#I think I flake out of things only like 10% of the time

[rowanhoney]

I actually can’t deal with unreliable people at all and i don’t want them around me anymore

[wild-jackalope]

summary :: the times things went wrong during sex! Featuring my favs; Gojo, Choso, Yuji, Megumi and Toge.

warning :: sex, awkward sex (it happens), safe sex!

note :: all characters are of age!

Satoru (the sound)

The two of you had been going for some time, your third round of the night. Satoru had done a particularly good job in making you utterly wet, which was now the cause of your chest threatening to burst with laughter.

Whenever Satoru buried himself deep in you, it caused an odd kind of squelching noise. You placed your hand over your mouth, giggling against it.

Satoru had come to a gradual halt, noticing your puffs weren’t the moaning kind. “You’re laughing?” He asked in a tone that conveyed he was judging your juvenile sense of humour.

“I’m sorry, it’s just funny! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the mood. Please continue.” It’d only taken a moment of silence before you laughed again, now joined by Satoru.

“Jeez, you’re stupid.”

Choso (too long)

It had been around 20 minutes, Choso was still panting against your neck with his dick buried deep inside you, rutting against your insides.

You’d already reached your climax 10 minutes ago, so now his dick felt like it was giving you an inside gut punch.

“Choso, you close?” You huffed, clawing at his back.

“Almost there, my love.”

You whined, staring up at the ceiling and debating how much longer you could keep up. You’d already tried clenching around him, but hadn’t seemed to help and making out only made him slow down to appreciate your kisses.

You tapped on his shoulder, sighing gratefully when he slowed to a stop.

“Can we take a break? I’m feeling a little raw.”

His eyes seemed to widen with the realisation and he slipped out of you. “I’m so sorry for not noticing.”

“No no, it’s fine baby just give me a little bit and I’ll be okay.”

Yuji (no protection)

You’d been making out for at least an hour, with Yuji’s body pushing you into his mattress and his hands cupping your rounded curves.

He’d barely even broken from your lips to pull out his desk drawer and feel around for a condom. However his hand failed to brush against any wrappers.

“Fuck, I forgot to buy my condoms.”

“Are you serious?”

The two of you were well horny by now, each reeling from the effects of arousal.

Yuji eyed you carefully, face flushed and expression needy. You leaned back into the bed defensively.

“We’re not doing it raw.” You stated. He exhaled sharply.

“I know, I know. Damn.”

Megumi (came quickly)

You straddled him, sliding carefully onto his cock before relaxing at his base. This was a position neither of you had tried before, both your excitement was palpable from the way his dick twitched and how your pussy gushed.

He breathed sharply, fingers digging into your thighs holding you still. He needed to pace himself, otherwise this would be over too soon.

Playfully, you clenched your walls around him.

“Shit.”

His hips bucked into you, humping out his orgasm. You felt warm cum pool into the condom, causing you to shiver. “Already?” You asked.

He only responded by palming his face, covering his embarrassment from you.

“You must really like me topping you.” You grinned, kissing the hand that covered his face.

“Shut up.”

Toge (poor communication)

“You want…”

“Bonito flakes.”

You pressed your lips into a thin line, face red and utterly flustered. “Crap. This is really hard. I can’t tell what you want me to do.”

He wanted you to relax and not overthink things.

“I don’t know where I can touch you. Do you even want me to touch you? Do you even want to have sex?” You asked, fretting that you had gotten the wrong idea.

Toge rolled his eyes. One would think him making out with you until your lips were red raw and touching every sensitive part of your body was a good indicator that yes, he did want to have sex. “Salmon.”

His answer only further worried you. So instead of attempting to talk, Toge took your hand and placed it on his crotch, letting you feel how hard he’d gotten.

You flushed.

“Right, I think I understand now..”

[inf3ct3dd]

loser!ellie headcanons pt.6

summary: ellieeee my chiquitita my baby my love

warnings: none :3

authors note: ik yall missed herrrr

masterlist. help palestine.🇵🇸

- ellie tries to be soooo cool and wear her cool people jackets (leather jackets, canvas, those carhartt hoodie jackets etc) but they’re very not helpful against the cold and you’ll be out with her and shes just SHIVERING the whole time…

- she’s obsessed w those ��general knowledge quizzes” on tiktok. that girl is a hoe for trivia she’s sitting on her bed at three in the morning saying her answers OUT LOUD while she watches them. she gets so upset when she gets literally any wrong… “man…im not a quiz master 🙁”

- ik in the games she walks around with her little journal and shit but i feel like shes definitely jus constantly typing shit in her notes app… random thoughts and jokes and shit that she most definitely shows you at the end of the day

- she barely ever baby talks to babies… she’ll go up to a baby and just be like “wassup dude” and have a full blown conversation with him while the babies just sitting there babbling and giggling at her

- thinks those “im nothing like yall” slideshows r so hilarious…. like you’ll be on the couch and she’s just giggling at her phone at paracetamol 😞

- references the most niche memes ever constantly and literally googles them to explain herself. you guys went camping and she said “boy you want hot dog” and you were like ????

- so strangely particular about how her stuff is arranged 😭 her desk looks like an absolute hot mess 90% of the time but SHE UNDERSTANDS IT and if u try and organize it for her she just puts it back how it was

- always says “guys” and “yall” when she’s talking to literally one person. and CHAT. she just constantly adds it into conversation like “chat how are you today”

- loves asking if things are “fire.” she’ll cook you something and you take a bite and shes like “is that shit fire???” she has to know

- obsessed with “i barely know her” jokes. the second someone says something ending in er shes like “rider??? i barely know her!!” and she’s laughing her ass off

- that girl will go HAM on some mac and cheese. but it can only be really good baked mac or the shitty kraft mac and cheese. she puts like- hella pepper and red chili flakes in it and eats it straight out of the pot 🔥 its always at like three in the morning and you just walk in the kitchen to her with a pot in her lap watching glee or some shit

- SPEAKING. OF. glee is most definitely one of her guilty pleasure shows…like shes rewatched it a million times and glee cast was one of her top artists on apple music wrapped

- shes an apple music user. send tweet.

- got yelled at by an old lady once cuz she picked her flowers out of her front yard and gave them to you

- when i tell you that girl goes ham on those tiny clementines… she’ll eat like 10 in one day and theres just PEELS. EVERYWHERE.

- also she fw grapes heavy. especially green grapes (shes a weird little freak red grapes are so much better)

- OBSESSED WITH THOSE BLIND BAG SHITS. especially mini brands oh my god she definitely has the whole lil grocery store set and she’s so obsessed with it.

- her house slippers are definitely just a pair of crocs with the fur inside and a bunch of stupid ass jibbits. she buys the mega packs off amazon and changes them whenever shes bored

- has SO MANY drafts on tiktok and they’re all her trying filters staring at the screen like 😯

- most annoying person to sleep next to ever . snoring, sleep talking, moving around CONSTANTLY and hitting you accidentally, the only way she sleeps peacefully is if you’re holding her or she’s holding you, otherwise shes insane

- weirdly into linguistics…that girl is using humongous words for no good reason just for fun and half the time she has no idea what they mean and when she googles them and shes right about the definition she does that little fist pump and “fuck yes”

- speaking of. that girl is SPEEDRUNNING DUOLINGO . she’s fluent in (bad spaniard) spanish from it, and just learns random languages for fun. you speak a different language? she’s learning it immediately. definitely leaves notes for you in random languages she learned and you have to pull out a translator to understand wtf shes talking about… she also sleep talks in spanish sometimes and its so funny

- loves trying out different recipes…like i said my girl is a CHEF she will be at home fucking up a salmon bake she made and making you homemade pho for dinner

- had a phase when she was younger when she was really into the la bamba movie and dressed like richie valens for two years

- also cried so hard when she watched selena with you…that girl was devastated 💔 every time she hears “dreaming of you” she almost sheds a tear

“when that yolanda bitch gets out of prison….im shooting someone . its obvious who its gonna be.”

- she definitely begged joel to buy her a gun for christmas and he would take her to the range all the time so she can SHOOT. that girl is goated at lazer tag she gets down…does not play

- thought that candy cigarettes were the coolest thing ever when she was little… everywhere she went she had one hanging out of the side of her mouth and shed hold them between her fingers like they do in movies. if you two go to a candy shop shes for sure buying a pack

[sai-int]

Ophan!reader going to johnnies (bf/fiance/hubby) parents to meet them, and is like immediately accepted by his massive family (it’s cliche but cute)

the worms in my brain did a happy dance when I read this omg, ps I listened to all too well 10 min version while writing this

>> fluff, established relationship, Johnny x reader

The jolliest of seasons had arrived with December’s first snowfall. Soft, fluffy flakes floated down, tapping against the windowpane before gathering in a thick, gentle layer over the ground. Outside, string lights stretched from one side of the street to the other, casting a warm glow that made the whole block twinkle like a scene from a holiday postcard. The snow caught in the lights, making it look as though the whole street was dusted in stardust, each flake reflecting the winter wonderland that was forming.

Inside, the cozy warmth made the contrast even sweeter.

You and Johnny were nestled on the couch, wrapped up in each other's warmth as you watched the snow drift quietly outside. The low hum of the TV and the soft crackle of the fireplace were the only sounds in the room, creating a comforting, blissful silence. His warmth beside you, the steady rise and fall of his chest, made you feel safe and perfectly content despite the winter chill just beyond the walls.

"Edinburgh's beautiful this time of year, ya know?" Johnny murmured softly in your ear, his voice a gentle warmth against your skin. Your back was snugly pressed against his chest, the thick blanket you’d crocheted wrapped around the both of you, adding to the cozy cocoon.

"Ah was thinkin'," he continued, his tone a blend of tenderness and hope, "since ah ken how ye get around these times… maybe ye should come with me this year… meet my mam, my family."

You knew what he meant. Christmas. Family, joy, love—the things you’d always kept at a distance. But with Johnny, Christmas had started to feel like something magical, like a season worth celebrating.

"You think so?" you asked, turning to meet his gaze. His cerulean eyes were filled with warmth and certainty, a soft glow in the firelight that made your heart skip.

"Aye, lassie." he whispered, his voice sure and steady, wrapping you in a warmth that reached deeper than the blanket around you both.

By the end of that night, plane tickets were purchased, dates were set, and his family was well informed.

...

It was Christmas Eve, and you and Johnny were pulling into his mother’s driveway. As he parked, you glanced over at him, nerves fluttering in your chest. You worried about what his family might think, unsure of what to expect, how to act—and especially not feeling ready to celebrate Christmas.

You hadn’t known what to get anyone, or even what made a good Christmas gift, but Johnny had guided you through it. What was meant to be a quick trip to Target turned into two hours, $500, and a sack of gifts hefty enough to rival Santa’s.

Sensing your unease, Johnny turned to you, his eyes meeting yours with that familiar warmth. He placed his hand over yours, his steady touch calming the anxious knot in your stomach.

"They’re goin' tae love ye, Bon. Promise," he murmured reassuringly, his voice soft yet certain.

You nodded, exhaling a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding. When Johnny saw that you were okay, he flashed you a reassuring smile and stepped out of the car, circling around to open your door. He pulled the massive sack of gifts from the trunk, giving it an amused look.

“Ah think ye overdid it, lass,” he chuckled, his smile so warm it felt like it could bring world peace.

Your cheeks flushed, wondering if maybe you had overdone it. You’d picked out gifts for everyone expected tonight—his parents, grandparents, three sisters, two brothers, and all six nieces and nephews.

“I just hope they like the gifts…” you murmured as he took your hand, balancing the sack over his other shoulder.

The door opened to reveal a petite woman who could only be Johnny’s mother. She had the same deep blue eyes, filled with that unmistakable kindness and warmth.

“Seven hells! Johnny, where ye been hidin' ‘er? Right bonnie lass, ain’t she?” his mother exclaimed, grinning as she stepped aside to welcome you both inside.

“Don' go scarin' 'er away no', Ma,” Johnny laughed, placing a gentle hand on the small of your back as your cheeks flushed. His mother shut the door behind you, mumbling something about keeping the house warm.

The moment Johnny spoke, a lively hum broke out from the living room, where nearly every face you’d bought gifts for was gathered. You braced yourself, expecting everyone to greet Johnny first while you stood awkwardly in the background, but reality couldn’t have been further from that.

Small children, all under ten, dashed over and hugged your legs as three beautiful women (Johnny’s sisters, you assumed) moved to embrace you, pressing warm kisses to your cheeks. They immediately pulled you into the family circle, showering you with questions and heartfelt compliments. It was as if Johnny wasn't even there.

Johnny’s mother could have left the door wide open, letting the winter winds blow through and settle into the bones of the house, and still, nothing could have cooled the warmth spreading through your heart.

mlist

[arsenal-womens-1]

I see you in my reflection part 2

Tw: guns school shooting death blood self harm description of death murder panic attack if there’s any I’ve missed sorry

“The bravest thing I ever did was continue my life when I wanted to die.” — Juliette Lewis

“If you love someone, you say it. You say it right then, out loud. Otherwise, the moment just passes you by.” — Mark Sloan

Six hours later, you are on your way back to Leah's. It was just going to be Beth, Viv, you, and Leah having dinner tonight after you’re planning on watching a movie called *The Fallout*. You have no clue what it’s about, but it’s apparently meant to be good. It’s cold outside, not too cold, but still cold. The car comes to a stop. Finally, you get out of the car and run to the door. Leah walks up the stairs as slowly as possible, finally opening the door. You run in, running straight to the kitchen. Leah had agreed to let you help with dinner. It’s called marry me chicken. It takes about 45 minutes to cook.

“Right, get all the ingredients out, and we can start cooking,” Leah says, pulling out all the ingredients: 30 g of plain flour, 4 chicken breasts, 125 g sundried tomatoes in oil (drained and roughly chopped), 3 tbsp oil (reserved), 1 red onion (finely chopped), 3 garlic cloves (crushed or finely grated), ½ - 1 tsp chili flakes (to taste), 2-3 thyme or oregano sprigs (leaves picked), or 1 tsp mixed dried herbs, 150 ml of double cream, 250 ml of chicken stock, 35 g parmesan (grated), 8-10 basil leaves (torn), and lemon wedges.

Halfway through making it, there is a knock at the door before Leah can say anything. You run to the door. Beth and Viv are just standing there. “Come in,” you say, taking off their shoes and coats. You all walk back into the kitchen where Leah is still doing stuff for the food. “How was media day?” You just shrug your shoulders at that.

“Boring, mainly they all ask the same question, just in a different way,” you reply. Beth and Vivian just shake their heads. You have said multiple times that you don’t like media days. This is only the second one you’ve done, but you still have the same opinion: “Yeah, they do that a lot apart from a few, and since you couldn’t do any work today, you need to do a bit more tomorrow.” The only downside of living with Beth and Vivian is that they make you do schoolwork. It’s the most boring thing.“What if I don’t do any more schoolwork?” you ask.

Viv loses it at your shoes, saying that no matter what you are doing, the work is still there.

You just accept your fate. “Can someone call my phone? I’ve lost it. It’s aging.” Leah holds your phone up and says, “Thank you.” Opening your phone, there is a text from your dad.

Dad:

“Hey kid, I know we haven’t spoken in a bit, but I thought I would text you and see how you are doing. Also, Max and Missy want to know if you are going to be home this summer for their birthday.”

You:

“Hey Dad, I’m doing good. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home this summer, but tell Max and Missy that I miss them and I wish I could be there, but I can’t. I’ll send them presents.”

Dad:

“It’s okay, kid. You don’t have to apologize. I know why you don’t want to come back, but they wanted to know if you were able to come. It’s good to hear that you’re doing well. I have to go. The twins need to be dropped off at your grandma’s house.”

You:

“I’ll text you later. I love you too.”

“Who are you texting?” Leah asks as she finishes cooking.

“My dad was asking if I was going home this summer.” In the time the team had, knowing you’ve only ever said that you lived in America, you dodged any other questions, so at one point they all just left it, seeing that you didn’t want to talk about it before you got there. “Are you going home this summer?” they asked.

“No, I think I’m just going to go to another country,” you told them.

They all nodded. “What country are you thinking of going to?”

You had thought about this a lot. “I was thinking Norway, Sweden, Spain, or the Netherlands. I’ve always wanted to go to those countries.” When you said “Netherlands,” Viv smiled a bit for the next 45 minutes. You all talked for 20 minutes before the food was done. It was time for the movie.

The movie starts with a girl sitting on the toilet. Three minutes later, she walks to the bathroom. Viv and Beth are sitting next to each other, and Leah is in the middle. On the end, exactly seven minutes in, it sounds like a door banging and screaming more. It feels like your heart is about to pound out of your chest. A lump in your throat starts to form.

Blood everywhere, screaming, bullets.

“I can’t breathe.” The second you say that, all three of them are beside you. Vivian lifts you up and places you in her lap. “Copy my breathing pattern.”

“Y/N, I’m scared.” The door slams open.

“They didn’t do anything wrong; it should have been me.” Your breathing isn’t slowing down. “They didn’t deserve it; we were just kids.” Beth is now standing behind you, kind of trapping you like a burrito. “Copy my breathing, kid.” You try your best to copy her breathing, eventually doing so.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Your head is still on Vivian’s chest.

“I’m a twin… was a twin. The shock on their faces was something. We were identical. Lucy was 1 minute and 25 seconds older than me. She always would use that or say it was the best time of her life.” Tears were falling down your face. The girls said nothing, so you continued. “When we were 4, we moved from California to New York. Our next-door neighbors had a girl our age. Her name was Lily. She had green eyes, brown hair, and was a little bit taller than us. We became inseparable. We were in the same class. It was grade 6; we were in 4th period English with Miss Cooper. We sat at the back of her class.”

“Today we are learning about Romeo and Juliet.” Lily is to the left of you, and Lucy is to the right. “Lily, give me a pencil; I’ve forgotten mine again.”

“We were 12 minutes into the class when the first shouts could be heard two doors down from us. The screams for help were horrifying. We did everything they said to do. He was down with that class fast. He moved to the one next to us. There was a door connecting both classrooms together. We didn’t barricade it.”

The sound of the door crashing open startles everyone. Before anyone can do anything, he’s shooting randomly all over, and in 2 minutes, he’s gone.

“Lily was on the ground. She was in a pool of blood. He shot her 6 times; 2 of them hit her left lung. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was no use. Her lungs were filling up with blood. Her beautiful face was covered in blood. She was scared. I could tell because of the way her eyes looked. She would get that look when she was scared. Lucy laid her head on my shoulder. She had been shot once, between her chest and shoulder. I remember Lily’s eyes starting to shut. I remember saying, ‘Come on, Lily, keep your eyes open for me. Keep them open.’ I remember her last words so clearly: ‘Y/N, it’s okay. It’s okay. Go be a superstar, win all the trophies. Don’t give up on your dream.’ There was another round of shots. The color in her eyes was gone. She was gone.”

“No, no, no, Lily, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.” Armed police rush through the door. “Everyone show hands.”

“I don’t really remember much about how I got from the classroom to the ambulance. I remember the paramedic saying that I had been shot 3 times. I didn’t even know that I had been shot. I was in shock. I remember the sirens. I remember them asking questions, getting wheeled into the ER. I was next to Lucy. I remember her heart monitor. I didn’t know what it meant except that she was alive. Within 2 minutes of being there, she flatlined. They tried to get her back, but they couldn’t. 14:25 was her time of death. A piece of the bullet had made its way to her heart. They were dead, and I wasn’t. After that, I turned to self-harm and other things. I wanted to be with them. It wasn’t until about 2 months after it all that it sank in that I had lost my twin sister and my first love in the same day

[crow-stars]

❝TAKE A BITE, DON'T BE SHY!❞

❦summary; trying new things is always encouraged, especially by lilia, though that doesn't extend to that fae's cooking... ♪the characters in this story; gn!reader, lilia vanrouge ✎word count; 992 ❀what do the ghosts say?; ambiguous, lilia cooks, lilia discovers spicy foods, reader is lilia's victim taste tester, saved by the bell (literally) ☛the author's notes; sebek likers are gonna like tomorrow i think ☪look at the catalogue?

Lilia liked to cook, nobody could deny that. And, of course, everyone but Lilia knew not to let him within several feet within a stove. They can’t manage to stop him all the time and Lilia is always coming across new recipes and always wanting to put a spin on it. 

Today was one of those fateful days, where Lilia has decided to take up the apron and try a new recipe. 

And you were, unfortunately, chosen as Lilia’s taste tester. Well, you were more so the chosen sacrifice by the other dormmates, who all conveniently left the dorm around the time Lilia had planned to begin cooking. And so, here you were, sitting in the Diasomnia kitchen, a strained smile on your face as Lilia hums, walking around the kitchen and putting things together. 

The recipe that Lilia wanted to make was spicy cookies and, just from what you were seeing, it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight. You watched in horror at the amount of peppers and pepper flakes Lilia put into the bowl. It almost made your tongue burn seeing just the amount. Not to mention that your eyes were beginning to tear up as well even when you were as far as you could possibly be from the bowl Lilia was using. 

 The worst part of it all was that Lilia seemed unaffected, carrying on as normal. One would expect, with the amount of peppers and pepper flakes in the bowl, you would be feeling the effects of the capsaicin, but not Lilia. Oh no, he was practically putting his face into the bowl, glaring at the amount before apparently deciding that the monstrous amount of powder in the bowl wasn’t enough for the batch Lilia wanted to make. And he said he wanted to make enough for the whole dorm.

Eventually, thankfully, Lilia decided that enough was enough and began the process of mixing. That was... it was certainly an experience that one wouldn’t want to see again. There was no grace, no rhythm, no process to how Lilia mixed the dough, if you could call it that. It looked more akin to a sludge, yet also a slime, but also looking like it was more powder than anything else. You don’t even think he put any sugar in it, even though they were supposed to be cookies. Or anything besides that tear inducing concoction of mixed spices. It definitely wasn’t something you’d want to even think of consuming and it most definitely wasn’t supposed to be that color. You couldn’t even find the proper words to describe the hellish color of it, no mortal words could dare to describe.

“Um... Lilia, aren’t you going to add sugar or something..?”

Lilia looked up from where he was stirring, a wide grin on his lips. He had some flour covering his cheeks, that sparkle in his eyes that he got when excited. It would have been a memorable sight if not for the fact he was mixing your demise.

“Hm? Oh, no, no! They’re supposed to be spicy cookies! So that means that if I add the sugar, it might not be as spicy.” 

That did not settle well for you and Lilia resumed his stirring. 

Then, he began making balls out of the dough, varying in sizes and put them on the parchment paper. They weren’t keeping the shape intended, the ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients unbalanced and making the dough fall apart into a clumpy mess. Lilia at the very least tried to get them to stay together before he gave up and left them as is. 

The worst part of it all was watching Lilia put it in the oven. He put the oven at 500 degrees, set to bake for 10 minutes. You half expected Diasomnia to burn down, but surprisingly, and thankfully, it didn’t. Of course, that seemed like the only good outcome to this whole debacle, as Lilia was taking his man-made horror out of the oven and putting it onto the counter to cool off. 

It looked disgusting, to say the least. It wasn’t even in the shape of cookies, but lumps of charcoal, small specks of red peeking out, but otherwise looked as hard as a rock. 

“Alright, it’s ready for eating!” 

Oh, right. You were supposed to be the taste tester. Oh no.

This was when you sat up in attention, eyes wide and a shot of panic ran through your body. Lilia was already approaching you with one of his cookies in hand. You began to panic, he was already holding it out to you, an expectant smile on his face as he awaits for you to take it. 

“Aha... um...” 

“What, are you shy? Would you like me to feed it to you instead?” Lilia chuckles in almost amusement as he decides for you and begins to come closer to you. He has one hand holding the monstrosity and the other under it so no crumbs will fall onto the floor. And the smell is vile up close, a horrible mix of a burnt smell mixed with the smell of peppers tenfold and somehow a sweet undertone. It makes you almost gag, stomach churning as the smell invades your senses. 

But then, like a savior, your phone manages to ring, your reminder that class was going to start soon. You shoot up from your seat and plaster an apologetic smile on your lips. 

“It’s almost time for me to go to class! I should get going! Like— Right now!” You gather your things quickly enough before Lilia has enough time to answer. “Sorry I couldn’t try your cookies, bye!” 

You’re quick to make your escape, leaving the Diasomnia dorm without another word. It leaves Lilia sitting with the ‘cookie’ in his hands. He stares at it for a second before taking a bite out of it and humming in thought.

“Hmm... more peppers perhaps?”

[jowrites]

Otherwordly - Jake Sim Drabble

No warnings, just fluff! Jake x Reader

Inspired by this song

You felt the chill run down your spine, making you wake up from your slumber. You noticed the moonlight was the only light illuminating the room, and saw the door to the outside was open. You turned over on your side and found the spot beside you empty. He must have gotten up, or maybe he just couldn’t sleep. You got up and found a robe beside your bed and put it over your naked body, very convenient but you knew you probably didn’t even need it but the chill of the night was getting to you.

You saw his figure sitting down along the water, his legs resting in it as he seemed to be focusing on something in his hand. You didn’t know what it was, but you had a hunch. You quietly walked up behind your lover, rubbing his back before sitting beside him. You then realized why it was so cold as you stared at the snow falling in front of your eyes. The water was steaming and you couldn’t help but take your robe off and dip into the warm water. Your body immediately relaxed.

“Can’t sleep?” you asked, still staring ahead at the snow, walking over to the edge and holding your hand out as you watched the white flakes melt on your skin.

“No, not really. I just have been thinking a lot. Did I wake you?” Jake admired your form, smiling to himself as you looked like a kid seeing snow for the first time. He just loved you so much.

“About what? And no, just when you’re not with me I can tell and it makes me uneasy,” you said looking back at him and saw him fiddle with whatever, putting it out of your sight. 

“Sorry, love. You look absolutely divine right now. I almost feel like it’s a crime to be looking at you,” he complimented, feeling loss for words as you were glowing from the moonlight. How your skin was glistening from the water, how your nipples perked from the cold as you stood in the water. You smiled at him holding out your hand wanting him to join you. 

He quickly removed his boxers and entered the water, reaching out for your waist and pulling you to his body.

“You’re so out of this world, how did I get so lucky?” he whispered more to himself but you chuckled. You took one of his hands in yours and admired it, loving his hands always seemed to fit yours even if they were 10 times bigger. You studied them, just how perfect he fit you always. How perfect he was for you.

“Marry me.”

And that was the question you figured he had been conflicted on the past 2 weeks. When would he ask you? You wondered when he would do it, but you figured he was just waiting for the right time and this trip to Japan was the perfect time to do so. Jake had been waiting for months to ask you. Times when he thought he would ask always seemed different and when plans would cancel or things would come up, he got frustrated with the timing and just decided to wait. When you suggested going to Japan for a couple weeks to destress and get away from everything, he knew there would be a perfect moment. And that moment was now.

“Yes, a thousand yeses and then more,” you smiled at him. He stared deep into your eyes and in that moment he knew you understood everything he wanted to say and then more. He didn’t have to say anything because just his eyes always told you how much he loved you. 

He got out of your grasp, turning around and reaching for the small box he’s been hiding. He came back and opened it revealing the most beautiful opal ring, it shining perfectly in the moonlight. He took it out and took your hand and placed the ring on your finger. He lifted it up to his lips and stared into his eyes as he kissed your fingers over and over again.

“I have been waiting for this moment for years. Thank you for making me the happiest man on this planet. I am going to love and care for you for the rest of your existence. Please, always count on me, always lean on me, I’ll always be here to cherish you. I love you, so much, Y/N,” He wiped a tear from your eye as you leaned your forehead on his, nodding and agreeing silently. 

But you didn't need to hear me

'Cause you were supraluminal

Knew me without an uttered word

You always seemed to know me

[noturlondonboy]

Hi, hello I’m really sorry for all the hate you’re getting for autistic! Yelena, she’s so near and dear to my heart especially cus she reminds me so much of me.

Thank you so much for responding to my last two asks on autistic! Yelena with a literal wall of text, it makes me happy every time.

I would love it if you wrote more, specifically to spite the haters but also because I’m a self indulgent little shit.

Don’t let the hate get to you <3

Ps: since you asked for a silly little way to recognize me, we’re actually mutuals on this site but I’m terrified of social interaction and being judged so if it’s cool I’d just go by: R :)

I love your writing

-R :)

Hi anon!! Welcome back <3 thank you so much for the love, this girl means so much to me and I’m glad she’s important to others, too. Life has been stressing me tf OUT recently and popping into my inbox to find new asks about Autistic!Yelena and Genderqueer!Kate really helps me feel better for a small time.

Responding with a wall of text is one of my favorite things! And yknow what, here’s some more :)

-I’ve been thinking about just a soft day with Autistic!Yelena recently

-there’s no plans, there’s no stress, no pressure, no expectations

-she sleeps in until like 10, which is insane for her. Kate wakes up before her even, even more unheard of- she’s quiet and soft when she gets out of bed, just kissing Yelena’s nose and then going to the kitchen to make breakfast

-their missions have been more and more demanding recently, and Yelena’s been masking harder than usual in order to cope with it. Buuuut, one problem… the harder the mask, the harder the crash

-so yeah. She crashes.

-she’s kinda just all fuzzy brained the whole day, and for the first couple hours of being awake, speaking is an absolute no. Kate has been helping her learn ASL, and she prefers to communicate that way when she goes nonverbal, so their conversation over breakfast is the occasional sleepy hand motion

-miss girl needs to sleep a lot, but she’s horrible at naps. When her brain is taking a day to recalibrate, that’s when Kate does her best to get her to rest during the regular day time hours. Usually it takes a hot shower (she hates hot baths and actually prefers ice ones) and some cuddles under a weighted blanket and maybe some doggy pillows and a snack to get her sleepy and calm enough

-I wouldn’t say that Yelena experiences any age regression per se, but she definitely prefers simpler foods that remind her of being a kid again when she’s feeling fuzzy. Macaroni and cheese is already a given, but we’re busting out the dinosaur chicken nuggets and chocolate milk too (also Kate just already has these things stocked up for herself because she’s just like me)

-clothing is important and needs to be paid attention to. In a good headspace, Yelena can usually throw on whatever, because she’s already curated her wardrobe to always be comfortable. No tags, to bumpy seams, certain textures completely removed, etc. That being said, sometimes her skin feels like it’s literally on fire, and honestly it would feel better to go completely naked if she couldn’t feel the ac and the sun on her skin. Kate helps her pick out something really simple and loose, and Yelena steals a pair of her boxers, because she absolutely adores how soft they are, even if they’re a little tight on her hips and stomach

-normally she prefers to have her nails painted, but when she’s feeling particularly fuzzy and sensitive, nail polish more often ends up scratched off. Kate finds some cheap nail polish that comes off easily in a color that Yelena only mostly likes so that she won’t feel bad about removing it 30 minutes after it finishes drying. Sometimes she spends a few hours just applying and reapplying it after it flakes away because it gives her brain something to focus on, and is minorly destructive in a fun way that doesn’t hurt anything (Kate always makes sure they have a spa day later that week if they can so that Yelena has a chance to fix her nails back up how she likes them)

-this girl is secretly the BIGGEST fucking cuddler istg. Oh ho ho, you thought Kate was clingy? Wait till Yelena is grumpy and tired and then bam, tiny blonde Russian koala baby

-she’s my everything :,))

[marimayscarlett]

I know it's by now an exhausted topic but I wasn't around for that era so hopefully you can enlighten me about Richard's wedding. From the few photos that I've seen I'm so confused. It looked a beach wedding but then also very public? Lots of random people and then in one photo there was a whole film crew? Not like wedding videographer but a boom guy and a huge shoulder camera..? Also, do we know where it was? New York? And lastly, did only Till attended? I know it was a rough time for the band and maybe emotions were too high for some to attend but idk. Richard said he proposed after just 3 days so I always thought the wedding followed very soon after.

Hi 👋

I also wasn't really around for this era, since Richard married when I was about 5 years old, but I try my best to gather the information I have 😌

First of all, here's an article about the wedding by the German magazine Bravo including an English translation:

Caron and Richard married on the 29th of October 1999 and indeed had a beach wedding at the Montauk Beach in Long Island, New York. Since Caron is jewish, they had a jewish ceremony performed by a rabbi and Richard composed the music for said ceremony - apparently quite sad music, of which he said he maybe subconsciously foreshadowed some events in his marriage 👀 (mentioned here around the 10 minute mark).

The wedding was somewhat big with about 100 guests in attendance (so I guess the 'random' people you recognised were just guests), and except for Flake, everyone of the band attend with Till being Richard's best man. I think the 'rough time' for the band only started after the wedding, since Richard left New York three days after the ceremony to work on a new Rammstein album which turned out to be the 'Mutter' record. We have to be careful not to make the infamous 'Mutter era' responsible for everything we see in this time period and apparently, everyone was still quite friendly with each other here 😊 I could be totally wrong, but I don't quite think the conflicts where already there/that high as they turned out to be later.

And wedding movies were a thing back then, so maybe that's the reason for the camera man?

Caron and Richard seemingly were introduced to each other in the summer of 1998, other sources state they dated for 9 months before the wedding. Richard took Caron's name and used the double name Kruspe-Bernstein until their divorce was finalised in I think 2005.

Here are some pictures of the ceremony, including the bride and groom, Khira Li and Margaux:

[amiserableseriesofevents]

Wherever you find love (it feels like Christmas)

24 Clegan Christmas drabbles for 24 days!

Prompt from here (but randomized)

[Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] [Day 8] [Day 9] [Day 10] [Day 11] [Day 12] [Day 13] [Day 14]

[Read on AO3]

Day 15: Snowman

Post-war AU, wc 1149

It’s been snowing for days, a thick white layer covering the streets and making it absolutely impossible to drive no matter how often the plowers tried to clean, so Gale’s been forced to do his work from home instead of the University.

It’s not something he’s mad about, to be honest: he can wake up a little later and enjoy his breakfast in total relaxation, reading the newspaper and eating something more than just toasted bread. He can forgo his usual business clothes and just wear wool pants and warm sweaters, possibly John’s so the sleeves cover his hands for an extra dose of coziness, and sit in his little office all day without having to face the icy slaps of wind or the wetness of the snow. It’s perfectly peaceful — most of the time.

Until it isn’t.

“Buck! Buck!”

Gale barely has the time to sigh in defeat before John bursts running in the room with an excited smile on his face. “It stopped snowing!” He exclaims pointing out the window; Gale didn’t notice, but the flurry of soft flakes has indeed stopped.

“Let’s go out! Take a walk, make some snow angels, let’s do something!” John continues, pleading with what Gale could only describe as his best puppy eyes. He knows it’s been hard for John to stay inside for days, he doesn’t fare well in captivity as they’ve discovered during the war; this time they were safe, together without the fear of being discovered and killed, and they spent most of their time just existing in the same room, Gale studying and John reading, or cuddling, or dozing off in their bed after some good old “lovemaking to warm up” as John calls it, but he should have known John’s itchiness to go out would come back the exact moment the weather got better.

“I have to finish this,” Gale says apologetic. “Can you wait like an hour?”

“But what if it picks up again? It’s not done yet, the sky’s still snow colored,” John protests. “C’mon Buck, just a little walk, a few miles down the road!” He adds stepping closer until he’s crowding Gale against the backrest of his chair. “And then if you get really, really cold I can warm you up again,” he says with a knowing grin.

Usually this would be enough for Gale to cave, he does love being warmed up by John’s body that seemingly never runs out of heat not even when he’s been walking in the snow. But he really, really has to finish this project today or things will start to pile up and he’ll have to spend Christmas Day buried in his office. So he reluctantly moves his chair back to put some distance between John and himself. “I’m sorry, I have to finish this. I promise you it won’t take me more than one hour and if when I’m done it’s snowing again, I’ll make it up to you the way you like,” he says, softly squeezing John’s arms — the sweater he’s wearing is particularly soft, Gale makes a mental note to steal it from him as soon as possible.

“But what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” John insists, his large hand coming to cover Gale’s on his arm. “I’m bored, Buck! So bored!” He says leaning closer again, until the tip of his nose can almost touch Gale’s. He’s using all his ammunition and it really breaks Gale’s heart that he has to say no, but after a small moment of hesitation he pulls back again.

“Clean our driveway?” He tries: it’s fresh air and physical labor, something John likes. A bit useless, if it starts snowing again as he’s forecasting, but Gale thinks it’s a good compromise.

John huffs in disappointment, pulling back. “Fine, I’ll clean the driveway. But if the sky stays clear, in one hour I’m gonna barge back in here and carry you outside by force. Deal?”

“Don't count on it,” Gale answers with a smile, then sends John away with a flick of his hand. The other huffs and stomps away, leaving the door to Gale’s door ajar just to mess with him.

Focusing back on his work Gale hears him walk around the house for a while, probably putting on his winter gear, then the front door closes and he can feel peace returning to the house for a while. John gets back inside a few times but he never goes to bother Gale, which he’s grateful for.

Until a sudden thud to his office’s window startles him, almost making him draw a line across the paper he’s been writing. He turns to the window and sees John on the other side, all red in the face and smiling full of childlike wonder; he gestures for Gale to come out, no matter how many times Gale shakes his head and points back to his papers.

“I have to finish here!”

“Just a minute!” John’s answer comes muffled by the glass but he doesn’t seem intent on letting go so with a sigh Gale stands up and exits the office. He retrieves his winter jacket and boots and steps out, regretting it immediately when an icy gust of wind sneaks inside the jacket from his bare neck — where is his fucking scarf when he needs it?

John is standing in the corner of their front yard, hiding something behind his tall frame. He gestures for Gale to come closer but he shakes his head.

“I’m not gonna walk into the snow with these pants, John!” He says. The yard and driveway are still completely covered in snow, which makes him wonder what John has been doing.

Not deterred by Gale’s lack of enthusiasm — not that he ever is — John steps to the side and proudly presents him his creation: a snowman, tall and lumpy, with a crooked carrot for its nose and what looks like buttons for eyes, and a mop of golden tinsel on his head Gale supposes should be its hair. “Who’s that?” He asks, even if he thinks he already knows the answer.

John’s grin widens. “Why, that’s my new best friend Buck! I told him, you know you look just like an old pal of mine from the war, one who used to be fun and now just sits in his office all the time leaving me here all alone and bored,” he says, a hand clutching his heart for he dramatics.

“Oh so that’s your normal pickup line, I guess,” Gale shoots back. “Silly me, thinking what we had was special…”

John starts laughing at that, and Gale can’t help but chuckle as well in response. Until he takes a better look at Buck the snowman and clocks what’s wrapped about his snowman neck — his wet and cold snowman neck.

He gasps in sudden outrage. “Is that my fucking scarf?!”

[butmakeitgayblog]

Guten tag! I was just wondering, in your clexa au’s minus the canon one, what are each of Clarke and Lexas lockscreen?

Ooo German that's so fun 😀 I always think it's so mind blowing finding out where people are from all over the world. It's surreal, in a wonderful way 💕

Ok so, I thought a lot about this

MBFW: depends on when you were to look at it. If we're talking Lexa in the friendship era, generally it's a picture of whatever was the last time they were together, so generally a holiday photo or a pic of them on some beach: heads pressed together and sunglasses perfectly dipped to "make it fashion💅". Maybe the occasional stolen pic of Clarke napping on her chest. Ya know. Totally normal friend things... If we're talking marriage era, then it's always a family picture. A selfie style shot with Clarke and the kids flaked out on the couch for movie night in the background. A Griffin-Woods gang lineup of them hanging out by the pool on a summer day. Everybody in matching reindeer pajamas, standing in front of their Christmas tree loaded with presents. A very bizarre tablue of characters depicting everyone dressed up for trick-or-treating. That kind of thing. Lexa loves keeping stuff like that as her lockscreen cuz not only can she look at them any time she has to travel, but it's an excellent excuse to show off her little family so easily 😌

For Clarke, it is always Lexa. Always. Friendship era, family era, whatever. It's Lexa in some shape or form. Their kids always have a place on her homescreen, but Lexa has her lockscreen all to her own. That's her wife and her best friend in the entire world, always has been. That's her other half, and she had to spend an obnoxiously long time waiting for her, so she's damn well gonna look at that face any time she feels like it 😤

AWTR: Lexa had a flip phone because she was an 85 year old woman stuck in a 23 year old's body 🥴

Clarke keeps one of their wedding reception photos as it for a long while. A candid moment Monty had snapped when Clarke was laughing at something just out of frame, but all Lexa had eyes for was her. She looked happy. And very much in love with Clarke, for some inexplicable reason. They have classier ones from that day, but Clarke liked that one in particular a lot. For awhile after that it was the picture Raven took of them together that night when they'd hung out with the delinquents, when Lexa had held her and kissed her neck as a tipsy Clarke just relished in the closeness. Breathing in the way Lexa's hair smelled like shampoo and autumn bonfire smoke. Clarke liked that one too, enough that it gets framed and hung up in her house wherever she goes. But as time goes on she does evenly decide it's ok to choose other things. Pictures of art pieces that move her mostly, sometimes snapshots from her travels.

Demon au: Canot stress enough how little neither of them would care lol. If anything, Lexa would put something entirely inappropriate and private enough to have a once-human Clarke turning 10 shades of red. But as it is, Clarke would just find her ridiculous girlfriend funny and just so fucking Lexa, and thus try to give her something sinfully new to change it too next 😏

Cruel Intentions: they're disgusting. It's all very sappy. Always pictures of them kissing, if them wrapped up in each other's arms, of them draped over each other in bed. They have no filter and no fucks to give. But that's also how Clarke always knows if Lexa is annoyed with her about something and just not talking about it. Because if she sees her wife has replaced her with that godless chicken she pretends is a cat, she knows she's fucked up somewhere.

CoA: Clarke is functionally allergic to caring about her phone. She's busy, she works on computers a decent amount and spends her days with tiny patients, so when she's home she just wants to be home. Her phone is like... a tool in her mind. It's just the square in her pocket that she googles actors names on and that Raven uses to harrass her through text messages and that she can use to track down her wife around the hospital to see of she's free to go to lunch. So it's pretty much the same picture of them together on her couch (and the one of Lexa stretched out naked and asleep in their bed as the wallpaper) for several years until the women in her life start giving her shit for never changing it, and then it gets replaced by a new one of Lexa or both of them. Rinse and repeat every few years when she gets bored of hearing about it.

Lexa changes hers too often to narrow it down. Anything that feels fun in the moment. A pretty landscape. Clarke's face. A waterfall they saw on vacation. Clarke's face. A piece of architecture or art that makes her feel something. Clarke's face and a tasteful hint of her breasts. Her interests vary, you understand. She contains multitudes.

[my-castles-crumbling]

I am sorry if you only wanted one or two questions answered.

You don't need to read.

1 A wolfstar microfic, flake.

2 since my favorite is a microfic I will go with focus on me first chapter, because I absolutely love model/photographer fics and was excited to start

3 James. I think you write him good. I love your writing of Sirius and regulus too, but they feel off when you are writing siblings, and I don't mean it in a bad way! They are my favorites and you portray them great, I just think you write romantic relationships better so I prefer to read james when you write it!

4 my favorite is jegulus, because in most fics they start bad, and I love how someone can love you despite everything happened even if it's only in stories (I also kin regulus so it's a factor too) {tbh I love reading wolfstar as much, it's hard to decide, I am always ready for a friend's to lovers story because it feels more emotion (fingers crossed)}

5 I am guilty, but clandestine sadly. I am just afraid to start, because I kin regulus as I said, and I relate to him in experience case too (being the youngest, being the perfect kid, having shitty parents, wanting to be trans but can't because of family and country, etc etc) and I think a long fic that shows emotions I probably felt too might trigger? Maybe? I will read it when I move out bc I want to be in a place I can feel calm.

6 any time Sirius or regulus was insecure in any fic. Because damn I related that too. Not only in looks wise but being a great person vise. I can quote a few lol

7 it will be fun but yet another microfic. I send an anon requesting something about amortantia, and you actually write it and I think I cried. Because I feel love, but not lust, and I had to stop hoping for a romantic relationship bc people except intimate things after some point, and i have more plotonical love in my life, with my brothers etc, so it felt so nice to read them!

8 that it's easy to read. Yet has a lot of effects. I have attention deficit disorder or whatever that's called in English, and while reading your fics it doesn't bore me and I usually finish them! The fact you write a lot of microfics also help, they are enjoyable and I love them as much as long stories!

9 the ongoing rose killer fic, I forget it's name. I don't read rose killer much, I don't like to read them as a pairing most of the time, but I enjoy it when you write it so I said fuck it and started reading something unfinished for the first time- I enjoyed it!

10 I said it actually, rose killer. I didn't ship them, with anyone else either, I just thought of them as a background pairing, I didn't like any ship that includes them, but now I can read them as a main pairing too sometimes, progress!

11 a pure prongsfoot and moonwater friendship, like emotional one.

12 almost all the microfics since I am bored and enjoy reading things over and over again because reading something I know about feels safe (I love spoilers bc of this) but if I need to say something with more than 1 k the art of gift giving or of fire whiskey and stupid speeches maybe . They were great.

13 yes lol my friend who kin Pandora, she isn't interested in reading fics too much, sadly. Also my queen (my desk mate) who doesn't even know harry Potter. We just vent about things we love knowing we don't know anything what the other says since we are in different fandoms, well-

14 sorry not sorry, again, any rose killer fics, guilty lol- and the art of gift giving, since I normally hate idiots in love trope

15 first of all do you think clandestine would trigger me? I read other things you write with trans regulus but I dunno. And do you listen while you write? How you write Remus? Like what is his aesthetic/vibe in your head, and what something you don't like about it when he has a certain personality trait- ( for example I don't like it when people make Sirius irresponsible completely because he is oldest and received a lot of abuse and tried to protect regulus in my eyes so yes even though he may act irresponsible I don't like it when writers make him act like completely a child.) That's just an example, I am asking just something you would never write while writing Remus. Sorry if it's long or answers doesn't match questions. Um. I feel embarrassed, you don't have to answer.

I'm so honored that you took the time to answer all of these, it's so sweet! Okay, to answer your questions

first of all do you think clandestine would trigger me? I read other things you write with trans regulus but I dunno.

It has a lot of triggering moments and angst, but I put specific trigger warnings at the beginning of each chapter to help with that, because I also get nervous about things like that. I'm not sure if that helps or not?

And do you listen while you write?

To music? Yeah, I have a few playists. One specifically for writing smut, and then a few others for sadder times. Sometimes i just put a song on repeat if it has the right vibes.

How you write Remus? Like what is his aesthetic/vibe in your head, and what something you don't like about it when he has a certain personality trait

I think Remus is smart and sarcastic but also has a lot of self-hatred. I think some people hc him as more confident, but I don't think he's confident, at least until wolfstar is established. Once wolfstar is established and he realizes how flustered he can make Sirius, then he gets a bit more confident.

[bucketspammer4life]

The boxers during halloween

(sees christmas decorations being put up) HALLOWEEN. HALLOWEEN!!! HALLOWEEN!!!

Glass Joe

- has a vampire costume and is giving out candy himself since "hes too old for all of this"

- buys those big family size packages of candy to give out, he likes them because he can snack on candy when halloween ends

- purposefully calls obvious costumes dumb stuff to get reactions out of people

- "oh yeah did you dress up as my moms curtains??"

- "IM A GHOST AND YOU ARE FRENCH!!"

- drinks a glass of tomato juice with his costume for extra realism

Von Kaiser

- He dressed up as the frankensteins monster, only for his students to dress up as him

- He gives out raisins and toothbrushes for halloween along with fruit (NOOO!!)

- does scary roaring sounds to scare people, only to get laughed at, thats what you get for giving out healthy food during halloween

- tries telling scary stories and gives up halfway through

Disco Kid

- dressed up as a fully functional disco ball (functional almost autocorrected to father LMAOO)

- goes out trick or treating himself but gets bored

- watching bad quality horror movies with Mac to laugh at them

- helps the kaisers students toilet paper his house for fun

- carving pumpkins with the others

King Hippo

- dressed up as a Hippo (how creative of you)

- does trick or treating with Disco kid, after disco got bored he went all out on his own and got a lot of candy

- He ate the pumpkin he was supposed to carve, no remains left, also totally unrelated: has anyone seen Joe's pumpkin carving knife?? That he was supposed to carve pumpkins with??

- his dentist will not be happy

Piston Hondo

- dressed up in sailor moon cosplay, rocking it as he should

- is the one giving out candy because imagine if a famous boxer dressed up as sailor moon came to your house for candy,seems like a fever dream

- helping Kaiser un-tp his house

- attempting to call bloody mary for the 10th time, She probably blocked your number already leave her before she gets a restraining order please

- sad that he has no one to match with

Bear Hugger

- dressed up as the lorax, matching with someone else as the greedler (im not spoiling it shut up) the squirrel is joining them dressed up as those bear things in the movie

- giving out entire bottles of maple syrup during halloween, people dont exactly hate it but its kind of a jumpscare seeing someone dressed up as a maple tree hand you maple syrup

- tried to sit on a pumpkin, only to break it instantly

- people keep assuming he dressed up as a Cheeto puff

Great Tiger

- dressed up as a fairy princess, yes hes a fairy, yes hes a princess and no he will not share his magic with you, jealous ass

- using his flying to his advantage by flying around with fairy wings on

- throwing "fairy dust" (glitter) around, people keep finding glitter in their food, costumes, socks and basically everywhere

Don Flamenco

- who'd you think was matching bear hugger? hes dressed up as the greedler and rocking it, how bad can he be anyways?

- loses 10 years from his life eveytime someone doesnt notice the refs he makes to the movie

- if anyone actually gets the ref he'll break out into song like hes in a musical (a punch out musical would go hard actually)

Aran Ryan

- a demon witch, matching with great tiger and also throwing "evil dust" (Hot pepper flakes) around, aran i think youre just assaulting people

- robbed Kaiser from his actual candy he hid away

- evil cackling as he attempts to fly on his broomstick, only to fall on his ass

- chasing Joe with the carving knife

Soda Popinski

- a fridge, he deadass just wore a entire fridge with soda in it

- pulling out random stuff from the fridge and handing out to people, Water? Drink up, tomatos? Here you go!!

- keeps getting stared at but in a good way

Bald Bull

- hes just in a bull onesie because he lost a bet, embarrased but he finds it comfy secretly, fell asleep in it at some point

- people keep calling him a cow and its driving him crazy

- "moo"

- "IM A BULL GOD FUCKING DAMN YOU ALL BLIND ASS BITCHES"

- watching movies and falling asleep

- carved a pumpkin with Joe and ended up laughing at it with him for 10 minutes

Super Macho Man

- himself, hes not giving out any free shout outs today

- fuck you super macho man

- carved himself into a pumpkin

- He cant keep getting away with this

Mr Sandman

- dressed up as a mummy since he didnt have enough time to think about it

- hes the only one who can actually scare people with and without his costume

- tried to put a pumpkin on his head, sad because it didnt fit

Extra

- kaisers students did the trenchcoat gag, dressef up as him and tried to buy a car with 10 dollars and a dance performance

- mrs bear dressed up as a princess and did her make up, looks stunning

- carmen dressed up as a flamingo

- soda has to pay back that fridge now

[pants-magic-pants]

✧⊹JARETH BALLROOM COAT⊹✧

[This post is part of a series about constructing Jareth’s entire masquerade ball costume. Visit the master post here.]

Making the Buttons [Post 1 of 2] - This post is an explanation of the process. - Post 2 is a video.

The buttons were the very first thing I made, once enough pretty shiny materials had been collected. They were so much fun. They weren't hard, it just took a bit of time and attention to detail. With that, let's get to it...

The coat has two in front and two in the back. Here are two different photos, the first from Aria Couture and the second from Yosa Addiss.

You’ll see that they’ve suffered some damage through the years, and as of now there are no high definition close-ups of them, so that we can really look and discern what might have been there back when everything was intact. One of the front ones is gone!

What I did notice was a general warmth and multidimensional sort of coloring about them, which is why my approach involved layers. A lot of aspects of this costume don’t present themselves as definitively colored; there’s always a two-toned or iridescent quality to them. For that reason, I built everything on top of a layer of copper flakes. It gave the buttons the warmth they needed despite that the rest of what is seen within them is cool-toned. 

There are the blue, spherical cabochons lining the outside; spherical, not angular. Within them, there is seemingly a mix of silver/metallic beads, and “crystals” that may have been anything from blue, to green, to yellow. Hard to say. This part comes down to the individual!

Does this diagram make sense and it is necessary? Probably not.

My choice was to do alternating silver and transparent grey beads, and then pool the center with hot glue and sea glass shards that were left over from the breaking down process. Since making the video of the replica, I did start to feel that less vs. more looked better for the glass, so I pruned a few pieces out of my buttons. I like them overall, but they need to be secured really well, and there was/is still a risk of shards popping out. It is a delicate costume. 

Next, we need to discuss the actual button bases. This was tricky. The whole thing is going to be covered, so they can’t be stitched on in the normal way, as there’s no outlet for the needle. You might be thinking a shank button would be good, since they are flat with protruding holes underneath:

BUT there's so much stuff that needs to go on them, they would definitely end up drooping. My solution to this problem was to buy flat just run-of-the-mill 4-hole buttons that were stapled onto cardboard, and remove the cardboard with the staples still attached. Then tighten the staples so that my needle could juuuuust get through. 

How do you like these puppies?!

Attaching them wasn’t too hard. I held the button a little bit away from the coat, brought my needle to the inside interfacing, and poked it out where the button should go, then brought the needle underneath the staple, then back into the coat, etc. etc. making 5-10 loops before pulling the thread and drawing up the button against the coat. Then, the needle was brought through the inside and knotted tightly into the interfacing, almost exactly where it had begun. 

Yayyyy buttons.

Because these were so delicate, they were almost the last thing added to the coat. They had to go on before the lining was closed, obviously, so that’s the only reason they came before the glue shenanigans. Glue shenanigans were all top switched once the coat didn’t need to be handled or laid down anymore. 

So... there it is. Some of this felt redundant but then I remember that there are new people visiting my blog, and I want things to be easy for them.

----------------☆--------☆---------------

[annakie]

FIXING THE HOUSE CHAPTER 13: Mauve Haze Symphony

Part One: I Do Not, In Fact, Have the Power

Part Two: Let’s Spend Lots of Money!

Part Three: All These Things That I’ve Done

Part Four: I Really Want to Stay At My House (YOU ARE HERE)

A little interlude.

Part Five: Power Down

Part Six: You Will Leave Some Paint

Part Seven: Backwards to go Forwards

Part Eight: Master of Bathrooms

Part Nine: Within a Room, Somewhere

Part Ten: Rooms With No View

Part Eleven: Big Bang Room Part A and also Part B!

Part Twelve: We Can Make It On the Outside

Part Thirteen: Mauve Haze Symphony (YOU ARE HERE)

Part Fourteen (A) - In the Kitchen

Part Fourteen (B) - Copper Green

---

Almost done, one more room after this one to go.

Oh man, I thought I'd posted this LAST WEEK and was shocked to see that it was still in my drafts. Oops.

Well, I'm going to take a breather from... everything... and finish this and post it. I hope it's a nice little break for you, too.

A little catchup on the past stuff, and then moving into one of the last two rooms!

OK so I DID forget one really important garage thing -- a new tankless, natural gas powered hot water heater!

In 2009 one day i came home from work to find water pouring out of my garage. Ohhh shit. The hot water heater had rusted through and water went everywhere. I called my dad in a panic and he walked me through shutting the water off on the street level.

I was really lucky that absolutely nothing got ruined, I think maybe a rug I had in there got wet but basically nothing else. Laundry Mountain wasn't quite a thing yet. Some people have their HWH in like, the middle of their house or the attic and having it break like mine did is much worse news.

Anyway, got a new one put in and per my dad's suggestion wrote the date it was installed on it.

HWHs usually have a 10 year lifespan. Mine was installed in 2009 sooooo... uhhh... yeah. It still worked fine, though!

But I decided to stop gambling with time, and had Arturo install a new one.

We f'd up and didn't notice that the first one I bought was Propane and not natural gas powered. Arturo stood over my shoulder when I bought it online, and then it sat in my garage for almost two months while we had so much other stuff going on. By the time we tried installing it, it was past the return date. We discussed it and Arturo volunteered to eat the cost. I ended up sneaking in about half the cost back in on our project/price spreadsheet anyway. :p

Anyway, new HWH works great, and will cost less to run every year, and I don't need to worry about it for at least another decade! Also, I've always been lucky that my HWH survived the freezes easily, so I'm just crossing my fingers that the tankless does, as well.

---

OK, on to today's real update!

The hall bath.

When I talked about the Master Bath way back in Chapter 8, I mentioned that for all intents and purposes this was my only full bath for most of the time I had my house.

The thing was, the tub/shower was not in great shape when I bought the house (like literally everything else) and had only gotten worse through the years.

The tub came stained and discolored and no cleaning trick I ever tried could fix it. A couple of times my dad used this enamel stuff on it to make it look better, but that lasted about a year at a time and then would flake off. Eventually we just stopped doing that.

The shower tiles were also coming off. Several times we just did patching, replacing some with close-but-not-quite color matches.

Eventually... well, you'll see the state of it here in a second.

Also, I tried early on to take a bath in my bathtub, and then realized that there was no overflow, but there WAS a leak around the area where an overflow would have gone but was covered up... and then if there was overflow it just spilled behind the wall. It was a small, shallow tub anyway and baths weren't comfortable, especially for someone who wasn't a size six.

The "Just moved in, this is what I have to work with" picture.

Ugh.

Also, please note that there's actually NO SHOWERHEAD IN THIS TUB. There's just... no shower. So I guess people were taking baths in it? My buddy Helen installed a new faucet and showerhead for me.

See... that's what I started with.

After I took down the wallpaper, cleaned as best I could and slapped up a new coat of paint... I could live with it. Surely I'd make it better!

Oh, also when I tore that wallpaper out, TERMITES were living there, just under the wallpaper above the tub. eating through the drywall.

Thank God for the home warranty that first year, they came out and treated them. Had it treated again a couple of years later.

---

The room got new flooring in the great Flooring & Kitchen Update of 2009.

And then this bathroom ALSO got the toilet and sink areas updated finally after nine years in 2012, as discussed back in parts 7 and 8.

That Shower Curtain is hiding a Secret --- the secret is that the bathtub is still the same, but getting worse!

Much improved. Not so gross. You know, as long as you don't look behind the shower curtain!

Also, no I did NOT put anything into that medicine cabinet frame either... until... well you'll see.

Hilariously, look, I have no pictures of the ceiling of this room but I very much painted all the way up to NEAR the ceiling on all the walls that got painted beige and then never finished. I think I posted this somewhere before but I'll say it again. I just kind of forgot to finish painting this room for twelve years. As long as you didn't look up at the ceiling it was FINE, lol. When I had painted before it was messy too. So there were paint splotches on the ceiling. It was not good and I have ZERO excuses.

My boss at the time had a quote that I always remember and think about in relation to this --- "There's the first 90% of a project, and then the second 90% of the project." Meaning that sometimes just crossing the finish line when you're within a few steps of it is like the hardest part. That's what this ceiling was. I think at one point a couple of years on I went and grabbed the paint can to finish, but the paint was solid by that point, so I was like "Oh I need to just go get more paint.

AND THEN I DIDN'T.

---

I'm going to post here something I swore I'd never show people, the reason I almost never had people stay overnight in my house, my greatest shame.

This is how bad it got at the end.

No amount of cleaning could make it better. Some tiles were held on with duct tape, others just falling off at random. It was so bad, so gross. The reason my showers were all 5 minutes or less whenever possible.

So yeah, the bathroom was pretty nice, as long as you didn't look behind the shower curtain. Or up.

The reason I almost didn't want to show Arturo how bad it was, because it was just... so bad, but I trusted him and.... GOD it was worth it.

---

Once the master bath was mostly done, just some of the details like putting in the trim and painting the smaller things, so that we had a working bathroom at all times, Arturo started in on the hall bath.

This was truly one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. I was so happy when I saw this that I wanted to cry with joy. Gone was the ancient, gross tile. And seeing the gross drywall underneath gone as well.

Also, hey, no black mold like I was slightly worried would be a problem!

But also there was this...

Uhhh yeah so that would be wood that was chewed through by termites.

Arturo said there weren't any there now -- this is just all the damage they'd done for who knows how many years before I moved in and maybe a little after until I had the second termite treatment.

All of that wood got torn out. A few days later...

GOODBYE FOREVER AND NO THANK YOU gross old small stained tub. And hello to brand new uneaten wood!

Arturo said that the plumbing under here had also rotted out and fallen apart at some point and the water was also mostly draining straight into the ground.

So both of my bathrooms were seriously fucked in ways I couldn't have known about.

Obviously, that was all replaced and fixed. Any bad bits of plumbing or wood or whatever were made whole and new.

---

So while this was going on, I also now had to start making decisions about this bathroom.

Originally, I had said that since both bathrooms had very good tile floors still, and the sink countertop was beige and the sink cabinet/mirror/medicine cabinet set were all brown, that I would just keep both bathrooms beige themed. After all, it looked great in the Master.

I did want different accent tile to differentiate the two. And so Arturo brought me a couple of samples and after the obvious choice of the one I made in the Master, I decided on this for the hall bath.

Another decent beige accent tile, and I would do a taupe on the wall to match the taupe-ish lighter glass tile in the accent. It would have looked nice, with little effort to change things. We were going to use the same main tile in the shower, as well.

And then I started thinking about accents like towels, shower curtain and rugs and looking online for accents that would look good with all this and... couldn't find things I would like. At all.

I began doubting my taupe idea and was worried that the bathroom would be, well, boring. I wasn't in love with any of this stuff, the accent or the taupe colors and couldn't bring it all together in my brain to something I really wanted.

So one Sunday, I spent my afternoon tile shopping.

I went to Floor & Decor, which had hundreds of options, several of which I liked and took pictures of as "maybe", but nothing super leapt out at me.

The Tile Shop, which is ridiculously expensive. I did find an option in there that I loved, but it was almost $30 a tile. The accept tile in the master bath was $15 and I thought that was almost too expensive.

I went to Lowe's, which is where the master bath tile came from, and saw nothing else that spoke to me.

I went to The Home Depot, and fell in love with an accent tile. I actually went there first and saw The One, but made myself go to all the other places to make sure I didn't love anything else more. The One was only $10 a tile, too!

One huge problem though.

It was not beige.

It is called Binary Code and it is mauve, silver... and black.

The entire day when I was out looking at other options, stubbornly telling myself I couldn't use that one because it would require too many changes my brain also just kept chewing on BUT I LOVE IT, I WANT IT!! like a petulant child.

I finally went back to home depot late in the afternoon and stood there and looked at Binary Code, standing there mentally listing out all of the things I'd need to have Arturo change in order to get what I wanted.

We'd need a new main tile, something in black and white.

I went and looked at the main tile options and hey, a nice black and white one I liked for like $1.50 per tile. More expensive than the .89 per main tile for the master bath, but I'd tell Arturo he could charge me for the difference.

Okay but also the floor would need to be redone in that tile, so there's a little extra cost and labor.

All of the wood wouldn't really match now. But instead of replacing... how about just painting? Just a black paint on all the wood... that would work!

I could do it! This was going to be fine!

...and then I realized that the sink countertop was still beige. Shit. I don't know if we could paint that.

I decided, in the end, it was all going to be worth it. I bought all 14 remaining pieces of Binary Code at that Home Depot right then and there, and snapped a picture of the new main tile for Arturo.

I braced myself when he came to the house next and showed him the new tile, told him the new plan.

He was totally cool with it.

We needed a few more pieces of Binary Code, and I asked him about the extra cost and he said since I bought most of the accent tile myself it would balance things out, even with doing the floors.

He then suggested looking at just buying a new sink countertop, and we looked online together after measuring the current one, and I ordered a plain white countertop in the same size.

We added the cost of the black paint and painting labor for the bathroom and I realized that I was headed to having a second bathroom that was exactly what I wanted. I was so happy.

I settled on a very light mauve for the walls, and bought towels, a shower curtain and bathmats in mauve, as well.

---

A week or so prior to this, Arturo and I discussed the new bathtub. It had been his plan added into the remodel cost to replace the tub with more or less the same kind of tub, just newer. Builder's grade. Which was fair!

But not what I wanted.

I told him not to buy a tub yet (and this was before we started in on the hall bath renovations.)

I went tub shopping online. For days.

I learned about materials, and sizes, and purposes of tubs.

I knew, after the horrorshow of my old tub, I wanted something nice. Not top of the line, but something I could actually take a bath in. A tub that wasn't just basic, but something I could show off a little and actually use.

After seeing options and prices, I decided that this was a splurge item. I set myself a budget of somewhere between 500 and 1000 for a tub, more than I imagined ever spending on one before, but I wanted acrylic for the durability and stain resistance. I wanted something I could soak in.

Arturo and I discussed at length the size of the tub once I told him what I wanted and showed him some options. The bathroom is already small, how much more could I encroach into the room without it becoming a problem? It obviously had to be the standard 60" long, but how wide and tall could I go?

After many hours of comparing tubs at Lowes/HD/Amazon... I finally picked my tub.

WOODBRIDGE 60" Acrylic Rectangular Alcove Soaking Bathtub in White with Right Drain

The main thing that sold me on this one was that it had extra insulation, so bathwater stayed warm longer. It was also gorgeous, and had a curved back for comfortable soaking.

It was also 4" wider than my old tub. Comfortable for more body shapes and sizes. 14" of soaking depth. Brushed nickle finish with a popup drain.

---

It took a week to arrive because it had to be shipped by freight. Then the FedEx guy decided to just walk to my door, and NOT ring the doorbell. I was sitting at my desk which is right next to the front door when I heard someone outside, I got up to grab a shirt to throw over my tank top, and he was gone when I got back 20 seconds later. I looked on my doorbell cam and he walked up, stood there for 10 seconds without reaching to knock or ring, stuck the paper on my door and jogged back to his truck.

I called and complained to FedEx and the next day put up MULTIPLE signs on my garage and door saying I am HOME and KNOCK. Then left the window over there open to make sure I heard him.

I greeted him as he walked to my driveway and made sure it got delivered inside my house per the shipping agreement.

...and then it was an extra table in the middle of my big room for like two weeks lol. I'd posted a pic a couple of updates back of Fry sitting on the box.

The new sink countertop came in around then, too, and spent like a month in the box just being a table.

It's OK, we needed the counter space.

---

Finally, the day arrived.

Had to snap a picture of the only time I'd ever see under the tub. Looks good!

The same day, the new main tile started going in.

And the plumbing got mounted! Look at that beautiful NOT ROTTED/CHEWED UP wood!

NGL, I now wish we'd put the controls / faucet a little lower, but it's OK where it is. A balance between high and low for showering or bathing.

It took longer than I was hoping for for this bathroom to get done, but near the end of September Arturo had a big project that he'd warned me about that kept getting delayed finally start up, so I saw him less as the weeks went by, but I understood.

Technically, we're still not done, here at the end of October, but he was actually here just yesterday the 30th and did a couple of things, and is coming back hopefully next week.

ANYWAY... in the meantime I bought a bathtub tray, and a bath pillow, and a box of bath bombs.

The tile went up on both the wall and the floor, the wood cabinets and mirror got painted, and a shelf put in over the bathtub.

--

It was finally painting the walls day!

I'd picked out the color I was sure I wanted, vaguely mauve and Arturo had picked up the color.

I was working when he and Janarie started painting and he called me in very shortly.

"I don't think this is the color you want. It's the right color but...."

I looked and quickly agreed. It wasn't just vaguely mauve, it was light pink. It wasn't what I'd envisioned now that it was on the wall. Shit.

Arturo said he'd have time to run and get a new color and get the painting done if I picked it very quickly.

I picked up my BFF Sherwin-Williams Paint Swatch Book and at that point I felt like I knew everything he had to offer. Other mauves on that page just weren't right, they'd also be too pink and I wanted a slightly grey-er mauve. I almost thought about looking at Behr or Glidden colors when instead I went to the Sherwin-Williams website and just color searched for Mauve... and bam. There it was.

Studio Mauve. It was in the back of the book, under a color collection called The Jazz Age, and it was perfect. Arturo went and got a can, came back and we were both happy when he started painting again.

One of the very last little dramas of the build.

---

Okay, so it all came together so well, and Arturo told me later that he doubted my vision when I told him, but he had to agree when it was all put together that he thought it worked great. Not what he would have done in his own house, but even he agreed with how well it all works together.

It's really me.

Here we go.

First, with the shower curtain.

And... voila! Pulled back.

I know, the shower curtain seems like it should be lower, but it really can't be. You'll see why in a sec.

I love that that curtain is the thing that ties all the mauve together. The Mauve that's on the walls is in that curtain. The mauve in the handtowels is in that curtain, and the mauve on the bathrugs is in that curtain.

I also bought turkish bathsheets in mauve for the room, and they... don't actually go with the rest of the mauve! The shade is off. But that's OK, they're hung up on a hook on the back of the door, out of sight. I maybe should have returned them and bought them in black but... eh. I'm fine with it.

I absolutely love the new tile, it looks so good and flows well from the floor to the wall.

The brushed nickel faucet was honestly in worse shape than I thought it was when Arturo put it back in. But then Arturo was like "I have another of those Delta faucets I don't need" so he gave that to me as well and I just paid for the install.

So there's a mix of chrome and brushed nickel in the bathroom now but I"m OK with it.

The wood stuff looks great painted black. And hey, also new art in the medicine cabinet windows that I think goes really well in the room!

Plus of course the same things like trim, door handles, doorstops etc. that's in every room.

A closer look at the tub!

It's got the same rainfall main shower head as the master, and the same controls.

That "shelf" at the bottom there is actually the water spout for the bathtub. It's so sleek, I love it a lot.

And of course the hand-held showerhead, same as in the master, replaced the one it came with.

The tub plug is a popup, and it's got an overflow that works!

Also a nice rounded slant for back resting. I have a bath pillow for my head and it's SO comfortable!

I've only taken baths twice, but I bought a box of bath bombs, light a candle, listen to a podcast or a chapter of an audiobook... it's SO nice and peaceful. Will still probably only do it every couple of weeks but It's SO relaxing and feels luxurious.

Oh I guess I didn't actually get a picture of this but if I did pull the shower curtain liner into the tub, it reaches almost to the floor of the tub. The tub is very tall and a couple of inches off the ground thanks to all that padding and insulation. It's a bit of a hazardous step, which is why there are hand-hold safety bars on both walls just outside of the tub. (You can see in the pic with the curtain closed above.)

Okay so! That's the hall bath! There's one room left... obviously, the Kitchen and I really can't wait to show you (and finish up this long series of posts lol).

But that'll probably happen about two weeks from now because I'm about to be really busy again!

Thanks for coming along on this long journey of a very small room. :)

[whentherewerebicycles]

top 10 things i cooked in 2023

this year i made 104 unique recipes (plus lots of duplicates when i liked something enough to make it multiple times). the places i went to most for recipes were feasting at home + the NYT recipes app, although i very much liked the weekday vegetarians, love and lemons, cookie & kate, nora cooks, and the foodie takes flight.

my top 10, in no particular order:

NYT ricotta pasta with roasted broccoli and crispy chickpeas (super simple but a great yummy pasta to make real quick for friends. I roasted the broccoli instead of broiling and added lots of extra lemon zest, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a tray of oven-roasted chickpeas)

moroccan vegetable tagine (i blended a bunch of recipes but the one linked was my starting point. this is the one form i like butternut squash in lol. modifications: i went heavy on all the spices but especially the cinnamon and cardamom, added chopped dried apricots to the stew for extra sweetness, and threw in a bunch of extra veggies. yum)

indian-ish nachos with cheddar, black beans and chutney (do NOT skip the multiple chutneys and sauces. it will seem like too much work you will say can't i just make one and be done with it but those sauces are where the magic lies. the great tragedy of these nachos is that i wanted to eat them for DAYS but they do not reheat well. but godddd they were good)

ottolenghi's green pancakes with lime butter (these are SO easy. great for brunch but also make delicious additions to your lunch for a couple days after. also it's a perfect way to eat a pound of spinach and feel very virtuous about it when really you just ate delicious jalapeno-y scallion pancakes. the lime butter is great but it's a lot of work so i usually just top these with some sour cream mixed with a lil bit of lime zest & lime juice)

cauliflower shawarma with spicy tahini sauce (YUM! the tahini sauce as written was too bitter for me with the cholula mixed in. i think i'd try it with sriracha next time so it was a little sweeter. i also added chickpeas yum)

roasted cauliflower daal with chickpeas (my notes say this was "OUTTA THIS WORLD DELICIOUS" but also note that it will "really clean you out GI-wise" lol. lentils always have that effect on me though so ymmv. i added bell pepper, roasted the cauliflower first, cooked the lentils most of the way soft in the rice cooker instead of on the stove, and added two chopped serrano peppers with seeds to give it a lil extra kick. i would recommend halving the recipe if you are cooking for one as there were TONS of leftovers and my GI system could not handle being cleansed that many times lol)

pasta with corn, tomatoes, "onion-bacon," and basil (this method of preparing onions really should not taste like bacon and yet it sort of does????? this was a summer recipe i made multiple times for a range of audiences and it was a hit every time. originally from the weekday vegetarians)

creamy corn pasta (THIS HAS NO RIGHT BEING AS GOOD AS IT IS. IT'S SO SIMPLE AND YET IT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED I COULD EAT IT FOR DAYS. WE ATE IT ALL SUMMER)

ottolenghi's very full roasted veggie tart (it will take you hours to make and no time at all to consume but oh my god it's so good and SUCH a satisfying way to spend a long weekend afternoon. liz and i loved this so much we had to have a serious sitdown to discuss how we would divvy up the leftovers because we felt it could seriously damage our friendship if one of us ate all of it)

bombay burritos (the little sauces and things take a long time to make but you can prep a lot of the stuff a day or two in advance and gosh these are so tasty!! the curried mashed potatoes YUM)

honorable mentions:

ottolenghi's mango soba noodles (skip the eggplant i'd do tofu or something instead)

braised tofu with basil (i made this with a veggie-loaded stir fry and topped it with a fried egg)

this carrot cake (it took forever to make but it was the best carrot cake i've ever had and the only thing i'll ever make on my bday from here on out). she also has a pumpkin cake recipe that is so good and much simpler to make (no grating required)

momofuku's ginger scallion tofu with crispy coconut rice (the recipe is for a shrimp version but we made it with tofu and it was very yummy. i made this at a friend's house and it was so good i wanted to ask to take home some of the leftovers but decided that was too rude ahaha)

and then of course i gotta give a shoutout to my #1 comfort foods this year, SHAKSHUKA (my beloved) + a caprese sandwich with balsamic glaze served on really good bread.