#those were IDed CORRECTLY

[dailybotany]

I'm so tired of the notes my foraging post only being about mushroom consumption. Yes. Mushrooms can be hazardous. Yes, they are more hazardous than plants (partly because their characters are more subtle and more easily confused!!). However, SO ARE PLANTS. I'm so tired of the fear mongering surrounding mushrooms in the foraging community while plants are treated as essentially harmless. You need to know what you are looking at! You need to be able to describe it! Or you WILL eventually hurt yourself or others! If you cannot reliably key out a species, you cannot reliably double check yourself.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[spring-ephemeral]

I think the thing that pisses me off the most about that time it was trendy to poke fun at NLOGs was that whole claim that self-identified NLOGs (or sometimes even just gnc girls/women in general, if the posts were more blatant about what they actually wanted to say) only did all that to appease/appeal to men. Girl, my male classmates hated me just as much as (if not more than) 90% of my female classmates because I was weird and fat and gnc. I did not have any delusions about this being the way to get men to like me.

[southislandwren]

i should file workers comp (round 3 babey) for my knees they are a DISASTER right now. no i've never gone to the doctor for my knees previously why do u ask. definitely no fraud going on here. give me compensation pwease

[arecaceae175]

Hello! I noticed that some of your fics on Ao3 are tagged "Screen Reader Friendly," and I wondered what makes a fic screen reader friendly. Is it just about formatting, or does content matter too?

Hi, thank you so much for asking this question!!! Disclaimer I am not visually impaired so all of this information I have learned by seeing blind or visually impaired people talk about this issue.

It’s primarily formatting! I’ll list everything I do to try to make my fics accessible here.

Line breaks!!! Use the ao3 line break code instead of adding a bunch of symbols. This is the biggest thing I had to change once I realized my fics were not screen reader friendly.

HOWEVER some screen readers won’t pick up on the horizontal line, either. Another good option is to use a short series of symbols, for example: “~~” or “- - -“

Basically, just don’t use more than three symbols in a row. I used to use “~~~/\~~~” with a delta symbol in the middle to look like the triforce, but a screen reader would see that and say “asterisk asterisk asterisk delta asterisk asterisk asterisk” which is pretty annoying lol

Most screen readers don’t differentiate between regular text and bold/italics. It’s fine to have those in your story, but if the bold/italics significantly changes the plot or the implications of a sentence then it is not screen reader friendly

Screen readers can’t describe a line break that is just an empty space. For example, in one of my fics I have a character reading a note, and I have an extra ‘return button’ space before and after the note to make the note distinct from the rest of the text. To make that fic more screen reader friendly, instead of just an empty space, I wrote “[Line Break]”. That way, a screen reader can say “line break”, and readers still recognize it as a line break

If you have any sort of chat fic (AND this goes for hashtags on tumblr too!) with screen names, be sure to distinguish the separate words in the screen name. You can do this with by capitalizing the first letter of each word like this “ScreenNameHere” or with dashes in between each word “screen-name-here”. That helps screen readers and also people with things like dyslexia who have trouble distinguishing words if they aren’t capitalized or separated in some way.

Screen readers can read image emojis like this smiley face 😁 because they have embedded alt text, but they can’t read text emojis as an emoji, like this one “:D”. If you use any of those in your fic, add a description like this: “ :D [Image description: text emoji of a smiley face with a big, open mouthed smile. End description].”

Also, this one doesn’t have to do with a screen reader, but if you have an image embedded in your story, keep these things in mind:

Be sure to describe the image so anyone who is blind or visually impaired can still experience the image. I don’t think it’s possible to add alt text to the actual image, so I usually put this below the image: “[Image ID: description of the image. Note the important details, but be as concise as you can. /End ID]”. Including the image description instead of some sort of alt text is good for DeafBlind people who can’t see the image well enough but don’t use a screen reader.

Some blind or visually impaired people don’t use a screen reader and instead zoom in on the text. If an image is embedded in the story, be sure it is sized correctly. If it isn’t, it can make scrolling sideways to read zoomed in text more difficult because it makes the webpage much wider than the text itself.

Not all my fics have the screen reader friendly tag because 1. There might be a few I haven’t updated yet, and 2. I didn’t include the tag on fics that have weird formatting or are accent heavy. For example, in Kinship I wrote Twilight’s dialogue to represent his strong accent, and those kinds of things with apostrophes and half-words don’t come through well with a screen reader.

I personally don’t think it’s good practice to include a ton of apostrophes or shortened words to distinguish an accent. Even for people not using screen readers, it’s hard to read. For me, if I see a fic with things like that, I won’t read it. Maybe try having a few words that the character’s accent comes through on, or write something about their heavy accent outside of the dialogue.

The “Screen Reader Friendly” tag isn’t an officially recognized AO3 tag yet, but the more people who use it, the sooner it will be!

Those are all the things I can think of right now. If anyone has any other tips to add, please do so!!

[girlbossnezuko]

Some scenes from the Stevie Harrington au I’ve been rotating in my mind for months

Details & IDs under the cut:

[ID 1: Stephanie Harrington speaking into a walkie-talkie, her text bubble reads:

“Sound off, shitheads.”

She has long brown hair with big waves, and is wearing a white tank top and blue jeans. She looks vaguely annoyed or exasperated. End ID 1]

[ID 2: Steph lying stomach-down on the end of a bed, propped up on her elbows so she can hold hands with Chrissy Cunningham, who’s speaking. Chrissy’s text bubbles read:

“Jason just doesn’t get it. I wanna hang out, and shop, and cheer, and beat the shit out of interdimensional man-eating monsters. You know, I wanna do girly stuff!”

Steph looks indulgently down at Chrissy, who’s smiling and sitting on the floor. Steph’s wearing a red crop top and blue jeans, and Chrissy has on a yellow and white striped headband, a white and pink floral print button-up shirt, and sunny yellow overalls, which have multicoloured flowers embroidered around the hips and ankles. End ID 2]

Chrissy’s dialogue here is inspired by a similar quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because I thought it would be a fun & cute thing for her to say, and her outfit is inspired by one of princess Diana’s bc she’s a fashion icon.

[ID 3: Steph and Robin Buckley, both in their Scoops Ahoy uniforms, complete with the hats. Robin’s holding up a whiteboard divided into ‘hit’ and ‘miss’ sections. ‘Miss’ has twelve tally marks, and ‘hit’ has a single tally with a small question mark beside it. Their dialogue reads:

Robin: Board’s getting full, Harrington. You’re a real heartbreaker today.

Steph: Told you I could make this outfit work.

Steph is smiling, holding an ice cream scoop, and her hair’s braided over her shoulder with a red scrunchie. Robin looks amused, like she’s teasing. End ID 3]

[ID 4: Steph and Dustin Henderson in the scene from season 2 where they’re leaving a trail of meat for Dart on the railroad tracks. They both have yellow gloves and are holding buckets of meat, and Steph has her bat over her shoulder. Their dialogue reads:

Steph: I’ll bring you some of my Farrah Fawcett spray.

Dustin: Isn’t that for girls?

Steph: It’s for hair.

The word ‘hair’ is underlined. Steph is wearing a light blue and purple jacket over a red turtleneck and blue jeans, and her hair is in a ponytail with a red scrunchie. Dustin is wearing his canon outfit, complete with the baseball cap and headset. He looks skeptical. End ID 4]

Bonus transcript of me explaining the single tally + question mark in dms:

🍓[me]: Snappy dialogue to indicate that the board is abt men failing to flirt with her and not the other way around 👍

🍇[beloved]: who's the hit?

🍓: Eddie lmfao

🍓: The question mark is there bc Robin was so baffled by Eddie’s complete lack of rizz that she’s not sure she even interpreted that correctly

🍇: KNEW it

🍇: robin watching the entire time: 🤨

🍓: He wasn’t even trying to flirt is the thing he just got up there and lost his mind and his friends were standing behind him clearly being like “we don’t know this guy” and somehow steph got like… giggly??

🍓: Robin, afterwards: what the hell was that

🍓: Steph, clueless: what was what? 😀❓

🍓: Eddie crouching down behind one of those large decorative plants for ten straight minutes desperately holding his head in his hands shinji-style to stave off the cringe

🍓: His ice cream melts btw

🍇: his friends are standing a full meter away from him, pointedly not looking

🍓: Yeah they’re on the other end of the food court sitting at a table facing him but very carefully avoiding actually looking at him. They’d put their backs to him but the last time they did that (different mall, long story, they aren’t allowed in anymore) Eddie got kicked out by mall security and it took them like three hours to find him

🍓: This was before Gareth’s time and no one’s ever actually explained the full situation to him bc 1) they keep embellishing it and 2) eddie gets screechy when they try

[mystiffox]

— the apple's falling from the tree

from Cross: The Star Sans by @overflowofcrows

star!cross makes me incredibly ill with the tragic found family vibes ... (lays on the floor)

also have some doodles too (slight spoilers on the fic's lore below! to explain some of my thoughts on clothes n stuff)

does Cross have a star necklace in the fic? no, probably not. did i show off about my thoughts on a star necklace to Simple anyway? yes, yes i did. anyway idc where u think the necklace is from (whether its a gift from dream or a remold of his broken heart necklace, who knows atp) now ONTO THE GANG (+ Error and Fresh)

to preface this: im mostly assuming for most of the lore beyond the crumbs given to me. so, i'd imagine that when the fight ended with the gang losing, Dream and Ink immediately jailed them up. they both seem keen on keeping the gang alive, so they probably would've tried to help them with anything to make sure of it- that is, if any of the gang would even accept it in the first place.

i'm making a small guess that if there were any wounds, they used what they had to take care of it, aka ripping out parts of their own clothing to use as makeshift bandages. dream might've gave them some supplies (out of pity.. or something) but whether that was not enough or not used, i won't know

even if it was enough, there's still the factor of inevitable outburst/breakdowns from any of the prisoners. i'd imagine it'd be so hard to calm any of them down because the gang were too used to being close together that using touch became the usual grounding method— so putting a barrier between them makes it infintely harder for everyone.

i think Nightmare doesn't use his jacket anymore. it probably feels like shit/too itchy and ragged to wear and reminds him of a past he wishes he could forget. (he must feel so helpless seeing all his boys suffer after taking care of them for so long... like a lost father trying his best and seeing how much he's failing at the same time.. man.)

Dust is almost always wrapped in a blanket, the hoodie completely zipped up as if he was trying to hide in it, keeping himself as small as possible (knowing his own breakdowns are the biggest And loudest)

Horror is probably yanked back to the memories of when he was back in his home au, quietly starving and losing all the progress he had with the gang.. trying to press himself against the barriers in hopes that maybe he can feel the others on the other side of it.. (one of his outbursts would be why he ripped off the sleeves of his jacket id assume)

Killer too.. unable to get to anyone and just. with his soul going haywire sometimes, having no available output that he's forced to ride it out on his own And in front of everyone.. yeah, you get the gist for those three

Error's a mess of threads- picks at his clothes and sews em back up, just to have a reason to move his hands. he's not too worried i'd say- it's a little reminiscent of the antivoid, and he's experienced insanity already (not to say it doesn't tug at his own soul-strings to see it happen to everyone else)

Fresh might be the "cleanest" out of everyone, with barely any visible tears, but i have a good feeling his body language is different. maybe the cap is now worn correctly. maybe he took off his jacket. he's tense. his guard is up. because a parasite would never want to be locked up in one place, right?

god.

God.

they make me so sick (message is mine btw)

[wolven91]

Unafraid

The belligerent ursidain growled at the vulptanis behind the suddenly thin feeling screen.

The smaller administrator was merely doing their job correctly, asking for ID, confirming there were no outstanding warrants, all standard procedure. Yet there were those that no matter how many times they had to do this when changing station, they hated the process and wished to take their anger out on someone. The ursidain was one of those.

"I've done what you want! Stop wasting my time!" Bellowed the giant, spittle running down the transparent screen, the only thing separating the giant from the nervous agent. It suddenly felt as if the illusion of protection had been shattered. Good. The more the ursidain made the agent feel uncomfortable, the more likely he'd get through quicker.

"Sir, I-I..."

"Oi!" Barked a sharp voice from the side. "Step away from the screen and manage yourself." Ordered the canid in the resplendent attire of station security. The ursidain's giant head swung around to lock on to the speaker, and the new target of their aggression. It was important to keep the outrage going, to not be distracted, otherwise they'd force him through the whole slow process. The ursidain turned their body with plodding steps before swinging their arms out wide.

"I ain't done anything! And this one is wasting my time!" The ursidain gestured at the visibly relieved vulptanis behind the screen with a jerk of his head.

"Processing takes time. Step away from the screen and manage yourself. Lower your voice, now." The canid ordered, arms hung low, no weapon in sight.

"Or what? I aint afraid of you." Growled the giant.

"Or we'll interpret your actions as 'hostile' and defend the station." Replied the canid without a hint of emotion colouring his words. A bluff. Had to be.

The ursidain glanced around and saw the rest of the pack already appearing from different directions. The ursidain had dealt with canids before, they were all bluster. He was an ursidain! Largest of the bipeds! He could take anything they dished out, but that wasn't even a worry. He couldn't be intimidated. He'd done this dance countless times before. The GC was the same everywhere, they wouldn't harm a single strand of fur on his body.

"Step away from the screen and manage yourself or you will be managed. Last warning."

Unbeknownst to the ursidain, the crowd waiting for processing had already taken several steps away, but decided to take a few more, just to be safe. The ursidain was confident, no one liked having bad press and usually making a scene was enough to get ushered through, just to get the one causing an issue out of the way. This was unusual, but despite all the fearmongering of canids being the big bad of the GC, the ursidain had yet to actually see a canid in action. They wouldn't do anything to him, he was a citizen, this was just an attempt at intimidation.

"I want through! Do you know how I am?! I'm-" The ursidain, as he was talking shoved the canid in front of him against the shoulder. The immediate slash across the back of the ursidain's legs sent burning pain through him, but it wasn't enough to topple him.

He swung an arm around behind him, turning as he did, but hit nothing but air. The canid that had slashed him was scampering away, his knife-like claws bloodied.

The ursidain screwed up his face in indignant rage! How dare they even touch him! He was bleeding! He'd have their hides!

Having no intention of backing down now, the ursidain breathed in to bellow, only to feel teeth, clamp around his throat, and a weight pulling him forwards and twisting his neck at an odd angle. To the crowd, the canid that had been issuing the warnings had leapt forward the moment the giant had stopped paying attention to him and had used his own teeth to pull the giant to the ground, bracing his legs and body against the creature's wide chest before pulling and twisting. The ursidain had to follow the pull and twist or risk causing more damage to himself. He toppled forwards and was thrown to the ground with an echoing 'thud'.

The jaws that had clamped around his neck released and the ursidain was looking up at the lead canid, glaring down at him. A large paw reached up and touched against his neck and winced. Pulling the paw away, it was splattered with blood, his own.

"You are bound by station law and are to come with us. Will you comply?" Growled the canid, vicious in tone.

"I-" But the guard cut him off.

"Understand, if you are not completely cooperative, I have the authority to remove any and all threats to the station with lethal force." The canid crouched and grinned, his teeth pink with the mixture of his own saliva and the ursidain's blood.

"Please resist, I haven't killed anyone in three days, I need this." The canid bluffed loud enough for everyone to hear.

To the shocked and nervous crowd, the ursidain nodded his head and was swiftly bound and led away into a side door. A door that was not used by anyone but the security team. There was a quiet, nervous energy as the lead canid glanced back at the crowd, looking for anything or rather anyone who might also cause an issue.

It didn't matter who had an ego in that crowd, the canid would not hesitate to force them into compliance.

It was well known that the canids were the weapon held in the Galactic Community's arm. The GC's own personal cudgel. Parents told children horror stories of the canids to get them to behave and the canids did nothing to dismiss or debate these claims. Some of them were true.

It took public moments like this to remind the trillions of citizens around the galaxy that just because the day to day lives of the average citizen was without worry or blood, did not mean that the canids could not step in if they got cocky.

There was good reason the canids were interacted with at arm's length by the average person. Canids were one step away from being outright feral. Knives for fingers and an appetite for violence. The boogiemen of the GC.

== 0 ==

Melrash the canid sighed as he threw the tool belt down on the side as his home's front door slid closed and locked. It was the end of the day and it had been a long one. Three chintian smugglers, two felinoids after a decency complaint, two taurians in a bar fight and an ursidain in processing. That was the final tally of occupants of the station that Melrash had, had to physically detain. Over half had to see their own blood before reality set in.

Oddly, it was the smugglers who were the ones that had come quietly without issue. Melrash growled as he didn't trust that. He'd missed something, they'd got him away from there too quickly, he'd not sniffed around or questioned it. Tomorrow he'd-

"Mel?" Came a voice from within, perking the canid's ears up.

"I'm home." The canid called back, still not used to having someone waiting for him at home. As a canid, he had his pack, and he spent a large chunk of his time with them. Whether at work or blowing off steam. But even the pack needed time away from one another at the end of the day. This 'guest' in his home was still a new feature, but one he'd learnt to enjoy.

The tiny frail furless creature came pottering around the door frame with the gait that looked like it was about to fall over at any time. It had taken effort on Melrash's part to stop following the thing round with his paws out, ready to catch the human.

The fleshy creature wiped his hands of moisture on an oversized, to him at least, towel before putting it over the back of the sofa. The canid said nothing, then the human bee lined for Melrash.

The canid stood there, perfectly still and weathered the 'attack'.

The human looped his arms around the canid's middle and pressed himself into the canid's fur. It was so dense and the human so small that the creature partially disappeared. The canid very carefully draped his own arms and paws over the human's shoulders and gently pressed the human into himself.

He'd barely used any of his strength, but he both felt and heard the human's spine crunch and click before Melrash's eyes shot wide and he crouched down, shocking the human with the speed while he checked the frail creature for harm.

"I'm fine! Honestly, I needed to click my back, I feel looser." The human argued, batting the canid's worried hands away.

Melrash growled and glanced to the scarred flesh on the human's arms. A perfect quartet of lines, that if anyone looked too closely at, would perfectly match to the spacing of Melrash's fingers. Carelessness and hard lessons.

"I still don't understand how you aren't scared of me. Everyone else is..." Grumbled Melrash, not upset that he was feared by the masses, but almost frustrated that he hadn't been able to get the same response from Yanis. Still... as the human looped their arms around the canid's neck and pushed his face into the canid's messy mane, Melrash had to admit he enjoyed this.

"Because I know you're a friend. Always did, as soon as I met you. Maybe more than that now...?" The humans hands came up to the opposite ear and began to scratch the shorter fur there, Melrash 'hunnn'ing in response.

The human breathed the canid's scent in despite the canid knowing that Yanis was scent blind. Melrash smiled and tilted his head, sandwiching the human into his shoulder as the canid used one arm to hold the human in place and stand back up. Yanis squawked in surprise, but the canid ignored him and his wiggling in a vague notion of trying to escape.

The canid carried him without effort back into the kitchen, but not before plucking the wet towel off the back of the sofa.

"You keep telling me off for doing that." The canid growled, his whole body rumbling the human as Yanis merely guiltily laughed. The canid grinned, not the worst defence for someone's actions he'd heard today.

Melrash, along with his pack, secretly liked how the humans didn't fear the canids... it was a pleasant change...

[r/WolvensStories]

[Ko-Fi]

[bluejayblueskies]

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world | phynoma

[ID: Two pictures of two hand-bound books, the first of which shows their front covers and the second of which shows their spines and part of their front covers at an angle. The leftmost book is bound in yellow bookcloth and has a hand-embroidered smiling mouth with bloody teeth on the bottom portion of the front and back cover. The title, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world" is in the top right corner in black as well as the words "volume one" in maroon. The rightmost book is bound in red bookcloth and has a hand-embroidered ribcage on the lefthand side of the front cover and the righthand side of the back cover. The title, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world" is in the top right corner in black as well as the words "volume two" in white. Both volumes have stitching across the spine that joins the embroidery on the front and back covers so that the design stretches across the spine. /End ID]

It's finally time to share the books I made for the 2023 Rusty Quill Big Bang, hosted by @pilesofnonsense! This year, I was paired with the wonderful @phynoma, who wrote a post-circus AU entitled the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world where Jon is marked by an entity known as the Consuming that feeds off hunger and desire and focuses, in Jon's case, around sexual hunger and desire. It's a truly spectacular fic with excellent worldbuilding, spot-on characterization, and a wide variety of sexual encounters of all flavors, and I highly recommend it!

As this fic is written in transcript format, I wanted to go with an open-spine binding style that would have the advantage of both lying extremely flat when opened and giving the fic a more screenplay-like appearance. Also as a consequence of the transcript format, the final page count ended up being large enough that I split the fic into two volumes, the first of which covers season three and the second of which covers seasons four and five.

[ID: Two pictures of the same hand-bound books, the first of which shows volume one and the second of which shows volume two. Both books are fully open to display their front and back covers touching. We can see that the embroidered design, half of which is on the front cover and half of which is on the back, forms a complete picture when the book is fully open. /End ID]

Each volume has hand-embroidered front and back covers, with titles done in black, white, and maroon gel pen. The covers were designed so that when the book is fully open, the front and back cover designs come together to form one single cohesive image. Additionally, when the book is closed, the spine stitching was done so that the design stretches across the spine, thus making the full design complete whether the book is fully open or fully closed. I'm really proud of how these covers turned out, and even though the embroidery took much longer than I anticipated it taking, it's definitely something I would do again!

More description and pictures of the interior of the books are below the cut:

I went with a visually simple yet technically complex design for the typeset of this fic. Microsoft Word's styles were very much my friend, as well as its advanced find-and-replace feature, to automate a lot of the formatting for this fic. The most complex bits were the group chat excerpts and making sure all the profile pictures were positioned correctly, as well as the email chain excerpts in volume one. The text messages were done separately in an HTML workspace and then included via screenshots, and because I had an HTML/CSS text message code already sitting around from a previous project, those were relatively simple to format!

[ID: Eight pictures of the interior of the hand-bound books from previous photos. The first picture shows the title page of volume one, which has the title and author name in black and "volume one" in red, as well as a picture of a ginko tree. The second picture shows the title page of volume two, which has the title and author name in black and "volume two" in red, as well as a picture of a cherry blossom tree. The third picture shows the colophon and table of contents for volume two, highlighting the binder logos--a bluejay and a bookpress--and the faux-label table of contents title. The fourth picture shows the chapter header page for the chapter "voyeurism" in volume one, featuring brackets around the notes, content warnings, and pairings for the chapter as well as a quote from the confessions of augustine, which is separated from the warnings with an open eye graphic. The fifth picture shows the beginning of the chapter "hunger in the garden" in volume two, displaying the transcript formatting of the text as well as the faux-label chapter name on the top left. The sixth picture shows text messages in volume two, which are formatted the same as text messages on an iOS system with blue and gray bubbles and a name header that says "Jonathan Sims." The seventh picture shows some chapter text as well as a faux-office memo, done in a sans serif font, written from Elias Bouchard to the Archives team. The eighth picture shows on the left page faux emails, done in an iOS style with profile pictures for each email, and on the right page a faux-group message with profile pictures for each member and a header that labels the groupchat as the Snarkivists. /End ID]

The fonts used for this typeset were chosen based on those used for the unofficial Magnus Archives transcripts--DejaVu Sans Mono for the chapter intro pages and Libre Baskerville for the body text. I'm not 100% sure that those are the actual fonts used for the unofficial transcripts, but based on the reverse font search I did, those seem to be a close match for it.

This was a big project for me, and I'm so happy to finally see it to completion! Once again, a big thanks to Phynoma for being such a wonderful partner to work with--I'm excited to send you these books so you can see them in person 💜

[astrophileous]

Love Bugs (Pt. 03)

Pairing: Derek Morgan x Female Reader

Synopsis: You and Derek Morgan have an arrangement. At work, your relationship is strictly business. Under the sheets, it's all about pleasure. Nothing more, nothing less. Until, of course, your feelings start to get involved. Your situation is complicated enough without the unexpexted predicament that suddenly befalls upon you. But with a maniac serial killer on the loose, will you ever get the chance to make everything right?

Warning(s): pregnancy, brief talk of abortion, stalker behavior, kidnapping, curse words (this shouldn't even warrant a warning at this point lol) pls lmk if I miss anything

Word Count: 2000-ish

Author's Note: told ya the pt 3 would be here sooner than you'd expect! as always, LIKE+COMMENT+REBLOG cause these give me the motivation I need to finish the parts sooner and maybe upload more frequently 👀

Love Bugs Masterlist / Criminal Minds Masterlist

You always took pride in your ability to predict things correctly. It was one of the best traits that made you a great profiler.

Not this time, though.

This time, your ability to conjure correct predictions just seemed like a big joke that the universe purposefully played out to torture your ass.

The ringtone of your phone's incoming call snapped you back to reality. Without looking at the caller ID, you pressed the green button and brought the device to your ear.

"(Y/L/N) speaking."

"Hey, Beets. Where are you?" came the voice of one Penelope Garcia. "Hotch is looking for you. Are you coming in today?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm coming in. Sorry, it was an emergency. Tell the others I'll be there shortly."

After ending the call, you rushed through the rest of your morning routine as quickly as possible. The three opened boxes on the bathroom sink were thrown into the garbage can in no time. Their contents sitting on the counter, however, required you to pause and contemplate what course of actions you would want to do to deal with the problem at hand.

Upon realizing that this was not the kind of dilemma you could solve in a matter of minutes, you decided to fuck it before dumping the items into the same garbage can.

The three tests with two little pink lines would have to wait.

You had a serial murder case to solve.

If five months ago someone had told you that you'd someday end up carrying the child of Derek Morgan, you would have ordered a psychological evaluation for them right then and there.

The past few days had been a catastrophic turmoil. At first, the irrational anger had devoured you whole. You were this close to calling the company who produced your pills for claiming that they had 99% chance of preventing exactly the kind of mess you were going through from happening. Granted, they had put the minus 1% up there to save face in case anything like this were to ever happen. But what were the chances of you being one of the outliers in that small percentage?

Apparently, a pretty good one.

Then, the panic quickly had taken control and messed up with your head. The endless anxiety of having to bring a child into such a cruel world and bearing the responsibility of raising it, while having witnessed what kind of evil lurked underneath its facade, almost threw you to the brink of insanity. During those moments of fear, you had even entertained the idea of possibly terminating the pregnancy, even going as far as calling the nearest facility to question more about the procedure.

But once the fog had cleared, and you were able to start thinking rationally again, realization soon dawned upon you.

You wanted to keep the baby.

In some curious plot twist, you discovered that the idea of having this baby wasn't as scary as the knowledge of having to face Derek and inform him of the news.

And that was exactly what had been occupying your entire mind: how to break the news to Derek.

You barely even had the guts to talk to him directly anymore. Yet somehow, you had to find a way to tell him that you were pregnant, right to his face, as if you were bringing the news of a new movie that had just premiered in your nearest local theater.

How the hell were you ever going to do that?

And it wasn't like you were worried that Derek wouldn't be supportive about your decision to keep the baby. Even if he was unsupportive, there was nothing he could do to persuade you to change your mind. But Derek--sweet and kindhearted Derek--would never do such a thing. Having lost his father at a very young age himself, there was no way anyone could keep him from taking care of his child, no matter how they came to be in this world.

So, before you could gather your thoughts--and yourself--you had decided to put off telling Derek about your current condition.

"Still nothing, Garcia?" Hotch asked from his place in front of the board.

"I'm so sorry, sir. I've tried everything, but there was nothing else I could uncover from that tape."

The rest of the team was seated around the round table. It had been two weeks since the BAU received the video tape from the UnSub, and Garcia had finally revealed that there was nothing more to be analyzed from the tape despite having only obtained insignificant details out of it.

It also didn't help that the UnSub had been lying dormant since that video was delivered.

"It just doesn't make sense," Rossi said frustratedly. "Why would he stop now? What is he waiting for? This guy gets off on attention. Stopping his theatrics at a time like this doesn't fit his profile at all."

"He must be looking to get his attention from somewhere else," Derek chimed in.

"Yeah, but the question is where?" Reid interjected.

"And what is he planning to do to make sure he gets it?" Hotch let out a long sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright, we're not going to stop just because this guy has. Emily, JJ, try interviewing the victims' families, friends, and the witnesses again. See if they suddenly have something useful for us. Morgan and Rossi, follow up on our other leads. Reid--"

"The case files. I know." Reid nodded.

"Right. And (Y/L/N)--" Hotch pinned his stare towards you, "--I need to talk to you. Thank you, everyone. Dismissed."

"Are you in trouble?" Emily leaned in as the rest of the team scattered out of the room.

"Not as far as I know," you whispered.

As you walked the path to Hotch's office, your mind began searching for the possibilities behind Hotch's sudden request to see you privately. You didn't get to guess for too long, though, as you finally arrived in front of his door almost in no time at all.

"Come on in, Agent. Close the door behind you," he commanded. You turned around to nudge the door closed. "Have a seat."

You didn't spend any time beating around the bush once you had sat down.

"Can I ask what this is about?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Hotch looked at you with a raised eyebrow. "I heard you requested a half day off today."

"I, uh... yes. Yes, I did. Is that why I'm here?"

"No. That is not why you're here." Hotch leaned back against his seat. "You've been distracted lately. You're coming late to work, and you can't seem to focus when you're around."

"I-I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

"You should know that I've received concerns about you from the other members of the team."

What?

"Was it JJ?" you asked. "Because if this is about what happened in the bathroom--"

"It was Garcia, actually."

"Oh."

Hotch looked at you curiously. "What happened with JJ in the bathroom?"

"Nothing, sir. It was nothing."

The next few seconds were drowned in silence. The ticking clock on Hotch's desk became the only sound echoing against the walls. Hotch was examining you as if you were a suspect in the interrogation room, and with how much scrutiny was sizzling inside those eyes, you might as well have been.

"They're not the only ones concerned about you, (Y/L/N)," he spoke carefully. "I've also noticed that you haven't been yourself lately. You seem tired all the time. You look paler every single day." Hotch readjusted his tie before continuing, "I know that what we do here isn't easy. This job, it's not for everyone. Sometimes our limits are much smaller than what we thought it would be, and that's okay. If you'd like to put in a request for a transfer, I'm sure I will be able--"

"Sir," you stopped him before he could go on any further. "I don't want to transfer. I like working here."

"Just because you like working somewhere, it doesn't mean--"

"Hotch," you cut him off once more. "I'm pregnant."

The priceless look on Hotch's face at the sudden drop of your announcement would forever be ingrained in your brain.

"What?"

"I found out two weeks ago." You smiled tentatively. "I've been having severe morning sickness, and my appetite has also not been the best. Probably why I look tired all the time. I didn't mean to let my condition affect my work, I'm sorry."

"No, no. That's... wow. You're pregnant." Hotch started to nod as if the news was just beginning to fully settle upon him. "Congratulations, Agent. That's wonderful news. You are... happy, right?"

You smiled at his considerate question. "I am very much. Yes."

"How far along are you?"

"My guess is eight to ten weeks. I'm not so sure. Today is my first ultrasound, hence why I requested for half a day."

And then, by some unknown piece of miracle, Aaron Hotchner started to laugh. A real, actual laugh that had both of his eyes wrinkling in the corners. You didn't even know that he could do that without Jack around.

"When I called you in here earlier, this isn't exactly how I pictured the conversation would go," he admitted.

"Neither did I."

"Well--" He cleared his throat, "--there's, of course, a few things we need to go over in rumination of your current condition, but I'm sure we can manage that some other time."

"Of course, sir."

"And (Y/L/N)?" You stared at him expectantly. "You can come to me if you ever need anything. You know that, right?"

The sincerity in Hotch's declaration nearly brought you to tears. You immediately tried to blink back the emotions before you could make a mess of yourself in front of your boss.

"Of course, Hotch. Thank you."

You got up from the chair and began walking towards the door. Before your fingers could touch the handle, you decided to turn around once more.

"Hotch?"

"Yes?"

"I would appreciate it if we kept this between us for now."

"Of course, Agent." He nodded. "You have my word."

And with that, you exited Hotch's room before heading back straight to your desk.

A few hours later, you were finally returning home after attending the doctor appointment.

Confirming your earlier prediction, the doctor had put the estimated age of your fetus at around ten weeks. According to the internet, your baby was not larger than the size of a mere apricot. It was nothing more than a tiny blob in the sonogram image, but the sight of it alone somehow made you want to break down in tears.

Before you could turn into a sobbing ball of mess, you decided to put the picture right on the front of your fridge.

"Alright, I think that's--"

Thud.

Your head instinctively whipped around at the mysterious sound.

Without wasting another second, your hand immediately reached for the gun tucked safely in your holster. The tiny footsteps you took sounded deafening in the silence of your apartment. You first checked the bathroom, finding it empty with nothing out of the ordinary. The two bedrooms were pretty much the same. Quiet and a little messy just the way that you had left them that morning.

Sighing, you brushed off your paranoia as a result of your overactive hormons and creeping exhaustion.

When you reemerged from taking a shower nearly an hour later, the feeling of dread once again washed over your entire being.

At first glance, not a single thing in the apartment seemed to be out of place. But somehow, the feeling of another presence in the room was indisputable. Your wet feet slowly moved along the floor, careful as to not make as much sound as possible.

Once you arrived in the kitchen, you took in your surrounding, making sure that things really were staying in the places they should have been in.

You were about to sigh in relief until you saw it.

The sonogram image you previously had glued to the fridge.

It was now lying on the floor.

Before you could have a chance to grab the nearest weapon, the door to the second bedroom behind you suddenly began to creak.

"Boo."

That was the last thing you remembered before everything went dark.

[sc0tters]

Secrets Kept | Carter Hart

summary: when surprises turn to secrets it almost leads to the end of your relationship.

request: yes/no

warnings: swearing, mentions of alcohol.

word count: 1.12k

authors note: we are onto our last new goalie of the dedication and I’ve got to say this might be my favourite piece so far. also look at this man, he’s GOREGOUS. If you want to see more from the dedication you can find the masterlist here!

Carter had been acting weirdly for weeks.

You had first noticed it when he removed your Face ID from his phone. Sure it was small but when he started coming home later than normal after practices and was no longer in even in his sweaty clothing.

It killed you to even think that Carter could have been cheating on you, he had been your boyfriend since you were freshmen in high school and you couldn’t see yourself yourself with anyone else. Yet as you stared at the meal you prepared for the two of you it made you feel sick.

He hadn’t come home and as the steam now disappeared from your plates and your third glass of wine was empty “he isn’t coming.” You sighed getting up as you put his plate in the fridge and placed yours in the microwave.

You changed out of your dress settling for his sweatpants and a hoodie before you found your way to the couch. It felt like a punch to your gut as you watched the bachelor “I’m home!” Carter called out as you heard his keys drop into the bowl by the door.

Not even bothering to pause the tv you just continued watching as he walked in “hey baby.” As the hockey player crawled onto the couch next to you as he smiled “you okay?” He furrowed his eyebrows waving his hand in front of your face.

You glared at him as you paused the tv “what did you get up to today?” You asked deciding that your patience had waivered thin and you were losing it now “just practice.” The smell of musk and oak from his shower gel you knew that it wasn’t true as his feet were in his sneakers rather than his slides “I can’t do this anymore Cart.” You sighed getting up as you made sure to slide away from his touch.

All he could do was watch as you stood up “what are you saying baby?” The irritation in your voice showed that you were talking about more than just the show on the tv.

Carter watched as you pushed your hair out of your face as you sighed “I know you’re cheating on me!” You felt like you had been taken to be a fool as you let the top of your anger come out.

He remained silent as it was clear that you had so much more to say “like I understand why you don’t wanna admit it but I’ve caught you!” As you flung your arms around Carter got up and caught them before you let them hit his chest “I’m not cheating on you!” Carter called out causing your body to freeze.

Somehow those words didn’t make you feel any better as you instead cocked your head as you furrowed your eyebrows “huh?” You wondered if you had heard him correctly as you waited for him to repeat his words “I’m not cheating on you.” As you calmed down Carter gave your hand a squeeze.

That left you with more questions than you had answers “but you’ve been coming home after practices.” If he had been at practice the entire time you would have not noticed but coming home three hours later than normal was a cause for concern from you.

You took a large gulp of air like his silence spoke for him “where are you going!” You scoffed watching him get up and head in the direction of your bedroom. Sure Carter wasn’t the most comforting man in your life but this made you feel like each time you stood up to your mom for him was for nothing.

Carter turned over his shoulder to send you a smile “you’ll see.” As he disappeared into your bedroom you truly began to wonder if you were watching this situation go down properly.

As you picked at your nails you watched him come back out and visually it looked like nothing had changed “I was not cheating on you.” He repeated for a third time now making your eyes roll “tell me once-” “I was planning the proposal.” Carter confessed as he held up the velvet ring box in his hand.

You gasped letting your hand slap over your mouth in shock “I figured it could be a good surprise.” He explained with a smile “was meant to do this whole thing in town.” The goalie shook his head as he went down to one knee.

In that moment your mind went a million miles a minute as you struggled to process the events in front of you “from the moment I met you y/n we’ve never gone the quiet route.” Carter smiled as you laughed “knew I wanted to be with you the moment we got paired up in calculus.” You remembered hating that teacher for partnering you up with a hockey player. You swore he wasn’t going to do any work and then Carter made it his life mission to prove you wrong.

He watched as your eyes lit up at the memory “maybe you weren’t that bad.” You teased trying to ignore the way your voice broke and you got emotional “you’ve been by my side through college, through the NHL and now I can’t imagine the rest of my life without you in it.” The random orders of flowers to your home finally made sense, they weren’t sent to the wrong address, Carter loved seeing you smile without you knowing it was him.

You dropped to your knees letting your hand run along his thigh “I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with you if you’ll let me.” At that point you were then crying as Carter reached up to wipe the tears from your cheeks.

Part of him forgot that he was in the middle of proposing to as it caused Carter to open the box as he smiled “so I’m asking if you’ll marry me?” Rather than allowing him to slip the ring onto your finger your instead wrapped your arms around him causing you both to fall back onto the floor.

Your lips peppered his face with kisses causing him to erupt with laughter “baby I need an answer.” The goalie wrapped his arms around your waist as he looked up at you “I’d love to be your wife.” You mumbled kissing his lips.

Carter got lost in it before you pulled away “as long as you don’t cheat on me.” You sent him a skeptical look as you shifted to straddle his waist now allowing him to sit up “I wouldn’t dream of it future Mrs Hart.” Carter shook his head before he kissed your lips again this time letting his fingers slip the ring on your finger.

[mmmooorriii]

blue [aether, genshin impact]

"hey, could you tell me what the sky looks like?"

you had asked, the air around you softly whispering against your ears and tousling your hair. you patted the space beside you softly, searching for the warm touch you so badly craved.

aether exhaled through his nose and looked at you, your eyes blankly focused on the distant horizon.

"it is vast," he says gently, "it can be calm, it may be violent, it is everchanging." aether reaches for your hand, your shoulders tensing a bit before they relaxed. he laced his fingers with yours, his eyes gazing at the space above as he rakes his brain for words.

you hummed, squeezing his hand, urging him to go on. he glances at you quickly, licking his lips before he continued.

"It stretches farther than anyone can reach, farther than even celestia itself." he explains, and you laugh quietly.

"that far?" you grinned, aether watched your lips curl up and his did too, unconsciously.

he nodded slightly, freezing a little before clearing his throat. "yep, that far."

"i heard sunsets were a spectacle, what about those? what do they look like?" you tilted your head to the side, closing your eyes, the breeze calmly caressing your features.

"they're magnificent." he whispers, "the sun sinks down to kiss the horizon, making the prettiest colors before the cool darkness hugs the sky tightly."

you squeeze his hand again, biting the inside of your cheek as you fluttered your eyes open.

"sounds beautiful." you croaked, a melancholic atmosphere coating you both as you hesitantly dropped your head on his shoulder.

aether looked at you, his eyes appreaciating your features, from your eyes to your nose to your lips.

"yeah, so beautiful." he said silently, resting his head against yours.

a/n: aaa i ws sorta leaning into blind reader... uhm an idea js popped up and i dont know if i executed it correctly, please let me know if you have concerns! id rly appreciate it ☝️😔 - mori 🦅

[littjara-mirrorlake]

tell me things about moritte of the frost ? making a magic oc and she might be integral to her backstory so id love to hear anything you know

Ooooh, I love OCs!! Especially those related to Kaldheim and Littjara! Excited to see what you make 👀

Unfortunately I can't give you too much in the way of canon information. This is her bio in the Legends of Kaldheim article:

Moritte is an enigma. A shapeshifter from Littjara, she was born a Gladewalker. While many grown-up shapeshifters leave Littjara to explore the realms, Moritte wanted more knowledge. To reach that end, she took the form of a young Covewalker. Living among the Covewalkers, Moritte absorbed all their knowledge and secrets before vanishing into the mists. She now wanders the realms, the most knowledgeable shapeshifter of all, seeking the solutions to new unanswered questions.

It's vague, I expect delibrately so, but that's a little frustrating when you want actual details. I wrote a more in-depth post about expanding Littjara and changeling lore a while back, which might help if you're looking for headcanon inspiration.

As to the "knowledge" Moritte seeks, I'm inclined to believe it is cosmological, since that's a major part of Kaldheim's functioning--the way realms are formed, what happens to them when they break off the tree (they become planes!), and how Cosmos monsters are born. As a creature especially attuned to aether and the Cosmos, Moritte learning more about Kaldheim cosmology would also mean deepening her knowledge about herself.

Perhaps her quest for all-encompassing knowledge leads her to a revelation about the Multiverse even before the Phyrexian invasion forces everyone to be very, very aware of it. It might even entangle her with forces far beyond her comprehension. Namely, the Eldrazi. After all, what are Eldrazi but much larger Cosmos monsters? Wouldn't she want to find out?

After March of the Machine, I am almost positive that Moritte has left Kaldheim, traveling to learn the lore of other planes. (I know it very likely does not work like this but it would also be funny if all changelings were now planeswalkers, because of how Kaldheim cosmology works.) Some fun places for her to be: Arcavios for its repository of knowledge in Strixhaven, Kamigawa for its overlap of mortal and spirit realms, Zendikar for its history of entanglement with the Eldrazi titans.

I have correctly predicted major canon at least twice with my Kaldheim posts and I'm still riding that power trip a little bit.

[ravewing]

question about your infection au!! it's probably not possible, but if an infected were to recover mentally enough to communicate, would they do so? and how would they do it? i had an idea that they either communicate through ragged writing, or some form of Morse code through clicking of the tendrils (though to be honest with you i'd have a feeling they'd just beg to be put out of their misery)

im kind of delirious rn bc i just woke up from One of Those Naps (tm) so i might not he understanding this correctly but if you mean like after being cured then like they would end up with lots of scarring but overall would return to 'normal' (like their body's immune system would be able to fight off and kill anything the infection left in their body, including the tendrils that were growing in their lungs) (+ also the tendrils arent visible until stage 4, in which they are already incurable soo,,) BUT hypothetically like if that werent the case + the dragon maintained the tendrils somehow id think that like theyd come up with like some kind of sign language but the morse code is a really cool concept too!! id imagine that mute dragons already exist in wof canon so like there has to be SOME kind of sign language but idk. ty for the ask😋

[disgustinggf]

piercing pain is so subjective bc i had the opposite experience to you lol i didnt even feel my belly button piercing but my nipple piercing hurt like a MOTHERFUCKER

(sat here wondering if i spelt piercing correctly bc it looks weird to me now)

another easy one was my tongue piercing, solid 2/10 pain and only for the day of and day after so if you were ever interested in one of those id recommend. did wonders for my nailbiting habit haha i had been trying to break that for years.

yeah none of mine hurt a lot! but industrial n belly button were definitely the worst ones out of the 14 piercings that i have. tongue definitely did not hurt but the healing hurt so so so bad

[tyxoxo]

One Night Only - V.

ch.4, m.list

Jeno x fem!reader series

Genre: slow burn, fuckboy!jeno, enemies to lovers/hate fucking fwb! bookstore jeno → model jeno au, 00’ dream + mark + jun (seventeen) character inserts

Words: 1.9k

Warnings: pure filth, jeno is mean, cocky, stubborn, this relationship is extremely toxic (i dont condone, this is pure fiction)

tagging: @sukistrawberry @mingiandbaconjam @baecobies @produmads

a/n: guys this chapter was going so well and then i just hit a dead end (darn writers block >.<) i will attach a link to a piece i cut from the final draft cuz i felt like it was boring and messed with the pacing :))

Chapter 5

Renjun was still expecting an answer. His jaw clenched as he saw you reach for your chopsticks and grab a piece of food without another word.

You didn’t want the rest of the hangout to be awkward just because you lacked an explanation.

But you needed a couple more seconds to come up with a response, plus you were quite hungry.

“I was just curious is all.”

“Yeah, suuure.” Renjun’s drawn out annoyance had a hint of lightheartedness, much to your relief.

“He hasn’t seemed to scare you off yet. You must really like it there.”

“Hmm?” Your mouth was too full to make a comment of inquiry.

Renjun shook his head with a smile as the two of you continued your meal in comfortable silence.

~

The optical illusions museum was a nice change of pace for an off day. Not too much out of your comfort zone, but enough to keep your brain stimulated.

The two of you were currently in a liminal space of sorts, an Ames room with furniture to boot. Renjun looked awfully tiny on the couch in the upper corner whilst you looked gigantic next to a standing lamp in the opposite corner. Passerbys stopped every once in a while to view the two of you move around the small area.

“I wish they had a camera to take a shot of this and print it out for us.” Renjun said as he stomped along the floor to touch the other props placed in the room.

“Just ask someone to take a picture for us. I’m sure they will.”

“Good idea!”

You leaned against the yellow painted wall as you watched him skip out to ask a stranger who happily agreed. In those few seconds you had the idea to check your phone, not really understanding why you were expecting something from him.

The two of you had never exchanged messages before; the only reason you had each other's numbers was that Mark insisted on it in case of call-ins.

“You ready?” Renjun hopped back over to his favorite spot, the couch. You got back in the corner and aided in an awkward pose as the elderly lady snapped a few pictures with a smile.

Once she was done, the both of you bowed in thanks as Renjun retrieved his phone.

You hovered over his shoulders to view the pictures, both giggling at the results.

“I’ll send you these later okay?”

“Sounds go-”

You were interrupted by a call that popped up on Renjun’s screen…

Caller id: Jeno

Embarrassingly enough, your heart dropped.

Renjun accepted it but remained close enough for you to hear the other end of the line.

“Dude…I just got an email from a Seoul Fashion Week associate!”

This much excitement was unheard of.

“Woah, really?!” Renjun jumped slightly, disregarding his inside voice.

“I read through it like five fucking times. I guess they want me to audition for LIE?”

“That’s the one I was hoping for!”

“Let me finish! It’s in 2 weeks, at the Dong…dae..mun Design Plaza.”

You found it oddly endearing how he slowed his reading to make sure he pronounced the name of the plaza correctly. Though, you mentally shamed yourself for using that favorable of a word to describe his comprehension skills.

“Okay but still! They probably want you to bring a bunch of stuff. Did it say? Y’know what, nevermind! We can discuss it later when I get home.” Renjun rushed, knowing you were standing closeby, but you didn’t mind.

“Where are you anyways?” Jeno asked, seemingly eating cereal based on the crunching and tapping of his spoon in the background.

“I’m at that optical illusions museum I told you about.”

You blessed Renjun at the fact that he spared mentioning you were there, even though it was much deeper than that.

“With who? You’re too lame to go by yourself.”

With a look of regret towards you, Renjun mouthed a “sorry” before spilling your name.

You slammed your eyes shut, waiting for his presumed dickhead response.

That still didn’t prepare you.

The familiar disconnect tone rang through both of your ears.

It was uncalled for.

“What the hell?” Renjun’s voice was far from calm, baffled by the “Call Ended”. You knew exactly why he hung up, but Renjun sure didn’t.

It was best if it stayed that way.

“We should move, I think there’s some people that want to get in here.” Your tone of voice had dropped to that of disappointment but you spoke quickly to distract Renjun, who was on his way to call him back.

Planning an escape would be ideal.

Was he unsatisfied about last night? Disgusted? Appalled?

These were the questions that became of justified interest; yet you weren’t guaranteed an answer, even if your life depended on it.

What made it worse, was that you would have to see him again at work tomorrow, if he didn’t call in.

“Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

Renjun snapped you out of your inner monologue, eyes scanning your face for a reaction.

“I’m fine. I know you need to go help Jeno. We can meet again later.”

“Well wait a second! We still have 2 more sections left to look at!” Renjun pointed back towards the art pieces that were indeed waiting to be seen. But based on the impending catatonia that was bound to erupt out of you, there was no patience left in you to stay here.

“No, it’s fine. I know this is a big deal and you need plenty of time to prepare. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

You turned on your heels and walked towards the exit, leaving Renjun in the middle of the crowd.

There was definitely something he was missing, and he had to figure it out.

~

“Jeno, I’m homee!” Renjun’s voice rang through their apartment as he took off his shoes by the door.

He heard the flush of a toilet and running faucet water, assuming Jeno was busy in the bathroom.

“The museum was super cool! You would’ve liked it.” Renjun spoke low, trying his hardest to gauge Jeno’s body language as he appeared out of the bathroom.

“Mm.” Jeno didn’t bother making eye contact, instead plopping on the living room couch to view the emails on his laptop with the most horrid sitting posture.

Noted.

Renjun joined him on the couch, leaning in to adjust his eyes to the tiny font.

“Okay so let’s go over this again.” Renjun said as he quickly scanned the email for anything Jeno could’ve missed.

“They need you to bring a physical portfolio, ID, aaaand, that's it. They’ll supply you with clothes and makeup for the audition.”

“Duh, that’s what it says.” Jeno spoke matter-of-factly, obviously annoyed.

“I’m just trying to gather all this info, no need to have an attitude… jeez.”

“We have time to gather everything. I’m gonna head out.” Jeno slammed his laptop shut on the coffee table and rose from the couch. Renjun immediately took note again:

Distancing.

“Okay you sounded so excited earlier. Now you don’t give a shit? What’s the deal here?” Renjun got up from the couch, purposefully blocking Jeno’s view of the front door. He was beginning to get hot-tempered, oddly matching his best friend's habitual energy.

“All I said is that we have time! You automatically think I’m disinterested now?”

“This is a big deal, and you’re blowing it off! Don’t come to me pissed off if no one ends up wanting you!”

Renjun tried his best to fight back a lip quiver, somewhat apologetic for saying such a statement.

Jeno froze. Eyes stinging and anger brewing.

There was an uncomfortable pause. One where Renjun considered asking if there was missing a puzzle piece to you and Jeno’s madness.

Before he could commit, Jeno grabbed his keys and phone off the coffee table and shoved past Renjun, slamming the front door shut on his way out.

~

Jeno already knew where to go to get away from Renjun.

The subway ride felt like a drag, but he found himself staring off into space; eyes nowhere near a female like usual.

Jeno experienced déjà vu, realizing he was in Hongdae.

But he wasn’t here for you. He was here to see Haechan and Jaemin, to take his mind off the overstimulation present in his life. He needed something boring, for once.

2:32pm

[jeno]: im on my way up

[haechan]: kk

Jeno shook his head, the way it never failed for Haechan to make him cringe with the use of “k.”

Jaemin was the one to open the door. Stopping in his tracks at the sight of him.

“You look like you just got laid. How do you feel? Better I hope?” Jaemin’s devious grin paired well with his bizarre observation.

“Whatever.” Jeno scoffed as he took off his shoes near the door and made his way to the kitchen.

“No, I’m serious. Who was it this time?” Jaemin followed behind, eager to hear Jeno’s storytelling, as it was something he was always good at.

Instead, Jeno made headway towards the pizza box sitting on their kitchen island, not even bothering to ask for a slice.

“Sooo…?”

“Don’t make me leave.” Jeno took a bite out of the pepperoni pizza, chewing rather savagely.

“Can I make a few guesses?”

“No.”

“Oh wait, I think I know who.” Jaemin’s cheshire grin grew even wider at his own speculation.

“It’s that chick you work with isn’t it?” This time Haechan chimed in, making his first appearance from his own bedroom.

“Y’know, I came over here hoping to relax, not play 20 questions.” Jeno finished the slice within their sentences, grabbing another and dragging his feet to their living room.

“We knew it. Sorry.” Jaemin followed again, sitting next to him on the couch.

“I’m guessing it went terrible, based on the fact you’re not saying much.” Haechan said as he grabbed the remote to turn to a scary movie, Jeno’s favorite, hoping to cheer him up from his “awful” experience.

If only they knew it was the complete opposite.

You were absolutely amazing, he thought.

He just didn’t want to share that. And to gloat about you, felt unnatural unlike the others.

If he could keep you to himself, he would. No one else needed to know.

“Well there’s plenty of them left out there.” Jaemin patted Jeno on his back, feeling smug that his friend felt comfortable enough to come around.

They had everything misunderstood, but maybe it could stay that way.

~

11:25pm

You were being suffocated by your thoughts.

To think you were replaying the events of last night again, made you somewhat nauseous.

Jeno. Naked. You. Naked.

How he rearranged your guts in the most filthy way possible.

But it was everything you wanted. And more.

It wasn’t often you were faced with the dilemma of grabbing your phone and staring at your contacts, contemplating communication; finger hovering over his name.

Before you could even take a breath, a dropdown notification covered the upper half of your screen:

“jeno”

It wasn’t even a text. The obnoxious ringtone being the only indication to snap you out of your disbelief.

If this was “pre-fuck” Jeno, you would’ve let it go to voicemail.

Your trembling thumb tapped the green phone symbol, opting to hear him talk first.

“Probably wasn’t expecting me huh?”

His voice was still just as cocky, with a sneer to go along with his mixed signals.

[cut part]