook readings!! that's not something i recommend b/c for so many people, it IS effective and helpful! when it comes to studying, play on your strengths. don't try to force yourself to learn in a way that doesn't work for your brain. make modifications & prioritize your learning! here is an awesome guide to different methods that work for the various learning styles.

find your ideal study environment

you can also maximize the effectiveness of your studying based on the environment you're in. if you can decide what factors help or hinder your studying abilities, it will help you decide where you should make your go-to study spot!

at home or in public? sometimes, studying in a public place can be unproductive. it might make you feel more stressed (like the sensation of having your teacher look over your shoulder during a test 🫣) or distracted. for me, studying in public is actually useful b/c i'm less likely to get disctracted. if i'm in my room i might get tempted to open up tumblr or pinterest, but in public i feel like ppl might see me get off topic which deters me LOL. however, studying at home is nice b/c you're in the comfort of your own personal space - you can change into pjs, cuddle your pet, grab a snack, etc. i do a mix of studying in public & at home b/c i feel like they both have their benefits

quiet or noisy? do you study better in a silent environment, or do you like some sound/ white noise? personally, i cannot deal with ANY noise when i'm trying to study, it totally breaks my focus 😭but some people like the ambient/ white noise of a coffee shop

music or silence? similar to the last one, does having music help you stay focused, or distract you? i know ppl will swear by different things - classical music, upbeat music, songs in different languages, etc. again, i personally cannot handle any sounds 😅 but if music keeps you alert, plan accordingly - have earbuds or go to a coffee shop that has a playlist going

nature or indoors? maybe you find it stuffy to be indoors all day & studying out in the open air helps you stay grounded and calm. on the flipside, being exposed to the elements might just make you more distracted. if you like studying outdoors, try public parks with benches, and also see if your campus has outdoor seating areas. some libraries do too. for a happy medium, you can study someplace with large windows/ nice view.

independent or collaborative? do you study better on your own or in groups? you can join a study group or go to office hours to get a sense of studying in a group setting vs. alone. group studying can help hold you accountable, make it more interactive, and keep you focused. that being said, i def prefer studying independently. i like to go at my own pace, and tbh i get easily distracted w/ others and will begin to just chit chat

based on how you answer those questions, you can decide what your ideal study environment is & pick a go-to place! for me, based on my preferences, my most effective study environment going to the library alone or studying in my room.

that's all for this post! i feel it got very long but i had so many tips to share. there's no "one size fits all" guide to navigating uni life. but i think everyone can benefit from prepping in advance & being mentally prepared. knowing your own strengths + having a plan of attack will guide you in stressful/ uncertain times!

overall, take the time to get to know yourself & figure out how you can be at your very best. apply whichever bits of advice resonate, and ignore anything that's not gonna serve you. this is YOUR journey!

and remember, even with all the planning in the world, things can go unexpectedly. you are more than equipped to deal with whatever life throws your way! when you are faced with unexpected things - pause & think, assess the situation, & determine your best course of action. above all, YOU'VE GOT THIS! 💗

[pensat-i-fet]

Wrong first impression, Part 2 (Ferran Torres x Reader)

**I wrote part 1, which you can find here, a while ago and a few people asked me to either write more for Ferran in general or to do a part 2. Well, both things will happen 😅 but part 2 comes first. I actually adore this little story, so I hope you all like it too ❤️**

Word count: 4182

Masterlist

Wattpad

A month has passed since Ferran and I met in Valencia. I started to follow him on Instagram and sent him a DM like he asked. And we've texted ever since but…it's just weird. First, he was on holiday and then left for pre-season. And I've been so busy getting ready for the next competitions I'll be a part of that the excitement of our first meetings sort of fizzled out. Until now.

My brother Jorge and I are currently at the train station waiting to go to Barcelona for a small competition. It's below my level but I'm still recovering from my injury so baby steps.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Huh?"

"You're staring at your phone. Are you waiting for a call or something?"

"No, just checking the time".

I'm not waiting for a call but for a text. A text back from Ferran after I told him I'm going to Barcelona. This is what he wanted, right? To meet in Barcelona. To go on a date. Hard to forget when someone like him mentions that word. But now…he doesn't answer back.

Of course, it's been a month. He's been to so many different places, probably promising so many other girls to take them on dates. And they all probably were stupid enough to think they were special like I did.

"I'm going to grab a coffee. Want one?"

"Decaf, please".

I get up to go get our coffees, leaving my phone behind so I keep some of my dignity intact. Me, glued to my phone to see if a guy texts me? Pathetic.

"It's 5.70, please", tells me the barista and I frown.

"Is there some promotion? I think you're charging me less than you should".

He laughs and shakes his head. "I appreciate the honesty but no, no promo. Just me wanting to gift the muffin to a pretty girl".

I blush slightly. "Thank you".

I give him the money, not pointing out the muffin is actually for my brother, and then go back to meet Jorge.

"I got us a free muffin".

"How?"

"By being pretty, apparently".

"Is that all you can get?"

"Maybe I'm not pretty enough to also get free coffee. I'll brush my hair next time".

He laughs, picking up my coffee instead of his and he shushes me when I complain. "Look", he says, showing me what's underneath the sleeve, "his phone number".

I snort. "Appreciate the effort but I'm not interested".

"Right. Too busy hooking up with Ferran Torres?"

I almost choke on my coffee, which I also spill on my dress. My, thankfully, navy blue dress. The stain won't be that obvious.

"Where is that coming from?"

"Your phone kept getting notifications and I took a little peek because I just did. I'm not going to look for excuses. And I saw Ferran was writing about how happy he was that you were going to be in Barcelona".

He did? "It's not like that".

"Sure, baby sis. Sure".

I'm itching to pick my phone up to read the texts but won't give Jorge the satisfaction.

"Can I have a bite of your muffin? It's technically mine after all".

"Sure", he tells me, bringing the muffin closer to my face. "I'm sure Ferran will also let you take a bite if you ask nicely".

Now I choke on the muffin, getting little crumbs everywhere.

"Stop it!"

"But it's so funny. And also my revenge for not telling me".

"There's nothing to tell".

Jorge gets a tissue and offers it to me.

"Nothing? I left you on the beach with him for 20 minutes and now you text about meeting in Barcelona. When did you even get his phone number?"

"We met the next day by coincidence and he asked me to tell him my number so we could chat. That's it".

"To chat about what? Your favourite beaches in Valencia?"

Well, we actually have chatted about that too. But I won't tell Jorge that. "Just to chat".

"Just not before the competition, ok?"

"You're not making sense. What about before the competition?"

"No sex. Save the energy for competing and then do whatever you want".

I glare at him, thankful I wasn't eating or drinking anything this time.

And then, finally, our train is here. Jorge always buys tickets for us to sit where the tables are so he can do some work on the way to our destination. And that's a perfect moment to check my phone.

[Me]: so I'm actually going to Barcelona. Very last minute but I'll be competing there.

[Me]: just thought I'd mention. Are you in Barcelona at the moment?

I know he is in Barcelona but I try to be a bit subtle at least.

[Ferran]: I am! When will you get here?

[Ferran]: Will your brother travel with you? Be honest. Is he still mad at me?

[Ferran]: we're playing the Gamper on Wednesday. Wanna come?

[Ferran]: actually so happy you're finally visiting Barcelona 😉

Not the winky face. I feel like hiding under the table. My brother definitely saw that emoji.

[Me]: we're on the train now on our way there. And no, he's not mad at you 😅

[Me]: is the Gamper our date?

The moment I press send, I regret it. We've been bantering. And we've definitely been flirting. But we haven't mentioned the "date" again. Now I'll sound desperate. Great.

[Ferran]: I prefer taking you out for dinner or something but if that's what you want 🤷

I bite my lip, looking up to see Jorge is still busy responding to emails or whatever it is he does on his laptop.

[Me]: we could do both? Match and then dinner? Unless you already have plans.

[Ferran]: I just cancelled them.

I can't help the giggle that comes out of me reading that and Jorge stares at me for a few seconds.

"Tell me you're not sexting".

"Oh my God".

**

My first day in Barcelona is spent training…and texting with Ferran. My second day in Barcelona is spent training…and texting with Ferran. On my third day, it's finally time to compete.

"You got this", tells me Jorge. And I'm not so sure.

But I go out anyway and manage to get 3rd place in the first category. That helps with my confidence and I slowly forget the injury and keep improving. Until I get the results necessary to qualify for the next tournament.

"You were great".

"Thanks. That felt good".

"I bet. What's the plan for today? Do you want to go celebrate somewhere?"

"I…".

I still didn't tell my brother about my date with Ferran but seeing his face, there might be no need.

"Meeting him today then?"

"He invited me to the match. You can come too".

"I don't want to third wheel my sister".

"It's not like that…", it would totally be like that.

But Jorge just picks up my bag and puts his arm around my shoulders while we walk out of the building.

"Just be careful".

"I always am".

"And remind him he'll have to go back to Valencia at some point. He can't hide forever if he messes up".

I roll my eyes, but I appreciate his concern.

Back at the hotel, I wash my hair again and get ready for the match. I know we'll sort of go on a date after the match but I don't want to wear anything too fancy to a match. So I end up picking some jean shorts that are high-waisted and make my figure look great. And I pair them with a nice pink blouse.

I don't know what to do with my hair but it's pretty hot and humid so a ponytail is probably a good idea. Just to get the hair away from my face. A face that I can't do much with because my makeup knowledge ends at putting on some mascara trying not to poke my eye out and putting some lipstick on.

"This will do", I tell myself while looking in the mirror and I finish the look by spraying some perfume on.

I mean, the first time Ferran saw me I was wearing gym clothes and sweating while working out so…this is a huge improvement.

I went to a match at the Camp Nou once but that's not where today's match will be played. We have to go to Montjuïc and when I get there everyone is complaining about how to get to the stadium. I opt for the escalators and keep looking around at the nice views. It also helps me avoid overthinking what will happen next.

Ferran told me what gate to go to because they'll have my name on a list. The only time that happens to me is when I go to a competition. This feels way fancier. And weirder.

The guy who I have to talk to looks at my ID, then at the list, then back to the ID and then back at me.

"Are you family?"

"No, a friend".

He looks at me with a sceptical look when I say the word friend but gives me a piece of paper with my name on it and points at the area I should go to.

I like football. I really do. Do I enjoy seeing a friendly between Barça and Tottenham? Maybe not so much. But in the second half, Ferran finally plays some minutes so I at least get to see him. It brings back memories of when he played in Mestalla. We had so many hopes for him. But he's here now and, same as during preseason, he's here to score goals.

After a nice little comeback, Barça win the match and I make my way to where I think I'll meet Ferran. He wasn't that clear with his explanation because he hasn't been here before either. So we can only hope he actually finds me.

Even though we've seen each other in person before, and we've been chatting for a while, it's odd to now be face to face again. For both of us. It's not just me being a shy mess.

"Hi. Congrats on the goal".

"Thank you. Did you enjoy the match?"

"Sure. Better than most of Valencia's matches last season", I try to joke.

"Yeah. So…what did you want to do now? I didn't really have time to book a table anywhere nice. But I've got options".

"Tell me the options then".

"It's just two", he laughs. "We could go to my place and order food. Or go get some street food and just walk around the city. I remember you mentioning you liked doing that".

I did mention it. "Option B sounds good".

"Cool. Let's go to my car. And then I can drive you to your hotel or wherever you want to go".

I chuckle. "Let's see how the night goes".

Barcelona has always been one of my favourite cities but walking around it at night truly is something else.

"I'm not sure this is the best food to eat after we've both competed today but…".

"No one needs to know. I won't tell Xavi if you don't tell my brother".

"I'm definitely not telling your brother, he's scary".

My brother is anything but scary. But Ferran doesn't know him.

"Oh", I say, stopping to look at a drinks stand.

"What?"

"They have horchata".

"You don't like it? They'll kick you out of Valencia if they find out".

"I love it. But it's never good outside of Valencia".

"That's not true".

I look at Ferran offended by his lack of knowledge. "I dare you to try it, then".

"Ok", he shrugs and we go buy a cup of the famous drink adored by us Valencians.

Ferran looks more sceptical every second. He looks at the liquid on the cup, smells it and then finally takes a little sip.

"It's alright".

"Take another sip then".

"I'm not thirsty".

"Admit it's bad".

"It isn't great…", he concedes. "Wanna try?"

Curiosity killed the cat and might give me a stomachache now but I try it anyway. "God! That's worse than I expected".

"I know".

"I need something to get rid of this taste in my mouth".

"I have an idea".

I have to give it to him. He isn't just inspired on the pitch but out of it too. It was a brilliant idea to kiss me.

"Better?"

"I might need a bit more help".

Our kisses only make me even more hyper-aware of the people around us. I’m a nobody but he plays for Barça and the national team.

"Everyone is looking at us because of you. This is so weird".

"They're looking at you, not me".

"How do you know?"

"Because I can tell and because when people look at me, they either ask for a photo or tell me how shit I am. They are looking at you".

"Why? Do I have something in my face?"

"Yes".

And he didn't think about telling me before? "What is it? Where? Help me clean it. I have tissues…".

"I can't. It's this thing called being really pretty. It’s permanent".

I smack him on the chest but he only laughs at his joke. I don't feel like laughing as much, remembering what he said.

"Does that really happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"People telling you to your face that you aren't good".

"I was exaggerating a bit…", he says, but looks away, which gives me the answer to my question.

"I was going to say you'll prove them wrong soon but you already kind of are doing that…little shark".

"My self-esteem would appreciate it if you removed the little from the nickname".

"You need a few more goals, preferably against Madrid, for me to do that".

"Challenge accepted".

The more time passes, the more I think this night couldn't be more perfect. Gone is the initial awkwardness. Being with Ferran is so…easy.

I even forget to check my phone but when I pick it up to take a photo, I notice some texts from Jorge.

"My brother wants to know if you kidnapped me".

"I did. And no amount of money will convince me to give you back to him".

"I can outrun you, Torres".

"You can't", he says, stepping in front of me so I can't keep walking. "But…what were you thinking about doing now? I could drive you back to the hotel. Or you could come with me".

"What a kind kidnapper you are. Giving me options".

"That's me. So…which one do you choose?"

"Well, since you've been so kind, I guess I should stay with you".

"Perfect choice".

**

Life as an athlete is too complicated for serious relationships. That's why my life lately has been one-night stand after one-night stand. Easy, non-commitment fun. And this will be the same. Even if this time I don't want it to be the same. But I wasn't born yesterday. I know how football players are. Even those as nice as Ferran. He got what he wanted and now he'll move on. And so will I.

"I thought you had left", he says, joining me in his kitchen.

"I wanted some water".

Ferran comes closer so he can hug me and place his chin on my shoulder. I turn to look at him and see his eyes are closed. Well, this doesn't help me face the reality of the situation.

"I should leave soon".

"Me too. I can drive you to the hotel before going to train. What's your plan for today?"

"I have to do a recovery session".

"Same".

"Really? After just 10 minutes? And you didn't even do that much".

"I scored a goal…", he says. But his frown turns into a curious look when he sees I'm trying not to laugh.

"I didn't mean your performance on the pitch", I manage to say before I burst out laughing. "Sorry, I had to".

"Did you?", he asks, pretending to be all serious before he starts to tickle me.

When my stomach starts to hurt from laughing so much, I beg for him to stop and he does.

"Can we see each other today at some point then?"

I'm still a little breathless when I answer. "Maybe tonight? We leave tomorrow morning".

"Already", he says more to himself. "Ok, let's meet tonight. I could try and find us a nice place to go to by using the I play for Barça card but I rather stay home and order. Your choice, though".

"I like the staying-in plan".

"Perfect".

Not much later, we're on our way to my hotel. And this weird feeling I have only keeps getting worse.

"Here we are. I'll see you later, ok? I can pick you up around 7 if that's ok".

I nod. "Sounds good".

Then I try to leave the car but Ferran grabs my arm and I sit back down.

"You're not going to say goodbye to me?"

"I was going to when I got out of the car…".

"Too far away for a proper goodbye".

"I don't…".

"I meant a kiss".

I laugh nervously before leaning down to kiss him. Yeah, that feeling is getting worse and worse …and worse.

Not even five minutes after I get back to the hotel, Jorge is already knocking on my door.

"Had fun then?"

"Yeah".

"You don't look so sure", and here comes the overprotective brother. "Everything ok?"

"Yes. I'm meeting Ferran again later".

"But…".

"There's no but".

"There is. Tell me".

I sigh, sitting down next to my brother. "But then we leave and I won't see him again".

"Says who? Did he tell you he didn't want to see you again?"

"No", not only did he not do that, he sent me signals that told me he wanted the complete opposite of not seeing me again. "But I don't live here, we are both busy…".

"We don't live that far away. Just don't write this off before it's over. You're always too much of an extremist".

Jorge isn't wrong but I feel like this is different and I have a reason to feel the way I do.

Thankfully, training allows me to distract myself from any thoughts about Ferran. There is time to do that while I get ready to see him again.

"Too cute, too cute, too sexy, too cute…".

Jorge is going through my outfits, helping me pick one. I didn't ask for his opinion but he's here to give the opinion anyway.

"How is this dress too sexy?"

"Too short".

"You do realise he's already seen it all, right?"

"La la la la la laaaa", he says, pretending not to listen.

"You're the one who wants me to see him after this. Don't be dramatic".

"You're still my little sister. I'm aware of what happened but don't need to know more or think about it".

"You were joking about it a couple of days ago!"

"It's ok to joke before it happens. Not after".

"You're so weird".

"Must be a family thing".

I shake my head, picking a dress from the too cute pile and putting it on. And while Jorge is helping me do my hair, and only causing a mess, I get a text from Ferran saying he's waiting for me outside.

"Gotta go!"

"Be safe!"

I roll my eyes and get inside the lift, where I try to fix my hair as much as I can after all the experiments Jorge tried.

"Hey!"

"Hi".

Ferran is waiting outside the car and grabs me by the waist to bring me closer and kiss me.

"You look really cute".

I laugh and can see his confusion right away. "Inside joke with my brother. You wouldn't get it".

"Ok …let's go home then".

Even though I thought it was impossible, tonight is even better than the previous night. Because we know each other better and a part of me starts to think Jorge might have a point. But the reality will hit me in the face so better to stay realistic.

That's why sleeping is so hard. For me, anyway. Ferran is sleeping like a baby. But I keep staring at him and then at the ceiling. Trying to think. But I still haven't reached a good conclusion when I finally fall asleep.

In the morning, it's him that wakes up before I do. And then he wakes me up in the most glorious way possible. I feel the kisses on the back of my neck while I start to leave dreamland. And two strong arms hold me closer to him at the same time.

"How about you never leave?"

I can feel the heat in my face at his words. And also the way my stomach almost hurts because I know the answer to that request.

"I can't. I need to be at the train station soon".

"I know", he whines, falling back in the bed and allowing me to take a final peek at him. It'll be a nice memory to have.

The sooner I leave, the better. That's my reasoning. So I start to get dressed quickly.

"Do you know if you'll come to Barcelona again soon?"

"No".

"Will you be in Valencia? I need to visit my family soon…".

"Ferran, what are you doing?"

He's still lying down in bed, hands behind his head. "Asking when I'll see you again".

"Why? I mean…this is it, right? We finally saw each other, we slept together, we move on".

"Is that what you want?"

What I want? He almost looks hurt when he says it.

I finish putting on my shoes and gathering my messy hair in a ponytail before I turn to face him again.

"I assumed it would be what you want".

"Me? Have I ever made you feel like that?"

"No, but…".

"So you were letting your wrong assumptions about me get in the way again? I thought we were passed that moment when I made the bad first impression or whatever".

"We are but …we don't live in the same place. And we have to travel for our careers and…".

"And if you want to find excuses, I'm sure you'll find plenty".

"You don't get it".

"I do. And I get your worries but wouldn't it be worth it to at least try?"

Would it? Probably. But I'm not brave enough for this.

"Not right now".

He nods. "I'll make you change your mind".

And with that promise, I leave.

**

Ferran didn't lie when he said he would try to change my mind. And he seems to have help from my brother.

When we go to Rome to compete, I find a bouquet of flowers back at the hotel. When I get back to Valencia, it so happens to be the same week Ferran travels there to visit family and we spend some time together again. By the end of his time there he asks me if it's the right time then and I say that not yet.

But that never giving up mentality everyone praises about this new him isn't just reserved for the pitch.

"You are in Granada", he says when I answer his call.

"Yes".

"I'll be there on Tuesday".

"Why? Do you have days off?"

"No. A few players got injured and I'm joining the national team. We're playing there and you're coming to see me".

I laugh at his confidence. "Says who? What if you play at the same time I'm competing? I'm not here on holiday?"

"I asked Jorge and you are both free to come see me play".

What? "No way you convinced him to go to a football match!"

"I did. And I have an idea".

"What kind of idea?"

"If I score a goal, you'll give this, us, a chance".

"Ferran…".

"Ok, make it two. I score two goals, you stop this nonsense and finally do what you really want to do".

How easy will it be for him to score two goals? It's Cyprus but still…he might not even play. But he's in such good form…and who am I kidding? I'm hoping he scores those two goals. And more.

"Ok".

**

"One down", laughs Jorge after Ferran scores his first goal against Cyprus. It didn't take him long. "It's like he's extra motivated, you know".

"Are you going to date him or something?"

"Baby sis, I wish. But the sibling he likes is you".

I shake my head and keep watching the match. Whenever Ferran gets closer to the goal, I can feel my heart beating faster. And whenever I don't see the ball hit the back of the net, I feel disappointed.

And then…

"Goal!", screams Jorge and I just stare at the players celebrating as if not knowing what to do. But when Jorge sits down next to me, he can see how big I'm smiling.

When the referee signals the end of the match, I stand up and turn to see if Jorge is following me. He isn’t but he winks at me when he sees me looking.

“Go see your man”.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hey slug! Obviously it's a bit older now, but I was wondering if you might be able to translate Sougyaran BAM, from Kuko? I feel like I don't quite understand the TLs I have seen, so I was wondering if there were certain references or concepts I'm missing here lol

I saw the email notification of this request at the perfect moment. Too anxious to do work or anything else productive. Too caffeinated to sleep. Fuck it. Time to look at Kuukou for an hour.

Under a cut for length

Like a lot of Kuukou's... well, everything... this song is an eclectic mix of elements that can all more or less be distilled into these couple of bullet points:

Trying to fight the listener

Dropping powerful life advice or Buddhist teachings

Claiming his music is both a game changer and the kind of stuff that gets your blood pumping

Scatting, rhyming without meaning, or otherwise making wordplay

Outside of the parts that are straight-up nonsensical, the majority of the rap is very casual to the point of being rude. However, it's also interspersed with formal religious language. Again, both of these are how Kuukou talks, but I get why this would make it difficult for someone to translate.

I talk about this a lot whenever I translate anything, but an important (and maybe the most important!) part of any translation is determining the methodology, focus, and goals before you begin. I figure that if someone's asking me to look at song lyrics for songs that have been out for years, they probably care a lot more about the minutiae of what the character's saying than if I'm writing a rap as part of a longer work where readers aren't going to give it much attention. In that second case, it's probably more important to convey the appearance of a rap--rhyme, rhythm, what have you--and make sure I'm hitting the overall meaning rather than translate word-for-word. You know? The issue is, translating word-for-word would produce mostly nonsense on this one, since my interpretation of its meaning is largely coming from reading between the lines. There's also no real meaning outside of the four bullet points above. It's all vibes. So, this is a vibe-focused translation. When Kuukou says something with no meaning (that I can tell) outside of wordplay, I've exchanged it with a fresh wordplay. At the same time, since I assume the audience wants to know the minutiae, I put footnotes at the very end for the most curious souls. Finally, outside of wordplay moments, there is no attention paid to rhyming, rhythm, or line length.

Also I spent like forty minutes on it so it isn't a polished work of art or anything of the sort. Lyrics:

You wanna piece of this? That’s cool, tough guy. Bring it on. ‘Cause I’mma mess you up. Hmm? You’ve had enough? Yeah, bitch, I bet you’re fuckin’ SATIETIED. Who the hell do you think you are? Aw, who I am kidding? It doesn’t matter who you are. I’ve never met an ass I couldn’t kick! And while I’m here thrashing your sorry butt, listen up. I’m Kuukou from Bad Ass Temple, representing Nagoya, yo. And I’m gonna be world champion. Whazzat? Who do I think I am, some kinda fancy-pants hotshot? Nah, dawg. I’m a monk, haha! Get in the zone, do it or go home, this ain’t the scene you’ve known. [1] I’m a rebellious rhymer staging a revolution. C’mon, join me! Let me hear your voices!

“Enough determination can move mountains,” as they say. Yeah, a-a-a-and I’ve got determination for days.

San gha gharan bam! [2] S-S-S-Scatting n’ rapping, rapping with my razzle-dazzle tongue [3] Check, ch-ch-ch-check it, che-wa-watch out Gha bam! S-S-S-Scatting n’ rapping, rapping, BAT’s sexy leader [4] Kick, kickin’ kickin’ killer San gha gharan bam gha gha gharan bam gha gha gharan bam Gha gha gha gha gharan bam

Say what? Rules, rules, rules—who the fuck cares about rules? I’m the ruler now. A ruler and a schooler. [5] Yo, I’ve got that brand new music— When I ring this giant bell, people hear that shit far and wide. Beat it! And lyrics? You already know I spit so much fire they call me a dragon. I’m all about the impulses, the anarchy, let’s fuckin’ go! I’m a breath of fresh air up in this shit. Eight pulls, nine pulls, ten pulls—someone say temples? [6] If you don’t know already, then you oughta listen up. You don’t need any of these options. Go make your own. Paint that shit vibrantly. Go try something new! And if it goes so well you can indulge in some goddamn rejoicin’? Then hell yeah, now we’re talking.

Yo, man. The world’s all in how you see it, as they say, and don’t you ever forget it. A-a-a-and I may be a monk, but I’m not preachin’ just to scold you! [7]

San gha gharan bam! S-S-S-Scatting n’ rapping, rapping with my razzle-dazzle tongue Check, ch-ch-ch-check it, che-wa-watch out Gha bam! S-S-S-Scatting n’ rapping, rapping, BAT’s sexy leader Kick, kickin’ kickin’ killer San gha gharan bam gha gha gharan bam gha gha gharan bam Gha gha gha gha gharan bam

Yeah, life’s got ups and downs. You asking me, “Whatchu lookin’ at?” [8] Your ASS, lol got ‘em. Wassup, wassup, I’m a rhymer. I’m makin’ some good shit up in here. Hm? Ey, dance, dance over days when our hearts are aligned [9] Shoo bidoo doo bidoo Roo bidoo doo bidoo Tickili tickili tackili-tatt-too

Yeah! Haha! My rapping’s freakin’ EXHILARATORY. Hello! Aight, c’mon on, lemme give you some of this and wake you right up. Yo, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, ho!

Gharan bam gharan bam Gh-gh-gh-gh hey! Bring it on, tough guy! R-r-rapping, rapping, r-r-rapping with my razzle-dazzle tongue R-r-rapping, yeah, gh-gh-gh, hey!

Yeah, clear the scene, ‘cause I’mma reinvent the scene. [10] Yo, get outta my way. I’m Evil Monk, the dragon of Bad Ass Temple, you know. Rrrrrrah! [1] This last is literally "clear weather (空)" or "energetic vibes (空)." At face value, it appears to be nonsense for rhyming. However, at the very end of the song, Kuukou talks about "the vibes/the scene (空気)" changing and him changing it (which can also be read as the weather changing/clearing up), which makes me wonder if those two are related. Just in case, I wrote them with a possible connection in English too.

[2] 僧伽藍 (sangharan) is a short form of 僧伽藍摩 (sangharama), a Buddhist temple or monastery. Bam is, of course, the sound of Kuukou throwing hands.

[3] 饒舌 (jouzetsu) is a fairly formal word in Japanese to refer to excessive talking. However, I was surprised to learn in the process of TLing this that it's also Chinese for rapping which appears to be how Kuukou's using it here. Also, if you're curious how English "jazzy" became "razzle-dazzle," I realized near the end of the song that I needed to start this word with the same sound as "rapping" (because he scats the j sound on jazzy and jouzetsu) whereupon I set out to find a good synonym. The issue is, I wasn't sure exactly how the lyric writers were using the term, so I put "jazzy" in an English-to-Japanese dictionary to get "loud, invigorating, eye-catching." Yeah, that's Kuukou all right. "Razzle-dazzle" is similar and starts with an r, so there we go.

[4] The lyrics say "xy な leader" (the な is just indicating that "xy" is being used as an adjective, btw) which I assumed means sexy... ekkusu ii said quickly sounds like sekushii. To be sure I wasn't barking up the wrong tree entirely, I ran a quick Twitter search on that line and found a very large number of Japanese Tweeters thinking the exact same thing I was. (It looks like Kuukou's VA once flashed his collarbone on this line in a concert, delighting scores of collarbone lovers everywhere.) That being said, searching anything on Twitter and finding horny Tweets isn't exactly a novel concept. Well, if I'm wrong about this, then at least I'm in the good company of all the thirsty Kuukou fans. Hahaha. If this seems OoC to you, I feel like it's here mainly for fanservice, not necessarily because Kuukou's trying to get some with the person he's beating up and/or preaching at. Although, idk. If you ship Kuukou with anyone, you could very well see some parallels...

[5] Literally "I'll beat up [everything] including the roulette board." Wordplay on rules (ruuru), ruler (ruuraa), and roulette (ruuretto)

[6] Literally "Terapii (therapy), terapii, terapii, tera (temple)-- Oh, the age of temples?" Wordplay/stupid joke

[7] I don't like how I worded this line, but I don't care enough to spend much more time fussing over it. Kuukou's making a joke that, as a monk, he delivers religious sermons 説法. However, in colloquial terms, a 説法 is a telling-off when someone does something undesirable. Kuukou, as a frequent doer of undesirable things, gets these from his dad constantly. Therefore, he's being like, "This isn't the LAME STUPID kind of 説法... this is the kind that ROCKS! *sick guitar riff*"

[8] These two lines seem like complete non sequiturs because they're paired together in Japanese for rhyming. (nami ga dekiru/nani ga mieru)

[9] I admit that I'm struggling to understand this line because the grammar is very irregular. Japanese Twitter is not being especially helpful here, as most Tweets featuring it are some version of "God, this damn song is stuck in my head."

[10] Literally "[Someone] changes the atmosphere/scene. The atmosphere/scene changes." See note 1

[schrodingersschlong]

Thank you to all the horny folks in my notifications recently, this blog always picks up traction whenever I stop posting and take a long break for some reason!

That being said, I am getting financially desperate - I had to quit my last job in early May because the work conditions were killing my body, and the upper management made it very clear they didn't like having a trans man in the warehouse - fingers crossed that this next job I applied for actually works out and I can stop being unemployed. In the meantime, if you guys like what I post here, I'll gladly draw whatever you may ask for if you're interested in buying!

I don't care how gross your interests are, I'll draw for you as long as you're 18+. Come furries, come piss folks, fandoms that get you put on a DNI, etc etc etc, you're all welcome. At the end of the day I have rent to be paid, who am I to judge?

The few times I've posted my explicit art it's been taken down due to tumblr's post-2018 Community Guidelines <3

Prices below - Please DM for example work. 💜💜💜

• I'm not assuming this post will take off, but just in case, let's say I have 15 spots open. 0/15 claimed.

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- ADDITIONAL CHARACTER (1) - FREE

- TRANSPARENT/SOLID COLOR BACKGROUND - FREE

- ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS (3+) - +$5.00 Per additional characters past 2 characters.

I always check in throughout the art process and send progress pictures of the sketches to make sure it's done how you want! You have full freedom to make changes along the way, all you have to do is ask.

I require half of the full payment up front, then the other half once the piece is completed. If I am unable to complete the piece within three weeks time for whatever reason, life events, damaged equipment, etc, and you do not wish to wait for it to be completed, I will refund you. Still, unless it is a fully rendered art piece, I can complete most pieces in about a week on average.

If you buy a simpler art piece, love it, and decide you want it fully rendered, I'll complete it for you for the price of a full render minus what you already paid! (Got a sketch, want it rendered? $20.00 -$5.00 = $15.00)

[bonbonchocolates]

Tinder

Yandere Taehyung x Reader

Part 1 Part 2

Summary: When your best friend creates an account on Tinder account for you....

Warnings: yandere Taehyung, stalking, obsessive behaviour, horror themes, major character death, minor character death, tae is kinda creepy here

A/N: Again originally from my Wattpad account. I hope you like it and if you did please leave a like.

Masterlist

____________________________________________

"You did what?"

"Chill Y/N, just calm down."

"How can you tell me to calm down when you made a profile on tinder for me without asking my permission."

Your best friend Rose sighed.

"This was the only way left. I set you up on numerous dates but you refused and even so many boys proposed to you and you rejected."

She exclaimed.

"Y/N you are 24 already and now you need to spice up your love life. I am your best friend and I care about you."

You let her words sink in your mind. She is right. When was the last time you were in a relationship? If you remember correctly it was almost six years ago. What was the boy's name? You couldn't even remember that because the relationship only lasted for a week. After that you had never been in a relationship. Though you went out on a few days but it didn't work out. All you want is a long term relationship but all the boys you went out on a date just wanted hookups.

"I get it"

You exclaimed, a smile appeared on her face.

"Y/N at least give it a try. I'm sure you may get a perfect match for you here."

"Ok I am re.."

You got interrupted by the sound of beeping of your phone. Rose quickly picked it up and checked the notification. A huge smile made its way on her face.

"Y/N you won't believe what happened?"

She started to jump in happiness. You were very curious to know what happened that made your bestie go crazy.

"Rose stop, now tell me what happened?"

She sat down on the couch beside me.

"Y/N they found a perfect match for you."

"Really?"

"Yes, wait let me check his profile."

You don't why she is so over excited for finding a boyfriend for you when she, herself has never been in a relationship.

"Ahhh...ohhh Y/N look"

She yelled your eardrum was almost about to blast. She then showed you a picture of a man, who was supposedly your match.

You don't want to say but he is so damn handsome.

"Y/N isn't he handsome?"

Rose said busy admiring his picture.

"He is but..not that much."

"Y/N are you blind? How can you say he is not that handsome? When he is the most good looking person I've ever seen in my life."

She again shouted. You are sure that one day she will make you deaf.

"You can't trust people online what if the picture is edited. Moreover my baby brother Jungkookie is more handsome."

"That rabbit.."

"Dare you say something about my brother."

You threatened her that got you both laughing. Then you heard the popping of notification on your phone. Rose checked it and her eyes widened seeing whatever she saw.

"Y/N look Mr. Handsome text you."

She handed you the phone and got up the couch.

"Bye Y/N I need to go my girlfriend must be waiting for me."

With that she hurriedly left your apartment and closed the door behind.

Wait girlfriend, that means she is-

Once again the sound of beeping of your phone grabbed your attention. You checked it and found another message from Mr. Handsome.

____________________________________________

VANTAE: Hello!

VANTAE: I'm Taehyung, Kim Taehyung.

You: I'm Y/N, Jeon Y/N.

VANTAE: I already know that.

You: But how?

VANTAE: From your profile, silly.

You: Oh yeah.

You: I'm so stupid.

VANTAE: No problem.

VANTAE: I was wondering if we could be friends and get to know each other?

You: Yeah offcourse, why not?

VANTAE: So we are friends from now on.

You: Yep

____________________________________________

Unknowingly a smile appeared on your face. You don't even know him and text him a few minutes ago but you don't know why are you feeling so comfortable with him. You got so happy when he asked you to be his friend instead of asking something weird.

There are few men like him in this world today but you are glad there are. If he is good to you throughout you are planning to meet him for real. And if he is not faking anything and is interested in you. You are ready to give this relationship a chance.

____________________________________________

Time Skip:

A month passed and you and Taehyung have been really good friends by now. You both shared all your interest with each other through text. You also got to know that he is a photographer and is currently twenty-six years old.

Only two years older than me.

He texts you early in the morning wishing you good morning. In the evening asking how your day went and in the night wishing you good night.

This small gestures made him really sweet in your eyes. You just hope he is not faking his personality because if you get to know he is you will be heartbroken. Your trust in good men still exists in the world would go away.

You told about everything to Rose and she is really happy for you. You even thanked her because due to her you met Taehyung.

Another important thing that happened in my life in this one month was Namjoon. Almost three weeks ago he joined our company and he is my colleague now. At first when you saw him he seemed cold and serious but as you got to know him you really liked him.

He was so good to be true. He was the second good thing that happened to you in this month. He was so kind and helping. He even would casually drop you your home. In this few weeks you two got really close. You are glad that both he and Taehyung came into your life.

____________________________________________

"Hi Y/N!"

You heard the beaming voice of Namjoon. You looked up and found Namjoon standing right in front of your with a huge smile on his face.

"Hi Namjoon"

You said returning a smile to him. You heard the pop sound of the phone. You checked it and it was a message from Taehyung. You got busy replying him and completely forgot about Namjoon standing there.

"Whom are you texting?"

"Just a friend of mine."

You replied without looking at Namjoon being busy in your phone.

"Rose right?"

"No he is a friend I met online."

"Can I know his name?"

You don't know why Namjoon is inquiring so much about it.

"If you don't mind.... obviously."

"Why would I mind? His name is Taehyung, Kim Taehyung."

As Taehyung's name left your mouth a sad expression took over Namjoon's face. This is the first time seeing him like this.

"What happened Joonie?"

"Actually I had a younger brother, his name was Taehyung too but he passed away almost two years ago in a road accident."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay I'm over it now. Anyway I should start my work otherwise our boss will fire me."

With that he left from there. You had no idea that Namjoon had a younger brother who passed away. He only mentioned about having a elder brother named Seokjin before.

____________________________________________

Time Skip:

Today Namjoon asked you out on a date and you agreed to it. Almost two months passed and now you have developed a small crush on Namjoon because he has been always good to you.

You told about this to Rose and she was happy for you. She told to do what your heart says and right now you want to give your and Namjoon's relationship a chance. You are so lucky to have such a supportive best friend.

About Taehyung it's the same, you both are very good friends. You always text each other but it seems like he is not interested in you and wants you to remain just friends. You have no problem with that because of have Namjoon now.

After you came back from work you got a message from Taehyung. You ignored it as you need to get ready for your date. You don't think he will mind. After getting ready you decided to reply Taehyung because Namjoon is still not here to pick you up.

____________________________________________

VANTAE: How was your day Y/N?

You: Mine was good. Wbu?

VANTAE: Mine was good too.

VANTAE:Can we chat now?

You: Tae I'm sorry but I can't chat with you today because I have to go out with a friend of mine. I hope you don't mind.

VANTAE: No worries. We can chat later.

You: Thanks for understanding.

____________________________________________

You didn't say him about the date because he doesn't need to know your personal life as you don't know about his personal life. Moreover he is still a friend you met online and it doesn't matter how good friends you both are you can't trust him totally.

It was almost half an hour but still there was no sign of Namjoon. Did he ditch you after asking you to go on a date with him? No, no, you should not think negative he must be here any moment. Your train of thought got interrupted by the pop sound on your phone. It was a message from Taehyung.

____________________________________________

VANTAE: Btw you look good in that black dress.

____________________________________________

You dropped your phone from your hand. How did he know that you are wearing a black dress. Is he a stalker or something? No maybe it's just a coincidence. You picked up your phone and text him back.

___________________________________________

You: How did you know that I'm wearing a black dress?

VANTAE: Babe you don't know how much I know about you?

____________________________________________

He was joking right? It got to be a joke. But why did he call you babe? He never called you that. This is the first time he is making you feel uncomfortable.

___________________________________________

VANTAE: What do you think you will go on a date and I'll have no idea?

You: How do you know?

VANTAE: Y/N I thought you love me.

VANTAE: How could you do that to me?

VANTAE: The girl I like is going on a date with my own elder brother. Dressing so sexily for him.You can only dress like that for me and no one else.

VANTAE: If anyone dares to lay their eyes on you I'll take their eyeballs out.

____________________________________________

What happened to Taehyung? From the past three months he never behaved this way. You thought him as a friend and he was stalking you. If he wasn't stalking you how did he know about your date and what are you wearing?

Date with his own brother- he is Namjoon's brother. But Namjoon told his brother passed away in an accident two years ago. Nothing was going into your head and you were terrified. The person you thought to be your friend turned out to be your stalker.

And if he knows what you are wearing that means he is watching you or maybe is somewhere very near to you. This made you more terrified than you already were. You quickly dialled Rose's number but to your bad luck there was no network.

"Trying to call that little friend of yours is useless, babe."

You heard a deep masculine voice from your appartment. You swear you are alone here so whose voice is it? You searched your surroundings and then your eyes landed on the balcony. You found a tall, masculine figure, dressed in all black standing there near the door.

Your phone fell from your hand and unknowingly you let out a scream

____________________________________________

[kannagms]

As someone who has been a fan of the boys since the beginning of Buzzfeed Unsolved when Ryan was doing his little PowerPoint presentations and reading from a single sheet of printer paper, this entire Watcher fiasco is insane and was definitely not on my 2024 bingo card.

Back when Ryan and Shane announced that they were leaving Buzzfeed to start their own entertainment company with Steven, I was excited! I wanted to see what new, fun, interesting, and creative content they would put out without Buzzfeed holding them back. I'm a huge fan of Mystery and Ghost Files, Puppet History, Are You Scared?, Too Many Spirits, Top 5 Beatdown. Loved Spooky Small Talk before it was scrapped. I watched every new ep that came out, even the ones I didn't like that much like Steven's food ones, and liked and commented because I wanted to support them as much as possible. I rewatch all my favorite episodes. I have a dedicated playlist of Ryan and Shane content because it helps me fall asleep at night. When I didn't have much I at least had Watcher to keep my smile on my face and continuous laughter going when I didn't feel much like going on.

I got the notification 3 days ago about a new Watcher video and was stunned at what I saw. Sure I can watch episode 1 of new shows and watch some trailers, but I'm gonna have to sub to yet another streaming service to watch anything more. A streaming service that doesn't even have an app, so if I want to add anything to my sleep playlist, I'm gonna have to leave my phone on all night.

Anyways, I immediately went and checked the boys' socials and see what they posted for any additional info. Thousands upon thousands of negative comments all saying basically the same thing:

I can't afford $6/month/not everyone has $6 laying around, and it can really make or break someone financially.

Been a fan since Unsolved, guess I'm not a watcher anymore.

This is a bad move.

From what I've seen across reddit, Twitter, tiktok, Instagram, and Tumblr, the negative far outweigh the positive. The only "positive" comments I've seen haven't really been "oh this is a great idea! I'm gonna go sub right now!!" It's really been more, "well it's their business, they can do what they want with it." Or simply bashing other people because they cannot afford $6 a month or $60 a year, which really comes off as boomer ideology. You know, the old "if millennials would stop eating avocado toast or buying Starbucks maybe they can afford a house!" While completely ignoring the global economic crisis we are all facing. It's completely out of check with the fact that there's so many of us not just in America, but in the world who are barely living paycheck to paycheck. That there are so many people who WISH they could get a Starbucks coffee in the morning but often times have to skip meals because they cannot afford food if they want to keep a roof over their heads, you know the ridiculous amount of money that we spend to rent a small space. Never gonna forget the one apartment I looked at that was $800 a month, no utilities included, no parking, no pets allowed, and I could lay flat on the ground and have my 5'4" length reach comfortably in every single room. Wasn't even a kitchen or room for a single size bed (mild tangent rant, I now pay $1300 for a 2 bedroom apartment, most utilities included, but bad parking)

And for Steven to say that anyone can afford $6 is just so factually wrong. Has anyone checked the foreign exchange rate for $6? Some threads I've seen on Reddit are insane. For some people 6 USD translates to someone's entire rent or a week's worth of food. If I recall the comment correctly, one person said that in their country, Netflix comes out to $2 USD, and is considered a luxury item that only the upper class/wealthy have.

Maybe I'm just being bitter. Maybe I'm just overreacting to a piece of content I loved and cherished being pushed behind a paywall. It just feels like a slap in the face to fans who have spent countless hours soaking in their content, recommending them to friends, making new friends over a shared interest, and now feeling like they didn't matter at all. That we were just dollar signs. To hear them going from thanking dedicated fans for helping them get to where they are to but now you gotta give us more money if you want to keep being fans and now we are going to ignore your backlash just feels disingenuous and heartbreaking.

[khaopybara]

tag game ✨

@mbjw saved me from saturday boredom and tagged me in this, so thank you jubs, i enjoyed these a lot.

1. why did you choose your url?

i love khaotung. khaotung was obsessed with the capybara song last year before i even knew who he was. capybaras happen to be a very common animal in the region i live. i was very happy they were getting the recognition they deserved. put them together, we have lovely khao + capybaras = khaopybara (i'm also super sure i've seen people here and on tw use this and i just stole it. i'm not creative especially when it comes to usernames).

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

i have two other sideblogs. @tuseryoo for all of the gifs i make so i can have all of them in one blog just because, so i feel like i'm not losing track of the things i create (even though i haven't updated that one in a while), and @captain-xandis that some moots might have noticed in their notifications bc i recently created that one to post gifs about critical role, but i always forget to check which blog appears on top of the thingy, so i'm constantly deleting and reblogging things in the right blog these days.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

as of july 3rd, i've been here for 11 years now, so since 2013? which tracks with my super strong k-pop phase tbh.

4. do you have a queue tag?

nah, i have a queue going for gifs that are requests or for episodes that already aired, but usually i just post things whenever.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

ha, i was into super junior. and i was experimenting with fandom for the first time at the time. that's it. i felt like tumblr was a lot more creative and pretty than twitter or facebook, so i stayed.

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

i am a mook defender and apologist. i also think aya is super cute and super pretty. i change icons so often though, i blame all the pretty women in qls these days for making me change it all the time.

7. why did you choose your header?

i am breathing and living for the heart killers and kantbison and unfortunately i'm dying from lack of content. the tattoo table kiss is going to change lives i think, so until we don't get the official version, i'll have this masterpiece displayed there somehow.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

as of now, it's a 23.5 official trailer gifset of sun being jealous of ongsa with amazing 939 notes, but the gifset of lada protecting earn from hitting her head on the table is quickly catching up with 877.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

17 mutuals? i think that's right.

10. how many followers do you have?

843 if you count the main blog + side-blogs.

11. how many people do you follow?

... 27 blogs.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

i mean, sure? i do get embarrassed by my own shitposts sometimes and i delete them tho.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

all the time. it's my favorite social media for sure. i get to see pretty things and my dash is much better curated than other apps. it's great.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

i don't think i ever fought online. i block people with remarkable expedience tbh if i don't like their vibe or their tone or the shit they post, and i also make use of the filtered tags, so you know, no reason to fight.

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

these exist? good for them. you shouldn't tell people what to do.

16. do you like tag games?

sure! i only started being part of them now, so sometimes i forget them, or i just don't see i was tagged, but i do enjoy them.

17. do you like ask games?

i don't think i've ever done an ask game but that's mainly bc i think people won't want to know and won't send any asks, and i'd rather spare my ego from that humiliation.

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

i think many of my mutuals are famous in our ql bubble which makes it a little crazy that some are my mutuals tbh. that's most of them actually.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

i do have people that make me kick my feet when they interact with my posts like, twirling my hair, silly smile, giggling because they've noticed me. but actually crushing, imagining our lives in the countryside, with a kitchen facing the meadow in a fine spring morning, with two dogs and three cats, no.

20. tags?

i'm tagging @namtanfilm, @aylinaliens, @sollucets and @sherrymagic, @ayansukkhaphisit and whoever feels like doing it, and to those i've tagged, just ignore this if you want, too, no pressure.

[gatheringfiki]

GatheringFiKi Interest Survey 2023 - Results

Hi folks,

First of all, huge thank you to those who took the time to fill in our recent survey. We have now reviewed the results and have a couple of points we’d like to share.

1) The Headcount:

The first, biggest and most welcome surprise from the Survey is that there are so MANY of you! And most of you are new faces, which I think is just wonderful! Welcome, welcome, one and all!

The total of 23 people took part in the Survey (admittedly some of whom I have never seen take part in any events, but I have high hopes).

When I was leaving for my travels in September 2022, a similar Interest Survey presented a bleak picture, very different to today, with a number of people having clearly moved on (though not all!). Personally, I think it was the right call to accept and acknowledge that, re-subscribe those truly interested today, and re-focus my efforts and events targetting where it's actually wanted.

Please remember that if you ARE interested in taking part in our events, you can always ask to have personal notifications delivered to you whenever one is running - just message @linane-art

Of course, I am fully aware and very grateful that, apart from the folks taking part, there are also quite a few of you who consume the new content, read, watch, like, comment, reblog or just silently marvel and enjoy their (guilty?) pleasure. I love and appreciate you all.

2) Your Favourite Existing Events:

12 Days of Christmas - 18 votes

FiKi Week - 14 votes

Trick or Treat - 12 votes

Drabble Challenges - 11 votes

Durin's Day Gift Exchange - 11 votes

Kink Bingo - 9 votes

H/C Bingo - 8 votes

AUpocalypse - 7 votes

Fandom Raffle Exchange - 5 votes

Show Some Love - 5 votes

Fic of a Fic - 4 votes

Fanfic Rec Bingo - 2 votes

Secret Admirers - 1 vote

Round Robins - 0 votes

No surprises near the top: 12 Days has just ran and is beloved by everyone and FiKi Week is like THE Gatheringfiki event.

Trick or Treat also ran recently, but I think you also have a particular penchant for everything spooky/autumny.

Drabble Challenges are quick and easy, and I think a natural choice for a 'top up' event next to the big ones. I wonder if those of you who haven't experienced the speed and the 'write off all your other weekend plans'-ness of this event will think of it. :D

DDGE surprises a little, because it's a big commitment of an event, but I guess maybe because we're not running the Raffle regularly any more, and it's a similar enough thing? Or like a Big Bang? And there's nothing else that promotes actual collaborations. Intriguing.

The Bingos - always heat up the temperature in the room. I think those of you who want them, want them like burning. I also think (looking at hit counts), that there are also many more of you who, ah, enjoy the fruits of our labours, but like... anonymously and silently :D So long as those are not ran too often, I think they're a blast, and it's been 2 years.

AUpocalypse juuuust about makes it, but I think it has a special place, as it's the one event where artists can participate easily and have a fully free reign of what they create.

Please remember that if you are an artist and you're not sure how you can take part, we have this here handy guide for you.

Raffle is probably too big for the headcount we have, rec-type-events have not been popular for a few years now, Secret Admirers still out of favour (why???) and nobody liked Round Robins - fair enough.

3) Other Comments we got / possible New Events:

'A Dead Dove Event' - what is it, I've never comes accross it? Please message me on priv ;)

'Bring-A-Friend Event' - The incest thing will make some people uncomfortable, and those that check us out 'as a courtesy' are unlikely to actually get hooked. I think, by all means, spread the word if you know folks who might enjoy our fandom, but mostly it needs to be discovered on your own. Awareness of GF is the key.

'FiKi Bingo' - We already run 2 bingo-type events and a FiKi Week. I think that ticks both the desired format and desired content boxes.

'Valentine's Day Event' - there is nothing like that per se, but it is no coincidence that the Kink and H/C Bingos usually run around the time when everyone is feeling loved-up ;)

'I don't feel comfortable sharing my own content' - that is perfectly okay and your own choice. Nobody is going to try and push you. But I will say that if you have a supportive fandom, feedback can do wonders for your self-esteem and practice makes perfect. Otherwise, thank you just as much for your silent support.

'Discord Server' - I thought about it, but I think it'll be more of a problem than help. I don't know how to set it up, don't have the capacity to moderate it, only some people would be interested and many people will resist change. We've always said that Tumblr is our native platform and on Tumblr we will remain - don't want to dilute the fandom accorss multiple platforms, sorry.

'October Advent Calendar' - I'm sorry, I don't quite see how it would be different/better than Trick or Treat, except longer? Plus, 12 Days, which runs right after, has that element of 'something new to discover' every day ;)

'FiKi Mad Libs and Frankenstory' - see: Round Robins Event. And it scored 0 points, the poor thing :(

'Visual / phrase / poem / porny inspiration' - visual is addressed by 12 Days. Phrase/poem will be addressed by FiKi Week ;) Porny will be blocked by Tumblr :(

'Reblog-focussed Events' - Yes, agreed, but in the competition for calendar availability, all our rec-type events consistently lose out to out content-creating events. So we resort to caveating all our summary posts with pleas for reblogging and commenting. :/

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the wonderful and humbling words of encouragement I’ve received. I do what I do because of the people in this fandom and I will continue doing so for as long as there is interest in it. It’s what being in a fandom means to me, and hopefully it inspires some of you too :)

A Calendar of Events for 2024 will follow in a separate post.

Wishing you all a cracking New Year, filled with inspiration, joy, passion and feels, hopefully all whipped up by those problematic 2 little a$$holes...

~gatheringfiki

[andypantsx3]

This is going to sound weird, but do you have any tips on how to gain traction as a fanfic writer? I've been trying for years and I get next to no interaction on my writing. I know I shouldn't care because I should be writing for myself, but it's still frustrating to see other writers get thousands of notes, and reblogs and asks praising their fics and I get maybe 20 likes. I've been looking into discord fandom groups but a lot of them don't allow people over 30, and I don't do well with busy groups anyway. I try to be active on my blog, and interact with other people and make myself approachable, but I'm getting so incredibly tired of talking to an empty space. Sorry, I think I ended up venting instead >_<

WARNING: DISCOURSE AHEAD

Omg hello my love!! First of all, I'm so sorry you feel this way! I have so many conflicting thoughts on this, let me try to get them in order for you!!

I guess, let me first start with some tips that I think actually answer your question, and then I'll just monologue about the ways I've been thinking about fandom recently, and you can skip that part if you wanna!

Part 1: Actual Thoughts on Your Question (lol)

I am possibly not in the best position to ask about this because I mostly happened to be in the right place at the right time, publishing my fics in the early part of the pandemic when people were more actively engaging in the fandom. But in my experience, outside of discord groups, other good ways to meet people and get your work out there are joining zines & collabs.

I'm not completely up-to-date with what the accounts are now that track these things, but there are several tumblrs and twitter accounts like BNHA Zines that exist to retweet & publicize zine posts. Look for zines that are in the interest check & application stages!! You can apply during the application phase and the good thing is that most zines will ask for an application piece and will judge you on your work rather than your follower count!!

Collabs are usually even easier because many of them are just open to whoever wants to join! I've only participated in server collabs but I've seen several posts cross my dash that are open to anyone. I'd probably monitor the collaboration and x reader tags on tumblr and join in on anything that looks fun!!

Another thing that I've noticed people do a lot is self-reblog their fics a couple times just to maximize their circulation. I've seen a lot of moots trying to make sure they hit good hours for different time zones and different days of the week to ensure their followers are at least aware that they've posted something if they don't have notifs on (I don't have notifs on so I'm grateful for these because otherwise I miss a lot!!). Even I have srb'd a time or two if I'm particularly proud of something lol.

And I think, if I also wanted to be a shark about things, I would try to get in on the ground floor of a fandom in its early stages!! For example, the second season of JJK is coming out soon and it's sure to bring a wave of new readers to the JJK fandom, especially for the characters like Gojo and Getou who look like they're gonna be the main focus of the season.

I think if you wanted to be extra sharp about things, you might time a fic release with some of the first couple episodes of a new season where you can be sure more people than usual will be poking around in the tags!! And if your fic is published during the early stages of a fandom, it's going to have more eyes on it overall than a fic published towards the conclusion of the series.

Anyway this is what I could think of. I hope this advice is practical and useful!! Now onto me blathering.

Part 2: Resisting Influencer Culture in Fandom Spaces

This part might be kind of controversial. I want to first acknowledge how easy it is for me to think and say these sorts of things when I'm already more than pleased with the amount of engagement I get. And I want to recognize that it is so, so deeply human to want recognition, community, and support for the things that we write.

I think it is so completely natural that you want interaction on your writing. All of us totally do, otherwise we wouldn't be publishing it publicly. If our work was truly, singularly for us and us alone, we'd keep it in the drafts lol. We put it out there hoping for praise and appreciation and connection, and in my opinion there is no shame in that.

So, admission time: I also definitely compare myself to other writers, and I have several times thought about transitioning more towards the type of content that drives higher note counts on tumblr: smuttier one-shots usually under 10k! I can see a huge difference in terms of just my own work on how my one-shots typically do in comparison to chaptered fics. And I definitely see how fast smutty imagines shoot up there in terms of note count.

But I was listening to a podcast episode recently on trying to sort of transition away from a metrics-focused approach to fandom. In the podcast, they talk about how in trying to legitimize fanfic as a literary mechanism, we've also sort of accidentally subjected it to our capitalist-influencer-mindset, where we see fic as more legitimate the more kudos it gets or the more followers it nets you, because in traditional influencer spaces, those followers are potential capital.

I'm definitely not saying you or I see people as potential revenue streams, but I think probably neither of us are immune to the culture at large, and we both probably carry some of internalized sense of our own value based on metrics, reach, and influence. And that sucks!!!!

Fandom, of all things, is supposed to be a specifically anti-capitalist space. We can't make money off of fanfic or fanart (legally, anyway lol), and we're all not the owners of the franchises either so none of our takes are necessarily more "valid" or weightier than others!! We're all supposed to just be trading stories around a campfire with no thought to their literary merit or monetary value. We're just supposed to enjoy the stories.

So, I don't know what the right answer is about how to try to resist the influences of our capitalist culture at large; I'm hoping someone smarter than me will tell me. But I do know that in fanfic, the value of your story can absolutely never be determined by how much engagement you get. Because fandom is not about metrics, and there is no inherent value in metrics. There is only the fun you had creating the story, and the depth of the connection you made with someone over it--even if that's just one other person.

And so I personally am at least trying to resist the lure of transitioning to smutty one-shots even though I think a lot of people would like that. Because what I like doing is writing my little 30k multi-chaps; those are my fave kinds of stories to tell, I'm not letting my metrics tell me what I should be writing.

I hope, at the very least, you know that your worth and the value of your story is not defined by how many other people have read it. And if you ever wanna chat more about this let me know, I'm still figuring this all out myself and could use friends to explore it with!!

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

hello.

reading your answer to the last ask made me feel warm, I had read it multiple times and each time after I lied down, zoned out, letting myself to feel or smile at certain parts (like where you talked about Russell and calling him peter pan. good nickname:)).

reading your share of story and even others on tags touched me deeply. you were right about to feel 'they get it' btw, it put me at ease how you or others get what I said. I was a little worried about misinterpretion about last ask I sent, so you can guess how I felt by the answer, when I got a long touching answer where you were talking with passion about sparkstember (and any other things about sparks)

I had watched the links you sent me and the concert in 2014 was a real masterwork in another level, their performance shook me by core to the point i wished I could go back in time and get ticket for it (if tim traveling was real(or is it real?) watching sparks on London hall would be def on my list)

in the end thanks for giving me hint about the sparkstember, I checked it out and would like to participate(not sure how much of it probably not all of it but I want to try) plus I'm not worried about my anon mask, at least not anymore. rather keeping it because I find joy on looking for my answer rather than I get notification. beside I think you had figured who am I long time ago(unless you haven't so I would eat cake to that)

Hey, I am really glad it made you feel that way :) You can bet other people felt the same way reading what you wrote, me included! It's never stopped being special to me, that we've got Sparks and this lovely fandom.

... that 2014 concert is one that makes me wish for time travel too. I'd definitely go see it again ✨ Something that doesn't come across at all in videos is how beautiful the lights in the hall were as well, it was just stunning in every single way, absolutely magical. (I'd also go see some 21x21 shows, the Exotic Creatures Of The Deep show, and Balls. But the great thing is that the thing I'm most excited about is the shows the future holds 💖 No time travel necessary 🌞)

I had indeed figured out who you were some time ago, but I'm all for letting people eat their cake ^^ So you can be anon on here for as long as you like :) I've really been enjoying your asks and I'll always continue to have a million things to say about Sparks and their work. So yeah, inbox is always open.

Anyway, I really look forward to seeing you around with Sparkstember! Also (and this goes for anyone who may be reading this): don't worry if you're not familiar with some of Sparks work yet. There is so much to explore with Sparks and it's a beautiful thing to take your time with! It doesn't matter how much you know or don't know, or how long you've been around: if you like Sparks you like Sparks and that means you have a place here. (Even after 12 years I'm still learning new things! It's great!)

I couldn't decide on my parting gift for there is too much to choose from, and so today... I'm giving you memes :)

Number 1, number 2, number 3 and number 4.

Also there's a little special day coming up for the Sparks fandom in... 4 days. (Don't worry, you don't need to do anything or look anything up. You'll see it on your dash when the time arrives, can't miss it 🌞)

------

Edit: wait here's the parting gift for this ask! (Maybe you've seen it already by now but it's just really nice anyway.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by S P A R K S (@sparks_official)

[gentlehue]

hiii i’ve been in a bit of a follower slump lately iwl and i was wondering as a girl who’s seen it all what would u recommend to get more followers?

hi lovely!!! first of all thank u very much for using my slogan got very excited when i saw it LMAO second !! i just wanna preface this by saying the main reason i have the amount of followers i have on this blog is because i ran a fanfic blog april-july so a lot of mine came from there 😭 however i still did gain quite a following in the short amount of time i was over there (its currently at 779!) so i def have tips on this below the cut 😚 just felt like id be lying if i didnt mention the above even tho its sort of irrelevant LMAO 😭 anw here are your secrets from a girl who's seen it all on gaining a following ₊˚⊹♡

post consistently!!

pretty self explanatory, but if you'd like more followers the easiest way to get them is to be consistent w posting ☺️ on my fanfic blog, id post 1-2 times a day when it just started out !!! however thats too much i just didnt have a life outside of studying or blogging LMAO you dont have to post every day, but like dont post once a month either because you wont get many followers that way (unless youre extremely lucky 🤔) maybe aim for 2-3 times a week or whatever fits your schedule best :)

when you post, make sure your post shows up in the tumblr tags!

i've seen SO MANY PEOPLE fall victim to the stupid tumblr tagging system so ive made it my mission to speak on it whenever i can. for some reason, when you first make your blog tumblr has your visibility settings default to you not showing up in the tags or searches at all 😭 so before you post, make sure they look like the ones below!

(keep the last one on or else tumblr will feed ur posts to an ai 😭)

to check if you're showing up in the tags, click on one of the tags you've tagged your post as and toggle the search to "latest" instead of "top" !! if its there that means it worked ☺️

still not showing up in the tags?

if you're not showing up in the tags, then its either because your blog is still pretty new (in which case you'd just have to keep interacting w things on tumblr until they decide you're not a robot) or because you're shadowbanned 😣 some signs of being shadowbanned are you cant dm people on here, you can't tag people & people won't get any notifs from you when you answer their asks!! if that's the case then all you can do is contact tumblr staff n hope for the best 😬 also def triple check your visibility settings because they CHANGED MINE W OUT TELLING ME ONCE and im still mad about it 😣 also sometimes it'll just take a little while for posts to show up in the tags 💘

bonus tip: make sure the most important tags are the first five ones you use, since those are the ones that your post is most likely to show up in!! save your personal tags for last bonus tip (2): make sure to post when the americans are online LMAO ive noticed whenever i post later in the day my time (when the us wakes up) i tend to get more interaction since a large chunk of the people on here live in the us/north america/that area in general

2. interact with other people's posts

specifically people who post the same things as you / you share interests with / you just think are cool!!! people on here are SO friendly so chances are you'll gain many friends while posting! interacting with other people's posts will have them checking out your blog which will result in more traction which will result in more followers since they'd be reblogging your stuff onto their blogs and their followers would check your blog out:) also because if tumblr notices there are similarities between your blog and another's it'll recommend your stuff to people who follow the other blog so!! interaction is very good:) also because making friends is always fun anw 😋

3. be patient & don't get obsessive over it!

fun fact i've been on this app since covid started back in march 2020 and ive had MANY blogs on here from the ages of 11-13 LOL but when i was younger id def get a lot more obsessive ab the followers 😭 i'd compare myself to a lot of the other blogs on here too n wish i had that much interaction n wtv and i just wasn't having fun cz all i'd think ab is the followers 😭 would make n delete blogs as soon as interaction would drop n it just made things worse so def just enjoy the journey or wtv!! (also if u believe in manifestation which i personally do - staying in the state of wishing for followers will keep u in that state of wishing!!!! you've got to start practicing gratefulness & being happy about where u are and the journey ahead for more good things to happen ✨)

thats basically the gist of it imo 🤔 sorry if u expected smth more LOL i hope this helped tho!! xx 💘

[sparklyslug]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @aidaronan and @softbrah thank yewwwwwww!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

50!!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

405,752

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now it's all Stranger Things, all the time baby. But you never know when the madness might strike for something new. Or re-strike for something I thought I was done with haha.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In Focus (Check Please) Up the Punks (Stranger Things) we're gonna fight til we do it right (Check Please) If you want him, come and claim him (Stranger Things) t'hy'la (Stranger Things)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I'm usually really good about it for the first day or so after a fic has posted, and then I kind of.... fall off with it usually. I read all comments! I appreciate all comments! Usually what happens is I see the email notif on my phone, mentally go "ah I will craft a perfectly thoughtful and appreciative and stirring response to this later when I have time to do it justice!" and then I do not do that.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The one that comes to mind is a fic I wrote for the Hobbit, hands too small to hold it, which is an AU where everyone lives but Bilbo still has the ring and the events of LOTR are still barreling towards them.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Let Us Dwell in Fair Ithilien and There Make a Garden with @greenlikethesea is ONE BIG MASSIVE HAPPY ENDING (after 10+years of tragic angsty pining but w/e). I also wrote a little happy family ever after Garak/Bashir for Star Trek DS9, between the noise.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

noooo it's never happened! If I'm getting hate it's behind my back ahaha who knows what goes down in y'alls discords, that’s none of my business! Im a Leo and I work in marketing, so I am not terribly tortured by that kind of thing ahahaha

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

SURE DO! I don't know what "what kind" means. The smut kind. I've done closed door fade to black, I've done some explicit stuff, I try to give you range baby.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I LOVE A CROSSOVER! Star Trek/Stranger Things is pretty crazy. My current project is Stranger Things/You've Got Mail put in a blender with Supernatural, so that's decently zany too.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I thought Quorum had been translated into Chinese, but I can't find any evidence of it, so might be all in my head ahaha.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I love to collaborate with folks! When the creative chemistry is right it's RIGHT, and it's so fun to ping-pong ideas and paragraphs back and forth. I co-wrote Check Please fics with @softbrah, have written a universe of Stranger Things fic with @greenlikethesea, and it's all been a blast. Me and @aidaronan are cooking up some ideas, if the two of us can ever stop signing up for bangs and things long enough to get to em.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Well of course I will say Steddie right now because I've been living here for over a year and a half. It truly does have just the most delicious dynamic, however the setup and wherever you take their characterizations.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't know if I'll ever finish my Vampire Eddie immediately post-canon fic, I didn't have much direction with it, just Vibes.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm good with atmospheric sensory details, it's something I really care about when writing at least. I definitely enjoy dialogue, too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes are hard, and I struggle with nailing (heh) the physicality of sex scenes. My haters in their discords are welcome to chime in here 😂😂

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I have no thoughts in particular. If it works in the fic and you've made sure your translation is right if you're not fluent in that language, hell yeah.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lord of the Rings. You will never see this fic.

N E V E R.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

IT IS REALLY HARD TO CHOSE AMONGST MY CHILDREN. I put a lot of my heart into I was open to pain and crossed by the rain (Wayne Munson my beloved) and I'm really proud of what I did with that one. I truly wrote Can't We Be Seventeen knowing it was really just for me, to scratch one of those desperate writing itches after an intense period of fixating on the Heathers musical soundtrack, and I really like that fic too.

Tagging @occasionaloverboy@greenlikethesea @thefreakandthehair @henrystars @capriciouslyterminal

[filthforfriends]

Poll: Which fic do I finish?

While writing Guardian Angel I've started a lot of fics. I'm going to post the beginning of each and let you vote on which one I should finish. (Depending on the fic, I might let you vote to change the character) Please reblog this post. Tumblr still hasn't fixed my blog so no one is getting my notifications or tags.

#1 Quirk

Quirk was the language you’d decided on. You called it a problem, Thomas called it fucking adorable, and quirk seemed neutral. Sometimes you’d blame it on him. Tommy loved your rty talk, insisted upon it. The closer you got to orgasam, the more it became descriptors and ramblings, instead of intentional and sexy. 

You couldn’t just stop talking altogether when things become less polished. Falling silent would be awkward. Tom would worry about your pleasure and check-in. You’d already tried that. Most of all it was hard to shut up when Thomas was hanging on to your every word. Especially when you were on top, and he was gazing up at you like the mortal equivalent of Aphrodite. Eyes wide, but also threatening to flutter closed from the stimulation. Pillow, pink lips parted, sexy little teeth showing, and flushed beautifully, elegant nose included. 

“I love it when you talk to me,” he admitted in the afterglow.

#2 Panic

Thomas snapped at you, probably because he needed an outlet and you were the closest thing. It really upset you. Not because he was cruel, or because your boyfriend wasn’t allowed to have a bad day. Thomas simply didn’t externalize stress onto his loved ones. He’d play some violent video game or destroy his nails by picking the polish off or shred his guitar until it was out of horrousicly tune. Taking it out on you, however? A very irregular occurrence.  

You’d still slept in the same bed that night, both wide awake for different reasons. His breathing was off, almost panicked. Thomas would get these runaway, anxious trains of thought that sped his heart rate up. He couldn’t stop the worrying.

#3 Something New

Two years ago it might have freaked Thomas out, but he’d matured as a sexual partner since then. He understood that him and sex toys were on the same team. He knew lube was his friend, not his competition. Sure, sometimes natural excretions are enough. Sometimes a carefully selected lubricant can make things more comfortable. There was also a third option: menstrual blood, which he fondly coined nature’s bonus lube. 

He’d tried this euphemism when proposing maybe not avoiding sexual contact like the plague for six days every month. Which is when he learned that a questionable father figure and all your brothers had acted like your period was the most disgusting thing in the universe. 

It started with dropping to your knees in front of him as soon as you got home from work.

#4 Awake

The last time you checked your phone with an exasperated huff it had read 10:45pm. Ethan was supposed to text you when he was going to be home 15 minutes ago. It wasn’t a particularly significant amount of time, but you were struggling to keep your eyes open. He’d occupied your thoughts nearly every moment of this very long day that had rendered you exhausted to the point of vertigo. 

Regardless, Ethan had brought back an obscene lingerie set from France and gifted it to you this morning. So tonight's plans had been implied hours ago. The body suit and garter belt was gorgeous and so fucking uncomfortable that you wanted to time wearing it until the last minute. No matter how sleepy you felt, the adrenaline and endorphins of the moment would keep you going.

#5 Satin, Lace, and Other Pretty Things Part (continued)

Digging through what you affectionately referred to as your little box of horrors, was even more fun than you anticipated. You’d forgotten the full contents of your sex toy collection since you’d moved in with Thomas and stuffed it at the bottom of a closet. He had a barricade up that you were always testing the bounds of, trying to gently work around. Anal fingering? Fine (as long as you didn’t really talk about it). Rimming? Nope. 

Thomas made up for this with orgasams galore, so you were far from bored. However, you also knew that wiping out a 10 inch neon green dick and balls with a suction cup at the base would just intimidate, and maybe also traumatize him. So you kept the more adventurous items in your collection tucked away in case they became appropriate later on. At the bottom of this innocuous looking plastic container, was your strap on harness. It was simple, because that's all you could afford when it came to quality leather and an adjustable o-ring.

You sat with your back to the wall, amongst phallices and vibrators spread out on the hardwood floor, running the black straps through your fingers.

#6 Colleagues

Embarrassingly enough, it was the most action you’d gotten in months. You were turning a corner, nose in your field trip roster, not watching your surroundings because the building was practically empty. His tennis shoes were quiet enough that you didn’t see Damiano until walked right into you. This wasn't a meet cute bumping into each other, you fully collided and lost balance.

“Oh shit! Shit!” He pulled you against him to stop your fall and hold you upright. For a second you were a few inches away from one of the most beautiful faces god had ever created. Giant brown eyes, jaw sharper than a blade, sky high cheekbones and an inhuman level of symmetry. Damiano knocked everything in your hands loose, a folder full of papers scattered on the shiny floor.

#7 Alpha!Ethan

“Ethan, hold your breath,” Damiano exclaims. It’s a harmless enough request that he obliges rather than asking why. Being the most rational member of Maneskin was a chaotic experience at best. That is until Dami breaks out into laughter, Victoria snickering with a hand over her mouth. Ethan hears the door shut and looks in your direction. 

Walking into a room where you're the subject of the latest joke was never a great feeling. Your alpha’s bandmates were never cruel, but the power differential always made you feel like a target on some level. Even if it was just teasing between friends, they were all alphas and you were an omega. All eyes were on you: Dami and Victoria because they thought your influence over the ever-composed Ethan was hilarious. Your boyfriend looked annoyed and Thomas awkward.

#8 DILFiano (continued)

Three hours: barely a respectable amount of time to party hop with your friends before asking to go home. It’s not like you didn’t have a good excuse: they wanted to drive over an hour to some bougie party in the hills. Icarus liked to use her dad's name to get into events every now and then, just for the thrill of it...

“Is it okay to just drop you off at mine? Or do you need me to take you home?” Your heart jumps at the prospect of spending time in the David’s home. Pretending you were on this little adventure for Icarus was morally and emotionally exhausting. It’s not that you didn’t care about your friend, but because the globe had shifted its axis.

#9 More Than Friends

You were going to tell her. Victoria had made her intentions clear, and insisted you don’t answer right away. 

“There's no time line. I’m sorry if this – I don’t want you to feel pressured. We’re still friends like before. Even if you’re not interested. Okay?” You open your mouth to agree. “Don’t say anything just yet,” she blurts. You raise your eyebrows, asking if now you’re allowed to say something. 

“Sorry, sorry, uh! I ask you a question then interrupt you. I’m just…” Vic sighs and looks at her hands, fingers chipping at the navy nail polish. “I’m so fucking nervous,” she confesses. Her suitcase stood by the door: so nervous she waited until the very last minute.

#10 Information Introductions (continued)

“Whatever you want.” You’re on your sides, facing each other. Damiao has both his hands tucked under his head like a pillow, like you’re at your first sleepover. It's such a sharp contrast to the man who just coaxed you towards orgasam with such tenderness for the past...15 minutes? You look up to the vintage clock on your wall, still ticking away.

“40 minutes? Is your leg okay?” Damiano chuckled.

“Yeah, it's fine.” His voice lilted up on the last syllable, like the corners of his mouth upturned in a smile. You wanted to drag your fingertips along his side, but initiating touch felt like you were reaching out into the dark.

[imogenleewriter]

✨ Twenty Questions for Fic Writers ✨

THANK YOU @nouies FOR THE TAG!! I'd missed the notif and was reading yours and thinking it looked fun to do and then when I got to the bottom I saw you'd tagged me.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 

5 but one is a WIP

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

581,554 - which is pretty decent for less than a year, I think lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

one direction 

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

You Can Hear It In The Silence

You, Me (and everyone we know) - Which is crazy because it's the WIP!

Save Me (from myself)

You're Not My Type (still I fall)

I Hope You Choke (on those words) - which is like my neglected child. I always forget it exists and literally never mention it.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? WELL, I used to and it was something I prided myself on. But, well, I am so extremely lucky to have such a loud, and talkative readership who are insanely loud and talkative... I've been trying to catch up, but I'm still about 2 months behind and that's after me giving up on like 7 chapters of ymaewk. It was just getting too hard to try and catch up so I cut my losses and am just going from the chapter I'm up to. I will one day. But also, some of those comments are like 4 months old now, so people might not want answers to those? It must be annoying to get emails for those, right? RIGHT?

But in general YES! And it's something I feel really passionately about. If someone goes to the effort to write a comment, I really think they deserve a reply - and a decent one. All that being said, I think everyone kind of thinks that way? Like I've never commented on a fic and not gotten a reply?? So I'm pretty sure everyone replies.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? None? Angsty endings aren't really my thing, and I don't think they ever will be. I want everything wrapped up as neatly as possible. I guess maybe I hope you choke, because it's only 3k words, so it's not like... fully resolved? But there isn't much to resolve.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hopefully all of them?? I think maybe ychiits because it was really, really well resolved? Like... every single thread was tied. You're Not My Type also had a really happy one but it's such a soft fic that I don't think it would ever not.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

A little. A lot less than I deserve, tbh lol. The main place I've seen it is in bookmarks, so now I just don't check the bookmarks. (if you're going to bookmark a fic with criticism, make it private).

I do get a few... odd comments. Like they're not hate, but they're just... idk how to explain it without signalling comments out. In a fic discord group, I'm in with like 70 members. There is literally a sticker that says 'Imogen's comment complaint time,' for me to use when I... complain about those comments, lol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah. Very consensual, often awkward smut lol. Like to keep it real.

10. Do you write crossovers? What the craziest one you've written?

Nope.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. At least not as far as I'm aware and I'm sure someone would tell me if I had.

I've been accused of 'stealing' fics... twice. But both times were by anons who hadn't actually read the fics, and had just read the summaries/tags... and both times were low-key ridiculous (again, I say this as if I didn't cry both times... and have to turn anon comments off).

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah... actually... I think one has been done and I haven't linked it yet. Shit. So I'm pretty sure that ychiits has two (one that I haven't linked) and someone is doing SMFM now. I currently have a rule that it can only go on ao3, and not Wattpad but I'm low-key thinking about changing it. In fact, I'm kind of thinking about uploading them to Wattpad... it's just no one ever does it and I don't know if there is a reason for not doing it??? Is there are reason? Why don't people upload to Wattpad??

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but @hereforh and I are in the process of writing one!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Larry. The only time I've read other ships is when I've been reading smut lol. And that's more about the smut than the ship.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I always think of WIPs as in ones I've started uploading lol. And I always intend to finish those. But WIP as in started but not uploaded? Yeah, heaps!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, relatively authentic characters, and complex plots.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Literally everything else. I feel like my writing technique is ... shit, tbh. I'm really surprised no one ever says it. I do feel like it's improved a bit, but yeah, still shit.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think if I was going to write much of it, I'd find someone who spoke it well. I'm not really sure when I'd need to do it though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I always say I never wrote fanfic until One Direction but I'm not ENTIRELY sure that's true. When I was a young teenager, I used to read All Time Low fanfiction on Quizilla and I did upload some stuff there. As far as I can remember, they were all original fiction but it's possible I wrote an ATL one. I know I wrote a tiny one based on the song Self-Conclusion by The Spill Canvas. I think it was literally using the dialogue from the song and then writing around it.

20. Favorite fic you've written? 

Oooooh, so tricky. I love them all for different reasons. Ychiits will always be my baby forever and ever.

Probably YMAEWK, and the only thing that stops me from being sure it's that one is just that it's less relatable. Like I know with ychiits and even SMFM, people saw themselves in the characters and story. Whereas I feel like it's harder to relate to ymaewk and long term, it might not have as big of an impact. BUT, I do love those boys soooo much and love the story. So, yeah, probably ymaewk.

Anddddddd (sorry if you've already been tagged and obviously no pressure) I tag @hereforh @nooradeservedbetter @lunarheslwt @enchantedlandcoffee @thelavendrhaze and anyone else who wants to do it!