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lovebillyhargrove · 11 months ago

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Wake me up when July is around

Chapter 22/? Half in hate

Billy is listening to Scorpions "No-one like you" (1982) and Ratt "I'm insane" (1984)

***

Ugh, fuck this cow-turd town, fuck

Every! fucking! thing!

FUCK !!

So yeah .. the news. Billy gets rejected in all three California universities he applied to - Los Angeles, Berkley and

San Diego.

The fucking irony. It's like the state he was born in, doesn't want him anymore, the city he's lived all his life in, takes revenge in him for leaving.

Like it was Billy's fault.

Goddammit.

God-fucking-dammit!

There goes the dream. Grease monkey, that's all you're gonna be, Billy.

And, that's fine. He likes grease. It just sucks to hear a no. Three of them, in a row.

Of course, the places he was striving for are all super-top-notch-level. Like he said, the high GPA, impressive SAT results that he got in his junior year - Billy had it all, but he lacked fucking recommendations and the stuff he couldn't really scrape here, in a new town, new school, as early as autumn.

Thanks dad, for making me change schools in my fucking senior year, really like .. I appreciate the hell out of it.

Fuck this shit. Billy is sitting in the camaro, waiting for Maxine, smoking and listening to nothing. He got the news from Berkley on Monday morning, right after the party, and from San Diego - in today's mail, bright and early, and all day he's been suppressing fucking tears. Feels unfair, somehow, his state turning him down like that.

Jesus, what kind of kindergarten snot is that, Billy?

Everything is the way it is, in life.

To each its own.

For him it'll be a job in San Diego when he gets there. Maybe he'll reapply next year, maybe he'll aim not at such prestigious places, he'll need to think of a plan, get his full focus on it. Everything now has kinda lost its clarity

Since he's been uprooted and torn away from his ground.

He needs to get back to himself. Needs to stand steady on his feet again.

Billy sees Harrington walking towards the beamer, his girl's already waiting for him near the car. He's putting his peachy ass on its wing, takes out a Parliament, lights it.

He looks so hot taking a drag, hollowing his cheeks, cupping his hands to shield the flame of the lighter from the wind. Steve's wearing a dark gray light jacket, and the colour becomes him.

The nose looks a bit bashed in huh, well .. doesn't make him less pretty. He's still

The prettiest.

Fuck, stop it, dumbass, avert

Avert the stupid unruly eyes. Don't let them run wild.

But I haven't taken even a peek at him all day .. three days.

Is Harrington going to bring Tammy to her house, and they are going to kiss in the beamer, and then say bye for the rest of the day? Or are they driving some place else? To the king's castle?

The rich boy does fuck all. No need to have a job, studying isn't his forte .. the hell he does with all the time on his hands?

Fucks around, that's what he does.

For Steve, life must be so easy. To each their own. For Harrington it means daddy's money, probably a cushy job in his big important business. Very possibly, a trust fund. His life is taken care of. Billy's never liked rich kids. Fucking entitled, believing they are better than everyone else. Too clean, too uninteresting.

University of Chicago accepted him and - guess what, the fucking Purdue - Billy doesn't even like the sound of the name - waitlisted him. Yeah, fuck you and your waitlist which nobody cares for. He's not gonna go to either of these places. Billy needs to get to the coast, away from here, this Mid-fuck-western state.

He craves warmth, he craves air, it's an absolute SOS situation for salty water to wash his wounds.

Max waves good bye to her friends, but comes to the car with the bunker girl.

"Billy, Jane is coming home with me. She's staying for the rest of the day. We're having a sleepover, actually. You're bringing us both to school tomorrow morning."

Bossy much?

Like fuck I care.

"Hi, Billy."

That Jane girl always looks at him like he owes her a thousand bucks. She's an odd bird.

Don't talk to the driver. Get in and let's go already.

Billy grips the steering wheel, and the knuckles on the hand he'd smashed a car window at the junkyard with, hurt.

The girls jump in the backseat and start chirping excitedly.

Billy gets going, but doesn't even turn the music on to wipe out the cheerful noise. He's lost in thoughts.

He's still thinking about Harrington. He's trying not to, but he can't control it. You can't throw someone out of your head completely in a matter of days. The only thing that he succeeds in is

At school, Billy doesn't let himself look at Steve. Okay, today in the parking lot he slipped a little, but in classrooms, in the hallways he doesn't. This week there aren't any basketball practices, which is very convenient, coach Nelson is on a sick leave or something.

Billy looks at everything and everyone BUT Harrington.

The

I'm not a cocksucker

Still burns.

Sometimes he can feel something hot scraping all over his back

And he knows

That's the asshole's stare.

Fuck him.

Billy needs to get the fuck away from here, this place is like quicksand

Sucking him in.

It's trying to tie him down, make him stay. Why did he even send the fucking applications to the nearby universities here if he was never planning on going there? Hargrove doesn't know. He doesn't always make the best and most rational decisions.

Quicksand. Step back, get away, a-fucking-sap.

School still has to be graduated from.

***

Alright, one thing here has become bearable. April in Indiana truly marks the irreversible arrival of spring. The bitter cold that lasted through the winter and still showed its frosty face in March is now mostly a cursed memory.

Hargrove's outside. It's close to midnight, and he's slowly walking down Cherry Lane, a cigarette between the fingers. April is starting to feel really fucking nice. Cool still, but nice. Soon everything's gonna bloom and hustle. The sun shines every day now. Rains pour. The sky, with or without clouds, is marvelous and gives hope.

Billy's taking advantage of warm nights. He sometimes leaves the house when everyone is already sleeping - either walks out of the door when he is sure he won't disturb anyone, or climbs out of his window - ground floor, easy as pie.

It's dark, windless and serene, and Hargrove just needs to clear his mind. Street lights are flickering slightly, and it's misty, the night air is damp and thick, especially after the recent evening rain, with a promise of fragrance of blossoming flowers soon.

Billy's watching his boots step heavy on the wet gray asphalt. Right, left, right, left. He's not gonna let Harrington do it to him. He's not gonna fall for this rich fucking asshole.

Like,

for real.

They've fooled around, Billy got knocked down a notch from his wuthering high, enough. Did he seriously think that Steve's on the same wavelength as him?

It's ridiculous.

Hargrove's following the movements of his knees. Right, left, right, left. He likes the way his solid thighs sway. Billy needs to get his shit together. Feed the anger. Stay in the right lane. Double bag his dick, it's always been a rule with girls. In the case in question, extra precautions seem necessary. Triple bag his heart. He just needs to hold out for three fucking months, and then he's on the road, driving west. Southwest.

Billy's nurturing his fury, replaying in his mind over and over again

Steve's voice, Steve's raised eyebrows. The word, the phrase, the meaning of it

I'm better than you

The fury grows, bursts in acrid flames,

Lets him think for a moment that he can be in charge.

Billy tightens his fist, and the knuckles hurt again. Good.

He turns around and slowly walks back to his car. He didn't park it in the driveway, he usually leaves it at a distance from their house now.

Hargrove gets in, turns the music on, makes the volume down. Lights up a cigarette and savours a long looong drag. Watches the smoke drift around and up in the dark sky, listening to Scorpions' "Rock you like a hurricane." Shit, isn't that the song that was on when he first set his foot in the Hawkins High parking lot?

It is.

Billy remembers the moment, how jittery he felt, how miserable, the whole move still making FUCK sense to him. That was the first time he ever laid eyes on King Steve.

It was in September. Now the school year is almost finished.

Girl, it’s been a long time that we’ve been apart

Much too long for a man who needs love

What in fucking hell ..?

Billy wants to turn the song off but then changes his mind.

There’s no one like you

I can’t wait for the nights with you

I imagine the things we’ll do

I just want to be loved by you

No one like you

Other thoughts come to mind. Billy puts his head on the headrest, shuts the eyes and remembers their kisses, all of them. Remembers how they held each other's bodies, the absolute, utter frenzy. Why has he never felt anything like that before, what is the secret, what is the fucking sorcery.

The fury, well-fed and groomed, is still present but it steps away a little, letting sadness and .. something like yearning? .. seep through the tiniest cracks.

Girl, there are really no words strong enough

To describe all my longing for love

I can't wait for the nights with you

I imagine the things we'll do

There's no one like you

No-one like you

Remembers the first and only blowjob, and how strange and amazing it felt. He would do it again. He wants to. Kiss and touch Steve again. All of him. Starting from the pinkie toe and going up to the guy's mane of hair.

It's not gonna happen.

When Billy's finally done with his midnight brooding, and gets home, slips under the coolness of bedsheets and drifts off to sleep, he sees a very vivid dream.

He's amidst the ocean, clear warm dark waters all around, light waves rocking him softly,

Lovingly.

It's dark because it's night time.

He sees a beautiful light purple jellyfish, swimming in the near

It looks otherworldly, gently propelling its umbrella-shaped body through the water. The jellyfish glows in the dark, and, naturally, Billy wants to touch it. He is aware that these creatures can be dangerous, the tentacles are covered in millions of stinging cells, holding venom that can be very painful, even deadly.

Billy is extending his left hand, and the jellyfish touches him gently. It is the prettiest one in the whole wide ocean.

Hargrove keeps playing with it and notices that the tentacles start growing longer, the body is stretching itself, and the colour changes from purple to transparent and then light blue.

It is still glowing, and it's by far the most beautiful thing Billy has ever encountered.

Suddenly the tentacles are grasping his hand tighter, and they claw their way up Billy's arm,

Despite the intensity - or because of it - it's still such a pleasant sensation, he lets the jellyfish twine itself all over his limb,

When immediate piercing pain shoots through his body and the skin on his arm starts burning

The pain stings viciously, Billy is trying to set himself free from the tentacles

In mad realisation that he might actually die right now. It's like something is drilling holes through his veins, going for

The heart.

The jellyfish loosens its hold, caressing the boy, soothing the burn.

Billy understands that he must swim ashore, get some kind of medical help

However, he doesn't distance himself from the stunning ocean creature, against all reason, against the sense of self-preservation.

He doesn't swim away but stays close, gazing, admiring the beauty

Mesmerized.

Blood bringing venom to his core.

***

On ao3

#harringrove #billy x steve #harringrove fic #harringrove slow burn #season 1 steve x billy #harringrove high school shenanigans

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sophi-s · 1 year ago

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A Karen coworker wants to report me to our manager for "bad behavior"

This story is gonna be a long one but I need to give some background to make sure all makes sense. Don't mind any potential typos and grammar mistakes I fail to catch, I'm still kinda mad while I'm writing this and English ain't my first language. (I wanted this to go on r/F**kYouKaren but it got deleted :[ )

I work at a small confectionery at my hometown for minimal wage to try and get by. I work 8 hour day shifts (6 A.M. - 2 P.M.), 5 days week and my current job is baking cookies, filling them and such, as well as help with other things when I'm done with my stuff. Our kitchen squad consists 100% of women of various ages. I am the youngest member of the staff, nearing my 22nd birthday in autumn and funnily enough, I am good friends with the oldest member, we'll call her Katie (not her real name), who's almost 60 and preparing to retire due to unpleasant atmosphere.

The star of the story shall ofc be called Karen for reasons that will soon become apparent. She's not a stereotypical Karen when it comes to appearance but she's still the short, stocky woman (i'd guess) in her 40s. At the start, I was mostly not paying attention to her, treating her no different than I would anyone else. But I've made a horrible mistake of having the audacity to one day (abt 2 weeks into my new job) ask how you operate the oven with a touch screen as I had no clue what to do with him. The first warning of beginning a slow descent into madness was almost a year ago now and it was a massive, dramatic eye roll followed by unhelpful silence. Go figure. At that moment I knew we aren't gonna be friends.

In my defense, I tried to be nice to her. Saying "hi" to her every day and being as respectful as I could. All I received were scornful glares of entitlement and either more silence or a barely audible "Hey" through gritted teeth as though it would kill her to say it louder and nicer. The real show began when Karen started to boss me around, addressing me in a very disrespectful manner and talking as though she expected me to read her thoughts and know what she wanted me to do 5 years prior to even considering working there. She picks on me about the smallest things like a bucket being 1 inch out of place or a nearly invisible smear on a bowl. One time I was in line to the sink to wash my stuff when I heard "Do you have to stand here?" in a very mocking way. Apparently, Karen's butt is too big to walk around me, even though I was barely in the way, she had two-me-sized amount of space. And when I dared to say she has space to walk around while proceeding to wash my things, I saw Karen storming over to the other half of the sink (it's divided in two) and I already knew wht was coming when she lifed the heavy metal bowl she was holding. Now, I'm rather sensitive when it comes to sudden, loud noises and I tend to flinch at unexpected bangs or crashes and Karen noticed it, hence why she deliberately chucked that metal bowl into a metal sink. Thankfully I was prepared and remained calm despite the pang I got in my chest, merely raising an eyebrow. Karen's bullying goes farther than that, however. She chastised me for not washing the sink after I was done using it at the end of the shift (I took a rag to clean my table and intended to come right back to clean the sink too) and when I used a slightly-above-indoor voice, she went "You don't get to talk to me like that. You can talk like that at home to your mommy". Yes, this is the exact phrasing. Not only did she disrespect me as an adult, she also disrespected my mother. Mind you, my mom is disabled after a stroke she suffered in her mid 30s (plus mishandling of the situation by medical team) when I was just above 3 years old and I still remember to this day. We live in a small town so everyone knows about it. Every time I think about it today, I realize I could've lost her. I haven't received as much attention from my parents as dad had to provide for three kids and a disabled person. Still, I love her very much and I'm thankful she's alive. Every insult directed at her, I take super personally and I'm ready to throw hands to defend her. I was two seconds from doing something stupid when Karen said that. This only gets worse. Twice now, she's gone after me while I was in the freaking bathroom, yelling at me to "get off the phone", even though I entered barely two minutes before. Like, c'mon, let a woman sh1t in peace.

Overall, this delightful person has been treating me an Katie like garbage (other coworkers aren't very helpful). Okay, I admit, I talk smack abt her with Katie quite a lot but I feel like it's kinda called for. I might be a jerk but that's not the topic. Anyway, the story that pissed me off so much, happened today in the morning. And it's a combination of various things, actually. First of all, Karen uses the passive-aggressive approach, saying "someone talks too loudly. And those talks about cats and dogs make me want to puke". That was enough to sorta trigger me, I love my hellspawn of a cat and I enjoy talking about him with Katie while she talks about her dog. But since I'm not fond of confrontation, I kept my head down and muttered "go f yourself" under my breath, thankfully unheard by anyone. I never reply to provokation attempts, I just put every time she mistreated me in a bag for later. Not even 10 minutes later, I was laughing at something Katie told me. Then, after she went to buy some bread from the adjacent bakery that our boss, we'll call her Mary (not real name either), also owns, I heard Karen sh1ttalking me. She was like "She's being paid for working, not laughing!" (because I can't do both, obviously /s) and that was only the beginning. "She works for the same money as we do. That way, she might as well go lie down in the changeroom or go home" (yes, those cookies are baked by pixies and filled by invisible gnomes) "She's the youngest and has the most to say! I should report her to the manager, then the laughs are gonna end!"

Yes. She wants me fired because I had the gall to laugh at sth a friend told me. And she also talks like this out loud but as if I was not there or like I'm some emotionless, innimate object, unworthy of addressing. I just grit my teeth and ignored her to get my work done. And at that moment, I realized her strategy. This absolute b-word thinks I'm scared of her. She thinks she can tell whatever crap she wants to our boss and that I'll just quietly take it as I always do, then leave without a fight. I decided I've had enough. I dare you, Karen. Report me. Say what you wish. I am ready.

Just to make things clear. Mary has a son who used to go to the same class as I. He's my age and because of that, she kinda treats me like her daughter. Calls me with either a fond a dimunitive of my name or "darling" ect. and makes sure I always eat second breakfast during the workday. So even if she does confront me, she knows Karen can be a pile of garbage and despises confrontation as much as I do. So yes. I am looking forward to the day Karen musters enough entitlement to report me. I will just take that aforementioned bag of insults and bullying, use it like a baking mix and make a delicious sh1tcake, sprinkled with a perfect amount of sweet Karma, which I'll just smack her in the face with.

If I don't quit my job before it happens (I'm moving out), I will update the story. That being said, the conviction I stand by is that respect is not a privilege gained with age. You have to work for it and earn it. Karen hasn't done that despite me giving her a chance several times. I hope even if I don't have that particular confrontation, Karma will eventually get her at some point

#karen #storytime #I'm suffering #f u karen #reddit bullies me lol

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b4kuch1n · 2 years ago

Photo

thank you for coming to the show

but now it's curtain call

and senses will be out the window in a minute

#pokemon #swsh #champion leon #ft. charizard #hi. still acquainting myself to the screen tablet #it's kinda doing things to my brain #so it.s taking a hot sec okay. but its cool we are getting there #I guess. this is kinda the mid autumn stuff? for now #I wanna do a comic for the day... but we will see. we will see!#but yeah lol this is also just like. basically a tech demo for the tablet. with me drawing leon's hair again #lining this one in SAI2 was a feat! but it does work better on a screen tablet than on a graphic tablet #simply due to I see where the pen is #okay I will take a nap now. and I will draw more tonite perhaps #and!! this weekend. I go watch nope in theater again. Im ready for it (Im not)#(Im gonna be so scared holy shit I wont sleep well for another few days. its gonna slap)#have a good day guys!! blue is okay sometimes. use wisely

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whaleofatjme1920 · 2 years ago

Note

For the red string event!! I can guess you probably have a decent amount of these to do, so no pressure and honestly don't even worry about this if you don't want to do it! With that being said here we go!

[Anni, romantic, she/her, creepypasta/mh please]

Hello! So I suppose I'll start off simple, here are just some main things about me that may prove to be useful! I am best described as that one sarcastic asshole, like think of movies and I'd be the one side character that is constantly cracking sarcastic comments. Yeah, i'm being fully blunt here with how I am, my personality is somewhat of a acquired taste. I can be very charismatic though and people say i'm unique and very based with my opinions and beliefs. I'm someone who can come off a little cold/rude but I really don't mean to, I just kinda have vomit of the mouth sometimes and my empathy isn't the highest that it could be....

On a happier note, I am like a gremlin which means I'm pretty fun to be around. I'm also a klutz, ngl I have almost taken myself out by tripping over my feet, falling out of trees and falling up the stairs. I honestly could use someone that just keeps me out of trouble and stops me from doing impulsive things....like someone save me from myself please. I also have a habit of stealing peoples clothes, like the shirt i'm wearing right now isn't even mine....beware of any hoodies or flannels you may have...they might just vanish....

Lastly random stuff. I find smells like rain, cigarette smoke/campfire smoke, and vanilla comforting...weird mix, I know. I love going for walks specifically at night, i'm a entp and leo sun, and I love naps.

Now I offer you one of my shiny, plastic MVP trophies from my years of swimming, a cool shiny ring, a pair of socks with fat cats on them, and a freshly baked, homemade brownie!

[Disclaimer: The Red String of Fate event is a special event I'm running from August 12th, to whenever I feel it necessary to end - right now, I'm giving it to the first week of September! Check out rules HERE]

Yue Lao has managed to place the ring in one of his jewelry drawers, perhaps for a lovely lady of the courts to wear as it seems a lovely gift. The cat socks, while not appropriate for official business in heaven with the Jade Emperor, but he likes them all the same. The brownie is also a lovely touch, and while he does not let his cat nibble on it, he lets her take a whiff to which she starts purring. The trophy, however, does not feel like it is actually for him. Where would he place it? Instead, the God decides to use it as a gift for your soulmate, someone who, like him, would be proud of your achievements.

He searches around for a loving match for you, someone he thinks would light up your world like nobody else. He's seen quite a few men he thinks would suit you well, but one catches his eye over anyone else. A young man that seems to be just as carefree and wild as you by the name of Toby. He begins to tether the two of you together with a red string that's a tried and true classic, one that has birthed kingdoms from the love planted by it. He takes the trophy you've given him and places it carefully in a basket attached to his old friend's back and whisks the cat off to earth.

Bao's tiny paws flutter across the earth as she holds the treasure on her back. She moves quietly through the alleyways to the edge of the forest where the man and his group are hiding out. She can hear her God's voice in her ear, guiding her to his location. The red string that's just materialized on his finger is enough to give her direction, but she enjoys hearing his voice all the same. She wonders what you will think of being fated to someone like him.

She quietly walks along the mid autumn ground covered in fiery leaves and broken off branches left from a storm that fell not too long ago to find an odd little cabin in the middle of nowhere. The string loops around the side of the house to an open window, presumably to give the man inside of it fresh air. She climbs upwards, careful to not jostle the package too much to see a man in yellow sleeping. There's no red string attached to him, so she disregards him. She moves out of his room to the one directly across from it, where the string leads to. Softly, she steps in and sees her target. Purring, she hops up onto his bed and onto the proxy's chest, resting for the night.

In the morning, Toby awakes to a pressure on his chest. He can feel the low purr of a cat and almost smiles before wondering why on earth there's a cat on his chest. He quirks a brow up and then looks in the basket resting on her back. Hesitantly, he reaches in and plucks the trophy up to read it. There's a name alongside the achievement it's for. His eyes leave the plaque to see the cat's awoken, her curious jade colored eyes looking at him widely. She nudges her head against his palm before she leaps off his chest, earning a very concerned "hey!" before she runs out. In the kitchen, Masky can be heard making a small sound of surprise at the cat running through the living room and out of the cabin.

It's a little awkward, what happens next. Hoodie mentions Toby's string and Toby has to mention it to the boss. He has to find out who this trophy belongs to. Who will it lead him to? Kate almost laughs when she wakes up and sees it.

"It's a red string of fate, you dummy," she giggles before sliding a plate over to him for breakfast. "Whoever's on the other end is your soulmate."

After receiving permission to pursue this all the way, Toby leaves his group for a bit. He follows the string with his car, watching as it winds and guides him to you. His heart flutters, and every now and then, he can tell you're getting a little anxious too. The flashes of light that aren't from him must certainly be from you. He travels hours before finally needing gas, and might as well get some candy from the gas station too. He thinks he's the only person in here. After all, who else would be up this late at night and on such a silly quest like him?

He's bending down to get a can of monster when he fells his string tug, like you've just opened a door. His head pops up before he begins to scan the aisles. He knows you're near, and judging by how your string is tugging, you know it too. The two of you reach the counter together. The cashier isn't there, talking with someone in the backroom, which lets the two of you just stew in each other's presence. Toby glances at you, not blushing, he's not shy, but he is just a tad cocky.

When the cashier comes back, she smiles. "You two make a lovely couple."

#red string of fate the event #ticci toby x reader #creepypasta x reader #ticci toby headcanon

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natsu-tte-noodle · 2 years ago

Text

手紙 (Letters) - To Tsumugi

(Cross Posted on AO3)

Words: 1070 Warnings: None

Dear Tsumugi,

Hi! You totally think I’m writing a practice essay for you to look over right now, but I’m actually taking the opportunity to hunker down and write my letter to you. Sorry! Forgive me just this once for ignoring my work, please! I know you’re gonna be mad when I give you an envelope instead of a book report, but there’s also no way I’m not gonna procrastinate this even more if I don’t ride this motivation wave while I can.

Omi let me see a little bit of his own letter, actually. The one that you wrote for him! Thanks for pushing him to take care of himself a little more. I definitely noticed that he seemed way more tired than normal recently, but I was like. “Is it weird to tell a guy whose who’s older than you to rest? Like is that condesending?” We’ve got each other’s backs of course, but telling him what to do still feels a little weird, even when it’s coming from a place of concern and all. So I’m glad he heard it from someone else before I had to worry about that too much.

What I saw of his letter had a REALLY important message, but the letter I got was pretty chill, so to be honest I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here? Like I’ve got stuff I wanna say but how am I supposed to format this?

I guess Izumi told us to do what feels natural, so I’ll just start talking. Please don’t grade this like it’s actually the paper I was supposed to be doing.

Ok, so this is gonna come out of nowhere, but I actually wanted to apologize? Don’t worry, it’s not like I did anything! And I’m not asking you to cover for me for anything either. It’s just that something’s kinda been on my mind recently.

You know how Mantou Fist just ended, right? It was so much fun to put on a completely different show than any that the Autumn Troupe has done before. And finally getting to stand on stage as the lead (and of a play made just for me!!) was SO cool! It’s a memory I’m never going to forget, even if I lose all my memories as an old man I’m still going to talk to all my grandkids about how I played Chan on stage.

But I can’t say it was all smooth sailing. I had a really hard time accepting that I was… good enough? Worthy? To be the lead. The guys in the Autumn Troupe helped me through it, but after closing night I was thinking about how much everyone in the company has done for me, and I got to you and. I don’t know, I guess I started to feel like I was being selfish.

Even outside of the Winter Troupe, you’d have to be pretty blind to not see how much not getting into the God Troupe fucked (I’m sorry Autumn habit please don’t get mad!!!) messed with you back when you first joined the company. Reni was a serious jerk to me, so I can only imagine what stuff he said to you. I seriously felt for you there. I never said anything, but it felt like we were brothers in arms against the guy, even though all I did for the act-off was help make the costumes.

But, I don’t know, I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that at least I got in? Sorry, I hope that doesn’t sound rude or like I’m bragging because I really don’t mean it that way. I guess I like, started to wonder if I was being unfair. Yeah I was in the back, but at least I got to do a show, right? Was it ok to compare my situation to yours? Mine wasn’t great, but at least it let me continue with theater.

It sort of made me feel like I was whining or ungreatful, or something. Like, who was I to complain like that?

I know you’d tell me to not worry about it and that “we all have different challenges we face differently” or something, which is why I decided to write it here so you couldn’t tell me to shut up and be nicer to myself mid sentence.

Anyway, don’t feel bad about this or anything! I don’t know if it’s right to say I’m over it, but I’m gonna try to not beat myself up over it too much. We’ve gotta focus on the future, right? I’m really greatful to be here in the MANKAI Company with you and everyone else. I feel like it’d be MORE unfair to ignore that and focus on things that have already passed. I can’t know for sure obviously, but I feel like you feel the same.

And I understand that thinking I’m being unfair to you is kinda unfair to myself too. Because even if I passed the auditions, it was it’s own kind of hell. I guess we both came out of it with confidence issues. You know that meme that’s like a cow that can go through one of two hallways, but both halls end up in the same place and it says “the illusion of free choice?” You probably don’t but it’s like that. The free choice is whether you get into the God Troupe or not and the end of the hall is like. Trauma I guess.

Ok, well. That was it. Really, I just wanted to get it off my chest. So if you’re still reading, thanks for letting me do that. I feel like I can move forward with my head up a little better now. I mean, acting here, under Izumi and with everyone? How could the future NOT be bright!

I know we’re in different troupes, but if we do more mixed plays like that school-themed one that’s coming up soon (congrats on landing that by the way!!), I hope we can star in one together. I can’t think of a bigger honor than getting to stand next to you on stage.

Anyway, I’m seriously looking forward to how you guys take on your next play. I want you to show me a Tsumugi Tsukioka that the God Troupe WISHES it had!

Your favorite student that you totally aren’t mad at for not doing his work,

Taichi

[Top] [Back - To Kumon] [Next - To Masumi]

#a3!#a3! fanfiction #a3! taichi #taichi nanao #a3! tsumugi #tsumugi tsukioka #there's typos in here and it's on purpose

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siarven · 4 years ago

Note

Calendar, measuring time and celebrations for the tag game? I'd love to know more about those

Thank you!! :D

So I guess this is a worldbuilding, celebrations, and “yes I made a whole new calendar�� post for Dream’s Shadow now...

The Calendar, How Time Is Measured in the Empire of the New Dawn, and Official Celebrations

So... this is the calendar! (still ... mainly ... accurate)

CALENDAR AND MEASURING TIME:

Aelaris (the planet) is a bit bigger than Earth. There are sixteen hours in every day (32 per daily cycle), and an hour is fifty minutes long. So we bascially have 1-16 AM and 1-16PM.

The calendar system was created by the Merreki, and while the Sindish invaded them and subsequently created the Empire of the New Dawn, the Merreki kind of invaded them back from the inside, and their calendar became the new norm.

It’s a bit dumb and confusing on purpose because the Merreki hate the Sindish and found it spitefully hilarious that this results in different days having the exact same date (during Paras and Telrin). And bureaucracy sucks so nobody has bothered fixing it so far.

The Merreki isles are situated far to the North, which means that there are ~4 weeks in winter when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon. The blue part marks the times of the year when the sun is there for less than an hour, and it’s counted in negative days. This also means that the rest of the Empire, where people have sun all year long, still has to count this way (which is hilarious to me).

There are 36 weeks in the year, and the Weeks during which the Winter and Summer Solstice happen are special, celebrated with a festival that lasts the whole week. During this time, the common folk don’t have to work (the necessary work is taken over by the Asim/Empire-enslaved magic users). Middle of Spring and Autumn are also important, celebrated for three days. → the time when Day and Night have the same length

Celebrations below the cut bc it got a bit long...! Also the Dream’s Shadow taglist crew <3

CELEBRATIONS:

First Sun (at the end of Telrin)

Merreadon is so far north that the sun doesn’t cross the horizon for 4 weeks in winter, so the first day the sun peeks over the horizon again is the celebration of Rebirth. This is mainly a Merreki celebration, as the Sindish won’t celebrate the proper Re-Awakening of Viridaeya for more than another month.

On this day, all Merreki (and everyone else who decides to join them) will wait for the first sunrise of the year on the roof of Merreadon/the highest Layer of the City to greet the sun with the traditional Merreki hymns (sung in its major version).

There are smaller celebrations held privately during the rest of the day and through the next night, and the Sindish generally pretend not to see those.

New Year – Most liked official Festival! :D

The Sindish celebrate the proper Re-Awakening of Viridaeya, Goddess of Creation. Everyone has a day off and there are big celebrations all over the city.

Spring/Revival Celebration

Roughly 1.5 months later is the time of the spring celebration, when day and night have roughly the same length again.

This day celebrates Viridaeya’s power finally outbalancing Ruyen’s again, and also that the next half-year will be the one where she’s stronger than him (=the power of growth being stronger than decay, represented by longer days)

It’s celebrated through 3 days of festivals, a lot of dancing, and generally leaving the city again for the time (most of the festivities are held outside the city in the forest near the city walls)

Midsummer / Summer Solstice

The summer solstice celebrates the mid-point of the counted year, along the lines of “tthings are going to get dark again but at least we still a quarter of a year of sunlight”. Once again, it’s a celebration of Viridaeya at the height of her strength, but it’s also a festival in recognition of Ruyen, who will soon re-awaken and regain his strength.

Since the summer (and winter) solstice is the most important in Merreki tradition, it’s the day that the Empire decided to wreak havoc on by declaring it one of the two days of the Testing, when every child who turned 4 since the winter solstice is tested for magical power (and taken away to become Asim if they’re strong enough)

It’s also one of the two days a year that the Asim children are allowed to see their families again, so while this should be the most triumphant day of the year, it’s not tied to city-wide festivals, just to small family ones. Or days of sorrow, in other cases. Everyone gets this day off, too, though.

Autumn Celebration/Giving Thanks

This is the mirror celebration of the Spring one, it’s basically a celebration looking back on the accomplishments of the last year. It marks the time when day and night are again of the same length and is the last true celebration before winter.

“Things are going to get dark but at least we had a nice time before that.”

The Sindish (and therefore everyone else) celebrate the times of plenty and joy that Viridaeya gave them, and also give their thanks and joy to Ruyen for sparing them this year, and that he will be re-making the world for the next one so that Viridaeya has a blank canvas when she is reborn.

First Night

This is a special day in school, but there are no actual celebrations. It marks the last sunset, Viridaeya’s death.

It’s the mirror of First Light, except everyone’s kinda somber about it, and while the Merreki meet again on the roofs of the city in time for the last sunset, this time they sing the Merreki Hymns in its minor version: a sort of “laying the sun to rest”. (A celebration left over from when Virism was a thriving religion.)

Midwinter / Winter Solstice

Midwinter celebrates the turning point in Winter!

“We need hope, and here we have it. It’s still dark outside but from now on things are going to get better” is the general official sentiment of this day. True Dark.

The Winter Solstice is of similar importance as the Summer Solstice to the Merreki, though, so this is the other time of the year when the Empire does the Testing, and the other day during which Asim children are reunited with their families.

This got long! If you read through all of this, thank you, I hope you liked it <333

A lot of this is deeply tied to Creationism (the Sindish/enforced Empire religion) and Virism (the old religion of the Merreki, now seen more in a similar vein as we see the ancient norse mythology) but I hope it still makes sense <3

Tagging the Dream’s Shadow crew bc heyyy I made a post again,,,

IT’S BEEN A WHILE! :)

If you want on/off please tell me!

#aelaris #dreamshadow #tag game ask #thank you for this ask <3 #it got very long but it wouldn't have made sense otherwise ahhhh #also heyyyy i had to make this post from somewhat scratch bc those files in my scrivener project were outdated for some reason #so thank you for making me realize thatXD #timefire25

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callmeasyouwantidk · 4 years ago

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3, 6, 12, and 21 for the Writer Asks, please! 🤗 💜

Thank you for the ask Hiro!

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3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing?

My favorite is the feeling you get when you have finished writing so you reread it to make sure everything is correct.

My least favorite is writers block. AHHHGHHHHGHGGGGGGGG

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6. Favorite character you've written?

I never wrote originals yet (even tho I'm thinking on it) so my fav is Butsuma with completely different attitude in my mid-century AU. I made him like, as strong, as serious, but now he takes everything close to heart and just had to go with it because a good king can't allow himself to be a crybaby in the war. He was suffering and I loved to reread about it. Usual writer stuff, nothing new)

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12. Which story of yours do you like best? Why?

Honestly I'm not sure here. There are like three stories that r good enough to be my favs. I can't decide... Ugh. Whatever. Basic review of them 😅: First story is basically about Tobirama getting kidnapped when he is a child (like, 6 months or so) by Tajima. That happened while Butsuma was at his mission and Tobi's mom was about to give birth to Itama so Hashirama and Tobi were with their nany. But what can a regular human nany do when at the window she sees the head of the Uchiha clan? Only try to get the children to safety or get help. Unfortunately, Tajima got his hands on one of the boys before nany could. Now Tobirama grows up among the Uchiha as one of them, with only one goal - to kill his father, brothers, mother, and his own clansman. He succeeded at killing two of his brothers at young age, and killing his mother while a teen. Tajima gets physical pleasure when he sees Butsuma clutch his teeth in anger and dispare every fight Tobi includes. Not gonna go farther, too long, but you got the spirit.

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Second story is about Hashirama getting caught prisoner while Tajima is still ruling the clan. He learns that he was caught when he used himself as a shield to save Tobirama from a wicked two way attack that would have killed him. He also learns that even tho he did save him, the poisoned blade did a little cut, so Tobi will die from it in few days. Gotta get out. While trying to find his way out, Hashi stumbles upon his father and father's good friend who went missing four years ago, who's also held prisoners. Same story - too long to tell, but you got the spirit.

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3rd story has two versions. This is Ver 1. It's the AU I'm currently working on. Mid-century AU, where people have wings (type and colour of wing depends on personality, hair colour, and mobility of the person. Also it might depend on the wings your ancestors had.) and magic. Butsuma is the king, Tajima is the king. Senju kingdom grew weaker lately, because many of their blacksmiths have been slaughtered in one of the attacks on kingdom, and the army needs weapons. Because now the knights gotta run around the field looking for a weapon in case they don't have their anymore, they grow more and more tired after every fight. The Knights of the Round Table (which includes Butsuma and his knights) decided that the kingdom is growing too weak, and judging from Uchihas actions, they realize it too and don't hesitate to use the opportunity. They have decided that if the Uchiha kingdom does one strong enough strike with all their power, it might even be the end of it. To prevent this happening Butsuma calls Tajima for negotiation. He says that both armies are tired and that it might be good to take a break and form temporary peace, let the armies rest for a while, heal up, and continue. Tajima, of course knew where it was coming from, and it was far from the deal he was willing to make, so he asked for a payment. He said that he will consider such deal, if Butsuma gives him one certain payment to stay away. The payment is Butsuma himself. Tajima asked Butsuma to give himself in as a prisoner. A slave. Only in such case will Tajima agree. Having no other choice Butsuma agrees, signs the contract, and gives himself in, leaving a wife and his four children. While being an Uchiha slave he is treated even worse then a homeless alcoholic. Leaving in a cell in dungeons. In summer/autumn and spring working on the fields, and in winter helping as a servant. For every little mistake he was punished with a certain amount of whip blows that would leave him a bloody mess, and a lot of deep bruises. He was given only the things that he need not to die to quickly. In cold winters he had to swallow his pride and beg for something warm. The only way to get a little food for him was to pleasure Tajima in a naughty way (if you know what I mean ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). His status here was lower then a dog's, so anyone and everyone could do whatever they wanted with him. He had to do every request regardless of anything. Because of constant physical and emotional stress of more or less regular punishments and the inability to say "no" to all the perverted guards around the castle he aged greatly in a not so long amount of time, even tho he also did a lot of work to adapt. Madara was helping him tho, as much and as well as he could. He would call him in for said "naughty time" but would let him just sit and rest for an hour after which let him go. He would bring him a little of bread if Butsuma didn't eat for more then 3 days. He would help him get treatment if Butsuma got ill. Ten years later, when Madara grew to be 24 he made an assassination on his father because didn't agree with his perverted way of spreading tyranny not only on Butsuma, but through the kingdom itself. He became the king, and let Butsuma back to his family, shortly after which they made a permanent peace treaty.

Ver2. All the same but instead of asking for Butsuma to turn himself in, Tajima asked for one of his children. Through days of thinking of a way to get out of the situation, and Tobirama saying his word, Butsuma sends Tobi to Tajima as a prisoner. For Tobi it's all the same story but only that people get their wings only when they turn 18, and in the Uchiha castle it is forbidden for anyone to use wings except the royal family. Tobi had to learn to control his wings while always being at risk of them opening randomly and getting him in a lot of trouble. Bit again, Madara helped him with that.

Very 2 has a different ending tho. At some point when Tobi is around 22 the Uchiha kingdom suffers an attack from a big enemy coming for Tajima. During that attack, Tajima dies, but so does Tobirama. Tobi goes to the other world, but instead of resting in peace he spends a his time looking over his family and kingdom. With years passing, he becomes the Guardian of the Senju kingdom, and he looks over it and all the people living in until the end of times.

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21. What aspect of your writing are you most proud of?

Um... I guess that I make kinda very dramatic content, and a lot of people actually like drama but usually are ashamed (for whatever reason) to say about it so there are not much actual dramatic fanfics.

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Hope you had good time reading my 3 page essay answering these. I really couldn't decide on the story could I?😅

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bittykimmy13 · 4 years ago

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Best Wishes (GT) ~ 1

This is G/t fanfiction of the Netflix movie The Half of It. Watch the movie if you haven't seen it. Enjoy.

I certainly enjoyed it so much that I immediately needed a G/t version of it :') This will probably be a shorter story, with short chapters. Just something cute and light after the slew of angst the past couple years haha (but yes of course there will be angst, who do you think I am?) Anyway, this takes place in a potential future of the print universe. YEP, a print story where the characters aren't under immediate threat of physical pain/death 24/7 <333

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Mid-afternoon sun beat down on the lonely stretch of road. Autumn pedaled her bike on a separate print-sized path beside the tree line, bracing herself whenever human cars roared by. Luckily, those were few and far between at this time of day. Unless humans were headed for the southern exit of the town where their kind of homes were sparse, they didn’t have much reason to be there. Mostly, all that remained at this end was a tight cluster of print neighborhoods and woodland.

It would be easier if she paid for human transportation to and from her summer job, but she told herself every morning that she needed to save money and that it wasn’t her pride holding her back. If she wanted to sustain herself through the next school year, she’d need to tough out the commute on her own.

The rumble of an engine approached in the distance. She tensed, but didn’t stop pedaling. This engine in particular was familiar—one she had been dreading.

Sure enough, as the pick-up truck slowed beside her, the human boys inside shouted at her through the open windows.

“Think you’ll make it home by morning?”

“Aww, why’re you ignoring us, mouse? Think you’re too good?”

“Why don’t you come in here and sit on my lap? I’ll get you where you need to go!”

Autumn kept her eyes trained on the path in front of her. It wasn’t worth snapping back at them. One, they wouldn’t hear her over the sound of that old-world relic of a pick-up. Two, they were all easily over six feet tall. She didn’t even reach mid-calf for them. Let them have their fun from the road, as long as they didn’t get out to stop her on the path and tower over her.

Keep it together. You’ll be free of them again in a couple months.

Their laughter faded as the truck roared ahead, and she could finally breathe again. She swore they took the long way these days just to mess with her. Now that they were gone, her tense anticipation of their approach could be laid to rest until tomorrow. However, her moment of relaxation lasted roughly five minutes.

A rhythmic pounding came from behind her—the footsteps of a jogging human. She clenched her jaw and kept her eyes forward. Why couldn’t some humans get it through their thick skulls that this path wasn’t meant for their exercise? It was meant for prints like her to get home somewhat safely if they didn’t have a ride. Besides, who the hell wanted to be running in this heat? As the footsteps became more pronounced, she groaned and started to swerved her bike off the path to let the human pass her without potential murder.

“Hey!” The human’s steps slowed as his voice boomed after her. “Autumn Yang!”

She braked so hard she nearly fell off her bike. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a human with wavy dark-blond hair coming after her on the path. She blanched in recognition. He’d gone to high school with her, like the other boys in the pick-up. Tucker West. Had they really deployed one of the guys to come after her on foot? Her hand tensed on the phone in her pocket as she wondered if she should call for help.

There was no time. She pedaled hard.

“Wait up!” His pounding footsteps kicked up to a jog again.

It was laughable how easily he caught up. In no time at all, his shadow had fallen over her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t dare look back, knowing she’d lose her balance if she dared to peer up at his dizzying height. From the brief look she’d gotten, he was somehow taller now since graduation.

“Autumn, hey! I said wait up!”

The shadow darkened, and her bike came to an abrupt stop. The momentum launched her over the handles, making her come to a hard fall on the asphalt. She winced at the scrape on her forearm and sat up, scrambling to face Tucker West.

He was crouched low with one hand braced to the ground, while his other fingers still pinched the back tire of her bike. His dark eyes were wide, and his lips were parted dumbly as he assessed what he had done.

“Wow, I-I’m sorry,” he stammered, giving a laugh of disbelief. “Shit, I didn’t know you were gonna fall like that.”

“You expected me to fall a different way?” She picked herself up and dusted her shorts off. “What’s wrong with you? Besides not knowing how physics work.”

“No, really, I’m sorry. But you weren’t stopping, and I…” He shrugged lamely.

Praying that he couldn’t see how badly she trembled under his shadow, she stormed over to her bike and grabbed the handles. “Give it back, Tucker. Leave me alone. We’re not in fucking high school anymore—I dunno why you and your friends couldn’t mature past your glory days, but leave me out of it.”

He cocked his head. “My friends?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb. The assholes who’ve been screeching past me every day since I came home for the summer.”

“You mean Jason and them? They’re not my friends.” He kept his grip on the bike, seemingly unaware that she was trying to wrench it out of his fingers. “Look, I saw you were back in town, and I have a favor to ask. See, there’s this girl—”

“No, I will not help you seduce some girl by pretending to be your quirky print friend to prove you have a softer side. Beat it, or I’ll tell her you stalked me on my way home.”

Cheeks flushing, he shook his head. “That’s not it! Remember how you used to write people’s assignments for them?”

Of course she remembered. How could she not? The money she’d made from that had ensured she could eat comfortably while she was away for her freshman year of college. She stopped pulling on the bike and narrowed her eyes at him. She’d written a few papers for him back then, but that was the long and short of their interaction.

“Somehow, I doubt you need a philosophy analysis written for you in the middle of summer, two years out of high school,” she said.

Despite her flat tone, he looked at her excitedly, like she was a co-conspirator in a scheme she knew nothing about. “Well, you’re right about me needing your help with the girl. I mean, not the seducing her part, but uh… yeah, okay, kinda.”

“Either give me the point, or give me my bike.”

“You’re good at writing, okay? And I need help with that.” He pursed his lips and shrugged.

“Look, I’m not good with words, so I want to write her a letter. I tried already by myself, but it never sounds good, you know?”

She gave the bike another test tug, disappointed to find that his fingers’ grip hadn’t slackened in tandem with that wistful look on his face. She scoffed. “Write a letter? Like on paper? Who does that?”

He pouted. “I thought it would be romantic.”

“I mean, I guess. If she’s into that kind of stuff. Who is she, anyway?”

“Lacey. Lacey Ramirez.”

Autumn let go of the bike and staggered back a few steps, arms limp at her sides.

“You know her, don’t you?” Tucker said. “Didn’t you used to be friends with her?” He paused, taking in her slack-jawed expression and tense stance. “Oh. Do you guys have bad blood? Shit, I figured it would be easier for you to help since you know her.”

She shook her head. “N-no, we don’t have bad blood. But I’m not doing this. I’m not helping you write a stupid love letter to Lacey Ramirez. Just go talk to her. It’s not that hard.”

“You don’t get it! It’s hard. It’s, like, super hard.”

For all his insistence, he finally let go of the bike when Autumn lunged forward and jerked at the handles again. She gave one last look at his knelt form towering over her, feeling a spike of bitterness. Of course it wouldn’t be hard for him to win Lacey over. He was tall, handsome, and built. But most importantly, human. A perfect match for Lacey. She turned around and started walking her bike away.

“I’ll pay you,” he said. She walked a little faster, worried he’d give chase again. She was still within reach of his stupid long arms, but he didn’t make a grab. “However much you need. Set your price.”

Autumn hesitated, and his voice jumped.

“I’m in love with her,” he insisted. “Please. You have to help me. I’m sure you could use the money.”

She glared over her shoulder. “What makes you say that?”

He leaned back a little and planted his hands on his lap, perhaps to make it seem like he wasn’t trying to crowd her. “I dunno. You’re working, aren’t you? That means you need money.”

She did.

Hissing out a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “One letter.” He started to grin and straighten up in excitement, prompting her to hold up a finger. “One letter! And I name my price after I finish it. I’ll type up a draft and send it so you can write it out. What’s your number?”

“What? No, hey, I want to be there with you while you come up with it. We could help each other, can’t we?”

She rolled her eyes. “Where?”

“Library, tomorrow at noon?”

She frowned, shocked that he was so casually okay with being seen in public with a print. It wasn’t exactly outlandish these days, she just didn’t figure someone like him would be alright with it.

Maybe it was the surprise that made her nod. “Fine. But I work tomorrow, so let’s make it two.”

“So we have a deal!” His hand shot toward her, and she might have fallen on her ass if he hadn’t stopped a few safe inches away. He held his finger and thumb slightly parted—an invitation to a handshake that she would much rather not attend.

But, figuring it would get him out of her hair faster, she stiffly walked closer and placed her hand on his fingertip. She braced for pressure, but he was actually quite gentle when he pinched her hand and moved it down once. After getting tossed off her bike, she never would have expected that from him.

“See ya tomorrow.” He let go and gave a small wave. His grin was wide and blinding as he stood up.

She couldn’t help but flinch, seeing him at his full height again. He didn’t linger, though. The pound of footsteps resumed, but this time they headed away from her. It wasn’t until he was a good distance away that she, for the second time, could breathe again.

As she mounted her bike and started pedaling, her mind swam in disbelief of what had just happened. Tucker West, former football star and high school has-been, had sought out her help with a handwritten love letter. And for Lacey Ramirez, of all people.

It wouldn’t be hard finding the words—just hard to share them. She hadn’t spoken much to Lacey since sophomore year of high school. It wasn’t that they had a falling out or bad blood. It was just that Autumn had quietly pulled away from that friendship when she came to the terrifying realization that she had fallen in love with Lacey.

#gt #gt writing #mywriting #giant #tiny #best wishes #autumn #tucker #size difference #romance #print universe

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aroacemisha · 4 years ago

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So like.. I think I’ve come to a realization.

For some time I was wondering, why am I so unmotivated? In like, early and mid 2018 I was posting a lot of art, I think I might have been drawing every day, and sometimes posted two drawings a day, but now I post like, maybe a drawing a week at best. And oddly enough, I have a little more time now than I did then.

And yes, part of the reason I do less art is because I improved immensely since then and my art has begun to move closer to a realistic style, so it takes more times, but still, I spend less time drawing, even though there’s nothing stopping me.. besides the lack of motivation.

But where does that come from?

Well...

Partially it may be because I don’t get enough feedback, but I think a bigger reason is what happened between early/mid 2018 and around autumn(?) of last year. Doing art for a fandom.

I just noticed a difference between how I felt in early/mid 2018, in my fandom art phase, and how I feel now.

While in the very beginning, early 2018, my now original story, Crossroads of Chaos (which I have a blog for - @crossroadsofchaos), was a Hello Neighbor AU, it stopped being one fairly early in development and became its own thing.

But even then, in the first few months that I was doing art for it, I still wasn’t really doing content “for a fandom”. I was drawing for myself. You know, the thing they recommend you to do when you feel sad because you don’t get much feedback. And I was doing fine. I drew a lot more.

But then in mid 2018, I started doing art for a fandom. Made my interpretations of characters, and started posting stuff about it on a different blog, the CofC blog mostly becoming inactive for the time. I won’t say what fandom it was, because I want no mention of it on my blog, and because it doesn’t really matter.

But I gradually started to want more notes and attention. Not sure what caused that shift. Maybe the fact that at some point I was followed by someone who was popular in the fandom and I was hoping I could one day get a boost and have more followers.

And slowly, my soul was being drained by the lack of feedback. I was losing passion and energy. I cancelled the series of fics I was going to write after just one chapter, and gave up the plans to turn it into a comic. And I’ve been doing art for a fandom for like, a year at that point.

It hurt every time I saw a new person coming to Tumblr, seemingly not having met the popular people on other sites or irl before, but immediately getting a boost, while I was posting stuff for so long and never got one. And a lot of times I felt like people were deliberately ignoring me and my content, just scrolling past it. I even feel like that now sometimes.

I had unpopular opinions, unpopular ships, and hated some of the most popular ships (I’m very picky with ships in general). That definitely contributed to me not getting much attention, but it still hurts. And eventually it drained me.

It’s not the only, and not the main reason I left the fandom though. I was also just losing interest in the franchise and didn’t like where it was going. I took the characters (the interpretations I had of them to be exact) that were the dearest to me and remade them into OCs for CofC, so I could keep them without associating with the fandom anymore.

The last ask I ever got on the fandom-related blog, just a day after reopening my inbox, was anon hate towards my favorite ship, an unpopular one. And then, after roasting that anon, I closed my inbox again, knowing I wouldn’t get anything else. No one gave a shit. Even though that blog had the most followers out of my blogs.

And here I am now. A ton of ideas. No energy. No motivation. And hoping for more followers and more feedback.

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Oh wow this is long and kinda sad. But also I guess my self-esteem is a little better these days? And I’m finally not too anxious so I can actually talk to my friends? I dunno I’m trying to make this a little more positive.

But also I definitely write a lot more now, which is good, but I don’t want it to completely replace drawings. As much as I like writing, I’m still first and foremost an artist.

#mj thinks aloud #not tagging this as venting because it's more an observation than anything #and i'm not sad rn. i'm okay

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pyotatochip · 5 years ago

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just like dancing | hyunjin x reader

what’s up losers. this one goes out to @starhhj thanks for always hurting me so good <3

just like dancing | hwang hyunjin x gender neutral reader wordcount: 4k inspired by: sidekick by walk the moon summary: meeting up with a photographer for a day of modelling turns into making a maybe forever friend.

ur a model

well. aspiring model.

ur instagram is a buncha pictures that u make ur friends take of you whenever y'all hang out

u have booked a couple photoshoots and submitted them to magazines

u even got published a couple times!!!!

not in anything big, just photography journals and portraiture mags

BUT IT'S SOMETHING!!!!

photoshoots are hella expensive tho fuckin. rip ur wallet

so u join a facebook group, which is something u never thought u would do

the idea was that aspiring photographers and aspiring models would meet up, get experience, and maybe make professional relationships

you? young and cute

all these photographers? 36 yr old dudes

they always invite you to their studios in their houses

to do artsy half nude shoots

so u were pretty unwilling to meet up with most of them

(understandable)

but then this one schmuck posts in the group, just when u so happen to be looking for weekend plans

“looking for a model this saturday, autumn themed shoot at han river. the leaves are really pretty right now, i wanna catch them before too many fall”

han river was a pretty public place, so u DEFINITELY felt safer

and like, ur school is pretty close to there, so ur familiar with the area

u comment “i'm free all day, give me a time and i'll meet you there”

after it posted, you clicked on his profile and

fuck

he was not 36

and he was CUTE

u freaked the fuck out

this kid looked like he was ur age. and he was hot.

should u delete the comment?

why would u do that?

bc ur nervous?

why are u nervous?

bc the photographer is a hottie?

is that really a good excuse?

before u could debate with urself much longer, ur comment received a like and u got a private message

hyunjin: hi! u look great! meet at the main gates of yeouido park at 9am?

“u look great!”

“U LOOK GREAT!”

(jooe sunbaenim is quaking)

screech

you: so early! okay! what kinda look are u going for?

hyunjin: haha i wanna get that fall morning light!!! i’d like it to be pretty autumnal. warm colors, maybe a sweater/scarf/jacket combo? if u have something like that. minimal makeup & hair, if you're into that stuff. hopefully that's all okay (^ム^)

you: sounds good! see you saturday!

you spend the next few days at school literally just thinking about how ur meeting up with a cutie on saturday

u rlly dont know what to do with urself

i show ur friend a pic of him and she's like “HOOYKY FUXKJGN GODJ”

which was basically your initial reaction too

but then shes like “he looks familiar??? is he a model too???”

u have literally no idea but it's completely possible

like, it's a waste to have that face exclusively behind the camera

and suddenly the two of u are like. obsessively going through his instagram bc WHAT THE FUCK he’s like….. REALLY GOOD

like, he does a lot of portraits, but the focus isn't necessarily always the person in the photo

the composition and background are just as important in every shot and it…. shakes u

there’s a few pictures of him too, all of which are v aesthetic

but how could they not be??? have u seen his face????

he also tags literally every person in his pictures whether they’re models or just his friends while they’re hanging out

and he photocreds everyone who takes pics of him!!

you are literally…. fallin’ in love

because he was cute and had a good eye and wrote cute captions and was so humble!!!

ur friend is like “wow we stan a pro”

“he looks seriously familiar tho, right?”

she's like “yeah i'm confused why have i seen his face before”

and ur shook bc like… if u had seen this boy irl there's no way you would forget how cute he is

finally,,, it's the weekend

you get on the train and head to han river early in the morning, dressed up and made up for your ~autumn photoshoot~

as soon as you get to the gates ur like.. holy fuck

it's so pretty

the leaves are a mix of orange and red and green and there's a couple dusting the ground too

no wonder hyunjin wanted to shoot here

ur kinda aimlessly wandering around the gate when u suddenly spot

him

he’s wearing a bomber jacket and has a camera bag over his shoulder

and his neck is literally at a 90° angle while he's looking at his phone

ur like…. that cant be ok

u get a notif while ur walking up to him and its a message from him asking if u were on ur way

“actually, i can't make it”

he looks up and immediately laughs. “hi! y/n?”

u wave. “hi hyunjin!! nice to meet you!!”

y'all exchange pleasantries and he's suddenly like

“your outfit is literally perfect” he steps back to look at u. “exactly what i had in mind”

u put up a peace sign. he laughs again.

uh oh

u really like his laugh

and his smile

and his everything

uh oh

he leads you further into the park where there's less people and more trees

“i brought another jacket and a couple of scarves in case u wanted something different” u say as he's helping you take off ur backpack

“oooooo a professional”

“not even”

he asks you if he can take a boomerang of u for his instagram story and u do a lil twirl

he gasps

“that was cute!!!!”

he giggles while he's posting it

what is with this kid and his giggles

u cant

if he keeps doin it at this rate, it'll probably be the death of u

which is

cool

he puts your backpack on and pulls his camera out of his bag. “let's take some pics in this outfit and then i'll peek at the other options. i like this look a lot”

and then… he just starts taking pictures

u literally laugh

“where do you want me?”

“wherever,” he goes, checking the pics real fast. “i tend to go for candid shots”

suddenly,,, his entire instagram flashes in your brain

the pictures of people laughing and mid walk and reading books

u thought all the models were just. really comfy and professionals and shit

IT WAS ALL A LIE

“so uhhh…” u literally dont know what to do

u have Never done a shoot Like This

“just walk,” he said. “look around. i'll follow”

you: no fear

hyunjin: just walk

you: one fear

u nervously laugh again and he's hitting his shutter like A MILLION TIMES A SECOND

“okay…… i guess i'll walk then”

u push his shoulder while u walk past him bc he's cheesin at u way too hard for u to handle

“ow”

“that didn't hurt”

“it hurt my heart :(“

ur walking backwards and laughing and he's just. only looking at you through his camera.

so. u wander.

u take a lovely morning walk down the pretty paths at han river

u really were so scared that u would be completely directionless, but hyunjin ends up asking you to do specific things also

“go up on those rocks”

“i'm literally wearing slippery ass boots do you want me to die”

“do it for the shot, y/n”

sIGHHHHHH

so ur up on some rocks trying not to fall into a fucking river

and when hyunjin shows u the pics he takes….

okay

yeah

he was right

the entire time he was shooting, he would just strike up conversation to make you comfy

asking how long you've been pursuing modelling

if u wanna do it as a career or if its just a hobby

about ur family

about ur pets

(he asks a lot about pets)

ur sitting on a bench and he's crouched a few feet away to get those ~angles~ when he asks

“where do u go to school?”

“kyunggi”

hyunjin gasps. “no way! me too!”

you fuckin ALMOST DIE

because u fuckin brainblast and have a recovered memory of seeing hyunjin In Your School's Uniform in the lunchroom and suddenly IT ALL MAKES SENSE

you hop up from the bench and like. YELL.

“OKAY I THOUGHT YOU LOOKED REALLY FAMILIAR ARE YOU KIDDING”

he stands and literally screams and u are. so shocked. “i thought you looked really familiar too!!!! i figured i just had seen your pics on the facebook group!!!! i highkey stalked ur instagram bc i couldn't figure out where i knew you from!!”

okay, wig

he stalked you also which is….. great

“what year are you???”

“i'm a junior!”

you push him.

“boi what the fuck! me too!”

“no way!!!” he's laughing “that's crazy!”

he literally pulls out his phone and opens instagram

u have never seen a person use instagram stories as much as this bitch

like, he intermittently pulls out his phone to get shots for his story

u almost threw hands when u were sliding around on some stupid wet rocks bc he was like “JUMP AGAIN I NEED IT FOR A BOOMERANG”

he does this cute lil hair flip and adjusts his bangs before he starts recording and u…. kinda wanna cry

“I KNEW Y/N LOOKED FAMILIAR”

he spins so ur in the shot with him and puts his arm over your shoulders

“WE'RE LITERALLY IN THE SAME YEAR AT THE SAME SCHOOL”

u laugh out loud

he laughs with you and u have to cover ur mouth so an uwu doesn't fall out

u try not to focus on his literally perfect eye smile as he hunches over his phone to post to his story

like,,,

those crescents

are so cute

and he has this lingering grin every time he laughs

and like. wow. lips. amirite. ladies and gents.

“i cant believe u go to kyunggi,” u say. bc u cant.

“what are the odds. out of all the people in that group, we end up meeting up”

u almost made a joke about it being destiny but then u were like oo no thats creepy dont say that

then hyunjins gasps

and u look at him

and he just looks at you wide eyed

and fucking

whispers

“destiny”

you scream laugh

he's laughing too

but on a real level ur like why would that have been super creepy if u said it but it was cute as hell (and a little heart fluttery) when he did?

he goes on saying it's crazy that you had never had any classes together over the years

“or any clubs,” u said

“yeah!!! what clubs do you do??”

“photography! which is why i'm shocked!!!”

hyunjin gasps again

wtf is up with this boy and his gasps

“i was gonna do photography but they meet the same days as dance!”

BITCH

WHAT THE FUCK

“I DONT DO DANCE BC THEY MEET THE SAME DAYS AS PHOTOGRAPHY”

his entire jaw drops off his damn face

“YOU DANCE TOO?”

“I’M JUST AS SHOCKED AS YOU ARE”

u literally can't believe

“we've been barely missing each other all this time when we could have been best friends :(“

oh ow

ouch hyunjin

that got u right in ur weak heart

like literally u might have a heart condition now bc he just hit u with the “we could have been best friends”

“sorry i already have a best friend”

DGDGSH WHY DID YOU SAY THAT

then he's laughing and ur like… oh fuck wheew

“well, sorry, i'm replacing them now. we have to catch up on lost time.”

and honestly………. he's right

number 1: y'all are both photography nerds

even tho you have begun to skew on the modelling side of it, u always loved taking pictures of scenery and u knew way too much about how cameras worked

and hyunjin really was like a pro

u had watched him adjust settings on his camera for white balance and exposure and everything

and judging by his instagram, he set himself up for some flawless editing too

number 2: y'all are both dance nerds

he tells u basically all his friends are in the dance club and have formed a lil dance crew bc of it

u say u used to take classes when u were younger but now u just go to the gym and hide in a practice room for a few hours every week

he does hip hop! which is so predictable but u still act all surprised

u tell him u used to do ballet but ur much more into urban dance these days

number 3: y'all both don't know how to stop laughing

like literally if either of you do anything remotely funny the other one is fucked for five minutes

ur pretty sure 90% of the pics hyunjin was taking were of you covering your face because ur literally GUFFAWING

and like, y'all ain't even that funny

but the more you laugh the less funny shit has to be for you to be crying

hyunjin told u to stop making him laugh bc his fingers were getting weak and he didnt wanna drop his camera

you, trying not to giggle: its ok u have a strap around ur neck u can drop it

hyunjin, tears flowing freely: PLEASE LET ME BREATHE

number 4: y'all both LOVE UR PETS

like idk man he tells u about kkami and u freak the fuck out because he's just SO EXCITED ABT HIS PUP

and hyunjin almost ditches u right then n there when u say ur more of a cat person BUT he forgives u because ur cat is literally named hot dog

this is highkey the most fun you've ever had on a shoot

like, you feel so comfortable with hyunjin

and every time you take breaks to peek at the pictures he's been taking

u like … literally stop breathing

he's so talented ;;

you eventually swap jackets and scarves and wander around more

and literal hours later hyunjin's like

“are u hungry”

u stare. “always”

he laughs. “do you wanna go to the convenience store and make ramen”

“i thought you'd never ask”

so y'all go to the conbini and pick out ya fave ramen packets

(and some chips and candy bc u have literally no self control)

hyunjin really tries to buy your food for you but you yell at him while ur checking out bc Boi. No.

the cashier: watched the two of you look at food and bump into each other constantly, touching each others arms and giggling the whole time

you: leave me the fuck alone hwang hyunjin or i'm calling the cops!!!

the cashier: ????????

u make ur ramen at the handy dandy hot water dispenser and carefully bring it back to a seating area in the park

“be careful it's hot!!!”

“hyunjin please, u act like i'm not a ramen pro”

“i just didnt want u to burn ur cute lil mouth, damn”

ur entire being goes WEE WOO WEE WOO

u literally almost choke on nothing and you just cough to try to play it off

hyunjin is having none of it

he's laughing his ass off

“wow that got you better than i expected”

“fuck off hwang”

he stands up to leave and u laugh and grab his sleeve

he's giggling before he even sits again

y'all eat ur ramen and chat more about school and hobbies

he tells u about this one time he almost got admitted into a cult

you: wow… pretty AND dumb

hyunjin, flustered: h-hey!

you tell him about how your cat is a rescue and his heart melts

there's a minute where you're staring at nothing in the distance eating chips

and hyunjin is just staring at you

his brain: hoe dont do it

his heart: doki doki

his brain: oh my god

“hey… are you still free all day?”

u look at him. “yeah, why?”

he opens a bag of gummies. “i'm supposed to meet up with some friends to go bowling in like an hour but i wanna keep hanging out. wanna come?”

you groan. “i'm so bad at bowling”

“we can be on a team,” he offers you a gummy bear and you take it. “i'll carry you.”

pls explain why an image of him holding you bridal style popped into ur head sgdhhf

“haha okay. as long as ur friends aren't lame.”

“they are, but i'll be there so it's fine”

“fair enough. i'm in.”

so y'all hop on a bus and head to the bowling alley that (apparently) hyunjin and his buddies frequent

(he's playing pickles with you in the back of the bus and you're giggling so hard that ur struggling to tell him to cut it the fuck out so you don't disturb the people sitting next to you)

((but also feeling his entire body press against you isn't the worst))

you've been to this bowling alley before

it's popular among younger folks because it's cheap lol

the two of you walk in and one of his friends immediately starts yelling

u freeze “dude i thought u said we were gonna be early”

he looked at his phone “we literally are”

this blonde kid is yelling hyunjin's name and ur wide eyed while u follow

“UR LATE”

“I'M NOT”

“IT'S 2:20”

“WE SAID 2:30!!!”

“TELL THAT TO LITERALLY EVERYONE WHO SHOWED UP AT TWO!!!!!”

hyunjin looks over to the group of his friends already bowling a game “oh”

u bust out laughing

hyunjin gets all flustered like “i-i thought it was 2:30!!!”

“who's ur friend, my perpetually late son”

“o-oh,,, this is y/n”

his friend sticks out his hand for you to shake. “hi, i'm chan. were you the model today?”

you grin “are you saying i look like a model?”

“OKAY!” hyunjin grabs your shoulders and you giggle when chan stutters without responding while hyunjin drags you to the counter to rent shoes and pay for a game

hyunjin is: flustered

he's all embarrassed because he was late and got yelled at by his fake dad

and then u went and,,,, u were so smooth with chan

he wondered if you had been flirting with him all morning because you actually liked him or,,, ur just a flirt

he grabbed your wallet out of your hand and shoved it in his pocket so that he could pay for your shoes and game for you.

“hyunjin!!!!!”

“you wouldn't let me buy you food and you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me if you argue i swear i'll throw you down a lane”

you pout but you let him pay

and ur heart,,, it goes off, dude

like,,,, maybe,,,,,,, u would let him throw you sgdgshsh

y'all walk over to the lane his friends are on, bowling shoes in hand

“y/n!”

your face lights tf up. “seungmin!!”

hyunjin looks between the two of you probably six times while you hug before finally going “w-what”

you and seungmin look at each other, then at hyunjin

hyunjin: you know each other

you and seungmin, in sync: photography club

hyunjin: alright, well,

he announces to everyone your name and you were his new best friend and that if any of them had a problem with it they could talk to his fist

you, softly, but with feeling: f-fuck

y'all change your shoes and watch as his friends finish up their game

while they play, hyunjin points each person out and tells you their name, helping you learn all these new people

since u guys were twenty (20) minutes late, they were already almost done with the first game

they were all pretty good.

well. most of them were.

the guy hyunjin pointed out as jisung kept getting gutter, but he was having fun

everyone else kept getting strikes or spares and u were like oh god

you keep telling hyunjin that ur really bad at bowling

hyunjin: i'll teach you. it'll be like ghost.

you, softly, but with more feeling: f-fUck

you, realization washing over you: wait how would you even-

hyunjin: *giggles*

hyunjin's giggles.

send tweet.

the entire time you were entirely too conscious of how close he was to you

you could feel the burning on your shoulder, thigh, knee - all the contact points where his body bumped into yours

your knee bobbed involuntarily while you watched the game end, nervously anticipating your turn to hit the gutter

and suddenly, hyunjin's hand was gently placed on your knee

it stopped bobbing

you looked at his hand, then at him

he smiled, but kept looking forward

“relax. even if you're bad, i'll hype you up.”

it was barely above a whisper so you wondered for a sec if he was even talking to you

hhhhHHHHH THIS BOY

yall start bowling.

he was. not all talk.

like who the fuck is good at bowling

hyunjin, apparently

he fuckin. chucked that ball down the lane

it made a smooth curve and took out. every. pin.

you stared at the empty lane in disbelief as hyunjin got a couple high fives from his friends making his way towards you

"not bad, right?"

"bro what the fuck"

he laughed and held out a hand to help you up "we bowl a lot"

you didnt even process fully that he was pulling you out of your seat because it was your turn.

ur hands: sweaty

ur arms: spaghetti

ur vomit: on ur sweater already

not actually

u picked up the ball hyunjin had helped you pick and looked at him like a deer in headlights

"bro i havent bowled since i was six"

he giggled. "you can do this"

he walked with u and showed you his starting stance, gently adjusting the way your wrists twisted and patting your hip

u. tried to not blush. no word on how well you did.

he guided you through your walk up and when u let go of the ball..

…

……

YOU DIDNT HIT GUTTER

you SCREAMED

"BRO I HIT A PIN!!!!!!!!!!!!"

hyunjin gave you a Sick High Ten, laughing "now you gotta hit the other nine!"

you froze

fuck

the others were starting to calm down from the excitement of your first half-frame, anticipating your second hit

you watched your ball return from the lane n went over to grab it

hyunjin looked at you Once and was likr….. is that caspar the ghost

the color had DRAINED from you

u…. u hit a pin…… thats like the best u've ever done

n now you gotta TOP THAT?

"its like dancing," he said suddenly. u looked at him, desperate to hear advice in terms u understood. "even if you can go through the motions, it doesnt necessarily make you good. you have to trust your body to remember the motions, give it a little finesse, and that's when you start to get Really good."

you blinked at him

"was that supposed to be helpful"

"can you Shut the Fuck Up and Bowl"

you took a deep breath, adjusting your stance as hyunjin reminded you of the steps you needed to take

another breath

steps

swing

let go…..

roollllingngg…………

*HIGH PITCHED WAILING*

"I HIT FOUR PINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

hyunjin scoops u up in a hug, spinning you around

ur too busy SCREAMING to register whats happening until he puts you down

u stare at him a second

he stares at you

"GOOD JOB Y/N!!!!!"

you turn to seungmin, who also scoops you into a hug, the rest of the boys crowding around you

you didnt even have a chance to be embarrassed about the weird eye contact you n hyunjin made

or about how. everyone in the bowling alley was staring at you guys.

because like…… suddenly

you just made a bunch of new friends

and one of them

helped you hit a pin for the first time.

and maybe….

he was still holding your hand

and maybe that felt really nice.

#hwang hyunjin #hyunjin #stray kids #skz #stray kids scenario #stray kids imagine #stray kids fluff #hwang hyunjin scenario #hwang hyunjin imagine

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drowning-in-dennor · 5 years ago

Note

29 hongice (as 18 at le a s t)? pls pls pls pls pls i nEED THIS

I’m so sorry this is so late and only prompt twenty-nine but while I scream my way into making prompt eighteen for you have this LONG BOI

When Harald barrels into the Wang-Bonnefoy household at eight in the morning, right after Leon’s left for work, he ends up at the dining table, sipping tea and ranting to Madeline.

“I mean, we’ve been dating for a while now, and I was kinda thinking about marriage and all that, and oh my goodness, yesterday morning I planned on proposing to him at some point, and I bought an engagement ring, and now I really want to propose to him, what do I do?”

She accepts a plate of millefeuille from Vicente with a kiss to the hand, turning towards Harald. “If you think it’s the right thing to do, propose to him. Don’t dither around with it, or you’ll just get cold feet and give up. That’s what I did.”

Harald watches the early sunlight glint off Madeline’s wedding ring. “How did you propose to Vicente?”

Madeline nibbles on a forkful of millefeuille, looking out the window. “It was Mid-Autumn’s Festival. I wheedled a mooncake recipe from Yao, made a box of them and hid the ring inside.” She smiles. “Vic froze up when he saw it. We decided to wait a year or two before actually getting married, and here we are now.”

“I may or may not have cried,” Vicente adds.

“You definitely cried.”

“We were nineteen back then.” He sits down next to Madeline. “Four years fly by so quickly. You’re twenty-one now, Harald. Definitely not the snobby teenager who walked into our restaurant five years ago.”

He leans back, thinking of the first time he saw Leon. “How should I ask him?”

Vicente rubs the silver ring on his finger, deep in thought. “That’s for you to decide,” he finally says, “but remember - however you pop the question, whenever you do, Leon will love you anyway.”

“I’m guessing I can’t copy you guys and pull the hide-the-ring-inside-a-box-of-food trick, can I?”

“Knowing Leon, he’d accidentally swallow the ring while eating, or drop it.” Madeline laughs. “Propose to him in a way that really brings out who you are at your very core, the ‘you’ Leon will be with for the rest of his life.”

He takes another sip of his tea. “Did you want to convey that you were the type of person to hide expensive jewelry in baked goods?”

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Madeline admits, “that was not something I considered.”

“Just be yourself,” Vicente advises, “speak through your heart.”

...

After running out of their apartment first thing in the morning, Leon bangs on the door of Henrik and Stellan’s house, ten seconds later facing the bleary wrath of Harald’s sleepy brother.

Dodging his sharp comments (not even sleep can dull Stellan’s insults) and saved by Henrik, Leon sits down at their sofa and watches as Stellan drains half a pot of coffee before turning to him. “What do you want?”

He braces himself for another wave of words before speaking. “I want to marry Harald.”

Surprisingly, Henrik responds first. “Well, it’s about time.”

“What?”

He grins, clapping Leon on the shoulder. “It’s been, what five years since the two of you have started dating? You guys live together and act all sappy and stuff, it’s like you’re already married!”

They both choose to ignore the tears glimmering in Henrik’s eyes.

“You want to propose to Harald,” Stellan interjects, “how do you plan on doing that?”

Leon puts his head in his hands. “Yeeeaaaaah, that’s kind of the reason I can here.”

“At eight in the morning.” Stellan pours himself another mugful of coffee. “So you can ask us how to propose to Harald.”

“Yep.”

Stellan takes another long sip from his coffee mug. “If you’re hoping to copy what Henrik did, you’re out of luck. Harald’s not a fan of sappy acts of sentimentality.”

He turns to Henrik. “How did you propose?”

Henrik gestures proudly at his viola. “Played him our song, added a couple of verses then got down on one knee with the box in my hand and asked! It was freezing outside and my hands were practically falling off, but I pulled it off.”

“It was overly flamboyant and ridiculously grand.” Stellan pecks Henrik on the cheek. “But very sweet of him. Now, Leon, all you need to do is be yourself. No matter how you present yourself, make sure it brings out the best in you.”

Leon bites his lip, accepting a mug of cream-filled coffee from Henrik and thinking. When his eye catches the silver ring on Henrik’s finger, a bolt of dread rushes through him. “Wait, crap.”

Stellan raises an eyebrow. “What is it?”

He makes his way towards the door, heart pumping. “I forgot to buy the ring!”

...

At five o’clock in the afternoon, some time before the sun is due to set, Harald and Leon meet up in the living room. Harald has a thick notebook in his hands and he takes a deep breath, looking at his boyfriend.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Harald flips open to the first page of his notebook, displaying a printout of his very first review of Wang’s, written when he was sixteen. “I got a request from a reader to go to Yao’s restaurant, and you were my waiter.”

Leaning closer to peer at the printout, Leon says, “damn, that feels so long ago. You were scribbling under the table while eating, too. I thought you were kind of a weirdo.”

“We’re both weirdos.” Harald bends down to kiss Leon, grinning a little. “I was even about to give the place a bad review before I tasted the food.” He turns to the second page, with a photo of the wonton noodles he tried pasted on the paper. “That was the most amazing bowl of noodles I’d ever tasted.”

He laughs and stands on his tiptoes to peck Harald on the rose. “Do you have photos of all the stuff I cooked you?”

“Yeah.” Harald flips the page to show a sneakily-taken snapshot of Leon rolling up sticky rice rolls a mere five years ago. “And a lot of you. How time flies, huh?”

“Aw, you’re being so sappy today,” Leon teases, “adorable.”

Harald suddenly feels dizzy, and he grabs Leon’s hand to steady himself. “That’s because I have something to tell you.”

“Go on.”

He pinches himself. “We’ve known each other for five years now, and I love you more than anyone else in the world. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I think it’s about time we consider.” Harald pulls out a small red box out of his pocket, suddenly realising he hasn’t gotten down on one knee. “Leon, will you marry me?”

For a moment, all is silent. Then Leon bursts into laughter.

“Leon?” Harald falters. “What’s wrong?”

Leon clutches his stomach, one hand going to his pocket. “I - I - oh gosh, when they say great minds think alike they really mean it.” He pulls out a box, opening it and revealing a ring. “I was gonna ask the same thing.”

They both turn red, staring at each other with ring-boxes in their hands. Then Harald snorts, taking the ring meant for Leon out first and gesturing at his hand. “Er, do you want it?”

“Are you kidding me?” Leon stretches out his hand. “Of course I do! But I want to put your ring on first.”

Humouring him, Harald lets him slide his ring on his fourth finger before he does the same. “Leon Wang-Dahl,” he muses, “that has a nice ring to it.”

#aph hongice #aph casino duo #aph dennor #aph hong kong #aph iceland #APH Denmark #APH Norway #APH Macau #APH Monaco #my writing #aph fanfiction

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sundaynightnovels · 5 years ago

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chinese mythology AU: the moon rabbit

so @insearchof-solace gave me this prompt a while back and i was immediately inspired and.... wrote nothing BUT i kept wanting to write it (that’s fair enough, no????) && now that i’m finally up to writing it, my word doc is acting up on me and i was ready to throw in the towel but i was like

well. i write a whole bunch and don’t edit my work anyway, so how about i try something different and write it right now, spontaneously, on this post here? are you nervous? i’m rebellious and low on energy and don’t have enough mind to be nervous so yea, i’m gonna give it a go. so there’s no like introductory post on how long it’s gonna be or what is it about or how vastly different it is from the actual mythology (very different, probably) like always, this is an AU of my wip like all things out of season, i.e. using its characters and whatnot. so yea. a little background: the moon rabbit is, well, a rabbit. who lives on the moon. it’s usually like seen pounding something with a mortar and pestle that the chinese (the moon rabbit exists in a lot of other asian mythology but i’m using the chinese one for this because, well. it’s a chinese au piece) assumes is the elixir of life, and is usually portrayed as being a companion of chang’e, the moon goddess. but who knows? will there be a companion here?? i don’t know. what i do know is that i’ll be personifying the moon rabbit, so yea. i won’t be describing an actual rabbit with rabbit limbs and features per se here, but something rather human. here it goes: edit: after writing, it seems a lil philosophical and kinda gloomy. not my usual light-hearted thing, so be warned!

The moon is round tonight. Well, that’s no different from usual -- it is round every night, there’s no way it can suddenly change its shape beneath his feet, but well. He supposes, for the mortals down there, the moon is round tonight. Below him, flickering lights dance like waves cascading over one another; they sputter and glow within their paper walls, orange and red and yellow and even purple. Laughter weaves its way between hooked arms and raucous chatter, explodes as someone butchers a poetry recital and recedes when a performance begins. He sits there, on the edge. The stone is cool in his grip, familiar and worn; it sets a rhythm alongside the pounding beats and traditional tunes of the music below. Each time, a push and a twist, a push and a twist. By the time applause breaks out, the herbs have already been ground to dust. He’s used to the smell; they prick at his nostrils and lingers in the air, but his nose always aches and the air around him is always heavy anyway. He’s used to it. Sometimes he wonders. Of course he does, he’s had more than enough time, so much that he doesn’t care to notice about the flow of the ages, passing so quickly beneath his feet that if he merely blinks, he thinks he might miss civilisation’s end. Not that it matters to him, of course. Eras come and go, mortals live and perish. And all that eventually remains are the ghosts of memories that have come to pass. Echoes, rather -- not ghosts. Ghosts are too corporeal, nearly substantial in their remembrance. And memories are fickle beings. They shift and change with age and perspective, warp with desires and denials; the more someone strives to recollect, the more they rebuild and break down the past, the less firm the foundation. The less solid the form. What’s left is merely an echo, a lingering afterthought. Something not as significant, yet remains hovering in the atmosphere like a miasma suspended over a grave -- doomed to haunt for all of eternity. Mortals are all chased by their echoes. And he wonders, of course, what his might be. If he were to be mortal. But of course, he isn’t. And that is a useless thought to contemplate on, for something that he cannot and will not be. He keeps pounding away. His moon is always round, after all. - The smoke is thick, almost viscous somehow. It snakes up into the air, wiggling and struggling, fighting to get out. It happens, occasionally. Though perhaps that might not be the best descriptor. Occasionally to him takes place over a rather large span of time, anyway. It doesn’t matter. The mortals move away, backs resolutely turned. Some are crying. Some press their palms tight and hold them close to their hearts, letting hushed words slip into open air. Others, younger ones, so tiny he can barely see them from where he sits, look confused. It’s bright again, but not like before. The flames are ravenous and fierce, hungry and unrelenting; they chase after the paper offerings and tear apart the paper house, eating and swallowing till there’s nothing left. The smoke dies down; it’s a little easier to breathe. He thinks. He doesn’t quite know. A physical release might not be quite the same as an emotional one. What he does understand, though, is that everything comes back to dust. You bring nothing with you when you’re brought to life, and you carry nothing away in your death. It is a cycle. It will eventually happen again, he doesn’t know why they grieve. He is no expert, of course. He continues to pound away at the mixture for an immortality elixir. - She’s here today. The moon is a large place, and they don’t often cross paths. He feels like it’s been eons since he’s last spoken. It might have been. She doesn’t speak. She sits at the edge and peers down. Though there can be no sign of age on the smooth lines of her face, she somehow looks weathered. Old and beaten. Tired, from an eternity of existence.

He clears his throat; it is resounding in the silence. “Hi.” “Hi,” she replies. She used to be mortal. She used to love and be loved. But it’s been ages. There’s no one there for her now. He sits beside her and doesn’t speak, just pushes the bottle towards her and looks at his hands. The skin is peeling and his palms are bruised. He is immortal, yet still they are bruised. It is an odd spectacle. He curls his fingers around them and squeezes. He stares at her and he wonders. If she’s a beautiful immortal worshiped by all and he’s her humble companion praised in textbooks. Or maybe she’s an idol for virtue and he’s one for diligence and utility. In reality though, he thinks it might be something else instead. That she’s a mortal stuck in a cage and that he’s her captor. Or that they are both trapped in a never-ending circle that chases after itself, sitting on the edge and trying to break the trajectory. Maybe it’s better not to think at all. After all, the moon will always be round. She will always be told in stories, celebrated in festivals. And he will always be here, pounding away for all of eternity. Memories will live on forever, anyway -- even if they are merely echoes. Especially if they are merely echoes. They are meant to live forever.

---------------------- okay! i don’t know why this ended up so depressing. like i said, i really didn’t plan anything. and i don’t know what this means. maybe it’s a deliberation on immortality VS mortality and how hou yi has maybe got the right idea the whole time? (okay, explanations about certain myths below.) or maybe something about myths being glorified and immortalised and wondering how that might go about in actual reality. or maybe that people should be given decisions about their own lives and not forced into a routine by fate i don’t know okay don’t question me i don’t think when i’m writing it also kinda, sort of, reflects a little about the beginning of my wip? alright so a few things:

the moon rabbit is.... dun dun dun!! i’m sure some of y’all have guessed! it’s shou!! (that’s why it kinda reflects the beginning of my wip a little bit)

and the female is obviously... dun dun dun! chang’e!!! and she is!!!! well, this might be a little harder to guess but it also does reflect a little bit of her past / backstory in the companion novel. anyway!! it is... zhen!!

basic background on the mythology of chang’e: she is married to a man named hou yi, and back then there were like, 10 suns on earth and everyone was suffering because it was hella hot and hou yi, being a great man and a saviour of the broken (oops, mcr reference), he shot down 9 out of 10 of the suns. he was rewarded with an elixir of immortality, but he didn’t want to take it because he wanted to be with his wife. anyway something happened, bla bla bla, in order to protect the elixir from some bad guys, chang’e downed it herself and became immortal, and she decided to live in a place where she’d be closest to her husband -- which was incidentally the moon. and mid-autumn celebration is kinda celebrated for her too. okay, it also celebrates a bunch of other stuff, but for chang’e as well!

the first part he’s watching the mid-autumn festival celebrations, traditionally celebrated with people holding a bunch of lanterns on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which is when there is a full moon (just fyi, the 15th day of all the lunar months tend to have a full moon)

the second part he’s watching a funeral procession (kinda more like a buddhist one, where you burn joss paper and paper ingots and paper houses etc.) not really in detail but yea

the phrase that i used ‘In life you carry nothing, and in death you bring nothing’ comes from this actual chinese thing that you say ‘生不带来死不带去’ which means the same thing

ALRIGHT. uhh. hope y’all enjoyed?? tagging my tag list @cabaretofwords @inked-waves @latechickadee @kidsarentallwrite @insearchof-solace @kaigods @inkpot-dreamer @pen-for-sword @thedreamsofthesky @cheap-pins

as usual y’all are free to drop me prompts any time alright!

#writeblr #writing #like all things out of season #AU: chinese mythology #snippet #writing snippet #writers on tumblr #my writing #my wip #my OCs #character tag #shou #zhen #chinese mythology #the moon rabbit #chang'e

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anvilsims · 2 years ago

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Now when they call something a “micro house” they were NOT kidding. We were lucky that we could fit a bathroom in there.

But like I told Mohamed, it was a roof over my head and after years of wandering around and sleeping on benches, I’m not about to be picky.

On the bright side, we had plenty of room of extra stuff in the yard. Finally making myself a garden and not have to worry about paying too much for food, set up my own yoga mat, and we’re gonna be adding more as time goes on.

Then around mid to late autumn, I started to feel a little sick and tired. Mohamed did his best to cheer me up and make me comfortable but that only did so much.

Eventually I realized... I was pregnant. I mean... I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Mohamed and I had been... uh... quite enthusiastic to break in the new bed once we moved in.

I broke the news to him when he came home from a gig.

“So... we’re having a kid. Surprise!~“

Mohamed was shocked but despite my worrying, he was excited. I mean we both were kinda worried about fitting a kid into this teeny tiny house but that’s a problem for future Zephyr and Mohamed!

#Whimsy Stories Legacy Challenge #sims 4 #TS4 #legacy challenge #Founder: Zephyr Lovewell

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ndrv3winterexchange · 7 years ago

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The Cornerstone of a Japanese Autumn

Here’s a gift of Togahina for @healing-hanyou, from umekopyon! I’m so eager for you to finally read it! It must have made tumblr too hungry to keep from eating it…

It’s actually a good thing I had to re-submit because Merriam-Webster just tweeted about a common misspelling that I happened to make in this very fic 👀 Now it’s fixed!

Happy holidays, and I hope you enjoy!

The Cornerstone of a Japanese Autumn

It all began for an admittedly juvenile reason. But it really wasn’t her fault; Togami started it!

It was early September, and Class 78’s first practical exams at Hope’s Peak Academy were quickly approaching. For athletes like Asahina, the process would be incredibly straight-forward; just go out there and show those proctors what you do best! For others, though, displaying their talents would take a little more thought and preparation, so their homeroom teacher had given them several free periods each week to get ready. With their class quickly growing as close as it was, they naturally gathered together to brainstorm, which quickly devolved into gossip and speculation about other classes’ presentations.

“Man, I wish we had culinary students in this class so we could taste what they’re making for exams,” Asahina groused, beginning to salivate at the mere thought of it. "Isn’t there one in Class 77? So lucky…“

"Um, the Ultimate Cook, right?” Maizono fidgeted a bit in her seat. "I think I’ve met him. I, uh… wouldn’t consider it luck to be in the same class as him…“

"Besides, who says he won’t make enough for the whole school to try?” Kuwata grinned as he leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on his desk.

“Because it’s against school regulations!” Ishimaru slammed a hand on a desk and stood up, pointing at Kuwata accusingly. "And sit properly!“

Grumbling, Kuwata returned his feet to the floor.

"What do you mean, against school regulations?” Enoshima asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Doesn’t that perv make lunch for the whole school every day anyway? No one’s had a problem with that before.“

Kirigiri sighed. "The practical exams are a different story. After last year’s incident, anything prepared for the proctors is being closely inspected. It would be a logistical nightmare to enact those precautions for all the students, too.”

“Still…!” Asahina kicked her feet petulantly. "I wish I could taste what he’s making! And it’s almost autumn, too…!“

Togami peered over the book he was reading. "What does autumn have to do with anything?”

“Well, duh.” Asahina rolled her eyes. "All the tastiest ingredients are in season this time of year. Autumn’s the season of eating!“

"Ridiculous.” Togami returned his attention back to his dumb super-intellectual book. "Such a plebeian manner of thinking. Autumn is the season for reading, not eating.“

Asahina paused her feet mid-kick before lowering them back down to the floor. "What? No way. Autumn is for filling up on good foods!”

Togami scoffed. "Hardly. Reading is the cornerstone of a Japanese autumn. Fukawa, you tell her.“

"R-reading is the cornerstone of a J-Japanese autumn!”

Now that just wasn’t fair! One, because of course Fukawa would readily agree with him—she was a literary girl, and she had a huge crush on Togami. And two, because Asahina didn’t even know what “cornerstone” meant! Using complicated words like that was just playing dirty! She was determined not to back down, though. "Nuh-uh, eating is the cornerstone of a Japanese autumn! And I can prove it, too!“

"Enlighten me.”

Asahina pointed dramatically at the heir, grinning smugly. "It’s ‘cause autumn is also the season for sports, and how are you gonna get all those burned calories back by reading? You can’t!“

"Stop arguing, you two!” Ishimaru commanded. "Eating, reading, and sports are all traditionally considered to be important facets of autumn in Japan! There’s no reason to declare one to be more true than the other!“

"Bro, shush,” Owada said, pulling the hall monitor back into his seat. "Let them duke it out. You gotta admit it’s kinda funny!“

"Do you have no shame, brother?!”

Togami snapped his book shut with finality and stood up. "This is foolish. I’ll be going elsewhere to prepare my presentation.“

Asahina quickly moved to stand in his way. "Oh, yeah right! You weren’t even doing that in the first place. You’re just trying to run away because you know that you’re wrong!”

Togami’s eyes flashed dangerously. "I’m wrong, you say?“

"Guys, stop this,” Naegi spoke up, trying to defuse the situation. "Like Ishimaru-kun said, neither of you are wrong, so this argument is just—"

“Shut up Naegi!” the two shouted in unison.

“Asahina…” A heavy hand was placed on the swimmer’s shoulder, and she looked up to see Sakura gazing down at her, gentle but stern. "Don’t you think you’re taking this a bit far? At the very least, there’s no reason to snap at Naegi.“

"Oh…” She looked over at the luckster guiltily—that really hadn’t been fair of her, now that Sakura mentioned it. "Yeah, I’m sorry about that, I guess that was getting kind of childish… right, Togami?“ She turned her attention back to the heir—only to realize that he had disappeared. "Hey, where’d he go?!”

“He left,” Ikusaba deadpanned.

“Ugh, that sore loser!” Asahina stamped her foot in annoyance. "Whatever! I’m definitely going to prove him wrong the next time I see him!“

The argument, however, took a backseat as the pressure of their looming practical exams continued to build; Asahina focused her energy on training with Sakura to make sure they were in top physical shape, and Togami was presumably off doing whatever stupid affluent progeny stuff he needed to do.

Eventually, the exams came and went, September melted into October, and by that point their disagreement had completely slipped from Asahina’s mind.

That is, it slipped her mind until one afternoon in late October, when Asahina decided to burn off some excess energy by jogging around campus. After running a few laps between the eastern corner of campus and the Reserve Course gates, she looped through the central plaza one last time before heading south towards the student dormitories. As she jogged that last stretch, though, she caught sight of someone sitting on one of the benches lining the path: Byakuya Togami, the antisocial butthole, calmly relaxing with his nose stuck in a book.

Seeing the Ultimate Affluent Progeny reading a book, framed by the rusty autumn leaves, prompted the memory of their argument to come rushing back and Asahina slowed to a stop in front of him. "Hey,” she said, trying to catch his attention.

He didn’t respond, and simply turned a page in his book.

“I said hey!” she repeated, leaning in closer to make her point clear.

Sighing, Togami shot a withering look at her over the top of his glasses. "What do you want?“ he asked, as if doing so pained him more than anything else in the world.

Asahina crossed her arms. "You’re still convinced that reading is the ideal autumn activity, huh?”

“This again?” Togami rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the book. "I don’t have time for your foolishness. Leave me alone.“

Not one to drop the subject, Asahina leaned over further to catch a glimpse of the book her classmate was so engrossed in. "Whoa, are you reading something in English?”

“It’s Russian. How did you mistake Cyrillic for— never mind.” With a sigh, Togami snapped the book shut. "Do you have no intention of leaving me alone?“

"Not really.” Without bothering to ask permission, Asahina plopped herself down on the bench next to him. "Gosh, I can’t even read something in Japanese if I’m feeling a little bit hungry. How can you concentrate on reading in another language without a belly full of food?“

"Don’t make me out to be like that half-baked imitation of myself that enrolled last year,” Togami huffed.

Well, at least there was some sort of baking going on with the other guy! she thought. "I just don’t get how you can say that reading is more of an autumn activity than eating.“

"Eating exorbitant amounts of food is a vulgar pastime, regardless of the season.”

“Hey, you better apologize to all the hardworking farmers of Japan for what you just said!”

“Reading, on the other hand,” Togami continued, ignoring her completely, “is a worthy intellectual pursuit. And there’s nothing quite like indulging in a good book while sitting in the crisp autumn air, the colorful foliage offering an aesthetically pleasing backdrop.”

Asahina felt like she was about to vomit from the long string of words that took too much brain power to understand. "Yeah, well… food tastes really good in autumn.“ Even as she said it, she knew it was far from a convincing argument, so she thought for another moment before perking up. "Hey, I have an idea!”

“I want no part of it.”

“Oh, come on!” She grabbed Togami by the wrist, causing him to nearly lose his grip on his book. "It’ll be fun, just come with me for a sec!“

Togami jerked his hand away, glaring darkly at her. "What in the world do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s a surprise!” Asahina grinned.

“Not interested.”

“Oh come on, Togami!” She grabbed his arm again, this time making sure to use the best holding techniques Sakura had taught her so that he couldn’t shake free. "Come on, we’re just going to the edge of campus! It’s not far!“

Sighing in defeat, Togami got to his feet and only barely managed to pack his book safely inside his bag before he was dragged down the path. "And where are we going, exactly?”

“Like I said, it’s not far!”

“That’s hardly specific.”

“Oh, just chill out for a moment!” They passed the dormitories, coming in sight of the southern gates, and Asahina grinned when she spotted exactly what she was hoping to see. “There it is! Come on, Togami, you’re gonna love this!”

She pushed open the gates to reveal food stalls and carts lining the street, hoping to attract the patronage of hungry Ultimates. She honed in on one stall in particular and pulled Togami over to where the savory smell of grilled sweet potatoes enveloped the street. "Here we are! Let’s eat some sweet potatoes!“

Having finally been let free of Asahina’s grip, Togami straightened his cuff indignantly. "Here? It hardly seems like a sanitary eating environment.”

“That’s part of the charm! Just give me a sec!” She pranced over to the stall and placed an order for two sweet potatoes, waiting impatiently as her stomach began to growl; she hadn’t realized just how starved she was after her jog! As soon as the sweet potatoes were in her hands, she returned, pleased to see that Togami hadn’t tried to escape in the meantime. "Okay, here you go!“ she announced, handing him a foil-wrapped potato. "Enjoy!”

He glared in disgust at the foil, charred and darkened from the grill. "I’m meant to eat this?“

"No, that’s foil.” She unraveled the foil on her own potato as way of demonstration. "The food is inside of there.“

"I’m fully aware of the function of aluminum foil.”

“Good! Now let’s eat!” Unable to bear the grumbling of her stomach anymore, Asahina peeled aside the purple skin and bit eagerly into her sweet potato, relishing the way its sweet flesh seemed to melt on her tongue. She hungrily took another bite, then another, then another…. Yeah, there was really nothing like eating a grilled sweet potato on a brisk autumn day!

She looked over at Togami, who seemed to have taken just a few tiny bites of his potato. "Wew?“ she prodded. "Whayyou fink?”

“I think you should swallow your food before talking like a dignified human being.”

“Ugh, you jerg!” Asahina swallowed her mouthful of potato and tried again. "So how does it taste?“

"I fail to see the allure.”

“Oh, come on!”

He gave a long-suffering sigh. "I suppose it’s somewhat decent.“

"See?” she gloated. "And this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are soooo many good things to eat in autumn! It’s definitely the season for eating!“

"I’m sorry to tell you that this isn’t exactly the most convincing argument for your position.” Togami shifted the potato in his hand boredly. "I require a more sophisticated dining experience, and this falls dreadfully short.“

"Yeah, well not all of us are made of money like you,” Asahina pouted. "You can’t really expect me to do much better than food stalls, you know.“

"I suppose you’ll remain unable to convince me, then.” He shrugged and handed his sweet potato back to Asahina. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to be doing than stuffing my face with garbage.“

As she watched Togami walk back to campus, Asahina continued chewing her potato, thoroughly miffed. If that stupid heir thought that was enough to make her give up, then he had another thing coming! She’d just have to be a little smarter about her approach the next time.

But hey, at least she got two potatoes out of it.

Asahina spent the rest of the night brainstorming, and by the next day, she had come up with another idea to get Togami to see things her way.

The only problem was that she couldn’t seem to find him.

He hadn’t shown up for class—though that wasn’t so uncommon. Togami would often declare his own self-studies to be more beneficial than sitting through lectures tailored for the rest of his classmates. Once class was dismissed, Asahina checked various locations inside the school before moving outside to search the benches around campus, to no avail.

It seemed like he was nowhere to be found… but Asahina wasn’t to be deterred. He was just trying to hide from the inevitable! And that was all the more reason to locate him!

Then she checked the library, and she felt a bit silly, because of course that would be where he was.

"Found you!” she exclaimed, jumping out at him from around a shelf.

“Do you mind?” he hissed under his breath, while trying to pretend that he hadn’t started in surprise—but he did; Asahina saw it with her own two eyes! "This is a library.“

"Yeah, obviously.”

His glare hardened. "So be quiet.“

Ohhh yeah… she was talking a bit loud. "I was looking all over for you!” she continued in a whisper. "You’re so afraid of being proven wrong that you felt the need to hide from me, huh?“

"If I had been trying to hide, I assure you I would have chosen a less obvious place,” Togami deadpanned, pulling a book from the shelf and inspecting it with muted interest. "I’d hardly consider the library to be an unexpected place to find me.“

Asahina chose not to mention that she had actually checked the pool, the training room, the rec room, and a dozen other places more in line with her own interests before even thinking of the library.

"Well, whatever, at least I found you now!” She grabbed on to the sleeve of his blazer and pulled, prompting him to roll his eyes and return the book to the shelf. "Come on! I found a place that will definitely change your mind about the true autumn pastime!“

"Let go,” Togami said, jerking his sleeve from her grasp. "I have no obligation, nor desire, to accompany you.“

"Aha, I knew it! You’re trying to run!”

“Why would I run from such an inane argument—” He cut himself off, turning his focus somewhere over Asahina’s shoulder. Curious, she turned and followed his gaze to see a figure idling around the corner of the far shelf, and she could just barely make out the hem of a skirt and a long, dark braid.

Togami pulled his mouth into a hard, thin line. "I’m getting out of here,“ he said, turning and heading quickly but quietly towards the door.

"Oh, hey!” Asahina jogged after him. "Come with me then! I found a coupon, so I’ll treat you to some pumpkin croquettes.“

Togami breathed a deep, agonizing sigh. "Fine. I don’t care. Just as long as we’re out of here.”

Grinning, Asahina grabbed his arm again and all but dragged him down the flights of stairs, through the school gates, and into town.

Crisp, golden-brown panko bread crumbs coated the croquettes, almost seeming to glitter in the restaurant lighting. Fresh out of the fryer, the hot oil still crackled slightly between the tiny nooks and crannies. Asahina felt herself begin to salivate as soon as the server set the plate in front of them, and her fingers itched to grab her chopsticks and dig in immediately. But no, it would be best to let Togami take the first taste—after all, Asahina wasn’t the one that needed convincing!

Unfortunately, Togami’s response wasn’t to start eating, but to glare down at the croquettes with open distaste. "What are these?“ he demanded.

"Like I said, pumpkin croquettes!” Asahina pointed at them with her chopsticks, eager to start eating. "Go ahead! They’re really good!“

Togami arched an eyebrow. "Aren’t croquettes those fried amalgamations of whatever low-quality ingredients commoners can cobble together? And you thought to feed them to me?”

Rude! Rude rude rude!! Asahina gripped her chopsticks tightly, trying to keep her cool. "These are pumpkin croquettes, though,“ she explained through gritted teeth. "They’re different. They’re… they’re made of pumpkin.”

A pause. "I see.“

Nailed it.

"W-well, come on,” Asahina said. "Just try one. They’re gonna get cold!“

"Help yourself,” Togami responded. "I, however, will pass.“

"But I’m treating you! This is my money going to waste here!”

“Exactly—I have no financial stake in the matter, so I lose nothing by refraining from consuming deep-fried garbage.”

The chopsticks were beginning to splinter in Asahina’s grip, so she instead channeled her frustration into grabbing a croquette and taking a big bite. "Fine then!“ she countered after swallowing, not even taking the time to relish in the nutty, slightly sweet flavor of the pumpkin. "I’m just gonna enjoy these by myself!”

Togami nodded decisively. "Next time, you’d do well to choose a dish more suited to my palate.“

Asahina peered at him curiously as she chewed another croquette. ”'Next time,’ huh?“

The heir said nothing and, save for a slight downturn of his lips, gave no indication that he felt he had slipped up.

"Well, okay,” she relented. "Next time, I’ll choose something that even Mr. High-and-Mighty Togami will want to eat. Except maybe he’ll have to chip in some cash, too, if he’s gonna be so picky about eating only the best of the best, yeah?“

He scoffed. "You’ve chosen to take on this ridiculous challenge on your own dime. I’m nothing but an unwilling participant.”

“I think you know by now that I hate to lose.” Asahina grinned. "If you’re so sure you’ll be so hard to break, the least you could do is make sure your dear classmate doesn’t drive herself to bankruptcy over it.“

Togami gave a huff of derisive laughter. "Your negotiation methods are far from impressive, you realize.”

She shrugged. "Yup, I’m fully aware that my brain’s just pure muscle at this point. Can’t fault a girl for trying, though.“

They fell into a long silence, Asahina steadily making her way through the plate of croquettes as Togami watched, arms folded across his chest.

When there was just one croquette left on the plate, though, she was surprised to see Togami take up his own chopsticks and snatch the last piece, begrudgingly placing it in his mouth and slowly chewing, as if nothing could inconvenience him more.

In the end, he even paid half the tab.

Over the following weeks, somehow, they fell into a routine of sampling various seasonal cuisines every other day or so. Asahina would scour food blogs and imageboard threads for the best places to go, then drag Togami to pig out on shinmai, or salt-grilled saury, or matsutake mushroom soup. Or the limited edition chestnut doughnuts at Asahina’s favorite bakery—they made that trip several times. He would complain about it at any given opportunity but, to his credit, he wordlessly took on the financial burden of their outings.

Asahina hadn’t given the arrangement much thought beyond "hanging out with Togami until he admits defeat,” because that’s really all it ever was. Seriously.

That’s what she thought, at least, until she parted ways with Togami one day outside a sweets bar boasting a special autumn selection of apple, pear, and persimmon-flavored pastries.

“Aoi-chan!”

After waving off the heir, Asahina turned around to see she was being flagged down by some girls across the street—Yuka, Sana, and Kazumi, classmates from her old high school. "Oh, hey!“ she greeted back cheerfully, dashing across the crosswalk as soon as the light turned. "Long time no see, guys! What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing really,” said Yuka absently, her gaze focused over Asahina’s shoulder for a moment before returning to the conversation. "I mean, I’m sure nothing going on at Asunaro could compare to Hope’s Peak, you know?“

"Come on,” Asahina laughed. "It’s not really that big of a deal…“

"Oh, let’s quit beating around the bush!” Kazumi cut in forcefully. "Aoi-chan, was that your boyfriend just now?“

Asahina was genuinely puzzled. "Boyfriend? Who are you talk—” She put the pieces together a bit too slowly than she should have, and burst out laughing. "Him, my boyfriend? Oh no way! Togami’s such a jerk, not dateable at all!“

To her surprise, that sent the girls into even more of a titter. "Togami? You mean Byakuya Togami?”

“The Ultimate Affluent Progeny? That’s him?!”

“Aoi-chan, you’re dating him?! He must be such a gentleman, you’re so lucky…!”

“No, wait,” Asahina tried to quiet them down. "I just said I’m not dating him, didn’t I? As if I’d even want to! He’s got the worst personality. Definitely not a gentleman.“

"Really?” Yuka leaned around Asahina’s shoulder again to catch a last glimpse of Togami’s retreating back. "That’s a bummer. He looked pretty hot to me.“

"Hot?” Asahina’s scrunched her nose up. "No way. With his dumb blond hair and dumb blue eyes and dumb height…“ Wait, those were all considered attractive traits, weren’t they? She felt her cheeks grow warm. ”…Okay, maybe he’s a little cute,“ she conceded.

"See?” her friends chorused.

Sana poked her shoulder playfully. "You’re spending time alone with such a cute guy, and you say you don’t even want it to be a date?“

"Really guys, it’s not like that,” she assured them. "We’re just trying to settle an argument, so we’re going out and eating a bunch of food together. There’s nothing date-y about it.“

Her friends were silent as they took in that information.

Finally, Kazumi broke the spell. "Sounds like a date to me,” she said.

“It’s not!” Asahina sighed. "But anyway, forget about that! I wanna hear what’s going on at Asunaro!“

The girls mercifully went along with the change in subject, and they spent a good fifteen minutes chatting as they walked before they finally had to part ways at the Hope Peak’s gates.

But left to her own thoughts again, Asahina felt her heart beating hard against her ribcage and a quick glance in the central fountain on campus confirmed that her face was growing awfully red.

Because now that she thought about it, her outings with Togami did pretty much fit the definition of a date.

On their next trip for lunch, Asahina was a nervous wreck.

But could anyone really blame her?! She’d never been on a date before, so how was she supposed to know if that’s what it was or not? If it was a date, how was she supposed to act?

Did she even want it to be date? After all, Togami was… Togami. He was a total jerk! It wasn’t even any fun to hang out with him!

Well, okay, maybe it was kind of fun… but still.

She managed to fumble through lunch in a haze, and after stopping off at a coffeehouse for some warm drinks, they made their way back to campus for afternoon classes.

As they walked along the path lined with benches, Asahina was reminded of the first time she had forced Togami to partake in the tastes of autumn. "Hey,” she said finally. "Did I manage to convince you at all?“

Togami scoffed. "About autumn being a season for exorbitant eating? No, I can’t say I find the idea any more appealing now than I did before.”

“Yeah, I figured!” she laughed, then took a sip of her maple latte, pondering. "But you haven’t tried to convince me that reading is the preferred autumn activity, either.“

"That’s because it makes no difference to me that you’re wrong.”

“Man, that’s harsh!” Asahina finished off her latte before stopping in her tracks, right in front of a bench. "But hey, I’m willing to give it a try. Wanna read here for a bit?“

Togami turned towards her, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Read? You?”

“I’m not illiterate, you know!” She sat herself down on the bench with a huff, then held out a hand. "So come on, gimme a book to read. You keep going on about how it’s so much better than attending classes anyway, right?“

Rolling his eyes, Togami sat down beside her. "Do you really expect that I’d be carrying around a selection of books?”

“Are you?”

Togami frowned, then opened his bookbag and dug around inside, quickly extracting a small paperback. "This is probably the only one that comes close to your reading level.“

"Thanks!” Finding herself to be strangely excited, Asahina accepted the book, cracked it open, and flipped to the first page.

She was immediately bored.

What in the world was Togami even reading? All the words were so long… but she had resolved to try, so she powered on, even though she didn’t understand most of what was written on the page. It was pretty nice to be sitting there in the open autumn air though—Togami was at least right about that—and with her belly full and her body warm from good food, she was quite content. Even as the text seemed to swim in front of her eyes, she slowly made her way to the second page.

Asahina blinked, and suddenly the sunlight had turned from the bright gray of midday to a honey-gold glow. Her hands that had been holding the book just moments before were empty, and Togami was gone from her side.

…Whoops. She must have fallen asleep while trying to read. And Togami had just up and left her there, the butt.

But at least she could say with certainty that reading was not the cornerstone of a Japanese autumn.

Sighing in irritation, she stood up to stretch her limbs, but the soft fwump of something hitting the ground caught her attention, and upon looking down at her feet, she saw a crumpled pile of brown fabric.

She picked it up and recognized it instantly as a Hope’s Peak Academy blazer. Not only that, it smelled distinctly of Togami’s cologne—a scent that she hadn’t even known she’d be able to identify.

Asahina flushed. Come to think of it, she didn’t feel as cold as she should have after being left asleep in the chilly November air…

Huh. Well, maybe Togami was kind of a gentleman sometimes, after all.

#togahina #dr1 #aoi asahina #byakuya togami #submission

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