#I'm at work but I'll be checking my phone often lol

[mxnhoo]

when i first saw you. (k. sn) - ch1

synopsis : a handsome man you saw at the cafe you worked at simply became more than a stranger to you. genre : romance, angst??? (idk LOL), sunoo is the same age as the reader, sunoo is extremely sweet pairing : kim sunoo x reader (ft seungmin and jeongin from skz) w/c : 3.3k a/n : i wrote this for a customer who i served once and he made my heart explode in the 2-3 minutes i was interacted w him. spoiler alert, i never saw him again, LOL. my love life seems pretty tragic. ALSOOO this entire week i'm busy, and the week after my school is resuming so i'll have lesser free time :( i'll be less active, but i'll try to write when i can! originally i wanted to release this all in 1 part but i dont really have time to finish it and i wanted to feed ya'll with some content for now! hope ya'll enjoy this~

chapter 2 (in the making)

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

You groaned looking at your updated work schedule on your phone screen. Once again, you were being forced to work longer hours than what you requested for in your part-time job.

"They even said I'd only be working 5 hours for the entire week, are you fucking serious?" Your eyebrows were furrowed, and you groaned, leaning your head back to rest your head against the headboard of your bed.

You were a university student that was working a part-time job to earn some extra cash, and your school schedule typically wasn't hectic, so you usually you'd be able to work a lot every week.

However, it just so happened that the few weeks you requested to work only a bit, the higher-ups just had to ignore your request and give you your usual working hours. Why do you want to work lesser these few weeks? It's because it was period of time where projects are starting to be announced, exams were coming up, and you desperately needed just a few weeks to just mentally prepare and finish up last-minute things.

But oh well. You lose your time, but earn more money. A win is a win. All you needed to figure out now was how to manage your time well since you had juggle your school, physical and work life.

Entering the cafe you worked at, you greeted your colleagues and flashed at the smile at the customers that came by often. Walking into the staff room, you placed your belongings on one of the tables at the corner. You tied up your hair into a low ponytail, and placed a cap over your head, wearing an apron afterwards. You quickly checked your phone to do a time check.

5:56p.m.

Your shift ends at 11, and you have about 5 hours and 4 minutes to go. You became irritated remembering the fact that if the higher-ups had respected your request, you could've been at home by 8, but what can you do? You let out a quick sigh before keeping your phone in your bag and punching your card.

You worked as a barista at the cafe near your school, and the experience wasn't really that bad — you could even say that it was quite a fun job, but sometimes the timings they made you work and the last-minute requests from your colleagues to cover them up pissed you off. Especially today, since you had just gotten 2 new projects and 1 assignment.

Seriously man, your cafe should seriously get more employees. The way they were relying on you was crazy.

You stepped out into the working station, and realised that the cafe was pretty packed. It was quite normal since it was peak hour, and you took a deep breath, mentally preparing yourself for the customers you would have to deal with in a while.

"Hi! Could I get your order?"

"Hello! What would you like to order?"

"Anything else for you, sir?"

"Thank you, see you again!"

"I'll bring this right at your table! You can go sit down!"

"What seems to be the problem here?"

"Could I get your name for your drink?"

It was task, after task, after task, and you would be lying if you said you weren't exhausted. You were completely overstimulated, and you felt that if something small were to go wrong you'd literally explode. Sweat ran down your forehead as your eyes struggled to stay open.

Time check : 9:58p.m. 2 minutes to closing.

You were extremely relieved that the entire cafe was empty, and that it was just you and your colleagues. You leaned against the counter as you closed your eyes, finally having a chance to rest after a hectic day of work. Your 2 colleagues were in the staff room, chilling before it was time to do closing.

You were feeling relaxed, until you heard the chimes of the bell ring, indicating the door was opening. You instantly felt ticked off, pissed off at the fact that someone was coming in JUST 2 minutes before closing.

"Fucking hell." you mumbled to yourself before releasing a deep breath and walking towards the counter, head hanging low from exhaustion.

"Hello! Could I get a chocolate milkshake?" a deep voice spoe out.

Are you fucking serious? You came in this late just for a chocolate milkshake?

"Okay! Sure! Anything else?!" you quickly shot your head up looking at the figure in front of you, eyebrows slightly furrowed and your tone sounding annoyed.

Next thing you know, your eyebrows were raised, and your heart practically skipped a beat. The figure standing in front of you was a male. Not just any male, an extremely attractive one.

He was tall, his shoulders were broad, his eyebrows were straight, his nose bridge was high, his eyes were extremely pretty, his lips were soft and glossy, his clear glasses that framed his face so perfectly, his fringe perfectly falling onto his forehead, and his ear piercings making him seem more attractive. The cherry on top was how well he dressed and how good he smelled — he smelled like vanilla.

Fuck. Out of all people, I just had to lash out at this... flawless man.

You thought his smile would drop from the way you replied to him, but his smile remained plastered onto your face, making your heart beat even faster. Fuck? He was so attractive?

"Nope, that's all!" he said cheerfully.

Oh. My. God.

You were discovering something new about yourself, and it was the fact that you liked happy and soft boys. Typically, all the boys you went for had a gangster vibe, but none of them had you flustered at the first meeting like this.

You gulped as you nodded, eyes breaking the eye contact as you nervously keyed his item into the cash register.

"T-that will be $6.40." you said, trying to put up a professional front, but the nervousness in your tone giving you away.

"I'll pay by cash!" he spoke out again, his voice making your heart skip a beat.

You nodded again, looking at him as he takes out his wallet. You glanced down at his hands, and boy oh boy were they pretty too. His fingers were long and slender, different to what you usually liked — short(er) and veiny. He took out the exact amount and offered it to you, maintaining his pretty smile.

You nervously smiled at him as you took the money from it, putting it into the cash register and a receipt came out.

"N-name?" you whispered nervously. "What?" "Y-your name? For the drink." "Oh! Sunoo, my name is Sunoo!"

You were writing down his name on the receipt, but you spelled it as 'Sunoh' and your handwriting was all ugly too. Sunoo took notice to it.

"Ah! No that's not how you spell it."

Without any warning, he leaned closer to you, holding and guiding your hand that was holding the pen to write his name correctly. Fuck, the handwriting was still terrible but at this point you didn't care. Did he just technically hold your hand?

At this point, blood was rushing to your face and you were blinking at him, completely flustered and confused. After you two finished writing his name, he leaned back, smiling at you again. You blinked at him a few more times before you stood up properly and nodded, walking away to make his drink (and almost tripping a few times).

The entire time you were making his drink, you could feel his gaze on you and it was causing you to make a few spillages here and there. Your colleagues opened the staff room door, causing you to jump and spill even more.

"Oh, we still have customers?" your colleague, Jeongin, spoke out. Jeongin was one year younger than you, but you both bonded well and hung out sometimes outside your part time job regardless.

If you were still angry, you would've just lashed out at Jeongin for scaring you since you and him were pretty close, but the way you were so flustered, you just quietly nodded at him, continuing to make the chocolate milkshake the pretty boy wanted.

"Oh hey! It's Sunoo!" your other colleague, Seungmin, spoke out. Seungmin was the same age as you, and you both shared a few classes. You watched as Seungmin walked out of the working station to dap Sunoo up.

"You know him?" Jeongin questioned. "Yeah! Him and I are in the same classes and hang out!" Seungmin replied, then turned back to Sunoo "First time visiting?" "Mmm'yeah!" Sunoo replied, his voice making your heart beat faster.

Not wanting to eavesdrop further, you continue to make Sunoo's drink, feeling less tense since Sunoo had something else to focus on instead of you.

The boys continue to have their conversation, and after a while, you finally finished making Sunoo's drink. You sprayed the whipping cream and placed the dome lid, placing a straw inside and turning your back to serve Sunoo his drink.

"Your drink." you said coldly, not trying to make your feelings obvious. "Thank you!" he flashed you another smile before taking the drink into his hand.

He was about to walk out until Seungmin called out to him. "Hey, leaving so soon? Wait until we close~"

You watched as he turned back, his hair slightly moving. You thought you were hallucinating, but his gaze shifted to you for a few seconds, then back to Seungmin.

"Nah, I have to get started on the project."

The project? Was he in the same class as Seungmin? Wouldn't that mean Sunoo would be in the same class as you as well? If he was in the same class, why have you never noticed him at all? He definitely would've stood out to you?

Seungmin's voice broke your train of thought. "Boriiiing.. anyways, i'll see you in class", he quickly turned to you "and Y/N too, since she's in our class!"

Sunoo turned back to you, nodding and grinning at you. Your heart wanted to jump out of your chest.

"I'll see you both then!" Sunoo announced, before leaving, the door bell chimes ringing once again as the door opened and closed.

Your eyes blinked as you processed what had just happened. You had just met a flawless man, who had apparently been in your class for the semester and you had absolutely no clue at all.

Jeongin started clapping, "Chop chop, time to get back to work and get the fuck outta here."

You slowly nodded, still in a daze as you slowly moved. The 3 of you started cleaning up and doing your usual tasks for closing.

You couldn't sleep. At all. Your dark eyebags were painfully obvious that even someone could notice from a distance. You were sitting in class, waiting for the lecture to start and you were about to fall asleep, until someone spoke right beside you.

"Gyar!" a loud voice instantly woke you up, frightening you and you quickly sit up, eyes widened as you look at the person who did it.

Kim Seungmin.

"God Seungmin! You didn't have to scare me like that!" your heart was beating fast from the adrenaline, and you playfully smacked Seungmin on the shoulder. Behind Seungmin you could see a familiar figure sitting down. It was the person who kept you all night, oh my lord.

Sunoo looked at you and smiled, "Hey, don't scare her like that!" he said, playfully scolding Seungmin.

Seungmin stuck his tongue out to Sunoo playfully before looking back at you.

"Why are you here..?" you asked, puzzled at the fact both Seungmin and Sunoo were sitting beside you.

"We have the same classes.. duh.." "I know! But like.. why here?" you were referring to the fact that they were sitting beside you. "Ohhhh. I mean in class I usually sit with Sunoo, but since you two know each other now, I just thought that the 3 of us could sit together now?" Seungmin said, an innocent smile on his face.

'two know each other', '3 of us sit together'. No freaking way, you were going to be hanging out with Sunoo now. You blinked your eyes at him before you slowly nodded.

"Y/N" a soft voice spoke out, and it belonged to Sunoo. You instantly shot your head up to look at the pretty boy.

"Are you okay? Did you not get enough sleep?" his voice so comforting and soothing, if you could you would've slept to it.

"N-nah I'm good. I slept properly" — you didn't. "She always looks like that though" Seungmin teased, giggling at you as you glared at him and playfully smacked him again. Sunoo laughed at the two of you, and before you knew it, the professor came in indicating that class was starting. You opened your laptop, ready to take down notes.

Halfway into the class, Seungmin, who was in between you and Sunoo, was already dead asleep. Boy was softly snoring as he rested his head on the table. Gosh, so much for the boy who was just making fun of you earlier.

You heard sounds of the chair dragging near you, and you didn't question it, attentively listening during class. Suddenly, from the side of your view, you saw the chair beside you being dragged, and Sunoo sitting down beside you. Your eyebrows raised as you watched Sunoo sit himself beside you. He looked at you and whispered "I didn't understand this part, could you explain to me?" as he pointed to something on your laptop screen. You gulped as you nodded, starting to explain the concept to him.

The entire time you were explaining the concept to him, he maintained eye contact and constantly nodded, letting you know that he was listening attentively. He was tilting his neck the entire time and the way he looked was so attractive, it was impressive that you managed to even explain it to him properly.

"Thanks Y/N! You're pretty smart" he complimented, giving you a smile that never failed to make you go insane.

You smiled back at him, and was about to focus back to the lecture, until he spoke again.

"Are you working again today?" "Ah.. Um, yeah I am. Why?" "Ooh okay! I'll drop by later, then!"

Considering how tired you were, you were dreading work. But the fact that Sunoo said that he'd come by made you feel excited for work. You smiled, "okay, I'll see you then".

After this class, it was lunch, then 1 more class and you would be off to work. Seungmin suggested that the 3 of you would eat together, and so the 3 of you were off to one of the nearby food courts.

"What are you buying, Y/N?" Sunoo questioned, looking at you. "I think I'll just buy some banana bread, I'm not that hungry right now." "Are you sure? You might get hungry later" his voice sounding concerned.

You hummed in response, nodding your head. The way he was looking after you, it made your chest feel fuzzy. If he wouldn't mind you would've kissed him by now.

When the 3 of you sat down, you ate the banana bread that you bought from a nearby convenience store and Seungmin and Sunoo were both eating proper meals. Sunoo would occassionally share his food with you and even feed you. His body language was giving you so much hope, but you didn't want to rush it considering you only met the boy yesterday.

After this, you went to class alone since both of them had different classes. As soon as class ended, you rushed to work, feeling excited at the fact that you were gunna see Sunoo later.

Should I prepare his chocolate milkshake in advance? What if he orders something different? What if I prepare it too early and all the ice melts?

You entered your workplace, being cheerful as you greeted everyone and your colleagues. Today, you were working with Jeongin and someone else you weren't particularly close with. You punched your card 5 minutes early and started working, shooting your head up to the door everytime the door bell chimes rang, looking out for Sunoo.

Sounds of the bell chimed, and you looked up, finally seeing the figure you had been so eager to see, but he was beside someone. Another girl. Your smile instantly dropped, and you instantly looked away, trying to find different tasks to do to keep yourself occupied so your other colleagues would serve him in your place.

As you were cleaning the working station, a voice called out to you.

"Y/N!" you recognised this voice, and it was Sunoo's one.

You slowly brought your head up, instantly making eye contact as he gave you his usual smile. The girl beside him also looking at you and smiling.

"Ah, hey." your tone sounding cold as you slowly waved to him. "Could we order?" he questioned, still smiling.

You wanted to push your other colleagues to do this, but you realised that they were both occupied. You sighed as you went to the counter to serve him.

"Chocolate milkshake?" You stated, raising one eyebrow. "Yup, make it two!" he replied.

Who even likes chocolate milkshakes?

You rolled your eyes, annoyed at the response. You were clearly jealous and was trying to push him away.

You nodded, keying in their order into the cash register.

"$12.80." "Okay!" He handed out cash to you in exact.

You nodded at him as you took the money and put it in the cash register, giving him the receipt before moving away to make his order. Fuck, you were feeling bitter as hell.

After a while, you were done making the drinks, and called out his name so he could pick up his drinks. Initially, him and the girl were seated at one corner of the cafe, and when he heard you call him, he quickly got up and walked towards the pick-up station while carrying a small plastic bag.

"Thanks!" he glanced at you, before he slowly slid the plastic bag to you on the counter. "And here's some extra food in case you got hungry.. since you didn't eat much earlier"

You looked at him in surprise at his thoughtfulness. For a quick second, your heart was filled with warmth until your eyes quickly travelled to the girl he came in with, sitting down.

"You didn't.. have to. It's okay." you slid the plastic bag back to him, but he quickly slid it back to you. "Nope, I bought it specifically for you. Please have it." he quickly took the chocolate milkshakes that he ordered and made his way back to his seat before you could rebut. You watched him as he sat down and you sighed, taking the plastic bag in defeat.

You looked inside the plastic bag, and it contained all sorts of breads from the convenience store. Banana, chocolate, vanilla, blueberry bread. Why did he have to be so thoughtful?

Your heart felt warm, but you tried to brush those feelings away.

That girl was definitely his girlfriend right? I should stop talking to him before my feelings for him become even more serious.

You exhaled, as you continued your work, occasionally glancing at Sunoo and the girl. Your happy mood from the start of work quickly crashed down, and you dreaded work even more, anticipating the end of today's shift.

Work was even more hectic today, and once it was the end of your shift, you were thanking the Gods above. Unfortunately, Sunoo was still there, and apparently, he was alone?

When did that girl leave..? I didn't even notice.

As you were about to step out, you heard footsteps approaching you and someone grabbed your wrist.

"Could I take you home? It's late and all.. " You weren't surprised that it was Sunoo, but his request caught you off-guard. "No, I'm okay. Thanks." "Please?"

You turned to face him properly, and his eyes were pleading you to accept his request. You were so confused. Why did he want to walk you home? Did he wait for you? Where did the other girl go?

After thinking for a while, you finally responded. "Fine."

[madlittlecriminal]

[05] Secret Ingredient⥓ Mafia!Miguel O'Hara × Female!Baker!Reader

Warnings: miles makes another appearance because i said so, miguel being a bit possessive, carmen is an oc, my spanish is a mix of Mexican & Puerto Rican spanish (it's a warning because the dialogue here is the spanish i use with my mom), the english translations are rough since it is me translating them, mention of dana, mention of choking on water

do i know how many parts will be in this series? no. not yet. you are all going with the flow with me lol. we're in this together

series masterlist | miguel o'hara masterlist

The glare that Miles was currently receiving made the boy chuckle nervously.

"So you went there, saw her with another man and said 'I'm not going to get desserts for the team'? Is that what really went through your mind?"

Miles gulps with nod. "You said you always wanted updates on her, so I came running back. I'm sorry."

While Miguel had a sweet tooth, he wasn't angry at the teen intern.

He nods, dismissing Miles while staring at his monitor, his leg bouncing as he takes a deep breath. He didn't care who that man was that was with you, but he wanted to throw him across the room.

Woah.

He shakes his head and gets up, going to the window and looking down at the city to calm himself down. Why was he getting so worked up? You were a free woman! Free to do what you wanted, be with who you wanted. It was your life, your choice to make.

But fuck, did he want you to want him.

Okay, maybe he's a bit obsessed and possessive over you. He's going to have to work on that, but in his defense, you made him feel things he's never felt before.

First woman to make him shy, first woman he's wanted all to himself.

"Me estas volviendo loco, muñeca." (You're driving me crazy, doll/doll face.)

He runs a hand through his hair before buttoning his blazer and leaving his office, deciding to get some actual food and not sweets.

His stomach agreed with a growl, Miguel mumbling for it to 'shut up' as he walks out of the building and heads to a nearby food truck.

"¿Ahora quieres comida, Miguelito? Y yo aquí pensando que nunca ibas a venir a visitarme para tan si quiera una platica como siempre." (Now you want food, Miguelito? And here I was thinking you'd never come to visit me to at least have a chat like always.)

"Discúlpame, Carmen. Te prometo, voy a venir mas seguido." (Forgive me, Carmen. I promise, I'll come more often.)

"Ya pasaron dos semanas que te vi, muchachito. No me mientes." (Two weeks have passed since I saw you, young man. Don't lie to me.)

Miguel pulls his pinky out, making Carmen laugh and hooking her pinky with his.

"Por lo menos una vez a la semana." (At least once a week.)

Miguel nods. "Una vez a la semana." (Once a week.)

She smiles before unhooking her pinky from hers.

"¿Quieres lo de siempre?" (Want the usual?)

Miguel nods and watches as Carmen gathers what she needs before pulling out his phone to check his email.

Then he heard it.

Your laugh.

He looked up and around, but didn't see you.

Was he that hungry that he was imaging it?

No.

He walked behind the food truck to see you across the street with the man he assumed Miles mentioned.

'Breathe.'

He took a deep breath before exhaling slowly as he shut his eyes.

Miguel had to calm down. You two weren't anything! If that was your boyfriend, it was fine!

Right?

He headed back to wait for his food, hoping you didn't see him.

"Miguel!"

His eyes widen before his head practically snapped from how hard he turned it to face Lyla running towards him.

'Please tell me by some miracle she didn't hear that.' Miguel thought to himself.

"Oh snap! Hey (Y/N)!"

'Are you fucking kidding me?!' To say Miguel wanted to crawl into a hole was an understatement. Could he chill at the bottom of the Grand Canyon? He made a mental note to look up a ticket when he had the chance.

"¿Miguelito? ¿Estas bien?" (Miguelito? Are you okay?)

He nods at Carmen's question.

She poked her head out a bit and chuckled.

"Si estabas con ella en los últimos dos semanas, no te preocupes." She teased. (If you were with her these past two weeks, don't worry.)

Miguel's cheeks burned red. "¡Carmen!"

She snorts before laughing and shaking her head before going back to cooking. "Te quiero, Miguelito." (I love you, Miguelito.)

"You haven't been here in two weeks." Lyla says, nearly out of breath.

"Carmen gave me piece, I don't need yours. Can I know why you came running in your heels?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.

"That meeting for uh...later? Yeah, they actually want to do it now."

Miguel raised a brow before he saw you standing three feet away with the man.

"Did they say why?"

"Because they have another option."

He furrowed his brows.

"What's the other option?"

"You're not gonna like it."

Carmen handed him his food, he gave her a quick thank you and turned back to Lyla.

"Don't worry about me not liking it or not. What's the other option." He demanded, no longer asking.

Lyla took a deep breath. "They have the option to work with a new family, so they're thinking about helping them out instead of getting help from you."

Miguel snorted before opening his water. "How the hell does that make sense?"

"The meeting is to convince you to join them so the new family can join you."

"Who's the new family?" He asks before drinking his water.

"D'Angelo's. As in Dana D'Angelo."

Miguel choked on his water.

~~~~

tags:

@deputy-videogamer @barbiecrocs @deepinballs @faimmm @wakeupr41 @bubblegumfanfictions @smartyren @kimmis-stuff @latenightcravingz @youcantseem3 @corpsebridenightamare @thedevax @cicithemess @diannana @itsameclinicaldepresssion @hwasoup @migueloharasbbm @vkumi

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #14

Lost and Founder's Day

I do really like how the theme song flows, especially at the end where Cosmo and Wanda jump from their human disguises into fairy form.

Ooh, Founder's Day came back from "A New Dev-elopment." Continuity! I like how the title card shows us the hat that Dev and Hazel saw during their treasure hunt.

I'm gonna throw my money down on the Dimmadomes founding Dimmadelphia (or an ancestor).

skdfj, Hazel's so cute when she steals her teacher's hat.

-> Yes, it was the Dimmadomes.

I like how Dev's shades are still gone, but he's still got that smug tone of voice. But today, he has a good reason to be a bit smug for a festival his family is hosting (that his dad had to work over the weekend to pull together). This is gonna be interesting.

I don't trust any of this tech to be good (in the moral sense). Dale literally tried to promote pollution a few episodes ago.

LKSDJFSD, Dev giving out watches that do a bunch of cool technical things and this is the face he makes when he's asked if the watches tell time:

(They do not).

This is the first time Hazel's shown interest in anything related to Dimmadomes' tech (She has a phone case covering any logo and didn't know how to do the dance they apparently made) and now she's gushing over the gift Dev gave her so I'm... hm. Where ya going with this, Hazel?

Okay, so... what the HECK is going on with Dimmadelphia? I'm sure we'll get to learn the real founder soon, but all I can assume right now is that it was Doug himself, hence the hat logo. If that's true, he was BUSY during the 50 years of frozen time.

-> That WOULD justify my Buxaplenty overlap seeing as the train lines would've been crucial for this.

It's gotta be a different ancestor. There's no way Doug would be in Dimmsdale if he'd founded another city. This city's huge. I'll be watching for any indications of "established X year."

Aww, Hazel adores Dev now and is blatantly gushing over him. That's really cute. Local #1 Dev fan:

[cnt'd under the cut - #long post]

I can't believe we didn't get a "Hazel has a bone in her hair" gag when she got shocked by the tech.

omfg, Dev is so desperate to interact with his dad that he's begging to "organize merchandise by tossing boxes back and forth to each other." He's smart. Goober.

Diagnosed child who would play Catch with active TNT minecarts in Limited Life SMP. He would just do it...

Dale, you shouldn't tell your son to "Eat a lizard." That's mean.

Oh noooo, are we about to get "My dreams were crushed many years ago... How old are you?" version 2.0?

-> Note to self, Dev's birthday is 9 years, 7 months, and 14 days before Founder's Day (give or take since he says "pretty much exactly my birthday to the day, which I think implies he's doing math and decides it's the day).

Dev is 9? Lol. Didn't we already have end of the year tests in like, Episode 2? And our implied end of school year dance? Baby.

-> I double-checked and Sadie Hawkins is in November. There were Sneezy Hawkins Dance posters in Episode 1 when Hazel walked in. Those posters hung in school for multiple episodes (I'll keep my eyes out for them in future episodes), which would imply she started school in September or October (Probably not August since she was specially introduced to the class as a new student).

-> If we keep seeing the posters throughout the whole year, I'm willing to wave them off, but while planning the timeline, it's worth noting they exist, we know we're post-2019, but probably not too many years later since that was the most recent date on the gym's championship banner for a school that clearly wins sports games often ("Fearless"), and we've seen multiple waning crescent moons.

-> No snow, but not unreasonable since Dimmsdale was in California.

... I gotta say, I'm really enjoying these recent episodes, but D: Where was this early in the series when I was confused in Post #10 as to where all the underlying trauma vibes were?

We've absolutely shifted vibes from where we were when I wrote that post. Which is fantastic, but I'm surprised we didn't get this earlier. THIS is FOP vibes. THIS is what I wanted and why I was super confused by this show's tone earlier. Yeah, of course I like Dev now... He's shifting the tone back to the OG show's vibes.

I'm wary, but I've approached to eat out of the hand.

Oh no, we scene shifted before Dale could reveal the statue under the cloth. Either he's broken and we're going to see the aftereffects (following Hazel's POV where she's confused as to why he's gone off the rails and turned snappy) or he's gonna find out during the event and he'll break down in front of the crowd. Uh-oh...

...... Okay, now they're just taunting me with the moon. It can't always be a waning crescent!!

The stage looks like Doug Dimmadome.

Please tell me Dale didn't forget to add Dev's info to the ID-scanning robot.

Every time Angela is onscreen she has a new therapy book and I support her.

Wanda: Parenting never gets easier.

-> Please tell me Hazel's parents are about to ask about that and they're going to have to either backpedal or they're going to imply they've raised like 100 kids.

sdlkfj, they only cite Poof. BRUTAL.

-> Cosmo one again giving me "First fairy baby born in 1000 years." Yeah yeah, Westley Periwinkle held the title first, we all know him (/fanfic joke).

Seriously though, it's very funny to me that Poof is never, ever referred to as "first baby born after Cosmo" or "first baby born in tens of thousands of years, or hundreds of thousands." Only first in hundreds OR first in thousands. I can't believe that DANG KID is still haunting me in the new show.

-> Cosmo still confirmed to have been the pregnant parent. I'm glad that wasn't retconned (despite Cosmo's best efforts to scramble and cover up what he said by claiming Wanda was the pregnant one).

Cracking up. Cosmo, I think the neighbors think you're trans but not out about it.

Angela: Where's your son now? :) Wanda: Eh, we don't know. I mean, we forget because we were on vacation for 10k years.

Wanda, WHAT did I say in Post 11 about how you cannot leave that clingy child alone immediately after tearing him away from Timmy?? If Poof shows up and he has abandonment issues and/or clingy vibes, I'm gonna shake you both so hard.

-> Why is Marcus not calling them out for being paranormal creatures? ... That's kind of funny since Crocker would've lost his mind.

I like how Cosmo and Wanda turned their wands into lollipops for the carnival. That's cute.

Uh-oh, the statue's not been revealed yet. I hope Dev isn't onstage when this happens. (I want him to be onstage and suffer).

-> I should note that "Stanky Danky" and "Lost and Founder" are the episodes Dale lists the companies he's in charge of, and I'm pretty sure they're different. I want to make a coherent list throughout the series.

Marcus is reading his wife's book at the party, aww. They're so cute.

OH MY GOSH, their ancestor IS surnamed Dimm! I am once again thinking this implies Dale Dimm from "Which Witch Is Which?" - who founded Dimmsdale - is probably also in this family tree.

Wanda's glowing wand is adorable. They're both cute.

So, Hazel has been here long enough she agrees she hasn't "just" moved here anymore, so I'll allow the waning crescents.

Doug Dimmadome struck gold in 1953? I'll be making a note of that. I know that's after both Dimmsdale and Dimmsdale Flats were founded. This doesn't do much for me right now, but it's good to note.

-> This implies he was a teen or adult in 1953, so he's definitely not close to the age of Timmy's parents, who were 10 in the '70s. This checks out; he's got the white hair.

-> Let's say this is 2020 for the purpose of "We know we're after 2019." (2020 - 1953) is 67, and the youngest I'd be okay letting him strike gold is 10, since 10-year-olds do a lot in this show. So, he's at minimum 77 years old during this show, and could very easily be 87 or more years older (87 if he struck gold at 20), if I'm doing my math right.

And again, that's off the assumption it's 2020, which is a little earlier than I'd been brainstorming. I'm okay with this since he had white hair in the OG series, but I'm gonna have to plot out a timeline for Dale's age at some point.

Dale: /evil monologues about his plan to monitor kids' heartrates to figure out exactly what a child want. Me: Dale, have you tried... talking to a kid? Maybe YOUR kid? Standing behind you? Dev, clearly uneasy: Dad, that's so great! You get to help kids right away!! Dale: ... Help kids?

^ Me

Wait, so the drones can waste products and not get yelled at? Dale, maybe you should focus your attention in that area of your business- I think you're losing product.

Why do the drones sound so sad? They're talking like all their friends just ditched them. They're so cute.

I love how he's still wearing the big boots:

Oh no, Dev's on stage and Dale's talking about how the statue "isn't just him" under the tarp and "he can remember when this bundle of joy arrived." Yeah, Dev's about to shatter.

Okay, Wanda's clearly startled that the statue doesn't depict Dev and even Cosmo's starting to sense that something's going on in that family. You two are going to report this, right?

Aww, Cosmo misses his son.

The contrast of Dev crashing and burning while Hazel is enjoying her new hat is very funny to me. Like, we get this sequence of how happy she is and you just know Dev's having the worst day.

Dev: It's Hazel! Of course... Her well-known love of hats! /said not long after Wanda was like "Hazel, I've literally never seen you wear a hat before yesterday, what do you mean you like hats?

That's actually very funny. And cute? When did Hazel and Dev talk about liking hats? Logically, that must've been while they were montaging on the treasure hunt and posing next to those hat-shaped objects for photos.

With Dev talking about the Dimmadomes running a family business, I'd really like to see what Dev's relationship with his grandfather is. Doug was also careless about destroying childhood memories and I don't trust him to be a good dad either, but I'm curious.

-> I actually have no proof Doug Dimmadome is still alive. I wonder if he's out of the picture and if that had a negative effect on Dale, which may be why he's throwing everything into the business right now, and why he loves his boots.

-> I should check if those boots are similar to his dad's. Like, what if he saw his dad die on the day Dev was born and the boots were left to him, so that's why the boots are so important to him that he dedicated a statue to them?

POV, the dad who (presumably) pampered you for life after you'd spent 7 years of torment underground - and you don't seem to have a mother in your life so this is your only parent and only known connection to a world that isn't full of suffering - is dying on the same day your wife is in labor. What do you do?

Aww, Hazel knows Dev well enough to sense that something's up and ask if he's okay, implying they seem to have grown closer from "A New Dev-elopment" when she saw his father scoff at him and opted to change the subject instead of asking about his feelings. They seem to be doing well as friends and I like that.

-> All these crescent moons make me wonder how long it's been since that episode, though since Dale was working on the Founder's Day event on the weekend, I assume we're still in that range of time.

Dev, holding his arm when Hazel asks if he's okay: I... don't have time to get into it.

They're so cute. I love them.

-> I love the focus on Dev right now, but I hope we don't go full steam ahead into Hazel's friendship with him and she sidelines Jasmine and Winn for her new buddy and/or potential crush.

She hasn't seen her friends this whole carnival, which surprises me. Don't do it, Hazel.

What, where did Dev get those shades. He didn't have those .4 seconds ago.

Dev's going to complete his task and give Hazel's hat back to his dad and still get rejected.

OH NO, Dev is trying to lure the scanner drones away from Hazel, but he didn't tell her that so she thinks he just called her a name, mugged her, and ran off. That's hilarious. #You tried.

Dev, you have to talk to people. You can't just assume she knows what's going on. Fool.

I like how Dale also has special eyewear (VR glasses).

I like how Cosmo inexplicably thinks all the Dimmadomes have "Pickle" as a middle name. I think he said that to Dev in an earlier episode, right?

I like how Hazel saved the day by "doing what Cosmo would do" and pressing all the buttons randomly. That's hilarious.

Barry the dinosaur was at the carnival... That's great.

HAZEL'S MAD!!

As she deserves to be- that's the second time Dev regressed to calling her names. She thought they went through this, but now she's like "He's not changing and also I literally just caught his dad in an evil plot of shocking children's brains with electricity. And Dev seems to have been helping."

Yeah... This is gonna go great. Also, his cute little poses:

Oh thank goodness... We are SO BACK, baby! The fluffy episodes were fine, but NOW we're gettin' somewhere!! Time to break some hearts.

"I would hug you, but I do not have human arms or warmth." I love them.

Aww, he likes her so much. Best buddies...

I didn't know this was his phone, I thought it was a retro video game console.

Oh, it's an iPad parallel. It's got a stand and that's why it's big.

I like how my extremely specific "Ed Leadly as Dev's other grandpa" situation just keeps getting worse the more I think about it.

Little Dev: Grandpa Leadly, I learned to write my name! :) Leadly sitting among his pencils as Dev hands him a tablet he typed on instead of pencil and paper: Buddy, rising star, apple of my eye, my little angel... I will pay you 17 million dollars to never do this in front of me again.

Dad who likes flashy and long-lasting things to remind himself how far he's come vs. grandpa who's willing to massively overpay for anything he took interest in for 5 seconds; what arguments will they endure?

OHHH BOY, it's fairy assignment time! LET'S FREAKIN' GO!

It's Poof!! That is not the voice I expected out of him, but maybe I should've because he did love deep voices back in "Certifiable Super Sitter." I accept it.

Aw, he's so ready to play! This makes me so happy... That's exactly what a fairy godparent is here for- Finding miserable kids and turning that around so they get happier memories of their childhoods. That's exciting!

-> Oh, NOW I see why you guys were all messaging me about my "Poof adores his hero Westley Periwinkle and likes naming things after him" lore, sdkjfl. Ahahaha... I'm in danger.

-> "Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Pixies" Poof-Westley interactions looming on the horizon

Interesting choice to change his name? I wonder if that was done for stylistic reasons like the script. I seem to remember the OG show's scripts would say POOF in them for special effects, and I can see how that would be confusing.

Is... is this because he's trying to lie low so he can dodge the attention he was always getting as a celebrity kid? That feels right, seeing as if it was a true deadname to him, he probably wouldn't have introduced himself as Poof before saying "I changed it to Peri, like Periwinkle."

Either that or he's unclear if Dev's heard anything about him from Cosmo, Wanda, or Hazel and he wanted to clarify who he is, though that doesn't seem likely.

Huh. I'm kinda surprised Poof showed up. I know in the past, he was a controversial addition to the show and I half-expected him to be swept under the rug, though I did wonder about it when Cosmo and Wanda were talking about him earlier.

I've always loved him though and I'm excited to have him back. Return of my other OTHER son.

I'm really excited to hear him talk since his talking was limited to "School of Crock" (only at the end), "Fairly Odd Fairy Tales" (which he mostly slept through), and "Certifiable Super Sitter" (which is... unique). I've had to make up his entire personality for 'fics based on what limited understanding we had of his interests. I look forward to learning more about this version of him!

My established version of him in 'fics will take priority over new information. I'm currently still on the line of "Do I want to ignore New Wish in my canon or try to incorporate what I can?"

That said, I'm leaning a little towards incorporating, since I think I can work with most of it so far, especially if we're throwing in "Fairywinkle-Cosma family aren't strangers to time travel right now."

-> I'm not committing by any means, so don't hold me to that, and even if I do, it'll be cherry-picky.

-> One of my canons for Cloudlands AU Poof is that he's a fanfic writer, mainly for a series called Ninja Cowboy (which he chronically leaves unfinished, to Foop's distress since as Poof's opposite, he's addicted to finding out their endings). He also writes Anti-Cosmo x H.P. fanfics because it's the only thing that makes them back off when they show up to bother him.

Point being, I hope he gets to engage in Prime Meridian with Dev. I feel like they'd enjoy writing 'fics together and it would be funny to me :)

-> I'm wheezing on the floor. Poof's early concept name was Dusty. Even though the writers wouldn't have reason to know that was his concept name, it's funny to me that his name was changed to something that's also not that. The man of as many names as voices he can mimic...

That works really well for me since I named his younger brother Dusty, so that would've caused me problems.

I also gave Poof a mullet / ponytail in my teen design, so that makes me laugh. Lemme see if I have his ref sheet...

I do! Plus a bunch more from my files:

Looks like I gave him a tuft kinda close to his extra hair strand! That's fun. I wonder if New Wish Poof also likes sports. Hmm...

I'm gonna have to look up what era suspenders were popular. I specifically designed my teen/adult Poof with a late 60s / early 70s vibe since Cosmo was said to have been designed for the 50s, which is the time period parallel I was treating Fairy World in during that era too (hence Poof's blog tag being #purple hippie dragonfly, which I'm not planning to change because it's for me).

Exciting! I like Poof's staff. I've seen people do adulthood designs for Foop with a staff, but Poof's a new one. That's fun.

Alas, no freckles... but that's not gonna change in his Cloudlands AU design. We are "biological queen bee" all the way here.

Hmm. Foop has freckles, but... we'll see if he ever shows up in this series. I do not expect the artists to remember his freckles since they only showed up when he puffed his cheeks or flushed, but... if Foop shows up without his mustache and goatee, I'mma have questions.

Actually, this is perfectly fine because I always draw gyne fairies with pale freckles unless they're at their peak, and I already set Finley up as more dominant than Poof at school (with Finley suppressing his pheromones so Poof's "locked down" anyway). It looks like they're pretty faint in his ref sheet too. I'm satisfied with this.

No promises I'll work the Peri arc into my canon. I think I have room for it to exist and I don't think I've seen anything in New Wish that directly conflicts with Cloudlands AU in a way I can't work around, but I'm not likely to write 'fics for New Wish right now.

-> I'm not opposed to incorporating New Wish prompts into the 130 Prompts series IF I find any old drafts I end up not liking, but I did a deep clean in early 2023 and got rid of ones I didn't like, so I'm not sure.

I did sketch Hazel for a potential arc cover though, so I can use that if I have reason to.

So far, as long as I can find a satisfying way for Poof to age, I think I can swing New Wish around to fit with Cloudlands AU... unless we get something super specific like Poof-Peri already graduating high school or Cosmo and Wanda confirming they won't have godkids after Hazel, in which case I'll have to ignore that.

I can even work things around if Peri's not with Goldie, because their whole thing in Cloudlands AU is celebrity drama and dating life struggles anyway (iirc, Foop even told readers that Poof and Goldie keep splitting up and getting back together).

-> I've always suspected Poof would get special advance godkid permissions seeing as, y'know... Jorgen literally made him trial test Crocker's Mom as his "godperson assignment" in "Fairly Old Parent," plus Poof was getting on-the-job training his whole life. It's neat to see him!

I hope Poof's better at not burning himself out now. He looks like he's doing okay. He's grown out of his shell!

-> According to my timeline, Erg was Cosmo and Wanda's trial kid while they were still in high school, so it would totally work for me if Dev is Poof's high school assignment.

I'm not expecting that to be stated, but I can work with it.

Thanks for joining me in this liveblog! Looking forward to more episodes :)

[dingochef]

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x You (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, Smut (MDNI 18+ Only), Angst with a Happy Ending, Stalking, P in V, oral (female and male receiving), Semi-public sex, light spanking,

Word Count:  2.5k

Summary: The jackass you wrote off last night seeks you out for an apology. At least you get a baseball game out of it.

Masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: I'm just here for the baseball.

You're coming back from your  morning run, endorphins pumping through your body, when a text notification from an unknown number flashes across the screen of your phone.  

Unknown Number: Hey, it's Jake the Jackass from the bar last night.  Just wanted to apologize again and thank you for the apparently needed ego check.

You: Glad I could provide some much needed grounding.  How did you get my number?

Unknown Number: Lydia ended up back here with Rooster last night.  I asked her when she briefly emerged from their sex den.

You: Ahh sweet traitorous Lydia. Anyway, I accept the apology.  Bye and have a nice life.

Unknown Number: That's abrupt, lol.  Let me try to redeem myself at least.  I've got two home plate tickets to the Padres game today.  Interested in joining me?

You consider the offer, a free ticket to a game and something to do this afternoon.  In an unusual fit of impulse you grab your phone and reply.

You: Sure, why not.  I'll meet you at the entrance opposite the convention center at 12:30.  

Unknown Number: Sounds great, it's a date. See you then.

You: It's not a date, it's amends.  Especially if I buy the beer.

You don't receive a response.  you save his number in your phone as Jackass, Jake in the last name first format.  

Jake the Jackass has such a nice alliteration to it.  Looking at the clock you've got just enough time to clean up, shove some food down your gullet, and catch the ferry from Coronado Island over to the stadium.  

It's a beautiful day that happens more often than not in San Diego when you get off the ferry and walk towards Petco Park.  You can see Jake waiting from a distance, he's easy to pick out with the ramrod military posture, sun lightened blond hair waving gently in the wind, and those ubiquitous aviator sunglasses.  Are they contractually required to wear them all the time?

You're about 50 feet away when he spots you and you can see the smile bloom in his face in recognition as you approach.  He opens his arms for a hug and to your own surprise you reciprocate the gesture.  The warmth of his hand seeps through the light cotton sundress you chose for today and almost sears where your bare skin meets his.  With the sensible sandals you're wearing he's almost a foot taller than you and you feel very small, yet safe in his arms.  Again you get the woodsy smell of his aftershave and think how nice he smells.  He pulls back and says, 

"I wasn't sure you were going to come.  Thought you might want to finish grinding my ego into the ground."

You laugh and reply, 

"I keep my word.  Besides I figure anyone who's enough of a glutton for punishment to try again is probably worth a second chance. That and a tiny soft spot in my heart that decided at least I get out to a Padres game. It's hard to find someone to go with sometimes."

You start walking towards the turnstile to enter the stadium.

"Lydia and Beth, not big sports fans?" He asks.

"Hardly, the funny thing is that I work with a whole lot of dudes who love baseball, but I just can't imagine spending time with them outside of work without them getting the wrong idea."

"What idea would that be?" He asks waggling his eyebrows.  

You point at him,

"That one.  For some reason I can't just hang out with a guy from work without them thinking it's more than just someone to hang with and watch some baseball.  They try to make it more and it gets real awkward at work when I don't reciprocate. I dated one guy from work and it got pretty serious before it went down in spectacular flames." 

You make explosion gestures with your hands. 

"Ended up leaving that job, it got so bad, but that led me to your  job at Lockheed Martin so it works out in the end." 

You take a deep breath, you usually don't reveal that much personal info so early.  You know you have trust issues. Jake's brows have furrowed into what you read as anger when thinking about some long ago asshole. For some reason the thought of him wanting to kick some guys ass for you makes you feel fuzzy, then you can feel your  feminist brain sigh in disappointment. Sensing the mood has shifted too far towards serious, you laugh your nervous laugh, and point over to the concession stand and ask, 

"You got drinks last night so it's your  turn.  What do you want?" 

Jake surprisingly goes along easily with your offer and says, 

"Stone Hazy IPA."

Most guys seem affronted that you want to pay your fair share for a date, another ex had called it emasculating when you bought  dinner or drinks and for the fact that you made more money than him.  You pick a lighter lager from Ballast Point along with a bottle of water. 

You've settled into your seats, drinks in tow just as the pregame announcements start.  The national anthem plays and you see just how ingrained military habits can be when Jake rises automatically to that perfect posture and removes his sunglasses and raises his hand over his heart and sings surprisingly well along with the music.  His voice is mellow and deep and just a charming amount off key in a couple places of the song.  An image of you lying your head on his naked chest and feeling that voice reverberate flashes through your brain.  Quickly, you shake it away to applaud the end of the anthem and the first pitch.  

"These seats are great," you offer to keep the conversation going. You're just far enough down the third base line that we've got a good view of the batter, but still close enough to action that we can hear the catcher trash talking the batters. 

"How'd you score these?"

"One of my buddies has season tickets, but got called out to a new assignment and knew I was going to be in the area so he gifted me the rest of the season since he can't use them."

"Nice friend, if you've got these seats all season, I might be more likely to hang out with you again."

"Aha, so the way into the Ice Queen's heart is through baseball, who knew?"

"I've got a few passions in life, you just have to dig a little deeper to get to know them. So, I've got a question, how are you so well acquainted with Frozen?  You’re not exactly the market demographic for Frozen.  Are you a secret super fan of Disney?"

He laughs, 

"Not a secret super fan of Disney, although the Lion King did break my   little 10 year old heart.  First time I cried at a movie.  I've got two nieces who are eight and five.  Right in that target demographic. I babysit them occasionally when I'm back in Texas."

"So what does the Seresin family situation look like?" you ask. 

"Painfully middle class white, my  parents have been married since the beginning of time, met in college. Had my brother pretty early, and a few years later I came along.  Dad was a doctor, my older brother is too. Mom had a Physics degree from UT but never had a chance to use it as she stayed home with us and didn't work.  Grew up in Austin as the all American family."

"Wow, high achieving family.  Imagine being the disappointment as a fighter pilot."

"Who says I'm the disappointment?  Mike is just a doctor." He says in mock offense.  

"What does the…I don't even know your last name.  I just saved you as Elsa Ice in my phone."

You give him a mock glare, "Matthews, so you can correct that now.  To be fair I saved you as Jake Jackass in my phone.  We'll see how the day goes to see if you upgrade that status. The Matthews family is also painfully bland and white.  My Dad retired from the Navy after his service in Vietnam, came back to Michigan and met my mom at a house party at Michigan State.  Dad's an automotive engineer and Mom taught high school math for many years. Grew up in a Lansing suburb.  I'm the oldest, I have a sister who's 3 years younger than me.  She's a tattoo artist in Chicago."

"That's at least a little bit interesting, do you have any of her work on you?"

A mischievous smirk creeps onto your lips as you respond, 

"Yeah, I've got a few pieces of hers on me.  She's the only one I'd ever let tattoo me.  I'd show you, but that would probably earn me a public indecency ticket." 

You slyly wink at the last sentence and enjoy the way Jake slightly chokes on his beer as the thought registers.

After a slight coughing fit, Jake regains his smooth demeanor.  "As you informed me last night you've got a PhD in aerospace engineering from Stanford, did you go to Michigan State for undergrad?"

"Nope, love my family dearly but I needed some distance so I went to Notre Dame. "

He laughs and you can see those charming laugh lines peeking out from the sides of his aviators.  "I get that, I've got some family legacy in the Air Force and wanted to earn my place on my own merits, not on my last name."

"You go to the Naval Academy  then?" 

He nods in the affirmative, 

"That must have been anarchy when you made that choice."

He chuckles at the memory, 

"Nearly gave my grandfather a heart attack and almost got my ass beat by uncles and cousins.  But I kind of enjoy being the black sheep."

"Yeah, my dad blew a gasket when I got into Notre Dame.  He thought he was going to have to pay for it all, private out-of-state tuition made his mind melt, but luckily I got an athletic scholarship that covered most of it."

"What sport?" 

Before you can reply there is a high foul ball headed towards your seats.  You're seated closer to home plate than Jake and you instinctively stretch your  arms up to try and catch the ball.  It's coming closer and you can see that it's going to sail over your  head.  You, for the millionth time, curse your  shortness.  Suddenly you feel strong hands on your waist and you're being propelled up high enough to catch the ball.  You catch the ball with a satisfying thud and whip your  head around to see how you're presumably flying in the air.  Jake is holding you as high as he can above his head with his long arms. His muscles are rippling but not trembling, the thought of how he could hold you up easily while fucking you against a wall flashes through your brain and a flush of heat rolls down your body and straight to your  pussy.  You almost drop the ball at the thought as he returns you to the ground.

"I didn't expect that, the foul ball or the complimentary flight."

He shrugs, 

"It was all you, I just gave you the boost."

"Well, thank you. I've never caught a ball at a game.  This is going to be an excellent addition to my desk on Monday, it'll inspire so much jealousy among my coworkers."

The game continues on at the easy pace of baseball, plenty of time to talk but not miss the action. The Padres are playing the Milwaukee Brewers so it gives you a chance to talk about your mom's roots in Wisconsin and the family legacy of cheese making.  

"So, you’re telling me that you’re the first person in five generations of your mom's family not to work in a cheese factory.  That is so Wisconsin it hurts." He can't stop laughing maniacally at the thought.  you give him a mock punch on the arm as you roll your eyes.  "I might be changing your name in my phone to Elsa Cheese Queen." He is laughing so hard that he takes his aviators off to wipe at his eyes.

"Oh my god, you’re turning into a lobster.  Did you put any sunscreen on today?"

"No, thought didn't occur to me."

"What is it about guys and sunscreen? Nobody remembers, here I've got some in my purse."

You pull out a small tube of sunscreen and pull his hand over to squeeze some on his fingers.  He attempts to slather it on his face leaving a few big globs along his jawline.  

"Here, let me help you with that."

You reach out and blend the sunscreen along his jawline, your fingers graze over a hint of stubble.  Your apparently overactive and very horny brain sends the thought of feeling that stubble tracing up your  thighs.  You let the thought linger and quickly hand the tube to Jake and stutter out, 

"Now do me." 

You mentally cringe at the innuendo, "My back," you quickly amend and turn in your seat to present your  back to him.  You can feel the cool lotion spread across your  back with calloused hands, he gently moves the thin straps of your sundress to make sure he doesn't miss a spot.  Horny brain is already piecing together scenarios where that is your bra strap and is followed by exploring lips.  Rational brain manages to squeak out a thank you and retrieve the sunscreen from Jake.  You settle back into your  seat and Jake rests his arm on the back of your  seat.  You let it stay.

The game ends with the Padres winning 8-4. You're shuffling out of the game and your stomach growls.  In another one of those moments of impulse you'll attribute to your horny brain you ask, 

"Are you up for a bite to eat? I know a good tapas place a few blocks from here."

Jake is visibly surprised at your invite, he smiles as he replies, 

"Yeah, that sounds great. I must have grown on you if you're wanting to spend more time with me. I half expected you to bolt the minute the game was over."  

He smirks and cracks that toothpaste smile that you immediately rename the panty dropper.  

"Ah yes, like a cute little fungus, you've grown on me.  You’re not so bad, once you drop the smug idiot act."

"Fair, I can work with that…so does this mean you’re asking me on a date?"

You pause and lower your  sunglasses, it's your  turn to be smooth for once in your life.  

@mayhemmanaged

"Why yes, Jake Seresin, will you go on a dinner date with me?"

Chapter 3

@callmemana

@hangmanscoming

@lanie-k

[vai3-writes]

matchup exchange:)

• fandom: jjk

• you can call me blair

• i'm a gemini, intp!

• i'd like for my match to be a guy

• ideal first date: i have absolutely no idea! i'm willing to go with anything as long as it's not too crazy lol if i were the one to offer a date, i'd probably just offer a walk + visiting some caffe. i'd definitely bring a lil present for my date as well

• personality: i'm definitely very loyal and friendly. i'm that funny person in the friend group (i swear i'm not the only one who thinks so 😭), my social battery dies pretty quickly though. it takes me veryyy long to fall for someone and i prefer to take things slow ykyk. i'm that type of person who texts first, and i love to send memes and cat reels lol. i make jokes all the time, sometimes they're a bit dark tho. i'm usually quite sarcastic. it's very easy to make me cry, and i usually forgive people way too fast after they hurt me. i'm very emotional in general. i'm a professional yapper, but i'm also a good listener, and i love to memorize little details about someone and surpise them later with it, for example when someone mentions they like something, the very next day i'll buy them that thing. i'm probably a bit too jealous. i can't stay in one place for too long, i get bored fast. i'm only really serious when i'm upset, or when the situation requires it. i find it quite hard to go out of my comfort zone at times, but i'm working on it. i love to tease people, and i love when they tease me back. i'm an overthinker and i often doubt myself. i have a habit of washing my hands like a thousand times a day, i also have to check a few times if i still have my phone in my bag, or if i locked the door 😪 i'm also very good with managing money lol

• love language: words of affirmation & acts of service (receiving); acts of service & gift giving (giving)

• likes: animals (i have two cats and a dog), books, food that's especially sweet, deep conversations, plushies, jokes that barely anyone finds funny, sleeping, coffee

• dislikes: parties, dirty things/places, bugs, crowded places, summer and hot temperatures in general, horror movies, loud noises (and people), snakes, darkness, heights, people who don't respect boundaries

• hobbies: i spend most of my day listening to music, and i mostly listen to rock. i love reading books, my favourite genre is fantasy! 90% of my books are fantasy, the rest of them being agatha christie's works. i like baking and i'd say i'm pretty good at it, but at the same time i'm a terrible cook 💀 i'll bake a perfect cake, but i can't even cook pasta properly

• perfect partner: probably just someone who will make me feel wanted and heard, i also like people who are caring and protective, i don't mind being with someone who has completely different interests than me, as long as they accept what i like, and I'll obviously do the same. love people who will tease me back and who i can joke around with

• appearance: i'm tall (abt 175cm), i have dark hair which i tend to dye a lot tho. i often cut them too. i have green eyes and round face, i look younger than i am. i have 6 piercings (all in ears tho:<) and one tattoo for now but i definitely want more. i mostly wear dark clothes

i hope it's okay, take your time!! thank you for doing an exchange with me!:*

Heyyy !! Your matchup is complete @isadollie!<3

barely proofread and awful punctuation, I apologize for any mistakes.

word count - 1k

possible tw - overthinking(?)

And it's...

Okkotsu Yūta !!

Firstly, your astrological compatibility sticks out to me a lot. As a Gemini & Pisces duo, you are one of the most flexible and compatible signs, which equates you two to be a very harmonic pair!

You are the antithesis of the 'opposites attract' trope.

You're fiercely loyal and attentive to your friends, remembering even small details, and both of you are talkers and listeners simultaneously. I imagine Yuta to be someone who rambles to his close friends but also just listens a lot, you being the same shows the balance between the two of you.

It wouldn't take Yuta too long to get close to you, as he would sense your loyalty and your jokes would warm him up even faster. I can imagine you sticking together during any social gatherings you're attending. Things would go slower between you, flowing more naturally. You'd stay friends for quite a while, as I imagine Yuta still being a bit unsure after Rika. After a while, you'd most likely start growing even closer, and teasing from Panda would increase.

"I fell first, but he fell harder" - Is something that applies to Yuta, he's gentle by nature, but extremely protective of his friends (JJK 0 movie, Geto scene.), He would realize that he cares for you more than a friend after someone hurts you, and you forgive them extremely quickly. After berating you with questions about who it was, he gives said person a little talk, if you catch my drift.

Yuta absolutely cherishes every little thing you ever got him, even if he feels a little guilty about you spending money on him. Gets you little things in return, if you admire something a little too long when you go out, he buys it for you. Ultimately Yuta falls back to his main love languages - acts of service, and quality time. He doesn't enjoy fancy restaurants. He would go if you asked him to, but ultimately, for your first date, he invites you to a café that you were talking about recently.

He loves it, when you text him first, it reassures him that your relationship isn't one-sided, and he reacts to every. single. cat video. you send him, religiously.

Yuta would adore your animals, they love him too, and constantly brings them treats when he comes over. I believe Yuta prefers salty or umami-flavored food over sweet treats. Therefore, whenever he receives any complimentary biscuits or sweets, he tucks them into his pocket and offers them to you the next time he sees you. Hunts down new cafes and boba shops to explore, and learns your boba and coffee orders by heart.

He'll also buy you plushies, heard Maki talk about jelly cats once, and gets you two cats, one grey and one black.

I imagine you having pretty similar dislikes, Yuta dislikes parties, they stress him out and he hates strangers getting into his personal space, Yuta is very attentive and makes sure to learn your dislikes and avoid them as much as possible, he doesn't like seeing anyone close too him uncomfortable or uneasy.

I don't imagine Yuta as a huge fantasy reader, or bookworm in general. He likes hearing you rant about your favorite books tho, and loves it when you sit him down and re-tell the story. Yuta feels very content and happy in tranquil moments like that.

I can't see Yuta as a top-tier cook, but he can definitely cook a few simple dishes. He might tease you about your cooking skills a bit, gobbles down any of your baking tho, and finds them extra tasty since the love of his life made them.

Yuta meets your preferences and requirements too. There's no need to elaborate further on most parts, but one thing I can add is that he may initially be a bit startled by your jokes. He might be unsure how to respond at first, but as time goes on, he warms up to the banter and starts initiating it himself. Yuta is a very respectful and considerate man, he would put you in front of himself and do most to protect you.

Yuta couldn't care less about looks, but he's kind of fascinated by your piercings and likes pretty much everything you do to your hair.

An issue you could run into would be your partnered overthinking. I can imagine Yuta being unsure of everything he's doing sometimes, but being too scared to speak out and talk about it, ending up distancing himself from you, which in turn could make you overthink. Which can start a spiral until one of you decides to actively seek out the other and talk about said problem. You both learn that you need more reassurance from one another that day.

headcanons

-

Going to taste test a brand-new soufflé pancake cafe! Him taking cute candid photos of you and the food, "Maybe you'd like to post them". Doesn't let you pay when you go out either, "You spoil me with your gifts, love"

-

"You do realize that you can't survive on cup noodles right?", he asks you walking into your room. "I'm making you some fresh food.". 25 minutes later you've got some steaming hot katsudon in front of you.

-

"Love, do you need any help with the back? I don't think you're getting everything" Yuta says, as he walks into the bathroom to you dyeing your hair. "Yes, pleasee, I don't want it to end up patchy." - "Alright, give me your brush/gloves please. *color* this time? It suits you."

-

"Yuta! Where are you?", you've been searching for Yuta for the last 5 minutes. That is until you hear purring from your bedroom. As you walk in you see Yuta laying on the edge of the bed, two cats sitting on top of him, and a dog right by his side.

"I think they like me" - he says, with a lazy smile on his face.

-

divider by @muruffin<3

Hope you enjoy it, and I apologize for any mistakes. Honestly, I first considered matching you with Geto but I think Yuta fits more

Idk how many kg of watermelon I have consumed in the past 6 weeks - frankly I don't want to know

[yakuzacanons]

I'm loving your blog so much!!! I really enjoy your headcanons! ^w^ May I request a part 2 of the "how they would text you" headcanons? I'd love to see how Ryuji would text!

Yes, absolutely! Also, to the rest of my inbox, I go beddy soon (the movie double feature was like 6 hours and I am exhausted) but I will get to the other asks TOMORROW, pinky promise. Headcanons below da cut as per usual. Goog nite.

Ryuji Goda

Decent at texting but his reply times are terrible. He often just forgets to check his phone. Even if he sees the notification, he's the type of person to think "Oh I'll reply to them soon" and forget because he feels in his brain as if he did already reply by just thinking about it. Sends lots of pictures of clothes, jewelry, and the like and asks what your opinions are on them. He knows what emojis are but can never decipher what emotion they are actually trying to convey. Absolutely not up to date on texting slang and tends to type pretty formally.

Ryuji: I meant to text back earlier but I ended up forgetting because I was so busy, my apoliogies.

You: (¬､¬)

Ryuji: Does that image mean you are mad at me or that you are happy to hear from me?

You: What do YOU think?! ⸨◺_◿⸩

Ryuji: Ah, the former then. That one is particularly scary looking.

Nishikiyama Akira

Probably the fastest texter of all the characters and the quickest to reply. He's usually good at being up to date on more modern things, at least better than Kiryu is. Flirtatious texter and most likely to send "You up?" texts. Totally loves sending you selfies when he's really feeling himself. Also sends pictures of really good views he finds, like from a rooftop in Kamurocho with a great view of the city lights.

Nishiki: Hey, check out the view from this restaurant.

You: Oh wow, very pretty.

Nishiki: It would be even prettier if you were here (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

You: Nishiki!

Nishiki: Lol, sorry, couldn't help myself ★~(◡ω◡✿)

Daigo Dojima

Primarily uses his phone for work so he's pretty quick to check notifications or respond to messages. Prefers phone calls as he can hear your voice and it makes for a nice break from all the other mundane calls or important emails at work. Rarely if ever sends pictures via text and selfies make him camera shy but if you're very close to him, you could totally twist his arm into participating. Surprisingly has a decent grasp on emojis.

You: How're you doing?

Daigo: Tired. Long meeting. ╥﹏╥

You: I believe in you! I'll treat you to dinner afterwards so do your best.

Daigo: Ah, that's very kind, thank you. I look forward to it. ( ◡‿◡ *)

Mine Yoshitaka

The worst texter. He's super dry in his responses, never uses emojis, and is very good at forgetting to check his texts. He mostly uses his cell phone for work so when he isn't work, he has notifications silenced. However, if you're very important to him, he will enable the buzzer on his phone so you can get through to him. In contrast, he's the best at taking pictures of you using a cell phone. Never has his phone out during meals as he doesn't want to be rude. Would prefer to video chat the most as it's the next best thing to actually seeing you.

You: Mine, are you even actually reading my texts?

Mine: Sorry, I was working out.

You: It's okay, you can make it up to me by sending me a post-workout selfie. ٩(◕‿◕)۶

Mine: You think you're funny, huh? Fine, just because I like you.

[hartshorn-and-isinglass]

Doing A Great Job at Being Normal at Concerts

(Hi! I AM A GIANT DORK.)

Okay, so first of all... that concert was amazeballs. Keyboard Blorbo always selects music for these recitals so thoughtfully, and this selection of French music swung on a pendulum from refined courtly delight to thrilling dynamism. Keyboard Blorbo also gave himself an entire chunk of solo pieces in the middle, which I ain't mad about at all. You wouldn't expect dance-based numbers to have you holding your breath in suspense but he enjoys letting the notes sizzle for a bit sometimes, just long enough to fuck with your mind. And I love listening to their resident soprano every time she has an opportunity to perform; she absolutely brought down the freakin' house with the last number.

Senpai brought a helluva fiery edge to this concert. Holy dang. (If I was ever hoping to be more normal about going to see him play, that definitely wasn't in the cards this time. Hnnnnnngggg.) He almost sounded like he had a different instrument under his chin. I think the acoustics in the space were just different enough from the last two venues to enhance the darker and more energetic sound he was putting out there.

Speaking of which, the venue this time was a very cool and very spacious art gallery; I was so mad I dropped the ball on my prep time again and we arrived with only ten minutes to spare (at least we got excellent seats this time, but we had to find them immediately once we arrived). I was so pumped to check out the artwork after the concert, but then at the very end Spouse pulled out his phone and showed me that the program had run over and we were going to have only the thinnest sliver of time to talk to Les Blorbeaux so we had to start stalking Keyboard Blorbo now, LOL.

Whether it was just bad timing given *gestures vaguely* or just that he is an even more hardcore introvert than I was anticipating, he... uh... did not let me get too many words in when I finally managed to flag him down post-concert. Soooo, yeah, didn't really get a chance to tell him, y'know, that his music left an impression on me when I was young and has helped save my sanity for the past two years. I-

I'll be fine.

I'm just a little disappointed.

Not every artist is going to be as gracious or indulgent as J. or Senpai. I know, I know. I've been extraordinarily lucky twice, and it wasn't going to happen every time. I'll get over it.

The other members of the ensemble definitely recognize me now, LOL. I did get to say hi to and thank a bunch of them, which I am glad for, while we were working our way through the crowd towards Senpai--who had made a beeline for the dessert table but was currently engaged in a lively and extensive conversation with someone else. I know this is fucking New York and you're expected to just kinda Kool-Aid Man your way into a conversation if it's urgent but I am not wired to do that, I just can't bear it. So with like four minutes to spare we swooped in the moment they were done, I said hello, got to squeeze in one question, and finally--finally!--introduced myself by name. He was confused--I think he really had assumed that I must have introduced myself before and he had simply forgotten my name. He then warned me that he was terrible at names and I'm thinking to myself--ayo, no offense but even if you're like, super-faceblind, how many alt-girl groupies have you accumulated over the years that I have no hope of sticking out in your memory sdfghjks. To be fair, I know I'm definitely not the only one, but still...

His hand was so soft and warm. Mine was cold as ice and still pretty beat-up from all that lapidary work. I... uh... if I think about that contrast for too long my limbic system kicks my prefrontal cortex out of the driver's seat and takes the wheel. But uh... he apparently does not shake people's hands very often. He looked so confused by the gesture and he held my hand so gently, rotating it from its side-facing orientation to back-of-hand-facing-up, like he was taking my hand to dance and I'm like... uh... what...? ??? What just happened here? God bless this awkward mess.

The question I had, incidentally, led to a tangent about how his E string was being unreliable during the performance, and if someone were to write a concert review, they would probably complain that he sounded scratchy on the high notes. (Cue my cute-aggression activated.) Honestly, it wasn't that bad and the worst of it just kinda added to the vibes in that last piece. I wasn't gonna complain here about it, LOL.

It killed me that we couldn't linger, but he shooed us off telling us to enjoy our dinner, and we had to gay-walk our asses to the other side of downtown to make our reservation at the nice restaurant. It was a very nice meal. Few Italian restaurants in the US do Northern Italian cuisine, so when we do find one it brings back fond memories of our honeymoon in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.

So really, overall a grand time, just with some awkwardness and also-

I promise I'll get over it soon. Just give me a moment.

[theodosiani]

theodosiani || Independent Semiselective Dragon Age Multimise account || Written by Sawyer(They/Them, 29) Z under minor reconstruction as of fall '24 Carrd not spoiler free, will tag veilguard spoilers on blog but peruse my veilguard muse bios with caution

Guidelines

Hello! I'm Sawyer (they/them 29) and this is my nice fancy Dragon Age multimuse so I don't have a million blogs. If you're here and you think 'Hmmm, these OCs look familiar' it's because I've run about half of them as indie blogs at some point and now they're all neat and collected here!

I love crossovers! However, if I'm unfamiliar with your setting/fandom and you don't have a DA au then I may have a bit of a pickle figuring out how to interact. However, if you have an idea hit me with it and we can figure out a verse to work in!

There is a lot of potential for a lot of triggering content on this blog. I will tag everything accordingly and I will tag all of my characters as well so, for example, if you’d like to blacklist a specific character because they have triggers for you, ie ;Despair you're welcome to do so.

Guys, Gals, and Other Pals PLEASE TAG YOUR FLASHING GIFS. TW epilepsy or flashing lights or whatever but tag it SOMETHING else I will not be able to follow you.

Multiple of the same origin? No problem with me, I’m always here for cousin/sibling verses–Or in Millie’s case she’s ALREADY a Trevelyan cousin.

If you want to plot something and we’re mutuals, feel free to send me a message. I'm also happy to exchange discords if that's easier for you. I don't tend to check my tumblr messages when I'm not on my computer but I do check discord on my phone way more often.

Please remember when sending in memes to specify which muse you’d like to interact with if you have a preference! If you don't I'll probably pick one at random or whoever I think best fits the prompt.

I'm pretty open in terms of types of interactions. I love ask memes, longer paragraph formats, or smaller more conversational pieces. Some of my muses might require a little more info to work with them(ie Despair) but if you're happy to plot something out or don't mind me messaging you to ask what makes your muse tick I'm happy to chuck that little ball of nightmares your way.

I make all my own icons and graphic edits, in game and FCs! They're not perfect by any means but I like them. I do not make anything with coding on my blogs, that is my weakness lol.

[desertfangs]

For some reason you feel like the right person to ask about this (probably because of your fic where Daniel volunteers to manage Lestat'smusical comeback lol), but if the Armand bed pile (plus anyone else you have thoughts on) was a band, who would be in each role?

Lestat as lead singer, obviously. I feel like Louis has broody, 'bass guitarist who seems ready to drop out the band at any point but is a fan favourite for his mysterious and dark looks' vibes

But should Daniel be drums or keyboard 🤔 and I'm really unsure about where Armand himself should be

Also, not a traditional bed pile member, but I do want to suggest Bianca as another possible band member, either guitar or drums maybe?

Idk, I've just been imagining all the touring drama (imagine locking this lot up in a tour bus for months on end!), the dramatic and theatrical performances, how completely unmanageable they would be. The Vampire Lestat turned up to 11

Oh this is a fun question! I think you could ask everyone to build their own The Vampire Lestat reunion tour band from the vampire cast and everyone's answers would be different but I'll do my best. I'm just gonna use whoever might be at Trinity Gate when Lestat has this wild idea.

As you said, Lestat is the lead singer. That's his thing. He's the front man and he does the vocals.

I think you're right that Louis would be the bassist. He has dark, quietly brooding bassist energy especially with his hair long so it could drape over face. Louis would have his own groupies after a single show.

Armand would do lead guitar, because he'd refuse to take a backseat and he'd often try to steal the show with long solos. He and Lestat would probably fight backstage over him trying to take over certain songs, which would lead to them disappearing into a dressing room "to work things out" and coming out with their clothes all rumpled.

This means Daniel can do drums. I think he'd be good at them, even if though he might get excited sometimes and do a little "ba-dum-cha!" after Lestat says something that could be taken as a joke but maybe isn't meant to be. (Lestat will glare at him and Daniel will promise not to do it again, but he will.)

I'm also going to veer left here and add Sybelle on keyboard. The original band didn't have a keyboard I think it would add something and she'd be that keyboardist who doesn't speak but answers only in music if addressed.

Since Sybelle is there, Benji can work the merch table. He's probably not a bad sales person. And Marius can bounce between the merch table and backstage, acting as the haggard over-worked manager who's trying to keep everything in check and make sure the show goes on even when Lestat refuses to do a soundcheck (he can sub Daniel in for that!) or Louis refuses to come out of his dressing room in the sequined outfit Lestat is insisting he wear. A lot of this will be Marius solving problems, I imagine, but they'll play a few solid shows.

People will ask for autographs and think it's a fun tribute to Lestat's music and books, and never think these are the real actual vampires since of course the vampire are not real, and obviously this isn't the original Lestat. Except for one or two true believers who post videos on TikTok comparing their cell phone photos of Lestat at the show to footage of him from MTV and insisting it's the same guy and he hasn't aged a day.

Oh and Bianca is going to play the tambourine.

[distortedataraxia]

Hello i don't know if this is a request place but can u do idk kunikida or whatever that mans name is and reader in fluff (reader is hmm, shy and uh idk flirty????????????) And kunikida found reader locked in a locker bc shes dumb and somehow locked herself i give u the allowance to think of anythiny else

Author note : hi ! I'm sure this request was from november.. lol, i hope you're doing well my friend, i had fun writing this, though i'll tell you, this is definitely badly written and the characters might probably act out of character, i apologize about that, but i still hope this reached your expectations ! And yes his name is kunikida.. you got that right.

The locker of doom

Kunikida x Fem!reader

Wordcount : 1,397

It was another normal day in the armed detective agency, Dazai was making airplanes with some papers, ranpo was chilling, yosano was bored, kunikida was working, kenji was chilling.. There wasn't really much work today.

But you just arrived at the agency, you were late because of your alarm ! Out of breath, you apologized, embarassed. "I'm so sorry for being late" Kunikida looked at you, with a face that lets no one know what he was thinking, and he just said in a low voice "Just get to work y/n" there was nothing strict in his voice, it was almost sweet, but you did as he said anyways, work was awaiting for you.

'All i need to do.. ' you thought, before suddenly remembering, that you forgot your phone in your locker! So that's why the alarm didn't ring ! Because your alarm was your phone ! Jeez..

You got up from your seat, as ranpo looked at you and asked "Hey y/n, could you grab a few snacks for me on your way?" You turned around and politely nodded "yes, i'll just go get my phone and my wallet" he looked at you and declared "Ah, so that's why you were late, you're really an airhead y/n" you quietly chuckled and said "Well i mean..that's not wrong..that's why people don't trust me with their stuff" the detective stretched and bored, he said "be more like me and be less like you" of course, he was joking, that was for sure "oh ! >:O Ranpo how could you be so cruel ! " Dazai exclamed himself, jumping in to the conversation, you decided to quickly leave and get your phone as you knew that the conversation was going to last ages, you left without saying anything and without anyone noticing, too shy to say something, afterall, it hasn't been long since you joined the agency, so you're still not used to your coworkers, but kunikida was nice though. He always seemed to keep his composure and calm around you, and he'd always apologize for any inconveniance, such as dazai's behaviour, dazai has been teasing the both of you often, leading kunikida to.. beat him up. This agency really was something. It's been only a few months since you joined, and theses few months have been the most eventful of your life.

You walked in the hallway, finding your locker, thinking about random things, suddenly, you get a bad gut feeling 'Something bad is about to happen to me.. ' you thought, checking your locker content in detail, forgetting what you were even searching, only remembering it was something small, before you realized, that you just locked yourself in your own locker by accident, it was dark.

'What the...? ' you wondered, before processing the situation.

You, a worker from the armed detective angency, got yourself stuck in your own locker. And what's better than that? You're actually scared of the dark!

You started to uncontrollably bang at your locker door in panick, thinking 'i'm scared i'm scared i'm scared !' A thousands of other thoughts came to your head 'what if i get suck here for hours?What if i die here because i'm thirsty!?' you overthinked, shaking, before causing the fall of your own locker, causing you to also fall, and be even more stuck. Suddenly, your phone ringed, and your phone ring was... careless whisper instrumental!? Since when? Who played around with your phone? 'I'm so tired of love songs..' you thought, before thinking about kunikida and wishing for him to come and save you and comfort you, like a knight in a shining armor 'i need someone to numb the pain' you pout to yourself.

The loud noise caused by the fall of your locker killed your ears, and in all honesty, the fall got you hurt, you had no energy to bang at the walls of your locker. Luckily though the loud noise echoing through the halls alerted your coworkers, you hear footsteps, someone running to your locker, and you hear a voice "what the..?y/n ?" The voice seemed familiar, it was.. kunikida's ! It was kunikida ! "Kunikida it's me, help me i'm stuck" you said breathing fast "okay y/n, i'm gonna have to pull your locker back up, please tell me if it hurts" He carefully said before moving the locker back up slowly, then, he opened the door of your locker, you jumped in his arms "you saved me ! " you said, your head nuzzling into his neck, he hugs you back and say "it's okay y/n..you know you could have just used your ability to destroy the locker right? " there was no judgement in his voice, just surprise "I don't like destroying stuff, it's a waste of materials" you said before admitting in a careful voice "and i was too scared and panicked to think about it, i'm scared of the dark" your cheeks felt hot, and you felt really weird "it's okay now, i'll keep you safe, you're okay. " he reassured you before saying "noted though, i'll make sure you don't go on missions requiring a lack of fear of the dark" His words made you happy and relieved, you started relaxing as he rubbed your back, you've actually never seen kunikida so kind and sweet since you joined the agency, you felt something weird in your stomach tingle "I was worried about you there, are you hurt anywhere? " He asked, letting go of the hug and looking at you with a concerned face, you shyly smiled before replying "yeah, my head really hurts,it banged against the locker hard when the locker fell down but atleast.. I'm out of hiding !" He sighs "how did you even get yourself stuck in there?" you stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking, before stuttering, embarassed "no idea.. " he looks at you, there's no hint of dissapointment in his eyes, just concern and surprise as he says "it's okay.. Just be careful next time" Suddenly, you felt silly and said with a hint of playfulness in your voice "good boy, good boy, you're ought to worry about me. " A few seconds after saying that, you completely regretted your words and didn't dare to look at kunikida, and you started to laugh nervously "i'm joking.. " you said, before hearing the man's voice "it's fine.. " You could hear that he was nervous about something, you didn't know what that was about though "kunikida, you seem nervous, what's wrong?" You looked at him, there was a light pink on his face ,he cleared his throat "it's nothing. Don't worry about me. "

You smiled, confidently, and offered your hand to kunikida "take my hand through the flames, and let's get back to work" you joked, once again regretting your words a few seconds after, feeling your cheeks growing more and more hot "No y/n, we need to check if your head has any injuries, we're going to yosano right now" His voice was strict and you gulped "not yosano" You begged "i'm all fine" suddenly, you saw Dazai walking through the hallway and ran to him, hiding yourself behind him and using him as a shield, kunikida sighed and said "y/n, come on, i'm worried about you, i need to make sure you're 100% safe, even if it means going to yosano" Dazai blinked and you said, holding tight into dazai's jacket "no, not yosano, i'm fine" Dazai chuckled and said "You know kunikida, if you love y/n so much, you really should have her see a normal doctor other than yosano, or, maybe you could let me be your woman !? I wouldn't mind having you send me to yosano, if i can activate my ability i can just let her kill me !" Your eyes grew wide and you could hear the obvious frustration in kunikida's strict voice "No."

"You're so cruel, forcing y/n to go to yosano, i'm sure at this point , i'd take better care of her" he joked, you could sense that Dazai held no interest in you and only meant to annoy kunikida

".. Is that so? " kunikida asked, honestly, which surprised you, you backed away from Dazai and said "i actually rather have kunikida take care of me, not you Dazai and neither do i want yosano taking care of me"

Little did you know theses words only helped Dazai tease the both of you. You were still red at the end of the day.

[sgt-scottymoreau]

Cherry on Top

Summary: I don't really have a summary for this one lol This is just how this AU start, how it all it came to be.

Warning: None

Words: 1.3k // AO3 // Masterlist

A/N: Alright, I finally feel like I can post this AU! Remember kids, this is an AU for funsies because why the heck not! Also yes Ghost/Soap is a thing in it, but doesn't happen till later fics. Went into a subtle slow burn with them.

It was the jokes, the brushing hands, the closeness of training; all the small things that both her and Ghost saw coming a mile away. Scotty for being at the center of all and Ghost for his keen eyes. She always swore that Soap was nothing more than a best friend, a very close friend. But Ghost saw how she gravitated around him and how he did the same. He should have been jealous maybe, but he honestly did not mind. If there was any  he trusted enough and would be willing to share her with, it was definitely Soap. 

Fun part was that Soap either decided to ignore what was going on or was completely oblivious. Meanwhile Scotty felt her feelings slowly change to the point she was scared and unsure of everything.

Laying down in bed, staring at the ceiling, she tried to make sense of it. Ghost was on his phone mindlessly reading the news or answering messages. "Simon?" She said in a sheepish voice. He turned his head to look at her. "I… I…" Where to even begin! She was sweating, her heartbeat pumping blood as fast as if she was in a death or life situation. This was even more stressful than her first day with the 141. She fidgeted with the bedsheet, her throat getting tighter at every breath. 

"It's about Soap?" Ghost dropped with his usual unfazed tone. This took her by surprise. She stopped breathing for a second, before her brain worked again after a quick reset. 

"W-what do you mean?" Ghost smiled when hle heard the nervousness in her voice. He gave her the I-know-what-is-going-on look. 

"Only a blind person wouldn't see what is going on… Although that would probably mean most of the base, even Garrick and Price." 

"It's that obvious?" Her cheeks turned hot pink. 

"To the person who knows you the most, yes. So what are you gonna do about it? What do you want to ask?" 

Scotty didn't know if she should take his words as a good or bad thing. This was not the reaction she expected from him. He was acting so casually about it. And that was the thing about Ghost; his calmness was often the scariest emotion. "Simon, I love you ok? That is the thing I want to make clear in the first place. It's you that I love the most and nothing will ever change this. Only death would!"

"I know, love. But you fancy Johnny too, am I right?" Scotty nodded silently, her face burning. Ghost pulled her closer to him. She had her defeated eyes, the ones when she felt like she was about to screw up big time. "Let's give it a shot then."

"Wait what? You… you are ok with this?"

"In any case I know I keep you." He kissed her on the head. "If it was anyone else, I might have no be so open. But we are talking about Soap. You two are complete dorks that would fit well together. To my demise."

She laughed. "Simon, I won't try or do anything unless I'm sure you are ok with this. That's all I need to know, with clear words. If you are not… please let's pretend all of this never happened."

"I'm good. As long as you are happy… and because I know I'll always be your favorite."

The next day, the three of them were at the gym doing their daily routines. Soap was completely unaware of what was coming to him. Mostly because they both kept acting like normal around him. At last from Ghost he did not see a single hint of difference. Ghost didn’t have to be different around him, he was not the one about to confess. Scotty was a master at keeping her feelings in check so she was able to hold it together till now. Soap asked her to help her while he would be doing some sit ups. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Scotty held his feet down while he pushed himself up. They kept joking around on the first 10 rep, till she felt her throat dry up. His groans every time he would reach the top and the relief of laying back down. As if she needed more reason to fortify her feelings. “Fuck…” Scotty breathed.

Maybe a little too loud. “What’s the matter?” Soap asked, not stopping his exercises. 

“Nothing!” 

“Then why the red face, sweetheart?” He laughed. Soap always used this nickname to tease, it was normal. However, right now, it did not have the same effect. Her embarrassment grew so big, she wondered if someone just turned the heat to max or it was her…. Definitely her obviously. If it was even possible, she would be steaming by now. Her hands had moved unconsciously to his ankles and her fingernails dug into his skin through the socks. “Hey watch it Scotty!” 

Soap yanked one of his legs out as he was back on the ground. He pushed himself back, sitting in a relaxed position. “Are you sure everything is alright?” 

For fuck sake, Scotty was an adult, so why did it felt like she was back to her high school year, incapable to say anything to her crush? Well in retrospect, she didn’t do better with Ghost either. The difference is that with Ghost everything sort of unfolded towards something. With Soap, she had to be direct. She took a deep breath to collect herself. “I love you Johnny.” 

Finally it was out. As expected, Soap looked at her with big eyes taken aback by this. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly. His head turned to Ghost who was just done with his run on the treadmill. Their eyes caught each other. The sergeant didn’t know if he should run and hoped to not die or… “You what now?” Is all Soap could say. He was at a loss of words. In the corner of his eyes, he noticed Ghost getting dangerously closer.

“You hear me right Soap. I said I love you.” They sat there in the middle of the gym, not saying a word, till Ghost cleared his throat. Soap jumped back. 

“Woah woah, I thought you and Lt were a thing? Did I miss something or what?” Soap panicked. He stood up quickly ready to run at any opportunity.

Scotty pushed herself up. “Yes. We are still very much together, nothing has changed.”

“She just wants to add you to the mess we are.” Ghost grinned under his mask. Soap stared at him. He was good with this? What kind of world was he living in?  

“Is this a joke? Stop shitting me you two.”

“We are not.” Ghost’s tone was calm which made him understand that yes they were deadly serious about this. He gulped. Of course Soap always found Scotty good looking and, if it hadn’t been her choosing Ghost a while ago, he may or may not have tried his chance. Then again, he always thought that some of these feelings were just him really caring about her, like a good friend would. He could turn her down out of respect for both, but that would make things awkward right? Would it be even more awkward than now anyway? Perhaps he could give it a try. If it doesn't work out then so be it. 

Soap grabbed Ghost by a shoulder with a slap. “If he is good with this, sure, let's give it a try. You know I just don’t want to die.”

“I would only kill if you break her heart.” 

“Roger that, lieutenant. Well, better not let Price find this out. Make it look like Scotty is collecting the 141 like medals.” They all laughed.  

"I see it more, Ghost is the sundae, the tasty best part and you are the cherry on top. The little extra that makes everything tastier."

Soap laughed at the comparison while Ghost facepalmed with a groan. "Very smooth, Scotty…" Ghost said.

[meirimerens]

Geniune question how do you draw so much? I really admire your work but I have such a hard time not getting constantly hit with artblock I wonder how you do it.

i'll begin to tell you that being unemployed and out of school does help. won't lie! the art you see posted here is part of a bigger pattern of Making Art (for portfolio-related reasons & whatnot) so i'm always. Makin Art. i'm fully focused on Art for the better or the worst. second disclaimer is that i hyperfixate and not in a fun teehee enjoyable way - when i start a piece, i will neglect getting enough sleep or feeding myself well until i see it finished. this is not healthy, and while it is part of how i Draw So Much, it's unsustainable for you as much as it is for me. do not fret if you can't Churn Art Out like i do - you're probably healthier off this way. i'm trapped in cycles of Arting and when i stop drawing or writing get get genuine physical symptoms of restlessness, my limbs itch or ache, i pace a lot, i have racing/disordered/cyclical thoughts, like Not Fun. tldr i pray To God You Don't do it like i do.

now some actually helpful tips lol:

have multiple things going on at once. it might seem counterproductive but not being hyperconcentrated on Art allows for your mind to get inspirations from multiple areas. that might be having a job, being in college... for me it's having both personal and fanart on my plate among other things. - i've found that art block can come when you try to cram too much art at once, a form of burn-out, a psychological bottleneck; it's like constantly pulling on the reins of a horse, it will get used to the pulling, and you cannot out-strength a horse, nor can you out-block artblock. when i'm not drawing, i'm writing, listening to music, checking out movies, traveling (even on small scales): all of that feeds into my art, it's all inspiration fodder. when i'm writing, i might write a line which i think would have a banger foundation for a scary image, and the scary image appears to me. new idea!. - don't force yourself to draw, you cannot out-block the block, do something else and inspiration will come.

artblock can often comes when your ideas/desire to draw outdo your current skills, which is a Very, Very common issue, especially if you're improving fast. identify what you're struggling with, and take the time to study it, even if it's just for 10 minutes. full focus, nothing else going on. i also have on my phone entire folders will of references, typically "how to draw [bodypart]" refs, some art pieces i find are visually striking and inspiring, pictures for poses, etc. - if you're struggling with backgrounds, try to trace a picture as study, then reproduce it without tracing, just with it as a visual reference. watch tutorials on how to paint a landscape, or how to understand perspective. - if you're struggling with anatomy, try to do some live poses studies on quickposes, line of action or something of the sort. - something else that has helped me tremendously is anatomy for sculptors PDF. it's pretty expensive but you can find it online for free. wink wink nudge nudge. it breaks down all the muscle groups on the body and gives you a better understanding of the way the human body moves. invaluable resource imo. it's very thin-centric though, so i'd recommend pairing it with like. google search [how to draw fat on a person], [body type you want to draw] and pairing it with the knowledge in the PDF. if you're pudgy or chubby or fat yourself you can use your own body as a reference ain't nothing wrong with that and see how the anatomy underneath reacts with the different levels of body fat or muscles. - i also have saved a tab for head angles ref, light on a face 3d ref model, and the pose tool. the pose tool has collections of live drawing pictures for both clothed and nude, in different poses (sitting, reclining,...). it's also very thin + young-centric (mostly for the women, how curious) & a number of the female poses are eroticized/male gazey but I Grit My Teeth And Bear It. i use them in application with the anatomy knowledge i learned from mentioned above, etc.

something that might seem counterproductive but works for me is that I Hoard WIPs. this makes it so that if i'm not fuckin wit a piece i'm working on and it's frustrating me, i put it aside for a little bit and go work on something else.

preddy much it... tldr I Do It in unhealthy, hyperfixated ways that if i catch you reproducing i'm coming to your house and hitting you wit a stick, however there are a few things that help me power through artblock, namely I Be Studyin What I Draw, i keep these mfer thangs [my refs] on me, and i find inspirations in multiple areas of life.

GOOD LUCK SOLDIER

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 5 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

  Lily and Alex were now finding themselves in Jade's living room, where they all gathered there with Lucas to play board games. Following their shifts, it was some well-deserved quality time together beyond the workplace.

While playing, there was some food on the table and as Lily took a nugget, she couldn’t help but think about Matt. For the past few days, she hadn’t been able to take him off her mind, thus leaving her friends curious about the cause of her distraction – they knew not to ask her as she would definitely tell them at one point. Lily had never been used to making friends so this was a major change in her life as she never expected to feel attached to someone so quickly. It had only been a month and a half since she and Matt started talking, but the feeling of creating a bond with someone was honestly special to the girl.

~~~

          Following several hours of Uno – and Alex winning almost every round, they grew somewhat weary of the game and collectively agreed that it was time for everyone to depart; especially since they all had work scheduled for the following day. The only exception was Lily, who had chosen to take a day off. Consequently, the two girls bid farewell to Lucas and Jade before making their way back home.

As Lily was driving, she observed Alex who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat – it was to be expected given that it was nearly midnight, and both of them were drained from their long day at work. As they neared their destination, Lily received a text message but chose not to divert her attention from the road. Instead, she decided to wait until they reached their destination to check the message since they were almost home.

When they arrived home, Bernard was waiting for them. The cat couldn’t care less about where they had been – it is a cat – but the way he was sitting right behind the door made the girls giggle a bit as Bernard looked like he was scolding them for coming back so late. After petting their beloved pet, Lily and Alex both went into their respective rooms to have a shower and get changed. 

A dozen of minutes later, Lily was finally able to check her phone and saw that she had received a text from Matt – it being so late was usual for them now as they were both free mostly during the evenings. As it often happened recently, a text from Matt was enough to make a smile appear on Lily's face. She reminded herself that it hadn't been long since they started talking, but their blooming friendship was already cherished by Lily, who was enjoying the unusual change in her life.

Matt

Lily

Matt

Good you're awake

Guess which pokemon i caught today

Ooh it should be a good one

Sounds like a good one

IT IS

Do I even get some hints??😭

Like its type at least

Yes my bad😅

1st hint: water

2nd hint: it's huge

That's what she said-

Sorry

Anyways

I have gyarados in mind

I know it's easy to find one in the DS games but maybe pokemon go is different

Drum rolls

It is…

A wrong answer

I wish i could have one tho

Wait i know then

Wailmer??

Those were my only 2 thoughts tbh

YES

I CAUGHT A WAILMER

THAT'S AMAZING!!!

I know wailmer is also easy to catch on DS lol but ig they changed all the capture rates

Probably bc some pokemon as hard as hell to catch and they don't look like they should be

I'm just glad I can catch them while driving because I don’t actually have that much free time to go wander outside everyday

I still can't over that thing of yours

If i ever play pokemon go, I might have to buy one

It's honestly the best gift my mum has given me

But if you ever play, please tell me

Ofc!!

I should find my 3ds and flex some of the pokemons I have. Some you'll never have for example👀

That's a bit mean 

But I do kinda want to see rare pokemons even if they’re not mine

Yayy I'll let you know when I find it

Expect to cry from jealousy in the next couple of weeks haha

Oh that reminds me

I'm leaving tomorrow on vacation

For a couple of weeks actually

Might not reply often…

Bro it's fine dw

Is it like school holidays rn?

I honestly have no idea how school breaks work nowadays

I finished school almost 2 years ago???

You do remember I'm 19 right?

Ye ofc but maybe you're in uni idk

Which you aren't obv

No I'm not, I'm working full time

It's just a vacation to celebrate my friend's birthday 

🤝🏻🤝🏻

That's so cool to do smth like that

I hope they have a great time!!

And you as well ig

I really hope as well, she's one of our closest friends and she's turning 18 so major celebration

Wait

The emojis

You also work?

Yes, with my best friend!

Uni isn't your thing either?

Nope :))

I had thought ab going at first bc of social pressure yk

Society telling us to keep studying for 10 years then having a job until we fucking die😃

But then I realised I should do my best to find what I actually wanna do

And I'm pretty happy now

That's great

I'm the same way I'd say, my brothers and I knew we wanted to work together and none of us was really keen on going to college 

I love that for you

Can I ask what you guys do?

Shit

Unsent

Damn fuck what do i say

Unsent

Ig we're in social media?

You sound unsure😭

Sorry if it was too personal

No no, it's fine I think

You?

I work at a café/bookshop

Literally my 2 passions united

Sounds real good

Look at us being fulfilled adults

Yayy

Omg I just remembered

I have an anime to watch

What is it?

You want to stop talking to watch it?

Oh no dw!

I can watch it tomorrow honestly, I’m off

And it’s demon slayer, one of my faves<3

The episode was out on sunday so i’m already late to it lol

Do you watch anime?

Not really, but I may have watched a couple as a kid

Couldn’t tell you which ones honestly

But on the same subject, i’m quite a nice cartoon fan

OMG ME TOO

Children cartoons >>>

What would my life be without them

Pokemon and cartoons are now our main common points

Which are some of your favourites?

Hmm lemme try and make a top 3

I feel bad to have an actual order bc they’re all my babies

But

Star vs the forces of evil

Idk if I ever heard of it but it sounds nice

IT’S AWESOME

Then I have miraculous ladybug

Wait i think i know that one

Is it like the french heroes?

YES

It’s still made for 7yo kids so the plot goes w that but they’ve been trying to appeal more to young adults now bc we’ve all been watching since middle school lmao

Bonus is I keep my french up to date

You speak french??

That’s such a talent

I’ve taken classes in hs and ig i liked it enough to keep learning by myself

But i know I’ll have a hard time if i ever manage to go to France

I’m sure you’ll do great!

Will i keep discovering talents of yours?

Obv

I have lots😎

That’s not true lmao but yeah we’ll learn more ab each other

We have time :))

Good to know :)

I need to know the last cartoon tho

Might be a good rec for me

Oh yes ofc

Gravity falls

And special mention for shera and the princesses of power

Those 4 hold an important place in my heart

Ok rewind

???

GRAVITY FALLS??

GRAVITY

FALLS

??

YES??

Should i be worried ab your reaction?😭

Omg no

I just wasn’t expecting you to mention it

I LOVE gravity falls

Dipper my man

I’m so happy

My friends like gravity falls as much as an average person haha so it’s so cool to have someone who’s a big fan like me

Mabel my girl honestly

Her collection of jumpers>>>

She does have an awesome closet

Dang i want to rewatch it now

Me too bro

Gonna open disney+ tomorrow

Fuck if i wasn’t on the plane tomorrow i would def suggest we watch it together

Noooo :((

Another time🤞🏻

Still gonna watch a few ep tomorrow tho

You’ll tell me which one you watched

Ofc i got you bro

Not wanting to be rude but my brothers made me realise I need to pack💀

So

I kinda need to leave

No worries!

Have fun on your trip and I hope your friend will enjoy it as well

Thanks, talk to you soon

Yess, bye :))

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[writing-hat]

hi hat!

firstly sorry for going silent for a while - im doing something thats really keeping me busy and i haven’t had the time to do much. speaking of which, i wanted to ask you for some advice - how do you go about writing your fics? like, in specific, how do you come up with your plot and follow through with it? i’ve been working on a new project but the actual “creating the storyline” bit is digging me an early grave lol.

also i wanted to ask - do you have any recommendations for other ninjago aus? (they dont have to be fics) im just looking for some interesting new stuff to hyperfixate over and thought you might know

thanks!

-smiley anon :)

hi smiley anon! Sorry for taking so long to answer (I'm forgetful and a bit stupid sorry)

answer under !

Regarding the ask before this one, I'm super glad you have your AO3 account!! I hope you'll have lots of fun writing in the future ! :D You're definitely always going to be hard on yourself in the future, that's completely normal! But you'll be proud of yourself once you manage to get through it all and write that story down!

Don't worry for going silent, I think I am much, much worse ahaha.

As for writing for my fics, I usually have an idea first that I write down then the scenes kinda happen in my head, and I always have something to write them down (phone or notebook) if I'm not on my computer right away. My plots come from those ideas that form in my head? Idk how to explain that but uh yeah and it's rarely followed through tbh, I often change things along the way

One thing I do is like okay, this will happen now, how might it affect in the future if it's something important? I really have no idea how to explain all that I'm so sorry I hope it still sorta helps

A storyline right away can be kinda complicated to handle, it's what I'm trying to do with "everybody loves somebody sometimes" which is why it's taking so long to be written. But if that's what you wanna do, go ahead! But don't overwork yourself

I have no idea for other ninjago aus omg I read too little yet the fandom does such wonderful job at creating stories and I unfortunately forget to read stuff. hah. (sorry everyone)

I'm kinda obsessed with jay so I'll tell you what I have so far about it (i'm not tagging anyone to not bother anyone)

@/mondothebombo "when you think you're all alone" for more skybound definitely. it's such a good fic but there's like 90% chance you already read it jksgseh

I would suggest Cabinet Man by @/spinjitsuburst, I have been loving the story so far though nothing's written yet but what's already up is super good!

The AUs from @/taddymason !! She has a dad jay au that's UGH so good I'm addicted to that story and also the fic stormbound!!! really great stuff plus incredible art you should check it out!!

There's @/finn-m-corvex for all the stuff about jay his work is just mwah chief's kiss (lots of angst too (they have the fic Would You Like to Enter Prime Empire which is super good so far and am very excited to see more of!! definitely check it out))

I feel so so bad for forgetting so many people's stuff there's so much aaaaaa but you should find a ton of them on tumblr!! so many talented people in the ninjago fandom and so many good aus you'll have your fun by looking in it

i'll answer your second ask now aefhgseg

[mermaidsirennikita]

I need a laugh. What titles have made you lol the most? And like, actual lol, not the breathy exhale "heh" lol :D

Ooooh, GOOD QUESTION

Alexis Hall is always one of my go-to funny writers. He's just so fucking naturally hilarious. If you're in the mood for true "oh my god this is hilarious and largely lighthearted" funny, I would go for Something Fabulous and then Something Spectacular, his two historical romcoms. (A Lady for a Duke is also historical romance, and it is quite funny, but it's not really a romcom imo so much as it is a true sweeping romance.) I laughed out loud with both of them, and though they standalone, I think they're best read in order. (Spectacular is my favorite of the two. It does have a bit more emotionality than Fabulous, but there's also a scene where the leads accidentally incite a gay orgy at a poetry slam, so.) They're super irreverent and so, so good.

Julie Anne Long writes some very funny books. Her Palace of Rogues series is consistently funny, and though it does have some sadder aspects, After Dark with the Duke is overall very lighthearted and made me laugh out loud a couple times lol. The entire series is set in this boarding house where everyone is kinda zany and crazy and I have a GREAT time with it.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian is a m/m historical highwayman/dandy book that had me laughing quite a bit. Especially because when our heroes have a meet cute, one of them (the dandy, Percy) is internally like "OH YEAH. HE WANTS TO FUCK ME. HE'S CHECKING OUT MY ANKLES LIKE CRAZY". To be fair, he's right.

Ooh, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles! Like, there are some stakes, but KJ is also frankly hilarious. Another m/m historical about a smuggler and a guy who accidentally inherited a baronetcy or whatever trying his Best. Part of why I love this one is because some of the humor is in like... the sex. They have a lot of snarkery and fun while fucking. MORE OF THAT PLS.

Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy's Christmas Notch romcoms are fucking hilarious and STUPID HOT. Yes, they have Christmas vibes, but for the most part they often don't take place around Christmas--they're about people filming Christmas movies, lol. I had to sit these books down a couple of times because it was just TOO funny.

Vivienne Lorret writes a really funny book, but Never Seduce a Duke is by far the zaniest one I've read by her. Arthurian cookbook shenanigans! Secret baby! The hero almost coming in his pants while watching the heroine eat pastries.

Speaking of, Grace Callaway is also very funny, but her books do also tend to have darker notes throughout. So I'm not sure about recommending her. But if you are okay with a bit of darkness, I would say try Olivia and The Masked Duke. It's extremely funny to me. But it also has like. Murder and stuff lol.

Talia Hibbert is really funny, though Act Your Age, Eve Brown is by far the funniest to me. While also being super sexy? I mean, he fucks her with a sparkly purple dildo at one point.

Omg! Annika Martin's Billionaires of Manhattan books are HILARIOUS but especially The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call-Girl, which is basically Phone Sex with a Bit o' Degradation for the hero. I also really loved The Billionaire's Fake Fiancee, though I'll admit that part of why the humor worked so much for me is that it's kind of a send-up to daytime soap operas, and daytime soaps are integral to my psyche.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Kacy! 29, 30, and 48 for the fic writer asks please and thank you ❤️

(writing asks!)

29. What’s your revision or editing process like? !!!!!! I try not to ever edit as I go because I used to be really bad about tinkering and not moving forward, so I kinda like CHARGE AHEAD and get the story done, and if I think of something I want to go back and add, I write it down for an editing note. It also helps to give me fresh eyes when it's time to edit, because if I haven't reread the WIP it kinda helps if my memory is fuzzy and I can be a little more objective.

I also don't do heavy editing because I do the big moves inside my plot outlines. It's very rare that I change my mind on something huge that I have to go back and revise. I'm just constantly using the outline to sketch the story out so when I'm actually writing, all the structural stuff basically is done right the first time. I edit for like typos and flow and stuff. So the process is something like this

Copy editing notes into my notes app on my phone so that I can full screen the story but have the notes available on the littler screen

Change the font! So that your eyes are ON ALERT and the text doesn't look the same as it's looked for weeks while you were writing!

Pick the correct MUSIC TO EDIT TO because I always have songs that are integral to the emotional core of everything I write, so I need to play them while I read/edit as a vibe check to make sure the tone is correct. I always want the reader to feel the way the music makes me feel! So editing music is really important to keep the tone!!!!!!!

JUST START REREADING AND LOOKING FOR STUFF. I am a sloppy typer so I always have a million typos. I look for typos and like, if I reuse the same word/phrase too close to each other.

I do a separate read through for smut scenes to just double check that everyone's limbs are accounted for and no positions got flipped.

I do a ctrl+f for phrases like "a little" and "for a moment" because I know I overuse them lol.

I double check my editing notes in case I forgot something in the moment.

THEN I copy it into Google Docs (I write in Scriv lol) and run the gdocs grammar check because it helps catching sloppy lil mistakes. It will overcorrect you on stylistic choices so don't let it correct everything, but it catches a lot of typos for me.

AND THEN!!!!!! I copy it into https://hemingwayapp.com/ which wiLL READ YOU FOR FILTH AND TELL YOU YOURE STUPID so do not use this tool too seriously. I also often use passive voice ON PURPOSE sometimes so SUCK IT HEMINGWAY but I like to use it to check for dense sentences and just basically skim over and see if anything looks super sloppy.

THEN I POST IT ON AO3 and read it again because I always find more typos after it's posted because the pressure of it being public gives me better vision.

AND FINALLY once it's on AO3 I also have the screen reader read it to me out loud because that lady finds some more typos LOL. Hearing it out loud catches what my eyes don't.

30. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

I very rarely share rough drafts! I usually make my WIPs available to Discord friends to get some cheerleading but I don't publish them. Occasionally I'll share like a WIP Wednesday passage or something if I get tagged or asked but otherwise I keep it TO MYSELF! 48. What do you look for in a beta?

bro I don't use betas lol. My mom Anne Rice told me not to let people edit my work.

Occasionally I use a beta because I need to like for a zine (like you beta'd me once for the horror Sheith zine!) but that's the only times I use one. I just want people to like, be constructive, and I want to be communicated with beforehand so that I know what they're looking for and I can tell them what type of criticism I'm willing to listen to vs. what's off limits.

I don't want to sound dramatic LOL but I had a really traumatizing experience in my first zine where I got beta'd without warning/permission, when they said they'd just be checking for typos, and I got absolutely fucking shredded. Like not a single paragraph in my whole fic was left alone, and the beta had like, rewritten sentences, rearranged sentences in the paragraph, erased stylistic choices, added exposition that I didn't write, and removed a bunch of references I had laid down throughout the story as a motif. It was genuinely like so demotivating and made me feel so fucking terrible about my writing and really fucked me up. I still haven't shared that fic on AO3 because I can't look at it without thinking I'm an incoherent fuckup. AND ALL THAT, AND LIKE ONE SINGLE COMPLIMENT LOL. Like one single thing in the whole fic that the person thought was nice. ashdkjglasdg . Lord I almost packed it in after that lol.

So anyway I don't look for betas, on principle, but if I do ask someone to beta I try to be clear like "Find typos and tell me if something didn't make sense." I don't need someone to like shave down everything that makes the story sound like me or add extra fucking sentences, like. Bro no. lol. And give me lots of compliments so I don't feel like I did a bad job because I don't want to feel like I'm being graded on my homework :(