#2019 follow forever

[sheriffofmagic]

with the new year i am nostalgic. particularly about the overboards of years past. my favs were coup and wavelength. you?

also can you believe that they are going on 5 years old? i simply can not.

the passage of time is sickening to me but overboard will forever be my babygirl

i have a TON of favorites but my faves are probably one night werewolf (just an all around banger) and a fake artist goes to new york (i remember laughing myself to tears the first time i watched that one).

like yes all overboard is beautiful and good but there was like a year there where it was just banger after banger and i miss it SOOO MUCH

[raine-world]

Autocorrect stop changing "Quirrel" to "Squirrel" challenge: Impossible.

[literalfuckingfreak]

having an "ive actually followed u on a different website for years and know some of your online friends" relationship with mutuals is always so weird.

[jennifersbod]

hello my friend!! just wanted to drop in and say i hope you’re doing well!! i was just talking about you in the tags (i think you might be one of my longest term mutuals but i couldn’t remember if you were around for my one direction phase lol) 💗

omg ily friend i’m good rn i hope you’re good!!! (moving is hard and i hope it’s going well but i know you do it a lot ajfkdkskwk) 💖 i don’t think i was but i’ve definitely seen you post them occasionally 😭 iirc we became muts from It (so 2017-2019???). i still remember Pandemic Bonding™️ over acnh and folklore 🥺💖

[zevrans-remade]

💀

[sanchoyo]

after the vehicle hunt has been a big flop (the few vehicles I was interested in drove terribly on the test drives :( and car salesmen waaaay highballing cars worths which is. A crazy thing to do when I can literally look up the average worth of a car in 2 seconds??) after going to so so many websites and irl dealers. i found a van I really really love the look of and it’s only like an hour away!! (vintage van-rv combo!! Small enough to not be insane on gas while combining my many years long obsession with having a small rv-like thing AND my nostalgia for my now gone first van…)

And the thing is actually low priced for its type… but insanely out of my budget still 10,000 more than what I have. It’s insane how much vehicles cost. This thing is like 10 years older than I am and it still costs that much?? Wanting a thing really bad will have u googling shit like what body parts can I sell legally 💀

[britneyshakespeare]

I started reading another novel last night to cope with having finished rereading David Copperfield and it is just not the same man. I don't have something I laugh at on every other page. I've read 45 pages so far and I haven't giggled once. This hurts

[stuckinapril]

i am genuinely so deep into my denial about the passage of time that my brain has stopped keeping track of memories since 2019. if you were to ask me what has happened in the last 4 years i’d be like ummm. i cried a lot. got my heart broken. some days i wanted to curl up in bed and rot in my little enclosure forever. i broke some promises to myself. followed through with a select minority. there is a gaping hole in my life where some people used to be. also i was weighed down with crippling loneliness every day and took a lot of walks

[kaijuno]

"No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running...if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later... (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out... (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood).

"The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin robot arm 😭 It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message."

Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden...and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.”

[gb-patch]

GB Patch Games: 2024 Intentions

[Adorable guest art by @dreamtydraw]

Welcome to 2024, everybody 🥳️

This is the year of Our Life: Now & Forever (and 2025 will be too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves that much). After a good five odd years of making Our Life: Beginnings & Always content, it's amazing to look ahead and see only the progress that will be done on this new game. Qiu and Tamarack are the center of the GB Patch Games universe now. But even though I'm not creating any new OL1 scenes, there may still be some exciting developments for the existing stuff. Cove hasn't been forgotten.

💚❤️️💙

If you want to know about what will be accomplished specifically in January, you can read that HERE. Now here's the entire year's goals-

Honestly, 2024 is gonna be the most basic year in a very long time, haha. There's not gonna be major launches of new DLCs, or a full game going live, or any bonus Moments. It's simply making progress on OL: N&F. That's pretty normal for game development. It's just not something we've had to go through since 2019. But we're hunkering down for the long haul on this one.

Specifically, Step 1 will be fully completed in 2024 and I'll make as much headway into Step 2 as possible. There will be two updates to the public demo, one probably in May and another sometime in Fall/Third Quarter 2024. Those will focus on Step 1 scenes still. I can't guarantee we'll be able to rework the Step 2 part of the demo with new content this year. As it is, the content was made to be a demo preview. A lot is gonna change for the complete version.

And that's about it for our main game. I appreciate all of you who decide to follow along with the process.

Beyond that, the Our Life: Beginnings & Always digital artbook is going to become available through Steam and Itch.io in early 2024! Maybe not January, but ideally no later than February.

Finger's crossed, we will also launch Our Life: Beginnings & Always for Mac on Steam and make it available for Androids through the Google Playstore. I can't state it with confidence, since there's constantly been roadblocks/issues with those, aha.

My final little note for this coming year is that, potentially, there could be more information coming out about the game that's going into production after OL2, "Project W".

▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾▴ ▾ ▴

And that's what you can look forward to. Every year I'm amazed I can continue to do this as my fulltime job. I'm always wondering when that will end, but I'd be lying if I said I could see that point. The support GB Patch Games has gotten, and still gets each day, is more than enough to for it to continue for the rest of OL2's development.

I'm pretty confident in assuming that when that game does launch it's going to be successful enough for Project W to go into full production. It's a truly wonderful thing. Thank you so much for being here. We'll do our best with the time and attention you've given us.

Happy New Year 🥰️

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paul Blest at More Perfect Union:

Thousands of workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers, defying an all-out union-busting effort from the state’s political leaders and marking a key victory for the United Auto Workers in their renewed effort to organize the South and non-union plants.

Unofficial results tallied Friday showed that after three days of voting, more than two-thirds of workers voted to join the UAW. The win in Chattanooga is the first successful attempt to organize a non-union automaker in decades and comes after multiple failed attempts to organize the plant, including in 2014 and 2019. More than 4,300 workers were eligible to vote this week.  “I can't explain it. It's not like the first times,” Renee Berry, who has worked at the Chattanooga plant for 14 years and through two prior facility-wide votes, told us in the lead-up to the election. “The first few times was hell…now it's like we can roll our shoulders back, because we got it.”  Volkswagen is the world’s largest auto company by revenue, and until today, every one of its plants around the globe has been unionized except for one.

"This is going to be in history books down the road. This is huge—forever huge,” Robert Soderstrom, a worker at the plant, told More Perfect Union. “People recognize for the first time in a long time, on a mass scale, that there's got to be some changes. And some of the power and stuff that's gone to the corporate world needs to come back to us little guys.” The victory in Tennessee continues a winning streak for the UAW, which negotiated record contracts at the Detroit Three of Ford, GM, and Stellantis last year following a lengthy “stand-up” strike. After passing the contracts, UAW President Shawn Fain announced a $40 million effort to organize non-union U.S. plants, largely based in right-to-work states like Tennessee and owned by auto companies based in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, as well as EV manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian. 

Since launching that new effort, more than 10,000 autoworkers around the country have signed union cards, according to the UAW. Earlier this month, workers at a Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama became the second group to file for an election, which will be held from May 13 to 17. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and the state Chamber of Commerce have forcefully opposed the unionization effort, claiming it would hurt Alabama autoworkers—who, even before the pandemic, were making less than they did in 2002 when adjusted for inflation. The same dynamic has played out in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee, who denounced the last unsuccessful union campaign in 2019, said it would be a “mistake” for workers at the Chattanooga plant to unionize and boasted about the state’s “right-to-work” law. 

🚨🚨 BREAKING:🚨🚨 Workers at the Volkswagen (VW) plant in Chattanooga have voted yes to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) after 2 failed attempts in 2014 and 2019. #UAW #VWChattanooga #1u

[barbylion]

On the brightside! The non rp ocs can be young forever in their stead

I feel so bad for all of my rp ocs that are just...getting older every year despite their stories being on pause

[morguecuts]

Love Laced Caffeine

five hargreeves x fem!reader synopsis: lovey dovey morning with five :)  word count: 1.1k tags: lots of fluff and cute moments  authors note: i love adding pre-story lore, but if im too detailed pls yell at me, okay thx enjoy! dedication: my bestfriend @solspina who sits with me everynight as i write. i love you forever. check out her work if you enjoy warhammer, the stories are absolutely incredible.

♱⛧ ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨ ୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆⛧♱

the constant impending apocalypse is no longer a worry ever since the world was saved. special abilities have only ever been used in a joking, or more importantly an emergency manner, since then. you met the umbrella academy in 2019 but are now 3 years deep into a very loving and committed relationship with arguably the grumpiest family member, five hargreeves. 

he was surprisingly the sweetest person you’ve ever met. the overprotective nature of his actions was incredibly attractive. his words were only ever gentle towards you, a walking example of hating everybody who wasn't his lover. his “old soul” showed itself in the way that he treated the relationship with you. 

he constantly took you on dates, sometimes small, like watching a movie at the nearby theater, or larger, like trips across the world to go sightseeing. five bought you a multitude of gifts since you’ve been together as well. the most cherishable was the silver chain that dangled from your neck, symbolizing the first time he admitted he was in love with you. ever since then, you’ve dedicated yourself to being the only person he will ever need. to this day, he is still trying to repay you for loving him this hard. 

there was always a peaceful sensation waking up in the academy house. the feeling of being surrounded by those who love you, everyday, brings a smile to your face. the siblings agreed on not moving out for a couple years, taking time to overcome the years of trauma collected more recently. although you would like to have your own place with your boyfriend, there's no harm staying here with everyone else for a while longer. 

you remove the weighted sheets off five’s bed allowing the breeze to strike your body. the shock of the cold floor sends a bone chilling feeling starting from the bottoms of your feet, all the way to the tips of your hair. there's a slight grumble coming from the boy still lying in the bed. a combination of annoyance and sadness stretched across his half-awake face. 

“please, a couple more minutes..” his face turns to face your direction, sleepy eyes barely open but still pleading with yours. a lone arm reaches out to grab yours, a small attempt at preventing you from leaving.

“as cute as you are, i really want to go downstairs for coffee.” you lean into his touch, bending down to place a kiss on his lips. a smile creeps upon the boy, a sly hand wrapping around your waist dragging you down onto his chest. you let out a surprised eek before giggling. 

“can you survive 20 minutes without coffee?” he nuzzles into the crook of your neck, rubbing your back subconsciously.

“fine, 20 minutes and then i’m getting up without or without you.” you look up smiling at him, the boy leaning down to kiss you once more. his gentle touch makes you sigh into him, melting into his body, relaxing against his chest. he pulls away and wraps the bed sheets back over the two of you. 

the combination of a cold room, warm bed and safe boyfriend creates a comforting environment, your eyes fall drowsy before slipping into darkness. when you awake, the bed is empty, no five to be seen anywhere. you rub your eyes confused, sit up for a moment and sigh. a faint smell of coffee is brewing in the distance, most likely in the downstairs kitchen. you decide to follow the scent trail in hopes that your boyfriend is waiting for you at the end of it. 

the house is peacefully quiet, a gentle hum lingers over the hallways. you make your way down towards the rest of the house, whispers and giggles come from beyond the doors of other bedrooms. you pass viktor going up the stairs as you come down, greeting with a cheerful embrace and soft smile. 

“seen five anywhere?” you ask, pulling back.

“hmm, kitchen i think? was making pancakes when i passed by” he smiles at you before turning to continue his journey upstairs. with a small nod, you thank him.

rounding the kitchen's large wall, you see five standing over what seems to be the pancakes cooking on the stove. his back is facing you, unaware that you entered the room. his hair is still messy as if he woke up moments ago, loose black sweats hang from his waistline, a green jumper embracing his torso. the record player sits in the living room, playing distant calming jazz music as five hums along. 

you creep up behind him, wrapping arms around his waist and laying your head onto his shoulder. his body tenses for a minute before relaxing, his arm bends backwards to hold your waist, pressing you into him. 

“good morning, love. i was going to bring this up to you, but now you’re already here” he speaks while flipping the soft flannel cake on the pan. he gently places the spatula onto the counter, spinning in a circle to face you. your hands still wrapped around his stomach carefully, holding his touch.

“mm sorry, i smelled coffee and knew i’d find you somewhere nearby” you smiled up at him, his deep brown eyes staring back before leaning down. he places a gentle kiss upon your lips, hands cupping your face as he does so. you lean into his hands, kissing him back while running hands to the back of his neck.

his hands rest on the backs of your thighs momentarily before he bends into a swift motion, picking you up and gently setting you down onto the closet counter. you pull back from him, laughing at his action. he shoots a grin in your direction before turning back to the well toasted hotcakes. there's a peaceful silence between the two of you before he speaks up once more.

“coffee is still hot, want me to make you a cup?” his loving tone swoons you everytime he offers to do even the smallest things. you nod yes before he swiftly turns to begin making the warm beverage. the boy presents the drink just how you like. it didn't take him long to memorize exactly how you favor it.

everything he does for you is a constant act of service, from a small cup of coffee, to a full platter of breakfast foods, or even carrying you upstairs to lay together once you’re happily full of food. his love for you is laced in the caffeine high that he brings with every kiss.

 ♱⛧ ⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨ ୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆⛧♱

thank you so much for reading!

i hope you’ve enjoyed it, please feel free to make any comments or story requests down below. any support is always appreciated <3

[disabled-dragoon]

The Disability Library

I love books, I love literature, and I love this blog, but it's only been recently that I've really been given the option to explore disabled literature, and I hate that. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be able to read about characters like me, and now as an adult, all I want is to be able to read a book that takes us seriously.

And so, friends, Romans, countrymen, I present, a special disability and chronic illness booklist, compiled by myself and through the contributions of wonderful members from this site!

As always, if there are any at all that you want me to add, please just say. I'm always looking for more!

Edit 20/10/2023: You can now suggest books using the google form at the bottom!

Updated: 31/08/2023

Articles and Chapters

The Drifting Language of Architectural Accessibility in Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris, Essaka Joshua, 2012

Early Modern Literature and Disability Studies, Allison P. Hobgood, David Houston Wood, 2017

How Do You Develop Whole Object Relations as an Adult?, Elinor Greenburg, 2019

Making Do with What You Don't Have: Disabled Black Motherhood in Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Anna Hinton, 2018

Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2003 OR Necropolitics, Achille Mbeme, 2019

Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts, Zygmunt Bauman, 2004

Witchcraft and deformity in early modern English Literature, Scott Eaton, 2020

Books

Fiction:

Misc:

10 Things I Can See From Here, Carrie Mac

A-F:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely, (Series), Brigid Kemmerer

Akata Witch, (Series), Nnedi Okorafor

A Mango-Shaped Space, Wendy Mass

Ancillary Justice, (Series), Ann Leckie

An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon

An Unseen Attraction, (Series), K. J. Charles

A Shot in the Dark, Victoria Lee

A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd

A Song of Ice and Fire, (series), George R. R. Martin

A Spindle Splintered, (Series), Alix E. Harrow

A Time to Dance, Padma Venkatraman

Bath Haus, P. J. Vernon

Beasts of Prey, (Series), Ayana Gray

The Bedlam Stacks, (Series), Natasha Pulley

Black Bird, Blue Road, Sofiya Pasternack

Black Sun, (Series), Rebecca Roanhorse

Blood Price, (Series), Tanya Huff

Borderline, (Series), Mishell Baker

Breath, Donna Jo Napoli

The Broken Kingdoms, (Series), N.K. Jemisin

Brute, Kim Fielding

Cafe con Lychee, Emery Lee

Carry the Ocean, (Series), Heidi Cullinan

Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman

Cinder, (Series), Marissa Meyer

Clean, Amy Reed

Connection Error, (Series), Annabeth Albert

Cosima Unfortunate Steals A Star, Laura Noakes

Crazy, Benjamin Lebert

Crooked Kingdom, (Series), Leigh Bardugo

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, (Series), Cat Sebastian

Daniel, Deconstructed, James Ramos

Dead in the Garden, (Series), Dahlia Donovan

Dear Fang, With Love, Rufi Thorpe

Deathless Divide, (Series), Justina Ireland

The Degenerates, J. Albert Mann

The Doctor's Discretion, E.E. Ottoman

Earth Girl, (Series), Janet Edwards

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily R. Austin

The Extraordinaries, (Series), T. J. Klune

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, (Series), Trenton Lee Stewart

Fight + Flight, Jules Machias

The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix

Finding My Voice, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The First Thing About You, Chaz Hayden

Follow My Leader, James B. Garfield

Forever Is Now, Mariama J. Lockington

Fortune Favours the Dead, (Series), Stephen Spotswood

Fresh, Margot Wood

H-0:

Harmony, London Price

Harrow the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Hench, (Series), Natalia Zina Walschots

Highly Illogical Behaviour, John Corey Whaley

Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers

How to Become a Planet, Nicole Melleby

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager, (Series), D. N. Bryn

How to Sell Your Blood & Fall in Love, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites, Joy Demorra

I Am Not Alone, Francisco X. Stork

The Immeasurable Depth of You, Maria Ingrande Mora

In the Ring, Sierra Isley

Into The Drowning Deep, (Series), Mira Grant

Iron Widow, (Series), Xiran Jay Zhao

Izzy at the End of the World, K. A. Reynolds

Jodie's Journey, Colin Thiele

Just by Looking at Him, Ryan O'Connell

Kissing Doorknobs, Terry Spencer Hesser

Lakelore, Anna-Marie McLemore

Learning Curves, (Series), Ceillie Simkiss

Let's Call It a Doomsday, Katie Henry

The Library of the Dead, (Series), TL Huchu

The Lion Hunter, (Series), Elizabeth Wein

Lirael, (Series), Garth Nix

Long Macchiatos and Monsters, Alison Evans

Love from A to Z, (Series), S.K. Ali

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O'Neal

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

The Never Tilting World, (Series), Rin Chupeco

The No-Girlfriend Rule, Christen Randall

Nona the Ninth, (series), Tamsyn Muir

Noor, Nnedi Okorafor

Odder Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Once Stolen, (Series), D. N. Bryn

One For All, Lillie Lainoff

On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis

Origami Striptease, Peggy Munson

Our Bloody Pearl, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Out of My Mind, Sharon M. Draper

P-T:

Parable of the Sower, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents, (Series), Octavia E. Butler

Percy Jackson & the Olympians, (series), Rick Riordan

Pomegranate, Helen Elaine Lee

The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden

The Pursuit Of..., (Series), Courtney Milan

The Queen's Thief, (Series), Megan Whalen Turner

The Quiet and the Loud, Helena Fox

The Raging Quiet, Sheryl Jordan

The Reanimator's Heart, (Series), Kara Jorgensen

The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Joan Parrish

Roll with It, (Series), Jamie Sumner

Russian Doll, (Series), Cristelle Comby

The Second Mango, (Series), Shira Glassman

Scar of the Bamboo Leaf, Sieni A.M

Shaman, (Series), Noah Gordon

Sick Kids in Love, Hannah Moskowitz

The Silent Boy, Lois Lowry

Six of Crows, (Series) Leigh Bardugo

Sizzle Reel, Carlyn Greenwald

The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal

The Stagsblood Prince, (Series), Gideon E. Wood

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient is Love. No, Really, (Series), RoAnna Sylver

Stars in Your Eyes, Kacen Callender [Expected release: Oct 2023]

The Storm Runner, (Series), J. C. Cervantes

Stronger Still, (Series), D. N. Bryn

Sweetblood, Pete Hautman

Tarnished Are the Stars, Rosiee Thor

The Theft of Sunlight, (Series), Intisar Khanani

Throwaway Girls, Andrea Contos

Top Ten, Katie Cotugno

Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

Treasure, Rebekah Weatherspoon

Turtles All the Way Down, John Green

U-Z:

Unlicensed Delivery, Will Soulsby-McCreath Expected release October 2023

Verona Comics, Jennifer Dugan

Vorkosigan Saga, (Series), Lois McMaster Bujold

We Are the Ants, (Series), Shaun David Hutchinson

The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf

Whip, Stir and Serve, Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake

The Whispering Dark, Kelly Andrew

Wicked Sweet, Chelsea M. Cameron

Wonder, (Series), R. J. Palacio

Wrong to Need You, (Series), Alisha Rai

Ziggy, Stardust and Me, James Brandon

Graphic Novels:

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability, (Non-Fiction), A. Andrews

Constellations, Kate Glasheen

Dancing After TEN: a graphic memoir, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Vivian Chong, Georgia Webber

Everything Is an Emergency: An OCD Story in Words Pictures, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Jason Adam Katzenstein

Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel, (Series), Aoife Dooley

The Golden Hour, Niki Smith

Nimona, N. D. Stevenson

The Third Person, (memoir) (Non-Fiction), Emma Grove

Magazines and Anthologies:

Artificial Divide, (Anthology), Robert Kingett, Randy Lacey

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #175: Grandmother-nai-Leylit's Cloth of Winds, (Article), R. B. Lemburg

Defying Doomsday, (Anthology), edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish, (short story) (anthology), Seiko Tanabe

Nothing Without Us, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Nothing Without Us Too, edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens, (Anthology), edited by Marieke Nijkamp

Uncanny #24: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, (Anthology), edited by: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Dominik Parisien et al.

Uncanny #30: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy, (Anthology), edited by: Nicolette Barischoff, Lisa M. Bradley, Katharine Duckett

We Shall Be Monsters, edited by Derek Newman-Stille

Manga:

Perfect World, (Series), Rie Aruga

The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud, (Short Stories), Kuniko Tsurita

Non-Fiction:

Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, Jay Timothy Dolmage

A Disability History of the United States, Kim E, Nielsen

The Architecture of Disability: Buildings, Cities, and Landscapes beyond Access, David Gissen

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson

Black Disability Politics, Sami Schalk

Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration, and Safety, Dr. Elinor Greenburg

Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Eli Clare

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Disability, Barker, Clare and Stuart Murray, editors.

The Capacity Contract: Intellectual Disability and the Question of Citizenship, Stacy Clifford Simplican

Capitalism and Disability, Martha Russel

Care work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Catatonia, Shutdown and Breakdown in Autism: A Psycho-Ecological Approach, Dr Amitta Shah

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays, Esme Weijun Wang

Crip Kinship, Shayda Kafai

Crip Up the Kitchen: Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook, Jules Sherred

Culture – Theory – Disability: Encounters between Disability Studies and Cultural Studies, Anne Waldschmidt, Hanjo Berressem, Moritz Ingwersen

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition, Liat Ben-Moshe

Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, Emily Ladau

Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Disability Pride: Dispatches from a Post-ADA World, Ben Mattlin

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From the Twenty-First Century, Alice Wong

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space, Amanda Leduc

Every Cripple a Superhero, Christoph Keller

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness and Liberation, Eli Clare

Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafer

The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Carly Findlay

It's Just Nerves: Notes on a Disability, Kelly Davio

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Language Deprivation & Deaf Mental Health, Neil S. Glickman, Wyatte C. Hall

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability, Elizabeth Barnes

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick, Lyndsey Medford

No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, Sarah F. Rose

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment, James I. Charlton

The Pedagogy of Pathologization Dis/abled Girls of Color in the School-prison Nexus, Subini Ancy Annamma

Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature, Essaka Joshua

QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, Raymond Luczak, Editor.

The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability, Jasbir K. Puar

Sitting Pretty, (memoir), Rebecca Taussig

Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South, Mary Herring Wright

Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness: How to Stay Sane and Live One Step Ahead of Your Symptoms, Ilana Jacqueline

The Things We Don't Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths, Julie Morgenlender

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, Scott T. Smith, José Alaniz 

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman, (memoir), Laura Kate Dale

Unmasking Autism, Devon Price

The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe, Ellen Clifford

We've Got This: Essays by Disabled Parents, Eliza Hull

Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, (memoir) (essays) Alice Wong

Picture Books:

A Day With No Words, Tiffany Hammond, Kate Cosgrove-

A Friend for Henry, Jenn Bailey, Mika Song

Ali and the Sea Stars, Ali Stroker, Gillian Reid

All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold, Suzanne Kaufman

All the Way to the Top, Annette Bay Pimentel, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, Nabi Ali

Can Bears Ski?, Raymond Antrobus, Polly Dunbar

Different -- A Great Thing to Be!, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

Everyone Belongs, Heather Alvis, Sarah Mensinga

I Talk Like a River, Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith

Jubilee: The First Therapy Horse and an Olympic Dream, K. T. Johnson, Anabella Ortiz

Just Ask!, Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael López

Kami and the Yaks, Andrea Stenn Stryer, Bert Dodson

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay, Cari Best, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, Jessica Kensky, Patrick Downes, Scott Magoon

Sam's Super Seats, Keah Brown, Sharee Miller

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster, Manka Kasha

We Move Together, Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos

We're Different, We're the Same, and We're All Wonderful!, Bobbi Jane Kates, Joe Mathieu

What Happened to You?, James Catchpole, Karen George

The World Needs More Purple People, Kristen Bell, Benjamin Hart, Daniel Wiseman

You Are Enough: A Book About Inclusion, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

You Are Loved: A Book About Families, Margaret O'Hair, Sofia Sanchez, Sofia Cardoso

The You Kind of Kind, Nina West, Hayden Evans

Zoom!, Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Plays:

Peeling, Kate O'Reilly

---

With an extra special thank you to @parafoxicalk @craftybookworms @lunod @galaxyaroace @shub-s @trans-axolotl @suspicious-whumping-egg @ya-world-challenge @fictionalgirlsworld @rubyjewelqueen @some-weird-queer-writer @jacensolodjo @cherry-sys @dralthon @thebibliosphere @brynwrites @aj-grimoire @shade-and-sun @ceanothusspinosus @edhelwen1 @waltzofthewifi @spiderleggedhorse @sleepneverheardofher @highladyluck @oftheides @thecouragetobekind @nopoodles @lupadracolis @elusivemellifluence @creativiteaa @moonflowero1 @the-bi-library @chronically-chaotic-cryptid for your absolutely fantastic contributions!

---

Submit a Book:

[woniedarlin]

A Sister's Shadow: Yang Jungwon

pairing: Jungwon x fem! reader

synopsis: You love your sisters—Yeri, Hana, and Narin—truly, and you’ve learned almost everything from them. But you can never forget the day when Yeri introduced Jungwon to your family. That day changed your life forever. Ever since you were little, you loved Jungwon. However, you couldn’t help but feel envious of the friendship between Jungwon and Yeri. But what will happen when Jungwon decides to propose to Yeri years later?

warnings: This is inspired by the 2019 movie “Little Women” and is set in the 1860s. It includes historical references to the societal roles and limitations placed on women during that period, including themes of gender inequality and the pressures of marriage for security. Reader discretion is advised. It also has mentions of injuries and kissing. Let me know if there is more!

note: Hello darlings, I couldn't help but take inspiration from the ‘’Little Women’’. Please know that it won't follow the exact events. The characters except for you and Jungwon that are mentioned in the story are just something I made up. I haven’t read the novel yet so I really apologize to those who were truly a fan of it. This is inspired by Amy and Laurie’s story, and I really hope you will like it. Happy reading!

permanent tag list: @sol3chu @13tter @chlorinecake

Growing up as the youngest, you were often shielded by your three older sisters—Narin, Hana, and Yeri—in the home you shared. You were raised in modest circumstances, finding your way through life as you learned and listened from your older sisters.

It was the afternoon when Yeri burst through the door of the home, her cheeks flushed. “Y/n, guess who I’ve brought to meet us!” she exclaimed, her eyes twinkling.

You followed Yeri into the parlor, where a 15-year-old tall boy with a cute smile stood confidently by the doorway. His dark hair was tousled from the wind, and his eyes sparkled as he glanced around the room.

“Everyone, this is Yang Jungwon,” Yeri announced proudly, gesturing towards him. “He’s just moved into the neighborhood, and I thought it would be wonderful for him to meet the family.”

Jungwon gave a smile, his dimples showing, and a nod. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he said warmly while glancing at you and the rest of your family.

From the moment you laid eyes on him, you felt a strange fluttering in your stomach. At twelve years old, you were used to being seen as the baby of the family..but something about Jungwon’s presence made you want to prove yourself more grown-up.

As Yeri chatted animatedly with your parents, Jungwon’s attention turned to you. “So, Y/n,” he began, his tone friendly “do you enjoy living here?”

You nodded, a small smile forming. “Yes, it’s nice. We’ve lived here for as long as I can remember.”

Jungwon chuckled softly. “That’s great to hear. It must be fun having Yeri as your sister.”

“She’s the best,” you replied with a grin, glancing over at Yeri who was sharing a playful look with Jungwon.

Throughout the gathering, you couldn’t help but notice between Jungwon and Yeri. They kept exchanging glances and shared inside jokes that spoke of a deep friendship. You admired and envied it at the same time.

🌱

It was winter, and everything was covered in frost. The air was cold, and the ground was slippery with ice. You walked through the snowy streets, carrying a basket of warm bread. You hurried along, trying to stay warm.

Suddenly, your foot slipped on a patch of hidden ice and you tumbled to the ground, the basket of bread scattering across the snowy path. Pain shot through your knee as you landed hard, and tears welled up in your eyes from the shock and the sting of the fall.

‘’A-ah.. ouch‘’ Clutching your injured knee, you tried to compose yourself, but the pain was unbearable. Tears streamed down your cheeks as you struggled to get up, feeling helpless and alone.

Then, you heard footsteps approaching. Through blurry eyes, you saw Jungwon walking briskly towards you, his brow furrowed.

“Good heavens, are you hurt?” Jungwon asked urgently, kneeling beside you and gently placing a hand on your arm.

You nodded, trying to stifle your sobs. “I-I fell,” you managed to say, your voice trembling with pain.

Jungwon’s expression softened as he examined your knee. “Let me see,” he said softly, carefully lifting your pant leg to inspect the wound. “It appears you’ve taken quite a spill.”

You winced as Jungwon touched the tender skin around the scrape, but his touch was gentle. He reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a clean handkerchief, using snow to dampen it before gently cleaning the wound.

“The cold will help soothe it,” Jungwon reassured you, his voice calm and steady despite the urgency of the situation.

“It hurts terribly,” you admitted, feeling the sting intensify now that the initial shock was wearing off.

“I understand,” Jungwon replied sympathetically. “But you’ve been brave thus far.”

You managed a weak smile. “Thank you,” you murmured, feeling warm despite the icy ground beneath you.

Jungwon finished bandaging your knee with care movements. “There,” he said finally, tying a secure knot in the handkerchief. “That should suffice for now. You must take care to keep it clean and avoid putting too much weight on it.”

“Thank you,” you said sincerely, looking at him with gratitude.

Jungwon smiled warmly, helping you gather the scattered bread, and offered to carry the basket for you. “It was my pleasure, Y/n. Pray, be more cautious in the future, won’t you?” he then patted your head.

That day fully changed what you saw in Jungwon.

🌱

As the evening descended softly, you sat by the flickering fireplace, nervously twisting your hands as you watched Yeri and Jungwon prepare for a night at the theater. The thought had been on your mind all day, and you finally gathered the courage to ask.

“Yeri, could I come with you to the theater tonight?” you ventured, your voice marked by hope.

Yeri turned to you, her expression gentle yet firm. “Oh, Y/n, it’s too late for you to be out. The theaters are no place for someone your age at this hour.”

“But I’m not that young,” you protested quietly, trying to hide the disappointment that threatened to surface. “I promise I’ll behave.”

“I know you would,” Yeri replied gently, kneeling beside you and patting your nightgown affectionately. “But mama would be worried, and it’s past your bedtime.”

You nodded sadly, knowing she was right. Despite your best efforts, jealousy crept into your heart as you watched Yeri and Jungwon gather their coats and hats, preparing for an evening of entertainment.

“I understand,” you murmured, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes.

Yeri reached out and squeezed your hand warmly. “I love you, Y/n.”

Tears welled up in your eyes at her words, and you nodded sadly. “I love you too, Yeri,” you whispered. You do love your sister so much…

Jungwon, sensing your disappointment, offered a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Y/n. We’ll tell you all about it when we return.”

As they left, the door softly closing behind them, you sank back into the chair as you felt envy and guilt.

🌱

Summer arrived fast.

The warm sun kissed your cheeks as you sat on the sandy beach, a light breeze carrying the salty scent of the ocean. It was a rare outing with your sisters—Narin, Yeri, and Hana—and Jungwon.

Yeri and Jungwon raced along the shoreline, their laughter mingling with the sound of the waves. Bursts of gleeful shouts as they chased each other through the sand.

Meanwhile, you sat quietly on the blanket spread out on the beach, a sketchbook resting on your lap. Your eyes followed Jungwon as he ran. With each stroke of your pencil, you drew all the small details that made your heart race.

“He’s quite a sight, isn’t he?” Narin remarked, noticing your focused gaze.

You nodded silently, a faint blush coloring your cheeks. “He’s… he’s fun to draw,” you managed to say, trying to hide what you were feeling inside.

Hana, giggling beside you, leaned over to peer at your sketch. “You’ve captured him perfectly,” she commented with a smile.

You continued sketching as a few hours passed. The sun started to sink, then, Yeri and Jungwon returned with their faces flushed from their games.

Jungwon glanced over your shoulder, catching sight of your sketch. “What’s this?” he asked curiously, crouching down beside you.

You felt your heart skip a beat as he leaned closer to examine your drawing. “Um, just something I was working on,” you murmured shyly, unable to meet his gaze.

Jungwon studied the sketch intently, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “You’re talented,” he said sincerely.

“Thank you,” you replied softly.

Yeri, noticing the exchange, chuckled playfully. “Looks like someone has a secret talent,” she teased, giving you a look.

Jungwon laughed, his eyes meeting yours. “You should draw me more often,” he said warmly, his words sending a flutter through your heart…

🌱

Years already passing by.

It was a quiet evening, the gas lamps flickering softly as twilight settled over. Yeri returned home with tear-stained cheeks, her usually vibrant spirit subdued. Your heart sank at the sight of her, knowing something had gone awry.

“What happened, Yeri?” you asked softly, your voice full of concern as you approached her.

Yeri turned to you, her eyes brimming with tears. “Oh, Y/n,” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “Jungwon… he tried to propose to me today.”

Your heart skipped a beat as her words hung in the air, the weight of their implications sinking in. “But… why are you crying then?” you managed to ask, your voice barely above a whisper.

Yeri shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. “Because I had to refuse him,” she confessed, her voice cracking with sorrow. “I love him, but not in that way… everything would be horrid if we married.”

Your heart shattered at her words, tears welling up in your eyes as you struggled to comprehend the depth of her sacrifice. But more than that, you were crying because you saw how deeply Jungwon loved Yeri,

Enough wanting to marry her.

The realization pierced your heart, knowing that the love you held silently could never be.

“I’m so sorry, Yeri,” you whispered, your voice choked with emotion as you pulled her into a tight embrace.

Yeri buried her face in your shoulder, her sobs mingling with yours as you held each other, sharing the weight of a love that could never be. Through tear-stained eyes, you both grieved for the dreams and hopes that had collided with harsh reality.

It was a scene of quiet sorrow, a moment frozen in time amidst the hustle and bustle of a world in transition.

“I never wanted to hurt him,” Yeri muttered softly. “But I couldn’t bear the thought of a marriage built on anything less than true love.”

“I understand,” you replied gently, your heartache echoing in your voice. “Sometimes, the hardest choices are the ones that break our hearts the most.”

🌱

Months had gone since you said goodbye to your family and went to Europe with your grandmother.

Yes, you left, but with a purpose.

There, you learned from skilled artists and improved your painting techniques.

Sitting at your easel with a palette in hand, you focused on painting the colorful spring flowers. The park was lively with other painters, families having picnics, and couples walking together. You didn’t realize that someone familiar was about to reappear in your life.

He approached quietly, a smile tugging at his lips as he observed you in your element. His heart swelled with pride at how far you had come since the last time he saw you.

“Y/n?” Jungwon’s voice broke the peaceful silence, his tone filled with surprise and delight.

You turned at the sound of his voice, eyes widening in disbelief before breaking into a smile. “Jungwon!” you exclaimed, setting aside your paintbrush and palette as you rose to greet him.

He closed the distance between you in quick strides, his grin widening as he reached out to boop your nose playfully—a familiar gesture that you remembered so well.

“You surprised me!” you laughed, your voice filled with genuine joy as you threw your arms around him in a tight embrace.

Jungwon lifted you effortlessly, spinning you around in a whirl. “You’ve grown up,” he remarked with a soft chuckle, his arms still wrapped around you as he gently set you back on your feet.

“I… I didn’t expect to see you here,” you admitted, feeling a rush of happiness and fondness as you looked up at him.

“I wanted to see you,” Jungwon confessed, his gaze tender as he brushed a stray lock of hair from your face. “You look… incredible.”

Heat crept into your cheeks at his compliment, your heart fluttering at the sincerity in his eyes. “Thank you,” you murmured shyly, feeling a surge of gratitude for his presence.

You almost forgot to introduce Jungwon to Minhee. Someone you had been with for a while. ‘’Oh, I want you to meet someone,’’

‘’Jungwon, this is Minhee,” you said warmly, gesturing to the young man standing beside you. “Minhee, meet Jungwon.”

Minhee extended his hand with a smile, his demeanor polite yet reserved. “Nice to meet you,” he greeted Jungwon.

Jungwon shook Minhee’s hand, a polite smile on his lips that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Likewise,” he replied, his tone cordial yet distant.

You sensed a subtle shift in Jungwon’s face before he masked it with a neutral expression.

“Minhee and I were just about to head out,” you explained, breaking the silence that followed the introductions. “It was wonderful seeing you, Jungwon.”

“Yeah, it was great catching up,” Minhee added with a nod, sensing the tension.

Jungwon nodded slightly, his gaze flickering between you and Minhee. “Take care,” he said quietly, with a bit of sadness.

You felt a pang of sympathy as you looked at Jungwon, wishing you could ease the unease that went between you. “We should talk more often while you’re here,” you suggested gently, hoping to bridge the gap that had unexpectedly arisen.

Jungwon nodded again, a faint smile touching his lips. “I’d like that,” he replied, his voice softer now as he met your gaze with gratitude.

With a final wave, you and Minhee turned to leave. As you walked away, you couldn't shake the bittersweet feeling—a reunion with Jungwon, colored with unspoken words and a connection that spanned time and distance.

🌱

The room felt heavy as you carefully packed away your painting supplies, the scent of oil paint lingering in the air. Jungwon leaned against the doorway, his eyes studying you with curiosity and concern.

“Why are you giving this up?” he asked gently, breaking the silence that hung between you.

You paused, turning to face him with a small, sad smile. “It’s not about giving up,” you began, your voice marked by resignation. “It’s about practicality. There are things in life we must consider.”

Jungwon furrowed his brow, sensing the weight of your words. “But you love painting,” he insisted softly.

“I do,” you admitted, nodding slightly. “But loving something doesn’t always mean it’s the path we can afford to take.”

He stepped closer, his gaze searching yours. “What do you mean?”

You sighed, setting down a brush with deliberate care. “You see, Jungwon,” you started, choosing your words carefully, “Women here are often powerless unless they marry. Even then, everything they have belongs to their husbands.”

Jungwon frowned, his expression pained as he took in the implications of your words. “That’s… unfair,” he muttered, his voice laced with sympathy.

“It’s reality,” you replied quietly. “And Minhee… Minhee is different. He’s wealthy, and he can provide security. I’ve always known I would marry a rich man.”

Jungwon’s eyes widened slightly, a flicker of hurt crossing his features. “So, if Minhee went down on one knee to you, would you say yes?”

You met his gaze squarely, the weight of your decision hanging heavy in the air. “Yes,” you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper. “Because marrying Minhee means security, stability… a future I can’t achieve on my own.”

His shoulders slumped slightly, the reality of your words sinking in. “I understand,” he said softly, though you detected a hint of disappointment in his tone.

As you resumed packing, the room hung heavy with silence.

🌱

The park felt peaceful as you and Jungwon sat, you had just finished drawing him, the lines on the paper capturing him with careful detail.

“You have a remarkable talent,” Jungwon remarked with genuine admiration as he studied the sketch, his eyes flickering between the paper and your face.

“Thank you,” you replied softly. The air around you felt charged with unspoken words.

As you both stood up and began to walk, having a lighthearted conversation. Yet, amidst the ease of your exchange, Jungwon’s demeanor turned thoughtful, his gaze distant for a moment.

“How is Minhee?” he finally asked, his voice betraying a hint of concern.

“He’s busy with business,” you replied casually, though the words carried a weight you couldn’t ignore.

Jungwon nodded silently, his expression unreadable as he turned away slightly, staring into the distance. The silence stretched between you, punctuated only by the soft rustling of leaves overhead.

“You deserve more than just security,” Jungwon said suddenly, his voice low yet with earnestness. “You deserve happiness, love… a future where your heart is truly fulfilled.”

You paused, taken aback by his heartfelt words. “Why are you telling me this?” you asked gently, a mix of confusion and vulnerability in your voice. “You know the reality of life.”

Jungwon met your gaze, his eyes reflecting a depth of emotion. “Because you deserve to hear it,” he replied softly, his voice trembling with sincerity. “Because… I love you.”

Those three words hung in the air, stirring emotions within you. Tears welled up in your eyes as you reached out to touch his hand, your heart overflowing with unspoken longing.

“I’ve loved you, I’ve always had,” you confessed softly, your voice trembling with raw honesty. “Every moment, every sketch… it was you.”

Jungwon’s breath caught, his eyes glistening with tears as he held you close. “I never knew,” he murmured, his voice filled with regret. “I should have told you sooner.”

With the weight of years of unspoken love and missed chances hanging between you, you leaned into his embrace.

But you knew that despite the tender moment, the reality of your circumstances remained unchanged. With a heavy heart and tears streaming down your cheeks, you gently pulled away from Jungwon.

“I can’t,” you whispered brokenly, your voice cracking with emotion. “Not when… not when Yeri didn't choose you. I won’t settle for being someone’s second choice. I won’t allow myself to be that’’

"Love, please listen-" Jungwon pleaded, trying to hug you, but you interrupted him right away.

“You are being mean Jungwon...” you muttered to him as you felt your tears running down to your cheeks.

Jungwon’s expression softened, his tears mingling with yours as he watched you walk away, each step echoing the ache in your heart...

🌱

Returning to your hometown brings a lot of memories and emotions. The sights and sounds welcomed you back into the embrace of your family and home. Amongst the laughter and chatter, there was a quiet moment when you found yourself alone with Jungwon after a while.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” you admitted, your voice soft with surprise as you looked at him, feeling a rush of emotions at seeing him again.

Jungwon’s eyes searched yours, his gaze with longing. “I had to see you,” he confessed quietly.

As you both walked through the old familiar streets, the conversation turned to recent events. The mention of Minhee brought a pause, a hesitation crossing your face.

“You didn’t say yes,” Jungwon observed gently, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why?”

Taking a deep breath, you looked down in shame, your heart laid bare in that vulnerable moment. “Because I don’t love him that way….the way that I should,” you admitted, your voice tinged with emotion. “Not like… like I love you.”

Jungwon’s expression softened, his eyes shining with tears of joy and relief. Your eyes met him as tears slowly went down. “You don't have to say anything-’’

But without a word, he moved closer and gently held your face before kissing you...

🌱

Years had passed since that reunion when love had finally found its way back to you and Jungwon. Now, you were sitting while painting the beauty of the park.

Beside you, Jungwon watched with a tender smile, his gaze brimming with admiration and love.

“You’ve captured it perfectly,” he murmured, his voice soft with pride as he knelt beside you, gently placing a hand on your growing belly.

You glanced down at the swell of your abdomen, a smile gracing your face. “Our little one,” you whispered. “Can you believe it?”

Jungwon’s eyes sparkled as he leaned in to press a kiss against your forehead. “I can’t wait to meet our baby,” he replied softly, his hand resting protectively over yours.

In that moment, you knew that you had found love that had grown against all odds...

[totaly-obsessed]

Could you write the oldest request with Aitana Bonmati and maybe make more parts of it with flashbacks if important moments (First Meeting, first kiss, first time pregnant, first daughters birth, first birthday, meeting Aitanas parents) there are many more moments you could write. If you don't write requests at the moment, I understand and don't put pressure on your self, if you don't like it don't do it.

Always keep the fun at writingand if you are not having fun stop it, because if you don't like it the you will never write as good as a story you really had fun writing

Thanks for sharing these incredible story's with us

Linda

Aitana Bonmatí x reader request

-> Aitana hides a wife and eventually a child from her teammates

-> also requested by this anon - I hope you like it

-> Talk of IVF - Information from Google, 'Y/N' once, a lot longer than expected

➳ Masterlist

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Doing something for the first time was always scary, most people knew that – and so did your wife. Well, now she was your wife, a couple of years ago she was just ‘Aitana Bonmatí’ the next person on your list of people you would need to photograph. That was your job after all, being Barcelona Femenís new team photographer after the last one was let go after facing harassment claims made by the players. 

The first friend you made on the team was Caroline, who spoke English so that you could communicate, and it didn’t take long until Lieke warmed up to you as well. They made it a lot easier to communicate – you didn’t speak Spanish and most of the Spaniards, didn’t speak English, but you still managed to talk to each other – it was a mix of both languages, as everybody tried to learn. 

Meeting Aitana back in 2019 was quite funny, the young Midfielder was next in line to get her photos for the season taken and she was nervous. A new photographer, who didn’t speak Spanish? How was this going to work?  

But as soon as she saw you, she knew that you had already stolen her heart, ready to keep it forever. Aitana was a blushing and stuttering mess, while you tried to get through the shoot as fast as possible, thinking that the Catalan hated you. It was a lot of awkward back and forth until she finally asked you out on a date.

It would be the first of many, and because you had taken such a long time to even get to this point, both of you were now mediocre at the other's respective language, making conversation much easier and a lot more fun-er.

---

---

The first kiss came with the third date when the Spaniard couldn’t wait any longer, and what better place than her bed? The footballer had invited you to her apartment and you had cooked together, joking around the entire evening until she could see your eyes droop.

“Let’s go to bed linda, hmm?” It was no secret that you loved when she called you beautiful, so with blushing cheeks and shy smiles you stumbled to the brunette’s bedroom, who excitedly pulled you after her by your hand. 

Soft giggles filled the room when Aitana just pushed you on the bed, claiming that you ‘need to relax more’ before she started massaging your shoulders. A certain tension filled the room and ultimately the Spaniard couldn’t handle it – she grasped your ching gently, turning your head towards her. 

She was stunning.

Soft brown eyes stared deep into yours, seeing you for who you really were before she gently closed the gap between your faces. It had been the best first kiss there could be (at least when asking you or Aitana), and the first time followed shortly later, she really couldn’t wait any longer.

Safe to say, that neither of you would ever forget that date.

---

---

Meeting your girlfriend's Parents was quite scary for you, after all, your Spanish still wasn’t that good – but Aitana made sure to praise every new word you learned with a gentle kiss to your forehead, proud of you, that you wanted to learn her language and culture. 

But when you met them, all your worries went out the window – they were so nice and very much interested in learning English as both of them were teachers of the Catalonian language and literature.

The evening was nice as Rosa taught you how to make Aitana’s favorite dish from home – she even gave you all of the recipe cards she had originally written for her daughter. While the footballer loved food, she tried to stay far away from the kitchen – luckily for both of you, you enjoyed it.

During that time Vicent stood in the garden with his daughter, giving her ‘the speech’ he had planned for you – but just like his wife and daughter, you had quickly wormed your way into his heart, making him turn on his daughter. But she could tell that the threats held no real weight to them, the sly smirk on his face giving everything away.

Rosa gave you all the credit for dinner when you really had just peeled potatoes and observed – but Aitana, none the wiser complimented you the whole night through, pressing appreciative kisses to your cheeks, forehead, and even your hair, while her parents watched. 

They were in awe, wondering how you had gotten their daughter's attention when she had never been in anybody else. Football had been the only thing on her mind until she met you. Vicent and Rosa were so incredibly happy for their daughter – sure seeing her successful and fighting for equality was amazing, but seeing her so utterly in love? That was just something else.

On that very night, Vicent had given your girlfriend a little box with two rings inside of it.

---

--- 

A year of dating had passed and you were living together in a new apartment when Aitana popped the big question. When you started dating she had told you, that it wasn’t a question of ‘if’ you were getting married, but rather a question of ‘when’. You had only blushed, her certainty made you feel giddy. There was just something about it.

The proposal wasn’t some big gesture but rather a cozy evening together, where she pulled the box out and got on her knees when you were getting more wine.

There had been tears, and obviously, you had said yes after sinking to your knees and embracing Aitana in a tear-stained kiss.

The rings were beautiful, one of them was a little thicker than the second one, but both had beautiful vines with leaves engraved in them – multiple little diamonds were embedded in the bands. 

“They belonged to mi abuela y abuelo.” Aitana was also crying, while she knew that you would say yes, she was still overrun with emotions. “We can get new ones if you want… I just thought th-“

You didn’t let her finish rambling, cooing a little at how nervous she was. “No – I love them, Tana. I’ll have to thank your abuela y abuelo the next time that I see them, huh?”

 After meeting her parents for the first time Aitana took you to her grandparent's grave – family was important to her. 

The actual wedding was held in a small circle of the closest friends and family members – the Spaniard loved keeping you to herself even with her huge family. The team obviously knew you as their photographer but Laia Codina was the only one invited from the team – sworn to secrecy.

It had been a dream.

---

---

During your honeymoon, the conversation about having kids came up again and again. You had obviously talked about it before, but now as a married couple, everything seemed much more plausible. You had everything you needed for the perfect family life you had always dreamed of – except a kid, obviously. 

After carefully considering your options you landed on co-IVF. Thanks to two well-paying jobs, you had the necessary funds, and both of you wanted to be actively, emotionally as well as physically involved.

The decision on who would carry out the pregnancy and who would be the provider of the genetic load came quite easily – Aitana was just at the start of her big career, important seasons would surely come, so you would be the one to get pregnant.

While it was typically the younger person who would be the genetic mother, Aitana was only a year older than you and had just turned 22 – she had a good ovarian reserve and the genetic screening showed no problems, so you could go through with the process. Your uterus had also been deemed fit to carry the baby, as was your overall health.

The process was long and tedious – Aitana had to inject herself with hormones for twelve days, to stimulate egg growth, before the final injection which would trigger ovulation. After that, the eggs are retrieved and the mature ones are fertilized by the sperm of an anonymous donor you had carefully picked out together. One of the embryos gets placed in your uterus after up to six days of growing, while you have prepared your body with progesterone and estrogen in order to make sure that your uterus lining is at the correct thickness. 

But the hardest part came after the embryo transfer – A two-week wait before you could take a pregnancy test. It was pure torture, the only good thing was that you saw your wife every day, making the hormones much more manageable.

How the team didn’t find out was truly a miracle, they must have thought that there was something seriously wrong with their teammate when Aitana started to be more careful – not knowing that she was growing a load of eggs.

After the dreaded two weeks you finally took the test together – no matter how much you protested Aitana joined you in the bathroom, she really wanted to be here for this. In solidarity the Spaniard had sipped water alongside you – so now you both needed to pee. 

After taking the first ‘First Response Early Result wand test’ test you waited anxiously on the couch. This was the best test kit for at home, your wife had made sure of that. The five minutes felt even longer than the two weeks – it was painful. When the timer was up, your eyes met. Together you turned the small device over.

No. It couldn’t be…

Out of shock, you took a second test, and after that showed the same result, you took a third one. Tears brimmed in your eyes, hands shaking so much that Aitana took the test out of them, turning it around – it was the same result.

Positive.

It had worked on the first try.

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As happy as you were to be pregnant, it really was a bitch. The first trimester was the worst, you had morning sickness all day long. Why do they even call it that? Morning sickness?

You still went to work with an upset stomach, extreme tiredness, and hurting breasts. Aitana tried to look out for you, as subtle as she could. Whenever at a match she brought you a chair, just carrying it after you so that you could sit down. She also took over the cooking so that you could rest as much as possible. But with all the problems the meals got smaller and more frequent.

As hard as it was, you loved it – so did Aitana.

The second trimester came with back pain, stretch marks, and patches of darker skin over the cheeks, forehead, nose, and upper lip – the ‘mask of pregnancy’. But it also came with a slightly showing belly in the beginning until you could fully see it in your work clothes.

In week 23 of pregnancy, Aitana had the scare of her life. As usual, you were cuddled up on the couch, your back to her stomach as you tried to edit a couple of pictures in this position. Your wife's wandering hands were just making their way down to your pants, trying to tease you when she suddenly felt a nudge. “¿Qué fue eso?” You had felt it before, a gentle fluttering in your tummy, or like a tumbling sensation. “Linda? What was that?” 

The baby had started to move, and Aitana fell in love all over again. She obviously knew that it could happen any day now, but actually feeling it? That was something else. 

With your protruding belly, the other girls started to notice as well – it was Ana who discovered it first. You had come to her with the Club's Social Media phone, needing her to record a quick video for Instagram.

“Oie! Did I miss something?”

At first, you didn’t really know what she was talking about – completely forgetting that you had given up looking for baggy shirts and just worn one that was a bit tighter.

“Whoopsie?”

On that very day, Aitana decided to tell the team. She didn’t want to hide anymore. While having you to herself was incredible, she wanted to brag about you and the unborn child she already loved so much. 

When you entered the gym room at the time you were told, everybody looked at you. “¿Cómo estás mi amor?” Alexia was the first at your side, and even if she saw your belly, she didn’t say anything when she kissed both of your cheeks.

“I know you already know her, but I wanted to re-introduce you. So… Meet the love of my life, and my wife – Y/N.”

The silence was swallowing you whole, Aitana’s hand in yours as she gently squeezed it, trying to calm your nerves. Just seconds later the gym erupted in cheers and you were pulled into hug after hug by the girls who knew that there was something going on between Aitana and you – but they never would have guessed just how close you were.

“Is it Aitana’s baby then?” – and just like that Ana made the team erupt in screams again, as if they were just looking at you for the first time. 

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For the third trimester, you were sent home by Jonatan, Aitana’s training plan was heavily adjusted and her game time dwindled down. While she would have hated that at any different time – she was happy to be with you every single day of your pregnancy. 

She helped you wherever she could, showering, making dinner, putting shoes on, and going on walks. When you started to nest, she never complained, just offering her hands whenever something didn’t work the way you wanted it to.

The Barca girls were a big help to their fellow teammate – listening to her rambling on and on about you and the little one, affectionally called ‘pequeño’ by everyone. No one knew the sex yet, you didn’t want to know until the baby was there. There were organized bets going on, organized by Mapi and Jenni – team boy currently held more money.

Your due date was calculated for the 23rd of May, with the Champions League final falling on the 21st. It took a lot of convincing on your side to make Aitana go with the team. “Tana this could be the most important game in your life!”

“But what if pequeño comes early?”

The Spaniard insisted on staying home until the day of departure came. You had reassured her countless times, that you would be perfectly fine – after all the baby wasn’t supposed to come yet, and what baby would actually be punctual? Definitely not yours. After all it haf your wife’s DNA, and Aitana was always late.

In the end, it was Rosa who convinced her daughter to travel to Italy with the team.

The loss of 3 – 1 hit hard, especially against Lyon but an excited hum filled the plane back that was originally supposed to take off the next evening – but when Aitana had gotten the call that your contractions started every existing plan got thrown overboard and just two hours later they were on their way to Barcelona.

It was safe to say that little Mira Linda Bonmatí made the memory of losing the Champions League finale the day before just that much better.

Now an entire year later you could barely believe it – your little girl was already turning one and her Mamí was getting ready for another final – this time with you and her little mascot by her side – making it a hundred times better already.

While standing in the crowd you couldn’t help but laugh, thinking back on how you had managed to hide your relationship, marriage, and pregnancy from the Barca Femení squad for such a long time. Now you couldn’t imagine life without them – 22 very eager Tia’s who would gladly look after Mia any chance they got.