#I made a new account and started new chats to start over and now they’re still not messaging back quick????

[spideyhexx]

.

[jaegeraether]

Sunsets and footballers (Part 20)

Lucy Bronze x Reader (20)

Masterlist (other parts here)

YFN had just received an email from the company she now worked for, Lumos. She tried to research the company and the first thing that popped up was a popular charity, followed by several other companies sharing the same name. Eventually she found her company which had nothing beyond a basic internet site and new social media accounts, so she knew they were being honest when they said they were brand new and starting up.

The salary they’d offered her was already high, with the promise of increase based on performance, both hers and Lumos’. The amount of money they were putting into the business and expenses were also much higher than she expected. Someone really wanted this to work.

She looked over at Lucy who was making her own sandcastles and smiled. Once the email had come through, Lucy had insisted she read it and took her time to mull it over. YFN loved that she was doing anything she could to let her make a future in the country, and especially around her profession. That was her Lucy. Always three steps ahead.

She took her phone out to film a little snippet of her as she made her giant sandcastle. She couldn’t help the smile on her face looking at how happy she was. Lucy’s big kid was shining through. She looked up and saw YFN filming her and grinned, gesturing to her sandcastle as if to show it off. YFN ended the video and put it away, looking at Lucy sitting in the sand, a leg either side of her creation. She was wearing black shorts, her whole body tanned from Spain, abs shining with the sunscreen YFN put on her, regardless of the clouds. Her heart felt full just watching her.

“Admiring the view?” Lucy grinned.

YFN felt her face reddening, though she didn’t know why. She wasn’t ashamed to look. She nodded, pressing her lips together to hide a cheeky smile.

“Can you send me that video, little one?”

“Yes ma’am.”

She sent the video and went back to the email on her laptop. The email was promising, and she found herself excited at everything she read.

Her phone rang and she looked at the number, Lumos. She answered it, putting it on speaker, knowing Lucy would be interested.

“YFN speaking.”

“Hi YFN, it’s Joe, how are you?” She sounded lovely, like a mum.

“Hi Joe, lovely to hear from you again. I’m great, just at the beach soaking in all of the sunshine the UK has to offer.”

She laughed. “I dare say it’s nothing compared to what you’re used to in Australia. I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.”

“No, not at all. I was expecting this today, I’m free to chat.” She smiled at Lucy who gave her a supportive thumbs up.

“Excellent. Okay, well I thought we’d just go through the basics of what we’re hoping to accomplish as a company, our goals and along those lines. If you have the email open, we’ll just run through it together. Also, how’s the work Visa coming along?”

“Perfect, I have it open now. I’ve also spoken to my Visa agent and he’s confident they’ll have it approved by tonight. They’re happy with the contract and 6-month minimum guarantee that you’ve sent through.”

“Outstanding, that’s what we want to hear! Just send that through as soon as you receive it, or if you need any other information. Fingers crossed! Okay, let’s get started. So firstly, as you know, I’ve wanted to start this company for quite a period of time. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in and around the industry, and we’re not seeing the movement in female football that we’ve wanted, so Lumos is a plan to change that. Now, the World Cup has been brilliant for progress, and we plan to latch onto that and keep the momentum building. Over the past year and especially the past few months, I and my friends in the industry have put our feelers out, gotten some feedback and have established interest by a lot of the players. Now, I understand it will start slow, but we’re willing to put the work in and definitely also put the funding into it.”

Lucy looked impressed, nodding as she was talking.

“That sounds fantastic, Joe..”

“I’m glad you agree! To be quite honest with you, YFN, you’ve been the lynchpin I’ve been looking for. I’ve been looking for someone with your experience and after reading your columns and seeing the interviews you’ve conducted, I’m beyond impressed. The research you put into your work, and the way you speak and ask questions to your interviewee’s are smart, and incredibly respectful. I can see that’s important to you, and it’s very important to me. We shouldn’t be asking the same boring questions, or we’ll get the same media trained answers.”

“Oh I completely agree. I was a bit worried at first that this job would encourage me to ask those simple and sometimes far too personal questions, so I’m really happy to hear you say that because people don’t realise that we can go beyond the norm of interviewing, and still remain just like that. Respectful. Not only that, but players will be more willing to open up, accept interviews, and request us if they’re comfortable around us. They’ll also want to use us to get their messages across and I know that if we do this right, the momentum will build and more players will be using us to fulfil their media duties.”

“Outstanding, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear! We’re so, so lucky that you happened to meet Katie so she could recommend you to us. We’ve been looking for you for quite a while.”

YFN was a little embarrassed, she didn’t know how to accept compliments and blushed. Lucy reached over and squeezed her leg in support. “Thanks Joe, that’s lovely to hear. I hope I can live up to your expectations, and I’m excited to get started! It’s a blank slate which means so much opportunity for the company.”

“100% agree. Any chance you’ve found our website and social media accounts?”

“I did just before you called..”

Joe laughed again. “Of course, you have. Straight into work! Excellent. We’re going to get along so well, I already know it. Our IT guy is Noel, and his contact details are in the email. Right now I’ve asked him to make the accounts all bare minimum, as I imagine you’ll want to create a theme to follow..”

“Yes! Absolutely, so I plan on organising a meeting with the whole team for Monday, I just wanted to make sure you were happy with that first..”

“Yes, please! And just for the future, this is your team, your baby. Anything involving the creation of this, meetings, team logistics, etc, all of that is yours. Obviously I’ll still like to be kept up to date with the progress and the plans, but to be completely fair with you, YFN, I run several businesses so I’m quite busy. This company is still in its start-up stages, so I’ll have much more time for it, and I do have a soft spot, this is always going to be one of my priorities, however I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page with this.”

“That’s perfect, I’ll send you through weekly updates and expenses, planning, coverage and everything we change or create along the way. I appreciate the honesty and the communication also, I think until we establish that solid footing, you and I will have to be in a lot of contact to ensure we’re achieving the expected goals, and keeping everything in budget.”

“You don’t know how much this is music to my ears.”

YFN laughed, feeling positive and happy with the plan thus-far. Joe seemed perfect, offering her everything and having the blind faith in her to start up the business almost from the ground, up. “I think we’re starting at a good time, though. We’re catching the start of the seasons, so it gives us time to iron out any issues before the finals for both the WSL and the Conti Cup. A good timeline will be for us to have full coverage by Round 5 on the Conti Cup, and January for WSL, covering both through to the Final. Then we should be fully prepped and running smoothly for the UEFA Women’s Champions League.”

“That’s a very respectable timeline and exactly my thoughts. January will be perfect if we can have full coverage by then.”

“I think it’s achievable, I’ll have a better idea after I research a bit more and talk to the team. I’m sure everyone’s keen to get started! Also, it’ll be quite a heavy work period as we start up, and then when we finally start to get footing, we’ll be expanding to make sure we have the people to cover all games and the email also says you’re hoping for international team and coverage of the other leagues in Europe?”

“Yes,” Joe sounded a litte sheepish. “I know, I know, it’s quite a high expectation, but we’ll get there eventually. Let’s start with the WSL and Continental Cup. Definitely want to be all over the UEFA Women’s Champions League, that’s the first major goal. From there, you and I can talk about expanding to cover Tier 2. Then, depending on the timeline, we want to cover Tier 3 and Tier 4 so we can encourage grassroots and young girls upcoming through the leagues. Then we want Liga F, Serie A, Feminine, etc, also following the national teams, NWSL in the US, A-Leagues in Australia and onwards.”

“Very large goals! That’s great, a lot to look forward to and to aim for. We’ll make sure to split the goals up to feel more achievable for the team, but I think if they know the long-term goal, it’ll make everyone determined and ready to settle down into the job.”

“That’s exactly what we want. The team building and team trust in each other is vital to make this business a success. Anything you need, let me know and we’ll work through it together, that includes extra positions or professionals. I imagine a recruiter may become useful if you become inundated with the logistics.”

YFN nodded, even though she couldn’t see her. She was taking notes eagerly, excited by the conversation as she responded, a little distracted as she typed. “I’ll definitely let you know if we need anything to help us expand..”

“I heard you’re meeting some of the players, also?”

YFN stopped typing and tilted her head. Lucy groaned. She looked over at Lucy who had a frown on her face, gesturing to the phone. “Um… Joe I have Lucy close by who wants to say something I think?”

Joe was aware that YFN was dating Lucy. YFN had made sure she’d told Joe, fearing a conflict of interest, especially with the need to visit Spain. Joe had had the opposite reaction. She thought it was great that YFN was so involved in the industry, knowing that dating Lucy made her closer with the inner circle of football than just being part of a media group. As for Spain, she’d encouraged her to go, offering to pay for flights and knowing that the more she was involved with Barcelona, the easier it would be to expand into Liga F and onwards. She was particularly interested in Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati as they had so much influence in the sport. Joe’s ambition was multi-faceted, but positive on all fronts. She wanted to encourage the young female footballers of tomorrow, give women strong rolemodels to idolise, and to bring much needed attention to all of women’s football in general, all around the world. Popular footballers like Lucy, Alexia, Aitana, could help expedite their growth and influence.

“Of course! I assumed she was there with you and then Lucy’s post confirmed it.” She laughed.

Lucy’s post? She looked at a now cheeky looking Lucy as she passed her the phone and stole Lucy’s to check on said “post”. She’d posted the video of her building sandcastles on the beach and grinning at the camera, but more importantly, she’d posted a selfie Lucy had taken of the two of them, YFN sat in-between her legs and being pulled back by Lucy who was kissing her cheek as she smiled. Her mouth dropped open. Hard launch. She looked at the caption.

“Happy place with my happy little Australian” *red heart*

She’d tagged her and YFN looked at the phone in Lucy’s hand, unsure how it hadn’t blown up from all of the notifications it must have had. Lucy winked at her as she moved next to her, resting her hand on her thigh and stroking her thumb there.

“Hey Joe, it’s Lucy.. funny you should mention that, I actually hadn’t told YFN that just yet..”

“Hi Lucy… oh, I’m sorry! I’d heard a few little whispers from a few friends..”

Lucy laughed. “That’s okay, she had to find out eventually.” She looked at YFN who looked curiously at her gorgeously tanned athlete. She couldn’t help reaching out and playing with a few strands of Lucy’s hair that were wildly playing in the wind. “I might as well tell you both.. YFN said a while ago that one of the first things she’d want to do is to have a get-together with a few players to ask them what they want, their likes and dislikes and to start building those relationships.” YFN’s fingers stroked down the side of Lucy’s face from around her temple, down to her jaw as she watched her speak. Lucy leant into her as she did. “So a few of the girls and I made a few phone calls to get some players together for dinner tonight.”

YFN’s fingers paused on her jaw, her eyes softening and heart filling. How did she get so lucky?

“That’s fantastic! A very strong start to everything! Relationship building is the most important thing for us, we want to build and maintain those special relationships with all of the players, so this dinner tonight is going to be the perfect start for that. I speak for our whole company when I say a big thank you to you, Lucy. This is just… beyond the start I was expecting.”

“You’re welcome, and to be fair, I know a lot of the players are excited for this. As you said, word has been spreading for a while now and heating up in the last few months so we’re all excited to see this come to life. The girls I’ve spoken to have been so under represented and misrepresented for so long that they’re excited for this to happen. YFN’s going to have a lot of work, but I know she’s going be the most amazing asset for you and create magic, like she does with everything else.”

YFN’s hand dropped and she looked at Lucy with an embarrassed but thankful expression. Lucy touched that little dimple, her eyes unable to leave it. She handed the phone back to YFN who was almost crying. So much work. She wondered how busy she would be in 13 days when she needed to head to Spain. Joe was aware of it, of course, and immediately approved, reminding her that she didn’t need her permission.

They spoke for a little while longer, talking about the email and the team members they had. The call ended and YFN folded up her little note taking book, pulling the band over it. Lucy’s mouth on hers was surprising, but not unwelcome. She kissed back eagerly, tilting her head and their tongues meeting. It grew a little bit more desperate as their hands tangled in each other’s hair, and Lucy pulled her on top, straddling her in a sitting position. YFN groaned into her mouth at the feel of Lucy’s body against hers. Then her phone rang again.

She jumped, assuming it was Joe calling back and looked at the phone.

“Nan calling. Baby bro calling.”

“Oh shit, Joe really distracted me.” She answered the phone on loudspeaker, sliding off of Lucy, noticing her confused expression. “Hi Nan, hey bro.”

Lucy understood and settled herself behind YFN, legs either side of her and pulled her back to lean on her body. She pulled a blanket around them.

“Hello!”

“Hey sis.”

They changed to Facetime and it was impossible for them to not see Lucy. YFN’s nan adjusted her glasses to better see and her brother looked surprised and unbelieving.

“Oh shit, you weren’t joking.” He choked.

Lucy laughed. “Hi! It’s nice to finally meet you both. I’ve heard so much about you two.”

“Oh, YFN, she’s stunning.” Her nan said, making her choke out a little of the water she was sipping. Lucy and her brother laughed as she coughed the water out of her lungs.

“It’s not just about looks, nan!”

“No, but it certainly helps, doesn’t it?” She laughed.

YFN could feel Lucy’s whole body vibrating as she laughed behind her. She rolled her eyes knowing that Lucy loved compliments.

“Oh and I saw the photos online, very nice!”

Her nan was far past retired, she was a pensioner who spent most of her time playing games on the iPad YFN had bought her, and looking through Instagram and Facebook she’d installed on there for her. She had no idea how to use them and only had a few friends and followers, but that’s all she needed. After that, Lucy took out her phone and followed them both, making sure it was okay first and warning them about random follows that would ultimately pop up.

They spoke for a while, Lucy immediately loved by both, of course. Everybody loved Lucy. Lucy and her brother clicked surprisingly well, perhaps even better than YFN did with him, though she suspected a part of it was his idolisation of athletes and Lucy was nothing if not an athlete. She felt Lucy’s abs against her back, her strong biceps cradled around her own arms and she held her and laughed with her family like this wasn’t the first time they’d all spoken. God, that woman.

By the end of the phone call, Lucy had already managed to convince them both to come over and watch a game, offering to pay for their flights and accommodation. YFN made a mental note to argue with her about that later, or pay before Lucy could. Somehow she’d even convinced her nan who had always said she was too old for flying, Lucy managing to sweet talk her about first class and how much room and food you got. She was excited at the prospect of seeing them both. She’d seen her nan only a few weeks before, but the distance was cruel. Also, she hadn’t seen her brother in 8 months as he was living in Japan, exploring and doing god knows what.

They ended the phone call after a good period, both agreeing to come and watch England play at some point in the near future. She was excited at the thought of seeing her family soon and wriggled back into Lucy to show her happiness.

When the call disappeared from the screen, she saw the notifications and groaned nervously. She opened the post.

*Lucy Bronze MBE tagged you in a post*

*Caitlin Foord liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Caitlin Foord commented on a post you’re tagged in.*

*Jordan Nobbs liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Jordan Nobbs commented on a post you’re tagged in.*

*Alexia Putellas liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Ruesha Littlejohn liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Millie Bright liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Ridley liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Ridley commented on a post you’re tagged in.*

*Leah Williamson liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Mariona Caldentey liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Katie McCabe liked a post you’re tagged in.*

*Katie McCabe commented on a post you’re tagged in.*

She didn’t finish reading the notifications before she cleared them and put her phone away. She’d look later. Right now, she was with Lucy, and she was more than aware that she only had her for one more day. Lucy hummed her approval and kissed her temple.

“Busy third date, hm?”

“Cute lunch, majestic sandcastle, exciting work call, successful first meeting with my family… I’d call that a brilliant third date.”

Lucy nodded against her. “It’s getting late, little one. We need to go; I want us to get unpacked and showered before we go out for dinner.”

“Okay…”

“What’s on your mind? I can hear you thinking.” Lucy nuzzled behind her ear.

“I was just thinking about how I need to say goodbye to you in a day..”

“Don’t think about that.” She whispered. “Let’s enjoy it.”

“I am. My heart is starting to feel sad already though..” She turned slightly to look at Lucy. “Also, just out of curiosity, are we going to not have sex tonight, or just be quiet so Jordan doesn’t hear us?”

Lucy’s head fell back as she laughed. It was one of YFN’s favourite sounds. “Oh, we’re having sex tonight. As for the noise… I’m going to make sure you’re thinking about it for the next 13 days so… good luck staying quiet.”

[slafkovskys]

i’m sure you’ve seen those videos on tiktok that are like “i just remembered he dated someone before me so now i’m mad/going to start an argument” and i feel like that’s juraj with older reader 😭 obviously, we know all about her history with her ex, but i think just in general he gets a little pouty sometimes when he remembers that she’s been with other people. he always says something like “im your favorite though right?” and she won’t admit it, but he is

juraj walks into the towering building that day with lunch for the two of them in his hands and a burning question in his mind. he sends a grin to the security as he swipes his keycard, greets the office girls that he knows have a crush on them, compliments the new flowers on their desk before making his way back to where he was expected.

her door was closed which was a sign that she did not want to be bothered, but she had made it clear to him that he was exempt when he brought her lunch one day and instead of coming straight through, he had wound up chatting with her accountants in the break room for a solid thirty minutes.

he pokes his head in cautiously, watching the way her head snaps up ready to yell at whoever interrupted her, but her face softens when she spots him. gwen waves him inside, “no, i’m going to need you to use your critical thinking skills here david-”

juraj didn’t know much about david, but he did know that they didn’t like him. he sets down the food they had gotten for them on her desk and presses a quick kiss to her cheek before making his way over to the couch in the corner of her office. he can feel the weight of his phone in his front pocket and he’s tempted to pull it out, do a cursory scroll through instagram while she wraps up whatever david wanted to say to her, but he can’t.

instead, he takes her in.

he’s not ashamed to admit that he does this often. when they’re at one of their apartments, across from each other in a restaurant, or even when they’re here in the confines of her office. she intrigues him. the way that her heels are knocked over beside her desk and her feet are shoved into slippers as she walks around the room. the way that her blazer is hanging off a coat rack close to the door beside her bag and her blouse is only half tucked. this was her and she was his.

he doesn’t even realize she had hung up the phone until she’s dropping down beside him and resting her head in his lap. it’s automatic in the way that he swoops down and presses his lips to gwen’s, the smell of her vanilla perfume starting to occupy the air around them. she sighs as she squeezes his forearm, “‘m so happy to see you.”

“happy to see me or food?” he teases and she rolls her eyes.

“why can’t it be a little bit of both?” she raises an eyebrow and he shrugs. his fingers trace down her arm before stopping at her fingers, staring idly at the empty one. now knowing that it didn’t used to be empty, that legally she was still tied to the person who made her think she had found her forever, pulls at something in juraj’s chest. “are you still good to come with me this afternoon?”

“hm? three, right?” to her attorney’s and see what needed to be done to actually move the divorce process along. he could tell in the way that her eyebrows had been furrowed all week, in the way that she had been escaping to her own mind that she was thinking about it more than she wanted to let on. his thumb runs over the base of her third finger, “i’m your favorite, right?”

“what do you mean, juraj?” gwen raises a curious eyebrow and the man just can’t say it. it would make him sound insecure, boyish in the way he tries not to be around her, so instead he rubs at her ring finger again and her face softens, “juraj-”

“is just a question. don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“you’re the first person that i’ve been involved with that i’ve told that i love and i actually meant it. i feel something that i've never felt with anyone before, juraj. hookups, boyfriends, him,” she sits up then and turns, cradling his face with her hands as she forces him to look her in the eye, “i can’t believe that i’m saying this right now because i swore that i wouldn’t let myself feel this way again, but it’s you for me. it has been since that day in the supermarket, since you bought me that drink, since you almost dropped me when we slept together the first time-”

he groans, “you promised not to talk about that ever.”

“my point is that you’re you and i’m me, but together we’re us. we have our own lives, do our own things, and at the end of the day we both come home to benedict and fight over who gets to cuddle with him during love is blind,” she pulls at his beanie and he grins at the mention of their shared cat, “i would’ve never wanted to have an animal with a hyphenated last name with anyone else.”

“benedict needs his mother,” juraj says with a finality and she hums, “and his father. you know he miss me when i’m away.”

“we both do. you know why?” he quirks an eyebrow, “because we love you.”

“i love you both too. even though you both steal me sweaters.”

[lazybutsmexy]

Infused

Alejandro Vargas x f!reader (callsign Avispa)

Masterlist Taglist Ch.1

Prologue: Heat the water to 90°C

Warnings: minor character death

A/N: Oh, what is this? A new series? Are you going to stick around with me for this one too? I hope you do :) This baby has been in the works for a while, but updates will be slower for this one. I'm an adult with responsibilities after all.

Judge Andrés Corrales walked up to the counter and paid for his coffee. His jovial smile bid farewell to his favorite barista as he left the coffee shop. his feet took him outside and down the sidewalk towards the bridge. 

Corrales’ mind was full and empty at the same time. Thoughts of that night’s dinner with Rosana were second only to the upcoming trial in his agenda. He lit a cigar, puffing it a couple of times and watching the smoke rise and fade in the air. 

The case of the kiddie trafficker. Prosecution was asking for life, but Corrales’ knew the guy would get off with less than ten years. The latest addition of a few zeroes in his offshore account made sure of that. 

Corrales stopped in the middle of the bridge. He looked out into the distance, the sunset was photo worthy, and he regretted not having brought his camera to capture it. He had no idea he would have never had a chance to use it anyway, as someone else had him in her scope. 

Avispa looks through the scope of her rifle to her target, her finger tightening on the trigger as she waits for the perfect moment. She has waited for the last two days, without sleep or nourishment, only to catch a glimpse of Corrales. That’s everything she needed. 

In less than a second, and from 400 meters away, a perfect hole in his temple sent Judge Corrales over the bridge railing and to a watery grave. 

Tatú was always punctual with her calls, and this time was not an exception.

“Las Almas? It’s in Mexico, isn’t it?” Avispa’s voice was clipped, half-listening to the call and half-focused in not forgetting anything in the dirty motel she had been staying in. A few crispy American dollars granted her a very secluded stay under a fake name. 

“Yes. I can secure transport for you to DF, but you’re on your own afterwards,” Tatú’s voice was always serious, business-like. It’s been like that ever since they crossed paths ten years prior. Avispa knew that deep down - very deep down, Tatú cared about her. 

“Any contact points I should pay attention to?” Avispa slung her bag over her shoulder, walking out of the motel room and into the busy streets, easily blending in with the tourist traffic. 

“Los Vaqueros are after the Las Almas cartel, a good starting point, but they’re Mexican Special Forces so tread carefully.”

Mexican Special Forces? Avispa twisted her mouth in apprehension. They would never collaborate with her, not easily at least. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

“When the job is done, send me a photograph to the secure line,” Tatú said as a farewell, before ending the call. She was never down for chit chat. 

Avispa threw the phone in a drain, and disappeared into the crowd. 

Once upon a time, a family friend told a young girl she looked like her male cousin through a toothy smile. That comment may have been slightly traumatizing to a prepubescent girl who was already dealing with her body image, but now years later was remembered in irony. Disguised as a man, Avispa waved through the nearly empty corridors of Las Almas, following her latest lead.

The man, a balding, bearded boss-wannabe reached a house in the outskirts, and Avispa observed from the shadows. Two heavily armed guards in suits greeted the man and let him in. A quick glance to the roofs confirmed to her that there were more guards on duty, watching the perimeter like vultures. 

A displeased sneer quirked up her lip, and Avispa retreated into the shadows and away into the Las Almas treacherous night. No matter how good she was at sneaking into places, even she knew that throwing herself in blindly with no support would only put her in unnecessary danger. 

She would have to make contact with Los Vaqueros after all.

[no1frogfan]

Endings and beginnings, part 1

Tsukishima Kei x gn reader

Series synopsis: By all accounts, you’re happy. Five years out of college, your freelance art career is finally picking up and you’re able live comfortably between projects by bartending on the weekends. You’re surrounded by long-time friends and things are starting to get serious with your boyfriend. The cracks begin to form in the life you’re building when you hear from a mutual friend that Tsukishima is getting divorced. Tsukishima Kei, a person you used to consider one of your best friends, but whom you’ve spoken to only a handful of times since high school. You reach out to him for the first time in almost a decade, offering support to a friend you were once close to. As you gradually help him heal from his marriage, your old crush on him begins to resurface.

Chapter word count: ~1.2k

Chapter tags & warnings: mention of divorce and emotionally abusive relationship, alcohol (tiny bit)

Series masterlist part 2 >

1. The end

One minute, you’re chatting with Emika about her recent vacation to Seoul. It was freezing, she said, but the colors of Gyeongbokgung looked particularly vibrant underneath a thin blanket of snow, and Gwanghwamun was especially imposing towering over the silent white plaza. Knowing Emika though, you know she had one goal and one goal only: to eat her way around the city. She stuffed her face with gimbap and soondae, reveled in spicy tteokbokki and savory jjigae, and made a concerted effort to sample some of the dozens of different varieties of kimchi.

“You have to come with me next time,” she urges, “Seiji was such a drag.” You bite your tongue. It’s well-known that her fiance is a picky eater, so it’s no surprise to anyone (except Emika, apparently) that he wasn’t as enthusiastic about all the foods she wanted to try. “We should go in the summer next time! I want to sample all the different summer dishes!” Your mouth waters as you conjure up images of naengmyeon and gejang and you squeal in anticipation. The conversation drifts from Seoul, to food, to other developments in your lives, to Emika - the more social of the two of you by a long shot - updating you on your mutual friends.

“Wow, so Tsukishima got new job in Tokyo? Does that mean Natsumi is moving here with him too?”

“Wait, did I not tell you? They’re separated… I think they might be getting divorced soon.”

One minute, you’re lazily splayed out in a sunbeam on your couch, and the next minute you’re sitting bolt upright, eyes wide in shock.

“What? Oh my god. WHAT?! When?!”

Emika pauses to think. “I guess it’s been 3 or 4 months now, although the relationship has apparently been on the rocks for a long time.” She hesitates before continuing in a whisper, “He got a little too drunk at Tetsuya’s wedding a few months ago and spilled to me. I guess he’d been trying to work on their marriage for a while and then one day she just up and left. It was a huge shock to learn about what had been going on too… You only met her once, right?”

“I think so?”

“I met her a few times at parties and weddings and things like that. She seemed nice enough, but he confided that in private she was always putting him down, telling him he was selfish, clingy, incompetent, and how she didn’t want to bring him to her work parties because he’d just drag her down…”

“Seriously?! What the fuck!” You’re on your feet now. “Tsukishima’s not any of those things! He might be a sarcastic little shit, but that’s about it…”

That earns a dubious huff from Emika. “Hasn’t it been like 10 years since you’ve been close with him?”

You falter a little. Has it really been that long? When was the last time you even spoke to him? Probably at a party at Emika’s years ago actually. You hadn’t known about Natsumi at all until you met her briefly at a mutual friend’s wedding shortly after college, and at that point they were already engaged. You didn’t find out about their wedding until Yamaguchi posted about it on Instagram.

“That’s true…but I hear about him all the time from you and from our volleyball friends. I’m sure if everyone else is friends with him still then he’s just as nice as I remember.”

The line is quiet for a minute. “Hey, do you have his number by any chance? I feel like I should reach out.”

“Yea I do, but do not tell him I said anything about Natsumi!”

“Oh my god, Emika! I would never do that! I’ll just tell him you mentioned his new job to me.”

The conversation drifts again to Emika’s current office drama, though you’re only half paying attention.

She texts you right away after the two of you get off the phone. Here’s his number! Same one from hs

You type out and erase probably a dozen different texts. You and Tsukishima were close in middle and high school - the two of you and Yamaguchi were basically inseparable. You still talk to Yamaguchi pretty regularly, but you can count on one hand the number of times you’ve interacted with Tsukishima since graduation. It’s not like there was any big fight, at least, not that you remember. It’s more that you naturally grew apart, and being at different colleges didn't help. But this is a difficult time in his life and you want to be there for him. The fond memories of your friendship unearthed an odd sense of protectiveness you didn’t know you had.

You finally settle on something neutral. Hey Tsukishima! Long time no chat! I was just talking to Emika and heard you’re moving down here for a new job. Congrats! You second guess yourself as soon as you hit send. Is it too obvious? Does he even want to hear from you?

Pushing that thought away, you take a sip of wine and start washing vegetables for dinner. Maybe he’ll respond in a few hours.

Not even a minute later, the phone pings and you rush to dry your hands.

Tsukishima: Good to hear from you. Yes, I’m moving to Tokyo. They’re starting a youth paleontology program at the National Museum of Nature and Science and asked me to manage it

Just like Tsukishima, you’ve never changed your number. So you shouldn’t be surprised that he knows it’s you, but you’re touched all the same to still be saved in his contacts.

You: Oh wow, that sounds like a huge deal! What are you going to be doing mostly?

T: They want me to build the program from scratch, design the exhibits, set up activities, stuff like that

Y: Cool! Is it long-term or just for this project? Am I asking too many questions?

T: You are being kind of annoying 😩

T: Kidding. I’ll be there long-term. After setting up the program, they want me to manage the hiring and training, and then there are some other exhibits they want to build up alongside this one

Y: 🙄 🖕

Y: Well it sounds exciting! I hope you enjoy it! I’m sure you have friends and colleagues who are helping you already with the move and stuff, but a good friend of mine works at that museum. I’m sure he’d be happy to chat if you have any questions about it

T: Thanks. I’m still getting my bearings on the whole thing tbh, but I’d love to talk to him

Y: Ofc! I’m sure he’ll be ok with it, but let me just check with him before I give you his number

After a few minutes, you get the green light and send Tsukishima your friend’s number. Even if he doesn’t have any questions now, issues with museum administrators and other day-to-day things will surely crop up once he starts working there, so it won’t hurt to already have an acquaintance to show you the ropes.

A satisfied grin spreads across your face. The wine must be working quickly on your empty stomach because you feel downright giddy as you go back to making dinner.

[cynicalone94]

Why Won't It Stop?

Read on AO3 here.

They make an arrest that afternoon, earning themselves a rare early night, and Kim is quick to suggest that they go to the park to catch the fireworks.

Kevin and Adam are quick to agree and Antonio is in once Eva and Diego have agreed to come.

Hailey shrugs, agreeing that it sounds like fun and all eyes swivel to their final remaining teammate.

Jay tenses up as he senses their gazes on him.

“I don’t know…” he says, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck.

“Please, Jay.” Kim begs. “We’ll get so much junk food and it will be so much fun.”

Hailey laughs.

“Trying to sell Jay with junk food? Kim.”

“I’ll bring some of that unbuttered popcorn you like.” Antonio offers. “And Diego would love to see you, discuss a rematch on that game of horse.”

Jay breathes out a sigh.

“Okay, yeah.” he says, and Hailey can’t help but frown at his lack of enthusiasm. “Sounds fun. I’ll uh, see you guys there then.”

And then he disappears before Hailey can ask if he’s okay.

He’s in a much better mood when he meets them at the park that night, thanking Antonio for the popcorn, chatting with Diego and even eating a hot dog.

Hailey isn’t completely convinced but she files it away, deciding not to ruin a rare night out for the team by pushing him.

As the sky begins to darken they spread their blankets out in what Kim had determined to be the prime spot.

Hailey ends up sitting next to Jay and frowns when she realizes that he’s shaking.

“You okay?” she asks, leaning closer and whispering to avoid drawing the attention of their nosy friends.

He nods, jaw set and she sighs.

Why does he always have to be such a tough guy?

The closer they get to the start of the show, the tenser he gets and she’s starting to wonder if whatever is going on with him is related to the fireworks display.

And then the first roman candle shoots high into the sky with a high pitched whistle before exploding, sending brightly colored light across the horizon.

And her partner flinches.

Actually flinches.

She looks over at him, her brain rapidly compiling the pieces of the puzzle now that they’re laid out before her.

A series fireworks go off and she watches all color drain from his face, eyes dilating and glazing over.

It’s a look she hasn’t seen since that day in a darkened warehouse, trying to rescue the kidnapped son of an accountant who’d made the mistake of agreeing to launder drug money.

Shit.

His PTSD.

No wonder he hadn’t wanted to come tonight.

She needs to get him out of here.

Conscious of the fact that touching him might not be the best idea right now, she reaches out, her hand brushing against his arm.

He jumps, looking over at her but she isn’t sure that he’s seeing her.

She leans closer.

“Jay? It’s Hailey. We’re in Chicago.” she says gently. “Can you stand up?”

He blinks back at her but struggles to his feet so hopefully he’s hearing her on some level.

“Where are you going?” Kim asks.

“Jay isn’t feeling well.” Hailey bites out through gritted teeth.

She’s furious with herself right now for not putting two and two together and realizing that this would bother him but she isn’t the only one who’d forgotten.

And everyone else here has known him longer.

“Need to eat more junk food.” Adam teases. “If that’s all it takes to make you sick.”

Hailey wants to rip them all a new one but this isn’t the time or place.

And Jay needs her right now.

She keeps a gentle hand on his elbow as she helps him navigate through the blankets. Thankfully, Kim’s prime spot had been pretty close to the path and she’s able to get him out of the crowds.

But he gets tenser with every firework that goes off and she worries that he’ll slip into some kind of flashback and she won’t be able to get him back.

She sees her jeep and steers him toward it. They can get his truck later.

She wishes she knew what to do for him.

Because she hasn’t completely lost him yet but he isn’t resurfacing either. She’s only seen this once before and thankfully shouting his name had been enough to snap him out of it.

But the fireworks are still going off and will be most of the night. She’s pretty sure he won’t find his way back entirely until they stop.

Thankfully, he’s been compliant so far and that doesn’t change as she unlocks her jeep and helps him into the passenger seat.

She buckles his seat belt for him and then closes the door, jogging around to get in the driver’s seat.

Once her own seat belt is on, she reaches over to rest her hand on his elbow again.

He doesn’t respond and, taking a deep breath, she starts the car and drives toward his apartment.

He’s still trembling and despite the warm July evening she kicks on the heater and turns up the radio.

Halfway there his hands start moving, the motions unfamiliar to her but clearly well practiced to him.

And then he opens the door and jumps out of her car.

She swerves off the road, slamming on the brakes and barely getting the car into park before she jumps out herself, racing toward his unmoving form.

Should she call for an ambulance?

He sits up as she gets closer and she closes her eyes. He’s still conscious. That’s something.

She crashes to her knees next to him, looking him over the best she can without touching him.

His arms are torn up from the gravel and she can see road rash on his side where his shirt has ridden up.

He seems to have at least protected his head somewhat and the thick material of his jeans had kept his legs safe.

She should take him to Med but she knows he hates hospitals on a good day.

Today isn’t a good day.

Scanning over his injuries again, she makes a decision.

Will meets her at Jay’s apartment, eying his brother with worried eyes.

Jay pulls away from her the moment they step through the door, making a beeline for his bedroom.

“Hey.” Will says softly, taking a gentle but firm hold of his brother’s arm. “I know you need your cave right now but I want to check you for injuries first.”

“No.” Jay says, shaking his head. “Not safe. Need… need to be safe.”

“Just give me two minutes, bud.” Will begs.

“No.” Jay repeats, louder this time as he pulls away from his brother’s hand and resumes his path. “Not safe.”

Will doesn’t stop him this time, following at a short distance as Jay rushes into the bedroom.

Hailey watches him crawl into his closet with tears in her eyes.

All this time spent worrying about his triggers and fighting to make sure that he was okay when he didn’t want to take care of himself and now she’s the one who’d triggered him.

Why hadn’t she said some thing at the precinct? She’d seen how uncomfortable he was with the idea but instead of backing him up she’d just stood there and let Kim and Antonio pressure him.

Will crawls in after his brother, using the dim light of his flashlight as a guide to gently probe for broken bones or indications of internal injuries.

After a moment he sets it down and offers her a weak smile before settling in shoulder to shoulder with his brother.

Jay doesn’t respond to his presence, simply wrapping his arms around himself. His eyes are still distant and Hailey can see him trembling from over here.

She doesn’t even notice Will looking at her until he crawls back out of the closet.

“Why don’t you sit with him for a bit.” he suggests gently. “I’m going to call Voight before it gets too late.”

“Voight?” she asks.

“He’s going to be feeling pretty shitty in the morning.” Will says softly. “Won’t be up for work.”

“I’m such an idiot.” she mutters. “I should have told him it was okay not to go.”

“He could have said something too.” Will says softly. “And now you know. Maybe next year you can help him avoid them.”

Hailey nods, swallowing hard.

There isn’t time for her guilt right now.

Her partner needs her.

She crawls into the closet, sitting next to him and risking leaning close. He doesn’t pull away and she smiles.

“I’m here Jay.” she says softly. “You’re safe.”

She doesn’t know how long they sit there in the dark, the only sound reaching them being the crashing of fireworks in the distance.

Eventually however, they start to taper off and she feels the trembling lessen somewhat.

“Why won’t it stop?”

It takes her a moment to realize that he’s talking to her and even then she isn’t sure what he’s referring to.

Does he want the fireworks to stop or his PTSD?

“I don’t know.” she says softly, reaching out to take his hand. “But you won’t deal with it alone, okay?”

He leans into her, nodding slowly.

“You ready to let Will clean up your arms?” she asks after a minute.

He shakes his head.

“Okay.” she agrees readily. “We can stay here then. As long as you need to.”

[pagerspages]

Gender Update 1

Gender update 1

Since I started using they/them pronouns again things have been a little bit better. I wouldn’t consider myself in a gender crisis right now. For some reason just removing the ‘he’ from my pronouns even if it’s just when I’m thinking about myself has helped more than I thought I would. I’ve only told 3-4 people. One coworker, but I think she forgot because she kept saying he/him today and I told a few friends.

Speaking of friends, I think I need some new ones. I have one of my best friends from high school whom I talk to most days and they’re really chill and I have a couple of friends who are married and they’re super chill even if we barely talk but like my other friends just don’t talk to me? I have one of my oldest friends and we have an almost 1000 day snapchat streak but we don’t talk most days, we just send each other random pictures. I’m in a group chat with her and a couple of other friends who I used to be super close to but I feel like the odd person out these days. They’re all growing up and in adult relationships, have adult jobs and I’m over here just trying to survive and working retail. If you want to be friends let me know.

Work friends are great though. My closest coworker is also queer and honestly if I was stuck still working with a bunch of straight cis guys I probably wouldn’t survive. I feel like it’s easier for afab people to make friends than it is for amab people. I caught a very small glimpse of what it was like to just hang out with your girlfriends today and I will forever mourn that I didn’t get to experience that as an adolescent. 

Being an amab nonbinary person on dating apps is also super different. I’m seriously considering just deleting all my accounts and starting fresh. Most people in my area (Granted I live in a small farming community in a very religious red state) that say they’d date nonbinary people only mean nonbinary people that look, act, and sound like a cis woman. I understand that people get to have preferences, I have preferences too but those people just want a woman not a nonbinary person. 

I was originally going to write about how much I miss my ex again tonight but writing about this helped. Maybe I’ll post more #genderupdates as they come along. Only thing I will say about my ex is that I’m giving away one of the paintings they made me tomorrow. Not sure how to feel about it.

[evelyne-am]

14th March 2023-

14th March 2023

Day 1 

(By the way I’m really glad I didn’t post as last night because my day one continued over the 24 hours.)

I don’t know where to start. Those who follow my stories know that I didn’t sleep much, I felt nervous excited and scared all at the same time. There is a part of me that thinks that this kind of grueling training is exactly what I need, to strip myself to nothing after being somewhat applauded the last year or so in the music world, that has been nice after a long pandemic of feeling indispensable,but it has been completely unchallenging. But also it has been a long time since I have sat and created music, as opposed to performing it, and the next couple of months I had saved for that, so I wasn’t sure if fully I knew what I was giving up my creative space for.

I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm and had a chat with a couple of friends who were awake at the time thinking “ oh I have these extra minutes” only to discover it was my first day of my period. If you have a woman’s body then you will know for many that is horrible horrible day for most. For me it’s usually raging pain. Today was no different. I want to be full proof about being there punctually every day so the driver was ready for me and I was bang on time but I have not accounted for the fact that I would be in so much pain. I asked the driver  to go get some medicine and said if you couldn’t find me, leave it in front of the lift. I reach 20 minutes before our call time so I can listen to some music and chill, the second I arrived I see others had already arrived; they were warming up walking, jogging and within two minutes of me coming sir and our other director Mohsina (henceforth referred to as M) also walked in. I did not have a chance to chill. I was pleased I was there before sir though, (like everyone else was,) that he saw my face when he walked in and not that of someone who came exactly time but as someone who came for themselves to adjust to the new surroundings just like we had been taught in the workshop. Sir comes daily with a whole car full of things; a project, Harmonium, a keyboard, speakers, and a big picnic basket full of goodies for us. Even in the workshops I’ve seen him always come 30 to 60 minutes early so that he has ample time to set up all his equipment and also if there are any questions for anyone who comes early. I see the room (pictured) on the 6th floor that will be my home for 3 months. It is beautiful in the morning sunlight, and way way nicer than the one we did the workship in, I feel so lucky the moment I have entered, a weird sense of belonging comes over me. After a quick warmup. There are 12 of us if you count M. 8 females and 4 males, quite a small cast. They are all quite pros but one of the males is a young guy who was in the workshop with us, tbh I was surprised to see him, but found out he is just shadowing the cast as he can’t attend daily due to university. The rest of us are the main cast, but it will determined what roles we each have as the play is designed. Sir started with a short but sweet message for us to be kind to be grateful and to remind us that we are doing is paying homage to the people that the play is written about (we’ll talk about that later) Sir told us a little bit about how his vision in the play. I won’t give too much away (but this blog will have a lot of spoilers for this play anyway, so don’t read if you don’t want spoilers for Spardhhas next production. ) But for now let’s just say it’s going to be immersive. It made me feel so excited, I can’t tell you. I have those feelings of when we were bringing Rahman Sir for his honorary doctorate in Berklee. But there I knew exactly what was going to happen I could envision it. Here it's outside my realm  of thought everything that was talked about; lights and audience participation and set I don’t even know what they’re meaning but I could tell that it’s exciting.

My adrenaline got me through the first half, the first half is something that I know a little about as I had done the workshops last month. It’s fully physical, it's sometimes really hard, and sometimes there are little breaks that he gives for us to meditate in between the exercises. I don’t want to divulge his actual methods but there’s voice, breathing, full body, meditation there’s awareness of the room  and the  group exercises. As someone who has been to school where you are studying the entire aspect of an art, this is something that I can do technically- warmups, biology etc. The mental Aspect of being hundred percent aware of your surroundings is not something that I have studied. I am a very inside my head kind of person and Sir calls me out on it. My mind wanders constantly, and though I try to bring it back to be in the room it waivers a lot. I feel bad but I also appreciate Sir reminding me of this bad trait, this is the main thing that I would feel that I will have to work on. 

Actually it is the reason that I have so many accidents, if you have read any of my Facebook status as you will know that I had about 3 to 4 accidents last year I have bruises all over my body. And just today I was thinking how reckless I am in my thoughts especially when I’m walking on the streets and I had a vision that I was hit by a bus. I’m thinking I must use what I learned in class in my everyday life and be less so. 

At the height of our physical limits, sir gives us a break. I assumed it was about 20 minutes as it used to be in the workshop and I ran to the washroom. Oh that bloody ShilpokolA washroom. Thanks to the state of my health I spent the whole 20 minutes in the bathroom, the entire break. I had prepared a Tiffin of boiled eggs sausages and oranges, I planned to have some tea/caffeine to wake myself up for the second half as I used to do in the workshop. But I did nothing.

The second half is when we read the script. I had prepared my backpack to perfection but of course I forgot my glasses. What happened was, that I started falling asleep. Hundred Pages of bangla  text l, everyone taking turns reading it; one would’ve thought that the hardness of it would keep me alert, or the fact that I could be next to read would keep me alert, but I fell asleep, I nodded off and in front of my 11 peers and Sir. I kept checking myself up and cursing myself and not sleeping enough, for not bringing caffeine (caffeine makes my heart palpitations go nuts so usually I don’t drink it) and for not bringing my bloody glasses that I really need to read this long text. And it was right then, during the second half of the rehearsal that my cramps came back in full bloody swing, the driver did not bring the medicines that I had asked him to do in front of the lift and I was squirming in pain. This was the point where all these thoughts crossed my mind that I would not be able to do this every day. The long hours, hard Bangla, and most of all the level of constant concentration felt really hard, especially with cramps. I tried to hold my back and massage it very discreetly so the pain would subside.I think M noticed and she asked me to come sit next to her in front of the desk where I could lean. From the second story (which shall henceforth be called M1- because its the first story in order) though I don’t know what happened, maybe it was sitting next to M, or the fact that it was something that hit me harder I was back in. I cried while the story went dark, i found the character so intriguing and hard to fathom. I even volunteered to read in my horrible Bangla reading With the risk of angering sir when I stumbled. 

i left day one feeling absolutely in a rush, all my earlier doubts out the window (as you could see in my Insta video.) before I left I asked permission to write this blog from Sir. He seemed cool, which is why I officially start the blog today’s with the day one post.

The rest of the day was spent in multiple things, I was a bit down, I got distracted. The days homework was to prepare a section of the play to present the next day and by the time I did my to dos from my normal music life, procrastinate, spent time with my mum it was really late. On my way home from mum’s I was walking to buy some chocolate and listening to a song, when I fell down. Another of my accidents, because I was unmindful, the bleeding wouldn’t stop for ages as ususally that happens. I was reminded of how just that morning I saw myself being hit by a bus and now have vowed to stop being on my phone when I am walking the streets. Reading in Bangla is really tough for me so I asked DC (friend) To read it out for me so that I could record. Halfway through the story of M1, DC stops. At first I couldn’t understand why and asked if they were tired, but then I realise DC is crying. I realise this is the first time that DC is reading it and that the first time we had heard the story in class almost all of us were in tears too earlier that day. I will elaborate later about the stories themselves. I have taken permission actually to reveal here, but it’s intense, the most intense; it is about women and rape. While I was listening to the story being read out loud for me I saw a lot more things than I did when I was trying to focus on reading Bangla text. I didn’t really prepare a part but I knew the text a lot better last night than I did when I was reading it with my own eyes. But i did not feel as emotional the second time around, i dont know why, i was dilly dallying, and tho i stopped myself from doing the blog post, i still stayed up later than the previous night and at one point it was 2 am till i push myself to shut eyes. Something I can’t explain is that I woke up at 4:30am. It was my cramps, but I was sat in the middle of the night clutching my uterus and crying, I’ve had cramps before but I’ve never felt like . This story is creeping inside me.

[themetropolisborough]

i’m thinking headcanons about how The Metropolis chugs along because it’s basically this corporate conglomerate where everything’s super congested and there are too many things to go see/do than work allows so the memes have GOT to be hits:

• surveillance state agent jokes (“...” “Stop staring at me, Risingsmoke.” “How do you know I’m not an agent sent from The Administration sent to observe you?” “Because, if you were, I think they should give you the pink slip because you totally fell asleep on our last three shifts.” “Or I wanted you to think I was asleep. Didn’t think about that, huh?” “I wish Cheesecake still worked here.”)

• catfolk doing the hand gesture for I’m Keeping My Eye On You as a greeting for the start of a shared shift/goodbye at the end of a shared shift instead of a handshake because it’s faster OR for when you see your coworker outside of work and it’s too late now to pretend you didn’t because you’ve made eye contact

• work is the answer to any question you don’t know (“Hi, Echo! Sorry to bother ya, I know you’re wrapping up that quarterly report. But do you know where Python is?” Lavendar looks nonchalantly towarda the horizon of skyscrapers outside their office window, pausing to seemingly take in the view before shrugging. “Work, probably.”)

• messenger birds who also deliver emails. so, an entire flock at someone’s office? That’s Not Good

• jokingly debating what their currency will be called once they’re on the same level as Sol and Luna (“Starstone?” “Polisstone, investing on the groundfloor.” “For the last time, Garnish, no cat would vote for the second-half of the word Metropolis.” “Solstone, Sunstone. Lunastone, Moonstone. Metrostone, Citystone?” “Listen to you Chatty Catties, bickering over what should be an obvious answer!” “Oh yeah? And what are you vouching for, Rabbitfoot?” “Skystone. After our, you know, skyscrapers. A prominent architectural marvel we’re known for in all of Mewmoia.” “Huh.” “Sunstone, Moonstone, Skystone. Yeah, it works.” “I don’t know. Doesn’t hold a fruit basket to Polisstone.” “Garnish!”)

• catfolk sending pictures of near-workplace hazards in their group chats trying to one-up each other followed by all the cats searching for whatever The Metro equivalent of OSHA is for which violation code it is

• ridiculous, no-one-would-say-this/please-tell-me-no-one-would-say-this responses from workplace ettiquette and Borough-sensitivity training videos being quoted without missing a beat between coworkers (“hey. hey, Aphelion.” “hm?” “‘I am from Zenith and I am requesting time-off for the annual Festival of th—’” “‘A. I shout: No, I will not take your shift. Should’ve foretold that before you came to me, Cliff Climber!’” “Oh, Eye in the Sky, that one still cracks me up. Do you actually think they think we Zenith-born cats would talk like this?” “The real question is do you think they think we’d find an activity only a handful of us participate in used as an adjective as offensive.” “Beats me.” “They really got to update this thing.” “Yeah, I’ll bet Sunstones that it’s been around since the inception of Sunstones.”)

• something something “Overheard” accounts where the anonymity of a conversation is rendered moot because some cat just aired out how you’d tell off customers who are still perusing the Luna silk garment section past the last closing call

• the latest PSAs from The Administration are immediately edited as the bass drop at parties

• the saying “an eye for an eye” exists but it’s used to remark on a new business deal or exhcnage being struck successfully (“So, what do you say, Felidae? Do we have ourselves a deal?” “An eye for an eye, Opal Gleam.” “Wonderful! This merge will make us both very, very satisfied.” “You won’t regret this.” “I know I won’t.”)

• and this:

[theramblingsofadork]

⋆｡°✩ Mini Update: ⋆｡°✩

UPDATED: Hey. So I’m not back yet, but I did want to deeply apologize for being so emo and cringe in my last two posts. Like— yikes. I feel very embarrassed I posted all of that, and admit I probably have some deeper issues I need to work through.

(_ _ 💧

While the feelings expressed were (are) still very real, I hate looking back and seeing myself being that internet person who brings down the mood to such a depressing degree like that. I may be going through a rough time IRL which doesn’t help my confidence, but even so. This was supposed to be a happy account, with happy things, and it’s my bad that it didn’t remain that way. ✋ I’m going to do my best if I go forward to not do that any more.

In other news.. in my short time away already, I did manage to successfully pin down exactly why I was having such frustrations. And the clarity helps a lot. (You’re welcome to skip the next half if you want.)

1. I’ve felt very isolated and like I will never be able to fit into in this fandom for almost a year now.

— As someone who is used to being open about my interests and often hangs out in group chats with other fans, this is the first time I’ve felt isolated because of my hyperfixation on Starline and my want to write his redemption story. Almost everyone was cold or uninterested after hearing my excitement over him, and for a while I didn’t understand why.

Then I read Imposter Syndrome. And I understood. They’re very valid for hating him.

However, my hyperfixation over him didn’t go away, nor did my desire to write out a happier ending for him and my OC. A better ending where they could both be happy and become better people.

But with hatred over people with certain favorite characters being rampant in the fandom at the time, I was sure my happy end AU would make people come for me too. That they would think I was a morally bad person and should be ashamed for ever daring to consider shipping Rivet with him, much LESS give him a happy ending on top of that.

So, I was pressured to isolate and keep everything a secret, even from my friends. Make a new account where I was practically unknown. Where I could write my story and draw my fluffy art without having to worry about nuking my main if it all blew up in my face. And it worked for a time!

2. But then, I began to fear not meeting fan expectations.

— I was nervous but tentatively excited when people started noticing and liking my art and the AU. Surely his fans could enjoy this story! I wanted to make you all proud, and do Starline justice at the same time!

…But, I soon realized that I got some things about Starline’s personality wrong in the story. And suddenly, a new fear blossomed. A fear that if I ‘butchered’ his character in any way, or took away that haughty, arrogant confidence people adore him for, (even if it was for a good ending!) that his fans would start to turn on or give me a cold shoulder too.

*(Seeing as I was in a very bad spot at the time, with the AU being the only patch of happiness in my life, that thought terrified me. (And yes, I know it’s sad if an AU is the only positive thing someone has going for them, but we all do whatever we can to keep going.)

So, I’ve tried to quietly change things from what I envisioned to hopefully please the few consistent regulars I had who most likely had a specific vision of where I was going. Tried to gauge reactions based on my few likes, (or lack of likes), and adjust things accordingly, even if it made me more stressed. :’^)

…Needless to say, it… hasn’t worked out very well lol. I still did the exact thing I didn’t want to do, and have made a massive fool of myself. ^^; I’m big enough to admit it.

Honestly, I think… if I had just been brave enough to stick with my original story and not been afraid to be OOC or of people’s opinions on my writing, we probably wouldn’t be here now. In this awkward “should I stay or go” stage. But, we all live and learn. 🎸

Which, of course leads us to the present. Where does this leave us?

I still don’t know.

My revisions to make this into a story I think the fandom would prefer aren’t working, and I’m not sure my brain’s going to be able to come up with anything that will.

I still love the concept though, and will fight to the death to give Starline a better ending, so don’t think I’m ready to hit the delete button on this account yet.

…Nor am I sure if I have the guts to just write him OOC so the story can work.

(Honestly— you brilliant people out there who write crazy, dramatically different AUs and have no fear about it, I give you kudos. Y’all are legendary. ✨)

So for now, I’ll go return to my shadows and work on other things. Maybe focus on my characters’ canon for a bit, or take up fishing with Big and go live in the tundra as a monk instead. 🤣 Who knows? The future is wild.

If you’ve somehow made it this far, thanks. If I come back, I’ll try my best to make sure I make up for all this and just do the fun art you came here for.

Till next time~ 🍵

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

You mention your girlfriend a lot in a lot of posts about your growth. How did you two meet? What is she like?

I'm willing to answer this, but it comes with some not-fun news— we’ve since broken up. Just saying that up front, but I’ll talk about how we met & what attracted me/us to her (& what kept our relationship going/healthy for so long) 💜. Also gonna use initials for anonymity (C, S, & M).

(How we broke up is probably triggering, & not necessary to answer this 🤷‍♂️)

~~

In answer to your question (it’ll be long):

At the time, I was living with our ex C. We were supposed to be polyamorous, but C was controlling & bad (that’s its own story). But we finally talked out how we would be comfortable with polyam working (our boundaries/rules & setup & whatnot) & I made an account on Taimi, because a fellow queer told me it was a good place to go. (Unfortunately Taimi is now wrecked; everything requires a subscription & most of the good folks left it.) I connected with a few people at first.

When I met C (Dec. 2022), I was looking for long-term relationships. So I went into this time looking for short-term, so I could learn what made me happy, comfortable, & safe in the present moment. I needed to learn what my needs & desires were, & what made a relationship actually feasible for long-term. I knew this was my intention, & mentioned it in our bios.

M is trans in the opposite direction, she/they/fae (we're trans masc, he/they). They’re also neurodivergent like we are. She actually reached out to us (Sept. 2023), because in our (long) bio I put ‘touch starved bitch, would love cuddles’, & fae apparently took the time to read the whole thing & notice that. So they messaged like, ‘hey, I’m new to the area and also touch starved ’, & asked about some of my interests.

We talked for a couple of weeks, infodumps & some trauma talks (discussing why our previous relationships failed), & I mentioned that I was living with C & it was getting more unsafe.

M ended up offering to go on a date to a coffee shop near them (we both wanted a public place). I showed up on time (5:30 to 6p was the window), to find out the coffee shop was inside a university. Eventually I found it, & got a coffee, & went outside to sit and drink it where I could see the trees. I started writing a story on my phone (I do that often) & was vibing, in my zone.

Around 6:20p, she was like ‘oh shit sorry, I was in the shower and lost track of time, I’m getting ready now’. They arrived at 6:30p, flustered and out of breath.

I was still sitting, writing and vibing. M stopped, & (fae later told me) saw me in my zone having fun & went ‘this is a cool person I’ll vibe with’. They then approached to say hi, pulling me out of the story zone. I let them know the coffee shop closed at 6 (online said 6:30), so we chatted outside & assessed vibes.

Her vibes were good, so we went off walking down the sidewalk & infodumping back & forth. After about an hour, we both agreed the vibes were safe enough to go to her house.

We went back to my car (M didn’t have one), & I drove over to their house. I found out along the way that (coincidentally) we had both slept only 3-4 hours that night & didn’t have the energy to mask (neurodivergence), hence the immediate click.

We went into the house, into faer room, & I sat down on the floor (twas Floor Time™). We talked a bit more, went to get food, then laid down on their bed & cuddled. We kept infodumping.

Around 9p or so, I felt comfortable enough to start happy stimming while I was rambling, & she gave me one of those You’re Adorable™ smiles that I would later find out was adoration (I’m used to people being annoyed/exasperated when they look at me 😅).

Around 10p, I got up & went home (I had work the next morning & wasn’t prepared to spend the night). That was our first date - infodumping & cuddles. Nothing spicy, no pressure or rudeness, no problems.

They then helped me move out of C’s apartment a week later, into my current living situation (not the best, but it’s not with C 🤷‍♂️), which...is pretty attractive, ngl. Between them & my best friend (she/they), they did 90% of the work (I’m physically disabled, they both let me direct but didn’t want me hurting myself to help), & fae said they were just happy I was safe (safer, I wasn’t really safe & I’m not very safe now).

We dated for about 2 months, then they met their first local girlfriend S. They stopped spending time with me, & hardly reached out. On Thanksgiving Day around 9p, I reached out letting them know I felt distanced & uncared for, & they showed up ASAP in person to discuss. They said S was also uncomfortable with the “distribution of time” (big words to say there was an imbalance in our new polycule), explained that they’d been experiencing a lot of ADHD time blindness. But they followed that up with the first real apology we’ve gotten - “I’m sorry I neglected you”. No dodging, no misplaced blame, actual accountability.

We then established a routine where they’d stay over at my house 3 days of the week, stay at S’s apartment 3 days of the week, then rest at home 1 day. So I had reliable routine & knew I’d see her. She had the follow through too, for a couple months (that’s the beginning of the end).

In our time together, we talked a lot about healthy relationships, unpacked our trauma together, and had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about what I need, want, & deserve in a relationship. A lot of the more recent healing posts have been things she made me realize, or just observations fae offered when I was talking about trauma. They also helped me recognize why C was so toxic along the way.

Ironically, she raised my standards, & then later on failed to meet the new standards they’d shown me I deserve.

But I learned what I needed to, and now I’m resting out of any romantic relationships, unpacking what went wrong with our relationship with M and what I/we can do better in the future.

(I’ve also learned to trust our best friend’s judgment, because she apparently saw the end coming & didn’t say anything, so I now ask for their opinion on new people & invite concerns/criticism.)

Despite it all, despite how it ended, I really hope she has a good life, wherever that leads. I learned what I needed to, and I hope fae learns what they need, too.

~~

I hope you & anyone else who’s seen/read those posts also benefits/benefited from what we learned from her. I know they’re gone now, but faer impact on us is gonna last for years (probably the rest of our life).

~Nico💜

[atlanticcanada]

Turkish-Canadian man from Moncton, N.B., worries and waits following earthquake last week

For the last eight days, Mustafa Kutan’s days have been spent in front of his TV, watching a live feed from Turkiye.

“It sucks,” he said. “I mean, it is really hard, OK? I try to send some money to some organizations that are getting together [to send] food and services to the area. I wish I could be there and drive up there to do something.”

Kutan moved to Moncton 22 years ago but still has family and friends in the country. Since retiring, he says he tries to go visit as often as he can, including his most recent trip in January. But so much has changed since he returned back to New Brunswick just a few weeks ago.

Now, he wakes up in the early morning hours to try and connect with his loved ones who are in Malatya, Turkiye right now.

“They are trying to survive,” he explained. “They sleep in cars. They are having a really hard time right now.”

Adding, ��some of my family moved out of the city to villages, which they think that’s much safer because the city is… all the buildings are down and the remaining are not safe to get in and they are expecting another earthquake at that area and they think that with that strong of [an] earthquake… that will be it. The remains will go down.”

He’s been able to speak to all of his family members, including his son who is in the country until May. He says they have a family group chat, which allows them to keep up communication through the internet since phone calls are unreliable.

Even with knowing his family is safe, the devastation is still growing.

“I still have friends in some other cities and I cannot hear from them, not yet. I’m worried about them, it looks like I lost them,” he said.

Over the first few days, the biggest need revolved around food and water according to Kutan, but now the need is starting to change.

“They are struggling because of the wounded people,” he said. “They don’t have enough space in the hospitals and I’ve seen, I’ve seen this video all the people that are on the floors in those bags… that sucks.”

Another issue is the fact that banks are down and ATMs are now empty.

“I sent some money to a friend of mine and they don’t get it. It’s in their account, but there’s no money,” he said.

“I don’t know how they’re going to survive, but everybody is trying to understand each other, saying ‘OK you can pay it later or give it later,’ that kind of stuff, which is amazingly good.”

As for what can be done from Canada, Kutan says donations should all be made through an official organization like the Canadian Red Cross.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/4O3LoXb

[erodasfishtacos]

HSLOT WASHINGTON D.C.

Like, comment, share, and come talk if you enjoyed the fic.

*inspired by this *

I write for free - so if you would like to support my work, you can donate here. (plus my bday is coming up in a week 😌)

-

Despite Harry being less than active on social media, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t creep through Instagram and Twitter after the shows.

He used a fake account to scroll, constantly liking pictures and videos of his wife dancing or funny fan signs to his phone.

Tonight, after the Philly show, YN was already fast asleep in their tour bus bed - she had curled into Harry with her leg between his and her head on his bicep.

Harry was trending on Twitter for his show, however, he scrolled a bit further and noticed that a hashtag called #JusticeforYN was trending.

When he clicked on the link, it took him down a rabbit hole of screenshots and videos from the concert.

It doesn’t take long to see what had happened, it was a girl recording herself on Snapchat from the pit during the concert.

The ‘fan’ held up her phone enough that you could see her but also YN, Jeff, Harry Lambert, and Tommy in the background behind the pit.

Adore You started blasting through his AirPod and the girl recorded his wife dancing with their friends - he gets distracted for a moment, watching her have fun and sing along.

He loved her so fucking much.

But then, it’s the next clip, and the captioned text on the video said ‘Harry’s Whore.’

The small smile on his face disappears instantly when he sees where this is going.

In the next few segments, the girl is screaming things at YN who can’t even hear them because of the music but it’s still completely disrespectful.

“Hi, Harry’s Whore!”

“Get the fuck outta here, nobody wants you here!”

“Fuck you!”

It makes Harry rage, even from the comfort of his bunk with his perfect love, and then he digs deeper to find his real fans defending YN.

YN was pretty loved by the fans. She was always kind, posted pictures of Harry (because he rarely did), and made really kickass merch.

He finds the Twitter account of the girl who harassed his wife, her name was Gina, and he read through her tweets.

She was going to three more of the concerts - following them from Philly to Detroit.

One of her tweets said…

‘If you guys are mad about what I said during the last concert, just wait what I have to say to her next time.’

And he also finds out that she had won a meet and greet for the DC show through the record label and Harry already knew what he was gonna do.

-

YN wakes up before Harry, sitting in the small living area of the bus - watching a cooking show on the television and still slightly dozing in and out of sleep.

“Hi bun,” She mumbles, opening her arms and legs to let Harry flop between them. Chest to chest and he was a bit to heavy for this but he liked laying like this.

“Mornin’, my love,” Harry rasps, peppering kisses all over her jaw and the smooth column of her neck until she giggles.

“Shouldn’t you be saying good morning to your whore on tour?” YN replies, her voice is light and unbothered - obviously found out the online drama.

Harry tenses up, looks up at her seriously, and tells her, “M’gonna take care of it.”

“Don’t, it’s fine, bubs,” YN assures him, she’s smiling softly and Harry just…he is so obsessed with the woman below him that he has to kiss her for a long moment.

“No, it’s not. I’m not going t’let someone treat m’wife like that. She won tha’ meet and greet. I’m gonna have a talk w’her when she comes backstage,” Harry tells her, lips brushing on every word and he can help but grind his hips forward against her.

“Always so horny in the morning,” Yn teases but still lets her thighs fall open a little bit more so that the only barrier is their underwear.

“Can y’blame me? Look wha’ I wake up to,” He rumbles, voice getting illogically deeper and raspier when he speaks.

It’s not long before he tugs his briefs down just enough and her panties to the side to get inside her with his lips glued to hers.

He’s whispering things that would make him blush with embarrassment if anyone heard him.

“Can’t believe y’mine after all this time.”

“Y’my perfect match, on m’knees for you whenever you ask.”

“Arena full of people and all I see is you, baby.”

“Feel like heaven.”

“Only y’make me feel like this.”

“Come on, stubborn girl. Show me y’love me.”

-

Harry looks insanely stunning in his purple outfit but honestly - YN always steals the show (without even trying). ***

They’re in a common area, waiting for the meet and greet with the fans - it’s comical how Gina’s face drops when she arrives to see Harry facing away from everyone with YN giggle as he crowds her up against a wall.

They can hear Harry murmur, “Y’alway showin’ me up. Only gonna be able to look at y’during the show, bug.”

“Harry,” Jeff calls to his client, making him turn around and his eyes instantly search the small groups of fans until his eyes land on a girl dressed in a bright pink fishnet dress and boa.

“You,” Harry points at her, his face isn’t giving away any emotion, “Can I have a chat w’you?”

“S-sure,” She stutters, eyes wide and excited - oblivious that Harry actually knows what she had been posted on social media.

The singer takes her off to the side, YN’s eyes keep darting to them as she chats with the friendly fans who are complimenting her dress and her merch designs.

Frank is standing near Harry, prepared to escort the girl out after the conversation.

“Can we get a selfie?” Gina asks, pulling out her cellphone.

“No,” Harry replies seriously, “You also are going to get escorted out of this arena and banned from any of my future concerts.”

“Wh-what?” The girl stumbles, eyes watering as she looks at him in confusion and dismay.

“I need to make this a safe space for everyone who comes to my concerts. That especially includes m’wife. And I don’t feel comfortable havin’ someone scream at m’wife and posting nasty things on social media attending my concert.”

Realization flashes across Gina’s face, “I’m so so sorry. I can apologize. I really didn’t mean-“

“No. I don’t think my whore of a wife would want to hear it,” Harry chuckles with a nasty edge, “Y’can fuck off now. Go find a new artist to harass ‘cause if I see y’face at one of m’concerts - y’getting kicked out immediately.”

Frank appears beside them, gently guiding the hysterical girl out of the room while the fans look back in confusion.

They forget all about it once Harry saunters up to them and gives them a crooked smile, “Hi, m’Harry. How are y’guys?”

The fans don’t miss his hand moving quickly to squeeze his wife’s hip in reassurance before starting to sign things and take pictures.

-

Later that night, the disgruntled ‘fan’ sends out a nasty few tweets where real fans go after her and defend YN.

Also, the true fans are cooing over the fact that Harry is such a good husband.

haleyhs22: omg, could you imagine being called out by the nicest guy on this earth

tpwkjess_young: okay but I wish I had the luck that @ynstyles has to get a manz like that 😩

UsWeekly: Harry Styles bans ignorant fan from tour after nasty videos were leaked attacking his wife

strawberriesinsummer: harry is such a VIBE. Like he deadass kicked that girl out and then spent the whole night trying to seduce his wife with his shimmies and winks - he’s the hoe 🍑

-

[naughtystiel]

Bad first impression | ao3

It's been a month and Castiel still can't find a job, until he stumbles upon a job advert that looks promising. The only thing is - he's never worked as a carer before. He takes a leap of faith and ends up meeting Dean, a charismatic involuntary flirt, who's worked there for 3 years. At first they couldn't seem to get along, but maybe it's just a bad first impression?

Chapter 1: Interview

Castiel fumbles with his thumbs while he waits for somebody to open the door for him. He becomes oddly self conscious about his choice of clothing: a black pair of jeans, a plain white tee and a black blazer with rolled up sleeves. His tattoos are showing, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Right? He swallows and looks up. The building is huge and made out of red brick. It has some balconies with nice white balustrades and pots of flowers hanging of off them. There’s a small garden with roses in front of the patio doors to his right. He thinks that it’s fairly cosy so far, for a care home. Finally he’s snapped from his thoughts as a small woman half skips from around the corner behind the front door. She punches a pin in and opens the door. 

“Hello there, lovely! Sorry to keep you waiting, how can I help you?” she smiles widely and Cas swears that, if she could, she would be bouncing off the walls. 

“Hi, I’m here for a job interview?” He says nervously and slightly sways on his heels. 

The woman smiles even wider and nods, relief on her face.

“You follow me and I’ll get somebody to see you. Have you ever worked in care before?” 

Cas shakes his head and follows her. Her blonde hair bobs as she takes two steps at a time. 

“You can wait here” she points to a chair outside a room. Probably the office, Cas assumes. “Somebody will be with you in a minute” 

“Thank you, um-“ 

“Sarah” the woman finishes for him and slaps him on a shoulder twice like they’re good pals already. Then she disappears behind the office door.

Cas sits down and waits. It was a warm day for November, but it’s almost unbearably hot inside this old building. Or maybe it’s just his nerves. He’s been unemployed for over a month now and slowly his savings evaporated from his bank account. He really needs this job, so many places already let him down. To think about it, the job advert looked pretty much permanent, like they’re always in need for new staff to join. It was reassuring, yet Cas still hates interviews.

“Hi! I’m Hannah. Castiel, I presume?” a woman with brown hair stands in front of him and smiles, a clipboard in her hand. Cas flinches, lost in his thoughts and then looks up, nodding slightly. Hannah hands him the clipboard and a pen.

“You just need to fill in this form before we start the interview, once you’re finished just knock on the door, okay? It’s pretty straight forward, but if you have any questions just let me know.” And with that , she was gone. The form asked him about his general info, previous experiences, some care knowledge - which he doesn’t have. Shit. His tee starts to uncomfortably cling to his body from all the heat, but it takes him only 15 minutes to finish with the form. He meets Hannah again and she takes him to a lounge downstairs. She closes the door behind them and the constant beeping of call bells finally disappears. They sit at a table and start their chat. Cas thinks it’s going pretty well, he tries to sell himself to the best to his abilities and somehow the conversation flows. He tells her about his previous job in a restaurant and how elder ladies adored him and how easy it was for him to chat to them whenever he wasn’t busy running with plates. 

“I guess that could help me bring the best quality of life to your residents, I bet some of them get lonely and I-“ Cas stops his train of thought as the door flings wide open. A man, definitely a resident, charges in with a walking trolley and looks at Cas. They make eye contact and the man smiles cheekily. Suddenly, his trousers fall down to expose his genitalia. Cas’ face turns bright red and he looks anywhere but below the man's waist.

“Michael!” Another man shouts after the resident and runs into the room. He’s tall, blonde hair ruffled like he just got out of bed, freckles showing themselves under his flushed cheeks, that contrasted with his green eyes. 

“I’m so sorry Hannah! I was looking for him everywhere.” he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck before noticing that the man was still half naked. “Son of a-“ he mutters and quickly pulls the man’s trousers back up. 

Hannah giggles uncontrollably and covers her face with her hands. “It’s okay Dean, it happens.” She turns to Cas, who doesn’t know how to behave in a situation like this. He tries to keep a straight face, but his bottom lip keeps twitching. “So uh, Cas, welcome to the mad house!” She takes a deep breath to calm herself down from the laughing fit and opens her hand. “The position is yours if you still want it after this little show.”

Cas mirrors her smile and nods, shaking Hannah’s hand. “When can I start?”

[backofthebookshelf]

The DMCA and You; or, why Tumblr won’t get sued over Post+

 I keep seeing people saying “doesn’t Tumblr understand they’re inviting an avalanche of lawsuits” and being baffled that people think this, and then I remembered that most of you were not both alive and in fandom in 1998 and therefore probably haven’t spent hours reading through the DMCA trying to figure out exactly how it was going to screw us. (Turns out we were right, but not nearly pessimistic enough.) So gather ‘round, children, it’s time for another bout of fandom history.

You have to understand what the internet looked like in 1998. Most people didn’t have internet access at home, and for those who did, you got a whopping 54 kbps (yes, that’s kilobytes per second) (compare that to 4G wireless, which 14 Mbps, not to mention, you know, wireless) unless you wanted to shell out for ISDN, which was twice the speed and five times the cost. Only 47% of American adults “went online” at all, never mind the two to six hours per day that current internet users are estimated to spend.

And I mean, why would you? There wasn’t that much there. If you wanted to post something online, your first and best option was to pay for web hosting of your own, or mooch off a friend’s. Or you could get a Geocities site, which would be plastered with ads and limited you to such a small amount of storage that you couldn’t have more than a couple dozen low-resolution images at best, or you could post on a message board (which would be essentially mooching off of a friend’s paid web hosting, because most sites that hosted message boards were just some guy who wanted to have a place to chat with his friends that wasn’t a Yahoo! email list), where you might get permission to post three or four images at a time. Music? Rude, takes up too much bandwidth, don’t do that to people. Video? You’re hilarious. (I once left my computer on for a week while I attempted to illegally download a copy of Velvet Goldmine but I finally gave up and got it from the video store instead.)

But still, at the time that was magic, and as more and more stuff found its way online, somebody who held a copyright somewhere (read: music studios and Disney) realized they had to get out in front of things. And into this brave new world came the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was passed in 1998 and was already skewing the shape of the internet of the future when it came into effect in 2000.

It did a lot of dumb things but the one we’re concerned about is the “safe harbor” provision, which basically says that in the case of an online copyright infringement, there are three parties: the infringer, the copyright holder, and the internet host, and the host is not a part of the copyright dispute.

Prior to this, if Sony or Disney or whoever found an illegal copy of their intellectual property (read: an mp3 or an avi) online, they’d go after whoever owned the server it lived on. Which made sense! If you find stolen TVs in someone’s basement, you go after the guy who owns the basement, and “I didn’t know my deadbeat brother in law was stealing TVs” is something you’ll have to prove in a court of law.

But internet companies like Geocities and Yahoo! and anyone else who offered random users the chance to post things on the internet using a free account said wait a minute, this doesn’t make sense. Because the internet is not like a physical basement; we have no reason to see someone carrying stolen mp3s down the basement stairs, and the scale is such that we couldn’t see all of them if we tried (unless we banned all mp3s, which means goodbye, MySpace, and goodbye indie bands). You wouldn’t go after a landlord in New York because their tenant in New Jersey is stealing TVs, would you?

So the DMCA said fine, we understand that the internet as it currently exists, and as it is attempting to exist (remember this is still the height of the dot.com boom and people are making money hand over fist by just owning websites), can’t operate if we try to do this. So instead of letting big companies sue big companies over copyright law, we’ll let big companies sue individual humans over copyright violations. That’s much more fair.

Of course most of what resulted wasn’t lawsuits at all; it was individuals getting threatening letters from Sony and Disney promising them that they were planning to sue but if you, Joe User, will just delete the thing you posted from the internet, we’re willing to make this all go away. And people did, because fuck, who’s going to duke it out with Disney?

The DMCA is the reason tumblr exists in the first place (not to mention twitter, and facebook, and essentially the entire part of the internet that isn’t either an ad or a news website). Technically, if tumblr was responsible for copyright violations, they’re already a prime target for a lawsuit, because they’re running ads on a website where people post copyright violations on a daily basis. Adding the opportunity for you to make money off your copyright violations doesn’t make them any more liable than they already are, which is not at all.

So here’s what predict will happen with Post+ at the beginning: absolutely nothing. A few people will monetize gifsets or fanfiction or vids and no one will pay attention and no one will care. But some small creators, people who post original fiction, people who post craft patterns, people who post insightful analysis, will start using it as part of their actual revenue stream. Sooner or later someone will be making enough money that it pings someone’s radar, and sooner or later someone making money will slip up and post something that could plausibly be a copyright violation, and they won’t get sued. They’ll get a takedown notice, a threatening letter from whoever owns the thing they infringed upon (...so Disney), and they’ll pull the thing. But it’s hard to pull things from the internet, much harder than it used to be, and nearly impossible the way tumblr works. So they get another takedown notice. Or Disney’s lawyers go through their blog with a fine-toothed comb and they start getting more and more unreasonable takedown notices, but now they’re scared and fuck, who’s going to duke it out with Disney? So they take their blog down entirely, and now that person is a little bit poorer and Disney is out the cost of four or five stamps and envelopes and the time their lawyer spent fifteen years ago drafting the takedown notice template.

I guarantee you that the people who decided to implement this know that this is going to happen, and they do not care. We’ve reached the “we could make this website work if we could just get rid of fandom” stage, which never ends well for the website but they never seem to learn that. So please, please don’t try to monetize fandom content on the assumption that tumblr is going to be the one to get slapped with a lawsuit for it, that’s just not how it works. It never has been and it never will be.

[hpimaginesandblurbs]

Ok but can u also do this but with ron + the twins, I love ur smuts !!!!!!!

pairing: reader x ron weasley x fred weasley x george weasley 

warning(s): 18+, unprotected sex, foursome, double penetration, oral (female and male receiving), face fucking, fingering

word count: 4.2k 

a/n: soooo this is the longest thing i’ve ever written on this account but if anyone deserves it its the damn weasleys. i tried to make this as non sweet home alabama as possible and that’s probably why it’s so long. anyways, enjoy this ungodly amount of smut while i decompress. 

You had been spending a majority of your summer at The Burrow, where you boyfriend Ron lived. You spent day in and day out with him, practically on top of one another whenever you could be, but that didn’t stop you from spending time with his family. His mother was incredible, albeit a little scary at times, his father was charming, and Ginny was becoming a fast friend. But you couldn’t help the particular draw you felt towards the twins, Fred and George. 

You couldn't deny they were attractive, the genes were strong in the Weasley family. And you often did a poor job at hiding your attraction. 

You didn’t think any of them had noticed your subtle glances or blushes. Little did you know, all three of them had noticed over the few weeks you had been there. They were just waiting you out. 

~~~

Tonight you were all cozied around the fire pit, drinking some firewhiskey, taking advantage of the fact that Molly and Arthur had gone to visit Ron’s oldest brother Bill and his wife, Fluer, for the weekend. You weren’t drunk by any means, but you were certainly feeling good. 

You were cuddled up to Ron’s side, his arm slung around your shoulders, a knitted blanket draped over your laps. You were so wrapped up in your boyfriend that you had barely noticed that Fred had taken the spot on your other side until his leg brushed against yours, making you still. 

“Do you need another drink, sweetheart?” Fred asked when you finally looked his way, his face far too close to yours in the situation to be normal. 

You blushed at his proximity, but nodded. “Um, yes, thank you,” you added bashfully. 

Fred dashed a charming smile at you and placed a soft kiss to your cheek before dashing off to get you another glass of whiskey, your blush only intensifying when you felt his lips on your skin. You prayed no one could see it through the light of the fire. 

Ron tugged you back into his side and dropped his lips to your ear. “Whatever you think you’re doing, stop,” he said lowly, clearly not pleased by the situation. 

“He kissed me,” you argued softly, your head turning to press a kiss against his neck. He pulled back and shot a look down at you, his brow raised. A look you couldn’t exactly argue with. You got caught and you knew it. 

You stayed quiet, trying to keep your eyes anywhere except the two men that currently had your stomach in knots. But that effort was broken when Fred made his way back over to you, plopping down beside you. He passed you your new drink and you thanked him for it, sitting up straight to take a sip. 

You were caught off guard when you were pulled into his body and away from Ron, Fred’s strong arm now wrapped around your shoulders. 

“Have you been enjoying your summer here so far?” He asked quietly, making sure only you could hear him. 

Your eyes flitted cautiously over the group around the fire, making sure no one was noticing the strange behavior. You paused when you met George’s eyes, his own trained on the interaction between you and Fred, but you tried your best to ignore it. 

“Um, yes. You’ve all been quite lovely. I like it here,” you told him genuinely. You had been enjoying your summer despite tonights most recent turn of events. 

“Mm, good,” Fred mused, shooting another smile down at you. You couldn’t help but notice the little mischievous glint in his eyes that he got every time he was thinking something that was likely to either end brilliantly or disastourly. “I saw we play a little game. Are you in?” He asked. 

You swallowed nervously, knowing this could end very poorly. “And what is this game?” You questioned. 

“Let’s see how jealous we can get Ron,” he whispered, the smile never leaving his face. 

“I- I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” you argued, knowing fully well Ron had already told you to stop… doing whatever you were doing. 

“Oh, c’mon Y/N. Live a little. Anyhow, you already know how this is going to end,” he told you. 

“And how will this end?” You asked, raising your eyebrow at him. 

He moved closer to you, so close you could feel his breath on your face. Your whole body was hot and the blush was creeping back onto your face and you knew he could see it. 

“Judging by the noises I hear coming from his room almost every night, he’ll fuck you stupid. And I get to hear those pretty noises again,” he told you shamelessly, pulling you into him closer. 

You shot a nervous glance at Ron, only to find that he was already looking at you over the rim of his own cup, fire in his eyes. He raised a brow at you and you could see the way the corners of his lips were tugging up into a smirk, practically daring you to continue on. As if he knew exactly what you and Fred were talking about. 

“By the looks of it, he doesn’t seem to mind,” Fred added from behind you, making you whip your head around back to him. 

“Of course he’d mind. You’re his brother,” you argued incredulously, still not believing this conversation was even truly happening. 

“You think he doesn’t see the way you look at me and Georgie? You look at us like you want us to devour you,” he told you. 

You snuck a glance at George only to find that he was still looking at you. You could feel Ron’s eyes still on the back of your head. You gulped nervously, your brain short circuiting for a half a second. Did they… did they plan this? 

“I - I haven’t been -,” you went to argue, but Fred cut you off. 

“Don’t play coy with me. Maybe if you beg him nicely like I hear you do so well, he might let us join you tonight,” Fred teased, causing your core to pulse and drip with arousal at the thought. 

You could only stare back at him, his breath fanning your face as you took in his words. He knew he planted a seed in you that wouldn’t go away until it was satisfied. The smug look on his face only proved it. You didn’t get the chance to reply before you could hear Ron getting up from his place on the bench. 

“Bunny, come with me,” he said innocently enough to the ears of everyone else in the group, but you could hear the edge in his voice. 

You detangled yourself from Fred and rose up from your spot, taking Ron’s hand as he silently led you back into the house. Once you had passed through the threshold into the kitchen and away from the eyes of everyone else, he spun around to face you. 

“And what was all that about?” He asked, stepping right into your space so you had no other choice but to look up at him. 

“N-nothing. We were just having a chat,” you stuttered out, trying to not seem intimidated. 

“Wasn’t what it looked like to me. Spill it,” he said roughly, continuing to back you up until your back hit the counter, leaving you nowhere to go when his hands were placed on either side of your body. 

“Promise you won’t get mad,” you half heartedly requested. 

“Just tell me.” 

“He- he said, um, he said that we should try to make you jealous,” you told him. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it was only a half truth at best. 

“That’s not what has you blushing like a virgin though, is it? What did he say to you?” He pressed, the fire in his eyes growing larger by the second. 

You swallowed and took a deep breath before you even opened your mouth, knowing this could only go one of two ways. He’d either blow up entirely, or you’d have a night you’d never forget. “He said that if I begged you you’d let him and George join us,” you said quickly, all in one breath. 

You shut your eyes, waiting for his response. But when a chuckle fell from his lips your eyes shot back open in shock. 

“Is that what you want, bunny? Do you want them to join us?” He asked, his eyes now more playful than they had been just seconds prior. 

“Are you serious?” You asked after a moment, you head spinning that he was just offering this to you on a silver platter. You expected yelling, anger, the whole fit. You didn’t expect a cheeky smirk and twinkling eyes. 

“Do I look like I’m joking?”  

“They’re your brothers,” you argued. Why you were even arguing this, you weren’t sure. You wanted this and he knew it and they knew it. You just couldn’t understand why he was letting it happen. 

“It’s not like I’ll be fucking them,” he said with a laugh. “So, tell me what you want.” 

“If it’s okay with you…,” you started, trailing off. You looked up at him nervously, hoping your eyes conveyed enough of a plea that he would continue agreeing with you. 

“So beg,” he said, his voice dropping low as he continued to stare down at you. 

“I’ll be good, I promise. Just this once. I just - I - please,” you said, launching right into it but quickly running out of words as you watched the smirk grow on his face. 

“Go to my room. Strip. I’ll be up in a minute,” he told you, placing a kiss on your forehead before heading back outside. You watched his figure walk away for a moment, letting your mind race until you booked it up the stairs not wanting to wait any longer for the night to truly begin. 

~~~

You were waiting in your position on the bed for what felt like hours, but you knew it had only been a few minutes before you heard multiple sets of footsteps coming up the stairs. You moved to cover your chest when you heard the doorknob turn, unsure if you should be exposed or not right away. 

Ron came in first but left the door open just enough so your guests could hear. “Last chance, bun. Do you want this?” He asked, slowly coming over to rest his hands on the bed, leaning over slightly so his tall form was eye level with you. 

You knew it wasn’t your last chance to say no, but it was your last chance before the twins waltzed in. 

You took a shaky breath and nodded your head, saying “Yes,” loud enough so Fred and George could hear. 

The door was opening once more, the twins walking through, both pairs of eyes immediately on you. When the door shut, you stared up at them, unsure what to do or say, but their matching smirk told you they already had plans. 

Ron walked around the bed until he crawled on to it behind you, his legs bracketing your hips as you knelt between his spread thighs. 

“Let them see you,” he coaxed gently, hands coming around you to grip your forearms. 

He only put a light pressure on your skin, letting you move on your own as you exposed your chest to them. They took you in with hungry eyes but they didn’t move from where they both stood before you, waiting. 

“All of you,” Ron spoke again, his hands trailing down to your thighs, gently prying them apart. 

You leaned back and hid your face in his neck as he repositioned you, unable to look the two men in the eyes as your entire body got exposed to them. You knew you were a dripping mess over the situation and the embarrassment of it being so obvious made you squirm. 

“Fuck, Y/N, you’re more perfect than I imaged,” you heard George say, the bed dipping down infront of you. 

Your eyes snapped to him, watching him as he looked down at your glistening sex. His eyes were hungry when they met yours, desperate. Probably the exact mirror of your own. 

“Can I touch you?” George asked, his fingers twitching against the sheets, waiting. 

“Please,” you begged, wanting nothing more than for one of them to do anything right now. 

George wasted no time in bringing his fingers directly to your cunt, trailing one long finger through your slit while his thumb trailed soft circles onto your clit. You couldn’t hold back the moan that fell from your lips when he pushed his finger in, immediately searching for you g-spot. 

As if your noises were a cue for Fred, the bed dipped on your other side and without a word, he was kissing down your chest. Soon enough, he was attacking your nipples when George was working your from the inside out. Your back was arching and your hips were moving at their own volition, unable to stop yourself under their ministrations.

“Does that feel good?” George asked you softly, placing kisses on your shoulder. 

When you only nodded, Ron grabbed your chin and forced you to look directly at George. “I won’t remind you again, bunny. Use yours words,” he said sweetly, but you knew there was danger laced in his words. You knew better than anyone else what he could do to you if he reminded you one more time. 

“Yes. Feels so good. Please don’t stop,” you told George, already breathless from the three men surrounding you. 

You felt Fred chuckle against your skin and you knew the smirk George was wearing was only mimicked by Ron’s behind you. They knew exactly what they were doing to you. 

You couldn’t stop the whine that left you when George removed his hand, but your eyes lit up when you saw him go to kneel at the edge of the bed. He pulled up his to the edge, draped your legs over his shoulder, and started trailing kitten licks all along your slit until his tongue was swirling around your clit. 

You held fell back against Ron’s shoulder, a moan falling from your lips as Fred moved to your other side to attack your opposite nipple. 

“Having fun?” Ron asked, beaming down at you. 

You nodded breathlessly, your eyes rolling back in your head with a flushed smile on your face. “Want you too,” you told him. 

“Of course you do, my greedy girl,” Ron mused, his finger coming to tilt your lips back and locking your lips in a kiss. 

Your body was overwhelmed with just their lips. You weren’t sure how you would handle it when their pants came off. 

Your hips were grinding down onto George’s face without you sparing it a second thought and you kept pushing your chest into Fred’s lips, your entire body grinding back on Ron’s body. 

“She tastes like fucking heaven,” George said, finally coming up for a breath. His entire chin was soaked in his own saliva and your juices and his eyes were blown with lust. 

Ron made a noise of agreement that was swallowed up by your lips, but you were ripped away from your boyfriend by George’s grip on your neck. He pulled you into a kiss with him, tasting yourself on his tongue, as Fred trailed kisses down your body until he was getting a taste of you for himself. 

Fred quickly brought you your orgasm, his tongue so deep inside of you that your toes were curling. Your hands had a monster grip on Ron’s thighs and every noise you made got swallowed by George, his lips hot on yours. 

You finally relaxed your body against Ron’s, his chest being the perfect place to settle against, as your body calmed down. 

“Think you can handle all three of us?” Fred asked cheekily, looking up at you from his place on the floor. 

You gave a shaky nod, but in your head you were unsure how this would even work. You never thought you’t get this far to even have considered it. 

That line of thought was abruptly cut off when Ron grabbed your hair and yanked back so you were looking up at him again. “What did I say about using your words?” He asked darkly.

“Yes, I want to. I can,” you got out breathlessly, still basking in the sting of your scalp. 

“Good,” Ron said, now satiated with your words. “Get on your hands and knees for us, bunny.” 

He gave you one last searing kiss before releasing you, letting you adjust your own shaky limbs on the bed until you were in the position he instructed you to be in. As you did that, the boys began stripping themselves of their clothes, Fred and George both strategically in your line of sight depending on which way you turned your head. 

You watched as they both ripped their shirts over their heads, a sight you were accustomed to thanks to many sweaty afternoons in the yard playing Quidditch. But you didn’t know where to look as they peeled down their jeans and briefs, relieving both of their impressive lengths. They were both around the same length, but Ron was thicker than both of them. No matter what, you knew you’d be sore in the morning. 

“This is how it’s gonna work, bunny,” Ron said, finally rounding the bed so he could see you. “I’m gonna fuck this pretty little cunt,” he told you, adding emphasis of his possession when he bent over and easily hooked two fingers inside of you, pressing directly on your g-spot. You jumped at the abrupt action, but you never broke your eye contact with him.

“Fred’s going to fuck that tight ass,” he continued, and you watched as Fred rounded the bed until he was behind you. 

“And George is gonna fuck that cute face,” Ron finished, George coming up on the other side of you to grip your face to force you to look at him. 

“Does that sound good, sweetheart?” George asked, looking down at you fondly. 

“Yes, fuck. Please,” you said, your hips beginning to move against nothing now that Ron had removed his fingers, searching for any ounce of friction you can get. 

They moved in almost perfect sync. Ron maneuvered his way underneath you swiftly, George pulled your head off to the side so your mouth was lined up with the tip of his cock, and you could feel Fred’s lube covered fingers breach the entrance of your tightest hole all at once. You were overwhelmed in the best way, unsure what to do with yourself but totally just along for whatever ride they were about to bring you on. 

When Ron fucked up into you roughly, George immediately pushed your head down to feel the full effects of your moan of his cock, causing a shiver to run through his body. They were practically fucking your mouth and core in tandem, one pulling out while the other brutally thrust in. 

You felt as if you were splitting open for them already, but when Fred’s cock finally lined up with your entrance and began pushing in, you practically saw stars. 

George let you pull away from him for a moment so you could breath through the new pressure inside of you, your head now buried in Ron’s neck as you panted and moaned. Ron had slowed down his thrusts to match with Fred, balancing you on the precipice of pain and pleasure. 

“You’re doing so fucking good for us, Y/N. Just give it a minute and it’ll feel so good. You’re gonna be so pretty when you cum for us,” Ron mused quietly in your ear, knowing that you’d latch on to his voice to get you through the intensity. 

Finally, your hips starting moving against theirs, a silent signal you were ready for them to fuck you, all three of them truly went wild with you body. 

George dragged your face back over to him, letting you do your own thing but keeping a steady hand in your hair in case you tried to pull away. Ron and Fred were fucking into you in perfect sync, pulling out and fucking into you at the same time. 

It was so intense you were shaking, only being held up by three strong pairs of hands at this point. But you couldn’t hide how good it was making you feel. Even as deep as George’s cock was down your throat, it was barely muffling the screams of pleasure you were giving them. You just hoped someone remembered to cast a silencing charm. 

You could hear them talking around you, a mix of praises directed at you and words shared between themselves. “Fuck, you feel so good” and “Just like that” mixed with “She feels like fucking heaven” and “Her mouth is a dream”. You could barely hear them over the blood pumping through you, but you knew you’d remember it later with a blush and a smile. 

“Fuck, you’re gonna make me cum. Swallow it all for me,” George told you, bruising your hair out of your sweaty face. You felt the unmistakable twitch of his cock just before he spilled his cum inside of your mouth and fucked it down your throat, giving you no choice but to follow his request. He came with one of the prettiest noises you had ever heard, and you knew you’d want to hear it again someday if you were lucky enough. 

You pulled away from George panting, finally able to have a minute to catch your breath as Fred and Ron continued to pound furiously into you, your body jolting with every deliberate thrust. 

“Ron, please I’m so close,” you begged, for what you weren’t entirely sure, but you knew he’d know what to do. All you could focus on was how close you were, how tightly you were gripping both of your cocks, and trying your best to balance on shaky arms so you didn’t collapse. 

Without missing a beat, Ron turned his head to George. “Touch her clit,” he told him, finally sounding breathless from all the work he was putting in. 

Fred’s arms came around you to pull you up until your back was against his chest, giving George full access to your most sensitive spot. 

“Cum for us. Show us how much you loved this and cum for us,” Fred said low in your ear. 

Your eyes never left Ron’s as all three of them worked you closer and closer to the edge. As much as the twins were turning you on, this orgasm was for you boyfriend. Everyone you had was. He was the one that let this happen. Let them take you like this. And he was the one currently fucking your g-spot with every thrust it made your head spin. 

“Cum for me” was all Ron had to say, seeing and feeling just how close you were, for you to explode. 

Your vision went white and your whole body shook, the only thing keeping you grounded was Fred’s warm chest pressed against you. You knew the scream you were hearing was your own, but you couldn’t keep it quiet no matter how hard you tried. You pulsed around their cocks, milking them of their own orgasms as you were going through yours. You felt their cum fill you completely, another moan leaving your mouth at how erotic it felt. 

When you finally felt as though you had come back down to real life, you were settled against Ron’s chest, his cock still in you, while the twins were busying themselves with getting dressed. They were talking quietly while Ron ran his hand up and down along your back, just waiting until you were finally back in the present. 

George was the first one to notice your eyes had opened again when he finally got his pants back on. He walked over to the bed and knelt down so he was almost eye level with you. 

“That was wonderful, darling. You were perfect,” he told you, placing a quick kiss to your forehead before righting himself only for Fred to take his place. 

“What he said,” Fred told you with a smirk and mimicking his twin's kiss to your forehead. “We’ll see you two lovebirds in the morning,” he added with a wink. 

They both made their way out of the room, the door clicking behind them, leaving you and Ron in a blissed out silence. 

“Did you have fun?” He finally asked, tilting his neck so he was looking down at you. 

“I did. Thank you,” you said with a soft smile. 

“My girl always gets what she wants. You just have to ask, bunny,” He said, placing a kiss on your nose. 

When you moved your lips up to move against his, he stopped you with a chuckle. “No offense but my brother did just cum in your mouth. So let’s go get you cleaned up so I can kiss you properly, yeah?” He asked, wrapping a blanket around you so he could get you down the hallway and into the bathroom. 

“I thought you weren’t going to be weird about it,” you grumbled under your breath as he adjusted you in his arms, carrying you bridal style. 

“That’s different and you know it,” he said defensively as he made his way for the door, making you giggle.