#…which MAY have contributed to the car sickness come to think of it.

[peaches2217]

Home sweet home! Bleh. I got some hardcore car sickness on the ride back that I could NOT shake. Four straight hours of active nausea is… not fun. 😅 But I’ve finally returned home to my cats! They’re extremely displeased at my extended absence but are slowly warming back up to me, and by “slowly,” I mean “I currently have one on each thigh and the third fighting for his own spot.”

I hope all of y’all are doing well too, and if not, I hope it’s all uphill from here, and my PMs are open if y’all ever need me. 💗🫂

[frodothefair]

Sometimes I become that middle-aged conservative mom (even though I don't have kids, so I suppose a metaphorical mom) who perennially rants about how nobody appreciates her.

I'm not a saint, after all. I crave a little recognition now and then.

An example, recently, has been my chronically online housemate who continues to struggle with her mental health. (Cut for sensitive material).

She's had yet another meltdown over something that happened on twitter (she's a trans person, so maybe that makes sense), and the only reason yet another hospitalization was averted was that her friend came over and took her to her house for the weekend.

So Mr. Nisilë, said friend, and I have been talking a lot about what we can do to help the housemate, and at one point Mr. Nisilë opined that he wishes he were easier to talk to, that we could have created a more supportive environment and engaged with her more, though coming from him, this is a ridiculous statement -- he can build rapport with anyone, which is why I was drawn to him in the first place.

So I went off on him. I ranted that we had done more than enough in letting her into our home in the first place, because she's not family; she's barely even a friend. That we pay her phone bill every month, and buy her groceries when our other house mate, who pays for the majority of her food, is unable to or is unavailable. That we're ok with her lack of hygiene, the state of the bathroom that's closest to her room, her tone-deaf singing and her random yelling. That we routinely drive her places, because she has no car and does not know how to drive, and neither gas nor time is free. That we're ok with her having hookups in her room with people she meets on apps, that we've seen her through two hospitalizations and two attempts on her life; we've hidden sharps, spoken to hospital staff, driven her to appointments and helped her find resources.

Believe you me, I know of what I speak when I say most people wouldn't do this. When I was ten or so, my mother, younger brother, and I had to flee an abusive situation. We were a respectable family in dire straits, a hardworking mother with two well-behaved children, and we had many friends and acquaintances, but everybody denied us a place to stay for completely BS reasons. The only person who didn't was my grandmother's employer. He was a man with an elderly sick mother, and my grandmother worked as their live-in housekeeper and caregiver. The three of us lived in a tiny bedroom in their home for three months -- the bedroom was meant to be my grandmother's, but she slept on the couch.

That is why I will never begrudge our housemate what I do for her. I will never see her as a burden. But to hear that I haven't done enough when I already have done more than 99.9% of the population would do was extremely upsetting. That's different from seeing her as a burden. I can deal with all of the above inconveniences, but I should still be allowed to be angry with her for not acknowledging my efforts, the fact that she f-cking won the lottery between me, Mr. Nisilë, and our other housemate.

A sarcastic voice inside might say, "well, what, do you want a medal now" for hearing people's problems all day and trying to solve them, for your financial contributions, for helping out another person in need?

Well, you know, maybe I do. I do a lot, and none of it is easy, because I have disabilities of my own. I may have some relative privilege, but also disadvantages in spades, from day one. So maybe a simple thank you would be nice -- explicit appreciation of how nice the house we keep is, the fact that we have enough resources to help out, that we don't care about a lot of things that would have been dealbreakers for other people.

But the thing is, the housemate is hardly capable of such a thing. She has too many troubles in her head to think of others, and that's part of her illness. So maybe it is not fair of me to expect that.

It's just that... They say a good deed is its own reward, but sometimes it does not feel like enough.

[anachilles]

Hi!!

Just read all of your firehouse!au and I’m obsessed!

I saw your post about Chick observing them once they’re in a relationship and being pleased with the way he sees Gale take care of John.

Curious if you have any moments planned/HC of ways John takes care of Gale in this universe?

Loved the chapter where John helps out at the bar after seeing Gale is still a bit sick/behind on school btw! Does he ever get to be Gale’s person in those vulnerable moments?

Thanks for writing this and sharing it! (will be re-reading by next week LOL)

Hi anon!

First of all: thank you so much for the Firehouse love! I'm so so glad you're enjoying the story! 🥰

In terms of the ways in which John takes care of Gale, in my mind it mirrors the way we see it even just in the actual canon events of the show, just in a modern context where they're allowed to kiss lol.

As you've touched on, he's an acts of service fiend. Gale's very hyper-independent, by virtue of having to be growing up, and so John always gets a little thrill when he can anticipate something he might need before he even realises it himself - or something he has realised but won't just outright ask John for - and take care of it.

This often goes hand-in-hand with John's magpie-like tendencies and his inability to walk into any store without seeing something to bring back for Gale, something that either reminds him of him, or something that he knows he either needs or simply would enjoy. Like John will text him on his way home asking if he wants anything from the store because hey, he has to stop anyway, and Gale will say no but God knows John will come back with his favourite chocolate bar or a packet of Milano cookies.

(because it'll be a cold day in hell before Gale Cleven and his notorious sweet tooth will ever be able to pass up sweets, lol).

Assorted Other Ways In Which John Takes Care of Gale:

Contrary to popular belief, Gale does in fact have a car, and can actually drive. Not that you'd think that if you only met him after he and Bucky got together. Driving Buck around as much as possible is, like, part of Bucky's love language at this point (Gale's an incredibly competent driver but he's also a bit of a menace when it comes to speed and risky manoeuvres). Living that passenger princess life fr.

Growing to love Maverick like his own, even if he is to some extent "the spare human" in her eyes, lol. Takes care of her when Gale's not there without even thinking about it. When Gale gets home from campus, or the bar late at night, and finds the two of them lounging on the couch with Mav sprawled across Bucky's chest 🥺

In a literal, material, sense Bucky has tried to help Gale out financially in the past - whether that be a bit of help with the bills, groceries etc ("because hey, I come around here so much, I may as well contribute"), or by insisting on paying for stuff on their dates. He doesn't really think twice about it, it isn't a big deal to him - he's by no means rich but he has a decent job and is well off enough. Gale does okay but he's still studying and working essentially two jobs. It just makes sense to him, but it's one of the only things that causes real friction between them because it can make Gale feel uncomfortable.

Speaking of Gale working on a PhD and doing some teaching at the university and doing bar work - he inevitably gets burnt out. Where he'd push through before by hook or by crook, Bucky's getting better at prying him away from his laptop when he's been going at it for so long he's starting to look stuck, or frustrated, or tired. Makes sure he eats. On the days where Gale has to wear all three hats it's making sure the little things needing done around the house are done so he doesn't have to worry about them.

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

Hi Kat 👋

May I request prompt no. 5 for Levi Drabble challenge?

Thank you

ty for this. i need to write some fluff after writing a horrific angst piece

#5: “i really do love you”

Surprises | Modern!AU Hurt/Comfort Oneshot

✧ word count ➼ 1.4k ✧ notes ➼ modern!au, i give up on trying to keep these as drabbles

You've barely seen him for the past week or so. He came home to you and slept next to you, but that was about it. He'd be gone by the time you woke up and anytime you did get to sit down and have a meal next to him, he was distracted—either stuck in his head or on his phone.

Part of you told yourself that it was due to him being busy at work, but part of you knew that wasn't true. If it was work, he'd tell you. If it was work, he'd spend more dedicated time with you because he was busy and couldn't just passively do it like usual. He hadn't done any of that.

You weren't one to be paranoid. Levi was the last person you would ever think was being unfaithful or doing something behind your back—but you'd be lying to yourself if you said that those thoughts didn't cross your mind. You knew he was up to something, you just didn't know what that something was.

After another week, you couldn't take it anymore.

"Welcome home," you said dryly as you watched Levi come through the front door, about 3 hours late when compared to when he usually got off work.

Levi looked up at you as he shut the door behind him.

"You're up late."

"You're out late," you said, frowning, "again."

He grunted as he began to slide his jacket off.

"Work has been backed up recently. You know this-"

"-don't lie to me," you interrupted, your gaze now directed at the floor as you felt your frustration building. "I know you've been up to something. You haven't acted like this before and I don't know what changed, but something has."

You heard him walk towards you.

"What are you talking-"

"-at the very least, don't treat me like I'm stupid or naïve. If you're wanting to leave, then leave. If you're wanting to be with someone else, then go. Quit wasting my time if you're already sick of me."

You felt yourself shaking and you knew that if you kept going down this route, that you were just going to crumble to the floor in grief. You didn't want him to go and that's why it bothered you so much to even be having this conversation.

He sighed as he placed his hand on your shoulder, which prompted you to look back up at him.

"Come," he said, motioning towards the door. "I need to show you something."

You scoffed as you shrugged him off.

"I'm not interested in whatever excuse you have to make, Ackerman."

He gave you an unamused look.

"You will be," he said, slightly nudging you towards the door. "Trust me."

You squinted your eyes at him because you didn't trust him right now.

Regardless, you did humor him, curious as to what he had up his sleeve that would justify everything from this past month that culminated into your frustration.

You reluctantly rode in the car with him, keeping your arms crossed in frustration (and stubbornness) as you looked out the window.

Before long, you felt your body posture relax as you saw him pull into the park where you first met, after you had foolishly wandered off the pathway to look for your necklace that you had dropped. You remembered emerging from the woods onto a balcony that looked over the lake and being completely disoriented as to where you were. As you were turning around multiple times in confusion, you nearly jumped out of your skin when you heard a low, husky voice on the other side of the balcony that simply said "you look fucking filthy" as he shot you a look of disgust.

You looked over towards Levi as he pulled up to that exactly balcony as guilt began to creep into your heart, coupled with the anxiety over what it was that he had been doing to contribute to the rift between you two.

The both of you walked out and he took your hand and walked you over to the edge of the balcony that looked over the lake, exactly where he stood all those years ago after immediately insulting you upon placing his eyes on you.

There wasn't anything special set up. You were literally just leaning on the balcony railing watching the stillness of the lake and the near perfect reflection of the moon over it as a gentle breeze traveled through your hair.

You looked over at him with a skeptical look in your eyes.

Your look immediately softened upon seeing a subtle pout on his face as he looked towards you, but not quite at you.

"What?" you asked.

It took him a few seconds to respond, as if he was thinking of what to say.

"I know how upset you've been and how busy I've been," he said quietly, still looking away, as if he was almost ashamed of the words coming out of his mouth. "I wanted to set something a bit more elaborate up to make up for it, but things just kept getting in the way."

You watched and listened as he began explaining the little inconveniences that he never seemed to be able to shake off while planning this.

He kept on getting interrupted or stopped by Erwin and Hange at work over trivial busywork that he couldn't avoid. Anytime he went to buy anything special, they were either out of stock or his car broke down (you've been meaning to get that fixed for months but never got to it). You never took the bait for him to lure you out here. It really seemed like fate set up all the cards against him when it came to planning this date.

A soft chuckle broke from you as you covered your mouth with your hand in a failed attempt to stifle it. Saying that you were relieved from your thoughts of the past few days was an understatement. It warmed your heart that he had put so much effort in an attempt to make this perfect for you.

"Is that why you were gone all night for the past few days?" you asked as a slight blush made its way onto your cheeks.

He looked away from you, still slightly pouting as a slight tint of red also became apparent on his cheeks. He scratched the back of his head in embarassment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make this perfect for you," he said quietly. "I'm even more sorry for making you think I was doing things behind your back."

You waited for him to look back at you before speaking.

"You kinda were," you said with a shrug, shooting him a smile. "I'm sorry I went to assume the worst."

He was quiet as he looked at you, his eyes traveling to the various features of you that he loved and made his heart warm. You were one of the few things in his life that helped make him whole. He loved the way your eyes always seemed to be intensely gazing at whatever it is you were looking at. He loved the way that you slightly looked away whenever you were embarrassed. He even loved the way that you would find yourself awkwardly shuffling around when there were multiple people around you or the way you would press up against his arm when you felt surrounded.

He gently pulled you into a kiss, holding your face to him.

After a few seconds, he pulled away slightly, resting his forehead on yours and whispered.

"I really do love you."

You leaned into his touch, relieved to be against him again after days of longing for him.

"And I hope you never forget that," he spoke again, pulling you into another kiss.

As he fully shut his eyes while kissing you, he focused on the gentle feeling of your lips against his and on the cold air pressing against his skin in contrast to the warm feeling of your touch.

It had indeed been a stressful few weeks. He had poured his heart and soul into trying to make a perfect date for you to make up for all the time lost. Although he initially lamented at the fact that he had failed in that regard, he was finally coming to realize that although it wasn't perfect, this moment was more than good enough simply because you were there, pressing your lips against his and falling into his embrace—and he knew, from that point forward, that he was never going to let you go.

A/N: ok i think i've recovered from the angst after writing this

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

hmm. conversely, most ADHD car?

(A dab o' context for y'all, this ask came hot off the heels of my most autistic car post, hence the "conversely".)

Well, when I read this, I had nothing. But then I thought about it a little, and suddenly, I continued to have nothing.

But you already know that, dear asker, because you're in the blog's Discord server which I turned to for suggestions. And in fact, you chipped in yourself with not one but two picks, first of which the fifth generation Ford Mustang!

So, pray tell, what brings my elementary school self's favorite car ever ever into this list?

uhh from like a cultural view its an unfocused and hyperactive car with a reputation of not going the way people want (see: crowd meme)

Oh, come on, are we really still not over that stereotype whereby late model Mustangs are owned by people both too eager to show off not to leave a car meet flooring it and too inept to actually keep it under control when they do?

Well, I guess to get over it it'll need to stop being true.

But also, being so much of an exhibitionist as to cause physical pain is not about ADHD at all!

Anyone I invite at my house gets bored to tears with a tour of my every possession...

...but not because I have ADHD!

Actually, you know what? That may really be it now that I think about it. Well, anyway, your submission is funny enough to earn a pass even if we don't see eye to eye on this anyway.

How about your second, though?

alternatively: late '90s to early 2000s tuner Civic, for the same reasons

While he included this picture, he advised to use a worse example, so I took the liberty to present you a historical picture.

I say historical because this picture was the definition of rice, the textbook example. If Wikipedia had a page for "rice (automotive)" it would feature this picture, probably second behind that blue early 90s Civic which in hindsight we were all wrong about and was actually sick.

Did you know this was made by a teenager out of metal? I'm digressing.

Friend of the blog (well, pillar of the blog at this point) @demoness-one agrees and suggests:

Honestly riced out clapped out honda civics did come to mind also But i feel like the car that most represents adhd is probably one that isn't finished lol Abstract concept of a car

But she wasn't the only one to vote for her own cars, as friend of the blog and Saturn SL1 owner @chevyventure posted a simple but effective contribution:

zero executive function between those eyes

Not as simple as friend of the blog @brick-enthusiast's, however, who just posted a Suzuki Cappuccino without comment.

In respect of that approach I will not comment either.

However, it's time to make my pick too, as in the process of writing this post I finally understood the assignment, and thus came up with something.

What's ADHD? As this blog demonstrates, sometimes it's being hyperfocused on something exciting, much to the detriment of things that actually matter in daily life. Sometimes it's said focus earning amazing results that seem disproportionate to one's means. Sometimes it's taking comfort in the routine, in deeply ingrained habits and tradition that still have to constantly be actively enforced as conscious choice. Sometimes it's being darty, shooting from point to point with speed other minds can't even keep up with. Sometimes it's having too much energy to contain. Sometimes it's... being loud? Oh really! I thought I was just being Italian!

And if you've read my 100th post, you'll know a car that fits that description to a T. (And if you haven't, click on here before reading on because you really want to.)

Indeed, what could be a better pick than a car that's stayed the same for nigh on seven decades in its devoted preservation of its ability to dart around like nothing else on the road, a car so perfromance-focused the comfort spec is the one that gets windows, a car not one bit less deafening than legally required? What could be a better pick than the Caterham Seven 620R, the literal world record holder for spinning around in circles?

And also just look at it.

If you're wondering about the number plate, it was made to celebrate its Lego version - yes indeed!

And if you can believe it, people still gifted me clothes for Christmas.

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

[moonoverthevalley]

i’m rewatching the good place again for the billionth time and once again i’m having a moral dilemma. i think i relate to eleanor on so many levels, all the characters actually but that’s of course the point of the show. humans aren’t good people, that’s fact. no human is a saint and that’s why woke & cancel culture exists, i know many people criticise those who try so hard to be woke but it’s all coming from a place of wanting to be good.

i think the need to be a better person is so present but yet so far away. boycotting certain brands may seem effective but ultimately it’s worthless. you’re not punishing brands worth trillions just because a few people aren’t going and buying something worth £5, you’re punishing those who are on minimum wage and trying so hard to make a living. of course, the people who boycott are coming from a place where they only want to help but i think in this day and age it’s impossible to be “good”

it’s said in the good place, we are unable to be good. you want to order flowers for your sick grandmother? great! now those flowers are picked and grown by people who are forced to slave away in awful conditions and are payed below minimum wage, they’re then drove and dropped off at your house which contributes to global warming & air pollution aka releasing disgusting gases into the atmosphere. wanna try be more ethical and buy an electric car? tesla maybe? great let’s give elon musk more money for him to pay his workers minimum wage meanwhile he sits with billions in the bank and is on his way to becoming the first trillionare.

none of what i’m saying is profounding, i know that. but i think in this day and age it’s almost impossible to be good. the most we can do is perform small acts which help those around us, but meanwhile others in the world will suffer due to actions we can’t control.

i think the only thing we can do is try. will it ever be enough? no it wont and it’s unfortunately out of our control. but if we truly try and be good, not for the need to get into “heaven” or impress a divine being. but be good just to help those around us.

we can try and help others on the other side of the world and in no way am i trying to say you’re unable to, of course not. but i believe if we be good to those around us, even small deeds. we’ll eventually be able to cause a domino effect to help the entire world.

do i think we will have world peace anytime soon? no

unfortunately not. but all we can do is try

if we live in a world where all we can think of is what we aren’t doing, we’ll get no where.

i have a small following as i’ve only just started posting but i’m going to become the best version of myself. the greatest person to ever exist does not exist, but the greatest version of yourself does.

[msfbgraves]

Anti capitalist? Oh God don't tell me you're a socialist :(

I'm a European, living in what we call a 'social democracy'. I have no idea what many Americans mean by socialism, but if you feel that socialism is a form of a stalinist dictatorship, with no free speech, concentration camps for dissenters, and no wealth for anyone but the corrupt elite, I share your concern. I've lived in East Berlin as it was coming out of all that. No fun, or so they kept telling me.

Unchecked capitalism, with no concern but the growth of business, however many lives it may cost is, however, another horror of mine. Corporations should never have more rights than people. Laying people off because of less than projected growth, and therefore fewer dividends for shareholders is... as anti human.

I believe in both the freedom to innovate and compete, because these are human desires, and a cap on growth so we can ensure human rights. It has long been proven that after less than 100 K dollars in income a year (figure adjusted for current inflation, it used to be 70K) human happiness stalls. Really, it doesn't matter if you exceed that by 500 dollars, 5 million or 5 billion, it doesn't have any noticable affect on human happiness. So I think that the government should redistribute any excess of that into public services: healthcare, national parks, environmental measures such as hurricane proofing and clean energy, research both applied and fundamental, ubi, social services, arts grants, public transport, museums, monuments. But also defence - I'm not naieve. Diplomacy. A fair democracy!Sports. Solidarity, ok, humans helping humans.

And yes, that may drive out people who are greedier than that, but I feel that they need therapy. Wouldn't it be nice if that were widely accessible!

It's fine to recognise clean businesses for their contribution to the collective. If you pay shitloads of money back into the collective, fine, have your parade! Competition and a longing for status is a human drive which is silly to want to suppress. I also don't think human beings belong to the state. So have a nice big electric car and a luxury spa day. Express your individuality. Those things are nice, and it makes people unhappy to not live them.

But profit for profit's sake destroys the quality of life for billions, makes the planet near uninhabitable for human life, all for the sake of like 30 psychopaths with less empathy than a scorpion. We make so much more money than any individual could need to celebrate a sense of personal achievement and status. Let's use those resources to clean the oceans up, heal the sick, clean the air, make the world accessible and take a nice vacation by train. Trains are really nice. Vacations too.

[discyours]

Many say that the great majority of people who claim to have mental issues actually just lack discipline in life, which creates most if not all of their issues sending them down a spiral. What do you think about it?

Well first of all I'd like to point out that you can only even attempt to apply that mindset to the more "basic" mental health issues. "If you were more disciplined you'd get out of bed instead of claiming to suffer from this "depression" nonsense" yeah sure okay whatever, "you're only experiencing visual hallucinations because you lack discipline" seems a bit unlikely doesn't it? You can claim that everyone gets a little anxious/a little sad sometimes but I've never heard anyone claim that everyone gets regular delusions about being spied on or obsessive fears that they're gonna make their family die in a car crash if they touch a light switch wrong or, you get the point.

I have actually been thinking about this a little bit lately. I'm in Europe and a lot of us are being told to prepare for war coming to our countries which has prompted some thoughts about what my life would look like if I "didn't have time to be depressed" (I'm not depressed but for the purposes of this post it's close enough). I do think there's a kernel of truth to it. A lot of young people are suffering mental health issues that are at the very least exacerbated by a lack of sense of direction in life (which may not be the same thing as having a lack of discipline, but what are you supposed to be disciplined about if you don't know what you're meant to be doing?) and you could argue that those issues would partially resolve themselves if people were to end up in a position where they suddenly have very clear problems they can actively contribute to resolving, rather than a general sense of "everything sucks". I wasn't able to finish school, and I've been on disability since the moment I turned 18 and am not expected to ever get off it. I'm not able to do much of anything outside of the house, not even volunteer work. I get physically sick if I have one more appointment than usual. I think I know better than most people that having a rather "empty" life, a lack of things to be able to apply discipline to, can contribute to poor mental health. But the issue with most severe mental health issues is that they impair you to the point where it doesn't matter how disciplined you are, you simply cannot work your way out of the hole you're in. Not to mention that if you do get help, and you do successfully apply your discipline, they may still hold you back and put you right back in that hole.

[edwardgdunn]

Kindness Vs Ego in the Main Event

Those of you familiar with my work know that I have written extensively about the two distinct parts of our being – our true higher selves and our ego.

The two have vastly different interests and that contributes greatly to our ongoing unhappiness. The higher-self is only concerned, or for that matter even aware of, it’s place in alignment with the whole, the greater good, and love.

The ego on the other hand is only concerned with preserving itself and our illusion of separateness from each other and the universe.

Quantum physics has shown us that everything, including that which we perceive as solid matter, is really only energy vibrating at different frequencies. You perceive your table as solid because the sub-atomic particles it is made of are vibrating at a rate that your consciousness perceives as solid. It is in fact only energy.

Everything has a vibrational frequency including thoughts an emotions. The higher order thoughts and emotions like love, service, forgiveness, vibrate at a much different rate than the lower order set such as jealousy, anger, violence and hatred. Our consciousness perceives these vibrational rates and transmutes them into a sense of peacefulness and well-being or unhappiness and discontent.

Let’s shift gears. I’m sure you have noticed that on the occasions that you choose to smile at a stranger, or help them retrieve something they have dropped, or offer your place in line that this creates a sense of peace and happiness in you. Even amidst all the constant chatter and judging coming from your internal dialog (aka the voice in your head). So then the question is, why don’t you treat strangers in this way ALL the time if it feels so good?

The answer is ego.

Usually the way it happens is you see a stranger approaching – on the street, an elevator, the grocery isle, and something in you gives you the impulse to smile at that person. Or you’re in the toll booth and the thought arises in you to pay the toll for the car behind you. But you don’t. You don’t because that voice in your head (ego) starts quacking at you, “What if they don’t smile back? What if they think I’m weird? What if they don’t appreciate what I did?”

The ego cannot tolerate any of those responses from the stranger because it diminishes it’s sense of itself. It lessens it. Remember the ego’s sole purpose is to preserve and defend itself at all costs. So it convinces you not to smile, not to help, not to share. And while your ego may not diminish as a result, your happiness will. That’s the price tag. Is it worth it?

So there is a decision to be made. Will you allow your ego to rule the day by offering you safety in the moment? Or will you step out on the precarious limb, where you are truly alive, and take a step up the vibrational ladder, hand in hand with the intentions of your higher-self?

The process of awakening to your true nature demands of you the latter.

Contemplate this… I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me. As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.

So the next time you feel that impulse to smile at, help, share, pay for, or connect with another human being (much better description than ‘stranger’) and the voice in your head starts offering up all the reasons you shouldn’t – ignore it.

 Step out of the false comfort zone (prison) your ego has built for you and into the authentic freedom of sharing yourself with another. Therein lies the real power.

~Edward G. Dunn

Check out the Happiness 2.0 Podcast — https://podcast.edwardgdunn.com/

Read the Happiness 2.0 Blog — https://edwardgdunn.com/blog

[thekingreturn]

League Roadtrip Headcanons

Characters: Shigaraki, Spinner, Twice, Mr Compress, Big Sis Magne, Dabi

Tomura Shigaraki

Tomura Shigaraki makes your departure late waiting until he’s sure his devices are properly charged. Nevermind if you’ve got a remote charger, or that its only going to be a few hours, he’s not risking being screenless and stuck looking at the scenery (heaven forbid). You’ve (affectionately, probably) described his car ride habits as nesting. He swaddles his lower half in blankets, reclines the seat as far back as he can get away with, shoves a pillow behind his head, and settles in for a few hours with his headphones and whatever game he’s reserved for this thing. Just set whatever snacks you get him on his chest and he’ll graze on them at his leisure.

In general he prefers to be pretty quiet, long car rides actually aren’t great for him mentally. He doesn’t like the idea of being forced to be in close proximity to a person with no feasible exit. Not that he resents spending time with you, just that he gets grouchy and withdrawn on principle if he thinks he has no choice. Every two hours or so, though, he’ll turn off the game, straighten his seat (likely sending a shitload of crumbs into your car carpet) and just sort of. Butt his head against your shoulder until you start talking to him or at least pet his head. He’ll let himself enjoy it for a few minutes before relapsing back into his pseudo den

He can’t drive and thus you will be running this show for the entirety of it. Afterwards, though, you notice him..hovering, more than usual, just sort of urging you to lie down and bringing you food with the same sort of furtive expectance as a cat bringing you dead mice. You think this is his way of thanking you, but don’t confront him on it. Each time is a little easier with him. 

Spinner

Shuichi Iguchi (Spinner) may be one of the few members of the League who knows what he’s doing behind the wheel, but between you and him he actually doesn’t like doing it very much. He gets jumpy on the road and is prone to getting snappish with the other drivers. Still, he wants to do his part to pitch in, so tends to take the beginning and end of the drive. He also casually takes over snack detail and is the one to get out of the car and fill it with gas, as well as unload and reload the car. And navigation to boot. He’s a giver. Don’t tell anyone.

The level of conversational adeptness really depends on how long you’ve been seeing each other. Early stages comes up abruptly against his inability to small talk, you swear at some point he furtively checks his phone for icebreakers he found on the internet. Later stages bring ease with them, though, and with them Spinner’s favorite Olympic sport, complaining. The man pretends to hate gossip but if you hit the right buttons he’s more than happy to give you heavily editorialized anecdotes about the League and his various observations therein. Join in with some of your own, he’s a surprisingly good audience. The conversations will turn political at some point (and if you’re dating him, chances are good that’s somewhere you’re happy to follow) but if needed he can be convinced to leave work at work.

Spinner rarely initiates, even later on, but he’s kind of a sucker for tropey couple shit. Hold his hand while driving and he’ll get real quiet, even if it’s just for a second or two. Wrap your arms around him in the gas station while he pays, remind him that you’re proud to be seen with him. Kiss his cheek for getting your bags, make him feel valued. He’ll be following you around like a lovesick puppy.

Twice

Jin Bubaigawara (Twice) prefers to be the one driving, even going over his limits while insisting he’s fine. He can be convinced to take a break once you start to notice he’s barely holding his eyes open, but it will in fact, take some convincing not to get him to just slam back a questionable amount of five hour energies. He finds it relaxing, one of the few times he can just sort of sink into a process. Keep an eye on his turns, occasionally he’ll take a couple he didn’t mean to, but its a good way to feel a little more in control of himself and the situation.

He’s a good guy to have around a car, capable of changing a tire or getting the engine back up and running before you finish looking up tow services. He won’t necessarily ask for a reward but depending on how late in the relationship you are he’s definitely going to be giving you hopeful glances until he gets the affection he craves so badly.

The man basically invented rubbing your partner’s thigh while driving, he likes keeping a hand on you whenever he can, likes feeling you next to him. It’s such a simple thing but something about having you in his car really does make him feel trusted. He doesn’t really get a whole lot of areas where he feels competent. When you fall asleep a little before arriving home, and he gets to carry you inside, feeling how completely you let yourself depend on him? There’s nothing else quite like it.

Mr. Compress

Atsuhiro Sako (Mr. Compress) is...an ok driver. He thinks he’s better than he is, you can tell from the way he handles the wheel, the little flick of his hand as he hits his turn signal and the way he’ll narrate whatever he’s doing. And in practice, he is pretty good! Until other drivers with less of a showmanship factor hit the road. Which is always. All it takes is one guy pulling ahead of him too fast and he gets flustered enough to throw him off his game.

The two of you switch off driving at pretty even intervals. Even with navigation apps (which he does use, he’s not a Luddite) he still prefers to have a paper map on hand to cross reference it. He can be a little annoying with it but he more than makes up for it with the way he’ll touch your shoulder to indicate an offramp. “Why don’t we turn here, angel, its scenic.”

He’s much more about the journey than the destination, happy to divert the trip into an exploration of local curiosities if the two of you have time. He likes the anonymity of these small drive through towns where the two of you could be anyone, anything to the locals. He’ll squeeze your hand and murmur legends or history pieces if he knows any about the place (he makes about half of them up, but they’re nice stories anyways).

These things always take longer than it should, but he makes it all feel like but a moment.

Big Sis Mag

Mag Hikishi (Magne) is another one who prefers to drive than be driven, and to be frank, you may as well let her. If stuck in the passenger seat she has a bad case of invisible brake and tends to grip the ceiling a little too pointedly. She has absolute faith in your abilities, and also if she’s going to be in a car crash she at least wants it to be her own fault. Its alright, darling, just sit in the passenger seat and look pretty for her, won’t you?

Master of the shortcut that takes you an hour off course, its best if you leave without an expected arrival time. She likes starting trips bright and early, likes seeing the roads clear of other cars and getting to enjoy those quiet morning hours with you. Not that things are often quiet with Mag. She has this ability to get you talking about almost anything for hours, with plenty of her own contributions to boot. She’s lived a storied life, and she wants to hear your own.

Mag has strong opinions on gas station snacks (Takis, string cheese if they have any, and water being a go to) and will absolutely hover a little to make sure you’re well hydrated for long hours in the hot car. She has an eclectic collection of CDs if you don’t feel like talking, and if you need silence, well...that’s harder, but she’ll do it for you, only occasionally breaking it with a peck on the cheek. She enjoys these moments with just the two of you, able to just bounce off of each other and get absolutely mushy without her beloved coworkers around to tease. For a moment, at least, things all feel like they might be ok.

Dabi

Dabi, like Shigaraki, never got his license and isn’t really interested in trying for it. He doesn’t really like any form of transportation and tends to walk most places when he gets the option, given he has a tendency to get motion sick and it’s really hard to keep up your persona of unflappable bad boy while turning a few shades of green. Still, sometimes its unavoidable, so he flings himself in the backseat, props open a window, and prays he’ll knock out soon.

Dabi’s not the easiest partner in the world to communicate with under the best of circumstances, but now especially when every jolt makes him regret being born (moreso than usual) and the only thing coming out of his mouth when he opens it is complaints about how that brat of a leader is doing this to him on purpose, has to be. This is one of the rare instances where fussing over him actually gets some desirable results. Tuck a blanket around him, get him set up with some water, and check in on him every time you stop. Eventually a hand shoots out from between the front seats and grabs at the air until you take the hint and lock your fingers through his. Its not much, but from Dabi? Its everything.

Ultimately he does his best to sleep through these incidents and has you under a firm promise to never describe them to the others, ever. He’ll incentivize it if he has to. You know he’s good for it.

[xtrishacrisrn]

Hey, it’s been a while

Life lately has been so interesting. Before I even started composing this post I had went through my previous blog posts. I admire the 2017-2018 me, I was so inspired and it was so beautiful. I was all fired up with things and testimonies in front of me. I do miss those days, it’s bittersweet but I am extremely grateful that I had gone through that phase of my life. 

Looking back..

2019, I graduated with my Nursing degree and passed the board exams. Best day of my life. My smile everyday was ear to ear, seeing my folks so happy made me so happy too. I have always wanted to make them proud. I may not be the perfect daughter nor I don’t have the most perfect family, but I swear I love them unto the ends of the earth. I love my family (including friends) so much -- they have been there for me. They’ve witnessed all of my ups and downs. I thank God everyday for introducing me to such wonderful people. 

Same year, I had to go back to the US after graduating college. I needed to move to a new town which is in Tucson, Arizona (desert life). Basically starting from scratch, which I don’t mind. I always look back and reflect to what my Dad has instilled in me which is facing every obstacle and waves life may give me -- it shall pass.

I’ve started working in a hardware. Can you believe it? What do I know about handyman stuff? I had my professional hard earned degree with me, but I had to swallow my pride and start somewhere. There was a love and hate relationship with that job. Whenever I encounter customers wearing scrubs, I tend to get envious and inspired thinking that someday that will be me too... as I assemble wheelbarrows and load bird food to their cars. It was a fun and cool job after all. I love the people whom I’ve worked it. I hope they’re doing good, they’re amazing creatures. 

2020, this year is also an interesting one, pandemic hit the whole world. I had to quit my hardware job because of the fear of getting sick and transmitting it to my folks who are of advanced age. I didn’t mind being unemployed because at the same time I was studying for my NCLEX and not even paying rent yet. It took less pressure off of my schedule, but I was also losing money. Then I’ve decided to look for another job which was being a Rehab Nurse Tech. Like finally, a healthcare related job. Humble beginnings of my nursing life. Since it was a hospital job + pandemic, I needed to move out of my parent’s house. I’ve found this pretty one bedroom apartment unit which was 50 steps away from my mom which was awesome. The tech job was a challenge, I never worked night shift -- I did this to be able to afford rent and bills. Gladly, I survived and same year I passed my NCLEX! 

2021, I landed to the my first hospital job working as a Registered Nurse. It’s such a privilege having this job. We get to meet different types of people coming in and out of the hospital. I was still working night shift, in which I got tired of eventually. I can definitely say that this profession is my calling. I am so thankful for having the gift and blessing of having so much patience, being so understanding, and always being so compassionate. It fulfills me to be able to help other people during their most vulnerable times. Nursing has a good team, I love my coworkers and the diversity that we formed. 

After all of these, I know that at the end of the day I’m just not a “nurse” that some people identify me and asks me weird things. I don’t mind sharing, but I know that there is much more beyond who I am. I love who I am. I love writing -- in my other life I would be that journalist/writer who just loves to write until she’s tired and out of ideas. I love inspiring people. I love giving them hope and share that there is so much more for us to learn. We are all students for life. I am extremely grateful to the people who has been helping me and had contributed to mold me become a much more wiser person. I am so eager to inspire most of you. You are great, you have so much to do in this world. Enjoy the winding and fun journey of the so-called “life”

[fandomlit]

hotch’s daughter (various!criminal minds x reader)

requested by anon “Hi lovey I loved your thing w/ the team and Rossi’s daughter and was wondering if you could do something like that but w/ Hotch’s daughter and they all try to flirt w/ her (girls included)? Thanks if you do”

summary hotch finally brings his oldest child in to meet the team, which starts a small rivalry for your affections throughout the day. but little did they know...

a/n for sure one of the longer things i’ve written but i promise, the end is worth it ;))

gif cred belongs to @toyboxboy​

rossi had been getting his ear talked off by spencer at the doctor’s desk when you walked in. he had been looking for an escape the last fifteen minutes without being too rude to the kid. then, he looked up and found the easy way out.

“hey, mrs. y/n,” he said, leaning away from the doctor to give you a smile. when the rest of the team looked up, they were met with the gorgeous sight of you balancing jack on your hip, your smile graceful and polite and stunning. 

“hello, rossi,” you greeted as he walked up to give you a kiss on the cheek. “any chance you can guide me to my dad?”

“of course,” rossi nodded, and you hooked your free arm with his as he started leading you up to hotch’s office while engaging in some small conversation.

“that’s hotch’s daughter?” emily said in partial shock, eyebrows raised.

“i didn’t know hotch had a daughter,” derek scoffed, eyes never leaving you.

they all watched you and rossi walk to your father’s office. you entered without knocking, giving your father a smile as rossi walked to his own office. “she’s incredibly beautiful,” spencer commented.

“that’s an understatement,” derek contributed.

“no doubt,” jj added. emily was still staring at the door with her mouth agape. jj looked over and scanned her friend’s expression. “you okay, emily?”

“i didn’t have enough time to profile her,” emily hummed to herself. “if i had a little more, i’d know if she was gay.” jj chuckled.

“well, let me know if you find out.”

after about thirty minutes of trying to get work done, the team all perked up when hotch’s door opened. he was chuckling at something you were saying, him now holding jack in his arms.

“team, this is my daughter, y/n,” hotch introduced finally. “and you all know jack.” you gave them a wave and a smile. “y/n, this is derek,” the man gave you a charming smirk, “jj,” the blonde smiled politely, “emily,” the girl wasn’t even attempting to hide her checking you out anymore, “and spencer,” the doctor gave you a shy wave.

“it’s lovely to meet you all,” you nodded. “good to know my father’s in good hands.” they chuckled as you gave them another smile. hotch’s phone rang and he sighed, giving you and them a nod before taking off down the hall with jack to a more private place.

“so, y/n,” you looked up to see jj had spoken, “why haven’t we met you yet?”

you gave them all a smile and leaned against an empty desk. “i moved out the second i turned eighteen and went to med school in california.” they gave you impressed looks. “yeah, full ride.” you gave them a wink that they couldn’t help but melt at. “but uh, after that i took an internship in san diego and didn’t move back until a month or two ago when i heard about the divorce.” they nodded with sympathy, but you simply shrugged in response.

“do you have a job up here yet?” derek asked politely.

you nodded. “oh, yeah. im a local m.a., not too far from where my dad lives. i figured it would be nice to be a part of my little brother’s life, you know?” they all nodded.

“how are you liking quantico?” emily asked, still giving you that flirtatious look that made you blush and smile shyly.

“it’s a beautiful town,” you nodded. “admittedly, i haven’t gotten to see too much of it yet, what with work and jack. but there’s plenty of time for that.”

“i’d love to show you around some time, if you’d like,” emily smiled. you blushed again, but before you could answer, hotch came back.

“all introduced?” he asked with a sigh. they all nodded. “great. get back to work.” he lead you back up to his office, where you gave emily a quick glance before shutting the door. the girl was biting her lip with a smile. she looked around to see the team all giving her incredulous looks.

“what? she’s cute.”

later that day, derek found you making two cups of coffee in the break room.

“someone’s got a sweet tooth,” he said, watching you pour a third packet of sugar in one of the mugs.

you giggled, looking up with a smile that he easily returned. “and that someone’s my dad.” he chuckled as you stirred the steaming liquid.

“so what was it like, growing up with aaron hotchner as your dad?” he asked, getting out a mug to make himself a cup. 

you shrugged, moving to pour some coffee in his cup without saying a word. he gave you a smile as thanks as you said, “he’s a good dad. little strict with all my high school boyfriends, of course, but otherwise he was comforting and very loving.”

“bet you had a lot of boyfriends in high school,” derek chuckled, taking a sip from his mug.

you gave him a smile. “bet you had a lot of girlfriends, derek.” something about the way you said his name made him feel cocky.

he shrugged. “what can i say?” you laughed with him before going to take your father his coffee.

“emily, right?” prentiss turned around to see you standing behind her desk with a small smile. she gave you a grin and nodded.

“prentiss.”

“emily prentiss,” you tried, walking closer to her. “i like it.”

she gave you a smile, leaning back in her chair as you perched on her desk. “has anyone told you you have very pretty eyes?” she inquired. you flushed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ears. “i’ll be the first to admit, im a little curious of you, y/n.” you tilted your head. “i just think there’s a lot i could get to know about you.”

“well,” you drawled, “you are a profiler.” she let out a small laugh. “profile me, emily.”

she looked you over with a smile. “you wear a ring on your right ring finger. at passing glance, someone may think ‘sure, she’s taken’ but in reality, it’s common in people who are dedicated to their jobs.” you looked down at the small silver band as she continued, “and speaking of your job, i get the sense that you went into the medical profession because of your dad, right?”

“yeah,” you confirmed, still smiling gently. “got sick and tired of seeing him all beat up.”

“so when you felt powerless over that as a child, you wanted to make sure you weren’t powerless when you were an adult,” she concluded. she gave you a look. “good enough?”

“perfect,” you complimented. she was about to propose that date again when your father called you over.

“y/n, can you come watch jack?”

“yeah,” you said, standing from emily’s desk and smoothing out your skirt. “i’ll talk to you later, emily.”

she watched you walk away with a confident smile.

you had been sitting in hotch’s office with the door cracked, holding jack as he slept in your arms. you had a book in one hand and your other supporting your sleeping brother whehn jj had peeked in to give hotch some paperwork. with your father nowhere in sight, she was greeted by that pure sight instead.

“you know,” jj started, walking into the room and grabbing your attention, “they say there’s something to be said about women who are good with children.”

“do they?” you hummed as she placed a stack of papers onto hotch’s desk. she gave you a smile and a nod. “then im sure there’s something to be said about women who are communication liaisons, no?”

“im sure there is,” she hummed as she walked out of the room, leaving you with a smile as you returned to your book.

“i think im gonna ask her out,” derek nodded, sitting on the edge of jj’s desk near the end of the day.

“like hell,” emily scoffed, sauntering over with her arms crossed. “remember when i already did this morning?”

“and did she give you an answer?” derek shot back. “yeah, that’s what i thought.”

“maybe we shouldn’t be trying to go for our boss’s daughter at all,” jj proposed. they all considered as penelope came walking up, a file in her hands.

“who? y/n?” the computer tech questioned. they all confirmed. penelope shrugged, “well, it’s too late for that.” they all gave her a questioning look. she simply pointed toward hotch’s office. they all followed her finger.

they watched reid walk up and give you a quick kiss and smile. their jaws dropped as he slid an arm around your waist and you lifted your purse onto your shoulder. you both started down toward the doors, where you would have to pass the team in the process.

“thanks for the warm welcome today, guys,” you said, giving them all smiles. spencer smirked unbearably at your side, absorbing the glares and shocked looks of his coworkers and friends. “i really appreciate it.”

they all nodded and muttered. spencer stopped right after you had walked past them. “oh, here, i forgot something.” he handed you the keys to the car. “you go start the car, i’ll be out in a second.” you nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

spencer turned around and quickly went to his desk, opening a drawer and taking out a small jewelry box, which they saw was fit for a nice necklace. as he walked past the team he said, “night, guys.” they were no longer looking at him. just as he passed them, he turned again, “oh, and one last thing.” they looked up to meet his smirk. “checkmate.”

[torque-witch]

Six more readings to get through! Please check your emails if you have ordered a Tarot reading from me in the last few weeks.

I will be updating the processing time to 1-2 weeks for all readings if they aren’t already simply because they take so much time and can be draining. Since everyone ordered around the same three days I’ve had to process physical orders in between all of them, some which are 10 hr projects. I do apologize for the delay. I may also up the card price by a dollar if I choose to keep them open.

Once I’m through everyone I will reblog the post or come up with some new reading formats, so if there is something you would like to see as a spread focus, let me know! I haven’t been advertising readings simply because I’ve been trying to get through orders. I also know the Deity & Spirit readings are super popular, so I may adjust the price + make a longer version available with extra questions.

Other than that, utilities are *90%* paid for this month so I am doing a lot better thanks to everyone. I’m still not really able to contribute to rent at all, but utilities are quite steep in the winter so that’s been my responsibility. My husband works full time, but with me being sick for the last 6 months he is having trouble keeping up as well. I wish that one full time income was enough, but it never really has been for most of our lives. We can’t afford $900 rent + utilities + car payments & insurance on a $55k income alone, and that is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. We went from having a near $100k dual income to me barely making $20k minus all of my shop supplies, fees and profit margin so my savings ran out quickly.

Anyway, the pandemic + chronic illness and new health issues may have been an unexpected change, but I do still want to do this as much as I can. I can’t promise to be the fastest shipper, I don’t have fancy packages and I honestly can’t afford freebies right now, but reading Tarot for others is a really fulfilling experience and creating devotional and fun art for y’all is incredibly encouraging.

Thank you for sticking with me through all of this mess and honestly a lot of me growing up. Y’all are my family and have always carried me through difficult times. I hope that I can give back in some way through my work 🤍

[nerdywriter36]

To Help the Helpless

AO3

FFN

erik sees himself in all the sick, injured, and abandoned pets he sees in animal shelters and is determined to give them the love and comfort that they deserve in their time of need when he wasn't granted the same as a human being. christine and their friends could not be happier to help.

this concept was born out of a discussion about erik and his pets with @ofserien, so thank you to her for helping to bring this idea to life :) it's been so long so I've posted on here because of my hiatus, but the first oneshot I've written since officially returning to tumblr. i really hope you all enjoy it! likes and reblogs are always appreciated <3

~

"You brought in another one, Erik? Isn't your house full enough already?"

Erik simply rolled his eyes and turned to look back at Nadir, who was glancing at the variety of dogs and cats residing in their crates throughout his living room. "There is never too many rescues, Nadir, especially not when I'm taking them away from people who will put them down simply because they aren't getting adopted," he replied.

"And what's wrong with this one?" Nadir queried, gesturing to the puppy that his friend was carrying rather like a football - tucked against his side and laying along his forearm. "It looks fine to me."

"He had an old injury that was never fixed before he was turned in, so he doesn't look as perfect as people want," Erik said as he held the puppy up so Nadir could see his bowed front leg. "Otherwise, he is completely happy, energetic, and healthy, but people don't care. Looks are everything in this world."

His voice broke a bit, he noticed, and he knew that Nadir had heard it too. Every day was a different story when it came to how emotional he would get when it came to explaining why the animals had been abandoned and why their little lives were at risk. He hated that it still happened; he had been rescuing shelter animals for the better part of two years, not to mention the fact that most of his own struggles because of his appearance were behind him, but some days were simply harder than others.

He really was fortunate for all that he had to make his life as "normal" as possible, even with his physical differences. A prosthetic nose saved him far more grief than he believed people could understand and the mask he wore was so realistic and close to his skin tone, as remarkably pale as it may have been, that he hardly got rude stares anymore when he was out and about. It made quite the difference in his professional life as well; no one at the Paris Opera House wanted to accept compositions from a deformed freak, no matter their talent. His heterochromatic eyes were enough to put people off sometimes.

"I know, Erik, I'm sorry," Nadir piped up as he shot him a sympathetic smile. "I think what you're doing is great, you know that, I just worry about your stress levels. Not having to worry about you financially, but you're a composer making consistent contributions to the Paris Opera, you run an animal rescue, and now you have a girlfriend. That's a lot for one person!"

"Nadir, I'm fine," Erik replied, passing the puppy he held to his friend and smirking as it eagerly started to wiggle and lick at Nadir's neck and chin. "I'm managing it all, and having a girlfriend doesn't change much."

"Right, you say that now." Nadir turned his head away from the eager puppy, wiping his chin on his shoulder. "What is this thing anyway?"

"Australian shepherd, hence the energy." Making his way around the room, Erik checked the status of every food and water dish, but a buzz from his cell phone made him pause. As he pulled it out of his pocket, he couldn't help but smile when he saw a message from the new light in his life: Christine.

He still wasn’t exactly sure how he had gotten so fortunate as to have Christine in his life. After all, their first introduction had been at the Paris Opera House when he had nearly run her right over in his eager rush to leave the very same building. As intricate and realistic as his mask may have looked, he never enjoyed being out in public, and he knew that everything about him was under harsh scrutiny when it came to the committee of men taking his submissions and suggestions for the music at the Opera. He wouldn’t have become a successful composer, having his music played at one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, without them, but with the way they stared at him whenever he walked in, it certainly wasn’t easy to face them.

“Is that the new light of your life?” Nadir asked with a smirk, watching the lovesick smile growing on his friend’s face. “What did she say?”

“Just ‘hi’,” Erik replied, his unmasked cheek already flushed pink as he replied to the message.

Nadir scoffed and set the puppy down in a small pen filled with blankets off to the side. “You are in deep, my friend. How long have you been dating, three months? And just ‘hi’ still manages to make you blush? Does she not make more flirtatious comments than just that?”

“Oh, like you were any different when you and Kheya first got together,” Erik retorted.

“Hey, now, that...that is not a fair comparison.”

It was his friend’s turn to blush and Erik laughed at the sight. Mockery aside, though, he genuinely was happy for Nadir; he had been through a rough patch before meeting Rookheeya one year before, his father's death hanging the heaviest over him and stealing so much of the joy that Erik knew was in him. Once he met her though, everything seemed to fall into place; Erik still remembered the moment Nadir practically choked on his drink when he first noticed her from across the room at a small gathering at the Garnier. She was a beautiful young woman who shared his faith, many of his interests and balanced out his almost painfully realistic views with the necessary imagination and optimism that he needed. A match made in heaven, if Erik were to pair a phrase to their relationship.

“Sure it is,” Erik replied, smirking when he caught a glimpse of Nadir’s lock screen as he pulled out his phone: a photo of the happy couple themselves, both smiling wide. “You’ve practically wanted to marry her since the moment you met, you’re lovesick.”

“Okay, I love my girlfriend, so sue me,” Nadir retorted. “And I will have you know that I plan on proposing in the next few days.”

“Well, it’s about time!” Erik said with a laugh, patting him on the back as the pair walked into the kitchen. “Congrats, Nadir, that’s amazing.”

“Thank you,” Nadir chuckled, crouching down to scratch the elderly golden retriever lounging under the kitchen table. “You and Christine have to catch up now.”

“No, no, this is no race. We are taking our time, I refuse to mess this up.”

“You aren’t going to mess it up, Erik.”

“I could. You remember how things ended with Lucy,” Erik said in a soft voice as he leaned over his countertop and scribbled on a notepad.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Nadir sighed. “She was a toxic mess, the end of your relationship was no fault of yours.”

Erik shrugged ever so slightly. “She ran off with some other guy and slept with him when we hadn’t even taken that step. I clearly did something wrong or she wouldn’t have left.” That breakup had hung over him like a dark, heavy cloud for weeks and still did at times. That said, the very same bout of depression and dejection had pushed him into the world of animal rescue that he still found himself in two years later, so for that he was thankful. Now, though, Luciana hardly ever crossed his mind; he had found someone to get him out and keep him out of that world of darkness.

“You didn’t, but anyhow, it doesn’t matter anymore. You have a girl that you love and who loves you, an amazing career, and an animal shelter in your living room. You’re doing alright for yourself,” Nadir pointed out. “Speaking of that, has Christie been over here yet? To meet the pack and all?”

“No, not yet. Believe me, it is on the list of things to do,” Erik replied, still scribbling away on his notepad as they spoke.

“That along with two hydrotherapy sessions, settling the new puppy in, getting groceries, working on your new composition, and going to see if you can pick up two tuxedo kittens. When do you have time to breathe, Erik?”

“In between everything. I manage just fine and I will slot Christine meeting everyone in. It’s a delicate process with some of these guys, you know that.”

Nadir scoffed. “Yes, I remember how slow it all was when you first introduced me,” he said, putting a hand up when his friend opened his mouth. “I know why it was slow, but that doesn't make it more enjoyable.”

“Right, well, unlike you, Christine is very patient, so it’ll be fine,” Erik replied. “She’s coming with me tomorrow to pick up those kittens, so I’ll probably ask her over after and try to introduce me.”

“Let’s hope it goes well. We wouldn't want you to have to choose between your lady friend and your pets. I don't know if you’d survive that.”

"Thank you for helping me today, Christine," Erik said, smiling over at his sweetheart, who sat beside him in the front seat of his car with two tuxedo kittens on her towel-covered lap (she had insisted on the towel, even though his car was covered with fur on practically a daily basis). "These two seem like a very sweet little pair. I doubt I'll have trouble finding them homes."

"Why weren't they getting adopted just at the shelter?" Christine inquired, an inquisitive frown on her face as she turned to him for an answer.

Which he did not really have, so he simply shrugged. "They don't let enough time pass to give people a chance, frankly. Not to mention that this would mean adopting two kittens at once, what with how closely bonded they are, and not everyone is willing to take on that kind of commitment."

"It doesn't seem like too much trouble." Christine looked back down at the kittens, her sweet giggle escaping her as one of them mewed and set its paws on her chest to get closer to her, almost inspecting her. "Hello there. You're not trouble, are you? You're just a sweet little baby."

Erik couldn't help but chuckle when he heard the voice she put on to talk to the animal - a light tone, using grammatically incorrect sentences, almost as if she were speaking to a baby. Which she was, in a sense.

"You'll have to help me name them. I name so many animals that I end up running out of options after a while."

"One of them - the boy, that is - should be...Sylvester. Like from Looney Tunes! He looks just like him, it's too good to pass it up!"

"A very good choice, I think," Erik nodded as he began the drive towards his home. "I'm not sure about the girl yet. Perhaps I'll call her Christine."

His girlfriend scoffed and glanced over at him. "Erik, you can't suggest naming any and every female animal you bring into your house after me."

"Why not? I like your name."

"I know you do, but once you get to Christine the Eighth or whatnot, there's a problem."

He couldn't help but laugh; her sense of humour and mild sarcasm had been part of what had endeared her to him in the first place. "I suppose there might be. I do like your name, though, I wouldn't mind it too much."

"Yes, I know that, and if we ever had a daughter, she would be Christine Junior, I know how much you like my name." She giggled again, and he noticed her look over at him in his periphery; he was just glad that he had his mask on so she wouldn't notice him blushing at the thought of sharing a child with her. "You need some new options."

He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I...I just think it's a nice name. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman," he said softly.

The comment must have been the right one, as he was rewarded with a quick peck on the cheek. "You're very sweet," Christine replied as she turned back to the kittens and stroked their backs as they cuddled together on the towel. "So once we drop these little ones off, I suppose you'll just take me home? I'm sure you'll have lots to do."

There it was - his opportunity to make the offer to her to finally come over so he could truly introduce her to his life in its entirety rather than trying to hide parts of it. A glance over at her was enough to tell him that she was disappointed at the idea of having to go home, as she so often was, and he hated to upset her, so he would do his best to fix it as best he could at that moment.

"Actually, I was thinking...would you like to come in today?" he asked, looking at her briefly again and smiling a bit when she looked back at him, wide-eyed and shocked at the question. "I'll have to settle these two in, but I would love to-"

"Yes," she replied, cutting him off rather abruptly. "Yes, I would love to. Do I have to do anything? Not do anything? Can I help with anything, wh-what can I do?"

"Just be yourself," Erik said, unable to stop a quiet laugh from escaping him at seeing how enthusiastic she was. "Your sweet, gentle, caring self, my dear. That is all that I can ask of you when it comes to meeting the little pack that I have at home."

"That much I can do," Christine said with a firm nod, clearly very dedicated to her mission. "Thank you, Erik."

He frowned. "What for?"

"For trusting me with this, with meeting them. I know that their health and security means a lot to you, so knowing that you trust me to come in and make myself a new part of that arrangement that you have really means a lot to me."

"Of course I trust you, my darling. I...I love you." The phrase still felt foreign in his mouth after not using it for so long after losing Lucy, but he was making an effort to use it as often as he possibly could with Christine; she meant more to him than anyone ever had before and she deserved to hear that from him.

"I love you too," Christine said with a warm smile on her face. "Come on, then, drive! I have puppies to meet!"

~

"Are you ready, Christine?" Erik asked from where he stood at the end of the hallway, having just collected a young bulldog puppy from her kennel and was presently walking towards the bedroom, of all places, where his sweetheart was waiting. An unconventional setting, yes, but there was a purpose to it.

"Of course I'm ready!" he heard her call back, her excitement practically dripping from her voice. "There's a puppy involved, how could I not be ready?"

"Alright, alright," he said with a quiet laugh as he stepped into the room, the puppy starting to squirm in his arms at the sight of the new person and the sound of Christine's giddy squeal. "This is Lily."

Christine gasped, a hand to her chest. "Lily, oh, how precious," she said with a giggle. "Can I hold her? Or would you prefer that I didn't?"

"No, you can hold her. She's generally good with people," Erik nodded, sitting next to his girlfriend beside his bed and setting the puppy on her lap. "Just watch her back legs."

"What's wrong with her?" Christine asked softly, looking at the puppy's legs that splayed out behind her rather than tucking beneath her to hold her body up.

"It's called swimmer's syndrome. They can't really say what causes it; some people think it's hereditary, others think it's because their environment as newborns kept them from getting around a lot, even others say it was because of defects before they were born, so I'm not entirely sure," Erik explained. "Still, as bad as it looks, it's treatable, which is why we are here in my room."

Scooping the puppy up again, he stood and walked a few steps away to a sling apparatus set up against the wall and slipped the puppy into it so she hung with her paws just above the ground. "She'll sit in the sling for about 20 minutes every day, and I'll just massage her legs and try to mimic walking motions with her. I do this a few times a day."

He carefully began to act on the same procedure he had just described, smiling as Christine stepped over to join him while he carefully rubbed the puppy's legs and helped her to move them the way she would if she were walking as she should. He knew that there was always a risk that the therapy he tried to do for the animals that were struggling wouldn't work, but he was going to try his best. Very few people had ever tried to help him throughout his life, so he thought he would allow the animals to have that, whether they knew they had it or not.

"How many others do you do this kind of thing for?" Christine softly asked a few minutes into the therapy session.

"A few. Whether it's for little ones like this who have defects of some sort or for older animals who struggle with arthritis and different things like that, therapy does a lot. I do this kind of thing, as well as hydrotherapy, which entails me getting very wet," Erik replied with a chuckle. "But it's worth it when I see the results. True, it doesn't always happen, and they end up turning into hospice cases more than anything, but if I can try and get them back on their feet, as happy and healthy as can be so they can go to a good home, then I'll do what I have to do to make that happen." He turned towards her and smiled just as she cupped his face in her hands and drew him into a gentle kiss, distracting him from his therapy session momentarily. "You are one of the most kind-hearted people I know. You know that, right?"

"You tell me that enough, so I suppose it carries some truth. It's never occurred to me much otherwise, though."

"Well, you had better believe it because it could not be more true," Christine said with a grin.

Erik couldn't help but chuckle as he gave her another quick peck on the lips. "If you are trying to earn yourself brownie points or extra kisses or something, I admire your effort, it just might work out in your favour," he replied, returning his attention to the puppy.

"Fantastic," she giggled, leaning her head on his shoulder and watching while he worked. "Did you have any other plans for the day for us? Dinner, perhaps?"

"Yes, I was hoping you would help me with dinner," Erik nodded, letting the offer hang for a moment before he added, "For the dogs and cats, that is."

"Ah yes, how romantic, exactly what I had in mind," Christine said with a laugh. "Filling food bowls. I can't wait."

Ever since Erik had given her the go-ahead to come over and spend time with himself and his little pack of rescue animals, Christine had taken full advantage of it. Whenever she could manage it, she was at his house, helping him with feeding and bathing all of the little pets in his care, keeping him company while he was cleaning, and even learning how to do hydrotherapy on a few of the dogs that happened to need it. A couple of months had already passed since that day, unbelievably, but she had cherished every second that she had gotten to spend with both Erik and all the animals in his care. She found herself getting close to every single one of them, and she could see how happy it made her sweetheart; Erik smiled even wider than he normally did when she was around, a photo of the two of them with one of his eldest dogs - a golden retriever named Buddy - had become the photo on the lock screen of his phone while others had been printed and framed on his wall. She knew that he had had little joy in his life, but if she could contribute to that happiness along with allowing him to pursue one of his passions, then she would happily support it.

Getting to play with cute puppies and kittens while she was at his house was a nice perk too.

A short while into the arrangement - about a month after Christine herself had been introduced, - she had convinced Erik to let Meg have a gentle introduction of her own to all the animals he cared for. Her roommate had just about lost her mind when she had found out that she had finally gotten to meet all of her boyfriend's pets and hadn't stopped begging her to get Erik's permission for her to meet them until she had finally agreed to give it a shot.

Erik had been hesitant at first, that much was for certain, but she promised him that Meg knew how to keep calm and quiet when she had to be. Eventually, with a slightly skeptical expression on his face, he had agreed to allow her over to meet some of the animals, much to Meg's delight.

As Christine had predicted, the introductions had gone perfectly fine and Meg was quickly scooped up into the little pack Erik seemed to be steadily building. Their visits brought them closer to the animals, to Erik, as well as to Nadir and Rookheya, Erik's best friend and his fiancée. There was something endearing about seeing her sweetheart interacting with someone other than just herself; she knew that he did it for work and all, but watching him so at ease and laughing with his closest friend warmed her heart, even if Nadir didn't seem completely at ease around the animals in the house. For a while, their little group was complete and happy, enjoying every moment they had.

But not every joyful moment could last, unfortunately.

It was the middle of the night when she got the first phone call. Her ringer was quiet, true, but it lulled Christine out of her sleep, though she didn't bother to look at the screen to see who was calling. 'Whatever scam caller it is can just leave a message for me to delete,' she thought to herself as she rolled over onto her side and buried her face in her pillow to attempt to fall back to sleep.

Her phone fell silent for just a moment, but within moments, it had started ringing again.

With a huff, Christine sat up and grabbed her phone, squinting at the brightness of the screen, and saw her boyfriend's name and picture on her screen, which made her frown. It was just past two in the morning, why would he be calling her? Her heart was already racing a bit as she pressed the green 'Answer' button and held her phone to her ear.

"Hello? Erik, what's going on?"

Hiccuping breaths were what she heard first, which only serve to worry her more. "C-Christine, come over," Erik finally managed to say, his voice choked with tears. "Buddy is...something's wrong, please come over."

"Okay, it's okay. I'll be right there and I'll bring Meg with me," she replied, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible despite her own worry about the dog that she'd become so close with. "Have you called Nadir?"

"He's here already. Rookheya too," Erik said, sniffling quietly. "Just please come over, Christine, please."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming. I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you."

Not hearing a response from Erik told her how distracted and worried he was - he always returned her affections, and she wasn't even offended by the lack of reciprocation; she was only worried.

Christine quickly climbed out of bed, deciding not to bother changing out of her pyjamas given how warm it was outside and only grabbing a pair of socks to quickly slip on. Throwing open her bedroom door, she hurried next door to Meg's room, walked inside and over to her bed to shake her gently. "Meg. Meg, get up, come on."

She rolled her eyes when her friend simply moaned sleepily and pulled her covers over her head. "Meg, please get up. Erik just called me, something's wrong, we have to go over there."

That was enough to make Meg's eyes open rather quickly and she moved the blankets to look up at her friend. "What's happening?" she asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that it's Buddy and Erik is crying, so it's bad," Christine replied with a sigh. "Please get up so we can go."

"Okay, I'm up. Go get your shoes on, I'll be down in a sec," Meg said, clambering out of bed and shuffling past her friend to get dressed.

Within minutes, the two of them were in Christine's car driving towards Erik's house, the open roads with that time at night helping their travel immensely. Not knowing what was wrong was driving Christine half-mad, though she was drawing some unfortunate conclusions, considering the animal that was involved. If she was right, it made sense why Erik had sounded so upset; she knew how much he loved that dog.

"Nadir just texted you," Meg said softly, looking at her friend's phone while she couldn't do so herself. "Asking if we're going to be there soon."

"Just tell him that we will be. That I'm driving as fast as I can without risking getting arrested in the process," Christine said, managing a quiet laugh.

She saw her friend nod as she typed away, the clicking of the keys the only sound in the car. A moment later: "He says, 'As long as you hurry. Get here before'..." Meg trailed off at that, making Christine turn to look at her.

"Before what? What did he say?"

"'Before we lose him.'"

Christine's heart seemed to leap into her throat and, without a word, pushed her foot down ever so slightly harder on the gas pedal, just praying they'd arrive in time.

~

The two young women burst through the house's front door as soon as they arrived, Christine making use of her spare key. She didn't even need to wonder where everyone else would be; she knew that Erik kept that golden retriever by his bedside every night so that he could monitor him. Nothing had ever happened before that had warranted any action, but something had obviously changed that night. Drastically.

Bolting up the stairs with Meg right behind her, she quickly arrived at her boyfriend's room, which was completely dark save for his bedside lamp, and her heart sank when she saw him in the middle of the floor holding Buddy in his arms, Nadir and Rookheya close by.

"Erik, I'm here," she whispered as she moved to sit beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist. "I came as fast as I could, what's happening?"

"I don't know," Erik replied with a sniffle, stroking the dog's fur as he spoke. "They said he had more time. Not much, but more than this, I don't understand."

His words were drowned out by his tears as he leaned forward and buried his face in the retriever's fur, so Christine simply hushed him and rubbed his back. "I know, I'm sorry," she said with a quiet sigh. "You've done so much for him and for all the animals you take care of, Erik, you have to remember that. Whatever happens tonight is not a result of what you've done, you have done everything possible for him."

"Not enough, though. This wouldn't be happening if I had done enough," Erik managed to say through his tears, a sob slipping out of him.

Christine's own throat tightened up hearing the heartbreak spilling over through his words, so she was fortunate that Nadir shuffled over, set a hand on his friend's back and took on the role of the comforter from her; she couldn't trust herself not to cry, so she simply focused on trying to give the elderly dog as much love as she could possibly convey.

"Erik, you know it isn't your fault," Nadir said softly. "He's ill and I know that you've known that for a while now; you always knew he was going to be a hospice case from the beginning. You have to keep that in mind because if you don't, I know that you will blame it on yourself and you can't do that. He's had a wonderful life with you."

"He's right, Erik, you've given him so much," Christine said, finding it in her to dry a few stray tears and contribute to the conversation again. "He's had a beautiful life here with you, he knows that you love him."

Erik's only response was a nod as he lifted his head enough to gently kiss the top of the dog's head. "I love you, Buddy. We all do," he whispered, trying to force a smile as the dog turned his head to glance up at him, and Christine noticed Erik move his hand to rest over the dog's chest, clearly to feel for his heartbeat and wait for when it inevitably ceased. Not knowing exactly what else to say, she simply set her hand over her sweetheart's resting her head on his shoulder as everyone simply waited for the inevitable.

It didn't take long, in the end, and Erik didn't say a word; the way he muffled a sob and leaned over the dog to hold him to his chest told everyone what they needed to know. Christine hadn't quite expected to get as emotional as she did. She knew that she was attached to all of Erik's animals and that even the thought of her love in pain made her heart ache, but there had been something different this time. Erik had loved Buddy probably more than any of his other rescues, and she had a strong feeling that that love had been mutual.

It turned out that she wasn't the only one getting emotional; she had expected to see a few tears from Meg, and there they were, but looking over at Erik's other friends, she found Rookheya with her face tucked in the crook of Nadir's neck, the slight shake of her shoulders the only clue that she was emotional, while even Nadir - Nadir 'I don't like pets much' Khan - had tears in his eyes. Whether it was Buddy's death or Erik's reaction that had made him cry, she couldn't tell, but the show of empathy for what his friend was going through was something that she appreciated and knew that Erik would too.

Quickly drying her cheeks, she leaned over and gently kissed Erik's cheek. "I'm so sorry," she whispered as she reached up and gently wiped his tears away. "But you gave him such a beautiful life, just like you're doing for all the others you're caring for. They needed someone and you were there to rescue them. I'm so proud of you for that, and Buddy was proud too."

Erik managed a weak smile as he turned to look at her, leaning forward just enough to press his forehead to hers. "Do you think so?" he croaked.

"I know so, my darling. I have no doubt of it."

[lazyyogi]

Hi , how do you balance your spiritual experience and the very human experience as a doctor ? I understand& believe you can’t be apart from self .. but any tips ?

This is my first year as a resident and a constant challenge is self-concern. It can be stressful transitioning from being a student to being responsible for the wellbeing of very sick individuals. On top of that, we still have exams we need to pass, skills we need to acquire, presentations to give, research projects to advance, students to teach, and long hours with significantly less sleep and time off compared to our prior student life. 

Therefore it can become very slippery slope to just focus on yourself and only care about what impacts you positively or negatively. For example, it’s the end of a long day, you didn’t get much sleep the night before because you had to come into the hospital several times to see patients in the emergency room, and just when you’re getting ready to leave, you get called to the emergency room because a patient who was in a car accident has a massive laceration on their head that they need you to close. 

You might imagine that in this situation, you would think about the patient and their need for your skill and care and that you would feel enthused to swoop down to the emergency to fix them up and be a healer. But often the initial thought can be “Fuck! I was THIS close to getting out of here!”

Do you know why residents are called residents? Because we basically live at the hospital. 😂So this kind of mentality is not sustainable. If we fall into the habit of just wanting to get away from work, relaxing at home, and we get offended by any inconvenience that comes our way, we will be vastly unhappy and our patient care will suffer. 

This is why self-care is so important and why having a deliberate way of integrating it into our daily routine is essential. If you don’t have something in place, you will burn out. And even if you do, burnout can still happen. 

I am grateful that my program is very mindful of burnout and I have yet to see any of my co-residents hitting that wall. Personally I manage with doing maybe 10 minutes of yogic stretching when I come home every night, ideally 3 nights a week I will do a full yoga session, I do my meditation and tantric spiritual practices nightly (I’m working on injecting some of that into my morning routine as well), I make sure I eat at least two meals per day (breakfast and dinner), and try to get at least 5-6 hours of sleep on nights that I am not on call. 

There is a reason why I chose to become a doctor and it is not because I always dreamed of being one. This was a calculated decision. After college when I was living at home, directionless, but also going very deeply into my spiritual path, I realized that the most important thing to me was enlightenment. This was because I knew that society couldn’t give me anything that could last, only enlightenment could do that. 

This recognition then posed the question: Do I stay in society or leave society to pursue enlightenment full-time as something like a monk? Then I thought that if everyone who became spiritually switched on then left society, it would leave society in a pretty poor place. Just because society couldn’t give me anything doesn’t mean I cannot contribute something to our society. I want to remain here so that I can benefit society and I want to show people that you can dedicate your life to enlightenment even while still being in society. 

I chose becoming a doctor because I knew this was a way I could tangibly help others, financially sustain a place for myself in society, and also actively develop loving kindness and compassion. 

As such, the above mentioned challenge of self-concern is not something I care to allow and I am actively cutting through it as it arises in me. I chose medicine because it will constantly require me to work on myself even as I endeavor to benefit others. So it is just a matter of acknowledging challenges as they arise and finding creative solutions for succeeding them. 

In reality, there is no opposition between spiritual experience and human experience, there is only misunderstanding. The challenges that occur within you on a daily basis is the very path with which you are being presented. 

May all being be free 😊

LY

[miraculousandbts]

OT7 | Bosses Of A Kind

Summary: Two bitches at work target you, just because you’re close to the CEOs, who they were crushing on. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t know you.

Pairing: None

Genre: Fluff, Savage (?)

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: Light profanity (I should probably put that in my other posts too…). I guess that’s it.

You were hurriedly getting ready. Somehow managing to comb your hair and zip your pants at the same time, you hopped on your right foot while wearing a sock on your left one, fully knowing that there was a ninety percent chance you'd fall down. Heaving a sigh when you tripped but caught yourself before you fell, you did the same thing for your other foot.

You grabbed your shoes, hair tie, car keys, and office bag and ran to your car in just your socks. You saw your neighbour and a good friend shake her head at you, adorning an amused smile. She was used to your antics. You gave her a small smile in greeting and got in your car.

You started your car and tried to slip your feet into your semi-formal shoes. Finally stopping your car at a traffic light, you tied your hair. You bent down and put on the velcro on your shoes. Not wanting to wear heels, finding the men's office shoes too formal and sport shoes too casual, you had opted for some simple and stylish school shoes.

You weren't like most girls in your office, wearing tops or shirts with opened buttons showing cleavage, and pairing that with skirts and heels and wearing a lot of makeup and stylish hair. Some women did wear suits, but that looked like they were overdoing it. You simply wore a normal buttoned shirt with trousers with your hair always tied up. You also didn't wear any make up except some lip balm. And your friend f/n was just like you...as long as it came to outfits; she was more girly than you could imagine.

You finally reached your office, parking your car and being extremely careful to not hit another car. You took the thick file from the passenger seat and opened it, checking every document properly and mentally ticking off stuff from your list of things required for the meeting today.

You gathered the papers band put them back on the file. Taking your office bag and tucking your file beneath your armpit, you stepped out. You just stood there for a moment, relishing in the chirping of the birds and swishing of the trees with closed eyes and a serene smile, thankful that one of your bosses was just as much of a nature lover as you were. You opened your eyes when you heard a couple of snickers. Looking around, you saw the two girls known throughout the company for gossiping and crushing on the seven bosses, instead of doing the work they were given. You often wondered why they were still working when they never even submitted their work on time and always lacked behind. The only thing they were great in was spreading rumours.

As soon as they saw you looking their way, they looked away and tried to hide their laughing faces unsuccessfully. You just closed your car door and made your way towards them. Thinking you were coming for them, they moved to the side and nervously pretended that they were laughing at something they had been talking about. But all you did was enter the building, hurrying up a little when you checked your wrist watch and saw that the meeting was starting in half an hour.

You didn't care what they thought about you; you were going to do what you wanted to.

You dropped all your stuff on your desk, and took all the things required for the meeting to the conference room. Inside, you found seven men sitting there doing nothing. One had his head on the desk, sighing every now and then, clearly indicating he was bored. Three of them were talking about something you couldn't hear about.

One of them was being productive and was going through files, while the another was just sitting there staring into nothing. The last one was busy on his phone, and donned a set of headphones, looking out of place in the room.

They were your seven bosses, and none of their antics surprised you at all. Seokjin was the one chatting with Jimin and Hoseok. Namjoon was the responsible one going through the meeting files. Taehyung was the one getting bored. Yoongi was the one with the headphones, and Jungkook was the one staring into space. (Inspired by Jungshook.)

You cleared your throat, and everyone but Yoongi looked at you. Satisfied, you walked towards Namjoon and handed him the file. And nodded his head as a thank you and went back to proofreading the documents. When they saw that it was just you, they went back to doing what they were before. You made your way towards the cabinet and took out some other files. Sitting between Namjoon and Jungkook, you started doing your work.

*****

You plopped down on your very comfortable chair in front of your desk. That meeting was exhausting. At least the deal was finalised. You just laid there for a bit, closing your eyes. You would have definitely fallen asleep if someone didn't poke your stomach suddenly. You opened an eye and looked up in search for the culprit, fully knowing who was it.

As soon as you're eyes fell on her, she gave you a cheeky grin. "Hey, y/n!" She innocently cooed and fluttered her eyelashes. She was such a girl. A lot of times both of you wondered how you both were friends despite being polar opposites, but as they say opposites attract. This was just not that kind of attraction. You narrowed your eyes at her playfully. "F/n, you bitch!" You got up suddenly, taking her by surprise, and started poking her stomach. She squirmed and laughed, trying to get away from you. Thankfully, both of you had the brain enough to not be loud.

After finally calming down, you both sat down, her on your chair, and you on your desk. "How was the meeting?"

"Great. The deal's finalised. The idiots are happy. Which means that we may get to go home early today. You can thank me later." She squealed and hugged you. You smiled and returned the gestured. Then you both heard another one of your colleagues calling her. Giving you a small wave, she went towards him, asking about what happened. You tuned out and decided that you finally had energy enough to start working.

You switched on your PC, logging in. Just as you started typing, a voice was heard behind you. "Miss y/n." You could recognise that voice anywhere. You got up and turned around, mentally grumbling that you hadn't gotten even a little bit of work done the whole day. "Mr. Kim," you saw Seokjin. And then Namjoon came, "and Kim," you furrowed your eyebrows as Taehyung followed Namjoon and came in your line of vision, "and Kim?" You said the last Kim like you were asking a question.

All the three men looked amused and you raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, just wanted you to invite to a thank you lunch. Again." Namjoon seated himself on the edge of your desk, as Taehyung leaned against Seokjin. "And you needed to come here yourself to tell me that? And you brought not one more person, but two. Mind tellin' me what's actually going on?"

Taehyung and Namjoon smiled bashfully. "We were getting too happy and too bored." Taehyung explained. You raised an eyebrow, mentally noting you have been doing that a little too many times. "So what do you want me to do? Entertain you?" You leaned against the other end of your desk, opposite Namjoon. Seokjin sat down. "Yes."

"Shut up!" You laughed, the three men joining in. "Anyway, if there's a lunch, you have to— "

"Invite f/n too. We know. She's been told already. Chill." Seokjin interrupted you.

The four of you spent your entire afternoon until lunch break sitting there chatting about everything and anything. You saw some girls shoot you looks of jealously and hatred. But you only ignored them, not wanting to get into silly fights for no reason; it's not like you were crushing on either of the CEOs. And if you started using your mouth at those girls, they wouldn't stand a chance.

At last, the lunch break came, and all of you went to a nearby restaurant, well-liked in the area. Most of your colleagues often found themselves there, including you. You and f/n both noticed those two girls following you all, trying to be discreet but failing miserably. They were the ones laughing at you in the morning and the ones who were giving you glares just minutes ago.

F/n rolled her eyes in your direction, and you gave her a look which said 'what did you expect from them?' Reaching inside the big building, a mouth watering aroma hit you immediately, making your eyes go wide. You had been visiting this restaurant since you started your job three years ago, and yet, the food always had this effect on you. You looked at the seven men giving each other big smiles, hardly able to wait for the food. And none of you were even seated yet.

*****

You and f/n were both staring outside at the big beautiful trees and the shrubs decorating the bottom. Flowers were everywhere and they made you smile. Both of you had nothing to talk about right now and both of you were sick of the two girls being fake-asses and sticking to the boys like leeches. It was amusing to see the uncomfortable glances they sent each other and you at first, asking for help, but it got tiring when the girls just couldn't get a hint and leave you all alone in peace.

They had followed you and given a very stupid excuse to join your fun, naming our peaceful lunch as a company party and saying that they deserved to be one of the people having fun because they contributed so much to get the deal. Being the kind people the guys were, they allowed them to join, despite knowing that they didn't do any work. They weren't even given any work related to the deal in the first place.

"Oh, really?! That's great!" You heard a nasally voice pierce your peace of mind. F/n gave you a deadpan look and rolled her eyes, regretting coming here. You made a face and nodded back  at her, telling her you understood. The guys were not just your seniors, they were also good friends with both of you, and you were hoping to have a good time with your favourite people and favourite food.

Instead, all you got was a headache. And they guys wouldn't even let either of you leave, as you were sitting facing each other near the window. You saw them give one of the girls a stare. She was the one who said that whatever they were talking about was great. You raised an eyebrow at Jungkook, who was sitting right next to f/n.

"They've been giving positive reactions to everything we say. The last to last deal being cancelled is not great." He whispered, not even trying to be subtle. He wanted them gone and you knew it.

And then it finally happened. The other girl turned to you. "Y/n! Why have you been so quiet? And I can just tell by what you're wearing that you don't have a sense of fashion," she gave a stale glance to f/n, who was still lost in her own world, and continued, "You should come hang out with us, we'll give you fashion advice and help you do your make and hair every morning. It's time you let go of your trousers babe."

You had made a face of distaste as soon as she had started speaking. "I would rather be like this than hang out with people like you who laugh at others enjoying the serenity of nature and stick to their bosses like glue. At least I have some dignity." Your reply was very blunt and straightforward.

Both the girls became very flustered at your reply. You hadn't realised but when that girl was speaking f/n had suddenly directed her attention at her, and had listened to your whole answer. You heard her very obnoxious laugh when you stopped speaking, and that made you smirk. You could see the seven men trying to hold in their laughter, trying not to be rude.

"Seriously, it's lunch time, from angle does this look like a company party to you? None of the work concerning the deal was given to either of you, because the whole building knows what would have happened if you were allowed to even help a little bit. And about that," you pointed an accusing finger to her tightening her hold on Jimin's arm, "do you even know Chim's birthday? His favourite colour? Even his fucking personality?! Fuck, you don't even know why his nickname is Chim in the first place.

"I will never ever be hanging out with you. Give one more look to f/n and I'll have your throats. I'm not going to convert into some bitch like you. I sometimes wonder if you even use a bra with the amount of times you've opened your shirt buttons to show off your cleavage. Learn to get a hint, both of you. That, and get out of our faces." All this time, you never even raised your voice, but somehow attracted the attention of most of your peers around you anyway.

Both of them had been getting more and more nervous by the second hearing what you were saying. You opened your wallet and took out money enough to pay for everything you all had ordered. Slamming the notes down on the table, you attempted to get out, and this time, the guys let you. F/n followed suit, and you saw her give a proud smile in your direction. The girl holding Jimin's arm let go on her own, but Yoongi had to snatch his arm from her hold. The guys walked behind you too.

You were in full mood to have a stern talk with them. F/n knew what you were thinking and went to do her own work. You went straight to the boys' office, and they could do nothing but follow you. You seated yourself on the table, taking off your shoes, opening the collar button, and hitching up your pants a little. When they all came in and closed the door, you were comfortably seated on top of the big table with crossed legs.

"Before I start talking, what's wrong Hobi? The last I heard you talk was during the meeting." He had been looking worse for wear since after the meeting, and you had thought about asking him during lunch. "This idiot didn't sleep last night, and now he's exhausted." Seokjin hit the back of his head. "C'mon guys, there's not one CEO running this big ass company, there's seven of you. You need to start taking care of yourselves."

Hoseok rubbed his face and came towards you. Keeping his forehead on your shoulder, he sighed. You rubbed his hair. "I thought I'd regain my energy during lunch by having fun with you all, but now I have a headache because of those girls. I didn't even know they were working for us."

"Me too!" You whined and kept your head on his shoulder. You heard all of them chuckle.

"Well, I guess it's going home early for both of you." Hoseok slightly raised his head. You let yourself fall behind, knowing someone will catch you. "I love you, Joon!"

"Stop being over dramatic and get out." The person who was holding you said. You opened your eyes and found an upside down Taehyung. You gave him an award-winning smile. "Fire those idiots. They've been trying to mess up with me since the day I started." Suddenly, there was blanket of quiet around the room. You got up saw them all frowning. "Why didn't you tell us?" Jimin was the one to speak up.

"Uh...because I'm a grown woman and can handle them myself?" You gave him a 'are you dumb?' expression. Being the same age came with privileges. "I mean, I'm asking you to fire them for their safety. If I see them even look in my direction one more time, I swear to god, I will break all the 206 bones in their body, exchange the places of their lungs and intestines, and dispose them off into the next century!"

They all were looking at you with wide eyes. "I really really think you need sleep. That headache is messing with your brain." Seokjin gently pushed you off the table and guided you and Hoseok to the door. "Call me when you reach home, both of you."

You both nodded and went to your desk. Finding f/n there, you quickly explained the whole situation to her while collecting your stuff. She bid you both goodbye and went to do her work.

You dropped off Hoseok to his house and firmly told him to go to sleep, even making him promise to you. Half an hour later, you found yourself snuggling a pillow in your bed, already half asleep.

*****

It was your third day off. You had unexpectedly gotten sick, not that you cared. You still went to office the next day, but when Jungkook saw you drinking glucose instead of water the whole day, he dragged you to their office. When you told them that you had had a fever the whole day, they had guilt tripped you into taking some leaves.

You were in your kitchen, drinking a glass of water. The fever was still there, and that's why you didn't go to work. You were hating this; even in school, you had barely ever taken a day off if you got ill. Then the doorbell rang. Wondering who could it be, you opened it, only to find a big basket filled with your favourite foods. It had a cute little card attached to the handle, and you read it.

Get well soon!

- Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, Jeon Jungkook

You chuckled when you saw that all of them had signed their full names on the small card. You also found quick-to-make noodle soup in the basket.

You called Yoongi. Knowing he had the phone on speaker, you closed the door and said very loudly, "Thanks guys! I love you, you idiots!" Making a 'muah' sound, you hung up.