#AND THEN I GOT TOO INTO THE TOP ROW ONES LMAO. OOPS

[tortilla-of-courage]

Grooseland scene doodles

[cryptidofthekeys]

Btw showing the desc of my fursona now (i forgor- oop I still swear to god I've forgotten a detail but I can just update it at any point so ye) But anyways here's uh my fursona! I bet y'all can tell im not super used to making furry characters

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| Name: Lunar Nightwing Creepybonez

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| Nicknames: Usually prefers to just go by Lunar, or his actual nicknames: Luny (Loo-ny), Creepz, or Bonez

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| Pronouns/Sexuality: Trans FTM, goes by He/Him, and he is Pansexual

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| Age: 24

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| Height: 5’5”

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| Species/Race: Anthropomorphic Animal (Mouse/Bat hybrid)

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| Hobby: Writer/Artist

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| Eye Color: One’s pastel purple and the other’s pastel green (light pastels) his eyes are normal pupils (sometimes they go silly mode, going wide like a cat’s, slits, his eyes can also swirl like a hypnosis effect)

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| Fur Color/Body Type: His fur is also Pastel Purple, from his neck to his belly is Pastel Green, his wings are a mixture of the colors (the back of his wings are fully pastel purple but the inside of his wings go in a row, pastel purple, pastel green, and then repeat essentially until his wing span ends, his wings are big enough to wrap around his whole body or someone else’s, and he’s fat.

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| Likes: Horror Stuff/Halloween, Demons, Sharks, Dogs, Bears, other Bats/Mice, Writing and Drawing of course, Baking, Rhythm Games, Sweets/Candies, Wrestling (it’s a special interest of his, has been since he was a kid, he can talk your ear off about it)

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| Dislikes: Shitty people in general which is obvious, dolphins, Owls, Hawks, not being able to do the things he likes, Anxiety, the stigma around sharks (has a fucking vendetta for Jaws but also watches it just to give correct and accurate shark facts), Dolphins …he just doesn’t like them,  and …tbh I can’t think of much else, he doesn’t dislike a WHOLE lot lmao

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| Appearance: Imma get this out of the way, Lunar’s wings are attached from the back, his arms/paws are separate, he’s got a pink mouse tail as well, Lunar doesn’t wear clothes, he doesn’t… Really need to and besides, do you know how hard it’d be to cut out holes to fit his wings through and also his tail, it isn’t like he needs them anyways, he has pastel purple and pastel green toe beans on his paws too, and his toe beans squeak when you press them, as does his nose, his nose is pastel purple with little pastel green dots on them.

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Lunar has pointed ears like a bat’s, long whiskers like a mouse, his eyes usually have little white heart shines in them, he’s got two front buck teeth (but their razor sharp, like buck fangs)

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And his other teeth are just sharp and pointy, his fur is super soft and smooth, there’s three little tufts of pastel purple fur though that are always sticking up on him, no matter how much he combs it, it always sticks up, so he just kept it like that, he thinks it looks cool anyways, he has top surgery scars that kinda look similar to bat type wings.

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His eyes can go from heart shines to hypnotic swirls of pastel purple and pastel green (why? Bc I love designs like that)

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This is just me writing down the basics of like when I make the fursuit- which’ll be a LONG time from now bc I legit don’t know what I’m doing and need to learn

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…I realize he doesn’t really need a personality since uh he’s MY fursona- so he’s kinda just,, like me essentially- but some uh side facts I guess is in order-

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| Side Facts: Lunar is amazing at playing the old game ‘Snake’ when he was a kid he used to play all the time on his mom’s old Nokia phone (I’m giving him things that I did as a kid yes) if you put Snake in front of him he may not beat the full game but he can get a damn good high score on it, same with Tetris.

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Contrary to loving horror, while he has horror games he plays, he much prefers cozy games or relaxing ones, Stardew Valley is one of his most favorite cozy games.

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Lunar has a loud screech that can be deafening, it’s one of his defense mechanisms technically, his loud screen can hurt your ears hella bad if he does it loud enough, and accurate to real life bats, Luny can’t just fly up suddenly in the air, no, he has to get to a high enough platform and THEN take flight, he’s pretty fast too, both in the air and when running, I mean he IS a mouse/bat so yeah.

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Lunar is a scare actor at one of the haunt conventions in his hometown, he does it every Halloween (my dream to be a scare actor lmao) and Lunar’s house is decked to the nines in terms of horror merch, his house is like a damn horror house itself, he does sleep upside down most of the time with his tail and wings curled around himself, but sometimes he sleeps in a coffin bed he made himself just for dramatic effect.

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This fucker goes FERAL over Teddy Grahams, give him one of those and his life is yours, literally has been caught in the middle of the night eating a whole box of them, he fucking LOVES those things.

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His biggest comfort food is Graham Crackers and Milk, if he doesn’t feel like eating anything else because some days for him all food sucks or makes him feel sick, but they never do, it’s a huge comfort food to him and he could eat it at any given time.

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His favorite bands/singers include: Will Wood, Lordi, Circus Contraption, Creature Feature, and Ice Nine Kills mostly (but he'll always listen to anything at least once, he loves his music)

[nationmckinleyscorset]

Completing thisss

Nah fr I'd be so mad if I was giving a presentation and someone was humming

"Love?" Fucking hippie

"A reckless lunatic sits in the whitehouse" never have truer words been spoken

Oop fugative Jimmy

"I love you even if you do have pudgy fingers" ����

Don't trust the brownie my boy

Idiot

What is happening

This song is me when my mental health gets bad 💀 brownies hit different when you're sad

He's fucking a brownie? I- what?

Mae is so protective of Jimmy I love it

At least he finally got the ring off

Why is Jimmy humping Sally's leg like a bulldog?

Mary lane's smile has too many teeth imo, i feel like she'd bite me and not in a good way 😂

Oh my god he's like a dog he's going for everything pillars, furniture... Mary come collect your animal

I can actually see Mary being infatuated with Paris

Her eyes are killing me

Mary really I'd like the Janet of Reeder madness, I know I've already said it but it's true

The website I'm watching on keeps freezing and annoying me lol

"You'll forget the word no" I'm not too sure I like the way this is going

I wish I could say I wasn't expecting it but I keep comparing it to rocky horror so it only makes sense that she'd have a dramatic transformation in which she switches from pink to black and red

Love the fact we have the same nails rn XD

What in the 50 shades

"Whips, nip clips and candle wax" ON HER FIRST TIME?

I'm laughing so hard rn and I probably shouldn't be

She's such a top 😂

Tbf... it was one or the other. One of them was gonna get assaulted and I'd rather it was a guy with bad intentions than Mary sooo (Not justifying this)

"Shut up bitch 👊🏻" damnnn ok

That looks low-key painful

Get schooled Kochinski

NOT THE TONGUE

Ok wait im thinking hear me out. So Mary and Sally look alike, some kid who looks like Jimmy just showed up to the house, it's like a cycle: 2 kids get corrupted and become like Sally and the other guy who's name I can't remember and they keep bringing in kids similar to their younger selves. I honestly am probably just slow and that's probably obvious.

Who got shot?!?!?! OH MY GOD NO! NO NO NO!

Smelling salts aren't gonna help her you idiot she's dead

Oh I'm dumb lol

Yeah forget my theory she can't continue the cycle if she's DECEASED

irrelevant but Mae's got a murderess robe 💀I already know how this ends so I find that hilarious

A deathbed proposal? Aww lol

"We're happy, young and... hemorrahging blood 😁"

No honey romeo and juliet die know👏🏻your👏���shakespeare👏🏻

That's so sad though omg

That's a lot of blood jeeez

If they let Jimmy go doen for this imma throw hands

Mae please

If she doesnt tell the truth-

LMAO he said Mae please too 😂

STOP

OMG I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING NICE I SAID ABOUT HER

well, not everything but DAMN

DEATH ROW?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!

"IM... FINE... perfectly in control" relatable

Ralph being haunted by Jimmy is the funniest thing I've seen in a while

And now Mary is dancing with the devil WTFFFFF

Is she dressed as a maid?

This entire movie is such a trip but I think that's the whole idea 😂

Just realised their entire garden is growing weed 💀 reminds me of my dad's friends house 😊🤣

His dark circles are more prominent than Riff Raff's

Zombie flash mob timeee

If Sally dies I'll be so pissed

STOP

HE DID NOT

OMG I'm gonna throw up wtf

Mae screaming is literally me rn

Why have so many of the movies I've seen this week involved somebody getting parts of them getting bitten off

BROSKI WONT DIE

#justiceforsally

Sally was my second favourite character thoughhhhh

"Now I know that once you see you can't unsee" - Carrie The Musical

OMG HES STILL ALIVE THIS BITCH I SWEAR-

Oh to walk like mae XD

OMG what in the repo the genetic opera

Skewered like blind mag no disrespect to my girl or anything

Finally he's dead

OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING I low key wanna draw that now - Sally's body emerging from the garden

Satan's really just chilling with them all 😂

So are there more bodies in the garden? Cos there's more dead people than the number we've seen killed in the movie

The voices in my head when I'm trying to pay attention to someone giving me directions: (/j)

Jack had better die

OMG everybody shut up Mae's about to sing

TAKE. YOUR. HANDS. OFF. HER. TITS.

I hate that she's trying to be empowered but Jack's just stood there smacking her up

IT WASNT LOADED YES

Omg slayyy Mae

Definitely gotta cosplay her

Yes baby beat his ass 😂

Knowing how this ends is making this concerning cos like I know it gets so graphic

Jaw on the floor (just like Jack's body)

All the people walking out after that presentation traumatised 🤣

Stop omg that's way too coincidental

Just putting on lipstick like she's not covered in blood

She hit te floor (She hit the floor!) shawty got low low low low low low low (sorry it had to be done)

Does anybody survive this movie?

I hate that this is the norm for most movies I watch now

Is Jimmy gonna live? WAIT

Jimmys last words: "um..."

YAY!

Oml get him out the chair and cut the small talk 💀

Not the last minute Annie references 😂

Why is nobody questioning the fact that Mae is drenched in Jack's blood?

You choose: Paddington 2, Chicago, or Reefer Madness - who had the best prison musical number?

What am I watching?

The best American propaganda I've ever seen 🤣😭

Is Sally the same actress as Lady Liberty?

Cutting down the weed factory? Now it's definitely like my dad's friends house IM KIDDING JEEZ

did Satan just die? How? What?

And Mary went to heaven XD

"One day I'll get cancer or hit by a train!!! 😁😊😍"

Wtf was that ending oh my god (referring to the heaven scene)

I'd die laughing if the fire at the pep rally was the burning weed (Is it a pep rally? I'm British idk)

Final thoughts

Would i watch it again? Absolutely

Recommend it to a friend? Definitely

Favourite character? Mae

Was the music good? It was amazing 😂

@little-whats-her-name thank you so much for drawing my attention to this

Best of a hilarious play-by-play of people watching Reefer Madness for the first time that I found on the liveblog

[hermannsthumb]

As per our conversation, Hermann teaching a zoom class and perhaps forgetting to mute himself when his husband comes in during break...

god this is going to be my first fic of 2021. hilarious. not sfw!!!!! 👀 and also major warning for secondhand embarrassment LMAO

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“You finished yet?” Newton calls into the study.

Hermann stretches his arms above his head with a groan, then yawns just as Newton appears around the doorframe. “Hardly. We’ve still got another, oh…” He spares a glance towards the cat-shaped clock hanging near some potted ivy by the window. (The clock was purchase of Newton’s at some sort of novelty shop they stumbled across on vacation last year that Hermann absolutely refused him to allow to hang in the bedroom.) “Hour. I’m allowing them a small break to fetch water or lunch or whatnot.”

A plate balanced atop Hermann’s preferred mug is produced from behind Newton’s back—sandwich, apple slices, and tea. Newton smiles. “Good timing. I was worried I’d have to force this on you in front of your students. How’s the leg holding up?”

The occasions upon which Hermann has no choice but to reschedule his graduate lessons to Zoom are rare, but fortunately foreseeable by a day or so; though the end of the war meant Hermann does not run himself nearly as ragged as he used to, his left leg acts up terribly every now and again, and he really doesn’t have it in himself to make the journey by foot to campus (or even by train) when it does. Or do anything besides wear a bloody heating pad and pop some his medication—Newton calls them his bad leg days. Hermann’s students are always very understanding, and indeed, he suspects they may appreciate the chance to lounge about their own flats for the day. “Better than before,” Hermann says. “Much better, really.”

Newton sets Hermann’s lunch down on his desk, and pulls up the second computer chair to sit down next to him. He steals an apple slice. “Good,” he says. Then his eyes flick over Hermann—from his usual combination of sweatervest and slightly-wrinkled oxford up top, to Newton’s borrowed pair of sweatpants below. They’re too-big in everything but length and hit his calves, but it’s not as if any of his students are going to see them. Newton grins. “Those look kinda hot on you, you know.”

“Newton,” Hermann warns.

“Are you wearing my boxers too?” Newton says. “Or—”

He creeps his hand over to Hermann’s thigh with (what Hermann knows are) full intentions to draw back his waistband and take a peek. Hermann bats him away, blushing. “Behave yourself. I’m in class.”

“You’re on break,” Newton says.

“A short break,” Hermann says. “A very short break. Not nearly enough time to—”

“You didn’t take very long this morning,” Newton says, grinning wider.

That morning should hardly be held up as an example of Hermann’s usual, er, prowess in their intimate affairs. After fetching Hermann his medication and a glass of water, Newton had very graciously massaged his poor, poor knee, and his poor, poor hip, and Hermann had had only the natural reaction to one’s extremely alluring husband groping about one’s bare skin even with twinges of pain, and Newton had used his mouth to take care of that. Hermann’s stamina was short-lived, though it made him feel heaps better. “I was wound up,” Hermann says, lamely.

Newton swallows down another apple slice and carefully slides one of his legs between Hermann’s. “I bet I could get you wound up again pretty fast,” he says. He rubs his knee up and down slowly, against the front of Hermann’s loose, borrowed sweatpants; Hermann groans.

“Bugger,” he says. “Oh, Newton, I’m teaching.”

“Really fast?” Newton says. “C’mon, it’ll make you feel even better.”

“This is entirely about your—” Hermann bites down on his bottom lip to keep another pathetic sound from slipping out, and clutches onto the edge of his desk. “Ah, your own bloody ego, and you—you know it.”

“Maybe,” Newton says.

He grazes his fingertips across Hermann’s jaw, and presses his thumb against Hermann’s mouth. Hermann parts his lips automatically to allow it to slip between them. Newton’s pretty irises darken. “You want another blowjob?” he says. “Hey, you wouldn’t even have to stop teaching. I could just hide under your desk.”

“Newton,” Hermann hisses around his thumb. “Don’t be crass.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Newton snorts. “Remember that one time in the lab—?”

Hermann does, unfortunately, or maybe it’s fortunately, because it had been rather exhilarating at the time. Newton had talked him into a rare instance of laboratory sex, oral sex for oral sex, and offered to go first; halfway through the act, they’d been interrupted by someone with paperwork for them to sign, and Hermann (in a panic) had shoved Newton out of sight beneath his desk. Newton continued to suck him off anyway while Hermann signed it for them. “It’ll be just like then,” Newton says. He pulls his hand away from Hermann, and begins to slide off his chair to his knees. “C’mon, dude. Or are you afraid everyone will find out you’re a slut?”

Hermann moans in spite of himself, and then laughs nervously. He does so lose control of himself when Newton calls him those sorts of things. “Newton. Oh, you’re awful. Get back—mhm, ah—” Newton is pulling down the waistband of the sweatpants with a devious grin. He makes a mocking, obscene little kissing-face when Hermann's prick, already hard, pops free. “Darling—”

Hermann’s phone begins to buzz when Newton takes him into his mouth. One short buzz—a series of one short buzzes, in fact. Emails. Emails, emails. Why so many in a row? He’s meant to be in class. People know he’s not available now. Hermann is absolutely not available now. “You’re too bloody good at this,” Hermann says through a soft gasp, and kneads at the bulge of Newton’s cheek. Newton winks.

Buzz. Buzz. “For God’s sake,” Hermann says, and snatches his phone up in a fury. He’ll set the damn thing to Do Not Disturb and finish enjoying his private time with his husband, thank you.

The top subject line catches his eye before he can. You’re not muted!!!! It’s from one of his graduate students. The rest of them are something similar, from some handful of three or four students. “Oh, fuck,” Hermann gasps. A chasm of dread opens up in the pit of his stomach; surely he muted himself, of course he muted himself, he wouldn’t have not muted himself. Hermann programmed jaegers, by Jove, he knows how to work simple technology like a mute button. Right? “Newton, get—”

“Mm,” Newton hums happily.

“No, you moron, get up, get up now.”

Hermann tugs Newton back by his hair, which is a mistake: Newton’s head hits the top of his desk with an echoing thud, and Newton’s moan of pleasure at being manhandled turns into a grunt of pain halfway through. “Shit, Hermann, that hurt!”

Hermann pulls up his Zoom screen (minimized during the break) frantically. His camera is off; his computer sound is muted; his microphone is not, and he has a half-dozen messages in the Zoom chat (which he missed) politely telling him he might want to check that. He fixes it quickly. “Get out of here,” he hisses at Newton. He tucks himself back into Newton’s sweatpants, acutely aware of the horrid hot blush spreading up every inch of his visible skin. Oh, he wishes he was dead. He wishes a kaiju would come from no where and stomp both of them into oblivion. He wishes he could hand in his resignation at this very moment. “I wasn’t—muted.”

Newton, still kneeling under his desk, stares at him with eyes wide behind his glasses, and then lets out a burst of laughter. “Oops,” he says.

The allotted break ends five minutes later. Newton makes off with Hermann’s uneaten sandwich, and Hermann gathers up as much dignity as he can muster and switches both camera and microphone back on. “Good,” he says. “We’re all here. Er. Where did we leave off?”

[bisexual-birdy]

since you like for him by troye sivan have you heard ‘strawberries and cigarettes’? as someone who’s had troye sivan in my top artists for like 4 years in a row, i think you’d like that one too (it came on shuffle just now and i wondered if you’d heard it lol)

listen,, I hadn't heard listened to troye sivan's songs until i stumbled across a zukka fic that had 'for him' as a mood setting song. since then i've been literally obsessed with that song. i would like to take the time to thank you for getting me out of that obsession and getting me obsessed with strawberries and cigarettes lmao.

i hadn't heard the song until i saw your ask and literally the moment i played it i became obsessed because wow holy shit?? if for him is a teenage matchablossom song, strawberries and cigarettes is the song that plays with cherry in the hospital, reflecting over his past with adam from when they were younger. it gives toxic romance vibes with a lover who was so addicting but so bad for you and is that not them. like, that's them.

anyway, i detest adam and in my head this would be the turning point (in a canonverse fic because literally this is how my brain operates oop-) where Cherry finally gets over adam and his bullshit because he realizes how addicting he is, but in a bad way (like cigarettes).

i also realize that this was ask was not meant for my cherry headcannons from sk8, i got carried away my bad,,, but feel free to slide me more troye sivan song recs?? because honestly i am obsessed

[askmyboys]

Jeremy (Puppet Maker OC)

| Name: Jeremy (he’s scribbled out a last name)

| Nicknames: Jere or Remy

| Gender: Trans FTM

| Age: N/A

| Height: 6’3”

| Species/Race: Human

| Occupation: Makes puppets, that’s,, p much it- he just really loves making puppets

| Hair Color: Tiger Orange (Messy Curly Undercut, it usually hangs a bit in his face too)

| Eye Color: Baby Blue

| Skin Color/Body Type: He’s really fuckin pale (he doesn’t go outside a whole lot) and he’s also chubby as well!

| Appearance: His main outfit is a dark seafoam green turtleneck with a dark brown trench coat (not leather) and he wears beige colored pants (got lots of paint stains on all of his clothes as well so oop) and finally he has dark blue dress shoes (that also have paint on them) honestly? He tried to wear an apron but it legit did NOTHING for him so he gave up with that, he did use the apron for one of his puppets though! He cut it up and sewed some stuff together and then created some patterns on it (nothing ever goes to waste for him if he sees potential)

He wears orange gauges that match his hair color but that’s it for jewelry- He also doesn’t have a circle beard- go figure! He does have little fangs (no claws, bad for puppet making and besides the claw nails would just get stained) hell his skin has usually got paint stains even! This lad is MESSY as hell! Puppet making is a messy job!! He’s also got a few minor scars, he’s had his fair share of accidents for sure, some puppets have sharp bits ya know and it can hurt… The final thing I can think of is he also wears circle glasses (it helps him see better)

| Personality: Jeremy oh this sweet man… He’s very sweet, kind, and absolutely caring but he has the WORST social anxiety, he’s so bad at dealing with people which is why he RARELY ever goes out (the ONLY time you’d see him out is when he’s going to get more supplies) i'm not kidding when I say he is literally the WORST at dealing with humans, he’s somewhat okay with animals so long as they aren’t in his workshop- after all most animals will go after his puppets and he’s got a LOT of dangerous shit for animals in there- like mm p  a int and clay for example- He DOESN’T want anything ingesting that…

He’d rather just stay in his workshop, with his puppet friends… That’s all he wants, it’s easier than having to try and figure out how to interact with other people… He’s very gentle and soft tbh, pretty soft spoken, he does have somewhat of a stutter and has trouble with words sometimes but listen man he’s trying his best… There’s not much else to say, just a friendly loving n caring man who just loves to make Puppets ya know? ...There IS a reason he’s scribbled his last name out and wants nothing to do with it (family issues i’ll spoil it right then n there)

| Side Facts: He lives in a bit of a weird thing… It’s like a tower of sorts in all honesty a b i g ass tower actually- and literally all the way up it there’s ROWS and ENDLESS rows of puppets sitting on shelves ALL the way to the top of the tower where there’s a fuckin HUUUUGE ass attic area, puppets are also ALL around up there, sitting on shelves or just in so many places you can NEVER escape the puppets gazes… They are literally everywhere, you can NEVER escape them ...u-unless you, ya know, leave the tower ...BUT WAIT HEY, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?!? T-THIS IS HIS HOME, HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN HERE?!? (dumbass probs forgot to lock his fuckin door, lmao idiot-)

Jeremy,, now he KNOWS technically speaking these puppets are not alive at all, but also he talks to the puppets, it’s about all he can do since people scare him so damn much, he’ll talk to all the puppets he can really manage really! He’ll even say goodnight to them when he doesn’t… Pass out from exhaustion, that is, he works on puppets a LOT and sometimes he forgets that uh sleep, or eating or drinking is VERY important… While Jeremy is USUALLY working on puppets as I said you’ll only ever see him out in public when he needs supplies BUT Jeremy isn’t dumb or anything,, like even with the windows he leaves open he’ll sometimes get out of his tower and head down to the river nearby or just go to the forest and wander around in order to get some fresh air.

Honestly, like Jeremy is v sweet and lovely but he genuinely needs some kinda therapy for his issues,, he has LOTS of SEVERE social anxiety and he seems terrified if someone even starts to approach him… Also btw his tower is p much on a hillside-like area, with a forest and a river of course nearby like I said- also,, another thing- Jeremy even when out and about probs would never talk about his puppet making hobby or tell anyone about them because most people, likewise, thinks puppets are creepy, or weird, or gross- (yeah his uh family always made fun of him, even went as far as to break some of his puppets he made when he was younger, his family always complained why can't he be a normal kid? and honestly? Just hated him in general tbh, they were fuckin bastards true and through)

Which is why Jeremy has NO contact with family whatsoever and literally never wants to see them again in his entire life,, not that they’d ever find him or his tower- its legit a ONE and a MILLION chance given how far away he moved from their city.

Remy definitely wishes the puppets were real and alive sometimes, it’d be nice bc he wouldn’t…

He wouldn’t feel as afraid talking to a puppet! In fact, he legit has no problem talking with puppets- he’s not terrified of them in the slightest, but uh, he sadly knows it’s literally impossible for puppets to be,, real, to be walking and talking without ya know, someone pulling the strings or levers... (lmao with that attitude it's impossible) oh well he’s still gonna talk to them and treat them as though they were live beings ...Aka treat them with kindness and care (maybe he should practice tryna interact with humans through puppets tbh)

Jeremy has definitely given a home to many puppets as well (like a gosh damn rescue) he’s picked puppets up from many places- it’s uh, been ones that have been tossed aside, broken and damaged lil babs, even though he doesn’t usually like germs that much he has found puppets in the dumpster a lot more than he wishes he did, it hurts his heart to see such cool puppets, trashed n broken like that…  Sooo he just couldn’t resist, he had to take them with him and patch them up ...And clean them up too of course, also himself because eugh- germs,, bad and icky...

[tinybibmpreg]

almost forgot to post the next prompt fill today lmao.. anyway fill 4/80, #61 - That is not a good hiding spot. ft my hero turned villain OC LeClerc Clifton (hero name Sharp Shot, villain name Dead Mark), and his hero friend from his former hero team, Sprint.

Bullseye: Bad Habits

“That is not a good hiding spot,” LeClerc’s former teammate told him, raising an eyebrow as they walked up to the motel he was currently staying at.

Sighing as he could feel a headache starting to build, LeClerc replied, “It’s not a hiding spot. It’s just where I’m staying.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so. I told you, Sprint, I’m just living here temporarily until I can go home.”

Sprint gave him an incredulous look. LeClerc rolled his eyes and pulled his room key out of his pocket, unlocking his front door. As they walked in, Sprint insisted, “That makes it sound like a hiding spot!” Then, he asked, “Why can’t you go home? Is someone after you?”

“No one is after me, but it’s none of your business,” he snapped. His back twinged and he winced, putting a hand on the small of it. Not a great start to the evening, LeClerc thought. He’d been planning to just relax, have dinner, maybe take a warm bath for his back, and watch some television until he fell asleep. He certainly hadn’t planned on Sprint running into him at the convenience store and demanding that they catch up.

Sprint took his elbow, and LeClerc yanked away, hissing. “Oops, sorry,” Sprint apologized, “-forgot you hate being touched without warning.”

“I don’t like being touched at all.”

Ignoring that, Sprint’s expression grew serious. “If you need any help at all,” he offered, “-I can help you. Any of the team would drop what they’re doing if you’re in danger.”

“I can protect myself,” LeClerc shot back.

Still, he turned his head and flushed. It was sweet that Sprint and the others still cared about him enough to rush to his aid without any information even after he’d abandoned all of them. It made him feel a bit guilty.

But before he could think too much about the events that had led to him leaving his superhero team, Sprint grabbed his shoulders and went, “Sharp Shot, look at yourself! I know you probably could protect yourself, but you’re pregnant! You should have other people looking after your safety. It’s hard enough to protect yourself individually, but your baby too?”

“No touching,” LeClerc hissed before he could process what Sprint had said.

The hero stammered another apology, pulling his hands away as if scalded. He clapped them together to try to keep from being grabby again. LeClerc doubted he’d be able to manage it for very long- Sprint was high energy and high affection. He was always getting up in his friends’ space and touching them, even with reminders not to.

Back on the team, he had gotten used to it. Sprint had eventually learned that if he pulled away not to step with him, and it was easy enough to stand near someone else on the team who didn’t mind the touching.

But now they were alone in a small motel room, and it’d been years since he’d last had to cope with Sprint’s affectionate nature. Never mind that he wasn’t feeling well and was on edge from being pregnant.

Sprint was staring at him, a determined look on his face. But his mouth was twisted down into the slightest frown, and he shifted his weight from foot to foot, his hands separating and grabbing at bits of his clothes. He was worried.

LeClerc took a deep breath and reassured his former teammate, “Sprint, I’m fine and I’m safe, I promise. I didn’t want to tell you because I’m a very private person and it’s also kind of embarrassing, but-” His voice caught a bit, and suddenly he felt exhausted and overwhelmed. Sprint’s expression morphed into pure concern.

“Sharp?”

“My wife kicked me out of the house. We had a huge argument and she told me to fuck off for a while. I haven’t seen or heard from her or our daughter in weeks.”

“You have a daughter? Oh, man, I don’t what I’d do if I wasn’t allowed to see my boys.”

“You have kids?”

“Yeah, um, two years ago, I adopted- shit, Sharp, are you okay?”

“Damnit.” He wasn’t, he really wasn’t. He’d gotten through the past few months thinking that every week was going to bring a phone call where his wife would invite him back home and tell him she did in fact trust him around their daughter, that he was still the man she’d fallen in love with.

But it’d been over a month since she’d last left him a message updating him about their daughter and how she still wanted some space and time to think. He hadn’t gotten to talk to his daughter over the phone at all after a disastrous call two weeks after he’d left. Just the thought of it made him tear up just thinking about it now. He’d made a colossal mess of things with his family, and now he was all alone, five months pregnant and miserable, moving every so often from one cheap motel to another somewhere, wasting away.

“Oh man, you’re crying- shit, can I hug you? Maybe you’ll hate this but I’m going to hug you.” Sprint stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him, giving him a gentle squeeze. “If I’m hurting you or you hate it just say so, okay?”

Just a minute ago he would have reeled back and snapped at Sprint, but now he buried his face against Sprint’s chest, trying not to sob.

Sprint rubbed his back, leaning forward so his chin was on top of LeClerc’s head. It actually felt quite nice.

Until Sprint, whose mouth moved as much as his hands, started talking. “Uh, I don't know the whole story or anything but your wife kicking you out while you're pregnant and not letting you hear from your daughter is a pretty awful move.”

LeClerc pulled away to look up at him. “What? No, no, that's not-” He wiped his eyes and took a shaky inhale. “I worded that badly. She didn't… kick me out. She just asked for some space. She offered to move back in with her mother, but I didn't want our daughter to have to move, so I left the house.”

“Still, you're pregnant.”

“I didn't know at the time until a couple weeks later… and I don't know if she knows… I've left her voicemails about the baby since we always start arguing when she calls, but she might not have listened to them if she was upset.” He put a hand on his belly, feeling the baby shifting underneath it.

Sprint crossed his arms and tapped his foot, thinking. Then he snapped his fingers and said, “Wait, you’re totally emotionally weird.”

“You’re so comforting,” LeClerc growled, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Have you tried calling her? I remember when you got into that big row with Reg it didn’t even occur to you that you could be the first one to try to make peace.”

“I… I don’t think my wife would like that.”

“You need to, I think. Come on, Sharp,” Sprint coaxed him. “You’re five months pregnant and don’t look so good. You need to go home and work things out with your wife. If she’s nice like you said, then I’m sure whatever happened will blow over once she knows you’ve got another little one on the way.”

Cordelia would push aside their argument and welcome him back home as soon as she knew he was pregnant. She cared about and loved their daughter fiercely. So much that she’d asked him to leave to protect her. She’d surely feel just as strongly about their new child. Their argument would be put on hold for quite a while now that he was pregnant.

But still, the question he’d been steadfastly avoiding came to the forefront of his mind, making him feel sick. What if Cordelia did know he was pregnant and hadn’t asked him to come home, didn’t want him to come home? It seemed impossible, but what if she was that upset with him, that afraid for their daughter’s safety that she was willing to leave him waiting forever? Maybe she was frightened that the baby would be like him, dangerous. Or maybe she was just waiting for the baby to be born, so she could take it away from him.

Maybe he was too dangerous to be trusted around his own children.

He grit his teeth. LeClerc hadn’t dared to let himself think that, that his wife was right in her belief that he couldn’t be trusted to keep their young daughter safe, that he willingly put her in harm’s way. The past few months he’d firmly believed that Cordelia just didn’t understand. But maybe she was right, that he was the one who didn’t understand. He just wanted to make sure his daughter could protect herself, just as he’d been able to protect himself at her age. But she got hurt more often than not when he took her out and tried to teach her, scared her with warnings and stories from his past.

I should probably tell her, LeClerc thought, stomach lurching. I should tell Cory she was right, I’m dangerous, and she should take the kids and forget about me. But he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to see his daughter again, wanted to go home and be with his family.

“You’re doing that thing you did,” Sprint said quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“What thing?”

“When you quit the team and vanished, you were always thinking a lot. You’re doing it right now. Don’t do something crazy, please. Think about your family.”

LeClerc didn’t want to think about any of this anymore. He tried to calm himself down by reasoning that he always thought the worst and was too negative. Cordelia was probably just busy or upset with him or kept forgetting to call him. If he just stayed in his motel room and made sure his phone was on and charged, then eventually she would call and he wouldn’t have to feel so horrible. Everything would work out. It had to.

His hands shaking, he went over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. As he fished out what he was looking for, he announced to Sprint, “I need a smoke.”

“What?”

He opened his pack of cigarettes and pulled one out, then pulled out his lighter. He headed for the door, recalling that the motel had a ‘no smoking in the rooms’ rule. When Sprint didn’t follow him, he turned back and asked, “You coming?”

“You smoke?”

“I’ve always smoked.” LeClerc raised an eyebrow. Surely Sprint hadn’t forgotten that he smoked. He’d asked him to use his superspeed to run to a gas station and get him a new packet a few times on missions.

Sprint gave him an odd look and glanced down at his belly. LeClerc frowned, his face hot as he realized why Sprint had sounded so surprised.

“It’s… it’s fine, Sprint. It’s just one. I probably won’t even finish it.”

“Sharp, that stuff’s really bad for you, especially with your baby.”

“The baby will be fine. I hardly smoke at all compared to how I used to back in the day.”

“You shouldn’t be smoking at all! God, do you still drink?”

He felt ashamed, but tried to reason, “It’s just to help me relax. I had a few cigs and drinks here and there when I was expecting my daughter, and nothing happened.”

Sprint looked torn. “It’s still not good for you.”

“I hardly do it. I’m stressed out, that’s all,” LeClerc promised him. He didn’t dare mention that he’d been very stressed the past few months, especially so during the past few weeks. He stepped outside and brought the cigarette to his lips. It took him a few tries to light it, his hand shaking around his lighter, and then he took a long drag and sighed, leaning against the wall of the motel. Sprint came out and closed the door behind him.

His expression was disapproving and a little bit sad, so LeClerc stared across the parking lot instead. As he smoked, Sprint was uncharacteristically quiet.

Midway through the cigarette, LeClerc’s former teammate found his voice again. “That’s a nasty habit.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Make sure you call your wife, yeah? I should head out. Gotta pick up my kids.” Sprint took a step forward, getting ready to run. He blurred and just like that, he was gone.

LeClerc sighed and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket.

[babybeegarden]

I am planning my spring/summer garden for 2020. It’s good to be back. I took a year off last year. It’s hard enough to find time to tend a garden but I was planning our wedding last year, too, and I felt a bit stretched and decided to give myself a break. You know I missed it, though! Getting more into houseplants has helped inspire me to get back on it for the upcoming season. Now, you may know my mom does container gardening too, and since she doesn’t work now she has plenty of time for it, but we usually share seeds and earlier this year she asked me if we should order any. Between the two of us, we have loads of old seeds, so we figured we’d be good. I haven’t been ready to start but mom’s got spring fever already so she’s been planting peas and radishes and lettuce early, and I ended up taking my whole stash of seeds to her place. So I was *conveniently* out of stock... and who would have guessed I would stop at the garden center and one thing would lead to another... and you guessed it. I bought some seeds. I got inspired by these lovely purple snap peas and peppers and I have decided to plan a PURPLE garden 🔮💜🍆 (!!!) I’m feeling like it’s going to be so fun to have a theme! Here’s what I’ve picked out so far:

Red sails lettuce, red giant mustard, sugar magnolia snap pea, ruby red chard, several purpley basils, a couple of purple peppers, zinnias and oops a pink tomato lmao. I think some pink will be ok! I also have a purple ‘green bean’ to raid back from mom and I’m still looking for 2 more tomato varieties, something early and something tiny and cuke. There is a very cute purple tomatillo possibility. I will also accent with purple pansies. I’m getting so excited now, I’ve set my alarm for sunrise for some early garden action; I will direct sow the top row and start all the rest indoors, except I might hold off on the zinnias to direct sow when it’s warmer. Here is the space I’m working with:

I’m so slack... the last pic of my container arrangement is from 3/8/18 and I’m pretty sure all those same pots are in all those same spots! Oh look, that is two years ago to today, huh! (3/8/20)

[hzcleski]

hello friends! you probs know who i am already but if not hello! i’m sam aaand this is my newish muse! i played hal here for a minute one time but i’ve decided to give him a huuuuge revamp so character info is under the cut! lmk if you wanna plot! messaging me @ellvie��� is probably easiest!

╰☆╮ DYLAN O'BRIEN ─ HAL ZALESKI identifies as CIS MALE and uses HE/HIM pronouns. they’re a FORMER OLYMPIAN/NHL PLAYER, and they’re only TWENTY THREE ! they’re said to be CAPABLE, but also TURBULENT. i guess that’s why they’re known as THE LEGACY in the tabloids.

quick disclaimer that this is a sideblog so i might post to the wrong account sometimes

other disclaimer a lot of my hockey information is from google ok

nathan harold zaleski jr was practically born with a pair of skates on, which makes sense considering his family is hockey royalty. his father is nathan harold zaleski sr, aka a legend and one of the biggest names in sports to this very day. olympic gold medalist several times over, beloved longtime defenseman for the toronto maple leafs, at the very peak of his career and married to a beautiful wealthy socialite when his only child was born.

listen...this is an au where the maple leafs are good or like, had one genuinely good star player in nathan sr. okay thanks for coming to my ted talk!

he’s got dual citizenship because he was born in canada even though he hasn’t lived there since he was ten, but his parents were us citizens, which doesn’t seem important but WAIT FOR IT

nathan jr, who would begin going by the nickname of hal early on in life, probably learned how to skate before he even learned how to walk because of course he did. his father’s intention was always to have another him. i mean for fuck’s sake they have the exact same name. hal’s purpose in life has never been in question, not by him or anyone who’s ever seen him play.

his natural talent for hockey became apparent from a very young age, which didn’t surprise anyone ofc. his father saw it as a sign and began pushing him even harder, hiring the very best trainers and coaches to help perfect his game while nathan sr focused on his own career.

except that he was running out of steam and fast. nothing happened like there was no huge scandal or career ending injury. nathan sr was just...getting old. fans were simply losing interest in him as newer and younger players joined the league and there was nothing he could really do about it except make sure his legacy lived on.

hal was ten years old when everything seemed to finally fall apart. his dad was hanging on to the very last threads of his career, let go from the maple leafs and almost certainly picked up by the new york rangers purely out of pity. meanwhile, hal’s parents finally divorced which he took almost alarmingly well for a ten year old, but it’s not like his parents were ever a shining example of a deep, loving marriage. they spent years settling the divorce, fighting back and forth while suing the shit out of each other across whole fuckin countries. lowkey they almost wound up being more famous for the legal drama than they were for hockey.

hal’s dad finally retired when he was twelve, won sole custody of him when he was fourteen, and pulled enough strings to get him a spot on the canadian hockey team dual citizenship! going to the 2010 vancouver winter olympics when he was just a teenager, making him one of the youngest players to ever compete in the games.

and canada won gold that year so hal was making history again in no time, being one of the youngest players to ever become a gold medalist in the winter olympics. now he didn’t actually see a lot of playing time that year. his skill was undeniable, but no one seemed to think that he was ready for the big time rush. tbh they probably weren’t wrong, but nevertheless his name and his win made an impression on everyone.

up until that point hal was homeschooled bc ofc education came second to hockey, but he always wanted to attend an actual school and he did! after his first olympics his dad finally sent him to the same private school in the city as all the other rich kids and it was...weird! he started in the middle of the year and was instantly an outsider among his classmates. everyone else had known each other all their lives so hal immediately at a disadvantage. it didn’t help that he’d never really...had a single friend before. tbh his peers were probably intimidated by him. he was just a high schooler and already an olympic gold medalist like...ofc no one wanted to be the person to go approach him and say hi.

played for canada again dual citizenship! at the 2014 winter olympics in sochi when he was eighteen and this time HE WAS THE STAR. absolutely at the top of his game. anyone who still thought that he was a joke before the games started shut up real quick when he won his second gold medal.

he got home and was eventually drafted into the nhl, so he sorta ditched school oops. technically he finished but like...barely since he went back to being tutored for the last few months.

several teams wanted him and tried to throw a shit ton of money at him, but hal settled on the new york rangers with a huge multi million dollar deal

he quickly stole hearts on and off the ice. whether fans admired his skill or followed him during the olympics or remembered his father, for one reason or another he was winning people over left and right. unsurprisingly he’d go on to win the 2014-2015 rookie of the year award, presented to him by the president of the nhl and everything.

he did not attend the 2018 winter olympics in pyeongchang as the nhl famously refused to release their players. hal himself was a major part of the uproar. the whole country of canada dual citizenship! practically threw a fucking fit bc the nhl was disqualifying their star player from winning them their third gold medal in a row and hey big surprise...canada didn’t win gold in 2018 :)

hal’s in the middle of his fifth i think? year of pro hockey rn and so far his career has been solid. his dad is really pushing him to sign with a “better team” and he has gotten offers, but he isn’t really interested. he likes playing for new york & he likes living in new york. maybe someday....maybeeee....but for right now he’s happy with where he is.

okay now for some fast facts!

literally always looks like he just got into a fight, probably bc he just did during his last game. is usually sporting some injury like a black eye or split lip or cut cheek. fortunately hasn’t completely given in to the hockey player stereotype by getting all of his fuckin teeth knocked out...yet

notice that i hardly mentioned his mom? that about sums up their relationship tbh. hal was practically raised by nannies and trainers. his mom always had some brunch or gala or public appearance she was far more invested in. literally she didn’t even really...want custody of him when she divorced his dad, but she claimed to just to be petty and give nathan sr an even more difficult time. yeah they kinda hate each other now and since hal has always been closer to his dad, his mom isn’t even really that interested in seeing him lmao. she’ll call like once a month and invites him to brunch if she happens to be in the city, but ngl hal probably hasn’t seen her in like...a couple years at the least. he’s not really broken up about it either.

right so...walking talking endless pit of daddy issues? you bet! just because hal prefers his dad doesn’t mean that they get along or that his dad is a good person. he still has his perfect public image and he isn’t complete garbage but...yeah their relationship is extremely toxic. he’s always been very harsh with hal, pushing him and pushing him to be the best bc nothing he accomplishes is ever good enough.

so what if he's won two olympic gold medals? so what if he was rookie of the year? so what if he’s considered one of the best and most beloved players in the nhl? he can do more, he can be even better. his dad is a constant voice in his head even though he’s always around anyway. he never misses a game or an opportunity to point out hal’s every flaw.

ofc as a result hal’s always been very hard on himself. every single day of his entire life has been spent basing his self worth off what his father thinks of him. it was awful for his self esteem bc no fucking duh.

HOWEVER. it isn’t public knowledge at this time, but as of right now? hal’s relationship with his father is falling apart faster and faster by the moment. they’re a ticking time bomb & it’s literally only a matter of time before they explode yikes!

fortunately hal could sorta sense the direction things were heading and did something about it. he finally moved out when the hockey season started back in october and he’s been feeling better ever since. like he has more control over his life even though his dad is still WAY too involved.

personality: a douchebag who means no harm, mostly because he's never really trying to be a jerk. tends to come across as a typical meathead jock for good reason bc that’s exactly who he is. in conversation he's usually very blunt and a little awkward bc he’s still learning how to socialize with others. hockey is basically his whole life so it’s all he knows how to talk about, which can either be endearing or annoying. a genius hockey player, but a ditz in every other area. very short - tempered and impulsive. always means well and wants the best for those he cares about, but might go about expressing those feelings in a weird way bc he was never taught how to properly deal with his emotions.

CONNECTIONS

family

step sibling he grew up with - sabrina miller

paternal cousins - warren daily and wren daily

cousin by marriage - rosalind cox

maternal cousin - open. his mom is polish for reference!

romantic

girlfriend - genesis iver

ex fiancée - ginny baker

ex on good terms - margo massey

ex who cheated on him - isla thompson

former fwb - amethyst armenta, open to more.

former toxic on / off relationship - reese monroe

exes, open to more.

hal has a ton of other exes and i don’t feel like listing them tbh all so i’m just gonna assume that y’all know who you are ok

platonic

best friend 5ever - marialena goldstein

confidant - open.

family friends - sullivan ramsey, open to more.

childhood friends - open to more.

close friends - open to more.

friends - mia kauri, chance kauri, theo cannon, angel almeida, open to more.

bickering friends - open to more.

workout buddy - open.

negative

on bad terms - kennedy drakos, jay weston, open to more.

these are just a few plot ideas! i’m most definitely open to other stuff so if you have any ideas please free to share! i think that’s enough from me soooo yeah! mssg me if you wanna plot & as always i’m super excited to write with everyone!

[noheroes-allowed]

philly 11.10

it’s always sunny :)

fuck being away from Ithaca messes with my brain. like I forget all about school and get out of the campus bubble. and realize that I really did not make college fun for myself.

I love chinatown. I was really insecure speaking chinese because they could probably tell I’m not fluent. but I still loved it. I felt proud when I could answer back to them. I also completely splurged on bakery items when I said I would try to control myself. all the cash I had in my wallet has just been going to bakery food. dinner was nice too. I wish I had more duck though. like I wish I could’ve bought a whole ass duck. but it would’ve been impractical because it would’ve been too much. I got tofu and fish instead. it was pretty good and when they brought out the bowl I thought it was too much but I practically finished it. oops.

fuck I’m so tired. I’m gonna finish this tomorrow.

back. we bought a mango smoothie and a passion fruit drink. I kept thinking the mango was going to taste like peach for some reason. I wish we put less vodka in the smoothie bc I kinda liked it. I wish we left earlier too. but I guess if we left earlier we wouldn’t have met tom and berry? idk. it worked out though bc we snuck onto the balcony. also when tom and berry came into the kitchen my face was hella red. and I didn’t want them to see how tipsy I was so I didn’t talk to them besides pointing out the wine opener in the sink. even though I thought berry was cute oops

lmao laughing at myself for going I’m not rich and then changing my mind in like .2 seconds and spending $55. it’s ok though bc I’ve been wearing it the past two days oops. everyone was so young at the concert too. like a lot of them looked like high schoolers. there were so many people already there. like I think they were lined up since the afternoon bc there was a tiny crowd in the background of the bon iver poster photo I took in front of union transfer. lmao I really thought this was the concert I would be front row in but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I felt bad squeezing through people already there oof. I wish we bought vip.

but I’m so glad we snuck onto the balcony. ryan and stella were nice. lmao ryan was trying to give me advice on school and I was just like oops looks like I can never escape. he had good intentions though and his advice was good about cs minor and masters. I think they said they’d been dating for four years. he’s meche and she’s nursing. they bought us hard apple cider but it spilled. sad.

charlie burg was good. I listened to a couple of his songs on spotify and liked his vibe. but spotify only said he would be at the boston show so I didn’t expect him to be there. he’s 21 and lanky. I’m listening to his stuff now and like his first album over his third so far.

JEREMY. omfg the concert was so fucking short. jeremy why would you do this to me. I’m sad he didn’t play every day. SO fucking close but he chose to play circles instead. which is funny that I’m a little jealous about bc circles was like in my top 3 over the summer. also prepping for the concert made me love wildfire and better off. and fucking oh mexico. some of my videos didn’t turn out well bc the lighting was off but at least I have audio. can’t believe he touched their hands. can’t believe that girl got to hold his mic. gah. I screamed so fucking hard and slammed the railing with my hands so fucking much. I apologize retroactively to ryan and stella for being annoying lmao.

fuckkk last sunday was so fun. like there was just so much fun in the span of such a short time.

I’m so happy my friend knocked on their door. I wanted to drink wine with them since they got back to the airbnb but I didn’t think they would be so welcoming. I ate two of their oreos and one of my pastries. we played mario party and I came in last. I played as boo again like that one time over the summer. and then they kept calling me boo and it was so funny. I tried doing math and calculating expected values of the dice each character had but I was too drunk and couldn’t add lmao. it was really fun when I won mini games and tom was like how is boo winning. I bet she lied about not playing before. I stole tom’s coins with a special object. the extra bad luck space redistributed 30 coins from me and I said it was like socialism. my friend said something and then berry said no you’re perfect. so wholesome. and then later she was like oh I can fit my hand in a pringles can but I thought everyone could do that. but berry tried and was like yeah I can eventually. it’s like sex. and then in my mind I was like haha that’s not wholesome. they spent like $60 something on their airbnb and had a bigger room than us. and we said it was unfair and they asked how much we spent and she said $7 and they were like bitch wtf. omg

also I was kinda bummed when the game ended and tom said he would take a shot and then go to bed. and then me and berry were conspiring by the door to get the other two to hang out more. ahh. we got orange juice but it was moldy lmao. there’s orange juice downstairs in the fridge. would you tell on us if we drank it. how would you even tell like leave a note. ahh. berry was ready to go to a corner store to get soda but I hate soda so he was gonna get juice. the place had a latino owner apparently or something so me and tom were like oops looks like we can’t go. in reality though I just didn’t want to get dressed lol.

tom and berry say I fit my personality well. or I’m very sure about my personality. I don’t remember how they worded it but. they also said I would survive a horror movie. they asked if I had a bf and I said I didn’t but I was trying lol. and then I was like wait no I’m not even trying. and they were like one day you’re gonna get a guy who appreciates you. who is gonna like your personality and go up to you and think you’re cute. and you’re not even gonna need to try. bc not trying ends up better than why you do and try too hard. I said my acne doesn’t help and tom was like I didn’t even notice your acne. which hm. we were drunk but they were nice. berry went outside for a smoke and he smelled like cigarettes and I kinda like it. for some reason I’ve been liking that smell recently. tom was really tall when we hugged lmao how does it feel to have such a smaller person hug you. like it’ll just feel like a scrawny child. idk I’m glad we all met.

the city that does sleep.

[p-arkwoojin]

no one asked for it but here is my top 11 so far (in no particular order, i just want them to make it):

park jihoon/maroo: i want him as center tbh like he fits the idol image, people say we just stan him for his face but like no, yes he’s good looking but he also has so much talent!! beatboxing, popping (dancing in general), he has good vocals and can rap too!! 

park woojin/brandnew music: what else can i say other than he’s my fave brandnew trainee!! i always get hooked on the dancers (half of my top 11 are dancers oops) and this boy just never fails to exceed my expectations 

kang daniel/mmo: what can i say i’m a sucker for bboys not only that but he’s talented af (a rapper that can sing)!! he wasn’t even center but his sorry sorry performance got me shook!! also a cute lil peach and a very supportive dad to little woojin

ong seongwoo/fantagio: four dancers in a row wow but definitely one of my faves, his predebut pics and videos always get me lmao also him as sorry sorry center got me @fantagio why wasn’t he included in astro wtf

lee woojin/media line: okay none of y’all can deny that this baby doesn’t have talent like he’s 15yo (i feel old) and he can do all that, i’m just worried about him going through puberty at this point bc voice cracks and voice changes

jung sewoon/starship: our talented ponyo!! another weakness of mine are guitarists, combine that with good vocals and i’m sold

takada kenta/star road: okay this boy came out of nowhere like i would see gifs of him on here and i would queue it since its p101 related but when they showed that scene where he was teaching sungwoo/him that was it i got hooked, i got interested and now he’s here probably permanently

lee daehwi/brandnew music: my mushroom child, another trainee that fits the idol image!! he’s overflowing with talent, like singing, dancing, even composing!! sad to see his rank dropping tho

woo jinyoung/hf music: my current fave rapper out of all the trainees like he’s cute and chill but his talent is just wow please acknowledge this boy and his talent

kim yongguk/chun: i didn’t understand all the hype around him being a half-er but omg did this boy catch my attention in ep.6 with his talent, why didn’t i know of him before wtf

yoon jisung/mmo: this kid wouldn’t have made my top 11 if some of my faves didn’t get eliminated tbh but he has such a bright personality that its so hard to ignore him, also people should stop generalizing him as a meme and start recognizing his hard work

read more for trainees i have my eye on and eliminated trainees i support

trainees in my radar who might or not have been part of my top11 before:

kim jaehwan/individual trainee: vocal god no.1, i’ve been on the lookout for him ever since the initial evaluation like he got me with that adele cover and just continues to amaze me with every performance

park woodam/the vibe label: vocal god no.2, being the svt stan that i am i was ready to go mad if any of them butchered mansae but this kid killed it like he’s actually this season’s parellel to yoo yunjeong, pls love this child

kim samuel/brave: okay lets be real i’m a hella hardcore carat ofc i’m gonna give love to this child, tbh the only reason he’s not in my top 11 is that it would be hypocritical of me (i don’t want debuted idols to be part of it) but this boy is a definite all rounder, from singing to dancing and even rapping!!

yoon heeseok/jellyfish: i didn’t expect anything from him but his call me baby cover performance was way beyond my expectations

kim taemin/han ahreum: okay tbh he only caught my attention bc of his re-eval video, our second meme but (based on ep.6) i feel like he has a lot of potential

yeo hwanwoong/rbw: i always see posts about him in the produce 101 tag (i religiously go through it every night don’t judge me) but he did such a good job at being center in ep.6 and just wow now i’m interested

lee euiwoong/yuehua: this cutie with a reversal body and voice?? to be very honest i stanned all of yuehua at the beginning but now he’s the only yuehua kid remaining sorry justin idk i think a part of me sees potential and talent in him

eliminated trainees that i was supporting:

kwon hyeop/maroo: same case with yuehua trainees tbh like i stanned the maroo kids since the beginning, its sad that one of them dropped and this kid got eliminated, he’s actually talented imo but mnet sucks at distributing screen time

ha minho/the vibe label: i’m not gonna lie i really liked him before all the scandals about him happened, its such a shame that that overshadowed his talents but i admit he was in the wrong

[seraphichan]

Oligopsony/Deem

(the single dads/pining!levi/spelling bee au that no one asked for, but here you go anyway lmao)

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re word is…‘oligopsony’.“

"Uh…” Isabel says, uncertainty on her face.

What the fuck.

They hadn’t studied anything like this. Levi isn’t even sure what it means, let alone how to begin spelling it.

“Uh,” Isabel says again.

Come on, Izzy. If you don’t know it right away, buy yourself time.

“Can you use it in a sentence?”

Good girl.

Levi sighs in relief. Maybe they didn’t go over all the words she needed, but damn if he didn’t drive home that particular trick.

“Under the crude oil export ban, domestic refineries were granted an oligopsony.”

How fucking unhelpful.

“Can I have the definition?”

“It is defined as ‘a market situation in which each of a few buyers exerts a disproportionate influence on the market’.”

What a useless word for a nine year old to know.

"Oligopsony…” she begins after a few moments, squinting into the crowd.

She’s done it every time. Levi assumes it’s her way of focusing, and considering she’s gotten all the words correct and has made it to the final round, it works.

“…O-L-I-G-O…P-S…O-N-I! Oligopsony!“

She smiles proudly at the end, but Levi can feel it. The air is too tense. She got it wrong.

“That is…incorrect.”

Her eyes widen in shock.

“What?! But Farlan’s been right all afternoon!” she shouts into the microphone as she points out into the audience. The crowd in the gymnasium starts to murmur and she seems to realize her mistake because she retracts her hand to cover her mouth. “Oops.”

A boy shoots up from his seat in the second row and tries to take off, but he is swiftly grabbed by the man seated next to him and thrown over his shoulder to protests of “Dad, lemme go!” and “Put me down!” as they proceed to the hallway.

Levi himself stands and crooks his finger at Isabel. She bows her head and moves away from the microphone, takes shuffling steps after him.

By the time they get to the hallway outside the gym, Farlan is back on his feet, arms folded over his chest and lips curved down into a frown. His face is red, and Levi imagines it’s from the embarrassment of having his father tote him out of the room like a duffel bag rather than being caught at cheating.

Levi directs Isabel to stand next to Farlan as he goes to stand next to Farlan’s dad.

‘Eyebrows’ Levi calls him in his head, or ‘fucker with the perfect jaw’ when he’s feeling saucy, but his actual name is–

“Erwin,” he says.

“Levi,” Erwin greets back.

They stand there and let the two in front of them squirm a little bit before Levi opens his mouth.

“So,” he begins.

“Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Smith!”

And is promptly interrupted.

Levi turns his head to the source of the voice and grimaces.

Ms. Lancaster.

She’s old school, one of those ‘slap them on the wrist with a ruler’ types. Isabel learns differently, and Levi has tried to explain this many times, but teacher - and he uses the term loosely - knows best. So if Isabel doesn’t get something right away, she gets bad marks and a letter home about discipline in the classroom instead of the patience and attention she deserves. This woman has deemed Isabel a lost cause without even trying, and Levi hates her for it.

“What?” Levi asks gruffly and she bristles at his tone.

“I’ll have you both know we don’t tolerate cheating in this school!”

“It’s just a spelling bee. For a cheap plastic trophy,” Levi scoffs.

“It’s an indignity to the other students, Mr. Ackerman. For them to have put so much time and effort into this endeavor, and then to have this–” she gestures to Isabel “–come in and soil all their hard work is just inconsiderate.”

This time Levi is the one that bristles.

“Listen here, you bi–”

“Now now,” Erwin speaks up, hand going to Levi’s shoulder to kept him from continuing, “as their parents I assure you we understand the gravity of the situation, and the injustice of their actions in regards to the other participants. If you allow us, I’m sure we can explain it to them and deliver an appropriate punishment as well."

“Well, I,” she hems, caught off-guard by Erwin’s eloquence.

Erwin flashes her an appeasing smile.

“I suppose that is acceptable. Yes.”

“Thank you, Ms. Lancaster. We will make certain it won’t happen again.”

She nods, seemingly satisfied, and walks briskly back into the gymnasium. As soon as the door shuts behind her, Levi can feel the tension leaving his shoulders, one of which still has Erwin’s hand on it. A hand he doesn’t plan to shake off.

He turns his attention to back Isabel and Farlan, addressing Isabel when he speaks.

“I should have been suspicious when you got opossum right. You never remember the ‘o’.”

“Don’t be mad at her, it was my idea!” Farlan pipes up.

“Oh?” Erwin intones. “And what idea was that?”

“Sign language,” Farlan states as if it’s obvious.

“Farlan taught me during recess.”

They lapse into silence and then Erwin laughs.

“How clever!” Despite what he said to the teacher, he doesn’t seem displeased at all with Farlan and Isabel, and Levi is glad. He thinks it was pretty clever of them, too.

“So let me get this straight,” Levi says. “You took the time to learn the alphabet in sign language so Farlan could give you the answers instead of learning the actual words?”

“Didn’t need to know the words if Farlan knew them already,” Isabel answers.

“Uh huh…so if you two wanted to win, why didn’t Farlan just enter the spelling bee in the first place?”

“Izzy wanted to impress you.”

“Farlan!” Isabel says, cheeks lighting up.

“Impress me?”

Isabel nods and scuffs her shoes on the floor. “I’m not very good at school, so I thought if I got a big trophy for something you’d be happy…but I didn’t win.”

Levi goes quiet. He has the most precious daughter in the world, and anyone that would dare to say different could fight him.

“You learned sign language,” Levi says after a few moments. “I think that’s pretty impressive.”

“…Really?”

“Really. So I think I’ll forgive you. On one condition.”

Isabel looks up at him with bright, curious eyes.

“You have to teach me, too.”

“Okay!” She bounces forward and hugs his legs.

Levi pats her on the top of her head affectionately.

“So what went wrong?” Erwin asks. “You were doing so well.”

“I missed his thumb for the ‘y’. Sorry, Farlan,” she says looking at him guiltily.

Farlan shrugs. “That word was dumb anyway.”

Levi snorts in agreement.

“Well,” Erwin says, clapping his hands together, and Levi tries not to miss his touch. “Now that we’ve sorted that out, how about we leave this stuffy gymnasium and have an early dinner.”

Isabel and Farlan cheer, and scamper down the hall laughing and whooping.

“Appropriate punishment, huh?”

“What would you suggest?”

“Skip dinner, go right to dessert.”

Erwin chuckles. “I don’t think they would object.”

“Thanks by the way,” Levi says as they start down the hallway after the two, “for stopping me earlier.”

“Farlan struggles in her class as well. The other parents aren’t really fond of her either.”

“Why haven’t they made her retire then?”

“Rumor in the PTA,” he begins, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “is she haunts the school, lives in the janitor’s closet at night, and the only way to get rid of her is to exorcise the entire building.”

“Makes sense. She is a demon.”

Erwin nods gravely. “Unfortunately we don’t have the funds to hire someone to expel her,” he sighs dramatically.

“Very unfortunate.”

They both laugh.

“Hey, hurry up!” Farlan calls.

“Yeah, yeah we’re coming,” Levi says.

“You know, Farlan talks about Isabel all the time. Perhaps you two should come over.”

“It’s a date,” Levi says without thinking. “Oh, uh, I didn’t mean–”

“It’s a date,” Erwin repeats with a grin.

Fucker with the perfect jaw Levi thinks, trying to keep the blush from his face.

And failing miserably if the growing smile on Erwin’s lips is anything to go by.

[noodlenutter]

i met my childhood idol TWICE this weekend and i dont think im gonna be the same ever again

super longwinded and probably kinda cringey/obsessivly detailed post under the cut

ok so when i was 11 there was a show on cbbc called mission 2110 and the main character, caleb, was this cyborg dude w a robot arm and headset and he was fighting against evil robots who’d taken over the world, and most importantly, he was played by stuart goldsmith. 

i saw a sign around uni for a comedy show at the basement, york, by (you guessed it) stuart goldsmith. so of course i had to go, if only to make childhood-me happy

i turned up alone and Very early. i waited outside the venue for a while and saw stu leave and go for a walk around york but I wasn’t 100% sure it was him so i didnt approach him then

when we finally got in i sat on the front row between a group of elderly people and a drunk hen party - as soon as stuart got on stage, he started his introducing himself/the show, talking about the venue and warming up the crowd spiel, but instantly froze when he saw the hen party (he was surprised that they were there and kept sort of forgetting his train of thought and going back to the fact the entire front row was a hen party, cos they’re not his usual audience)

he started the gig and im not gonna go into huge detail about that in this post cos there’s no way i’d do any of it justice thru words (plus theres gonna be a tour dvd sometime ;) ) but at some points he interacted with the audience (usually the front row) so i’ll mention those 

the first Direct Interaction was when he spat directly onto my shoe while talking. he looked right at me, stopped his joke, and said ‘yes, i know what just happened. i know. it was Entirely Intentional.’ and kept going as if nothing had happened at all (it was fuckin hilarious cos no one else even saw it happen so the crowd was like ?????)

& for the part where he asked about jobs, he asked me and i said i was a student so he firstly asked what i wanted to do after - but straight away asked what i studied. i shrugged as a response to what i want to do after the degree (cos who knows lmao) but he took that as a response for what i study and made some quip about me not even knowing what i study n how that’s just a Typical Student Thing isn’t it?

(apparently when robots take our jobs, psychologists will be replaced by tape recorders on legs)

during the break (NOT an interval) i was talking to the people beside me (not the ones in the hen party) about york and scarborough and floods and bands and everything, they were so nice 

not much happened in the 2nd half of the show (other than the fact i almost CRIED laughing, honestly that dude is SO funny), but he said he was gonna hang around afterwards to sell tshirts and say hi to people, so i decided to ask him about cbbc’s mission 2110 (which was my favourite show ever and also the place i know him from)

so, after he’d told his last joke (one about raisins, which i remembered on the drive home and had to pull over cos i was laughing so hard i thought i was gonna crash the car), he said goodbye and got off stage etc etc, i queue up to say hi. straight away he reaches out to shake my hand & say ‘hi mate, thanks for enjoying the show’, that kinda thing

i asked him about m2110 and his face LIT UP, i thought he was gonna hate me for reminding him of it but he was happy and said that was his dream job, all the robots were played by his street performer friends, and he cant wait for the day that one of the kids from the show turns up to his gig

i asked him for a photo after that and he was like ‘yea, of course!! ill even do the pose!’ and put his hand to his face like caleb from m2110 did (im grinning at the memory while typing this, its such a dumb photo but i look insanely happy and he looks exactly as i remember caleb looking)

i asked how m2110 ended (i never got to see the last ever episode), and he looked like he was going to tell me but when i said i hadn’t seen the last ep he said ‘i’m not gonna tell you then!!’ (cmon mate its been deleted off the internet for like 8 years now :(!! )

all in all i think the first show was just how a typical comedy gig goes, but the 2nd show things got different (in a good way)

i decided to go again when i found out he was going to be in leeds 2 days later, and i took my friend who was disappointed that she’d missed the first show

we got to the front row and had to sit directly in front of him (we were gonna sit a bit further across but other people wanted to sit there first), so when he came up on stage to do his intro he glanced at me, then snapped back to do a double take - ‘are you BACK???’ he asked, pointing at me, ‘you were in york the other day, weren’t you?’

i gave him a thumbs up, high enough for most of the crowd to see, and he grinned, crouched a bit and started talking to me about the york show’s crowd - the fact there was a hen party, how surprised he was about them, and then that the weren’t as rowdy as we both thought they were going to be - after a minute or so, he stood up again and said ‘this is more of a chat than a show, isn’t it?’ & got on with the show.

i honestly can’t stop thinking about the “what’s your name, where you from, where d’you do your howling?” part of the show cos it’s never something i thought of before, but every day since then i’ve screamed in my car to a song and it’s kinda therapeutic (he pointed at me when he asked about howling, he points at a random audience member for each question) (also SOIL) (also also the bit about wanting to do a mic drop but with a microphone made of meringue) 

in the break, the person behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked whether it was different from york or better/worse than york, and whether i’d been a fan for long, etc etc 

after the break, stu got back on stage and thanked us all for coming back - then asked whether there were any ‘guilty empty seats’ next to anyone. the guy in the seat next to mine didn’t return after the break, so the person next to him and i pointed at the empty chair on the front row (he said something about how he respects that decision cos the guy came alone anyway) 

“shall we mix this part up a bit? could you shuffle these?” he asked, and gave me the flashcards while explaining how this part of the show worked (he workshops jokes from flashcards, they’re in a set order for every other show but he wanted to make it different for leeds, and so gave me the cards to decide the order)

i panicked a bit though cos I was so shocked, so i just shuffled them randomly instead of reading the cards and what they said (oops), and i put an interesting one on top - it just said ‘R’ in a circle and i couldn’t think what joke that would have been so i put it first.

i gave him the cards back and he looked at the top one like ‘uhh, no, i cant do this one first, that’s possibly the best bit of them all it’s gotta go at the end’ (which made me realise it was the raisin joke at the end of the show, so i told him how it really is because I had to pull over on the drive home it made me laugh so much - to which he fist pumped and yelled ‘now THAT’S a review!’)

before moving onto the content on the cards he talked about how he wishes he could go on stage to an audience who’s already ‘warm’ to him so he doesnt have to waste his 2nd best joke so early in the show, so he was planning ideas to get the crowd hyped before he even came out. he sat on the empty chair next to me and talked about how if everyone’s hyped enough then he’ll get a standing ovation etc etc, then stood back up, jumped on stage, and we all stood with him and clapped - ‘yeah, keep going!!! no one sit down! dont do it!’, after a few seconds i was losing my balance but i thought it’d be Funny if someone sat down, and Funny if that someone was me, who everyone knew had been to the show before. so i sat. 

‘NO!! she’s sat down! that’s it i guess, it’s over isnt it, alright then, you can all stop now i suppose’ (tbf i feel slightly bad for it BUT it made it all funnier anyway so it’s chill, i hope)

because i hadn’t looked at the cards every time there was an unexpected one he glanced over to me, ‘is this really what you want? you want this one?’, sighed ‘okay then’ and did the bit. the one about the squirrel (’you really want the fuckin squirrel one???’) kinda flopped cos it built off a previous one in york so he said that at least he’s learnt that it has to be in a certain order to be funny (youre welcome)

after the show when i went to say hi & thank you for letting me control the cards etc (i never actually said that cos i got distracted, ended up talking about how one of my twitter friends & her family is friends with him and his family but he asked who i was talking about and im like ‘uhhh i dont know her name we use nicknames online uhhhhhhh sorry’ lol), when he saw me he lifted his arms and went straight in for a hug (I HUGGED MY CHILDHOOD IDOL) & thanked me for coming back again so soon

i asked if he could sign something for me but all i had was a yellow envelope (’oh! a yenvelope!’) nnd a sharpie wrapped in tissues cos it leaks (’uhhhh lucy, why is it wrapped in tissue? oh, it leaks? well, if i were you i’d wrap it in something, maybe a tissue?’) & signed the envelope with ‘you are too big a fan! :)’ which is the most true thing anyones ever said about me, ever. he also asked if i wanted a photo or anything but i said i’d already got one n he was like ‘oh of course you do’ lol

anyway yea we left after that and i’ve been screaming internally ever since cos i never thought id ever even meet him but then i saw him twice in 3 days and he recognised me, let me influence the show AND hugged me. im still amazed. im in awe. stuart goldsmith is such a wholesome guy and im waiting (im)patiently for his next tour

EDIT: i just remembered that during the last joke i was laughing so much that i was crying and i was fanning my face, and he saw and was like ‘are you ok there?? you good??’ which made me laugh even more, jesus,

[junker-town]

How LaMelo Ball and Zion Williamson got a million people to watch an AAU basketball game

Ball and Williamson are social media stars, and high school basketball has turned into a perfect atmosphere for that.

It’s midnight on the East Coast, and I’m watching a Facebook live stream add a thousand viewers every five seconds. It’s currently airing a still screen, even. In bold lettering, there’s text that says, “Adidas Uprising Summer Championship.” That’s what we’re here for — a high school AAU game.

It peaks at 80,000 viewers.

I wonder, like me, how many of them just actively turned on AAU basketball for the first time in their lives. Maybe they’re like me, and they’ve watched some high school mixtapes and occasionally the random high school all-star game that ended up on ESPN2. Anyone paying attention on Thursday, though, could see this was different.

The gym was so packed, fire marshals and officials had to block entrances to keep participants from entering a stuffed gym. For those lucky enough to sneak inside, even standing room might put you seven or eight rows back. A few people in one corner were literally standing partially on the court, without room to realistically move anywhere else, a fact that even the announcers eventually brought up. Damian Lillard and Andrew Wiggins were in attendance. LeBron James was reportedly going to do the same, only to reconsider when the North Las Vegas-based Cashman Center devolved into madness. Kids in attendance stormed the court on the final buzzer. Look at this crowd, damnit! And this was just an exhibition game.

lmao look how many people they packed into melo vs. zion. fire marshals must have been like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ http://pic.twitter.com/lnuSr7FkT1

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) July 27, 2017

But how? I was actually planning on going to bed early. I’m trying to be a responsible adult, for Christ’s sake. I have to work in the morning. I have to argue with my insurance company in the afternoon. How, as a taunting black screen stares back at me at 2 a.m., informing me the streaming event has ended, did we all get swept up into this?

SC Supreme beat Big Baller Brand 104-92 on Wednesday, but no one really cared about that. This was a player showcase between the two most hyped high school players in the world. And the LaMelo Ball vs. Zion Williamson show didn’t disappoint for a second.

A late night high school AAU game captured the eyes of the basketball world.

The final official live stream count from Ballislife was 822,000 views. It consumed my Twitter timeline. The sidelines were so packed, it looked like the players were literally standing among the fans on inbounds plays. And it’s all because we can’t get enough of two high schoolers, a 15-year old and another who just turned 17.

Williamson, already one of the best dunkers of his generation, did what he was born to do. It started in the warm up lines and extended into the game, where his teammates passed up layups to throw him alley oops even if there was no chance he’d complete them. He iced the game with a tomahawk dunk that would still only rank, like, 723rd on his list of all-time dunks. And it was still hella nice.

SHUT IT DOWN. LaVar Ball is back from a bathroom break and we have LIFT OFF. http://pic.twitter.com/D6N9DfoiFE

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) July 27, 2017

Ball, too, delivered exactly what we wanted. Because let’s be real, the only thing we really wanted was reckless, wild 35-foot hoists. He shot several, made one, and when the game was basically over, threw up a legitimate half-court attempt. It missed, but his recklessness is also his allure.

LaMelo from half court for the culture http://pic.twitter.com/TRHgKthGZM

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) July 27, 2017

You can see Ball’s uniqueness shine at times — he ended up with 31 points — and there are other moments where he’s doing a Dion Waiters impersonation. Not a good one, either. For Williamson, he’s retiring the saying “man among boys” — it won’t ever fit any situation more appropriate than Williamson’s. Big Baller Brand face guarded Williamson the whole game and doubled nearly every time he had the ball. He still scored 28 points on the sheer force of his athleticism.

Still, let’s not take either kid’s performance too seriously. AAU is a player showcase, and this was a particularly meaningless one. Both teams understood how absurd the stakes were. LeBron James didn’t need to show up for them to understand that everyone watching was here for Ball’s deep threes and Williamson’s remorseless jams. None of the 820 million viewers tuning in were really there for smart team basketball.

Some people credited this phenomenon to LaVar Ball, but that’s not quite right.

Nearly 70K people watching Melo Ball vs. Zion Williamson on Facebook. But let's face it: This is all about LaVar.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) July 27, 2017

The Ball patriarch was there, of course — he’s the Big Baller Brand head coach. But the announcers barely acknowledged him, and he got far fewer camera pans than the NBA stars in attendance. It wasn’t until he disappeared from the bench briefly with a minute left in a four-point game — bathroom break? — that people really started talking about Ball. When he returned moments later, the attention shifted back appropriately.

But no, LaVar Ball wasn’t playing. 80,000 people didn’t tune in for LaVar Ball.

There’s some credit you can assign him, sure. LaMelo is the No. 18-ranked high school prospect for the class of 2019. Any other top-20 prospect, especially one that’s still two years out, couldn’t create this sort of buzz. It was LaVar Ball’s headline-drawing, attention-grabbing presence that initially turned the world onto the Chino Hills experiment. There’s no denying what his shameless braggadocio and endless television appearances did to the Ball surname.

But LaVar Ball has reached his Milkshake Duck moment. His constant media tour has soured much of the public on him, and he has said a couple things that really didn’t need to be. The attention he created for his sons would’ve died there if they couldn’t carry it now on their own.

Lonzo Ball can. His public presence is totally opposite his father’s, but after being drafted second overall, his basketball ability keeps everyone coming back. For LaMelo, he’s doing it in a different, even more polarizing way.

He’s become a social media star.

He and Williamson are alike in that way. Social media can’t get enough of LaMelo pointing to half court and then hitting a shot from there. It’ll retweet every Williamson dunk montage that comes across the timeline. Basketball is booming among our youngest generation, exemplified by the NBA’s new $24 billion television deal. Of course it’s taking over Twitter. Of course LaMelo has 2.1 million Instagram followers — barely shy of his brother, who’s employed by an NBA team — and Williamson is about to hit one million.

If LaVar Ball was the only reason his sons were stars, then tell me this: are you tuning into UCLA’s opener against Georgia State to watch LiAngelo Ball, the middle brother who could be a decent player but lacks Lonzo’s ability or LaMelo’s appeal? Maybe, for the curiosity. Are you tuning into the Bruins’ second matchup against Central Arkansas? The hell you aren’t.

Wednesday’s overflowing gym was a unique set of circumstances all crashing together at once. There’s no high school star bigger than these two.

But for all 822,000 people who sought out and tuned into an AAU game for the first time — like me — this probably won’t be the last. We’re in a new era, and neither basketball nor the social media star is going away. AAU is uniquely suited to incorporate both of these into must-watch events. It did it on Wednesday, drawing casual fans across the world to their phones and NBA players to the gym itself.

It will surely happen again.