#the autograph man

[quotespile]

She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence.

Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man

[mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora]

Reading Zadie Smith while having an early breakfast in an almost-empty Bordeaux must be heaven, and we probably don’t know it

[philosophybitmaps]

[litsnaps]

[litandlifequotes]

She wants to end properly, like a good sentence.

The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith

[onlinesweetheart]

<3

[sharpened--edges]

Couldn’t face the Underground, being under ground. Couldn’t face a cab either, those black theatres playing cockney monologues. Spat out by the hospital into the middle of nowhere, Alex finds instead an Overground station and a line that will take him tolerably close to Mountjoy. The platform is all cigarettes and schoolgirls. This feels like travelling. The train does not simply appear as it does under ground. Under ground you get impatient with lateness, because essentially you don’t believe the tube has any real distance to travel. It should just be here, and then be there. But with the Overground, you will wait, and quite happily wait, and smile when you can see it coming, the train, rounding the corner under the vast azure sky, chuffing past trees and houses.

The doors open. Everybody in the North of London knows this line affectionately as the Free Train. There are no machines and no one ever pays. Kids smoke on it, tramps live on it, and the mad like to sit in the lotus position and strike up conversations. It takes you to the big parks at the top of the city and the ghettos at the bottom. Teachers ride it because admin and essays can be laid out on the many empty seats and calmly dealt with. Nurses sleep on it. Buskers play concerts uninterrupted. Dogs are welcome. Sometimes you walk into a carriage and the clouds of marijuana smoke make your eyes sore. To look out of the windows at the passing world is to think that the city consists only of forests and schools and sporting arenas and swimming pools. The dark satanic mills must be somewhere else. The whole place looks like the Promised Land.

Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man (Penguin, 2003), p. 372.

[kayhi808]

My new bedtime story 😴☺

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 44

PREV

The flight up to New York is a pleasant one.

The time in the airport itself had been less pleasant. Matt, as it turns out, is a firm believer in arriving with just enough time to check a bag, get through security, and get to the gate. He had claimed up, down, left, and right that he had it down to a science.

No matter how many times Smith had wondered about the scientific rigor of this 'science' he still kept it to himself. There was no need for Smith to voice his uncertainty with this plan because Kevin well and truly had it covered.

"You're giving us only an hour to check bags, get through security, and get to our gate?!" Kevin demands.

"Kevin, if you wanted to be there earlier then you could have asked Andrew to give yo a ride." Matt says. "We'll be fine."

"You know what Neil and Andrew get like when they have a long roadtrip ahead of them." Kevin argues.

"All lovey-dovey?" Nicky asks as Aaron makes a gagging sound.

"No, well yes, but no they always stop and buy all of the worst food too." Kevin reminds. "I'm just concerned about us missing our flight! We have barely enough time!" Kevin huffs crossing his arms.

"You're wrong anyways." Aaron says idly as he continues to text with Katelyn.

"How am I wrong?!" Kevin demands.

"We also have to park within that hour that Matt has left us with." Aaron says looking up from his phone.

"Matt!" Kevin squawks.

"It'll be fine." Matt reassures for the 2nd time.

"We all have checked bags!" Kevin exclaims, "What if we miss our flight?!" he wails.

"It'll be fine!" Matt repeats.

"No it won't!" Kevin exclaims.

---

It was fine.

The only real delays they met were at security.

Smith prided himself on being efficient in the security line. He has his watch off, his phone and ID secured in a zipped jacket pocket, his backpack and electronics in separate trays, and his shoes ready to be slipped off.

So he was shamed to have been the cause of the first delay when the TSA agent wouldn't wave Smith through the metal detector since she didn't realize he was there. That had been a whole anxiety attack and a half as the line had formed up behind him all wondering what the hold-up was.

Finally she seemed to startle as she realized that Smith had been standing there waiting and waved him through.

The other delay was that Kevin got patted down after he had forgotten to empty his 'emergency' water bottle.

It was probably for the best that they didn't have to be in the airport for that long. Every announcement that it was very important to not leave your bag unattended made him worry that with every blink somehow someone had slipped a bomb into his backpack.

While it was on his back.

As he was running with the rest of his friends to their gate.

"It just had to be the gate on the other end of the terminal." Aaron huffs.

"It would have been 100% perfect if someone hadn't left their water bottle in their bag despite the, let me check, 3,820 signs that said remove all liquids from your carry-ons!" Matt says as they continues to run.

"I said I forgot!" Kevin yells back from his spot at the front of the pack. Smith was under the distinct impression that Kevin was keeping pace with them since he had seen the Striker move much faster on the court and during warm-ups.

"We could have forgiven that!" Nicky pants, "Why did you have to slam the whole thing to prove that it was 'just water'?" he asks.

"Because I wanted to prove I wasn't a national security threat!" Kevin says. "I'll be going to the Olympics in a couple years and I can't have that on my record." he continues as he rounds a corner.

"What record?!" Smith asks suddenly worried that there was a record.

"Smithy, there's no record Kevin's just an idiot. An idiot who got patted down, tested for explosives, and had his carry-on searched." Nicky huffs.

"You don't know that there's not a record! The record everything nowadays!" Kevin huffs and their gate is in sight.

"Kevin, just shut up!" Aaron exclaims as they reach the line for their flight.

"Wait why aren't any of you getting shitty with Smiths?!" Kevin asks.

"His delay was like a minute and more importantly NOT HIS FAULT!" Nicky defends.

"He should have just walked through!" Kevin argues.

"Oh it's fine if he gets a record but not you?!" Aaron asks.

"So there is a record?!" Smith asks again.

They reach the line and the largely empty area around their gate is more than enough evidence that this was the final boarding. Smith breathed a sigh of relief as he took his place in line behind Nicky.

"The lines pretty slow, I'm going to go get a water." Kevin says and before any of them can say anything he is off towards a busy looking Newsweek store.

"I cannot believe him." Aaron huffs.

"All that water he just drank and is about to drink? He has lost window seat privileges." Matt pants wiping sweat from his brow.

"Agreed." Nicky says.

Smith laughed between panting breaths. His stomach hurt a bit from the stress of running but it was fine.

They get on the plane without Kevin and head to their seats. Most of the overhead storage is taken up at this point but Smith slides his bag under the middle seat in front of him after Matt

In the end, Kevin barely made it onto the plane in time since he got caught up in deciding on water. "You're in my seat." Kevin says as the only man not yet seated.

"I am not about to spend this flight getting up every 2 minutes because you have to pee." Matt says, "Abby didn't used to need to take all those pitstops when we're on the bus." Matt adds.

"I hate the aisle, the cart could hit my legs." Kevin argues.

"Then you can sit in the middle if Smith's willing to move." Matt says.

"You can have the middle Kevin." Smith offers actually preferring the aisle seat since then he doesn't have to ask anyone to move for him.

"I hate the middle seat, there is no room." Kevin crosses his arms.

"Smith is like only 3 inches shorter than you and he's not complaining." Matt continues.

"It's an important 3 inches."

"I bet it is."

"Nicky, are you serious?"

"What?!"

"There is an uninvolved member of the public, right there."

"He's wearing headphones it's fine!"

---

It's fine.

Eventually Kevin takes the middle seat if for no other reason than Matt stubbornly pretends to go to sleep but absolutely does not want the aisle seat either.

Smith gives it up and ends up with his own preferred seat while Kevin pointedly takes both of the arm rests, as is his right. The plane ride progresses smoothly from there. Smith has always liked flying. There is always a sense that the second that he gets onto the plane and the door closes he has absolutely zero control over what happens afterwards.

That is a nice comfort.

He pays attention to the safety briefing, finds his nearest exit, and that he should secure the bag over his own face before securing it on Kevin's.

He puts his headphones on and tries not to think about the anxiety of meeting the 'girls'.

He has heard much about the 'girls'.

Allison Reynolds. Allison was someone who's legacy existed even outside of the team. Smith didn't know much about fashion but a Reynolds bet remained a solid practice within Palmetto. She was, undeniably, absolutely gorgeous and if Kevin was to be believed 'kind of a bitch'. Nicky had swatted his arm but had said that it was not entirely inaccurate but like 'in the best way'.

Dan Wilds. He met Dan. Dan was nice. Also, if Matt was to be believed, the best human to ever walk the planet earth. The reason the sun rose in the east and set in the west. The gravitational pull that held the universe together. If Andrew is to be believed, she's fine.

Renee Walker. Renee was the one who taught Andrew how to use knives. His friend has talked warmly of her, in the way that Andrew talks warmly about anyone which is mentioning them at all. She was the one that Smith was the most anxious about meeting.

Kevin turns his nose up at the ginger ale that Smith gets but he's allowed these now per his actual doctors orders.

1 hour left until arriving at JFK.

He hopes this ginger ale is enough to calm his stomach since he's still not allowed Pepto.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

[pyrobuyo]

POV: you're Megaman

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price signing autographs at Tomb of Ligeia movie premiere (1964)

Footage courtesy of Getty images

[vanalex]

"I feel horribly embarrassed that someone would ask me for my autograph, because everybody bleeds. It's my fans that have put me here, that have made me into what I am, so if anything I should be asking them for their autograph, because they're paying my bills." ~ Peter Steele ~ Interview in Germany, June 22nd 1996

[kimgmac63]

[togamest]

dance like no one's watching

-> 1,182 words. fem!reader, pet names (”babe”), dancer!reader, alcohol consumption, kiryu is a great wingman.

author’s notes: thank @euphietea for the wonderful inspiration for this one. sorry it took me so long to get to this! i hope you enjoy <3 also ur so right, tsugeura would be an amazing dancer. anyone who disagrees, argue w your mama!! → taglist: @qichun @penny-for-thots @suyacho -> join my taglist! -> archiveofourown link

Tsugeura loves the club.

As silly as it was, he was probably the most attuned to dancing even if he didn’t seem like it. There was something that changed in his demeanor whenever he’d hear his favorite song; his hips would start to swing, and his rhythm would be off the charts as his eyes close. None of the other boys seemed to be able to match him, not even Suou; in fact, not many people at the club they’re at tonight seemed to mesh with his style.

Except for one.

He can’t help but feel like someone is staring at him; normally, he’s used to having eyes on him, with Kiryu’s phone flash loud against his eyelids and Nirei’s cheering in his ears. But this felt like a very different look, something closer to hunger than anything else.

The song wraps up as he twirls around, the crowd around him pulsing as another song takes its place. Wiping his sweat, he looks in the direction of the gaze he’s sensing.

The first thing he realizes is that you’ve got pretty eyes.

They sparkle in the lights, cascades of blue and purple and red flashing across your body as you sip on your drink. He smiles at you, and suddenly, your face reddens as you look away quickly, as if concerned that he’s seen you. You're stuck against the wall, clearly too nervous to venture out, but your eyes hold a sense of curiosity that he knows he'll have to poke at later.

Oh, a shy one.

He wanders up the stairs to the VIP section, where the boys are sitting. Suou has gotten a table for them, however he’s stuck to water as he sips and listens to Nirei’s rambling. How he acts so interested in the poor boy’s fawning is admirable, Tsugeura thinks to himself as he leans against the awning, crossing his arms over his sweaty chest.

Kiryu takes a sip from his pink drink, something flowery in it for garnish as he smirks up at Tsugeura. His phone is on, a video of Tsugeura’s dancing playing in a loop on it with a video editing software pulled up.

“Looks like somebody’s caught a cutie’s eye.” His voice is smooth and perky, enough for Tsugeura himself to blush, scratching the back of his neck.

“They seem real shy, huh?” he rumbles, and Kiryu chuckles, nodding to the dance floor.

“Look.”

Tsugeura’s gaze follows Kiryu’s until it lands on a familiar face, still sucking on that thin green straw, looking just a bit braver than before as your hips sway to the new song. It’s upbeat, but good to dance with someone else if necessary.

Tsugeura is hopping down the stairs two at a time before he even realizes it, Kiryu’s laughter echoing in his ears as he approaches you.

You’re still dancing in place as he comes to stand in front of you, a grin tugging at his lips, teeth white and glowing in the dark. “All alone tonight, babe?” he asks, hoping that makes you blush so pretty like you did before.

It does, and you avert your eyes to your drink as you tentatively nod. “You got some nice moves,” you manage to get out, placing your drink on one of the bar tables before grabbing his hand, hoping he doesn’t hear your gulp of bravery, “you wanna show me some more?”

Tsugeura blinks. He’s never had someone do this to him before, be so shy and forward at the same time. He’s blaming the tropical alcohol on your breath as you tug him into the crowd, all sense of shyness dissipated with the heat of the bodies surrounding you both.

The rhythm you start with him is electric, him being able to predict every move you do with him without him even needing you to say anything. Many people forget that fights are like dances, too; it’s all about reading body language, anticipating what will come next, and relaxing into the waves of music that pulse across the crowd.

You’re so close to him; your smile is so pretty, lip gloss glinting in the laser lights as you bob and twist with him. You smell like citrus and roses; an addicting scent, fresh, stinging at his nostrils. While he dances behind you, he doesn’t hesitate to shout at you as he does so.

“You’re really good at this, you know?”

You roll your eyes, but your smile doesn’t waver. “Dancing lets me forget about everything else.”

“Yeah? Helps ya relax, huh?”

You nod, before taking his hand and spinning yourself around underneath him. “You’re pretty damn good yourself, you know,” you shout at him, “never thought a guy’d be this good.”

His laugh is so loud, like wind chimes echoing in your ears. It’s addicting as he holds your hands so delicately in his own, spinning and weaving you around, your feet content to drift across the floor, as if predicting exactly what moves he’s doing next. “Jus’ in my veins, I guess,” is his claim, before he pulls you in and dips you down to the floor.

The song ends right then and there, and the crowd that had amassed around you two goes wild. Even the DJ calls you out, shouting a congratulations to you both, before slipping into something slower, bringing the vibe down to a more relaxed zone.

Tsugeura is stuck, though. This is his chance; he could kiss you, right now. It’d be perfect; having dipped you, your face is so close to his own. All he can smell is lemons and rum punch coming from your mouth and neck, and he can almost feel his gaze glazing over.

He hears your voice from miles away. “I think you earned the kiss.”

His eyes dart up to yours, watching them crinke at the sides as you smile.

He crushes his lips to your own.

Fireworks explode behind his eyelids as he does, bringing you up without breaking contact as his big hands sit on your waist. Your hands wrap around his neck, manicured nails digging into the back of his hair. He can’t help but let out a soft groan, his tongue slicking against your own. You taste fucking incredible, like nothing he’s ever tasted before.

It’s a unique concoction; sure, there’s the rum, but there’s also a hint of mint toothpaste, and a slight tang of barbecue from your dinner you’d had prior, he assumes.

He could’ve stood there kissing you all night if you hadn’t pulled away.

Your hand rests on his cheek. Your smile hasn’t left your face from the moment you’d started dancing with him. Your teeth are digging into your bottom lip, as if you want to ask him something, and you shyly bat your eyelashes as his hands hold either side of your face.

“Wanna come upstairs with me?” he asks the unspoken question for you.

With your nod, he yanks you upstairs, skipping up the steps two at a time, and your chest feels light.

Almost like this night will be something to remember.

divider credit: @/cafekitsune networks: @interstellar-inn @themovingcastlez

disclaimer: DO NOT copy or repost my works for any reason. translations are acceptable, but please ask for permission first!

© togamest 2023-2024

[petit-papillion]

Charles's post-race comments (while a big burly bodyguard behind him keeps everyone away from him 💪)

Miami Grand Prix | 5 May 2024

🎥 Scuderia Ferrari

[dreammeiser]

Is there any inspiration you got from other creators? Love your work BTW, it’s so beautiful to look at!💜

EEEE Thank you so much! Oh man, creators that had a big impact on me have been Ian Worthington (Big Top Burger), Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink (Welcome to Night Vale), Joel Guerra (ENA), Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared), Jack Stauber (you probably know his song 'Buttercup' but he makes animations too!), Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry (Night in the Woods), and ConcernedApe (Stardew Valley).

I want to create things that make me feel the way their works do-- Everything I make is me trying to capture feelings I want to remember.

You should definitely look them up to get a good little sample of DAWM's vibes, or just to see what's been walking around in my mind library as I make this series. :o)