#[I had to quick check the proper terminology]

[pocketyarnlings]

Free Crochet Mini Christmas Lights Pattern

Here is a quick and easy crochet mini Christmas lights pattern to try out! It is also similar to crocheting fairy lights! There is no attachment or sewing involved and the whole Christmas light in made in one long continuous chain! It can be completed in less than 30 minutes and great for accessorizing your home or even your kid’s toys.

There are affiliate links in this post. We will receive a commission if you make a purchase through our affiliate link at no extra cost to you. Do note I have used some if not most of these products at some point in time.

Table of Contents Show

Introduction to Crocheting Mini Christmas Lights

In this post, we will first be starting off with the relevant supplies and techniques you would need to crochet this Christmas Light garland - there are 4 colours involved and it is really up to you the colours you pick, I just chose festive ones. Then we will head into the crochet Christmas Light tutorial proper.

As this is an ambitious beginner friendly pattern, here you will learn how to crochet simple single crochet stitches and also bobble stitches on chains for the bulbs. I have used this bobble on chain technique before for my amigurumi limbs. After you have tried this Christmas Lights pattern and mastered bobble stitch on chain, you can try this free monkey pattern!

Stick around after that to check out the full video of how to crochet a mini Christmas Light and finally we will end off with the full pattern PDF download if that is the mode of reading that suits you best. Don’t forget to grab the free Ice Cream Snowman pattern PDF below to add to your festive collection.

Supplies and Techniques for Crocheting Mini Christmas Lights

Here I have listed the techniques as well as the materials needed to crochet a mini Christmas Light garland amigurumi. Each one is individually linked if you need to learn more about how to master each technique, or you could check out this post on “How to Learn Basic Crochet Stitches step by step for Absolute Beginners - 6 Easy Steps!”.

There are also some special stitches involved in crocheting these lights which are listed below (bobble stitches) and they are also individually linked to tutorials which will be helpful if you do not know how to make these stitches.

The materials needed are also listed below or if you wish to see what I start off most of my projects with, then check out this post on “My Crochet Tools and Accessories that are Super Simple to Start With”. Read on below.

Terminology for Crocheting Christmas Lights

Ch = chain

Sc = single crochet

Sl st = slip stitch 

St = stitch (refers to number of stitches in one round)

Hdc = half double crochet

Dc = double crochet

4dc bob = 4 double crochet bobble stitch

= yo, insert hook in indicated, yo, pull up loop, yo, draw through 2 loops, [yo, insert hook in same, yo, pull through 2 loops] 3 times, yo, pull through 5 loops on hook

Materials and Tools for Crocheting Christmas Lights

3.0mm Clover crochet hook

Scheepjes Catona or any equivalent fingering or sport weight yarn

Version 1 - Grey, Bright Red, Bright Green, Yellow (25gm each)

Version 2 - Grey, Maroon, Dark Green, Yellow (25gm each)

Darning needle

Stitch markers

Scissors

See how they look like and my selection for my amigurumis just below.

Also check out my full list of commonly used crochet tools and accessories here.

Now that you have gathered your supplies and had a look at the basic terminology to reading the following pattern, let us first get started!

Yarn

Scheepjes Catona or any equivalent fingering or sport weight yarn

Crochet hook

2.5-3.0mm Clover crochet hook 

Darning Needles

Stitch Markers

Plastic stitch markers or metal stitch markers

Crochet Christmas Lights Pattern

Start off with grey yarn. The lights will be made in various colours including red, green and yellow.

Ch100 (grey)

Working into 2nd ch from hook, sl st 4 (grey), [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (maroon), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (maroon), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (green), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (green), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (yellow), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (yellow), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (maroon), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (maroon), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (green), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (green), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (yellow), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (yellow), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Continue this sequence of lights in maroon-green-yellow for total 6 sets, and then finally end off with last light in red.

Continue along the light chain, sl st 4 (grey)

Then [sl st 1 (grey), ch2 (grey), ch3 (maroon), 4dc bob into 3rd ch from hook (maroon), sl st 2 (grey), sl st 1 back into main st (grey)]

Finally sl st 5 (grey) and fasten off

Quick Tip

Cut off yarn after each bobble stitch is done and tie it up. Conceal the knot inside the bobble stitch so that the mini sphere looks perfect!

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Crochet Christmas Lights Video

After referring to the pattern above, remember to check out the full video on how to crochet a set of tiny Christmas Lights, from start to finish with nothing left out. It takes less than an hour and it includes captions with voice-overs as well. You can scroll to the specific parts that you are struggling when you are attempting the pattern above. Remember to also like the video and subscribe to my Youtube Channel so that when new amigurumi videos are released, you will know about it!

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If you felt this post was amazing then remember to spread the love by pinning the image below to Pinterest so that others might find it and learn how to crochet these Christmas Lights too! I appreciate you so much for doing this!

Mini Christmas Lights PDF Pattern

The Mini Christmas Lights PDF Pattern is an ad-free downloadable PDF printable, with checkboxes included and step-by-step pictorial tutorials. The pattern is easy for beginners, fast and absolutely no-sew at all. Just click on the image below or scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the pattern download.

Conclusion of Crocheting Mini Christmas Lights

Thank you for joining me in crocheting this little set of Christmas Light garland. Remember to tag me @pocketyarnlings on instagram so I can see your makes too and I will feature them in my email newsletter. Here is how you can support me so that I can make more posts and videos for you in the future:

If you want to try the pattern for free, check out the pattern above with ads.

If you want to refer to the written pattern without ads, check out the PDF download for a price over here.

If you want to see the way the amigurumi is made in real-time, then check out the video on my Youtube channel here.

If you don’t want to watch a video (<1 hour) to see if you are progressing correctly, check out the step-by-step pictorial tutorials over here.

To check out more of my festive patterns, go check out more below, or grab my free Ice Cream Snowman pattern below so that you can crochet even more Christmas ornaments!

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[fedor-bortnik-fmp]

Forefront 5. Retopology Best Practices.

Today I will be analyzing a 80lvl blog created by Ahmad Merheb (2023) about mesh retopology.

While browsing 80lvl, I decided to check on the blog about retopology in order to see what am I doing wrong and get better at it.

I know some things about retopology due to my prior experience in modelling. It was only in the first semester that I started to do actual baking of low poly, optimized meshes with the high poly variants - and at the time I did not know much details about the baking: I did not know well the do's and dont's, what I should focus on and what I should learn in order to get the bakes done better.

During the reading, I began analyzing what I do know, and what I don't, since I am not great with professional terminologies, and It's better to learn them.

I am okay with PBR workflow, since this is the workflow that Substance Painter uses in order to generate various information about the mesh.

Manual Retopology: While it is not every day when I create a manual retopology, due to the existence of multiresolution and having a good mesh at the beginning - There were occasions, where I had to manually model a low poly model from an existing mesh in order to do a baking. While taking a lot of time, it is a very good workflow, since it allows the user to have the best control on the topology, the density of the mesh and the amount of verts the asset would have. While I used Blender in order to do the baking, the author suggests to try out Topogun and 3D Coat for better retopology tools, which is nice.

While I barely worked with Automatic Retopology, I had a chance to get a model which was automatically topologies in Semester 2: It did a fine job, though just as Merheb states - it didn't do a great job on organic meshes, as I remember having problems with the topology of legs in some places. After using several automatic tools, I figured that the best way to use them is by creating a crude work from them, and then fixing the issues through various ways. They can be tricky to work with, but they are essential in order to do the work quick: The author suggested QuadRemesher for Blender in order to do better topologies, which I will consider.

A monster sibling that I worked on during the semester B.

While I already knew about stars and N-gons, and how much trouble they can give the models, I did not know about the reverse topology method, since I always tried to deal with the n-gons and such by planning how the vertices would connect to each other.

From this blog, I figured that building low poly models in order to structure the topology was a good idea, despite taking time to arrange - since it allowed me to understand early on how to deal with topology, and how to arrange the creative and optimisation works. I learned that I am not far from the standard grade of optimising the meshes and that there are dedicated tools designed for a proper, quality retopology.

References:

Merheb, A. (2023). Retopology Best Practices for Faster Mobile Game Development. [online] 80.lv. Available at: https://80.lv/articles/retopology-best-practices-for-faster-mobile-game-development/ [Accessed 6 Jul. 2024].

Fedor Bortnik (2024). Hunter’s Greed: Into The black Wood (Live Brief Project). [online] ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/n0ggRo [Accessed 6 Jul. 2024].

[a-libra-writes]

Quick question, but where would you suggest to start researching? I’ve never really done it before, but I want to, but I’m worried I wouldn’t get a reliable resource and only realize it later. Any suggestions?

So Im gonna guess this is gonna refer to historical events and such (bc I mentioned that), BUT I think it can be applied to most research? This is how I go about it!

First, wikipedia article! Obviously they have the sources that you can dig through, but I use it to skim over the general idea (like if it's a war or a type of fashion), and make notes on what I want to focus on. Earlier I was researching how the Ottoman Empire was split up by France and Britain after WWI, and the interesting/turbulent decades of Syria as an independent state following the fall - that's A LOT of complicated shit to go through. So, from there I make a list of what's most interesting to me.

(This may be tough depending on how broad your subject is! "American Civil War" is really broad so maybe pick a very specific aspect that's interesting you the most. The battles? How a specific part of the US was affected? The history of black Northern soldiers vs Southern soldiers? etc etc)

Narrow it down - from "History of the Ottoman Empire", focus on "Post-WW1 Fall of Ottoman Empire and Creation of Turkey" and then what events, documents and people were important to that? Pick like two from each category. More examples - I love queer history, but maybe I want to focus on Queer terminology from 1920-1960. Narrow it down further - "Queer Slang from the 1920s", "History of Queer Clubs In the 1920s", "History of Queer Clubs in Harlem in the 1920s", "and so forth.

I google and use credited websites; it's great when you find the website of a museum that specializes in that or a special article put out. Sometimes what I need is so specific that I'm digging through any link I can find. Again, that gives me more details, but like you said, is it reliable? And even if these articles or websites can get detailed, it may not be exactly what you want.

So! Depending on how deep you wanna get. I love love love non-fiction and if I'm really passionate about the subject, I look into non-fiction books that audible or my library might have. Audiobooks work best for me personally. Auto-biographies are fantastic as well. And if the book has several revised editions, you can be sure it's regularly updated and accurate (usually), as well as check for reviews on the accuracy of the book and author.

Also, documentaries! I went on a kick about the rise of nursing as a proper profession in France from 1900-1950 - very specific! - and Netflix actually had a French-made documentary with english subtitles about it. So interesting! You can find documentaries online and on Youtube. Sometimes Youtube has really interesting videos, and if you're lucky you can get a deep-dive on your chosen subject... but most of the time it's just a 10~20 minute overview video (avoid the videos that are like, "History of This Complex Historical Event or History of X Country in 1-3 Minutes", just. Trash.) Sometimes I get a video that a museum made; they aren't the best production quality but you can tell they're very passionate.

Oh! And ofc Im focusing on historical things, but I also looove to research fashion for specific decades in the US. That's fun because there's quite a few websites where you can get lots of photos of what every day people wore, what was high fashion, esp if it's after the 1900s! Vintage Dancer is one of my favorite websites for the sheer detail of 1920s fashion, with descriptions and photographs.

By this point you probably have a lot of notes and things to cross-reference! So if you get a feeling that something may not be correct or biased, ideally you'll have multiple sources (docs, videos, books) etc to pull from. Again when I'm very serious about a subject I really prefer non-fiction books because they're (supposed to be) rigorously researched and the authors typically spent years on them. I think Youtube and Wikipedia is like your start, documentaries and specific websites/blogs are the middle, and tons of non-fiction or going out to do your own research (look for local museums, ask librarians, etc) is getting deeeeep in that rabbit hole! It's all so interesting and very very fun and just. Gah. I love how terrible and fascinating history is.

[buckyownsmylife]

Yay for headcanons, not at all based on new events occurring in my life...no not at all.

How about going for a new piercing and your piercer is Bucky or Sam? I'll let you decide on the location of the new jewellery but you know what my plans are 😏

You think you're fooling anyone with your piercing plans? To anyone reading this: I have zero understanding of piercings and that includes the correct terminology that should be applied 💖 Please don't consider this anything close to reality and look at it strictly as filth, please and thank you 😅

Sinday is here! Send me your ideas for headcanons or scenarios related to my fics for drabbles, I’ll be writing all day!

“I just need to check on the healing process,” Sam assured you, tongue running over his bottom lip as his eyes fixated on your breasts.

It would be indecent if it weren’t for the fact that he had already seen them in all their glory

When he pierced them for you just a few weeks before

He’d been your friend for months now

And you’d been excited about having a piercer as a friend because you’d been thinking about getting your nipples pierced for as long as you could remember

Sam was the perfect motivation that you needed to finally get through with that project

Not only because he reassured you, answering all of your questions about the process

But also because you wanted him really fucking badly

And it seemed like he wanted you too

So you hoped that going to his shop and getting topless in front of him would be the push he needed to pounce on you

Unfortunately, however, he’d been extremely professional the entire session

Even if you did shiver under his touch as his fingers held onto your breasts for what felt like longer than necessary

What did you know about piercings, though?

It was probably needed because after he pierced you, he was quick to send you on your way with the instructions for proper care

So you thought that’d be the end of it

Until he appeared at your place with this lame-ass excuse to get you to take your shirt for him again

“Do you do house visits to all your clients, Sam?” You teased, already pulling the clothing item over your head

You didn’t miss the way he swallowed upon seeing your nipples, now decorated with the metal he had so delicately put on you.

“Only the ones I’d like to take for a ride.”

So that’s how you ended up over his lap, taking every delicious inch of his cock inside of you while he bounced you eagerly

Beautiful lips wrapped around one of your nipples

Tongue playing with the piercing he had inserted there

While his hand played with the other

“What do you think?” You panted, undulating your hips to take the both of you higher and higher in that climb to bliss

“They seem just fine, but I think I’ll need to keep testing them to make sure they’ll be alright”

Please, I can't concentrate on anything anymore 🤦‍♀️ I need Sam to suck on my nipples asap 🙄

[writing-refs-junkpile]

Writer tips: custom shorthand for the win

Normally, I share grammar tips and writing resources on this blog - it is, after all, my Writing Refs Junkpile - but today, I’m stepping outside my literary box. Today, I’m sharing some of my custom shorthand and some advice for creating your own.

Put simply, I developed these symbols (and many others) to make writing notes and scheduling writing sessions faster, easier on my arthritic hands, and a little less obvious to anyone who might find my notes and snoop.

Behold, my scribbles:

Yep, it’s messy. I scanned these from sketch paper. The mess doesn’t matter. If you’ve given that a good look over, you’ll notice that these symbols have a few things in common.

All but two base symbols are written with two strokes or fewer; that’s two times you have to lift your pen from your paper as opposed to however many it takes to form the letters.

Each of these symbols is visually similar to certain mainstream letters, characters, symbols, or objects; this makes it easier to mentally associate symbol with meaning, which makes it easier to scribble them out as easily as writing.

These symbols can be written with several different writing instruments, whether you use a brush-tip, felt-tip, ballpoint, or rollerball pen, or a pencil. (Felt-tip pens, however, seem to win the race when it comes to ease and speed vs legibility.)

Without further ado, I’ll explain each of the various symbols you just saw.

Analyze Stats. Sometimes when I’ve got writer’s block, it can help to do a word, page, and character count and dates of a chapter. If I’m struggling with an unfinished chapter, checking what I have so far can be encouraging. If I’m still staring at a blank page with nothing more than a title, checking the previous chapter can be a nice kick in the pants. As for dates, those are mostly a way of mentally shaming myself into writing.

And etc. This single-stroke symbol is less complicated than it looks – a cursive + trailing into an e. It’s a quick, convenient way of saying “and whatever [said topic or plan] entails/includes” without writing it all out, and an easy way to leave wiggle-room in my plot notes.

Build notes. Single-stroke, based on musical notes and arrows. This tells me I haven’t yet translated the plot events into notes for the next (or current) chapter, and I need to do so before I can sit down and write them out.

Edit From (____ paragraphs/pages) back. This one looks like a doozy, but the first symbol is the only one that really matters. It’s a two-stroke - one, if you bring the bottom up to cross - and it’s based around an attached cursive ef; following are a symbol for and, (optional. I tend to skip it.) a number, and symbols for paragraphs or pages. Put simply, this says go back (chosen number of paragraphs/pages) and edit to end of written portion. Editing forward can be a great way of getting into the zone when you’ve stopped in the middle of a chapter or scene.

Etc, Etc, Etc. Four-stroke, built around three connected cursive e’s with periods underneath to remind me it’s short for etc. Basically, this symbol is a way of sassing myself from my notes, a reminder to not sweat the small details until I’m in front of the computer, and sometimes, it’s a way of connecting two pieces of a scene or dialogue together without writing out all the little nitpicky stuff between.

Find grammar. Two-stroke, built with the top of a ? and a g for the bottom half. Put simply, this means find proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, or terminology for the noted sentence or phrase. Had a brainfart while writing notes? Scribble this guy with what you think is correct, then you have a reminder to look it up and (if necessary) correct it later.

Flourish / Polish. Two single-stroke symbols, one loosely based on a stylized cursive f, and the other a cursive p which trails into a tail like a piece of scrollwork; both are needlessly fancy to further hint at their meaning. The first – flourish – means the noted section is as bland as oatmeal and reads like a vacuum cleaner manual; jazz it up with details, action, and color. The second – polish – means the noted chapter is complete; read through to see if it needs anything before editing. And speaking of editing…

Check spelling, grammar, punctuation, and edit. This single-stroke stands for a lot of words, but the appearance is simple: a checkmark that trails into an s.

Go from notes. Single-stroke, based around a g which trails into an arrow; since scanning this page, I realized that I wrote these up slightly wrong, so I have provided a badly-drawn correction to the left. (MS Paint. Gotta love it.) This symbol tells me I’ve already written up an outline for the next scene or chapter, I need to start writing from that outline, and I need to stop whining about it. As for when I don’t have notes…

Maybe start with ____________. Four-stroke, and one of the simplest: an ellipsis followed by a simple arrow pointing to the right. This is for when I don’t have an outline to work from, when I don’t have a solid (or even halfway solid) plan for the next writing session, and planning research sessions. What follows this symbol is an idea of what to try starting with...for instance, the first symbol. Analyzing my previous chapter stats is a good way to bully myself into getting the rough draft started.

Paragraphs/Pages. I’ll admit, I don’t use the first one very often. The first -paragraphs - is two-stroke, built like a combination of the mainstream symbol ¶ and a capital P; pages is a single-stroke combination of capital P and lowercase s. Lastly…

Research. Single-stroke, and a combination of an arrow (like a cursor) with a wrapping tail like an @. This means I need to do some manner of research for the next bit of writing, and is often followed by the topic I need to research.

To sum all that up:

Booyah. So much said, and so little written!

This custom shorthand has helped with my note-taking already, and I’m still designing new symbols to cut even more words down to quick wrist-wiggles. Now, you have everything you need to create your own, for whatever purposes you may have. Just remember the basics -  be stingy with your strokes, choose lines, curves, and angles you find easy and comfortable to write, and use visual similarity to remind yourself of each symbol’s meaning when you see it.

Good luck, and remember to share the love with your writer and student friends!

[slapshot-to-the-heart]

Breakable Heaven (pt. I) - p.l. dubois

As promised, here’s the first part of Breakable Heaven! I’m really excited for this one, there’s so many things I can’t wait for you all to read. This chapter is more setup and background, but I promise it’s all worth it! I’d love it if you reblogged (helps me know people like my work!) or pop into my inbox and let me know what you think! I read all the tags :)

part I part ii part iii part iv

June 4 (thurs)

Laurel clipped her pager back onto her scrubs, leaning over the counter of the nurses’ station. “You ready to go grab lunch?” She had just finished changing the bandages and administering pain medication for a little boy who was recovering from a heart surgery, and was looking forward to getting off her feet for a few minutes. The PICU floor was quiet, only about half of the rooms being filled, and there were no pressing matters that required her attention. If something drastic changed in the next half an hour, she always had her pager. 

Madeline looked up from her chair, where she was finishing up filling in a patient’s chart. “Sounds good,” she said, letting their charge nurse know that they were headed down. Madeline Peltier had been one of the first people to introduce themselves to Laurel when she started; having only been on the unit for two weeks herself, she was still getting a handle on the reins and was more than willing to show Laurel around. 

Madeline was also one of the few on the floor who was just as comfortable in English as she was in French. French had been Laurel’s foreign language through college, but she was made rudely aware upon her move to Montréal that the pronunciation and slang of Canadian French was very different from the Standard French of Madame Anderson’s rural Minnesota classroom. Her grasp of the language was good enough to take the Québec nursing licensure exam — which wasn’t even offered in English — but the spoken dialect was proving much more difficult to pick up. They walked down to the cafeteria, on the second floor, grabbing some sandwiches before swiping their ID badges for the employee discount. 

“I still think they should give us free food,” Madeline said moodily, unscrewing her water bottle and taking a sip. 

Laurel laughed. “When hell freezes over, maybe. Doctor’s lounge usually has some pretty nice stuff set out, or at least that’s what they say. Pity our cards don’t let us in, I’m not above identity theft.” Madeline snorted into her sandwich. 

“What are you doing this weekend?” Madeline asked a few minutes later, starting to peel an orange. 

“Uh, not much?” Laurel said. “Getting my papers together to resign my lease in a few weeks, grocery shopping, but nothing big. It’s been a long few shifts this week and I’m mostly just looking forward to taking it easy. Why?”

“If you’re up to it,” Madeline shrugged, “Patrice and I are going out for dinner Saturday night and we’d love for you to join us.” Patrice was Madeline’s long-time boyfriend, they started dating in university and had been together ever since. 

Laurel rolled her eyes. “Madeline, thank you for the offer, but I don’t want to keep being your third wheel.” 

Madeline let out a conspiratorial grin. Oh no, Laurel thought. This can’t be good. “As it would so happen,” she said, “you wouldn’t be third wheeling. One of Patrice’s friends is back in the city for a few months, and I think you two might hit it off,” she sing-songed. Madeline had been trying to set her up from practically the moment they met; whether it was someone from her gym, one of the critical care fellows, or apparently, her boyfriend’s childhood friend. They were always nice guys, but nothing had ever stuck for more than a date or two. 

---

Twelve hour shifts meant that, at least on work days, there was no way Laurel was going to have the emotional or physical capacity to make herself a real dinner. She’d order in occasionally, but it more common to just pull together something quick like a frozen pizza or grab whatever leftovers she could find in the fridge. Yesterday’s chicken and rice it was, then. Sticking it in the microwave, Laurel opened the door to her balcony, letting Piper out to use the bathroom. Piper was an eight-month-old chocolate lab, the love of her life who she had adopted just after the new year. Laurel had always grown up with dogs; back in Minnesota she had Jackson and Lucy, and she had been missing them more than a little bit since moving to Canada. Piper was incredible. Intelligent, loyal, and so friendly that even her neighbor’s notoriously picky five-year-old son had taken a shine to her. She wolfed down her food, grabbed Piper’s leash and her water bottle, and headed out the door. 

June 5 (fri)

The intricacies of language were hard. And, somehow, learning the intricacies of a language you already knew was even harder. Laurel was trying her damndest to pick up Québecois French as fast as humanly possible, but while she could conjugate l’imparfait in her sleep, the accent and vocabulary were what was really throwing her off. But she intended on making a life in Montréal, and staying as long as she could, so there really wasn’t any option but to hit the books. Immersion worked for some people, and thank God she knew the medical terminology to communicate with her patients and their families, but it wasn’t quite the same when she was struggling through telling the mechanic her car needed an oil change. In a perfect world she’d have someone to help her one-on-one, but she didn’t want to ask Madeline for that big of a favor. And while she made decent money at the hospital — she could afford her own apartment and had a little left over every month to put into savings — it was nowhere near enough to pay for a tutor. So Duolingo, and podcasts, and Youtube lessons it was. 

Letting out a groan, Laurel leaned her head into her hands, shutting her laptop. She wasn’t going to make any progress being this frustrated. She bent down to scratch Piper, whose favorite spot for naps was a blanket right beside Laurel’s desk, between the ears, pulling her leash and collar off of their book by her bedroom door. Piper’s ears perked up, and soon enough she was running around the apartment wagging her tail as fast as it could go, a slightly exasperated but nevertheless laughing Laurel following. She finally managed to clip on her leash; at fifty pounds, Piper still had a little bit of growing left to do, but she had already proven she was more than capable of bending the will of a full-grown and otherwise capable 23-year-old woman. 

She had discovered Parc Saint-François-d’Assise a few weeks after adopting Piper, and had thanked her lucky stars for finding a dog park so close to her apartment. Having a schedule like hers meant that she couldn’t always get her to a weekly training or obedience class — plus, the French that she did know certainly didn’t include ‘heel’ — so the time spent socializing was well-appreciated. It was only a fifteen minute walk, and Piper was good enough on a leash that she only stopped once to bark at a squirrel in one of the many birch trees that lined the street. The park was an acre or two, small enough that she could see all the way across and keep an eye on Piper as she let her off-leash, but big enough that there was more than enough room for all the animals. It wasn’t particularly crowded that Friday; Laurel was confused for a moment before she remembered that most people were busy at 11 AM on a weekday. There were a few families, with kids out for the summer from school, and a man playing in the far corner with his two small dogs, but not much else. 

Laurel leaned down, unclipping the leash from Piper’s collar, and gave the chocolate lab a scratch on the head. “Have fun, girl!” Piper never needed much encouragement, and took off running almost before Laurel had even wrapped up her leash. Rolling her eyes and laughing, she picked up her phone. A text from Allison, one of her only friends in the city aside from Madeline, inviting her out for her birthday next week. Madeline, giving her the address for the restaurant the next night. The Duolingo owl, threatening her with bodily harm if she didn’t log her language progress for the day. She was so engrossed in checking her email that she didn’t hear the shout for her to look out, or the two bulldogs barreling towards her at full speed, until they had knocked her off her feet and she landed straight on her ass. 

“Desolé. Vas-tu bien?” The man asked, holding out a hand and helping her up. Laurel nodded, brushing the dirt off her jeans. 

“Ouais, ouais. Pas de problème, pas de mal. Ils sont chiens, non?” 

He chuckled, patting the smaller of the two bulldogs, which had decided to take a break from accosting passers-by to get petted. “C’est vrai.” They talked for another minute or two before saying goodbye, but she could have sworn it was an hour. 

Walking Piper home half an hour later, Laurel was struck with two realizations. The mystery man — bulldog dad, as she had started calling him in her internal monologue — had very possibly the prettiest eyes she’d ever seen in her life, and she’d be cursing herself for the next week for not getting his number. 

June 6 (sat)

Saturday meant Laurel had a day off, but more importantly, Saturday meant she didn’t have to set her alarm for 5:30 and could actually wake up at a semi-normal hour. Her internal clock didn’t wake her up until half past seven; even then, it was Piper’s soft barks that finally got her up, throwing on a pait of shorts, and leading her out to the courtyard down the hallway to use the bathroom before coming back to her apartment and throwing open the fridge doors. No 7 AM shift meant that she mercifully had enough time to make a proper breakfast. On shift days, there never seemed to be enough time to actually sit down and eat, and Laurel usually ended up just having a quick bowl of cereal or some overnight oats and making a protein shake to drink on the drive over. Eggs, bread, yogurt, a peach she had picked up from the farmer’s market. 

After the bread was done toasting and her tea was finished steeping, she gingerly carried the food out to the balcony, placing it on the table as Piper trotted out behind her. Laurel crunched her toast with one hand as she flipped the pages of a book with the other, a Shirley Chisholm biography that Victoria, her best friend from high school, had recommended her. It was almost an hour later when she finally found a good place to stop. As much as she may have liked to just camp out on her balcony all day and blow through the rest of the book, her pantry was crying out for a grocery run and she was running desperately low on ice cream. 

---

The dinner reservation was at 7, and by 6:30 Laurel was almost ready to leave. Her blue skirt fanned out on the couch as she sat killing time on her phone, tapping the floor nervously with the same pair of block heels that she’d worn to her university graduation. The restaurant wasn’t far from her apartment building, so a few minutes later, she decided to go, leaving Piper with a pat on the head and plenty of food in her bowl. Laurel laughed to herself on the way over, her eyes flickering over the skyline as she walked alongside the St. Lawrence River. 

It’s like what she had told Madeline over and over again, every time she tried to set her up on a blind date with a friend of a friend. She wasn’t actively looking for a relationship but wouldn’t be opposed to it. Whatever happens, happens. Biting her lip, Laurel decided that even if she didn’t hit it off with whatever guy Madeline was trying to set her up, even if things go horribly wrong and he’s the exact opposite of what she’s looking for in a partner, she’ll get a free meal and, hopefully, a new friend.

Laurel hadn’t been told much about her blind date, or anything, really. She didn’t even know his name. From what she had been able to figure out, he was from the area but didn’t work in Canada most of the year — so maybe he was in business? All Madeline told her was that he was tall, attractive, and had a dog. Or was it two? She honestly couldn’t remember. She trusted her and Patrice’s judgement, so if he had gotten their stamp of approval, it was good enough for her. She grabbed her phone out of her bag as she neared the restaurant, letting Madeline know she was almost there and asking where to meet her. She told the hostess she was meeting some friends, and Madeline walked around the corner less than a minute later. “Hi, love!” she said, reaching out and wrapping Laurel in a warm hug. “We’re over this way.” Laurel followed her around the corner and past the bar to a four-seater against the wall. She slid into the seat closest to the wall, leaving a space empty. 

“He should be back in a minute, just ran to the bathroom,” Patrice said, nodding towards the vacant seat and referring to her mystery man. A minute passed, Laurel scanning the wine list, before Madeline threw her hand up in greeting. 

“Salut, PL!” When Laurel looked up, she almost dropped her menu.

 “Oh my God!” The stranger — PL’s — eyes widened in recognition. “You’re the bulldog dad!” 

He chuckled, rounding the table to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. Left, then right. It had taken Laurel a while to get used to; even going to university in Toronto, cheek kissing was practically obsolete, but that changed very quickly upon her move to Montréal. “I am. Pierre-Luc Dubois, good to meet you properly this time.” 

Madeline looked between the two, clearly confused. “You know each other?” 

Laurel shook her head. “Not really, no. His dogs ran into me at the park yesterday when I was there with Piper, we talked for a minute or two.” 

Pierre nodded in affirmation. “So, Piper. The chocolate lab’s yours then?” 

“My pride and joy.” 

June 13 (sun)

 Over the next week and a half, it became more and more common for Laurel to meet up with the group on the weekend, or one of her off days, or really whenever she had spare time. She had learned that Pierre-Luc was a hockey player, Patrice explaining that they had played atom league together growing up and the friendship had somehow stuck. Come to think of it, he had looked a little familiar. The University of Minnesota Duluth was less than an hour drive from her hometown, and besides being the college that the majority of the 50% of college-bound graduates of her high school went to, it also had one of the best hockey programs in the country. So she knew the sport, followed enough to be informed, and had even become a de facto Maple Leafs fan from her time in Toronto. 

Sometimes Madeline and Laurel would bring another friend from the hospital along, sometimes it was just the four of them. Once, a Sunday afternoon coffee meetup turned into just Laurel and Pierre-Luc; Patrice had come down with a bad cold and Madeline was staying behind to look after him. If she was being honest, it was far less awkward than she had anticipated. Pierre had insisted on buying her iced capp, and they had settled in a corner booth, sharing a box of Timbits. 

“Patrice mentioned you’re from the U.S., somewhere in the Midwest?” Pierre asked, sipping his coffee. 

She nodded. “Cloquet, Minnesota,” Laurel sighed, “where there is exactly one hotel, one high school, and life revolves around the mines.” 

Pierre sucked in. “That sounds...interesting,” he said diplomatically. 

Laurel laughed. “It’s okay, you don’t have to mince words. The people are nice, if you think like they do, and the scenery is gorgeous, but…” She gathered her thoughts. “It’s not the place you can really dream big, you know?” He nodded. “Neither of my parents went to college, my mom’s a receptionist at the elementary school and my dad works in the mines. I knew by the time I was in high school that I wanted something more. There was just nothing for me there, and I didn’t ever want to feel as trapped and beaten down as some people I know.” 

Pierre leaned back in his chair. “Do you go back often?” 

“Once a year, maybe twice?” Laurel said, shaking her head. “I’ve only got a few good friends back there, and trust me, they’re much more excited to come to big-city Canada than I would be to go back to a town of 12,000 people.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Conversation between them flowed easily, so easily that before she knew it, two hours had gone by and he had to leave for a skate. As she walked back to the metro, Laurel couldn’t help but shake the feeling that the two hours she had spent with Pierre had felt more like a date than any she’d been on since moving to Montréal a year ago. But it couldn’t have been a date, because it wasn’t supposed to be. Right?

 June 15 (tues)

 It was half past seven on Tuesday, and Laurel was just getting home from work. She loved her job, genuinely, but twelve hour shifts were no joke. Spinning her key ring around her finger, she stopped in the mailroom, unlocking her box and fishing out the stack of envelopes that had accumulated in the two days since she’d last checked. Walking over to the elevators, she held the bundle in one hand as the other punched in her button to the third floor. Laurel flipped through the envelopes as the doors opened. Water bill, bank statement, letter from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. Hang on. Laurel stopped at the last envelope, running her finger under the flap as she turned her key in the lock, opening the door with her hip and letting it slam shut behind her. 

She had applied a little over a month ago for her permanent residency card, which she had been assured by everyone she asked would be a relatively easy and painless process. “You’re a nurse, and a good one. I could use ten of you,” her charge nurse had stated. “You went to school here, you have a Canadian degree and a Canadian license. There’s no reason they would cause you any trouble,” Madeline had said. And she had done her due diligence, double-checked every piece of information, checked off every document on the list. Done everything she was supposed to do. So when she unfolded the paper, the words shocked her. 

Denied. Laurel brought her hand shakily up to her mouth as her eyes raced down the letter. No explanation was given, all she was told was that her application had been rejected and she had until September 17, when her work visa expired, to leave the country. The first thing Laurel did was frantically grab her laptop, seeing if there was some way she could apply for a visa extension, but the deadline had passed; she’d have to go back to the consulate in Minneapolis and try to re-apply from there, but her chances weren’t good if she’d already been rejected. The second thing she did was collapse on the floor, Piper nosing herself under her arm, and cry. 

June 16 (wed)

When the group met up for lunch the next day, Madeline noticed something was off about Laurel almost immediately. Normally someone who was hyper-focused on the task at hand, she was stirring her straw around in her glass, nibbling at a piece of bread and answering questions shortly if at all. “What’s up?” she asked carefully, catching Laurel’s eye as she tried to busy herself with straightening her napkin. There wasn’t really a way she could get out of answering that one. 

“I, uh, I got a letter yesterday,” she said. Pierre and Patrice stopped their conversation. All eyes were on her. “From immigration services. They told me,” her eyes pricked with tears, “they told me my PR application was denied, and I only have until the middle of September before I have to leave.” 

“Like, leave the country?” Pierre asked. She nodded. “But can’t you renew your visa or something?” 

“No, I looked into everything.” Laurel said in frustration, shaking her head. “There’s not enough time for it to be processed, I’d have to go back and reapply in the States, and even then the chances aren’t great.” 

Madeline leaned over, wrapping Laurel up in a hug. “Oh, Laur. I’m so sorry,” she said. “You don’t deserve this.” 

“It’s just hard,” Laurel started, “knowing that there’s nothing there for me back home. That’s the whole reason why I came to Canada in the first place, to get away. To get out. I’d have to retake all my licensure exams and find a new job and I don’t want to have to start all over when that’s not at all what I planned for. I thought I’d stay. I thought this was going to be my home” 

“I can call my friend who’s a lawyer, see if he’s got any ideas?” Patrice offered. 

Laurel smiled weakly “Thanks, Patrice, but I really don’t think they’d be able to do much. I was on the website for hours, and there’s like two ways I wouldn’t be kicked out of the country. And I don’t think I’m going to be able to give birth by September 17,” she said, letting out a watery laugh. 

“You’d have to marry someone or something to stay,” Madeline said. 

“Yeah, that’s the only other way it was going to happen,” Laurel agreed. “But seeing as how I’m obscenely single, I don’t see that happening…” She trailed off. 

“I’d marry you,” Pierre said suddenly, shrugging. 

Laurel’s head whipped to her side. “You’d what?” 

“I’d marry you. We’re both single, by all accounts you’re an amazing nurse and deserve to stay. We get married, stay ‘together’ for a few years until you get your citizenship, and then tragically inform the citizenship and immigration people that while we tried, it just didn’t work out, and get a divorce. Easy peasy.” 

Laurel almost burst out laughing, the idea was so ridiculous. She almost couldn’t wrap her head around what he was offering to do. He couldn’t be serious. Right? 

---

Laurel slung her arm over her head, body tangled up in bedsheets. According to her phone, it was well past one. She couldn’t sleep. She had tried rain sounds, counting sheep, drinking a cup of chamomile tea, but nothing was working; she just wasn’t able to still her mind. Honestly, she couldn’t stop thinking about lunch earlier. More specifically, what Pierre had said. 

As much of a bad person as it may have made her sound, the more she thought about Pierre’s offer, the more it made sense. He was incredibly attractive, so it wouldn’t be hard to fake a marriage to him for a few years. She really didn’t keep in contact with anyone from back home in Cloquet aside from her family and a few friends from high school, so it’s not like there would really be anyone to blow her cover. And she really, really wanted to stay in Canada. It wasn’t just the scenery, or the general human decency of everyone, or even the universal healthcare that pushed her to stay. She had fallen in love with the people, the city, and didn’t want to go down without a fight. 

Rolling over, she grabbed her phone from her nightstand, pulling up Pierre’s contact. Hey, she texted. Laurel immediately cursed herself as the three dots popped up on his side. Hey? She was going to ask this man to marry her and the best she could come up with was hey? He wrote back immediately. Hey. You’re up late, what’s up? Laurel took a deep breath. How serious were you about offering to marry me? His second response was even faster than the first. As a heart attack.

[ddaehyeon]

– ♡; UNGODLY HOUR ; PARK SERIM 

pairing: park serim + reader

genre: fluff

word count: 1.7k

summary: an unexpected midnight call caused by the thoughts that clouded serim’s mind. 

if all the equations written on your notes were a sea, you’d probably be already drowning in it. the library was silent, only the flipping of the pages mingled with the sound of the pen running by the paper was heard. soft music was enclosed in your ears through the earphones, preventing you from dozing off.

with narrowed eyes, you stared at your homework for a moment. a sigh of defeat leaving your lips right after. staring won’t solve an equation. but you wish it could. you desperately wish it could.

the chair beside you was pulled, a student occupying it right after. he placed his own books on the table and when your eyes met, he gave you a wave. you unplugged the earphones from your ears, a brow raised to the male. “oh, serim? you’ll be studying?”

a soft chuckle was heard from serim which made a smile linger on his countenance as he spoke. “yes, i’ve decided to become a better student.”

“ah, i see. hope you’ll not change your decision after two minutes,” you remarked, returning your focus to your notes as if you were not spacing out earlier before serim arrived.

“thank you so much for the encouragement,” serim said, matching the mockery you provided in your words. “i’ll work hard.”

instead of giving a verbal response, a beam came to your lips. he should be used by now with all the remarks you throw him.

a close friend—it was the title serim had been embracing for the past years. with the two of you meeting on the first day of classes during your freshman year. it went on and on for the next years and now that both of you were in your junior year, close to being inseparable. nearly all classes you enlisted covered the same time slots on his own schedule, making him your classmate for almost all the subjects aside from economics.

another male came to your sight, snapping you out of your thoughts. he pulled the chair adjacent to yours, a small smile visible on his brim. “you’re y/n, right?”

your nod was his cue to take the seat in front of you, his own books settled in front of your messily piled things.

“allen ma, a junior as well. you signed up for integral calculus tutoring sessions, right? i’ll be your tutor.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☆

as soon as the classes ended, you closed your notebook. everyone else was shuffling out of the room. you took your time to stare at the whiteboard which was filled with lines and symbols written by your professor. pressing your eyes closed, you leaned back to your chair. a mental note of which should be done this evening was made.

“planning to sleep here?” serim asked, placing his things back to his bag before swinging it to his shoulder.

letting go of a sigh, you opened your eyes to look at him. huffing, you eventually stood to arrange your things. “this is not a desirable location to sleep. i'd rather go back to my dorm than sleep here.”

as you were talking the next lecturer entered the room, serim gave the professor a bow which was a gesture that you followed. getting your bag to your shoulder, you nodded your head to the direction of the door. both of you must leave before the next block comes inside for their class.

faint streaks coming from the setting sun came to touch your skin. the hallway was close to being empty, only a few students were around either rushing to go to their next class or leisurely making their way out of the building.

serim and you walked in silence, both drained from the lessons today schedule had brought. the semester was barely halfway the calendar and each passing day, the topics taught were getting harder and harder.

“there’s a new café a few blocks away from the main gate, want to check it?” serim attempted to start a conversation.

nibbling your bottom lip, you tried to make a quick mental browse of the things you have to do. then it hit you. “ah, i need to meet allen.” you pulled your phone out of your pocket to check the time. there was a tutoring session scheduled after the class. with the abysmal grades, you were getting on the past activities, this could be your only redemption. “tutoring sessions.”

a pout w became visible on the lips of your friend, displeased of your answer. “even a quick drop won’t do?”

“i'm afraid i can’t. the tutoring session will start in roughly 15 minutes.” you gave the other an apologetic smile which caused him to drop his shoulders. it was no use of persuading you over this matter anyway. he can ask you to check it with him in other days. “guess i have to go now? have a good evening serim.”

“you too, y/n.”

all serim could do was wave at you as you began to walk your way to the library where the tutoring session would occur.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☆

“serim, what did he just said?” poking the other with a pen, you tried to catch his attention. the lecture was going rather too fast for your likings; your notebook page which was supposed to be filled with the terminologies had blank spaces in between.

“i don’t know.” serim answered.

earlier this day, he’d been acting a little off. he could have that child-like streak on him where he would just cling to you and be sulky whenever he gets less attention, it was acceptable. the same way he got used to the remarks you’d throw, you also got used to serim’s natural clinginess. but today sure be a different one. the morning greeting he gave was a swift one, holding no actual enthusiasm. and every time you’d ask him what his problem is, he would wave you off.

“let me see your notes then.” quite demanding, you scooted closer to him, your hand reaching for his notebook to check what was written there. it was the only way left for you to get the missed parts from the dictation.

serim snickered at your actions, dragging the notebook away from you as he tried so hard to focus on jotting down the words that endlessly flow out of your professor’s lips. “go ask your tutor about it.”

“go and eat cheeseballs later, your mood is quite unbelievable.” rolling your eyes, you moved away from him. a minimum effort exerted to write the words you could catch up on. every now and then, you would look at the male with a sharp gaze.

maybe serim woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☆

it was already midnight, that was the only thing you were sure of.

you were not even deep in your sleep when the vibrations coming from your phone which was lazily placed under the comforts of your pillow woke you up.

"so give me a valid explanation as to why you're calling me at an ungodly hour of..." you paused for a moment, trying to catch a glimpse of the time at the wall clock which was barely illuminated. giving up, you looked at your phone instead. the caller's name displayed on the screen, the duration of call running. "... an ungodly hour of 2am." you placed your phone back to your ears. "oh god, serim if this-"

"i have something to tell you." the seriousness laced in his tone made your stomach flip, nervousness came rushing to your body.

"ooooh~" a chuckle was heard from you. it was an attempt to brighten up the mood of the other. "romantic. are you about to profess your undying love for me?"

“yes, i am.”

it was the small thinking that ended up to massive thoughts that hindered him to come to a peaceful evening. branching out each of the sensations he felt when you ended up not giving him much time as you would usually do, serim began asking why. why was he so upset when he usually won’t get upset with it? when you spend your time with your other circles, he was always okay with it. when you decline to go out with him for a detour whenever your classes end, he was alright with it. but with another person placed in the picture, he found himself succumbing to a certain frustration—something that wants to get more of your attention.

“wait, what?”  it was the only reply you managed to utter. his words awakening your senses. seriously?

a soft frustrated growl was heard from the other line—more like a whine serim would do whenever he’s embarrassed by something. “sorry for the way i acted today… i was just so lost in my thoughts.” even he wasn’t in front of you, you could already see the regretful pout decorating his lips. “acting with feelings rather than thinking… i'm really sorry, y/n.” a short pause was done by the other, giving him a moment to collect his thoughts and come up with proper words. “i can’t sleep and maybe this is because i dived in the sea of my thoughts, but i can’t find any other reason to explain why i got upset of you declining and spending less time with me. do you like your tutor?”

the question pulled a peal of laughter from your lips. silly how he thought you’d end up having such fondness for a guy you barely interact with.

“come on, it’s taking too much courage for me to word this out.” another whine was heard from him. “don’t laugh at me!”

“sorry, sorry. it’s just i was surprised by your question,” you replied, in between faint chuckles. you breathed in, trying to stop yourself from laughing. “well, i don’t. please, i just met him.”

serim sighed in relief. “that’s all i need to know. now, i can sleep,” he uttered, his tone merrier.

“i thought you’re going to conf—”

once again, he interrupted you. his words probably will be the one leaving you awake for the next few hours. “i like you, y/n.”

- - - - - - - - - - ☆ masterlist ☆ request ☆

[moonstruckbucky]

Come Over (2/7)

Summary: You’re new to New York City. Fresh out of post-grad and wanting a change of pace, and this change comes in more ways than one.

Pairing: Neighbor!Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Chapter Warnings: None

Notes: Thank you everybody for the amazing feedback on the first chapter! I don’t think I’ve ever had that much response from the get go on a new series. Anyways, this part’s a bit longer. Feedback/comments/reblogs are always appreciated! ♥ P.S. - Not sure how many of you saw my recent post regarding tag lists but I figure I’d mention it here: I am not longer doing tag lists. Honestly the work to payoff ratio is so off there’s no point in my doing them anymore, coupled with the fact that Google docs is unreliable. More than half the people on these lists don’t interact with the stories they’re tagged for anyways, so I’m just not doing tag lists anymore. Please don’t ask me for tags.

Series Masterlist //  Main Masterlist

Your first day at Stark Industries goes perfectly. Tony is a little ...out there for lack of better terminology, but overall he is the perfect boss—not too needy except in his caffeine addiction. He doesn’t go easy on you, firing off press conferences and meetings and so many other events at you in some funny attempt to get you to slip up. You surprise him by repeating each event, date and time included, in perfect chronological order. Behind his sunglasses, his dark eyebrows raise.

Your lunch is taken at your desk as you fill in your new planner with all the events Tony had given you. Your entire month of September seems to be filled to the brim with meetings you’re required to sit on, presentations of new tech, and luncheons with other big conglomerates in the industry. It’s overwhelming, but you didn’t plunge yourself into massive student debt for easy. 

You even get a chance to meet a few of your coworkers when you step out for coffee for both you and Tony. Unsurprisingly, he takes it black with two sugars. A brunette woman and a tall man with glasses stand in front of you in the coffee shop on the bottom floor of the building, and when she notices you, she smiles and turns around to fully face you.

“You must be Tony’s new assistant,” she says. Returning her smile, you nod and throw out a hand.

“Y/N.”

“Wanda. And this is Vis, he works in Finance for Stark Industries.” The tall man smiles too and instead of shaking your hand, he kisses the back of it. Wanda giggles at the surprised look on your face and lightly slaps Vis in the chest.

“Vis, don’t scare the poor girl on her first day.”

The two of them step up to the counter and order, and Wanda waits while you do the same. She pulls you into a light conversation, asking how your first day is going, what it’s like so far working for Tony, where you moved from, and you answer them all easily. Wanda seems to be an easygoing person, one you look forward to getting to know better. Vis is quiet, but he interjects here and there for clarification on some things or to ask you questions of his own.

Wanda works in Marketing for the company, a huge duty in your opinion, but she seems to like the responsibility. She’s funny and sweet, and the three of you get into the elevator together once you all have your coffees. After exchanging numbers and a promise for a night out together soon, you part ways. Tony’s on the phone when you step into his office after knocking lightly with your knuckles, and he waves you in while telling the person on the other line just where he can shove “such a bullshit offer”.

Your face must show your slight shock at Tony’s mannerism because he smirks and accepts the coffee you hold out to him, downing half of it in a single gulp. He jiggles the cup idly.

“Sometimes you gotta play a little hardball. I’m expecting his call back in about, oh, twenty minutes,” he boasts, spinning on his heel to saunter over to the workstation set up in his office. “So, new blood, why me?”

You’re momentarily surprised by the question; most of your day had been spent following Tony around and scribbling down notes, and now you find yourself put on the spot by his suddenly asking about you. Mentally you fumble for an answer, your confidence a little wobbly after the surprise wears off.

“Where else am I going to be part of the greatest technology to ever exist?” is the response you settle on, if only to stroke Tony’s wild ego a bit. He grins cheekily and sips at his coffee.

“I like you,” he mutters, as if to himself.

He asks you a few more personal questions about yourself, questions that weren’t answered in the interview he regrettably, so he says, could not be present for. It feels rather odd having this kind of rapport with your boss, but it definitely doesn’t feel like a bad thing. Your previous employers only cared about your being on time and getting your work done, but Tony seems to take an honest interest in your schooling, your experiences, and where you see yourself headed in the future.

“Yikes,” he yelps when he checks the Stark Watch on his wrist. “I didn’t mean to keep you so long. I’m sure you have some work to finish up before you go home.”

He says it with an apologetic smile behind his sunglasses, and the responding smirk you send him feels natural.

“Of course, Mr. Stark—”

“Ah, ah, Tony, please. Mr. Stark makes me sound old and cynical.”

You snort. “Very well, Tony. If I don’t see you before I leave I’ll see you in the morning for our seven AM meeting with AIMTech.”

Winking quickly, you spin around and head back to your office, humming lowly but happily. Your first day at Stark Industries has gotten much better than expected and it puts a small spring in your step as you head back to your office. Office. You can’t even believe that as a personal assistant you’re entitled to an actual office as opposed to just a desk out in the open. But, from what you could gather from talking to Wanda, working for Stark Industries won’t feel like work at all.

You finish keying in changes and adjustments to Tony’s schedule that you’ve received via email. Fortunately, your meeting the next morning remains unchanged, but you feel secure in staying on top of everything. There’s a comfort and a calmness that comes with strict, almost obsessive organization for you. Things feel complete, in their proper places, and so you spend the last fifteen minutes of your work day organizing and reorganizing your desk in a fashion that seems most efficient and less hectic. Your planner is within easy reach, and your computer calendar is pinned to your taskbar. You feel good, at home here, where you can keep someone else’s life perfectly organized.

You take the subway home, earbuds shoved in your ears and streaming the latest episode to the My Favorite Murder podcast. Your feet are a little sore from your shoes, only slight relief when you shift your weight and readjust your feet inside them. The couch, a blanket, and some tea are desperately calling your name as you step off the subway and walking stiffly back to your apartment building. Your first real day in the city had been spent familiarizing and memorizing the routes to and from work so as not to be late for your first day. Now you know it perfectly and you greet the doorman to your building with a tired smile.

Your day was invigorating, but man, are you exhausted. Now that the pressure to be professional and keep focus is off, you allow your shoulders to drop with a sigh. The rickety elevator doors open with a squeak and you step inside and lean against the cool metal of the back wall.

Bucky is in the hallway when the doors open on your floor, looking like he’d just gotten home from work himself and on the phone. Your steps falter a little at the look on his face; it’s pinched, brows furrowed low over his eyes and jaw muscles jumping. You can’t hear him from the elevator where you wait, his voice is low and hurried and sharp. He’s arguing with someone, that much is obvious.

Carefully you step forward, acting as if you weren’t assessing him and his body language, and busy yourself with unlocking your door.

“Oh, hey.”

You look up and over at Bucky, who has ended his phone call apparently but still holds the device in his hand. His smile is faint, and you give him a small, tired one of your own.

“Hi Bucky. Long day?” He catches the quick glance you give his phone and huffs, shoves it roughly into his pocket as if he wants to forget to conversation that’s just taken place.

“Somethin’ like that. How about you? You look tired, doll.” You swallow at the pet name, the way it rolls off his tongue lighting something warm in your belly. It’s forgotten though when Bucky’s face brightens with realization. “Oh! Today was your first day with Stark wasn’t it? How’d it go?”

“It went very well actually. Tony Stark is...not who I imagined he’d be when I first applied to work for him. He’s better, but he’s definitely way more out there than I’d expected.”

The two of you shoot the shit back and forth for a few minutes longer, Bucky’s previous phone call nearly forgotten until it rings again and his face falls when he checks the caller ID. He wags his phone in the air as it continues to shriek.

“I should take this. Hey, um, maybe this weekend you can tell me all about your first week?” He looks shy when he asks, and it only serves to make your face flush crimson. “O-Only if you want to, that is. I’m sure you’re still trying to get settled in.”

“I’d love to,” you interject before he can go off on a nervous tangent. “Maybe you can come over for coffee and help me assemble some furniture?”

“Sure,” he replies softly and with a grin. He seems to have forgotten about his phone until its ringing shatters the small silence again, and he frowns. “I’ll see you, Y/N.”

“Bye Bucky.” You just get the words out before his door closes and the lock flips.

Sighing, you enter your own apartment and kick the heels off your feet, wiggle your toes to get some feeling back into them. Through the walls of your apartment, you can hear Bucky’s raised voice, though it’s still muffled enough that you can’t make out the words.

Truth is, you’ve heard Bucky arguing a lot the past few days. Despite only been here a week, you’ve come to enjoy having Bucky as a neighbor. He’s a tattoo artist, you’ve learned, which explains sometimes why he’s home or away at weird hours, and you’re not surprised to learn he designed his own tattoos. And aside from the recent conflict that seeps through your conjoined walls, he’s quiet and doesn’t do anything untoward that would have you calling the landlord. He says hi to you when he sees you in the hallway or at the mailbox, asks about your day, and goes on his merry way.

And because of all that you may have developed just a teensy crush on the guy, for which you’ve scolded yourself because how could you possibly like a guy you’ve known, barely, a week?

With a small grunt, you head to the kitchen for a hefty glass of much deserved wine.

Chapter Three

[gascon-en-exil]

Mercilessly Judging the Men of Fòdlan: The Alliance

It’s been a long time coming, over eight months in fact, but now that it may be assumed that the last of the DLC has been released and the fandom as a whole has settled comfortably into its various camps I think there’s no better time than now to answer that burning question: how raunchily, outrageously gay can the male cast of Three Houses possibly be? For those unfamiliar with this fun little series of mine, I’ve been applying my extensive knowledge and experience of gay male sex and hookup culture to the men of Fire Emblem, originally as a way of reckoning with the refusal of the games themselves to provide me with any worthwhile self-insert M/M content. I stand by that premise for FE16 - you all know how absolutely nothing appeals to me about m!Byleth or his prospects on that score - but in the years since my first outing of merciless judgment with Awakening that idea has expanded into something broader, an imaginative modern AU of sorts where all these guys are into men (if not always exclusively) and willing to put themselves out there in the lewd and semi-anonymous world of hookup apps in search of their preferred carnal delights.

A note on organization before we begin, as this material is too long to cram into one post. Excluding Byleth (as Avatars and their spawn always are for this project) there are twenty-one playable male characters in Three Houses. This makes for an even threeway division to preserve the eponymous conceit of the game, but not a particularly neat one. Aligned with the Leicester Alliance I therefore have below the male Deer, Almyran and former Goneril indentured servant Cyril, runaway Alliance noble Balthus, and Alois because his biography states that he’s the son of a merchant family. The Alliance is the nation most associated with successful mercantilism, so there.

The Empire

The Kingdom

Claude

Indecipherable from the start. The alluring shirtless selfie and goofy profile read like a fun and easy lay, but rather than sending nudes he engages in long meandering conversations that last for days or weeks before the first meeting. An expert at drawing people out while revealing almost nothing of himself in return, this takes on more literal dimensions when talk and pictures get more explicit; he’ll respond to dick and ass pics with vaguely positive emojis but deflect repeated requests to send some of his own, but he’s so disarmingly chatty that few guys get angry about this. In-person encounters are similarly frustrating in a way that’s hard to convey, as he’s eager to get his hookups naked and cumming via whatever method expedites the process with as little effort on his part. He’s left more than one satisfied but confused partner wondering some time after their meeting if he’s even really into guys at all, or if he’s playing out some weird service kink or vicarious voyeurism. Whatever the case he’s not much the dating type, not because he’s closeted or non-monogamous but because he has other priorities that don’t mesh well with long-term companionship. A shame too, when he’s become a permanent part of the masturbatory fantasies of many a man with whom he’s had even the briefest of encounters (particularly tops, who see in him a cocky bottom who desperately needs to get wrecked). That’s mostly all it is with him though: just fantasies, quick and dirty and unfulfilling because sex is apparently little more than a means for him to connect with people who may help him reach something bigger. Open-minded about his partners’ kinks, but is extremely touchy about race play; he’s aware that he has an ambiguous look about him, and does not appreciate anyone bringing that up even if the intention is completely innocent.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: your erogenous zones, your fetishes, your guilty pleasures

Favored gift: a lavish dinner, not for the expense but for the pleasure of sharing it

Lorenz

You may not like the hair, or the overwrought floral motif, or the polite but pointed way he pursues dates with the men he’s scoping out, but it’s undeniable that his reputation precedes him as someone who is known and who is worth knowing in the community. He’s not as slutty as that suggests, far from it, but he does enjoy his lunch dates and his inordinately expensive shopping dates and generally being as publicly social as it is humanly possible to be. Has an assortment of fem bottom BFFs on speed dial who are always up to the minute with him on social media, but it turns out he’s more versatile than his age and his...expressive fashion sense might imply. Would absolutely love a boyfriend, but judges all his dates in every aspect and considers least of all the size of their dick or what they know to do with it. It’s unusual for him to run across a guy who’s as well-educated and career-oriented as himself who also meets his admittedly snobbish criteria regarding class, and most of the time when he does they make better friends than marriage candidates. Cannot abide poor manners in or out of bed, and has corresponding expectations about proper condom use and prep (also PreP) and won’t hesitate to interrupt a makeout session with a lecture on not fingering him when he just ate an hour ago and he hasn’t had the chance to use an enema yet. Jock types do little for him, although he does have this one celebrity crush of that sort that he holds dear to his heart precisely because it will never, ever happen (although, he does happen to move in adjacent circles....). 

Favored erotic tea time subjects: office sex, hustlers, the tea itself...not like that

Favored gift: his crush’s contact info, also measurements if he can get them

Raphael

His selfies come in two varieties, gym and food, and this perfectly sums him up as a person and a friend and sexual partner. Sociable but not particularly quick-witted, his conversations are filled with emojis and exclamation points and it’s not very long before he’s making invitations to hang out at either his favorite fitness center or one of his many favorite restaurants. Don’t expect much from the latter however, as he favors quantity over quality. Is more or less the perfect boyfriend if you like them big and dumb, and on some level he knows this because he’s clearly comfortable with who he is and the goals he’s set for himself, both in body weight and in life in general. Even nicer, he likes skinny nerds just as much as he likes guys who can hold their own (or even surpass him) during workouts, and he’ll try just about anything once. Not the most skilled at topping or giving head or anything else that demands precision in action, but he’ll always give his best effort anyway. Besides, he makes a great bottom, with enough cushion and stamina to take a really hard pounding and jerk himself to completion in just about the time it takes for him to coax his partner to orgasm. A simple man with simple tastes and an insatiable appetite for food and pleasure and good company, and if it comes to it a sweet and devoted familial sort as well. Doesn’t have much of an imagination for kinks, but the person who shows him how to combine food with sex might be on the receiving end of a marriage proposal right then and there.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: sexy workouts, feeders, power bottoms

Favored gift: food, especially if you get into watching him eat it

Ignatz

Fucking an art student is always a unique experience, and he’s determined not to disappoint. More likely to share pictures of his latest projects than nudes up front, although he welcomes receiving them himself as he’s quick to explain that he draws his influence from all areas of his life. Has a particular fascination with the kind of unintentional eroticism found in certain religious art, which is more likely to be found quietly perplexing than offensive in hookup spaces. Is shy and relatively untested when it comes to sex, and as such he’s a natural fit for tops who love to break in new twinks. Said tops may have to put up with his request to sketch them in the bed or on his sofa afterwards though, because apparently the nude models in his classes just can’t compare to the men who ten minutes prior had their dicks in him. As he gets older and acquires more familiarity with the medium he’ll start to gravitate more toward guys of a similar age and disposition as himself, who can be subjects for his art without the constant demanding to get off. (They still get off with him of course, but he has trouble convincing the less understanding that that’s not his first priority.) Sometimes too he’ll just want someone to cuddle with and tell him that he’s good at what he does and isn’t making any questionable life choices. However, with art being the uncertain career that it is he may find himself one day having to reconcile himself to a sugar daddy to spare him from a mind-numbing day job - or worse, admitting to whatever disapproving relation(s) he’s got that he screwed up his professional prospects and isn’t doing so hot in the dating scene either. Never quite loses his mawkishness in bed, but hopefully he’ll get past his public anxieties with a bit more success. Is not really into the gym bunny types, although they love him to death and he has to admit that all that toned musculature is easy to work with. Keeps the glasses on during sex, or at least until he has an accident with them.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: artistic nudes, sexy statuary, missionary (he likes to watch the top)

Favored gift: a set of professionally done nude selfies, for modeling

Alois

A loving and devoted husband and father, he’s only in the app space because a friend made a joke about them and he just had to check it out. Utterly clueless on the terminology and the rules of etiquette, such as they are, for a place where it’s considered perfectly acceptable to begin conversation with a picture of your erect cock. Needless to say he completely misunderstands the term “daddy” in this context, thinking it naturally applied to him without being aware of all the horny twinks that would be hitting him up as a result. Will eventually be prodded, laughing and blushing the whole time, into taking and sharing some mildly saucy selfies, and the boys go wild for his literal dad bod and hair in just the right places (including on his face; the handlebar variation is a few decades out of date, but that just makes him more endearing in a dorky retro way). It’s not clear initially whether he’s even attracted to men, but after a few months of chatting and swapping pics and perhaps furtively jerking off to the ones he gets he might agree to a discreet encounter or two. Well, they would be discreet if he weren’t always so loud, and if he didn’t always resist everyone’s immediate impulse to shove a dick in his mouth just to get him to shut up by coming up with yet another dumb joke. Doesn’t get much further than the idea of oral anyway, as he’s not the most sexual guy to start with and he can’t quite get past the immature giggling over ass play. Not a bad jerkoff buddy when it’s all said and done provided you can stand all the puns, nor is he all that bad to look at or cuddle with afterwards once he figures out that guys like his hugs too. One can only wonder what his wife thinks of all this.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: (bad) sex jokes, porn, glory holes

Favored gift: links to daddy porn, so he’ll finally figure it out

Cyril

Born into a rough background and forced to get by in some difficult circumstances has left him hardworking to a fault - emphasis on “fault.” His greatest act of teenage rebellion was to be aggressively not rebellious, and he still hasn’t grown out of that mentality as he’s quick to scorn his more carefree and hedonistic peers and wouldn’t even be on the apps at all were he not so privately, guiltily horny all the time. As may be expected this mentality wins him few admirers and even fewer friends, of any age, the more so because he’s inexperienced and still figuring out exactly what he wants from a sexual encounter. Will bottom but has a complex about the implications, but unfortunately most of the guys willing to hook up with him are tops and expect to get it in at least for a little while. Manages better when it comes to swapping head, having experimented with his more adventurous friends in school. His fastidiousness and unusually good eyesight lead him to subconsciously fixate on his partners’ minor bodily blemishes, and since pointing those out never goes over well he’s taking to prefer sex in the dark. He’s absolutely not looking for a daddy and is annoyed at the suggestion, just as much as he’s annoyed by guys who try to turn pillow talk into impromptu therapy sessions regarding his past. Will take a few more years and probably some time away at school to properly find his footing; there’s a no-nonsense if slightly insecure top buried under the fading twinkish exterior, and provided he learns out to mellow out a bit he could be quite popular one day.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: circle jerks, docking, race play (which he feels guilty about)

Favored gift: a cock ring, for those size woes 

Balthus

He was on the wrestling team in school and acquired a notable reputation for his strength and skill in a brawl, although it was also at this time that he realized he was getting hard every time he would throw down with another guy. Deflects this with an exaggerated womanizing demeanor and a blank profile announcing only that he’s looking and saving even the headless torso shot - impressive though that shot is - for messaging. Gets handjobs and blowjobs and occasionally tops, all NSA and very discreet, but his internalized insecurities fortunately do not extend to his partners. This is probably because his preferred types are either closeted muscle bros like himself or self-confident young bottoms with no patience to take anything from him except a hard fuck and a thick load. His awkward younger days will be long past him before he learns to open up to anything more than that, and even then it’s unlikely that he’ll be very relationship-minded. Has to be educated by more experienced partners on lube and prepping a bottom, and it’ll take a lot of drinks and a lot of convincing to get him to try eating ass (he will though, eventually). Bottoming himself is out of the question except perhaps with the most dedicated of vers guys, but put him on the mat with another total top and there are good odds that someone’s going to end up penetrated before it’s over. Speaking of odds, is terrible with money and not domestic in the slightest, but he’s got a rich family that he can theoretically fall back on in a pinch. Not really boyfriend material, more like the ideal perpetually naked roommate with wandering eyes and a boundless libido.

Favored erotic tea time subjects: erotic wrestling, dirty talk, praise kink

Favored gift: a harness and matching jockstrap, he’s got a thing for gear

[awesometheydontknowiamhere]

Knockout

Diego Hargreeves X Plus Sized!Reader

Requested: Oh, yes! Multiple requests in my inbox.

“Any plus size Diego fics coming soon?”

“Can you do another Diego x plus size reader?”

“Could I request a Diego x plus size fic maybe where she’s a badass boxer but she is also kinda insecure when like Diego asks her out maybe thinks it’s a joke or something?”

Summary: You have it all. You’re a revered fighter, have an excellent support system of friends and family and spend most of your evenings with your crush, sweaty and hot on a mat. But when a chance at finding loves knocks on your door in the form of your crush, Diego Hargreeves, will you let him in or shut him out?

A/N: A few things I’d like to mention.

1.    There’s a Sylvia Plath quote hiding in here. Let me know if you find it.

2.    I absolutely love that so many people requested a plus size reader fic (I have 24 requests out of which 3 were for this)

3.    I spent nearly two full hours reading up about boxing terminology, just in case.

4.    I recently saw Never Back Down so boxing is all I can think about anyway.

5.    I might have changed the request a little bit because the reader suddenly had a life of her own and the story refused to be written in that particular way.

 6.    All of you, thin, fat, chubby, curvy, super tall, super short, somewhere in between, I love each and every one of you.

7. This could possibly be the prequel to Store Bought Hugs.

Warning: None. Maybe a bit of language.

Diego Hargreeves Taglist:  @wh3n-1t-ra1ns-1t-p0urs   @imultifandomstuff @w0nder-marie@chloemac86 @theladywholivesonthemoon   @hemogobllin@pansexualpaperdragons @gorgeourrific-nerd  @purplezebra68 @vividholland@bands-and-shietz @onlydeanandjensen @slither-in-a-half @reblogserpent@missscarlett1802 @lovelyheadrush   @mrsdiegohargreeves @mrsdiegohargreeves   @katylovescats @vividholland @lilithsweetghost@ynm1505 @siriusjohnpotter @ratfuckb0y @energy-for-fandoms-not-your-shit @writingsbychlo

Words: 1620

You ducked and avoided Diego’s approaching fist, and threw an uppercut which he skillfully dodged. This was routine for the two of you, pairing up together to practice anything from old school boxing to mixed martial arts. Diego needed it to be a good vigilante and have an outlet for his anger, though he wouldn’t admit that to anybody. As for you, you just loved the blood singing through your veins, sheer power flowing through your muscles.

You were quite the fighter in the gym, paralleled only to Diego, and he too, was aware of your repertoire of deadly moves.

Currently, he was trapped in a Peruvian necktie choke.

“Give it up, Hargreeves. You know you’re not going to last longer,” you said as you tightened the hold.

He remained silent. A smart move, considering he only had a limited air supply.

“Either you tap out or you break the fuck out of it. The clock’s ticking,” you said.

A few seconds passed and you tightened your hold on him, using the strength in your arms.

People were often deceived by your size. Nobody could believe your agility and strength as an MMA fighter until they saw you in action, thanks to your plus sized body. Quite a lot of spectators had trouble comprehending your skill but little did they know that you could knock an opponent out in a minute flat (you were known in the MMA circles for doing that thrice).

You hear a grunt followed by a tap on the mat and you immediately release the man, helping him onto his back.

“Hey, breathe. Long, deep breaths,” you said, burying the concern in your voice.

He simply nodded and you gave him a moment to adjust, rubbing his chest, trying not to feel him up under the thin, sweat- soaked t-shirt.

“Damn, baby. You are vicious,” he said as he sat up.

You smirked and both of you rose up, headed towards the water coolers.

“Same time tomorrow?”

“Only if you promise to actually put up a fucking fight,” you said, laughing.

He draped his arm around your shoulders and your heart skipped a beat.

“I do it so that you don’t cry yourself to sleep Y/N,” he said.

He walked you to the door like always and waved goodbye.

You walked the rest of the way home feeling warmth in your heart as you tried to hold on to the memory of his arm touching your bare shoulder a little longer.

Your crush on Diego wasn’t new. You fell for his nocuous moves and dirty, dry sense of humor. And when you caught a glimpse of him changing into a tank top one evening, there was no turning back.

Each night before bed you replayed your practice with him, trying not to combust from the sheer emotion you felt when you thought of his hands on your body. The moments where he pinned you to the mat and you waited several moments before you got out of his hold.

The next day at practice Diego was late. You quickly warmed up and picked up a pair of battle ropes. You bent your knees and got into position, visualizing the motion in your head and replicating it with your hands. You dropped the ropes and began walking over to the bench, to give yourself a minute as well as wait for Diego to show up.  

You halted to a stop, surprised to see him leaning against a stationary pole with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Hargreeves, what are you doing? Are you seriously standing here and checking out these girls as they work out?”

The corners of his mouth turned.

“I was watching you.”

A charged moment passed and you got a hold of your sensibilities.

“Yuck, does that line ever work?”

He tucked a stray lock of hair behind your ear.

“It’s not a line,” Diego whispered and walked towards the mat, ready for your paired practice fights.

A couple hours passed and Diego emerged victorious, courtesy the new fluttering in your heart since his comment.

 He helped you pack your gym bag, his caramel arms flexing with each move. You stood there, silent and observing, swooning a little and falling for him a little more.

“Come on, I will walk you home,” Diego kindly offered.

You snapped out of your reverie.

“Diego, really, it’s fine. I can walk two blocks by myself, thank you very much,” your voice a smidge sarcastic.

“Don’t be like that Y/N, I want to walk you home. And  I think a bit of fresh air will do me some good,” he said, toeing the floor.

You immediately felt a pang of guilt. You knew he lived in the gym, in the cold basement. His desire for fresh air was understandable and you were hardly going to say no to a walk with him. Despite of what you had said earlier, you agreed and he swung his arm around you and both of you walked out into the street.

Thirty minutes and a quick detour to a smoothie shack later, you arrived at your building.

“Thanks for walking me home, Hargreeves,” you said.

“Thanks for letting me,” he replied with a smile.

He handed you your gym bag, your fingers brushing briefly against each other.

You wished him a good night and turned towards the door. As you took a step towards it you felt a warm hand around your wrist, leaving your hand outstretched between your bodies.

You turned to face him and he stepped closer, his hand dropping to yours.

Your heart was neatly lodged in your throat as you took in the proximity of your bodies.

“Y/N,” he said.

“Diego,” your said, your voice barely a whisper.

“I’d like to take you out, Y/N, on a proper date. Roses, moonlight, the whole deal,” he said.

He registered the alarm on your face before you could comprehend it.

“Or anything else. Whatever you want, babe. We could go to boxing match and cheer or take another walk,” he said in a single breath, words gushing out.

You closed your eyes for a moment and reopened them and stepped back, giving yourself a little space to think.

“Diego, why? Is this your idea of practical joke? Why are you asking me out, because that would actually imply that you like me and why on earth would you like me?” you asked becoming increasingly agitated.

“Why do you think I like you?” he quirked his eyebrow, the scar glistening under the city lights.

He stepped closer taking both of your hands in his.

“You are you. Unapologetically and unabashedly you. Very few people do this anymore. It’s too risky. First of all, it’s a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It’s much easier to be somebody else or nobody at all. And you own every single part of that.”

You were stunned, speechless even. All your words had scrambled out onto the street after his declaration.

“And well. You kick my ass at MMA so that’s also incredibly hot,” he said with a chuckle making you laugh with him.

“You’re being awefully quiet. Please, say yes. I promise you won’t regret it.”

You smiled up at him, getting lost in you dark eyes framed by the scars on his face.

You leaned into him, your lips an inch away from his ear.

“Pick me up at 8 on Friday,” you said, placing a chaste kiss on his scruffy cheek, before running off into your building.

You rushed up the flight of stairs and ran into your apartment, looking out the window.

“Don’t you dare be late, Hargreeves. I have stockpile of chokes you haven’t even heard of,” you scream out into the street with a laugh.

“Wouldn’t even dream of it,” he yelled back.

He waved and blew you a kiss and then disappeared into the street.

You relaxed into your couch, replaying the conversation in your head, your stomach populous with butterflies.

You sighed a romance novel sigh.

Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

[pocketyarnlings]

No-Sew Crochet Spider Appliqué – Quick Halloween DIY

Looking for a fun and fuss-free way to add a spooky flair? This no-sew spider appliqué is quick, beginner-friendly, and perfect for garlands, treat bags, or Halloween cards. With the free pattern and step-by-step video below, you’ll have a creepy-crawly ready to scuttle into your crafts in no time!

There are affiliate links in this post. We will receive a commission if you make a purchase through our affiliate link at no extra cost to you. Do note I have used some if not most of these products at some point in time.

Table of Contents Show

Introduction to Crocheting Spider Applique

In this post, we will first be starting off with the relevant supplies and techniques you would need to crochet this mini spider applique. Here, we will only be using black yarn, you can also consider trying it with glow in the dark purple yarn (or try out other colours!) Then we will head into the pattern proper.

Stick around after that to check out the full video of how to crochet a spider applique as part of a halloween garland and stay tuned for an exciting story telling bundle that comes with this pattern. Don’t forget to grab the free Animal Shaping Starter Guide if this is something you would love to design in the future!

Supplies and Techniques for Crocheting a Small Spider

Here I have listed the techniques as well as the materials needed to crochet the spider applique. Each one is individually linked if you need to learn more about how to master each technique, or you could check out this post on “How to Learn Basic Crochet Stitches step by step for Absolute Beginners - 6 Easy Steps!”.

The materials needed are also listed below or if you wish to see what I start off most of my projects with, then check out this post on “My Crochet Tools and Accessories that are Super Simple to Start With”. Read on below.

Terminology for Crocheting Spider

Ch = chain

Sc = single crochet

Sl st = slip stitch 

St = stitch (refers to number of stitches in one round)

Hdc = half double crochet

Dc = double crochet

2sc1 = single crochet increase (meaning 2 single crochet in same stitch) 

2 sl st 1 = slip stitch increase (means 2 slip stitch in same st)

5sc1 = 5 single crochet in same st

Materials and Tools for Crocheting Spider

3.5mm Clover crochet hook

Scheepjes Catona or any equivalent fingering or sport weight yarn

Version 1 - Black (25gm each)

Version 2 - Use Glow in the Dark yarn Purple (check out more here)

Darning needle

Stitch markers

Scissors

See how they look like and my selection for my amigurumis just below.

Also check out my full list of commonly used crochet tools and accessories here.

Now that you have gathered your supplies and had a look at the basic terminology to reading the following pattern, let us first get started!

Yarn

Scheepjes Catona or any equivalent fingering or sport weight yarn

Crochet hook

2.5-3.0mm Clover crochet hook 

Stuffing

Use leftover yarn or polyester fibrefill

Darning Needles

Safety Eyes

4mm glass eyes or safety eyes 

Stitch Markers

Plastic stitch markers or metal stitch markers

Crochet Spider Pattern

Start off making the spider with black (or purple) yarn.

Round 1: Work into 2nd ch from hook, 5sc1

Round 2: Sc1, (ch2, dc1), dc3, (dc1, ch2 and sl st 1 back in same main st)

Round 3:

Sl st 1,

sl st 1 into bottom of ch2,

[sl st 1 into top of ch2,

(ch8, work into 2nd ch from hook, sl st 3, 2 sl st 1, sl st 3), sl st 1 back into same top of ch2,

(ch6, sl st 5 down, sl st 1 back into same ch) x 2,

(ch8, work into 2nd ch from hook, sl st 3, skip 1 st, sl st 3), sl st 1 back into same top of ch2],

sl st 5,

[sl st 1 into bottom of ch2,

(ch8, work into 2nd ch from hook, sl st 3, 2 sl st 1, sl st 3), sl st 1 back into same bottom of ch2,

(ch6, sl st 5 down, sl st 1 back into same ch) x 2,

(ch8, work into 2nd ch from hook, sl st 3, skip 1 st, sl st 3), sl st 1 back into same bottom of ch2], sl st 1 into top of ch2

Round 4: Sl st 1 (black) and end off

Crochet Halloween Bunting with Spider Video

This pattern is part of a larger halloween bunting pattern, which includes a foundation chain, skull applique and spider applique. To see how to crochet the spider applique part, go ahead and check out the full Halloween Bunting video. Also try out the skull applique part as well to complete the garland! It includes captions with voice-overs as well. Remember to also like the video and subscribe to my Youtube Channel so that when new amigurumi videos are released, you will know about it!

.video-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; } .video-container iframe { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

If you felt this post was amazing then remember to spread the love by pinning the image below to Pinterest so that others might find it and learn how to crochet a mini spider applique too! I appreciate you so much for doing this!

Halloween Garland PDF Pattern

This Halloween Garland (with its accompanying Spider Pattern) PDF Pattern will be available as part of an exclusive Halloween Bundle with a little “Hungry Ghost Festival” picture book story that comes along with it. That is coming soon, so stay tuned for it! Remember to sign up to Pocket Yarnlings newsletter to get first dibs on this exciting release!

Conclusion of Crocheting Halloween Spider Applique Pattern

Thank you for joining me in crocheting this little spider applique pattern. Remember to tag me @pocketyarnlings on instagram so I can see your makes too and I will feature them in my email newsletter. Here is how you can support me so that I can make more posts and videos for you in the future:

If you want to try the pattern for free, check out the pattern above with ads.

If you want to see the way the amigurumi is made in real-time, then check out the video on my Youtube channel here.

If you want to learn how to design animal amigurumi, check out the free Animal Shaping Starter Guide here.

To check out more of my ideas for using various types of crochet stitch techniques to shape amigurumi animals, grab my free Animal Shaping Starter Guide below! Inside, get quick ideas on how to get started on shaping ears, snouts, cheeks, bodies and limbs for animals!

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[enaasteria]

Lost and Found // Baekhyun

// Prompt Request—“Have you seen my hoodie?” // Requested by—@baekyung​  // Artist AU, Soulmate AU, attempt at fluff but probably more aligned to angst

A/N: It was supposed to be a drabble but it turned into this monster. I’m very sorry.

“You’re staring at him again,” my seat mate, Mari, teases. She pokes me with an unused paintbrush before packing up the rest of her supplies at the end of class. It breaks me out of my reverie and I massage the slight throbbing in my arm, playing off her scrutiny of where my eyes may have wandered.

“We’re supposed to look at him.”

“Yeah, while we’re painting his figure. I’m not sure if that includes when he dresses and undresses.”

“I—I—wa—I wasn’t staring at him undress—was I?” I ask, almost mortified at the thought of being so pathetically obvious in how besotted I am over this semester’s male model, Byun Baekhyun. 

“If laser eyes existed in this world, you would’ve burned two holes into his chest.”

“I wasn’t staring at his chest.”

“Oh? Was it his—

I lunge forward, almost dropping my art supply bin, to stop her from verbally embarrassing me more so than she already has as one by one the students exit the classroom. “I wasn’t.”

“Fine, fine. You weren’t, but who would blame you if you did,” she says with a wave of her hand while she waits for me to finish packing up. “He is, after all, rather aesthetically pleasing.”

“More than aesthetically pleasing.”

“Oh?”

I look at her, realizing I divulged more than what I usually do in terms of my infatuation for Baekhyun. It was harmless intrigue in the beginning. I saw him through the eyes of a painter because he was unbelievably beautiful. His soft cheeks, the strawberry toned hair ruffling over his eyes, the benevolent grin seemingly etched into his face. It was as if there was a light exuding from him—a type of warmth I tried to capture with my paintbrushes every day. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I think you and I both know exactly what you meant.”

The comment makes me grimace because there’s no denying I like him. Down to the very essence, I like him in a way I can’t explain within words, in drawings, or even fathom how I’ve never felt my heartstrings tug for another in a way it does for Baekhyun. 

As much as I wish for a little more from the very man I paint from on a daily basis, I realize how futile these inner desires truly are. Because it’s all I can do. I can only look at him. I can only draw him and the single thought continually spreads a debilitating ache throughout every part of my soul. 

Mari watches as my expression reaches the fine line of acceptance and hurt and places a supportive hand on my shoulder. “He could be, you know. He could be your—”

I stop her before she voices it—the dreaded ‘soulmate’ terminology of which we all live and abide by. In our world, there’s a person we’re meant to be with. They’re our match in every possible way and while I do harbor feelings for Baekhyun in the acutest kind, I realize the chance of him being that person made out to be my other half is zero to none. “He’s not.”

“He could be.”

“The universe has never and would never be so kind.”

“You never know.” She changes her pitch, turning it into a rather singsongy tune as we exit the drawing room.

We make our way down the hallway with our art portfolio cases hanging on our shoulders and from the corner of my eye, I see her bite her bottom lip. She’s toying with whether to voice out the obvious because whenever she tries to mention the word soulmate to me, immediately following will be a discussion about my birthday—my 20th birthday to be exact and one which will happen at the stroke of midnight.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

“Is anyone ever ready to find out who their soulmate is on their 20th birthday?”

There’s a slight shock to her face as she hears me say the word I usually avoid. And it’s because I have a hard time admitting how the word scares me. I’m horrifically afraid what I’ll feel for my soulmate will never amount to the way I feel for Baekhyun. 

I let out a sigh and push away the apprehension, figuring I’ll deal with it when it comes. But as a good friend should, she empathizes with my worries and connects her free arm within mine. “I definitely wasn’t ready.”

“Yet, you won’t tell me how it happens so I can prepare myself.”

She scoffs as her eyes crinkle at the edges, perhaps remembering how she found out who her fated person was all those months ago. “It’s because I don’t know how to explain it. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. What about your parents? Did they say anything?”

“Yeah—but it only made me more confused.”

“What did they say?”

“They called it—lost and found.”

For a while, I tried interpreting their meaning. I wondered if it meant physically losing something with my soulmate finding and returning it or if it was just a metaphor beyond my comprehension. In the end, all I was left with was a whole new set of unanswered questions. Though, I don’t get a chance to hear Mari’s take on it as a familiar voice calls out my name. 

The sound instantly stills my heart as I’ve memorized his pitch and tone as much as I’ve memorized the details of his body from head to toe. I’m frozen in footing as my grip on Mari tightens. She doesn’t let go as we both see Baekhyun jog up to where we’re standing. 

“Hey—” he starts off and per his norm, his smile is already tugging at the far corners of his mouth. 

I’m not sure where the courage is coming from but my mouth responds on its own (albeit it’s just a single greeting and to my defense, it is one word more than what I’ve said to him all year). “Hi.”

Mari untangles herself from my grasp. It doesn’t take a genius to know she’s about to abandon me within the matter of seconds so I’ll suffer through this sudden interaction alone. “I have to catch the bus, but I’ll see you next class. Happy birthday and let me know how it goes tonight—okay?”

I mentally plead her to stay but all she gives back are sly winks and unexplainable eyebrow raises. What’s a little more alarming other than her leaving me to fend for myself is the fact she mentioned my birthday for Baekhyun to hear. 

My free hand reaches up to my forehead, scratching an imaginary itch and hope he doesn’t read too heavily into any of it. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no. It’s nothing serious but Professor Moon mentioned you might be able to help me.” He looks hopeful and I do my best not to get lost in his blinding presence. 

It’s hard enough being in the same room with him while painting his male form but it’s a whole other issue trying to concentrate on holding a proper conversation with him. With the former, at least I had a legitimate reason to only look at him. This is worlds different and is by far, a suffering I never thought I’d have to endure. “Yeah, of course. What is it?”

“Please don’t laugh,” he begins and my heart plummets as I see his eyes shine in the most innocent way. “I usually wear a certain hoodie to your painting class.”

“Right—the sapphire blue one with the white logo design running across the chest,” I say it all without thinking until the cold terror washes down my body. I only memorized that hoodie because it’s the outfit he wore the first time I met him and he’s worn it every day since. But voicing that little fact makes me out to be a strange person and the feeling of wanting to run into a ditch and live there for all of time comes in full force. “I—I me—I mean—artist’s eyes, you know. I notice a lot of details.”

He cranes his neck while his gaze roams about my face. It’s a small little action but one I make note of due to this being the closest I’ve ever stood next to him. I pray he doesn’t sense anything off and to my relief, he doesn’t question or dive deeper into my odd remark. 

Instead, his stare goes on for a second too long before something clicks within him and he speaks again. “Yeah, that’s the one. I must’ve left it behind or misplaced it. I asked Professor Moon if she’s seen it around the classroom but she didn’t. She suggested I ask you since you work in the Art Department office and there’s a lost and found box. I was wondering if you’ve seen my hoodie there by any chance?”

“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t,” I say with a shake of my head. 

Baekhyun’s lips press together into a pout and it’s the saddest look I’ve ever witnessed on him. The melancholy expression doesn’t suit him and I go through every possible method to think and come up with a way to help him.

“But we can go check—the office, I mean. We can check the office. I only work three days out of the week so someone might’ve turned it in.”

“I wouldn’t want to bother you if you had plans—

“It’s ok. I don’t mind,” I say because if there was a choice between going home to an empty apartment or having a few more minutes with Baekhyun, I would choose him time and time again. “I didn’t make any plans so—” My voice fades into a whisper at the end as I urge him to follow me to the art office one building over. 

I try to make it a quick walk but it seems Baekhyun has other ideas as his pace is much slower than mine. He digs his lithe fingers into his jean pockets as he takes one foot after another down the outdoor steps. 

When he reaches the sidewalk, he brings up the very words I love to avoid. “So, your birthday is tonight.” He watches as I writhe about in imaginary pain. It causes a low chuckle to escape from his chest while he waits for my answer.

“Unfortunately, it is.”

“Not a fan of birthdays?”

“Not a fan of this birthday,” I correct.

“Ah—that one.”

I take quick glances at him and find it more of a surprise seeing him return my gaze. But since his attractive face is difficult for me to handle in large doses, I turn my main focus towards the pavement below. “Did you have yours already?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Oh. So you know then—” I swallow and find the sudden lump situated at the base of my throat making it hard for me to breathe. “You know who your soulmate is.”

“Mhmm. I know who she is.” 

“Does she know—that you’re her soulmate?” The bitter words feel like salt on my wounds but I’m not even sure why I’m asking. The only plausible result waiting for me at the finish line is more angst and agony. Maybe a part of me wants to know in hopes it’ll make tonight a little bit more bearable—solidifying into stone how I was right in thinking Baekhyun wasn’t my soulmate after all. 

Baekhyun shakes his head, his locks tousling over his almond eyes. “No, not yet. I’m trying my best to keep myself from getting too close to her until she does find out.”

“Why?”

“Not sure. I have this irrational fear she won’t like me so for now, I’m staying away and just hoping for the best.”

“Hope.” I breathe out the one word and find so much familiarity in it because it’s exactly how I feel when I look at Baekhyun. 

I hope even when I realize it’s hopeless to do so. 

Tucking a few strands of loose hair behind my ear, I give him a sad smile before we reach the building. I change the topic since this might be the only time I’ll ever have a conversation with him in our lives and I’d rather it not be so dreary and bleak. 

“I’m sure she’ll like you—especially in that hoodie,” I placate and sincerely wish she loves him for the remarkable person he is inside and out. 

When we finally arrive to the art office, I set my art portfolio case down by the door and ask Baekhyun to wait. I feel the weight of his gaze watching my every movement and it becomes a little nerve-wracking to just walk in front of him. I dig around in the storage closest before finding the tattered cardboard box but when I bring it out, I’m unable to hide my disappointment. It doesn’t go unnoticed as his expression mirrors my own.

“It’s not in there, is it?” he asks.

“No, it isn’t. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m thankful for you trying.” He shrugs his shoulders and the frown once on his face dissipates as quickly as it came. “You know, I actually considered it my good luck charm.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Not to be super cheesy or anything but my life changed the day I was wearing it so it became something I was attached to. I even went to the lengths of writing my name and phone number inside on the label tag just in case I somehow lost it—which, clearly, I ended up doing anyway.”

“I know the feeling. It happened with my sketchbook.”

Baekhyun shifts his weight and bites down on the inner flesh of his mouth as if keeping himself from smiling too hard. I blink to try and understand it but no viable answer comes to mind. He clears his throat and brushes his index over his nose a few times before asking, “Sketchbook?”

“It wasn’t really a good luck charm as it was more of something bringing me joy. I would draw in it every time I felt down.”

“What did you draw in it?”

My hand naturally draws up to my chest, trying to alleviate some of the tension because what I drew in that notebook was endless portraits of him. Every page was lined to the details of only him. His face. His hands. Even the tiny little mole housed on his ear. “Pictures—of someone.” I avoid saying him in fear of coming off more peculiar than I already am and laugh it off. “But it’s gone missing just like your hoodie. I’m sure it’ll turn up though.”

“I do too.” He stands up straight, shuffling a bit in his stance and I fear the times come to part ways.

I realize I’ll still see Baekhyun in class. I’ll still get to draw him but I know once midnight comes around, what I feel inside might change and I’m unsure if it’ll be for better or worse.

“Thanks again for trying—I really mean it,” he says.

“Wish I could’ve helped more. If I see it, I’ll let you know.”

“Promise?” 

“Absolutely.”

He ends our conversation with his signature smile but before he's out of view, Baekhyun turns around and quickly walks back to me. He angles down slightly to my height. It’s close enough to the point where I can see every speck and glint designed into his umber eyes and count every lash perfectly placed on his lids. He displays the same kindness and light which drew me in from the very beginning while he speaks. “The tag.”

“The tag?”

He nods slowly and just as carefully as the words leaving his lips. “Just in case, when you do see it, the tag inside the hoodie will read—Byun Baekhyun.” He spells out every beautiful letter to his name and it feels as if he’s engraving them into my heart and mind. He does the same thing he did earlier when we were in front of the classroom. His eyes wash over me, from my brows to my nose, even to the sides of my face. He takes it all in. “And I hope,” he whispers, “I hope—you won’t be disappointed tonight.”

His sentiment stays with me. 

It remains etched in the lining of my skin after he leaves and even when I reach my home. It replays over and over in my head and like my parents, he’s given me more questions than answers. But I can’t dwell on it as the hours and minutes dwindle down to midnight. The dread of what’s to come makes its unsettling way into my stomach as the twist and turns provide no comfort.

I watch as the clock counts down into the seconds and my place of refuge has always been the image of Baekhyun. Leaning back against the headboard of my bed, I close my eyes and think of him. His joy, his light. His very existence. I picture it all and if I was asked how I wanted to spend my 20th birthday, this would be it. It would be picturing him and thinking of him. 

With no expectation or hope, I feel the next day unfold and sense the slightest change in the air. It’s minuscule. It’s so small that it’s barely discernible as the faintest breeze washes over me. I slowly open my eyes and feel my heart thrum against the bones of my chest. 

Because what’s placed before me at the foot of my bed is a familiar sapphire blue hoodie. The garment is folded and tucked securely inside a knotted red bow and for a while, I let it sit there. I’m scared to touch it, frightened to even know what it could mean. I never dreamed of this outcome. I tried my hardest never to hope for it or wholly wish for it since the chances of it being true was near impossible. 

I will my hands to unwrap the ribbon and search for the one affirmation to make me believe it’s real—as real as the words he spoke. I search for the tag as my fingers brush over the small piece of fabric. 

And written on it in his handwriting is word for word, letter for letter—

Byun Baekhyun.

[phoenotopia]

2019 March Update

"ZOOM!" ... the sound of a passing deadline...

The end of March has come and I'm checking in as promised. We've accomplished a lot in the past 4 months. We did complete the final dungeon, its bosses, as well as the optional "forbidden forest" dungeon and its secret town. Unfortunately, we didn't reach so lofty a height as having completed the entire game. Sorry if I got everyone's hopes up!

So what's left to do? An odd ~20 something leftover rooms to be completed (the game will number around 600 level files total). One optional end-game boss for completionists. And then a LOT of dialogue & cutscene writing and playtesting.

Then comes the outside development stuff : getting an ESRB rating, trademarking the game's title, getting a website up, speaking to my contact about possible promotions, reaching out to journalists, and so on. Since this is my first commercial title, there's a lot of uncharted territory that I can't accurately gauge how long it might take.

Still, the finish line appears very close - I'm eyeing it hungrily - but like a dying beast in its last death throes, I suspect the game will manage to surprise me with unforeseen developments. So rather than give a date again, I'll just say we're intently focused on it. Please bear with us a while longer!

==== PICTURES ====

Here are some snapshots of the past months' progress. To avoid being too spoilerific, I'll keep the shots mainly to areas that are most similar to the flash game. The really new areas will be a surprise.

(Harpies like to live in high places)

(Arcs have now become "Trolls" to draw on their mythical ability to turn into stone)

(Some harpies will aid the player given the right incentive)

(The Spa returns. Swimming in it will restore health)

(A secluded fishing spot)

(battle in a terrarium)

(a place beyond comprehension)

==== MUSIC ====

Will and I regularly discuss which songs to bring back, redo, or upgrade. Lots of circumstances can affect the final pick. In one interesting case, Will wanted to replace a song, but I wanted the original because I'd gotten a lot of emails from fans asking about it. In the case of the Monster's Twilight Village, we still liked the base melody and went for an upgrade. The new version of the song is 4x the original's length! Hard to believe the flash game made do with just a 30 second loop. Give a listen to the improved Twilight Village Theme.

==== WRITING ====

(Compare the old pumpkin muffin description vs the new)

One of the new shifts in development is that I'm writing a lot more. This time around, I'm putting more care and time into it. In a fast case scenario, an item flavor text just takes 5 minutes. In the worst case scenario, bridled by writer's block, an item flavor text can take half an hour! There's only so many ways you can describe raw meat of varying sizes. I'll try to find some trivia that can add to the world in some way, and I'll research the proper terminology and ingredients. For instance, did you know that common ingredients in Dog biscuits are bran, bone meal, and fat? You did? Well, expect to find that bit of trivia again in the upcoming Dog Biscuit's description!

(There's a satisfaction in describing an item well. The best descriptions are not too short, not too long... they're betterer)

==== THE LUNAR ARTIFACTS ==== 

Since the adventure sends Gale through a bunch of old ruins, it seemed sensical to have Gale find old artifacts and relics. These artifacts would give insight into their builders' history and culture. As these artifacts accumulated, we wanted to do more with the artifacts than just have the player dump them at the nearest recycler. So the Quest naturally evolved to involve Antique collectors.

If an artifact is submitted to Astrid, the Antique Collector, she'll add it her shelf. Submit enough unique Artifacts and you may even get a nice reward! Astrid will also share her thoughts on each artifact, divulging more of their history and culture.

(brilliant deduction skills)

NOTE: the above image is a gif. if it doesn’t play, view it on imgur)

==== LAST NAMING CONTEST ====

Since the cast of enemies is now completely rounded out we can also proceed with the final naming contest! (For enemies that I will reveal anyway). The cast of enemies up for naming are actually all robots!

First up is the Borg. A highly intelligent enemy encountered in the final dungeon, capable of wielding laser swords, grenade launchers, and eye beams. As mentioned before, its placeholder name is a bit of a misnomer, since "cyborg" and "borg" imply a human element. These enemies are all mechanical!

Next up are 9 other robots! In quick spitfire fashion, here is their image, their current placeholder(?) name, and their description.

I've had difficulty naming these robots, and I didn't understand why until the whole cast was assembled. There's clearly a relation between some of them, but the family tree gets messy. Some are distant cousins while others seem like fraternal twins. So here are the notable relations between them:

The smart turret and the scrapper have identical shooting behaviors. They even shoot the same bullets. The difference being that one is stationary while the other can move.

Both Flying Mine, Rollo Mine, and Scrapper have spherical shapes. They also all emit a damaging explosion, with the Rollomine packing additional TNT & shrapnel.

Tank bots and Saw bots have similar chassis and can only move on rails.

The Beam Drone could be viewed as a more advanced version of the scrapper.

So how to name these robots? Should the Scrapper be named as a set with the turret? A companion of the Mines? As the inferior prototype to the Beam Drone? OR, should they have wildly different names with no attempt to relate them at all?

I look forward hearing what you guys come up with! Like before, naming entries can be submitted to the reddit thread (LINK) or privately to email ( phoenotopia@gmail.com )

==== FAN ART====

This update's fan arts are all brought to you by Cody G!

(The first foray into a dungeon. It's always neat when you can map an art directly to an area from the game!)

(A nice heartwarming scene between Billy and Gale. I always like night scenes!)

The latest piece is quite exciting since I think it might be the first fanart that shows the new reboot and not the flash game. Enemies like the female Ouroboros bandit and Dragon Snare are new additions. Dragon Snares are quite terrifying when viewed outside a 2D perspective! Thanks Cody!

The next update will come end of May. Til then!

[thunclerpuff]

the warehouse club

I do not know what this is. Yes, it started as a Sleepover Club AU. Yes, don’t expect it to be anything but shameless teenage fluff. The boys are all around 16 or 17, I don’t know I don’t care. This is set in the fictional city of Crescent Bay, in Australia, and I dared to put in exactly one (1) aussie slang word and I’ve probably used it wrong. It’s not betaed, it’s barely edited, and I’m not a native speaker. Still. It’s 6k of teenage fluff.

(underage teenage drinking and a little of slut-shaming terminology but nobody is really getting judged, it’s just Loki being a jealous bitch. also for some reason Loki is Frigga and Odin’s son and Thor is not and he goes grocery shopping alone. the original plan was to him to live with legal guardian Heimdall but? no word is spoken about it in the text. he’s probably just a con-man). .

It was casual Friday at school, which meant no uniform, which meant most of the kids took the opportunity to show off and try to get laid. Loki was above all that.

He slipped in the first outfit he put his hands over, a pair of cut off jeans and an emerald green shirt casually folded at the end of his bed. That he had felt like putting up a little fashion show the night before and didn’t put his clothes away, it was only a lucky coincidence. He screamed to his mom he was heading out, put a earbud in, and walked down the beach to gather his subjects.

He met Volstagg in front of Fandral's house, rang the bell, rounded the corner to get Sif, then got back to Fandral just as he got out of the door. “How do I look?” he asked- they all ignored him, turned on their heels and went back the way they had come.

It was, all in all, a wonderful morning: the sea breeze was fresh and crunchy, hungry seagulls where causing havoc at the kiosk, and Loki's messy bun was almost perfectly concealing the fact he hadn't took a proper shower in four days. A volleyball flew right over in Fandral's face, even, leaving him butt deep in the sand.

They were still all laughing, Fandral pouting and refusing to jump back on his feet, when a thundering voice interrupted them. Loki turned to the beach volley field, wind blowing in his face and the sun in his eyes, just to see a rather large black silhouette against the blue sky. Thor Borson. Of course.

His stomach did a somersault.

“Sorry, mate, Nebula has a mean smash. Are you hurt?”

Revolting.

Loki watched as Thor hoisted Fandral up, somehow smashing him against his unnecessarily naked chest.

He watched in disgust as Thor giggled like not even a twelve year old reading too many maganizes about having power over boys would. He took three steps back, turned to Sif, said something Loki really didn't pay attention to, sweat trailing down his throat, and just like that he run away, once again a black cut out in the sun.

“Ridiculous.” Loki suggested, and suddenly everyone was watching him.

“What?” he asked, utterly unimpressed. “Flirting like that with Fandral? A slut for the attention.”

They all shared a quick look deciding on who got the first round dissing Loki, and Loki braced himself with disinterest.

“He was being nice.” Volstagg laughed.

“It's kind of sad you think being nice is flirting.” Fandral added.

“Well, wanting to get into his pants is probably the only way someone would force themselves to be nice to Loki.” Sif rounded up.

“Hey.” Loki softly protested against his will. Sif slammed a hand on his back.

“Besides, Fandral will take just about anything regardless from motivation.”

Fandral didn't even try to defend his dignity. He simply sighed and glanced at the field, where Thor was putting on the horrid school shirt.

“What can one say? He's charming.”

“And strong, the muscles aren't for show. He gave Rogers a run for his money. The other day-”

Loki rolled his eyes and started walking on the beach again.

Incredible how some muscles and an arguably pretty face could turn everyone to mush.

.

“One-” Sif mused from atop the table. Loki knew something was coming, and he would not react to it. “Could argue you're jealous.”

“Jealous?” Loki very elegantly squeaked. “I'm not jealous. I'm the opposite of jealous.”

“What's the opposite of jealous?” Fandral asked, his body twisted on the bench to try and ogle the small basketball field.

Thor was playing. He was truly terrible at it. At least he seemed to be having fun.

“I don't know.” Sif answered. “Let's ask.”

Loki didn't have the time to blink.

“Hey Thor!” she shouted, and he turned just to get the ball smashed on his head.

He recovered quickly. He moved his ridiculous and out of style hair out of the way and smiled at Sif.

Show off. Pretentious. Over-aware of his so-called good looks.

Loki was so preoccupied insulting him in his mind he almost forgot Sif was going to ruin them all.

“What's the opposite of jealous?” she shouted.

Loki stood perfectly still as he contemplated murder.

Thor seemed to think about it for a second.

“Indifferent?” he asked, before Valkyrie threw him the ball once more and he caught it midair with only one hand.

Giant hands. Too long fingers. Overabundance of rings to, once again, peacock his way around.

“Well, this does seal the deal.” Volstagg laughed behind his third club sandwich. “Since you're the opposite of indifferent.”

Sif and Fandral laughed too and Loki wondered, as he did at least fourteen times a day, why he insisted hanging out with such bullies.

.

He was not jealous of Thor.

He simply refused to worship him like the entire school had started doing two days after he had showed up, obscenely tanned for someone coming straight out of the British inland. Loki bet he had gone tanning just to blend in. He would have bet money on a fake Australian accent too, if he thought Thor capable of such intellectual finesse. That, and Sif had disclosed the fact he was apparently a born and raised Aussie coming back home after three years among the poms.

Loki had avoided another rampage over the word pom, as he felt personally victimized by it and he had just managed to make them all forget it got on his British nerves.

Still, there was nothing objectively wrong with Thor. He was passably good looking if you had the hots for the hunk-on-steroid type, had a full beard at sixteen that he kept as a little bit more than a stubble, sometimes wore square glasses that made him look like he was trying really hard and Loki was reasonably sure were fake, and went to school in his uniform even during casual Fridays.

He also cheated on tests regularly. Point in case.

“Utterly unimaginative.” Malekit said, dropping Loki's essay on his desk like he was slapping him across the face. “You'd be better off sticking to numbers, mister Odinson.”

Well, Loki would have. If they would just let him ignore the whole literature class, which was mostly made of completely subjective interpretations of bad and outdated books, he would have been out of there ages ago.

He didn't say so just because Sif hit him on his shin.

He didn't loudly protest to that abuse because Malekit had just handed Thor's essay back to him, and Loki was outraged.

“Decent job, mister Borson.”

Thor beamed, and now Loki knew he must have been shit at blowjobs too, because there was no way he had got a decent out of Malekit if not by blowing him, and yet he had not even earned a good, so he must have done a barely sufficient job.

He told so to his friends during lunch break.

“How are you so familiar with Malekit blowjobs grading system?” Volstagg asked.

“I do recall him getting a passable, once.” Sif smirked.

“You're all going to hell.” Loki shut his locker close and jumped when he found Thor on the other side of it.

“What?” he asked.

“Need to ask your friends if they're down for a volley match in the evening.” stupid smile and stupid glasses on.

“Sure.” Sif answered.

“I'm a little rusty, but I'm in.” Fandral betrayed him.

“Kidding? Always down for some beach volley.” Volstagg flat out stabbed him.

“Want to be our referee?” Thor asked to him once again, and before Loki could answer, the three backstabbers murdered him in a choir of nos, sacrificing their decency and elegance too.

He rose his eyebrows at all of them. Savages. Monkeys. Spoilers of fun.

“No.” Sif said categorically. “He's not getting anywhere near a position of power in which he has to tell right from wrong and can go unquestioned. That's all he shouldn't be doing in life.”

Thor seemed confused, but he smiled again, and Loki told himself to remember to check if steroids had any effect over the activity rate of facial muscles.

“Well, come to watch?”

“I could play.” he told, and Volstagg laughed. “What? I'm an excellent setter.”

“For the first ten minutes, before you remember you're a lazy twink and just stand there doing nothing.”

“Fandral is a lazy twink too.”

“A functioning one.” Fandral flat out winked at him.

“He can come and hand over powerade.” Sif shrugged.

“Beg your pardon?” Loki asked.

She surely wasn't thinking he would do that.

“Great. See you at five on the beach?” Thor asked, looking straight at Loki.

Show. Off.

Too bad it wasn't going to happen, never in a million years.

.

Loki took a sip of powerade as Sif smashed the ball over the net with the kind of loud sound Loki would imagine a jet breaking the sound barrier would produce.

Unluckily for her, Thor seemed a natural at receiving.

His forearms had gradually became so red he looked sunburned. Not that Loki was looking at his arms, but it was difficult to avoid a spare glance when they were proving to be the star player of the game.

Not that Volstagg was slacking off on the other side of the net, and Fandral was perpetually rolling in the sand catching any stray ball.

It was taking forever for either team to score a point. Thor, Valkyrie and Nebula were ahead for the time being, but it was a two points margin.

Would have Loki been the referee he would have made the game more spicy, but alas they were all too worried over his superior volley knowledge. He was the son of a twice Olympic beach-volleyball player after all. He had made his mother proud before he decided he was more apt to live the theater life.

Not that the only notion of a three on three beach volley match didn't still destroy his soul. At this point he was almost considering getting a heat stroke on purpose, just to avoid looking at the bastardization of a noble sport.

Nebula scored the last point ages later, and finally Loki had something to do, namely refusing to give out bottles at whoever walked up to him.

“You could get your ass up, you know?” Sif nudged his shoulder with her feet.

“Why reward you with such a view when you're playing like shit.”

A bottle flew over his head and he looked up to see Valkyrie squaring her shoulder, doing that thing with her head and neck that made her look like a cobra ready to strike.

“You're playing like you want to kill someone. There's no grace or purpose. No technique.” he explained, matter of fact.

“Than get up and show us your technique.” Nebula growled.

Well, he had not considered being challenged.

He truly had no will to move his ass, or get sweaty.

“I only play by Olympic rules.”

“Than so be it.” Valkyrie settled. “Me and Nebula versus you and whoever you choose.”

Loki opened his mouth to find another excuse, but Thor jogged to them wiping his forehead with his tank top.

“You set, I spike?” Thor asked, crouching to get the powerade bottle out of Loki's hands.

Loki watched as he drank, the sun filtering trough the bottle in pretty blues and pinks.

“One set to 17.” Loki resolved, standing up and doing his hair up. What a waste of good beach waves. “If you suck, I dump you and Sif takes over.”

“And if you're the one who sucks?”

Loki was not impressed. He didn't take his eyes away from him as he settled in the field.

Nebula had the ball in hand and decided that was enough to decide who was on service first, and Loki was about to protest, but Thor run over to him and moved him away from his spot.

“The ladies start, I have to receive.” he smiled.

“Uh.” Loki answered, blinking.

When Thor flawlessly received the serve, Loki was not ready. He managed to decently set the ball nonetheless. Thor titled his head at him after spiking, and Loki ignored him and focused on the ball.

His second set was flawless, and Thor hit the ball just right. Nebula growled when she fell over, butt in the sand, but Valkyrie had already run to get it, and suddenly the ball was back to them and Loki decided it was to be a two-time attack, and Thor's spike was again a work of violent graceful art, and yet, yet, they didn't score.

He should have made it one set to 7.

The girls scored first, Loki still had to understand how.

He shared a look with Thor as he got up from the sand, wiping at his mouth with his hand, and Loki felt Thor's bloodthirsty smirk between his gut and lower regions.

They scored next.

.

Loki was exhausted. They had won 27 to 25. He couldn't feel his bones, and he might have just found the way to get himself a heatstroke.

Fandral gave him a high five and rather embarrassingly Loki's balance got lost somewhere and soon enough his back was plastered to Thor's sweaty tank top and it was utterly disgusting.

Thor put a hand on his neck and Loki leaned in just a bit.

“Your pulse is racing. Are you thirsty?” Thor asked in that husky voice of his, and Loki mumbled something back before a faint cramp got the best of his left leg.

“Okay, you need to cool down. Is there somewhere close by we can go? It's probably heat exhaustion.”

They all looked at each other very quickly, and then at Loki.

Loki shook his head.

“There's the warehouse, three minutes from here.”

Traitors.

“Great. Can you walk? You can lean on me.”

Loki looked up.

“I know how to deal with heath exhaustion.”

“And I'm very happy about it. Can you walk?”

Loki squinted at him.

“I really don't like you.”

“Well, I like you.” Oh. “And I'd like you not to die because I had you playing beach volley. You were outstanding, anyway.”

Thor took his absolute lack of attempts of getting away from his body as a confirmation he needed help, and moved to get Loki's arm over his neck, and kept him close with a hand curling around his ribs.

“I know. You weren't half bad either.”

“Half bad? He's magnificent. Mate, you should consider going professional.”

Loki closed his eyes and stopped listening. He was either doing that or walking. Not that Thor couldn't apparently carry his weight like he was a twelve year old girl.

He was vaguely aware of goodbyes with Nebula and Valkyrie and of a cold bottle put in his hand, and of holding it up to his forehead, and of walking the familiar steps to the warehouse.

He wondered if the heat exhaustion was turning into a flat out heat stroke when wind hit them the right way and Thor's scent got sharper, and he thought he smelled good, all beachy and sweaty and male. He smelled stormy, somehow.

.

Loki couldn't believe they actually had brought Thor to the warehouse.

Or that they had let him stay after he had dropped Loki on one of the beach loungers they had decorated their hideout with.

Or that they had offered him a beer and let him sit on the swing (Loki was somewhat amazed the swingset seemed to fit him and hold him up as he rolled backn and forth on the heels of his feet).

The warehouse was sacred. It had once been the sewing laboratory of Fandral's parents before they moved to a bigger business, and it had gone forgotten until Loki had found out such a thing existed. They had cleaned it, redecorated it, installed air ventilation, dropped colorful fans everywhere, put potted plants all around, and annoyed all the Crescent Bay residents to exhaustion to collect pieces of mismatched old furniture.

It had turned out beautifully. And now Thor was spoiling it with his alien presence.

Loki glared at him, a lukewarm wet towel on his forehead and another on his chest, under his armpits. Thor smiled at him when he turned away from Sif to get his beer off the ground.

He stood up and brought the beer to Loki after taking a sip.

Loki sat up, discarding the towels and crossing his legs. He had not meant to do it to make room for Thor, but that was his interpretation, for he sat down where Loki's leg had been. And where they still belonged.

He stretched his legs over Thor's lap and got the beer from his hand. Thor's cool hand was soon just over Loki's knee, just casually sitting there, and Loki ignored it.

He ignored it too when Thor started brushing his thumb over his cooling down but still heated skin.

“What's the fear lotto?” he asked, probably as a part of the conversation they were having and that  had not pierced Loki's brain.

“Nothing.” he said, as Fandral answered. “We each write down something we're afraid to do this week, or just really don't want to do, but we really should do, and the last one picked, we do together.”

Loki almost threw him the bottle, but he wasn't a savage. He threw him a towel.

Sif intercepted it and threw it back.

“If you think it's lame, you can say it. We all think it is.” she added to Thor, and he smiled, getting the beer back from Loki's fingers.

“No, I think it's sweet.”

“Yeah, same thing.” Sif said.

“We've been doing it since we were twelve.” Volstagg explained. “It usually ends up in nothing productive done and much more mischief that what was originally planned.”

“Go figure.” Thor said, tilting the bottle toward Loki. “Are you all childhood friends?” he asked before Loki could defend his honor.

“All but the British weasel.” Sif. “He just turned up one day and started bossing us around.”

“Well, you did look like you were in desperate need of leadership.”

Thor laughed, a low chuckle that was all chest and male, and Loki almost smiled back under the insults coming from his friends.

He could use it, someone to share a little bubble with after his friends refused to recognize his genius.

Someone. Not Thor, of course.

Thor was still looking and Loki needed to escape it but he couldn't without getting up and he was still feeling a little bit dizzy. Oh, well, he supposed there was one way to get away.

“Let Thor play instead of me. I'm off to sleep.” he announced in a flourish before scooting over until his head fit on the sloucher, his tights over Thor's.

He fell asleep just as Sif passed a piece of paper in Thor's hand and they chuckled about something.

Thor had a nice laugh.

.

“I saw Fandral at the market today.”

Loki answered something but it was muffled by the popsicle in his mouth. What, he really didn't know either. He took an overly sharp turn down Yoshi's waterfalls and paused the game boy not to suffocate around the ice and have it all melting down his hand.

“He was with a new guy? Thor? Such a nice boy, you haven't mentioned him.”

“Yes, I did.” he said, licking at the stick and then his fingers and okay, maybe playing Mario Kart as he ate a popsicle hadn't been one of his best ideas. “The floozy who cheats at tests? That's him.”

Frigga stopped pulling cereal boxes out of the grocery bags and stared straight at him.

“I thought you said he was average looking yet everyone slobbed over him because he was, quoting, an absolute slut.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I might not have enough information to dispute the slut part, but surely I need to call your optometrist if you think the guy is average looking.”

“Mom, ew.”

“Just being objective, he would made an excellent trophy son. He has great hair.” Loki glared. “Besides, Fandral seem to really like him, shouldn't you be a littler nicer to him?”

“Because?” he asked, getting up from the couch. “It's not like they're dating or anything.”

Not that it would have mattered. If anything, Loki would have been more justified in finding his every fault: it was a friend's duty.

He put the popsicle in his mouth again and rummaged trough the bags to find the chocolate covered caramel waffles.

He noticed then his mother hadn't answered.

“What?” he asked, slowly, popsicle in hand and waffles in the other. “They are not.”

“Sure. I mean, I only saw them once, I must have got the wrong impression.”

“You must.” he said, biting into the last bit of melted ice.

He left the stick on the table and went back to his DS. He had a race to win.

.

Fandral and Thor were not dating.

First of all, Thor was obviously straight and playing the guy up for laughter and self-importance. Loki was insulted somebody would think him genuinely attracted to a guy.

Second of all, Fandral was incapable of keeping his mouth shut, and if they were a thing the whole town would know.

Third of all, they simply were not, because Loki said so.

Still, he had to be sure, and to be sure he needed to ask.

“So, coming with me to the raise-founding dance?” he asked Fandral at his locker.

“Can't. Bringing Thor. We're going with Val and Nebula-”

Loki blocked him out. He didn't want to hear a word about their stupid double date or whatever it was, and really he was shocked Fandral had not told him he wasn't up to friendly handjobs in the dark anymore and had simply went off and ditched him and started dating Thor Borson.

.

Loki needed to save Fandral from this disaster in the making.

He munched on his salad, watching Steve Rogers helping Thor throwing a three pointer.

Thor was so obviously fucking with him too. The flirting was borderline disgusting. Thor was borderline disgusting, leading on well meaning bi boys that way.

And even if he really was interested in boys, it still didn't change the fact he was such a slut and poor little Fandral was set to have his heart destroyed.

It was all in the way Thor walked, all hips forward and shoulders back. And the way he touched people's backs all the time, just between their shoulder blades. And Loki didn't even want to start with his lips.

“Will you stop?” Sif asked from his left.

“Stop what?” Loki asked.

“Daydreaming about graphic porn starring Thor and your sorry self. At least be discreet about it.”

Loki was so offended he stopped chewing.

“Beg your pardon?” he asked, voice a little cracked, around the remains of lettuce in his mouth.

Sif glared at him with disappointment hidden in her eyes, and Loki coul only blink.

.

Suddenly it was casual Friday again, and Thor actually put on casual clothes.

A stupid inappropriate tank top with sleeves cut down to his lower ribs that were one nip-slip away from indecency. Some ridicolous mid thight black shorts covered in big flowers in muted colors. Fucking boat shoes. The hipster glasses.

He looked like he was begging for someone to drag him in a closet and manhandle him and no. This was Sif masterful plan at work: infiltrating horrible pictures in his head such as Thor naked under him just to test his hornyness and challenge him. Just to see how low could he stoop once again. To see if he had grown after the horrible Bucky Barnes debacle.

In Loki's defence, Barnes had took very little convincing to blow him, and it wasn't like Fandral was going to do anything with his silent crush anyway.

Still, he had promised he wouldn't do it again, and he trusted Sif to send him to intense care if he attempted that again.

Loki had to bleach the cursed image(s) from his head and return to his state of vague dislike for Thor Borson, and back to his plan to save Fandral the heartache.

Even if.

Wait a second.

Loki dropped his pen on the desk and it resonated in the busy silence of the text-taking class.

Malekit looked at him with a look that said I'm grading you down for this, but Loki didn't care, for he had a vision. And for his literature grades were shit anyway and there was no point in trying to save them from drowning when the best they could ever do was floating like sad little sea buoys.

It was easy, really.

Seduce Thor so subtly nobody would know he was doing it, and then go cry to Fandral that Thor had made his move on him like the slut he was, and that Fandral really deserved better.

It was genius.

Not even Sif could beat him up for making out with Thor, if Thor was the offender, and Loki was not opposed to Sif beating people up if those people were not him.

He doodled another suicidal stickmen on the side of his paper, this one strangling himself with a flower crown. He now had a plan.

.

“Oh.” he mouthed, his mouth a perfect o, when he spotted Thor down the aisle of the supermarket. “Thor. What a coincidence.”

Or not, since he knew from his mother that Thor went grocery shopping at the same time she did.

Thor was once again wearing his hideous flower shorts. No glasses.

Loki was almost disappointed.

“Loki? Is you mother okay?” Thor asked, and Loki blinked.

“Sorry?”

“I always meet your mother around here and since you're here instead of her-”

“Oh, that. No, she's fine, I just wanted to help out. Besides-” he got closer to Thor, who was luckily close to the candy aisle, and reached from something on the shelf. “If I come, I can get treats.” he smiled, looking up at Thor and breathing his glorious stormy scent. It was missing some sweat to be perfect, but- no.

He refused to breath in.

“I didn't know you liked aniseed.” Thor commented, and Loki looked at the package he had in his hand.

He considered getting along with what his carelessness and given him, but what better occasion for planting doubts in Thor's head if not correcting himself? Letting him see how affected Loki was and how ready to be taken if he simply- he dropped the aniseed lollies and got the lime ones, still not his favorites but at least a step up.

“My bad.” he smiled, not inching back.

Thor didn't either.

In fact, he looked at him intently.

Slut.

Loki smiled, and Thor smiled back.

This was going to be so easy.

“Sorry boys, could I-” Loki glared at the old lady strolling down the aisle pointing at the lollies behind them.

“Wait for you turn.” he muttered under his breath as Thor laughed and dragged Loki away from his elbow.

That stupid hands. Large and gentle and cool even if Thor's palms were sweating. The metal of his cheap rings was freeze burning Loki's skin, perpetually on the verge of a sunburn. Loki needed them off of him now.

“Are you in a rush?” Thor asked, still holding him too close.

“It depends. What are you offering me?” Loki asked, buying time. Half of his brain was telling him he was forgetting something he was supposed to do.

“To get to the cash and then go to the bonfire Nebula and her sister are planning. I'm supposed to help with the preparation.”

Oh. The bonfire.

“Oh. The bonfire.”

“Yeah. You were invited?”

“Don't sound so surprised. And yes, it's a homecoming thing graduated students do. Hogunn is coming. Actually, I'm afraid I was supposed to be at the warehouse-” he held up his own arm to maneuver it and spy on Thor's watch. “Five minutes ago.”

“Oh.” Thor said, so small and low Loki's eyes snapped back on him.

“I'll catch you at the bonfire?” Loki asked, and Thor's mouth quirked up a little.

“Sure.”

He reached up to put a stray strand of hair behind Loki's ear.

Loki's stomach dropped low. Too low.

Thor's eyes was the kind of blue Loki liked in the sky- clear and susceptible to weather changes.

They seemed to be cloudy. Like he was thinking really hard at something he didn't know if he should or could do.

The damn eyes dropped to Loki's lips.

Oh.

Plan aborted.

Too risky.

Must avoid human contact with Thor Borson.

Hypocrisy would not carry him far enough this time, not when the crush he had been ignoring so well he wasn't aware he had, was now apparently getting out of hand. And really, really, it was actually Fandral who stole Thor from him because even if he was too dense to catch on his own awe for more-than-average looking Thor and his stupid glasses and boat shoes, his friends weren't. They were supposed to know better.

Now that he thought about it, they all did catch on, and repeatedly teased him about it, including Fandral, so it was reasonable to conclude Fandral had simply decided to ignore Loki's feelings and score regardless, thus concluding Fandral was a terrible person and deserved to be cheated on.

Not in any way that involved Loki, thought. He was still pretty convinced Thor was a slut, a flirt at minimum, and he would not be running toward that when he laughed at Thor's stupid jokes in class and got lost gazing in his eyes and he apparently thought of cuddling with him after slow crazy hot sex between Loki's kitsch but very silky galaxy sheets.

He realized how hard he was staring at Thor's lips only when said lips pressed against his in the middle of the supermarket aisle and suddenly he was tasting the storm and Thor's hand was on his neck, his rings digging into Loki's soft skin.

Loki moaned and stepped closer, his tongue pushing at Thor's lips just as Thor was stepping back.

“Sif is going to kill me.” were Loki first, unplanned words.

“For being late?” Thor chuckled and pressed a butterfly kiss on Loki's lips. “Isn't that a tiny bit drastic?”

“No, not for that. I mean, for that too, but. It's more for the making out with Fandral's crush thing, act two. Or three, if you count Darcy, but she got me high before making out and I'm not really interested in girls.”

Thor didn't seem bothered by the rambling uttered between soft kisses.

“Fandral doesn't have a crush on me.”

“Aren't the two of you-” Loki licked at the corner of Thor's mouth.“Hanging out?”

“No.”

Ah, here he was, showing his casual sluttiness.

“But does Fandral know?” Loki asked, knowingly.

“Pretty sure.”

Loki squinted and squeezed on Thor's bicep just because he could.

“But you're going to the dance together.”

Something flickered in Thor's eyes.

“Ah, yes. Nebula and Val are going together and I didn't want to be the third wheel.”

“But.” Loki said, but he got caught off by another chaste kiss, long and sweet and one that would have been absolutely perfect if only Loki wasn't getting half-hard in his pants and had no more mental dams in place to keep his visions of Thor and sheets and nakedness under control.

“Okay.” he said. “I need to go.”

“Me too.”

They kissed some more.

“See you tonight?” Thor asked.

“If you bring your glasses you'll probably see me alright.” he joked.

Thor frowned a little, puffy mouth quirked up at the corners.

“I have lenses on. I'll see you either way.”

“Yeah, I know. I was just saying.”

“I'll put them on if you like them.”

Thor kissed the tip of his nose.

“I don't. They're hideous. The beard, the hair, the glasses? Too much.” he said, sincerely.

“Ah-ah.” Thor mocked him, and cupped his face with both hands and kissed him and Loki forced Thor's mouth open because he really, really couldn't help himself.

He was a man of vice.

“See you tonight.” Thor husked on his lips like he was telling it himself.

“See you tonight.”

Loki bit Thor's lower lip for good measure.

Thor had to stop him with a flat palm on his chest from jumping on him.

At least Thor laughed, and even if he was laughing at him, it was a good look.

.

Thor had put his glasses on. The little shit.

Loki wanted to take everything off of him but those.

He had no idea how he didn't jump him as soon as he spotted him talking with Jane Foster and Darcy near the bonfire. Apparently, he had more self-control he gave himself credit for.

Look at him, the floozy, he thought to himself. Flexing every five seconds for no discernible reason, pointing at stars in the sky, touching everyone's back, scrunching his nose as he chuckled.

And they all had no idea. Absolutely no idea he was making out in a supermarket with Loki just a few hours before.

Knowledge made him feel powerful.

“You're lucky he's so nice.” Volstagg said. “Looking at a boy like that will get you in troubles one day.”

Just as he said it, Thor turned and saw Loki, and Loki cursed Hogunn with all he had because really? He needed to come back to visit the one day Loki could get some?

“I'll correct myself. You're lucky he wants you in a horizontal position too. The rest holds true.”

Loki elbowed him and then snitched his beer from his hands, before walking up to Thor. He met him halfway.

“Hey.” he flirted, sipping at his beer, with a careful mix of I slept with you and you want it to happen again and I'm never going to sleep with you but you want to. Not that he wanted Thor to pick up either of those sentiments, but Thor seemed more intent at watching his mouth around the bottle than not his eyes or the tilt of his head.

He wanted everyone else to pick up, and to let them all go crazy doubting.

“Hey.” Thor said, and just as Loki let the bottle go with a pop, he took Loki's head in his hand and bent his neck down to kiss him.

Oh.

Well, let them all go crazy knowing Thor was off the market.

Because he was.

Probably.

Because he wanted to be. Or he wouldn't have ruined his game in front of half the school.

It made sense.

Maybe.

“What are you thinking about?” Thor laughed on his lips, and Loki curled his fingers at the small of Thor's back, raising his shirt to slip his pinkie under it and get a taste of the soft, strong fabric of Thor's back.

Thor's fuzzy short hair stood up at the touch and Loki opened his mouth with little to no decency.

Thor chuckled again and put a stop to a potentially destructive situation by inching a breath away.

Loki sneaked his whole hand under Thor's shirt and pawed at Thor's back, feeling muscles and  softness and dimples.

“I think we're being disgusting.” Thor told him, a last small kiss at the corner of Loki's lips.

Loki meowed in protest, but he let Thor wrapping an arm around his shoulder. He slipped his hand in the back pocket of that hideous pair of shorts.

“I knew faking a dubious relationship with Fandral would have worked, but I didn't think it would have took so little time.” Volstagg boomed from one the logs around the bonfire.

Fandral, sitting next to him, smiled. “He must be really smitten.”

“Look at him, he's smiling. It's creepy.” Sif ordered from her spot on the sand.

“I beg your pardon?” Loki asked, surely not smiling anymore.

He looked up to look at Thor, who had apparently not stopped looking at him.

“Remember when I took your place in the fear lotto?”

“Yeah, but-”

“I might have mentioned I needed to win someone over.”

Loki blinked.

Than blinked again.

Fandral going grocery shopping suddenly sounded like a clear clue something was going on.

Not to mention Nebula and Valkyrie going together when Nebula was dating that weird kid with wide eyes that went around touching everyone.

And he had mentioned a couple of times how annoying it was Thor wore his uniform even on casual Fridays.

“You set me up?” he asked. “I'm impressed.”

“Yeah, well, I did wing it in the end.” Thor laughed. “We had estimated it would have took until the ball for you to show your cards.”

“You could have just asked me to the ball.”

“Would have you said yes? Just like that?” Thor questioned, his face scrunching, and Loki clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth.

“Well. I've been- not indifferent.”

“The last time someone asked you out it was Quill.”

Oh, yeah. Quill.

Loki had been a bit not indifferent back then too, and Quill had picked something up and asked him out, and if he remembered correctly, Loki had toyed with him, rolling in his new found powers until he had got bored and said something very mean and very unnecessary.

Point taken.

Still, the Quill situation was not even close to Thor.

Mostly because this was Thor, and he smelled good, and he kissed Loki like it was the only thing in the world that mattered, and made corny jokes about stars and pulled off floral shorts, slutty tank tops and boat shoes.

And probably did not blow Malekit to get a decent grade. He did seem like he would at least be worth an above average.

He would have to investigate the matter.

“Still. I like the clandestine approach.”

“Even if I ruined it and made out with you in a supermarket?”

“Especially since you ruined it and made out with me in a supermarket. Don't go stealing my thunder in causing mischief, sir. I could become vicious.”

Thor laughed fondly and kissed him again, and Loki melted into it, and really, being a jealous bitch had payed off in the end.

“I wonder-” Hogun deep voice got to his hears as Loki nuzzled against Thor's soft jaw under the light sting of his beard. “why do I still hang out with you kids when I visit.”

[wesleybates]

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Within 5 seconds of landing on your website, can your visitors determine what your company does? Could users easily navigate to the blog if they need to? Is the layout of your pricing easy to understand?  Do you have an extremely high bounce rate?

If you're finding yourself answering ‘no’ to these questions, it might be time to take a hard look at the way you’ve been designing and optimizing your website.

A website can’t simply succeed by excelling in limited aspects (such as solely design or content). It needs to have a design that feeds into your website's user experience, functionality, and appropriately complements your content.

Your website also needs to clearly communicate with your audience what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. It's easy to get caught up with how great you are as a business, that you forget to make sure we are addressing core concerns your audience has first and foremost.

So, what do you need to know to start improving your web design?

To answer that, here are 14 website tips to ensure that you're going in the right direction in your redesign and are assuring you aren't turning visitors away.

14 tips for improving your website design

1. Have a plan

Don't just start designing your website. To ensure that your website is effectively meeting the needs of your visitors you need to map out your buyer's journey from the first time they visit your website to the moment they become a customer.

What pages are they going to view, what content are they going to read, and what offers are they going to convert on? Understanding this will help you design a site that helps nurture leads through the sales funnel.

You want to design your website for the next step, not the final step. It's all about answering the right questions in the right order. This might be where context comes into play. Take what you already know about your current customers (or even interview them) and research how they went from a visitor to a customer. Then, use this data to map out your strategy.

2. Remove the following from your website

Certain elements on your website are going to detract from the value and message you're trying to convey. Complicated animations, content that’s too long, stocky website images are just a few factors on the list.

With an audience that only has an attention span of 8 seconds, you need to create a first impression that easily gets the main points across. This should be done with short, powerful sections of content and applicable photographs/icons that are sectioned off by clear and concise headers.

If you’ve got those right, then review it and make sure it doesn’t contain jargon or ambiguous terminology. It only serves to muddy your content and confuse your users.

Some words to avoid include next generation, flexible, robust, scalable, easy to use, cutting edge, groundbreaking, best-of-breed, mission critical, innovative ... those are all words that have over used by hundreds if not thousands of companies and don’t make your content any more appealing.

3. Include social share and follow buttons

Producing great content and offers only go so far if you aren’t giving your users the opportunity to share what you have.

If your website currently lacks social share buttons, you could be missing out on a lot of social media traffic that's generated from people already reading your blog!

If this sounds new to you, social sharing buttons are the small buttons that are around the top or bottom of blog posts. They contain icons of different social media website and allow you to share the page directly on the social media channel of your choice.

These buttons act as a non-pushy tool that encourages social sharing from your buyer personas.

4. Implement calls-to-action

Once your visitors land on your site, do they know what to do next? They won't know what pages to view or actions to take if you don't provide them with some sort of direction.

Call-to-action buttons are one of the many elements that indicate the next step user should take on a page. While many of us know that, it can be easy to fail to accurately use them to guide users through your website.

It’s easy to spam your website with the most bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) call-to-action, without even properly nurturing your users with other calls-to-action that are more top/middle of the funnel.

To recognize whether or not you’re guilty of this, start reading through the pages across your website. Are you finding most pages, even blog articles, with only a call-to-action for a demo/trial/consultation? Then, it’s time to update.

Take the time to add in call-to-actions that give them materials to educate themselves and help solve their pain points.

Once they identify your company as one that provides materials that are relieving these, they will feel more comfortable researching your services to see if you can personally make these solutions a reality.

Some example call-to-actions are to click here for more information, download our sample GamePlan, sign up for a webinar, watch the video, see all inbound marketing services, and see pricing.

For more information, check out this offer to get you using call-to-actions the right way to generate even more leads.

5. Use the right images

Not every image is going to fit with the type of message you're trying to show your audience.

Fortunately, you have a lot to choose from (even some that are for free). But still, cause caught many of us decide to plague our website with extremely stocky photos.

Just because a stock website has the image, doesn’t mean it looks genuine and will evoke trust in your company. Ideally, you want to use photos that portray images of the real people that work at your company and the office itself.

If real photographs aren’t an option, there are techniques you can use to help pick out the right type of stock photo. This will aid in bringing more realism to your brand and making sure the images match who you are and what your content is explaining.

6. Navigation

When designing your website, navigation is key, it's essentially the map that displays the core places users can visit.

There's nothing worse than a site with a disorganized or confusing navigation interface. When improving your website's navigation, it's important to ensure that your visitors can easily find what they're looking for.

Some characteristics of a lean navbar include streamlined content, navigation hierarchy, and responsive design, so the experience doesn't drastically change on mobile.

If users cannot find what they're looking for, they have no reason to stay on your site. Instead, they will certainly bounce and find a competitor that offers a better user experience.

7. Let your visitors scroll on your homepage

Above the fold is old. Don't be wary of designing a slightly longer homepage. Including 3-5 sections that help direct new and recurring users to proper areas of your site can help create a seamless experience.

But what should these sections be?

This list could go on forever, but a quick hit-list of some of the more crucial elements includes:

Value proposition

Intro Video

Overview of Services

Product Features

About Us

Testimonials

Case Studies/Success Stories

Resources

8. Don't be afraid of white space

Whitespace is an essential design element that helps you break up the page and increase readability.

Also called ‘negative space’, white space refers to the areas around elements on a page that are empty and lacking content or visual items.

Although extra space may seem superfluous, it’s actually responsible for readability and content prioritization. It also plays an important role in the design process and positioning website design elements.

If you know of some pages lacking white space, review the page and strip elements or content that aren't necessary to the purpose of the page. Then, make sure this content is properly grouped so users are able to distinguish where they belong on the page. If you need some example of the website doing this well, check out these all-stars to help aid you on your improvements.

9. Mobile optimization

Don't forget about optimizing your site for mobile. If you don’t already know, 80% of internet users own a smartphone, and “Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead”.

I’d be a little concerned if I were you.

It’s a necessity to tailor your site to fit the needs and wants of your visitors. You might want to ask yourself, why would someone access my site on mobile? What things would they look for? Does my experience currently allow them to do those things easily?

If your websites lagging on its mobile optimization, check out some of these awesome mobile websites to understand how they have created seamless mobile experiences for their users.

10. Get found

If you want to develop a substantial online presence, then you need to create a website that can get found.

This starts with developing an SEO strategy that takes into consideration the search terms your buyer personas and audience would search for.

This strategy terms should include creating content that's relevant to the needs of your visitors. Videos, blog articles, and e-books are a few examples of content that can do this.

Make sure you don’t get too sidetracked with the endless content possibilities you could rank for. Identify the proper keywords first that your audience is actually searching for so you aren't attracting too many visitors who'd never convert to your product, let alone your offers.

11. Never stop testing

Evaluating conversion paths, how far users scroll, and where they are clicking, etc, are important qualities that can reveal if your pages are performing the way you intended.

If you're someone that has tons of pages to go through, chances are you may find this issue on a lot of pages, especially older landing pages.

Pages like these may actually be performing quite well, but contain outdated information that you know could be updated.

Others may just need some tweaking updates or design changes.Simple changes such as button colors, headers, or adding a few sentences in your copy could make incredible differences in the page's performance.  

But rather than changing them and set them on their way, especially if you don't know what to change, you can use tools to create A/B tests for them, multi-variant tests, or even set up heat maps to see what users are doing.

Each test can reveal more a variety of data that identifies why users are interacting with pages in particular ways.

12. Identify unknown 404s or broken links

Depending on the size of your website, or how long it’s been around, you may actually have a few pages or links here and there that aren’t working. And on top of all that, your visitors won’t even let you know.

Take the time to evaluate whether or not your site has broken pages. You may be surprised to find previously high performing landing pages that are unpublished or website pages that are improperly linked.

13. Create new or unique offerings

Converting visitors is the core way you can evaluate how many users are moving down your marketing funnel. Many of us know that the way you typically convert visitors is by presenting offers, demos, or items that they will find attractive.

But with so many resources out on the internet, it’s now more difficult than ever to break through the noise and get people converting on yours.

This means it's more important than ever to not only pay attention to what offers and resources are out there within your service area, but what isn’t too.

Maybe you’re a social media company who notices many other competitors are making eBooks on how to create a social media calendar.

Rather than creating a similar offer, could you take it a step further and create a tool that allows people to enter in some information that helps generate a schedule that syncs to their Google calendar?

If this seems too complicated, you could also try identifying templates that aren’t currently widely available and quickly creating one and promoting it.

Whatever your decision, it's important to make sure what you are doing is a step above your competitors. Copying content offers that are currently out there will only keep you lost at sea.

14. Update your content to appeal to your persona

When you’re writing copy that you want to impress your website visitors with, many of us tend to fall into a dangerous trap.

The content is ‘we’ and ‘our’ focused.

‘We will increase revenue by..”, “Our benefits include...” are just examples of the headers that many uses throughout web pages. Although you may be showcasing the ways your business might help because of how great you and your products are, it’s not going to get the point across.

Or rather than a careers page that focuses how great the company is, filter in some content that explains how applicants futures are important and their ability to define their future working at your business.

These days, internet users are very particular about the pages and websites they visit online, especially when it comes to their design and aesthetics. It only takes seconds for your website to catch their attention either convince them to look further or look elsewhere. The team of Web Designers in Broomfield, CO has worked with multiple business types and has provided them with a range of aesthetically pleasing and seasoned web designs that appeal to their discerning customers.

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How To Write An Abstract For A Narrative Essay

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