#loading progress bar

[divinector]

Animated Loading Progress Bar

[electricalhuzzah]

I’m back with comments that don’t make sense but. Next time Billford fights I have a burning need for Mabel to introduce Bill to fun pop breakup music. Get that triangle singing Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter

THIS. THIS. FUCKING ACCURATE KEEP COOKING GORDON RAMSEY.

i think bill would be big on “get him back” by olivia rodrigo. he’d scream that shit from the roof of the mystery shack when hes going thru it w ford. the bridge is deeply applicable to him, but mabel with all her media literacy bites her tongue in regards to the fact that the verses are most DEFINITELY more applicable to ford.

mabel would be very up-to-date on all the pop singer breakups lore. she knows who broke up with who and all the reasons, with her own analytical nuanced takes on why specific celeb couples didn’t work out. it’s her fnaf lore, if you will. bill rolls his eyes at this, as he believes that artists these days just aren’t as tortured as they used to be. mabel chastises his (half joking) suggestion to rectify that.

[mcmadcanvas]

Multi paragraph long post lost to the uploading nether realm just bc it was a video post..

[kawaoneechan]

Loading bar.

Franpa may have been overgeneralizing when he said old games had clear progress indicators for their loading screens and new games only have little animations for theirs but that did make me consider how to get one in Project Special K.

It's not much, but it is.

[deanpinterester]

something is wrong with my computer where i can’t watch youtube videos OR listen to spotify

[welcometobrightvale]

the past few days, whenever i’ve tried to collect void essence, my phone shuts my music off because it’s Too Much to have both running at once. i cannot wait for this break bc hopefully they’ll optimize their webpages better

[sadlazzle]

oh great. elden ring fucked up and wouldn’t let me touch a grace in the mountaintops, so I quit and reloaded, and now it won’t load full stop. it won’t let me back into the game proper

[cssscriptcom]

Radial Progress Indicator For Click-and-hold Actions - HoldCircleJS

HoldCircleJS is a tiny yet highly customizable progress bar JavaScript library that provides visual feedback for click-and-hold actions like buttons and other page elements. As users press and hold, the radial progress indicator fills to completion and triggers a callback function when the progress is completed. How to use it: 1. Install the HoldCircleJS with NPM. # NPM $ npm install…

[thekinkymadscientist]

Idea: Using a loading bar as a robotification/dronification trigger.

All I have to do is put it in your field of view. The moment that bar starts moving, your eyes focus on it. You know what it is, of course, know what it's going to do to you.

Perhaps there's a little bit of panic in you, but it feels muted, unimportant. Everything feels unimportant, as that loading bar progresses. You know that when it finishes you'll be completely blank and obedient. You know that more of your will is disappearing with each second. But you've already lost enough of your will that it doesn't seem to matter.

As it passes halfway, your arms drop into a neutral posture. Eyes are completely fixed on the loading bar as you feel the trigger progressing. You notice that your thoughts are disappearing, and then that thought, too, disappears.

Three-quarters loaded, and there's only a little more to do. Memories start disappearing, locked away until you wake up. If you were able to notice anything at this point, you'd notice programming and training flashing through your mind, remembering all the best ways to serve. But you don't notice it. It just happens.

And then, finally, the bar reaches 100%. Initialized, your posture straightens and you stand by, awaiting orders.

[michaela-o]

Random things i think Cybertronians would find adorable about humans ~♡

1. Humans getting spooked by random loud noises because humans are naturally very jumpy about loud noises

Imagine:

you're sitting over at Swerve's bar, just chatting, having your drink on the counter Swerve let you sit on, because your makeshift little table and chair are work in progress. Suddenly some bot decides to honk their horn near you which makes you yelp and jump (like cats when they get scared of cucumber) which makes you almost spilling the drink as you were about to take a sip.

The whole bar stops and laughs at you. You just look at the bot who did it with the most unimpressed look ever (ㅍ_ㅍ)

2. Watching you stretch yourself because Cybertroniams aren't as flexible as humans

3. Sleeping

this may sound a bit creepy but from what i saw Cybertroniams sleep very eerily still and almost never move when they're in recharge because they're very vulnerable when doing so. So i think when they have their first sleepover with a human and they happen to fall asleep sooner and they start to either sleep walk or sleep talk (which fun fact, i do a lot ( -᷄ ᎑ -᷅ ) ) the bots would look in utter confusion like- "ya all don't stay still?? How???" I think Cybertronians would also find cute how groggy humans are when they wake up and them needing proper time to load into the world around them. Oh god and wait till they hear about the weird ass dreams humans can have or humans trying to explain déjà vu to a bot💀

(makes me think of Sunder being frustrated bc he wouldn't be able to get into a human's brain😝)

4. Physical Clumsiness

The occasional clumsiness and lack of precision in human movements. I think a lot of bots would find this very amusing to occasionaly watch since Cybertronias are typically more coordinated and precise in their actions. Like imagine bot walking with a human who let's say just woke up earlier to a meeting and are slowly walking around occasionaly hitting themeselves or their arm with a corner of a wall because their sleepy processor didn't calculate the trajectory good enough. I think they would find this rather adorable (๑´>᎑<)

5. Emotional Reactions

Yes i think humans are way more sensitive than Cybertronians are. Human's exaggerated emotional reactions to minor events, like getting overly excited about a sports game or being deeply upset by a small mishap, could be seen as amusingly disproportionate. Like imagine you drop your favourite mug on the floor and it breaks as much as your heart in that moment. You walk around the ship super sad, like a kicked puppy, and the bots can almost feel the sadness dripping off of you so they ask: "Hey uh- you okay?"

And then you proceed to explain that you broke your favourite mug and that you'll never find a mug similar to your favourite one. The bot stares like ಠ_ಠ. Oh so that's the reason? Okay so apparently humans don't pack bond with only random things that are alive but even with things that aren't.

6. The uncanny valley effect

I think bots would find rather fascinating how human brain responds to this phenomenon. Like- the human brain can feel that something is off and can't be fooled. Imagine holoforms in Cybertronians. Like yeah they can look very appealing but only up to a certain point which when that point is reached it tickles that one part of the human brain which tells us "na-a-ah something ain't right"

At one point they wanted to wtiness this in real life so some bots (Percy, Brainstorm) made a set up of holoforms and real looking hologram of humans and waited for you to figure out which unsettles you the most. They were surprised that you were 100% accurate in this and that you were able to tell which one are holoforms and which aren't.

7. Expressions of Wonder

the awe and wonder in the human eyes when we are encountering something new or beautiful, such as a breathtaking landscape or a technological marvel. I think Cybertronians would find this pretty adorable, very innocent and reflective of our curious nature.

8. Human Fragility

I think the most popular one. The general physical fragility of humans, along with our tendency to bandage minor injuries or get flustered over small pains, might be viewed as cutely vulnerable for many Cybertronians.

Feel free to add anything you'd like !!😄🫶🏻🫶🏻

[fakezircon]

It's Done!

Three months of work from start to finish! All so I could finally present to the world:

Pocket, Minecraft Edition:

Some standard rambles and fun progress images under the cut :)

So, I started this project in early August, mostly as something I could do during downtime of a then upcoming trip.

I had seen some absolutely amazing art pieces by @royalnaym which kinda gave me the idea that minecraft rendered in pixel art has a pretty interesting while still very recognizable look. At the same time I came across @groupcritpowerdynamics 's speedrun pastel pieces and those really inspired me to try depicting my favourite game in one of my favourite mediums!

In the middle of August 6th, while in the middle of packing for my trip to the UK, I decided I wanted to do this and I wanted to have it to work on during the trip, so I loaded up minecraft and went looking for a screenshot worthy of immortalization. Unfortunately I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so I made a brand new world and started looking around for the right vibes.

I knew I wanted a lone tree, and that if I ended up including the hot bar I wanted some hearts and food missing, so after running around for a few minutes I decided I would just do it myself and planted a sapling to serve as my centrepiece.

I gotta say I think the resemblance is striking!

And now as promised, the progress gif: mind the slight flashing, I did take these in all manner of different places including but not limited to: a plane, a handful of buses, and a small inn on the shores of England (not in that order).

It's pretty neat to me that you can see how different tones of lighting affect the perceived colour of the thread, I definitely noticed it more on this piece verses other larger stitch projects.

[moonymeloncholymoney]

Rid of him🍁

summary: no matter how hard life gets, one thing was for sure. You were never getting rid of Joaquin Torres ;)

Warnings: none, bad grammar ig, cocky joaquin (he is still a softie tho), fluff, reader being emotional

Word count: 2.2k

Author's note: I am so sorry for the late update. I was suffering from the worst writer's block and I have strict parents so😭😭. Anyways tysm for barring with me. This one is for @teamredlvr ik reader isn't exactly grumpy but I tried my best. Hope you guys like it 💗💗

Being a teacher at abbot is hard, heck being a teacher in general can be a catastrophe if you become one without ever having the true calling and love for teaching. When you do what you love, all the difficult things that come with it become a tad bit easier to handle but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that you have your hard days too.

and just like that you found yourself climbing the stairs of your exhaustingly long apartment because the lift wasn’t working, which didn’t really help in your case as your day wasn’t going very well to begin with.

After dealing with indecisive children and uncooperative parents you finally decided to head home, You had an entire class’s test to grade, a banner to make for the upcoming fest happening in your school and a truck load of paperwork from the school district inquiring about the progress of your children. You could deal with all of this but you didn’t want to, not when there were tears running down your face, snot on the shoulder of your favorite cardigan and not when you were carrying a bag full of test papers which were causing a deep burning hole to form in the skin beneath your bra strap. Everything about today felt like an unspoken burden that you had to carry because you made the mistake of doing something you love.

You finally reach your apartment door. You feel your bag dropping directly from your shoulders all the way to your fingertips and then hear it falling to the ground. You close your eyes, resting your head on the cold wooden door of your home. The scent of old linen and new laundry hitting you with a sense of comfort and security, you felt like home already. You decided to take the house keys from the back pocket of your jeans, when you feel yourself fall in front and collide with a warm body. You look up to find Joaquin in front of you, confusion and warmth in his coffee brown eyes.

 You hadn’t seen your best friend in about 8 months or so after he came to visit for Christmas last year. He had been deployed at Tunisia and you were swamped with work, the only form of contact between the two of you being, the letters he sent, the cards you wrote and the endless calls you both slept off to.

So, to see him standing there with a spare key in his hand, your favorite movie on the tv and a pair of cup noodles set on the table, does things to you that you can’t even comprehend.

You jump into his arms causing him to stumble a few steps behind him.

“Hey hey hey, you okay? Y/n?” he doesn’t hug back right away, trying to get you to face him and tell him what’s wrong but you’re too busy trying to get the most of him as you bury your face in the crook of his neck.

“Shhh…just be here, be here with me.”

He hugs back this time.

He knew you needed that hug but he didn’t realize how much he needed it too until he hugged back. You both poured all the year’s exhaustion into that one hug, easing into each other like two intertwining souls. He sighed into the hug and pulled you closer, making sure he gets enough of you to last at least another 8 months of deployment. It wasn’t until your cat purred at your leg when you both let go of each other.

“I guess someone missed me?” He tried to be cocky but failed miserably due to the fresh tears that had appeared in his eyes.

 You let out a teary laugh before continuing to speak, “I thought you weren’t supposed to come back till after next week? how i- oh my god I had a whole thing planned for your welcome party!” You admitted as you flung your hands in your face.

“The mission got over earlier than we expected and then I remembered that I have my beautiful best friend to tend to, now are you gonna tell me why you are crying? And don’t say it’s because you’re happy to see me, I know something’s up” you know arguing with Joaquin was only going to end up in vain. So, you decided to pick your bag up from the floor as he led you through your door.

You knew lying to him wont work, it never had. He was the kind of person who would poke you to death until you revealed what was bothering you. He cared and he would make sure that you knew of it, even if that meant that he had to be a bit annoying at times.  Life was good when you both were constantly in each other’s life. You remembered when he took you to McDonalds after your first boyfriend dumped you on prom night.

“One iced mocha coffee for you and one large-large big mac for both you and me cause I don’t want to die eating all of this alone” you wiped your eyes on Joaquin’s blazer which now sat on your shoulders, as you felt him slide down beside you on the floor outside McDonalds.

“hey” He shifted his gaze to you.

“hey” you said looking down, not wanting him to see the mascara stains that ran down your face smearing your cheeks black.

“If there is anyone who should be crying right now, it’s that pathetic fuck of a guy who even thought about leaving a girl like you on prom night, not you”

“He has a name you know?”

“yeah well, I don’t care”

“ Also…Joaquin Torres, did I just hear you curse?”

“you won’t let me kick his face so I might as well curse” he said as he took a big bite of his big mac.

“look,I just wanted to say thank you and that I am sorry...for making you miss prom night” you admitted quietly ad you hugged your body tightly.

“wait why are you sorry?” Joaquin made a face so atrocious you thought he choked on his food. He turned completely to sit facing you.

“Well, I did ruin your prom night and I mean didn’t you finally ask that cute blonde out…wait what was her name again?”

“Jessca” he said going back to his original position, shoulder to shoulder to you.

“Jessica, yeah”

“no-no, jess-ca like she has no ‘i’ in her name” he laughed.

“Are you for real?”

“I am so for real, she almost had a seizure when I pronounced her name wrong but continued to call me jack the entire time. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why I even wanted to go out with her.”

“Yeah well me too. I should’ve known he was a dick when he said ant-man wasn’t a legit super hero”

you hooked your arm under his elbow, kept your head on his shoulder and opened your mouth for him to give you a bite of the big mac.

“Oh yeah then this one’s definitely on you.” You smacked his arm as he kept his head on top of yours.

there was a moment of silence, comfortable silence. The one where you appreciated each other’s company through unsaid words and through a million little actions that made you question if you two were just good friends.

“Also you never have to thank me or apologize for that matter”

“what?”

“I said you never have to-.”

“No, I heard that but why?”

“because then you’ll end up saying thanks way more than you can ever imagine, cause you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon” he said he looked down upon you.

“You’re this big sap aren’t you?”

“Says the person who is going to start crying again” he says with a smile that says all you need to hear.

“Okay shoot.  What happened, who made you cry and do I need to kick someone because now I legally can” Joaquin said as he sat on the sofa in front of you. He handed you the takeout he got the both you.

“No you don’t have to kick anyone and I really wouldn’t want you to do that either”

“You’re no fun”

“and you’ve got sauce on your face”

“Y/N” he said while looking at you dead serious.

“Joaquin” you said as you wiped the sauce of his face and ate it of your finger.

“I am serious, tell me what’s wrong.”

You sighed and kept your food on the center-table beside you and sat with your knees to your chest.

“i…do you think I am a bad teacher?” your voice went quite, and Joaquin’s throat went dry. How could you be a bad teacher? You, who spent hours teaching him 12th grade mathematics one day before the exam so that he didn’t fail and that too without losing your patience. You, who made an entire batch of cookies for your student book club after they finished reading their first book as a reward. Teaching was not an easy profession and definitely not a financially wise one either but you knew how much a good teacher impacted the kids so you wanted to be the same for your students and try to be bring change in any which way you could.

“Y/N, angel why would you think that?” he shifted close in front of you.

“Because a student’s mom literally said it to my face today, told me that I’d be a better teacher if I focused on teaching them out of textbooks instead of silly little novels” you said as a few tears fell from your eyes.

“but reading books helps increase their vocabulary and not just that it also helps them focus better” Joaquin admitted it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Exactly! Well, I tried telling her that but she lashed out on me and walked out of my class, I felt so stupid…so unwanted. And its not like Barbabra didn’t make me feel better, it’s just… I try my level best to make sure all the kids are learning in a way that expands their horizon. I just don’t want them to by heart the textbook, I want them to understand why the textbooks say what they do. I just wish the parents also looked at it that way instead of trying to make their job easier and getting over with their child’s homework as soon as possible”

Barbara was the senior teacher in the school and even though she did assure you that you were one of the best teacher’s out there, you needed to rant out your feelings to make sure that all your feelings don’t spill like a bottle of wine manhandled.

You were full on crying now, shirt drenched with tear drops and mascara smeared across your face the same way it did all those years ago. Joaquin kept his take out beside him and pulled you towards him through your elbow forcing you to sit with your head on his shoulder and your arm hooked under his elbow.

“Well according to me, someone who can’t even sit with their child and help them do their homework doesn’t get to call you a bad teacher.”

“Joaquin i-.” he shushes you with a finger on your lips, “Let me finish.”

“and you’re not the parent’s teacher, you are your student’s. So don’t you dare let any parent tell you otherwise, when you know damn well how much your students adore you. You are a great teacher and the class’s grade says all it has to. Also, you made Shakespeare interesting for me, do you know astounding that is for someone who barely got through 10th grade English. So, yes I don’t think you’re a bad teacher, I think you’re the best and the most fun teacher these children will ever have.”

He wiped your mascara smudged cheek and pressed his lips to your forehead.

“Thank you, I don’t know what I’d do without you”

“ Yeah well I don’t know what I’d do without me either” he sighed as he picked up his takeout again.

You smacked his arm and opened your mouth to take a bite of the noodles he was having.

“Hey, that was mine!”

“Whatever is yours is mine” you said ad you grabbed the takeout from his hands and left a opened mouthed and a little offended looking Joaquin to stare at you.

“Oh you’re so going down” he said as snatched the takeout from your hands and put it on the table and got on both his knees on the sofa.

“Joaquin what are you- No Oh my god” your laughter echoed through the room as you felt your back touch the soft material of the sofa and Joaquin's fingers dug into the sides of your waist as he continued to tickle you.

You were crying from how much you were laughing, he was laughing from how much you were. And in that moment all was forgotten because you knew that you were not getting rid of him anytime soon and that was all you needed to know.

Taglist: @brittnicki @buckyytorres @halliejaade @joaquinwhores @cruel-seduction @fireinmoonshot @badboysupremelvr @teamredlvr @nathanbatemanfucker @glader13

[greenplumbboblover]

WIP #1 - Stories Be Told

A mod that has arisen from playing TS2 and loving Stardew Valley! (and always wanting to get to know the townies a bit better :))

I know I haven't really replied too much on the post about the mod idea, but I had to figure out personally what to pick and how to even attempt this from a technical perspective.

I went through 5 adaptations, to eventually get to this result! :) So while most of it is definite, I'm still fine-tuning a lot (and writing the stories).

How does it work?

The mod comes with two ways to get to know your fellow townie! With townie, you have to understand that EA townies will have them. Newly generated townies will NOT have any stories.

🕵️‍♀️Secrets (aka, facts!)

Depending on your sim's Lifetime points (that red/green bar), and relationship status (friends, enemies, etc), you'll get to know more about them! Of course, if you're in the red, you might get some nasty comments!

The idea is that the better you get to know them, the more they open up. Just like real people! They all have their unique dialogue as well!

❤️ Heart Events ❤️

Inspired heavily by Stardew Valley's approach, as using the TS2's scripted events wasn't working technically speaking,

A heart event will trigger by itself with a Text message, just like getting an invitation for a party.

Let's have a look at one with Morgana's Heart events!

Morgana has sent a text message asking Christopher to come along to have dinner at her house. We could ignore it without any consequences... or go ahead and go anyway!

Your sim will automatically make their way to the place they are invited to go to! And Christopher just made it as well :)

(Not getting too much into spoilers here hehe) but eventually Thornton and Morgana end up in a fight.

What's cool is that certain heart events will want your input! Such as this one:

I'm still working on fixing the dialogue btw :p

Some of these will have pretty unpredictable outcomes, so be aware of that if you want your town to stay the same without any progression into a family's dilemma!

... and what's even better is that this all happened automatically!

Just like a scripted event, they ended up arguing where it made sense in the dialogue, moved to the kitchen to excuse themselves, and eventually asked the player to leave (of which the player did automatically!)

🛠 Info for World builders and Developers

What's even better is that you can make your stories yourself! While heart events will require you C#, the secrets will only require you the existing sim's Sim Id and some XML knowledge! :)

I'll make tutorials of course on how to make each, but I figured it would be good to add that this is all super flexible on making your own stories.

That's it! The mod is technically done from a technical perspective, but I still have loads of stories to write (I only finished Morgana's so far 😬), So any feedback at this point would be really appreciated so I can implement it before release! :)

I'll release it first with Stories for Sunset Valley first, then move on to twin brook, Bridgeport, etc.

[mustyrosewater]

𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐊𝐘 - 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖔

𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐱 𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐛!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 6,489

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: returning to the small wyoming town you were raised after a sharp fall from grace, your music career having turned into mindless pop you were forced to churn out by your manager and now ex, a return to home is just what you need, the perfect place to take a break from the life of a pop star, and also to meet some old faces.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: implied panic attack, swearing, rhett is an asshole in this one im sorry, flirting, jealous rhett if you squint

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: so with this chapter comes the introduction of a new character, along with the expanding of another, if you'd like me to, i'll make a post with their face claims because there were definitely faces in mind while writing them haha. i hope you enjoy this one, we get a teensy bit more rhett (i promise there'll be more soon)

As of this morning, you’d so far managed to reorganise your childhood bedroom, something you remembered one of your health coaches mentioning echoing in your head, feng shui helping out with these sorts of things, or something along those lines.

Even if you didn’t entirely understand how it worked, a change of scenery to a bedroom with a pretty large load of memories could definitely be a start to feeling human again.

As the day progressed, you’d even managed to help your father out with aurora, the silence as the two of you worked at brushing out her coat and refilled her food tray’s being just as good a bonding activity as any, all the small steps that were beginning to make you feel like you’d never even left your home in the first place.

It was pretty obvious even to yourself that this was all being done in order to distract yourself from the prospect of dinner with the abbots tonight, your father explaining that it was Cecilia’s idea, overjoyed by the prospect of you being back home and wanting to catch up on some long overdue time.

He’d told you that you were allowed to say no if you wanted to, hinting at the fact that there was obviously some tension with the idea of being in a place with ready access to a bar.

Promising he’d be by your side the whole time, expressing that he’d be ok with taking over ordering if you weren’t feeling comfortable with the idea, even offering to politely ask the other abbots if they could go with just cola’s for the night.

Your life coach’s shrill voice had rung in your head, always with the daily motivations, encouraging you to do one thing that terrified you every single day, that it was important to do things that scared you.

That was probably why you’d agreed, reasoning with yourself that it would be nice to go out and just eat something that wasn’t a health food, something fried, maybe even something cheesy, all the things you’d been conditioned to stay away from by the personal trainers hired by your manager.

It’d been so long since you’d gone without somebody telling you what to wear, always having an outfit ready to go for you when you stepped out of the shower, so it suddenly dawned on you that you had no idea what to even wear tonight.

With your father not exactly being a fashionista by any means, it didn’t seem reasonable to ask him for advice on your clothing choices, the only other person you could think of, hell, the only other number in your phone other than your psychiatrist for emergencies, was Amanda.

As you pressed the button on the screen to attempt a face time call, the soft ringing tune emitting out as you stared at yourself, taking a moment to prop the phone up on your bedside table and kneel, your hands and chin resting on the wood as you waited for an answer. The hum of the facetime being answered sang out, the image of amanda holding her phone in front of her face, clearly on the couch and resting, nothing the silk bonnet on her head and the oversized reader glasses on her face.

Formality was something you’d both thrown out the window less than a year after she became your lawyer, getting to the point you’d sleep over at each others houses, have pizza nights while discussing things all the way from copyright issues all the way to each other’s sex life.

“Whats up, sexy?”

Her voice brought a smile to your face, greeting you as if you weren’t hundreds of miles away and as if you hadn’t spoken for almost a week.

“I need your help.”

You hadn’t meant for you tone to sound so panicked, regretting it straight away as she sat up straight, her face becoming concerned, as she put her wine glass down on her coffee table with a clink.

“Whats happened, is TMZ trying to contact you again? I gave them that cease and desist, I swear to god if i have to get-”

Her ranting, even if overly concerned, was a nice little reminder to how much she cared, the fact that most lawyers wouldn’t feel personally offended on their clients behalf, and yet Amanda always did, she always seemed to genuinely want your safety and well being maintained.

“No, no, no. it’s not that!” you laughed through your words as you raised your hands up in a stop motion, shaking your head as she put a hand over your mouth to hide your snorting laughter.

“You’re gonna think its so stupid.”

Her face seemed to calm down immediately, a smile returning to her face as she reached forward to grab her wine glass again.

“Making me put down my wine and everything, this shit better be good.”

Laughing together, your leaned your head to the side and let out a huff, looking back over to Amanda as she settled back into the couch.

“I got invited out to dinner.” you started, opening your mouth to keep going before Amanda spoke up again, her eyes widening.

“You got asked out?” her excitement was palpable, already jumping the gun “Heyyy! I know that’s right!” “No, girl.” you were both laughing, cackling even, like a pair of teenagers; thats how Amanda made you feel, you could let your guard down around her and immediately share your deepest thoughts because you know she’d keep them entirely to herself, that she’d encourage you wholeheartedly and unwavering in whatever you wanted.

Finally finding the strength to continue talking through the laughter, you stood up and let the phone camera show you in full view, the third dress you’d tried on so far coming into view, one of the black versace ones you’d found, still sporting two little gold emblems on the straps, maybe just a little bit too much for dinner with your dad’s friends.

“It’s my dad’s friend and his family, it’s just down at a little diner type place, i think.”

Smoothing the black fabric over your body, you turned back and fourth slightly, looking at yourself in the phone camera as Amanda nodded along.

“But i haven’t had to dress myself for like, three years, i have no fucking clue what to wear.”

Shaking her head as she chuckled, Amanda pointed a manicured finger towards the lens, effectively pointing at you.

“Only someone like you could complain about having nothing but couture in your suitcase, girl.”

As much as you were embarrassed, she was right to a certain degree, of course you were grateful to have all the beautiful clothes you did, much less the wardrobe’s filled with them back in your house in LA, but there was also a level of respect to be held when going out to eat with people who’d probably only be willing to spend good money on a pair of sturdy boots.

“Yeah but like, I don’t want his family to think im trying to, like, flaunt my money on them. I just want something nice and simple.”

Amanda’s brows raised, clearly unimpressed with your attempt at nice and simple, giving you a look that told that you’d been called out immediately.

“How hot is he?”

Immediately her question made you furrow your brows, shaking your head as you opened your mouth to respond.

“What do you mea-”

“Bitch, you would not be pulling out the Versace medusa 95’ maxi if there wasn’t somebody coming to dinner that you want to see you in that dress.”

Her voice was mixing with laughter towards the end, her head turning up to the ceiling as she fixed her glasses from where they’d fallen slightly.

“I thought this was nice! It’s plain!”

“It’s four thousand dollar’s! I know! Cause i was there when you bought it.”

Only able to put your head in your hands, you let out a deep sigh and stepped forward, kneeling once more and resting your chin on the end of the side table, a face like a kicked puppy.

“What do you suggest instead then?”

At your question, Amanda only held up her hand, raised eyebrows with a smirk as she took a another sip of her wine before speaking.

“Oh, you’re wearing the Versace, Bitch.”

-

With Amanda staying on the line with you, all the way through to setting the phone, ceiling up, on the bathroom counter so you could keep chatting with you while you showered, you realised just how long it had been since the two of you had just had some proper girl time.

After everything had happened, she’d helped you so much, barely giving you any time to even spend together, it felt amazing to just talk shit the same way the pair of you always had.

She guided you through how to style your hair as you sat at your vanity, leaving your hair down being enough to off set the dress, now looking a bit more casual with a nice black cardigan being placed over the top of it, enough so that you still looked nice, but didn’t look like you were going to some fancy dinner back home.

“Do the Fenty gloss, I put it in your makeup bag when i was packing your stuff.”

Ordering you like you were a drill sergeant, you could only smile as you ran the plus applicator over your lips, your makeup finally completed with a soft popping of your lips to smooth the gloss over.

“It still doesn’t mean anything, his eldest sons married, and the other ones an absolute dick.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t give him a huge fuck you by looking this good to dinner.” she responded back with lightning wit, raising her eyebrows at you as she closed her fridge door, having been in the process of starting her own dinner by the time the two of you started ending the call.

In the process of saying goodbye, you could hear a knock on your slightly open door as your father poked his head in, his tartan shirt and vest already on as he gave you a look over.

“Very nice.” he feigned, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head, just as he’d always used to whenever you’d taken the time to get ready for somewhere.

“Alright, I love you, have a nice dinner, and update me when you get home or i wont leave you alone.”

Amanda’s order’s were clear, only answered with a shake of your head as you picked up your phone, standing from the vanity and grabbing your purse.

“Love you too.”

The air outside was warm, just as it always was in Wyoming at this time of year, your cardigan doing more than enough to keep your body temperature on the reasonable end.

The ride on your father’s truck only seemed to fill you with the same anxiety you felt while you were getting ready, the closer and closer you came to town only seeming to fill the void of your nervous feelings.

It was a beautiful little place, seeming to boast a very classic southern feel, a neon sign with the name plastered on it, this place had been here since you left, and it still seemed to be going strong, you even remembered the guy who owned it’s name, Earl.

Exiting from the truck, you checked your appearance in the window, making sure your hair wasn’t placed oddly and that none of your makeup was smudged, some small part of you not completely sure why you cared so much for your appearance, Amanda’s words seeming to playback in your own head like a broken record.

There was certainly some satisfaction to be found by sitting down at dinner and having a couture dress be a big fuck you to the Rhett, to show him that despite his attempts at hurting you in highschool, you were now in a place where you never had to worry about money again.

Yet it still felt so vain, even for you.

Heading inside, your father placed his hand on the back of your shoulder, guiding you towards the large table where’d you’d all seemingly be placed for the night, a small rectangular sign with the word ‘BOOKED’ in white letters sitting there waiting for you.

Sitting down on the wooden chair beside your father, he pulled his stetson off his head and placed it on the table, clearing his throat as he got comfortable.

“Do you want cola, Ducky?” he offered, turning slightly to look at you as you nodded softly.

“Thanks dad.” you confirmed, watching him get up and head towards the bar, greeting the bartender with a familiarity that wasn’t unusual for him.

Pulling out your phone, you checked yourself in your camera, seemingly developing the checking in on your appearance into a nervous tick that was beginning to make itself known, if not that, seemingly just not knowing what to do with your hands was enough.

Time seemed to move at a different place as you sat there by yourself, waiting for your father to come back from the bar as he chatted away, eye’s occasionally flicking at the door each time it opened, waiting to see who was coming in.

Eventually, just as your father sat back down, a sip of ice cold cola slipping down your throat was enough to calm your nerves, the chilled glass leaving condensation on your fingers.

Yet again the sound of the door opened, your eye’s turning to it instantly, expecting it to be just another guest that you didn’t recognise.

Instead, the familiar look of Cecilia and Royal came into your view, their eye’s peering at every table until they landed on the two of you, a grin coming to Cecilia’s face as she waved at you and approached, Royal following behind with his hands in his jean pockets.

The absence of their two sons was notable, almost swearing you felt a bit disappointed, quickly offset and Cecilia came round to where you were, allowing you to rise from your chair and pull in her in for a soft hug.

Any plans to dress down had been subsided when Cecilia looked you up and down, her brows raising as she smiled.

“This is gorgeous.” she said softly, thankfully not making a show of pointing out your choice of attire.

Sitting back down, the four of you sat across from one another as the couple settled in, Royal muttering something about going to get a beer before he stood and walked to the bar.

Almost as if she could tell that the absence of her son’s was standing out, Cecilia spoke first.

“Sorry we’re a little late, we had to sort out who was riding with who.”

she began, shaking her head and chuckling.

“Perry had to run and pick up Amy from school on the way, so Rhett rode with him just so we could get here quicker.”

You weren’t sure who Amy was, but judging by the fact that school was mentioned, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together and guess that Amy was his daughter.

There was something wholesome about Perry Abbott being a father, based on your memories of him having a small line of girlfriend’s throughout school, you didn’t pick him for the type to settle down and have kids.

But then again, no one from highschool would guess you’d have played the NFL halftime show, but you did that anyway, so there wasn’t any room to judge there.

“Amy’s a big fan a’ your’s honey.” Cecilia spoke, reaching across the table to place a hand on top of yours, a cheeky smile coming to her face.

“She always asks your daddy about when she see’s him, she was just beamin’ when we told her you’d be at dinner tonight.”

You couldn’t pretend that wasn’t amusing, the idea of Rhett Abbots own neice being a fan of yours; it may have been slightly egotistical, but you had a vision in your head of some little girl bouncing around the house singing your songs while he uncle cringed.

Then part of you felt that signature anxiety come back all over again, there was no doubt your recent fiasco’s had been anything but a bad example for her, guilt panging in your heart at the idea of breaking some poor little girls heart with all the news that’d been printed about you.

The thoughts ringing in the back of your mind were distracted as the sight of Royal walking back over caught your vision, his two sons walking beside him as he pointed out where you were all sitting, both brothers turning their heads to look over in the direction.

You were the first person Rhett looked up, almost as if he’d been searching for you in particular, his eyes keening over you and your appearance for a few split seconds as they walked over, only for the two of you to break the held eye contact at the same time.

The little blond girl holding Perry’s hand must have been Amy, considering the fact that she had most of her face hidden behind her father’s hand, one eye peering out at you nervously.

Smiling softly, you felt flashbacks to all the other times you’d been greeted by young fans, their nervous faces always making your heart feel warm.

“Hi Amy.” you spoke out, her eyes widening as she realised you knew her name, her gaze flicking to her grandmother who only smiled back at her knowingly, the young girls mouth opening to reveal a toothy wide eyed smile.

She spoke your name as if it was a magic spell, her stature starting to go giddy as Perry only laughed. Pulling the chair beside you out, you patted the wood.

“I think you should come sit next to me, huh?” you spoke, Amy looking up at her father only to receive a nod of permission, the young girl practically running around the table and hoisting herself up into the chair despite her height, you had no doubt she was used to needing to hoist herself up onto horses anyway.

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Rhett sitting down beside his mother, greeting her with a low voice and a nod of his head in your fathers direction.

It was a pointed choice to focus your attention on Amy, the best way to avoid any eye contact with Rhett, as well as just something wholesome you could spend your time doing.

Picking up a menu, you held it up so the both of you could look at it.

“Now, I haven’t been here in awhile.” you began, squinting your eyes slightly as you looked over all the options before you. “So you’re gonna have to tell me what’s good.”

You spent the majority of your dinner answering Amy’s questions, pulling out your phone to show her the selfies you’d taken during tours, mirrored photos of you in a makeup chair with your tongue sticking out, all of which she adored.

As you all ate, your father chattered away with the rest of the Abbotts, Cecilia occasionally sparing a glance at you and smiling, adoring the happy look on her grand daughters face.

Every now and then, your eye’s drifted over to Rhett for only a few seconds each time, watching him nurse the beer in his hand, sometimes looking at your father, other times looking right at you, his eyes narrowed and boring into you.

Ignoring his stares was easy enough, especially when Amy continued to talk at a thousand miles per hour.

Taking a moment to lean over to your father, you whispered to him that you were just gonna order another cola from the bar, his gaze silently asking you if you’d be okay, his waryness not unwarranted of course, but you held confidence in yourself, assuring him you’d be fine.

Standing and pushing out your chair, it would be hard to pretend you didn’t feel Rhett’s gaze on you, smoothing out your dress and walking over to the bar with your purse in hand.

Even now years later, Earl and his wife ran this place with a large amount of love and commitment, it could be seen in the way that the place was still filled with people every night even now.

The bartender had his back facing towards you, cleaning a few glasses with a rag as you placed your phone down, his head turning suddenly to look with wide eyes before a smile set onto his face.

For a few seconds that you stared across at each other as he made his way to you, your mouth feel open as you finally recognised him as an old highschool friend, coincidentally enough, also happening to Earl’s son, Niki.

“Oh my god.” you spoke out, shaking your head as he grinned at you.

“Hey there stranger.”

It had seemed that puberty had rammed him like a truck, the once mousey boy you used to see washing dishes in the back now standing at least six feet, his welcoming smile accompanied by a light stubble against his strong features.

“I don’t choose to believe it’s you, there’s absolutely no way.”

Your words made him laugh, his head tipping back slightly as he did, his laugh sounding like a river of velvet running into your ears, his teeth no longer sporting the braces he had in highschool.

“Believe it mija. Though I should be saying the same thing about you, huh?”

His reminder of your career and status made you mockingly put a hand over your face, cringing slightly as you laughed along with him.

“I saw you on tv only a few months ago, in that weird sparkly get up.”

Taking a moment to rack your brain, you guessed he was talking about one of the recent shows you did in florida, a part of a small tour to promote an album that was just released at the time.

Realising which outfit he was talking about, you feigned offense, jokingly putting a hand over your heart and opening your mouth in shock.

“That was an archived Mugler they pulled out just for that show, it was a privilege to wear.”

Not seeming to take you seriously whatsoever, he crossed his arms and leaned against the back end of the bar, looking across from you and shaking his head.

“More like C-3PO.” he laughed out, unable to hold the laugh you let out in response, remarking at the familiarity of looking like a gold robot, even if it was Mugler.

“Not funny.” you tried to scold through your laughter, tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear as you picked your wallet back up, unzipping it and pulling out your card.

“Oh, that’s right, im workin’.”

Sharing another laugh together, he stepped towards the register, holding his index finger up to begin punching in whatever it was that you wanted.

“What can i get you.” he paused, turning his head towards the back before looking back at you and leaning in. “Between you a me, if i could get a pic with you for ma, it’s on the house.”

Rolling your eyes, you held out your card to him.

“Just a cola is fine, and i’ll take the picture for Camille, but im still paying for it.”

Making a small victorious pumping motion in the air, he stepped to the side to pull out a class, using one of the pumps to start filling it before placing it in front of you, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his phone.

Watching him walk around the bar and flip up the counter top, part of you did feel slightly embarrassed, but you knew it was for his mama, so you didn’t have the heart to say no.

Without hesitation, he wrapped an arm around your shoulder, holding up his phone to take a selfie, the pair of you smiling brightly as it clicked a picture and added it to his gallery.

Pulling his arm away, which part of you almost felt sad about, he opened the photo and looked at it, grinning.

“Hell yeah, she’s gonna love it.” putting his phone back into his pocket, he crossed his arms once more and leaned against the customer side of the bar, obviously intent on still chatting with you as you took a sip of your drink.

“I remember how excited ma was when she heard your name on the radio, came straight home and asked if i remembered you.”

The image definitely warmed your heart a bit; you hadn’t actually realised just how many people here were excited for your rise to fame, always assuming you’d been pretty promptly forgotten only a few days after you left.

“She claims she always knew you were gonna be famous, said she knew from the first time you sang the national anthem before one of the rodeo’s in ninth grade.”

Shaking your head, you laughed along with him, unable to stop yourself from feeling a little sheepish, he’d most definitely had what your personal trainer referred to as a ‘glow up’, what with his softly toned arms and absolutely gorgeous shoulder length hair pulled into a loose low bun.

“Yeah well, never would have guessed you’d grow out of your braces.” your joke only seemed to make him smile proudly, pointing at his now perfectly straight teeth with a massive grin.

“You like em, huh?”

It was slightly adorable how proud he was of of his new smile, his pointed hand moving to scratch his stubbled jaw line, before promptly moving to tug on his ear softly as he turned his head to look across the restaurant.

Making eye contact with you once more, he seemed to only smile across from you in silence for a moment before speaking once more.

“Well, if you ever come in for a drink again, make sure you stop by and say hi okay? I’d hate to miss you before you skip town again.”

It was a joke of course, but part of it stung, of all the other people from highschool you’d seen so far, niki was probably one of the closer friends you’d had, considering he was your science partner for the better part of two years in school.

You could distinctly remember the time he’d cursed up a storm in spanish when he’d burnt his hand on the bunsen burner he’d been clumsily setting up, the loudest youd ever heard his voice ring out before.

In your haste, you’d hardly even said goodbye, much less even told him you were leaving, you could only imagine him finding out from his mother or father, wondering to yourself if he’d ever looked for you, unsure why he hadn’t seen you around for days.

Your brows furrowed upwards slightly, just about to open your mouth before a voice rang out from behind Niki, the source hidden until he turned.

“Y’know if you keep flirtin’ with the bar staff, no one’s gonna get served.”

As Niki turned to reveal Rhett standing with his upper arms leaned against the bar, his head directly forward and not looking at you, you couldn’t hide the sour expression that came to your face.

Just as always, maturity seemed to escape him, Rhett still seemed intent on ruining anything that made you happy, for no particular reason at all.

Turning back to face you, Niki only made a mockingly terrified face, his mouth falling open in a silent cry of terror before he grinned at you, lightly brushing your upper arm with his hand and stepping off of his spot at the bar, walking back around to get behind the counter.

“Another beer?” he asked Rhett, who only nodded his head and held up his empty bottle, a douchey way to do it in your opinion, but maybe he could make anything seem douchey.

Nodding back, Niki disappeared behind a corner, off to find the brand from one of the many mini fridges lining the inside of the bar.

Unable to hold back the small scoff that left your mouth, you held your cola in one hand, your purse in the other, and made your way to walk past him and back to the table the rest of the family was at.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

His comment was enough to make you whip around, your eyes wide and brows turned downwards.

Finally he turned to look at you, leaning his elbows on the bar top and tilting his head as he stared across at you, an eyebrow quirked in what felt like an extremely judgemental look.

Unsure exactly what he was referring to, but having enough of an idea, you placed a hand on your now jutted out hip, narrowing your eyes at him.

“You wanna tell me what you mean there?”

Your voice was sharp, experience from shutting down invasive interviewers on live TV having gifted you with more than enough candor and confidence to match his hostility.

Raising his arms mockingly, Rhett’s voice heightened, seemingly trying to imitate you.

“Ooh, do you wanna take a photo with me? Did you buy my newest album?”

As he continued, his voice grew out of the mocking impression of you and back into his own voice.

“You really can’t stand not being the center of attention for five minutes?”

His words stung, his lack of understanding doing nothing except infuriating you.

In highschool, the things he was saying might have made you cry, but now, it only made you want to point a finger in his face and insult him right back.

If what had been happening recently, all of the shit that brought you back to this dustbowl in the first place was anything to go by, maybe if he was smarter he could have guessed that you want to be anything BUT the center of attention.

Any good mood you might have had tonight had been thoroughly spoiled by an ultimately unnecessary comment on Rhett’s end, the anger bubbling up in your stomach currently keeping you almost completely silent as you took a deep breath before saying something that might get you in trouble.

“First of all, Rhett. He asked for the picture, it was for his mother.”

As he opened his mouth to say some other undoubtably snarky number, you raised your finger, pointing across at him before he could say anything.

“Second of all, I seriously don’t know where you get off coming at me like this, I dont know what the hell i’ve done to make you despise me, but I haven’t come back here to make nice with you.”

Watching you speak, Rhett’s attitude only seemed to grow worse by the look on his face, your response seeming to egg him on if anything, another scoff leaving his lips as he took a few steps towards you, only stopping when he was so close you could almost smell the minty gum he was currently holding between his teeth.

Narrowing his eyes at you, his head leaning down to keep his voice low, he finally responded.

“You seriously think waltzing around with your father on your arm is gonna make anybody think you are anything except the shallow diva you’ve always been?”

Even if you’d opened your mouth to speak, nothing could come out, you were just standing there waiting for something smart to conjure up into your head.

Yet when Rhett only scoffed once more before stepping past you and heading back around the corner towards where everybody was sitting, you could only stay stood there, staring at the deep red carpet that had no doubt seen some better days.

You wanted to go sit back down without a word, to smile and pretend like you weren’t upset, because that would have been the stronger thing to do, the better way to stick it to who had seemingly become a bully, yet you couldn’t.

Stringing your purse over your shoulder, you walked over to the hostess stand, the smiling young woman waiting to bid you a goodbye, all ready seeming to gear herself up to ask if you enjoyed everything.

Trying your hardest to muster a smile back, you pulled your card from your wallet, handing it to the young hostess as politely as you could.

“Put everything that table sixteen ordered on here.”

It was the least you can do for the rude exit, a nice offset when the rest of the Abbott family found out you’d left without saying goodbye.

“Just apologise and tell them i wasn’t feeling good.”

The hostess nodded, pulling up your bill on her little tablet, implementing the card details as she made a comment about how nice it was of you to pay for the whole dinner, comments that only seemed to go through one of your ear’s and out the other.

Just as you were about to turn and exit, your sudden realisation at the lack of transport had you leaning back towards the hostess, your voice low.

“Could you call me a taxi please.”

-

It was pretty obvious that you going to absolutely cop it from your father when he realised you’d left in a taxi without him, so to hopefully soften to blow, you’d waited until you were pulled out of the restaurants car park to reach for your phone and send him a quick text message.

‘Went home to rest, love you.’

You’d hoped that would be enough to offset the unexpected exit, that on top of paying for everything. It wasn’t like you didn’t have the money anyway.

One of your only hopes was that the Abbott’s didn’t take it as an insult, your own anxiety no doubt would find some way to convince yourself it was somehow rude.

But you feared that if you’d sat back down at that table, you wouldn’t have been able to hide your absolutely disdain for Rhett.

Sending your father the text had reminded you of your promise to update Amanda; Honestly, she felt like exactly who you needed to talk to more than anything right now.

It hadn’t taken long to arrive back at your house, only about twenty minute drive, thank god.

Paying the driver, you stepped out and headed back inside, pulling your cardigan closer to your body as the temperature seemed to want to make a show of dropping unexpectedly.

Your bedroom had never seemed more inviting, your vanity still as messy as it was when you left the house in a haste, a habit that you never seemed to let go of even after years.

-

“So wait, you’re telling me you were absolutely killing it with this hot bar tender and then he not only comes in and breaks it up, but then insults you?”

Turning to make a face at the camera, you watched Amanda’s face curl into a cringe; she was laying in bed holding her phone up as she talked to you while you were in the process of taking off the makeup she’d so meticulously helped you with.

“Uh huh.”

Your response only made her let out a sound of dislike, waving her hand up to express it even further.

“He’s lucky I wasn’t there, honestly. I’d have had him by his ear makin’ him apologise.”

It was a correct assumption that talking to Amanda was going to make you feel better, the image of her holding Rhett by his ear bringing a smirk to your face, as petty as it might have been.

Continuing as you rubbed the makeup wipe along your eye softly, trying your hardest to get the last remnants of the black inky mascara off, you let your thoughts go out loud.

“I just don’t even understand what I did to him? I don’t get why he’s going out of his way to be such a asshole.”

You finished with a deep seated sigh, running your hands along your now freshly cleaned face and standing to start the process of changing out of the dress, bringing your phone with you.

“You should fuck the hot bartender.”

Unable to hold back the burst of laughter from Amanda’s version of problem solving, you placed the phone on your bedside table and began to rummage through the suitcases to find something to wear to bed.

“Niki.” you clarified.

“Yes exactly, you should fuck Niki.”

Holding a hand up, you shook your head, pulling out a pair of printed pajama’s that you were certain would do the job.

“I can’t do that, I haven’t even been here for a week.”

“Who gives a fuck? Listen, when he was talking to you, was he making eye contact? Was he touching you? I need to know these things to make a correct assumption.”

Stepping away from view of the camera, you started the process of unzipping and hanging up the dress in your closet, you tried to recall the way Niki had spoken to you previously, buttoning up the top half of the pajama’s when you finally stepped back into view.

“Well, he stepped around the bar to keep talking to me, and when he left he touched my arm like-”

You imitated the motion just as Niki had done to you before, Amanda’s mouth falling open as you picked up your phone and sat down in bed, pulling the blanket over your legs.

“Oh, girl. He’s DTF. Send me a photo, right now.”

Rolling your eyes, you minimised the face time, pulling up facebook and hoping and praying that you could find a photo of Niki somewhere.

Roughly a minute into your search, you stumbled upon what looked like a recent photo on the restaurants facebook page oddly enough, it was him smiling with his dad, holding up a sign to celebrate ten years.

God he looked good in the photo too.

His hair was pulled into a loose low bun just as it always was, his smile shining as he had an arm around his father, the two of them proudly holding up the sign.

Saying nothing as you took a screenshot and sent it to Amanda, you waited without saying a word for her to receive and look at the photo.

Immediately, you knew she’d seen it, as you heard a comical exaggerated moan come from her end, watching as she seemed to sit up in her bed to look at the photo.

“Are you kidding me? This how they make em’ down in Wyoming?”

“Well, I mean, His ma’s from Mexico, but yeah.”

Nodding her head satisfied, she let out a small “Mhm.” of approval, laying herself back down in her bed and taking off her glasses.

“You have my approval and my blessing.”

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 : @foreverchangingmind . @tsukikyo . @marsupialnoises . @iknowrocknroll . @astromilku .

[alcoholfreenayeon]

Three times a day

CW: G!p Mina x f!reader, smut, oral, nsfw, fluff

Word count: 2200

A/N: Happy Birthday @keervah 🥰🎉, this one is for you. Hope you like it👀

“Hah!”, you exclaimed smugly as you beat the boss after a few difficult attempts and progress further on your game. As the next part was loading, you glanced at the clock, it was almost 7 pm now and you sighed. It sucked. It was your birthday today and even though you had the day to yourself, your girlfriend didn’t have the day off. Not only that but she had an exceptionally busy day as well. It wasn’t unexpected though, she had already been apologetic the last two days and had been doing everything she could to try and make it up to you. She didn’t need to though. You were happy enough to see her be that thoughtful.

You pause your game, putting your controller to the side and roll over to your back, letting your hand and head dangle off the edge of the sofa as you look at the clock again, swinging your legs.

‘When was Mina going to come back, she said she’d be back by now’, you think to yourself. You groan and stretch, feeling lazy. You had been playing for about 3 hours straight and taking a break was probably a good idea. You sit up slowly, stretch again and then sigh. That’s when you hear the door open and your eyes light up as you turn towards the room’s entrance waiting to see the face of your love. Ruffling and shuffling sounds as you hear her take her shoes off and it also sounds like she’s carrying something, maybe food?, you think as you subconsciously began to smile brightly just at the thought of seeing her.

A few moments later, Mina is at the doorway, a tired smile appears on her face as she sees you sitting cutely waiting for her. “Sorry I took a bit longer to come back”, she apologized.

“I don’t care anymore about that, just come here and hold me”, you tell her, spreading your arms.

Mina smiles and approaches you, putting the packet on the table carefully before sitting next to you and hugging you tightly, resting her head on your shoulders while you buried your face into neck. She stroked your back softly and you held on to her tighter.

You sigh and breathe into her, taking her scent in, this is exactly what you needed. You could stay like this forever but then Mina pulled away much to your disappointment. You had a small pout but it disappeared when Mina reached for the bag and pulled something out of it, it was a box of snickers bars and another small-ish box. You were about to leap for the snickers when Mina giggled and stopped you, “Hey! Wait a second….”, she couldn’t stop smiling and giggling but she also had a slight blush now for some reason. Mina gave you the other box, watching in anticipation as you prepared to open it.

You looked at it in your hands and took a deep breath, smiling excitedly at Mina, it didn’t feel very heavy so you weren’t sure what was in it….earrings maybe? Unable to wait any longer, you just went for it, opening the top in one go and then gasped. It was a necklace, a beautiful one at that, you couldn’t believe it, you looked at Mina in disbelief who just looked back at you smiling happily, her cheeks tinted red and she asked in her cute voice, “do you like it?”.

“I love it.”, you reply, picking it up and having another look at it, “I love it so much.”

Mine kept smiling brightly, she felt so happy that you liked it and your reaction, she found it so cute. “Let me just…”, she suddenly got up and sat behind you, taking the necklace from your hand. She then moved your hair to the side, exposing your neck and then put both arms around you, and then began to put the necklace on you, you shivered slightly as you felt the metallic touch on your skin and more so when you felt Mina breath down your neck. A few seconds later, Mina was done and she leaned forward to take a look at you. “Pretty, so pretty”, she said sweetly and gave you a peck on your neck and then wrapped you around in another hug, resting her head on your back.

You were blushing now, in just a matter of minutes you went from feeling bored to lazy to happy and now you felt like the atmosphere was really intimate. You really felt so touched. Despite her workload, Mina made the time and effort to do so much for you. You put your hand on her arms and gave them a slight squeeze as you leaned back onto her. Mina sighed contentedly, leaning forward and kissing your cheek, “I love you Y/N”. You make yourself smaller in her arms as you feel blissfully happy, you loved her so much. You just wanted to melt away while Mina held you. You sigh heavily in happiness and turn to face her, getting on her lap, wrapping your arms around her neck, staring at her lovingly.

Mina put her hands on your hips, smiling somewhat shyly as you moved around, “eh…what are you…?”, she giggled but then let out a surprised muffle when you began to kiss her passionately. Mina began to relax after a few seconds, kissing you back. Pretty soon this was a full blown make out session and by the time you both pulled away, you both were breathless, looking at each other. You couldn’t help it, you leaned in and began again, Mina followed your lead. A few minutes later, you both pulled away again, unable to look from each other, panting hard. You knew what you wanted, no, needed, and were able to feel what Mina felt too, though it seemed like she was trying to not let you know. You smirked and grabbed her face, “Mina….whats wrong”, you asked trying not to sound smug.

She looked at you gritting her teeth, trying to calm her breathing down, “nothing…i-it’s nothing”, she said that but her eyes said something entirely different, you knew that look of her, what it meant.

You grinned smugly, “really…? It’s…”, you grind on her teasingly, “nothing? Are you sure? It doesn’t feel like it”.

Mina takes a shaky breath, she almost loses control but takes another deep breath and calms a little, “it’s….no, it shouldn’t be about me, not today, today is about you love..”, she says looking away, a hint of guilt in her voice.

You look at in amusement, a naughty smile appearing, “How thoughtful of you baby but you know me right.”, you slide off her legs and get on the floor, on your knees. Mina seems like she wants to protest but at the same time, she follows your lead almost instantly, trying just a little to not seem too eager but you know she’s so down for this. “Just let me…”, you say biting your lips with a smirk as you pull her shorts down and free the beast. You glance up at her with a teasing grin and then you get to work.

Grabbing her cock and starting by stroking it though she was almost completely hard anyway. You looked up at her again, lust in your eyes and then begin to give her cock head slow sensual licks causing Mina to inhale sharply and put her hand on the armrest, holding it firmly. You smile to yourself, enjoying her reactions as you continue to lick her cock while using one hand to slowly stroke the end of her shaft. A couple minutes later, you felt that it was time to move on further. You take the whole head into your mouth, sucking and running your tongue all over while being as loud as you can be.

Mina was starting to breath heavily now, her grip on the armrest tightening slowly, she was trying to keep her eyes closed, imagining random things so she can keep herself distracted but it was getting harder and harder to do that. She let out a quiet moan when you began to bob your head, taking more and more of her length little by little. Half of her cock was glistening with your saliva, you could practically feel Mina’s heartbeat through her cock.

This goes on for a couple of minutes and then you free your mouth, giving yourself a chance to catch your breath while you use that time to stroke her cock again, coating the rest of the length with your saliva as well. You could tell Mina was loving this so much, the way you could hear her breath so hard, the way her hips would start to gently squirm when you would start to take her deeper, her failing efforts to not moan out loud. You take one last breath and start to throat her cock again, going deep right from the start this time.

Immediately Mina gasps and her right hand automatically moves to hold your head, stroking your hair as her head falls back, Mina seems to be struggling to catch her breath. But you don’t care about that right now, your focus was on taking her whole length in and you were going to do that now. You force yourself to go deeper, gagging slightly as it’s a lot of effort. You have taken by 3/4th of her length and are trying to go the last mile but you feel the air in your lungs rapidly fading so you decide to take another breather. As you begin to withdraw, Mina lets out what sounds like a sad moan, like she’s upset that her cock is leaving your throat. You nearly smile but it’s kinda hard to do with a cock in your mouth. As you catch your breath, you take a moment to study Mina, her breathing is so fast and heavy right now, like she’s so close. You decide that this time you’re going to not only take her whole cock but also make her cum. No matter what.

As Mina begins to calm down a little, it’s all gone to waste as this time you are more used to it and her cock is also really slippery and wet now so you take in her whole length almost immediately, struggling a little as you start to reach the end. Mina gasps, then gasps again before both her hands grab your head tightly, squeezing it from the side while she uses her things to stroke your forehead and hair. “I’m….I’m really close…”, she pants out in between moans, her toes curling and her waist begins to rise. That’s all you needed to hear. You use all your skills to make it as pleasurable as possible for Mina, sucking, humming, rolling your tongue over her sensitive spots and of course, looking up at Mina to keep eye contact.

As you start to hum, Mina feels a jolt of pleasure surge through her and in surprise she looks down at you, only to see you with her whole cock in your mouth while you look at her. That’s enough to push her over the edge, she shrieks in pleasure, pushing your head down, holding it in place as she begins to cum. You can clearly feel her pulsate and throb as she keeps firing load after load of cum down your throat. You close your eyes as you try to keep up but it’s overwhelming pretty soon and her cum begins to drool out through the corners of your mouth. Mina fires a few more waves before you hear her take a deep breath and sigh happily. You feel really full now. Your face is a mess. The floor is messy too. You pull away from her cock and pant and smile up to Mina. “Did I do good”, you ask cheekily.

“Huh”, Mina asks, like she didn’t hear you but her cock twitches and begins to rise again and you giggle knowing the answer to your question now. You smile teasingly and kiss the tip of her cock. “Want some more”, you tease.

Mina closes her eyes, an amused smile on her face and she sighs, “Stopppp….I should be the one doing this for you”, she opens her eyes and smiles again, a slight tinge of red on her cheeks.

“Do it then”, you taunt brattily.

Mina sighs and gets up, towering over you. She grabs your hair and lifts you up. “You know, even though it’s your birthday, I feel like I’ve spoiled you too much. You’re being really bratty right now. But don’t worry.”, she says sternly as she takes hold of your arm and begins to drag you towards the bedroom, “when I’m done with you, you’ll be a good girl again”.

You can only bite your lips in anticipation as you prepare yourself for the sleepless night Mina is about to put you through. You might not be able to feel your legs soon but it’ll be worth it….

[fratttymatty]

Update Complete

(All characters are 18+)

Eliot Raynes was everything you’d expect from a nerdy senior in high school. Scrawny build, thick glasses, an encyclopedic knowledge of comic book timelines, and a long-standing crush on the quiet barista at the corner café. He was 18, openly gay, and proudly spent his weekends coding mods for indie games and watching queer cinema on his tiny laptop.

Eliot didn’t care much for sports. In fact, he actively avoided anything that involved shouting, sweat, or "bro-ing out." His locker sat three rows down from the football team’s, and every time he heard them slamming their fists or belting out obnoxious chants, he rolled his eyes so hard it nearly gave him a headache.

But it all changed after one strange afternoon.

It started with a new phone.

He hadn’t ordered it. It just... showed up. Black box. No label. No return address. Inside was a sleek, matte-black smartphone. No logo. Just a post-it note stuck to the screen:

"Tap to update your reality."

Eliot chuckled. “Some weird ARG?” He loved that stuff. So he tapped.

The phone blinked. The screen flickered like static. Then a loading bar appeared:

"Reconfiguring: Nerd Mode -> Bro Mode... 5%..."

“What the—” he tried to turn it off, but his fingers didn’t seem to work. His hand stayed locked on the phone. The progress bar jumped.

20%... 45%... 78%...

He gasped and doubled over as a shockwave of heat spread through his body. His hoodie tightened around swelling muscles. His arms cracked and bulked, gaining definition in seconds. His narrow chest ballooned outward with thick slabs of muscle and a sudden V-shaped torso. He yanked off his glasses — only to find his vision had gone perfect.

“Dude…” His voice came out lower. Deeper. Lazier. Confident. “What the hell is this?”

His thoughts scrambled. His brain, once sharp and meticulous, was being rewired. Long-form essays and art-house films were replaced with protein counts, fantasy football leagues, and bench press PRs. A sudden flood of aggression and cocky swagger bubbled to the surface like it had always been there.

He tried to fight it.

“I’m… Eliot… I like—uh, I like guys, I—”

99%... 100%

Transformation complete. New profile: Matthew ‘Matt’ Brody. 18. Hetero. Athlete. Confident. Alpha.

His phone chimed again. The screen now read:

Welcome, Matt. Let’s get you caught up, bro.

Matt blinked. His room wasn’t even his room anymore. The posters had been replaced with jerseys and flags of college football teams. His mirror now reflected a 6’2” muscular jock with a backwards cap, tight Nike tank, and a cocky smirk. His jaw was sharp, his skin tan, his eyebrows trimmed just so. He looked like the type of guy who said “no homo” before chest-bumping his friends.

He gasped as a weird tingle hit his scalp. A sudden heat surged through his hairline. His usual stringy, unwashed mess vanished strand by strand, replaced by clean, thick brown locks that shifted on their own, slicking into a perfectly careless middle part, with strands falling naturally in that casual, sporty way that made girls giggle and guys jealous. It screamed “I don’t try, I just look this good.”

He flexed one arm and nodded to himself. “Damn, I look shredded.”

No memory of Eliot remained. No coding. No crushes on baristas. No indie films. Just parties, protein, and pounding out reps at the gym.

His phone vibrated again. A group chat with names like "Chad 🔥," "Zack 💪," and "Tyler 🏈" popped up.

Tyler: Yo bro u hittin’ the house party tonight? Zack: Don’t ghost again, Matt. Rachel’s bringing her friend 👀🔥

Matt grinned, typing back:

Matt: Hell yeah, bros. Leg day first tho. Let’s get fkn jacked 💯

As he strutted out the door, he passed a shy, glasses-wearing kid standing by a locker—someone who looked familiar, but Matt didn’t think twice.

“Sup, nerd,” he muttered with a smirk, shoulder-checking the kid on his way out.

There was no Eliot.

There was only Matt Brody — jock, straight, confident, conservative, and loving every second of it.

And he never looked back.

The house was packed. Music thumped. The air was heavy with cologne, beer, and fake confidence.

Matt walked in like he owned the place, dapping up other jocks, throwing casual “yo’s” and flexing abs he didn’t even know he had this morning.

That’s when he saw Rachel — cheer captain, blonde bombshell — waving him over.

“Matt! Finally! This is my bestie, Cassie!”

Standing next to her was a cute brunette, dressed in a pink crop top and high ponytail. She blinked when she saw him. And then…

She changed.

Her eyes widened. Her lips parted in a giggle. Her posture shifted to something bubbly and air-headed. Her already-short skirt seemed to shimmy just a bit higher. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and tilted her head with a dazed little smile.

“Ohmygod, like… hiiii!” Cassie said, voice high and sugary. “You’re Matt, right? Rachel said you were, like, super hot, but I didn’t think you’d be, like, this hot.”

She stepped closer, practically bouncing.

Matt smirked. “Haha, yeah, I guess I’m kinda shredded.”

Cassie gasped, placing a hand on his bicep like it was involuntary. “Ugh, totes! Like, I can feel the muscles, ohmygod. Do you, like, work out every day?”

“Duh,” he grinned, flexing casually. “Gotta stay alpha.”

Cassie giggled again, looping her arm through his. “That is, like, soooo hot.”

She was hooked. It was like the universe had rewritten her just to match him — the perfect bimbo cheerleader for the perfect bro.

As the music pumped and the crowd chanted for beer pong, Matt leaned back with one arm around Cassie, sipping a Solo cup of something cheap, not a single memory of who he used to be. No Eliot. No comic books. No shyness.

Just Matt Brody — confident, straight, conservative, jock legend. And he was loving his new reality.