#the reverse grading and i hated it. everyone did. she was so nice and understanding..

[deleteddewewted]

Hey comadre! I saw you asked for a fluff request, and I came to deliver 💜 I think you might be intrigued by the idea!

Shinsou who has been bullied his whole life, with the bullying growing harsher his middle school years. When he begins his high school life in UA, he remains distant, not allowing himself for others to get close to him, and for them to hurt him, because he has developed that trauma. He then successfully transfers over to the Hero Course, and his seat partner is the chubby/curvy girl of the class. She is friendly and welcoming towards him, but he remains to give her the cold shoulder, although he saw her intentions genuine, but he still keeps his guard up. She then goes and sits with him during lunch, her explaining that she understands why he gives off the cold shoulder to his peers. She explains she has underwent being bullied herself, by her weight and such. She tells him that as time passed, she learned to love and accept herself for who she is, and offers to help Shinsou in a similar manner. To help him learn to trust people and she asks if he puked accept her as a friend. He accepts and their friendship grows, with him starting to develop feelings for her, and wants to spend more time with the person who saved him from his own troubles 💗

My heart and soul needed this, thank you comadre!💜

(I may or may not have used some of my personal experience being body shamed in here so....yeah, thats your heads up.)

Misery and Company

Emo/Himbo Shinsou x F! Reader (Reverse Comfort)

TW: Mentions of bullying, Mentions of Body Shaming, Leading on

He remembered the constant laughter that was present in his life. Everyone would assumed it was a great childhood but to him, to someone like him, it was never the paradise that it was thought to be. The laughter was at him not with him. Kids pointed their fingers towards him and blamed him for all of the problems that would happen throughout the school day.

“I didn’t do it!” As a child, he didn’t know any better. He assumed that he could scream and yell like every other kid and be listened to. He found out quickly that he didn’t get that right. The teacher quickly told him off and called his parents. They came to pick him up from school and started to ask all kinds of questions. Did your quirk go off? Why did you do it? Is it that hard to listen? He didn’t bother to try to make connections after that. Friends were a waste of time. A liability. An opportunity to suffer unnecessarily.

When Shinsou reached middle school he suffered from the increase of villain comments. His quirk became the center of attention, it didn’t matter if he had good grades or was nice to people. His quirk was the focus, always was.

“You can get away with everything you want!” He’s heard that one about a million times already. It always managed to irritate him how much people cared about what he did with it. He hated the eyes. The voices. It only made his internal monologue become aggressive with himself. The constant reminder that he was less than the others for being born with a quirk that used people. It made him want to scream his head off.

“Yeah, I’m aware. Um, can we stop talking about it now?” He wasn’t a pushover but he knew that he could just say what he wanted. He purposefully asked a question to get the other student to stop talking without using his quirk. The last tithing he wanted was for someone to accuse him of using his quirk on them.

That night, Shinsou worked on his homework at his desk. His parents were away on a work trip so he had the entire house to himself. He looked at the time and groaned when he realized it was already one in the morning. He walked into his bathrooms and looked for his toothbrush. When he looked up at the mirror, ready to brush his teeth, he couldn’t help and stare at himself. His eyes held bags under them, dark and heavy as if he hadn’t slept in days. The faint smudging of the eyeliner he put on only making his eyes look even worse. He was tired and alone. His parents weren’t there to comfort him and with his quirk making it difficult to connect with others, he had no one to speak with other than himself. He dropped his hand down and just stared at his reflection. The image became hazy as he continued to stare back at it.

His face felt warm. He couldn’t stop the river that flowed down his face. He didn’t ask for his quirk, he also didn’t ask to be born. Shinsou couldn’t stop the rattling within his chest nor the stuttered gasps as he tried to breathe. He looked up at his reflection again, this time noticing the red and swollen eyes that belong to him. That night, Shinsou laid down to sleep on top of the covers and stared blindly at the uncovered window. He vowed to never become attached again. Not to classmates, not to family, and definitely not any possible friends.

Going to UA was a dream come true for him, the ability to be closer to your heroic dreams was closer than ever, but not for him. Shinsou had to watch as the heor course students acted like entitled brats, everyone in the school bowing to them like they were some great thing. He hated watching them boast, hated everything about them, to be honest. He wanted nothing to do with them, so why did they want something to do with him?

“Uh, sorry but I was wondering if you’d like to sign this petition?” Shinsou looked up from the book he was reading and stared straight towards the holder of the voice. It was a short chubby girl with a clipboard in her hands. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for his answer to her question.

“No thanks.”

“It’s for a local shelter, it’ll help abused and abandoned pets find a good home-” Shinsou wanted to be left alone. He sighed out loud and closed his book while rubbing his eyes, the eyeliner smudging.

“I said no. Now leave me alone.” Shinsou watched as the girl flinched at his annoyed voice.

“S-sorry, I’ll just leave you alone.” She quickly walked away from him, nearly entering a jog as she left him behind. Shinsou couldn’t help but become disappointed with himself. The girl was being nice to him and he snapped at her. She wasn’t even benign annoying, he just felt tired. He could hear how some people around him mumbled about the exchange he packed his things up and left towards his class.

He did see the girl again from time to time. He found out she was in the hero course and that she was in the A class as well. He would spot her on occasion but he did interact with her during his hero course admissions test. She wore her hero costume with pride and honestly, he had to look away for a moment, she looked like power itself. He couldn’t help feel intimidated in her presence. She didn’t come up to him yet so he had to come up to her. He intended on apologizing for his behavior a few months back, he didn’t mean to snap at her and he never found the opportunity to do so.

You watched as the indigo-haired boy awkwardly made his way towards your group. He wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes but instead focused on the floor below him.

“Hi, I’m Shinsou Hitoshi.” He extended his hand out to you but you just stared at him like he grew a second head. He felt awkward again, he was expecting you to at least call him a dick but the silence made his stomach become tight.

“Nice to meet you Shinsou, I’m L/n Y/n.” You felt bad for being quiet for too long, you couldn’t help it. He was really pretty to look at especially since he wore eyeliner that sharpened the appearance of his eyes.

“Oh, uh yeah. I um, wanted to apologize for my attitude a while back. It was rude of me and uhh, I know that saying I was in a mood isn’t a good excuse but-”

“It’s fine, I get it. I can be annoying so it’s ok.” You gave him a bright smile and a clap on the back of his shoulder.

He tensed when he felt the heat of your hand on him, he couldn’t help but lean slightly into it. His ears reddened and not wanting to embarrass himself more than he did already, he quickly pulled his mask up to cover his ears and face.

“No- yeah- I mean no, you- you weren’t annoying, I was just in a mood and it accidentally let it out on you. Sorry about that.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at you briefly. You just smiled at him again and got closer to his person.

“Hey, do you mind if i-” You grabbed the bottom part of his mask and pulled it down slightly, your face closer than ever before to his own. He stopped breathing as you got closer, he couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about his breath. He smelled like coffee and for some reason, it made him feel embarrassed if you were to found out about his dependency of it.

You reached out with your pinky and brushed some of the black flakes of his eyeliner away from his upper cheek. You blended the smudged eyeliner on the bottom of his eye out and pulled his mask up again to cover his face.

“There! Just wanted to clean up your makeup. It’s really well done, by the way, wish I could do my own eyeliner as clean as your own. Do you wear eyeshadow on the bottom lid or is it just eyeliner with you?” You weren’t mocking him for his dressing and styling choices, many of his old classmates did.

He told you about what products he uses and yes, he did use eyeshadow for his bottom lid. You just smiled at him and occasionally added what you used. He enjoyed talking to you, you were nice to him and allowed him to speak his mind. He couldn’t help but want to know more about you. Unfortunately, your conversation had to come to an end since his group was the first one up, but you both agreed to talk after all matches were over.

His second year at UA was better but he still felt awkward around everyone. Everyone, discluding Bakugou, was nice to him. You especially made it your duty to be around him all the time. He enjoyed your company but he found himself still pushing away from him at times. The constant lingering feeling of possible betrayal being prominent in all of your interactions. It didn’t matter how many times you helped him do his makeup or how many times he did your own, didn’t matter if he showed you his favorite video games to play, nor if he introduced you to his parents and had you in his room playing those same games with him for hours. He was still nervous, paranoid that you’ll stab him in the back. Scared that you’ll turn around and show your true colors. That you’ll take everything you know about him and tell everyone so you could all mock him again.

Shinsou, due to his fears, started to pull away from you. No more hanging out with him, no more doing each other’s makeup, no more eating lunch together. Shinsou ignored you every time you tried to speak with him, always turning himself away from you or being rude in some manner. It did discourage you at times, made you feel like you were back in middle school with the cute guys in your grade only speaking with you to make fun of your interests afterward. You thought that maybe he was going to be different but you guessed not. You kept away from him as you processed the situation but that also gave you the chance to watch him. You noticed that instead of sitting with your guy’s other classmates he would op to sit on his own within the cafeteria at a faraway table or somewhere else. You noticed that he not only avoided you but the rest of your classmates. He was back to how he was in his first year.

You couldn’t keep watching him be alone again, you didn’t want to leave him alone. You made up your mind and made your way towards Shinsou. He was sitting outside of the cafeteria eating his lunch while reading a book that was placed on his lap. He looked tense as he continued to read and nervous at any sound that made itself known. You felt bad for him, from what he told you about his own school experience, more of the lack of, you assumed that he was bullied for his quirk. He never used it on you and he never spoke much about it. He never gave you any details and never told you how his quirk activities, he just avoided the conversation entirely but he was always excited to listen to your own though.

“Shinsou.” You watched as the male jumped in his spot on the floor and direct himself towards you.

“Shinsou, can we talk for a bit?” He averted his eyes and began to pick his things from the floor, shaking his head as he did.

“N-no, sorry. I have to go-” You got in his way and crouched down to meet him at eye level.

“I know you have nowhere to be at. Please, talk to me for a bit.” You placed your hand on his own and stared at him. Shinsou didn’t want to meet your eyes. He didn’t want to see the disgust in them or the hatred you felt for him.

What he didn’t expect was for you to place your hand on his cheek and gently guide his gaze to your own. His eyes were wide and watery, he didn’t understand why you were being so gentle, so kind with him. Didn’t you want to be angry with him? Your own eyes were soft, a small smile present on your face.

“Shinsou, what’s wrong?” Your voice was gentle and your touch never leaving him. He took in a breath and spilled everything and all of his troubles to you. Once he finished, he was welcomed by a hug.

You pulled him into your own body and shared your warmth with him. You gently brushed his wild hair as you allowed him to cry to his heart’s content. He needed someone to listen to him, someone who would just let him talk. You were that person for him. Once he felt better, he pulled away from your person and rubbed his eyes. His eyeliner was running and smudging severely on his face. He pouted slightly at his destroyed makeup but then looked at your uniform. You had black smears all over your jacket and shirt.

“I-i’m sorry L/n. I didn’t mean to ruin your uniform.” You just chuckled and shook your head at him.

“It’s fine Shinsou, you needed to let it all out.” He began to take deeper breaths and eventually sat next to you. His head gently laying on top of your own.

“It… it was frustrating you know? I thought that I was the problem and I still feel like I am at times.”

“I get what you mean, I also had to deal with bullies.” Shinsou lifted his head and looked at you confused. You had to deal with bullies? Why? You were nice to everyone, why would anyone want to hurt you?

“I think it’s obvious as to why Shinsou.” Shit, did he say that out loud?

“Yes, you did.” You gave him another smile and took his hand. You compared him to your own. Your hand was smaller than his own but it was rounder, chubbier, just like the rest of you. You found it adorable how different the both of you were.

“I’m overweight, man. People tend to hold a preconceived idea of what overweight people are like.” Shinsou still couldn’t understand.

“So?  Why would anyone bully you for something you don’t have all that much control over?”

“Because they’re mean. It’s a power trip for them.” You began to play with his fingers, taking note of the muscles that you weren’t aware existed within them.

“I used to have a crush on this guy and for the longest time, my classmates made fun of me because of it. They always said that I was too fat for him or that id hurt him if I leaned onto him. Typical mean comments about my appearance and how I was unloved.” Shinsou began to frown and got closer to you. His body heat becoming a welcoming presence to you as you recounted your own struggles.

“Then one day he asked me to hang out with him. We ate lunch together and we spent time together. I thought he was interested in me just like I was interested in him. He once got close to my face and made it look like he was about to kiss me before reaching for something behind me. We laughed it off as an accident but I noticed the small blush on his face. I was excited.” You pressed on each of his fingernails and wiggled his fingers in between your pointer and thumb.

“I thought that this was it, he liked me back. Our school dance came and everyone was asking out their dates for it. I thought he was going to ask me to go with him but that didn’t happen. He pulled me towards him in the middle of class with everyone watching us, a lot of the other girls were jealous of me because of it.” You noticed the chipped nails polished on his nails and began to scratch it off.

“He cupped my face and pulled me closer to him. We were going to kiss.” You stopped playing with Shinsous hand. Your hand falling onto the ground limply.

“He gripped my face and pushed me away saying “Did you really think id like you? You’re such a joke L/n.” ” You pulled away from Shinsou, your hand rested on your lap instead of anywhere near his.

“I felt so alone, so gross, so….fat. It hurt but it was made worse because it was in front of everyone. Everyone saw how he treated me and made fun of me. No one did anything, not even as I ran away crying. Instead, I got comments about my weight. I got called some really mean names that day and the following. I didn’t go to my school’s dance, I didn’t want to be made fun of again.” You didn’t hear a thing from Shinsou. He just sat there looking at you like you were crazy.

“Their assholes.”

“I know.” You looked at him and smiled. He came closer to you, grabbing your hand from your lap and interlacing them in one another.

“But I don’t feel like that anymore. I don’t care is a better way to phrase it. People can have their opinions, either nice or mean. I can’t dictate that.” Shinsou scooted closer to you as you continued talking.

“But I can dictate the way I think about myself and the people I want to be around me.” Shinsou couldn’t help himself anymore.

He leaned in towards you and placed his hand on your cheek. His lips gently pressing onto your own and unmoving. You felt your heart fluttered but it quickly turned to amusement. He just pressed his lips to yours and wasn’t moving, He wasn’t moving. He had his eyes closed and pressed into you, it was beginning to bruise your lips. You pulled back slightly and looked at his face. He had his lips still puckered and his eyes closed. You giggled and quickly kissed him again before he pulled away. You on the other hand did move and deepened the kiss.

Shinsous heart soured as you kissed him back, his lips no longer hurting but feeling gently caressed by your own. He couldn’t help the small gasps that escape him nor the way he pulled you closer to him. When the two of you parted, Shinsou looked at you with sleepy eyes. He wanted this and he wanted more.

“I like you L/n.”

“I like you too Shinsou.”

[sagamemes]

the sheridan tapes  📼  part two.   here and under the cut, you can find over 130 lines of dialogue from the horror podcast the sheridan tapes, specifically from episodes four to six, edited for roleplay purposes. some of these focus heavily on survival, war, science, and spooky stuff, but a lot can be used by anyone.  tw:  war, unreality, a mention of cannibalism, implications of manic behaviour.

❝  god, i hate snowstorms like this. not just getting caught in them, but the storms themselves. it feels like the earth’s trying to bury me alive every time it locks in like this. like nature’s rightly pissed off at all of us and doing its level best to crush us to death.  ❞

❝  that’s what yom kippur means:  the day of atonement.  ❞

❝  that wasn’t the first time i’ve caught him in my office, going through my stuff.  ❞

❝  normally i’d be annoyed at someone calling me young lady.  ❞

❝  thank you… you are so warm… thank you for letting me in.  ❞

❝  suddenly, everything fell into place. i made more progress than i had in about half a year.  ❞

❝  the thing i remember most was catching disapproving glances from my father every time i went to the library.  ❞

❝  why does time only run forward?  why does cause need to precede effect?  ❞

❝  no one knows if they can trust me with casework or not.  ❞

❝  i didn’t say i was interested.  ❞

❝  [he/i] was taken off duty and sent for psychiatric evaluation the next day.  ❞

❝  coffee. i was making coffee.  ❞

❝  i didn't mean to get stuck out here.  ❞

❝  that just goes to show how small humans really are in the grand scheme of things:  take away our tools and our toys and our technology, and we’re still just as vulnerable as we ever were.  ❞

❝  she was good at that:  making you feel like you were safe, like you could open up to her.  ❞

❝  i’m just going to cover that one up. no harm in keeping it out of sight for the moment.  ❞

❝  maybe there was someone in the stairs.  ❞

❝  i think i did the lion’s share of the talking, which almost never happens.  ❞

❝  i couldn’t get to sleep... i figured i’d get a head start today.  ❞

❝  i’m afraid i don’t have all of the details of your involvement with the… tragic events in [place]. and i don’t think i’m the only one.  ❞

❝  i’m still not sure i understand the whole tradition.  ❞

❝  whatever it is, it’s chasing me. i can hear it’s footsteps in the snow, i can hear it—  ❞

❝  when you work nights here, the less you really think about them, the better.  ❞

❝  honestly, i just can’t get it out of my head.  ❞

❝  snow is one of nature’s simplest and most effective ways of killing you dead if you aren’t prepared for it.  ❞

❝  i wish you’d tell me what you’re doing here. i could lose my job if anything gets broken or if you end up getting hurt in there…  ❞

❝  would you say you… considered her a friend?  ❞

❝  would you mind saying your name again?  for the recording?  ❞

❝  if that was true, then there was something—and as a scientist, i hate to say this—supernatural going on in that lab.  ❞

❝  most of them didn’t make it. a lot of them died afraid and alone, too.  ❞

❝  i know you don’t like listening to these things, so i just wanted to help you out with…  ❞

❝  if i could sleep, then trust me, i would.  ❞

❝  i’m guessing the new owners are trying to make this place seem less creepy than it already is.  ❞

❝  my schooling was expensive and unremarkable.  ❞

❝  a lot of them died afraid and alone, too:  ideal conditions for the making of poltergeists, in my experience.  ❞

❝  look, i’m sorry, but this really isn’t a good time for anything, so if you wouldn’t mind…  ❞

❝  basically, i was picturing a slightly creepier morticia addams. i couldn’t have been more wrong.  ❞

❝  now i have to deal with [name]’s aspirations to write drama..  ❞

❝  i promise i won’t get you sacked.  ❞

❝  i’ve never been very religious, but for some reason… it made me think of hell.  ❞

❝  i think it may have been a thank you.  ❞

❝  i’m working the graveyard shift and i noticed the lights were on.  ❞

❝  i shouldn’t be here. no one asked me to come in this early.  ❞

❝  everyone around here looks at me like i’m some kind of leper.  ❞

❝  i had to go home for a few hours. i’m already on thin ice around here, and i didn’t want to get in more trouble for screaming obscenities up and down the wall.  ❞

❝  it was… darkness. no, that doesn’t do it credit, the whole place was dark. this was just... void.  ❞

❝  if i’d seen her anywhere else, i’d think she was an athlete or a backpacker.  ❞

❝  better scientists than me have been bashing their heads into that particular wall since 1927.  ❞

❝  i just want you to know that… whatever you really are... you’re safe here.  ❞

❝  goats being goats, it would just come back the next day looking for food.  ❞

❝  i would like you to leave my office now… and i’ll ask you not to tamper with evidence in the future, understood?  ❞

❝  no, of course, i don’t have signal out here, so i can’t just call triple-a.  ❞

❝  what are you doing in my office—at four goddamn thirty in the morning?  ❞

❝  you ever wonder where the line is?  you know, between human and not?  ❞

❝  the funny thing i’ve noticed about war:  no matter how terrible the fighting is, there always seems to be too much waiting. too much quiet. too much sitting around, bored to tears between fits of chaos and violence, lost in routine while waiting for the other shoe to drop.  ❞

❝  a lot of people condemn them for that. we’re so sure we’d never resort to that—that we’d rather die than cross that unspoken boundary.  ❞

❝  i’ve been at the [workplace/institution] for ten years now. that’s long enough to know that the ones who ask questions are the ones who can’t cut it.  ❞

❝  the program blew every fuse in the lab. including the lights.  ❞

❝  it was soon after they left that i began to have trouble sleeping.  ❞

❝  perhaps we never knew each other as well as most friends do, but… we cared for one another.  ❞

❝  most of her questions are a bit above my pay grade.  ❞

❝  i’m trying, i’m trying! i can’t get the door open!  ❞

❝  i don’t know why she needed my help:  i think she had a better grasp of it than most science fiction writers.  ❞

❝  we both had places to be afterwards, so we kind of rushed. i really wish i’d taken the time to say goodbye.  ❞

❝  i guess some things just… don’t want to stay buried.  ❞

❝  it was completely against orders of course, but no one really noticed or cared that far from the front.  ❞

❝  i offered to buy him a cup of coffee.  ❞

❝  newspapers praised them at the time:  saw them as heroes of exploration and paragons of pioneer courage.  ❞

❝  i signed a lot of big, scary nda’s during my time there.  ❞

❝  i did the only thing that came to mind:  i took a grenade from my belt, removed the pin, and threw it.  ❞

❝  i doubt this storm will last more than a couple of days, and once it lets up we can sneak out of here and get going again. very, very carefully.  ❞

❝  given enough time, everything will rot away to its elementary components, and that, you can’t reverse.  ❞

❝  i really can’t see anything from inside the van.  ❞

❝  i knew there were a few experiments that dealt with some pretty high-level theoretical concepts, but i wasn’t directly involved with any of them.  ❞

❝  it’s a strange choice, but then again, he’s a strange man.  ❞

❝  i know, it sounds ridiculous. trust me, i’ve done everything i can think of to make that conclusion go away.  ❞

❝  scared the bejeezus out of a bunch of skiers, but they were nice enough to let me in after deciding i probably wasn’t a ghost.  ❞

❝  please… it burns my skin… please…  ❞

❝  i forgot how fast storms blow in up here.  ❞

❝  it’s not like i felt out of control:  it felt more natural than breathing.  ❞

❝  i didn’t know what i was doing, not at any conscious level. but one step seemed to lead to another, then the next, and then the next.  ❞

❝  it’s called a butcher’s shop in some places, but a mortuary in others. as much as i’d love to imply there was some sweeney todd style recycling going on here, i think the place has just been a lot of things over the years.  ❞

❝  god, these things are creepy as hell.  ❞

❝  if you wouldn’t mind, please, tell us what happened? in your own time, of course.  ❞

❝  it took a few long, nerve-wracking days to work up my courage and visit the section again.  ❞

❝  it’s not that odd to think that people ate each other out there.  ❞

❝  i didn’t think there was a ghost in my room or anything like that, i just kept hearing noises whenever i was about to fall asleep.  ❞

❝  i downed half a dozen energy drinks at 6 and called it dinner—i know, i know, it’s a nasty habit i picked up in grad school.  ❞

❝  they told me that the cpu and motherboard had somehow been melted into a solid lump of plastic and silicon.  ❞

❝  i mean, [name] was a pain in the ass, but at least he didn’t…  ❞

❝  my schedule was full, but i had something else fall through at the last minute. i had your number on my desk, so i thought i may as well call.  ❞

❝  i wonder if it was afraid, or if it even realized what was going to happen. it probably didn’t.  ❞

❝  i need to get more coffee. or punch someone. whichever’s more convenient.  ❞

❝  god, if that’s really how i sound…  ❞

❝  people think i write horror, but i don’t really think that’s true. i just write fiction with all of the comfortable little lies taken out of it.  ❞

❝  i have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.  ❞

❝  i think he felt something about this place… some influence or power that needed to be destroyed, so he tried to do it the only way he knew how.  ❞

❝  well, it’s a tricky thing. the more realistic you make them, the more… unreal they start to look. i think it’s something about the eyes.  ❞

❝  i offered to stay late, just to smooth things over.  ❞

❝  maybe i can get some writing done while i’m stuck here…  ❞

❝  no child could grow up in a jewish home surrounded by books and not read at least one story about golems.  ❞

❝  i just wasn’t a good student, despite my love of reading.  ❞

❝  i have to say, i like your jane doe.  ❞

❝  she was a scientist herself.  maybe not formally, but her way of thinking, her insight, her methods... they were scientist’s qualities.  ❞

❝  seriously, what do i need to do to get a little privacy around here, a little dignity?  hang a  ‘ do not disturb ’  sign on the door?  change all my locks?  ❞

❝  maybe it was stupid, but i figured, ‘ hey, early december, not a cloud in the sky—should still be fine, right? ’  ❞

❝  jesus, [name], i wasn’t born yesterday.  ❞

❝  maybe doing this while it’s still dark outside isn’t the best idea.  ❞

❝  more than a century and a half have passed, and this place is still just as dangerous as it was then.  ❞

❝  now, [mr./ms./mx. name], i’m sure you know why you’re here.  ❞

❝  the [event] was a bust—only about a dozen people showed up all afternoon.  ❞

❝  i never put much stock in the idea of inspiration, but for the first time in my life, it felt like i wasn’t pushing myself through the muck of miscalculation and guesswork towards a solution. i was being pulled towards an answer that already existed.  ❞

❝  it felt like i was a few steps from finding out something fundamental. some truth about our universe that no other scientist had ever dared to dream of.  ❞

❝  huh. that’s… that’s weird. i could’ve sworn there wasn’t a sculpture back there before.  ❞

❝  apparently, no one had told them what i was doing, and i wasn’t actually cleared to leave.  ❞

❝  maybe he’s trying to make amends. keeping watch over these half-living things to make sure no harm comes to them.  ❞

❝  i expected the building to be wreathed in shadow and overgrown with cobwebs, but it's actually really nice.  ❞

❝  sorry, i was trying to get my recorder working, but it froze up on me so i had to find a tape for this old…  ❞

❝  okay. just… don’t get me sacked, alright?  can’t exactly retire on this salary.  ❞

❝  but if it was real—i don’t know if i somehow created it, or if it was feeding me information about itself before it appeared.  ❞

❝  i’ve never had a manic episode before, and i was well below the level of caffeine needed to cause intoxication. as far as i can tell, there isn’t a medical explanation for what happened.  ❞

❝  i don’t get the appeal of meeting real celebrities. it’s just a cheap shock of recognition, and nothing more.  ❞

❝  whatever this… thing was, it sounds pretty dangerous.  ❞

❝  are you familiar with temporal asymmetry?  ❞

❝  i just want to make that abundantly clear:  this /wasn’t/ the plan.  ❞

❝  right then, now let’s get started. please state your name and rank for the record.  ❞

❝  though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light.  ❞

❝  a cracker of a book, young lady.  ❞

❝  no wonder they’re keeping them in storage. they’d give anyone nightmares.  ❞

❝  i was just going to finish out my shift unless… you want me to stick around?  ❞

❝  i went to the university, but don’t remember much of the years i spent there.  ❞

❝  having to study textbooks and essays day in and day out took all of the joy out of reading for a long time.  ❞

❝  we call paradoxes paradoxes for a reason:  no matter how plausible they seem, they can never really happen.  ❞

❝  i don’t know what happened to me that night. i still don’t even know if what i saw was real.  ❞

❝  when we look into the void for too long, we find the monsters instead.  ❞

[jalapeno-princess]

How Do I Get Over You?

Mark Tuan X Reader

Genre: It’s so fucking sad guys let me just tell you that

Word count: 6.5K

Summary: Hey guys! So I was driving the other day and “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo came on and at first, I didn’t understand the hype but then I kept listening to it and this imagine popped in to my mind and now I’m sad. I’m almost done with part 3 of my fuckboy series so please stay tuned and thank you all for your patience. By the way, one in a million is a fucking BOP I’m so proud of my boy :(((((((( Mark Tuan deserves the universe. Okay happy reading (or should I say have fun crying)

I got my driver's license last week Just like we always talked about 'Cause you were so excited for me To finally drive up to your house But today I drove through the suburbs Crying 'cause you weren't around

And you're probably with that blonde girl Who always made me doubt She's so much older than me She's everything I'm insecure about Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs 'Cause how could I ever love someone else?

And I know we weren't perfect but I've never felt this way for no one And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me 'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

“P stands for?”

“Park.”

“Good. R stands for—“

“Reverse.”

“Good. N stands for—“

“Babe. We’ve been over this about ten times in the last week. I know the controls already. I just want to drive.” 

You had gotten your permit a little over two weeks ago and you were more than excited to finally get on the road. You’ve been wanting to drive since the time you were old enough to understand what driving was. Watching your parents turn the steering wheel, press on the gas, accelerate and park—it just seemed like so much fun. 

All of your favorite characters in the television shows you enjoyed watching knew how to drive—or at least that’s what you assumed when you were still young. Once you hit your pre-teen years, you understood that they were just pretending to drive—that it was just “television magic” that gave the illusion of them driving a moving vehicle but that didn’t stop you from wanting to learn. Your boyfriend Mark had gotten his license when he was only sixteen years old. 

Technically, it was considered an intermediate license which meant there were a lot of rules he had to follow. He wasn’t allowed to drive without someone over twenty one years old, there could only be three passengers in the car at a time and he had a curfew of 10 o’clock p.m. As much as you begged your parents to allow you to start studying for your permit back when you were sixteen, they wanted you to focus on finishing high school before taking on such a big responsibility that came with being a licensed driver. 

That didn’t stop your boyfriend from taking you out against your parent’s will and teaching you everything he knew about driving. Mark was almost five years older than you. You first met the older boy when you were in the second grade and he was right about to move up to the seventh grade. He was your oldest brother’s best friend at the time; the two of them were like two peas in a pod. 

Where one went, the other one followed closely behind. If one joined a sport, so did the other. They were like magnets—always needed to be together. It was like that up until their sophomore year in high school. Isn’t wasn’t as though they had bad blood between them. Sometimes friends just grow distant. 

Mark joined the football team whereas your brother was more of a soccer kind of guy. Their schedules began to collide a lot and it was actually pretty sad. Everyone who knew of the two of them just assumed that they were going to be friends forever, but it was only natural for both Mark your brother to go their separate ways. 

Deep down, you’ve always harbored feelings for Mark. It was inevitable; you saw him almost every single day for the last six years. Although he could be a pain in the ass sometimes; not allowing you to join him and your brother as they would play video games, taking the last cookie from the cookie jar, making fun of your drawings in order to get under your skin—there was a point where you ended up hating him because you felt as though he had it out for you. But as the years went by and the two of you grew older, he became more kind-hearted and gentle around you. 

Whenever he’d come over, he’d ask you how school was going, what you were interested in, if you needed help on any of your assignments and he would even buy you some snacks before heading over to your house. It didn’t help that he became more and more handsome with age—driving you to the brink of insanity each and every time you’d have to see him. When he and your older brother nonverbally ended their friendship, you were crushed. 

Sure, you felt really bad watching the two of them over the years growing such a bond that you assumed would last forever only to decide that they were too busy to spend any time together. But you felt even worse knowing that Mark was no longer going to be in your life. When you turned fourteen and moved on to high school, you decided to join the track team because your parents claimed that they wanted you to have a good high school experience. 

The first week of practice was actually pretty fun—albeit a little bit strenuous and tiring, but it was enjoyable. Little did you know that following week, your coach would bring in two previous students to help assist him in bringing your team to success. If you thought Mark was extremely good looking already, you were in for quite the surprise seeing him for the first time in two years since the end of his friendship with your brother. 

Time was always so good to him; in fact, he looked much better now than he did when he was sixteen. Braces, bad haircut and the pitchy voice no longer existed. His voice was much deeper now, he was grazing six feet, his cheekbones were more prominent and his features were seemingly more sharper. He was just as excited to see you as you were to see him. 

Maybe you imagined it in your mind, but deep down, you couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of getting to spend time with Mark again. You didn’t think much about being around him again—he was an assistant coach. He was there solely to help you with training and you were sure he probably saw you as his childhood best friend’s silly younger sister. However, you were quick to pick up on how Mark seemed to give you most of his time and attention. 

He’d give your teammates excuses as to why he couldn’t help them or why he needed to coach you the most. At first, you assumed he was just trying to be nice because the two of you somewhat had a past together, but as the days went by and your conversations went beyond track and field—you were confident that his friendliness had nothing to do with the fact that you were well acquainted with one another. 

Your friendship with Mark only got more and more tight knit to the point where you found yourself hanging out with him outside of school. It didn’t take long for your friendship to develop in to something more. Something beautiful—something, indescribable. 

Seeing Mark again and spending majority of your days with him only brought back your feelings tenfold—especially because you were no longer a ten year old little girl anymore crushing on her brother’s best friend from a distance. You were old enough to understand what love was—or what you assumed was love and it didn’t take a genius to know that what you felt for Mark was more than just a small crush. 

Since he was so much older than you, you pushed back the thought of him reciprocating your same feelings. He was a college student. He was devastatingly handsome, intelligent, outgoing, athletic, hardworking and very kindhearted. There must have been so many girls at his campus who threw themselves at him—he was a literal Greek God. 

Guys like Mark were never single and although you didn’t consider yourself close enough to know what his exact type was, so you were confused and shocked yet over the moon when he stole a quick kiss from your lips and confessed his feelings for you while the two of you were out eating ice cream. You didn’t think there was anything wrong with the age difference—Mark was practically an older brother to you and you trusted him with your entire being. 

However, you decided to keep him a secret in the fear that some people wouldn’t be so accepting of your relationship. Dating Mark was a dream. For the last three years, he’s shown you nothing but so much love, affection, adoration and happiness. He taught you how to love yourself—he took his time learning every little thing about you. 

Mark Tuan was the actual love of your life and you didn’t care if you were still too young to know what love was. You’ve known it since you were six years old that the older boy was the person you wanted to give your entire being to. You wanted Mark for as long as you could possibly have him for. 

He was very good in showing you and telling you on a daily basis exactly how much you meant to him and how he’s never been so in love with someone the way he he was with you. It all felt too good to be true. To love him and be loved by him—God it was such a wonderful feeling. 

Before Mark, your life was so colorless—so dull. Waking up in the morning felt like a chore. You had to motivation to really do anything besides your responsibilities and you just assumed that it came with being a teenager. But when he stumbled in to your life again, it’s like something awakened inside of you. You’ve never felt more alive. 

He gave you a reason to roll out of bed. He gave you the motivation to want to go out and go on adventures. To enjoy life and it’s many wonders. He made you the happiest girl on earth and you were never going to take his presence and his position in your life for granted. 

“I know silly girl, and you will. I just want to make sure you know everything by heart. As much as I seem like an easy instructor, and how big of a pushover I am whenever it comes to you, I want you to be safe baby. The road is a dangerous place—“

“Yeah I know, I mean—you’re on it all the time—“

“Hey! I am an amazing driver. I’m a natural y/n. I was born to drive. Some people just have it in them and others—well others take a while to learn.” 

You had a feeling he was hinting towards you, so you leaned over to playfully shove him but his reflexes were much quicker than yours. He placed a sloppy kiss on your lips before pulling away; earning himself a soft groan. 

“Okay, press on the brake and then lift the lever to put it in drive—good. Just like that. Now slowly, press on the gas. Good job baby. Now—you can speed up a little bit faster—I said a little bit—y/n!” 

You failed to notice the speed bump until you and your boyfriend practically flew forward. Maybe driving wasn’t as fun as you assumed it would be and by the look of nervousness on his face, you could tell Mark was soon regretting that he offered to teach you in the first place. 

A small pout soon rose on your face; sure this was the first time you were actually driving the car and you weren’t meant to be a professional on your first lesson. But you still felt a wave of  disappointment since you couldn’t even do something so simple as to driving at a slow pace. How did your boyfriend make it seem like it was the easiest thing on earth to do?

Most of the time, he’d only use one hand to steer the wheel and he’d always have his knee propped up—making it seem effortless. He was right though; there were some things he was extremely talented with that you practically suck at and there were some activities such as ice skating and baking that Mark could never succeed no matter how hard he tried. 

You acted out of instinct; hitting the steering wheel in anger and abruptly putting the car in park. One of the traits you could care less about was your stubbornness. If something didn’t go your way, you were quick to grow angry and give up on whatever it was entirely. That’s just the kind of person you were and sometimes, you’d try to work on improving yourself because you hating lashing out on anyone for no reason. 

Especially your boyfriend. Luckily Mark was very understanding and patient whenever you grew frustrated with something and he was very good with calming you down and making you feel better. Which is why it came as no surprise to feel one of his hands graze against your thigh as the other gently wrapped around your neck. His thumb glided against your nape and he began to leave gentle kisses along your cheek. Only then did you realize you were tearing up and it made you feel so pathetic. 

“Baby.” 

You didn’t want to look at him; you were sure that if you were to see the look of remorse in his eyes that you would cry like a baby and that was the last thing either of you needed at the moment. You just wanted to give up and have him take you back home. It was pointless. 

Now you understood why your parents were so against teaching you how to drive. You weren’t even 18 yet. What did you know about adulting and everything that came with being an adult? Why were you trying so hard to rush your age? Why did you want to mature so quickly? 

There was so much you had yet to experience—driving could come later. However, you felt like in order to be on the same level as your boyfriend, you needed to know how to drive. It was always him coming to pick you up from school or your house and he was always the one dropping you off. 

Although he’s never complained about it once, nor has he asked you to pay for his gas or anything like that, you couldn’t help but feel like such a burden and you wanted to do this so that you could take care of him as much as he was with you. 

He’d come drive twenty minutes to your house in the middle of the night if you couldn’t fall asleep and you were well aware there was a big chance he was tired as hell. But he came to you every single time. Sure, he’d fall asleep not to long upon arrival—yet you’d feel so safe and warm just having him around and being wrapped in his embrace. 

Sometimes, tension would rise at your house; whether your parents would argue with each other, or scold you for something so minuscule—all you wanted to do was run to your boyfriend and find solace in him. Since Mark was in college though, you knew he had a lot on his plate and you didn’t want to add on to his stress by worrying him about problems you were old enough to handle on your own. He had to get irritated with you every now and then—he was only human. 

Having your girlfriend call you at the most randomest times to come pick her up or to console her as she cried had to be burdensome. Just like right now, he was probably annoyed that you only drove one foot and ended up slamming on the breaks in his car. You weren’t too sure how cars worked, but the way you were so rough with the controls probably wasn’t a good thing to do. 

“Hey, why are you crying?” 

You continued to sit there, forcing your attention on the dashboard and hoping that he would just drop it. However, you’ve known the older boy long enough to realize that he wasn’t going to stop prying at you until you told him what was wrong. He allowed you to let it all out—you weren’t sobbing, but a few tears fell from your cheeks as you began to heaven silently. 

Mark ran his fingers through your hair and tried to pull you towards him, but decided to let you be until you were ready to find comfort in him. If Mark was anything, it was considerate. You were confident that he was upset seeing you cry—especially because he must have known you were disappointed in yourself. Your boyfriend was very vocal about how much he despised hearing you degrade yourself and talk negative about your abilities because in his eyes, you were the most wonderful human being to walk this earth. 

Nobody was perfect; but to him, you came really close. After a couple of moments, your cries slowly dissipated and to your confusion, he got out of the passenger seat. Right as the question of where he was going fell from your lips, he opened the driver’s door and motioned for you to get up. You were about to get out of the car completely in attempts to head to the passenger side; maybe you weren’t ready to physically learn to drive just yet. 

Maybe he was going to teach you a little more from the driver’s manual and from his personal experience before allowing you back in the driver’s seat and honestly, you couldn’t blame him. He was already doing so much for you; allowing you to drive his car and putting not only his and your lives at risk, but the tip top shape of his truck and even his clean driving record since you weren’t under his insurance. 

However, before you could do anything, you were being pulled on top of his lap as you felt his mouth smash up against yours. It took you a while to process the entire situation going on in front of you—kissing Mark had to be your favorite past time. His lips were your favorite drug and you could wholeheartedly confess that you were addicted. 

You’d find any and every reason to kiss him. Even when you were in places that you should have refrained from any kind of skin ship with your boyfriend, you couldn’t go too long without feeling his soft lips meld perfectly with yours. Mark’s lips were one of your favorite features on him. Not only were the prettiest shade of pink, but they were plump and heart shaped. 

When you finally came to your senses, you deepened the kiss and allowed him to shove his tongue inside of your mouth. You could feel him literally take your breath away the longer his mouth was on yours but you weren’t complaining. You would rather spend the rest of the day kissing him and even a little more than to attempt driving again. To your dismay, he hesitantly pulled away—making it obvious that he was fine continuing what the two of you were doing, but the urge to tell you what was on his mind was a little more overbearing. 

“Mm—Mark—“

“If you were crying because you were upset with yourself over what just happened, then I need you to know that it’s okay baby. Please understand that it’s a learning process. I’m sorry if I seemed mad or if I raised my voice—I really didn’t mean to I just—I don’t know. I really don’t. Whether it’s because the thought of you in any kind of danger scares the shit out of me or because I don’t want you to grow up just yet—I don’t know what came over me and I’m sorry. But don’t you dare for a second beat yourself up about this okay? I’m so fucking sorry y/n. I’m trying to be a good teacher for you and I know you want to hurry up and get your license which I promise, I will make sure you do. Don’t be too hard on yourself okay? I know, I probably didn’t make things any easier with how I reacted a few minutes ago but driving can be terrifying. Every single time I’m on the road, it may not seem like it but I’m nervous out of my mind especially when you’re in the car with me. The thought of hurting you or being the reason why something bad happens to you drives me crazy. I’m so protective over you, now I can see why your parents are so against you driving. Ah, I’m bad at this.”

His words pulled tightly on your heartstrings like they never failed to do whenever he showed you or went in to explicit detail about how you meant the entire world to him. Mark wasn’t the kind of guy who act all big and intimidating—like he didn’t have feelings. Most of his friends tried to pretend as though they were manly and didn’t care about anyone but themselves. Your boyfriend on the other hand was the complete opposite. Mark was excited to show you off to each and every single person in his life or that the two of you would encounter. He didn’t care if it was considered “feminine” to have and show emotions. 

He’d cry so easily at sad movies, or ads about sick children and animals in shelters. He’d cry if life could get a little too much for him to handle and if anything, it made him so much more of a man than those who tried so hard to conceal their inner feelings. This wasn’t the first time he confessed something so heartfelt to you, it’s happened on multiple occasions and it just really solidified the love he held for you. 

Not once in your three years of dating did you ever question Mark’s feelings for you and you could only pray that you’ve shown him generously the exact same amount of infatuation that he’s never failed to give you. You repositioned your body so that you were face to face with him and wrapped your arms around his neck, placing a delicate kiss on his jaw and giving him a soft smile. 

God, what did you do to deserve someone so selfless, so caring, so gentle and kindhearted, someone who gave you the world on a silver platter and treated you as if you were the most perfect little flower? He gave you a pout, obviously upset with the idea of you being sad and you found yourself bringing your hands up to either side of his face and lifting his lips up in to a smile. 

“Don’t be sorry babe. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. I kept begging you to take me out to teach me and even if you were hesitant, which you have your reasons to, you never said no because you know how much this means to me and how eager I am to finally start driving. I—I know you’ll probably think I’m an idiot for thinking like this and you’ve never done anything or aid anything to make me feel like this, but I consider myself such a burden to you—don’t look at me like that. I’m so grateful you are the way you are and I’m truly so blessed to call you my boyfriend. I’m just saying that if it were anyone else, they’d probably grow frustrated having to drive so much for me and because of me. I’m sure you’ve spent at least $1000 on gas money from having to drop me off and pick me up. I know—you do it because you love me, because you want to see me and spend time with me and because you’d do anything for me—but I know I tend to reach out to you at all the inconvenient times. I want to be able to do something for you for once. You said so yourself, you can’t wait till I started driving so that I can drive up to your house whenever you want to see me. Thank you for trying, and thank you for being so patient with me. I want to make you proud Mark. I’m already so much younger than you. Your friends probably wonder why you’re stuck dating a child. I’m not old enough to drink or go out to bars and clubs. I can’t even buy nail polish remover or Benadryl on my own. Im selfish. My desire to hurry up and get on the road goes beyond being able to drive. I want to be a girlfriend you can proudly show off to everyone—“

“Do I not do that enough already? Did I say something or did something to make you feel like our age difference or the fact that you’re only seventeen and I’m twenty-three is a problem to me? Because it’s not babe. Sometimes I forget that you’re still so young because you act so mature and you have such a good head on your shoulders. If it wasn’t for your cute little baby face, I would assume you were around my age. I don’t give a shot about what anyone has to say or think about our relationship. The only people who’s opinions matter to me is yours and mine. No. You’re not a burden at all. Ever. So take that stupid thought out of your head. Yes, I can’t wait for you to finally get your license but it’s not for the reasons you think. If you ever want to run away from home, I don’t want you having to wait almost half an hour for me to come get you. Once you start working, I don’t want you to catch the bus or walk home if I or one of your family members are not able to pick you up. Your safety is my number one priority next to your happiness. We can still keep practicing if you want to baby, but don’t feel like you have to drive if you’re doing it for me. Do it for yourself. I love you more than you will ever be able to fathom okay? You’re it for me. You’re my person—my soulmate. The only person I see myself spending my entire life with. I hope you know that I’m going to be the one who teaches our kids how to drive one day. I don’t need them crashing or totaling the car because you failed to teach them right—hey! What? I’m just being honest baby you’re lucky you’re cute. But seriously though y/n, don’t you ever for even just a second doubt your place in my life and what you mean to me.”

This had to be the coldest winter yet in California. You were currently in your car and the heater was on high, but you were freezing. You didn’t know what led you to sneaking out of your house at two in the morning; you couldn’t find it in yourself to fall asleep. 

These last few months, you developed insomnia. No matter how hard you tried; taking sleeping pills, mentally counting sheep, staring at the ceiling in the hopes that your eyelids would close sooner or later, nothing seemed to work. After throwing on a jacket and some sweatpants, you tiptoed downstairs towards the living room and tried your very best to quietly close the door—not wanting to wake up your parents. 

There was so much animosity between you and them that you blamed heavily on yourself. You only ever talked to them if they approached you first and even then, it was nothing more than a few sentences. As soon as you got in to your car that they got as a congratulations present for getting your license a little over two weeks ago, you started to drive with no destination in mind. 

All you wanted to do was get as far away from reality as possible. You decided that you’d go wherever the road took you. Thankfully, since it was so early in the morning, there was hardly anyone on the road which meant you didn’t have to put too much effort in to driving. Your entire body felt numb—and it wasn’t because of the freezing weather. 

You were so deep in to your thoughts, not paying any mind to your surroundings that you failed to notice where you ended up heading to. This road was so familiar; you’ve been down it more than a hundred times in the past few years. It was imprinted on both your mind and your heart. 

Of course your subconscious would lead you here. It’s been a while since you’ve last took a trip down this street—you no longer had a reason to since that heartbreaking night a little over six months ago. That night had to be the worst in your entire eighteen years of your existence. All of a sudden, the painful memories of Mark leaving you alone in your backyard right after he ended your four year relationship as if it was the easiest thing to do came rushing back like a slap to the face. 

I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this anymore. 

He asked if he could come over and you didn’t think much of it. He spent most of his time over at your house only because the two of you had more privacy since it was just you and your parents whereas all three of his siblings and their families all lived at home. 

When he arrived, you were quick to pick up on the fact that he seemed tense; as if something was wrong. You didn’t think much of it, maybe he had a hard day at work or school. If only you knew then what you knew now, you would have approached the situation much more differently. 

As you tried to reach out for his hand, he abruptly yanked it away and that’s when red flags began to go off in your head. Did you do something wrong? Why was he visibly angry? What could have happened that made him so—so indignant? It’s as if something had possessed him; you’ve never seen him this distressed before in your many years of knowing him and it worried you. 

So many negative thoughts began piling up and your head began to hurt. He walked over to the swing set your parents set up for you and your siblings and took a seat. You were about to ask him why he was acting so agitated when he beat you to it. It’s been six months, but you can still physically feel the pain in your chest to this day. His words replayed every single day as if they were taunting you; they were a constant reminder that he was no longer in your life. 

That he was no longer your person—the love of your life. Everything he said to you, all the promises for the future was a lie. 

I’m breaking up with you. 

Your mind drew a blank; you couldn’t process the thought of no longer having him as your boyfriend. You remember asking why—you wanted to beg him, to tell him that you were willing to change whatever it was about yourself that he fell out of love with. You would have done anything to get him to stay. Everything hurt and you just wanted to collapse. It’s as if time stopped. 

He refused to look at you—his vision was set to the ground, kicking at the dirt. There were so many questions that you wanted to ask him, so many things you wanted to say but nothing came out other than why. 

When did he fall out of love with you? When did he realize you were no longer the person he saw himself spending forever with? Where did it all go wrong? Everything was just fine the day before. The two of you were cuddling up on his bed, watching some movies on Netflix.

He dropped you back to your house earlier that morning, kissed you passionately and told you that he loved you. What happened in the few hours that he was away at school that made him decide to do the unthinkable and break up with you? It was in that moment where all your insecurities about being too young, too innocent and inexperienced—too immature and not enough for him in so many aspects. 

Your worst nightmares came true; he finally came to the realization that he could get a woman his age; someone much more successful, so much prettier, funnier, kinder—he was in his mid-twenties and you were just a teenager in high school. You were holding him back from so much. It was finally catching up to him. He was a grown man; taking care of his younger girlfriend shouldn’t even have to be his responsibility.

I’m no longer happy in this relationship anymore. 

Once those words fell from his lips, you sank to your knees and began to cry. You knew it was pathetic, but with the very small amount of strength you had left, you crawled over to him and wrapped your arms around his legs. 

Please. Please don’t leave. 

You could try to beg him as much as you possibly could—you could cry and plead for him to change his mind. This man opened your eyes to so much. He made you so happy. He taught you how to love yourself so that you could love him to the best of your ability. 

Mark Tuan was the rightful owner of your heart. He was your best friend before he was your life partner. How were you supposed to live without him? When you pulled away to take a look at him, he was void of all facial expressions. Why was he taking this so well; he was breaking up with you, the person he claimed he couldn’t live without. 

He seemed fine—okay even. It was as if these last four years the two of you spent together—the many laughs, kisses, stolen glances, late night drives, all nighters making promises for the future, they no longer meant anything to him. Where was the Mark who adored you and loved you with his entire physical being? The Mark who drove over to your house at three in the morning just because he missed you. 

The same Mark who stayed on the phone with your mom for almost two hours learning how to make you your favorite dessert to surprise you for your anniversary? The same Mark that would put on and wear face masks with you—dance to the most eccentric songs. 

Where was the Mark who claimed that you were the one who set the universe in to the sky and who was this monster that practically ripped your heart from out of your chest and stepped on it repeatedly? You didn’t know who this stranger was standing in front of you. 

It’s for the best. 

The tears were hot on your cheeks; images of the first time you went over to his house as his girlfriend and not his best friend’s little sister. He brought you outside to the sidewalk and kissed you sweetly—bringing some of your hair behind your ear and complimenting you on how beautiful you looked. It felt like years ago and now that he wasn’t in your life anymore, it was hard to believe that even happened. 

All your memories with Mark felt like a fever dream. Did your relationship ever even happen? Was Mark really ever in your life? Was he ever really yours? You wished you pried at him more—you just needed closure. 

These days, you were so bitter, so depressed and unhappy. When you got your license, you honestly couldn’t even care less. A part of you didn’t even want to take the test. It would only remind you of Mark and what was no longer. You had no motivation to continue to learn how to drive at all. Your whole reason to get your license no longer existed. 

Stupid, stupid girl. Why did you give yourself completely to someone else? Why did you trust someone with your heart? Your fragile, delicate heart. But it was Mark. You wouldn’t have expected him to do something like that. You haven’t heard from him since he left you not too long after telling you that he was done. You cut him off completely—deleted his number and blocked him on all of your social media.

A part of you, no matter how much you tried to push the thought of it at the back of your mind—you believed that there was a chance he just so happened to find someone else in college. Someone who could provide for him in ways that you couldn’t. Mark could have claimed that he loved you and that there was nobody else for him, but only he knew what was best for him and sometimes the person we live isn’t the person we need. You sat outside of his house for what felt like hours. 

You couldn’t leave. It wasn’t as if you expected anything to happen. He wasn’t going to come out running to you with open arms, telling you that he made a mistake and that he misses you so much. No. That wasn’t going to happen. Your sobs echoed throughout the car—surely he was moved on already. For all you knew, he probably didn’t even live there anymore. The thought of not meaning as much to him as he did with you plagued you every single day. How could he be so unphased? Did you really mean that little or even nothing to him? 

After everything you’ve been through together, how was he not hurting? How did the break up not affect him at all? In attempts to take your mind off of him, you turned on the radio—but ultimately ended up regretting that you did so. 

Your song—your song with Mark—began to blast through the speakers. It was already at the chorus, but that was the part Mark claimed reminded him of your relationship. Life was never on your side, what did you ever do to deserve so much misery? Why was your life slowly falling apart at the seams? It was so unfair. 

After allowing yourself some time to stop crying completely, you shut off the radio and drove away—not being able to stay much longer. Before you actually drove off though, you began to type in a phone number, one you knew by heart. You knew it was wrong, but you didn’t even care. Whether or not you got a response, it didn’t matter. He needed to know what the breakup was doing to you.

You: Hey. Not that you care, but I finally got my driver’s license. I just thought I’d let you know. 2:34 A.M.

You: Oh by the way 2:35 A.M.

You: I still fucking love you. 2:45 A.M.

Read at 2:46 A.M.

[milkcartonbastard]

Buttercups and Geraniums

Fandoms- My Babysitter's a Vampire (Benny x Reader)

Warnings- Violence. Language warning. 

Request- "...could you write something for Benny Weir? Maybe something where they are rivals or something where both aren't really nice to each other and somehow get close and ends fluffy?" Why yes, I can. Thank you for requesting, I hope you enjoy!

~~~

  You were epically pissed at Benny Weir. You had been for months, but it had come to a climax recently and you were honestly beginning to loathe him. First, he'd managed to give you a foxtail. You didn't even know he had magic until then, you had believed you were the only witch at school. It was surprising that Benny Weir of all people was since you didn't understand how he'd managed to keep it a secret for so long. Second, one of his spells- yeah, there was going to be a reoccurring theme here- had managed to cause all of your hair to fall out. You had no fucking clue what he was trying to do in the first place, but you were sure that hair removal wasn't it.

  You'd been hit by a lot of bad spells over the years, most of them your own, but you'd never once accidentally performed divination. Benny had tried to tell you what he'd been trying to do, but whatever it was never stuck in your mind. Especially, since you had been turned into an actual fox. His grandmother had to reverse that spell. Needless to say, you and Evelyn had not been happy. You'd coughed up fur for a week after that...

  So now you were sending passive-aggressive messages to him.

  You'd shown up to school about fifteen minutes early. Everyone usually tumbled in at five minutes before the bell, which meant your quick spell wouldn't be seen by anyone. Benny's locker was neat, which was a huge contrast to his personality, and it reeked of cologne. He didn't even wear cologne. You knew that because he always smelled like magic.

  Magic had a very distinctive odor, which was mostly like a dewy forest with freshly tilled dirt. You loved magic, the smell, the feeling, the preparation. You were particularly strong, but that wasn't uncommon in the community. You were happy to have your ability, thank you very much.

  You mumbled some words, just in case anyone overheard. The four books in his locker shot against the top of the metal container. You tugged against them, but they were attached like they had been welded against the metal. You smiled a little, before placing the flowers and note in his locker. You flipped your middle finger up in the air, so whenever Ethan touched the objects and saw this moment, he'd receive your message for him, too.

  You had tied up a small bouquet- buttercups and geraniums- for Benny and his grandma. The message of the flowers was for Benny, but the pretty colors and sprigs of sage were for his grandma. Buttercups meant the receiver was childish and immature. Geraniums meant the receiver was stupid and ignorant. Two flowers that represented Benny Weir very well. The note explained it well, so there wouldn't be any confusion on his side.

  You knew he would understand it without the card, though. He was smart enough to decipher the message without your help. He'd always been clever. You shut the locker at the clenching of your stomach. You didn't hate Benny. You couldn't. He was too cute and brave for that.

  You mentally gagged.

  You had been fighting off your crush on him since seventh grade. Recently, it was getting easier. Especially when he was hitting you with rogue and malfunctioning spells. You groaned and rubbed your temples. You didn't need to worry about a boy, you needed to worry about the Calculus test you had to take in twenty minutes. You sighed and continued toward your class.

~~~

  You were sat at your lunch table, nibbling on whatever the lunch ladies had plopped onto your tray. You were engrossed in this new book you had started. It had an odd combination of creatures in it. There were vampire-ish characters called Dark Hunters, demons, mermen, human voodoo dolls, witches, Seraphim, and even pirates. Even with the motley cast of characters, their dynamics were incredible and extremely vivid.

  A quick burst of movement tore your attention away from your book. Nobody around you seemed to notice anything weird, so they all just continued with their conversations. Not even a slight difference in the room appeared to any of your classmates. It said a lot for their senses of danger.

  Sitting on your lunch table, one you shared with a bunch of other kids who preferred to study and read over socialization, was a humongous, black, bird. It was a raven that towered above the people sitting with you. Its beak was sharp and a glistening black and its eyes were the color of nothing. You tried to contain your gasp when it cocked its head at you.

  A deep, guttural, squawk poured from the bird's belly. Just as suddenly as it appeared, a burst of blue flame erupted and enveloped the midnight feathers and nothing eyes of the bird. As the last bit of feathers burned away- you felt your skin boil near your wrist. You jerked your hand away from the table, just in time to see black lettering appear across your wrist. The lettering was a dark, scarlet, red and was facing you. It was a Latin word- you knew that much. You were pretty sure it meant 'claimed', but you could have been wrong.

  "Y/n, are you alright?" Malia Harrington, who had sat at the 'nerd' table with you since high-school started, looked up from her book. She was staring at you curiously. One of her hands was hidden beneath her book and she looked close to closing it. She looked concerned, but there was something strange flickering in her whiskey-colored eyes. It was almost like an emotion, but you couldn't tell what it was. You nodded your head and dropped your hand. You let the now tattooed part rest against your thigh, so Malia couldn't see the message.

  "Yeah, I just- pinched myself on the table. Just wasn't paying much attention, I suppose!" You forced a shitty laugh out, just waiting for more questions to come towards you. Luckily enough, she seemed to buy it- or just didn't care enough- and went back to her book. You quietly excused yourself from the lunch table and discarded your tray.

  You had gotten cursed. A big, fat, ugly, curse had been smacked against your left wrist. You weren't sure what kind of curse yet, but you would figure that out as soon as you got to your spellbook in your locker. You didn't know of anyone who would want to curse you or anyone stupid enough perform such a tedious ritual.

  You were slowing down, the floor seeming to sway under your feet. Your skin was beginning to get hot again like you'd been baking in the sun. A fever. You cursed softly, having to steady yourself against a nearby locker. You weren't too far from the water fountain, so you stopped for a quick sip. It seemed to perk you up a little and you continued forward.

  Your physical state was wavering, the curse was starting to make you sick. You scanned your brain- running thousands of scenarios through your mind. Most symptoms would explain the type of magic used in the curse- which would also explain the severity. Mirror magic wouldn't be so hard to counteract, candle magic would be a little bit more difficult, but not so bad. You were just pleading with whatever God or Fate-bearer out there that it wouldn't be a difficult curse to remove. The bird that had appeared had died in the spell, which wasn't too comforting. Was that what was going to happen to you?

~~~

  Benny was standing at his locker when you managed to drag yourself further through the school. He was wearing a striped shirt that reminded you of a grunge Freddy Kruger. Benny also wore a pair of plain jeans and his stupid crossbody satchel. His head was ducked low and he was talking to Ethan beside his locker. Ethan looked around, like whatever they were talking about was serious. Ethan's eyes met yours and they widened.

  Pieces clicked together.

  'Who was stupid enough to perform such a tedious ritual?' you had asked. You only knew one idiot and he had a bad reputation of spells backfiring.

 In a blink of an eye- you had Benny pinned to his locker and was glaring up at him. He yelped ungraciously and started trying to push you off him. You felt some unnamable emotion in your gut. Why would Benny curse you? Sure, you didn't think he liked you back, but you certainly didn't think he hated you enough to curse you.

  "You cursed me?! When are you going to learn to stop fucking-" You cut yourself off. On his wrist, the same dark, crimson, writing was slapped across his pale skin like a label. It was in the same position as yours and you released your grip on him. He was frowning down at you and fixing his now-messy shirt.

  "I didn't curse you! We thought you did this to us." You looked at his face, noticing red, blotchy spots on his cheeks and neck. His normally bright eyes were duller now. You felt your stomach curl up. He thought you had cursed them? Who was them?

  Your gaze traveled to Ethan, noticing the blotchy patches on his face as well. From the heat rising in your cheeks and neck, you assumed you looked similar. Ethan held his left arm up, and sure enough, a replica of your marking was stamped upon his skin.

  "You said curse? Benny was talking about that, too. How bad is it?" Ethan asked. Benny huffed, clearly upset that Ethan was asking you about magic-included situations. You felt a flush settle under your skin.

  "Did you guys see the bird, too? Or did you see something else?" A quick description of the raven was given and the boys nodded their heads. They'd had the very same experience. "I'm not sure about the important information. I was on my way to my locker to get my spellbook, but I'm sluggish."

  Benny opened his mouth to speak again when something going incredibly fast slammed into the lockers near the three of you. You jumped, trying to keep your scream behind your tongue. Sarah Fox bounced off the lockers and onto the cold floor. She groaned loudly, rolling onto her left side and nursing her right arm. Ethan and you moved to help her up. She wasn't exactly heavy, but her skin was so cold it almost burned. You jerked your hand away, but Ethan's hand had clenched down and he'd stiffened up.

  Sarah's fangs lashed out at the empty air in front of her and she clapped her hand over her mouth. She looked worse than the three of you, by far. But it was mostly because of the blood vessels in her face. They were blue and black under her dark skin, creating a spider's web look in her cheeks. Her eyes were gold, unable to change back. She cursed softly but was cut off by another hiss. You grabbed the arm Ethan didn't have ahold of, showing Benny the same marking you all had. He cursed softly and the two of you turned your arms for her to see.

  Ethan's white eyes returned to brown, but only for a second. You watched his eyes roll up into the back of his head. His knees buckled and Benny surged forward and grabbed him. Ethan didn't stand back up, but instead, he collapsed in Benny's arms. He was completely unconscious and Benny let him gently rest on the floor.

  "What is going on?" Sarah stopped hissing, but she still looked the same. Some students started walking into the hall, so you pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. She tilted her face towards the ground and the other students didn't stop walking. "I saw this freaky bird on my chemistry table and it caught on fire. Then my arm started to burn."

  "We've been cursed. We have no idea who or how they did it. We're on our way to Y/n's locker to get her spellbook." Benny kicked Ethan's side gently, but he didn't stir. His breathing didn't change but just stayed steady. Soon enough, two more people rounded the corner. One had a hood over his head and the other left her blonde hair dangling in front of her face. Erica and Rory.

  "Guys, I think Rory and Erica got cursed, too. Look, they look like Sarah." You jerked your chin in their direction and they jogged over. Sarah must not have known what she looked like, because her hand shot up to her cheeks and she recoiled.

  "What's wrong with Ethan?" Rory asked. His voice sounded stuffy, which meant his fangs were out, too. Something was affecting the vampire's appearance, but Sarah looked the worst of the three. Her inky veins were dark and prominent, the ones on Erica and Rory were faint.

  Your gaze flickered back to Ethan. His nose was starting to bleed, but the blood was black instead of red. You gasped and crouched beside Ethan. You were hit with a wave of dizziness, but you shook it off. Nobody else was bleeding, except for Ethan. Why?

 He'd used his ability- sure he didn't mean to- but he'd touched Sarah and got a vision from her. And Sarah looked worse than Rory and Erica because she's used her vampire speed to find them, instead of just walking. You swore again and wiped Ethan's black blood away with your sleeve. He gave a soft groan and tried to roll onto his side. Benny started trying to help him stand up, but Ethan wasn't exactly conscious yet.

  "Don't use your abilities! No running, no strength, no mind-control, no visions!" Your eyes widened and you looked up to Benny. He looked vulnerable like he was thinking very hard and trying to come up with an idea. His forehead creased slightly when Ethan pushed his hand away from his nose. He started to sit up though, smacking his lips and licking them. He was thirsty and Benny got the message.

  Benny held his hand up and was about to snap his fingers when you grabbed his hand. You ignored the warmth of his skin under your palm. "That means no magic. The curse's speed just increases and we get weaker. Don't use your magic, Benny."

  Pieces clicked.

  The color of the blood. The use of abilities increased damage and speed. Fatigue and fever.

  "It's a Death Curse. Someone's used Blood Magic to curse us. They're trying to kill us and using our magic and abilities will speed it up." You stood back up and saw Benny going to grab Ethan again. "Don't touch him!"

  Benny pulled his hands away, but he stayed crouched down. You grabbed his arm and hauled him up. He pushed your hand off of him. "We can't risk giving him another vision. We don't know if there's a certain number of times before it kills him."

  Benny's eyes widened, his blotchy cheeks making him look younger than he was. He took a step away from his best friend. "You heard Y/n. Nobody touches Ethan!"

 "How are we going to get him out of the hallway? The bell rings in eleven minutes. People can't see us like this, guys." Sarah bit back another hiss and started to shift her weight from foot to foot.

  "He only has visions when he touches our skin, right? So what if we don't touch his skin?" Rory asked. Benny nodded and started looking around the hallway.

  "Madison Fields is in the gardening club, right? Cause I have an idea." Benny walked across the hall to a random locker. He opened it- people without locks on their lockers are just too trusting- and started going through the contents. Soon enough, he pulled two sets of gloves out of a small bag at the bottom of the locker. He pulled a pair of gardening gloves on and hurried over to Ethan.

  Benny put the second pair of gloves on his best friend and pulled his sleeves down and over the tips of his fingers. Finally, he tugged Ethan's hood over his head and pulled the strings of his hoodie together and tied them.

  "What was the point of that?" Erica asked. She glanced up at the clock and back to the scene before her. You understood, so you hooked one Ethan's arms around your shoulders and helped Benny stand him up.

  "We can't touch his skin now, so he can't get a vision. Let's go, I think Grandma can help us."

~~~

  Benny's grandma took one look at the six of you and started chanting in Latin. It wasn't exactly a comforting thing to see an Earth Priestess doing as soon as she laid eyes upon you, but you were assuming it was necessary, given the fact black blood was drying on Ethan's upper lip and Sarah looked like a demon.

  "Grandma, can you please help us?" The six of you had managed to shove yourself into Sarah's car and get to Benny's house before Ethan had gained much more consciousness. It must have been a Hell of a vision and taken a lot of energy from him for the curse to hit him that hard. Evelyn nodded her head, but she locked the screen door for good measure. Ethan whimpered softly, resting his hood-covered head on your shoulder. You jerked your shoulder and he repositioned his head to rest on Benny's shoulder.

  "How long ago did this happen?" Evelyn asked.

  "Thirty minutes ago. Sarah and Ethan need help, Grandma. Please?" Benny got a slight pitch to his voice, almost like he was scared she wouldn't help. She eyed him, almost like she was trying to see through him. The screen door opened and she held it open for the six of you to trudge through the door.

  "Don't touch anything. I've got just the thing to help!" Evelyn shut and locked the door to her house again. She snapped her fingers and an ornate box with green writing appeared in her hands. She popped the lock on the box and pulled out two bars of soap.

  "You're making us wash our hands?" Erica asked. Her fangs lashed out and she clapped her hand over her mouth. Evelyn shook her head before tossing a soap bar to Sarah and Rory. Sarah caught it, but it hit Rory in the face completely.

  "Close. I'm making you wash your bodies. There are two showers. Split up into groups of two and make sure you wash your skin good. Pay close attention to behind the ears, the face, and above the heart. Those are the most affected places when it comes to curses. Go on!" Evelyn shooed you, Erica, and Sarah towards the downstairs bathroom and motioned for the three boys to head upstairs.

  "Let Sarah go first. She needs it more." You said. Erica nodded and the two of you turned your backs while she got into the shower. The water started and the curtain was pulled shut. Erica sighed and sat on the floor, resting her head against the wall. You joined her on the floor and tried not to pass out. Your head was throbbing and the heat that seemed to raise the hair on the back of your neck seemed to become unbearable. All you needed was to start coughing and this would be the worst case of the flu you'd ever had.

  "So how come you're cursed, too? You're not one of the frequents of this little nerd-pack." Erica asked. Her fangs were resting on her bottom lip and her eyes were still glowing. She hissed slightly and rolled her eyes. You could see Sarah's outline in the shower curtain; She was scrubbing her skin vigorously.

  "I have no clue. At first, I thought Benny did this to me, but it turns out it's somebody else's fault." You scoffed. Erica looked amused, but she closed her eyes and continued to lean against the wall. "This happens a lot, then?"

  Erica nodded drowsily. Steam was filling the bathroom slowly, so you clicked the overhead vent on. You rested against the wall for a while, with your eyes shut and the steady sound of running water lulling you to sleep. Erica hopped into the shower next, so you continued to sit where you were. Sarah's skin had returned to its normal coloring- no black veins or paled features. Her eyes were still a bright gold and her fangs were on display, but she looked healthier.

  "Evelyn's magic-soap does the trick. I feel so much better, but I'm so hungry. But not for blood? It's like-" Sarah gripped the sink basin when her legs wobbled underneath her violently. You sat up, watching her regain her balance. "It's like my blood sugar is dropping almost. Like I need real food. Human food."

  "You shouldn't ever crave that. Whenever you turn, human food has no taste after that. No appeal to vampires." You stood up and guided Sarah to sit on the lidded toilet. She patted your hand after she settled. "I think it's the curse."

  "What the fuck?!" Erica cursed from inside of the shower, the water stopped abruptly and Erica's arm shot out from behind the curtain and she started smacking things off of the top of a shelf. Sarah quickly handed her the towel she was looking for. Erica jerked the curtain back after she secured the towel around herself.

  "Erica... what's wrong?" Sarah asked. Erica was squinting hard and her eyes were their normal pale blue. She was gasping softly and holding her hands in front of her eyes.

  "My vision- it's blurry. I think-" You watched tears well into her eyes. "I think I need my glasses again."

  "You two are becoming human again. It's part of the curse- It's taking your powers!" Your eyes widened and you looked down at your hands. You closed your eyes and focused on the magic coursing through your veins. It was a constant feeling, that of a warm liquid trickling from your core outward. It was a comfort to you, something you always focused on when you were scared or overwhelmed- the strong and powerful feeling of magic inside of your veins.

 It was so much weaker. You cursed loudly and started pulling your shirt over your head. Erica handed you the soap and got out of your way. You were undressed and under the spray of water in less than thirty seconds. You rolled the bar in between your hands, making the soap thicken and spill over your skin.

  "If truly I am cursed today, let the water wash the hex away. If truly I am cursed today, let the water wash the hex away. IftrulyIamcursedtodayletwaterwashthehexaway. IftrulyIamcursedtodayletwaterwashthehexaway-" You continued to chant the words, each time with more meaning. It was very simple magic, water magic, so you were hoping you weren't increasing the curse's speed while doing it.

  "What's going on? What are you doing?" Sarah asked from the other side of the curtain. You growled and continued scrubbing your skin red with the soap bar in your palm. Soap-suds were rising off of the shower floor and swirling around you. You watched your veins flash to black quickly and you stopped automatically. The suds didn't drop to the bottom of the shower again but slowly slid down your body. Your skin returned to normal and your dizziness went away.

  "Nothing that worked. I just really hope Evelyn's soap works better than that chant did." You rinsed the soap off and stopped the water. You dried off and got dressed, the two girls turning their backs to give you privacy. You wondered why they stayed with you, but you saw Sarah's quivering legs and realized you needed to help her into the kitchen. You did and returned Evelyn's soap. She had you throw it in the bin, never once going to touch it.

  The boys were sitting at the table waiting for the three of you. You helped Sarah sit down and she gave you a grateful smile. Ethan's hand extended across the table before he remembered he wasn't allowed to touch anyone, so he quickly gave her a thumbs up.

  "What now?" Rory asked. Evelyn placed a sandwich in front of Sarah and watched as the teen vampire gobbled it down without much hesitation. Benny made a face.

  "She's not even supposed to eat human food. What's going on?"

  Grandma Weir grabbed something out of a drawer and hid it behind her back. "Hold out your hands. Palms up and in a straight line."

  The six of you did what you were told. Pressing the sides of your hands together with your palms facing up. You were about to ask her what the point of this was when a knife slashed across your palms at lightning speed. You bit back a curse, trying to spare your swears from Evelyn's ears.

  "Wha- Grandma!" Benny curled his hands to his chest and nursed them. Erica went to lick the blood off of your hands but stopped when she saw the dark grey color. You all shared the same color of blood. It wasn't as dark as Ethan or Sarah's had been earlier, but it wasn't healthy.

  "Just like I thought. My magic soap helped some, but the curse is strong. It's draining your life forces. Which means your magic. And your souls..." Evelyn cast a sad look at the vampires. Your eyes snapped to meet hers.

  "How do we fix it? Every spell has a reversal. Some curses are the same way." Your jaw clenched and you took a deep breath. You would be damned if you were going to cry. That wasn't going to get you anywhere. "Tell me this is one of them."

  "It is, but it's not a pretty one." Evelyn walked to the head of the table while the six of you wrapped your hands in paper towels. She ruffled her grandson's damp hair and avoided eye-contact. Your stomach shriveled, but you kept your brave façade up.

  "The six of you will have to work together to find the spell-caster responsible. The curse can only be undone when they are dead. Only then." Evelyn's hand paused in Benny's hair and dropped to the table. She pulled a chair out and sat beside you all.

  "That's not bad. We take out bad-guys, like, once a week." Erica scoffed and started to push back from the table. "I'll personally rip their throat out with my teeth- I can't see without my glasses again and I refuse to tell my mom I threw out my inhaler at the beginning of the year."

  "It's not that simple. The spell-caster is stealing your life force and adding it to their own. They won't be at their strongest until after you all are dead, but they certainly won't be weak. They're already strong- if the intensity of this spell has anything to say about it." Evelyn pursed her lips before she continued. "I dare to say they'll be unstoppable if they claim your lives. Way beyond anything I can, nor anyone I know, can fix."

  "So we have to stop them. It's us or nobody, huh?" The side of Benny's mouth quirked up. Hew had a determined expression on his face, one that you'd never seen his dorky face take on before. The gears behind his eyes were turning and, for once, he didn't look like a dumbass. You fought back the flush that washed over your body. Sarah looked over at you for a second but went back to her sandwich. You tried to play off the blush you knew covered your cheeks, so you directed your attention back to the matter at hand.

  "How long do you think we have?"

  "Hard to say, but finding and ending this tonight would be my best guess for your survival." Evelyn breathed out raggedly and you looked away. If you saw a single tear in her eyes, you were sure that you would become a sobbing mess.

  "Thank you, Benny's Grandma." Rory smiled from the opposite of her and she rolled her eyes playfully. She stood up and left the room, but you could tell by the stoop of her shoulders she was holding in her emotions. Oh, this was that bad then, huh?

  "There are tons of people in Whitechapel! How are we supposed to find the one responsible for this?!" Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, trying not to scream out in frustration.

  "Yeah, it's like a needle in a haystack, but we're all blind idiots allergic to hay." Ethan dropped his head against the table but quickly sat back up. "But I guess having a Seer for a friend is a blessing, huh?"

  "No! You cannot have another vision! It's too dangerous, Ethan." Benny was shaking his head wildly, sending droplets of water onto the surface of the table. He looked a little bit like an overactive saint bernard puppy after a bath.

  "It can't hurt me if I already had the vision! Remember? I had it at school, right before I collapsed!" Ethan scrambled out of his chair but had to steady himself before he could move any farther through the kitchen. He found a piece of paper and a pencil and shut his eyes tightly.

  "Well, what did you see?" Rory rose from his seat to get a better look at the piece of paper Ethan was drawing on. Erica grabbed onto his shirt and yanked him back into his seat.

  "He's trying to show us. Be patient." Rory lowered his head like a scolded child. The pencil was flying across the paper, without Ethan even looking at the paper. He was done in about a minute and opened his eyes to look at the paper. He nodded his head and smacked the paper down onto the kitchen table you were all sat around.

  "This is what the ingredients that were used in the curse was kept in. A backpack, which means the person is a student and goes to our school." Ethan looked at the paper again, but this time his shoulders sagged. "Which means we have to kill one of our classmates."

  "I hope it's Milo Miller. He gets on my nerves." Erica reclined in her chair and squinted at the paper. She was far-sighted, but you doubted that she could see the drawing.

  It was of a backpack with those decorative pins from shows and movies on it. You saw a Daredevil and Doctor Who pin side by side. There were other pins there, but they were just meanless logos to you. Meanless, but extremely familiar.

  "I know that bag! I see it just about every day. It is a dark green color, right?" You demanded. Ethan nodded his head, eyes wide and mouth agape.

  "So you know who this person is? You know who cursed us?!" Sarah exclaimed. She went to grab Ethan's arm in excitement, but Benny grabbed her hand before she made contact with the Seer's skin. Ethan pulled his hoodie sleeves over his hand and his hood over his head. He took a step back from everyone as they crowded around you.

  "Yeah! Her name's- her name is Malia Harington. She sits with me at lunch every day. She's been in school with us since the fifth grade." You looked down at your hands. Why had she cursed you? You'd never done anything to her. You hadn't interacted with her that much, now that you thought about it. "She was with me today when it happened. She asked me if I was alright after I jumped out of my seat."

  "Malia? She's in my chemistry class! She asked to borrow a pencil from me today." Sarah was staring at the sketch of the backpack while she talked. The others looked around in bewilderment.

  "She did the same thing to me! She even gave me my pencil back after class, the bitch!" Erica exclaimed. Her fangs snapped at the empty air and she growled in annoyance.

 "Me, too!"

  "And me!"

  "So that's how she cursed us? She made contact with us when we were in class and what? She touched our skin and bam! we're doomed?" Ethan shook his head, lost deep in thought.

  "No, she would have to put something on us. Something physical for us to have on our persons. Like a hex bag or-" Benny cut you off while you were gesturing around the room, hoping for another example to pop into your head.

  "Like a small string inside of a mechanical pencil!" Benny exclaimed and rushed for his backpack by the entrance of the house. He came back with his lead pencil in hand. He pulled the eraser from the top and dumped the lead onto the table. Three small pieces of lead fell onto the table and one silver threading needle. A dot of red was solidified like wax at the end of the needle, almost like it was going to drop off the tip at any moment. It didn't.

  "That sneaky witch."

  "Good thing I know she has band practice after school. She's always the last one to leave, even after the teacher." Rory spoke up from the side of the table.

  "Why do you know that?"

  "Because Vampire Ninja knows all!" Rory waved his hand in front of his face, accidentally hitting himself in one eye. "I need my glasses. My depth perception is off..."

  "Guess this means we need to go catch us a witch, huh?" Benny asked. The five of you nodded your heads in response. You worried your bottom lip but stood along with the rest of them.

~~~

  You had been taking out bad guys- the weekly big bads as Erica put it- for a while. You usually did it solo and the problem was taken care of quickly. It was a lot easier that way. No one but you could get hurt, you only had to watch out for yourself. You were careful regardless.

  Whitechapel High was deserted. The lights in all of the rooms were switched off and the doors were all locked from the outside. You cursed and raised your hand to open it with a little magical assistance when Sarah's hand pushed yours down.

  "No magic. Remember?" Sarah tucked your hand into your hoodie pocket. You pulled it back out and crossed your arms.

  "How are we supposed to get in then? I doubt anyone here knows how to pick a lock!"

  "I can. Give me a minute." Ethan crouched down to the main door and pulled two pieces of metal out of his pocket.

  "Where did you learn to pick a lock?" Erica watched in confusion as Ethan wiggled the pick in the lock while keeping the other steady. Benny stood proudly beside his best friend.

  "Skyrim."

  "There is no way you learned how to pick a lock from Skyrim."

  When the statement left your mouth, an audible click resonated from the lock. Ethan pushed on the door and it swung open. Benny and Rory took turns high-fiving his gloved hands. You, Sarah, and Erica watched the three dorks off to the side.

  "Let's hurry this up, I've got places to be." Erica sashayed into the school building. You saw her narrowly miss the doorframe and wondered if she was getting dizzy. Your head was starting to hurt again like you needed to eat, but you weren't hungry.

  'Like my blood sugar is dropping.' Sarah had felt the same thing. So it was curse still working its dark magic. You nibbled on your bottom lip before following the other five into the school building.

  The air inside of the school was cold and stale. The taste of dirt and dust settled on your tongue. It was almost suffocating. It was very dark magic and you clenched your hand around the aluminum baseball bat you had.

 Since the six of you could no longer use your abilities, you'd had to turn to other means of defense. You and Ethan had baseball bats, Erica had a six-inch switchblade, Sarah had a crow-bar, Rory had a Batarang, and Benny had a nerf gun with pencils in the darts. You had no idea what the fuck you six were going to do.

  It didn't take long to find Malia. She was in the middle of the gym- where the band practiced since Whitechapel didn't have a band room- with candles spread into the five points of a pentagram on the floor with one candle in the middle. Hair and string were tangled into piles and she was sitting with a sewing needle weaving from one hand the other. You knew the making of a voodoo doll when you saw one, and that was definitely it.

  "What are we waiting for? Get her." Erica bared her human teeth at the outline if Malia. She surged forward with the switchblade glinting in the low-light of the gymnasium. Malia was humming something low, it was familiar, and continuing to sew the hair and string together.

  Ethan and Rory started moving towards her too, but you grabbed their arms. You could feel something electric tangled with the dust and dirt in the air. She was working magic, but it had nothing to do with the doll.

  "Erica, wait!" Benny called out. Erica stopped and threw an incredulous look over her shoulder. Malia never moved at the sound of Benny's voice. The song- spell- never stopped. Benny raised the nerf gun and shot Malia in the back. She didn't cry out, but only crumbled into a pile of black smoke. The lights coming from the windows blacked out and the flames on the candles burned brighter.

  Malia's laughter began to ring throughout the empty space. You pulled the two boys behind you and started walking forward.

 "You cursed us? Why?" You asked. The laughter stopped and a whooshing sound came from in front of you. The gym lights were turned back on and Malia was standing in front of you.

  "I'm sick of the vampires in Whitechapel. I'm sick of the monsters coming here because the humans are Meals-On-Wheels for any hungry creature cruising through town." Malia spat the words at you. You took a step back when you saw her face. Her skin was pale and her eyes were bright red. She snarled at you, showing her rotting teeth and forked tongue.

  "You're possessed." You whispered the words and she screamed in your face. She was possessed by her own Dark Magic. It was a common occurrence when witches went dark- some of them could handle it, but some of their souls just weren't made for it. Apparently, Malia's wasn't.

  "I am empowered! I am free of the veil that hid my eyes." She turned her gaze towards Sarah. "Your kind is a plague to humanity. The curse that the gods put on you should have wiped you out- not make you immortal. I intend to fix that."

  "In case you haven't noticed since you lost your veil-" Ethan waved his hands in front of his face, "But not all of us are vampires. Did you just pull names out of a pointy hat?"

  "You six are meddling imbecile who make a habit of getting rid of people with plans. I decided to wipe you all out before you got the chance to interfere with me." She scoffed and fluttered the arm of the cloak she was wearing and disappeared. It was like a shitty magic trick with actual magic.

  "Then you're too late. Cause we're here and we aren't leaving without a fight." Sarah raised her crow-bar and started forward. Malia cackled again and you were reminded of Jafar from Alladin.

  "You and what army?" With that, your weapons were yanked from your hands and shot to the ceiling. They hit with a very heavy clang and stuck there. You rolled your eyes.

  "That's my trick." You pouted and started to shuffle forward. In the blink of an eye- Malia was in front of Sarah and grabbing her throat. Sarah grabbed her hand and ripped it off her throat. Sarah kicked Malia in the middle of the chest and sent her soaring across the gym and against the wall on the other side.

 "Sarah!" Ethan rushed forward and grabbed Sarah, who was folding like a lawn-chair and collapsing to the ground. The veins in her face that had disappeared came back and throbbed like a heartbeat. You watched Malia stand up from the opposite side of the gym. Her face had the same veins as Sarah. She began to walk forward and stumbled. Your brain tried to grasp for something to do, but whatever idea had come to you vanished.

  Malia caught herself and the black of the veins absorbed and she stood up straight. She walked towards Sarah and when she got there, Sarah was kicked back into the wall with the same amount of force Malia had been sent flying with. Srah hit the wall and slid to the ground, groaning.

  Erica cursed and grabbed the witch by her hair. She yanked her backward and sent her to the ground. Erica stood above her and flashed her fangs. When she went to tear Malia's throat out, a blast of magic sent her in the same direction as Sarah.

  Malia stood and flashed her rotting teeth at Rory, who whimpered and surged forward. Rory threw a punch, but it didn't come close to landing and Malia caught his hand. She crunched the bones in his hand and he began to gasp for breath. Rory trying to get away, but she sent him to the ground. You saw movement out of the corner of your eye and Ethan was beside of her, bringing a book down against her head with surprising force.

 Malia screamed out in shock and dropped Rory's hand. Off to the side, Sarah and Erica were getting to their feet. You looked around for something to grab, but the only thing there was the bleachers and you certainly weren't going to be able to pick those up.

  "Ethan!"

  You turned back to the scene unfolding before you, just in time to see Malia's marble colored hand clasp the side of Ethan's face. Your eyes widened and you surged forward, but Malia lifted her free hand and sent you and the others backward. Ethan gasped hollowly before his body went ramrod straight. His eyes fogged over and black blood began to ooze from his nose.

  Benny screamed and tried to run forward, but was thrown against the wall once more. You watched the black blood vessels appear in their faces. Ethan was starting to slouch, but so was Malia. You saw Rory speed towards the two and tackle Malia to the floor. Benny went to grab Ethan, but you stopped him. The idea from earlier had resurfaced and you had a plan.

  "I know how to stop her. She's sharing our energy for a second before she takes it. That's why she keeps stumbling before she gets stronger. I think she messed up the spell when she was performing it. She intertwined our life forces and hers too closely. She gets weak before she gets strong!" You exclaimed. Sarah was beside you now, Ethan's unconscious body hidden behind hers.

  "Then what do we do?" Sarah asked. She tucked Ethan against the wall and crouch-walked closer.

  "She's like Rogue from X-Men! Whatever we throw at her, she can throw back just as hard. So how about we give her something she can't use against us?" Benny motioned to you and him. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows at the lack of her in the plan. "When she gets extremely weak, her magic should fail for a second and the weapons should drop from the ceiling. That's when you need to kill her. She won't be able to defend herself."

  You and Benny shot off of the floor and started toward the middle of the gym. You spread your fingers out with your palms toward the floor. You felt the Earth underneath the concrete and started pulling the roots of weeds and flowers to you.

  Using your magic felt like you were being drained slowly. Like you were walking in the desert and the sun was slowly starting to fall, taking with it the heat and leaving you in the cold. You saw cracks begin to spiderweb across the shiny floor and greenery start to rise from the darkness. You smiled when you saw Malia try to walk toward you. She stumbled- hard- and almost didn't catch herself.

  Benny's hands were palm-up and releasing butterflies into the air. Their iridescent wings fluttered in the rays of sun coming from the small windows at the tops of the gym walls. It looked like a colony of monarchs bobbing around the room. He was getting pale, just like you were.

  "You fools! You're just hurting yourselves!" Malia screamed the words, but you could see the amount of effort it was for her to remain standing. After all, you were starting to feel it too. You watched the stems of flowers blossom into full and vibrant geraniums. You bit back a chuckle.

  "Geraniums, really? And here, I thought we were friends." You could hear the teasing tone in Benny's voice, which was a strange contrast to the usual stupid one. You felt butterflies in your stomach- had you accidentally eaten one?- and you fought back another flush. You hated Benny. That was the only possible explanation for feeling that way from his words. You scowled in confusion.

  "Even if we were, you're still an idiot." You stated. You balled your hands into fists and thought about making something else. You felt your stomach pulling like something had been hooked behind your bellybutton and was reeling you in. You closed your eyes and concentrated.

  The wind started to whip around you, causing your hair to hit smack you in the face. You groaned, feeling your legs begin to wobble with the effort of keeping you standing. Your head was throbbing and you felt something trickling from your nose.

  You felt your feet leave the ground and the air hold you gently, like a mother cradling her child. You were levitating, which was something you had been working on for a few days now. You felt yourself getting cold and your lungs start to clench up. You tried to focus on the magic flowing through your veins, but the feeling was starting to get so weak. You cracked your eyes open.

  The first thing you noticed was the black veins traveling down your arms and into your hands. It looked like ink had replaced your blood. The blood running from your nose had landed on your t-shirt and you made a look of disgust. It looked like sludge.

  "I don't- I don't think I've got much more in me!" Benny yelled over the sound of the wind. He was on one knee, his arms outstretched and white light emitting from the tips of his fingers. There was snow falling gently around him, coating the gym floor in a thin powder. You looked at the ceiling. The baseball bats, switchblade, Batarang, and crowbar were still secured to the top of the gym. You could see one of the baseball bats wiggling with the wind. She was giving out and you needed to end this now.

  Malia was screaming. Her face was one, big, shitty, art project made by that quiet emo kid every school had. It was a mess of toxic blood, which looked like spiderwebs on her face, and marble pale skin. You felt a scream rising to your own lips, but it was because you felt like your arms were being ripped off. There was no way you were going to be able to keep this up. Another couple seconds and you thought you might die.

  The gym lights shattered overhead, sending shards of glass raining down with Benny's snow. The windows to the outside were drenched in the darkness crawling from Malia's presence. She was powerful, but you and Benny were taking a toll on her through the connection of the curse. She screamed again.

  "Y/n! Take my hand! Take my hand!" Benny sounded hoarse and weak, but his voice still managed to reach your ears. You watched him stand on his feet, a swaying mess, and he let his hand reach toward yours. You slipped your hand into his and felt his power. It was weak, but it was still there. You pushed your magic into his body and you could feel him doing the same with his. You were sharing the little energy you two had left.

  "'Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.'" Benny mumbled the words out and you felt the connection stir to life. Where had you heard that before? He was quoting something, you just couldn't think of what it was.

  Sunlight blossomed between your clasped palms. You couldn't think of anything to conjure up, so you focused on the beam of light connecting you to Benny. It faltered for a second and grew brighter. The light expanded, pushing outward and enveloping the two of you. You could see his face now.

  His veins weren't just carrying the black blood, he had it pooled in his cheeks, like sections of his face was rotting off. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes had deep, dark, circles surrounding them. The pretty blue of his eyes was almost white now and they were bloodshot. Blood was dripping from his nose and ears. You knew you looked the same.

  Martin Luther King Jr. That was his quote that Benny had referenced.

  You watched as Benny's feet lifted off of the floor and he began to hover beside you. The light was pushing against the outer layer of Malia's darkness. You watched as the light stopped moving. It was like two magnets were pushing against one another. You watched as the loose baseball bat on the ceiling fell to the floor. The others were wiggling too now and you knew what you needed to do.

  "'Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.'" You finished the quote and turned your face towards Benny's. He was very close to you already, almost relying on you to keep him steady while the two of you levitated three feet off of the ground.

  You quickly pressed your lips against his. You felt his hand clutch down on yours and his mouth press back. The light between your hands became heat and you felt a surge of energy blast from your body. It knocked you and Benny out of the air and the weapons magically glued to the ceiling were sent crashing to the floor.

  "Now!" Rory shouted to Sarah. You wondered when he had been informed about the plan, but your attention was stolen away when the switchblade was swiped off the ground and plunged into Malia's chest. You watched her form flicker before she exploded, sending black goo splattering on the walls and floor.

  Everything was still for a second, but then your energy and powers came snapping back into you, like the end of a rubber band being released against a target. Your lungs gasped for a good intake of oxygen and a cloud of fatigue was seemingly lifted from your body.

  You watched the correct coloring return to your skin. You wiped the gross goo off your upper lip. The others cheered loudly. You heard Sarah make a quirky catchphrase that summed up the battle, but you couldn't hear it too well. You were exhausted. Curse or not, that amount of magic was draining.

  "So, uh, Y/n?" Benny spoke next to you. Your eyes snapped open- when had they closed- and you looked at him. A thin sheen of sweat was at the top of his brow, but his pupils were blown wide. The smell of magic- Benny's smell- was strong and you just wanted to melt into him. So much for getting rid of that crush, huh?

  "Yeah?"

  Benny ran a hand over the back of his neck while he avoided eye contact with you. You felt yourself shrinking slightly. He nibbled his bottom lip before he dropped his arm and gazed into your eyes. "There's this new movie out at the cinema and I was wondering if you would like to go with me? To watch it."

  "Like a date?" Your mouth quirked up at the side. It was his turn to blush and he nodded. You smiled and he returned it.

  "Exactly like that." You felt a burst of warmth in your palm and realized you had never let go of his hand. You weren't planning on it now.

[thinger-strang]

no one dies and everyone's gay au

Nancy finds Barb when she gets stuck in the Upside Down when she's in the forest with Jonathan (don't ask me about the logistics) and so Steve ends up finding Jonathan and Barb in Nancy's room? And he's confused because at first he'd just seen Jon and thought Nancy was cheating but then he saw Barb walk into the room? (traumatic sleepover time! except Jon stays on the ground and Barb and Nance cuddle on the bed bc they're best friends and BARB WAS MISSING FOR LIKE TWO DAYS I THINK? she deserves snugs)

But Tommy and Carol started talking about how Nancy was probably sleeping with both, everyone knew Barb was the biggest d*ke in Hawkins, Nancy probably got curious about the other side!

He doesn't necessarily agree but still doesn't stop Tommy from spray painting the theater (because Nancy still lied to him? Lying generally meant there was something? going on? idk Steve's just confused and a little hurt rn)

The rest of the season goes pretty much the same, Barb's just there trying to not die and trying to help the Gang™ find Will and fight this bitch ass demogorgon (I don't think she's really be part of the Nancy and Jonathan luring it to the house and fighting it, she'd help with set up and the plan but I think she'd fuck right off when it comes down to facing it, she's had enough monsters for one life time thx)

But she'd so wanna help get Will out so she's there with Joyce and everyone talking to El while she's in the bath finding Will and talking Hop and Joyce about the Upside Down

(and she's been to the hospital, she didn't get a face sucking monster thing so she recovered quicker? idk don't ask logistics again lmao)

But she and Will end up getting along and sometimes when she's hanging out with Nancy and the party comes over she'll say hi to Will and like ruffle his hair

(also I want a little scene after the big monster hunting trip scene where a) Nancy and Jonathan explain everything to Steve and b) where Steve sees Barb again and pulls her into the biggest hug and starts like apologizing for not paying attention that night and for letting her get taken and even though she assured him it wasn't his fault he still feels guilty about it, it was his house, he should have helped her bandage her hand or something? idk but this right here is the beginning of the Barb/Steve friendship and the start of the "fall of King Steve")

cue s2

and so the four get really close, Jonathan and Steve are actually friends (idk what s2 was pulling but they're friends) and Barb talks to Nancy about Steve and Jonathan and Nancy ends up breaking up with Steve way earlier (bc you know none of that drama would have happened if Barb was there so)

But they're all still good friends, Steve's cool about the break up, and Nancy and Jonathan get together but it's not like right after? so it's all chill and they all went through a dramatic experience together so they remain close knit yeah

and Barb eventually comes out to them (everyone's supportive obviously) and Steve's is ready to throw down with anyone for her

cue Billy

the four of them are sizing up the new guy, Nancy doesn't really care, Jonathan thinks his hair is a little ridiculous (which I mean, that first day? when he steps out of the Camaro? yeah it was a lil rough), Barb can see right through his macho bullshit, and Steve? has a little bi meltdown. bc this kid has definitely had boy crushes before and knows he likes both (kid listens to queen of course he knew he was bi lmao)

blah blah blah s2 happens, Barb, Steve, and Billy have the same English class and Billys generally quiet during school, kinda stand-off-ish, only really bugs people during gym/basketball, but he literally sits in the back and does absolutely nothing during class and still somehow has the highest grade

(FUCK him and Barb get paired for a project and she fucking calls him out? like she's just like you're gay I'm lesbian you can cut the crap around me and they become...not friends? but they have solidarity, they're cool)

and I'm a slut for this trope but BILLY FIGHTS DEMODOGS WITH THEM lmao he hears Max sneak out and follows her and finds her in the junkyard armouring up a bus with fucking Harrington and a couple of nerds? and like the sun is setting and he needs to get Max home so he's like "Maxine! I don't know what the fuck this is and I don't fucking care, we gotta go!" and the four are like yelling at him to either leave or get in the bus! and he's so confused, I'm not here to play games Max! and Steve's running out of the bus with a FUCKING NAIL BAT WHAT THE FUCK HARRINGTON? And Steve's like behind you! and swings at a demodog. Billy has a borderline panic attack before he finds like a fender or exhaust pipe or whatever and starts swinging too

the dogs run away and Billy rounds onto Steve like what the living shit was that? and Steve has to explain everything with Dustin and Lucas interrupting and Max shrugging and trying to understand too? it's a mess

s2 continues with Billy and with HOPPER NOT BEING ABLE TO STAND HIM bc he's caught him speeding and underage drinking and shit and Billy's nervous as hell around cops which makes him mouthy and ITS A MESS

they're all at Joyce's (Barb's there too bc Will's possessed and they need to check up on her too? and she's concerned for Will anyway yeah she's in this too) and El shows up and Steve and Billy are just like what? another one? who the fuck? like Steve heard about her but this isn't a tiny child without hair??? idk it's funny

BILLY WITH AN AXE IN THE TUNNELS

(obviously Steve isn't passed out and the kids don't drive the car, it's Billy's awful impulse control that leads to them going into the tunnels)

okay I couldn't decide where to put Barb here? so I left her with Steve and Billy to babysit and she ends up in the tunnels too? and she's def handling it better than the boys are fuck yeah

Steve has his bat and is in front and Billy found an axe in the pile of shit from the Byers' shed and he pulls up the end

it's awesome

yada yada Steve and Billy end up becoming weirdly good friends by the end and he's good with him and Barb, idk about Nance and Jon but eh

s3 now

Billy ends up getting two jobs; lifeguard and cook at Benny's (bc he's alive too, fight me bitches this is the ultimate fix it) and Barb ends up working as a waitress there too (and working together builds the weirdest bonds so they are besties now)

everything in s3 is pretty much the same but with diner scenes too? and like all the Hawkins moms swarm Benny's too and leave lipstick stains on their kitchen tips and "send my compliments to the chef *wink*"

Billy eats it up but Barb can tell he also kinda hates it bc he's barely 18 and not even remotely into women and it makes him super uncomfortable but publicly he "loves" it (he starts wearing tank tops to the pool and tries to hide out in the kitchen but it really doesn't work)

he still gets caught up with the mind flayer but it's not bc he's about to sleep with Karen bc ew, idk why he's driving out by the warehouse idk maybe he's out on a drive bc he can't sleep yeah

anyway he gets caught up but like he knows, or kind of knows, what this is and calls in sick to both jobs and talks to Hopper bc WHAT THE FUCK isn't the gate closed? I got face fucked my an interdimensional monster so unless you know where the fuck that came from?? and they deal with it earlier (most of the shit still happens but it's less...messy? like Hop and Joyce are more involved in the Billy shit and Steve knows about it?)

Steve still gets caught up with the Russians (I don't think he'd have a chance to tell anyone (specifically Hopper) bc he finds out about Billy then the elevator stuff happens like right after and yada yada)

so for most of the season it's them trying to actually help Billy! and they end up saving a lot of people? (specifically Heather bc she was really nice to Billy and I want he to live fight me it's my au)

but enough people get melted and shit that starcourt still get destroyed blah blah blah!

but Billy makes it and so does Hop and Alexie (no one dies au) and they all end up doing the thing in the mall like they did in the shed with Will? like breaking Billy out? Barb talks about working at the diner and their secret and Steve talks about them hanging out and playing basketball and the tunnels and Max talks about Billy buying her a new board and them scream-singing along to ACDC in the Camaro and the kids mention him giving them rides and shit and yeah! El talks about his mom and that's it! Joyce and Hop close the gate while Billy's holding the one arm (he doesn't get stabbed in the chest, as cool as that scar would be, no...but he gets some on his hands and upper arms and his sides?)

(also Billy's drinking like bleach rn so they try and reverse that as much as possible while he's possessed so that he has a better recovery later bc no! chlorine is not good for you! and Billy tries so hard to not drink it but sometimes he can't fucking stop? idk but he has a support system now!)

and Robin came out to Steve and Steve comes out to her too? like kinda? he alludes to it vaguely bc he's so not ready to be out to anyone FUCK

And Billy comes out to Steve (he was planning on doing it earlier that summer but shit happened)

and Robin becomes friends with everyone (ITS ROBIN X BARB HOURS BITCHES)

(OKAY small like side shit? Benny and Hopper have known each other for years and Benny's like one of the only registered foster parents on Hawkins so he ends up fostering a lot of wayward kids while Hop figures out legal stuff (he hasn't adopted anyone yet but him and his husband (yeah Benny's gay deal with it) really want to? they just haven't yet, all the kids they take care of end up in their care temporarily) BUT Hop finds out about Billy and Max's home life (I know a lot of people write that Neil wouldn't hit Max but...nah son not how that works? idk but he needs to get them out? and Neil's bad to Susan too (he's the worst to Billy but still bad to Max and Susan) anyway Hop helps Susan leave Neil (it takes a while and Billy and Max end up with Benny for a little bit while the divorce is going down and all the legal shit yeah it's safer out of the house rn) long story short Billy ends up staying with Benny after everything and ends up getting adopted (they're like we know you're 18 and you don't need a guardian but if you want we can be your dads? and Billys like yeah sure that'd be nice and yeah) Hop ends up being a weird like uncle figure? idk like I said him and Benny are close and they both adopted kids so yeah? and Billy ends up considering El his little sister and he still visits Max and Susan and yeah?)

ANYWAY everything kind of calms down, Hop and Joyce get together (I just realized I forgot about Bob so...idk I guess this isn't an everyone survives au? no no that's weird um idk him and Joyce end up breaking up idk why) but yeah Hop and Joyce get together and like it's kind of fast but they've been in love for a long time so it's kind of fine? like idk but yeah

Barb and Robin get together (ITS FUCKING CUTE they go to aquariums and have paint dates where they sit on some old sheets and paint while listening to Robin's records ITS CUTE!)

STEVE COMES OUT TO EVERYONE! he definitely cries bc fuck he was scared! bc he likes both and he wasn't sure if that was a thing or whatever for a while and Billy's like oh yeah, like David Bowie or Freddie Mercury? and that's when Steve's cries bc oh thank God you guys get it and you're cool with it oh fuck and YEAH

UM Max is bi too, Will comes out as gay (listen I know none of this is like 80's realistic but everyone's gay and alive and happy, fuck off)

Um it takes forever for Billy and Steve to get together, it's awful. like Barb and Robin have to deal with their pining and shit? and like Robin hears about it from Steve at work and Barb hears about it from Billy at the diner and they put their knowledge together and make a Plan ™

it's like elaborate and dramatic (shut up they're all like 18-19) and shit? BUT LMAO okay one day they're all hanging out at Steve's (bc I've also hopped aboard the neglectful parents train sorry) and idk Steve and Billy are there before Robin and Barb are so the girls walk in on them arguing over whatever and like Billy's talking really fast and Steve's talking with his hands and idk what it's about but Billy ends up yelling that he loves him BUT THEY KEEP ARGUING FOR LIKE A SOLID MINUTE AFTER THAT BEFORE IT HITS THEM and Steve gets all quiet and is just like you love me? and Billy doesn't fucking know what to do?? he's like bright red and frozen and Robin and Barb are by the door trying to not like break the spell (bc it's been months guys) and Billy's like of course I do asshole and Robin thinks Steve's about to have a panic attack but he like rushes forward and cups Billy's face and kisses him senseless and it's like the best thing Robin and Barb have ever seen

and they're resting their foreheads together, Steve's still holding Billy's face and Billy has his hands on Steve's chest it's really tender but Robin's like yeah congrats and shit but you guys ruined our Plan™! and she gives them a long ass rundown of their elaborate scheme and Steve and Billy are like still touching and bumping into each other as they listen and Barb interrupts and says that this was better and Robin rolls her eyes but agrees

and they're watching a movie or whatever, cuddling in their respective couples and Steve fucking jumps up randomly and rounds on Billy like hey woah fuck I love you too, I didn't say that earlier! and Billy's looking up at him like yeah I know that asshole and yeah

[saccharii]

The Son of My Enemy

AU AUgust, Day Four and Nineteen: Enemy and Reverse Crush AU

AO3 Link

@auyeahaugust

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Notes: I wrote this one a while ago too, lol whoops. Please enjoy my take on villain Chat Noir.

Cat Noir landed on the school’s roof with a heavy thud. Ladybug turned toward him, her legs dangling over the edge, and smiled softly.

“I brought coffee,” he said, holding up the cardboard cup holder with two cups of coffee.

“Is it poisoned?” Ladybug dutifully recited her part of their long-standing joke.

“Not this time,” Cat Noir completed it.

Both laughed softly. The situation really wasn’t funny, but if they didn’t find levity where they could then the weight would crush them.

Cat plopped down next to Ladybug, swinging his feet over the edge of the roof. He passed her a coffee and she took a sip. Vanilla latte — cliche, but she loved it.

“So,” Cat said, taking a sip of his own coffee, “How’s school going?”

Ladybug grimaced. “It’s going. Hard to keep up my grades with, you know.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Cat hummed skeptically. He didn’t believe her. It was hard to blame him She knew she wasn’t going to be able to convince him otherwise any time soon. Maybe once she did...

“How are you doing?” she asked tentatively.

“As well as can be expected, I guess,” he said, staring blankly into the distance. “My grades are fine. Father covers for me during the school day. He lets me spend more time with my friends than he used to. Though I think that is more so he has something to take away from me if I don’t cooperate.”

Ladybug hated the hollowness in his voice.

“How does he feel about, you know,” she made a vague gesture with her hand, “you doing, uh, heroics? I guess?”

“He doesn’t really care what I do during my off time, so long as I fight you for your Miraculous. He doesn’t even care if I save bystanders from akumas, unless it distracts me from catching you.”

“That’s... good...” Ladybug said awkwardly.

“Yeah, it gives me something to feel good about myself.” Cat Noir drained the last of his coffee and put the empty container back into the cup holder. “I just wish I could live a normal life, you know? Sometimes when I’m out with my friends I forget about this, but then somebody says something or I see something or there is an akuma attack and it all comes back.”

He laughed bitterly. Ladybug tried to smile, but it was more of a wince instead.

“My offer still stands,” she said. “I’ll help you out. You can hide at my house, my parents are very understanding.”

Cat Noir shook his head. “No. I know it’s selfish, but I’d lose everything I have. My father may be a horrible person, but he’s the only family that I have left and I love him despite everything. And I can’t go to school or see my friends if I’m in hiding. I’m sorry, Ladybug.”

Ladybug patted his hand beside hers. “I understand.”

And she did. If she was in his situation... she didn’t think she’d be able to give it all up either, even if it meant doing the right thing.

“He’d take it out on my friends,” Cat continued. “He’s already targeted them more than once, and while he’s never said it, I know he’ll do it again if he thinks it’ll further his goal.” He hesitated. “There’s this girl...”

Oh. That hurt more than she thought it would, but she tried to look encouraging. Keep it under control. For Cat. Her jealousy had caused problems before. (Her jealousy had caused akumas before.)

Cat Noir sighed. “She’s amazing. So kind, and smart, and brave. She really does everything in her power to make the world a better place. For everyone, even those who are mean to her.”

Ladybug breathed deeply through the heartbreak. It’s okay. She could do this.

“She sounds great,” she croaked.

“She is.” A brief smile crossed Cat Noir’s face, then was replaced with a frown. “I wish I could spend more time with her but... it would put her at risk. She’s never been akumatized before and I want to keep it that way. I don’t want my father to target her just because he thinks I was being insubordinate or something.”

“That sucks.” No matter how much it hurt to think of Cat Noir with someone else, she wanted him to be happy above all else. “Maybe once this whole thing is over, you could ask her out? You’re pretty amazing yourself. She’d be a fool not to see it.”

Cat laughed. “Funny enough, she has a celebrity crush on Cat Noir. Crazy girl, having a crush on a villain.”

“You’re not much of a villain,” Ladybug said. “Everyone knows your situation by now. You’re pretty popular. There’s even merchandise.”

She’d know; she designed half of it.

Cat laughed again, genuinely this time, so hard his shoulders shook and he had to hold his stomach. “I think Officer Roger would disagree with you.”

Ladybug shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s Officer Roger. I once saw him give someone a ticket because their decoration was too decorated. So.”

“True,” he said. “Are you done with your coffee?”

She handed over her empty cardboard cup and he put in back in the drink holder. He crumpled the whole thing up into a crude ball and threw it into the nearest trash can on the street below with a clatter.

“Nice.”

“Thanks.” Cat stood up and brushed off his pants. “Ready to fight?”

With a sigh, Ladybug clambered to her feet. She hated this part, but at least she got to spend time with Cat.

“Give me your Miraculous,” he said.

“Never,” she responded flatly, and he lunged at her, baton in hand.

[jinterlude]

Two Faced (Ch.4)

↳ gif header is made by © @softjeon. Please don’t try and steal it and make it your own.

➵ Pairing(s): Gang!Jungkook x Female!OC & Gang!Mark Lee x Female!OC x Gang!Seokjin

➵ Genre(s):  College!AU, Mafia/Gang!AU, Angst, Romance, Friendship, Humor, Love Triangle & Slight-Fluff

➵ Warning(s): None for this chapter

➵ Words: 4.4K

➵ Co-writer: @softjeon​

➵ Summary: Two girls. Two gangs. One craved absolute control over the city of Seoul. While, the other simply craved sleep and good grades. Now, what do these two ladies have in common? Simple. They have nothing in common—or so they think. Everyone knows the saying, “never judge a book by its cover”, so maybe there is something more to these two than meets the eye…especially when one of them is suddenly thrown into the underground life. Loyalties will be tested. Romance will blossom. Yup. Sounds like an average college day…

« Previously | Next Time »

Chapter 4 - So My Roomie is a Gang Leader

A few days later, Sumin still had yet to crack the mystery that was Sowon. Whenever they attended classes, meaning Sumin dragged her roommate along because she had grown tired of Sowon’s professor looking at her like they had no idea what she was talking about, Sowon behaved like the first time they had meant. Yet when they were back home, the lazy roommate turned into this confident, almost cold-hearted person.

Seriously, Sumin practically experienced whiplash from the many times that Sowon had abruptly changed personas. However, the innocent little lady refused to give up until she uncovered the truth about Sowon and her mysterious group of boys.

To this day, Sumin doesn’t know what they do, how they met Sowon, or even why the sudden silence whenever she came into the room?

So many questions yet so little time—especially now since Sowon was currently shoving every single style of dress at her, demanding that she’d try them on.

“Wait, try this dress on!” yelled Sowon as she threw yet another short and tight dress over the dressing room door.

Sumin groaned loudly. Sowon didn’t quite understand Sumin’s reasoning for disliking the whole “going to the club”. Though, deep down. Sumin knew that Sowon could care less about what she disliked—well—for the most part.

“Sowon! I think this dress is shorter than the last one you chucked at me…!” Sumin whined; her eyes widened as she took in her reflection. All she saw was legs, legs, and more legs. Oh, she couldn’t forget the semi-exposure of her cleavage too…

Sumin chuckled, secretly finding Sumin’s discomfort a bit amusing. The secretive gang leader knew what she was doing. She was never oblivious to Sumin’s body type, especially, when she noticed that this petite girl had some curves to her. How did she noticed? It’s simple, really. Sowon had noticed when Sumin was being trained by Seokjin. Honestly, after that day, Sowon questioned why her innocent little roomie never wore anything tight. Like, a nicely fitted blouse, or even a cocktail type of dress that accentuated her best features.

If Sumin thought Sowon was a mystery, then Sumin would be like a cold-case for Sowon.

Two girls with their own hidden secrets.

Sounds like a fun game…

Hours had passed, and the two girls finally left the clothing store with two shopping bags in each arm.

“I still think you should’ve gotten that cute black dress. I think you would’ve looked cute in that lace.” commented Sowon, pouting cutely.

Sumin grimaced, “Weren’t you the one that told me that the dress looked like something a mom would wear, though?” She pointed out, giving her roomie a knowing look.

Sowon laughed, “I was using reverse-psychology on you. Honestly, I wanted you to get that dress since it represents your personality quite well.”

Sumin tilted her head slightly; confusion slowly appeared on her face.

“How so?” She asked.

Sowon simply hummed in response as she thought about how she could explain it without unknowingly offending her sunshine.

“Just trust me, okay?” Sowon winked at her roommate playfully and lead her back to her car. Sumin still had no idea what this all was about and she seriously had no idea why she was playing along. Maybe she liked the rush of it all a little too much already.

When they parked in front of Sowon’s mansion again, Sumin just followed the leader as always.

“You will have some last minute training with Jin in a bit.” Sowon announced as she  turned and walked a little backwards until they were in her room that she normally shared with Jungkook but when Sumin stayed over—it was theirs. It was always put her in a rather good mood whenever she thought about how that even occurred.

Apparently, Sumin had pulled her aside one night, telling her that she won’t stay in a random room nor will sleep with any of the boys. Sowon sat down at the edge of her bed as she eyed the slightly nervous Sumin, who still had no idea what it was all about. Biting her lip, Sowon contemplated for a while. She needed to let Sumin in. Either way it would get quite dangerous for her. Sumin must have an idea already on who she really was, but still—the innocent girl stayed quiet and in a weird way, she trusted Sowon.

Now standing in their shared bedroom, Sumin groaned, throwing her head back. After what seemed like an eternity of shopping, the last thing the tired girl wanted to do was train with Seokjin. Even more so, when she didn’t have a clear explanation as to why she had to train in the first place. When she originally asked Sowon why she had to train, the older woman would simply say,

“Because, I can easily break you with my hugs, and I don’t want to accidentally kill you one day.”

Sighing loudly, Sumin flopped on her bed, well Jungkook’s, and stared blankly at the ceiling while Sowon eyed her with this amusing gleam in her eye. She knew that Sumin could be lazy but, at the same time, she displayed more advanced athletic skills when she felt like that.

Too bad that those moments were rare. Like, Sowon showing up to her classes rare.

“Okay, come on, you book worm,” Sowon walked up to Sumin and grabbed her wrists, “You don’t want Jinnie to wait for you forever, right?” She questioned as she roughly yanked Sumin up, earning a tiny yelp from her roomie.

Sumin whined again, but soon submitted to Sowon. If she didn’t do it now, she knew that Sowon would resort to more drastic methods, and the last time that happened, Sumin ended up on Seokjin’s lap, wearing nothing but her sleeping shirt.

Yeah...she firmly believed that she accidentally turned him on…

Sowon smiled brightly before tossing Sumin her workout gear. She then pushed the girl into the bathroom and said to meet her in the training room.

As she walked out, this interesting idea began to formulate in her devious mind. This scheming like smirk slowly graced her beautiful face the more the idea solidified.

“I think I should pay Yoongi a visit…” She thought sweetly as the sounds the of her heels echoed throughout the empty corridor.

Now, standing in the middle of the training room, Sumin tightened her ponytail. She couldn’t quite understand why Seokjin told her to put her hair up, but she simply shrugged it off and did as she was told. Once her hair was secured enough, she moved on to stretching out her muscles, though, she did it half-assed.

Seokjin shook his head softly, chuckling at how his princess wasn’t taking this training seriously. Maybe she would once her life was on the line.

Then, it hit him. That’s what he’d do to get her to exert all of her strength.

“Okay, princess,” He began, walking to the center and standing in front of Sumin, “I need you to punch me.” He instructed as he got into a fighting stance.

Sumin froze; her doe-like eyes widened. Was he messing with her? He had to be since their previous training sessions only required her throwing knives at a target or knowing how to prep a gun.

Now, he wanted her to punch him.

Nope. Not going to happen.

“What?! I’m not going to punch you!” She practically shrieked, not wanting to harm the pretty boy for doing absolutely nothing to her.

Seokjin gave her look, “You need to be able to defend yourself, especially when you can’t get to your gun or even a simple knife.” He explained, taking step forward towards Sumin, who then took a step back.

Her heart raced against her chest. Her breathing became sporadic. There’s the whole defending herself thing again. Since day one, he had always told her that the reason for learning about weaponry, concocting the perfect escape route, etc. was because she needed to learn how to defend herself from anything and everything.

What was going on?

“Defend myself from what?!” yelled Sumin, finally fed up with being kept in the dark.

“From enemies,” A sudden voice behind Sumin said, when an arm already wrapped around her neck and quickly brought her to the ground. Sumin was completely knocked off her balance.

Sowon laughed, when Sumin tried to threw her hands at her, flapping them like birds. But somehow Sumin grabbed a handful of her hair and pushed Sowon down, making the older woman squeal a little, before she quickly caught her wrist and brought it up Sumin’s head. “What the fuck, Sowon!” Sumin shouted, and the boys around cheered as the two girls were rolling around, fighting each other off. It didn’t take long for Sowon to have the upper hand again, pinning both hands up over Sumin’s head, while she was sitting comfortably on Sumin’s waist.

“Now, sunshine,” Sowon said a little out of breath, “Do you ever heard something about ‘Bangtan’?”

Sumin squirmed underneath Sowon. A faint blush crept on her face, not because that she was aroused or anything, but because that this was the most skin-on-skin contact that she ever experienced and—she hated it. She wanted Sowon to get off her right now. While, with the other person, Sowon refused to weaken her grip until Sumin answered her.

“You know...you can keep squirming all you want, but I’m not getting up until you answer…” She declared, chuckling softly at Sumin’s failed attempts of freeing herself.

With a final spurt of strength, Sumin flopped back down and finally answered Sowon but shaking her head as the word, “no”, escaped her tired lips.

“Oh, really?” Sowon said and let go of Sumin’s wrists and sat herself up a little more, “That’s honestly…disappointing. But what did I expect?”

The leader got up from Sumin’s body and held out a hand for her to grab to pull her up. Not even caring about dusting off her clothes, Sumin stared at Sowon, demanding answers. Her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Okay, so…,” Sowon finally started and turned towards her boys, “Did you hear about the new drug that has been going around campus for a while now?” She licked her lips with a knowing smile when Sumin nodded frantically. She had heard about it and seen it. It was designed to make the students more efficient and awake but also left them on a very ‘high’ and mentally fucked up state afterwards. “Well, hi…that was me,” Sowon threw her hair back and proudly turned around before she introduced herself once again, but this time it was accurate, “Hi, I’m Sowon, leader of ‘Bangtan’. I own a drug and weaponry business and basically every club you know…is mine. This is the world I live in… and you’re in it now.”

Sumin stood there in silence, practically like a zombie since her soul pretty much left her body. Her brain went into overdrive as it tried its hardest to process the information that she had learned.

Then, her mouth formed a tiny “O”. Tiny whispers spewed from her lips as she repeated every other word that she had heard come out of Sowon’s lips.

“So...you are a gang leader that owns clubs, deals in drugs and weaponry, and more than likely does other illegal stuff…” Sumin trailed on, while Sowon and the rest of Bangtan nod their head. “That doesn’t mean you can neglect your studies since you have seven other people to handle that stuff for you.” She added.

The second she said, this giant wave of confusion crashed onto Bangtan. Okay. That wasn’t the reaction they were looking for.

“You’re not going to run to the cops and rat us out?” Seokjin questioned; his words dripped with caution.

Sumin simply shook her head.

This caused even more confusion with the gang.

“Why not?” Jungkook asked, finding a bit too weird that this outsider wasn’t running to the police.

“Well, by the looks on your face, that is something that you’d expect. Besides, I’m pretty positive that one of you guys would’ve shot me dead before I could even make it to the front door.” She kindly explained, displaying her intelligence to them. A quiet click of a gun was heard, when everyone stared at Yoongi for a second.

“What? I mean…that’s what I’m supposed to do right?” Yoongi shrugged his shoulders and secured his gun back in his holster.

Sowon stared at Sumin, blinking a few times, as now it was her turn to wrap her mind around Sumin’s words. She knew that Sumin was quite smart, but she didn’t know that she could be street smart given her naive nature. Her innocent little sunshine had yet to cease in impressing her.

Now, after seeing Sumin’s street smarts, her plan on luring out NCT’s leader would officially be foolproof…

“Good!” Sowon clapped in her hands, happy that her plan was working out, but before she could turn around, Sumin held her back.

“But now…what do I have to do with all of this?” She asked, raising her eyebrow as she looked up at the gang leader.

“Oh, right,” Sowon chuckled and cupped Sumin’s cheek sweetly, “You my dear are my bait. I need someone that they don’t expect, someone innocent as you. You won’t get hurt, trust me.” Sumin furrowed her brows, opening her mouth to speak but the leader was interrupting her already, explaining every important information she needed to know and leaving out a few little details. “It’s easy,” She nodded, “We go in, you find out what the leader looks like and I can finally take them down. Then you can go back to your boring life and I can finally stop pretending to be a student.”

Sowon smiled at Sumin, though inside, she couldn’t help but be nervous as well. It wasn’t like she was going after any gang. NCT was a force to be reckoned with, or else Sowon wouldn’t have to hide to keep safe. They made it clear before—they wanted her. Dead or Alive. They truly did not care. And sometimes, if no one was around, Sowon couldn’t help but feel it. The fear. The anxiety. With great power comes great responsibility. And ‘Bangtan’ was her family. She needed them all to be safe. And now that Sumin was in the picture, Sowon had one more person to look out for.

Straightening her shoulders, Sowon hugged Sumin, kissing the top of her hair before she simply turned without saying a word.

Jungkook’s eyes followed her retreating body, before he looked back at Sumin. He knew she wouldn’t ever forgive herself if something happened to her. As much as the leader wouldn’t admit it, Jungkook knew how much Sumin already meant to her. She wouldn’t survive another life taken away from her.

“Wait...did she just say that I was being used as bait?!” shrieked Sumin once Sowon left the room.

The rest of the fellas shielded their precious ears as they nodded their heads. Did they truly believe that Sumin would be safe luring this invisible man out?

Probably not.

Would they let something happen to her?

Never.

“Just trust us, princess,” Seokjin began, placing a warm hand on her shoulder, “While, we do appear cold and can easily murder someone without exerting too much effort, we are one big family, and we never let our family get hurt. Okay?” He reassured the nervous woman, smiling softly.

Sumin sighed, still unsure if he meant what he said; however, if it meant that she would be allowed to go back to her academics and having a sense of normalcy, then…

“Okay. I’ll do it. When do I have to this baiting thing?” She asked, trying to keep her voice nice and calm but ultimately failed when it wavered near the end.

Seokjin turned to Jungkook, who knew everything and anything that Sowon planned. One of the many perks of dating the leader.

“This Saturday.” Jungkook answered shortly.

Sumin faked a laugh, “Great…”

Before she knew it, Saturday arrived quickly. From receiving more hand-to-hand combat training to going over brief notes of NCT, Sumin didn’t realize that it had indeed become Saturday. It finally registered when Sowon pushed her into the bathroom, shoved a navy-blue cocktail dress, and matching heels.

“Oh! Leave your hair down!” The pushy leader suggested as she fixed the positioning of her wig. Instead of her natural dark locks, she now dawned this hazel brown color that slowly faded into this purple ombre.

After what seemed like hours, Sumin emerged from the bathroom. Her hair cascaded down the sides of her face like a waterfall. Her makeup highlighted her best facial features while the navy-blue dress clung nicely against her body. On her feet were these black heels that paired nicely.

Sowon couldn’t help but do this wolf whistle at the girl. Damn, Sumin cleaned up nicely. She still appeared to be this innocent lady yet now looked to have ulterior motives.

The gang leader’s eyes did a quick glance over. Sumin looked great but something was missing. Then, she suddenly snapped her fingers and rushed to the dresser. Her hands grasped one of her many jewelry boxes and opened it. She then pulled out this nice diamond and sapphire bracelet and walked back to Sumin.

“Wear this.” She instructed nicely, even though she pretty much clasped it around Sumin’s wrist.

Sumin eyed the extravagant bracelet and asked her why she needed to wear this. To which Sowon answered,

“Not only does this complete your look, but it also has a hidden tracker and microphone just in case NCT’s leader decides to be a creeper and kidnap you.”

Sumin chuckled nervously as her eyes flickered to the bracelet again. Great, she hadn’t even thought about the possibility of being kidnapped until Sowon put that image in her head. Sowon noted the sudden nervous emotion within Sumin and patted the girl on head; a weird yet sweet attempt on calming the girl.

“No matter what...you will be protected by either myself or one of the guys.” Sowon reassured before pulling her into a warm, comforting hug.

Sumin stood there, at first, but soon returned the hug. It was a simple action yet it meant so much the younger girl. She never had any friends, so it truly got lonely sometimes.

But ever since Sowon came into her life, it had been one interesting adventure. And to think...the journey was only just beginning...

“You ready to turn on some hormonal boys, minus Yoongi and Jimin, of course.” Sumin heard Sowon say in a teasing voice. Of course Sowon, the never tiring seductress, wanted to torture the fellas.

Sumin simply rolled her eyes but displayed an amused grin on her face. Sowon was definitely rubbing off on her.

Exiting the room, the girls sauntered their way towards the staircase. The way their body spoke was if they were saying that they were ready to take on whoever and whatever that came at them.

As they neared the staircase, it was eerily quiet. Nothing but the sounds of their heels hitting the marble stairs were heard as they descended down the steps. Everyone was busy with getting themselves ready. Putting their guns into their holsters. That was until each fella heard this clinking sound. Each of their heads snapped towards the stairwell. Some of their jaws dropped as they couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the girls’ beauty. No one dared to say too much, though Seokjin’s eyes were fixated on Sumin’s body for a little too long. Damn…she looked good.

Sowon was walking over to Jungkook right away, letting him take her in his embrace as they both turned away from the group a little more.

“You good?” Jungkook asked sweetly, pushing a strand of Sowon’s fake hair behind her ear, as she nodded. “Sure,” She smiled a bit too nervous for Jungkook’s liking.

“She will do fine.” He reassured her.

“I know, I’m just…,” Sowon sighed. She hated how easily Jungkook could read her. Her eyes flickered over to Sumin and the leader flashed her a confident smile and a wink, before she wrapped her arms around Jungkook’s neck.

“Stay close,” The leader whispered, placing a soft kiss right below his pulse point, making him shiver. “As soon as we got everything we need to know,” She cupped Jungkook’s cheek, her lips only inches away from his, “I want her to be out of there. Unharmed.”

Jungkook sighed softly as a tiny grin appeared on his handsome face.

“On Seokjin’s honor, I’m damn sure that she’ll remain unharmed while on this mission.” He stated quietly before closing the gap between their lips, indulging in the sweetest and most addicting kisses that Sowon always offered him.

While with Sumin, she couldn’t help but watch the couple engage the most passionate kiss ever. Part of her, silently wished that she too could experience that strong sense of intimacy—that feeling of being loved. Yet, with the other half, she was completely content with being by herself—right?

“Alright, my sweet sunshine! Time to get the show on the road!” shouted Sowon, pulling Sumin out of her contradicting thoughts.

Sumin simply smiled in response as Seokjin walked up to her and stood by her side. He gently placed a hand on her bare shoulder, ignoring the jolts of electricity that surged through his veins.

“Everything will be fine,” He paused, taking the moment to courageously place a sweet kiss on her temple, “Hoseok and I will be watching you from a nearby booth, and Taehyung will mimic your movements from a distance,” He then turned her towards him; their eyes locked on each other, “No matter what, I will make sure nothing harms you.” He declared, pulling her into a hug.

Sumin stood there, allowing the man to hug her. She slightly lifted her arms to return the hug but soon dropped them when Seokjin released her from his warm embrace. This warm, almost loving, smile appeared on his face as Seokjin observed the faint blush invade Sumin’s already rosy cheeks.

“Thanks…” She mumbled; her eyes remained glued on the tile floor as she messed with the bracelet that Sowon gave her.

Seokjin found her shy exterior quite adorable as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, escorting her to the cars.

“Took you guys long enough…!” Sowon shouted as she watched the two finally exit the luxurious house.

Sumin rolled her eyes as she, slowly but surely, made her way to Sowon and the rest of Bangtan, minus Seokjin. He trailed right behind her with his hands stuffed inside the pockets of his pants.

Sowon eyed her cute little sunshine with an interesting gleam in her eyes as she hooked their arms together.

“Remember, the plan is to lure NCT’s leader out and then gain some useful knowledge that we can use against him. Okay?” The confident yet secretly scared gang leader reminded Sumin.

Sumin simply gave her a thumbs up before entering the vehicle.

Sowon nodded to herself with this confident smirk written all over her face. This plan was going to work.

She just knew it…

The ride to the club was fairly quiet. The only words spoken were only to see if Namjoon’s equipment worked. Sowon’s eyes were fixated on the road, her hand firmly placed in Jungkook’s who was staring out of the window. Sumin watched the two of them for a while, wondering about them. How they had met, if Jungkook had always been around or if it was one of those fairly odd love stories. She giggled, imagining Sowon being romantic and before she noticed, they arrived a few streets away from their destination.

“C’mon, sunshine,” Sowon held out her hand for Sumin to take, leaving the boys behind as they drove off again. Swinging their hands back and forth, Sowon was humming quietly, acting like they weren’t on a mission but in fact on their way to party. Rubbing her hands over Sumin’s arms, she kept the younger warm as they stood in the line to get inside.

“Normally I use my god given tools to get in quick, but we can’t get any extra attention tonight,” The leader mumbled and fixed a lock of Sumin’s hair.

Sumin only nodded, understanding her friend’s decision to keep a low profile. However, the almost frozen woman wished the line went a little bit faster. Also, there was no breeze. If there wasn’t a breeze, then tonight would’ve been perfect for her. After all, she did prefer the cold over the heat.

“I wonder why the line isn’t moving...the club couldn’t be a capacity already…” Sowon mumbled, hoping that Sumin didn’t hear her as she did.

Unfortunately, she did. Sumin looked at the leader and flashed a sympathetic smile.

“It’s okay, Sowon,” She began, “Besides, don’t you want a lot of people here tonight?” She asked, not knowing that a certain group of people had been listening. The joys of having advanced technology installed all over the establishment.

In a dark room, hidden from the eyes of the many clubbers, there sat an unknown figure; the person’s eyes remained fixated on Sumin’s face.

“I know that look, Mark… and no you can’t keep her.” joked a man with silver-hair.

The young man, with raven dark locks, simply smirked. He could waste his breathe on entertaining his right-hand man, but he decided that his words were better suited for that unknown gorgeous woman that entered the camera’s line of sight.

The black-haired man stood up, grabbing his leather jacket from the now vacant seat. He quickly put it on, covering his white dress shirt, and walked over to the door.

Using two fingers, he gestured for his men to follow him out.

A boy with reddish-orange hair stared at his leader with nothing but confusion. Mark never left their special room without a good reason. Intel had shown that no enemy gang members were dumb enough to show up tonight, so why the sudden appearance?

“You know...if you want her, Mark, we can go fetch her for you. No reason for you to expose yourself to the people out there.” said the confused boy.

Mark stopped in his tracks. He then glanced over his shoulder, revealing this practically devilish smirk, and said,

“I know that, Haechan, but I believe that my future girlfriend deserves my presence, don’t you think?”

A/N: And there you have it guys! NCT is officially in the house! (N-City, We Gotta Go Get Them)! What do you guys think of their appearance? Do you like seeing Mark as the leader of the gang instead of TY- Track himself? lol Let us know! 

Don’t forget to leave a comment/like/reblog/and an ask in mine or Jey’s inbox! We love hearing your thoughts!

- Kim

[121distractions]

22- BANLIEUE (housing estates)

My years in college are of no use to me. I do not like what I am learning, I do not like the people I am learning with and I do not understand what I am doing there. All I want is to fuck, dance and get well dressed. I let others decide for me and I ended up with an economy bachelor’s degree and now I am trying to learn law. The law (except the history of law) and the economy, are boring me to death. I like to draw women’s shoes, pants or hats; but even for that, I do not take myself seriously, it is a hobby, it is not a job. One must do law when one do not know what to do because it leads to everything. Lawyers, clerks of notaries, bailiffs, they are characters from Balzac novels, it is not my future. The students, there, behave like fascists and are homophobic. They are surprised that I do not want to do “military preparations”. They spend every weekend at the barracks and when they will do their military service, they will already be officers. No, I will not be a just a stupid soldier, because my military service, I will not do it. The faith in which I grew up forbid to do military service, non-violence was basic. Objectors of conscience must spend twice as much time in prison as they would have spent in military service. When a “brother�� went off to do his two years in prison, there was a farewell party, gifts and a lot of prayers. We were all very proud. Some made the effort to visit them in Fleury-Mérogis and had to share their experience on the stage with the microphone at the desk. Even if the speech was spontaneous and would not be judged, it was necessary to pay attention to the gesture, the contact with the auditory and the construction of the message. The prisoners’ letters were read in front of the whole congregation. New prayers would follow. I have never been to Fleury, I was too young. Faith has become superfluous to me, but disgust for the primitive male universe has remained. The uniforms are beautiful and the adventures of Jeff Stryker in prison are very exciting but nothing works, I would do anything to be discharged, P4, psychologically disturbed!

The lesson is really too annoying, Nathalie offers to go to her home to listen to records. Nathalie was Catherine’s best friend at the Émile Dubois High School. They wanted her to repeat her 11th grade so her parents put her in an expensive private school. Catherine partied too many with me and did not get her baccalaureate; I had it in extremis and so did Nathalie. We are now together studying law. Nathalie’s world is very different from Catherine’s. She also lives in a recent building of the 13th arrondissement, but not in a project. It is a residence with intercom. Nathalie uses only her particle for her name but on the bell, there is her full name “Brugerolle de Fraissinette” It does not leave much room for first names. I finally understand why sometimes she initials with a BdF. I never dared to ask. So chic! The apartment is huge but with low ceilings. It is dark, the Venetian blinds are just slightly open, Chinese furniture in black enamel occupy all the space. Nathalie’s mother is Eurasian of Vietnamese origin. She is very typical. Very skinny with a lot of very black hair, she is doing her nails with a small YSL bottle. She really looks like Eartha Kitt! She does not get up to say hello, she does not want to ruin her nail polish. Nathalie teaches me the word “quadroon”, Nathalie Brugerolle de Fraissinette is very proud to be quadroon. For me it sounds more like a descendant of Crusaders knights, but it just means she is a quarter Asian. Nobody could imagine it. Nathalie is a little round and very white, there may be in her eyes a little sign of bridle but you really have to know. The father is an engineer on an oil platform in Abu Dhabi and is never there. We head giggling down the hall. Eartha Kitt understands right away that it is not today that her daughter will finally have a boyfriend. Nathalie’s room is tiny, but she has, for herself, a compact Philips Hi-Fi with record player, FM radio and “auto-reverse” cassette player. She loves “Mad World” from Tears for Fears. I had the feeling that last week when I told her that I did not have the money to buy it, that she had never heard of it, I am intrigued. Will she offer it to me? No, she offers me to share her “Ham-mashed potatoes.” There are so few, I leave her the only calories that she is allowing herself. It is time to go to the Luco. I say it is a good idea but what is the Luco exactly? I keep that silly question for myself. “Au revoir Madame”. Eartha Kitt has a nail that worries her a lot and launches a “Goodbye, Philippe” without lifting her head. We prepare our orange cards, the metro pass for the zones 1 and 2. We have “the ticket chic and shock” as the advertisement says and we leave for the garden of the Luxembourg; the “Luco” in student lingo.

The cheapest orange card is always zone 1 and 2. Zone 1 is Paris “Intra Muros”, zone 2 is the very near suburbs. I know that the real Zone is Malakoff and everybody in the suburbs are zonards. Less than 50 years ago, the former site of the fortifications of Paris was a gigantic wasteland covered with shantytowns. The border of Malakoff had nothing to envy to the Brazilian favelas. I read Celine’s “Journey at the End of the Night” (but in the edition of the Pleiades) and the hell he describes is my suburb, it is Malakoff, gloomy and sordid. Malakoff is in Zone 2, what a luck, nothing differentiates me from real Parisians. Zone 3 is too much of shame! Zone 4, it may be well if you live in Versailles or Le Vésinet but zone 5 is again the horror. Anyway, I also know that leaving Malakoff means having to provide for myself, and I am not ready for it yet. I must still endure the stepfather.

In zone 3, there had been the year before Gilles. Gilles was only 16 years old, and I was not adult yet, we met in The Broad. He lived with his parents in Noisy-le-Sec. We waited until nine in the morning to have no one at my house in Malakoff. I was super tired but Gilles was very cute and a slut in bed. It was worth staying awake, three hours of fucking before having to go off again. I just had a single bed and it is in pretty jolly mood that I was driving Gilles in the big parental bed, the ultimate blasphemy. A bed made of rosewood with floral inlays, a legacy of Granny, the stepfather’s grandmother. After adding positions to the Kama-sutra, the sheets were not always very clean. We were leaving to the bathroom looking for a sponge, hot water and a hair dryer and it looked like nothing happened. It made us laugh so much. Gilles adored me, I think I was his first love. After a few weeks of our insomniac loves, I had to meet his best friends in Noisy. It was far but how to resist the curiosity to discover his home. Arriving in his housing estate, I had already the feeling that despite our identical proletarian social origins, our environments were very different. The north of Paris was much more “violent” than the south. My religious education had been very strict but had been an education. I had learned to read, alone, in conversation or in speech before an assembly, I had a vocabulary. Having read the Bible three times from top to bottom had eventually changed my view of the world. The representation of the blinds of Jericho by Nicolas Poussin in the Louvre, that was fascinating for me. Gilles’ 5 friends listened to rap that I never heard, … in French. They had looked at me, dismayed, I was just clean on me and a little classy. They wanted to shout, “Shit, what are you doing with a bougie?” but had only asked how we had met. It had not been a question, it had been an accusation. Gilles had tried to come out with me, but it was not going as planned. I had seen their universe collapse before their eyes, their childhood friend had just become a fag. Only the curvy girlfriend seemed a little interested in my presence and ready to adopt me. I had invented an excuse to slip away, … forever. It was really too complicated. If I had decided to disappear from Gilles’ life, he had not said his last word. I had found him back recently, more beautiful than ever, successively at the door of The Broad and then of Les Bouchons. He had seen me, talked in a low voice with the other bouncer and left a little while before allowing me to go inside. Was I dreaming? Another time, while Yves the door guy was alone, he told me he liked me but that I had not been nice with Gilles at all. He had been kicked out of his house after coming out, tried to reach me but I ignored him and he had very difficult moments. Now everything was better, but he was mad at me for it. I did not know yet that it would go even further. Two years later, he would have the main role in Jean-Daniel Cadinot’s new X movie “Under the sign of the Stallion” with, as a commercial, a beautiful picture of him in bleached blonde. I would watch the movie, but I would not recognize his cock, it was as if he had a stunt for the sex scenes. I knew his cock well enough! Later, he would die of AIDS, like everyone else. I DID NOT KILL GILLES! The suburbs killed Gilles.

Malakoff is still communist but more and more annexed by the capital. The Theater 71 is supposed to attract all the Parisian intelligentsia, the National Institute for Statistics has the largest building since 74 and the law section of the famous medical school Paris V is overflowing since 1976. Yes, I find myself in college 10 minutes walk from my home. Each train of the Métro delivers its hundreds of beautiful speakers apprentices but I arrive from the other side. I did not cross the ring. I hate not being Parisian. Jimmy Sommerville sings: “Run away, turn away, run away …” But how to survive? I think I am a suburbanite but I am wrong, I am already the worst Parisian. I suffocate as soon as I see these lamentable little pavilions and want to throw up in front of the projects. That is why, Gilles was not possible. My world is civilized, I do not get thrown out, it is me who decides when I go!

The stepfather, he works for TF1, the national television, in Paris rue Cognacq-Jay. He is a kind of a storekeeper. One day he brings back an ad from the collective notice board. A film director exchanges an independent room, not under the attic, in the 15th arrondissement for some hours of babysitting. Mom does not cry, Mom never cries, but she is sad. She did not see much of me anymore, but I was still living there. The former communist woman was so proud to have a son who was studying. Jimmy continues to sing: “You leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case, Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain on a sad and lonely face”. I am not on the platform of a train station, but on the Métro platform and I am leaving only 3 kilometers away. I will come back for the Friday night dinners, those with the snails and the beautiful porcelain.

[punky-pinkhaired-hufflepuff]

What dose it matter? (Remus x reader x Severus?)

Back story time. You were in the same grade and year as Lily and James , Remus and Sirius, and none other then Severus Snape. While in school with them you were in the middle constantly. You were first friends with Severus and even as going far for the two of you to be a couple. Tho in reality it seemed Severus was only toying with your emotions in attempt to get over lily. But on the reverse side you were close friends with the infamous group of boys known as the marauders.

He often was angry and grumpy sometimes angsty snippy and Moody wich hurt a lot at times. And who did you run to, the marauders. Yes as much as the four of them loved to bully and pick on the one you held dear, they typically were there for you. Especially one in particular. Remus Lupin. Everyone joked that you should leave Severus for him. To that you would just laugh awkwardly because you felt it was kinda true. You and Remus had a lot more in common then you and Severus. And everytime Severus would be mean or cold to you Remus was there. Remus took you on countless late night walks to clear your mind. He would give you chocolate when you were extra sad, and his hugs were the absolute best thing in the world. You’d be lieing if you said you didn’t have at least a little bit of a crush on him.

Remus loved you, from the moment he laid eyes on you, sorting hat on your head, anxious look on your face, but then a look of pure happiness as you were sorted into (your house). As time went on you two grew closer. He was planning on asking you out sooner but Severus beat him to it. His heart broke. He didn’t hate Severus like his friends but didn’t think he deserved you or would treat you right. And when his prediction came true he was the first person to be there for you. It made picking on Severus easier for him because he now felt he deserved it for treating you poorly. Remus thought the world didn’t even deserve you, you were so pure and sweet and wonderful to him, he couldn’t get it, how someone so full of life, energy and happiness would even want to give him the time of day. It amazed him. But it was one of the things he loved most, you were unpredictable and kind to pretty much everyone. Your laugh, your smile, your eyes it all captivated him from the start.

One day however it got to much, Severus had been crule to you all day, brushing you off ignoring you, giving you snippy come backs and attitude to everything. And just as you had told him how hurt you had been feeling he told you he was busy and couldn’t talk. So you finally did it.

“I’m done Severus” you said as he was walking away from you down the hall. He stopped and turned around looking at you confused.

“it’s clear you don’t truly like me, and that I’m putting in all the effort here, and all I get back is attitude and coldness. I’m tired of it. I don’t even know why you wanted to go out with me in the first place. I think it’s best we stop this, stop the dating, stop the pretending we are a happy couple because we both know we’re not. I’m sorry I can’t be Lily. Goodbye Severus.” And with that you turned around quickly and ran off before he could say anything.

Tho as much as this might not have been what you wanted. You made Severus think to himself. Was it smart of him to use you that way, no not at all. The poor girl wanted a companion in him and all he did was hurt her. Sure it wasn’t her or his fault he was hung up on Lily. Even tho he should have taken it upon himself to build that bridge and get over it. He thought about possibly talking to you and apologiesing for how he’d been. He never realized how truly kind and wonderful you treated him. Even after how cold he could be.

You however where already in the presence of the four boys you called your friends. You sat with all of them in the Griffindor conman room, you sat in between Remus, and Sirius. As much as you didn’t want to cry over Severus it did hurt a little. They all cheered you on and said you did the right thing. The all even proposed you all go sneak out to get ice cream or something, something to help celebrate and to cheer you up. As you got up and began your adventure you noticed Remus wrapping his arms around your shoulder it was warm and conforting and he smelled nice so you didn’t mind at all. He smelled like cool spring air, old books, and chocolate obviously. The sent was sweet and wonderful and you didn’t even question the gesture now. You looked up at him and smiled.

“I thought this might help, let you know your not truly alone, and it seems pretty cold out” he said looking out the window.

“oh damn your right it seemed really cold on my way over here” you said looking out the window with him. You were looking up at the sky to the stars and he was looking out into the forest.

“do you have a jumper or anything?” He asked looking down at you rubbing your shoulder to warm you up.

“no” you pouted “I forgot it in my dorm” you said defeated he chuckled at how cute you were pouting like that.

“ah don’t worry you can use one of mine” he said ruffling the top of your head and heading into his dorm.

“are you sure Remus? I don’t want you to be cold” you called out. He came out a minute later smiling.

“nonsense I don’t want you to he cold and besides do you think I only own one jumper?” He said smiling and handing you the fuzzy jumper. You laughed realizing how silly that must have sounded and took it happily.

On your adventure you didn’t even noticed Remus holding your hand, the entire time. You didn’t mind it once you did noticed, his hand was soft yet still tough and it was warm. However before that you and him had a little bit of a flirty couple moment that didn’t go unnoticed and I’m not talking about the marauders. Severus went looking for you to apologise and caught you and the four boys sneaking out. He realised tattling on you would just make it seem like he was a jelouse sulking boy trying to get his ex girlfriend in trouble for breaking up with him. And he didn’t want that.

He fallowed you and the boys to your destination and watched the whole time without being noticed. He saw Remus holding your hand, and you wearing his jumper a mix of confusion and anger began to brew in him. He knew he still had feelings for Lily but he questioned if he was beginning to have feelings for you now. Also why was it that not a few hours ago you were his, not happily his but still his, and now here you are wrapped around Remus’s fingure. What really through him over the edge was when Remus and you began playfully fighting with each other trying to try the others ice cream. Laughing giggling being cute. Holding out your tongue lunging at each other, one false move and you two would be french kissing. However he was torn. You looked so happy smiling, giggling, he even saw a spark in your eyes. He had never noticed it before, or was it just never there until now. He felt hurt, he understood slightly that he kept you from being happy. The opposite of what one is suppose to do when in a romantic relationship. She didn’t deserve that Lily didn’t deserve that, no one would ever deserve to be put through Severus’s loveless personality. He turned back sadly.

Time went on, you all graduated. You all had your jobs your lives. You heard the news about Lily and James, and Sirius and Peter. You tried to keep in touch with Remus but it got hard. He was lost without them. He travled you travled. You never spoke to Severus after the day in the hall. He pretty much avoided you. You and Remus almost dated but lets be real here, almost only counts in horse shoes and hand gernades. However, a second chance was handed to you. Dumbledore had asked you to join an order, an order of protection for James and Lily’s son, Harry. He asked you to be a professor at the school. He assured you, you would be welcomed in with open arms and protected you would not be alone. You took the offer.

On your first day you were feeling confident. You were set to be a surprise for the other professors. Dumbledore kinda messed up and hadn’t found an actual class for you so instead made you a helper for all the other professors. You were niceley dressed (fav color) blouse and a black penciled skirt and (fav color) (heels or flats). You certainly looked far more professional then you used to. You entered the dinning hall as you heard Dumbledore introduce you as if this were an opening act.

Upon entering you noticed two particular men sitting with the professors, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin. Both equally shoked by you, but Remus, Remus had only looked better with age, your heart did leaps and butterflies flittered in your stomach. You noticed a blush creep onto both his and Severus’s face. Severus looked annoyed and tired but still shocked. Not that you truly cared. You made your way twords the teachers table as Dumbledore continued to talk. Stating you would be moving around the school helping with any class that needed it. Rounding the table you noticed what seat was left for you,smack dab between Lupin and Severus. You smirked finding it uncanny. You waved to the students and took your seat.

“why hello there long time no see” Remus whispered smiling.

“and who’s fault is that” you giggled back.

“I believe both of ours my deer” he grinned. You giggled. It was true it takes two to tango and two to keep in touch.

“true true how ever will I make it up to you” you said over dramatically.

“how about dinner, just to catch up that is” he said jokingly with a wink. You blushed understanding his hint.

“sounds lovely” you said smiling back at him. You noticed next to you Severus becoming uneasy. He then got up and said he had some paperwork to grade and was off out of the dinning hall.

After that night you and Remus became extreamly close. You spent nights together in his professors apartment, went on plenty of dates, and even helped him through some full moon nights. You were so happy to have had a second chance with him. He was great things were great with you two. Even working at Hogwarts was pretty great. You helped out where ever you could tho you typically went and helped Remus the most. Severus usually denied your help, tho a couple of times you could see he was definitely lieing and over his head in work and thus forced your help upon him. Today was one of those days.

“Severus your dropping things all over the place please let me help you” you said rushing over to him sympathetic look painted on your face catching the ingredients for his various potions before they hit the floor.

“I told you I don’t need nor want your help” he said sternly.

“you may not want it but saying you don’t need it is bullshit” you said taking some more ingridients from his overflowing arms and hands. He sighed realizing there was no changing your mind on helping him. You smirked noting that you won. You walked with him back to his class room still carrying ingredients in your arms. You placed the ingridients on the table as he walked away twords his desk.

“thank you” he said quietly almost unable to be heard.

“what was that?” You asked making sure you heard correctly.

“I said thank you” he said sounding slightly annoyed

“no problem, anytime, it’s kinda my job ya know, typically your not suppose to denie my help but you do you” you said crossing your arms smiling, he rolled his eyes at you.

“well if that is all then you can be off now” he said turning and walking away. You were pretty tired of his attitude.

“is there a reason you hate me?” You asked crossing your arms.

“I beg your pardon?” He asked scoffing while sitting at his desk.

“you, Everytime you talk to me all I get is anger and venom and I want it to stop. Look I know we didn’t leave off on good terms bu-” you were cut off.

“didn’t leave off on good terms then you return making googly eyes at Lupin then proceed to bang his brains out” he said mocking you.

“first I’m not some slut I’m not banging his brains out, and what dose it matter to you who I’m dating?!” You yelled at him.

“because maybe I harbor feelings for you” he shouted back. “Maybe I’ve been harboring feelings for you since the day you left! You leaving made me realize what a miserable twat I was to you!” He snapped. You froze.

“What…” You whispered.

A/N: there will most likely be a part 2 possibly even a like choose your own part where there’s a lupin ending and a Severus ending not sure yet tho let me know what you tnink^^

[danganheckimagines]

ndrv3 boys with a s/o that is always being criticized by their mom?

I’ve rewritten this imagine three times, so I hope this draft is to your liking! (Also I made it long again so under the cut it goes!)

~Mod Angie

V3 Boys with an s/o who’s constantly criticized by their mom!

Shuichi Saihara:

-You two lean on each other a lot since you both don’t think highly of yourselves.

-You have a nice little support system going on where you try to build each other up.

-Still, your mom always manages to reverse that progress with her criticism. 

-Shuichi’s taken notice.

-He’s worried about you.

-One day while you’re sitting together, he asks you about why your mood consistently seems to change from one day to the next.

-You get anxious and try to brush off his question.

-”Please, s/o, you can tell me. I’m not going to judge you, I promise.”

-He’s got that look in his eye that he gets when he’s interrogating people, but it’s much softer with you.

-You cave.

-You tell him how it’s no big deal, your mom just always seems to find something wrong with you.

-Shuichi lets you talk, nodding in understanding.

-He takes hold of your hand and tells you that all the things your mom tells you to bring you down are wrong.

-As time goes on, he makes sure you know that.

-He gives you plenty of compliments and soothes your nerves whenever your mother’s words start getting to you.

-He does a little bit of research to see if he can get you out of that situation.

-He wants to help you heal, and is going to try his hardest to make sure you do.

Rantaro Amami:

-Rantaro’s always been careful with you.

-He keeps his voice steady around you so you don’t get anxious, comforts you whenever you get anxious about making a mistake, and spoils you in general.

-He wants you to know how much he loves you.

-Yet all your mother’s criticisms keep repeating in your heard.

-You’re cuddling at his place one day when you tell him.

-”Rantaro?”

-”Hm?”

-”Do…do you really love me?”

-Of course he immediately begins to reassure you, listing off everything he loves about you in the process.

-He loves every single thing that your mother would rag on you for.

-You appreciate his words, but…

-”It’s just, my mom says that…”

-He holds you a little tighter as you explain everything that your mother would tell you.

-Once you’re done, he kisses your forehead and tells you that your mother was wrong about you, and how it was horrible that she would even think of saying those things to you.

-He tops it off with a really sappy speech about how much you mean to him.

-He pampers you more from there, and makes it his mission to teach you how to love yourself.

-He also wouldn’t back down from a chance to confront your mother about her behavior towards you.

-The thought of someone actively trying to bring you down disgusts him.

Kaito Momota:

-He tries to help you break out of your self-conscious shell!

-He’s already trying to teach you to have more confidence and that it’s okay to make mistakes.

-He’s always in your corner, cheering you on!

-He’s a little dense so he doesn’t notice the hints that someone is tearing you down for a while.

-So he finds out about your mother when a more obvious tell comes by.

-You ended up pushing yourself a little bit too hard during training.

-Kaito had to intervene and make you take a break.

-Now he’s concerned.

-It was nice that you were trying so hard but he doesn’t want you to go too far!

-While you’re catching your breath, he asks you where this sudden determination came from.

-You explain that your mother had insulted your weight and you wanted to live up to her standards.

-Kaito instantly gets upset.

-What kind of mother is she?!

-He asks you how she could say such a thing.

-You end up telling him all about how your mother always criticized you for anything that you’d do.

-Okay now he’s angry.

-He goes off on a rant about how terrible your mother is, but he calms down once he notices that he’s scaring you a little.

-He rests a hand on your shoulder and gives you an encouraging smile.

-”Your mom doesn’t know what she’s talking about! You’re not doing a single thing wrong, s/o!”

-He pulls you to him for a big, warm hug.

-You thought he was supportive before? Now it’s cranked up to 11.

-He’s determined to give you all the positive reinforcement that you can’t get at home.

-He totally spoils you with affection even moreso!

-(Lowkey would fight your mom).

Kokichi Ouma:

-Y’know how Kaito was dense? Yeah the opposite of that.

-Kokichi picked up on all the signs right away and put the pieces together.

-He knows you’re having some issues with family, specifically your mom.

-For a while, he doesn’t bring it up.

-He just goes a little bit easier on you than he would others.

-He makes sure that all of his jabs at you are clearly jokes, and even then his teasing isn’t as harsh as it would be normally.

-Overall he’s…softer with you.

-Everyone assumes it’s because he’s your boyfriend, and while yes that’s partially true, he also doesn’t want to strike a nerve.

-(It took a bit of trial and error to find out what he shouldn’t mess with you about).

-One day, he notices you aren’t in a good mood.

-He tries to make you laugh, and you do, but he can tell that alone isn’t making you truly feel better.

-So instead he takes you outside.

-”What did your mom tell you now?”

-You freeze.

-”H-how did you know?”

-”You’re really bad at lying, s/o~! Now, what’d she say to you?”

-You’ve been found out, so you just go with it, telling him all about what your mom would tell you.

-Kokichi’s surprisingly mature about the whole thing.

-He holds your hands and looks you right in the eyes.

-He deconstructs all your mother’s criticisms flawlessly.

-Afterwards, he grins and latches onto you, nuzzling his face against your neck.

-”She’s more of a liar than I am!”

-He makes sure you know that you can come to him if your mother’s words start getting to you again, and he’ll chip away at them.

-Your relationship doesn’t change much since he’d already known this for a while now.

-However, now that he has confirmation, he’s going to try pulling a couple of strings.

-He doesn’t want anyone to get away with hurting you like this. Not anyone.

Korekiyo Shinguji:

-He’s noticed how you dive head-first into your studies.

-He thinks that’s great! He wants you to succeed, after all.

-However, he’s noticed other things that he thinks are…less great.

-Your anxieties, your extreme fear of failure or mistakes, your rock-bottom self-esteem…

-Something isn’t right.

-No matter how many times you try to say that you’re fine, he doesn’t quite believe you.

-He wants you to shine, yet your light is stifled.

-There has to be a reason.

-He figures out that it’s probably family problems, but he doesn’t get the specifics until you tell him.

-One evening before a test, Korekiyo studied with you.

-He was already prepared for the test, he was just going to help you study and also wanted to make sure that you got to bed at a reasonable time.

-You took to his advice, studying your hardest.

-However, any time he offered for you two to take a break, you declined.

-He didn’t mind at first, but he eventually started pushing for you to please just take a break already.

-Eventually you snapped at him.

-”Mom’s gonna go after me if I don’t get an A on this test!”

-So there was the family problem.

-He insists that that’s no reason to neglect your health like this, and reassures you that a five-minute break isn’t going to cost you an A.

-Finally, he convinces you to rest for a few moments.

-He takes this chance to ask you more about your mom.

-It turns out she expects you to be perfect in every way–not just grades–and puts you down when you aren’t.

-Korekiyo can’t help but feel a little disgusted.

-He rests his hand on your back and tells you that no one can be perfect, and that it’s your imperfections that make you wonderful.

-Your mother’s demands for you are too high, and he insists that you don’t push yourself so hard just to please her.

-If you really want to be perfect, you’re already perfect to him. Flaws that your mother hates and all.

-After that evening, he gives you more compliments, and generally makes sure that you know how much he cares about you.

-He also checks in with your mental state every now and again, wanting to make sure that your mother’s words don’t take root in your mind ever again.

Kiibo:

-He doesn’t notice that anything’s wrong at first.

-He just accepts all your little quirks as part of you and never questions it!

-He already gives you plenty of support since he wants you to be happy.

-His more logical reasoning is very good at soothing your nerves whenever you get anxious.

-However, he’s no miracle worker, and your mothers words still sink in anyway.

-Kiibo finally starts to notice this pattern of how you always get more self-conscious after leaving home.

-He consults the internet for answers.

-Oh? An overly-critical parent, maybe?

-He needs to touch base with you to be sure.

-So one day, he confronts you about this.

-”S/o, does your family criticize you often?”

-You tense up. Sure, you figured you’d have to answer a question like that eventually, but still…

-”I mean…my mom does sometimes, but it’s okay, really!”

-You end up saying how all your mom’s criticisms are your fault anyway since you’re the one “messing up” and “being a bad person.”

-Kiibo interrupts you by grabbing your shoulders.

-”No, s/o! That’s wrong! That’s not okay!”

-He expresses how he hates seeing you so miserable all the time all because of your own mother.

-He then asks you what things exactly your mother said to you.

-You list off some things, and he counters them all.

-”You’re not the bad person, s/o! Your mother is!”

-After this, he’ll check in on you often, making sure that you’re doing okay.

-He tries to give you more affection and compliments and just spoil you in general, though he’s a little awkward at it.

-He wants you to know that you’re wonderful and that he loves you, no matter what your mother says!

Gonta Gokuhara:

-He already spoils you rotten with more affection that you know what to do with.

-What kind of gentleman would he be if he let his own s/o feel sad?

-Besides, he loves you lots and wants you to smile and be happy more than anything in the world!

-If he even suspects that you’re feeling down, he’s gonna suddenly sweep you off your feet and shower you in compliments.

-Yeah he aint subtle at all.

-But still, you keep getting upset again.

-You also get really anxious whenever you make mistakes.

-He wants to know why!

-Is someone doing this to you?

-Who must he fight.

-He can’t figure out how to ask you, though.

-So for a while, things just continue like this.

-Finally, when you’re both bug-hunting in the forest, he just kinda blurts it out.

-”S/o, is someone hurting you?”

-You’re confused. Hurting you?

-He elaborates as best he can. He wants to know if someone is hurting you mentally.

-You tell him that it’s fine, but Gonta brings up how you keep getting so down and how you’re always so hard on yourself.

-You can’t lie to those eyes of his.

-You confess.

-You tell him about your mother.

-Gonta immediately bristles.

-”S/o’s own mother hurt s/o?!”

-You reassure him that it’s fine, and that you’re used to it, starting to get anxious.

-Gonta notices that he’s scaring you and calms down, immediately apologizing.

-He just can’t believe it! How could she say those things to you? It’s awful!

-He doesn’t even know how he can help you.

-You just say that as long as he’s by your side, you’ll be fine.

-So he stays by you as much as he can!

-He tries his hardest to reassure you that the things your mom tells you aren’t true whenever that topic comes up. He’s a little awkward about it, but he does his best.

-He shows you plenty of bugs too, saying how they aren’t perfect, but they’re still beautiful and he still loves them! 

-Just like how he loves you!

Ryoma Hoshi:

-He knows something’s off about your behavior, but he doesn’t question it.

-Everyone has their demons, including him and including you.

-Why should he intrude?

-So he doesn’t bother you about your anxiousness or low self-esteem or anything.

-Instead, he just reassures you when those things pop up.

-”You have to be a pretty wonderful person to want to be around someone like me.”

-However, he learns of your mom’s critical words eventually by complete accident.

-You’d ended up not getting as good of a grade as you’d like to have gotten on an essay, and you were freaking out about it.

-Ryoma ended up noticing and quickly rushed to your side.

-”S/o, s/o, look at me. Look at me. You’re alright. What’s wrong?”

-You blubber out your answer.

-”I didn’t get th-the grade I needed on this project! Mom’s gonna get me for this!”

-What.

-”S/o, what do you mean?”

-You explain how if you don’t get the highest possible grades, your mom berates you for your failings.

-Ryoma’s face hardens, but he doesn’t say anything.

-He keeps trying to comfort you to the best of his ability.

-After you’ve calmed down, he tells you that your mom’s opinion shouldn’t matter to you if that’s how she acts if you don’t meet her standards.

-”She’s setting you up to crash and burn, s/o. Do yourself a favor and don’t break your back for her sake.”

-He lets you know that if she starts getting on your case for anything else, he’s always going to be there for you.

-After that situation, Ryoma sticks by you more often.

-He’s not good at giving affection in the first place, but at the very least he holds your hand more often.

-He would confront your mom about her behavior towards you, but he doesn’t want to make a scene.

-Or make you feel like you needed to pick a side.

-He helps you to the best of his ability, at least making sure you don’t stress yourself out over her words anymore.

-He wants you to live for yourself, not live bound in your mother’s chains.

[one-more-for-the-sky]

[01/12/18, Friday]

its day 11 it started out rocky again due alarm problems. what the hell! it's been ringing at 850! im supposed to be out the door by 850 or sooner but 850 is definitely the latest i can leave the house that i could speed into work. but mom needed me to come home anyway (yeah i work for my mom. its good work and i take it seriously and anyone who wants to look down on me for it can suck it; i'm doing the best i can right now with all the coliding mental stuff. i'll talk about later on in this entry) John left some of his notes on a certain issue one of our clients is having at the house and i picked them up. kind of lucky there. we loligagged a little. i took out our new pet bunny. she's surprisingly very cuddly for a bunny. i have no prior bunny experiences mind you but still. not what i expected from a large rodent. or any rodent or smaller than a cat like animal. my gliders are certainly not that well behaved though i don't expect it either, energetic and lithe creatures that they are. still she is more endearing than i anticipated. i still am not very fond of rabbits but this one is okay. we chatted for a minute about my baby sister's room. and i was off with the notes and to grab john some water and get gas (not in that order). fridays are my favorite because its a slow day and people generally dont bother me much.

the last bits of yesterday where kind of exhausting and i find myself really challenged by the excuitive function disorder i have. i kept thinking about where i want to put this or that and thought to myself, just do it! but ultimately didn't. i rewarded myself too early. to my credit, i was exhausted. but still. today i will try to work first THEN reward myself. it is a habit of mine and it enables my EFD (excuitive function disorder). so basicly i just played a lot of video games yesterday.

i just feel jittery and unfocused for right now. hopefully it will change.

the house is a mess of laundry. i am sensing a much needed "20 minutes of cleaning" (read: 120 minutes of cleaning) from mom which is a chance for attitude from everyone. not excited. so when i get home, i'll definitly clean first. i think i'll start with tiding up the dinning room because that's really how you can tell if the house is in dire straits. If the dinning room is messy then it is time for a family cleaning session. i didn't even make the mess. i would agree to cleaning the kitchen or do the laundry but nothing else, but that's not going to fly, really. i should either start in the music room or the dinning room... Probably the dinning because you see it when you walk in and its the most visible eye sore, and then the dinning and move to the kitcheny part the den, the den i'll leave to vannah and mom. savannah's stuff is littered across the floor and even for me, its agrovating to look at. but i have to remind myself that my baby sister is probably worse of than me when it comes to EFD and adhd. there is definitly going to be a fight about that, i can feel it. i hope im wrong though.

mom suggested i log what i end up eating. at the time, i was offended by the suggestion. sounds silly but you have to keep in mind the historical obsession about my weight and food intake my mother has expressed over the years, sense i was small and still very impressionable. i still don't really know what to make of it, all the dietary routine changes i was mad to go though and shamed for. i was 13! 14! 15! I was young and still growing. i was in an important part of my developing as a person and myself worth, and what did i learn? that im too thick. i didn't really think i was at the time, but how can i say no to the person driving me around and im not in charge of my destination? it was wholy unfair... im not really saying that this is the root of all my self-esteam issues but it didn't help. not only did my peers see me as imperfect and flawed, so did my family. its hard to think about. i try to forget. so therefore the suggestion of working out, of listing what i eat or anything else by mom is offensive initially. in hindsight, yeah it a good idea. i just hate to admit it because of the implications.

speaking of my peers, my social/educational/school experience in childhood? fucking. awful. about the time i was in 3rd grade i really started to notice people didn't like me much. i can't remember much else than that. i know i wasn't a popular person in 1st or 2nd grade and i'm not even going to count kindergarden, but 3rd grade is where most of my memory begins. my teacher didn't even like me then. said i was a trouble maker and a bad person. not to me, but she made the mistake of saying that to my mother. why did she say that? because i decided i was going to clean up the class room. she said i was a manipulitive little trouble maker for cleaning her class room. this is were my earliest descriminations against me and my adhd and learning disablities really begins and i remember it. forget about my peers for a moment; my teacher hated me for reasons i didn't even know or understand. i wasn't even that hyperactive like some with adhd, but i did have an issue with attention and being a little disruptive with my best friend. at the time, pokemon was the new wild thing and i was utterly obsessed my friend was too, but that was my doing. instead of paying attention, we were playing. i was just a kid being a kid. when it came to start doing the standardized state testing, no one explicitly stated how important these tests were. i seem to remember someone saying that they were just practice and didn't count towards a grade and i thought oh okay, so its okay to mess up. so much so, i chrismas treed the whole thing. the whole goddamn thing, i just put in random bubbles just because i wanted it done and out of the way of whatever. well. that was the catalyst to a lot of issues i had from then on. without the consent of my mother or any discussion to anyone, they placed me and my friend in a "special ed" class, where you basically just colored stuff and glued stuff together and what not. i was in this class for half of a year before our parents found out and were enraged. upon finding out, they rained hot fiery war upon the school, they tried to cover it by saying how worried they were, that weren't sure i could even read. they didn't do any testing. they didn't ask me or my mother anything. long story short, that's a lot of school i missed. it put me behind in reading for years until i was in 7th grade. from there i struggled because of the things i missed out on because a teacher didn't like the disabled child they were responcible for. i think about that a lot. i think about all the late nights being screamed at because i wasn't doing well and struggled in elementry school things. i remember certain things my mom did that i dont really wish to describe, but while school was a battle sometimes going home was worse. it wasn't always like that, but if mom was in a mood, it went there.

my peers were really no better. a throughout, i was very much picked on because i really liked certain things, and they were my hyperfixations. and i was weird and my teeth were wrong. some of my favorite things ive been called when in elementry school: a cockroach, r-slur, someone said they humped me (they didn't but it was still humiliating), called me useless, made fun of my teeth, made fun of me because i made eye contact with people by saying i had a crush on anyone i looked in the eye (it mortified me as a kid because i definitely did not like any of those assholes, i still struggle with this), i was told that 9/11 was my fault, people tried to cut my hair, people stole from me, spat on me.... it was rough. i'm going to stop talking about it for now.

mom, if you're reading this, then you're probably thinking wow, is this really all i think about? or wow i guess im just a terrible awful mom (or some reverse guilt trippin thing you tend to do to try and make me feel bad for validating myself and addressing what you do that hurts me, even though you're the adult and primarily in control of our relationship) or also wondering why i never talk like this about my father. my father doesn't know me. i am my dad's only child and all he knows about me is that im gay, what i went to college for, and basic likes and dislikes. beyond that, my dad doesn't know me. maybe its the same for my sisters and everyone else but im my dad's only child. i have no competition with him for attention.

i've also have been thinking about myself growing up and my relationship with my sisters. full disclosure: i was not as nice to my sister sabrina as i am today. i was mean. i acknowledge it and think about it all the time. i mean, i was no more a kid myself, but i wasn't nice at all. i didn't even think nicely of her. and worse, i was nicer to savannah than i was her, and im sure that killed her a bit. mom would talk, beg, for me to be nicer. i wasn't like her abusive sister, but it felt like i was taking notes. in part, i blame society and media for what learned about being a sibling. most media i saw and consumed growing up, siblings hated each other, were mean to each other and competed against one another for attention, even in cartoons, that's what i picked up on, and internalized, obviously. my parents obviously didn't do anything to reassure me of that not happening, but i can shoulder some of the responsibility. i have to keep reminding myself, and others that i was just only 8 or 9 or 10 when my sister was born and i already had all these thoughts in my head but by the time i was 13-14-15, it starts to  be a combined effort of me and my parents and upon 16-17-18, i made little to no move to change my ways. i sincerely regret it now. after college and being apart from my family for so long and learning powerful lessons on what stands against the grains of time the strongest, family - particularly my sisters - became the centerpiece of my life. in college i met some interesting people, but the most notable thing i remember hearing from some of them, was how much they hated their siblings, younger or older or otherwise. just hated them for whatever reason. im not sure what exactly i thought, except that i was tired of listening to people act like this and that i had sounded like this too. and after failing some classes and being abandoned by friends, i realized the most important connection i could make was to my siblings. from the moment i decided to stop bad-mouthing them, i embraced them, their quirks, and loved them with everything i had. i still get aggravated with them ofc bc yaknow, nothings perfect, but they were perfect as they were. all i wanted and still want to do is spend time with them. i constantly think on how i was when i was growing up, especially for my little sister sabrina. i wasn't kind, as if the i didn't even know the word. i apologize a lot for it. every so often, i take her aside to talk to her about it. im still afraid to full acknowledge just how much damage i might've caused, but its still my responsibility to make it right and to mend it. sabrina, bless her, tells me not to worry, that she understands, that she doesn't remember a lot, except for a few things that make me cringe at myself. i apologize a lot. even now i am still sorry. i hope i am making up for it. i hope she doesn't grow to resent me, as i likely deserve. i love her so much i just want her to be happy and fulfilled and safe. i hate myself for how i was.

and i worry. a lot. its not exactly the same, theres a lot of different aspects to their dynamics, but i sometimes see myself in how sabrina acts towards savannah and it worries me. savannah is a lot less forgiving. a lot closer to bina's age and therefore harder to impress later on should sabrina change her tune. they both go at it though. savannah gives as much sabrina does, and especially so that she's 13 and moody as 13 year old typically are. all the same, i feel like the example i led has won out to the example i try to lead now and it frightens me. i want all 3 of us to be close. for all we've suffered together, to be alone in the world once our parents are gone frightens the shit out of me. more than anything, i want us to remain close. all three of us. i worry a lot about our relationship with each other...

anyway, so yeah i'm currently living with and working for my parents. i do take the work seriously even if doesn't look it and im proud of my (few) acomplishments. and living with them has its ups and downs. it feels good on hand to start from the ground up on how to like. live. how to be a person. or something. sorry i know i was going to go into this, but the previous topic got me down a little. i'm changing the subject.

my desk came in early, and im excited to put it together. can't wait really.

eh. i'm bumbed. will consider the listing of foods i eat.

peace.

[alexwritessomestuff]

Brothers, Chapter One: Dante Cigam

Brothers, Book One of Bonds

Word Count: 1606

Summery: Dante Cigam is kind of weird. His days are kind of weird too. Wouldn’t you like to see what those are like?

Dante Cigam was a bit of a strange man. Not because he was a hundred and seven year old warlock, no. Perhaps he was considered strange because he was just a bit too optimistic and a bit too peppy for the world. Maybe it was because he traveled the world, taking in orphaned mythological children. Possibly because he was overly friendly to most people? Or maybe it was because he was a hundred and seven year old warlock.

Though he was considered strange by most, Dante could also be described as a good man. He was a splendid brother, and an equally amazing caretaker. Though, currently, the six year old did not think so.

“I will not!” said six year old declared.

“Urnes, please,” Dante begged.

“I don’t want them!” Urnes yelled. The other children were all trying to suppress their giggles. This was a usual occasion, of course, but it was always funny to them.

“Just eat the vegetables, Urnes,” the warlock implored. Urnes despised his vegetables, especially broccoli. Which, of course, was what was for dinner tonight.

“But they're so gross,” Urnes reasoned, poking his broccoli.

Dante sighed. He always made the kids eat all their dinner, meaning they had to eat their vegetables. Urnes, as one would expect from the youngest child, gave him the hardest time.

“But Michael is grossest,” Urnes smirked. As a kobali, a Greek troublesome sprite, usually started trouble like this.

“Are you saying I'm more gross than broccoli?” Michael asked.

“Michael,” warned Dante.

“You're darn tootin’ right I am, bloodsucker,” Urnes confirmed.

“THAT’S IT.” Michael launched himself across the small table. The other children moved their food, unphased by this usual happening. Though Michael was twelve compared to Urnes’ six, Urnes seemed to have the upper hand.

Dante sighed and waved his hands, turning the black Warlock’s Mark on his right hand turn a warm orange. The same orange wrapped around his hands, as well as Michael and Urnes. They were lifted off the ground, and began slowly floating away from each other.

“What have I said about launching yourself across tables, Michael,” Dante asked.

“Not to do it,” grumbled the young vampire, not meeting Dante’s gaze.

“And Urnes,” Dante continued, turning to the younger boy, “what have I told you about calling people more gross than broccoli?”

“That because I hate broccoli, it makes it kinda rude,” Urnes replied, looking Dante right in the eye.

“Precisely,” Dante agreed, “and you both have done those things. What do we say?”

“Sorry,” both boys said in unison.

“Excellent!” Dante exclaimed, clapping his hands together. This discontinued his small spell, which dropped the children with a loud thud. “Oops, sorry,” Dante said through a grin.

“Don't be sorry, Dante,” Harumi, the second oldest said, “they totally deserve it. Well, at least Michael does.”

Michael glared at the slightly younger girl as he got himself back to his seat.

“Why can’t we just have a nice meal together,” Beatrice, the middle child of the group, mumbled.

“Alright alright,” Dante began, “let's just all sit down and eat. Urnes, you don't have to eat your vegetables tonight, I suppose.”  Pleased with his victory, Urnes began devouring the rest of his meal. All of the others seemed to be alright with the end of the small fight, and everyone began to eat once again. Dante smiled.

He really did love these children.

As the sun began to appear, the small group began to get ready for bed. Michael, as a vampire, couldn't go out in the sun, the group had agreed that they would sleep during the day and do everything during the night. Well, everyone but Dante.

To get an income of some sort, Dante worked during the day, while the children slept. He didn't want them to worry about his lack of sleep, so he always made sure to work when everyone was fully asleep.

Just as the sun was fully over the horizon, the old warlock assumed everyone was asleep. He slowly raised himself in an attempt to not wake any of the children. He tiptoed over to his laptop, ready to write another article for the traveling blog he worked for. However, he felt a slight tug on his pant leg.

He turned around to see little Chessa, a Slavic water nymph called a rusalka, and the second youngest of the children in his care. She was only but seven years old, and most certainly the quietest one of them all. Chessa rarely spoke, and when she did it was very insightful.

Though she had startled him, Dante made sure not to let it show. He never wanted Chessa to feel as though she were strange because she liked to be quiet. He kneeled down to her level, and asked, “And what can I do for you, my little Chessa?”

Chessa smiled her tiny smile, and showed him the book she was holding. This was her way of asking him to read her a bedtime story.

Dante smiled. He could never say no to a good bedtime story. His brother never did when Dante was younger, so he saw no reason to say no to his children.

“Of course,” he said, “let’s go, I'll read it to you while you lay in bed.” Chessa turned and quietly skipped her way to bed.

Work could wait, Dante decided. His children were his priority.

That night, Dante was sleeping. Now, to most people, that wouldn't be unusual. He'd worked a good portion of the day, and most people who do such things would enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Dante was not most people.

Dante woke up to  a six year old and a ten year old jumping on him.

“Good morning Dante!” Beatrice yelled, much too loud for Dante who was still waking up.

“Wait, but it's nighttime,” reasoned Urnes. They had this discussion about once every two weeks.

“Yeah, but good evening Dante sounds like something from like, a vampire movie, or, or-”

“HEY MICHAEL,” the sprite-child yelled, “DO YOU SAY STUFF LIKE GOOD EVENING REGULARLY?”

“NO,” Michael yelled back, “NOT REALLY.”

“Okay okay,” Beatrice groaned, “Good evening Dante!”

The warlock in question mumbled a weak “Good evening, Bea. Good evening, Urn,” and somehow managed to get himself in an upright position. He smiled weakly at the two in front of him, still half asleep.

“Who's making breakfast this fine evening?” he asked.

“Umm, I think Mikey is?” Beatrice replied.

“Ah.” Dante got up and reached for a shirt, hoping it was clean, “I do love scrambled eggs.”

Squuuuuirt, went Michael’s ketchup-made-blood bottle. Harumi looked over with disgust. She would never understand how he could eat blood with his eggs.

“I'll never understand how you eat blood with your eggs,” she told him. Dante looked over at her over his cup of coffee. He was a bit too tired this particular evening to intervene in the group drama.

“You wouldn't understand, because you're not a vampire, tree girl,” the eldest retorted. Oh boy, Dante thought, here we go.

“I've told you, I'm not a tree girl, I'm a kodama, which is a-” Harumi began.

“Japanese tree spirit, similar to the Greek dryads,” everyone, including Dante (though his was much softer than the others’) said. Harumi gave this small speech every time Michael called her “tree girl,” so she gave it quite often.

“Yes,” she continued, “not a tree girl.” Michael shrugged and squirted more blood onto his breakfast.

Later in the night, Dante and his children sat around the table, their plates traded for books and paper and pencils. Michael was working on math, Harumi worked on history, Beatrice sciences, and both Chessa and Urnes worked on English.

“This is stupid,” Michael declared, banging his head against the table, “I'm a vampire, why do I need to know math?”

Though he didn’t even bother to look up from Chessa’s English quiz, Dante replied. “Because it's important, Michael,” he said, “Everyone uses math, and you're an everyone.”

Michael grumbled but raised his head and continued his math lesson.

“Would you like any help?” the older man asked, looked over at Michael, and returning Chessa her now graded quiz. As Chessa smiled at her very good grade, Michael scowled and nodded.

Once Michael understood how to multiply fractions, Beatrice needed help understanding the difference between a scientific community and a scientific ecosystem. Meanwhile, Harumi wanted help reviewing the dates of memorable warlocks.

Urnes had fallen asleep on his English lesson.

By recreation time, everyone understood their lessons for the day, and Dante understood how to help them for tomorrow.

This particular recreation night included playing Uno, the group’s favorite card game.

“Blue!” Urnes yelled, placing his draw four card in the pile.

“Urnes, before you make me pick up four cards, please remember that you can't choose the color that's already in play,” reminded Harumi. Urnes often forgotten the rules, though sometimes Dante thought it was because it would make other people laugh.

“Fine, red then,” Urnes decided. Harumi placed a red reverse, and replied with “uno.” Within three minutes, she was victorious. Beatrice gave her a high five, and Urnes, as the one with the most cards at the end of the game, got up to help Dante cook dinner.

Everyone sat around the table again as Dante passed dishes around. Grilled fish with rice and green beans was for dinner tonight. As Dante sat down and everyone began eating, he smiled at them all. This was certainly one of the happiest times of his long, long life. Sadly, it would be interrupted soon enough.

“Urnes, please eat your green beans.”

[top1course]

Why School Sucks! Why School Kills Creativity – An Entrepreneur’s Perspective – Dan Lok

Art welcome everyone we’re here with Dan Lok who is a business, iceman investor entrepreneur, and business coach and we’re here today talking to him about, education, what possible for education and what he thinks could be included in education, the help kids, achieve more and become the best they can be, so thanks for being with me today then, alright so my first question for you is, what was, your education like and where did you go to school well I came to Canada when I was 14 years, the time because, my mom and dad had some, issues, unfortunate a time my dad had an affair, so my mom decided that she didn’t want to stay in a relationship, and that’s why we immigrated to, canada, i was born in Hong Kong, so when I first came here I went to a course ESL School, english as a second language, I went to those schools for a while and then I went to high school and I went to school in Surrey, call Gifford Park, and at the time I was one of the only three Chinese, high School, and unfortunately, predict the kids at the school day were, they were very nice to be made fun of my accent, leaf bug, beam me up a couple times, people talk about bullying issues in school well it is true, happy happens, so at a time going through high school so I was alone all the way through High School, did have a lot of friends, growing up I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence, growing up I didn’t have, i’m not high self-esteem have very low self-esteem, and, didn’t like School. Much, because of the experience, i would skip classes and, i would barely pass all my courses become a CEO, She might a student but because of my mom so, i had to kind of stay through the school then to a point where that I went to college, that went to Douglas College, the different courses General business, by the time I was already starting my own business and my own companies, soldan, i thought to myself, well I’m going to school learning business all I’m doing business, i still remember there was a, instructor professor, in the business class, i would challenge him all the time, because he was talking about stuff from textbook, another challenge him well how do you know this stuff works how do you know, this is how business works, why does it matter do you study the book you pass the grades, but from my point of view will have you started the business do you know what it’s like to run a business, Which of course he hasn’t and it’s a big problem for me.

So we always have this conflict of course he didn’t like me so much, nFL, and then finally I just thought well you know what this is not for me, maybe for other people not for me so I just dropped out of college, i think, give me like what, is important about that is experienced, the education that the professor was trying to give you was not from his experience correct right and I think that that’s that’s one, one thing I feel education, improve the school system what they teach is out of date, right okay did teaching stuff from 5-10 years ago, it’s not stuff from The Real World, aftera, billy been in business for so many years, in fact I believe if you actually study, dad to stop drop stuff from school, On business or marketing, when you go out to the real world, just dude opposite, and you do very well, is a reverse blueprint, do you mind giving us an example if I can’t imagine what that, you know getting, example, financing a business, getting loans from the banks getting money in and raising money well if you don’t, order if you ever try to raise money, with no background no experience nothing but try to go to the bank how the bank system works is this, don’t get money when you don’t need money, grace, yeah I didn’t give you the umbrella umbrella umbrella, so it’s the same thing when I was getting started young guy and I went to the bank I said I want to start my own business can you loan me some, money, i say you crazy of course no way in hell I’m going to be any money, But when you have money, guess what did I do now today calling me as a painting, dan do you need to make a lot of credit, do you need a new mortgage do you get all that when you don’t need them, school system, it doesn’t teach you that it doesn’t teach you how to deal the distress you going to have, did the pressure you going to have to deal with, the headaches, the hassle the inconvenience, the setback do we jection you get experience as a businessman, as an entrepreneur, yeah when deaths, the most, important, things, most important things, we have to, master, as an entrepreneur, how to face obstacles Musical, while my business mentor, we were having a conversation, but he asked me the question, he said Dan what do you think, is the number one, characteristics, of an entrepreneur, the most important tourist characteristics, And I said well I guess, intelligence, it could be, experience, expertise, contacts, whatever I said a whole bunch of answers, please set where all those, high Point, play set the number one, characteristic of a successful entrepreneur, is there is the ability, to endure pain, a long period of time, the ability to endure pain for a long period of time, i thought to myself wow, how true is that, dad, most entrepreneurs we, people look at me is all I’m the overnight success, will keep in mind I started my first company when I was in high school, and I feel the 13th businesses have my first success so if you say, is an overnight success was more like a ten-year, overnight success, nobody talks about your failure everybody talks about your success, the only talk about your success, so I think the school system I mean think, YouVersion.

In school, if we are, taking exam, you sitting next to me, and I’m writing it down and I’m taking my exam I don’t know the answers, show me the answer, in the in the business world that coffee work, okay so in the business world, we are with learn from my mistakes, but in school, punished, student for making mistakes, but in business all about hate, let’s fail fast, let’s test it out, if it doesn’t work, let’s not waste our time let’s move forward, is Isabel failing fast, so guess what when they go to the real world, i don’t want to make mistakes I don’t want to screw this up, stop, please stop, bacchus new stop, learning new things, would you say that that is, kind of characteristic of what you might consider like the employee mentality, the history of the school system, Which holiday or started, basically a group of, wealthy individuals, and you know that’s why they donate to all these library and all that if you actually study school history, call the horses in King LaBelle it, august, industrialist, 40 Tycoon spray, wanted to make workers, that’s correct, they want to a little guys we need some workers man, let’s go make some school that’s that’s produced, like a like a sound that’s produced some workers let’s make sure we educate them, not to be like that we don’t want to and encourage entrepreneurship, it wasn’t you, programming condition have to save secure job after safety net, that let’s sell them on the idea of the 40-year plan the 45-year plan, dad there 165 and then they retire and then we give them to retirement and they’re so we have, steady workers laborers working for us, that’s how it came about as a very very simple it’s a group of guys, Wealthy individual saying hey, let’s do this, that’s why would the school system encourage you to take risk, why would the school system encourages think outside the box, that’s not intention, nolo, i like that that’s a pretty, i has a pretty truthful message, free big message for some people, alright so, i guess my next question that I had year was what do you see as the purpose of education then, i think that the purpose of Education because I believe, all types of knowledge, ultimately leads to self knowledge, is to understand yourself, what are your strengths what are your weaknesses, what is your purpose, what what kind of value are you here to contribute to the world, not just make a living, not just make a living, i think the education system, teach, students are individuals, realize he would have well gifts how can we, Make the world a better place how can we deliver more value to the marketplace, how can we be the best that we could be, not just academically, does right not going to school system if you are not, good with memorizing things you have not good at math, old annual pass student, but now there’s so many research out there people can Google internet is so many, different forms of intelligence, not everybody is meant to do just, be an accountant to be a lawyer, what if the person has towns to be a dancer, to be an athlete to be a singer to be an inventor to be, whatever, but now we just think of against do the school system is still okay, one form of challenges when we know for fact, there’s so many forms of intelligence but how can we do, How come we don’t.

Encourage students to develop their skills and talents, i can goes back to, the original idea on a school system, people recognize that, and people I believe they’re changing that on the YouTube now you have to, dekang University of course yeah okay it’s that’s why it’s like exploding people say you know what is a better way to learn, that’s a faster way to learn, the most effective way to learn, and people recognizing that also more people now doing homeschooling, because I don’t want the kids to be, poison by the whole school system, they want you to what I’m going to take care of my own kids education, i’m going to teach them, yet look how to write learn how to speak learn the basics, but the important education Ogden educate, what day did Hitler die, to survive and prosper that we were, I love I like that, so, getting back I guess a little bit to to your experience in the school system, how do you think that the school system helped you and how do you think it hindered you, nothing to hinder be more than help me, is, even back when I was in school how to calculate 1 + 1 +, it’s all good, but quite frankly lost unless you want to be a scientist anything, chemistry classes calculus classes, i don’t use those things 95%, so, from my own experience I actually learned, develop my skills and acquired knowledge, to all the forms, reading books, attending, educational workshops and seminars, bloating from, just talking to people, talking to successful people, alerting from my personal mentors, i found those are better ways to learn, i’m not a guy that likes to see the classroom and, and this professor lectures for 2 hours and, I’m trying to stay awake and I’m jumping falling asleep but I can’t learn that way, and that’s also why you’ve been to in my workshops and I’d like to be directing, i’d like to make it fun, i like people to be engaged I like people to, think of the old answers might like to participate, so, speaker, a trainer you can say, that’s what I like to do cuz I believe people learn better, participation to Activity 2 games through interaction, well that’s a perfect lead-in to my next question which is, it schools today usually use a lecture style approach yes how do you think, that students need to be taught, i think it’s through, instead of just giving them the answers, hey you know you should do this and you do this name m a b c and d, but now we have so many possibilities, What do you think, let them interact let them come up with things, what are the different things we can salt what different ways can solve his problem, and help them, discuss, just have them brainstorm, fM, play games have them, engage with different activities so instead of, example, okay well he’s how you build a company, he’s how you build a business, text back okay number one if you do, what was the time to accompany, let’s visit a company how do they do it, talk to senior manager what are the day-to-day challenges, how do you say the company grow, what works what does the word what are the biggest mistakes you’ve made, i think they look infinitely more, two observations to interaction, to questioning versus just, kia pasiva Cinder, yep yep yep, don’t get anything, yeah, no fun, no it’s not, we do it for a long time the correct, So if you could design a high school.

What subjects would you include, so many so I would include way more than communication skill, because I didn’t we are not taught, at the end of the day it’s about connecting with people interacting with people, so I can people skills, i would add on the communication classes, public speaking classes, because I was a very example where I was a very shy kind of kid other stuff Emagine today, united High School, 323 friends I was very shy because my English wasn’t that good, and, and I was very isolated, but through the late on I join Toastmasters I learn how to speak to groups and, empty find my confidence, then I could, meet more people, i could enjoy the conversations more, so public speaking, that has helped, all areas of my life, so any Show how kids are nowadays of course more social media digital age and we all, Almost, addicted to technology, buttwhistle Institute of Technology, that we don’t connect with people anymore, and I think, kids, teenagers nowadays DMV losing that, basic people skills, you like it’s funny sometimes I see people in, anna Cafe, two two friends, like this, defacing book to Facebook each other, other, what the hell is this I can’t even have a normal conversation anymore, i don’t know how to have a normal conversation, i think that’s not helping, communication public speaking, i would definitely add some more, things on if I’m running on money, how money works, because I think is a huge stuffed, and it’s almost, money in our society it’s, label as a, it’s like sexy is not something to talk about, that you are you don’t talk about money, well guess what most people spend on tile lies, Working for money, no clue how to manage it, how to save it with no clue how to invest in, so how do we get information, money, what Moseley’s from the media, which is guess what, funny voice control, nnn, gap Visa control, by all these companies, credit card companies, any of these companies, spend money, get into debt, yeah everytime that you hear on the news like that we need to boost your car and it’s always about going out spending more and I, but don’t talk about well, how do you create wealth, how do you invest money how do you manage your money properly, and that’s why we have all these now even Estates Canada saying, critical problems in, leaving the government, it’s have kept that issue is because the attitude, right, so I think money, how the world Works business but also some creativity, Just like that’s why I love, tED Talk, a lot of cat talk, it gives you a different perspective, hear from this great thought leaders and thinkers and, and leaders and genius, how did they view the world, i need to be on any subject isn’t it fascinating subject, but just on human potential, any of these things, i think we need to be exposed to more of those, do you know what there’s way more knowledge than just, what is singing a textbook, yeah this is so this is such a big word, yeah that’s what I bought at some travel schedule that kids would go out there and, in trouble more and see more things than me different, cultures of people being, isolated and in debt, little city and they don’t know what the world is about, i just want to add one thing to your point about money and people being a debt is that I think, Did it create a huge burden.

Yes for all these people right and then and then there’s more stress in their lives, and we’re not quite sure how to get out of our debts, and so I think a lot of people struggle with that for years, and and they don’t even know how to get out yeah but guess, who did Lonnie from, most people there, what are the habits they have, the money management habits, they got it from the school, they got it from their parents, the parents by city kids a kids, make sure you, it’s just like my mom example, my mom has something to say to me, bill when I was a kid, dan finishing plate, you know the kids are starving in China and India Africa, finishing plate, you think money grows on trees, Your money is the root of all evil, all all these negative associations, well when I found out, after I grew up, that’s not true, so just what if, the data, that’s being, bing Bing, does feeding to you by your parents, what if it’s not true, what is a real data, leaving money is not the root of all evil, maybe, lack of money is the root of all evil, maybe maybe this money does grow on trees, maybe money is good and not evil, maybe it is, not just thinking of, well clean your plate while. Doesn’t help nobody, but how can maybe actually do something to help the kids in Africa, how to help the kids in China, not help the kids in India, it’s a different type of money, so it says around the topic of money, would you tell us a little bit about what you think we should teach in a class of money more specifically, I think it’s first earning it, best first step, and in many many ways to burn it other than just getting a job, the many many went to Arkansas running in his key, and then also then once you earn it how do you keep it, wanting to make money is a whole different things to just to keep the safe at the manager, then once you learn how to save not save money, your money properly, meaning gif, every dollar that comes in, maybe you put $10 towards your investment account, investing your future, you put 10%, paying off your debt, the 10%, development education however you however you manage your money, after that then how to invest money because I think I don’t care what you do I just an employee as an entrepreneur, whatever I think we all need nowadays we all need to be, Investors, we all need to have, acai investment business, how do you make your money work for us so we not working for money, quantile life funny thing is people who put down money, people have negative association with money, people who, damn, the rich, the wealthy, those are the ones, who are slaves to money, people who Master money, they don’t think money is evil funny just neutral, piece of paper, stop bad it’s like, if I hold up $100 bill if I crumpled it, put on the porch step on it I pick it up it’s $200 bill, just piece of paper nothing more than an idea if you think about it, yeah whatever you can think of it as a tool, you can use it to do evil things, you can use it to do great things, used to her people, What can you say to.

Protect people, got nothing to do with nothing, to do with, the money people get so emotionally charged topic, we can all crazy about, yeah religion money politics, okay, i’m curious now because you mentioned before that about 95% of, what you learn in school you feel you don’t use correct, so would you then, in your opinion get rid of, a lot of what we’re teaching in terms of chemistry math, no, but I think we need more, we need scientists, we we need doctors we need lawyers, but we also need to nurture our talents, how come there isn’t a class on, how to be a rockstar, how come there isn’t a class on, how to be, a, swimming teacher, i don’t know, what do you many many talents many hobbies many how to be a professional piano list, why is it not in the school system, Why is it we just so Focus are just academic intelligence, are we completely, ignore, and that’s very very ignorant, ignore all these are the talents, that’s what I’m talking about, keep those people who like science we need those people that Society, great do that, but what about of no interest being a scientist why am I spending all my time learning things that I don’t like, that I hate, i’m not even going to use, people spend 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 years, off the life, larry stop you’ll never juice, want to spend it for use living stuff that I love, i’m passionate about, i would love to, to build a career yet, why don’t do that but with so restricted to know, 101, you got to take these courses requirements, right mandatory, it says who, you know I talk to teacher friend of mine and I kind of discuss, Something like this and we, he thinks it it it’s a lot of, can insecurity, yes right because if we don’t do that, the academic stuff, i think we’re not sure if we can make it, you know without, like if we want to do art, you know or we want to be a dance teacher later this how we going to do that like that how we going to make money right now I think that, as people, if we have a hard time connecting the dots, about how to get there and I think that stops a lot of us, but if you look at the fact, desk security is an illusion, because if it, if there is, such a thing as a security, then why so many University graduates can’t get a job, why so many mbas, desperate for work, what phds can even, Work in the lab, you tell me, so that doesn’t work, especially now things are changing so fast, it doesn’t work, somebody asked me the question if you don’t do business with me, benjamin NBA, and I said well I, i have an MBA but that’s not the type of MV you think about, i have a massive bank account account, so, marketplace pays for value, and what determines your values your skills, if you have skill sets, can you can deliver value to the marketplace she can produce, result for people against off, problem for them, the marketplace, will always pay you for that, versus now all the students they have, they think I’ve dis certificate of this diploma this degree, and this paper would piece of paper would get me jobs, not true, that’s a really good point illusion, it’s not true, that’s it that’s it and that’s almost starting point, My friend.

The school starts, after you graduate, but funny thing off a couple what the numbers was for, it’s like 80% of adults after they graduate from University don’t read another book, crazy numbers, okay so if you think about that most people stop learning, i’m done, i graduated, don’t lie to myself, and that’s the problem so wrong mentality, you know what, in my opinion that because of, we’re teaching them stuff that they’re not interested in, correct and I think that if, if we do have some things you were saying we, excite them, get them involved in stuff they enjoy I don’t see why kids wouldn’t love it that’s it, and what do you take the time a simple s, when it get into the system this is before you go to university, instead of, parent, hey did you should take this all should take that why not, Do a survey do a test, find out what are the natural talents off what are the personality types, what they should focus on, what did they would naturally excel in, it’s a simple as that, but nobody does it, how to split them into this box, sosupersam now this is so many strengths, strength Finders, different personality test, if the person is naturally outgoing and love to talk to people, why do you just because your parents then you should be a doctor, you should do this, no they should know I want to do something, all these other things, but the system doesn’t allow you to do that, a simple as that, finding out how much is having a simple conversation for god sakes, what what’s your vision, what is fire what excites you, freedom, right, i think you’ll be amazed, i think a lot of students they do know what they want but it’s oppressive, Because the the normal because Society pressure, because, parents, just started way up you should do this you shouldn’t do that, kevin same thing, you never asked, what do you want to do when you grow up, what my expectation for years but, what do you truly want, that’s a good question to ask, i want to get into a little bit about the actual kind of planning an education though, because, like I’m doing with you today I’m talking with a businessman, yes and I don’t think education has done that, in a big way, i think for the most part it sort of, you know it’s the teachers becoming administrators and then, going in, trying to redirect the creek on right, and, i’m wondering just from your experience do you think we should kind of include, In the discussion about where education should go professionals, professor from all types of Industries, ., they can contribute, example of entrepreneur, that we can coach Bill to to the system of how can we make this better, how to remove make more efficient, is now the whole school system as you know, that, vista public school system, it’s not, we wouldn’t respect the teachers, i’m a teacher myself, what different type of teacher, but the system is not, rewarding, teleperformance, it’s not rewarding creativity, the teacher is also teachers I do a lot of stuff that it’s nothing too late, i bought down by Aldis, details, when their job is to inspire and nurture the kids, but they only spent a small amount of time because they got to do all this, so, i would say, the width, the existing system, different professionals, from all types of Industries, this imagine having a mastermind having a, A.

A brainstorm of that, that what what could, why is it so fascinating because it’s all types of people all kinds of topics, it’s not what you is, you don’t know what they’re going to talk about, yeah you don’t know what the speaker is going to say, and it’s it’s, putting together the, the best the most brilliant people, on the planet together on a platform, and in 20 minutes 18 minutes 60 Minutes they share their best ideas and strategies and resources expire, that’s why I need the school system needs to do more of that, beautiful, alright so, if there was one thing you think the school system needs to change, right now, what would you say that is, the one thing that needs to change, let me think, i think just be as simple as taking the first step and being, little bit more flexible, Looking, at the fact, that our system and I know a lot of teachers they already try, trying to change that, yeah because of so much, democracy this so much, which systems did they getting, if you want to do something is very difficult for them to do the resistance, be more flexible, looking at, and you know what, 5 years ago, no there is not a metaphor using social media, what movie did should be a class one, how to use social media to deal with Facebook how do you how do we manage our time, how do we deal with even cyberbullying, these issues that we didn’t experience many years ago now if you are experiencing everyday, but it doesn’t talk about that, so I think just being open and flexible enough, let’s, i’m not asking the school system to change like overnight, how much is ticket, Little step, let’s do that, let’s look at the fact that, you know what we’re teaching guys, can we energy at this piece, sleepy Hollow, and maybe change a few things here, maybe just that, and I think if we can do that and think of that builds momentum, and people can, the parents, the students they would see a different result, a different perspective, get the ball rolling, okay, so, i’ve observed just by my parent’s I’ve done a little bit of on furniture myself, but my attitude has changed towards wealth, and it’s, and I think that it can be learned and I’m just wondering, what you, think about whether or not kids can be taught, about how to be wealthy or can everyone like to be wealthy, hundred percent absolutely, it’s not, i think it when you are born, at the hospital when we when you were just a baby, Nobody appoints okay this baby’s going to be wealthy, is it is available skill, it’s a lot of us it’s like swimming, least-liked ask me can everyone learn how to swim, yeah I think so, almost everyone, can you learn how to ride a bike, yeah GIF enough time with the proper training yes, so it’s the same thing with money now not everyone can be an entrepreneur, because not everyone is suitable to be an entrepreneur, but everyone can be wealthy, i goes back to if you manage your money properly invest your money properly, everybody can accumulate a pretty good that states when they retire, and we tied come from, yes absolutely, i don’t think we should all learn, how money works, we’re getting pretty close to the end here so is there, is there anything else that’s kind of on your mind that maybe I haven’t brought up that you, Things people need to know about.

I just want to say I think it’s very nice to see a, in a, officious smart young man like you like you. Just doing a project like this, and getting out to do to the world, cuz I think people need to hear this message, an hour, it’s time, it’s time that we do something about it, maybe who knows maybe we cannot change the school system, it’s your typical, but maybe we can get in spine of people, we can get them to, maybe make some changes, into thinking, baby to take more responsibility, afford the only education, education, maybe as a parent we can be leaving more open-minded, if we have done that, with this interview, i think this project gets as what, thank you very much, you’re welcome, okay well I think that’s about it I just want to say, Dan thank you very much for being here today, i found it fascinating and I hoping that everyone, watching as well as well thank you very much.

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Chapter 1-2

And here is chapter 2 of my story! I included chapter 1 as well because I changed a few things (along with an important character’s name). I’ll be back by the end of May with chapter 3. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Earth

I’m on vacation in the Bahamas. It’s a Tuesday, right in the middle of June. I’ve always wanted to come here.

I’m sitting on a lonely beach eating a hot dog, a new food for me. I brush my curly black hair out of my face and gaze at the sunset. I notice a familiar teenager around my age in a t-shirt and sunglasses approaching He sits under my umbrella beside me and examines a purple shell, dusting off the sand.

“Hi,” he says. He’s pretending not to talk to me, even though the closest people are a quarter of a mile down the sandy stretch. “I don’t have much time, so—"

“Well. Kane East. Haven’t seen you since Pluto’s rebellion,” I say fondly.

Kane seems startled as if he forgot we’ve met before. It wasn’t that long ago. But then he pulls himself together and gestures to the sun, shielding his dark brown eyes with his other hand. It’s especially hot today. “They’re ready for you, Aeryn. They’ve been waiting for months now. It doesn’t take but fifteen hours to get there, you know. What’s taking you so long?”

I sigh dramatically, putting down my empty plate regrettably, the hot dog finished. “Oh, I don't know. I like it here.”

Kane shifts in the white sand, obviously frustrated.

“Right.” He squints at the clear blue water reflecting the orange and red sky. A dolphin leaps and the sun sinks lower and lower, revealing more colors. I can tell he’s surprised at how beautiful the sun is on Earth.

Kane leans over and scribbles lines in the sand absentmindedly. “They made a good choice, sending you instead of me. Earth is so different. I keep forgetting they’re not as advanced as us. And space traveling gives me the worst headaches.”

I’m surprised. He doesn’t give out compliments lightly.

He sighs and sits up, combing his sandy blonde hair back with his fingers. “Can you send the signal to get me back?” he asks. “I still don’t have my license.”

I nod, understanding. It takes a lot of responsibility to get your ST -- space travel -- license when you’re my age. I was lucky. You could say the force is strong with me. At least, that’s what Maryanne thought when she was teaching me. You’re special, she told me. I don’t see it.

I’m about to send the message from my military-grade watch when he says, “Will you try to come soon?” Once again, I’m taken aback by his unexpected words. I hate the feeling of loss of control when I’m caught unawares. It makes me feel dangerously vulnerable.

I force a smile. “I’ll try my best.” Except I know, deep down, I can never go back.

But before I get into all that drama, let me explain the sun. Here on earth for years to come, they still won’t have figured out how to land on the sun. It’s quite simple, actually. Only once their scientists saw it was basically a ginormous ball of fire, they didn’t even try. But the fire is only a front. Behind is another planet. No green aliens and UFOs. Our planet is actually very similar to Earth. A little smaller, a lot less crime, a few less plants, and a few more colors. We’re also about a thousand years more advanced.

One might think it’s very hot or bright all the time, but we have a traversable barrier between the fire wall and our planet that keeps out the heat and light. We even have a generated sun like yours, except lab-grown and, like a lot of things, smaller. Also, we figured out a way to modify its gravity so it wouldn’t pull our planet too close to it and we would stay safely in the middle, all without affecting Earth a bit. We've even established a small community on Pluto. Like I said, we’re advanced.

A few of Earth’s so-called “UFOs” were our spies. Well, not so much spies as rather scientists from the Studies of Earth Association (or SEA for short) checking out the planet every six months or so to make sure it was okay. That's my job. Of course, I'm not the only one, but I'm the youngest to officially join in over thirty years. Kane is second, as he's almost a year older than me.

To get past the fire you have to have specialized equipment out of a certain material Earth doesn’t have yet. All you have to do to make this material is to find anything that’s flammable or will melt under heat – which is anything really, though we’ve found aluminum works best – and make a reverse molecule in our (again, incredibly advanced) labs. This makes any material made of these molecules virtually indestructible in any situation concerning extreme heat. Don’t worry, lab-grown molecules aren’t that far away. Our planet is called Bische, by the way. It’s pronounced exactly how it looks.

Anyway, after I promise Kane I’ll come back, I say, “Good luck.” I press a button on my watch and talk into it. (It’s like a telephone, but in watch form. Do you have those yet?) While we wait for someone to take Frat back, which usually takes about ten minutes, I take a deep breath. This is the last time I’m going to see him. Suddenly, I realize he deserves to know the truth after all we’ve been through together.

“I can’t come back, you know.”

He says nothing for a long time. “I know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Your uncle.”

“Oh.” I dig my toes deeper into the sand. “How’d you find out?”

Kane fiddles with his purple shell, turning it over and over in his hands, tossing it from one hand to the other. He’s nervous, but I don’t know why. “Everyone kind of assumed he wasn't the best guardian after...” His hands move faster and faster until he misses and the shell falls on the ground. He stares at it, refusing to meet my eyes.

I wasn’t expecting that at all. “After what? What do you mean, everyone?”

He pauses, then takes a deep breath. “He was on the news,” he continues, avoiding eye contact. “Aeryn, they think he killed Yasi Granger.”

I’m in shock. Yasi Granger? The actor and singer celebrity? Why would he do such a thing to such a person? How did he do it? He must have had help. But who…? Another realization comes to mind. I have no one now, except for Maryanne and Frat, of course. It’s a wonder anyone in Bische respects me at all with all my living relatives in jail for outrageous crimes.

Half of me is surprised and disgusted. Yasi Granger? How could he? The other half is relieved. I’ll be able to come back after all. All that fuss, all those hours worrying, wondering, all that for nothing.

“When?” I ask, still trying to process what just happened.

“She was found dead about a month after you left. Part of the reason I’m here was to tell you and to ask you to come back. They probably want to ask you some questions.”

“I… Yeah, I guess I probably should.”

Kane nods. I’m glad he’s giving me some space. I don’t care about my uncle, but it’s a lot to take in.

I send another message letting the employees at the port know I’ll be coming too. The sun finally disappears and the light starts to fade.

“You know what will happen, don’t you?” Kane asks me.

I nod. “Execution. Or he spends the rest of his life in prison.” I struggle to wrap my mind around the concept of no guardian. “Like my father,” I add bitterly.

Kane is quiet for a few minutes, but eventually decides to ignore that last comment. “He might not even have done it. He hasn’t been accused of anything yet. Not formally, anyway.”

I shrugged. “Whatever. As long as I don’t take the heat for it.” Suddenly our ride arrives. No one except us can see it. I’m still not really sure how that works. It’s like a small, invisible, very fast plane, basically.

I suppose the ride should have been silent, but instead, I start a conversation, and by the time we’re a couple of million miles on our way, we’re catching up on what we’ve been doing the past year. No matter what happens with Kane, I refuse to let my uncle ruin another friendship.

Chapter 2: Bische

After the long ride, the “plane” – we call it a cab, although the technical term is aero vehicle - zooms through the fire wall of the “sun” and lands in the large clearing beside Maryanne's place where I stay. But something’s wrong. Everyone in the port that sent for us was quiet on the radio. There was hardly a hello, even though I’d been gone for much longer than planned. I look at Frat for an explanation, but he looks confused too, and simply shrugs.

I think hard, but everything looks the same. We wander around Maryanne's house until we find her frying some eggs in her kitchen. It's past 20 o'clock -- and yes, we use "military time." Honestly, why do people on Earth make everything so complicated?

“Welcome back!” Maryanne hugs us both, then turns to me to size me up. “I can’t believe it’s you! I’ve been waiting so long! How was Earth?”

“Pretty nice,” I say, thinking of the delicious lobster, the warm white sand, and the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. I temporarily forget my problems and reflect on the year. “The Bahamas were great. And Bische is so large there. It’s a wonder they haven’t figured it out yet.”

Kane seems distant, pondering and staring at nothing, unlike his calm stature during the cab ride. Does he sense the unknown misplacement too?

Maryanne serves the eggs on a plate with a spatula and asks us if we want some. Kane and I eagerly say yes, and she pulls out toast, turkey bacon, and orange juice. It’s a good thing she has food on hand, because we’re starving. The cab was short on food, and any trace of the hot dog disappeared long ago. While we eat, I tell Maryanne of some of the places I visited.

“Everything was pretty much the same as last year when I went,” I finish. “How has life been here?”

“The same,” she nods, but she doesn’t look convinced. She turns to Kane, looking eager to change the subject. “Frat, you’ve been quiet. That’s not like you.”

He shakes his head and blinks as if waking up from a strange dream. “Uh, it's nothing. What time is it? I’m getting a little tired.” He yawns for effect.

Maryanne answers, “Nearly 22 o'clock. You’d better stay here for the night. I’ll call your parents. Are they at home?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Kane replies, draining the rest of his orange juice. “Thanks. Where do you want me?”

“There’s an empty room down the hall. Aeryn, do you want to stay up a little later?”

“Nah,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ll watch TV or read in my room or something. Goodnight.”

She shrugs and starts putting away dishes. I walk to my room and Kane heads off in the opposite direction toward his.

. . .

I’m in the middle of watching a documentary about octopus the next morning when Kane knocks. I tell him to come in and he sits on my bed beside me.

“Have you noticed anything strange?” he says. I’m relieved he saw it too.

“Yes.” I turn off the television and face him. “Any idea what it is?”

“I thought about it a lot last night. I think it has something to do with your uncle and Yasi Granger.”

I frown. “Not to sound American, but deaths aren’t that uncommon.”

Kane shrugs. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

We are silent for a while. Suddenly I sit up straight, rigid with an idea.

“Uncle Hugh killed Yasi,” I begin slowly. Kane looks confused, but I ignore him and work on transforming my idea into words. “Are… are they happy she’s dead? Or that he’s in prison?”

Kane frowns. “What if…” He stops. “But it can’t. But if it is…”

“What?” I’m excited. I’d never had such a rebellious thought before.

Kane swallows and glances around, as if someone has planted hidden cameras in the room. “What if someone is hiding a secret in Yasi? A bad secret. And everyone knows except us. You’ve been on Earth, I’ve been on Saturn…”

“…And Uncle Hugh was the only one brave enough to do something about it. I think he had help, though. Famous as Yasi is? There’s no way he could have done it without someone, uh, smarter,” I finish.

Kane nods his head, following along. “Someone who knows things.”

We stare into space for a long time.

“I should have known.”

We spin in surprise. Maryanne is blocking the doorway with her broad shoulders. She walks over grabs our hands with her large ones in a firm grip. Kane and I are too surprised and scared to speak or resist.

“Come with me. You might as well know the truth.”

Maryanne leads us to the living room and pats the couch. We obediently sit down.

Her eyes dart around the room. Finally she leans in and says, “I shouldn’t be telling you this…”

Let me know how you like it! Reblogs are very much appreciated!

[themoneybuff-blog]

An index to every money book I've reviewed during the past twelve years

147 Shares I read a lot of money books. As a result, a large section of my large library is devoted to books about personal finance. (And if I hadn't purged hundreds of money books when I sold this site in 2009, I'd have even more books and no place to put them.) Last week, a GRS reader named Lindsay dropped a line with an interesting question: I'm really enjoying your work back at GRS, the email newsletter, and your most recent FB live video! I'm wondering: Do you have a list of all the money books you've reviewed? I've been poking around to try and find one)? As it happens, I've been wanting a list of reviews myself. I know I have a million billion different projects around here, but one that I'd like to pursue is a free nicely-formatted PDF download that compiles every review I've written. To answer Lindsay's question and to satisfy my own curiosity I sifted through the GRS archives yesterday to compile a list of every money book I've reviewed during my 12+ years at this site. In this post, I've linked to those reviews, plus I've included a short summary of each book. Note: I'm certain that about half of the reviews are missing from the archives. The folks who purchased this site from me unpublished hundreds of articles (including many book reviews, apparently) during the time they owned GRS. Those reviews still exist, and I'll eventually find them and list them here, but it's far too cumbersome to find them at the moment.

For each book below, I've included a link to Amazon. I've also assigned each a book a letter grade and, in some cases, a star . My letter grades might seem harsh. That's because I've tried to really think about these on a sort of curve, where the vast majority of books are average and only a few merit As or Fs. As a result, some important titles get average (or low) grades despite their contribution to the field. If I grade a book an A, I think it's excellent. It offers excellent advice with no real flaws.If I give a book a B, it's a good book with good advice, but something about it holds it back. Maybe it's poorly written or maybe it's off-base on a topic or two.If I give a grade of C, the book is average. That means it gives reasonable money advice in a typical way. There's nothing drastically wrong with the book, and it's worth reading.If I give a D grade, the book is flawed in some major way. It still has some value to it maybe a core concept that you can't find elsewhere but I'm hesitant to recommend this to average folks.If I give a book and F, I don't think it has any sort of value. I don't give many Fs because I think nearly every book has some nugget of wisdom in it. Note that all of my letter grades were assigned today. They're based on who I am and what I know now, not when I wrote the reviews. And they're based on how valuable the book's info will be to a modern reader. (Some money books that were awesome in 1978 haven't aged well because their advice is specific to that era.) When I've marked a book with a star , that indicates I believe regardless of my grade, the title should be considered part of a core personal-finance library. (I don't have a review of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover here. If I did, it'd get a C or lower because the book's quality is mixed and it has certain drawbacks. But the book would also merit a star because it should be in any serious library of money books.) Ultimately, though, you shouldn't let the letter grades and stars guide your decision to read a book. Use my reviews instead. They're much more nuanced than an arbitrary grade. The grades are meant as a sort of quick reference. Finally, I've sorted the titles into roughly reverse-chronological order based on year of publication. I think most readers are interested in recent titles. (Because of my hiatus from money-blogging, there's a gap here between 2010 and 2016.) If, like me, you prefer older money books, you'll find them closer to the end of this list. That's enough explanation. Here then is a list of (nearly) all of the book reviews from the archives here at Get Rich Slowly!

Get Money by Kristin Wong (2018)Get Money is all about applying game-playing principles to money management. Most money books tend toward boring and stale. Not this one. Get Money is both funny and wise, packed with practical tips for how to play the game of money and win. It's a useful money manual from a favorite former GRS staff writer. [my review] BThinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke (2018)For a long time, Ive argued that the best money books are often not about money at all. Thinking in Bets is an example of this. Duke says that there are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: The quality of our decisions and luck. She uses plenty of personal finance examples, but the book itself is about self-improvement. Its not specifically about personal finance, yet the info here could have a profound impact on your financial future. [my review] A-Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames (2018)Meet the Frugalwoods isnt a money manual. It isnt fiction. Its memoir. The book covers ten years in the lives of Liz and her husband Nate, from their post-college job-hunting experiences in Kansas to purchasing a 66-acre homestead in Vermont. Through their story, Liz shows readers its possible to move from a life of consumerism to a life built around frugality and purpose. My chief complaint? The Frugalwoods didn't achieve financial independence through frugality; they achieved it through a high income. [my review] CYou Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham (2017)You Need a Budget is a simple book, but its excellent. It doesnt try to throw the entire world of personal finance at you. Its laser-focused on one thing: building a better budget. Because Mecham has been reading and writing about budgets since 2004, hes learned a lot about what works and what doesnt. Hes constantly receiving feedback from the tens of thousands of people who follow his program. This book is a culmination of that experience, and it shows. If you need a budget, I highly recommend this book. [my review] A The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins (2016)The Simple Path to Wealth presents the advice from the author's blog in a coherent, unified package. Its an easy-to-understand primer on stock-market investing and financial independence. Although the book is intended to offer wide-ranging advice about the journey to financial freedom, I think its at its best when Collins covers retirement investing. [my review] B+ Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker (2010)Imagine a personal-finance book written by a theoretical physicist. What would it be like? Full of formulas and figures, right? Well, thats what you get with Early Retirement Extreme. This feels like a book written by an engineer for other engineers. This isnt a bad thing, but it is unique. Some people will love it; others will hate it. Also, this book could use a professional editor. These caveats aside, ERE is packed with excellent information, and is one of the key books in the Financial Independence movement. [my review] B The Simple Dollar by Trent Hamm (2010)This book isnt really about personal finance. Theres personal finance in it, sure, but like Hamms blog, The Simple Dollar is about personal and professional transformation. This is a book about change. The information in the book is good, and its sure to be useful to many people, but the content is so jumbled that its difficult to see the Big Picture. [my review] C-Mind Over Money by Ted and Brad Klontz (2009)Mind Over Money wont teach you how to budget and it doesnt ever mention index funds. This isnt a book about the nuts-and-bolts of personal finance. Its a book about how we relate to money. The strength of the book isnt in the answers it provides, but in the questions it provokes. If you're looking for a book about the psychology of personal finance, this is worth reading. [my review] CEscape from Cubicle Nation by Pam Slim (2009)Escape from Cubicle Nation starts at the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey: deciding what to do with your life. Slim spends several chapters discussing how to get in touch with whats important to you. At times, this almost seems touchy-feely. Almost. Thankfully, the book packs in ton of practical info on how to start a successful small business that matches you and your lifestyle. [my review] B+The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (2009)On paper, The Happiness Project may seem sort of lame. Rubin decided to spend one year consciously pursuing happiness. Each month, she tackled one specific aspect of life marriage, work, attitude, and so on and during that month, she attempted to meet a handful of related resolutions she hoped would make her happier. Fortunately, the book isnt lame. Rubins style is warm and engaging, and the material here is useful. [my review] BI Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi (2009)This book is great, but its not for everyone. First of all, its targeted almost exclusively at young adults. If youre under 25 and single, and if you make a decent living, this book is perfect. But if youre 45 and married with two children, and if you struggle to make ends meet, this book is less useful. That said, it's packed with solid advice, cites its sources, and provides scores of tactical tips for managing money. [my review] A- Spend Til the End by Scott Burns and Larry Kotlikoff (2008)Burns and Kotlikoff analyze dozens of hypothetical scenarios as they seek to discover which choices provide the greatest lifetime living standard per adult. Their aim is to find a way to balance today and tomorrow, to pursue what's known as consumption smoothing. Much of the books advice is geared toward those nearing retirement, but theres still plenty for readers of every age. [my review] C+Increase Your Financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki (2008)The problem with the standard financial advice is that its bad advice. Youve been told to work hard, save money, get out of debt, live below your means, and invest in a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds. But this advice is obsolete so argues Robert Kiyosaki in Increase Your Financial IQ. I'll be blunt: Kiyosaki is full of shit. I worry about his financial IQ. [my review] D-

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss (2007)When I picked up The 4-Hour Workweek, I was worried it was some sort of get rich quick book. Ferriss makes a lot of bold promises, and some of the details along the way read like the confessions of an internet scammer. Ultimately, though, I found tons of value that I could apply to my own entrepreneurial ventures. In fact, this has become one of my most-bookmarked books of all time! An intelligent reader can easily extract a wealth of useful here, which is why it's become a modern classic. [my review] B- The Quiet Millionaire by Brett Wilder (2007)The Quiet Millionaire is different from most of the other money books I review. Though Wilder includes behavioral finance and life planning concepts, this is a numbers book. It's like a textbook for personal finance. It isnt really a book for beginners. Its targeted at folks who are out of debt and building wealth. I suspect many people will find this book boring. But then, smart personal finance is boring. [my review] BDebt Is Slavery by Michael Mihalik (2007)Debt is Slavery is a deceptively simple book. Its short. Its advice seems basic. And its self-published, so how good can it be? Well, I think its great. In fact, I found myself wishing that I had written it. Mihaliks advice is spot-on, and he covers a lot of topics that other authors shy away from, such as the effects of advertising, the weight of possessions, and the soul-sucking misery that comes from a bad job. This book may be short, but its sweet. Especially great for recent graduates, I think. [my review] B+Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny (2007)Overcoming Underearning isn't what I expected it to be. When I read the title, I expected a book about how to stretch your dollars and how get more from what you do earn. This book is about asking for more, creating more, and working your way through the psychological pitfalls that lead to being satisfied with less in the first place. But the book contains few actionable steps that will help you make more money or invest well. If you need a how-to book, keep looking. If you need to get started, or are started, but have hit a wall and you dont know why, this might be the book for you. [my review] C-The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006)The Secret is all about the so-called Law of Attraction, which is not actually a law of anything. The Law of Attraction states that your life is a result of the things you think about. From a psychological perspective, this notion has some merit. But this book offers no evidence of any kind: no scientific discussion, no experimentation only scattered cherry-picked anecdotes. Its the worst kind of pseudo-scientific baloney. And its money advice is actively harmful rather than helpful. [my review] FThe Millionaire Maker by Loral Langmeier (2006)The Millionaire Maker attempts to codify Langemeiers proprietary Wealth Cycle Process. She believes there are better places to put your money than in mutual funds. This book is a mixed bag. While it preaches what ought to be preached, and Langemeier provides more specifics than some authors, her message sounds hollow. There is some good information here, but theres stuff that raises red flags, too. [my review] D+Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement by Bob Clyatt (2005)For years, Work Less, Live More has been my go-to book for info about early retirement. I give away copies several times a year. I recommend it when replying to email. I refer to it myself when I have questions. I like this book because it strikes a balance between the high-level Big Picture stuff and the low-level nitty-gritty numbers crunching. (See also: Bob Clyatt's guest post here at GRS about his life since writing the book.) [my review] A All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi (2005)This book was written by the mother-daughter team of Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. (Warren is now a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts!) The authors dont get bogged down in the details of frugality and investing. Theyre more interested in changing behavior, in fixing the big stuff. They offer a framework around which the reader can build lasting financial success. The book's advice is solid, if sometimes flawed. To me, its lasting legacy is the introduction of the Balanced Money Formula (which some now call the 50-30-20 budget), a concept I promote extensively in my public speaking gigs. [my review] B- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth by T. Harv Eker (2005)Many people would dismiss Secrets of the Millionaire Mind as useless. Theres not a lot of concrete information here about how to improve the details of your financial life. (Though the scant advice presented is sound). Instead, this book encourages readers to adopt mental attitudes that facilitate wealth. Its about changing your psychological approach to money, success, and happiness. (This book is the source of my money blueprint concept.) [my review] CMoney Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide to Financial Security by Sheryl Garrett and Debra Neiman (2005)As difficult as marriage and money can be, things are even tougher for unmarried couples, both gay and straight. Its difficult for these folks to get good advice in a society thats geared toward married couples. Money Without Matrimony is a great book with sound suggestions. Its non-judgmental, practical, and packed with advice. If youre in a committed unmarried relationship, I highly recommend you track down a copy. [my review] AThe Automatic Millionaire by David Bach (2005)David Bach is perhaps best known for coining the term the latte factor, a phrase that has almost become a joke in personal finance circles. Thats too bad, really, because Bach has some good ideas. And the latte factor is a marvelous concept, applicable to many people who casually spend their future a few dollars at a time. This book encourages readers to eliminate debt, to live frugally, and to pay themselves first. But the core of his book is unique: rather than develop will power and self-discipline, Bach says, why not bypass the human element altogether? Why not make your path to wealth automatic? [my review] C Luck Is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career by John D. Krumboltz and Al S. Levin (2004)Luck Is No Accident is a short book. Nothing in it is groundbreaking or revolutionary. Yet its common-sense wisdom is a powerful motivator. Whenever I read it, I cannot help but come away inspired, ready to make more of my situation, and to try new things. If youre the sort of person who wonders why good things only happen to other people, I encourage you to read it. [my review] B+The Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten Rules for Financial Success by Burton Malkiel (2003)Malkiels advice can be stated in a few short sentences: Eliminate debt. Establish an emergency fund. Begin making regular investments to a diversified portfolio of index funds. Be patient. But the simplicity of his message does not detract from its value. If you want to invest but dont know where to start, pick up a copy of this book. [my review] A-

The Bountiful Container by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey (2002)The Bountiful Container beats most gardening books hands-down in several key areas. It focuses on growing plants that give a beginning gardener the most bang for the buck, plants that are both edible and decorative and can be grown with limited space. It is splendidly organized and easy to read, and has a great index, too. And the level of detail is just right for almost any skill level, and the writing is pleasant to read and easy to understand. [my ex-wife's review] B+The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein (2002)In this book, Bernstein describes how to build a winning investment portfolio. He doesnt focus on the details he tries to explain fundamental concepts so that readers will be able to make smart investment decisions on their own. The Four Pillars of Investing is challenging in places, but it provides an excellent introduction to the theory, history, psychology, and business of investing. If youre able to finish, youll have a better grasp of investing than 99% of your peers. [my review] B Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill (2000)In this book, Paco Underhill an environmental psychologist describes what he learned through years of research into consumer behavior and retail marketing. Like it or not, youre manipulated all of the time while youre shopping, and in ways you dont even suspect. But by taking Underhills lessons for marketers and flipping them around, you can make yourself immune to marketers manipulations. (Well, maybe not immune, but less likely to succumb to their ploys, anyhow.) [my review] BWhy Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich (1999)In this short book, Belsky and Gilovich catalog a menagerie of mental mistakes that cause people to spend more than they should. What might have been a boring topic becomes fascinating thanks to an engaging style and plenty of anecdotes and examples. This book covers a couple dozen psychological barriers to wealth. [my review] B+ The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko (1998)The Millionaire Next Door has earned its place in the canon of personal-finance literature. It's built on years of research, on a body of statistics and case studies. It doesnt make hollow promises. That said, the book is a flawed classic. It offers a fascinating portrait of the wealthy, but it buries this beneath mountains of detritus. The book is poorly organized, repetitive, and dull. (The section on car-buying seems to go on forever.) A patient reader will be rewarded with a glimpse at what it takes to become a millionaire, but I cant help but feel this book could have been something more. Warning: Avoid the audiobook, which suffers even more in the tedious sections. [my review] C+ Yes, You Can Achieve Financial Independence by James Stowers (1992)Yes, You Can Achieve Financial Independence is informative without being dense. Its accessible without being condescending. Its advice is solid. The book is filled with investment advice, but it gives equal time to thrift and savings. Best of all, it asks as many questions as it provides answers. It prompts the reader to think, to evaluate his priorities. Its message is that yes, you can achieve Financial Independence, but you cant get there overnight, and you cant get there without setting goals and making sacrifices. [my review] A-How to Retire Young by Edward M. Tauber (1989)How to Retire Young is one of the oldest books Ive found on the subject of early retirement. Taubers premise is that many people can retire early if they plan and remain dedicated to the plan. I wish I could say that this is a great book. Sadly, its not. Its good (dont get me wrong), but it suffers from being first. [my review] C-Cashing In on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst (1988)Cashing In on the American Dream is a seminal early retirement book and its advice was spot-on for 1988. But that strength is now its weakness. Some of the advice is thirty years out of date. If you dont need specific advice but are instead interested about theory (and story), then seek out this title. (The last half of the book is filled with stories from folks who made early retirement happen.) [my review] BHow to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis (1988)How to Get Out of Debt is built on the principles of Debtors Anonymous, a twelve-step program founded in 1971 to help those who struggle with compulsive debt. Mundis was himself a debtor, and he based this book on his own experience. This isnt purely theoretical information from the mind of some Wall Street finance whiz who has never struggled; this book contains real tips and real stories from real people. [my review] A- You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen (1980)Whether you like it or not, your life is filled with negotiations. You negotiate your salary, for the price of a car, for the cost of a couch. You negotiate with your wife about where to spend your summer vacation, with your husband about what color to paint the babys bedroom, with your daughter about what time she should be home from the football game. Of all the books Ive recommended at Get Rich Slowly over the years, You Can Negotiate Anything is one of the best. [my review] A How to Get Rich and Stay Rich by Fred J. Young (1979)This book is built around a single principle: Spend less than you earn and invest the difference in something that you think will increase in value and make you rich. It reads like homespun advice from your favorite uncle. While theres plenty of good advice in these pages and lots of amusing anecdotes, theres very little polish. [my review] CThe Incredible Secret Money Machine by Don Lancaster (1978)Though the title smacks of get-rich-quick schemes, The Incredible Secret Money Machine is really about starting and running a small business. To Lancaster, a money machine is any venture that generates nickels. Nickels are small streams of revenue from individual customers. If your goal is simply to earn a comfortable income for yourself by doing something you love, then this book can help you explore the idea of business ownership. Its not going to help you launch the next Google or Microsoft, though. Lancaster is all about nickels, not about dollars. [my review] C+Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel (1970)In 1970, writer Studs Terkel published Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, which features excerpts from over 100 interviews he conducted with those who lived through the 1930s. Terkel spoke with all sorts of people: old and young, rich and poor, famous and not-so-famous, liberal and conservative. The book is fascinating. Its one thing to read about the Great Depression in textbooks, or to hear it used as leverage in political speeches, but its another thing entirely to read the experiences of the people who lived through it. [my review] A-

That's it! If you find any reviews I missed, let me know so that I can add them to this index. I consider this a living article. I plan to add to it with time. As I re-publish old reviews that are currently unpublished, I'll add them here. And as I write new reviews in the future, those will get added to the list too. Know of a money book that I should read and review? Drop a line to let me know! 147 Shares https://www.getrichslowly.org/money-books-index/

[andrewdburton]

An index to every money book I’ve reviewed during the past twelve years

I read a lot of money books. As a result, a large section of my large library is devoted to books about personal finance. (And if I hadn’t purged hundreds of money books when I sold this site in 2009, I’d have even more books — and no place to put them.)

Last week, a GRS reader named Lindsay dropped a line with an interesting question:

“I’m really enjoying your work back at GRS, the email newsletter, and your most recent FB live video! I’m wondering: Do you have a list of all the money books you’ve reviewed? I’ve been poking around to try and find one)?”

As it happens, I’ve been wanting a list of reviews myself. I know I have a million billion different projects around here, but one that I’d like to pursue is a free nicely-formatted PDF download that compiles every review I’ve written.

To answer Lindsay’s question — and to satisfy my own curiosity — I sifted through the GRS archives yesterday to compile a list of every money book I’ve reviewed during my 12+ years at this site. In this post, I’ve linked to those reviews, plus I’ve included a short summary of each book.

Note: I’m certain that about half of the reviews are missing from the archives. The folks who purchased this site from me “unpublished” hundreds of articles (including many book reviews, apparently) during the time they owned GRS. Those reviews still exist, and I’ll eventually find them and list them here, but it’s far too cumbersome to find them at the moment.

For each book below, I’ve included a link to Amazon. I’ve also assigned each a book a letter grade and, in some cases, a star .

My letter grades might seem harsh. That’s because I’ve tried to really think about these on a sort of curve, where the vast majority of books are average and only a few merit As or Fs. As a result, some important titles get average (or low) grades despite their contribution to the field.

If I grade a book an A, I think it’s excellent. It offers excellent advice with no real flaws.

If I give a book a B, it’s a good book with good advice, but something about it holds it back. Maybe it’s poorly written or maybe it’s off-base on a topic or two.

If I give a grade of C, the book is average. That means it gives reasonable money advice in a typical way. There’s nothing drastically wrong with the book, and it’s worth reading.

If I give a D grade, the book is flawed in some major way. It still has some value to it — maybe a core concept that you can’t find elsewhere — but I’m hesitant to recommend this to average folks.

If I give a book and F, I don’t think it has any sort of value. I don’t give many Fs because I think nearly every book has some nugget of wisdom in it.

Note that all of my letter grades were assigned today. They’re based on who I am and what I know now, not when I wrote the reviews. And they’re based on how valuable the book’s info will be to a modern reader. (Some money books that were awesome in 1978 haven’t aged well because their advice is specific to that era.)

When I’ve marked a book with a star , that indicates I believe regardless of my grade, the title should be considered part of a core personal-finance library. (I don’t have a review of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover here. If I did, it’d get a C or lower because the book’s quality is mixed and it has certain drawbacks. But the book would also merit a star because it should be in any serious library of money books.)

Ultimately, though, you shouldn’t let the letter grades and stars guide your decision to read a book. Use my reviews instead. They’re much more nuanced than an arbitrary grade. The grades are meant as a sort of quick reference.

Finally, I’ve sorted the titles into roughly reverse-chronological order based on year of publication. I think most readers are interested in recent titles. (Because of my hiatus from money-blogging, there’s a gap here between 2010 and 2016.) If, like me, you prefer older money books, you’ll find them closer to the end of this list.

That’s enough explanation. Here then is a list of (nearly) all of the book reviews from the archives here at Get Rich Slowly!

Get Money by Kristin Wong (2018)

Get Money is all about applying game-playing principles to money management. Most money books tend toward boring and stale. Not this one. Get Money is both funny and wise, packed with practical tips for how to play the game of money — and win. It’s a useful money manual from a favorite former GRS staff writer. [my review] B

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke (2018)

For a long time, I’ve argued that the best money books are often not about money at all. Thinking in Bets is an example of this. Duke says that there are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: The quality of our decisions and luck. She uses plenty of personal finance examples, but the book itself is about self-improvement. It’s not specifically about personal finance, yet the info here could have a profound impact on your financial future. [my review] A-

Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames (2018)

Meet the Frugalwoods isn’t a money manual. It isn’t fiction. It’s memoir. The book covers ten years in the lives of Liz and her husband Nate, from their post-college job-hunting experiences in Kansas to purchasing a 66-acre homestead in Vermont. Through their story, Liz shows readers it’s possible to move from a life of consumerism to a life built around frugality and purpose. My chief complaint? The Frugalwoods didn’t achieve financial independence through frugality; they achieved it through a high income. [my review] C

You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham (2017)

You Need a Budget is a simple book, but it’s excellent. It doesn’t try to throw the entire world of personal finance at you. It’s laser-focused on one thing: building a better budget. Because Mecham has been reading and writing about budgets since 2004, he’s learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. He’s constantly receiving feedback from the tens of thousands of people who follow his program. This book is a culmination of that experience, and it shows. If you need a budget, I highly recommend this book. [my review] A

The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins (2016)

The Simple Path to Wealth presents the advice from the author’s blog in a coherent, unified package. It’s an easy-to-understand primer on stock-market investing — and financial independence. Although the book is intended to offer wide-ranging advice about the journey to financial freedom, I think it’s at its best when Collins covers retirement investing. [my review] B+

Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker (2010)

Imagine a personal-finance book written by a theoretical physicist. What would it be like? Full of formulas and figures, right? Well, that’s what you get with Early Retirement Extreme. This feels like a book written by an engineer for other engineers. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is unique. Some people will love it; others will hate it. Also, this book could use a professional editor. These caveats aside, ERE is packed with excellent information, and is one of the key books in the Financial Independence movement. [my review] B

The Simple Dollar by Trent Hamm (2010)

This book isn’t really about personal finance. There’s personal finance in it, sure, but like Hamm’s blog, The Simple Dollar is about personal and professional transformation. This is a book about change. The information in the book is good, and it’s sure to be useful to many people, but the content is so jumbled that it’s difficult to see the Big Picture. [my review] C-

Mind Over Money by Ted and Brad Klontz (2009)

Mind Over Money won’t teach you how to budget and it doesn’t ever mention index funds. This isn’t a book about the nuts-and-bolts of personal finance. It’s a book about how we relate to money. The strength of the book isn’t in the answers it provides, but in the questions it provokes. If you’re looking for a book about the psychology of personal finance, this is worth reading. [my review] C

Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pam Slim (2009)

Escape from Cubicle Nation starts at the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey: deciding what to do with your life. Slim spends several chapters discussing how to get in touch with what’s important to you. At times, this almost seems touchy-feely. Almost. Thankfully, the book packs in ton of practical info on how to start a successful small business that matches you and your lifestyle. [my review] B+

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (2009)

On paper, The Happiness Project may seem sort of lame. Rubin decided to spend one year consciously pursuing happiness. Each month, she tackled one specific aspect of life — marriage, work, attitude, and so on — and during that month, she attempted to meet a handful of related resolutions she hoped would make her happier. Fortunately, the book isn’t lame. Rubin’s style is warm and engaging, and the material here is useful. [my review] B

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi (2009)

This book is great, but it’s not for everyone. First of all, it’s targeted almost exclusively at young adults. If you’re under 25 and single, and if you make a decent living, this book is perfect. But if you’re 45 and married with two children, and if you struggle to make ends meet, this book is less useful. That said, it’s packed with solid advice, cites its sources, and provides scores of tactical tips for managing money. [my review] A-

Spend ‘Til the End by Scott Burns and Larry Kotlikoff (2008)

Burns and Kotlikoff analyze dozens of hypothetical scenarios as they seek to discover which choices provide the greatest “lifetime living standard per adult”. Their aim is to find a way to balance today and tomorrow, to pursue what’s known as “consumption smoothing”. Much of the book’s advice is geared toward those nearing retirement, but there’s still plenty for readers of every age. [my review] C+

Increase Your Financial IQ by Robert Kiyosaki (2008)

The problem with the standard financial advice is that it’s bad advice. You’ve been told to work hard, save money, get out of debt, live below your means, and invest in a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds. But this advice is obsolete — so argues Robert Kiyosaki in Increase Your Financial IQ. I’ll be blunt: Kiyosaki is full of shit. I worry about his financial IQ. [my review] D-

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss (2007)

When I picked up The 4-Hour Workweek, I was worried it was some sort of “get rich quick” book. Ferriss makes a lot of bold promises, and some of the details along the way read like the confessions of an internet scammer. Ultimately, though, I found tons of value that I could apply to my own entrepreneurial ventures. In fact, this has become one of my most-bookmarked books of all time! An intelligent reader can easily extract a wealth of useful here, which is why it’s become a modern classic. [my review] B-

The Quiet Millionaire by Brett Wilder (2007)

The Quiet Millionaire is different from most of the other money books I review. Though Wilder includes behavioral finance and life planning concepts, this is a numbers book. It’s like a textbook for personal finance. It isn’t really a book for beginners. It’s targeted at folks who are out of debt and building wealth. I suspect many people will find this book boring. But then, smart personal finance is boring. [my review] B

Debt Is Slavery by Michael Mihalik (2007)

Debt is Slavery is a deceptively simple book. It’s short. Its advice seems basic. And it’s self-published, so how good can it be? Well, I think it’s great. In fact, I found myself wishing that I had written it. Mihalik’s advice is spot-on, and he covers a lot of topics that other authors shy away from, such as the effects of advertising, the weight of possessions, and the soul-sucking misery that comes from a bad job. This book may be short, but it’s sweet. Especially great for recent graduates, I think. [my review] B+

Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny (2007)

Overcoming Underearning isn’t what I expected it to be. When I read the title, I expected a book about how to stretch your dollars and how get more from what you do earn. This book is about asking for more, creating more, and working your way through the psychological pitfalls that lead to being satisfied with less in the first place. But the book contains few actionable steps that will help you make more money or invest well. If you need a “how-to” book, keep looking. If you need to get started, or are started, but have hit a wall and you don’t know why, this might be the book for you. [my review] C-

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006)

The Secret is all about the so-called Law of Attraction, which is not actually a law of anything. The Law of Attraction states that your life is a result of the things you think about. From a psychological perspective, this notion has some merit. But this book offers no evidence of any kind: no scientific discussion, no experimentation — only scattered cherry-picked anecdotes. It’s the worst kind of pseudo-scientific baloney. And its money advice is actively harmful rather than helpful. [my review] F

The Millionaire Maker by Loral Langmeier (2006)

The Millionaire Maker attempts to codify Langemeier’s “proprietary Wealth Cycle Process”. She believes there are better places to put your money than in mutual funds. This book is a mixed bag. While it preaches what ought to be preached, and Langemeier provides more specifics than some authors, her message sounds hollow. There is some good information here, but there’s stuff that raises red flags, too. [my review] D+

Work Less, Live More: The Way to Semi-Retirement by Bob Clyatt (2005)

For years, Work Less, Live More has been my go-to book for info about early retirement. I give away copies several times a year. I recommend it when replying to email. I refer to it myself when I have questions. I like this book because it strikes a balance between the high-level Big Picture stuff and the low-level nitty-gritty numbers crunching. (See also: Bob Clyatt’s guest post here at GRS about his life since writing the book.) [my review] A

All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi (2005)

This book was written by the mother-daughter team of Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. (Warren is now a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts!) The authors don’t get bogged down in the details of frugality and investing. They’re more interested in changing behavior, in fixing the big stuff. They offer a framework around which the reader can build lasting financial success. The book’s advice is solid, if sometimes flawed. To me, its lasting legacy is the introduction of the Balanced Money Formula (which some now call the 50-30-20 budget), a concept I promote extensively in my public speaking gigs. [my review] B-

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth by T. Harv Eker (2005)

Many people would dismiss Secrets of the Millionaire Mind as useless. There’s not a lot of concrete information here about how to improve the details of your financial life. (Though the scant advice presented is sound). Instead, this book encourages readers to adopt mental attitudes that facilitate wealth. It’s about changing your psychological approach to money, success, and happiness. (This book is the source of my money blueprint concept.) [my review] C

Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple’s Guide to Financial Security by Sheryl Garrett and Debra Neiman (2005)

As difficult as marriage and money can be, things are even tougher for unmarried couples, both gay and straight. It’s difficult for these folks to get good advice in a society that’s geared toward married couples. Money Without Matrimony is a great book with sound suggestions. It’s non-judgmental, practical, and packed with advice. If you’re in a committed unmarried relationship, I highly recommend you track down a copy. [my review] A

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach (2005)

David Bach is perhaps best known for coining the term “the latte factor”, a phrase that has almost become a joke in personal finance circles. That’s too bad, really, because Bach has some good ideas. And the latte factor is a marvelous concept, applicable to many people who casually spend their future a few dollars at a time. This book encourages readers to eliminate debt, to live frugally, and to pay themselves first. But the core of his book is unique: rather than develop will power and self-discipline, Bach says, why not bypass the human element altogether? Why not make your path to wealth automatic? [my review] C

Luck Is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career by John D. Krumboltz and Al S. Levin (2004)

Luck Is No Accident is a short book. Nothing in it is groundbreaking or revolutionary. Yet its common-sense wisdom is a powerful motivator. Whenever I read it, I cannot help but come away inspired, ready to make more of my situation, and to try new things. If you’re the sort of person who wonders why good things only happen to other people, I encourage you to read it. [my review] B+

The Random Walk Guide to Investing: Ten Rules for Financial Success by Burton Malkiel (2003)

Malkiel’s advice can be stated in a few short sentences: Eliminate debt. Establish an emergency fund. Begin making regular investments to a diversified portfolio of index funds. Be patient. But the simplicity of his message does not detract from its value. If you want to invest but don’t know where to start, pick up a copy of this book. [my review] A-

The Bountiful Container by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey (2002)

The Bountiful Container beats most gardening books hands-down in several key areas. It focuses on growing plants that give a beginning gardener the most “bang for the buck”, plants that are both edible and decorative and can be grown with limited space. It is splendidly organized and easy to read, and has a great index, too. And the level of detail is just right for almost any skill level, and the writing is pleasant to read and easy to understand. [my ex-wife’s review] B+

The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein (2002)

In this book, Bernstein describes how to build a winning investment portfolio. He doesn’t focus on the details — he tries to explain fundamental concepts so that readers will be able to make smart investment decisions on their own. The Four Pillars of Investing is challenging in places, but it provides an excellent introduction to the theory, history, psychology, and business of investing. If you’re able to finish, you’ll have a better grasp of investing than 99% of your peers. [my review] B

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill (2000)

In this book, Paco Underhill — an environmental psychologist — describes what he learned through years of research into consumer behavior and retail marketing. Like it or not, you’re manipulated all of the time while you’re shopping, and in ways you don’t even suspect. But by taking Underhill’s lessons for marketers and flipping them around, you can make yourself immune to marketers’ manipulations. (Well, maybe not immune, but less likely to succumb to their ploys, anyhow.) [my review] B

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes (and How to Fix Them) by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich (1999)

In this short book, Belsky and Gilovich catalog a menagerie of mental mistakes that cause people to spend more than they should. What might have been a boring topic becomes fascinating thanks to an engaging style and plenty of anecdotes and examples. This book covers a couple dozen psychological barriers to wealth. [my review] B+

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko (1998)

The Millionaire Next Door has earned its place in the canon of personal-finance literature. It’s built on years of research, on a body of statistics and case studies. It doesn’t make hollow promises. That said, the book is a flawed classic. It offers a fascinating portrait of the wealthy, but it buries this beneath mountains of detritus. The book is poorly organized, repetitive, and dull. (The section on car-buying seems to go on forever.) A patient reader will be rewarded with a glimpse at what it takes to become a millionaire, but I can’t help but feel this book could have been something more. Warning: Avoid the audiobook, which suffers even more in the tedious sections. [my review] C+

Yes, You Can Achieve Financial Independence by James Stowers (1992)

Yes, You Can Achieve Financial Independence is informative without being dense. It’s accessible without being condescending. Its advice is solid. The book is filled with investment advice, but it gives equal time to thrift and savings. Best of all, it asks as many questions as it provides answers. It prompts the reader to think, to evaluate his priorities. Its message is that yes, you can achieve Financial Independence, but you can’t get there overnight, and you can’t get there without setting goals and making sacrifices. [my review] A-

How to Retire Young by Edward M. Tauber (1989)

How to Retire Young is one of the oldest books I’ve found on the subject of early retirement. Tauber’s premise is that many people can retire early — if they plan and remain dedicated to the plan. I wish I could say that this is a great book. Sadly, it’s not. It’s good (don’t get me wrong), but it suffers from being first. [my review] C-

Cashing In on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst (1988)

Cashing In on the American Dream is a seminal early retirement book and its advice was spot-on for 1988. But that strength is now its weakness. Some of the advice is thirty years out of date. If you don’t need specific advice but are instead interested about theory (and story), then seek out this title. (The last half of the book is filled with stories from folks who made early retirement happen.) [my review] B

How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis (1988)

How to Get Out of Debt is built on the principles of Debtors Anonymous, a twelve-step program founded in 1971 to help those who struggle with compulsive debt. Mundis was himself a debtor, and he based this book on his own experience. This isn’t purely theoretical information from the mind of some Wall Street finance whiz who has never struggled; this book contains real tips and real stories from real people. [my review] A-

You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen (1980)

Whether you like it or not, your life is filled with negotiations. You negotiate your salary, for the price of a car, for the cost of a couch. You negotiate with your wife about where to spend your summer vacation, with your husband about what color to paint the baby’s bedroom, with your daughter about what time she should be home from the football game. Of all the books I’ve recommended at Get Rich Slowly over the years, You Can Negotiate Anything is one of the best. [my review] A

How to Get Rich and Stay Rich by Fred J. Young (1979)

This book is built around a single principle: Spend less than you earn and invest the difference in something that you think will increase in value and make you rich. It reads like homespun advice from your favorite uncle. While there’s plenty of good advice in these pages and lots of amusing anecdotes, there’s very little polish. [my review] C

The Incredible Secret Money Machine by Don Lancaster (1978)

Though the title smacks of get-rich-quick schemes, The Incredible Secret Money Machine is really about starting and running a small business. To Lancaster, a “money machine” is any venture that generates “nickels”. Nickels are small streams of revenue from individual customers. If your goal is simply to earn a comfortable income for yourself by doing something you love, then this book can help you explore the idea of business ownership. It’s not going to help you launch the next Google or Microsoft, though. Lancaster is all about nickels, not about dollars. [my review] C+

Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel (1970)

In 1970, writer Studs Terkel published Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, which features excerpts from over 100 interviews he conducted with those who lived through the 1930s. Terkel spoke with all sorts of people: old and young, rich and poor, famous and not-so-famous, liberal and conservative. The book is fascinating. It’s one thing to read about the Great Depression in textbooks, or to hear it used as leverage in political speeches, but it’s another thing entirely to read the experiences of the people who lived through it. [my review] A-

That’s it! If you find any reviews I missed, let me know so that I can add them to this index.

I consider this a “living article”. I plan to add to it with time. As I re-publish old reviews that are currently “unpublished”, I’ll add them here. And as I write new reviews in the future, those will get added to the list too.

Know of a money book that I should read and review? Drop a line to let me know!

The post An index to every money book I’ve reviewed during the past twelve years appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

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