#poked them on twitter bc it's the only place you can get any help from them at all and they were like 'sorry post moar i guess'

[fedoraspooky]

Youtube rly out here removing features for smaller creators who don't post often enough for them %)

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ scenario: meeting dick's ex girlfriend and it going awkwardly well

♡ characters: jason todd ( red hood ) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / i'm sorry but have yall seen that comparison of Jason Todd from Titans to the comics that the DC Titans twit made? bc every time i look at it, it takes me out. my twitter groupchat have slaughtering it all night :').

you in Dick's apartment, fiddling with a few of his weapons as he sternly told you to put it down before you hurt yourself. you, clearly not bothering to listen, continued to fiddle with the batarang as it managed to hit you on the nose. in between Dick's laugh, he wheezed out an 'I told you so'.

"fuck off, when are we going to your dad's place?" you asked, "I want to get back home before we get back to our apartments later than we already are," you mumbled, getting up and grabbing your keys.

Dick ushered you out the door, murmuring that he'd buy you a coffee on the way to Gotham as compensation for helping his family out. you were Dick's ex girlfriend and although the two of you ended on friendly terms, you managed to know his families secret and thus, you decided to help Dick out with his hero work in Bludhaven.

the two of you had realized a while into the relationship that neither of you were really into each other romantically. it felt a bit forced with the kisses and dates and a part of you saw the way Dick felt about his ex still. you weren't mad at the way he felt about Barbara but you could tell that he still had feelings for her and you didn't want him to deny his true feelings for her anymore.

both of you hopped into your car and made your way over to his father's place. you had met Bruce a while back when you were dating Dick and by extension, you had met Dick's younger brother Damian. he was still a bit of a prick to you every time you met him but Dick had told you that Damian was just that way with everyone. you had a few interactions with Duke and Cassie from time to time but it was only when they stopped by. the only two you had yet to meet were Dick's two younger brothers, Tim and Jason.

you had heard stories about them it wasn't anything too crazy. all you knew was that Tim was a bit on the shyer side and Jason was the one with the crazy backstory. they hadn't told you everything about Jason but you did know that Jason was dead at one point and managed to come back. how? you didn't know and frankly, you didn't want to know. knowing that this world was filled with superheroes from out of this world and held supernatural abilities was enough for you.

by the time you arrived to Bruce's place, you had Dick take in your back pack as you sipped away on the Starbucks he had bought for you. Dick entered through the batcave, waving a hello to everyone as you saw Damian and gave the little gremlin a smirk before chasing him for a hug.

"get away from me you peasant," Damian screamed, grabbing his blade and pointing it at you. you laughed, sitting down on his chair, "aww, and to think I thought you'd be happy to see me!" you giggled, taking your laptop out of your bag with a few other things.

you noticed that there was another person in the room that you hadn't familiarized yourself with and got up, "hi, I'm ( your name ), Dick's work partner," you said, stretching your hand out for him, "and the pain in my ass." you rolled your eyes as the man chuckled, "I'm Jason," he replied. his voice alone made the hair on your arms raise in goosebumps as you found his voice extremely attractive, "pleasure," you responded, trying not to sound nervous.

Dick wasn't the smartest of all brothers, clearly but it didn't exactly take an idiot to see the way you immediately acted around Jason. he noticed the way you pulled yourself back a bit as Jason stood up to give you a proper hello. when he first met you, you were instantly the confident person you always were but this time, you were pulling yourself back a bit.

"so, how did you meet Dick?" Jason asked. you laughed, "we're partners at work and I even dated the asshole for a while," Dick whipped his head around as you heard Damian hollering from laughter, "I'm right here!" he exclaimed. you rolled your playfully, "please, I heard the way you talk about me to Barbara," you pressed, making Dick slump down in his seat in shame.

Jason laughed at the way you managed to make Dick fall back. he had never seen someone do that to him before and frankly, he kind of liked the way you poked at Dick a bit. everyone knew he was the easiest target to mess with but it seemed as though you were professional at it, just like Damian was.

"so, who are the ones on patrol tonight?" Bruce asked, getting up. Damian and Dick raised their hands as they all looked to Jason, "you're still hurt from your previous run in so you will be sitting this one out Master Jason," Alfred spoke up. you saw the way Jason wanted to argue but Alfred gave him the 'you better not try it' look.

"you can stay with her," Dick offered, slipping into his suit, "she's helping out with communication tonight since Tim is off doing work with the Titans." you gave Jason a wave of encouragement as he agreed, not as excited as you thought he'd be. you shrugged it off, waving everyone off with a 'be careful' lecture.

the batcave went silent as Alfred had offered to bring the both of you coffee for the long night. you were sitting across from Jason, your legs crossed as you slipped in your headphone into one ear to make sure you could hear what Damian, Dick, and Bruce were saying clearly. you cracked your neck, trying to make it unstiff as you gave the three of them their coordinates of where they were to meet if they all separated....which was the first thing they did.

"so, why did you and Dick break up?" Jason asked suddenly. you lifted your head up, "oh, we just realized we were better off as friends," you replied, "everything felt kind of forced and a bit weird so we figured it was best to just be friends before it got any weirder."

Jason nodded, smiling underneath his stoic face. he knew he wanted to make a move on you but realized it was a slimey thing to do so quick. he hadn't known the real reason to the break up but figured since you were still friends with Dick, it clearly meant that there were no hard feelings, especially when Dick was trying his time again with Barbara.

the two of you remained silent, sipping away on water and coffee. a few yawns crossed your face as you tried to keep yourself awake. this wasn't the first time Dick had you doing this but you hadn't went strictly from work to Dick's place and didn't get the chance to take a nap before leaving. Jason saw the way you were fighting off your sleep and chuckled.

"tired?" he asked. you nodded slowly, "long day and an even longer day tomorrow," you replied. you saw your phone ping up with text messages as you let out a groan of annoyance, "something wrong?" Jason asked, seeing the way messages came in left and right.

you flipped the phone over, "it's dumb. some guy I was seeing hasn't stopped messaging me ever since I gave him my number and even when I told him I wasn't interested, he still kept going," you confessed, wanting nothing more than to chuck your phone against the wall to make it stop.

Jason thought for a moment. he could play this one of two ways. one: trying to give you mature, adult advice or two: being the petty teenager he used to once be. "wanna try to get him back?" he asked, quickly checking the communicators and cameras to make sure everything was still okay. you nodded your head a bit slowly, not knowing what he was hinting at.

Jason grabbed your phone, quickly taking a photo before writing a few thing down and sending it. your eyes widened, seeing what he wrote out.

"might wanna stop texting the girl who has no interest in you."

you gave Jason a look as he laughed, "what?" he asked, going back to the cameras and communicators. after a while, you got a message that they were heading back to the cave as others took their place. you clapped in tired happiness as you shut the computers down and put every thing into your bad so you and Dick could head out as quickly as possible.

"leaving already?" Jason poked playfully. you smiled, "I have work in the morning and I doubt you'd want to spend anymore time with me," you joked back. Jason grabbed your phone again, this time putting his number into your phone before shooting himself a message.

"you couldn't even wait a day?" Dick said as he got out of the batmobile. you shrugged playfully, "what can I say? your brother is hot," you responded, waving your phone with his number in it. Jason choked on his spit as Damian gagged, "gross, keep that shit to yourself," Damian yelled, slamming the door of the batcave as he made his way to his room.

you gave Jason a wink goodbye before getting into Dick's car.

"see ya soon sweetheart."

[xiaomomowrites]

midas touch

Genshin Impact | ZhongChi

Summary: Sometimes, in moments where Zhongli finds himself surrendering to the harmonic bliss that surrounds him, he’ll allow himself to lose control over his mortal form and let some of his draconic features shine through. Some days his horns will make an appearance, and other times his scales will begin to blossom across what once was human skin. Tonight, his horns make themselves present, and his eyes have shifted, too.

“Can I…” Ajax starts tentatively. His eyes are blown so wide, and they glimmer with curiosity and a silent joy that is akin to a child being gifted sweets. Zhongli chuckles, nodding his head in silent affirmation. 

The pads of Ajax’s fingers hesitantly make contact with the horns stemming from the crown of his head. They’re beautiful; they glow as if they’re dipped in melted mora, pulsing brightly and casting a dim light across Ajax’s pale skin. They’re quite long, and Ajax gently trails his index finger along the curve of a horn. They don’t stick straight up, though. Instead, it bows backwards charmingly until it tapers off midway toward the back of Zhongli’s head.

Beautiful.

Or, Zhongli discovers something new about his powers and gladly takes advantage of it.

Find it on Ao3!

A/N: Soo the thought process behind this fic was inspired by three different pieces of chili fanart I found on twitter (I'll link it in the end notes) and the concept that my mutual put in my head of Zhongli turning Childe's skin to gold whenever he touches him. My mutual is a genius. And uhhh initially I didn't expect this to turn explicit, but I just started typing and then suddenly they were going at it lol. But writing them super soft and cute is always such a pleasure, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did :)

But this was so fun to write! Definitely a good break from act vi bc damn that piece just doesn't want to be written right now. I have a collab with miss stereotypicallyasian on the way as well, a Naruto x Genshin crossover that I should be posting sometime toward the end of the week!

--

As soon as he wakes up, Zhongli finds his breath stuttering with a noticeable hollowness in his chest that he cannot quite describe. 

Briefly, he supposes it is merely the effect of his gnosis being taken. But even with the core of his divinity gone, there still remains a vibrant energy coursing through his veins that buzzes with a level of excitement. It’s a nagging feeling, but it is the very thing that keeps him awake at night. Zhongli exhales, nice and slow, and allows the back of his head to press against the pillows he had propped up against the table. His hair is free from its usual hold and it spills across his shoulders in ribbons of black and gold. 

He stretches his legs across the blankets he’s laid beneath him and wiggles his toes, flexes his fingers, twitches his nose. The wind around him responds in kind. Warm Liyuan air wafts through the room at the inn as the sun begins to set, casting an orange glow across the walls. Zhongli feels himself sink into the floor, melting into the plush pillows, and revels in the way he is being held down firmly by the weight in his lap that belongs to his beloved.

He’s been tired these days. 

Only a week had passed after the incident with Osial and his official retirement as the Archon of Geo. Adjusting so far has been strange, and eerily enough, rather easy. Despite the new creaking in his joints and the mild back pain he never quite felt until now, he’s become rather fond of the quaint life he subconsciously built while he was living amongst his people. 

And, well, Ajax’s presence made adjusting rather painless. The Harbinger staying by his side somehow made it easier to to cope with the gaping void in his chest.

Speaking of which, Ajax makes himself known by rolling over and shuffling closer, burying his face in his abdomen. The ex-Archon cracks an eye open and looks down at the smattering of red hair against his stomach. He can’t help but smile at the sight. 

“Ajax,” he calls, voice a deep rumble from his temporary slumber, “it’s getting late. If you continue napping, you’ll have a hard time sleeping tonight.”

He’s answered with unintelligible mumbling, and the vibrations of Ajax’s voice tickles his stomach.

“What?” He breathes out a laugh. 

“Xiansheng I don’t want to get uppp,” Ajax whines as he props his chin against Zhongli’s stomach. He wriggles closer, moving up higher in his lap until his face is pressed up against his chest. Zhongli cradles the back of his head lovingly, and softly runs a bare hand through ginger locks. 

“You must, baobei,” Zhongli tugs on his hair gently, “also because I am getting quite hungry.”

Ajax makes a noise of indignance against him. The ginger looks up, ready to protest, but abruptly halts. 

His eyes widened comically. Ajax stares at him like he had grown a second head, cerulean eyes tracing his every feature as if this was his first time ever seeing him. Any noise or complaint of being woken up dies on his lips as he’s suddenly speechless, any and all vocabulary suddenly void. 

Zhongli’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Is everything okay?” 

“Xiansheng, you’re…” the ginger trails off breathlessly, “by the Gods, you’re beautiful.”

Zhongli sputters. “Well, I am flattered, truly, but--”

“Zhongli,” Ajax all but hisses. He brings a deft finger up to Zhongli’s hair, but doesn’t quite stop at his fringe. He reaches up, up, up and--

Ah. 

Zhongli knows where this is going. This isn’t the first time this has happened. 

Sometimes, in moments where Zhongli finds himself surrendering to the harmonic bliss that surrounds him, he’ll allow himself to lose control over his mortal form and let some of his draconic features shine through. Some days his horns will make an appearance, and other times his scales will begin to blossom across what once was human skin. Tonight, his horns make themselves present, and his eyes have shifted, too.

“Can I…” Ajax starts tentatively. His eyes are blown so wide, and they glimmer with curiosity and a silent joy that is akin to a child being gifted sweets. Zhongli chuckles, nodding his head in silent affirmation. 

The pads of Ajax’s fingers hesitantly make contact with the horns stemming from the crown of his head. They’re beautiful; they glow as if they’re dipped in melted mora, pulsing brightly and casting a dim light across Ajax’s pale skin. They’re quite long, and Ajax gently trails his index finger along the curve of a horn. They don’t stick straight up, though. Instead, it bows backwards charmingly until it tapers off midway toward the back of Zhongli’s head.

Beautiful.

“You’re…” he breathes, “I’ve never seen…”

“It has been a long time since I last let myself truly relax into this form.” 

Ajax’s eyes flicker back down to his face as Zhongli’s voice snaps him out of his reverie. He’s met with eyes glowing bright as cor lapis, pupils almost narrowed into slits, and a few stray ebony scales. 

“Woah…”

Once again with the curiosity of a child, Ajax reaches out to poke at the scales blooming across Zhongli’s skin. The ex-Archon tuts. 

“My apologies, I was not aware that this much of me was visible—“

“Why are you apologizing?” Ajax demands, eyes darting up to his horns once more before locking onto his golden ones. “You’re beautiful, Xiansheng. I had no idea you could even do this.”

“Frankly, I am surprised, too,” Zhongli speaks honestly. Ajax looks at him, stunned. “I didn’t think this could happen without my gnosis. But life has been full of surprises lately, it seems.”

“What else could you do?” Ajax asks excitedly, shifting to where he was sitting up and laying on his side, curled around the latter. He rests against the incline of Zhongli’s body comfortably. They were still pressed against each other impossibly close, legs intertwining. Zhongli’s head presses against the pillow behind him, and Ajax stares at the horn-shaped indent in the cushion inquisitively. Zhongli is filled with an abrupt surge of affection at the sight. It has been a long time since someone looked at him with such fascination in this form. “Without your gnosis, I mean. Obviously you could do a lot with it.”

“I still have yet to see, Ajax, as it’s only been a week since I’ve lost it,” Zhongli murmurs. He brushes a stray strand of hair away from Ajax’s forehead. He presses the pad of his thumb against the growing frown lines developing between the ginger’s eyebrows. “How are you already developing wrinkles? You are still so young.”

“Mean!” Ajax pulls away, rubbing at the spot with the back of his hand. “Says the one who is six thousand years old! In fact I’m surprised you don’t have any wrinkles. Seriously, I’ve never even see you apply moisturizer before and—“

“Ajax,” Zhongli interrupts. This time, it’s his turn to stare at Ajax with astonishment. His eyes, bright and golden, burn a hole through the spot on Ajax’s forehead where Zhongli was just poking at. The ginger can’t help but strain to look up as if he could catch a glimpse of what the half-dragon was looking at. Cross-eyed, he just looked ridiculous. And confused. He was so, so confused. 

“What, what?” Ajax asks anxiously. Zhongli stares at him still, wordlessly reaching up to touch him again. The dragon’s eyes soften, brushing a knuckle right across Ajax’s cheekbone, right underneath a blue eye. The Harbinger sees, then, the gold that shimmers right beneath his vision. Zhongli’s expression is nothing short of enamored, astonished, and downright entranced.

“Is your hand glowing?” he asks. Zhongli shakes his head, listening, but not really. His eyes trail across Ajax’s face, too focused on the path that his hand takes more than anything else. He continues drawing lazy patterns across Ajax’s cheek, and the gold seems to shine brighter. “Xiansheng, what is going on?” 

“Your skin,” he begins slowly, voice lowered into a hush. Ajax has to strain to listen to him. “It seems to turn to gold where I touch.”

“W-what?” Ajax scrambles, but Zhongli places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s temporary, love, do not fret. The spot on your forehead has already disappeared.” 

“Wait, wait, I wanna see!” Ajax demands, suddenly sitting up straight. Zhongli follows suit and corrects his posture, holding his palm out as an invitation. 

“Give me your hand,” he commands gently. The latter complies, and places the back of his hand in the warmth of Zhongli’s own. 

The ex-Archon uses the tip of his finger to trace patterns into his hand, and the skin underneath responds immediately to the touch. It glows an ethereal shade of gold that has Ajax blinking away the spots that form in his eyes from the brightness. And although it goes away as quickly as it comes, it still leaves a tingling feeling across his skin as it disappears. Zhongli doesn’t so much as flinch at the brightness, though, as he continues tracing letters, characters, symbols he’s never seen before, into the palm of Ajax’s hand. The ginger shivers at the touch. It’s so intimate— it’s too intimate— he feels like he’s going to pass out. He can feel an energy so divine being pressed into the palm of his hand, sinking in through his skin and spilling into his bloodstream. Ajax’s heart beat picks up, a newfound energy coursing through his veins. 

It is a blessing that no one could ever even imagine receiving from Rex Lapis himself. 

Because gnosis or not, the being before him was a deity too precious to be touching a soul as blackened as Ajax’s. And yet here he was, accepting such a heavenly gift from Teyvat’s oldest god. 

Ajax almost wants to pull away, but it is his pure curiosity that keeps him in place.

Zhongli continues his trail up the Harbinger’s arm, and this time, he’s drawing flower petals that bloom from thin branches. They encroach upon the inside of his forearm, streaming along his veins as Zhongli draws petal after petal. The half-dragon is quick— quicker than the rate in which the golden lines disappear. He sketches the design of his flowers rapidly across his skin, all while maintaining his gentle hold on Ajax.

The human canvas has no choice but to sit and watch with awe as the design seems to come to life. Blue eyes follow gold, attracted like a moth to a flame, and Ajax is simply unable to look away from the art Zhongli creates on his skin of all things. Ajax’s skin, freckled and marred by years of fighting, is being turned into a work of art made for his eyes, and his eyes only. 

Once again, Zhongli has done what has felt like the impossible. 

But of course, all good things come to an end, and Zhongli stops. With a flick of his wrist, he tapers the tip of the last petal he draws before withdrawing his hand entirely. Ajax watches with the same level of fascination as the golden strokes vanish as if they were never even there. Yet still, Ajax’s skin tingles. 

“Any chance you knew you could do that?” he speaks after awhile, voice uncharacteristically quiet, pensive.

“No,” Zhongli answers, eyes flickering back up to him. “But to be honest with you, I do not wish to stop.”

Ajax’s eyes widen at the statement. “What do you mean—“

Zhongli’s hands grip at Ajax’s hips as he pushes him backwards. The Harbinger gasps, arms shooting out to wrap around his neck for stability. Zhongli crowds him in an instant as soon as Ajax’s back hits the floor. The ex-Archon noses at his neck, peppering kisses along the line of his jugular and watching with dilated eyes as a trail of gold is left behind where his lips once were. The feeling that blossoms in his chest can only be described as some primal satisfaction as Ajax is marked with his stamp of gold.

“I cannot help but wonder,” Zhongli speaks quietly, “if your skin would turn to gold while touching all parts of me.” His voice drops a whole octave. If it was deep before, it was even deeper now, closer to a purr than anything. The sound rumbles through his chest, making Ajax shiver at the noise.

Ajax’s breath stutters. “Oh,” is all he manages to say.

“If you would indulge my curiosity so kindly,” Zhongli begins, voice breathy, “I’d like to see you glow in many other places.”

“Oh my god,” Ajax blushes a furious red, “you have such a way with words, Xiansheng! And just do me already, you’ve never had to ask before!”

“I’m just asking because in this form, I might be… slightly different in some places.” Zhongli’s ears burn red.

“Oh my god,” Ajax all but sobs, “shut up and get inside me old man, make me glow, or whatever.”

Zhongli grins and oh fuck he has fangs, of course he has fangs—

“As you wish.”

Ajax does a lot more than glow that night. In fact, he gets so much more than what he initially bargained for. The sun begins to set, but the darkness that befalls the room matters naught when Ajax is turned into a human lamp every time Zhongli touches him. And gods above, does he touch him.

When Zhongli kisses him, his head spins a little more. When clawed hands squeeze at his hips and almost break skin, his heart beats a little faster. When one, then two, then three oiled fingers slip past the tight rim of muscle with care and makes him grind his hips down impatiently, his breaths come a little shorter. And when Zhongli finally, finally slides in and makes him forget his own name, Ajax can’t help the broken moan that flies past his lips when he bottoms out. 

Holy shit, Zhongli wasn’t kidding when he said he was built a little different. 

Though, they probably needed to gloss over the definition of a little later tonight because apparently, a little meant an additional three whole inches in length and half an inch in girth. The newfound length brushes past places in Ajax’s body he never even knew existed, scratching an itch he wasn’t aware he had.

Was Ajax expecting to be taking his boyfriend’s dragon dick at nine at night when he was supposed to be having dinner? No. Was he going to take it anyway? Absolutely. And in retrospect, Ajax was faring just fine. He had his legs wrapped tightly around Zhongli’s waist and his hands tugging at his loose locks. The amber ends glow brighter at every pull and Ajax just holds onto the strands for comfort at this point.

Zhongli, on the other hand, had his eyes shut and was breathing hard through his nose. 

“Xiansheng?” Ajax calls tentatively. He reaches a hand out to cup Zhongli’s cheek, and almost gets distracted by the luminance his hand emits as soon as he makes contact. 

“I’m alright,” Zhongli says through gritted teeth, “I’m having trouble… regaining composure, is all.”

“What do you mean?” Ajax gasps when Zhongli’s hips flex.

“You…” he struggles, “are very tight. And. My senses are heightened in this form.”

Ajax smiles wickedly, and squeezes around him. Zhongli hisses, biting down hard on Ajax’s shoulder. His fangs almost break skin, but the ginger doesn’t even flinch. 

“Let me on top,” he says instead, “I can set the pace.”

“That might be difficult,” Zhongli begins tentatively, “laying on my back may not be an option at the moment.”

“What? Why— oh, holy fuck.”

Lo and behold, a long, serpentine tail is laid out across the blankets and thumps once, twice, happily in place. It’s thicker at the base where it forms near Zhongli’s body, and smoothly tapers out until the end is covered in silky, golden locks. Ajax swears it sparkles. The hair flows so elegantly across their floor, Ajax almost has the urge to reach out and run his fingers through it. And he would, if he currently wasn’t impaled and unable to move. 

“... I apologize—“

“That is so hot,” Ajax almost weeps. “Please for the love of all Archons, Zhongli, Morax, I’m begging—ah!”

The lilt in his voice as he begs, whining the long lost name, has Zhongli moving before he can register what he’s doing.

Zhongli moves. He throws all caution to the wind and lets himself move recklessly without abandon. Ajax writhes beneath him and takes what he is given with gratitude, praying with breathless gasps and broken moans. Every noise that leaves his throat has Zhongli moving desperately for more. The light between them glows brighter, almost impossibly so, to where Ajax has to squeeze his eyes shut.

There's a moment where Zhongli grinds into him just right that sends Ajax crashing; his head is thrown back when he's all but forced to see stars, and his fingers scrabble to claw at Zhongli's skin for support. His back arches high off the bed and the ex-Archon uses the space to wrap a solid arm around Ajax’s lithe waist. He takes advantage of the bared neck in front of him and immediately noses at his pulse point, licking over the skin before sucking the flesh between his teeth. 

They lose track of time in the throes of their own pleasure. At some point, the sun fully sets, but Zhongli continues to shove him down into the sheets relentlessly. Ajax on the other hand, takes it like a pro and continues to surprise Zhongli with his growing responsiveness. He takes and takes and Zhongli feels like he has no choice but to continue giving. The dance between them is elegant as much as it is animalistic, and Ajax loves it.

Zhongli bites down on his neck slightly, flexes his hips, and the breaking of Ajax’s pale skin and the relentless pressure against his neck has the ginger spilling between the tight press of their bodies. A dragon’s fangs, apparently, are by no means gentle and tear into his skin with ease. Yet, the blinding pain that sears through Ajax’s body sends him tumbling nonetheless. Zhongli fucks him through his orgasm, rutting against him until he tips over at the sound of Ajax's pitiful, overstimulated cries. He shudders as he empties into him, breathing hard against where his face is pressed into his neck. 

They lay there for a moment; Zhongli tries to get his breathing under control, and Ajax tries to focus his vision after it had blurred during his climax. The ginger rakes his nails along Zhongli’s sweaty back, and the sensation brings them both back down from their high. Their breaths are heavy and labored, and Ajax can’t help the chuckle that leaves his lips when he finally calms down, because holy shit. He’s going to want to do that every night, now.

Sometime amidst their fun, the golden glow had dimmed, until it all but disappeared. 

"You suck," Ajax gasps after a moment, "you just ruined vanilla sex for me."

Zhongli snorts. "I don't suppose you expect me to morph every time you want to be intimate?"

Ajax's silence speaks volumes. It’s silent confirmation. The latter looks up, disgruntled. He looks so unamused, brows furrowed and everything, it makes Ajax chuckle and kiss the frown away. 

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, xiansheng," he waves him off, "the only thing I expect from you right now is for you to pull out, oh my god Zhongli, get out of me. You're like those huge dogs that think they can fit in your lap! You're not exactly small, mister Rex Lapis!" 

"Oh, yes, my apologies," Zhongli murmurs. He presses a light kiss to Ajax's freckled shoulder before sliding out, muttering a quiet apology when he winces. He rolls off of Ajax and lays on his back next to him, so they're both staring up at the ceiling. His tail is gone and so are his horns, so he can finally lay on his back comfortably. Zhongli reaches for his hand and intertwines their fingers. He gets a squeeze in response.

“Say, xiansheng,” Ajax starts. “Have you ever been able to do that before?” 

Zhongli looks at him, silently asking him to elaborate.

“Turn someone’s skin to gold, I mean. With something as simple as touch, too. Has that ever happened?” 

“No,” he answers simply, “I believe this was the first occurrence in my six thousand years of being alive.”

Ajax hums. “So I’m not like. Going to die or anything, right?”

“Why would you die, baobei?” Zhongli chuckles, “you act as if I injected poison into your bloodstream.”

Ajax lets out an indignant squawk. “I! Am still kind of new to the whole dating a god thing! I don’t know what special abilities you adepti hold. And I am a mere mortal, after all!”

The reminder has Zhongli looking at him with sudden sadness. “That you are.”

Ajax hums and offers a small, resigned smile before letting his eyes slide shut. He gave into the exhaustion, it seems.

He’s already dozing off, and his head is tipping slightly to the left. He’s all but slumped into the comforters beneath him, his chest rising and falling with each soft breath he takes. He’s mildly aware that he’s going to have to wake him to clean him up in a few minutes, though, but he allows his lover to rest for a moment. The whirring void in his chest— the one that constantly reminded him of his lost power— finally, finally settles.

Zhongli watches with fascination as the human in front of him continues to glow. The gold is gone, though. Zhongli has shifted back into his mortal form and skin to skin contact no longer summons the bright golden light that was there before. 

Still, Ajax’s skin seems to glow a little brighter than usual. His cheeks are tinted pink and his lips are slightly parted, still plump and swollen from his bruising kisses. Zhongli swears he can see a light blue aura surrounding the lines of Ajax’s body. His chest fills with something warm and pleasant at the sight, thick like the syrup that runs through the veins of Liyue’s trees. It trickles throughout his entire body, down into his core, down his legs and to his arms. Zhongli no longer feels empty. He smiles fondly.

For those that live too long, the friends of days gone by and scenes from their adventures live on in their memories. As such, I have no regrets in meeting you, Ajax. Should the day ever come that we are not together, you will continue to shine like gold in my memories. 

Fanart #1

Fanart #2

Fanart #3

my twitter <3

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Imagine during live with Cal she's like "I've been craving [favorite snack] but I can never them at my store" and then Cal is at his goto grocery store and sees them and buys like 5 of them. And then he just mails them to her with some other goodies and a few pictures of Duke and him and ~him~ 😉👉👉 and she posts the carepackage on her ig story and everyone on twiter is freaking out bc they remember her comment on live

I’m seeing a vision! I tweaked this just a little. 

Here’s part one, two, and three. It’s the Distance series on my masterlist. 

Feel free to send me any ideas you have for this universe. I’ll try to use as many as I can, while still progress the story along!

_____________________________

So Calum’s waiting at the airport, sunglasses and baseball cap. It doesn’t completely make him unrecognizable. But it helps enough. He had planned to get the airport right as she was landing so that he could avoid the crowd as he waited. He got to the airport and she hadn’t texted him yet. So he assumed that the plane got delayed just a little bit. So Calum just waits and a couple fans approach him, asking for a quick picture. He obliges but when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket, he graciously backs out. “Sorry I can’t chat for longer. Here to pick someone up.”

And the fans totally understand and thank him again for the time he did spend with them. When Calum checks his phone, there’s a text from her: On my way out now. Plane had to circle for a bit before a strip opened up for them to land. Calum’s not worried and keeps his gaze glued to the sliding doors. There area few minutes, that feel like an eternity, but soon the sea of people starts to thin and Calum can spot her, with her suitcase next to her and she’s glancing around too. 

And just before he calls out her name, she spots him. Her bright is just as big and she runs over, colliding into his chest. And Calum’s trying not to think of how she somehow just seems to fit into his arms and how he really likes having her there with him even though it’s only been literal seconds. And she’s trying not to think about how Calum’s scent of Old Spice, faded but not gone cologne, and Gain detergent reminds her of her childhood and she’s not even sure how that happened, but it did. Dear God, save their souls. 

 So inside the truck, after getting her suitcase into the truck, Calum points to the bag at her feet on the floor the passenger seat. “Didn’t bring Duke, but I did bring snacks.”

So as she peers inside she sees her favorite snacks. “You did not!”

“I was going to ship them to you. But by the time, I was able to get my hands on some, travel restrictions her lifting and like, we started planning on your visit. So I just held onto them. They haven’t expired! I checked.”

“Thank you,” she returns, stretching against the seatbelt and kissing cheek. So she pulls out her phone and starts recording. And it’s just the profile of Calum’s face as he’s working to get through the traffic of the airport, but it’s fine. “So this man, right over there,” and her hand comes into frame as she gently pokes his cheek, “bought me my favorite snacks? And like, where the hell have they been hiding all the good men like you at? Thanks, Cal.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles, throwing a quick glance in her direction and into the camera. But on the inside, he’s trying not to LITERALLY die. Because she just kissed him. Yeah, it was on the cheek, but still.  It fucking counts. That was a kiss. She initiated that and holy shit, he really needs to focus on the road but his cheek is tingling from the brief contact of her soft lips. Calum hopes he’s playing this really cool, but he’s so not cool on the inside. No, right now his pits are a swamp, and he’s pretty sure he might vomit, but right now he has to keep it together. He’s not thirteen for fuck sake, but everything feels so new in that first puppy love kind of ordeal. Even he’s over himself for reacting this way, but still as the drive settles in, his stomach still tenses up a little when she laughs and he’s hearing it in person and not ever speakers or through headphones. It’s ten times more magical in person. 

Soon they get to his place. As she gets situated, Duke’s sniffs around her, but doesn’t go straight up to her. However, a couple hours later, while she and Calum are in the kitchen, figuring out what to eat for lunch, Duke walks up to her. She feels his snout at the back of her heel and she laughs because it tickles. “Hello, nice to finally meet you Mr. Duke.”

He looks up at the sound of his name and then when she squats down, her palms up for Duke to sniff at. Calum’s heart is melting in his chest. He knows that this is it for him. He’s literally falling off the deep end because Duke, who’s not great with folks, is approaching her, of all people. If Duke falls in love, then he has not choice. That’s it, that’s a wrap. 

She doesn’t want to startle the old man, so she settles for some sniffs and gives him some head scratches and Duke’s content with that. He can handle that before going over to Calum and then flopping onto his belly.  “I would be offended but I know that’s your human,” she jokes. She misses her own dog.  Calum mentioned Duke still being a little hesitant around other dogs and she arranged for a friend to watch them. She would have daily video calls though and that would be enough for the five days she was out of town. 

And later on, in the day, while she’s stretched out on Calum’s couch with her head in his lap and Duke curled up on the opposite side of Calum, she scrolls through Twitter. The TV’s playing a rom-com that she didn’t have to to beg Calum too much to watch. The fans are having a RIOT over the video you just posted. With comments like: He remembered her favorite snacks. Wow, what a world to live in when i can stan a thoughtful King. And a few others. One sticks out, I totally get that their relationship is their business. But omg, this is love if I’ve ever seen it. Calum and her both deserve this. Attached is a bunch of crying emojis along with the weepy eyes one too.  

“You begged me to watch this movie, and you’re on your phone,” Calum teases. 

“It’s a commercial break, thank you very much.” But she’s just staring up at him, the cut of his jaw and the way his eyes melt when he looks at Duke. She’s not sure how she’s going to be able to leave. 

As the movie resumes, she sits back up, the comments on Twitter forgotten.  Because it’s just getting to the good part, the climax of every rom-com ever where the two fated loves are on the brink of losing it all, and Calum’s not even paying attention to it because he’s trying to memorize the way she looks curled up on his couch, and the way her nose wrinkles when she laughs, and the way scoots closer to the edge of the cushions like she can’t get close enough. She just belongs there and Calum’s praying that the universe treats him right just this once. 

As the week continues on, they fall into a easily into a routine and they sight see and just hang around the local shops and places that Calum loves. She snaps so many pictures of Calum, when he’s looking, when he’s not looking. One morning along with her morning cup of tea, there’s a stack of photos. They’re polaroids and some are really tiny, some are bigger. “What’s this?”

“When I got you the snacks, I was gonna send along some photos too. Make it like a care package, and I didn’t want you to leave without them.” So she looks through all, with pictures of Duke, and Calum and Duke and some just of him and she smiles softly. One specifically, of Calum and Duke chilling in Calum’s backyard is just small enough to fit in the tiny slot between her phone and the clear backing of her phone case, so she slips it inside, so the picture faces out and it’s not obstructed by the Pop Socket on the back of it. 

Calum only notices it later in the evening when they’re out at dinner and she’s put her phone face down onto the table. His heart is goo, and while it was goo a long time ago, it’s definitely goo now and he’s not even phased. He’d rather his heart melt and run through his fingers if it means she’s the one with the bucket to collect it all. 

-H

[haikyuu-appreciation-club]

heyy can i request head canons with the haikyuu captains or the karasuno first years with how they would react to a haunted house. just to get in the spirit of halloween :)

heyyy anon!! yes ofc, i love that request :)

i hope you don’t mind but i decided to go with the karasuno first years bc i have a lot of ideas for them. If anyone wants though i can make a part two with the captains :)

alsooooo im sorry if anyone seems ooc, this is just how i think they would react + this is my first headcanon sooo forgive me if it isn’t the best <3

anywhooo, ty for the request, i hope you enjoy !!

•Haunted House w/ the Karasuno 1st Years•

[art credit : @boonooniee on twitter]

warnings: a few curse words

genre: crack

characters: hinata, kageyama, tsukishima, yamaguchi, and yachi

•Hinata•

surprisingly enough, this whole thing was his idea

he just wanted to spend time with his friends 

he had to practically beg everyone to go, half of the group was scared out of their minds and the other half just weren’t interested in the slightest

when everyone finally agreed, he was quite literally jumping for joy

days leading up to it, he would not shut up about it

this boy was beyond excited

“Are you guys excited for the Haunted House? It’s gonna be so much fun!”

he was all smiley and giddy about it until he was standing at the entrance

now he was about to shit himself

“Heh um, who wants to go carve some pumpkins?”

mans had to be dragged in that hoe

he kept trying to tell himself that everything was fine and this would be super fun

then the first jump scare happened, and every ounce of courage in that tiny body was gone

he was clinging onto anyone that was in proximity of him

at some point he got a little bit of courage back and started to threaten to beat up one of the decoration

yeahh that “decoration” was one of the actors

that boy literally screamed and tackled the nearest person poor yams

now tiny yelps could be heard whenever he suspected something was about to pop out at him

at one point he literally started to hold his breath and Kageyama had to smack the back of his head so he would exhale

he finally reached the end after one of the actors chased him all the way to the exit

had to stand there for a minute to catch his breath after he realized the actor went back to their post

on the walk back home he kept talking about how it “wasn’t so bad”

luckily Tsukki had gotten a video of him jumping on Kageyama and knocking him over to remind him just how bad he seemed to think it was

little pouty after he realized that video was sent to the team group chat

he cheered right up when Yachi suggested they go get hot coco though

•Kageyama•

no

just no

he did not want to spend his time going to a haunted house

he had volleyball to practice 

which is why, initially, his answer was no

but Hinata would not stop asking him about it and it was making it impossible for him to focus 

he thought that if he agreed he would finally get some peace and quiet

ohh boy, was he wrong

Hinata would now not stop talking about how excited he was

Kags definitely had mixed feeling about all of this

he wasn’t the worst when it came to scary stuff but he’s never actually had to experience anything like a haunted house before

he figured if he could handle scary movie, he could definitely handle this, right?

he was a little nervous once they arrived but he would not let himself get startled so easily

mainly because he didn’t want to freak out the others 10x more and also because Tsukishima would never let him hear the end of it

so he decided he would suck it up and get through this without getting the absolute crap scared out of him

at first things were actually going pretty good, just some gory decorations on display

maybe this would actually be kind of fun

then one of the actors popped out and all hell broke loose

everyone was now terrified well except tsukki, mans got the popcorn out

Kageyama was trying his very best to play it cool but on the inside he was losing his shit

this was definitely so much more terrifying then the movies

Hinata and Yachi’s screams were not helping either 

he tried to mask his fear by yelling at Hinata any chance he got

Tsukishima saw right through that,

“Oh? is the king getting scared?”

yes, yes he was

but Tsukishima did not need to know that

flinched at anything that could potentially pop out at him

got knocked over by Hinata a few times

Yachi had a death grip on this mans arm half the time to be honest he kind of felt less scared with how scared she was so he didn’t mind

ended up using Hinata as a shield a few times

he got to the end after what felt like an eternity

never wanted to do something like that again

Tsukishima unfortunately got most of his unfortunate experience on camera

cue the never ending teasing

Yachi had told him it was okay and asked if he wanted to get hot coco with the rest of them bby is too kind

sir was definitely in the mood for some hot coco after that nightmare

•Tsukishima•

“No.”

that was his immediate answer

its’s not as if he was scared to go mans knows everything is fake and does not care in the slightest

he just did not find them as entertaining as most people did

and going with the others?

yeah, count him out

but Hinata was determined

Tsukishima was ready to resort to violence when Hinata had bothered him about it for what felt like the millionth time

when he realized that that midget would not shut up until he got the answer he wanted, he finally caved

“Fine. Just shut the hell up, would you?”

Hinata did not shut up

listening to Hinata go on and on was worth it once they got there though

this was one of the most entertaining things he’s seen in a while

everyone was already loosing it before they even got inside

teasing was at the max today yams was the only exception

Hinata was the main target of his laughs

Yachi was runner up but he didn’t really have to try, miss girl was scared of everything tbh he went a little easy on her bc he lowkey felt bad

he even got to poke fun at the king himself

documenting everyone’s misfortune and sending the videos to the gc

purposely walked in front of the group so they’d bump into him and get scared

he and Yamaguchi were the first one to reach the exit so he got to watch everyone run for their lives

now he was really running his mouth

told Hinata he never wanted to do something like that again though

in reality, he had a lot of fun

he surprisingly agreed to get hot coco with them afterwards mainly because he knew the cafe they were going to had strawberry shortcake

•Yamaguchi•

oh no

Yamaguchi was definitely not one to willingly participate in things like this

he honestly was about to refuse the offer until he found out Tsukki was going 

he decided it was now or never to get over his fears I’m convinced that if Tsukki jumped off a bridge, Yamaguchi would too

Hinata talking about how excited he was did nothing to calm his nerves

every time it was brought up he would try to change the topic 

he preferred to pretend as if it wasn’t a thing that he was actually involved in

As soon as they arrived, Yams was clinging onto Tsukishima for dear life

he was very grateful that Tsukki didn’t deny his attempts to use him as a human shield

It didn’t start off too bad

sure there was a few props that were uncomfortable to look at but for the most part he thought he could actually get through this pretty easily

he had even loosed his grip on Tsukki’s arm a little bit

then things started popping out at him

sir did not sign up for all of this

he was right back to cutting off the circulation in Tsukishima’s arm

Yamaguchi wasn’t the type of person to scream when he got scared 

he preferred to shut his eyes as tight as he could and repeat that he was okay over and over again in his head

if he wasn’t so terrified he would probably be laughing right along with Tsukishima 

but at the moment all he was focused on was getting the heck out of that place

funny enough, he didn’t even notice that they had reached the end until Tsukki told him he could open his eyes

poor baby was pretty much on the brink of tears after all of that

Hinata apologized profusely as Kageyama scolded him 

he felt much better later, laughing at all the videos Tsukishima took with some hot coco in his system 

•Yachi•

poor girl 

when Hinata suggested going to a haunted house she felt her heart drop to her stomach

she agreed none the less though, figuring that it would make Hinata sad if she refused seeing how excited he was

leading up to it, she was still scared out of her mind but some of Hinata’s excitement had surprisingly rubbed off on her

maybe she could get through this

her mind changed when they actually arrived

nope nope nope nope nope nope

definitely could not get through this

she was furiously nodding at Hinata’s offer to get the heck out of there  but that idea had been shut down 

she tried to gravitate towards Tsukishima, since she figured that he was big and he could be a shield or something of that sort

she ended up taking off in the other direction once he began telling her about all the scary stuff that was inside he was just teasing but poor baby definitely did not sense the sarcasm

she opted to clinging to Kageyama since sticking around Hinata and Yamaguchi just made her more nervous

“Kageyama-kun, am I going to die in there”

once they got inside she calmed down a little bit

the decorations at the beginning were mostly just bloody props and Kageyama kept hitting them to show her they weren’t real we love big brother Kags

it was probably just a coincidence that every prop he hit ended up smacking Hinata in the head

then the jump scares begun and Yachi was just about ready to faint

miss girl was just babbling nonsense, trying to distract herself from how terrified she was

every single jumpscare she would let out a squeal and shut her eyes

she ended up bumping into Tsukishima a few times which just made her even more terrified I mean, mans is huge and it’s dark what do you expect 

almost got lost

she had run in the opposite direction and Yamaguchi thought one of the actors kidnapped her

Hinata started flipping out

Kageyama just started yelling at him

Tsukishima ended up spotting her running back to the group after getting chased back by one of the actors

someone was now in front and behind her at all times

by the end of it Yachi was on the cusp of needing medical attention 

she suggested getting some hot coco once she calmed down mainly just to get her mind off of everything she just had to experience

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[artificialqueens]

Girl I Met On The Internet, 6/6 (Crystal x Gigi) - Strawberry

a/n: and it’s a wrap! for now anyway bc i totally dont have a fic coming based on the good news nicky had for jaida! i just want to say thank you to every single person who read, liked and reblogged this story. it means so much to me, i’m so glad people enjoyed the strange idea that came into my brain. <3 (also! i wanted to let you guys know that i’m planning on posting this fic on ao3 as well, probably after this chapter is posted on here. my username on there is drivingmecrazy !!)

crystal: does everyone’s spring break start this weekend too?? anyone doing anything??

jan!: mine does! i’m staying home all week, jackie is leaving me :(

nicky: my spring break isn’t until late april!! wtf :(

heidi: ha loser

heidi: i’m going to play animal crossing all weekend i can’t wait

Jackie: I’m going to Canada to visit family on Sunday. Jan, if you want we can hang out on Saturday if you’re going to miss me that much. :P

nicky: i’ll hang out with you jackie

jan: i hate you nicky

jaida: i have a pageant next week!!

jan!: yaas gorg

nicky: bring home the crown!

crystal: GO JAIDA!

nicky: also jaida call me. i have good news for you :)

gigi: crystal you already know what’s going down

crystal: do i now?

gigi: GOOD LUCK JAIDA!!! NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE OUR WINNER

Crystal had somewhat of an idea of what was going down. She had been granted permission to sleep over at Gigi’s house, and they would be going on their date the following day. Gigi would not tell Crystal anything about where they were going, and refused to give her any hints no matter how much Crystal begged. 

The next morning, on their walk to school, Crystal finally got a hint. 

“You tweeted about it. That’s all I’ll tell you.”

“That’s not helpful at all!” Crystal had almost 30 thousand tweets, her Twitter was her space to say weird things without being judged too harshly, and she had a lot of things to say! She thought about things she might’ve tweeted about wanting to do, or places she wanted to go, but came up empty handed.

“Well, you have the whole day to think about it. I’ll meet you after school, yeah?”

-

Gigi’s mom offered to pick them up after school, even though the walk from their school to Gigi’s house wasn’t far. Crystal finally met Nancy, Gigi’s beloved dog. Crystal didn’t want to do anything besides hold the dachshund to her chest all night, but Gigi wouldn’t let her, saying it wasn’t fair for Nancy to get all of the attention even though Gigi does the exact same thing with Tic Tac.

They made homemade pizza for dinner, and played monopoly with Gigi’s parents and her brother. Gigi’s brother thought Crystal was cute, and hit on Crystal; trying out a ridiculous pickup line on the green haired girl every chance he got. After they called off the game, Gigi excused her and Crystal to her room.

“So quick to leave, Georgina,” Crystal teased, sitting down next to Nancy who was using Gigi’s strawberry cow pillow pet as a headrest. 

“Wanna spend time with you. Can we cuddle?”

“Yeah, of course.”

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s company until Gigi spoke up.

“I couldn’t do it.”

“Couldn’t do what?” Crystal asked, lost.

“Come out to my friends. I thought I was ready but obviously I’m not.”

“It’s okay, Gigi. You’ll know when it’s time, don’t rush it.”

“I just want to be more open, I guess.”

“That’s good, but it’s not going to happen overnight. You have to take baby steps, G.”

“Was it hard? To come out?”

“To who?” Crystal snorted, “You know I don’t have any friends. I’m pretty sure everyone at school already knows, though.”

“Does your mom know?”

“Probably. She got a little too suspicious when I started liking Poppy.”

This turned into revealing who their first gay crush was, and how and when they figured out they liked girls like the rest of their friends liked boys. Crystal told Gigi about how she originally tried to fake like One Direction so no one would suspect anything, and Gigi told Crystal about how she refused to listen to any music sung by female artists for half a year before they decided to go to sleep.

-

Crystal had woken up first. She didn’t bother waking up Gigi, going to scroll through Twitter instead. It was still early, but the group chat was on some bullshit, Jan changed her display name to Nicky and changed her profile picture to Nicky’s to mock her. Nicky did not find this funny in the slightest, but Jaida did.

nicky: i’m nicky i’m french i love stealing my friends gfs

jaida: omg period!

THE REAL nicky: JAIDA THAT’S NOT ME!!!

jaida: proof?

THE REAL nicky: I HATE IT HERE!!

nicky: croissant

crystal: HELPDGNJKFNJ

THE REAL nicky: i cannot stand jan. this is why jackie should date me instead

Crystal couldn’t stop laughing, which ended up waking Gigi up. Gigi was grumpy at first, but that changed when she realized they needed to get ready to go on the date she had planned.

After they had gotten up and dressed, they sat next to each other in front of the giant, floor length mirror next to Gigi’s closet to do their makeup. Gigi stopped doing her makeup after putting on her foundation, deciding that watching Crystal do her eye shadow was more entertaining than finishing the look she had in mind.

“Stop looking at me, you’re making me nervous!” Crystal giggled when she noticed Gigi’s stares, not actually wanting Gigi to stop.

“I’ll think about it,” Gigi paused, pretending to think, “I will not. You look beautiful.”

Crystal squawked, “I barely have anything on my face!”

“So?”

“What are you, gay or something?” Crystal teased, making Gigi poke at her sides, “Stop being a dork and finish your makeup!”

“Fine. Only because we need to get going soon.”

-

“Wait, you know how to drive?” Crystal asked, getting in the passenger seat.

“Yeah! I don’t have my own car yet, but I got my license on my 16th birthday. I am not enforcing the stereotype at all!” Gigi grinned, opening the garage door and starting her mom’s car.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Can I play music?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Gigi handed her the aux cord and started backing out of the driveway. 

“Okay. This is the ultimate test,” Crystal stated, starting to play a song. “Which One Direction song is this?”

The song in question was good, but Gigi didn’t recognize it. She had only listened to ‘Midnight Memories’ because it was Crystal’s favorite album, and she knew for sure Crystal wasn’t playing a song from that album. “Is it from ‘Made in the A.M’?”

“Trick question! It’s one of Niall’s solo songs. It’s called ‘Dear Patience’!” Crystal laughed, thinking she had pulled off the biggest prank in the world.

“Oh, fuck. I should’ve known there was only one person singing.”

After fifteen minutes of driving, and Gigi almost running a stop sign, they finally pulled up at a cute little thrift shop on the outskirts of town, and Crystal was just about shaking with excitement. “I love thrifting! I’ve only been once, but it was so fun! I found that jumpsuit I wore that one day while thrifting!” She rambles, rushing to get out of the car and inside.

“Wait, when I did tweet about this?”

Around the time they had first started talking, Crystal had tweeted about how her dream date was going thrifting. Gigi naturally stored this information in the back of her mind, even though at the time she never thought she would need it.

On their walk from the parking lot to the store, Crystal held her hand out, which Gigi hesitantly accepted.

“We should play a game! We should split up and pick out an outfit for the other person without them knowing and then meet up and try them on!” 

Gigi’s heart swelled, Crystal was so cute. “That sounds fun, but how do I know this isn’t just a trick to dress me up in something hideous?” Gigi teased, making Crystal blush.

“I would never, don’t be ridiculous,” Crystal scoffed, “I’ll save that for the next time we go thrifting!”

Crystal let go of Gigi’s hand to open the door for her, splitting up as soon as they walked into the shop.

It didn’t take them very long to pick out their pieces. Crystal stayed true to her word, picking out a light green, halter top dress for Gigi. Gigi, on the other hand, had picked out a hideous pair of neon pink, zebra print leggings and a red flannel shirt.

“Gigi, what is that?” Crystal scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“You like patterns, why not clash them?” Gigi tried to defend herself, but could barely finish her sentence before bursting out laughing.

“No! I’m not getting that! I’m not even going to try on that outfit. It’s yucky.”

“That’s fine, give me the dress you picked out for me. I need that.” Gigi snatched it from Crystal’s hands, walking quickly to the dressing room.

The dress looked gorgeous on Gigi. Crystal was so glad she took their game seriously. 

They looked around together for a little bit before wandering from each other yet again. Gigi somehow ended up with a pile of clothes that you would only see in a very successful thrifting haul video on YouTube. Crystal had stuck to the men’s section, immediately claiming some loud button ups and with a little digging, she found a very specific, out of place t-shirt that said something about how ‘real grandmas drink Dr. Pepper’ that she found hilarious and needed to own.

“What does that say? Some grandmas play bingo, real grandmas drink Dr. Pepper?” Gigi questioned when they finally met back up, “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, but it’s sending me. I need it!”

“So you hated my outfit I got for you, but you’re buying that?” Gigi teased.

“You do not understand the art of highly specific shirts, like these, babe. I’ll have to teach you all about them later.”

Gigi thought Crystal was an idiot, but she couldn’t stop smiling.

-

After paying for their clothes, they got back into the car. Gigi started driving, not telling Crystal where their next stop was. The stop happened to be the Taco Bell drive thru, which Crystal was excited about. “Okay, I do remember tweeting about wanting to go to Taco Bell.” 

When they got their food, Gigi placed the bag in the back seat, making Crystal raise an eyebrow. 

“You’re a messy eater, so we aren’t eating in the car. My mom would kill me if we made a mess.”

While Crystal tried to convince Gigi she was not a messy eater and her mom’s car would be fine, Gigi pulled up to a park.

“Can you find a spot to sit down at so we can eat it there?” Gigi requested. It took Crystal about two seconds to travel from the car to the grass, settling down in a shady spot underneath some trees. Gigi joined Crystal, holding a blue blanket as well as the brown paper bag.

“It’s not a picnic blanket, I couldn’t find one but I hope it works.”

“It does! I love picnics!” Crystal hops up so Gigi can lay down the blanket, going to retrieve the drinks that they forgot in the car. 

Their lunch was filled with flirting, stupid inside jokes and Crystal loved every second of it. She knew for sure by the end of the day she would not be single anymore, but the lack of confirmation was making her antsy.

Once they were done eating, Gigi collected all of the wrappers and cups, walking across the grass to the nearest trash can to dispose of them. When Gigi came back, she had a huge grin on her face, “Well, Crystal Elizabeth. I would like to think that I successfully wooed you, if only you could do something for me in return…”

“What do you have in mind, Georgina?” Crystal giggles, hoping Gigi couldn’t tell how nervous that statement made her.

“Crystal Elizabeth, I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend?” 

“God, yes. I’ve been waiting for this for months.” Crystal exclaimed, immediately being pulled into a kiss.

They stayed at the park after that. Crystal’s inner child had jumped out after the kiss was broken and she wanted to play on the playground. 

“Wait, Crystal! Come here, the light looks good right now and we need to take our reveal selfie!”

-

Their date came to an end when Crystal’s mom texted her asking to come home. Crystal’s mom had no idea what she was interrupting, as Crystal did not tell her mom what they were actually doing.

“I hate it here, I would let this date go on all week if I could.” Crystal pouted, buckling her seatbelt.

“If there’s any other place you want to go this week, we could go on our second date.” Gigi smiled, reaching out to hold Crystal’s hand.

“Be careful, I know steering with one hand is peak lesbianism, but I don’t know if you’re a good enough driver to do that yet.” Crystal joked, even though she gladly accepted Gigi’s hand.

“Oh, shut up. Like you could go ten minutes without holding my hand.”

Crystal kissed Gigi again when they got on her street, Gigi parking a few houses down for privacy.

“This was fun. I really am happy with everything. You completely wooed me, Georgina.”

“I’m glad. Does this mean I can call you my clown girlfriend now?” Gigi jokingly asked, making Crystal let out a tiny scream.

“As dumb as that sounds, yes. You can.”

Gigi did not let Crystal get out of the car without getting another kiss.

-

Crystal entered her house, her grin slowly fading when she saw her mom waiting for her.

“You took a while to come home.” Crystal’s mom started, under the impression she was at Gigi’s house. “What took you so long?”

“Yeah, sorry. I couldn’t find my charger.” Crystal felt bad for lying to her mom, but she didn’t want to tell her what happened yet.

“Oh, your generation and your phones. I was starting to get worried.”

“Mama, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I’m going to my room now, is that okay?”

“Yeah, I’m about to start dinner. We’re having your favorite!”

The second Crystal got into her room, she locked her door and jumped on her bed, logging onto Twitter.

crystal: good evening l a d i e s

jan!: HEY!

jaida: crystal!

Jackie: You haven’t been active today, what were you up to?

heidi: not jackie demanding answers

nicky: ooooh

gigi: well, since you asked…

crystal: :D

gigi: my girlfriend crystal and i went on our first date today. isn’t she beautiful??

The group erupted into chaos the second they saw their selfie, congratulating the new couple for finally getting together. Crystal wouldn’t have it any other way. She would be forever grateful for being added into Elites Only, and even more for the special girl she had met there.

gigi: so, any ideas for our second date?

crystal: tons, babe. i’m gonna blow your mind.

[dwarrowdams]

Okay, so I am saying this here because saying it elsewhere might just be the end of my (fledgling) career as an author.

I’ve previously read and enjoyed books written by Brooklyn Ray/Taylor Brooke (a queer + nonbinary white author), but their social media presence was...not my fave.  I saw them drag readers over small things and eventually I couldn’t take the negative vibes so I just unfollowed them, even though something told me that there was more than just ~bad vibes~ going on here.

Giving myself some space helped me to figure out what about them rubbed me the wrong way.  Was it that they RT-ed a tweet that amounted to “free menstrual products are important, but please don’t bash on free condoms bc activists worked hard to make that happen” by saying the OP was tone policing people who menstruate?  Was it the fact that they said that you can’t be Christian and a witch?

Neither of those rubbed me the right way, but the thing that got me was them saying that they disliked POSE because of the queer stereotypes.

That didn’t sit right with me, because POSE is one of very few pieces of modern media that centers Black trans women.  If you don’t like it, whatever, but saying that it’s stereotypical ignores the fact that so few Black trans women have been allowed to exist in queer spaces.  Stories of queer folks with AIDS (or queer folks who are homeless) usually center cis white people, so seeing a story like this focus on Black trans women as stereotypical is...odd, particularly since Janet Mock (a Black trans woman) writes, directs, and produces the show.

Tonight, it all clicked into place.

The comment on POSE.

Their positive review of a book that readers of color have called out for racism (and of course their review doesn’t mention that there’s anything racially problematic in the book).

(White reviewers have mentioned these issues as well.) 

The fact that they released an anthology of stories by nonbinary authors and only two authors included were POC (again, please correct me if I’m wrong).

While that might seem fine (it’s the same number of authors of color as the recently released romance anthology He’s Come Undone, after all), there are nine stories in Behind the Sun, Above the Moon.

There are five stories in He’s Come Undone.  So compare the 40% ratio of authors of color in He’s Come Undone to the 22.2% ratio of Behind the Sun, Above the Moon.  It’s pretty damn telling.

Brooklyn Ray/Taylor Brooke is one of the White Queers who does not acknowledge the white privilege they have.  They are sidlining and ignoring queer/trans people of color and from my knowledge, they have not taken a step back and acknowledged that any of these actions are problematic.

I am tired of seeing white queers who don’t examine their white privilege and racial biases—and I’m white, so I can only imagine how tired queer people of color are of seeing white queers doing this.

While it may be tempting to do so, please do not @ them on social media about this—they can get really nasty with folks over very little, even if those folks are calm and polite (see image below or click the link).

(context: Taylor had vague-tweeted about an article praising Leigh Bardugo’s NINTH HOUSE and someone was asking for the link to the article)

Just stay away from them and use your energy to support trans authors of color: today, this month, and every damn day.

If this is something you want to talk about on Twitter, do so very carefully because I’ve also seen this author post screenshots of tweets where their name was censored out.  (Did someone send them the pics?  Did they poke around looking for their censored out name?  Idk, but something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark.) I do hope that they learn to be a better ally to QTPOC, but I don’t want any of y’all risking your mental health by trying to confront them directly.

Fellow white queer folks, we need to do better so that the people of color in our queer community can openly be themselves without being criticized for not fitting the White Queer Ideal.

Update: As of today (6/29/20), Brooklyn Ray/Taylor Brooke/Taylor Barton has been dropped by their agent and all of their publishers. However, they are planning to self-publish the books they wrote as Brooklyn Ray (and perhaps others) using the same pseudonym and the same book titles.  The fact that they felt the need to harass me for telling others not to buy their books bc they’re racist + for speaking out against their harassment of other writers says a lot.

Also worth noting: the fact that everyone they harassed when they reactivated their @/BrookieRayWrite Twitter a couple days ago is a) a new writer with fewer industry connections b) trans/nonbinary c) a person of color, or some combination of A-C, is pretty damn telling.

Obviously they have not changed and their apologies were not sincere (especially not the “wah my team made me apologize” one).  They are not worth your time or energy.

(Note: I apologize for not having links/screenshots for all of this—I didn’t think to screenshot the tweets mentioned early on because I didn’t imagine I’d have to make a post like this, but I did try my best to find what I could.)

(Another Note: Edited to include the link to the screenshotted tweet and added links to reviews of Docile by white reviewers that address the racist issues of the novel.)

(A Third Note: Edited to reflect that there was one author of color in the nonbinary anthology; my thanks to the anon who corrected me.)

(A Fourth Note: Edited to reflect that there was another author of color in the aforementioned anthology; my thanks to the anon who corrected me.  Also added update on the situation and deleted the call for folks to share their experiences bc they absolutely have.)

[collegeessayguy]

Have the adults in your life been hassling you about making the most of high school in preparation for college? Maybe you’ve been nudged towards classes that will look good on your transcript or lovingly pushed in the direction of extracurriculars that lend themselves to impressive application essays?

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know: that’s not what this article is about.

There are so many things to do in high school but, in some cases, the preoccupation with using high school as a tool to get into college can make life miserable and activities unenjoyable.

But there is hope high school is about more than preparing for college. If you want to make good use of your high school years and prepare for college and have a good time, the tips below are for you.

1. PRACTICE GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT IN HIGH SCHOOL, SINCE IT’S LIKELY TO GET HARDER IN COLLEGE.

One of the reasons college is more stressful than high school? You’re more independent. And because you’re more independent, life in general requires better time management. You’ll have way more obligations and your professors are not going to chase you down to remind you about that deadline next week. Not only that but your parents won’t be just a few feet away and able to bug you when you slack off.

Using a calendar to track your day is an easy way to start managing your time a bit better. Some people prefer an old-school, pen-and-paper planner. Studies show that writing things down with your hand (rather than typing them onto a screen), makes you more likely to remember them.

But your paper planner can’t send reminders to your phone. If you prefer tech, you can’t go wrong with good ol’ Google calendar. (It’s what I use.) iCalendar is also great, or your parents might have a Cozi Calendar membership you can take advantage of.  

Here’s what your calendar might look like:

Regardless of the type of calendar you use, here are a few basics of good time management:

Put tests, practices, events, meetings, appointments, project due dates, and days off into your calendar as soon as you find out about them—this could be as early as the first week of the semester when you get your syllabus. Once you know when something is due, decide how long it will take to do it. Work backwards and schedule time into your calendar to work on that project or study.

For example, if your science project is due on May 10th, you could allot one hour each day to work on it, May 1 - 9. Or maybe two hours every two days.

Make sure there’s space in your schedule for downtime and fun, too! If need be, block out time to see your friends or just binge that new Netflix show. That way, when someone asks you to help them study on Sunday afternoon, you can tell them you’re busy. Busy watching the new season of Game of Thrones, that is.

2. BALANCE YOUR STUDIES WITH LIFE

You know that colleges favor well-rounded applicants–people who volunteer and get good grades, test well and take part in their communities. But balancing your studies and life is about more than just creating a competitive college application.

Taking time away from your studies will invigorate you and activate  different parts of your brain. Making art, playing soccer, or just going to a concert will recharge your mental batteries in a way that a 10-minute study break can’t. Participating in life outside of academics also boosts your creativity, increases your emotional intelligence, and helps you strengthen relationships.

And just as importantly–it’s fun.  

Make time to get out of your books and into your life.

3. GET INVOLVED WITH ON-CAMPUS (AND OFF-CAMPUS!) ORGANIZATIONS.

High school is about more than GPAs and SATs; it’s often a place where you form lifelong friendships. And sometimes it’s easier to form those friendships when you see people outside of chemistry class.

Explore a few of your school’s organizations–try the debate club, Ultimate Frisbee, fencing, or student government. If your school doesn’t have any organizations that light your fire, try starting your own. Maybe lots of people would want to play Quidditch if you started a team?

If starting a school organization isn’t your style, explore the groups and organizations your community has to offer. Check out rec league sports, volunteer at the local animal shelter, or sing with your church’s choir.

Here are a few other ways to connect with people in your community:

Meetup.com: A website that allows users to create events and meetup groups in their local community around any topic you can imagine: Pick-up basketball games, book clubs, weekend, painting groups, mobile app developer meetup groups for girls. Have an interest? There’s probably a meetup for it. Don’t see it? Start your own!

Your local community center: You know that building in the park with all the flyers promoting rec league sports, town hall meetings, and litter pick ups? Poke your head in and see if there’s anything on the calendar that appeals to you. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors.

Check out greatnonprofits.org to find a non-profit near you

Use the search feature at Idealist.org for even more.

Ask your counselor! There could be something coming up next week that you don’t even know about.

Connect with a local museum–many have teen programs and docent opportunities–or check with your local animal shelter, YMCA, temple, church, or synagogue.

Maybe even go back to your middle or elementary school and see how you can help.

4. GET TO KNOW YOUR TEACHERS

Fun fact: your teachers are real, actual humans who have senses of humor, hobbies, and interests outside of getting you to turn in your homework on time. Shocking, right?

One of the easiest ways to make the most of high school is to talk to your teachers and get to know them.

Stay after class and ask that question that seemed too in-depth for the rest of the class. Tell them you loved the last novel they selected and ask if they can recommend any similar books. Ask your Government teacher what she thinks of that bill that’s moving through Congress.

These conversations will give you deeper insights into the topics you’re studying and–bonus!– will probably (read: definitely) make it easier to get great teacher recommendations for your college applications.

5. TAKE CLASSES YOU LOVE, NOT NECESSARILY THE CLASSES YOU THINK WILL PLEASE YOUR PARENTS/GET YOU A GOOD JOB/MAKE YOU MONEY.

When you’re applying to competitive universities, it’s tempting to stuff your schedule with ‘impressive’ courses you think will look good on applications. AP Calc BC! AP Physics! AP Japanese! If you truly want to take AP Calc or feel it will help with your dream of becoming a civil engineer, take AP Calc. But when you stack your schedule with classes you don’t really like and then use those classes as the basis of your college application, you’re setting yourself up for a pretty miserable academic experience.

6. PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND LEARN HOW BEST TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Real talk: college can be incredibly stressful. You’re juggling a challenging course load, applying for internships, working part time–all while living far from home with roommates you might not have chosen for yourself. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Use your slightly-less-stressful high school years to build good self-care habits. What does this look like? Well, it looks different for everyone, but these basics are a good start:

Get eight hours of sleep

Exercise 20 minutes each day

Drink enough (about half a gallon) of water per day

Limit social media use (and all the self-doubt that comes with it) by setting social media locks that shut you out after you’ve exceeded a certain time limit

Bonus Tip (if you have an iPhone): here’s how to make it work for you and not against you (one of my favorite productivity articles ever, btw)

Spending time with friends doing something other than studying or talking about college applications

Your high school experience doesn’t have to be a test run for college, filled only with test prep and ‘impressive’ classes. If you follow these tips, you can totally prepare for college while still enjoying high school.

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[sparrow-ink]

covid diaries aka memoirs of the plague

trying to keep my thoughts organized and coherent has been a bitch recently, so i’m going to try to put them down more or less in order here and see where we end up. this is going to be heavy on personal covid content and might get long, so please skip if either distresses you.

so last tues, the uh... 24th i guess, i started feeling ill. mostly like allergies plus a bad headache. i had a feeling i was getting sick but didn’t want to alarm my spouse or housemate/best friend, so stuck with ‘could very well be allergies and dehydration.’ also it very well could have been, and it was very reassuring for us all to tell each other that. my company had already moved the majority of employees to work-from-home, including me, so i already wasn’t going to come into contact with anyone outside my home.

symptoms got worse over the next few days, congestion, headache, feeling feverish, cough started up. we didn’t own a thermometer, and my spouse and housemate tried every wal-mart, wal-greens, target, etc to find one. housemate said at one place they laughed at her when she asked if they had any. i tried ordering one on amazon with no luck. either they were $90+, out of stock, or not shipping until may. i settled on ordering on for shipment in may. the seller messaged me the next day and said they couldn’t fulfill the order and asked to cancel it.

from our last costco trip we had already (unintentionally) gotten stocked up on toilet paper, snacks, and some dry goods. at some point before I got sick, spouse and I bought a bag of rice and bag of potatoes, because I intermittently try to do mealprepping and seemed being stuck at home would be a good time to try again, what with national and state-wide states of emergency being declared. also seemed good to have them in supply. and we were still stocked up on cold and flu medecine from when i got bronchitis mid-dec to mid-jan. so we were/are pretty well-stocked on essentials? that was reassuring, as i was obviously, noticeably sick by last friday.

i was hoping i would get better over the weekend but i did not. still couldn’t find a thermometer anywhere. governor had issued the state-wide stay-at-home order on uh...thurs? weds? but already being sick, and already working from home, and not going out, it didn’t really affect me much?

i feel like i should mention at this point that since the state of emergency was declared and we started to transition to working from home, i’d been trying to ration my social media (tumblr/twitter/insta) time for my sanity. but also not having information makes me feel helpless, so i had the CDC covid page up and checked every day. and then the colorado state covid page too. seeing the numbers of confirmed cases double, and triple, from week to week was... hm.

also one of my younger siblings moved from colorado to arizona at the start of march, and presumably lost their phone because i haven’t heard from them since despite poking. that hasn’t been concerning during a global pandemic. not at all. they’re probably not dead. i mean, you’d think a bitch could call their older sibling to let them know they’re not dead, but whatever. i’m sure they’re fine. probably. anyway.

where was i. so by the weekend i was Not Feeling Well At All Actually. my cough had become “scary.” my housemate did all the dishes in the kitchen despite not being responsible for most of them. i felt, and sounded, disgusting.

i checked the covid testing requirements again, and basically found that in colorado you had to be dying to be tested for covid. cool.

monday rolled around, still not better. i ended up having work computer issues (their end, not mine) where i basically ended up laying on the couch in my office while IT did IT things. a blessing. i slogged through the rest of the day. just felt like i wasn’t tracking well, couldn’t focus on shit. that evening while watching shows with husbeast & housemate, i had a truly uncontrollable coughing spasm/fit that seemed to just go on. could barely talk without coughing. i coughed all night. i basically didn’t sleep.

tuesday morning i woke up, and started coughing again. i could hear a crackle echo up my throat when i breathed if i was in the right position. i sat up to try and get my breath. i think it was like 6 am. spouse creature (already awake from my coughing) gently rubbed my back. i started crying. i just wanted to sleep, and i couldn’t sleep, and i couldn’t stop coughing, and i felt like i could barely breathe, and things just hurt, and i couldn’t think straight. i felt so... defeated. i think it freaked out the spouse creature. i usually only cry during children’s movies.

i took the day off of work. i hadn’t taken a day yet because i was already working from home, and it was the end of the month which is the busiest for my team, and my boss had said last week that if i felt i could work, they needed me. by tuesday morning i was out of energy and also fucks. i got in the queue for a teladoc appointment. per the CDC and colorado covid websites, telehealth visits are to be the first option in order to help prevent the spread, etc. also i would have done teladoc anyway bc i don’t have a PCP.

it took a few hours to get connected with a doctor. i think i started coughing while he did his intro thing. he basically said, well i think i know what you’re calling about, but why don’t you tell me. i told him. and coughed some more. he said my symptoms are consistent with covid, and in a perfect world they’d be able to get me in for rapid testing, but they couldn’t. that basically people are only getting tested at this point who are getting admitted to the hospital. some people were able to access testing through their PCPs but even that was drying up. he advised me to self-isolate (already on it lol) and for my household to self-quarantine for at least two weeks from when i started showing symptoms. and i could un-self-isolate once the majority of my symptoms calmed down AND when i didn’t have a fever for three days straight with no meds. he prescribed me an inhaler and a cough suppressant pill, though he said the cough suppressant might not do much since it didn’t seem to be working for anyone else with similar.

husbeast had run out to get some more supplies by the time i got on the vidcall with the doc, mostly liquids and electrolytes. he went back out once i gave him the rundown, to fill my prescription and get me the good costco chicken soup once they were open. he also, miracle of miracles, managed to find and buy a temporal thermometer at costco for like $45 i think. a true champion. my temp seemed to be fine in the afternoon, a touch above normal but fine. i’m not actually sure what my personal base temperature is. i should also say that i’d been consistently taking dayquil and sudafed since the previous weds.

that evening my temp started to go up. and up. or at least i think it was tuesday night. maybe it was weds? freaked out spouse, i got up to 102 F even with sudafed and additional acetaminophen. i basically had a fever from tues through this morning (friday), while taking pills like clockwork. always seemed to get worse in the afternoon/evening and be better in the morning. today at least it’s stayed below 100F, even mostly below 99F.

the cough and difficulty breathing has been the worst part. i have delicate baby lungs to begin with, and i have allergies and a history of childhood asthma. so i’m already paranoid about my breathing even with a normal cold. but to hear that i would have to immediately proceed to emergency services should my symptoms progress to: can only get a few words out, can’t stand up or walk across the room, can’t maintain conciousness, to hear that was... something. because then it’s basically like, okay, if I get pneumonia and my lungs are filling up, then i can go see a doctor in person. cool. and i know it says on the websites that there’s no approved treatment for coronavirus, that treatment for less severe cases will be the same at home as it would be in person, but shit. i woke up so many times last night feeling like i was fighting for air, waking up because i was coughing so hard i had to sit up all the way to breathe, and i kept thinking, what if i just stop breathing in my sleep? not like i would notice, right?

it’s been scary. i’ve been trying not to freak out my people with more crying and whatnot, but i’ve already got anxiety and this shit aint helping. i’m trying to stay relatively calm and not make them deal with me losing my shit on top of already taking care of me and bringing me soup and water and pills and asking what they can do for me. i’m tired of being sick. i want a new pair of lungs. i want to not feel like i’ve been hit by a truck. my ribs hurt from coughing so much. my chest hurts. my whole body aches. the headache keeps coming and going. i can’t stop fucking coughing. i don’t want to die, i just want to maybe go into a coma and wake up when this is all over. once the line of dump trucks has stopped running me over.

and i’m just so mad at the lack of preparedness in the US. i’m so pissed that i can’t even get tested, i can’t know for sure what the fuck is happening to me. i’m so mad that the cheeto is president during this. i hate this fucking timeline. i hate that we don’t even have clear numbers on cases because of mismanagement. i hate that i keep feeling like i’m about to throw up because i’m coughing so fucking hard. real fucking reassuring to know that the symptoms i’ve been told to watch for, to know that i need to go to the hospital, are the same ones that constitute an emergency and would mean that i would basically have to be rushed there. wearing a facemask if we can find one.

ugh. the other worst part is that i haven’t even been really coherent enough to write. and i’ve only been able to settle on a few things to read and watch. being sick makes me picky and like, impossible to please. so i’m spoiled for choice with 4+ streaming services, but nothing sounds good. and my people are working from home, but they’re still working. they can’t spend all their time with me. i’m bored, and everything is garbage, and there are only so many times i can rewatch the princess bride. i have been napping quite a lot, but even that doesn’t take all day.

maybe i’ll write some crackfic. then it doesn’t have to be coherent. and it would be in the spirit of covid to write some real absurd shit i think.

anyway. i might delete this later. i feel better for getting events put down and venting.  also i apologize, i have no idea how to do a readmore cut on tumblr anymore.

[ayeun]

get to know me

Rules: Always post the rules. Tag 11 new people you’d like to know better.

1. Dogs or Cats?

DOGGOS... i also like cats too, but dogs are more social and i like that they’re more active even when they get older

2. YouTube celebrities or normal celebrities?

i don’t keep up with either but if i had to choose one, prob YT celebrities

3. If you could live anywhere where would that be?

i’ve always thought of living in NY permanently bc there’s no where else as convenient, lively and hardy as us! we live through the best and worst and honestly i don’t think there’s any better place to explore when you’re literally in a melting pot. maybe my taste will change in the future but i enjoy liveliness~

4. Disney or DreamWorks?  

as in........ animation?????? or... ??? :eyes: i like disney animations better bc of their detail and how they can stick to the “magical” feel in each movie. as for dreamworks tbh my only fave is the shrek (unironically)

5. Favourite childhood TV show?

i didn’t have cable so i always just caught the saturday morning shows, mostly Pokemon LOL.... 

6. The movie you’re looking forward to most in 2020

????? i don’t keep up w this unless i get dragged out to watch anything. idk prob whatever animated movie is gonna be out :’)? don’t care for live actions movies/movies w real people in it

7. Favorite book you read in 2019? i don’t rly read books... i just have art books for the most part so they’re mostly just pictures

8. Marvel or DC?

i don’t care for either of them LOL

9. If you choose Marvel favorite member of the X-Men? If you choose DC favourite Justice League member?

among x-men i really love jubilee’s aesthetic. whomst the fuck is the justice league? don’t know shit about them AKHOSPGHOPSGHO

10. Night or Day?

idk i think i’d prefer night bc i like seeing the lights in the dark

11. Favourite Pokemon?  

i like round smol pokemon that you can carry around, but also i have faves like mareep and scolipede,,,, 

12. Top 5 bands:

gorillaz, franz ferdinand, tyler the creator, epik high and uhhh ,, tbh they make most of my playlist. i guess sohodolls?

13. Top 10 books.

idk, again, i dont really read much books. i enjoy reading articles online and whatever comics i can find that’s on my feed for manga series though i’ve always recommended the tarot cafe.

14. Top 4 movies

hmmst. i can’t help but to think the person who typed these questions consciously chose the number four and not a round number/end in five... anyways................!!! recently i’ve really enjoyed : parasite joker shaolin soccer is one i always enjoy and laugh about, reminds me of family sitting together at the table eating dinner and watching it with our cubey TV ratatouille is one of my most fave pixar films

15. America or Europe?

america, fuck yeah ! europe is basically america. i think we’re the same amount of obnoxious n rude, america is a made up of people from all over the world and most of them wanting to start anew here. we also have freedom of USING A PUBLIC BATHROOM WHERE WE DON’T HAVE TO PAY TO USE AND PEEPEE AND POOPOO IN OUR PANTS

16. Tumblr or Twitter?

tumblr for sure. twitter has annoying character limits and i’ve seen enough on twitter where people poke their nose where it shouldn’t be and it catches wind extremely fast compared to tumblr. i also don’t like being able to see people liking posts from other people and their replying/retweeting system. seems cluttered for what it is? 17. Pro-choice or Pro-life?

Pro-choice. < all the way. what the women wants to do with her child is none of your god damned business!

18. Favorite YouTuber?

penguinz0 (cr1tikal). love their content, creative and hilarious way of speech and i always listen to their podcast (the official podcast)

19. Favorite author ?

who wrote this. why are they so obsessed with questions about things relating to books and writing.

20. Tea or Coffee?

generally, i like the clearer taste of tea/mild bitterness. coffee is... okay but it depends on who is making it LOL... 

21. OTP?

hmmmmm ver vague,,, i have a few but i’m not into the actual show to make any clear/strong opinions :’)))

22. Do you play an instrument/sing ?

i can play piano w a book up to grade 3. anything after that i have no fuckin clue. my singing can only go up to karaoke level where i’m there to have fun and also skilled enough that i’m not tone deaf??? like it’s not terrible, but not pro LOL

THANK U FOR THE TAG @actualkomodo !!! mWAH :*

[gutsybitsies]

Bullet fic

scifi au, kinda: Bitty was kidnapped by a group for superpower experimentation, and presumed dead by everyone, including his husband. When he finally manages to escape, Jack’s moved on without him. Warnings for human experimentation (not very graphic), and presumed character death. This turned out to be very, very long. 

It’s years after Bitty graduated and he and Jack are married. As in, jack proposed and they got their marriage license immediately afterwards. they’re planning on jack coming out soon and holding a huge wedding reception after. 

jack’s signed a no trade clause and bought this nice, huge house a few blocks away from marty’s place. there’s a yard. jack built bitty a patio, and he built a swing set “for the kids in the future”

one day bitty’s invited to a fancy party with some other college alumns, and faulty wiring and a gas leak in the building blows everything up and theyre all pronounced dead or missing. bitty was one of the missing bc they couldn’t find anything in there that identified as him. 

but they weren’t actually dead or caught in the explosion: they were taken by a group who needed human bodies to experiment powers and run tests on. while bitty’s being strapped to a gurney and reliving his worst nightmare of being trapped, jack’s suffering a panic attack because he just got news that his husband died in a freak accident

it gets long loll. 

bitty doesnt remember most of the experimentation, because they have him under anaesthesia and hypnosis and a number of other drugs. he does notice that the group of scientists were trying to create humans with superpowers, and most of the test experiments react badly and die. 

the alumn group do well, as in most of them don’t die when injected with the drugs. some even exhibit powers, such as super strength, etc. 

nothing happens with bitty. he’s poked and prodded and injected and nothing happens to him. it’s painful, but he doesn’t die, but he also doesnt exhibit any kind of ability. 

that’s weird, so the scientists decide to basically freeze him away until further notice, and he’s begging and crying for them not to put him in the small and cramped cryo-unit, but of course there’s no recourse. 

the next thing he knows, the door is opening and someone from somewhere called “samwell”, a government agency, is rescuing him from this hellhole. 

they take him to a private hospital, and he sees himself in the mirror for the first time in a while. and he’s hideous. his face was riddled with scars, and his eyes look dead and sunken. 

the samwell agency has already sent out notifications to his family that he’s been found, because he’s been missing around five years, so technically there was an ongoing search for him and he wasn’t pronounced dead yet. 

and meanwhile bitty catches up to the world. and he finds out that jack zimmermann has a public fianceè. 

jack had come out as bisexual, had created a foundation in the name of eric bittle for lgbt youth, and had moved on from him apparently.

jack did all the right things. he grieved, and he grieved. he gave himself time for the loss, he dedicated time and energy to making sure eric bittle was remembered, he stayed in contact with friends and family, he joined support groups and did grief counseling and got better. 

and he met someone, and fell in love again, and is planning on a life together with Katy. bitty’s heart broke as he scrolled through happy instagram and twitter posts by Katy about her beautiful boyfriend jack zimmermann who was an over the top romantic, who bored her with history channel, and let her wear his jerseys. they were two beautiful people leading beautiful lives, and bitty’s can only look at his own weak limbs and face and think about how he’ll never deserve jack again.

jack’s one of the people to receive a notification that bitty was alive and found, because technically he was still married to bitty (he and kate had decided to wait until the date passed that bitty was officially pronounced dead, bc jack couldn’t bear to speed the process up). 

all bitty had wanted was to run home to providence and into the arms of his husband, but instead he called his parents. They were ecstatic that he was alive, and he prepared for the trip back to georgia. bitty doesn’t want to look at jack’s happy life and ruin it, and he doesn’t want jack to see him with his scarred face. but he does call jack, because he knows he owes jack that.

“Sweetpea?” He involuntarily called out, then berating himself because Jack has someone else now. 

“Bitty?” Jack’s heart thumped as he finally heard the voice he’d been missing for so many years. Katy was holding his hand, and his grip tightens. 

“Jack, I-I’m back.” Bitty cried, and Jack could almost hear the tears rolling down his face. He remembered how easily Bitty cried. “I can’t believe Beyonce released two new albums since I was out!” And it was as if Bitty never left. 

“Where are you? You should come back home.” Before Jack realized that he sold the house they lived in together, when he decided that it was too painful to live there alone. 

“I’m back in Madison. I saw the news, about Katy. I don’t want to intrude.”

“You’re not intruding, I’ll book-,” Jack began to say, but Katy was looking blank and scared and he realized that she was afraid that he was going to dump her. And Jack doesn’t fucking know what to do. 

“I’m so glad you’re alive,” Jack finally said, breaking down as Bitty continued to sob into the phone. “I’m just so happy you’re alive.” 

so one of the logistical problems that happens is that jack is technically still married to bitty. but he’s engaged to another person. and jack’s lawyer is raring to go. 

“don’t you worry, mr. zimmermann. i’ll take care of this in a jiffy so you can go ahead and marry your beautiful Katy. and don’t worry about alimony, i’ll make sure he takes nothing away from this marriage, even if there was no prenup.”

bitty, selfless as ever, comes up north to solve the problem himself. he’s willing to file for divorce papers with jack, and doesn’t request any alimony. 

jack, on the phone as bitty’s in the airport: “you don’t have to do this, you just escaped from that terrible place, you have to rest yourself before you do anything.” 

bitty: “oh sweetp- jack. it must’ve been so hard for you to move on, i dont want you to suffer anymore. you’ve built up a life without me, and if i saunter back in anytime later i’ll ruin everything. it’s better to do everything now.” before bitty regrets it. 

part of the reason jack didn’t drop everything and run to bitty is bc jack is very all or nothing. it hasn’t hit home yet that bitty was back. but when he and the rest of bitty’s friend are there in the airport seeing bitty walk in, jack finally felt it. 

grief counseling helped jack a lot, but there was always a piece of him missing, and even though he accepted it and his counselor said it was normal, it was only when he saw bitty again that he felt that missing piece return inside him. 

bitty had sent pictures to his friends to warn them about how he looked, but he didn’t send one to jack because he can’t bear jack seeing him scarred up like that. and he wore sunglasses and a cold mask on after exiting the plane because he wanted to avoid the moment of jack seeing his face for a bit longer. 

and when bitty sees his friends waving at him he runs over and instinctually hugs jack first. his sunglasses were knocked off and his mask was askew in the collision and jack’s expression when he saw bitty’s face was terrible. 

“bitty, what did they do to you?” cupped bitty’s face gently, still looking at bitty with love. bitty moves in closer and cupped jack’s hands, but he felt the engagement ring, and then backed off to say hello to everyone else. 

katy, jack’s fianceé, is conflicted. on the one hand, she’s really really happy that jack’s husband is alive, because she knows that jack has been grieving him for ages and had finally walked out of grief. on the other, she’s so in love with jack, and she’s deathly afraid that bitty being back meant that jack was going to leave her.

when she saw bitty at the small gathering held in his honor and saw all his scars, she horrified herself by being glad that he was disfigured. “How can I be this disgusting that I’m happy for his misfortune?? But I can’t help it, GAH!!” 

so the next day, bitty’s meeting with jack and katy, and their lawyers. jack and katy’s lawyer Smith, and bitty’s lawyer Shitty (bitty was like, i dont need a lawyer, and shitty was like, BRAH). 

Smith: “How much alimony do you want? My client,” looks down disdainfully at his paper, “is prepared to offer you half his estate.” 

Katy, “what the FUCK jack you didn’t tell me that! half of your estate? jack that’s crazy! we’re getting married i should know!” 

“I’m really sorry, it was a last minute arrangement. Bitty needs it.” 

Bitty’s really touched, he really is. But he refuses the alimony because “the whole reason i’m here is because i don’t want to cause any more trouble, jack. you can’t just give me half of what you have. you dont have to give me anything.”

katy, “that’s nonsense, you should still receive something. and you should also have your belongings from the storage unit, too.” 

when jack sold the house and moved into a smaller place, he placed some of bitty’s stuff into a storage unit. when he started dating katy, he moved the rest bitty’s stuff into storage. 

Shitty: “Bits, I know you don’t want to bother Jack more, but you’ve just gone through a really traumatic experience. You kind of need the support Jack’s offering you to get you back on your track with ease.” They agree to an amount that bitty’s comfortable with. 

Bitty, suddenly near the end, realizing that he was about to divorce the man who he still loves very, very much: “I cant do this today. I’m sorry, you were right, jack. I need to leave now. I can’t. I’m so sorry. I’m going.” And he leaves, with jack chasing after him. he waved off shitty and katy, told them to stay while he took care of it.  

“Bitty, Bits! Wait up,” he caught up to Bitty, and convinced him to come sit in Jack’s car. “Hey bud.” He sat next to bitty, who is trying not to cry in public. “Do you want me to take you back home?” 

“Home’s gone, Jack.” Bitty said softly. 

Jack’s throat tightened, because it was the same for him, too. The home that he’d made with Bitty was gone. And while he was able to build a new one, Bitty came back to nothing. 

Jack reached into the backpack that he was carrying around, and pulled out señor bun. “I’m sorry, this is the only thing I can think of that would make you feel better. I meant to give him back to you at the beginning of the talk, but it felt weird to take him out in front of everyone.” 

Bitty cried softly into señor bun, while Jack held him. 

“I’m so sorry, sweet-I mean, Jack. I didn’t want to burden you. I didn’t want to show up with my ugly, terrible, face to disgust you and all this baggage and bother you. I just wanted you to be happy, and now I’m messing it all up.” 

Jack smoothed over Bitty’s tears and thumbed the scar tissue on his face. He never, ever felt disgusted. Bitty was the same Bitty, only hurt a lot more. He was still kind, still self sacrificing, still everything that Jack fell in love with years ago. And Jack still thought he was beautiful. 

“Let’s go to a place where it still feels like home, okay?” He texted Shitty and Katy to let them know that he’s canceling today’s meeting and they’ll discuss the matter later, and he drove Bitty to the storage unit that held all of Bitty’s stuff.

“It was really hard putting these away in boxes, it felt like finally saying goodbye to you. ” Jack said, letting Bitty and himself inside. “I had our friends and family help, because then it felt like we were remembering you and all the good that you brought us, instead of like we were boxing you away.”

All the boxes were meticulously labelled, some in Jack’s handwriting, some in Lardo’s, mish mashes of Bitty’s friends and family coming together. Bitty picked up a small box that wasn’t labelled, and opened it. 

“Sweetheart,” he breathed out. “You kept my post it notes.”

Bitty opened a box labeled Clothes Bitty stole from me, “First of all, your stuff looked darn good on me-oh. This was your favorite game day hoodie, Jack. You should’ve just kept it instead of boxing it away.” 

“You loved to wear it, too. So I couldn’t bear looking at it.”  

“These were the salt and pepper shakers we bought at the flea market.” 

“Oh, you kept the kitchenaid gathering dust here? At least use it, Jack.” 

“My Ivy Park collection! But there’s more clothes here than I remember having bought.” 

“It was a bad phase where I went on a shopping spree and bought a lot of that brand online. It felt like I was buying them for you. You should definitely wear them, you’ll look great.”

Jack continued to show Bitty the boxes. “And this is weird, but these are the planks from the swing set in our backyard. I took it apart for some reason, and I couldn’t do anything with it…I put your socks here with your underwear and color coded everything…the scrapbooks that we made together isn’t here, I gave those to Suzanne…the recipe book you were writing up I gave to my maman…our souvenirs from our trip to Venice is in this box, the duck I carved you during that terrible woodwork workshop is also in here…”

Bitty touched his cheeks, and found that they were wet again. He looked at Jack, whose cheeks was also wet with tears as he explained every box that contained their life together. 

“What are we doing, Jack?” He asked. “I don’t even know why I thought this was a good idea, seeing you again. I thought this was the best way, to let you live your life without me. But now all I am is a selfish ol’ fool who’s begging you to-” he sobs, “-begging you to bring our old life back.”

And Jack has that moment of clarity again, where everything finally slotted together in his mind and in his life. 

“I want that,” Jack said, taking Bitty’s hand. “I want our life back together again. How could I have been so slow? You’re back, and I still love you, no matter what happened.” 

Katy was understandably distraught when Jack had that difficult conversation with her. She tried to persuade Jack otherwise, but gave up and wished him luck when she saw that stubborn look in Jack’s eyes. She actually thinks its very touching that jack’s still in love with someone who he thought died years ago, but thinks that its just her bad fucking luck that she had to be the person who’s abandoned. Bitty bakes her a guilt pie and she’s shameless enough to ask him for more, and he’s happy enough that she’s taking his guilt pie to bake her more. 

like i want to make it clear here that katy’s not a villain or an antagonist or anything, she’s just a person at the wrong place at the wrong time having pretty normal reactions and ultimately not doing any harm. 

and jack and bitty finally hold that wedding reception that they’ve been waiting for for years. there’s still a lot of problems, like bitty has really severe ptsd, but jack’s nearing retirement and has a lot more time to brainstorm with bitty and his therapists on how to deal with it. 

and of course when bitty accidentally cut off his finger and saw it grow back, there were more questions regarding what exactly did the organization do to him. 

but those were things he and jack faced together. 

[yessoupy]

How about some cross fandom Poe visiting Tattooine and meeting a strange ex bounty hunter Harry who dresses like a sandman and gave up his space travels (for some as yet undisclosed reason) and now works for the Jawas scoping out droids :)

ugh ugh ugh I completely hit the wall from what I already sent you BUT i am posting what i did come up with now because better it be seen than not!!!!

Poe Dameron has been to more remote planets with less sentient life, but that doesn’t make it any more exciting to find himself at the Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine. He’s been sent to find a particular bounty hunter, one with a perfect record and impeccable standards, and this planet was his last known location. He’s been tracking the guy from Corellia to Bespin and now here. He’s got a holo of the guy, a human about a decade his junior and that’s the part that’s been tripping him up. How could a man that young have already gotten himself a reputation like this?

“He’s special,” Leia had said, and refused to elaborate. “We need him. Find him, and bring him to me.”

“Is this a kidnapping?”

“If it comes to it.”

He steps into the cantina and sizes up the place. Not very many humans, and he’s glad for the beard he’s let grow to give him that haggard edge not quite accomplished by his diet of rations. There’s a place at the bar between two smaller beings and he shuffles through the crowd to snag the seat. The bar itself is coated in a sticky mess, but Poe just props his elbows up on it like he’s used to these places. He orders a Corellian ale and sneaks the holo out of his pocket, along with a few credits. When the ale’s set down in front of him he slides the creds over the counter, hesitates, and adds a few more to the pile while flashing the holo. “Know where I can find him?”

The bartender, a human male with a pot belly and a greasy shirt, eyes the pile of creds and looks back to Poe expectantly. Poe makes a show of being put out by the implication and drops a few more to the bar. The reality is, he has plenty more where that came from because this mission had been put at the top of the Resistance’s list.

Creds secure in his dirty apron, the bartender leans forward to inspect the holo. “Haven’t seen anyone lookin’ like that around here. Bit … floral, looks like.”

“This is about three standard years old, I’ve got credible intelligence that he’s on Tatooine.”

“Like I said, no one here wearing a floral trenchcoat.” The bartender shrugs and moves away and Poe can’t help but sigh in frustration.

The being next to him, furry-faced and smelly, twitters in a way that sounds like laughing and taps the bar with one rodent-like digit. “Double that, I find you to Henry Stars.”

Poe hesitates for a second before depositing the creds on the bar. The being quickly swipes them away and spins around on the stool, facing the open door. “Hey, you owe me,” Poe says angrily, standing up to use his size to intimidate the being.

“Patience patience.”

“I haven’t got all day –”

His attention is pulled to the door by a sudden crash. The suns shine brightly outside but Poe squints to make out what’s happening. “Is that a Tusken Raider?” he asks, mildly concerned about one being in the thick of civilization. It’s sprawled in the dirt, three astromechs surrounding it and poking at it with their appliances. It struggles to its feet, brushing off its robes and patting the astromechs on their domes in turn. “That’s not a Tusken Raider,” Poe answers himself.

“Henry Stars,” the furry being affirms, hopping off the stool and disappearing into the crowd.

The Tusken – Henry Stars – steps into the dark cantina and pulls off his head coverings. The astromechs beep at him but remain outside and a path appears in the crowd. Henry Stars makes his way to the bar and takes the seat just vacated by the furry being.

“The usual,” Henry Stars says, voice deeper than Poe would have imagined and heavily tinged with the Core.

The bartender sets an ale identical to Poe’s on the bar and shrugs at Poe’s annoyed look. “He don’t look like that these days. No floral!”

Henry Stars turns to him fully and takes a sip of his ale. “I’m not a bounty hunter anymore,” he says seriously. “I’m not for hire.”

“I’m not looking to hire you. I’m Poe Dameron. I’m from the Resistance.”

Henry’s eyes go hard, a startling look on his otherwise pleasant visage. “Not interested.”

“Please, General Organa –”

“I don’t leave this planet. Got business here. Customers. Droids and Jawas. Can’t find those elsewhere, just right here.”

“Look, I don’t know what she needs you for but you’re needed and it’d be easier on both of us if you came willingly, but I’ve been authorized to take you by any means necessary.” Poe is speaking in a hushed tone and his ale sits untouched. Henry drains his own and reaches for Poe’s.

“Don’t want to leave,” Henry pleads, and the Poe finds himself with a lap full of ale and Henry Stars running out of the cantina.

—

Poe catches up in less than a minute out on the open road. Henry gets about fifteen steps away from the cantina before he’s tripping over himself and Poe is there, hauling him up by the arm. The three astromechs change formation to accommodate Poe and he marches them all toward the spaceport.

“Please, don’t make me leave. I don’t want to leave.”

“General Organa says you’re special and we need you.”

“Please.”

“Do you have a wife here, playing Tusken Raiders with you? A family somewhere? We can take them too but if you have kids it’s not the safest place –”

“No, I’m not – it’s not that. I’m just … I’m waiting for someone. This is the last place I saw him and I can’t leave, please don’t make me leave.”

“We’ll leave a message with your bartender buddy, my contact at the spaceport. Leia wouldn’t have made this mission priority if it weren’t important.”

Henry stops struggling, sighs deeply, and keeps pace with Poe. “Alright.”

“Alright? Just like that?”

Henry shrugs. “Was a long shot anyway.”

“A long shot?”

“Convincing you I had anyone who cares about me. I’m the only one who’s ever been in love with me.” Henry kicks at the dirt and loses his balance. An astromech wheels up to his leg and bumps into him, righting him. “Truth is, I’ve got a bit of an inner ear balance problem and spaceflight makes me incredibly ill.”

—

He’s not lying about that.

They’re not even out of the atmosphere when Henry is scrambling for the medkit and its motion sickness tablets. The three astromechs are powered down and taking up fully half of the galley when Poe makes it back to them after laying in the coordinates for the base and jumping to hyperspace.

“Feeling alright, Henry?”

“Not my name,” he groans from the galley bench.

Poe stops in his tracks. “What??” he asks, tone icy. “You’re not Henry Stars, ex-bounty hunter?”

“I am, but that’s not my name. That’s just what they called me. It’s a long story.” He pushes himself up to a seated position and pats the bench next to him. “Come sit.”

Poe is wary.

“You already took all my weapons just sit here with me. I’ll tell you why the Princess thinks I’m special.”

Curiosity gets the better of him and he takes a seat.

—

The longest jump of their route takes only a few hours, but then Poe has to lay in a series of short hops off the Triellus Trade Run to get them in-system. They serve the dual purpose of throwing off any tails and shaving off another hour or so from the trip. They arrive a full day earlier than expected and it kicks up a flurry of comms when he makes contact. “The package is being delivered,” is all he says, and his companion smirks at him, gropes himself, and buckles himself into the co-pilot’s seat.

and that’s where we end bc idk where i was going with it!!! except harry is force-sensitive but not formally trained, and leia knows this somehow idk how, and she needs him for a mission but wouldn’t give poe the whole story …. idk why! but it would be better than why holdo didn’t tell him shit!! and also, this exists in a timeline where TLJ doesn’t exist because fuck that.

oh harry’s floral trenchcoat is modeled off the ama floral suit ahhhhhhhhhh. of course he’d be clumsy and of course he’d have a little harem of astromech droids. ANYWAY if anyone wants to take this and run with it FEEL FREE just @ me so i can read it and laugh with you.

[pllsetskyonice]

I don’t wanna hide us away

Otayuri Week Day 5: Fears or Encouragements 

Words: 1.4K

Featuring: several I Love Yous and a fandom that cannot stop poking their noses into business that isn’t theirs

AO3 link

It’s hard, dating Otabek.

It’s hard because Yuri’s only seventeen and some people have Opinions about him dating someone who’s twenty. It’s hard because Otabek is from a Muslim family, and although he isn’t practicing himself, he has no idea how his family will react. It’s hard because their relationship mostly consists of five hour Skype calls, a snap streak that’s over two hundred days long, playlists they share with each other on Spotify and kisses behind closed doors when they’re together.

It’s hard, and Yuuri and Victor have no idea how lucky they are.

Unlike the other couple, Yuri and Otabek can’t kiss at the rink side, they can’t post cute photos of them together on Instagram, they can’t get engaged and have Phichit scream about it all over social media. They can’t have any of that, and it’s so hard.

Yuri can count the number of people who know the true nature of his relationship with Otabek on one hand. There’s Yuuri and Victor, Yuri’s grandpa, then Mila, and that’s it. Their relationship for the most part is a complete secret, and although that’s sometimes a thrill, it’s mostly looking around corners and making sure no one is looking over their shoulders when they’re snapchatting each other: they can get explicit sometimes, it’s how Mila found out and Yuri does not want to deal with that again.

“Is that – oh my God, Yuri!” Mila had looked so shocked when she happened to glance over at her friend’s phone at the wrong moment and saw him open the snapchat that showed Otabek jerking himself off with the caption I miss you. “Is that from Otabek?”

“You saw nothing,” Yuri snapped, quickly locking his phone. “Shut up.”

“That was not nothing! Does he fuck you with that? How are you still able to walk? Was he a porn star in a past life or something?”

“Shut UP, Mila!”

And although it’s hard dating Otabek, it doesn’t mean Yuri loves him any less.

If anything, he loves him more.

-

Otabek visits for a week and everything about it is perfect. Yuri goes to bed the night after Otabek has got on a plane back to Kazakhstan with a smile on his face and the scent of Beka clinging to the sheets, his phone on do not disturb as he slips into sleep.

So he doesn’t see what’s happening until morning.

-

It starts off small. There’s a slightly blurry photo of them hugging goodbye at the airport posted to Instagram with the caption When you have to say goodbye to bae. Someone in the comments claims they overheard Yuri and Otabek saying I love you as they said goodbye, but it gets lost amongst the hundreds of other comments on the post and the world moves on.

It’s quiet for a few days, and then someone posts on Twitter Conspiracy: Otabek and Yuri have been dating for ages are we’re just too fucking blind to notice it. It soon starts drowning in likes and retweets once it’s made its way onto a few popular fan accounts, and before Yuri knows what’s happening, it’s gone viral. It’s trending. In the space of an hour, three different tumblr blogs are set up, along with at least five Twitter accounts and several Instagrams.

“Beka, I’m scared,” Yuri says that night when they’re on Skype together. “I just saw a Tweet that said ‘I’m going to prove that Otabek and Yuri are dating if it’s the last thing I do.’ Who says something like that? It’s fucking creepy.”

“I’m scared too, Yura,” Otabek admits. “You know I don’t care about the age difference between us but some people do, they’ve made that very clear.”

“Why? What are they saying?”

Otabek looks visibly uncomfortable even in the shitty webcam quality. “They’re calling me a paedophile,” he says quietly. “And I know that’s ridiculous, but I still can’t help but let it get to me.”

“Well that’s just fucking stupid,” Yuri snaps. “I’m not a kid, I’m above the age of consent in Kazakhstan and Russia and there’s only like two and a half years between us anyway. It’s only because I’m still seventeen that people actually give a shit.”

“I guess.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong, Beka,” Yuri assures his boyfriend. “And we’ll get through this, I know we will.”

-

yurabek

10 Reasons Otabek Altin and Yuri Plisetsky are Definitely Dating

1.       They’re literally childhood sweethearts! They first met at Yakov’s summer training camp when Yuri was 10

2.       The airport goodbye a couple of weeks ago where someone apparently heard them saying I love you to each other

3.       We all know Otabek loves music, right? Well, a close examination of his public playlists on Spotify include one called Kitten, which includes an odd mixture of rock music, love songs, and classical pieces

4.       They’re always together when they’re at competitions? Like ALL THE TIME

5.       “Davai!” need I say more

[read more]

1,423 notes        #yurabek #yuri plisetsky #otabek altin #figure skating

 Anonymous asked:

So what’s up with prying into their private lives that’s not cool

yurabek answered:

Who said we were prying into their private lives? We’re not

2 notes                 #anon I am confused #ask #wank for ts

Anonymous asked:

Otabek naming a playlist ‘kitten’ though this shit is what I live for {x}

yurabek answered

SAME ANON, SAME

12 notes              #it is truly a blessing #ask #{x}

Anonymous asked:

Going through Otabek’s spotify listening in on their conversations at airports any of this ringing any bells

yurabek answered:

…it’s not us doing this it’s other people in the fandom we’re just here to bring it all together in one place

3 notes                 #yurabek4life #ask #wank for ts

Anonymous asked:

That doesn’t make it okay

yurabek answered:

Well if it wasn’t us doing it someone else would be: there’s several blogs just like ours, I’m sure you’re aware of that.

3 notes                #ask #wank for ts

j-jstyle asked:

don’t wanna stir things up or anything but I have to say I kind of agree with anon on this, it does all seem like an invasion of privacy. Like if they are together they have no obligation to tell us bc it’s legit none of our fucking business

yurabek answered:

That may be so, but like we’ve said before, if we weren’t doing this someone else would be doing it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

23 notes              #ask #j-jstyle #wank for ts

plisetskyyuri reblogged this and added:

THANK YOU @j-jstyle FOR SAYING WHAT WE’RE ALL THINKING

24 notes              #can we just leave them alone please and thank you

-

“Dance with me.”

“What?” Otabek asks, looking at his boyfriend in surprise. “Dance with you?”

“Yes,” Yuri says. It’s the banquet after the Grand Prix Final and Yuri’s riding on the high of winning gold for the third year running and the knowledge that Otabek was only one step down from him on the podium with the silver medal around his neck. “Please.”

“But…” Otabek trails off. Yuri knows what’s going through his head right now, probably something along the lines of if we do this, they’ll know and we can’t go back from this once we’ve done it.

“Please, Beka,” Yuri whispers, holding out his hand. “We can’t hide from them forever.”

“What if they think –”

“Fuck what they think!” Yuri snaps. “It doesn’t fucking matter what they think, alright? What matters is that I love you. I fucking love you, Beka, don’t you dare forget it!”

“Alright,” Otabek says, taking Yuri’s hand. “Let’s dance.”

-

(“I told you so, Mickey! You owe me thirty euros!”)

-

yuri-plisetsky

[Image of Otabek and Yuri dancing together]

Tagged: otabek-altin

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yuri-plisetsky ♥♥♥ #boyfriend #hatersgonnahate

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phichit+chu wHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME I FEEL SO OFFENDED

Yuri+angels10 OMG OMG OMG #yurabek IS REAL

-

“Otabek, it’s your father. I didn’t want to leave a message but it seems you’re busy right now so I suppose I’ll have to. I just want to say that I’m glad you’re happy. I might not fully understand now, but I have faith that one day, my god will make me understand. Your mother sends her love, and your sister hopes that Yuri will come and visit soon. I hope to talk to you later.”

-

“Told you it’d be okay,” Yuri says later that night when they’re snuggled up in bed together. “Most people were just upset we hadn’t told them sooner.”

“I know,” Otabek replies, pressing a kiss against Yuri’s lips. “I love you, Yura.”

“I love you too.”

rest of the series on AO3 / tumblr

[stoiicist]

i saw something on twitter awhile ago about the intimacy of being in someone’s room for the first time which inspired this, a completely self-indulgent oneshot that’s essentially just annabeth poking through reyna’s room ft. rynbth

under cut bc i don’t know when to stop

the way reyna reclines onto her bed, arms folded behind her head as her eyes follow annabeth around the room, it suggests a certain sense of ease. but the reality is far different, if annabeth would only claim the space next to her and find that reyna is tense and on edge, breaths measured as she fights off the fear of being vulnerable. dark eyes stare into annabeth’s back with a characteristic intensity that reyna doesn’t know how to stop and she wonders if this is as scary for annabeth as it is for her.

because there really is something so intimate about this— about letting someone into your room for the first time, watching them poke around your belongings. it’s like having all the little hidden things about yourself pushed to the forefront, and reyna has never liked being in the spotlight. she keeps to herself most the time, privacy being one of the pillars of her personality. the last person who had been in here was jason, someone reyna had known for years before him letting past that barrier. and even then, it was only because he was helping her fix the shitty hinge on her bathroom door.

reyna wonders if this is too fast, too soon. she wonders if she’s ready for this sort of thing, or if she’ll ever be ready, if it’s something she’s even meant for.

but when annabeth picks up a silver figurine in the shape of a greyhound and looks over at her, grey eyes alight with that curious look reyna has come to know so well, it’s with an almost heartbreaking ache that she realizes that she won’t be able to deny annabeth anything.

“ hylla got me those. some kind of amazon tech. if you press the nose, it— “

suddenly, the figurine is melting in annabeth’s hand, it’s shape changing until all she’s holding is a thin silver chain. she slips the bracelet on and then off again and when she unlatches the clasp, it’s mere seconds before it condenses back into its sleek figurine form.

annabeth doesn’t say anything, only smiles as she sets it back down next to it’s gold counterpart.

she moves to look through reyna’s vanity next, fingers ghosting over some of scipio’s old feathers, pocketed by reyna whenever they would fall out. there’s a brief pang in reyna’s chest, guilt and grief all rolled into one sinking feeling, but annabeth seems to know better. reyna thinks she catches a sad smile before she moves through the mess of makeup and sticky notes that cover the mirror. reyna’s not an untidy person, but she’s human; clothes on the floor that missed the hamper, a half-drunken bottle of wine she has yet to put back in the kitchen, and—

“ #1 praetor, huh? “ annabeth lifts the embellished mug off the bedside table, eyebrow quirking in a way that’s almost teasing. 

reyna laughs. “ what, you don’t agree? “ this is an easier memory to share. “ a christmas gift from the centurions. you should’ve seen jason’s face when he opened his gift and it was this weird enchanted garden gnome that does the macarena whenever someone walks by. and before you ask— no, i didn’t understand it either. “

this earns a laugh from annabeth, a sound reyna will never grow tired of hearing. she’s smiling too, even as annabeth continues to move around the room, hands now settling on the windowsill, rising on her tiptoes just a bit so she can peer into the small potted plants catching the afternoon sun. reyna’s eyes follow her as she presses a few fingers into the soil, as she looks into one of the brown paper bags to find drying herbs. 

“ didn’t know you had such a green thumb. “ annabeth remarks, casting reyna a sideways glance. the roman hesitates before answering.

“ sometimes, circe would give us lessons in her craft when we weren’t busy doing hair and makeup. “ a shift in annabeth’s body language, attention now fully on reyna who has to make a conscious effort to maintain her relaxed facade. “ hylla was much better at magic than i. i didn’t have the patience for it. “ and as a frightened little girl who was just trying to escape the war she was born into, the last thing reyna wanted was another weapon. “ but she taught me how to make a few useful potions. which herbs to use, how to prepare them. “ 

annabeth is quiet, but reyna knows her well enough to see the gears turning in her brain. maybe it’s an uncomfortable memory for her, though reyna has insisted time and time again she holds no animosity over her former home being destroyed. that bitterness had been directed at percy and even then, it was water under the bridge now. all of it had led to reyna finding her place in new rome. but she can understand why there’d still be some discomfort there, so she doesn’t press.

“ i have something else from when i was on the island. “ reyna finally says, after a minute of annabeth staring at the plants with furrowed brows. she reaches over to pull open the drawer of her bedside table, digging through the mess before coming up with something and handing it to annabeth.

a small golden trinket that fits easily in the palm of her hand, all smooth metal and gentle turns. the way the metalwork crisscrosses on itself, it’s spiraling, it should’ve been impossible to form without the material breaking. but there it was, in one piece, it’s shape reminiscent of a small torch.

“ a man washed up on the shore and after circe, you know, turned him into a guinea pig, i found it when we were sorting through his things. she let me keep it. “ 

“ what is it? “ annabeth asks, turning the object over a few times.

“ here, you just— “ reyna sits up, reaching to twist a portion of sleek metal. the room instantly illuminates with a soft glow paired with a gentle warmth now coming from the trinket in annabeth’s hands.

annabeth stares at it, mouth slightly open as she inspects it, as if trying to figure out how exactly the object worked. reyna watches her with rapt attention, the way the light makes her blonde hair almost shine, and for what feels like the hundredth time, reyna wonders how she got this lucky.

“ it’s like, “ annabeth muses, still transfixed by the magical object. “ it’s like... “

“ it’s like having the sun in your hands. i know. “ but reyna’s eyes never leave annabeth, more captivated by her than she had ever been by the tiny object. than she had ever been by anything.

annabeth finally twists it off, the room darkening again but a residual warmth left in her hands.

“ i think it’s connected to hekate. a torch of hers, or something. why circe let me keep it, i have no idea. maybe she figured i needed a little light in my life. “ sure, she had a habit of turning every man who showed up into a guinea pig, but circe wasn’t all bad. and to her credit, she never asked any questions. just welcomed two runaway girls with open arms. life on the island was good. it never felt right, but sometimes it felt good.

annabeth puts the object back in the bedside table, eyes glancing over reyna’s phone, it’s screen cracked a dozen times over. it’s past the point of saying anything about it— annabeth has teased her for it plenty.

and annabeth doesn’t comment on the cutlass that hangs off the wall over the dresser, dull and almost rusted with age. but reyna can sense her interest, and reveals a few memories anyway. it had been her only weapon for so long, reyna explains, used to prove her worth with the pirates. and after that, her only means of defense on her journey to california, to camp jupiter. the weapon kept her alive. it’s hard to let go of something like that. it’s hard, even when it’s a reminder of things she’s not proud of.

the grecian nods thoughtfully, gaze held on the sword before dropping to the framed photos on the dresser. reyna keeps more photos in the front room, but annabeth has a feeling that these are her favorites. there’s one of reyna and hylla, taken at a post-war celebration hosted by camp jupiter. reyna is sitting on one of the low couches in the mess hall, her smile wide and genuine as hylla’s arms drape over her shoulders in a hug. the elder ramírez sister has her eyes closed, mouth open and laughing. the first picture they’ve taken together in years and reyna admits she’s glad to have pictures of the two of them that aren’t from san juan.

beside it, a photograph of reyna and nico sits in a dark frame. at first glance, the son of pluto looks grumpy as ever, slouched next to reyna who’s giving a small smirk. but upon closer inspection, annabeth can see nico is doing his best to suppress a smile. a mythomagic card is tucked into the frame with an illustration of the mighty pegasus, his wings outstretched. a gift from nico, if the tiny NDA scrawled in the corner of the card is anything to go by.

annabeth finally settles on a photo of reyna and jason, picking it up to get a better look. they’re young— really young. reyna already has that posture of a hundred years, but she almost looks carefree, like she hasn’t yet been crushed under the weight of shouldering an entire city on her own. jason looks equally untroubled, like he’s finally found someone who sees him as more than rome’s golden boy.

it must’ve been taken shortly after reyna got to camp because there’s no brand on her arm yet, which is hanging around jason’s neck. it’s an affectionate gesture that annabeth hasn’t seen reyna display outside of herself, hylla, sometimes nico, and she starts to think she underestimated how close reyna and jason really were. but when she looks back at reyna, she’s wearing the same sad eyes she had when jason returned to camp jupiter after disappearing— so different, so greek, and hardly giving his old friends the time of day. annabeth sets the picture down again without a word; maybe now isn’t the time to open these old wounds.

she’s sure there are dozens more of reyna’s things she can poke through later ( annabeth hasn’t even touched her closet ), but there’s one more thing that catches her eye. 

“ you kept it? after all this time? “

she doesn’t mean to sound so shocked when she says it. annabeth holds up the silver drachma coin. it’s strange to have it in her hands again, after giving it to reyna before her quest. at the time, she wasn’t even sure it wouldn’t reappear in her pocket right after. it never crossed her mind that reyna would hold onto it after the parthenos was delivered.

reyna finally stands and takes the mark of athena from annabeth. she turns it over, rubs her thumb along the inscribed owl. she can feel annabeth’s eyes on her and it makes her cheeks flush. it’s dizzying and vulnerable and all too personal, but reyna eventually manages to meet annabeth’s gaze. they’re standing so close now, she wonders if annabeth can feel the way her heart is thundering in her chest.

“ it brought me luck, didn’t it? “

annabeth’s hands join reyna’s and she looks up into dark, serious eyes. she lets out a breath of laughter with a shake of her head. “ as if you needed it. “

reyna shrugs off the compliment, the way she always does. “ and it’s a sign that things could change. romans and greeks, we could work together. save the world together. make life better together. “

“ well, we certainly proved that. “ annabeth says, in a way that’s so cheesy it’s endearing and reyna doesn’t have a chance to respond because she’s cut off with a kiss. it’s hardly chaste, doesn’t need to be in the privacy of reyna’s home.

a lifetime of suffering, of burdens, of loneliness. it’s terrifying to let someone in and allowing annabeth into the sanctity of her bedroom is more symbolic than reyna cares to explain, or is even currently capable of with the way her girlfriend presses against her insistently. but being with annabeth is like being normal for the first time. getting to be just a girl. not a praetor, not a hero. just reyna, and being just reyna is good enough.

all she knows is annabeth’s mouth is on hers, a promise of a peaceful conclusion, and as the setting sun casts a shadow across the room, reyna knows she has her whole life ahead of her.

[obsidianonslaught]

🌸💐🌴((You allowed me further Blake rambling so I extend the same courtesy to you for your fav if you wish to take it. lol

((This got long (I ramble a lot, I apologize), so I’m putting it under a cut~

🌸 = my roleplay petpeeve

I’m gonna preface this one that am very fortunate and grateful that I haven’t had problems like this on this blog–RPing Burton has been an overwhelmingly positive experience and I hope it stays that way for many years to come!

I think my number one petpeeve though is what seems to be an intense focus on NSFW topics for RP and for fic (by that I mean stuff of the sexual nature) and I guess sometimes an… “expectation” (?) to be okay with those kinds of advances or threads. And that it has to have sex to be “good”/”interesting?” People can certainly RP this and enjoy it all they want but this just isn’t something I’m interested in writing, tbh it kind of makes me uncomfortable and I wouldn’t want to participate in threads of that kind personally (especially not with this character).

I. Don’t say this to try to sound snooty, I just wish people in general were a little more respectful of each other’s boundaries and people could refrain from make assumptions that everyone’s necessarily okay/comfortable with stuff like this? Like, it shouldn’t be assumed that approaching for this kind of stuff or trying to force it on people’s characters is okay out of the blue, especially since we don’t always know age of the mun and muse. It just kind of creeps me out.

Also (this is more in general but I guess also applies to RP scenarios?) absolution of guilt and responsibility through things like “they had a rough childhood” or “they didn’t mean it,” the general “misunderstood” thing. Or in general trying to dismiss/downplay bad things a character has said or done. Rough childhood and all that can be a contributing or main reason to why a character does or says what they do, but it is not an excuse.

I like villain redemption/reformation a lot actually, (though I have to draw the line somewhere, like if we’re talking Fuzors, Alpha is a Very Bad Man and I honestly don’t think he will ever change even if he was given the  chance), but it has to be done correctly. There have to be consequences that the character realizes, there have to be reasons for them to change and the goal of the change shouldn’t be just to beg forgiveness for what they’ve done. And certainly a villain can become good, but it takes effort to be a good person, and they’re going to have to work for it and at it.

I try really hard not to excuse Burton from this stuff because he absolutely has done and said a lot of shitty things, and he’s got to think about it before/if he can really grow from those experiences. I will never make excuses for him, I will not try to shove all the bad things he’s done under the rug–those are things he’s going to have to live with, but they are potential building blocks for exploration and change. The way I write him post-series is different from the way I write him during-series, for a reason, because as a character, those things affect him. Of course he’s interacting with different people and is part of different scenarios, but at the end of it all, there’s different things going through his head. And I like to play with this metaphorically in my writing and also emphasizing things like mental anguish and self-realization of mistakes, flaws, shame, other emotions that help to define my understanding of the character and what he’s currently going through and where he is at his stages of development as a person–but also that I hope will help the reader.

I also like to explore and develop characters like him who don’t get much screen-time and who we don’t actually get that much information about (seriously, who is this guy, where did he come from, what does he want out of all this?–I don’t think questions like that ever get answered–he’s just sort of there and he’s a jerk). And while this leaves a lot of room for interpretation, it’s important to me that these characters can be freed a little from their narrow little archetype boxes, because very often they are only assigned a few dominant traits and become restricted to in the show. (This of course has it’s reasons, and as a side-character, it helps to make what time they have on the screen more consistent, makes what we do see of their personality really stand out in a support role, stuff like that). Burton is Burton is Burton, for example, but Burton will also always be more to me than what we saw of him in the show. But I realize I have to be really careful here–I don’t want my interpretations of the character and headcanons and writing and all that to erase the terrible things he’s done. Rather, I can use that as the starting point to further develop. (Also repeatedly writing a character that is barred from development and stays one-dimensional/stuck on a very narrow set of traits is boring.)

But back to the point!, sweeping stuff under the rug in general just bugs me a lot but this also applies to the RP realm. I’m not about to give him a free pass and it rubs me the wrong way when characters who have very clearly done bad things are treated as if they’ve never done anything wrong.

In short: there’s a difference between being able to appreciate a character (or something) in spite of their mistakes and be willing to talk about those mistakes and accept them, and then refusing to recognize the character’s faults at all.

💐 = my favorite part about the fandom

(This is gonna be specific to a section of the English-speaking part of the fandom bc I know very little about the Japanese community!)

Maybe silly, but when we were really active and would just joke around together? Like we had the shit posts/memes and the character twitter accounts, and we would just have a good laugh about things and the muses would poke each other/have interactions in addition to what was happening on the RP blogs. (Also I don’t mean this as a guilt trip thing/complaint on a “why don’t we do this any more” vibe. Just that they’re very fond memories for me and I have fun thinking about them still!)

Like omg does anyone else remember the streams when we’d just chill and watch movies and that kind of thing? And we would have the chat open and sometimes it wouldn’t just be like, us talking about the movie, but we’d also have our characters talking about the movie too. Or sometimes just out of the blue we’d do these on the fly (sometimes crack) RP things on Skype (I’ve… since moved myself entirely to Discord and haven’t used Skype at all bc it would just be so slow/behave so badly for me) and it was just a load of fun and laughing and I think some good inside jokes came out of that.

In general, I miss people a lot but I’ve no one to blame but myself for that since I feel like I’ve let myself fall out of touch somewhat. But I hope everyone’s doing okay and I love you all lots.

🌴= a favorite canon character in my fandom

*squeaks* Honestly I probably owe this character my life, not to seem over-dramatic? I watched Fuzors right after a particularly dark and hard time in my life when I was ready to end it all; my mental and physical health were very bad and I wasn’t sure at that point that anything would ever get better. Fuzors was one of the few things (thankfully, along with support from family and friends) that got me past that episode in my life and gave me something to smile about again. I watched it by myself and then watched it through again with my sister.

And oh jeez I hated Burton at first–I hated him so much I wanted to throw something at him whenever he would appear on screen, because he’s just so slimy and scary (not in a he’ll beat you up in a dark alley scary, but a he could steal your credit card info and your SSN and get away with it scary). I can’t remember exactly how/why the shift occurred. But it was a total 180.

There’s no particular justification for why I like him so much? (I mean Burton is my life lbr). He doesn’t really have all that much screen time, he’s a nasty person, his hair is a disaster (but I love it–overtime I’ve come to think it translates appropriately irl to something like a scene kid/punk rock style and honestly that’s cool as hell). I think it’s that over time I just built up a lot of personal thoughts and world building and character building for him and idk. He’s very, very special to me. I know he’s mostly uh, disliked as a character and that’s perfectly understandable, but he will always have a very special place in my heart. It’s like coming to know a person over time, I guess. There’s more depth to them, you discover things in an ocean you might not necessarily be able to see from the shore.

[collegeessayguy]

Have the adults in your life been hassling you about making the most of high school in preparation for college? Maybe you’ve been nudged towards classes that will look good on your transcript or lovingly pushed in the direction of extracurriculars that lend themselves to impressive application essays?

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know: that’s not what this article is about.

There are so many things to do in high school but, in some cases, the preoccupation with using high school as a tool to get into college can make life miserable and activities unenjoyable.

But there is hope high school is about more than preparing for college. If you want to make good use of your high school years and prepare for college and have a good time, the tips below are for you.

SIX WAYS TO MAKE THE MOST OF HIGH SCHOOL AND STILL HAVE FUN

1. PRACTICE GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT IN HIGH SCHOOL, SINCE IT’S LIKELY TO GET HARDER IN COLLEGE.

One of the reasons college is more stressful than high school? You’re more independent. And because you’re more independent, life in general requires better time management. You’ll have way more obligations and your professors are not going to chase you down to remind you about that deadline next week. Not only that but your parents won’t be just a few feet away and able to bug you when you slack off.

Using a calendar to track your day is an easy way to start managing your time a bit better. Some people prefer an old-school, pen-and-paper planner. Studies show that writing things down with your hand (rather than typing them onto a screen), makes you more likely to remember them.

But your paper planner can’t send reminders to your phone. If you prefer tech, you can’t go wrong with good ol’ Google calendar. (It’s what I use.) iCalendar is also great, or your parents might have a Cozi Calendar membership you can take advantage of.  

Here’s what your calendar might look like:

Regardless of the type of calendar you use, here are a few basics of good time management:

Put tests, practices, events, meetings, appointments, project due dates, and days off into your calendar

as soon as you find out about them

--this could be as early as the first week of the semester when you get your syllabus. Once you know when something is due, decide how long it will take to do it. Work backwards and schedule time into your calendar to work on that project or study.

For example, if your science project is due on May 10th, you could allot one hour each day to work on it, May 1 - 9. Or maybe two hours every two days.

Make sure there’s space in your schedule for downtime and fun, too! If need be, block out time to see your friends or just binge that new Netflix show. That way, when someone asks you to help them study on Sunday afternoon, you can tell them you’re busy. Busy watching the new season of Game of Thrones, that is.

2. BALANCE YOUR STUDIES WITH LIFE

You know that colleges favor well-rounded applicants--people who volunteer and get good grades, test well and take part in their communities. But balancing your studies and life is about more than just creating a competitive college application.

Taking time away from your studies will invigorate you and activate  different parts of your brain. Making art, playing soccer, or just going to a concert will recharge your mental batteries in a way that a 10-minute study break can’t. Participating in life outside of academics also boosts your creativity, increases your emotional intelligence, and helps you strengthen relationships.

And just as importantly--it’s fun.  

Make time to get out of your books and into your life.

3. GET INVOLVED WITH ON-CAMPUS (AND OFF-CAMPUS!) ORGANIZATIONS.

High school is about more than GPAs and SATs; it’s often a place where you form lifelong friendships. And sometimes it’s easier to form those friendships when you see people outside of chemistry class.

Explore a few of your school’s organizations--try the debate club, Ultimate Frisbee, fencing, or student government. If your school doesn’t have any organizations that light your fire, try starting your own. Maybe lots of people would want to play Quidditch if you started a team?

If starting a school organization isn’t your style, explore the groups and organizations your community has to offer. Check out rec league sports, volunteer at the local animal shelter, or sing with your church’s choir.

Here are a few other ways to connect with people in your community:

Meetup.com: A website that allows users to create events and meetup groups in their local community around any topic you can imagine: Pick-up basketball games, book clubs, weekend, painting groups, mobile app developer meetup groups for girls. Have an interest? There’s probably a meetup for it. Don’t see it? Start your own!

Your local community center: You know that building in the park with all the flyers promoting rec league sports, town hall meetings, and litter pick ups? Poke your head in and see if there’s anything on the calendar that appeals to you. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors.

Check out greatnonprofits.org to find a non-profit near you

Use the search feature at Idealist.org for even more.

Ask your counselor! There could be something coming up next week that you don’t even know about.

Connect with a local museum--many have teen programs and docent opportunities--or check with your local animal shelter, YMCA, temple, church, or synagogue.

Maybe even go back to your middle or elementary school and see how you can help.

4. GET TO KNOW YOUR TEACHERS

Fun fact: your teachers are real, actual humans who have senses of humor, hobbies, and interests outside of getting you to turn in your homework on time. Shocking, right?

One of the easiest ways to make the most of high school is to talk to your teachers and get to know them.

Stay after class and ask that question that seemed too in-depth for the rest of the class. Tell them you loved the last novel they selected and ask if they can recommend any similar books. Ask your Government teacher what she thinks of that bill that’s moving through Congress.

These conversations will give you deeper insights into the topics you’re studying and--bonus!-- will probably (read: definitely) make it easier to get great teacher recommendations for your college applications.

5. TAKE CLASSES YOU LOVE, NOT NECESSARILY THE CLASSES YOU THINK WILL PLEASE YOUR PARENTS/GET YOU A GOOD JOB/MAKE YOU MONEY.

When you’re applying to competitive universities, it’s tempting to stuff your schedule with ‘impressive’ courses you think will look good on applications. AP Calc BC! AP Physics! AP Japanese! If you truly want to take AP Calc or feel it will help with your dream of becoming a civil engineer, take AP Calc. But when you stack your schedule with classes you don’t really like and then use those classes as the basis of your college application, you’re setting yourself up for a pretty miserable academic experience.

6. PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND LEARN HOW BEST TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Real talk: college can be incredibly stressful. You’re juggling a challenging course load, applying for internships, working part time--all while living far from home with roommates you might not have chosen for yourself. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Use your slightly-less-stressful high school years to build good self-care habits. What does this look like? Well, it looks different for everyone, but these basics are a good start:

Get eight hours of sleep

Exercise 20 minutes each day

Drink enough (about half a gallon) of water per day

Limit social media use (and all the self-doubt that comes with it) by setting social media locks that shut you out after you’ve exceeded a certain time limit

Bonus Tip (if you have an iPhone): here’s how to make it work for you and not against you (one of my favorite productivity articles ever, btw)

Spending time with friends doing something other than studying or talking about college applications

Your high school experience doesn’t have to be a test run for college, filled only with test prep and ‘impressive’ classes. If you follow these tips, you can totally prepare for college while still enjoying high school.

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