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#but it’s better than writing only 10k words of one project and then getting bored of it and not writing anything else for the whole month
westernsunshine · 3 years
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Maybe I’d have a chance at finishing Nanowrimo if I accepted that I’m probably not going to be able to stick to just one project & instead made a Scrivener file and just put anything and everything I decided to write that month in there
#it’d be a big ass mess but would i get to 50k words? most likely#they’d just be divided into like 25k words for one project; 10k for another; and a 15k oneshot because i got smacked in the face w/ an idea#and couldn’t rest until i wrote it#but it’s better than writing only 10k words of one project and then getting bored of it and not writing anything else for the whole month#i think i should give it a go#it’s just so frustrating that i can’t stick to one idea long enough to see it through.. it’s not even that i don’t Like my ideas#i just seem to get burnt out on them & lose the enthusiasm and by the time i’m excited about writing that story again the current draft#looks like crap in comparison to how i think it should be#my vampire novel is the best example of this but i can see it happening to the other projects too#tl;dr i think my camp nanowrimo project is actually going to be three or so projects#one is a vampire hunter & a werewolf reluctantly teaming up to catch a vampire#one is a summer romance where one of them is a modern day saint whose powers are going haywire#and the other is just going to be several documents’ worth of me figuring out what to do with lawrence and em#still can’t decide whether i want it to be a campus novel or a story about socialites and aristocratic excess#is the inspiration diplomat’s son by vampire weekend or old money by lana del rey. that is the question#i had this dream about a very cerebral and convoluted campus novel centering around a disappearance but like#i just don’t think it would be fun to read or write and so why do it tbh#personal#you know sometimes i wish my characters were already famous so i could just write a short story collection about them & people would want to#read that. not bother about sticking to one universe just have 20k words of regency romance here & 10k of a space opera there#if i get published i will definitely end up writing fanfiction of my works#i’ve said this before but like. people need to see tennis au and grease au and regency au
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xiubaek-13 · 4 years
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Providence
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Prompt: You kind of-sort of said you had a boyfriend and now you both are invited to a ‘couples only’ party and now you have to find a boyfriend ASAP
Pairing: Chen x Reader
Warnings: Alcohol, poor dating history, a little bit of smut.
Word Count: 9,118
A/N: This was for a one-shot challenge. We had a really cool idea for a Valentines prompt but life decided to come in and drop multiple anvils on all of our progress. Life can be shit like that sometimes but at times like that you also have to step back and realise that the writing can wait. We made a group decision to kind of call off the challenge but still post if/when we finished. This is my contribution.
Anyway, let me know what you think - apparently I cannot write a short one-shot to save my life so here is an almost 10k present for you.
You only had yourself to blame for this. Why the fuck did you tell him you had a boyfriend? Did you enjoy suffering? How the hell were you supposed to find a boyfriend before the weekend?!
You were just so sick of feeling left out of social gatherings but Suho was all about couples parties… originally you thought it was a phase that would pass but six months later it was still invite only and you had to have a boyfriend or partner or significant other. The rules were that you couldn’t turn up alone or with a fuck buddy, not after that one time Baekhyun turned up with an escort just to piss Suho off. You still remember Baekhyun telling you that story and how Suho hadn’t invited him again for two whole months. That man was too concerned with how society perceived him and his perfect wife. He just didn’t understand how you could possibly have no time for dating and dismissed you every time you asked to come alone.
So you hadn’t seen him in six months. You still talked and still saw each other at work but you missed hanging out with your friend. You just wished he cared less about what everyone thought of him. One by one they’d all gotten girlfriends and wives and suddenly you were no longer the main woman in their lives. Gone were the days when you’d have to pretend to be their date, scorned ex, sister, or bitchy friend to save them from awful dates. Now none of them were ever free to do the same for you because it wouldn’t be proper.
At some point you gave up on dating. You just decided one day that you’d had enough of being disappointed by every so called suitor and weren’t going to participate in it any more. Your mother was distraught, but you were pretty sure it was more that she was upset that she couldn’t play matchmaker any more rather than any sort of concern for your wellbeing. What you would give to not have been born into high society with all of these convoluted rules and stigmas. You had to marry a career man of good stead from the right family. You had to mask and hide your feelings, always, because any sign of emotion was a sign of weakness. You had to have a good education and a good career but be willing to drop it all to get married and start a family then spend your days on committees. You could never not be seen in designer wear, what would the neighbours think? All of this superficial bullshit. You were done with it.  There had to be more to life than this and if there wasn’t then what the hell was the point of anything? Why put up with all of this just to be a beige blip or boring in the grand scheme of things.
You craved excitement like that art student you dated in college who had a talent for body paint. Your mother haaaaated him and once he found out about your status he was done with you. You craved a person who could chill with you and be happy in just your company for days on end when the rest of the world became too overwhelming like that library assistant you dated for a couple of months until you found creepy poems everywhere and had to call it quits before you ended up the subject of a cold case study in a decades time. For some reason you always ended up with the weird guy who seemed great… until he wasn’t.
Your luck wasn’t any better when your mother set up the dates. There was the lawyer who always had to argue with you and spoke over the top of you, there was the medical student with the foot fetish, there was the personal trainer who didn’t believe in showers, the stock broker with anger management issues and a possessive streak, the list went on. Back in the day Suho, Baekhyun and the others would laugh with you about these jerks and give you hope for the future but now, now you couldn’t help but feel like they thought you were a lost cause since you were the only one left who was single. Maybe you were just destined to be forever alone like Chanyeol had once suggested.
***
“Are you sure it isn’t you that’s the problem?” He asked.
You paused as you brought your coffee up to your lips. “Wow. Thanks Kai. You’re a beacon of positivity you know that?”
Kai pressed on. “Think about it. You’ve been on countless dates and all of them, every single guy you’ve ever dated hasn’t been good enough. You’ve found a flaw in every single one. People have flaws, it’s normal. It’s not normal to have gone on like 50 dates in the past 2 years and still have nothing to show for it.”
“You couldn’t be more of a finance guy if you tried. I know people have flaws but don’t you dare try to tell me I should have just looked past Jason’s poetry thing.”
“Oh fuck no. That guy was a textbook serial killer in the making, you’re lucky you got away from that relatively unscathed.”
“Kai, they’ve all be terrible. I don’t know what to tell you… maybe the guy for me just isn’t in this universe. Maybe he was here but he died before I could meet him and now I’m alone forever.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“You’re lucky I like you Kai. Now are you going to help me get into one of Suho’s parties or have I just wasted a half hour at this overpriced cafe?”
Kai laughed and put his drink down. “Just go through your phone and find the least terrible guy you ever went out with and see if he’s up for playing along for a night. Suho will know if you just bring a guy you’ve never met before - it’s kind of how he caught Baekhyun out.”
“And here I was thinking it was because she was propositioning Sehun in the kitchen or when she told Xiumin her price list that really gave her away.” You deadpanned.
“You know what, you might be right.” He laughed and shook his head. “We are lucky he’s finally settled down, single Baekhyun was wild.”
You checked your phone and realised you had to be back at work in 20 minutes so you thanked Kai for brunch and headed back to your office.
***
Your phone was mocking you, you were sure of it. It felt like a stone in your hand ever since brunch with Kai. His words kept coming back to you but every time you opened your contact list and started scrolling you felt like the world’s biggest loser. What would you even say to any of these guys if you called? Hi I’m pathetic and still alone but please date me for one night so I can go to a party? Yes I know things didn’t work out between us in the past but what’s one night for old times sake? Ugh. You needed wine if you were going to stoop this low.
One hour and five glasses of wine later you were three quarters through your contact list and you had gained nothing. If anything you’d lost some dignity in the process but you’d also deleted about 10 numbers from your phone for good, ones that were disconnected or if the conversation felt too forced or if he was rude. You cursed Kai, so far this was a horrible walk down memory lane of your failed love life. What you saw in any of these men was beyond you. One conversation stood out so far - Lance. Lance was clearly a low point of your dating life, really the name said it all. Stereotypical frat boy, on the rowing team, thinks women are to be seen and never heard, thinks the ability to do a keg stand makes him a certified legend. Lance was more than happy to chat with you tonight, to catch up on old times and tell you all about himself and how well he was doing at the law firm he was a partner in. Not once did he ask about you. His response when you’d asked, through gritted teeth because you were certain you’d end up killing him on the way to the party, was “Cool, cool, look sweetcheeks I’d like nothing more than spend a night with you but I don’t do the whole date thing plus I haven’t seen you in years - you gotta send a guy some pics first. You should just come over later tonight, we can have a party of our own if you know what I mean.” You actually felt greasy after talking to him and never before had you deleted a number from your phone so quickly, because fuck ever talking to him again.
Sighing and pouring your sixth glass you settled into your couch and scrolled to the last three numbers. If none of these provided results you were back to square one. You glanced at the remaining names, remembering who they were and if they were worth calling. Taekyeon was a med student in college and you’d lived in the same dorm. He was actually a really good guy back then. You recalled that one time where you were so horrifically hungover after one bad night out and he’d somehow procured a drip and solution to hook up to you to rehydrate you as well as feed you painkillers and took care of you. He’d never asked for anything in return either. You dialled his number and waited as it rang.
“Hello?” A male voice answered.
“Hi, is this Taekyeon?” You asked.
“It is...who am I speaking with?” He responded hesitantly.
After you got past formalities and got to chatting you didn’t even bother bringing the proposition up. Instead you made up some lie about a project you were working on and needing to reconnect with your past. You were right, he was still a great guy. So great that he was a pediatrician, married and had two adorable children. It got you nowhere with needing a fake boyfriend for a night but it was wonderful to chat to him again after all this time and he seemed just as happy to chat with you. He promised to call again after he returned from a work conference so that he could invite you over for dinner to meet his wife and children.
“After all, I owe you for not letting me turn into one of those awful frat boys. You kept me in line so my morals never wavered.” You couldn’t really turn the guy down. Not when you could tell he was serious about having you meet his family and really, you were a little bit curious to see how he turned out.
“It was the least I could do, you were younger and more impressionable. I just didn’t want you to turn into a jerk, especially if I had to live next to you for four years. Don’t think of it as a selfless act!”
He laughed and the two of you continued chatting for a bit before saying your goodbyes and promising to speak again soon. With a smile you moved down to the next name, Wonsik. Wonsik...Wonsik… who the hell was he? You racked your brain to try and pull up some detail that would enlighten you as to who this guy was. Was he that forgettable? Or is he just some random dude? You sat for what felt like hours trying to work out who he might be but in the end you took a big sip of wine, threw caution to the wind and dialled. As you waited for the mystery man to answer his phone you continued to mull over the name in your mind.
“Heeeey! It’s been so long since we last spoke. How have you been?!” a bright and cheerful voice greeted you from the other end of the phone line. Who the hell IS this guy? Why does he seem to know me...that would mean my name is saved in his phone. So we must have met in the last year.
“Hi! I know it’d been ages. I’ve just been so busy. What have you been up to?” You decided to play along like you remembered who he was to see if he’d give away any clues that might jog your memory.
“Oh you know, same as usual - museum stuff. Preparing the newest exhibition which has been taking up all of my time. Honestly the hoops you have to jump through to have artifacts leant to a museum is just mind boggling. Anyway please, tell me what you’ve been up to. I had honestly given up on hearing from you again.”
No. no no no no no. You remembered him now. Eight months ago you had a weak moment and joined Tinder. This guy had matched well with you so you’d chatted and organised a date. He seemed nice enough, he still did now, but you remembered getting the strangest vibe from him during that date. Something about him made you feel unsafe and you just wanted to be as far away from him as possible the whole time you were on your date. Being a smart woman you’d told a few friends about the date and teed them up to contact you an hour in to check on you, providing a believable reason to end the date early if you needed to. You did this with any date you went on but this was the only time you’d used it.
“Oh just the same, work and more work. I’m sorry if I bothered you, I’ve just been going through my phone checking all of the numbers in here - it’s been playing up lately. So this call was just to confirm that it’s still you. I wish I could chat longer but I really do have to go.”
“Yep, still me! Ah well hopefully we can meet up again one day and finish that date. It was such a nice surprise to see your name come up.”
You made loose promises to talk again sometime and hung up. Instead of deleting you made a note in his contact information - Tinder date - so that you would remember not to ever call or answer his calls, deleting his number could mean that you’d answer him and be stuck talking to him again and you really didn’t want to be caught off guard like that.
The final name stared at you. You knew this name and you had a sinking feeling about it. You used to work for Yesung as an intern. He was only a few years older than you and he was handsome. The two of you had dabbled in an office fling. It had been hot and heavy but it was short lived since both of you desired your careers more than each other. You both knew it was only lust and proximity that kept causing you to end up in compromising positions so you’d put a stop to it after one too many close calls. He was a nice enough guy but he was a workaholic so you weren’t sure if he’d be down to play pretend with you for an evening.
You put the phone down and made your way back to the kitchen to pour another glass of wine only to find the bottle empty. Had you had six glasses already? It was probably a sign to stop drinking for the night before you regretted it the next day. The storm outside intensified as rain pelted against the windows. If I’m making this call I need to do it before the thunderstorm starts. You grabbed a bottle of water from your fridge and headed back to the couch. You unlocked your phone and your thumb hovered over the dial button. Fuck it. You thought as you pressed his number. It rang and rang and rang until you were sure it would go to voicemail but at the last second a voice answered.
“Hello?” a warm voice greeted you from the other end of the line. It wasn’t how you remembered Yesung’s voice but it had been a few years so you weren’t sure.
“Hi, is this Yesung?” You asked tentatively.
“Oh, sorry. No this used to be his phone, it hasn’t been for years though. Was it personal or business?” The voice answered. Dammit. I called everyone and came up empty handed.
“A bit of both really.” You lied. You were feeling a little pathetic now but your manners meant that you would continue this conversation until it was polite to end it.
“Maybe I can help with the business part. I work with him now.” You thought this voice sounded younger than Yesung. Maybe he was his new intern? You didn’t really care. His voice was nice though and after a bottle of wine the warmth in his voice made you feel a little less pathetic.
“Oh uh, I don’t think you can. It was more a proposition. I used to work for Yesung.” You replied. If he’s not an ass he’ll ask more questions.
“Hmmm why not just tell me it’s a personal call then?” He chuckled.
He had a point. Why lie? “I don’t know, it’s late and I might have had some wine but I also don’t know who you are. Why should I give you a proper answer?”
He laughed. “Yeah, coz that makes total sense.”
“Oh shut up.” You snapped.
“Do I know you?” He asked. Surely he didn’t? Did he?
“Why? Don’t many people tell you to shut up?” You quipped.
“Ha. No, your voice sounds familiar. I can’t place it though. You said you used to work to Yesung though right?” He wasn’t letting this drop, he must actually think he knew you.
“Mmmhmm” You were unsure how much you wanted to divulge to a complete stranger. For all you knew he was just playing with you.
“When did you work for him?”
“A few years ago.” It was a vague enough answer that he shouldn’t be able to get much out of it.
“As…?” He pressed.
“I was an intern.”
“Oooh! I DO know you!” He sounded excited on the other end of the call.
“Well, can you enlighten me? Because I’m drawing a blank here.” You exclaimed, confused at how the hell he’d seemingly worked out who you were, or that he knew you.
“Ah wae! I’m not sure if I should be offended that you don’t remember me just by my voice.” He feigned offence at your lack of memory. The whiny complaining he did triggered something in your memory but.. It couldn’t be… could it?
“Wait...Chen?” A handful of you used to go to karaoke rooms after work on Fridays and Chen was the guy with the voice of an angel. You had no idea why he wasn’t a professional singer but you could have sat and listened to him sing for hours. Surely this wasn’t him? Chen was always argumentative and loud at work, not this soft spoken voice you were currently talking to.
“Ah, you do remember me. I’m flattered.How have you been?” Now that you knew it was him you couldn’t work out how it hadn’t clicked earlier. That voice, that warm and inviting and vexing voice.
“Good I guess.” You answered softly. You weren’t really expecting that question from him. You had been mentally preparing yourself to deflect the ‘why did you call’ question that would inevitably be brought up again.
“So good that you’re calling your old boss’ phone on a weeknight at 11pm? What’s going on?” Damn. Apparently you weren’t going to evade this question any longer.
“Uh. Don’t worry about it.” You mumbled. There was no way you were telling Chen why you rang. He was a smartass and a tease if you remembered correctly and as nice as his voice was, you wouldn’t enjoy it if he was making fun of you.
“If you don’t tell me I’m just going to assume it was a booty call & I’ll be sure to tell him all about it tomorrow.” He teased.
“You wouldn’t!” You exclaimed. It had been too many years for you to know for sure if he was bluffing or not.
“Wouldn’t I? I can even give him your number and I’m sure you remember how he is when his ego is inflated by pretty women.” He teased.
“Oh I remember now. I hate you.”
Chen couldn’t speak because he was laughing so hard at you. Eventually he pulled himself together enough to speak “Then tell me why you rang and avoid this fate.”
“You’ll only make fun of me so either way it’s a bad result for me.” You whined.
“Either I can make fun of you or Yesung can call you expecting you to offer up sex… your choice. I know what I’d pick but hey… maybe you were just after a booty call. Maybe I’m doing you a favour by handing Yesung your number… You can thank me later. Send a gift basket or something.”
You nearly choked on the water you were drinking when he’d spoken. “Oh my god. I needed a date ok? It wasn’t a booty call. Jesus Chen.”
“You needed a date & Yesung was who you called? There has to be more to this. Come on, make my night interesting and tell me.” He egged you on. Something in his voice, something in the way he spoke made you want to tell him more but you weren’t giving it up for nothing. If you were about to tell Chen how desperate you were then he was going to have to offer something in return.
“What do I get in return for telling you? I’m not drunk enough to just drop it on you and the shred of dignity I have left isn’t going easily.”
“I… promise I won’t laugh at you or judge you.” He replied.
“You’ve already done both of those things!” You exclaimed. No way were you letting him lowball you like that.
“Fine. I’ll sing for you. Is that a better offer?”
“Actually yes, it is.” You reluctantly launched into your tale of why you were calling Yesung and why you needed a date. You tried to brush over the part where you were, for lack of a better phrase, forever alone and kept it as simple as possible. True to his word he didn’t laugh but he did remain silent for a painfully long stretch of time before he spoke again.
“I cannot believe I promised you I wouldn’t laugh. You’re not kidding are you?” He said, his voice trembling as he tried to keep his promise.
“Nope. This is my life.”
“Fuck me. Firstly, let me say that your friend sounds like a dick. What kind of jerk only holds couples parties? I might not know you that well but I know you shouldn’t be spending your night calling every guy in your phone just to see if you can convince them to pretend to be your boyfriend for a night. No offence but it kind of makes you look crazy. Secondly, is your contacts list that sad that you got all the way down to Yesung’s name and still hadn’t found anyone who would do this for you?”
“It’s the last name on the list. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t you promise not to judge me Chen?” You chided.
“Not judging you, just your choices. Anyway, that brings me to my third point. I’ll do it. I know you weren’t expecting to talk to me tonight or anything but this whole thing is too amusing to not want to be a part of it. So if you are still in need, which I’m pretty sure you are, I’ll fill the role.” You were sure you’d heard wrong, there was no way Chen had just solved your problem. Surely not. You must have lost your mind or only heard what you wanted to hear because you could have sworn he said he’d do it.
“What? Seriously? You’ll do it? Chen, you have no idea how much you’d be helping me out!” You practically beamed down the line. He had to hear the sudden uplift in your tone and pitch. You’d honestly thought when Yesung didn’t answer, well actually even before that, that you would be back to square one and still alone. Suddenly there was a light at the end of the tunnel. You had plans for this party, plans to tell Suho exactly what you thought of his couples only crap at some point of the night but you’d play along until the perfect moment then throw it in his face. Was it petty? A little. Was it deserved? You thought so. How could he still call himself your friend if he organised events and wouldn’t let you attend on your own?
“I never said I’d do it for free, but we can discuss my price later. I think we should meet up for coffee tomorrow to reconnect and get some facts straight. If we’re going to fake date we need fake dating history.”
***
You stop outside of the cafe entrance and internally debate for what has to be the eighth time since hanging up the phone last night whether or not this is a horrible idea. What if you went inside and he never turned up? How would you handle rejection from a fake boyfriend? What if he was in there but he mocked you or judged you for your forever alone status? What if he thought you were pathetic? For the eighth time you reminded yourself that he suggested this meeting after he agreed to be your fake boyfriend. He’d been so amused at your inability to find someone but also so pissed that your choice of friends sucked that badly that you needed a fake boyfriend in order to hang out with them. He’d texted you a time and a place after you hung up last night so you steeled your nerves and pushed the door open.
Once you were inside you looked around, searching for him. A hand waved from the back left corner and beckoned you over. You started walking towards him and relaxed when you saw his smiling face. “Good, I was starting to think you’d chickened out on the whole thing.” He exclaimed when you slid into the seat across from him.
“Why a booth in the back corner Chen?” You asked. The cafe wasn’t that busy that he had to choose the seats furthest away from any of the other customers.
He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure how comfortable we’d be discussing the semantics of our fake relationship so I opted for some privacy.” He pointed to his hot chocolate. “Please, order something to drink or a snack, it’s on me.”
You wait for the waitress to appear then order an iced chocolate. You and Chen make small talk until the waitress returns with your drink, then he gets straight into it. “I think we should incorporate our real history into this fake backstory, it makes it easier to lie when half of the lie is truth.”
“It won’t make it weird?” You ask.
“Not at all.” He responds, taking a sip from his hot chocolate. “Hear me out. We met a few years ago through work. You were an intern and I was an office lackey. We had the same boss and on Friday nights after work a group of us would all go out for drinks and karaoke. The two of us hung out and got to know each other. We became friendly but we were both off limits, I had a girlfriend and you were kind of seeing someone. We remained friends until you finished your internship and left, losing contact with each other until about a month ago.” He paused while you processed the story so far. So far it wasn’t fake, it was just exactly your history with Chen. You weren’t really sure where he was headed with it but you were curious.
“What happened last month?” You asked.
A slight smile formed on his face, knowing he’d reeled you in so far. “A month ago you had one of the worst blind dates of your life. I’m talking the guy was drunk and lewd to the point where you told him you were going to use the restroom but instead left the restaurant and went to the bar down the road. You were sitting at the bar quietly having a few drinks to try and wash the evening away when we ran into each other. We got to talking and caught up on each others lives - me getting promoted to junior partner, having my fiance cheat on me and you having a string of bad luck with love but success with your career. We kept drinking and chatting and once we realised that we were both single, flirting. One thing led to another and you let me get you home. I left your doorstep with the promise of a date and a month later we’re still dating.” He sat back and waited for you to chip in with your two cents on his story. It was good, almost too good actually. For one thing, you could definitely retell that blind date because you’d been on one like that. The rest was plausible and enough that not too many questions would be asked.
“It’s good.” You eat a spoonful of cream from the top of your iced chocolate. “I think that’ll work well actually. The truth thing does make it a lot easier, honestly I hadn’t thought of it from this perspective. Plus I’ve been on that horrible date so that won’t be a stretch of the imagination should anyone want details.”
Chen’s eyes widened. “Seriously? You’ve been on a date that bad?”
You laughed defeatedly. “You have no idea.”
“Wow. I thought I’d concocted a date so bad that no one would want to know more but I didn’t think anyone actually had dates that bad. What kind of- nevermind. We’re getting off topic. Are you happy with the backstory?”
You nod and continue to spoon the cream off your drink. “I like it. Honestly I had no idea what we were going to tell them if they asked but of all the options I thought up last night, none of them are as simple and realistic as yours. Way to choose the most believable one” You smile and laugh to yourself.
The two of you keep chatting and catching up on each others lives. A lot had happened to both of you since you’d lost contact. You’d forgotten how easygoing and warm Chen was. Hanging out with him brightened your day and you hadn’t realised how much you’d missed this feeling. He can’t contain his laughter as you enlighten him with your failed dating history. At one point he is in tears from laughing so hard after hearing about a particularly bad date with the non showering personal trainer and he begged you to stop talking. You swapped the conversation to find out more about him, pressing to see if the whole fiance and being cheated on thing was true and you were appalled to find out that it was.
It was the aforementioned girlfriend from when you worked together. He’d fallen head over heels for her and after a year and a half of dating they were engaged. Chen had never been happier, he was progressing in his career and he had the love of his life by his side. Sadly it turned out that the love of his life was a manipulative bitch who had been using him. He’d noticed something was off when she accused him of stealing her phone. He went to talk to a friend about her behaviour but as he spoke he realised more and more things she’d done to him. He was so in love with her that he hadn’t noticed her toxic behaviour but now there was no going back. He’d arrived home early from an out of town business trip and went home to surprise her only to arrive home to something that shattered his heart. It’s one thing to know that someone is manipulative, it’s another to see just how little you mean to them in person.
She was in his apartment fucking not one, but two guys in their bed. Once the men saw him they hightailed it out of there, not wanting to be a part of whatever conversation happened next. She didn’t even try to apologise. No, she tried to turn it back around and make it his fault that she cheated. He was so heartbroken and disgusted that he simply told her she had 3 hours to pack all of her shit, return her keys and get out of his life for good then turned around and left the building.
You were so mad for him at the end of his story that you didn’t notice the tear escape your eye until he reached forward and caught it on your cheek. You flinched at his touch which didn’t escape his notice. “Hey, don’t get worked up over it. I’m past it and I’m much stronger and self reliant now. I’m also a much better judge of character than I once was so out of all of that pain some good occurred too.” He smiled gently at you. “What worries me now is that you flinched when I touched you, and you’ve done the opposite of what a girlfriend should do every time I’ve touched you or looked into your eyes since we started chatting. You’re too tense.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise we were acting from now Chen. Here I was thinking we were just catching up as friends.”
He chuckled. “We are but I figured I’d test how you responded to me touching you. You do know that for this whole thing to be believable you have to act natural when I invade your personal space. We’re supposed to have been dating for a month now and if you flinch at any point and someone notices then we’re done for.”
He got up and moved to the other side of the booth, sliding in next to you. What the hell was he doing? Why was he so close all of a sudden? Was he always this handsome? You shook your head and looked at him with a confused expression on your face. “Chen what are you doing?”
He cocked his head as though you should already know the answer to your question but when you made no attempt at speaking again he sighed and filled you in. “We are going to sit here and chat until you act natural with me being so close to you, with me looking into your eyes, with me touching you. If we can’t master this then there’s no point in going through with it.”
You furrow your brow and ask. “So...we’re acting like we’re a couple now?”
He nods, a playful grin spreading across his face. “Yep. A smitten couple. One month in you’re still clinging to each other, still completely absorbed in one another, inseparable. So if you want to pull this lie off, you need to get comfortable with me.”
So you sit there, incredibly close to Chen and continue chatting. Now that there wasn’t a table separating the two of you he’s even more disarming. You knew he was handsome having sat in a karaoke bar and stared at him on more than one occasion but that was when he floored you with his voice, after that you really looked at him and noticed the handsome man that lay beneath his bright and joking demeanour. You’d never been this close to him before though. He’d swiveled you so that you were facing him and pulled you closer to him. His hand rested on your thigh while the other alternated between playing with your fingers, holding your hand and brushing your hair off your face. His touch was somehow gentle and firm at the same time and his hands were warm, you could still feel where he touched you after his hand had moved away.
Maintaining eye contact was the difficult part. His deep brown eyes told you more than his words did and you were afraid you’d see pity in them if you stared for too long. The last thing you wanted was his pity, you knew you were pathetic and he’d been doing a wonderful job at making you forget how pathetic you were but you couldn’t help that niggling voice from returning to tell you that he was only doing this whole fake boyfriend thing because it amused him.
Every time you broke eye contact he’d squeeze your thigh or lift your head back up to look at him before starting again. He leant forward and whispered in your ear at one point. “The sooner you stop averting your gaze, the sooner you can go home and get ready for this party. If you can’t do it then I guess our deal is off which would be a shame since we’ve put in at least two hours of work at this point.” When he leant back you saw the smirk on his face and you steeled your resolve. You could do this. You could hold eye contact and withstand his touches and act like a smitten couple and you would do it to prove to him that you could.
The next time you break eye contact it’s not because of fear of judgement or pity. It’s because you felt something. Something about his gaze and his touches had made you feel too hot. You’d felt exposed and you wanted to run away or throw yourself at him and you were embarrassed. “Ah wae! You were doing so well!” He exclaimed and you tried to brush it off as nothing. He made you repeat the task again until you were able to hold eye contact the entire time. You were certain that you’d gone a shade of pink or red by the time you passed Chen’s tests but if you were he said nothing.
His eyes and touches made you feel warm and on edge and you were trying your hardest to keep yourself together but you kept noticing his gaze, his inviting lips, his arms, his legs, his touch and you were going a little insane. Did he sense it too? Or was he just playing his role? You had no idea but you needed to leave this cafe soon before you made a fool of yourself. “Chen, thank you for helping me. I still don’t know why you’re helping me but I’m choosing just to go with it at this point. I need to get back to work so I can leave on time to get ready for this party.” He checks his watch and lets you know he should be getting back too. He pays for your drink and snack then heads back to work & tells you he’ll pick you up at 7 at your place so the two of you can go over the plan once more. He smiles and gives you a quick hug before leaving.
***
Quit acting like a moron and get ready. It’s fake so of course he was acting sweet and endearing, it’s his role, nothing more. Ever since you’d left the cafe you’d been feeling strange. It had felt like you’d seen him, really seen him, for the first time and it was having an effect on you. You kept thinking about him, about his warm eyes, his mischievous lips, his charming words and his proximity to you. Every small touch he made seared into your skin, every gesture, every glance, it all felt too intimate and it was driving you crazy. You hadn’t counted on your emotions not realising that he was only acting that way because of the arrangement the two of you had. He’d been right, if you hadn’t spent the extra time getting comfortable being so close and touchy with each other then tonight would be a bust. Apparently your brain had decided to ignore the arrangement and instead focused on how his touches made you feel and how he smelled, the way his arms flexed when he moved, they way he looked at you. It clouded your vision and you felt too hot and overwhelmed. You’d been glad to leave the cafe before you did anything stupid and the fresh air was a welcome change to the encompassing tension of everything Chen you were now experiencing.
You stared in the mirror as you evaluated your outfit. The dress you chose was cute, a retro 50’s style pin up dress so it showed just enough cleavage, nipped in at your waist then poofed out into a full skirt. The couples party had a retro theme and the dress coupled with flawless make up and rockabilly hairstyle made you fit the part perfectly. You had no idea what Chen was going to wear but he told you he had it covered and you were willing to believe him. You kept trying to remind yourself not to read into anything tonight and not to let your emotions take over because you were going to pretend to be smitten with this guy and you had the slightest fear that you would feel sad and alone after he dropped you home tonight. You needed to go through with it though. If this was the only way you got to give Suho and your friends a piece of your mind about how unfair and terrible they were as friends then so be it.
A knock at the door pulled you from your thoughts. You make your way to your front door and open it. You had spent a decent amount of time trying to guess what Chen would wear tonight and for some reason you’d kept landing on suit as the option but you were wrong. Standing in front of you was temptation. He was dressed in blue jeans, a white v-neck tee and a black leather jacket. He’d gelled his hair back and looked like he’d stepped out of Grease or Crybaby. You sent a silent curse to the universe because he looked so good that it wasn’t fair. The suffocating tension that you felt earlier returned tenfold and you could do little more than stare at him.
His mouth quirked up into a smirk as he watched you stare at him unabashedly. He leant against your doorframe and watched as you tried to compose yourself. It gave him plenty of time to stare at you. “Hi doll.”
The only words you could get out were “How dare you.”
He quirked an eyebrow at you encouraging you to elaborate. “How dare I what?”
“How dare you turn up looking like this. You know it’s rude to look better than your date don’t you?”
He chuckles and very obviously gives you a once over. “Clearly you haven’t looked in the mirror because you, you look amazing.” You looked beautiful, more than beautiful, incredible. And sexy. Something he was not prepared for. He was prepared for cute and for pretty but not for the bombshell standing before him.
As his eyes raked over you you felt yourself heating up. “So, uh… are you gonna let me in or are we conducting this discussion purely in the doorway? I don’t mind either way but I’d like to know so I can get comfortable if you aren’t letting me in.” His words brought you back to reality and you finally remembered your manners. You stepped aside and let him enter the room.
As you closed the door his hand grabbed you, spinning you around and pulling you into an embrace. You were glad he couldn’t see the blush forming on your face. “So, how did we meet?”
He was testing you again. You tried to remind your brain of this fact but it was no use, it was giving in to the feeling of having Chen pressed against you and part of you couldn’t blame it...it was a damn nice feeling. But it wasn’t real. “We met a few years ago through work when I was an intern.” you responded, running your hands along his firm arms.
He rubs circles into your hips with his thumbs. “How long have we been dating?”
You rested your head in the crook of his neck as you replied, your body betraying you as you tried to get closer to him. “Just over a month now.”
He lowered his head and whispered in your ear. “Why are we only dating now?”
The feel of his hands roaming over you was making you light headed as you tried to concentrate on answering him. “W-we were both seeing other people at the time so we were only ever friends. We ran into each other a month ago and hit it off. The rest is history.”
“Now this if more like it, you aren’t awkward at our proximity. I can officially say that you stand a chance of fooling these ‘friends’ of yours tonight.” He detached himself from you and stepped back, smiling down at you.
See, it’s an act. He’s just putting on an act. He isn’t feeling what you’re feeling. Why would he? Your subconscious, ever the downer, decides to rear its head and berate you with negative thoughts. It usually waited until after the date before it ruthlessly came for you but it was determined to make an early start tonight.
You forced a smile and hoped that Chen didn’t notice it. “Then your method of teaching was a success.”
He stepped forward, cupping your face in his hands, his eyes laced with concern. “Are you ok?”
Apparently he did notice the shift in your demeanour. You tried to nod which must have looked ridiculous since his hands hadn’t left your face. “I’m good, just nervous. I promise.”
He didn’t move away. He stayed there, hands holding your face as his eyes darted to assess if you were being truthful or not. His gaze didn’t meet your eyes as he spoke quietly, voice lower than it had been moments ago. “You know, there is one thing we haven’t covered off on.”
“What’s that?” You whispered.
“Where we had our first kiss.” His eyes lifted to look you in the eyes now as he tried to gauge your reaction.
You didn’t miss the way he licked his lips or the way his eyes kept dropping to stare at your mouth. Your brain was a mess and couldn’t work out if this was another test or if he was flirting with you now. All you knew in that moment was that you really wanted him to kiss you. “I, well, wouldn’t it be a month ago when you walked me home. We would have kissed on my door stop before you, ever the gentleman, took your leave.” You let your eyes fall to his lips, they looked soft and inviting and you really wanted to know what they’d feel like, what he’d taste like. Would his kiss be soft or would it be demanding?
“Oh, did you think I was a gentleman?” He moved his hand to push a strand of your hair back behind your ear and your breath hitched. He stilled and searched your eyes for any sign that he should stop and he found none. “Fuck it.” he breathed before closing the distance between the two of you and pressed his lips against yours.
For a moment you couldn’t do anything except stand there but then your body seemed to remember how to react and you reciprocated, kissing him back with fervour. He help you against him as your mouths moved and your kiss deepend. His lips were incredibly soft and skilled, which you silently thanked the universe for, and you could barely get enough of them.
The two of you parted only to catch your breaths as he pressed his forehead against yours. “Sorry if I overstepped a boundary or something but I’ve been wanting to do that for hours.”
“Don’t you dare apologise Chen.” His eyes widened as you pulled his face back down to yours and kissed his again, your tongue flicking against his as he walked you backwards until you were pressed against the wall. You could barely remember how to breathe as he peppered kisses along your jaw and neck before returning to your mouth and drawing your bottom lip between his teeth, causing you to moan.
Things only escalated from there, clothes were hastily stripped from your bodies as you made your way down the hall to your bedroom, leaving a trail of discarded garments in your wake, only breaking contact to lift his shirt over his head. Your kisses became more urgent and passionate as he pushed you down onto the bed.
The only word you have to describe the sex is ravaging. As you lie next to him, both of you panting trying to catch your breaths and have your heart rates return to normal you replay the events that just occurred. He’d pushed you down onto the bed and positioned himself at the end of the bed with his head between your legs. You’d tried to close your legs out of embarrassment but he held them open, telling you that you looked beautiful like this, all spread out just for him. He nipped, sucked and licked until you were a writhing mess begging for him to let you cum. He led you to the edge of your release repeatedly but backed off right before it hit you. “Do you want to cum doll? Maybe you should show me just how much you want me to let you cum.”
He stood at the end of the bed as you knelt on it and took his length into your mouth, working him over with vigour and need. He’d hissed and moaned when you took all of him in your mouth and moaned, telling you just how well you sucked cock. He didn’t let you finish him off. He pushed you back onto your back and pinned your hands above your head before entering you in one thrust. You’d cried out at the stretch and he’d stilled as you adjusted to him. When he started moving again you saw stars. He would alternate between rolling his hips and relentlessly pounding into you and soon enough you were screaming his name and begging for him to let you cum. This time he complied, chasing his own release shortly after yours crashed over you.
You giggled and he turned his head to look at you. “We’re going to be late now.” He laughed and pulled you against him to snuggle.
***
The party was more or less a success. You had turned up with Chen on your arm and hung out with your friends. It was almost too easy to forget why you were pissed with them when you were enjoying catching up on their lives and they were so engaged with yours but you didn’t forget.
When Suho came up to tell you how glad he was that Chen had come into your life so that you weren’t sad and alone any more you snapped. You told him in no uncertain terms that if it took having a boyfriend for him to want to catch up with you then he could shove his friendship up his ass because you deserved better. You didn’t hold back - you told him how upset you had been when all you wanted to do was hang out with your friends but you were rejected time and time again because you were alone. You told him how worthless he made you feel and how he should be ashamed of how he’d acted.
The party fell silent as everyone stood in shock at your outburst. After a few moments you heard a slow whistle followed by Baekhyun’s voice. “Dude, you fucked uuuup.” You turned on him next.
“No Baekhyun. All of you fucked up.” He shut up after that.
When you were done telling all of them just how terribly they’d treated you Chen took your arm and gently pulled you to him. “I think we’ll be taking our leave now.”
He took you home. The ride home was silent as he let you process your thoughts and emotions. He rested his hand on the console, palm facing up as an invitation to take his hand should you need it. You didn’t need it but you wanted the comfort of his touch so you took it and he gently squeezed your hand.
“For the record, you did the right thing and for what it’s worth I’m proud of you.” He paused. “I could see the internal struggle you were having all night and I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to go through with your plan.” His tone was so gentle and it made you feel warm and safe.
“Until I did it I honestly didn’t know if I would.” You whispered. He squeezed your hand again and continued driving in silence. When you arrived at your home he walked you up to your doorstep and embraced you. You relaxed into the hug and smiled.
“So, now comes the business end of my deal.” You stiffened at his words. You’d completely forgotten that he had told you there would be a price for having him pretend to be your boyfriend. Apprehension seeped through your veins as you waited for him to enlighten you.
His silence got the better of you. “What’s the price?”
“A real date. In three days time.” He watched your face break out into a genuine smile, one he could get used to seeing, before you pulled him down into a kiss.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!
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theda-rison · 4 years
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Camp Nano July 2020 - Results, Discussion, and Conclusion
the Like, wow, Scoob! 
Camp Nano July 2020 is done, and here are some thoughts:
I always knew that writing a comic script was going to be a learning experience - I’ve never written a comic script so it really couldn’t be anything except for a learning experience - but hoooooo boy, was it ever!
Before starting I couldn’t find anything on how long comic scripts normally are; I don’t know why, that just seems information that isn’t really shared? (If anyone knows of a resource, please send it to me!) I’m guessing it has a lot to do with there just being less comic writers than there are say, book writers and movie writers. That’s probably what happens when your interests are niche in some way, it’s just harder to find anything about them.
FORTUNATELY, I have the fancy library-bound volumes of The Sandman, and there’s excerpts of the scripts in the back. Which like… thank you @neil-gaiman​, or whoever made that decision, because being able to look at an actual script and see how it’s formatted and what’s included has been the biggest help. Even the “How to Write a Comic Script!” videos I found on YouTube didn’t have example scripts which... I don’t know, I don’t get it. Please include examples, comic YouTubers. I am confusion.
Now is the time for a sexy graph, because we are the kind of people who keep Excel spreadsheets of word counts and make graphs for fun.
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Anyway, let’s look at…
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[Good. I was listening to As The World Falls Down by David Bowie over and over, and now this is stuck in my head again. I don’t know why I do these things to myself. Also, I love Peter Tork’s face during some of the “AAAHHHH”s lol]
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I can’t remember if I stated this before or during Camp at any point, but my goal was 60k words. I dislike aspiring for un-round numbers like “1667″ every day. Any number I could possibly pick is arbitrary, but for some reason the classic Nanowrimo number of 1667 seems even more arbitrary. “2000″ is a much better number. And, I can generally write 2000 words in two hours before running out of steam, so it works out well. It also divides better.
Having said that, you might be thinking, “Theda, the end Actual number on your graph is a lot closer to 90k than it is 60k,” and you would be right, good eyes. Were I Brandon Sanderson and you were one of my students, I would toss you a gummi bear. As it is, you’re not my student and I have no gummi bears and I’m not even Brandon Sanderson… so life is just upsetting I guess.
[But I am back to listening to As The World Falls Down, so I suppose it all works out.]
Back to the graph: The Actual. Look at this wavy-fucking-scalloped-fucking progression. Look at it. I can’t tell if it makes me happy or angry or what, but I know it gives me some kind of feeling. I think I like it from a purely aesthetic point of view, but from the point of the view of the person who made it, it annoys me.
I had a couple of days where I - in my infinite stupidity - didn’t really elaborate on what was supposed to happen in some of the scenes in my scene list and so I spent my “Writing!” time (as it’s labeled in my planner) not writing, but looking at the page cursing myself for not having written any directions for me, a directionless person.
You may also notice that the Goal bars suddenly jump up on the 24th day,. That’s because - in my infinite wisdom - I redid my goals after reaching 60k. It just makes more sense to me to be like, “Well, I punched that goal in the face. Let’s try and go WAY overboard,” because I have the Too Much gene and as Henry Rollins says: “Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” I wouldn’t say that’s a personal philosophy so much as a Thing I Am Compelled To Do Or I Will Die.
But that’s just me.
As for the trend line, I prefer it looking more steep because that’s way more gratifying, but that’s what I get for writing parts of my scene list like, “That’s okay, Future Me will take care of it!” Past Me, you are a dick and you need to stop doing these things. You are a bastard.
Now for the table! 
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[I’m sorry if that’s very small.]
And this time I’m showing you the actual table I use to write down my words. Complicated? Yes. Sexy? Very yes. A little annoying? Also yes. Do we get a little worried that she works too hard and refuses to take a vacation? We do, but we also know that she does it because she loves her work, and we love and support her and bring her snacks throughout the workday to keep her going. What a great table.
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First of all: Yes, my first writing block is at 4am. It’s because I have a day job and if I write from 4-6 I can use my brain right when it’s freshly slumbered instead of using it for nonsense at work all day and being unable to write and aggravated because my mental capacity is nil and I no longer know what words are. In an ideal world I would be able to write all day but, here we are.
You might notice there’s a lot of 0’s in the 4am block, especially in the fourth week, and that’s more so because - in my infinite infiniteness (infinity?) - I am secretly an ice giant (but like, smaller) and it’s summer and the northern hemisphere is Too Hot and I literally will not be able to sleep at night until about December. Until then, I am forced to understand what it’s like to be a jacket potato for half of the year so I can empathize with their starchy pain because this is, for whatever reason, Important.
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It me. (Recipe)
Anyway,
My record day was 7519 on the 10th, which is just sexy and fun and cool and everything we want, and my lowest was a big fat 0 on the 16th.
I felt super motivated for reasons I don’t remember on the 10th. This is because I didn’t have my planner yet and was not keeping notes anywhere else at that time. (It’s an undated Daily Passion Planner, in case you’re also a slut for planners and wish to know ;) ). I think I was trying to do a 10k day just for funzies? Which, technically, at 2k words in 2 hours I should be able to do 10k in 5, but cell phones exist (and are too distracting), and until I shed my corporeal form I still have to do things like “make food and eat it,” and “get up to pee,” and “experience all the vagaries and horrors of human existence.” I’m hoping it clears up soon. 
The 16th was the day that Future Me took Past Me by the hand and said, “My good bitch, you need to stop doing that thing where you leave shit for me because you run out of motivation or executive function or whatever the fuck is happening where you decide you don’t want to do something anymore, seemingly at random. You deciding to leave school before the day even started because you were bored may have been cute when you were a kid - and also annoying for everyone around you, and just alarming that time they had to pry your hands off the door molding as you held on to it and screamed - but as an adult you are both the cause of and the person who has to deal with this bullshit, and you need to stop.”
On the 16th I went to the Shrine of the Self (sorry, I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately) and made an offering for forgiveness, and then hunkered down and added a TON of notes and partially written scenes to my scene list. You can see how much that helped; it’s almost like having direction is actually useful, lol.
BUT, despite all that direction and despite punching my goal in the face, breaking it’s glasses, and taking it’s lunch money, the script is not finished!
Here’s some math as of the 23rd:
There are 124 points in my outline On the 23rd, I had completed 44 of those points, at 363 pages or 59,601 words 124 / 44 = 2.81 Now we check: 44 * 2.81 = 123.6 (close enough) So as of the 23rd, the projection for completing the script was: 363 * 2.81 = 1,020 pages 59,601 * 2.81 = 157,479 words
Now, I don’t know what the fuck that means because I don’t really do numbers, but at the time of the 23rd it looked an awful lot like I wasn’t going to finish this Camp project. And uh… hey, that was correct.
So I’m going to be continuing Camp Nano July 2020, but also in August 2020, over about 20 more days (providing I hit my goal every day.)
So:
IF -> I need to get up to 158,000; 158,000 - 86,000 = 72,000 words need to be written. (I'm rounding the total up because I canNOT imagine this script being somehow smaller than that at this point, and I’m rounding my Camp total down because who cares about 72 words?) I divided 72,000 from a few numbers until I got a word goal I was okay with, that I think I can do, here’s that one: 72,000 / 20 days = 3,600 words a day (This would mean I can either do 2k in the morning and then 1600 later, or the reverse. You know, whatever way I feel spicy that day.) THEN -> I need to write 3,600 words a day for 20 days to (hopefully) finish this script before work picks up at the end of August.
And then I’ll chill from the end of August - October (except for maybe some short stories or essays. I have a lot of Thoughts and they need to be purged from my brain for my own good). And then I’ll use Nanowrimo Classic (November) to edit this fucker.
SO… that’s some stuff.
As I said at the beginning this endeavor was only ever going to be a learning experience. Having to write 158k words total doesn’t scare me, the longest thing I’ve written yet was something like 190k words. Trying to finish it before the end of August is the daunting part. Especially since being able to be creative right now just keeps making my brain puke out more ideas, and then there’s too many ideas and I’m just writing them all down and hopefully I can get to them later.
Anyway, good job on Camp Nano July 2020 everyone! We did it!
And if you didn’t do it: don’t worry, you’ll do it next time :D
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Bitch, I’m Incognito by Rin_Did_It
Status: In Progress
Ships: Todoroki/Midoriya, Shinso/Kaminari, Aizawa/Yamada, Dabi/Hawks,
Rated: M (there’s (according to my memory) a singular smut scene in the entire thing. I can’t think of anything else that would give it an M but that’s what it’s rated soooo)
Word Count: 194K
Summary: “When a villain blew up Midoriya Izuku’s apartment complex at the age of nine, everyone believed Endeavor when he said the boy was dead. Except he wasn’t.
With two best friends at his side, and six years of vigilantism under his belt, he decides they’re going to Yuuei. As vigilantes. This is going to be fun.”
Very nice Vigilante Midoriya. We also have Vigilante Hatsume and Vigilante Shinso which I adore. They make a fabulous team. Some brilliant plays from Hatsume and a sibling bond between the three of them make for hilarious banter.
Oh, Baby! by RussianSunflower3
Status: Dead (Probably)
Rated: T
Word Count: 103K
Summary: “Whilst out on a supply run for the dorms, Midoriya bumps into a small child. The child accidentally uses his quirk in surprise, and Midoriya is infected by a virus. It only lasts 24 hours, and can only infect one person at a time, although it is contagious.
But what exactly is the virus?
Well…
It regresses their age.”
In which the class becomes babies one by one. Kinda adorable. Sad that it’s unfinished. If I’m remembering correctly, there’s some serious angst that pops up, and the fact that its a dead fic does not help with that. I still love it though.
You know that thing where an orchestra swaps instruments, and like, some of them get it right away, but others have no clue what they’re doing? This is that but with quirks, two unwilling participants, and also Emotions by Sif
Status: Complete
Rated: T
Word Count: 13K
Summary: “Momo wasn't sure why it came as such a shock to her and her classmates that nitroglycerin was not, in fact, easy to control. The chemical was defined by it's instability, it's ability to go off under near any circumstances, it's powerful blows.
And yet, Katsuki had always made it look so simple. He soared through the air like it was nothing, switching between bullet-sized blasts and missile levels of firepower like most people switched channels on TV. Momo had found herself jealous of his quirk at times, unable to help wondering what it would be like to have such power at her fingertips.
Good news, she didn't have to wonder anymore. Bad news, it was absolutely terrible.”
I LOVE THIS ONE. Serious insight into Bakugo’s quirk. And Momo content. Which is almost always a win. It’s a one shot, but does have a home in a series called Nitroglycerin’s Parables.
Boku No Toddler Academia by Todobaku-Shoukat
Status: Complete
Rated: G
Word Count: 37K
Summary: “Fuck, Bakugou thinks as he runs to class. He is terribly late. He throws open the doors, expecting to see his classmates sparring. What he sees instead are crying toddlers and a very stressed looking All Might.”
Bakugo is essentially a mother to too many children. Very sweet. Features a much softer Bakugo who somehow knows how to parent. The villains are here too and they are also pretty adorable as children.
Katsuki and Izuku’s Excellent Adventure(s) by pepperfield
Status: Complete
Ships: Bakugo/Kirishima, Midoriya/Everyone
Rated: T
Word Count: 13K
Summary: ““Karaoke, Kacchan.” Deku slams his palms on the table, fire in his eyes. “I need a rematch.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
With his boyfriend out of town and the crime rate up, Bakugou hasn't been having a great week. Deku does his best to make things worse.”
A short series of shenanigans that Katsuki and Izuku get into while being pro heros. Bakugo just barely tolerates Midoriya.
Fifty Shades of Tired by ihopethelightwillshineupon
Status: Complete
Rated: T
Word Count: 10K
Summary: “The 1-A dorms hold a bunch of insomniacs. Many of these kids spend their nights in the common room, wide awake.
Some of those nights are quiet, boring, and annoying. Most nights… aren’t.
Mostly because UA’s teachers are idiots. And because they tend to waltz into the 1-A dorms in the dead of night with problems they don’t want to admit they have.
These are five completely normal nights in 1-A’s common room.
Or: 4 times the UA teachers need help from their students, and 1 time it’s actually the other way around.”
Adorable. The teachers are a mess. As they should be. With what they have to put up with.
Five Kittens and an Uphill Battle by tricklesnitz
Status: Complete
Ships: Aizawa/Yamada
Rated: G
Word Count: 9K
Summary: ““Honestly, I’d have to write up everyone involved with this,” Aizawa continues. “But…” He pauses, eyeing the bed. “Does that bed warm up, or is that Todoroki’s job? How old are they? How will you feed them if Kouda can’t find the mother? Do you have kitten formula if they aren’t weaned?”
AKA: Class 1-A finds kittens, and caring for them becomes a class projects.”
It’s SO CUTE. They got so attached to the babies and Baku was actually kinda nice. So that’s nice.
Puppet Master by KrumbleKitty
Status: In Progress
Rated: N/A (I’d probably rate it T or just slightly higher)
Word Count: 361K
Summary: “Quirks. Superpowers that most anyone holds nowadays. Quirks can range from anything from running a millisecond faster to the strength to change the weather with just one punch from the wind pressure it generates. Quirks are everything. Quirks define who you are. Every child is elated to discover their quirk and find out who they truly are. This happens around the ripe age of four years old. Some are natural-born heroes. Others are perfect for other occupations such as baking or being an artist. With such a high hope for the future that a quirk brings, one would think they would be happy to discover theirs and reveal just how useful they can be.
But…
What happens when your quirk dictates you as nothing more than a doll to be used by others?
Izuku Midoriya found out four-years-old that not all people are created equally.
He found out when he drew the short end of the stick of luck and ended up with a quirk worse than quirklessness.
He's dealt with it long enough.
Now it's time for Izuku to take hold of his own strings and stop letting others control his life. He won't be a doll forever.”
I absolutely adore this fic. The ACI are hilarious together (you’ll understand if you read it). The beginning is rough. Because abuse is a thing. And then it gets better. And then it gets so much worse so quickly. We’re on the road to recovery right now (77 chapters in) but still kinda painful.
7 notes · View notes
uglypastels · 6 years
Text
The Origin - Peter Parker  (1/2)
(a/n) This story if for @starksparker 10k writing challenge (congratulations and wow, you’re awesome!! <3) The prompt I chose was: #80 - “I like that color on you”.  I hope it’s as much of a joy to read as it was to write. 
I also want to give a big (like galaxy sized) shoutout to @andwhatdostarsdobest for helping/editing the shit out of this. Thank you for making this story readable. 
word count: 9927 
warning: cursing, sick Peter (so maybe angsty idk), fluff, some horrible jokes and references. 
The story ended up becoming much longer than I had anticipated. So stay tuned for part 2!!
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“When do you think they will finally let us go home?” Peter heard the whispers behind him. He looked at his watch. It was around 2 o’clock. There was still two hours to go until the end of the trip. He had the urge to answer the question but knew it wasn’t directed toward him.
The girls behind him kept giggling, he wished they would shut up so he could hear the lab guide better.
“Hey, shut it.” Another voice spoke up from the crowd.  Peter, was, for a moment, convinced it was his voice but no, it couldn’t be, it was too high,  And it came from behind him. His eyes, which had been glued to the guide for most of the lecture, wandered off to the side where they landed on (Y/N). She was clad in her usual oversized sweater, fading into the crowd of bored teenagers. Her backpack casually hanging off one shoulder. The girls she had been talking to rolled their eyes and started laughing as they walked away to the side of the group. (Y/N) fidgeted with the sleeves of her sweater, pulling them down over her hands. She had been staring hard at the ground, but when she lifted her head, her gaze pierced right through Peter. It’s a weird sensation sensing someone watching you, Peter was sure that’s why she hadn’t looked him in the eyes. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable he mustered a half-smile before returning his gaze to the guide.
They had been sharing lessons ever since their enrollment at  Midtown High. Except for the conventional ask for a pen, they had never really talked much. In freshman year they did a project together for biology class, but in the age of Google Drive and shared documents, they barely needed to talk.
Still, Peter couldn’t help but feel intrigued by the girl. She had this something about her that made Peter want to get to know her. That something had always been there, nagging at the back of his mind whenever he saw her but each time his nerves got the better of him.  Peter mentally cursed himself for his anxiety
“Here at Oscorp Lab, we have spent many years trying to find out as much as we can about Vita Radiation,” the guide said,  moving to the side where a big window of, what Peter assumed to be, thick bulletproof glass,  separated them from a group of scientists in radiation suits.
“Our highest priority in this research has always been to try and recreate Erskine’s infamous Project Rebirth, of which you may have heard of in your history class-”
“-wasn’t that done in secret and illegally?” Michelle’s voice broke out from the back of the group. Their guide stared blankly at the group of teenagers before breaking out into an exasperated smile, disregarding Michelle’s accusation and continuing his story.. Peter snorted at the situation.
________________________________________
Half an hour later than planned, the group was finally standing on the steps leading to and away from the labs. Peter sat down on one of the higher steps, further away from the rest of the class. It would still be another minute or five before the bus would get there. He sighed, looking down at his fellow students... most of whom were on their phones. Joining them, Peter pulled his phone from his pocket and started scrolling mindlessly through his apps. There weren’t any notifications for him to check, so what else could he do?
A high pitched scream penetrated the silence, capturing his attention. A  few laughs followed. Peter’s gaze shifted from the screen in front of him. People were laughing even harder now, as the yelps and little screams continued. He scrambled up to get a better look. (Y/N) was stood a few steps below, moving vigorously, her arms flapping wildly around her as if she was trying to shake something off... It looked like she needed help.
Peter rushed down the stairs to help her, arriving just in time to catch her. Her chaotic movements had caused her to lose her balance and teeter dangerously close to the edge of the step... He reached out pulling her back before any harm was done.  Peter was a humble guy but he couldn’t help but expect some kind of thank you, even if it was only small. Instead, she whimpered, “gerroff! Gerroff!” He didn’t understand what she was saying until he noticed something in her hair. It was small, but the color contrasted deeply with her hair.
“Wait! Stand still,” he instructed. (Y/N) stopped moving. Her lip was quivering slightly, her hands shaking. Peter reached out to the strand of hair in which the small spider was hanging. He hated spiders, but that only made him understand (Y/N)’s reaction even more and he was determined to help her out.
Fighting back his own fears, he tried to keep his hand steady as possible. The creature scuttled up and down, causing (Y/N) to close her eyes and stiffen up. She bit down hard on her lip, attempting to hold in her brewing screams, and Peter was pretty sure she was holding her breath too.
Peter tried getting the spider one more time. He stepped a little closer and cupped the eight-legged abomination in his hands. When he stepped away, he saw all the muscles in her body relax.
“Thank you,” the words came out a mere whisper. They were looking at each other for a few seconds until Peter remembered that he could talk.
“Yeah, no problem” he breathed out a smile, “I- ouch! Oh shit!” A pain erupted from his hand and shot through his whole body. (Y/N)’s relief had made him completely forget about the spider encased in his palm. The spider was sick of being stuck in his grip too, apparently, because when he opened up his hands he saw the arachnoid poised in the middle... A red circle surrounding it. He looked at it in shock. The bastard had actually bitten him?! Was he going to die? Every possible outcome rushed through his mind, none of them resulting in a happy ending. How would he tell Aunt May? She would be so mad if he died on a school field trip. Nausea coursed through him and his head felt light. He couldn’t tell if it was from the bite or the prospect of his furious aunt. The spider twitched on his palm, making his skin itch. Without thinking, he shook his hand. The spider fell off and disappeared from view. Peter searched, but couldn’t see it anywhere. That’s what he always hated the most about spiders, the way they could roughly vanish into thin air. He felt very uneasy knowing it could be anywhere.
“Are you okay?” The soft voice brought him back. His eyes meeting (Y/N)’s.
“Huh? Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” he paused thinking of the right words, not wanting to stir panic within her, “are you okay? you almost fell and you know...”
“Yes, I’m good. Thank you, again,” she blushed. Peter thought she looked really cute. The way her cheeks had this soft pink glow against hair fair skin. “But didn’t it bite you?” She raised her eyebrow. Peter hoped she hadn’t seen that. He pulled down the sleeve of his sweater so it would cover his hand. “Nah, I’m fine.”
“So, what was that ouch all about.” There was an amused expression on her face. Peter wanted to say something, but no words came out. After a while, he stammered out, “cramp.”
“Cramp?” she scoffed, clearly not believing any of it. Peter nodded to try and assure her this was the case. The sound of screeching wheels below interrupted the awkward conversation. The two of them looked down at the bottom of the steps where the giant yellow school bus had just rolled to a stop. Peter wanted to get away from the confrontation so he started making his way downstairs, walking fast, faces passed. Peter hummed the piano melody when somebody called out his name, in some way or another…
“Hey, Penis Parker!” Flash yelled out from above him. Peter stopped and turned around. “Do you want your stuff?” Flash was standing next to his backpack.
“Oh, yeah, thanks, Flash.” He was walking up to meet him, but Flash had other plans.
He picked up Peter’s bag and practically yeeted it down at his owner. There was a $200 graphic calculator in it and aunt May would most likely kill him if he broke it. Fearing Aunt May’s wrath, Peter jumped up trying to catch it. His usually horrible reflexes gone as he grabbed it just in time. Another shot of pain rushed through him. Why did he have to catch it with that hand? He almost dropped the backpack as his whole arm went numb from pain.
“Oh right, totally fine,” he heard (Y/N) mumble from the bottom of the stairs. She rolled her eyes and headed off for the bus. Feeling defeated and a bit humiliated, Peter stayed behind, frozen on the steps. There was this feeling at the bottom of his stomach. This mix of nervous nausea and general sickness feeling his guts.
Peter could feel the ground underneath him shake as the rest of his classmates walked to the bus as well. Ned walked up to him, “at least you tried.” Ned gave him a little pat on the shoulder and more uncomfortable sensations littered throughout his body. They felt like ten thousand knives stabbing him in the shoulder, traveling all the way to his fingertips. He had to hold in a groan and the few tears collecting in his eyes.
Ned turned around to look at Peter when he realized his best friend wasn’t walking behind him. “Pete, let’s go.”
“Yeah, okay.” But Peter didn’t move. Ned had to get up the stairs again and drag Peter down himself.
“You’re pathetic, you know that?” Ned said as he grabbed him by the arm. More pain flushed through Peter. Through slightly gritted teeth, he managed to say: “Yeah, I know.”
They made their way over to the bus, the last ones to get inside. Ned walked ahead of Peter, finding his way to their usual seats. Peter would normally join him, but his legs were buckling beneath him. He fell into the first seat he reached and sank against the window. The cold glass cooled down his now boiling face. It also sent chills down his spine. He was sure his body temperature would break a thermometer, and the pain was spreading from his arm to his chest and right through to his feet. Maybe he was really dying. All those jokes he made were coming to bite him in the ass. He definitely didn’t feel so smarmy now. Everything hurt so much.
His painful thoughts had to be interrupted when his whole body started to shake. Oh, he was having a seizure? Why not. Only he wasn’t, because he heard a voice: “Peter, Peter!” Two hands gripped his shoulders. Peter groaned, pain bursting into him again, as he opened his eyes. When did he even close them?
“What?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. His arm ached with every small movement. He could feel someone looking at him.
“You have to get up unless you want to stay on the bus for the whole night.” It was Ned. Chuckling. Peter didn’t understand, but then he looked out the window and saw that the bus was standing in front of the school. How? When? Did he fall asleep? Did he already die and this was heaven… no, this was school - he was in hell!
Very slowly, he managed to pull himself up, the pain not subsiding for even a moment. Cold sweat pooled at his forehead and begun to trail down it in small, uneven lines.  The feeling was so intense as his entire body began to shiver. One of his knees was shaking so bad that he almost fell over. If it wasn’t for Ned catching him, he would have hit his face in the seat of the bus bench.  
“Are you okay?” Ned asked, still holding on to him. Peter pulled himself together. Clearing his dry throat, he managed to make out: “Yeah, yeah, just a bit sick.”
He picked his backpack up from the seat next to him. Stupidly using that hand again. Ned was still looking at him, so Peter bit his lip and pushed through it. He pulled the backpack over his shoulder, it still hurt but not so intensely as his hand. Ned gave his friend a concerned look. Peter just smiled through his pain. Yes, just smile while you feel like you’re being skinned alive. Just like any other day. Except it’s much worse. So, so much worse.
His internal monologue almost blocked out Ned’s voice. Peter could see his lips move and he knew there were words coming out of them, but everything just sounded like an air horn. His head hurt. Not getting any answer, Ned walked away, glancing back at Peter a few times before leaving the bus. Peter was now the only one left in the vehicle. Even the driver had gotten out, probably ready to smoke a cigarette after a full day driving around teenagers.
Step by step, he made his way outside, clinging onto anything he could to steady himself. Immediately, he was blasted by the sun, and a blistering feeling covered his corneas. Since when was it so bright in New York? He almost tripped, forgetting the last step. Thankfully, there was nobody around him to bear witness to that.  Nobody to see him walk clumsily to the subway station, reminiscent of a Walker from the Walking Dead. Granted, he received a few strange looks from the people on the subway, but Peter had the feeling they had seen stranger things… oh, at least now he knew how Will Byers felt all through season 2. Was the spider possibly from the Upside Down? Was Oscorp a real-life Hawkins Lab? Were they also trying to make a passageway to another dimension? It all made sense...all those weird alien things attacking New York for the past few years… they were just Demogorgons and whatnot.
Peter almost missed his stop. He was falling asleep again. The conspiracy theory about his favorite Netflix show becoming a bit too much for his last two working brain cells, but he knew he had to get back home. If he didn’t, things might end up getting much worse. The doors of the subway slid open and he urged himself forward, head rush hitting as soon as he moved. But by some miracle, he managed to weave past the other commuters and stumble onto the platform... Next followed a walk of thirty minutes which usually took him about ten. Most of the delay was caused by his tempo, his legs hurt too much to keep up his normal speed, but there were a few occasions in which Peter just simply took a wrong turn and almost ended up on the other side of the city. On a few occasions, he actually walked into a dark alley on purpose, his eyes couldn’t take the firing sunbeams anymore. These were all signs, he knew it - death was upon him.
Finally, at his own door. He swallowed, hard, trying to muster the strength to search for his keys. None came. Instead, he weakly knocked on the door, waiting for May to open it. His face felt like a juxtaposition, hot and cold all at once. His knees were now shaking at the weight of the rest of his body and his arms hung heavy by his side. The only thing that was missing was Aunt May’s spaghetti. Yes, this is definitely the time to make horrible jokes. While you are dying in the corridor. If he had the power, he would have kicked himself. Thankfully, the door swung open.
Aunt May appeared in front of him. The smell of her walnut meatloaf perforated the apartment and now the corridor, filling Peter’s nostrils and he was this close to throwing up. It wasn’t even because of the meatloaf, even if it was always a catastrophe, it was more the change for his senses that caused it. The difference in smells made his head spin and his stomach turn.
Aunt May had not been paying attention to the state of her nephew. Peter assumed she was rummaging in the key bowl next to the door. He could hear the tingling of metal in porcelain. The high-pitched noises left a ringing sound in his ears.
“Did you lose your key again? I swear, Pete-” May’s last words faded at the sight of him once she finally looked in his direction. Peter knew he must look horrible. The right word was probably “dead”. He looked dead. At least that is how he felt.
“What’s wrong with you?” She pulled him inside as Peter tumbled into the apartment, his legs giving up on him. If it wasn’t for May, he would have fallen to the ground, face first. She grumbled as she tried to keep him up and steady. Securing her arms around his waist, she managed to direct Peter to the couch, which he fell onto immediately. His eyes closed the moment his head touched the pillow. He couldn’t wait for sleep to properly hit him now.
He could feel a blanket being wrapped around him and a cool hand touching his forehead. It felt amazing. For the last few minutes, he had been feeling like he was stuck in a sauna. He could hear May’s voice in the distance, even though she was right next to him. “Oh Pete, you’re burning up,” May’s concerned voice echoed in his head. He just groaned in agreement. Unconsciously he pulled the sleeve even more over his bitten hand, attempting to hide it from May. He felt the weight of the couch change, telling him that his aunt was now sitting on the other side. There probably wasn’t much space left for her, as he could feel the opposite arm with his feet. May tried to pull his legs up to place them gently on her lap, not wanting to cause Peter anymore discomfort. Except, when his limbs moved, more pain shot through him and Peter practically yelled out in agony. May dropped them in surprise, causing another surge to race through Peter.
“Peter?” there was no real question asked, so he didn’t respond. His eyelids were so heavy now that he couldn’t even blink them open. He didn’t know when, but at some point, he finally fell asleep.
________________________________________
When he woke up, Peter couldn’t move. His barely existent muscles were fiery from the intense pain. Breathing had to be kept to a minimum because heaving his chest hurt too much. His head was throbbing. He could practically feel his brain pulsing, each and every beat adding to his miserable state. His clothes felt drenched from the cold sweat.
There was a knock on the door. Without thinking, Peter answered weakly with a, “come in.” But wasn’t he in the living room? Why would he answer that? He opened his eyes. Above him was not the grey ceiling under which he fell asleep. Instead, he saw the bottom of his bunk bed. How did he get to his own room?
The door of his room opened. Peter closed his eyes again, the glare from the light on the bedside table was too bright for his eyes. It was too painful. Footsteps approached him, they were heavy, definitely not Aunt May’s. The voice that accompanied the steps, verified Peter’s speculations.
“Hey, buddy.” Uncle Ben bowed down to sit next to him on the bed. The switch of the weight in the mattress made Peter shift a bit, causing a wave of pain to run through his ribs. It wasn’t as bad as before, but a small cry still left his lips. He made another attempt at opening his eyes. The light still agitated him, but he worked through it. Soon enough, he saw the broad shape of his uncle sharply in front of him. His sympathetic smile poked from underneath his mustache. He was holding a plate in one hand. Peter could smell burnt toast. Was he having a stroke?!
“Once you feel like you can get up, eat some breakfast, okay? I brought you some toast.” Oh, that explained it. But one thing was still bugging Peter. “Breakfast?” he quizzed his uncle. He hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. Ben chuckled at his confusion. As always, his laugh was casual but mocking at the same time.
“You’ve been knocked out cold for a good fifteen hours, Pete. May called the doctors at least five times.” Peter rose so quickly he felt like he got whiplash. His vision spun for a moment. He was starting to feel sick in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t have been sleeping that long. What was the last time he even slept more than six hours? He couldn’t remember.
“Fif-fifteen hours?” he mumbled as he held his head, trying to keep it steady. Everything was still spinning in front of his eyes hazily.
“Yeah, I brought you to bed after the first few. Thought it might be a bit more comfortable,” he smiled.  Small wrinkles spreading next to his eyes. Showing that even with his great looks, age would catch up with everyone eventually.
Uncle Ben put down the plate near Peter’s legs and got up. He reached out for the pillow lying on the upper bed of the two. After fluffing it for a while he put it behind Peter’s back, who leaned against it immediately.
“Thanks.” Peter sighed satisfied. The spinning in his head finally stopped.
“Well, call us if you need something. Get some rest, and eat if you can.” He leaned down to pat Peter’s knee. A high pitched squeal left his mouth at every touch. It hurt so much.
“Sorry.” His uncle gave him one last, apologetic, smile before walking to the door and closing it behind him, leaving Peter alone. Peter took a few deep breaths. Yes, his body felt like it was on fire and his clothes stuck to his sweaty skin, but on the bright side, at least he didn’t feel like he was about to faint from exhaustion. He was wide awake, in fact. He could finally think straight again.
The empty feeling in his stomach encouraged him to pick up the plate of toast. It was just plain toasted bread, but in his state, Peter knew that it was the safest option. He was hungry and he would like to actually keep the food he ate in him and not puke it out a moment later. He went to grab the plate but froze when he saw his hand. He almost threw up right there.
The red circle that had formed soon after the bite, was now dark purple, almost black. It had also spread over most of his hand drawing all the way back to his wrist - which had swollen tremendously. On the back of his hand, his blue veins taut against his skin and he could swear he could see the blood pumping around them.
But even with the horrible look of it, the hand didn’t hurt anymore. If he closed his eyes, it was almost as if nothing ever happened… almost. But really the pain had simply moved to every other part of his body and squared itself. And then there was the fever and vertigo. What did that spider do to him?
He didn’t want to think about it. It was best not to think about it. Too much thinking about it couldn’t help him anyway. Worst case scenario, he dies. Oh, well. It would happen sooner or later. Of course, later was always much preferred, but… oh, who was he kidding? Peter didn’t want to die. Not like this. Not a vi…
“Peter?” Aunt May’s sleek, brunette hair appeared in the doorway. Like a flash, Peter had buried his bruised and swollen hand deep under the covers. He could only imagine the reaction it would have on her. There was no need for that. Peter just hoped he was quick enough. Fortunately, she didn’t. Taking one step forward she wrinkled her nose, “ugh, Pete, open the window for once, would you.”
“Sorry.” With his free hand, he took one piece of toast off the plate.
May walked to the window and drew the curtains. The sun shone into the room, searing Peter’s eyes. It was a big change from the weak light coming from the small lamp on his nightstand.,  The light from outside was much too harsh, his eyes were still very sensitive. It was as if his eyes couldn’t take up all the light particles anymore. He whined as he hid his eyes away from the brightness, and then again as he moved a tad too quickly. His muscles still ached as much as they had when he fell asleep on the couch. When he opened his eyes again to look at Aunt May, the room got even brighter, as if someone had dialed up the brightness to over a 100%.
He saw her open the window and that is when everything really went berserk: A police car speeded by through the street nearby and Peter thought his head would explode at the noise. He had never heard anything louder in his life… and he had gone to a Metallica concert with Uncle Ben last fall. His ears were still ringing when May walked up from the window.
“Eat up. I’m gonna bring you some medicine and I want to check your temperature,” she eyed him up and down, “and put on some fresh pajamas.” Her eyes had that friendly sternness in them for which she was known.
“Yes, ma'am.” Peter smiled as he took another bite of his toast, the dry food hard to swallow but at least he wasn’t throwing it up. “Could you also bring some water?” He did his best to look as innocent as possible.
May gave him one last look before walking off to get the medicine and a thermometer.  Peter ate one whole piece of toast before struggling to his feet, fighting through the pain in his legs and arms the entire time. His eyes remained closed until he was upright, taking a few small breaths first. He made his way to his closet to get a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Every step hurt, his joints grinding, it took everything in him not to scream. The short walk had already exhausted him and he still had to pick some clothes and then put them on! Not to mention, he also had to take off the gross clothes he was already wearing. Tentatively, he shimmered out of the sweater that was stuck to his chest. Just like predicted, he was glistening from the sweat that dripped down his body. He had a feeling that as much as he was perspiring, this was a fever he just couldn’t sweat out.
With his upper body bare, he could get a better look at the rest of his arm. The bruising around his hand had only reached his wrist so far. But the dark veins were already showable all up to his elbow. Thick and bulging. Was this poison running through his veins? Would it kill him the moment it would reach his heart?
Peter glanced at the shirt he picked. It was a white short sleeve. With this one, it would be impossible to hide his arm. He put it on and over that a red hoodie that was comfortably laying in reach on a chair next to him. Perfect to cover up whatever was happening to him. He wasn’t doing this because he didn’t want his aunt and uncle to find out… well, that too, but mainly, he just didn’t want to look at it himself. It looked disgusting.
So he put on the sweater and took his jeans off, exchanging them for some blue sweatpants. The door opened once more, didn’t people in this house know how to knock? Peter only had one pant leg on so he jumped around a bit startled, almost toppling over. It would have been funny if he wasn’t in so much pain. He could swear he could hear his heartbeat in his head. Was that normal? Could he usually feel that? Surely not. Was he losing brain fluid? Was he literally drying out? It would make sense from the way he was feeling.
“Hi there,” Peter said awkwardly while still jumping around on one leg. Each time hurt more than the other. The dizziness was also coming back.
May had stood in the doorway waiting for him to finish putting on his trousers. The little nurse cap on top of her head. After all this time, Peter still couldn’t believe she kept that ridiculous thing. It started out as a little joke. His aunt would wear it when Peter was little and feeling a bit under the weather. Over the years it had just stuck around and become their thing. Even Uncle Ben would put it on sometimes. But mostly when it was Aunt May who was sick.
“Alright. Here.” She handed him a glass of water and five different kinds of pills. Peter had no idea if the medicine would actually work. He didn’t know if something against radioactive spiders could be found in your average drugstore.  Radioactive, where did that come from? He had no idea, but it all made sense now. It did happen in front of the Oscorp lab. A company so toxic and poisonous from all the chemicals that Peter was surprised he hadn’t grown another set of eyes or something from just standing in front of the building.
He took the pills from May and was about to take the first one but she stopped him abruptly, “wait!” Peter didn’t know what to do. Was he supposed to take the pill or not? His hand was suspended in mid-air, mouth hanging wide open, Peter looked to his aunt. His arm starting to shake from the position it was suspended in, so he let it fall to his side. His eyes still locked with Aunt May’s.
“Let me first check your temperature.” She shoved the thermometer into his open mouth without hesitation. Peter almost choking on the metal end. He and May stood in silence looking at each other until the beeping sounded from the little device and Peter opened his mouth to pull it out. He handed it over, afraid to look himself. He already knew what to expect. He had been burning up the whole day. That could not lead to a normal body temperature.
And he was correct because when May  looked at the result, she gasped: “104 degrees!” Her hand shot to Peter’s forehead. Standing for so long was draining all his energy. When her hand reached face, he had to hold on to a bookshelf to stop from falling over backward.
Her eyebrows furrowed she let go of him. “Okay, that’s it. You’re getting in bed! Now!” Her arm was straight, Pointing in the direction of the heap of blankets. Peter followed her demand before she could do anything about it herself. If she had pushed just a little bit, he would be laying on the floor with a concussion. He was sure of that.
“You’ve been walking around without a jacket again, haven’t you?” she exclaimed once he was laying in bed again, tucking him in. Peter wanted to protest. To say that no, he has always had a jacket on. But what would be the point? He couldn’t exactly tell her that a spider bit him and that now its venom was flowing through his body. No, he could, but why would he give her, even more, to stress out about. Let’s keep it at one tragedy at a time.
May tucked him in so tight that he could barely breathe. He was lucky he had remembered to leave his arms free from the covers, or otherwise, he would have been stuck with the pills and glass of water underneath it. May stood up straight, looking rather proud of her job, but more than a hint of concern could still be seen in her expression. Peter expected her to leave now, but she just stood watching him. Like she was expecting something from him. Which she was, he remembered -
“Oh, right.” He put one of the pills in his mouth,  swallowing it down with some water. He did the same thing with the other four. The last one he had a particularly hard time with. It was disgusting! Peter gagged when the small capsule got stuck in his throat. May had to help him not choke. Once she was sure Peter was safe and could breathe properly again, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Ok, call if you need anything. I took a day of work. Ben will be leaving in an hour or so… uhm, your phone is on the charger. But I don’t want you staring at a screen the whole day so, read a book or something.” The stern look came back on her face.
“You got it.” Peter handed back the glass. He watched as she left his room, leaving the door slightly ajar so she could see if he needed her. He sighed, using his last bit of energy. Now that he was a bit relaxed, he felt how his legs were shaking from those five minutes of standing. His head felt heavier again, so he lowered it onto his pillow. It was so soft that he soon was dozing off again.
________________________________________
Peter stirred in his sleep. The clock on the wall ticked loudly. Each tick reminiscent to his own heartbeat. Steady, but too loud for his own ears. There was another noise that bothered him and in the end, also was what woke him up. Footsteps. They weren’t Ben’s or May’s. He knew those all too well from all the nights in which he had to look out for them walking in on him while he was watching youtube or Netflix in the middle of the night. No, this was someone else… And they were walking towards his door. How did he know that? He could feel his heart beating in his throat now. The steps were so clear in his mind that he could envision the person nearing him. Getting closer and closer.
He was ready for a knock on his door any moment now, but nothing came. Instead, he heard the doorbell. Then May’s footsteps making their way to answer. Those he identified easily. She unlocked the door and Peter could hear her talking loud and clear: “Hello, there.” He could actually hear the smile that he knew was consuming her face.
“Hi,” it was a girl, a girl he knew, “I’m (Y/N). I go to school with Peter.” Her voice sounded shy. The same way when she was taken aback by a teacher asking her questions in class.
From the few people who cared about his existence at school, she was probably the last person who Peter would expect to visit him. His heart skipped a beat. Because - (Y/N)!? What was she doing here? How did she even know where he lived? And wasn’t it a school day? Or did he sleep through the whole day already?  The questions made his head hurt again, so Peter stopped thinking. Instead, he tried to concentrate on listening to the conversation. It hurt his head but happened much easier than he thought. It seemed impossible to him that he could not only hear, but also understand what they were saying from the distance which separated him, May and (Y?N).
Their conversation continued with a gasping laugh coming from May: “Ah, (Y/N). I’m Peter’s aunt, May. Nice to meet you.” (Y/N)’s voice responded almost immediately, now sounding more confident. “Likewise.” He had the feeling that the two were now shaking hands. Peter heard a creaking sound, presumably the front door opening wider. Then May spoke again, “come in. Come in. Does Peter know you’re-”
“Oh no.” (Y/N) interrupted, with a small laugh, “Ned was supposed to bring him his homework, but something popped up for the decathlon, so…” her words faded in the end, probably not having prepared a full answer. May, however, wasn’t bothered.
“Right, right. Well, come on in. I think he is sleeping.” This was followed by a small giggle. It was hard for Peter to identify who it was coming from. May? (Y/N)? Maybe both of them were laughing?
Peter rolled his eyes. If he had the strength, he would have run over to them and interrupted this embarrassing moment. It was so unfair. Wasn’t he supposed to at least be in the room if his aunt was embarrassing him in front of his crush?
After a small silence that followed the giggles, May spoke again: “I’ll go check up on him.” Footsteps approached his door for real this time. May sauntered in, her eyes sparkling even more than usual. Peter sat up as straight as his aching body would let him. His jaw locked in frustration...or was it from the pain?
His aunt was beaming gleefully, closing the door softly behind her so she could talk to her nephew in private.
“May, what are you doing?” he asked, internally freaking out and the smug expression of his aunt was not making anything better for him.
“Nothing,” May batted a hand in his direction, although he was sure he saw the corner of her mouth turning up, “there’s a girl-” She pointed back at the door with her thumb.
“I know,” he blurted out. May was taken aback but kept going. The smile not even fading from the corners of her mouth as she talked.
“She’s cute,” she teased. Peter wished that his illness would hurry up and kill him already. Mentally, this was so much worse than any pain he had endured so far.
“I know,” he repeated through gritted teeth this time, “and that’s why I don’t want her to see me like this.” He pointed at his face, which felt hot and sweaty and was probably paler than paper. May rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Biting her lip, like she always did when she was joking and said: “You look adorable, I’m sure she won’t mind. I’m letting her in.” Before Peter could object she was bouncing off towards the front door where (Y/N) stood to wait. The footsteps on the hardwood floor were clear as (Y/N) made her way through the apartment to his room. Peter felt beads of sweat drip down his forehead. He didn’t know if it was the fever or the nerves causing it. He never had a girl standing in his room before. And this was not the way he had pictured he would look the first time.
There was a gentle knock knock on the door. Peter answered with a croaking: “Come in.” and the door opened. Her hair fell into view before the rest of her. She poked her head inside. Probably a bit insecure about walking into his room for the first time, not sure what to expect.
“Hey there,” her voice its usual softness. Peter could barely make out her small wave as, as usual, her hand was completely covered by her oversized sweater. Peter waved back awkwardly. She drifted around his room, observing all his little trinkets. He followed her with his eyes, hoping he didn’t leave anything humiliating lying around. From what he could see, he seemed to be fine.  Although that reassurance vanished when he took another look at her. She seemed to have lingered on one thing in his room for an extended period of time, “is that a Lego Millenium Falcon?” She pointed at the object. Peter followed her finger. He looked at the grey sculpture standing in the corner of the room, leaning against a stand that Peter build after the original had broken when he and Ned were building it.
“Uh yeah,” Peter blushed. He couldn’t gauge from her level tone whether she was impressed or about to mock him. He hoped the former.  Luckily, he wasn’t wondering for long, as she walked up to it and smiled, “how long did it take you to build it?”
Peter scratched the back of his neck as he watched her examine the small version of the iconic spaceship. “I don’t know. A few weeks, maybe. Ned and I did it together.” She glanced at him from where she was standing, but her eyes went back to the Lego not even two seconds after. Whit a smile she commented: “Aw, that’s so cool. I have the Star Destroyer set at home, been trying to build it with my brother.” She looked at the lego set in fascination.
As she was not paying much attention to him, Peter didn’t know what to do. Should he lay down or stay seated? Should he start a proper conversation? He had no idea. This was the first time he had ever been properly alone with her. Trying to think of something as a reply, he dried his clammy hands on the duvet.
“Oh, cool.” Probably the un-coolest thing he could respond with, but he did anyway. (Y/N) chortled at his words, attention still on the Falcon. When she had finished marveling at it, she came over and sat down on the edge of his bed.  
There was a sheepish smile on her face.“How are you feeling?” she asked, “Ned told me you were sick. Was it the spider?” The last part came out as a whisper, which Peter appreciated as she never closed the bedroom door behind her.
Peter shook his head.“No, just a fever. Nothing bad,” he assured her. She looked skeptical, not buying into his flimsy story, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t believe it himself, so why would she. But she didn’t question him any further. Instead, she changed the subject completely. “Well, I brought you your homework. Ned couldn’t make it.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. (Y/N) raised an eyebrow at him.
“You do?” Oh, he messed up. How could he have possibly known why she was here without having listened in on the conversation she had with Aunt May? He couldn’t tell her that. He didn’t want her to think he was weird. “Yeah. Ned, uh, h-he texted me,” he stuttered out in the end.
“Weird. I didn’t tell him that I was coming to see you.” she bend down to look through her backpack, which she had put down next to her on the floor before. She had said this very emotionlessly. Peter started to worry again. He thought he had this under control, but oh boy, was he far from that.
“I meant, that he texted me that he couldn’t come himself,” he tried again. Her expression softened a bit with the new information, even laughing a bit. She sat up straight. Seeing the worry in Peter she laughed even more.
“Wow, chill out, Parker. Obviously, I did tell him,” her laughter filling up the room, melodic sounds that seemed to match Peter’s heartbeat perfectly. “Otherwise, how would I have gotten your address? Well, anyway,” she put her backpack on top of her lap and unzipped it, “here’s your homework.” She pulled out a big pile of papers and a small box of what seemed to be cookies, “and here are some chocolate chip cookies my mom baked last night. I picked them up on my way from school to your place. I don’t know if you want them, or even like them, but yeah...” She looked a bit unsure at the clear tapestry before handing it over to him.
“Thanks.” He took the box and stack of homework from her,  placing them down on the bed aside from her. He wanted to get rid of them quickly before his arms gave out but he didn’t want (Y/N) to know that. He looked down at his hands. The fingers of his left hand were trembling a bit. He glanced back at her, only to see her staring blankly at the open zipper of her bag.
“So…” he wanted to start a conversation, desperately trying to cling on to any good starters. At the sound of his voice, she eagerly looked up from her backpack. “Ho-how are you?” he asked, slightly cringing at his own words.
“I’m good,” she smiled sheepishly, “you?” She paused, cursing herself,  “that’s a stupid question. Sorry.”
“No. It’s- I’m fine. Just a bit tired, I guess,” Peter rambled. As if the bed was suddenly burning her, she shot up. Mumbling, “right, sorry. I should let you rest.” She was walking away. Peter’s eyes were glued on her. Cursing himself with every move she made away from him.
Her hand wrapped around the door handle, about to leave. Peter wanted to stop her. He didn’t want to be alone and those short minutes with her had almost completely distracted him from the imminent death he was sure was coming. But he couldn’t possibly ask her to stay. He would sound weird and pathetic. They weren’t actually friends, as much as Peter yearned for it. He opened his mouth regardless, “no, wait. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not that tired.” His incoherent babbling was making (Y/N) smile, every time he tripped over a word her smile grew bigger. 
“It’s okay, Peter. I have to get going anyway. I hope you get better soon.”
“I hope so too,” he laughed awkwardly. Before she left she had a few last words for Peter. She turned around. With a smirk, she said, “I like that color on you.” Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and Peter had the feeling his cheeks looked the same. Although, his face had been boiling all day, so who knows.
“What?” he asked with a small laugh. He couldn’t remember the last time he got a compliment from a girl - that wasn’t his aunt. It had also come so suddenly that he wasn’t sure if she had actually said or if it was just a figment of his imagination, resulting from him being so sick. He just looked at her startled.
“The blue and red,” she pointed at his clothes, “not a lot of people dare to color block anymore. It suits you.” Peter looked down at his hoodie. It was okay, he thought, nothing too special though.
“Oh, uhm, thanks, what was he supposed to say? He frantically searched his brain for something light-hearted, “you look good… too.” That was not it. Peter wanted to bury his head in his hands. Why did he have to be like this? Fortunately, she laughed it off and waved him goodbye,  saying, “bye, Peter, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, sure.” He said so faintly it was almost a whisper. He waved her off until she closed the door behind her. Falling back into his pillow, his spine cracked in a few spots. It didn’t hurt, but Peter had to admit, that did not sound healthy. But he had other things to worry about, so he pushed it to the side. For example: how was it possible that he could hear May and (Y/N) talk on the other side of the apartment? Was it a fluke? Peter needed to know, so he concentrated as hard as he could. More footsteps. (Y/N)’s footsteps. They were light and quick. Almost as if she barely touched the ground while walking. Then they stopped, but he didn’t hear the door open. Instead, there were voices. Just like Peter assumed, May said, “oh, are you leaving already?”
(Y/N) sighed. “Yes, I got homework to do, so I should really get going.” An airy laugh left (Y/N)’s lips. How can I possibly hear this, he thought - still very confused about the whole situation. He expected to hear (Y/N)’s gentle voice again, but it was May who spoke: “Well, thank you for stopping by. I’m sure Peter enjoyed the company.”  The two said their goodbyes and after a shuffle of footsteps, the door banged a couple of times, as May tried to close. Uncle Ben had planned on fixing the jammed door already for weeks. Peter let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He was glad that (Y/N) had left because he didn’t have to pretend like he was not in agony.. But, at the same time, he was sad. Because Aunt May was right. He did enjoy the company.
The next thing that happened was difficult to describe. It was… strange at the very least. The door to his room opened without a warning, but Peter was prepared, sensing it before it happened. It wasn’t that he knew it would be May, but he could feel it. In a very specific way that he just couldn’t explain to himself. It wasn’t that he heard her walk or that he could see her. He just felt the presence of someone nearing him. It made the hair on his arms stand up. Like all his normal senses blacked out and were exchanged for this other, new, sense, that he didn’t know he had. Did he actually have it before? It didn’t seem like it. The sensation was too bizarre. If he had ever experienced it before, he would have remembered.
May walked in, practically radiating from the opportunity she had to tease Peter.“Sooo,” May smirked as she rounded the door,. “who is she?”  Why could Peter feel his aunt coming to his room, but not expect this conversation? Even when he knew she wanted to talk to him.
“No- no one. Just- just a girl from school.” Peter scratched the back of his neck, not feeling like having this conversation right now. May crossed her arms as she leaned oh-so-casually against the door.
“Uh-huh, sure. So every girl at your school is cute?” her voice rising on the last word, eyebrows waggling wildly. Peter wished he hadn’t said that. He closed his eyes hoping to find an easy way out from this conversation.
The feeling from before came back. Even with his eyes closed, it was like he could see his aunt walk towards him. He could see her reach out for his hand. The bitten hand. Like a reflex, Peter pulled it away, still wanting to keep his secret. Opening his eyes again, he saw that May was, indeed, crouching at the side of his bed. Her mouth hanging open slightly and brow now furrowed. Luckily, she had misunderstood it as a moody-teenager-move. Her smug smile changed when she wrinkled her nose and she pressed her lips to one corner of her mouth.
“Pete, you don’t have to be ashamed. It’s natural,” she mused. “if you ever wanna talk about anything, come to me.” She laid a hand on his hair, before drawing it away when she felt how damp it was, ”or Ben, if you don’t feel comfortable. Just talk, okay?”
“Yeah.” It was a weak yeah, but it was enough to satisfy his aunt. He reciprocated May’s smile which only widened hers.
She sat down on her knees on the ground, her elbows on the edge of the bed, while she leaned her chin on her hands. With wiggling eyebrows she “So tell me, what’s she like?”
“Ugh, oh my god!” Peter rolled his eyes with a groan. He thought that would be the end of it, but apparently not...Was he really having this conversation with her right now? On his deathbed?
“Fine, fine. I thought I would at least try. She seemed nice though.” May backed off with the questions. Her eyes suddenly flashed to something laying next to him, “she brought you cookies?” May reached out for the little tapestry box. With a click, it opened and the smell of warm chocolate filled the room. Did she warm them up for him? Peter watched his aunt take one cookie out of the box.
“Oh, these are good!” she said, taking a bite, immediately followed by a small moan. “Did she make those for you?” She waved around with the remaining part of the cookie.
“No, no, her mom did. She just...brought them.”
“Right, well, I’ll leave them here then. But…” she took two more cookies, “I’m taking these with me.” Winking she got up and left Peter alone again. Not for very long though, as her head poked around the doorframe moments later, “how are you feeling? Steady enough to join us for dinner?” Peter just nodded.
“Yeah, I’m a bit better. Still a bit hot.” He rubbed his dry eyes. The rough skin on his fingertips didn’t make it much better. May had watched his every move curiously.
“Hmm, I’ll check your temperature again later, and give you some cold medicine.” She walked away, this time for good. Peter didn’t know what to do. From the clock on the wall he saw there would still be around an hour until dinner and from two whole days of sleeping, he was now wide awake. He hadn’t realized it when he had company, but his muscles weren’t causing him as much pain anymore. Now it was a mere myalgia. Like he used to have every time after Gym class when they were forced to do a PACER test. His body felt like it was starting to return to normal. Except for his face, but that was just the fever, he was sure of it. Well, pretty sure. Like 70% sure.
Peter’s stomach rumbled. The idea of dinner already sneaking its way into his brain. He hadn’t eaten properly since lunch of yesterday. The smell of the chocolate in the cookies filled his nostrils and made his mouth water. He couldn’t deny, they smelled delicious.
And they were delicious. Peter took one bite and the cookie melted in his mouth. The chocolate was hot, but not hot enough to actually burn his tongue. It was amazing, probably the best cookie he had ever tasted. Which was a bit suspicious. No cookie ever tasted that good after 24 hours. Good cookies were still good, but this was a bit too good. And they were warm. Not the microwave kind of warm, no, this was straight from the oven warm. Did she actually bake those for him?
Even though he was alone, he shook his head in denial. No, there was no way. When would she have gotten the time to do that? And why would she? They barely knew each other. It didn’t make sense. They weren’t on the ‘I’ll come over and bring you cookies when you’re sick’ level of friendship. Although, just minutes ago he didn’t think they were on ‘complimenting each other’ level, yet, that still happened.
“Hey, Peter?” Ben’s voice roamed the apartment. It shook Peter out of his paranoia. The small shock made him jump up in his position on the bed, throwing the box of cookies into the air. He moved around so quickly, that not even a crumb fell on the bed, including from the cookie he was holding.
“Nice catch.”  Ben’s voice was closer now. Peter turned around his uncle standing, smiling at him. “How are you, buddy?”
“Fine, better than before.” Peter put down the box between his legs. Ben glanced down at the plastic container, a bit confused about why his nephew had a full box of chocolate-chip cookies.
“Good. Your aunt is asking me to ask you if you are joining us at the table.”
“What are we eating?” Peter quizzed his uncle, who just sighed in response. Peter sighed back, understanding what that meant, “if I tell you that I’m too sick, are you gonna make me get out there and eat that?”
“No, but I don’t think you can escape the meatloaf today, bud.” ben huffed out a laugh defeatedly.
“Right, I’ll just come.” He threw the blankets off his legs and kicked them back to the end of his bed. The small cramp in his thighs and calves making it hard to walk, and his knees were still a bit weak. However, that could be the cause of laying in bed the whole day. Uncle Ben had already walked back to the kitchen to help his wife not burn down the apartment. Peter went out to join them. He passed the mirror and wanted to do just that, pass it, but something he saw from his peripheral vision made his double take. He took a step back so he was standing in front of his reflection. At least, it looked like him at first glance. With a  clearer inspection, the edges started to blur, minor details of his features morphing in front of him, or so it seemed. It looked like Peter if he had been amateurly drawn while sick. Everything was right, but just a bit wrong at the same time.
He was much paler. Hair stuck to his forehead. A vein in his neck was pulsing. It wasn’t dark though, like the ones in his arm. His arm. Peter pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie. To his surprise, all the veins were fading back to their normal color. His wrist was still a bit swollen, but the dark bruises had faded to a less threatening yellow hue with just a hint of red in the middle. The spot where the spider bit him. He stretched out his fingers to check if they hurt. Nothing. He pressed the middle of his palm with his ring and middle finger. Still nothing. The fingers didn’t hurt, but an intense pain erupted from the pressure point, through his arm, all the way up to his chest. But it was a different kind of pain. Not in his muscles. It felt like it was literally coming from his veins.
With all of this, freaking him out a bit too much, he pulled the sleeve back down and continued looking at his reflection. Except for the strange vein, there was something generally off-putting about his neck. Together with his shoulders, it all looked to be broader. He rolled his head from left to right, back and forth and then in a circular motion. He heard several cracks. They didn’t hurt. But when he rolled his head back again, it did a bit, like a horrible cramp. To stop the pain from getting worse, he pulled his head back up.
His eyes were back on the mirror. He traced his body slowly, trying to see every small detail. Now that he thought about it, the sleeves of his hoodie felt a bit tight. It was one of those things that you didn’t see until you realize it. The same went for his sweatpants. They were just a bit off. Maybe it had shrunk in the dryer? Clothes did that, after all. Hmm, the clothes. They were just a simple red hoodie and blue sweats. Really nothing special. A bit too bright, Peter thought. But for some reason, it did suit him. He had no idea why, but (Y/N) was right. With a smirk still plastered on his face, he walked away, ready to eat some “food” his aunt had prepared.
> Part 2  <
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hillbillied · 3 years
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I cba to count but any numbers what havent been already answered for the fic asks g ✌🏼
35 Questions for Fanfic Writers! welchh killed the meme
that’s all the odd numbers, you fuckin cunt, I’m gonna crush you in the lidl aisle with a tort textbook (thanks for these, I love em!! except for the couple that’re embarrassing; fuck you!!)
3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?
the sheer audacity of either the AU concept or the scope of project; they’re either ballsy, like a fic that moves through 300+ years of history, or stupid shit like “hey what if alien but with robots and gay?” (if i wanted to be meta i’d say a gay guy writing gay guys has gotta have an appeal, at least to other guys like me)
5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?
When It Rains It Pours is my “magnum opus” (bleeding quotations) it’s the fic i always wanted to write. post-canon fix-it, exploring the details of two characters i love making their way in the world (close second is Church of Saint Andrew because it was just a horrible idea)
7. What element of writing do you struggle with most?
overwriting. i sit down to write fun lil romps between chapter updates and then suddenly i got 10k words and a new multi-chapter fic. there’s no “lil one-shot for a break” because i just… can’t write them like that. really bums me out
9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?
trick question, i only write AndyEddie and am therefore immune (i don’t think i write Sledge as well as i could, tbr)
11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?
Andy, Eddie, and their gay antics
13. First fandom you ever wrote for?
these are real interesting ones because they’re just me embarrassing myself innit… i wrote for Bleach. like the anime. i was 11, maybe. fucking end me
15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for?
i want to die saying this but ya’ll remember Death Note? probably that
17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.
i’m not putting it on me blog but the one that uses the greek alphabet
19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?
all fucking three, baby, fanfiction is a buffet and i got my All You Can Eat token!!
20. Gen fic or shippy stuff?
don’t mind gen fic if it’s multi-pairing so the focus is on other stuff, but otherwise gimme them ships
21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)
this question is unlawful, do not pass go, do not collect fifty quid and a statue from bristol river
22. Do you listen to anything while you write?
always!! normally lil youtube playlists for most fics, if not then just whatever gives that general vibe
23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?
i like a good prompt when it suits but mainly it’s indie fics (“indie fic” is a cursed term)
24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works?
i write one-shots in my fantasies, and multi-chaps in practice
25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!
shit, i’d kill for a spin-off of Church of Saint Andrew from Andy’s POV. centuries of being reincarnated over and over, meeting a random guy every lifetime and wondering why he treats you like he knows you, like he loves you… that’d be fucked up and fantastic.
every canon era fic i write is lowkey a side adventure/spin-off of When it Rain it Pours, tbh, like that’s my canon touchstone for writing
26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?
less too scared to try and more not willing to commit the effort. some things are so niche and so self-indulgent it’s not worth putting into text, not until I’ve got a fuckton of time on my hands
28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?
i used to handle it terribly. now I handle it better. i’ve got a real specific viewpoint on fanfiction crit nowerdays; since fanfic is free, takes effort, and is not inherently for the reader, any criticism given should be a) asked for by the writer, and b) on points of actual relevance rather than “i personally do not like X”. if it doesn’t comply with those criteria, i find myself asking why someone took the time to write the public comment. you can complain about bad fic privately, like all things
29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?
there’s a WIP in my docs from Andy’s POV that deals with some heavier shit and yeah, that was a step outside but if you push through it, your comfort zone expands like bread for the ducks
30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?
merciless angst, we die like men
31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!
yes and you will never hear about them but know they are jewish and gay
34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.
(fuck almost pasted from my uni work about cyclist helmets) thought you’d enjoy this one:
His name’s Edward Allison Jones and he likes to think his life story can be summed up in under a page. Probably less than.
Where to start? It’s a boring beginning.
Born in a place called Red Lion, that he hasn’t been back to since he screamed his little baby scream at the midwife. It wasn’t a good start, either, considering his parents hightailed it out of there and over the West Virginia Stateline to avoid paying for his little baby entrance. They tell the story like they’re fucking Bonny and Clyde, but their son imagines it more like Flintstones. Yabba dabba doo.
35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!
quick fire round: i can’t stop watching the legend of korra (it’s fuckin good man) and it keeps bringin me back to the avatar AU, every time i write “cunt” in a fic i feel americans clutch their pearls, i’m getting back into the old groove of making chars jewish and not giving a fuck, once I found out “high school” was just secondary school i couldn’t write/read high school AUs cause that’s grim tbh, and sometimes i don’t even watch tv shows i use for AUs because I’m a busy boy
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sapphireorison · 7 years
Text
Ten Writer Questions Tag PT.2
Tagged by @the-bookdevourer :)
Do you have anyone (authors, family, friends, etc.) that has inspired your writing? I write like I must breathe, and I get inspiration from everywhere. When I was wee, I devoured the teen section at my local library, so a lot of my early author-inspiration is from 80s and 90s scifi and fantasy authors, like Anne McCaffrey and Diane Duane and Jane Yolen and Patricia C. Wrede. And, admittedly, Piers Anthony and Lovecraft, though those latter two... :considers: You know how when you read a book and you go ‘wow this is terrible but I can’t put it down’? Best figure out why you can put it down. I also get a lot of inspiration from my friends in what they yearn to have written that’s not out there yet. It makes me want to write that, and in learning more about what they want that simply doesn’t exist yet, I become a better writer. 
When did you first start writing? And what was it about? Very, very early. I wrote stuff for school, mostly, cute little stories about nonsense based on whatever book or series I was obsessed with at the time. Beyond that, I ‘wrote’ plays for me and my sister to perform for my family, and then in HS moved on to trying to figure out novels. I’ve always created stories in my head, and because I was primed by the types of books I loved (big, epic, glorious) that was always my goal. So I would fiddle around with the beginnings of them. It’s only been within the last ten years or so that I’ve started finishing them, and they’ve gotten closer to what I have in my head as the kind of books I need to write.
 How long have you been working on your current project? It feels like ages, but I don’t think it’s been more than a year and a half at most, perhaps two. This one was percolating for a long time before I started writing because I had the concept first, then the characters, and then the world, and only after a while did I have any inkling of a plot and I know better than to start without a plot by now.
 Of all your OCs, which do you relate to the most? Why? My earlier OCs were more ‘me’ than any of the ones I have now. But the one I relate to most was one from a very, very early attempt at a fantasy novel. She was a bookish protagonist with a demon stitched to her soul whose goal was to usher a younger demon-possessed girl to someone, somewhere, that could help her. :considers: Even that teeny explanation feels like a direct window into my head. My OCs now are very much not me. The only one even faintly close to me is the fellow who I’ve iterated through over the years. He’s the one I relate to the most because I’ve used him the most. He’s full of well over a decade of experiences in various media as I’ve tried to find a home for him. 
Tropes are often looked down on, but which one(s) do you enjoy and use? Fake relationships, mutually requited slow-burn pining, and messy reunions after one of the people thinks they’ve lost the other forever. All of those are for romance. In general, though, I love the ‘weird uncle’ trope, where an antagonist gets beaten and then sort of gets absorbed into the protag’s family because they’re not bad they’re just, you know, themselves. I also fucking love the trope where touch is a huge indicator of trust, where names are important so that when someone start using a different name (for themselves or another) it means a major character change behind-the-scenes, and I really really love affectionate bickering. I don’t even know if that’s a trope, but it’s great.
 Do you have a set schedule for when you write? No. Well, sort of. I prefer to write in the evenings, after about 5 or 6pm, and write for about four hours in a coffee shop or at the kitchen table. This is, mind, the /optimal/ writing situation. I don’t usually get a chance to write as long, or as often, as I know makes me happiest. This was the schedule I used to polish off two longfics I wrote and now that I don’t get to do this every/most nights, my monthly progress is much lower. I’m lucky if I do 10k a month. 
When you’re writing, do you write in chronological order or wherever you feel? I gotta do chronological. But, like, chronological for the *book* not the story. My brain views things very much as cause-and-effect, specifically about what am I causing the reader to think at this point in time and how will that effect how they view this later scene. So even if things are out of place and there are flashbacks and so on, I have to write from the beginning of the book to the end otherwise I can’t develop the later parts properly because I’m missing pieces that need to be included. 
What’s your favorite part about starting a new project? Worldbuilding! I’ll start 600-word prompts, build out a fucking massive world, and then tidy up the prompt and move on to something else. Unique worlds rev my engine, and whenever I feel bored or stale on a current project I’ll build out a world-prompt and it’ll refresh me to come back to my primary project.
What’s one thing about your current project that you’re excited about? It’s so much more action-y than I thought it would be. Stuff is happening! Things are gonna explode!  There’s way more mystery involved than anticipated because there’s so much to explain I’ve had to pick and choose what to reveal. And, honestly, I’ve lived with the characters so long in my head that I’m just excited to find out how they feel about each other and what they want out of the world--the kind of stuff I can only find out by making them interact and seeing if I need to tweak. 
 Do you have any writing goals that you want to accomplish by the end of the year? Halfway through Current Project and hopefully finishing a fic that I, uh, abandoned during the last chapter. The rest is posted and I’ve let it sit for two years. T_T Conveniently, there are several months (including Nano) to work on Current Project, and ‘halfway’ is only another 20k for me. So I am fairly confident I can hit that one at least. :) 
For the 10 new questions, here are the ones I liked from Bookie’s list along with a couple from mine and one or two of my own creation: 
What’s your favorite thing about your writing? 
What’s your favorite character you’ve written and why are they your fav? 
What makes your writing unique? 
Describe your antagonist’s ‘villain song’ as if they were a Disney Villain.
Which of your characters (OCs) is the one you most relate to? Why? 
What are you favorite tropes? 
What inspired your current project? 
There are lots of different media types that you could write! What is your ‘primary’ type of media that you write? Short story? Novels? Novellas? Comics? Plays? Roleplays? Video game scripts? TV show or movie scripts? Where do most of your words go? And, to follow up, what type of writing is your current project? Which types have you done? Which do you like? Do you have a favorite? 
What’s your favorite genre to read? To write? Why does it draw you?
Do you have any writing goals you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year?
I’m supposed to tag people, but I am shy and tagging is scary. If you follow me and you do the writing thing, I really wanna hear from you. :D I will even reply and it will be super exciting.
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khaleesimaka · 7 years
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32, 41, 42, 44
thank you for the ask ❤︎❤︎❤︎
32. Easiest character to write.
Soul Evans. I just relate to him more, and I enjoy writing broody Soul who tries to sort through his feelings and hides them IRL. It’s also fun to get in his head. I just enjoy his head space more over any character I’ve written tbh. 
41. How many stories do you work on at one time?
Uhhh. A lot?
Okay so right now I’m working on Butler AU ch 4, Bachelor AU ch 8, my Resbang for 2017, a Miraculous Ladybug fic for their Big Bang event, and a one shot for another OTP in another fandom. I also have a doc for a new version of my Thief AU I wanna write so there’s that. And these are only the stories that have docs with words written in them.
I’m also in the process of planning a Spirit and Maka centric fanfic, an Evans bros Zombie AU fanfic, a Love Rosie AU for Soul and Maka, a Flower Shop/Tattoo Artist AU for Soul and Maka, a multi-chap thing for another OTP in another fandom, and so many more fic ideas I can’t get out of my head. Not to mention two original stories I really wanna write some day.
So basically at any given point I’m working on more than one story. I’m not entirely sure how my brain keeps up with everything, but it does. I also find it easier for me to have more projects to work on because if I spend too much time on one, I tend to get tired and bored with it. I like variety.
42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.
Well, for fandom things it’s kinda easy since there’s a source material. 
But if I’m writing an AU, it’s kinda different because you have to figure out how to make the character fit into this new world. Usually if it’s an AU from a source material, I tend to take inspiration from the source and blend it with the character in canon. And if it’s an original AU I’m coming up with from my brain, I tend to bounce ideas a lot and google things and try to figure out what this character would be like in this AU. 
For original characters, I kinda have an image of a character pop into my head and go from there. Like I have this one OC whose name is Lea. She’s a princess of a galaxy (it’s a space story) who doesn’t really want to live the royal life. She wants to go out and have adventures and wear pants. She’s sassy, tells it like it is, and likes to be a little reckless, but she’s also sometimes careless and her honest words can hurt people. 
It really just depends on what my brain gives me. I’m usually doing something else when I get a sudden idea for a thing I’m working on.
44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.
Okay so if you aren’t, you should totally follow Susan Dennard on twitter because she gives some solid writing advice. I’ve been finding some great inspiration from her lately tbh even though it is directed toward me. 
The best advice I’ve read from her is this thread of tweets here which is basically telling you if you’re stuck in you’re writing, it’s because something you wrote earlier is wrong and it’s better to take the time to fix it now than in editing. And I relate to this, a lot. I tend to get stuck in places when I’m writing to the point where I’m frustrated and annoyed with myself. The reason it took forever for me to update Bachelor AU is because I couldn’t figure out a good beginning, and everything I kept writing just felt wrong. It wasn’t until I watched Little Women: Atlanta I figured out what the issue was, and I managed to write a 10k+ chapter update because of that (which I’m a little too proud of >u
So basically that advice is something I keep in mind when I’m writing, and it helps. A lot. Another piece of advice Dennard has said is that when doing world building, go in the direction as if it were an open world game. Like that actually helps me a lot when it comes to my space galaxy story and makes it less intimidating.
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simplemlmsponsoring · 5 years
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New Post has been published on https://simplemlmsponsoring.com/attraction-marketing-formula/blogging/long-tail-keywords-how-to-research-and-use-them-for-blogs-traffic-growth/
Long-Tail Keywords: How to Research and Use Them For Blog’s Traffic Growth
Here, I will tell you all about long-tail keywords.
What are they and what makes them different from short-tail keywords?
I will teach you their benefits, how to find and use them, and more.
Let’s begin!
Comprehensive Guide To Long-tail Keywords 1. What are Long-tail Keywords? 2. A Quick Comparison Between Long-tail and Short-tail Keywords 3. Benefits of Long-tail Keywords (and Why You Should Use Them) 4. How To Find Long-tail Keywords 5. 6 Best Long-tail Keyword Research Tools 6. Template For Keyword Research 7. How To Use Long-Tail Keywords 8. Conclusion What are Long-tail Keywords?
Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that contain four or more words.
“Best fps games for ios” is an example of a long-tail keyword.
You will see later on the value of optimizing your site using this type of keywords. Without giving much away, their biggest advantage is their more specific nature compared to other keyword types.
A Quick Comparison Between Long-tail and Short-tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords have less than three words in their search phrase.
“Best fps games” counts as a short-tail keyword.
Unlike long-tail keywords, this type is much broader. It also has a higher search volume than its counterpart in general.
However, don’t write off long-tail just yet!
Here’s the thing:
If users search for this phrase, they will get pages about the best FPS games from all gaming systems.
This makes optimizing your content for short-tail keywords very difficult.
You’ll have to go up against pages that discuss the best FPS games for PS4, XBox, Nintendo Switch, Android, and more.
This reason is what makes long-tail keywords more valuable!
Instead of optimizing for the best FPS games in general, “best fps games for ios” lets you focus your energies on a specific gaming platform.
Therefore, you don’t have to compete with other pages covering different systems. All you need to worry about are pages talking about the games exclusive to iOs.
Therefore, ranking on top of organic search for long-tail keywords is much easier due to lower competition.
According to Advanced Web Ranking, the first three positions on organic search generate 29.48%, 14.69%, and 10.15% click-through rates on desktop, respectively.
So imagine if you rank on top of organic search, you can generate almost 30% of clicks to your site!
Therefore, long-tail keywords are the better option.
Benefits of Long-tail Keywords (and Why You Should Use Them)
There are other reasons why you should optimize for long-tail keywords. As if the explanation above shouldn’t be reason enough.
Did you also know that long-tail keywords are behind 70% of all web searches?
So, if you don’t want to miss out on the massive group of web searches, you know what to do.
WPBeginner researched for the best long-tail keywords to optimize their site.
After two months, their site increased its organic traffic by 20%.
Its secret, of course, is the use of long-tail keywords. With HitTail on its side, it bathed in success!
You can also take it from KISSmetrics.
It received 142,149 visitors because of long-tail keywords!
But, the benefits of long-tail keywords do not end there.
Here are some more:
1. Better Targeted Traffic
For an artist to sketch a picture of what you have in mind, you give him a description. And as you talk to him, you get down to the details and use the most specific words.
The better you are at describing, the better the results get.
That’s how long-tail keywords work, too.
They come with more relevant keywords, and therefore, are more descriptive.
If you want to target specific people, it should come easy.
What you need to do is optimize your site for those specific long-tail keywords.
For example, you want to target new lifestyle bloggers in California. So, your keywords, in this case, should be something like:
“new lifestyle bloggers California”.
Now, if your keywords are “new bloggers”, do you think you can reach the people you’re after?
2. Better Conversion Rates
The reason?
People who search the web using long-tail keywords are in the brink of making a final decision.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are in the business of selling water bottles. You need to optimize for keywords with a transactional search intent.
Ultimately, your goal is to sell water bottles. In leveraging organic search, you can drive highly-targeted visitors with the intention of buying your site. And it all boils down to your choice of keywords.
Because of this reason, optimizing for the keyword “water bottle” won’t suffice.
From here, you can tell that the user doesn’t know what he wants to buy yet. He may still be looking for the right size, color, kind, and brand of water.
There’s even a possibility he doesn’t want to buy a water bottle at all! For all you know, he’s just bored and googled for a random item.
Meanwhile, the second searcher used the words “5L blue reusable Outland water bottle for sale”.
From this search phrase, you can tell he already knows what he wants. And by the looks of it, he’s looking for a store where he can buy the product!
So, if your site is optimized for said key phrase, you got yourself a customer!
3. Perfect for Competitive Niches
As mentioned, long-tail keywords are less competitive because they are more specific.
For instance, you own a restaurant in San Francisco. It’s a new one and you want to it to make a name for itself online.
The problem is you have competitors. You’re up against famous and big names such as Cala and Tartine Manufactory.
You can compete against them, of course. But, the odds of you winning is small.
There are two reasons for that.
The restaurant industry is highly competitive. And you’re in the best food city: San Francisco!
So, you have to accept the fact: you can’t beat the competition.
You’re going on a match with names who have thousands – if not millions at their disposal.
But, you don’t give up.
The solution is to optimize your site using long-tail keywords!
For example, forget about “San Francisco restaurant”.
You can rank for “new San Francisco [seafood] restaurant” instead.
4. Optimize for Short-tail Keywords
It’s like hitting two birds with one stone!
When you use long-tail keywords, you are already using short-tail keywords.
For instance, my short-tail keyword is “cute puppies”. And my long-tail keyword is “Bichon Frise cute puppies for sale”.
Notice how the keyword “cute puppies” is still in there?
How To Find Long-tail Keywords
You can search for long-tail keyword suggestions from a short-tail keyword related to your niche.
For this example, we’ll be using the tried-and-true free keyword tool for ages: Google’s Keyword Planner.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial:
Step 1: Go to Google Keyword Planner. Choose Find new keywords.
Step 2: Use your seed keyword. Example is “freelancing”.
So, type it in and click GET STARTED.
Step 3: On the results page, choose a relevant keyword idea. In this example, I will choose freelance projects.
Step 4: Search for that keyword idea to expand on it.
Step 5: Now, you have long-tail keyword variations!
6 Best Long-tail Keyword Research Tools
While Google Keyword Planner is sufficient enough to help you come up with different ideas, it’s not the best out there.
There are two primary reasons why:
It only shows the range of the average monthly search volume, i.e. (1k – 10k) It doesn’t compute for keyword difficulty or competitiveness.
To help you conduct your keyword research effectively, it’s time to use premium tools that possess the features above and then some!
Enter these tools:
1. SEMrush
If you want “all the essential keyword research tools one could ever ask for in one place”, turn to this.
For starters, its Keyword Magic Tool is, for a lack of a better word, magical!
A seed keyword is all you need.
And you can already build a keyword empire based on it!
For example, here’s what you’ll if you enter “freelancer” as the keyword:
On the left sidebar, you can filter the results to contain the words in the list. This is useful if you want to narrow down your search and group long-tail keywords together.
On the right, you will see the keyword data of each result. The most important to look at are the Volume and KD (Keyword Difficulty) column.
Ideally, you want to choose keywords with relatively high search volume and low competition. Both columns make choosing which long-tail keywords to target much easier.
Another great thing about SEMrush is its Content Template feature.
It helps bloggers optimize their content by analyzing their competitors’ content!
It does so by indicating useful information such as:
Recommended word count Recommended LSI keywords Readability Backlink sources
Here’s an example of SEO Content Template in action for the keyword “security guard services:”
Another feature to look into SEO Content Template is the text length.
It provides the recommended number of words based on the average word count of the top ten results for the keyword.
Seriously, I could go on and on with SEMRush. It’s really that great of an SEO tool.
However, we’ll have to stop here for now and introduce other tools. It wouldn’t be fair to equally great tools.
However, you can get your hands on an article I’m working on discusses how to use SEMrush for keyword research. Stay tuned for that!
Use SEMRush PRO or GURU Free For 14 Days. Economy of $99 and $199 respectively.
Special Offer Exclusively reserved for readers of my blog. Get 14 days of free trial with a PRO or GURU SEMRush account! Click on the link below to take advantage of this free offer.
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2. Ahrefs
Its Keywords Explorer tool can lead you to a gold mine of long-tail keywords!
This is what you do:
Step 1: Launch Keywords Explorer and type in your seed keyword. In this example, the seed keyword is “blogging.”
Step 2: You will land on a page with keyword ideas and an overview of your keyword.
Focus on the left and choose a report.
Here, I went with All.
Step 3: You will get thousands (or more) of keyword ideas.
You can use the filtering system to narrow them down to only include long-tail keywords.
In this example, my seed keyword “blogging” got 50,025 hits.
Then, I used the word count feature to include results with 3 to 6 words. So, from 50,025 keywords, it came down to 37,364!
It also features a Content Explorer tool.
It lets you dip your toe into a pool of the best and most shared content.
All you need to do is enter your keyword in Content Explorer.
Here, I’ll go with “how to start a blog”.
You will then land on a page with the top content..
Read more: masterblogging.com
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davidcdelreal · 6 years
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27 Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today
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Making money while you sleep.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
After reading books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and 4 Hour Work Week, I became interested obsessed with making passive income.
Top Passive Income Ideas
Lending Club
Passive Real Estate
High Interest Savings
Robo-Advisors
Index Funds
Mindless Tasks
Credit Card Rewards
Photographs
Write an eBook
Ideas 10-27
What is Passive Income?
When you’re short on cash, a typical solution is to work more hours, right? Or to ask for a raise so you can turn your work hours into more money.
There’s nothing wrong with either of those actions, but there’s also another way.
Lots of other ways, actually.
They aren’t ways to turn your time directly into money. Instead, they are ways to plant seeds so your money will grow, even when you’re sleeping or at the park walking your dog.
In other words, even when you’re not out actively trying to make money.
It’s all about the concept of passive income. Just like a farmer who plants a crop, tends the fields, and harvests the produce, you can plant financial seeds that will produce income.
It takes some work up front, and some maintenance along the way, but if you plant passive income seeds that suit your climate (aka your personal preferences and skills), you can bring in a nice harvest.
And if you are trying to pay off debt quickly, or if you're a college student who needs to make money but doesn’t have time for a part-time job, this can be a huge help!
Below you’ll find quite a few passive income ideas, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to find at least a few that cater to your situation and skills.
For the purpose of this article, we are lumping passive income and portfolio income into the passive category, and active income into the non-passive category – although the IRS categorizes and treats each type of income differently.
You can also check out some of my latest YouTube videos on passive income.
1. Invest in Lending Club
Earning interest on safe investments, such as U.S. Treasury securities and bank certificates of deposit, is safe and simple — the very definition of passive income.
The problem, of course, is that those instruments pay paltry returns – generally less than 1 percent. It may be passive income at its finest, but you’ll never be able to relax or retire on returns that low.
But now we have Lending Club. It is a web-based peer-to-peer lending platform where people come to get loans, and investors – looking for high interest opportunities – provide the funds for those loans.
Lending Club provides an opportunity to earn interest rates in excess of 10 percent a year – which is about 10 times what you will earn on more conventional interest-bearing investments.
Now let’s be clear on one point: those high rates do come at a cost.
Unlike bank investments, Lending Club loans can go bad, in which case you will lose principal. However, there are ways to minimize those potential losses.
I talked to a Lending Club advisor who recommended starting out with an initial deposit of $2,500. Since you can invest as little as $25 in a single loan, you could buy into 100 different loans with a deposit of that level. So you don't have to worry about a single loan going bad and ruining your investment.
Despite the risk of default, you’ll likely earn far more on your investments at Lending Club than you would at a bank. I have averages just under 9 percent during the eight years I have been investing with them.
That is a nice residual income stream. Investing larger sums of money in different ways can be beneficial. Whether it be where to invest 10K or where to invest 100K, we can help you get a better understanding of how to invest your money.
Want to try out Lending Club? You can open a free account here.
2. Passive Real Estate Investing with Fundrise
Real estate can result in a great source of passive income. But what if you don’t have the time, the skill, or the upfront money to flip a house? Or what if you’d just rather not be a landlord?
Enter Fundrise. Fundrise is a real estate investment trust, or REIT. You buy shares in the trust, and it uses your money to develop a variety of real estate projects. If the project turn a profit, so do you.
With a REIT, all of the money is going to be invested in real estate. The REIT owns the property, and you don’t have to worry about handling the landlord duties.
With Fundrise you can start investing with as little as $500. With other real estate investments, you’ll have to have a lot of money saved up to start, but Fundrise lets you get into the real estate business with just your Christmas bonus money.
While Fundrise can’t predict the future, and you never know how well the investments are going to perform, they do have some great returns in the past. In 2017, they posted returns of 11.44 percent.
Obviously, these are much higher than you’re going to get with most other investments.
What’s more is that you can choose a plan that matches your investment strategy:
Supplemental Income: This plan puts your money into projects that should start earning you some passive income as quickly as possible.
Balanced Investing: This plan leans more toward projects that will increase in value over time and puts less emphasis on getting returns now.
Long-term growth: As the name implies, this plan buys you into projects that are expected to increase in value over time. Your immediate profits may not be as high as possible, but the value of your portfolio should be more likely to grow over time.
You can also look at different real estate projects and choose for yourself which ones to invest in.
3. Go Safe With High Yield Savings Accounts
Savings accounts might be the most boring investment ever invented, but they are also the safest.
If you are accustomed to your neighborhood bank, where you can walk in and talk to someone, then you probably think the interest earned hardly qualifies as income.
And you’d be right. At 0.15 percent interest or lower, you’d need to exceed the FDIC-insured $250,000 account limit to see any real action.
Online banks, which hit the scene in the late 1990s, have been able to provide much better interest rates to their clients than their traditional cousins.
Now, you can get savings account rates that are as good as a CD without locking in your money for several years.
Some of the leading online banks average about 1.5 percent interest, which is about 10 times what you’d get at the bank around the corner. Sure, it won’t make you rich, but it’s safe and easy.
Online banks that offer high-yield savings accounts include:
Barclays which offers only savings and CDs in the U.S.
Synchrony, which also has limited account options
Ally, where you can also get a checking account.
This is also a great option to stow away your cash and create a little passive income while you are looking for a more lucrative investment option.
4. Invest with a robo-advisor
Putting money into an account and letting an algorithm manage your investments is about as passive as you can get.
Robo-advisors like Betterment allow you to set your willingness for risk in the market and then sit back and let the computer think for you.
The computer algorithm will keep your portfolio balanced. The fees are much lower than what you’d pay a human account manager. There are currently two main players in the robo-advisor game:
Betterment
I have been a long-time supporter of Betterment and even did an interview with their CEO in my Betterment investing review.
Betterment is great at reducing any taxes you have to pay on your investments, and they work with you to give you the best financial advice through their algorithms.
Unlike other robo-advisors, with Betterment you can actually talk to a human being if you want to. Betterment charges the same fees as Wealthfront, but does not wave the fee on the first $10,000 you invest.
My personal experience with Betterment is that their platform is really slick and the investments are very sound. I don't think you can go wrong with either service, but if I am investing a large sum to create a passive income investment, then I would go with Betterment.
Blooom
Bloom works very differently from many of the other robo-advisors. It helps specifically with your employer sponsored accounts (401k, 403b, 401a, and 457 accounts).
Instead of you having to search for the best investment choices for your accounts, Bloom will go through all the investment choices and make adjustments for you.
The service will also automatically rebalance the account as it grows. The service is very inexpensive when compared to a traditional advisor at only $10 per month no matter how large your 401k grows.
5. Try out index funds.
Index funds give you a passive way to invest in the stock market.
For example, if you invest money in an index fund that is based on the S&P 500 Index, you will be invested in the general market.
This means you won’t have to worry about details like:
choosing specific investments
rebalancing your portfolio
knowing when to sell or buy individual companies.
The fund takes care of those things, basing the fund portfolio on the makeup of the underlying index.
E*Trade is our recommended online broker for buying index funds. They make the research and process of investing into different funds very easy.
We recommend them over other options because if you ever start to look at other kinds of stock or mutual fund investments, you already have the account set up and it is easy to move your money over.
On top of that the cost to get your account going is super cheap, and the cost per trade very affordable.
If you are not familiar with E*Trade, check out more details in our Trade King review. They have become one of my best accounts for investing.
With any broker you are free to choose a fund that is based on any index that you want. For example, there are index funds set up for just about every market sector out there:
energy
precious metals
Banking
emerging markets.
You name it. All you have to do is decide that you want to participate, then contribute money, then sit back and relax. Your stock portfolio will be on autopilot.
If you are looking toward retirement with your money then we would look at opening a Roth IRA. It will shield your savings from any future taxes and you can withdraw all earning tax-free once you hit 59 1/2. It is one of the best ways to save money for retirement.
6. Make money for tasks you'd do anyway
Yes, you can make some money doing some of the things you're already doing.
For example, InboxDollars allows you to make money by searching the web, shopping online, playing games, and more! Swagbucks also allows to to make money doing similar activities.
It's amazing. Take advantage of the compensation plan on each of these websites and make some extra money!
You can also make your own schedule with Uber and pick up extra income by driving others around when you are already out and about anyway!
7. Get cash-back rewards on credit cards
If you're already using credit for some of your purchases, pursuing credit card rewards is an absolute no-brainer.
Most top rewards cards let you earn anywhere from 1 to 5 percent back on your money, and that's with almost no effort on your part!
If you're already using credit for convenience, you can also earn a huge sum of cash in the form of a signup bonus.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred®card offers one of the best opportunities out there. After spending just $4,000 on the card in 90 days, you'll earn 50,000 points worth $500.
On top of that, if you add your spouse as an approved user, you score an extra 5,000 points. That works out to 59,000 points for just $4,000 of spending you were going to do anyway.
Even people who don't spend a lot can normally put that much on credit if they charge regular bills, groceries, gas, insurance, and all of their other expenses on a regular basis.
Of course, you’ll want to pay down the balance of the card each month to avoid interest charges.
Our post on the top six cash back credit cards for 2017 offers an array of additional options to consider as well. With the right card, you could earn anywhere from 1 to 5 percent back on your money with almost no effort on your part.
If travel is your thing, we have seen people who are using bonus offers on travel rewards credit cards to save thousands of dollars on travel each year. You can really score big with these deals.
8. Put your photography to work on the web
Do you like photography? If you do, you may be able to convert it into a passive income source.
Photography websites such as Shutterstock and iStockphoto can provide you with platforms to sell your photos. They may offer either a percentage or a flat fee of each photo that is sold to a site client.
In this way, a single photo could represent a residual income opportunity, since it can be sold again and again. You simply need to create your photo portfolio, put it on one or more photo platforms, and then the activity becomes completely passive. All the technicalities of photo sales are handled through the web platform.
And yes, that's me in a stock photo you can purchase from iStockPhoto.com. My wife is a good photographer and has uploaded a few hundred photos to their platform and makes a good monthly residual income from it.
9. Write an ebook
This can be a lot of work upfront, but once the ebook is created and marketed it can provide you with a passive revenue stream for years.
You can either sell the ebook on your own website or offer it as an affiliate arrangement with other websites that provide content related to your ebook.
After speaking to several ebook authors, many of the tell me that the time spent putting these books together feels like finding free money by the passive stream of income they have today.
10. Sell your own products on the internet
The possibilities here are endless – you can sell just about any product or service that you like.
It could be a product you have created and can manufacture on your own or it could be digital in nature (such as software, DVDs, or even instructional videos).
You can set up a dedicated website for this product or service, unless of course, you have a website or blog already in place.
Alternatively, you can also sell it on an affiliate basis, either by offering it direct to websites and blogs related to your product or service, or through a platform such as ClickBank.
If you make a lot of money in your current job and you're not sure that you can make a similar amount by selling products online, think again.
Awhile back, I interviewed Steve Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. In our podcast interview, Steve explained how his wife quit her job to become a stay-at-home mom.
Now, being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job, but Steve Chou's wife also started an online business that replaced her former salary and started bringing in a six-figure income! Wow, right?
You can learn to sell products online too and make quite a bit of money. While it's not entirely passive, it's certainly more passive than getting up and heading out the door to work every morning!
11. Invest in real estate
This probably falls more in the category of semi-passive income, since an investment in real estate is always at least a little bit of an active venture.
Still, once you have an investment property that is established and fully rented, it’s mostly a matter of managing the property and keeping it performing well.
Additionally, there are professional property managers who can manage your property for you, usually for around 10 percent of the monthly rent. This professional management can make the investment much more passive, but will take a bite out of your cash flow.
According to Brandon Turner, an active real estate investor and co-host on the popular BiggerPockets Podcast,
“The key to success with rental properties is buying smart. Not every investment property is going to provide a good return or prove to be passive. Understanding how to analyze potential real estate opportunities is incredibly important. As the old adage goes – you make your money when you buy!”
Another benefit of investing in rental properties is the loan pay down. If you obtain a loan to buy the property, each month your tenants are paying off part of the loan.
Once the mortgage on the property has been paid off, your cash flow will increase dramatically, allowing your mediocre investment to skyrocket into a full-fledged retirement program.
It wouldn't take many paid-off properties to provide a pretty great, and mostly-passive, future for you and your family.
(If you’d like to invest in real estate without doing all the managerial work, see #2.)
12. Make YouTube videos
You can create videos in just about any area that you like – music, tutorials, opinions, comedy, movie reviews – anything you want . . . then put them on YouTube.
You can then attach Google AdSense to the videos, which will overlay your videos with automatic ads. When viewers click on those ads, you will earn money from AdSense.
You have to create compelling videos, to promote those videos on social media websites, and to create enough of them that your income will be coming from multiple sources.
You may need to learn something about video editing, but there are apps that can make that much easier and affordable these days.
Still, there’s a good bit of work that goes into creating videos. But once a video is done it can become a completely passive cash flow source for a very long time.
Don't think you can find success with YouTube? Emily Eddington used her love for makeup and YouTube to quit her full-time job. She has received over 169 million views on YouTube and she has nearly 1 million subscribers.
This former morning news anchor took her passion – makeup – and turned it into a phenomenal success.
13. Buy a blog
Thousands of blogs are created every year, and thousands are either completely abandoned by their owners sometime afterward.
If you can buy blogs with a reasonable amount of web traffic – as well as a demonstrated cash flow – it could be a perfect passive income source.
Most blogs employ Google AdSense, which provides a monthly revenue stream based on ads that Google places on the site. There may also be affiliate programs generating additional revenue.
Both income sources will be yours once you purchase the blog.
From a financial perspective, blogs usually sell for 24 times their monthly income. So if the site generates $250 a month in income, you can likely buy it for no more than $6,000.
Translation: a $6,000 investment will buy you $1,500 per year in cash flow.
You may even be able to purchase the site for less than 24 months of earnings if the site owner is particularly anxious to get out. Some sites have good “evergreen” content that will continue generating revenue even years after the site has gone silent.
So a simple $5,000 investment can net you ongoing passive income.
Bonus tip: If you were to buy such a site and then to reinvigorate it with fresh content, you may be able to increase the monthly revenue, enabling yourself to sell the site at a later date for substantially more than what you paid for it.
Finally, instead of buying a blog, you might want to create your own blog. My blog currently generates a nice passive income stream from content that I published years ago. It's by far one of the best business moves I've made.
This guide will show how to make your first $1,000 from blogging. You'll find access to our free Make 1k Challenge which is a free email course that walks through the steps to start your first blog and make your first $1,000.
Join the free Make 1k Challenge here and get your blogging groove on. 🙂
14. Pay off a credit card (or two or three)
Reducing a fixed expense is the financial equivalent of creating passive income. This is certainly true when it comes to credit cards.
Let’s say that you owe $10,000 on a credit card, on which there is a monthly payment equal to 2 percent of the balance, or $200 per month.
By paying the card off, you’ll free up $2,400 per year in cash flow that would’ve gone to the monthly payments.
That’s like getting a guaranteed 24 percent return on a $10,000 investment. Good deal?
You can speed up this process by transferring your current balances to a 0 percent APR card. You can usually get the promotional rate for 15 months or more and supercharge your credit card payoff.
15. Write a book and collect royalties
Much like writing an ebook, there’s a lot of work upfront when you write a book. But once that’s done, and the book goes into the sales stage, it becomes a completely passive venture.
This is especially true if you can sell the book to a publisher who will pay you royalties for the distribution and sale of the book. You’ll get a percentage of each sale made, and if the book is fairly popular, the royalties could be substantial.
Just as important, the royalties can continue flowing for many years.
Mike Piper from OblivousInvestor.com did just that. He wrote a book, Investing Made Simple, which was sold strictly on Amazon.
He had decent success with the first book that he created an entire series of book. Those books now net him over 6 figures per year in residual earnings. Not too shabby.
16. Set up a website selling a product
If there is a product that you are particularly knowledgeable about, you may be able to sell it on a dedicated website.
The technique is similar to what you would use for your own product, except you won’t have to worry about creating the product, only selling someone else’s product.
You may even find, after a while, that you are able to add other products that are related. Should that happen, the site could generate substantial revenues.
If you are able to have the product drop shipped to customers directly from the manufacturer, you won’t even have to get your hands dirty. That may not be 100 percent passive, but it’s darn close.
17. Invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs)
In No. 11 we talked about investing in real estate. But let’s say you want to invest in real estate but do it in a truly passive way.
You can do that through a real estate investment trust. This is something like a mutual fund holding various real estate projects. The fund is managed by professionals, so you never have to get involved.
REITs typically pay higher dividends than stocks, bonds, or bank investments. You can also sell your interest in a REIT anytime you like, which makes it more liquid than owning real estate outright.
At Fundrise (see No. 2) you can invest in an REIT with only $500.
18. Become a business silent partner
Do you know of a successful business that needs capital for expansion? If so, you can become something of a small-time angel investor and provide that needed capital.
But rather than offering a loan to a business owner, you can treat this as a business opportunity and take an equity position in the business.
In this way, the business owner will handle the day-to-day operations, while you will act as a silent partner who also participates in the profits of the business.
You will probably want to look at some business credit card offers in order to get a feel for how to manage your business finances while keeping tracking of how your partner is handling everything.
19. Become a referral source
Every small business needs referral sources in order to maintain sales.
Make a list of the small businesses you use on a regular basis and feel you can recommend to others without reservation: your dry-cleaners, your local coffee shop, your pet sitter, etc.
Then contact the business owners and see if they have any kind of cash referral marketing offers available.
You can do this with accountants, landscapers, electricians, plumbers, carpet cleaning services – the list is endless.
Keep a list of these businesses, and be ready to refer them to your friends, family and coworkers. You can earn a fee on each referral just from talking to people.
Don’t overlook referral programs at work either. If your company offers a referral bonus for either new employees or for new customers, then take advantage of that plan.
It’s easy money with virtually no work.
There are dozens of companies that you will pay referral fees online, as well. If there's a service or product you enjoy, why not get paid by referring it to a friend?
Here's over 100 different referral offers online you can take advantage of.
20. Rent out unused space with Airbnb
Airbnb is a concept that has only been around for a few years, but it has exploded around the globe.
Airbnb allows people to travel all around the world and to stay in accommodations that are a lot less expensive than traditional hotels.
They do this by staying with participating Airbnb members who rent out part of their homes to travelers.
By participating in Airbnb, you can use your residence to accommodate guests and earn extra money just for renting out space in your home.
Paula Pant, cubicle renegade AffordAnything.com took a stab at making extra money renting out locations exclusively through Airnbnb.
Her Airbnb experiment netted her an extra $19,000 in revenue and 1 police visit! 🙂
How much you make depends upon the size and condition of your home and your location. Naturally, if your home is located in a high cost city, or close to a popular resort, your income will be much higher.
It’s a way of earning money on space in your home that might just be sitting empty otherwise.
21. Build an app
Apps can be an incredibly lucrative income source. Think about how many people today have smartphones. Odds are you’re reading this on your smartphone.
So people are downloading apps like crazy – and for good reason…
Apps make people's lives easier. Whether it's an app that helps people put together nice pictures for their blog or an app that keeps track of tasks, there are helpful apps out there for everyone.
You might be asking: If there are so many apps out there, why would you want to attempt to create an app? Isn't there a lot of competition?
Well, yes, but fresh, creative ideas can win. If you can come up with something unique, you can make quite a bit of money.
Simple – yet unique – apps can be pretty passive.
Don't know how to code? No problem. First, you can learn. Check out Nathan Barry's success in his inspiring article, How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code. Nathan also put his design expertise to work in an ebook teaching others how they can design their own apps.
Second, you can hire a developer to build your app based on your idea. This could end up being an expensive option, although it will probably yield a professional-looking app.
The end result is an app that has the potential to make you some relatively passive income. Don't downplay the idea to build an app – it's a good one!
22. Create an online course
Everyone is an expert at something. Why not create an online course about your passion?
My buddy Ramit Sethi at IWillTeachYoutobeRich.com is an expert at creating online courses. He has made an insane amount of money selling his lessons.
Most people would be happy making a fraction of what he makes online.
There are a number of ways you can produce and host your own online course. One very simple way is to use a website like Teachable.com.
Teachable has over three million students and is a great way to get your content in front of others for their consideration.
Once you create an online course, it can work for you while you sleep!
What do you put in your online course? Good question. You can add:
video lessons
checklists for completing steps you recommend in your video lessons
small ebooks to supplement the lessons
audio files for people listening while traveling
informative interviews with like-minded experts
and a whole bunch more!
In fact, you can create several packages at different price points. Some people will want everything, so you can include ‘the works' for the highest price point and then have two lower price points so that you can receive the largest possible volume of orders.
23. Make an online guide
If writing articles or creating videos isn't your thing, and you want to make money online, try creating an online guide.
A good example of this comes from Pat Flynn's website, SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com. On the website, he has a map of the United States that allows someone to click on any state to see the security guard requirements for that state.
By providing specific information in a guide-like format, you can make money through some of the means already addressed: advertisements through Google AdSense, affiliate links, and even memberships you can sell from your online guide.
It's a fantastic idea!
24. Outsource most if not all of your business needs
If you're spending too much of your time on an existing business running it yourself, why not outsource most if not all of your tasks?
Yes, it will require you to give up some control, but in many businesses it's the only way to free up your time so you can focus on other tasks that will result in more income.
If you don't want to hire employees, consider hiring freelancers who work as contract laborers. Look for freelancers with a strong work ethic who provide quality results.
Here's a list of tasks that you might want to outsource:
Bookkeeping
Writing
Web design
Editing
Task management
Social media marketing
and so much more!
Yes, many people can turn their existing businesses into passive income businesses.
As long as the main product or service isn't something only you can do, you can transform your business into a passive moneymaker.
25. Try affiliate marketing and make sales
This is a passive income technique that is better suited to people who have blogs and active websites.
You can sign up to promote certain products or services on your site, for which you will be paid either a flat fee or a percentage of the amount of the sale completed.
This isn’t as hard to do as you might think, since there are thousands of companies in the world who want to sell their products in as many places as they can.
You can find affiliate offers either by contacting vendors directly, or on dedicated websites, such as ClickBank. It’s always best if the product or service is one that you are either very interested in or is highly relevant to your website.
Sell ads on your car
You’ve seen ads on the side of city buses. You can make passive income by placing ads on your car.
This isn’t for everyone. Be ready to answer some questions about the product you’re advertising while you’re out buying groceries.
But if you’re up for it, check out Carvertise.
Join EBates
Do you shop online? Who doesn’t, right? With Ebates, you can get a rebate when you shop at a surprisingly wide variety of online retailers.
Here’s how it works:
Start an Ebates account.
Follow the directions to activate the Ebates browser extension.
Shop like you normally would online.
When you visit an Ebates-enabled retailer, you’ll see a pop-up window telling you the cash-back percentage you can get on the site.
Percentages range from 1 percent to 22 percent and occasionally higher. Each month you’ll get a check.
If you buy a big-ticket item like a refrigerator or a smartphone, or if you do your grocery shopping online, you can earn some noticeable income.
*Bonus Idea* Purchase high dividend stocks.
By building a portfolio of high dividend stocks, you can create regular passive income at an annual rate that is much higher than what you get on bank investments.
Just as important, since high dividend stocks are stocks, there is always the potential for capital appreciation. In that way, you can earn passive income from two sources – dividends and capital gains.
You can make this process very easy and affordable by opening an account with Ally Invest. They have one of the lowest fees for each trade and have been a long time top brokerage.
If you are interested in other brokerage accounts we have provided a good write up of all the different options.
I’ve purposely provided a long list of passive income ideas in the hope that there is something on this list for everyone.
So, just to recap…
25 Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today  Invest in Lending Club Investing Passively In REITs With Fundrise Go Safe With High Yield Savings Accounts Invest with a robo-advisor Try out index funds Make money for tasks you'd do anyway Get cash-back rewards on credit cards Put your photography to work on the web Write an ebook Sell your own products on the internet Invest in real estate Make YouTube videos Buy A Blog Pay off a credit card (or two or three) Write a book and collect royalties Set up a website selling a product Invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) Become a business silent partner Become a referral source Rent out unused space with Airbnb Build an app Create an online course Make an online guide Outsource most if not all of your business needs Try affiliate marketing and make sales Sell ads on your car Join EBates
Have you tried one of these or are you thinking about trying one of these ideas now? Leave a comment! I look forward to hearing from you.
The post 27 Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today appeared first on Good Financial Cents.
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27 Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today
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Making money while you sleep.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
After reading books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and 4 Hour Work Week, I became interested obsessed with making passive income.
Top Passive Income Ideas
Lending Club
Passive Real Estate
High Interest Savings
Robo-Advisors
Index Funds
Mindless Tasks
Credit Card Rewards
Photographs
Write an eBook
Ideas 10-27
What is Passive Income?
When you’re short on cash, a typical solution is to work more hours, right? Or to ask for a raise so you can turn your work hours into more money.
There’s nothing wrong with either of those actions, but there’s also another way.
Lots of other ways, actually.
They aren’t ways to turn your time directly into money. Instead, they are ways to plant seeds so your money will grow, even when you’re sleeping or at the park walking your dog.
In other words, even when you’re not out actively trying to make money.
It’s all about the concept of passive income. Just like a farmer who plants a crop, tends the fields, and harvests the produce, you can plant financial seeds that will produce income.
It takes some work up front, and some maintenance along the way, but if you plant passive income seeds that suit your climate (aka your personal preferences and skills), you can bring in a nice harvest.
And if you are trying to pay off debt quickly, or if you're a college student who needs to make money but doesn’t have time for a part-time job, this can be a huge help!
Below you’ll find quite a few passive income ideas, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to find at least a few that cater to your situation and skills.
For the purpose of this article, we are lumping passive income and portfolio income into the passive category, and active income into the non-passive category – although the IRS categorizes and treats each type of income differently.
You can also check out some of my latest YouTube videos on passive income.
1. Invest in Lending Club
Earning interest on safe investments, such as U.S. Treasury securities and bank certificates of deposit, is safe and simple — the very definition of passive income.
The problem, of course, is that those instruments pay paltry returns – generally less than 1 percent. It may be passive income at its finest, but you’ll never be able to relax or retire on returns that low.
But now we have Lending Club. It is a web-based peer-to-peer lending platform where people come to get loans, and investors – looking for high interest opportunities – provide the funds for those loans.
Lending Club provides an opportunity to earn interest rates in excess of 10 percent a year – which is about 10 times what you will earn on more conventional interest-bearing investments.
Now let’s be clear on one point: those high rates do come at a cost.
Unlike bank investments, Lending Club loans can go bad, in which case you will lose principal. However, there are ways to minimize those potential losses.
I talked to a Lending Club advisor who recommended starting out with an initial deposit of $2,500. Since you can invest as little as $25 in a single loan, you could buy into 100 different loans with a deposit of that level. So you don't have to worry about a single loan going bad and ruining your investment.
Despite the risk of default, you’ll likely earn far more on your investments at Lending Club than you would at a bank. I have averages just under 9 percent during the eight years I have been investing with them.
That is a nice residual income stream. Investing larger sums of money in different ways can be beneficial. Whether it be where to invest 10K or where to invest 100K, we can help you get a better understanding of how to invest your money.
Want to try out Lending Club? You can open a free account here.
2. Passive Real Estate Investing with Fundrise
Real estate can result in a great source of passive income. But what if you don’t have the time, the skill, or the upfront money to flip a house? Or what if you’d just rather not be a landlord?
Enter Fundrise. Fundrise is a real estate investment trust, or REIT. You buy shares in the trust, and it uses your money to develop a variety of real estate projects. If the project turn a profit, so do you.
With a REIT, all of the money is going to be invested in real estate. The REIT owns the property, and you don’t have to worry about handling the landlord duties.
With Fundrise you can start investing with as little as $500. With other real estate investments, you’ll have to have a lot of money saved up to start, but Fundrise lets you get into the real estate business with just your Christmas bonus money.
While Fundrise can’t predict the future, and you never know how well the investments are going to perform, they do have some great returns in the past. In 2017, they posted returns of 11.44 percent.
Obviously, these are much higher than you’re going to get with most other investments.
What’s more is that you can choose a plan that matches your investment strategy:
Supplemental Income: This plan puts your money into projects that should start earning you some passive income as quickly as possible.
Balanced Investing: This plan leans more toward projects that will increase in value over time and puts less emphasis on getting returns now.
Long-term growth: As the name implies, this plan buys you into projects that are expected to increase in value over time. Your immediate profits may not be as high as possible, but the value of your portfolio should be more likely to grow over time.
You can also look at different real estate projects and choose for yourself which ones to invest in.
3. Go Safe With High Yield Savings Accounts
Savings accounts might be the most boring investment ever invented, but they are also the safest.
If you are accustomed to your neighborhood bank, where you can walk in and talk to someone, then you probably think the interest earned hardly qualifies as income.
And you’d be right. At 0.15 percent interest or lower, you’d need to exceed the FDIC-insured $250,000 account limit to see any real action.
Online banks, which hit the scene in the late 1990s, have been able to provide much better interest rates to their clients than their traditional cousins.
Now, you can get savings account rates that are as good as a CD without locking in your money for several years.
Some of the leading online banks average about 1.5 percent interest, which is about 10 times what you’d get at the bank around the corner. Sure, it won’t make you rich, but it’s safe and easy.
Online banks that offer high-yield savings accounts include:
Barclays which offers only savings and CDs in the U.S.
Synchrony, which also has limited account options
Ally, where you can also get a checking account.
This is also a great option to stow away your cash and create a little passive income while you are looking for a more lucrative investment option.
4. Invest with a robo-advisor
Putting money into an account and letting an algorithm manage your investments is about as passive as you can get.
Robo-advisors like Betterment allow you to set your willingness for risk in the market and then sit back and let the computer think for you.
The computer algorithm will keep your portfolio balanced. The fees are much lower than what you’d pay a human account manager. There are currently two main players in the robo-advisor game:
Betterment
I have been a long-time supporter of Betterment and even did an interview with their CEO in my Betterment investing review.
Betterment is great at reducing any taxes you have to pay on your investments, and they work with you to give you the best financial advice through their algorithms.
Unlike other robo-advisors, with Betterment you can actually talk to a human being if you want to. Betterment charges the same fees as Wealthfront, but does not wave the fee on the first $10,000 you invest.
My personal experience with Betterment is that their platform is really slick and the investments are very sound. I don't think you can go wrong with either service, but if I am investing a large sum to create a passive income investment, then I would go with Betterment.
Blooom
Bloom works very differently from many of the other robo-advisors. It helps specifically with your employer sponsored accounts (401k, 403b, 401a, and 457 accounts).
Instead of you having to search for the best investment choices for your accounts, Bloom will go through all the investment choices and make adjustments for you.
The service will also automatically rebalance the account as it grows. The service is very inexpensive when compared to a traditional advisor at only $10 per month no matter how large your 401k grows.
5. Try out index funds.
Index funds give you a passive way to invest in the stock market.
For example, if you invest money in an index fund that is based on the S&P 500 Index, you will be invested in the general market.
This means you won’t have to worry about details like:
choosing specific investments
rebalancing your portfolio
knowing when to sell or buy individual companies.
The fund takes care of those things, basing the fund portfolio on the makeup of the underlying index.
E*Trade is our recommended online broker for buying index funds. They make the research and process of investing into different funds very easy.
We recommend them over other options because if you ever start to look at other kinds of stock or mutual fund investments, you already have the account set up and it is easy to move your money over.
On top of that the cost to get your account going is super cheap, and the cost per trade very affordable.
If you are not familiar with E*Trade, check out more details in our Trade King review. They have become one of my best accounts for investing.
With any broker you are free to choose a fund that is based on any index that you want. For example, there are index funds set up for just about every market sector out there:
energy
precious metals
Banking
emerging markets.
You name it. All you have to do is decide that you want to participate, then contribute money, then sit back and relax. Your stock portfolio will be on autopilot.
If you are looking toward retirement with your money then we would look at opening a Roth IRA. It will shield your savings from any future taxes and you can withdraw all earning tax-free once you hit 59 1/2. It is one of the best ways to save money for retirement.
6. Make money for tasks you'd do anyway
Yes, you can make some money doing some of the things you're already doing.
For example, InboxDollars allows you to make money by searching the web, shopping online, playing games, and more! Swagbucks also allows to to make money doing similar activities.
It's amazing. Take advantage of the compensation plan on each of these websites and make some extra money!
You can also make your own schedule with Uber and pick up extra income by driving others around when you are already out and about anyway!
7. Get cash-back rewards on credit cards
If you're already using credit for some of your purchases, pursuing credit card rewards is an absolute no-brainer.
Most top rewards cards let you earn anywhere from 1 to 5 percent back on your money, and that's with almost no effort on your part!
If you're already using credit for convenience, you can also earn a huge sum of cash in the form of a signup bonus.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred®card offers one of the best opportunities out there. After spending just $4,000 on the card in 90 days, you'll earn 50,000 points worth $500.
On top of that, if you add your spouse as an approved user, you score an extra 5,000 points. That works out to 59,000 points for just $4,000 of spending you were going to do anyway.
Even people who don't spend a lot can normally put that much on credit if they charge regular bills, groceries, gas, insurance, and all of their other expenses on a regular basis.
Of course, you’ll want to pay down the balance of the card each month to avoid interest charges.
Our post on the top six cash back credit cards for 2017 offers an array of additional options to consider as well. With the right card, you could earn anywhere from 1 to 5 percent back on your money with almost no effort on your part.
If travel is your thing, we have seen people who are using bonus offers on travel rewards credit cards to save thousands of dollars on travel each year. You can really score big with these deals.
8. Put your photography to work on the web
Do you like photography? If you do, you may be able to convert it into a passive income source.
Photography websites such as Shutterstock and iStockphoto can provide you with platforms to sell your photos. They may offer either a percentage or a flat fee of each photo that is sold to a site client.
In this way, a single photo could represent a residual income opportunity, since it can be sold again and again. You simply need to create your photo portfolio, put it on one or more photo platforms, and then the activity becomes completely passive. All the technicalities of photo sales are handled through the web platform.
And yes, that's me in a stock photo you can purchase from iStockPhoto.com. My wife is a good photographer and has uploaded a few hundred photos to their platform and makes a good monthly residual income from it.
9. Write an ebook
This can be a lot of work upfront, but once the ebook is created and marketed it can provide you with a passive revenue stream for years.
You can either sell the ebook on your own website or offer it as an affiliate arrangement with other websites that provide content related to your ebook.
After speaking to several ebook authors, many of the tell me that the time spent putting these books together feels like finding free money by the passive stream of income they have today.
10. Sell your own products on the internet
The possibilities here are endless – you can sell just about any product or service that you like.
It could be a product you have created and can manufacture on your own or it could be digital in nature (such as software, DVDs, or even instructional videos).
You can set up a dedicated website for this product or service, unless of course, you have a website or blog already in place.
Alternatively, you can also sell it on an affiliate basis, either by offering it direct to websites and blogs related to your product or service, or through a platform such as ClickBank.
If you make a lot of money in your current job and you're not sure that you can make a similar amount by selling products online, think again.
Awhile back, I interviewed Steve Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. In our podcast interview, Steve explained how his wife quit her job to become a stay-at-home mom.
Now, being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job, but Steve Chou's wife also started an online business that replaced her former salary and started bringing in a six-figure income! Wow, right?
You can learn to sell products online too and make quite a bit of money. While it's not entirely passive, it's certainly more passive than getting up and heading out the door to work every morning!
11. Invest in real estate
This probably falls more in the category of semi-passive income, since an investment in real estate is always at least a little bit of an active venture.
Still, once you have an investment property that is established and fully rented, it’s mostly a matter of managing the property and keeping it performing well.
Additionally, there are professional property managers who can manage your property for you, usually for around 10 percent of the monthly rent. This professional management can make the investment much more passive, but will take a bite out of your cash flow.
According to Brandon Turner, an active real estate investor and co-host on the popular BiggerPockets Podcast,
“The key to success with rental properties is buying smart. Not every investment property is going to provide a good return or prove to be passive. Understanding how to analyze potential real estate opportunities is incredibly important. As the old adage goes – you make your money when you buy!”
Another benefit of investing in rental properties is the loan pay down. If you obtain a loan to buy the property, each month your tenants are paying off part of the loan.
Once the mortgage on the property has been paid off, your cash flow will increase dramatically, allowing your mediocre investment to skyrocket into a full-fledged retirement program.
It wouldn't take many paid-off properties to provide a pretty great, and mostly-passive, future for you and your family.
(If you’d like to invest in real estate without doing all the managerial work, see #2.)
12. Make YouTube videos
You can create videos in just about any area that you like – music, tutorials, opinions, comedy, movie reviews – anything you want . . . then put them on YouTube.
You can then attach Google AdSense to the videos, which will overlay your videos with automatic ads. When viewers click on those ads, you will earn money from AdSense.
You have to create compelling videos, to promote those videos on social media websites, and to create enough of them that your income will be coming from multiple sources.
You may need to learn something about video editing, but there are apps that can make that much easier and affordable these days.
Still, there’s a good bit of work that goes into creating videos. But once a video is done it can become a completely passive cash flow source for a very long time.
Don't think you can find success with YouTube? Emily Eddington used her love for makeup and YouTube to quit her full-time job. She has received over 169 million views on YouTube and she has nearly 1 million subscribers.
This former morning news anchor took her passion – makeup – and turned it into a phenomenal success.
13. Buy a blog
Thousands of blogs are created every year, and thousands are either completely abandoned by their owners sometime afterward.
If you can buy blogs with a reasonable amount of web traffic – as well as a demonstrated cash flow – it could be a perfect passive income source.
Most blogs employ Google AdSense, which provides a monthly revenue stream based on ads that Google places on the site. There may also be affiliate programs generating additional revenue.
Both income sources will be yours once you purchase the blog.
From a financial perspective, blogs usually sell for 24 times their monthly income. So if the site generates $250 a month in income, you can likely buy it for no more than $6,000.
Translation: a $6,000 investment will buy you $1,500 per year in cash flow.
You may even be able to purchase the site for less than 24 months of earnings if the site owner is particularly anxious to get out. Some sites have good “evergreen” content that will continue generating revenue even years after the site has gone silent.
So a simple $5,000 investment can net you ongoing passive income.
Bonus tip: If you were to buy such a site and then to reinvigorate it with fresh content, you may be able to increase the monthly revenue, enabling yourself to sell the site at a later date for substantially more than what you paid for it.
Finally, instead of buying a blog, you might want to create your own blog. My blog currently generates a nice passive income stream from content that I published years ago. It's by far one of the best business moves I've made.
This guide will show how to make your first $1,000 from blogging. You'll find access to our free Make 1k Challenge which is a free email course that walks through the steps to start your first blog and make your first $1,000.
Join the free Make 1k Challenge here and get your blogging groove on. 🙂
14. Pay off a credit card (or two or three)
Reducing a fixed expense is the financial equivalent of creating passive income. This is certainly true when it comes to credit cards.
Let’s say that you owe $10,000 on a credit card, on which there is a monthly payment equal to 2 percent of the balance, or $200 per month.
By paying the card off, you’ll free up $2,400 per year in cash flow that would’ve gone to the monthly payments.
That’s like getting a guaranteed 24 percent return on a $10,000 investment. Good deal?
You can speed up this process by transferring your current balances to a 0 percent APR card. You can usually get the promotional rate for 15 months or more and supercharge your credit card payoff.
15. Write a book and collect royalties
Much like writing an ebook, there’s a lot of work upfront when you write a book. But once that’s done, and the book goes into the sales stage, it becomes a completely passive venture.
This is especially true if you can sell the book to a publisher who will pay you royalties for the distribution and sale of the book. You’ll get a percentage of each sale made, and if the book is fairly popular, the royalties could be substantial.
Just as important, the royalties can continue flowing for many years.
Mike Piper from OblivousInvestor.com did just that. He wrote a book, Investing Made Simple, which was sold strictly on Amazon.
He had decent success with the first book that he created an entire series of book. Those books now net him over 6 figures per year in residual earnings. Not too shabby.
16. Set up a website selling a product
If there is a product that you are particularly knowledgeable about, you may be able to sell it on a dedicated website.
The technique is similar to what you would use for your own product, except you won’t have to worry about creating the product, only selling someone else’s product.
You may even find, after a while, that you are able to add other products that are related. Should that happen, the site could generate substantial revenues.
If you are able to have the product drop shipped to customers directly from the manufacturer, you won’t even have to get your hands dirty. That may not be 100 percent passive, but it’s darn close.
17. Invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs)
In No. 11 we talked about investing in real estate. But let’s say you want to invest in real estate but do it in a truly passive way.
You can do that through a real estate investment trust. This is something like a mutual fund holding various real estate projects. The fund is managed by professionals, so you never have to get involved.
REITs typically pay higher dividends than stocks, bonds, or bank investments. You can also sell your interest in a REIT anytime you like, which makes it more liquid than owning real estate outright.
At Fundrise (see No. 2) you can invest in an REIT with only $500.
18. Become a business silent partner
Do you know of a successful business that needs capital for expansion? If so, you can become something of a small-time angel investor and provide that needed capital.
But rather than offering a loan to a business owner, you can treat this as a business opportunity and take an equity position in the business.
In this way, the business owner will handle the day-to-day operations, while you will act as a silent partner who also participates in the profits of the business.
You will probably want to look at some business credit card offers in order to get a feel for how to manage your business finances while keeping tracking of how your partner is handling everything.
19. Become a referral source
Every small business needs referral sources in order to maintain sales.
Make a list of the small businesses you use on a regular basis and feel you can recommend to others without reservation: your dry-cleaners, your local coffee shop, your pet sitter, etc.
Then contact the business owners and see if they have any kind of cash referral marketing offers available.
You can do this with accountants, landscapers, electricians, plumbers, carpet cleaning services – the list is endless.
Keep a list of these businesses, and be ready to refer them to your friends, family and coworkers. You can earn a fee on each referral just from talking to people.
Don’t overlook referral programs at work either. If your company offers a referral bonus for either new employees or for new customers, then take advantage of that plan.
It’s easy money with virtually no work.
There are dozens of companies that you will pay referral fees online, as well. If there's a service or product you enjoy, why not get paid by referring it to a friend?
Here's over 100 different referral offers online you can take advantage of.
20. Rent out unused space with Airbnb
Airbnb is a concept that has only been around for a few years, but it has exploded around the globe.
Airbnb allows people to travel all around the world and to stay in accommodations that are a lot less expensive than traditional hotels.
They do this by staying with participating Airbnb members who rent out part of their homes to travelers.
By participating in Airbnb, you can use your residence to accommodate guests and earn extra money just for renting out space in your home.
Paula Pant, cubicle renegade AffordAnything.com took a stab at making extra money renting out locations exclusively through Airnbnb.
Her Airbnb experiment netted her an extra $19,000 in revenue and 1 police visit! 🙂
How much you make depends upon the size and condition of your home and your location. Naturally, if your home is located in a high cost city, or close to a popular resort, your income will be much higher.
It’s a way of earning money on space in your home that might just be sitting empty otherwise.
21. Build an app
Apps can be an incredibly lucrative income source. Think about how many people today have smartphones. Odds are you’re reading this on your smartphone.
So people are downloading apps like crazy – and for good reason…
Apps make people's lives easier. Whether it's an app that helps people put together nice pictures for their blog or an app that keeps track of tasks, there are helpful apps out there for everyone.
You might be asking: If there are so many apps out there, why would you want to attempt to create an app? Isn't there a lot of competition?
Well, yes, but fresh, creative ideas can win. If you can come up with something unique, you can make quite a bit of money.
Simple – yet unique – apps can be pretty passive.
Don't know how to code? No problem. First, you can learn. Check out Nathan Barry's success in his inspiring article, How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code. Nathan also put his design expertise to work in an ebook teaching others how they can design their own apps.
Second, you can hire a developer to build your app based on your idea. This could end up being an expensive option, although it will probably yield a professional-looking app.
The end result is an app that has the potential to make you some relatively passive income. Don't downplay the idea to build an app – it's a good one!
22. Create an online course
Everyone is an expert at something. Why not create an online course about your passion?
My buddy Ramit Sethi at IWillTeachYoutobeRich.com is an expert at creating online courses. He has made an insane amount of money selling his lessons.
Most people would be happy making a fraction of what he makes online.
There are a number of ways you can produce and host your own online course. One very simple way is to use a website like Teachable.com.
Teachable has over three million students and is a great way to get your content in front of others for their consideration.
Once you create an online course, it can work for you while you sleep!
What do you put in your online course? Good question. You can add:
video lessons
checklists for completing steps you recommend in your video lessons
small ebooks to supplement the lessons
audio files for people listening while traveling
informative interviews with like-minded experts
and a whole bunch more!
In fact, you can create several packages at different price points. Some people will want everything, so you can include ‘the works' for the highest price point and then have two lower price points so that you can receive the largest possible volume of orders.
23. Make an online guide
If writing articles or creating videos isn't your thing, and you want to make money online, try creating an online guide.
A good example of this comes from Pat Flynn's website, SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com. On the website, he has a map of the United States that allows someone to click on any state to see the security guard requirements for that state.
By providing specific information in a guide-like format, you can make money through some of the means already addressed: advertisements through Google AdSense, affiliate links, and even memberships you can sell from your online guide.
It's a fantastic idea!
24. Outsource most if not all of your business needs
If you're spending too much of your time on an existing business running it yourself, why not outsource most if not all of your tasks?
Yes, it will require you to give up some control, but in many businesses it's the only way to free up your time so you can focus on other tasks that will result in more income.
If you don't want to hire employees, consider hiring freelancers who work as contract laborers. Look for freelancers with a strong work ethic who provide quality results.
Here's a list of tasks that you might want to outsource:
Bookkeeping
Writing
Web design
Editing
Task management
Social media marketing
and so much more!
Yes, many people can turn their existing businesses into passive income businesses.
As long as the main product or service isn't something only you can do, you can transform your business into a passive moneymaker.
25. Try affiliate marketing and make sales
This is a passive income technique that is better suited to people who have blogs and active websites.
You can sign up to promote certain products or services on your site, for which you will be paid either a flat fee or a percentage of the amount of the sale completed.
This isn’t as hard to do as you might think, since there are thousands of companies in the world who want to sell their products in as many places as they can.
You can find affiliate offers either by contacting vendors directly, or on dedicated websites, such as ClickBank. It’s always best if the product or service is one that you are either very interested in or is highly relevant to your website.
Sell ads on your car
You’ve seen ads on the side of city buses. You can make passive income by placing ads on your car.
This isn’t for everyone. Be ready to answer some questions about the product you’re advertising while you’re out buying groceries.
But if you’re up for it, check out Carvertise.
Join EBates
Do you shop online? Who doesn’t, right? With Ebates, you can get a rebate when you shop at a surprisingly wide variety of online retailers.
Here’s how it works:
Start an Ebates account.
Follow the directions to activate the Ebates browser extension.
Shop like you normally would online.
When you visit an Ebates-enabled retailer, you’ll see a pop-up window telling you the cash-back percentage you can get on the site.
Percentages range from 1 percent to 22 percent and occasionally higher. Each month you’ll get a check.
If you buy a big-ticket item like a refrigerator or a smartphone, or if you do your grocery shopping online, you can earn some noticeable income.
*Bonus Idea* Purchase high dividend stocks.
By building a portfolio of high dividend stocks, you can create regular passive income at an annual rate that is much higher than what you get on bank investments.
Just as important, since high dividend stocks are stocks, there is always the potential for capital appreciation. In that way, you can earn passive income from two sources – dividends and capital gains.
You can make this process very easy and affordable by opening an account with Ally Invest. They have one of the lowest fees for each trade and have been a long time top brokerage.
If you are interested in other brokerage accounts we have provided a good write up of all the different options.
I’ve purposely provided a long list of passive income ideas in the hope that there is something on this list for everyone.
So, just to recap…
25 Passive Income Ideas You Can Start Today  Invest in Lending Club Investing Passively In REITs With Fundrise Go Safe With High Yield Savings Accounts Invest with a robo-advisor Try out index funds Make money for tasks you'd do anyway Get cash-back rewards on credit cards Put your photography to work on the web Write an ebook Sell your own products on the internet Invest in real estate Make YouTube videos Buy A Blog Pay off a credit card (or two or three) Write a book and collect royalties Set up a website selling a product Invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) Become a business silent partner Become a referral source Rent out unused space with Airbnb Build an app Create an online course Make an online guide Outsource most if not all of your business needs Try affiliate marketing and make sales Sell ads on your car Join EBates
Have you tried one of these or are you thinking about trying one of these ideas now? Leave a comment! I look forward to hearing from you.
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