#just have to finish some works and it's gonna be a hectic november...

[writemeverything]

Doksoo week DAY 1: gift giving(?)

“I think, the entire world is someone’s creation. Perhaps, it could be a Christmas present.”

[lilac-den]

Wanted to let all of y'all know: I'm not dead.

Things have just been hectic and tumblr still has the whole loading issue for me to try answering asks on my PC. So aside from trying to finish up a gift, preparing this one little side project I got and suffer from the first ever wisdom tooth extraction I ever have (felt like my dentist did some construction work for a bit there - not to mention being told the possible operation on my lower wisdom teeth are most likely gonna cost RM1k each IF THEY'RE NOT DIGGING THE NERVES cries in broke and hoping they're really not digging there), its a bit of a doozy November.

But Happy December, everyone! :D

Also, funny thing: My dentist sprayed this anesthesia to numb the area she was gonna yank my wisdom tooth out and I, being a massive newbie to the whole wisdom tooth extraction thing, touched the wet substance in my mouth with the tip of my tongue.

Immediately got it numb for the next hour or two. 😅

[fellow-traveller]

This is gonna be long, so if you don't have the time to read it, it's cool, I'll summarise it like this:

I think I'm back. Kinda. Expect some blasts of Hol Horse fanart that I missed sharing here since November 2023 (if you followed my Twitter/X, you might have seen them)

Okay, I know excuses can be bad but here's mine to kinda justify my absence.

I admit that I had been feeling depressed with what's happening in P@lest1ne for the past 6 months, because I had never seen it happening in real time, in videos and interviews. 20+ years ago, anything about them came in the form of stories from actual P@lest1nians whom I had the privilege to meet during my volunteer work in school, and newspaper articles from local publishers. Our local broadcasters still chant FTRTTS whenever they talk about them. But the real-time atrocities and the aftermath really got me hard. I'm not one to shy away from real-life gore - true crime is my go-to documentary whenever I'm relaxing - but what's happening there - the injustice, the brutality, the depravity - can be too much for me to bear.

I'm not saying I'm used to it by now...I still hear my heart break with every dead and hungry child I see on my screen, but at the same time, I feel a bit more hopeful. Mainly because I believe in the P@lest1nians' faith and resilience, and I believe in mine.

Apart from world events, on a personal level, my company moved to a new building in December, about an extra 30 minutes drive away from my home, so I was almost on a blackout from online stuff back then. Didn't even touch the 1 Day 1 Hol Horse challenge (but thankfully they are done now...will share them later). The move-out was done around the end of January 2024, and then I got busy again with work in February. Work had been very hectic because everything had been disorganised since the move. Even now, we don't really have internet in the new building and had to use our phone data for that.

Wanted to get back last month, but delayed it until today because my cat was sick with cancer. My cat, little Vee, whom I had for 12 years, just passed 2 days ago, 1 day before my birthday ;-;

Anyway, all that said, I think I'm ready to be back now on tumblr. I know I missed a lot of drawings that I kinda promised myself to finish (like the Halloween Hol), and also posting the 1 Day 1 Hol Horse doodles. I missed other people's Hol Horse and HolPol fanart as well. I also have a few thoughts I wanted to share of our favourite JoJo cowboy too...

So in the next few hours, I'll be doing just that. I apologise for the massive spam that's about to come beforehand. Just note that if you cannot wait for the fanart blast, you're welcomed to dig for them on my Twitter/X.

On current notes, I'm in the middle of doing The Emperor Month Challenge. Basically, Hol Horse with the other Part 3 characters. I missed 2 days now, but I'll be catching up. This will be on until the end of this month.

For now, I won't be doing requests/art trades because I wanna start drawing for my JoJo OCs. I have been neglecting them for months.

Hopefully the depression will simmer down. The world is a mess, and I'm trying to soldier on.

Oh, and to my Muslim followers, Happy Eid-ul-Fitr. ♥

[isthisrealliiife]

On Lies I Didn't Know Were Lies

Hi everyone <3 I'm just gonna get straight to what if you're reading this, you most likely want to know about:

I did not mean to lie about posting the next chapter of an echo, a stain in July.

I have NOT abandoned an echo, a stain. 

It will be a minute before I recover my mojo.

And now, for those of you with vague interest in details, a bit more explanation:

By the time I graduated my program, finished my practicum, completed the requirements for certification, got my paperwork sorted, and was finally done, it was mid-July, and I was hardcore job hunting.

Great news! I got a job! As a school librarian! With a non-heinous commute!

So once I got that job, I ended up sleeping for more like nearly a month than a week, because apparently being sick for 10 months and then trying to accomplish every academic, professional, and personal goal you'd meant to achieve during that time while also tryna figure out how to pay rent with no income really fucks with your stamina.

Then I had a bunch of trainings to go to, and visits to fam and friends I hadn't seen in a year, and started my new job.

For those of you uninitiated in the agony and the ecstasy of being a K-12 teacher, this lands me in the DEVOLSON. (The Dark, Evil Vortex Of Late September, October, and November. Google it. It's a brilliant thing that I did not come up with but that is absolutely fucking true.)

The beginning of a new school year is fuckin' NUTS. I can't describe it. It's too much. Suffice it to say that even when you're returning to a school you've been teaching at for years in a position/at a level you've been doing for years, the beginning of the school year is always overwhelmingly busy and hectic and involves more pivots than every runway walk at New York Fashion Week combined. Starting a new job in a new position at a new school in conjunction with this is ... loooooooool. Anyway it's great, it's been great, I love my new job and my new school and my new students but when I tell you every iota of energy, creativity, mental acuity, and basic capacity to accomplish anything has been completely absorbed by my job, it's really not hyperbole lol. But, as my fellow New Jerseyan and hair band charmer Jon Bon Jovi would say, "we're halfway there." Sort of.

I'm not even going to try to predict when the next chapter of an echo, a stain will drop, and I won't make any promises.

What I will say is that with any luck, things will calm down in December and settle into far chiller rhythms. I'm gonna play me some Dragon Age: the Veilguard, sorry not sorry but I been waiting for that fucking game for ten years and for good or for ill, I need to KNOW.

Once that settles, it's probable I'm going to feel some inspo for a story I've neglected for even longer than aeas (WAY longer, in fact) and hopefully finish that fuckin thing or at least figure out where I want to go with it. After THAT (or possibly concurrent with that, tbh), I will return to aeas, whose place in my heart is precious and undiminished.

If you've read this far, thank you. I appreciate you. If you're pissed and are like "fuck your excuses!"

well... I mean, I feel bad about disappointing you, because I genuinely do appreciate people's investment in the story and understand the anguish of waiting for a chapter/ending that seems like it will never come, but also... damn, you don't gotta be mean about it looool.

Unfortunately, we live in a late-capitalist hellscape and so I have to work a lot and pretty hard to barely scrape by and I'm still recovering from being sick for a long time, so I only have so much capacity to do stuff. It's growing, but it's limited, so here we are! I am sorry for having fallen off, though. I really hadn't expected to.

But never fear, I'll be back -- and more importantly, so will aeas. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared by having been away so long, and worried that I won't be able to live up to the ambitions I had for the story, but that's not holding me back or anything. I'd rather try and fail than leave it hanging in the breeze unfinished.

It's just gonna take some time. Anyway, I hope y'all are doing well and that life throws some joy at you.

Also listen I am SERIOUSLY not gonna lie but if shit goes awry on that first Tuesday in November, it's gonna take me a minute to reconcile myself with all that. Just sayin'.

OK that's it I hope to be writing again sooner rather than later but thanks for even reading this if you have. <3

[galacticlamps]

I was tagged by @terryfphanatics​ (thanks! sorry I took forever - I started answering these & didn’t finish and just remembered it was in my drafts)

What book are you currently reading?

The Two Towers! which upsets me bc I’ve been at it since August (technically - I wasn’t ‘at it’ in, uh, October, November, December, January, or February, for lack of time - but I’m back at it now, and I even convinced myself to start over from the beginning so I didn’t forget anything)

What's your favourite movie you saw in a cinema this year?

sorry but the last time I went to a movie theater was probably in 2017, 2018 at the latest, so... yeah I’ve got nothing

What do you usually wear?

jeans, boots, at this point in the winter usually some combination of flannels, sweaters and/or sweatshirts. (I’ve been really cold lately)

How tall are you?

5′6″ ish

What's your star sign?

capricorn

Do you share your birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

I do, yeah

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

mostly nicknames, I have quite a few at this point. I’ve yet to pick one to use on here, I should probably do that soon, I’ve been meaning to for years now

Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be as a child?

I don’t recall ever wanting to be anything in particular as a child, honestly, but I can say that so far I’ve pretty much stuck to the career path that first caught my interest in high school, if that counts

Are you in a relationship? Who is your crush if not?

nope! and it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a serious crush either, which I’m honestly grateful for. I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship at this exact point in my life anyway, so I’m just gonna keep vaguely admiring every funny girl who’s kind to me for the time being without actually developing feelings for her. I hope It seems to be going well so far mostly

What's something you're good at versus something you're bad at?

(I’m trying to think of two that relate to each other)

I am very good at drawing objects and not at all good at drawing people! technical plans are something I’ve dealt with extensively both academically & professionally, but in the more general sense I’ve always been an ‘I can’t draw’ person. tbh I should find some of those artists who complain about backgrounds and just do all their architecture etc for them

Dogs or cats?

nothing against dogs but cats for sure, always cats

What's something you'd like to create content for?

not to sound like a jerk, but I work in the arts industry & really hate the place ‘content creation’ has come to occupy in everyone’s vocabulary, even though I totally realize that in a context like this it’s probably just trying to be a vague enough term to be inclusive of the many different things people can create. I like writing the fanfic that I do, so without switching subjects, I would like to get better at drawing people because sometimes I have ideas that would be better expressed as images or even short comics

What's something you're currently obsessed with?

Obsessing over 60s who is my baseline so I don’t think that counts - but it’s been almost a month since I watched Holding Achilles & there have only been hours when I didn’t think of it, not entire days

What's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

Ngl, (& not to be a total downer, but) the last 12 months-ish have been an extremely busy/hectic/unpredictable year for me, with both the good & the bad stuff coming out of left field most of the time. So while there were certainly more than enough disappointments, for the most part, they weren’t the kinds of things you could be excited about beforehand (relatives dying, people fighting, strained relationships, illnesses, work stuff in a perpetual state of flux - or as I’ve taken to calling it: death disease & dubious employment). I suppose there were a lot of events I wanted to make it to that I didn’t, due to the aforementioned junk, and I certainly imagined myself getting to read more books & write more fics than I did, but that doesn’t feel like a good specific answer.

What's a hidden talent of yours?

I suppose that depends who you ask? There are lots of work or work-adjacent skills I could name that would be news to people on here, but those are such prominent parts of my life otherwise that they definitely don’t feel ‘hidden.’ But I guess even among people who expect me to be handy/crafty, more overtly artistic things tend to surprise them - like I’ve had people forget that I was the one who painted something, for instance, because that’s not the kind of skill most associate with me. (and I am very good with color & pigment tbh)

Are you religious?

nah. I’m not like, a committed atheist or anything either, I just grew up catholic & don’t go in for that anymore, nor do I have any desire to go seek out another faith

What's something you wish to have at this moment?

time uh, let’s say a haircut

tagging people kinda seems rude after taking multiple months to come up with so many kind of non-answers oops, but if anyone would like to copy the questions, either as an opportunity to do a little q&a or an excuse to tag/ask your friends, be my guest

[pretty-boys-book-club]

heyy cat i hope you’re having a lovely day and if not then have an unlikely animal friendship for a smile c:

Hey Jay? How have you been? 💜

Thanks so much for the message! Is it too much if I say that I feel very happy every time you come across my dashboard? Because it’s 100% true.

Taking my time to give a proper reply, since I feel like chatting today. 🥰

I’m doing good, just finished my second week of working for a new client (I can’t mention them by name because I signed an NDA, but let’s just say it’s one of the big tech companies around the world) at the agency and things have been hectic.

I work as a Associate Executive at a PR agency. Not sure if you know what a PR person does, but basically my job entails the following: taking part in brainstorming sessions, helping with the development and distribution of PR materials, including press releases, podcasts, newsletters, and videos, assisting with the organization and execution of various media and PR events, managing calendars and media lists, documenting media coverage, and tracking media metrics, developing and maintaining positive relationships with clients, stakeholders, media, and vendors.

With this new client, since they are such a big brand and a very important player in the market, there’s a LOT of things to do and I’m still finding how to manage with all of it. Plus, since I’m still working at the same agency as before, I’ve been helping out with some projects from my former client (one of the biggest digital payments companies out there), and that means that I have a lot of plates spinning all at once. It does feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew sometimes, not gonna lie, but I’m happy with the change. Firstly, because it’s a great addition to my resume and also because my former client was difficult and had been mentally and emotionally draining me for quite a while (think text messages in the middle of the night, demanding I reply to their emails immediately, rejecting all of my proposals and ideas, asking me to do things far from my job description and just over all being hard to please). Of course, as most things go, I just realised that after moving accounts, and now I feel like I have an explanation to why I had been so mentally exhausted during the last year.

I’ve been working in the PR industry for the past three years now, but I’d say I’m fairly ambitious and I really want to be promoted to a senior role in the next 2-3 years. So that means trying to impress my supervisor and clients as best as I can. But with my former client that was impossible to do. So I’m happy to be working with new people and learning new things. Even if I catch myself with no idea what I’m doing 2 or 3 times per day. Currently, I’m just trying to figure out how to perform well at my job whilst maintaining my sanity and a healthy lifestyle. Any tips? Hahaha

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future, though, and I really want to try and apply for a Masters abroad during a 5 year time frame, if possible, so I’m thinking of trying to participate in a few conferences and see if I can get anything published, even if I’ve already graduated and have no affiliation with an academic institution at the moment. I miss the academia, I really thrive on there, and I would really like being a professor, I think, so there’s something I want to explore. But that’s VERY expensive and there’s not a lot of scholarships for people from my country and social economic background, so I have to save a lot of money if I want to give it a shot. And that’s hard to do with my current salary. But a Masters would mean more recognition for potential job recruiters and also give me the chance to decide if I enjoy teaching and the reality of that career before jumping into it.

I’m also planning a trip with two of my closest friends during November! We’ll be going to London, Paris and Amsterdam and, as the resident Type A burned out gifted kid of the group, I’m doing most of the planning for it (because I want to and because it makes me excited and happy, not because my friends are making me do it or anything!) so that’s how I’m spending most of my free time: searching for the best hotel deals, looking for the best plane tickets offers and deciding how much time we’ll spend in all of the cities. We already bought the tickets from my city to London and back, so now we only have to buy all the domestic flights in Europe and book our accommodations (part AirBnB/part hotel). I’ve thankfully managed to save some euros and pounds already, so I can keep saving more until it’s time to travel and not have to worry so much about money while we’re there.

And lastly, tomorrow will be my first time trying pole dancing! I discovered a really inclusive studio near to where I live and me and my sisters will have a trial class to see if we enjoy the atmosphere and if we actually manage to follow what the teacher tells us to do (as a plus size woman, I’m looking forward to it, because I saw a LOT of bigger people in their Instagram). I really want to try and connect more with my body and with a more sensual energy, because I feel like I’ve really been neutral towards my body during the pandemic as opposed to having more of a positive relationship with myself and I want to feel confident, sexy and beautiful.

I’ve been giving Tinder another try, because I really miss going out and meeting new people and falling in and out of love, but I haven’t had any luck in that department. I’ve never had a serious relationship, ever, so I had this idea that after graduation I’d have this crazy social life and would be really exploring my sexuality, then the pandemic happened and I didn’t really connect with anyone during it. I know things will work out when they are meant to be, but one a girl dream.

That’s about it for me! What about you?

[ichigoromi]

𝐌𝐀𝐉𝐎𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄! *𝘼𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙜 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙧𝙪𝙣~!

I've been thinking for weeks about how I should break the news to you guys, especially to some of my long-time readers...This is extremely hard to announce, but I'm going on a hiatus.

I am not sure how long this hiatus is going to be. Previously, I took breaks for my studies and mental health. I've finished my studies and am now waiting for my graduation. After sending multiple applications, I'm hired! It's not easy to get a job as a psych major, and I did get one!

During October, I'm going to adequately rest and prepare for my new job as it is a teaching position; I'm gonna have to study again😂😂😂

November...It's gonna be hectic. I'm starting work by then, and updating would be almost impossible. Hence I am taking a hiatus.

I haven't thought of how this blog would run after I get a job since it is pretty time-consuming. But I think I might be able to post by next year when I am getting used to my job and planning out my free time to update:)

Also, I am not going to write any NSFW content anymore. I occasionally wrote a bit back when I was still starting this blog, but I have decided to be a more SFW content kind of blog. So if any of you request any NSFW requests, I will have to turn you down!

I apologise for this lengthy update bu. it just has to be said. I don't want to just disappear on you guys without a proper explanation. I'm taking a hiatus mainly for my personal interests and not because I am not into anime anymore. Please don't misunderstand me! Anime has become a big part of my life, just like K-pop did! I am just taking a little break, ya know, cause life? Writing here is just fun, but life can be a real piece of shit sometimes.

I am always grateful for the support and love you showed me and this baby (my blog👍🏻). Without you guys, I don't think I would have continued to write. Maybe Haikyuu season five would resurrect this blog, lol.

I just want to let you guys know I love you guys, and thanks for all the love and support you gave me.

Let's meet again when the right time comes.

This is not my final sign off.

With love,

Rosalie🍓

[deepblueeyess]

When The Weather Is Fine.

hi there, people!

todayy i'm gonna be sharing with you, my experience watching this kdrama, 'When The Weather Is Fine'.

Here's what the synopsis looks like :

A young cellist, having grown tired of the city, moves back to her hometown where she meets a man who runs the local bookshop.

A disclaimer, i'm not going to spoil, okay. This is purely sharing my experience watching it, how do i feel, what do i think about it.

I would first like to describe this drama as warm, calm, and cozy. At least it feels like that watching it. My life is pretty hectic i would say, i'm always in such a rush everyday, and this drama just displays the exact opposite thing, which is sooo nice and lovely.

I'm not finished watching, by the way. It has 16 episodes if i'm not mistaken, and i'm currently watching up untill episode 5. I really enjoyed it so far, but i don't know if i like it or not.

This is more like a slow-paced type of drama. And it takes place mostly in nature. Village. Mountain. Forest. Hills. Bumpy roads. Clear blue skies.

. . .

Now, we talk about how I can relate so much to the main character, Mok Hae Won.

There are some of her life events that are similar to mine. It's not 90% similar tho, maybe like 70%?

I can reaally understand her way of thinking. In some scenes where it basically just her, in silence, i can plot exactly what's going on in her head because i've been thru similiar situations orr, we kinda have the same reaction to things.

But, some things are different, too. For example. Even tho her life is just soo sad and complicated(imo, ya), somehow she manages to still have this 'happy-go-lucky' look on her face. It's like, yes she's cold, yes she's sad, yes she's angry, yes she's traumatized, but, she's still..okay idk the right word but maybe cheerful?

Also, here's something that i really like, being said by one of the character aka the male lead :

sleeping well is a good thing.

waking up well, eating well.

working well, and getting good rest.

and if you sleep well at night,

that's what you call a good life.

so, goodnight, everyone.

. .

Friday, November 5, 2021.

- Nadia Putri Khairani.

[gods-at-gunpoint]

howdy everyone! first monthly update for drgag, but first, thank you all so much for the support thusfar! im crying guys

lets get into it ! 

november’s been a bit of a hectic month due to the end of my schools semester rounding the corner along with the general chaotic energy of this time of the year, but without further ado!

main takeaways from this month of work has been

-loads of sprites! except. i realized pretty late in the process that i was making them in a very inefficient way and taking like. way longer on each one than i needed to because of this . like 

for anyone making fangans as well its really a learning process and mass producing sprites and shit is a PROCESS. but i feel like the easiest way ive found to make different poses nd shit quicker is to like. LABEL my folders . when i make eyes that i know are gonna change i go in and make a folder where ill put all that. and then when it comes to bodies which i didnt think too hard about at first, especially when it comes to arms... like the best thing i think thats streamlined has been to just draw the whole ass torso and render it and THEN add arms to that, rather than drawing the arms and coloring the arms on the same damn layer as everything else... whereas you have to select the arms and then make a new layer and go BACK and recolor the torso bc u fucked up like... yeah.... 

ive mostly worked on kimiko and itsuki so far because i just love conveying their personalities a lot through their sprites, gonna post a few of my favs-

crackheads. i also made emi sprites but my clip studio file got corrupted? i have to fix that shit msldfkjdf add this to my to do list siri please smflksdf ...ok moving on

-splash art coming along slowly but steadily... will get there eventually its kinda just farther down on my list of priorities rn lol heres a kimiko wip tho

-writing!!! i revised . i HARDCORE revised how i decided to open the game like. shit. fuck. i just had a thought while i was watching nichijou one day and shit i just. damn. i dont wanna say anything bc im like so fucking excited about it but basically it calls for about 30 more scene cgs that i had not prior planned so ive been. grinding so much to try and get those illustrated mkanhuyfysoif but yeah!! i rewrote the whole ass introduction to the prologue god bless . the prologues all done written now but ofc im probs gonna go over it like 60 more times lmao

in other parts of writing i finished about half of the first and third trials, and most of chapter 1′s writing overall... we rlly out here gettin that bread bruh

with writing i guess the biggest thing is like. i have a fuckton of gaps where i just need to put like. the In Between shit mlksdfjiusdf lmao but yeahg. we out here

-programming shit!!! god i . worked on implementing UI into unity and holy shit it was all on fire my pain is immeasurable im not a fucking compsci major fmlkjasuhf98asdofp my compsci major friend was looking over my shoulder the whole time and shaking his head njhysuadgf8sduoifjkdsf but like. basically i figured how to put some basic text box shit up in unity but ive mostly just been grinding away at practicing related C# shit in order to get my life together. also ive been throwing around a lot of UI ideas like 

i dont fucking know. i think im gonna have the whole student handbook on the side of it with shortcuts? at least the transcript, save, load, etc commands on the right side of it... also im thinking of making it much more minimalist than how the DR dialogue boxes are usually bc usually theyre like. largely flashy but yknow i . i dont know i just really like how minimalistic UI looks but i may or may not change my mind on this. god skdfjlsdkf

-here have whatever the fuck this is 

god okay this got lengthy real quick so imma scuttl away now until next time... thanks yall again for your support!!!! i have some breaks from school soon so hopefully i can like. get a lot more stuff done especially w my sprite epiphanies lmao mlsfkjsdf

goodnight!! 

-annie 

art up there without text:

d8 night )

[allwaswell16]

Hello, do you read any Dom Louis/Sub Harry? And anything involving sub drop (same pairing)?

Hi! I actually haven’t read a ton of d/s Larry fics, but one of my favorites is:

🎀 Reduce Me To A Pleading Cry (Break The Skin and Tantalize) by @taggiecb (Explicit, 37k)

As the CEO of Styles & Styles, Harry Styles cuts a brooding and handsome figure at the helm of a very successful business. His reputation for intensity is well known, but you would be intense, too, if you had to work numbers all day, give countless orders, and conduct endless meetings. When all you really want to do at night–ache to do–is give away the reins, let someone else make the decisions, be ordered around for once, just–let go. Harry has reached his breaking point when one touch from a man whose very stance commands attention leads him back to a place he thought he’d never return.

Or Harry is a broody submissive boss, Louis is a natural dom who works in the mail room at Styles & Styles, Niall is a matchmaking oracle, and a slender, dark haired man stands mute at the coffee stand encouraging others to spill their secrets.

One that came up with sub drop as a tag is this one by a writer I like:

🎀 Could you love me anyway by @sadaveniren (Explicit, 13k)

Dear Mistress Lorin: I’ve been reading your blog for a couple weeks now and was hoping you’d give me some advice for something that happened with me and my boyfriend. I’m really worried that I hurt him.

aka Harry and Louis begin playing ping pong during the X-Factor Tour. It quickly gets out of hand.

Here are a few other d/s fics with Dom Louis/Sub Harry that I’ve read and liked: 

🎀 sex shop fic (series) by instajmaal and @loaded-gunn (Explicit, 96k)

(1) The AU where Louis is the most helpful sex shop salesperson in the history of sex shops, and Harry really was just looking for a vibrator with simple instructions (yet ended up getting a hands-on demonstration).

(2) Two years after meeting in a sex shop, Harry’s just returning to Louis from a month-long tour in the States, and they come up with a wholesome bonding exercise.

🎀 Just Breathe by @a-writerwrites and @dimpled-halo​ (Explicit, 50k)

Louis pops his head into the kitchen, “You alright?”

Harry smiles shaking his head, “Just my clumsy arse at it again,” he says laughing.

“I oughta put you over my knee and give you a good spanking,” Louis mutters, chuckling.

Harry freezes. His pulse races so hard he can feel the blood rushing fast and hot throughout his body, like a livewire, zinging through him in a delirious rush. His mouth goes dry, and his eyes are wide. And when Louis turns around to look at him after being silent for so long, it’s like Louis just knows. He understands. Harry loves him so fucking much.

****OR the one where Harry and Louis are on a journey through life together — one that includes discovering dark, hidden parts of themselves that only the other can find.

🎀  Buried Like Treasure by @becomeawendybird​ (Explicit, 40k)

Prince Harry Styles is very private. He chooses to keep himself out of the public eye but feels lonely and isolated while surrounded by people in his hectic royal life. When he finishes his dissertation, he decides to take a solo holiday to one of the royal family’s properties in the Swiss Alps.

Semi-retired thief Louis Tomlinson has been pulled in for one last job: steal a painting from an uninhabited mansion. Neither one of them expects a natural disaster.

🎀 Small Doses (Loving You It’s Explosive) by @becomeawendybird (Explicit, 38k)

Louis Tomlinson finds himself at Vitality Fitness to try and turn his life around after having left his cheating boyfriend of four years. The gym’s owner, Liam, quickly becomes a good friend, but his right hand man is rude and dismissive from the get-go.Louis and Harry continue to clash all while Harry is trying to move his way up the ranks in Manchester’s amateur boxing circuit, but they can’t seem to stay away from each other.

🎀 Santa Baby Honey by @sadaveniren (Explicit, 28k)

“Let’s cut right to the chase,” Niall said, loading the powerpoint, which was just one page, comprised of Louis’ face and the words How do you solve a problem like this asshole? “It’s the beginning of November and Louis is already being a fuckwit. How are we gonna have him knock that shit off this year?”

aka Louis is the CEO of a toy company and Christmas is a stressful time of year so his assistant decides the best way to make him chill out is by getting him laid through a Secret Santa

🎀 Salt and the Appetite by @sadaveniren (Explicit, 14k)

No Control is a No From MeBy Harry Styles

I know this is probably a controversial opinion and review because I have only heard great things from people going to No Control before but I cannot recommend it to anyone. While the facility is nice, the people who work there do not seem to care for their clients well being, and I do not feel safe going there in any capacity. I suppose when I want to play next I will have to travel back down to London, or maybe, unfortunately, Liverpool. If I must.

Aka Harry, a popular BDSM blogger, writes a negative review about Louis’ club. Louis wants to have a chance to make it up to him.

🎀 head head heart by @turnyourankle (Explicit, 11k)

After Dunkirk has wrapped filming, Harry struggles with his inability to reach subspace. He tries taking the matter in his own hands before Louis intervenes with a plan of his own.

Hope you found a few to read!

[neshabeingchildish]

Determined: A Chasper Fic Conclusion

Second half of the chapter is extremely kid heavy. I feel like those actually reading this know how I am about kids and writing kids into these things. Alas, we’ve reached the end of this journey. Thank you to all those who stuck with it. I know this fandom isn’t a long story fandom and I apologize that I keep doing this to y’all. But, finally, the end is here.

Happy, Healthy Endings for All

Henry pulled up to the gate of “the estate” and when he was going to push the button on the little box, heard a beep and a voice say, “Henry Hart, Access Granted,” before he had the chance to do so. 

“They’ve most likely programmed it to scan your car… or your DNA,” Piper commented with a shrug of her shoulders. 

“How rich are our friends these days?” Henry wondered.

“Well, Charlotte is a genius who works with tech and DNA stuff, so she might have done it herself, but if not, Jasper is literally the highest paid executive coach in the country as of last year,” Piper said. 

“I honestly thought for a while that Jasper made that career up and I still don’t even know what that means!” Henry chimed. 

“He tells big bosses how to be better bosses and writes books to help little bosses become big bosses, if they have enough money to do so.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand HOW, either. Like… Who looked at Jasper and decided that he knew this stuff? Is he good at it, or just one of those people who got lucky and gets paid a lot?”

“The companies that he helps have better stats after he’s done helping them reevaluate their model. He’s gonna get one of those Netflix deals, I think. To get his own show where he basically goes in there and you see a few of his projects. He writes books, does speaking engagements, invests his money, and is kind of even helping Charlotte to try to branch out on her own. He just… is good at what he does. But, I mean… Jasper’s kind of been this way. Remember whenever he was doing his vlog and podcast and he’d get all these places and fans sending him stuff? He has a knack for smoothing people over. I think if somebody is confident enough, people are willing to at least hear them out and when he got his foot in the door that way, he owned it.”

“Are you… giving Jasper compliments?”

“No. I’m telling you nice things about Jasper. Did you ever see his “How to be a Good Man to a Difficult Woman” series on his channel? He’s got some very good life skills, when he takes the time to think about it and not just blurts stuff out.”

“Wait. He had a…” He stopped speaking whenever he got closer to the house and the yard, which had a very enormous playground, off to the side like… almost like a park and a huge garden on the other side, with like… what his mind could only seem to think of as a “tiny neighborhood” beside them. “Did this come with the house?” Henry wondered.

“Nope. Jasper had it commissioned. Sat down with the kids and got their ideas, worked on some designs, spoke with his architect, and voila.”

“Why are there so many little houses here when the big house is huge?” 

“That you’ll have to ask them.”

.

Jasper was giving directions to the crew that he had working on this event, which Henry could tell were frat boys who probably knew him as an alumnus and wanted to make good with him. He could hardly believe that his Craig used to be one of those guys. He’d be meeting them later on, because he had some work emergency and insisted that Henry go on without him.

Whenever the Hart siblings walked up, Jasper dismissed the crew and came to hug them. “Hey! Glad you two could actually make it! I think this is your first time coming to the estate at all, so what do you think, finally seeing it in person?” (That was more to Henry, because Piper saw it before, even if it was only in the beginning.)

“What is this property, Dude?” Henry asked, marvelling around.

Jasper smiled proudly, “Well, the site where Charlotte will be opening her center after her hospital fellowship is in this area, so I wanted to make sure that we had a house near here. I can work from anywhere. Still unsure if we want to fully transition out of the old house, since so much of the kids’ memories are there, and Char’s still got a few years before she’ll even be opening the practice, but they’re all still young enough where you set up enough fun stuff and they don’t even know what their previous memories were. I don’t really want to rent it out and have anybody mess up any of the sentimental stuff, but we’ll probably have it for AirBNB for a while or something. Haven’t decided.” 

“What are all these little houses, Dude?” Henry asked, pointing at a few.

“Oh, that’s Jazz’s treehouse, up in the tree, and Amber’s dollhouse, Ruby’s funhouse and the baby playhouse for the new baby. It’s like a little kiddo community for them, and all of them have their dream playground in the community “backyard.” On the other side is Charlotte’s she shed, which is one of my birthday gifts to her…”

“It’s like… the size of a regular house,” Henry pointed out. 

“We’re on our fourth kid. Locking herself in the bathroom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, even in a house as big as our last one, or even as big as the new house,” he said, so casually, that it almost made sense to Henry for them to have a whole other goddamn house a few feet away from their ridiculously huge house! “And her garden is like her front yard, then there’s the three dog houses. The kids want a puppy, so we’ll be getting another one, and already are making room for them. The Kiddo community and the Doggo community right across the way from each other. Charlotte’s she shed and her home lab on either side of the big house.” He was pointing at everything. “Took YEARS to get it just perfect and I figured since the timeline was so close, that instead of doing the whole housewarming thing that we’ve done in the past that we’d just throw Charlotte’s 30th Birthday party here and get showing off the property and showering her in love all over with in one event. Plus, Diamond is coming ANY day now, so by the time we’ve got them coming home, there won’t be time for socializing between getting them nursed, Char’s fellowship, getting doctors and scientists and stuff for the clinic, lab, and the spaces in the center, and…” he shrugged. Henry noted that Jasper looked the happiest that he had ever seen him. Like, everything in his life was perfect. He hoped Charlotte was feeling the same. He had been super busy at work. Springtime was very hectic for weddings and his busiest summer was right around the corner. Plus, he had a man now, and was still a Swellview hero.

“So, you decided on Diamond, huh?” Piper asked. “Just keeping the whole crystals/stones thing going?” 

“After Jasper, who was of course just named for me, we went with birthstones. Wanted to have their names be closer connected to Jasper’s than ours or something else. Amber was better than Citrine or Topaz…” 

“Those are mine,” Henry said proudly to Piper. “November.”

Piper rolled her eyes. Jasper hadn’t stopped, “Ruby is my fellow Leo, and even though that’s typically considered a girl’s name, Ruby is thought of as King of gems, so we rationalized that it was  gender neutral and that if it wasn’t, we’d just have someone with a name that was as rare as the gem itself… you know, if they turned out to be a boy.”

“Ruby is actually a turning out to be a nuisance. They’re my favorite of all of your bad ass kids,” Piper said.

Instead of arguing that they weren’t bad kids (They weren’t, just very free kids). “I call them “Rascal,” Jasper said. “I don’t understand how they get into everything that they get into at 1. Jazz and Amber Reign at least waited until they were in the terrible 2s to begin their shenanigans. I think that they’re gonna be a genius, like Char. She was doing a lot at 1 too, I’m told...” 

Almost as if on cue, they heard Charlotte yelling, “Andro! Ruby Andromeda Dunlop!” the three looked up to see a barely walking 1 year old running quite haphazardly, holding something that appeared to be a food item tightly in their grip, laughing all the way, with a very pregnant mother chasing after them, running as haphazardly with all of that belly to lug around. 

Piper and Henry both cackled at the sight, but Jasper darted over and snatched up the baby and took the food from them. Charlotte caught up, caught her breath and explained, “I swear, I put it down for a split second to adjust my nursing pad and they grabbed it and ran!” Breathing still a little winded, she said, “Hey, Henry. Piper,” and retrieved her Danish. “I know that the party hasn’t started, but somebody made me miss breakfast,” she said pointing at Ruby. Piper reached for the baby and they went to her willingly. “And they go to Piper before they come to me… The person with the titty milk!”

“Because, I influence them to be the most them that they can be.”

“You can have them, at this rate,” Charlotte said. 

Jasper laughed, “She didn’t mean that. She can’t legally give them away. They’re half mine.”

“Where’s their bling?” Charlotte wondered, finishing off her pastry. “They’re family. They’ll need it for the family photo shoot, not that it’ll be very elegant, considering that Dunlop children are magnets for calamity.”

“It’s covered, Babe. Go sit down. You look like you’ve been through hell.” She frowned. “Beautiful, though!”

“Shut up,” she muttered, waddling back to where her seat was. 

The Dunlops were dressed in all white and diamonds (or you know, knock off crystals for the kids) for Charlotte’s 30th Birthday Diamond Ball. 

Jazz had selected to wear “whatever Daddy is wearing,” so they had a smaller version of his white, suit with opaque floral embroidery and crystal embellishments. They also already had their pants rolled up to the knees and had taken their mass of curls out of the neat braided bun that Charlotte had painstakingly put it into this morning. Fortunately, she’d had the foresight to make sure that they did the immediate family photo shoot before everything else. Charlotte noticed on the way back to her seat that Jazz had also taken their shoes and socks off. They were literally untamed before the party even began. She smiled and waved at them and they waved back, “Hey, Mommy! You look like a queen!”

“If you’re not gonna wear your fancy shoes, at least throw on your sneakers so you don’t hurt your feet on something!” Charlotte called back.

“I’ve got some in the treehouse!” They rushed to the tree, electing to climb the rope, instead of the ladder to retrieve sneakers. 

“You raised them to be independent,” Charlotte said. “Carefree Black child. Literally carefree. They don’t care ‘bout nothing.” 

At least Amber was still put together. They had wanted to wear a princess gown. “It’s a ball! I gotta wear a princess gown!” They insisted. They only had Disney ones in their collection and they needed white, so Charlotte asked them what gown they wanted a white version of. “All of them.”

“You can only wear one to Mommy’s birthday party, though.”

“What about Daddy’s birthday?”

“Daddy’s gonna have a grown man friends party for his birthday. We’re not gonna go to that. Maybe just have some cake at home earlier that day, and sure, you can have a gown for that, if you want.”

“What about my birthday?”

“Sure. For your birthday, you can definitely wear a white gown, but which one do you want for Mommy’s party?”

Amber laughed and placed a hand on Charlotte’s hand, like a little adult. “No, Mommy. For my birthday, I need all the gowns. White. Also… all of them, in yellow.” 

Charlotte smiled and said through her teeth, “Okay. Of course, it’s your birthday and Daddy has literally never told any of you ‘no,’ so I’m sure that we’ll be fulfilling that order. Now, you wanna tell Mommy what white gown you’ll wear to her ball?”

“Hmmm. Well, I think Tiana’s, but white. And I need to add a bustle, so I can dance with a prince, or Daddy if there’s only commoners.”

“Where did you learn the word bustle?” Charlotte whispered, making notes.

“Where did they learn the word “commoners?” Jasper wondered.

They instead made Amber a white Tiana gown that was short in the front, kind of like Char’s wedding dress, and a sparkly pair of white leggings, so that Amber wouldn’t protest too much to the lack of a bustle. Charlotte still didn’t know where they got that word from. But, passing by them on the swingset near their dollhouse, they were still dressed like she dressed them this morning, in their shoes and all.

Ruby being one, was the easiest to dress. Charlotte threw a white romper on them and a sunhat and they were the cutest kid in the world. Keeping it white and them out of trouble though? That was a task for somebody else today.

Charlotte’s twinkling maternity gown and updo made her look elegant enough for the party, but between her tiredness, hot flashes, being hungry A LOT, and rushing to the bathroom so much, she was lowkey miserable. She didn’t want to do a big thing for this birthday, being so close to her due date and this having been the most taxing pregnancy she had gone through, but Jasper seemed so excited about it and once the kids were in the mix with picking outfits and such, she felt obligated. 

He planned it for the weekend before her actual birthday, because the next weekend (a few days after her birthday) was around the due date. It was SO CLOSE. Their birthdays would be even closer together than hers and Jazz’s, which was at the beginning of the month and had been celebrated by unveiling the playground in the yard. Which was so extravagant, in Charlotte’s opinion. But, they had made sure to get a lot of land specifically TO BE extravagant, if they wanted to. 

Besides, Jasper paid for all of that, and what was she gonna do? Tell that man what he could and couldn’t do with his hard earned money? Jasper had always been extra, and now he could afford to be.

Jazz wanted a jungle gym. Amber wanted a carousel, and Jasper filled in a lot of the rest of it with stuff that he thought would be fun for them. She wondered if he wasn’t having some sort of early midlife crisis for a while, because he was extremely diligent on making this property perfect. But, that was because it would be their “Forever home” and he could pass it down from Dunlop to Dunlop for as long as they held it dear. “They’ve gotta hold it dear. It’s gotta be perfect. It’s my legacy.”

Watching him handle it was one of the ways she wound up pregnant again before he could have the chance to have a procedure. That man was simply too virile! And there was something about seeing him so passionately make plans and prep for their children’s futures that there was nothing sexier in the world than him in those moments. They scheduled his procedure after she realized that another Dunlop was on the way. Not that she had anything against her other 3 children, but four was twice what she initially saw for herself.

Charlotte LOVED being a mom. It was some of the best highlights of her life. She never would have expected to love it so much, but she absolutely did, aside from the pain of labor, her suffering was generally minimal. (Mainly, because she knew all of the rules medically, and she was able to figure out any necessary changes that she needed to make in her routine whenever her body called for it. 

She also loved the idea of helping other people safely become moms, especially with the somehow increasing number of fatalities in Black women attempting to do so. So, whenever she finished medical school, her residency and fellowship, she finally was confident and prepared enough to open her own center. 

She would be working as a medical biochemist, specializing in genetics for infants and childrens’ care. The site had an OBGYN, a pediatrician, a gynecologist, and a fertility specialist, when they started out. She wanted to make another option for women who might not get the proper care in other facilities, as well as options for  the babies and children that they had. Also, to help those who wanted to have children and had issues preventing them from doing so. 

Instead of having several doctors who are not associated in the building and renting from some leaseholder, she owned the building, would work from the lab with a team she selected, to avoid the disrespect and distrust at her previous lab, and found specialists that she was interested in, bringing what she valued most to the place. 

Having other Black female doctors around was also quite refreshing, for all of them and she made sure to include an onsite daycare with personally vetted childcare providers. Because she knew that she wasn’t the only working mommy and that was important to her, as well. (This was a separate place from the pediatric playroom), because that was for the potentially sick kids. She even involved the doctors and scientists that she would have there in the development process, as a bit of an interview situation. (They didn’t work for her, but she wanted the vision to work for everyone, and to find people who were on the same accord).

They called it A New Page Childcare Center, and Charlotte had never been happier in her life, as far as her work life went, as she was after getting it off of the ground. She was saving lives again, but doing it with a collective of like-minded professionals who respected and liked each other and worked well together. She could be here until she was ready to retire! Finally! She had not only found her calling, but she was able to build up something to follow it through, and she was able to see her children more throughout all of it.

Plus, even when helping a client through a strenuous process of tests and seeking out solutions or researching new ideas in genetics, she controlled her schedule and therefore was able to do things at this point in her life with Jasper and the kids that she felt guilty about not being able to do before, like family vacations and events. Henry and Craig FINALLY tied the knot shortly after Hen turned 33, and it was her center that they came to when seeking out a surrogate. 

At the center, they were able to speak with a surrogacy agent, because by that time, the center had grown to include an agency for surrogacy and one for adoption. By finding all these childcare specialists and providers and making room for them in her property, it was easy for people to explore all of these options in one place, and there were frequently workshops on site available for training in doula and midwife work, becoming foster parents, and NUMEROUS paid internships in every single one of the areas in the place. 

Now, most of these ideas she came up with, in tandem with Jasper during pillow talk. She knew if he knew how to do one thing, it would be to tell her truthfully how to have a fulfilling workspace. She just had never thought that she would be able to put all of these professions and occupations in one space. Whenever he would say, “Why don’t you just find one and get them in your building?” she would immediately think, I can’t do that! But now, she wasn’t even sure WHY she ever thought that she couldn’t do it! 

She guessed it sounded like too much. She guessed that it would be too hard to maintain rules, regulations, etc… But, Jasper pointed out, “But, they don’t work for you. As long as they can pay you to be in that space, it's an advantage to you all to have sources nearby to suggest. If fertility isn’t working out, your fertility specialist can suggest going to, you know… the fourth floor for a surrogate or the fifth floor for the adoption agency, etc. That way, they don’t have to look around, which would be additional stress and sometimes, you may be able to have a representative from the office of their next step come to speak with them and build rapport in that moment where they’ve lost a little bit a hope, to meet and reassure them that the last step was only another stepping stone and assure them that they will give their all to this particular leg of the journey.” There was always a brilliant idea coming out of him! She loved that man so much, more and more all of the time. 

.

The various talks that had to be had with them were generally successful. Having two socially conscious parents, they were going to get lessons about everything whenever they either were about to go out into the world on their own (school and such) or for more heavy topics, whenever they seemed to want to know. Of course, first and foremost was the way that people outside might perceive and treat them.

Jazz looked almost just like Charlotte, but with a different curl pattern. Her hair mostly grew down, but it was poofy enough that it fluffed out at the sides. It gave her just enough “other” for people to ask her “Black, and what else?” but, if she had it up or something, nobody even bothered. 

Amber was the only one that was really “light skinned,” but she always got a little browner in the summer. Her hair was curly like Jasper’s when he was a kid and it didn’t grow down, but out, so she had a huge curly fro.

Jazz said that Ruby was her mini… like she wasn’t cut from the very same cloth as Charlotte. Ruby had hair like Charlotte’s and similar features. Slightly less brown, but definitely darker than Amber. She looked even more like Charlotte, because they had similar mannerisms and the same face and hair. 

Diamond was only a couple of shades darker than Amber, but she had more of Jasper’s features than the others, who were basically molds of Charlotte with the slight differences mentioned, and her eyes were light colored. Well, they were somewhere between a hazel and a chestnut. Jasper insisted that she had his mom’s eyes. Charlotte just denied it on principle. She lowkey did have Pansy’s eyes and was really the only one that could “pass for a Dunlop,” according to some of the comments Charlotte had overheard and seen on posts before Jasper blocked somebody. People sometimes joked with Jasper to ask him if he was sure those were all his kids, but they quickly retracted these jokes, whenever they noted his face or body language. When Jazz was little, he’d be more likely to kick someone’s ass over it. By the time Amber came, it was asked less, but when it was brought up, Jazz was singled out! She “didn’t look mixed enough” someone said, in that way that he could tell they felt like they were just being honest. She looked just like her mother, if she had wavy hair!! And… what did people think that he was going to presume that they were suggesting about his wife when they asked him shit like that or made a funny little comment.

His mother made that mistake years ago. “I just don’t see any part of you in that one,” she said, opting to try to pick up Amber as she nudged her forehead towards Jazz. Amber hid behind her older sister. Something about Pansy made her nervous. The woman sighed and tacked on, “I don’t think it would hurt to get them DNA tested, just in case…”

And he told her, “If you hadn’t given me life, I would sock you in the mouth for that.” (Jasper never made threats like that at her and she was shook). 

“I was kidding! She’s just way darker than I thought she should be,” she had said about Jazz (which was PRIOR to Jazz identifying as a girl and ALSO made him upset that she called them a she), but Pansy had come out of that. They kept some distance between themselves and her until she had to seek them out and agree to the proper language and appropriate treatment. Then, Jasper monitored every time she was around for a long time before her and Charlotte were comfortable enough (and the kids were comfortable enough) for her to be allowed to spend time with them by herself.

She was a much better grandmother than she had been a mom, and he came to realize that a lot of people were weird about the fact that 3 out of 4 of his biracial kids didn’t quote unquote “really look biracial,” so they wanted to tell the girls about it whenever it was time for Jazz to go to her private school. Jasper wanted them in public school. There was one not too far from the house and it was considered when he bought it. But, they compromised that the kids could go to a private head start, maybe public elementary, and then Charlotte insisted on the private school when they got into junior high. But, after head start, all of Jazz’s friends were going to private school and she wanted to go, as well. Jasper wondered if Charlotte knew this would happen when she made that deal with him. She simply smirked in response.

“What the fuck is biracial?” Jazz had asked whenever the race talk came up. Charlotte threw her head back and Jazz winced, “Sorry, Mom.” She honestly never let go of the word, since she was 2 years old. But, she also had just presumed that since half of her family was different shades of brown and the other half were lesser shades of brown that other people had families that were just all kinds of browns and lesser browns, even those lesser brown people she knew from pre-k. 

Realizing that Uncle Henry and Uncle Craig were not going to be able to come together and simply make brown cousins or lesser brown cousins was like a shock to her system. They had to grow a baby somewhere else and try to pick somebody that would have some similar traits. Then, learning that people might be meaner to her because she was a darker brown than Daddy was alarming, to say the least, and that even more people might treat her differently because of her private areas that they couldn’t even see? She was scandalized and horrified. But… she said that sounded like it meant that girls were tougher than boys and she was “tough enough to be a girl.”

“It’s not really a matter of toughness. It’s more like what you feel like you are, inside. And it doesn’t have to be a girl, or even a boy. You might feel like something else that you don’t quite have the words for, and we’ll help you find the right words, if that’s the case or maybe even you’ll have new words for us that are more catered to who you feel like you are inside.” Charlotte said.

“Well, I don’t not feel like a girl. I feel like a girl who is strong and brave. Whatever that is is my gender. I don’t care. It’s never mattered before. I just am scared of the people out there that might try to treat me like I’m a Black girl. (I am, but… that’s scary stuff, Mom.”

“We’ll protect you as much as we can,” Jasper said.

“I have literally seen your father punch more than a few people for treating mommy some kind of way,” Charlotte admitted. Jasper’s face showed he had zero regrets about those choices.

“Don’t worry Dad. I have a mean right hook,” Jazz said. 

“Damn right you do. That’s that Dunlop Dumb Drop!” And with just that, the kid gestured for a double high five and they growled in each others faces and started barking. 

Charlotte, feeling left out said, “I have some drops too.”

Both of them looked at her and burst into crying laughter. “Mom, please, do not do this to me!” Jazz said as Jasper wiped his eyes from actually crying laughing about it. “Oh, you oughtta end all these talks like that. Who can feel worried when you’ve got this shining sense of humor.” 

Charlotte folded her arms, but couldn’t help but to laugh, in spite of herself of the fact that her young child thought it hilarious that she could drop somebody. “I never said with my fists, Kid. I’m a scientist and a doctor. I know at least one hundred ways to drop somebody without ever touching them. A lot of them, untraceable.” She threw a look at Jasper, who immediately stopped laughing. 

“Well, that’s just terrifying,” Jazz admitted. 

Charlotte winked, “Only for my enemies.” 

Now, Jazz offered her double high fives and said, “Friends for life!” 

Amber was concerned about things, but mostly about partnership. Why, at her age? They didn’t know, but they just answered her questions when they arose. “So. IF I AM a girl, feel like a girl, like things that the world says is for girls, but I also LIKE girls. Like, REALLY like girls, like - like them, you understand… can I still be a girl?”

“If you think you are, yes.”

“But, the world says that girls like boys, right? I hate boys. They’re smelly and unkind. They never like to wear pretty dresses that would be gorgeous on them. They hit you and say it’s because they like you, so if you want to hit them back, you don’t want to, because you don’t want them to think you like them, a stupid boy!”

Jasper balled his fists, “Who the hell hit you?” 

“Daddy, don’t get mad. Since hitting means boys like you, I didn’t hit him back, so he wouldn’t think I like him. Instead, I put mud in his sandwich when everybody was at recess.” She smiled proudly.

“Well, I’m glad that you got him back. But, next time, just hit him. Nobody gets to put their hands on you and if they really liked you, they wouldn’t. Also, who was it?”

“Are you gonna go punch the kid, Jasper?” Charlotte asked.

“I MIGHT!”

Charlotte changed the subject. “Not all boys are like that, but if you just don’t like boys, that’s still fine. You can like whoever you like.”

“I like girls.”

“Cool. Uncle Henry is a boy who likes a boy, Uncle Craig. And Uncle Jake and Uncle Ray…”

She looked frustrated, “Do only boys get to like boys in the world?” They’d already warned her that people are mean to girls, was not being able to like like other girls part of that meanness?

“No! Everybody gets to like whoever they like and sometimes the world is mean about it, but sometimes the world is nice.”

“The world better be nice to me, because there’s plenty of dirt out there for me to put on their sandwiches.”

Jasper whispered, “She’s terrifying, like you.”

“If by that you mean that she’s brilliant, thank you,” Charlotte whispered back and kissed him briefly.

“Hi. Could you not? I don’t really want to have to see boys and girls kiss in my own home,” Amber said, inciting cackles from both of them.

Ruby didn’t care either way. Whenever they told her all these things, they said they didn’t have questions, were undecided on if they knew what their gender was and didn’t care about racist people because, “I have a big, strong dad, a mom that can kill people quietly, an older sister who fights people and one that pees in people’s colas. I think that I’m well protected.”

Jasper and Charlotte were nodding, presuming that they probably had talked to their sisters about this before, but both stopped at “pees in people’s colas” and said, “Wait, what?” Ruby tilted their head, acting like they had no idea what they were asking about.

“I have nothing further,” Ruby said. They kept the “their/them” pronouns throughout life. It just seemed like a lot to them, to sit there and think and decide who they felt like when their upbringing didn’t place any value on gender roles. But, they were also fine with whatever pronouns someone else used for them. It didn’t really matter. 

Henry retired from hero life at 50. 

The Dunlop kids and the Hart kids got together to plan a Semi-Centennial celebration for their parents, instead of calling in a joint birthday celebration. A lot of things were happening within a few years’ time. Jasper and Charlotte being married for 25 years, Jazz becoming a professional athlete, Amber getting engaged to her college sweetheart, Ruby graduating from high school at the top of their class, JUST like their mom and going into an entire new wave of technology that fascinated Charlotte, and Diamond going into high school, and the fact that Uncle Henry was getting ready to “settle peacefully from everything else” and focus on H<3art Eyes until his official retirement… so retiring from Captain Danger so that he could have at least some good years in the wedding shop with his kids and husband, just living his life. 

His Dad and Ray had bought a boat a while back, which they mostly lived on, did some traveling in and also continued to enjoy perks such as the old Man Copter, which Ray basically just redecorated and put a cheesy postcard like caricature of the two of them on the side of it. The same for the RV that Jake brought, for whenever they wanted to travel on land. They were both retired and had no small kids. Ray never told Jake about Captain Man. The Hart kids agreed that he just COULDN'T have that information. It didn’t matter, anyway. They had been working well for about 20 years at that point. Neither chose to get married, but what they had was pretty undeniable. 

The child advocate in Charlotte Ambrosia Dunlop got with Schwoz years prior to come up with a way to keep Swellview safe from the villain threats without training children to work as heroes until they couldn’t. It was a solution that they sort of came to simultaneously, and Schwoz was very upset that he hadn’t really considered it before… Clone generation. Recreating a Captain Man and Captain Danger clone and having the Man Cave computer know just how and when they would need to be replenished! Charlotte didn’t want Schwoz to have to stay there, being the brain behind the thing, so she convinced him to make a Safe Halley, to control it all and to simply keep access to it, if something went wrong, one of them could go sort it out if they had to. But, they didn’t. They never had to again, and Swellview was still quite safe.

.

Charlotte, Jasper, Henry, Piper, Ray, and Schwoz sit on the patio, looking at the view of the sunsetting on the mountains during their annual Man Fam Getaway… “Our life was stupid crazy. I wouldn’t change a thing,” Charlotte said and everybody heard her and they all agreed.

*** The End***

[blackcoffeeandblankpagess]

Life Update

A collection of random things

We’re officially moved in and settled down (kinda) in Berkeley! Things are still kinda hectic with finding a job and studying and establishing a new routine but it feels nice to finally not be living out of a suitcase and to have a place to call home

I really like it here so far, but I also feel like this is one of those places I wouldn’t want to live permanently...we will see how I feel in a few months

On the running front! I’m trying this new thing this fall called Not Getting Injured. This summer I finally had some sense knocked into me and realized I was just doing....way too fucking much when it comes to exercise and I never bothered to actually think WHY am I doing all of this. Running is good (okay actually running is the one thing that I think was actually in check), and so is strength training and stuff but the amount of strength training I was doing 1. made no sense and 2. was unnecessary. I was spending waaaay too much time in the gym and this summer only exacerbated that because I had waaaay too much free time so now I’m trying to actually train smart and take care of myself smh

on that note! Jared and I got a membership yesterday to a climbing gym in our area and I’m really excited to add that to our weeks. I think climbing is so cool and I’m looking forward to a new and exciting way to challenge myself and train my body in ways that running doesn’t (also seeing all of @runningfurtherfaster ‘s climbing posts has me hyped)

also also also I think I want to sign up for a fall half in the area in november-ish probably. I have not legitimately raced a half marathon since like 2016 when I ran my first 2 and my PR. Every other one I’ve run I’ve been nursing some weird pain or sick or something and just ran it to finish so assuming I can not hurt myself Imma sign up for one probably

Also like 1 million years ago I entered the lottery for the London Marathon which I find out about next month but if that doesn’t work out and, again, I stay healthy I really want to run a marathon this spring. I’ll be done applying to school and should have the time to really work for it which would be nice. Also even though I feel like I’ve run more I’ve really only run one marathon (but have registered for more and had to defer due to injury/trained for a 50k but got hurt 2 weeks out) and I want to do another!!!!!

I’m taking the LSAT in 3 (!) weeks!!!! that’s so freaking soon. I’m not as nervous about it as maybe I should be??? idk. I’m a very good test taker and the LSAT works in the same way my brain likes to think, but now I feel like I’m gonna curse myself so ! wish me luck. I honestly just can’t wait until I can take worrying about it off my perpetual to-do list. Also it’s absurd how much where you go to school depends on that score AND how much you make coming out of law school depends on the school you went to. ANYWAY, more law school thoughts to come in the next few months

I got a job! Today I go in for training and it’s at this gelato shop which I applied to just cause it’s a job and seemed chill but yesterday when I met with the owner I was actually so impressed. The owners are from italy and they make all of the stuff with carefully thought out ingredients and get as much fruit as they can from the farmer’s market and half the flavors and cones are vegan which I just think is super cool

Okay this is long so that’s all for now thx 4 reading happy thursday 

[vanaera]

The Tale of the Gingerbread Man and the Mistletoe

Synopsis | Being his bestfriend for more than ten years, you have filled Jungkook’s life with stories that colored his world with joy and wonder. This time, he lets himself be the one to tell you stories, eventhough it seems that a different synopsis is coming into place in the warmth of his room in this Christmas Eve.

(aka The Prince and His Rose Christmas  Special; football player!jk + childhood friend!you/ best friends to lovers!au)

Genre | Fluff, so much fluff you’re gonna have diabetes. Welcome to the TPAHR Universe.

Wordcount | 5k

Read more football!jk drabbles in The Prince and His Rose

               Jeon Jungkook likes to believe that in an alternate universe, there’s a version of him that would have easily ended up with you. He already knew of it when he turned twenty, when your name he’s known and uttered for more than ten years with too much fondness and familiarity suddenly weighed more than they used to in his head and in his heart for the very first time. And for the next days he found himself falling deeper in love with you, his tongue always stumbling on each letter, drunk from their candied-cherry sweetness that kept him simultaneously high on the clouds and at the pit bottom of the cool image he’s built over the years. Jeon Jungkook, the MVP and center forward of your university football team and computer science extraordinaire is helplessly, sappily, fucking in love with you, his bestfriend for fourteen years and writer wonder of his batch. 

              After eight years of telling people "No, we're not dating. We're just friends," it wasn't easy to admit years later that he will actually go against his own words and he will in fact, take all the risks just to get to the other side of the friend zone. It was easy to tell apart these explosions of feelings in his heart from the ones he’d felt before for any person, however such knowledge is not enough to balance the gravitational pull you had on him with his own force of attraction upon you. Because aside from his late start to make a move on his pursuit for your affection, which didn't actually turn well at the very beginning (because his annoying self turns his supposed amorous compliments into nonsensical criticisms until he started writing you love letters he leaves in your locker under the pen name Little Prince), you are fucking oblivious.

               Maybe if his mind does not blank out on him too much when your eyes met his, he would have probably uttered nice words and done things that would help him fall more into you and you into him.

               Jungkook shakes these thoughts as his elbows dig into the white sheets on the comforter he has laid on the floor, pulling himself to sit up and take a glance on the bed beside him.

               The amber sunlight of the afternoon paints your skin in ethereal gold, your parted lips in rose pink, and your tresses spread on his pillow in deeper brown, a stark contrast to the whiteness of the duvet. You stir in your sleep, limbs laid outstretched, and your head turns to his way, granting Jungkook every angle of your beauty. Jungkook smiles. You're so beautiful...breathtakingly beautiful in every possible way.

               He’s not granted everyday to be able to see you like this so Jungkook makes use of every second of the calm minutes of the afternoon haze, admiring every bit of you. His eyes graze your asymmetrical eyes that always see the good in everyone, your fairly high sloped nose you always took pride of, your plush full lips he’s always wanted to taste, your semi-broad shoulders that complements his when he goes for surprise bear hugs, your cute, small fingers that contrast his massively long ones – every flaw and attribute he’s come to learn to love.  You’re not perfect and he admits he has seen better physical qualities in others. However, he’s never seen someone like you–someone who’s filled with so many good qualities and imperfections at the same time yet still manages to be perfect just the way you are–not for anyone, not for him, not to satisfy his ideal woman he’s conjured in his mind–just perfectly you. You who inspire him to do better, to dream more, and work harder, his bestfriend for so many years, the only person he can be completely himself.

               Jungkook leans toward you, reaching out to brush your fringe when you stir again, body fully facing him now. He watches your lashes flutter, eyes peeling open to look back at him, brown eyes warm and soft. Jungkook's hand hangs in mid-air. He settles them on your palm that lays open on his bed, intertwining them together.

               You pull your pink lips into a smile. "What are you looking at, Jungkookie?"

               "Nothing," Jungkook mumbles. "Just," he looks to his side then reconnects your gazes, now sporting a shit-eating grin, "looking at you with that drool on your face."

               "Oh, really?" you return, starting to sit up.

               "Oh hell, yes," Jungkook's grin widens and before you pulled yourself up enough to be a few inches higher than where he sat, he squeezes your hand, playfully tight but not much for you to wince, something he always does when he tries to ruin your friendship handshakes back then just to annoy you.

               Jungkook’s already running to his kitchen by the time you’re on your toes and screaming at him, slipper in hand and feet pounding on the floor with your laughter filling the room.

               When the semester ends and the Holiday break starts, you and Jungkook always travel back to your hometown to celebrate Christmas with your families. Unfortunately this time, the both of you can't adhere to the family tradition. The drama club was scheduled to have the Nutcracker play on the night of the 23rd in your university's theater for St. Anne Orphanage's early Christmas treat for the children, and since you're one of the play writers and Jungkook's part of the lighting team, you two had to stay and schedule your trip back home in another day to have the 24th your rest day.  Jungkook thinks, on the other hand, that such happening was fortunate, a blessing undeniably un-disguised, a Christmas miracle he never wished for. Your roommate has packed a week ago to go home to the province, and given the circumstance that you hated being alone and Jungkook's your only close friend who'll be with you in the Christmas Eve, it was no question that you'll set camp in his room when his own roommate, Park Jimin, has also left for the holidays. He could spend the Christmas Eve with just you and him, with fuzzy colored socks on your feet, hot chocolate in mugs warm on your cold hands, and under the starry blanket of yours that have been both your comfort for years now.

               "And it could be the time you can, you know - tell her what you feel with the romantic mood of Christmas and all," were Taehyung's words yesterday to which he laughed. He doesn't know if he would actually take his chance or not because as much as he wants to pour his love for you right here, right now, the risk of rejection is possibly high when you're not even aware yet he's actually courting you and such tragedy is unbecoming for a supposed festive occasion.  

               Yesterday night was hectic so the two of you planned to slow everything down in the 24th. After sleeping in and waking up to have late breakfast, the both of you spent the remainder of the morning re-watching Love Actually and playing the Overcooked 2 video game that had you seated on the floor between his legs like always, back comfortably molded against his warm chest as you kept yelling at each other on what you’re supposed to do. You cooked his favorite beef lasagna for lunch and when the afternoon came, the both of you took a nap to prepare for your all-nighters to celebrate Christmas at exactly twelve o’clock. It’s domestic as hell and hurts Jungkook’s heart with so many feels that he has to routinely calm his burning tomato-red cheeks and ears whenever you come too close or let your stare linger for a while. But what’s he gonna do? Say no? Oh fucking no way, he’s going to fucking relish everything. Life’s given him such a very nice opportunity to spend a very special day with you and he’s going to make the best out of it.

               Especially now, when it’s ten and the evening sky has deepened into blackish indigo. His room was illuminated by his white fluorescent lights and the colorful blues, reds, and greens of the small Christmas tree you helped him set up last November beside his couch. The both of you were now sitting on his sofa after finishing two more romantic comedies on his floor, with mugs of hot choco warming your hands, your starry blanket draped over your shoulders, as you brew another story with him.

               “So I came up with this Jupiter King yesterday,” you said, tugging your blanket overhead. Letting your finger graze among the stars you marked to be the kingdom of the Obsidian Knights, the tall tower of the two Emerald Sisters, the Cloud Emporium, until it stops on a massive coral star embedded on the north. “Here!” you flash him a smile before focusing back on your new character. “He’s one of the most powerful rulers I set up here and he’s got this huge garden filled with plants that produces stars instead of flowers.  So he’s like, the Father of Everything here or some sort.”

               Jungkook hums, leaning his head over your right shoulder as he looks up at the northernmost star on your blanket. “Sounds good. What will be his story, then?”

               You look at him, biting your lip. “I’m thinking of putting him in The Prince and His Rose, like…some kind of origin to set some grounds between the worlds of the Golden Prince and his Rose.” You pause for a while and Jungkook looks at you waiting. You close your eyes before placing your mug on his small coffee table. You turn to him then, an expression between indifference and disappointment is etched into a downcast of a frown. It would have looked seriously bad if your lips were not jut out in a pout and your starry blanket hovering your heads like E.T. wannabes. “Okay–fuck,” you breathe, “I honestly don’t know what to do with him yet and it really frustrates me. I had this idea like a month ago and then finals came and passed by and wiped everything off my head–all the stuff I studied for and even my creative juices, so I’m here, like a useless being trying to talk it with you and see if any inspiration will rush in my brain.”

               “It’s okay. Is talking about it with me helping now?” Jungkook tries not to let his cheeks redden more or else the dark indigo hue of the sky of your blanket won’t be able to hide it anymore.

               “No,” you mutter. “I really don’t like feeling like this. Look, I even got so grumpy yesterday with the performance of Nayeon and Jun in the rehearsals.”

               Jungkook chuckles, the image of you wearing the meanest scowl he’s seen on you as you trudge up to the director and point at the lacking skills of the actors flashes again in his mind. You don’t really scowl and frown that bad on the usual basis that’s why it’s kinda funny seeing the rest of the cast cower a little, surprised of your sudden outburst. “They deserve it though. They’re slacking off during the final rehearsals. Even I can see it up on the Light Control Room. Namjoon hyung even wanted to put the large ass spotlight on their faces to wake them up.”

               You laugh at that, chuckles tinkling like faerie bells in Jungkook’s ears. “Yeah, it’s funny. I don’t really like slackers but I don’t know–I think it’s not exactly the slacking off that pissed me so bad yesterday–you get this feeling when you’re just not acting like yourself and it kinda frustrates you? That’s that.”

               Jungkook pats your head to place it on his right shoulder and you instantly oblige. "Chill, mate.” After hearing another cold breeze sweep outside, he adds with a grin, “Oh yeah, pun intended."

               You gave him a pointed look.

               Jungkook laughs. "Okay, maybe it's going like this 'cause your forcing ideas to come to you. You always know it does you no good and makes your story far beyond at par to your plans. Why do you do it anyway?"

               "I don't know," you mumble. "I just feel like wasting my holidays when I could have produced something that would have been approved by an editor– ”

               Jungkook taps the tip of your nose. "Hey, what do we say about pressuring yourself?"

               You breathe out and say in unison with him: "One step, one punch, one round at a time."

               "From Creed, said by Rocky!" Jungkook grins and you smile at the telltale signs of his fanboy mode on his glowing face.

               "You know, it would have been a great mood if you like, didn't utter where you got that advice from."

               "Hey, I gotta give credits. Rocky is awesome."

               You smirk at him, "Honestly, when you first said that quote to me two years ago, I actually though it came from you and I was so impressed by that one line you didn't manage to make unintelligible. Of course it is good because it actually didn't come from you–”

               "Hey! I'm trying to boost your morale here, why the hell are you dissing me?! Jungkook half-guffaws and half-screams, a feat impossible until now, and before you can laugh at him and say sorry, he tackles you down with a loud "Yah!" attacking your weak sides in heaps of tickles and laughter.

               "Oh my god, Kook, AHHahaHaHah, stop-AHaHaH"

               "No, I'm not done yet, Little Ms. Writer," Jungkook pokes your side and boops your nose giving you another round of giggling feat.

               When the chuckles eventually die down and the wriggling blanketed mess of the both of you calms down, Jungkook finds himself lying on the floor next to you, smiling, gaze interlocked with yours. The blanket is still draped over the both of your heads, tangled between your arms and legs in the tickle fest. It's weird that he finds it comfortable in a blanket cocoon with you on his floor. Maybe it's because of your unadulterated child-like laughter and joy he's never seen on you for quite a while, or maybe it's because of the starry night sky of the blanket that have suddenly enveloped the two of you into a world of your own or maybe–it's just you so anywhere you are with him will of course, will be fine for him. He doesn’t really know, so he supposes it’s because of all the three.

               Jungkook could feel his heart beat reaching a crescendo. He clears his throat and places his eyes on the stars instead. "Taking a break would actually help you and your writing, you know? How about…let me tell you a story this time? I got a perfect one in my head right now. Would you like that?"

               "Okay,” you chirp beside him. He could already feel a smile growing again on your face and he himself, smiles at that, chest warm. His plan for this Christmas Eve is off to a good start, then.

               “So once upon a time, there’s this gingerbread man who came out too early from his mold to be considered complete. He’s undercooked and half of his body is missing those decorative icing and candies. Then –”

               “Wait, it already had its icing when he’s being cooked?”

               Jungkook gives you a bored look. “In this universe it is. For his self-confidence. Okay, woman, let me continue.”

               When you hum in approval, he continues. “So this half-complete gingerbread man, unbeknownst to his maker, made his way down the oven and toward the door of the wooden hut. Too excited to see the open world, he rushed out of the house and into the cold.”

               “That’s dangerous,” you note.

               He nods in agreement. “Yeah, this gingerbread man is stupid so of course, he doesn’t know that.” You laugh at that and he grins.

               “The gingerbread man travels in the deep snow, and he enjoys the first minutes of the white world. He played with snowmen, rolled and messed around with snow angels, and ran to other houses to nab their candy canes they had in front of their porch for the caroling kids to munch on. It’s only when he notices he’s about to enter another village did he see a huge ass crack making its way down his right leg. In panic, he runs toward the nearest wizard he’s been told by his snowmen friends and–“ Jungkook suddenly pauses and you look at your side.

               “And? Hey, why did you stop? What are you doing?”

               Jungkook grumbles. “Wait, my pajamas got stuck between my butt cheeks, it’s annoying–okay there, I’m fine again.”  He pats his back and looks at your disgusted face. “Hey, don’t act like you don’t do that, too.”

               “I do, but I don’t announce it so openly as you did!”

               “Okay, my bad,” Jungkook smirks. “So yeah, the stupid ginger bread man meets the wizard, a century old, massive pretzel. The wizard tells him that the cracks on his leg were caused by forgetting his true self and the Gingerbread man looked at him bewildered and said,” Jungkook breaths and says in a whiny, squeaky voice he knows will annoy you, “‘What true self? I’m a gingerbread man, what’s more to that?’”

               “Jungkook, that voice over is annoying and stupid and you know that.”

               “I don’t care. Anyway, the wizard does not give a fuck and just says ambiguously, ‘Only true love will fix your problem.  The mistletoe will be your sign.’”

               You chuckle, “Wow, true love is always the way, what did I expect? The mistletoe though is original but…really weird.”

               “This is a weird story, so expect everything is really weird. Anyway, the gingerbread man wanders around the village, confused, and proceeds to just deal with other gingerbread women to look for true love only to come short with nonsense flings here and there – ”

               “Wait up!” you interrupt him again, flabbergasted at the uncalled turn of events. “This is a love story?!”

               Jungkook smiles, feeling a cold sweat run down his back. “Umm, kinda yeah? Why are you questioning it just now? You know me, I’m a trash for love stories so what do you expect?”

               “Okay, fine. I’m not complaining. Just weirded out by what’s happening.”

               “I told you this is a weird story.”

               “Fine, fine. Continue.”

               “One night, the gingerbread dude dreams of going back home to his maker. His maker almost cries at the sight of him and welcomes him back home again with a warm hug. At the touch, he gets a vision of the maker’s father, when the maker is still yet a little girl, who first planned his structure and composition. The father kneaded the dough and formed him on the mold. However, the father wasn’t able to put him in the oven because electricity in the village went out during the cricket plague.” Jungkook looks at you again and raises his eyebrows. He doesn’t need to ask more about your troubled expression when you already answer his unsaid question with a cock of your brow.

               “Okay, everything is not making sense, but okay, go on.”

               “So five years have passed and the father wanted to give up and just throw him away, however his maker pleaded no and promised she’ll make this gingerbread man something the father will be proud of.  The maker grew and took care of the gingerbread man’s raw form, making sure it’s well warmed up. She even put mistletoes on their ceiling and windows after noticing that the gingerbread man, sat atop on the tray, grows warmer at the sight of the plant. Another year passes until the plague ceases and when the electricity was back up again, she immediately placed him on the oven pan and waited for his growth. That’s when the gingerbread man realized what the wizard meant what true love is. He immediately set out, and ran back up the hills, never stopping eventhough the cracks have spread through his other leg and right arm. When he knocked against the door, it immediately opened to reveal his maker, sitting lonely on the floor. Hesitant, he made his way fast to the girl and reached for her hand, making himself known to his maker. At the sight of him, his maker’s eyes glow and a smile as wide as the crescent of the moon grows on her face. The gingerbread man is home again. The cracks immediately healed, and he suddenly became cooked just right without putting him in the oven, you get what I mean? Like complete again, with all the icing and stuff. There. The end.”

               Jungkook turns to you, sporting that shit-eating grin you always found endearing and annoying at the same time. “So…you like it?” he asks.

               You tilt your head, keeping your gaze on him. “Hmm…It’s nice…but weird. I appreciate your story-telling skills though I could say, I’m definitely better than you.”

               “HEY!”

               You guffawed at his appalled face. You grab his arm by your side and lean your head on his shoulder, a feat you usually do back when you’re five and sucking up to him. “Okay, I liked it, I appreciate it. By the way, how did you even come up with that…artistic storyline?”

               Jungkook leans his head against yours. “I actually took it from my first animation in college, a project for my major.”

               “What? How come I’ve never seen it yet?”

               “Because my skills are crappy back then so I saved you the horrific details and decided to tell you the plot instead, but you know what,” he looks at you, “I told you that to prepare you for my gift. Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

               Right then, your alarm clock rings and signals it’s exactly, twelve o’clock. It’s Christmas day. Jungkook smiles. His plan for your Christmas Eve has been smooth. Immediately, Jungkook grabs the blanket to put it on his couch, the indigo and colored stars no longer in your vision as you both lay on your backs, looking at his own ceiling. It was white, just like the first moment you’ve seen it when you went here in first year, however this night, it was no longer just white. Painted red rose patterns surrounded his ceiling, almost mimicking a rose garden painting on Cathedral ceilings. All of their thorny stems lead to the middle, right next to the bolted screw of his light fixture where a mistletoe was taped, leaves rich green and berries vibrant red.  

               “Oh my god, Jungkook, it’s beautiful!” you gasp, lips parting in awe and Jungkook momentarily forgets what he’s supposed to do next. Fuck, you’re so beautiful and so, so enthralled by what he did, he can fucking die a happy man right here, right now.

               “I–you mi-missed our friend’s trip in St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Malta last August after you took a break after your collapsing thing in the Drama Club. Of course, I can’t imitate the painting itself so I just did it with roses, y’know? Your favorites?” you chuckle at that and Jungkook’s smile widens, now mimicking the crescent of the moon himself. “Plus, you told me back then you’ve never seen red berries on mistletoes before so I climbed on the tree behind our dorm yesterday to grab one.”

               You turn your body towards him, completely on your side facing him now and Jungkook forgets to breathe. “Jungkook–I–this is beautiful. So, so beautiful, god, why didn’t you tell me your gift would be this-this-extra.”

               “Extra?”

               “Extra-spectacular,” you clear, “I-I didn’t even bring my gift for you like, it’so, so pretty and of course, you’ve spent hours painting that and here I am lying next to you with nothing to give to you.”

               “It’s okay,” Jungkook hums, letting his hand run through your hair, carding through your strands just like how you love it. “You said you’d bring it anyway–by the way where did you even leave your gift?”

               “In our home. I had it ready by November and my dumb self forgot that we won’t be able to come home soon because of the play.”

               “Stop calling yourself dumb.”

               “Okay. Merry Christmas, too,  Jungkook.”

               Jungkook lets his smile bloom further on his face, almost permanent on his skin as he watches you turn  to ogle the ceiling again. All of the sensations of cramped backs and stiffed necks he endured painting the rose garden on top of the foldable ladder he borrowed from Yoongi is worth it when he gets to see you like this–glowing and happy...just because of what he did. You always manage to shake up his world and sweep him off his feet with stories you’ve made only for the two of you. All the years he’s been with you, he always dreamt of returning the favor. However, instead for platonic intentions of twelve-year old Jungkook to impress you back then, the Jungkook now yearns to have at least touched a corner of your heart. He spends the next minutes admiring you as you continue to chat about the details he put in the painting, drinking the image of you lying beside him and enjoying his gift so much you can’t tear your eyes away from it.

               As if in coincidence with his plan, the bursts of fire crackers and fireworks suddenly intervene in your moment and Jungkook and you, at the sound, quickly stand up and rush to his window.

               Yellow flickers start at the bottom of the scenery and shoots up fast in the sky, breaking into a beautiful umbrella bloom of golden sparkling stars. Reds and blues follow suit, accompanying the remains of the yellows in a blooming garden of vibrant sparks that illuminated the dark skyline. “Shings!” and “zings!” continuously followed in a cycle of blooming and fading fireworks and before  Jungkook knows it, he’s already turning his head to your side, eyes glowing and mouth in an open grin.

               “Woah, Jungkook, you saw that?  It’s a fountain of reds and oranges, god, it’s so beautiful!”

               You’re beautiful. And before he thinks of what he’s supposed to do next, his lips already move to the songs of the birds in his heart that have already started their numbers the moment he wake up this morning having you next to him.

               "I love you, Y/N"

               “Huh, what did you say?

               Jungkook's breath stops in his throat, body freezing up. Fuck, what’s he supposed to do holy shit–

               "Hey, what did you say? I didn't catch it. Tell me, what is it."

               Jungkook learns how to breathe again. "No-nothing. Just you getting sappy over fireworks."

               "Oh dumbface, as if you don’t do that too.”

               Jungkook laughs and sets his elbows back on his window sill and you lean your head against his shoulder again.

               Taehyung is right. Christmas do inflicts some romance in the atmosphere.

               “Come to think of it, it’s the very first time we spent Christmas with just one another.”

               “Yeah.”

               Maybe in another universe, a version of him already gathered the guts to repeat what he said to you earlier and another you would have probably returned his sentiments. Maybe in another universe, he would have been bold enough to use this perfect moment to lean in on you and graze his lips on yours in a soft kiss. Maybe in another universe, you would return his feelings in a heartbeat, no hesitation at all. Maybe he would have really easily ended up with you in that universe.

               Jungkook suddenly feels soft lips land on his cheek, a soft peck resounding in his ears, along with the fireworks outside and the pinnacle tempo of the birds in his heart.

               “What? ” you chuckle, playfully hitting his shoulder when he keeps his stare on you. “You taped a mistletoe in your ceiling, right? I gotta fulfill the tradition to ensure another good year to come to us.”

               “Right,” Jungkook laughs and pulls you closer to his side. “I can’t believe you just outright planted a kiss on my cheeks after calling my face stupid for years.”

               “Because it is!”

               Jungkook nods, the smile on his face reaching his eyes like you. “Gotta admit this Christmas Eve is really something, huh?”

               “Yeah…wanna spend it again with me next year?”

               “Yes, and the next years to come.”

               You settled deeper in his hug and Jungkook sighs in satisfaction. Pursuing you in his universe may not be easy but he’ll make the best out of it. His certain that with time, he'll be ready to express his true feelings for you –when you’ll be able to understand the weight of his feelings, when your gravitational pulls on each other will near equilibrium, when masses and volumes will be on par and finally enable him to pour years worth of love on you and the both of you without worrying about discrepancies that will collapse the world you share with him.

               He may not easily end up with you, but at least for now, he’s got you by his side. And that’s all he needs.

“Eventhough I’m really enthralled by your painting, I can’t help but wonder what your RA thought of our shenanigan after he found us painting the ceiling white again.”

“Seokjin’s my RA and he didn’t really mind. Told me it was cool and all.”

“Oh. Okay, nothing to worry!”

“Why are you so enthusiastic about that?”

“Well, that means I can have you parade the all-pink cardigan and jumper ensemble I gifted you like you said you will without worrying about your RA’s opinions.”

“Ugh, why do you always give me pink things?”

“Because you rarely wear that color! And also, it really looks good on you!”

“The-they do? Really?”

“Yeah! Now go help me clip this polaroid of your rose garden painting on my rope frame.”

“Aye Aye Ma’am!”

 A/N | Hey Hons! I know this is really late but I promised you a Christmas Special of these dorks so here it is! I’m sorry for the long inactivity in this universe so here I made it up to you guys with a longer wordcount! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing this! Happy Holidays Hons!

All Rights Reserved © Vanaera. No reposts, modifications, and translations of content are allowed without direct permission.

[jimlingss]

hi Kina, happy new year! hope it'll be a good one. i kinda missed interacting with u^^" it's been a hectic month. how r u? what's new? how's ur november competition? did u enjoy this semester? i mean, u mentioned u had a job and joined 2 clubs, so it seems this autumn was rather eventful. sorry if i'm being intrusive! ofc u don't have to answer all these questions if they make u uncomfortable in any way omg. i'm enjoying holiday season in bed cuz i got sick. no fun. so please, stay healthy -chem

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

God I can’t believe it’s 2020 already. SMH - the me from 5 years ago would've GUARANTEED I had a boyfriend by now but whatever, I’ve accomplished enough this decade. Graduated elementary, junior high, high school haha so I’ll cut myself some slack but I swear by 2030 IMMA BE MARRIED. 

I digress, I am well. Mostly. It’s a bit hectic tbh cause I know I have a lot on my plate in the coming months. Mid-December I was seriously slaving away trying to work, do exams, and I was really desperately trying to finish the Jungkook slice of life before 2019 ended. I was stressed, but in the end I made my goal and I finished exams and was off work. 

I swore I would just relax until the next semester began again. But two days into my break, I got bored sitting there and storyboarded and I started to write again LOL you know you’re a workaholic when.......

Anyways, I’ve started studying for my LSAT and I know that’s gonna be brutal when school starts again and I have to work too and I want to write. But I’ll figure it out. I always do. I’ve also become interested in hand lettering recently and bullet journaling but I don’t think I’ll have time to add that to my life rn.

I’m surprised you remember my competition in November. I barely remember it. It was just a mooting thing and I didn’t win, but it was fun and I did well. The semester could’ve gone better but I’ve gotten over it. There’s no point in dwelling. I’ll do better next semester. And yes, I do have a job! I got it end of October - I work in IT at my university now woo-hoo! It’s a pretty sweet gig and I’d love to write an IT series like I did when I worked at the Deli, but I need to learn more about it before I can write something about it. And yep! I joined two clubs this semester. Mooting (as mentioned previously) and I started playing D&D. It’s pretty fucking fun ngl. I’m just indulging in my nerdiness and throwing dice every other Friday haha

So yeah I think I’ve definitely accomplished a lot this year. I’m proud of myself. Especially considering that I’ve met a lot of people in the past few months and I’ve always been reluctant to my entire life. Don’t worry btw, I like talking about what I do, I just don’t think people particularly care about my life.

[rosecorcoranwrites]

Library Life Update

Due to my queue, you may not have been able to tell, but I have mostly dropped off the face of the earth since early october. if you follow my writing updates, you probably know that I was very busy, what with my being a writer-in-residence for my library, picking up a million shifts, doing a craft fair, and attending a wedding. I hadn't had an actual, unclaimed-by-various-obligations day off since the beginning of November.

My life isn't going to calm down anytime soon, though, owing to my new job. That's right! I am no longer a library specialist! I am now a fully fledged, honest-to-goodness librarian (I would have said card-carrying, but isn't that all of us?). Technically, I'm also a library director —though I prefer "Librarian" as my title—because I'm now in charge of the Williams Public Library.

Though this is an exciting step up for me, it's also a steep learning curve. Before, I only worked in reference, which mostly entailed answering patron questions about books, local attractions, and technology (and occasionally, much weirder and more obscure things). I still technically do that, but now I also do the work of circulation staff—checking books in and out and shelving them—and youth services— storytimes and crafts and whatnot—and whoever orders all the books. Thankfully, my colleague (there are currently two staff members at this library, myself included) handles cataloging and preparing newly arrived books for circulation, and soon our library district will catalogue all the county libraries' books in Flag, so that takes some pressure off, but still! It's a lot to wrap my head around, and I haven't even started doing any programs yet.

To make things more complicated is that I don't live in Williams yet, so It's a forty minute drive back and forth each day. For reference, my drive to the Flag library was only ten minutes! I'm in the process of buying a house in Williams, which will eventually make my life easier, but in the meantime has made it that much more hectic. Thankfully I'm on the downhill side of negations and inspections and such, but I'm only about half-way packed up (I have a lot of tea cups, and a lot of books). I long for the day I can come home from work after a short drive, pop into my lovely new house, and get some writing done!

Long story short, I really, really, really hate transitions. I like destinations, but not travel. I love editing, but not writing. I want to own a house and be a librarian, but I don't like moving and getting used to a new job. It's just the way I am. Change is stressful, and I don't like being stressed out. It makes me forgetful and anxious. It also makes it hard to do writing-related things, on top of my not having time to do them in the first place.

That being said, I'm not sure how my writing goals are going to fair. At the beginning of the year I said I would write, outline, edit or research something, and take a book-related picture each week, but then I foolishly added on a "bonus" goal of doing some fifth action each week (because I am far to ambitious for my own good). Well, I can tell you for free that ain't gonna happen, but if I stick to the original goal, or something sort of like it—that is, four writing related activities each week—I think I can still make it. On average. Sort of. Look, if by December 31st, I have 208 writing activities completed (that is, 4 for each of this year's 52 weeks), I'll consider it a roaring success. I mean, I already accomplished my goal of becoming a librarian this year, so everything else is just a cherry on top, right?

There is one goal, however, that I hope I can finish by the end of the year. Some of you may have seen me talking about Love & Chaos & Other Stories on Facebook (largely by accident). Just what is this mysterious work of fiction? Love & Chaos & Other Stories is, or rather, will be, a compilation of all the short fiction and poetry related to Styx, which of course, includes the novella, Love & Chaos. It's all appeared on this website before, but certain persons have requested I put it into a proper, purchasable book format. I was planning (at the beginning of the year) on having released it by now, both as a paperback and an ebook, but that obviously didn't happen, for a number of reasons. This is the one thing I really want to finish before 2020, but I can't make any promises. Hopefully, things will calm down in December. If not, then at least there's next year, right? Stay tuned!

[marauder--harder]

Update! (again lol)

Hey there y’all, happy spooky season!! I just wanted to check in to give you a little update on my writing WIPs for the fall months! It’s gonna be a bit of a long one, so I’m leaving all of the fun bits below the cut. :)

I am currently working diligently (or as much as I can with my hectic schedule lol) on this upcoming Sirius series called “Mission: Improbable.” It is currently nearly 18k words and I don’t even think I’m half way done with it! This is a very different way of writing for me as I usually write each chapter and then post but I am planning on (hopefully) finishing the series before November 3rd so I can post the first chapter on his birthday! Then, I’ll probably post each subsequent chapter once (or twice?) a week from there until the end! I’m really excited about this series as it is different than what I usually write for the marauders. I typically stay within the hogwarts years but this one will follow Sirius and his love life along the first wizarding war! 

I am also toying with the idea of a few halloween/spooky drabbles/one-shots just to give y’all a bit of something before Sirius’ birthday as it is a bit of a ways out. This may happen, this may not, depending on my schedule but as of now, expect at least a few small things for each of our boys within the next month!! 

I’m also also (I know, suddenly Kay has like a ton of ideas after having nothing to work with for MONTHS??) thinking about a Jily one-shot (or maybe a drabble series) that will start on Halloween (sad :( ) and go throughout the fall season? It would be some angst, some cuteness, but mostly just many headcanons of how I think their relationship unraveled throughout their years together. I love, love, love Jily and have always wanted to write for them but I don’t know if that’s something y’all would want to see? So, once again let me know! 

Overall, I think I am definitely back in the swing of writing again (please don’t jinx myself)! So expect some stuff from me soon!! 

I hope you all have been doing well since I’ve been gone and know that I am sending positivity your way this season. :) Can’t wait to hear from all of y’all again!! 

As always, much love, xoxo.