#Ill have enough math credits

[yourlocaltiredartist]

oh my fucking god..... this isn't due till October. I thought everything was due today. so I was like, well I can either do this or my English and math but this is so much more important so I'll do this. but no. apparently comsci is the exception. and now I have missed the due dates for English and math. augsdgdhjdfg

[owliellder]

Two's A Crowd

College Bully! Leon Kennedy x fem! Reader

MDNI 18+

(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5)

Description: College is proving to be a lot harder than you imagined. You cannot fail this math class. So when you've tried everything else, a well-known student is recommended to you by your professor for tutoring lessons, not really leaving you with much of a choice but to work with him.

Warnings: Not proofread, No Use of Y/N, Dub-Con, Unprotected Sex, Bullying, Yelling, Cursing

Tags: College AU, Bully! Leon, Shy! Reader, both are in their early 20's, Leon is Rude AF in the beginning, Loss of Virginity, Oral Sex, Fingering, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Additional Tags to be Added

Author's Note: Yay!! New multi-chapter fic in honor of 800 followers!!

I'm a sucker for tropes and mean Leon is one I can't keep out of my head. If you're not good at math then this is the fic for you! (also don't mind me slipping some Sky lore in here...)

Cross-posted onto AO3

Chapter 1

Growing up, college had always been a big dream of yours, leaving you fantasizing day in and out about all the possibilities that would open up, along with actually getting to live through the renowned “college experience”.

In reality, college was a lot harder than you were expecting. Your parents had told you to jump right into it after high school, fearing taking a gap year would ruin your good streak. The stress was starting to get to you and it was only a semester into your freshman year. All the tests, projects, and general studying really wore down on your mental health, not to mention you were failing the one math class you had.

You couldn’t tell your parents, no, they’d probably have a heart attack, especially since that math class was a prerequisite to another class that you needed to take. They were already worried enough that you hadn’t picked a major yet, so who knows how they’d take the news that you were failing right off the bat.

It was hard enough that you were feeling homesick. This was the first time you’d ever been this far away from home, studying at a university when you would’ve been perfectly content going to a community college closer to home. Your roommate was nice, but the two of you weren’t growing any closer than mere acquaintances, so it always felt awkward to just exist in your own dorm room.

Your eating habits worsened with the lack of any real food within five miles of campus. Sure there were a couple fast food chains on the campus itself, but they closed incredibly early. By the time you finished studying, which was around six in the evening, it had already closed. Not to mention that when they were open, the lines were comically long. University food was out of the question after you got violently ill from their “chicken nuggets”, so you were left with the little money your parents provided once a week to order takeout or make quick trips to the store to buy a frozen meal. Only one, since the mini fridge in your dorm was almost always occupied by your roommates stuff.

Everything was so exhausting and you were way out of your comfort zone having to use the community bathrooms for all your hygienic routines. Walking in always made you feel like you were interrupting a meeting in the president’s oval office with how many nasty looks you were given when all you were trying to do was brush your teeth.

The first thing you saw whenever you opened up Canvas was a massive F staring you down from the little box that comprised the majority of your math assignments and tests, making you feel less than worthless. This one semester alone helped you understand why so many people dropped out, this was hard.

By now you’d already gone to your math professor multiple times asking for redos or extra credit work. He was probably sick of seeing you since you showed up after almost every single assignment’s grades were submitted.

“Heeeyyy, Mr. Lebovic..” You said after knocking your knuckle against his open door to grab his attention. “Listen, about that last quiz, I-”

He cut you off with a wave of his hand before gesturing towards one of the chairs sitting in front of his desk. You hurried to sit down, watching nervously as he slowly pulled his eyes off his computer and onto you. “I get it, you don’t need to explain yourself.” His relaxed tone and faint smile was enough to ease your nerves a bit, letting your shoulders slump with a sigh. “You’ve been trying really hard, I can easily recognize that.”

You nodded eagerly, licking your dry lips as you opened your mouth to speak, only to be cut off again. “I’ve been looking into studying options that might help you. Resources are scarce for this material, but I think I finally have a tutor to help you out.” 

A wave of relief washed over you at the mention of tutor. Maybe you wouldn’t have to face the wrath of your parent’s disappointment after all! “Oh.. o-okay…” you stuttered, eyebrows furrowing as you silently beckoned him to continue.

“I teach another math class, it’s higher level, but I have a student in there that’s just taken up tutoring the material you’re learning.” Your professor seemed just as happy as you were about the opportunity. “His name is Leon Kennedy, he’s got one of the study rooms in the library from three to five in the afternoon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

It took you a second to process everything Mr. Lebovic was telling you before you scrambled to pull out a sticky note and a pen to write all the information down on. You heard the older man chuckle softly, looking over at him when he held out a small piece of paper to you. “I wrote it down already for you, don’t worry.” You wished you could’ve thanked him tenfold, but his office hours were closed for the day now, so you said a quick goodbye and hurried back to your dorm, holding onto the piece of paper like a lifeline.

Contrary to what your math professor thinks, you knew the name “Leon Kennedy”. You had a couple friends that you hung out with occasionally out in the grass in front of the science building and they’d brought him up before. The few vague bits of info that you’d heard weren’t flattering, painting this Leon in quite a bad light; the stereotypical jock in a frat flying by on a full-ride scholarship. However, he was your saving grace now and you needed to develop more of an unbiased opinion of him if he was going to help you raise your grade from an F.

“Yeesh, sorry I’m not better at math or I would’ve helped you.” One of your friends, Sky, spoke up as they read the piece of paper your professor gave you yesterday from over your shoulder. “Even if you were better at math, I still wouldn’t trust you.” Ella, your other friend, laughed out.

“Ha ha, yeah, Sky failed math four times. Big whoop.” Sky waved their hands dramatically before walking over to sit down next to Ella in the dead grass. “Seriously though, you’re better off taking a failing grade and dealing with your parents. Kennedy is the devil incarnate.”

“The devil incarnate sounds easier to put up with than my parents, so I’ll take my chances..” You grumbled, taking a seat on a medium-sized rock close to the pair. “Maybe he’s turning a new leaf? Deciding to tutor?” 

Sky crossed her arms and rolled her eyes which made Ella elbow them in the side before giving you a sympathetic smile. “Maybe so, but please just be careful. I don’t want you having to put up with some jackass that has an ego bigger than Texas.” 

You nodded with a slight frown, moving your foot side to side lazily to push the grass blades around. You didn’t even think to consider the repercussions of studying with some random junior. “I’m sure it’ll be alright. Besides, just tell Sky and I if he’s giving you any trouble. I know damn well no man likes to put up with two women yelling in his face.” Sky nodded and pointed to Ella for added dramatics. “Yeah, and I bite. My top six teeth are porcelain so that shit hurts. Trust me.”

Your friends never failed to make you laugh, a slight resolve in a pool full of worries, you suppose. “Don’t worry, you guys’ll be the first to know if Leon is mean.”

“Good. Now, when’re you gonna go see the guy?” Sky rested their arms on their knees before looking up at you. “Uh.. in a couple hours I guess. I already made the appointment.” Your response seemed to surprise both of your friends, giving them a confused look in response to their shocked ones. “Is that.. Is that not a good time?”

“No no, just.. I thought you would’ve maybe taken a little longer to go and see him.” Ella shrugged, reaching a hand up to scratch behind their neck. “Proud of you, taking the initiative like that.” She then looked at her phone before pulling herself off the ground with a small groan. “I got class in a couple minutes. Good luck with the frat boy.” 

She patted your shoulder as she walked off towards the larger building on campus, leaving you and Sky alone for the rest of the time. Part of you wished both of your friends could walk you to the library when the time came, but having Sky was enough. “So.. Leon’s bad bad?” You needed a bit more clarification on the guy you were going to spend one-on-one time with, something to calm you down after running through countless scenarios in your head.

“He’s not all bad, 'least I don't think. I’ve exchanged a few ‘hello’s’ and ‘excuse me’s’ with him here and there since we apparently frequent the same building.” Sky scooted over to the rock you were sitting on, placing the back of their head on your legs. A couple brown leaves blew over from a nearby tree which they grabbed and crunched with their hand. “I haven’t personally experienced any bad happenings around him, but he is part of a pretty notoriously rowdy frat, so you have to promise me that you’ll only study with him on campus and never go to that frat house or any frat house in general, alright?”

Sky pointed up at you, poking the underside of your chin which made you laugh again and swat their hand away. “As much as I rave about wanting to have the stereotypical college experience, going to a frat house was never part of my daydreaming.”

“Good. Keep it that way.” They switched their fingers to give you a quick thumbs up before letting their arm flop down into their lap, eyes closing with a sigh. “Anyways, besides all that, wanna go get some food? I don’t have another class today and you’ve got about an hour and a half to spare, so actually you have no choice. Get up.”

You stood up with a shake of your head once Sky pushed off of your legs who stood up as well with a small stretch. “Don’t burn me at the stake, but I kinda want grocery store sushi. I’m feeling lucky.”

“Please don’t.” You sighed, pocketing the piece of paper before beginning to follow behind Sky as they started to walk across the grass. 

After the two of you shared a sandwich from some random shop not too far off campus, Sky walked with you up to the library, stopping just before the front desk. They agreed to not wander in with you under the condition that you’ll go to their dorm straight after to discuss details.

To say you were nervous was an understatement. Most of what you heard about this guy meant he was bad news, though you really didn’t have much of a choice when it came to seeing him. Like your math professor said, there weren’t a lot of options when it came to studying the material you were learning. Sure you had the internet and other students in the class, but you preferred the idea of a tutor since you’d already exhausted yourself trying to follow along with various youtube videos. You needed the in-person teaching, it just stuck better in your head that way.

Slowly starting to walk, you made your way over to the study rooms lining the back of the library. The rooms seemed pretty private with the only window being on the door, which had glass nearly top to bottom. Thankfully the rooms were numbered and Leon had texted you which room to go to when you made the appointment with him, you had no idea what he looked like and you didn’t want to look like a creep eyeballing people through the door until you hopefully found the right person.

Standing off to the side, you could see the number you were looking for sitting above the door, taking a brief moment to collect yourself and hype yourself up to talk to someone who didn’t have the greatest reputation. Set aside everything you’ve heard and just hope for the best..

You took in a deep breath as you strode over to the door, glancing inside through the window before knocking to let him know you were there. The table was angled off more to the left so you didn’t immediately see him until he leaned over the table to see who had knocked. Confidence left you as soon as you made eye contact with Leon due to the groan you could hear through the door. It took you a couple seconds, but you eventually managed to get your body to work with you, hand turning the handle to let yourself in.

“-the last thing I need..” You caught the end of his little rant to himself as you opened the door. The saying “fake it ‘till you make it” is harder than it sounds since your entire body decided to betray you, deciding that shrinking in was the best move. Quietly, you shuffled over to sit across from him at the table, placing your backpack in your lap in some weird way to provide comfort in this situation.

“You weren’t supposed to show up.” Leon grumbled, sitting far back in the tilted chair as his feet lifted the front end of the chair slightly. His arms were crossed and he was giving you probably the nastiest look you’ve ever seen, next to your parents, of course. All you did was sit there giving him a blank stare. It was obvious what he’d said, yet the sheer forwardness of that snide comment had you more than confused. “What?-”

“You weren’t supposed to show up.” Apparently he felt the need to repeat himself with some added bite, barely letting you get a word in. “No one ever shows up to these shitty tutor- whatever the fucks.”

Wow. Okay. “Uh..” You didn’t even know what to say to that. It completely caught you off guard. You’d run through countless ways this interaction would go in your head, but this wasn’t one of those ways. The two of you sat in a very tense silence with Leon just glaring at you from across the table, continuing to rock back and forth in the chair.

Without uncrossing his arms, Leon lifted a hand and waved it around slightly while shaking his head. “Are you actually still gonna sit here orrr…?” The sound of his voice finally snapped you out of shock, causing you to shoot your gaze down to your backpack, fumbling with its partially broken zipper. “I-.. Mr. Lebovic recommended you..?”

You pulled out a few of your failed assignments from your bag before setting them down on the table with shaky hands, keeping your eyes glued to the papers to avoid that burning stare the man in front of you has. “I need-.. I need help..?”

“Do you?” Leon let the chair fall forward, his sarcastic tone starting to make your whole body tremble. “You don’t sound like you do.” He snatched one of your assignments from the table and held it up, pursing his lips as he studied the various red marks made on it closely. You chose to not respond to that, letting your hands rest on top of your backpack so you had something to squeeze.

He turned the page around, the sound of the paper wobbling the only thing you could hear right after the sound of the central heat blowing through the vent in the room. Suddenly, Leon started chuckling to himself, shaking his head incredulously as he flipped the paper back and forth a couple times before letting it fall back to the table. “This is terrible!” His laugh grew louder as he tilted his body to the side to pull out his phone, taking a picture of the assignments you’d put on the table. 

How on earth were you supposed to react to that other than just sitting quietly? He was actually making fun of you right to your face. Hell, he might as well point and laugh if he’s going to be this brasen. 

The most you could muster up was a quiet yet high-pitched “... huh?” in response to him. This whole ordeal was spiraling a little too fast for you to keep up with. You were expecting to put up with some grown man with a bratty attitude or even just a very uninterested, not all there jock with how Leon’s been described to you, not blatant bullying.

“Huh?” He mocked, taking one last look at his phone while loudly sucking on his teeth before pocketing it again. “Anyways, this is actually sad. How are you managing to fuck simple math up like this?” He roughly grabbed all the papers on the table and stacked them before partially tossing them back at you, some slipping onto the floor. “You’re too far gone, even I can’t fix that.”

You let out a gasp when the papers were tossed at your face, scrambling to catch some of them. Pushing the chair back, you leaned over to grab the few that fell on the floor, desperately holding back tears. “Please, you don’t understand.” You pleaded, voice cracking as you tried your best not to start crying in front of him. “I-I need to pass this class. I’m passing everything else, I just can’t keep up with this one!” You were speed-talking to try and argue your case, sitting back up with the small pile of papers that you struggled to stack properly.

Leon started rocking back in his chair again, arms back across his chest as he watched you with squinted eyes. The corners of his lips soon turned up into a smirk, taking in your sorry state before rolling his eyes with a dramatic groan. “Alright, alright, stop whining, jesus..” He cleared his throat, letting his head fall over the back of the chair. “I’ll help you only because I feel bad for you.” It’s not like he was going to admit that he was being forced to be a tutor, no one needs leverage over him like that

You couldn’t help but give a small smile despite his implication. It was a start. “And I’m not gonna do it today, either.” Well, the sooner the better, but still, it’s a start.

He then stood up from the chair, fixing his jacket with a sigh. “If you show up even a minute late on Friday, I’m not helping” and before you even had a chance to reply, he walked out of the room, the door shutting with a slam which made you flinch. Luckily, you were a very punctual person when it came to this kind of stuff. This was important, so if you had to show up early, so be it. You hurriedly shoved your assignments back into your backpack, not even fully zipping it up before rushing out of the study room, back through the library, and to the dorms.

“He said that?!” Sky yelled, quickly wiping their hand over their mouth to quiet themself once you shushed them. “I don’t really feel comfortable with you going to another ‘study session’ with that guy if he’s just gonna bully you.”

“I wouldn’t call it bullying-”

“He was bullying you.”

“OKAY! So what if he was?!” You fell back onto Sky’s bed with a sigh, arms splayed out with your legs dangling off the side. “I can handle it. As long as I get my grade up, who cares?”

Sky sat down next to you on their bed, giving you a sad look as you sat yourself up with your elbows. “I care. So does Ella. You shouldn’t put up with that just for a grade. I’m sure if you explain to your professor and-”

“And what? Tell him that I’m a grown woman getting bullied over something I should know by now?” You sat yourself up fully now, leaning forward to place your elbows on your thighs as your head rested in your hands. “It’s only until finals are over and we’re already halfway through October. Maybe I won’t even need that much time, maybe I’m just missing one simple… math move and it’ll get the gears in my brain moving again.”

You tilted your head to the side to look at Sky, head now resting only in your right hand as you took in their annoyed look. “Trust me. I can handle this.”

“If you say so.” They ran their fingers through her hair before looking away from you, directing their attention forward to stare off at nothing. “Just remember that I bite and I’m not afraid to use my fake chompers on that no good-”

“I don’t wanna think about escalations right now, but thank you.” You chuckled, playfully nudging Sky with your free hand before moving it back to hold your head up with the other. Though you were trying to convince Sky on this, you were mostly just trying to convince yourself that you could handle this. Handle Leon and his.. alluring charm..

Only until finals, maybe even sooner.

[j0kers-light]

Hi Chaos,

You literally inspired me to get a tumblr account. You’re work is sooooo good xx

Could you write a one shot with J and a Celiac reader ( someone who can’t eat gluten)

Thank you! Don’t overwork yourself and take as much time as you need xx

HI MY BELOVED ANON!!! 🖤✨

I feel beyond honored to have inspired you to create a tumblr! My job here is done. I cannot thank you enough for reading, so I'll keep writing! (p.s. I am terribly sorry for the wait!! 😔)

Now as for your request. I could not extend it into a oneshot so please don't be upset with me, I converted it into a head canon. Let's discuss gluten free! 👩🏽‍💻

Here is the credit I referenced as well as asking Mama!

Celiac Disease: an illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten. Gluten is a protein found in foods containing wheat, barley or rye.

The universe must truly hate you because you cannot digest precious bread normally. It sucks that there's no cure, but at least there are alternatives so its not life threatening.

Bless Gaia for gluten free ingredients, without it you risk weight loss from vomiting and constant trips the bathroom doing you know what. 👀

You are aware of your diagnosis so the solution is simple. Don't eat gluten.

Over the years you learned how to adapt and avoid any possible flareups and integrate new safer nutrition sources into your diet.

You are vigilant when eating out, always looking for that GF logo on menus and if its not listed, you alert the staff of your condition.

That means you typically research the restaurant beforehand to check if they cater to celiac eaters.

While cooking at home, you use special flours, avoid certain condiments, and processed foods, and you are big on cross contamination.

If someone else cooks, you are asking what ingredients they used to protect your immune system reacting.

It’s not being rude, this is your health at stake!

Joker hardly notices your condition because you tend to keep it under wraps. He just thinks you’re just very food conscious or hip to trends.

Joker will make fun of your fancy artisan bread or whenever you make food from scratch though.

The only time it becomes a problem is when Joker drinks. You already know how that's gonna go.

You weren't planning on watching the game tonight but lo and behold, the tv is on.

It was honestly just background noise until Joker came home, surprisingly to watch said game. He was already rowdy as he landed on the couch with a slight bounce.

You gave him the side eye when he cheered loudly at a score being made. "I didn't know you watched sports, J." you said.

Joker snickered. “It’s ah.. en-ter-tain-ing.”

A distinct crackle rang out in the room as Joker popped open a beer. You turned your nose at the can. You haven't had beer in years since being diagnosed.

Joker on the other hand downed it in one gulp before opening another. Of course he had a low alcohol tolerance. Why were you surprised?

You must've chuckled because Joker's green eyes were instantly on you.

"Something funny, doll?" He arched an eyebrow at you waving him off. "Its nothing, J."

"Ya want one?" He was offering you the forbidden wheat. Did he know that you were celiac?

"Uhhh no thanks. I can't."

Now that got his attention away from the tv. He seen you drink alcohol before, why couldn't you drink some today? Unless….

You could practically see the complex math symbols floating around his head. Your big baby was so confused.

“I can't drink beer because it’s made from gluten." you explained.

It still didn't click upstairs. "Didn't know you had a thing with gluten, Bunny." Joker mused.

"Yeah well, me and her got a love/hate thing going on. I'm not mindful— she lashes out and makes me sick. It sucks having a malfunctioning immune system."

Silence fell over the two of you as Joker processed what you said.

He kinda understood what you meant but he was still at a loss. You ate bread. A lot in fact.

Was it a special kind? How could you separate the good bread from the bad? Was he overthinking this? Probably so, but now he had some research to do tonight while you slept.

Joker needed to know everything about his Light.

If you were secretly beefing with gluten, he needed to know study possible tactic to join the fight and protect you properly.

“I’ll … ah protect you from the bad gluten, Bun.”

You eyed Joker after hearing his random comment. He looked so unbothered— already focused back on the game as if he didn’t declare war on a protein.

Maybe he couldn’t hold his beer after all.

You just giggled and climbed into Joker’s lap as the two of you finished watching the rest of the game.

[bar-of-dish-soap]

im not sure if this is like super obvious or anything but. methinks the. organization? company? whatchamacalit? that kentaro, bill and hiroshi formed feels very similar to one certain anti-monarch organization that releases the Big Baddies in king of the monsters. god its so annoying that they don’t have a name (that I know of!) but i guess ill just call them the Guys for now, and this new organization Bill and the Randas (new band name just dropped)

keep in mind its been a minute since I’ve watched KOTM sooooo

1. my first evidence that the Guys = bill and the randas: vibes. like yeah idk i just think theyd do that, i think they’d do some sort of connection like that

2. close ties to monarch!!!! bill and Hiroshi are both ex-monarch, and they all got fucked over by them

3. funding from apex. in the KOTM post credits scene, the Guys get the decapitated head of king gidorah, which I believe apex uses to help development of mechagodzilla??? i think??? i havent watched GvK bear with me here

4. this show ends 2 years before KOTM (bc of the 2 year time jump) which I feel like is enough time for “bill and the randa boys“ to get fucked up into the Guys with that weird old bitch in charge

5. the randa girls (may included. they’re married i don’t make the rules) being tied up in shit woth the Guys would explain why they’re not working with monarch by KOTM (yes yes, KOTM was made before these characters existed but. shh.)

some other interesting things I noticed:

that man is not fuckign dead. that fall probably didn’t kill him. every day in hollow earth is a roughly a year on the surface (keiko estimated she was there for 57 days, she was gone for 56 years, pretty simple math) so he could definitely show up in Godzilla x Kong, which I think takes place in 2024? so like he would just be there for a few days. then also monarch finds a better way to travel to hollow earth in that time, so they could find a way to bring him back

absolutely no fucking clue what to make of a big monkey being there. was that kong? it must be right? cuz hes the last of his kind and whatnot i think. anyway yeah they’re in skull island so cool

i am so normal about this show

[oncamelliastreet]

ignore, i just have nowhere to put this rant and no one to tell it to and need to get it into space while i have a quick mental breakdown

i’m just so fucking stressed about precalc and i’m fucking fed up and i don’t know what to do. like i actually don’t think i can pass this class. precalc is like a combination of algebra and geometry, so it would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that my school had shit algebra and geometry classes that barely taught anyone anything. we don’t know the basics going into the class, and we were all hoping to get the old precalc teacher who is actually a really good teacher and could’ve helped us, but he stopped teaching it for some reason this year and hired a new guy who doesn’t understand that we really don’t know anything. like most of my grade failed this test, and he gave us a lecture on it and said that we cleary didn’t study enough and it’s unacceptable that we don’t know it because it’s prettt much review, but WE DIDN’T LEARN IT BEFORE HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW NOW. and i did all of the homework, i asked my sister for help every night and had her explain it to me, i studied for two hours the day before the test, and i still got a 50% (BAD). and my stupid fucking sister keeps texting me and asking me about when i’ll need help and what i don’t get and I DON’T EVEN KNOW. BECAUSE MY TEACHER DIDN’T EVEN GIVE THE TESTS BACK OR PUT THEM IN THE GRADEBOOK HE JUST SHOWER PEOPLE THEIR SCORES. and i don’t even think he’s gonna give them back, so i don’t know if i actually didn’t know anything or if the questions i didn’t get to because im a slow ass test taker came back to bite me in the ass and it lost a lot of points because he grades by partial credit and he can’t give partial credit to questions i didn’t even get to in time. the whole thing is just fucking fucked and i don’t know how to pass the class and there’s really no alternatives because i have to have four years of math and you can’t really go into stats without precalc and you can’t go into college algebra because college algebra is just algebra 2 and i took algebra 2 freshman year and i can’t take the same class twice. i’m just completely fucking fucked and my grades about to dip so bad and i’m not gonna be able to get it back up and i’m not even comfortable talking to my teacher about it because he’s such a fucking weirdo and he explains everything so fast which doesn’t work for me because i’m an extremely visual learner when it comes to math and i have to have things explained to me slowly and written down first or it takes me forever to get it and i never get his answers when other people ask questions in class because he gets super condescending and explains it to you like you’re a stupid person who should already know it except i am a stupid person who should probably know it but i never had it taught to me in the first place so i don’t know how the fuck i’m gonna start knowing it now and i’m just stressed as FUCK and i’m gonna tell my therapist about this tomorrow and she’s just gonna say “well have you tried asking for help” yes i fucking have it didn’t WORK i just don’t get it ill ask my sister for help and she looks at me like im a lost cause every time i dont know something and says that i should already know it and tells me to watch a video about it and it doesn’t FUCKING HELP and everyone is so FUCKING CONDESCENDINF BEVAUSE I KUSY DONT UNDERSTAND MATH AND IM CRTINF SO FUCKING HARD RIGHT NOW

[prettyboykatsuki]

fang do you ever get overwhelmed by the future? what are some ways you deal with anxieties surrounding like job prospects or school-wise? i think you're very rational and would love to hear your perspective on any tools you use!

ahh idk if im the right person to ask this since a lot of my beliefs come from my circumstances. pre-emptively i have a family that will always house me and feed me. thats the culture.

but ill tell you my philosophy. i do get anxiety about the future sometimes and about how im not moving fast enough or something else along those lines!! pretty often actually.

either way im young. ill bet you are too. all the happiest people i know are twice my age. my life is just starting for me. i have no intention of feeling like im running out of time when im not

because i went thru a lot i know life isn’t about endurance. its about sustainability. its easy to get wrapped up in the idea of creating a perfect future and being valuable. but suffering catches up with you. right now - i could go and push myself to the very limits to accomplish something. but it wouldn’t matter because its not a life i could sustain.

i know my own limits hella well so i say work with yourself for a life you can tolerate. a life you can live for a long time. im applying for jobs but i haven’t received any offers so im finding other ways of making money (babysitting, tutoring etc). i help my parents with as much as i can. my sleep schedule is fucked so im spending my summer trying to fix it. im building my credit score (its good rn!!) im teaching myself math and java again so i can transfer in a year. these are not things i pour myself into. its just shit i do to work at it slowly

im never gonna be a person who can go at a hundred miles an hour. never. ive tried and ive failed. i got my steady twenty five. but its better to go steadily and slowly and always keep going then to go 100 and stop dead in your tracks. its better to persistently do the bare minimum than regress after running so far. its better to take one class and apply to one job and read one lesson everyday than to push it so far you stop or not try at all.

for me the only thing ive ever learned is the universe pays its dues so im not worried about the future. it doesn’t matter what it looks like to anyone but me. did you do just one thing that will make tomorrow better? then thats enough. you did great.

do what you’re capable of not what you think you should be capable of. as long as you are doing that much i really think things will work out. and if they dont and if you fuck up - learn and try it a different way. just keep doing it. little by little

[withlovefromsimtown]

A Not-So-Short Update

The last time I posted about my life was some sad news, so let's talk about how I've been moving forward from that point.

All the zoo went to the vet in March because of a bacterial respiratory infection. We probably picked it up from one of the very frequent vet visits with the 2 chronically ill cats before they both passed. Only 2 of the remaining animals actually had the respiratory infection per bloodwork; everyone got preventative shots, & everyone is doing GREAT.

In the same vetting round, I got everyone up on their yearly vaccinations. It was close enough to that time that I didn't want to drag everyone back again.

One of the cats got a little sneezy & wheezy again last month. She did not have a contagious variant & aside from being VERY ANGY at me for shoving her into a transportation prison & dragging her to the vet for round 2, she's doing great again now.

My family has been over at my house like 1-2 times a week pretty consistently.

I planted flowers.

I've been slowly rewatching the 1990s Trigun with my friend, it's still SO GOOD & I love so much sharing things with people. Especially when people are experiencing things I love for the first time, it's like seeing it again for the first time myself. <3

My kitchen light died. It had nothing to do with the lightbulbs. My dad helped me fix it.

My plumbing broke & I spent somewhere around $3700-$3800 total in diagnosis & repairs. I am not mathing right now. It was in the drainpiping, not cosmetic, & I still have to put a section of wall back from that "adventure" when I feel up to it.

The plumbing issues are FINANCED to a point where they are...ultimately manageable with very minimal damage to my daily life. Ask me about how to game the US credit system, sometime.

I feel like this is a good point to mention my Ko-fi . Although I've got it fine on my own & I don't expect anything from anyone, literally anything helps ease the burden a bit if anyone out there has anything to spare. This has no effect At All on whether or not I make anything Sims-related. The break has nothing to do with my financial situation.

My dad has offered to help me do some cosmetic repairs to the bathrooms (he's paying for new sink handles as an advance on my birthday present but it's super helpful).

I potted some new veggies; my dad got the first ripe pepper off the red poblano plant tonight & I'll have the other ripe one the next time I make an omelette. The squashes are working their ass off, the tomato hasn't flowered yet, & I'm keeping an eye on my bell peppers because they're getting around.

Due to a series of events my former gym has a) changed management & b) owed me like 6 months of membership, so I have that prepaid & going forward for me, I'm back at the gym 3-4 days a week, which has been helpful both mentally & physically.

The lawnmower is repaired, the weedwhacker is charging, the lawn isn't 6 feet high, & most of the jungle is cleared from around the sheds.

Jury's still out on the pressure washer being functional ever again but we'll cross that bridge when I feel like rewiring a power cord with a shutoff switch.

I steam-cleaned all the carpet upstairs.

I replaced my bedframe & have been working on the spareroom/guestroom again (it doubles as storage & sleepytimes, it's not like... rentable, or there for income... it's just a place for friends to sleep that's comfy & full of cattes.)

I got almost all my laundry done & put away. Everything that's not on my ass right now is clean & either dry or drying.

[invisiblyvisiblejay]

iiiii kind of want to finish my math major. i kind of want to get a double major in math and psychology. it would be an extra year which is an issue bc my grandfather pays for my school and he says he will not pay after next semester so i'd have to get 20k from somewhere but. other than that lol. although if he's not paying for it i could move off campus and that might be a little cheaper. and it's only like 15 or 16 credits a semester (two 15 one 16) and it's like 10 math classes broken up by the 5 psych/wmst classes i havent finished. and it would solve the wmst class not being offered problem and the i don't want to graduate and i wish i got four years problem lol. i could also theoretically finish a masters in math in that time but that sounds scarier lol

i just like have to make a final decision before i register for classes for next semester bc if i decide to do this i won't be able to graduate bc i spread out my psych classes and if i decided not to and took everything i needed to graduate and then changed my mind id have Only math classes left and it would be a year of like 4 or 5 math classes a semester and nothing else. in which case i should just do the masters bc that's what that is lol. idkkkkkkkkk idk what to do what if i change it and i get rly overwhelmed and it sucks and i feel terrible all the time like i did when i was a math major before but also maybe it'll be better now that i know other people in the math department and i know i don't have to do this forever like my life doesn't have to be Just Math and i know it's only 3 semesters. i did a math major for 3 semesters already it can't be that bad i guess. would be kind of funny lol i was a math major for 3 semesters took a break for 2 semesters to be a psychology major and then went back to being a math major for 3 semesters 😭😭. really should have double majored that would have been WAY better but i can't do anything abt that now i guess.

i just feel like i really miss doing math and my classes rn are like. not stimulating enough and i want to Think abt things and do little problems and proofs and shit. like im taking a math class next semester either way like. idk. maybe ill like do some upper level math or calc iii or something for fun and see how that goes lol (could definitely do with a review of some of the stuff i took lmao). or maybe this is fucking insane and i should just graduate and stop trying to do 500 extra things 😭😭

[dryersheetbear]

edgenuity

[donghuamuqing]

Going to Drop Out of School!!!!

[nogling]

$65000 a year is not quite middle class.

It is by no means “rich”.

Most people making $65k a year are living paycheck to paycheck. They cannot afford to buy a house. They cannot afford childcare. Since most jobs that pay $65k a year require some form of secondary education, chances are they have pretty substantial student loan debt.

$65000 in 2024 is the equivalent of, funnily enough, about $17000 in 1980.

A person making $65k a year is likely taking home about $950 a week after taxes/insurance.

Average rent for a one bedroom apartment in the US is currently $1563 a month - let’s say this hypothetical person lives in a part of the country that is somewhere in the middle, between low cost of living and high cost of living, so let’s adjust that down a skosh to, say, $1450 a month.

$950 x 4 = $3800 per month - let’s say $4000 for easier math and to account for months with 5 paychecks, rather than four. That makes the average one bedroom apartment about 36% of your income.

Now let’s get some groceries - average grocery cost per person is $240 to $425 a month. Let’s make that $300, for easy math. We’re down to $2250, now, by the way.

Let’s go ahead and get some utilities for that apartment, shall we? Let’s estimate $150 for electric, $50 for basic internet, and $100 for a cell phone. Down to $1950.

Now we have to talk about transportation. Most of the US realistically requires a car, and most people buy cars on credit, so let’s say our hypothetical person has decent credit and bought an economical used car - let’s go with a five year old Toyota Corolla, with a little under 100k miles. According to auto trader, with decent credit and a $500 down payment, that 2018 Corolla will cost $371 a month - for easy math, let’s call that $350.

But cars require insurance - and since it’s financed, that means full coverage. Let’s assume our hypothetical person is a pretty safe driver, so their insurance is $150 a month. They also need fuel - average price of gas in the US is $3.25 a gallon. That Corolla has a 12 gallon tank, and gets good gas mileage - chances are our hypothetical person can get by with a full tank every two weeks, which works out to about $80 a month. That car will be pretty reliable, as long as you maintain it - let’s set aside $20 a month for things like oil changes and tires and windshield wiper blades and air filters and brakes. We’re down to $1350.

Okay, so we have a roof, a vehicle, food, phone, and internet. Let’s go ahead and start accounting for things like clothes, shoes, dishes/furniture, the kind of thing that you don’t necessarily buy every month but do require periodic replacement. Let’s set aside $200 a month for these kinds of expenses.

Chances are that one bedroom apartment doesn’t have a washer and dryer, so we need to account for laundry - let’s say $50 a month, or roughly $10 a week, plus a little extra to give us some cushion when the only machines open are the little ones, and the dryers are busted and take three rounds.

Our hypothetical person is trying to stay healthy, so they also have a gym membership - $50 a month will get you access to the Y, which is pretty sweet. Down to $1050 now. They probably also want some kind of entertainment, so let’s give ‘em a Netflix account and a little bit of DoorDash money - let’s go with $150 a month, which lets them eat out once a week and watch some TV.

$900 to go.

The average monthly student loan payment is $500.

Oof, that doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room. Now that remaining $400 a month has to cover things like….doctor’s appointments, prescriptions, personal hygiene, and savings.

What that means is that someone making $65k a year is one emergency away from serious financial struggle. It means they have their needs met pretty consistently, but can’t afford to save for a house or a vacation, can’t afford to have children, can’t afford a wedding, can’t afford a serious illness. They are definitely not rich.

If you make $17000 a year, you deserve to make more money. Period. But that money shouldn’t come from the people making $65000 a year - it should come from the people making $2 million an hour.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[bchanslvr]

hey! can i please request some fluff with harry potter? it can be anything you want! 💘

strawberry shortcake [hp x fem!reader]

word count — 2k (2, 954)

warnings — kissing, anxiety? overal no warnings

summary — you get a bad score and your loving boyfriend comes to the rescue to comfort you.

a/n — thank you for the request!! i couldn't think of an idea so i just came up with one from my own life. basically i had this test that i failed so my math grade from a b to a d.. and so i thought why not just use that and your request to create a fluffy harry x reader where he comforts the reader after a bad grade. i hope you enjoy. also i think i'd like to start writing on here again. and i swear i'll actually do ideas that you guys send me so please send any interesting ideas for me to do. also i tried to check for all grammar errors but im only human after all <3

you felt like your eyes were going to bulge out of your head when you saw your history of magic score. god save me, you thought.

you were stupid. you had a week to study, yet like you always do, you procrastinated and studied for 15 minutes before going to sleep.

and of course the material didn't stick in your head, so you got a poor score on the test. gosh not even poor, it was a tragedy. 13/45? come on. your grade was going to be a disaster. especially so close to break and finals. what were you going to do about it?

your mind was racing a million miles per hour thinking of anything that can help, but you kept running into obstacles.

how about i go during my free time for tutoring? you thought. yes that'll be great! oh wait. i need to go on my plant in herbology. scratch that. how about i beg for a retake? oh who am i kidding? he hates me he'll never let me re-take. maybe i can tell him a sob story, and then he'll have to be sympathetic and help in some way. i know he doesn't do extra credit but-

"hey y/n" harry said walking over to you with his messanger bag in hand.

you stood there frozen for a minute before looking up to say "oh.. hi harry..".

and well, harry could be oblivious sometimes. well, most of the time, but he saw the apathetic look on your face, and he just knew something was wrong. he was smart enough to know he couldn't ask you head on so he said,

"listen, y/n, i see something bothering you, so do you think you would want to go to hosmead after school with me to help you feel better? after all that's what i'm hear for" harry said.

"um... well... i... oh, forget it; yes, I'll come. meet me near the willow tree at 5 and we'll head there. maybe it will clear my mind. thank you again, harry," you said with a wide grin because at least you had someone who cared about you.

"no problem sugar, try to keep your head up till the rest of the day. ill see you later!!" harry said before winking at you and leaving the classroom.

you simply smiled back at him and began packing up your stuff to head out to your next class which was at the oppostie of the end of the school so you had to hurry before you were late.

the rest of the day passed by in such a blur. you didn't pay attention in any of your classes and just sat there in your seat like a statue. you almost ended up falling asleep in charms, but your partner bumped your elbow in time before professor flitchwick came by your seat and harassed you.

you couldn't wait to go to hogsmead with harry. you were having a terrible week, so you really needed this.

so you got to your dorm, did the usual stuff. put away your things, took a long shower, spent more than 10 minutes figuring out what you were going to wear, and just barely ran to the tree on time.

lucky for you, harry was just arriving as well, so you weren't late.

"hi sweetheart! im glad you made it" harry said after giving you a peck kiss on your cheek.

you felt your cheeks heat up, and pshh, whatttt that's just because of how cold it is outside since it's the beginning of november. totally not because of harry's gesture.

you still couldn't believe you scored with the pride of the school. everything that happened between meeting him and dating him was golden. you once believed that love would be black and white, but it's golden.

anyways you need to stop going back to the past and try to stay in the present more.

".. so i was just thinking we'd hit up the leaky cauldron and get a drink and then we can go anywhere you like. like if you have any errands to run. we could do that."

you smiled at him and said, "yes, butterbeer sounds great. "

he smiled back at you and intertwined his fingers with yours.

you tightened your grip on his hand, and smiled to yourself. walking hand in hand to hogsmead.

you guys window shopped until you got to the leaky cauldron. harry being close with the bartender, got to get booth seats and two butterbeers for free cause it was "long over due".

you sat opposite of each other. playing tootsie and giggling at each other's stories about random things like first years.

you stayed there until your drinks were long over, and you guys just talked about whats going on in your lives.

and all too soon it started getting darker, so you had to start leaving. harry gave the bartender a big tip after he once again intertwined his fingers with yours.

you arms swang together as you shuffled closer to stay warm.

kicking the snow on the ground and living carefree.

walking and talking all the way till he reached your dorm door.

 "so.. this is it for today. tomorrow we can go somewhere else, okay? so i guess it's good night love, sleep well-" he started before being interrupted.

"but i want you to stay!" you said, pouting.

"what?" he said, confused.

"yes, harry you heard me, i want you to stay." you said adamentally.

"but what about the enchantments?" he asked.

"oh don't worry hermione got those removed for all of us a long long time ago when she started dating ron"

"your kidding. you absolutey joking with me right?" he said looking ludocrus.

"no honey, im being 100% serious right now" you said smirking at his dumb expression. 

"and nobody told me???? i wanted to sleep next to you the entire time, but i though the enchantments were going to block me. why didn't you say anything?" he said, now being the one who was pouting.

"i don't know why my love. and i'm so sorry; can we cuddle now?" you asked. eye lashes fluttering at him so pretty he just had to give in.

"oh alright, i forgive you" he said smiling.

"yay!" you said as you dragged him by the hand and onto your bed. he would've still be mad at you but how can he be when he sees those eyes of yours that just stare at him full of love, every single minute of your day?

"...and then eat and-hello? harry? HARRY! are you even listening?" you asked, snapping your fingers in front of his face to catch his attention

"oh! woops i'm sorry dove, i got lost in your eyes"

"oh please" you asked, blushing.

"no love, i'm being totally serious right now. they're my favorite part about you. they tell me everything i need to know before it even comes out of your mouth," he said, bringing his hand to caress your right cheek in a loving manner.

"well- i-" you sputter, trying to think of something to say.

"shut up"  he says, in a demanding manner.

he pushed you onto the bed, so that your back was against it and he was on top of you. he was smirking and checking you out as you layed there.

and, to be honest, it made you.. feel things. warm cheeks and a fluttery feeling inside

you loved harry, he was a wonderful man. but God, he was so slow.

he never got any "action" in the love department before you. which you enjoyed because you liked the thought that you would be his first everything.

so far, nothing more than a heavy make-out session with some clothes off has happened. and you would never ever push him or force him to satisfy you until he comes to you.

and you'd wait as long as he made you but he was so dense sometimes.

like now. he doesn't even know the things he does to your insides as he looks at you like that.

"well are you gonna do something or just stare at me like that?" you ask.

he smiled and pressed his lips against yours. his soft velvety lips that have been bitten and chewed on were perfect against yours.

you ran your fingers through the side of his hair and pulled him close till he was one against your boobs.

his hand traveled to your neck, holding you until you had to break apart to breathe.

you giggled at his dazed expression and then pushed him over and straddled him so now you were on top.

now it was his turn to chuckle as he looked up at you with those gorgeous green eyes.

sparkling admised the red curtains and your bed sheets.

you couldn't help it as you smashed his lips into yours once again. it was safe to say you were completely mad for him as he grabbed your waist closer to him.

his hands roamed all over your body. squeezing and pinching and holding any part of your body he could reach. his hands werecoming over to squeeze your ass when-

"Y/N!!! Y?N?? WHERE ARE YOU I NEED TO TELL YOU THAT ME AND RON ARE- ohhhh..." hermione said as she barged into your shared dorm.

you broke apart so fast you must of his hit his head with your chin. ron stood behind hermione shell-shocked and she stood there with the doorknob in her hand speechless.

"im so sorry y/n oh my gosh. i can stay in ron's dorm tonight. don't worry about it. i-uhm have fun you two?.. hahaha bye."

and they slammed the door after that and you could hear them running away frantically. trying to erase the memory of each of their best friends getting it on.

you just sat there on his lap not knowing what just happened and he broke out in a loud laugh. that kind of contagious laugh that cheers everyone up.

you joined him in it and rolled him over so you were both lying on your sides facing each other.

"the l0ook on ron's face i- cant-t"

soon enough the laughing simmidered down and you both just stared at each other.

he was thinking of how lucky he was to have you when you interrupted his train of thought to say: "i actually have the matching pajama set that you got us for christmas last year remember? we couldn't wear it because we were so busy. why don't we wear it now?" you inquired.

"oh yeah! i remember! that's a great idea y/n!" he said, grabbing your cheeks in both hands, squishing them together "my baby's a genius isn't she" he baby talked to you and made you smile and laugh till your jaws hurt.

he then went to get the clothes for you. before yelling about how the girls dormitory had more room than the boys to which you giggled at from where you were on the bed. he then finally brought them back to your bed.

it wasn't anything much it had a snowman and snowflake print on the pants in a velvety soft material, and a ringer tee that said "oh deer"

you went into the bathroom to change happily. thinking about how you still went somewhere else to change even though it has been almost a year of dating him. you were still scared of him seeing you all barren like that and he didn't mind.

but if he was to say, he wouldn't mind you looking like that.

he cleared his throat and looked around to distract his thoughts of you before you showed up dressed looking the most perfect holiday angel.

he couldn't help but blush slightly as you sauntered over with a goofy smile on your face. he didn't like that it rendered his muscles into jello and his stomach to jump around like it did.

"come on now don't make me wait!" you said, giggling and jumping onto your side of the bed.

he smiled at you before joining next to you on the bed. he made himself more comfortable before he thought of something.

"do you want to go down for dinner love?" he asked

"hmphhh, i frogot about that. ughhhhhh do we have toooooo?? m' to comfortable." you said, pulling your blanket higher over you and melting into harry's side and the pillow.

he chuckled again, "that's just what i was about to say. don't worry i have it all sorted out"

he clapped twice before winky the elf walked out of thin air and bowed down to harry.

"hi there winky, how have you been?" harry asked genuinely.

"i've been good sir. how has master harry potter been?"

"i've been good. listen now, i have a request. can you bring us our dinner to our bed? i don't know if it's allowed but me and my girlfriend here don't want to walk down to dinner. can you do that?"

"sure winky can bring food for master harry potter and his girlfriend! winky would be delighted to be of service!"

"thank you winky i know i can count on you. could you also bring us two glasses of water and any dessert you have?"

"yes sir i'll be back here as soon as i can!"

and just like that she disappeared again leaving you guys in silence.

"well well well... look at you, with your own personal elf huh? what will hermione think?"

"shut up, winky actually likes to work and i'm just helping her to be in service" he said, and with that he pinched you.

"oww!! harry!! i know i was just teasing you. and you know actually in my house when you clap two times you either turn on or off a light not make an elf appear"

"oh yeah well-"

winky appeared out of thin air again with a tray in her hands

"here you are sir and sir's girlfriend. for your dessert like you asked i brought you somthing we had left over, strawberry shortcakes!! is this okay for master harry potter?" she asked.

harry grabbed it from her hand and placed in the middle of the bed.

"it's perfect winky thank you. you are dismissed now. "thank you sir. if there is anything else you would like me to do winky will be glad to service you again!"

she disappeared out of the thin air she came from.

"alright then dig in my love" he said.

"thank you harry, you're a dear" you say.

he blushed at the nickname but ate nonetheless. until you got to the dessert, you guys sat in a comfortable silence. but just when you were about to dig in on the cake both of your utensils clinked as they were reaching for the cake at the same time.

you looked at each other and laughed. "how about we do this? i know this might be a little cringe but i can feed you and you can feed me"

"ah yes be romantic in our bed with pajamas on, sure let's" harry said chuckling.

you shook your head with a smile and grabbed a piece on your fork, his mouth wide open and waiting. you gently pushed it into his mouth and brought it back out.

then it was his turn to dip his fork into the cheesecake and feed it to you like that. that kept altering until the cake was done. when it was done and about to be cleaned up you observed a small piece of frosting hanging on his chin.

you smiled to your self before putting your thumb into your mouth to collect wetness before wiping away the smudge.

he seemed surprised at first and then finally came to his senses.

he grabbed your wrist when it was just about to leave and pulled you closer. you look at him startled before he smashed his lips onto you once again. he pressed himself against you and warmed you up from the inside.

he tasted like strawberries and smelled like the leftover smell of a fireplace that's been extingushed.

you closed your eyes and gave in to his ministrations. allowing him to place you on your back on your bed again and kiss you like no tomorrow. you were panting as you broke apart.

that went on for a few more minutes till the high went off and he seemed embarrassed of what he did.

"harry. darling. don't worry. i liked it. if you hadn't started it, i would've" you said, caressing his arm.

he seemed to be reassured in your words and smiled at you. he put the tray away for the elfs to get in the morning along with your clothes to be washed.

you both set yourself comfortable and snuggled into the warm covers.

you wanted to face him but your back demanded to be faced the other way. you swore you had a back problem, and you were not even twenty!! so you faced your back to his face. thought he didn't mind. he actually preferred it this way because he could put his leg on top of you pull you closer to his chest.

you could feel his breath down your neck and his hand inching over your stomach lacing with yours. his face hidden among your soft hair.

you layed there content and belly full with the love of your life and delicious food. your bad score from the morning is a faint memory in the back of your mind. you can worry about that when exams come but for now life was good.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

harry taglist - i have no one to tag right now except the people i already know like works, because i made a new taglist which is in my navigation so if you'd like to be tagged in future works check it out! anyways @elleblxck @ronsbadidea @ladyvesuvia @heythereangels @hmupotter @toms-diary

[phoenixyfriend]

Rex and Anakin Raise a Family: Part One

The beginning of the end is this: Ahsoka removes Rex’s chip and finds her masters, starts to run, and loses her life before they make it to safety.

(She is the chink in all their armors.)

The beginning of the end is this: Anakin does not Fall, is there as his children are born, and sobs himself to pieces as his wife still dies for reasons none can find.

(Darkness would not have saved her, and the Light was already shattered.)

The beginning of the end is this: Obi-Wan mends his relationship with Anakin just in time to stay behind and guard the escape of what is left of his family.

(Obi-Wan would never have forgiven himself if he hadn’t, and Anakin will never forgive his Master’s memory for sacrificing himself.)

The beginning of the end is this: Their path to safety passes through Malachor.

------------------------

The house is small and dusty, but empty and uninfested.

Anakin is used to worse. Rex is used to worse. The twins can barely see six inches beyond their faces, and do not know any better.

“Do you think they take Republic credits?” Rex asks. They still don’t know what planet they’re even on.

Anakin shrugs. There’s no life to him, even with his daughter in his arms, and his son at his side.

“I’ll pawn a blaster if I have to,” Rex decides. He wraps the bottom half of his face in a scarf, and prays that the blond hair and civilian clothing are enough that nobody will look too close for the eyes of a clone.

Anakin shrugs again. They need food for the newborns, who can’t survive on packed rations and hunted game. There’s only so much formula on the ship they took, and it won’t last the week.

(He is not the only person to lose everything in the last three days, but Rex is more practiced at compartmentalizing.)

(There’s more to it, from the Force letting Anakin feel the deaths of those he loves to the extremely personal betrayal that was Chancellor Palpatine’s reveal as a Sith, but when it comes down to the basics, he knows this: Anakin is broken now, and Rex can hold his own widening fissures together a little longer.)

“I’ll be back soon,” Rex promises, and lets the slow blink and half a nod be his general’s response.

The village isn’t very large. It’s not wealthy, but it seems largely untouched by the war. Nobody looks at him for more than a moment, and he thanks the tweaking of his genetic line for the hair that lets him hide just a little more. There aren’t any rumors catching his ear; he only parses about half of what’s being said. They’re in Mando space, and the words flying about are largely Basic and Mando’a, in a dialect he only mostly understands, and sprinkled with what he thinks is Huttese and Bocce. Still, nobody’s passing hushed gossip about the Jedi turning traitor, or the Republic becoming an Empire. Nobody mentions the Separatists or the war.

Rex feels a mix of rising anxiety and loosening fear. People won’t be looking for them yet, not here, but something is wrong for there to be so little hint of the wider conflict. He’s no scout, but he didn’t make Captain--or Commander, for that it lasted only the length of that final, ill-fated battle on Mandalore--by being as unobservant as a fresh cadet.

He finds himself standing in a store specializing in childcare supplies, staring at a shelf of some twenty different kinds of formula.

“You need some help, stranger?”

He glances at the woman out of the corner of his eye, notes down the degree of danger--minimal, even if he’s not in his armor--and decides it’s not too much information. “My friend, his wife died in childbirth, just a day ago. The children need to eat, but...”

Her face turns into a grimace of sympathy. “You don’t know what’s best. Did the midwife not suggest anything?”

A midwife. They really are in the middle of nowhere. “The birth was... they only had a med droid. No professionals.”

He doesn’t elaborate, hopes she’ll just drop it, and she does. She turns to the shelves, eyes them for a long moment, and then picks out three different boxes.

“Here, try these and see which one the baby likes best. They’re what I’d suggest for newborns. Should be easy to make with some hot water. I’m guessing you have bottles already--”

“No,” Rex says, and then scrambles to explain in a way that doesn’t make it clear just how unprepared they all are. “Not enough. It was twins, and nobody expected it.”

“Did she not--”

“Please don’t,” Rex says, desperate already. “It’s been a long few days, and it’s not my story to tell.”

She nods, a tad too slow, but he hopes it’s just concern.

Bottles and pacifiers, diapers and towels, just enough to tide them by with the excuse of buying for the unexpected extra child instead of the truth of having gone on the run the second the twins had been born.

Rex sees the face the woman makes when he goes to pay. His heart sinks.

“I’m... we don’t usually take Republic credits here, you understand,” she says slowly. “But you’re in a bad spot, and I don’t want the babes to suffer. See about visiting the exchange office soon, though.”

He could almost cry. He doesn’t. It’s a near thing.

“Thank you,” he says instead, as emphatically as he can. “Thank you so much.”

She smiles faintly, tightly, uncomfortably. “If I could make one more suggestion?”

He nods.

“There’s... there’s a nurse that runs a clinic down the way,” she says slowly. “She can look over the children, for one thing, but she can also... well, there’s a medication we can sell, to single fathers and the like, but only with a prescription...”

He blinks at her, uncomprehending.

“It induces lactation in those who otherwise wouldn’t,” she says, and bares her teeth in something that isn’t quite a smile. “Not the most popular option, but it’s technically on the table for anyone with breast tissue, and breast milk is usually healthier overall for babies than formula, for most species. Um, it’s popular with adoptive mothers, wet nurses, same-sex couples, single fathers in a situation like your friend’s... tell me if I should stop talking.”

“No, no, I think that he’d actually appreciate that,” Rex hurries to assure her. “I can at least bring it up, and we’ll need to have regular medical attention for the twins anyway, so I need the address, don’t I?”

Her smile brightens into something a little more real, and she scribbles something down on some flimsi. “Here, just give this to your friend. Come here and ask for Teskarim if you have questions; that’s me.”

He commits the name in memory, dips his head in a nod of thanks, and makes his way for the door.

The trip back to the house is, by and large, uneventful. There are still no rumors. There are still no chip-loyal brothers. There are still no bounty posters, or--

His eyes dart back to the bounty board, just for a second. There’s a face on there that shouldn’t be. He doesn’t linger; it’s bad form, suspicious. Instead, he heads for the newsstand a few stalls down, pauses just long enough to get the date, and strikes out for the little house and their ship without changing his stride. Externally, he looks entirely normal.

His mind is in a daze.

3,594 ATC

The year is 3,594.

He hasn’t been born yet.

He does the math.

His General hasn’t been born yet.

Sith Hells, High General Kenobi hasn’t been born yet.

Rex is...

He has to talk to Anakin.

[write-orflight]

Galileo: Chapter 5

**Gif Not Mine**

Prev -  Next

Pairings: SpencerXReader, enemies to friends to lovers trope

Rating: M

Words: 2.5K

Warnings: Light smut, 18+

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: Y/N is an astronomer with her head constantly in the stars. But when a serial killer is threatening NASA’s top scientists, she is left in the protective custody of a man who’s gravitational pull threatens to pull her back down to earth.

A.N Unedited because i’m sleepy. There’s a fic I read when I first joined the fandom that inspired some of this chapter. i can’t remember the name but if you do, please tell me so I can credit. Comment on this chapter only or message to be on taglist please.

                             Chapter 5: Saturn 

There was a rare occurrence that happens sometimes in Space where a Planet will tilt off its axis and disrupt the order of things in the galaxy forever. Even though it hasn’t happened yet, it doesn't make it not possible. You had always thought about that phenomenon and how you never quite understood how so many scientists just blindly believed in that possibility with no proof. It wasn’t until that dance with Spencer that you believed in it. If you were the galaxy, that dance was the tilt in your axis. 

Nothing could quite be the same again. 

It seemed that Spencer himself was the disruptor. 

Since that day, everything between the two of you was different. It was simpler. It was too easy to have conversations, to laugh at each other's jokes, to spit inane useless facts at each other. But it also became too easy to melt at Spencer’s bright smile, too easy to stare at his hands as he helped you with your math sometimes, too easy to flush whenever he paid you a compliment on your work. 

Too easy to fall in love with him. 

You didn’t want to think about that but you couldn’t help it. At first, you wanted to chalk it up to you not knowing how to differentiate your feelings. Maybe you just thought you were in love with him because he was the first guy to be nice to you since Jonathan but as the days went on you knew that to not be the case. None of this felt like how you were with Jonathan. With Spencer, it just felt easy. Just felt right. 

It was the weekend so you had off work. Before you would always end up going into work anyway and getting some extra logs in but now you liked staying in and hanging out with Spencer. Right now the two of you were walking in the plaza near your home, fresh cups of coffee in hand. Spencer, at first, did not want to be out but after some convincing (which was just you threatening to leave without him, which he did not like) he was all for joining you out. The two of you stopped in a bookstore and you made a beeline for the astrology section. You hear Spencer scoff when you pick up a book to look through it. You raise an eyebrow at him. 

“What?” You say. 

“Astrology, really? Aren’t you a scientist?” 

“Yea, an astronomer. I love Space, so while Astrology isn’t a proven science. It’s fun to think the stars have a say in what kinda person you are.” You shrug. “When’s your birthday?” 

“October 28th.” 

“Of course you’re a Scorpio.” 

“That doesn’t mean anything to me. Astrology isn’t real.” 

“You must be real fun at parties.” You roll your eyes. 

“Well, what’s your sign?” 

“I’m a Cancer. Did you know that water signs are the most compatible? Especially Scorpios and Cancers.” 

Spencer laughs out loud at that. You turn looking him in the eye. “What’s funny?” you say. 

“That itself doesn’t tell you that astrology is bullshit?” He laughs. You narrow your eyes at him. “I mean, us, compatible? It’s funny.” 

You try. You try so very hard not to look hurt by his words, you know Spencer’s a profiler and will see right through it. And he does by the sympathetic look he gives you. 

“You’re right, maybe it is bullshit.” You say, putting the book down instantly. “Let’s go home.” 

You and Spencer don’t talk the whole walk home, in fact you don’t talk when you get there. You’re about to just retreat to your room when you feel a hand circle your wrist. 

“I’m sorry.” He says. 

“You didn’t do anything.” 

“I hurt your feelings.” He says. 

“You didn’t hurt my feelings.” You lied. “I’m just with you all the time. Sometimes I just need a minute alone. Is that okay?” 

He lets go of your wrist. “Of course, I’m sorry.” 

You nod and retreat to your room, blowing a heavy breath as you fell into your bed. Might as well take a nap. You thought as you let sleep take you over. 

-----------------------------------------------------

Long, slender fingers found their way into your hair and yanked roughly. You couldn’t help the soft whimper that came behind it. You felt the lips that were sucking hard bruising marks into your neck smirk slightly. His other hand trailed your body lightly until they met their final destination at your sex. You gasp loudly when the digit rubbed soft circles around your clit. 

“Are you going to be good for me?” He asked, you nodded dumbly before moaning out loud when the first digit found its way inside you. Spencer smirked at you. “Look at you. I’ve barely touched you and you’re this wet for me. You want me to fuck you, don’t you?” He asked, you nodded and gasped again as he found that spot inside you. “Hmm, I don’t think you want it enough baby.”   

You’re shaking your head immediately. “No. Ple-please fuck me.” You stutter. “I’ll be good, I swear.” 

The smirk he gives you is almost devilish. “Alright, baby. I’ll take care of you.” He says as you feel member pressing up against your sex--

You wake up to the smell of something burning and Spencer shouting expletives from what you assumed was the kitchen. You groaned, frustratedly. Since that day your mom came to visit, you dreamed of Spencer almost constantly. Today was no different. You couldn’t escape him in your waking hours and now it seemed you couldn’t even escape him sleeping. 

You hop out of bed and run to the kitchen. The sight before is Spencer frantically waving the billowing smoke that was coming from your oven. You run to open your window and turn the oven fan on. You both look at the pan that had something that couldn’t even be described as food anymore by the degree of which it was burned. Spencer looked at you guiltily. 

“You seemed upset so I thought I’d make you dinner but I was reading and I lost track of time. I’m sorry, Y/N.” 

You smile at him. “Thank you for thinking of me but I wanted chinese tonight anyway, sound good?”  You say, he nods gratefully. 

Later the two of you are sitting at your kitchen table, eating chinese out of the takeaway containers. You were talking about nothing and everything until the topic came to College. You talked about how freshman year you did the whole partying thing before quickly finding out it wasn’t your scene and keeping to yourself for the rest of your college career. Spencer told you he never went to any parties in college. 

“You never went to any parties?!” You asked, shocked.

“Well, I was 12. No one was really scrambling to invite me to frat parties.” 

“So you didn’t do any traditional college games? No beer pong? No ‘Never Have I Ever’?” You ask, Spencer shakes his head. That’s when you get a fantastic idea. You get up and look in the cabinet above your stove which is where you kept your liquor and pulled out a bottle of Jameson. Spencer sees this and immediately shakes his head. 

“No.” 

“Aww, come on. Let’s play Never Have I Ever.” You smile. “If you’ve done the thing you drink.” 

“I don’t want to play a remedial drinking game.” 

You think for a second. “How about this? You’re a profiler, right? And I like to think I’m a little observant so how about this. We’ll take turns making assumptions about the other if the person is right, the other drinks and if they’re wrong, you drink.” 

“I don’t know… it probably isn’t wise for me to be drinking. I’m supposed to be watching you.” 

“It’s not like we go anywhere that’s not here anyway.” You say. “Plus, if you're good at your job, you’ll hardly have to drink.” You throw a pouty face on for good measure. Spencer rolls his eyes. 

“Fine.” He says standing up and snatching the bottle from you, walking to the living room. You giggle at him before grabbing two glasses to follow him out. “Just so you know, it’s wrong to peer pressure people.” He says. 

“Well, what’s a college drinking game without peer pressure.” You laugh. 

------------------------------------------------- 

“Who’s starting?” You say as you watch Spencer pour your glass. The two of you are settled on opposite ends of your small couch, facing each other, your knees just almost touching. 

“You can.” Spencer says. “I want to see if you're actually observant.” 

“Okay.” You say, sitting up slightly at the challenge. “You’re an only child.” You say. Spencer raises his eyebrows at you, shocked you actually got something right, but drinks anyway. 

Spencer looks at you for a second. “You have an older sibling you are not close to.” 

You drank. “Yea I’ve got an adoptive older brother. There’s nothing wrong, it’s just he was already much older when I was born and we have nothing in common, other than our parents.” You look at Spencer for a second. “I wanna say divorced parents, but only raised by one.” 

“You’re a lot more observant than I thought.” Spencer says as he drinks. “Dad left when I was 10.” He says offhandedly. 

The game goes like this for a while, both of you confirming your beliefs of each other. You find out about Spencer’s mother's illness, Spencer learning you smoke when you’re stressed. Spencer was winning though, not that you had a problem with that as you wanted to drink, hence why you suggested the game. You were giving him a little bit of a run for his money. It was now your turn and the alcohol in your system must’ve turned off your filter because you say. 

“You’re a virgin.” 

You pause for a second waiting for him to drink when you realize he’s waiting on you to. You widen your eyes in shock but take your drink anyway. “I thought Maeve died before you got to meet her fully.” 

Spencer nods. “She did.” He says, “The two don’t correlate.” He says, like it's obvious. 

You hadn’t been expecting that. “You just didn’t strike as the hit it and quit it type.” 

“And I’m not, but sometimes things are just temporary.” He says looking at you, deeply in your eyes. “You were upset today, in the shop because I said we weren’t compatible.”  

You solemnly take a drink. “Why?” He asks. 

“Hey, that’s not a part of the game.” You say. 

“Please?” He adds. 

You sigh. “I don’t know… I guess, it seemed like the idea of being with me repulsed you. And that was upsetting.” 

Spencer looks at you with the most intense look in his eye. You had never seen that look before and you were glad you hadn’t because it was so heated that it was melting you where you sat. “The idea of being with you…” He says, eyes flickering down to your lips and back to your eyes. “Doesn’t repulse me. Trust me.” 

You knew you weren’t the best at social cues sometimes but that seemed like a pretty big one. You move closer to him, so that your faces were close but someone would still have to make that final move. You realize it’s your turn, so you think, Fuck it...  

“You want to kiss me right now.” You say, looking Spencer in his eyes. He doesn’t say anything, just takes a slow swig from his glass, eyes never leaving yours. He sits his glass down on the table next to him before saying. 

“You want me to kiss you.” 

You sip your drink, looking him right back in the eyes. You sit your glass down next to his and Spencer's hand catches your wrist on its way back. Before you can even get a good look at him, his lips are crashing on to yours. You groan in surprise before melting into it, your hands immediately going for his hair. His massive hands almost engulf your face as he tries to pull you impossibly close to him. He groans as he licks into your mouth, both of you tasting like the Jameson you had just drunk but there was also something under it that was just pure Spencer. You push him back until you are fully seated in his lap. His hands go immediately to your waist. Feeling risky, you experimentally grind your hips, causing Spencer to groan and grip you tighter. His hands slide up your shirt slightly, you moan at that. 

“Fuck-” Spencer says as you suck bruises down his neck. “Fuck, w-we’ve gotta stop.” 

You pull back. “Why?” you ask. 

Spencer swallows, pushing you off his lap. “There’s this thing called transference. You only want me right now because I’m protecting you. You don’t like me.” He says. “We don’t like each other.” 

You realized what Spencer was trying to say. You were both drunk and there, he didn’t really want you. It was being stuck together for so long that was making him attracted to you. You were foolish to think a guy would actually want you. 

“You don’t like me.” You say. “And I read this situation wrong again. God, I’m an idiot!”  

“I didn’t say that, Y/N-” 

“No, you’re right. You only kissed me because I’m what you’ve been stuck with for weeks. You don’t like me. I can’t blame you no guy ever does.” 

“No, Y/N, I just didn’t want to take advan--” 

“I need to smoke. I’m going out.” You say, grabbing. “Alone.” 

“Y/N, that’s not safe and you know it. Let me go with you.” 

“I think we both need to be away from each other. I’ll only be out front. Please.” You plead to him. 

  Spencer doesn’t say anything so you take that as your cue to go. You pull your pack and lighter out the kitchen draw and stomp out the door. As soon as you get in front of the building, you light the first cigarette as stray tears fall down your face. You were such an idiot to think someone like Spencer would want you. Sure you were both smart but you were arrogant and spiteful. Spencer was the sweetest person ever when you got to know him. It was stupid to think there was a world the two of you would work. 

You frustratedly put your cigarette out and stand to head back inside to probably embarrass yourself some more when you feel it. 

The hard slam to the back of your head knocking you out cold. 

------------------------------

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[melinoegoddessofghosts]

I grew up with ADHD that went undiagnosed until I was 16 and it messed me up. I still have an anxiety response to the phrase, "Just focus." And my worst fear is that I'm going to miss the signs of mental illness in my (probably adopted) child.

The thing that is helping me somewhat get over that fear is that I'm planning on prioritizing things that help everyone's mental health, regardless of diagnosis or disorder.

When I was a kid, one of the hardest things was sitting in the living room working on math until 10:30 at night EVERY night. If I see my kid struggling with something for that long, I plan on telling them, "Hey, why don't you get up and get a snack or watch a video or dance around for a few minutes. You've been working on that for so long, you probably can't even think about it anymore. You've earned a break." Now, as an adult, I take breaks every 10-15 minutes and I finish much faster overall.

If my kid keeps losing their homework, I'm going to help them come up with a color code so that their books and folders, and binders match. That way, all homework has a designated place. As an adult, every aspect of my life is color-coded or delineated in some way.

If my child has trouble speaking up in class, we're going to talk about what anxiety is, how it affects the brain, and some coping mechanisms they can try. I'm still working through my social anxiety, and I wish I had been given coping mechanisms earlier.

My parents are great, and to their credit, they tried to get me diagnosed multiple times, before a psychiatrist finally said, "Okay, yeah, she's old enough that we can say for certain this is definitely ADHD and not just laziness." So my late diagnosis is not my parents' fault. But I wish I had been told more often that it wasn't my fault that school wasn't as easy for me as it was for my classmates. And I wish I hadn't been asked "Why is this so hard for you?!" all the time, because I never had the answer.

[nevermindirah]

To take the Nile Marine Discourse veering off in another direction,

Why did Greg Rucka make her a Marine? Because his characters' only superpower is that they can heal and revive from any wound or injury or illness or whatever. They don't have superhuman strength or speed, they're regular people whose only superpower is healing, and they happen to be nearly-superhumanly-skilled warriors because they've been warriors for centuries and millennia.

This dude made Nile a Marine because she'd have to be a trained warrior to hang with such experienced doers of violence, right?

This dude got from point A, my creations' only superpower is healing, to point K, therefore they're exceptional warriors, because Greg Rucka assumes that before a certain time in The Past, pretty much all people were violent. I too was raised on Lord of the Rings and Arthurian legend and all that shit where those who don't live by the sword can still die from it. But, like, was the past really all like that, or is that just Western myth to make modern white people feel civilized by comparison?

Was Yusuf actually a skilled swordsman from go, or was he just a poet-accountant starting to take over the family merchanting business when a terribly timed business trip to Jerusalem forced him into pretty extreme fight or flight mode? Maybe Nicolo killed Yusuf many times before Yusuf figured his way around a sword enough to kill him back, because Nicolo got trained in invadering and Yusuf was doing the 10th century version of me sitting on my couch writing essays on the internet.

I have a lot of empathy for Nile the character who chose to become a Marine because that's how the US economy works and because if she lets herself really think about the lie of American exceptionalism that means her dad died for a lie and that will break her and she could probably put herself back together eventually but OUCH NO THAT WOULD HURT THINK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE GOTTA GO ENLIST NOW.

And I have a lot of empathy for Gina Prince-Bythewood who is so talented and has a platform but is still a Black woman in Hollywood and you can only rock so many boats at once before they throw you overboard so she went with Rucka's Marines as neutral framing and rocked other boats instead. Or maybe that's me giving her too much credit. I fucking love her work, but does she have a decolonial analysis? Does it enrage her what our country's military does to people in other countries and especially the people who live in Afghanistan? Maybe. But maybe not.

My appreciation for Greg Rucka as creator of characters who now live rent-free in my brain is non-zero, but my skepticism of his politics is very high.

Let's go back to that point A to point K math. The starting concept: regular human people with one superpower, healing. What are all the possible ways a person, a group of people could spend centuries of their time devoted to? What would make an interesting story for these characters' creator to tell? What would make the world a better place for these characters and the world of their narrative?

Shot in the dark here, what if, instead of regular human people with superhuman healing become superhumanly experienced warriors, what if they spend their centuries and millennia becoming superhumanly experienced historians, storytellers, sages.

Like, can you IMAGINE having a group of people who have spent hundreds and thousands of years listening to people talk about their experiences, learning how to get people to trust them with their stories, learning how to share their own stories and other people's stories with skill and care? By the time Nile, the art history grad student whose father died in Afghanistan but then the US government finally passed reparations for slavery so she got to go to college instead of joining the Marines, becomes an immortal these people are internationally respected and beloved holders of human history. Nobody's going to capture them and lock them in cages because people would RIOT and every restorative justice collective on the planet would be Holding Those Captors Accountable. (If Nile lives in a world where reparations and restorative justice are public policy in her country and many others, where the Old Guardians didn’t let colonizers get away with writing all the history books, would she have grown up in a world where the Afghanistan war even happened? Would the United States even exist? Would countries exist? Would slavery have been abolished globally and for all time even before that piece of shit Columbus was born? I’m gonna stop myself before I write another meta post within this already-way-long meta post but holy shit y’all this could change EVERYTHING)

The real world isn't always as violent as fiction makes it out to be, and fictional worlds could be way, way, like staggeringly way less violent than the real world if their creators chose for them to be.

Anyway Andy the paleo-zoologist (she was alone for at least a thousand years she befriends a lot of animals ok), Quynh the spinner of tales (romance! mysteries! comedies! the occasional tragedy but not too many because why be sad if you don't have to be! and also spinner of the most stunning cloth any human being has ever seen in their entire life holy fashion historian batman), Joe the poet with such kind eyes no one can resist telling him their secrets, Nicky the quiet and watchful man who notices what others don't even notice about their own lives, Booker the publications technology nerd (inks! printing presses! handwriting! forgery is a science y'all!), and now Nile the 21st century art history nerd who holy shit has somehow won the lottery because she gets to join this group of people who hold a vast trove of knowledge from so many times and places across human history in their forever-regenerating bones.