#I was gonna say anytime i go outside but that’s not true mainly just quite populated areas i mean by a city

[deankarolina]

anytime I’m in a city it’s like oh I have fallen in love with the world 100 times over again and also I have never felt such intense rage in my life

[dollfaced-erin]

Not So New Afterall (Sdv Sebastian x F!reader)

A/n: Hi! Rin here, sorry I’ve been a little late, but I have to present to you a few facts before we go down with the story! I might have not mentioned the specifics of the character, but apparently Reader would be around 153 cm in height, and Sebastian 173cm. Just gives off the tall vibe, don’t you think? Their ages,,, I suppose Sebastian would be 25 and the reader 23. This is based on previous chapters and the height of Abigail’s sprite.

She’s quite perky, being the new girl and all, but if you don’t like this, then I can change her personality. 

The lines in here are mainly extracted from Sebastian’s main lines in the game, so I’ll have the Reader’s lines orbit around those.

OH, IF YOU GUYS WANT RANDOM HEADCANNONS, I’LL DO THOSE TOO AS A SIDE PROJECT

CHAPTER TWO

It was another sunny day, and (Y/n) was already up and down onto the field. Her hand clutched a few empty packets of parsnip seeds and the other held a watering can. They were given to her as a starter kit, along with some run down tools her late-grandfather had left for her in the house.

The Earth was tilled and the seeds were planted. Now, all that’s left is to water the crops and she’ll be clearing the farm next. 

She wiped the sweat rolling down her face with the back of her hand, quite exhausted from exerting her energy to nurse her farm. There was still a lot to do, and she had to run extra jobs to gain income as she wait for her crops. 

She had to clear her farm, she had to run and see Pierre for more seeds, she had to meet this man named Willy who wanted to meet her, there was still so much to do and she had no idea if she could finish it all!

She sighed, but she knew this path was much better than working as an office lady at Joja.Co, working till she dropped, literally. And there was endless mountains of paperwork waiting for her.

Maybe she should water her plants, then run off to Pierre’s and down to the docks, she planned in her mind. She clutched the metal tool in her hand, determined to finish her plans before the day ends.

As she watered her plants, she hadn’t realized that someone had accidentally wandered off to her farm, from absentmindedly walking as they thought of random things. But when a clad boot had landed by the entrance of her farm, it was starting to look tidy.

And that’s when they realized that the abandoned farm they usually hung out at was now housed the young woman currently watering her plants in the field.

“Abigail?” called out the girl with (h/c) hair, her head raising as she spotted the purple-haired girl by the entrance of her farm. “Oh, hi, (Y/n)! Sorry, I was just walking and accidentally ended up here,” she said, flustered.

“Ah, it’s fine! You did tell me you loved exploring the overgrown fields, right? You could come over anytime you like!” the farmer girl said, a little smile on her face. It was still morning and in Spring, but Abigail could see the red cheeks from tirelessly working on the farm on her face. 

She felt a bit bad that it was only a girl that had to manage the whole land, so she made up her decision in her mind.

Walking over to the panting girl, she asked, “Want to hang later?”

The girl’s face quickly morphed into a bright smile. “Sure thing! Just let me finish up here, and I’ll be right with you,” she said and began to hurry up on her task.

Soon enough, the two girls were strolling down the pathway heading towards the town square. (Y/n) had cleaned her hands earlier after doing farm work, but to Abigail, her appearance was so clean, it was as if she hadn’t done any work on the farm.

“So, where to first?” Abigail asked. (E/c) eyes looked over at her green ones, peering curiously. “Hm, maybe to  your family’s store. I would like to get some new seeds,” (Y/n) said, arms by her sides.

Abigail shrugged. "Don’t you want to buy those at Joja Mart?” she asked curiously. She wasn’t trying to fail her family business, but she wanted to know this girl’s mindset before deeming her as ‘good’ in her books.

“Well, I’d rather boost the local economy. After all, have you not seen the prices on seeds?! They’re 15g more expensive than the ones at Pierre’s! Plus, they’re at better quality! I’d choose Pierre’s over theirs any day!” she groaned out as the two stepped into her father’s shop. 

“Ah, it’s farmer (Y/n)!” her dad greeted cheerfully from behind the counter. “Hi, Pierre!” she greeted back.

But the farmer never realized that Abigail’s face had reddened at her remark towards Joja Mart. Rather, she felt as if it were directed at the entire Joja.Co themselves. The way she had dissed them really was interesting to her, she had never seen someone so against the Joja Mart before in the entire town.

“Hey, Abigail?” the girl called once she returned from the counter. “Do you think we’ll be able to get to Robin’s in time?” she asked, and Abigail nodded. 

“What for?” she asked, looking at the slightly smaller girl as she stuffed her seeds into her red backpack. “Ah, I need her to build a silo for me. It’s a shame to just cut down all that grass when you can actually store it for the farm animals, no?” she said as Abigail nodded in agreement.

The two headed off to the mountains, reaching the house just half an hour before business hours were over. The two breathed in relief. It was quite a hike up, and they were running to reach up in time.

“Sorry for dragging you into this, Abigail,” the farmer panted, but Abigail laughed in response. “No worries, I was the one who wanted to tag along with you,” she said, as the two went to the door.

“Hey hey! It’s Abigail and (Y/n)!” Robin greeted just as the two had stepped foot inside the house. “So, (Y/n) how is the woodwork holding up? You OK?” the orange haired woman said cheerfully. (Y/n) nodded, as she approached the counter. 

“Yeah, everything’s just fine!” she said, placing her hands on the counter. “So, the older woman began, ”What’s up?”

The (h/c) girl and the woman began discussing farm plans and the location of the silo. The way the girl was so efficient and brave really pulled Abigail. She sat there as she watched the two converse, that was, until a certain raven haired figure emerged from the basement.

Sebastian sparred a glance to the girl and his mom, before giving a lazy wave over to Abigail. She waved back in response, following him out to chat. But before that, she tapped (Y/n) on the shoulder, informing her she’ll be outside and went well on her way.

“You guys seem to be friends,” Sebastian said, not even turning back. His hands were in his pockets as he made his usual way to the lake by his house. “Well, yeah. I accidentally ended up on her farm. We hung out for a bit,” she concluded simply. 

“I’m kinda interested in her, though,” Abigail admitted, earning a snort from Sebastian. “Dude, she’s like. I dunno, younger than you?” he teased, making the purple haired girl slap him on the back. “So not true. We’re both 23 this year,” Abigail defended.

“Plus, I know you want to talk to her as much as I do,” she teased, making him tense up. “What makes you say that?” he said, pulling out his box of cigarettes and a lighter. “Well, she is from the city, don’t you want to ask her how is it there?”

“I--” “Hey, (Y/n)!” Abigail interrupted him, waving at her to come over. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her. It wasn’t like Abigail to be like this around other people, nonetheless someone entirely new to the city, Maybe there was something about her behind her bright and cheerful demeanor. 

“--it’s really a shame about the mines though,” the farmer said, making Sebastian look over at her in curiosity. “I want to see what’s in those mines. Maybe I could find something useful for my use,” she said distantly, staring at the pile of boulders that piled in front of the cave entrance. 

“Haven’t you heard? There are monsters in there,” Abigail said, making Sebastian feel like hitting her to shut up. What good was it to tell her that and risk her moving out if it were true?

But the girl shrugged in response. “Wouldn’t it be more exciting and adventurous if monsters did reside in the caves? I mean, it would prove more of a challenge,” the girl said with a smile on her face, shocking both Sebastian and Abigail. 

His dark eyes widened as a similar scene played in front of his eyes. Three children and a small voice. “I want to explore those caves one day!”

“(Y/n)...was it?” Sebastian asked, the girl humming in agreement. A light chuckle passed his lips.

 “We’re gonna get along just fine!” Abigail cheered, as she slung her arm across (Y/n)’s shoulders.

“What were you going to say, Sebastian?” she asked, but the male just shrugged, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips.

“It’s nothing.”

[nomazee]

Ex Animo

akaashi keiji x reader 

word count: 3000+

content: fluff (for once), mutual pining, cursing, sarcastic/cocky narrator.

cross-posted on my ao3

(hi hi hi! here’s another oneshot, this time it’s not angst and not in a weird writing style! i’m trying out something new, let me know if you like it, what you found good and bad, and how i can improve my writing and make it more enjoyable for you all. 

thanks for reading !)

☾.:°∗★.:☆:.★∗°:.☽

“He’s cute.” 

“...What?” 

“The blonde guy that Kuroo and Bokuto are ‘training,’ or whatever.” 

“You think he’s cute?” 

“Well, yeah. I think that’s pretty objective.” 

“...” 

“...?”

“Interesting.” 

You nearly sighed at Akaashi’s emotionless responses. Being a manager of Nekoma opened up the opportunity for you to become friendly with not only your own captain, Kuroo, but the captain of Fukurodani and his setter-best-friend, too. You found yourself becoming increasingly closer to Akaashi as the months passed by, though that didn’t eliminate the mild disappointment you felt at Akaashi’s often indifferent responses. 

You let out an audible sigh just then, bringing yourself back to the present-tense. “Think you could put in a word for me?” 

Your friend, having just been taking a sip from his water bottle, sputtered and choked on the liquid. “Put in what?” 

Ah. Now he was expressing an actual emotion. You supposed that was somewhat of an upgrade. “Like, you know. Tell him about me. Say some nice stuff, make me seem… appealing. The usual.” 

“I don't really understand what ‘the usual’ is seeing as I’ve never done this before--” 

“Just-- for God’s sake, Akaashi, tell him about me so that he can fuckin’ ask me out.” 

“Why don’t you do that?” 

“That’s not how it works.” 

“I don't really unders-- Well, I-- I don’t really think he’d be interested in you.” 

Maybe the way he worded it seemed off to you but your immediate frustration was certainly justified. You narrowed your eyes at him and huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Wow, you’re so nice.” His own gunmetal eyes widened the slightest bit as he re-processed his previous words and you almost laughed at how dense he was. 

“No, that’s not what I--” 

“Never-fuckin’-mind, I’ll just… I’m gonna head to bed.” 

“[Name]--” 

“Akaashi, I’m not mad, stop panicking. See you tomorrow.” 

You walked away, passing by Kuroo and Bokuto and saying goodnight to both of them before heading back to the dorm area where you’d be sleeping with the other managers. Honestly, you really weren’t mad--at least, not for the reason Akaashi thought you were. The minor insult he spewed out unknowingly wasn’t really upsetting, it was more that he seemed apathetic at your attempts to flirt with another person. 

Yes, you liked Akaashi--you had a dumb crush on him that Kuroo (and occasionally Kenma, observant and sarcastic as the kid could be) had been hassling you about playfully during the whole camp, yet you had made no outright move to do anything about it. And yes, it was incredibly fucking dumb that you were trying to make him jealous (you cringed at the childish thought) when you hadn’t even made an actual outright move to approach him about your feelings, but hey--at least you acknowledged this stuff.

So, yeah--that was your move. Trying to get acquainted with the cute blonde from Karasuno who you knew was an asshole, but a hot asshole. Tsuki-something was his name, and you decided that he doubled as both a serious rebound from Akaashi and a way to maybe get the Fukurodani player jealous. Though, it seemed like the former would be a much more realistic outcome, and even that was a stretch. 

Whatever, you sighed in your head as you bid goodnight to the other managers. No need to worry about something like this. They’re just boys. 

Yeah, a boy that you were practically in love with. But what are you gonna do, y’know? 

---

The next day passed by in a boringly average way. Your interactions with Akaashi were minimal, though you chalked that up to just being busy with your own team and not having much time to spend with your other-school-friends. (Really, you mumbled in your head, what happened last night did not even border an argument so there was no reason for him to think you were still upset.) Evening rolled around and you found yourself in the third gym yet again with Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi, and Tsukishima. 

At one point, you were chatting casually with Bokuto on the side when Tsukishima approached the two of you. 

“Hey,” he spoke, looking at you in particular. “I need to speak to you for a minute.” 

You blinked. Once. Then twice. This was real? This very attractive first-year that you’ve been materialistically pining after for was requesting to talk to you? Alone? Though, the way he worded it was weird. He spoke formally, like he didn’t really want to be there. Oh well. You’d take what you could. 

You gave a smile. “Sure. ‘S outside okay?” At his nod, you led the way through the double doors of the gym to step outdoors, though not before taking a glance at Akaashi and wondering if the pink of his ears signified that he really did follow your (kind of) joking request from last night.

“Tsukishima, right?” He gave a wordless nod of assurance. “What’d you need me for?” 

“You’re [Last].” A statement, not a question. “I recommend you talk to your friend Akaashi in there.” 

Oh. Not what you were expecting at all. “Uh, okay.” There was silence that you had expected him to fill in himself, but it persisted until you broke the barrier. “Is there… a particular reason why?” 

He gave an aggravated sigh, a contrast to his generally calm demeanor from before. “Just-- you’re a bit dense, both of you.” Nearly letting out an offended gasp, you let him continue, “He tried, uh, indirectly flirting for you, I guess, and told me about you, or whatever, and while I’m flattered, it’s a bit obvious that he’s got eyes for you and I recommend you address that soon.” 

He’s got what?!

You were very convinced this was a joke, but from what you’ve observed, Tsukishima was not one for long-winding pranks like this, both because they were a bit too cruel (not that he’d really mind, let’s be honest) and because they took too much effort to uphold. Nevertheless, you questioned him about both his intentions and further details about the situation. 

“I’m not lying, I wouldn’t really lie about this stuff.” He told you. “If I’m being honest I wouldn’t normally care to do something like this,” that was a bit obvious, “but Kuroo overheard or something, and told me to talk to you. Don’t know why he wouldn’t just do it himself, but-- whatever. Basically, Akaashi just kept talking about you and he had this weird look in his eyes and he said something like ‘you should talk to her, she’s cool,’ and the guy looked like he was in pain, for fuck’s sake. Just say something to him. Doesn’t matter what, just… do it, I guess.” 

Oh. That was actually kind of nice of the blonde, to take some time to actually talk to you. Even if it was pushed by Kuroo, who probably put Tsukishima up to the job because his words (which you’d already heard plenty of time before) would not nearly be as effective as someone who was practically a stranger to you. (A weird dynamic to have, but true nonetheless.) 

You let out a sigh. “Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to him. But just to make sure, you’re being serious, right? And you’re, like, very sure about this, right?” 

He rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be taking the time to actually do this if I wasn’t serious. I’m not that nice.” 

“I can tell.” 

“Gee, thanks.” 

“Anytime.” 

“You’re kinda cool, though. Even though you’re a little shit. Wanna exchange numbers?” 

“Wow, you’re still flirting with me even though you’ve got a whole guy pining for you right over there.” 

“Hey! Who says I’ve got ulterior motives with you? I can have guy friends, you know.” 

He let out a scoff of amusement and his minor suspicion melted away quite quickly as he took his phone out and asked you to relay your number. After mirroring the process with your own phone, you stepped back into the gym with him, elbowing him playfully as you both continued to banter until halfway through the room where you had to split up, him going back to practice with Kuroo and you going towards Bokuto, who was now standing with Akaashi at the spot you’d left the owl-like boy. 

You gave a smile to the setter, who you’d noticed had been gazing at you discreetly since you’d walked into the gym with Tsukishima. “Heya,” you said to both of the boys. “What’s up?” 

Bokuto gave his usual childish grin and you found yourself contagiously returning it. “Not much! Just talking to ‘Kaashi for a bit. You get that blonde kid’s number?” 

Now that you were hyperobservant of Akaashi’s habits (mainly due to you wanting to absolutely, one-hundred guarantee what said blonde kid had told you before you did anything stupid), the way he flinched at Bokuto’s question did not go unnoticed by you. Your lips quirked up in amusement as you responded confidently, “Yeah, actually! He’s pretty funny.” You felt bad torturing the poor setter, but hey, you were gonna end his suffering soon anyways! (Relaying that in your head, you realized that came off a little morbid and assured yourself that you wouldn’t be actually killing the guy any time soon.) 

You shifted the topic of conversation, watching with internal humor as Akaashi shifted awkwardly on his feet and stole glances of you when he thought you wouldn't notice. Wow! Were you just really fucking oblivious before or was he purposely trying to be more obvious about his cute pining stunt. Regardless, you found it both cute and a source of entertainment (as sadistic as it was of you to admit) so you didn’t think of it too hard. 

“Hey, maybe we should start heading back.” Kuroo suggested at one point. “Getting a bit late.” 

You shrugged in agreement--not like they were doing anything important, really. You, Bokuto, and Akaashi were talking for a solid half hour and Kuroo and Tsukki seemed to be fooling around with each other (“fooling around” entailed Kuroo bothering Tsukki and trying to get him involved in whatever joke he was planning next, of course to no avail, but you appreciated your captain’s sense of determination).

You all exited the gym, Kuroo making sure to turn off the lights and lock it up as needed. You and Akaashi walked in front of the trio as they staggered a bit behind. You glanced to your side, smiling at him fondly. He locked eyes with you and a hint of curiosity was found in his aloof expression. You laughed, light and airy and shook your head. 

“You’re funny sometimes.” You stated simply, and Akaashi couldn’t seem to find much energy in himself to audibly ask for further clarification. A few minutes passed and you decided to make a move, looking at both of your hands and aiming to lock pinkies with him. 

At the feeling of foreign contact, Akaashi jolted and looked up at you, expression more shocked than curious now. You just smiled and turned your head forward, taking the chance to slip your whole hand into his and interlock your fingers like puzzle pieces. 

“What are you doing?” He finally hissed out, tone laughably frantic. “He’s-- He’s gonna think that we’re dating and that you’re, like trying to cheat on me with him--!” 

“Tsukishima?” You questioned, feigning ignorance. “Nah, he won’t think that. Stop worrying about it.” 

“[Name]--” The genuine panic in his voice was sort of funny, all things considered, and you let out a quiet chuckle. “Seriously, let go. Don’t you wanna get with him? This is a couple thing, and I’m not-- You don't--”

“Yeah, I do.” Your smile was confident and a bit cocky, but you were very certain about the outcome and prepared to be as fun about this as you could be. “Tsukki told me, actually. You should be thanking him. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to tell you.” 

“Tell… me?” 

You groaned out loud at his unsureness. “That I, you know, like you. Like, a lot. Had a crush on you for months now, man.” 

“But you-- I though you said Tsukishima was… cute?” 

“Well, yeah, he is, objectively. But I was really just saying that ‘cause I didn’t think you’d like me back and I was either trying to get you jealous or get some kinda rebound-- whatever it was, it doesn't really matter now, right?” 

Akaashi stared blankly at your alight expression. Moments passed, and you two walked silently, the only noise coming from the trio behind you chatting jovially.

“So, um,” he began. “Just to clarify--” 

“You like me,” you cut him off, “and I like you. A lot. Very much.” 

He finally let out a laugh, of both amusement and relief and shook his head light-heartedly. “God, and I was worried that I’d have to suffer with seeing you and Tsukishima flirt everytime we were in the same room.”

“That would’ve been hell.” 

“You’re telling me.” 

The atmosphere was less tense and panicky as it was before (which was mainly Akaashi’s fault, let’s be honest), and your interlocked hands swung between you as you continued to walk in content silence. 

“So, am I…” Akaashi paused, trying to gather his thoughts before continuing, “Can I call you my girlfriend?” 

As cocky as you had been before, hearing it out loud made you flush a light pink and you gave a girlish giggle in response. “Well, yeah. As long as I can call you my boyfriend.” 

“Always.” That was fucking cute. You felt your heart flutter and almost scolded yourself internally for acting like such a schoolgirl before ceasing your internal slander--if this was what it was like to have a reciprocated schoolgirl crush then hell fucking yeah, you had absolutely no qualms with it. Your steps seemed lighter and bouncier and a soft simper was etched on your face. 

Akaashi split up with the boys at one point, telling them he’d be walking you to the managers’ room (you caught Kuroo and Tsukki smirking at you both, likely in elation that their little three-braincell collaboration was successful, and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes and their cockiness). He made good on his promise, leading you to your room with his hand locked safely around yours until he stopped outside the door, turning to face you completely and letting go of your hand. 

“So…” he muttered, averting his eyes in uncharacteristic bashfulness. You smiled at his demeanor and took the chance to slide your arms around his neck, pulling him the slightest bit closer. 

“So…?” you mocked playfully, relishing in the short, sweet chuckle he let out. 

“You can kiss me.” At your statement, he cupped your cheek with one hand, gunmetal eyes finally meeting yours. 

“Can I?” He smirked sardonically. Cheeky bastard. 

Rather than responding, you pulled him closer with the arms you locked around his neck, clashing his lips into yours passionately. The heavy kiss simmered down into something much more tender quite quickly, though, with lips moving gently across each other and your head beginning to tilt to the side to allow for a better angle. 

You both parted after a reasonable amount of time spent liplocked, and as you took in deep breaths to make up for the ones you lost, you found yourself laughing at the situation you managed to put yourself in through the course of one night. Akaashi laughed with you, resolving to lean down and put his head on your shoulder, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and pulling you into an embrace. 

“That was great.” He mumbled. 

“I know, right?” 

He pulled back to flick your forehead playfully and you chuckled again. A few moments were spent gazing at each other comfortably until--

“Are you guys gonna stop making out in front of the door or what?” 

You and Akaashi jumped at the sudden opening of the door, frantically turning your heads to see Yukie with a mixed expression bordering on both annoyed and smug. 

“‘S cute and all, but we’ve been hearing you guys mumble outside for, like, ten minutes. And we’d like to have our friend back, please?” She directed her last statement to Akaashi and you laughed with her at his mildly uncomfortable expression. 

“He was gonna give me back eventually,” you answered in his place. “But she does have a point, Akaashi. We’ve been out here for a while.” 

In another moment of uncharacteristic nature, Akaashi’s face simmered into a faint red blush and you swooned at the sight. You unlocked your arms from around him and he mirrored your movements quickly, avoiding eye contact with both you and Yukie. 

Yukie turned to you. “I’ll give you a bit of time.” She gave a glare to Akaashi, “But you better hand her over in five minutes. I’m timing you.” 

“So am I!” You heard the familiar voice of Kaori come from inside the room and laughed in amusement as the setter’s face only grew more saturated. “I’ll be right there, I promise.” With an assuring nod and an “I’m-watching-you” gesture at Akaashi, Yukie slipped back into the room and closed the door, giving you an Akaashi (some semblance of) privacy again. 

“That was interesting.” 

“That was embarrassing.”

“For you.” 

“[Name]--!” 

You cut him off with a jeering laugh and rested your head on his shoulders just like he had done moments before. “I go to school with them,” he mumbled dejectedly. “They’re never gonna let that go.” 

“Yeah.” Silence, then, “Well, you can have fun with that.” 

He groaned into your hair and shook his head before the exaggerated noise simmered into light laughter. “I guess I should let you go now.” 

“I guess you should.” You unlocked yourself from around him and smiled fondly, the same emotion prevalent in his eyes. You leaned up and gave him a short peck, entering euphoria for a millisecond before turning towards the door and letting out a sigh of surrender. 

“Goodnight, then.” You spoke, looking back again to get just one last glance of him for the night. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Tomorrow.” 

“You know, maybe we can have out first date with Tsukki! As a little thank-you for getting us together in the first place--” 

“You know, you haven’t even explained that full story yet and I don’t think I want you to.” 

“‘KaaaaashiiiiI! C’mon!” 

“Goodnight.”

“One more kiss?!” 

“Not after that joke.” 

“I was kidding! I--!” 

“Goodnight.” 

“...you’re no fun.” 

[loveisblindfanfictionbka]

Love Is Blind: Chapter Two

A: You know it really just sounds like your sister really cares about you

C: She does but she’s making this such a bigger deal than it needs to be. I just want to be able to sort my feelings out without feeling like I’m obligated to do something with them immediately

A: I know that feeling so well. My friend asked me if I was still in love with my ex and I don’t know how to answer her

C: I mean your relationship was unfinished so I could understand the possibility. No closure makes it feel like things never ended. They just stopped

A: you put it in much better words than I ever could. 

C: Coming from an emotionally challenged man, sometimes the right thing doesn’t always feel right at the time. It hurts. Caring about anyone comes with that risk but sometimes you have to see it from their side before you can heal. People tend to enter situations expecting others to be like them and we hurt ourselves by doing that. Your ex may have loved you but he didn’t know how to love you anymore and felt it was better to let you go than ruin you. It couldn’t have been easy for you to watch him struggle

A: No but I felt like he never gave me a chance to help

C: People don’t always want to be fixed. Being damaged may have been too comfortable for him

A: I wish I could’ve known if it was. He never really talked to me. I think something happened that he couldn't deal with it and he shut me out because of it

C: thats always possible especially if he wasn’t like that before

A: You ever think about getting into another relationship?

C:Thought about it? Sure but I think I only got enough love in me to take care of my daughter. I haven’t quite rebounded back either.

A: Did you and your ex-wife have the child together?

C: No, I”m in the process of fostering and adopting. I got Anesa when she was one years old

A: That is so cool.

C: You ever consider having a child?

A: It was a part of the plan when I was married but we never quite made it that far

C: Same here but there’s always alternatives

A: I’ll think about it. I am getting up there in age

C: If from any indication of your photo, you’d have no problems. Many women are having babies at your age

A: Why thank you for the ego boost

C: You ever consider dating again?

A: No. I think I am way too damaged to not ruin somebody else

C: Ah, I know the feeling

A: You’re a good listener, Chris

C: Thanks. You too. So what’s your night looking like?

A: A movie and a glass of wine. You?

C: Grading papers

A: for a music class?

C: They still have to do research papers for me. Allows me to gage how they grasp concepts and detect their style

A: Hmm...that’s interesting

C: Part of my class is songwriting and music composition, at least a basic level teaching of both. I have separate sections that go into each more in depth but only a few students are selected to be invited to take those classes. This is my main selection pool outside of those who audition

A: that sounds extensive

C: it can be but I like it

A: Do you only teach major classes or can students take you as an elective?

C: They can take me as an elective but most end up dropping the class by the second week

A: Really? Why?

C: It’s more work than they intended to do in an elective especially if you’re like a business or science major. It’s not exactly contributing to anything but your credit requirement 

A: True. I can understand that

C: Anna?

A: Yes?

C: You ever think about us meeting one day?

A: I’ve considered but I don’t know if I wanna ruin the mystery of you, yet. You?

C: Same lol

A; Well I got some wine and a movie to get to and I’ll leave you to your papers. Have a good night

C: You too

Robyn logged off and pressed her head into her pillow. Was it weird for her to start to like this guy? Honestly, they’ve never met so she wouldn’t know him from a hole in the wall yet she feels close to him like they’ve been friends forever. The fact he didn’t turn away when she started talking about her ex and even tried to help her understand some things was really deep for her. Her friends and family had tried but so much of what they said just seemed so biased and sympathy-ridden for her ex. Like where’s her sympathy? Did nobody care about how he acted affected her? Somehow Chris understood her and it was the craziest thing.

Chris turned to the next paper for one of his students and after a few moments acknowledged his mind was with Anna and not on his work. He could sympathize with her struggle to move on and the fact that she was probably still in love with her ex. He didn’t hate his but he was too damaged to love her like she deserved. A part of him hates that he wasn’t man enough to tell her that when he left. She probably had a hole in her just like Anna or maybe she had moved on just fine. It’s not fair to project his life onto her.

“Daddy, are you going to sleep soon?”

Chris turned to see Anesa standing in the doorway of the kitchen with her teddy bear in her arms. He opened his arms and she climbed into his lap, “Hey Love Bug, what you doing up?”

“It’s raining.”

Chris glanced over at the window and nodded his agreement, “you got scared, huh?”

“Yea.”

“Well there’s nothing to worry about, Daddy’s right here.”

“Daddy, am I ever gonna get a mommy?”

“Well Sweetheart, that’s a very complicated question.”

“Is it?”

“Yea, see I don't’ know if I wanna share you with anybody else.”

Anesa giggled, “well if I can share you, you think you can share me?”

“I’d have to think about it really hard. Is that something you’re nervous about?”

“I just don’t want you to be all alone.”

“I know, Love Bug but I’ll be just fine.”

“Auntie Jessica said you were married before.”

“I was.”

“What happened to her? Did she die?”

“No. Things just didn’t work out. I wasn’t exactly the right guy for her.”

“Oh. So she left?”

“No, I did but I really thought it was the best thing to do at the time.”

“Do you miss her?”

Chris sighed as he leaned his chin on the top of her head, “sometimes I do. Sometimes I do.”

“Does it make you sad?”

“It can but I’ve learned to deal with it.”

“Do you think you’d ever go back to her?”

“I don’t think that would be the right thing to do either.”

“Oh.”

“You sound so sad, Honey.”

“I’m sad for you, Daddy.”

“Why? I’m happy. I’m exactly where I want to be. Here with my Love Bug and my work. Daddy’s just fine.”

Anesa turned and hugged him as Chris blew out a breath over her shoulder.

                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robyn washed her hands then sat down in her office. She had steady appointments all day, luckily mostly check ups but she was still tired. Being the head vet and the owner and shelter organizer always took a toll on her body. She twisted her neck from side to side to relieve some tension just as her office door opened, “Hi Beverly.”

Beverly, her trusty assistant, was always ready to rain on her parade, “Ms. Fenty, we just received a really huge invitation in the mail.”

“We?”

“Well you but you know what I mean.”

“What is it for?”

“The New York Society Charity Awards Gala. They want to recognize the shelter for its success.”

“That’s nice. Tell Ashley to go in my place.”

“Wait. What?”

“I don’t feel like rubbing elbows with the rich, that’s Ashley’s forte, let her do it.”

“Fenty, this is a huge opportunity for donations and connections. You cannot send your shelter manager in your place.”

“Why can’t I? She’s dealt with these people before. She even knows most of them. She has an Ivy League Degree, why can’t she go in my place?”

“The award is for you.”

“So?”

“Robyn, you can’t be serious.”

“I am in no condition to be bothered with anyone.”

“The gala isn’t for another month, you can’t muster up some give a fuck in a month.”

Robyn glared at Beverly, who simply folded her arms across her chest in response, “I’m not doing this.”

“You are doing this. I will schedule your appointment with your stylists for fittings and hair tryouts. We’ll see about getting you an escort and get a speech written for you.”

“I’m not going, Beverly.”

“You will go even if I have to get your entire family from Barbados to make you. This is a perfect opportunity and you will not squander it being anti-social.”

“Get out of my office, Beverly.”

“I will add the appropriate appointments to your calendar. Your 2:30 appointment canceled so you’re free until 4.”

Beverly promptly walked out of her office and Robyn tossed her head down on her desk. She couldn’t do this. She hadn’t been to an event like this since she was married to Chris. He’s a well-known architect and had a hand in a lot of buildings in the city. The circles aren’t that large in this tax bracket so she’s sure to run into people she knew back in California. She wasn’t ready for the questions and the stares if she showed up and especially if she showed up with someone else. They had kept their divorce quiet for several reasons mainly because she didn’t want to be embarrassed. Robyn Fenty, veterinarian extraordinaire, can’t even keep her marriage together. Some of those people would be colleagues, alumnus of her alma mater, people who whispered that once Chris got a taste of the good life, he wouldn’t stay with his middle school girlfriend long. Sadly, they were right. They barely made it three years before he walked out. She wasn’t going to this gala.

C: I really think you should attend. It’s for business.

A: It’s business that I don’t want anything to do with. I have associates specifically for things like this

C: Why is it so bad for you to go?

A: These parties always have people I knew back when I was married. Many of them don't know I’m divorced

C: Well people get divorced all the time

A: Yea but they normally don't have to be around the same people who said it wouldn’t last

C: Anna, you can’t be embarrassed about something so common.Things happens

A: That’s easy to say

C: Besides I would love to see a photo of you in your gown

A: Lol, is that the real reason you want me to go?

C: Well considering we aren’t meeting anytime soon, it’d be nice to see

A: it wouldn’t be a face shot.

C: Not changing anything for me

A: I mean I could just get dressed, post the picture and you’d be none the wiser

C: You could but I sense you’re a little too honest for that

A: Lol, I’ll take that as a compliment

C: Good, because I meant it as one

A: lol

C: are you writing lol because you’re actually laughing or because you’re smiling?

A: both

C: they do make emojis

A: Yea but I feel silly using them

C: Ah, I guess

A:You know what, I will go to the gala if you agree to go on a virtual outing with me

C: Like VR

A: More like a video meet up but no cameras

C: Just voices?

A: automated voices

C: you really wanna hold onto this mystery thing, huh?

A: I feel so comfortable with you, probably because I don’t know you but I feel like once you remove the mystery, shit gets too real

C: That’s a good rationale. How about this, my job has some assistance programs that can do text to speech. I can send you a few options, you choose one, we pick a date and we have our little blind date so to speak

A: you would do that for me?

C: Absolutely. I really like you, Anna

A: I like you too, Chris

“So you really like him but you won’t go on a real date with him?” Melissa asked.

“Mel, if I do that then this becomes way more than what it is.”

“Which is?”

“Two people just getting to know each other.”

“Without having to really know each other. You haven’t told this man your real name.”

“Because it doesn’t matter. That’s what I like most. The little things don’t matter.”

“So if he was using a fake name too, it wouldn’t bother you.”

“No. He’s not obligated to give me anything he doesn’t want to.”

“You are petrified of commitment.”

“I’ve been hurt enough, I don’t want to go through that again.”

“And you think by withholding basic information yet spending time with this man will prevent that.”

“The longer he remains a stranger, the easier it will be to walk away. I’m not looking for love or to move on. Just a new friend,” Robyn replied as she held a dress up to her body, “what do you think?”

“It’s nice. You really want to go long sleeves for this?”

“Either that or get a nice jacket. It gets cold at these things.”

“That’s true. So who’s your escort?”

“Nobody. I told Beverly that I’d go but I am not taking anybody with me.”

“Not even me?”

“Do you want to go? I can send in for a plus one.”

“Not really but it was nice you offered.”

“You sure Sis?”

“Very sure. I got a boyfriend to do things with on the weekends so I’ll be busy.”

“Oh rub it in. How is Juan anyway?”

“He is good. We were thinking about doing a friendcation next month. Go back to PR to see his family.”

“Oh that’s nice. I’m sure Lele and you will have a great time.”

“You wouldn’t come?”

“No. Hard pass.”

“I’m really tired of you ducking us, it’s not like we’re gonna fix you up on a blind date or something.”

“I know but I also don’t want to be the fifth wheel. No thank you.”

Melissa sighed, “I guess. Maybe if you’d get your life right with this new Chris, you could bring him.”

“I don’t want to meet him, Mel”

“I really don’t understand why not, y’all seem to have great chemistry.”

“Yea but I really just wanna leave it at that. I’m too fragile for anything more.”

“Have you ever thought to talk to your ex-husband?”

“Why? So he can make me feel even worse?”

“Or maybe so you can heal. Robyn, y’all had a really abrupt situation. You both were in a bad space. Maybe you just need to talk things out so you can move on.”

“Why do y’all coddle him so much? Why is it nobody’s mad at him but me?”

“Because we love both of you. Clearly, neither of you were in your right minds. Nobody thought you should've gotten divorced but neither of you were happy.”

“I did not want one. He wanted out and nobody seems to be lying that at his doorstep. It’s almost like you know something that I don’t.”

“Robs, that is most definitely not the case. We just don’t think being mad at anyone is gonna solve anything. Chris was hurting, from what we don’t know, but we all knew something wasn’t right with him. You were hurting, we all knew that too. Neither of you needed the extra weight of anyone else’s judgment.”

“It doesn’t feel very neutral.”

“Because you don’t want neutral, you want us to pick sides and that’s not gonna get any of us anywhere.”

“Well have you spoken to him?”

“We texted a few months ago but that was it.”

“Oh.”

“Do you wanna see him?”

“No because I’m still angry. Seven years later and I’m still fucking pissed. Seeing him would do me no good.”

“Robs, I think it might.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m thinking the navy blue, what about you?’

Melissa sighed, “I love it.”

“Great.”

Robyn grabbed the dress and headed to the cash register.

[perspective-series]

Kingdom Perspective (21) (Final)

By: @arc852 and @hiddendreamer67

Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, and unwanted touching/grabbing

First Chapter || Previous Chapter

—————————————————————————————————-

Just as the trio had fallen asleep, there came an insistent knocking at the door.

 Roman groaned, eyes opening slightly as he glanced over at the door. Who on earth was knocking at this time at night? He got up, being extra careful not to jostle the two humans and went to open his door, cracking it open just a tad. “Hello?”

“Ah, Prince Roman.” The royal sorcerer gave a low bow. “I hate to disturb you at such a late hour.”

 Roman tensed, going from surprise to a strong glare in under a second. “What do you want?” Roman growled out.

“There was a mistake in my spellcasting.” Dee explained, attempting to use his silver tongue. “A catastrophe in my lab, quite a mess as you can imagine. And those poor humans were caught in the thick of it- mainly hallucinogens, you understand- and when they came to the wretch-er, charming little vermin were spouting off lies about me left and right.”

 Roman continued to glare at him. “...I see. Well, we must inform Logan of this immediately.” He closed moved out into the hall without opening the door much more than it already was and closed it behind him. He gave Dee a tight smile. “Shall we?”

“I’ve already informed Logan.” Dee assured him. “After all, my loyalty lies first with the throne. King Logan sent me here to clear their tiny heads.”

 Roman narrowed his eyes. “Right, well, I hope you don’t mind but I want to speak with Logan first before I do anything. Just to make sure.” He motioned again for Dee to walk in that direction. There was no way he was letting Dee have his humans.

“Prince Roman, while this is an urgent matter, the King has asked not to be disturbed.” Dee took a step forward. “Stand aside so I can complete my orders.”

 Roman only stood up straighter, moving so he was blocking the door even more. “No.”

 “Roman.” Dee put a single gloved hand on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a sickeningly sweet smile. “You really don’t want to do this.”

 Roman pushed Dee’s hand off of him. “I’m not letting you get your slimy hands on them again.” 

Dee paused, taking in Roman’s demeanor. It seemed the giant was going nowhere anytime soon.

“Very well.” Dee straightened up, taking a step back. “Have it your way.”

Without warning Roman was suddenly thrown to the side, pushed by an invisible force as Dee directed the shadows in the hall to overthrow the prince’s balance.

 “Gah!” Roman cried as he was thrown to the ground. He hit it with a large thud. “Help! Guards! Logan!” He started shouting.

Dee pushed his limbs forward, and a large gust of wind blew open the heavy double doors.

Virgil jolted awake, shocked by the sound of the doors slamming open. He paled, recognizing the intruder as he strode in like he owned the place.

 Thomas too, jolted awake at both the sound of the door and at Virgil moving. He stared into the darkness, realizing with dread that the giant coming into the room was Dee. And, looking around, Roman was nowhere in sight.

 Roman stood up and-knowing he had no chance to stop Dee as long as he had his magic-ran quickly towards Logan’s room, passing several guards on his way, who he pointed in the right direction.

Dee paused, for a moment too shocked to continue forwards. “...Thomas?”

“You stay away from my brother!” Virgil shouted, getting in front of Thomas.

Dee’s expression fell back into its signature smirk. “If you two are so close, I can certainly oblige keeping you together.” He lunged forwards, taking the two into a tight grip of his fist.

 “Ah!” Thomas cried out in pain as he was shoved against Virgil and Dee’s fingers. He did not miss the feeling of being confined in the slightest. “Let-Let us go!”

“No!” Dee squeezed tighter, feeling the human’s forms crush together in his grasp. “I am never letting you go, never again, you hear me? You are mine. I decide your fate, I am in control, and I. will NOT. be SILENCED!” 

With this last phrase Dee’s voice had escalated to a roar, pounding through the human’s ears. The room became darker, the shadows swirling around under his command and with it came a howling wind. The sorcerer cackled, reveling in his victory. At long last, he finally had his human back.

 Thomas grit his teeth hard, Dee’s grip making him unable to cover his ears. The giant screaming made them screech with pain and he had to shut his eyes in order to take it. Even so, he wouldn’t be surprised if his ears were now bleeding.

 “Dee…” Thomas tried after a moment. “Please, take me but at least-at least let Virgil go.”

“I’m not giving up leverage so easily.” Dee sneered, his voice tainted with a dark echo as his true form continued to be revealed. “Your little brother here will be just another pawn to keep you in line, suffering the consequences for your transgressions should you try to escape me twice.”

“You’re insane!” Virgil screeched, trying to bite Dee’s fingers but lacking a good angle.

 “No! Don’t hurt him!” Thomas shouted, practically begging. “Please, he doesn’t deserve this!”

“ENOUGH!” All three heads turned to see a furious Logan standing in the doorway, surrounded by many members of the castle staff as well as his brother.

“Ah, your royal highness, I-” Dee frantically tried to disguise himself, reeling back the dramatics and tucking the humans behind his back.

“Chancelor Dee, royal sorcerer, chair of all magical proceedings at the regal council,” Logan listed off the various titles held by the slimy snake of a man as he strode forwards, “by the power vested in me through the royal blood of the Sanders line, I hereby denounce you of your position and revoke your magical privileges.”

“NO!” Dee screeched, the shadows and wind dissipating rapidly and leaving only the shell of a man who fell to his knees, begging at the king’s feet. “Please, your highness, have mercy. This is not how it appears-”

“Spare me the theatrics.” Logan rolled his eyes, waving a pair of guards over. He got enough dramatics from his brother. Holding his hands outstretched, Logan caught the humans when the guards forced Dee’s hands open, painfully yanking them behind the former sorcerer's back.

 As Thomas found himself in Logan’s hands he let out a long sigh of relief and clung to his brother, still shaking from the entire affair.

 Patton looked at the scene worryingly from Roman’s hands. And Roman wasted no time when everything was done to be at Logan’s side. He leaned in close to the humans. “Are you okay?” He whispered.

Virgil found himself low on breaths but he managed a nod. Hopefully just some bruising.

 Thomas also nodded and Roman let out a sigh of relief. He looked to Logan. “You gonna banish this snake yet or what?” He asked, eyeing Dee.

Logan nodded, turning to the prisoner with an ice cold gaze. “For your crimes against the throne and its affiliates, you are no longer welcome within our borders. You shall be escorted to the northern mountains where you to live out the rest of your days in solitude and never to disturb another person, human or giant, as long as you live.”

 “And if you do,” Roman added, getting in real close. “I’ll personally make you regret it.” He threatened.

“oooOOooh, the spoiled brat’s mad I touched his toys.” Dee sneered, having no use for his charm anymore. 

Virgil grit his teeth, feeling the urge to punch him as his fists clenched at his side.

 Roman, feeling much the same, handed Patton to Logan and then reeled back his fist, punching Dee straight in the face.

 “Whoa!” Patton yelled, not having expected that.

Dee looked just as shocked, his nose already bent to the side and beginning to bleed.

“...ow!” Dee said incredulously. 

“Roman, I thought we agreed violence was unecessary.” Logan murmured, keeping his voice down while there were whispers from the crowd behind. “That being said, I support your decision.”

“HIT HIM AGAIN!” Virgil yelled, the notion causing Dee to flinch back in preparation.

 Roman rolled up his sleeve. “With pleasure.” 

 “Roman, I think that’s enough.” Patton said, despite the fact he liked seeing Dee get punched the first time.

“Stop!” Picani seemed to agree, hastily rushing forwards. “Stop this at once, your highness. You have a reputation to uphold.”

 Roman huffed but put his arm down, crossing his arms. Sometimes he really hated being the prince. He looked to the guards. “Fine, then. Just get him out of here!”

The guards did as requested, hastily dragging the injured Dee away from the scene of the crime.

“In the morning we will release the call for a new royal sorcerer, or sorcerous I suppose.” Picani explained. “But in the meantime… off with you!” Picani waved at the crowd that had gathered, dispersing them. 

 “That...was stressful.” Thomas admitted and Patton went over to check on them. 

 “You can say that again.” Roman huffed. He turned to Logan. “At least that’s over with now though. He won’t be able to hurt them anymore.”

“Indeed, and with him taken care of I know I shall rest easier.” Logan gave a yawn. 

“I know it has been an eventful evening, but perhaps it is best you all head off to bed.” Picani suggested gently, leaving the decision up to the king.

“I agree.” Logan nodded. “Some rest will do us some good.”

 “Yes, I believe it will.” Roman said, he turned to the humans. “Come on you two.” He motioned for Virgil and Thomas to climb on but they hesitated.

 “Roman.” Patton got his attention. “Can we stick together? For tonight, at least?” Patton asked and Roman blinked.

 “Oh! Uh...Logan?” Roman asked, looking at his brother.

“Where, Patton?” Logan looked to the humans in his hands. “Would the three of you like to accompany myself, or Roman?”

 Patton looked up the giants. “...Both of you?” He asked.

 “Both? Uh...I mean, I’m down for a sleepover.” Roman turned to Logan.

“It seems a bit juvenile, but I think it’s appropriate.” Logan agreed. The bed was certainly large enough.

“I’ll increase security outside this door and make sure you’re not disturbed.” Picani said, giving a bow. Logan gave him a nod of thanks.

 Roman waited until Picani was gone to speak. “So...how do we do this? Do we all share the bed? Sleep on the floor?” Roman suggested. 

“Share the bed.” Virgil voted. “That thing’s like an ocean, there’s plenty of room.”

 “You have a point, Virge. Even with all of us on it, there will still be plenty of room.” Roman looked to his bed to make sure and nodded. “What do you say you Royal Bookworm?” Roman nudged Logan.

Logan rolled his eyes good-naturedly, walking over to the four poster. “I’ll take the right side. The three of you can have the middle pillow.”

 “Sounds good.” Thomas spoke, while Patton squealed.

 “Yay! Sleepover!” He exclaimed. Roman chuckled and made his way over to the bed, smoothing it out slightly and then motioning for Logan to get in.

Logan set the humans down, settling in himself. “Everyone comfortable?”

 “Yeah.” Thomas said with a smile, snuggling into Virgil. Patton, on the other hand, was already in the middle of climbing up to Logan’s chest. He settled down with a smile.

 “Now I am.”

Logan’s heart leapt up his throat, looking down at Patton fondly as he placed his palm gently over the tiny human.

“You coming, princey?” Virgil teased.

 Roman smiled and rolled his eyes fondly as he got into bed as well. He settled down and laid on his side to see the others better. “Everyone all settled in?” Roman asked.

 Thomas nodded and Patton hummed happily into Logan’s chest.

“Yup.” Virgil confirmed, nestling closer to his brother.

“Goodnight then.” Logan spoke aloud into the darkness, earning a chorus of ‘goodnight’s in return.

Yes, the evening had been filled with frights, as had most of the human’s separate lives through the giant world. But all three had experienced joys here as well. No matter what the morning brought, be it a new foe, a way home, or perhaps even the news this would become their permanent residence, the group was unafraid, because they were ready to face any challenges that arose together.

[crescendohowell]

Adventurous

Summary: Phil isn’t much of an adventurous uni student.  That is at least, until he goes out with a friend to the club and wakes up the next morning with no memory of the previous night and a text from someone who he apparently had “fun” with.

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: alcohol mentions

A/N: idk but here’s some cute coffee shop getting together fluff type of thing.  i’m still just trying to get back into writing (and get back into actually finishing fics lmao) but hope this is a good happy read (i actually have another fic that i’m gonna post tomorrow that i’m much more excited for but shhh)

read on ao3

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

Phil had never really been much of the adventurous type.  He tended to prefer staying in to going out and anytime he tried to break a rule he ended up feeling so anxious that he couldn’t go through with it.  Instead he was content to play video games and go to coffee with his friends and not really worry about doing any of the things that kids in uni were supposed to do given that this was the time of their lives that they were supposed to be messing around.

However, last night, for some completely unknown reason, Phil had (albeit reluctantly) agreed to go out to the club with one of his good friends.  He remembered how hot it was when they had first walked into the building pulsing with music and he remembered how absolutely horrible the first shot of the pineapple mango vodka had been.  But after a couple more shots of slightly less vile alcohol and at least one beer, Phil’s memory of the past night started to go a bit fuzzy.  

So fuzzy in fact that when he woke up the next morning with a text from an unknown number that read “hey I had so much fun with you tonight, just texting you now so that you have my number”, he had absolutely no idea who it was from.

Phil tried to wrack his brain for any memory of talking to someone new but it was all completely blank.  Of course, his pounding headache and nauseous stomach weren’t really helping his thinking abilities and he set his phone back down onto his bedside table with a sigh as he decided to worry about the text later, maybe after an aspirin and some toast.

That small detour however, ended up turning into a long while of sitting on the couch playing video games and definitely not thinking about the text on his  phone.  Then Phil’s roommate came home with his own stories from the past night and Phil spent a while just listening.

It was after that that he decided it was probably time that he finally dealt with the text.

Still sitting on the couch, he unlocked his phone and opened up the dreaded message.  Staring at the words, Phil didn’t even bother clicking to type yet because he was so far from knowing what to say.  He couldn’t help but wonder what the “I had so much fun” part implied.  He had never been one to get handsy with a stranger but given how much last night was outside of Phil’s normal habits, he wasn’t even sure if he could trust that aspect of himself.

The text didn’t have any emojis or anything and Phil found himself analyzing that aspect of it as well.  When he had girlfriends in the past they had always used a lot of hearts.  He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the mysterious texter was a guy.  Phil had only just figured out he was bisexual in the past year (and by “figured out” he meant that after many sleepless nights he had finally admitted to himself what he knew had always been true).  He had never actually told anyone else though, let alone actively pursued a boy.  But the thought that the text might be from a guy was more exciting than Phil would care to admit and it was really the only thing that made him intrigued enough to finally get over himself and start to write something back.

<< 12:45pm: hey, sorry I didn’t write back sooner, I’m afraid I don’t remember much of last night, you might have to jog my memory lol.  I’m sure that it must have been nice to meet you though! >>

<< 12:51pm: haha makes sense you don’t remember, you were pretty wasted mate. >>

Phil stared at the response in shock, letting out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding.  The stranger responded so quickly and judging by the “mate”, they actually were most likely a boy.  He almost started to type something back but instead three bubbles popped up as the stranger began to write again.

<< 12:52pm: my name’s dan (i'm assuming you don’t remember that lol) and we danced for a while at the bar. >>

<< 12:52pm: well nice to meet you (again?) then dan!! i must’ve not done anything too regrettable given that you’re still talking to me haha. >>

<< 12:53pm: I mean we did have some pretty interesting conversations when I dragged out outside to make sure you got into your uber okay… >>

<< 12:53pm: oh god. >>

<< 12:54pm: dw it was nothing too bad, just some of your deepest darkest secrets. >>

<< 12:54pm: I know that was sarcastic but given that I was flirting with you at all…already exposing one of my secrets that nobody else knows. >>

<< 12:54pm: oh shit man. >>

<< 12:55pm: yeah…I know. >>

<< 12:55pm: well if it makes you feel better, you didn’t seem like you’re still in the closet given the confidence with which you practically grinded on me with. >>

<< 12:56pm: I’m not quite sure if that makes me feel better or worse lmao. sorry if I made you uncomfortable.  >>

<< 12:56: oh no I definitely wanted it trust me.  I would have wanted to do more too if you hadn’t been so tipsy. >>

<< 12:56pm: yeah? >>

<< 12:58pm: yeah.  we should meet up sometime Phil.  I don’t want this to just be some one time drunken dancing. >>

<< 12:59pm: you remembered my name. >>

<< 1:00pm: of course. >>

<< 1:01pm: and yes, I would like if we could meet up.  maybe even a date? >>

<< 1:02pm: see? this is what I mean! way to confident to have never told anyone about not being straight.  but yes, I’d like it if it was a date :) >>

<< 1:03pm: tomorrow?  we can go grab a coffee? I’m assuming to you to York for uni too… >>

<< 1:04pm: sounds perfect and yes I do.  meet at Second Cup at 10am tomorrow? >>

<< 1:05pm: see you then!! >>

And Phil set his phone, letting out another shaky breath because oh my goodness he had a date with a boy named Dan who he had apparently danced with and wasn’t that the most wonderful thing?  All those worries about if he was attracted to boys seemed so far away as he felt giddy about someone that he didn’t even know what he looked like.  All Phil knew was that he couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.  And that he was missing texting Dan already.

It wasn’t until Phil was walking to the coffee shop the next day that some of the nerves began to settle in.  He realised that while Dan obviously knew that he wasn’t straight, nobody else did and if he saw one of his friends at the coffee shop (as was quite likely considering he often went there with various different friends) they would probably ask Phil questions about who Dan was.  Phil wasn’t sure if he was ready to answer questions like that truthfully.

But on the other hand, he didn’t want Dan to feel like he was ashamed of him.  And besides, this would be a good way to come out to people.  Phil mainly only hadn’t done so in the past because he hadn’t been quite sure (which had been fixed now) and because he was the worst at bringing up things up in conversation.  Still, he didn’t know if the middle of a coffee shop was the best place to spring something like that on an unsuspecting friend.  Phil decided that he could only hope that nobody he knew well enough that they would ask would be there.

Those thoughts kept Phil occupied for the walk but as he pulled open the door of the shop and felt the warm rush of the air inside as he walked into the comforting scent of coffee, he realised that he wasn’t entirely sure what Dan looked like.  And he was even less sure how he was supposed to act on a date with a boy.  He figured it was mostly the same, but he didn’t have all that much experience with dating girls either, at least not lately, and he really didn’t want to screw this up.  Wanting to continue to appear as though he was straight had always been enough to force himself to talk calmly and without stuttering to cute boys, but Phil had a feeling that he would be a bit of a mess now that he didn’t have to pretend that anymore.

“Phil?” A voice interrupted his thoughts as they walked up to him.  “Nice to see you here!” It was one of girls he talked to in his media class last year.  Her name was Alyssa and they had studied together before big exams.

“Hello,” Phil forced a smile because as nice as she was, his thoughts were definitely on finding someone else.

“It’s a shame I’m just heading out,” Alyssa looked towards the door, wrinkling her nose at the cold windy weather that she was about to walk out into.  “We’ll have to catch up some other time thought.  I’ve missed talking to you.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Phil’s smile was more genuine this time.  She was actually quite a lovely person and he had missed having her in a class.  He couldn’t help but feel relieved that she was leaving though.  “Text me, yeah?”

“Yeah,” She smiled back, readjusting her backpack on her shoulders.  “See you around.”

And she was out the door before Phil could say goodbye.

It wasn’t because she moved quickly though, but rather once she stepped aside Phil saw someone else and he got a bit tongue tied.  Alyssa was forgotten about as Phil couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful boy sitting at the table in the back of the shop.  He knew immediately that the boy was Dan, feelings from other night washing over him as soon as he saw his face again.  Phil still couldn’t remember anything specific but all of a sudden he could feel the aching want that he had felt that night.  Dan was stunning.  Phil hadn’t understood why that night had finally been the night that he couldn’t hide his feelings for boys any longer, but now it was perfectly clear.  

Phil would give up so much to be with Dan.  The want was so strong it almost scared him.  But as Dan looked up, making eye contact with Phil, and smiled a dimpled smile, Phil had never felt less scared.

“Hey,” Phil walked up.  His voice broke a little on the word but really, wasn’t that to be expected?

“Hi,” Dan’s eyes crinkled.  

Phil thought that brown eyes were infinitely more stunning than anyone ever gave them credit for.  

“At least you remembered what I looked like enough to find me,” Dan teased.

“Mm, don’t think I could forget that,” Phil didn’t even bother trying to hide the fact that he couldn’t keep his eyes off Dan.  His hair was so curly and his jacket fit him so well.  

“You’re such a flirt even when sober,” Dan’s smile was filled with amusement as he spoke.

“You bring out all my most desperate flirting,” Phil finally sat down at the table in the chair across from Dan.  He desperately wanted to run his fingers lightly over the light freckles on Dan’s cheeks.  Phil had never been this impossibly attracted to someone.

“Well you’re pretty cute yourself,” Dan said as though he could read Phil’s thoughts.

Phil thought that his heart might beat out of chest and he almost couldn’t breathe but oh, it was the best feeling.  The cutest boy he had ever met was flirting with him and he was flirting back.  It was more than he had ever allowed himself to dream of.

They spent the next hour in their little back corner of the coffee shop.  They sipped on identical drinks that Phil had insisted on paying for and talked about everything.  There was never a moment of awkward silence.  Phil had known that Dan was cute from the beginning, but by the end of that hour his attraction to Dan went so much further than just based on appearance.

When they walked outside together, they made promises to see each other again soon as they stood close together in the windy weather while Phil counted the freckles across Dan’s nose.  He thought about how he wasn’t much of the adventurous type.  He was normally the type of person to take things slow and wait a couple of dates before initiating anything.  But then again Phil wasn’t normally the type of person to go to a club or the type of person to grind on cute boys while dancing or the type of person to text back a stranger whose name he couldn’t even remember.

So Phil took a breath of the cold air and counted Dan’s freckles and didn’t think about anything but the warm feeling in his chest.  He let it seep throughout his body, gathering it all up, until he was able to feel the anxiety that was always there begin to slip away.  

Phil leaned forward and pressed his lips against Dan’s.  They kissed softly with the wind swirling around them and the taste of coffee on both their lips.  

This was most certainly the beginning of a huge adventure, but already it was one where Phil already felt like he was at home.

[survivormontenegro]

Episode 10: “It’s Like Giving A Baby A Glock” - Mo

I’ve been tricked, I’ve been backstabbed and, quite possibly, bamboozled.

So like here’s the thing, the person I thought going into merge I could trust the least is apparently now my closest ally. That’s Julia. I thought everyone was on the same page of voting out Tom like oh we’re gucci. But fucking quick fake out, no such thing as Tom getting voted out. I literally started hysterically laughing because no one was answering me when I asked what happened on the call. Now I don’t know what to do but I’m still just gonna have fun.

operation vote alex was a success. i feel really really awful because he looked so upset, but he was just too powerful and couldn't stick around any longer ahh. in other news sleeping beauty tom is so funny, he almost self-voted himself out of the game I am truly screaming. i was determined this season to make up for the last time we played together and i think i got to do that ahh.

in other news... i need to go into hiding. i have done way too much in both of the last votes, and its really gonna start getting me some attention unless i really really go under the radar. me and jules are the only people who voted both ian and alex, and on call with jason i think its obvious to him now that us two are close eek!

i feel like mo is a good next vote, he is much more of an outsider than jones and is an easy vote which is what i need since im in such a highlighted position at the moment eek, i really think i'm gonna go like 8th or something, so we will see how that little pickle goes eek!

New Goal Bootlist: Mo > Jones > Jason > Julia > Mitch > Me/Caeleb/Jules/Benj/Tom F5, ahh I love everyone left way too much this is gonna become such a pickle when I don't wanna vote out like.... half the tribe EEK. lets just hope its all smooth sailing till i idol someone out eek.

i do not expect to make FTC, but I just wanna use my idol correctly before I go askljdfa. Also new jury rankings if I get booted 10th:

Jules > Jason > Benj > Caeleb > Mitch > Jones > Julia > Tom > Mo

Caeleb shot up my rankings for being open to a move, Jason would be a major underdog if he makes it to FTC, Jules is too woke and deserves votes, and Benj is playing a super smart game ha! We will see, but I sure do not expect to last much longer in this game KLASDFA

HELLO!!! This game has been chaos lately. Firstly Ian gets blindsided and I knew it would be a split vote but had no clue he was leaving wow... but then this round all the people who organised that got blindsided with the Alex vote hehe. I didn't vote him bc my vote was publicized by Ian even tho I didn't vote him smh but I fully knew about it and kinda helped with it even tho its mainly caelebs move

Alex was super nice I liked him but it was purely for game he was the biggest threat and we were almost certain he had durmitor idol so! Even with tom self voting it worked wowow so I guess jules also voted with ali/caeleb/mitch/Jason

I don't talk to Julia or mo but IM SO SAD ABT JONES I DONT KNOW IF SHE KNOWS I KNEW OR NOT BUT I LOVE HER AND HOPE SHE DONT HATE ME

But whew this merge has been so crazy and I love it. Im kinda becoming floaterish again but that's fine bc we see threats leave early like ian and alex so! this should work for a while... altho im terrified to even make the end cuz its a live finale tribal AHHHH but idk if I will make it there anyway we will see. prob not .

Current rankings (strategically)

1. Ali - MY KINGGGG FOREVER!!!! Best duo ever and I don't think anyone knows it... we have voted differently again so its like perfect cuz despite doing diff stuff we still tell each other everything. and I hope we find merge idol so we have 2 hehe

2. Caeleb - Omg we have been working together a lot more closely lately and I really like it hes fun to work with im so sad I voted him 2 rounds ago LOL but its ok since its going to well now! king

3. Mitch - Only person ive been on every tribe with, usually always on the same page w stuff

4. Jones - LOVE HER QUEEN! she would be like tied 1st for personal but so far we have voted diff both times at merge oops! but still wanna go far with her

5/6. Jules/Tom - Without really talking about strategy we were still on the same page. Tom aussie king. JULES FRIENDLY QUEEN!

7/8/9. Jason/Julia/Mo - I just don't know how to talk to them really lol but all nice . my fault cuz maybe im so inactive... love u guys still

IDK WHATS NEXT BUT I WANNA MAKE TOP 9 ATLEAST!! Single digits again yus

Ok ok after tending to my needy cat, taking a shower, and taking a short 6 hour nap that others may call sleep,,, I’m 60% in the right headspace to gather my thoughts I think.

Last nights move was so good, I hated it Bc I wasn’t included in it but it was so good. But also seeing Alex literally on the verge of tears was NOT so good. That was actually depressing. Granted he WAS the biggest threat to win and he was on the verge of becoming an extremely controlling paranoid person - but dammit the combination of Mitch/Ali/Jason/Jules/Caeleb/Tom (to an extent) got us SO good.

BTW I can say with like 95% certainty that those were the 6 people involved w Alex going. It only makes sense to me that it would be? Ali/Mitch/Tom straight up TOLD me why they did what they did, Jason Bc why the fuck would he vote out Tom, Caeleb has expressed so much paranoia ab Alex that I’d be shocked if he wasn’t on board w it, and honestly Jules just hasn’t said anything ab anything and Alex went home w 5 votes, Benj and Julia voted Jason, Mo was VISIBLY shaken by Alex going, and I know I didn’t do it. So unless I’m missing someone in my process of elimination, those are the 6 people involved in the murder of Alexander Crooks.

Also on a couple unrelated notes - I’m thinking ab willing my vote cover to someone. I just don’t understand why I should be afraid of being exposed - I feel like I shouldn’t have anything to hide yk? Assuming I have to expose my vote I mean, hopefully I don’t! But ya

Also literally the round Before last round I think Caeleb actually exposed the plan to blindside Alex to me ? Like he was talking to me ab Tom and Ali wanting to get him out and then I approached Ali ab it and he was like no that’s not a thing BUT IT WAS A THING!! I think Alex was supposed to go last round, but Bc I confronted Ali ab it then it got pushed back??? Or it was legit just meant for this round smdmmdmd but um ya that’s might be the same plan?? So maybe I’ll expose Caeleb a bit hehehehe.

But honestly tho I think this could be really good for me in the sense that every single person thought of me as a duo w Alex - now I’m kind of a free agent who can do whatever the fuck I want!! Which is fun, the only true alliances I have w people now are just w benj and mo, which is cute and also I doubt anyone would target them anytime soon ? Tom seems like he’s still open to working w me, so are Ali and Mitch. Julia was also blindsided hardcore so maybe she’d be down to work out something too ? Right now I’m just holding out hope knowing for a fact that I CAN make this situation better. I’ve literally BEEN in this situation 2 times already?? I can do this! Just like Co-Star always tells me.

Wait just kidding on the Julia thing I can’t trust her either, I can only trust Jones at the moment.

So I found out from Benj that there was another split vote led by Alex. Last tribal he failed to tell me that they were going to vote out Ian instead of Jason. So this time around, when I found out that they were going to do the same thing to me again, I knew there was no going back with my new connection with Ali. The more I talked around with everyone the more the pieces started to align. Tom and Jason were targets so they would be easy to get involved. With me and Ali that's already 4. Mitch was going to be the fifth, and Jules as well if we felt like he wasn't going to go for it. I honestly wanted to vote Jules first tho, and I talked to Ali and Benj about that originally, but Ali had reservations as Jules is SUCH a flipper. AND THEN Julia voted so early, so I kinda went up to everyone in this new group and was like, "okay that was arrogant I think she's trying to be funny but thats enough for me to vote her," and Ali was way more into that so for a couple hours we had that going. BUT MITCH WAS NO WHERE TO BE SEEN. Like we had our four and we were ready but Mitch didn't come on line until like 40 min before tribal. And when he did he was like I'm voting Alex. I really didn't want to go for Alex right away because of a couple of reasons. One being that if he heard of this vote in anyyy way he might be able to get Jones to play her idol for him and that could destroy everything. SECONDLY, I knew that if we voted him then I was gonna have to do some SERIOUS damage control with Mo and Jones but if I had the opportunity to vote out Julia instead, I can go back to them and say that I knew I had to take the opportunity to be involved in the decisions but I didn't want it to be any of them. SOOO last 40 min I had to make a really big decision if I was gonna vote Alex or Tom and ultimately, I chose to vote out Alex. It just would put me in a better position.

I am so glad I did it to be honest. The moment I saw Alex's name five times I knew I made the right decision. I felt Happy and I felt Free. Alex was clearly using me as a failsafe, an easy first vote out once Me, Mo, Alex, Jones, Julia, Jules, and Ali were left. Now, this game is open up not just for me, but for everybody. I seriously think anyone can take control at this point. I don't need it to be me, I just need it to be someone who likes me. I think Jones is the most dangerous player right now, because of her idol. But I have kept that to myself, as well as her advantage, because while I might have to play the middle ground, I'm not a snitch.

Everyone is always so obsessed with being a hero or a villain. Going into Tumblr Survivor as a new player I really wanted to find out what type of player I was going to become. If I was gonna fit into one of those roles. I don't know what I am. I kinda feel like a villain because clearly that was a devious move, and I broke a strong alliance, but also I feel like I was a villain by default. I didn't necessarily want to be that player, I actually would've loved to have felt safe in that group. But trust has gotta go both ways, and if you show me two tribals in a row that you don't trust me to tell me the whole plan, I'm not gonna stick true with a group that sees me as expendable. So sure I was a villain, but it wasn't about vengeance or deceit or ill-will. It was to put this game back on a balance, and move me into a new spot that can work for me.

Okay, something I have learned about Survivor is that you have to put your Pride in Check. Tom is so nice to me, says a lot of things along the lines of "thanks for saving me," "you and I can go far in this," and such. And he told me he wasn't going to vote me in the first merge vote, and I think he believes that he fooled me. I know he voted me. He's literally the only person that would think voting me was the majority vote, except Ian and Jason. I wanna tell him that I know so badly so he doesn't think he's pulling one over me but I can't because I want him to think he can work with me, that I am in his pocket because he "stuck his neck out for me" or whatever.

Also ummm Mitch told me that Alex had a planned assassination on me for the last vote before merge. But he didn't tell me until after the Alex vote and said Jones was in on it. I know better than to trust what Mitch tells me for sure, so I don't think I will even go and fact check him on it. I honestly don't know how that would've helped Alex in the slightest so I don't know if its true, but also Alex likes to throw out my name as a "just in case" so god who knows. Regardless, I doubt I'll use this information for anything because it honestly doesn't matter going forward, other than that Mitch is a little bit of a snake.

hehe

So I won the reward challenge because I’m cool.

I

Have

No

Fucking clue

What to do with this

Like all three of the people voted Alex off without telling me about anything and I was in an alliance chat with all three of them (Ali & Jules in Space Jam, Caeleb in Durmitor Dominators) so like of course I was sad because that meant I was on the outs. Truth be told I kinda wish I didn’t win this because it’s like giving a baby a glock. Because I don’t know how to come out of this without people thinking I’m holding a grudge.

okay so mo won reward which is okay! I dont really wanna ask him to save me, because that will require making promises that I dont know if I'll be able to keep. I expect to be cursed this round.

touchy subjects is going to tank my game like CRAZY. I'm worried that Caeleb, Benj & Jules could all say they trust me most which is highkey terrifying, because if I win that it'll send red flags to all of them. I expect to win the shady game ones, about lying and flipping on alliances and stuff which is not as bad because I can just blame that on Space Jam which I told Caeleb about.

My big fear and this could just be ego-talking, like when I thought I was gonna win the lists challenge and then came second last but I'm so worried about getting the will win if they make it to the end category, thats... a death sentence in my opinion.

Wanna do like a quick update for each person too, just so I can look back when they all hate me at the end of the season:

Benj: my KING. He is such a legend, I love talking to me and do not think I would ever be able to vote for him, except at FTC! Wanna go super far with him, super super far!

Caeleb: Oh god I'm already realising the problem, which is that I love everyone. Caeleb I did not expect to get as close to, but he is so so fun to talk to! I'm really giving with him, and I think he is close to Benj too, so could be a good endgame person too. Will see on that one.

Jason: I love him! I for some reason convinced myself that he hated me during the swap, but I dont think... he does? he is SO smart and fun, I'd love to vote for him at an FTC. Ideally he needs to go before then, but I've lost Ian and Alex who were great shields so he acc probably needs to stick around.

Jones: Okay Jones is tough. Like... we stan becausee she is so much fun and I love talking to her. But talking game with her right now is tough because we have this weird poor communication and I'm conscious of not making empty promises when I want to see her go soon. I really like her on a personal, but I see either me voting her out or her voting me out.

Jules: what can I say except we stan. I talk to her and Benj the most by far, they are just consistently showing why we love them! I think they are such a threat, but I cant face the idea of voting them out eek! Wanna go super far with Jules because I LOVE THEM and they are a great friend and ally!

Julia: I messed up with Julia BAD. I should've told her about the Alex vote, I really think she would've been down, and it would've been so much better. Now she is upset and paranoid, and I feel so bad. I did her wrong and need to make it up to her, but I dont know if I will be able to eeek!

Mitch: he is so funny HDJDKDKD, like the way he talks is so funny. I've had a real rollercoaster relationship with him this season, but I could see some sort of alliance of me/Caeleb/Mitch/Benj coming together in the future! We will see ahh!

Mo: I've been quite harsh about Mo in confessionals this season but I feel like this vote gave him the kick he needs? Like he was playing it super safe and while it frustrates me seeing him say stuff like just keep me to F7 and such, he is, as always great to be around and a lotta fun!

Tom: Sleeping Beauty Tom. It's so funny to me that he stayed despite self-voting and sleeping. He is so much fun, I was determined to make up for our last game and I think I have ahh.

Summary is I wanna see Jones and Mo out next, then Mitch & Jason, then Julia leaving a F5 of Caeleb/ Me/ Benj/ Tom/ Jules? Thats the dream anyway ha!

Maybe I'm just paranoid but I feel like I've backstabbed/betrayed a good amount of people in this game and it's hard because sure they were moves that had to be made, but I hate being THAT PERSON. I don't know. Here's a confession Johnny, I'm trying but I'm bad at these.

So Mo said he was going to give me the reward tonight. He definitely doesn't talk to me as much and is much less excited and fun to talk to but I think I need to just accept that. The fact that he came up to me to tell me he's giving it to me, rather than me asking, makes me think he's telling the truth.

Plus I am being honest with him when I tell him that I don't want it to be him next. I hope he knows that.

Jones meanwhile has yet to say anything to me after last tribal. I finally messaged her last night, saying that I didn't mean anything towards her when I voted Alex. I hope she'll come around, but if not, then umm I kinda have no choice but to be wary of her and her idol and might have to do something about it. I don't want to though, I do wanna work with both her and Mo.

I actually think Julia is on my side. I can’t tell if she’s lying but she seemed upset because apparently no one talked to her about the plan to vote out Alex.

I'm bored at work. This tribal council is Odd as Hell. No one wants to throw out names, no one wants to seem too schemey, so everyone is just talking about being nervous and concerned. I honestly don't know who I want to go home because I think this vote is going to determine the course of this game post-Alex. I know I sure as hell don't want to come off as someone who is dictating the votes, so I'm trying to make it clear that I am willing to go with the flow with anyone who needs a vote rn.

I think there are people who have my back hopefully that will tell me if I need to be worried at least. Ali hopefully would, Tom *hopefully* would (but who knows hes sneaky), Mo was nice enough to give me the reward but um the Alex vote has changed him, I miss the old Mo. come back. Jones finally is talking to me again, but she's still trying to keep some secrets about the last couple of votes so I don't fully trust her. Benj hopefully would, but I was surprised he talks to Julia so much. Jason hopefully would, but now with Alex gone his game opens up tremendously. Julia would never tell me. Mitch wouldn't tell me unless it helped himself which I can't imagine happening. Jules probably wouldn't tell me because she's the easiest to convince into doing something no matter what Touchy Subjects said. She's literally flipped allegiances like every single vote ever. I hope I can survive tonight because I think this is going to be a pivotal vote and literally anyone can go home tonight (except Benj who has the sweet immunity).

HI um I think this game is broken? No one will say anything to anyone. Did I do this? Did I break this game? Or maybe we all did? Maybe Ali did maybe Jules did maybe Mitch did because us four are the middle people and we created an atmosphere where no one trusts anyone? or everyone trusts some people and none of that fits into a substantial person to vote?

I'm literally laughing rn. I am logging off. I am not going to focus on this game because literally every person just says "I don't want to throw a name out" "I haven't heard anything" "what have you heard" Like the gravity of this is crazy. This has gone on for HOURS. I don't know what to do so I am going to ignore my messages for like an hour and then reanalyze because Damn.

APPARENTLY NO ONES SAYING SHIT. But like part of me is like “Hm.... Yeah ok sure...” thinking it’s gonna be me. Because either everyone is lying to me or everyone’s genuinely confused.

okay i did a video confessionals that's uploading which has my thoughts from a couple of hours ago.

since then jules is pushing for mitch to go... but its so tough. mitch i think has my back, i just wanna vote mo and delay this war by a round. I just want someone like Mo or Jones gone, its getting tough. I'm playing the middle and am in a web of problems.

I have to have Jules back above all. Benj is safe, so I need to keep them safe. I need to get the vote on like Mo or someone, but Caeleb wants to vote Mitch or Jules too... ugh this is getting really messy and I'm worried and tired.

Idk if I sent this yet but

At the moment rightnow it seems like it’s Jules or Mitch, right now I think,,,, the best way to vote is Mitch. I’m Trying to get everyone on the path for mitch because I think Jules is falling in the “I’m a big threat wah” category and I want that to keep growing,,, I just feel,, so awful.

Mitch if you’re reading this ily w my whole heart and I still wanna crash Drew’s library w you some day

i am... what we call in the business, trash. i upset mitch and deserve to be voted out for it. i'm snappin' hearts on my way to FTC LORD.

[achillestiel]

All The Glitters | Part One | ao3 Link

An UnReal/The Bachelor deancas au

Dean’s ass was numb. There was a shooting pain in his back and he was seriously sure that there was glitter stuck in his eye. That was sadly nothing new. That was just his life. His phone had been buzzing nonstop for the past fifteen minutes but from the position he was lying in, there was no way of reaching it.

Most twenty-seven-year-old men wouldn’t spend an evening lying on the floor of a limo while talking to a bunch of single, probably desperate, women. Dean, however, was used to it. He’d done it for so many years now that it was like second nature to him. It was more natural to him than breathing.

“Dean? Hey, Dean? Is the limo going to be stopping anytime soon? I really need to go to the bathroom.”

Dean lifted his head to see which one of the girls had spoken. Amelia. A tall, composed woman with ‘wife material’ practically stamped across her forehead. Dean could see why Josie selected her for the show.

“Can you hold it? We’re five minutes out.” Dean said from his position on the floor of the limo.

“Dean, this dress cost me $375. I do not want to pee on it.” Amelia said in a near whine. Dean wasn’t surprised that she needed to pee. They had been stuck in the fucking limo for over an hour already.

“If I distract you with who the suitor is will you hold it in?” Dean asked. Amelia sighed but nodded her head. With a flourish Dean held up a headshot of the current suitor for the show. “Castiel Collins, son of Dmitri Collins and heir to the entire family fortune. They’re the fifth richest family in America. If Daddy’s latest business deal goes through they’ll probably become the third richest.” The girls all squealed or made impressed sounds.

“Ok, I’ll say it. He’s a handsome guy.” Another girl said. Rachel. Dean had read her file and knew that she was studying to be a civil rights lawyer. Far too smart for the damn show. “What do you think Dean?” Rachel then asked. “Handsome right?”

“I’m not ending up with a ring on my finger.” Dean said. “I don’t have an opinion.” Ok, he had to admit that Castiel was a handsome fucker.

“We’re still going to ask you. You’re our producer.” Anna Milton said. She was pale and willowing with long red hair. From her file Dean knew she was also a lawyer. It was a surprise to have so many smart women on one season.

“Dean, is it true that one of the girls was sent home last year for screwing a cameraman?” Ruby asked. She was all legs, dark hair and devilish eyes. She was the clear frontrunner to become the show’s ‘Bitch’. She would be a rating goldmine.

“That really happened?” Amelia asked. Ruby nodded.

“Oh yeah, she banged one of the cameramen and then got thrown out. It was all over the internet.” Ruby said, sounding far too amused by the whole thing. Dean sighed and tried to ignore the conversation. “That’s true, right Dean?” Ruby pressed.

“Fine. Yes, it’s true. Don’t fuck any of the crew. Simple as that.” Dean said.

“Winchester where the hell are you? Limo one is duller than dishwater so I need your girls now!” Josie’s voice came screaming into his earpiece.

“We’re five minutes out.” Dean said into his mic. Five minutes and I’ll be back in the madness. Dean thought to himself. As the limo drove over a speed bump champagne was splashed onto his head.

“We’ve got five hours of hard night left Dean, we need these girls now!” Josie yelled back.

“We’re five minutes out Josie. Outside of shoving a firework up the driver’s ass, we’re still gonna be five minutes out.” Dean said with a heavy sigh. “We’re gonna do one last tits and teeth check. There’s not gonna be a stray eyelash or rogue nipple in sight.” Dean promised.

“God, I fucking love you Winchester. Welcome back.” Josie said.  

Yeah, he was definitely back to the madness.

The madness was Eternal Love. America’s number one dating show and a cultural smash. This had been his life, his whole world for the past eight years. He’d started as a shitty little intern at the age of nineteen and risen through the ranks to, finally, become the head producer. It helped that the showrunner and creator of the show, Josie Sands, loved him and basically treated him like a husband/son hybrid. Ok that was fucked up but Josie was the best in the business. She was driven, powerful and just a tiny bit scary. Ok, a lot scary. She had made interns piss themselves before.

“Hey Dean? Is there any members of the crew we can screw?” Ruby asked looking down at him, if she moved her leg even just a bit then Dean would have been able to see right up her dress. He really hoped that wouldn’t happen or that she was actually wearing underwear. “You know, just in case we get lonely or bored and Mr Moneybags doesn’t put out.”

“Honestly?” Dean asked. Ruby nodded sagely. “Don’t bother trying to screw the AD, he’s my brother and his fiancée Jess will make you all look like drag queens. She’s the head makeup artists.” Dean said. “If you get caught screwing a cameraman then you’re out. The showrunner is a woman and will eat you alive. Don’t think about fucking a producer so you can stay in the show, it never works.”

“So basically we can’t screw anyone?” Ruby asked, her eyebrow cocked sky high.

“Basically, yeah.” Dean said.

“Not even you?” She asked.

“I’d like to see you try sweetheart. I prefer dick to whatever you’re offering.” Dean said. All the girls looked down at him with surprised looks. “What? Oh yeah, like a straight guy would spend eight years giving a shit about this business.” He added while several of the girls snickered.

“Winchester, we’re a minute out.” The driver’s voice filled his ears.

“Josie, we’re a minute out.” Dean said.

“Thank fuck for that. The last limo of girls were the dullest bunch. Won’t last until the second episode. Get your skanks here now.” Josie replied.

“You girls ready?” Dean asked.

“I still need to pee.” Amelia whined.

“We’re a minute away, I promise. As soon as you meet Castiel you can sprint and piss.” Dean said.

“Fuck! Winchester stop the fucking limo! Move your toned ass out the damn car and get here now!” Josie screamed into Dean’s ear. Dean jolted from his spot on the floor. All five girls in the limo stared at him. Amelia, Rachel, Ruby, Anna and Daphne all stared at him with questioning looks.

“What’s wrong?” Dean said into his mic.

“That fucking drippy idiot intern lost the suitor!” Josie screamed.

“Frank!” Dean yelled to the driver. “Stop the limo!” The limo screeched to stop and everyone whined. “Everyone stay in the car.”

“Dean I really have to pee.” Amelia said. Dean glared at her. “Don’t look at me like that, I have to pee.”

“There’s bushes outside. If you have to go then go in the bush.” Dean said as hauled his body out the limo.

“Dean, I went to Yale. I am not going to the bathroom in a bush.” Amelia snapped.

“Yeah well my brother went to Stanford and he’s pissed behind most of these bushes.”

“The makeup artist is a lucky girl.” Ruby quipped.

“Right everyone hand over your phones, I won’t have time before you meet Castiel.”

“We don’t have our phones?” Ruby asked.

“Have you seen this fucking show before?” Dean snapped holding out his hands. “You get them back when you are kicked off the show or win.”

“So I’ll get it back when I win.” Ruby said. Dean rolled his eyes and turned to an intern who had sprung up outside the limo.

“Don’t let these girls leave this limo. If you do, Josie will kill you.” Dean said and took everyone’s phones off them before he slammed the limo door shut and took off in the run towards the Eternal Love mansion. He knew the place like the back of his hand. He spent every waking hour there when the show was filming and had done for eight years.

“Thank Jesus fucking Christ!” He heard Josie scream when he can running towards the driveway to the mansion. Lighting, cameras and members of the crew were everywhere. Several of the interns or cameramen stared at Dean. After last year, he really wasn’t too surprised.

“What happened?” Dean asked looking around. He could see several of the girls already standing around, jackets from the crew members thrown over their glitter covered evening dresses. “Someone lost the suitor?” He asked Josie. Her flaming red hair was all over the place and she looked as if she was about to murder someone.

“I am never trusting interns ever again. I was fucking blessed with you.” Josie snapped. “I put that new skinny one, I don’t know her name, on ‘suitor watch’ and she lost him. She lost him Dean. How can you lose a whole person?” She asked. Without even taking a breath Josie turned to face the rest of the crew. “If there is not a latte in my hand in less than a minute I will fire you all.” Her face was almost as red as her hair. “I will fire you all then destroy you. I know this mansion more than I know my vagina. I know where to bury your fucking bodies.”

“Josie, chill out. I can sort it.” Dean said. “Someone get her a damn latte and make sure it has three sweet-n-low in it and no foam!” He yelled to the crew. Three interns were already running off to the coffee cart.

“And a cigarette.” Josie said.

“You’re quitting.” Dean said. Josie’s nostrils flared. “And someone get her a box of Marlboros! Menthol!” Yet more assistants and interns went scurrying. “I’ll find him. I promise.” Dean said back to Josie. She gave him a rare smile, which still looked kind of scary, and let out a sigh.

“I love you Winchester. Fucking love you.” Josie said. Dean switched his radio over to Sam and Jess’ channel as he hurried over to wardrobe. “Have you seen our suitor anywhere?” he asked them.

“Nah, sorry Dean. I haven’t seen him since I did a quick powder on his face.” Jess, his brother’s fiancée and head of the makeup department, said. “Try wardrobe.”

“Scratch that Jess.” Came Dean’s brother Sam’s voice. “I saw him storming off towards the lake. Looked really pissed Dean so you better run.”

“Thanks Sammy.” Dean said quickly as he switched back to Josie’s main channel. Mainly to tell Josie but also so he didn’t have to hear his brother bitch him out for calling him ‘Sammy’. “Suitor’s by the lake. I’m gonna grab him.” Dean told Josie. “Got your coffee?”

“Yes and it is shit. I can’t trust anyone but you Winchester.” Josie replied. “I don’t care how you do it, just get my suitor back.” One day Josie’s head was just going to explode from stress. Dean would probably have to clean it up too. He didn’t complain too much because he had been a producer on the show ever since he was twenty-four. He didn’t know anyone else in the industry who had been given a producer role at such a young age. Without fucking their boss that was.

Taking off in a sprint Dean hurried over to the grand lake situated about five minutes away from the mansion. It didn’t take long to spot Castiel Collins. He was the only one who was here. Sat on a large rock, a trail of cigarette smoke curling above his head. When he heard Dean approaching his head whipped around.

“I am not going back to that madness.” He said quickly. “Who are you?” Castiel asked when finally looked at Dean’s face. His photos really hadn’t done him justice. The guy was a handsome motherfucker with dark hair, tanned skin and incredibly blue eyes. Even if he turned out to be the world’s biggest asshole the viewers would still love him.

Every woman in America is going to have dripping panties from the very first episode. That was how Josie had put it. She was kind of right.

“Hey, I’m Dean Winchester. I’m the head producer for the show. In fact, that makes me your producer.” That was sort of a lie. Normally Josie oversaw the suitors but Dean thought he would try his best to establish some respect from Castiel. “Mind if I sit down?” He asked.

“Are you going to make me go back there?” Castiel asked. Dean finally noticed how deep the guy’s voice was. He’d always been a sucker for deep voices. The female contestants would be ripping each other apart just to hear Castiel speak.

“Dude, you’re a human being. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.” Dean said. “So, can I sit? I promise I won't try to make you go back there.”

“Fine.” Castiel said. Dean slowly walked over and sat down on the rock, right next to Castiel. “Want one?” Castiel asked holding out a crumpled packet of cigarettes. “I rarely ever smoke but this seemed like an appropriate time.”

“Sure.” Dean said. Castiel lit him a cigarette and handed it over. “This show makes anyone smoke like a chimney. My brother, he’s the assistant director, used to smoke like a fucking fiend until he met his fiancée.” Dean said. “So…what’s wrong man?”

“That show, it is crazy. It’s crazy.” Castiel said shaking his head.

“Yeah, it kind of is.” Dean said in agreement. Even after eight years he still found the show crazy.

“And that red-haired woman…”

“Josie?”

“Yes. She’s a piece of work.” Castiel said with a shake of his head. “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m here.”

“You’re Dmitri Collins’ son right?” Dean asked even though he knew everything about Castiel. It was his job to know everything. Castiel nodded his head. “He wants to buy part of the network doesn’t he? My boss, Josie, told me so. That must be why you’re here.” It was also because Castiel was one of the most eligible bachelors in the country but Dean wasn’t sure how Castiel would react to that.

“That sounds correct to me.” Castiel said between drags of his cigarette. “I just…I don’t know what on earth I am doing here. I’ve never watched this moronic show, no offence-”

“None taken man, I only watch this show because I work on it.” Dean said.

“Well I’ve never watched the show and I certainly don’t think I’m going to find love on a reality show.” Castiel said. “The whole idea just seems absurd.” He muttered as he glanced back towards the mansion. “The first car full of women…they just seemed to be here because of the cameras.”

Dean sighed heavily because that was true. They had a lot of contestants who only came onto the show to help their careers or to get exposure. Several of them went far, mainly because they were rating gold, while others didn’t make it past the third week.

“Look, I know that most people think that this show is just a load of bullshit and half the time they’re right. You’ve got a chance to find love, there are some pretty awesome women here. My limo was full of great girls.”

“This sounds like you’re trying to get me to go back to that mansion.” Castiel said warily.

“I’m just giving you my opinion. I mean, my job is on the line here but whatever. If you don’t want to be here then I can just go and get the standby guy.”

“There is a standby suitor?” Castiel asked. Dean nodded.

“Yeah, he’s some kind of doctor. Saved a load of dying kids in Africa.” Dean lied. There was no standby suitor but if it got Castiel back to the mansion then he was going to say anything. “Total ‘dreamboat’.” Dean said. He watched Castiel sit and think for several minutes.

“Dean! Where the fuck are you? Have you got him yet?” Josie screamed into his ear.

“Yeah, give me a minute Josie.”

“We’re losing hard light Dean!” Josie screamed.

“Give me a minute.” Dean snapped back. He knew if anyone else snapped at Josie then they would have been broken in half like a twig. Dean, however, could actually get away with it. “Can you make sure the standby suitor is on set?”

“Standby? Oh you fucking genius.” Josie replied.

“So we can head back now and you can hand things over to the other guy.” Dean said to Castiel. He pulled himself up off the rock, flicked his cigarette away, and turned back to Castiel. “You coming?” He asked. Castiel nodded and soon they were walking back to the mansion. Dean could see interns running around like headless chickens. When they spotted Dean and Castiel they looked even more frantic. Josie had probably dropped the ‘standby suitor’ bomb. Obviously, none of them had a clue what she was on about.

They were near the driveway when Castiel stopped Dean. “If I agree to do this then I want full control. I won’t do anything that I don’t want to do.” Castiel said. His voice was full of determination and Dean could tell that Castiel wasn’t a man to take any of Josie’s shit. She wouldn’t be able to the control him in the same way she had controlled the past suitors. “Can you promise me that?” Castiel asked Dean. That was a lot to ask of him.

“Dude, you’re gonna be told what to do a lot of the time. If you don’t want to do it then simply don’t do it.” Dean said. It would piss Josie off so much but Dean was willing to say anything if it meant Castiel staying on the show.

“Hey Deano! Found the runaway yet?” The voice of the show’s host, Gabriel, interrupted their conversation. Dean turned and saw the host waltzing towards him. Gabriel had hosted the show from the very beginning. He irritated Josie to no end but the viewers adored his quick wit and easy going personality.

“Yeah, he’s right here. We can get this show back on the road.” Dean said nodding over to Castiel. “I’m going to the control room to oversee everything.” He glanced over at Castiel. “If you need me for anything then just yell, ok?”

“Yes, thank you Dean.” Castiel said with a slight twitch of his lips that could have been a smile. Gabriel led him away back to the driveway while Dean hurried over to the control room. As he walked he saw several members of the crew continue to stare at him. He was half tempted to flip them off but he knew better at the end of the day.

Inside the control room. Josie was stood with the remains of her latte. Her steely eyes fixed on the monitors. Interns scurried around while the other producers were sat in their chairs, notepads in front of them and eager looks on their faces.

“Winchester!” Charlie Bradbury, a fellow producer, called out when she saw him. “You’re back.”

“Like I could leave this hellhole.” Dean quipped as he walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

“I wouldn’t have done this shit without you.” Charlie said.

“I wouldn’t let him even if he tried.” Josie said. “What’s the situation with the suitor?” She asked Dean, it was always business with Josie.

“It’s fine. I’ve got him back but I don’t think he’s going to respond to anyone else trying to produce him. It’s going to have to be me.” Dean said. Everyone stared at him. Josie had always been in charge of the suitors. True, Dean was the head producer but the role of producing the suitor had always fallen onto the showrunner.

“Are you sure you can handle that?” Josie asked, her eyebrow cocked. “Because if you fuck it up then the network will want you gone. I won’t have any say in the matter.” She meant that as well. Their network had final say over the show and if Dean screwed up in any way then he would end up without a job. That was a lot of pressure to have on his shoulders.

“I’m not going to fuck it up Josie, I promise.” Dean said. Josie gave him a long look, her mind was probably going over the previous year but shrugged her shoulders. She threw up her hands then threw herself back into her chairs.

While Dean got comfortable next to Charlie his eyes wandered to the huge board behind them. Every headshot of the girls appearing on the show was stuck onto the board, along with who was producing them and comments Josie had included. Under Dean’s name were photos of Amelia, Ruby, Anna, Rachel and Daphne along with Josie’s notes. Under Ruby’s photo, the word ‘VILLAIN’ was plain to see.

“Ok, let’s get this show back on the road. Cue limo!” Josie yelled into her mic. The limo housing Dean’s girls drove up the driveway. It came to a stop not far away from Castiel, who still looked incredibly nervous. “This is opening night! Let’s give them fantasy, love and…I don’t know a glitter unicorn and magical fucking vaginas.”

“Very poetic.” Charlie muttered.

“It doesn’t matter, this is all a bunch of crap anyway.” Josie said rolling her eyes. “Love and all that bullshit that America chomps down with a spoon.”

“Someone didn’t get that glitter unicorn she wanted when she was little.” Balthazar, a fellow producer muttered.

“Suck my dick Balthazar.” Josie snapped. “Come on, let’s get these girls in here so America can believe in love again!” She yelled.

“First girl, go.” Dean said into his own mic. The limo door opened and Anna gracefully stepped out. Several members of the crew let out whistled. She was gorgeous, Dean wasn’t about to lie and say she wasn’t. She rocked the willowy red head look for all it was worth and the deep green of her floor length ball gown looked great on camera.

“Damn, we know how to pick them.” Josie said as Anna glided towards Castiel, her smile lighting up the whole screen. “Stats!”

“Anna Milton. She’s twenty-six from Ohio and is training to be a human rights lawyer.” Dean said, quoting her file that he had memorised. “She’s an only child and paints in her spare time. She’s actually a really good artist, I saw a few of her drawings earlier on.”

“Plus she was ‘wife’ material stamped on her forehead.” Josie said. Charlie rolled her eyes because as soon as a girl was classed as wife material she was guaranteed to stay several weeks. On the screen Anna had pulled Castiel into a hug, her smile beaming.

“Hi, I’m Anna. It’s lovely to meet you.” Anna said, her voice strong but warm.

“It’s lovely to meet you too Anna.” Castiel said, smiling at her politely. Dean could still see the nerves in Castiel’s eyes but his smiled looked genuine and Dean knew the audience would eat this up.

“Someone shove a firecracker up his ass.” Josie muttered.

“I’m really excited to meet you Castiel.” Anna said on the screen, her smile bright.

“Thank you…you look stunning.” Castiel said as he gave Anna a kiss on the cheek.  

“She should do, that dress looks like it cost a fucking fortune.” Charlie said.

“Her mother made it actually.” Dean said from his seat. “They’re really close and her mom made her a lot of her clothes.”

“How do you know all this shit?” Balthazar asked.

“I was stuck in a car with them for over an hour. I know shit loads about my girls.”

“That reminds me, if you’re producing Castiel then you have to go over his file.” Josie said as she watched several screens at once. Dean nodded as Anna walked into the mansion and the next contestant stepped out the limo. Ruby grinned at Castiel she strode over to him.

“And here’s my villain.” Josie said as she looked over Ruby in her skin tight black dress. “Winchester, tell me about her.”

“Ruby Cortese, she’s twenty four and from Nebraska but now lives in L.A. She’s currently a waitress.” Dean said. “She’s basically a bitch on heat.” He added. “She’s already said that she’d ‘shank a bitch’ to get to the final two.”

“That would be damn good television.” Charlie said.

“Well hello gorgeous.” Ruby said as she looked over Castiel and instantly went in for a kiss. Castiel looked utterly taken aback.

“Nice. Who told her to do that?” Josie asked.

“Me, I mentioned to her that Castiel likes the whole public display of affection.”

“Does he?” An intern asked.

“Who fucking cares? This makes for good TV. The audience will hate her. It’s fantastic. Well done Winchester.” Josie said with a grin like a Cheshire cat.

“He looks like a rabbit caught in headlights.” Charlie said.

“If her dress was any shorter then he’d be caught in her vagina.” Balthazar quipped from his seat. Josie chuckled with laughter but didn’t say anything else. Dean could tell that she was already planning several scenarios with Ruby being a bitch.

Ruby sauntered off, giving Castiel a wink as she went, while Amelia glided out the car. Her dress looked good on camera and Dean could see the words ‘Wife Material’ practically stamped on her forehead.

“Stats!”

“Amelia Everett. She’s twenty-nine and from Chicago. She has a dead husband and a two-year-old daughter.” Dean said. He’d actually had a long conversation with Amelia about her daughter. Her name was Claire and she was Amelia’s whole world.

“Excellent, we can milk that for all it’s worth.” Josie said. From anyone else that would have been a sickening comment but this was Josie. Dean was used to it by now.

The rest of Dean’s girls made their introductions to Castiel. They were soon followed by Charlie and Balthazar’s girls.  There were nonstop comments all the while.

“Those are some bad fake boobs.”

“Why did you give me this girl Josie? She’ll be lucky to last the night.”

All the while Dean could see that Castiel was nervous and really didn’t want to be there. Once all the girls had made their introductions Gabriel swooped in to announce that the cocktail party would start straight away.

“And cut!” Josie yelled. “Right, everyone get your asses down there and produce the shit out of your girls. I want drinks and hands at all times and killer fucking TV or I’ll rip your balls off. Protect the wives, pickle all the other girls. You get cash bonuses for nudity, cat fights and a promotion if we need to call 911.” She caught Dean’s eye and motioned him to follow her into her office. Dean pulled himself out his chair and went off after Josie. “You ok?” Josie asked once they were in her office.

“Uh…yeah…why?” Dean asked.

“Because you’re back in this shit storm even after last year.” Josie pointed out. “Look, I know I’m not all fuzzy and full of happy but you’re my little warrior. I need my knight by my side during this bullshit. I need to know you’re ok.”

“Last year…last year was bullshit but I’m ok. I promise.” Dean said as he desperately tried not to think about the year before.

“I’m pissed that Castiel wants you to produce him but I’m going to let it slide. You’re my second in command so I suppose you can handle it.”

“Thanks Josie.”

“Now go and produce the skanks and shove a firecracker up Collins’ ass. He’s ‘dreamy’ but boring.” Josie said dismissing Dean with a wave.

“You have such a way with words.” Dean muttered as he walked out the office. He quickly made his way to the huge patio area where the introduction cocktail party was happening. Already every single one of the ladies had a large drink in their hands. Dean spotted Anna and Rachel talking to one another while Amelia and Daphne were talking to a few of Charlie’s girls. Ruby was stood talking to a few of Balthazar’s girls with a smirk on her face.

“You know, she made me adjust her make up three times.” Jess, Sam’s fiancée, said as she walked up to Dean. The makeup artists were always on hand for emergency lip gloss application. “And she keeps making eyes at Sam.”

“Hey, I told all of them that the AD was off limits.” Dean said. Jess gave him a thankful look before her face turned sad. “Before you ask, I’m fine. Seriously Jess, I am fine.” Dean said quickly before Jess could say anything. True, Sam and Jess had been amazing after the shit storm of last year but Dean was done talking about it. “Come on, I’ve got a job to do.” He added as he looked over the girls.

“Suitor coming on set!” An intern said through Dean’s earpiece. Seconds later Gabriel came walking out onto the patio. All the girls cheered and clapped. Gabriel soaked it all in with a huge grin. He was made for TV. Dean had always thought that they had hit the jackpot when casting Gabriel as the host.

“Ladies, Castiel is on his way and he’s very excited to get to know all of you a bit better.” Gabriel said. “So enjoy yourselves and later on we will be having our first rose ceremony.” All the girls clapped at that but looked nervous. The rose ceremony was a big thing. The suitor would give roses to the women he wanted to keep on the show each week. Dean had seen many women cry over the years when they hadn’t been given a rose.

While Gabriel was hyping up the contestants Dean went into the house to find Castiel. Castiel was stood waiting for his cue. Though, by the look on his face it was as if he were walking to his death. Dean gave him a quick smile as he hurried over to him.

“You ok dude?” Dean asked him.

“This is a circus. When this is all over, remind me that I greatly dislike my father.” Castiel said with a shake of his head.

“Hey I get that. I got daddy issues coming out the wazoo.” Dean said. “But you ok? Gabe is going to announce you in a minute then you have to go out there a schmooze.”

“Fantastic.” Castiel muttered sarcastically.

“Look, I know this really isn’t your thing but America eats this shit up. They love this goddamn show. Just smile, flirt with the girls and make a good show then the world is your oyster.” Dean said. This felt weird, it was the first time that a suitor hadn’t been interested in the show.

“You’re selling a lie though, you understand that right? Do any of the people on this show actually find love?” Yeah, the cameraman and that bitch from last year Dean thought before he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

“Last year’s couple are still together. They’re planning a Christmas wedding. A couple from a few years ago are now expecting a kid. Sure, some of them break up after but sometimes they actually find love and all that bullshit.”

“Do you actually believe that?” Castiel asked him.

“Fuck no.” Dean said with a snort. “I do this job because I’m fucking good at it. Now come on, I’ll be out there coaching you if you need it.” He added.

“Let me introduce to you this year’s Eternal Love suitor, Castiel Collins!” They heard Gabriel said from outside.

“Showtime.” Dean said practically pushing Castiel out the door. He quickly hurried out a side door to watch the drama unfold. All the girls cheered when Castiel came and greeted them. Charlie, Balthazar and other producers flitted around off camera.

Dean was walking over towards his girls when he spotted a familiar jawline. A very familiar jawline. The owner of that jawline was holding a steady cam and focusing on a few of the girls. What the fuck? What the actual fuck?

“Jack?” Dean asked, hoping and praying that it wasn’t him. The guy turned towards him and Dean felt his heart drop towards his stomach. It was him. It was fucking him. What the hell was he doing here? Josie had fired him the year before. Jack carefully put down his steady cam.

“Hey Dean.” Jack said. Fuck, he still sounded exactly the same.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean asked him. They hadn’t spoken since Jack had been fired and Dean really wasn’t keen on talking to him now. Still, he wanted to know why the fuck Jack was here.

“My job?” Jack guessed motioning to the steady cam.

“Josie fired your ass.”

“Yeah well Crowley brought me back. Apparently, I’m the best cameraman you guys have.” Jack said looking embarrassed. Fucking Crowley. Fergus Crowley was the creator of the show, Josie’s boss and the biggest dick on the face of the planet. “So…how have you been?”

“Fantastic.” Dean said sarcastically. Jack’s brows creased together at Dean’s tone and he couldn’t help but let out a snort. “Did you think I’d be happy to see you?” He asked.

“It’s been a year Dean, more than enough time to get over something.”

“Over something? That’s what you want to call it? Bullshit.” Dean said. “Why did you even come back here? Everyone knows what you did and they fucking hate you for it.”

“I’m here to do my job Dean. Josie might have fired me but I’m back, I am here to do my job.” Jack said trying to square up against Dean. It didn’t work seeing as Jack was a good few inches shorter than Dean.

“Yeah and I’m here to do my job so fuck off.” Dean snapped.

“This is boring Dean. I want good interviews with the girls now.” Josie said in Dean’s earpiece.  

“Got it.” Dean said turning away from Jack and heading off to find his girls. “Now you can tell me why the fuck Jack is here.”

“Jack? As in Jack? Jack is here? What the fuck? I fired his bastard ass last year after he turned out to be the world’s biggest jackass.”

“Yeah well, apparently Crowley brought him back.” Dean snapped.

“That bastard.” Josie snarled. “Right I’ll sort it, you won’t have to see him again if you don’t want to.” She said. “Now get me some good TV.” Josie might have been a calculating bitch but she looked after Dean. If that meant destroying the bastard ex-fiancé who cheated on Dean with a contestant then that’s what she had to do.

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• A lot of times, it gets weird when some guy is playing your dad. It feels weird to you. It feels like they’re forcing sentiment. It’s disgusting. – Kristen Stewart • A sweet thing, for whatever time, to revisit in dreams the dear dad we have lost. – Euripides • After about midday my dad sent cars from his private collection for us. We were told to get in. We had almost lost contact with my father and brothers because things had got out of hand. I saw with my own eyes the [Iraqi] army withdrawing and the terrified faces of the Iraqi soldiers who, unfortunately, were running away and looking around them. Missiles were falling on my left and my right – they were not more than fifty or one hundred metres away. We moved in small cars. I had a gun between my feet just in case. – Raghad Hussein • Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad. – Anne Geddes

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Dad', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_dad').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_dad img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to. – Wayne Rooney • Before there is a business, a successful entrepreneur is designing this type of business in his or her mind’s eye. According to my rich dad, this is the job of a true entrepreneur. – Robert Kiyosaki • But actually my dad is a very talented director and not just his use of shots and camera, but he’s very good with actors and he knows acting well. It’s great to see him do that and be really good at it and he’s been doing it for a while and he certainly knows how to make movies, and little movies I guess for a television show, and he’s going to come back in November to direct a second episode, which I’m really excited about. – Emily Deschanel • But not like this: not with the house just an afterimage, and my mom a spirit, and my dad…recycled.” “Carter Kane, Chapter 41 – Rick Riordan • But there’s no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives. – Tony Dungy

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Dad – a son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love. – John Walter Bratton • Dad needs to show an incredible amount of respect and humor and friendship toward his mate so the kids understand their parents are sexy, they’re fun, they do things together, they’re best friends. Kids learn by example. If I respect Mom, they’re going to respect Mom. – Tim Allen • Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows. – Al Unser • Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world’s problems? – Bill Watterson • Dad’s especially need to remember that what they say to their daughters is written in Sharpie. It can’t be erased. – Sue Enquist • Dads are the appendix of humanity. They should just be taken out before they start causing problems. – Nick Burd • Dads are the leaders in their homes, and our kids need leaders. – Greg Schiano • Dad’s tiny – his passport picture is a full-length shot. He looks like he just hopped off a key ring. Mum is a different matter, she’s a bit of a handful to say the least. I love her more than anyone on this Earth. But she’s a monster. – Ricky Hatton

• Growing up in New Orleans, my mom and dad were churchgoers. I would go to church with them. Also, I was going to a Catholic school so I had a fascination with the Catholic Church mainly because, in my mind, (their services) didn’t take as long. I was bouncing in between my mom’s Baptist church, which was called Second Zion Baptist, and going to a Catholic Church. – Avery Johnson • Growing up working with my dad, I really had no interest in doing the actual work, so I was always like drawing on the wood, doing stuff like that. It just has a real hands-on approach. – Eddie Martinez • Henry James once defined life as that predicament which precedes death, and certainly nobody owes you a debt of honor or gratitude for getting him into that predicament. But a child does owe his father a debt, if Dad, having gotten him into this peck of trouble, takes off his coat and buckles down to the job of showing his son how best to crash through it. – Clarence Budington Kelland • He’s [Harry S. Truman] just your dad, and you love him. It’s only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home – it’s only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. Pride reinforces love. My father was a great man. – Margaret Truman Daniel • I actually wanted to be a police officer like my dad for the longest time, up until my sophomore year in high school when I started doing plays. I did plays when I was little, but in high school, I started getting into acting. – Chad Lindberg • I believe strongly that a group’s potential is eventually limited by the strength of its leadership. I’m an outsider, but it still looks to me like the leadership in the Java w orld is Fouled Up Beyond ALL Recognition. Java ISVs don’t know whether to listen to Mom or Dad. Everybody knows IBM should just buy Sun and clean up the mess. When are they going to do it? – Eric Sink • I can see the humor in just about any situation. After I lost my dad, I realized that none of us should take things too seriously, because everything except death works itself out. – Chris Rock • I didn’t realize how good I was with technology until I met my parents… my dad told me “You’re good; you should be a computer programmer.” I said, “You’re bad… you should be a caveman.” – Mike Birbiglia • I don’t think I really knew how fit I was when I was a kid. I rode with my dad quite long distances and I’ve been racing since the age of nine, so we did a lot of sport growing up. My earliest memories of my dad are watching him race, so it was inevitable when we were old enough that my brother and I would get on bikes. – Victoria Pendleton • I grew up as an only child. I think it might just be that my dad really didn’t care that I was a girl. “You’re gonna do certain things ’cause I want you to, and that’s the way it is.” – Mitchell Baker • I grew up in Birmingham, but my parents are originally from Barbados. My dad, Romeo, was a long-distance lorry driver, and my mother, Mayleen, worked in catering. – David Harewood • I grew up playing games, and I remember Christmas 1981 when my dad got us an Intellivision, and we all sat around and played ‘Astrosmash’ for hours on end. It was a big part of my youth. – Roger Craig Smith • I guess I knew my dad was into photography, so a part of me was interested in picking it up to understand him a little better. – Gia Coppola • I had a tremendous upbringing and foundation but as others like me have experienced, when you go to college, mom and dad are no longer there to help guide. There were some moments in college that really cemented my own convictions and beliefs. It was a real period of growth and maturity in my sanctifying process. I got married in college. That was a tremendous blessing. Four years later, we started having children and that gives you a deeper understanding of the Father’s love. – Aaron Kampman • I had old bunk beds that my dad got from Seabrook Farms. They were first used by German prisoners during World War II, who were sent to work the farms during the war. The metal beds with their thin mattresses could easily be used as a jungle gym and I loved them. – David Mixner • I had to figure out my own faith. That was something I figured out a while ago when I was 18. But I can always stand on the fact that my dad has been a great example for me. Beyond that, building my career hasn’t been attached to my dad. It’s been me figuring things out for myself. – Anthony Evans • I hate short hair on men – the ‘real’ man is something I don’t know. My dad was always playing with hairbands, making rings, while the women were wearing jeans, white T-shirts and Converse. That was the uniform at home. – Lou Doillon • I have always had the feeling I could do anything and my dad told me I could. I was in college before I found out he might be wrong. – Ann Richards • I hope I pass on my dad’s good humor, work ethic and lack of self-seriousness. Our house was always a fun place where you’d get knocked around quickly if you took yourself too seriously. – Willie Geist • I just love to sing, so like my dad’s advice when I was younger – anytime you get a chance to sing, just go out there and do it! I truly just love the actual singing. – Lauren Hart • I knew that I had to be a preacher. I had to be a minister, which was a puzzle to me because my dad was a businessman. It was a family company and I assumed that I would take it on from him. – N. T. Wright • I love baseball, I really do. I always told my Dad, I’m not gonna make it working… I like to play ball too much. Which I did. I played hard. You gotta work at this game. You really do. And its fun doing it if you do it the right way. – Yogi Berra • I love my dad. He used to be a professional wrestler in Mexico. So it was cool growing up with him, because when he hit us, he didn’t really hit us. – Felipe Esparza • I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad. – Lady Gaga • I love working with my dad, but I need to be independent and do my own stuff. – Rob Reiner • I loved rock and roll when that came in, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, all those great records. So I begged my mom and dad for a guitar, which eventually they did get me for Christmas, but it went out of tune very quickly, and it hurt my fingers. – Ian McLagan • I never got along with my dad. Kids used to come up to me and say, ‘My dad can beat up your dad.’ I’d say ‘Yeah? When?’ – Bill Hicks • I never really was good at being a family general man, really. I hardly ever spent any time with my mum and dad whatever, really, or brothers or sisters. We just really didn’t get along. I was pretty much like the black sheep of the family, to be honest. – Andrew Chan • I never wanted to be an actor. My dad was an actor, and he never brought joy home, so I didn’t view it as something that I would want to do. – Jennifer Lawrence • I once punched a bloke in the face for saying ‘Hawk the Slayer’ was rubbish, when what I should have said ‘Dad, you’re wrong.’ – Bill Bailey • I sampled a bit of stuff from my dad’s collection. He has probably a bigger record collection than I do. I try to buy as much as possible, because I’ve never been able to keep an MP3 collection organized. I like to keep my computers as clean as possible. – Girl Talk • I spoke to my dad, and he said it took close to 90 dollars to raise me. But that was me and my sister, and my sister moved out when she was 16, so sometimes it can knock you up to triple digits to raise a kid. – Adam Carolla • I struggle every day with trying to be a better dad, a better husband, better musician, better artist. It consumes me, and I don’t see an end in sight. – Harry Connick, Jr. • I think a dad has to make his daughter feel that he’s genuinely interested in what she’s going through. – Harry Connick, Jr. • I think he gets a lot of respect just because he’s my dad, too. Even if he hadn’t had any experience. But I think he comes with a lot of experience and all of that as well, so I think people enjoyed working with him and had fun and also respected him, which was nice. – Emily Deschanel • I think I was really bored at school. I was quietly clock watching for years. I went to 10 schools because my dad was in the Army and we moved around a lot. – Ridley Scott • I think it’s becoming rarer and rarer when I consider the experiences that I’ve had in my life between my dad and my brother and all the men in my life who have all been gentlemen and have looked after women. – Alex Pettyfer • I think spending a lot of time with my mom, who’s a talker and a storyteller, and my dad, who has kind of a soft-spoken, understated sense of humor, I think that’s how I became what I am, which is sort of an understated storyteller. – Mike Birbiglia • I think that what’s funny is that I seem to be taking up the roles that I remember my dad having – for some reason, I’m the one who makes the coffee, and my dad was always that guy. It’s kind of shocking how closely I compare to my dad. – James Mercer • I think the best advice I ever got about acting was from my dad, which was, ‘If they don’t buy the fish on the first toss, throw it back in the wagon and go to the second house.’ Which is like an old Jewish fishmongers’ story about how you become a successful fish monger. – Lin Shaye • I think we should have a day off for Father’s Day. Dads work very hard. And to be fair, a day off for Mums too, as they work hard. And more bank holidays. They rock. – Peter Andre • I wanted to be an actor my whole young life. My dad was an actor, obviously – he won an Academy Award, but I had no idea what was involved. I had all the wrong ideas about acting. – Ed Begley, Jr. • I was lucky to have a great dad. – James McNerney • I was raised in farm and ranch communities, and my dad wanted me to be a cowboy like him, but I saw how he struggled in life and wanted more than that. – Tom Johnson • I was very inventive. I lived in my own world – my dad said I was a loner. Not lonely, just happy in my own company. It’s the same now. I need time alone, which is maybe why I love to write. Having said that, I love the sociability of telly. It’s a nice contrast. – Alan Titchmarsh • I wasn’t the athletic kid in my family. Both of my brothers were on athletic scholarships and my dad played semi-pro hockey. My younger brother played pro hockey. I was the music kid. But I always loved sports. I grew up around it. – Trevor McNevan • I would love to play Marlene Dietrich in a movie. My dad’s from Germany and so I feel like that would be a really interesting person to play. – Kirsten Dunst • If a dad does his job, we don’t need prisons, we don’t need jails. That’s what I saw growing up. – Mike Singletary • If there is some sort of trouble at home, kids don’t think that James Bond is going to come save their mum from their dad, or their dad from their mum. They don’t think, “Bond is going to come and save me.” Superman is a different sort of idealized figure. – Henry Cavill • If you love your dad, it’s tough when he dies. If you don’t like your dad, it’s tough when he dies. Because you lose that guy. Whatever you didn’t get, you miss. And what you did get, you miss. – Jimmy Iovine • If you’re a guy over 30 by yourself in the hotel pool, you automatically look like a murderer who’s just relaxing after he strangled a family. “Yeah-that dad was a tough one to kill.” – Jim Gaffigan • I’m a good blend of both my mom and dad. – Danica Patrick • I’m an actor, paid to act. I don’t bring personal problems to the sets. Dad taught me that. – Abhishek Bachchan • I’m glad I was raised by my dad for other reasons, too. There are things you can learn from a father, as a son, that you can never learn from Mom. Special things, important things. Like “never challenge Dad to a fist fight. – Christopher Titus • I’m not a typical Republican. I am a Republican, I wear the Republican jersey, I’ve been a Republican my whole life. My dad was a Republican, which is interesting because he was in a union early on. The Republican party was very strong in the area that I grew up in. So I’m a loyalist. – Anthony Scaramucci • I’m really close to my mom, but things with my dad have been different. He has dementia and watching him change, I’ve actually started to think that it’s a purer state for people. Because he operates as if he’s a child and everything is new, which seems more honest. – Blake Butler • It might be tough, but my dad used to say, tough times don’t last — tough people do. – James Robertson • It was always so important to my dad for us to understand about the Genocide and to know about our family history. – Kim Kardashian • It wasn’t like a “I know I wanted to do this,” I was sort of just – I was five and my dad kinda said hey, you wanna be an actor and I said sure. – Drake Bell • It’s a funny thing. It’s an odd thing to have your dad just come and work with you. But I think they all enjoyed working with him. It was a lot of fun. David loved teasing my dad, but I know respects him very much and when he gave him direction, David was always trying to do what he asked and we had a lot of fun. – Emily Deschanel • It’s because the idea of what’s cool is different. When you talk to a girl who goes to regular school, what’s cool is whether or not you’ve been to jail, or if you have a car. If you talk to a girl who goes to art school, what’s cool to her is if you do art projects on the weekend with your dad, if you can build something – out-of-the-norm stuff. – Anthony Mackie • It’s like a relay race of being ignored. It is really challenging, but whenever I get asked that stuff, I feel really self-conscious about it. I feel really lucky because we have a lot of help. When I first began to be a dad with Gwen [Stefani], I was amazed at what she went through. – Gavin Rossdale • It’s not any desire on my part to start playing dads, but it’s a convention of drama. If you don’t get the parts of young people going out to nightclubs, you have to play their fathers. – Ian Hart • I’ve always been aggressive and an underdog, and my dad was worried that I would always be that: constantly seeking inspiration from negativity. – Doseone • I’ve been so lucky to have my mum and dad because they’ve worked to give my brother and I everything. We’re not spoilt children. – Amy Childs • I’ve been very lucky in my employment over the years. You would think that the worst job I’ve ever had was as janitor, but it really wasn’t, because I was a janitor at my dad’s office building when I was younger. – Chris Carmack • I’ve got a really great family round me, two sisters and an older brother and my mum and dad. Everybody’s equal. – Nicholas Hoult • I’ve seen women who don’t have great relationships with their dads, and it all comes down to this: You have to tell girls you love them every day. – Chris Rock • Kids did really well in their A levels, how do we respond? ‘A Levels are getting easier, in my day you had to do fifty questions in a minute, if you got one wrong, they killed your dad! – Russell Howard • Kids really need love from two parents. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and a mom, or a dad and a dad. – Brendon Ayanbadejo • Lemurs are good parents but they do it in different ways. I originally studied father care. I was very interested in that and we saw that a lot of these animals that lived in pairs and the father wasn’t doing anything at all for the first month. But then suddenly, when the baby got to be a certain weight then the dads chipped in and started carrying the babies which was very nice. And then if there was twins or triplets then they helped. – Patricia Wright • Mom and Dad say I should make my life an example of the principles I believe in… But every time I do, they tell me to stop it. – Bill Watterson • Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was, you could have asked the local florist – because every day Dad gave Mom a rose, which he put on her bedside table. That’s how she found out what happened on the day my father died – she went looking for him because that morning, there was no rose. – Mitt Romney • My attitude towards money is because of my mum and dad. My parents have always worked full time and I’ve always had that work ethic in me. – Amy Childs • My brother and I grew up in a musical family. We have an older sister who sings and plays the piano. Our dad is a musician. Music was always a part of our lives. – Laura Allen • My brother and I were born in an Irish county called Tipperary. We were both very math- and science-inclined in high school. My dad trained as an electrical engineer, and my mom is in microbiology. – John Collison • My dad always said to go for my hobby and used to commend me for my excellent judgement so i try to do the similar for my children. – Heather McDonald • My dad always said to me that with fame comes great responsibility, which has always stuck with me, even though I think he stole that line from Spiderman. – Missy Higgins • My dad and I get into it all the time. He loves to discuss politics much more than I do and we have pretty heated conversations. – James Mercer • My dad and mom were more like World War II-era parents, even though it was the 1960s, because they were both born in the ’40s. They were young adults before the ’60s even happened, and married, and already having kids. But by the time we were adolescents in the ’70s, the whole culture was screaming at parents, “You’re a good parent if you’re open with your kids about sex.” They attempted to be open with us about sex, and it made them want to die, and consequently, it made us want to die. • My dad didn’t often bring me to the set, being an actor himself, so my infancy as an actor was wracked with a lot of giggles and nervousness. – Josh Brolin • My dad died, and my grandfather died, and my great-grandfather died. And the guy before him, I don’t know. Probably died. – Norm MacDonald • My dad got me a chemistry book one Christmas and I burnt the garden shed down. I remember there was the most beautiful smell forever after in the remains. – Beth Orton • My dad had been shortstop when he was in college, and you know, when you’re a kid, you want to be just like your dad. – Derek Jeter • My dad has always been such a great dad, and he’s brought so much culture to my life. He dragged me to see every single movie at the cinématheque as a kid. I saw everything from Star Wars to Bergman. – Julie Delpy • My dad has always just had a lot of faith in me as an artist and as a person, and he doesn’t really dispense with a lot of advice when it comes to the music. He’s taught me a lot over the years, but when I was taking on this project he’s really hands-off about that. He just appreciates what I’ve done and is very supportive, and of course really proud. – Molly Ringwald • My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. – Tiger Woods • My dad introduced me to the game, gave me a stick. Since then I’ve had a passion for it. – Sidney Crosby • My dad is a carpenter, a joiner, and I used to watch him make things. So I always imagined that I’d do something where I made things, too. I was really more interested in architecture growing up because I would work with my dad on houses. – Christopher Bailey • My dad is actually a manic depressive, which is very exciting half the time. – Marc Maron • My dad is an ambassador. My brother is a diplomat. I doubt that I could be doing anything else other than being a diplomat if I weren’t in showbiz. It’s in the genes! – Woody Milintachinda • My dad is my everything. He always had the craziest speeches for Kylie [Jenner] and me growing up, good words to live by. – Kendall Jenner • My dad is one of the funniest people I know. He’s the sort of man who can make you laugh just by reading out of a telephone directory… He’s a spastic. – Frankie Boyle • My dad is really just lazy. He has nothing, I feel, to offer this world. – Sasha Grey • My dad kept me away from people who treat children wrong. It’s just amazing that there is such a way to raise a person without giving them complexes. But nobody does it. They think it should be the old school. But look at the products. Wouldn’t it be great if you could avoid the complexes? Then you could deal with the complexes of life. – Juliette Lewis • My dad knew that if I wanted to make a career out of it, I needed to go to NASCAR rather than dirt racing. Personally, I like dirt racing a little bit more. It’s a little more fun. – Tanner Berryhill • My dad taught me at a very young age that I should work harder than everyone else: Be the first one in and the last one out. – Mandana Dayani • My Dad taught me that the English upper class are sent to school to be taught to be confident, whereas in Glasgow you’re born confident. I’ve always thought that pretty much summed me up. Born confident. – Rankin • My dad told me, ‘Your movie’s never as good as the dailies and never as bad as the rough cut. – Sofia Coppola • My dad used to call me “yeah but” because no matter what the answer was I always wanted to explore why things were what they were and how they might be different. – Arlene Dickinson • My dad was a bass player in a Latino band when I was growing up. So we always had musical instruments in our basement. – Lindi Ortega • My dad was a complicated man. He was a huge racist, my dad, but he still tried to be a good father, you know? Like, he would tell me that Santa Claus was black – that way, when I found out he didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be that big a let down. – Anthony Jeselnik • My dad was a cross-country truck driver. – John Searles • My dad was an engineer and so I had this picture of science and technology and pursuits of the mind as being more impressive than artistic pursuits, which I saw a as kind of frivolous. – Scott McCloud • My dad was so influential in my career. It was a fulfillment of every athlete’s dream. I dreamed about it as a kid. We played hockey in the backyard. We had silver buckets we carried around like the Stanley Cup. It was everything that you would hope. – Matt Cullen • My dad would often take me to the cinema and I found myself really seduced by the imagery, I think this had a massive impact on how I viewed the world. – Rankin • My dad, a mathematician, raised me to believe that mathematics is beautiful, so math is a part of my imaginative terrain. In my late 20s I wrote several 11-line poems because I wanted to create poems that couldn’t be uniformly divided into couplets, tercets, or quatrains, 11 being a prime number. – James Arthur • My dad’s a musician, and he taught me how to play when I was three, I think, so I’ve been playing ever since. It’s something I’ve always done. And when you’re really young, and you play music for people, people get really excited, so you get this inner sense that you are good at it, even though I’ve always been really not good at it. – Bob Schneider • My dad’s been one of those dads who loves showing newspaper articles to the neighbors. – Girl Talk • My dad’s dying wish was to have his family around him. I can’t help thinking he would have been better off with more oxygen. – Jimmy Carr • My dads great. Hes an amazing artist. A sculptor. Hes wonderful and supportive. I love going to museums with him – we talk about… everything. – Grace Gummer • My earliest influences would definitely be my father, just seeing him play in different bands and going to his shows and going to the rehearsals. You know what I’m saying, it was the typical story of a son looking up to his dad. So the years that my father was around, my father was my biggest influence. – Jon Connor • My father played in high school. My uncles played. From age five or six, I remember watching all the games. And I remember saying to my mom and dad even then that I was going to play in the NFL, and buy them a house and a car. – Thomas Jones • My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass’; ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’ – Harmon Killebrew • My father was a management genius. But what I really wanted was a dad. – Michael Jackson • My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad. – Beau Bridges • My favorite thing about coaching? Teaching. Being around young people, just watching a player grow and develop. You know, a young man comes in with dreams and goals and ambitions and just helping him reach (them). It’s like your dad watching you grow up and like me watching my boys grow. – Tubby Smith • My grandfather and my dad’s brothers and my dad all worked in construction. It’s the whole cultural thing, you know, your parents want you to go to the next level of whatever, and I decided that I ought to be an architect. I can’t tell you why. And I tried, and I had no aptitude for it. – Bruce Molsky • My mom and my dad taught me the greatest gifts we have are our family, our health and the right to clean water and good land. – Erin Brockovich • My mother played the piano and my father the violin, I can remember my dad teaching me how to waltz; I had my feet on his, my mother playing the piano, and my husband will tell you the lessons weren’t very successful. – Quentin Bryce • My mum told me the best time to ask my dad for anything was during sex. Not the best advice I’d ever been given. I burst in through the bedroom door saying “Can I have a new bike?”. He was very upset. His secretary was surprisingly nice about it. I got the bike. – Jimmy Carr • My parents are really conservative. My dad is Muslim, and my mom is the most conservative woman you’ve ever met. They’re very aristocratic in the most quaint suburban way. – SZA • Nikah is a contract that transfers responsibilities. Therefore know the man you’re thinking of marrying, and be sure that he is able to take care of you, more than your dad did. Islam empowers women with honor and dignity. Don’t settle for anything less. – Nouman Ali Khan • Nobody had books at home. My dad was a very educated person, so he would have books at home. All Spanish books. That helped. Most of my homies had no books at home. – Luis J. Rodriguez • Nolan Ryan helped me with baseball, and my dad passing away gave me a bigger heart. – Randy Johnson • Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today. – Bono • People see Archie Bunker everywhere. Particularly girls; poor girls, rich girls, all kinds of girls are always coming up to me and telling me that Archie is just like their dad. – Carroll O’Connor • She got really mad a month ago, because she had e-mailed me a naked picture of herself – which is a nice thing to do – but then I messed up, and I accidentally forwarded that e-mail to both of my parents. Now, my girlfriend is furious, mortified, but I don’t even care, ’cause now I have to call up my mother and say ‘Mom, I am so sorry – that picture was just for dad.’ – Anthony Jeselnik • That really is the best part of being a dad. You remember what’s important in life. – Russell Simmons • The black and white lemur, the one that relaxes on that branch, they actually have day care, like kindergartens; where all the mothers come together and they put all the babies into this one nest and they let dad watch it while they go out and have food and have a good time and then they come back in a few hours. We’ve never seen that in other primates. – Patricia Wright • The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, ‘Daddy, I need to ask you something,’ he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan. – Garrison Keillor • The greatest gift I ever had Came from God; I call him Dad! – John Walter Bratton • Three of Donald Trump’s kids have come forward to defend him, and called him ‘an incredible dad and role model.’ Donald was so moved that he wrote one of them back into his will. ‘I’m not gonna tell you which one . . . it’s Donald Jr.’ – Jimmy Fallon • To be a dad: Make peace with the fact that you will now be your partner’s second favourite person in the world. – Chris Ramsey • We inherit a lot from our parents: mom’s eyes, dad’s chin, and the attitude of whichever parent isn’t punishing you at the moment. All of those things we have our mom’s to thank for.”If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” – Milton Berle • Well, Thanksgiving we’ll all gather at my house for dinner and we usually do Christmas at Beau’s house. My mom is still feisty and kicking. She’s 92. I saw her last night and she published a book at 90. It’s a wonderful book called “You Caught Me Kissing” and it’s basically love-poems that she wrote for my dad. It’s more than that, it’s a wonderful book. – Jeff Bridges • We’re living in a time period where if a kid is on a plastic scooter that’s one inch off the ground, mom and dad think he should have a helmet on. I don’t think they should have a helmet on. They should break their leg and have an imagination. Otherwise, we’re going to have a nation of accountants. – Ramin Bahrani • When I look in the mirror, I don’t see my Dad, I see my grandmother. For a while it was my mother looking back at me. If only it was my Dad. – Colin Firth • When I was 11 years old and I was on a road trip with my family. I turned to my dad and said, “Do you believe in Adam and Eve?” And he said he didn’t think so. I remember that felt like a slap in the face, because if my parents questioned Adam and Eve, then they potentially questioned everything within Catholicism. Eventually that idea led to my feeling liberated, but at that time it was very scary. – Alanis Morissette • When I was a kid my dad would say, “Emo, do you believe in the Lord?” I’d say, “Yes!” He’d say, “Then stand up and shout Hallelujah!” So I would … and I’d fall out of the roller coaster. – Emo Philips • When I was a kid, I wanted to be a boy. I really had gender issues. I really thought I was supposed to be a boy. I used to sneak into my dad’s room and put on a suit, drink a cocktail, and pretend to smoke a cigarette. – Jane Lynch • When I’m sittin’ down to dinner with the family, stuff [another Yogiism] just pops out. And they’ll say, ‘Dad, you just said another one.’ And I don’t even know what the heck I said. – Yogi Berra • When I’m smiling and having fun, that’s when you should have a problem. If I’m out there frowning and looking mean, that’s when you know you’ve beat me – because I’m not having fun. I’ve been playing basketball since I was three. Everybody since I was three tried to tell me to stop smiling. Even my dad. My dad apologized to me when I was ten. – Dwight Howard • When my dad was in Vietnam, we lost a parent for a year. Thank God we didn’t lose a parent for good. – Fred Wilson • When you watch your mum and dad sing and they’re happy and it brings them joy, it is then a natural choice to go where the joy is. Music was always that place in our family. – Julia Stone • Yeah, my dad bought me a guitar when I was like 10, and I didn’t really want it then. – Johann Heinrich Lambert • You can talk about things indirectly, but if you want to talk how people really talk, you have to talk R-rated. I mean I’ve got three incredibly intelligent daughters, but when you get mad, you get mad and you talk like people talk. When a normal 17-year-old girl storms out of the house or 15-year-old boy is mad at his mom or dad, they’re not talking the way people talk on TV. Unless it’s cable. – Bob Saget • You need your mom and dad to protect you. It means they love you so much. It was awesome she was backing me up and defending me. – Gabby Douglas

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[equitiesstocks]

Dad Quotes

Official Website: Dad Quotes

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• A lot of times, it gets weird when some guy is playing your dad. It feels weird to you. It feels like they’re forcing sentiment. It’s disgusting. – Kristen Stewart • A sweet thing, for whatever time, to revisit in dreams the dear dad we have lost. – Euripides • After about midday my dad sent cars from his private collection for us. We were told to get in. We had almost lost contact with my father and brothers because things had got out of hand. I saw with my own eyes the [Iraqi] army withdrawing and the terrified faces of the Iraqi soldiers who, unfortunately, were running away and looking around them. Missiles were falling on my left and my right – they were not more than fifty or one hundred metres away. We moved in small cars. I had a gun between my feet just in case. – Raghad Hussein • Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad. – Anne Geddes

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Dad', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_dad').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_dad img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Becoming a dad means you have to be a role model for your son and be someone he can look up to. – Wayne Rooney • Before there is a business, a successful entrepreneur is designing this type of business in his or her mind’s eye. According to my rich dad, this is the job of a true entrepreneur. – Robert Kiyosaki • But actually my dad is a very talented director and not just his use of shots and camera, but he’s very good with actors and he knows acting well. It’s great to see him do that and be really good at it and he’s been doing it for a while and he certainly knows how to make movies, and little movies I guess for a television show, and he’s going to come back in November to direct a second episode, which I’m really excited about. – Emily Deschanel • But not like this: not with the house just an afterimage, and my mom a spirit, and my dad…recycled.” “Carter Kane, Chapter 41 – Rick Riordan • But there’s no substitute for a full-time dad. Dads who are fully engaged with their kids overwhelmingly tend to produce children who believe in themselves and live full lives. – Tony Dungy

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling] • Dad – a son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love. – John Walter Bratton • Dad needs to show an incredible amount of respect and humor and friendship toward his mate so the kids understand their parents are sexy, they’re fun, they do things together, they’re best friends. Kids learn by example. If I respect Mom, they’re going to respect Mom. – Tim Allen • Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows. – Al Unser • Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world’s problems? – Bill Watterson • Dad’s especially need to remember that what they say to their daughters is written in Sharpie. It can’t be erased. – Sue Enquist • Dads are the appendix of humanity. They should just be taken out before they start causing problems. – Nick Burd • Dads are the leaders in their homes, and our kids need leaders. – Greg Schiano • Dad’s tiny – his passport picture is a full-length shot. He looks like he just hopped off a key ring. Mum is a different matter, she’s a bit of a handful to say the least. I love her more than anyone on this Earth. But she’s a monster. – Ricky Hatton

• Growing up in New Orleans, my mom and dad were churchgoers. I would go to church with them. Also, I was going to a Catholic school so I had a fascination with the Catholic Church mainly because, in my mind, (their services) didn’t take as long. I was bouncing in between my mom’s Baptist church, which was called Second Zion Baptist, and going to a Catholic Church. – Avery Johnson • Growing up working with my dad, I really had no interest in doing the actual work, so I was always like drawing on the wood, doing stuff like that. It just has a real hands-on approach. – Eddie Martinez • Henry James once defined life as that predicament which precedes death, and certainly nobody owes you a debt of honor or gratitude for getting him into that predicament. But a child does owe his father a debt, if Dad, having gotten him into this peck of trouble, takes off his coat and buckles down to the job of showing his son how best to crash through it. – Clarence Budington Kelland • He’s [Harry S. Truman] just your dad, and you love him. It’s only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home – it’s only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. Pride reinforces love. My father was a great man. – Margaret Truman Daniel • I actually wanted to be a police officer like my dad for the longest time, up until my sophomore year in high school when I started doing plays. I did plays when I was little, but in high school, I started getting into acting. – Chad Lindberg • I believe strongly that a group’s potential is eventually limited by the strength of its leadership. I’m an outsider, but it still looks to me like the leadership in the Java w orld is Fouled Up Beyond ALL Recognition. Java ISVs don’t know whether to listen to Mom or Dad. Everybody knows IBM should just buy Sun and clean up the mess. When are they going to do it? – Eric Sink • I can see the humor in just about any situation. After I lost my dad, I realized that none of us should take things too seriously, because everything except death works itself out. – Chris Rock • I didn’t realize how good I was with technology until I met my parents… my dad told me “You’re good; you should be a computer programmer.” I said, “You’re bad… you should be a caveman.” – Mike Birbiglia • I don’t think I really knew how fit I was when I was a kid. I rode with my dad quite long distances and I’ve been racing since the age of nine, so we did a lot of sport growing up. My earliest memories of my dad are watching him race, so it was inevitable when we were old enough that my brother and I would get on bikes. – Victoria Pendleton • I grew up as an only child. I think it might just be that my dad really didn’t care that I was a girl. “You’re gonna do certain things ’cause I want you to, and that’s the way it is.” – Mitchell Baker • I grew up in Birmingham, but my parents are originally from Barbados. My dad, Romeo, was a long-distance lorry driver, and my mother, Mayleen, worked in catering. – David Harewood • I grew up playing games, and I remember Christmas 1981 when my dad got us an Intellivision, and we all sat around and played ‘Astrosmash’ for hours on end. It was a big part of my youth. – Roger Craig Smith • I guess I knew my dad was into photography, so a part of me was interested in picking it up to understand him a little better. – Gia Coppola • I had a tremendous upbringing and foundation but as others like me have experienced, when you go to college, mom and dad are no longer there to help guide. There were some moments in college that really cemented my own convictions and beliefs. It was a real period of growth and maturity in my sanctifying process. I got married in college. That was a tremendous blessing. Four years later, we started having children and that gives you a deeper understanding of the Father’s love. – Aaron Kampman • I had old bunk beds that my dad got from Seabrook Farms. They were first used by German prisoners during World War II, who were sent to work the farms during the war. The metal beds with their thin mattresses could easily be used as a jungle gym and I loved them. – David Mixner • I had to figure out my own faith. That was something I figured out a while ago when I was 18. But I can always stand on the fact that my dad has been a great example for me. Beyond that, building my career hasn’t been attached to my dad. It’s been me figuring things out for myself. – Anthony Evans • I hate short hair on men – the ‘real’ man is something I don’t know. My dad was always playing with hairbands, making rings, while the women were wearing jeans, white T-shirts and Converse. That was the uniform at home. – Lou Doillon • I have always had the feeling I could do anything and my dad told me I could. I was in college before I found out he might be wrong. – Ann Richards • I hope I pass on my dad’s good humor, work ethic and lack of self-seriousness. Our house was always a fun place where you’d get knocked around quickly if you took yourself too seriously. – Willie Geist • I just love to sing, so like my dad’s advice when I was younger – anytime you get a chance to sing, just go out there and do it! I truly just love the actual singing. – Lauren Hart • I knew that I had to be a preacher. I had to be a minister, which was a puzzle to me because my dad was a businessman. It was a family company and I assumed that I would take it on from him. – N. T. Wright • I love baseball, I really do. I always told my Dad, I’m not gonna make it working… I like to play ball too much. Which I did. I played hard. You gotta work at this game. You really do. And its fun doing it if you do it the right way. – Yogi Berra • I love my dad. He used to be a professional wrestler in Mexico. So it was cool growing up with him, because when he hit us, he didn’t really hit us. – Felipe Esparza • I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad. – Lady Gaga • I love working with my dad, but I need to be independent and do my own stuff. – Rob Reiner • I loved rock and roll when that came in, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, all those great records. So I begged my mom and dad for a guitar, which eventually they did get me for Christmas, but it went out of tune very quickly, and it hurt my fingers. – Ian McLagan • I never got along with my dad. Kids used to come up to me and say, ‘My dad can beat up your dad.’ I’d say ‘Yeah? When?’ – Bill Hicks • I never really was good at being a family general man, really. I hardly ever spent any time with my mum and dad whatever, really, or brothers or sisters. We just really didn’t get along. I was pretty much like the black sheep of the family, to be honest. – Andrew Chan • I never wanted to be an actor. My dad was an actor, and he never brought joy home, so I didn’t view it as something that I would want to do. – Jennifer Lawrence • I once punched a bloke in the face for saying ‘Hawk the Slayer’ was rubbish, when what I should have said ‘Dad, you’re wrong.’ – Bill Bailey • I sampled a bit of stuff from my dad’s collection. He has probably a bigger record collection than I do. I try to buy as much as possible, because I’ve never been able to keep an MP3 collection organized. I like to keep my computers as clean as possible. – Girl Talk • I spoke to my dad, and he said it took close to 90 dollars to raise me. But that was me and my sister, and my sister moved out when she was 16, so sometimes it can knock you up to triple digits to raise a kid. – Adam Carolla • I struggle every day with trying to be a better dad, a better husband, better musician, better artist. It consumes me, and I don’t see an end in sight. – Harry Connick, Jr. • I think a dad has to make his daughter feel that he’s genuinely interested in what she’s going through. – Harry Connick, Jr. • I think he gets a lot of respect just because he’s my dad, too. Even if he hadn’t had any experience. But I think he comes with a lot of experience and all of that as well, so I think people enjoyed working with him and had fun and also respected him, which was nice. – Emily Deschanel • I think I was really bored at school. I was quietly clock watching for years. I went to 10 schools because my dad was in the Army and we moved around a lot. – Ridley Scott • I think it’s becoming rarer and rarer when I consider the experiences that I’ve had in my life between my dad and my brother and all the men in my life who have all been gentlemen and have looked after women. – Alex Pettyfer • I think spending a lot of time with my mom, who’s a talker and a storyteller, and my dad, who has kind of a soft-spoken, understated sense of humor, I think that’s how I became what I am, which is sort of an understated storyteller. – Mike Birbiglia • I think that what’s funny is that I seem to be taking up the roles that I remember my dad having – for some reason, I’m the one who makes the coffee, and my dad was always that guy. It’s kind of shocking how closely I compare to my dad. – James Mercer • I think the best advice I ever got about acting was from my dad, which was, ‘If they don’t buy the fish on the first toss, throw it back in the wagon and go to the second house.’ Which is like an old Jewish fishmongers’ story about how you become a successful fish monger. – Lin Shaye • I think we should have a day off for Father’s Day. Dads work very hard. And to be fair, a day off for Mums too, as they work hard. And more bank holidays. They rock. – Peter Andre • I wanted to be an actor my whole young life. My dad was an actor, obviously – he won an Academy Award, but I had no idea what was involved. I had all the wrong ideas about acting. – Ed Begley, Jr. • I was lucky to have a great dad. – James McNerney • I was raised in farm and ranch communities, and my dad wanted me to be a cowboy like him, but I saw how he struggled in life and wanted more than that. – Tom Johnson • I was very inventive. I lived in my own world – my dad said I was a loner. Not lonely, just happy in my own company. It’s the same now. I need time alone, which is maybe why I love to write. Having said that, I love the sociability of telly. It’s a nice contrast. – Alan Titchmarsh • I wasn’t the athletic kid in my family. Both of my brothers were on athletic scholarships and my dad played semi-pro hockey. My younger brother played pro hockey. I was the music kid. But I always loved sports. I grew up around it. – Trevor McNevan • I would love to play Marlene Dietrich in a movie. My dad’s from Germany and so I feel like that would be a really interesting person to play. – Kirsten Dunst • If a dad does his job, we don’t need prisons, we don’t need jails. That’s what I saw growing up. – Mike Singletary • If there is some sort of trouble at home, kids don’t think that James Bond is going to come save their mum from their dad, or their dad from their mum. They don’t think, “Bond is going to come and save me.” Superman is a different sort of idealized figure. – Henry Cavill • If you love your dad, it’s tough when he dies. If you don’t like your dad, it’s tough when he dies. Because you lose that guy. Whatever you didn’t get, you miss. And what you did get, you miss. – Jimmy Iovine • If you’re a guy over 30 by yourself in the hotel pool, you automatically look like a murderer who’s just relaxing after he strangled a family. “Yeah-that dad was a tough one to kill.” – Jim Gaffigan • I’m a good blend of both my mom and dad. – Danica Patrick • I’m an actor, paid to act. I don’t bring personal problems to the sets. Dad taught me that. – Abhishek Bachchan • I’m glad I was raised by my dad for other reasons, too. There are things you can learn from a father, as a son, that you can never learn from Mom. Special things, important things. Like “never challenge Dad to a fist fight. – Christopher Titus • I’m not a typical Republican. I am a Republican, I wear the Republican jersey, I’ve been a Republican my whole life. My dad was a Republican, which is interesting because he was in a union early on. The Republican party was very strong in the area that I grew up in. So I’m a loyalist. – Anthony Scaramucci • I’m really close to my mom, but things with my dad have been different. He has dementia and watching him change, I’ve actually started to think that it’s a purer state for people. Because he operates as if he’s a child and everything is new, which seems more honest. – Blake Butler • It might be tough, but my dad used to say, tough times don’t last — tough people do. – James Robertson • It was always so important to my dad for us to understand about the Genocide and to know about our family history. – Kim Kardashian • It wasn’t like a “I know I wanted to do this,” I was sort of just – I was five and my dad kinda said hey, you wanna be an actor and I said sure. – Drake Bell • It’s a funny thing. It’s an odd thing to have your dad just come and work with you. But I think they all enjoyed working with him. It was a lot of fun. David loved teasing my dad, but I know respects him very much and when he gave him direction, David was always trying to do what he asked and we had a lot of fun. – Emily Deschanel • It’s because the idea of what’s cool is different. When you talk to a girl who goes to regular school, what’s cool is whether or not you’ve been to jail, or if you have a car. If you talk to a girl who goes to art school, what’s cool to her is if you do art projects on the weekend with your dad, if you can build something – out-of-the-norm stuff. – Anthony Mackie • It’s like a relay race of being ignored. It is really challenging, but whenever I get asked that stuff, I feel really self-conscious about it. I feel really lucky because we have a lot of help. When I first began to be a dad with Gwen [Stefani], I was amazed at what she went through. – Gavin Rossdale • It’s not any desire on my part to start playing dads, but it’s a convention of drama. If you don’t get the parts of young people going out to nightclubs, you have to play their fathers. – Ian Hart • I’ve always been aggressive and an underdog, and my dad was worried that I would always be that: constantly seeking inspiration from negativity. – Doseone • I’ve been so lucky to have my mum and dad because they’ve worked to give my brother and I everything. We’re not spoilt children. – Amy Childs • I’ve been very lucky in my employment over the years. You would think that the worst job I’ve ever had was as janitor, but it really wasn’t, because I was a janitor at my dad’s office building when I was younger. – Chris Carmack • I’ve got a really great family round me, two sisters and an older brother and my mum and dad. Everybody’s equal. – Nicholas Hoult • I’ve seen women who don’t have great relationships with their dads, and it all comes down to this: You have to tell girls you love them every day. – Chris Rock • Kids did really well in their A levels, how do we respond? ‘A Levels are getting easier, in my day you had to do fifty questions in a minute, if you got one wrong, they killed your dad! – Russell Howard • Kids really need love from two parents. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and a mom, or a dad and a dad. – Brendon Ayanbadejo • Lemurs are good parents but they do it in different ways. I originally studied father care. I was very interested in that and we saw that a lot of these animals that lived in pairs and the father wasn’t doing anything at all for the first month. But then suddenly, when the baby got to be a certain weight then the dads chipped in and started carrying the babies which was very nice. And then if there was twins or triplets then they helped. – Patricia Wright • Mom and Dad say I should make my life an example of the principles I believe in… But every time I do, they tell me to stop it. – Bill Watterson • Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was, you could have asked the local florist – because every day Dad gave Mom a rose, which he put on her bedside table. That’s how she found out what happened on the day my father died – she went looking for him because that morning, there was no rose. – Mitt Romney • My attitude towards money is because of my mum and dad. My parents have always worked full time and I’ve always had that work ethic in me. – Amy Childs • My brother and I grew up in a musical family. We have an older sister who sings and plays the piano. Our dad is a musician. Music was always a part of our lives. – Laura Allen • My brother and I were born in an Irish county called Tipperary. We were both very math- and science-inclined in high school. My dad trained as an electrical engineer, and my mom is in microbiology. – John Collison • My dad always said to go for my hobby and used to commend me for my excellent judgement so i try to do the similar for my children. – Heather McDonald • My dad always said to me that with fame comes great responsibility, which has always stuck with me, even though I think he stole that line from Spiderman. – Missy Higgins • My dad and I get into it all the time. He loves to discuss politics much more than I do and we have pretty heated conversations. – James Mercer • My dad and mom were more like World War II-era parents, even though it was the 1960s, because they were both born in the ’40s. They were young adults before the ’60s even happened, and married, and already having kids. But by the time we were adolescents in the ’70s, the whole culture was screaming at parents, “You’re a good parent if you’re open with your kids about sex.” They attempted to be open with us about sex, and it made them want to die, and consequently, it made us want to die. • My dad didn’t often bring me to the set, being an actor himself, so my infancy as an actor was wracked with a lot of giggles and nervousness. – Josh Brolin • My dad died, and my grandfather died, and my great-grandfather died. And the guy before him, I don’t know. Probably died. – Norm MacDonald • My dad got me a chemistry book one Christmas and I burnt the garden shed down. I remember there was the most beautiful smell forever after in the remains. – Beth Orton • My dad had been shortstop when he was in college, and you know, when you’re a kid, you want to be just like your dad. – Derek Jeter • My dad has always been such a great dad, and he’s brought so much culture to my life. He dragged me to see every single movie at the cinématheque as a kid. I saw everything from Star Wars to Bergman. – Julie Delpy • My dad has always just had a lot of faith in me as an artist and as a person, and he doesn’t really dispense with a lot of advice when it comes to the music. He’s taught me a lot over the years, but when I was taking on this project he’s really hands-off about that. He just appreciates what I’ve done and is very supportive, and of course really proud. – Molly Ringwald • My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. – Tiger Woods • My dad introduced me to the game, gave me a stick. Since then I’ve had a passion for it. – Sidney Crosby • My dad is a carpenter, a joiner, and I used to watch him make things. So I always imagined that I’d do something where I made things, too. I was really more interested in architecture growing up because I would work with my dad on houses. – Christopher Bailey • My dad is actually a manic depressive, which is very exciting half the time. – Marc Maron • My dad is an ambassador. My brother is a diplomat. I doubt that I could be doing anything else other than being a diplomat if I weren’t in showbiz. It’s in the genes! – Woody Milintachinda • My dad is my everything. He always had the craziest speeches for Kylie [Jenner] and me growing up, good words to live by. – Kendall Jenner • My dad is one of the funniest people I know. He’s the sort of man who can make you laugh just by reading out of a telephone directory… He’s a spastic. – Frankie Boyle • My dad is really just lazy. He has nothing, I feel, to offer this world. – Sasha Grey • My dad kept me away from people who treat children wrong. It’s just amazing that there is such a way to raise a person without giving them complexes. But nobody does it. They think it should be the old school. But look at the products. Wouldn’t it be great if you could avoid the complexes? Then you could deal with the complexes of life. – Juliette Lewis • My dad knew that if I wanted to make a career out of it, I needed to go to NASCAR rather than dirt racing. Personally, I like dirt racing a little bit more. It’s a little more fun. – Tanner Berryhill • My dad taught me at a very young age that I should work harder than everyone else: Be the first one in and the last one out. – Mandana Dayani • My Dad taught me that the English upper class are sent to school to be taught to be confident, whereas in Glasgow you’re born confident. I’ve always thought that pretty much summed me up. Born confident. – Rankin • My dad told me, ‘Your movie’s never as good as the dailies and never as bad as the rough cut. – Sofia Coppola • My dad used to call me “yeah but” because no matter what the answer was I always wanted to explore why things were what they were and how they might be different. – Arlene Dickinson • My dad was a bass player in a Latino band when I was growing up. So we always had musical instruments in our basement. – Lindi Ortega • My dad was a complicated man. He was a huge racist, my dad, but he still tried to be a good father, you know? Like, he would tell me that Santa Claus was black – that way, when I found out he didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be that big a let down. – Anthony Jeselnik • My dad was a cross-country truck driver. – John Searles • My dad was an engineer and so I had this picture of science and technology and pursuits of the mind as being more impressive than artistic pursuits, which I saw a as kind of frivolous. – Scott McCloud • My dad was so influential in my career. It was a fulfillment of every athlete’s dream. I dreamed about it as a kid. We played hockey in the backyard. We had silver buckets we carried around like the Stanley Cup. It was everything that you would hope. – Matt Cullen • My dad would often take me to the cinema and I found myself really seduced by the imagery, I think this had a massive impact on how I viewed the world. – Rankin • My dad, a mathematician, raised me to believe that mathematics is beautiful, so math is a part of my imaginative terrain. In my late 20s I wrote several 11-line poems because I wanted to create poems that couldn’t be uniformly divided into couplets, tercets, or quatrains, 11 being a prime number. – James Arthur • My dad’s a musician, and he taught me how to play when I was three, I think, so I’ve been playing ever since. It’s something I’ve always done. And when you’re really young, and you play music for people, people get really excited, so you get this inner sense that you are good at it, even though I’ve always been really not good at it. – Bob Schneider • My dad’s been one of those dads who loves showing newspaper articles to the neighbors. – Girl Talk • My dad’s dying wish was to have his family around him. I can’t help thinking he would have been better off with more oxygen. – Jimmy Carr • My dads great. Hes an amazing artist. A sculptor. Hes wonderful and supportive. I love going to museums with him – we talk about… everything. – Grace Gummer • My earliest influences would definitely be my father, just seeing him play in different bands and going to his shows and going to the rehearsals. You know what I’m saying, it was the typical story of a son looking up to his dad. So the years that my father was around, my father was my biggest influence. – Jon Connor • My father played in high school. My uncles played. From age five or six, I remember watching all the games. And I remember saying to my mom and dad even then that I was going to play in the NFL, and buy them a house and a car. – Thomas Jones • My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass’; ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’ – Harmon Killebrew • My father was a management genius. But what I really wanted was a dad. – Michael Jackson • My father was my teacher. But most importantly he was a great dad. – Beau Bridges • My favorite thing about coaching? Teaching. Being around young people, just watching a player grow and develop. You know, a young man comes in with dreams and goals and ambitions and just helping him reach (them). It’s like your dad watching you grow up and like me watching my boys grow. – Tubby Smith • My grandfather and my dad’s brothers and my dad all worked in construction. It’s the whole cultural thing, you know, your parents want you to go to the next level of whatever, and I decided that I ought to be an architect. I can’t tell you why. And I tried, and I had no aptitude for it. – Bruce Molsky • My mom and my dad taught me the greatest gifts we have are our family, our health and the right to clean water and good land. – Erin Brockovich • My mother played the piano and my father the violin, I can remember my dad teaching me how to waltz; I had my feet on his, my mother playing the piano, and my husband will tell you the lessons weren’t very successful. – Quentin Bryce • My mum told me the best time to ask my dad for anything was during sex. Not the best advice I’d ever been given. I burst in through the bedroom door saying “Can I have a new bike?”. He was very upset. His secretary was surprisingly nice about it. I got the bike. – Jimmy Carr • My parents are really conservative. My dad is Muslim, and my mom is the most conservative woman you’ve ever met. They’re very aristocratic in the most quaint suburban way. – SZA • Nikah is a contract that transfers responsibilities. Therefore know the man you’re thinking of marrying, and be sure that he is able to take care of you, more than your dad did. Islam empowers women with honor and dignity. Don’t settle for anything less. – Nouman Ali Khan • Nobody had books at home. My dad was a very educated person, so he would have books at home. All Spanish books. That helped. Most of my homies had no books at home. – Luis J. Rodriguez • Nolan Ryan helped me with baseball, and my dad passing away gave me a bigger heart. – Randy Johnson • Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today. – Bono • People see Archie Bunker everywhere. Particularly girls; poor girls, rich girls, all kinds of girls are always coming up to me and telling me that Archie is just like their dad. – Carroll O’Connor • She got really mad a month ago, because she had e-mailed me a naked picture of herself – which is a nice thing to do – but then I messed up, and I accidentally forwarded that e-mail to both of my parents. Now, my girlfriend is furious, mortified, but I don’t even care, ’cause now I have to call up my mother and say ‘Mom, I am so sorry – that picture was just for dad.’ – Anthony Jeselnik • That really is the best part of being a dad. You remember what’s important in life. – Russell Simmons • The black and white lemur, the one that relaxes on that branch, they actually have day care, like kindergartens; where all the mothers come together and they put all the babies into this one nest and they let dad watch it while they go out and have food and have a good time and then they come back in a few hours. We’ve never seen that in other primates. – Patricia Wright • The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, ‘Daddy, I need to ask you something,’ he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan. – Garrison Keillor • The greatest gift I ever had Came from God; I call him Dad! – John Walter Bratton • Three of Donald Trump’s kids have come forward to defend him, and called him ‘an incredible dad and role model.’ Donald was so moved that he wrote one of them back into his will. ‘I’m not gonna tell you which one . . . it’s Donald Jr.’ – Jimmy Fallon • To be a dad: Make peace with the fact that you will now be your partner’s second favourite person in the world. – Chris Ramsey • We inherit a lot from our parents: mom’s eyes, dad’s chin, and the attitude of whichever parent isn’t punishing you at the moment. All of those things we have our mom’s to thank for.”If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” – Milton Berle • Well, Thanksgiving we’ll all gather at my house for dinner and we usually do Christmas at Beau’s house. My mom is still feisty and kicking. She’s 92. I saw her last night and she published a book at 90. It’s a wonderful book called “You Caught Me Kissing” and it’s basically love-poems that she wrote for my dad. It’s more than that, it’s a wonderful book. – Jeff Bridges • We’re living in a time period where if a kid is on a plastic scooter that’s one inch off the ground, mom and dad think he should have a helmet on. I don’t think they should have a helmet on. They should break their leg and have an imagination. Otherwise, we’re going to have a nation of accountants. – Ramin Bahrani • When I look in the mirror, I don’t see my Dad, I see my grandmother. For a while it was my mother looking back at me. If only it was my Dad. – Colin Firth • When I was 11 years old and I was on a road trip with my family. I turned to my dad and said, “Do you believe in Adam and Eve?” And he said he didn’t think so. I remember that felt like a slap in the face, because if my parents questioned Adam and Eve, then they potentially questioned everything within Catholicism. Eventually that idea led to my feeling liberated, but at that time it was very scary. – Alanis Morissette • When I was a kid my dad would say, “Emo, do you believe in the Lord?” I’d say, “Yes!” He’d say, “Then stand up and shout Hallelujah!” So I would … and I’d fall out of the roller coaster. – Emo Philips • When I was a kid, I wanted to be a boy. I really had gender issues. I really thought I was supposed to be a boy. I used to sneak into my dad’s room and put on a suit, drink a cocktail, and pretend to smoke a cigarette. – Jane Lynch • When I’m sittin’ down to dinner with the family, stuff [another Yogiism] just pops out. And they’ll say, ‘Dad, you just said another one.’ And I don’t even know what the heck I said. – Yogi Berra • When I’m smiling and having fun, that’s when you should have a problem. If I’m out there frowning and looking mean, that’s when you know you’ve beat me – because I’m not having fun. I’ve been playing basketball since I was three. Everybody since I was three tried to tell me to stop smiling. Even my dad. My dad apologized to me when I was ten. – Dwight Howard • When my dad was in Vietnam, we lost a parent for a year. Thank God we didn’t lose a parent for good. – Fred Wilson • When you watch your mum and dad sing and they’re happy and it brings them joy, it is then a natural choice to go where the joy is. Music was always that place in our family. – Julia Stone • Yeah, my dad bought me a guitar when I was like 10, and I didn’t really want it then. – Johann Heinrich Lambert • You can talk about things indirectly, but if you want to talk how people really talk, you have to talk R-rated. I mean I’ve got three incredibly intelligent daughters, but when you get mad, you get mad and you talk like people talk. When a normal 17-year-old girl storms out of the house or 15-year-old boy is mad at his mom or dad, they’re not talking the way people talk on TV. Unless it’s cable. – Bob Saget • You need your mom and dad to protect you. It means they love you so much. It was awesome she was backing me up and defending me. – Gabby Douglas

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[epchapman89]

“Made in China” Might Soon Mean Exquisite Coffee

In China’s Yunnan province, coffee farmers are right now making the transition from commodity-grade coffee to specialty coffee. Could China be becoming more than just tea?

A middle-aged man wearing grey sweatpants and a conical hat is standing in front of a dozen half-built wooden drying beds. He is shouting in energetic rapid-fire bursts in Mandarin. He Wen Zhu is the head of the newly formed coffee co-op and a former coffee quality inspector at Nestlé, and Zhu is speaking to a nodding, seemingly captivated crowd consisting mostly of Chinese coffee professionals. Cafe owners, roasters, baristas; the usual suspects. Only a few westerners ever make it to this remote mountain close to Pu’er City that is now the home of the Eden Coffee Cooperative. Today, I’m here, too.

When these drying beds are finished, Zhu explains, smallholder farmers in the area will be able to process coffee cherries themselves, instead of selling them to middlemen at prices as low as 15 cents per kilogram. That ought to result in better pay for the community of around 80 families living in the tiny mountain village.

He Wen Zhu

Looking across to the other side of the valley, the photogenic bush-covered terraces are a testament to tea being produced by the farmers here as well. Traditionally Pu’er is home to some of the most sought-after Chinese tea, a caked style of tea known as “Pu-erh” in the US. But tea isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, a rival. The two caffeine crops have opposite harvest seasons, so on paper at least, it actually makes sense to grow both.

It seems that Zhu has convinced them to give it a go. At least for now.

Where Chinese Coffee Took Flight

There have been minor attempts at coffee growing in China in the past 100 years, but it wasn’t until Nestlé introduced coffee to Yunnan, the subtropic Chinese province bordering Laos and Myanmar, back in the late 1980s and 1990s, that coffee really took off. Nestlé had the size and scale to convince thousand of farmers that coffee would be a good cash crop. In return, Nestlé would get an immense and malleable group of suppliers of commodity-grade coffee to their ever-increasing production of caffeinated drinks. A win-win as they like to say in the marketing department.

Still, most people abroad have no clue that China is growing coffee, which isn’t really that strange. Even though China produces around 138,000 metric tons a year—or as much as the production of Kenya and El Salvador combined—the stuff that’s exported is rarely specialty grade and nothing to write home about.

But that’s about to change if you ask Samuel Gurel, the CEO of Torch Coffee Roasters, a rather new coffee company based in Pu’er. He’s been a part of the Chinese coffee scene in various roles since 2008 and now also functions as the technical advisor to the Eden Coffee Cooperative.

Samuel Gurel

“The Eden project is still very much in its infancy,” Gurel says. “But actually it’s part two of an experiment we’re running.”

The first part, he says, was conducted last year. A Chinese woman who owns a large piece of land got in touch with Gurel and Torch to seek advice. Gurel thought that helping the woman out might also prove some more general points about Chinese coffee. Together with Mario Fernandez from the Coffee Quality Institute and his team, he performed 40 different experiments to determine what kind of processing was the most fitting for her coffee.

“We found out that a natural process was the best for her beans, which was very much in accordance with Mario’s research.”

Roughly speaking, the research shows that lower-altitude farms are a good fit for dry processing, whereas medium altitude is good for honey, and higher altitude suits washed coffees.

“Of course it’s more of a guideline, but in this case it was true,” Gurel points out, noting that cupping scores increased dramatically—from around 80 originally, to as high as 86—after instituting the processing experiments.

“86 is significant,” he says. “That is extremely rare to see in Asia. We would take the coffee to cuppings and ask people to guess where it was from. And, in fact, they were really surprised to hear that it was from Asia because it had these really nice fruity flavors that you normally don’t encounter in this region. In the end, we were able to triple the price of the best lots.”

According to him, the real struggle is just starting now. It’s one thing to improve the quality at a single farm, another is to do it with a group of smaller shareholders, like at the Eden Co-op.

The Catimor Question

When Nestlé set up shop in Yunnan back in the ’90s, the company wasn’t particularly interested in producing record-breaking coffee. After all, most of it was going towards instant blends. So they planted the hardy Catimor variety and no shade trees—which increases yield, but diminishes taste.

Catimor is popular all over Southeast Asia, but mainly for being disease-resistant. The variety is usually described as Arabica, but it owes its hardiness to some Robusta heritage. In the eyes of some coffee professionals, that makes it unsuitable as specialty coffee.

“The main ingredient in instant coffee is very inexpensive coffee,” Gurel says.

Now, area farmers must abandon a lot of what they have been taught if they want to transition into specialty coffee.

“Producing low-quality coffee isn’t very sustainable because the margins are tiny, so if your expenses are just a bit too high you lose money. Before, some farmers in Yunnan would actually stop harvesting and just leave the coffee on the tree, because it wasn’t worth picking,” Gurel explains.

Education is everything

Back at the mountain, a sudden violent downpour puts a stop to the tour at the Eden Co-op. After all, it is the rainy season in Yunnan. The narrow gravel road is partially flooded, but after a short break the group decides to continue the trek up the mountain to inspect the coffee shrubs.

As we climb the mountain, Zhu explains that the community consists of people mostly from the Lisu and Miao tribes, who were moved here voluntarily by the Chinese government back in 1997. Quite unusually for China, the majority of the villagers are Christians, which is also how Mr. Zhu got to know them. In his spare time, he’s a preacher—something which probably explains his public speaking prowess.

“When I was working at Nestlé, I found out that there’s no such thing as ‘fair trade’ in the Chinese coffee industry. The smallholders don’t have any bargaining power. I told myself that I had to do something for the farmers, and that’s why I started the Eden Coffee Cooperative. I want to teach them how to do selective picking and processing, so they can make more money,” he says.

Even though Zhu is determined to succeed, he says that it’s not always easy to get everybody else on board with his vision.

“The hardest part is to increase the villagers’ knowledge. It’s difficult to convince them to keep doing it because the pay is low. But if they keep improving quality, they will also be able to get more than just the market price.”

The Eden Co-op could be at a turning point, however. When we arrived at the village that day, the farmers greeted us smiling—not with tea, but instead, drip coffee.

Chinese Coffee In Real Life

A few days after visiting the coffee co-op, we make it to Kunming, a city of around 5 million people and the capital of the Yunnan province, to get a first-hand impression of what Chinese coffee culture is like.

Kunming, it turns out, is a lovely place. In spite of the ubiquitous and characteristically grey Chinese-style building projects, it offers lakes filled to the brim with waterlilies and plenty of parks. The area around the university has a particularly vibrant atmosphere with bars and small independent designer shops. But while there are plenty of cafes, it’s not an easy task to find one that serves Chinese-produced beans. Finally, the third coffee shop I visit is up for the task.

Guang Zong cafe is a legit Third Wave coffee shop. There are flavor wheels and Specialty Coffee Association of America diplomas hanging on the walls, and there’s even a Kono Meimon, a Japanese cult dripper that heavily inspired the Hario V60, prominently placed on the slow bar.

Benjamin, the long-haired, tattooed barista, offers to brew a local bean—a washed Catimor from Pu’er—in a V60 filter.

Even though I try to flex my taste buds to maximum effort, it is a rather one-dimensional coffee. There’s a raw cocoa note, but not a whole lot more. While it’s not unpleasant at all, world class is still light years ahead. Letting the coffee cool down to room temperature helps quite a bit. Suddenly new notes and a welcome sweetness pops out.

“The signature notes of Yunnan coffee are black tea and brown sugar,” says Benjamin.

He goes on to explain that while there are more and more Chinese coffee drinkers between the ages of 18 and 35, they tend to prefer international beans and not the local variety.

“When they can get a Brazilian bean for the same price as the local coffee, they are gonna pick the exotic one most of the time. Chinese people like foreign things, and then of course, most of the foreign beans are still better,” he says.

Even though Chinese coffee culture is still young, it has gone a far way since Gurel first came to the country back in 2008. Back then there was no coffee culture to speak of.

“There were things called coffee shops, but usually they were dimly-lit places that served beer and hamburgers and steaks,” he says.

But around 2010, Korean business owners started opening real coffee shops in China, Gurel explains, and that started a coffee trend. Suddenly chains like Starbucks and independent places like Guang Zong all opened at the same time. (With 2,100 outlets, China now has the largest amount of Starbucks of any country outside the US.)

According to Gurel, coffee is not going to replace tea anytime soon. Tea is still something that the culture is focused around. Still, if the Chinese just increase consumption from their three cups of coffee a year average, that will have a huge effect on the world market. After all, we’re talking billions of people. But as Asia increases demand, it will also blossom more as a coffee producing region, Gurel predicts.

“China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar are all really promising. There’s a lot of land and labor, and those are the two most important things you need for producing coffee,” he says.

While there are for sure challenges to making China a great coffee nation, Gurel is sure that it will eventually become one. Just this year the Yunnan Coffee Exchange in Pu’er City opened its doors. The $9 million facility is already one of the biggest coffee markets in the world.

Asked whether China is able to transition from quantity to quality, Gurel doesn’t flinch.

“I could see a Chinese bean winning the Cup of Excellence. Maybe in 10 years time. It could happen. We might see an Indonesian bean winning it first…but I’m optimistic.

Asser Bøggild Christensen (@hipsterkaffe) is a Danish journalist based in Asia covering tech and the digital nomad movement for Information, F5, and more. Read more Asser Christensen on Sprudge. 

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