#I was playing on it on a computer rather than my phone and someone saw the ads on the side of the screen oooof that was hard to explain

[chibishortdeath]

I have drawn Simon again :)

The fourth image is based on the art for a Vocaloid song lol, “Leming-ming” by Kairikibear . And the last two are outfits from some dress up games I was playing around on.

But yeah! Actually posting new art, I drew these yesterday!!! Wahoo! d(^^ )

[jistagrams]

best interest p.sh

pairing: park sunghoon x fem! reader

warnings: smut, zestyish jokes (Jake and sunghoon are basically In love idk), cursing, unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it!!), kinda mean? dom sunghoon, pervert sunghoon, slight choking, not proofread, lmk if I missed anything!

minors dni!!

Friday 6:10 pm

what sunghoon didn't expect was to fall in love with you, living together just made him crazy, seeing you walk around in a big tee with just panties under?? yeah. "She won't even let jay hit" sunghoon ranted to his friend on facetime, "maybe shes a virgin and she's saving it for someone special" Jake replied, placing a kiss on his girlfriends head turning off his mic. "I'm someone special!" Hoon whined throwing his phone on his bed, "I guess not to her" Jake turned his mic back on snickering. "Should I fuck her best friend to get revenge.." he started questioning his own existence, hes never been this crazy over someone. did you cast a love spell on him or something? "her best friend is haechan" Jake set up his phone on the table, showing him as he put his headphones on and turning on his console. "ok nevermind. would rather kiss you than fuck haechan" "you would kiss me?" "hell no." "then why say it you got my hopes up" "..jake shut the fuck up" Jake laughs as the light from his computer reflected on his face. "yk what you should do, try and seduce her" he proposed, "that doesn't sound that bad, how would I even do that" sunghoon replies, finally picking his phone up from the bed to walk into the kitchen. "mmm, since y'all live together try walking around like shirtless or like... loudly jerking off??" Jake bit his nails while thinking, "holy shit your gonna make me get a restraining order" sunghoon laughed out loud, hearing the door unlock he quickly hung up and texted Jake "she's home, gonna take ur advice istg if she calls the cops on me you'll never see ur stupid apex acc again."

Friday 8:56 pm

he was nervous, obviously. he wasn't nervous about how he looked, he knew he looked good. he was just nervous on how your reaction would be, he hyped himself up in his room for a bit. doing some pushups till he walked out of his room shirtless knowing your in the kitchen, "yn" he spoke out to you, making you turn around to look at him. "why are u naked" was the first thing you said to him since you got home. "gonna take a shower, u cooking anything?" "Nah, I'm ordering food I'm just in here eating chips", clearly looking unfazed, "should we order something then?" He replied. Walking into the kitchen, sweats hanging low. Showing a obvious bulge, "I'll just get pizza u go take a shower, you stink like sweat" you looked away from his piercing gaze. He chuckled, "mm, ok let me know when the food comes I'll get it" he says while walking away and into the bathroom, quickly locking it and holding his head in his hands.

sunghoon : She won't even look at me 😭😭💔💔💔💔💔😢

Jake : maybe ur js butt ugly.

sunghoon : this is not helping idiot

Jake : did u walk around shirtless 🌚

sunghoon : YES BRO. even wore my baggy jeans to show extra 🤬😡

Jake : what if she's into girls...omg sunghoon I'm cooking here

sunghoon : only thing ur cooking is that burnt ass hair.

Jake : fuck u times 10 😒

sunghoon : u wanna fuck me 🌚

Jake : my gf just saw that msg without seeing the name I hope yn never ends up liking you.

sunghoon : CHILL BRO

he took a shower while blasting music, thinking on what his next plan was. he got out of the shower, black hair dripping water as he wrapped a towel around his waist. he looked in the mirror as he thought of a idea, he picked up his phone as some random rap song played, he took a picture shirtless. Sending it to Jake to confirm if it was cute or not.

sunghoon : *image attached*

Jake : wrong person

sunghoon : u fucking airhead is it cute or not

Jake : oh LMFAOOO

Jake : it's cute, who's it for

sunghoon : baefy yn

Jake : atp send her a dick pic

sunghoon : should i

Jake : yea if u wanna get blocked

as he turned his music off he heard you yelling for him from the living room. He quickly threw on his boxers and sweats, getting out as he put his phone in his pocket. "what's wrong?" He asked standing Infront of you, once again. Wearing baggy sweats but instead of them damn near falling off they are tied with the string. "do u not have any shirts or something, also the pizzas here" you handed him the money for the tip, he grabs it and walks to the door. "thanks" he smiled at the young woman handing him the pizza who was basically drooling. "can I get your number" she sheepishly asked. You looked at them in disgust, looking at the girl as sunghoon laughed and said no. He closed the door, walking back over to you, flopping on the couch and putting the pizza on the table. "why didn't you give her your number?" You asked, "wasn't interested" he shrugged, picking up a piece of pizza. Watching whatever you put on. "Lame."

Saturday 10:43 pm

he was hard. Extremely horny. to the point where he thought he might cum at barely sliding down his shorts. he thought back to the call he had with Jake yesterday, "jerk off loudly, yeah if I wanna be seen as a perv" he scoffed and slid down his shorts and boxers in one go. thinking if he should get off to a picture of you or just some random video on pornhub, he decided on a random video on pornhub. last thing he wants to be is a pervert (even tho he already jerks off to your pictures anyways..) he whined softly as he held his dick in his hand. fuck it. He loaded in on Instagram and stalked your account as his hand slid up and down his shaft. soft moans escaping his throat while looking through your highlights till he found his favorite picture, one of you and him at the beach. bathing suit top hugging your chest so well, making sunghoon's hand go faster on his already red cock, precum dribbling out his slit. His finger accidentally slipping and liking the year old photo. Shit. Shit shit shit. just as he was freaking out his load started shooting out, landing on his black shirt and blankets. his moan was loud, extremely loud. He only realized till after calming down from his high that 1. He sounded like a porn film and 2. He liked your story. He cleaned himself off with the shirt he was wearing, taking it off and throwing it in his laundry basket. Pulling his boxers and shorts up, grabbing another shirt from his drawer. just as he put his shirt on he heard his door swing open, "why you stalking me" you smirked at sunghoon, sitting on his chair in his room. "wasnt stalking you" he side eyed you as he continued to put on his shirt, looking down to notice a cum stain on his shorts cursing to himself, "I needa change my shorts. U gonna stay or what" he asked, looking at you. you turned around in the spin chair, he quickly took off his shorts and grabbed another pair. Putting them on and laying on his bed, "you can look now" he said, picking up his phone to see who texted him. "sunghoon" you called out to him, scooting closer to the bed until you gave up and laid on the bed next to him, "hm?" He replied. Sending a quick text to Jake and going on TikTok, "you should be quieter when you jerk off. not everyone wants to hear that when they wanna call their friend" you smiled at him teasingly as he looked at you before flicking your head with the same hand he used to jerk off with. You got up from his bed and left, sunghoon closed his door with his foot , sending another text to Jake. "Your dead meat."

Thursday 12:29 am

it's been 4 days since he started trying to seduce you, key word. Trying. everytime he jerked off you would just ignore it, same with him walking around in just sweats. he's at the point where he might as well walk around naked, he let our a frustrated sigh as he stood up from his bed. going to your room to get his charger that he lent you a few hours prior, maybe god was on his side or he was just lucky as hell. He opened the door to see you fucking yourself on a dildo. He feels like he could die from happiness right now, you were quick to slide the dildo out of you and cover yourself up. "Oh. My bad" he said, grabbing his charger from your side table. Your face was red, "sunghoon" you quietly called out. "what? ur not done with the charger?" He asked, looking at you covered by your purple sheets. You shook your head, "you wanna help?" you asked, uncovering your body.

Thursday 9:12am

he really has to stop dreaming of you. He woke up hard as shit, all because of that stupid dream. Like he would walk in on your masturbating? Yeah right. He sat up from his bed and groggily walked into the kitchen, he ignored you as he grabbed a water bottle and chugged it. You were quick to notice the very obvious bulge, swallowing your spit while you looked at his back. imagining how it would look after you scratched it during sex. Or how his hands would feel on your body, how his fingers would feel inside of you. Ok yn. Enough of these lewd thoughts. That's your friend your thinking of, your really hot friend. "u wanna make breakfast?" he said, his hot breath on your neck. you felt goosebumps, how did he get behind you so quick? the hell? "not hungry right now so no" you answered, not daring to turn around. "But I'm hungry" he mumbled resting his head on your shoulder. "Make your own food loser" you quickly spoke, moving quick to your room. he smirked to himself, he finally got to you. He's definitely gonna tell Jake about this.

Thursday 5:01 pm

"yn" you hummed as you focused on your show. "Are you a virgin" he asked, you nearly choke on your spit. "What kind of question is that?" You stare at him in shock. Sunghoon shrugged, not looking away from the tv. "Are you?" He asked again. "No sunghoon. I'm not a virgin. Are you?" You spoke with a small attitude in your voice, "nope" he replied, popping the p. "Are you lesbian?" He asked another question. "no. What the hell are these questions??" You shifted your whole body towards him. "So why don't you look my way." He finally looked at you, once again. Staring with a piercing gaze. "What do you mean by that" you know exactly what he means. "Why don't you show any interest in me" the fuck? You always show interest in him, why do you think you wear just shirts around the house? "I do" doesn't seem like it. "I like you yn." He finally expressed his feelings that were making him go insane. "me too" your voice was barley heard, "you like yourself too?" He smiled and chuckled softly. "No I like you too" you smiled back, feeling shy at the sudden confessions. "You know I love you" he said, scooting closer. Holding your face as he pressed a soft kiss on your lips, "I would hope so, why are you saying it so early though" you snickered, "cause I'm about to fuck you like I don't" his smile was so innocent you almost didn't register what he said, he's gonna fuck you like he doesn't? Hell yeah.

Thursday 5:30 pm

your not sure how you ended up in sunghoon's bed, laying on your back as he slurped up your juices. Spewing random shit as he ate you out, "been waiting like...months for this moment" his chin was glistening from eating you out. Sticking two fingers inside to bring you closer to your climax, and you were quick to hit it. Gripping onto his hand that was sliding in and out of you, helping you ride your high out. "that was good huh?" He smiled up at you. giving him a tired nod, he slipped his fingers out of you and sat up. Kissing your lips before sticking his fingers in your mouth to taste yourself, he was different from any other men you've slept with. No man would do this, besides sunghoon apparently. He took his fingers out of your mouth after you sucked them clean, praising you softly as he pulled his boxers down. Slapping his dick on your pussy, "you ready?" You nodded. He entered slowly, groaning out while you pulled him down to hold onto him. Clawing on his back, when he fully bottomed out you realized he was huge. Like 6 inches huge. Sliding back out just to thrust back in, he kept his quite fast pace while you rambled about something he wasn't paying attention to. only thing he was focused on was how good you felt around him, almost too good. "fuck, gonna cum soon if you keep clenching like that" he moaned out, kissing your cheek as he whined and moaned in your ear. "sunghoon" you sighed out, "yeah baby?" he answered. Lifting himself up, keeping his hands on your tits as you rambled about how good he felt. "I know love" he hummed back, sliding out. "doggy style baby" you were quick to get into the position and he was quick to slide right back in, you felt him deeper than you did just a few seconds ago. Arms already weak, making sunghoon hold you up. He was hitting places you didn't even know he could hit, "already fucked out?" He snickered, his hand snaking up to your neck to apply pressure. you immediately felt yourself let go and cum, "i-im cumming" you whined out, holding onto his arm. "I know" He replied, letting you go to fall onto the bed. fucking you harder than he already was, "gonna cum inside n ruin you for every other man" he grunted in your ear,trying to chase his own high. "fuck, taking it so well. who fucks you the best?" He moaned, "y-you" you were extremely sensitive, you felt another climax coming. it came too fast to even warn sunghoon, all he felt was tons of juice on his abs and hips. "Holy shit you just squirted" he spoke in pure shock, still fucking you as he praises you. you were a mess, tears were streaming down your cheeks as sunghoon finally came inside, "m' cumming pretty" he sighed out as he came, rocking his hips slowly. "you did so good for me baby" he slid out and kneeled down, he was quick to latch onto your pussy to clean you up. "w-wait sunghoon" you gasped out, "I'm almost done love" he reassured you, he was right. He had fully cleaned you up and laid down beside you, holding you softly. placing kisses on your face, both of you falling asleep

Friday 10:13 am

yeah. His back does look hot with a bunch of scratch marks. "does your back hurt?" You asked, embarrassed from how many there are. "nah, even if it did I think it would be worth it" he smiled as he poured coffee for you, kissing your forehead and placing a arm around your waist. maybe Jake was right, after all his advice did get sunghoon here.

[arabaka]

₊˚ʚ ☁️ ₊˚ ♡ ﾟ. content warnings ⤸ sfw. serizawa katsuya x afab!reader. 1.6 words. while i don't mind ageless/minors interacting with my sfw posts, do NOT follow if you do not have your age in bio.

₊˚ʚ ☁️ ₊˚ ♡ ﾟ. author's note ⤸ wowie this has been in my drafts for a thousand years so i thought, why not post <3 i do have a chapter 2 of sorts, just need to polish it up! thank you for reading <3

He never used to do this…

Play video games online, that is.

Serizawa Katsuya had long preferred games of the retro persuasion; they were a familiar comfort, much like a security blanket. For so long, he’d only known a controller with a single stick and two buttons and that had been enough for him. It still is, most days. But that all changed when he found a new reason to turn to his desktop computer, the one he saved up every 1-yen coin for from his job working for Reigen.

But it wasn’t the graphics of new age games that kept him coming back. It wasn’t the carousel of variety that got his chair rolling and his PC buzzing. No, it was never something– it was someone.

Now he knows your name but your username used to come first. It was how Serizawa met you after all, when he was still a complete and total noob to the pixel MMORPG you’ve frequented since day one. 

And like most things, your friendship with Serizawa happened by chance. You were helping a buddy out, shepherding them if you will because after all, they were trying the game out because of your incessant begging and pleading. You needed another person in your group after all, a certain raid requirement wouldn’t let you participate otherwise and you’d much rather go in with a group of friends than some randos that might steal all your loot in the end.

Serizawa just happened to be in your party when playing as a duo through the tutorial. After you tore down the first boss, an aquamarine monster made of slimy goo, Serizawa had typed an innocuous question in the main chat.

『 How do I equip the armor? 』

And you weren’t about to ignore the help of someone trying the game out for the first time. So what started as casual advice turned into a friend request popping in your inbox… Then spontaneous meet-ups…

『 Hey Gyudon-san! Are you going to be playing for long? 』

『 Hello! Yes, I have an hour. 』

『 Want to play together? 』

『 Yes! Thank you! 』

Turned into repeat plans…

『 Gyudon! I have a day off tomorrow, want to play? 』

『 Yes! That would be fun. I have night school but we can play after. 』

『 How are your studies going? Don’t play if you have a lot of work! Education comes first :p 』

『 No, not a lot. I want to play with you! 』

Which then led to chatting outside the game…

『 Gyudon-san, do you use LINE? 』

『 Yes, but mostly for schoolwork... 』

『 We should add each other! 』

『 Okay! 』

… And that’s when you learn his name for the first time. Serizawa Katsuya. The discoveries wouldn’t stop there; with the game no longer a crutch for communication, your conversations became a staple for having a good day. Good morning texts, good night texts. You messaged him when you saw something that reminded you of him, things that went beyond your shared interest in video games. He was so kind, you could feel his warmth over the phone even from simple messages; you have so many of them saved because sometimes, you need a pick me up from the man in particular. When you are on your phone with a smile that makes the apples of your cheeks glow, more often than not it’s because of him.

“You so like him.” One of your friends tells you one day over a bowl of ramen and they just know that it isn’t the steam rising from the broth that’s making your face clammy all of a sudden.

“He’s just– He’s a really good guy! Can’t I have friends?” You remark, stuffing your face with noodles and slurping loud enough to hopefully drown out the teasing that would soon follow. But you know they’re right. Who else do you think of when the lights are off and you’re left to ruminate in your bed, the mattress seeming larger and emptier as the days go by? Who else are you always looking forward to calling, even though phone calls aren’t really your thing? How many times have you looked up train tickets and times for Seasoning City, only to click back with your heart thumping in your eardrums?

“Don’t you want something more?” The words bounce off the walls in your head long after you say goodbye to your friend. 

Don’t you want something more? 

You can practically see the words when you close your eyes as you try to go to sleep but it’s deep into the night already and you’ve been tossing and turning for hours now. You stuff a groan into a pillow, cramming your face in the plush to silence the sounds even though you live alone. You groan because… you do want something more.

But does he?

You don’t know if you can live like this. Pining is one thing, something you’ve apparently been doing all this time (and you’ve known, god you’ve known but coming to stare it blank in the face is making your heart stutter at a pace that makes your chest cavity feel like it’s going to break at the seams if you’re not careful) but living in a shadow of doubt makes you feel even worse. 

“So that’s it,” You grumble into the pillow, “I gotta do it.” The pillow wilts in your arms from all the tight squeezing, the sheet blotted with a few drops of frustration straight from your scrunched up eyes. You grab your phone– no, you’re not doing it now but you figure, since you’re already going down this path, you might as well soothe yourself by rereading some of his messages from earlier.

Only, when you go into your chat history with Serizawa, you see three little dots greeting you from the dimmed screen. 

🗨 I can’t sleep… I hope you’re resting well.

Your thumb jitters on the screen, your last swallow lodged in your throat as you read the message. 

🗨 Same here. 

That’s it? That’s all you can come up with? You don’t want the conversation to die here so you’re flipping through conversation notecards in your brain, chiding yourself for not having anything to say when suddenly, you get another message.

🗨 Would you like to talk on the phone?

You say yes. Your stomach bounces, fraught with nerves, but you say yes. And when you answer, you don’t see the face of your phone until hours later when the sun’s already come up and a new day’s begun. 

“I didn’t realize what time it was… Sorry…” Serizawa sheepishly apologies and you swear you hear him stifle a yawn at the tailend of his words. Cute.

“No, no– it’s okay! Talking with you always makes my day… Night. Day and night?” You stumble over your words but it seems to charm him nonetheless, Serizawa’s soft laughter a gift to your ears. You wish you could hear it in person.

“I– I feel the same.” He briskly coughs, almost like he’s working himself up to something, “I– I was going to ask you… My last week of school is coming up. My friends want to have dinner and I– I was wondering if–”

Your shirt wrinkles in your balled up fist, trying as you might to still the beating of your heart but failing.

“If you would like to come? Y-You don’t have to, of course!”

“I’d love to!” You blurt out, incapable of keeping your lips in an airtight seal for any longer. “J-Just tell me the date!”

And he does– it’s in two weeks, which feels like so much time and not enough all at once. You put him on speakerphone, smiling all the while as he scrambles for the right words; is he as worked up about this as you are? You’re already on the shuttle website, looking at the price of tickets, debating on buying them early just because you can. 

“... It’s going to be a lot of fun, you’ll like my friends,” Serizawa’s voice drifts back to focus, “and I’ve… Told them about you too.” He’s blushing, glad that you can’t see the red painted across his cheeks. 

Your grip wobbles, phone nearly falling on your face when you gasp, “You have?!” 

“A-Ah, should I not–”

“No, no! I’m – I’m happy you have! I’ve talked about you to my friends too… Besides the ones we play with…” How is it already 7 AM? “Hey, you don’t have to go to work or anything do you?” 

You hear him yelp, “I-I do! I have work! I gotta go! Sorry!” 

How can somebody sound cute even when they’re panicked? How smitten with this man are you? “Go, go, go! Talk to you later, Serizawa-kun!” 

The phone line ends. You wish it didn’t. You already miss him. You blink, your retinas burning from the lack of sleep, your lids suddenly so heavy you can’t help but… Close them for just a little bit…

And when you wake up – is that really the time? – you’re greeted with a flurry of notifications but the only one you really care about is the message from Serizawa.

🗨 Very tired at work but I am glad we got to talk. I hope we can do it again sometime. 

Sometime would end up being an understatement. You go a day, tops two without talking over the phone, the next few times coupled with alerts that remind you to GO TO SLEEP because otherwise… You’ll end up repeating a sleepless night and as cute as Serizawa’s eye bags were (he’d sent you a selfie for the first time that week, which you stared at for an amount of time you are still too embarrassed to utter aloud), you weren’t about to make them worse… Though you were tempted.

And so was he.

[hockeylovincountrygirl16]

The time line

12 years old first meeting Ashleys pov)

my dad took me on a dad and daughter vacation to st.lewis for a hockey game many people might think as a young girl I'd rather do something big and fancy but not me I'd rather just be with my dad and I love hockey so it's a win win for me. Right now dad told me to go get something from the consession stand when I bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry" a males voice said

" it's okay it's my fault" I said

As I looked up I saw percing but welcoming blue eyes and an extended hand which I gladly took

" I'm matthew but you can call me matt" the boy said smiling

" I'm ashley" I said

" well that's a really pretty name" he said and I blushed

For a few minutes we were walking around talking I stopped at the consession stand to get my dad and I each a drink and we just talked

" MATTHEW" a voice yelled and we turned and Matthew groaned

"what Braden" matthew asked annoyed

" moms looking for you" the boy Braden said

" well go back and tell her I'll be back in a second I'm just gonna walk her back to her seat" Matt said as he gestured to me

The boy nodded and walked off

" I'm sorry about him I'm the eldest and he's the middle child most annoying part of my life" Matt said and I giggled

" you think one brothers bad try having three" I said and he looked mortified

" you have three brothers" he said and I nodded

Once we were at my seat he stopped me

" do you have a phone" he asked and I smiled nodding handing him my phone and he typed in his number

"What was that for" I asked

" text me or call me" he said and I smiled nodding

16 years old comfort Matt's pov)

I was sitting in my room and I had my computer up getting ready to call Ashley when her icon popped up and i answered

" hey a" I was cut off by a sob

"ashy what's wrong" I asked worried

" I'm adopted matty " she sobbed and my heart shattered hearing her cry I noticed her breathing picking up and I quickly thought of something

" hey babe what's three things you can hear"

" you, my brothers playing Chel, and my music" " good now three things you can feel"

" my hoodie my blanket and my stuffed cow"

" three things you can smell"

" my candle perfume and dinner" " great are you feeling better" I asked and she nodded " yea" she said " good" I said

After a few hours we hung up because we had school tomorrow and I fell asleep thinking about the girl who's my best firend and the love of my life

17 years old blake Shelton concert matts pov) today ashley and I are going to a blake Shelton concert with her mom butbright now we're standing almost to the front I have ashley in my arms than honey bee came on and after few minutes it was time for the chorus and i smiled and started singing as I turned ashley

" you'll bey soft and sweet I'll be your strong and steady you'll be my glass of wine I'll be your shot of whiskey you'll be my sunny day I'll be you shady tree you'll be my honeysuckle I'll be your honey be" I always sing that verse to her and kissed her head as we swayed to the song

" I love you honey bee" I said and she squeezed my hand. What we didn't know is that her mom took a bunch of pictures of us

19 years old Matt's draft ashleys pov)I was sitting next to matthew at his draft he had begged me to come over the years I've become an important part in matthews life and Chantel and Keith asked me to join for matthews sake and here I am sitting next to a nervous wreck matthew as held my hand

" Matty calm down your okay " I said with a little laugh

" your not the one about to be drafted ash" he said and I giggled

" I know but you have me with you every single step of the way" I said kissing His cheek and he kissed my head. After an hour the draftbstarted with the Toronto maple leafs and they selected Austin matthews. It was now the Calgary flames turn

" it's with great pleasure that we announced that our 2016 first round pick from the memorial cup champion London knights Matthew tkachuk "

matthew grinned getting up hugging his family than turned to me and hugged me kissing my head

" you did it Matty your in the big leagues" I said as I let him go and he walked down to the plate form

July 2023 brady's wedding reception matts pov) I was sitting next to my brothers when matthew came up to me " wanna dance" he asked and I smiled nodding he held his hand out and we walked to the dance floor " let's say this is our make for prom" he said and I laughed after a few minutes brady slapped bradys shoulder separating us " so when am I gonna be a best man" he asked causing me to giggle "get out of here" Matt said shoving brady away and I was laughing to where I laid my head was in matthews chest. After a few minutes I was taking shots with tyranwheb gimme more by Britney spears came on " you should go give my brother a show" she said referring to mathew" I'm not drunk enough " I said " okay you need to grow a pear and tell Matty how you feel cause I wanna be a brides maid but seriouslygo he'll like it " she said dragging me to matthew and pushing me at him

[crystallinestars]

FR I feel that if you tossed the Genshin guys into a romance sim, it would actually be pretty legit-looking. Now if only there were some sort of actual Genshin otome game 😭 (if I could romance Kaveh in such a game, I think I would die and go to heaven)

Yeahhh I feel that there is such a pattern among male and female characters. Like for female characters, I guess that the ones who are kind of more… “male-gazey” are less likely to be popular with women? Like in terms of both appearance and personality. Though even this is difficult to define. Ladies like Beidou and Dehya seem to be REALLY popular with girls, at least in the west (if I am wrong tho plz correct me). Even Navia (whose design I suppose shows a lot of skin) seems to be well-liked by guys and girls alike, I follow a girl on here who is absolutely crazy for her (and tbh I am no different 😭). To me I guess that for these three, they’re good role models for girls so that contributes to their appeal to women players? Cos they have strong, confident attitudes and kick hella ass, but they’re also kind + beautiful… so I suppose they’re like, people you could admire on an aesthetic and personal level but also you could aspire to be like them.

To be fair I like Lisa as I remember running around as her a lot when I first started playing (and chatting with her cai bot gets wild sometimes cos she’s always calling me out for like low self esteem, bad mentality, etc 😭😭), in general I like all of the girl characters ahahahah though for Lisa and many others I could def see how they’d have more appeal to guys.

And for guy characters, I’ve seen guy players admire Diluc and Alhaitham ! Like they have a sort of “masculine” appeal, aspirational for guys I think. I’ve even seen some guys on the Alhaitham subreddit start to hit the gym to become buff like him 😮 Sorry for digressing so much with this topic ahahah just that it is very interesting to consider.

My BF has been fueling my Kaveh love AHAHAHA like when I’m using his computer he lets me run around as Kaveh as I haven’t been able to pull for him yet. Now I have much more Kaveh merch than before but I think that I will try to amass even more…

Ooooo that makes sense, yeah cons do get pretty crowded esp in the areas like the artist alley where people are crowding around booths. And maybe it’s for the best that you avoid cons cos (TMI in advance) the con stink is REAL 😭🤢🤮 Though some of them apparently distribute deodorant or soap for attendees, hopefully it alleviates the smell…

Yeahhh Touhou is hella old, like the franchise is older than I am (I was born shortly before the first windows OS game in the series came out 🫡). I know that ZUN is still producing new official games about every 2-3 years, and for merch I see that there are fumo plushies for the newer characters coming out, a pleasant surprise. But I think the barrier of entry is much higher due to the nature of the games so it’s less “mainstream” for young people compared to Genshin, as Genshin you could easily download if you have phone, iPad, non-mac computer, etc. But from what I’ve seen, you could encounter stuff of the most popular characters at cons if you keep your eyes peeled.

On the topic of merch (crazy complaint incoming!!!)… so I posted a pic of my Kaveh haul somewhere and someone made a comment alluding to that ship. This was the first thing I saw this morning, and OMG I was so irritated that I straight up blocked this person 😭 Sadly I can’t remove their comment (this would be more ideal). I guess this is rather extreme reaction as the comment was harmless… though in the description I literally put some unhinged stuff about “oh me and Kaveh are gonna get married” so I was wondering how they did not get the hint that “oh, this person doesn’t care for that ship.” I am bewildered that the shippers are everywhere, feels bad cos in the community I’m in, most of them are so so sweet but majority of them are also shippers of that ship.

Like when I see an arbitrary pic of [any Genshin guy] or Aventurine, I don’t go “ooooh la la Lumine’s gonna get that” or “hehe Stelle or Topaz is gonna enjoy this” respectively… ofc this is first world “problem” but still… they tether Kaveh to feeble scholar so much 😭

Also I was on a small yumejoshi community and I found a girl who is also Kaveh enjoyer, and who also feels uncomfy with the shippy stuff. It was a pleasant surprise that there are other Kaveh likers with a similar POV to us, since from my observation I see that many of them like that one ship along with him.

This got so long and convoluted, I hope it is not difficult to read !!! It does not help that I am currently running on some 3 hours of sleep and a can of green tea (it has no effect on me). If there is anything that needs to be clarified plz let me know !

-🍓

Genshin girls in general are quite good, both on a design and personality level. Many of them are popular with women because, as you said, they look pretty while being badass. It also helps that the writing for female characters has improved significantly over the years, making them more fleshed out and complex.

I didn’t like Lisa’s flirtatious attitude at the start, but I have grown to love her a lot, and got excited whenever she appeared in events. I wish there was more of her, tbh. Navia is also my favorite Fontaine character overall! I saved for her so much.

I adore most of the Genshin ladies, actually. The only ones I dislike are Ei and Yae Miko.

Yeah, I think the cool and stoic type of male characters are more popular with guys. And I remember seeing that one guy on the Alhaitham sub! I wonder if he reached his goal?

I… never even thought about how stuffy and smelly cons would be. Lord, that makes me want to go even less. Ew 😣

I looked up when the first Touhou game came out, and it seems like it released the year I was born. So yeah, the franchise is hella old… But I thinks it’s nice that it still has fans even to this day. Even if it’s become harder to find fan content of it 😔

I’m so sorry you had to wake up to a comment alluding to That One Ship, especially since you simply wanted to share something you enjoy. The way a lot of shippers post obnoxious ship comments under art depicting a solo character is a serious problem. It’s very annoying to constantly be reminded of a ship you dislike, plus ruins the enjoyment you could have derived from the post itself. For whatever reason, I only see it happen for m/m and f/f ships.

It’s not wrong of you to block the person. If they make you uncomfortable, then the best thing to do is quietly block them. The Japanese and Chinese fandom communities often recommend to others to block liberally so they can create a safe space for themselves online and not see things they dislike. It’s all about protecting your mental health and having a comfortable space.

I am also sorry to say that a lot of people don’t check bios, or simply don’t care about your boundaries. Once, I had a few shippers of that ship follow me on Twitter despite my bio saying for fans of that ship to not follow me. Even after I made a tweet saying I’m uncomfortable with such individuals following me, one of them left a like and continued to follow me 😐 They knew but disrespected my boundaries, so I removed them.

It might seem harsh to block or remove people over ship differences, but in our modern era of toxic ship discourse and harassment, I don’t blame anyone for feeling triggered by certain ships or their fans. It’s much better to block a stranger online than subject yourself to psychological torture. The other person will forget about it in time, if they ever even find out you blocked them at all.

lol trust me when I say there are a much bigger number of Kaveh-lovers in the yume community who also don’t like his ship with a certain Scribe! I’m friends with a few of them. In fact, my entire social media circle is of Kaveh fans who like him exclusively with girls.

I feel like the Japanese and Chinese yume communities are better on that front compared to the English yume community. I try to stay away from English communities in general…

Sorry that my response also got so long. I hope you can get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight! The weekend is almost here, so here’s to hoping you can sleep in!

[probablyaparadox]

Midnight Headcannons for Hiveswap/Friendsim Characters (Part 1)

These may be very well liked, or very controversial idk. If you write a fic (unlikely but who knows) based on any of these then PLEASE lmk. Part 1 because some I may feel uninspired + I don't wanna do all of them in one post. Xefros Tritoh: THE BOY HIMSELF.

He is a semi closeted midwest emo (I mean look at him) and a fully closeted stereotypical emo aesthetic enjoyer.

Ever since he started the Grubbels with Dammek, he's actually gotten quite good at singing, and rapping. (this is based on the line that Dammek passive aggressively hinted that Xefros needed vocals practice, and If I were Xefros my insecure ass would start practicing REGULARLY.)

If he were not plagued by constant anxiety he would sleep a lot, and be a very sleepy person (Sloth lusus). Or rather he requires more sleep than the average troll, and when he gets it he's very energetic. Because of his training with Dammek to "sleep anywhere" this would result in him frequently falling alseep while standing if he didn't get his proper sleep.

I want him to kill Trizza with a baseball bat. Off with their heads and hit a home run. Preferably with a baseball bat covered in nails.

He's trans. That one's not from me I've heard it tho and it's cute as hell imo headcannon immediately accepted.

His crush is a tealblood "reporter" (hobbyist photographer and blogger) who wears rollerskates (manic pixie dream boy.) I say this purely because Idk what traits Idarat and Tegiri have over Tagora besides being more masc and having glasses. And they are both not rat men unlike Tagora (/aff). Anyway because of lack of information I say what I want.

Last one because I genuinely feel like this was in the game but I'm not. Certain. Anyway Xefros looks so generic that so long as he isn't wearing his sign it would be genuinely impossible for any drone to find him based on his face. Dammek:

He got most of the parts for the weapon off of trolls craiglist

he will either instantly obliterate Jude's sense of self and self worth and have to work up from there to realize he needs to be nicer or he'll lose his moirail (he already has) or he will be shockingly ok to Jude and just be closed off and he will have to work up to expressing affection normally instead of survivalist training.

he's a little robotics geek he will get his hands on a cell phone and fucking destroy it when he gets to earth./joking to early. He MAY destroy a tv. I think based on his building skills he would be fascinated by earth technology.

the cameras installed in Xefros' hive have lasers. Xefros does not know this.

He gets his fancy normal disks from mallek (I've also heard this from another person- I would credit but I can't find it at the moment) Mallek:

Has 13 piercings. (IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW)

he's either a part of the rebellion already, or will be soon enough

He actually knows a mutant which makes him being "cool with mutants" an even weirder more awkward thing to say

he bullies people on 4chan. The homestuck earth equivalent of 4chan. But still earth. he finds it informative and he likes giving their computers the types of bugs that will make them only play slitherio.

His strife specibus is a serrated curved dagger (snake fang like almost)

He has a snake tattoo on his right thigh.

He intends to get sleeve tattoos, he just hasn't perfected the design yet, or found someone he trusts to do it.

Hey you know that character who we've gotten like 1 concept art of. Yea Jerann him. They're boyfriends. Sorry I don't make the rules but he gets a fish nerd boyfriend.

He keeps oblong meat products in his house in case Diemen ever wants to crash.

He's going to give Xefros a piercing when Xefros becomes an emo boy /hj Joey: (I know she should've come first but she's not one of my favouritesss-)

Joey would lose her shit if she saw the barbie movie or Murdoch Mysteries

On a similar note, she would do barbenheimer for/with jude

She has a slight fear of clowns now (reasonable)

when she gets scared while on alternia, she looks up at the sky, and the stars, and thinks of her mom

I think that Joey and Marsti have an excellent opportunity to get along. A vet is just a doctor for a different species after all, and I'm sure just as Joey would be eager to learn Marsti would be eager to teach and get a bit flattered and someone respecting her aspirations and knowledge. Marsti:

Has the nickname Mars

If Marsti could dress up more she would go for a steampunk streamlined vibe.

In the route where Marsti ditches the player at Gahlek's house, she steals a book on her way out

Marsti survives the train crash floating in her bucket.

Marsti wanted to go to Jeevik week because she liked the challenge cleaning up after it might bring.

[gorgugplushie]

BAD KIDS GAMING HCS

Nobody asked but i cant stop thinking abt it so

Fabian - canonically doesn't know what mobile games are, much less actual videogames. He sort of sees them as pointless (why do quests and adventures in a videogame when he could just do them in real life?) Of course the bad kids pull him into their gaming sessions, though he spends most of them asking what the controls are again and raising an eyebrow at their shenanigans. Ragh sits him down and makes him play some sport based video games which he does enjoy, he can get really into it if you give him time (he yells so so loud) he also gets into ddr style games bc he likes beating the other bdkds at them. Videogames are a good excuse to hang but he'd rather go out and play football irl.

Kristen - coming from a heavily sheltered and what i assume monitored family, kristen probablyyy isnt all that into videogames. At most i think she'd have some mobile games like idk candy crush on her phone, like fabian she'd get confused and spend her in game time running around and just watching the others play, she goes along w the others shenanigans v easily tho and loves doing silly bits while playing.

Riz - Riz is the type to play window games on their families shared computer for hours on end. Stuff like sudoku, pinballs, or solitaire. He'd love those games like the nancy drew mystery ones, or those games where you find items like I Spy. The only downside is he gets unhealthily fixated and will spend 3 days getting to lvl 100+ on Tetris if you let him, obsessed w 100% games and making funny number go up. Surprisingly good at rhythm games.

Adaine - into open world games, like fallout or outerwilds. Will spend days writing and churning out backstory and lore for her in game character. Veryyy picky and wants every decision to be true to their newest ocs backstory, will spend a solid hour on the character creation screen. She also loves more violent shooting games, although playing online with strangers gives her anxiety and she cannn get gamer rage, she'll get fixated on getting stuff like headshots and Winning and Being a good teammate that she'll start shaking and have to step away from playing for a bit. Single player fighting games w blood where she can turn her brain off and just fight are more cathartic for her. I feel like she ends up doing insane shit in them like saw and hack off limbs and go full dark story mode route and then regret it so so much and lie awake at night not sleeping bc of it and delete the save file. Its her dark secret shell take to the grave.

Fig - plays a large range of games, mainly more colorful and silly goofy ones she can play with the badkids. Shes sort of a little nuisance in games tho, she will troll and grief a lil bc she finds it funny. In singleplayer games she does love being a huge stinker and do silly stuff like pickpocket and get caught or accidentally set a bomb off in the middle of a cutscene or glitch her character to a-pose, she does a bunch of shit and laughs and doesn't take it seriously at all. Like adaine she also gets gamer rage. she gets them both banded from online for a month bc they team up to cast a spell on someone thru the screen. LOVESS shit like guitar hero and skater games sooo much, also into those wwe type games. Cant stomach horror at all but will make the rest of the kids sit down and play horror games w her so they can laugh and scream together.

Gorgug - he tends to like more older games, say in the style of star fox/loz and stuff. His parents gave him and older gaming system when he was younger n he still has it around and collects games for it, its seeing a lot more use than it originally did bc now he has friends to play with. The type of guy to still carry their ds around. I feel like hed also modify and rom hack stuff for his friends. He likes going to the arcade in person and playing there than sitting in front of a computer.

Ayda - yes im including her shes a gamer girl in my heart. I feel like she loves life sims/complex puzzle games, stuff like slime rancher, portal, animal crossing. She has 1000+ hours into a single sims save file. She spends hours and hours building and working on the most elaborate farming system for whatever new sim shes getting invested in. She especially loves organizing in games, she gets a bit antsy playing more survival based games with the bad kids because they leave their systems so unorganized (shes def the type to redo the entire base from top to bottom in dont starve while the rest die off screen). neat and orderly decoration is soo fun for her and the bad kids try not to step on her turf too much. refuses to play multiplayer if it's with anyone else but the badkids, but if anyone would start a gaming channel its her. will do obscenely gay cutesy stuff w fig n game. They build their own little base and junk and pretend to hosts weddings n stuff. Shes also very into speed running and breaking games with glitches to figure out how they work.

[luvrsux]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆

❝ 𝒋𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔 ❞

other chapters

➠┊word count: 5.1k

➠┊characters: trafalgar law, nami, portgas d. ace, marco {mentioned}, garp {mentioned}

➠┊cw: minor swearing

➠┊modern au !!

𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒑

❛ you had an awful interaction at a gas station nearby robin’s place after a simple party hang out. before anything else could spiral down into a catastrophe, a familiar “enemy” unexpectedly comes to your rescue, as well as charming your innocent and sour heart ❜

{colors for dialogue may switch/change as more characters are introduced !!}

❛ ━━･❪ 🖤 ❫ ･━━ ❜

The following morning you woke up with a pounding headache that could make you knock out again. You pinched your temple in pain as you separated your back from your bed. The bright morning light pierced through your pupils.

Your hands snatched your mobile phone beside you to check the time.

5:30, two hours before the school building opened up.

You realized that Ace wouldn’t be there to bother, startle or ramble your ear off on this bright morning, and the next few following ones ahead. You had a mixture of excitement and disappointment at the mere thought of it.

Rubbing your palm to your eyes, you heard footsteps approach your room door. A tall, formal fitted woman burst in.

“I hope you had fun on your little adventure last night” She greeted. Your mother was in the middle of putting on her sparkling jewelry on her wrists. “Breakfast is ready for you on the table as well as your lunch. I’ll see you this afternoon”

You felt her lips press gently against your forehead before she scurried back to your door. “Have a wonderful day at school, hon”

You heard the clicking sound as the door connected to its frame. You finally pulled yourself completely out of bed to get ready for school, which you weren’t entirely stoked for.

Upon arrival, you weren’t used to Ace’s absence but ironically, it made your morning more bearable than anything. Your morning classes went by smoothly and steadily. The two boys that accompanied Ace occasionally threw you hellos here and there, but Nami approached you frantically like she saw someone get run over.

“(F/N), oh my god! I found you” She made you tilt your head in pure puzzlement.

“I’m so sorry about last night, I was so drunk that I crashed at Robin’s. Did you make it home safe? Do I need to kill anyone?”

You appreciated Nami’s concern as well as her apology despite you not even minding. You giggled and held her palms.

“It’s alright, I made it home just fine” You reassured. You decided not to inform Nami about the gas station incident for the sake of her own blood vessels. You couldn’t even imagine the snowball effect that’ll cause.

“Are you sure? Gosh, I feel so bad” Nami looked at you with big hazelnut eyes.

“You’re good, Nami. Promise” You sealed your words with a tight hug to consult your orange-haired friend. You heard a muffled “okay” on your shoulder.

You pulled her back and gave her one last smile.

“I’ll see you at lunch” You turned your body and waved back at her. She smiled brightly to reciprocate it. You were pleased to shift her overly worried emotions into a much calmer one.

-ˋˏ ༻ 🖤 ༺ ˎˊ-

Now, there you were in a quiet English classroom while everyone scribbled down on an independent assignment. There wasn’t peep from anyone and the only thing that broke the complete silence was classical music your teacher played through their computer. You began to feel antsy and it wasn’t any better that the teacher before you had a growing hatred to cellular devices.

You extended your arm, it isolated in the air for a few moments before your teacher looked up.

“Yes, (F/N)?” He said lowly.

“May I be excused?” You asked quietly. Your voice echoed throughout the room and felt eyes slowly begin to trail toward you. You heard your teacher let out a sigh and gesture their hand to shoo you away.

You immediately scooted your seat from the desk to exit the rather awkward classroom. You didn’t have to use the restroom or attend any emergency per se, you just wanted to take a small walk around the halls to stretch out your legs and clear your mind.

The moment back at the gas station last night didn’t stop replaying. You began to overthink if Law hadn’t been there to help you. Your brain flatlined at the thought of potential events. It didn’t help that faint music began to play in the distance during your walk.

You tilted your head. You were completely puzzled and wondered who’d be in a music room playing with instruments in the middle of an academic class period. To be honest, you don’t remember the last time you saw someone use the music room. You were the cat the curiosity killed and peered inside the room to see who was enchanting you with the music.

You made eye contact with the toned arms, raven hair and inked tattoos as Law effortlessly grazed his fingers rhythmically along the guitars strings. The guitar was a sleek black with white and tan accents. You recognized some prints on the guitar that was similar to the ones on his black vehicle.

Law’s talent was entirely unexpected. He had all his focus on the instrument before him that rested in his tanned hands and long legs. He bopped his head to the tune as well as his legs. There was no sheet music in front of him, meaning he was pulling these notes out of his brain with complete ease.

You were taken back, to say the least. Considering your deep singing trance from yesterday, you admired music. With that, this sight was completely mesmerizing to you. You hadn’t known the cold, tanned boy had a soft side for music. His talents matched his vibe. The tune wasn’t hardcore or disturbingly loud. It was melodious and soft, like he was purposely trying not to disturb the neighboring classrooms. You averted your eyes from the music boy and realized he was the only one there in the classroom. You assumed he was skipping.

Law is only human, though. His hands suddenly stopped which caused a hitch in his guitar. He picked up a pen that laid flat on an open notebook that had scribbles you couldn’t quite make out. Law scribbled something inside, assuming notes on his song, and sigh.

“You play pretty well…”

You spoke without thinking. Your voice made Law flinch and drop his pen. He darted at you with widened eyes before relaxing at the familiar sight of you. You made yourself welcome and stepped inside the room that was once filled with music.

“We meet again, (F/N)-ya” Law grinned and pulled off his guitar off his toned body to place it on its designated stand. You sat by on a nearby stool.

“Thank you, that was actually just a random song I’ve been working on I guess” Law turned his head to his open notebook, then trailed his steel eyes back at you.

“You’ve just been coming up with that on the spot or…?” You saw Law nod with nonchalant eyes.

“No reason to overthink it if you actually know how to play” Law made a decent point. You shrugged with a nod.

‘So he’s a doctor-to-be and a musician? What else, a party clown?’ You pondered.

“What else do you do?” Your internal thoughts influenced your own curiosity. Law blew a raspberry, seemingly to recall all his other talents.

“I guess I draw” He replied. You saw him unbutton the first few buttons of his black button-down to reveal the more secreted tattoos on his body. Your cheeks flared.

“I did these tattoos myself. Probably why some are shittier than others… Well, besides the one on my back, that was a professional” You stared at his chest like it was the most mesmerizing view to ever exist. His words baffled you. You assumed Law made an immense amount of money to afford these tattoos, completely discarding the possibility of him drawing these himself. Each mark was perfectly lined and symmetrical, making his statement false in your own eyes.

“They’re… nice” You managed to muster up. After Law showed off his body, that being his arms, hands, and chest, he caught your rather flustered expression.

“Don’t fall too hard now” He cooed, buttoning his shirt back up to conceal his window. You cleared your throat and shot him a glare.

“Keep dreaming, Traffy” That nickname made Law recoil completely. His teasing attitude was completely tilted.

“Don’t. Absolutely not, It’s Trafalgar” You finally managed to pinch a nerve, after everything he’s done to you.

“I like Traffy more” You grinned.

“Already getting obsessed with me, eh?” He immediately turned the tables almost as fast as you attempted to. You furrowed your brows.

“Definitely not”

He shot you a blatant ‘Yeah, right’ look before shifting his body away to grab his guitar once more.

Law’s patterned fingers gently twisted the metal knobs on the stem of the instrument. You watched him tune his guitar quietly. Then, with half-lidded eyes, he looked at you. The direct eye contact almost made you collapse. ‘Why did this punk have this stupid effect?’

“You wanna hear me play or do you have other things to do, like being a cheerleader or something?” His question forced a puzzled expression to form.

“Cheerleader?” That is all you could say. Law shrugged carelessly.

“You’re always with that cowboy jock, I assumed you were his cheerleader girlfriend” He assumed. You snickered. Yet again, there was someone assuming you were Ace’s partner.

“Me and Ace are just friends. Practically siblings” You informed. Law nodded as he understood the words coming out of your mouth. “And I’m not a cheerleader, idiot”

Your hiss made Law simply chuckle. It seemed like he enjoyed getting a rise out of you.

“My bad, my bad” With that, he strummed the strings of his bass guitar with one quick swipe.

“Answer my question, still”

You traced back to it. You thought it wouldn’t hurt to chew at the boring remaining time you had left in your English class to listen to Law's enchanting talent, as much as you hated to admit it.

“It wouldn’t hurt to hear you play a little longer I guess. It’s better than the eyesore of my English teacher”

Law didn’t respond. He just gave you a side grin and strum the guitar with one swipe once again. He turned his gaze on you to his precious guitar in his inked hands and played random notes before they synchronized, harmonizing a song with his hands.

»•» 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆: 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 - 𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒅 «•«

The song wasn’t an original. It was a cover of a song you’ve recognized through social media, but that didn’t disregard the fact the song was still played beautifully by the tanned boy. With each swipe and press of the cords, you felt yourself humming along. You lightly stomped your feet on the ground. Suddenly, the entire world went quiet and all you could hear was Law’s talent. He had a smile on his face as he hopped his head to the beat, noticing your enthusiasm.

The beat began to creep up on the infamous chorus of the song. You could’ve sworn you heard Law mumble the lyrics while playing, to which made you wonder why he didn’t project his voice. Your heart thumped as the chorus began to begin. Your chest grew a knot. Humming wasn’t enough, you knew the lyrics to his song. It wouldn’t hurt, would it?

I'm losing the person I was when I found you

Am I acting different when I'm not around you?

I'm being dramatic, I say that I'm losing

I wanna show you all the things I've been doing

The music was fueling you past your breaking point where you projected your voice to sing the lyrics. Law perked his head up the moment your volume raised. He seemed to be baffled by your voice, but the song was rather popular so that wasn’t a shocker. He smiled.

I'm going on dates and I'm hanging my head

I wanna share an apartment, a room, and a bed

I wanna tell you I love you, but I cannot reach you

I'm learning to lose, that's a thing they don't teach you.

You harmonized the lyrics together you two stopped by the sudden beat drop. You smiled happily from the mini-duet you two shared, completely forgetting you once hated him and his attitude. Law began the last verse of the song on his own. His voice was almost as good as his playing. The gods blessed him with a plethora of talents.

I'll miss you

Help me through

When I try someone else, I'll still miss you

You decided to conclude the song with him. Law still had that pleased smile. You eyed it while you finished the song together. That smug, sly, annoying grin wasn’t there, nor were the vibes. He felt content, and comfortable. Was it your voice? You pondered on what happened to the teasing boy you were once fond with.

I'll miss you

Help me through

When I'm...

Law took his final strum and the music died out. He took a long pause on his guitar that was once the birth of the enchanting music. The steel eyes finally trailed upon you, who had a pleased smile on your face. Law readjusted his instrument more comfortably on his lap.

“Nice duet,” He said smoothly. You reminded yourself this was the Trafalgar Law and quickly switched your attitude. You let your pride shadow your vision and refused to give him any sort of respect. Holding a grudge against him? Absolutely.

“It was fine, I guess” You shrugged. Law noticed that were trying, horribly, to cover your real emotions.

“C’mon, relax” He gave you half-lidded eyes. “I’m being genuine, (F/N)-ya”

Those words made your tense body ease up. You reminded yourself of one of the scrambled thoughts from last night; Maybe he wasn’t so bad?

You broke through, but still keeping a small guard up if he said anything slick. Law pulled his guitar off his body and popped his guitar pick in between his teeth. You watched him flip his notebook shut and tuck the pen inside the spiral rings.

“What made you want to do all of those things?” You asked. You completely halted Law from getting ready to leave. The raven-haired boy looked at you with a raised brow.

After pulling his pick out his mouth, he relaxed in his seat to continue the conversation.

“Well, for music, I guess I was always drawn to it as a kid” Law began. “I started playing the guitar when I was around eight? nine?” He stared at the ceiling as he traced back to his adolescence.

“With medicine, it honestly happened on its own. I realized that I’m pretty damn smart so why not put it towards the medical field” He explained. He was ready to stop the conversation right then and there, but there was one thing left.

“And your art?”

He paused at your voice. Law couldn’t be offended by your question, but he hesitated on answering like It was a touchy subject. Law groped himself in this conversation on his own.

“I got into that by a very special person of mine” Is all he could say. You noticed that he seemed kind of guarded on that subject, so you decided not to pry further.

“Judging by your tattoos, you seem to be really good at it” You chose to compliment him and his talent to ease up the tension you may have created. Fortunately for you, Law did begin to ease up.

“I try” He formed a side smile. “I can show you my favorite piece” He eyed you up and down with eyes that had more intentions behind them than you could fathom.

“What?” You immediately caught on.

“C’mere”

He gestured you over with two digits. You expected him to open his black notebook behind him that was covered in stickers. You pulled up a nearby chair that rested beside him.

Law grabbed, not the notebook, but the pen that was tucked into his notebook. You were completely puzzled and dumbfounded until you felt his rough hand grab your arm, ironically, gently. You watched him draw on that same smile face he had on his car. Law did it with complete ease and flawless, as expected. His own tattoos were self drawn after all. You didn’t mind, though. The drawing was rather cool in your eyes.

Law blew lightly on the ink that was marked on your skin to dry it. Now, you had your own tattoo. Granted, it wasn’t a genuine tattoo but you still felt cool.

“I guess you can say it’s my signature” Law eyed the mark and then back at you.

“I noticed. Am I a part of your wolf pack now that I’m marked?” You joked. You watched Law cringe.

“I should wash it off for that…”

The last few minutes of the class period you, by definition, skipped, was shared small talk you and Law had. You explained to him some of your talents and ambitions that he complimented. Every now and then, though, he’d remind you of his sarcastic and teasing personality that was progressively making you want to punch him in places that were forbidden.

“Class is about to end, (F/N)-ya” Law exhaled, tracing his eyes at the numbers his phone displayed. You took Law’s word considering you were out of your assigned classroom for a hefty amount of time.

As you both got up, you noticed that Law left his guitar standing in the stand while he slung his crossbody bag on sole shoulder.

“You’re leaving it here?” You asked, referencing the guitar. "Someone could snatch that and not even care" Law shrugged.

“No one really comes here, and I have the keys to the room” He pulled a silver key out of his pocket and spun the key ring around his finger. You were starting to notice a pattern.

“I have a small band so we practice after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays” He explained as you followed behind him to the outdoor hallways.

You were starting to notice that Law was becoming a pleasure to be around. As much as it now slightly bugged you, the conversations and musical memories you freshly shared did make you pleased. You folded your lips.

“Is it okay if I pop in someday to hear you?” You abruptly asked. Law was lightly taken back while he twisted his hand to lock the music room before him.

“So you are obsessed with me?” He grinned at you with those steel eyes while he shoved the silver key into his spotted jeans pocket.

“Don’t make me change my mind, Traffy”

“Trafalgar, for fucks sake”

You laughed at his reaction, only for him to form a small, amused smirk.

“Fine, I guess It wouldn’t hurt to have you listen to all of us” He slipped his jet-black phone out of his back pocket. You watched him unlock it. “But I must warn you, they’re kind of obnoxious”

"I'm friends with Portgas Ace, I think I can manage"

Law slithered his screen to your eyes to show his number on there, clear as day. You paused and eyed it, realizing he was now giving you his contact information. After a short relocation, you scurried to type the number into your own phone.

“Text me the day you decide to show up so I can open the school’s door for you” He immediately tucked his phone away after he saw you put in the last few digits.

“Gotcha, I’ll see you” You smiled at him. For the first time, you actually gleamed at him. You notice Law choke back ever so slightly before nodding to strut off to whatever class he has awaiting for him—unless that is, he was going to skip again.

-ˋˏ ༻ 🖤 ༺ ˎˊ-

“And then I told Marco he’s kind of weird for that, but It was funny so it didn’t matter. Besides, the entire basketball team is kind of weird”

There you were, uncomfortable in Ace’s scattered room while he rambled on and on about his day stranded at home. You didn’t know how you got here in this situation when you just passed by to check in on his injuries, but his absence did take a slight toll.

“So that makes you a weirdo then?” You were sitting on the chair of his desk with crossed arms. Ace paused in his tracks for a moment.

“No, I’m awesome” He dramatically ran his fingers through his brunette locks.

“Awesome people don’t get grounded”

“Hey!” Ace throws a pillow at you only to receive a blossom of giggles out of you.

“Hey, by the way,” You relaxed your fit of laughter at Ace’s voice.

“Your wrist. What is that?” He asked. You gave him a dumbfounded expression before he lazily gestured at your inked wrist. You had completely forgotten about it since you arrived at his place.

“Oh, just a doodle” You replied. You weren’t completely lying but you avoided anything further.

“Lemme see!” Ace eagerly rolled out of his bed, which he once collapsed in after his pillow attack, to snatch your arm.

“Hey, you fuck-!”

“Law?”

Ace’s words, and also grip, made you snatch your arm away from his hands. You rubbed the area he had his calloused hands around.

“First of all, use your manners!” You scolded. “Second of all, it’s none of your business”

You slid your sleeve over the marked jolly roger. Ace began to teasingly laugh at you, finger-pointed and everything. He collapsed his body, once again, on his unkempt bed.

“Look who’s getting action while I’m not at school!” Ace gleamed. You were ready to throw a neighboring item at his face, which was an entire desk.

“We just met, idiot!” You scolded once again. Ace gave you a doubtful look.

“So he just mysteriously drew on your wrist, (F/N)? C’mon”

“Fine! We kind of talked and hung out during my English period”

Ace’s teasing, older brother attitude finally sunk under your skin. He noticed your cheeks slowly pigment at the topic of the moment you shared with the tanned, tatted boy.

“Be honest, do you think he’s cute?” Ace asked. At this point, you’d be talking to one of your girl friends than Ace judging his tone.

“I mean…” You played with your nails. “He’s sort of cute”

You admitted. Ace gasped at your response. That dark clouded judgment of how he was an asshole and very rude began to clear out the more you spoke with him. Sure, he had a playful demeanor but after that genuine smile that was carved in his lips when he played his heart away was different to you. You began to wonder if it was too good to be true.

“But I’m sure he has a partner or something already” You dismissed. You saw Ace’s cheesy smile collapse.

“That’s so cliche of you” Ace grumbled.

“I’m serious!”

“Be a homewrecker then!”

You jolted at Ace’s words, completely baffled. This time, you scrambled around to find an object to throw. You settled on a random stress ball in the shape of a basketball. It seemed as if it was a token of his away games. Chucking it at Ace, he let it hit him while he laughed manically.

“I’m not going to be a homewrecker, asshole!” Ace hadn’t stopped laughing.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” He steadied his breathing that was inflicted by his own humor.

“Where did you even come to that conclusion?” He asked. Ace had a major point. You randomly came up with an assumption to dismiss your own delusions.

“C‘mon, a bunch of people these days would be attracted to a guy like him” Ace held back laughter when you saw his lips quiver.

“Sounds like you’re one of those people”

“Portgas D. Ace! Enough!” You yelled, causing a mountain of laughter to spew out of Ace’s mouth.

Ace relaxed his laughter and fixated his eyes on the analog clock that sat on his nightstand. The time almost gave him a heart attack, it seems. He quickly jolted up from his bed and didn’t hesitate on throwing your backpack at you.

“Hey-!”

“It’s almost four, Garp is about to come home! Get the hell out!” Ace dragged you outside his room and straight to the front door. Ace practically gave you whiplash, but at least he was decently nice enough to meet you at the front door.

“What happened to your awesomeness, huh?” You teased. Ace replied with a playful glare and shove outside.

“It’s right up your coward ass. See ya, (F/N)” He slammed the door, leaving you on the front porch alone. You laughed under your breath from Ace’s reaction.

You eyed your phone as you trotted down the steps to enter your vehicle. Nothing super major stood out, besides one. Underneath all the random notifications and emails was a following notification.

Piratesgram:

traf.heart_law followed you!

You were taken back, wondering how he even found your infamous social media page. You opened the notification to which panned to the app itself. You scrolled through his own page before following him back mutually. He didn’t have much. His profile picture was a semi-side profile of him with a mic in front of his lips. You eyed his bio.

Musician / Medical student

this is kind of boring

i don’t do tattoo appointments

You didn’t spot anything indicating that he was in a relationship, panning back to the conversation you and Ace shared. You swiped through each post. Most of it consisted of his music and art pieces. Occasional self-portraits here and there, but they were those kinds of mirror pictures where his phone covered his face. Still no sign of a partner.

‘Why does that even matter, (F/N)?’ You scolded yourself.

Before you could reciprocate his following, you noticed the highlighted ring around his profile picture. Finally, you opened it. It was one post that consisted a group of guys you weren’t quite fond of. They all looked like they were in preparation for a musical performance in the familiar music room. Two people looked like they were having a side conversation, but you couldn’t quite make out their faces.

“can never get anything done with these idiots” The caption read.

“Right, band practice…” You murmured.

With that, you finally followed him back. Despite him being the first one to make a move, you felt a wave of nerves course through your veins after giving him that notification.

You focused all your attention on getting back home after secretly being at Ace’s during his house arrest week. You feared you’d be in the same boat as him if Garp snaked to your mother that you were at Ace’s during his sentence. Luckily, you didn’t see his familiar car pull in when you left.

-ˋˏ ༻ 🖤 ༺ ˎˊ-

Your mother placed a steaming plate of your favorite dinner in front of you. You felt your mouth water at the sight of it, not hesitating on flipping your utensils in your fingers to dig in.

“It’s hot, hon. Careful” She warned soothingly. You gave her a nod and decided to pass the time with your phone, which was entirely normal in this generation.

You opened the infamous social media app and saw Law’s profile highlighted again. You formed a small smile and opened it to see someone recording the band together. You heard the music harmonized together while someone sang proudly in front. You kept your eyes on Law, who was still playing that infamous guitar from earlier. He had a mic in front of his mouth as well as the other guitarist. Law played as backup vocals and you could faintly hear his familiar singing voice behind the lead vocalist.

The song wasn’t entirely foreign to you, but it wasn’t a song you’ve heard online. It reminded you of the song you caught the boy playing before you walked inside the music room. You enjoyed the fuller version of the song as much as you did when Law was simply playing his part, if not more. You thought it wouldn’t hurt to like his video considering it was quite literally music to your ears.

“Who’s that?” A voice startled you to the point you almost felt your heart stop. You breathed out heavily from the sheer terror.

“A guy from school, mom” You exhaled. She noticed that she startled you and couldn’t help but giggle.

“Be careful~” She cooed. You immediately caught on to what she was insinuating and immediately dropped both your fork and phone on the marbled island.

“Not like that, Mom! Don’t be like Ace, please” You picked at your plate with the fork. “He was so annoying about it”

Your remark made her laugh under her breath. She just rolled her eyes and served herself her own plate of food, packaging the rest away as leftovers for days to come.

“Then stop gawking at him and eat your dinner”

Your dinner was left untouched and you noticed. You eyed Law long enough for your food to cool down for consumption instead of the molten temperature it was once at. You grumbled in defeat and stuffed your face with the food.

After you cleaned your plate with your own appetite, you did your mother a favor and clean the dishes that were once used for her delectable dish. You shook your soaked hands in the sink to semi-dry them out. You felt your mother place a kiss on your head.

“Tomorrow, I need you to grab some groceries and other essentials” Your mother cooed. Your expression, which was once pleased by her gentle kiss, darkened at her after basically saying her weekend was ruined with errands.

“It’s the weekend, Mom. Do you have any pity?” You jokingly groaned to the woman that was about to rest her busy head in her master bedroom upstairs.

“No, but you’ll always love this witch you call a mother” She smiled, reciprocating the same humorous demeanor that you initiated. You exhaled in laughter.

“Goodnight, hon. Don’t sleep too late. I love you” With that, she disappeared by the steps that lead to her sacred room.

“I won’t, Mom. I love you, too”

← prev ┊ next →

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔

✎ ❝ BOOM chapter 3!! FIRSTLY the gradient text is probably the best thing i ever did in this novel because it. is. GORG!!! speaking of, i hope you enjoyed the little music i added. a few moments ago i blogged how i made a playlist for the novel so i’ll definitely link it sometime soon. now that i revealed laws talent (and literally the whole reason i wrote this story LOL) there’s going to be more songs and duets between you and traffyyyy! again, tysm for the immense support i get all happy and giggly when i see anyone message me or like my stuff you don’t understandddd! lastly, since i uploaded 2 chapters today, i think imma skip a day from writing cuz WOO this was a lot. i also realized how easier it is to edit on my pc rather than my phone (｡´╹A╹｀｡) ANYWAY i love you guys SOSO MUCH STAY SWEETTT!! ❞

All licensing and ownership belong to Eiichiro Oda

[heymomhowdoi]

Hi Mom: How Do I Schedule My Own Appointments?

Appointments are hard, and scheduling them can be much harder than actually attending them. A lot goes into making your appointments: from times, to dates, to reasoning, all can be really overwhelming when it comes to those moments on the phone with a total stranger.

So, how can you make your appointments appropriately?

First off, I know that phone calls can be hard: they are uncomfortable, and hearing someone's voice alone can mean that a conversation loses a lot of context. But, even though you're frightened, do it: I once saw a post online that talked about a little girl being afraid to jump in a pool. An older woman yelled to the girl "Be afraid and do it anyway!" This will be the best mantra for these sorts of things- and really, the rest of your life.

I would suggest having the calendar app open on your computer or phone, or if you have Google Calendar, keeping that open during the call. Make sure that you're on the right day when they ask about possible dates. Make sure that the date you choose does not conflict with your schedule in anyway: if you don't tolerate getting up early in the mornings, schedule it for later (or for a day where the availability is later). Choosing dates is really just order of elimination played under short notice.

If your provider has it, sign up for their patient portal as soon as you're able to. This will allow you to schedule appointments over an app rather than on the phone. I'd also suggest signing up for text updates/phone call updates so you know when the appointment is coming up! Some places even have email updates! But if you have phone anxiety, a patient portal will do wonders for you.

Once you have the appointment scheduled, feel free to scream into a pillow, vent to a friend, or have a very exasperated cup of your favorite beverage. I am so proud of you!

Love, Mom.

[trashpandacraft]

when we last saw our hero (me, in this instance), they had just run out of photos on their sheep and wool post because apparently the accursed tumblr app has a ten-photo limit. fear not, though, because now i'm on my actual computer!

so: bendigo sheep and wool pt ii: the fibre!!

i bought a couple silk hankies, because i've never spun one before and it sounded fun, and they were cheap. couldn't find any undyed, alas, but surely someone on the internet does that, right?

i also bought some dyed mulberry silk. i've got some tussah that i'm going to dye, but these were pretty and relatively inexpensive, and i'm a sucker.

aaaaaand then i bought some sari silk, which i've never used before! several of you have been doing some gorgeous stuff with sari silk recently, though, and i'm a copycat, so here we are.

i have no idea why my phone decided that all of these needed to have ~depth~ added to the shots, but i'm not hauling all of this out again, so here we are. you get the vibe.

i also got a little coil of bamboo fibre, because i've never spun bamboo on its own before. (i don't know if i'll actually spin this on its own or if i'll blend it, but now i have the option!)

i also got a thing of optim fibre (incredibly poorly formatted post from 2011, but explanatory), which i've never used before—it's merino that's been processed to stretch it out, making it even finer and softer. it's sort of weird to touch—it feels more like silk or created fibres than it does wool, but it seemed like it would be fun to try.

moving on to even more exciting stuff, we bought some castledale top. castledale isn't a breed yet, but is being developed as one, and i've heard that it's a delight to spin.

obviously it was important that we get both the plain and the kind with silk in it.

and, see, that was important because we hadn't yet done the most exciting thing we did all weekend, which was finding some gorgeous, affordable, locally made hand combs!

if you're in australia and want fibre tools, you should absolutely check out their website, and honestly, even if you're not, the shipping might be worth it. they were so, so nice, and the tools we got there are just gorgeous. (they're less yellow than this, in person, but my phone doesn't play nicely with the purple light in my bedroom at eleven p.m.)

we ended up getting mini combs, because as we were talking, the guy who makes them noticed my heavily kt-taped wrist and pointed out that the mini combs are less wear on your wrists, which sold me.

they also had some wonderfully designed lazy kates, which will hopefully let me avoid ever having to do this again.

the cleverest part is that it flat packs—the bobbin holders just lift out, and the orifice (it has an orifice!!) is held in place by the little screw up front. the tension is controlled by turning the knob, just like on a spinning wheel.

can't say enough about what lovely people they were, and i'm so excited to have enough fine motor control that it feels safe to assemble the cards. this weekend, hopefully.

and you might be thinking 'ok but are you just like...using those for blending?' and the answer would be no!! because we also bought these!

i went in thinking 'oh, i'm going to get something that's not an incredibly fine wool,' but like...what was i thinking? we're in australia. the only thing anyone produces here is fine wools! which isn't at all a complaint, because this looks gorgeous. so we got 1.5 kilos of corrie, and 1.7 of a bond/merino cross. the cross in particular looks absolutely stunning, and i cannot wait to start playing with them.

the rather elderly (80-ish?) woman working at the north east yarns booth gave us a lengthy talk about spinning in the grease, which i might try. one of the really interesting things to me here was that i've only ever looked at raw fleeces in the northeastern us before now, where the weather concerns are...uh, somewhat different? these fleeces don't have the dirt that i've seen on raw fleece before, just dusty bits—they're almost more like what i would associate with alpaca with regards to actual dirt/vm, but with bonus lanolin. so that's a nice bonus, and makes the idea of spinning in the grease was less offputting. (yes, i know that you can buy cleaner fleeces in the united states, too, and you can coat your sheep or have dry weather or whatever, but that's not an experience that i personally have had.)

this concludes (mostly) the list of things i bought at sheep and wool (also i bought slippers), and illustrates both why i cannot be trusted and also incredible restraint on my part.

[allthingsfangirl101]

Interview Nerves–Keys

I looked around the room, my nerves jumping around like they were inside a bounce house. I looked down, unable to stop my hands from shaking.

I knew how important this interview could be for our game, but I'd much rather be doing this over the phone. I tried taking slow breaths to calm my nerves like Keys taught me, but it was useless.

I glanced up to see Keys perfectly calm as they put his mike on. He was smiling widely, talking to the assistant. Keys and I have been best friends since we were little, completely inseparable. We grew up coding our own games. Eventually, one of them became an actually decent game.

We workshopped it and just sold it to Soonami. When Antwon first reached out to us about buying our game, it took a lot of debating and questions before we finally decided to sell it to him.

"Does your mic feel okay?" Someone asked me.

"Oh umm, yes," I struggled to answer. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"This is going to be great for our game!" Keys laughed. He looked over, his smile slightly faltering when he saw me nervously playing with my hands.

"Do I look okay?"

"Of course," he said instantly. "Y/N, are you okay?"

"I don't know if I can do this," I whispered. He jumped out of his chair and was in front of me in seconds. He reached forward and gently grabbed my hands in his.

"Hey," he whispered, "you are going to be amazing."

"I can't do this, Keys," I said shakily. "I'm not meant to be in front of the camera. I sit behind my computer all day, writing codes and building games. Not. . . this."

"Y/N," he whispered, "I am going to be right next to you the entire time."

"Promise?" I asked under my breath.

"I promise."

                                * * * * *

"We never dreamt this would've happened," Keys laughed. "I mean, Life Itself, it's essentially a fishbowl game. People aren't playing it, they're watching it grow. It's a strictly observational experience where computer-generated characters interact and evolve. I thought we'd be lucky to give it away."

"That's what's so charming about Keys," I sighed and gently cut him off, "he's clueless about his own genius."

"No, Y/N is the genius," Keys corrected. "She built the AI engine from the ground up."

"So, to get a little personal," she said slowly, "what's the thing that gets you up in the morning?"

"Medium coffee, cream, two sugars," I said instantly. I glanced at Keys to see him already watching me. The way he was smiling made my heart do a little flip. I resisted the urge to clear my throat as I looked anywhere but at my best friend.

"What's the other thing? Oh, yeah. An insatiable thirst for validation."

"She's not kidding," Keys laughed.

"I'm not," I added quickly.

"How about you?" The interviewer asked Keys.

"Code," he answered instantly.

"Code?" She asked

"Code," I copied, teasing him.

"Code, yeah," Keys chuckled.

"Here we go," I sighed.

"Cause it's not just zeros and ones," Keys continued seriously, "it's hidden messages. I like to think of myself, actually, as not a code writer, but an author. I just use zeros and ones instead of words cause words will let you down. But zeros and ones, never. Zeros and ones are as cool as shit."

"He's not kidding."

"I'm not."

I don't know why but something about the way the interviewer was smiling at Keys made my once fluttering stomach, turn sour.

"No, I've gotta ask," she said, pretending to sound like she was hesitating. "There is a lot of chemistry between the two of you. Has this evolved into more than that?"

Keys and I looked at each other with matching red faces. We opened and closed our mouths, unable to figure out what to say.

"Well," I said under my breath.

"We're just. . ." Keys struggled.

"Friends?" I asked. "I mean. . . We've been friends for, like, ever, but. . ."

"That's not to say that we don't. . ." I held my breath, waiting for Keys to finish his thought.

When he didn't, I whispered, "We don't?"

It felt like we were both holding our breaths as we stared into each other's eyes. I saw someone move out of the corner of my eye, a different kind of embarrassment swallowing me.

"We should talk about this later," I whispered, turning back to the smiley interviewer.

"Definitely," Keys said under his breath.

Throughout the rest of the interview, Keys and I blushed whenever we made eye contact. Things were a little tense for the rest of the interview. The tension changed, filling with relief when things started to wrap up.

"Well, thank you both for coming," she smiled.

"Thank you for having us," Keys said politely.

Things were still awkward as the crew took the mics back. I could feel Keys watching me as I slipped on my jacket, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I was too embarrassed. So, instead, I avoided it. I started to leave when he caught up to me.

"Y/N," he whispered, grabbing my wrist. "Can we go get a cup of coffee?"

"I don't know," I stuttered. "I should probably get home before. . ."

"Please," he gently cut me off. "There are just some things I need to say to you."

                                * * * * *

Keys and I went to grab a coffee before walking around the park. Neither one of us said anything during the first few minutes. Keys finally broke the silence when we hit the one-mile mark.

"I wanted to talk to you about what the interview brought up," he said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a nearby bench.

"Keys. . ."

"Please let me get this out," he gently cut me off. "I think she was right. We've been best friends our entire lives. There is a chemistry between us, one that I can't ignore anymore. I know this is risky but I have to say it. Y/N, I care about you. A lot. More than just as your best friend should. I care about. . ."

"I love you, Keys," I blurted out.

"I love you too," he chuckled.

Keys reached up and gently cupped my face. I held my breath as he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. The sparks went crazy as our lips touched. We slowly broke the kiss, both of our faces bright pink.

"Your hand is warm," I whispered, making Keys laugh.

"That would be because of the coffee."

[translesbiantheo]

This is such a shitshow but blaming end users rather than the tech companies implementing obsolescence strategies.

Like, I'm pretty much bound to Windows cos of software I run for work that's not WINE compatible - this update will slow down my laptop that already struggles to run badly written over bloated software.

These days an absolutely massive portion of casual computer use happens through phones or tablets, most people I know these days who even bother to have a laptop have it for work related purposes or to play gaming software that's just as likely to be unrunnable in WINE.

This is behaviour coming from Microsoft that we first saw in iPhones, but on laptops and less avoidable (I kept a second hand iPhone alive for an improbably long time by refusing to update it - then had to update it when my bank app dropped support and it immediately crashed and broke). I hope that someone out there will provide cracks that allow you to avoid this "update".

I talked about the problem of Windows system requirements being too damn high before, and how the windows 10 to 11 jump is especially bad. Like the end of Windows 10 is coming october 2025, and it will be a massive problem. And this article gives us some concrete numbers for how many computers that can't update from win10 to 11.

And it's 240 million. damn. “If these were all folded laptops, stacked one on top of another, they would make a pile 600 km taller than the moon.” the tech analysis company quoted in the article explains.

So many functioning computers that will be wasted. And it's all because people don't wanna switch to a Linux distro with sane system requirements and instead buy a new computer.

Like if you own one of these 240 million windows 10 computers, Just be an environmentally responsible non-wasteful person and switch that computer to Linux instead of just scrapping it because Microsoft says it's not good enough.

[midwestdiscontent24]

the horvath of it all

So theres this show on hbo called girls. Im not sure if youve ever heard of it, but its a pretty solid 6 season run of television. On my first rewatch i hated it and hated the characters but i felt drawn to rewatch it and now its one of my favorite shows.

That being said, i still think Marnie is a terrible selfish person and not a very good friend. She paints herself as this independent, smart, confident woman, but the second she loses her job, she spirals out and it eventually leads to her downfall. She could have gotten a new job anywhere, even outside the art world, but instead she let it drag her down to being a hostess and eventually to her attempt to be a singer. In summation- if marnie michaels has no haters, im dead.

Jessa on the other hand is someone that i wish i could be. Well, parts of her, definitely not all of her. I guess really just jessa pre adam, because thats an entirely different discussion. But pre adam (and i guess pre rehab) she was this whimsical traveler who played by her own rules and i mean come on, she had beautiful hair. But like marnie, she could also be incredibly selfish. All four of the girls could be for that fact.

And i feel like even though i dont have any strong/solid opinions on her, i cant leave out shoshana. She really found her footing throughout the series and honestly i loved the episodes where she was with ray (who is my darling baby angel next to laird) I feel like im alone in saying the episodes where she was in japan were not my favorite. I thought they felt out of place and sort of like she was having an early life crisis.

And of course, theres miss hannah horvath. my 2010s queen. In season one, i saw so much of myself in her, specifically in her situationship with adam, and situationship wasnt even a word back then. Im sure you can surmise by my last post, but im going to say that i saw a great deal of me and jordan in hannah and adam. How could i not? In season one its a real will they/wont they but only to hannah. The audience watching can see that adam doesnt want to settle down, but hannah stays hopeful (and that eventually does change but not until season 2/3) I loved hannahs whimsical and charming nature and the fact that she was the age i am now and shes still trying to figure out what to do with her life.

I think if i had watched this show when i was 18/19 it would have been my favorite right off the bat and i would have felt very differently about it; being fresh out of high school and watching these people that i perceive to be very grown up and mature. It definitely would have altered by brain chemistry, as they say. Watching it now with my 24 year old eyes and brain i feel like i have an easier time seeing the negative aspects of the characters rather than just idolizing them.

Anyways, back to what i meant to say in the beginning. Hannah is what got me writing again. Well, blogging i guess but same thing. Her whole thing is that shes a writer, a so called "voice of her generation". Im not saying im that voice, but im sure i could be the voice of something. My problem is that when it gets hard, i just stop, instead of having a mental breakdown, shoving a q-tip into my ear drum, and then having my situationship burst into my apartment when i have a mental breakdown. I wish i could go that route, but alas, i dont have an adam, so the latter part would be out, and im running out of q-tips.

Ive been bitten by the writing bug more than a few times in my life. When i was a kid that was like my whole thing. Everyone told me i would grow up to be a writer, but looking back i never really spent much time writing, i just read alot. Maybe they thought that those two things went hand in hand but in my experience, they dont really happen at the same time. I really only read as a kid because thats all i had to entertain myself with. I wasnt allowed to spent much time on the computer, i didnt have my own phone until i was 18, and i wasnt allowed to watch much tv until i was a teenager. So as a kid i read anything and everything. Im sure in the beginning i really enjoyed it, but towards the end of my teenage years, reading was just a place holder for stuff i would rather have been doing.

I feel like getting a phone ruined my brain though. Because i have like zero attention span now. I spent like 10 hours a day on my phone and what am i even doing? switching between tiktok and twitter over and over again? Sometimes i close out of an app only to reopen it again immediately. Like thats pathetic. And i dont even know how to fix that without like, some kind of therapy. Which doesnt seem fun at all and sounds really expensive.

[malleux]

idk if my request went through cuz my internet went weird just now-- but anyways, could I perhaps get a soft corpse x reader in which they're all playing among us and Rae or Sean invites (y/n), who none of them have every heard of, and she's just very shy but has an adorable childlike voice, and is an incredible imposter? Like she's just super convincing just like corpse, and can tug at the heartstrings with her voice? thank you!

spell. | corpse husband

part two ; part three

-> Pairing: Corpse Husband x Fem!Reader

-> Fandom: uhh youtubers? idk

-> Genre: Fluff, Crack

-> Warnings: Cursing

-> A/N: hi it’s a long overdue corpse fic :) it’s not the absolute best and for that i’m super sorry i’ve just got to get in the groove of writing for him!

corpse husband taglist is closed!

You were never one to enjoy the spotlight. Instead, you were often found in the background of things, just observing the extroverts who managed to get themselves in the middle of everything.

You had a nerve to admire them- their ability to just get out there and show their true selves, despite so many people watching their every move. Just the thought of it made you shudder. Yet you couldn’t help but also be rather envious of them.

Them, in question, being Sean McLoughlin.

You weren’t quite sure how you became associated with Jacksepticeye himself, choosing to focus on the present and future with your friend rather than dwelling on your past. He was just Sean, your internet friend. And also Jacksepticeye- a famous youtuber with millions of followers.

Sean was who you aspired to be in life. Outgoing, happy, out there, everything positive in life that Sean had, you wanted.

He’d confided in you often about how nervous he’d get before streams or videos, fearing that he’d say the wrong thing or upset his fans, but he still put on a brave face and went out into the chaos. That’s what you admired. His ability to conquer those anxieties.

You wished you could do that. You were simply too nervous.

Which is why when Sean facetimed you one night- morning, actually, seeing as it was 3am in California, where you were- asking you to join a game of Among Us for one of his videos, you adamantly refused.

“Why? Please, Y/N, we need one more person.” Sean begged, “It’ll be me, you, Felix, Ethan, Corpse, Julien, PJ, and Dave. Not everyone’s playing today, it’s a smaller crowd.”

“But it’s still a lot.” You groaned, “I don’t even know them. I just know you.”

“They’re nice! You literally watch their videos.” He argued back.

“That’s the point, Sean! They’re famous, I’d just be some random chick in the game that everyone asks where the fuck she came from.”

“No, you’ll be the girl that everyone adores. Now get on, we’re playing in ten.”

You sighed as the phone hung up and turned on your computer. A Discord invite was waiting for you- Sean must have invited you for you to talk to everyone as you played. You accepted with shaky fingers and put your headphones on, pulling up Among Us and typing in the game code.

“Hello everyone- wait, who’s pink?”

“She’s a good friend of mine,” Sean explained to Felix, “Say hi Y/N. We’re streaming live right now.”

“Hello,” You couldn’t help the meek tone in your voice, smiling shyly as if you were actually on camera. “Wait, you’re streaming? Sean, I thought you said it was a recording for a video.”

“I, well. It’s a video all right.”

The group laughed, but you stayed silent, fixating your attention on a lower voice that chimed in at the end.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Corpse.”

“The King of Imposters.” PJ joked, making Corpse laugh.

You giggled a bit, “Hi…”

Felix gasped. “Corpse, her voice is like, the total opposite from yours. Her’s is so cute.”

Corpse laughed as well. “Agreed. I like it.”

As the game loaded, your heart practically dropped.

Imposter.

As if your nerves weren’t bad enough as they were. But, on the bright side, you were with Sean as the other imposter. At least it was someone you knew.

You both split up, you heading towards Electrical. Corpse and Felix were close behind you, Felix following you into the room while Corpse left. You pretended to do your task for a minute before moving to your left a minute and killing Felix.

You rushed out of the room and then headed to Navigations, making sure to avoid anybody who could have seen you leave Electrical. A few moments later, a body was reported.

“Where was it?” Sean asked Julien, the reporter.

“Electrical.”

“I saw Y/N go in there with him at the beginning of the game.” Corpse joined in, “I saw them as I was going to the Reactor.”

“I was in Electrical with him,” You admitted, still acting a bit shy. What could you say, deep voices and new people made you nervous. “But after that I left and went to do my task in Navigation. Felix was still alive and there when I left.”

“Did you pass anyone sus on the way there?” Sean asked.

“No, if they came in after I did it must’ve either been from the other way or after I was already in Electrical.” You started picking at your nail polish- a habit of yours when things got a little overwhelming.

“So you’re saying that it could’ve been from the direction Corpse was in?” You could hear the smirk in Sean’s voice.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up. Why are you so quick to throw me under the bus? I’m just a crewmate.” Corpse questioned, “You’re pretty sus if you ask me.”

Sean scoffed, “I’m just inferring that the culprit came from your direction. Never in my words did I say it was you. Sounds like you’re getting a little too defensive for someone who’s ‘just a crew mate’.”

“Uh, guys,” You quietly spoke up. You didn’t expect anyone to hear you, but Corpse and Sean immediately quieted down at your voice. “I hate to interrupt, but we’ve got to vote. I don’t want us to argue…”

Sean laughed. “Oh little Y/N, you’re too sweet. I’m skipping this round.”

As you voted to skip as well, your stomach clenched when you heard Corpse quietly repeat “Little Y/N”.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

“It’s Y/N, I’m fucking telling you! Y/N!” Julien was practically screaming at this point. You tried to stay calm, focusing on keeping your voice steady.

The group had been calling you cute and adorable practically all night, so you were seriously about to put that to use.

“I was in Medbay with Corpse, isn’t that right, Corpse?” Your tone was sweet and slightly flirty- hopefully he’d get the hint.

Corpse hesitated for a millisecond- long enough for your breath to catch, but short enough for nobody else to notice. “Yeah, she was with me.”

“She was with you after she vented there!” Julien cried, “I can’t believe this- she killed Ethan and vented away right as I went into the room! You all are fucking nuts if you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t even know how to vent…” You murmured innocently, but in reality you were smirking. Julien was definitely telling the truth, and you were internally beating yourself up for letting yourself be so reckless after a kill, but nobody was seemingly buying his story.

There was only you, Corpse, Julien, Dave, and PJ left. Sean was voted off after fucking up his alibi, leaving you alone with the rest of the group.

Corpse sighed. “You all heard the girl. She doesn’t even know how to vent.”

“Wh- she just fucking vented!” Julien exclaimed, “Corpse, man, she’s got you under some fucking magic spell if you can’t see all the evidence. Guys, back me up here.”

“She’s sus.” Dave admitted, “And Corpse defending her makes it even more sus.”

“The spell she tried on him obviously got the best of him. I say we vote Y/N.” PJ agreed.

“There’s no spell, guys, oh my God.” Corpse laughed, “I just don’t think it’s her. I’m skipping.”

“I can’t believe you guys don’t believe me!” You whined, deciding to go further with your emotional tactics, “I’m literally about to cry. It’s not me!”

And yet, despite your protests, Dave, PJ, and Julien all voted you out. Crewmates had won the game and you were giggling nearly like a maniac as everyone gushed about how you did as an Imposter.

A bit later, you had to say goodbye to your new friends and face the reality that their fans would definitely find who you were by tomorrow. Or like, in a few hours, because it was already 4am. Corpse was in California as well, wasn’t he? He should be getting some sleep too, you thought. But maybe sleep schedules were different for Youtubers. You didn’t know.

You pondered the thought for a moment before the notification sound for Discord alerted you of a new message on your phone.

Corpse:

Just letting you know, your voice definitely had me under a spell. I’d like to hear it more often

[4dtk]

he's gone soft!

hi can u tell i love cats? and i also love hesitant cat owners who eventually warm up to their cats <3 got inspired by grumpy dads who eventually starts cuddling and cooing at the cats they adopted lol. also, adopt don't shop!

"you... you want what?" megumi asks, putting on his uniform as you scrolled aimlessly on your phone.

you were sure he heard you since he was just a metre away from you, but even you knew that the boy had hearing problems sometimes. you could listen to the pleads of his divine dogs at the mention of another pet, curling up to you as a way to win back your heart.

"can we get a cat?" you ask again hopefully, scratching at the white dog's ears as a way to calm their whining while he buttons his top. you're prepared for his reply, anyway, having asked him about this for the longest time.

he sighs, too used to the black and white fur decorating his already messy bed. plus, he wouldn't want to add another animal to the mix, knowing how much he adored his dogs.

with megumi's sigh and delayed answer that never came, you shook your head to your question, putting on a smile so you could head out to a mission without facing your feelings.

"it's okay, babe, i was just trying my luck," you kissed his cheek as you walk past, holding out a hand for him to take. megumi lets out another sigh before deactivating his divine dogs, taking your hand hesitantly as you met up with gojo-sensei just outside the campus.

the exorcising was an easy job since it involved several grade three curses and a terrified child. still, it was nothing uncommon to see in a place where kids willingly skip into abandoned scary buildings on a dare.

"come. let's go somewhere," megumi says out of the blue, dragging you by the hand once you bid goodbye to the kids. you had no idea where the destination lay, only getting grunts and hums from the boy whenever you questioned him of the sudden detour.

the meows coming from inside the building shocks you, instantly bringing a smile to your face as you peeked over the display shelves and products on sale. without much thought, you entered as quietly as you could, greeted by the friendly receptionist with a grin on her face.

"hi! how can we help?" you were so immersed in the cats playing around, as well as the several others in their cages, that you don't hear your boyfriend entering and muttering something that makes you drop your jaw even more.

"we'd like to adopt a cat, please," megumi nods, taking your hand once again as you do a speechless double-take to your boyfriend and back to the receptionist. your puzzled face was apparent, but you lose it all once you see the cats running around in the shelter while she finishes up a document on the computer. soon, she stands, guiding the two of you around the place as she points out some of the dashing felines they had rescued.

"hi! hello! what a handsome boy!" you switched to a baby voice as a cat came up to your hand at the entrance of the cage, rubbing against it affectionately.

megumi watched as you greeted the many different cats, giving them nicknames of your own while cooing or making faces at them. he could only smile gently, letting you pull him every time you saw another quote-unquote 'handsome lad'.

you sigh dreamily, staring at the many cats with love in your eyes, scanning over those you interacted with over the last half 'n hour. as megumi reaches forward to point at one, the receptionist interrupts as if she's just recalled something.

"crap, i forgot to show you our older cats. they're lovely, although they might be less active and would rather chill in the sun," she explains as she walks.

"we don't have many elderly cats here, but they deserve a life with loving owners such as yourself as much as the youngins in here," she smiles, scratching one behind the ear.

you smile in reply, reaching over to pet them carefully. so fragile and wise, but they still looked charming, save for the energetic bursts that the younger cats had.

one cat caught had your eye, despite its shyness and apprehensive nature. she warmed up to you in a heartbeat, claiming your hand as a safe space after a good sniff. she purrs in an instant, headbutting your hand repeatedly as a gesture of affection.

"oreo doesn't interact with our visitors much," she says, "is she the one?"

"oreo... because she's black and white?" megumi asks, not exactly impressed with the name.

"you got it."

"yes, her," you say, cooing yet again with a voice ten times higher than the one you use with his shikigami.

the boy doesn't comment, tugging on you before you could lose yourself in the cat's eyes any longer. with a last flying kiss, you depart from oreo with a grin on your face.

"now, have you taken care of cats before? i'm sure your boyfriend here has more experience with dogs than he does with cats," you look at her in surprise, giggling at the assumption she made.

"how'd you know that?"

"just a hunch." megumi grunts again at the observation, not denying it as you answer her question.

"i have- had a cat back home. i couldn't fathom death again, so i never adopted another one," you frown, signing the papers with ease as you multi-tasked, "but i mean, this man is pretty fetching and a keeper, so it'll be nice to care for a cat together."

the two of you joke like old friends as the raven-haired boy blushes at the compliment, squeezing your hand in response.

within a few minutes, oreo was under your care, completing the process with a few toys, a scratching post as well as some food for the black and white cat.

you spent the whole evening with the new family member in your and megumi's shared room, getting oreo warmed up to the new environment and getting her to do a few tricks. she tired out quickly, but you don't mind as you lay on the floor with her, completing homework like it was nothing.

you had to retire, sometime and somehow as megumi urged you to shower, assuring that oreo wouldn't go anywhere.

you kept the shower short, regardless, dressing back up in record speed before coming face to face with megumi stroking oreo's fur as she curls up on his lap. he mumbles to her, bouncing his legs lightly as the cat rests her head on his calves.

"i just wanted to see (y/n)'s smile, but i guess you're pretty cute too," the corners of megumi's lips turn up at the soft meow from oreo, bending down to kiss her on the head.

"careful, hotshot, i might get jealous," you say, startling the poor boy. oreo doesn't give a shit, snuggling further into the warmth of his legs as he's stuck in the position on the floor.

"are cats always this clingy?"

"oreo might've had a rough time at her previous home, so she's glad to have someone to curl up against. they usually take longer to warm up to new owners but... she's a wise soul!" you laugh, squatting down to peck megumi on the lips.

"thank you."

"for what?" megumi's hand naturally rests on your thigh as you sit down beside him, while your head find its spot on his shoulder.

"for adopting a cat. for giving oreo a home, even if you like dogs a bit more."

he hums, "i like all animals, but dogs on the scale are a little bit higher than everything else."

he turns to you, causing you to lift your head off of your resting place.

"but i think if my love likes cats then, i'm willing to bump it up the scale to match it with my love for dogs."

you shove him lightly, laughing softly at his attempts at flirting.

"did gojo-sensei ask you to say that?"

the answer is clear when he rolls his eyes with a blush on his pale cheeks, but engages you in a deep kiss either way, smiling and speaking through it.

"he did but, i think it's pretty true when it comes to you."

[watchmegetobsessed]

Crash Course - Bucky Barnes

a/n: this one? im in LOVE with this fic and im not even ashamed of it. there is just something about the MC helping him get used to living in the new century and im a sucker for it. so please enjoy this fluffy piece!

pairing: Bucky X Reader

word count: 3.6k

summary: Bucky is a regular at the café where you work at and seeing him struggling with technology, you offer to help him, teaching him the basics while you are both thinking about taking it a little further than just a crash course.

masterlist

The time between the morning rush and lunch time is always quiet, the café is almost completely empty, that’s why Bucky prefers to go out during that time, tuck himself away in the corner of the small but cozy place, a black coffee steaming on the wooden table in front of him, his laptop or a book or his phone reserving his attention, whatever he decides to put his energy into that day.

Today has been a rainy day, therefore the morning was a lot quieter than usually, not many likes to make an extra trip for a coffee in the pouring rain, so you’ve been enjoying the calmness, the soft jazz music playing through the speakers as you are putting away the freshly washed cups behind the counter. As if he has an appointment, Bucky walks into the café with a laptop under his arm, his cap hiding part of his face, but you can still see the shy smile on his lips as he closes the door behind him, the little bell chiming for a second time at his arrival.

“Welcome back, the usual?” you ask as he heads to his spot.

“Yes please,” he nods, shooting you a thankful smile.

You try to ignore the little butterflies in your stomach at the sight of the man, it’s almost ridiculous how you still get nervous when you see him, even though he has been showing up every day at the same time for the past about two months. You just can’t help it, there’s just something in those ocean eyes and perfect manner he always treats you with, something you don’t often get these days. Not many take the time to ask about your day or wish you a good one after you hand them their coffee, but Bucky is different. The same question falls from his lips every time you appear at his table with his order.

“How has your day been going?” he asks when you place the cup next to his laptop that’s loading.

“Pretty quiet, the rain keeps people away,” you chuckle, hoping your blush is not as apparent as it feels. “What about yours?”

“Just the same as usual,” he smiles softly and you nod, though you have no idea what’s usual for him. He might be friendly and quite welcoming when he is sitting at the café, he often chats with you about anything and everything, yet still, you know near nothing about him and his life outside of this place. It’s clear he is the kind of person that prefers to keep things to himself, but sometimes you are so desperate for just the smallest crumb of information about him. With the lack of details, you often find yourself making up things about him, like what his favorite dish is, where he likes to shop, what shows he watches on the TV. You might be entirely wrong about all of these, but it’s all you have.

Moving back behind the counter you busy yourself with cleaning it off as Bucky’s attention shifts to the screen in front of him. There are only two more customers in there and they are quite locked away in their own world as well, a college student working on some kind of assignment on her second espresso and an old lady solving Sudoku at the table near the window, sipping on a nice latte.

You can’t help but glance in his direction every now and then as you move the muffins around on the counter. He seems deeply focused, eyebrows knitted together as he is clicking away on the computer. From the looks of it, he is solving some kind of enigma, but when you walk past his table you see that he has an email open on the screen, his cursor moving around kind of aimlessly.

“Not finding the right words?” you ask, stopping to clean the table next to his that was previously occupied by a young couple. His eyes snap up to you before he huffs shaking his head.

“No, I’m just… terribly bad at IT stuff and I’m supposed to “CC” someone on this email,” he explains, using his fingers to air-quote as he glances back at the screen. “But if I’m being honest I don’t even know what it means,” he admits with a nervous chuckle.

You find it amusing, even cute that he is like an old man with these stuff. You’ve seen him struggling to type in a text message before on his flip phone that’s from the last century for sure and now this.

Placing the tray of cups down on the table you move over to him, taking the free chair next to him as you reach for the laptop, but you stop before touching it.

“May I…?”

“Go ahead,” he gestures with a nod.

You turn the device towards yourself as you click a few times, bringing up the option to send a copy of the email to another receiver.

“CC means that more people get the same email. You can put their addresses here. But you can also BCC people, in that case, the original receiver won’t see if the email was sent to others as well,” you explain patiently. Bucky tries his best to focus on the screen and what you’re saying, rather than the way your lips are moving and how badly he wants to taste them.

You haven’t been the only one feeling flustered and like a giddy teenager and Bucky didn’t choose this café as his usual spot for nothing. He spotted you the first time he stumbled in and the way you smiled brightly at everyone and the sweet chiming of your laughter made him want to come back the moment he stepped out that day. So he returned the next day and then the next day again… and now he couldn’t even imagine a day without seeing your eyes light up when he walks in while he can only hope you are just as happy to see him as he is to see you.

You help him send his email and you cheer in victory once it’s done and sent.

“See? It’s not as hard as it seems,” you smile at him gently, patting his arm that’s covered by a hoodie and your eyes fall onto his gloved hands on the tabletop.

“Yeah, I just have a lot of catching up to do from the past seven decades,” he mumbles under his breath, though he immediately regrets not keeping his mouth shut.

Your eyes flicker to his hand once again, then up to meet his gaze and he knows he just outed himself. He is expecting the usual: disgust, disappointment, even fear. That’s how most people react when they find out who he really is. But as he stares back at you, scared like a little kitten, you just smile back at him softly.

It’s not that you haven’t heard of the Avengers, because it’s impossible not to know who they are. You were just not expecting one of them to become a regular at your working place. The few times you saw him on TV he had long hair and his face was covered with a mask, so you’re not surprised you didn’t put the picture together. But knowing now who he is, you don’t see him in a worse lighting. If anything, you feel a little sad that he had to go through so much in his extremely long life.

“Well, feel free to ask any more questions. I’m not an IT guy, but I can help you with everyday stuff,” you tell him and he is in awe at your very normal, very sweet reaction. All he can do is nod as you stand from the table and grab the tray you abandoned not long ago, moving back behind the counter.

When you glance up your gaze meets his as he is still staring at you, nervous, a little anxious, but definitely relieved by your smooth reaction to finding out his identity. You shoot him a bright smile before moving to the table of the old lady who asks for another latte and as Bucky follows your frame move across the room he can’t help the small smile that tugs on his lips.

Your offer doesn’t stay unused. In fact, Bucky shows up at the café the next few days with a handful of questions for you, genuine ones, and a few he already knows the answer to, but wants to hear you explain them anyway. And you help him with anything, sitting at his table whenever you have a few free minutes between customers. He asks you about the internet, social media, online data bases and sources, going through a list from the little notebook he always keeps with himself.

The times spent with him are your favorite part of the day. You always look forward to whatever issue Bucky is going to bring up, fearing that one day he might run out of questions, but that just never comes. And you don’t know it, but your little sessions are the highlights of his days as well, listening to your smooth voice as you explain even the smallest things to him with so much patience, he is convinced you should become a teacher.

He thinks about asking you out every day, the question is always on the tip of his tongue.

What are you doing tonight? Would you want to go out with me? Do you want to grab a bite with me after your shift?

However he just never gets to actually say the words out loud. He is growing impatient with himself, he used to have no problem with asking girls out, but seven decades and another life as a brain-washed assassin later, this task feels way too impossible.

You’ve been telling him to get a smartphone for the past couple of days and though he seemed adamant, one day he shows up with a brand new one, still in the box.

“Oh my God, is that what I think it is?” you tease him with a dramatic gasp. Chuckling to himself he nods as he places the box to the counter while you are making the order of one of the customers. Today has been a little busier than usually, probably because of the special offer of 10% off from the new Cuban coffee beans your boss ordered in.

“I need a teacher to show me the ropes though.”

“Oh, Bucky, I would love to, but today is a bit crowded,” you pout as you put the lid onto the paper cup and hand it over to the customer, another one already walking in, eyeing the offer written on the black board behind you.

He didn’t even think you wouldn’t say yes, it never occurred to him that the timing might not be the best. You see as his smile slowly disappears from his scruffy face and your heart breaks seeing him like this.

“Yeah, sorry. Don’t want to keep you up,” he mumbles feeling defeated, but before he could grab the box from the counter, you put your hand on it, your fingers brushing against his gloved one, the tiny touch making both of you flustered.

“But how about after work?” you suggest and his eyes immediately light up. Spending time with you without any customers interrupting? That sounds like heaven to him.

“Y-you sure? If you have something to do, I—“

“Nothing to do,” you smile at him. You grab a napkin from the counter and a pan from near the cash register, quickly scribbling down your address before handing it over to him. “I’ll be home by seven,” you inform him as he glances down at your handwriting, noting how well it fits your personality. He then looks back at you nodding, as if he was just handed the best Christmas present ever.

“I’ll be there,” he smiles gratefully before stepping away from the counter and letting you work.

 Five minutes after seven, Bucky is standing at your front door with a bag of Chinese food in his hands as he is trying to build up the courage to ring your doorbell. He found out that you live just a few corners away from the café, so he found your address easily.

“Come on, dude. Don’t be such a loser,” he mumbles to himself as he circles his shoulders before finally pushing the button. A short, buzzing sound is heard from the other side of the door and he stares at the 6B sign in front of you as he hears footsteps from inside. A few moments later the door swings open and there you are, still wearing the same clothes from earlier, a bright smile adorning your face as you beam at your guest.

“Come on in!” you gesture for him as he steps into the small apartment. “Tried to clean up a bit, but if I’m being honest I’m starting to grow out this place,” you chuckle as you push a box out of the way. It’s a small studio apartment with everything cramped into one space except the bathroom. You have a double bed pushed up against the wall in the corner, a small sofa with your wardrobe next to it, a TV, a tiny coffee table, a bookshelf and a dresser, a little dining table near the kitchen with three chairs and a pantry right next to the fridge that stands where the hardwood floor changes into checkered tiles. It really is a tiny space that holds a lot of stuff, but all the gadgets and clutter makes it cozy, lived-in, a place that’s so much like you that he feels like he is peeking inside your head as he walks farther inside.

“I brought dinner,” he shyly holds the bag up as you lock the door.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have!” you smile at him gratefully, because you didn’t really have time to buy anything on your way home since you had to make a quick trip to the post office after your shift, leaving you no spare time before his arrival.

“It’s the least I can do for all the help,” he smiles as you take the bag from him and bring it to the designated living room area of the place. Bucky joins you on the sofa and he thanks all higher powers your place is so small that you only have a loveseat, giving him the chance to sit close to you. Your thigh brushes against his as you hand him a box and make yourself comfortable as well, starting your feast while he asks you about your day, listening to your every word intently.

When the food is gone and you’ve grabbed two beers for the two of you, he pulls out the phone that’s the reason behind his visit. He bought a simple one, not at all one of the latest versions and it’s going to be the perfect model for him to learn the ropes on.

You help him put his SIM card into the new phone and then you set his account up before finally gaining access to the phone. You start with the basic features, showing him how to make a call or send a text before moving onto the different apps and possibilities while he listens to you as if you were talking about rocket science, but in a way, it feels like that for him.

“And here you can switch to the front camera,” you explain as you push the button and suddenly, the two of you come into picture on the screen. “Perfect for taking selfies,” you add with a chuckle.

“Oh, selfies. I’m not too good with those,” he huffs shaking his head.

“Because you probably haven’t found your angle!” you smirk. “Everyone has a good angle.”

“You think so?” you knits his eyebrows together.

“Mhm, look!”

Opening the contacts you go to yours, choosing the option to add a picture that will show up on the screen when you call him, and open the camera to take one instead of choosing from the empty gallery. Holding up the phone you position it so your good angle is in the picture before snapping the photo and saving it as your caller ID.

“See?” you smile at him before handing the device back to him. He just nods, even though he can only think about how all your angles are perfect to him and that now he has a picture of you in his phone. “Let’s take one together!” you beam and moving closer to him you take the phone once again, holding it up in front of you, trying to fit both of you into the frame.

Bucky tries his best to focus on the picture, but he can’t ignore how close you are to him, he can smell your shampoo and your cheek is almost pressed against his as you smile into the camera. The corners of his mouth curl up as his eyes fix at your reflection on the screen before you snap the photo. Opening up the camera roll you take a better look at it and it’s probably your favorite photo that has ever been taken of you. Mostly because he is in it as well, smiling so sweetly.

“It’s a good one,” you say and as you turn your head to the side you realize how close you really are to him.

“Yeah?” he breathes out, definitely aware of just the few inches separating the two of you.

“I-if you had an Instagram I would tell you to post it…” you stutter as your eyes flicker down to his lips, the urge to lean in and kiss him growing with each passing second.

Feeling a little dizzy, one of your hands fall to his lower arm, the one that’s made out of metal and your gaze drops to where you are touching him, a panic filled look flashing through his eyes.

He thinks that this is where the moment is ruined, where you realize the monster he really is and decide you don’t want anything to do with him. He almost starts to apologize for God knows what reason when you reach out and your fingers start to work on the straps of his gloves. It takes a few moments for him to realize what you are doing, and he tries to pull his hand back, but you grab it stopping him from doing it.

“It’s alright,” you smile at him softly, your eyes meeting his as you finish what you started and pull the glove off his hand revealing the metal underneath the leather. Then you move onto his other hand and do the same, dropping the pair of gloves to the floor as you take both his hands in yours, thumbs running across his knuckles, feeling the difference between his own hand and the artificial one.

You see his jaw flexing at the touch and reaching up you cup his cheek in your palm, making him to look you in the eyes. The strong and confident man you see sometimes is gone now, fear and hesitation taking over his expression as your other hand keeps holding his vibranium one.

“I’m sorry,” it falls from his lips as he closes his eyes for a second.

“For what exactly?” you ask with a soft chuckle. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You don’t have to hide yourself around me.”

“You don’t find it… scary?”

“Not at all,” you assure him. “You can’t be held accountable for what happened to you. Anyone who thinks differently is just an ignorant asshole,” you add grinning and it finally breaks his fearful expression, planting a smile on his handsome face.

Keeping your hand on his cheek you lean closer, your nose touching his but you stop before your lips could meet, giving him the chance to pull back. But he never does. Instead, he closes the gap between the two of you, pressing his lips against yours, finally making the fantasy you both have been daydreaming about reality. He starts off slowly, savoring each other gently, getting accustomed to the feeling, but it doesn’t take long before the kiss grows hungrier and your tongues meet in the middle.

Your hands rest at the base of his neck while his find your waist, pulling you closer until you swing a leg over him, sitting on his lap as you smile against his lips. His kisses feel delicate and soft yet very passionate at the same time, you love the dynamic you create, tugging and biting each other playfully, it feels like kissing him is the sole purpose of your life.

When it gets hard for you to breathe you pull back, eyes opening and finding his flushed face as he stares back at you with bright, joyous eyes, his lips slightly swollen, already making you want to go back to where you were just a moment ago.

“Who knew selfies could be so much fun,” he jokes making you laugh, his heart fluttering in his chest at the sound that’s so dear to him.

“I’m glad you liked my crash course on smart phones,” you grin down at him, your fingers tracing the sharp line of his jaw. “Do you have any more questions?”

Smirking his hand, his flesh one, moves up your back as he presses you closer, your lips almost touching his.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty,” he chuckles before kissing you again eagerly.

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