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#and then i think about the number of books i may have missed because the attempts to market them made them sound like raw garbage

seuonji · 8 months

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彡 things they left with you before leaving for tour.

notes ๑ gift giving! headcanons. reader and svt member does not live together!

genre ๑ fluff

warnings ๑ none

word count ๑ 1k

from aya: please reblog if you enjoyed! feedback is always appreciated<3

seungcheol left you the key to his home.

you’re free to go there whenever you want but he mainly gave it so that you have access to his closet!! it’s also to allow you to see kkuma.

whenever you’re there you always send him a selfie to show how the house is doing. he especially loves the photos that contains you and kkuma on his bed.

yn: [photo attachment]

yn: i changed kkuma’s hairpin today, doesn’t she look cute?

cheol: you both look adorable♡

jeonghan left you tons of his oversized shirts.

tons as in it could probably last you until he comes back. but he leaves the ones that hold some type of meaning.

he’d totally give you a whole presentation while unpacking the clothes on why he’s giving it to you.

he left you the shirt that he wore on your first date. he left you another shirt that you complimented. another one he left was one that you described as, ‘looks very comfortable.’ another was in your favourite colour while another was in your least favourite colour,, he asked you to send him photos of you specifically in that one.

he gave them with the intention that though he’s not there, you won’t feel alone at night.

he loves it when he calls and sees you wearing them!

joshua left you countless of letters he wrote.

just in case he’s not on his phone enough, to keep his presence with you, he wrote different letters. one for you to read when you’re sad, one for when you felt doubtful, another for when you felt scared.

he wrote letters for any feeling you may feel while he’s gone whether it was sorrow, anger or joy.

one day you were missing him, a lot. so you opened the letter that had ‘read when you feel alone.’ written on it.

‘yn, you’re feeling alone? cause im not there, right( ˊ̱uˋ̱ )?‘ he joked with you even through writing. ‘i know it’s a long wait but i’ll be back soon and we’ll be in bed watching movies together. i’m always thinking about you. i may not be one call away because…what if i’m on stage? but you’re still my number one priority, i hope you know that.’

it’s just long texts of reassurance that he loves you and suggestions of things you can do while you wait for him and honestly, as you read the letters, the more it felt like he was actually there.

jun left you a polaroid.

he aswell provided the films but the films were the same amount as the number of days he’d be gone.

he asked you take a picture of something everyday whether it was the scenery or something you were doing. you could either label them or keep it in a photo card binder. he wants you to talk about it with him when he comes back.

total plus if you like journaling/photography!!

soonyoung left you a heart locket necklace.

it had funny pictures of you and him on one side and the other side had a picture of you two cuddling.

he has a matching one of course! his one has so many scratches because of how much he kept opening it.

notably, he left you a cute tiger plush that was almost your size.

“think of him as if he’s me.”

“that’s weird youngie…”

idk why but initially i imagined he’d leave you a body pillow with him printed on it.

wonwoo left you his console so that you can help him keep up with his games. just kidding.

if you like reading, he definitely leaves you some books he’s collected over the years. he’d even buy books that are of your taste if his isn’t your style. he gave it so that you’d have something to preoccupy your time.

if you aren’t too into reading, he left you things that supports the hobbies you do. if you like art, he buys you paint, if you like knitting he’d buy you yarn. he finds joy in your passion.

jihoon left you a usb filled with movies and shows on it. he even provided snacks!

he loved hearing your opinions about shows/movies he liked. since you two were going to be apart, he thought you’d have more time to watch them.

when you did watch the said movie/show, he’d instantly call and listen to your opinions intently. he might end up falling for you all over again! but also it could end up in an endless banter—

“what did you think of that character?“ he asked excitedly but there was a touch of tiredness in his voice.

“they were okay,” you casually answered.

“just okay!?” suddenly the tiredness was gone.

“i said what i said!”

seokmin left you a jar filled with origami hearts, cranes, airplanes, stars and even some of your favourite animals.

as you unfold them, there’s small messages written in them. it had messages of affirmations to song/food/movie recommendations.

he looks forward to your response to the letter you opened that day.

“the one i opened today was a good one,” you said smiling.

“really, what’s wrong with the other ones? why aren’t they as good?” he asked in a whining tone.

“the one i opened yesterday said ‘listen to aju nice by seventeen.’” you recalled monotonously.

“what’s wrong with that?”

“anyways the one i opened today said to ‘eat pizza while thinking about me.’” you brushed off the previous topic.

“ah, that’s a good one, even i’m jealous.”

“you wrote it?”

“still, why would you have pizza without me…”

also, he made tons of it lasted even until he came back.

mingyu left you a cookbook of things he usually cooks for you.

the first few pages were your favourite meals hes cooked for you. they’re key parts are highlighted in your favourite colours and he even places in affirmations in free spaces. the middle pages are random meals you don’t necessarily like but,, he needed to fill in the pages. the last few pages are your favourite deserts!

minghao left you the experience of having permanent bracelets with someone.

he brought you to the store and you got a bracelet in his in his favourite colour as he got one with yours. you both spent hours just admiring the way it shined and he couldn’t stop taking pictures of it.

“now, no matter the distance, you’ll still have a piece of me that’s always with you,” he said.

seungkwan left you a self care pack.

there was skincare products, your favourite snacks and cds of your favourite films. they were each labelled with tags of why he gave those specific items.

‘you’ve always liked these, enjoy them.’ labelled on the snacks.

‘please use this, take care of your skin okay?’ labelled on the skincare.

‘don’t get too bored just cause im not there.” labelled on the cds

it’s as if he was taking care of you without because there.

vernon left you a pet fish (?)

questionable but at least you’re not completely alone. also he got consent before he bought it so, it was okay. but he also left you some of his jackets and beanies but if it was summer he’d leave you baseball caps. yknow, the sensible gifts.

it’s the thought that counts!

whenever he gets the time he’d call you to check on the fish.

and you as well, of course.

chan left you a box full of snacks.

he’s bringing the same snacks with him in his bag. he plans to call you every night so you two can talk about your day while eating the same snacks so that it seems like you two are together.

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reikaryu · 7 months

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20:41 with mingyu

pairing : kim mingyu x gen!reader

summary : it’s almost nine in the night and your boyfriend misses you.

genre : timestamp, fluff, idol!au, established relationship

warning(s) : nothing other than adorable mingyu <3

it’s been a week since you saw your boyfriend face to face. he’s been practising diligently with his group mates for the upcoming comeback, while you were stuck in your studio producing songs for a number of artists.

considering the amount of songs you had to create a baseline for, you haven’t had the time to even think about what mingyu was up to. much less miss his comforting presence and clinginess. but it was not the same for him.

mingyu, despite being entirely focused on improving his dance moves, managed to slip you into the depths of his mind every once in a while. no one has yet to call him out for constantly checking his phone in case you ever texted or called him.

he contemplated surprising you at your apartment but decided against it, since he wasn’t too sure that you were home.

he was fortunate that he didn’t, because you haven’t left your studio since you entered it a week ago. you took two-hour long naps whenever you couldn’t think up anything for the songs and ordered take-out every time you were hungry. basically, no one except for the delivery men have seen you in this past week.

alas completing half of the work you were given, you decided to take a little break and play around with your instruments. but bumzu had noticed that the door to your studio had been closed a little too long and knocked on it before entering. the two of you got into a little argument about your work and personal life and you ended up going home because he threatened to confiscate the keys to your studio for an entire month.

you’re home now. you have just kicked off your shoes and placed them neatly into the cabinet near the entrance. you don’t fail to notice the extra pair that you certainly don’t own. smiling to yourself, you throw your bag on the couch and head into the kitchen.

unsurprisingly, you find mingyu near the stove, undoubtedly cooking up some pasta for the two of you to share.

“gyu,” you exclaim in a soft whisper, happy to see him. “how did you know I was coming home?”

he turns the fire off and pivots on his foot to be met with your body crashing against his. he lets out a laugh, stroking your hair gently.

“I figured you hadn’t left your studio in some time,” he uses a stern tone towards the last few words. you bite back a grin. “I called bumzu hyung to get you out of that suffocating place no matter what.”

“mmh,” you hum, cheek pressed against his chest. “he threatened to confiscate my studio keys. it’s not like he doesn’t lock himself in his own studio sometimes.”

mingyu pushes you away to break the hug as he says, “that’s true.” then, he leads you to the table and sits you down. “I’ll get the food ready. just wait.”

after dinner, you wash up and crash into bed with him. while he snuggles into your side, missing your scent and comforting touch, you continue a book from where you left off a week ago. it really seems like only a day has passed.

it may have been hours or minutes that passed, you don’t know. what you do know, however, is that mingyu is trying his very best not to fall asleep right now. you know what he’s up to and can’t help but feel guilty.

“you can go to sleep, gyu,” you whisper in a sweet tone, marking your book and putting it aside. he hums, but his droopy eyes are still trying to stay open. you chuckle, stroking his hair.

mingyu whines, “I haven’t seen you at all in a week!” he smushes his face into your abdomen as you ruffle his hair as a form of affection. “I miss you.” and he ends with a pout that looks like :c

you want to kiss him right now. smother him in pecks and smooches, but you like this position. it’s comfortable. so you settle with stroking his slightly long hair. “I won’t be going to work tomorrow; bumzu might just lock me out of my studio. I never should have joined universe factory.”

he knows you’re up to something — knows what that something is — and waits in anticipation for you to continue your words. and you know he knows. you try your hardest to hold back a smug grin.

“so that means you’ll get me for a whole day. twenty-four hours seems like a lot, doesn’t it?” you ask mingyu, looking down at him adoringly.

he flashes his famous smile, his fangs (the ones you absolutely fawn over) showing themselves proudly. “I’m gonna sleep now, since I have a whole day to you tomorrow,” he announces cheerfully, hugging you tightly and closing his eyes.

you go back to work the day after tomorrow with mingyu clinging to your side. when bumzu sees you, he smiles and chuckles knowingly.

I absolutely LOVE mingyu’s fangs. they’re so perfect oh my gosh.

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#seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #seventeen reactions #seventeen x reader #seventeen fluff #seventeen fanfic #svt imagines #svt x reader #mingyu scenarios #mingyu imagines #mingyu reactions #mingyu x reader #mingyu fluff #mingyu fanfic #kim mingyu #seventeen #raena mini writes

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attackfish · 11 months

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So everybody here knows that I'm notorious for being a massive defender of Ursa, and that I have no patience for the "Ursa was a bad mother, she favored Zuko, and was abusive to Azula and abandoned her kids, and made Ozai abuse Zuko," narrative. That narrative is vile, victim blaming, and deeply stupid on a number of levels.

With that out of the way, I want to talk about some really really bad parenting we see Ursa do during the series. And it is to be clear really really bad.

In the Book Two episode, "Bitter Work", Zuko and Iroh have a conversation:

ZUKO: So Uncle, I've been thinking. It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I want to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say, she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her-

IROH: No, she's crazy, and she needs to go down.

This scene is a favorite of a certain type of Azula fan who wants to paint Iroh as a big meanie who didn't wave his magic redemption wand over Azula the way he clearly did over Zuko. See? See? He's writing her off here and calling her crazy.

This of course misses the context of that scene, which is that Zuko is taking care of a severely injured Iroh, who was injured by Azula, in what looked a heck of a lot like a murder attempt. Earlier in Book Two, in the episode, "The Avatar State", Azula unambiguously attempts to murder her brother after failing to capture him, and he is only saved by Iroh's quick reflexes.

But let's leave that argument aside for today because what interests me about this scene in the context of Ursa's parenting, is the line Zuko says right before Iroh's infamous declaration: "I know what you're going to say, she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."

Because in the context of Zuko and Iroh's situation, where Azula has recently attempted to kill Zuko, and just put Iroh into a coma that Zuko had to take care of him during, in which he has only just woken up from, this line from Zuko actually demonstrates some really warped thinking. It is not a healthy response to the situation at all. And his assumption is that a good caring parent figure like Iroh is going to respond to this situation by telling him that Zuko needs to get along with his sister, who is actively trying to hunt him down and capture or kill him.

So why does Zuko think that? What adult reacted that way to Azula's violence toward her brother in the past? It wasn't Ozai. Ozai is not going to use the language of getting along with one's siblings, when he is so bent on setting them against each other. So who was it?

The show answers this a few episodes before this scene, in the Book Two episode, "Zuko Alone." The answer is clear and heartbreaking: It was Ursa.

The scene in which this becomes plain, starts with Zuko and Ursa walking together. Mai spots them and smiles and blushes. Azula notices, and then turns to Ty Lee, and whispers, "Watch this!"

AZULA: Mom, can you make Zuko play with us? We need equal teams to play a game!

ZUKO: I am not cart-wheeling.

AZULA: You won't have to. Cart-wheeling's not a game, dum-dum.

ZUKO: I don't care. I don't want to play with you!

AZULA: We are brother and sister. It's important for us to spend time together. Don't you think so, Mom?

URSA: Yes, darling, I think it's a good idea to play with your sister. Go on now, just for a little while.

And then Ursa leaves Zuko alone with Azula and her friends.

There is a lot here that I want to talk about. I have in fact talked about this scene before, and what it tells us about Ursa's eagerness to reinforce Azula's seemingly kind and loving behavior: [Link], and even touched on why this is in fact an example of bad parenting from Ursa: [Link], but I think this deserves its own post, where we examine exactly what went on here, what this tells us about Ursa's parenting, and how this affected Zuko, and to a lesser extent, Azula.

In those previously linked posts, I talk about how this is clearly a pattern, that Azula has learned to predict and manipulate, and because we know it's a pattern, we know that this behavior on Ursa's part is repeated, and something her children have come to expect from her. Zuko and Azula know their mother wants her children to get along with each other, and love each other and have a good sibling relationship with each other so much that if Azula she plays into that, Ursa will force Zuko to spend time with his sister, and worse, that time will be unsupervised.

So, to be clear here, what Ursa is doing is giving Azula unsupervised access to her brother, against his will, as a reward for Azula momentarily acting nice. Or in other words, Ursa forces Zuko to spend time with his abuser against his will because she wants them to get along.

I think we can all see how that is some grade A terrible parenting.

And it does have negative effects on Azula. I think that we can see her learning how to manipulate people, learning how to lie and get what she wants from people, and that Ursa by giving her what she wants here, is showing her that this is a thing she can do to get what she wants. That is not a great lesson to teach your kid. I think it also feeds into Azula's possessiveness of her brother, and sense of entitlement towards him. She has learned that even the people who love and care about her brother, won't protect him from her. And she has learned that no matter what she does to him, he is supposed to try to get along with her.

These are some really terrible lessons, and we see some of the effects of them throughout the course of the show, so why is it that the "Ursa is a terrible mother" crowd never bring this up? I mean of course we know why, it doesn't fit their narrative. Their premise is not simply that Ursa is a bad mother, or even that her bad parenting explains Azula's behavior.

In fact frequently it isn't even about finding someone to blame for Azula's behavior, so that the responsibility isn't Azula's. (Which, to be clear is not how it would work anyway, because even if Ursa were exactly the type of horrible mother they said she was, Azula was still making the choices to do Very Bad Things, in the same way that just because Ozai is an abusive father, this doesn't mean Azula stopped being responsible for her own actions). It's more about proving that she has suffered enough that she deserves all the sympathy, and is allowed to be awful to other people, including Zuko, you know, as a treat.

The narrative that the "Ursa is a terrible mother" crowd are pushing is that Ursa didn't love her daughter, and thought she was a monster, Azula suffered so much, and it's so sad, and this is why she deserves to do very nasty things to everybody else, and no one should ever hold her accountable. Frequently there is some flavor of, "Zuko had a mother who loved him, you guys, unlike Azula, so he doesn't deserve sympathy, not like poor baby Azula!" Which is a deeply warped thought process on many many levels, but we're not going to go into that here.

The point is, that this type of bad parenting that I am pointing out here, doesn't fit this narrative, because this is not the kind of parenting mistake that a mother who doesn't love one of her children, and thinks that child is a monster, is going to make. This is the kind of mistake that a mother who loves her children very much, and wants them to have a good relationship, and doesn't recognize the threat that one of her children poses to the other, is going to make. In fact, the fact that she does it, proves that Ursa does in fact love her daughter and does not think she's a monster. So it does not fit the narrative these people are spinning, so they will never bring it up as an example of how Ursa was a bad mom.

Of course the other reason the "Ursa is a terrible mother" crowd aren't going to bring this part up is because it would mean acknowledging that Zuko deserved to be protected from Azula, and needed to be protected from Azula, when they were both children, which would go against the whole "she's a poor innocent child" thing they like to spin, and also because Azula is getting what she wants here, and Zuko is the one suffering, which is not going to get Azula any sympathy points.

And for the most part, Ursa was an excellent mother, who did the best job she could in horrible circumstances that she had very little control over, but she wasn't perfect, and she did make mistakes, which makes all of this a wonderful example of how even very good parents can make very bad choices that hurt their children and cause serious long-term damage.

I've talked some about the long term damage that Azula faces from this, learning about manipulation, and developing some really nasty entitlement issues with regards to her brother, but Zuko's long-term damage is if anything worse.

When we put this together with Zuko's line from "Bitter Work" quoted earlier, we can see that Zuko learns what Azula learns from the other angle, which is to say that he will not be protected from Azula by anyone, and not only will he not be protected, but he does not deserve to protect himself. Not only can he not defend himself, but he can't even protect himself by avoiding her. That's not allowed either. And in the face of her cruelty and violence towards him, it is still on him to make their relationship work, and to be clear, he should absolutely be making their relationship work. And the adults who love him are going to tell him this, no matter what Azula does to him.

I for one am really glad that Iroh is there to say no, that's a terrible idea, and you do not need to keep trying to get along with your sister who is trying to kill you. And it's significant that throughout Book Two, Iroh consistently protects Zuko from Azula, and teaches him what he needs to fight back.

#Atla Ursa #Uncle Iroh #Zuko #Azula #avatar the last airbender #posts i created #azula needs her own warning #i ship iroh/tea #zuko is a dweeby little turtleduck #mother bear ursa

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samandcolbyownme · 2 months

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Sam had been focusing too much on working that he had ended up neglecting his relationship. You guys had planned to go out on a movie dinner date weeks in advance and already had dinner reservations set, he is too busy working to realize that the reservation was 30 minutes ago. Should you have reminded him? Yes. But you also feel like you shouldn't have to because if he cared then he would've put his work aside for a few hours to spend time with you. ANGSTTTTT but also fluff or smut at the end, dealers choice 😏

Warnings: Slightly angsty, strong language, reader breaking down, crying, yelling, suggestive language, kinda sad but happy ending

Enjoy!

══════════════════

Sam has missed reservation times. He’s been late to pick you up sometimes. He’s even had to cancel last minute, but you understood. For the most part, at least. You knew he had deadlines to make, people to update, plans to make, and flights to book.

Once the number of times he’s practically bailed on your reaches double digits, that’s when you really started to get mad. His reasonings, you’re sure were valid at the time, but you would get so mad you thought it was a bullshit excuse, so that just made you pissed.

You said something, you had a long talk one night, got on the same page again and everything was good, almost seemed better.

But only for a short while until things started to gradually trickle back into its cursed routine. You’d say something to him again, then it would just repeat the cycle. Back to square one with it. Finally, maybe after one or two more times, you gave up on what you felt like you just wasting your breath.

One night, while you’re laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, Sam comes in after edited his one video for hours of the day. You feel the bed dip down and his body slides up against yours.

“I made us reservations at the Mitz, they couldn’t get us in until three weeks from now, so figure out what you want to do before or after and we can do that.”

You stay silent for a second before speaking. Your voice is in a very low whisper, “You promise?” He kisses your shoulder and nuzzles his head into your neck, “I promise. I’m sorry I haven’t been with it lately.”

“You and Colby have been busy. I get it.” You roll over to face him, “I guess.. I just feel like you forget I’m here sometimes.” He shakes his head, “I’m sorry I make you feel that way.” He kisses your forehead and you close your eyes, “I love you.” He rests his forehead against yours and lets out a quiet sigh, “I love you so much.”

Over the last three weeks, Sam and Colby surprisingly didn’t have much going on, so it worked out in everyone’s favor. You and Sam pretty much stayed home, and when he did edit, he made sure to include you.

Which is why, when that certain Thursday evening rolled around, you were absolutely crushed. It felt like, in a weird way, a betrayal. It really wasn’t that deep, but to you it was.

You scoffed as you hear the front door open, rolling your eyes as you look to the small clock on your vanity.

07:30 PM - 30 minutes past your set reservation time.

You drag the makeup wipe down your face, wiping away the hope you had painted on earlier in the evening. You can feel the burn growing in your eyes as you try not to cry.

You may think that two times isn’t bad, but it’s not really about the amount of times it’s happened. It’s more about how Sam doesn’t realize it’s happening. He doesn’t put up a fight, he just gradually buries you under all of his paperwork.

You hear him making his way up the steps and you know in your heart that it’s not going to be good. You take a deep breath, wiping over your face one more time with a clean wipe.

“So guess where Colby and I get to go next month.”

“Hmm?” You hum lowly, but loud enough for him to hear. You keep your stare fixed on yourself in the mirror in front of you. Sam walks closer and you feel every muscle in your body tense up.

You really didn’t want to fight with him - again.

“What’s wrong,” He asks, laying a hand on your shoulder. You were so mad at him, his touch only made the urge to cry even harder to fight back. You shake your head, “N-nothing.” You stand up, “I think I’m just gonna go get a bath and then go to bed.”

You grab a clean change of clothes and before you walk out, it’s hits Sam. He lets out a sigh, “Oh fuck.” You turn around, “Congratulations.” You give him a fake smile, “You figured out what’s wrong.”

“Y/n.” Sam calls out but you walk away. He follows after you, “Waitwaitwait.” He grabs your arm, pulling you towards him, “I am so.. so… sorry.” You tilt your head back resting it against the wall as you let out a slight laugh, “It doesn’t matter Sam.”

You look at him and his face falls, “W-What do you mean by that?” He stands up a little straight as you just simply shrug.

He shakes his head, “No. don’t say it. Please.” You chew on your lip as you feel the tears well, “I’m not..” you quickly swipe away the tears dripping down your flushed cheeks, “I’m not leaving, Sam. I just..”

You let your hands fall to your sides, and you just crack, spilling all of your emotions, “I need more, Sam. I-I know. I know that me getting upset over dates might be silly, but they’re important to me, Sam.” Your voice cracks and you look into Sam’s glossy eyes, “You’re everywhere, Sam. But you’re not here.”

You sniffle, voice cracking quietly, “And it’s hurts.”

He scrunches his nose and nods. You blink and the tears fall, “I shouldn’t h-have to be the one to remind you, fuck Sam. I shouldn’t have to remind you.”

“You’re right.” He mumbles quietly as he nods. You look up, sighing, “I do not want to end us, Sam. Please know that.” His hands slide to your waist, but you speak before he can, “We need alone time. We-we need time to just be a normal couple sometimes.”

You bring your hands to your eyes and just sob.

Sam pulls you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you as he whispers how sorry he is, “You are the most important thing to me, okay?” He presses his lips to your temple and you nod, mumbling, “Mhm.” You’re trying to get your crying under control as Sam continues, “I’m so sorry I missed tonight, baby.”

He sniffles and that makes you cry harder, “I’m sorry.” You sob out and Sam cups your cheeks, “Hey.” He raises his voice slightly, catching your attention. He raises his brows and leans in, his voice calm, “You don’t ever need to be sorry about anything, okay?”

You nod and Sam shakes his head, “You did nothing wrong, okay? I deserve to be called out on my bullshit. You did the right thing.” He kisses your cheek, “You’re my number one priority, from here on out I promise I’m going to prove it to you every. Single. Day.”

You smile slightly and you feel yourself gradually calming down, “I just didn’t want do make you mad.” You sniffle out, gasping out for air because of how worked up you had yourself.

You were slightly embarrassed, but Sam really doesn’t seem like he’s judging you at all. He laughs slightly, “Trust me, it would take you doing something a lot more stupid than getting upset over me being a dumbass to be mad at you.” He smiles and rubs your cheek with his thumb, “I love you.”

You smile, looking up at him, “I love you, too.” You lean in, pressing your lips to his and you feel him smirk. His voice is quiet against your lips as he mumbles, “Is this a bad time to tell you that Colby and I want to bring you on to the channel. Take you with us on every investigation?”

You lean back, looking up at him, “What did you just say?” He scratches his forehead, “When I got home, I was going to tell you that Colby and I were talking and we both agreed that when you’re on investigations with us, they turn out so much better than when it is just us, so with that.. we did a little poll thing in XPLR club and it turns out that the fans want you to join us. just as much as Colby and I do.”

You stare at him for a few seconds before you gently push his shoulder, “you couldn’t have just led with that, babe?” You laugh, “I embarrassed myself infront of you for absolutely no reason.”

He shakes his head, “First off, don’t be embarrassed. Second off, you calling me out on stuff that bothers you shows me you care enough to communicate with me, and I honestly cannot tell you how much that means to me.”

You bite down on your lip, “You might not be able to tell me, but I think you just might be able to show me.” You raise your brows as you look up at Sam and he smirks, instantly lifting you up against the wall, “Where to?”

You smile, “Take me to bed.”

══════════════════

Thank you so much for reading! As always, let me know what you thought! I love you all! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

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amongemeraldclouds · 3 months

Text

better than revenge | chapter two: practice?

Lorenzo Berkshire x Slytherin!reader (ft. Ex!Mattheo Riddle)

Series trope: Fake dating

Chapter two summary: As with any good fake dating scheme, you’ve got to have rules and perhaps a little bit of practice.

Warning: Kissing, mention of cheating, no use of y/n

♡ main masterlist

series masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

“We have got to come up with a nickname, something like Operation Freedom,” Enzo says, leaning back at his desk, using his hands to support him.

I look up at him from the chair and snicker, “cute but kind of obvious. Wouldn’t work if we want to keep our arrangement a secret. Hmm how about calling it an ordinary item like shoes?”

“Because of how we’ll walk over Mattheo’s patience?” Enzo quips.

I grin, “or a broomstick because of how we’ll beat his sorry ass for cheating on me and all the brotherly trauma he has no doubt caused you.” It was fun hating on Mattheo with someone who gets it.

Enzo laughs then suddenly gets concerned, “So he cheated on you, huh? I never expected much from Mattheo but what a shitty thing to do.”

I curl my fist, “well, what we’ll do will help me get my revenge. I don’t think we can keep mentioning shoes and broomsticks though, let’s keep it simple like,” I scan his dorm, “the book! Since this all started in the library.”

“So every time we talk about The Book, people will think it’s an inside joke between us,” Enzo says.

I nod, “let’s go over the rules one more time. Rule number one, no more hiding from Mattheo. It’s time for me to reclaim my space. Number two, we hang out at areas where he would be 50% of the time so he would see us a lot but not all the time. Just enough to rub it in his face.”

“We do have a life, after all,” Enzo adds. “Number three, I tell my father I am smitten by a wonderful lady,” he says gesturing to me with his hand, “who also happens to come from a powerful family.”

I mock curtsy in the chair, waving both arms to fan my imaginary dress and raise my chin.

“And we have to attend a ball together,” he adds. “I know you hate them, but I promise I’ll make it fun.”

I nod and continue, “Number four, only we know about the arrangement. Now officially called The Book. And I think that’s it.”

“Nope,” Enzo shakes his head, “there’s one thing we haven’t discussed yet. Kissing,” he says playfully.

“Kissing?” I ask, blushing. I look into his dark eyes. He may be smirking but he’s looking at me intently.

“All this may be fake but I don’t hate the idea of kissing a beautiful girl like you to really sell our story. One of the perks of The Book,” he says.

“I haven’t kissed anyone since Mattheo,” I admit and I hate it. I hate that Mattheo is still the last person I kissed. I hate that I miss the way he used to kiss me like his life depended on it. My lips would be haunted for hours by the ghost of his lips on mine. Now all that haunts me are the memories. I need to do something different, to feel different.

“No pressure, we will only do what you’re comfortable with” he raises his hands and flashes me a kind smile.

“You know, you’re not bad yourself,” I stand up and move towards him. “Maybe I don’t hate the idea of kissing a pretty boy like you too.”

“Practice?” I ask, standing on my toes to move closer to him.

He moans his agreement and closes the gap between as he presses his lips on mine. He kisses me gently and I feel something like butterflies in my stomach. It feels nice to be kissed again and to kiss him back. As our lips move in a steady rhythm, I move my hands up his soft hair and he takes this as a cue to pin me against the wall behind us.

I feel his body against mine, he’s so warm and nice. I take his lower lip between my teeth and I’m rewarded with a moan as the kiss deepens.

He places his hands firmly on my waist, his grip strong and reassuring. He licks my lips gently and I open my mouth to accept his tongue. I feel warm and electric from the core of my stomach all the way down my toes.

Theo suddenly opens the door, “Enzo, would you tell your brother he can’t just—”

The kiss ends way too soon as Enzo looks at his roommate, face flushed and hair disheveled. I stare at his angular jaw and admire how good his side profile looks. I lucked out with my fake date.

“So you really did get a room,” Mattheo’s voice breaks my gaze from Enzo, sounding amused. He enters the dorm behind Theo and I move to leave but Enzo keeps his reassuring hold on my waist. He shoots me a meaningful look, reminding me I no longer have to run away.

“You’re killing my game,” he tells Theo. “Either leave or we will continue even with you around.” Enzo looks at me with a mischievous smile and resumes our kiss. I smile on his lips and close my eyes, drowning out the world around us.

His kiss is hungry this time, committed to the show. When he trails kisses down my jaw and neck, an involuntary moan leaves my lips and I raise my chin to give him more access. My body feels alight with fire. As I tilt my head, I notice Mattheo staring at us, his jaw clenched and murder in his eyes.

I move my hand back to Enzo’s hair as Theo turns to leave, pushing Mattheo out with him.

When the door closes, Enzo takes another second to kiss my neck, gently biting the skin. My toes curl.

“That was — wow,” I say out of breath when he moves away, putting more space between us.

“Yeah,” he says equally flushed, grinning. “And to think we’re just getting started.”

series masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

♡ main masterlist

Author's note: Thank you for all the positive feedback on chapter one! Feel free to comment if you’d like me to tag you when the next one goes live.

I told myself I would publish weekly, but here I am just days later. I didn't expect to write as fast as I have! I have six chapters written and am nearly done with the seventh one. More or less, there will be eleven chapters in the series.

Enzo was the first Slytherin boy I liked and I was frustrated there wasn’t enough fan fics of him. A lot of this is for my fellow Enzo girls (and guys or them). The next chapter will be for Mattheo lovers, it's my fave one so far!

Taglist: @hoeforvinniehackerrr @i-think-you-are-gr8 @thecraziestcrayon @adreamingpendulum @themarauderswife7 @midsoulz

#mattheo riddle x reader #lorenzo berkshire x reader #slytherin boys #mattheoxreader #mattheo riddle x you #lorenzo berkshire x you #enzo berkshire x reader #enzo berkshire imagine #mattheo riddle imagine #harry potter fanfiction #hp fanfic #enzo x reader #mattheo riddle #lorenzo berkshire #mattheo x you #enzo berkshire #slytherin x reader #slytherin x slytherin #amongemeraldcloudswrites

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fandangotales · 2 years

Text

Cult AU! and the weird? things the acolytes do in your teapot

Summary: Miscellaneous headcannons about Sagau/Cult AU in the serenetea pot!

Warnings: Yandere, mention of nsfw, religious themes. As always, please let me know if I missed anything!

Also, reblogs and comments are always welcome and GREATLY appreciated! <3

To start, the travelers bed/room:

I think you know where this is going.

Your acolytes claim that there is this “Holy aura” or something in that space, since the traveler spends most of their time there. Since the traveler is your main vessel, their aura feels similar, if not exactly the same as yours. The poor traveler has to keep their room locked whenever they aren’t there to prevent any of the other acolytes from either taking things, or doing gross stuff with the items in their room. Especially with their bed. Let’s just say that that specific piece of furniture has been through a lot.

Flower beds in the serenetea pot:

Insert character standing by flower beds like:

👹 none shall touch these 👹

Nope, they totally did not just hiss at somebody who got too close!

They don’t take it well if even a single petal is out of place, because you would be so disappointed! You obviously put them there to protect your plants, and they failed you. Cue a LOT of offerings and desperate pleading in front of one of your shrines for forgiveness. Others may think that they were overreacting, but your opinion of them means so much more than weird stares of onlookers. Is this why they haven’t been on your team lately? They’ll make it up to you, they promise, so please don’t hate them!

They wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Special rooms dedicated to a certain char: ex: occupation/character themed, or furniture sets.

They can’t help but get exited, you made this just for them. With them in mind. This means you were thinking of them. They cherish anything and everything in that area, regardless if it’s scattered papers or an expensive decoration. If you were in the teapot, you might spot them dreamily staring into space, talking about you to themselves when they are in that spot. Just be careful not to walk in on them “heavily appreciating” their area. This is the third time this month the traveler has had to clean it, and they assure you its nothing you’d want to see.

Just ignore the heavy breathing coming from over there. Wouldn’t you like to spend time with the traveler instead?

If your whole teapot is nation themed.

The archons are having a field day.

Since you choose to decorate the whole teapot as their country, this means that you like it. And by extension, them. They WILL NOT get rid of their smug grin when the other archons get invited to your teapot.

If your teapot is Mondstadt themed, you already know Venti is out there being an absolute menace. The sheer amount of teasing and snide comments would be enough to break anyone’s composure. There has been many cases in which a meteor was almost sent down within the teapot. Since then, Tubby created a rule book. Number one: No great mass of elemental power will be used inside the teapot, for general safety of guests and The Creator’s decorations.

If your teapot is Inazuma themed, Ei wouldn’t be as verbal about her obvious superiority, but her thoughts are clear through her expressions and actions. Perhaps another archon is talking about an architectural style native to their region. She would huff, and make an effort to show them it’s Inazuman counterpart, which was featured in the Creator’s serenetea pot. “Since the Creator favors this style, maybe you should make an effort to change your own to their preferences?”

If your teapot is Liyue themed, Zhongli would be proud. Proud of his nation, and all that has come from it. Not only have you decorated the whole pot in the image of Liyue, but you are using the serenetea pot itself, an adeptial device. Even if you were to redecorate it as another region, you are still using and loving the serenetea pot, which is enough to bring a smile to his face. It truly is a shame that the other nations don’t have the technology to give you a gift you actually appreciate.

#genshin impact #genshin cult au #cult au #yandere #ei genshin #genshin impact venti #zhongli #genshin sagau #sagau #sagau brainrot #sagau headcanons #genshin headcanons

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bedoballoons · 8 months

Note

I can wait until you finish all your previous request before mine.

Maybe if you have time and motivation after finishing all that request.

May I request;

Modern Au! Where Sumeru Boys tells their s/o if they ever miss them just give them a called. Just one step out of the house and closing the door, his phone start ringing only for his s/o calling him and being dramatic saying stuff "COME BACK!!!" "I MISSS YOU<3" and they probably just sweatdrop at this because they were just planning to go out just for a while

Thank you for being so patient and don't worry, this idea gave me a ton of motivation, because.. OH MY GOSH THATS SO FREAKING CUTE!!<3

─⊰⁠⊹ฺ✿𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕤⊰⁠⊹ฺ✿─

{༻~Miss you already~༺}

CW: Fluffy!! Modern AU! Kaveh calls the reader honey! Reader is tilted so no one gets who's talking confused!

(Includes: Alhaitham, Tighnari, Kaveh, Wanderer, and Cyno!)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

𑁍༄Alhaitham:

When Alhaitham suggested you called or messaged him whenever you were missing him greatly, he hadn't expected to see your number show up after only being gone two minutes... certainly you couldn't be that lonely already... right? He sighed, answering with a quiet, "Hello?" It was like he could hear the smile that played on your lips when he actually picked up and the happy tone of your voice actually did make him feel a little homesick, "Alhaitham you should come back, I miss you!"

"I haven't even been gone 3 minutes..."

"You say that like you think 3 minutes isn't forever!"

"I'll be back soon, I'm just going to the store."

"Well let's talk on your way there then, I miss you being with me in person, but hearing you talk can quench my addiction for the time being!" He chuckled slightly at your words as if they were silly, but ended up going along with your plan anyway, chatting with you the entire walk to the store, even during shopping and the walk back, until he was home with you once again, holding you in his arms while you told him over and over how much you missed him.

𑁍༄Tighnari:

Tighnari pulled his phone out of his pocket, aware it had buzzed three times now with new messages and he hadn't even made it a quarter of the way to his destination, had he forgotten something? As far as he could tell he wasn't missing anything, he typed his pin and your messages became visible...leaving him shaking his head with a flustered smile.

You: Come back!

You: I miss you to much already!

You: Pleaaase!! I'll make you cookies!

He was seconds away from typing his response when you started calling, leaving him no choice but to answer with a slightly sarcastic chuckle, "You couldn't even last 2 minutes could you? I'm starting to worry you're obsessed with me." He could hear your laughter on the other end and it made his heart skip a beat, maybe he was just as obsessed with you as you were of him.

"You're only now starting to worry about that!? You should come back home and we can talk all about your worries!"

"I'm just returning my book, I'll be back soon."

"I wasn't lying about making cookies..."

He paused mid step thinking about making the warm desserts with you...technically the book wasn't overdue, he could turn it in tomorrow and then he'd still get cookies...

"I know your considering it! Come back! I'll give you extra kisses too!"

The fox sighed in defeat...extra kisses winning him over as turned around.

𑁍༄Kaveh:

Kaveh smiled at the screen, his favourite picture of you displayed alongside your number as the phone rang, he hadn't even made it out of the driveway yet and he could still see you through the window, but he'd made a promise to answer no matter what, after all, he never wanted you to be lonely, "Hi honey..."

"You kept your promise!"

"Of course I did! I do have to get to work though and you know I can't call and drive."

"I know...but I just, missed you already! And knowing you're going to be gone for work all day...I'm going to miss you so much!"

He glanced at you through the window again, noticing the genuine sadness flick across your features at the thought of him being gone all day and he had to admit, it made him want to stay, "I'll call you when I get to work and then you can message me all you like, I'll answer the second I can."

"Promise?"

"I promise...I love you honey."

"I love you too!"

𑁍༄Wanderer:

Wanderer knew this was going to happen, he regretted his words the second they left his lips and as he stared at your number, the annoying song you'd chose for your ringtone playing loudly for everyone to hear, he wondered what had ever made him think this was a good idea in the first place, still he knew if didn't answer he you'd just keep calling, so begrudgingly he picked up, "...hello?"

"Whatcha doin..."

"You know full well I'm walking to the laundromat to pick up our laundry."

He listened as you giggled in the background and for a split second his annoyance ceased to exist,...you really had such a effect on him, stupid human, "How about...you come back and we get the laundry together! I can help carry!"

"I don't need help."

"...just come back so we can walk together. I miss you."

He rolled his eyes at your neediness, despite also finding it kinda cute, "I'm not walking back just cause you have separation anxiety."

"Finnnnne but you better answer all my messages then!"

"...just so you don't miss me to much."

"Yay!!"

𑁍༄Cyno:

Cyno had just barely shut the door behind him when his phone started ringing, he didn't even make it one step and you had already tested his suggestion?, "Is everything alright?"

"Yep! I just missed you!"

"I haven't even left our doorstep yet..."

"Annnd?"

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

His cheeks blushed slightly as he glanced through the window in the door, smiling at you while you waved at him, "You're right I have no argument, seems I'm at a loss for words. You could even say I've lost my window of opportunity to come up with some."

You rolled your eyes at his pun and yet still ended up giggling for some reason, "Yeah well then... you could say I'm waving my flag of victory! My reward...one more kiss?"

Cynos eyes met yours and he nodded in response, "One more kiss.."

ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚Have a nice day*⁠.⁠✧

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flwrkisses · 4 months

Text

bf! jungwon.

first post of 2024! and this just so happens to be the end of my boyfriend enhypen series! thank you for showing it so much love! hope you all enjoy!

genre: fluff. established relationship. idol x reader!

warnings: mentions of arguments and skinship such as kissing and etc.

heeseung. jay. jake. sunghoon. sunoo. jungwon. ni-ki.

- jungwon is so best friends to lovers coded. it's written all over his being. i see it happening so perfectly.

- at first every thing is soooo platonic. going out to lunch, studying together, going bike riding, everything as friends until one day you get tired of him not understanding the multitude of hints you're throwing at him. so, you end up confessing.

- to be honest he's a little confused at first, because how could he miss the fact that you liked him ?? especially all this time?? luckily, he didn't have to think about it much and told you he'd be your boyfriend right then and there. he didn't see too much of a difference from what you guys were doing before. but now he had kissing privileges.

- you guys are almost always on facetime with eachother, like almost everyday talking for hours. sometimes you both fall asleep while in the phone and other times he ends the call with a loud kissy noise to let you know he loves you.

- jungwon is someone who likes to take interest in things you like or enjoy. if it's a show he'd watch it, book, he'd read it, or game he'd play it just so he's able to relate to you and spend time with you doing something you enjoy doing.

- his love languages are so clear, he cant help but express them. they cone to him naturally like, acts of service, quality time, and physical touch.

- when he's away on tour you guys are almost always on facetime. before bed he needs to hear your voice regardless of the timezone. most times you guys both fall asleep on the phone and have facetime calls that last anywhere from 5 minutes to 16 hours.

- without thinking he shares his food with you. most times he's mindlessly talking or scrolling through his phone as he offers you a bite of his food from his chopsticks.

- jungwon listens to any and all issues and concerns you may have in that pretty little brain of yours. sometimes he asks you if you want advice, solutions, or just someone to listen regardless of what he thinks.

- sometimes when he's in a playful mood he'd hide your things, that he knows you need. like a straw to a reuseable cup, your computer mouse, your favorite mug, maybe even a shoe. he does it just to see how long it would take you to notice he had it. plus watching you freak out and look for your lost item made him laugh.

- he likes to pretend to trip you. he purposely sticks his foot out only to move it away at the last second. sometimes he does actually trip youto which he laughs and helps you up.

- jealousy is his middle name. regardless of who you're attracted to he's always tentative and reading body language around you. he's not worried about you, he's worried about others getting too friendly with you, but he'd never tell you that.

- if you get sick he'd playfully scold you and make sure you have what you need to get better. like meds, soup, water. he's not exactly sure how to take care of you but, the best he can do is make sure you're taking your meds on time and drinking water.

- he remembers ever little detail you've shared about yourself with him. he plays coy most of the time, but when you have specific orders for foods or drinks he some how always brings you things exactly as you ask for it.

- if you dig deep into his phone you'll find the note he made on his notes app when you guys first started dating with all the things you like and all the things you dont and maybe even your usual fast food orders.

- jungwon's your biggest fan. number 1 supporter. he would cheer for you even if no one else is. he loves you so much everything you do is golden in his eyes.

- with that, jungwon loves seeing you supporting him. you guys are so supportive of eachother. he feels like seeing you the audience energizes him because he wants you to be proud and have something to brag about.

- saying "i love you" came so natural to him. he probably said it one night about 3 months into your relationship. it was kinda shocking and honestly even took him by suprise. but it was just so easy.

- your phone is always being blown up with his texts. he sends you everything and anything. he loves texting you. good morning texts, good night texts,bored daily selfies. you get it all.

- his phone is full of pictures of you, most of them off guard or blurry. and everytime you see them you tell him to delete it because you think you look bad. but he thinks theres no bad pictures of you.

- jungwon's the type to look over at your over your shoulder at your phone. not because he doesn't trust you, but usually because his eyes just happen to land there if you guys are together. to be annoying he sometimes taps the screen to mess what ever you're doing up and get your attention.

- without you having to ask, jungwon brings you your favorite snacks everytime you both hang out. he just always brings things, and they all happen to be your favorites.

- if you're looking for something under a table or cabinet he puts a hand over the edge so you don't hit your head against the hard surface while getting up.

- he loves nights where you both can just chill out and watch movies. you guys obligatory monthly movie marathon nights with popcorn and candy.

- jungwon is always planning dates. he loves coming up with fun and creative ways to spend time together so its not all repetitive and expected.

- to make sure he has time with you, he designates a day in the week for it to be date night. something like every thursday. if he's on tour on your date night we would take time out of his day to have a virtual date playing video games or watching a movie together online while still on facetime.

- arguments with jungwon are very rare. he's usually so understanding and tends to see your side in conversations. he also articulates and expresses his feelings really well when he feels like he must.

- obviously he would never admit it, but jungwon lives to see you in his clothes. infact, you both trade and share clothes often and he lives for it.

- he rests his head on yours all the time. it's always iust you and him. cheek to cheek. its a simple act of affection.

- you always try to poke his dimple everytime it pops out and he has successfully turned his head fast enough to bite your finger before you could.

- skinship is something you get a lot of with him. especially in private. sometimes it's usual sweet things like kisses and cuddles and other times it's him playfully tackling you onto the couch. its almost like he's glued to you.

- sometimes he shows you tiktok trends couples are doing all over his fyp and begs you to make a tiktok with him because it would be cute. he can't help but post it and make everyone jealous about your relationship.

- you guys have a shared playlist on a music app that allows you both to just dump songs into it. you guys listen to the playlist when you hang out all the time. some songs are ones he likes, others you like, and some you both love. at this point the playlist has over 200 songs you both just love listening to.

- he tries to be crafty and cute for you. key word is tries. he wants to make you sweet handmade cards or a mug in a pottery class. they're not terrible and you obviously keep each thing he hand makes you. he knows you love him if you're keeping the lopsided hello kitty mug he painted for you.

- you hardly ever need to verbally tell him you need something because he observes and knows when you run low of things you use daily and just buys you things like that. your favorite perfume is low? he got you a new one. your fabric softener is out? he got you more. he ate the last bowl of clyour favorite cereal? he's replacing it with a whole new box.

- expect him to keep every little thing you give or gift him. you see the little stickers you give him on the back of his phone or on his laptop, the scrunchies you leave at his house are around his wrist incase either of you needs them, and the weird little blind bag figures you get him are neatly placed on his desk for him to see everyday.

- he usually calls you by your name because part of him thinks pet names are cringe. if he's feeling funny he'll probably call you something like "booger" or "bun head" out of love.

- for some reason valentine's day means a lot to him, so he goes full on out every year and thinks on ways to out do himself in the next year.

- loves stay at home dates where you both just enjoy eachother's company. maybe do a facemask, maybe cook some ramen, and maybe you sleep over. it's just perfect.

- overall, jungwon is such a sweet, caring and orotective boyfriend. i think he's the most boyfriend material out of the whole group!

©flwrkisses ; please do not copy, translate, repost and/or reuse my work without my permission. (2023)

masterlist. — requests are open!

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ramblingthoughtsofayoungadult · 7 months

Text

Unpredictable Part 3-Limoreau x black!fem!reader fic

A/N: AAAH, thank you for all the support on this. I didn't think it'd be a series but I can't stop writing.

Warnings: toxic parents, body shaming, eating disorders, alcohol abuse, and swearing

Words: 7.7k

Series Masterlist

“…and that’s how I knew that I was meant to do charity work,” the nasal redhead concluded.

That afternoon, the Si Chi house was packed with pledges in floral or puffy Selkie and Miss Selfridge sun dresses. A handful of servers circulated the foyer with trays of orange juice and mimosas. The combination of Prada Candy and Viktor Rolfe Flowerbomb made my head spin but I smiled through it as I nodded at different pledges’ stories. All of them were desperately trying to toe the line between interesting and bragging because one could never act too important for a potential house.

“That’s great news,” I glanced at her name tag, “Brenda since Si Chi regularly engages in philanthropic work.”

Brenda smiled widely, making the hot pink blush on her cheeks even more prominent. “I know, that’s why I’m so interested in joining this---your house.”

“Well, we are glad that you took the time to visit us. Would you excuse me?”

As I weaved my way through the foyer, I plucked a mimosa from a passing server and started sipping. Exactly five seconds passed until I was surrounded by a new crop of bright-eyed freshmen.

“Oh my gosh, are you Y/N Y/L/N?” a willowy brunette asked.

“Guilty, and you are?”

“She’s Justine,” a shorter brunette interrupted.

Justine narrowed her eyes and thinly covered the glare with a smile. “I can introduce myself, thanks, Renee.”

Renee shrunk a little in her oversized light blue sundress and I glanced at Justine.

“So, why are you interested in our house?” I asked.

Justine straightened up and smiled like a pageant girl. “Well, I’m perfectly aligned with all the values of Si Chi: Sisterhood, respect, and intelligence. I am all about women empowerment and I respect people from all backgrounds----I’m exposed to a bunch of different people as an actress, anyway.”

“What about intelligence?”

“Well, I think there’s many different kinds of intelligence and, as an actress, I’m emotionally intelligent to the point where I’m exhausted by everyone else’s energy.”

“She really has to prioritize self-care,” Renee added.

“It’s great that you’re aware of that for yourself.”

She had to be one of the least self-aware people I ever encountered and that was a difficult fete. However, her socials had decent numbers and she had been in a few Vought Plus movies, which would help her win Sydney and Lydia, the vice president, over. The next two years with her and her friend would be irritating.

A softer expression slipped across Justine’s face, and she took a step towards me. “I just want to say that I think it’s so brave that you’ve been participating in all the rush events despite your traumatic experience. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to see Luke,” she paused and placed a hand on her chest, “kill himself.”

Though it had been a week since, it still felt like a bomb rolled off Justine’s tongue when she said it. The wave of emotions that I experienced in that time was hard to describe; Shetty said that grief was a rollercoaster, and the influx of emotions was normal.

“As impossible as it may seem, one day you will come to accept what happened,” she’d advised. “You may experience more anxiety but, with your network, I am sure you will be able to cope.”

The network she referred to was strained at best and destroyed at worst. My “sisters” were as supportive as they could be: Alina gave me a Lush self-care kit, Sasha was not nearly as antagonizing as usual, Lydia gave me grief book recommendations, and Sydney let me pick what workout classes we attended. Emma and Cate were the only non-Si Chi people I spoke to since it was way too difficult to speak to the others.

Justine placed her hand on my shoulder. “If you ever need someone to talk to, you can count on me.”

“Thank you for the thought,” I replied, smiling tightly.

“You must be so grateful that Marie was there to stop him,” Renee quipped.

I sipped some more juice to keep the confusing feelings from bubbling up. Nothing could have prepared me for Marie and Andre being propped as the Guardians of Godolkin, which was arguably the dumbest name Vought could give them. The less I wanted to see them, the more I saw their promos and videos. It was horrible that the last time we spoke we had a fight but every time I saw her, I felt a weird wrench in my chest.

At the very least, Emma seemed happy for her.

Then, Coco Allen, a Si Chi junior, appeared from the crowd and squeezed between the freshmen. “There you are, Y/N, I have a crim freshman with a water manipulation ability who wants to pick your brain.”

“Sure. Will you excuse me?”

“Bye!” Renee called as Coco pulled me through the crowd.

When we got to the less populated living room, I exhaled a breath I did not know I was holding. Then, I turned to the beaming Coco.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome. You know I hate entitled freshmen,” Coco mused.

Coco was the only other black girl in Si Chi and happened to be the first one to talk to me when I visited the house last year. She was a little shorter than me with deep mahogany skin that always glowed. She always wore her waist-length jet-black hair in tight curls and accessorized solely with gold jewelry. That day, she wore a fitted white sundress with espadrilles.

“Were there this many last year?” I asked.

Coco shook her head. “But there are a few more black girls so it’s promising.”

“That’s great! I hope I can find them before the event’s over.”

“That would be great.” Coco eyed me. “So, how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay, the mimosas don’t hurt though.”

“They never do. You didn’t have to come today, you know, you could have taken more time, get out of here for a minute.”

I shook my head. “I needed this, it’s a nice distraction or, it has been. Besides, what would it look like if the secretary didn’t attend?”

Coco nodded slowly but I could tell that the gears in her head were turning too much for her to be convinced. “You’re already Sydney and Lydia’s favorite and they might have let it slide.”

I cocked my head at her and she immediately started chuckling half-heartedly.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. The hoops they make us jump through are ridiculous,” Coco reflected.

“It makes sense why you didn’t want to be an officer even though you’re poli sci,” I commented.

Coco grinned. “Hey, I’m making decent connections just by being in this house. This is just a steppingstone on my path to become the first black woman supe president.”

Even though the title was long, if anyone could do it, it was Coco. One time last year I sat in on one of her debates in class and she had a senior in tears and their debate partner ready to put their laser eyes to good use.

“Well, don’t forget little ole me when you’re a big shot,” I teased.

Coco frowned. “What do you mean ‘little’? You have done too much to talk like that.”

I shrugged. “Not that they’re not as important but my four-year plan is less impressive than yours.”

“Oh yeah, the plan where you basically end up a trophy wife? No shade but, I think you’d be way too bored in that role.”

“Hey, I would have a city contract too. Plus, it’s what I want and what I see for myself every time I look into the future. Every step I have taken up until this point puts me closer to that.”

My voice was much stronger than I thought it would be but Coco was always pushing me. Some days it was motivating and on others, it was infuriating.

“Like I said, I’m not trying to crush your dreams or your plan but is that really all you want for yourself? Especially thinking about all the good you’re already doing with your powers?” Coco questioned.

Her words plagued me for the rest of the event and bugged me when we gave our ratings of the pledges to Sydney and Lydia.

“Oh, and Y/N, don’t forget to send me that compilation with all the pledges’ socials,” Sydney requested as I was on my way out of the foyer.

“Of course, you’ll have it by the end of the day.”

Everything was much quieter underwater, except for my thoughts, but those were much clearer. Every time I thought about where I would be in five years, it was the same: smiling at a city event on the arm of some suit. I never saw the man’s face but I knew he had to be somewhat attractive. My eyes fluttered closed at the bottom of the pool and I focused on my future.

It was the same image, complete with flashing cameras and I was wearing a gorgeous rose pink Oscar de la Renta gown. My hair was piled on top of my head in Senegalese twists, and I was smiling widely. However, when I tried to look at whose arm I was on, it was like I could not turn my head. The harder I tried, the sorer the side of my neck got.

After a few more seconds of trying, I pushed myself up to the surface and sucked in the air. The sky was a mix of orange, purple, and blue. Sydney was blasting “My Head, My Heart”, which signaled that she was getting ready to go out with Eric Landon, the president of Sigma Kappa. It would be nice to be asked on a date, a proper one without the expectations of sex later.

My face warmed at the fact that I had never actually been asked out. People constantly told me how good looking I was but that did not translate into boys falling all over themselves for me. There were the occasional fun nights out but it would always end in that same venue. I didn’t think I asked for too much: flowers, good morning and good night texts, respect, intelligence, and ambition. Emma told me I watched too many movies once and while that could have been true, I also thought that it wasn’t too much to ask a guy to hold a door open.

It also did not help that Jordan was the last person I ever got close to being intimate with. I groaned at the thought and dove underwater, making my way to the other side of the pool.

An almost-kiss should mean absolutely nothing but I could not stop thinking about it, just like I could not stop thinking about how Jordan would throw me under the bus to save themselves. I would never do that to anyone, especially not someone I cared about.

But you already did, the voice in my head hissed.

Marie didn’t count, I didn’t mean to do that; Andre, Luke, Cate, and Jordan decided for me. I would have stayed if it was my choice but that didn’t matter to Marie or any of them.

I pushed myself from the side of the pool and butterfly stroked my way to the other side. Thankfully, the water was heated and soothed my aching muscles. As I was about to resurface, I noted a blurry tall blonde figure standing above me. When I pushed up, Cate stood over me, her eyes worried.

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Hi, can we talk?”

“Sure.”

A few seconds later, I was wrapped in a fluffy towel and standing across from Cate. Her eyes shifted around for a moment before she suggested we headed inside. When we got to my room, she immediately closed the door behind us.

“Is there any way someone would have listening devices in here?” Cate asked.

“No,” I said slowly.

“Are you sure? There’s shit out now where they put it in the tiniest crevices and you would never know,” Cate argued.

“I would have seen it or had a hint about it. What’s going on?”

Cate finally sat on my bed, and I opted to stand across from her. “Andre and I found some stuff that makes Luke and Brink’s deaths way more complicated.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for one thing, they totally cleared out his room the day after he died and I mean everything.”

My eyes widened. “Even the…special drawer?”

“Yes, and at first, I thought it was protocol but what would they do with all those----”

“I get it, Cate, what else did you and Andre find?”

As Cate continued to speak, I could feel my stomach sink further and further, until I was sure it was somewhere in the house basement. Nothing Cate said meant anything positive for anyone. If there was some kind of lab under us, that meant anyone could become a part of it.

“Have you told anyone else?” I asked.

Cate huffed and leaned back on my bed. “Well, Jordan’s been spiraling about Marie and the rankings, so I can’t get a word in about anything else.”

“They’re spiraling?” I asked.

“You haven’t talked to them since Luke died?” Cate asked.

When she said it like that, it sounded like I committed a cardinal sin. After that day, there was nothing else for me to say to them. Even though I saw them in class occasionally, I never spoke to them and desperately tried to avoid eye contact.

“They could have reached out too,” I muttered.

“You’re such a younger sibling,” Cate commented.

“It’s true!” I whined.

“Well, they’ve been freaking out about the rankings since they fell down to number five and Andre’s number one.”

Being in the Top Five was like Jordan’s lifeline. They’d always shared a friendly rivalry with Luke but I knew they wanted to be number one eventually. They spent almost all their time making sure they stayed in a high position and to drop to bottom of the Top Five must have been devastating.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

“Yeah, and your new best friend cracked the Top 100 and is Jordan’s new nemesis,” Cate added.

I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a chocolate brown loungewear set. “Neither of them are my friends.”

Cate frowned. “Seriously, what is going on with you? The other night, you and Marie were inseparable, and you and Jordan were bantering. What happened?”

It must have been the fact that I was holding all my thoughts and feelings in because I burst.

“Marie and I can’t be friends since she thinks I’m a shallow bitch who would sacrifice her to save myself because I hang out with people who do. The funny part is that Jordan admitted they would backstab me if they could get ahead, which is definitely not something I would do to a friend or anyone I almost kissed!”

I was panting by the end and my chest felt a lot lighter. However, my nerves began to build when I noticed Cate’s mischievous grin.

“Who did you almost kiss?” Cate asked.

“That’s not the point,” I mumbled.

Cate stared at me for a second before lighting up. “It was Jordan, wasn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“You hesitated which means I’m right. It could have easily been Marie though since you were all over her.”

“Why do people keep saying that? I was being nice!”

Cate held up her hands in a relaxed defense. “Chill, Y/N, it’s okay to like more than one person at once.”

“I don’t like either of them.”

“At all?” Cate quirked an eyebrow.

“No,” I pouted.

Cate looked unimpressed and I felt even more unimpressed since I knew that I liked Marie and Jordan platonically.

“Okay, we’ll save that for later but, I don’t think Jordan would tell you that they would backstab you and they would not think about it. They would do it to other people, but not you.”

“You’re just saying that because they’re your friend and you weren’t there.”

Cate cocked her head to the side. “Think, Y/N, did Jordan really say, ‘I would backstab you if it would save my ass’?”

As I recalled the memory, I slowly rocked back and forth on my heels. “They didn’t say that but, they didn’t answer me when I asked if they would.” “You probably caught them off guard,” Cate reasoned. “I’m sure if you talked to them, things would go okay.”

I hesitated and set my clothes on my bed. “Let’s say that I decided to speak to them, I don’t know what to say. Even if I did, my class tomorrow isn’t with them.

“You’re not going to the Think Brink gala tomorrow night?” Cate asked.

Earlier that day, Mom mentioned something about a gala on the phone but I was only half-listening. In my defense, there was only so much complaining about her clients and Dad that I could stand. I grabbed my phone from my nightstand and “Go to Brink gala” was in bright letters on my calendar.

“I guess I am,” I concluded.

“Then, you have some time to figure it out. You might get lucky and not even have to say anything.” I nodded and messed with the charm on my phone. “But what about Marie?”

“You’ll figure that out too. Indira’s taking her to the gala so, you can get both your ‘friends’ back,” Cate said, putting “friends” in air quotes.

“Why did you do it like that? Don’t say it like that.”

“Just because you’re in denial doesn’t mean I am. Think about it, would you be this freaked out if we had a fight?”

The “yes” should have come immediately but it didn’t; it died in my throat, and I couldn’t look at Cate. Why were things different with Marie and Jordan? Why did I stress out about them when I tried to stop thinking about them?

“Can you just make me say the right thing?” I asked.

Cate mulled it over for a moment. “I think it’s best if you do it yourself. If you don’t have a vision about it, something will come to you.”

“Thanks, Cate. If you and Andre need any help snooping----”

“You will be the first person I text,” Cate assured.

“I was going to say that I’ll probably know before you.”

I narrowly avoided the pillow Cate tossed at me and laughed at her effort.

“Maybe you are getting a little too cocky, Y/N.” She stood and walked over to me. “And for the record, I would never betray you in any way, neither would Andre or Jordan. If either of them did, they would have to deal with me.”

“Thanks, I would hug you but I’m still soaking wet.”

“Yeah, that’s smart. I know this might be useless but try not to worry about everything.”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to try.”

“You’re taking the meds from Indira?”

“Yes, Mom,” I teased.

“Just trying to help.”

Strangely, that was the first night since Luke’s death that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The trend was that I would strain myself to have premonitions until I was exhausted and tried again in the morning. For once, sleep found me quickly.

After sitting through a two-hour lecture on trauma’s impact on villains and heroes, I was more than happy to wander back to the Si Chi house and decompress. In a few hours, Talia, Mom’s assistant, would arrive with options for the gala. Then, the glam team would arrive and do their best to ignore Mom while they did their jobs.

I needed all the relaxation I could get.

As I was mentally reviewing which movies I could watch, my phone kept buzzing in my back pocket. I thought it was another flurry of comments on the TikTok Coco and I made yesterday but it was from a strange number.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Y/N, pls come 2 my dorm, it’s an emergency.

XXX-XXX-XXXX: Im srry we haven’t talked in a while but it’s important.

I frowned and typed back, ????

XXX-XXX-XXXX: It’s Marie. Emma’s in trouble.

My stomach dropped and I replied, B there soon.

As I raced around other people on campus, my thoughts moved faster at the possibility of what could have been going on with Emma. The last time I had spoken to her was two days ago and she was okay then. If anything, she may have been tense because Marie and I were not speaking but she had not said anything else.

I was halfway to their dorm when I ran into something solid.

“Watch where you’re going, Y/N,” Maverick sneered.

“If you put on some clothes, maybe I’d see you,” I shot back as I continued down the hall.

When I finally got to their dorm, I was panting and could barely knock. Marie pulled the door open, pulled me in, and closed the door behind me.

“Did you sprint here?” she asked.

I nodded. “You said…it was…an….emergency…Emma.”

In the middle of me grabbing my bearings, I noticed something tiny next to one of the supports on Emma’s bed. Slowly, I slid to my knees and crawled over to it. When I realized who it was, a choked gasp escaped my mouth.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“I don’t know. She was like that when I got here and I didn’t know what to do so I called you since you’ve known her the longest,” Marie rambled.

Her words barely registered in my brain as I went to one of Emma’s drawers, grabbed a small set of clothes, wrapped her in it, and carefully set her on her bed. Emma was barely breathing and was ghostly pale.

“Emma, I know you’re probably not going to like this but, you’re going to need to eat something.”

She didn’t reply and for a second, I wondered if she could.

I started rifling through all her stuff until I found a box of crackers. My hands trembled as I broke them into small pieces and kneeled in front of Emma. She never looked at me as she nibbled on each crumb I fed her.

Eventually, she grew back to her normal size. As soon as she was, she pulled her knees to her chest.

“I’m sorry you saw me like that,” she muttered.

Slowly, I sat next to her and it was almost the same way zookeepers treated wild animals. If one moved calmly enough, they would not get attacked. Marie sat on her bed.

“It’s okay, I’m glad we were able to help,” I replied. “What happened?”

Emma sniffed. “I opened up to this girl in my class. We’re scene partners for a project and we were talking, and I guess I felt comfortable enough to tell her about how I get small. I thought it was just between us, but she posted this…this video on YouTube telling the whole world about it.”

“Who’s the girl?” Marie asked.

“How do you get small?” I uttered at the same time.

Emma froze for a moment and looked away from me. “I make myself…sick.”

When she said it, I suddenly remembered all those times she would go to the bathroom and then come out a miniature version of herself. However, all those times, it was for different commercials or other work-related events. Then again, there had to be times when she did it at home or at my house.

How did I never notice? “Emma, I’m so sorry. I wish you would’ve told me sooner,” I said.

Emma turned to me with a glare in her eyes. “Really? How would I work that into a conversation? ‘Hey, Y/N, I’m sorry to interrupt but, I make myself throw up to get small’?”.

“We’re friends, friends tell each other this kind of thing,” I insisted.

Emma scoffed. “Please, like you would get it if I told you. You’re perfect, you always have been. Your face, your hair, your body, your eyes, your life!”

“That’s not fair.”

“Emma, I think you need to get help,” Marie interrupted.

Emma’s gaze flickered to hers and I thought she might set Marie on fire. “I need to get help, that’s rich coming from you. You act like no one can see your scars.”

Marie flinched and her eyes narrowed slightly. “I do that for my powers, that’s different.”

Emma laughed callously. “Please, at least be honest. How about this: I’ll go to therapy when you admit to cutting.”

Emma’s voice had no tone and every word she said was like a hammer slamming into my chest. She wasn’t in the right headspace for any conversation and I kept reminding myself as I stood.

“We should talk later when we’ve all calmed down,” I suggested.

“I don’t want to speak to either of you again,” she hissed.

It took more effort than usual to swallow the lump in my throat as I let myself out of their dorm. Just as I was about to lean against the door and wallow, Marie slipped out behind me and shut the door. I took a step back, barely avoiding a pair of girls rushing past.

“Sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s fine.”

Silence filled the space for a moment, and I had no idea how to fill it. Cate said I would know what to say but I was at a loss.

“I’m sorry about what I said…that day,” Marie delivered gently.

My eyes snapped up at her. “Oh.”

She sighed. “I was just angry, and I thought you were a part of it but, Emma kept saying that you would never do something like that. I just didn’t know how to reach out or say anything.”

I know the feeling.

“I accept your apology but I’m also sorry that no one came back for you. I guess it worked out, though?”

Marie sighed and leaned against her door. “Sort of. The perks are nice and I’m in crim now but I feel like everyone’s looking at me and expects something from me; almost like they’re waiting for me to fail.”

“Really? They had me convinced you’d be the black Starlight,” I teased.

Marie laughed half-heartedly. “I still want to be a hero, though, someone like her people can look up to.”

“Anyone in particular?”

Marie hesitated. “My little sister. We were both obsessed with heroes when we were younger, but I was the one who got Compound V. She always looked up to me and I want to be someone who would make her proud.”

“That’s a really admirable goal,” I complimented.

She smiled softly. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be my competition to be the black Starlight?”

My expression faltered and I looked down at my French acrylics. “No, I don’t think I have the showmanship you do. Besides, my goal isn’t to be in the Seven.”

“Really? What do you want to do?” Marie asked.

“So, I have this four year plan and if I follow the steps I am on to a T, I will graduate with a city contract and be engaged to an eligible supe.”

Usually, when I told someone my four year plan, my chest swelled and my shoulders rolled back unconsciously. This time, it felt like I was a toddler showing my mom a drawing I made in school.

“Is that it?” Marie asked.

“I know it’s more traditional and maybe even a little lame but, it’s what I want,” I maintained.

Marie nodded slowly.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, I just imagined you doing something in, like, criminal AI or stopping criminals from re-offending.”

“Both are great, they’re just not me.”

“Which is fine,” Marie insisted.

She sounded a little too eager but I let it go as we started walking down the hallway.

“What should we do about Emma?” Marie asked.

“I’ve never seen her like that before but she’ll need time to cool off.”

“Sounds good, I just have nowhere to go until the gala tonight.”

“You could come to Si Chi for a bit. I can’t promise they won’t try to initiate you, though.”

Marie laughed. “Me, in a sorority?”

“Hey, we’re getting more black girls this year so you never know!”

“Whatever but, yeah, I’d like to hang out with you…at your house.”

Even though Marie rushed the last part, a smile quirked on the corners of my mouth. It would be nice to have a new friend over and it was even nicer that there was no more tension between us.

“You know, Emma never told us the name of that girl,” Marie pondered once we got outside.

“Oh, that’s easy.” I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I reached the right one.

Shelby answered on the first ring. “Y/N, hi!” “Hey, are you on your way to class?” I asked.

“Yeah, if I’m late one more time, Professor Elix is going to make me do an improv one-woman show!” she panted.

“Well, I don’t want to slow you down but, you have class with Emma Meyer, right?”

“Oh yeah, Intro to Stage, why?”

“Cool. She told me her stage partner has an incredible Insta aesthetic, but she never told me her name and I need new inspo.”

“Oh, that’s Justine. I don’t know her last name but I’m sure you’ll find her.”

“Thanks, Shelby. Have fun in class.”

“Thanks!”

I hung up and turned to Marie, whose eyebrows were raised. “What?”

“What was that voice?” Marie asked.

“It was my voice. Haven’t you heard of code-switching?”

“Fine. Did you get the name?”

“Yes, Justine and I’ve met her.”

“What? How?”

“She’s rushing Si Chi.” I couldn’t keep the devilish smile from working its way into my mouth.

“What does that look mean?” Marie asked.

“It means that there are many more perks to being in a top house besides living in it.”

For some reason, everyone thinks that white girls have a monopoly on passive aggression and relational aggression. That was not the case at all; black girls simply are more inclined towards active aggression but we’re capable of both. I proved as much during Brink’s gala.

The ballroom was packed with board members, trustees, alumni, and the wealthiest GOD U students, the latter being my target of interest. They were all easy to approach since I had met them at some function or another.

“Y/N,” Bianca Peterson gushed as she hugged me.

Her Gucci Guilty perfume tickled my nose and I willed myself not to sneeze as I politely pulled away from her. “Bianca, it’s been too long. I think the last time I saw you was at Beta Ro’s Brunch for Boy Scouts.”

Bianca nodded, light auburn curls bouncing around her sculpted features. “Yes, we bonded over jewelry.”

“And you still have fantastic taste,” I mentioned, gesturing to the gold buckle around her wrist.

“Thank you, it was a present from Theo but I gave him a few hints,” she bragged lightly.

“How is rush going?” I asked.

“Pretty well, our pledges are shaping up nicely this year, not that they don’t every year,” she quickly added the last part.

“Of course. Do you have a lot of girls from Counting?”

“We’re interested in a couple, why? Are you trying to poach?”

I shook my head. “Not at all, I just wasn’t sure if you heard what Layla from Zeta Nu discovered.”

Bianca raised a microbladed brow. “No, I don’t think I have.”

I took a deep inhale and slowly shook my head in disbelief. “Oh, well, I should let it come from her then.”

A moment later, Bianca glanced across the room at Layla Ruthers, the president of Zeta Nu, who was smiling politely at a pair of hunched-over old men.

“In case I don’t have a chance to talk to her, what happened?” Bianca asked.

I glanced around us for a moment before leaning closer. “Apparently, a freshman posted a video about another girl’s eating disorder.”

“Really?” Bianca’s eyes widened.

I nodded. “Layla was insulted for the other girl and banned the pledge from rushing Zeta Nu. She even said that no respectable house would accept someone so low-class.”

“Oh,” Bianca uttered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take up all your time. I should go mingle.”

I made it about two steps before Bianca gently grabbed one of my arms.

“Wait, Y/N. Did Layla say the name of the pledge?”

My eyes wandered around the twinkling lights of the room for a second. “Justine something, I think.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later.”

“Sure!”

The rest of my conversations followed that pattern. Each girl I spoke to was shocked and horrified by my words. Plus, none of them would dare speak to the other; that would mean another house had better information than them. My final target was easily the most important one: Sydney.

In her ice-blue mermaid dress and intricate updo, she looked more like Cinderella than a gala attendee. She was standing at a table, nodding her head at something a shorter guy was saying.

“Excuse me,” I politely interrupted, “I need to borrow Sydney for a second.”

The guy deflated slightly. “Sure.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Sydney huffed a sigh of relief as soon as we were out of earshot. “Thank you, I don’t know what he was even talking about.”

“Anytime,” I replied.

She snatched a champagne flute from a passing server and downed half of it. “I can’t wait for this night to be over.”

I nodded. “It is morbid despite their attempt to dress it up.”

“Yeah, and my parents won’t stop bugging me about my future. I can only apply to so many internships and not everyone is looking for a telekinetic,” she griped. “Sorry, how are you?”

“I’m alright. Ironically, I think he’d hate the name they picked but I didn’t know him super well,” I admitted.

“Right.”

Here it goes.

“So, I think the event the other day was a success,” I commented.

“Definitely. The house was packed. It’s too bad we can’t accept them all.”

Sydney smiled as she spoke.

“I know. It’s great that there’s so much interest.” I paused for a second. “But, I wanted to tell you that something came up with one of the pledges.”

Sydney gestured for me to continue.

“Even though my social media deep dive on the pledges was thorough, something came up today that I thought you should know when considering the pledges,” I explained.

“Okay.”

“Today, Justine posted a video exposing another girl’s eating disorder. Several of the girls were upset when they saw it.”

“That’s awful,” Sydney responded.

“It’s also so disappointing since I met Justine during that event, and she was saying how women empowerment is important to her. I know that women empowerment is a huge passion for you and a foundation for Si Chi and to imagine a pledge so willing to tear down another woman infiltrating the safe space you building is horrifying.”

Despite the liquor, I could tell Sydney was processing my words quicker than any computer. Her expression shifted from shock to anger to coldness. Then, she finished the last of her champagne and set it on the table closest to us. “Thank you for telling me, Y/N. I’ll see you later.”

As she walked away, I grinned widely at the response. Bid Day was going to be even more fun and interesting than last year. To celebrate, I grabbed myself a flute of champagne and sipped it as I started to wander the room.

“Y/N!”

My body froze at the masculine voice and my mind raced with what to say or do. Finally, I decided to face Jordan. They were in their masculine form and standing at a table by themselves. Though they looked fantastic in their navy suit, they looked like they hadn’t slept in days.

“Hello.”

I practically sang it and prayed for someone to make the floor swallow me.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Um, sure.” I walked closer to their table and rested my forearms on it.

“It’s good to see you,” he started. “Outside of class, I mean.”

“You too.”

Jordan nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s good.” He paused. “I’m sorry about everything.”

I looked up from tapping my nails on the tablecloth. “Wh---”

“Please, let me finish. That day…I don’t know why I didn’t just tell you that I wouldn’t throw you under the bus but I wouldn’t even think about it. How could I do that to my little freshman?”

For the first time ever, my chest warmed at the nickname. However, I tried to bite back the smile that was worming its way onto my face.

I glanced away for a moment, crossing my arms over my purple sleeveless satin gown. “Well, I guess I forgive you,” I playfully grumbled before turning back to him. “But you still did it pretty easily to Marie.”

Jordan’s expression faltered and he sipped some champagne. “Don’t mention her.”

“Why not? She’s my friend and we did a very mean thing,” I argued.

“Look, I protected myself and you that night, I won’t apologize for that. Besides, she’s still here and she’s doing great,” he spat.

“I know you’re pissed about the rankings but, those can change, especially with how hard you work and how powerful you are.”

Jordan scoffed. “That’s how it should work but no one wants to back a bigender Asian.”

His words made me stop for a second. In all the time I knew them, Jordan seemed invincible to punches, laser beams, electric shocks, and words. They made succeeding at Godolkin look so easy but it must have been anything but. Plus, Luke and Brink’s death must have impacted everything else.

“We’ll see about that,” I challenged. “There’s about thirty trustees and every board member in this room. There will have to be a few who will like you.”

Jordan hesitated. “I’m not really in the mood to promote myself.”

“Then let me talk,” I offered.

He eyed me for a while before crossing over to my side of the table and looping one of his arms with mine. “Don’t make me look bad, freshie.”

“I think that’s impossible.”

The first target was easy: a thirtysomething white guy with floppy light brown hair and an oversized gray suit. I focused on him for a moment, gathering as much information as I could.

“Trevor Emerson, GOD U alum and old money beneficiary,” I muttered to Jordan.

“Isn’t he supposed to hate me?” Jordan hissed back.

“He’s overcome by white guilt since his recent discovery that all the black and brown people who built and managed his family’s manor were not salaried employees,” I explained. “He’s dying to look as much of an ally as possible.”

Jordan straightened up. “Good job, freshie.”

“I haven’t even gotten started.” I painted a polite smile on my face. “Mr. Emerson, it’s so nice to meet you, can we bother you for a moment?”

Two guilty and three haughty donors later, Jordan and I found ourselves at a different table. It was the first time that I saw him smile that night.

“You were amazing out there,” Jordan exclaimed.

“Thank you but you also made my job a little easier being talented and whatever,” I joked.

“Seriously.” Jordan grabbed my hand. “You might have saved my ass.”

I tried to ignore the tingle that shot up from my hand into the side of my neck. “It’s okay, I’m happy to help.”

When they announced that the video was about to start Jordan sulked again. “I can’t believe they’re making us sit through this shit.”

“Me neither.” I rest my hand on top of his. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask sooner but, are you okay?”

Jordan laughed humorlessly. “No but schmoozing with you did help a little. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah.”

When we parted our separate ways, I wiped my sweaty palms on my dress skirt and approached my table. Fortunately, Mom and Dad had not burned down the ballroom with their arguing. In fact, when I got to their table, Mom was on her phone and Dad was rhythmically tapping his fingers against the tablecloth, looking anywhere but her.

“Hi, were you bored with me gone?” I asked, giving Dad a side hug.

“Not at all. I met a few board members and sold a few pictures,” he responded.

I nodded and slowly took the middle seat between them. The video was equal parts patronizing and infuriating. However, my parents’ whispers kept me from focusing too much on the video.

“Y/M/N, can you get off the phone for one second? They’re playing the video,” Dad hissed.

“I am about to cut the biggest deal of this quarter. They can send it,” Mom hissed back, waving a manicured hand for emphasis.

“Mom, people are starting to stare,” I quietly interjected.

“Let them stare. This is what’s paying for you to be here.”

“Don’t act like I don’t contribute!” Their words used to make me flinch but I forced myself to sit up straighter and breathe.

“I’m grateful for it, for both of you, really. You both paid to be here and I thought you would not want to miss the man they’re honoring,” I whispered.

Those words made Mom slowly mutter something into the phone before placing it face down on the table and leaning forward. At that same time, they flashed a picture of Brink and me across the screen. He had been meeting with my small group when the photographer appeared.

Dad squeezed an arm around my shoulder and I softly leaned into his touch.

“Thank God you lost that baby fat,” Mom commented.

“Y/M/N,” Dad said quietly.

“You know it’s true, Y/D/N,” Mom hissed back.

Suddenly, Dad’s arm felt like a boa constrictor, and I gracefully slipped out of its grasp. When the video ended, I drank a fresh flute of champagne. The bubbles instantly went to my head as I giggled at Dean Shetty introducing Marie.

She looked really pretty even though she was nervous.

“Do you know her?” Mom asked over the applause.

“We’re friends,” I replied.

“So why is she a guardian and not you?”

“She was more involved in stopping Luke than me,” I lied.

When Dean Shetty cued everyone to return to socializing, Mom turned to me.

“Your grades are fantastic and your standing in your house is good,” Mom began. “But eligible bachelors will not notice you unless you stand out like her.”

“Y/M/N, leave her alone. Anyone who doesn’t notice Y/N isn’t worthy of being in our family anyway,” Dad defended.

Mom ignored him. “That girl, Marie Moreau, is not your friend, she is your competition. You are in the prime setting to have everything you’ve ever wanted but she could snatch it from you. You’re supposed to be able to see things like this coming, Y/N.”

“I do see things coming and I know Marie wouldn’t do that to me,” I quipped.

At that moment, Mom’s eyes bore so deep into me that I didn’t think that anyone could claw them out. Her eyes looked like they were going to bug out of her head at any moment and I could feel my breathing pick up.

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out,” I promised.

It felt like forever until she leaned back in her seat and grabbed her phone.

“Make sure it doesn’t ‘slip out’ again. Now go socialize.”

“I need a minute, Mom, I’ve been socializing since we got here.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “This again.”

“What?”

“Y/M/N, please.”

“No, no, Y/D/N, she is constantly using, what, anxiety to get out of speaking to people. You are always too soft on her and make me look like the bad guy. I’m the one helping her be normal,” Mom snapped. “Anxiety didn’t exist when we were her age, we just did what we had to do, and look where we are now.”

I wondered if Emma ever felt as small as I did in that moment. Then, I wondered if she ever made herself small to hide from people, even her mom. Wordlessly, I left the table and tried to avoid any cameras as the tears burned in the corners of my eyes.

I tried to take deep breaths to calm my trembling chest and keep my throat busy. My chest shifted from trembling to heavy and I started looking around the room.

“I hear one piano…feel two fingers…smell three different alcohols…and see---”

“Y/N, are you okay?” Cate’s voice broke me out of my rhythm and I glanced to see her sitting with Marie and Jordan, who was in their feminine form.

My chest felt much lighter and I quickly wiped away my tears. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Bullshit,” Jordan called gently.

Cate pulled me into a hug and had me sit between her and Marie. “What happened?”

“My parents, well, my mom mostly. I guess I got too anxious for her, and she yelled at me,” I rambled.

Cate smiled softly. “Then you came at the perfect time. We were just talking about our horrible parents.”

My ears perked up. “Really?”

“Well, mine are dead,” Marie commented.

I turned to her and placed my hands on top of hers. “What? I’m so sorry. How did it…”

“I accidentally killed them with my powers,” Marie explained.

“That must have been horrible.”

Marie barely nodded and I squeezed her hands. “I just told my little brother to go away during a camping trip. He never came back and my mom pretty much locked me away,” Cate confessed. “I was seven.”

“What?” I whispered.

“I killed my grandpa with my powers,” Jordan interjected.

We all turned to her and I cocked my head to the side.

“No, you didn’t,” Cate countered.

Jordan smiled. “You’re right, I was feeling left out.”

I didn’t think that I could laugh the way I did but it felt so nice. At least I had friends again.

When I started sipping on the whiskey Cate stole, I saw a brief image flash before my eyes. There was a guy with curly brown hair covered in dirt running away from several bloody bodies. He paused for a moment and opened his hand, revealing a tiny sleeping Emma. When the vision left, Andre was standing in front of us.

“Seriously?” I complained before he even spoke.

#black!reader #jordan li x reader #gen v x reader #limoreau x reader #marie moreau x reader

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 month

Text

Rosemary Kirstein’s “The Steerswoman”

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT (May 4) in VANCOUVER, then onto Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

For decades, scammy "book doctors" and vanity presses spun a tale about how Big Publishing was too conservative and risk-averse for really really adventurous books, and the only way to get your visionary work published was to pay them to fill your garage with badly printed books that you'd spend the rest of your life trying to get other people to read:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/04/self-publishing/

Like all successful grifts, this one worked because it wasn't entirely untrue. No, mainstream publishing isn't filled with corporate gatekeepers who relish the idea of keeping your brilliance from reaching its audience.

But.

But editors sometimes make bad calls. They reject books because of quirks of taste, or fleeting inattentiveness, or personal bias. In a healthy publishing industry – one with dozens of equal-sized presses, all commanding roughly comparable market-share, good books would never slip through the cracks. One publisher's misstep would be another's opportunity.

But after decades of mergers, the population of major publishers has dwindled to a mere Big Five (it was almost four, but the DOJ blocked Penguin Random House's acquisition of Simon & Schuster):

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-penguin-random-house-s-acquisition-rival-publisher-simon

This means that some good books definitely can't find a home in Big Publishing. If you miss with five editors, you can exhaust all your chances with the Big Five.

There's a second tier of great publishers, from data-driven juggernauts like Sourcebooks to boutique presses like Verso and Beacon Press, who publish wonderful books and are very good to their authors (I've published with four of the Big Five and half a dozen of the smaller publishers).

But even with these we-try-harder boutique publishers in the mix, there's a lot of space for amazing books that just don't fit with a "trad" publisher's program. These books are often labors of love by their creators, and that love is reciprocated by their readers. You can have my unbelievably gigantic Little Nemo in Slumberland collection when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of it:

https://memex.craphound.com/2006/09/25/gigantic-little-nemo-book-does-justice-to-the-loveliest-comic-ever/

And don't even think of asking to borrow my copy of Jack Womack's Flying Saucers are Real!:

https://memex.craphound.com/2016/10/03/flying-saucers-are-real-anthology-of-the-lost-saucer-craze/

I will forever cherish my Crad Kilodney chapbooks:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

Then there's last year's surprise smash hit, Shift Happens, a two-volume, 750-page slipcased book recounting the history of the keyboard. I own one. It's fantastic:

https://glennf.medium.com/how-we-crowdfunded-750-000-for-a-giant-book-about-keyboard-history-c30e24c4022e

Then there's the whole world of indie Kindle books pitched at incredibly voracious communities of readers, especially the very long tail of very niche sub-sub-genres radiating off the woefully imprecise category of "paranormal romance." These books are landing at precisely the right spot for their readers, despite some genuinely weird behind-the-scenes feuds between their writers:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/16/17566276/cockygate-amazon-kindle-unlimited-algorithm-self-published-romance-novel-cabal

But as Sturgeon's Law has it: "90% of everything is shit." Having read slush – the pile of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers – I can tell you that a vast number of books get rejected from trad publishers because they aren't good books. I say this without intending any disparagement towards their authors and the creative impulses that drive them. But a publisher's job isn't merely to be good to writers – it's to serve readers, by introducing them to works they are apt to enjoy.

The vast majority of books that publishers pass on are not books that you will want to read, so it follows that the vast majority of self-published work that is offered on self-serve platforms like Kindle or pitched by hopeful writers at street fairs and book festivals is just not very good.

But sometimes you find someone's independent book and it's brilliant, and you get the double thrill of falling in love with a book and of fishing a glittering needle out of an unimaginably gigantic haystack.

(If you want to read an author who beautifully expresses the wonder of finding an obscure, self-published book that's full of unsuspected brilliance, try Daniel Pinkwater, whose Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars is eleven kinds of brilliant, but is also a marvelous tale of the wonders of weird used book stores with titles like KLONG! You Are a Pickle!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Mendelsohn,_the_Boy_from_Mars

I also write books, and I am, in fact, presently in the midst of a long book-tour for my novel The Bezzle. Last month, I did an event in Cambridge, Mass with Randall "XKCD" Munroe that went great. We had a full house, and even after the venue caught fire (really!), everyone followed us across the street to another building, up five flights of stairs, and into another auditorium where we wrapped up the gig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnlSRbH80Y

Afterwards, our hosts from Harvard Berkman-Klein took us to a campus pizza joint/tiki bar for dinner and drinks, and we had a great chat about a great many things. Naturally, we talked about books we loved, and Randall said, "Hey, have you ever read Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman novels?"

(I hadn't.)

"They're incredible. All these different people kept recommending them to me, and they kept telling me that I would love them, but they wouldn't tell me what they were about because there's this huge riddle in them that's super fun to figure out for yourself:"

https://www.rosemarykirstein.com/the-books/

"The books were published in the eighties by Del Ray, and the cover of the first one had a huge spoiler on it. But the author got the rights back and she's self-published it" (WARNING: the following link has a HUGE SPOILER!):

https://www.rosemarykirstein.com/2010/12/the-difference/

"I got it and it was pretty rough-looking, but the book was so good. I can't tell you what it was about, but I think you'll really like it!"

How could I resist a pitch like that? So I ordered a copy:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-steerswoman-rosemary-kirstein/7900759

Holy moly is this a good novel! And yeah, there's a super interesting puzzle in it that I won't even hint at, except to say that even the book's genre is a riddle that you'll have enormous great fun solving.

Randall wasn't kidding about the book's package. The type looks to be default Microsoft fonts, the spine is printed slightly off-register, the typesetting has lots of gonks, and it's just got that semi-disposable feel of a print-on-demand title.

Without Randall's recommendation, I never would have even read this book closely enough to notice the glowing cover endorsement from Jo Walton, nor the fact that it was included in Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo's "101 Best Science Fiction Novels 1985-2010."

But I finished reading the first volume just a few minutes ago and I instantly ordered the next three in the series (it's planned for seven volumes, and the author says she plans on finishing it – I can't wait).

This book is such an unexpected marvel, a stunner of a novel filled with brilliant world-building, deft characterizations, a hard-driving plot and a bunch of great surprises. The fact that such a remarkable tale comes in such an unremarkable package makes it even more of a treasure, like a geode: unremarkable on the outside, a glittering blaze within.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/04/the-wulf/#underground-fave

#pluralistic

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dawnoftime22 · 9 months

Text

caught up in work.

| N.R

Warnings: None!

Summary: As Nat relaxes in bed, you worked for hours at your desk. She gets concerned, and it ends up with a success of getting you to take a break.

Word Count: 1k

Category: Fluff

A/N: this fic has no talking, just quietness and calmness. I suppose its because I wanted to put non-verbal situations for the times I need them, but I hope you can still enjoy it :)

ALSO— I've hit 100 followers?!?! thank you so much!! oh my god?? it may be a small number, but it makes me incredibly happy :') I love each and every one of you, and I appreciate your support sm <33

| Started on 04/12/2022 |

| Finished on 17/09/2023 |

Masterlist

“My love, you have time to rest.”

|——————————— ⴵ ———————————|

As you worked on your desk with papers scattered and a slight pressure coming on your head from the stress, Nat was sitting quietly on the bed.

She would change her activities every now and then. Either reading a book, looking at her phone, or watching a movie. Nothing else, just relaxing, since she's already finished her missions and reports.

But she was also waiting on you to finish. The redhead knows how focused you were on your mission report and some missing work files, but it's been far too long. You needed a break.

Right as she was thinking about her way of making you relax and stray away from work, rain started pouring down heavily outside.

You could barely see anything. The windows seem to be getting fogged up. But you had your headphones on, a way to keep your mind focused and not be in a horrible mood as when you work in silence, which is worse than working with music because at least it was somewhat of a distraction from the stress.

So, you didn’t notice it started raining. But Nat knew you liked the rain. Another thing aside from music. Perfect. Now she has an amazing plan.

She at the moment, had her hair sprawled on the pillows of the bed, flickering her eyes between the windows and you.

If you didn’t seem so stressed, she would think you looked peaceful, and right in your environment.

Nat held a soft gaze before getting up from the bed to make her way to you. Your eyes were practically glued on a piece of paper filled with writing.

She turned the desk chair easily with you on it, considering her strength. For once in all these hours, was the first time you actually looked at something other than your desk. Your eyebrows instantaneously relaxed when you saw her eyes.

She smiles adorably with her hands on the arms of the chair. She pressed a kiss on your forehead, one that seemingly made the ache in your head not kill you at least. You would think she had superpowers from how much she can make you relax. Although it was a rather random affection, you didn’t mind it.

Maybe she just missed you. Then you realized you didn't know how much time had already passed.

The hands she placed on the chair’s arms, trailed off to the headphones on your head. Silently questioning if she could take it off of you. You slowly nod in acceptance, so she pulls it down and let it rest around your neck. In which, made you hear the rain.

You turned your head to the window, to only see a fogged view with raindrops making thin clear paths. All you heard was white noise before, acting as rain. You thought it was just the fan being loud. But it wasn’t.

You smiled, loving the noise of the rain on your ears before turning back to Nat, who had her head tilted with a loving look on her face. Although she liked the rain too because of the calmness, the way you had looked at the window, made her heart jump with joy. But it didn’t beat the way you looked at her, and it only made her heart practically almost burst.

She took one of your hands that was sitting in your lap, and gently pulled. You understood the signal, and stood up from the chair.

You knew she was trying to say you've been sitting in the same spot and staring at papers for too long. You would agree. With your headache, the ink on the pages were starting to look uninteresting to you, and you were spacing out more.

Leading you to the bed, she sat back on it, opening her arms for you to comfortably snuggle next to her. It was getting quite chilly in the room, but she was so warm.

Nat picks up the tv remote nearby, moving her hand into your eye view tiltedly. You notice, and since she didn't do anything, you assume she was wondering if you'd want to pick. But you gently push it away, knowing you wouldn't be able to focus on whatever you'll be watching anyway.

She hums softly for a bit, and decides to put the remote back down. Perhaps it's nicer to have nothing. Everything, and nothing. Everything, having you here in her arms, the rain, the comfortable silence, the warmth mixing with coldness...Maybe not nothing.

The redhead tangles her fingers in your hair, while the other lingers at your back. Her nose accidentally bumped against the side of your head slightly, before leaving a kiss at the top of your head.

It was a calm atmosphere. One you wouldn't be able to get enough of. The rest of the world doesn’t matter right now. Something that was worth it for any difficult day you had to go through. And though that's not the point at the moment, all that matters is knowing to be calm even in stressful times. To live, to live, not only to survive.

The ambient background noise was like a perfect lullaby. Sleepiness was starting to creep up on you and it was obvious. But you welcomed it.

Sighing in relief from the off time from work, you started to slowly close your eyes, her presence known by the gentle touches and the weight of her hand on you. It only took a few minutes until your breathing softened.

She was staring out the window, spaced out. Once she looked back down, your eyes were closed. Now you looked so much more peaceful. She gazed at you so lovingly, you were like a work of art, with the scene of the bedroom, and the window covered in raindrops behind you.

Although it would be nice to take in this moment more, with the rain, she too, was falling asleep along with you.

The both of you had mostly finished your work for today, and there was no more missions. Only time for relaxing.

No more worries.

Now it'll all be okay.

-----------------------------

taglist <3 - join here! :]

@notevenanna @ludasgf

#🥀 dawn’s collection #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff fluff #soft natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff comfort #natasha romanoff

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kamig4mes · 2 months

Note

any hamma and kisaki hcs? if you write for them

Hanma baby!! Hahahha, yeah I can write that. I firmly believe that the cannons I wrote are faithful, especially hanma haha. Enjoy it, sweetheart ♡

#pov: Kisaki nd Hanma headcanons!

★ warning: nothing, really.

—hanma!

He's definitely weak to cold weather. It has a very low resistance to minimum temperatures.

He may look and act like a complete idiot (some of this is not a lie), but he's more cunning than he appears to be.

In kindergarten he bullied the other kids to be his friends.

Loose-fitting jackets/garments are his best allies.

If the memory of your phone runs out, it would probably be because it is full of so many random photos that you take every day.

"Kisaki? Of course, even if he denies it, we love each other madly. I know he thinks the same way"

I would blame the weather (and the weather forecasters) for everything bad that happens to it.

"I missed the bus because of those damn bastards, they promised it wouldn't rain all day"

When he is bored he goes for a walk in the streets or just jogging a few blocks.

There are few things that disturb this man. He's so simple and mundane, he doesn't like to over-think things.

Either it's your boyfriend or your friend, there won't be a moment in the day when Hanma won't fire off some mocking comment towards you. His tongue will never lose its edge.

—kisaki!

Kisaki is controlling and calculating, that's why even the most insignificant plans are very well detailed.

Like Hanma, analyzing people is one of his many twisted habits. A habit that you will never be able to break (or at least not so soon).

A shelf full of books about shit reverse psychology, manipulation and human behavior in his room and office. Oh, you'd be surprised at the number of them.

At the same time, he's a select and good reader. Broad and complicated topics have already been processed through his head.

Listen to Arctic Monkeys.

"Whatever that Hanma bastard said about us, he's fucking lying"

Hugs from behind while he leaves kisses on your collarbone are his favorites.

He has a plan b, c and z for everything:

"Of course everything is going to go as planned. And if something goes wrong, I've already made emergency plans."

He probably keeps his old notebooks/planners piled up somewhere in the corner of his room.

He really likes coffee and almost any drink, as long as it's hot.

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themultifandomgal · 11 months

Text

Shelby Sister- Opium

This was another request from Wattpad

⚠️Warning this imagine talks about depression, unkind/derogatory words, attempted suicide, mentions making themselves sick and someone else making them sick (not in detail)

YN Shelby has always been the quietest of all her siblings. She keeps to herself, typically reading a book alone in her room. Because she's so quiet she doesn't have many friends and at school is often bullied. This is why her brothers have always felt the need to protect her.

Recently YN has been acting more quiet than usual, so much so that Ada her elder sister voiced her concern during a family meeting where YN wasn't present.

For YN life sucked. She was smart, good with words and numbers, but a push over. Finally the words her classmates tell her, she starts to believe, 'your ugly' 'fat' 'gypsy scum' and so much more.

One gloomy evening YN was walking home from school by the cut when some of the boys in her class run up to her

"Look here she is" one of them laugh "so when will you get married off?"

"Naaa no one will want her. Tommy will have to pay thousands to get someone to marry that" YN tries to ignore the comments, hugging her arms closer to her body

"At this point you may as well just kill yourself. Hey why don't I help you?" the boy takes YNs arms and starts pushing her

"What are you doing?" YN panics

"Oooo she speaks, thought you were a mute" the other boy says before pushing the young girl into the cut.

This became a daily thing until the day she snapped. YN had had enough. So she bunked off school pretending to be sick, of course Aunt Polly wasn't having any of it until after YN ate her breakfast and pretended she was going to throw up so ran to the bathroom, knowing her aunt will be behind her, YN made herself throw up. Polly kept her off school and when the house went quiet YN snuck out of her room and into Tommys looking for one thing in particular. Opium.

YN had heard about some people passing away after taking it and so she decided to try.

Tommy is the first to arrive home from a long day

"YN?" he shouts knowing his little sister is unwell. Not hearing a response Tommy makes his way up the stairs and into YNs room. But when she isn't in bed panic starts to set in, he know YN wouldn't have just pretend to be sick for no reason. Exiting her room he sees his bedroom door open. Frowning he makes his way into his room. Looking around nothing seems to be missing, that is until he notices the draw at his bedside table is slightly ajar

"Shit" he shouts opening up the draw and seeing that his opium is missing. Getting up he starts running around the house trying to find his sister. Finally he finds her pale, clammy and passed out in the bathroom "YN? YN I need you to wake up" Tommy shakes his sister "please love" he checks her heart rate, it's slow but there. Her lips have a slight blue tinge to them. Tommy has seen this before. After the war many soldiers used opium to kill themselves, but because of this he knew how to help. He needs to make her throw up. Bracing himself he sticks his pointer finger and middle finger down her throat to make her throw up.

YN wakes up feeling comfortable and warm. Confused YN opens her eyes and sees a very stressed looking Tommy and Polly

"What...?" YN coughs. Her throat feeling sore

"Shhh" Polly rushes over and sits on the sofa next to where YN is lying with blankets covering her "thank god your alright YN"

"What we're you thinking?" Tommy scolds

"Thomas"

"Why? Why feel the need to go take my opium and hurt yourself"

"I'm sorry Tommy"

"Tommy why don't you go and get YN a drink eh?" without a word Tommy walks to the kitchen

"He's mad"

"He was scared YN. We all were, but Tommy has got a point. Why?" YN just shrugs her shoulders. Tommy walks back over to YN and helps sit her up. She takes a sip of water which helps sooth her throat a little

"I thought I'd lost you YN. Your upset, I understand but no mater what war that's going on in that head of yours means you do what you did"

"But you use opium every night to sleep" shocked Tommys eyes widen. He didn't realise that she knew that, if he did he would have been more carful

"I'll make you a deal. I'll stop if you promise to never to something like that again. You talk to me if somethings wrong"

"Ok"

"So you going to give me the names of the kids who've been bullying you?"

"How do you?"

"Finn heard some kids laughing about pushing you in the cut"

"I..."

"You don't have to tell us anything yet. When your ready" Polly takes YNs hand in hers and gives it a little squeeze. For the first time in a long time YN doesn't feel alone. She's never been alone and never will with her family around her.

#peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders #peaky blinders reader #tommy shelby #john shelby #arthur shelby #polly shelby #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinders sister #sister shelby #shelby sister

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hkcomplex · 6 months

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(re: @books-are-my-life-stuff)

Playing around with readings of kanji is an absolutely huge part of Japanese wordplay and one that usually goes right of the heads of English readers — and often even English translators. Here’s a fun example that I think basically everyone missed…

In Dragonball, there’s a bit where King Piccolo invades the Earth, and he says this line about how he’ll force everyone to celebrate that day as Piccolo Day. Specifically, it’s May 9th.

This is actually a kind of numerical pun in Japanese about Goku, the hero of Dragonball. See, May 9th is 5/9. 5 can be read as “go”, and 9 can be read as “ku”, and that makes 5/9 “Goku day”. And Dragonball is big enough in Japan that you’ll sometimes see promotional material celebrating it as such:

So the joke is that Piccolo invades Earth and declares Goku day to be Piccolo day. Hah. Well, I thought it was funny…

Here’s the thing, this kind of number-based pun is its own whole category of Japanese wordplay, called goroawase, and you see it everywhere in Japanese media. Band names, twitter handles, license plates on cars. Hell, a lot of supermarkets have sales on meat on the 29th of each month because “meat” -> “niku” -> “ni ku” -> 2 9. It’s a really flexible form of joke because every number can have like a dozen different readings, so tons of words and phrases can be turned into goroawase numbers. And 99% of the time, this kind of joke is totally untranslatable in English.

So, any time you see a weirdly specific number in an anime or game, there is a decent chance it’s actually a pun that you missed.

#japanese #translation #dragon ball #piccolo day

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one-idea · 3 months

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As I just watched 325 where Ace and Blackbeard fight. I can’t help but think of other ways it could have gone.

What if Ace didn’t leave the Moby dick alone? What if members of the Spade pirates followed?

Maybe Ace takes off on his own but Masked Deuce, Skull, and Mihar follow. They were his commanders. Maybe Deuce never liked Teach to start with. The man has bad vibes even when he’s actively tricking the Whitebeard crew. (If Luffy can pick up on the rancid vibes I refuse to believe other people didn’t pick up on them) add in the fact he just murdered a crew mate, and they all know Ace. Ace will take this as his responsibility. He’s going to go after teach there is not stopping him.

Maybe they go with him.

Maybe they see him leave. Deuce asked why no one’s going after him and is told that as second division commander Teach is Ace’s responsibility. So Deuce Mihar and Skull decided to follow on their own.

When they catch up depends on how you want the final battle to play out. There are two options.

1) they catch up before Ace reaches Blackbeard.

You get an argument of Ace anting them to turn back. He’s still underestimating Teach. He doesn’t know what his new devil fruit does.

It ends with them reminding Ace that they are there because they’re his friends and they care about him and want to help. They can deal with what ever consequences come from leaving the Moby later.

When they catch up to Blackbeard. Maybe they go to fight Blackbeard’s crew while Ace handles Teach.

That is until Teach shows off his devil fruit and the three have to book it to the forest. They don’t know what the fruit does but Blackbeard’s crew is fleeing from it.

Pause because idea 2 is that they trail him and end up on Banaro island right before Ace does. Maybe it was easier to track Blackbeard than Ace and the best him there. They are talking to/helping the town folk when Blackbeard shows off his power.

Either way both ideas meld here

Once out of range maybe Skull recognizes it. He has a weird hodgepodge of knowledge about pirates and I can see him knowing somethings about devil fruits.

Once Blackbeard is done showing off. They three race back to Ace. It takes them some time but they get there just in time to see Ace take a big hit.

Maybe between Skulls sword, Mihar’s gun and all threes quick thinking they are able to pull Ace out of there.

Ace is furious. He hates running. But the others know they are out matched. They were able to do some damage. (Over the years with Whitebeard they have gotten stronger) but maybe Blackbeard’s crew had also come to back him up. They were out numbered and Ace was already hurt.

Ace fights every step of the way. “You don’t understand! I can’t let him get away!”

“Ace we’ll get him I promise but we need help.” Deuce tries to reason. Blackbeard is a bigger threat than any of them thought. They will need Pop’s help for this.

“No you don’t understand. He’s going after Luffy!” And the world freezes for a second. (I’d like to think in either option the Spades missed Teach’s little attempt to get Ace to join him) they all know of Luffy. Ace little brother who he adores. He talks everyone’s ear off about the kid. So the fact that Teach was going after him was beyond low.

It’s a race now to Water 7. (They say the fight took place three days before the Strawhat’s new bounties dropped) so they are all still resting at Water 7. Garp may not have even shown up yet.

It’s a race between the two crews. Blackbeard to kill Luffy for his Warlord position, and Ace who desperately trying to warn/save his brother.

Maybe they have contacted the rest of the Whitebeard pirates and filled them in and they are on their way to.

This is a fluid idea. But I always thought it was unfair for Ace to be on this quest alone. I understand why, but like the boy deserves his friends.

Also I don’t think the Spades could beat Teach on their own. I think they are just enough to pull Ace out of the fight. He’s kicking and screaming but he’s safe.

Part 2 of this nonsense

#one piece #portagas d. ace #one piece ace #fire fist ace #masked deuce #spade pirates #acedeuce #the spades save ace

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