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disneymiraculousefandomsblog · 3 years

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Hey everyone! So i have been really wanting to write a one shot of Tadashi and Hiro having a bonding moment since we didn’t get to see much of it in the movie or series.

So i decided to write about the time Tadashi taught Hiro how to ride his first bike, just like the first scene we say in the Series. Hiro is 7 and still in school in this timeline, plus I think it would be a super wholesome scene that we really needed to see in the show, but I’ll let you all decide.

This my first time I’ve ever written a BH6 Fic so I apologize if the characters are “out of character”. Ive never written Baymax or Hiro so i do apologize if its not exactly how their characters are in the show. anyway Enjoy!

Bike Day

It was a beautiful day in San Fransocyo, Tadashi was happy that it was the weekend. He had been working hard on a special project at school, that he missed spending time with his little Brother Hiro.

“Hey Little Bro! Time to get up sleepy head.” Tadashi said waking up his little brother.

“Tadashi, it’s Saturday and it’s 7:00am, we sleep in remember.” Hiro moaned sleepingly.

“Come on, we can’t get anything done if your asleep. Plus Aunt Cass and I have a surprise for you, but we can’t give it to you if your asleep.” Tadashi said turning around to leave gazing back at Hiro.

“Wait you said a surprise!” Hiro said excited shooting up from his bed.

“Yeah, but your not ready. So i guess I’ll just have to return it, what a shame.” Tadashi said giving a sad pout.

“No, No, I’m up!” Hiro said putting his shoes on.

“Okay, I’m ready!” Hiro said walking towards his brother.

“Alright, Aunt Cass said we have to eat Breakfast first.” Tadashi said ruffling his hair.

Hiro let’s out a small laugh “Okay, but can i get my surprise after?” Hiro asked fixing his hair.

“Yes, but you know Aunt Cass requires us to eat breakfast before we start the day heh.” Tadashi said with a chuckle.

“Okay.” Hiro answered walking down the stairs.

Tadashi and Hiro walked to the dinning room of the cafe and saw Aunt Cass cooking.

“Good Morning Aunt Cass!” Hiro and Tadashi said in unison.

“Good Morning Boys!” Aunt Cass said giving them a big hug.

“Take a seat, Breakfast is ready.” Aunt Cass said putting the Pancakes, Eggs, and bacon on the plates and putting it on the table.

“Thanks Aunt Cass.” Hiro said his Aunt.

“Yes thanks Aunt Cass, It’s delicious.” Tadashi complimented.

“Aww thank you! You two are so sweet!” Cass said with a thankful smile.

“Ohh did you tell Hiro about his surprise yet?” Cass asked Tadashi.

“Not yet Aunt Cass” Tadashi answered.

“Ooh I’m so Excited! Hiro i know you’ll love it!” Aunt Cass said picking up a few plates.

Hiro began to think what this special surprise was as he continued to eat his breakfast “I wonder what it could be, it could have been anything. A new video game, or some cool machine his brother invented just for him, or it could even be something I’ve been wanting for a long time, a bike.” Hiro thought to himself.

After a few moments Hiro began to eat a bit faster, Tadashi began to notice Hiro eating faster than he usually did.

“Whoa Hiro slow down, you keep eating like that and your going to get a stomach ache.” Tadashi said finishing his breakfast.

“I just really want to know what my surprise is?” Hiro answered finishing the last bit of food on his plate. Tadashi let out a small chuckle as he saw his brother finish his breakfast. He began to pick up his plate when he heard Hiro “I’m done! Can i go see my surprise now?!” Hiro asked excitedly.

Hiro noticed his excitement and composed himself, “I mean, I’d like to see my surprise now if i can? Not that I’m super excited or anything” Hiro said with a grunt.

Tadashi let out a small chuckle as his brother tried to act cool “Alright Hiro, but pick up your plate and put it in the sink.” Tadashi said putting his plate in the sink.

Hiro nodded and picked up his plate, he made his way to the sink but was to short to reach it. “A-almost g-got i-it..” Hiro grunted trying to reach the sink by stepping on his tippy toes.

“Here let me help” Tadashi said picking up his brother and putting him on his shoulders.

Hiro let out a small laugh as his brother picked him up and put him on his shoulders. He gently put the plate in the sink, “Thanks Tadashi” Hiro said.

“No problem bro, now you ready to see your surprise?” Tadashi asked holding onto his brothers legs making sure he doesn’t fall.

“Yes!” Hiro said excitedly.

“Alright lets go!” Tadashi said as he began to bounce up and down and moving side to side making airplane sounds as he took Hiro outside.

Hiro laughed and wrapped his arms around his brothers neck making sure he didn’t fall as his brother took him outside. Aunt Cass smiled as she saw her two nephews having fun, she knew it was hard for them to adjust to this new life when their parents died. Aunt Cass grabbed her camera and began to follow the boys outside when she passed the hallway and stopped in her tracks and turned to the side of the wall to see a picture of her sister and her nephews together. “If only you could see how much they have grown, you would be so proud of them. Especially Tadashi, he’s always there looking out for Hiro.” Cass said with a sigh gazing at the portrait. Aunt Cass turned back looking forward and saw Tadashi and Hiro opening the door, she looked back at the portrait once more and smiled as she began to walk to the door.

Hiro and Tadashi made it outside “Alright little bro, you ready?” Tadashi asked as he gently put his brother down.

“Yes!” Hiro answered.

“Okay I’ll be right back” Tadashi said as he went to the back of the house.

Aunt Cass came outside and stood next to Hiro “I think your really going to like your gift Hiro” Aunt Cass said with a smile.

“Really? Is it something I’ve been wanting like a new video game or a bike?” Hiro asked curiously.

“Well you got one of them right, but I’ll let you see for yourself” Aunt Cass said with a smile.

Hiro smiled back and stood close to his aunt as they waited for Tadashi.

Tadashi opened the garage and saw the present Aunt Cass and he bought for Hiro covered with a tarp.

“There you are!” Tadashi said as he grabbed the bike and rolled it out with the cover still on.

After a few moments Hiro and Aunt Cass saw Tadashi coming with a weird shaped present that looked familiar to Hiro “Ta Da!” Tadashi said as he pulled the cover off revealing a white bike.

Hiro’s eyes widen with excitement as he see the bike in front if him “It’s a bike! Wow thank you Aunt Cass!” Hiro said giving his Aunt Cass a hug.

Aunt Cass smiled and returns the hug, “What do you think Hiro? Do you like it?” Aunt Cass asked gently pulling away.

“I love it!” Hiro answered excitedly.

“Come on, stand next to your brother and the bike so I can take a picture” Aunt Cass said as she ready her camera.

Hiro stood next to his brother and smiled looking at the camera, “Say Cheese you two!” Aunt Cass said as she put the camera close to her face.

“Cheese!” Hiro and Tadashi said in unison as Aunt Cass took the picture.

“Perfect!” Aunt Cass said.

Tadashi looked at Hiro “You ready to get your first bike lesson?” Tadashi asked as he ruffled his hair.

Hiro let out a small laugh and playfully moved his brothers hand and fixed his hair, “Yes I’m ready, what do we do first?” Hiro asked.

“Well the first thing you need is your helmet and knee pads, Safety first.”Tadashi said putting the helmet on Hiro’s head.

Hiro closed the chin strap and began to put on his knee pads, Tadashi helped put on the last knee pad and stretch out his hand to help Hiro stand.

“You look cool bud.” Tadashi said playfully elbow bumping Hiro’s arm.

“Heh Thanks!” Hiro said with a smile. Hiro looked back at the bike and began to feel nervous, his mind began to flood with thoughts “What if i can’t do it? What if i fall and get hurt? Will i get made made fun of if I’m the only kid that doesn’t know how to ride a bike?” Hiro said getting lost in his thoughts.

Tadashi saw Hiro dazed and quiet “Hey you okay? What’s wrong?” Tadashi asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

Hiro snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his brother “I’m not sure I can do this Tadashi?” Hiro answered nervously.

“Why would you think that?” Tadashi asked confused

“I- what if i fall and hurt myself? Or what if I’m not good at riding a bike? I’ll get laughed at in school.” Hiro said with a sigh.

Tadashi took a moment to process what his brother just told him, after a few moments Tadashi went in front of Hiro and kneeled down to his level “Hey I know you’ll do great.” Tadashi said softly putting a hand on his little brother shoulder.

“Do you wanna know how i know?” Tadashi asked.

Hiro nodded.

“I know your going to do great because your a smart kid and no matter what problem or task comes your way, you don’t ever give up.” Tadashi said

Hiro gave a small smile at his brother, he was thankful to have a brother who loved and supported him. “You really think I can do this?” Hiro asked.

“I know you can.” Tadashi said with a soft smile.

Hiro sighed and gave his brother a hug, “Thanks Tadashi, i think I’m ready now.” Hiro said.

Tadashi retuned the hug, “Alright, will start off easy okay?” Tadashi said retuning the hug.

“Okay” Hiro said gently pulling away from the hug.

Tadashi gently picked Hiro up and put him on the bike, “Okay Hiro, all you have to do is grab the handles and put your feet on the pedals” Tadashi instructed.

Hiro followed his brothers instructions and grab the handles and put his feet on the pedals “Wait!” Hiro said hesitantly and put his foot back on the ground.

“How will the bike stay balanced if my feet aren’t on the ground?” Hiro asked.

“The gravity is what helps the bike stay stable and upright, once you grabbed the handles you have to hold it straight so the bike doesn’t tilt or lean to the side while your trying to get it moving.” Tadashi explained.

I’ll be okay Hiro, I’m going to hold onto the bike while you put you feet on the peddles so you don’t fall. Then I’m going to need you to start peddling slowly while i push you to get wheels moving okay?” Tadashi asked with a tender tone.

“O-Okay” Hiro answered.

Tadashi held onto the bike as Hiro put both his feet on the pedals, “Alright Hiro, go ahead and start peddling slowly” Tadashi instructed.

Hiro did as his bother instructed and began to peddle as best as he could. It was hard at first, he had to put a lot of effort and strength to move the pedals. After a few seconds of peddling the bike began to move slowly “Haha! Tadashi look I’m doing it!”Hiro said excitedly as his brother held on to the bike while he peddled.

“Great Job Hiro! See told you there was nothing to be afraid of.” Tadashi said with a smile.

Tadashi helped Hiro practice riding his bike, they went around the block and rode around the cafe. After a few more tries Tadashi knew Hiro was ready to do it once his own. “Alright Hiro, I think your ready to do this ride on your own.” Tadashi said.

“You really think I’m ready? You think i can do this turn on my own?” Hiro asked.

“I know your ready, you can do this little bro!” Tadashi said encouragingly.

Hiro smiled and nodded “You’ll still be here though right? Like if i fall you’ll be here?” Hiro asked nervously.

“Hiro I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.” Tadashi said reassuringly.

“Thanks Tadashi, I think I’m ready” Hiro said with a smile.

Tadashi and Hiro did their fist bump and went back to the bike lessons. Hiro grabbed the handles and put his feet on the pedals as Tadashi held onto his brothers shoulders.

“Okay Hiro, I’m going to let you go now. You ready?” Tadashi asked

Hiro felt a little bit of fear rise up inside of him, “No, no, no, Tadashi, wait!” Hiro said fearfully as he felt Tadashi let go.

“Don’t be scared, little brother. Just pedal harder! You can do it!” Tadashi said cheering his brother on.

“Go, Hiro! Yeah! Woo-hoo!” Aunt Cass cheered as she recorded the whole thing.

“Yeah, yeah! You got it!” Tadashi said with a proud smile.

Hiro felt that fear he had disappear as he saw himself riding the bike all on his own. “Haha, yes! I’m doing it! I’m riding a bike!” Hiro laughed proudly as he went back to his brother giving him a hug.

“See, I knew you could do it! I’m so proud of you Bro!” Tadashi said proudly returning the hug.

“Aww group hug!” Aunt Cass said as she hugged both of her nephews tight.

Hiro and Tadashi laughed and smiled embracing their Aunt Cass hug.

~8 years Later~

Hiro opened his eyes and sat up from his bed, He gazes at the bike that his brother had given him and hie eyes begin to glisten with tears as the memory floods his mind once more. Hiro walks over to the bike and puts a hand on one of the handles as the memory continues to play in his mind.

Baymax wakes up from his sleep mode when he hears Hiro getting up. He turns to see Hiro standing near his bike “Hiro is everything alright?” Baymax asked scanning him. My scan indicates high levels of sadness, what’s wrong?” Baymax asked walking over to him.

“Nothing Baymax, I was just.. remembering something that happened a long time ago” Hiro said wiping away a few tears from his eyes.

“Hiro, it is good to talk about your feelings, and if something is bothering you. Whether it be with a loved one or a close friend, it would help you feel better.” Baymax stated.

“Thanks Baymax, I guess i was just remembering the day Tadashi taught me to ride this bike.” Hiro said sniffing.

“I miss him Baymax, i wish he was still here with us.” Hiro sighed sadly.

“It is okay to morn and miss a loved one” Baymax said giving Hiro a hug.

Hiro felt tears fill his eyes as he returned the hug.

“Thanks Baymax” Hiro said with a sigh wiping his tears away.

“I know Tadashi would want me to keep going, I know he is still with me” Hiro said sniffing.

Hiro’s phone began to ring with a txt message, “Momakase just stole something from Krei Tech, meet us there.” ~Gogo

Hiro looked back up and looked at the bike once more, “Tadashi wanted to help people and that’s what were going to do Baymax.” Hiro said determinedly.

The End

I really hope you all enjoyed it? I know it’s probably not as best as my other stories but I really wanted to write a BH6 fic and I really wanted to see this scene in the show. Sorry If some of the txt or story is a bit rushed or random, it’s been sitting in my notes for like 5 months and I haven’t touched it till yesterday heh😅 Likes, Comments, Reblogs, and constructive criticism is most welcomed and encouraged✨ I love hearing feedback from you all, it makes my day better and makes us writers feel good that something we work hard on is appreciated by our readers✨💛

I also want to thank @whitecatindisguise for helping me with the idea of giving it a little of angst ending✨ I also want to thank @bighero6dreams for the idea of writing this fic because I love the brotherly relationship these two have and we definitely should have seen more of it✨ also big shoutout to @baymaksu because I’ve read their fics and it’s what inspired me to write my own BH6 fic☺️

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leejihoonownsmyheart · 3 years

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Of Coffee and Sweet Foam

Summary:

Jihoon works at 24 hour coffee shop, and you become his only frequent customer.

Working for a 24-hour coffee shop had been exciting in concept, but less so in practice. Jihoon worked a 7-hour shift consistently. Along with college classes, he had to make coffee for the ghosts and ghouls of the night every single day from 11:00pm to 6:00am. To say the least, the absolute silence of the coffee shop, and the random person who confused the shop for a different store, or a club left Jihoon feeling quite bored.

On the bright side, at least there wasn’t a lot of work for him to do.

Every day it was the same. He would come in and he would clean the store. He would deep clean the things he thought ought to be deep cleaned, clean the entire floor of the shop, and sit around playing with the coffee syrups to pass the time, before eventually settling to do the homework he had been putting off.

Sleep itself had become a foreign subject to Jihoon.

He had his first class at noon every day, so he got approximately six hours of sleep between the end of his shift, and the start of class. On top of that he got a good hour nap in between his last class and the start of his shift- assuming that he didn’t have things to do with his friends who insisted on seeming him much more frequently than he honestly thought was necessary.

But still, he was grateful. His life was quiet. This coffee shop was quiet. That was enough to be thankful for.

Jihoon jumped a little as the sound of a small bell rang through the shop. He looked over at the door, expecting something like a misty apparition over what he actually saw.

He forced a smile on his lips.

“Welcome to Pledis,” he greeted softly. You looked up at him, looking a little lost. He was half convinced you had walked into the wrong shop. Despite his suspicions you wandered over to the corner of the store, setting your bag at one of the tables. Then you pulled your wallet out of your bag and wandered back over to the counter.

Jihoon still felt like you were in the wrong place- After all who showed up to a coffee shop at one in the morning? But he could tell by the way that you were now eyeing the menu that you were in the right place, so he walked over to the register, his eyes glued to you.

You stood there for a good few minutes, just staring at the menu. You would open your mouth and then close it after a few moments. You looked a bit dumb, honestly.

“I...” You hesitated. “I don’t know what to get.”

Jihoon quirked an eyebrow at you- Not that you saw, as your eyes were still trained on the menu.

“Well, what do you like?”

“Uh...” You trailed off. “Iced coffees usually? I make a salted caramel one at home, so I don’t want that. I kind of want an iced latte, but I feel like I should get more coffee than that.”

“You’re getting caffeine?” Jihoon questioned before he could think better of it. This made your eyes flicker down to him, color beginning to spread over your cheeks.

“Yes...” You mumbled, your voice barely above a whisper. Jihoon squinted at you.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Give me the Sweet Maple Cold Brew,” you replied. Jihoon shrugged and looked down at his register, hitting a few buttons.

“3.95.”

You inserted your card into the card machine, so Jihoon turned away from you to start making your drink. He expected you to wander back over to your table, but instead you stood awkwardly at the counter, eyeing the container of nutmeg.

He walked over to you, sliding your drink across the countertop.

“Just a warning, there is caffeine in that drink,” he stated. You took the drink, so he continued. “You may not know this, but caffeine actually keeps you up.”

You didn’t respond, just mumbled a thank you, and wandered back over to your table.

Jihoon didn’t really have anything good to do, so he settled with watching you for a few minutes. You pulled out a computer from your bag setting it on the table, and then zoned in on it. Jihoon started to work on cleaning up the store- The only thing he really did during his night shifts as you continued to stare at your computer.

You didn’t type on the keyboard, you didn’t click the different screens on your computer, you just stared at it. Jihoon ended up cleaning a table near you just to confirm his suspicions- You weren’t watching a video, you weren’t reading anything, you were just staring at a blank word document.

Jihoon didn’t think it was any of his business to ask you what you were doing, so he just went back to the front counter and started stocking cups.

At 2:30am, you actually started to drink your coffee, a beverage that you had ignored the entire rest of the night.

At 3:00am you got up and began to walk around the restaurant. You wandered over to the counter at one point and stared at the menu, but after about ten minutes you wandered away over to the window.

At 3:45am you sat back down at your table and typed a few words on your computer. Then Jihoon heard the unmistakable sound of the backspace key, and you promptly lowered your head to the table and groaned.

By the time 6:00am came around, Jihoon had decided that you accomplished exactly nothing, and that you were undoubtedly frustrated by that. Not that it was any of his business.

“Good morning Jihoon,” Hansol greeted as he walked over, tying an apron around his waist. Jihoon grumbled in response to the much too cheery man, and began to untie his own apron, glad his shift was finally over and he could sleep.

“Have they not ordered yet?” He asked then, gesturing over to you staring again at your computer with a blank expression on your face. Jihoon scoffed.

“Nope,” he mumbled. “Been here since one in the morning.”

Hansol’s eyes widened, and he took another glance at you.

“Are you serious?” Jihoon nodded. “What are they doing?”

“It’s not our business,” Jihoon replied off-handedly. He set his apron to the side, and then grabbed his keys.

“See ya.”

And without another thought he left the shop.

He didn’t expect to see you again. Why would he? It would be crazy to assume that someone that had never come to the shop before would come again.

And yet, the next day at around one in the morning, Jihoon heard the distinct sound of the bell at the door ringing softly. He glanced over, half expecting a homeless person to walk in, hoping to find a warm place to sleep for the night, but instead it was you. You were dressed differently than the night before. While yesterday you had been somewhat presentable- as if coming from school- tonight you were dressed in pajama pants and a sweatshirt, both of which were clearly too big for you.

Jihoon watched as you made your way back to the same table as you had sat at the night before and proceeded to put your things out on the table.

Your laptop, a small notebook, a pencil, and lastly your phone. Then you took a deep breath and turned to face Jihoon.

Tonight, you had a more determined expression on your face. Jihoon could tell that you were ready to actually get some work done. You walked up to the counter and looked up at the menu.

There were a long few moments where neither of you spoke. You just stared up at the menu, and Jihoon busied himself cleaning off glasses that had already been cleaned. Then you looked down and cleared your throat.

“Caramel Macchiato.”

Jihoon looked at you, raising an eyebrow quizzically. It wasn’t the order that was peculiar. He appreciated the sentiment that you actually knew what you wanted. But that right there was precisely the issue. You didn’t seem like you actually wanted the drink. It sounded like you had just said the first thing on the menu as a way to avoid seeming indecisive.

“Are you sure?” Jihoon asked. You pressed your eyes closed, the corners of your eyes crinkling as you did so.

“No,” you mumbled. “I love Caramel Macchiato’s, today I want something fruity. But I can’t think of what kind of fruit.”

“Apple crisp?” Jihoon suggested. You gagged, a little overdramatically in Jihoon’s opinion. “Okay... Cherry Mocha?”

Your eyes raised at that particular suggestion.

“Iced.”

You pushed your hand into your pocket and pulled out your credit card. Jihoon rang you up for your drink and as he prepared it you paced back and forth at the counter. Jihoon could tell that tonight you had a lot on your mind. Maybe too much. You seemed frustrated with yourself. Scrunching your nose every now and then or shaking your head to yourself.

Most peculiarly you kept mumbling softly to yourself, too quietly for Jihoon to make out what you were saying.

Not that he really cared either way.

He slid your drink across the counter, and you took it, giving him a smile and a quiet “Thank you” to express your gratitude. Jihoon went back to his work, resolving to do the same thing he had done the night before and mostly ignore your existence.

Still, as he worked, he found his eyes looking over at you every now and then.

Despite the fact that you had clearly come here with the goal of getting a lot done, you didn’t seem to be having any luck. Just like before you were sitting before your computer, just staring at the screen.

Albeit it was a little different tonight.

Instead of just seeming bored like you had before, you were clearly just frustrated.

You would lean forward, your fingers hovering over your keyboard, and then pull back practically throwing your hands into your lap. He watched as you got up every thirty minutes or so, stretching out your arms as if it would help you with whatever you were doing.

You finished your drink that night a lot faster than the first night. You were drinking down your coffee as if it would magically help you overcome this rough patch. You even walked back to the counter, only mumbling:

“Another.”

Before you returned to your seat and continued your restless struggle.

Jihoon honestly found it rather amusing to watch you struggle.

Maybe that made him a bad person.

Frankly, in the middle of a 11:00pm to 6:00am shift, Jihoon didn’t particularly care to know if he was a bad person or not.

Just as 6:00am finally came around and Jihoon was hanging up his apron, Hansol walked into the coffee shop. He took one look into the corner of the store, and once again seemed surprised by your presence.

“Again?” He asked.

Jihoon shrugged.

“Night owl, I guess.”

“Do you think it’s schoolwork?” Hansol pondered. Jihoon grunted as he grabbed his things from his cubby.

“Not my business.”

And he trudged out the back door, thinking only of his warm bed that was just a ten-minute walk away.

Jihoon didn’t know anything about you, but one thing he did know was that no self-respecting healthy human spent five hours three nights in a row in a coffee shop. So, when the bell rang at midnight, and Jihoon found himself looking at you, he figured at least you had switched up your arrival time a little bit.

This night wasn’t unlike the night before. You walked to that same table in the back, set up your things like it was your own table and then walked over to the counter. This time however you took your time making your way to the front counter. Your eyes wandered over to the decorations, the light fixtures, and you ran your fingers along the tops of the chairs.

And when you got to the menu board, you stood there for fifteen full minutes just mulling over what to get. This time Jihoon decided to ignore you all together. Maybe the reason you kept coming back was because you were under some impression that Jihoon enjoyed your company. It would explain why you didn’t get any work done.

Eventually you ordered, and you returned to your table, and began your routine. Sit, get up, wander around, sit back down, fingers posed over the keyboard, but never typing anything. You would eventually buy a second coffee, and then return to getting nothing done.

At some point, Jihoon got used to having you around. It was like a dance that the two of you had fallen into. Jihoon began to converse with you more when you ordered as days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months of you walking in that door.

At some point you had begun to just completely match Jihoon’s schedule. You wandered in a few minutes after his shift started, and he saw you packing up as Hansol made his way behind the counter.

Something that never changed however was the amount of work that you would get done. Every now and then you would type what seemed to be a few sentences. Generally, it would all get deleted, sometimes it wouldn’t be, and you would seem somewhat triumphant. But overall, nothing got done. You just sat there staring at the bright screen.

It couldn’t be good for your health.

You never tried to spark up conversation after you had ordered your first drink, but sometimes you would order two or three on top of your initial one. You switched up what you got every now and then, but it seemed to come in phases. Every week you would have a new obsession, and you would only get that.

Jihoon couldn’t help but wondered as you set up what you would order that day. Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder what you were doing on that laptop. Sometimes he wondered why you came here every night.

Sometimes he wondered when he had started to care.

And yet, today was exactly like the night before had been. You walked into the shop, giving Jihoon a nod of acknowledgment. Something that you had become accustomed to. Jihoon thought that the small smile that accompanied it was unnecessary.

He watched you set up your things, and watched you make your way to the counter.

You had two ways of approaching Jihoon that would draw him a picture of how the night would proceed. You either walked purposely through the tables, and would order quickly, or you would admire the shop and its amenities and take your time deciding what to drink, even though it was clearly already decided.

Tonight, you were fast, determined. You thought you were going to get things done.

He wondered if maybe this would be the first time, he saw you get any work done.

“Caramel Macchiato,” you mumbled. Jihoon nodded and began to make the beverage without another word. He wasn’t sure yet if he really wanted to talk to you tonight. You never forced any conversation with him. You two didn’t usually converse past your initial conversation when you ordered.

He thought maybe you were too embarrassed by your lack of progress to talk to him when you came to order your second drink.

You made your way back to the table, and Jihoon watched history unfold the way it always did. You sat there, pulling at your hair, scrunching your nose, taking big, exaggerated breaths, but never writing a single word. Jihoon was sure that nothing about this night would change in anyway. Until about two in the morning, when your head lolled to the side, and you made eye contact with Jihoon.

At first, neither of you spoke a word. Then, after a few moments, your eyes squinted.

“What is your name?”

Jihoon was a little taken aback by the question, but after a moment of thought he realized that it wasn’t very odd that you didn’t know his name. In fact, he realized with a start that he didn’t even know your name. Despite spending every single day together for a month, neither of you had asked one another’s names, and Jihoon didn’t wear a name tag, so there was no way for you to ever find out.

Normally, Jihoon wouldn’t really like sharing his name with a customer. He liked to keep his life private.

“Jihoon.” He replied.

You seemed satisfied with that answer, your eyes wandering away from him. You looked down at your computer, a look that Jihoon had never seen on your face crossing it. You typed a word, and then you pulled back, like you were shocked.

“I suppose I should tell you my name,” you mumbled with a small laugh. Jihoon didn’t respond, but you said your name anyways. As soon as your name left your mouth, you turned back to your computer.

Your fingers settled over your keyboard, and Jihoon expected to hear the unmistakable sound of the backspace button being hit. But instead, you started to type.

It wasn’t slow like Jihoon was used to hearing from you. It wasn’t anything like he had seen from you before. You looked concentrated, your fingers practically flew across the keyboard, and Jihoon only heard the backspace key every now and then.

Jihoon almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

You were doing it. You were getting your work done.

He thought for sure that the moment would pass, that eventually you would tire out, or lose your motivation, but minutes turned to hours, and you didn’t even come up for a second cup of coffee. No, you just sat there, fingers flying across your keyboard, actually accomplishing whatever it was you had been working on for a whole month.

Jihoon wasn’t sure how long he stood there- Utterly transfixed by you. It was like you were a whole other person when you were actually getting your things done. You were clearly more confident, and you were so driven. It made Jihoon feel like he ought to have more of a drive.

When it was time for Hansol’s shift to start, Jihoon didn’t even notice. It took a touch to his shoulder for Jihoon to even realize that Hansol was there.

“Staring isn’t very nice you know,” Hansol teased lightly. Jihoon rolled his eyes and turned away from you for the first time in what was probably hours.

“This job gets boring when you only have one customer that comes in.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know what that’s like,” Hansol agreed. “We’re so busy during my shifts that I have break downs behind the counter.”

Jihoon snickered at that, finally able to think of something other than you. He wondered briefly why he had thought about you so much. It wasn’t really like him to become fixated like that on a person. The only people he ever really thought about were his close friends and to be completely honest he wasn’t entirely good at making friends.

He had been friends with the same sixteen people his entire life, and he had met all of them when they were very young.

He wondered for a moment about you again. He saw you every day, and at this point you two were comfortable enough with one another to know how to act around each other. Were you friends?

You didn’t really talk, and other then your habits and general drink preferences Jihoon didn’t really know anything about you. You couldn’t be friends if you hardly even spoke. Jihoon had literally just learned your name. It was foolish to think you two were friends.

And yet, a part of Jihoon kind of liked the thought.

The next shift that Jihoon worked you didn’t even acknowledge him as you walked in the door. You set up your usual setup and began furiously typing away at your computer. No coffee order, no nod at the door, not even a glance in Jihoon’s direction.

It threw him off. He wasn’t sure what to do. All he knew was that he was a little bothered by the lack of interaction. He watched you for a few minutes, wondering what he should do, before finally settling on the idea that he needed to make you a drink.

Sure, you clearly didn’t care enough about the routine that the two of you had established to order the coffee yourself, but in the moment, Jihoon didn’t care. He wanted to establish some sort of connection with you. He wanted you to look at him. He didn’t know why, but he wanted it to happen.

He knew what drink you were currently obsessed with- an iced white chocolate mocha. He prepared it just like he had the last few nights, and then wandered over to your table. The closer he got, the more he began to regret his actions.

As aforementioned, the two of you weren’t friends. You were hardly acquaintances. Would giving you this beverage, interrupting your mind space while you worked ruin the relationship that the two of you currently had?

But before Jihoon could really think through what he was doing, he set the coffee on the table and waited.

The minute that the drink was placed on the table, your typing stopped. It was so instant, that Jihoon wondered for a moment if something else had been the cause of the action. But when you looked up at him, your eyes wide, Jihoon realized that it wasn’t that at all.

Looking at you from this angle was like seeing you in a whole different light. Quite literally actually, considering the lights over the front counter were inexplicably darker than the ones out in the actual lobby. For once he could see your eyes, the curve of your lips, and most noticeably the bags under your eyes.

Jihoon firmly pressed his lips together, and the question that he had been wanting to ask since day one- the one that he had told himself never to ask- came bubbling up.

“How much do you sleep?”

Maybe that wasn’t the best opening line, but Jihoon didn’t really care in the moment.

“I sleep...” You trailed off, your eyes wandering away from Jihoon’s momentarily. “One to two hours a night... Sometimes...”

Jihoon didn’t let it show on his face, but he couldn’t believe what you had said. He waited a few moments for you to take it back. To laugh and brush it off and tell him that you got seven hours a night, six hours, even five hours would be better. But one to two a night? That was inhuman. By all accounts, Jihoon thought you should be dead.

But here you were.

Jihoon decided that not answering you was better than the alternative, so he settled on doing just that. He pushed your cup of coffee towards you, and promptly walked away from you.

He thought that would be the end of the interaction between you two that night, but apparently giving you the coffee had been an open invitation for the exact opposite to happen. At some point, after your drink was gone, you looked over at Jihoon, your typing finally at a stop after hours of you being completely focused.

“Why does no one ever come in here?” You asked, your voice so soft that at first Jihoon didn’t think that you were even talking to him. But then he thought, who the fuck else would you be talking to?

“Because only crazy people come to a coffee shop in the middle of the night,” Jihoon replied pointedly. You rolled your eyes at the response and stood up, leaving your things stranded on their own. You wandered over to the counter and eyed the rag in Jihoon’s hand.

“So, what are you doing anyways?” You asked. “It seems like all you do at night is stare at me and make my coffee drinks.”

Jihoon scoffed and set his rag to the side.

“I clean,” he replied pointedly. “I always clean.”

“Boring.”

“That’s why I hate this job.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“But?”

“It’s nice. The peace and quiet. Time alone to myself,” Jihoon replied. You nodded like you understood what he meant.

“I don’t really like being around too many people. Everyone says I’m extroverted, but I like the peace and quiet this place brings me,” you explained. “But I don’t really like being completely alone. No need to talk, just someone to be around, you know? I like that.”

Jihoon thought that what you were really saying was that you liked him, but he didn’t say that. He just hummed.

“What are you always working on?” He asked. Your cheeks flushed red, and you looked aside, clearing your throat.

“Uh...” You trailed off, and then took a deep breath. “I’m a writer.”

The words came out of your mouth so fast that Jihoon honestly thought they sounded like one singular word. Still, he was able to pick up what you were trying to say.

“Oh,” he replied.

“I’m not popular, but I have a book out, and it was fairly popular,” you continued, your face still burning. “I promised my publishing company that I would have a new book for them by like last month.”

You groaned and buried your face into your hands.

“I’ve had writer’s block.”

That explained the many nights that you spent sitting there getting absolutely nothing done. It explained the frustration that Jihoon had seen on your face those nights where you really wanted to be writing. He nodded slowly.

“So, what happened?” He mumbled back. You shrugged. “I don’t know. I just got back my ability to write.”

You seemed to be telling the truth, but Jihoon felt like there was something more to it. He didn’t push.

There was honestly something odd about you. After that night, you started to actually talk to Jihoon. Your conversations never really lasted that long, and they were never that important. He told you about his classes and about his friends. You told him about your classes and your job and your friends. Every night Jihoon tried to coax you into sleeping more, but every night your answer was the same: “Two cons: I wouldn’t have any time to write, and I wouldn’t get to see you.”

And you never budged.

Jihoon would be lying if he said he hadn’t grown to really like you. He got excited when you started a conversation with him, or asked you questions about what he thought should happen in the book you were writing.

He would of course, never admit it to anyone, but he thought he would really hate it if you finished that book. Because it meant he wouldn’t get to see you anymore.

“Okay Jihoon, I need your two cents,” you announced to the empty room. Jihoon looked up from the stain he had been trying to get off the counter.

“Okay,” he said simply.

The gist of what Jihoon knew of your book was that it surrounded two people who slowly began to fall in love. They had meaningless conversations and only saw each other when they saw each other with their friends. The main character of the story was shy and had never dated, and the love interest wasn’t really the type to ask someone out. They were both inexperienced, but they both loved each other regardless.

“So, I keep getting closer to the end and I can’t figure out how the confession will work,” you explained. Jihoon scrunched his nose.

“Maybe one of their friends finds out?”

“No,” you turned down. “Too inauthentic.”

“Okay, what if the main character asks out the love interest.”

“Nope, too shy and unsure. Wouldn’t happen,” you replied after mulling it over. “Vice versa?”

“That wouldn’t work either,” Jihoon stated. “You said he keeps to himself. It’s not that he wouldn’t have the courage, he just would sort of expect it to happen on its own.”

“But it won’t,” you mumbled.

“Exactly.”

You sat back in your chair, throwing your hands into your lap.

“They aren’t going to get together.”

Jihoon dropped his cloth onto the floor.

“What?”

“They aren’t going to get together,” you repeated brokenly. “There’s no way. I keep mulling over the outcomes, and it’s just infeasible that it will ever happen.”

“But what if-” “There is nothing that makes sense. Any way that they could get together feels wrong, out of character.”

Jihoon’s thoughts were racing. He wasn’t really sure what to say back to you, all he could think was what this meant for the two of them. What would happen you when you finished this book? Would you stop coming entirely? You probably would, at some point you would have to get your sleep schedule back on track. You couldn’t keep up with this two hour a night sleep schedule.

On top of that, he didn’t think that there was any draw for you to coming here.

Unless.... Did he dare think that maybe you came here for him?

After all this he had sort of taken advantage of your place in his life. You had come into it so suddenly and yet now he couldn’t imagine what it would be like without you. And these characters.... Was he foolish to think they were reflected in the two of you?

Were you saying that there was no future for them?

The thought itself was what forced Jihoon to do the next thing that he did. He didn’t think that under any other circumstance, he would have found the courage to do so. He walked over to you, his hands cupping your face, and without a word he pressed his lips to yours.

He freaked out that moment he did so, so sure that you would pull away, call him a freak, leave forever.

But instead, you leaned closer to him, wrapped your arms around his waist, practically melted under his touch. He pulled away; eyes wide with shock.

“You-”

“You kissed me,” you got out before Jihoon could say anything. “Why?”

Jihoon’s mind was blank, so he spoke without thinking.

“It doesn’t matter if the way they get together doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t matter if it’s out of character or if it seems impossible,” he said. “They love each other and love never fails. The day that love fails is a day I don’t want to live to see.”

You laughed at first thinking he was joking, but when you realized he was serious, your eyes widened.

“I know how to end the book.”

You pulled away from him in a flurry of motion, rushing back to your laptop. You began to type fervently, and soon became so enraptured in what you were doing that Jihoon knew there was no point in trying to get your attention. He returned his work, deciding to leave you alone even when you were still working when it was time for him to get off.

He didn’t say goodbye, he just looked over at you, and hoped he would see you again soon.

Three months later, the bell to the door of his coffee shop rang at two in the morning. Jihoon didn’t even look up from the floor he was sweeping, just sighed:

“You can sit in the corner. My shift doesn’t end till six.”

And continued sweeping.

No one spoke, so Jihoon assumed that he had been right when thinking that a homeless person seeking warmth for the night had wandered in. However, he heard the footsteps come up to the counter instead of retreating into the store, and a low thud, as something hit the counter.

Jihoon’s eyes rose to the counter.

A book? His eyes rose, and his heart stopped.

It was you.

“Hey,” you murmured, your hand raising to the back of your neck. “Turns out that no matter how quickly you want a book published it takes at least three months.”

Jihoon just stared at you, so you laughed awkwardly.

“So, here it is. The finished product.”

Jihoon looked back down at the book, still unsure of how to act. After a week of your absence, he had assumed that you were gone forever. He had assumed that you had never cared about him the way that he had. But now you were back, and quite frankly he didn’t know why.

You cleared your throat and gestured to the book.

“Read the dedication.”

Jihoon eyed you for a moment suspiciously, but quickly did as suggested. He picked up the book, flipped through its first full pages until he found what he was looking for.

Dedicated to the man I fell in love with, similarly to how I grew to like coffee. He was bitter, at first, but now I consider him much more sweet, and undeniably necessary in my life.

Jihoon looked back up at you, and when he saw your face it about broke his heart.

He didn’t think he had ever seen someone look so sorry and sad at all once. So desperate and so scared to express everything they wanted to express. You smiled, a bit brokenly and shrugged.

“I love you.”

Jihoon didn’t have to think twice to figure out what he was going to do. He came out from behind the counter, grabbed your wrist and pulled you in tightly for a kiss. It was fleeting, but it was everything that Jihoon remembered you being. Perfect.

“Never leave again,” Jihoon mumbled. “Not to publish a book, not to do anything. Never leave again.”

Your face was red. It was beautiful.

“Never,” you agreed.

And that, was the story of how someone bitter as coffee, fell in love with someone as sweet as sweet foam.

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infernwetrust · 3 years

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winesday (Michael’s Snapchat Story) [Bestfriends AU Exclusive]

Summary: A day in the life of Michael, brought to you by his Snapchat story. Winesday, a night where college students drink wine until they can’t anymore.

Warnings: Swearing, drug use, alcohol use

WC: 1.1k (give or take lol)

A/N: This is exclusive to the Bestfriends Universe! It’ll help to read f**k, i luv my friends to ground yourself in everyone’s roles. Every main role will have their own Snapchat snippet. I’ll try to do these frequently as fillers for when I’m working on longer or more detailed writings. I haven’t seen these around on tumblr, so hopefully I can inspire a few writers lol. I may try to do other social media snippets as well, but so far snapchat remains the easiest. I was sooo stressed about the Bitmoji lol. I hope you guys enjoy this. The Bestfriends Universe can be found on my master list, here. Thank you for reading! -Juno

Michael's Username: blueeyedwonderboy

Michael's Screen Name: Michael 🖤🔥

Michael's Bitmoji:

***

Michael 🖤🔥

6:30AM

Caption: "Jim wakes up on 100 everyday lol"

Video:

"A little bit early aren't we?" Michael asks, his camera pointing on Jim, his close friend and college roommate, who laid in his Twin XL bed opposite the room from Michael's. Jim is laid out in his bed, shirtless, covers barely on him, his desk lamp the only source of light so the two don't go back to sleep, both having an 8AM today. "You'll float awayyyyyy."

In Jim's hand is about 5 grams of mushrooms that he's piling into his mouth, chewing quickly to avoid the taste. Jim sleepily turns his head to the side, giving Michael the finger and a smug smile before he responds,

"Never too early."

***

Michael🖤🔥

7:30AM

Caption: "I hope he knows that I'm not carrying him 💀"

Video:

Michael has his camera on Jim, the both of them seated in the dining hall finishing up breakfast before their first class. Jim has his head down on the table, apple in his hand as he half struggles to chew, breathing heavily.

"How goes it, Jim?" Michael questions, chuckling lightly behind the camera.

"My legs. Where are they?" Jim asks Michael, head still down on the table.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

10:40AM

Caption: "A wild Xavier spotted in his natural habitat"

Picture:

Michael grabs a picture of Xavier while on the way to his second class of the day. Xavier sits in his normal spot between his Wednesday classes. Underneath the tree, center of campus, on his favorite blanket that he got for his birthday 2 years ago, typing away on his laptop, drinking a smoothie.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

1:30PM

Caption: "On a date. Kinda nervous"

Picture:

Chet sits across the table from Michael as the two have lunch together, having had their last class together at 12:00. Chet is wearing his favorite plain white t-shirt, smiling proudly at the camera, a full course meal in front of him.

1:45 PM

Caption: "Date ruined, nvm."

Video:

"I proudly present to you in replace of the disgusting root-beer float." Chet begins. "The Mountain Dew Float."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Michael says behind the camera. "That's... that's not how it works."

"You can turn anything into a float." Chet says back. Michael double taps his screen, so that the camera is now facing him and still staring at Chet he says,

"Well I don't want to fucking do that."

***

Michael 🖤🔥

3:30PM

Caption: "Mid-day cuddles and head scratches? Yes."

Video:

Michael has the camera facing himself as he lays on his stomach, shirtless, but still in his shorts from the day, in your bed, in your residence hall. You lay on top of him, in his hoody and some cute shorts, your hand tangled in his beautiful blonde hair, scratching away at his scalp. He gives the camera a weak smile as he zooms in on the both of you. You giggle in response.

"Just have sex already." Montana says as she lays in the opposite bed.

"Are you mad because Xavier isn't here right now?" Michael asks before turning the camera around to her. She simply gives him the finger. "That's what I thought."

***

Michael 🖤🔥

4:30PM

Caption: "What a fucking stud."

Picture:

Michael takes a picture of his cross country teammate and friend, Timothy. Timothy is sitting on the side of the practice field, shirtless and only in his running shorts. His phone is in his hand as he squints his eyes, trying to read whatever is on his phone.

***

Michael🖤🔥

6:30PM

Caption: " Timothy if you're hungry, just say that."

Video:

Michael has his camera on Timothy who piled his plate high with pizza slices, a salad on the side. Other cross country teammates can be heard and seen in the background as the team has dinner together.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

8:00PM

Caption: "Let winesday begin, fuckers."

Video:

Michael single handedly opens a bottle of wine and then opens his now empty water bottle. He dramatically throws both lids onto his desk, before pouring the entire bottle of red wine in his water bottle and closing it, double tapping his phone to turn the camera around. He gives a wink.

***

Michael🖤🔥

8:45PM

Caption: "Happy Winesday???????"

Video:

Michael walks into Chet and Ray's room in their fraternity. Chet and Ray are screaming playfully at each other over what looks like Mortal Kombat, Xbox controllers in hand. Over to Xavier who is sitting in Chet's bed, Juul hanging out of his mouth as he scrolls through his phone, then over to Jim who on top of the wine in his water bottle, is pouring vodka into it.

"Jim that is not fucking wine!" Michael sarcastically yells behind the camera, which causes everyone's head in the room to turn and look at Jim, who just continues to pour about 2 shots into his wine. Michael puts the camera back on Xavier who just sighs and face palms himself.

"Jim are you okay?" Ray asks, pretending to be concerned. Chet is shaking his head at the camera before Michael starts laughing.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

10:30PM

Caption: "Jim is not okay lol"

Video:

Jim is laid out on the carpet, Xavier's socked feet placed firmly on his back as he smiles drunkenly at the phone.

"Okay. I got the pizza!" Chet yells as he stumbles back into the room, 3 pizza boxes in hand. "Is Jim really knocked out right now?"

"I don't know. Let's ask him." Michael walks over to Jim, kneeling beside him.

"Oh boy." Xavier sighs, running his hand through his hair before he lays all the way down. Michael focuses his phone on Jim, lightly tapping the side of Jim's face a few times.

"Jim are you really knocked out right now?" Michael asks, trying not to laugh as Jim doesn't respond, instead groaning and swatting his hand away.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

12:00AM (Thursday)

Caption: "This what they've resorted to.."

Picture:

Ray is attempting to throw a skittle into Xavier's mouth.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

12:45AM

Caption: "Jim is literally the only one with an 8AM today lol"

Video:

Chet is carrying a super knocked out Jim in his arms, back to his and Michael's residence hall since Michael wasn't going to be able to carry him the whole way there.

"First Winesday of Junior year and Jim pulls a fast one." Chet says, sighing as Michael walks backwards to film the two.

"He's going to be real mad when he wakes up at 6:30 super hungover off maybe 5 hours of sleep." Michael says back.

***

Michael 🖤🔥

1:15AM

Caption: "G'Night"

Video:

Chet throws Jim onto his bed, huffing as he does so.

***

Taglist: @jimmason @angelicmichael @whatcodysaid @9layerdevilfoodcake @theneverendinghunger @fernfiction

#cody fern #american horror story #cody fern imagine #michael langdon imagine #michael langdon x reader #michael langdon #xavier plympton #ahs #ahs 1984 #ahs apocalypse #chet clancy #montana duke #brooke thompson #jim mason #tribes of palos verdes #ray powell

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haikyuuvbc · 3 years

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December Birthdays: Akaashi Keiji x Reader

A/N: Happy Birthday, Akaashi!

This fic is NOT a part of the Do You Comma Here Often SMAU series. I wanted to write a fic about Akaashi’s birthday (Dec. 5th) and it doesn’t fit into the DYCHO series timeline (unfortunate, but I digress).

Here’s some fluff. Enjoy!

People with December birthdays, Akaashi Keiji believes, typically get the short end of the stick. Even though his birthday is towards the beginning of the month, it was normally overshadowed by all the winter holidays. He didn’t mind, really, at least not now as an adult. He learned growing up that he liked being in the shadows for the most part. Letting other people take the attention and observing from the distance. This worked well with Bokuto as his best friend who just naturally drew everyone’s attention with his boisterous and genuine attitude and demeanor. Truly, Akaashi never really minded this. That was, until you came along.

The first time you and Akaashi spent his birthday together was a couple months after you had started dating. Akaashi approached it in his normal stoic manner, not expecting anything out of habit. This is why it surprised him when he woke up to you knocking on his door at 7:00am on his birthday, a drink carrier with your favorite coffee and his in one hand, and a gigantic tote bag filled to the brim in the other. Your boyfriend’s eyes widen as he takes in your presence, unconsciously reaching out to take the contents of your hands from you and letting you into the apartment in the process.

“Y/N, what are you doing here so early?” The question escapes him in a slightly incredulous tone. You give him a wide smile, eyes sparkling, and stand on your tip-toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Happy Birthday, Keiji.” After kissing his cheek you walk around to the large tote bag he had taken from your grasp and start digging through it. “I figured that if I had stayed up until midnight that I wouldn’t be the first one to wish you a happy birthday, so I decided I would be the first one to say it in person.” You make eye contact again, this time with a smiling Akaashi.

“You really didn’t have to, you know I don’t really dwell on my birthday that much.”

“I do know that, but I wanted to. Besides, even if you don’t make a fuss about turning another year older, I’m going to. That’s one of the good things about dating me,” you send him this cheeky remark and your boyfriend lets out a chuckle.

“There are a lot of amazing things about dating you, Y/N. I’m a very lucky man.” He walks back over to you and places a kiss on the crown of your head as you’re searching through the tote bag. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for… this!” An exclamation leaves your mouth as you hold up a puzzle. The man in front of you cocks his head to the side to look at the design on the box. It looked like a newspaper, one that his parents would read every morning.

“Look at the date,” you explain. “It’s the day you were born. It’s the actual front page of the newspaper the day you were born.”

Although Akaashi is not a talkative person, it was due to choice, not necessity. But, here, at 7:11am in his kitchen, in his pajama pants and shirt, the newly 25 year old man is speechless. You’ve learned to adapt to these moments of silence, knowing that his mind is processing, you respect that. Eventually, your boyfriend of a few months finally speaks.

“I love it.” You give him a smile and begin pulling out more things from your bag, leading Akaashi to wonder how much you had in there. The tote bag held a half dozen bagels with cream cheese, popcorn, the newest season of My Hero Academia (Akaashi’s favorite anime at the moment), and a neatly wrapped orange present the size of a shoe box. He moves to the kitchen table to begin clearing off the paperwork to make room for the puzzle. The room fell into silence again, for a good reason. He had mentioned early on in your relationship that he was never fussy about his birthday because of its proximity to Christmas and other winter holidays. Akaashi assured you in his calm voice that it was not an issue and that he was used to it. He realizes that you put that in your mind, making note of it. He realizes that you intentionally are going out of your way to make this feel like his birthday - no connection to Christmas or anything else. It’s a day to celebrate him. A smile graces his face at this thought. You were meticulous in making sure he hadn’t decorated for any holiday yet, you chose wrapping paper that was birthday oriented (the gift was a new set of pens he's been wanting), and you grabbed the normal year round favorite coffee besides the seasonal ones that he knows you love. There is no mention of shopping for presents, plans for the holidays, or excitement over upcoming vacations. It’s simply a day full of you two putting together the puzzle, watching anime, and video-chatting with his family and friends.

At the end of the day, Akaashi had asked if you wanted to sleep over. Since it was a Saturday, you agreed. It was unlike any other December 5th he had ever experienced for which Akaashi was entirely grateful With you snuggled up next to him, arms wrapped around his body, head laying on his chest as you take in the strange dynamic between Midoriya and Bakugo, the man felt warm, comfortable, and happy.

Akaashi Keiji may have always been complacent about his birthday, his nonchalance convincing the other people in his life to approach it at the same level of indifference, but he has a feeling that will not be the case anymore, not as long as you're around. And he intends to have you around for as long as possible.

Back to Full Masterlist

#Akaashi x reader #Akaashi x y/n #Akaashi x you #Haikyuu #Haikyuu!!#Haikyuu fanfiction

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hope068 · 3 years

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This is my very first post on this account :)

All comments and criticisms are encouraged!!!!

Journal #1 - August 18th, 2021

4:00am - My little brother woke me up from a nightmare and I couldn’t go back to sleep after so I just watched TikToks.

6:45am - Left my room to get some water and brushed my teeth, this is the time I’d normally wake up.

7:00am - I finished up some homework I had to do for Creative Writing, and English 12. They were some pretty easy assignments ngl.

7:30am - I had my mom to make me coffee, I believe I had more water with my coffee too.

8:30am - My first class (Physical Science) starts now, we had a glorified guided notes assignment. I enjoy taking notes though so it was a nice way to fill the hour.

10:00am - This is when my second class (Creative Writing) starts. I presented a rap I had recorded this morning. To get over the stress of making a video I pretended I’m doing side quests in a video game.

11:00am - Teacher let us out early for lunch, I had two ham and cheese hot pockets and four chicken nuggets. Love hot pockets and chicken nuggets together. Had two water bottles with this meal.

12:25pm - This is when my third class, English 12, starts. We were just discussing a prompt we had gotten yesterday, in class today. I impressed the teacher with a quote I like, she seems to be warming up to me :)

2:00pm - This was my final class of the day, journalism. I really enjoy this class most days but today I wasn’t really feeling it so I had my camera off and I was drawing on my iPad instead of paying attention.

6:00pm- I was still working on my drawing from earlier, but then my mom brought me dinner. Dinner was a chicken breast, Mac and cheese, corn, and mashed potatoes. I had two water bottles with this meal.

7:00pm - Drank one last water bottle and brushed my teeth for the night.

8:00pm - I finally finished the drawing, very happy with the way it turned out. The friend I drew it for loved it too :)

9:00pm Watching BadBoyHalo stream, did 30 crunches (rest day), and set up this account lol.

11:00pm - Closed stream, heading to sleep now.

Goodnight!!

#books & libraries #journal #high school #writing #students

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stxphxn-strange · 4 years

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you’re not prone to injury, you’re just too loyal (part 1)

a/n: this is literally just stephen comforting tony after the avengers don’t respond well to losing a battle against the sorcerers, this is kinda heavyish on the angst btw

177A Bleecker Street, 7:40am

“Goooood morning and welcome to this episode of ‘Sanctum Shenanigans,’ where we give you an inside look at a sorcerer’s outside-of-work agenda.” Stephen smiled into the camera, continuing the introduction to his YouTube video. “Apparently some people are wondering, of all things, what we eat for breakfast-slash-brunch. Now that’s a pretty harmless question and it’s been awhile since we’ve done any cooking tutorials. That said, today I’m going to show you my favorite breakfast: an omelet with shrimp, cheese, spinach, arugula, and chili flakes. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: seasoning your food is important! The only thing worse than under-seasoned shrimp is lobster. As always, I’m joined in the kitchen by my friends and assistants: Wong and Mordo.”

“We’re actually not friends, I don’t like you at all,” Mordo teased.

“I’m more offended that you think of us as assistants, we end up doing all the work anyway,” Wong added.

Stephen looked directly into the camera. “This bullying is unscripted and in no way reflects the core values of a hearty shrimp dish. Now, let’s get started. The first thing you’ll need to do is get—”

“Stephen, your phone is ringing,” The Ancient One announced, handing it to her pseudo-son.

“Don’t answer it, we’re recording!” Mordo groused.

“But it’s Tony, it’s important! Keep the recording paused,” Stephen replied. He left the kitchen, leaning against the bannister of the front staircase as he picked up the call. “Tones?”

“Hey,” Tony said gruffly. Stephen thought he could detect a bit of a smile in his voice, hidden behind layers of stress and... was that pain? Anguish?

“You sound a bit worse for the wear, everything okay? I didn’t smack you around too badly in that battle, did I?” Stephen asked. “If I did, I’m sorry.”

“No, you were wonderful and strong as always, and I know you were pulling your punches. So no, it wasn’t you who smacked me around,” Tony replied. “Can I come by though? This is going to sound silly but... I need a hug.”

“Of course babe, I’ll make a portal right now,” Stephen said. He hung up the phone and smiled as Tony stepped through the portal, immediately pressing as close to Stephen as he could. “My baby harp seal!”

Tony laughed at the nickname, beginning to shiver as Stephen brushed a hand through his hair. “Remind me again why you call me that?”

“Because what, besides you, is cuter than a baby harp seal? Nothing,” Stephen replied.

Tony just nodded, seeming a bit absent as he leaned more into Stephen.

“You cold? Why are you shaking so much?” Stephen asked, his doctor brain cells beginning to fight his concerned boyfriend senses.

“I’m fine.”

“And I’m the Pope. I can tell something is wrong and I won’t make you tell me, but you can if you want to.”

Tony was quiet for a moment. “I promise I’m fine, just tired. We trained all night after the battle ended. Apparently a stalemate still counts as a loss for us, in Steve’s eyes, so we trained all night so it wouldn’t happen again. In his mind smacking me around in front of the team as a re-enactment is what he considers training, but that’s bullshit because I wasn’t hurt by anything during the battle so he—”

“Stephen are you coming back in here or should we postpone?” Wong asked politely, the calm sense of irritation ever-present in his voice.

“Postponing,” Stephen replied. “Please make sure Karl doesn’t eat my shrimp again.”

“Let that go already, I said I was sorry!” Mordo yelled.

“A man’s shrimp is sacred, you know that!” Stephen shouted back. He felt rumbling against his chest, thinking that Tony was laughing. “I always see him making eyes at my shrimp... the audacity.”

A short sob made Stephen realize that Tony wasn’t laughing at all, but crying.

“Oh babe... come on, let’s go upstairs,” Stephen murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

The Cloak left his shoulders to settle affectionately on Tony’s, hugging him and supporting his back.

Tony just closed his eyes and allowed himself to be moved, resting his head against Stephen as pain seared through his back and shoulders. He tightly shut his eyes as the dull ache in his chest returned. “Fuck.”

“What hurts?” Stephen asked, placing Tony on his bed (it was basically theirs, but that’s a story for another time). “And what happened?”

“Mostly my back and shoulders, but can you believe that the suit’s housing unit got smashed into my chest again? At least this time I have a reinforced ribcage, so it didn’t get smashed into my lungs again, but what are the odds that the same guy with the same vibranium shield does that twice? And how is it that even in death, Howard Stark and his tech still find a way to give me grief?” Tony replied, rambling from stress and pain. “I defended myself, but after awhile it just got so tiring. I just let him say and do what he said and did, and no one else stopped him so I must-”

“Don’t you dare tell me you deserve this,” Stephen said, trying to keep his voice gentle in spite of his disgust.

His blood was boiling. The sorcerer knew all too well about Siberia, about Howard Stark, and what the team put Tony through, and it made him sick. And while Tony’s loyalty to the Avengers was admirable, they had a habit of treating him so badly, far away from what he actually deserved. Stephen was drawn from his reverie when he heard a sharp inhale and a sob from beside him.

It was rare for Tony to cry, outside of a nightmare when he would wake up with fear in his eyes, and Stephen hated to see it.

“It hurts,” Tony whispered, pressing his head against Stephen’s chest.

The sorcerer’s heart broke further as Tony continued to cry, and he hoped he’d never hear the genius in such pain ever again. “Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you love, what do you need?”

++++

177A Bleecker Street, 9:00am

It was about an hour later when Tony finally relaxed, soothed by gentle caresses and harmless healing spells. His head was resting on Stephen’s chest again, his lips semi-parted as he took deep, sleepy breaths.

The only thing to do next was to determine how to deal with Steve... after Stephen finished making his omelet, of course. He never schemed on an empty stomach, it was bad luck.

He brushed through Tony’s hair softly, bringing the man back from the edge of sleep just for a moment.

“Will you be okay if I go downstairs and make my omelet? And do you want anything?” Stephen asked.

“Don’t let me hold you up, especially if there’s shrimp in it,” Tony replied. “And not now, but thank you. I’m going to sleep for at least an hour.”

“Tea or coffee?”

“Maybe later.”

Stephen nodded and kissed him before standing up to exit the room. Just before closing the door, he popped back in and said: “You know you’re more important than the shrimp, right?”

Tony nodded, but Stephen wasn’t convinced that he fully grasped the gravity of his words.

“Do you believe it?”

Tony didn’t hesitate to reply. “I always believe you.”

Stephen smiled lovingly. “Get some sleep Tones, I’ll be back soon.”

#tony stark #stephen strange #ironstrange #shrimp gremlin villain!stephen #villain stephen strange au #ironstrange villain!stephen au #soft ironstrange #incorrect ironstrange #iis writes ironstrange #shrimp gremlin fic #tony stark angst #heavy angst #implied/referenced child abuse #howard stark's a+ parenting #anti howard stark #anti steve rogers #anti team cap #not steve rogers friendly #not mcu canon compliant

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ktent · 5 years

Photo

With their comeback being only a week away, it’s time to intensify practice and make sure everything will go perfectly this time around. On July 10th, their latest song ‘Me Gustas Tu’ will be released for the world to listen to!

Starting on July 1st, the girls will start practicing to learn the choreography to their b-side track ‘One’ which they’ll promote alongside their title track during their first week of promotions. They will use a short version of the song, which will go until 1:15 as seen in the reference video. The ending will be fit to match the end of the song (2:50 - 3:09).

For this release, there will be no formal showcase and, instead, the girls will hold a special Vlive in preparation for their release. The Vlive will be announced officially today, the 3rd, to be held on the 10th starting at 7PM, an hour after the album & MV are supposed to come out. They’ll go to a set similar to this for the event. They may share their excitement to return and share any personal notes and stories they’d like, just like in a regular Vlive. There will be time for them to read fan comments and answer questions, as well as to encourage people to listen to their newest song and watch the music video as well. Thirty minutes in, though, they’ll be allowed to sing the chorus of their title song for all the fans watching, as well as the one to their b-side. The choreography to both songs will be kept a secret until their first live stage on July 12th. They’ll be dressed for this with the outfits seen below.

Anna

Blue

Haseul

Jennie

Minji

Suji

They’ll record their dance practice to ‘Me Gustas Tu’ a day before on July 9th and will be released a week after their song release, on July 17th. On the same day of recording, SBS will enter in contact with KT Entertainment to announce that their Inkigayo episode on the 21st will be canceled in favor of a special schedule, the SBS Summer Concert in Incheon. The concert will have the presence of every big act and the most popular songs of the year and Eclipse has been invited to participate. This means they’ll have to also dedicate some of their practice time towards the preparation of concert stages.

They’ll be allowed two songs to perform which will be ‘Me Gustas Tu’ and ‘Love Whisper’, in that order. For these two performances, they’ll all be dressed in the same clothes such as this one.

Apart from these performances, the members Blue and Minji were invited to take part in a special stage along with two other members of the girl group Luxe. They’ll perform ‘Loving U’. Blue will take the role of Elkie, and Minji of Sinb. They’ll be dressed accordingly with the clothes seen on the video.

They’ll head to Incheon on the morning of the concert, the 21st, and stay in a hotel overnight before returning to their dorms the day after. Blue and Haseul will room with their manager while the other four girls will stay together in another room.

The following is the music show promotion schedule for Eclipse’s ‘Me Gustas Tu’ activities:

7/12, 7/19, 7/26: KBS Music Bank

7/13, 7/20, 7/27: MBC Music Core

7/14, 7/21, 7/28: SBS Inkigayo

7/15, 7/22: Arirang Simply K-pop

7/16, 7/23, 7/30: MTV The Show

7/17, 7/24, 7/31: MBC Show Champion

7/18, 7/25, 8/01: Mnet M!Countdown

On July 18th, Eclipse will record their dance relay for ‘Me Gustas Tu’ during their time waiting for M!Countdown to be uploaded on the same day (you can use this to see how it works).

Music show promotions will last for a total of three weeks this time. Programs will begin pre-recording early in the morning and groups are expected to stay at the broadcasting station until the live broadcast takes place later in the day. Although music shows in real life follow varied recording schedules, for IC writing purposes, the schedule for every music show will follow this consistent pattern:

06:20AM: at broadcasting station: basic first rehearsal on stage; no makeup, casual clothes.

06:45AM: head to salon: get makeup and hair done.

07:45AM: return to broadcasting station: eat breakfast, nap in dressing room/space.

09:00AM: dress rehearsal on stage; stage outfits, makeup on.

09:20AM: return to dressing room/space: rest, eat, nap.

11:00AM: final camera rehearsal on stage; stage outfits, makeup on.

11:15AM: greet senior artist groups at their respective dressing room/spaces, accompanied by a manager. you may not sleep during this time, up until the live broadcast.

07:00PM: live broadcast; when not performing, must stay in dressing room/space until the ending stage of the show.

08:00PM: line up in waiting room area to formally greet producers, director, and senior staff.

09:00PM: meeting time with fans who attended the recordings.

10:00PM: return to dressing rooms to clean up, change back into casual clothes.

11:00PM: arrive back at dorms.

Aside from music-related promotions, Minji's web drama 'Game Development Girls' will start airing at the end of the month. Its first episode will come out on July 30th, releasing two episodes at once. From then on, the drama will come out every Tuesday and Thursday with one episode on each day. With this pace, the last episode will air on August 29th. She'll take part in a special Vlive with the rest of the crew referred to as a 'production presentation' on the 29th of June where she and the rest of the actors involved will get to introduce their characters and answer some fan questions. This will be done in a set similar to this.

The girls will be reminded to make sure to get their luggage ready because on August 2nd they’ll be traveling to Japan in order to take part in the KTWorld Concert in Tokyo from August 3rd to the 5th. Each of the three days of the concert they’ll perform three songs: ‘Love Whisper’, ‘Chase Me’, and ‘Me Gustas Tu’. They’ll all go to the same hotel as other KT idols and will be given three rooms with two beds in each of them. The roommates were divided like this: Minji&Haseul, Jennie&Suji, Blue&Anna.

You will gain +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, +3 DEBUT POINTS and +2 ACHIEVEMENTS for completing the written requirements as explained on the idol tier page. As this is a song promotion month, one of your chosen achievements must be relevant to the above schedule and all required content should be written about activities listed on the above schedule for the month of July. There is a capped maximum of five solos, sets of starters and/or partnered threads you may write to collect this month’s points.

The only form that needs to be submitted at the end of the month is a verification form for your debut points and achievements. Any SP points earned can be collected as soon as you finish the requirement for them. At the end of the month, you will submit the following form to the Points Verification blog:

IDOL’S NAME - KT ENT - JULY SCHEDULE (for the August 7 verification form)

PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ]

POINTS: +00 SP [ distribute these however you like ]

TOTAL POINTS EARNED: +00 SP +00 DBT

+1 WK ACHIEVEMENT #1 [ NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL ]

+1 WK ACHIEVEMENT #2 [ NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL ]

DEBUT POINTS SPENT ON THE IDOL SHOP THIS MONTH:

NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:

**** For their promotional days, the group receives 17 EXP. Their performances in the concert give them 2 EXP and the special stage with Minji and Blue gives them 1 EXP. Minji's performance in 'Game Development Girls' will give them 5 EXP and her special Vlive another 1 EXP, making it a total of 26 EXP. Rewards for their KTWorld performances will be given in August. For more information regarding GROUP EXP, refer to the idol tier page.

#rkeclipse #eclipse:july19

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rovalent · 5 years

Photo

‘After keeping all plans of their first comeback aside, Royal has finally decided to move things along. Luxe’s performances on the Samsung New Year Special brought them a lot of attention and most certainly gave them a lot of buzz. Positive or negative, every new comment under their performance videos only made them rise on the pages of famous websites and search engines. Using this to their advantage wouldn’t be too hard.

Their first comeback also means their first release as a 5-member group. Im Nayoung’s official stage name was officially confirmed to be ‘Zoe’ through an official statement by a Royal representative only a week ago. Together with the other 4 original members, the group will make their comeback with their mini-album ‘Fantasy’ on February 24th. This means there are a lot of things to get done and the girls should put their all into it.

The practice schedule will be completely focused on the final preparations for the album. Dance practice will start right away and be the biggest focus for the members. If they don’t have anything more important to do then they should probably be learning the choreography which will be thoroughly taught by Yoo Jaekyung and her fellow dancers. The songs that were given three months to learn should all be recorded on February 8th. Members will go into the studio in order of age to record their parts. When they aren’t recording, members are expected to be practicing.

As a solo schedule, Cheri will take part of the recording for ‘My Love From Another Star’ from February 2nd. She will be expected on set for 9 hours (7 to 4pm) to get her makeup and wardrobe done in the morning. Filming for her day scene will last from 10am to 3pm. After filming for the scene concludes, she will get cleaned up, return her costumes, and return to her idol schedules. The script for this scene will be mailed to her one week prior to filming. She will also get one hour of rehearsal with the lead actor before official filming starts.

To match with their concept, members will have to change their hairstyles according to the company’s orders. Those whose current hairstyle doesn’t match the one seen below will go together to the same salon on February 10th to get their hair done for their comeback.

Cheri - Long, straight, black (reference)

Yena - Long, wavy, blonde (reference)

Ella - Long, straight, black (reference)

Xayah - Long, straight, brown (reference)

Zoe - Long, wavy, black (reference)

On February 13th, a photo shoot will occur in a small set in the Gangnam district for both the photobook that’ll come along with the CD as well as the photocards. There will be two different sessions: one for the pure side of the album and another following their sexy concept. The photocards will follow the same pattern (use this photocard as an example and a darker version of it for its counterpart). When they aren’t being photographed, members are allowed to practice in a spot of the set that doesn’t get in the way of the staff or in the changing room. They won’t be explicitly told to do so and they should also avoid getting sweaty or ruining their makeup.

Finally, the music video for their title song will be filmed on February 15th and February 16th. A full film crew is provided by Royal, including camera staff, wardrobe and makeup/hair staff, lighting staff, catering crew, and a director. You may, at any time, ask for guidance from any of these members of the production. On the 15th, the first section of the where they pose in white (0:00-0:16) and dance scenes in the white outfits (as seen in 0:56 and 2:33) will be recorded. On the 16th, scenes with the light background (as seen in 0:19 and 0:28) and the brick wall (as seen in 1:42 and 3:17) will be recorded.

As the first variety appearance with the full group, Luxe will record an episode of Weekly Idol on February 18th. This will follow the events from TWICE’s part in Episode 228 which can be seen here. All mentions of debut should be changed to it being their first comeback, and any quotes and the performance of ‘Like Ooh-Ahh’ should be changed to ‘Confused’. Any other changes should be made accordingly (such as their personal introductions and showcased talents) to fit in with Luxe members. Luxe’s appearance will only be enough for half an episode, and the other half will be filmed by a different group. It should be also taken into account that the MCs will be the current ones: Lee Manseok, Shin Beomsu, and Ryu Seojun as the IC equivalents of Nam Changhie, Jo Seho, and Hwang Kwanghee. This episode will air on a Wednesday, February 27th.

On the very same day of the recording, February 18th, the first teaser will be released for their comeback on Luxe’s official social media.

As a special surprise to the fans and a tease on itself, all 5 members will come together to hold a Vlive in their dorm on February 19th. They are instructed not to spoil anything regarding their new album and help Zoe get used to how it works. Apart from that, the members are free to interact with the viewers however they’d like as long as they keep up with their image.

No matter how busy their month will be, nothing will beat February 24th. Luxe will have their debut stage on the same date as their album release on Inkigayo. They’ll get there a 6:30am as usual, but instead of staying until late for a live performance, they’ll pre-record it at 9:00am instead of having a rehearsal. The members will then prepare themselves for their showcase which will start at 6PM, the same time as the album release. Fans present will get to watch the MV for the first time in the audience, followed by a live performance of ‘Confused’. The MC this time will be the well-known Lee Jonghyuk. During the showcase, Luxe will also perform their debut song ‘I Feel Good’, ‘Luv Me’ and ‘Under The Street Lights’. The time in-between will involve the members explaining their title track and album as well as their concept, a profile introduction of each member, and then the showcase will end with a second performance of ‘Confused’.

The following is the music show promotion schedule for Luxe’s ‘Confused’ activities:

2/24, 3/03, 3/10: SBS Inkigayo

2/25, 3/04: Arirang Simply K-pop

2/26, 3/05, 3/12: MTV The Show

2/27, 3/06, 3/13: MBC Show Champion

2/28, 3/07, 3/14: Mnet M!Countdown

3/01, 3/08, 3/15: KBS Music Bank

3/02, 3/09, 3/16: MBC Music Core

On February 28th, Luxe will record their dance relay for ‘Confused’ to be uploaded on the same day during their time waiting for M!Countdown (you can use this to see how it works).

06:20AM: at broadcasting station: basic first rehearsal on stage; no makeup, casual clothes.

06:45AM: head to salon: get makeup and hair done.

07:45AM: return to broadcasting station: eat breakfast, nap in dressing room/space.

09:00AM: dress rehearsal on stage; stage outfits, makeup on.

09:20AM: return to dressing room/space: rest, eat, nap.

11:00AM: final camera rehearsal on stage; stage outfits, makeup on.

11:15AM: greet senior artist groups at their respective dressing room/spaces, accompanied by a manager. you may not sleep during this time, up until the live broadcast.

07:00PM: live broadcast; when not performing, must stay in dressing room/space until the ending stage of the show.

08:00PM: line up in waiting room area to formally greet producers, director, and senior staff.

09:00PM: meeting time with fans who attended the recordings.

10:00PM: return to dressing rooms to clean up, change back into casual clothes.

11:00PM: arrive back at dorms.

You will gain +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, +3 DEBUT POINTS and +2 ACHIEVEMENTS for completing the written requirements explained on the idol tier page. As this is a song promotion month, one of your chosen achievements must be relevant to the above schedule and all required content should be written about activities listed on the above schedule for the month of February. Posting about March activities will not account for February points (more information for their March promotions will come on their March schedule). There is a capped maximum of five solos, sets of starters and/or partnered threads you may write to collect this month’s points.

To clarify, the only form that needs to be submitted at the end of the month is a verification form for your debut points and achievements. Any SP points earned can be collected as soon as you finish the requirement for them. At the end of the month, as you did with your previous evaluation forms, you will submit the following form to the Points Verification blog:

IDOL’S NAME - ROYAL ENT - FEBRUARY SCHEDULE (for the March 6 verification form)

PROOF OF ACTIVITY: [ x ]

POINTS: +00 SP [ distribute these however you like ]

TOTAL POINTS EARNED: +00 SP +00 DBT

+1 WK ACHIEVEMENT #1 [ NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL ]

+1 WK ACHIEVEMENT #2 [ NUMBER OF TIMES TAKEN + CURRENT LEVEL ]

NEW DEBUT POINTS TOTAL:

**** For participating in a total of 20 music show performances during this promotion period, Luxe will earn 20 EXP for their overall group experience. Their appearance on Weekly Idol will give 1 EXP, their VLive 1 EXP, and the dance relay another 1 EXP. Cheri’s solo schedule gives 1 EXP making it a total of 24 EXP.

* Rookie and trainee characters are allowed to attend pre-recordings and fan meetings to interact with idol muses if they choose to do so. Just be realistic about the scheduling; trainees who skip too many lessons to support idol muses will be noticed by their company staff!

#rkluxe #era:fantasy #luxe:feb19

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goshgirlsstruggle · 2 years

Text

Morning Routine Bullshit

I can’t be the only one who watched endless morning routine videos taking notes and copying everything I saw in them. You did it too right? Morning routines are great as they get you ready for the day ahead. They can bring you a little bit of peace before the stress of the day seeps in. Your brain craves routine, something that is set in stone that you don’t really need to think about before doing. This is why morning routines are great.

This being said, the media around us is selling us something that isn’t really realistic. Now don’t get me wrong, the thought of waking up at 5:00am and making a matcha then doing sunrise yoga every morning does sound amazing and may be realistic to some people. However, this is not realistic for me. I am NOT a morning person whatsoever. I hate waking up early, I find it really difficult to get out of bed and Its just not fun. This makes me start my day already tired and annoyed. Not fun. I did lots of research into what makes a successful morning routine and have implemented these things that I am about to share that have made a positive impact on myself and my mental health.

Here is how to make a morning routine for YOU:

1. Set a time that you are going to wake up each morning. Its unrealistic for me to tell you that you should wake up at the same time everyday, I don’t, certainly not on the weekends. However, it is helpful to wake up relatively close to the same time every day. You need to also keep in mind that you need enough time to get yourself ready without rushing. Rushing=stress. I wake up at 7:00 on weekdays before school/work, and aim for 8:00 on weekends. (not every weekend)

2. Pick one thing you like doing and implement it in the morning. For example, I love listening to classical music when I get ready (i know im boring its ok). This makes me feel like I’m in a movie and I absolutely love it. I hum along whilst doing my hair or scincare and it brings me a little bit of joy that lingers throughout the day. This doesn't have to be music, it can be playing one round of toads factory on Mario-cart or singing karaoke. Who care! Whatever makes you happy. Whatever floats your boat ;)

3. Set yourself 10-15 minutes for selfcare. I know this is cliche, but selfcare is important. self hygeine is also important. I was that kid in year 5 with the stanky BO. No longer my friends, I now smell like coconut :) Giving yourself this time to wash your face, put on some lotion, brush/do your hair, put on deodorant, whatever it may be, do it in these 15 minutes.

4. Put on an outfit that is COMFORTABLE. Im on study leave right now. Am i wearing my pajamas whilst writing this....ya. Is it ok?......ya, why the fuck not? However, have I been productive and gotten any studying done.....no. When i make the extra effort to get dressed into something other than my pajamas I instantly feel more put together. Even if you change out of your pajamas into another pair of pajamas....i promise you it’ll make a difference.

5. PHONES. Ok..don’t hate me. Please. I know how tempting it is to grab your phone when you get up and check the notifications you missed the night before, but stop right there. Give yourself at least 30 minutes before you check your phone. Be present with yourself. Listen to the sound your face wash makes as you pump the bottle. Listen to the sound your pillows make as your make your bed. Be present. It wounds boring, but if i could pick one thing from this list for you to take away. it is this.

This list doesn’t tell you how to structure your morning because its your life, so it is your morning. You decide how it goes and what works for you. These are just some things ive implemented that have made me start my day with a little less anxiety and a little more will to thrive.

#morning #morningroutine #skincare #peacewithin #bullshit #reality #nessecary #spelling mistakes #mentalhealth #loveyourself

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cabbageminute · 5 years

Text

Big Security Everywhere Thread

#WEEK_ONE

Upgrade my house so it's unbreakable

The first lecture inspired me to look upon how I can break into my house and finding useful products to try and prevent it.

(Strategic Brute Force) Via doors -> I have a double door, where one probably is trying to prevent the entrance of mosquitos, and the other is for the main protection. Both are simple and standard locks. Both are a variation of Dealt bolt locks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMqzjMrxNR0

According to that video, it's quite easy to open.

(Brute Force) Via window -> There's absolutely no protection whatsoever. Literally could smash it.

(Brute Force) Via Basement -> Can open padlock via brute force and crawl underneath and smash the floor of the ground level .

Learning types of locks: https://locksandsafes.com/what-are-the-different-kinds-of-locks/

Understanding picking a lock: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-pick-a-lock-pin-tumbler-locks/

My suggestion:

Biometric locks, downside: Can leave a physical footprint (with easy combination, easy to brute force to).

Cat-eye: can see who is visiting.

Better material of glass for window (or even barred)

#WEEK_TWO

Around suburb

This week I focused on looking at my neighbourhood and if I can gather any information on my secondary family rough schedules, this way we can analyse the data of their comings and goings, and apply an attack.

Monday

The garage door opened at 8:45am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 9:20am [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 11:03am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The side door opened at 2:20pm [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 3:29pm[REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 7:54pm [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 8:20pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

Tuesday

The garage door opened at 8:20am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 8:45am [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 11:02am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 2:19pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

The side door opened at 2:30pm [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 5:30pm [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 5:56pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

Wednesday

The garage door opened at 8:25am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 8:50am [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 1:03pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The side door opened at 2:20pm [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 4:29pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 6:54pm [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 7:20pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

Thursday

The garage door opened at 8:00am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 8:20am [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 10:00am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 1:29pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 7:24pm [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 7:40pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

Friday

The garage door opened at 8:25am [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 9:20am [REDACTED] back

The side door opened at 2:20pm [REDACTED] back

The garage door opened at 7:24pm [REDACTED] leaves

The garage door opened at 7:42pm [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] back

After a week of looking at them (some of them I had my extended family to log, but it’s the same if someone just observes them long enough), you can formulate a pattern, and base on the pattern we can implant a pattern. To change this we introduce a new variable in the system, random activities.

We can formulate their basic life plans just by observing...which extends to a side-channel attack!

#WEEK_THREE

Around the internet

I will have you know ... the weirdest thing happened to our family ... my mother got phished.

context: My mum’s business [REDACTED] usually have a lot of incoming and outgoing emails regarding price changes and new business models. This email came in and she pressed the attached documents, which windows started flashing asking for permission to access the windows/syswow64/regedit.exe.

So I started researching about the attack:

Article_one: which tells me not to worry about it.

Article_two: “This program allows users to perform several functions including creating, manipulating, renaming and deleting registry keys, importing and exporting .REG files, bookmarking user-selected registry keys as Favorites, and the ability to remotely edit the registry on another networked computer”

So to solve the problem I restored the computer at a specific checkpoint and ran a malware detection program. And nothing seems wrong.

Then I started researching the company themselves. Well, first of all, the email is extremely suspicious. and secondly, my mother never had any relation with anyone named Sue Kepp.

#WEEK_FOUR

The vulnerability of Social Media.

How often do you geotag where you are at a particular place, and really how can this affect your life. This week I focus on the vulnerability of the act of tagging where you are at a certain place. or better yet, YOU ARE subconsciously being tracked.

VIDEO_ONE | VIDEO_TWO | VIDEO_THREE... well so these guy uses Instagram to stalk someone by using the geotags they have in a nearby. They have their information just with one small outlet.

My suggestion ... maybe just not use geotag ... .. . . .... I’ve been doing this since year 8 so I’m quite clean tbh.

#WEEK_FIVE

Our university is not perfect ... yet

The other day I was walking in university and I was thinking ... How many of these people are actually UNSW students because literally, no one knows each other, and the privilege of walking into a door is guarded by a single card most of the time.

I brought my best friend to UNSW the other day, and he requested that he wants free wifi for using my internet (I said yes). Obviously, it’s fine because he is working on school work.

But there are so many people in university that could just ask for a login to steal lecture notes and even your personal information.

Someone let me access into a lab, just because they can hold the door ... . .. ..

#WEEK_SIX

Opal ... or oNO.

Transportation is always a big part of a lot of people’s life.

But the thing is, we have so many flaws, people can just jump over the gate and avoid paying

People can not tap on while going on the bus (because no one really checks, fact-checked with my uncle’s colleague -> he is a bus driver)

Your opal balance can go negatively which you can simply change for a new card. According to THIS article, opal makes a $2.6 million loss annually. Not saying that I’m can have 2.6 million, but I could save up to $36.5 if my balance is -.10 for 5 days a week.

Also -> transit officers can’t check credit card tap-ons according to THiS

Okay, so why do I care about this, well for one it’s taking $25 out of my pocket every week, so life is not good. Well secondly, NSW transit officers really made me angry the other day for stopping me and made me late for work (another incident they fined my friend who is a student but forgot their card for $200), so I put on my attacker hat on and wanted to see if there is a way to avoid paying without getting caught.

The first thing I looked through is, what powers do the new NSW transit officers have

The power to direct people to leave trains and railway stations.

The power to demand names and addresses from people who they had reasonable grounds to suspect had committed a railway offence.

The power to request to inspect tickets and concession cards.

The power to issue infringement notices and on the spot fines to those who had been caught committing railway offences.

Well, now I want to refer you to this article.

So now how do we evict to pay ... >:)

I think my suggestion would be

Get off at a specific location where there is no gate.

Use a Woolworths temporary credit card, and claim that you’re using the credit card.

If you haven't paid, they'll use your card details to charge you the default maximum fare and record your card details in their database.

if you then present the same card again on a subsequent check, they'll find you for fare evasion. Curiously, it says if this happens more than twice with the same card, they will also blacklist that card from being used to pay for fares for 12 months.

#WEEK_SEVEN

Articles that I found last few weeks

Robert Downey Jr. has vowed to use robotics and AI to significantly clean up the Earth in the next decade

There is a degree of the irony of relying on AI to help them clean up when the human responsible creating it are the one that created the chaos.

Cat filter accidentally used in Pakistani minister’s live press conference

Maybe consider not have a man in charge of these live vids, or even better have an option for serious manners and whatnot.

China Is Forcing Tourists to Install Text-Stealing Malware at its Border

Consider maybe doing an extensive search before letting people into the country instead of doing mass surveillance.

Amazon confirms it keeps your Alexa recordings basically forever

Don’t be lazy and search using your hand. This recording is allowing everyone to listen to you indefinitely.

Japan approves first human-animal embryo experiments

HELLO JURASSIC PARK!

#securityeverywhere #cs6441blog

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16179722bavad3-blog · 5 years

Text

Online Journal MD4096

Sinead Butler

16179722

Week 1 - For this years vocal ensemble we were reunited with Kevin O Carroll, our vocal ensemble teacher from first year. We were introduced to two pieces which we would be examined on in week twelve. These pieces were ‘Maria Walks amid the Thorn’ by Thomas Morley and ‘Sanctus’.

- Performance Workshop was a new class for all of us and we had only met Shirley our teacher one time previously for Immersion week in second year. We started our first class by doing a lot of acting and improvising exercise classes.

- During our first week of gospel in semester two, for myself and my classmates it was rather difficult to get back into a routine of doing group work seeing as we had spent the previous semester on our co-operative placement.

Week 2

- For week two of vocal ensemble we focused on perfecting the first page of sanctus. Straight away it was evident that sanctus was the harder piece of the two. I sing in the mezzo-soprano line along with six other girls. I am mentioning this because seven is the most we have ever had in our mezzo line!

- Following the result of last weeks exercises, shirley challenged us again by doing a lot more improvisation because that is a method of acting/singing that we as a class fall down in.

- In week one of gospel we were asked to sit back and listen to what pieces the rest of the class had created in semester one, and to then research and learn our designated parts for this week. We were focusing on ‘Let praises rise’, a song which we were familiar with already and also ‘Better is one Day’ a song performed by the same person we had learned the first song from.

Week 3 - In vocal ensemble our mezzo line for Sanctus was proving very difficult for myself as a solo singer, and also as a group line. The song was relatively major, however a lot of the mezzo soprano line had some sustained notes and notes that would clash with the others, making them sound wrong.

- Shirley began asking us topics which we would like to cover for our final exam in week fifteen. Our assignment for this week was to pick five themes that do not need to be relative or have context. I thought of ideas such as ironic things that women apparently arent able to do and simple universal jokes people would be familiar with such as ‘Is this thing on?’.

- Personally gospel requires no concentration or technique for me as I feel very comfortable in the class. All stuents pick up the melody and given harmony extremely fast. By this week we had ‘Better is one Day’ complete and it was only week three.

Week 4

- We had now moved onto the third and fourth page of sanctus. It being a new song it did take us quite a while to understand and recite the melody,what I found difficult was that due to our group having a high number it was hard to listen to eachother. Kevin made a few comments about us being flat and coming in at wrong times, but due to us having such a large number in our group we could never figure out who was making the mistakes.

- This week we provided shirley with our ideas from the week before. We were split into groups and asked to showcase a small bit of what our themes meant. Myself and three other girls decided on listing a number of famous women in the past or present day that have made a change in the world and who are powerful. Shirley loved this idea and eventually we as a class decided our theme would be women in power.

- Kathleen wanted to challenge us as a choir this week by taking us out of our comfort zones and making us stand next to a person who was not singing the same melody line as us. I did not find this difficult if anything I found this to make our sound as a choir more blended.

Week 5

- Kevin decided to give us a break of sanctus this week and focused on Maria Walks Amid the Thorn. What was extremely difficult for this piece was that our line of melody was similar, but not the exact same. Each new verse had a different rhythm and the time signature also changed, this was going to take a lot of focus inside and outside of class.

-With our theme now officially being women in power, we had to now start producing and creating music/scenes/movements that would portray this theme for the end of summer final performance exam. Shirley wanted our idea of using powerful women's names so we created a scene where we would all as a group shout women of our choice who were powerful. We were also given the task of thinking of music pieces we would like to perform.

-Kathleen liked the idea of us being separated from our lines and kept that method this week. This time she also asked us to walk around and walk towards empty spaces of the room. I feel she was doing this so that we did not focus so much on the words and technical side of gospel and more on the feeling it gives us and the blend.

Week 6

-Kevin focused again on Maria Walks again this week due to the class as a whole struggling with the ever changing dynamics and rhythm in each verse. This week i made sure to research online videos on YouTube of choirs performing the piece as when I’m struggling to learn a piece that is the first thing i do.

-Shirley took a break from the work we did the week before and discussed women in the music industry today and their impact on society. We actually ended up in an argument as she didn’t agree with a popular artist and their process with regards to music whilst myself and the class thought the very opposite! It was refreshing having a debate like that as we didn’t have much lectures about popular music in the last two years.

-Now that our gospel group was one hundred percent confident with our pieces, Kathleen wanted to challenge us once again by making us have a chat to at least two people who we had never talked to before. I found this extremely scary for some reason, being forced to talk to someone new was quite different to talking to someone new on your own accord!

Week 7

-To give our minds a break from two very technical pieces, Kevin introduced us to ‘Now is the Month of Maying’ which was a piece we were familiar with as the fourth years last year had performed it. Kevin explained to us what the piece meant and why it was very important that we understood the meaning of the piece, so that we could portray the story with our singing.

-Shirley decided to spend this class doing a lot more improvising exercises because she felt the energy in the class was down. Some people were not eager or open to spending the class doing this, however I don’t mind throwing myself into anything and seeing as it was a 9:00am start I was willing to do anything to wake myself up!

-In gospel this week we were informed that we would be doing a mash-up of ‘Knew you were waiting’ by Aretha Franklin and ‘Think’ with the irish traditional students for a performance on in the redemptrist church in limerick city. Most of us were familiar with both songs so it was just a case of getting the harmonies solid.

Week 8

-By this class we were familiar with now is the month of maying. I think my class is better at singing those upbeat humorous pieces as Kevin encourages us to smile which really improves our technique! Once again our mezzo line had some tricky notes, but with some concentration and work outside of class it would catch on eventually.

-This week we had chosen a number of songs to perform and hopefully use for our final performance. We had chosen ‘Thursday’ by Jess Glynne, ‘Born this Way’ by Lady Gaga and a mash-up of ‘Independent Women’ by Destiny’s Child and ‘Fighter’ by Christina Aguilera. I offered to accompany the class with piano as I wanted to be in the background a little more than I previously had been.

-Kathleen asked us in this class if we wanted to maybe have a more relaxed class as the energy and atmosphere in the room was very different to usual classes. She turned off the lights and asked us a few questions about this semester. It was nice to let some steam off as we were getting close to exams and deadlines for assignments were coming. For the remainder of the class we sang hallelujah without any guidelines.It was a powerful class.

Week 9

-N/A

-Shirley started giving roles to people, I was given a few one liners here and there. I also had the role during a scene which involved a teacher talking to students. It is a comedic scene and I had a lot of fun doing it. However, I felt as though I didn’t really have a choice whether I wanted to be the teacher or not. I don’t mean that Shirley forced me, it was more of a case as though none of the other girls put up their hands.

-After last weeks class everyone’s spirits and motivation were much more positive. We were touching on our original pieces every class, however with the performance being so close we spent this week in theatre one with the Irish traditional students practising. It is quite difficult having over 80 people in a room at a time (half of them with instruments) but we all focused and gave our attention to Kathleen.

Week 10

-Kevin had asked us to still look over the three pieces although we had no class last week. Once he came back he reminded us that we only had two weeks left. Sanctus was not in any way ready for an exam so Kevin decided that we would instead do ‘Now is the Month of Maying’ and ‘Maria Walks’ as we only needed to do two pieces for the exam.

-Lucy had come in for this class to give some pointers to us and to also showcase what the dancers in our class had been doing and what movement pieces they were going to do for the exam. We then added our own melodic ideas to it and it became a big moving and powerful part of our performance.

-N/A

Week 11

-With only one more week to go until our exam, Kevin focused on small things and technical things. We were still a small bit unsure of the words in ‘Now is the Month of Maying’ so Kevin decided that he would make very small gestures to us to remind us of what was coming next. This as you can imagine also helped with us keeping a smile for the piece!

-This week I had been asked to accompany four girls in our class who were going to be singing titanium for the performance. Whilst playing I also found myself adding lower harmonies and the girls didn’t mind that I was adding them. We left the class to practice and perfect the piece while the others learned a short poem with Shirley.

-Our last class before the exam, Kathleen wanted us to try hallelujah again and told us that she would like to use that for the exam, instead of Let Praises Rise. With that she also made us learn a new song called ‘Ain’t gonna let nobody’ which was a very interesting a moving song. It encouraged us to be confident and speak our mind and let off some of that pre-exam stress we had been having!

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rocketrobinprints-blog · 5 years

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Injury update...

Things have been pretty hectic for us the last few months with a string of responsibilities, jobs, school, some injuries and getting sick. As always the lead up to Christmas means a lot of stress, especially in our retail jobs.

Back at the beginning of August, I fell in the back room at my job and sprained my left wrist catching myself. That healed up after some care, a splint, and training myself to use my right hand (dominant hand) to actually do more than write. I learned pretty quickly that I use my left for nearly everything, and it was a long process to reteach myself to carry things or pour things with my right hand. But! eventually that healed up.

Fast forward to the end of November. My dad and his partner decided to make another trip out to Taiwan to visit some friends and see her family. Dad flew out first, meaning I had to drive his partner to the airport for her flight. Fine, I agreed to do it. Her flight was early in the morning on a Thursday, and you have to arrive at the airport a few hours earlier than your flight, and it took about forty five minutes to get to the airport from their house. So I drove down Wednesday night after an eight hour shift, and we were going to leave at 3:30AM to get her there on time. She's injured her neck which restricts her movement and she can't carry anything heavy, so I carried her bags out and threw them in the car. In doing so, I re-injured my left arm.

So now, I've had the injury a little over two weeks. The pain is in the middle of my forearm, especially when I make any sort of twisting motion. It is not my wrist again, which I had sprained in August, but I'm wearing the splint to try to keep off it anyway. It has been slowly getting better. I can carry things with that arm now, and I'm capable of a wider range of motion again. The thing is, any twisting of my forearm still hurts, and it hurts about the same as the initial injury. This leads me to believe I pulled a ligament on my ulna or potentially even hairline fractured it, but I'm stubborn so I'm still treating it like a sprain. I said I'd go get it checked out again if it didn't feel better by last Wednesday, but now I'm just back to trying to mediate it myself, and haven't seen anyone at the clinic.

The injury made the last couple weeks of my class pretty stressful, on top of how it effected my ability to work efficiently at work. Headed into the end of the semester and the holiday season, neither of these effects have worked out very well for me. I finished out my class with some clumsy signing. I've gradually been able to do more at work, especially with help of Tylenol while the shop has started booming with all those people who told us throughout the year that they'd be back for Christmas presents.

I'm getting pretty tired of wearing the splint (which smells like a nice mix of spices from work) but the few days I took it off because I was sick of wearing it, I managed to twist my arm again. Most notably, I took it off to sign my final exam story for my ASL course, and halfway through gestured with my arm to meet pretty sharp pain after a day or two of it being mostly ok. (You can see me wince in the video.) Ironically, the story I chose to tell for my final was how I had sprained my ankle when I was a kid.

Eric got pretty sick at the start of December too. He seemed to have the stomach flu on top of a cold, though he never throws up, so it's a little uncertain. It took him out of the game for a week or so while we tried to kick that in the butt. He missed work, felt super light headed, and had a fairly upset stomach for days. It was a rough week, and he has informed me he has no more desire to eat soup. But, he did eventually get over it and headed back to work and has been mostly fine. Eric wakes up at 3:00AM to get to work by 5:00AM, and then has to deal with my having energy and wanting to have discussions super late at night and coming to bed at 11:00PM, which I'm sure doesn't help.

Anyway, we got him mostly threw the worst of it, just in time for me to catch it and be a big sick baby for the next week and a half. I went into work, since I only work three days a week, but I couldn't stay for my full shift because I have been simply exhausted. I got over the stomach symptoms pretty early on and the whole thing has just become a nasty cold. On top of the arm injury, it's made me pretty useless for work during a time that I really need to be counted on to come in so my boss isn't working all hours. I'm his only employee, so it's kind of important.

He's had me come in an hour later than normal for the weekend, then I stay and work as long as I can, which both days this weekend meant I stuck around until around 3:30PM. So, I'm looking at a typical 18 hour weekend of work, brought down to 7 or 8 hours total, which is rough. And with my re-injured arm I have difficulty doing a lot of the fine-motor-skill work I need to be able to do for a shift as well. And now, a week out from Christmas, I really need to be at the top of my game so my boss doesn't burn out.

So that's where we've been for the last few months. Hopefully we're back to full power soon.

-Kecheri

#rocketrobinprints #small business #injuries #back on our feet soon #2018

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davidinosaka-blog · 7 years

Text

January 28

Hi everyone! I haven't written in a while, so this will be a pretty long post. I haven't written since Christmas Day, when my family was here and we were traveling around together. So much happened during that trip, there's no way I could cover it all. So I want to go ahead and focus on what's happened since my family left, because there's so much to tell! I'm going way back to January 29, when I took the 8:00am Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. I was in a bit of a rush getting packed and ready to leave that morning, but we made it to the station at around 7:40, which we thought would give me plenty of time to get on my train. It would have been, except that the days leading up to the New Year are the busiest traveling days all year. I was starting to freak out a little, because I didn't know what platform I needed to go to, and every station attendant I saw was already surrounded by other travelers. I checked the time when I had 8 minutes until the train pulled out, freaked out a little, and started pushing my way towards a station employee. It all turned out fine, but I hadn't even been on the train a full minute when the doors closed and we started moving. After I got home, I got to take it slow and relax, and I met two of my host mom's former piano students when they came over with their newborns to catch up with my host mom. I had no idea that my host mom kept in touch with her former students, but when I asked her about them she said she still communicates with lots of them, and that in some families, she's taught two or three generations over the years. After we all finished visiting, my host sister, Azumi, took me to get my haircut. This was my third haircut since leaving Austin, and just like the first two I was terrified that my hair would get massacred. It went very well, though, because this time I was able to talk with my barber as he worked and tell him what I wanted. He asked lots of questions about barbershops in America, and asked me what each tool was in English as he used it. As we were wrapping up, he asked me which college I was studying at in Osaka, and I had to explain to him that I was only a sophomore in high school. He had been under the impression that I was much older than I am, which I'm still not used to, but he laughed about it and had me guess how old he was. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to the same place next time, but you never know. The next day, my host mom prepared a sort of yogurt, but it was very different from what I had been expecting. She added in every fruit she could find at the store: apple, strawberry, mango, banana, papaya, coconut, kiwi, and aloe, which I had no idea you could eat. Since then, there's always been some in the refrigerator to snack on. The next day, New Year's Eve, my host family (minus my host brother, who was still in Canada) and I all went to a traditional Japanese hotel in Mie, a prefecture close to Osaka. The hotel was built on top of several hot springs, which I had never used before, and it was where I got my feet wet (PUNPUNPUNPUN). It was actually a lot less uncomfortable than I had thought it would be, and my host mom's boyfriend, Goro, and I were able to relax in the baths for half an hour or so without feeling too strange. After we got out and dried off, we had a little down time and then went to dinner, which was a traditional Japanese feast. There were courses on courses on courses, with lots of food that I never knew existed. In particular there was a very expensive shellfish that was sort of hard when raw, but when it was cooked it was some of the best food I've eaten in Japan. Throughout the meal there was entertainment provided by a man performing traditional Japanese dances and a sushi chef who prepared an entire fish in less than a minute. The chef was very impressive, but the fish's tail was still twitching in the middle of the dish, which sort of threw me off of sushi for the rest of the night. The dances were very well performed, and I later found out that the dancer was actually just my age;he just looked much older. Once I learned that, I was even more impressed by his performance. The next morning, New Year's Day, we all soaked in the baths one more time, then stopped at a temple to pray for good luck on the way home. The temple seemed very different from when my family and I were touring because instead of a tourist site, it was the center of the community and the celebration for the coming year. There were families having picnics inside the walls, there were barbecues going on all over, and people were pouring in to wish each other a happy new year and to pray. The next day, January 2nd, my grandmother came to visit! We met up explored Tokyo, then I went back to school for a few days while she saw the sights in Kyoto. On the 8th, Azumi had a piano performance in a hotel lobby with an all-you-can-eat cake buffet, so my host mom and I decided to go check it out. All in all, it was a very fun experience, and I got to hear Azumi perform for the first time. She was very good, and her personality was much more professional while playing than while rehearsing and relaxing at home. On the way home in Goro's minivan, we jammed out to some American pop songs, which transitioned into Michael Jackson, which transitioned into Elvis Presley. I thought it was hilarious, because everyone was singing “You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog” as we were driving through neon signs and traffic. Maybe I was just in a happy mood, but I thought it was really fun. The next night, Goro took me and my host mom to see a performance at Osaka Castle, and it wasn't like anything I'd been to before. The actors were all on a stage in front of us, and images were projected onto the walls of the castle behind them as the story progressed. I didn't understand what the actors said, but the story was easy to follow, and the setup was incredible! When my grandmother came back to Osaka after Kyoto, we went to see it again, and it was just as good as the first time. On the 10th, I went to school from the Tsuchida's home for the first time, and it was surprisingly easy. There's only one turn, and it's at a dead end, so I don't think there's a way I could get lost on my way. School itself was pretty fun, and we jumped straight into some new grammar and vocab in Japanese class. On Thursday, Bain and I went to the middle school attached to Momoyama, our high school, and made calligraphy and mochi with the middle school students. It was interesting being around younger students, because they spoke to us the same way they spoke to the teachers, as opposed to other students. The next day I went on a field trip with Bain, Mr. Shuto, who's my homeroom teacher, and with three other students to go look at ancient pottery. The trip was incredible from the start, because instead of going to a museum, we went to the government office where newly uncovered pieces are sent to for cleaning and categorization. We got a behind the scenes tour of how the entire process works, and were allowed to touch and hold pieces of pottery more than a thousand years old. We ended with a project similar to a rubbing; we used little sacks of ink to copy the patterns from small pieces onto paper. It was awe inspiring to recognize just how much history Japan has, and how lucky I am to experience it. After we came back to school, Bain and I had to watch a biking safety video since we both commute by bike now. I had been expecting a video like Red Asphalt from driver's ed, but instead it was set up like a drama, with flashbacks and cliffhangers. After that we went to our homeroom classes to present about our field trip experience. Because I'm the last student in my class by alphabet, I was the last one to present, but this time I was much more comfortable leading up to my turn speaking than before. I think that taking a break from foreign exchange and taking time to be a tourist recharged me, and since my family left, I've been much more outgoing than before they came. The next day, my grandmother came over to my host family's house, and we made a huge sushi lunch before dropping her off at the airport. Even though all of the food was just from a normal supermarket down the road, my grandmother thought the taste was better than at Uchi, one of the only sushi restaurants in Austin. The next week, in my Tuesday math class, I started making friends with some of the guys in my Japanese math class, especially a guy named Takeo. He's only spoken with me in English, which is very impressive for a student here who hasn't gone to study abroad. He's applying to come to either St. Stephen's or St. Andrew's in Mississippi next year, and I think it'd be really cool if he came. I think that the school is actually nearing a decision now, because I heard the pool of prospective students is down to 5 or 6. I'm very excited to find out, too, because they'll be the student I host in Austin next year. In our Thursday home economics class, we all presented a children's book we had written. We split into small groups of 5, and out of each group chose one person to present. I was chosen for our group, so I had to read my (very basic) Japanese to my class, but everyone thought it was a good book topic, so we all had a good time. At the end of the period everyone voted for which book they thought was the best out of the ones that were presented, and I came in second! After lunch we did school photos for our student ID cards, which was very fun. Everybody was joking around in line. It was really fun, and when I joked about being a model part time in the US, my homeroom believed me, and I had to explain that no, I'm not actually a model, which I never thought I would have to clarify. After school I went straight to my first violin lesson with my host sister and her teacher. It was something. The teaching method was very different from in the US; my teacher, Mr. Matsuda, physically corrected my form as I was playing, and had me work on all of the very basic aspects of playing. Overall, the lesson went very well, and my teacher wants me to pay him by helping him improve his English during our lessons. I'm really looking forward to working with him again, and I think that I'll be able to improve quite a lot here. On Sunday night, Ryosuke came home from Canada! Before going out to the airport, I met one of his best friends, and we went out to the airport with him. It was a very festive atmosphere, because 40 students were coming home from their year abroad, and everyone's family had come out to meet them. I was given a Japanese flag and a “Welcome Home” banner to hold, which I thought was pretty cool, until I saw another group of students throwing their friend in the air for celebration. When Ryosuke came out and saw his family, he ran up his mom, ducked past her, and hugged Azumi first, then eventually went back to his mom. It was a really lighthearted way of greeting his family. After he and I met, he had to go and take a big welcome home photo, and as he was taking it he joked to me about his double chin, since he had gained 10 kilograms, or about 20 pounds, while he was gone. During the car ride home he and I talked a lot, and in general joked around about Canada and his family's English skills. Everyone was poking fun at him too, for gaining so much weight while he was gone. When his grandmother saw him, the first thing she said was “You got fat, didn't you?” Poor Ryosuke. Roasted by his own grandmother. On Monday we threw his big welcome home party with his soccer teammates, which was crazy fun. Everyone came up to me and introduced themselves, then told me bad jokes in English about each other. It was really cool, and since then I've seen lots of the soccer team around school, and they call out and wave to me when they see me. The next day we went to go eat blowfish, which Ryosuke said he missed a lot, and then to go to Spa World, a huge hot spring type place in Tennoji. It was really cool, and it seems like a sick place to hang out. On a weekday, a full day pass is only about $10. The baths themselves were really cool. There were two that stood out in particular: one that was filled with carbonated water that bubbled on your skin, and one that was just filled with sake, Japanese wine. It was pretty awesome. On Thursday in track and field, we said goodbye to the students on the team that would go to study abroad next year, and I felt really at home with the team for the first time. I'm still not sure if I want to stay in the club, though. I really do like the people, but the workouts don't appeal to me, to the point where I consider skipping more often than not. My feeling is that since I don't love it, I might as well try something new for the second half of my time here, but if I do that, I won't be able to compete, which I think would be very fun to do here. That's a problem for me to figure out myself, though. That's all for now! I love you all!

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