#second easiest way is to check the end of the credits for ''thanks to whatever local government for letting us film there''

[jotarothekidsmissyou]

Hello, I have been looking at your publications and without a doubt I loved them, I saw that the request are open, so ... can you do a Joot part 6 with a university student? That includes DDLG and BDSM, please? I personally love Jotaro being so dominant but sweet with his baby girl, thanks for taking my request <3

I hope you like it!! <3

ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴡᴏʀʀʏ ᴅᴀᴅᴅʏ’ꜱ ʜᴇʀᴇ| ᴊᴏᴛᴀʀᴏ x ᴀꜰᴀʙ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ| 18+

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ: ᴅᴅʟɢ, в∂ѕм, ꜱᴡᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ, ɴꜱꜰᴡ

First semester back it everything was a living hell for you. You felt as though you were drowning with no lifeguard to aid in your struggle. You eyes were puffy with dark bags underneath, mentally drained was the tip of the iceberg on how you were feeling. It was only the first month and you were already behind. No money, no friends, just you suffering in silence..alone. However, there was one thing that’ll take your mind off of things, attending biology class.

It wasn’t the easiest in the world but your professor was the most understanding about your scenario. One evening he called you to speak to him after class, your body shivered. Dr.Kujo was known throughout the campus as “ZTFBS”.

Zero tolerance for bullshit.

No extra credit it, he wouldn’t round up your grade, if it’s late, 10 points will be taken off. Trying to plead your case? Useless. His stone cold glare will be enough to not approach him. Pretty sure sleeping him wouldn’t accomplish anything.

“How come I haven’t received homework from you? I hope you understand there aren’t any short cuts in adulthood,” He said sternly peeking over his reading glasses. Your tongue was tied, thinking whatever comes out would be considered as an excuse. Biting your bottom lip, you choose the safe route, and express to him everything. From your parents divorced impacting the financial aspects to hearing your roommate moaning at 3am.

Well..you shouldn’t have said that last part but you were transparent with him. Hoping in return some sort of assistance.

“I appreciate you being vulnerable about your situation..I’ll see what I can do,”

“Really?!” You shouted in disbelief causing him to squint. You forgot, on the first day he stated that his earsdrums were sensitive due to a gun shot sound, back in the 80’s.

“Good grief reframe from any loud disbursements when talking to me and yes..my only condition is for you help me grade other students course work. You may leave now,”

Less than 24 you witness a miraculous change. First, arrived a box filled with textbooks, along with extra supplies. By the glossy cover you could tell these were new, not the used ones you saw on eBay. A smile extending ear to ear appeared on your face knowing some of your problems were solved. It didn’t end there. As for the second “miracle” all of your Professors prolonged your homework due date, saying they received an news about your books arriving.

“Study hard miss Y/n,” Professor Kakyoin waved you off after history class. Strange..normally he doesn’t say much to you.

Saving the best for last, your refund check was deposit into your bank account. Based on the letter you received financial aid you were supposed to get three thousand. Then how come it double the original amount? You mind couldn’t help but to wonder to yesterday’s Conversation with Dr.Kujo.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Six words that instantly solved your issues in a short period of time. Maybe he isn’t that bad as people say he is.

As agreed today’s before, you were on your way to Professor Kujo’s office. In your hands you carried a small gift. A simple gesture showing your appreciation for his selfless acts.

“What is this?” He raised his eyebrow inquiring for you to explain; what a golden box with a glitter bow on top..was doing on his desk.

“My way of saying thank you,” With a nervous smile you replied back rethinking your decision. He scoffed bring the box close to him.

“I didn’t do it just so you’ll spend your money on me. To show your gratitude please give me your homework in class tomorrow,” He paused looking up to meet your gaze. Your eyes were no longer drenched in sorrow, since you weren’t as stressed. Your skin glowed, meaning your were getting adequate amount of sleep and water. And for once your outfit didn’t look thrown together. Maybe a little help was all you need..

“Umm Professor?” You call on his name a third time handing over your homework. “I thought I’d be easier to give you this now. Oh! And yes it all the ones I haven’t turn in since the semester,”

“Add it to the pile..thank you..for the gift I meant,” For some reason he tilted his cap, it didn’t fit “the  strict persona” he was going for. Getting to know or seeing teachers was always amusing. Regular people who’ve decided to teach the next generation.

In the gift, in which you bought him contained a coffe mug with the words “sorry is my teaching interrupting your conversation” written and a dolphin brooch. Things you knew he’d enjoy.

The duration of the two of you in his office was quite nice. He allowed you to talk, which was a first for you. You usually bottle everything up not wanting to intensify the situation. Rubbing your thigh gently Jotaro attempt to soothe you. He noticed how your eyes were becoming watery while explaining your troubles at home.

“If he hadn’t cheated and filed for a divorce..mom wouldn’t gone into depression making it hard to cover our basic needs,” By the trembling anger in your voice, it was obvious your father wasn’t supporting you. He too was in a similar situation but that’ll be a discussion for another time. As of right now all on Jotaro’s mind was to comfort you.

“Come with me,” He muttered close to the shell of you ear. Hating to admit you did, somewhat, enjoy the tingling sensation. Your body did too, not understanding your dynamic with Jotaro your nipples harden. You cursed at yourself for having these feelings for him, but what 40 year old looks this good? A brief second you glimpse at his left had. No ring.

Pulling you to the campus cafe, Jotaro sighed forgetting the closing hours. The cafe was open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., however it was well pass that time. All he wanted was to feed you, and that way maybe your mood would change. A nurturing remedy his mom would provide whenever he wasn’t his best.

“Let me treat you a home cook meal,” Not knowing how to express himself  affectively, it sounded more so like a command. He said it the same way as his mother would and yet it wasn’t the same. Luckily to his dismay, you agreed.

From stepping into his house and sitting in his car, you realize one thing about Jotaro. Being a marine biologist and college Professor pays well. It explained how he could afford those designer suits he’d wear, along with his fresh and spicy cologne. You were in awe particularly when he removed his coat of his body. His chest was broad and wide, that your eyes couldn’t help but stare. He rolled his selves exhibited his forearm..giving you a glimpse on his muscular body.

“Like something you see?” Jotaro asked turning on the stove. Even though his back was faced to you, by the alluring tone is voice you knew he was smirking.

“Oh umm yes..the interior of your home is lovely,” You played it safe looking in another direction. In response he chuckled, peeking his turquoise orbs to you. He knew you were lying, and there was no way of you denying it.

You cleared your throat wanting to change the subject before a second heart becomes unbearable. “So what are you making,” Not saying a word he motion for you to stand beside him. At first you were hesitant..however you began to smell, garlic, tomatoes, and heavy cream. All combined together creating a delicious aroma that carried you over to him.

“Open up,” In front of you Jotaro held a fork with a small amount of his dish. You obliged and opened wide enough. “It’s Penne alla vodka..a Italian dish,” You weren’t expecting it to melt on your taste buds the way it did. The authentic taste of the pasta and tomato’s drove your palette insane. As well the pungent flavor of the garlic mix with heavy cream. Maybe it was a good thing the cafe closed..

“You should’ve went to culinary school because that was too good Professor!” You exclaimed sneaking another bite.

“Jotaro..we’re outside of class,” You felt your cheeks burning given the opportunity to say it first name.

“J-Jotaro..” you mumbled quietly while some of the sauce dripped from your mouth. Using his thumb he wiped off the excise traveling down to your chin. In a low hum Jotaro sucked on his thumb tasting the sauce as well.

“Needs more pepper,”

~✨

Serving the dish Jotaro poured himself a glass of red wine. You couldn’t help but to eye his beverage like a lost puppy. He did give you a soda to drink so you shouldn’t be complaining. However, him sitting there looking rather desirable made you want whatever he put his lips on.

“Come here if you want some,” He bending his index finger once more you walked over to him. As the good girl you were you obeyed. Jotaro snaked his hand around your waist bringing you closer to him. Hinting for you to sit on his lap. It didn’t bother you one bit since that this point your body’s urges was taking over. You sat directly on his groin as Jotaro brought the glass to your lips.

“You wanted it that bad huh?” He praised as you took a big gulp of the wine. “Sallow it all Angel fish,” When you were done things felt a little warm. Was it the pool between your legs or the buzz from the wine. No matter because that happened next was all of your control.

Jotaro locked his lips with yours grabbing ahold of your ass and giving it a squeeze. You dissolve in his strong arms slipping your tongue in his mouth. In the middle of the kiss he smirked knowing how bad you wanted him.

He ended the kiss, salivating on the wine the two of you exchanged. “Mmm~ Was it good princess?”

“Yess it was daddy,” You began rubbed on yourself. In doing so you created a wet spot on Jotaro’s pants. You were too horny and tipsy to feel embarrassed, instead with your hips you grind on the spot. It was in the middle between his legs, so in doing so you were pleasuring him at the same time.

“Angel fish..” He called you. “You just can’t make a mess on daddy and not be punished. Good girls clean up after themselves,” He whispered sucking down on your neck. You whined feeling him move to another room.

“Noo daddy please!” Jotaro undress you bit by bit, leaving you fully naked with a dripping cunt. Easily  accessible your fingers played with your swollen clit. Watch seemed to anger Jotaro.

“Get your hands off my pussy,” He insisted harshly pulling you close to him. “Buutt daddy its aching,” You moaned squirming around. Using his strength Jotaro flipped you on your stomach roughly. The bed creaked as he sat up tying something behind your back.

“Be a good Angel fish and listen to me okay? I want you to help me count to five..you’re a smart girl can you do it?” You nodded with your face pressed in the  mattress, ass faced to Jotaro it gave it a loud smack.

“FUUUCKK! Daddy no please,” You yelped moving your hips away from him. “I promise to listen,” You pleaded as he walked away. He wasn’t gone long since brought back toys with him. Sitting you up he blindfolded your eyes and inserted a gag ball in your mouth. That way your screams were muffled and you couldn’t see when he’d slap your ass.

“Ready?” Without you knowing he held a wooden paddle striking your bottom. By the time he was finished your butt was red and screaming with agony. Your body trembled underneath him, a job well done in his eyes.

“Such a big girl,” He cooed rubbing your bruised ass. “I know that pussy of yours is waiting to be filled up with my cock,” You whimpered wanted some sort of pleasure.

Zipping his pants Jotaro pulled out his length giving it a few pumps. The anticipation was killing you, if your arms weren’t tied you’ve put it inside immediately. No preparation Jotaro eased himself inside you. Your walls struggled to stretch because of your tight little pussy. So instead Jotaro shoved himself all the way in one go. Despite having the gag hindering your speech you screamed loudly.

“Aww baby I’m sorry,” He pressed kisses in your back. “I know daddy is big but you take it, okay princess,” You nodded with tears staining your plushy cheeks. Long slow strokes Jotaro fucked, it hit your cervix time and time again. You couldn’t take it, so in the middle of a thrust you tired to escape Jotaro’s grabs. And each time he brought you back slamming himself back in. Your wet cunt continuously creamed on his dick, so much you covered it in white.

“Good girl keep creaming on this dick,” He encouraged seizing a great amount of your hair. Jotaro hands travel up your stomach to your breast giving those hard nipples of yours a pinch. You came right away, which was only 6 minutes since the two of you started.

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

Extra Credit

based on this cause @avhrodite and I were texting, and she told me to write it! so this is for you miss bailey <3

also feedback is always appreciated! literally rb, comment, or an anon ask means the world to fanfic writers, now that tumblr’s algorithm is messed up.

enjoy 7.6k of professor!harry lovelies!

also the intimidating as fuck photo that inspired this, and will be used in the story!

Sexuality Studies. Room 3017.

You had stalled from walking into class with a nervous gut feeling in your stomach with a heavy textbook in your arms, too big to be put in your backpack, but it felt like your book was weighing you down. People were walking around each other to find a vacant seat as you stood there next to the door as you waited till the last minute to walk in and take your seat.

There were a few reasons why you were nervous to walk in. One, it was basically sex class. Your friend had taken the class a few semesters ago, and had told you the basics of it and the rundown. There was a lot of sex talking towards the end.

And although, you’ve had had sex before, you still felt like you were inexperienced. Your sex life was boring, and nonexistent as of a month ago when you broke it off with your, now ex, friends with benefits. He just wasn’t doing the job, like at all. He never made sure you were having a good time or getting off. And that’s just one of the reasons why you broke it off with him. Luckily, he wasn’t mad and didn’t ask questions. Just said ‘oh, okay’ and bid his goodbye. That had made you a bit sad, knowing he didn’t care whatsoever. You two had only been fucking for a month, and the excitement had left your body the first night you slept with him.

The second reason goes along well with the first, and that’s because you aren’t that comfortable. Again, you’ve sex, but you weren’t comfortable in yourself--your sexuality. You never really had time or experience to explore your body or others because you’ve only slept with two people. In that sense, you didn’t know what you liked sexually and what your partner liked, other than blowjobs, handjobs, and being able to cum while fucking you. But there was more to it; you wanted the details, the ticks, sensitive spots, everything. But you’ve slept with lousy frat boys who didn’t care enough to ask if you had finished.

You checked your phone for the time, seeing that you have about two minutes before you have to go in. You take a deep breath, walking over to the opposite side of the wall, preparing yourself to walk in. You don’t know why it was so hard for you to just walk in and sit down. The thought of having to sit through an hour and a half class that is mainly about sex isn’t that hard to deal with either, but your insecurities and anxiety is getting the better of you. With a couple of neck rolls and inhales to deep exhales, you were ready before you heard a voice next to you.

“Nervous about the first day?” You look up to find an incredibly attractive man smiling down at you. His smile had made you blush and his intent eye contact had made you nervous. The way he just looks insanely sexy, and you think his hair is better than yours. He wears a simple button down shirt with two birds next to the collar, along with black jeans and boots. And you think, he’s so good looking and dresses well too. For a student, you don’t see anyone dress or look like him at all.

“Uh, kinda? I don’t know,” you say as you are not quite sure what to answer, so you said the easiest thing that didn’t have to do with how you’re feeling right now.

“No need to be nervous. This semester will go by quickly and I heard the professor is really cool too,” the man says with a reassuring smile, and you felt a bit better because he was right. This class would be a breeze and then you wouldn’t have to retake it, unless you fail.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you. Uh, do you want to sit next to me?” You made the bold move to ask him, and it had shocked you. You never made the first move, but you figured that you needed more friends anyways.

“Oh, thank you, but can’t do that. Let’s go in, shall we?” He waves his hand out, leading you to go first.

You cheeks were filled with embarrassment, thinking that your bold move was a stupid move. Of course, he didn’t want to sit next to you. He barely knows you. You roll your eyes at yourself, making your way to the first row as all the seats behind the front row were taken, and you didn’t want to take the time to look around. You take a seat as your head sank lower from awkwardness you had felt, and you set your book down on the desk and heard your professor speak.

“Hello, class. Welcome to ‘Sexuality Studies.’ I’m Professor Styles. Shall we get started?” Your mouth had been open the entire time he was introducing himself. Shocked was an understatement as you didn’t realize you were talking to your professor outside of the class, but that hadn’t made your embarrassing moment less worse.

How did you not realize that? You should’ve seen it coming because you were thinking about how no student on campus dresses or looks the way he does, and you didn’t think to put the pieces together.

But, fuck.

He was sexy as a ‘student’, but as the professor, that was a different story. You had felt the weird feeling in your stomach, triggering your arousal as you watched him talk to the entirety of the class about what’s to be expected. You turned around slightly and observed the room; noticing that most of the class were girls and there were a few guys, but the female population dominated the class. All the girls had hearts in their eyes, twirling, and biting their lip as they stared at their new professor; probably hoping they would get some extra credit in the middle of the semester to raise their grade or purposefully failing their test so he can call them into his office and they can have classic office sex.

The thought had made your eyes roll. Not at the thought of office sex because everyone knows that’s hot, but the thought of purposefully doing horrible in the class to fuck the professor is beyond you.

The class had gone by rather quickly, Professor Styles only talking about the basics of what everyone is going to learn such as culture, biological, health, anatomy, art, etc.

You walked out of the class in a hurry, not looking at your new professor and anticipated the next time you’ll meet.

The month had gone by rather smoothly, only taking two classes for the semester, so your workload isn’t too bad. The occasional thought about thinking your professor was a student had haunted you, and you think about it a bit more than you would like; feeling quite embarrassed and you’d hope that he had forgotten all about it.

You were sat at the coffee shop, head in your laptop and notes that you had taken during lecture as you were starting on your paper that is due in a little over two weeks. You were so into your introduction that your fingers were typing away on their own, that you didn't feel the presence of someone beside you.

“Hi. You’re in my sexuality class, right?” A voice from your right becomes present, and you look up, seeing your incredibly attractive professor looking down at you with a smile. There was no way in getting out of this one.

“Yes. Mr. Styles, hi,” you say nervously, but trying your best to hide it with your smile.

“Thought I recognized ya. How are you?”

“I’m doing well. I’m actually working on your paper right now,” you chuckle a bit.

“Are ya? What are you writing it on?” You get a bit sidetracked, realizing that he’s still standing and all of your stuff sits on the opposite side of the table. You reach over to move it onto your lap.

“You can sit if you’d like,” you offer. Harry debates for a second, and sees that there’s no harm in sitting with your student, so he gladly takes the seat across from you. “But I’m writing it on the fine line between masculinity and femininity.”

“Ahh, yes. That’s one of my favorite topics that we discussed,” he says.

“Yeah, me too. Pretty important for this day in age.”

“I’m right there with ya,” he agrees.

For the next 20 minutes, you and Harry talk about some main points. Discussing and going over what ideas you had in mind as Harry listens while nodding his head. He notices how passionate you are with the topic of your paper, and he appreciates the passion. Students will lazily write this paper, and it really shows in their work that makes him a bit disappointed because he had thought that he made the class fun; adding a few jokes and having the student participate with the lecture.

But listening to you talk about all the ideas that you wrote down; so far from the earth as you keep talking as he listens intently to you. You’re a sweet person, he’s noticed. You don’t participate all that much in class, but he figured that’s because you’re just a tad bit shy. And he’s still amused at the fact that you thought he was a student, which flattered him. But in all honesty, he can pass as one, and it wasn’t the first time someone mistaken him for a student.

Just as you were finished talking, a hint of pink made your cheeks flushed as you realized you were talking quite a bit, and keeping him from doing whatever he was supposed to. “I’m sorry. I tend to talk a lot when I get into things.”

“Hey, no need to apologize. I’m glad you told me your ideas because I think they’re great.” He checks the time on his phone and sees that he should get going, and his coffee cup is empty already. “But I should get going. Don’t hesitate to ask me about anything for the paper. I’ll see you in class.”

“Thank you, Mr. Styles. Have a great rest of your day,” you bid him goodbye as he softly says ‘you too.’

You let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding. Although you had been comfortable talking to him, you have never actually had a close conversation with any of your professors, really. Especially not outside of campus. But you really did feel comfortable. You figured that it’s because Harry is in a way, younger than most professors—at least he looks young.

The rest of your time at the coffee shop was spent finishing up the second paragraph and your coffee before you head back to your apartment.

The paper was due in a week, and you felt confident about turning it in on time and doing a great job on it. But that did not stop you from going into Mr. Styles’ office during his office hours, and he did say not to hesitate to ask if you had any questions, so you were using that to your advantage to make your paper even better.

He was surprised to see you just after two days of seeing him at the coffee shop that happened the week prior; asking him how to rephrase some things and seeing where some ideas fit into the paragraphs that are already written. And Harry happily helped you. Although he thinks you don’t need help at all, seeing as you’re right on track on the topic.

But you had felt a sudden surge of confidence that has never hit you before. And you can tell yourself that you’re comfortable enough to ask him questions all you want, but in reality, you wanted to keep talking to him and most importantly, keep seeing him.

He had this sense of comfort to him that made you feel safe. You never felt the awkward tension that there is in when talking to other professors, and you were glad for it. Mr. Styles had made it a safe space for his students to talk to him. And aside from asking him about school related things, you two had gotten to know each other after the important questions were asked. The conversations were harmless, and you looked forward to them everytime.

A knock was heard on his office door and he told whoever was behind it to come in. You walked in with a smile, laptop and notebook held to your chest, walking in slowly as you closed the door behind you.

“Hi, Mr. Styles. Are you busy?”

He shakes his head, “no, no. How can I help you?” Harry had—and was still trying—to keep it professional between you two. And although nothing had happened, he can’t help but stop the flutter of his heart when you would walk in his class or his office as you gave him a small that he adored. He also noticed how concentrated you are during class; making sure to take every single note and word that he says, making him smile at the thought.

“Uh, I was kind of stuck on something that I could definitely use your help with.” 

“Sure thing. That’s what I’m here for,” he gives you a smile, and you open your notebook, showing him the many marks and scribbles that you had planted out when brainstorming.

“So I came up with this idea because I thought it would be important to talk about the history of masculinity and femininity. I didn’t want to just talk about the modern times as of now. But maybe research how it affected people back in the day when they weren’t acting as their…assigned sexuality, as you could say.”

“That sounds great. You can talk about that and during the times of the first pride march. That would definitely be interesting. But I would say not to go too into it, it’s a pretty straightforward topic, and there’s just a lot that is covered during those times. Just so you don’t get too ahead of yourself,” he gives his opinion. You listen carefully and take in his words as if you’re making a mental list of things you should and shouldn’t write about.

“Sounds good. Thank you.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, I think so. Just wanted to ask you that,” you say as you close your notebook, but not getting up to leave yet.

“Okay, can I ask you something this time?”

“Uh, sure,” you respond nervously.

“I see that you’re pretty much on track of the paper, like you know what you’re talking about. And you seem really confident in what you want to say, which is good. And I’m all ears when it comes to students wanting feedback, but I just have to ask….” anxiety boils through your throat. “Is coming to see me practically 2 or 3 times a week have to do with your paper?” You take a deep inhale, but don’t let your breath loose. He read you extremely well, you have to say. And it was a bold move on Harry’s part to ask that because if you say the opposite, then he assumed pretty hard.

You finally let go of the breath you were holding in and answered, “no.”

“No. It doesn’t have to do with your paper?” You shake your head in confirmation. “Then what does it have to do with?” He asks, and you think he definitely already knows what’s going on, but needs you to say the words.

“I just…wanted to see you,” you say softly.

“And why is that?” At this point, he’s teasing you already. Probably wanting to make a fool out of yourself so he could go home and laugh about it to his girlfriend or boyfriend, which you assume he has. And the bold assumption that you had thought he felt that pull towards you was enough to make you feel embarrassed for the second time in front of him.

But the remains of the confidence were still pooling in your head, and you figured you had nothing to lose.

“I wanted to see you because… I can’t deny this attraction I feel towards you. And it’s not based solely on your looks either because no can hide the fact that you’re insanely attractive, but I’ve gotten to know you for who you are this past week and we had some good talks, which was nice because no one has ever gotten to know me well enough for me to fall for them within a week.”

You finish your confession with a straight face, but there was still a hint of hope that he would tell you he felt the same way.

“And on the topic of no one getting to know me, and this is a sexuality class and you’ve recently started talking about sex; I’ve never truly had the chance to explore with partners sexually and explore my sexuality more in depth than just someone sticking their dick inside me, and calling it good sex. So, you talking to me and getting to know me means a lot because no one wants to waste their time on what I like and what I’m into.”

You had said a mouthful, and it can be heard as inappropriate to say that to your professor, but again, why would a sexuality teacher judge you based on your past sex life?

A minute had passed that immediately felt like an hour. The only thing that was heard was the ticking of the wall clock, and that made the tension even more unbearable.

You get up from out of the chair, “I’m gonna go. Thanks for the help, Mr Styles.” 

Before you reach for the door, he finally decides to speak, “Wait.” You turn around slowly and watch him get up from his chair, and walk towards you. His eyes are dark, and they don’t leave yours as he reaches you.

The proximity is close enough that you could lean forward and be pressed up against his chest, but you’re afraid that you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself if you do that.

“You’ve fallen for me?” Is the thing that he could respond with after all that you’ve said.

“Yes. I’ve developed a crush on you, well, more than a crush because I do like you,” you say as you look up at him. He looks down at you intently, lips rolled into his mouth. He smells amazing from how close you are, that it’s like a potion that keeps luring you in, wanting more.

“Do ya?”

“I think I make myself pretty clear on that,” you respond with a bit of sass.

“Don’t give me attitude,” his tone changed to dominant, and a pool in your panties made itself present.

“What are you gonna do about it, Mr Styles?” You test, and move closer to him, lips almost touching. You can possibly reach up and your lips will be in sync. A smirk comes to play on his face as if you’ve made the wrong move, but you’re so ready for what’s to come.

And for a split second, it looked like he was leaning in a tad bit to go in for a kiss, but retracts back. “I’ll see you in my next class.” With that, he pulls back and walks back to his chair.

You’re left stunned, mouth slightly open, surprised he didn’t make a move. He didn’t even tell you if he felt the same way, and if it were any other day, you would’ve felt extremely sad, but there was so much tension in the room you needed to go home and take care of yourself.

And that’s what you did.

Once you got back home, you ran a bath for yourself and sat in it as you ran over your skin, leading to where you ached the most. Many thoughts of Mr. Styles doing this to you as he sat behind you in the bath, knowing that you would make a mess on his long fingers and pretty hands. And that definitely helped you reach our orgasm as you moan out his name, and you couldn’t help but feel slightly odd about it.

You finally turned in your paper on the last day it was due, and you were extremely happy with it. You added the history of not acting like your original self, taking Mr. Styles’ advice and not going too in depth with it. This has marked as a halfway point to graduating with your bachelors, and you were ecstatic.

It had also been a week since the tension filled scene that had happened in your professor’s office, and you haven’t been back since. Seeming as you didn’t need to since there were no needed assignments, but you had thought you would visit him in his office everyday after what you had confessed.

It didn’t get easier sitting in his class as he stood up in front of everyone looking so hot as he wore a crisp blue button down with a polka dot tie, and a pink blazer over it. He knew your secret. He knew that you had the hots for him. And he knew that he didn’t say anything to reciprocate those feelings. And you tried very hard not to let it get to you.

The lecture had ted to your paper topic: masculinity and femininity. But this time, it was open for class discussion. You weren’t big on talking in class; just preferred listening to everyone’s opinions and making your own in your head, but the ignorance that someone had made you argue with him.

“I personally feel like men should stay on the masculinity side, and women on the femininity side.” You had turned around to see the guy who had said that. He was wearing a football jersey of the university, laughing with his two friends.

“And why do you think that?” Mr Styles follows up.

“It’s simple. You shouldn’t act as if you’re someone you’re not-”

“That makes a good point in your argument though,” you interrupt, turning in your seat to look at the jock at the top. “You shouldn’t act like someone you’re not, so why would you act like someone you don’t want to be?” The guy had shut up, making you smirk. “I just think that being masculine and feminine as your biological gender is a social construct. It just takes away the substance of that person when people look down on them for being true to themselves. So, why does masculinity only apply to men, and femininity only apply to women?”

Harry smirks at your discussion. It had surprised him that you spoke up in his class, but it didn’t surprise him when you spoke up about this topic. You had definitely shut down his other student, and he was proud of you for that.

The class was dismissed and as you were making your way towards the door, someone stopped you.

“Hey, really great argument back there.” It was the ignorant jock.

“Thanks.” You walked out of the class to get out of everyone’s way, stopping at the wall across from the class.

“I didn’t mean to sound so douchey back there, but what you said really got me thinking, and I see where you’re coming from.”

“I’m glad. You learn something new everyday…”

Harry was watching you the entire time you left your seat to when his student stopped you to have a chat. He had thought you were going to shut him down for being ignorant, but he saw you smile and laugh a little, making him breath deeply as he glared at you, brows furrowed, and coffee cup in his hand. Harry then sees him take out his phone, obvious that he’s asking for his number and he sees you blush as you talk.

Harry tries to control his breathing, and in another world, steam would be coming out of his ears. He walks towards the door, thinking that he was going to call you into his class, but decides against it and shuts the door.

It was already nearing the end of the semester, and you have yet to talk to him.

If it wasn’t for the fact that you had slightly gotten over his unreciprocated feelings, you would have probably dropped out of the class and waited another semester to finish. But you couldn’t let him do that to you; you were way too close to the finish line.

Mr. Styles was in his final topic of speaking about the fun part of sex, and how it could be pleasurable. He talked about the anatomy of it at first, moving onto the techniques. And the techniques he used on how to pleasure a woman and man had you hot in your seat. He demonstrated using his finger, showing the class the way to finger someone, and you couldn’t help but cross your legs. And you were sure everyone was doing so as well.

The simple demonstration of his fingers making a curling motion as if he’s fingering someone made you clench. You had been right about his fingers bringing you to pleasure, and all you wanted to do was rush home and imagine it again since you have a full visual.

“Okay, class. I have an extra credit opportunity for you.” The class perks up at that. You had a low A in the class, and although you were confident about the final, you didn’t want to risk it, so you listened.

“Since this is a sexuality class, I hoped I didn’t make anyone uncomfortable on what I just did,” the class laughed a bit, and you smiled. “For this extra credit, I want you to go to a sex store and buy a toy that can be pretty much anything. Come back and show me, and I will mark you down for points. I don’t require a paper on this, so it is fairly easy, but this is to show that you should be comfortable in your sexuality, and walking into a sex store should be easy for you because there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever because everyone has needs and if someone judges you, then they’re not getting laid.” The class laughs again. “You can return it if you want after I mark you down or you can keep it. A win win for everyone! Okay, class dismissed.”

You walked out of class with a smile on your face as Mr Styles lightened up everyone’s mood as everyone was stressing for finals. You were glad for it; the weight on your shoulders were still heavy, but a good laugh was needed.

You had two weeks to buy and show him the extra credit, and two weeks until you graduated. The days were counting down at this point, and before you knew it, it was the final week.

You had passed both of your finals with flying colors, and you had the rest of the week to finally relax as you were graduating at the end of the week. The apartment was a mess, and you finally had time to tidy it up a bit; fix the mess of papers on your kitchen table and put your laundry away. You also used that time to finally go out and get your extra credit.

It would be a lie if you had told yourself that you were too lazy to go out and actually buy your extra credit assignment, but that was far from the truth. If you had energy to get up and clean around your home, then you could have easily gotten up and buy a sex toy.

But it was the anxious feeling that you had that you were going to see him so up close, and actually get to talk to him again that stopped you.

The crush on your professor hadn’t died done any less, but it hadn’t increased either. You were stuck in a plateau of not getting over him and not falling for him more. You figured it’s because you see him every week, so you were hoping by this time, you were on your way to getting over him.

You made your way into the sex shop with nerves as you haven’t been into one before, and it was a very relaxed set up. Various of sex toys used for both genders were set against the wall, and a red curtain that led to something in the back that, you assumed, was the more extreme items.

You scanned the toys, figuring that it would be easy to just get a vibrator. Your hands shook as you went to grab the boxed toy, and you remembered Mr Styles’ words; there’s no reason to be ashamed in buying any of these, and that relaxed you.

The employee who rang you up was the sweetest. She greeted you with a bubbly smile, and told you that you had made a great choice because she has the same one. You didn’t tell her that it was for a school thing, because that would sound really weird, and you didn’t tell her that you were planning on returning it later on.

You drove to campus, hoping that Mr Styles was in his office. The drive was a 30 minute drive as you lived a bit far from the school, but you didn’t mind the drive.

Harry heard a knock on his office door, telling them to enter. His eyes perked up as you made yourself present as you opened the door. His heart was beating in his chest as he saw you; remembering the last time you were in his office and missing the presence of you being close again.

“Hi. How are you?” He pointed to the chair, and you sat down. Your heart was pounding as well, feeling nervous about being in his office again.

“I’m doing good. How are you?”

“I’m well, thanks. What can I do for you?” He asks politely. You reach into your bag and grab the box to show him your extra credit assignment. “Ahh,” he lets out as he sees the box. “Perfect. Let me mark you down for that.”

“Thank you,” you say as you put the toy back inside your bag. “Can I ask how I did on the final? If you’ve already finished grading it.”

“Yes. You did really well, actually,” he says as he shuffles through his papers, looking for the grade book. “Ah, here. You got a 95.” That made you smile. You were quite confident for the final, but hearing that you did well brightened up your day. “And that boosted up your grade to a 94, plus the extra credit, that will go up to a 97.”

Your eyes widened; you had passed both classes with an A, and you were extremely excited about that; and it takes everything in you to not jump up and scream. “Wow, thank you.”

“No need to thank me. You deserve it. I’m proud of you,” he smiles at you, and your heart swoons, telling him a thank you. “You graduate at the end of the week right?” You nod. “Excited?”

“Very. I really only needed to take this class, but I was putting it off because my friend took this course and said it was pretty sexual, and that made me a bit uncomfortable if I’m being honest. But I really enjoyed this class…you made it bearable.” Harry blushes, thinking how happy he is that you took the class with him.

“Well, I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he says .

There was silence that washed over you two with the slightest bit of tension; debating if either one should bring up what happened the last time you were in his office. You were feeling so many things at the moment, and he was too, but you were sure it was inappropriate to talk about it when technically, nothing even happened.

“I should get going,” you say instead.

“Sure thing. I’ll see you…uh, around,” he says hesitantly. You tell him goodbye and walk out of his office, probably the last time you would ever see him.

You had finally graduated, and you couldn’t be more happy and proud for yourself. A relieved feeling ran through you when you had put on your cap and gown, and the thought made you tear up. You were done, for now, before you had to go to grad school and get your masters degree. But either way, you were ecstatic.

Now a week has gone by since graduation, and you decided to do some errands. You also needed to make your way to the sex shop and return your item.

As you entered the door you had walked through once before, your eyes immediately spotted the familiar man who had made your heart flutter by the simple act of eye contact. And if it was by instincts, Harry turns his head towards the door and sees you standing at the entrance. He hadn’t seen you since the time in his office and he saw you walk for graduation, if that counts.

There was no way of avoiding him, so you walked over to him. “Hi, Mr Styles.”

“You know you don’t have to call me that anymore. You graduated already,” he smirks, and you chuckle.

“Then what should I call you?”

Yours. “Harry.”

You tilt your head to the side, seeing how fitting his name is on him. “Okay, Harry. What are you doing here anyways?” The question had slipped out of your mouth, but you think that there’s nothing awkward with it.

“Oh, uh, just looking for a cock ring,” he says honestly. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m actually returning my extra credit purchase,” you chuckle.

“Are ya? Why don't you keep it?”

“I don’t know…I actually never used a toy before, and I got a bit intimidated by it.” Harry nods understandingly.

“See, a win win for everyone. You either get your money back or you get a nice orgasm out of it,” he laughs, and you agree with him.“I think you should keep it. This is the time you get to explore your sexuality.” You debate a bit. He was right, and you did have some spare time as of now, so you decided to keep it; see what this thing can really do.

“If you’d like…would you like to get some lunch with me?” He asks, taking you out of your thoughts.

Your eyes brighten. “Of course.”

It was like you were waiting for this moment to come. You had waited for him to ask you out and properly get to know each other outside of school. Harry had taken you to a small shop that sold burgers and fries, and you two sat in the patio of the shop; talking, eating, and laughing at stories you told each other.

“Can I ask you something?” He nods, nervously. “When I told you I liked you in your office that one time, why didn’t you say anything back?”

“To be honest, I was nervous. You’re 22 and I’m six years older than you, and although that didn’t matter much to me, you were on the edge of graduating. I couldn’t risk that, even with how much I like you. The thought of getting caught and losing your chance to graduate, and possibly your acceptance for your masters, would just be selfish on my part because I couldn’t keep it in my pants… So I waited until you graduated; didn’t even know if I was going to see you again if I’m honest.”

You understood well on why he didn’t do anything to reciprocate his feelings, and you were grateful he didn’t until now.

By the end of it, you didn’t want the day to end so you invited him to your apartment.

You two sat on your couch, which thankfully you cleaned the place before, and talked some more and put on a movie. You two were inching closer to one another until you both were cuddling. You had rested your legs on his as he runs his fingers over your ankles, scratching your skin lightly.

You were breathing heavily, wanting to just make more than just innocent touches. As if Harry read your mind, he turned his head to look at you; a striking look in his eyes as you both look at each other. The air was heavy, sexual tension coming in hot.

“Harry…”

“Yes, love?”

“Kiss me.”

Harry wastes no time in connecting his lips with yours. The softness of your lips meeting his is enough to drive him crazy. The pull you have on his hair makes him let out a moan into your mouth as you whimper into his. Chests are pulled close together, but not close enough as the hold on each other is tight; afraid one might let go.

Harry found himself in your bedroom, and it seemed like he blanked out during that time. Your kisses probably just pulled him into another world, where he debated if this was real life or if he was dreaming it. It was all real, but it was lovely to dream about.

You sat on the bed as you continued to kiss while Harry was standing above you; him leaning down and you reaching up. You were close to his hard on, and it took everything in him not to drop his pants and have you taste him, but it wasn’t going to be about him.

This is going to be about you.

You’d managed to get both of your shirts off, wanting yourself bare and to see his chest. You were surprised with the amount of tattoos that littered his skin. It was beautiful and raw, and him. You went to press a kiss to the butterfly on his stomach; the only one you can reach, and trailing down to the vines on his hips. Harry throws his head back, loving the feeling of your lips on his. You reach for his pants and before you can fully unbutton, he stops you.

“No, no. Tonight’s about you, baby,” he says as his face is close to yours and he kisses the tip of your nose. You nod slightly, feeling yourself blush; and he pushes your shoulder back so you’re fully laying down on your bed. “You want this, right?” Your head nods quickly, enough to make yourself dizzy. “Need words, love.”

“Yes. I want this so bad.” The words come out quickly, eagerly. Harry smirks at your response, and kisses down your stomach towards the hem of your pants.

He fully removes your bottoms, only leaving your panties, and Harry thinks that you’re just a sight. “God, baby, you’re so beautiful,” he says smiling. His words made you blush, shying away from him by turning your head. “Nuh uh, don’t get shy on me now, my love. It’s just me. You’re comfortable with me, right?”

“Of course,” you respond, remembering that he prefers words rather than gestures.

“I’m glad.”

He continues kissing along the hem of your panties, teasing you slightly by dragging his tongue along your skin. The feeling makes you whimper and buck your hips slightly; wanting more than his kisses.

The fast motion of your panties swiftly being removed catches you off guard as you look down and see Harry looking at your bare pussy with hungry eyes. “Look at you. Fuck.” It takes everything in him to not devour you right then and there, but he wanted this moment to last and for you to enjoy yourself. He has been waiting for this moment the first time you walked into his office, and he couldn’t wait to get a taste of you.

“Harry…” you whimper.

“Yes?”

“Please just lick me already.”

Harry kneels on the floor, kissing your inner thighs before taking one long lick up your pussy. The feeling of his tongue makes you moan out loud from the built up tension that you’ve been filled up with since the beginning of the semester.

“Fuck, so good,” he says, going in for another lick, but doesn’t stop this time. He takes your clit into his mouth, sucking on it as well as giving it kitten licks. Your hands fall to his hair as you tug, and your face falls to the side as you try and drown your moans against the mattress.

You continue moaning, but they’re muffled and Harry looks up at you. “No, none of that. Don’t hide away your moans. Wanna hear ya, baby. Let me know I’m licking you up just right--just how you like it,” he says and gets back to eating you out. You give him an ‘okay’ before wailing out in pleasure.

The thought had surprised you as you’ve never been with anyone who made sure you were feeling good and alright. And you absolutely loved it.

Harry’s fingers enter you, pumping and curling and finding your g spot. “Fuck, you’re so wet. Who got you this wet?” He teases.

“You.”

“I did?”

“Yes. You, Mr Styles.” Although you have been calling that more than you called him Harry, his name coming out of your mouth as you’re a moaning mess makes his cock even harder. He stares at you above him with dark eyes and nibbles on the skin of your inner thighs.

“You say you wanna explore? That no one has ever taken the time to make you feel good? Is that right, baby?” He says as he continues fucking you with his fingers.

“Mhm. No one has ever fucked me good enough for me to stay,” you say in an innocent and teasing tone, knowing that Harry will be the exact person that will do that for you.

“How about we have a little fun? With a certain vibrator of yours that you decided not to return? Do ya want that?”

“God, yes please.” Harry kisses your stomach, up to your chest, and then your lips before his fingers slip out and he walks over to unbox the new vibrator. It was a vibrator that you were able to put inside you as it stimulated your clit, and Harry has been dying to use one on you the second you showed it to him for extra credit. You heard the toy turn on as Harry played with the settings.

“Ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

Harry sets the vibrations to the lowest setting as he starts to tease your clit with it; slowly circling around it as you moan out from the new sensation. “Does that feel good? Do you want more?”

“Please. Give me more,” you say as you palm him over his underwear, but he pushes you away. “Baby, you’re hard. Let me touch you, please,” you plead.

“This is all about you, so be a good girl and just enjoy this,” he says and you close your eyes, waiting for what’s to come. Harry sets the setting a bit higher. The setting is on a medium level, more stimulations to your clit as Harry moves the toy around. “Holy shit, that feels so good,” you throw your head back onto the bed.

“Yeah? Good thing I told you to keep it. You can use this when I’m not here to fuck you, unless I tell you not to touch yourself and have you wait until I stuff myself in your tight pussy.” The dirty talk is driving you wild along with the vibrator. “Gonna put it higher,” he says and doesn’t wait for you to answer.

“Oh my...fuck!” The setting is at its highest along with the part of the toy that is inside you; Harry moving the toy around a bit so it can thrust inside of you. You’re completely thrashing around on the sheets, and Harry has to physically spread your legs apart as you keep trying to close them.

Harry lays beside you, kissing your chest and taking your pebbled nipple into his mouth and sucking on it. Your hand naturally finds his hair and pulls on it as you bring his face to yours, and he gives you a solid kiss. You hold him against you as there were no movements of your lips with his; just the touch of your lips together as you try to control your moans.

As you two part, you scream out, “I’m gonna fucking cum!”

“C’mon, let go for me, baby. Cum for me,” Harry encourages you.

After a few more thrusts and vibrations to your clit, your orgasm washes over you and hits you hard. Your back arched, and you turned, still feeling the stimulation from the toy.

“There ya go. That’s it,” Harry says as he slowly pulls the toy out and replacing it with his hand, gently cupping over you and feeling your wetness as you come down from your high. Your moans have been controlled, and you started whimpering from how powerful your peak was. “You’re okay. Shh. You’re okay, baby.”

You buried your face into Harry’s neck, and he scratches your back, calming you down. After a moment, you lift your head up and lazily smile at Harry, causing him to giggle a bit and kiss you. The kiss didn’t last long nor was it deepened; it was a sweet and loving kiss, and a thank you to him.

“Was that okay?” He asks.

“That was fucking amazing. Never came like that before,” you tell him honestly.

“Well, I’m glad,” he kisses your lips briefly as he couldn’t get enough of them.

“So…” you trail off.

“So…” he repeats.

“Do I get my extra credit?” You ask in a playful manner, and he laughs loud making your heart flutter over the beautiful sound of his laugh.

“Oh, baby. You get more than extra credit.”

feedback here <3

MASTERLIST

[mrpenguinpants]

Exuse me but do you have any info on how to start a blog for writing? I just made an account but I really do enjoy writing for others (commission money would also be nice) but I have no idea how to get others to read what I put out? How do I even set up a functional blog?

Hey anon!

Honestly, I am the last person you should ask because my own blog is a total mess but I'll do my best haha. But I do want to say that I'm so happy that you've decided to start writing! I'm sorry that this is super delayed and if you already made one I would love to be mutuals with you!

---

TLDR:

Functioning blog

Make sure you verify your email and that your posts appear in tags before you start writing.

Make a masterlist and a pinned post with all your request rules. Future self will thank you.

If you write or read smut. Please put your age or if you're 18+ in your bio.

Credit the artists you use if you plan to make banners.

Writing blog

Limit the requests you take.

Tag correctly.

Put a read more if you feel your posts are long.

Personally, I use kofi for commissions but it's up to you.

Formatting is important.

Please, if you feel there is a glitch with your blog (you don't appear in tags anywhere, no one can see your blog, etc). CONTACT SUPPORT

You can make side blogs for all your reblogs/likes if you don't like clutter

New Account Issues

So you probably already noticed or know this info already but just in case, if your blog is new, your post won't appear in tags. This is because tumblr needs to verify you aren't a bot. Make sure you verify your email before anything and do some human activity (likes, reblogs, posts). When I made my second account, it took a day before I started appearing.

First Priorities - Functioning blog

1. Please. Make a masterlist and a pinned post describing all your rules for requesting. Especially the masterlist. Your future self will thank you.

2. My pinned post is long and gross so don't use it as a template but sectioning off your content (masterlist, taglist, etc) into separate posts that you can link onto your pinned post. But keep your request rules and whether your requests are open on your pinned post.

3. I'm not calling anyone out here since I don't mind it, but sometimes people won't read your pinned post or double-check if your requests are open. If you want to, in your bio, write if requests are open or not.

4. If you write or read smut, please put your age or if you're 18+ in your bio or pinned post. A lot of smut blogs will block you if you're a minor or if they think you're a minor.

5. If you plan to use banners (character portraits) in your writing. Please credit the artist. I use official genshin art because I'm lazy but please link to the artist's account/pixiv ID/or at least mention their name if you can't find either.

What now? - Starting a writing blog

1. Please. Limit the requests you take at a time. Whether you really enjoy writing or you can write really fast, please put a limit on it. You will hit burnout or get overwhelmed fast.

2. Tag correctly. This mostly applies to smut content but keep it in the smut category. Don't put it in the fluff tag or at least put a read more.

3. If your posts are long please put a "read more" tag. It helps for mobile users since scrolling can be a pain. There's no real word check but if you feel it's long, it's probably long.

4. Since you're interested in commissions, the easiest way is to set up a kofi and all your commission rules there. I usually do $1 = 100 words but stylize it to whatever your preferences are.

5. Formatting is kind of a big one that I don't see a lot of people talk about. The usual template is:

Title

Anon ask

Authors note - if you want to

Masterlist

Taglist - this can also be put at the bottom of your fic

Banner

Writing

6. I've been seeing this a lot lately, but with your tag list. Sometimes you won't be able to tag people. This is usually because either 1. their blog is new or 2. tumblr machine broke. Ask them to contact support to see if their account can be mentioned. If that doesn't work, contact support yourself.

7. This is a big one because I went through it and I don't want you to experience it. At some point, if your posts don't appear in tags for whatever reason. And I'm saying at all, nothing works. You just don't appear the second you post. CONTACT SUPPORT. For me, it was a glitch on tumblr and they got my blog back but I still lost months. I'm still pissed about it.

8. I made a side account for reblogs and replying to others because I hate cluttering my main with them. You don't have to do this but it's a way for me to try and keep everything clean.

Social Interaction - Gettings others to read your work

1. There's no good or real way to get people to read what you put out, they are only going to read it if they want to and that's fine. I know that's obvious but it's something to know.

2. You can make separate accounts on other writing platforms, I know a lot of AOE and Twitter have links to their tumblr.

3. Tumblr has an algorithm so your posts will appear in the tags you add to your posts. Your post might sometimes disappear from tags after a while but don't worry. That's because tumblr has to filter a lot of users. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean another can't either.

4. Don't be afraid to make mutuals with other writing blogs. Heck, I'll be your mutual right now. At the end of the day, we're all people.

5. Write what you want to write, when you want to write it. Don't make it feel like a chore for yourself, that you need to write every day to beat that algorithm.

6. Don't be discouraged if it seems that you aren't getting attention, and that's totally fine by the way to feel like that.

7. Personally, I think brainrot is the best way to get some type of interaction. Just spit some ideas out but leave the option for others to add to it. That's how I've met most of my mutuals/anons.

8. I'm actually kind of surprised that not many tumblr's do this but I always reply to reblog comments or stuff written in the tags. You can filter your activity settings so it's easier to see everyone's replies and just talk. You'd be surprised by how many people get back to you.

---

Just keep writing and doing what you like. I'm still learning tumblr myself so if anyone has anything to add, please feel free to. Goodluck anon! I hope to be able to call you by a name later.

[noona-clock]

Traveling Love (Collab) - Part 4, Final Chapter

Genre: Fluffy/Romantic AU

Pairing: Nam Joo Hyuk x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, Masterlist | Words: 2,094

A/N: Welcome to the third series in the monthly Love In Fours Ways collab with myself, @jackiejacks923​ @prettywordsyouleft​ & @this-song-thats-only-for-you​ . We have all taken inspiration from 4 illustrations (linked below), and during the last week of the month, we will each be sharing a 4-part mini-series based on those drawings.

Credit to: Puuung - Love Is In The Small Things

Part 4: Tucking Her into a Perfect Sleeping Burrito

You’d never experienced the feeling of Post-Vacation Blues quite as acutely as you were now.

When you’d planned this trip over the last several weeks, you’d had a feeling it was going to be wonderful -- not only because your destination had too many fun and exciting things to do and see and visit and eat, but because you were going with someone you loved. Plus, Joo Hyuk had really needed this vacation.

But you hadn’t been prepared for just how wonderful. 

If you could’ve designed your perfect vacation with no limitations, it wouldn’t have been as perfect as the one you’d just taken with Joo Hyuk. You had absolutely never been on a trip like it, and you would absolutely never go on another trip like it again.

It’s not like you did anything extremely special or note-worthy; you explored the city, you took pictures, you ate delicious food, you saw beautiful scenery. Very typical vacation stuff!

Something about it had just been... special, and no amount of money or planning would ever be able to recreate this past week.

...However.

And you were very reluctant to admit this however, and you certainly wouldn’t admit it out loud to Joo Hyuk.

But. However.

All of the planning and the fact that you’d known how very much Joo Hyuk had needed a break from work had built up quite a bit of pressure for this vacation to be as perfect as it could be.

It had been as perfect as it could be, but perfect never comes easily.

You’d worked hard to help it become perfect, and now that it was all over and you were very soon to arrive back home...

You were feeling it.

All of the work you’d done before the trip, all of the activities you’d checked off during the trip, and the unconscious demand lurking in the back of your head for the trip to be just what Joo Hyuk needed... It was all coming to the tipping point the closer you got to your apartment, and by the time you stepped in through the front door, you felt like you were going to collapse with exhaustion.

“It does feel good to be home, though,” Joo Hyuk said, and his tone made it obvious that hadn’t been the first thing he’d said.

Were you already so tired that you were zoning out and missing full sentences?

“Mm,” you hummed, deciding not to let on that you were kind of about to drop right here on the floor and fall asleep -- that you were so exhausted, you’d completely missed the first part of whatever your boyfriend had said.

“I’m just going to check my email,” Joo Hyuk murmured as you began to lug your suitcase back toward your shared bedroom.

Again, you simply hummed in response -- and that’s how you knew your brain was fried. Joo Hyuk checking his email just after arriving home from vacation should have made you stop and warn him that he at least needed to wait until tomorrow to get back into Work Mode. But, no. You just hummed and trudged through your apartment to go unpack.

When you reached your bedroom, you let your suitcase fall to the floor, and you dropped onto your knees beside it to unzip it.

Your arms felt like lead -- or like they were stuck in Jello -- as you began to take out your clothes and put them in a pile next to you.

If you were in your right mind, you would have taken your suitcase closer to your clothes hamper to cut out the middle man.

But you were, apparently, just too tired to think efficiently at the moment.

Joo Hyuk’s voice suddenly cut through the silence, and you jumped a little --

...Wait.

How had he checked his email so quickly?

And why had his sudden presence startled you that much?

...Had you been --

“Why didn’t you tell me you were that tired?” Joo Hyuk said softly as he crouched down next to you.

Well, then. You had just fallen asleep while unpacking your suitcase.

You knew you were exhausted, but you didn’t realize you were that exhausted.

“Sorry,” you murmured, your brow furrowed as Joo Hyuk reached to pick you up. He slid one arm behind your knees, the other across your back, and stood up to carry you bridal-style to your bed. “I guess it just hit me all at once when we got home.”

“No, don’t apologize,” he replied, carefully leaning over and setting you on top of the bed. “You did a lot of work, and we were pretty busy this whole week. You just get some rest, and I’ll finish unpacking, okay?”

The second your head hit the soft cushion of your pillow, your eyes began to droop. You weren’t sure if you even responded to him, and the last thing you remember was Joo Hyuk reaching for the throw blanket at the end of the bed.

An indeterminate length of time later, the scent of something cooking tickled your nose. You smelled it first before you even blinked your eyes open, but when you did open your eyes, you found that not only had Joo Hyuk covered you with a blanket...

He had wrapped the blanket around you like the tortilla of a burrito.

A smile tugged at your lips, and you nestled into the blanket even further, letting out a soft sigh of contentment.

You were wrapped up in your blanket like a burrito, the apartment smelled like the most delicious dinner was cooking, and you had just taken a much-needed nap.

There was no way you could be even remotely upset right now. Not even the tiniest bit.

With a groan, you began to sit up so you could unroll yourself and make your way to the kitchen. The smell of dinner was just too tempting to resist, and your stomach was on the verge of letting out a rather audible grumble.

But before you could even lift one corner of the blanket around you, you heard footsteps shuffling toward the bedroom. And when your gaze landed on the doorway, you saw Joo Hyuk had appeared gingerly carrying a steaming bowl, his hands covered by your favorite floral pot holders.

You managed to inch up into a seated position by the time he got to the side of the bed, and you asked, “What’s this?”

“I thought I would make you some soup,” he answered, perching on the edge of the mattress and shifting the bowl to cradle it in one hand. After slipping the pot holder from his now free hand, he took the spoon from inside the bowl and dipped it into the soup.

“Babe, you don’t have to feed me,” you chuckled, though you still accepted the spoonful he offered, slurping the soup carefully. Once you’d swallowed it, feeling the comforting warmth sliding down your throat, you added, “I’m not sick! I’m just exhausted.”

Joo Hyuk held out another spoonful of soup for you, waiting until you’d taken it before replying with, “Yeah, but you took care of me this whole week -- and a long time before then, too. It’s time for me to take care of you.”

“I did not take care of you,” you retorted with a soft grin.

“You absolutely did.”

“I just planned our trip! Once we actually got there, we did everything together.”

Your boyfriend let out a soft sigh and leaned over to set the bowl down on the nightstand. “I know, but... I know it hasn’t been easy because I’ve been so stressed out.”

“It really --”

“Just let me finish,” he interrupted, shooting you a playful smirk.

You pressed your lips together and snuggled back into your pillows.

“I know I’m not always the easiest person to live with because I don’t share things easily. Or... at all. Unless you force me to. And no one should have to do that to their partner, so I’m sorry I clam up when I’m stressed. But if it annoys you or worries you, literally no one would know. You either do an amazing job of hiding it or...”

He trailed off, so you took this opportunity to say something.

“Or I just know that’s how you are, and I love you. Unconditionally,” you said quietly.

Yes, sometimes it did annoy you that Joo Hyuk had such a hard time sharing how he felt. Sometimes you did feel like you were nagging him to be more open and forcing him to tell you what emotions he was experiencing.

But... you also understood that emotions can be super tricky. And complicated. And hard to express. Everyone is different, and everyone handles emotions differently. So, if you loved Joo Hyuk unconditionally, you had to accept that he was one of those people who just had a difficult time with them. 

If you didn’t accept that, wouldn’t it be a condition to your love? You only loved him if he expressed his emotions freely?

So, you mustered all your patience and you gave him time. You helped him out as much as you could and stepped away when you felt like you needed to.

Joo Hyuk smiled down at his lap, shaking his head gently. “I... don’t know how I got so lucky finding you, but...” He lifted his gaze, looking at you with more love in his eyes than you really even knew what to do with. “I hope you know how much you mean to me, and that I never want to take you for granted.”

“Of course, I do,” you murmured, finally wriggling your hands free from your blanket burrito so you could cradle his ridiculously handsome face in your palms. “I know you, and I know that you letting me in is just one way you show me that you care. You may not realize it, but you do a lot of little things, and I learned pretty quickly that they all mean you love me.”

Joo Hyuk grinned bashfully, and you leaned in to capture his lips in a brief kiss.

“And I love you, too,” you whispered. “And I really love when you turn me into a blanket burrito and make soup for me, even if I’m not sick.”

Your boyfriend chuckled lightly, his breathy laugh grazing over your lips.

“It’s really good soup, by the way,” you told him as you pulled away and reached for the bowl on the nightstand.

“Thanks,” he replied, setting one of the pot holders in your lap so you could put the bowl there. “I used that cookbook you got me for Christmas last year.”

Your eyes widened, and you beamed over at him. “You did?!” you marveled. “Oh, now I really know you love me.”

“Please don’t take that to mean I want another one this year,” he laughed, shaking his head. “One cookbook is enough.”

“No, you can never have too many cookbooks!” you argued playfully. “Just like you can never have too many blankets.”

“That is also not true. We’re only two people, we can’t use that many --”

“But what if I want to be a different blanket burrito every day of the week?” 

Joo Hyuk quirked a brow at you and opened his mouth to reply... but he stopped himself. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

“You’re right,” he mumbled before he got up and headed back out of the bedroom. “You’re right. You always are.”

Rather than crow triumphantly after him, you simply smiled down at your bowl of soup. You bit your bottom lip to stop yourself from squealing, and that’s when you knew without a shadow of a doubt that Joo Hyuk would be by your side for as long as you both shall live.

After two years, he could still make you bite your lip and squeal like a young girl with a schoolyard crush. He could still make you smile like a kid on Christmas morning. He could still make your heart and stomach flip just like he could the first time you’d met him.

...I mean, you’d already known he was your Forever, long before this. But you know what I mean. You just knew even more.

At home, on vacation, stressed out, in a blanket burrito, with a bowl of soup, out on the balcony, under the stars...

Whenever, wherever, however -- it didn’t matter.

Forever and ever, even more, he was yours.

[popculturebuffet]

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Review

Happy Birthday To Me, as I continue my birthday celebration by taking a look at comics that have a personal connection to me.. And for our main feature, i’m taking a look at the first volume of a series that was vitally important to a teenage me, Scott Pilgrim. 

Scott Pilgrim is the brainchild of Brian Lee’O’Malley. O’Malley came up with the concept from a number of things. Being a fan of the band Plumtree, O’Malley was curious about the name of their song “Scott Pilgrim” and wondered who this Scott Pilgrim guy was. So over the years he slowly built the guy up in the back of his mind using bits of his life and what not. As for why he ends up fighting 7 evil exes, that came from a discussion with his then girlfriend, later wife and currently ex-wife Hope Larson, where he threw off the joke that her exes should form some kind of League. After finishing his first solo work Lost at Sea, O’Malley decided Scotty would be his next project and the rest is history. To date while O’Malley has written two works since, Seconds which is delightful and Snotgirl which didn’t grab me but I intend to try again, Scott remains his most popular work, in large part due to it’s SUBLIME video game and movie adaptations, the former of which is finally getting a rerelease next month. 

The series charm is in it’s style: A manga styled comic that combines two desperate kinds of story: Shonen Fight Manga and Slice of Life Indie Comics. The story shifts from Scott going through normal life stuff while trying to make his new relationship work and get his shit together and Scott getting into big bombastic fights with his new sweetie’s exes for the right to keep dating her and to you know, stay alive. The series effortlesly blends a video game like world with real grounded characters and is wonderful for it.  As for where I came in, one Free Comic Book day I found a little comic named Free Scott Pilgrim, which I genuinely loved and was instantly charmed by it’s humor and well done art. So I picked up the second and third volumes of the series proper and the first once I could find it and the rest ,as they say, is history. For my high school life, this was one of hte most important things in it and I wrote fanfiction, which I thankfully never put online and in general enjoyed the hell out of the series. Then I just kind of.. let it sit on my shelf for a while. It wasn’t BAD, I just never got back to it and as the franchise went dormant I just sorta slept on it and the movie and that part of me...

Cut to a few weeks ago, when Comixology did a massive sale for black friday that marked a ton of Graphic Novels down to just 1 buck each, and the color editions of Scott Pilgrim happened to be part of this, though only volume 1 was that cheap. But thanks to my best friend micheal and an early christmas/birthday present I got the rest and got to revisit the series as a whole, with me rethinking my previous thoughts of volume 1 and thus.. wanting to review it and share both why this series is so damn special and what’s good, and what’s not so good about it. I’ll also be covering the game, once i’ts re-released, and the movie once i’m finsihed with the comics so look out for that. And get ready to take a trip to the glorious land of canada... 

As a heads up and as you can tell i’ll be using the color version as while I could get scans of the black and white, I prefer the color version. While the black and white was fine and always will be, I think the impressive coloring job really adds to thing and makes the already great fight scenes pop more, as well as making certain background elements stand out a bit. While it does negate the black and white gags, the tradeoff is more than worth it. That being said either version is fine so if you can get the black and white cheaper that’s fine and i’ve kept my original copies, with volumes 4 -6 having been picked up as they came out. 

So as our story starts we meet our hero: Scott Pilgrim Age 23, a charming but jobless and kind of sketchy possible college graduate whose really been adrift in his life since a breakup about a year ago. And when our story opens he’s taken a turn for a worse and decided to date sweet but naive and inexperinced Knives Chau, a 17 year old girl. And why yes the power dynamics there are messed up and why yes Scott is pretty damn sketchy in this moment in time, and while yes I am aware the age of consent in canada is 16, it dosen’t make this any less greasy and the story knows that.  And how it knows that MOST of his friends aren’t on board. The only ones who seems to is Stephen Stiles, leader of Sex Bomb-Omb, the band scott’s in with one of the best names ever and even then it’s hard to tell if he’s being sarcastic or just a total douche. The other, Young Neil Nordgraf, Stephen’s roomate, is well 19 or 20 and kind of a dipshit so we just ignore him. I used to use him as kind of a projection, to put myself in the adventure when I was younger as Neil kind of lacks personality in the comics but in the comics.. he’s not hte best or most complex character. He is great in the movie though and Edgar Wright did an amazing job fleshing him out.  The rest of his circle are .. not so permissive. His best friend, roomate and king of all gays for all time Wallace Wells very much does not want to come with Scott to school to pick her up because every part of that sentence after hurt to type. Granted Scott gets him to come with him with promises of boys, but frankly knowing wallace he was probably just playing along/wants to protect this poor child. His ex and fellow bandmate Kim is clearly bothered by it and is flat out worried Scott is taking advantage of her. Kim and Wallace are easily my faviorites both for personality and because I have a massive crush on both. With Wallace it just didn’t manifest till the reread. Finally Scott’s kid sister Stacey chews him out over it before genuinely wondering if he’s gone insane or he’s actually happy. For my two cents: he’s not. He WANTS to be, but he dosen’t know how. And as someone whose both neurotypical, which given Scott’s troubles with empathy and relating to people like yours truly I strongly suggest he is, and has struggled with depression I can relate to that. He wants to move on but he just.. can’t, he just wants to get past the haze he’s been in since Envy dumped him.. but he dosen’t know how. So instead of doing someting constructive or finding a job or anything .. he just took the first and easiest way out of his depression he could. I’ve done that with video games and stuff. Scott did that by entering a relationship that’s really easy, requires only so much effort, and is with someone who utterly adores, looks up to him and will never expect better. Being with Knives makes him feel better.. but it dosen’t MAKE him a better person. As i’ve made clear dating someone just for a boost makes him actively worse and had fate not intervened, I shudder to think what Scott might have become. That being said his actoins are still creepy and since Scott has a habit of landing ass backwards into being an asshole here’s a counter to track that. That’s 2 for doing this overall, one for tleling her to be good, and 1 for trying to ply wallace with underage boys. 

Your the Scum of the Earth Scott Counter: 1

Thankfully fate does and Scott’s dreams, ones of him crawling through a desert alone, are interupted by a mysterious pink haired girl on skates. The next day he’s just sort of in a daze, kind of confused, and even more so when he sees her IN REAL LIFE, while at the library with Knives. He’s understandably frazzled but ends up finding out he’s not hallucinating when talking to MIcheal Cormeau. Micheal is a minor character and another artist and friend of o malley’s who represents that one guy in social circles who knows everybody. And indeed he knows the mystery girl, Ramona Flowers and that she’s there. Scott TRIES talking her up but just creeps her out, so Scott goes with plan b and decides to ask around about her. Enter Sandra and Monique, two college aquantinces of Scott, who just sorta show up at major events and aren’t that developed or intresting. They turn him to Julie who forbids him to date her. To which I say. 

Naturually we’ll aslo be needing a counter for this. 

Shut Up Julie Counter: 1

Scott however did find out she’s a delivery girl for Amazon Canada, and thus orders some CD’s on Wallace’s Credit card to hopefully see her. And while his behavior IS obessive.. it’s understandable. I’d be weirdly obessed with finding someone too if they showed up in my dreams every day and were apparently a real person. I’d probably play it cooler but still i’ts kind of understandable. So after a day with knives in which he’s clearly checked out she kisses him, he freaks out and it’s very clear that while Scott’s good at attracting women he’s just.. not good with his emotions and has finally woken up to how messed up this is, but has no idea how to get out now he’s intrested in someone he actually has a future with maybe.  Speaking of Scott’s package and Ramona finally arrive. Scott’s move is to.. ask her out abrubtly but after he mentions her Dreams, Ramona finally puts two and two together and explains things: She’s been using Subspace, a seris of highways connected by the subconcious and apparently more common in america, though it’s later revealed she was taught this but being the first book with a lot of the lore and what not ironed out this is fine. Point is she was just using his dreams as transit and didn’t mean to get him obessed. Scott continues to try his schtick and eventually gets her to agree to hang out with him. Why she does I generally do not know, as SCott basically fell ass backwards over himself conversationally, but whatever. If he didn’t succeed we wouldn’t have a plot. 

That being said things pick up a bit with the date though. The scene is really good and simply just the two.. talking. Having plesant conversations getting to know one another. That good stuff. it’s just really nice to read and it’s hard to explain why. Highlights include Scott’s x-men patch, Ramona not wanting to talk about her last job and Scott admitting he hasn’t been obessed in a long time.. and it comes off sweet rather htan creepy like that sounds. It just means he hasn’t fell this head over heels felt like this. As I said Knives was easy.. but this is hard.. and this.. feels right. So as things Snow Ramona yanks scott through subspace to escape the blizzard. 

So we end up back at Ramona’s place and she offers some tea which leads to one of the best gags of the volume as she lists them off: 

So Ramona goes to get Scott a blanket, Scott ends up following finds her changing, and she decides to warm him up another way.. by embracing him... cue.. the inevitible really. 

It feels organic though: The two are clearly attracted to each other and while Scott came on as strong as freaking colossus, he still rebounded well once they hung out and he could relax a bit and show the scott underneath the lairs of dumbass. The two end up cuddling in bed and Scott seems..genuiley happy saying he needed this... awwwwwww. They part the next morning with him asking her to his band’s performance. 

So Scott finds Wallace  at home who says what Scott needs to hear “You need to break up with your fake highschool girlfriend scott’ Granted the entire first 40 pages could’ve been titled that but now he’s actively cheating. He’s also got a letter. 

It’s a death threat Scott barely grazes through, just like an email earlier. 

But scott’s more concerned with his emotional distress.. i.e. the consequences of his throughly shitty actions finally hitting him in the face. 

Scott heads to practice for his gig and can’t bring himself to break up with knives, but does find out about the opposition: Crash and the Boys, based on an NES game title because of course it is. Crash, their leader, Joel their baseplayer who scott hates because he hates all other baseplayers (”I don’t hate myself kim) and Trasha, an 8 year old progedy they found playing Drum Mania. Don’t ask me what that is, i’m not going to get every refrence. 

So at the show Scott runs into Stacey and her new boyfriend Jimmy  with Stacey being supportive. And then Knives shows up and then RAMONA SHOWS UP. Oh no scott’s cheating might be discovered! 

So Scott books it while we’re introduced to Crash and the Boys. Wallace heckles them, to the band’s annoyance, until they eventually get fed up and we easly get the best gag of the volume. I was wrong this clearly tops the tea thing. 

So Crash and The Boys continue to play their set, including a song that supposdely kills the audience but really knocks them out.. which of course bothers kim because they play next. Meanwhile Ramona and Stacey meet and the two really get along.. and come back to find the audience ko’d and Wallace Making out with Stacey’s boyfriend. Oh no! Which is a dick move, no question. But Stacey’s next move is questionable even for a 19 year old: She says “You won’t steel another guy from me and tells wallace to sit over there”. Okay Stacey even if he is bi, and this series has trouble with the concept of bisexuals we’ll get into that later trust me, he made out with someone else entirely while on a date with you. Wallace is still an asshole, it’s part of his charm.. but it dosen’t change the fact your date kissed someone else seconds after you were gone and has been eyballing him all night, as seen even above. He’s not into you as you thought, just accept it, move on, and kick Jimmy in the balls and then wallace like a proper lady. So Scott prepares to play and this happens

And it’s here, at the very end of the comic the series main premise finally kicks in and the world takes it’s true shape. It’s a world where an indie comedy about a mess of a being putting his life together after finding his dream girl.. also has said mess being forced to get into fist fights with wizards, movie stars, vegans, half-ninjas, twin roboticists and a katana wielding douchenozzle record exec in order to continue to have the right to date his girlfriend. 

It’s where the series charm comes from and really what made it a huge sucess so it’s no suprise this volume perks up immensley for the climax. I’ll get more into it’s pacing problem at the end. For now it’s fight time and as we find out in a hilarious and awesome turn.. Scott is the best fighter in toronto.. which just makes me REALLLY want a Scott Pilgrim version of letterkenny. I mean who wouldn’t want to see wayne fight some guy who can turn his hands into dragons or see Squireely Dan do E.Honda’s hand slap move from streetfighter or see the skids all fuse into one mega emo. It’s just.. the possiblities are as endless as they are wonderous and I want this now. 

But yeah as Patel is both the first boss and Scott’s first real opponent Scott.. handles him really easily. This was by design as O’Malley wanted a shonen progression to the fights.. and honestly it’s a great way to do things. Since the fights are styled after shonen and video games, and both have power based progression in bad guys and threats, it just made sense. Patel.. is just pathetic even with his magic powers, and his habit of sending letters and emails just pounds it in. Though he is right to be a bit pissed Scott didn’t read a letter he hand delivered in a snowstorm. That’s just a tad rude. 

Mid-Fight, Scott, now he knows the whole evil ex boyfriend thing, wonders what Matt and Ramona’s past is and while Matthew refuses to tell.. Ramona spills easily. It was midddle school, all the jocks wanted her for whatever reason, likely because from experince in high school, guys really like indie girls. Matthew was the only non-white non jock, so they teamed up and with her strength and his mystic powers they beat them.. but since his use had dried up, she flipped him off and left.  Matthew dosen’t take this well and summons demon hipster chicks to fight while Scott and co, minus ramona, fight back with a finger gun routine and block his fire balls before propelling Scott into matthew somehow, and landing the KO Evil Exes Left: 6 Matthew bursts into coins though fun fact, O’Malley says the Exes all respawned back at home afterwords and learned their lesson. With Pattel I genuinely don’t think he did... but clearly given his penchant for formality what with the letters and emails, he probably felt it’d break protocol to attack before the rest were done. He probably jsut formed a hipster emo band and found more sucess using his magic for that instead and just forgot about the whole thing. Could be wrong but that’s what i’m going with.  So Scott asks Ramona to go out with him then make out with him, both of which she says yes to. Nice one scotty boy. Ramona then explains the whole evil exes thing: He’ll have to defeat each one as they come after him, and while Scott wonders if they’ll come one at a time Ramona’s not sure. As time will bear out, Scott is MOSTLY correct as most exes take him one on one, with the exception of the twins. But since as I said earlier the twins are basically one person, and as we’ll find out by choice, so it’s an exception. Plus their the last step before the final boss, so by that token it’s a bit fairer to have the penultimate boss get an unfair advantage. Scott is fine with that, he and Ramona share another moment and a kiss.. but Scott makes the mistake of asking if gideon is one and Ramona’s head starts glowing with her dodging the subject, though still going out with SCott and him worried.. it just feels.. off. not a bad ending but the only one of the series three cliffhanger endings that just dosen’t work for me, especailly since it is a bit before the Gideon mystery really picks up steam again. But with that we close this chapter

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Precious Little Life is a decent start to the story.  While Scott is loathsome at first, he’s still a compelling character and does get more likeable as things go, the humor when it is there shines and is one of the series best assets and while the fight is short and only at the end, it is oh so glorious especailly in cover with the impacts taking cues from the movie. It’s a good intro to Scott’s world and ther’es a reason the movie adapts this book the closest as it sets up the cast and premise well, with only Stephen Stiles feeling a bit off and ONLY for the first few chapters.  The volume is only really held back by it’s pacing, as before Scott runs into ramona in his dream the story feels a bit sluggish as we’re just watching some douche date a high school kid. While it is necessary to set up the world, it just dosen’t have the snappy pacing the series would be known for and that makes the rest of the series more charming. it’s nto BAD.. but it’s not FANTASTIC like the series would become. What keeps it from being bad is simple: These aren’t general badness signs but more just O’Malley coming into his owna nd getitng better and better as the book goes, to the point that by the next book the pacing is much better and by book 3 onwards he has it down pat.  Overall not a BAD volume but certaionly the weakest of the bunch.. which given it’s still really good says something about the ride we’re in for. I’ll be back sometime in the future, likely january. Yup i’m taking on YET ANOTHER PROJECT. but since this one, while clearly exausting and time consuimg, is much shorter in overall length, and i’m still proritizing the three I have running over this, I think i’ll be just fine. Until next time, have a happy holiday. 

[uwua3]

hi parental goose (should I say bunny?) figure I am here to request 😌🤘 can I request some amusement park date hc for kazunari? ♡♡♡♡ I love how you put songs you listened to while writing so I, your goose ally, will suggest a song! I really recommend listening to "She Looks So Perfect" by 5 Seconds of Summer since it gives off summer vibes and specially, kAZOO VIBES ♡♡♡ THANK U ILYYY ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

erisu 🥺 hi baby how are you everyone this is my Daughter my Baby my Other Child (lyd is the other baby) ♡ how r u did you sleep well here is *All My Love* of course you can request!!! i would do anything for you!!! but, thank you for recommending a song~ it is ON REPEAT as we speak!!! i remember being obsessed with this song when it came out! thanks for the nostalgia :D

summary: there was a rumor that couples who went on the ferris wheel together would be in love forever

warnings: multiple mentions of food

author’s note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERISU !!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE A YEAR OLDER YOU’RE GROWING UP SO FAST ♡ I LOVE YOU (so. much. hand. holding)

word count: 3,562

music: she looks so perfect – 5sos, hey mama! – exo–cbx

all the luck in the world.

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

this was it, the biggest fair in the whole country was this weekend and this weekend only. you guys had to go

“yo~ we gotta go!!!” kazunari practically pushed the flyer in your face, not giving you time to read the colorful, bright font as he excitedly rambled about it being his dream to even attend such an iconic event

it didn’t take much convincing before he had whipped out two admission tickets from his pocket, as if he already knew you’d be on board with such a fun date with the coolest boyfriend ever!

(seriously... if you said no... he might’ve cried by himself, he just wants to check off a bucketlist goal with his favorite person and best friend ever!)

(“wah~ i’m so #cool right? give me a kiss to prove it!!!” when you actually did it, he was quiet for about three seconds before he started cooing and sending an attack of affection your way)

you two planned your outfits ahead of time (the only thing he bothered planning), with kazunari rummaging through your closet and throwing pieces he thought would coordinate behind him (ultimately landing on your face).

he was being your personal fashion consultant (you didn’t question him, he was an art student who knew how to dress!)

throughout the entire process, you strutted out of the bathroom like it was a runway with your ever chaotic and supportive boyfriend clapping. he had a questionable french accent as he complimented you without end

“my chérie, you are absolutely darling!” kazunari flipped the end of a feather boa over his shoulder dramatically as he had on a pair of sunglasses (how he found that in your room was beyond you). he sat at the edge of your bed with his legs crossed, pretending to write critics down on an invisible notepad as he feigned fainting out of shock

kazunari ran over to pull you in a hug as soon as you found one of his options perfect. he blabbered about how cute you were and how he was so lucky

you tried processing how your boyfriend had so much energy. he was so dramatic, but you never felt unconfident or nervous to be yourself around him because kazunari loved you for who you were!

when you collectively agreed on the best outfit, kazunari worked to find something of his own to match you to be that couple at the amusement park (it was hilariously coincidental he almost had the same items)

(the #ootd on instagram that day got him so many likes when he included multiple mirror pictures with you doing ridiculous poses. he captioned the picture with so many happy faces and heart emojis)

(yes, he had his own story category reserved just for your pictures)

(yes, you also were the person behind a majority of his posts online and was credited every single time without fail) (you were known as “kazu’s photo guru”)

“kazu... are you sure you don’t want to plan ahead?” you asked carefully as he just scrolled through his phone, disrupting his rant about having the most iconic date of all time. kazunari just laughed, shrugging without looking up

“don’t worry~ everything will be fine!” kazunari exclaimed as he asked his followers recommendations for rides to check out. you knew he wouldn’t change his mind with his “happy–go–lucky” attitude

you just hoped the drive to the park wouldn’t be a nightmare since it would be so crowded

on the ride up, you two screamed pop lyrics at the top of your lungs no matter how busy the road was (you two never noticed, but at stop lights, you’d be the center of attention as kazunari just had to fail at a whistle note with the windows down)

the moment kazunari took control of the aux cord, you knew it was going to be a party until you arrived. you two sang together so much that you knew which parts were yours and effortlessly bounced off each other, flowing naturally and laughing nonstop

although kazunari went with the flow, he had the luck of the world on his side the day when you guys showed up. he had managed to find parking, got in line fast, and made it into the amusement park like it was second nature

(you knew of horror stories where the lines were way too long in the blazing heat, kids crying about not winning, indifferent employees not caring at all... how did kazunari manage to repel all the bad from your life and make it as easy as possible?)

it was as if his positive energy about the whole day manifested the universe to give him the easiest entrance ever (or it was his insanely charming charisma that got him off the hook with just about anything)

you two even got a discount on your tickets, believe it or not! somehow, one look at you two and the seller knew you were a couple (the matching outfits definitely didn’t give it away) and gave you extra for “young love”

(kazunari was so ecstatic, you were almost worried he was going to kiss the employee right then and there. you had to drag him away before he got on first–name basis with everyone)

when you two got your wristbands and went to the grounds, kazunari let out the loudest squeal of excitement ever and had to stop himself from jumping up and down (just bouncing on his heels like an impatient child)

“O. M. G!!! we’re gonna have the best date ever!” kazunari shouted, holding onto your hand as he took in the entire view, with so much to do for the entire day

booths were set up with so many fun (but rigged) games with yelling handlers, advertising their set–up to passerbys with infectious energy. crowds of children were rambling in awe about the animal display (like the world’s biggest pig apparently, who knew?). screaming passengers were swinging over your heads from the multitudes of crazy rides only the country’s biggest fair could have

you were so busy taking in the view of kazunari’s excited big eyes and huge grin that you missed the mischevious spark glinting back at you

when he craned his head back at the tallest ride there was, that contraption that somehow brought tens of people in the air just to swing them around in a circle, you suddenly came back to earth

“—wanna bet?” kazunari finished, tilting his head towards you with a competitive edge. you raised an eyebrow, not bothering to question it when you swung your arm around his shoulders and smirked back

“bet.”

suddenly, you were being dragged to the games section, passing by the crowds easily when kazunari was always by your side. it was as if the road parted for him when he reached a display with balloons pinned to the wall

“i know you didn’t hear me, which is why i’m going to win~” kazunari teasingly hip–bumped you, passing the necessary amount of tickets to the game runner which they accepted graciously. you just shrugged, picking up the fake plastic rifle they let players use

(“was i too handsome?!” kazunari joked, missing how you actually agreed)

“yeah, yeah. i don’t need to know, i’m gonna win.” you winked, making kazunari swoon as he lifted his arm to his forehead with a dramatic flair

“my hero!” kazunari called out as you readied yourself to shoot the balloons, knowing the odds were gravely against your favor

“what am i shooting for again?” you asked, putting your cheek against the gun. kazunari just slid up to next to you, his lips brushing your ear with a smile

“if you lose, we’re riding the swings together~” kazunari giggled and you fired, hitting one balloon with satisfaction. kazunari wrapped his arms around your waist, reading his chin on your free shoulder despite you trying to focus

“and if i win?” you asked, not bothering to entertain your clingy boyfriend as you hit another balloon. even the person running the game seemed anxious about your chances at crushing the whole thing

“we can do whatever you want.” kazunari breathed out, placing a gentle kiss on your neck with a laugh when you flinched. you hit your last shot though, exhaling in relief when the attendant begrudgingly gave you a large–sized prize

(it was a super triangle, you definitely knew who you were giving this to when you got to the dorms)

“you know what, i think we’re both winners.” kazunari tried to laugh off, but you didn’t let him get away that easy when you grabbed his hand quickly

“nu–uh! you know where we’re going!” you giddily pulled him towards another game, leaving kazunari holding onto the super triangle with great difficulty as you two played game after game

(you were right; kazunari was an universal favorite as he somehow managed to swindle the toughest of games with sheer luck)

(when a kid began asking him to play a game for them, you knew you had to stop making your boyfriend do outrageous things just for a stuffed animal)

(at least kazunari got a cool boomerang story on his snapchat of him throwing a ring onto a bottle)

“make a deal with me~” kazunari begged, holding way too many prizes to count in between his arms as you looked around for more. he was about to give up but as he caught sight of two double doors with a neon sign, he knew you’d agree immediately

“if i win every game in the arcade, we’re going on the carnival rides.”

when you accepted the deal, you regretted it. somehow, you forgot how kazunari always had everything go his way

it was like you forgot all about the rides outside. you two entered an air–conditioned, hipster arcade and had to play everything despite dropping the coins everywhere (“please keep them in the cup!” “it’s not my fault!!!”)

you name it, kazunari probably won it. fuseball, air hockey, pac–man, nintendo crane machines, zombie shooters, motorcycle/driving simulators, he won it all just for the hell of it. you’d never admit it, but he really was just the best at everything he did

although the games were fun, it was time to fulfill your end of the deal (as deserved since kazunari had no reason to go as hard as he did at the ddr pad inside the arcade)

after storing all the stuffed animals into the cramped back of the car with kazunari apologizing to them profusely (“dad is so sorry! we’ll be back soon~ promise!”), you two returned to have the biggest adrenaline rush of your life

any rollercoaster kazunari saw, he wanted to go on right away. lines felt like nothing when all he did was talk them away and get so excited seeing the ride rush by

kid–specific rollercoasters had to prevent him from going (“i’m sorry, sir, but your height exceeds the maximum” “what???” kazunari would feign shock as if he wasn’t five heads taller than the whole line)

he wanted to try it all since he never had this experience before! he wanted to make all these memories with you even if it meant yelling his head off as long as you were by his side

(seriously, one ride you had squeezed your eyes shut but heard the most high–pitched scream ever. you thought it was someone else, but of course it was your boyfriend)

you didn’t mind that much, since you used the whole ride time to grip kazunari’s hand tightly and make sure his hat stayed on the entire ride (why he wore one was questionable, anything for fashion, you guess)

ironically enough, you had done about ten rides with dizzying effects before ending it with the swings, the tall ride he initially wanted to go on with you. when you looked up at the full height, you gulped after being strapped to the two–person swing (how was this safe?!)

it was the first ride you weren’t exactly comfortable with, but when you looked at your seat partner, kazunari had two thumbs up with a big dumb grin. you instantly calmed down before the ride started

“i love you!” kazunari exclaimed as the ride began pulling you up further from the ground, holding onto your hand and looking up at the blue sky with the giddiest expression ever

it was the first time he had said he loved you out loud before, but before you could process it, all you could do was scream when the ride began rotating you around in a circle

(you had to stop him from taking out his phone, reminding him the post wasn’t worth it)

(though, kazunari did drop his hat this time. he really was lucky to find it again)

“okay, okay,” kazunari stumbled off the ride, exaggerating his lack of balance by holding onto you, his excitement not even decreasing a little after so many hours of fun

“food time! my muse needs a snack!” kazunari had whipped out the crumpled map someone gave him from his pocket, quickly locating the area without being delayed (he was always good at directions, it must’ve been why he was so popular at these types of social events)

somehow, kazunari always knew what you needed at every exact moment. you were thankful he couldn’t hear your stomach growl over the sound of the general atmostphere

when you guys arrived at the food hall, it was definitely the greatest prize of all (sorry to the stuffed animals who were defintely overheating in the parking lot)

all the best chefs and caterers came together for this event with the most outrageous food options of all time. fried oreos, cheese curds, cotton candy, caramel apples, churros, basically anything you imagined, it was most likely 1000x better with some funky twist

you never had to be nervous ordering because kazunari always stepped up and spoke, letting you hold his hand as if to reassure you he had the situation handled. he would somehow form a meaningful friendship with someone within two minutes of ordering and got extras, hurrying over to a table with every option possible

(yes, he took a photo of the whole spread and added ridiculous hashtags only savvy internet users knew) (he also posted on his private an embarrassing candid picture of you drooling at the food)

kazunari liked feeding you whatever he was eating, always encouraging you to try new things but respecting your boundaries at the same time just in case you weren’t up for it

(“oh, you don’t want to? no big deal~ just happy to be with you!” he’d say, wiping your mouth with a napkin regardless and just being content with you not being hungry)

while eating, you noticed a pattern of kids walking by, pointing at kazunari like he was a legend

“is that the guy who won basically every prize back at the games? wow~” they whispered, not realizing kazunari was extremely observant as his ears perked up at his name. he had turned to wave at the children, but they ran off

“you know...” kazunari started, and you already knew what he was gonna say as you rolled your eyes fondly, knowing how big his heart was, especially for innocent children who kept getting scammed by games

“yes, we have no need for most of the giant stuffed animals.” you pretended to sigh, as he quickly got up, giving you a quick kiss as thanks on your cheek as he ran back to the car

for the next hour or so, you and kazunari managed to give out most of your prizes (except anything triangular) to the children who had been staring, all of their parents or guardians thanking you guys profusely for your gift (though, there were some who were staring at kazunari suspiciously)

(as if they should be afraid of a liberal arts college student)

“it’s no big deal~ no problem!” kazunari always said, truly finding it not bothersome at all to share. you always admired that about kazunari, his natural instinct to care for everybody and make people smile. at a distance

you leaned against a light pole with a small smile as you watched kazunari crouch down, ruffling some kid’s hair as he gave them a prize

when he instinctually looked for you, he smiled back like you were the only person at the park

suddenly, you wished you said “i love you, too” before back at the swings

after indulging, you two shared an ice cream cone on the hot summer’s day as the lights began to turn on and the sun set. this was apparently the best part of the fair, where all the colors would pop like fireworks and the night breeze was your friend

you two had basically done everything at this point, even being the amusement park’s robin hoods with your wins. the arcade had both your names at the top of every digital leaderboard, the ride controllers had seen you too many times to count, and you two had digested an unhealthy amount of snacks that you’d regret the next day

what else could you do? it was already the most perfect date, there was nothing else except...

this time, you leaned your head back and saw a circular shape blocking the sunset: the ferris wheel

you turned to kazunari, who was already admiring the way the light hit your face. he wanted to paint you right then and there before you ruined the serene moment by biting your ice cream (why?!)

“i bet i can make it to the ferris wheel the fastest, wanna bet?” you questioned and you never saw kazunari grin even bigger as his eyes lit up with recognition

“bet!”

you two raced to the ferris wheel, much to the chagrin of every carnival–goer ever who dodged your fast advances. you got to the line first, skidding to a stop and nearly bumping into the person ahead of you as kazunari whacked into your back with an “oof!”

“awww, what do i have to do now that i totally lost?” kazunari pouted, but you just giggled and poked his cheek, not noticing how he became slightly flustered from your touch (you could never tell, it was a hot day)

“go on it with me.” you offered and he didn’t even think twice before he agreed, realizing this was the ride he’s been waiting to go on with you this entire time

(kazunari remembered the only other thing he really researched was this ferris wheel, where a rumor around it stated two people who went on it would be together forever)

when you two were allowed into one of the trolleys, you two sat close like always with your head on his shoulder. the orange light made everything feel like a fantasy, like this was a daydream. you didn’t want to wake up as kazunari squeezed your hand the moment the wheel started increasing

slowly but surely, you two were going around in circles as you savored the moment, wanting nothing more than to be here with kazunari forever

“you know... i never thought i’d be here.” kazunari started and you hummed, encouraging him to keep going as his thumb traced circles around your palm

“i didn’t have many friends growing up, so it would’ve been totes not cool to come to these things alone!” kazunari tried to play it off as some joke, but you knew better, just lowering your hand to his lap and waiting for him to talk

“but... now... i have friends? good—no, great friends! and... i have you. i’m living, and i have you.” kazunari trailed off, like this was a revelation he hadn’t realized before. the quietness between you two dragged on too long, you wondered what he was thinking

you opened your eyes and kazunari was already looking at you again with a soft smile, not bothering to notice anything else but you, like he wanted to remember this forever

you two reached the top of the ferris wheel, the wheel stopping to give you two a moment by yourself with the sunset

“i love you.” kazunari said again, and you didn’t hold back this time

“i love you, too.” you whispered, afraid to break the moment. but kazunari laughed, and you were laughing, and it was like the funniest joke ever as you two tried to maintain your composure

even as you two got off, you couldn’t let go of him as he did the same. these were the memories child–kazunari always dreamt of, and they were so much better than he ever imagined

after saying goodbye to all his new friends, kazunari couldn’t stop smiling as he drove home, with you sleeping beside him in the passenger seat

he turned off his music this time and carefully watched the road. taking one hand off the wheel, kazunari took your own and kissed your knuckles again and again with love

“i love you, i love you, i love you.” kazunari said, like he couldn’t say anything else but that

(kazunari posted a shot where he held your hand in front of the sunset on the ferris wheel with the caption: “best date ever”)

kazunari really had luck on his side if he was in love with you, maybe he had the ferris wheel to thank for that!

[big-ass-magnet]

When History Comes Calling, Ch 5/14

art by @snuffes

Fandom: Mass Effect Rating: Teen Pairing: none, some background Fshep/Garrus

Summary: In 2170, Mindoir was attacked by slavers. Hundreds were taken  captive, hundreds more were slaughtered. Kiryn was the only Shepard to  make it out alive. For years, he buried his grief, kept his head high,  and did whatever he needed to survive.He survived Mindoir and the batarians and when the Reapers came he survived them too.

But  when the war ends and he escapes his batarian masters to the Citadel,  the discovery that his twin sister is alive and well might just be the  thing that breaks him. The Hegemony's greatest assassin will remember  what it means to have something to lose.

AO3 link in notes!

Silversun Strip was…certainly something. Kiryn had been through his fair share of space stations, and this riot of shining glass and neon lights made them all look like space-bound towns. Actually, now that he thought about it, the Strip outpaced quite a few cities he’d seen, too.

This was another one of the few barely-scathed areas, although less because it had been well protected and more likely because it contained nothing the Reapers would have considered vital to survival. Clearly the genocidal synthetics from beyond dark space had never heard how important enrichment was for an organic’s mental wellbeing. Even here, though, there were signs of a struggle -- unpatched bullet holes in the walls and ripped up floor panels roped off as tripping hazards.

Nowhere to get away from it, Kiryn thought, even on your days off.

Kiryn moved with the flow of the crowd, letting them carry him down the streets as he planned his entrance. The easiest way to get inside an apartment building was through the service entrance. Half the time someone had propped the door open and you could stroll right in.

When he reached the right alleyway, he extricated himself from the crush of people, turned the corner, and scrapped the plan because there were two undercover officers hovering outside the building. They were doing their best to stay hidden, and their Citadel janitorial staff outfits looked legitimate. But they watched the doors a little too closely, kept their hands a little too close to their jackets, stood a little too warily.

So he ducked into the nearest building, which did have the service entrance propped open. He strolled down the corridor, through the lobby, and back out into the street. No sign of anyone watching the front entrance, which was interesting. Likely they were putting their trust in the building’s electronic security system. No trouble there; Kiryn knew his way around those, too.

This would be a little trickier, though. There was no way to avoid being seen, so he had to rely on not being remembered. Kiryn stuck his hands in his pockets and relaxed his shoulders, arranged his expression into one of mild interest. Nice and casual, everyone is supposed to be where they are. He strolled past the furniture store, pretended to be briefly intrigued by the sale on bed frames (five hundred credits off full size or bigger!), and finally approached Tiberius Towers’ front entrance.

He hit the call button for 15B. No response. Good. His assumption had been a safe bet: anyone who would have been in the apartment would be with Shepard. With Keris. With his sister.

Find the moment.

Stay focused.

He hit the button again.

Kiryn heaved a sigh, put on an expression of exasperation, and leaned on the button. If there had been anyone in the apartment, they would have answered by now just to make the noise stop. He pretended not to notice the turian woman approaching until she was right next to him.

“Um, excuse me.”

Kiryn glanced up and hurriedly stepped aside.

“Sorry,” he said, with an embarrassed smile. “My friend isn’t picking up.”

“That’s okay, I can let you in.”

He filed away the code she keyed in as he said “appreciate it.”

She gave him a little half-wave as she entered the elevator; he returned it as he opened the door to the stairs. Instead of climbing, however, he ducked into the shadows beneath them and took a look at the security system.

It wasn’t bad, not by a long shot, but he’d gotten around harder systems for less important people. It took less than thirty seconds to slip under the security firewalls and upload a virus that would loop the video as he went by. Anyone watching would see empty stairs.

All fifteen flights of them.

Maybe he should have taken the elevator.

Fifteen flights gave him a long time to think. He should upgrade his omni-tool. Top-of-the-line in the Hegemony tended to be middling quality anywhere else, even if you went through the black market. He should find a more comprehensive map of the Citadel, and find which areas were the dangerous ones. Experience told him that the law was likely concentrated at the Presidium, and got more diluted the further away you went.

Equally important was finding an easy way in and out of the refugee camp. Sarah had been right about the Citadel’s priorities. The guards at the doors were very concerned with who came and went. Security reasons, they claimed, when anyone could tell it was because they didn’t want the grubby little refugees actually on the Citadel, just in case they bothered the locals or, god forbid, started to think they could make a home here.

Dad would have had a conniption, he thought, and nearly missed a step in his surprise.

Perhaps he should be less surprised. Keris was alive. Of course that would drag those thoughts to the surface.

Thomas Shepard had very strong opinions about duty and responsibility, especially in regards to officers of the law. Kiryn had heard quite a few rants about what should happen to public servants who did not serve the public. Dad didn’t much approve of soldiers, either. Armies were built on the promise of protecting the people, and politicians turned them into tools for their own ends.

What would he think of his daughter joining the Navy?

Soldiers hunt soldiers, but Shepards hunt--

Kiryn stopped, midstep. He couldn’t remember. It had practically been the family motto, and he couldn’t remember. He could remember sitting at the table during dinner, his father gesturing with his fork, a four-way eyeroll between the Shepard children…

Shepards hunt...

This was pointless. What did it matter? He had more important things to do than try and remember things like that.

Besides, he was on the fifteenth floor. He checked again that the video was still looping correctly. That was a lesson you only had to learn once. As soon as he was sure it was safe, he pushed open the door and stepped confidently into the hallway. Not that it mattered -- but if anyone opened their door unexpectedly, he didn’t want to appear suspicious.

The door to apartment 15B opened as soon as he touched it.

Genetic sequence recognized.

It was a paranoid individual who used gene coded locks on their front door. He supposed Commander Shepard would have a lot of enemies.

Kiryn stepped inside and stopped dead, eyes wide. Oh, this was very, very far from the prefab housing on Mindoir. Filomet’s estate had been quite high status, thanks to the work Kiryn did for him, but it seemed downright spartan in comparison to this.

Filomet certainly didn’t have an indoor waterfall, that was for sure.

Or a hot tub.

For a few minutes he didn’t do much searching, just wandered around taking it all in. When he did start, it was a little disappointing. The apartment had a strange, semi-empty feeling that had nothing to do with it being new. Like a hotel, he thought. The art was tasteful and impersonal. All the furniture matched.

It was a place to stay, not a place to live.

The apartment was definitely inhabited, though, and by more than one person. There was food in the fridge and the cabinets, chirality carefully delineated by colored tape and, on occasion, sharpie. DEXTRO COFFEE, DO NOT DRINK, KAIDAN THIS MEANS YOU promised a very interesting story. The beds were made, but rumpled; there were a variety of products in the (three!) bathrooms.

The master bedroom felt no more lived in. There was a credit chit and a datapad on the bedside table, but no pictures, no clutter. At last Kiryn hit paydirt in the walk-in closet: a weapons table and an armor locker.

From the scattered mods and spare parts he could see she carried multiple firearms, but favored assault rifles and shotguns -- she liked it up close and personal. There were a few melted pieces that suggested she had a tendency to push her thermal clips a little too far. Kiryn felt a warm sensation in his chest. Fondness. In this way, at least, Keris had not changed.

Kiryn opened the locker. Her armor was black, but a deep black that would stand out anywhere but a sealed bunker underground. The crisp white and red stripes seemed to glow in contrast. Kiryn picked up the chest plate and nearly dropped it again. It was hard to imagine Keris could walk in this, let alone fight!

He tilted the chest plate this way and that, watching the lustrous finish shine in the light. Keris was the target. She sacrificed speed and mobility for armor that could brush off anything short of cannon fire, drawing the attention and the danger to herself, hitting the enemy head on like a battering ram.

Yes, that sounded very like Keris.

Kiryn nearly smiled as he put the armor back in place.

There were spare clothes in the drawers, but only two items hanging in the closet: a dress uniform, and an actual dress. Beneath them, shiny parade shoes and a pair of sensible black heels a full two inches higher than he’d ever seen Keris wear in his life.

The dress was the only really nice piece of clothing Keris owned, although Kiryn personally thought she could have found a nicer one. (The neckline alone was fifty years out of date, and he wasn’t even going to touch on those red highlighting lines.) There were a scant few articles of non-regulation clothing; by the looks of things she wore her crewman’s uniform even on her days off. That was...worrying. He didn’t remember her being much of a peacock, but she wouldn’t wear the same outfit twice in two weeks, let alone every single day. Kiryn never cared--

No. No, it was the other way around, wasn’t it?

Kiryn was the one who had cared. He’d spend an hour in the bathroom just doing his hair. He was the one who made sure his shoes matched his outfit; who complained about pale skin making it impossible to wear yellow without looking jaundiced. Keris would just throw on whatever her hand touched first, and dutifully go back and change when he told her for the fifth time, Ker, you can’t wear two kinds of stripes at once!

But she’d always liked it when they matched.

Kiryn looked down and brushed a hand over his shirt - dark gray, long sleeves, close fitting. It wasn’t all that different from what he wore on a job, minus some padding. He didn’t have much room to judge, did he? You could argue that slaves didn’t exactly have access to the latest fashions or the funds to buy them with. But he hadn’t been a slave for almost a year, and he hadn’t changed anything about his appearance.

He even still shaved his head.

Kiryn closed the drawers and walked away, not liking the tightness in his chest those thoughts brought on.

The first bug went in the office by the computer, before he tried to crack Keris’ password. It wasn’t any of the ones he remembered, so he had to let his omnitool take over. While he did so, he poked around in the boxes scattered around the room. Keris -- or someone else -- was halfway through taking down or putting up a collection of books and medals. He looked at the medals, but they didn’t match the accolades Keris was supposed to have earned. One of the books looked heavily used; he flipped it open. To David, so you can have another kind of adventure. Love, Kaylie.

David. Who was David? The tabloids made enough of a fuss over Keris’ imaginary paramours, surely they would have mentioned it if she was actually seeing someone.

For that matter, who was Kaylie?

His omnitool flashed, notifying him that the hack was complete. He checked to see the password -- I<3Garrus. Hopefully the contents of her computer would be able to solve that little mystery.

Kiryn set his program to download anything not labelled confidential, urgent, or as being sent from the Alliance. He had no interest in top secret projects and black ops missions. The program cheerfully informed him that it wouldn’t take long, as his requests filtered out almost the entire backlog.

Most people would advise against poking around in your sister’s extranet browsing history, but Kiryn was willing to risk it. No luck there either. The last time she’d used the computer was almost a month ago, mostly to read news articles and browse furniture catalogues.

Kiryn wasn’t sure if it was more frustrating or concerning. His sister didn’t seem to do much outside of… being Commander Shepard. Even saviors of the galaxy had to have free time. Didn’t she ever take shore leave?

What do you like to do?

It didn’t seem right. It was… logical that he would end up this way. But Keris was free. She had been able to choose. Why would she choose to be like...like him? If he had been free, would he still have ended up like this? No life, no purpose, no existence outside of his work?

With a whole galaxy on her shoulders, maybe she’d felt there wasn’t time for anything else. Maybe now that it was all over, things would be different for her.

Maybe they should be different for him, too.

The rest of the apartment was unhelpfully empty. He left his last bug in the kitchen, and made a mental note to get more. Alcohol loosened tongues; it would be good to have an ear at the bar. Feeling a little disappointed, Kiryn could only hope that the emails would be more enlightening.

He forwent the shuttle to the refugee camp in favor of walking. He had some things to pick up, after all. And it was harder to be introspective when he walked. Too much to focus on in the real world.

A new omni-tool, as he’d promised himself, although it would take a few hours of voiding the warranty to get it to do the things he needed it to do. Some mods for his sniper rifle -- the Hegemony was wrong about a lot of things, and the superiority of Batarian State Arms was now very high on his list. He’d have to find someplace out of sight where he could work on his gun, though.

Kiryn was pondering whether renting a hotel room for a few hours for the privacy to work on his very illegal rifle was as ridiculous as it sounded, when he saw something that made him stop.

The store was called Terran. It sold clothes. Nice clothes that looked to be good quality, from this distance. Suits and dresses and casual wear. And leather jackets.

He’d been saving up for one before…before. Had it all picked out, knew exactly what he wanted. It cost a lot of money to ship out to little colonies in the middle of nowhere. He’d barely been halfway to his goal when…

Why shouldn’t he buy one now? He had the money. He could wear whatever he wanted to, now.

Kiryn began to walk towards the store, but a few feet away, he froze.

He didn’t need another jacket. It had no tactical advantage over what he already had. And how could he explain it when he got back to the camp? Refugees didn’t wear things like that any more than slaves did.

Kiryn stared at his reflection in the storefront window. The pale, drawn face so carefully free of emotion. Placid eyes like green glass, hooded and empty. There was no way to tell by looking at him that he was one of the most feared assassins in batarian space. The blood on his hands was invisible to everyone but himself. Everything about him faded into the background, and that was by design and necessity.

He turned on his heel and headed for the shuttle. The sooner he got back to the camp, the sooner he could check Keris’ emails.

[zodiyack]

Live Theif

Requested by @bitweird1: Hey! Would you be willing to take a request for Dylan Gardner?❤ He's been in some of Shane Dawson's videos❤ I completely understand if not!❤

Pairing: Dylan Gardner x reader

Warnings: Swearing, some spoilers to this video if you have yet to see it, fluff, me not proofreading and probably overusing words

Note: I couldn’t find a gif of Dylan so I made one on my own using the fastest gif thingy I could ack, so please credit me if you use the gif of him This was supposed to be out the day I finished the Midari request I’m so sorry 1) I couldn’t think of a tittle and 2) The ending was unnecessary and random, but I enjoyed writing it so hush

Taglist:

masterlist

Shane started his video with Dylan, or at least the section that Dylan first showed up in. Y/n waited in the background, joining in once Portillo was introduced. 

“His name is Portillo. I named him after a hot dog restaurant, and he is our son.” Dylan picked up the small but cute doggo. Y/n sneaked over, smiling at her boys and rubbing Portillo’s head.

“Aaaaaaaand, he’s blind.” Shane added.

“And he’s blind.”

Shane reached over and held his hand in front of the small dog, “He literally probably thinks I’m just one big burrito.”

The group chuckled and allowed Shane to explore their bedroom, which Dylan showed him the way too. Y/n pet Portillo one last time before following her boyfriend and their guests. Shane introduced his camera to the room as it’s second name, the recording studio, with his voice showing his awe.

He turned the camera to the pool, revealing the pink flamingo floaty. “That’s so fucking me-”

“I feel like we’re in a Ke$ha music video.” Ryland pointed out. The four laughed and Shane did his infamous wheeze, causing them to laugh a tad bit more.

Y/n walked over to Dylan as Shane continued with his video. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cuddled into him and he put his arms around her waist in response. She mumbled softly into his neck, “Are you gonna need any help?”

He shrugged and kissed her forehead. “Possibly. Do you wanna stay or do you wanna do something else?”

Shane and Ryland were still gushing about the music, giving the other couple a small amount of time to chat. Y/n turned her head as little as possible, viewing the queens youtube couple talk before turning back to Dylan. “I think I can stay for a while.”

Dylan nodded and rubbed her back. The conversation coming from their right stopped, the room filling with silence. Shane was the first to speak up, switching from his gush with the room and music to his awe over the young lovers. “Shit, you guys are so cute! Ryland doesn’t hug me like that.”

Ryland scoffed with a smile, “I do too! You just don’t stop moving enough for me to hug you that long.”

An awkward silence broke just as quick as it was built. Y/n broke into laughter and separated from Dylan, walking over and hugging Ryland while they both laughed. Shane raised his eyebrows and burst into laughter himself. They all took a second to cool down before saying anything else.

Dylan walked over to his computer and sat down. He rested his chin on the backside of his hand which was being supported by his elbow on his desk. Y/n excused herself to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water for the group. Drinking water before singing was sometimes a large help for her and Dylan, so she made sure to grab four glasses.

When she returned, Dylan was sitting on the chair with his guitar and was responding to something Shane said, “I feel like ‘Ass Picking’ needs finger picking,” he snickered.

Y/n raised an eyebrow at the awkward timing. Shane chuckled to Dylan’s reply, “Me!” The guys turned their head s a bit, catching sight of Y/n and laughing even harder at her confused expression.

They calmed a bit, allowing Dylan to find a tune that could work. “Let’s see, uh-” He played a few cords but stopped when a question popped into his head. “What are your guys’ ranges? I mean we can wor-”

Shane turned the camera to Ryland when he laughed and moved his arms around. Ryland, making a joke but still being serious, admitted quickly, “Nothing! Zero!”

“What vibe are we feeling? Are we feeling bop, hiphop?”

The camera turned around to Shane, "I mean I’m always feeling bop, but that’s just how I was born.” He turned the camera to Ryland, indicating that it was his turn to speak.

“I mean, I can’t do anything, so whatever’s easiest,” he confessed, chuckling nervously.

Shane turned the camera very very close to his face and made an purposely awkward smile. He put his hand on the side of his head, “That’s why I’m with you.” He got up and moved to the front of the bed, saying hello to Y/n and continuing with his video, “Okay so, I think we need to test our ranges?”

Dylan smiled and held his guitar, “Ah let’s do it.”

The reply made Shane laugh slightly, “So we have your microphone set up,” he turned the camera to the microphone against the wall, extending his arm to gesture to it. He moved his arm back and put his hand on his chin. “We’re one by one gonna get in front of it-” He nervously wheezed at himself, Dylan and Y/n following thanks to Shane’s unintentional humor. “There’s a lot of glass I’m gonna break.”

“Wait!” The boys turned to Y/n as she hopped of the bed and grabbed the studio headphones. She stood by Dylan and waited, “Okay you can go to the mic now, let me untangle these real quick.”

Shane nodded and put his face in front of the microphone, “Hellur-” He pulled away from it and gasped, “Ooo!”

Everyone laughed at his surprise, even himself. They took a few seconds to regain themselves before they would continue with the video. Y/n handed Dylan the headphones and rested her chin on his shoulder, moving out of the way for the guitar. “Want some honorary headphones?” He passed them to Shane when he gasped again and answered yes.

The man put the headphones on. “Oh my god, I’m a pop-star!” Another gasp.

Y/n giggled and checked her phone, deciding she’d let the guys have some time together for the video. Dylan had already moved back to his chair, so she leaned down and kissed him softly. When she pulled away, she informed him that she would be outside for a bit and to text her if she needed anything. The guys said goodbye and resumed what they were previously doing.

The next thing she knew, some time had passed and the four of them were taking a walk. Unknown to Shane’s viewers, the walk wasn’t just for their “creative juices”, but for lunch too. Packed in the studio all day, they were starting to get hungry. Y/n agreed to go with them, excited to finally hang out for a while without feeling like she was interrupting anything.

Shane turned the camera to himself, “Alright guys, we’re taking a walk to get our ‘creative juices flowing’!” He moved his arm back, allowing the camera to catch Y/n and Dylan walking side by side and hand by hand in it’s frame. Dylan smiled at the camera, smiling even wider when Y/n blushed and hid her face in his shoulder as much as she could while walking. “My song is pretty much d-”

Ryland sneezed loudly. It caught Shane off guard and he widened his eyes. "Shit.” Shane turned the camera to Ryland, who just kept walking after he cursed at his sneeze.

Dylan and Y/n started giggling when Shane quickly pointed the camera at himself and aggressively joked, “I should’ve added that in the diss track! You interrupting me with your sneeze! I know.” Sighing, still jokingly, he shook his head and returned to his calmer persona, saying what he was originally going to say. “So my song is pretty much done, yours,” he moved the camera to Ryland and pointed at him, then switching it back to himself, “we haven’t even really started yet, so we have to go back and do that.” The camera, once again, was moved to face Ryland.

“I have some ideas.” He smiled, closed his eyes, and walked a bit faster to get in front of Shane/out of the frame.

Dylan spoke up and Shane moved the camera to view Dylan and Y/n. “We set the bar very high with this last song. It’s- it’s gonna be pretty fun.” Y/n smiled, proud of her boyfriend and their friends. She gripped his hand a bit tighter, to which he smiled back and lifted their hands, kissing her’s lightly.

“Yeah I don’t know how you’re gonna top this...you bottom.” Y/n and Dylan broke into laughter with Shane and Ryland, both their cute moment and the moment of pride for Shane ruined in a good way. Shane decided it was time to stop recording and get lunch like they originally planned.

They stopped by a taco bell. Oops how’d that get there? Shane offered to pay, asking everyone what they wanted and then going to order. Y/n and Dylan found a booth and sat next to each other. Y/n got out her phone and an idea found it’s way into her head. It wasn’t often that she went live on instagram, but this just seemed like the perfect moment.

She took a photo of Dylan being distracted, then of her kissing Dylan’s hand, and finally, one of Ryland scrolling through his phone. She posted all three with the caption, “Going live!” After it had been successfully posted, she did as she promised and went live.

“Hello everybody! We’re in taco bell, of course, and we’re taking a break from a video that we’re recording. Well Shane’s recording, but still.” She moved the phone so it leaned against the wall, allowing the viewers to see all three of them. Y/n, out of habit, set her hand on the table and leaned in to Dylan when he slipped his hand into hers. The chat went wild and Ryland pointed it out.

“Wow, people really like you guys, don’t they.” The couple giggled and Y/n leaned over to see the chat. She nodded and flushed red. Comments poured in ever so quickly. It was hard to read them due to how many there were at a time.

Some said, “Wow you guys are so cute!” Others, “I SHIP I SHIP I SHIP” and so many more. It spread a warm feeling to Y/n’s heart as well as a blush on her and Dylan’s faces.

The comments started to switch from them, to “SHANE DAWSON!!”, etcetera. All three of them moved their heads and laughed their asses off at Shane’s confused yet proud moment.

“Did I like- interrupt something?”

Y/n giggled and shook her head, taking her food and thanking Shane. “No, I just went live and ya know...did what I would normally do with Dylan...”

“You just normally blush so hard you look like a tomato?”

The four cracked up again, Dylan nodded at Ryland’s observation. “Yep, every time.” Y/n opened her mouth and scoffed, feigning offence. “But a cute tomato.” Dylan smiled. It made her smile too, but that smile was replaced with the same fake offence when he reached over and bit into her food.

“Shane! Make him stop!”

“Oh honey, he’s not the right person to make Dylan stop.” Ryland continued eating his food, acting as if he didn’t say anything.

“What do you mean?”

Ryland looked up from his food. “I leave food in the fridge so I can eat it later, and someone, cough cough Shane, eats it.” He paused, eating another bite, “Just take his food. An eye for an eye.”

Y/n smiled mischievously and looked over to Dylan’s food. A different idea seemed more exciting. “Nah, it’s okay.”

“You sure babe?” Dylan looked over to her.

“Yeah, it’s totally fine.” She cuddled back into him and held his hand, bringing it up as if she were about to kiss it, then licking from his wrist to his hand. Shane, Ryland and her laughed as Dylan groaned and wiped the saliva onto his shirt.

“I guess next time, don’t steal her food.”

“What Ryland said.”

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday,multi-fandom-girl2

November 24-Darcy/Remy/Brock with a side of redemption and a hint of soulmates for @multi-fandom-girl2

Written by @ozhawkauthor

A divergence from my usual First Words soulmates ‘verse, this is a First Touch ‘verse. Skin contact is required.

“So Agent Rumlow will be completing the security assessment and taking over management of all security aspects for the lab,” Fury concluded.Jane shrugged, not caring one way or the other. Darcy scowled. 

“Is he going to be as dumb as the last one? Because trying to tell Jane that the lab can only be open at certain hours is a short trip to me getting on the phone and chewing your ear out again.”

“Trust me, Miss Lewis,” Fury said, bone-dry, “Agent Rumlow knows his business. Part of his job description is keeping you out of my ear.”

Darcy grinned at Fury’s tone. “Fair enough. I’ll give him a shot. Is he at least better looking than the last dude? I could do with some eye candy around here.”

Fury was, for once, shocked into silence. Darcy laughed and ended the skype call before swiveling on her lab chair. Jane had already returned to muttering over some equations, and Darcy, hearing a vehicle outside, got up and headed to the door to look. A black SUV had just pulled up in the parking lot, pretty much screaming government issued vehicle.

“Looks like a dead bore already,” Darcy muttered, and then had to lean against the door to hold herself up when the man driving the car got out. Medium height, there was absolutely nothing else average about him, from the spectacularly carved cheekbones to the incredible physique doing very nice things inside a tight black T-shirt. “Well, hubba hubba!”

Muscled, Dark and Lickable swung a hefty-looking kit bag onto his shoulder and headed for the door, and Darcy suddenly realized she was standing right there staring at him. She didn’t have time to hurry away and pretend to be doing something else, so she decided to just brazen it out; she wasn’t going to pretend she hadn’t seen him coming.

“Afternoon, ma’am,” he said as the door swung closed behind him and he saw her standing there. “Agent Brock Rumlow.” Instead of offering a hand to shake, he held out a leather ID folder; Darcy had been reaching for the handshake and quickly adjusted into taking the folder from his hand instead, flipping it open to check the picture inside.

“Thank you,” she handed him back. “Darcy Lewis. I’m Dr. Foster’s assistant…”

“Lab manager, is the job description in your file.” Rumlow arched a black brow.

“Call it whatever you want, up to and including babysitter. I’m the one who makes sure Jane has whatever she needs to get her research done, including food and sleep. You’re here to keep her safe.”

“And you.” He plucked his ID folder from her fingers, stuffed it back in a pocket. “Operationally, you’re almost as good a target as Dr. Foster, because you’re of value to her.”

“Wow, that’s cold,” Darcy said when she got her breath back.

Rumlow smiled, but there was no warmth behind it. “I’m not here for warm and fuzzies, Ms. Lewis. I’m here to keep Dr. Foster and her work safe. Part of my job is thinking like the bad guys. What would I do if I wanted to disrupt the situation? What’s the easiest way in? Who’s the softest target?” He shrugged. “No offence, but Dr. Foster rarely leaves the lab. You’re the one who goes wandering off to coffee shops whenever the urge strikes.”

He was right, and worse, he’d obviously been surveilling her for at least a couple days before turning up to start work. Darcy wanted to smack the smirk off his face. Instead, she bit on the inside of her cheek, lifted her chin, and said “Then tell me what I need to do. I’m not about to jeopardize everything Jane’s worked for by being careless.”

His eyes warmed, just slightly, and he held out his hand to shake. “Good. I’m glad you’re willing to listen.”

She didn’t like what he was saying at all, but he was right, damn him, so she took his hand with a nod. And gasped, because the powerful zing of electricity shooting up her arm was way, way too powerful to be just static.

“Holy shit,” she gasped.

Rumlow’s hand tightened around hers. He blew out his cheeks, shook his head, and finally laughed ruefully. “Well. This changes everything, huh?”

My soulmate. This infuriatingly cocky, overly handsome man is my soulmate? Darcy found a smile in response, just as stunned as he seemed to be. “Yes,” she agreed, though it wasn’t until more than a year later she’d discover just how much that simple touch of hands had changed, when Rumlow finally admitted who he used to work for. “Yes… this changes everything.”

* * *

Two Years Later

Remy LeBeau whistled under his breath as he walked quietly up to the lab’s front doors. At three in the morning, the building was dark and silent, and for once, he was absolutely certain neither Dr. Foster nor any of her small team of brilliant boffins were working late, because every last one of them was in Sweden, and would be watching the doctor accept her Nobel Prize for Physics later that day.

And while they were gone, Remy would slip into the lab, copy onto a specially made hard drive all the data from their network-isolated server, and be gone again with nobody the wiser and research worth a cool hundred million dollars in his pocket.

The electronic door yielded easily to the swipe card he’d lifted from one of the science boffins’ apartments an hour earlier. He’d even put the card back exactly where he’d found it when he was done. This whole heist depended on nobody knowing he’d ever been there.

And it all came spectacularly undone when he padded silently into the server room and found a couple having extremely enthusiastic sex on a desk.

The woman, an attractive brunette, saw him first over the man’s shoulder. Blue eyes widened and she shrieked. “Brock!”

Remy had to give the man credit; he was both fast and completely unconcerned about his nudity. He spun away from the desk - and the woman on it, who was distractingly beautiful enough to slow Remy down at least a little while he got an eyeful - and whipped a keyboard at Remy’s head. Remy snapped an arm up to block and very nearly missed the foot coming for his groin at the same moment.

For a few minutes, Remy had his hands full, respect quickly dawning for the guy who was doing his level best against a superhuman, naked and unarmed to boot. It was never going to be an equal fight, though, and Remy was absolutely there to cheat, flicking a playing card into his opponent’s face in a blaze of energy and sweeping his legs out from under him while the guy was distracted.

The mission was shot to shit; the best thing he could do now was knock the guy unconscious, do the same for his lover, and steal the data anyway. Hopefully it would still have value even though the burglary itself was compromised.

The two pins slamming into his chest interrupted his plan to go down and choke the guy out, and he gasped and shuddered as the Taser emptied 50,000 volts into him. The woman was staring at him, eyes narrowed, Taser in one hand and a gun in the other, obviously both grabbed from pockets of the clothes strewn around on the floor.

Shouldn’t have underestimated her, Remy thought, and then he thought again. A Taser didn’t have the same effect on him as on normal folks due to his ability to absorb energy, but a bullet… that would hurt. A lot. At this range, she could hardly miss.

As the shock cut off, Remy shut his eyes and let himself drop limply to the floor.

“Brock, you all right?” the woman asked.

“Yeah.” Brock pulled himself up off the floor, cursing under his breath. “Who the fuck is that guy? The only person who ever got the drop on me like that was Cap himself. Something ain’t right about him, Darcy.”

“Yeah, well, this Taser took down Thor, and it got him too.” Darcy sounded smug, and Remy had to bite on his lip to hide his smile. He liked her, dammit. But he was still gonna snatch that gun out of her hand the second he got the chance. She was coming closer, bending over him… he prepared without letting muscles tense, keeping his breathing slow, focussing on the precise moves he’d need to make…

Soft fingers grazed his neck, and a bolt of energy far greater than the Taser’s 50,000 volts sent a convulsion through him. Eyes snapping wide open, he sat bolt upright, forgetting all about the gun, and stared into his soulmate’s blue eyes.

His soulmate, who he’d just found banging another man…

… not a great start.

“What the hell!” Brock snatched the gun from Darcy’s hand, aimed it at Remy’s head with rock-steady hands.

“That was a soulmate shock,” Darcy whispered, utterly stunned. “Brock. That was a soulmate shock.”

“Sorry,” Remy offered, aware it was inadequate. “You two look like you’re, uh, yeah. Sorry.”

“You don’t get it.” Darcy smiled. “We’re soulmates, Brock and I. You must be the third we didn’t know we were missing.”

“I’m just trying to wrap my mind around the idea of one soulmate,” Remy confessed after a moment of stunned silence.

Brock chuckled a little roughly. “Join the club. I’m still gettin’ used to it, two years in.” He offered a hand, to help Remy up.

Remy hesitated, and then stripped off his leather gloves. No point worrying now about his fingerprints on the place. He spared a wistful regret for the loss of his 20% commission before grasping Brock’s hand and letting the electricity sear him to his soul for the second time.

[akozuheiwa]

Professors Tarron and Johnson

A post-canon not-yet-AU-technically by myself, @lizzylucky, and @brising. See the long post beneath the cut.

After grad school and everything, Seamus goes on to become a professor at the same college he and Krel and everyone went to. Krel drops into class on such a regular basis that the students pretty much regard them as co-professors. At some point, the deans or whatever realise this and sort of offer Krel a position because students seem to like him. Seamus thinks it’s a great idea and that’s how Krel gets coerced into being Professor Tarron.

Krel is the cool professor who doesn’t ever want to be called professor (because Aja made fun of him for it) and tries for a solid three semesters to get his students to exclusively call him DJ Kleb. Seamus is fine being called by first name, but he’ll introduce himself and Krel as “Professors Johnson and Tarron” at the beginning of the semester. Almost always, the two co-teach lecture and then split up lab, except the one not in charge of lab always shows up anyway.

Their students love them, even if tests can occasionally be murder. Class and lab are full of super awesome experiments. Krel shows up some days with something random he invented the night before with the help of either alcohol or caffeine. He’ll take over the class and throw the syllabus to the wind to get his students to help him figure out what, exactly, he invented and how, exactly, he invented it. Some love it. Some hate it because they did the reading which is now out the window. Usually Seamus is very frustrated at first because he “had a plan for today’s lesson, we only have six weeks left in the semester”, but then he just gets super into it too and makes sure it becomes a teaching moment and nothing blows up. Students learn quickly that if you like explosions, you take lab with Krel, and if you’d rather play it safe, you take lab with Seamus.

Sometimes students also bring in things like this, although they usually try not to mention exactly what substance they were on when they created it, except for one student who walks in and shamelessly declares that that weekend she was “super fuckin’ high” and she thinks she mad something awesome but has no idea what it is, and the class spends the entire period reverse-engineering whatever it is only to find out it’s actually just a really, really weird hair-dryer. She gets extra credit just because Krel and Seamus are nostalgic and have, obviously, done the same thing multiple times in school. Unfortunately, this triggers a wave of students trying to replicate it by sleep deprivation or drugs or alcohol, which turns out some really cool class projects, but is banned after one kid passes out in the middle of class. Krel and Seamus either take back all the extra credit or just give everyone equal extra credit.

Students always find out about the Akiridion sci-fi site where all the theories about Krel and Seamus ended up, and they use it both as a forum to keep up with each other and also to speculate about their professors. Graduated seniors and anyone in the know help to make sure there’s no way to prove their favourite professors are (both?) aliens, and Krel and Seamus go through to check as well.

They give all their graduating seniors gifts, whether they were in one of their classes this year or freshman year or never but got stuck with one of them as a major advisor. If the kids were good, trustworthy kids, which most of them are, they get sworn to secrecy and get to find out that, yes, Krel’s actually from space. It’s impossible to convince them Seamus isn’t, but it amuses the two professors enough that they let it go.

They do teach a special senior seminar course that focuses on Akiridion technology, but it’s permission only and you pretty much can only get in if you’re a dedicated student of the Tarron-Johnson duo. Not to mention that the course description is misleading enough that only those students want to take it. The first day of this class is largely introducing the students to the fact that extra-terrestrials are real and that their tech is way better than Earth’s. They usually take a vote to see which of them the students think is the Akiridion, and usually the winning vote is both of them. Krel doesn’t reveal himself until the end of class so they can get through the syllabus and everything, because otherwise the class would never calm down.

The Akiridion Tech class takes two annual fields trips. One is to Akiridion-5, of course, where they get a special tour and the chance to work in what was Krel’s lab when he lived there. Aja begins looking forward to these trips because, ironically, it's one of her easiest days as Akiridion-5 Ruler. The students are always excited to meet her and the citizens are respectful and peaceful on those days. The other trip is to a planet of their choosing, which is disguised as an assignment where the class as a whole is given a bunch of data and has to determine which planets are habitable and pick one to visit. They almost always go, even if it’s not particularly habitable, just because Krel and Seamus can usually rig up safety suits. They also have a day where they study transduction technology. It’s Krel’s least favourite lesson because the students get to experiment with it on the only Akiridion available, AKA him, and so he ends up looking all sorts of crazy. Yes. Pictures get taken.

One year, after the field trip, one kid doesn’t listen and ends up accidentally bringing a skelteg back to Earth, which of course goes nuts in class. Professor Tarron goes around blasting music until they all explode. When the students find out he made the music, they go nuts. Someone finds all of his demos and shares them in the class group chat. There’s a petition for Professor Tarron’s music to be broadcasted in the dining hall. Krel signed the petition, of course. A few students form a DJ/music club and ask him to be the faculty contact for it, and of course he's thrilled and gets super into it. Really, he and Seamus go to as many of their students’ events as possible.

Some of the more internet savvy students compare them to vines on YouTube and through brief discussion decide that these trips are very Magic School Bus esque. Someone makes the mistake of bringing this up in class and introducing Krel to Magic School Bus, which is something Seamus was very specifically avoiding. All of the classes start having a lot more fun field trips after that, much to Seamus’s frustration and secret amusement. The trips very much cater to and play on the Magic School Bus jokes. One student gets them a pet lizard. It becomes the class pet. Krel takes to it immediately. Seamus gives up.

Krel won’t always focus in lecture, and he has a habit of stopping mid-sentence and leaving the room, at which Seamus just sighs and picks up where Krel left off until the Akiridion comes back with some bizarre piece of tech. He’ll wait for Seamus to finish before explaining the jump in his thought process and how it relates to his tech. Seamus has done it once or twice himself, but he usually finishes talking before adding. They’ll also completely baffle the students by stopping mid-lesson to discuss how, “Wait, didn’t we disprove this once?” or “According to Akiridion science, isn’t this wrong?” or “Well, if we did this instead I bet we could prove this wrong.” No one ever understands what they’re talking about in those instances.

Professor Johnson is the only one to have office hours (and grade stuff, usually), but if you can’t make it, you can probably find Krel somewhere on campus and ask questions. He can always answer, even if it’s about a comment Seamus made on an essay Krel didn’t grade. Half the students are convinced they have some sort of telepathy device because they can pick up each other’s thoughts mid-sentence, sometimes even when they weren’t in the room. Sometimes one of them just moves to go sit down and starts researching something on the computer while the other takes up the rest of the lesson, knowing full well that they'd had the same idea at the same time.

They tell new students the first day to “forget everything you’ve learned in any physics class not taught by one of us.” They, in fact, have a class (PHYS 351 with Lab) called “Physics is a Social Construct”. All their classes always start with a syllabus, but by the second week, Krel (and it’s always Krel) is like, “Alright, so due to unexpected circumstances, and by that I mean Seamus and I disproved three of these theories last night, we’re throwing away the syllabus!” There are days when the students are so stuffed up with questions and confusion as to what their Professors are doing that an entire class will be spent just answering their questions. Some of the students already understand some things thanks to Akiridion Science Fiction and just laugh at the younger students' questions, but then find themselves asking questions too. Questions range from “Why did Professor Tarron vanish for a week?” to “What the hell is that thing on the desk?” to “What about the syllabus?” and finally, the most common one, “But that’s not possible!” PHYS 351’s final project is to break one of the laws of physics. The Tarron-Johnson duo’s motto is that everything is possible.

Krel, surprisingly, is really bad at lab safety, in that he doesn’t do it at all. He’ll get sucked in and forget things. Seamus has to remind them all the time, things like, “Krel, please put your hair up, you’re going to catch it on fire again” or “Krel, please wear goggles, we don’t want a repeat of the junior year fiasco.” If Seamus shows up alone and starts class with, “Let’s go over lab safety”, then you know Krel did something stupid. Some days Krel will have to tell Seamus, “Do not tell them why I’m not there”, and Seamus tells them because it’s usually something really stupid, including the time he fell off a ladder.

Sometimes they bring guest speakers to class. Akiridion Tech gets the best guests, scientists from across the galaxy and usually the Queen of Akiridion-5 at least once, but even other classes get cool Earth scientists and occasionally extra-terrestrials in disguise. Apparently, Professor Tarron is good friends with a high-up military general that runs the mysterious Area 49b, so he usually visits too, and sometimes Akiridion Tech even gets a tour of the military base. Students who don’t get a tour beg for one, and Krel, certified disaster even as an adult, tells them that “it’s not that hard to break into there anyways” and that he knows someone who did it at least twice. Professor Johnson is not pleased to hear about this when he discovers students plotting to break in. General Costas is even less happy, and every semester he drags anywhere from two students to the entire class to Krel and Seamus’s house in the middle of the night after they tried to break into Area 49b. Yes, this fuels the debate about whether they’re married. No, no one is sure. Krel secretly gives them extra credit by claiming it tests their capacity to plan and also, it helps test the security of the base. Neither Costas nor Seamus like this answer.

Seamus pretty much stays in the physics and engineering departments, but Krel actually ends up branching out. He stays involved in theatre, of course, and ends up teaching a class about sci-fi theatre in which he only teaches one play from Earth, if that many, and at least two are from Akiridion-5. The others come from random planets with plays Krel likes.

Krel is also in the habit of just… walking into other classes whenever he feels like it to see what’s happening or if it’s interesting. Students not aware of Professors Tarron and Johnson assume he’s maybe an older student or a grad student or something. He almost always goes to classes that talk about space and sci-fi. The special creative writing class about writing sci-fi is something he has to see, and the professor actually thinks he’s a student who isn’t on the list because of add/drop/swap and Krel, while finding it hilarious, has to explain that, no, he’s from the physics department, he specialises in astroengineering and cool stuff like that.

They also get super into things like holidays and spirit week, and will always go all out for any costumes. They’ll set up holiday-themed projects for extra credit. Students are challenged to relate their Halloween costumes to class (so they get a lot of superheroes) and they usually reserve the unit on holograms for February to allow the students to make hologram Valentine’s cards. They try to be as inclusive as possible, and research different holidays and make sure they know what their students celebrate, especially come winter time when so many holidays come up.

TL;DR: Seamus and Krel are the best professors for so many reasons and nobody knows if they’re married or not. That’s up to you and what you ship.

[dialovertoenglish]

myshatebat hat auf deinen Eintrag geantwortet “Translation plagiarism”

The problem with translations is that THEY ARE TRANSLATIONS. You cant really claim credit for anything as it can only translate as what the writers have written. Maybe she looked for help from others blogs maybe not you cant really tell at the end of the day as it all says the same thing. I think people should be more concerned about helping others know what the games says instead of targetting hate toward someone. As someone learning japanese. Its just translations.

Mate. First of, there’s a difference between “Oh, I’m unsure about this, I’ll go check what someone else thinks this means” and “Literally copying everything word for word”.

I like writing, too. Guess what? Both writing and translating takes work. Depending on how long the chapter is and how difficult, we’re talking several hours here. For free, mind you. I can’t claim credit for several hours of work I did? Are you sure about this?

Translating isn’t maths. If I copy my friend’s math homework, as long as it’s correct, nobody will notice. But translations always also run on a lot of interpretation, choice of words, etc. There’s a reason why, for example, the German Lord of the Rings fanbase has a LOT of discussion over which translation would be better.

One of the easiest differences to spot between translations from Japanese to English are all the suffixes; what do you do with them? Leave them? Drop them? “Translate” them, e.g. -sama becomes “Mr”? Or another, in Japanese you don’t usually say “you” and instead use either the name or the title. Do you leave the name in, e.g. “What do you think, Reiji?”? Or do you drop it? Two translations of a long text being 100% the same is nearly impossible. There are too many synonyms, too many options of structuring the sentences, too many places where you HAVE to interpret. Try asking two different people to write a short text describing a photo; you definitely won’t get the same text twice despite both describing the same thing.

Trust me, translating is not easier than writing. The respective challenges are different, but neither is easier than the other. I worked for this. I worked for this. Imagine you’re at your job, whatever it is, working on something your boss told you to do every day. And then, one day, you come in to see your boss praise your coworker for stuff you did. Are you sure you’ll go “Oh well, doesn’t matter, as long as my company benefits from it!”? Or will you be at least annoyed that someone else took all the credit for the stuff you did?

I’m not trying to target hate towards anyone. Maybe I should’ve said that in the last post; if y’all see someone using my translations, either tell me or ask them politely to give credit.

“People should be more concerned about helping others understand the game”. True. But why would it help having the exact same translation twice? Two different translations of one thing, sure, it’d be useful to see different interpretations. Maybe even reposting them WITH credits, especially if it’s on a different site in case Tumblr is blocked for some people, etc. But if someone copies an existing translation without credit, then it’s not to “help others understand the game”. That’s to reap the rewards of something someone else did.

And yeah, maybe I’m too prideful or whatever. Maybe it’d be better if I was more altruistic and didn’t care. But the way things are, I don’t see why I shouldn’t feel anything if someone steals the credit for MY work, if they pretend THEY spent hours of their time for this.

The only reason I am doing this is because I want others to understand these games. I’m not getting anything else out of it. I could just play the games by myself, that’d be far easier since I a) only need to understand the general things said instead of having to understand each and every word, and b) once I understand, I wouldn’t need to figure out how to put that meaning in a logical English sentence (Which, fyi, is only my second language). I’m not getting paid for it. This blog isn’t directly linked to anything else about me, so I’m not getting fame, either. The only thing I get is the knowledge that people enjoy my translations, and maybe a few “thank you”s.

If people read MY translations somewhere else? Then I don’t even get that. I won’t know that people are happy about it, cause they’d be telling someone else, liking someone else’s posts, following someone else. Why, then, would I make them? If I get no money, no fame, no thanks, AND no knowledge that people are happy about it, there’s no reason left to make them and post them.

I’m sorry this ended up being so long. Didn’t expect it to be, but oh well. TL;DR version: The only “payment” I’m asking for to compensate literal hours of work for translation is the knowledge that people are happy I made this, and I’m more than a little peeved if people are thanking (and in rarer cases, even paying) other people for work I did.

[almostrealdudes]

Sunset Drive-In

a/n: hi, here goes the first part of the two-part story about Colin I promised earlier! I know how people feel about original characters, but I ask you to look past it and read the story because I hope it’s totally worth it xoxo Pairing: Colin Ritman x female!OC (Lucy Mayfield) Word count: 1.7k Warnings: none Summary: The second Colin and Lucy meet - they click together. Eventually, Colin makes a decision to set Lucy free and show her the true nature of time.

(gif credit @movie-gifs)

There are people who stand out from the crowd. They glow in a special way, signifying their presence beforehand. You can always tell you’re seeing one. It is almost like being thrown into a movie scene for a moment. The frame gets narrower, the colors of the surroundings change, as if a filter has been put right in front of your eyes. They are kernels of the timeline. Those people have a soundtrack to them. A song that accompanies them everywhere they go. When you see them, you know you are about to be involved in something significant. Or at least witness it happen.

“Colin, how’s that update going, mate?” Mohan was his usual overactive self as he walked past Colin’s desk, glancing quickly at his screen to check the progress.

“Will be ready by the end of the week,” Colin uttered abruptly, not looking away from his computer, typing rapidly.

“I need it sooner,” Mohan patted the programmer on the shoulder, maybe too hard for the latter’s likeness, and proceeded to his office.

“And I need realistic deadlines,” Colin muttered under his breath, finishing another line of code and reaching into his pocket for a roll-up.

Thakur was not quick enough to reach his office before one of his assistants ran up to him from across the room.

“Mr. Thakur, your two o’clock visit is here.”

“Oh, brilliant!” The man exclaimed, stopping right in front of his door and clapping his hands. Colin’s hands froze as he threw a brief look at his boss. Mohan, noticing the attention, pointed his thumbs up.

Intrigued, Colin raised his brows and turned in his chair to face the entrance to the parlor.

And there it was. Music. Everything slowed down. The sounds of the office went mute. Colin swore he could hear something playing. Maybe it was the headphones. Maybe it was the nature of the divine. Funnel of Love. So laid-back, yet so daring. There she was, one of those people. Standing out. Walking out, to be exact.

“Hey! You are—Daisy, right?” Blue hair. A pink t-shirt that says “Cherry Bomb” on it, in a red, bold, curvy font. Puppylike.

“Lucy,” her voice is soft. Her sky-clear eyes examine the surroundings with curiosity. She reaches into the pocket of her high-waisted jeans to turn her player off. “Lucy Mayfield.”

“Yeah, right, sorry about that,” Mohan retreated, raising his hands apologetically.

Colin had to continue working on the update. But he couldn’t bring himself to it. Her freckle-spangled face was raised up, looking at Mohan as he was talking. She was very short. She turned her cassette player off, but the song was still playing. Was it in Colin’s head? Or was it the vibe Lucy—right, that’s her name—had about her?

“Hey, Colin, c’mon. Lucy has something to show us.”

“Colin as in Colin Ritman?” Lucy asked, astonished. Colin huffed in satisfaction. It was nice sometimes to have a reputation, to make an impression. Keeping his cool, he waved with his hand before getting up from his chair. He wasn’t looking away the entire time, keeping his gaze on her, as she looked back at him in awe.

“Come, my office.”

The “Sunset Drive-In” was a driving game. It was stylishly colored. The entire theme was in different shades of orange and purple. A small-sized car was in the middle of the highway, controlled by a joystick to move in different directions to dodge the rocks and sticks on the road. Soft beat music was playing in the background.

Colin was moving the lever, scrutinizing every single pixel on the screen. It was a beautiful work.

“This is rich,” Mohan said, grinning excitedly.

“The transitions are so smooth,” Colin mumbled, a roll-up in between his lips,” I bet this took some doing.”

“Yeah,” Lucy was sitting at the table, fiddling with her fingers. “I spent so much time on this. Perhaps, way more than I had to. But I really wanted it to look good.”

“Is it an endless game? Like an arcade?” Thakur questioned.

“Well, kind of, but not really. There,” she pointed at the screen as the car reached a cube with a sign that said Sunset Drive-In on it, followed by the Level Complete notification. “The levels are kind of the same randomly generated path, but the car always reaches the Drive-In.”

“Why is the player going to the Drive-In?” Colin asked, putting the joystick away and looking at Lucy. She seemed surprised, she didn’t expect this question to be asked, apart from the technical ones.

“They have a date. Levels change in difficulty, but eventually, the car gets to the finish and the player is reunited with their significant other. I think it’s symbolic, in a sense,” she looked away awkwardly, “like a destined meeting kind of thing.”

“Kind of cliché,” Colin shrugged, fixing his glasses. The girl jerked her head up, glancing back at him with her eyes narrowed.

“Well, it’s not for the common user anyway. It’s just a personal gig, for me,” she crossed her arms, clearly offended by Colin’s observation.

“Wait, so the game is finished?” Thakur asked, distracting Lucy from her little staring contest.

“Uh, yeah, pretty much.”

“Wicked. We can make some add-ups and get it ready by the next month. This is beautiful, Lucy, congratulations. I’ll be expecting no less from you.”

“What—what do you mean?” Lucy blinked rapidly, her fingers slightly digging into the chair.

“What do you think I mean? I’m hiring you. You’re talented, we need people exactly like you.”

She gasped, covering her mouth with her palm. “Oh my god, I—thank you so much, Mr. Thakur! You will not regret this.”

“I’m counting on you, Lucy. Alright,” Mohan clapped his hands before looking at his hand watch, “I gotta go. You, “he pointed at Lucy, “come back tomorrow, we’ll get you a desk and everything. And you, “he pointed again, at Colin this time, “get on with the update.”

Colin rolled his eyes, slowly moving away from the table. His gaze lingered on Lucy again, who was hurriedly stuffing her game back into her bag.

“Good job. Thakur is not the easiest to impress.”

“Easier than you, I figure,” she stood up from her chair, still looking slightly irritated. “You know, you are disappointingly close to an image of a typical famous wanker.”

Colin smirked.

“Hey. Your game is good. I just choose to be honest when I give an opinion.”

“Or you’re simply justifying your rudeness,” Lucy teased, shortly shrugging her shoulders after. “Whatever. I’m not a sissy. I can take criticism.”

“Can you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she smiled, shaking her head in disbelief.

“You’ve got anywhere to be later?” Colin suddenly changed the subject, shoving his hands into pockets.

“I don’t know. Why?” She looked at him skeptically, quirking a brow.

“I could ask you out.”

“And why do you think I would be interested in that?”

“Because you still haven’t said no.”

Lucy pressed her lips together, being at a loss for words. Colin victoriously took a puff from his cigarette and walked up to the door.

“C’mon, let’s go.”

“Thought you had an update you needed to finish.”

“I’m not leaving. Just going out for lunch.”

“Just?”

“Come.”

When two kernels meet, they merge. Their radiance intensifies. There is no way for them to disconnect afterward because one meeting is enough to destine them to share their lives. Whatever was planned for those people before is overwritten.

Colin and Lucy clicked. Both working at the same place and having an overwhelming interest in one another brought them closer and closer, stronger than any magnet. They did everything from secretly making out in storage closets to hitting it at Colin’s place. They competed, sitting down at the screen and waiting for both of their games to be rated, keeping score. Colin was usually in the lead.

“It’s because you pay too much attention to the design,” he told Lucy, watching her clench her fists in anger.

“It’s because you wankers don’t care for a game’s style as long as it’s at least merely entertaining!”

Colin took his time in enjoying his little moment of victory, but he always ended up cheering Lucy up. They were coming over to Colins’s place, smoking and letting the world be without them, as they existed in this small bubble, only for the two of them. Their lips were always close, either in a kiss or in millimeters away from one. They touched, caressed, hugged, held, and stroked. Time felt funny every time they were together.

When the night breeze was pleasant, they sat outside on the balcony, smoking and watching the stars. Lucy liked sitting on the edge as Colin stood in between her legs.

“What’s my anarchist thinking about?” she cooed, running her fingers through his spiky bleached hair.

“I want to show you something,” Colin’s were firmly placed on Lucy’s hips.

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“It concerns a discussion we had before. About time.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows in interest.

“The ‘time is a construct’ one?” She leaned back, supporting her weight with her hand behind her.

“Exactly. I will show you something that will set you free. But you have to promise not to freak out.” He took a puff of his joint and handed it to her. She chuckled, accepting the rollup and bringing it to her lips.

“Usually, when you ask me not to freak out, I end up doing the opposite.”

“Yes. That’s why I need you to promise me not to.”

She let a cloud a smoke out of her lungs, examining Colin’s face while he patiently waited for an answer.

“Okay,” she finally said, “sure.”

“Promise.”

“For fuck’s sake,” she whispered mildly irritated, “yes, yes, I promise.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Jesus, Colin, what are you going to do, kill somebody?”

“Say it,” Colin insisted, looking her directly in the eyes. Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Yes, Colin, I trust you. Get on with it already.”

He smirked, taking the joint back. He then took a step back, and his hands slowly traveled down Lucy’s hips to her knees. She watched him, waiting for whatever was to come next. Colin’s fingers squeezed her harder.

“I’ll see you around.”

Before Lucy could ask anything, Colin yanked her legs into the air and threw her over the balcony.

[copperbadge]

There was a recent discussion on tumblr, which I didn’t reblog for obvious reasons, about how people with a large readership cope with a heavy interaction load -- how the person would be anxious if they dealt with that volume of notes on each post, that amount of interaction and contact. I was tagged in it because of my habit of "lochnessing", where I cause an activity spike on posts I reblog that looks like the loch ness monster.

It never occurs to me, because I’ve dealt with high-volume social media for so long -- realistically about ten years, probably closer to fifteen -- that it’s difficult for people to handle that, because they don’t have the systems in place that I do. I mean it does occur to me in the sense that I have become more cautious about what I reblog and its impact on the OP; there are things I’d like to share with you but don’t because I recognize it would be harmful to the person who wrote them. But it doesn't occur to me that someone might struggle with a high volume of notes purely because it's a volume that they don't have a system in place to deal with the way I do.

So I said I'd do a writeup on the "entire ecosystems" I had in place for handling the high volume of interaction I receive online. I sit at a weird place where I'm not so well known that I can just ignore most of what comes at me with impunity because everyone acknowledges I can't answer it all, like say a youtube star. But at the same time I do get too much attention to return it at the same level I receive it. I am one and you are sixteen thousand. So I had to make systems to return as much as I could and feel okay about not returning the rest.

Reading through this, of course it sounds like a weird humblebrag: "Here's how I deal with my MASSIVE POPULARITY". There's no real way around that; I can't talk about how I deal with comments without talking about how I get a disproportionately high number of them. The fact that I do is what leads me to do things like the Zero Comment Challenge, or Radio Free Monday, to try and balance shit out. So, as I mention occasionally below, you can think I'm an asshole for talking about how I am popular, but I can't talk about how to deal with that popularity without acknowledging the reality of it, and someone somewhere's gonna think I'm an asshole anyway, so whatever.

These are the systems I use to manage my life -- work, play, the weird inbetween space that's kind of both. Many of these are akin to the systems that I use in managing my depression, in that they involve a lot of small steps building up to a big result, but each small step on its own is manageable.

Let's start with AO3, because it's actually probably the simplest.

I clean out my comments once a week. Usually there are between forty and a hundred and fifty, depending on if I’ve published something recently or been recommended by someone. 

I go through all the one-sentence comments first, because those are the ones that are least likely to require a response. I read all comments but I learned through trial and error, twice in ten years, that I am physically and emotionally incapable of responding to every comment I receive even if it's just with a "Thank you!" and I'm just going to live with the fact that people think I'm an asshole for that. Also while I appreciate someone who leaves a "Great fic! <3" comment, that's genuinely really cool and validating, I don't think they truly need or expect a response. So most one-line comments, unless they are super weird or contain a question, get read, appreciated, and then deleted. 

Then I go through the longer comments that need a closer reading, and delete any that are cool but still don't seem to require responses. If someone has left a ton of comments, I'll find the one I think is coolest or most needing of response, delete the others, and reply to that one comment with a thoughtful response including a line thanking them for all their other comments.

Finally, I respond to comments that are in-depth or have questions that require some thought. I find that if I don't respond to these on a weekly basis they pile up and then someone who asked a question like six months ago is still waiting for an answer, so this one is non-negotiable: my AO3 inbox has to be empty at the end of each week, and everything that needed a reply has to have one. (I do have one or two that just live in my inbox because they are cool ideas I will one day get round to writing, and I want to credit them when I do, but it's never more than two.) For me, it's easiest to wait until Friday or Saturday and just take an hour to clear them all out, rather than clearing as I go, because I don't have AO3 open all the time the way I do some other sites.  

Tumblr: Every morning, before work, I go through the previous night's responses; I open all reblogs/mentions in new tabs to read and reply-as-necessary, and I reply to all comments that need responses. (This is also something I'll do throughout the day, but especially if I'm tired or pressed for time, the comment replies might be saved as a draft or left in an open tab until I can get to them). Occasionally shit doesn’t show up or I miss stuff but I’ve learned to just live with that as the price of doing fandom on Tumblr. 

If there's a post by someone else that requires a response from me -- either a reblog of one of my posts, or someone tagged me in a post -- I Like it to find it later or I save it as a draft. I don't use Likes as anything other than "I want to be able to find this again in less than a week's time" and I never have more than about 20 Likes in my files. (Unless I’m traveling; it’s easier to Like something than save it as a draft or respond, so when I get home from traveling I often have 30-50 Likes in my file.)

Often on Tumblr I go through what I call the Line Cycle -- I read my dash, and then I go "down the line" and open all the other pages that might need attention, in specific order. I open asks and try to respond to a few -- I try to answer at least five every time but sometimes I don't manage to answer any for whatever reason -- then I open likes and try to convert as many likes as I can to either queued reblogs or drafts. I open drafts and try to convert some of those to queued reblogs. Then I go through the same process for one or two side blogs.

(Also in drafts are a lot of things that I'm not sure I want to put in my queue yet, or things that I put in the queue weekly like the Zero Comment Challenge post, which I dust off when I'm ready to queue it, then immediately re-save to drafts when it posts.)

Occasionally if I feel shit is getting out of hand I dedicate myself to, every time, not leaving the page I'm on until I've reduced its "count" (number of asks, likes, drafts, etc) by five, or at least to below the next multiple of five -- if I have 23, for example, I'll try to get it below 20.

Sometimes posts in tabs sit open for a while because in order to respond I have to read an article or watch a video, which take a lot of focus and attention. It used to be that recommendations for books or stuff to watch also sat open forever until I could get round to doing it, but now I just have a "reccs" file on the cloud that is a list of what I've been recommended and who recommended it, and I work my way through them slowly.

Email: Once I've read them, site notifications in my inbox get deleted; I've turned off follow/kudos notifications because they tend to be white noise.

Email is tough for me, it requires a lot of focus and emotional attention to answer emails, so I treat it the same way I would asks or likes or whatnot, but much more slowly. I tend to have a backlog of about thirty emails in my inbox, though often five to ten of those are emails that don't need response and that I'm saving (I star them to mark them as not needing attention). I have the multiple-stars function in Gmail turned on, and when it gets really bad, I start opening emails and triaging -- "This will be easier to answer" "This will take some time" etc. by starring them different colors.

I like to have no more than fifteen emails in my inbox but that is a rarity. 

The Internet: Because social media takes up a lot of my time and I also work eight hours a day (well, four, we'll get to that in a bit) I have streamlined the way I encounter the internet, as well. I have a list of "daily reading" bookmarks that I open every morning and check through -- the horoscope page, the mustard tag on tumblr (which I don't follow because then the same dumbass two hipster fashion posts keep showing up on my dash), a blog that follows and posts about new small flash games that I might enjoy playing, a few others. (I also have a Monday file that I open once a week, it's calendars of events and such, and I go through on Mondays and add anything to my calendar that looks interesting.)

But if I can, any regularly-updated page that has an RSS feed gets converted to RSS and put into my Netvibes reader account, where I peruse it at my leisure. The Netvibes reader account includes a direct feed from the Steve/Tony and Steve/Sam tags on AO3, plus a few others; longform.org, some cooking blogs I follow, a bunch of podcast pages, a few webcomics, and one or two tumblrs that I don't want showing up on my dash (mainly artists' porny sideblogs, what up you glorious pervs) or think I would make the person uncomfortable by following them.

I have five tabs pinned to Chrome at any given time, and four tabs pinned to Firefox. The Chrome tabs are my personal Netvibes, Google Drive, a Google Sheets spreadsheet with my calendar and accounting tabs in it, Gmail, and Tumblr. The Firefox tabs are a second Netvibes account I use for work (we have several news sources we all monitor daily), my non-fannish gmail, my non-fannish facebook with a custom reading page so I never see anything twice, and the Google "family calendar" that I and my family use to track where we all are and what we're doing.

My parents use this more than I do, which is why I often open the calendar app on my phone to check my work schedule and find that my parents are taking the dogs to the groomer's today (yes, I know I could turn this off, but it amuses me). When I introduced my mother to Google Calendar her eyes got super big and she fell in immediate love; the first three things she added were the birthdays of her two dogs, followed by the birthday of Jesus. I would be more insulted by this but I had already added all the family birthdays, so at least I didn't come in behind the dogs AND the Christ Child.

Once in a while, when I'm at work and I feel like I'm not sure what I should be doing or that my day is spiralling out of my control, I'll take a deep breath, pull up Chrome, and go through all my pinned tabs, one by one, changing or fixing something on each -- I'll clear out my Longform reading, answer a few emails, check the calendar, etc. Then I'll go through any open tabs and try to close at least one. I get anxious if I have more than five or six non-pinned tabs open. Like having an inbox that's rarely over thirty emails total, it's not a sign I'm more effective or efficient than anyone else, it's just a sign I'm debilitatingly anxious about this kind of thing.

Work: I've read, many times, that people who work eight hours a day in a white collar job like mine really only do four hours of actual work. And for a while I joked that I wondered if I even did four, because I dick around on the internet A LOT. But lately I started to genuinely wonder, and so for the past six weeks, I've put that statement to the test.

When I arrive at work, I immediately put in two hours of solid work. I don't read tumblr, I don't read anything but work-related material. I triage all my work emails, I go through my Google Task list for the day and sort things by most to least urgent, and then I work my way through them for two solid hours. It's not easy at all, but any time I think "This is when I would stop and read tumblr" I shake my head and try to do one more work thing, and then I get back in the groove and can do like, three more. I also use this first morning period to take care of "personal work", stuff which has to get done to keep my life running smoothly, like mailing packages or replying to my parents' emails or whatnot.

Then I get a half-hour break to read tumblr, play a flash game, maybe read a piece on Longform. (I don't read fanfic at work; I sometimes clean out Netvibes of fics that from the tags and summaries I know I won't be interested in, but I don't open fanfic at work at all.) I also use this time to get some food in me.

Then I do another two hours of work, same deal. And that's four hours of work. And I get a shitload done, let me tell you.

For the next three hours after, I am basically free to do whatever I want. I usually use about an hour to do some freelance work, and I spend time on tumblr or on personal email, reading articles, listening to podcasts, playing games. I eat a snack, I talk to my coworkers. I find I actually run out of new stuff to read, and I do try to process the old stuff, like empty out my drafts and likes. And of course the nature of my job means that sometimes there is work to be done that comes up suddenly, but it's usually just a matter of teeing it up for the following morning's work shift.

For the last hour of my work day, I go through my work inbox, make sure everything's set up for tomorrow, send any last emails, do any last wrap-up, and make sure all my documents are either saved or closed. (Our IT team likes to run updates and involuntary restarts without warning, so I've learned to always save at end of day.)

So, yeah. Those are some of the systems I have in place in order to run a very mentally busy life. I'm not necessarily recommending them; a lot of them won't work for everyone because everyone is different, and I recognize that some of them are inapplicable (I work a job with no outward-facing element to it; a barista or a librarian or a teacher can't do what I do, schedule-wise), and some of them are a level of regimentation I'm not sure most people would find healthy. But that's how I do my thing, and maybe some of my techniques will sound appealing to other people who occasionally feel, as I do, like they're drowning a little bit.

(Did you find this useful or interesting? Keep me organized and drop some change in my Ko-Fi or at my Paypal!)

[an-exotic-writer]

yoongi; cuddling overtime

❝ when the boys see you and yoongi spending awfully a shitton of time together, in his bedroom, they could only think that the two of you are... ►3187 words // scenario, prompt-based © photo credit

From the moment the boys got to know and meet the person that Min Yoongi has officially turned weak for is the time where they knew they would be seeing more of you than hearing Yoongi fawn over you throughout the days of the week. What started out as a movie-like scenario of a love-hate relationship, blossoms into one that revolves around the first word of the initial stage that transitions into the second word half of the time. It would be confusing to those who didn’t have context of how your relationship started but... ah, you’ll get the hang of it if you stuck around.

Movie night lasts until the third movie comes to an end and you are beyond tired. Honestly, you’re amazed by the fact you could last so long without falling asleep or falling flat to Yoongi’s chest and drooling on his chest. But it seems like he has, face pressed to your skin, breathing against your neck and when everyone’s started to disperse back to their rooms, you’re slapping Yoongi’s thigh.

“Wake up, gramps. You can sleep out here if you want but you have a king-sized bed for a reason,”

The boys burst out laughing, especially the younger ones who dare to see the day Yoongi actually allows someone to talk to him like that. In actual fact, they’re already look someone who is.

They watch as Yoongi groans to a wake, arms tightening around your waist, feet planted to the ground but refusing to get up. You’re already leaning forward, watching as his body follows along and Jimin’s offering to: “Do you need help, Y/N?”

“Depends,” You coo, hands smoothening over Yoongi’s arms, “Do you dare to?”

Before Jimin can fall to his death with just a simple tug to bring Yoongi up as a simple gesture to help you, Hoseok’s hand pulls him back, “Don’t. It’s a trick question,”

Jimin scoffs a laugh and pushes Hoseok’s hand away, “How is that a trick question?”

Jungkook and Taehyung shudder, shying away from offering their services of being able to carry Yoongi back to his room like he weighs nothing but the morning after they do, it’s gonna weigh more than the actual weight, “You wouldn’t want to know,” They answer in unison, the same time you decide to fuck it and get up even though Yoongi’s latched to you as such. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world but sitting like this on the sofa for a couple of hours does a shitty job to letting your spine go back to the way it should be.

They’re marvelled at the way you’re still alive as you get Yoongi to unlatch himself from you, his hands resting on your waist as you pull him towards the direction of his bedroom. He’s slumping over your figure and resorts to walking behind you with his hand in yours as you literally drag him even if he doesn’t like it. Miraculously, never tripping over your or any sort but for the most part, walking to his best ability.

All eyes are on you as you bring Yoongi to his room and when the door closes after, Namjoon proposes a question that gets everyone to raise their hand.

“Anyone wondering what kind of witchcraft Y/N has on hyung?”

Even Seokjin raises his hand.

//

Yoongi opens the door of his room to stalk out with just his loose shirt hanging on his shoulders, basketball shorts lining his hips as he heads to the kitchen. He doesn’t make much sounds on his way there, but on his way back, he gathers looks and stares from the boys present in the living room. Taehyung peers out from the sofa, having guts to ask: “Hyung, you joining us for lunch?”

Said person pauses with a glass of water in his hands, looking over his shoulder with a gaping mouth and a moment to think of whether he actually wants to or not. After a numbered of seconds, he gives a curt nod, “Sure,”

Without waiting to see if the conversation carries on from there, Yoongi heads back to his room with heads following his movements until the door closes.

//

Although you know Yoongi trusts you more than he does himself, you still think it’s a little early in the relationship for you to have the spare key to his dorm. Plus, it’s not like he’s the only one living in there, his group mates are too and it wouldn’t be fair. (Taking into consideration that you could be invading their privacy, c’mon you’re a decent human being what are they thinking?)

You had to turn down Yoongi’s suggestion when he has his arms around you and chin on your shoulder. It wasn’t necessarily easy (especially when you crave for how affectionate he can get) but you knew the answer the moment he asked. So here you stood outside their door, waiting for someone to get to you but you’re certain it would be - “Hey Y/N,”

With a grin, you step in and return Seokjin’s hug before entering their home. Seokjin makes sure he locks the doors properly to tend to you. However, when he does turn around, he’s unsure if he’s seeing things or if he made up that you came earlier than expected because - “Y/N? Where are you?”

“In here!” You holler, past a closed door of... Seokjin walks closer to the sound of your voice to see it’s coming from... Yoongi’s door.

Case closed.

//

It’s a Thursday and that means that Seokjin would be making lunch and everyone is expected to the dining table when he calls for everyone to stop, come out here and eat and you can head back to wherever you came from. No one dares test him when it comes to meals because one, he’s cooking - so he decides when. Two, he’s Seokjin.

So when almost all are gathered by the table, six of them are left waiting for... the two who comes stalking out of Yoongi’s room who looks like they just came from another planet. Granted, everyone sleeps in until the Sun would rake their ass awake but you and Yoongi look so disoriented, it’s like... the only reason for this... well...

Taking into consideration of all those times the pair of you spend being locked up in his room... hm...

“Smells good,” You hum, sitting crossed leg with one of your kneecaps atop of Yoongi’s thigh and he doesn’t mind, his palm smoothening over the material of sweatpants before reaching for his eating utensils.

“Yeah, thanks - just what on earth were the two of you doing?” Seokjin takes the stance of being the oldest, raising a brow from across the table and while everyone is minding their own business and eating, they’re most definitely listening. You accept the piece of chicken Yoongi feeds you and chew slowly before turning your head to make eye contact with him. Swallowing, you can see that Yoongi is just as confused as you are.

Facing forward, you shrug, “Nothing, really,”

“Really?” Seokjin tilts his head, “Nothing?”

“Look if it’s because we took too long to get to the table,” A hand on your chest for emphasis, “In my defense, Yoongi sometimes has two left feet when he wakes up. Pity me here,”

Yoongi snorts as he stuffs his mouth with rice, “That’s a lie and you know it,”

“Really?” You turn to face him slightly, food long forgotten, “What about that time you tripped over air to get to the bathroom?”

“That was one time,” He scoffs.

“That was yesterday. And after your shower,”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum, Seokjin intends to press more into getting some real answers but Namjoon places a hand on said person’s shoulder. Seokjin turns to Namjoon who shakes his head, signalling that there’s another time than this and everyone else at the table is far more amused to hear you and Yoongi debate whether he does or does not have two left feet when he wakes up.

//

Six heads are in front of the door of a person who is probably still half-dead inside but they decide that it’s time and it’s a mixture of not giving a shit. They make a pact that okay, if we’re all dying, at least we have each other. And it’s ridiculous how all of them are this afraid of one person who they could easily overthrow if they really wanted. Well, guess they said aura could depict how scary a person could truly be.

So, Hoseok makes the first move to barge in and the five of them follow his lead. What starts off so confident with hyung we need to talk to you to not being able to answer when Yoongi pulls off his headset and turns around in his seat, calmly asking: “About what?”

He looks genuinely surprised that all of them are wondering just what they might’ve been on to suspect anything but whatever, let’s get back on track here.

Jimin and Jungkook stalk over to drag Yoongi by his chair despite his protest of what the fuck! But with Taehyung in the mix, the three of them manage to pull him out of his room and drag him all the way to the living room. All six of the circle around him and damn right, they’re making full use of you not being here to be brutally honest with him.

As him, to them.

“What the fuck is going on?” Yoongi’s seething with anger, mostly confused as he quickly checks to see if his headset is ruined and is fuming when it is because of how hard they ripped it off to get him out here. “And you fucks just ruined my headset that Y/N got me, you guys better have a solid reason for this,”

The room falls into a tensed silence when no one dares to speak up. A mutual agreement around the circle and Namjoon decides to clear his throat to get the conversation going.

“Hyung, we just want to know for the sake of knowing and also just to make sure the two of you don’t do anything stupid,”

“What on rat’s ass are you going on about, Joon?” Yoongi clutches onto the headset, narrowing his eyes at the younger peering over him from the height difference and even more when Yoongi is the only one seated and everyone’s standing around.

“Well, we’ve noticed that you and Y/N spend awfully a lot of time together ever since you got together,” Hoseok tries to explain, while Jimin takes over from there when Hoseok doesn’t know how to continue.

“And while we know it’s normal for couples to do so, we just realize that it’s a lot of time spent in... well... in your...”

“In your bedroom, where there’s a bed,” Jungkook takes a chance to fill in, and everyone slaps their forehead at the comeback that he presents Yoongi with.

“Yeah? That’s why it’s a bedroom? Like how a bathroom has a bathtub?” Yoongi laughs in disbelief, but you can tell he’s still angry based on the fact that your hard-earned money is torn off in his hands. He tries to get up and end the whole discussion but with hands from Taehyung from behind that pushes him down and all of them hurdling in, Yoongi starts to think if he fucked up anywhere in between to make them think he sold his soul to the devil.

“Are the two of you having sex whenever you’re in your bedroom?”

Yoongi doesn’t even know how to answer that when Hoseok’s being direct. Too direct in front of everyone but Yoongi would only be Yoongi because he answers just as quick.

“Depends. Do you want us to?”

“He even talks like Y/N,” Jimin laughs, in return, getting hit by Jungkook who then apologizes after.

“You’re not answering the question,” Seokjin clicks his tongue, and Yoongi rolls his eyes to glare at, well, all of them.

“Neither are any of you. Why does it matter?”

“Just answer us!”

“You answer me first! You guys literally just broke my headset that Y/N took three months to earn to pay for and none of you are apologetic for the shit you just did,” When Yoongi raises a valid point, they want to pull their lip over their head and swallow their existence away for being so brash with things - “And for what? To know if me and Y/N have sex every time we’re in a bedroom together? What the fuck? So what if we do? What does it have to do with you guys?”

They can see that Yoongi’s about to make the headset crack with the pressure in his hand if they don’t answer. 

“Someone better answer me and make this time worth it because if you guys wanted a discussion, that’s what you’re going to get - so someone, I don’t care who, give me an answer,”

Jimin does just that.

Or at least he tries to.

“W-Well we didn’t want you two to get in trouble if... any mistake happens because it’s way too young for anyone here to get anyone pregnant-”

“We use a condom if we fuck so does that answer your question?” Yoongi raises a brow, much like the sound of his disappointment as he exhales deeply. He kicks his chair back and it rolls until it hits the wall to make a loud thud that snaps everyone’s shoulders into a jolt. He lifts up the headset that probably isn’t functioning anymore, making it clear in their eyes, “You guys better apologize to Y/N for this,”

Their eyes follow to where Yoongi throws the headset to, the sofa. In the next, Yoongi’s gone and they dare not move even after they hear rummages coming from his bedroom. Before any of them can decide to, they watch as Yoongi comes back out but this time he’s opening the main door and putting on his shoes. None of them say anything, and when they do, it’s Hoseok asking if he’s coming home for dinner and Yoongi slamming the door on his way out.

In a situation like this, Namjoon only stares at the closed wooden door and asks in a small voice: “Who here thinks we fucked up?”

...everyone raises their hands.

//

It’s been two days since Yoongi returned back to the dorm.

To be more specific, two days since the incident and him actually sleeping here. They’ve got the confirmation from you that he’s at your place to stay for a while but that only makes them sink to their guts at how Yoongi is so mad, he doesn’t even want to see them. He came back within the timespan of the two days, to only get a couple of things, stuff them in his bag and then he’s completely missing in action in their own dorm.

That makes them feel worse than they actually thought they would once they got their answers. Which they still haven’t got but well, it’s not the time for them to be getting answers when they should be getting forgiveness.

So here the same six appear in front of a door, but this time it’s a door to someone else and that someone else is the other half of Yoongi who is also you. Knowing that you could be on Yoongi’s side to not open the door for them, they got to contact your roommate who Namjoon has the number to in case of emergencies and of course, the leader. Your roommate was nice enough to understand and hear them out from their point of view and decides to open the door for them to welcome them.

They head inside with a variety of snacks, a cake and a bunch of balloons that range from love you to forgive me you sack of shit we just care for you. When everything is set up on the table, they wait around for your roommate to get you to come out. But when it all gets too quiet for anyone to be alive, the six boys decide to follow to where your room is, only to see the possible reason that would paint them to be horrible human beings than the intended thought they have in their mind.

It seems like your roommate is already used to it, saying that it would be best to leave the two of you a while and she excuses herself to head back out from six dudes staring at the scenario unfold. There Yoongi is, in the bedroom with you, but doing things they should’ve known from the beginning. You’re wrapped in Yoongi’s arms, the blanket draped over your figures and Yoongi looks so peaceful in his sleep. You on the other hand, is the exact mirror but curled up in Yoongi’s chest and if it wasn’t for the fact that they fucked up, they would be taking pictures now but they can’t quite do that unless they want a death wish.

Instead, all of them back out and Jungkook carefully closes the door, only to raise his hand to Namjoon’s question.

“Who thinks we’re all idiots for thinking all they do is have sex?”

Now your roommate is raising her hand too.

((”you guys think we have sex every time we’re in his room? do you guys have any idea how tiring that would be?” your arms are folded in front of your chest when you see your headset you’ve bought for yoongi is broken on the table, alongside a cake that writes: ‘we’re sorry we broke your headset :(’. while you’re not entirely mad, you just think it’s ridiculous and yoongi follows your suit beside you, facing the row of boys across the dining table. (your roommate left, something along the lines of not wanting to witness a family argument unravel)

“well! we’re just worried! what if hyung gets you pregnant or-”yoongi stares at hoseok, who now shuts up without another word.

“guys, we admit, we do have sex every now and then-”

“oh my god-”

“seriously? you fucking shits dragged me out of my room to ask me that and now you-”your hand pushes yoongi by the chest gently, calming him down to stop mid sentence so you can take over calmly. “but most of the time, we’re just taking naps together and sleeping. though i’m flattered you think we’re able to do so,”

“...we’re sorry, y/n,”

“and to hyung, too,”

“we should’ve just asked directly than to... well...”

“eh, what’s done is done. but-”

“don’t worry!”

“we’ll buy hyung another headset, just the same one!”

“nah, i have something else in mind.”

//

here six guys stand, by the side walk, with a board that holds up saying: ‘we’re dudes that broke our friend’s very expensive headset because we wanted to know if he has sex with his partner when all they do is take naps we’re stupid’.

“this is why i love you,” yoongi grins, taking many, many photos.))

[ourlittleorganiclife]

There’s no better way to get excited about your upcoming summer holiday than by going shopping for all your beach essentials.  Even the most eco-conscious of us aren’t immune to this pleasure, but some of us – quite rightly – temper that excitement with our concern for the environment and the health of ourselves and our children. So here’s some greener and healthier ways to join in with the summer joy of planning for your beach holiday.

Sun Protection

Sun protection of one kind or another is so important, especially for children.  Getting just 5 blistering sunburns can increase your risk of skin cancer by up to 80%. So make sure you have a variety of ways to protect your skin.  Many drugstore sunscreens are full of parabens, oxybenzone and other chemicals linked to various types of hormone-disrupting cancers. But there’s no need to worry – there are plenty of options open to you. You can wear a beach cover up which covers the arms and chest well – and there are plenty of good second hand ones about, like this one which I’ve featured from the Oxfam online shop (click here to check out their full range of colours and options).

You should also invest in a good ocean-safe, reef-safe SPF sun cream each summer.  Some people make their own suncreams with coconut oil and essential oils, and if that’s your thing, go for it, but be aware there’s always the risk that you end up making a basting oil for your skin rather than a sun protectant.  While many oils and essential oils do have a natural SPF quality to them, there is no way you can guarantee that level of protection is still in the base ingredient product you’ve purchased without expensive testing. Instead, buy a non-nano, paraben-free, oxybenzone-free sun protection product which is as natural as possible. Suncreams like this new one from Weleda which I purchased at my local health food store last week are a great option.

If Weleda is difficult to find in your area, consider the Thinkbaby and Thinksport sunscreens which I tried out on two separate occasions earlier this summer when visiting friends and I had to borrow some sun protection.  Thinksport do SPF 50 creams, but also a great SPF 30 face and body stick which is easy to apply to your face – kind of like a mini deodorant stick.  It’s a clean range of products which is easy to find in Canada, the US and the UK, and it’s been designed for serious athletes – so it will definitely be able to withstand your beach holiday demands! Plan ahead and make sure you have enough for your trip – you don’t want to end up like I did on my trip to Italy, having to buy horrible overpriced chemical-filled sunscreen at the pharmacy (you don’t want to know how much sun protection costs in Europe).

For kids I also recommend getting UPF 50 sun protection suits for the beach. When paired with a good wide-brimmed hat, it means you don’t have to worry about when they spend a bit too long in the sunshine – as they inevitably will.  I do buy these suits and shirts second hand for my daughter but do keep in mind that the sun protection factor in second hand suits might not be as high as it will be in a new suit.

Swimwear

You can get some great bathing suits and bikinis second hand like these ones at the Oxfam online shop (just give them a good boil wash after buying them). I’m a bit busty, however, so have never had luck finding second hand bikini tops that fit me.  In fact, finding any gorgeous bikini tops that will fit over a D cup is actually quite difficult. I was gifted this beautiful black Boho Chic bikini from Hunkemoeller (I saw their gorgeous lingerie and swimwear boutiques all over Germany last month). It fits me so well – in fact this model ran a bit on the generous size, so I had return my first bikini top (thank you free returns!) and go a cup size smaller than my usual Panache bra cup size which looks amazing on me.  It ties at the top and the back , so you don’t need to worry about whether the band will be too tight or too loose, and the metal U bar in the front, allows the front of the bra to open easily for topless sunbathing (or easy breastfeeding, if you’re still nursing your child). They also had a variety of styles of bikini bottoms, so I was able to find the right cut to suit my derrière. (That’s not me below, btw!)

After Sun

Don’t overthink this one.  Buy some pure organic aloe gel (like this one from Amazon which comes in a handy 200ml size).  Avoid those livid green and totally transparent Aloe-based concoctions you see at the supermarket and pharmacy – they have a lot of other stuff in them other than healing aloe. You can mix the aloe gel with a few drops of a good quality lavender essential oil (I use Young Living – see why here) to boost the skin soothing quality of the aloe. If you do get a bit too much sun, just rub in some of this into your skin and it will help cool you off and start to nourish your sun-damaged skin. Just keep reapplying as your skin sucks it in (and it will, depending on the severity of the burn).

Beach Bag

Don’t forget a beach bag to schlep around all your stuff. You don’t need to invest in something really expensive – if you’re travelling on your own or with your partner, a small canvas shopping tote will work. If you’re travelling with kids the best thing are those big tacky re-usable supermarket bags which are fantastic for this purpose because they’re waterproof and hold tons of stuff like flippers, goggles, snorkels, sand-encrusted swim shoes, gazillions of towels, etc.

But I know that if you’re going back and forth to the beach club, you might want something a bit more chic than a massive orange Sainsbury’s bag proudly branding it’s elephant design emblazoned on the side. I’ve decided to splurge and treat myself to this black & white one from Hunkemoller UK to match my new bikini. It reminded me of some of the gorgeous bags I’ve seen in Anthropologie.  (I remember the days of disposable income. They’re long gone, but I do remember them!)

Sunglasses

For Pete’s sake, don’t forget a pair of sunglasses or you’ll be squinting in agony for the next two weeks. On my way back from Canada in June, I treated myself to a new pair of Oakley matte tortoiseshell Latch sunglasses. (Yeah, I’ve given myself a few treats lately – what’s up with that?) I had been planning to get the folding Ray Ban Wayfarers, but discovered that they come in a leather case, which kind of didn’t flow with the whole vegan vibe.

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Water Bottle

It’s pretty easy most places to access clean drinking water, so unless you’re travelling somewhere at particular risk for waterborne pathogens, just take your water bottle with you and for each member of your family so you can stay hydrated throughout the day.  Even if you go to a resort, its great having your own reusable cup bottle with you, so you can have the bar staff refill it with water for you from their filtered water systems.  I love my Yeti bottle because I can attach it to my bag with a carabiner – and yes, I bought it second hand.

It’s also a great idea to take a reusable coffee cup (like a Keep Cup) or an insulated wine tumbler (yes, there is such a thing) so you don’t have to use plastic cups for your wine or cocktails, and they’ll stay cooler for longer in the sun. (Amazon have a wide range of insulated wine tumblers at various price points, and Yeti do a cool one too).

Sun Hat

Sun hats are such a personal thing, I’m not even going to show you an example here.  I have a great soft brushed cotton baseball cap I love from ethical clothing company Absolutely Bear which I wear for day trips and hiking all the time, but I probably won’t wear it on the beach on my trip to Spain, as I might want something which channels a bit more of a Sophia Loren vibe.  But whatever suits your style.

One thing I will say is, just take a sun hat.  Something foldable might be wise, so you can pack it in your luggage.  I have a gorgeous Panama style hat which I love, but it isn’t the easiest to travel with because I have to wear it for the whole flight, or make sure it doesn’t get crunched up in the overhead luggage compartment.

Sun hats are such a great and easy way to keep the sun off your face without worrying about whether your SPF cream has worn off and panda eyes are developing.  And as the (not so) proud wearer of many, many panda eyes in the past, may I say I have expert knowledge that it is worth avoiding.   (No make up will really cover those puppies up.) Just wear the hat.

Reading Material

It’s really important to have enough reading material on your trip.  On shorter trips I’ll usually just take a library book, but I also have started to enjoy borrowing my husband’s Kindle and I absolutely love Amazon Audible, so I can listen to audio books on my phone while on the plane and so I can keep an eye on my daughter on the beach. (Getting lost in a book isn’t really possible when you’re looking after children near the sea, lakes or the pool.) Here’s the link I used to get a free 90 day trial of Audible so you can see if it’s the kind of thing you would enjoy too – at the very least it will last you your holiday! They’re often read by the author or by someone with a delicious reading voice, like Mariella Frostrup. I recently listened to Swing Time by Zadie Smith and can highly recommend it.

And have a great holiday!  For more tips, check out my posts on eco travel, how to pack light and travelling with kids. Have I forgotten anything?  Let me know in the comments below.

Resources/References:

Sun Protection – https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/just-five-sunburns-increase-your-cancer-risk/, https://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/16/health/sunscreen-report/index.html

Photo Credit: Hunkemoeller bikini shot – from https://www.hunkemoller.co.uk/uk_en/47-boho-chic-bikini-bottoms-black-123295.html, Hunkemoeller beach bag shot – from https://www.hunkemoller.co.uk/uk_en/47-doutzen-beach-bag-black-134253.html

      Beach holiday essentials for the green, eco-conscious traveller. There's no better way to get excited about your upcoming summer holiday than by going shopping for all your beach essentials.