#this semester is all my favorite subjects and only 4 classes

[kummatty]

hi i have a lot of questions. 3 4 13 17 23 25

hiiiii <3

3. what were your top 5 books of the year?

in no particular order;

if an egyptian cannot speak english, noor naga

the faggots & their friends between revolutions, larry mitchell

uncommon measure, a journey through music, performance, and the science of time, natalie hodges

the remainder, alia trabucco zerán trans. sophie hughes

sex and the family in colonial india, durba ghosh

4. did you discover any new authors that you loved this year?

yes, many! noor naga and natalie hodges for sure, I would read anything they write and I look forward to more from them. actually all the authors above I haven't read before. I'd like to read durba ghosh's gentlemanly terrorists too. also vernadette vicuña gonzalez, I love the subjects that she focuses on in her work, ive been in the middle of securing paradise for some time but I also read an article of hers on hawaiian quilts, commodification, and american imperialism which was incredible

13. what were your least favorite books of the year?

hmm I would say apsara engine, in: a graphic novel, and the haunting of tram car 015 - they were all ok, somewhat boring, but apsara engine is the only one i actively disliked, i was excited for a graphic anthology of queer south asian scifi but it fell flat to me, with a lot of focus on white people/white gaze

17. did any books surprise you with how good they were?

yes! definitely if an egyptian cannot speak english because it's so rich, creative, and haunting. it stayed with me in many ways, and i'm especially haunted by how violently race, class, imperialism, etc. can play out on an interpersonal level, which this book explores through love/romance. another was david vann's aquarium, it was a bit difficult for me to move through emotionally so i think i was rejecting at first but it sunk in more after i finished and stayed with me as well. it is so striking, well-written, and lays bare the day by day accumulation of life. I also found chia-chia lin's the unpassing really touching and beautiful, i think there's an innocence of it that's halting

23. what's the fastest time it took you to read a book?

probably the 2-3 days (can't quite remember) that it took me to read gayatri gopinath's impossible desires: queer diasporas and south asian public cultures, which i had to get through quickly in order to write my final paper on it lol. I probably read other books quicker, like washes, prays by noor naga or faggots & their friends, but i would consider this the fastest for how dense the book is too

25. what reading goals do you have for next year?

in terms of overall book goal, I think i'll stay with 24 books, which was my goal for this year, bc it feels reasonable and puts the right amount of pressure on me to pay attention to reading as a habit. I don't usually have other specific goals, but I'd like to keep this trend of reading more nonfiction, and i have a lot of articles saved I wanna get to. one of my goals is to maintain personal reading during the semester - even if its much slower

[100ducksizedfolignos]

15 people 15 questions

thanks @girlfriendline @giveemgreef @tblueger <333

1. are you named after anyone?

i am not! my middle name was an homage to my mom's grandparents but i have since changed it and my parents are blessedly allergic to otherwise naming anything after anybody

2. when was the last time you cried?

few days before christmas

3. do you have kids?

no and i do not want to. i have one fur baby (that i co-parent with my parents lmao) though as you all well know (scout my baby boy <3)

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

played kids' baseball/softball until i was like 10/11 bc i was constantly in the outfield and nobody can pitch until you get to like. high school. so it was boring and i hated it so i quit. i was on dance team for a while until i had to drop it bc recital dates kept being on the same days as school band concerts. was in marching band throughout high school, which counts bc i was a percussionist and had to lug around those heavy drum harnesses

5. do you use sarcasm?

a ridiculous amount. if we also count like comedic lying in this i accidentally convinced a coworker that there were only three seasons of spongebob doing that whole pretending that only the good parts of a show exist. such a shame spongebob ended after season 3. there's no more of it! just too bad

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

hair probably

7. what’s your eye color?

brown! medium tending towards dark

8. scary movies or happy endings?

while i love gothicness and gothyness i am a Known Weenie and certain types of gore literally make me feel faint. like the finale of the terror s1 made me a little faint and gave me the sweats and i had to fully pause the episode and lay on the floor for a while. so i guess categorically happy endings based on that. if a scary movie isn't super gory though i'll go for it

9. any talents?

i’m very performing arts inclined! i play piano, sing, dance, and act (was a theatre major in college). i memorize things quickly if i set my mind to it, am great at navigating, have great pitch memory (like i can be exactly or near-exactly on pitch when singing something i’ve heard before even without backing accompaniment. this unfortunately drives me crazy when people post pitch-shifted versions of songs and i can tell they’re off. bearer of the curse), decent stage combatant, good crowd weaver, and somehow bear the ability to unintentionally come off as intimidating to basically everyone i’ve ever met

10. where were you born?

iowa, usa

11. what are your hobbies?

i'm something of a gamer in my spare time. basically only solo joints though i'm not like gamer nhlers that play like. league of legends or fortnite or counterstrike. i've recently joined a community band and a bar trivia team (with my old middle school choir teacher lmao. he's a homie), i write fic every once in a while, read, dance around the house, go for walks when it's not cold, snuggle my pup, and obviously watch hockey. i keep telling myself i'm going to learn how to sew but trying to find beginner projects for men types is fucking dire and i keep not going out to get fabric for the pirate blouse i keep wanting to make rip

12. do you have any pets?

ah there's a separate question for this. scout, my yellow lab baby boy whose breeder had a confederate flag up in his barn when we got him (we saved you buddy). have some pictures

13. how tall are you?

5'5". short king territory

14. favorite subject in school?

i was a band/choir bitch. probably followed by english (literature). i liked basically all of it but phys ed though fuck that class i hate distance running it gives me a stitch in my side and you have to run a mile at least twice a semester (fuck you presidential fitness test). on top of all the other running they make you do. loved when they just did games though. matball my beloved

15. dream job.

actor, either stage or voice. unfortunately i do not want to live where the big voice acting studios are located and regional stage acting is kind of limited unless you go all the way out to chicago, which i tried for a couple of months before multiple breakdowns told me i should probably be closer to home. i enjoy being a librarian though :)

tagging @get-hockeyed-idiot @amandaleveille @wildaboutmnhockey @girldewar @letkirillfight @yes-perwallstedt if you guys haven't done it yet and also anyone else who wants to

[androgynousangeldreamland]

15 questions for 15 friends:

Thank you @missamyrisa2 for the tag :3

1. Were you named after anyone?: Yeahh, if I remember well, I was named after my grandmother on my mother's side.

2. When was the last time you cried?: Last night, while watching La La Land for the first time😔

3. Do you have kids?: Nope, and never thinking of having any ever☝️ I can barely handle myself so I don't wanna imagine myself dealing with kids too😭

4. What sports do you play/have you played?: Pretty much all of them I think. I've done swimming, tennis, soccer, dance, badminton and the list goes on. But I gave up all of them eventually lmaoo.

5. Do you use sarcasm?: Guilty as charged, I can't stop using sarcasm sometimes, it's too much fun.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?: Honestly the first thing I try to notice about people when I first meet them is wether they like me or not, how they text and such.

7. What's your eye color?: A mix of green and grey, sometimes a tad of yellow in there if the light hits my eye, I don't even know exactly😭

8. Scary movies or happy endings?: Ooohhh hard choice, on one hand I love when things end up well in movies, on the other, I'm a sucker for when things end up horribly in horror movies. It's a tie I'm afraid 😔

9. Any talents?: I can make the best breakfast sandwich ever, hit me up guys, I'll make one just for you🙏 Oh I also have a knack for drawing, not much anymore but I still got it I think :3

10. Where were you born?: In good ol' Canada, won't specify further.

11. What are your hobbies?: Mostly playing video games and drawing. (If any of you speak to me about red dead redemption 1 or 2 I'll love you forever, the rdr brainrot is real🙏🙏🙏🙏)

12. Do you have any pets?: Had one last year, a beautiful (big) tabby cat, though he passed away 2 years ago, rest in peace big guy😔👊

13. How tall are you?: 5'10", 11 ish

14. Favorite subject in school?: Not even gonna lie, it was either art or P.E. I loved both equally. (I only liked art cuz my crush was in the same class as I was/hj)

15. Dream job?: Working in a car shop w my lil brother, working on it actually, gonna start my car bodywork semester soon enough :3

Join in and pass it on if you can. Don't feel obligated!

@calicole22 @zeetickles @avg-tummy-enjoyer @an0nymz @anticklee2 @serial-tickler @cutelittleswitch @dirtbagswitch @echo1321 @fluftickles @fine-feathered-tickles @foot-tickling-fetish @gigglyloser @hypersensitiv3 @lawoftickleswitches

[sterekchub]

Oooo, College!Stiles tho. A freshman all bushy tailed and bright eyed, ready to have fun and be stupid. It takes barely a week before his partymood and impressive appetite manages to grab the attention of a frat, their last "little" project having graduated the previous semester. Stiles is ecstatic that a frat has already invited him to join, oblivious to the nefarious plans they have for Stiles, as they wonder if this is the time when they will finally forcefully fatten someone into immobility~

Uff don't even get me started on college!Stiles because the ideas are endless. Goes from straight As to being too food-drunk (or absolutely sloshing with beers) to even remember how to get to class most days. Signs up for extra credit in a class where a very eager graduate student uses him as an the subject of their paper on how sugar and a food addiction can change the human psyche (and Stiles willingly goes along bc hey - a hot graduate student taking him out to dinner dates? and some fitness tests and questionnaire's every other month? easy!) Comes home with the freshman 50 leaving his old high school classmates and the Sheriff wondering what the hell happened...and Stiles can only shrug and blame it on his roommate....

OR YES absolutely my favorite: Joins a frat and quickly realizes the "hazing" process involves lots and lots of food....and at the end of it, Stiles isn't part of the frat...he's welcomed in as the frat's personal pet pig, doomed to 4 years of being treated as the human beer keg, the lard storage, the amusement during parties to feed and poke and grope....And by the time he realizes what's happening, he's too invested in being the frat's all time heaviest member..

[wonwoosthetic]

I read so many books the last month i can't even comprehend when i did that lmaoo but i recommend u all of them which are - The cruel prince (3 books), Throne of glass (7 books) which became my favorite series they're so good! And A court of thorns and roses(5 books)! All 3 book series are fantasy, romance, enemies to lovers (especially the prince one) and have very hot respectful men 😌😌and fu powerful women (aelin from throne of glass became my fave)🫶 if you're into these type of books u wont make a mistake reading them. And rn im reading crescent city pretty good so far ~

And i loved so much the bss comeback! Fighting came out just when i had an awful exam where my professor probably screwed my chances for scholarship (I'll see if my degree is enough at the end of the month) cuz i had 5 exam - 4 of them got a perfect score but the last one on a scale to 6 is 4 bcz the professor wasn't in good mood😌

- traumatised anon

Ooooooh cool cool cool, i have to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of fantasy😪 but I’m REALLY trying to get into it😭 I have all three cruel Prince books but I’ve only read the first one bc since I work in a bookstore, I always find new books I want to read and then forget about the other ones on my shelf🥲 but I heard really good things about the other two series, so I’m gonna give them a go!!🤍

Oh noooooooo!! Fuck that professor!!! Had a similar situation during my finals :/ all my other professors would just round up to the next full percent (so if you have officially reached 54.6%, they’d just give you 55) but not the one in the subject I would’ve needed it, so I’m gonna have to repeat that class this semester🥲🥲 fucking hate that. I hope the scholarship goes well for you though!! I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed for you and please keep me updated!🫶🏼🫶🏼 and CONGRATS TO FREAKING FOUR PERFECT SCORE TESTS, wtf how are you so smart👏🏼😳🫶🏼👏🏼😳

[shepgarrus]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

@misseffect tagged me like last week oops

1. Are you named after anyone?

my middle name is after my dad’s favorite aunt

2. When was the last time you cried?

i don’t know if i’ve cried yet this year? but i definitely did in december

3. Do you have kids?

N O

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

i used to but my mom murders me for it so i’ve probably forgotten how by now :(

6. What’s your eye color?

brown

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

as misseffect said: Happy endings, but only because I don’t like scary movies.

8. Any special talents?

please give me a definition for this...

9. Where were you born?

the same place i’m living now ;)

10. What are your hobbies?

walking because i have to. cooking because i have to. and reading fic. i’m so boring :c i got a skateboard during the summer but took a bad fall that’s going to be like $350 to recover from so idk if i’ll be able to justify continuing come spring, and i got an electric guitar a couple of weeks ago but apparently to get the ‘rock sound’ from the amp i got you actually need to have the volume high and that’s a no go for my sensitive ears and living situation so that might be another potential hobby out the window :’)

11. Have you any pets?

i’ve had fish in the past but none currently, keeping myself alive is tedious enough

12. What sports do you play/have played?

you want straight through from childhood lmao? ballet, soccer, uuuuuuuh like everything in gym class at some point. highland dance but it was people with no idea what they were doing teaching other people who had no idea what they were doing. does horseback riding count? but nothing now because covid and i also need to build up some base strength before i’d feel confident taking anything up but rock climbing’s always called to me (team sports are No)

13. How tall are you?

5′9

14. Favourite subject in school?

Anthropology (the one third of one semester we spent on it lmao)

15. Dream job?

as misseffect said: no job! only money

but actor on a fantasy or scifi tv show (if i get to play an alien) may be passable but don’t hold me to it once i actually experience the reality or they make me work more than like two days consecutively

-

all my mutuals have already been tagged so i’m freeeeeeeeeeee

[omardelgado]

Omar Delgado 3D curated portfolio

1) sketched ideas from first weeks and movie notes day one.

Going into the area of assemblage, I had no prior information on the subject so it was surprising and highly informative to watch all 6 videos. It was interesting to watch how all the artists went about doing assemblage and how different all the pieces were. The Artist that captivated me the most was Louise Nevelson who produced large works in one color which was primarily black. Watching the videos on her, the quote “I want to be a sculptor, I don’t want color to help me”, really stuck with me as she deprived her works of color and allowed the objects within the piece to speak for themselves and work harmoniously together. With us also working in one color for our upcoming assignment it was natural to gravitate to her works. So having watched these videos and now having a better understanding for the material, it will definitely help heading into our first assignment and make a clearer idea for where I want to head with my piece.

2) Process photos from assemblage.

3) Assemblage-  side by side photo of final product and artist statement and title.

(right to left)

Web of Roads Crosshair Gears

doing the two assemblage pieces was pretty fun because you got to choose what direction you wanted to go in, as we do with most projects in this class. Spraying the pieces was the easy part, the gluing is what took the most time and effort to do because once you had an idea of where you wanted to go with the project, all you had to do was glue everything down. All in all the assignment was a fun project to work on and defiantly teaches you to take your time.

4) Process work for Soap Sculpture

5) Photo shoot of soap and final product with artist statement and title.

Escaliers

The soap carving assignment definitely took precision and patience to complete. The one thought in mind while completing this project was to take it slowly and carve away little by little and not huge chunks. With having no guidelines or any sense of what or where you should cave away, you just had to trust your imagination and see that it all comes together as you go. The assignment definitely thought me that sometime you just have to let go of all thoughts you have and just flow with the work and whatever you produce.

6) Ephemeral Art - process photos 

7) Ephemeral art - completed project and photo shoot with artist statement and title.

Bundle of intersections

this assignment out of all the ones we did this semester was the most challenging to complete. Like the soap assignment you didn't have any guidelines or clue of where you should start. You just had to gather sticks and build whatever it was the sticks gave you to work with. This assignment was something you defiantly had to trust all the way into the end as it only starts coming together with the more sticks you add into it. What I learned from this assignment is that art isn't easy, and if it doesn't take time and effort to complete then you're not really putting any meaningful work into your artworks.

8) Ceramic work process photos.

9) Museum Sketches and studies

10) Final Artist statement explaining the different processes from the semester.:

Coming into this semester I was excited to take the 3D course. I didn't know really what to expect but i thought it'd be fun and id definitely learn new things along the way. Using all the different materials and various assignments we challenging to do but fun at the same time, especially when you would fall into the assignment and not have a care for anything else happening in the moment. My favorite assignment to work on was definitely the ceramic assignment as I felt that I could truly create what I wanted to do with it. Especially since its all hands on and you shape the clay how you want it to be using all the various techniques we were taught. I would recommend this class to any else interested because it teaches you how to appreciate art from different perspectives and to not only look at art or process it in a singular way. It pushes the idea of tackling an assignment or work from different angels that you normally wouldn't otherwise. Overall it opens your mind to view art in a different manner that you never would have before.

[witch-of-the-sands]

15 Questions for 15 People

Tagged by @radisyn

Are you named after anyone?

My parents lowkey flipped a coin on my name, so I don't think so.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Uhhhh....you know I actually don't know if I remember? It might have been listening to dndads on my drive to school?

3. Do you have any kids?

Ick, minor alert!! No kids, tho I think I might want one in the future.

4. What sports do you/have you play(ed)?

Not currently in any sports, though I've tried: basketball, soccer, gymnastics, dance, volleyball, tennis, and fencing.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Too much, I have definitely never gotten in trouble for being too sarcastic hahahahaha....

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Hair color bc I'm kinda shallow like that tbh. If they have anything to do with any of my interests displayed I'll notice that too

7. What's your eye color?

My family can't decide, I personally say gray

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

I'm a slut for happy endings but only if they make me cry. If not it better be the most depressing shit.

9. Any talents?

Some random person on a bus said I had perfect pitch when I was a kid but that's low-key it. I have good pitch, I think the rest is hard work :)

10. Where were you born?

Sorry guys, most I'm giving is the US!

11. What are your hobbies?

Oh my god so many things. I write fanfiction for fun, I also write music both for fun and as a future job (and class projects fuckin music school) I've been learning bass and drums recently too. I occasionally pick up a pen and doodle. I play dnd (tho I mostly DM) and I spend too much time writing original works tbh :,( other than that I enjoy walking? Does that count?

12. Do you have any pets?

One! I have this orange menace named Willow who's very much got the female ginger cat syndrome.

13. How tall are you?

5'8 on a good day

14. Favorite school subject?

Depends, in my traditional schooling my favorites are english and history, but since I've started taking college classes english has somewhat fallen by the wayside bc it's nothing but essays essays essays. Waiting for when I get the chance to study creative writing in a few years </3 Think my fav in my current semester might be english still tho, my business class has exclusively taught me how to make a resume in the past 4 months or so.

15. Dream job?

Musician all the way, I would kill to do it full time. Meaning I'm financially stable enough to be an author on the side as well because I'm significantly less confident about those skills at the moment.

Tag 15 people (I don't know 15 people tbh): @lqvande @lurking-skeletons @emiilyfantasia

[caphayzardous]

15 Questions, 15 People I do not have 15 followers

Tagged by @jakey-beefed-it thank u I only just saw this because I got logged out on my phone and ah you know how it is when you get logged out of any social mdia you're like 'that's probably for the best' and you don't amend it anyways,

1. Are you named after anyone? no! my first and middle name are out of nowhere.

2. When was the last time you cried? liek by some miracle I've now gone a full week without crying. I cried a little at a rally last weekend

3. Do you have kids? non

4. What sports do you play/have played? the main Sports I've played in my adult life is Cycling (and Dancing I suppose). I have uhh played Hit People With Swords (LARP variety).

5. Do you use sarcasm? not very well to be real

6. What's the first thing you notice about people? I think it's usually hairstyle

7. What’s your eye color? blue

8. Scary movies or happy endings? ah like both r good in my books I mean............ well I'll say scary movies tho. but not 2 scary. tbh.

9. Any talents? yea drawing and also my other talent is eating things I shouldnt for comedic effect

10. Where were you born? greater melbourne, victoria, australia,

11. What are your hobbies? dancin at the goth clubs. thats a hobby. .... also drawing (once or twice a year lmao) and working out and writing prose and poetry and reading. and other stuff.

12. Do you have any pets? two cats!! Scarlett and Ypsy!! and a garden full of jumping spiders!!! and also I recently got a little sculpture of a dragon and I have named him Caufalfa!!!! that counts

13. How tall are you? 165cm or 5'5"

14. Favorite subject in school? like in high school that was a million years ago but I liked studio arts fashion, english was ok, maths I liked a fair bit tbh loved writing it all out super neat, global politics I nearly tanked entirely but I did like it a lot. favourite subject in uni was probably that one fucking class where I made my website to be honest but also the big studio class each semester is pretty good too

15. Dream job? yeah look I am hearing this question a lot because I'm in my second last semester of this degree and uhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA----

taggin no one becaseu. because. but thanks jake!!!

[deerskulls]

@nosebleedclub // oct 2+3: fall schedule + losing team

On Tuesdays, we meet at the local diner for breakfast at 6 am, way before the first bell rings at school.

Most mornings, I order pancakes and drench them in syrup, guzzle down lukewarm black coffee from the pot the waitress knows by now to leave for us on the table. We pass it around and take turns pouring, clasp our hands tight around our mugs like a lifeline.

On this particular Tuesday morning, it's just me and Brenda in the whole diner and Brenda is giving me a dressing-down.

"Lou, you've got to get your shit together!" Brenda tells me.

"I know," I moan. It's only 4 weeks into the fall semester and I'm already failing math.

Unlike me, Brenda is the type who studies all the time, fully dedicated to going to Yale next fall. She'll probably be valedictorian of our class when we graduate next spring. As for me, I just want to pass and get it all over with.

I cut her some slack, knowing that her nagging me is all she has going for her these days, besides studying her ass off.

"What are you gonna be for Halloween?" I change the subject, having enough of Brenda's nagging for the moment.

Brenda sighs and twirls her spoon in her coffee. "It's too early to think about that. Halloween isn't for another couple weeks."

I gape at her lack of dedication to the most important holiday of the year. "Brenda! We have to have the best costumes in the whole school! We're seniors now, it's our last chance to show off. I was thinking we could do a group thing with Joel and Corvus and the others."

Brenda stares into her coffee cup for a minute, drenched in silence, before looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. "I can't focus on Halloween right now, I have more important things to think about. Can't you just pick my costume for me?" she pleads. "Especially if it's gonna be a group thing."

I grin at her, thousands of ideas running through my head. "Oh, this is gonna be so good! Just wait until you see what I come up with."

Brenda pales a little at my enthusiasm. "Wait! Don't make it too crazy, okay? My parents will kill me if it's too inappropriate."

I sit back in the booth and smirk. "Brenda, your parents won't even recognize you when I'm done with you."

Brenda grabs my wrists. "Lou, please! I'm serious. I'll get in big trouble if my tits are out or something!"

I shake her off. "Fine, fine, you're no fun." Brenda's face falls, so I grab her hands between mine. "I'm just kidding! You're the most fun, like, ever, especially when we study together, ooh it's so much fun, I love when you teach me derivatives, it's the most fun I've had in ages!"

Brenda rolls her eyes and pulls her hands from my grasp, a smile teasing the corners of her lips. "No need to lay it on so thick, Lou. I get it, okay? You didn't mean it."

Satisfied that I had successfully cheered her up, I returned to my pancakes, stuffing a huge bite in my mouth.

"You goin' to th' game on Fri'ay?" I ask around the bite of pancake in my mouth.

Brenda scoffs. "Not likely. I have to study for my history test on Monday. Besides, we always end up losing anyways."

"Aw, come on!" I pout. "It's good fun regardless." I lean over my plate of pancakes toward Brenda and drop my voice down to a whisper. "I nicked some vodka from my parents' liquor cabinet." I sit back and look at Brenda's shocked face. "Besides, Daniel will be there," I say at normal volume, smirking. Brenda colors, as expected.

"I--uhh, so what if Daniel is there!" Brenda exclaims loudly. Our waitress looks over at us, annoyed. I wave at her apologetically, mouthing sorry!

I roll my eyes. "Oh come on, Brenda! I know you like him. You keep staring at the back of his head during English. I have to take notes for once, just to keep you from failing!"

Although I complain about taking notes, English is my favorite class and I truly don't mind. But no one can know that. I have a reputation to maintain.

Brenda is bright red at this point. "I do not," she hisses. "I just--spaced out a little that time. Yeah."

I laugh. "Bren, you're fooling nobody except yourself. There's nothing wrong with having a little crush!"

Although, it's Daniel. She could've chosen better. Brenda should go with someone who's more her speed, someone nerdy and dedicated to school like her. Not dumb jock Daniel on the school's loser football team who could barely string two words together when we had to present our poems to the class during the poetry unit. Stupid Daniel with his perfect hair, straight white teeth that shone when he grinned, broad shoulders that tapered to a trim waist--

I shake my head at my thoughts, shocked. Whoa. Where did that come from?

"Lou!" Brenda snaps her fingers in front of my face and I'm jolted out of my internal crisis. "It's time to go, we're gonna be late to homeroom!"

I sigh. "Fine, fine." I flag down our waitress and pay the bill, treating Brenda this time to make up for my teasing. She's just so easy to tease, I can't help it.

Brenda smiles at me gratefully. I also know she's tight on money at home, so if I can do anything to help her out, I will. After all, she's my best friend.

[aceofvernons]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

taged by @boochans ty for tagging me in so much stuff ilysm <333

1. are you named after anyone?

my name xanthe specifically has xanthe huynh as my namesake, she's a voice actor for a couple of my favorite characters and i also love the name so much ^^

2. when was the last time you cried?

earlier today, i was watching a game with a couple of my friends and we were all voice acting for it and we just finished the game today. there was a scene near the end of the game where two characters reunite after a really long time and it was very touching. the game is 'super lesbian animal rpg' if anyone is interested! (yes that is the actual name of the game)

3. do you have kids?

nope. not going to have any either. closest thing i have to one is my lovely demon winry, who's black and white and fluffy ♡

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

yeah i'd say so. i think i used to be snarkier when i was younger, but i'm still full of quips sometimes.

5. what sports do you play/have played?

ah, i haven't really played any sports formally, but i used to take taekwondo in middle school! sometimes i really do miss taking a martial art

6. what's the first thing you notice about people?

their clothes and how tall they are!

7. what's your eye color?

dark brown, if i didn't like dyeing my hair so often i'd be subject to the 'my hair and eyes are basically the same color' curse. it's not really a bad thing though imo i just like messing with my hair

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings! i am unfortunately an overly anxious weenie who's got very little stomach for horror depite being one myself (/hj)

9. any special talents?

i think this counts more as a skill, but i've gotten really good at calculating time differences when i became friends with people who lived in different time zones from me. i also (roughly) remember the time differences of most places in the world from me. if that doesn't count as a special talent i also have the ability to recognize like every seventeen song ever for whatever that's worth.

10. where were you born?

i was born in one of the probably dozens of cities that surround los angeles, california. i still live in the area now, but it's massive so this doesn't mean much.

11. what are your hobbies?

i love playing video games, writing, reading, listening to music, and attempting to become the color blue. (the last one is only partially a joke)

12. do you have any pets?

i do!!! i mentioned her in #3 but her name's winry, she's 6, and she loves committing crimes against me but she's so lovely that i can't stay mad at her for long ♡

13. how tall are you?

i'm 5'0 or 152cm! the odds were stacked against me for my height, my body pushed me to the five foot mark then gave up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

14. favorite subject in school?

uh, history? i guess? science classes were fun too when i wasn't being bombarded with numbers

15. dream job?

i really want to work as a researcher of some kind, helping people and maybe writing some studies. i wrote one in my most recent semester of college, and just the process of putting together information and trying to prove something new is really interesting. realistically though i just want a job that will be kind to my neurodivergent and disabled ass (doubtful)

i'm leaving this as open taglist because it's 3 am and i stopped doing a project for today and i ache from it </3 if anyone sees this and thinks it's interesting enough to do, consider yourself tagged ♡ but i probably will be going to bed after this

[graziadiocenterilpostino]

Faculty Spotlight: Sienna Hopkins

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experiences at Cal State Long Beach.

For the past 15 years I have been a lecturer of Italian, Italian-American History, and Comparative Literature at CSULB.  Each subject is scintillating to teach, but only in Italian am I actually paid to ask my students questions about their lives – repeatedly, every day – for the entire semester. It is pure joy. The camaraderie that is developed in a language class is unparalleled, and has given me a benchmark for what every class can be: student centered. I structure my other courses with that goal in mind. 

2. You pursued a PhD in Italian Studies at UCLA. What initially interested you in this program and is there anything about your time there you would like to share?

When I started my graduate program at UCLA, I was behind the eight-ball.  I had not even minored in Italian at my undergrad university because at the time, a minor did not exist.  In essence, I had gone to Italy for year, fallen in love with the people and the language, then returned home with a desire to pursue my Italian studies, without the ability to do so.  So I started working at an Italian restaurant (learning every dialectal word for “cheapskate” while doing so), listening to Italian music, and watching the occasional film.  These things weren’t easy in 1998!  I had to drive across LA to a small video store in Santa Monica to snag these precious movies, and order music CDs from Italy. There was NO YouTube. NO apple music. NO Netflix. Graduate school was the natural next step if I was going to pursue this passion that had no outlet. Still, I started a GRADUATE program in Italian without even knowing the subjunctive tense.  I had a LOT to learn, and UCLA was a wonderful place for that, because Italian was spoken in every nook and cranny of Royce Hall; walking into the 3rd floor, east wing, was like walking into Italy. Because my Italian was intermediate at best, I didn’t think I would ever teach the language–I thought I would leave that to the native speakers, so during my first year there, I TA’d for an Italian cinema and Italian history course. But that summer I earned a Fellowship at the Dante Alighieri School in Siena, Italy, and when I returned I realized that after a year at UCLA and a summer in Italy, I was ready to teach the language. The training I received at UCLA, while teaching my first language course, was grueling, but top-notch. When we walked into the classroom to teach, we were PREPARED.

3. Have you ever studied or lived in another country? If so, where and what was that experience like? Did you learn anything from it?

As an undergrad I lived in Paris for a summer, and learned that a city can seep into your very bones; you can feel the cobblestones in your heart, you smell your favorite patisserie from miles away, and your eyes expectantly seek out every beautiful monument, statue, tree, and ornate street lamp as you walk through the city; you even become bossy in French, about HOW you want your crepe beurre sucre, to be made. That is when I learned that I don not particularly like to travel to a foreign country; I like to live there.  

I have lived in Italy 4 separate times: to Florence for an academic year abroad, to Siena, Italy for two summers (not consecutive), and to Florence, Italy, to accompany a group of UCLA students and teach Italian. I confess, it felt strange to be an American teaching Italian in Italy, but I have found that learning Italian as a second language is an asset in the language classroom, because I understand when something might be confusing (having struggled with the concept myself), and can help my students with those questions. Ex: how do you say “drop” in Italian? You don’t! You can’t!  Instead, Italians say, “made it fall/ far cadere”- which was very frustrating to me as a language learner, because obviously when we drop something, it is not purposeful at all! These are the things language learners wrestle with, so I can see their questions coming before they even ask them. Plus, I know every grammar exception under the sun, because UCLA made sure I learned them.  

4. Are you currently working on any projects or research you would like to discuss?

Every time I step into the classroom, I am researching and learning.  When I teach a new course, I generally like to publish something about that topic, but it’s more a natural outpouring of my love for learning itself, and realizing that I need to have a deep, ingrained knowledge of the content to be an effective teacher. I am currently working on an article about how to teach with primary sources in the transnational language classroom, specifically elaborating upon how memoirs of the Italian American experience teach history “sneakily”- unobtrusively and naturally, through anecdotes, and how teachers of history need only point the way, helping the students reflect upon the stories to reach historical conclusions, and perhaps providing the occasional historical date or statistic to help them fit the stories into a historical framework.    

I am also slowly writing an Italian language textbook with my colleague and friend, Daniela Zappador-Guerra. It features American students traveling abroad in Italy - their friendships, their love of Italian culture, and of course their linguistic discoveries.  Diversity and authenticity are central to this textbook, as is implementing the breadth of theoretical knowledge on language instruction that we have learned here at CSULB from the myriad of scholars who have passed through our grateful doors.  

5. What is a fun fact you would like to share about yourself?

How about a story? This is my favorite: on my first day in Italy, as a student in Pepperdine’s Florence year-abroad program, I decided I did not want to join the rest of the students on the tour of the city center; I wanted to explore on my own!  I have always had a spirit similar to Anne of Green Gables, so as you can imagine, this decision had very interesting ramifications.  The first is that I convinced two other girls to join me on my rebellious jaunt through the streets of Florence.  The second is that we realized, after walking for about 15 minutes, that we had NO IDEA WHERE WE LIVED. That’s right. No address. No idea. This was pre-internet (gasp), so we decided to do the only intelligent thing: figure out where we were at that intersection, and then get directions back to that spot when our city escapade had concluded.  We were sure we could find our way home from that spot, so we looked at the street signs and saw the words: “Senso Unico.” We continued on our way and after an hour or two, I decided to use my language skills to obtain directions home. I approached my first Italian and asked, “Mi scusi, dov’è via Senso Unico?” As some of you have already surmised, the response was not one I was hoping for: key words like destra, sinistra or dritto were NOT uttered. Not once. Just a string of words I didn’t understand. So we thought we should try asking an elderly gentleman. Same result. I decided that my language skills were obviously not what I had hoped, so we slowly made our way back, and (gasp) we found via “Senso Unico!” We followed it home; or at least, we tried to. This street was very odd.   It stopped and started in the strangest of places, but we eventually found our way back to the river and made our way back home. The next day, when I was sheepishly walking with the group to a tour of the outdoor market, I pointed out “Via Senso Unico” to the director, remarking that the streets in Italy were beyond strange to which the director responded, “That means One Way - it’s not a street name, it’s a direction!” That is when I learned that street names in Italy are posted on buildings, not on street-posts! I had been looking in the wrong places, and asking the very wrong questions! “Excuse me, where is one-way street?!”

Since that day, the expression Senso Unico has become replete with symbolism for me: it means following one’s dream with dogged determination, it spiritually signifies that love is the only path worth taking, and it even influenced a quote my husband and I used in our wedding: “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward in the same direction” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). We recently celebrated our 20th anniversary, and I composed a song for my husband entitled Senso Unico. Perhaps that is an interesting tidbit about me: I love to sing, but I never do it publicly, unless I am singing a phrase or two for my students, but in the classroom, singing a few words feels as natural as speaking them - because speaking Italian feels like singing to me - it harmonizes with my personality in a way that feels like home.  

If you are wondering, I did eventually learn the address of the street where I would live for that entire year: 41 Viale Milton.  I even had my father, artist extraordinaire, sneak the numbers “41” and the senso unico symbol onto the painting that will eventually be the cover of a language textbook I am writing with my colleague, Daniela Zappador-Guerra. Picture below.

Steve Ladd, Possibilità

Sienna Hopkins

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Fridays—Chapter 169: The Analysis, chapter 2

Fridays—Chapter 169: The Analysis, chapter 2

Pairing:  Captain Swan

Summary:   A series of unrelated, fluffy one shots featuring Killian Jones and  Emma Swan and the relationship that makes us all swoon. Will contain  both canon and AU stories. My contribution to Operation Rainbow Kisses  and Unicorn Stickers (aka, my attempt to drown out the season 4 finale  angst with ridiculous levels of fluff.)

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (55) (56) (57) (58) (59) (60) (61) (62) (63) (64) (65) (66) (67) (68) (69) (70) (71) (72) (73) (74) (75) (76) (77) (78) (79) (80) (81) (82) (83) (84) (85) (86) (87) (88) (89) (90) (91) (92) (93) (94) (95) (96) (97) (98) (99) (100) (101) (102) (103) (104) (105) (106) (107) (108) (109) (110) (111) (112) (113) (114) (115) (116) (117) (118) (119) (120) (121) (122) (123) (124) (125) (126) (127) (128) (129) (130) (131) (132) (133) (134) (135) (136) (137) (138) (139) (140) (141) (142) (143) (144) (145) (146) (147) (148) (149) (150) (151) (152) (153) (154) (155) (156)  (157) (158) (159) (160) (161) (162) (163) (164) (165) (166) (167) (168) (170) (171) (172) (173) (174) 

(ao3) (ff.net)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Killian Jones had never imagined himself as a teacher of any sort.  The idea of standing in front of a classroom full of people and speaking confidently on any subject frightened him nearly witless.  This being the case, it was quite the surprise when Professor French had asked him to be her graduate assistant this semester.

It was even more of a surprise when he found himself saying yes.

Killian had led a difficult life, to be sure.  His mum had passed when he was quite young, and soon after his dad had left.  As soon as he was old enough, Killian had followed his brother, Liam into the navy, and that had been bad enough.  Killian had always been reserved, loath to stand up for himself.  Truthfully he likely wasn’t cut out for the rigors of military life.  (Nor was he cut out for the merciless mocking of his fellow sailors when they inevitably learned of his allergy to rum and his liking for goat’s milk.)

It all became infinitely worse when Liam was killed in a training exercise.

During those dark times in his life, Killian found his only solace in music, particularly classical music.  In particular, Mozart seemed to have the unique ability to sooth Killian’s demons when the pain and the loneliness got the worst.

When Killian lost his left hand in an accident a year after Liam’s passing, he was honorably discharged from the navy and found himself at a crossroads.  What was he to do with the rest of his life?

He’d decided to pursue academics, and he’d taken to the pursuit far more readily than he’d ever taken to military life.  Following his interests, he’d majored in music and then went on to pursue a graduate degree in the field.

By far his favorite professor was Ms. Belle French.  He flourished under her gentle, almost motherly style of teaching.  She was the only person, save for Liam of course, who’d ever seen promise in Killian, and he was more grateful than he could have said for that fact.

And so, when Belle had asked him to be her graduate assistant, he’d reluctantly agreed.  The prospect filled him with trepidation, of course, but he’d have Ms. French by his side, so how difficult could it be, really?

He hadn’t banked on the fact that Ms. French would get pregnant a few months before the semester began, nor had he banked on the fact that she’d go into premature labor, leaving Killian to cover the class on his own.

It was a terrifying prospect–teaching a class on his own, lecturing for entire class periods on the classical greats and engaging with students.

And yet, terrifying as it might have been, Killian found the music history class he taught to be the absolute highlight of his day, and that was without doubt due to her.  

From the moment Emma Swan stepped into the music history classroom, Killian was drawn to her.  She was gorgeous, far more beautiful than any woman Killian had ever set eyes on before.  Killian would never forget the moment he saw her.

She stepped into the classroom at just the moment Killian happened to be walking past the door, and she ran directly into him.  Killian put out his hand to steady her, intending to mutter an awkward apology, but the moment he’d looked into her eyes, he’d suddenly lost the ability for all rational thought.

Truth be told, he likely couldn’t have remembered his own name as he looked down on her in wonder, his breath catching and his cheeks tinting a deep red.  They continued looking at each other for what felt like ages–although it was likely only moments–before the delightful creature before him chuckled self-consciously, muttered an apology, and then slid past him toward an open seat in the middle of the lecture hall.

There was something about Emma Swan, something he couldn’t put his finger on, something special, something extraordinary.  It was more than her undeniable beauty that drew him to her.  It was an inescapable belief that they were kindred spirits, that they understood each other.

Killian had never had much success in the realm of romance.  He’d been drawn to women before, of course, but the prospect of approaching one and asking her out had scared him half to death.  He knew he was a handsome man, and he’d noticed his fair share of interested looks from members of the fairer sex.  A few had approached him and asked him out.  None had ever gone beyond a date or two, though.  Killian’s near crippling shyness had made dates awkward, and no woman yet had been willing to put forth the effort to draw him out. Truthfully, none had interested him enough to try to break free from his fearful nature anyway.

He suspected Emma Swan might be an exception to that rule.  He suspected she was worth fighting for, worth coming out of his shell for, worth being brave and bold for.  In short he suspected, given half the chance, he could fall in love with the lovely Miss Emma Swan.

The point was moot for the moment, of course.  As he was a graduate assistant and she was his student, making any kind of advance toward her would be highly inappropriate, the height of bad form.  There was no chance Killian would breach the bounds of propriety in order to pursue Miss Swan under the circumstances.

But the fact that he absolutely would not act upon his desires certainly did not mean that they were any less present.  He found himself eagerly anticipating every single Music History 101 class.  Throughout the class, he found his eyes drawn to her inexorably, like the pull of a paperclip to a magnet.  More than once, she’d caught his eye, and he’d looked away quickly, feeling the heat race to his face.  More than once he’d felt his stomach swoop when she’d speak up in class or ask a question.

She was the most enchanting creature he’d ever met, and he was utterly captivated by her.

The pull to Emma Swan was so strong that Killian found himself contemplating something he would have previously found well nigh unthinkable.  When the semester came to an end and she was no longer his student, perhaps he’d summon the courage to ask her for a date.

If only there was some way to determine if his feelings for the lovely Miss Swan were one sided.

As it turned out, there was a way, and it fell into his lap in the most unexpected fashion.

One week before the end of the semester the class was required to turn in their final analysis term paper on the symphonies of Mozart.  As the professor of record for the course, Ms. French would grade the students’ submissions, of course, but given her maternity leave, it fell to Killian to collect the completed assignments, and so the night before the deadline, Killian’s email box lit up with the offerings of fifty undergraduates.

There was no need for Killian to read said term papers, no reason even for him to open them.  He was required only to collect them and pass them on to Ms. French for revision.

But when he saw the email from Emma Swan, he simply couldn’t help himself.  He wished to know what she had to say, even if it was nothing but a dry, uninspired analysis of sonata allegro form.

Clicking on the attachment to her email, he pulled up her Word document and began reading.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the most consequential composers in all of Western music.  He wrote some fifty-odd symphonies, and he raised the form to heights not previously seen.  His symphonies were…

Here she trailed off.  Killian took a sip of his goat’s milk as he curiously moved to her next paragraph–and promptly choked.

Alright, let’s be real.  How am I supposed to concentrate on Mozart, symphonies, or, well, anything in class when it’s being taught by Killian Sex-On-Legs Jones?  Seriously, the man is a menace to society with his gorgeous…everything.

Killian pinched himself–actually pinched himself, thinking he must have fallen asleep.  This couldn’t be real, could it?

And yet the contents of Emma Swan’s analysis paper did not change after his pinch.  In fact, as she went on and on, she only became more descriptive, more lurid, more poetic.  If there’d ever been any doubt in his mind whether or not his feelings for Swan were requited, those doubts were definitively put to rest by the many, many words on this page.

She was every bit as captivated by him as he was by her.

Killian continued reading, seeing himself through her eyes–not the bumbling, awkward, perhaps cowardly man he saw when he looked in the mirror, but rather a handsome, desirable man filled with a wit and intelligence Swan found delightful.

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to kiss him, to grab him by the lapels and slam my lips to his, our lips smacking, our tongues tangling as the kiss drags on and on,.  I imagine cupping the back of his head, feeling the silky slide of his hair against my hands as I pull him even closer.  I imagine we’re pressed so close, I can feel his moans in his chest as he loses control every bit as much as I do.  I imagine him pulling his mouth free, breathing hard as he rests his forehead against mine…and then slowly, passionately kissing his way down the column of my neck, my collarbone….

As she continued with her very detailed imaginings, Killian found it difficult to breathe.  Well, this was…this was…

There were no words.  

All Killian knew for sure was that he’d never wanted anyone or anything as much as he wanted to make Emma Swan’s imagined scenario a reality.

By the time he’d finished reading her entire analysis, Killian found himself in need of a cold and bracing shower.

It was quite obvious that this paper had been submitted by mistake–after all, Swan knew full well the term papers would be graded by Ms. French.  Still, he couldn’t find himself any less than delighted to have this insight into Swan’s feelings.

How exactly he would survive class tomorrow without turning as red as a beet every time he looked in her general direction, he didn’t know, but it was an embarrassment he was very much willing to bear.

 Notes:

–So, hopefully it was obvious from context clues, but the version of Killian I decided to use for this particular AU was the Killian from the Author’s AU in the season 4 finale.  Don’t get me wrong; I love writing flirty, innuendo-driven Killian, but there’s something so delightfully endearing about the frightened-of-his-own-shadow lieutenant that we got in Rumple’s warped version of reality.  I loved the idea of writing Emma and Killian’s first meeting in this au to reflect their first meeting in the author’s AU.  That was such a good moment in canon!

–Up next: Okay, we’ve seen the lead up from both Emma and Killian’s perspectives.  Now it’s time for them to actually deal with the aftermath.  Will Emma contact Killian about the elephant in the room?  When the course is over in a week, will Killian find the courage to ask her out?  Will they end up living happily ever after? (Duh, obviously!)

                                                                                  NEXT CHAPTER -->

[moon-light-jukebox]

“If you want me to, I will.” [Hotch x Reader]

masterlist

Summary: Reader has worked for Aaron Hotchner for the past 6 months as the babysitter to his son, Jack.

Pairing: Hotch x (Female) Reader

Word Count: 7.4k – she thicc

Category: Smut/Fluff…and some angst because of who I am as a person.

Content Warning:

A/n: We all know that Hotch’s favorite album is the Beatles "White Album." And I have odd choices for songs that I use as lullabies. This idea came into my head and never left. This video of Billie Eillish singing part of the song is the closest to the structure of how I imagined it. Okay, okay, look, I know Roy wasn’t diagnosed until season 10. But I am taking creative liberties because I needed Jack to be younger.

Meaning this would be set around season 7. Hotch would be about 41, Jack is around 7; so, I made Reader around 26, giving them a 15-year age gap. Please don’t check my math. 😌

y/n = your name. y/l/n = your last name. italicized texts are Reader’s thoughts.

-- If you want me to, I will. --

I was disoriented when I woke up. This isn’t my bed, I thought groggily. Wait…this isn’t even my house.

“Y/n,” a deep voice rumbled beside me.

I jackknifed up into a sitting position, eyes wide and my face flushed with embarrassment. “Mr. Hotchner!” I quickly brought my hand up to my cheek to make sure I hadn’t drooled in my sleep. Because that would really be the cherry on top of my embarrassment. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to fall asleep. This is so embarrassing.”

Mr. Hotchner had been crouched down, putting himself level with his living room couch; the same couch he came home and found me sleeping on. In all the months I’d worked for the Hotchner/Brooks family, I’d never seen Mr. Hotchner smile anytime he wasn’t talking to his son, Jack. He always looked incredibly serious and sometimes incredibly sad; but the normal scowl was missing from his face as he looked at me, I noticed, watching him rise to a standing position.

“It’s fine, y/n. It’s after 1 o’clock in the morning.” He shifted, turning to go open the gun safe he kept in the part of the living room where his desk sat. Mr. Hotchner, or Hotch, as he kept telling me to call him, was the Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit with the FBI. Which was just a very fancy way of saying he was a profiler that was in charge of all the other profilers. Some people just look like the jobs they have; Mr. Hotchner was one of those people. “Thank you for staying late, I didn’t think things were going to run this long. I didn’t even know you were here until I called Jessica a few hours ago.”

“Oh, right,” I mumbled as I began to gather my things from the coffee table and put them into my bag. “She called me a little after 4; something happened with her dad, I think.” I zipped my bag shut, standing up quickly. “I didn’t mind helping out, Mr. Hotchner.”

He made a sound that was almost a chuckle. “You don’t have to call me Mr. Hotchner, y/n. I know I’m a lot older than you, but that makes me feel ancient.”

“You’re not that much older than me,” I protested.

He looked incredulous. “Y/n, you’re still in college.”

Well, that stings a bit. “I’m in graduate school,” I said, my voice dampening a little bit. “I’m almost 27.”

Mr. Hotchner blinked at me. “Really? I thought you were younger than that…”

“My age didn’t come up in the numerous background checks you did on me?” I scoffed, immediately wincing as the words flew out of my mouth. “Oh my god, I just keep making this worse.” I slung my bag over my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hotchner. For falling asleep on your couch…and for every moment after that. I’ll just go now.”

"Y/n," he called. "hang on, it's really late, and…I still need to pay you."

Jesus. “It is late, Mr. Hotchner, that’s why I need to head home.” I forced an awkward laugh. “I have class at 9 am.”

He pushed his hands into his pockets, regarding me in a way that made me squirm. I wasn’t used to a person paying attention to me the way Mr. Hotchner did. It didn’t make me uneasy; I just felt like I couldn’t hide anything from him…which made me uneasy. “What classes are you taking this semester?”

I don’t know why it stung so much that he knew virtually nothing about me. I’d worked for him for 6 months; he wasn’t obligated to know anything about me other than how I took care of his son. “I’m actually done with my course work this semester,” I mumbled. “I’m a TA…in a class that starts at 9 am.” It doesn’t matter, you’re just tired. “You-you can just pay me for tonight the next time I’m over. It’s not like you’re gonna stiff me.” I walked over to the door and threw a very quick “goodnight, Mr. Hotchner” over my shoulder before I scurried out.

I missed the quiet “Aaron. You can call me Aaron.”

--

The entire drive home, my thoughts were on Aaron Hotchner. None of this was what I expected when I took this job. I had been in graduate school for 2 years now. I had already gotten my master’s degree and had been accepted into the Ph.D. program. There are many branches of psychology, but I had always been fascinated with cognitive psychology; it seemed only natural that that is what I would pursue in graduate school. Once it became time to focus my interest in preparation for my dissertation, I decided to study the cognitive decay in Alzheimer's patients. We knew that they lost memories, but I wanted to explore how their basic cognitive functions were affected in certain settings.

As part of my program, I was a TA in an intro psych class, and I conducted my research at the hospital connected to the university. That’s where I first met Jessica Brooks. Despite getting a stipend for my teaching assistant work, I had been taking odd jobs to help make ends meet; D.C. wasn't cheap. When I mentioned that I had experience with kids, Jessica had immediately told me that she was needing help caring for her nephew in the wake of her father, Roy's diagnosis. She wanted to keep him at home, which was both admirable and time-consuming.

I wasn’t prepared for the gigantic background check that I was subjected to. I very quickly learned that my potential employer had some power at the FBI. Jessica had raved to him about me, so he agreed to meet with me. When Jessica told me he worked for the FBI, I was expecting a bureaucrat, kind of short, receding hairline, soft from sitting behind a desk all day.

Aaron Hotchner was none of those things. He was a total cliché; he was tall, dark, and handsome. His eyes were such a deep brown they were almost black, his hair was black, and he towered over me. His hand was firm when he shook mine. I initially thought he didn’t like me because of the scowl he wore on his face; now I knew that was just his default expression. I’m pretty sure he invented Resting Bitch Face. I think it was my meeting with Jack that sealed the deal. We had clicked right away. The 7-year-old was impressed by my knowledge of both DC and Marvel comics. I could still remember our first meeting so clearly; when in a move that I now know is so much like his father, he had asked me an interview question of his own.

“What is Spiderman’s middle name?” the boy had asked with a suspicious squint of his eyes.

This kid is poser checking me, I had thought with amusement. “That would depend on which Spiderman you’re referring to. Assuming it’s Peter Parker, his middle name is Benjamin.”

We were best friends after that.

I loved Jack; I really did. And I was paid well enough that he was the only child I babysat for, the rest of my time spent working on my research and plotting my dissertation. It was clear that Aaron Hotchner loved his son, and he felt guilty for not being around more. He was fierce and intimidating any other time, but once he was with his son, his entire face would transform. His smiles came easier, his eyes twinkled, and he didn’t seem so scary anymore.

None of that is why he made me nervous, though. What made me so nervous is the fear that one day I was going to spend enough time with him for him to see the feelings I had so stupidly developed for him.  

--

The very next night, I was hiding in the kitchen floor in Aaron Hotchner’s apartment.

“Ready or not, here I come!” the little voice called out before his feet started stomping loudly across the floor.

From my position behind the kitchen counter, I tried very hard to remain silent, despite my amusement. Jack Hotchner was many wonderful, wonderful things. Sneaky was not one of them. Which is why I wasn’t surprised when I heard his little feet hurry towards me, and I didn’t lose my balance when he turned the corner and launched himself at me. “Oomph!” was the only reasonable sound to make when a tiny human slammed into you.

Jack was delighted. “I FOUND YOU!”

My response was cut off by the sound of the front door opening. Jack was off me in a flash, barreling towards the living room. “Daddy!”

Mr. Hotchner made a similar “oomph” noise when Jack jumped on him, confirming my theory. I rose to my feet quickly, smoothing down my clothes.

“We were playing hide and seek, Daddy!” Jack informed his father. “I found y/n every time! She never found me once!” His chest puffed out with pride, making my face break into a smile.

“You’re just an excellent hider, Jack-attack.”

Mr. Hotchner’s eyes settled on my face then, for just a moment I saw something so sad in those eyes that the breath seized in my lungs.

He cleared his throat, seeming to shake off whatever he was thinking before smiling at his son. “I’m glad you had a good time with, y/n, buddy.”

Jack nodded vigorously. “I helped make dinner!”

“You did?” He questioned in fake astonishment. “When did you make dinner?”

“Tonight!”

Mr. Hotchner looked at me quizzically. “Oh, um, I wasn’t actually supposed to watch Jack tonight…but Jessica called and asked if I could. It was really last minute, and she’d already bought some stuff to make dinner…” I trailed off. “I hope that’s okay. Jesus Christ, y/n. You’re a 26-year-old woman, get it together.

His attention moved from me to his son. "Jack, go get changed into your pj's. It's almost bedtime." When Jack's mouth opened to protest this great injustice, his father went on. "You can tell y/n bye when you're done."

So much for a speedy escape, I thought. Instead, I just smiled at him. "Yep, I'll be right here, little man." Satisfied with this, Jack jumped out of his father's arms and ran towards his room.

“Why did Jessica need you to come over? Did something happen with Roy?” He looked genuinely worried, walking into the kitchen to stand near me.

I reached out and put a hand on his arm without thinking. "Oh, oh god no, nothing like that." Realizing I was touching him, I snatched my hand back like he'd burned me. "Sorry. She…she-um had a date."

His eyebrows rose so high they almost hit his hairline. “A date?” he asked, disbelief dripping from his words.

I chuckled. “That’s what she told me.”

He walked back into the living room then, leaning back against the couch, crossing his arms over his chest as he focused his dark gaze on me. “What about you?”

“…What about me what?”

“Does Jessica ever have to cover for you when you have dates?”

If Aaron Hotchner hadn’t made me so nervous, I might have picked up on how he phrased that question. As it happens, all I could do was fidget under his gaze. “Oh,” I chuckled nervously. “Ah, no. She doesn’t have to do that. I don’t really date.”

That had one of his eyebrows rising, his arms crossing across his chest. "Why?"

Because I want you to crack my back like a glowstick. “Um…you know, it’s hard to find the time.”

Thankfully Jack chose that moment to come barreling out of his room, charging full force at me. “You’re still here!” he exclaimed.

I smiled down at him when his arms wrapped around my hips. I put one hand on the back of his head, the other on his back, giving him a squeeze. “Of course I am! I couldn’t leave without telling you goodbye.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” he mumbled.

My throat worked as a sudden wave of emotion hit me. "Oh, Jack," my voice was thicker than usual when I spoke. "I don't like leaving you either, but you'll see me before you know it. I promise."

Once we had finally pried Jack off me, Mr. Hotchner went to take him to bed. He turned to me when he scooped Jack up in his arms. “Thank you for today.”

“It’s no problem, Mr. Hotchner.”

“You know you don’t have to call me that,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “Most people call me Hotch. Or you could call me Aaron.”

I didn't know what to say to that; all I could do was give him an awkward smile. I was gone before he came back into the living room. I didn't want to leave, I never did, but I couldn't risk being alone with…Aaron.

--

The following Thursday night, my phone started ringing just after 11:30. Glancing at it, I saw it was Jessica. “Hey,” I said in greeting.

“Hey, y/n,” she said, sounding frazzled. “I have a huge favor to ask. Dad’s home health nurse had to leave early tonight.” “Is something wrong with Melinda?” I hope not. She’s the sweetest.

“No, I don’t think so. But she needs to go home and there’s no one to sit with Jack. But Aaron isn’t home yet…”

“I’ll be there in 20.”

Which is why I was now in Aaron Hotchner’s apartment after midnight in a pair of shorts that were so short I only ever wore them at home and a t-shirt that I had had for forever. Jessica had sounded so upset when she called, I hadn't even thought to change. She had promised to be back as quick as she could; she said that Mr. Hotchner was flying back from a case, and she didn’t expect him until 5 a.m. at the earliest.

When I first arrived, I had tried to watch TV, my mind too wired to sleep, even though I had class at 9 am in the morning. Sighing, I glanced over at the clock to see it was just after 1:45 in the morning.

“Fuuuuuuck,” I whined out loud. I have to go to sleep; even if it’s just a little nap. I remembered Jessica had left some chamomile tea here for the nights she stayed over to watch Jack. Finding the kettle and the tea itself was no problem; the problem presented itself when I had to get a mug to put the tea in.

I had never considered myself a particularly short person; sure, I had to stretch to get things from time to time, but everybody did that. Looking up into the upper cabinets in the Hotchner house had me reconsidering that. The mugs were on the very top shelf and try as I might, I just couldn’t seem to reach them; my fingers kept grazing over the ceramic.

“Goddamnit,” I mumbled in a huff. What is the point to put mugs way the fuck up there? Some of us are a perfectly normal height…but noooo I have to work for giants. I braced my hands on the countertop as I heaved myself up on to said countertop. Once my knees were in place, I got the offending cup without further problems.

I blame how focused I was on my task for my not hearing the front door open, or the footsteps that followed. Which is why I had a mild heart attack when I heard a voice that sounded highly amused say from behind me, “What are you doing?”

Several things happened all at once, and very quickly. I let out the most embarrassing squeak in all of history, I lost my balance on the counter and the cup fell from my hand. The cup crashed to the floor and shattered. My fate might have been the same but two large hands caught me, gripping my hips from behind. I looked down to see his long fingers wrapping around my waist, gripping me tightly; my difficulty breathing then had nothing to do with how scared I was.  

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said softly, still not releasing me. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, I get it,” I said lightly, attempting to act like I wasn’t going into cardiac arrest because he was touching me. “You’re a very stealthy FBI agent. It was bound to happen.”

He chuckled before his hands pushed my hips so I was twisting around, my legs shifting until I was sitting on the countertop, staring into the same dark eyes I thought about far too often. They weren’t as harsh as they usually were; tonight, they were soft and warm, and they made my pulse race a bit faster.

I moved to get off the counter when the hands that were still on my hips stopped me. “Hang on, let me clean this up first. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Fantastic, I thought, hiding my face in my hands. It seems I was incapable of not making a fool out of myself in front of this man.

He worked quickly while I debated changing my name and fleeing the country; in the next moment, he was standing in front of me again. "What's wrong?"

“Oh, nothing,” I said, not moving my hands. “Just dying of embarrassment.”

Aaron actually laughed at that, moving closer to stand between my thighs, his hands coming to rest on the countertop on either side of my hips. “Why are you embarrassed?”

I dropped my hands then. “Because this is becoming a pattern! First, I fell asleep on your couch, then I almost fell off your counter and cracked my head like an egg.” I bit my lip, shifting under his gaze. “I’m sorry and thank you for catching me.”

“I didn’t mind,” he said softly.

He still had that soft look on his face, but he was smiling too like he was enjoying my embarrassment. He probably is. I had never been this close to him before. I didn’t know his eyes weren’t just one flat color of brown, but that lighter shades of brown whirled throughout. I had never felt the heat of his body before, but now I was so close I could smell him. Why does he have to smell good? I whined internally. If he just stunk, I could get over this.

This was exactly why I tried very hard to stay as far away from him as possible because I lost the ability to think clearly whenever I was with him. I couldn't stop my eyes from moving down to his lips. I was eye level with him from my position on the counter; all I had to do to brush my lips across his was lean forward, so that’s exactly what I did. His body stiffened slightly at the first touch of my lips to his. I pulled back, ready to apologize when his hand wrapped around the back of my head and pulled me back to him. There was nothing soft about this kiss. His free hand gripped my thigh, my hands held on to his shirt, trying to pull him closer. My tongue brushed against his mouth before he sucked on the tip of it, causing me to shudder. He took a step forward as his tongue twirled around mine. I could feel him when he settled against me; he was hard, and I found myself shifting my hips to rub against him.

The shrill ringing of his phone broke us apart suddenly. He was panting, his cheeks were slightly flushed. I thought I heard him let out a “fuck” under his breath as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone.

“Hey Jessica,” he answered.

Now that our moment was broken, I felt very self-conscious. What the fuck did I just do?! He is my boss. He is Jack’s dad. Aaron took a step back and I slid off the counter. This turned out to be a very bad idea on my part; my body brushed down the front of his, causing me to bite my lip to silence the moan that threatened to escape.

“Yeah, I landed a little while ago,” he said as I left the kitchen.

WhatthefuckWhatthefuck. I heard him end the call with Jessica before he quickly walked into the living room. A look of relief washed over his face when he saw me. “I thought you’d try to slip away.”

“I thought about it,” I told him honestly.

“Listen, y/n, about that in the kitchen,” he began.

I held up my hands. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Hotchner. I don’t know why I did that; I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” I was giving him an out because I couldn’t handle hearing the rejection I knew was coming. “I just…I guess we got caught up in the moment? And you’re really tired, I’m sure. I’m so sorry.” I was rambling now. “If you don’t want me to watch Jack anymore-“

“Y/n, no,” he interrupted. “No, this…you’re right, it was just a heat of the moment thing. It happens. I’m sorry I lost myself for a moment.” He cleared his throat, his face still set in softness. “Jack loves you. He doesn’t need to suffer for any more of my mistakes.”

Mistakes. The word hollowed me out and left me cold. I just nodded. “Right,” I said in what I hoped was an even tone. “Just a mistake. I should get going. It’s really late.”

Which is how I found myself driving home at almost 3 in the morning with tears running down my cheeks. A mistake.

--

Things went back to normal after that night. I continued to avoid Aaron Hotchner at all costs and he…did whatever he did. I tried to hide the hurt whenever I did happen to see him, but it was so hard when I could still feel the tingle from his lips on mine.

A few days after the “mistake,” I was babysitting Jack again. He’d went to bed at his normal 8:30 and all was quiet. I decided to do some TA work while I waited for Mr. Hotchner to come home. I was halfway through grading an essay when I heard the first noise come from Jack’s room. Lifting my fingers from the keys of my computer, I waited to see if I heard another sound. I didn’t have to wait long; not even a minute passed before I heard a strained cry. Jumping up, I hurried down the hall to Jack’s bedroom.

Cracking the door open I called, “Jack-attack? Are you okay, little man?” I didn’t see him right away; he had hidden under his covers and curled up into a little ball. “Hey, Jack. It’s just y/n.” I sat down on the edge of his bed. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

I saw the lump under the blankets start to move hesitantly before I saw his brown hair peak out of the blanket near his pillow. His eyes were wide and with the light shining in from the hall, I could see tears gleam in them. “Oh, buddy,” I cooed. “Did you have a bad dream?”

The boy nodded. “Yeah…there was a bad man…and my daddy didn’t come save me.”

I felt my breath seize in my chest. Jessica had told me a brief version of what happened to Jack's mother a few years ago. "Jack, you know your dad would always do whatever he had to do to come to save you." I shifted my position on the bed until I was sitting beside him. "He'd never let anything bad happen to you." Jack started inching closer to me. I held out my arms and smiled when he lunged for me; I wrapped him in a tight hug, rubbing circles on his back.

“My dad just isn’t home a lot anymore. He has a lot of work to do,” he mumbled into my shirt.  

“Your dad would be home if he could, Jack.” I couldn’t quite keep the sadness out of my voice. It wasn’t fair to either Jack or his dad that he had to be away so much.

“I know,” the little boy whispered. “I just miss him sometimes.”

“Do you want to call him?” I offered. “I don’t think he’d mind.”

Jack just shook his head. “No, it’s okay.” He turned his face up to look at me. “Will you stay with me?”

I moved so he lay beside me with my left arm still squeezed around him. “Of course, bud.” I scooted down the bed so I was reclining instead of sitting straight up, pulling the cover-up over him again. "Do you want me to read you another story?"  

He just shuffled under his covers, looking at me with the bashful innocence of childhood. “Can you sing to me until I fall asleep?”

I wasn’t the biggest fan of singing in front of people, but how could I turn this little face down? I just nodded. “Do you have any requests?”

“Nope,” he answered with a little grin on his face.

Unfortunately, at that moment every single lullaby I had ever know left my head. I couldn’t think of a single traditional lullaby. So, I decided to improvise. I started singing slower songs I knew, some of them might not have been appropriate for a 7-year-old’s lullaby, but I don’t think Jack cared that much.

He was almost out, drifting on the edge between deep sleep and awake. My arm was still around his shoulder, he was still snuggled to my side. I decided one more song would be enough, which meant I pulled out my second Beatles song of the night.

“Who knows how long I’ve loved you?

You know I love you still.

Will I wait a lonely lifetime?

If you want me to, I will.

For if I ever saw-“

I glanced up, immediately sensing there was someone else in the room. To my horror, Jack’s father was standing in the doorway, staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face. I swallowed nervously, then I turned to press a kiss against Jack’s soft forehead before I gently detangled myself from him. I straightened my clothes that to my further embarrassment had shifted around because I was laying with a wiggly child, then, attempting to keep my face impassive, I walked to the door, moving around his father as I exited.

Mr. Hotchner walked into the room and checked on his son, while I moved into the living room to gather my things. I wonder if he just left the money by the door, I mused. If he did, I could just make a dash for the door. I mean, if he didn’t, he could always just pay me next time. Sadly, my plans were escape were foiled yet again by the man in question entering the room.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I know he was up past his bedtime. I put him down at 8, but he had a nightmare." I was babbling, not meeting his eyes, my gaze very intently focused on my bag. "He asked me to stay with him until he fell asleep…" I finally looked up, shrugged, and said, "He's very hard to say no to."

“You don’t have to apologize for being nice to my son, y/n,” he said softly. “That’s one of my favorite songs on the White Album, you know.”

I hadn’t known that. “Mr. Hotch-“

He took a step towards me before I finished speaking. “Y/n, please, I can barely handle this as it is. Please call me Aaron.”

I just blinked up at him. “So, ‘Hotch’ is off the table now?”

That had a soft smile curving his lips upward. "That was a limited-time deal. You should have been quicker." I saw his hand rise up slowly, so slowly that I would have had time to move away…but I just couldn’t. He brushed my hair back from my face, his eyes were two pools of black in the dim light, they were swirling with something that made my stomach flutter.

“Aaron,” I breathed, having no idea what I was going to say.

He let out a soft sigh, turning his eyes upwards. When he brought them back down to mine, his hand slid from its place near my ear to cradle the back of my head. His eyes searched mine for a moment before his shoulders dropped slightly. “Fuck it,” he muttered before he leaned down and sealed his lips over mine.

I might have thought this kiss would be questioning or unsure, but there was nothing unsure about it. Aaron kissed me like he was starving for me. His teeth caught my bottom lip and tugged as he pulled away. “It wasn’t a mistake,” he breathed before bringing his lips more firmly against mine.

My hands began to move over his body; one of my hands grabbed his tie and used it to pull him closer to me, the other reached up to brush against the short, soft hair on the back of his neck. “It wasn’t?” I questioned when we broke away for air.

Aaron’s lips moved across my cheek, leaving soft kisses until he reached my ear. “No, sweet girl, it wasn’t.” His mouth moved down to my neck; his kisses turning into bites that were sure to become brushes. I didn’t care, I needed him. My hands moved to his shirt, quickly trying to undo all the buttons.

His hands moved down to the waist of my jeans, deftly flicking the button open before sliding the zipper down. “Is this what you want?” he asked as his hand touched my lower stomach, his fingers brushing over the elastic band of my panties.

“Yes,” I said, still working to free him from his shirt. “I want this so much.”

The fingers of his free hand rose up to tap my chin, forcing my eyes up until I met his gaze. "I want to hear you say my name again." His other hand lifted from my stomach to slide over the flair of my hip until he was gripping my ass. "Whenever I laid in bed that night after I had you pressed against me in my kitchen when I stroked my cock, I thought about you moaning my name.” The hand that was on my chin pulled away, skimming down my body until he was grabbing the other side of my ass. “So, say it. Tell me what you want.”

“I want you, Aaron.” So, so much.

His hands moved to the backs of my thighs, then he lifted me up his body, startling me. Jesus Christ, how strong is this guy? I threw my arms around his neck as he started walking us down towards his bedroom. A giggle escaped my lips. “I could have walked, you know.”

We had already entered his room; he tossed me gently on the bed before he turned to close and lock the door. He walked to stand at the side of his bed, his eyes devouring me. “I couldn’t give you a chance to sneak away again, sweet girl.” Aaron pulled off his tie before he finished unbuttoning his shirt, shedding it on the floor.

Fuck. Fuck, he’s hot. I pulled my own shirt over my head, and his body was on top of me before it even left my hands. Aaron's mouth moved down to my collarbones, his hand slipped behind my back to unhook my bra. Once the straps were down my arms, Aaron lifted himself up on his arms to toss it away, his eyes running over my body. "You're so beautiful," he said softly like it wasn't the sweetest compliment I'd ever been paid. He leaned over again, his lips skimming down to my chest before he wrapped his lips around one of my nipples.

“Fuck, Aaron,” I moaned.

He gave my nipple a flick with his tongue before he lifted his head. “Ssh, sweet girl. You have to be quiet. Can you do that?” He kissed his way over to my other breast. “I can’t do this if you won’t be quiet.”

“I can be quiet,” I whispered right before I bit my lip to smother my moan at the feeling of his mouth on me. “Maybe.”

His breath puffed against my skin when he laughed at me. My hands threaded through his hair when he brought his face back up to mine. My mouth opened eagerly for him, my tongue slicking over his while I tried to grind my body against him. Aaron was smiling when he broke the kiss, shifting up onto his knees. “Well, I appreciate you trying to be quiet at any rate,” he teased.

My response died in my throat when his fingers yanked my jeans off my legs, bringing my panties with them. I was totally bare in front of him. His eyes raked down my body in a way that would make me self-conscious with anyone else. How could I ever be self-conscious with a man who looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the world?

But when he started to kiss further down my body, I grabbed his arm, attempting to pull him back up to kiss me. “Aaron,” I whispered.

He pressed a soft kiss to my collarbone. “What’s wrong, beautiful?”

“You don’t…you don’t have to do…that,” I mumbled, feeling my face heat up.

Aaron braced himself on his arms and stared down at me. Enlightenment dawned on his face a second later. He leaned down to kiss me softly. “Do you not want me to?”

I bit my lip, feeling more flustered. “It’s just…I’ve never…and I know that guys don’t really like-.“ My words were cut off when he placed another kiss to my lips, still incredibly soft, but with more force than before.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I won't," he said quietly. "But I can assure you, I can't think of anything more I'd rather do than lick your pussy until you cum all over my face." He skimmed his lips over my cheek to my ear. "And once you've come down, I want to slide my cock inside you and feel how soft and wet you are." His kisses moved down to my neck, his mouth sucking on my pulse point. "Then I want to fuck you until you're whimpering against my lips to make you cum again.”

I felt my core throb at his words. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. He lifted his gaze when he got back to my breast, flicking my nipple with his tongue. “Is that what you want too, sweet girl?”

I have never wanted anything more, I thought; but I was so far gone that all I could do was nod.

He gave me a soft smile, moving down the bed further to settle between my thighs, pulling them further apart. I felt a kiss pressed to one thigh, then the other. His hot breath washed over the part of me that was already so wet for him. “You’re beautiful here too,” he murmured before he pressed a kiss to my clit. I lifted my hips at the sensation, causing him to chuckle and move his hands to wrap around my thighs, his arms anchoring me in place. A second later I understood why he braced my hips. The second he flattened his tongue and licked the length of my pussy, my hips started moving involuntarily and my fingers tangled in his hair.

I felt a puff of air against me when he laughed again, and it made me smile. I didn’t expect Aaron Hotchner to be fun…or dirty in bed. All thought immediately left my head when he parted me with his tongue, dipping into my entrance before spearing his tongue into me. I felt the vibration when he moaned against me. "You taste so fucking good, y/n," he said, his voice still hushed. Giving my entrance one last lick, he moved up to my clit.

He spent time moving his tongue around me, learning what made me squirm. When he started fluttering his tongue quickly over my clit my hands started tugging on his hair and my thighs tried to snap together.

“Aaron,” I whined, attempting to rock my hips against his mouth.

I think he understood what I needed better than I did. His left hand released my thigh and moved down to my heat, just below his mouth. I felt his fingers brush over me before he pushed on inside me, causing my back to arch off the bed. “Aaron, Aaron, fuck.” He added a second finger, pumping them in a rhythm that complimented the movements of his mouth.

I wasn't prepared for when his lips closed around my clit, sucking lightly, while his fingers started to curl inside of me. “Oh my God," I moaned out, louder than I should have. "Aaron, I'm going to cum." I started pulling on his hair so hard it must have hurt, but he just moaned against me, never slowing his pace. "Aaron, fuck, please. I think…I-I-“

My words broke off as the band inside of me snapped, my pussy clamping down on his fingers and my back arching off of the bed, my mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

Aaron slowed his motions, slowly bringing me through the orgasm and back down to Earth. With one final kiss to my thigh, he rose and moved up my body until his face was hovering over mine. His lips were shiny with my arousal, they also looked a little swollen, but more importantly, they were smirking at me.

I’ll give him that one. Reaching up I cradled his jaw in my hands, bringing his mouth down to mine. I tasted myself on his lips and tongue when he licked into my mouth. Despite the powerful orgasm he had just given me, I was still desperate for him. I broke away from his mouth. “Aaron, I need you.”

He pressed another kiss to my lips before he lifted up and stood at the side of the bed, undoing the buckle of his belt. My eyes were fixed on his movements, watching as he unbuttoned his slacks and slid them down his legs. His cock was a thick pipe outlined in his underwear. He hooked his thumbs into the waistband before he spoke again. "I'll give you everything you need, greedy girl." Aaron pushed his underwear down, his cock springing free before he climbed back on the bed.

He was so much thicker than I expected he would be. I moved my hand down to wrap my fingers around him, pumping his length. He let out a groan and lowered his forehead to mine. “Baby,” he muttered. “I…fuck. I have to get a condom.”

“Aaron,” I whined. “I want to feel you inside me. I’m on birth control. Please?” The thought of anything separating me from this man was abhorrent to me in that moment.

I saw his willpower crumble. “Are you sure?”

So sure. “Please,” I begged lifting my head to kiss him. “I want you to fuck me.”

With a groan that I will remember for the rest of my life, he shifted his hips forwarded, allowing my hands to guide him to my entrance. Aaron kissed me then, slowly and deeply has he started to push inside me. My hand flew away from his cock, both my arms wrapping around his body to pull him closer to me. I felt my nails digging into his back.

Aaron broke our kiss with another soft moan that sounded like my name. “I knew you’d feel like this,” he whispered, pressing deeper inside me. “I knew your pussy would be this fucking tight, this fucking hot, and so fucking soft." He started moving in and out of my pussy, going in a little further each time. “You still have to be quiet, sweet girl.”

“I’m trying,” I moaned, my pussy already starting to flutter around him when he finally pushed all the way inside of me. “Aaron, fucking Christ.” I felt him everywhere, and I somehow still craved more.

He grabbed my thigh, pulling if further up his side, allowing himself to sink deeper inside of me. “I know, sweet girl. I know.” He started a slow pace, pulling almost all the way out of me before slamming back inside me.

My head was thrashing against the pillows, my teeth digging into my bottom lip. “Aaron, I need you to fuck me harder. Please.”

He groaned at my words, placing a sloppy kiss to my mouth before pulling back. He pulled one of my legs up until it was over his shoulder, the other still wrapped around his waist, and then he started to move faster inside of me.

I braced one hand against the headboard as he pounded into me. “Oh my god, Aaron,” my voice was a low whimper as I looked down to see his cock sliding in and out of me. “You feel so fucking good.”

“Baby, I want you to reach down and rub your clit for me while I fuck your tight little pussy.” His pace started to speed up as he spoke. “Can you do that for me?” He groaned when I complied, the stimulation to my clit causing my pussy to flutter around him. “Good girl.”

My fingers began to work frantically. “Don’t stop, Aaron. Don’t stop,” I begged. “I’m so close.”

“I know, sweet girl, I can feel you. Your pussy feels so good squeezing around my cock. You’re going to make me cum.” His thrusts were starting to get choppier, one of his hands braced on the top of the headboard while the other held my leg on his shoulder. “Do you want me to cum inside your pretty pussy, sweet girl?” He groaned loudly when my walls clenched around him. “It feels like you like the idea of that, don’t you baby?”

My fingers continued their pace, my head thrashing, my body trembling. “Yes. Fuck, Aaron. Please cum inside of me. Please.”

Aaron felt it first and acted quickly; his hand moved from my leg to cover my mouth. “That’s it, cum for me, baby.”

I thought my orgasm earlier tonight was powerful. It was nothing compared to how I felt when I came around his cock, only to feel him find his own release a moment after.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, y/n,” he breathed, giving a last few jerks inside of my body, pushing against the fluttering aftershocks of my orgasm. He rolled off me, careful not to drop all of his weight on top of me. To my relief, he quickly gathered me in his arm, pulling me against his body, pressing a soft kiss to my sweaty forehead.

My ear was pressed against his chest, allowing me to hear his heartbeat slowdown from its frantic pace and his breathing even out. I turned my head and pressed a kiss to his chest while his hand continued to stroke my back.

“That…that was amazing,” I said, looking up at him. “If I knew you had that in you, I wouldn’t have run out of the room every time I was alone with you.”

He laughed softly, his eyes sparkling. “Well, at least you’ll know for next time.”

My thoughts sobered at his words. Next time

“Hey,” he said, his hand cupping the side of my face. “No, don’t go away. I just got you.” He kissed my forehead again, then the tip of my nose, then both of my eyelids, before he tilted my face up further so he could press a kiss to my lips. “We’ll figure this out. We have to. I care too much about you to let you go.”

“I care about you too,” I replied, snuggling against his chest, my eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

I was almost asleep when I heard his voice rumble again. “Will you sing Beatles songs to me when I can’t sleep too?” His voice was sleepy and teasing.

I smiled into the darkness, not bothering to open my eyes. “If you want me to, I will.”

--

Permanent Taglist: @rachelxwayne​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @sickeninglyshoujo @justagirllookingforherplace​ @nanocoool​

[oneirataxiahiraeth]

Hey darling, i was wondering if i can have a request with ron weasley x reader. They start 7th year, the first morning of class she is getting ready with the girls (Hermione and ginny are her roomates) and she realized she packed her 5th year skirt and not the new one, she wears it anyways but its a little too short like to the mid thigh, the boys are always whistlering at her, looking at her legs and throwing "compliments". Ron doesn't like it, it makes him a little insecure but she reminds him she only loves him and she is only him's

I loveeee this concepttt, and I hope you like it<3

Promise?

Pairings : fem!reader x Jealous!RonWeasely

Warnings : Language, jealous Ron, catcalls, unprotected sex, oral (m.), classroom quickie, not proof read

Word count : something over 4K

You were totally going to flip out.

You spent so long making sure you had everything packed for the semester and here you were. It was frustrating to you, how could you miss this? This skirt was a size and a half too small, the most you moved the wrong way your whole asscheek would've been on the newsletters front page.

"It doesn't look that bad, it's wearable." Ginny stated, genuinely not finding a problem in you skirt as she brush through her red locks. "Besides you definitely have the legs for it." She tried to cheer you up as you stared at yourself in the body length mirror.

It's was your first day of year 7 and you were already off to a bad start. You wore this exact skirt on this exact day 2 years ago. You had grown since then, you were no longer a child, yet somehow you still managed to squeeze yourself right into this god awful skirt. It stopped down right at your mid thigh, and to say this was out of your comfort zones would be an understatement. You were on the verge of just deciding not to show up for classes today. Though you knew Hermione was never going to let that actually happen.

"You think I'd get away with it?" You pouted, and both of the girls nodded.

"You look like some of the muggle girls I see back home. They have interesting taste, personally I'd never pull it off, but you do, very well." Hermione spoke in hopes to cheer you up.

It didn't work very well.

"And if anyone asks just say you're making a fashion statement." Gin spoke, sending the idea through your head for only moment before you shook it out.

"No one makes fashion statements at Hogwarts... it's basically forbidden." You whined, stomping your foot on the ground.

"Says who?"

"It's an unspoken rule amongst like... everyone." You sighed in response.

Ginny rolled her eyes, standing from the edge of her bed. It was time to head for breakfast and meet up with the boys. You've been rambling about this since you got back to campus. You had yet to see Ronald, and you were overly ecstatic to see his beautiful face yet again. He and Harry sent you letters all summer long but you were busy doing things back in your hometown. You wanted to sneak out last night, but the two of you agreed on the morning. Besides, most of your classes were together, including your off period meaning you too got to do whatever you pleased for a whole hour. What's not exciting about that?!

"We have to get going soon, y/n. I'm hungry, and Hermione is halfway out the door already." Ginny spoke, grabbing you bag from off the floor as well. "No one is going to notice, you look fine." She reassured you. "And if anyone says anything about my sister-in-law we will be having some words." She smiled sweetly making your cheeks hot.

"Me and Ron aren't even married." You fought back you smiled as you took your bag from the girl. She was basically like the little sister you've always wanted. "And after today I might die of embarrassment, so we never will be."

"I think you look great. Now. Can we go?" Hermione stood, ready to start her day.

"Ugh, fine." You groan, both of the girls smiling widely at you. "But I'm only giving myself until 3 class before I started sobbing." You sighed as Hermione took your hand in hers. Leading you to the door.

"Please, you won't make it past snap me if he sees you in the hallway." Ginny scoffed, your eyes widening as you realized she was right.

"What if he dress codes me? Or all the teachers think I'm a whore? Oh god, I'm going to get kicked out-"

"Y/N! You're skirts not even that short, and I was talking about you holding in tears!" Ginny sighed, closing the room down behind the 3 of you.

You couldn't help it, you were on a rollercoaster of emotions up all the way to the dining hall. That's where the lot of your friends stood in the halls catching up and sending you sweet smiles and took you how good you looked. You're cheeks were burning hot, and the compliment made you want to curl up into a ball.

"Look, there they are!" Hermione spoke, pointing to the two boys, already digging into the food on their plates. You noticed the extra cup of juice and muffin on Ron's plate, he saved it just for you, knowing how uneasy your stomach is in the mornings.

A bright smile formed on your face as you began making your way towards your boyfriend. Your smile slowly faded as loud group of ravenclaw boys in the corner of the cafeteria sent loud whistle noises through the air. Your eyes went to them immediately before you noticed their sights set on you. Ron's head turned slowly too, not very interested in whatever poor girl they were harassing until his gaze was set on you.

His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. You looked beautiful, as you always did. You were walking with that smile you do when your uncomfortable, and your finger freshly manicured fingers gripping the strap of your book bag. You were dressed in your regular uniform, except when you scanned you over his eyes got stuck on the length of your legs. They were nice, they looked warm, and comfortable. He's see your legs before though, he's seen each of your boys part very close and intimately before but, now everyone was seeing what was usually reserved for his eyes only.

"People are staring." You mumbled.

"Let's just get to the table so they have nothing to stare at." Hermione spoke and you nodded.

"Nice skirt, Y/L/N!" A voice called out from somewhere in the cafeteria.

You ignored the comment, heading straight for your boyfriend who stood quickly from his seat at the table to greet you.

You're smile returned as you approached, neither of you waiting too long to wrap up in each other's arms. You threw your arms over his shoulder, his cinnamony scent taking over you nostrils almost instantly. His arms wrapped around you waist, gripping you tightly as he soaked in your presence. You felt your body release all tension it held and for a brief moment in time you forgot all about-

"Hey y/n," you're attention broke away from the warmth of Ron's body sinking into yours to the tall brunette with a bright smile on his face. "There's a party in the commons later, you should drop by." He spoke, eyes falling down your body, taking their sweet time in returning back to your face.

"Oh uhm, sure thing Cedric." You spoke, pulling away from you're red headed boyfriend.

"You guys can come too if you want." He spoke looking at the rest of your friends. "Can't wait to hear all about your summer, y/n." He spoke to you, sending a wink before waving goodbye.

You and Cedric had a few classes together, but you were never super close friends. Definitely not close enough to be inviting each other to party's.

"Since when are you Cedric best friends?" Your boyfriend asked noticing the way Cedric totally checked you out and how you didn't even notice.

"We're not. He was just being friendly." You shrugged it off, not seeing much more too it. You sent your boyfriend a sweet smile, unable to contain your happiness that you were finally reunited. "Now am I going to have to pretend that I want you to kiss me or are you going to read my mind?" You joked. Ron smiled, shaking off the weird feelings. His hands moved up to cup your face, bringing yours up to his until your lips came together. He tasted like orange juice and some type of tart berry.

"Oh young love. I love love." Lunas voices spoke breaking your kiss apart. Suddenly you pushed your boyfriend away to hug your other friend Luna. You missed her all too much this summer, seeing her again made your heart happy. "Hello." She giggled.

"It's good to see you, Luna. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, y/n." Your friend smiled sweetly as you finally let her go, giving her space to breathe. "Bold fashion choice, really shows off your legs. You have nice legs." She commented, making your cheeks turn hot.

"Thank you, Luna." You smiled. "It wasn't really intentional, but I have to stick it out for the next few days." You explain and she nods.

"Hey y/n!" A voice called from across the cafeteria again. "Looking good!"

  You smile a bit, not really sure how to respond to the comment. You haven't changed much over the summer. Maybe you grew a few centimeters, and changed your hair up a bit, but you were still the same old y/n. It was like you haven't know half of this dining hall for the past 6/7 years of you life.

  "You've got to be kidding me." Ron scoffed, eyeing around the room from who the sound came from.

  "Ronnie, it's whatever, let's just sit, yeah" you hummed looking the spot he had reserved to you. "Muffins, my favorite." You tried changing the subject but you could still tell how the comment made from some asshole across the way bothered him. His cheeks were glowing red and his eyes squinting a bit. His lips pressed together in a thin line as you guided him to sit back down at the breakfast table.

  The day past very slowly. Teachers making snide remarks about skin, groups of girls whisper in the halls as you passed, and the occasional whistle call from a boy who just couldn't help himself.

  You were invited to the same party about 4 different times today. Each times with your boyfriend present, as if he wasn't standing right there. Some 5th year even tried asking you out in front of Ron, you saved his life by not respond and just pretending you didn't hear. Ron would've ripped the kids ears off if you acknowledged the plain foolery.

   "Where are you going, Ronald?" You asked as class ended. The two of you were supposed to spend your first free period of the school year together in the garden with sweets you snuck here from back home. Right now he just wanted to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible. "Ron!" You spoke louder, your steps quick in order to catch up with him.

  "I heard you the first time, y/n." He turned his head to gripe. Your eyebrows furrowed together at the unnecessarily aggressive comment.

  "If you didn't want to hang out with me, you could've just said. You don't have to be a dick about it." You scoffed, shaking your head even though he couldn't see your obviously hurt visual reaction.

  His hand reached out for your wrist, before you could walk away. You didn't want to cause a scene in the hallway full of students rushing to be out of the halls in a jiffy. You allowed Ron to drag you along with him, until he opened up an empty class room door. He pulled you in, shut the door behind you and spelling it shut so no one would interrupt the two of you.

  "You're not seriously going to that party tonight are you?" He scoffed out first, setting his bag on the ground as he turned to look at you with disappointment.

  "People are expecting me there, Ron. Everyone is going!" You sighed.

  "Doesn't mean you have to!"

"Is that why you're upset? A party? Bloody hell Ronald." You cursed, annoyed with the red head.

  "I'm upset because guys have been flirting with you like crazy all day and you just bloody let them!" He growled as you set your own bag down. "Don't act as if you had all of these friends last year, when we both know you didn't. The only reason the want you to go is so they can stare at your ass some more!" He fired your eyes widening a bit. It made perfect sense... You rarely ever spoke to Cedric before, or half of the boys that approached you today. You took all of their friendly gestures as... friendly gestures. Pulling out seats for you, complimenting your appearance, everything, you thought they were just being kind.

  "Excuse me, I don't see the worst in everyone. It's a new year, we're growing up, they were just being nice! You defend."

  "To you!" He snaps.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You're arms dropped from being crossed over your chest. His mouth opened to respond before shutting again, shaking his head and muttering a quick "never mind, it's nothing". "What did you mean, Ron." You spoke seriously, honestly quite annoyed with his behavior.

  "I've had to watch every boy in this school practically drool all over you since breakfast." He spoke up. You had forgotten about breakfast. "The whistles, the compliments, I even heard some Slytherin talk about winning you over at the party tonight." He sighed, explaining his anger. Was he jealous?

  "But literally everyone knows I'm yours, Ronnie." You respond in a softer tone, taking a step towards him. "I've been your for almost a whole year now, The thought of not being with you hasn't even crossed my mind."

  "Do you think they care, y/n?" He scoffed again. "Your hot, your smart, and you have a boyfriend, your a perfect target!" He whined.

  "I'm not going to be won over by cheap pick up lines and bad booze."

  "Are you sure? Because Cedric seems to think that your already begging him to sweep you off your feet. Was whispering about it all class." He pouted and you heart dropped into your stomach. "And why wouldn't you? He's good looking, sporty, funny, charming, and apparently he's a great kisser."

   "I wouldn't because I don't love him. I love you. I'll always love you, I'll never love anyone the way I love you. Your good looking, smart, you can be sporty if you didn't doubt yourself every five seconds-" he rolled his eyes, attempting to turn away from you before you grabbing his hand pulling him closer to you. "Like your doing now... your hilarious to me, Ronnie. You're the most interesting person I know, and I'm pretty sure your the best kisser to ever grace this sad run down planet." You spoke, pulling him until your bodies touched, placing his hands on your waist as you looked up into his soft eyes. "I love you, Ronald."

  "Do you promise?" He spoke quickly and you nodded.

"I'm going to marry you one day" A smile slowly found its way to his red face, allowing the anger and sadness to flush right through him.

  "I love you, y/n. More than life itself."

"Promise?" You smiled back.

   "Would I ever lie to the mother of my future children?"

  You stood on your tiptoes, leaning your head up until your lips pressed against his. He still tasted like orange juice, the tart berry faded as the day went past. His hands on your waist squeezing as you arms went over his shoulders. Your lips moving against his gave him a good taste of your cherry flavored lip balm. It was a new one, last year your stuck to a watermelon flavored balm.

   You hadn't even noticed the two of you were moving until he helped you hop up on one of the lab tables. Your hands moving down to unbuckle his pants as quickly as possible before he pulled apart your kiss.

  "Are you sure you wanna do this here?" He asked, only because he knew you would die of embarrassment if caught by anyone. He had no problem having sex with you in here, it's not like he hadn't that about it tens of times core.

  "Take me, right here." You nodded, unbuttoning his pants as you focused on one thing. "You know, I've really really missed you this past few months." Your bottom lip caught between your teeth. "I've missed you over and over and over..." you hummed, tugging his pants down enough until they weren't in your way.

  "That's a lot of missing me." Ron swallowed, you fingers slipping past the waist band of his boxers pulling them down a bit before you pulled out his cock with precum already leaking from his tip.

  "Mmhmm." You lost count of how many times you struggled to get yourself off without Ron. It was frustrating and made you regret not spend at least a few weeks with him and his family. "I've felt Kinda... empty." You spoke spreading your legs for him as he prepped himself.

  "I could help you out with that... make you feel more... full." He offered and you nodded. His hands slipping under the skirt that was no basically showing your whole ass, pushing you black panties to the sides. You were already dripping as his fingers ran up you slit to make sure you were ready for him.

  "Please Ronnie." You moaned, as he lined himself up with your entrance.

   He looked to you for last second approval, you nod, pulling his body closer to yours by his tie, connecting your lips once more before he finally pushed into you. You both groaned at the sensation, he stretched you out until you felt the pleasurable burn spreading through your groin. Not stopping until your hips met and he was deep inside of you. Your walls clenched around him, missing the feeling of the burn he usually ensued.

   He drew his hips back only a bit before slowly rocking himself into you. Your ass on the very edge of the table. Legs wrapped around his waist and he fucked into you. Lips still connected in sloppy slow sensual kisses that you dreamt about so many nights this summer. Your muffled moans filled the dead silence in the empty classroom the two of you were occupying. The sounds only encouraging his movements as his hips sped up in pace, hands down to grip your thighs to keep your legs apart for him. This wasn't the way either of you wanted to wanted to greet each other after 3 sum months, but it'd have to do.

  "God, your so tight!" Ron moaned through the sloppily kisses. His voice made you clench around him once more making his hips stutter as he moved faster and harder.

  "You feel so good baby."you moaned, voice in a high pitch and out of breath.

   His lips moved from your to down your neck, arm wrapped around your back to keep you steady. You were trying to keep yourself quiet in case any stragglers in the halls happened to walk by. You let out tiny gasps and squeals whenever he hit a particular deep spot in your cunt that nearly drove you mad.

   "F-fuck"

His hand moved from your thigh to your clit. Rubbing harsh circle on the bundle of nerves. Your jaw fell open as you tried to focus on a single point of pleasure to celebrate, with his cock hitting your g spot with every thrust and your clit sending pleasurable shocks through the rest of your body it was hard to focus on just one thing.

   "M's-so cl-ose-" you choked out, unable to really forming words.

  "I know, babe, cum for me, Princess." Ronald murmured, brain foggy with lust. Hips still rocking into

yours as you desperately tried to hold on for just a bit longer. It became harder to control to noises slipping past your lips. Uttering his name in your whines as he brought you over the edge, hips moving a bit slower as you clenched tightly around him, legs shaking a bit as he helped you ride out your orgasm.

“Oh fuck” you moaned, breathing heavy and hips still rocking into his.

“Almost forgot how pretty you are when you do that.” He smirks, your eyebrows furrowing a bit.

“When I do what?” You hum, he opened his mouth to respond but he just shut it back again before shaking his head.

“Nothing.” He shrugged.

“N- wait, did you..?” You peered down between the two of you.

“Uhm no, it’s fine- I don’t even have condom on me-”

“I can-”

“No, you don’t have to-”

“I want to.” You stated, smiling at the way it was so easy to read each other’s minds. “Really.”

“I mean... yeah, uhm okay.” He spoke, cheeks turning a bright red color. You nodded letting out a slight moan as he pulled out of you. He helped you off the table, allowing you to fix your skirt before sinking down to your knees. You looked up to him through your lashes basically causing his insides to melt at the sight.

You wasted no time in making sure he was satisfied. Your lips arm lips warming around him, tongue collecting all of your own juices as you took him further into your mouth. You let out a soft moan, sending the vibrations through his spine earning a groan from him. His mouth fell open as he felt his tip touch the back of your throat. His eyes glued on your lips as his cock disappeared in your mouth over and over. He fought the strong urge to see just how far you could take him in your pretty mouth before you couldn’t breathe.

��Bloody hell, just like that, y/n.” He moaned, hand finding its way to the back of your head, only pushing you into him gently. You didn’t mind it, you actually very often craved the way he usually took control. That ache between your legs returned, the one that usually made your mind foggy and made bad decisions seem not so bad in the long run.

The ground cold on your knees, skirt wrapped tightly around your body, boyfriend beginning to twitch as your push your limit in how far he could go. Tears polling in the bottom of your eyes, threatening to ruin the makeup you had done perfectly for the day. You felt his cock twitching in your mouth enjoying the noises coming from his throat as he neared his high.

“Fuck I’m gonna-” he moaned before spilling his hot seed into you mouth. Without think you swallow I’m around him, milking him for whatever he was worth before he had to pull you away from him. Both of you slightly out of breath before as he helped you to your feet. Your lips glossy from a mixture of spit and his cum, which he didn’t seem to mind as he pulled you in for one final kiss.

“We should skip next period and lunch, have some fun... I haven’t seen you all summer and I really missed you.” You emphasized on the really, as you pulled away from the kiss.

“And as much as I’m not opposed to that, you’d castrate me tomorrow for letting you skip the first day just to have sex.”

“Mm, you get me.” You giggled, watching as he fixed himself so he could the two of you could return to normal civilization. “Now we should go before someone tries to get in here.” You mentioned, fixing your own skirt once again, and making sure you had no remnants of Ron on your face or clothes. You helped fix his tie until you both looked as well as two people could after fucking in a classroom. “Do you think we could sneak out tonight? Have a picnic under the Stars somewhere?” You asked, earning a light hearted chuckle from your boyfriend.

“What about your party?” He asked.

“They’ll just have to miss us.” You shrugged, taking Ron’s hand in yours as you know lace your bag on you shoulder.

He didn’t respond but you knew the answer. He just smile as pulled the both of you towards the door stopping as you heard the quick tapping of someone’s feet’s along the stone floors. You both paused in the doorway, hearts beating before watching your dark haired best friend turn the corner. He spotted the two of you quickly with a smile, out of breath and not really in the position to stop but he did so anyways.

“Woah, mate, what are you doing?” Ron asked, confusion lightly his face.

Harry’s eyes flickered from you back to Ron before rolling to the back of his head out of annoyance.

“That thing we said we were going to do earlier. You disappeared so I did it myself... and well... I got caught, so if you will excuse me-" you’re eyebrows furrowed as you looked to Ron with a sudden pale and tense figure.

“What did you do?” You groaned.

“YOU’RE DEAD POTTER!” A familiar clump of voices called, echoing through the halls before you’re eyes went wide.

“Tell you later?” He offered before you rolled your eyes gripping your boyfriend hand as you both prepared to run along side your friend.

[diplexchimera]

Hey people considering college-

I have some tips for you. Now, take into consideration that I am technically a college drop-out (didn't have enough money for a second semester).

- my college required Freshman to be in a campus dorm. We got to select whether we preferred someone quiet, someone loud, or someone in between. In my experience, someone loud = an extrovert who will have many people visit them, someone quiet = a person who prefers to keep their room more private, and someone in between = a person who wants their roommate to be okay with a noisy room & people over, but also wants to be able to say they need quiet time (or they aren't sure what they want, but want neither a silent room or a busy room).

- if you have to eat from the cafeteria, that's okay. They tend to have a wider selection anyway but! I would suggest memorizing the breakfast/lunch/dinner availability hours. Some schools are very strict, and will lock the doors which = a skipped meal for you.

-I would also suggest getting the app 'MyPlate Calorie Tracker'. College meals will most likely be different than what you've eaten at home and school. The MyPlate app is pretty simple, and can help you make sure you're getting the right amount of food into yourself, as opposed to too much or too little. If I remember correctly, it also keeps track of how much protein and stuff your food is supplying you.

- sugars, fats, calories, and carbs are not bad for you. Your body requires them. Your brain literally will not function if you cut out any one of those items. Remember, you don't need to avoid being fat, you need work today being healthy. Your body will sort itself out (over time dude, give it time) if you supply it with the necessary nutrients and such.

- dude, vitamins. They can be expensive, but if you have insurance, ask your doctor how much of every vitamin you should be having. They can tell you, give you a list, and they can ask your insurance if vitamins are covered. If you can't get to a doctor, try to do research. Here is one from Harvard that I think is good, but you should always cross check things. Getting all the vitamins and minerals you need is exceedingly important. They help you go to sleep, stay asleep, and wake up, help your brain and body to function and adjust, help keep you feeling healthy and happy. If you feel tired and depressed, it can be really difficult to accomplish tasks and enjoy/ appreciate being alive.

- I would not suggest starting your year by completing assignments before the start date of said assignments. For one, doing assignments as they come helps you get a feel for a natural schedule. Another reason is because it helps to be in the moment, instead of too far ahead to be able to keep track of what's going on and when. Wait until you have a hang of how and where to research, and a firm idea of how much you can hold onto mentally, so you don't fail tests. You'll also likely feel guilty later on when you begin to struggle to stay ahead as assignments get longer and more difficult.

- yo if you can get a used textbook that comes as a three ring binder instead of a hard or soft back, do it. It's cheaper, and so much easier to handle and copy. Heck, you can even take the pages out of the section you're using and put them in a folder -- boom, no more 40lb back pack. Also makes more room in any bag you use for the essentials, which I'll list next.

- here are some backpack essentials:

• earbuds, Bluetooth if possible. It's okay to have more than one type of listening device. "I prefer headphones!" You say. You can't hide over-the-ear headphones if you end up in a classroom which doesn't allow something like that. Sometimes you're just having a sucky day, sometimes you need extra stimulation to concentrate, sometimes you want to spend your time listening to a podcast that explains the current subject better than your teacher does. Sometimes you want to watch a movie casually. Earbuds also take up MUCH less space.

• an extra charging cable for every portable device you use. Roll them up, and secure each one individually with cable ties or bread bag twist ties. I say extra, as in, keep your original cords in your dorm room and Don't Take Them out. Get a secondary cable and charger for each device, and let them live in your backpack.

• 3 or 4 different colors of pen. Multiple colors, for whatever reason you want-- easily scanned notes, for different subjects, etc. These can serve a variety of purposes, and you never know when you need them.

• 3 regular pencils, and a good hand sharpener or silent mechanical sharpener. 3 in case the other two get broken lead or happen to suck. Regular pencils can be finicky.

• 2 mechanical pencils. 2 in case one of them fails, runs out of lead, or the lead breaks up.

• decoy pens and pencils! Get as cheap or expensive as you want. At some point, someone is likely to ask for one, and you don't want someone else using your favorites. You also may not get them back, or they get broken. I would suggest a couple of each, as it may happen in more than one class. You don't have to have decoys, but that way, at least you don't have to choose between either feeling guilty for not loaning out the items you like, or being uncomfortable that you did have to loan one. If you loan the decoys out, and don't get any back, and someone asks you for a utensil later that day, you have both a convenient reason you don't have an extra you're willing to share, and you already put the minimum effort towards being prepared.

• Water! You're going to get so dang dehydrated! You're going to have full days, much of the time, from trekking across campus, to class time, to meal times, to study time, to hang out time -- you need to have water with you, as opposed to having to track it down, and possibly have to pay for a bottle of water. Hydration is a main component in bodily functionality and brain processes. I would suggest a minimum of a 30-ish ounce container of any sort. A plastic water bottle you refill, a thermos, a sippy cup, a hydro flask, a camp flask, whatever works for you.

• I would say snacks. If you're eating meals throughout the day, I guess they aren't "technically" essential, but can confidently say, they are useful. Snacks can be an energy boost, a brain function boost, a hunger soother, a friend-maker, or just plain stimulation. Cut up some apple slices, maybe grab some peanut butter, or a portion of nuts, or a tangerine, crackers, pretzels, chips, the choice is yours. It helps if you can get ahold of some of those cheap reusable silicone ziplock baggies. You can wash them to be used again, and you don't have to deal with carrying plastic trash around with you.

• a pair of socks. I know that sounds weird, but it doesn't take up much space, and weird stuff happens. They get wet, or it's hot and your feet get sweaty and yucky, or food get spilled on your feet. Stuff happens.

• b12 tablets. They work with your system in a healthy way, as opposed to caffeine, and does the same trick. Just follow the directions on the bottle, and may I suggest, start with half the recommended dose. It affects different people more or less. My husband takes the recommended two, while I only need a half. We both have adhd, and are closely similar in body weight. If you need a wake up boost, don't slam your system with caffeine.

• baby wipes. You can get a small pack, and they can help clean up almost anything. Someone spill sticky tea? Got it. Fell and scraped a knee, and it has dirt all over it? Baby wipes and a little water. Need to blow your nose, and there are no tissues, or just feel like you need to rinse your face off in class? You're covered.

• chapstick is a very small item, but Lordy Lord if those classrooms aren't parched of all moisture in the air. You gone get cracked, chapped lips.

That's kinda it for now on backpack essentials. There is definitely more you could have, so supplement whatever helps you. You could add a hairbrush or comb, a hat and rain jacket for cold weather times, sunscreen during the hot times, hair ties and bobby pins, etc. It's all for you pal.

- keep in touch with your professors. Make yourself known to them. An occasional casual compliment is often helpful, and a good way to connect (you explained stuff really well today/your teaching style is helpful/I appreciated you taking time to answer my questions). They are people after all.

- if you have stuff going on, let your professors know. If your pet is sick at home and you're worried about them, give your professors a heads-up that you may seem less attentive that week, but that it isn't disinterest. If you figure out you have depression, and you're struggling to complete assignments/sleep/wake-up, tell them. Let them know you don't expect special treatment, you just wanted them to know that it isn't due to immaturity or lack of interest.

- always do studying and homework first. If you're able to accomplish these things while with friends, that's great, but if you can tell you're struggling, prioritize schoolwork. You'll have time for fun stuff later, usually later that evening.

- it's okay to drop a class. In fact, if you severely dislike a class, don't understand the coursework, or you realize you've taken on too much at once, it's better for your overall wellness and your grades if you drop it. If you have a professor suggest you drop a class in mean way, don't feel like you have to prove them wrong. This is your experience, and they can stuff it for being a rude brat. You don't need to prove yourself to them, and you cannot control their thoughts or actions.

- try to take classes that happen twice a week, which start later in the day than 8 am, at least for your first semester. There is a lot going on in college. A lot of changes to acclimate to. Take it a little easier at first, to give yourself time to work out what all is where, and how everything works.

Well, that's the end of 'dip's (college) tips' for now.