#so maybe he was just like her teacher’s pet right hand man who was 100% under her thumb type thing

[musclesandhammering]

I know this is such an unpopular opinion but like…….. X-5 needs to be a part of the team. He’s such an asshole and a little shit and all he rly wanted was freedom, and I know if he wasn’t hiding information from them, he and Loki would get along so well.

[mouthfulloftoothpasterry]

Grandparents Day

Hi!!! Sorry for posting it then deleting it, I decided I didn’t want to post it now I want to! So sorry about that haha:) this is just the styles family going to the park and visiting the grandparents! I hope you enjoy 💕

Today Y/n and Harry are leaving their cozy cottage and scoundering out into the real world, leaving the home-y confines of their cottage and going to visit the grandparents for a late lunch.

They are having a picnic out at the park, Harry offered to host it at their cottage and have it out in their backyard- claiming the flowers and plants would make great scenery, But the family had denied. They said the four needed to get out and see more people than the customers at the farmers market.

The couple of course agreed, renting out a park pavilion for the day and packing up their contribution of the picnic foods. “Come on, my love, mummy made sun tea!” Harry coos, holding Violet's hand and hoisting her up into her booster seat.

“Yummy!” She cheers, letting Harry clip her in the seat securely. Harry buckles it right under her chest, making sure the big buckle is positioned correctly. “Comfy?” Harry questions, holding a thumb up for her. She smiles widely, showing her small baby teeth and sticking her tiny thumb up for him. “Good!” She cheers, Harry smiling and softly tickling her belly, kissing her cheek then brushing his hand from her hair to her cheek, softly giving it a pinch before he shoots her a wink, softly closing the door.

Y/n walks out, the picnic basket in her hand along with Forest laying in her arm. “I’ve got that, sunshine” Harry hums, pushing up his glasses and grabbing the picnic basket from her hands, the kids diaper bag balanced on top of it. He places it in the back, Y/n thanking him and buckling Forest into his bus seat.

**

“Come on, sweet pea. Let’s get you out of the bus!” Harry coos, pulling Violet out of the bus seat and resting her on his hip. He circles to the back of the bus, grabbing the diaper bag and the wooden picnic basket, heading toward the big pavilion entry. Y/n walks a couple steps ahead of him, guiding the way while he hauls the food behind her.

“Hello!” Harry’s mum greets, making the man look up with a smile. “Hi!” He sings, his wife offering her a polite smile while she deals with a slightly fussy Forest. Y/ns parents greet them, the styles family making their way over to the picnic table. “Go see nana!” Harry coos, letting Violet slip down from his hip and land on her feet, padding away on the concrete flooring to go visit her grandparent, getting her cheeks pinched and dollars slipped to her behind her parents backs.

They all finally greet each other, laughs and conversations laying over the other until they all settle down and take their seats on the old red chipping bench of the picnic tables. Harry pulls Violet on his lap, making sure she’s not running off and getting lost. (She likes to do that when they go off to the park- which isn’t often.) Harry slides her plate toward her, the girl's sippy cup full of sun tea, balanced between her chubby hands.

“It's time to eat, sunshine.” Harry announces to violet, pulling her next to him on the picnic table bench. She stretches her little neck to look at the array of food everyone had brought. She makes quick grabby hands for the fruit sandwiches Harry hand prepared for the outing. Harry catches her in the act and grabs her hand before she can shove a bite into her mouth, pulling her hand away and kissing the back of it, shoving an orange baby spoon in her hand instead. He puts a small portion of summer pasta on her plate, the girl forming a tight pout on her lips before she stabs the pasta and shoves it in her mouth angirly, mad her daddy didn't let her have dessert first.

“How is the farm?” Anne asks while she holds Forest, holding a sleepy baby in one arm and feeding herself with the other, something the youngest parents out of the group have mastered.

Y/n finishes her bite, wiping her mouth off on the floral printed napkin before answering annes question. “Everything is good. We sold a bunch at the farmers market a couple weeks ago.” Harry nods along, serving himself while everyone passes the bowls and plates of food around, complimenting each other on their dishes quietly. “We’re thinking of getting some bunnies. Violet would love it.” Harry adds, violet instantly snapping her head up at the mention of adding the fluffy white animal to the family farm. “Bunnies?!” she asks, making the group laugh.

“Yep,” Harry says, licking his thumb and rubbing red sauce from her face, the little girl's face scrunching up while she pushes his large hand away. “You're gonna eat them?” Y/n’s dad asks, the family shaking her head, violet getting visibly upset by the questions. They dont eat bunnies! Bunnies are for petting and loving. “No, just have them as pets. We dont eat meat, we haven't for a while.” Harry informs, violet being his little sidekick and nodding along to every word he has to say.

“So are you getting them?” Anne asks, Violet looking up at Harry with so much hope. She loves bunnies, she draws them all the time, it's just one big circle, a smaller one for the head, then four tiny ones for the feet and a happy face made with two dots and a curved line but it's a bunny to her and she loves it. “...yeah,” the father slowly nods. Y/n gives him sharp eyes. They were supposed to surprise Violet and Forest with the new addition to their farm, even though forest wouldn't be that enthusiastic, he's only four months old.

“What about preschool? Are you going to send her to preschool?” y/n’s mum barges into the conversation, always nagging at her daughter to get the kids out. They do get the kids out, just not often. They have playdates and go to the park to socialize with the other kids but they are usually inside and if they do leave they stay together, no disturbing the people around them.

“Were still deciding on whether to homeschool her or send her to Harry's old preschool.” Y/n answers her nons nagging questions. She would love for Violet to stay with them, it's not like she wants to go out and see all these kids, she's a very antisocial toddler. She is shy and nervous around new people, if it's not her mummy, daddy, and little brother she usually doesn't prefer to be around them for long periods of time.

“Just let the kid breathe! She probably wants to be with other kids ever not and then, you know.”

Y/n tries not to get frustrated but she doesn't need people telling her how to parent, especially when they dont know how her child feels being around people that arent her immediate family.

Y/n sighs, rubbing her eyes. “Violet doesn't like being around other people for a long time. I dont want to send her away for three hours a day to a place where she isn't comfortable. Especially when we are already teaching her stuff at home and she is doing great.” she argues back, harry pulls a hand on the small of her back and rubs softly. He knows she gets annoying about things like this, she is usually a very zen person.

Harry 100% backs her up on this. He knows how anxious his little one can get when she is around new people- or people who aren't her parents. Why would they send her off to a preschool when they can teach her ABC’s at home, how to write her name, counting, and even more that they teach at a preschool. They can have one on one time with their child when the teacher wouldn't be able to focus on just one child at a time. They even get to teach her more about the animals, show her what noises animals make and what colors they are up close and personal.

“I think it would just be nice for her to make some friends,”

Harry senses some trepidation, and he doesn't want Violet to watch her mumma and grandma to get into a disagreement. Not that it would get ugly, Harry just prefers his kids ears aren't around bad language, and when a disagreement happens the adults tend to get loose lips.

“Hey, are you done? Let's go play, you can eat this on the swings.” Harry grabs a fruit sandwich, picking the girl up and excusing them while he walks into the wood chip filled playground. Violet munches on her desert when she slides down bright yellow slides with Harry, sitting on his lap while they both sing out “weeeee!”

Y/n helps everyone pack up, throwing away paper cups and plates in the big rusty trash cans that they had in the pavilion. She watches Harry and Violet chase each other, watching them closely since Violet happens to be a very accident prone (almost) two year old. She keeps to herself while she stuffs drinks back in blue coolers, stuffing their tupperware back in their picnic basket and leaving the sun tea out because they had seemed to enjoy that.

While the rest of the crew cleans up Harry chases Violet around the playground, the black floors being filled with wood chips that were once stuck on little ones shoes, or maybe some naughty kids were bringing them up on the jungle gym to play around in them. “Hey, watch your step, pumpkin!” Harry yells before Violet misses her step and falls over a big black chunky step, falling right into the wood chips. Cries instantly fell from her mouth, she was just trying to run down the playground steps but her chubby legs couldn't keep up.

“Hey,” Harry pouts, sitting on the black step and pulling her onto his thighs. “Are you okay, sweet pea?” Harry asks, dusting off the debris on her knees and hands. She huffs as she cries, her bottom lip poking out while tears roll down her cheek, her nose and cheeks growing pink and hot from her crying. Harry gives her a big pout when he sees her knee bleeding, He hopes she doesnt have a splinter.

“Lets go get you clean your boo boo’s up” Harry mumbles, pulling her up to his chest and kissing all along her hair line, letting her cry in his neck. He walks back up to the pavilion in search of the diaper bag, they have a first aid kit stashed in there, it's a necessity when you have a bambi-like toddler.

y/n watches Harry set down a crying violet, fishing for a first aid kit. “What happened?” she sighs, handing the little girl her sippy cup. Harry glaces up at his wife for a second before looking back down at his toddler, preparing to clean her boo boo’s. “She fell,” he cleans her cuts up only making her cry more, her hands were only scraped, but she had a small cut on her knee. He adds some neosporin, patching on a baby shark bandaid before kissing over her cut.

“All better?” the girl huffs, wiping her tears. She looks at her knee, holding up two fingers like she's going to pinch something, Harry laughs. “Lets go sing baby shark somewhere else, your nana might give me a boo boo.”

Y/n laughs, Harry kissing her and Forest's head before they sit on the park bench together, their singing still heard.

The grandparents all swarm over the free child, watching him sleep peacefully. Y/n laughs awkwardly, hoping that Harry would be back soon to distract them or so Violet could play with them. “Are you putting this one in pre school?” Y/n scoffs at her mothers nagging, surprised it's only been an hour of hearing nagging about their kids.

“He's a real momma's boy. He's gonna be a heartbreaker.'' Robin laughs, making Y/n smile and laugh, her boy isn't dating because no one's ever gonna be good enough.

They decide to join the rest on the playground, the men playing with violet- or Harry pushing Violet on the swing while the men talk to him. Anne and Y/n’s mom join her on the park bench, the small boy finally waking up from his long nap. They talk about the farm and the kids while the sun sets, loud giggles from violet fill the park while Harry pushes her higher and higher. “It's beautiful out,” Anne says, looking up at the glowing sky, a painting of orange, purple, and blue framing the cloudy sky.

“It is,”

Hiii!! I hope you enjoyed reading part three!! I’m sorry for being a tease and posting it then deleting it. I was in my teasing era. Anyways, thank you for everything, you have all been so fucking amazing, like it shocks me how sweet and supportive you all are, thank you!!! It means so much!!! I love you all. My requests are open, I’m currently writing part four and then I will be putting out a blurb about when y/n was pregnant with Forest after part four is out. Thank you for everything!!!

[thecelestial-art]

ok but like, here me out,,,,, avatar high school au but its just me projecting my personality and trauma

my instagram

Aang

Freshman

He's trying his gosh darn hardest

The group baby

Appa is a therapy dog so he spends the day with gyatso in his classroom :)

Hes a saint bernard 

The best man

Despite katara being the ‘mom friend’ he runs the god damn show

Momo is a shit head sphinx cat 

The gang dropped movie nights for “knitting nights” so they could all learn to knit him sweaters

Hes very fashionable

he hates it

sokkas best friend

Aang makes costumes so when halloween comes around momo is very scary as dorothy 

Track and field babey

Does not curse

He has a hard time keeping up with world events

Straight (i'm not wrong)

he and toph have an ongoing tradition of going in full dress to waffle house before school dances. 

it got to the point where now all the workers know them by name

they also accidentally crashed a white lotus meeting and just kept going

Azula

Band kid

Sophomore

Rich girl with 2 friends

Pre eng

i know most schools dont have this program, but mine did and holy shit. those were some overachievers 

The most annoying mf on the planet

Not a single teacher likes her

The know it all that will fight if you don't agree with the facts

She was the ww2 kid

Capitalist in the worst fucking way

Closeted lesbian, when she figures that shit out she gets a lil better

The one who can drive

Mai

Bisexual

She's really good at math?? Like shes the gay who can do math

But cannot drive, bitch failed her permit more times than she can count

She nearly went to an all girls boarding school at one point

Sophomore

Colorguard!!

She has beat the shit out of people she's walked in on making out in the bathroom

Genuine friends with the faculty??

She takes programming/coding as a filler class but she's pretty good and continues to pursue it.

Her tumblr looks sick as hell

has caused a teacher to cry

Ty lee

Bisexual

Lesbian earings actin mf

Sophomore

Cheerleader

She is the nicest mother fucker and everyone loves her

Despite acting like an airhead she's really science orientated

When she takes biology she passes with flying colors

Very invested in social justice

She would never hurt a fly but she will fuck you up

The one with a healthy relationship with her father

has comforted a teacher she found crying in the parking lot

Iroh

Now runs the jasmine dragon where zuko works after school w/ katara 

Knows every single kid who comes in and tries his hardest to make sure everyone feels appreciated

Former war criminal

In a book club

The white lotus? Yeah this is the white lotus

Idk if it would be the same as the show, or if its just an old person shit talking group

Zuko

Junior

His dad got full custody of him and his sister when he divorced their mom

But at 13 he got kicked out for another bullshit reason and ever since Iroh has had custody of both of the siblings

But bitch boy ozai has visitation rights but only wants to see azula

Theatre kid!!

I mean he was gonna join jrotc to appease his dad but he figured his shit out before he really joined

A republican turned leftist

Hes queer he just doesnt know which label to use

Himbo rights

He and katara are best friends idgaf about ships but they are bros

orchestra kid! (yes this is me self projecting bc we have similar trauma) 

Violist 

Teachers have no idea what to do with him bc on one hand he's very reclusive and on the other his sister has the worst opinions so they don't know

Katara

Sophomore 

Still the mom friend but this time she goes to therapy

Bc she literally raised her brother after her mother died?? And then became a parental figure to her FRIENDS???

Biggest political activist, genuinely does her best at educating herself and others about civil injustices

Also really obsessed with cults and true crime

Choir kid

She takes AP history, english, and second language classes

Is trying her hardest in math and sciences

Huge stuffed animal collection

Student council vice president

she originally ran for president but jets gang voted him in as a joke

The teachers pet

Swim team bitches

Best friends with the school janitors

This is my au so fuck off she and zuko are chaotic friendgroup parents and annoying best friends i love them

and maybe something more???

 who fucking knows theres a betting pool in the white lotus and so far aang is winning 

Sokka

Junior

Bisexual

Gym and History teachers LOVE him

On the swim team and the fishing team

Started crying when he took his drivers test

Goes to gsa w/ toph and loses his fucking mind

He's the reason suki’s car is disgusting

In all advanced/ap classes in math and science

Was the kid who carries a portable speaker around until suki put him in his place

Still has to use his hands to figure out left and right

Yue

Technically she doesn't go to school with them she goes to a nearby private school

She met the gang at a football game and has been invited to every group outing since

Junior!!

Very invested in world politics

When she joins the group at school events she ends up making friends with all the staff

Debate team kid!!!

She's not a rule breaker she just knows their limitations ;)

at one point missed school for like 2 months and everyone thought she died

turns out it was just fucking pneumonia and sokka is one dirty liar

Suki

oh? you mean yue’s best friend bc we dont respect pitting women against each other in this household?

Junior

Bisexual icon!!!

Oh god what sport would she do??

Probably basketball??

Or she would just do martial arts outside of school

And have a ‘female empowerment’ club or somethin

100% believes in self government in society and that the current gov exists purely on the theory that all humans are inherently evil

Bitch for bernie

Her car is DISGUSTING

She asks if she can hit peoples juul and then throws it in the trash

The gym coaches really like her but she fucking hates them

Is very close with her school counselor??

She never wants to run but she keeps getting elected to homecoming court

Toph

Freshman 

Former homeschool bitch

Joined the wrestling team and the fishing team??

She doesn't even like fishing she just thinks it's hilarious 

Very good a pottery and that's her arts credit

She and iroh have lunch together every thursday

If she catches wind of you putting gum on desks they will find your body in a ditch

She makes sokka and suki take her to prom 

She hates it she just likes to fuck with people at prom

Sometimes she just tells people she doesn't believe in something bc she cant see it

has been wearing the same sandles for the past 3 years bc “they’re reliable”

Cryptid hunter

Goes to gsa bc its better than any fucking reality tv show

Has nearly burnt the house down making ramen

[onlyfortheplot]

Can I hit him? With a knife?

S/O with a rude, idiotic ex who insults them in front of their boyfriends. 

Pairing: Bokuto x Reader, Kageyama x Reader

Warning: Slight Language, mentions of NSFW, Violence (in Kageyama’s), toxic ex

A/N: THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE 100 FOLLOWERS!! ITS AMAZING AND NICE TO KNOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE MY WORK! I’m not going to do an event unitl after SHIPTEMBER! Especially since SHIPTEMBER are full blown fics! Anyway thanks and hope you enjoy!!!! Asks are CLOSED for SHIPTEMBER.

If you had known, you would be seeing you ex at the theater, you would had eagerly missed your last to watch the movie. Even though it was the movie you had always wanted to see.

Even worse, you were sure that you had already caught his eye. You clung to Bokuto’s arm, tugging it to make him look at you.

“Y/N?” He looked down at you with wide eyes, a grin plastered onto his face, “Sup?” Your eyes widened as you caught sight of your ex making his way. Towards you. You grimaced. You did not want see him.

Especially from the way it ended. You shivered at the thought of seeing him again.

“Babe?” he asked again, following your direction of vision, he stiffened under your grasp, his smile flickering. “Oh,” he softly said, as your ex was walking towards you. 

“Y/N,long time, no see!” Bokuto pushed you behind him slightly, blocking your ex from seeing you. You could act dumb, pretend you didn’t know him, but you were pretty sure that would be useless.

“Who are you!” Bokuto asked, narrowing his eyes as your ex scoffed at him.

“So you’re the dude she left me for,” he laughed, as if that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard, “Y/N, its the muscles isn’t it. You always loved my muscles when we dated.” You blushed at the statement.

You had pretended to like his non-existent muscles, merely just brush his ego. You were a stupid person, all those months ago, but now. Now you didn’t want anything to do with him.

“Bo, lets go”. you whispered to him, tugging on his arm, “Please,” But, he didn’t budge, just looking down at your ex, who was a few inches shorter, and grinning.

“What? Y/N, I just wanna talk.“ He gave your boyfriend a big smirk, “I’m sure she wants to.“ You tried not to roll your eyes. 

“No, I don’t think so.“ He turned around, looking at you with adoration in his eyes, “Do you, babe?“ You shook your head, immediately. No. Never

“See, sorry, but she doesn’t want to talk.“ he gave your ex a big smile, clasping your hand in his, as he made a move to leave.

“So this is the trash you left me for!“ The grin blew of Bokuto’s face as he turned around.

“Your following him like your his little — “

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence, if I were you!“ Bokuto smiled, a dark smile, “Anyway, have a good day!“ It sounded more like a wish for a horrible day, as the words rolled from Bokuto’s mouth.

“Come baby, I want to get some buttery popcorn,“ He gave you a soft smile, clasping your hand tighter, “And, then there’s those small candies, I wanna buy. And also the— “

You looked up to your boyfriend, tugging his hand again, he looked down as he smiled warmly, tilting his head.

“I love you,“ you murmured, throwing your hands over his neck, not bothering with the fact people were watching.

You could feel his smile on your neck, softly huffing warm air, as he grasped your waist, and heaving you slightly in the air.

“Me too, babe!“ his lips tickled your neck. You giggled. I love you

When you were in grade school, your skirt had fallen down. Luckily, you were wearing shorts underneath, but still. It was awkward. 

A few years later, in middle school, you had chucked a book at your teacher. “To hit a bee,” you had said, as you sat in the principal’s office. 

The in high school you had accidentally insulted someone as you rejected them. “I just don’t like you, you know.” You still blushed at the thought.

But, now. Oh right now was probably the most awkward moment in all your 21 years.  

Hand in hand with boyfriend, you waved awkwardly at the man who came joking towards them. Kageyama stiffened around your hand, you gave him an apologetic glance.

“Y/N, babe, how are you?“ You cringed at the pet name, not even bothering to see Kageyama’s face. It would be one of anger, if you had looked. 

“Hey...“ you trailed off, as he tried to give you a hug, you side-stepped, the second Kageyama pushed you out of the way.

“Bro, just let me hug your sister!“ he huffed. Kageyama gave him an incredulous look. You looked nothing like him, almost every feature of your face contrasting his own.

“Are you stupid?“ he asked, pushing you behind him. You peeked from behind his shoulder. 

“No!“ he puffed his chest, almost proud, “I gradated high school!“

Tobio, tilted his head, annoyed and confused, “That’s not much of an achievement.” You pinched his side, warning him to be a little nicer.

“So, Y/N, is this your...“ 

“Boyfriend.“ you said, wrapping yourself onto his arm, pressing your chest against him in proof, “In love. The whole thing.“

“Oh, how much did she pay you?” he joked to Tobio, who glared at him angrily. Sparks flew in his blue eyes as he scowled.

“Just what are you saying.“

“I’m saying that this thing isn’t worth much of your time,“ he laughed at his own comment, “She’s not bad in bed, though, Maybe that’s why you keep her.“ You burrowed your face in his arm, groaning.

You mentally prayed that Kageyama would ignore the comment and leave. 

“Shut up you — “

“Let’s go, Kageyama.“ you interrupted, not wanting to be the reason he gets hurt, “Please.“ He looked into your anxious eyes and then back at the man.

“Fine.“ he clipped, dragging you with him as started to walk away.

“That’s right. Run away you wuss.“ Oh no. Kageyama whirled around, dropping your arm, as he swung a sharp punch to his jaw. 

He guttered in pain, clenching his face.

“You crazy—“ he winced as Kageyama raised his hand, only your weak grasp on his wrist stopping him.

“He just insulted you.“ he hissed, looking at you.

“Please, Tobio, this is our day!“ He huffed a small response, dropping his hand and giving the man an intense look. 

“Tobio, what was that,“ you let out a breath, one you didn’t know you had held, “That was — “

“I’m sorry,“ he muttered, pulling you in by the waist, “if I scared you.“

“I was going to say unnecessary, yet badass.“ you retorted, holding his face in your hands,”But, thanks Tobio.“

He pressed a kiss, on your palms, his breath ghosting over your wrists.

“I love you, Y/N.“ he mumbled, “Not just because of you in bed — although I — “

“Tobio, leave it.“ He gave a small smile.You pecked his lips.

“I love you too, okay.“

“You have bad taste in men.“ 

“...“

“Expect me.“

“...“

“Y/N? You just said you loved me.“

You sighed, hooking an arm around his own, and dragging him away. “Let’s go home, Tobio.”

[nadezhda-wexler]

A Moment In Time, Again and Again

Hello @xoxobuckybarnes, It is I, your Summer Fic Exchange writer for @b99fandomevents.  Thank you for all your amazing prompts, but I ended up choosing “The Squad after ten years”. I really hope you enjoy it.

Also a few points:

 1) The whole story is non-linear. It’s like a series of snapshots. It’s related, but chronologically the don’t really make sense

2) It is smut adjacent? Implied smut? Idk, It’s just a few lines because honestly, it’s my first time writing anything like that

3) There might be some spelling errors and grammatical error, sorry if they put a damper on your experience

4) Thank you @b99fandomevents for giving this chance

5) MOST IMPORTANTLY: I hope you enjoy it.

There were many reasons Amy thought that might bring the squad together- well, mainly one- Scully dying (the man was already decaying when she was in the precinct), but this was not it. In fact, this was the opposite of it.

  She reads the sign again, still wondering if she dreamt it up. But nope. Norm Scully and Cindy Shatz were indeed getting married. 

  Amy walks into her old turf: Shaw’s Bar. She feels like she stepped into another universe, everything is different, but somehow, the same. It’s the place she came to right after her wedding. The stools are different and the bar more worn, but the place still feels warm like her wedding night. The back door leads right to the alley where she once tried to conceive (that was a low point) and judging by the fact the Hitchcock is standing right outside the bathroom with Scully nowhere in sight, she guesses even the bathroom smells (stinks) the same. 

  Her eyes sweep over the room, she can see Rosa and Gina huddles together and she already feels bad for their victim, Holt and Kevin are talking to Terry- it never stops amusing her seeing the very passionate Captain Jeffords squared against impassive Retd Captain Holt and Kevin. Charles is haranguing the caterers, when she hears a voice from behind: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

They had just gotten into the airport- Jake is bringing all their luggage while she is trying to get her children to calm down. While Maya knows everyone in the squad, Mac has lived with them more. So Mac has decided to fill in the blanks. His stories are wild and absolutely untrue and Maya is hanging onto each word. She was looking to see where her husband was when Maya suddenly tugged her hand and asked in wonder “Did Daddy really catch a thief by sending Mac in undercover?” “No. Your daddy never sent Mac undercover because he isn’t a cop and he is a baby”. “Well, I am not a baby and dad did do that, he just didn’t tell you”

 “What didn’t I tell your mom?”Jake joins them, luggage in tow. “That you sent me undercover to catch that thief” “Mac”, Jake says with fake indignation. “You weren’t supposed to tell that. It was our secret”  Mac’s eyes has that same mischievous glint she has seen a million times on her husband’s face as he says he told her to maya and launches into his story. They’re loading their luggage into the cart when Jake’s phone buzzes. “That’s Charles and he has already called me 5 times and messaged me a lot. I stopped counting after 10”, Jake says. “Kids, your Uncle Charles is waiting. You know how he gets when you are late!”, he adds.

  Mac, without any prompt, holds his sister's hands, so as to not lose her, still continuing with the  stories of his feats, she’s sure, without missing a beat. Her heart swells as she watches her kids, Mac being a protective older brother and Maya holding onto his hands and words. Her husband’s hand slips into hers as he asks “You ready to go?” She couldn’t be happier.

"Captain Santiago"

"Captain Holt! Hi!" Apparently even his retirement hasn't made Santiago less flustered. He won't deny there is a part of him that enjoys the reverence. "How was your first year running a precinct, Captain?" He enjoys calling her Captain almost as much as she enjoys hearing it. 

"Great! Super cool. Fantastic. Dope. No diggity no doubt" He briefly wonders if she had a stroke. 

"Okay, you saw right through me. It's not been easy. Manhattan is completely different from Brooklyn. The squad is also new, they all just transferred about a month or two before me. So they don't even know each other so everyone is walking on tiptoes. And they follow everything I say, but don't really see me as a leader."

"Well, the first precinct I ran, I had a detective who only cared about closing cases, everyone in the squad thought I was a robot, my two best detectives had a bet with each other, my Sargent was chained to the desk and the office administrator was Gina and I had Hitchcock and Scully"

"You are right. I shouldn't complain. I don't have a Hitchcock and Scully"

"No. But that was not what I was trying to say. Once I got closer to all of them, I realised that the detective who did not care, cares not just care about closing cases, the bet made both detectives better, my Sargent saved my life, Gina is still Gina and that being a robot doesn't make me a worse Captain. What you need to do Santiago, is trust your squad. You have a unique opportunity to build this team. But you cannot do that without unflinching trust. So trust them. Help them and let them help you. And if you ever feel the need, please do not hesitate to contact me. I might have retired from the force, but not from being your mentor"

"Wow! Thank you so much Captain. That means the world to me." Some people might call Amy Santiago a teacher's pet in an attempt to mock her, but the truth is she is a teacher's pet because she is a brilliant student. She revels in learning and enjoys implementing her knowledge even more. She is a teacher's pet not just because she is adept at brown nosing- which she admittedly does sometimes, but because she will be the student that teachers can one day be proud of. He might tell her this if it did not make her explode and also because Amy Santiago understands him, so he just smiles.

  They had barely reached the terminal before Charles pounced on Jake. Amy and the kids barely had the time to move away from being hit. Genevieve and Amy unload the luggage while the kids catch up. It takes the men one whole minute before they let go. 

  "Genevieve, thank you so much for taking the kids", Amy says.

  "Of course Nikolaj loves hanging out with Mac and Maya. It's my pleasure to watch them."

  "Still, thank you! And Jake-"

  "NO!", Charles almost pushes her down trying to get between Jake and her. "You get him every other day Amy, you cannot poach him away today."

  "Charles, I am not trying to poach him away. I just wanted to tell him to enjoy the night and have fun. Also you visited not three weeks ago and you guys FaceTime constantly."

  "FaceTiming is not the same Amy! It has been 28 days, 14 hours aaand three minutes since I have been covered in Jake's musk"

  “Ugh! Alright", Jake says. "Charles, why don't you take these two bags and load them into the cab while Amy and I bring the rest?"

  "Okay.", Charles says almost defeatedly. "Don't be late."

  Jake turns to her. "So what are your plans again?"

  "I will go to the hotel, have a long bath after which Rosa and Gina will come pick me up for the bachelorette party after which both will crash with me because according to Gina quote if I am going to stand next to you as a bridesmaid, you need to at least be six and you need help with that unquote"

  "I still can't believe Cindy asked you and Gina to be one of the bridesmaids"

  "Well, we did help them get together."

  "Yeah. And as this goes on, I will be with Charles hoping whatever he made is edible and missing you terribly"

  "Stop being a sap Peralta. And have fun tonight"

  "It’s Peralta- Santiago, FYI. And I will 100% have fun, but I'm still gonna miss you. I gotta go before Charles comes back. I love you"

  "I love you too."

   It was a tiring night and Amy just wants to take her makeup off and she really wants to be out of this dress for more than one reason. As much as she loves her kids- and that is a lot- she is glad that they wanted to stay at Holt's place. The kids love their Fauxpas (they are her kids, of course they know what faux pas means and more importantly, when Mac very proudly said it, both Kevin and Holt agreed that "it is a humorous wordplay"). Mac can never get enough of Holt's stories and Maya loves the Classics. She can recite Odyssey from memory. And both of them get away with things that only they (and maybe her husband) can- some stains of orange juice, mud in the house, a few broken glasses- all.of these are forgiven because it's their fauxchildren's doing (it doesn't work as well, but Holt was proud and Maya laughed and so it stuck). And after two days of wedding prep, she really needs a day without being worried about someone breaking something or constantly screaming. And even more than that with the way her husband has been looking at her all night, she really, really needs to be the one screaming. 

   She is halfway through taking off her makeup when Jake, sans jacket, (but with tie and damn, her husband looks fine) walks in. He puts his hand on her waist. "Babe, do you know how hot you look?"

  "Oh is it the running mascara that does it for you?"

  He pulls her in closer and from his look she knows that the screaming she was hoping is definitely happening. He says in a low voice  into her ear, "No. It's you." It's like each word he says vibrates inside her. "You having been driving me crazy all day. You in that blue dress. You knowing exactly how amazing your butt looks in that dress. You taking control when everything was falling apart. It's you Ames who does it for me."

  She turns around and pulls him by the tie and kisses him hard and he's lifting her up onto the counter, kissing every bit of her as he lowers his head between her legs. She thanks the stars that this is her life partner.

  (And later she'll counting the same as Jake twists his wrist in the way that he knows will bring over the edge.)

  Every time Jake sees his wife, he falls in love with her a little more. Which he wouldn't have believed possible sixteen years ago. She hasn't spotted him, so he takes her in for a minute. Every time he steps into Shaw's Bar, he remembers walking in as a newly wed couple. Sure afterwards the evening did take a turn, but until then it was perfect. Except before that when there was a bomb threat and an actual bomb and Teddy proposing like a thousand times. Wow, his wedding day was a mess. But still it was one of the happiest days of his life because even through all that, he was hitched to the most beautiful woman in the world. Who is now watching everyone waiting for him. 

  So he walks up to her, drinks in hand and says, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

  "Ooh , Casablanca", she takes a glass. "Yes. Charles and I watched it yesterday. We didn't even know what was going on half the time because Charles was crying and making noises half the time."

  "Oh, just Charles?" "Okay fine I was crying a little too. Okay a lot. Fine I was the one who was crying the most. Happy?"

  "Oh babe. It's cute that you think you should say that to me as if you didn't watch it for the first time with me"

 "Oh yeah. Well, I tried. Oh before you ask, the kids are all at the Jeffords' house and Cagney and Lacey are keeping an eye on them. And the best part: without a babysitter's fee."

  "Wow, I really missed friends' kids doing things for us for free. Remember when we babysat Cagney and Lacey for like three days straight, without even thinking of money?"

  "And if we were to go by the amount our babysitters charge, we'd have enough money to buy Orangina for a whole month." 

  They move to the counter, perched on the barstools. "You know Captain Holt just called me Captain"

  "He's been calling you a Captain for a year babe, you know, cause you've been a Captain for a year!" 

  "I know! Can you believe?!" 

  "Of course, because you are awesome and amazing"

  "Oh, and he also said that he's still my mentor and that I can call him for advice any time."

   "Wow, obviously today was a big day for you"  

  "I know" Her whole face is lit up. Her cheeks are flushed, from the drinks and the running around making things happen, from the many catching up and from the fact that her mentor called her Captain. Once again he's a little bit more in love. His eyes catch Cindy and Scully awkwardly shuffling around trying to dance. Hitchcock is trying to hide the fact that he's disappointed, but doing a pretty bad job of it. He sees Charles and Genevieve almost having sex which apparently is how they dance. The music changes to something familiar and his wife looks amazing and he wants to dance with her very much. "Amy Santiago- Peralta, may I have this dance? And don't worry, it's reinforced shoes so I won't even know if you step on me." "Ha ha Peralta- Santiago. You are my teacher, so if I'm stepping on your toes, it's your own fault"

  "Wow, blaming the victim." 

  They are on the dance floor, her hand in his, hand on his shoulder, his on her waist. He can see every little detail on her face, the mascara running a bit, lipstick that's smudged. Her perfectly set hair, falling around the edges. She's beautiful. 

    "I wonder why all the greatest love stories are so tragic"

  "Because that's what makes them great. The fact that their love is so powerful that it's unattainable."

  "Well I think that it's stupid."

  "What?"

  "That the greatest love of our life is the one we don't have. It's categorically untrue. My favourite love story has a happy ending anyway"

  "You mean Morticia and Gomez?"

  "That's my second favourite"

  "Well, what's your first?"

  "Ours, of course" She smiles and that's all he ever wants to see.

  Her hand is in his, the other moves to his chest. His are around her waist circling, as he pulls her closer and she rests her cheek on shoulder. He buries his nose in her hair and she nuzzles into his neck. If he'd imagined a perfect life sixteen years ago, not even in his wildest dreams he'd have thought he could feel like this. 

[nad-zeta]

Hello, hello, hello! I loved your head canons about the warlords' ages and I wonder if you can write head canons of the warlords' profession, not in modern AU but the warlords deciding to go to the future with MC and well, the profession they would have!! Thank you so muuuuuuuuuch. 💕

Hi hi, love! 🌻Thank you sooo much for the ask! This is legit my third time writing this up, the first time I did this, I forgot to save the word file, and the second time my laptop crashed right after I finished writing it😭....... But finally, here it is🌻! I’m so happy you liked my HC, I hope you enjoy this one, and I hope you have a good day! ❤🔥

Headcanon: Warlords and their future jobs 

Nobunaga

I think the second Nobunaga arrives in the future he would become a businessman

He would start off small from your apartment, but within the month he will turn into the biggest corporate leader, having thousands of people working under him

He would spend the first few weeks just chilling in the future with you but soon start to get bored

He would also, low key feel like its wrong for you to be supporting both of you

He does some research on stock trading and then starts playing around with your life savings

Good thing for you, Nobunaga is a clever man, and he manages to triple the money in a week by playing around on the stock market

He uses the income made, to start a small business, which soon starts growing at the speed of light

This man will not be able to work for someone so I can definitely see him being the CEO of his own company

He will be the ruler of the corporate world in no time

It’s pretty funny how in the span of a year he has earned the old name he once carried in the past “Devil king.”

Masamune

This is a no brainer

Obviously he will be a chef

I think he would start off small like finding a job at a local café but then soon take the culinary world by storm

It started off when the two of you went to eat at one of your favourite cafes

He enjoyed the food so much, he couldn’t help but pop into the kitchen to thank the chef (◕‿◕✿)

The kitchen was absolute mayhem and the chef had told him that he was very short-staffed

And that is how Masa got his first future job

He worked in the café for a few months picking up experience and learning to use all the futuristic equipment

From there, he bounced around from place to place learning all sorts of cool culinary techniques

I think at the end of the day he will most likely open his own restaurant

One that specializes in authentic Japanese cuisine

Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if he opened a branch of the restaurant in Nobunagas company

Mitsunari

I can see this cutie angel being a teacher or professor

I think he would be a great academic and educator

I can actually, see this boi being a professor teaching all sorts of subjects from statistics to the art of war ヾ(●ε●)ノ

The first few weeks of being in the future with you, he spends in the library absorbing as much knowledge as possible

One day while he is sitting and reading up on every and any subject, he overhears a group of struggling professors at a nearby table

Apparently they had been trying to solve a certain equation for months now but to no luck (ﾉಠдಠ)ﾉ︵┻━┻

Mitsunari walks up to the group and cheerily asks if he can be of some assistance (◕ᴗ◕✿)

Usually the group would just laugh and chase the random stranger away but desperate times…

They hand Mitsunari the equation and this clever boi takes one look at it and starts writing out the answer

The math professors were sister shook… Like he didn’t even freaken, need a calculator (◯Δ◯∥)

They legit offered him a job as a lecturer and he soon becomes the students’ favourite absent minded professor (◕‿◕✿)

I think he will most definitely also publish a few research papers as well and contribute to the body of knowledge in all sorts of subjects

Ieyasu

Also super easy he will either be a vet or a doctor although I am leaning more towards veterinarian cause of his love for animals

He will most likely join Mitsunari in university, cause he is a super-smart porcupine he will become a certified vet in no time

Also spends the first few weeks of being in the future at the library absorbing as much medical knowledge as possible

He gets the idea of becoming a vet after watching a bunch of animal rescue shows on the national geographic channel 

While you are at work he starts volunteering at an animal rescue during the day to pass the time

That is where he met one of the vets that help out at the rescue in their free time, he legit liked Ieyasu so much he took him on as an apprentice, while Ieyasu was busy completing his studies

Later on he will most likely have his own veterinary practise

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he starts his own animal rescue on the side as well

Within two years the two of you move to live on a big plot with all yours and Ieyasus rescued pets

Hideyoshi

Hideyoshi could go one of two ways hehe 

If Nobunaga comes to the future with yall then you best be sure this boy is ganna help Nobunaga rule the corporate world

Buuuut if it’s just the two of you, I 100% see him becoming a primary school teacher

Like he would just be so good with kids

He is basically trademarked as mama hen anyways, so why not put him in a primary school to teach lil chics

I think he would be such a good teacher, supportive, kind, and patient

He has enough practise lecturing Nobunaga for bad behaviour, so he might as well put that to good use correcting the behaviours of troublesome kids

He gets into teaching when your sister drops her kid off at your apartment to babysit

You had work, so the only one that could care for the child was, the mother hen himself

He sat and taught the little boy how to read and write, this impressed your sister so much that she recommended him for the position of substitute English teacher at her child’s school

At first Hideyoshi worked as a substitute teacher, but soon he became the designated aftercare teacher and within a few months he was teaching his own class

The children absolutely adored him although they would sneak behind the school building to eat candy cause, they didn’t want to get yet another lecture from Yoshi on the negative health consequences of their favourite sugary treats

Mitsuhide

100% detective (¬‿¬)

I mean can you just imagine how sexy he would look in a trenchcoat… like OMW (づ￣ ³￣)づ

The first few weeks of spending time with you in the future you introduce him to CSI and Law and order and he is super fascinated

You are so amazed by the fact that he can figure out who the perp is 5 minutes into the show

The crime in your neighbourhood was pretty bad, but since Mitsuhide’s arrival something crazy happened 

The crime seemed to disappear. 

Like no more robberies, no more drunks walking up and down the street, just peaceful quiet calm neighbourhood 

One day as the two of you were buying snacks for your CSI bingeing session, two armed men came into the convenience store 

You looked over at your lover who seemed completely unphased, like one of the robbers were legit pointing a gun in his face, yet Mitsuhide looked uninterested

Within a blink of an eye, Mitushide managed to disarm the men and tie them up 

The police were hella impressed with the way Mitsuhide handled things 

He helped the police department solve a few petty crimes in your neighbourhood and soon they started calling him up, to help them crack some difficult cases

After a while he becomes the most famous and popular detective in town

The government low key recruits him as an agent to help them

Kenshin

Again I don’t see Kenshin working for anyone

I think the first few weeks the two of you arrive, bunnies start following him around

Looks like the bunny lord is never safe from the love of the cute fluffy creatures 

The two of you will definitely be living on a bunny farm

Kenshin, although he doesn’t admit it, has a soft spot for the cute fluffy creatures 

So the bunny farm is actually more of a bunny rescue although that’s just his part-time job

As he adapts to the future, I can see the farm transforming into being a bunny and sake farm

Lol Kenshin loves Sake so much 

He knows how good sake should taste, so naturally he starts to make his own and sell it

This starts one day when a friend of yours invites the two of you to a sake tasting

The instructor was so impressed with Kenshin’s keen sense of taste that they got to talking and before Kenshin knew it, he had two people willing to sponsor him, to start his own sake brand

Naturally he never backs down from a challenge

He actually goes on to become the largest Sake producer and bunny rescue

Yukimura

I can legit see this boy doing something active like being a firefighter or gym instructor- cause lets be real this boi is ripped

Or actually maybe both

The first few weeks of being in the future he managed to save 2 peoples lives by fearlessly running in a burning building

The firefighters were legit so impressed they decided to take him on as an intern

He got some of the perks, i.e. free gym membership to stay fit

That’s when he started giving out a few pieces of advice to the people around him

“Like seriously dummy, don’t you even know how to do a proper squat, u legit ganna hurt your back if ya keep doing it like that.”

The members of the gym appreciated his advice so much, some of them started paying him to become their instructor, and soon the gym decided to hire him part-time

Now when Yuki isn't running into burning buildings saving people he is training people in the gym 

Best be sure he is gonna drag you to the gym with him

Shingen

Hehe I’ll admit I’m not too sure what this boi would get up to in the future

I think the first few weeks will be spent with you just adapting and getting to know everything

I think he would continue on with his carpentry

He kinda starts to notice your apartment is furnished in super cheap furniture

You tell him you are just a student in this time and don’t really have money to buy anything fancy

He buys a few cheap pieces of wood and starts furnishing your apartment with the most beautifully crafted furniture

Some of your friends visit the two of you and notice the remarkable craftsmanship and start commissioning him to make them some furniture

After a while he becomes the best carpenter in town

Goes on to open up a shop selling the different furniture he makes

I can see him hiring people in need, and that need a fresh start and then teaching them the trade to be able to make something of themselves

I can also see him volunteering at rescues and fostering bear cubs cause he misses his so much

I hope you enjoyed this dear and thanks again for the ask! ❤❤🔥🌻

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #365

“i’m numb to the pleasure, but still feel the pain”

Are there palm trees where you live? No. Do you own any Hello Kitty stuff? If so, what? No. What’s your favorite flavor of ice pop? Blue raspberry. Do you like animal print? What’s your favorite print? Not really. I think animal "print" only really looks nice on, well, animals. Does your dad have any facial hair? Yes. What do you think of foot tattoos? They're not my favorite, but some look nice. I myself wanna get "11121" (a Silent Hill 4 reference) "carved" onto the top of my feet. Do you like bugs or do they scare you? Some do. I've gotten more into them though as my passion for tarantulas expanded to other inverts, like mantises. Ever seen the movie Chernobyl Diaries? If so, did you like it? If not, do you want to see it? I haven't, but I'd be willing to watch it. I find the whole Chernobyl incident to be extremely fascinating, so I'd probably like it. Did your senior class in high school have a class trip? Where did you go? Bitch I wish. :/ Do you have an instagram account? What’s your username? Yeah, two: brittanymphotography and eldritch_obscura. Do you like Gir from Invader Zim? I think he's cute. Do you or would you ever own a gun? Why or why not? No thanks. If I'm not mistaken, I can't legally obtain one anyway because of my suicidal history. I'm fine with having like, pepper spray and a bat handy by the bed, lol. If it was offered for free by a professional, would you get your hair dyed platinum blonde? For FREE? Fuck yeah I'd try it. What do you normally order at Dunkin Donuts? A chocolate frosted donut, and sometimes a plain/cake one. Do you watch football? Favorite teams? No. What about WWE? Favorite wrestler? That's an even bigger no. Funniest thing you’ve ever heard a teacher say? Okay so this is hard to actually explain and it be funny. I had this amazing, kinda charismatically awkward history teacher in high school, and when talking about some legal stuff I can't remember, she deadass quoted "Without Me" by Eminem ("if the FCC won't let me be...") like so casually and everyone fucking died, just from knowing her and her personality. It was just very unexpected. Do you wear a lot of makeup? What do you think of girls who do? No. Girls can wear however much makeup they please. Do you have a savings account? Are you good at saving money? No. I can't really answer the second question because of me never having a steady flow of money. Would you rather have a relationship or casual flings? Relationship, 100%. I would never have a casual fling. Do you know anyone that’s part Native American? Yes. Who was your favorite Spice Girl? I remember none of them. Have you ever tried to poison someone? Yikes, no. Have you ever saved anyone from a fire? No. Have you ever had a seizure? No. I've had sudden spasms, but never a full-on seizure. Have you ever had an out-of-body experience? No. Have you ever had a black eye? No. Have you ever had a tooth pulled? No. Have you ever had pneumonia? I have not. Have you ever had tubes put in your ears? Yes, as a baby. Have you ever been shot with an arrow or bullet? Thank god no. Have you ever had kidney stones? No. Have you even been bitten by an venomous animal? No. Have you ever thought about being in the military? Fuck no. I wouldn't qualify, anyway. Have you ever been sedated or put under anesthesia? Yeah. Have you ever used shrooms or any other hallucinogen? No. What upcoming event are you most looking forward to? I can barely believe my tat appointment is almost here lakjsd;ajwlej;rwe What was the last song you heard? I'm currently listening to Motionless In White's synthwave edit of "Voices" they just put out. I looooove it. What time did you wake up today? Maybe like, 5:20? Is there a vase in the room you’re in? No. Have you recently been insulted? Yes. Compared to someone else of your age and gender; do you feel that you have a lot to offer someone? N O P E How many days a week do you work? I'm unemployed. Is there ONE person you feel more connected to than others? Yes. What is your worst relationship quality? I obsess over the person probably leaving, so especially at the beginning, I'm paranoid and distrustful. I want to emphasize that I'm not the asshole that snoops through her partner's phone out of distrust, but still, the fear is just there. What was your most recent serious injury? A serious one? Man idk. I've had a lot or negligible and smaller ones, but a big one... *shrug* What were you most recently happy about? I was happy to see "synthwave" in this video title, haha. Are you a fan of cake? Oh yes. What is your favorite insect? Butterflies. Is your town beautiful? Ew, no. Do you prefer the city or the country? THE COUNTRY. Have you ever witnessed an eclipse? Lots of lunar eclipses. Do you wear lipstick often? No. You’re going on a date with someone you like. What would you like to do? Considering the pandemic, probably just like... grab fast food and sit and eat at a park. That'd be cute. You’re hanging out with your best friend. What would you like to do? It'd be nice to get back to Avatar: The Last Airbender while hanging out with Doris (her beardie that I adore), too. Have you ever written or considered writing a play? No. Who is considered the “black sheep” of your family? Why? Ha, me. To begin, I like all the "dark" stuff, I'm the unreligious one, the one with political beliefs unlike most of my family, I'm not doing what I should be... Why is your favorite movie your favorite movie? It's just a masterpiece. I love love love animals, African one especially, and I find it to be an amazing story of courage and dedication to family. Plus I shamelessly love all the songs, haha. What’s an odor you hate? GASOLINE. FUCK. What’s a sound you hate? Fingernails on a chalkboard. Or screech-y noises in general. If money was no issue, what would you like to do right now? I was initially gonna say go to Yellowstone, but fuck that hot weather this time of year. So, this brings us back to Venus' terrarium; I'd want to get a new one and better materials. What’s something you’re so good at that you take pride in your skill? I wouldn't say I'm "so good" at it, but I do take pride in my writing. What’s something you’d never ever dare to ask another person? Hm. Under ANY circumstance, I guess "are you pregnant?" There's almost like... no situation where I'd be comfortable asking somebody that. What’s the worst/best thing you’ve done without your parents knowing? We're not getting into that lmao. Do you know anyone who has a hearing deficit? No. What is one thing stopping you from becoming a veterinarian? I could never stand seeing so many hurt and dying animals and still be okay at the end of the day. Are there any opinions you used to have even a few years ago that you look back on and think, “I can’t believe I ever thought that way”? THERE ARE!!!!!!!!!!! A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last time you cried, what was wrong? I fell and skinned my knees when stepping over this barrier Mom made to keep the damn dog out of the hallway and thus my room to fuck with the cat and eat his food. I previously twisted my ankle, fell backwards, and had one other accident with it despite moving stuff, and I didn't cry from pain, just massive frustration. I want this dog GONE. Do you like multi-choice tests or tests you have to write out? Multiple choice. Who last called you ‘beautiful’? Couldn't tell ya, bud. Have you ever caught a firefly? Yeah, I did that lots as a kid. Do you own any camouflage? No. What’s the stinkiest pet you’ve ever had? Uhhh I dunno. Have you ever been on the news? For what? No. Have you ever seen one of your friends get arrested? No. Do you put sprinkles on anything? No, I hate sprinkles. How do you like your steak? Medium well. Long hair on guys: yes or no? Yaaaaaaaas. Is there a basement in your house? If so, what is it used for? No. When was the last time you started a new medication? It's been a while. What is your favourite type of nut? Cashews, I think. Where did you eat the best pizza you’ve ever eaten in your life? I'm so fuckin basic, like my genuine answer is Domino's lmaooo. Did you ever watch The Rugrats when you were a kid? Yeah, I loved that show. I even had the two video games; I was obsessed with the first one in particular. Do you know anyone who was adopted? Yes. Do your parents’ professions match their college degrees? No. Do you write shopping lists on paper or just remember it in your head? I don't do the shopping, so. But I would definitely need to write it down. Have you ever used a lawnmower? No. Have you ever consumed so much alcohol that you vomited? No. Can you tie balloons? No, actually. My hands are just too shaky. When was the last time you were at a pet store? A few weeks ago when we got rats for Venus. Ugh, it is SO overpriced; they come in a box of two, and as I feed her twice a month, it's honestly quite a bit of money. Like if I remember correctly, it's around $16. FOR TWO. SMALL. RATS. I've recommended we just buy them in bulk NOT from an overpriced chain pet store, but the problem with that is then we have *too* many, and the nutritional value of frozen rats apparently does degrade with time, so I don't want to feed my snake poor food. So it's just an annoying thing we have to do. Have you ever taken a pregnancy test? Not like, an at-home one. I've been tested before surgery, but that was just a safety protocol. Does your ex still think about you? "The" ex, probably not. Honestly, who is the last person to tell you that they love you? My mom. What is the last state you were in besides your own? Virginia. Would you go down to see the Titanic if given the chance? Man, that's kinda tempting. Maybe. It'd be super cool. Have you ever seen the Hollywood sign in real life? No. Did you ever see a scorpion in the wild? No, they don't live here. Do you type the proper way? Have you ever typed on a manual typewriter? Yes to both. What was your maternal grandmother’s first name? Cecelia. Name a word that people use locally that outsiders probably can’t pronounce. Conetoe. You said it wrong.

[purplesurveys]

1142

survey by tickticktmr

Do you have a digital camera? What color is it? No, haven’t held one in years. The last digital camera we had was a bit of a magenta shade; it actually belonged to my sister but I borrowed it occasionally.

Did you like the movie Juno? It was ok, though to be honest I’ve mostly forgotten what it’s about. I remember fairly liking it but it’s not the type of movie or genre I’d rewatch.

Name something you think is way over-rated: Big Macs, which I’ve never found tasty.

Do you remember your first friend? Yes, it was a girl named Kaye that I sat with in preschool. She didn’t stay too long in my school, so I haven’t been able to reconnect.

Would you rather live with your mom, dad, a friend or on your own? On my own.

Name something your pet(s) like: Walks.

Do you listen to country music? No, I don’t.

What does the color white remind you of? Peace, serenity, doves, minimalist homes.

What show/movie/song makes you cry every time? Show: From Brooklyn Nine-Nine - either the episode where Rosa Diaz comes out as bisexual or the episode where Terry gets racially profiled.

Movie: La vita e bella.

Song: There isn’t one song that makes me cry 100% of the time, but I suppose Why We Ever by Hayley Williams had this effect on me for a time.

What was your last fight about? I spilled a drop of our dinner’s soup on the dinner table last Thursday and my mom did a sufficient job making me feel incompetent and a dumbass about it, so I was hurt by it and didn’t speak a word for the rest of the evening. Not really a fight, but y’know.

Do you text a lot? I used to not but anymore. I usually get prepaid for LTE now, not to have credits for texts.

Have you ever been screamed at by a teacher? Many times. A number of them didn’t like me for whatever reason...

Do you smile or scowl more? I definitely try to smile more, but idk for sure if that’s what I do more frequently.

Obama or Bush? Idk, maybe Obama? Considering we were colonized by the US at one point and imperialism remains to linger in my country, I generally don’t take kindly to any US president, though.

Batman or Superman? I don’t like comic books.

Are you excited about Blink 182 getting back together? I don’t follow the band so I’m not sure how recent or relevant this news is, but  generally speaking I don’t remember ever being stoked for a Blink-182 comeback in particular.

Would you rather be a teacher, a stripper or a hairdresser? I’d go with teacher, and preferably of history, so that I at least can have an hour or so to talk about my passion with other people lol.

The last person you spoke to: how many times have they made you cry? Just once.

What's your favorite kind of gum? The classic bubblegum flavor is fine with me.

Have you ever failed a class in school? Just exams, but never altogether an entire class that required me to retake.

Are you even in school? No, not anymore.

Are you taller then your best friend? No haha, I’m slightly tinier than both of them.

Are you scared of spiders? I’d be scared probably of the larger kinds, but all we get here are the super small spiders so this isn’t an issue for me for the most part.

You can't eat anything ever again except for jello or apples: which one? Probably apples. I cannot stand the texture of jelly/Jell-O, and I guess I can move past my dislike of fruits for this situation since apple is kinda decent anyway.

Have you ever cheated on anyone? No, never man.

If you answered yes to the last question, do they know about it?

Do you paint your nails often? I never do and I never have them done either.

Mascara or lipgloss? Er lipgloss I guess, since I literally don’t care how my eyelashes look.

Who’s the last person you called? I think it had been Denise, a co-worker. 

Describe the last person who sent you a text: It was just the delivery guy who brought Ysa’s gift to my place, so I don’t know enough about him to be able to give a sufficient description.

Do you ever watch TV shows or movies on YouTube? No, because for the most part they would be high- or low-pitched, in a tiny screen, sped up, zoomed in, or altogether fake. I also don’t understand why buying movies individually on YouTube is still a thing when Netflix exists for literally cheaper.

Myspace or facebook? Uh Facebook, I guess.

How old were you when you lost your first tooth? I was around 5 or 6, I think.

Have you ever embarassed yourself in front of someone you like? Yeah. But when I started dating them, fucking up in front of them became less embarrassing, of course.

Describe your hair right now: Wet and slightly dripping since I just stepped out of the shower.

Do you like it when it rains? Yes, it’s my favorite weather.

Does anyone miss you right now? I hope my friends do...but I can’t say for sure.

How many funerals have you been to? None. Just wakes.

Where's your favorite place to hang out? Depends on the vibe I’m feeling for the day and the company I’ve got.

Have you ever laughed so hard you peed in your pants? Oh gee, never.

Do you like video games? What's your favorite one? I was raised around video games and so much of my childhood was watching my kuya, dad, and a number of my uncles completing games, so I definitely hold a big appreciation and fondness for them. I never inherited any skills of my own though lmao, so I mostly watch walkthroughs; and the only video games I’ve ever met considerable progress on are Nintendo games marketed for all audiences HAHAHA.

Have you ever worn something your parents wouldn't approve of? Yeah I’ve gotten chided by my mom a handful of times, telling me to cover up with a jacket or something. But her reasoning was always men, so I’m usually able to defend myself and say that that’s not my problem and that’s something fucking men have to deal with themselves. We both know I’m right so she ends up begrudgingly letting me go out with whatever outfit I choose on that given day.

Where are your sibling(s)? They are in their respective bedrooms.

When's the last time a friend got dumped/dumped someone? September. That friend was Gabie and the dumpee was me hahahah, does that count?

Do you celebrate Valentine's day? If I have a significant other, yeah. I like keeping our activities lowkey though because from all my past experiences, malls and restaurants tend to get fully booked on February 14 and it ends up being more of a (very crowded) hassle than a celebration.

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yep.

Does it snow where you live? Never.

Have you ever wanted a pet unicorn? I never did, actually.

Would you like to work to earn money, or simply have money given to you? The latter is obviously the ideal situation, but I recognize the importance of hard work too and constantly working on my skills.

If you could be on any game show, what one would it be? Jeopardy or Family Feud.

Do you know anyone whose famous? Yes, at least locally.

Do you read those gossip magazines? I used to, lol those were my guilty pleasures back then. I still keep up with celebrity updates, but I’ve moved to social media now. I also filter which publications I consume and avoid the tabloid-y ones like Daily Mail.

Summer or winter? I’d go with winter so that I can actually experience it for once.

What do you hear right now? I’m watching an archived Facebook livestream of a senior citizen who had held a virtual piano concert to raise funds to afford his maintenance medicine. The media ate it up like crazy and it’s since gone viral, so I was able to I read about him earlier tonight. He reminds me so much of my late grandpa so I quickly searched for the finished concert on Facebook and now I have it on :)

When's the last time you saw a cousin? Around two weeks ago.

Where were you the last time you left your house? I can’t remember exactly. I think I went to Feliz...OH OK I remember now - I originally went to the nearby SM to handle an LBC delivery for work, and to stay at Starbucks for a few hours also to work. After that I went to their vape stall to buy new pods but they didn’t have any for the vape brand I use, so I went to Feliz as well to try my chances there. They ended up having a few flavors but not what I usually get, so I decided to try a new one - grape lol.

Describe the room you are in: Dark, filled with the lovely sounds of piano music, and the faint smell coming from my scented candle. Overall, light and peaceful.

What shoes did you wear today? I wore my Onitsukas when I walked Cooper this morning.

[rynhaswritersblock]

peter parker for pepper spray! | p.p.

a/n: what is this title lmao

summary: y/n lost her pepper spray, old men in new york are creepy, and peter parker just walked out of delmar's with a sandwich in hand and a kind enough heart to help out an enemy

warnings: creepy new york dude. awkward tension. i have the brain of a flightless bird eating divorce papers Anyways

+ + +

peter parker was an asshole.

something about the boy had always gotten on your nerves. the way he carried himself in the hallways, always donned in collared shirts and sweaters yet wearing a cocky smile made you want to kick him.

maybe you had anger issues.

then you two had physics together. he was teacher's pet, always getting slighty higher grades than you or tying you at a 100. sure, you sympathized a little when flash would pick on him, but those feelings would turn right back to annoyance when the boy would manage to get flash back in one way or another. especially with the way he'd smirk at you and your angry expressions; all you wanted to do was sock him in his perfect teeth. he got you riled up in a way that had your friends convinced that you really just liked him underneath and were angry about it, but that wasn't the case. he was an annoying asshole with a blabbering mouth and he knew it.

yet, as you stood there, a girl without her pepper spray being followed by a sketchy man, all about peter parker was forgotten.

especially since he'd just walked out of delmar's, not even ten feet away from you, grocery bag in hand and eyes wide as they rested on the sight of you and the man who hadn't yet seen him. peter gulps and clears his throat, eyes shifting to the man. with a sharp inhale, he steps towards you, throwing an arm around your shoulders. "hey, babe."

if it weren't for peter's surprisingly strong grip on your shoulders, you would've been frozen in place on the concrete. or punching him in the nuts. babe? what the hell is he pulling?

"i got you your favorite," he says, a bit too loud.

"thanks," you nod, confused, before leaning towards him and whispering. "what on earth are you pulling, parker?"

"did you not notice the creepy stalker? play along," he mutters quickly, throwing in a fake chuckle to which you awkwardly return.

"thanks, babe."

you cringe simultaneously. peter begins blabbering about some self defense class that you apparently had been taking, and how was it today? good? oh, you mastered roundhouse kicks? i'm so proud of you!

the whole time you had really just been absentmindedly responding, just loud and convincing enough for it to be believable to the creep. for the first time in god knows how long, you were actually thankful for peter and his inability to keep words to a minimum.

you had to admit it, though. peter parker was cute. and the grip he had on you right now? you had no idea that the kid was so built. if it weren't for his annoying self and the one test he scored higher than you on, you would be melting under his touch.

but he still sucked. right.

"i knew you'd crush it today, especially after you'd broken your instructor's nose last time. what was his name? tim? big, buff, guy? or was it the-" peter looks behinds the two of you- " okay, he's gone."

a sigh falls from your lips and you tilt your head back in relief, immediately hitting peter's arm, which was still wrapped around you. you jump, and he quickly pulls his arm away.

"sorry," he mutters.

"no, i think you just saved me from being killed."

"killed?" peter's eyes bug out. he softens, reality hitting him.  

"yeah, uh, anyways," you blurt, "i would've been fine had i not lost my pepper spray today. i normally just yell at the creeps and point the can at them; does wonders. but, um, thanks for being there, though."

peter nods slowly, eyes still wide as he takes in the information. damn. "well, i can walk you home if you need me to-"

"we're here, actually."

"oh."

the boy rocks on his feet, hands awkwardly fiddling with the plastic of his sandwich bag. a siren sounds off a few blocks away but you don't pay attention to it, opting for staring at the boy nervously, sucking in a breath. "how'd you do on the physics test today?"

"97," he quips. your eyes widen.

"holy shit," you whisper. peter watches with an amused expression as a laugh flies out of your mouth and you throw your head back, pumping your fists in victory.

"what?" peter laughs nervously. a smile quirks at his lips as you catch your breath, putting a hand over your heart.

"i got a 100. took long enough for you to slip up, parker."

"i only never slip up because you're watching," peter says, then tenses, filling with regret. me and my stupid mouth.

you grin, stomach twisting. "thank you, peter. i don't know what i would've done without you tonight. and i only slip up because you're watching," you say. you walk up the steps to your apartment building, feeling your past resentment towards the boy begin to fade away.

"wait, does that mean i make you nervous?"

you turn and shrug before swinging open the door. peter's mouth is agape, the ghost of his smile still painted on his face.

"y/n!"

+ + +

y'all know i am the Enemies To Lovers Trope's Whore i live for that shit

i love all of you to my heart's extent MWAH have a beautiful day/night/whatever and this is your reminder to go drink water!!!!!!!!!!! <3

[usagichanp]

lexthan

*rubs hands together* I was hoping someone would ask me that

This is gonna be a long one folks.

General:

Rate the Ship -  

Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let��s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - Life long partners, babey.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - I think they had crushes on each other for a while. They didn't officially say "I love you" till a few months into their relationship, but they thought it sooner.

How was their first kiss? - I wrote a lesbian Lexthan version of their first kiss, though I don't think canon Lexthan's first kiss was like that. I imagine it to be not really planned out; just like they're talking to each other in the car and lock eyes, then slowly lean in and kiss. Since they've had kisses before, it's not a catastrophe, and it's actually fairly soft.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Ethan. Wrote a whole ass fic about it.

Who is the best man/men? - I know who the best man is in my fics (it's my man Marsh, for those who have read it), but idk about the canon Ethan's best man. Maybe Danny (the Smoke Club Boy) but I'm not sure if they'd be friends enough to be his best man. He might not have one.

Who is the bride's maid? - Hannah. Duh.

Who did the most planning? - Ethan, but Lex chipped in too. Tom might help as well if asked lol

Who stressed the most? - Ethan. Though their ceremony isn't big, he still wanted it to be a good memory down the road (it was)

How fancy was the ceremony? -

Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

First they had just a courthouse wedding where they signed the papers, then had a tiny wedding ceremony with only close friends. Even if they could afford a proper wedding (Canon Lexthan prolly couldn't afford it) I don't think they'd want a big affair anyways. It's be exhausting.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Lex's mom. Obviously.

Sex:

Now we're getting to the good part lads

Who is on top? - Ethan is a fucking switch. You can't convince me otherwise. He tops maybe like... 60/40 or 65/35. But when Lex tops, she tops bitch.

Who is the one to instigate things? - Ethan likes instigating things since he's a horny teenage boy, but it Lex doesn't want to, he stops. Sometimes Lex instigates, but usually when she does she's in the mood to top.

How healthy is their sex life? -

Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

I'd give it a 7.5, depending on the situation. While they try to tone it down around Hannah, when they have alone time they'd totally go for it. Ethan's glovebox in his car has a box of condoms in it at all times. What can I say, as I said before, they're horny teenagers

How kinky are they? -

Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

They don't like seeing each other hurt so they wouldn't like BDSM. They're not vanilla but nothing too crazy- blindfolding, light bondage (aka tying hands up with rope or cloth), scratching, light spanking, pegging

How long do they usually last? - It depends on how much time they have to have sex. They've done quickies in bathrooms or whatever before, but if they have all night then they're pretty good at prolonging it.

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Absolutely. It is said in multiple fics (I think?) of mine that Ethan makes sure Lex has the same amount of orgasms as he does. Always.

How rough are they in bed? -

Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

They certainly can have slow, soft, romantic sex, but Ethan is also 100% capable of rocking Lex's world so hard she can't walk right for a week. (That happens in my first fic, Cassieopia, albeit off screen)

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? -

No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

1) I fucking love that metaphor 2) They don't get much physical affection at home, so they fucking love snuggling and cuddling- whether it be after sex or just hanging out. Sometimes they cuddle as a form of stress relief after a shitty day.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - 2, maybe 3.

How many children will they adopt? - I think they might prefer to have children naturally, but in my California series they gain custody of Hannah when she's 12. Does that count?

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Lex forces Ethan to learn how to change diapers. That being said, Lex isn't half bad at changing them either, since she helped change Hannah's when she was a child.

Who is the stricter parent? - They're not exactly strict parents, but both Lex and Ethan can definitely scold the kid. ("hAnNaH! tHaT bEtTeR bE fUcKiNg fLoSs!!!!!") That being said, both take care to not be abusive to their child, especially Lex. She doesn't want to be like her mom, so she tries to keep her temper in check.

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Ethan has good reflexes, and has stopped his kids from falling and hitting their chin on a playground structure more than once. (Fun fact! That happened to me when I was 3. I fell from a steel elephant shaped jungle gym at a German zoo, hit my chin on a steel bar, and bit through my lower lip/knocked 3 teeth out. I still have the scar years later lol)

Who remembers to pack their lunches? - Lex. Though the lunches aren't always the healthiest.

Who is the more loved parent? - I think they're both loved, but maaaaaybe Ethan a bit more.

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - Neither would attend PTA meetings out of the goodness of their hearts. If Lex or Ethan would go to a PTA meeting, it'd most likely be because they wanted to yell at a teacher or principal. They might go seperately or together depending on the severity of the issue.

Who cried the most at graduation? - Ethan wouldn't admit he cried, but he did. So did Lex.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - Oh bitch, Lex and Ethan both said fuck the law. If it was just like, an overnight jail cell for some stupid misdemeanor, they might try to break their kid out. Otherwise, Lex would probably the one paying the bail because Ethan would try to punch the cop in the face if the cop talked shit about Ethan's kid. That reaction is not exclusive to cops.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Neither of them are exactly 5 star chefs, but they can hold on their own. Lex is better at cooking breakfast and Ethan is better at cooking dinner- but if he's exhuasted from work, Lex can cook dinner for him.

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Neither are picky. Both of them grew up young scrappy and hungry just like their country without really the chance to be picky. They had to take what they could get.

Who does the grocery shopping? - Lex. She's good at calculating totals in her head. I wrote that in an unrealeased fic.

How often do they bake desserts? - Rather rarely. Perhaps on special occasions or to bond. Ethan has ruined the kitchen with his kid trying to bake a cake for Lex at least once. Maybe more.

Are they more of a meat lover or salad lover? - Meat lovers, babey. Fuck that fancy plant bullshit.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Ethan. I wrote that in the proposal fic.

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Depends on what you count as "going out". Lex likes going to McDonalds, but Ethan is the one who suggests eating at actual restaurants.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - Ethan, but both have had near misses.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Both had fairly messy rooms as teenagers so they're not super anal about having sparkling clean rooms. That being said, when someone comes over Lex does try to tidy the place up a bit. At least enough to make it seem like they have their shit together. Ish.

Who is really against chores? - Ethan can be a bit of a lazy bones sometimes, but Lex isn't exactly a huge fan of chores either. However, she is used to doing chores since she practically raised herself and Hannah.

Who cleans up after the pets? - They take turns. Both hate it.

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Ethan, because he doesn't want to incur Lex's wrath.

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Lex. As I said above, she actually actively cleans the house beforehand. Not to the level of that freaking out mom from the comedy video who's name I can't remember tho.

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Ethan. He has a nack for finding random bits of money. Score.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Lex, though both take relatively quick showers to save water.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - They actually like doing it together. It's nice to get some fresh air, and they enjoy each other's company.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Ethan goes over the top, partially to annoy Lex. You know that Christmas tree Chris Pine vine? Yeah, Ethan would fucking do that.

What are their goals for the relationship? - Live a better life together than they did in Hatchetfield. White picket fence and California dreams shit.

Who is more likely to sleep till noon? - Ethan, but Lex is known to sleep till 3 in the afternoon if she's really tired.

Who plays the most pranks? - Ethan. That's literally canon.

I can babble about them all day lol

[kurtty-drabbles]

Postwoman au (Part 5)

N/A: So, here we go. I have this idea that Krampus is unintentionally stalking Kitty-well, he did a background check on Kitty. Just to be safe- while it was for professional reasons...Kitty is stalking Krampus for her own reasons. Anyway, this idea is based on a Krampus´s fics I read. I used 2 times the plot "Kitty dated a teacher" so I´m subverting.

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead @everykurt @muninandhugin

The envelope is has a light tone of pink as the handwriting- obviously not make by human hands as no one could perform such type of signature so perfectly- is being held by her cold fingers absently. One can see the name addressed to Kitty Pryde( Katherine Anne Pryde) and how she is cordially invited to a social gathering- the words are sophisticated, but, the meaning of those words are simple to see- know as a wedding. And Kitty can´t help herself by letting a mirthless grin graces her face. 

Peter Wisdom and Sarah Malloy will officially be a couple and Kitty is beckoned- that´s the word used. The invitation doesn´t like to repeat words- to such occasion. And Kitty fingers could rip the letter in half in no time, yet, she can´t help to notice some little things in this story.

Peter and Sarah dated for 5 years. Kitty and Peter meet each other 5 years ago- she was a student at university. She was a student in his class- and 5 years ago Peter made a proposition to Kitty...and she refused as much she wanted to say yes...one little fact rules out any possibility for Kitty to say yes. Being a teacher´s pet is one thing. Date one is another entirely.

(She still caught herself thinking in what-ifs. As harmful it is. And Kitty still holds the letter)

"Will this be like Jean and Scott´s wedding?" Kitty asked to no one but herself- a student near her listen and made the shush sound as he´s back to his book rather annoyed and perplexed. The pile of books to his side and the bags under his eyes paint an obvious picture here- and Kitty chastised herself for this thought. She can be better than this. 

She puts the envelope in her bag and leaves the table where she was and ignores the student who was picking another book in a desperate fit as some papers ended up falling to the ground - the student is now muttering something relates to equations and maybe he wasn´t as silent as he was hoping since someone made the shushed sound. Kitty is heading to the librarian with some books in her arms.

The librarian flashes a kind smile. A beautiful woman and Kitty bite her inner check as she notices her pretty face and eyes- she gentle shakes her head making her ponytail flipping around like a cute tail- "Uhm, hi...I think I´m having some trouble" she begins and the librarian- her name is Amy Lestrange. And she has a heavy German accent that is somewhat familiar- and she should show the books but instead, Kitty holds them closely and looks over her shoulders.

The Librarian. Amy. Is paying attention to her movements. Kitty looks adorable right now.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Let be know that Krampus doesn´t go head straight to torture. He did mention to Kitty how he was spies, but, sometimes the man himself likes to see with his own eyes. A request made by an old friend prompts Kurt to disguise himself and investigate a wizard who is fumbling with things he shouldn´t. So far, Kurt has a 90% certainty of his guilt. He will only act when he has 100%.

Amy´s face or the idea for this mask was based on one of his old flings- a pretty witch who made a deal with Krampus a long time ago- and well, the dead can´t sue him. The disguise work like a charm- he almost laughs at this silly pun- when his eyes noticed the silhouette of Kitty Pryde trying her best to hide some books from public view.

Krampus is too curious to end the rouse now. Her words let him even more curious and well, Kurt sees no harm done to continue to be Amy. "And what the problem would?" he asked coming a bit closer to her face- Kitty has brown and doe eyes. Full of secrets and something else-noticing her blushing. 

Kitty still hides the book and looks one last time behind her shoulders to see if anyone would peep tom on her choices of book, once proving all the others are too focused on other projects, Kitty puts the books in the balcony.

Kurt is half amused. Half embased as well. A bit of Fremdschämen 

"Uhm, do you want more hardcore porn?" Amy asked in a professional tone. Erotic is no longer a taboo theme, at least not anymore, so if Kitty wants to read something more "spicy" Kurt won´t judge her- he´s a bit flatter, to be honest- and Kitty blushing again is cute. Her checks have such lovely color.

She should blush more often!

"Ok, no, of course not!" she all but shout in a low tone. And clears her throat as her eyes notice some eyes on her figure. "I mean, really serious research" she looks too focused in a way he often has when she is doing one of her courier´s functions. "And well...those books are a bit useless" and then her face closes off, not literally. Kurt has seen people literally closed faces before.

"I want to know things about Krampus...not which Disney Princess he fucked" and she raised the book as if this is the proof of everything wrong in society.

Ah, I remember those series...

She bites her lips cutely. She can be really cute sometimes. "I don´t need to know what Elsa, Krampus, and Anna do at Christmas" she looks peeved and embarrassed. Amy is professional. Kurt is inwardly amused.

"Why the interest in Krampus?" a fair question. People who sought Krampus have two reasons to do this and Kitty is not the type who would ask for revenge or a kinky fuck...or is she?

Kitty puts a lock of her hair behind her hair. "Is a project" she replies confidently. Amy arch one eyebrow. "And is not because you´re working for him? Look, I´m a witch and we, witches, have a way to know about things...especially Germans witches" to be fair on his part, he´s not lying. Kitty´s job is not a secret.

Kitty then tries again. "Look. Yeah, I work for him...and I can´t help to feel as if he knows details about me and ...that´s not really fair" and ok, Kurt can see her side. He did look upon her past. Still is amusing she wants to know his past in this way instead of just asking.

"Well, I can give a summarize of Krampus, if you want" and she comes closer again. Kitty smells like strawberry and is a sweet aroma if you ask Kurt. Kurt can´t help himself by smiling like this- really, he can´t. Kitty is making this too easy- "Or Krampus take your kids or your wife" and Kitty blinks at this and picks a book with a dark cover.

"Like this story?" and she frowns. "I didn´t like this idea. Yeah...I can totally believe he likes sex. A lot" she blushes again and let her finger trace some of the other books. "but this one here paint him as a hypocrite...and I think he´s not ..."

Kurt can be moved by this declaration if nothing else.

"Well, many stories often show his bad side or make him a cartoonish villain..." Kurt recalls the time Hollywood makes a movie where he was cartoonish evil and was in a love triangle with the Easter Bunny...Easter Bunny was not pleased.

"So, there´s to have more about him...he can´t be just...take your kids ...and your wife...like, how old is he?"

Amy smiles. Not entirely professional.

"Old enough to not be called Krampus"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Brian Braddock is a man who used to drink a lot- to cope with his sister´s death and then resurrection- but after he made an ass of himself 2 years ago...the British man enter into AA and never touched alcoholic beverage ever again. So, right now, Brian is completely sober as he watches something that it must be a dream...or a nightmare.

A beautiful woman with long blonde hair and an hourglass figure is staring at him with a beaming smile and shining eyes. She´s beautiful. She´s innocent and she´s not real. She can´t be.

"Hello, my name is Meggan Puceanu. I´m a succubus" she says those words too calmly. And Brian is too sober for this. SO is 100% real.

"I never touched a drink again...and won´t do now" Brian states to a confused Meggan who congratulates him even if she´s missing the point. "So, are you here to kill me? Cause death by sex is as wonderful and terrifying as it sounds" he tries to joke about it. Tries.

Meggan blinks at this. "Oh no, I´m well feed, thank you, no...I´m here cause I heard you are after Shadow King...I want to help"

Brian opens his mouth and closes again and again.

"Ok. Welcome to Excalibur"

[siriuslyblack12]

chapter 5

As the following week passed, Remus and Sirius found themselves dancing around each other: walking on eggshells. They hadn’t really spoken since that fateful day in the science lab and neither wanted to push the other into anything. The tawny-haired boy doubted that his love was requited, without looking hard enough to see if that was true.

 After confiding in the girls about what was said (with Sirius’s permission of course) the first thing they did was laugh confidently, unbelieving that he hadn’t just confessed his crush. Lily’s not any better, Remus thought. She knows that James likes her and she still won’t tell him. He’d covered his ears childishly to block out her out as Dorcas tried to pry his hands away.

 “Remus Orpheus Lupin.” Marlene announced as they sat in Privet Fields, wading her fingers through the grass as they onlooked James and Sirius, racing each other to the top of a climbing frame, Peter and Mary cheering them on.

 “That’s not my name and you know it.”

 Her brows furrowed, “You are the most disastrous bisexual I have ever met, and I’m dating Dorcas.”

 The girl in question punched Marlene lightly in the shoulder, pushing her short, brunette hair out of her face, smirking to herself. “You’re the one who was practically throwing yourself at me every excuse you got.”

 “Was not.”

 Dorcas scoffed. “So you don’t remember mysteriously tripping so that I could catch you every single day? Asking McGonagall to change the seating plan because Kingsley was ‘distracting your learning’?”

 “He was! I’m not that hopeless.” Marlene harrumphed.

 Dorcas’s smirk shifted to a genuine smile as she kissed her cheek. “I never said you were, babe.”

 Remus also smiled, watching them adoringly. He’d seen them both make fools of themselves before they’d finally gotten together. They were the most deserving people of happiness, and happiness they had found together.

 His attention was brought away by the harsh shouts of Mary, who’d gotten to the top of the frame before James and Sirius even after giving them a head start. “Fuck yeah!”

 Sirius was tangled in the rope, limbs flailing. “There are children present, Miss MacDonald.”

 “He’s right, we can’t have you corrupting our ickle Peter, can we?” James said from where he was helping to free Sirius.

 Lily rolled her eyes from beside Remus, not quite committing to it, “I think he was corrupted the day he met those two. If anything, Mary saved him.”

 Remus agreed, “We all were, Lils. My teachers used to love me, I’d just sit in the back of the class quietly and actually do work.” That wasn’t entirely true, but no one had to know. “I had a clean record, no detentions or anything.”

 “Maybe it’s a good thing then, I couldn’t even imagine how boring that’d be.” Marlene started.

 “How boring what would be?” Sirius was now untangled and stalking towards where Remus and the girls were situated on the field, wilting daisies surrounding them as their coats sat beneath them and the damp ground. His hair was tied up in a manbun, a few curls not quite reaching and framing his face messily, lighter from the summer sun.

 Lily answered him, “Remus was telling us all about his shameful past as a teacher’s pet.”

He gave her a scandalized look as Sirius said, “Our Moony? He would never. I specifically remember him pulling a prank and blaming me for it, that’s actually how we met.”

The girls erupted, laughing and shouting praise, clasping him on the back. He saw a mother give them a pointed look from across the field, tearing her eyes away from two boys aimlessly kicking a football back and forth. It had been in year 7, one of the first days of high school, when he’d taken one look at Sirius Black and something inside of him just knew.

 And he hadn’t made any progress since.

  ~~

  “Sirius, mate, how is that even possible?”

 “It’s not that big of a deal, but I’m not exactly complaining.”

 Sirius was stood in the middle of the pool changing rooms, 6:00 am, wearing nothing but a speedo and a swimming cap. Morning practices were always the worst, especially when he’d tossed and turned all night with no real sleep. In front of him was Frank Longbottom, teammate and friend, dressed in a similar state to him.

 “Your time went down 5 seconds, for fucks sake! It’s incredible,” Frank gushed. “No one here could do that if they tried.”

 “Bet Coach still makes me work harder, no amount of improvement in the world could make him like me.” Sirius and his coach had never gotten along, considering he had a great relationship with the Black family, and it often worked out against his favour.

 Frank gave him a sympathetic nod, tightening his own cap before padding out of the room to find the rest of their team. Temper rising, Sirius messily shoved his bag into a locker and followed his friend.

 I have more important things to worry about than a stupid coach.

 But it would be nice to be liked.

 A few moments later water flowed fast all around him, his mind only focused on the movements his limbs. Every trouble faded out of his head as he kicked, hands dragging almost lazily as it was second nature to him. This was where he could feel safe. This is where the highs and lows of life couldn’t reach him, his muscles hard at work. The wall was right in front of him, getting closer by the minute as he stretched out his arm to touch it and when he did he felt a surge of happiness shoot up his spine and through his blood.

 He ripped his goggles off excitedly to realise he was the first one to finish warmup, eyes scanning the board to see the set they’d be doing. It looked difficult, and would definitely take a lot out of him, but that was exactly what he needed. No time for overthinking. So exhaustingly yet refreshingly, he swam and dived and turned and flipped until his head felt fuzzy and his legs ached.

 Coach shouted at them to get out of the pool and line up against the wall, voice calmer than usual. It was almost startling, how Fabian and Gideon could fuck about and not get given push-ups, how Frank could lean over and whisper to Sirius without being caught.

 “Bet he’s announcing the new Captain,” He explained. “He’d have to be stupid to consider anyone but you.”

 Sirius laughed dryly, “Don’t get your hopes up, Frank. Alice has been kissing his arse for weeks, I barely stand a chance.”

 “But you’re the best swimmer here!” Frank exclaimed.

 “If you don’t shut up now I won’t stand a chance at all. I won’t even have legs to stand on.”

 His eyes went quickly to the towering height and corkscrew hair of the man speaking, broad shoulders filling out the team t-shirt. His face was angry and intimidating, which seemed to help the team win often enough for him to continue. “I expect a better swim than that, especially coming off your wins last night. I didn’t come here to watch mediocre swimmers.”

 There was a general hum of acknowledgement, “All of you have the potential for excellence, but I expect very few of you to come into your own.” He paced up and down the line menacingly. “Selecting a Captain did not come easy to me, considering that the job takes responsibility and maturity.”

 Gideon smirked back over at him as if to say ‘can’t be you then’ as their Coach continued, “The person I have selected may not demonstrate these things 100 percent of the time, but gala after gala has proved their worth.” Sirius now shifted in anticipation. “So, without further ado, your Team Captain for the rest of this year is…”

 I was unfocused last week.

I didn’t finish that set one time.

My fly needs work.

 There’s no way he’ll make me Captain.

 “…Sirius Black.”

 Frank and some others jumped on him immediately and he had to wince as they shouted right down his ears. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing but was elated nonetheless as the rowdy praise evaporated into polite applause and surprisingly authentic smiles. It came to an end, not without a warning from their coach and swimmers filed out orderly. Before Sirius could follow he heard a stern voice call him back.

 “I need to talk to you, Sirius.” His Coach said.

 He turned back around and folded his arms complyingly, prompting the man to continue. “You did well last night, I was quite impressed actually.”

 “Thank you, I appreciate it,” Sirius stumbled, taken aback by the sincerity.

 “You’re not exactly the most easy to work with, nor the most responsible.” Don’t hold back with the compliments, Sirius thought internally. “However I know a good swimmer when I see one, and I’ve seen you with our junior swimmers, they love you.”

 Sirius choked back a smile, “I love helping them, ‘s nice to give back, you know?”

 A t-shirt was placed gently in his hands, the same one that his Coach was wearing but in a smaller size. The team logo shone from where it was embedded on the right and his title was sown neatly below it. He was brought out of his trance by a contrastingly harsh voice, “But one slip up and that t-shirt goes to Alice, mark my words.”

 He couldn’t help but groan. “I understand.”

 “You can leave now, Sirius.”

 “Happily.”

  ~~

  Remus peered over his book for about the thousandth time that hour, watching James obnoxiously flirt with Lily as she rolled her eyes, contrasting the way her cheeks pinked. This interaction had been going on ever since they’d gotten to school just half an hour before, and it was becoming quite exhausting to watch. He took a look around the practically empty library before shifting his focus back to his book.

 “Lily, you have no idea what you’re missing out on! I have a lot to offer.” James sang.

 “And what would that be exactly?” She said sharply.

 He hesitated for a moment, ruffling his hair to make it even more messy before saying, “A lot! I don’t even know where to begin.”

 “Of course you don’t,” Lily sighed. “Better luck next time.”

 James huffed, his lips forming a pout as he slumped back into his chair. Remus braved a look at the scene and so his eyes lifted to meet Lily’s fierce blue ones, pleading and disturbed. He wondered what could possibly be going on in her head when even though she liked him she still rejected his advances.

 James perked up suddenly, “Sirius, mate, can you tell Lily about everything I have to offer? How much she’s missing out on?”

 Sure enough, Sirius was walking gracefully into the quiet of the library, hair still damp and clinging to his ears from what must have been a morning practice. His hoodie was half unzipped, giving a peak of a tight graphic t-shirt beneath it. “I’m afraid there’s not much to say in that department, Prongs,” He laughed.

 “Fuck off, I’ve got class.” This only made him laugh louder as James continued to sulk even when leaving the room. He really is a child.

 Sirius sat himself in a chair right next to Remus, his hair almost brushing the other’s nape when he leaned over his shoulder to assess the book in his hands. With a slow turn of his head, the two met face to face with longing and shyness. Through the corner of his eye Remus could see Lily stand and call out to James, flicking out her phone, but he couldn’t bring himself out of the weighted moment.

   Sirius leaned forward carefully, until he was close enough to reach up and run a hand through Remus’s curls.

 “I really do like the haircut,” his voice was down to a low whisper. “Not that I didn’t like it before, I just… like it more now, I guess.”

 Remus’s breathing hitched as the hand that was carding through his hair moved down to his cheek, his thumb brushing over his cheekbone lightly. Well, it’s now or never.

 “Is there anything else you want to get off your chest? He asked, matching the other’s whisper.

 “Yeah, there is actually.”

 “Me too,” The moment he sounded the last syllable Sirius’s other hand came to rest on the other side of his face. It was only just occurring to him what was happening. Sirius’s hands are on my face. Sirius likes me. Oh shit.

 “Can I kiss you now?” The boy in front of him questioned, way too casually from what it was, thumbs tracing circles on his flushed skin. Quickly and simply, he nodded until he felt soft lips on his own.

 He thought fireworks must be going off somewhere outside because holy shit. Sirius’s lips were warm against his own, insistent yet gentle, and certainly better than he could have ever imagined. He realised he wasn’t really doing much so he wrapped his arms around the dark-haired boy’s waist and brought him as close as possible to his body. A thought ran through his mind like broken a train, that he could never be close enough to Sirius. Remus felt a tongue run over his bottom lip as the kiss deepened, both boys letting out sounds of contentment. He never wants to stop kissing this boy; He wants to die kissing this boy.

 It did stop eventually, but not without both of them savouring it as best they could. As they parted, Remus kept his eyes closed for a few moments, desperately trying to hold onto the feeling. When he finally did open them, his eyelashes fluttered in a way that Sirius thought to be simply criminal, and so he leaned back in to kiss him once again. Remus tasted like chocolate and mint, a taste he tried to memorise in the next few minutes they spent with their lips almost molded together.

 This time they only stopped as distant hollers got increasingly louder, hollers that they soon figured belonged to their friends. Dorcas was holding her phone up, obviously recording the new couple’s (couple? Is that what they were now?) reaction. Mary handed Lily some change, Remus noting that they must have been betting on this. Fucking Lily.

 He buried his face in the crook of Sirius’s neck out of embarrassment, realising that maybe that was something he could do now. Maybe. This was only reassured by strong arms folding around his shoulders, hands bracketing his head to keep him there.

 “As much as I appreciate the well wishes, we’d much prefer if you could kindly fuck off, thank you.” Sirius addressed the audience of smug faces around them, ending it with a kiss to Remus’s head.

 “I knew you like him! I told you, didn’t I Lily, I told you!” James jumped up and down like an excited puppy, quite an unusual sight to behold.

 “You like me? I hadn’t noticed.” Remus replied dryly, his voice dripping in his signature sarcasm as a surge of confidence swept through him.

 “Moony, I think you’ll find that I do like you. A lot actually, and I would really like to kiss you again.” Sirius said in a much softer voice than he was used to hearing from the boy.

 Remus smiled back at him, “I think that can be arranged,” Before leaning back up into a now familiar kiss.

 “Prongs, you didn’t even know he was gay, how could you possibly know they liked each other?” Marlene shouted.

 “Oh please, I’m not blind.”

 For the first time in a while, Remus could say that he was truly happy.

[thealphabetmurders]

... i heard you wanted prompts? Would Analogical, admitting their feelings in the most awkward way possible, after literally everyone else around them knowing for like e v e r, work maybe? If you need/want more, maybe Human!au, 20-something years old, met in college? You can use as much or as little as you want, I just wanted you to have a decent amount to start with and pick from

Of course, anon, I am happy to oblige.

“Hold the elevator!” Logan looked up from his phone and held out an arm, reopening the doors for the running figure. He smiled slightly when he saw a dash of purple streaking across the hall towards him.

Virgil reached the elevator, his hands on his knees panting as he hit the button for the ground floor. He looked up at the other figure, “Oh. Hey Lo,”

---

“Excuse me. Sir!” Virgil turned around to see a semi-familiar face. Dark hair, black glasses, intelligent eyes. “You dropped these,” He held out his hand, dangling a pair of earbuds from it.

Virgil looked down at his pocket to see a small hole, one he would have to sew over. He took the earbuds from his hand, “Oh. Uh, thanks, I guess,” He shoved them back into his pocket.

“You are welcome,” And they walked away.  

---

“How much cardio do you sanction into your exercise, Virgil?” Logan asked, lazily hitting the close door elevator button.

“Huh?” Virgil asked, still winded.

Logan shrugged, smoothing back his hair, “I am simply asking because a short run down a hall should not have exhausted you as such,”

Virgil scoffed, “Maybe after we graduate, you can come up with an exercise plan with me,”

Logan nodded, smiling at Virgil once again, “Did you look over the lease with Patton? We need to sign it in 2 weeks if we are going to get that loft by graduation,”

Virgil shook his head, “And I think I worry too much,” Logan quirked up an eyebrow and Virgil rolled his eyes, “Yes, I did. I was going to sign it later this week. I have another interview with that web company. That is where I am heading right now,”

Logan scanned Virgil up and down, the other feeling slightly insecure under his gaze, “You are going to an interview… In that?”

“Yes, I know. But I wore business casual to my initial interview and the woman interviewing me said to ‘come as I am’, and she was wearing a sweatshirt. I guess that is how they are,”

Logan adjusted his glasses and scoffed, “What has this economy come to?”

The elevator began to slow down and then stopped. Virgil adjusted the strings on his hoodie and Logan pulled his satchel up further on his shoulder, waiting for the doors to open. The elevator began moving slowly once again, and Logan narrowed his eyes and looked at Virgil. Then, the carriage began shaking and the lights were flickering. The buttons on the elevator lit up and flashes randomly. Logan and Virgil made their way to separate corners of the room, Logan standing up and steadying himself along the edges and Virgil lost balance and fell into the corner. The malfunctioning was something that neither of them were privy to before, both of them at a loss for what to do. Then, it stopped, and the power went out.

--

“So, for this project, you will be working in pairs. Come up to me by the end of class and tell me who you will be working with and what medium your presentation will be in.” The level 100 teacher explained to the large lecture hall. She sat down behind her computer and pulled up an Excel sheet with names and project types.

Virgil never bothered to make any friends. He figured the people who he would find with common interests and compatible personality types would not be in his core classes, but rather the ones he chooses to take. He frantically looked around, hoping to find someone to pair up with. It seemed as though many people were with him and didn’t bother to introduce themselves, and just paired up with people sat around them.

“Excuse me,” He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to the person facing up and diagonal to him, “Would you care to be partners?”

“Sure,”

The pair exchanged phone numbers. Logan was the name he gave and the two told their professor and said that they would be doing a video presentation with voice overs.

“So, when would you care to meet up and research and record?” Logan asked Virgil as they walked out of class.

He shrugged, “This Thursday works for me. We can meet at the library or in my dorm?”

Logan pondered for a moment, blinking rapidly, “If it is alright, we can meet up in your dorm. Based of my knowledge of the library, the most busy time is on Thursday nights. It may be difficult to record with a lot of outside stimulants,”

Virgil nodded, understanding Logan’s line of thinking, “Okay, we meet up at my dorm at around…” He trailed off, waiting for the other man to provide him a time.

“4 o’clock?” Virgil nodded and Logan pulled out a small planner from his jacket pocket, writing down the date. “Fantastic. Just be sure to text me your dorm hall and number. Are we clear on the plan?”

Virgil made an ‘ok’ sign with his fingers, “Crystal,”

--

Logan tentatively moved his arm around Virgil. His breathing was uneven and ragged. He’s covering his ears, despite there being no noise. His hands are covered with his hoodie sleeves, using it as a security blanket. Virgil was on the verge of a panic attack.

“Virgil. Virgil, are you with me? Can you hear me?” Logan asked, and Virgil nodded, despite his head being in his knees, “Virgil, you know the drill, okay? I need you to breathe with me. I need you to look at me, Virgil, and breathe,”

--

“Roman, do you mind if we reschedule our tutoring session from Monday to Tuesday?”

Roman shrugged, typing away at his computer, “Whatever you say, Specs, you are the one helping me,”

Logan sighed, pulling out his planner, “Fantastic. That was the day I was going to take Virgil to see those action movies he is so fond of,”

Roman rolled his eyes, “I am not going to take away your serious business card if you admit you are a fan of Marvel,”

Logan shrugged, “Virgil is more privy to those movies than I, but I do not mind them for entertainment value, nor do I mind Virgil’s company whilst watching them,”

Roman hummed in response and Logan began sorting and folding his laundry. His button ups neatly folded on one end of the bed and his dress pants that needed to be pressed on the other side. Once finished, he dug his phone out from the pile of laundry it was trapped under, sending Virgil a confirmation text for their plans. He smiled when his phone buzzed with an array of emojis. He was unaware of just how large his grin was, or that Roman stopped typing to look at Logan’s reaction to the mobile exchange.

“So,” Roman began, “As your best friend and roommate, I feel as though I have the right to meet this mysterious emo boyfriend of yours,”

Logan’s blood ran cold as he spun around to look at Roman, confusion and nerves in his eyes, “Boyfriend? Virgil’s not- what- no we don’t do- not, you have it all wrong. Virgil and I are not - no not romantically involved?”

Roman could only stare as his normally calm and collected roommate stumbled and struggled to form a complete sentence. “You two are just consistently together and you always bring him up, Logan. Are you lying to me?”

“No, no Roman. I am not. There is nothing- no- nothing going on,” Logan ran his hands through his hair out of frustration and grabbed his pants from the bed, “I have to do more laundry but just- don’t bring this up again. Especially not if Virgil is here,”

Logan rushed from the room, leaving Roman worried and confused.

--

“Yes, Logan Arias and Virgil Kosa. Yes, the elevator just stopped. Will they? Okay, thank you,” Logan hung up the emergency phone and was fumbling with something in the corner that he could not quite see. Suddenly, the carriage was dimly lit once again, “Found the emergency lights,”

Virgil ran his hands through his hair and unzipped his hoodie, “How long did they say it was going to be?”

Logan shook his head, “Approximately two hours, maybe more,” He sulked next to Virgil and slid down the wall next to him. He loosened his black tie and unbuttoned the top button from his dress shirt. Virgil swallowed thickly, wondering how it was legal to be that hot, “We are going to be stuck here a while.

--

“I don’t see what the big deal is, kiddo,” Patton hugged his dog pillow pet as Virgil continued to pace around their dorm room.

“See, that’s the thing, Patton! You do not see the big deal, and you won’t. Logan and I have been friends now for what, a year, and now I just feel…. Odd,”

Patton let out an amused chuckle, putting his circular glasses on the top of his head, “Odd? Do you want elaborate?”

Virgil threw his arm in the air, “I couldn’t if I wanted to Pat. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Maybe, if I had a better hold on my feelings I could, but I can’t. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing makes sense,”

Patton bit his lip. He got up and went to their full length mirror and began inspecting his honey colored curls in the mirror, “Well V, I think I have an idea as to what could be bothering you, but you may not like what I have to say,” He ruffled his hair a bit as Virgil stared at the back of his head.

“What, what is it?”

Patton sighed, “You know, you say you are confused about your feelings, but deep down, I am pretty sure you know what is going on. It is pretty easy,”

Virgil stood in akimbo, staring at Patton, “No, it is not, it is never easy.”

Patton turned around and looked at Virgil, “Okay, right now, without thinking. Tell me how you feel about Logan.” Virgil opened his mouth and then closed it again, “No, right now, go!”

Virgil sputtered, “I- I..”

--

“I missed my interview,” Virgil clicked off his phone as the time passed to 3:01.

Logan turned towards him, “Did you call or text?”

He rolled his eyes, “Yea, I sent them an email and they said ‘it’s cool’ and we would reschedule, but I am not so sure,”

“Not so sure about what?” Logan quipped.

“About the company, L,” Virgil groaned and took of his hoodie, throwing it in the corner of the room, “As much as a strict work environment gives me anxiety, I also think I need the structure. Like… They are almost too okay with everything, I can’t hold myself accountable. Well, in most instances I can, but I don’t want to fall into a habit of not holding myself- What I am trying to say is-”

“Virgil,” Logan said cooly, and placed a hand onto Virgil’s wrist, stopping his movement and frantic hand gestures, “I understand what you are trying to say,”

Virgil’s stomach flipped over and he look at Logan’s beautiful silvery eyes, “You do?”

Logan gave a small smile, “Always,”

--

“I want to die,” Virgil said as they sat on Logan’s small twin. Logan turned to look at Virgil who was working furiously on an midterm paper. Logan knew how much Virgil despised American History. Logan knew how much Virgil hated writing essays. Logan knows, he always has.

He reached out his hand and Virgil was typing and lightly grabbed onto his wrist to still the motion. Logan felt shocks of electricity move up and down his arms at the simple act, but looked at Virgil in the eyes. They were filled with exhaustion and morose and malcontent. But, also filled with confusion and affection and l-

“C’mon. We are going to watch a movie, and then we are going to bed, you may take Roman’s bed tonight because he is at a castmate’s house tonight. We will wake up in the morning early and finish our work. If we continue at the rate we are, we are going to burn out.” Logan used his other hand to pull the laptop away from Virgil and close it, along with his own. He used his right hand to turn to Netflix, and never let go of Virgil’s wrist. Not once. Not ever. Virgil did not make it to Roman’s bed. Logan did not wake them up early in the morning.

--

“I do not want to graduate,” Logan said, throwing his bag against the wall, checking his watch. 1 hour, 23 minutes, 18 seconds.

“Why?” Virgil said, looking at Logan, “We were just texting about how higher education is inherently classist,”

Logan shrugged, “I am not good at anything that is not school,”

Virgil felt a pang in his chest as he looked over Logan, staring forward at the elevator doors, “What?”

“Do not fret, V, this is not meant to turn into a pity party for me,” Logan lamented, “I do not have the social skills to make acquaintances easily. I am only friends with Roman and Patton by accident. I am not artistically inclined and am often cold towards other, creating an unpleasant work environment for everyone around me. School is the only place I excel in… Without it…” Logan trailed off.

Virgil shook his head in disbelief, “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one of us,”

Logan laughed bitterly, “Chalk that up to something else I can’t do,” He made a check mark motion weakly with his finger and rubbed his eyes beginning to fill with moisture and his face already caked in a thin layer of sweat.

“Logan, stop that. Listen to me. You are the smartest, most talented, most hard working person I know. You are going to excel in anything you do. I know you will. I will be there right next to you, okay, L? You can do anything you set your mind to, I believe in you,”

“I can’t do anything,” Logan muttered to himself.

--

“What do you know about emotions that I don’t, Roman?” Logan surmised.

“Uh, how to feel them?” Roman sassed, Logan looked back with a bored expression, “I am just saying, Specs, you cannot see it but Virgil looks at you the way you look at him,”

“Exhausted with his emo behavior, I highly doubt that,”

“Love, Logan,” Roman got up from his bed and began spinning Logan in his chair, “He looks at you and could not be more in love. How long has it been what, 3 years,”

Logan nodded, “If Virgil had these feelings for me, wouldn’t he have disclosed them?”

“Ugh, obviously not. Virgil cannot even place an order in the McDonald’s drive thru, you think he is going to be vulnerable and risk is most important relationship in the hopes of courtship, no sire,” Roman exaggerated, “You are going to have to be the one to make the first move,”

Logan shook his head, “No, I will not. I don't even know if I have romantic feelings for Virgil,”

Roman sighed, “Logan, buddy, denying your feelings does not stop you from feeling them,” Logan swallowed and looked around the room and Roman continued, “That has never worked before, and it is obvious that this, is not going away,”

--

“Virgil,” Logan said, looking at his watch. 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 45 seconds, “There is something I must tell you. I do not believe that this is the best time. In fact, I know it is not, but I am dehydrated, hungry, upset, and you are here,”

“Logan, is everything okay?” Virgil sat back down after stretching his legs, moving in close, touching each other, arm to arms.

“No, not it is not. I have kept this… this… feeling inside me. Building up and bubbling up for almost 3 years. I cannot do it any longer. I must- I have to,” Logan slurred over his words, groaning and gripping his hair, and Virgil placed a hand on his knee, slowly rubbing his thumb over it. Logan stopped his hand with his and laced their fingers together and they locked eyes. Logan’s smoky color staring back into Virgil’s amber, “Virgil… I-”

--

“Virgil, it has been 3 years, I can’t let this go on any longer,” Patton said, taking back the manila folder after Virgil read over it, “I mean, the four of us are moving in together, it is going to come out eventually,” Patton sat down next to Virgil, who was in the process of tying his shoes, “What is going on?”

Virgil finished one shoe, and sighed, “I dunno Pat. You keep talking about how Logan is ‘head over heels’ and how his ‘heart is mine’, but I really don’t see. He is just- he is so hard to read, I-”

“Virgil it is natural to be scared,” Patton said, “But, you have been scared for years on end now. And you may not see it but I cannot even recreate the love in that boy’s eyes when he sees you,”

Virgil smiled softly, “I just- I know I am going to pick the wrong time. I am going to say something when he is in a bad mood, or focused on school work, or his granddad just died. Nothing I do is going to be right,”

“Well,” Patton thought for a moment, “Just tell him the next time you seem him. No matter what happens, good or bad, there is no gift like the present,”

Virgil sighed and tied his other shoe, “That’s a nice thought Patton, I may try that. Probably not, but, hey, who knows,” Virgil grabbed his coat from his bed and looked at his phone, “Oh shit, I am gonna be late.” He threw open the door and began running down the hall.

Patton went out of the room and yelled after him, “Good luck with your interview!”

--

“I- I-” Logan stared, but he couldn’t help but get cold feet. Staring into Virgil beautiful eyes, his perfectly chiseled jaw, lovely smile, gorgeous laugh, amazing brain, wonderful humor, fantastic friend.- how could someone as incredible as Virgil love him?

Logan screwed up his eyes tight, he saw dots dancing in his vision, “I love you,” He heard himself say, but, for some reason, he also heard that from Virgil. He opened his eyes to see Virgil wide-eyed and mouth agape.

“You what?” Logan asked in disbelief.

Virgil chuckled, “I love you, Logan. I love you. I love how smart you are, how caring you are. How you always know how to help me through anything I am going through. How you are always planning and prepared for anything and everything. You keep me grounded and don’t let my anxiety run my life anymore. Hell, you are the reason I am bold enough to make this confession. I love everything about you Logan. I love everything I know, and I love everything that is a mystery, ready to uncover. You are my moon and stars, Logan, I don’t want anyone but you,”

Logan mouth gaped open and closed. There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to talk about how talented Virgil was at art and graphic design. How much he loves Virgil’s wit and sass and his sense of humor. How he loves that no matter what kind of mood he is in, he can always make Logan laugh. How he lets Logan go on and on about topics he may not care about, but will listen because they are important. How Virgil is Logan’s world and how he helped him through some tough, dark times. But, his brain stopped connecting to his mouth, so what came out instead was: “Virgil - I - you- important- love,” Logan cursed at his tongue which made Virgil laugh.

“God, you are a nerd,” Virgil was smiling and he leaned in close to Logan. He brushed a stray hair out of Logan’s face and connected their lips for an instant. The kiss was soft and chaste. They both pulled away and said nothing for a few moments, until Virgil spoke up, “That kiss was a bit gross, right?”

Logan let out a sigh of relief, “I did not want to say anything and ruin the mood, but yes, we are both drenched in sweat,”

After 3 hours 16 minutes and 58 seconds, the two were finally rescued from the elevator. They made their way out into the cool spring air holding hands and walked to a nearby bench to cool off. After about 20 minutes of sitting, Logan taps Virgil and initiates a second first kiss. This one had warm passion to it. It was filled with nothing but love. Pure, unfiltered love between best friends, love birds, partners, and soulmates.

--

Virgil turns to walk away and pulls out his phone:

Virgil: hey Pat, some guy just saved me $10 by giving my earbuds back to me that fell out of my pocket.

Patton: oh nice! :D

Virgil: He truly is my guardian angel.

--

“How was Trig, Logan?” Roman asked after Logan got back to their dorm.

“It was adequate, what you would expect from a level 100 class. I did give an attractive guy back his headphones today after he dropped them,”

Roman raised an eyebrow, “Attractive, huh?”

Logan nodded, “Yes, he was objectively stunning. I do hope I get to see him again,”

I really hope you like this, anon. I made this way longer than I intended. 

Send me prompts.

[eb-byestelle]

:3 2 5 6 9 13 14 17 22 23 24 28 29 30 34 35 37 38 40 41 43 44 47 48 50 54 55 56 57 59 60 61 63 64 67 68 70 72 73 74 76 79 80 81 82 84 87 88 90 97 98 100

Hi there !! ❤️

Oh lord……….. 😵😅 There is a lot of it! But in some way it flatters me 😂💖

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

I do. It seems to be sth unpleasant but I like that tbh. It’s a very refreshing feeling.

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

Ofc I’m 😂

6: do you keep plants?

Generally no. I prefer to have an ornamentation which are long-term like a paintings or various types of souvenirs. But every now and then I love to buy some roses or lilies.

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Sometimes.

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

A few things for sure ^^ For example some new epizode on the channel of one of my favrite youtubers. I usually don’t care about youtubers, but there is few guys who I really like. He is one of them. Besides of reviewing and mocking of a bad movies, he started to make a program when he laughs of his inept cooking skills and in a funny way he tries to do the various dishes. It was the epizode when he tried to do some dish created by Gordon Ramsey. With his brilliant joke and a chill style of being, as usual it was great. Another thing which comes to my mind is a very tasty breakfast 😋

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

I guess it would be like in case of a lot of roommates. A separate rooms for each of us. Each one would be the own part of the fridge. The bills would be divided in half for each.

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

Right now I have a color I like (dark chocolate).

22: are you a morning person?

Not exactly xD I love mornings! It’s my favorite part of the day. But at the same time I love to spend all night without sleeping xD At night we have the best ideas and the biggest inspiration ❤️ sometimes I call myself „a night animal”. But I still love mornings, this fresh air, very pleasant atmosphere. But because of my love to being „a night animals” my morning is only sometimes in the correct part of the day (like 7.00 – 8.00 am).

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

Like today xD Eg. replying to messages (like right now xD), cleaning, some activities like a cycling, trips or swimming, watching a movies, finding an interesting things or creating sth like a new poem or taking a new photos to my albums.

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

Yes, she is ❤️ She knows more than anybody.

28: sunrise or sunset?

Sunrise ❤️

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

Eg. when there is my birthday time and some my friend always gives me the gifts which perfectly suits to my interests and my personality ❤️ It’s the sign for me that someone knows my well and I’m important for him/her.

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

I think I have… But I’m not sure when exactly. It was a long time ago…

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

You mean a mascot, right? I still have my dear bunny ❤️ Its name is Niunia (a girl name). I got it for my fourth birthday. It was one of my biggest inspiration for the next 10 years xD Thanks to this bunny I created my first tales, comics, novels, and arts. It was like an one big inspiration bomb xD

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

Yeah, I like it. I use it very often.

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

Rather clean.

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

It would be probably when someone is too sarcastic. Many people love sarcasms. Some are funny, when don’t laugh of somebodies in some mean way, but generally when it’s sth too personal, directed directly to me, then it’s sth very painful.

I also really don’t like when someone is a religious fanatic. I’m not an atheist and I totally respect all religiouses but some part of them are just insane… Some of them even try to say, that the homosexuality is a disease and that the contraception is a killing. Maybe we should claim that the religious fanatics is a disease xD 💀😂

Oh! And I hate this obsession with diet and exercise. It’s great to feel attractive and healthy but it started to be the one large international persecution mania 😅💀💀

40: think of a piece of jewelery you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

Ahh, ofc! I have a lot of jewelery, many of them remind me of some memories. My the most precious thing is my ring which I bought from my first scholarship (the scholarship I got in 2015, while I bought it in 2016). I wear it everyday. Later I went to the some steep hill and at the top of this hill I’ve done a kind of oath to myself that I will never make some mistakes once again, i.e. that I will always respect and love myself and I will always be faithful to myself (Sth a bit like a self-wedding xD There was even the cross xD).

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

Generally I read book quite rarely, I choose much more the watching the movies/anime, but when I think about a books like this, eg. now I’m reading some really great book. It’s called „Sophie’s World”. It’s about a teenage girl which one day came back from school and inside of her letter-box found a letter addressed to her, where it was one question „Who you are?”. Later, after she started think about who could give it to her and wonder about that question, another anonymous letters with philosophical questions began to be put into her letter-box. After a short time, after stimulating her curiosity towards philosophy, still without knowing the identity of the mysterious philosopher, the girl started a philosophy course, this time receiving a lot of long sheets full of new knowledge. More and more she began to delve into the world of philosophy, while at the same time trying to find out who is that mysterious teacher. At the same time, every now and then for some reason in various places, she found some things for the another girl she had never met. So far, I’m halfway through, history is getting more and more interesting. This is not a romance, as might be suggested by that “mysterious man” xD is a novel which is a kind of textbook of philosophy inserted into the story of the main character, written in a style that is one of the best literary styles I have ever read ❤️

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

With my music xD 🎵🎇

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

It was some time ago, on my last ride by bicycle.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

The meat from the dogs 😱😭😭👎

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

In case of this, I’ve really changed. As a kid I was scared by a storm, altitude, public appearances, spiders, darkness, although at the same time since childhood I’ve liked to challenge myself. Then there was a time when there were many strong negative experiences in my life, after which I came up with some simple thought: “Once I was afraid of a storm, but then I found out that there are more terrible things than a storm.” Now I’m afraid of only few things. I was able to go in the middle of the night through a dark forest, perform in front of a hundred people or run away from a stranger who chased me with a log in hand and even then I didn’t feel a fear. But there is still something I’m scared. It’s a bad people. I divide bad people into “culprits” and “intruders”. These first ones are people aware of their faults who have made mistakes, but they have a goodness within them that helps them to be better. Those second ones are totally evil. They are persuasive. People love them and follow them. They’re often completely unaware of the quantity of evil that is within them. Their boundless ruthlessness, combined with their eternal state of repression and alleged innocence, make them worse than the most dangerous lion.

I’m also afraid of losing humanity. I have the view that human is a creation between an animal and a device. I don’t want to get lost totally in lusts and instincts, like an animal, I don’t want to lose myself in logical cold action, like a device. It’s important to not forget about the instincts and the logical thinking, both skills are very valuable. But the extreme transition to one of these parties is bad. And very simple in a present times. While there is still humanity in the middle, specifically this what is metaphorically called “the soul” (feelings, weaknesses, sensibility). I don’t want the present world to deprive me of this.

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

I guess I don’t collect any things like this.

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face?

Some my friend from studies. She has a very hard time right now…

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

It’s hard to say… But I guess it was some „skill” I had to learn, ie. more „sharp” kind of speaking and behaving, more agressive. Ofc not as a kind of speaking everyday, but it were a situation which forced me to be cruel to someone who hurt me. It was my final attempt to prove that this person very hurts me and deserves my contempt. It worked. Now this person is completely different to me. But I don’t hide that it was difficult. In a way, I had to move my scruple and find within me something what I call “wildness”.

56: what are some things you find endearing in people?

When someone still has inside sth from a child. Specifically, I mean a children’s sensitivity, curiosity about the world, the ability to dreaming, child’s innocence and a kind of enjoying something like a child. Imo it’s very important to cultivate everything this within us, at the same time having sth of an adult, like eg. an emotional maturity (there are ofc also children who can do it ;3). I like when someone is not afraid of being themselves. I also value a tenderness. I also like when someone gets involved in something with a passion, in some of their interest, or even in the anime episode xD

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

I can to listen to this AGAIN AND AGAIN 💖🎵🎵

59: what’s your favorite myth?

I don’t have any.

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves?

I like ^^ My fave poets are Adam Mickiewicz and Jan Lechoń. From my poetry my fave poem is called „The Shine” about how to recognize the true great love and not to confuse it with sth worse, some fake. It resembles a dialogue by a man with a personified „Mrs Love/Goddess of love Venus” (there is even sth mentioned about Venus). The man falls in love with someone, but he hesitates, doesn’t know if she’s this only one. Love tells him that yes, this is the only one. Love also tells him what he should to do to not lose her and how to realize the enormity of his feelings and distinguish the “first place / podium” from the others ones.

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

I gave one day for one my friend a cup with picture of Rei from Free! in a butterfly costume. Have I received some stupid gift? Maybe that bright green headphones for music in the shape of little monkeys that looked terribly and worked even more terribly XD

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

I think that to some level I’m fussy, but not very much. I love the most to listen sth what it evokes some feelings me and emotions inside me or inspires me to sth. When it doesn’t do it, it’s not a big deal but on the first place I put a kind of music like above.

64: what color is the sky where you are right now?

Black (We have a 2:15 am so .. xD).

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

It’s not sth what makes me feel worse. I just try to accept any weather and to be above it. But sometimes there are a moments when I feel sleepy.

68: what’s winter like where you live?

It depends. Sometimes it’s light and warm, about 0oC, sometimes we get even -20oC  O.O … The snow is every year but not during all winter.

70: have you ever used a ouija board?

So far I have not.

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it?

Some things yes. I love to create a lists concerning various things. Thanks to this some stuffs and things to do are orderly in my head. But not everything. There must be a place for being spontaneous lol xD without this we don’t live xD

73: what are some of your worst habits?

No comments XD

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns.

Friendly, kind, tender, open-minded, full of passion and amazing ideas, funny, inteligent, positive, shy, sensitive, as much pervert as me (or more xD), with a golden heart 💖💖💖

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t?

Yhm, Sleeping? (2:40 am while tomorrow morning I go to work xD sometimes I have to turn off my inner „night animal” xD)

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

Eg. when one my friend gave me on my birthday ALL collection of „X/1999”, all 19 volumes which cost a lot of money and which are also very hard to find. I’m truly grateful for that, it’s one of my favorites manga serieses ever! In case of guys, eg. one kissed my hand only in a winter glove, claiming that he’s not worthy to do it without this. From myself (I do for myself A LOT of sweet things xD) I’ve gotten a gold statuette for happy birthday with an engraved wishes 😄🏆🥇

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why?

The walls of my bedroom are in a creamy color. I didn’t chose it but creemy it’s for me very neutral color so it’s alright. In my future dreamy bedroom the walls would be white or in a powder pink color.

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

Yeah, this is perfect xD

82: are/were you good in school?

In those subjects I liked. That was my rule xD About the rest I didn’t care.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

I guess not.

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

The scientific movie “Journey to the Edge of the Universe” (2008) It’s one of the most beautiful and profound movie from this kind, I’ve ever seen ❤️❤️ „100 girls” when the main guy has absolutely brillant reflections about a women and men, everyone should to listen to him! :D And „Lucy”, about the potential of our brain. And perhaps also „The Devil’s Advocate”, it’s a food for thought.

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy?

Music for sure and a bit the painting world.

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities.

Let my own photos and those from the Internet will tell instead of me.

Yeah… That’s Wroclaw 💖

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

INFJ/ENFJ, pisces/aries , none of hogwarts houses.

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

Last week, It was very nice. I really like this kind of spending time.

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why?

I think that none of them. I don’t want t change a past, I like the state of things which is now and love some special memories which could to not happen If I would go back 5 years. I also don’t want to jump up the 5 years which can bring something special.

*****************************************

It reminds me some trend which we were in the primary school, called “The golden thoughts” where some person created a 100 question, wrote in a notebook and later others answered her question in that notebook. It looks exactly the same ❤️

Thank you for your message! 😘

[zankivich]

Teacher’s Pet: A College AU Chapter 15

a/n: Hi friends! I’m back and officially done with finals so I think we’re about to finish this one out. I imagine next chapter will probs be the last one. this series has been so fucking dope for me to write so I hope you enjoy tbh. Please let me know if ya like! 

*masterlist in bio*

*Shawn’s pov*

It was nearing finals when Andrew helped him post the video. They wanted him to do another cover to garner interest, and maybe boost his numbers, before going straight into the studio to record an album. Andrew said it could be any song he wanted, but that it should be somewhere substantial in the Billboard 100. He does a cover of Perfect by Ed Sheeran, and maybe it was a little strategic. Ed was an inspiration and he wanted that sort of sound in his music, and so he knew if he got people to see it and like it, that it would be an accurate representation of the kind of artist he wanted to be. Also, his girlfriend liked it and so when she sat in the corner of Andrew’s house where they recorded it, every single take she would clap and hollar for him like his own little number one fan. It helped that Perfect had been one of the biggest songs of the year as well.

He woke up the next day to his phone buzzing like crazy. Well actually, he woke up to his girlfriend ready to throttle him with a pillow if he didn’t, “turn that thing the fuck off”. It was Andrew. Something had gone oddly right. He’d managed to rack up four million views in twenty-four hours. People higher than Andrew were asking, who was this kid with the guitar. They wanted him recording something….Now.

“What are you doing right now?” Andrew asked.

He peered down at his feet, body bare except for his boxer briefs. His arms were crossed and he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the wall in their bedroom that just showed how fucking shocked he was by the information he was sharing with him.

“I…I’m in my bedroom. My girlfriend’s still asleep.” He whispered. “Andrew, what the fuck do I now?”

“You get dressed. You brush your teeth. You grab your guitar and you get your ass to LA. that vision you were telling me about? That album you wanted to make? Now’s your shot, kid.”

Andrew had the ability to get him to launch into action. It was what had garnered trust for them so quickly, was this weird connection between the two of them. If Andrew said he needed to get his ass to LA, he needed to get his ass to LA.

He jumped straight into the shower, tugging on clothes over still damp body parts, and trying to locate his lucky guitar pick while trying to pull a shoe on. He senses her wake up before she even makes any noise, and he finally remembers that he’s leaving her. He crawled back into bed just as she was rolling over, allowing the length of his body to cover hers entirely.

She yawned and stretched, her adorable fucking cheeks just out there for him to kiss and nuzzle.

“Good morning.” She giggled kissing at his throat. “Why do you have clothes on right now?”

“Baby, the Ed cover got four million views last night. Andrew got the green light to have me come in and start recording. He wants me to come to LA, right now.”

“Are you fucking me?!” She squealed throwing her arms around him. “I’m so proud of you, babes.”

She nearly tackled him to the bed, pressing kissing to his face and smiling at him that way that just made him feel like fucking good inside. She was radiant and beautiful and she made everything feel like it was at another level.

“I love you, so much.”

He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to say it in that moment. He was just so fucking happy and that happiness was directly correlated to her. It wasn’t just the views and the ability to create music anymore, it was that he had so much he was feeling nowadays, so much going on inside of him, and that had so much to do with her. When he kissed her and her outlandish curls tickled his face, he just wanted to burrow deeper into her and never leave. But, he also wanted the world to know that he was in love, that his partner was this amazing, incredible being that he wasn’t worthy of. Or maybe he was, like she always said he was, and even that within itself was fucking cool.

“I love you too. Go live your dream. I’ll be here when you get back.”

She traced his jaw with her fingertips and looked at him like he was more than just a man. He felt it deep in his bones and it only made it harder to leave her. But, there was something about the fact that he was going to make music that felt like he wasn’t leaving her. It was if she existed in the notes and the melodies, in the strum of his guitar. She had melded with the most beautiful part of his life and elevated music for him. She existed in his head and in his heart and therefore he knew that he’d be spending the day with her. And that made it slightly easier to leave. If only slightly.

***

He’s looking at a group of writers for the first time, and it’s kind of the most terrifying thing in the world. Andrew had introduced them all a couple of times, but this is completely different. This is them asking for a piece of him, to look into his head and creating something out of it. The only thing that makes it possible to do it is that Teddy’s there. She was a kick ass producer and she was one of his closest friends, so it clicked for them in a way he wasn’t sure he could’ve done otherwise.

“I wanna talk about...I wanna talk about what it felt like when I fell for her.” He mumbled.

In his book that he kept ideas and lyrics in there was this line that he had written down that he’d never gone back to.

Every time I see you baby I get lost

If I'm dreaming, baby, please don't wake me up

Teddy takes the lyric and plays with it and everyone else is just asking him questions. And it’s personal, but it’s necessary. He tries to remind himself that he essentially wants the whole world to know how he feels, and so four other people has to be a good enough start. And he also knows that talking about her calms him in a way he loves, makes it feel like she is with him even when she isn’t.

“So what was it man? When did you know?” Scott asked.

He shrugged. “I guess...I guess we were lying in bed together. We hadn’t even slept together yet. We got drunk and it rained and I ended up in her bed, and when I woke up she was there. She was lying on my chest, and I could see the pout in her mouth while she slept, and I just remember wanting to kiss her so badly. I remember being terrified that she wouldn’t let me stay. I don’t think I knew it yet, but like...I think I loved her even then.”

They all sit on the floor in this fancy ass studio and it sort of turns into a huge therapy session. He ends up telling all of them she’s his TA, and he definitely leaves Roger out of the story, but there’s something about the mystery of it all that’s got them. His guitar is in his hands and he has a chord that he likes, and Teddy throws in a chord that compliments that one. And Scott has a line about not being able to see anything wrong with what they are to each other. And they just sort of jam out piece by piece until suddenly there’s a verse done. And that feeling is so fucking magical that they start plucking out harmonies together. It’s a feeling he only gets when he’s creating, when it all fits together, and the pieces connect. When it works it’s the best fucking feeling in the world. And for that, for the moment in time, it works.

***

Y/n’s pov.

The first time he leaves to perform isn’t easy. Mostly because you couldn’t go with. With the cover exploding in the manner that it did, Shawn was all music all the time--more so even than usual. It was beautiful to watch because it’s when he was at his happiest, and when everything made the most sense for him. But, the world didn’t stop moving for him to live his dream, which meant you were left to pick up the pieces.

“I won’t go. I--I can ask Andrew to reschedule.”

You were meeting with the conduct board to hear their decision on the matter, and Andrew had scheduled him to go perform at some radio show in LA the same day. There was no doubt in your mind that he was going.

“No, you’re not. You won’t miss much anyway. Either I get fired, or I don’t. Not much we can do ya know?” You shrugged.

Shawn thought you were being too nonchalant about it, and he hated it because he knew deep down you were absolutely petrified. If you had to guess that was probably part of his motivation to stay. He groaned grumpily at you reaching to take your face in those catcher mitts he called hands.

“This is not a simple thing. Don’t act like it is, and don’t shut me out.” He mumbled.

You rolled your eyes at your fluffy over dramatic Canadian.

“I’m not shutting you out. I just am asking you not to sacrifice everything that’s going right for you, for me.”

“You’re important to me. You matter just as much as this.”

“I believe you. You don’t have to prove anything to me. So, fucking go, or I’m gonna be pissed at you.”

He took in the raised eyebrow and the crinkle in your forehead that said you were serious. There was no fighting you when you’d made up your mind. So, he kisses you silly instead. He rubs circles into the small of your back, and he touches your face and sucks your lip into his mouth. Sometimes he would hold your face in his palm and keep you at a distance reaching in to punish your mouth with his own, only to pull back when you were needy and desperate. It was hot and dominate especially in comparison with the absolute look of tenderness upon his face.

“I love you.” He sighed. “Will you keep me on speaker phone through the whole thing? I don’t go on until two.”

“I love you too. And yes I will, but only if you kiss me some more and stop fighting with me.”

He slid his arms around your waist and tugged you into his body.

“I’m not fighting with you you’re just fucking stubborn as all hell. Now come here.”

It takes you twenty minutes to let him leave.

When you were a little girl, your mom and dad had gotten in a huge fight. Screaming, crying, hitting, the whole nine yards. And after your father had stormed out, your mom had to go to work. So, you sat on her bed and watched as she dressed herself up to go to her desk job. She had smoothed at her own hair and wiped her own tears away, and she stood tall and brave and made sure as such before she walked out into the world. And even then you knew that that’s what strength looked like. And you liked to think that that’s what you did that day. You slid on this sort of chic suit that was black with white accents, and you swiped your hair all the way back in a ponytail that rested against the base of your skull. And you prepared yourself to walk into that room with your fucking head held high because there were no other options. Maybe the slight silver lining was that your dad had been a piece of shit, and you weren’t in a toxic relationship at all.

“Baby that looks really pretty.” Shawn whined through the phone.

You sent him a picture of your outfit and he’d immediately jumped on the phone with you as you walked towards the office of the Dean.

“Shut up.” You snorted, cheeks warming.

“Andrew, did you know that I’ve got the prettiest fucking girlfriend in the whole world?!”

You rolled your eyes laughing when you heard Andrew tell him to conserve his voice and stop being a dumbass. That was usually your job.

“Are you really gonna stay on speaker the whole time?” You asked as you made your way into the academic building.

It immediately quieted down on his end, and you could tell he was moving to a more private space.

“Of course I am, honey. I would never leave you to do this on your own. I’m so sorry I can’t be there in person.”

You took a deep breath. “It’s okay. I want you to be there. I’m just...a little more nervous than I thought I was, I guess.”

“Yea? You want to spend some time breathing before you go in?”

You nodded softly completely forgetting that he couldn’t even fucking see you.

“Yes. Please.”

“Okay, just go to the bathroom, alright? I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

You found yourself in the middle of a bathroom stall working to match your breathing to the rate of your boyfriend’s. It was much easier said than done unfortunately. It was much harder to not think about worst case scenario, which was you getting kicked out of school. Shawn could be there for you, he could do everything right in the world, but it wasn’t gonna change their opinion on the matter. And you hated that lack of control.

“Did you take your purse with you, sweetheart?” He asked when you’d done all the breathing in the world and it hadn’t really helped at all.

“Yea.”

“I put something in the pocket where you keep your wallet. Could you grab that for me?”

You moved the phone between your ear and shoulder to free up your hands. Things tended to get lost in your purse so it took a lot of shuffling and a lot of looking around before your fingers touched silver. It was the necklace his grandmother had given him. You never once ever saw him without it, not even at the beach. And yet here it was with you and not with him, and that kind of blew your mind.

“Shawn,” You gasped eyes still on the necklace. “This is your grandmother’s necklace.”

He chuckled softly. “I know it is. I wanted you to have it for today.”

“But--But I’ve never seen you perform without it. You’re never without it.”

“I know but I thought it might be more important for you to have it right now. If I fuck up this performance, i’ll be okay. I just want you to be happy and to get to do what you love too, baby.”

A sniffle beaks through and you wish he was there just so you could slap him. The one day in the history of ever you put mascara on and your dumb boyfriend had to go and make you cry. Ugh.

“Sweetheart are you--are you crying?” He whispered.

“No!” You mumbled through a shaking lip and actual tears. “This is stupid. You’re stupid.”

You could practically hear him smiling on the other end.

“I love you, so much, beautiful.” He murmured. “You know that right?”

You reached desperately for toilet paper to stop your incessant tears.

“Yea.” You whined.

“Good. So, just put that necklace on and you’ll know that I’m there with you even when I can’t be physically. Especially when I can’t be physically.”

You slid the necklace on with shaky fingers, knowing that you would’ve preferred him to be the one putting it on you. But this would do. The sentiment, the meaning behind him leaving it with you. That was more than enough.

“I love you.” You mumbled when your eyes were less red and you felt comfortable enough to leave the bathroom. “Much more than I could ever explain.”

“I know. That’s the good part, is that I know exactly what you mean, because I feel the same.”

In the room, Dr. Edwards sits beside you. The room is brown all over; hardwood desks and walls, and table tops that somehow lack any semblance of warmth. It’s sterile and quiet reminding you of your gynecologist’s office but just with more men.  The dean is there, and so are other people from student affairs and the conduct board. Shawn is on the phone sitting on the table in front of you and you keep your fingers on the necklace around your throat to offer any sort of guidance in the world. It is terrifying and horrible and Roger isn’t even there, which just makes you wonder if he’d ever have to experience the hell you’ve been through. Shawn is on speaker so he can’t talk to you and you alone, so it’s really time for you to just sit there and take it all head on. Whatever it may be.

“Miss y/l/n, thank you for joining us today. And you Mr. Mendes for calling in. This has been a...rather difficult thing for us as a board to work through. Mostly because we’ve never had this come up as a problem before, hence the lack of policy written about it.” The dean began.

You bit your lip at that feeling even more embarrassed for breaking a rule they’d never even thought to formally write down.

“Now while I understand you two may be in love and have a genuine relationship, it is very important that you both understand the irrelevance of that to this investigation. We are not here to determine whether or not you are in love, we are here to determine whether or not you have broken university policy. Do you understand?”

Your fingers tightened around the necklace dangling from your throat. Holy shit this was terrifying.

“Yes, sir, we understand. Right y/n?” Shawn spoke up prompting you to answer.

“Y--Yes. I understand.”

“Good. With that being said...The board has closely examined the policy, which states the prohibition of any sexual relationship between a faculty member or staff member with a student. A staff member is defined as someone who works no less than thirty hours a week and is actively insured under the university health insurance.”

Your heartbeat picked up and you felt like you could choke on your tongue at any moment. You wanted to call out to Shawn but you couldn’t, you had to be quiet and wait it all out.

“Now, Ms. y/l/n while you are actively an TA, it does fulfill a credit hour that you are taking as a part of the requirements for your graduate program. And despite some of our better judgement, the policy does not currently define that position as a staff member. You are technically completely under the umbrella of being a student.”

“Holy shit, babe!” Shawn crackled over the line.

Bless his fucking heart.

“Mr. Mendes, please.” The dean hissed stunning your boyfriend into silence.

You tried to smile apologetically, but you got the feeling you were not well liked in that room at all.

“As it appears you may have guessed,” He sighed turning his attention back to you. “We have been unable to locate any violation of the policy as it currently stands. Your relationship, though unethical, does not violate university law.”

You nodded hands literally shaking around the necklace you were wearing just waiting for the floor to fall out from underneath you. It felt like it was too good to be true.

“Now, this doesn’t mean that what you’ve done is okay. We are extremely disappointed in you Miss y/l/, and will be placing you on academic probation for the duration of next semester. Despite your ability to return to class, you will be under watchful eye of this university.”

“Of course. Absolutely, I agree.” You murmured.

“As for you Mr. Mendes, it was a little more difficult to find a punishment as you also did not technically break the policy. We left it up to Dr. Edwards and she has decided that the missed classes in wake of your final paper has been punishment enough. You are free to return to class on Monday.”

“T--Thank you, sir.” Shawn spoke over the phone. “But, what about Roger?”

You let your head dip lower, a part of you glad that he brought it up so that you didn’t have to. His name still made you feel sick to your stomach, and somehow you knew that it wasn’t gonna pan out the way that either of you wanted.

“We are not able to discuss the more personal details of Roger’s case. The only thing you need to know y/n is that we do have policy centered around harassment and utilizing technology to provoke students. The board has made the decision that he will not receive credit for the class, and will not sit in on the remaining class periods. “

You couldn’t help but look over at Kate, and even she could only stare at you with remorse. Everyone in that room knew that the punishment didn’t fit the crime. But, his father was on the board of trustees, and that meant power that none of you had.

Shawn snorted rudley. “With all due respect sir, that’s bullshit. Since when did sexual harassment of your students not matter to you all?”

“Shawn. Shawn, it’s fine. Okay?” You assured him. “This is the best we’re gonna get.”

The Dean for the first time seemed to look at you with an ounce of pity in his eyes, something that told you he at least understood what had been done, but knew that he wasn’t at liberty to do anything about it.

“The most I can offer you is a no contact order.”

In the end it really doesn’t feel like much. You get to keep your job, but also under the guise that men and money and patriarchy continued to dominate higher education just as they did the rest of the world. You leave knowing that there’s a lot more work to do, but also so extremely validated in the importance of it. No it’s not the kind of win you wanted, but it is a win nonetheless. Shawn gets to go back to class. You keep your job. The world keeps spinning and you keep fighting for the right for people who don’t look like Roger to exist. A part of you always knew that’s how it might turn out.

You get the no contact order to give you, and Shawn, some piece of mind, before running to get to your boyfriend. LA traffic was a bitch, and you knew you’d probably just arrive in time for him to finish but it would be worth it. Shawn had supported you in a way that you never could have even thought to ask for, and you wanted to give that back to him too. You wanted to give him everything too.

When you get there you have to text him because your boyfriend was important now and went to places where you had to be on a list to get in. He ran out to you immediately grabbing you up in his arms and it was the most incredible feeling after what felt like the longest day of your life.

“What are you doing here?” He mumbled squeezing you tightly.

You hummed. “I just wanted to support you...and I wanted to give you this.”

You pulled back from him to slide his grandmother’s necklace back off of your neck.

He scrunched his face up and grabbed your hands in his stopping you from moving closer

“No. I didn’t want it back, babe. I wanted you to wear it.”

“But Shawn, you always wear it. I don’t wanna mess you up.” You whined.

He simply grinned at you and pressed kisses to your face until you were the giggling mess that only he could turn you into. Ugh men.

“I can’t think of anymore good luck in this world, then to look over and see it on your neck. I’ll be fine. You’re here with me, how could I mess up?”

“I don’t know. That’s a lot of pressure.”

“Nah. you’re just kind of perfect for me.” He assured you.

Inside the radio studio you watch the way that Shawn composes himself. He shook hands and introduced himself to every person he came in contact with. When they asked him to do an interview for the youtube channel he immediately said yes, and was so nice to the person micing him up that he nearly missed his cue. It was exactly the man you knew and the man that you loved. Shawn was the guy who could walk into a room and immediately be your best friend just from twenty seconds of conversation. He was kind and gentle and smart and talented as all hell.

While they were interviewing him, Andrew came to sit next to you. You and Andrew didn’t really have the best relationship, or a relationship at all for that matter. All you knew was that he meant a lot of Shawn and Shawn felt that he was leading him in the right direction, so you trusted that judgement before all else. But best friends, you were not.

“How did it go today?” He asked pulling your attention from how cute Shawn looked in his shirt.

Your eyes widened slightly. “I uh--I get to stay in my department. They put me on probation technically, but it looks like they’re trying to make sure I don’t cause havoc and bring attention to the fact that Roger basically stalked and harassed me. Wouldn’t be a great look for the university.”

“That’s good.”

“Yea. Shawn’s not in trouble either if that’s what you were curious about. We didn’t break any university policy.”

Andrew smirked at that. “Why do you think that I’d only want to know if Shawn was affected?”

“Just seems like your priority is all. It’s kind of your job isn’t it?”

He nodded softly peering over at where you were watching Shawn do his thing. Eventually Andrew’s gaze turned to you and you could feel him looking at you in a way that made you nervous. Andrew usually ignored you and you’d been okay with that.

“His entire life is about to change.” He murmured softly.

You turned to look at him and his face was unreadable.

“What do you mean?”

“All eyes are starting to turn to him. I’ve got people in high places who are financially investing themselves in him doing well. The second his semester ends he’s going to have to work harder than he ever has in his life. And that’s going to take all of his time.”

You clenched at the necklace around your throat thinking that maybe it was choking you but in reality you noticed it was just you, just your heart starting to clench in your chest. Maybe it was Andrew instead.

“W--Why are you telling me this?”

“It’s not because I want to hurt you, y/n.” He attempted to reassure you. “I’m telling you because I want you both to prepare yourselves. He’s about to enter the craziest time of his life. It’s not gonna be college staying up until three a.m together to write papers. It’s gonna be him in a different city every day of the week. It’s gonna be weeks of not seeing each other in person. And I know that you’re in a master’s program, and you got your own shit going on. You shouldn’t have to throw it all away.”

You could feel your body getting hot. It was telltale sign that you weren’t gonna be able to hold your tongue. Usually Shawn would be there to pull you back, but he was nowhere to be found and that was bad for Andrew.

“Who the hell said I would throw it away? What would make you think that I’m not capable of being in a relationship and doing my fucking job at the same time?”

“That’s not how I meant it.”

“So how did you mean it? It sounds like you’re trying to convince me break to up with him for your sake, so he can work freely in the industry.”

“No I’m just trying to get you to think a little bit about the life you’re about to sign up for.”

You snorted. “Fuck off with your false genuine bullshit. You’re not advocating for me and you’re not advocating for Shawn, you’re advocating for your investment. I’m not under contract with you and I don’t owe you anything.”

You noticed that he reached for your arm to try to get you to be quiet. Suddenly people were staring and that only made you angrier because you didn’t want to feel like you were crazy. You didn’t have the capacity to not be angry, and you knew in your heart that you deserved to be angry. You could feel tears building up behind your eyes. The sort of embarrassing, child like tantrum tears that showed up when you just felt defeated, like no one was listening to you.

It isn’t until his arms wrap around you from behind that you feel like you can breathe again. And you know that it’s him the way that your body knows to release the minute he’s touching you. Because it’s him and you automatically feel better when you’re together.

“Hey, hey, hey what’s going on?” He hushed softly in your ear.

You were still staring at Andrew with all of the rage he’d created inside of you clear in your eyes. But, with Shawn’s arms wrapped around you it no longer felt like a battle worth fighting. It would only make things harder, would probably only prove whatever idiotic statement he’d been trying to make. And you didn’t want it to be about that, not on this day that meant so much to him.

So, you smiled softly and turned in his arms to press a kiss to his jaw.

“Nothing’s going on. It’s fine.”

He frowned at you and immediately ran his thumb along your cheekbone, something that you often found incredibly soothing and right now was no different.

“No it’s not. What’s going on? Andrew?”

Andrew shrugged. “We were just chatting.”

Shawn took one look at you, could see the tears that you were just barely holding back with every fiber of your being and decided whatever answer he’d been given was not enough. He took you by the hand and led you away from the lights, the crew, and Andrew. There was a room in the back of the studio that looked like a general purpose room for the talent to wait between interviews. When the door was closed, he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and squeezed you warmly against his chest. With your face tucked into his shirt which smelled of cologne and the soap he used at home it was difficult not to find comfort, and with comfort it was difficult not to let the tears out that you’d been holding back.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on? Why were you fighting with Andrew?”

You sniffled. “I don’t wanna get you in trouble.”

“What do you mean get me in trouble? What happened? You can tell me.”

“I’m not good enough for you.”

And with that you fell apart in true dramatic fashion. Honestly, it probably had more to do with the stress of the entire day then the actual argument with Andrew. It just felt like every step of the way you had to fight to validate your relationship. And the first sign that you might not have to fight anymore, a new enemy just approached you from a different angle. You were tired of fighting to feel like you deserved to be with Shawn. It was kind of exhausting.

“That’s absolute nonsense. Of course you’re good enough for me.” He muttered.

He pulled you to the couch tucking you into his lap against the arm of the couch so that you felt as comforted as possible. His hands came up to grasp firmly at your cheeks, wiping away the tears that had only continued to drop as you huffed out exaggerated breaths.

“Who told you you’re not good enough for me? Andrew?”

You shook your head softly. “He didn’t say it out right but… he kept talking about your career and how all of these things are gonna change for you, and that I probably won’t be able to deal with in like I think I can. He just...He made it sound like I might be a burden on your happiness. Like I might not be able to give you what you need because, what you need isn’t me.”

“That is...That could not be further from the truth y/n.” He sighed moving your hair out of the way to see your eyes. “I need you so badly right now I can hardly breathe. When you showed up this afternoon? I couldn’t even contain myself. You don’t understand how fast I ran to get to you. I’m . . . baby I’m so fucking nervous. I’m terrified and I, I need you to get through this. I don’t care what anyone else says. I need you, okay? Please, tell me that you know that.

You hadn’t. Shawn had been so focused on supporting you and then supporting himself that you hadn’t quite noticed that the scales had tipped unevenly. You wanted him to always lean on you when he needed it, because you knew in your heart that he’d allow you to do the same. And it felt good to be needed. But it also hurt to know how badly he’d been struggling.

You pressed your forehead softly against his, smiling when his fingers traced your jaw.

“I know. I know; I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. Just know that your support means everything to me alright?”

“Okay.”

“And I’ll talk to Andrew. He’s not gonna bother you anymore.”

You winced. “No, Shawn. You don’t have to--”

“I’m talking to Andrew. You’re the most important thing. And he has to get on board with that. It isn’t an option.”

Well that was just….hot as all hell.

“Okay.” You mumbled failing to contain the smile of a woman with a man who would happily give her the world.

The rest of the afternoon is spent watching Shawn do interviews. He goes and plays for another radio show and he talks to people and he blows every conversation out of the water. Andrew has a look on his face that tells you things are going well. And they have Shawn play the cover at every radio station they attend. You record about a dozen videos of him throughout the day only to spend forever deciding which one is good enough to post.

When it’s all set and done you figured he’d want to go home. It had been exhausting just watching him go, go, go all day long. But instead he asked you to come to the studio with him. There was something that he wanted you to hear, and it had to be heard through the studio speakers or it wouldn’t be good enough.

You let him tag you along, loving the excited look on his face at the very thought of doing what he loved. You adore that about him, how passionate he was always. You loved even more when that passion was directed towards you, because duh.

“Okay. You ready?” He asked turning a nervous smile in your direction.

You nodded. “Lay it on me, babes.”

“Okay. It’s not perfect yet. Teddy is still gonna do some more production on it, but she had finals to work on. And there’s still this thing about the chorus that I can’t put my finger on.”

You rolled your eyes playfully at him.

“Shawn, play it.”

“Okay, okay.”

He pressed whatever magical button in the sea of magical buttons was the playback before sitting beside you in the big comfy chairs. When his voice comes out the speakers you almost squeal a little bit, because that’s your baby and he’s singing and he’s perfect, but then you hear the words and something different entirely happens inside of you.

Sunrise with you on my chest

No blinds in the place where I live

Daybreak open your eyes

'Cause this was only ever meant to be for one night

Still, we're changing our minds here

You peer over at him and he’s watching you so closely that it makes your heart stutter. Of course it was for you, but who could have ever expected it to be that beautiful.

You are bringing out a different kind of me

There's no safety net that's underneath, I'm free

Falling all in

You fell for men who weren't how they appeared, yeah

Trapped up on a tightrope now we're here, we're free

Falling all in you

You cover your mouth with your hands despite the fact that there’s no sound coming out of you once so ever. He’s still staring at you and you know that you’re gonna cry, but you’re just trying to hold on with everything that you have and it isn’t fucking working.

Every time I see you baby I get lost

If I'm dreaming, baby, please don't wake me up

Every night I'm with you I fall more in love

Now I'm laying by your side

By the time the song ends there’s not a chance in hell. Tears are streaming down your cheeks and Shawn has to find you a tissue because snot is an issue, and you don’t want this beautiful moment to be remember as the moment you had snot running down your nose. He goes to say something but you put your hand on top of his to lull him into silence.

“C--Can you play it again?”

He smiled softly. “‘Course I can.”

The second time isn’t any better, because now your body knows what to expect. It’s like you’re feeling all of it even more than you did the first time. He reaches your hand and tugs you gently into his lap as the song is slowly coming to a close. You wipe away another tear and he tucks your head under his chin with his arms wrapped around you. It’s the warmest you’ve ever felt in your life you think.

“I wanted to talk about what it felt like to fall in love with you.” He murmured. “I wanted to talk about how it feels to be loved by you, because it’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. Did I...did I do good?”

You reach for his face to hide the fact that your fingers had been trembling. You rubbed softly at his chin and jaw and cheeks, wondering if he knew how beautiful he was to you. It was the first time you’d ever been jealous of Shawn, because he could formulate his love with ease, but yours was simply trapped within you.

“You did so good, baby. No one has ever loved me like you have. I’ve never felt so full.” You whispered.

He squeezed gently at your thigh. “You deserve it. You deserve every bit of it. I wanna love you like that always.”

You kiss him because it's’ the only tangible thing your body has to even try to show him what he means to you. You scratch at his scalp and you tug lovingly at his curls. You map out the shape of his lips with your tongue and you try to convey it all through touch. You think maybe that he gets it if the way that he holds you in silence for twenty minutes straight is any indication. When you go home that night it’s with the understanding that no one is really capable of hurting what you have. Your love is this thing that has you bound to one another, and no matter how hard it was gonna be you’d see it through without fail. Because...love.

[phdna]

*arriving a month late with Starbucks and an uninteresting Endgame review*

This took me forever to write because work has been very intense lately, but I have thoughts I want to write down, for my own future reference when I’m an old woman looking back on my life, if for nothing else.

SPOILERS AHEAD, of course!

From whatever little I’ve been online since Endgame came out, it seems like the internet has been on fire swearing undying love, eternal hate and everything in between. I’m used to that because the MCU fandom has a tendency to be like that, but it feels like this time is more intense, which puzzled me a little bit, as it mostly adheres to the Marvel rules of storytelling, and people tend to not fuss over movies that do that as much as they do over movies that break the established MCU patterns. And then I did some reading and watching and talking and it just hit me that people aren’t reacting to Endgame itself, they’re reacting to the MCU. Both people who think it’s the best movie ever and people who think it’s absolute trash aren’t talking a lot about the movie, they’re talking about how the movie handled the end of this long journey that was the MCU. (Exception: time travel. I’ll get back to it in a moment!) I know I’m having a Captain Obvious moment here, but bear with me for a moment, I’m going somewhere with this.

Here’s the thing: as long as there are more movies coming, we can all overlook things we dislike about the MCU really well – “they’ll just fix it later,” right? Or we can fix it ourselves, even if we don’t write/read fics – the endless theories about what the next movies are gonna be about are in large part wish-fulfillment. Maybe next time Marvel will have more representation of all kinds, maybe next time Marvel will develop their female characters as much as their male counterparts, maybe next time Marvel will focus on this particular relationship that is either underdeveloped or so developed that it should get more attention, maybe next time Marvel will direct a character arc towards where I think it should go. But when the end arrives, we have to face that we aren’t in charge of the MCU and have sometimes wildly different expectations that what the Powers That Be have in mind. We have been emotionally invested in this universe for a long time – we bring the MCU with us in our lives even away from screens – and it sucks a little to realize that, ultimately, we are powerless to impact it. If Endgame was 100% everything you’ve always wanted for every single character and for the universe as whole, great! You’re still gonna mourn the end a little bit, but it’s cool! But if you feel like even one character of the dozens in the cast got the short end of the stick, you’re gonna be upset because don’t we all wish we could sit down with Marvel and teach them Why They Are Wrong About This Character?

I hope I’m not sounding holier-than-thou, like I’m being absolutely cool and adult about the whole thing. Hell no. I’d fight Kevin Feige in a parking lot any time, and have been ready to do that since huh… the MCU started. (Especially because the MCU has taken over the comics and I like 616 more than I like the MCU, so I’ve got beef with Marvel for that.)

So yeah, I have plenty of “What? No! Whose idea was that, that’s terrible!” moments, but I always try to focus on what I enjoyed more than on what I hated. Sometimes it doesn’t work and I get forever bitter, but most of the time, I make an active effort to 1) be grateful that WE EVEN HAVE GOOD SUPERHERO MOVIES AT ALL and 2) watch the movies I’m actually watching instead of watching the movies I think I should watch. For instance, I want to set myself on fire whenever I think about how un-family-like the Avengers are in the MCU, but since being a family isn’t a story the MCU is trying to tell, I consciously try to find something I enjoy about the constant conflicts, such as what they tell us about what each character believes, and how they keep coming back together to do the right thing despite their differences.

Arguably, that’s too much effort, and I get why some people want to be entertained and get upset if the MCU doesn’t deliver that entertainment – I mean, movies are supposed to be fun. But since I was a kid, I’ve always been a fan of imperfect things I have no control over, and I muddle through what I don’t enjoy to get to the shiny bits that give me goosebumps and keep me up at night feeling giddy over how good something was. It’s part of how I react to stuff I like by now. I don’t know, maybe it’s my History degree talking, but I don’t see what the big deal is with saying “Some of it sucks, some of it is brilliant, some of it has to be challenged on the ground of human rights, but overall I’m interested in learning more about it.”

Why the essay on how to engage with the MCU?

Because no matter how I think about it, my primary opinion about Endgame isn’t “I think it’s good” or “I think it’s bad” but just “I’m thankful.” That’s it. I can’t look at Endgame and see it as an isolated movie. I look at it and think “God, I was just out of school when Tony said I am Iron Man and now I’m a teacher and the MCU has always been there helping me keep track of the passage of time all these years.” Here, have a bad analogy: Endgame is when you finish a long travel and there’s nothing home to eat and you have to unpack and you’re exhausted and normal life is depressing and you have a headache and you’re frustrated that holidays are over and you didn’t do everything you wanted…. but that doesn’t make the entire travel a waste of time, does it? It’s actually the opposite. If the travel sucks, getting home is great. And very, very, very few people walk out of Endgame saying “Thank god this MCU saga is over, ugh, I was following it just out of obligation and I’m glad I’m free now” – I mean, there are people like that, and I can see why, but I also never finish things just out of obligation so I can’t relate. Anyway, mostly, people either expected more because the MCU is good enough to do better or thought this was the perfect ending. I’m both. Some things I loved, some things I really wish would be different, but mostly, I’m, like I said, grateful that the journey was so good that no ending would’ve fully satisfied me.

My biggest problem is with time travel. I’ve never liked the trope (not huge on alternate universes, either!), so I knew this would be a pet peeve even before I watched Endgame. I’m also surprised that apparently nobody involved in the movie can agree on how aforementioned time travel works. Fans certainly can’t. And I don’t think it’s a good thing if your audience is confused by a major part of your movie, even if there is a perfectly good explanation and the audience just didn’t get it. (Which isn’t the case, as apparently there isn’t a perfect explanation.) But you know what? I’m hand-waving it. It’s a convoluted plot device but it made a good movie, so like, whatever. Let it work in ABC way unless XYZ needs to happen, in which case, XYZ is how it’s always worked regardless of how ABC was used before. I don’t care. I’m taking what they say happened and saying “Okay, that’s how it happened” and ignoring the hows and the whys. It’s just bad comic book logic on the big screen, I’ve been rolling with this kind of thing since I was a literal child. Having said that, I don’t know what year it is in the MCU, I don’t know how Spider-Man will work, I’m not touching Cap’s time paradox with a ten-foot pole, and I’m not even gonna try to understand any of the timeline charts going around online.

My other major problems have to do with real life more than with the movie. The only original female Avenger dies in the same way the only original female Guardian of the Galaxy died, and neither of them get funerals but we do get the men in their lives suffering over it (which switches the focus from mourning the women to the men’s journeys.) Not sure if the joke was that Thor was clinically depressed or if the joke was that Thor was fat, but haha hilarious. The first openly queer character is omg a nameless cameo talking about someone we never see, isn’t the MCU so progressive? (The bar was so low that Marvel had to dig a ditch so they could somehow get lower than that.) Not loving the idea of “Thanos treated Gamora like shit but the Soul Stone recognizes he loved her” and “Tony’s dad was awful but Tony can Forgive Him” being presented as touching – it’s creepy af and makes me wonder if the MCU will end up saying Alexander Pierce actually cared about Bucky somewhat or something of that sort. Female hero team up: unironically loved it and want it projected on my tombstone (it was one of my favorite part), but it’s a little disturbing that almost none of them had much of a storyline in the movie because they don’t have much of a storyline in the MCU – it really highlights that Marvel has a boy’s club problem still. Now, none of these things make for a bad movie, it just reminds me that Marvel has a long way to go with they want to become inclusive.

Okay, now on to storylines…

Tony. Loved it. I love how the Russos direct Tony (I do have a problem with how M&M write Tony, sometimes, though, and always have) because they love to highlight how soft Tony’s heart is. Part of what makes the character interesting in any universe is that he’s willing to do morally shady stuff when he thinks he’s justified and he tends to think he’s justified because he knows exactly how smart he is, but if you explore this borderline antihero behavior without a deep commitment to reminding the audience that Tony is emotional and gentle, you end up with Reed Richards. 616!Tony will always be sweeter than MCU!Tony (even though 616!Tony’s dad literally tried to beat emotions out of him, while MCU!Tony’s dad more ignored him than actively tried to make him colder, but that’s besides the point) but Tony was so openly loving in this movie, and it helps make his death hit home, why so many people will miss Iron Man and Tony I pity Morgan a lot because she won’t remember her dad, but the only way to feel like the torch has truly been passed to other heroes was to kill Tony – keep him alive in any way and characters are gonna want his advice even if he stops fighting. I want to see how other heroes will protect a world without Iron Man. It’s exciting and brand new and feels a bit like when Fury said in 2008 that Tony isn’t the only superhero.

Steve. Let’s take the time paradox at face value and say everything goes well in every possible timeline and nobody suffers more than they would if he hadn’t done his time-heist thing, because I think that’s what the movie wanted to imply. I’m actually happy he got to be with Peggy. It’s not how I’d write him, mind you, but I always knew MCU Steve was being written as someone who is inherently out of place in the modern world. In the comics, Steve has a culture shock and he mourns people, but he finds a new family in the Avengers and truly becomes part of this century. MCU Steve was never that guy. And that’s okay, it’s a valid take! Not what I’d do, but given his storyline throughout the other movies, I think it’s a very satisfying ending that feels very organic. Saying “screw everything, I’ll do what I think it’s important” has been Steve’s constant in all movies, and it’s nice that he learned that he is important too, not just everybody else. Handing the shield was also very important – no “I think he’d want you to have it” to fuel conspiracy theories in the future: Steve made a good decision and that’s fine. (And I’ll cut a bitch if y’all keep saying “maybe Bucky had the shield before” because Sam can be a first choice fgs!!!)

Professor Hulk is a thing and I liked it more than I thought I would. Hopefully we’ll see more of him. I liked Bruce and I liked the Hulk, but somehow this version of him made me go from “Yeah, they’re nice” to “PLEASE TELL ME HE’LL HAVE A SOLO MOVIE” so good job in redeeming the Hulk franchise, Marvel! It only took you 10 years to get the right tone, but hey, what matters is that you did it!

Thor���….. Um. Hard. I liked his character arc but hated how it was handled. I’m not even a huge fan of Ragnarok because comedy isn’t my thing, but watching Ragnarok, I could see why the movie worked and the humor didn’t come at the expense of being fair to the character. Endgame felt more like the movie itself was bullying him. They’re laughing at his pain, basically, and it’s just not funny. It bothers me for the same reason it bothers me when people say pre-serum Steve should never leave home – just… no. But then, we got Thor and Frigga and I’d sell a kidney for more Frigga, so, it wasn’t completely awful. Just like, 90%?

Natasha!!! I hope everybody who said Scarjo can’t act paid attention to this movie, because she gave Nat a depth that we haven’t seen since CATWS, and even then, because it was Steve’s story, she was sidelined. That’s the Nat I’ve always wanted in the MCU. …and of course, she’s dead. Luckily, we don’t know anything about MCU!Nat, so we can still get prequels even if they don’t want to bring her back to life. It’s a little shady that she dies (why is it that the randomly decided death always seem to be randomly assigned to whatever the minority in a team is, huh?) but I love that she sacrificed herself for the greater good. It’s a heroic end to a woman who thought she was gonna be a villain her entire life. Oh, oh, oh, I have to say this: Natasha leading the remaining Avengers? Godtier. I’m not much of a fic person but I desperately want fics of that off-screen period where she’s being a boss.

Clint. MCU!Clint never did much for me, so I was impressed that I was rooting so much for him during the movie. I don’t know if he’ll just retire completely, but I’m hoping he doesn’t so we can see more of him in the MCU.

Okay, that’s the original Avengers and I’ve already written……. Too much. So I’ll stop – sort of – here.

But first, other random comments.

Fight choreography? On point, 10/10, would let Marvel beat me up to experience these sequences myself

“I am inevitable.” “I am Iron Man.” I cried so much the screen got blurry and I almost missed the snap. Thank you for this exchange.

I love and support Morgan, but I’m dreading the idea that in a near future, the MCU will get Riri’s entire story and give it to Morgan. Please, MCU, I’m counting on you, have Morgan grow up to befriend Riri, not to steal her role.

Nebula needs a solo movie. Nebula needs a whole cinematic universe, actually. What a character.

Speaking of which, GotG 3 is shaping up to be very cool

Sam being the one to say “On your left” in the movie where he becomes Captain America? Poetic cinema. Also! Sam Wilson is Captain America and both the human being who wants children to grow up in a better world and the geek who wants to see flying Cap in me are equally over the moon with joy

Bucky, my darling, the MCU hasn’t known what to make of you since 2011. It’s okay, Sebastian Stan will always do his magic and make you be Bucky even when Marvel doesn’t fully understand anything about your character

Pepper’s character development in 10 years is protagonist-worthy, I can’t believe how she always only has a couple of scenes every movie

Tom Holland should not be allowed to have crying scenes, they make my heart hurt

The movie feels a lot shorter than it is

There’s a lot more I could say, but I’m writing it on Word (tumblr sometimes eat my text posts as I’m writing them) and the wordcount is nearing 3k, so I better shut up. If you’ve read all of this, please treat yourself to a milkshake, you’re awesome. If there’s anything you want to talk about that I didn’t address (or just… you know, about Marvel in general), my ask and my direct messages are always open. I’ll probably take forever to get back to you (I NEED A VACATION ASAP) but I will eventually answer you and I don’t bite, so please go ahead if you’re curious about my not-so-very-interesting thoughts :)

TL;DR: Endgame isn’t my favorite movie (IM, IM3, CATFA, CATWS and BP all come first, sorry) but it’s up there in the “I can watch this movie a thousand times and I won’t get tired of it” list, and I think it does a fairly good job in ending the Infinity Saga, so I’m basically pleased!