#I may seem like a nerd but i go all 3 days every year

[justmeinadaze]

The Very Thought Of You (Steve x Y/N)

A/N: Based on this post

Warnings: Older (Late 30s) Professor Steve & Younger (Early 20s) Fem Y/N, SMUT, big dick Steve Harrington, dirty talk, slight public (if you squint; the get briefly handsy in an elevator), oral (m receiving) p in v (unprotected), aftercare always. I think that's it. (Not my usual stuff but I wanted this story available for everyone :))

FLUFF, These two definitely like each other, Steve is a music nerd and loves talking to y/n about it. Hes soft with her❤.

ANGST, in the relationship itself (professor/student), Steve is disillusioned by life, talks down about himself from time to time. Nothing too dramatic.

Word Count: 5034

Kofi <3/ Steve Masterlist

“Oh! Sorry, Mr. Harrington.”, you apologize as you take off your headphones and stand from the piano to greet him. 

You had been taking this man’s music theory class for a semester now and you absolutely enjoyed it. For the first couple of weeks, he seemed completely disinterested but the more time passed the more passionate he became especially when you asked questions or engaged in his discussions. 

You didn’t know much about Steve Harrington and he never conveyed anything in his classroom. Even his office was devoid of any personality which you found shocking given when you two would talk about music, he suddenly became energetic and animated as if he had been waiting to talk about this for years. 

Even his visual style didn’t scream anything new as he came in every other day with jeans and some kind of button up shirt. His hair constantly flowed every which way and the facial hair that clung to his chin and upper lip made him seem much older than he actually was. 

One day you ran into him at the record store down the street from campus and he lightly teased you after finding you in the “oldies” section of the shelves. 

“Nancy Sinatra isn’t exactly what your generation is listening to now a day.”, he jokes in low throaty tone that has you smiling as you bite your bottom lip.

“I know but…have you ever listened to her on a record player? Her voice is just pure magic and makes me feel so strong, you know?”

That was the first time you ever saw your professor truly smile; showing off all of his pearly whites before nodding his head. 

After that moment, he would ask you to come to his office and give you some new records he thought you would like. Today, however, you were staying late to work on some homework in the music booths and asked him if he could bring what he had by later that evening. 

“No worries. I just, um, I was listening to you play. You sound amazing.”

“Thank you. I’m not GREAT with the piano but I thought with this melody I have in mind, it will work perfectly.”, you smile his way as you take the records from his grasp and scan them over. “Aw, I love Billie Holiday.”

“I figured you would. Her vocals are always beautiful and you can hear passion in every song.”, he grins. “I used to be able to play some of her songs on the piano but I’m a bit rusty.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re not.”, you giggle as you absently take hold of his wrist and pull him over to take a seat on the bench beside you. 

“Y/N, I can’t…wait…”

“Come on, Mr. Harrington, talent like that doesn’t just leave you. It may lay dormant but… pleeeeease!”, you beg making him blush as he runs his fingers through his hair. “I won’t make fun of you, I promise.”

“Pfft, you better not.”, he jests as he heavily sighs and adjusts himself till he’s sitting up straighter with his hands on the keys. “Alright.”

Your eyes watch him as his fingers begin to move, putting together a melody you definitely recognize. 

“I'm livin' in a kind of a daydream I'm happy as a queen And foolish though it may seem To me that's everything.”

A small smile paints his lips as his eyes close and you continue to sing.

“The mere idea of you The longing here for you You'll never know How slow the moments go Till I'm near to you.”

You can’t help but be surprised when your voice as an echo and your eyes drift to his mouth as he begins to sing along with you. 

“I see your face in every flower Your eyes in stars above It's just the thought of you, The very thought of you, my love.”

His fingers stop moving but his eyes remain squeezed shut as if he clinging to the moment and your heart breaks for him. 

“I didn’t know you could sing, Steve.”, you murmur; a boundary crossed. 

You’d never referred to him by his first name before but for some reason you felt like this deserved a more personal touch. 

“I wanted to be a singer when I was kid. In high school, one of my friends taught me to play guitar and let me play with him on stage with his band.” You softly smile as he chuckles at the memory and his eyes finally open to stare in front of him. “When I heard those people clap for me…Jesus, Y/N…it was like a drug, you know?”, he pants out with excitement as he adjusts his body to face you. “They were applauding for ME. The girls in front of the stage were grinning at ME. People were…proud of ME.”

“Why didn’t you continue with your friends?”

Steve sighs as he shakes his head. 

“I couldn’t. My dad always said things like that weren’t reality. Men like me don’t become music stars. I never wanted that. I just wanted to play music and make people happy.”

“You…you should do it then. Do an open mic night at The Hideout.”

“I can’t.”, he laughs as he starts to get up but your hand on his gives him pause. “I’m not a young man anymore. I don’t even sing the same.”

“Are you kidding me? I just heard you right now and you sounded phenomenal.”

“Pfft, no. That’s because you were singing with me.”

“Steve, oh my gosh, stop!”, you try to sound light as he continues to chuckle and you smile with him. “Stop talking down about yourself like that. YOU are a beautiful singer. YOU played so well. YOU are a wonderful professor… you’ve shown me so much these past few months.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well for one, all the music you bring me. I love each and every record especially the ones I’ve never heard before. Sometimes at night I’ll put one on while I take a bath and just listen to the hum of the words.”

At the word bath, his honey irises trace along your frame down your hips and back up to your face as you continue. 

“You’ve shown me how transformative music can be and how it can set the mood for any situation… like a man and a woman…sitting at a piano singing Billie Holiday…”

Between every other word, Steve slowly tilted towards you causing little nervous, needy breaths to leave your mouth. The air in the room was thick, as if one false move could break the atmosphere and remind you both who you actually were to each other. 

“What mood could it set in a situation like that?”, he asked in a low gravelly voice that had you licking your lips. “How would the woman be feeling is she was sitting at a piano with a man… singing Billie Holiday?”

“The woman would feel a bit nervous but in a good way.”, you laugh as he smiles. “She probably wishes she could make the man understand how amazing he is inside and out. Not just because he brings her records or talks to her like a person and not a nerd whose family keeps telling her to get a real degree.” 

When you giggle a bit harder, the tension breaks a bit but in a good way as he laughs with you and his hair tickles your nose as his head hangs before lifting to focus on you again. 

“But because he’s sweet and funny and has this incredible smile she wishes she could see more of.” 

Steve was so close to you now that you could feel the wind from his breath fan your face and you swallow down the last of your butterflies as you ask him, “What about the man? How would he be feeling?”

The silence is deafening but it’s nothing compared to the intensity behind his gaze as he searches your features as if looking for a reason to pull away other than the one that’s screaming in the back of your minds. 

“He’d be concerned about regret…he already has enough when it comes to his life and…it would kill him to be the reason she carried her own…

“What if they both regret not taking the leap?”, you whisper as your forehead presses against his. “Not crossing that particular boundary…”

“What if they do?”

A loud bang as the door handle jiggles pushes you both apart even as the door remains locked and you hear cackling from students on the other end. 

“Shit! Sorry, we didn’t think anyone else was here!”, a girl yells. 

“It’s okay!”, you try to yell back but your voice cracks. 

“I should go.”, he grumbles as Steve stands and powerwalks to collect his things. 

“Steve, wait—”

“No, Y/N…MISS Y/L/N…I’m sorry for…leading you on. I got carried away a bit and…Just Mr. Harrington from here on out, ok?”

He started trying to sound authoritative but as he got to his last word, his eyebrows had raised as his face and tone softened, not only trying to soothe you but himself. 

“Ok, Mr. Harrington. I understand.”

He nods, giving you one last small smile before practically running out the studio door.

***

Since you didn’t have classes on Friday, you didn’t have to see your professor having to face everything that happened but that didn’t stop you from thinking about him. You had dreams about his large hands touching you, playing your body with the same rhythmic precision he displayed while playing piano. 

You could still feel his breath against your lips practically tasting the mint gum trying to hide the lingering scent of nicotine you imagined he tried to hide since you never saw him smoke around campus. 

You had so many questions you wanted to ask him but more than anything you wanted to tell him that he was much more than how he saw himself. 

On Saturday, you decided to try and shake the feelings clouding your brain and went to The Hideout for a drink as well as listen to any of the new bands that may be performing. Corroded Coffin had started there and now they sold billions of records worldwide.

Finding your cutest black dress, you styled your hair, grabbed your heels, and called an uber to drop you off. 

The energy in the bar was electric with patrons flirting and giggling as they drank their drinks waiting for the next act. After ordering something strong, you found a seat near the stage and scrolled absently through your phone till the coordinator came out and winced as the mic feedback.

“Hey, hey there, ok, there we go. Thank you everyone for coming out. We’re starting tonight with a new slash old addition to our open mic roster. He used to play up here with our Corroded Coffin back in the day but chose the teacher’s life instead—”

“Ok, ok, thank you, Nick.”, a familiar voice interrupts him causing your eyes to widen as you sit up straighter.

“Steve Harrington everybody!”

Your professor blushes as everyone claps and he pushes the man away from the mic as he adjusts the guitar strap across his chest. 

“Like I don’t already feel old enough.”, he nervously chuckles as the crowd laughs lightly with him. “I, um, I haven’t been on stage in a long time mostly because…I thought that life had long passed me by…but I, uh, I met this woman a few months ago and she…she awakened something in me I also thought was long gone but…uh, yeah, I wrote this song for her and I guess…uh, here we go.”

After a heavy exhale, Steve began to sing and it was like time stopped as the words flowed effortlessly from his lips. 

He seemed a bit stiff at first but after a while, physically, you could see his body become one with his music as his blue jeaned hips lightly began to sway as his loafers taped to the beat. His nose scrunched as his fingers effortless strummed along the strings of his guitar pressed against his button up shirt that had a couple of buttons undone allowing you to see just a bit of his chest hair peeking through. 

As he got more into the performance, the power behind his lyrics hit you like a freight train as he sung about a woman who brought him to life after years of feeling lost. How her light ignited a passion within his heart he thought his father suffocated. How she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and would give anything to hold her at night instead of just in dreams. 

When the song ended his eyes slowly opened to the rumble of applause in the bar and his smile widened as he waved his hand. Gradually his soft hues find yours, his face turning a bright crimson as your clap echoes louder than all the others. 

You find him backstage and congratulate him with a big hug he wasn’t prepared for but embraced as your arms circled around his back. 

Steve offered to take you home and you agreed. 

***

“That was so beautiful, Mr. Harrington. I’m proud of you for going up there.”, you praise as he walks with you into your apartment building. “You don’t have to…go all the way up…I’m on the 5th floor.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. I want to make sure you get there safely.”, he grins. “I didn’t expect you to be there at the bar. I don’t know why. A gorgeous woman like you on a Saturday night…why wouldn’t you be?”

“Usually, I’m a home body but I needed to clear my head.”

“Everything alright?”, Steve asks with genuine concern. 

“Yeah, I, um, I can’t stop thinking about that man and woman playing piano.”, you shrug as you push the button and wait for the elevator. 

“Me neither.”, he murmurs. “I’ve been having these dreams about her…the woman…like I mentioned in my song.”

“Is…was your song about that woman?”

He nods as he glances at the numbers on the wall as they gradually tick down. 

“Do you think that woman would like my song?”

“I think she’d love it, Mr. Harrington.”, you smile, feeling his eyes search your face as the elevator dings open and you both walk in. “I’m sure she’s been dreaming about you to.”

“Oh, yeah? What has she been dreaming?”

Before the door can fully close, a group of drunk friends dive in pushing you into your professor as your back presses against his chest. On impulse his arm comes around to steady you and when you briefly look down, you notice his palm encapsulates the bulk of your tummy. 

You can’t help but wonder what else on him is big. 

Swallowing thickly, you arch you back slightly allowing your ass to push against him, his fingers twitching at the action as you graze the growing bulge in his jeans. 

The people in front of you two giggle obliviously as their friend makes a joke you both didn’t bother listening to as your eyes close when you feel his head dip and his breath ghost the back of your neck. 

You prayed the elevator would go slower so you could stay against him like this forever but as a ding filled your ears signaling the fifth floor, you opened your eyes to see the group practically fall out the door and sighed as Steve let you go. 

Silently, he followed you as you led him down the hallway to your apartment door, pausing when you turn to face him again. 

“I’VE been dreaming about your lips on mine while your fingers play with me the way you played the piano or strummed that guitar. I dream about your body on mine, fucking me till I can’t move. I-I-I dream about you tossing me around my apartment, using me till your spent and happy. I like seeing you smile, Mr. Harrington. I feel like you don’t do it a lot—”

His hands cupping your cheeks so he could crash his mouth to yours cut you off as he held you still and in return you gripped his waist, pulling him into you so you could feel him against you once more. 

“Steve.”, he whispered as he continued to hold you with his forehead on yours. “Call me Steve, baby.”

Your heart almost exploded at the term as you turned away from him to desperately dig for your keys while his entire body remained pressed to yours. You whined with pleasure as his mouth attached to your neck sucking in little love bites as his palms clung to your waist keeping your ass against his lower half. 

It takes an eternity to find what you need but when you hear that lovely jingle, you’re so thankful you won’t have to just kick the entire door down. As soon as its open, you both absently fall through with the front of your body meeting the wall of the entry way. 

Steve kicks the door shut with his foot and hikes up the bottom of your dress a bit roughly before moving the piece of cotton blocking your core so he can guide two of his thick fingers inside of your entrance. 

“Fuck, honey. You’re so wet. I-I—shit—my cock is gonna split you in half.”

“I want it—mmph—I want it to, Steve, please.”

The man pants in your ear as he grinds his bulge against you, alleviating some of the pressure in his jeans as his fingers continue to thrust at a merciless pace. 

“M’gonna make you feel so good.” You nod as his free hand tries to pull off your dress but you hastily help him lifting it over your head to toss to the side. “No bra?”

Smiling, you grab his wrist to halt his movements, turning yourself around so you could face him and kiss his lips. Your hands fumble with his belt buckle but when you finally get it free, you both giggle before his breath fans your face as your hand slides into his boxers to wrap around his length. 

“Oh.”

“I know, I know. I promise…I’ll go slow…”, he coos as he places delicate kisses along your cheek to your neck. “Fuck, your hand feels so good.”

“H-How long has it been since someone has made you feel good?”

“It’s…It’s been a while.” 

As you push his jeans and boxers to his knees, Steve hisses as his cock springs free and he places his palm beside your head to help him balance himself as his forehead rests on yours. 

“Too long. You deserve to feel good, Steve.” Your thumb smears the little beads of precum along his tip and your pussy clenches around his fingers as he shudders at the pleasant feeling. “Can I taste you?”

Nodding, he licks his lips as he removes his hand so you can slide down and take his length in your grasp. Just the tip of your tongue against his slit had him mewling as his now free palm pets your head. 

“Fuck, Y/N, do you know how long I’ve wanted this?” Your mouth envelopes him, bobbing your head as you hollow out your cheeks and take him down as far as you can. “That’s it, pretty girl, j-just relax. K-Keep your—mmph—keep your throat open for me.”

You pull back for some air and spit the remnants of drool that followed onto him as you continued to pump him with your hand. 

“It’s ok, Steve.”, you murmur in a hoarse voice that has his cock twitch. “Use me. I can handle it.”

Tangling his fingers in your hair, your professor pushes you forward making you gag a little as his dick hits your throat. 

“I don’t know if—shit—you can handle a cock like mine, honey. H-Have you ever had anyone as big as me?”, he asks, tugging you back long enough for you to shake your head before shoving himself back into your mouth. “Good. Good girl. I-I can teach you and train this sexy body to take me. I’m going to—mmguh—I’m going to fucking ruin you for anyone else.”

Your eyes squeeze shut as he thrusts his hips, holding you for a few seconds to allow your throat to constrict around him before pulling you away to kneel down and sloppily kiss your lips. 

Without detaching from him, you slither further into the apartment with your back flat on the floor and him putting his whole weight on top of you. As he choppily pulls his pants and boxers off the rest of the way, he smiles when he hears you giggle as you watch him fumble with one hand to dig through his pockets. 

“What are you looking for?”

“A condom…I’m pretty sure…I still carry one…” 

Again, you laugh as his tongue pokes out in concentration while his eyes glare off into the void.  

“We don’t have to use one if you’re comfortable.” At your words, he freezes as his gaze shifts to meet yours. “I’m on the pill and I’m clean. It’s been a bit for me to… kinda had a crush on this guy I thought I had no chance with…”

When his soft irises cloud over with jealousy, you bit your bottom lip to keep from embarrassing him till it clicks in his brain you meant him and he sighs at his own stupidity as his forehead falls onto your stomach. 

“I’m a fucking idiot.”

“No, you’re not. You’re adorable.”, you smile as your fingers run through his messy hair. 

“I’ve never had a girl raw before. I don’t want…you to be disappointed…”

Your fingers slide down to caress his cheek and without missing a beat he turns kiss your index. 

“I’ve never had a man whose cock is as big as yours and…I’m afraid of disappointing you…

“Hey, hey, no, no, no, sweetheart, you could never so don’t even think that.”, he cooed as Steve pushed up onto his arms to crawl further up your frame. 

“You could never disappoint me either so ‘don’t even think that’.”, you mimic causing him to erupt in a fit of laughter as you feel any last bit of tension break. 

Locking your eyes on his, you lift your hips as you pull down your panties and toss them by his clothes near his feet before reaching up to remove his button up shirt leaving you both vulnerable for each other. 

“Are you ready, honey?”

“Yes, Steve, I’m ready.”

Lowering himself on to you, he softly kisses your lips as he utilizes his knee to open your legs a bit wider. You hold your breath as your professor maneuvers his hips allowing his shaft to rub between your folds and his tip catches your clit.

“Everything’s ok, baby.”, he whispers. “The mere idea of you…”

Steve’s voice cracks as he gently sings and you both breathily laugh as he continues. 

“The longing here for you…”

With a gradual thrust, his mushroom head breaches your entrance as he watches your jaw go slack and feels your hands grip his shoulders. 

“You’ll never know—fuck—how slow the moments go… What’s the—the next part, Y/N?”, he groans as his eyes scrunch closed and he tilts his forehead to yours as he continues pumping his hips allow every inch to gradually fill you. “You can do it, baby. Tell me.”

“Soooo big…fuck, Steve…”, you whimper as your legs circle around his waist. 

“I know, pretty girl, I’m half way in… C-Can you take more? Say it.”, he commands when you nod. 

“I can take more. I can take it all, baby, please.”, you beg.

“You want to feel all of me? Ok, sweetheart, but you have to sing to me that next part.”

Your fingers tangle in his hair again as you press his face into your neck. 

“…Till I’m near you…Ahhhh my God, Steve!”

While you sang, he took the opportunity to thrust his cock the rest of the way inside of your cunt and he grunted at the feeling as your pussy hugged him tightly. He had never felt anything this perfect before, always hindered by the latex of the condom. 

Now Steve could feel your core clinging to every vein as he pulled back and pumped into you again. His dick felt the warmth of you and your wet slick sticking to him and he knew in that moment, he’d never want to have you any other way again. He always wanted to feel your pussy like this while you moaned his name and panted with every hit to that spongy spot inside of you no man had ever reached before. 

Testing the water, he turned his head to kiss your cheek as he delivered a particularly rough thrust that had your eyes rolling back as your nails dug into his skin. 

“Fuck, S-Steve…j-just like that…”

“Just like that, baby girl?”, he asked as he repeated his motions. “You like it hard like that?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, Y/N, your pussy feels like heaven. Can I fuck you?”

You knew what he was asking and you were just as needy for it as he was. 

“Fuck me, Steve. I m-meant what I said…fuck me till…I can’t move. I-I want to feel you through out my day.”, you whimper, struggling to form coherent thoughts as his pace quickened and his mouth sucked on that sweet spot against your neck. “Just like that, baby. Fuck…Fuck me…please…make me cum!”

“Cum on my cock, Y/N.”, he growled as your back arched and you sung his name to the ceiling so loud he was sure your neighbors would have something to say about it tomorrow. “Good girl! Fuck that was sexy.”

“C-Cum, honey. Fill me up.”, you exhaustedly whispered with a smile as he chased his high till his finger curled in your hair, clinging to you as his rhythm faltered and you felt his release coat your walls.

You laid there listening to the sound of him trying to catch his breath as your hands tenderly rubbed along his slightly sweaty skin. When he finally began to lift his body off you, however, you hissed and his features flooded with worry. 

“Go slow. I’m just a bit sore.”

You watched as he blinked as if lost in a thought for a moment before kissing your forehead and rising to his feet so he could lift you into his arms. 

“Bathroom?”

“In my room.”, you answer as you point in that direction. 

After placing you back down, you observe him with amused eyes as he turns on your facet and begins to make a bath, smelling each one of your soaps and choosing one he likes the most. 

He disappears for a moment leaving you alone until you hear the soft sounds of Ella Fitzgerald flow through the speakers in your room. 

“I love her voice.”

“Yeah me to.”, Steve beams. “My mom used to listen to records on Sundays. I have no idea why but Sundays were ‘listen to records’ days and she loved Ella. She would always sing along.”

Once your tub is full, the man carefully places you in the water, his palm tenderly petting your hair as he lightly groans on his descent to the floor.

“Calm down, old man.”, you tease eliciting a little chuckle from him as he reaches for a washrag to begin cleaning you. “No one has ever done this for me before…made me a bath after sex…”

“Hm, they should. Aftercare is important especially when your sore like you mentioned.”

“Always teaching me something, Mr. Harrington.” His movements stall only for a moment and your head hangs. “Do you regret it? What we just did?”

“Let's fall in love Why shouldn't we fall in love? Our hearts are made of it; let's take a chance.”

Steve places his fingers under your chin and tilts your eyes to look at his. 

“No…Not even a little bit. You…you inspire me, honey. For the past few years, I have felt so…listless. I was just going through the motions of life with no direction because I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do, you know? My dad always said you need a career that’s tangible and ‘Music isn’t tangible’.”, he mimed in a deep authoritative sounding voice, smiling when you giggle. “You make me want to try my hand at it again. You…make me want to be happy.”

Leaning towards him you capture his lips with yours. 

“I’m just scared. I’m a professor and you’re a student…for the time being anyway… I don’t want to make things complicated for you.”

“Let's close our eyes And make our own paradise Little we know of it; still, we can try

To make a go of it.”

“Maybe we can take things slow and see where that takes us? You won’t complicate things for me, Steve. I like you a lot and I want to experience all your happiness with you. I love seeing you open up the way you did on stage.”

“Pfft that’s because I was singing about you.”

“No!?”, you fake gasp and he rolls his eyes playfully as he gently pushes your shoulder. 

“I’d, um, I’d like to take you on a proper date. There’s a restaurant outside of town that has music and some delicious food. The atmosphere is amazing and I’ve been thinking about how much you’d like it.”

Your grin grows as you watch him get more animated talking about this place he enjoys as those giddy butterflies return to fill your tummy at the fact that he wants to share that joy with you. Pulling him towards you again, you kiss him a bit more passionately than the last one. 

“Is that a yes?”

“I'm happy as a queen And foolish though it may seem To me that's everything.”

Steve smiles wide as you sing, kissing your nose up to forehead before singing along with you. 

“You'll never know How slow the moments go Till I'm near to you.”

##################

@debkk16 @myherometalhead @micheledawn1975 @chelebelletx @utterlyinsanity @twirls827 @veemoon @wroteclassicaly

[elvexen27]

Cove Holden Homework Headcannons

Step 1: After Summer

- Would actually rather be doing anything else

- He understands why teachers give out homework and why he has to do it, he’s just not at a point where it’s anything he really puts priority on

- If anything little Cove probably avoids homework when possible

- If MC is worried about him not doing well and offers to help, he may or may not take it, depending on their closeness

You knew Cove wasn’t really the homework type. Since he got to Sunset Bird all he’s really wanted to do is just, well, spend time with you.

At least, that’s what it looks like. To you anyway.

The two of you are sitting in your living room after school, working. Liz is complaining, as usual.

“What did you get for number 3?” Cove asks, snapping you out of your temporary daze.

“Um… I got 7” You say, looking over your paper just to make sure you said the right thing, and not another question by mistake.

“Mm” He hums softly. He continues on with his work, so you assume he got the same thing.

You’ve gotten used to his short, simple responses. While they may seem cold to other people, you understand that it’s just how Cove is.

He isn’t cold, just simple. Straightforward.

Step 2: Another Year

Studious:

- Good at studying, best person to help when exams are coming up

- Homework is less of a chore then it was when he was younger

- It’s more of a time for him to just focus on something and be alone

- He takes his study’s seriously, and it pays off. All those perfect homework assignments could probably let him miss 3 weeks of school and still come out with good grades

- NERD (I had to)

- Even if school isn’t hard for you, being able to bounce answers off each other is great

- And if it is, Cove is always there to help you out.

- You pass every class you’re in together with flying colors, that’s for certain.

You and Cove luckily had most of your classes together this year, and even more lucky you have one of the brightest students in class to help you with your homework.

You were both sitting at your dining room table, completing your homework for the day.

There’s papers scattered all around you. The actual assignment, the reference packet on the material, scrap paper for notes/math problems, and a few encouraging sticky notes you’ve passed to one another.

It’s chaos, it’s messy. But you’re getting it done. Together.

Sporty:

- Maintains the lack of care for homework that his younger self had

- He’s much more likely to do it now though

- He understands the implications and consequences of not getting his work done, so he gets through it as quickly as he can (while still trying to do it correctly) so he can do other things

- His attitude is neutral all around

- His grades are still good, just not as good as his studious counterpart

You’re pretty sure your history teacher is evil incarnate.

She assigns like 4 chapters and an essay every night.

Luckily for you, Cove is in her class too. So the two of you do the work together, to make it easier.

You rarely ever get much done in these study sessions. It’s mostly complaining about all the work and playful conversation between the two of you.

You both know you’ll have to get it done at some point. Yet you’d both rather spend your time together.

Step 3: Before Graduation

- Conflicted on your schooling years being over, he feels a lot of pressure to decide what he’s going to do

- Class work is easy for him still, but with how chaotic everyone’s lives have gotten it’s taken a backseat on his priorities again

- His only goal right now is to spend as much time with you as possible, just in case you get separated after graduation

You can’t wait to be done with high school. You’ve made good friends and you’ll be sad to not see them as much, but it’s a fact of life.

You and Cove still study together, even when your work is minimal.

You’re going to miss this. Soon your focus will be on jobs and rent. It’s a lot to worry about.

So you’ll savor this time while you can because soon enough it’ll be gone.

Senior year felt miles away when you first met Cove, and yet here you are. About to graduate.

Time flies.

A/N: I just want to note that I will not have a posting schedule. I’ve been cooking this up in my drafts for like 2 weeks now. Please send me asks with ideas on what you want to see!!! I’d be more than happy to take suggestions

[rubykgrant]

At last, finished up the re-draw! Here is the line-art, flat colors, solid shading, the original, and two versions of the final with more shading/details (one version is mostly the "regular" tones for their colors with a little bit of a cool tint in the shading, and the second version is a little more ambient, with the implication of softer light in the dark). All done in MS Paint with a mouse, but with practice, I got better with making the shapes look nice and solid

(also, here is a slightly re-written/adjusted fic that goes with it. Enjoy~)

4 holiday parties in one week was entirely too many. Next year, they would have to plan this out better, space it out.

It didn’t help that Kai always wanted to throw a rager, regardless of the occasion, so her parties felt like 3 combined together. Donut also liked to go all-out, but thankfully his parties were a little more coherent (usually because somebody like Wash or Doc reigned him in). The problem with a Sarge party was his obsession with making it “old fashioned”, which evidently meant forcing everybody out on a hike in the woods to find a tree (not once but TWICE they had seen bears… no thanks). Their other friends were a little bit more chill with the get-togethers, but it was still just one thing after another.

Grif and Simmons stumbled into their apartment, after a Tucker-hosted party (which was wonderfully calm since Junior was there). With lots of groaning and grumbling mixed in, they went through the motions of taking off their jackets and shoes, changing into comfortable clothes, brushing their teeth, and AT LAST flopping down into bed.

“It is too GODDAM FRIGGIN’ COLD,” Grif proclaimed, making a big show of shivering next to Simmons. “I don’t care what you say, we need to leave the heat on when we go out-”

“NO, Grif. Heating the house while nobody’s home wastes energy,” Simmons argued back, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“That’s BS. Invent us some kinda perpetual energy device, so we’ll have unlimited power, and then I can come home to a nice and toasty bed!”

“I’ll get riiiiiiight on that…” Simmons rolled over, snuggling up against Grif, eyes still shut. At first, Grif was annoyed; because he hadn’t been able to pull the covers up yet (cold though they may be), and NOW he had a lanky nerd draped over him.

Then Simmons started kissing him.

“… no fair,” Grif mumbled, because what was he supposed to do, NOT kiss Simmons back? NOT wrap his arms around Simmons? NOT enjoy the way it felt, when Simmons pressed his body close, hooked his lower legs with Grif’s, and ran his finger across Grif’s scalp?

After a long day- heck a long week in the middle of a long MONTH, they were both tired, and perfectly satisfied for this to be what it was, and not turn into more (that would require several extra steps, and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t been enjoying themselves in that regard fairly often. This, kissing and embracing, was perfect… and exactly what they needed right now).

This was their first year living together, just them. They had shared the larger apartment place with everybody else for a couple of years, but when it seemed that their lives really were going to stop being so STUPIDLY DANGEROUS, it felt like they might be ready to have a place of their own. Be big boys, and all that. It was a lot different than every other time in Grif's life when he made a really big change. The fact that he wasn't trying to escape from a bad situation was definitely a switch... and it was nice. It was just nice, knowing he wasn't "leaving everything behind" even if he was moving forward, he wasn't going to lose his friends or his sister even if he didn't see them every single day. It was nice knowing he was where he wanted to be, and was WITH somebody he wanted, who wanted HIM.

Simmons could feel the heat from Grif's body seep into his own, and this just increases the warmth between them. One of the many benefits of sharing a bed together. As they move around, getting comfortable, Simmons’ shirt rides up, exposing his tummy to the still chilly apartment air… and it takes an incredible amount of self-control on Grif’s part not to tickle Simmons mercilessly (in the back of his mind, Grif is very proud over how mature he is).

Instead, he uses his feet to kick the covers up, closer and closer, inch by inch, until he finally can grab them. It wraps both men in a momentarily FREEZING cocoon, but then the beautiful heat between them spreads through the rest of the bed. Soon, the heating will kick-in, and air will be warm as well.

“I hate when you do that,” Grif said with a sigh.

“Silly me, I thought you LOVED when I did that…” Simmons nuzzled against Grif’s cheek.

“I hate that you can just end an argument by kissing me,” the smile Grif had on his face told an entirely different story. "I used to just flip you off and pull a Bugs Bunny mind-trip to mess you up, and I'd win... but now? You have a kissy-kissy cheat code,"

Simmons snorted at that.

“Oh shut up, you do the EXACT same thing to me. You know how to push all my buttons and pull my strings… and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Simmons told him.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Grif asked.

“Because I’m totally, utterly, helplessly, hopelessly in love with you…” Simmons said in a ho-hum, no big deal tone of voice. Like he was stating a fact. Water was wet. 2 plus 2 equals 4.

“GOD, you jerk, I love you too~” Grif said, his voice now shaking with uncontrollable giggles. This wasn’t fair either, the way Simmons made him feel like a little middle-shooler who was twitterpated, making his insides go all squirmy and fluttery… he still remembers, a few years back, when he had been trying to convince himself that a romantic relationship with Simmons was never gonna happen, and even if it did, Simmons probably wouldn’t be worth it; he was too awkward, they were BOTH too selfish and mean, it just wouldn’t work (this was a weak lie he told himself, in hopes of of snapping himself out of all the YEARNING).

Now they were together… and Simmons was affectionate, doting, and just amazingly intuitive. He loved knowing that he made Grif happy, loved being the one who gave Grif everything he needed. Grif discovered he could share his sweet side, and loving Simmons brought out the best in him. They still had their friendship, they teased and joked with each other… but now there was more. So much MORE, and it was so GOOD.

After they both laughed and finally settled down, Grif kissed Simmons again, this time on the forehead.

“Hey, remember that thing we planned to do, back when we were kinda being subtle about it? The thing if nobody figured out we were together after a year?” Grif asked.

“Mmm, I think they all figured it out by now... but, I remember we had a couple ideas. Which one were you thinking of? Put a picture of us kissing up on a billboard, or do song dedications to each other over the radio, or-” when they initially started dating, they wanted to keep it a secret for bit… and then it became a game, waiting to see when the others would notice.

“The New Year Kiss thing,” Grif provided the answer to his own question. The idea for that was, if nobody realized they were dating until the end of that year, Grif and Simmons would kiss on New Year’s Eve, in front of everybody, and then inform the group that they were several months into the relationship, just for the shock. However, they had finally decided to just share the news with everybody, starting with Tucker.

“Oh, yeah… haha, what about it?”

“When all the Christmas crap is done, WE should throw our own party. A Happy New Year party. We’re a real couple now, so we can do all that fun host stuff, right?” Grif turned on his side, so they fit together more closely.

“Sure, we can do that… you can finally gather all your favorite party snacks together,” Simmons said encouragingly.

“Hell yeah…”

“And I can show them how to have fun without going bonkers…” Simmons yawned, and Grif let out one short chuckle (he knew “having fun” for Simmons was creating an itinerary and making a detailed list of party games).

After a while, they shared more I-love-you's and a good-night... ironically, Grif doesn't drift off right away. He keeps thinking about how nice this has been, and how it has given him hope for more; the idea of "settling down" with somebody had never been too appealing when he was younger. His own insecurities and bat habits, plus having rotten taste in "romantic partners", did not equal an interest in long-term committed relationships. Now, Grif is pretty confident that he wants to be with Simmons for the rest of his life, and doesn't even question that Simmons feels the same.

Their apartment is nice, but maybe... maybe they could find an actual HOME together. Or build one. Could they build one? Or like- design it, then hire people to build it? Yeah, that would probably work better (if they tried to do it themselves, Sarge would "help", and then they'd wind up living in a replica of Red Base in some neighborhood somewhere). A home that was theirs, in a place they could pick, where their friends and family could visit... the word "family" echoes in Grif's head, and he's almost surprised by how NOT scary it is. He and Simmons- they could do that, together.

Well, not right NOW. Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month... but someday. Maybe next year.

[mvndfvelds]

HELLO !! i've not written any fanfiction in like 3 years so excuse how awful this is, but the spencer reid obsession is just too strong to resist. also there are a serious lack of gn!reader and especially male!reader fics, so if i ever write it'll be for those pairings :))

here's a cringey little valentine's day drabble x

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☆ pairing: gn!reader × spencer reid (no use of 'y/n')

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Valentine's day is overrated anyway, right? At least that's what you've been telling yourself all day whilst being silently bitter about the fact Spencer, your roommate, probably already has a date.

It had hit around 6pm, and you had yet to hear Spencer move from his room - in all honesty, he probably had a date with about 10 books this evening anyway. The romance films all seemed a little too much today, so you ended up laying there staring out the window with a takeaway pizza box laying across your stomach.

Giving up on sitting alone, you swung your legs off the sofa and onto the floor, padding up to Spencer's door and raising a tentative hand to knock.

"Come in!"

You poked your head around the door, still not wanting to intrude fully. You opened your mouth to speak, but he butted in already, "look. If you're gonna comment on the fact I'm alone today, I'd like to remind you that you are too."

"I- wow, you think so lowly of me!" You snarked, "I was going to ask if you wanted to watch something with me seeing as we're both alone?"

"Statistically, there's still 30% of Americans who spend their Valentine's day alone or with friends anyway. Besides, it's all developed into feeding into capitalism now. Oh, and yes, I'd like to watch something!" He rambled whilst you smiled fondly and turned to leave, assuming he was trailing near behind you.

Both of you flopped to the sofa again, the soft lighting in the living room was almost romantic when you looked to Spencer. You tore your eyes away and trailed through the romcoms - Spencer would never admit it, but his guilty pleasure film is '10 Things I Hate About You'.

Halfway through the film you draped a blanket over yourself, revelling in the fact Spencer had moved his feet into your lap afterwards. It wasn't out of the ordinary to be subtly affectionate with Spencer anymore, you'd both taken a fair while to settle into a domestic life, but it was second nature now. Though that didn’t mean your heart didn’t stutter a little at every touch.

"I don't really understand high-school hierarchies," he said absent-mindedly, referring to the film.

"Me neither, though I don't either of us need high-school hierarchies to be considered 'nerds', do we?"

He chuckled lightly before deciding to reposition himself on the sofa entirely, turning the other way and asking, "can I lay my head on you?" You nodded, slightly bemused by his wriggling, focusing on the TV.

One of his lanky arms had made its way to drape over your lap, and one of your hands had settled on playing with his hair. Nearing the end of the film, during Kat's monologue, Spencer sniffled lightly.

"Spence... are you crying?"

He shook his head defiantly, "no? It's just a film."

You held his chin gently and turned his head so he was looking up at you from your lap with teary eyes. You cooed teasingly making his face heat up, "see, you're just a little crybaby. No shame in it, man, we've all been there."

You ran a thumb over his cheekbone, catching a stray tear and wiping it away. "If you weren't a pretty crier I'd take the piss out of you right now, y'know?" You said, sounding far too fond when it was only supposed to be a joking comment.

Evidently this wasn't going to slip past Mr. BAU, so he grinned up at you shyly and muttered, "you think I'm pretty?"

You nodded, face pink, you'd fallen into your own failed sarcasm and there was no way out at this point. Ah, fuck it, you may as well take your chances. You leant down slowly, your intention clear, waiting for a sign that he was happy with this. It soon came as he lifted his head slightly to meet your lips in a gentle kiss. You let out a small whine when he flopped back down with a satisfied grin, finding one of your hands and playing with your fingers gently.

"I guess we don't fit into that 30% anymore, right?"

[bluekittyworld]

There is Karma.

Hello sweet people, this is my first time writing something, I hope you guys like it and all feedback will be appreciated.

Please don't post my work on other sites/platforms or copy it, or translate it, thank you.

Approx. 11,000 words in total and 5 chapters

Warnings: Lot's of angst, mention of suicide, smut, 18+

Main Masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Happy Ending

Sad Ending

There is karma. It comes back, don’t use your heart in a bad way.

You were part of the popular girls at school, a rich spoiled brat as one may put it. Grade As and Bs were natural to you, you wondered sometimes if you had put in the effort, you could have scored better than all the nerds in your class, but who needed that, you were busy being the popular and pretty rich ‘it’ girl, belittling the quiet and less popular ones. There was one boy in particular, his name was Yunki or Yoonji, something like that. He wore thick framed glasses; his skin was ghostly pale, and he had contrasting pitch black hair in bowl cut. You found him an easy target as he never spoke back, no matter how many times you tripped him over, shoved him around, broke his ugly glasses, he never said anything back.

Why did you hate him so much? He didn’t care about anyone, and you hated it so much, why didn’t he try to fit in? He dressed so poorly, everyone just assumed that he was in this school on a scholarship, there was no way he could afford the fees by the way he dressed. On the other hand, you had to become mean to fit in, every day you woke up hours earlier to complete your work, prepare your hair and makeup, you had to stay relevant, have everyone’s attention, keep the ‘it girl’ title, life was so hard. So, every time you saw the careless Yoongi living his simple easy life, it boiled your blood and what ticked you off even more is that he never retaliated, come to think of it you had never heard his voice, was he mute?

This carried on for 5 years until the day of your graduation, just before graduation, you and your friends mocked this boy wearing his skinny ripped jeans, a t-shirt, and a plaid shirt. At the time your high-school boyfriend joined in too, you decided to give him a matching ripped shirt, pulling out your scissors you made a few cuts in his shirt and his bag, your friends laughed and recorded the scene. Your best friend took a few of his books, and teared them up, nobody noticed how Yoongi was having a panic attack and was on the verge of tears. Your boyfriend took the scissors and started cutting the poor boy’s hair, you did think it was pushing it too far, but nobody else seemed to care, why should you care right? Your boyfriend’s mates started kicking and punching Yoongi, he was now covered in blood and bruises, his eyes piecing into your soul, while he was being beaten up, his eyes were still fixated on you. You noticed this and felt a little bit of guilt, you pulled your boyfriend and asked to go to your favourite Korean BBQ. All your friends and his friends discarded Yoongi, leaving him in the middle of the school grounds, you didn’t even bother to look back if he was still breathing or not, nobody did.

On graduation day, Yoongi didn’t turn up, not like you really cared, you just wondered if he was okay, maybe you did go a little too far the other day. Also, it would have been a great opportunity to see his parents and assess his wealth today. Soon your friends and boyfriend came over to you, and that was the last time you thought of Yoongi.

Years had passed since graduation. You were well set into your father’s business, ready to take senior management positions, being born into an affluent family had its perks, your whole life was served on a silver platter, not a single day of difficulty. Life was monotonic and predictable you began to feel a growing sense of emptiness. Despite the success you achieved in your career and social life, there was an underlying dissatisfaction, a void you couldn't fill. A friend of yours suggested maybe participating in charity events may give you a sense of fulfilment, so you decided to join the next available event.

At this event, everyone was put into groups of 4, and the tasks varied, you were in a team with two boys and another girl. The aim was to visit the elderly and help them out with their chores for today. The drive to the house was quite quick, you didn’t really get to talk to your teammates, the only thing you knew were their names, Sora, Yeonjun and Yoongi. Yoongi rang a bell, but you couldn’t really remember if you ever knew a person with that name, maybe it was just a name of one of the many people you see every day at work, you brushed it off. 

Upon arriving at the house, you saw it was occupied by an old lady, the roofing had some issues and the wallpaper had been peeling off in various places. Yoongi took lead of the team, he suggested “Yeonjun and I will take the duty of fixing the ceiling, while you girls can start by removing the wallpaper.”

His voice was like a gentle breeze on a calm summer day, carrying warmth and serenity, you hadn’t heard such a caring voice in a very long time, even your own mother didn’t sound so affectionate.

You just nodded, while Sora nudged you, maybe you were looking at Yoongi for too long, he was looking back at you with his piercing dark eyes.

“The wallpaper removing machine is in the back of the car, let’s go get it” Sora mentioned.

You nodded and followed her along. Removing the wallpaper wasn’t hard at all, you and Sora had bonded quite well, it was interesting to find out about her, you learnt she ran a café nearby and had a fiancé, her parents currently live in Japan, and she has a poodle dog named Bobbi. You loved this kind of interaction; it was like a breath of fresh air being away from your routine life and interacting with people who didn’t have money on their minds 24/7. You glanced over to Yoongi’s direction now and then… there was a certain attraction you developed towards him, but you turned away each time in disappointment, him and Yeonjun were really focused on getting the ceiling fixed and didn’t really have time for other things. You really wanted to talk to Yoongi more and find out about him, maybe you wouldn’t get another chance and that really bothered you.

You and Sora were done removing the wallpaper, and the ceiling was still being plastered. You suggested to Sora “We should paint this room before the old lady comes back, it shouldn’t take too long, what do you think?”

“Perfect” Sora chimed “Let’s go to the nearby DIY store and pick out a colour.”

Sora got up and walked over to Yeonjun, by the looks of it you assumed they knew each other well, maybe they volunteered together previously, she asked “Yeonjun, my dear cousin, can you drive us in your car to the DIY store?”

Oh, now it makes sense, they were cousins, you smiled at learning the fact, you somewhat wished you were close to your family members.

At the DIY store you and Sora decided on a dusty pink colour, it would contrast well with the plants the lady had in her house. Yeonjun waited in the car and you guys were soon back, he suggested to grab some food, and as if on cue your stomach rumbled.

“Yup, ____ is hungry, we should definitely get food” Sora giggled.

You just smiled in embarrassment. The three of you had decided to buy four portions of Jjajangmyeon, not forgetting Yoongi of course.

Meanwhile Yoongi had finished up the plastering, he looked at the clock, it was 3pm, the old lady did mention she would return at 6pm, there were 3 more hours to go, more than enough time for the plaster to dry and paint over. He smiled at the fact he was ahead of schedule and thought the lady will be so happy to see the finished results. Soon you, Sora and Yeonjun came back, you distributed the noodle bowls to each person.

“Thank you” Yoongi smiled, you swear he had winked too, you felt excited like a teenage girl. You blushed and proceeded to sit down to eat, it was a nice meal, mostly Yeonjun sharing his personal life and how he has crush on his neighbour.

Chapter 2

[wandanatss]

heart in hand - chapter one;

things haven't been the same since you came into my life

summary: Summer of 1995 finds you in a cafe with a new-to-town Natasha Romanov. Little do you know, this day is going to change your life.

warning(s): swearing, slight mentions of guns & bullying.

word count: 1,087 words

author's note: i don't have access to the app i use to make covers/headers/dividers for my fics, so this canva one i threw together literally five minutes ago looks good enough. the dividers i used are by @cafekitsune. reblogs would help <3 i'm open to constructive criticism! i especially hope that one anon who helped a lot earlier likes it!

It all began in the summer of ‘95, in a little shop north of town. You sat there every day for want of something to do, someone to talk to. Being the friendless nerd was fine during the school year, but in the summer you always shifted from being alone to lonely. 

Your fingers tapped out an errant beat on the countertop, and you hummed a mindless tune. Your eyes droved over the menu as though your were trying to find something you wanted; as though you hadn’t already memorized it in your countless trips to the shop. In the end, though, you picked your usual - a sandwich, a doughnut, and a Coke. Picking the items up off of the counter once you got them, you sat at the only empty table there - a two-seater near the very back, where no one could see you. Figures. Invisible everywhere in the world, it seemed.

As you started to munch on the sandwich, interspersed with sips of your drink, your eyes watched the windows. Maybe you’d have your ‘movie moment’, where someone walked in that you fell in love with. Maybe it would be the person of your dreams. You looked down for a moment to pick up the cup, and within those few seconds, the door opened and a bell jingled. You looked up.

Y/n: I don’t know, it was fate or something. This absolute bombshell of a girl walked in. Her coppery-red hair tumbled over her shoulders, her eyes were bright, and she had the perfect red lip. She wore a thin white shirt, clinging to her with sweat. Her shorts were blue, and truly made her look like she had legs for days. When she ordered and got her food, she just wandered around for a minute before she saw me. Saw the seat in front of me. She smiled, asking if she could sit. Of course, I agreed. Neither of us knew it yet, but it was the start of something truly iconic. The girl, of course, was Natasha Romanov. We were both seventeen at the time.

Excerpt from ‘Mic in Hand, Heart in Throat’ by Kat S. Releasing 1 May 2028.

You introduced yourself, and started to make small talk about the weather – sweat-soaked Natasha’s body was a sight to see, and under the A/C breeze, her hair fluttered around her face. You were flushed, but you could pass it off to the heat, too. As Natasha waved over a waitress and placed her own order (a strawberry milkshake and a sandwich), you took the time to observe her.

She had her bicycle keys in her pocket, and two bracelets hanging from her arm. One was beaded, with the little alphabet charms reading N A T in different colours. The other was a few simple strings wound together and tied, giving the effect of a young child having made it. Now that you were closer to her, you could see the bottom of her hair bleached and cool-toned, showing her having dyed it blue a while back.

��Y/n? Do you want something too?” asked Natasha, a silent smirk in her eyes. She knew what you were doing.

Eventually, once the waitress was gone, you and Natasha struck up an easy flowing conversation. She confessed that she had biked here in the heat to get out of town, have her own ‘summer experience’. She was new. That explained why she hadn’t been in high school with you. You smiled and told her all about the high school she’d likely be joining, and joked about how she should make it a point to stay away from you. It would be social suicide, you explained.

Natasha turned slightly away at the comment, something catching her eyes, but looked back with a frown on her face. 

“I think people should be lucky to know you, Y/n. You’re a good – a good friend.”

Through the chat you have with her, you discover that not only can she play the guitar, but also the drums. She can also sing, insanely well if the competition awards aren’t a lie, and she’s just a fucking dream. She gave you her home-phone number, and her address. Call me, she wrote on the paper napkin, like she was some kind of rogueish flirt and not a schoolgirl still in her teens.

You took the napkin home with you and pinned it onto a little board, fingers moving over the bumps in the paper where she had pressed too hard with the pen. Call me. Come over sometime. You smiled, idling near the telephone. Maybe you would call her later, you thought.

Natasha Romanov: Y/n, they were an interesting person. My first friend who wasn’t my sister. We’d both been adopted, and been the town freaks for a while. Yelena, she was all spite and rage packed into a little spitfire of a ten-year-old child. It didn’t help that she wanted to give her opinions freely. It was my job to protect her, and when that backfired, we had to move. This far into the story, you already know I wouldn’t be too cut up about it. I had my sister and my adoptive parents. End of fuckin’ story, right? And then the chapter turned. After I met Y/n that day, everything changed. I finally had a reason to stay in the new town. I had made a friend.

Excerpt from ‘Mic in Hand, Heart in Throat’ by Kat S. Releasing 1 May 2028.

As you lay in bed that night, all hot and bothered about the day you’ve had, words start to form in your mind. Fragments; not enough to be worth writing, but you can see where you’ve started to... well, you’ve started thinking up a song.

The next morning, you wake up from a rather pleasant dream to hammering on your bedroom door. 

“Wake up, kid! It’s time to go!”

Oh. It was your mother, a staunch stickler for early-birds-get-the-worm. You would’ve far preferred to sleep in, especially in the summer, but the thoughts from the previous night – the song you thought of – had finally almost fully formed in your mind. You were eager to pen it down in case you forgot, but first, to appease your mother, you showered and had some cereal. Then you were back in your room, ready to write.

She’s got blue hair and a pretty pink smile

Looks that can kill and hands in mine

She’s a girl she’s a gun she’s the newest chapter

She’s a dream and what my heart’s been chasin’ after…

lmk if you want to be added to the taglist! | fic tag

[rosesnink]

artist and writer love

i'm a day late, but let me love y'all anyways

starting with the writers-

@princess-geek & @missameliep - my sweet, beloved dani and debora, my closest friends in this hellsite. it's been almost six years since we became friends (where did the time go?!) and my, what a ride it's been! you guys have been my rocks for longer than anyone, and i can't imagine writing without telling you girls about it, and i hope that one day we may meet and take the writing world by storm! i love you both and i hope that more years are ahead of us

@storyofmychoices - sweet dani, you organizing this every year and making of this fandom something easier to make is no small feat, and i'm thankful i've been getting to know you personally and to call you a dear friend <3 thank you for not only giving us this, but also write such amazing cute little drabbles that just warm me on terrible days

@aria-ashryver - my beloved aria, getting to know you these past months has been the sweetest treat. you're not full of light because you ARE light itself, wherever you go, it seems to follow you, even across the sea, and despite going through it you remain kind and loving, which can be difficult. i really admire you and i hope to one day be half the woman and author that you are

@lilyoffandoms - lils, you have been there from the beginning of my fandom journey, and while we've had our bumps, you're a key part of my life, and i like to read your stuff from time to time, because it's seriously awesome, and your art?! it's so unique and really stands out from the others, to the point where i say 'oh, lily has posted new art!' without needing to double-check who posted what. thank you for putting up with me, which is no small feat, and to more years together! (also, maiele is next on my mcs interacting victim)

@thosehallowedhalls - queridisima cee, even though we haven't known each other for long, you've become so dear to me, and i confess i couldn't bring myself to write more of nerea's journey without you being here, cause it seemed pointless if i couldn't send you spinnets and gush over how nerea is slowly gravitating towards bas, but now that you're here... get ready, cause nere's story has just taken off, and things are about to get interesting!

@dutifullynuttywitch - cherie, your ocs are beautiful, your writing is simply poetic and gorgeous and you are such a sweet person, i smile when i see you on my dash, and even though you gravitate more towards rc these days (and i do not blame you, it's going to the dogs lately) i'm thankful for your presence and i hope we can begin properly talking this 2025! merci for everything, chou <3 (salut from spain!! and pardon my hyperbasic and terrible french lol)

@aallotarenunelma - sweet aallotar, i couldn't cap the writers section without finishing with you because it'd be basphemous. each of your ocs are so unique, detailed and perfectly written, and you give them a part of your finnish culture, which makes them stand out from the crowd, and are so richly-crafted, it's easy to fall in love with them. you are one of my prime role models for both as a person and creator, and i hope that one day we can meet and give you all the hugs you deserve, since i plan to study abroad in the north someday

and now, moving onto the artists...

@erixadraws - sweet erica, your art is outwordly, such a calming and colorful painting that i want to stay in, and raya is such a gorgeous and sweet girl, i enjoyed writing her with my dear brienne, and i love to gush over tfoa with you! thank you for your amazing drawings, which aren't short on magic. seriously, you should animate a children's series someday!

@oh-so-youre-a-nerd - queride elliott, your art is simply out of this world, and you always manage to take it to a new level i thought impossible, and your magic hands can do the most outstanding things i've ever seen in my fandom career, but most of all, i'm thankful for our friendship and how you've always been there for me in every aspect <3 thank you for everything, el <3

@cadybear420 - dear cady, your edits are simply fabulous, you always manage to outdo yourself and each of your mcs are so developed, so unique from one another and you add it a certain touch that always makes me go 'oh, that oc must be cady's!' because they all have that cady magic few can master, and your presence in the fandom is a much needed breath of fresh air!

@swallowandsun - lily, i know that you and i met on another fandom, but you being here makes me so happy, and your ocs, no matter the fandom, are always so amazingly made, and fit the narrative so well, it's admirable, and your gifs and videos?! chef's kiss. the fandom's not ready for you, girl!

@zhoras-bitch - i know that rn you're mia, but you're such a sweet person, and i think of your edits and ocs thrice a day, and getting to know you and see you grow has been a treat, and i hope i can see you again here, at your own time and pace ofc <3

and you, don't worry if you didn't have a shoutout from me, there's more days to come ;)

@choicesfandomappreciation

[aeternallis]

yooo, fam!! Im bored this Monday at work, so tell me one of your opinions that’d have you like Eugene from Tangled with the swords pointed at him 😈

no introductions, I’mma just get right into it:

Call me cynical, paranoid, pessimistic, a mean old grouch, and every other name in the book, but you will never make me change my mind when I say I do not and will not ever trust positivity posts on here that speaks in regards to the nature of fandoms, as if there’s some higher ideal that fandom as an existence must be beholden to. Because I can assure you, at least within the scope of my experience, almost every positivity post I’ve seen on here always comes from either a place of disingenuity or limited to no context.

And I’m not calling anyone out specifically on this, if y’all need that reassurance. Because if you do feel called out, then methinks you’ve got some soul searching to do. All I’m saying is, this is my boundary, and I enforce this to myself with a metaphorical iron brick whenever I get into a new thing and earn myself another set of blorbos to obsess over for the next year or two.

Tell me nonnie, if this sequence of events I’m about to describe doesn’t seem familiar to you:

Person 1: //posts a controversial opinion in the fandom

then…

Person 2: vague-posts about said controversial opinion for not following fandom norms and seeing it as an attack on their faves; they won’t say it’s a personal attack on their faves, not outright, but they won’t hesitate to create some moral/ethical dilemma about why such a take is controversial and why it’s #bad for the blood

and then…

Person 1: tries to clarify their opinion in the fandom, all while dealing with the overbearing anxiety of being vague-posted about and seeing their own words twisted

and then…

Person 2: writes a toxic positivity post that 1) completely misreads the original controversial opinion and indirectly villainizes Person 1, 2) doesn’t provide any context for why they wrote such a post in the first place, and 3) writes the post in such a way that people who aren’t aware of the drama behind the scenes would sensibly agree and 4) derails the entire conversation to the point that the original meaning and intent of the controversial opinion has long been discarded

for example: who would ever be able to argue that all queer stories deserve to be told and that although some queers may find value in certain stories, some others may not.

or, another example: that having headcanons that a fictional character has autism or ADHD is simply someone’s own enjoyment of the story and that they shouldn’t be attacked for it.

Whenever I see posts like this, my immediate gut instinct is almost always to ask:

“So, my dearest OP, what made you decide to make a post such as this? did someone inadvertently hurt your feelings with their opinions, and you didn’t have enough willpower to just block and move on? what context are you keeping from your followers and whatever audience you have? you’re not actually using your audience to validate your own insecurity and indirectly villainize the person you disagree with…right?”

Because the truth of it is nonnie, at the end of the day, we are all nothing more but a bunch of nerds on this website who have some time in their hands. Beyond that? We’re just the same as any other socmed website, prone to petty arguments and toxic behavior.

Why do you think it is, nonnie, that so many people on this stupid site are so very bitter or scared or hesitant to talk about their controversial opinions and hot takes? The answer, imo, is simple:

A lot of people on this site have taken it for granted that fandom is a safe space, that fandom is designed in such a way to make people happy and share in the fun.

But, I disagree.

I completely disagree.

Fandom is not a safe space. Fandom is what you make of it, and if that means spouting your controversial takes, then I say fucking go for it, and block who needs to be blocked. Mute whomever needs to be muted, and consign them to the ash heaps of the block list.

Fandom is not a safe space. What fandom means to you can have a completely different meaning to someone else. No one is ever obligated to cater to anyone else’s version of what they believe fandom ought to be.

Fandom is not a safe space, fandom—as we all should know by now—is just as susceptible to human folly and wholly imperfect biases, as any other community that chooses to come together, whether organically or by choice.

Especially on here.

Toxic positivity posts that speaks of higher ideals when it comes to fandom behavior are nothing more to me than smokescreens that these OPs use in order to hide their own pettiness and insecurity, to boost their own ego, if you will. They’re just a tool to manipulate other people into taking their side of some dumb argument that could have been easily solved through a Private DM and making use of common human decency.

So there you go nonnie, an opinion I hold that would have a thousand swords pointed at me.

Even so, I stand by it.

[castlebyersafterdark]

Chuckling at how we already know the answers to plenty of these questions hehe

So.... 8, 19, and 20 please :)

8. any reacquiring dreams? I have a recurring dream where I feel like I've missed all my classes for a course some semester and freak out, run across campus, and hope the prof doesn't fail me. Then I realize I graduated already. I've heard this is a really common one. I also have recurring dreams about some medical appointment where they try to remove my limbs and I... do not know what it means but I wake up really upset because I feel kind of immobile and I think it's part of a sleep paralysis thing because I tell myself to just MOVE and I don't and it freaks me out more. ANYWAY!

9. tell a story about your childhood One time I drove the car to a friend's house in the neighborhood next to ours. I was only 13. I was mad because it was really cold out and no one wanted to drive me and my petulant little ass didn't feel like walking so I snuck out and took the car. Got grounded for three weeks when they found out. I still think it's funny though.

20. favourite things about the night? Oh, I love looking at stars. So romantic to see the rest of the universe. I also like how quiet it can get outside, and how in the summer I can lay out in the hammock and listen to the bugs that only come out once the sun's down.

2. show us a picture of your handwriting?

17. name 3 things that make you happy Sunshine - warm weather and the sun on my face. Any time spent with the love of my life 💙 of course. And being near the ocean.

12. what’s some good advice you want to share? I say it a lot but it's helped me out with so much - be kind to yourself. So many of my issues have always been made worse by treating myself so badly and mentally telling myself so many awful things about me. And not taking the time to rest and process and do things that bring joy. Hard, hard, hard, when mental health and life are in the way - but if you find are able to try it, the kinder you are you you, the more often that has potential to be commonplace. I remind myself every single day.

28. do you collect anything? I've mentioned a few things I collect before but I also collect those enamel pins and I'm stoked these seem to have popped off in popularity lately. I don't overload my stuff with them, but I like to swap out from my collection and wear one or two above my jacket pocket.

38. fave song at the moment? Still enamored by Abracadabra atm and feel it's going to be my spotify #1 this year, but I've also been into (AND THIS IS A SHOCK IF YOU'VE BEEN HERE AWHILE) everything i wanted - Billie Eilish. I don't usually listen to her stuff but I wasn't feeling so great for a while and for some reason that song was on a mix I was listening to and I ended up listening to it so many times and it just let me mentally escape somewhere for a while and so, I'm coming around to digging her a bit more now. It's a really beautiful song having allowed myself to feel the music deeply, through depression and uplifting from it.

1. what are 3 things you'd say shaped you into who you are My sister - the coolest nerd I will ever have met and she introduced me to EVERYTHING (we used to actually be in the same fandom together for a little while which some may find odd but it was a ton of fun). My love of research and history - always had a thirst for knowledge and random facts and reading up on everything, made me a more informed citizen and continues to allow me a curious mind. And honestly, television - I was kind of raised by the TV in a way but it didn't rot my brain, it expanded it. Allowed pictures to fill it and characters and stories and from a really young age I've always been inspired to create on my own and expand on what I'm seeing, through movies or TV. It's been my catalyst for creation.

2.ANSWERED ABOVE

22. say 3 things about someone you love I always talk about Z so talking about my bestie for this one. He is the ultimate ride or die - we've been there for each other through some tough, dark shit and I know he has my back and I have his. I love that he's truly the least judgemental guy I know and how he proved early on that masculinity does not need to be toxic or threatened and can be so soft and kind as well. And he's just fucking FUN to hang out with and talk to - there are three people who I could literally sit in a blank, white room for days with and I would be able to have a non-stop conversation: Z, my sister, or my best friend.

24. what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for? Making it this far. No, really, corny answer, but young me never believed I'd get to a point where I have a stable career, am engaged to be married, and am able to pull myself up out of my dark moments and thrive anyway. I'm really proud I made it. Still young, still a long way to go...

37. share a secret I used to go for long walks around the neighborhood or just hang outside in the backyard as a pretty young kid in the middle of the night. Always had trouble sleeping and really didn't want to. My parents to this day have no idea how often I slipped out. If they know, never said anything to me...

❤️❤️❤️

[cchapsticck]

20 Questions for fic writers

@dreamwatch tagged me and I actually woke up with enough time to do things before I need to go into work

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10 - Which is very surprising to me considering my reluctance to release anything beyond my google docs for many years.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

142,085 lord

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things (but Eddie Munson in specific honestly) primarily, but I've got some Baldur's Gate and Critical Role in the tubes right now too. The unifying theme here being I Am A Tremendous Nerd Who Likes DnD

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

UNTITLED RECORDING rcd ca. 1987-1988 in the #1 slot by a wide margin, followed by ANACRUSIS ca. 1987, head line, wait, runner, and sunflower broke.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I sincerely try to! I am bad at accepting compliments or feedback so I always feel like I'm giving these sort of boilerplate platitudes and thanks and I wish I could accurately capture me reading every comment about 15 times kicking my leg under my desk. I try to be loudly receptive to the feedback I get. People took the time to read and respond! They don't have to do that!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

At first when I was going to respond to this I thought to myself "I'm not sure I really have a lot of fics that end with angst- oh its dog." Its dog. Its dog at the door. Its absolutely dog at the door. I apparently forgot I wrote it, but its dog.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't necessarily think of myself who writes things with uncomplicated, expressly happy endings. I think a lot of my work that does end hopefully ends with a kind of watery fragile kind of happy. That probably says something about me but maybe it doesn't. But, to answer the question properly, I think head line is probably the least complicated sense of happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I've been made aware of. I'm sure that my writing style and my takes on characters are not everyone's cup of tea, but that's just the mark of a healthy fandom ecosystem. I'm also not a very """""big""""" writer so ain't no one looking at me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have in the past, but I've never felt very confident in my writing when I do. I don't really feel like I can craft very erotic or romantic scenarios when it comes to physical expressions of sexuality, maybe its my writing style working against me or its just a generalized internal cringe @ me when I do. So these days I tend to skirt around it or speak more evocatively when necessary. I just feel like a total fucking goober when I start getting more direct and descriptive.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Always curious what constitutes as a crossover and what constitutes as an AU to some - ao3 tagging seems to muddy the waters for me. Because if you tag the source material for your AU it looks like a crossover but maybe you're simply using the world's logic but none of its characters? And that feels different to me than a strict crossover where characters from other titles are interacting with each other. Y'know? Instructions unclear wrote a DnD AU, one's mileage may vary if that's a crossover or not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

That's a thing? I mean. I guess people translating without attribution or reposting fics on other platforms is a thing. I guess that's that. Huh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? Not really? I definitely have played in the sandbox with @cwstau and their work, and have my own little toenail clipping a thing based on that work. I've done a little art here and there, and served as a sounding board, to a certain extent, in the formative stages of that fic's life but all of the heavy lifting is exclusively L's work. And while none of it will ever see the light of day I've also definitely theory crafted entire character dynamics and, sort of, speculative futures with friends in DMs. A lot of Yes And-ing each other about the threads we'll pull on.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Man don't ask me that. I'm all over the road, I'm in the wind. I'll be hard in the paint on one thing and then something old will reemerge on the breeze and I just go back to places I one dwelled and be insane there.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

lol any of them. Seriously, the fact that I have finished and published 10 things this year is a testament to. Something. I have no idea what. Something, because I have never been this kind of productive in many many moons and that productivity is a fickle thing that could leave just as soon as its arrived. My google docs is a graveyard of fics I've started and stopped and had grand plans for and mostly finished or entirely finished but never did anything with.

16. What are your writing strengths?

hahah bad at this question but I think I am good at research, when the fic in question demands it. I like to think I can synthesize that research into interesting things when the fic calls for it. I also think I can do cool things with character voice? At least, I always want to try to be interesting with that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am very bad at drafting, which is to say I often don't and I get frustrated and discouraged when I can't articulate myself the way I want on the first pass - which is particularly sore spot for me when I always feel like I'm trying to do things very intentionally with character voice and interpretation. I never feel super confident with my dialogue either. I'll write internal monologues for several thousand words but the minute two characters need to have an honest to god conversation I forget how human speech works. I'm also just bad at being concise. I really struggle to just let things stand, it is very hard for me to do those "200 words" writing prompt challenges because I'll start on one concept and my brain branches into a million other places this could go with a lot of detail and intersecting relevance and it can be so so hard for me to kill my darlings.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think there's a due diligence required when writing for and in languages you, yourself, don't speak. Google translate isn't necessarily a viable solution to your multi-lingual needs, which I think everyone knows so its not like that's a bold stance. Seek out native speakers, ask for feedback, etc. When its my own work I try not to overly complicate the matter, if all parties in the fiction understand the language I'm going to keep writing in the language of the fic itself. There's a fandom I'm a part of that, in canon, uses German as a proxy language for a fantasy language - which is a language I am conversationally fluent in - and even then I find myself hesitant to just indulge in peppering in German words and phrases because that's just, in my experience, not how of multilingual people use language. Authenticity sort of matters in that regard, and there's a weird artificial presentational-ness to just jamming vocabulary words of other languages into dialogue or text that isn't justified by the character or the conversation itself. idk where I'm going with this.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Weeaboo past revealed: I'm pretty sure it was KHR but I cannot be sure anymore.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This fluctuates based on which one I'm less mad about when I think about it retrospect on any given day, but I think UNTITLED stands as a testament to me writing in long(ish) form, something I've never done before, and was where I really learned a lot about character voice and how to use it. There's plenty I think I'd change or edit now (honestly, was talking to a friend about making a director's cut of some of the chapters of the whole MH series) but it was a big undertaking and I met a lot of really excellent people through the writing and response to that particular fic.

No pressure tags for: @cwstau, @nameslikeguns, @greenlikethesea, @dodger-chan

[docholligay]

Misty

Hello! This is about up to Episode 3 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 3 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the third episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Before I move on to episode 4, I absolutely want to talk about Misty goddamn motherfucking Quigley. She is the greatest character of all time, I fucking loathe her, I ADORE what the writers have done with her and how they twist and pull with her like fucking taffy. She’s a genius stroke of writing AND the actress does an amazing job with her.

Anyway, Misty.

At one point in this episode, Nat asks if Misty has any idea how fucking weird she is and: No! Absolutely not!

Misty completely lacks appropriate social boundaries and seems to be lacking in genuine empathy. She’s never learned how to be likeable, so she settles for being useful. Just like, sitting in her really very lovely bedroom taking a prank phone call, she thought that being smart could save her from social nightmares. Surprise! It can’t!

Misty is a really interesting character for me, because I, too, was a young kid who was very much to the edge of the social circle. I was awkward and overeager and very much into my hobbies (I wore a full ass embroidered blouse and prairie skirt for picture day) and actually pretty “smart”. I went to state for the Nat Geo History and Geography Bee in 6th grade and got to the finals with a bunch of homeschooled 14 year olds*.

You may have imagined this did not make me very likeable, and like Misty, I didn’t really understand what I was doing wrong. I was kind, I noticed when people were upset and tried to do nice things like make a flower bookmark or whatever. I was helpful with homework because it all came very easily to me. I was enthusiastic. 

But I didn’t get the rules. And neither does Misty.

Now, I got smart a lot sooner than Misty, who I would argue never has. She has never figured people out, to this day. A key difference between Misty and I is I think, that empathy thing. At the very least adult Misty, if young Misty did have it, has excised it fairly well from herself.

I gave Misty some credit in episode 2, I think it was, about maybe honestly thinking that she wasn’t pretty enough and just not getting what makes her unlikeable, but I’m rescinding that. I DO think she has no idea how offputting she is or why, but I also think she’s openly manipulative.

She lies to Kevin as Nat, and it never occurs to her that this might be bad or wrong, because to her it’s all about the means to the end, and about using Nat as a way to access this sort of flirtation that Misty herself has never been able to get. Misty, when Kevin first walks up to them, is immediately attracted. And reacts in the most Misty way: Desiring to be noticed, to be remembered, to be thought of.

I genuinely adore how this show takes Misty’s desire for friendship and love and instead of making her the sad nerd everyone is supposed to feel bad for, she, like all the other girls, is a secret monster. She’s like a succubus, or that Japanese monster that eats handsome men. She is happy to do anything, appear as anything, to form these relationships, no matter if they are hollow at core. Misty may be pathetic, but she is not innocent, the show tells us.

It’s ironic that Misty is literally pretending to be Nat, when I argued in an earlier post, and will continue to argue here, that Misty is the one of out them that is really NOT pretending to be something else, simply because she doesn’t know how. She literally admitted to Nat upfront that she pretended to be her to seduce Kevin. She didn’t play dumb for a minute about fucking up Nat’s car. She doesn’t know enough about the way fucking human beings work in order to feel even a moment of shame.

All the other women know that there is something wrong with them at core. But not Misty. Misty has no idea that something in her is fundamentally broken.

I joked that I would not be surprised if Misty killed Travis and did 9/11, and that WAS a joke, but also, i would not be surprised if Misty was somehow involved in his death. I’m not feeling confident enough to say, yes she absolutely is, but in the real world Travis would have killed himself, and this show is in many ways very clearly not in the real world. I don’t think he did because that doesn’t make sense to the kind of narrative we’re working with, though privately I would love if the answer was “Sometimes the poison just takes time to kill you” 

Anyway, MISTY QUIGLEY EVERYONE

*Not to be bitter about an absolutely meaningless contest of nerdery, uh, more than 20 years later, but I lost out on a question about DEW POINT. Which I argue to this fucking DAY is a meterology question, and NOT a fucking history or geography question. I also lost a point for answering Russia as the largest Asian country and not Kazakhstan, which, I know the entire fucking globe is political, but so far as I’m concerned Russia can go fuck itself with its preciousness, the majority of its land holdings are in Asia. Defending my tiny 12 year old self ahaha.

[pinkprimrose05]

3 choices. Arc V (Fandom) for 2 and 10. Yuri (Character) for 5, 6 and 7. Yuya (character)for 2 and 15. If you take on all 7 of these questions I will tie you upside down and play whale noises until you chill. Take care!

Put that rope away, yes, thank you- aaaand here we go!

2) my three favorite characters and why I love them so much:

I should preface this by thanking you for my most recent microcrisis, AKA the abrupt realization that somehow, somewhere along the line... the Theatre Kid Agenda™ has discreetly overtaken my top 3 list.

Speaking of the list:

1- You thought this would be Yuuya, but as it turns out... it's Yuuya! lol.

I'd go ahead and wax the usual poetry about the layers and symbols and all that jazz, but you've already seen me gush about that several times over, so I'll just focus on the babyboy factor for once instead. Yuuya may not have wet kitten energy even at his angstiest, but he sure is a sunshine bean of debatable genuity, and that's just as adoptable!

Looking at him alone is enough to make me want to offer comfort ok. I'm stuffing him in a blanket burrito and shipping him off to my place for a long, long break and some overdue therapy. We can cope with life together, cry a little, cry a lot, bake sweets to recuperate, melt into happy little puddles after a good treat, and then nerd out about theatrics and play a few duels to test silly strategies! This kid is my Son and he deserves all the best things in the world, so for every bit of pain he goes through I'm giving him a truckload of comfort.

______

2- You may have noticed this in ARC-V Month, you may have picked up on it through my sporadic, scattered mentions of the guy, but if not, then here's a fun fact: I have more than one ARC-V blorbo.

Introducing the central piece of a great many of my conflicted thoughts, confused feelings, paradoxical opinions, abrupt perception shifts, and eventual (semi-)begrudging affection that had me questioning my taste in pixels for like a whole year:

...Zarc.

I've known this fucker for 5 years, hated him for a solid 3, and then woke up one winter day in 2023 and realized that oh shit, he managed to land himself a spot in blorbo tier. Is this what people mean when they say a character grew on them? Were my feelings playing the most long-winded joke on my mind for 4 years? Trust me, I don't know. What I do know is that maining his deck was definitely an endearing factor, and so was the 3rd ARC-V watch (this is where I started uncovering most of the easter eggs I know about the show, so perhaps the build-up made me a touch biased over time, but I genuinely found the 136-139 marathon more entertaining than annoying for once. We speak not of 140).

TL;DR: I think the lettuce clown is neat. Past me would have a stroke if I told her I'm a Zarc apologist now tho.

______

3- Super Duper Ultra Hyper Extra Mega- ok I'll stop now.

Sawatari is actually the one surprise in this list to me because, huh, I didn't realize how much I liked him over other nearly as cool characters until I put them side by side and pondered who brings me more joy when on-screen. I thought 3rd place would be someone like Yuugo, maybe Serena, but it seems I've taken a spontaneous shine to the banana peel?

(Help how does this keep happening why am I weak to clowns lmao)

See, Shingo's character may be on the simpler side by virtue of being the... designated comic relief, but that simplicity is part of his charm! The mix of charismatic and pathetic aura is a also rare thing, you know- It's not easy to be so cool and cringe at the same time and make it feel natural. That takes skill.

And speaking of skill, Shingo has my respect for always putting up a good fight, even in the games he loses to all sorts of jobber bullshit. He's a genuinely good duelist and a great entertainer, and I love that for him!

______

10) how many fics I've read that are set in it (approximately and making exaggerated guesstimates):

Guesstimate: Around a thousand. I've been around the fandom long enough to read all sorts of fics on ff.net and Ao3 (among other sites), and it sure feels like I've seen a lot, looking back.

Actual number: Approximately 600, rounding down. On Ao3 alone. Huh, I was expecting the number to be like, 200, so this is not too far off, actually! Maybe the reason the fic count feels higher than it is because the memorable reads tend to be REALLY long multichapters. Why are these so common in the ARC-V tag, by the way? Is it the allure of crossovers? The canon divergence AUs?

(The answer is both, and a few other factors as well. Good for us, I say! Longfics are a serious test of commitment, and I'm glad to see and follow so many talented and dedicated authors!)

[lovejustforaday]

2024 Year End List - #3

Songs of a Lost World - The Cure

Main Genres: Goth Rock

A decent sampling of - Post-Punk, Ethereal Wave, Dream Pop, Art Rock ʸᵉˢ ᴵ'ᵐ ᶜᵃᵗᵉᵍᵒᵗᶦᶻᶦⁿᵍ ᵍᵒᵗʰ ʳᵒᶜᵏ ᶦⁿᵈᵉᵖᵉⁿᵈᵉⁿᵗˡʸ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵖᵒˢᵗ-ᵖᵘⁿᵏ ᵃⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵇᶦᵗᵉ ᵐᵉ ᶦᶠ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵇᵒᵗʰᵉʳˢ ʸᵒᵘ ᵘʷᵘ

The Cure is a band that requires no introduction. If you know your goth music, you definitely already know and love this band.

I myself have been slowly chipping away at The Cure's discography for about a decade now, and I still have about half of their records to get through. I know, kinda lame it's taken me this long. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And sure, maybe the last thing the world needs is another music nerd born well after the 80s to be yapping off about what is and has already been one of the five or ten most beloved alternative bands in the world for a very long time now....where was I going with this?

Oh right! But for what it's worth, I think I've got a few "esoteric" takes on The Cure.

For starter's - Disintegration is mad overrated. There, I said it. You may now brandish your pitchforks and tiki torches and send me to the guillotine. I plead guilty.

Meanwhile, I personally think that Pornography is one of the greatest things records of all time.

Okay, maybe that itself is not such a hot take. After all, if Disintegration isn't your favourite Cure record, then it's probably Pornography. But for most folks, it's usually a close race between the two, while for me Pornography just completely blows Disintegration out of the water. A perfect goth record with a perfectly dreary atmosphere, especially "Cold" and "A Short Term Effect" which are about as close to dreary perfection as mere mortals can get.

Disintegration has some very pretty songs, but I've always found it to be bloated and uneven. I love the general vibe of that era in the Cure's discography however - the blending of dream pop and ethereal wave elements to create this goth rock sound that's altogether more enchanting and romantic. I'd say I'm personally more of a Wish guy when it comes to that dramier era of the band's discography.

This year's release was actually my first foray into 21st century Cure records. Not that there's many (4 counting this record), and it's possible we might not get any more of them. Robert Smith and his crew aren't exactly getting any younger, and this one was technically 16 years in the making.

Songs of A Lost World explores death, mortality, finality, and the idea of things in life coming to an end, more than any other Cure record I've listened to, and these are the guys that helped to spawn an entire wave of counter-cultural outsiders whose primary artistic muse is death. It seems that old age has given way to a whole slew of new anxieties and fears to inspire the serial pessimist Robert Smith. But as always, he expresses these fears and anxieties in an utterly artful, humbling, and romantic manner that is simply irreplicable.

What's really miraculous is that this record sounds straight out of that era of dreamy late 80s early 90s Cure that I just described. Eerily so, even, right down to the production. Robert Smith's voice even sounds as though it had been petrified and defrosted, perfectly preserved as it was back then. In fact, when I first heard this record, I coulda sworn it was some sort of scrapped album or rarities compilation circa. 1990-92.

I also musta been living under a rock during the time, because I had no idea this was being released until it just showed up on streaming services and in their discography pages on websites one day. So I can be forgiven for seriously questioning if this was even an actual new record full of new material, and not just one from the vaults.

I've always adored Robert Smith's voice, ever since I heard my first Cure song "Just Like Heaven" as a teenager, and I know I'm far from alone on this one. The man has a voice that's so naturally sensitive, so swooning and rich, that it melts me every time. His words are like little arrows to the heart that wound so magnificently, like that one sculpture of that one catholic chick and her weird stabby angel kink.

At forty nine minutes and just eight tracks, this LP is actually quite a bit more compact and concise than either Disintegration or even Wish, the two records it sounds as though it were secretly recorded between. It would seem the band was conscious that the record is one of their most emotionally taxing and draining, both in sound and in lyric, and decided that it was better to have a more brief, cohesive, and raw experience that was densely packed with heavy material.

in fact, the production and mastering itself sounds pretty dense in its own right. Many of these songs have a sort of crushing weight to them, like the record's sonic world is constantly fighting the urge to collapse in on itself. If this is truly the last Cure record (who can really say?), they certainly chose a very cataclysmic sound highly befitting of a band of their magnitude and disposition (y'know, them being generally kinda miserable about 70-80% of the time).

"Alone" begins the record in a way that very much feels like something else has already ended. It sets the stage for a record that exists in the aftermath. Look around you, and you will see grey clouds gathered under a perpetual dusk, in a world that has come and gone before you were ever even aware you were living in it. Those surreal guitar echoes are like the wind and the fog that sweeps this ruined landscape. And yet, the feeling is more bittersweet than outright despairing.

Put simply, "And Nothing Is Forever" is one of the most romantic songs I've ever heard. Most artists could only ever dream of writing something this pure and distilled. The song does something to me that is akin to opening up the floodgates of a raging torrential sea of emotions, that I normally keep tucked away in the most hidden crevices of my heart. I feel like I can close my eyes to this song, and see exactly how my life would play out from now until the end with the person I love most. It's the kind of song Robert Smith was born to write and perform. Very few, if anyone else, could sing so delicately, so sincerely and gracefully, something so terribly sad when you really consider the implication - that you're a terrible nervous wreck about the possibility of dying some time very soon, but that it could just maybe be alright in the end, if only that one person who, above all, made it worth it just because you got to spend so much time with them, if only that one person was there with you for the very last few moments. The colossal arena goth rock instrumentation and soft, blanketing classical arrangements are also equally essential components of why this song works as well as it does. Nothing here is purely ornamental. This is a carefully constructed masterpiece.

I haven't ugly-cried to this song just yet (barely can cry at all as it is), but I know it's only a matter of time, and when that time does come, it will be one of the greatest catharses I have ever experienced in my life. That outro, where everything comes to a hush, in the very moment where it flatlines, is a moment that is forever encased in an icy cold, love-shaped crystal, more precious than any diamond. SOTY? Just maybe. Certainly up there with "A Forest" and "Cold" in my top 3 Cure songs. Fucking immaculate to write something this stunning, potent, and completely affecting after such a long hiatus. This alone solidifies Robert Smith as one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

The musical wasteland of rubble and devastation that is "Warsong" is among the very most dejected in the band's discography, even up there with some of the most bleak Pornography tracks. An accordion wheezes in sorrowful agony, recounting memories of past conflicts as guitars churn uncontrollably, like aircrafts spiraling downward, falling out of the sky and crashing into plumes of smoke. Smith moans "All we will ever know / Is bitter ends / For we are born to war" with the fatalist sentiment that humanity is hardwired for bloodshed. A sort of gothic "Last Post" without any of the myth or the fanfare.

"Drone:Nodrone" is probably one of the hardest tracks The Cure has ever done. The band lays waste to a world of ashes with ultraviolet lightning blades of guitar distortion over a grimy industrial beat. The little piano chimes ein the beginning especially reminds me of the opening bit of "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea" which is possibly my favourite Wish track. Bonus points for that.

The aptly titled "Endsong" closes the record with a contemplative slow build, memories bursting into flames all around you, the passage of time growing all the more disorienting. To me, it sounds as though this track is building to the cataclysmic event that "Alone" could take place in the aftermath of. Smith's exclamations of "It's all gone" are chilling and leave the record's most haunting impression.

And there you have it. Not quite comfortable giving this one a 10 yet cause I wouldn't consider it to be on the level of Pornography, but as it stands this is probably already my second favourite Cure record.

Not many bands can show up this many years later after such a long hiatus and drop such career highlight record that also manages to be one of the very best records in a year several decades later than their heyday. That alone is quite a feat.

Lo and behold, Songs of A Lost World exhibits all the greatest attributes of The Cure, from their stricken melodies and vivid (though often bleak) atmosphere to crushing, poignant lyrics and an affinity for macabre beauty. They still got it.

9/10

Highlights: "And Nothing Is Forever", "Warsong", "Endsong", "Drone:Nodrone", "Alone"

FOR FANS OF:

Those Cure albums I just mentioned

[thatvegetariangamer]

The "FOMO game model", NEEDS to go, Nintendo!!!

Hello, Gamers and Nintendo-Nerds!!! Welcome to That Vegetarian Gamer. Yesterday, we reminisced on the games that made us love the Switch today, we will discuss the bad. We won't focus on specific games but on a game marketing model found in many Nintendo Games. The "FOMO game model."

What is The FOMO game model?

The "FOMO game model" takes advantage of players' FOMO, fear of missing out. Under the FOMO game model, games release exclusive limited-time content or events. There is usually no way to obtain the content or experience the events once they're gone, leading to people tuning in for the content. The content is limited time; players usually spend hours, days, and weeks grinding in the game to unlock the content before it's gone. On paper, this seems like a smart way to keep players playing but in reality, it draining sucks the fun out of gaming.

Splatoon 3

I put Splatoon 3 on my Top 5 best Nintendo Switch games, so it may be surprising to see it here. Don't get me wrong, this game is still amazing, but the updates have a major problem. The updates happen every 3 months and give us new gear, weapons, music, stages, and also "catalogs." The catalogs are basically rewards you get while playing the game. The catalog's rewards refresh every update, and there are limited ways to get the old catalog awards. On paper, this is a great way to keep players playing, but in practice, this is exhausting. You end up spending the first couple of months grinding out the catalog, getting burned out.

Nintendo Switch Sports

Nintendo Switch Sports should be THEE Nintendo Switch game, but unfortunately, it fails. This game is the latest installment of the Wii Sports series. Wii is an iconic game that made the Nintendo Wii one of the best-selling gaming consoles of all time, but Nintendo Switch Sports hasn't even reached close to this legacy. The FOMO strategy is even worse than Splatoon 3 with exclusive only lasting three weeks and then it's gone.

In the video above, Youtuber "Captain Astronaut" gives many criticisms of this game. About the updates, he claims, "They make all these intentionally dumb decisions to trick and coerce players with FOMO," which highlights the main problem with this game model.

Why I Hate this Game Model

This game mode encourages players to make tedious grinds in a short amount of time, which, as I mentioned, can easily cause burnout. This model is manipulative and takes advantage of players. It also sucks the fun out of gaming. Gaming is fun when I feel I need to play in order to get an item. I would much rather have gear that me months or even years to get, instead of staying up and night to get a hat that will be gone in 3 days. I would argue that having gear that's challenging to get is a more effective strategy for keeping players playing than having limited-time gear.

·‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥·

The FOMO game model is exploitative, tiring, and annoying, and we're hoping Nintendo drops it for the new their new era. That's all for today's blog gamers, That Vegetarian Gamer signing off.

[cleverhottubmiracle]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[norajworld]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link