#literally though i spent 8 hours coding

[calina-alda]

give me your post-viral wesker physical/bodily hcs please. what's he look like in there... do you have any pg67 function headcanons. the masses must know! (if you want to share, of course... i saw biology and i ran in here)

Okay so first of all congratulations, because with this question you accidentally triggered two of my fixations, resident evil lore and biology. So naturally I spent way too much time thinking about this at a molecular level, and emerged with a little manifesto on 'what the virus does to Wesker'.

Okay, lets get into it!

The virus inserts viral DNA directly into the host’s genome, permanently altering Wesker's genetic code. It targets specific stem cell populations to overwrite genetic instructions. These new genes code for synthetic proteins that give his body enhanced abilities. The virus functions similarly to an engineered gene therapy vector, but instead of fixing a mutation, it adds entirely new capabilities:

Healing Factor

• Wesker’s body heals stupidly fast. Bullet wounds seal up in real time. It’s not just fast, it’s efficient. No scar, no bruise, just gone. That’s because of proteins, that promote extreme tissue regeneration by accelerating transcription of growth factors.

• The viral DNA triggers production of proteins that upregulate mitochondrial efficiency. So his cells are constantly in overdrive, replicating and regenerating at insane speeds. That kind of process would literally melt a normal person from the inside out, but the virus keeps him juuuuust stable enough to survive it.

• That means he burns through nutrients and energy at an insane rate. But he still eats very little because his body has learned to metabolize efficiently.

• Because of this, he doesn’t get sick. Like, ever. No flu, no fever, nothing. His immune system probably nukes bacteria before they finish replicating.

Strength

• A key viral protein might mimic myostatin inhibitors, increasing muscle mass without bulk, think insane strength in a lean frame.

• He could punch a hole in reinforced steel if he wanted to, but the scary part is that he doesn’t. He holds back all the time. He can crack a man’s ribs with one hand, or gently zip up your jacket without pulling the tab off.

• His control is off the charts. He’s not just strong, he’s precise. Every movement is calculated.

Eyesight & Senses

• He sees more than most people. Infrared, low light, motion trails, his vision is layered. The world probably looks like a high-contrast heatmap half the time.

• That’s why he wears sunglasses 24/7. Not just for the aesthetic (though let’s be real, it’s working), but to help with light sensitivity. Without them, he’d probably get visual overload in a well-lit room. (Okay, Gojo Satoru)

• His hearing is sharp too. Not supernatural, but he can pick up your heartbeat if you're close enough. It makes sneaking up on him borderline impossible.

The PG67A/W Serum

• The serum is a lifeline. The virus is unstable on its own, the host cells try to over-replicate or misfire signals, leading to cellular death or mutation.

• PG67A/W likely acts as a suppressor or regulator, binding to specific viral receptors or feedback loops, controlling gene expression and inhibitory enzyme systems to keep certain proteins from overexpressing.

• He doses every 6 to 8 hours. He keeps spares on him at all times. If he’s on a mission, he builds his entire schedule around those injections.

• He hides injection sites on his inner thigh, shoulder, or hip, places easy to reach but not visible.

Body Temperature

• His body runs hot. Like, unnaturally warm to the touch, like 39°C on a normal day. You could probably use him as a space heater.

• He doesn’t sweat much, but if he’s pushing his limits, the heat builds up fast. He’ll disappear for a cold shower or just stand in front of an AC vent for five minutes without saying anything.

• Resting heart rate? Low. Like athlete-low, sometimes around 40 bpm. But if he moves into combat mode, it spikes instantly. Controlled tachycardia, probably tied to the virus.

Time Perception & Reflexes

• The virus likely alters neurotransmitter uptake and synaptic plasticity, enhancing reaction time and cognition. It increases dopamine and norepinephrine sensitivity, creating hyper-alertness without overstimulation.

• Neural conduction speed may be boosted by: enhanced myelination of neurons. Modified ion channels that allow faster action potential firing.

• The result? Time feels slower to him. His brain processes information so fast that everything else seems like it’s moving in slow motion. That’s why he reacts before you even finish blinking.

• But it’s also exhausting in a subtle way. Conversations feel slow. Meetings drag. He lives in a world that’s slightly out of sync.

Mutation Risk

• He’s constantly on the edge. The virus wants to take over, it wants him to evolve into something monstrous. He keeps that in check with raw willpower and serum, but it’s always there.

• He has nightmares about it. Not dying, mutating. Losing himself.

Aging

• The virus triggers production of novel proteins that tabilize telomeres.

• His aging basically stopped. He should be pushing 50, but he still looks like he’s in his late 30s at most.

Touch & Intimacy

• His body doesn’t regulate hormones quite the same anymore. He can feel arousal, desire, etc., but it’s slower to build and hits harder when it does.

• And his stamina...He doesn’t get tired, doesn’t lose focus, and has total control over his body. He can go for hours without so much as breaking a sweat, and he’s frustratingly composed the whole time

Pain Response

• The virus likely alters his nervous system, especially the nociceptors.

• Instead of fully shutting off pain, it modulates the intensity, filtering it through a “useful or not” lens.

• So he still feels pain, but it’s dulled. A knife wound feels like pressure. A gunshot is just an annoyance.

• He can weaponize it too. Take a hit, stay standing, stare you down without even flinching, smile on his face, it’s terrifying. And he knows it.

Anyway. That’s the gist of what I think is going on inside Wesker’s terrifyingly efficient, (incredibly attractive) body. Please note:

• I did have microbiology, but I’m studying environmental science.

• I am not a virologist or Umbrella scientist (tragic, I know), just someone who thinks too hard about fictional men with god complexes.

• Also, I had to use a translator for like 40% of the fancy terms because my English science vocab just noped out halfway through. So if something sounds too text book, blame the language barrier

Thank you for enabling me, lol

[buggyboba]

✦ October 14th | Masturbation

AN 𓏧

↳ ○ | Well. we did it guys, or well I should say didn't do it, I let an update out that I was only going to do 8 more because trying to do 31 was burning me up. So after this one, there is 8 more, they will be released on their days still so there is that. Also thank you everyone who has been reading! SO onto the fic, it got kinda Thoschei coded and I'm not sorry. ALSO are you proud of me, I mentioned the Lumiat, I'm proud of me. It also only took me months to figure out how to make it nice and indented and small...fs. Smut so MDNI.

SUMMARY𓏧

↳ ○ A new body needs a closer inspection doesn’t it? After regenerating a need to release all that energy that doesn’t include sleeping occurs.

PAIRING𓏧

↳ ○ The Master (Dhawan!master) (With some thoughts about the doctor)

TW𓏧

↳ ○ solo jerking off, edging, cum.

WORD COUNT𓏧

↳ ○ 1100

A03 lINK𓏧

↳ ○ x

MASTERLIST LINK𓏧

↳ ○ x

★𓏧 𓏧 𓏧★ 𓏧 𓏧 𓏧★

The energy burned through her, him now, his eyes wide as he looked around, the eyes of the villagers on him. He stumbled to his feet; he had to get out of here; he could strangle Missy, hell he might, leaving him here alone in this desert village, being her annoying self. They were always so self-destructive, sometimes very literally.

His memories were a mess; he was the Master, he knew that his previous one had been something so much purer than he had ever been, the Lumiat; his memories struggled to piece themselves together, and he stumbled and quickly found a place to catch his breath. He looked at his hands, inspecting them; his hand went to his hair as his tongue ran along his teeth; he felt over his body; the tight clothing of his previous self clung; he had to find a way off this planet; he could steal a ship; that’s what he would have to do: steal a ship, get to Gallifrey, steal another tardis.

It wasn’t hard to steal the only ship he saw—a bit of hypnosis, and it was his. He was angry, so angry, starving, and the energy still wracked through him. As soon as he was off the planet, he rummaged through the little smuggler ship, trying to find something to eat. There were some rations, nothing special, nothing he craved. It was better than nothing though; he needed to eat something, so he went through the rations quickly. He moved to explore the little ship; it wasn’t fancy; it was just a run-of-the-mill smuggler ship, but there was a sleeper cabin, and since the automated system was taking him to the destination he picked, he could afford to have a bit of a laydown. He lay in the cot and breathed out; he looked at his hands and patted down his body; he was male again, he had spent two regenerations as a woman now, if you wanted to count the Lumiat as him, his identity crisis. No, that started with Missy, but did it really? He growled at his thoughts and shook his head, he didn’t have it in him right now to try and pick through those thoughts, but it was hard when everything was a mess, all these feelings. Gross,  he didn’t have feelings, not that he would admit anyway.

He ran his hands over his face, taking in the new details, reminding himself to find a mirror when he landed. He also had to find some clothing, something that wasn’t her’s; no, it had to be his now, he was who he was now, he didn’t have time to dwell, not when the Doctor was out there doing god knows what with new companions. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, but even after what felt like hours, the exhaustion didn’t take him. He tsked and made an annoyed sound. He rolled over onto his side and stared at the wall for a few long silent moments before he rolled his eyes. He moved to push the pants that were a bit too tight now down and off, along with the underwear that barely held him down. He looked down, taking his length in his hand and inspecting it. He had missed a cock; not that having a vagina was terrible; that was great fun too, but he certainly missed his cock. Glad to have one again, he gave it a few experimental tugs. The member twitched to life, starting to harden. He leaned back and closed his eyes, his tongue swiped across his lips, wetting them, before he brought his palm up to his mouth, spitting into it, before returning to stroking himself slowly. His mind wandered, past intimate moments, past interactions that should have been strictly rage and violence, that bordered on erotic, The Doctor. The Doctor? Well yes, that was fair too. How many moments had he shared with Thete, Thete? The Doctor had been both violent and held a certain intimacy; they had played this game for centuries now, all the schemes, all the times they met on common ground. His hand pumped a bit faster, and a soft growl escaped his lips as he tilted his head back. He remembered the times when they weren’t so violent, times when they had met on better terms, fleeting moments between them, past lives that they had been entangled in, his thumb rubbed the small beads of pre-cum that gathered over the sensitive tip of his cock.

His breathing picked up as he recalled the tight heat, the movement, and his hips bucked a bit against his hand. A growled groan escaped him, and he panted out in a light chuckle, his hand squeezed a bit mimicking the feel of muscles clenching around his cock. He let his thoughts wander more, his hips rocking in a steady rhythm against the stroke of his hand. He forced himself to slow down; he wanted to feel the buildup more and wanted to prolong the pleasure. His other hand moved over his stomach, down to his thigh, his fingers flexed against the skin there, letting out a soft whine. He was alone; he didn’t need to pretend. His hand moved to focus on the tip for a moment, and before his other hand came to squeeze the base, he panted out again—what he wouldn’t give for a hot, wet mouth right now. He arched a bit, groaning as his cock twitched, he could feel the pressure at the base of his spine. He slowed his hand again, keeping himself on the edge, he let his thumb rub over his tip a few times, his hips twitching from the feeling. He slowly moved his other hand down, cupping against his balls, feeling how tight they were. He moved his hand slowly until he couldn’t take it anymore; he needed release. His hand tightened against his length, and he moved it in strong, fast strokes. He groaned out as he felt that pressure snap and hot strings of cum painted his stomach. He laid back against the cot and panted out. His hand moved to run through his hair as he caught his breath quickly.

Now he certainly needed new clothing; he wondered if there were any here on the ship. He would have to look; he used the shirt to clean himself up and laid back down, the exhaustion finally ebbing on him, and he surrendered to sleep. In only a few hours, he would be back on earth and ready to start this dance with the doctor again, but first he would set up for the long game again. 

★𓏧 𓏧 𓏧★ 𓏧 𓏧 𓏧★

Taglist𓏧 ↳ ○ @bees-fart-too , @bakusquadobsessed , @anastasa-mslfedit , @cabinedepapel , @asteria237 , @suckerforcate , @bingewatchingmylifegoby , @toastvogel , @starbucks-06 If you want to be added to the rest here is the l x

[ghostlyclementiny]

Welcome Home update guide!

My sister and I have spent literal hours combing through the site and have found so much!

This is a guide to all of the hidden links! I've also done my best to tell you how to find them yourself (I had so much doing the bug hunt)

I have tried my best to keep all descriptions spoiler free, so if you just want help finding them this is the guide for you!

!!LONG POST!!

!!PLEASE BE AWARE!! The bugs/drawings do not pop up as soon as you open the page! They show up a few seconds afterwards! Please be Patient!

The bug links 🐛

Tape 1- Poppy and Howdy (Bug found on the Live Interview Audio Segment on the Media Page)

Tape 2- Sally and Poppy (Bug found scurrying at the top of the Exhibition Page, it runs off screen but you are still able to click the tiny green bit still sticking out)

Tape 3- Howdy and Sally (Bug found on the top right of the 4th page of The Guestbook)

Tape 4- Barnaby and Frank (Bug found on the Whats Welcome Home Page next to the gallery)

Tape 5- Barnaby and Eddie (Bug found on the Transcripts Page on the left side of the catchphrases section)

Tape 6- Julie and Frank (Bug found on the Currently Unknown Records section of the Merchandise Page)

Tape 7- Eddie and Julie (Bug found invading the Guestbook on 'zip's entry)

Tape 8- Eddie and Frank (Bug found under the flag of Eddie's post office on His Introduction Page)

Tape 9- Frank and Poppy (Bug found on the right side of the directory from The Neighborhood Page)

Tape 10- Julie and Sally (Bug on the bottom right of the About Us Page)

Tape 11- Julie and Barnaby (Spider on the top right of the Stickers Page)

Tape 12- Howdy and Barnaby (Bug found snoozing at the top right of the News Page)

Tape 13- Howdy and Eddie (Bug found at the top right of the Guestbook Home Page)

Tape 14- Barnaby and Howdy (Bug found in one of the Coded Links from the out of place letters over the site)

We also managed to decode the message in the audio links!

These links were found hidden in gifs that were being drawn! (I can't find better words to describe it sorry ^^;;)

(I tried to add locations of the gifs, but as mentioned above, we have been doing this for hours with no stop.. I will try to update this at a later point with more gifs)

I (Found on the Welcome Home Page, a drawing of Home in the blank space next to Wally)

understand (Found on the Exhibition Page, a drawing of Home on the bottom left next to Poppy)

Neighbor (Found underneath Home in So Below, a drawing of a spiral underneath Wally)

I (Found on the Stickers Page, a star on the header message of the page)

will (Found on the Whats Welcome Home Page, 2 flowers on the right blank side of Eddie)

Help (Found on the Whats Welcome Home Page, a yellow flower on the left blank side of Eddie)

find (Found on the Guestbook Home Page on the right side of Wally)

You

a (Found on the About Us Page, 3 Hearts starting from the 'Who are you?' question)

way

soon (Found on the 404 Error Page, 5 stars drawn across the screen)

Will

Vault and Password

..I'm not going to lie my sister found these and I don't know how [:

Crack The Code, a bunch of hints toward the password. (to get to Password Please just click on the image)

Password Please, to get to the enter password section just click on the image.

The password is found via finishing the Worksheet in the gallery of the Exhibition Page,

The password is the first letter of each answer, spelling out BSPJW (it does have to be capitalized, that was heart breaking to find out after putting so much effort into a hard answer...)

The gallery on the Staff Only Page has a lot of hard to read documents, but most of them will give you a description upon hovering your mouse over them.

And that's it :D that is all the knowledge I'm able to share, if I find more information I will for sure update this! Oh and please please take a look though the site! This project is such a masterpiece and has passion that you can see at every corner!!!

and before I forget! if you have anything to add to this please do! there were a few links that I wasn't able to find again ;-;

[cyreal]

POP OF PINK - GIMP ACTION SCRIPT

inspired by @elys-simsalabim‘s “holy colours, batman!” script conversion.. i decided to attempt my own action script just for gimp!

the script is just two steps: first adjustments made with the hue-saturation tool, then overlaying a two-toned pink gradient;; you can remove the gradient by hitting undo and just keep the saturated look

i’m colourblind so i honestly don’t know what i’m looking at but i like it;; feel free to pick this apart to make your own scripts and please tag me if you use this for your screenshots!

installation instructions and download below

install by copying the pop_of_pink.py to gimp’s plug-in folder

windows: c:\users\[your name]\.gimp-2.x\plug-ins

linux:    ~/.gimp-2.x/plug-ins

linux users remember to make the file an executable!!

chmod +x ~/.gimp-2.x/plug-ins/pop_of_pink.py

download link (sfs)

[pharawee]

Okay so after 4 gifsets it’s time for my review of Big Dragon ep 4. Just for me. As a treat.

And we’re already halfway through this series. How did this happen? I feel like I spent the whole year just waiting and now it’s all going by so fast. I’m lowkey hoping for StarHunter to continue promoting MosBank together, if only so they’ll do more travel vlogs.

Also, if possible (yep, still biased) this show has become even better. I’m mostly just someone who gets pulled in by the mood of a show, but this time I really tried paying attention to the motifs the director and actors have mentioned before - like the colour coding, cinematography and Mangkorn’s and (especially) Yai’s comfort levels. 

And it’s really paying off:

Look how subdued Mangkorn’s signature colour is here. He’s literally fading into the background, with his and Hong’s father taking control over his (and Hong’s) life. I’m glad that it’s immediately established that both mum’s are super uncomfortable with this whole situation. They’re not even indulging their husbands. Mangkorn’s mum even makes it clear later that arranged marriages are a thing of the past (and I’m super glad they put that in) and that if Mangkorn were to speak to his dad he’d back off.

But more on that later.

I’ve read the novel but still, I’m glad Mangkorn and Hong get along so well. I mean, they’re essentially in the same boat (negl their dads get along so well, they should just marry each other ugh). Plus, I’m super tired of the “female rival” trope in BL. It’s distracting and unfair to everyone involved.

And, yeah, maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, but Mangkorn’s colour makes a bit of a return in this scene - even though he’s wearing the same shirt.

Yai’s family crisis, meanwhile, lies in the past and I’m really glad his sister tells him so outright. I mean, it’s immediately clear that the death of his mother is something that’s deeply troubling to Yai and has shaped him as a person - to the point were he refuses to move on. To him the house is empty and I totally get why he doesn’t want to stay for long. His sister, in contrast, finds it peaceful and relaxing out in the garden, even at night (and with about 300 mosquitos around 🥴).

Only then, of course, Yai makes the “female rival” a thing. You do it to yourself, Yai (I mean, with good reason - seeing as they’re both known womanizers). I’m glad that the show subverts this whole trope early on and makes it all about Yai’s insecurities. There’s only 8 episodes, nobody’s got time for that. In the novel it wasn’t as clear because Hong turned up much later when Mangkorn had already explained the whole thing. Yai only had breadcrumbs and suspicions to go on and of course he drew the wrong conclusions.

And because Mangkorn has lost access to his LINE ID (possibly because *someone* decided to destroy his phone) he decides to wait for Yai in front of his faculty building. For hours. That’s some dedication.

And, honestly, pouting back at someone who’s pouting might be the most valid strategy I’ve ever seen. Put that UNO reverse card away or so help me!! 😤

I really, really love Mangkorn’s shirt. And I love how their individual colours get more similar when they’re not fighting/testing their boundaries and just being themselves. It’s like they’re on neutral ground here.

And, holy shit, every second of that scene was so adorable, from their playful banter to their not-so hidden smiles.

Oh, how the turntables. This time it’s Mangkorn’s turn to ask if Yai has been to supervise the pub’s renovations today (he hasn’t because it’s boring without Mangkorn).

Which brings us to my favourite scene of this week.

Just look how soft these two are 🥺

And they’re in neutral colours again, on neutral territory, with Mangkorn dispensing a piece of wisdom that rings rather hollow considering that this “sacrifice” he mentions is impossible to achieve in his own case (unless at this point in the story he actually considers marrying Hong out of filial piety).

We also catch a glimpse of Yai’s family ring. Surprise - there’s a tiger on it.

Kissing Yai (and it was such a sweet kiss - I just wish it hadn’t been in slow motion) doesn’t really bring the closure Mangkorn probably hoped for - if he planned for any of this at all. Because as dominant (with a small d - I’m talking personality traits because I’ve no idea about any of the rest) as he might seem, I feel like he’s just as much out of his depth as Yai is. He’s just much better at keeping his cool (and the upper hand).

This is one of the pics Yai stares at as he masturbates and negl, that’s kind of touching (full pun intended 🤡)

But apart from the fact that he’s still wearing his ring while he goes to town (ouch??) it struck me how lonely and unsatisfying this whole scene felt. He’s in this big bed and occupying only one side of it. It just feels like something’s missing.

Oh ffs, show 😂

Anyway.

Finally. 🫠

No but seriously if at any point in the future you don’t find me stanning Big Thanakorn then please assume I’ve been replaced by an impostor and call the police.

I’m totally with Yai on this one.

Bank has said that when Yai is with Nine he’s in his comfort zone and it really shows. I don’t think Nine is any serious competition, though, even if Mangkorn weren’t in the picture. It’s like Yai is on this fixed trajectory now and that has everything to do with Mangkorn.

Oh well, looks like Big’s character will end up alone again. Why must you hurt me so, StarHunter? 🥲

Aand we’re back to Mangkorn wearing a red shirt (with red back-lighting uh-oh) and... how do you even explain this, Mangkorn? The girl slipped? She wanted to see your tattoo up close? You actually caught a glimpse of Yai talking to Nine and this is your revenge? 

“How could you do that?”, indeed.

Feels like they’re both blaming and deflecting here (ah, yes, how could you do this to poor Hong??) and I’m pretty sure we’ll see Mangkorn’s side of the story next week because they wouldn’t just leave it like that...

But Mangkorn’s “Are you mad because you like me?” really felt like a gamechanger because it seems like up until this point Yai didn’t even realise. He doesn’t even look defensive or angry, he’s just shocked and hurt (with a side of confusion).

Also, I love how Yai’s background is all cold blues, and Mangkorn’s side is earthy browns/reds. Something’s about to go down next week ( and it’s exactly what it sounds like 🤡)

Meanwhile, the bodyguards have monkey-pawed their relationship into existence and now I want some Tao Kae Noi 😭

[nateascendingskies]

The Personal Experiences of Pixar and Elemental

Leaving a showing of the crew at Pixar and director Peter Sohn's latest film, Elemental, I was struck by how personal and certifiably unique the film was - no, not necessarily because of its story or even its characters (though the latter felt like a great inverse and even echo of the similar Zootopia), but because of how its themes of the immigrant experience, the duties and expectations of familial traditions, and even the feeling of multicultural love were conveyed or explored.

Much like how I have felt and seen myself in classic Disney and DreamWorks characters like Nick Wilde, WALL-E, and Hiccup Haddock, Ember and Wade spoke to me in ways I wasn't necessarily expecting or even considering walking into the theater some 2 hours earlier.

Like the literal flaming young woman that is Ember, I find myself in an interesting position in my life. While I have not necessarily found myself in the burden of following in family footsteps, I related very much to the idea of having to control one's temper in stressful situations. In the retail environment I have found myself in, I too have been overwhelmed by the constant hustle, bustle and flow of customers - all with their own wacky, weird and wild requests I probably wouldn't have even considered had I not stepped foot in a Home Depot for 8 hours every day. Oftentimes, I need a softer, creative, and often free-spirited side to awaken and comfort me when things get rough or tough sometimes. And, of course, that's where someone like a Wade comes in.

Like Wade, I do find myself easily crying at the most emotional of things - I do happily and readily admit. Yet, like the big ol' blob of water he is, I also find myself finding some clever solutions to problems I never once considered encountering. In addition, I do have a family and a creative community around me who have gone their own wacky and unusual ways, pursuing their own computer science or radiological techniques while I still try to find my own way around the world - living the dream as a writer for a film or motorsport publication or an archivist for a studio like Pixar, perhaps (funny, ain't it?).

Even then, it wasn't just the personal connections that I found in myself that drew me in. For the longest time, I had been longing for a Pixar film that felt like a true back to basics approach - the product of one voice guiding a similar creative team of thousands. Much like 2021's Luca, this was it - but on a big screen scale I didn't even think I wanted to see again. It felt refreshingly simple, pared back, even - which let the visuals carry the story even more than usual.

I didn't need any dialogue about butterflies, car windshields, code violations, blunt yet hard hitting racial allegories, games about making others cry, or depressed clouds trying to play visually trippy basketball equivalents (trust me, it all makes sense when you see the film) to keep me invested - all it took was a kaleidoscopic trip through a flooded old train station to find a flower that could survive in water and fire, some literal crowd waves at a sports stadium, and a literal familial flame to guide me through this weird world of living elements that Sohn and his team had created, showing more than saying what he had seen as a member of an immigrant family and perhaps even as a smitten romantic himself. Besides, as someone who spent a year in Oregon watching some of the best glassblowers in the world practice their craft, I couldn't help but smile watching that all come into play as a gift that Ember realized she had.

If anything, the flaws and traditional story beats the film had only served to draw attention more to what made it work - as a romantic comedy about literal opposites attracting, an unexpected tonal blender of comedy, drama and romance, and as a beautiful reflection of never really giving up on the dreams you discover and find as your life changes. I mean, if you told me I'd find a home at a Home Depot as a job I loved 5 or 10 years ago, I'd call you nuts! If you told me I'd come out of a film as mismarketed as Elemental listening to its beautiful score from Thomas Newman and admiring it mere hours after seeing it in a way that even Across the Spider-Verse couldn't match, I'd call you insane! And, perhaps most importantly of all, if you told me that I'd have a renewed hope, admiration and appreciation for the team at Pixar after how critical I was about their position in my last post - well, then you'd probably call me an unbelievable hypocrite with something stuck in my head. But that's just the way things work - and I couldn't be any happier to be wrong.

Plus, it made me more determined than ever to chase my own animated dreams. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna see what I should doodle next…

[cosmojjong]

list of pentagon moments that are absurd and don't sound real but that are indeed:

1. kino took pics of shinwon in just his underwear like a proper photoshoot at the dorms and when pentagon hosted a little bazaar among themselves hongseok paid 70.000won to get his hands on that disposable camera. he still owns the pictures

2. them playing a zombie game (completely naked, at that) in the pool deciding they'd be biting each other and whoever was to scream would lose... sounds fake but it happened

3. them playing a game blindfolded, having to guess which member it was - shinwon guessed who hui was just by sticking his fingers up hui's nostrils

4. shinwon convincing hui to buy a box that had nothing but the balenciaga logo on it, telling him that it'd be filled with great, valuable goods. hui paid 50.000won for him to end up finding out it was only filled with paper, (and a piece of paper with some random ass prediction about how hui would have a great year) useless to say hui was NOT happy and side-eyed shinwon for the entire live

5. another one: when they sent wooseok and kino downstairs to get food and then the others were like 'you know what would be fun? let's spank each other and if the person getting spanked doesn't react, they have to switch places.' so the youngest ones got back to the hyungs spanking the shit out of each other. (thank you user ggunight)

6. shinwon changing his ucube nickname for fun and accidentally getting it stolen by someone who didn't want to give it back. he begged for it to be given back before moderators woke up. changed it to pentag0n_신원 (pentag0n_shinwon) while waiting and still... nothing. after two hours of trying he went to sleep and the following day he titled his live 'shinw0n say s0mething'

7. when shinwon asked unis to boo at them @ isac if they made mistakes. unis started booing so much that fans of other groups were wondering what the hell was wrong with ptg's fandom...... also pentagon spent 90% of their time doing everything other than focusing. let's not forget when they were fooling around jinho's shoe accidentally hit a group's member and he decided to buy them sweets to make up for it lmao

8. yanan literally implying that marriage is a trap on weibo (and he is absolutely right)

9. hui saying he saves demos with keyboard smashes a lot of the time to the point where many songs get lost or forgotten...... praying for the bangers that will never see the light

10. a few months ago cube signed a deal with tipco, importing juice from thailand. shinwon started drinking their orange juice like crazy to the point the company emptied their stocks to send him a wall of juice boxes. it didn't end there though..... my boy started reviewing their juice flavors and that entire free promotion scored pentagon a deal with the company, that decided to make them their brand ambassadors lmaooo

11. changgu was in the practice room doing some aerobic exercises he'd never done before and got injured, and because yanan didn't know how to speak korean well when he first got to south korea, he hurriedly rushed to shinwon and told him that changgu was dead and shinwon was like WHAT??????? jwkdhwkdjks

12. hui and shinwon tried communicating with a fan subbing their livestream in real time and completely lost it when the fan replied as if they'd just discovered the peak of technology lmaoooo

13. yanan pranking wooseok by turning off the boiler four times, the two of them having a conversation about the degrees of the water and wooseok consequently locking yanan on the balcony with his underwear only to get back at him

14. shinwon said when unis meet him they can greet each other, like, in a code. universe can say 'skrrrt' very quietly and he'll reply with 'skrrrt skrrrt' 😭

[i will keeping updating this]

[cocochannel00]

The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

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JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the  kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

[erwinsvow]

𝐚𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨

note: part two to the college headcanons! part one can be found here! i had a lot of fun writing these and i hope everyone enjoys them :) teacher/student dynamic warning for zeke and hange's, and i guess bullying for annie's :/

𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐝

the very definition of kind-hearted frat boy who doesn’t fit the stereotype he’s been assigned at all

starts off with accounting before realizing he hates math, moves into business management and marketing

the linkedin profile is absolutely popping, 500+ connections and details about every club and organization he’s ever been a part of

the friend that helps everyone find internships and fixes their resumes while offering helpful advice and not being condescending… anyways so that’s how you meet porco

he works at the career center 100% and does various coaching/prep help, and you, pieck’s friend, are in desperate need of an internship

so you’re complaining to your friend as usual, when she tells you to stop by the building and ask for a “pock”

so you do just that, walking in and asking for “pock” and porco is a little stunned by this pretty stranger calling him by a nickname reserved for his close friends, and even then he just barely tolerates it

but he doesn’t want to correct you, especially since you’re being so sweet and he can tell you need some help

so a meeting at the career center slowly turns into facetime calls to review applications and last-minute edits, stopping by your dorm to help you fill out paperwork and walking together to mail it out

i have a feeling porco doesn’t wanna be too forward, and he thinks he’s being very aloof and casual, when he really just seems oblivious

and you cannot tell for the life of you if he likes you or he’s just being friendly since you’re close with pieck

finally after you land the internship and won't have your normal excuse to spend time with him, you get the guts you've been searching for

you tell him about the position later in the day, stopping by the center for hopefully the last time

"by the way, my number's on my resume if you're ever gonna ask me out."

leaves pocky-boy flustered and red and scrambling to ask you out, and you have been happily dating since

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

oh boy

conny is a very typical college kid in the sense that he will sleep through every 8 am class he has, blow off class to go wait in line for the nacho bar, and has adopted the mantra ‘c’s get degrees’

but he is an extremely lovable education major with a focus in history

rarely seen without his shadow sasha, but now that she started dating niccolo, she thinks that conny could use a relationship too, and that it might do him some good to be with a funny, down-to-earth person

thus begins the most grueling two weeks for every girl on campus, as sasha hunts down girls that she thinks would be a good match for her best friend

this includes airdropping a photo of conny to the lecture hall with the caption “would you date this man? serious inquiries only”

creates a fake tinder complete with a google form to narrow down the options

however, none of this is necessary because sasha bumps into you in the smoothie line and causes your triple berry blend to go flying

she helps you clean up and idle conversation leads to you talking about dates and so forth

“well, i’d love to set you up with my best friend? how do you feel about a blind date?”

yes, conny met you, the love of his life, on a blind date set up by sasha with a stranger

it’s one of those funny stories that people don’t believe when you tell them, because how ridiculous is that, but you both think it’s perfect since you get along so well and it made all the waiting worth it

bonus: double dates with sasha and niccolo! fondue night at their apartment, going to the arcade and having to lug up sasha and her food baby while niccolo parks the car, just overall a grand time :)

𝐳𝐞𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫

zeke yeager, ph.d. started his new job at university with one rule in mind: absolutely no illicit affairs

he also coaches the club baseball team, because why not get involved on your campus

he really believes that he’s gonna stick with it too, despite the overwhelming number of students who come to his office hours with questions that his less handsome teaching assistants could answer

but no, he doesn’t want to earn a reputation as that professor, and so he heads into the new semester with absolutely no lingering thoughts of an exciting little dalliance to get him through the monotonous days

he knows his huge lecture classes would always come with a few pretty students, but it’s the smaller, upper-level psych class he’s teaching when he meets you for the first time

zeke has you all figured out, or so he thinks. sitting in the front row, raising your hand for questions he wasn’t expecting anyone to actually have an answer to, neatly handwritten notes in a color-coded notebook. he wouldn’t peg you for the type to jump and take the risk by starting a relationship with a professor.

but he soon realizes that he didn’t have you as figured out as he thought he did.

you avoid the gaggle of freshmen during office hours by scheduling meetings instead, sometimes right before class, coming to him with two cups of coffee and a wide smile that actually had him fooled into thinking you were here for academic reasons

this facade quickly fades though, because after a semester of interactions with you and getting more and more comfortable with each other, to the point where coffee orders are memorized and it’s zeke rather than professor yeager, you’ve had just about enough

he knows he’s fucked when you come visit him at practice for the baseball team, bringing him a drink and engaging in conversation while the players watch their coach flirt with you

he’s especially fucked when he realizes he’s looking forward to practice just because there’s a chance you’ll stop by on your way to your next class

you submit your final paper early, nearly a week before it’s due and of course the first in the class to do so, and waltz into his office the next day with another steaming cup of his favorite drink

“you submitted your paper pretty early, you know.”

“i know. i also know that it means i’m not your student anymore, so if you were going to make a move, now’s the time.”

no, he definitely had underestimated how much he knew about you.

𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧

mikasa is a forensic sciences major and is still debating on the minor- she’s torn between criminal justice or history like armin.

she loves her major classes, but she just wants something else interesting to look forward to as well, so armin suggests sitting in on a couple classes early in the semester and getting a taste for it.

so you don’t really think twice when she claims the empty seat next to you on the first day of classes, smiling politely and paying attention to the professor. you do notice, however, that she’s not writing anything down or looking at the syllabus, leading you to strike a conversation on why that is.

she explains herself and then before you even know it, the lecture ends and you spent the last forty minutes talking to mikasa about anything and everything.

she’s sitting in on another class tomorrow, and absent mindedly invites you to come along, to which you agree all too quickly, because why wouldn’t you

numbers are exchanged, times are fixed, and mikasa leaves wondering why she’s so excited at the idea of sitting with you in class again.

you two hate the history class she had chosen, with the professor droning on and on and you being focused entirely on the conversation you’re having with mikasa

until the professor kicks the two of you out for not shutting up, that is

you’re both laughing hysterically once you reach the hallway

“i’m gonna have to discourage you from doing that history minor if that’s what all the classes are like.”

“well, i have to do criminal justice so we can have that class together, anyways.”

𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭

true to form, annie goes into one of the most difficult majors: cheg. definitely flies through intro courses with straight As and minimal effort, but that’s also mostly because all she and bertholdt do is study

reiner tries his hardest to get her to go to a party every once in a while, but usually to no avail because she always has an exam to study for

you’re a tutor, and honestly, you’d say you were pretty good at your job. you can answer questions and explain reasonings fairly well to confused students. but when annie comes to your office hours with some complicated problems and she’s asking for explanations that you just don’t have, you literally feel your face burn with heat for the entirety of the time she’s there

long story short, your first encounter is embarrassing, to say the least. you’re stumbling over words as you try to look through your old notes and piece together an answer for annie, who you cannot even look in the eyes.

anyways, she leaves eventually and you want a hole to open in the ground and swallow you up, but at least she won’t be back next week, right?

wrong.

miss leonhart doesn’t know how to express her feelings any better than you, so her way of flirting is spending time with you in the tutor center as you fail to answer her questions time and time again

you want to scream at her to stop coming because she and you both know you’re not helping either of you with this

but also you really don’t want her to stop coming because you don’t have any other ways to see her outside of class

both of you reach your wit’s end on the same day, her coming to you with the absolute easiest problems she could find in the textbook, and you with every intention of asking her out to dinner

she opens her book, and you reach and close it quickly

“unless this is the only way you know how to flirt, something has to change now.”

𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐳𝐨𝐞

dr. zoë teaches, just, way too many classes

we’re talking multiple chemistry labs and upper-level research courses as well

you’re just a ph.d. student doing rotations as per usual, and you’ve heard the comments from students senior to you about dr. zoë, who makes every student in rotation say hange instead of the formal way you’re used to

you’ve heard everything from crazy to genius and everything in between

what you weren’t expecting was… so good looking, and young? and comforting? and talking about all the things that you didn’t have the guts to bring up with other people, like how you always feel a little left out in the field and that you think no one cares about your research interests that much—a lot of stuff that you find yourself pouring out to hange on your very first day in the lab

you’re wondering why it’s so easy to talk to them, and why none of the other rotations ever felt this comfortable

and then you realize you’re spilling your guts to someone who probably doesn’t even care, and has way more to deal with on their plate than a ph.d. student with imposter syndrome

so you’re apologizing right after you’ve finished, when you’re met with the warmest look and a reassuring hand on your shoulder

it’s so easy to fall after that, with weekly meetings and regular check-ins, and you know it’s wrong to have this strange crush on your superior, but hange really feels like the one person you can count on here

you hide the crush in favor of getting the mentorship you desperately think you need, but it’s not long until you’re onto the next rotation and the next lab’s work is even closer to the stuff you love

you hate the way you feel, that you’re not gonna have any reason to keep in touch and you never even got to explain how you feel about them—and that you didn’t even get to experience hange’s energy because she was always listening and helping you out

it’s not until you get a text the night before your first day in the new lab from hange, filled with reassuring words and asking for a coffee date later in the week to talk about how it goes, that you realize just how well hange understood you

𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

last but not least, miss pieck is double majoring in french and public health

absolutely obsessed with her majors and loves the subjects, but works herself to death to keep up with it all

you don’t even realize that the pretty, studious girl you’re seeing in the library all the time is the same girl you spot with some of your friends from class

pieck is as oblivious as they come. you invite her on study dates after you two are introduced by reiner, invite her to get coffee after a particularly late night of studying, pretty much start spending most of your days together

you can’t help but be disappointed that pieck doesn’t see you in that way, because you’ve slowly been falling head over heels, but you accept that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, and you still love the friendship you two have

it takes a while for things to click for pieck, but they do right as the semester eases up

once exams are over, you two decide to go to these famous parties porco and reiner never stop talking about

it’s not the usual scene you’re comfortable with, but what’s wrong with letting loose a little, especially after midterms? no harm in having fun, right?

wrong again! you definitely get plastered way too quickly, and eventually pieck takes you to a room to settle down

drunk confessions of love aren’t usually the way to go, but you can’t help but reveal everything you’ve been feeling for the last few months when pieck is taking care of you in your current state

you definitely wake up hungover and ignorant to last night’s shenanigans, but you’re in your dorm, with a bottle of water and ibuprofen on the nightstand, phone plugged in and shoes off

pieck comes back with breakfast, coffee and your favorite pastries, and checks up on you

“so.. about last night..”

“i’m so sorry, did i throw up on you?”

“no, but you did say you were in love with me. was that just a drunk thing, or is it a sober thing too? because i think i’m in love with you too.”

[puttingherinhistory]

“ Madison, who works a customer service job at an airport spa, has an employee handbook that says “makeup should be well maintained” and “hands and nails must be well manicured.” She says the few men she works with just ignore these guidelines “because they’re meant for women but [it] doesn’t explicitly say that.” Her wages ($13.25 per hour + 15% retail commission) do not include additional pay to purchase manicures or makeup. During her interview, her now-boss commented on how nice her makeup looked and how well her shoes matched her purse—comments that make her feel like she needs to keep up that kind of appearance even though she already has the job. 

It’s well known that a persistent wage gap exists for women workers in the United States, a gap that becomes even wider when race, industry, age and geography are taken into account. But less frequently discussed is the often silent expectation around appearance imposed on women workers, which has its own financial costs—known as the “grooming gap.” The grooming gap refers to the set of social norms regarding grooming and appearance for women, including the time women workers must spend to conform to these norms and the material consequences it has on their lives. 

We’ve all heard the common advice to “look the part” at work. For men, that can often just mean business casual clothing and a short haircut. For women, it can mean hours spent each week on makeup, hair styling and curating an outfit that’s both attractive and professional. 

The rules are usually unspoken; even when employers do not explicitly require workers to wear makeup, for example, women workers often feel required to wear it anyway. 

They’re not wrong: Sociologists Jaclyn Wong and Andrew Penner found that physically attractive workers have higher incomes than average-looking workers, but that this relationship is eliminated when controlling for grooming in women. In other words, if you purchase the right clothes, makeup and haircut, higher wages are more within reach. It’s true that men need to abide by certain grooming rules, too, but they are less complex, less expensive and less time consuming. Men’s haircuts, for example, often cost much less than women’s haircuts—regardless of hair length. The grooming gap essentially constitutes a pay cut catch-22: If women don’t conform, they are paid less; if they do conform, they’re expected to use those higher wages on beauty products and grooming regimens. 

Grooming costs for women can be extremely expensive; the global beauty industry, valued at $532 billion worldwide, directs aggressive advertising toward women to convince them they need to purchase a whole host of products to have a chance at being beautiful, well-liked or successful. The industry relies on maintaining impossible expectations around women’s looks so it can continue to rake in enormous profits. One 2017 study found the average woman puts $8 worth of product on her face each day; another found the average woman spends up to $225,000 on skincare and makeup during her lifetime. And then there’s the “pink tax”: Studies confirm that, 42% of the time, products marketed to women are more expensive than comparable products targeted to men. 

The grooming gap also results in a loss of free time: 55 minutes each day for the average woman, the equivalent of two full weeks each year. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFACWA), says that, in her industry—a workforce that is 79.3% women—the expectation around appearance literally “interrupts your sleep”: Flight attendants get minimal rest between flights, and that rest time is further shrunk because they are expected to appear “perfectly coifed” before their next flight. Nelson says that all of her grooming tasks took 30–40 minutes each day (more than two hours in a five-day work week). Madison agrees: it takes her 45 minutes to do her makeup and style her hair before her 7 a.m. shift—and she wakes up at 5 a.m. to get it all done. Prior to this job, Madison says she worked at the beauty department at Target, where she spent $200 on products every other week. 

Restaurant and hospitality workers are perhaps hardest hit by the grooming gap, as they rely on tips to survive. When I was a barista in 2010–2011, the only official dress code rule was to wear closed-toed shoes, for safety. Still, I knew I had to show up looking pretty to pay the rent; I made less than $10 an hour and I needed the tips.

Katie, 36, a veteran bartender and server in Fort Smith, Ark., says at her current job, it’s “understood” she should wear makeup. At a previous restaurant, a manager even told her and her coworkers they would “make better tips if [they] wore makeup.”

“Based on my own appearance—weight fluctuations, makeup versus no makeup, jewelry versus no jewelry—there’s a definite difference,” Katie says. She adds that she was passed over for the most lucrative bartending shifts at her previous job after overhearing her managers say they wanted “cuter girls” to bartend instead.

Multi-billion dollar industries also market fad diets and anti-aging products to women. Both Katie and Jeeva, 24, a bartender and member of UNITE HERE, the union representing hospitality, hotel and airport workers, worry about aging. “As you get older, as a female bartender, your tips can go down,” Jeeva says. Katie says she “hope[s] to leave [the service industry] in the next 10 years, before I get too ugly.”

The grooming gap’s effects are compounded for women of color. According to Restaurant Opportunity Center, restaurant owners look for workers who are “clean-cut, [have] good hygiene or a professional appearance, all potential code words for race.” For instance, Black women spent $473 million on relaxers, weaves and other hair care in 2017, in part because of racist ideas that natural Black hair is not professional or attractive. Black workers annually spend nine times more on hair and beauty products than other workers. 

For transgender women, too, there can be an added layer of work, stress and self-consciousness. Autumn, who transitioned while at her current publishing job in Washington, D.C., says she quickly realized how much time and energy it takes to perform femininity for work. She used to spend 20 minutes to get ready in the morning, but now takes at least 45 minutes. Autumn adds, “I have to do things that cis women don’t have to… [but] it’s gotten easier with time and practice,” like tucking and dealing with facial hair. Because she presents extremely femme, Autumn says she hasn’t dealt with enforcement around her appearance, but other women workers around the country have been disciplined and even fired for appearing insufficiently feminine. Women workers have sued—and won—over gender discrimination that manifests as attractiveness discrimination.

Nat, a trans woman who works at a union in the Washington, D.C., area, says, “I didn’t feel like I was allowed to be a woman if I liked masculine things. It delayed any kind of self-reflection” about gender and identity “for such a long time.”

At work and in the world, all women—cis and trans—feel the pressure to conform to normative standards of femininity and attractiveness. But the solution to this problem isn’t to throw away all the eyeshadow or take out a new line of credit for weekly manicures. The solution is to organize together.”

Continued in the link to the article, but uh

TL;DR: There’s a significant wage gap between women who conform to traditional feminine beauty standards by, for example wearing makeup and heels and using a lot of hair and beauty products, and the women who don’t. Meaning women are financially punished for not conforming to femininity or beauty standards. The gap is worse for women of color and trans women because there’s higher beauty standards for women of color and trans women.

And when women do get those higher wages by playing the game and conforming to beauty standards and femininity, they have to spend 2x-3x+ more on grooming and their appearance than their male colleagues, so those high wages just disappear and go right back into keeping up their looks, making it difficult if not impossible to keep up financially with men, this isn’t even mentioning how much more time women lose each day to having to keep up their “professional” appearance compared to male colleagues.

[novelconcepts]

Jamie & Dani short prompt- Online Dating au meeting online and being from bad past relationship. Thank u

This is probably a bad idea. It is, isn’t it? Almost certainly.

Why is she here?

Dani Clayton has been playing this particular set of thoughts--bad idea, terrible idea, why would you do this?--on repeat for three days. Ever since setting up that dating profile. Ever since realizing there isn’t much use in setting up a dating profile if you’re not going to use it. 

Oh, it’s all fun and games, building the thing. Find a photo that accentuates all the best parts of your face--Dani, after an hour of careful consideration, wound up going with one that accentuated her hair, more than anything, but she suspects the same idea counts. Then, the profile. What do you like? Teaching, long walks, new experiences, bad coffee. What don’t you like? 

Men, she’d thought, and snorted aloud into her wine before settling on: Deep water, accordion music, expectations, being called Danielle. 

A little more flourish, tipsy keystrokes, a casually-framed short-version of her life. Perfect. And then...well, then you hit the publish button, don’t you? You decide, for better or worse, to jump off this diving board and see just how far you can stand to swim before the energy gives out on you.

The faces appearing before her hadn’t been bad, certainly. Pretty, most of them. Interesting, a few. Still, she hadn’t swiped right on any--once or twice, because she’d forgotten which way meant yes please, but mostly because no one seemed quite...right. Which, she’d thought, was silly. The whole point of an app like this is to cast as many nets as possible and see what comes up. The whole point is to have fun. 

But every time she’d hovered over a promising image, a woman who likes dogs, or plays the violin, or goes rock-climbing in her spare time, she’d thought of him. Eddie. Who had taken one yes to a single date, and tried to make a whole life with her out of it. 

Eddie, who had taken her two decades to pull away from. 

What if the women here were the same? Not Eddie, exactly, but--presumptive. What if they believed a swipe-right was as good as a marriage proposal? What if she got bound up in conversation, and then a date, and then a relationship with someone else who just didn’t fit right?

Left. Left. Left. 

And then: the mistake.

She hadn’t meant to swipe right. Exactly. She hadn’t planned, maybe is the better way of putting it, on swiping right. She’d only wanted to look at the woman’s profile a little longer. Only wanted to inspect the facets this woman had put out on display with almost resigned simplicity. 

Some people, Dani had by now realized, wrote poetry and paragraphs to describe themselves. 

Jamie Taylor had bullet points.

“Gardener. English. Likes: Plants. Stories. Tea. Dislikes: Bullshit.”

The end. That had been quite literally the sum of it. Gardener. English. No bullshit.

But the picture, somehow, Dani hadn’t been able to look away from. Not because of carefully-arranged lighting, not because of a curated model-clean image--but because the woman appeared to have posted the photo almost under duress. It came in profile, as though someone else had done the job, her head turned toward the camera as if interrupted. Her hands were buried in a flower pot. Her clothes were simple--a tank top, a silver chain resting against the jut of collarbones, a pair of worn-looking jeans with holes in the knees. Her eyes--some fascinating color Dani couldn’t quite place--looked somewhere between amused and irritated. 

She looked real. 

Stupid, Dani thinks now--because that was probably the idea, wasn’t it? This woman, Jamie, had planned to look exactly this way. Real. Vexed at the idea of putting herself out there. Reluctantly available. 

It was a ploy, certainly--but one that seems to be working, because not only did Dani accidentally-not-accidentally swipe right, she found herself texting the woman. For hours. She’d expected much less, had figured this Jamie person would be as brief in text as she had been in bio, but...

Jamie had talked to her. Willingly. Teasingly, with more humor than truth, maybe, but with no sign at all that she was sick of Dani’s questions, bad jokes, nervous assessment that I really don’t do this, I honestly don’t get it. 

I don’t, either, Jamie had replied, and that had felt like enough of a reason to keep testing the waters. Enough of a reason to keep the conversation going back and forth, back and forth, until nearly two in the morning.

Shit, she’d said. I need to be at work in four hours. 

Shame, Jamie had replied, her tone already searingly familiar over text. Own your own business, make your own hours. Far wiser approach. 

I’ll make a note of it for when I found an elementary school, Dani had replied, laughing. She hadn’t said she’d already been in bed for an hour, the phone resting on the pillow beside her head so she wouldn’t miss the buzz of a new message. It had seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, with wine-warmed blood and the happy haze of good conversation. Jamie made her laugh. Jamie put her at ease. Jamie might not have been real, but she felt real, and that was good. 

Better than anything she’d felt in years, if she was honest with herself. 

Still, when the next day had come and gone with no message, she’d thought, Fair enough. Jamie had been good virtual company for one night. It was more than she’d expected to get out of this app.

Far more than she’d expected, particularly when Thursday night rolled around and her phone buzzed.

Teacher, yeah? No school on Saturday?

Correct, Dani had replied, as amused by the out-of-left-field text as she was irritated with how her stomach had flipped over upon receiving it. You have figured out the complexity of the American school system. 

I am a genius, Jamie sent back, followed quickly by: Drinks tomorrow night? 

Drinks. A thing that people do. A thing that adult people do for date reasons. 

She isn’t real, she’d thought, even as her thumb was punching back: How’s 8? Miller’s?

A mistake. Definitely a mistake. Because the app had been a lark, and the conversation had been too easy, and the fact that she can’t quite pick out the colors in Jamie’s eyes from a single photo is making her crazier than she’d like to admit. 

A mistake, saying yes. A mistake, suggesting the local pub-like establishment around the corner, whose beer-and-burger specials had kept her fed on too many evenings spent working late. A mistake, because once this goes south--as it’s absolutely bound to, as everything Eddie-shaped always has--she’s going to lose her favorite hangout in the deal, too.

And yet: here she is. Standing at the door, wondering if the outfit chosen for the evening festivities--tight jeans, pink blouse, hoop earrings--is too much or not nearly enough. 

What am I doing here?

Maybe, she thinks with mingled alarm and hope, she won’t even have showed up. Maybe it’s all part of the ruse: look approachable, look human and normal, look a little too beautiful in the most grounded way possible--then, cheerfully, invite a woman to drinks and just don’t show. A fun story for whoever comes next. Can you believe she thought I’d want to meet her after one night of texting?

“Dani?” 

English, Dani thinks with a sudden rush of heat. Right. Somehow, she hadn’t quite been prepared for the accent, which--coming out of this woman, draped with languid ease at a table--is truly a little more than Dani thinks she can handle just now. The accent, combined with the mess of curls dragged back from her face, and a dress sense that manages to be both casual and deeply attractive at the same time, is...

“Jamie,” she says, her voice a little lower, a little more hoarse, than is truly necessary. The woman pushes up from her seat, a small-framed figure in a black button-down, suspenders, ripped jeans. She’s pressing a hand toward Dani, offering a firm shake as though they are business partners, not an off-the-cuff bad idea of a date. “You look--”

“Never been here before,” Jamie says, almost apologetically. She gestures for Dani to sit before dropping back down in a sprawl that implies exactly the opposite of what her mouth is insisting. “Wasn’t sure about the, ah, dress code.”

“You--you did fine,” Dani tells her, wishing suddenly she’d gone for a dress. Or a  different human body altogether. She feels too tightly-strung, too anxious for the easy smile on Jamie’s lips. “Um. You’re very. In person.”

“Very,” Jamie repeats, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “Is very American for wish I’d gone left, after all?”

“No. No. Absolutely not. That.” Bit too forceful, she suspects, judging by the smile spreading into a grin. “No, it’s just--your picture didn’t--tell me you’d be so...”

“Clean?” Jamie suggests innocently. She raises her hands, wiggling her fingers in a small wave. “Scrub up fine, when I need to. Seemed to call for it.”

“And you...sure did answer,” Dani says stupidly. “The. Call, I mean. I’m sorry, I really don’t do this often.”

Something seems to soften in Jamie, her smile less teasing as she leans across the table. “Hey, no worries here. Same person you were talking to the other night.”

Dani nods, embarrassed, and flags down a server. Drinks ordered, she draws in a deep breath.

“I mean, I haven’t done this in years. Or. Ever, I guess.”

“A first date?” Jamie asks. When Dani doesn’t answer, she adds in a knowing tone, “A date with a woman?”

“Both,” Dani says honestly. “My last relationship was--well, I mean, we were engaged--”

Jamie whistles under her breath, reaching up to scratch her head. “Blimey. What happened?”

“He’s...him.” It’s too much to go into on a first date, too much to explain, even though talking to Jamie over text had been so dangerously easy. “My best friend growing up, but that was...growing up.”

Jamie nods thoughtfully, tilting her chin in thanks when the server deposits two full pint glasses and a basket of fries on the table. “Rough time, sounds like. I can relate. My last relationship also did not go well.”

“Was he also a man who thought you’d be all too happy to quit your job and take care of a bunch of babies?” Dani asks, perhaps a little too bitterly for the occasion. Jamie flashes another grin, sipping her drink.

“She was a woman who thought I’d be all too happy to take the fall when she got busted for possession.”

Dani gapes. “Oh. Oh--I didn’t know--I’m so--”

Jamie shrugs. “She wasn’t wrong. I was nineteen, and deeply stupid. Live and learn, as the poets say.”

“Which poets?” Dani asks, smiling a little. Jamie’s brow furrows.

“John...Lennon, possibly? Hard to say. Anyway, relationships are a chore and a half, but the greatest people in the world tell me thirty is too old to play musical bedframes, so. Here we are.”

No bullshit, thinks Dani approvingly. For what little she’d put into her profile, Jamie evidently hadn’t been lying about that.

“You haven’t been in a relationship since you were nineteen?”

“In my mind, I was still in the relationship at twenty-four, when they let me out. She didn’t agree. Found out she’d been married two years, by then.” Something darkens in Jamie’s eyes for a moment. She sighs. “Like I said. Not my finest. But I am, as they say, a shining beacon of reform these days.”

“Now, when you say they,” Dani teases, grinning. Jamie nods decisively. 

“John Lennon. Definitively.”

There it is, thinks Dani, watching Jamie pop a fry into her mouth. There, the easy roll of conversation from the other night. As though they’ve known each other forever. As though two people who have thus far failed irrevocably at relationships make a perfect match.

Easy, she thinks. Don’t go wild, now. 

“So,” she says, when the comfortable silence between them has grown a bit too comfortable for the setting, “who are the greatest people in the world? The ones who tell you thirty is too old for...did you say musical bedframes?”

Jamie laughs. The ring of it curls gently around Dani’s head like a soft hand, a sound she’ll find herself replaying later with a skipping heart. 

“Not many willing to put up with a grump of my caliber, but Hannah and Owen fight the good fight. So long as I at least pretend to try.”

“Let me guess. They set up the account for you?”

Jamie makes a sort of gesture in the air with the hand not holding her glass. “Threatened to bury me in puns and children, respectively, if I kept putting it off. Owen’s still grumpy about the photo choice.”

“I liked it,” Dani says without thinking. Jamie raises an eyebrow.

“Well, you did swipe as much. Mind if I ask why?”

Walked into this one. Still, she doesn’t mind as much as she probably should, not with the genuine curiosity in Jamie’s eyes. “You looked--don’t laugh.”

“No promises,” Jamie says, but with the gentle tone of one who knows exactly how much to tease before it’ll hurt. The idea warms Dani in a way she’s not quite ready to look at yet.

“You looked real,” Dani says. “Like you weren’t going to play games, or waste anyone’s time. Like you just wanted to be happy in peace.”

“That is,” Jamie says, holding out a fry for Dani to take, “sort of the idea, yeah.”

There’s an almost puzzled cast to her smile, like she didn’t entirely expect this answer, and is pleased by it at the same time. That same sense from the photo sweeps over Dani now--that this woman is authentic, even if she’s not always shiny, that she’s kind even if not entirely clean. That she doesn’t have any interest in muddled expectation or living a comfortable lie.

“And me?” Dani asks. She doesn’t entirely mean to--but she’s sure, in asking, that Jamie will answer. Jamie is unlike anyone else she’s ever met, the first person she’s ever known to meet each question head-on. 

“Honestly?”

Dani nods. Jamie seems to consider it, turning it over in her head as she twists a fry between her fingers like a cigarette. 

“All of it.”

“That’s,” Dani begins to laugh, “that’s not--”

“No,” Jamie says, and she isn’t smiling, exactly. Her eyes have a sort of shine Dani likes very much, but there is no hint of teasing in them now. “Really. All of it. You’re...very pretty, and that’s--but the way you described yourself. Like you didn’t care to be anyone in particular. You like new experiences, and bad coffee. You hate being called Danielle. I...I wanted to know why.”

“It’s not my name,” Dani says simply. Jamie gives a brief laugh, her hand moving across the table to lightly brush Dani’s fingertips. 

“I wanted to know why all of it. Why do you like bad coffee--”

“It’s the only kind I know how to make,” Dani says automatically. “Just sort of leaned into it.”

“--and teaching--”

“I want to make a difference,” Dani says. 

“--and where you most like to go on those long walks--”

“Anywhere I can breathe,” Dani says. Her fingers are hesitant, tracing the tips of Jamie’s. There’s something electric about this, about barely touching, about barely knowing someone and still wanting to give them neatly-packaged secrets shaped like the mundane. 

Jamie is smiling. “See, that. I like that. All of it.”

It’s nothing, Dani thinks reflexively. A collection of details. A sparse approximation of a life. Eddie knows all of this, and then some, and never matched up to knowing her.

But this woman, leaning across the table with one hand outstretched, looks so different. Watches her with steady interest. Is listening to every word Dani says, though the bar is growing crowded around them, and soon, conversation will become a task instead of a gift.

“Would you,” Dani says, feeling certain that some mistakes are not as bad as they seem, “like to take one of those walks?”

“Tonight?” 

“Yeah. Tonight.” Emboldened by the smile, by the curl falling into Jamie’s eyes, by the knowledge that she still can’t quite make out what color those eyes are, Dani takes her hand. It’s so easy, she thinks she could do it even without looking. “Right now.”

No bullshit, she thinks. No expectations. Just Jamie looking at her like she can’t quite believe what she’s seeing. Dani can’t blame her. This isn’t at all what she’d thought she was getting, walking in tonight. 

But there’s something about it--something about the feeling that she’s been here before, or should be here forever, or will always find her way back to a woman who looks at her just like this--that almost makes her feel brave. Almost makes her feel wonderful. She rises from the table, laying cash beneath her half-empty glass, and feels a pleasant jolt in her chest when Jamie follows without another word.

If this a mistake, she thinks as they step out into the brisk evening air, it’s one she’s hungry to make. 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 288: ZOOM AND ENHANCE

Previously on BnHA: Tomura, AFO, Deku, and Nana all met up inside of OFA and were all, “wow this is awkward.” AFO talked a whole bunch about vestiges before realizing that nobody cared (EXCEPT FOR ME. I CARED!!), and was then all “anyway so just to get everyone up to speed here, Tomura is Nana’s grandson.” OFA appeared and was all “what up bro I see you’re still a dick”, and then everyone stood around for a bit waging psychokinetic war on each other and blowing up on the ground and shit. This didn’t really accomplish anything, so AFO shifted gears and started trash talking Deku instead, because he’s a whiny little punkass loser who can’t admit when his brother has gotten the best of him yet again! OFA was all “anyways Deku rules and haters gonna hate, peace”, and then everyone wooshed back out of OFA and back into the real world, Deku with his quirk still intact. Meanwhile Gigantomachia and the LoV stampeded ever closer to the city, and Toga started monologuing in preparation for a seemingly inevitable battle with Ochako! And then the chapter basically just ended there lol.

Today on BnHA: Imagine you are Uraraka Ochako. And you’re out here doing what you do best, saving bitches and being a badass, when all of a sudden some old lady runs up to you and is all “PLEASE HELP ME, MY HUSBAND IS ASLEEP OR SOME SHIT, YOU KNOW US OLD PEOPLE, WE’RE SO FUCKING FEEBLE AND HAPLESS.” And so you’re all “OF COURSE” because you’re a good fucking person, and then she speeds off like she’s got fucking wheels and it’s like damn, grandma, were you in varsity track or what, and then OUT OF NOWHERE she just spontaneously turns into HIMIKO FUCKING TOGA. And she’s all naked and shit, and it’s like damn, Toga, where are your clothes, and she just giggles and ducks into a nearby building. And so you follow her for god knows what reason, and she fucking pounces on you and starts interrogating you in like the most seductive way possible, and you’re all wtf is this. Like, can you even imagine. Anyway so Ochako is having quite a day.

okay lol so I’ve gotta kind of rush through this since I’ve got other stuff I need to wrap up today as well, so! fingers crossed that we get a nice, simple chapter with no controversies or elaborate revelations or anything like that! just give me lots of stuff to mindlessly keysmash about, Horikoshi. I’m counting on you bro

lol what

an actual fucking plane?? is that allowed?? how bizarrely normal. are we sure this plane does not shoot lasers or something or is powered by someone with like a fusion reactor quirk idk

and who tf is Takeo-san. some random guy Horikoshi is suddenly introducing after 300 chapters to come save everyone at the last minute? pretty sus. Horikoshi is this your self insert

GASP

NO WAY THIS IS ALL MIGHT, RIGHT?? holy shit I swear to god if it’s All Might this lady needs to TURN THE FUCK AROUND RIGHT NOW. stop at McDonalds, order a black coffee for herself and only herself, and drive the rest of the way back home without so much as a bathroom break. there are certain prophecies which we don’t need to be tempting right now, okay people?? holy shit

(ETA: OR, here’s a thought, WHAT IF IT’S BEST JEANIST. hope springs eternal lmao. anyways though surely it’s not actually All Might. he can’t die yet, he’s got like 5 million secret things he needs to explain to Deku, and also Kacchan is unconscious and he can’t just SLEEP RIGHT THROUGH ALL MIGHT’S DEATH like come on.)

oh look more heroes all lining up to be slaughtered by Machia

real talk, at this point their priority should just be evacuating any citizens in Machia’s path, and then getting the fuck out of his way. none of them stand a chance in hell at stopping him and they know it. the body count is already high enough as it is. regroup and live to fight another day, people

anyway, so Machia is apparently plowing through cities at 100km per hour. that... actually might not be fast enough. Gunga and Jakku were 80km apart, so at that rate it would take him nearly an hour to reach Tomura. that fight’s gonna be long done by the time they get there. huh

okay these guys are saying he’s going to reach them in about 8 minutes. ?? so are you telling me Tomura and Deku and the rest have been fighting for like 40 minutes already?? lmao Gran probably bled to death half an hour ago at this rate. Horikoshi please explain yourself. some of us spent our entire childhoods doodling comics instead of paying attention in math and science AND IT SHOWS

anyway so this is all very bad and this guy is really rubbing it in just how bad it is

I mean... yeah. obviously the villains are still to blame at the core of it all, but yeah. feels like you all could have planned a hell of a lot better for this. you knew there was the risk of Tomura waking up, and you knew there was also the risk of Gigantomachia waking up as well. and you pretty much had no contingency plan at all huh. society is really gonna be in shambles after this

lmao look at this shit. Machia is so big at this point that it looks like they’re having a picnic in the middle of some desert somewhere. at what point does it cease being a guy’s back and start being its own zip code

even has its own wifi. amazing

oh shit Compress apparently spotted someone and he’s asking Skeptic to “zoom and enhance” like it’s CS fucking I. that’s not how it works Compress you fucking boomer

anyway so OF COURSE,

was there a reason you needed to zoom in on them, other than to trigger Toga?? some people just want to watch the world burn

so Toga is now GEARIN’ UP!!

that honestly is so fucking handy. over at U.A. they have to carry their gear in briefcases like scrubs. does Compress actually have the best quirk in the world?? it flies under the radar so well that I always forget about it, but like WHAT CAN’T IT DO though, y’know??

WELL WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN MY DUDE

“oh hey is that the U.A. kids? Skeptic could you please zoom in on them for absolutely no reason? OH MY GOD TOGA IS RUNNING OFF TO FIGHT THEM, OH MY GOD WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN, OH MY GOD”

now he’s all “DABI PLEASE DO SOMETHING” but Dabi is all “DABI DON’T CARE”

Dabi don’t care about NOTHING OR NO ONE!! Dabi don’t got time for this

lmao I literally forgot that Spinner was even there, shit

so are you gonna go with her then or not? because I got news for you dude, it doesn’t matter how heartwarming your speech is, nothing can stop this girl now that she’s gone full distracted boyfriend meme

AW BUT IT REALLY IS HEARTWARMING THOUGH

Spinner is the glue keeping this dysfunctional Addams family together honestly. too bad he couldn’t stop Compress from OPENING HIS BIG DUMB MOUTH ah well

lmao but he’s letting her go anyway though

Spinner for new LoV President. all in favor??

ANYWAYS LOL THIS IS BAD

“ACCELERATE EVACUATIONS” LOL WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO OCHAKO HE’S MOVING AT 100KM AN HOUR AND HE’S LIKE FUCKING GODZILLA SIZED FKJLK

“PLEASE RUN OUTSIDE OF THE VILLAIN’S PERIPHERY” well thank fucking god the people have you guys to guide them what would they even do without you lklkhlkds

NO HORIKOSHI DON’T YOU DARE

IF YOU HURT MY GIRL FROPPY I SWEAR TO GOD!! LEAVE HER ALONE YOU BRIGAND

OH THANK GOD

“sorry for SAVING YOUR LIFE” smh. anyway so how fucking badass is Ochako though?? can we just talk about this. THE GIRL POWER ARC STRIKES AGAIN hot damn

(ETA: and btw, seeing as Iida is nowhere to be found, I’d say odds are pretty good that they did in fact send him to go warn the Endeavorsquad of Gigantomachia’s imminent arrival. godspeed Iida! they need all the help they can get right now honestly.)

EXCUSE ME BUT ARE YOU TOGA

IS THIS TOGA. THIS IS DEFINITELY TOGA OMG

“I IMMEDIATELY TRUST YOU AND I WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” noooo Ochako nooooo

damn Toga you really drained some poor old lady’s blood just so you could pull this kind of sneaky shit. I forgot how much I loved you

ohhhh lol so it’s her “husband” that is Takeo-san lol

THE BETTER TO LURE YOU INTO A TRAP MY DEAR

lmao Ochako you rube

now you’ve done it Toga. there is nothing Ochako loves more than a good old fashioned Old People Romance. DID YOU KNOW SHE HAS SEEN THE NOTEBOOK LIKE FIFTY TIMES. AND NO MATTER WHAT, IT ALWAYS GETS HER AT THE END. meanwhile I just want to watch a movie where James Marsden actually gets the girl for once but we all know that will never happen

OH MY

ngl this page would be like a thousand times better if Ochako was still blushing omg. did I ship this before?? I honestly can’t remember but I sure as fuck ship it now goddammit

(ETA: pretty sure I shipped it back during the Forest arc too but I don’t have time to check right now lol. but Toga is just so horny on main for everyone, all the time, and so like, it’s hard not to ship it.)

so now Toga is running off all flirtatiously and Ochako is barreling after her lol

plot twist, Takeo-san is actually in there. and he has NO IDEA what’s going on. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WIFE. WHY IS THERE A GIANT MOLE MAN BURROWING THROUGH THE CITY

Ochako why on earth would you follow Toga into this dark creepy house where she could spring at you from any angle out of nowhere. just go back outside and float up over it until you have a high enough vantage point to see all the exits and just wait for her to come out

Toga says she wanted to talk to Tsuyu-chan as well, but let’s be real, you and her don’t have the same kind of electrically charged kismesis energy that you’ve got going on with Ochako though

LMAO DEKU NOWHERE IS SAFE

getting dragged like a fucking wedding train and he’s not even there to defend himself, shit

blah blah blah just ask her your question already Toga

MY WORD

would someone please inform Toga that this manga is only rated PG-13

so now Ochako is all “seriously Toga wtf”

you see that’s what I wanted to know too, lol. I really like that the characters actually think about these things and ask these kind of questions. that’s exactly the contrast between the heroes and the villains right there. the villains care about each other, they’ll give each other heartwarming speeches to please come back alive, and yet they’re utterly indifferent to the thousands of people being killed as they demolish their way through city after city. meanwhile by contrast Ochako’s first thought upon being erotically waylaid by her sexy knife-wielding archnemesis is “but what about that poor old lady is she all right.” just completely opposite energies, almost to a hilarious degree. like maybe Ochako actually should worry about herself just a little bit more lol but heroes gonna hero

and so now what, Toga!! you’re gonna pout about it?? like she’s betrayed you somehow?

anyway so that’s the end of the chapter! and I’ll just come right out and say that I’m hoping that this fight ends up being something where Toga maybe starts to see things just a little bit more from Ochako’s point of view, and not the other way around, because otherwise I’ll be a little frustrated, ngl. the manga has done an excellent job of making the villains likeable and relatable and getting us to sympathize with them up till this point, but at some point it’s got to start refuting some of these arguments and making it clear that the villains do not actually have any kind of moral high ground here

and also! I really like Toga and would like her to have some kind of redemption arc! but as of now that’s looking to be really difficult if not impossible to pull off, because Toga hasn’t exactly shown a whole lot of remorse for anything she’s done so far, you know? because she doesn’t see it as bad in any way; to her it’s just her way of expressing love, and being true to who she is. but being true to yourself really should NOT involve, you know, MURDER, and so yeah. it’s a problem lmao

but who knows! maybe this battle with Ochako will be the start of something which eventually leads to some sort of change within her! I have absolutely no idea how that could play out tbh, but even so I can hope! either that or she will double down on the whole “villains are victims and heroes are apathetic cruel hypocrites” ideology and decide she wants to kill Ochako and Izuku for breaking her heart, in which case I will be very sad, but I guess if that’s the way Horikoshi’s gonna play it it is what it is!

and lastly, so is this going to be like the final battle between them or something?? surely not, right? like this is just round 2 of 3. well at any rate, it’s sure going to be interesting

[canidbutch]

okay, so. hm. parent death, covid. kind of an uncanny story ngl. i’ve told it, like... 15 times in the past couple of days and it’s still pretty ins*ne to me.

to say it coherently, what happened was:

sister could tell dad was sick on tuesday the 28th

he spent the next four days leaving the house for hours at a time, even after he got his covid dx. same for his wife.

i only learned about this on friday the 1st

that night my sister came down the stairs and he turned around with this Look and said, “i don’t feel good.”

admitted to the hospital on saturday the 2nd

on tuesday the 5th, they’re discussing putting him on a vent

curtain rises on wednesday the 6th.

9:30 AM: i go to secure a job at the hospital i’d been talking with about an emergency support staff position. i discuss my routine physical in a room 30ft from the ICU.

10:40 AM: i get sent to the lab to get some bloodwork done. while i’m waiting, they call a code blue for the ICU. i go “yeesh.”

11:20 AM: i go to the HR building to discuss benefits. 

11:48 AM: i’m signing my W2 when i get the text that my dad passed.

laugh inappropriately with the HR lady. she gets it; her late husband’s brother was a very similar man, right down to being a right-wing covid denier, so. y’know. no one’s crying. but i kind of know i’m just in shock.

take my ID photo for my badge. smile big. that smile is preserved forever.

i have to live with that.

called my youngest uncle to talk on the way home, check how he is. he’s just as baffled as i am, namely because of how my dad straight up refused to take care of himself. found out he had COPD, on top of the diabetes i only recently learned about and the numerous heart attacks he’s had.

so, y’know. he was corona’s fucking playground and didn’t even try.

but when i get home, i find out from my mom.

that he was in the hospital i was in. literally right there.

in the ICU, 30ft from where i went for my physical. they’d just been about to put him on the vent, and then 13 minutes later they stopped CPR because they were breaking his ribs.

and the thing is.

i haven’t seen him in 5 years, almost to the month. i cut him off after halloween the year of my 21st birthday in december. he left a card in the doorframe and i ripped it up without reading it. that’s the last contact he tried to make.

i haven’t even been in the same city as him in all that time, much less the same building, but for the singular moment that he came into the house all those years ago to grab something at my mom’s behest and beps fronted to barricade us in the bedroom and silently hyperventilate under the covers until his footsteps disappeared. mom promised never to let him near me like that again, and that was that.

no one else was allowed to go see him, so he was all alone and terrified.

and so the first time i’m in the same city, the same building, the same floor of that building. the first time i’m that close to him, he literally. just goes into cardiac arrest and croaks.

hard not to get delusional about that, ngl. i literally did not even know he was in that exact hospital until after. i had it in my head that he’d gone to the hospital he always sent his parents to but i forgot that he called an ambulance on saturday morning and would have obviously gone to that one because it’s local to his house.

i took that job at total random and had been dreading driving PAST my hometown to get there, but i’m desperate enough for money that i’ll do it. it’s a fucking 40 minute drive and i can’t stand it but they’re desperate enough for screeners that they called me back 8 hours after i submitted my application and i was in SO fast. obviously i took it.

it just didn’t CLICK.

what are the fucking odds!!!!

and so Now.

his marriage to his new hell wife is recent enough that she may only get the first 50k out of whatever the house sells for.

i’m not going to say what it’s worth but that. is barely anything. and even i would feel guilty not giving her some of my share if that’s all it’ll be.

i thought he wrote me out of his will but it turns out he didn’t even fucking write one at all. things COULD go to me and my sister.

it’ll be a long ass time before we get anything, is the issue, and like. i’m still poor i've been in a cardboard box of an apartment for years he may have been well off with his stupid fucking jailguard job by this point in life but it sure never felt like it when i lived with him and once we split from him 10 years ago it got even worse. it looks like it’s gonna be at least a year of fighting with the wife over money and i am not looking forward to it.

but then there’s his retirement, too. which is. also an egregious amount of money i never thought i’d see in my entire life which Obviously i would not get All of by a long shot but still. wow. that’s if they say he died in the line of duty and his retirement didn’t process before he croaked, which. is feasible given that he was Forced to retire Recently because of, wow! sexual harassment allegations. what a charmer. <3

my mom’s dumb psychics say shit like... the money will be definitely for me and boo, they’ll probably have to evict hell wife because she just refuses to go, boo won’t move out of the house (till they sell it n whatnot), and also dad doesn’t know he’s dead so i should expect a creepy dream soon where i have to encourage him to go into the light.

super! looking forward to it.

get real lmao.

though the mental image of him throwing his arms around and hollering at g-d because he’s angry he died was a funny one to be told. like. yeah, dude. get mad! it’s not like you could have done something to mitigate or prevent or lower your chances of this or anything.

(he wasn’t vaccinated and like, up to a week before he got ill he was still telling people covid wasn’t real. his other brother who i did NOT call was actually trying to tell my mom that the way he was sick on the phone with her might not have had anything to do with covid, y’know, since it’s all a conspiracy to control the population he could have just had something else.)

(okay, jimmy. have fun with that.)

(g-d i fucking hate jimmy. not even going to get into the shit he said about me. lol this whole family thinks i somehow could have done better and i’m like mmmmm yeah see, no, because it’s not my job to just Not Get Abused and then still be fine with my abuser when i fail to stop him. fuck all of you.)

so i have to run to village hall at 8am tomorrow to get a copy of his death certificate so i can apply for administration over that massively expensive stupid fucking house i died in before his stupid ugly wife gets there first because no FUCKING WAY can we let her take the whole damn thing no WAY. judges won’t like it either given that she quit her job the second she moved in and was just in it for the money which usually i’d applaud but she herself is a vile abusive bitch who tries to starve old women and her own grandchildren and also gave away my sister’s dog on national dog day once THAT was a thing that happened and ohhhh my mom almost beat her ass in the driveway kfdjhksdjfhd.

my family is normal and good

so yeah! that’s. all that! i was prepared from the outset to have complicated and contradictory feelings about this whenever it happened, so i’m not going to begrudge myself for any long-lost tender feelings i had towards him not because he was my father but because i know logically that the trauma bond he forged with me was powerful and it’s only natural that i’ll get messed up by the fact that he’s not in the world anymore whether i respect him or not. i think a person like him SHOULD be dead. i don’t think covid is a thing to wish on people but i’m not sad that he can’t hurt anyone anymore, except that he’s hurting people by leaving them to clean up his messes even now and my mother is angry. my sister is guilty. i’m empty. it’s kind of a musical chairs sort of deal. i spent all those years furious and fighting and never shutting up about who he was and refusing to let anyone dismiss it ever again, i made myself a horror i made everyone Hate me and i don’t even CARE about that because if you think it’s okay for him to have Done What He Did, and NOT EVEN to just ME, then i don’t fucking want you to love me, anyway.

i have no family but my mom and sister, and like... 50% of the time my one uncle i called on the phone. mom and boo are the ones who will yell at homophobes and transphobes and ableists even when i’m not there and boo will defend me tooth and nail behind my back and i couldn’t ask for a better sister. fuck our history, fuck the times we thought we’d hate each other forever, fuck the grudge about how we used to go at each other, that’s the ONLY family i have and i’m grateful for her. i’m fucking pissed that she’d been living with him this whole time and been neglected and dismissed and trampled on the WHOLE time and

g-d she got him a shirt and hat for father’s day and he never even took it out of the bag he lost it downstairs and didn’t even try to find it or wear it he just put it somewhere and forgot. literally fuck you. that’s just the most recent thing but it was constant and so much worse than that all our lives and i cannot stand that SHE feels guilty like she should have pushed him to go to the doctor or been a better daughter and i’m like Hon. he didn’t want to go so he wouldn’t have gone even if you did push. it’s not your job as the child to parent your own parent i am sick of us having to parent our parents. sick of it. sick to death.

so yeah. there’s that, i guess. fingers crossed i get to village hall fast enough tomorrow. pray for me lmao.

[seventeenlovesthree]

“Shall we go together?” (22/24) | A Taishirou Christmas drabble countdown

Just a little Taishirou-centric Christmas fic I’ve been meaning to write all year long, so here we are. The plan was to post 12-24 drabbles to complete telling the story and the Christmas spirit succeeded in the end.

🧡💜

Chapters: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

Characters: Taichi Yagami, Agumon, Hikari Yagami (mentions of other Chosen Children)

Main POV: Taichi Yagami

Genre: Friendship & romance

Rating: K

Wordcount: 1182

December 25th, 08:24 AM

 ~

 Taichi had also had issues falling asleep.

 The Yagami family still had spent a nice evening together with dinner after Hikari returned home, but Taichi’s mind hadn’t really been present throughout any of it.

 While Agumon had rested blissfully in his bed next to him, his eyes had been fixated on the envelope in his hand, having memorized the neatly shimmering golden edges of it, so he could see and sense them in the dark of the night as well. Feeling the paper burn against his fingertips. Resisting the urge to just rip it open and for his heart to explode due to the anticipation.

 At around 5 in the morning, he had decided that it couldn’t be helped any longer.

 He had quietly sneaked out of the bed, got ready for a little run in the cold of the early morning, darkness and cold still surrounding himself, trying to numb his thoughts somehow.

 If asked, he wouldn’t have said that he had been ‘sad’ or ‘disappointed’. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on what it was, but he felt uneasy, somewhat anxious. Yearning for an answer.

 The hot shower afterwards had at least calmed him down a tad bit, helping his eyes to relax and for him to actually feel a little tired. Yet his head kept telling him that going to sleep wouldn’t ease his curiosity.

 He was impatient – and afraid at the same time.

 “Taichi, why aren’t you opening it?”, Agumon eventually asked, a few more hours having passed and they were both sitting on the floor of Taichi’s childhood room, the envelope lying between them on the ground.

 Taichi had thrown over a blue button-down shirt and jeans, at least attempting to make himself feel some festive spirit by wearing his own version of ‘casually festive’.

 “It’s still too early”, he murmured in a gloomy manner, knowing his night bug well enough to assume that he had probably slept in after all.

 His night bug… He winced. Did he know Koushirou that well at all?

 “… But you’ve stared at it the entire time.”

 “Nah, not true”, Taichi found himself pouting, making Agumon look at him worriedly.

 “Why are you so scared?”, his partner tried to dig deeper, obviously able to tell that his literal soulmate was suffering. “Koushirou isn’t someone who’d ever do something malicious to you, don’t you think?”

 That actually made Taichi look up. Something malicious… He hadn’t even thought about it that way. He just couldn’t shake the impression that he absolutely didn’t understand Koushirou at times. Didn’t understand where exactly they were standing. Even though he had been so close…

 “I know, but…” His expression softened a little. “It wasn’t a rejection, right?”

 Agumon’s green eyes were open and genuine; as naïve and innocent as he could be at times, Taichi always valued his opinion and perception.

 “Didn’t feel like one to me”, the small dinosaur replied cheerfully. “He kinda looked at you like Hikari looks at icecream...”

 That comparison, as unexpected as it was, made him laugh out loud – and for the first time since yesterday, he felt a wave of warmth rising in his chest. Not that he hadn’t memorized the way Koushirou had looked at him. Those dark eyes he had always admired, ever since he could remember. Always looking for something…

 With a swift motion, Taichi grabbed the envelope, turned it around a few times to look at it one last time.

 “… I swear, if this is going to be a QR code and he just wants to explain to me how it works, I’ll officially be the biggest idiot under the sun…”

 “Come on, Taichi, be brave!”, Agumon cheered him on as he finally slid one finger across the flap to rip it open, moving in rhythm to his own heartbeat…

 “What… What the…?!”

 … Just to have his entire world tilt a little bit to the left. He couldn’t believe his eyes once he had pulled out the ticket. No, it were two tickets.

 “What’s wrong?” Agumon leaned forward to get a better look and Taichi was quite literally shaking, eyes widened, mouth open, thoughts rushing, forming an incoherent storm in his head.

 “Is he serious?! Shit, shit, shit…”

 He had rambled about this match in front of Koushirou once before at least, he was pretty sure, but he would never have expected him to actually buy tickets for it. On the contrary, he hadn’t expected anything specific anyway, so this surpassed all possible options he could even have imagined.

 “Did Koushirou-san say anything about it?”

 So engulfed in the spiral of thoughts, all the ‘whys’, ‘hows’ and ‘what ifs’, he hadn’t noticed that Hikari had opened the door to his room a good minute ago – and so he whirled around.

 “Man, don’t scare me like that!”

 Hikari just smiled a serene smile – and, unnoticed by Taichi, hid her phone behind her back.

 “So?”, she repeated, leaving Taichi a flustered mess. “I’m sure he gave you some kind of hint, didn’t he?”

 Taichi was baffled, Hikari’s intuition was not from this world either sometimes…

 “I, err, he said I should send him a message after opening it…”, he confessed, words flowing out like on autopilot, as he couldn’t take his eyes off the tickets. What on earth had he been thinking…?

 “Then, what are you waiting for?”

 “Hikari!” Taichi stood up from the floor, legs feeling slightly numb, so he had to try hard not to lose balance. “Do you have any idea what these tickets must have cost?!”

 His sister just inspected him from toe to head and then stopped her glance at the tickets in his hand, which he had wagged right in front of her face – just to shrug as response.

 “Probably enough for you to be in his debt forever? Want to get used to that idea?”

 Feeling his own heart swell at that ‘idea’ and the simple word ‘forever’, he was suddenly overtaken by another urge.

  A mighty one.

 A determined one.

 “Doesn’t sound too bad.”

 As he was standing mere inches away from Hikari, he bowed down a little to kiss her forehead, causing her to blink. However, she didn’t have any time to process that cheeky – and thankful? – gesture, as he had already rushed past her.

 Both Hikari and Agumon tried to catch up to him as he was headed to the entrance area of the flat, slipping into his shoes.

 “Hey, where are you going?”

 “Over to him, of course!”

 “Now? Before breakfast?” Hikari couldn’t hide a wide grin, beaming with both, amusement and pride. “Don’t you want to text him first?”

 “I don’t have time for that! Ah, give mom and dad a hug from me, ‘kay? Thanks!”

 Carrying his heart on his sleeve, without even putting on his coat, Taichi had already run out of the door, with Agumon (“Taichi, wait for me!”) following him closely and Hikari chuckling to herself.

 He hadn’t heard the latter anymore though – as he was too focused on the explanation that was owed to him.

[woniepop]

girly girls

Pairing: Kang Taehyun x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.3K

Warnings: bullying, cursing

Genre: slice of life; fluff; angst

Summary: Three times a popular girl and a nerd were enemies, and one time where they weren’t

a/n: this fic was inspired by my all time favorite movie, Legally Blonde. I enjoyed writing this fic and I really hope you enjoy reading it :)

Y/N L/N has never been someone who liked to be cast in the shadows. Always being the center of attention, y/n has become one of the, if not the most, popular girls in her town. Homegirl is always dressed like an icon even when doing mundane tasks. Girls like her have never really been into anything “nerdy.” She associates herself with more of the bimbo kind, if you will. It was never really a secret, but she studies incredibly hard to get the chance to go to her dream school and become a great computer scientist. Being in such a large friend group of female fashion icons, there was never really anyone who wanted to talk about topics with math or computer science. 

Kang Taehyun, however, is this awkward and incredibly smart boy. Never really associated with popularity, he’s only had about four friends in his life and absolutely no dating experience. He’d always been one to shy away from attention. At most times, he found himself quietly observing others. All this, and he’s still what you would consider the teacher’s pet. He gets all his assignments done, A’s on every test, and raises his hand for every question. As a computer science enthusiast, he has worked his butt off his entire life, filling his schedule with robotics clubs, different languages of code, and coding camps. Senior year was his year. He had finally got into his dream school, TXT Tech, and had already created a very very detailed plan for the future.

Currently, Y/n’s mother was constantly trying to persuade her about fashion school. Having an incredibly fashionable mom wasn’t always the best for situations like these. TXT Tech results were coming out, and even though Y/n was confident she was getting in, there’s still the chance she might have not. Nervously waiting in front of her laptop, she sits impatiently refreshing the page for her results. Within one sentence she hops up from her chair in awe. Obviously attending the school was going to be a big turning point for her, and she was so excited to have been admitted to TXT Tech. 

As Y/n got settled on campus, she finds no one else that looks like her. Obviously, because she stands out, all attention is drawn to her. She’s confident, stylish, and hot. In a sea of gray and tan business outfits, Y/n wears a nice pink pantsuit. She’s relishing in all the attention, not seeming to mind that it’s not good, because she knew she looked good. 

Her first encounter with Taehyun couldn’t have gone worse. Walking to her class, pink drink in hand, she struts confidently to the lecture hall for her computer engineering class. Not paying attention to where she was going, she bumps into a tall figure. This clearly wasn’t the best way you could go about your first day, but all Y/n could do was apologize. 

“I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see where I was going and-” she rambled. Pausing in the middle of looking up, a very handsome and slightly awkward boy stands there, obviously pissed off and very annoyed. He scoffs and continues on his way to his next class.

Her second encounter with Taehyun was not great either. Clicking her high heels against the floor, she walks to her first class of the day. She had to get there early, she always had to sit in the front of the class. Taehyun on the other hand, nose buried deep in his book, walks directly to the middle. Despite loving programming, he could only handle so much attention. The class had started off well for Y/n, reviewing the class syllabus of “Principles of Programming Languages.” Taehyun, however, was pissed. He had not been called on once and was so frustrated. 

“Y/n, can you tell me the five most commonly used languages of code?” the professor asks smugly. Y/n knew what he was doing. She was being set up. She knew he thought she didn’t know and that lit a fire in her. 

“Python, Java, Javascript, C#, and C” she answers confidently. Hearing this, the professor nods his head. He wasn’t expecting that. 

Taehyun saw this as a perfect opportunity. His hand shoots up and he comments, “Sir, that’s actually incorrect. C++ is actually more popular because although C  has served as the foundation for writing languages like Python and Ruby, C++ is a newer language of code and therefore is compatible with more technology.” Taehyun confidently looks down to wear Y/n sits and smirks. Of course she wouldn’t know that. She’s only the popular rich girl that got in with Daddy’s money. She didn’t actually know anything, right?

It had been a few months since school had started, and finals were just about to come around. For this class’ final, they had to submit a partner project and code a simple game. At this point, it had been very blatantly established that Y/n and Taehyun were enemies. They despised each other. Always competing with each other in class, snickering when the other person got annoyed. It was a silent war between the two of them and everyone could feel the tension in the air. Obviously, it was no surprise they always came up at the top of the class, interchanging the first spot every test. What was surprising, however, was seeing their names together on the partner project roster. 

Taehyun was furious. College was supposed to be his bitch, but now he’s acting like Y/n’s bitch. He was so pissed off. Computer science was supposed to be where he had the upper hand. The one place he could feel himself. Where he was finally better than the stupid popular kids. And yet, he’s here, competing with one of them. It wasn’t fair. She was a girly girl, she wore bright colors everyday, she even had a sparkly notebook. How was she so smart? There was no way, it’s just the laws of the universe. You had to choose between looks and intelligence. That’s just what the gods above said. There’s no take backsies. 

It’s no secret that Y/n is a fashionable girl and having a female centric hobby isn’t really something applauded at this university. Knowing of Y/n’s insecurities, let’s talk about Taehyun’s. Having always worn non adventurous, boring, clothing, he’s known from the very beginning that Y/n’s beauty has helped her in life. Life is never fair, and it shows. Taehyun never ever got those advantages, and now here he is competing with someone just as smart as him. 

 As his jealousy grows in the back of his mind, he decides to use this time to take revenge. The next few days are spent typing away in the library, collaborating and researching for hours upon hours. Knowing that this project was worth 40% of their grade, they spent all their time trying to make this game perfect. 

The day of the presentation of their near perfect game rolls around and Y/n was confident. She had spent countless nights coding this with Taehyun and on her own. Starting the presentation off, Taehyun pulls up a game completely different to the one Y/n coded with him. “In this day and age, gaming has become a hobby more popular than it’s ever been. With platforms like twitch and youtube, all different types of games can catch the eyes of a wide audience. With this in mind, I’d like to present to you Jackbox Party Pack 8. Roleplay games have become the genre of choice for many gamers to play, and viewers to watch.” 

This was not the first person shooter Y/n had coded with him. What was he doing? Y/n stood there, not really knowing what to say. Opening and closing her mouth, she couldn’t form any words. She should have known this was a set up. “Ms. L/n, please continue.” The professor says. She couldn’t. She felt like she was frozen. She was so embarrassed and she should’ve seen it coming. With cheeks welling up in her eyes, she runs out of the classroom. 

With a smirk, Taehyun continued on, explaining how the game worked and how he had coded it. He had spent the past few nights coding it by himself and he was incredibly proud. Paying no mind to Y/n, he stood tall and smiled throughout his entire presentation. Obviously, like any normal person, guilt started growing quickly in the back of his mind. He finally realized he had fucked up. 

Running after Y/n, Taehyun felt incredibly guilty. He had taken the competition too far, and now he’d made someone innocent fail a required class. After running for what felt like hours, he found Y/n crying under a tree. He knelt down and offered her some tissues. Aggravated, she smacks the tissues away and tells him to leave.

Y/n, on the other hand, felt so angry. How could he do this to her? She hadn’t done anything wrong, and if he didn’t like the way she dressed or the way she conducted herself that was fine. All she needed was her to believe in herself and that got her into TXT Tech. While thinking about all the ways she could end Taehyun, she feels arms wrap around her. They’re 🤮Taehyun’s. Before she can rip his arms off, he speaks up. 

“Look Y/n, I’m really sorry about that whole thing I pulled back there. I’ll talk to the professor and give him the real project. I really took it too far and I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” He begs. 

“Um,, no? I don’t care? That was literally so embarrassing. If you really wanted to make it up to me you’d leave me alone.” Y/n pushes him off her harshly and storms off. How dare he? It probably took his two seconds to come up with that half assed apology. This was unbelievable. 

Y/n started trudging through the grass back to her dorm. All she wanted to do was take a warm shower and cry in her bed. She hated everyone. She wanted him to suffer just as much as she did, but she couldn’t do that. 

After two whole days of sobbing in her bed, she decided she was craving her signature pink drink. She really didn’t feel like going out, but delivering one drink would cost like $15. Y/n throws on a casual pink outfit. It’s very different from what she wore at the beginning of the school year, but the one thing that never changed was the color pink. Even in her depressive mood, she still wanted to dress up. She felt most comfortable wearing stylish clothing, that was her home. 

Stepping into the store, she sees Taehyun sitting at a table alone. You know when you see old people sitting along and you feel so bad for them you start tearing up? Like what if they lost their spouse or something :(((((. So anyway, Taehyun gives her lonely old people energy and regardless of what he did to her, she decides to keep him company. 

“Hey, um, can i sit here?” Y/n asks. Taehyun was so surprised. She wanted to sit with him? But he was so mean to her? He nodded his head and sat quietly. The past two days she could tell Taehyun had done a lot of thinking. She could tell he did it because he felt threatened. That wasn’t enough to forgive him, but at least she was being nice about it. 

Taehyun gets up and leaves. He comes back with a pink drink in hand, maybe as an apology. “I really want to apologize to you again, Y/n. Yesterday I don’t know if you saw, but the professor graded the actual project instead, and I had told him everything and that I’d deserve it if he failed me instead.” Y/n wanted to be happy but she wasn’t. She didn’t want him to fail after helping her code the game with her. Maybe she was so nice to him because she had matured, or maybe because she felt something different in Taehyun. Even so, a little embarrassment, she thought, wasn’t enough to cause a person to fail their whole class. Holding his hand on the table, she nods, a silent way she decided to forgive him. 

“Well, at least we’re not the worst team. I think group 7 coded a Niki Minaj roblox world.” Taehyun jokes. 

She laughs. “That’s so funny, what the heck? I guess we just have some hardcore barbs in this class.” People like Taehyun and people like Y/n were never meant to be friends in the first place, but maybe now they were starting to. Y/n, who was always challenging the term “girly girl.” Who always stressed that you have to believe in yourself when the rest of the world is against you. Y/n who became successful, without changing who she was. Y/n, who was feminine and wanted to show that was never a weakness. And Taehyun, who was always unadventurous. Who was never into fashion but still managed to pull off his nerdy outfits with his cute face. The passionate Taehyun whose only hobby seemed like studying. Gossiping for hours at the cafe, they realized this. They were starting to become friends. No one ever expected them to even be able to hold a friendly conversation, but here Y/n was, challenging everyone again. 

[adenei]

Day 8: January Word Challenge

A/N: This one is actually a snippet from an upcoming chapter of Finding My Way To You. Don’t get too excited. It’s literally the only thing I’ve written for it (ha!) and it just so happened to fit perfectly with today’s word.

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Silver

Ron found himself wandering aimlessly around Melbourne’s streets. With Hermione off with her parents, he wasn’t sure what to do. They’d been spending so much time together that it felt odd to be apart from her, even if it was just for the day. Even when her mum had whisked her away to shop, he still knew exactly when he’d see her next.

Ron stopped outside the window of a unique looking jewelry shop. He knew it was still early in their relationship, but he walked inside anyways to see what the display cases held. Most everything would probably be out of his price range, but maybe he’d gather an idea or two for Hermione.

“Good afternoon,” a bright and energetic salesperson said to him.

“Hello,” Ron said.

“Is there anything I can help you find today?”

“Oh, er, not really. Just looking,” his ears turned red. 

“Not a problem at all! I’ll be around if you need anything,” she smiled and went back to her work.

As he walked around slowly, browsing the selection, he was appreciative that there seemed to be a wide variety of items and price ranges. Ron avoided the section with the rings. It was way too early for that, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up with wishful thinking. So, he found his way over to the earrings, which he was pretty sure she never wore often, though he was certain her ears were pierced, and then the necklaces. He shuddered at the recollection of Lavender giving him that horrifying ‘sweetheart locket’ back in sixth year, and swore to himself that he wouldn’t get anything like that for Hermione. 

Once he’d finished circling the perimeter of glass cases, he moved to the center displays, which appeared to be bracelets. There was a small display among them that had a variety of blank bracelets and little pieces scattered all around. 

Ron looked around and caught the salesperson’s attention. “Find something I can help you with?”

“Er, yes. What are these?” Ron asked her.

“Oh! Great question. These are charm bracelets! Are you familiar with them?” she asked kindly.

“No, not really,” Ron admitted.

“No matter! You see, you pick out a bracelet first, though I’m sure you would have gathered that, and then you have all of these amazing charms to choose from. We have hundreds of them on this display for you to choose from.”

“So, the charms are like symbols, then?” Ron asked for clarification.

“Precisely! They are becoming increasingly popular.”

Ron nodded as an idea was forming in his mind. He was unable to get anything for Hermione’s last birthday, and Christmas for that matter. Maybe this could be the way to make it up to her. “How much?”

“The bracelets are 50 dollars, and then the charms range anywhere between 15 and 50 depending on what you’re looking for.”

Ron thought about what the salesperson said as he felt the wallet in his pocket. Bill and George had both given him money before he’d left. He was determined not to use it unless he had to, since he felt guilty that he was taking it to begin with. Maybe he’d splurge a bit, and when they got back to England, he’d take up a part-time job at the shop with George in order to pay him back, and then earn a little spending money of his own.

In truth, he was about to use it to pay for their posh dinner the other night, but Hermione had insisted she use her parent’s card. He’d need to make it up to them, too, at some point. Focus, Ron. Okay, I could get her the bracelet, and a few charms. No more than five. He knew if he didn’t set a limit, he’d blow all his money on this one gift.

“Okay, I’d like the silver bracelet, I think. Is there a list of charms, or will I need to look through all these individually?” Not that he minded, since he had nowhere else to be today.

“We have a list right here!” There was a stack of laminated papers that she grabbed one from and handed to him. “When you’ve decided what you’d like, I can take them out for you and we can put them on the bracelet at the register.”

“Great, thanks!” Ron said as he began to work his way through the list. 

She wasn’t kidding when she said there were hundreds. They were broken down into categories on the double sided sheet. He knew he definitely wanted to get her the book charm. That was without a doubt. He saw that there was also a heart with roses engraved in it. It looked fancier than the other charms, but he figured he could splurge a bit on it since it held a special meaning for them both. 

As his eyes skimmed the list he noticed an assortment of animals. I wonder…, he thought. He saw there was definitely a dog, which he wasn’t surprised by, but he was even more pleased to see that there was an otter charm! “Well, they are quite cute,” he muttered to himself. 

Four charms down, one more. He initially looked for an elf, but didn’t have any luck there. He wasn’t surprised, and he worried that even if he saw one, it’d be one of those Christmas looking ones. Giving up on that, Ron ended up finding a seashell charm which instantly brought him back to Shell Cottage. That was no doubt the turning point in their relationship, and it also represented the place where Dobby was buried. It could definitely serve a double meaning, for sure.

He brought the paper up to the counter and told the kind salesperson his choices, watching as she bustled around to collect everything. She rang the items up, and Ron pulled out his wallet to pay for the items. He carefully tucked the receipt away so he could keep track of his purchases.

“Would you like this wrapped up in a gift bag?” she asked him.

“Yes, please,” he said, glad to have her assistance.

He asked if the charms could be arranged the following way on the bracelet: book, otter, terrier, seashell, and heart. It represented the chronological order of the charm’s meanings to their relationship. The salesperson finished wrapping up the bracelet and handed him the gift bag when she was finished. “Thank you so much for your business, and best of luck. I’m sure your special someone is going to love this!”

“Thanks for your help,” Ron said as he exited the shop.

He figured he should probably head back before he spent any more money that day. Ron could watch the telly, and there was enough food for him to make something at the flat. His walk back was quiet, as he replayed the last few day’s in his head. When he approached the building, he typed in the code and let himself into the foyer. 

When he made it up the stairs, he unlocked the door and walked into the main living area, just as a silvery ball floated toward him. At first, his heart constricted and he immediately became on edge. He was even more worried for Hermione’s safety when the ball transformed into Hermione’s otter patronus.

A moment later he could hear Hermione’s nervous voice. “Hi! I hope this works. It’s the first time I’ve tried to send a patronus message. Anyways, I’m having dinner with my parents and will be back after. Most likely between seven and eight. I hope you don’t mind. See you soon.” 

The silver otter pranced over to him and moved in a figure eight pattern around his legs before nuzzling him and disappearing into a wisp. Ron couldn’t help but smile with pride. Hermione was okay, and she’d produced her first corporeal patronus complete with a message. He checked his watch as he set the bag down on the table. Only a few hours until he could see her again.