#now that i'm doing better. i think i will graduate. but i've been considering working for a few years and saving up to come back here

[mosscrab]

ouuughh. college </3 sorry rambling vent in tags i'm gonna be okay i'm just tired

[gavisuntiedboot]

We Can't Be Friends (but I'd like to just pretend)

Pedri x Reader

Part 1

Warnings: None

Word count: 8.7k

A/N: After a lot of consideration, I have decided to start posting my Pedri series. I think that I can get a lot of interaction with these, and I think it is a good way to feed my soul and get eyes on what is happening in Palestine. So please, if you enjoy this series, consider helping out Palestine. Even if it's just with a click (second link!)

(Also if there are any continuity errors pls pls pls lmk)

Operation Olive Branch is an org working to help raise money to evacuate people from Gaza. I have decided to highlight Anwar and his family, who need to raise $35,000 in order to survive. Please donate what you can:

I will continue to highlight this family on all my posts until they reach their goal inshAllah.

Synopsis: Moving to a new country can be a pain in the ass. So can starting a new job when your position is completely different to what you thought. But nothing is going to stop you from achieving your goal of being the next Law Roach. Not the language barrier, your aching feet on the wonky streets, and definitely not your annoying, full of himself client. Because everything is going to stay professional, right?

~~~

"Bryce, can you please pay attention? God, I hate Americans."

The slow and thick laughter flowed through the line, peppered with static and cutting off whenever a particularly loud vehicle rolled past.

"Self-hating much? You are also American."

"I'm Texan, sweetheart. We are basically our own breed. Now can you help me?" You were finally able to flag down a taxi, stepping in carefully to make sure you didn't flash the driver. The stark white of the flowy skirt contrasted heavily with your bright orange cowboy boots, worn to match the white "TEXAS" baby tee with orange lettering. Your bangles clinked happily against your wrist as the door closed, hair mused by the late September wind. It was a comfort-from-home turned fashion statement, a way to stay close to your roots but show everyone at the office you were the type of girl that people saved on their "cool y2k outfit inspo" Pinterest boards. At least, girls back home would.

"How the hell did you move to a foreign country without learning the language?"

"Because I was supposed to be in PARIS, remember? I didn't minor in French just for mierde and giggles."

"Yeah, yeah, and then Paris decided to self destruct. I've heard the story. Just put me on speaker already."

Through the phone, Bryce's Spanish flows fluently as she instructs the driver to deliver you at your new place of work. Style Di Fortuna was one of the best styling firms in Europe, if not the world. Located a mere two streets from the Passeig De Gracia, there was nowhere better for a young woman to start her career in the fashion world. Except you weren't supposed to be here.

The plan had been perfect. After 4 years working your fingers bloody at UT Austin, you finally turned the bright orange tassel and accepted your B.A. in fashion. You were able to say "couture" with the perfect amount of phlegm to be taken seriously by the French snobs you had interned with, the ones who were supposed to be your colleagues after you graduated. The dreams of smoky cafes, bike rides through the city, and the lights of Paris fashion week were often the only things that helped you push through your professor telling you that you sewed like a blind sloth.

But then the French did what they do best: went on strike. For months. And after the long periods of no productivity and the destruction of half the inventory, you got the concise email that you would need to find employment elsewhere. About a week before you moved to France. So in a blind panic, you applied to every job you could think of within Europe, desperate to not have your first year post grad be spent at the soup kitchen or bagging groceries. You finally heard back from one of your contacts, another alumni from your school who said they could get you a job in Spain, but it was a little far from the type of fashion you wanted to do.

A "yes please I'm begging" email and 24 hours later, you had a job with SDF. Hey, fashion is fashion, and if you have to start by styling TikTokers in sparkly mini dresses before you could get to the good stuff, so be it. There were dues to be paid after all. So you grabbed your already packed bags and changed your ticket from Paris to Barcelona.

"I can speak Spanish. I lived in Texas for 21 years. Just not... Spain Spanish." You said quietly, rummaging through your bag for the ID that had been mailed to you the week prior.

"Right, and my white ass took it in school and he seemed to understand me just fine. So you, Miss Texican, need to stop with the perpetual fear that people will think you're stupid. Be confident and just speak. The company is Italian, anyways. Most of them will probably speak English, and if not, they'll think you're exotic and sexy."

"Mhm I'm sure."

"You're going to do great, okay? Just be yourself. You had like ten billion friends at home. It's almost impossible not to like you. You got it girl - go hook 'em."

Laughter bubbled out of you at her cheesy pep talk, feeling lighter already. She was right - even if you had gotten this job on the fly, your portfolio was super impressive, and people had no trouble liking you. So what was there to be worried about. After bidding her goodbye and having the courage to thank the driver in Spanish, you stepped out of the cab to the front steps of the new building. It was much taller than the surrounding, standing out like a sore thumb amongst the lower buildings and pale stone. Making your way up to the 16th floor, you were quickly ushered past bolts of bright fabric, racks of shoes worth millions, and some very stressed (yet very stylish) other employees.

"So excited that you're going to be joining our team! It is going to be so helpful having some international input to make sure we are not pigeon-holing our clients into fashion that is not received well globally. You will be reporting directly to Katerina, and she will report to me. Your colleagues are mostly male given the nature of the division. But Tania, Silvia, and Maria should be a good support as you move into the role. We also have Juliana who is between here and the Milan office. So it isn't a complete boy's club."

Huh?

After years in fashion, one thing you definitely knew was that it often was not a "boy's club". Sure, all the suits and big investors were often old and withered men, but most of the creative side of the business had been run by almost fully female teams (and the exceedingly rare stylish man).

"I'm sorry, the nature of the team? What do you mean?" You asked, trying to keep smiling while running after her towards a more and more barren part of the office.

"Sorry, was it not included in your offer letter? You're working in our athletics division. We are horribly understaffed in that department, especially now that we have taken on all the Adidas athletes in Spain. My word there are a lot of them. Bellingham alone needs three team members for every event."

No no no no no. This cannot be happening. You had come in prepared to style a lot of things: prom dresses, lingerie, even the scraps of fabrics that were rented out by the local burlesque show. But sports???

Now don't get it twisted, this isn't some "I'm a girl and I don't know anything about sports!" kind of thing. On the contrary. You were at every football game rocking the longhorns, cheering on your friends as they crushed it at basketball, and even tried watching a formula 1 race (there was a three car crash and you fainted) - you were totally hip with sports. Although you were not a fan of stretch materials or athleisure, you were willing to bite the bullet as a first step. The issue was the hidden undertones of your job. It was the fact that you would be working with, from what you could surmise, a lot of male athletes.

Bryce was right - it did feel like you had ten billion friends back home. Everywhere you went, you spoke to strangers with ease, and people warmed quickly, conversation flowing and bonds forming. But that's the issue: everyone seemed to warm to you, and so it meant a lot of male attention. And despite your best efforts, you always made a "too flirty" comment to someone's crush or "inappropriately smiling" at someone's boyfriend. And so as fast as they liked you, suddenly you were public enemy #1, and the drama became all-consuming.

No one seemed to understand. There was constant advice to just brush it off, to ignore the people who brought pain to your life. But you couldn't help it, laying in bed, stomach in knots, questioning why no one could see that you were just trying to be kind to everyone around you. The cycle of worrying had created a very isolating experience.

"Tania! Where are the other girls? I want to introduce you to the newest member of the team."

A girl with blown out black hair turns around, double nose piercings taking a back seat to a piercing charcoal stare. She was in high waisted jeans and a leopard print button up, the first two unbuttoned to show off the black strap of her bra. Her neck was adorned with a simple gold cross necklace, and she flashed a cordial smile as she stuck out a hand.

"I love your shoes." You said sweetly as you exchanged a shake, eager to make your first friend at work (and maybe in all of Spain).

"Oh, thank you. Dolce and Gabanna - they're friends of the firm. Your shoes are..." She gave a glance to the cowboy boots you had on, "muy naranja" (very orange).

You crossed your legs, self confidence waning after she addressed you like you had traffic cones on your legs. You were introduced to Silvia (a tall girl with short blonde hair and vintage Adidas Sambas paired with boxer shorts) and Maria (dark blue hair slicked back to show off her Italian football jersey). All of them oozed the coolest essence, and you were excited to get to know them.

"Alright, girls, not too much chattering. Barca arrives in 15 minutes, and there is not a single jersey in sight. Lets go! Rápidamente!"

A gasp spread across the room, accompanied with a groan from Roberto in the back, and there was suddenly a mad dash. Stretch fabrics in a hundred different colors were flying across the room, and it seemed like no one could move fast enough.

"I'm sorry to ask but... what is a barca?"

Silvia's sambas squeaked loudly as she came to a halt, whipping her neck towards you. Her eyebrows knitted together, looking at you like you had just said Jesus was a goat.

"Who is Barca? You cannot be serious. Please don't say anything like that when they walk in the door. Just stand out of the way and do some googling. We will fill you in when the team leaves."

You stepped back towards the mannequins, trying not get trampled by the other employees. A quick search on Instagram gave you the basics. Soccer (or well, football now) team that was super famous. SDF was tagged in their post from their TV series premier, so you came to the conclusion that they were long time clients. You were so consumed with your search that you didn't notice the gaggle of young men enter the constricted space until you heard a chorus of voices chant "Bon Dia, Pedri!"

You glance up, trying to see the man that the girls were addressing, but he was covered by a crowd, which was comprised of Tania, Silvia, and girls from the other departments of the building (you could have sworn that red head worked at the café in the lobby).

"Bon dia, ladies."

The giggles that came as response were far too exaggerated for just politeness, and before you could roll your eyes, you heard the gag from beside you and turned to who was ultimately Maria.

"Don't mind the girls. They aren't usually like this, but their brain turns to mush around the magician."

"The magician?"

Almost as if planned, the swarm of girls parted in that moment, a pair of sickly sweet molasses eyes meeting yours, holding your gaze in something that felt warm and almost intimate. His stubbled cheeks spread into an infectious smile, and suddenly a gorgeous man in a hideous pair of jeans was giving you a subtle wave across the room.

"Pedri "The Magician" Gonzalez, current reigning golden boy at FC Barcelona. Who knew God could pack so much talent and trouble into such a small package? Anyways, the other girls in the office are obsessed with him. They all think they're going to be the special little snowflake to pull him away from the line of Instagram models waiting to jump in bed."

As you listened intently to Maria's rant about the sports star, the two of you couldn't keep your eyes away. As Tania and Silvia went back and forth, talking his brain into oatmeal, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Who is the new girl?"

~

Pedri Gonzalez was many things: a generational talent, a laid back 20 year old, and (though less known) a shit-stirrer. These monthly team visits to SDF ranked very highly on his list of favorite activities. He was able to sit with his teammates as they watched some of the hottest girls in Europe fall over themselves just for a kind word or a prolonged glance. He just wished the boys would have seen the way they moved when he came in for personal sessions whenever there was a new Adidas campaign. Not even the king was served so wonderfully.

As the team bus parked outside the building, he lazily draped one arm over Gavi's shoulders, ripping his attention away from his phone screen.

"You know she does have a life outside of answering your texts, Gavi."

There was no attempt to hide or deny, just a continued scowl coupled with scrunched brows.

"She was really weird during the drive home the other day. After Martin was a little bitch on the field, she hasn't been the same. I think there's something wrong, but I don't want to push her away. I just want her to be happy."

"Ay, you'll have lots of time to make her happy after you confess your undying love in her passenger seat and kill her boyfriend." Pedri quipped back, taking a few careful steps off the bus and rushing into the building, the squeals of his name from adoring fans fading into the background.

"Okay, maybe not the best idea I've ever had, but now you do have work with Adidas and Springfield and all the other brands that want a piece of Pedri Potter." The nickname earned Gavi a light smack on the back of the head. "So in the end, I did you a favor."

The boys make their way upstairs, greeted at the elevator by Pedri's fan club.

"Bon dia, ladies."

"Bon dia, Pedri. We missed you."

Gavi tried to tone down the look of confusion that painted his features, watching these two girls trail behind his teammate in a way that was anything but professional. But there was a natural air to Pedri that had women swooning whenever he uttered a sentence, so Gavi supposed this situation would be no different than the one he had seen before in the club, at the beach, in the grocery store - basically anywhere Pedri went. He said a silent thank you to the powers that be that their types were vastly different.

The girls vying for his attention were promptly shooed away, with only the two who were actually part of their styling team remaining. Pedri scanned the room, making a mental note of who he would be looking up on the SDF Instagram once he was done for the day. He was a humble young man, but he wasn't self depreciating. He knew the number of women that wanted him was rising into 6-figure range, and he was not one to deprive himself of a pleasure that wasn't closely regulated by the staff over at Camp Nou. He loved entertaining the occasional tryst with an influencer or model or bottle service girl - whoever caught his eye for the evening. The world was his field, and boy was he ready to sow.

His newest playthings were his regular stylists. Since he was going to be spending a lot more time at the firm, he decided to at least enjoy himself a little bit. He dropped casual compliments, noticed the changes they made to their appearance, let them talk his ears off about how well he did in the previous match. Whatever they wanted he would provide. Why not? He was young and single. If they were to delude themselves into thinking he was going to settle down and take a wife at this stage of his career, then really they had no one but themselves to blame.

Tania and Silvia were nothing if not wholly entertaining. They always bounced around the office together, blonde and black hair making them look like a salt and pepper shaker set. Today, they dedicated themselves to dressing Pedri in the vintage Barca jerseys that were being photographed, leaving the rest of the squad to be dealt with by Maria, Roberto, and the bright spot in the corner of the office that caught Pedri's eye.

"Who is the new girl?"

He knew the question was going to cause the bile to rise in the throats of the two girls in front of him, who were already milliseconds away from killing each other if it meant he would take the survivor to dinner. But there was something about the flash of color that had caught his eye, hair falling in front of a pretty face that was glued to a screen and trying to stay out of the way.

"What new girl?" The response came from Tania, the more jealous of the pair by a mile. Pedri had often caught her stalking his account, his brother's account, and the account of every girl DeuxMoi "spotted" him with during the international breaks.

"Her. In the corner. She's new, right? That's someone I would remember seeing." He raised his head to get a better look at her, taking in the tight shirt and bright colors, watching her jewelry sway along as Maria (his least favorite in the office by far) called her over to help dress the rest of the team. The girls whipped around, taking in the same view that Pedri was.

"La naranja?!" Tania asked, disgust evident in her louder-than-appropriate tone. At the use of what was quickly becoming your office nickname, you looked towards the sound of the commotion, seeing Pedri staring intently at you once again. And while the depth of his gaze threatened to ignite a warmth somewhere within your chest, it was Tania's furious expression that had your heart racing in fear. You hadn't even been at work for an hour - what could you have possible done to have invoked such a murderous glare?

"I didn't think foreign girls were your type." Silvia said, much calmer but tone still icy.

"Maybe I just like the color orange." He replied smoothly, whipping off his shirt to slip into the one from 1980 that he would be modeling for the Barca site. The sight of bare skin was enough to make his playthings forget their rage, being replaced by lustful stares and lingering touches as they "adjusted" the fabric over his pecs about 20 times over.

"I think orange is a hideous color on girls." Tania couldn't help but mutter and she fixed his collar, putting in a couple pins so it wouldn't move as he walked to the photographer.

"I think the ugliest color on a girl is jealousy green." Pedri's eyes met hers in a silent warning. She was officially nothing more than one of his stylists. He was a busy man, and the last thing he needed was for his distractions to become a new stressor. He was notorious for being quick to cut girls off for the most superficial reasons, and Tania was not eager to be one of those deprived of his affections. She smiled sweetly, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Oh, of course. Especially when there is obviously nothing to be jealous of. Go welcome her on her first day - if she can even understand a thing you're saying. I don't think the American school system teaches Canarian." She left Pedri in that moment, calling sweetly to Ferran to come get dressed.

"Ay, Gavi, I knew you were short, but they can't even find pants that fit you now?"

The sudden voice behind you made you jump, causing a yelp from Gavi, who had been stabbed with a stray pin due to your scare. Your head whipped around, meeting that same smile that was brighter up close.

"Perdon, Naranja. Didn't mean to startle you."

Your eyebrows came together, a small frown on your features.

"I don't know what Tania told you, but that's not my name."

"I didn't think it was, but it's quite fitting, don't you think? A cute nickname for a cute girl."

The complement caught you off guard, and your mouth dropped open, reply unable to form in your mind. Was he seriously flirting with you? After half the office just threw themselves at his feet?

"Thank you, but I would really prefer if you called me-"

"Your accent is strange. Where are you from?" Pedri cuts you off, giving you a once over and taking in your figure, focusing intently on the writing across your chest.

"Texas. Can't you read?" You asked, growing more annoyed by the minute. Maria would be back any second to grab the boy who you were hemming, now identified as Gavi. You weren't eager to be seen as a slacker on day damn one.

"Houston?" He asked, accent preventing him from getting the "S" in the word quite right. "My brother used to live there for a bit."

"San Antonio, actually. But I went to school in Austin." As desperately as you wanted to make a good impression on your first day, something inside your chest wanted to make a good impression on Pedri, who was listening intently to the mini tour of Texas you were giving him.

"Is that close to Dallas? We are meant to play a game there in the summer. Maybe you can come along, show me around your city." He punctuated his sentence with a wink. You wanted to speak, tell him that Austin was actually several hours from Dallas, San Antonio even further. But your heartbeat was in your ears, and you could do nothing but nod along.

Pedri was not much better off. He had spoken to some of the most gorgeous women in Europe, maybe even the world in his mere 22 years on the planet, but something about the way you looked at him while speaking, eyes locked onto his, made his heart race in a way that was foreign but not unenjoyable.

"Hey! Hurry up - they need Gavi next. Or are you incapable of putting in a couple pins?" It was Silvia barking down at you, causing you to tear your gaze away from Pedri and back to Gavi's leg. Thankfully, the boy was typing away and didn't notice the break you had taken to chat with his teammate. "Pedri, stop distracting la naranja with your flirting and go get a pair of shoes from Maria."

You burned with embarrassment, the nickname turning from something affectionate to something sour, used to remind you of your outsider status as 'Cinderella' was reminded of her place by the coals.

"I was just being friendly." Pedri said, standing to follow her instructions.

"I think you have enough friends in the office." She bites back, shoving him lightly towards the wall of sneakers.

Your cheeks burn, embarrassment causing your hands to tremble as you continue hemming the trousers in front of you. Maria had gone out of her way to warn you that Pedri was off limits, and yet here you were again: persona non grata with your coworkers because some boy had taken an interest in you.

"You speak really good Spanish for someone from America." A quiet voice said from above you. Looking up, Gavi was gazing down at you, distracted by his phone every few seconds.

"I'm half Mexican, and most people in Texas speak Spanish anyways." You reply, trying to tone down the annoyance in your tone.

"Oh, I didn't know that. My friend- eh, physiotherapist also studied in America. She has this really cute accent when she says some of her words now." You watched his eyes glaze over in a way they probably shouldn't if he was just talking about his doctor.

"You don't have to make conversation with me, you know." You mutter back, scared that maybe this player was Maria's and you would sever the final connection you had left in the office inadvertently.

"Oh. I didn't mean to annoy you." The tone in his voice and his crestfallen expression made you feel like you had just kicked a puppy.

"Oh no! You're not. I just... It seems like I just pissed off the girls by talking to Pedri, and I don't want to make any other mistakes."

He laughed, eyes crinkling and head tilting back. "Pedri is a special case. When you flirt with everything that moves, someone is bound to be upset eventually."

The admission caused a pit to form in your stomach. Everything that moves? The romantic heat you felt earlier cooled into a slimy, sickening emotion. What kind of person toyed with people's feelings for fun? As you entertained the thought, you tapped Gavi on the leg, instructing him to hop off the stand and go get photographed. A shadow loomed over your form as you tidied pins from the floor of the workroom.

"So, I believe you were about to give me your address before we were so rudely interrupted." It was Pedri, returning with a grin, standing coolly with his hands in the pockets of his cargos. "Of if that's too personal, I'll settle for a phone number. Or an Instagram handle - I'm not picky."

"I can tell." You muttered back, unease still sitting in your chest. You avoided his gaze, chewing nervously on your bottom lip and directing your eyes to anything but Pedri.

"I'm sorry about Silvia. She can be... intense. And let me just go ahead and apologize for Tania as well, in advance. They're weirdly possessive over me for some reason." Pedri sounded sincere, eyes doing their best to catch yours and convey his message.

"Don't worry about it. I can see why you're so popular." You shuffled to collect stray pins off the floor. Pedri was not like any other guy you had ever been attracted to. Usually they were tall, lanky frat boy types, all blue eyes and khaki shorts. But the combination of beautiful brown eyes brushed by dark hair, chiseled jaw and plump lips, and strong arms that lifted a mannequin out of your way did weird things to your heart and your stomach.

"Can you now?" He was smirking. You could practically hear it in his voice, the amusement dripping from every syllable. He was obviously completely unbothered by your clear signs of distress.

"Yeah. Every girl I ever knew wanted to be the sugar baby of an athlete. Watch out or you'll get your bank account drained." Despite your best efforts to come across as cutting and sharp, he laughed at the statement. A full head thrown back and hands on his belly type of laugh.

"It's been a long time since I've spoken to a girl as funny as you." His eyes held yours, and the look was so captivating you simply couldn't avert your gaze. In that moment, it was also lost on you that you had, in fact, only made one joke. You responded with a half smile and heat radiating from you.

"Hey listen, a couple of the boys and I are going out tonight. You should come with us."

The invitation started to knock some sense back into you. Out? As in out out? Back home, going out usually meant getting shit-faced and riding a mechanical bull. It wasn't the best look to pull up to work the following morning looking like death and smelling like tequila. You were already on the way to holding the record for the worst first day in history.

"I don't know... I think Tania would put Nair in my shampoo if we were seen together when not contractually obligated."

You looked up shyly, and a part of you waited for him to insist, to feel somewhat special.

"Ah, I won't make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. Just DM me on Instagram if you change your mind. I'm not hard to find."

"Do you answer DMs from every girl that finds you?" You asked, rocking back and forth on your heels.

"No. But I'll be looking out for yours."

Another voice called out to Pedri, and he left you standing there slack-jawed. Who was this man? And what was so special about you to have piqued his interest? You asked these same questions of Bryce, who was now fully awake.

"Girl, the answer is obvious." She said through face time, words garbled by her teeth-brushing.

"Please don't say-"

"You're hot."

"That. Bryce, these girls in the office, they're stunners. 10s across the board. If he was going for looks, he wouldn't be going for me."

"I think you're over-thinking this whole thing. He just wants to talk to you for now," She paused to spit, "So talk! What's the worst that could happen?"

A shrill voice cried out 'Naranja!' and the trill of your new unwelcome work nickname was the signal that your lunch was over. You trudged back into the office, abandoning the warmth and sunshine for the cold front put up by Tania and Silvia. They bumped you every time they walked past, making comments about your clothing, your hair, the speed of your work, your taste level - everything. You stuck close to Maria, getting only two smug "I told you so's" before it was back to business. The boys left a disaster in their wake, with jerseys, trousers, socks, shoes, and all manners of accessories scattered about the workroom. Maria exchange stories of her childhood in Rome for your escapades in San Antonio and Austin, and the day passed with relative ease. Katerina click-clacks into the room an hour before your sweet release, huddling together everyone who worked with the team for a summary of what was accomplished.

"Great job team. I think Barca will be very happy with the photos, which will make me very happy. Now," Katerina handed out a series of files to everyone in the circle. "As some of you know, we have been fighting tooth and nail against Fordham Fashions for the new Adidas Rising Stars contract. Well, we have finally won! Here are the clients that we will be working with closely for individual Adidas campaigns, collaborations, and so on."

Opening the file, a familiar face grinned back from the first page.

"Everyone already knows Pedri, so we will move past him. Now, let us begin the style briefing for Bellingham..."

You stared for another moment at the bright grin on the page before turning it to take notes on everything Katerina was saying. The meeting wrapped 30 minutes later, with one final request from the boss.

"The new Predator boots have just come in from Adidas. We will be sending a pair to each of our athletes to allow them to adjust before we style and shoot in the coming weeks. And to avoid another, ehem, hair pulling incident, the new girl will be sending Pedri's. Sort the rest out among yourselves. See you tomorrow!"

The glares burned your skin before you even had the chance to process that the 'new girl' in question was you. Everyone scurried to the wall of blue shoe boxes as you looked over the brief again to find the man of the hour's shoe size. Pulling it out of the pile, you moved to a far corner of the workroom, but that did not seem to stop Tania from coming your way.

"So, you think Pedri likes you?"

The statement caught you off guard, hands slowing and your eyes widening at your coworker.

"Excuse me?"

"You think that now he's going to date you just because he laughed at one of your jokes? Because trust me, you're not his type."

You were prepared to rebut, tell her that she had completely misunderstood the situation, and you were just being nice to a client. But it died on your lips as the meaning of her words washed over you like an icy tidal wave, leaving you to pathetically whisper out,

"Why not?"

Her laugh trickled out lightly, delicate and beautiful and cutting all at once.

"Just look at you, Naranja. Anyways, this is a note from the agency that needs to be included in Pedri's box, so slip it in there, 'kay? See you tomorrow!"

Swallowing thickly, you didn't watch her walk away, staring at the table top to stop the flood of emotions that was clogging your throat. You knew you weren't ugly. Quite the opposite actually. It usually only took a coy glance and the bat of an eyelash for you to have people eating from the palm of your hand. But the self doubt started to eat away at you. What was wrong with the way you looked?

And then your eyes focused on the crisp white envelope on the table. The girly scrawl of Pedri was too... romantic to be a formal note. The green slime of jealousy seeped through every one of your veins. You took a quick look around the room, and finding no one, you carefully opened the envelope. Immediately a strong perfume assaulted your senses. The letter was a quick confession of love, and you couldn't help the increase in your heart rate. If your coworker was determined to hate you, then you should at least give her a reason.

Your childish antics came two fold. First, you tiptoed over to the cabinet with the stationary, grabbing a blank envelope and some corrector fluid. You carefully removed Tania's name from the bottom of the letter, writing in a little "S" with a heart beside it. You refolded the letter and placed it into the new perfume-less envelope. The letter found its home in the shoe box, and on your way out of the building, you dropped it off at the mail room. As you waited for your cab home, you typed five familiar letters into the Instagram search bar, and sent a message asking,

"Am I still invited out tonight?"

~

Pedri could not contain the Cheshire cat grin that lit up his face when he saw the DM from you. Scrolling quickly through your Instagram, he zoomed in on your pictures from the summer, swimsuits the same bright orange that had hugged your chest earlier that day. He responded quickly, telling you that you would be the highlight of the entire outing, and as he predicted, your phone number quickly followed.

"See, Gavi? I told you." He turned the screen to his teammate, who could not possibly be less interested. Being met with silence, he quickly snatched Gavi's phone from his hands, eliciting a protest.

"Gavi, this is an intervention. You need to stop this sad puppy behavior. After the sixth unanswered text, it's time to accept that she's not going to respond."

Pedri almost regretted it as soon as he said it, the sunken look painting Gavi's features being too much to bear. It was like taking a baby's favorite toy away.

"I just mean that she's probably busy, hermano. She'll respond when she can. Now, back to me."

Gavi rolled his eyes and leaned back against Pedri's couch. He displayed his most exasperated expression.

"Please, Pedri. Tell me again how you got a girl to swoon for you in a matter of minutes. It's always my favorite story."

Gavi barely missed the pillow chucked at his head, but pressed on anyways.

"Come on, Pedri. It's the same story every week. Find a cute girl, flirt, invite her out, sleep with her, and then block her on all your socials."

"Okay but this one is different. She's my first American."

Gavi gave him a look that told Pedri that maybe the joke should have been reserved for Ferran. Despite all the wisdom Pedri had imparted, Gavi hadn't listened. Instead of taking advantage of the swarm of women ready to show him heaven, he had gone and fallen in love with one of his coworkers. Sheesh. What a stupid idea. But he had never seen Gavi, or anyone really, care so much about a person. So he was being a good friend, just pretending that this love story wouldn't go down in flames (badum-tsss).

Pedri was not willing to be a hopeless lover boy. He killed himself on the pitch, and there was no way he wasn't going to enjoy life after the whistle blew.

"I just don't think it's an idea to start involving girls you're going to have to see again."

The statement cut straight through Pedri's daydream of what you would wear to the club that evening. Gavi may have been right. When messing with Instagram models, it was easy to avoid previous flings. A block online, a slip of their photo to Camp Nou security, and worst case scenario, when they came up to him at an event, he just put on his best confused face and asked, "Do I know you?"

But this was new territory. He had toyed around with Tania and Silvia for months now, but it never left the office. Inviting a girl who he would have to see again and again for work out was risky. But the risk-assessing brain cells were on vacation. All that was left were the party neurons, the ones that craved dopamine and finding out what your skin would feel like against his palms. So he pushed all of Gavi's valid objections into a dark corner of his brain. He opted instead to ask,

"So, are you coming out tonight as well?"

Gavi lifted his hoodie up to cover his face, using all his self control to not grab his phone from its place on the coffee table.

"I don't think so. I'm not in the mood to see Ferran or... anyone really. Just want to sit home and watch my show."

"Suit yourself then. I'll let you know how the night ends."

"I'm begging you not to."

~

You smoothed your hands over your dress one final time. You were pacing around your living room, eagerly waiting for Pedri to pick you up. Despite your best efforts to assure him that you could Uber yourself to the club, he refused, and you couldn't help the giddy feeling at the gentlemanly antics.

Staring at yourself in the mirror once again, you thought of the dates you had been on in your senior year of college. From darties on frat lawns to drive-thrus to fine dining, many guys had tried to win your favor. It wasn't that all of them sucked (even if the majority did). It was just that the guys back home in America were... boring. All of them were pretty self centered and shallow, nice to look at but nothing deeper. While a pretty boy was nice at 19, it was time to grow up and look for something more.

The buzzing of your phone knocked you out of the trance you were in. "Pedri from work" illuminated the screen as you rushed to answer.

"I was going to come in and knock on your door, but I can't get into your building."

You laughed lightly in response, apologizing about the door code while grabbing a jacket and heading downstairs. A low whistle greeted you, dark eyes tracing your figure with a look that you tried not to interpret for your own sanity. A shy smile played across your features as you allowed Pedri to open your car door, sweet talk you throughout the drive, and escort you in to what was more of a lounge than a club. Live musicians played just loud enough for ambiance, but not enough to completely drown out everyone chattering amongst themselves. The two of you walked up to a table of Greek Gods, which you assumed were his teammates.

Pedri introduced you to the group, making sure that his body was physically situated between you and Ferran. He was a good guy somewhere deep, deep down, buried under the anguish of his last girlfriend, who left him upon finding out about the pay reduction that came with moving from Manchester City to FCB. Pedri tried to stop him from taking out his rage on a coworker (and Gavi's crush), but he was hard headed and couldn't be swayed. Eventually he would calm down, and they could go back to being young and single and not bitter. Pedri's phone glowed with a notification from the boy on his mind.

[Gaviiii]: dude i foujd her outside my house just sitting in her car n cryng so im gonna take care of that

[Gaviiii]: dont tect me or call me im not gonna answer

The typos were normal, as it was hard for Gavi to avert his eyes for even one second when his most precious was in sight. Pedri shook off the text and turned his attention back to you, arm coming to rest around your waist in what was meant to be a comforting gesture.

You were not comforted. On the contrary, you were on the verge of throwing up. You were one of only two girls in a circle of incredibly attractive men, the other being someone's wife. You couldn't remember the names of any of them, except for Ferran, who you had been specifically warned about on the drive over. The devil really is a charmer. His short cropped hair showed the angels of his face beautifully, long lashes fanning against his cheeks. A few tattoos peaked out from under rolled up sleeved, and you had to remember that you were with his friend on a... what was this exactly? Pedri had never said anything more than that he wanted to be friends. But he asked you to go out with him, picked you up, gave you the pre-date compliments, and now was shielding you from other men. Were you on a date?

You tried your best to participate in small talk, listening to them go back and forth about football and training and life in general. The various accent were not kind to your brain that was barely used to the Canarian lilt to Pedri's speech.

"Are you okay?"

The whisper came softly in your ear, hot breath against you skin causing an eruption of little bumps. Pedri's arm had not left your waist, but now he was rubbing delicate circles into your skin.

"I'm fine. Just... a little overwhelmed? I feel sort of out of place."

"Don't worry, linda. No one can take their eyes off you."

The affirmation only increased your heart rate once again, the thump against your chest beating in rhythm with the base from the speakers. You were acutely aware of the warmth of his palm against your skin, radiating through the fabric of your dress. You loosened up as the evening progressed, participating in the conversation more confidently and laughing more freely. Slowly, the boys excused themselves from the gathering one by one, and soon it was only you and Pedri in the low light, talking about the most beautiful scenery you have ever seen.

He was lost in describing his home island, the clear waters and lush foliage that he called home. You leaned forward, enraptured by the passion that he spoke with about the places and people he loved. Slowly, you found yourself getting closer and closer, until there was only a few inches of space between you. The gold flecks interspersed in dark brown became clearer, and you struggled to breathe as you watched Pedri's gaze drift to your lips.

"I am getting the impression you want me to kiss you. Please correct me if that's not the case." Pedri breathed out slowly, more strained than you had previously thought. You don't know what you were thinking. Maybe you weren't thinking. You just acted on what felt right. Closing the distance, you joined Pedri's lips to yours, arms around his neck as you kissed with a hunger borderline inappropriate for the public.

You weren't usually this person. It was usually a couple dates before you would allow for a goodnight kiss, let alone the almost make-out you were currently engaged in. You pulled away from Pedri, the heavy breathing a commonality between the two of you. Maybe it was the being in Spain. Maybe it was that he was hot and young and famous. Maybe it was that of all the girls throwing themselves at him, including your coworkers, he picked you after an hour of conversation. Something told you to take a chance on what could be your love at first sight moment. So when Pedri leaned close and asked,

"Do you want to go back to your place?"

There was no answer but yes.

~

The following morning was filled with bliss. Pedri had woken up just as the first rays of sunlight were painting the stone. He kissed you on the cheek, whispering something akin to "see you around" before he left to training. You floated through your morning, making a coffee in a daze and dressing with a permanent smile. Bryce was still fast asleep, so you left her about 30 minutes worth of voice messages before you had the guts to step out and hail your own cab to work.

You walked into the office still riding the high from the night before. Your skin was ablaze, and every time you thought of the "activities", heat spread through you rapidly. Luckily the November chill kept you from sweating through your bones. Your bliss lasted for most of the morning, as you worked with Maria and a couple of people you had never met to create a mood board for an upcoming photoshoot. As you flipped through paint swatches, a piercing scream split the air, causing you to drop to the ground and cover your head.

"Why are you on the floor, Naranja?"

One of the boys looked at you with raised eyebrows, and a part of your brain registered that your new work nickname had trickled into other departments.

"Oh, sorry. I went to high school in America. Screams like that meant someone was getting jumped. Or shot."

Another scream rippled through the hallway as Maria helped you up.

"That was Silvia. Given recent history, your prediction about her being attacked might be correct."

The both of you scurried down the hall, the clicks of the other department workers followed behind you, eager for the newest and juiciest chisme. The sight before you made you stop dead in your tracks. Roberto was holding Tania by the waist, apparently the only thing that was keeping her away from Silvia, who was on the other side of the room crying and grabbing her head. There was a trail of silver thread between the two hysterical women. No, not thread - hair.

"She cut my hair! She came up behind me and cut my hair!"

"She's a traitor and, more importantly, a whore! I should've slit her throat."

Katerina had finished ushering everyone who didn't work there out of the room, and now she was standing in the middle of the room ready to mediate.

"You two have 5 minutes to explain what the hell happened and why I shouldn't fire you."

Tania had calmed, no longer straining against an iron grip and gaze filled with slightly less murderous intent. She released the clump of hair that she had in her hand onto the floor, revealing the absolute carnage that had taken place. Safe to say Silvia was going to be rocking a pixie cut for the next few weeks. Both of the girls remained silent. The prisoner's dilemma in real time. Katerina clicked her tongue after the moment of silence and simply said, "Roberto."

You could swear you saw a smile on his face briefly before he cleared his throat and began.

"Tania gave the new girl a note with her phone number in it to send to Pedri. Pedri texts the phone number, but instead of addressing it correctly, he says-"

"HEY SILVIA. THIS MORNING HE TEXTS MY NUMBER WITH HER NAME." Tania's outburst had everyone stand up, fearing that she was going to lunge. She remained in place, but no one sat back down.

"So you decided to attack her because he can't tell you two apart?"

"She must have done something to my note. She-"

"No." Katerina interrupted. "I have hear enough. Both of you are no longer working on any project Pedro Gonzalez is involved in."

Protests came from both of the girls, suddenly sullen and docile. They began to plead to be punished with anything else, but not exile from their favorite footballer. As they whimpered to your boss, who reminded them they were lucky to still be employed, it dawned on you. This morning. He texted who he thought was Silvia this morning. In response to a flirty message. After he left your bed. Maybe before he had even left the apartment.

There it was again. The nausea. The urge to projectile vomit. All because of Pedro Gonzalez. Fuck a nickname. He was a rich fuckboy that had played you like a fiddle. You held the tears back as you went back to fabric swatches, taking a moment to block him on Instagram.

"So, how does it feel to be Pedri's personal stylist now?" Katerina startled you, and the shock caused a delay in processing what she had just said.

"His what?"

"Well, now that those two are not allowed to be within 50 meters of him, it's only you and Maria working the Adidas contract. Especially now that Roberto is part of the Olympics team. So you get Pedri, and she gets Bellingham. Perfect, no?"

You nodded, swallowing hard to push the bile back down. This very unfortunate one night stand maybe have been the worst idea you have ever had. You walked through the rest of the day with disgust and rage flowing through you. You decided to brave the cold of the November afternoon and walk home, stopping by a bakery to get something with chocolate to keep the tidal wave of intense depression at bay.

How could this be happening? You weren't this girl. You weren't someone who let yourself be gullible and played. Hell, you had gone the last four years with all of Texas and parts of Mexico vying for your affection. But this little Spanish boy took advantage of the connection you felt, and he had barely left your bed before starting to text your coworker. Your phone buzzed with several messages in rapid succession.

[Pedro Gonzalez]: My agent just told me you were my own personal stylist

[Pedro Gonzalez]: that's good to hear.

[Pedro Gonzalez]: At least I'll have a friend at all these long and boring photoshoots

No mention of the night before. No "I had a good time". No question about your wellbeing. Nothing except his own self interest. How the situation would be good for him. Again. You felt awful as you pushed a teenage boy out of the way, barely making it into the bathroom before throwing your guts up. What the hell. How did you manage to fuck up so poorly so quickly? It was day damn one. And now you were throwing up in a bakery bathroom in Spain because of a man that's 5'9". You sat at a table, cake and coffee cooling in front of you. You didn't trust your legs or your stomach just yet, so you decided to type out a response instead.

Pedri was in overall low spirits. His injury had had another flare up, causing him to limp to the locker room. The email from his agent brightened his day, as he saw your name in the email. He shot a quick text your way, excited at the prospect of seeing you again, only to sour at the response.

[Naranja]: dont speak to me pedro

[Naranja]: we are not friends

[Naranja]: and we never will be

[You can no longer send messages to this user]

~~~

A/N: Here it is! The first part of the new series! Just some preemptive answers: I don't know what my posting schedule will look like and idk how many parts it's going to be. I hope you enjoy this first part. It might be a little rushed because I just wanted to set up the main story. Please let me know your thoughts in comments and asks! I'll try to reply to as many as I can. I love you all <3

Palestine: I will try to donate $1 for every comment that has a watermelon or an olive in it. I will keep y'all updated with how it goes.

Here are some more links to please please please look at while you're here.

Care for Gaza: an org that has been getting help and aid to people on the ground -> https://www.gofundme.com/f/careforgaza

Daily click that donates money to help Palestinians -> https://arab.org/click-to-help/palestine/

[schlatt-love-bot]

Chuckle Diner (Prologue)

so, i've been a little influenced by my current obsession with bistro huddy on tiktok as well as a few ideas i've seen floating around here on tumblr of executive chef!schlatt x hostess!reader, and thus chuckle diner was born. this is simply the prologue—the first chapter i'm hoping to post some time this weekend!! enjoy, and let me know your thoughts below~

Moving to a new city was never easy, especially when you just up and left your old life behind. Fresh starts were exciting to you—you enjoy the thrill of meeting new people, making new connections, and the idea of starting over again—but no one warned you before you left your small town two states over how hard it would be to adjust to life when you had little to no money left in your savings. 

“I don’t know, man. I just thought things would click for me when I left home. I thought the puzzle pieces would start fitting into place, that life would get easier.” You sighed, sipping the last few drops of your drink before putting the empty glass back on the bar and turning to the patron beside you. 

“Well, I think you’re just not putting in the effort to make things better. Have you even considered starting to look for any jobs around here, (Y/N)? I can’t keep supplying you with free drinks forever.” Charlie let out a chuckle before signaling to the bar tender to serve you both one more drink and then to give him his tab. Charlie was one of the first people you met in this small town, at this exact bar where you two sat now. He was one of the only people in the place to go out of his way to talk to you—and not just outright flirt with you like the other fine specimens in the joint had done. Needless to say the two of you hit it off, and you’ve made a pact with him to meet at the bar at least once a week to check in and see how one another is doing. 

“Well…I haven’t exactly started…it’s just hard! I’m not really qualified for much, I just barely graduated high school, and I never went off to college…” Your voice trailed off, while Charlie shook his head. 

“You know, this diner down the way is actually looking to hire, I’m a regular there since a couple of my other friends work there. Maybe you can apply there!” He says, a glimmer of hope in his eyes as you take a moment to consider his proposal. 

“A diner Charlie? Really? I’m not fit to be in the kitchen, and I’m not the most coordinated person in the world so being a server is definitely out.” You said, looking at him with disappointment. 

“Good thing for you the position they're looking to fill is for a hostess, and they’re in desperate need. Swing by tomorrow morning and I can guarantee you’ll be getting yourself a job.” He says, finding a pen and a scrap piece of paper on the edge of the bar to write down the location of this diner before sliding it over to you, finishing his drink, and leaving you to ponder. 

Chuckle Diner, you read in your mind. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give it a chance in the morning. 

__________________________________________________________

prologue complete! let me know what y'all think!! i'm really excited about the potential this series has!

[sophietv]

It's not about kaylor but I really want to know about the song all too well. Who is it about? I think Jake G was PR. And the lyrics doesn't fit the Taymily narrative either. This song and the relationship seems very important to her. It hurt her badly. I am asking you because you always make very informative and reliable post that makes sense and closest to the truth.

Also who is Dear John about? Is it really John Mayer? Her only straight relationship I believe in is Joe Jonas.

Hi!

Thank you sooo much for saying that! It means a lot. I really can't claim that my theories are always 1000% right, but I do make a lot of research before posting, and try to cross check everything.

2. I must admit that when you asked the question, I did not have real solid theories or evidence to give you. I was even bending toward telling you that the song might be about Lizz since the timestamp of the song on Spotiy is 5:27 = Lizz birthday.

3. Considering that Taylor wrote this during Speak Now Era and that Lizz was present during that Era, well it doesn't fit the narrative of the song being about a relationship that has ended some time ago. And also, it would have been really weird to write this song during rehearsal where Lizz was present, if it was about her...

But thanks to you! I did a lot of research to try and find evidences (I read all the timelines but I'm not that well verse in what came before Kaylor and Swiftgron).

I asked what my groupchat thought about this.

Re-read the Taymily Masterpost (X)

Read and watched Taymily interviews

And now! I can say with more confidence, that I'm pretty sure this song is about Emily Poe, her fiddle player that worked with her from 2006-2008.

Now. Here's the evidences:

First. As pointed out by my group chat, the song does not seem to fit Tayliz dynamic. It seems to be talking about a complicated relationship with someone older.

As by the lyrics "you said if we were closer in age, maybe it would have been fine"

So first thing I did is look back as to when it was written.

Here's a piece of interview I found:

Thanks to this post: (X)

We know that she wrote it during her reheasal in 2011.

Because here's when David Cook started working with her:

And here's the date of his first show in the Phillipines:

February 2011....

Then, I did a little digging on what was going on with Emily at the time:

And oh does it get interesting!!

Here's an Emily's interview I found (X)

And here's what she was doign in February 2011!!! (I'm excited of the evidence I've found, does it show lol) :

"Two thousand eleven was a big year for me. I became engaged in February, graduated law school in May, took the bar in July, and Eli and I were married in November.”

What did Taylor said?: "I was feeling terrible about what was going on in my personal life"

What if she just learned about Emily's engagement???

And to make it even more interesting. Here's a journal entry with the first lyrics of All Too Well:

Confirming that it was written in 2011.

This is inchteresting.

But it gets better!

Because, before last year, Emily's Pinterest was public. And on her wedding board, she did save a picture with a red scarf....

It's not Emily, it's just a picture that she had saved in her Pinterest. Thanks to Kate for giving me this!

But what if the red scarf was really just to tie the song to Jake???

Here's another interesting thing I've found in the Taymily timeline:

This letter is from the video she made to Emily when she left, with everyone having "I love you Emily" signs.

It says:

“Emily– I feel as if our relationship has been taken to the next level over the past few months and with much contemplation I decided I would bestow upon you one of my most prized possession: my flamingo bandana. This is a 3rd generation family heirloom and i suggest you frame it. I think it will look perfect in your apartment with the cat pillows. Enjoy”

Inchteresting....is the red scarf a bandana??

Also. We know that All Too Well was really significant for Taylor and that for a long time, she was not able to sing it without crying...

So it's about a relationship that had a big impact on her life.

Very recently. Like in June, Taylor performed the song Breathe as a surprise song and very clearly cried during that performance.

The next day, we learned that the day before the show, Emily did this post on Facebook:

Breathe was heavily rumored to be about Emily back when Fearless came out. But Colbie confirmed it with Fealess Taylor's Version in an interview when she said that it was about something that was going on with one of Taylor's band membre.

So yeah... this would make way more sense being about Emily and having Taylor be emotional singing it for a long time.

Than the song being about a relationship that lasted 3 months.

Of course I can't know for sure for all her relationships...

But most of them I believe was PR. Like the one she had with Jake.

Thanks for the question! It was really interesting doing all those research!

ADDITION!! : It just hit me but! The line "And you call me up again just to break me like a promise"

Fits perfectly with Emily calling her to tell her about the engagement! omg...

SECOND ADDITION: This morning when I woke up, I thought about two things that points to Emily!

1. Taylor turned 21 in 2010, 2 months before writing All Too Well.

"And you call me later and say sorry I didn't make it and I say I'm sorry too" from The Moment I Knew

to two months later:

"And you called me up again just to break me like a promise"

2. The night Taylor sang Breathe and looked devastated after Emily's Facebook post. She also sang All Too Well looking REALLY MAD.

People have all noted it.

Look: (X)

This solidifies even more that All Too Well is about Emily for me...

[allwormdiet]

Agitation 3.1

Got waylaid by work and brain weather, but we're back to it. Let's see how Taylor's life is going

Her routine has come up before, but it bears saying that I think Taylor's actual superpower might just be that she's a morning person who can hold herself to accomplish daily goals, like goddamn girl

The constant, casual cruelty that makes up so much of Taylor's history is equal parts saddening and infuriating. I'm sure we'll get an explanation for why the bullies do this to her, I think I've said as much in previous posts, but also as mentioned in previous posts I find it aggravating to endure.

...I don't know if this is quite the right place in my reading to speculate on it, but I'm not sure if Taylor even has a shot at university at this point, even setting aside the cape thing. The bullies are all in her year, which means they'd never be separated from her by graduation. Their constant sabotage and harassment would mean her grades are low, so even if she gets into a college with whatever GPA she can bodge together (and no extracurriculars to pad her application out), she's probably not going to earn any scholarships and money's already pretty tight for the Heberts. That means student loans, and probably shit rates considering the world they're in.

Maybe this is my bitter ass reflecting on how the greatest benefits I got out of going to college were completely incidental to the courses I took or the degree I earned, but... Taylor, I know college meant a lot to your mom, I just don't think that path is nearly as open to you as it used to be. I think it's fine to just learn a trade, and I think it's fine if the trade is armed robbery.

So you're telling me Taylor's self-image used to be worse? Jeeesus

I like that Brian knows how to blend into an environment as the situation calls for it. That speaks to a pretty keen observational ability, and also is maybe tied to his need to act more grown-up than he is. And now I'm sad again.

"I want" is cute, embarrassment is for suckers (I say, easily embarrassed)

I don't even like coffee, but a fifteen dollar coffee had better be the best coffee you've ever had, oh my god

And honestly that must have been weird for every member of the team, just suddenly having money not be a problem anymore. Taylor's holding out for now, although I suspect it won't be that way forever, and everyone else either wants or needs it bad enough for their own ends that I don't think they're gonna think about it too hard (except for Lisa, who has the full context and whose power is thinking too hard)

Taylor please don't undersell your injuries to your teammates, I don't like you doing it with your dad but I understand it. Here though? Come onnnnn

Yeah there we go

Violence is an easy language to understand. Cruel, obviously, and painful, but if Rachel is already struggling with other people's words and feelings (five bucks says she's autistic tbh) then getting the shit kicked out of her is probably a better sell on the new recruit than any pretty speech

...Ideally they move past that pretty quick so words can be used again

Also poor Rachel, for real. Ten years in the system and then whatever it was that triggered her powers, which is obviously never good. No wonder she came out the other end more willing to trust dogs than people.

Ugh, my heart

Is she showing off for the guy she's crushing on? That's adorable

Curious that the limits of her power seem to be based on complexity of the brain. I assume there has to be a brain at all or else she could just shoot germs at people, although that'd also be a little bit inefficient as a power unless she started getting into disease warfare and holy shit this would be a very different story if Taylor could give people smallpox

Gotta be a weird day for the crab though

Couple things here

Brian you're not even eighteen yet as far as I know, what the hell

Of course Lisa cheated, she's built to cheat, at that point I'm not sure it even counts as cheating

Knowing what I know about Alec, somehow I doubt he was ever in school to drop out in the first place

...on the flipside I'm a little surprised that Rachel never went during her time in the system, you'd figure that'd be a condition of her fostering but either the guardians didn't give a shit or she fought her way out of ever actually attending

Also, I know it's a matter of course that she'd have a key to the base, but it's sweet all the same

It's nice of Brian to make this offer, although I'm willing to bet it's because he's the only Undersider who would get up before 6 AM. It's also a pretty smart call to keep her up to date this way

Also very funny that Taylor is like "Oh I like Lisa just fine but she scares the shit out of me"

...Also also, for real, Lisa has to already know what's going on with Taylor right? There's no way Taylor's good enough at lying to bury that one.

Girl I'm dreading it and I'm just reading about it

This is just. So goddamn sad. And maddening, to boot.

Gee Taylor you sure to seem to spend a fair amount of time thinking about the comparative attractiveness of other women

Agonizing, though, for real. Wildbow has knocked every school scene out of the park and I hate it.

I wonder if Taylor's gonna even bother coming back to school at this point. First day she left mid lunch, second day she left right after lunch started, here she's splitting before first period. As much as she clings to this side of her life... I don't know if it's any healthier than full-time villainy.

Go blow off steam with your new friends Taylor

Current Thoughts

I actually don't have any real expectations for this arc going into it. Obviously Arc 1 is the start of... I mean kind of everything, and Arc 2 is made up of the immediate aftermath from those events. This one? I dunno. I was a little worried I'd have to deal with another chapter of Winslow, but it looks like Taylor decided she was sick of that shit

I like Brian, but I think mostly I'm worried for him? This is a lot of effort so far made to seem mature and normal, and I don't know if that's possible for a teenager who goes out to be a supervillain. It's admirable in a sense, but I'm worried about how fragile it leaves him.

I don't love that Rachel seems satisfied by an exchange of violence but that's more bc I don't want these kids beating the shit out of each other, not any kind of "this is bad actually" sense.

Other than that I'm mostly just curious what the rest of this arc looks like. Thank fuck it's not more high school.

Oh, yeah, I'm gonna try and read more at work today, I might take my screenshots then and see if they drive me up a wall, but even if so I'll just retake them when I get home. Fingers crossed work is slow enough for it.

[thenightfolknetwork]

I've got kind of a big dilemma here. I've always assumed i was sapio and just strange. I've never liked lying, and I have some weird allergies so my diet's pretty low sodium and we don't have cast iron pans but other than that my life has been pretty "typical", for lack of a better word. But I graduated last year, so my parents were going through baby pictures, and my dad pulled one out I'd never seen before from the day I was born and the baby in the photo was Not Me. Like one thousand percent definitely not me. I mentioned it, and my mom freaked out and told me not to be ridiculous and buried the picture at the bottom of the box. But I know when I'm being lied to, and there is no way that's a picture of me. And the other day I got a box in the mail that smelled like pine sap and lilacs and the ground after it rains, and there was a letter and a stone with a perfectly round hole in it inside. I'm adopted, apparently, and the stone is supposed to help me see hidden things until my eyesight improves. My bio family has invited me to a party on the spring equinox so I can meet them. But I have this sinking feeling that if I go they're not going to let me go back home? I love the parents who raised me and I don't want to leave them, but I do also want to meet my bio family and my "twin" (the baby from the picture who I guess is about my age now?). Do you have any advice for how to set the proper boundaries with my bio family so I can meet them without losing the life I've been raised in?

I'm afraid I don't quite follow your thinking here, reader.

Infant substitution is practised in a variety of different cultures on this plane of existence and several others. Without more information about your biological family's background, I am hesitant to make any sweeping proclamations about their specific practices. That said, I see no reason in your letter to assume they are planning a spot of interplanar kidnapping to usher in the equinox.

There are a few tangible signs they might not be being entirely honest about their intentions - if they are insisting you wear specific clothing and jewellery for the event (undyed, natural fibres, for example, or a crown of columbine and foxglove) or if they are at all cagey about the details of any rituals and ceremonies involved in the celebration, for example.

But without these red flags, I'm afraid you may be falling victim to nothing more or less than a rather pernicious strain of anti-liminal scaremongering.

By all means, ask your relatives about any etiquette you might need to be aware of, and whether the event will include a formal refutation of obligatory reciprocity. These perfectly ordinary things to take into account before travelling to another realm. Indeed, if your biological family shows any reluctance in answering, that might be another red flag.

Beyond these formalities, though, you run the risk of causing serious offence if you show up at the equinox celebrations with pockets full of salt and breadcrumbs, refusing to eat or drink and festooned in protective amulets.

With all due kindness and respect, I urge you to consider where these ideas and anxieties have their roots. Regardless of your true genus, you have been raised in a profoundly sapio-centric society. We are none of us immune to the prejudices and preconceptions taught to us by the society we're steeped in.

But we do have a choice about if and how we carry those ideas with us in the future. Take the time to educate yourself on infant substitution in general and, if possible, on your biological family's culture in particular. I think you'll soon find these fears are unfounded.

Finally, please, don't be too hard on yourself for internalising these misconceptions. We can't help the world we were raised in or the assumptions it taught us. But we do have the power to unlearn those harmful patterns of thought, and to work together to create a better present.

[For more creaturely advice, check out Monstrous Agonies on your podcast platform of choice, or visit monstrousproductions.org for more info]

[theygotlost]

ohhhhhh my god guys I gotta give you an update but i need to explain my entire job history for the past year first cause its a little confusing uh.

so feb-may I did this internship at this real estate digital marketing firm and I was just making social media graphics there. just instagram stories and shit. and it was boring as hell but I needed to find a job cause I was graduating, and I was hoping they would hire me but they didnt have the space for a new full time employee at the time so... that was a bust.

in june and july I was applying to jobs foreverrrrr and getting nowhere so I said fuck it i need SOMETHING to hold me over, so I started working in the print department at staples as you are all well aware. at least it would be relevant enough to put on my resume cause I do want to make print graphics right? so its something.

then like 6 weeks ago my manager from the internship reached out to me and said she wanted to take me back part time after all. so for the past month and a half I've been working 2 part time jobs, one at staples and one at this marketing office doing the exact same fuckass ig stories as before. i wont lie its been exhausting and unsustainable so I was still applying for other full time design jobs cause I had no idea how long I could keep this up.

about 3 weeks ago I got an interview for one of those jobs I applied for and they explained that they were actually looking for a senior designer which obviously im not qualified for, but they liked my portfolio enough that they wanted to consider CREATING a junior designer role for me which was CRAZYYY to hear... it's a hawaiian bbq restaurant chain and I'm definitely wayyy more interested in designing for food and beverage stuff than real estate, plus a few other aspects about the job sounded really appealing to me and the interview went great so I was really hoping to get that job. but then I didn't hear back and Im so desensitized to getting ghosted after interviews i stopped getting my hopes up a long time ago.

a week and a half ago management at my real estate job told me that they were finally ready to bring me on full time, and since it didnt seem like I had any other prospects I wasnt really in a position to turn it down, so I immediately accepted and put in my 2 weeks at staples. this saturday will hopefully be the last day i ever have to work retail forever. I didnt make any announcement here when I found out because its honestly been making me depressed thinking about doing nothing but making fuckass instagram stories for ugly real estate companies 40 hours a week and people congratulating me on it would just make me more depressed. I wasn't supposed to start full time there until the monday after thanksgiving so ive still been doing my double part time grind.

but then......

whats that....???

THE HAWAIIAN BBQ RESTAURANT ENTERS WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!!

after weeks of no response the hr guy finally gave me a call just now to tell me I GOT THE JOB?!??! i genuinely honestly did not think they were gonna give me an offer and was just gonna move on with my life 😭 so now im gonna have to walk into my office tomorrow morning and say SIKE!!! and theyre all gonna be so mad at meeeee but this is genuinely such a better position for me I didnt think this was gonna happen for another year at least....

tldr I thought i was gonna be stuck with a job i dont like but I ended up getting the job I want!!!!!!!!

[helloalycia]

watching TV [one] // kate bishop

summary: everything seems like it's going perfectly in your life – your girlfriend, your best friend, your job – until it's not. After your girlfriend breaks up with you so suddenly, you're left trying to understand what the problem was, but Kate is there to make it all better.

warning/s: mention of a breakup, mild violence and injury.

author’s note: i’ve literally had this in my drafts for so long and finally managed to finish it. It’s based off/inspired by the song ‘Watching TV’ by Sara Kays – feel free to listen to it whilst you read (I’ve popped the song below). Hope you enjoy!

two / three / masterlist / wattpad

"Are you really just going to sit here and keep buying coffee, Kate?" I ask my very determined best friend with amusement.

"Well, I got told off last time for staying all day and not buying more than one drink, so yeah," she replies like it's obvious. "And I don't want you to get fired because of it, so duh. I'd buy the whole menu if it meant we could hang out, Y/N."

I roll my eyes, feeling my smile widen at how cute she could be sometimes. I worked in a coffee shop and, since graduating, I'd been increasing my hours to pay rent which meant I was spending less time with Kate than usual. So, naturally, her solution was to hang out with me at work.

"You're cute, I'll give you that," I say, shooting her an appreciative look, before setting her third cup of coffee down before her. "Please don't have a caffeine overdose for my sake though."

She grabs my hand and puts it on her chest. "You feel that? It's a little too late."

I laugh when I feel the faint thrumming of her heart in her chest, faster than it should be. "Wow. I'm definitely cutting you off now."

"The things we do for love." She flashes me a grin and I shake my head with dismay.

Before I can think to say anything else, I glance behind her and my smile widens when I spot my girlfriend entering through the front door. She looks around, mirroring my smile when she spots me, too.

"Hannah, what are you doing here?" I ask with surprise.

She leans forward to kiss my cheek, making me grow warm at the contact. "I was running some errands and thought I'd stop by. Also just wanted to double check we were still on for tonight."

"Of course we are. I'm looking forward to it. Already got the snacks in and the films ready to go," I answer excitedly, meeting her brown eyes.

We'd planned for her to stay over at mine tonight and have a movie night just because, and to say I was looking forward to it was an understatement.

"Kate, hey, how are you?" Hannah asks politely, noticing her presence before us.

Kate's smile fades slightly and I can tell she's trying to remain civil. "Hey, Hannah... I'm good. And you?"

Hannah gives her a smile. "Doing great..."

It gets awkwardly quiet and I hate that it has to be like this. Hannah and I have been dating for about a year now, but her and Kate have never really gotten along. Or rather, there's just an awkwardness between them that never disappeared with time like I wanted. They both meant a lot to me and so made the effort with one another for my sake, but it's clear they wouldn't choose to converse if they could. I've tried talking to Kate about it, but she claims everything is fine. Same with Hannah. So, I just got used to it.

"Right, well I should get back to work," I break the silence with a small smile, looking between them. "Hannah, c'mon, I'll take your order. And Kate." I give her a warning look. "Last coffee. I mean it."

Her sincerity returns as she challenges my stare. "We'll see."

I scoff gently, leaving her to it as I return to my position at the till. Kate never listens, what can I say? But I won't lie – I love having her around.

As planned, Hannah stays over that same evening, watching films with me and eating way too much junk food to be considered healthy. But it's fun and I have never felt more relaxed, not unless I'm by myself or with Kate.

She stays overnight, sharing bed with me and cuddling to no ends, before I make us both a hearty breakfast and we reside on the couch to watch some midday TV together. Maybe the normalcy of it all is what throws me off – bad things shouldn't happen when everything feels normal. That's the whole point of something being normal, it's not bad. And yet...

"Y/N, I need to tell you something."

I hum in response, not really paying attention as I watch the telly. "Go for it."

Hannah hesitates. "I'm serious."

I furrow my brows slightly, glancing over at her at the change of her voice. "What is it?" When I notice the guilt in her expression, I straighten up and mute the TV, giving her all of my attention. Clearly something is bothering her. "Hey, Hannah, what is it? What's wrong?"

When I grab her hand, hoping to provide some comfort for whatever is bothering her, she pulls hers away.

"I'm breaking up with you."

I blink, taken aback by her bluntness. "You're– you– what?"

It doesn't seem plausible, what she said. Is this a stupid joke? Because it's not funny.

She chews on the inside of her cheek, eyes avoiding mine, and the longer she's quiet, the more my fear builds up that she's being serious.

"I didn't know how else to say it," she says quietly. "But I'm breaking up with you."

It's as if her words aren't quite sinking in because they just don't make sense. Breaking up? We're literally watching TV – how can she be breaking up with me?

"I don't understand," I say slowly, before attempting to reach over for her hand. A strike of hurt passes through me when she yanks her hand away further. "I need you to explain. To talk to me. I'm– what?"

She shakes her head slowly, standing up. I follow her with my eyes, trying to hide the way my breathing is becoming quicker, panicked, worried.

"I can't do this anymore," she says awkwardly, running a hand through her hair. "That's all."

Standing up, I try to step closer to her, unable to acknowledge the truth of the matter which is that she doesn't want to be near me. But how? Why? We were cuddling last night and now she suddenly can't stand me? What?

"Hannah, please give me more than that," I say with a teary smile, confused. "How can you suddenly want to break up? What's going on?"

She clenches her jaw, finally risking a glance my way, and it's like I'm staring at a completely different person. Her eyes are void of love or adoration or anything I feel for her. Has it been like that for a while? Have I never noticed?

"I'm sorry, Y/N," she says, and she sounds anything but, making my heart ache. "I should go."

There are no words to describe the utter disbelief I feel at watching grab her shoes, pulling them onto her feet. She's leaving? That's it? What?

"Wait a minute, Hannah," I say quickly, snapping back into action and following after her. "You're breaking up with me? Just like that? How can you–? I don't understand–"

"I don't love you anymore!" she snaps, making me jump. She swallows hard, exhaling and looking my way with guilty eyes. "I've been trying to tell you for a while now. It just never felt like the right time."

My throat closes up as she stares at me with pity. Shameful warmth creeps onto my cheeks. She doesn't love me anymore?

"That's all," she finishes softly, like it's not a big deal, like my heart isn't shattering at every word she speaks.

"You don't... why would... you..." I swallow thickly, trying to stop my voice from shaking so much. It doesn't help that she's staring at me with pitiful eyes. "What did I do?"

She sighs, rubbing her forehead with her forefinger and thumb. "Nothing. I just... I don't love you anymore."

My vision blurs with tears as I look to the floor, trying to figure out what that means. How can she not love me anymore? We've been fine. Nothing has gotten between us, we literally just hung out all evening. I'm still in love with her – she's my girlfriend. How can she decide she wants to leave all of a sudden?

"I'm sorry," she says once more, but it's mere background noise to my jumbled thoughts. Her hand ghosts my wrist, an apologetic squeeze, before I hear her leaving my apartment.

So, that's it? She leaves? And I'm alone? No explanation, no reason, just that she isn't in love with me anymore?

What?

Before the initial hurt can take over, I'm still very much confused. I try to call her, needing more of an explanation then a mere 'I don't love you anymore'. We've been together for a year – how can she just want to throw that all away? Doesn't she owe me more than a blunt breakup?

When she ignores my calls and texts, merely sending a 'l have nothing more to say, Y/N' text with finality, I realise she's dead serious. This isn't an elaborate prank, nor did she care enough to give me more than what she did. It's over. And I'm just supposed to accept that.

I've had breakups before. One where I've been the dumper, and another where I've been the dumped. Neither have hurt as much as this. I expected those, there were signs there. Lack of communication, the feeling like we were drifting apart, the bickering... it was obvious when my previous relationships were coming to an end. But this one came out of nowhere. I had no chance to prepare, to tell myself to stop loving her back.

I shouldn't spend my time wondering why, but it's all that's on my mind. If I'm not crying in my room, missing someone who doesn't want me anymore, then I'm wondering: why? What was the reason? She doesn't love me anymore, but there has to be a reason why.

Something about me isn't good enough for her. Something about me is so undesirable that she stopped loving me. What? Was it that time I showed up late to dinner and left her waiting fifteen minutes? Was it that time I disagreed with the way she spoke to her mum and we argued briefly about it afterwards?

It's so easy to reflect on every disagreement, every minor argument, every time I could have pissed her off... one of those times must have been it for her. The reason she called it quits.

What is it?

As if getting broken up with isn't embarrassing enough, it had to be by the girl my best friend never approved of. Such a cliché, right? That should have been an instant red flag, the girlfriend not being approved by the best friend. And yet I still went for it.

The last thing I want is for Kate to find out, for her to think that she was right. She'd never say it, but just her thinking it would be enough to make me feel even shittier. She'll have to find out eventually, but for now, it's better to keep to myself. Besides, I'm definitely not in the mood to face anybody at the moment, so I try to stick to myself.

Whenever she asks to hang out, I give her some lame excuse why I can't. Half the time it's because I'm actually working, but she'd never know the difference. If I'm not doing that, I spend my time applying for better jobs that actually utilise my degree whilst questioning every aspect of my relationship. How hadn't I seen it coming? Hannah had just woken up one day, looked at me and decided she couldn't love me anymore.

Yeah, it's safe to say I've never felt worse.

Of course, soaking in self-pity doesn't go down so easily when your best friend is as persistent as she is.

I don't know why I expect anything less from Kate, who is the definition of a hyperactive puppy, but I'm still surprised when she visits me at work one afternoon.

"Kate? What are you–? What are you doing here?"

She quirks a brow as she shoots me an amused smile. "Don't act too surprised."

I clear my throat, straightening up. "Sorry, I– sorry, just, what's up? How did you know I was working?"

"We'll, you've only been saying you're busy with work every time I want to hang out with you, so I thought I'd stop by," she says dramatically and with an easygoing smile. "That okay?"

I nod, looking down at the till. "Yeah, of course. Sorry."

She pauses, so I look up to see her humour is gone, replaced with concern. "Hey, are you okay? You seem preoccupied."

I force a smile, not wanting to get into this now and definitely not ready to tell her about the breakup when it's still so fresh. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Just tired from all the shifts, sorry."

She dips her head to find my eyes, her blue ones flickering between mine worriedly. With a low voice, she says, "What's with all the extra shifts? Do you need money? Because you know I'll always help you, Y/N."

I shake my head, widening my smile and hoping it looks genuine. "Kate, I'm fine, don't worry. Now, come on. What can I get you?"

She chews on her lip, no doubt about to retort, but thankfully she decides not to and instead orders her drink. After moving to go get it ready, I sigh inwardly, knowing I need to make more effort with her. She'll definitely suspect something if I keep avoiding her.

It's hard to focus on applying for jobs when you're definitely not in the mood to, but I still force myself to at least dedicate a few hours a day to searching and starting some applications. After all, I don't want to be working at a coffee shop forever.

I'm at home doing just that when Kate messages me, asking if I'm at home. After telling her I am, she invites herself over and I can't exactly stop her, even though I'd rather just be alone, so I tell her okay and throw on a more presentable outfit (AKA putting on pants).

When there's a knock at the door, I roll off my bed and answer it, unable to stop the small smile appearing on my face at the sight of Kate. Even though I haven't been myself lately, she always manages to make everything a little better without even realising.

"Hey," I say, stepping to the side to let her in. "How you doing?"

I notice she's wearing her Avengers sweatshirt and joggers which is just a black outfit with the Avengers logo printed on the corner.

"You been at the Compound?" I ask, closing the door after she steps in.

"Hey, yeah," she starts, sounding a little distracted.

"Oh, cool." I lead her to the couch as I ask, "So, how was training or whatever it is that Avengers do?"

It's supposed to be lighthearted but she doesn't fall into it like she usually does, leaving me curious.

"What?" I ask when she begins to frown at me.

She hesitates, eyes flickering to the spot behind me briefly, before saying, "I bumped into Hannah on the way back to my place before."

And as if somebody flicks a switch, any comfort I feel is immediately gone at the mention of my ex's name. Judging by Kate's face, she knows. And I don't know what's worse – the look she's giving me or the possible thoughts running through her head about me.

"Y/N...," she says gently, stepping forward. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrug indifferently, avoiding her sympathetic stare. "It didn't come up."

Kate raises her brows with slight disbelief. "Y/N."

I put my hands behind my back nonchalantly, trying to hide my fidgeting. "What did she say?" I ask.

She bites her lip, eyes studying me in a concerned way but one that only leaves me embarrassed.

"I was saying hello to her to be polite," she answers reluctantly. "And then I asked about you, if you were okay because you've been distracted lately and I thought she might know more than I do. But then she got all awkward and said she wouldn't know. So, obviously, I said what? And she–" She frowns. "She said she broke up with you like three weeks ago."

I close my eyes, wincing with embarrassment. She said that? If there was any way I wanted Kate to find out, this was the last.

"Y/N, what the hell?" Kate says, making me open my eyes to see her confusion. "What happened?"

I push my hair from my eyes and try to remain calm, but the feelings are bubbling away on the surface again and I begin to feel uncomfortable. "It's not a big deal. It was just a breakup. I should have known it wouldn't work out."

Should I have?

"What was the reason?" she asks carefully, and I hate that I can't answer that because I don't know. That's what hurts the most.

How do I explain to Kate that something about me wasn't enough for Hannah to love so she left me instead?

"Please can we just forget about it?" I plead quietly, risking a glance in Kate's direction. "I know this is the part where you say 'I told you so', but I'm–"

"Hey, no, stop it," she cuts me off, resting her hand on my shoulder and dipping her head to meet my gaze. "That's not even a thought of mine right now. I'm just worried about you... how are you?"

I flash her a forced smile, nodding. "I'm fine, Kate, see?"

It's a terrible attempt to convince her, but it's easier than telling her exactly how I'm feeling. I hope she doesn't push it, but she does one better and pulls me in for a hug. I didn't realise how much I needed it until she's wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight and providing a warmth I so dearly missed. I relax at the feeling, tucking my head into her shoulder and revelling in her care.

"Seriously, what happened?" she asks softly.

I don't let go of her, not yet. But she deserves an answer. And maybe I'm sick of bottling it all up.

"I don't know," I admit quietly, voice breaking embarrassingly enough.

She's patient, letting me hold her for a moment longer as I gather the courage to face her. It's not about her – Kate and I are close enough for me to tell her my deepest, darkest secrets. It's more about how embarrassing it is to be in this situation in the first place.

"She just broke up with me," I finally speak once I pull away from Kate's embrace. Her blue eyes watch me, hanging onto my every word, and it feels good to say it aloud even though my heart still breaks reliving it. "There wasn't any warning. And when I asked her why, she said– she said she didn't love me anymore. Just like that."

Okay, so saying it aloud doesn't feel good. I take it back.

"Sorry," I say when I realise tears are rolling down my face and my nose is all stuffy. Backing up, I look away and wipe my face with my sleeves. "I don't mean to be all gross. It's embarrassing, I know–"

"No it's not," she says quickly, shaking her head and watching me with a softened stare. "Is that why you didn't tell me? Because you were embarrassed?"

I exhale deeply, not knowing what to say because, funnily enough, I'm still embarrassed.

"Y/N," she urges, grabbing my hand, but I pull back gently, ashamed of the pity.

"Yes, that's why I didn't tell you," I tell her with a frown, meeting her gaze through blurred vision. "How isn't it completely and utterly humiliating, Kate? She broke up with me because she suddenly woke up one day, looked at me and thought 'nope, don't love her!' Something about me is unloveable, clearly. How isn't that embarrassing?"

Kate steps forward, grabbing my hand and squeezing it before I can let go. "Are you insane, Y/N? That's not true at all, not one bit!"

I scoff quietly, looking away from her. She only tugs me closer by my hand, forcing me to look at her.

"Who the hell in their right mind would fall out of love with you?!" she exclaims, throwing a hand up in the air. "There's clearly something wrong with her! You're amazing!"

I roll my eyes, finding it difficult to believe her. Besides, she's biased. As a best friend, she's not exactly going to put me down, is she?

"This isn't an 'I told you so' moment," she says adamantly, before pulling me into another hug, holding me so tight that I'm surprised she cares this much at all. "I'm here for you. I care about you and I wish you'd told me so you didn't have to go through it alone... please, don't push me away."

It's impossible not to love her right now, not when she's reminding me exactly how lucky I am to have her in my life.

"Thanks," I mutter into her shoulder. "I just... I don't want to talk about it."

I feel her nod in response before she pulls away and holds me at arm's length. I can't read her expression, surprisingly enough, but then she offers me a comforting smile and I almost regret not telling her in the first place.

That's Kate Bishop for you.

Since Kate discovered the truth, it's easier to just be me... the distant, moody, sulking version that is. I don't expect to feel better straight away, but it sucks being sad and I hate that I can't do much about it. I don't want it to consume me though, so I try not to distance myself from the people in my life, people like Kate. I try to keep my promise of letting her in and not pushing her away, but it's too easy to sulk.

"Did you see that, Y/N?! Clint taught me that one!"

I look up when I realise Kate is talking to me, jumping up and down with excitement, bow and arrow in hand. She invited me to hang out with her at the Avengers Compound whilst she gets some archery training in. She knows how much I love messing around with her whenever she invites me, but today I'm just not feeling it and I may or may not have been zoning out a little.

"I... sorry, Kate, I must have missed it," I admit with an apologetic smile. "Bet it was great though."

Her smile fades as she tilts her head, studying me. I know what she's thinking and look away, deciding that maybe I should leave if I'm just bringing the mood down. But then she skips over to me lightheartedly, taking a seat beside me.

"Hey," she says softly, tapping my knee with her forefinger.

I look over at her and she's already smiling my way, eyes looking up at me as she's leaned down, trying to catch my attention. Admittedly, my lips curl upwards.

"I want to take you to the fair that's happening in Central Park," she continues, straightening up in her seat, never looking away from me.

I exhale sharply, trying not to laugh. "I don't think I'd be very good company."

She lifts a brow hopefully. "Please?"

As much as I don't want to attend a fair, Kate's cute pout is very convincing, and I find myself sighing quietly, giving in with a nod. Her smile widens shamelessly before she pulls me in for a hug.

"Gross, Kate, c'mon," I whine petulantly, attempting to shove her away because she's all sweaty from training.

She only laughs and hugs me even tighter, winning against my useless attempts to fight her. I roll my eyes, pouting, but I'd be lying if said I didn't love it.

A few nights later is when the fair takes place and I realise what I've agreed to. The only reason I bother getting ready and not completely bailing is Kate's texts all day telling me how excited she is. For her sake, I try my best to push away my grumpiness as of late so we can actually have a good time.

I'm waiting for her outside my apartment building so we can go together when I spot her approaching.

"Somebody took their time," I joke when I see her.

"My bad," she chuckles nervously, stopping before me, and my eyes widen when I spot the cuts sprinkled over her face, covered by little bandages.

I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Raising my hand instinctively, I have to stop myself from touching her cuts, fingers hovering over them.

"For God's sake, Kate, can't you stay out of trouble ever?" I say with annoyance, though the worry I'm trying to disguise is still very much present.

"Nope...?" she says when I lower my hand, grinning sheepishly.

I settle with an eye roll, scoffing quietly. She's always been careless like this, gaining bruise after cut, even before she joined the Avengers. It always worried me, now more so than ever, but she's also unsurprisingly good at staying alive so I can't really say anything. Plus, I'm not too sure she'd listen to me if I tried to stop her from being stupid anyway.

"Come on, let's go!" she changes the subject, tugging at my hand. "I've already got my heart set on a corn dog."

"Yeah, yeah..."

When we reach Central Park, the fair is in full swing, bustling with people, vendors, rides and music playing loudly. It's the most perfect sight, instantly brightening my mood, to my surprise. Kate immediately drags me to the first thing she sees – a corn dog stand – before taking charge the whole evening. We play countless fairground games, hop on a few definitely unsafe rides, hit each other in the bumper cars and eat way too much junk food. I don't think I've enjoyed myself this much since the breakup.

By the time I'm pretty sure we've done everything the fair has to offer, twice over, we find ourselves sat on a bench to get off our feet. Kate is eating from a bag of popcorn whilst I take another look at our winnings from the night – a stuffed toy, some key rings, snacks... pointless stuff, but I can't love it any more than I do.

"You look happy," Kate says, and it takes me a moment to tear my attention away from one of the keyrings I'm studying. She's smiling at me, blue eyes twinkling with the neon lights.

"I am," I say, shrugging.

She purses her lips, looking down. "I missed seeing it."

I look away, unsure what to say but imagining what it must be like for her lately. I haven't exactly been the greatest company, but she's still stuck by me.

"It's not true, y'know," she adds carefully.

"What?"

A pause, and then: "You're not unloveable. I wouldn't be here if you were."

At the mention of my words to her once she'd discovered the truth – my fear, deep down – I close my eyes and sigh quietly. A retort is at the tip of my tongue because no matter how convinced she sounds, I know it's not entirely true. Why else would Hannah simply fall out of love with me? Get bored of me so easily?

But before I can say anything, Kate's hand slips into mine, making me open my eyes with surprise. She takes my other hand, too, forcing me to face her slightly as she watches me with a seriousness she rarely showed.

"It hurts now, but it will get better," she says with complete and utter sincerity, her eyes boring through mine. "What Hannah did was horrible. The way she went about it..." She pauses, looking up with a suppressed scowl. "God, if I could see her again just to give her a taste of her own medicine." Shaking the thought away, she looks to me once more. "But that's besides the point. Don't let it ruin you, Y/N. You're the best. And you deserve the world and every good thing in it, and you'll get it someday. For now... well," she cracks a smile, jokingly, "you'll just have to settle with me.

A small smile tugs at my lips, heart warming at her words.

"You're the last thing from unloveable," she adds, giving me a knowing look.

I'm not sure if I believe her words, but I believe that she believes it, and that's enough for me for now.

"Thank you, Kate," I finally speak, surprised at way my voice breaks. Her words have more of an effect on me than I thought. Embarrassed but smiling nonetheless, I avoid her eyes and pull her in for a hug. "I love you, you know that?"

She snickers, returning my hug. "I know, Y/N. I think you know I love you, too."

I sigh contently, tightening my hold when she tries to pull away. She chuckles quietly, staying put, and I'm grateful because I don't want to let go just yet. She's been here for me when I haven't been myself and I've never felt more gratitude for her than I have right now. What I have here with Kate, this friendship... it's definitely unconditional. It always has been.

[pavo-ocxllus]

« rewind. / pause. / fast forward. »

"ah, you're back." 

shinobu was the first person you saw as you walked through the doors of fontaine legal firm once again. "i won't lie to you, i was starting to think something had happened when you didn't show up until now—halfway through our lunch break."

"i guess i've been that busy, heh..." you rubbed the nape of your neck sheepishly. 

"be careful not to overwork yourself... i know we had just thrown a rookie like you into our messy work situation on the first day, but let me know if you need some time to yourself."

"don't worry about me!" you grinned. "after what i've been through, i can take anything you got!"

the green-haired, young woman smiled, her violet eyes crinkling a bit. "alright then... go ahead and have your lunch break."

"got it!"

"do you need me to get to your cubicle? it should have no name plate on it yet."

you assured her that you'd be fine, and off you went in search for your little office. ah, to be an official attorney! there was nothing like having a well-deserved break after the few hours that gone by... maybe you'd ought to get a little bit more work done to get ahead.

speak of the devil, you've heard your phone buzz from your pocket. fishing it out, you opened it up, seeing you got few texts.

ah, if it isn't by beloved partner! (well, soon-to-be beloved partner, but i digress.)

unfortunately, the lack of evidence for our cases is holding us down. me and my acquaintance are working to search for some (specifically for the case regarding itto) and i was wondering if you would like to join the two of us? it'd serve as a great learning opportunity! ;)

- heizou

the way he questionably texts like he talks and how he somehow got your number we're pushed to the back of your mind when you suddenly heard yanfei from the distance.

"[name]!" before you could greet her back, she cut you off with your news. "great news! we're making a little bit of progress in tartaglia's case!! not-so-great news, he kind of broke out of prison-"

"WHAT—yanfei, you can't just say that-!"

"it's alright!! the police are already on the case... and if he doesn't show up to his court date, he'll get a bench warrant and be back in custody so we could run his trial! though, it isn't exactly guaranteed if we'll ever find him..."

the young attorney started to mutter herself, walking away from your shocked figure as her words started to become more and more incomprehensible.

you sighed to yourself, before looking at your lunch again. this was definitely a matter that would require a better state of mind... and for that, you need to get some food in your system.

unfortunately, your plans to eat were thwarted once more.

"hey."

upon hearing the familiar voice before digging into  the undoubtedly delicious lunch you've packed, you narrowed your eyes before glancing behind you. 'lo and behold, alhaitham was standing before you.

"you."

"i was about to think you've changed after we graduated from law school, but i suppose i'm incorrect," the way he talked never failed to vex you.

did he even work here? maybe shinobu was correct about overworking yourself and you were reaping the consequences of your actions by having delusions. however, it only took a glimpse of his i.d. badge mirroring your nonexistent one to (unfortunately) confirm that he indeed, worked here.

"what do you want?" you asked, then taking your lunch to set it on your lap and started to unpack it—you weren't about to let him further delay your lunch!

"shinobu still insists for me to work with somebody on my case... and given you're not the lead attorney in any cases as far as i know, i'm considering to push our quarreling aside in the name of professionalism."

that was the most eloquence he carried in his voice when he talked to you... but never mind that! 

↳ agree to work with him. perhaps it was about time to set aside your differences and be mature, working adults for once!

↳ you can't—you're dead set on finding tartaglia. something tells you that you won't find him unless you're there yourself... but that could be just uneasiness.

↳ you weren't planning on going with heizou to go evidence hunting—but that seems to be a way more interesting than whatever alhaitham's doing.

↳ you were on your lunch break for a reason! refuse to work with him—you have some more important things to attend to.

𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫? 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞! <𝟑

[fragileizywriting]

watched a recap of a romance erotica book called twisted love and i'd never heard of it up until like yesterday when i watched the video bc i have no idea what's going on in the tik tok world as well as the book world because i'm very bad at doing my hobbies. anyway, jesus christ what a wreck of a book. i can fix this. i can make a better adaption. i can write this story but better.

HERES HOW WE CAN STILL WIN, (felinette version woohoo o/ !!)

marinette, our main character, is a college student going for fashion design in paris at the age of 25. she's bright and bubbly and cheery, who works very hard at school and part-times at her parents bakery. she has a boyfriend— well, had a boyfriend— adrien agreste, known socialite, who had spoken wax of poetry over and over and over about how much he loved her, telling her that as a graduation present he'd buy her a boutique, an apartment, a car...... he decides to ghost everyone in his life after a breakdown, seemingly moving out of the city, for reasons that i haven't figured out just yet. i just need him to kick himself out of this city.

marinette, of course, is heartbroken. this sucks. she's grieving so hard.

enter felix, adrien's identical twin brother who has nothing to do with this, barely existed in her life up until now, but is attempting to snatch his brother right back from whatever dumb, impulsive ridiculous thing he did— adrien had a girlfriend, a solid apartment, a solid life, adrien had mentioned that he was so close to asking marinette to marry him...— finally knocks on marinette's door one afternoon. identical twin yet marinette has barely talked to him; the man's busier than anyone should be reasonably allowed to be, and isn't much of a sunshine as adrien is. i will routinely mention in this book that the light in marinette's livingroom/dining room makes felix's hair look whispy and nearly white against adrien's sure-fire sun-like flare of hair. even though felix's eyes are green just like adrien's, they're somber, and almost bluish at times.

marinette, obviously, wants nothing to do with felix.

"please leave," she tells him, because she's tired and lonely and is craving yet another box of icecream she keeps in the freezer for— well, moments like these, really. apparently. she's going to cry herself asleep for the fourth week in a row. girlboss behavior. "i kind of don't want to deal with your entire family right now."

"i understand," felix says, and he doesn't look all that convincing, because the man is standing there, awkwardly, hands fisted at his sides trying to figure out how to speak to her in a way that implies more than 'i've only ever seen you for a few hours every christmas when adrien invites family over and i'm the only family he has because our parents are all levels of fucked up and we don't really need to talk about this in depth right now'. and then, as a garnish, 'i've always been really thankful that adrien miraculously turned out fine from the whole ordeal considering that i had to go to therapy for multiple years, decades, in fact, to deal with our family, and i always thought he was fine everytime i'd see him probably four times a year, but apparently not, at all, and now i'm stuck dealing with his grieving... ex? girlfriend? ex??? and i don't know how to deal with women at all because i am an introvert the size of the moon but i'm really trying, here'. "i just don't think it's best to leave you alone."

"i'm fine," she replies, completely ignorant to his inner monologue. "i can handle myself. i'm an adult, felix."

and yet felix has the audacity to look— kicked, really. "i'm aware."

"could you give me some space?"

"of course." and then, because felix just apparently is all sorts of weird tricks up his business sleeves, blurts out: "not as much as i've always given you, though. right?"

"what do you mean?"

"i don't feel comfortable just leaving you completely on your own." there is an attempt for marinette to refute, to open her mouth and mention that she's still twenty-five, she's an adult, she's not a baby, and felix refutes it with a hand up in the air. "you're grieving because of my brother and i don't like the idea of not doing something about it."

and so, through reasons that i cannot at all comprehend how i will get here but i have to if i want to match (somewhat) the plot ("plot") points of the original book i'm rewriting, felix ends up (temporarily) moving into an apartment next door, for no other reason other than to make marinette feel safer and comfortable. just stick with me. ideally, there would be a plan of some kind here. for now, since this is only a tumblr post, i can just handwave that away. that's not my problem just now.

some of the main fixes i would make sure to change immediately is to change felix from a "ruthless alpha-lone-wolf dog behavior" to "i'm adrien's older brother (they are still twins but felix will routinely mention he's still the oldest born) and i feel a psychological, traumatic need to take care of him because i can't let my younger brother have any trauma from our parents, i refuse, i refuse, and if that means keeping his life together for him while he's gone, i'll do my best" and that means making sure that marinette is, at the very least, fine and not dead. that's a good plan. but as he spends more and more time with marinette, the more he realizes his mistake; he likes her as a friend, likes her a lot more, is impressed at her skills and slowly starts falling in love with her which is honestly very useful.

at some point, i'd have to have them have a solid "i'm not using you to replace him," she cries. "i just— love you." conversation. it's an important one. and a segue to the back half of the book that is just sex.

another thing that i would change from the original story is the ridiculous b plot of dark secrets and betrayal and incidents, because that's not necessary. i could carry this book entirely on sex alone as well as mutual pining. and felix's sad, kittenlike eyes whenever he's upset.

okay i'm done for now i gotta go clean the kitchen. please enjoy this

[kitkatopinions]

RWBY has been nitpicked to the bone by now. I suppose there's volume 9 but lets be honest not alot of meat to work with there, lots of gristle though. But here's my take. The end where the team arrives at Vacuo doesn't fill me with anticipation like an ending should. I feel more confused than intrigued. Likewise the same for the template preview at RTX. So many unanswered questions and considering the next volume isn't guaranteed, many will likely remain unanswered.

Ah, see, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on nitpicks. I feel like I still have plenty of nitpicking left in me for RWBY. XD

But I completely agree with you on the ending of V9 when they're in Vacuo. First of all, they went where and when they're needed the most, but... Why are they needed? By the look of things, Vacuo is doing way better than expected (because natural consequences don't exist in this show lol,) and honestly the writers have done an incredibly poor job of explaining why these five specific kids who aren't of graduation age and essentially were given their hunter badges because of nepotism and protagonist armor are needed in the war against Salem. Shouldn't they logically have gone somewhere that was in desperate need of any Hunter with a weapon like a village outside of the kingdoms? Or a place dealing with devastating Grimm attacks that a Silver Eyed Warrior could help with? Also, I've been mostly against time travel plots, but 'when you're needed the most' implies that the Tree goddess literally was doing time stuff and dude, when Team RWBY now is needed the most is probably pre-V3 so they can... You know, stop the devastating attack on Beacon that launched the whole war.

Second off, wasn't getting any semblance of an army together even to fight Salem a sure sign of how evil and controlling and oppressive Ironwood was? And yet the sight of ships overhead in Vacuo is supposed to fill us with hope?

Third off, the entire RTX original end for V9 was so bad that it's literally comical. Winter going on about the poor giving martyrs that wanted so much and did so much, Willow hiding out in her little sun hat being mistreated by mean poor people, the little 'remember her message' grafitti as if Ruby said something more than a bunch of confusing stuff and then a half-baked 'everything will be fine' platitude, Qrow being weirdly fine after the supposed death of his beloved nieces... All of it was just so badly done.

And yeah, it's possible that we might not get V10, but I think we probably will. I just don't know if we'll get anything more than V10, so I'm anticipating a major rush job that tries to jam pack in way too much while completely forgetting about tons of things. Then we're going to get a bunch of hate from anti-rwders blaming us and not acknowledging RT's terrible history, the RWBY writers' poorly done work and bad planning, or the fndm putting other people from other fandoms off of rwby as possible reasons why the show didn't last for another ten years. XD

[mmkin]

Forever Clockwork (Dr. Wily x Reader)

Chapter 2 is now up on my AO3 here and also provided here under the cut. Enjoy! Content Warning - none (teen safe, slight flirting)

II

o0o0o0o

Wily's complex of labs, refineries, and production lines is an impressive operation. Yet he's willing to do this time and time again, refusing to let Mega Man or other do-gooder robots keep him down. And there's no doubt that most if not all of this stuff is stolen or recycled. You remember something about a theft at your old company a few years back and wonder if Wily had anything to do with that.

Programming an AI was no simple task, but what was the program without hardware? And the Wily Bots were pretty damn powerful. Then there were all the helper bots scurrying around, performing routine tasks like bees in a hive. Here and there she saw a hint of a skull motif. Some things never change, eh?

“Why do you like skulls and skeletons so much anyway?” you muse as you glance at a half-constructed vehicle.

“I intend to bring about the death of the old world order? I use it to inspire fear in my enemies? That, and I've always liked it. Plus, it looks badass.” he replied with a grin. Yeah, that was a pretty damn good answer, and you smirked back.

“You've come a long way since you and Dr. Light came up with the original series..." you comment as he shows you the newest series. The two of you talk shop for a bit, but Wily's questions are also ways for him to gauge how up-to-date you are on your knowledge and research. It's something you'd do if the roles were reversed, so you answer his questions with grace. In some ways it's like how it was a decade ago with you in his classroom or lab, talking with him about this or that.

“Talking about science reminds me of the old days,” you comment. You glance at him, figuring you have the opportunity to ask him something a lot of people – including Dr. Light – likely wondered about. “I'm just curious, why do you want to take over the world, anyway?”

“To build a world for robots. Having myself as ruler is just a perk."

Well, there it is, in black and white, much like his skeleton tie. “And you think you can do a better job than anyone else?”

“Yes.” was the deadpan, completely serious tone that brooked no argument.

“Well, you sure are persistent," you reply, and he laughs at that before your stomach lets out a hungry rumble. You haven't had dinner yet, after all, and you haven't had much for lunch, either. "I've had a long day and I'm starving. Much as I enjoy catching up with you and being impressed by your work, I really could use a bite to eat."

You pause as you consider the fact that no one would be willing to deliver food to a Wily Fortress. On the other hand, at least one of his robots has to be a decent hand at cooking, at the very least. Otherwise, there’s going to be what… Ramen? TV dinners?

“Well, if you do not object, I took the liberty of having Shadow Man prepare dinner. If you have some allergies or restrictions, let me know. Otherwise, does sushi sound good?”

“It’s been too long since I had any sushi, let alone good sushi.”

“Then you will not be disappointed.”

He's right, you're not. You're offered an assortment of sushi, and though you're familiar with some of it, there are a few new things to try. There's sake flavored with plum to accompany the meal.

After you graduated, Dr. Light offered you a job in his lab. It wasn't the same without Dr. Wily though, and you left after almost two years (not without a letter of recommendation from Light, at least) before working for a private weapons company before jumping ship and putting together glorified love dolls for rich and bored people. You glance at the man seated across from you at the table, enjoying one of the morsels his faithful ninja-bot made.

You sip your sake, contemplating what is to be done next. You'll have to give your notice to your current – actually, now, former – employer and all that. You'd need your laptop and other things. And so on, but damn, you're pretty tired. You can't say that seeing Wily again was at all unpleasant despite his villainy, but it was still a bit of a surreal experience and you're still processing it all. You finish your drink.

“Shadow Man mentioned amenities to me, and I'd like to make use of them. It's been a long day and I am tired."

“I wore you out?” he teased. Your eyes widen a bit at that and you fight back the blush that you feel creeping up your neck at the unintended mental image. Or was it unintended on his part?

The rooms you're given are quite nice. A touch bland, like a hotel suite, but luxurious nonetheless with a bedroom, bathroom, and living area. It seems like there's room for personalization but you're going to wait to see how things go because this is just an employer-provided accommodation, after all. And, there are plenty of bookshelves! That's what's more important to you, after all. You're a nerd, and Wily knows that since he's one, too.

A fair amount of the color scheme is done in black and white, but you notice the bedspread and the cushions on the couch, along with a couple of other things, are in your favorite colors.

Holy shit. He remembered?

You’d been working in the lab as part of his seminar, and he’d talked about this or that with you before the subject wound its way to favorite colors, and you told him you had two because you never could decide which one you liked better, it depended on your mood. You were sure he’d forgotten that bit of trivia before the day was over, but he held onto that for years.

You turn around, looking at the room. Shadow Man, who had led you here, stands there, observing you quietly.

“I’ll need my stuff. Clothes, computer, you know…” You wave your hand through the air in a vague gesture.

“It will all be taken care of, and if you wish to have anything else obtained, I am at your disposal.”

You are left alone, and you sit on the edge of the bed, looking down at its spread. He remembered your favorite colors. Wow. Dare you hope that he brought you here for more than professional reasons?

o0o

Instead of Shadow Man, it’s another Robot Master that greets you in the morning when you finally roll out of bed after spending a bit of time the night before surfing the streaming services on the large flatscreen that was provided for you in the living area. Your phone won’t work out here, and you’re going to need the password. You’d forgotten to ask him for it last night and hadn’t been sure if it’d be a good idea to bother him. You can imagine him making a sarcastic remark about how he thought you were tired, and now you’re going to spend all night surfing the Internet. But, whatever. You’re not his prisoner, are you? All things in due time, so you fall asleep watching a show you’d heard much about.

This robot is themed like a bat, with the wings and ears and all. He’s kind of handsome, like Shadow Man. You offer him a tentative smile.

“Good morning, Dr. Lastname. I’m Shade Man. Dr. Wily asked me to bring you this, and to meet him in the main lab in half an hour.” He offers you a set of scrubs, but instead of the usual muted color one would see in the lab, this set is black with a skull print on it. You raise your eyebrow, but not in distaste. It reminds you of the nurses or health care aides you’ve seen with cute prints, like Hello Kitty or superhero-themed scrubs.

It's a comfortable fit, and he leads the way since one could easily get lost in this complex. Before you're put to work, you're given a good breakfast. This time though, you're offered a more Western-style meal, with eggs and toast among a few other things.

When you're asked if you need anything, you bring up needing a password. He sits back with a small smirk.

“I was wondering when you would ask me that, and I will give you access to the network, but before you start work, I am sure that as a professional, you know to not share anything from this place.”

You might have been insulted by this, considering his criminal status. But he's still a scientist who wants to protect his work. And that brings you to something you'd been thinking about before you fell asleep. How will he be in regard to your work? You have a few Robot Master designs of your own, though you never had the chance to build any of them. Would he steal them?

Even if he would, it’s a bit late to say no, isn’t it? You’re on some island or jungle somewhere, and if he wants to stop you from leaving, he very well can. You try to not dwell on that too much.

“Absolutely," you say with a smile. You are a professional, after all. You've dealt with these sorts of agreements before – it's standard in the industry. So you get to work, and it's been a pretty good first day. You're hardly entry-level, so after a bit, Wily leaves your side to do some work of his own, and you sit there, fiddling with wires and other parts. Some roboticists focus solely on programming and blueprints, but you have plenty enough practical experience putting together hardware and you know how extremely important that is to a well-functioning robot.

After a while, Shade Man checks on you and informs you it’s almost time for lunch. As you walk beside him.

“I suppose you like this better than working in an amusement park?” you ask, having looked him up on the network. DWN-055, one of the robots stolen and modified by Wily and now a permanent member of his retinue.

He gives you a fanged smile and nods.

o0o0o0o

(Shade Man’s POV)

DWN-055 had started his life – if it could be called that back then – as an amusement park robot. His station was the haunted house and adjoining graveyard. Being modeled after a vampire, he had been designed to amuse the visitors to his area, playfully growling and hissing at them, or welcoming them to the haunted house with an accent that was modeled after vampires in cheesy Dracula movies.

The original version of what would become DWN-055 had been considered not scary enough, so he was sent back to his manufacturer for an upgrade. Rather than merely wiping the original set of personality and behavior parameters he had been assigned, the programmer had just shuttled that data to unused space on the motherboard, uploaded the new data, and the robot was sent back.

This new personality, complained some of the patrons, was too scary. He'd made some children cry. He remembered standing at the charging station, listening to the park employers complain about him. Somewhere along the way, during his existence as a robot that was created solely for the amusement of others, a spark of consciousness had formed, and now, as he listened to the humans, he felt annoyed.

He had started with a measure of autonomy, being able to choose from a wide variety of acceptable lines and dialogue to fit in his role at the haunted house, as well as limited power to give direction to the lesser robots, like the bats and skeleton-bots. He had been told to amuse the guests, and so he did. But that had not been enough for his owner, who wanted something scary, so he had his brain filled with a new set of personality data. He modified his behavior according to this new data, and that wasn't good enough, either. He had merely followed directions, performing to the best of his abilities, and the next day, he had tried to mix the two personalities, going for a combination of scary for the adults and funny, for the little ones. That seemed to work, at least for a while.

When he heard that he was going to have his memory completely wiped and installed with a new program, that spark of consciousness... of identity and self-awareness burst forth. He didn't want to... die, especially for something as trivial as someone's satisfaction over how he performed a task that in retrospect seemed inconsequential.

Then he was told that he would be entered into a robot fighting tournament. He had been kidnapped by the mysterious Mr. X who soon enough revealed his true self. Though the vampire-bot was not made part of the Sixth Numbers, the time he spent in Wily's lab taught him much. Though the doctor had not created him, he was still given the chance to become part of the family. He was made stronger, his flight capability increased, and given weapons and tools with which to defend himself. But there was one thing his adoptive father had not tampered with. His mind.

His personality remained intact, further developed by the resources he had access to in the lab. He had his own identity, and his father encouraged that. How could he be anything but loyal?

Even after he had used his Noise Crush on Wily to get him away from the White Nightmare, the old man, despite the anger he had felt at first, had allowed him to keep his weapon and upgraded it with additional abilities. The scientist deserved nothing less than absolute loyalty from his sons.

He glanced down at the woman walking beside him in the scrubs Wily assigned her. It surprised the vampire-bot to hear his savior and master express a desire to bring someone here. A former student did make sense. He hadn’t been here as long as some of the other Wily Numbers, but he had known the old man long enough to be certain that he had not made this decision lightly.

o0o0o0o

For all the Robot Masters he has – and all the company they can provide him – it seems like a human can fulfill something they can’t.

Not because of a personal failure on their part. You've met a fair amount of them during your work here. You could even say you've made friends with a few of them, and you've spent leisure time with this or that robot. You've learned a thing or two about making tea from Shadow Man and even started reading one of the texts on Japanese history and philosophy he recommended.

Wily asked you to meet him outside. You've been out a few times under the watch of a Robot Master – to ensure your safety, Wily says, and you're not about to argue – so you pull on the light boots and the jacket Shadow Man offers you. You see movement out of your eye, and Wily approaches you, looking quite dapper in mostly black with a dark gray jacket and a black beret on his head. He looked like a harmless man out for a walk in the city, and it reminded you a bit of how he looked in your college days.

The waves crash along the shoreline.

“So… what are we doing out here?" you ask. It's the first time he's walked with you outside. Occasionally you'll hear the hum of machinery from some part of the building.

“Much as keeping the mind sharp is important, the body also needs maintenance.” He sets off with steady steps, and you fall in pace. It’s hard to not be a wee bit jealous of the fact that Wily has a damn island to himself and an army of bots and Robot Masters to do his bidding. Yeah, much of it was obtained illegally, but you have to admit, he set himself up a pretty sweet crib, so to speak.

“I know that my... views are not welcomed by this world.” your mentor/boss continued. “But medicine is often bitter and people must be forced to swallow it.”

That statement has proven itself in various examples in history in beneficial or horrifying ways, depending on the flip of the coin of fate, or the whims of man. Usually a combination of the two.

“History is full of the mistakes of humanity. We have the chance for something better, but humans would rather use robots to make their lives easier!”

Well, there was no arguing with that when you looked at how robotics and technology were applied in today's world. Sure, some robots kept people safe by doing dangerous jobs, but as robotics technology had advanced, so had its use spread, and for more mundane or vain uses. And of course, its potential for destruction. Your resume was a testament to that.

“Fire made the lives of humans easier, but also better.”

“There are different ways to utilize fire – or anything else. I choose to utilize my tools to their best, including this.” He tapped his temple with his index finger. For a moment you wonder what would happen if he passed. You hope there’s a plan set for his Robot Masters because damn it, you’ve come to really like some of them and wouldn’t want to see them in the hands of governments that admittedly had at least some reason to be angry with Wily.

You can't deny that in his way, Wily has done some good. There's been serious debate about robotics and free will, and the treatment of Robot Master-level bots, and such. New laws have been enacted since Wily's first criminal offense. You've worked with various levels of AI, instinctively knowing that this technology and others that go hand in hand with it will impact the future in as yet unforeseen ways.

[thedawningofthehour]

I just saw that post from four days ago about the threats you received, and I liked how you ended it because as a teenager I can say that teenagers are stupid.

I don't like going around saying that I'm better than most people my age, but genuinely, they're all so stupid and irresponsible. I don't understand. Of course, I'm still learning, but as I've gotten more mature I've started hating kids and teenagers because of how stupid they are. Most of them don't even care if they hurt someone else but when I do I feel like the worst person in the world. And then I hide from them for the rest of my life. And developed self-worth issues that may have already been present., but that's beside the point. Teenagers and kids just don't see the reason why people try to be kind. And that sucks, because in history kids grew up way faster than we do now. Something changed, and it could be any number of things. Social Media, Public School systems (by the way, who on earth thought it was a good idea to put a bunch of irresponsible, easily influenced children with a single adult. They're learning bad habits from each other, not good ones from the teacher. It should be the other way around. Kids are meant to grow up with lots of good adult influences). There's just so much wrong with today's society. I can't even write it all.

"It is important to draw wisdom from many different places." -Iroh (ATLA)

I'm very religious, so I don't swear, drink, smoke, stuff like that, and I think those standards and my parents childhoods definitely played a part in how I think today. Of course, everyone's lives are different and anything could cause anything, but I'm really sad how unhappy and careless people are nowadays. Kids should be taught to be kind to others, not just striving for their own joy. True happiness always comes from gratitude.

(If you haven't seen it already, check out Nothing Ever Changes by Nico Collins)

The world is stupid. A lot of people are cruel, and it shouldn't be this way but people don't care enough to change. It's sad, honestly. I've really enjoyed when you touch on stuff like that in Third from the Son because I feel like someone else sees the same things I do.

Good luck navigating the absolute monstrosity that is today's world, and thanks for providing us all with such an amazing story.

- A kind of sort of maybe mature teenager.

...Well. This is a lot to unpack.

So first of all! I do not think that today's children are any stupider or less mature than my generation or the generations before. Quite the contrary-I think you guys are doing great considering the 'gestures to everything in the world'. You guys are well educated and you want to make a difference. You want the world to be better. I think that's wonderful and I'm really proud of all my younger readers.

It's just that...teenagers are dumbasses. All of them. You guys have limited experience and your brains just aren't braining all the way. Even the smartest, most mature teenager is going to be fathoms wiser in ten years-if they aren't, something's gone wrong. That's just how wisdom works. Even if you're starting with a strong base, you still need time and experience to develop that. (this circles back to my thing about Donnie doing a bunch of dumb shit in the show-because yes, he's a genius, his brain is so big it literally alters the shape of his skull, and he's also a moron because he's fourteen) I know a lot of teenagers will really dislike hearing that, lord knows I hated hearing it when I was in high school. But five years from now you're going to be a greatly improved version of yourself and you're going to look back on your current self and roll your eyes. Maybe smile with fondness. But you will be different, and hopefully you will be better. I graduated in 2013 thinking I was super wise and mature. I'm wiser now, and in 2035 I hope I'll be wiser still. (if we're even still here by then)

And the idea that 'kids grew up faster' in the past is just false. Kids worked more, sure. They got sick more, died more, experienced loss more. But the whole idea that kids were considered full-grown adults the moment they hit puberty, married off and forced to start having babies and shit? Patently false. For one thing, people historically lived in multi-generational homes, so a lot of the things we associate with 'growing up' now-moving out, supporting yourself on your own income, blahblah-just really wasn't a thing. And apart from the nobility, people didn't marry and start families much younger than they do now. It was pretty common to wait until your twenties. Late teens sometimes, but those were often "shit I'm pregnant quick marry me so we can pass the baby off as an eight pound preemie" situations. (we really underestimate how many illegitimate babies were born before birth control, in many cultures it really wasn't a big deal) Teenagers of the past had more responsibilities, yes. They were still stupid about them. And often that stupidity had bigger consequences than their dumbassery immortalized on the internet.

I'm glad those responsibilities aren't on them now. That was messed up, kids shouldn't have been responsible for raising their siblings or making sure their families were fed. I love public school. I love education, it's actually very good for children developmentally to progress with peers rather than just trying to copy adults. I think social media is very much a double-edged sword, I think there are advantages to having it but I can't deny the negative effect it has, especially on kids and teenagers. It's a complicated issue and I haven't read every study there is about it, plus I want ice cream and don't feel like going into it right now.

And dude, I graduated from a Catholic high school. I knew a lot of kids who thought their godliness and purity made them more mature and put them above their peers. For one, most of them started partying like crazy the moment they got to college and got into tons of trouble that way, but they were all still idiots. There's nothing inherently immature about cursing or drinking a beer. It's absolutely fine if you're not into that scene, I wasn't either and I'm still not. But it doesn't make you better than the people who are.

I'm sorry if this comes off as dickish, that's not my intention. When I was eighteen I also thought I was better than my classmates. I was not.

[heartshattering]

///// venting/struggling, not in a good mental place rn

I genuinely feel so lost about what to do.

It really feels like I'm just not allowed to do anything, despite being an adult, it's not my house, and it is my responsibility to take care of my mom. Even if I could leave home somehow, I'd always feel guilty about leaving my mom behind while she is so sick. I just can't. But at the same time, just imagine having a mom and aunt who disapprove of literally EVERYTHING you do. Who think your favorite hobbies are the biggest waste of time ever and that you're an idiot for them. Who accuse you of "never doing enough" even when you give up so much for them. I get accused of "never setting any goals" and then when I do set goals my family is like "Wait no not like that–" and automatically disapprove of everything. Whether it was my dream internship or something as simple as wanting to take walks to the park more often. Everything is "bad" in some way if it doesn't contribute to taking care of my mom.

I get told how I've been "wasting" my time ever since graduation, I could've done more since 2021... yeah, because taking care of my grandma while she was in the last stages of her life, taking care of my mom who can't get out of bed, working as a freelancer since I'm not able to work outside the house, and trying to manage my mental and physical health even though I have insurance issues and get regularly turned away from places thanks to being considered "too unstable/severe" for them to want to deal with... "isn't doing enough", apparently. Yeah, okay.

I genuinely feel so damn hopeless. Like it wouldn't matter at all if I just rotted in my room all day. I don't have any impact on the 'outside world'. I don't get any motivation from the thought of doing things 'for myself' because I just don't care about myself anymore. And everything I want to do or try to do gets dismissed as stupid/pointless anyway. Because to my mom, the only two options in life are "you're either a doctor or a failure" and stupid me didn't become a doctor, so... I'll always be blamed for "not doing better" in life. My hobbies are stupid, my interests are stupid, my attempt to work is stupid. Everything about me is just so disgusting and pathetic. I really do feel like I'm just going to end up in a hospital or jail or gone at an early age, I don't see how else things are going to finish for me.

I just feel so pathetic all the time and feeling so helpless and stupid. I'm tired of all the extreme ups and downs, feeling great one minute and then not caring about anything and feeling like it wouldn't matter at all if everything just ended now. I don't know how much longer I can convince myself things are going to get better when shit keeps getting taken away from me or when people keep killing whatever little enthusiasm I have about things. Like at least let me have the illusion that the things I care about matter? But tbh at this point not even I can convince myself that anything matters. It doesn't. I just feel so damn empty inside.

[sujiwonhao]

Someone New (Part I)

read the prologue here

Upon the quick exchange of names, I took it upon myself to finish the conversation. I can already feel the heat creeping its way to my cheeks.

"I found a book I'm interested in, I'll get going. See you around, Santi."

"Sav, wait!" I heard him call for me as I was about to leave the aisle that I'm in.

"Hm?"

"I know this is very straightforward of me but would you like to grab coffee? It's on me." He smiled sheepishly.

I can't help but giggle at his gesture. I'm not an impulsive person but something about Santi oozes calm & safety.

A quick coffee date won't hurt.

"I was about to go to the cafe after this anyway, I don't mind. You're not a serial killer, right?" I joked.

"Oh no, not at all! I just think that you look really lovely and don't want to pass on the chance of getting to know you." He answered, his eyes looking at the tiled floor, he was almost out of breath with how fast he talked.

He's so cute. Fuck.

"Hey, I was just kidding! You look way too good to be a killer. So, which cafe?"

"Wildflour. You good with that, Sav?"

I love how my name rolls off his tongue…

"Sounds good to me."

As we were lined up at the cashier waiting for our turn to pay for the books we found interesting, Santi grabbed the ones I was holding and paid for it with his card.

I offered to have what he spent transferred to his bank account but he declined.

"Just consider this a 'thank you' gift since you agreed to have coffee with me."

"But you're going to pay for our coffee date already." I whined, feeling kind of embarrassed that he's spoiling me this early.

"Okay, okay." He put his arms up, as if it's like he's surrendering."How about you pay for our next coffee date, hm?" He tilted his head to the side making him look like a cute fox.

"Fine. Next date is on me." I replied, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach.

Santi was so smooth with it, he was able to secure a second date and we haven't even started the first one.

As we were about to enter the cafe, he opened the door for me and held my waist to guide me inside.

I was electrified at the touch. But I tried to keep my cool, holding his toned arm as we walked to our table.

Talking to Santi felt like a breath of fresh air, he was invested and also shares a part of him into the conversation. I've only known the guy for more than a hour but I already feel safe with him.

We got to know each other better — he's 27 and works at a law firm in Makati. He has a cat named Pepper and has been with him after he graduated from law school. His family lives overseas so he lives alone (but technically with his cat), since he decided that it's a better idea to just continue his blooming career in his homeland than to start from scratch.

In return, I told him that I teach literature at a nearby university and had only been doing so for more than a year. I also told him that I live alone but without any pets since my landlord won't let me. When he asked me about my family, I simply told him that they're in Cavite and that I don't have a close relationship with them given that I'm an illegitimate child.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He looked at me with apologetic eyes.

"It's fine, I don't mind sharing this fact with other people. It is what it is." I shrugged.

I can already tell that he's a man of depth and character. Santi, despite being soft-spoken, emits confidence just with the way he talks —he's straightforward, knows what to say, and gets his own way. He's a lawyer after all. I wonder what he thinks about me...

As we finished our food and downed our coffee, we decided to go for a walk to burn some calories. He was carrying the paper bag filled with books with his left hand while I was holding onto his right arm. I didn't even notice how comfortable I've gotten with him since I'm not really a touchy person but something in me just wanted to be closer to him.

It was now 7 PM when we decided to call it a day, he offered me a ride to my apartment which I accepted. Santi opened the door of the passenger seat and guarded my head with his hand as I entered his car. He then went to the other side of the car to start the engine.

Being in an enclosed space with Santi is making me feel nauseous. I did say that I'm comfortable with his presence but this is different. Especially when he tried to buckle my seatbelt for me, his face inches away from mine.

And that's when I decided to take the risk instead of losing the chance.

-

[atopearth]

Shall we Date? Wizardess Heart Part 39 - Randy March Sequel

Finally the true last post of this game haha! I'm still shocked that I never played this hahaha. Anyway, Randy playfully getting the heroine to feed him cookies and then licking her fingers omgg loll! I love Taffy, he's so funny and cute. It's sad that Randy has to experience disappointment after disappointment after every concoction he makes hoping it would heal the real Randy's petrification doesn't end up working. But it's sweet that both him and the heroine are quite positive alongside Taffy! Honestly, I've always enjoyed Amelia and the heroine's relationship, they're so cute and funny. Maybe she can't solve the heroine's problems, but she's always there to hear her out and I think that's great. I have to agree that travelling on giant Taffy is the best thing ever.

Every time the heroine laments about what she'll do after graduating, it makes me feel so down because it's a problem I've been thinking about for more than 10 years and I still don't know what I want to do with my life haha. But seeing her actually have a dream but just be afraid that she's not capable makes me feel happier for her, because she has a goal, she's just not sure if she can do it, but really, with her skills, her hard work and Randy's support and encouragement, there's no way she can't. I'm glad she was finally able to tell him that she loves him though, Randy looked so happy. It must be so difficult for him to face the real Randy and his parents again. He caused them to "lose" their child all these years.. Randy's mother being so understanding is so heartbreaking. Taffy being the real Randy's familiar is unsurprising I guess, but it's actually really sweet to know that Taffy was a stuffed toy he had since childhood, and that the first thing he did when the real Randy could use magic was to bring Taffy to life. As someone who also really loves my stuffed toys, I can understand those sentiments of truly cherishing something you've had with you for a long time. I'm glad Taffy also feels the same and loves the real Randy just as much. I agree with the heroine that Serge never felt like he was "pretending" to be Randy, at most, it would be how he was influenced by Randy and changed because of him.

Lmao at Klaus saying the old Serge was a difficult guy to be around and that Randy was acting like that now, and then Sigurd says he's the last person that should be saying that considering how difficult he is🤣 I love how Taffy came out of nowhere to save the day haha, it's not a Randy route without Taffy, they're a team forever! I agree that Randy needs to make an Anywhere Phone so that he can always talk to Taffy even if they separate from each other (since Taffy will probably go with the real Randy), and it was so sweet to see Taffy call him Serge😭 The heroine deciding to transfer to Queensblade for the magic creature medicine course was really cool! I love how decisive she is towards her goals. It's sad that she's leaving everyone and going to school somewhere else but I'm happy for the heroine, and I loved her answer that yeah trying your best doesn't mean you'll definitely achieve your goals but giving up is a different story. If you love something, you should work your hardest towards it. Maybe it won't work out but it's better than regretting you didn't try. I loved how everything she learnt revolved around Randy and through each other they both grew as people, it's crazy to see how much the heroine has grown and how much more confident she is.

I can't believe the heroine was planning to leave without telling anyone! I understand her perspective but it's just so cruel to deny people the chance to say goodbye to her. I'm glad Elias busted her haha. Honestly, I didn't think I'd get emotional especially when it's obvious, but when Randy dripped a bit of the potion on the petrified cloth to check if it works before he used it on the real Randy, I couldn't help but want to cry seeing it work. Randy has gone through so many failures, suffered so much guilt throughout the years that seeing everything finally work out made me so happy for him. I was so happy for them when Randy woke up and was able to talk to the people he loved, but extremely sad to see him go back into a comatose state, I felt very sad for Serge. I'm very glad we got to see the real Randy wake up eventually and properly and get to see Serge and the heroine's child but omg, I understand why they call her Candy but noooo, that name is so silly hahaha. I'm still happy though because it's nice to know how happy they are.

Overall, I'm really sad to really say goodbye to Wizardess Heart for real now because just playing this route again made me remember how much I loved Randy and all the guys. Sure, not every route was great but that's to be expected with so many LIs and stories, but I definitely enjoyed them all enough that I'll remember them all fondly. In terms of the sequel itself, I really enjoyed seeing Randy's dream come true, and I really enjoyed the dilemma of whether Taffy would go back with real Randy and stuff like that. I liked seeing them struggle with their difficulties in seeing the real Randy and Serge doing his best to achieve his goal. But I guess what I enjoyed most was seeing the heroine grow so much that she had decided to move to Queensblade to fulfill her dream even if it meant she had to leave all her friends behind. I love her bravery and strength, and I love the support she and Serge give to each other as partners. It felt really heartwarming to watch over them and I'm really happy that I got to finish the game watching over how happy they are. However, I do have to say, I think all the guys deserved a sequel so I'm sad that the others never got that, but yeah oh well, I will definitely miss this game and would always recommend it for mobile otome players haha, it might feel dated but the stories are very heartwarming.