#Online Betting Solutions

[reasonsforhope]

"A 1-megawatt sand battery that can store up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy will be 10 times larger than a prototype already in use.

The new sand battery will eliminate the need for oil-based energy consumption for the entire town of town of Pornainen, Finland.

Sand gets charged with clean electricity and stored for use within a local grid.

Finland is doing sand batteries big. Polar Night Energy already showed off an early commercialized version of a sand battery in Kankaanpää in 2022, but a new sand battery 10 times that size is about to fully rid the town of Pornainen, Finland of its need for oil-based energy.

In cooperation with the local Finnish district heating company Loviisan Lämpö, Polar Night Energy will develop a 1-megawatt sand battery capable of storing up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy.

“With the sand battery,” Mikko Paajanen, CEO of Loviisan Lämpö, said in a statement, “we can significantly reduce energy produced by combustion and completely eliminate the use of oil.”

Polar Night Energy introduced the first commercial sand battery in 2022, with local energy utility Vatajankoski. “Its main purpose is to work as a high-power and high-capacity reservoir for excess wind and solar energy,” Markku Ylönen, Polar Nigh Energy’s co-founder and CTO, said in a statement at the time. “The energy is stored as heat, which can be used to heat homes, or to provide hot steam and high temperature process heat to industries that are often fossil-fuel dependent.” ...

Sand—a high-density, low-cost material that the construction industry discards [Note: 6/13/24: Turns out that's not true! See note at the bottom for more info.] —is a solid material that can heat to well above the boiling point of water and can store several times the amount of energy of a water tank. While sand doesn’t store electricity, it stores energy in the form of heat. To mine the heat, cool air blows through pipes, heating up as it passes through the unit. It can then be used to convert water into steam or heat water in an air-to-water heat exchanger. The heat can also be converted back to electricity, albeit with electricity losses, through the use of a turbine.

In Pornainen, Paajanen believes that—just by switching to a sand battery—the town can achieve a nearly 70 percent reduction in emissions from the district heating network and keep about 160 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually. In addition to eliminating the usage of oil, they expect to decrease woodchip combustion by about 60 percent.

The sand battery will arrive ready for use, about 42 feet tall and 49 feet wide. The new project’s thermal storage medium is largely comprised of soapstone, a byproduct of Tulikivi’s production of heat-retaining fireplaces. It should take about 13 months to get the new project online, but once it’s up and running, the Pornainen battery will provide thermal energy storage capacity capable of meeting almost one month of summer heat demand and one week of winter heat demand without recharging.

“We want to enable the growth of renewable energy,” Paajanen said. “The sand battery is designed to participate in all Fingrid’s reserve and balancing power markets. It helps to keep the electricity grid balanced as the share of wind and solar energy in the grid increases.”"

-via Popular Mechanics, March 13, 2024

--

Note: I've been keeping an eye on sand batteries for a while, and this is really exciting to see. We need alternatives to lithium batteries ASAP, due to the grave human rights abuses and environmental damage caused by lithium mining, and sand batteries look like a really good solution for grid-scale energy storage.

--

Note 6/13/24: Unfortunately, turns out there are substantial issues with sand batteries as well, due to sand scarcity. More details from a lovely asker here, sources on sand scarcity being a thing at the links: x, x, x, x, x

[drunkenkissesatdusk]

SAFE HAVEN

pairings — jason todd x reader

warnings — mentions of blood, mentions of injuries, mentions of yeowch, swearing, this was cams ( @harleyyquinnsgf ) idea so this is a dangerous game we play

summary — you would always be Jason’s safe haven; the only person he would ever let help him when he’s hurt would be you. that’s why he goes straight to you for help of any kind.

notes — like i said bruh cam gave me this idea bc i was a little lost on what to do

━━━━━━━ YOU’VE KNOWN JASON FOR YEARS at this point, befriending him in your earliest high school years. it was a pretty unusual friendship, Jason and his tendencies to get into trouble, and your picture perfect student record.

they do say opposites attract.

maybe that’s what made you and Jason begin a steady dating life as soon as you were both done with any studying. well, you attended online college and he continues with his Red Hood side gig.

you could hear the sound of your windowsill opening, and Jason sliding through it. nothing clattered to the floor - Jason had a designated window he would slide in from whenever he finished patrol.

you didn’t like it, but he liked it, so you endured it. it reminded you of before you guys got together, when he would still enter your family’s house to get inside and see you.

“did i ever tell you,” you were leaning against the doorframe, watching him remove his helmet, “how much this reminds me of when we were teenagers, and you always ran to me for help with your injuries?” you walked forwards, embracing him in a warm hug.

“no, but we could do a blast from the past and you could patch me up.” he gave you a weak grin, motioning to the gap in his leg.

“jeez, Jason.” you sighed, leading him into your guys’s shared room. you had him sit in the side of the table, your face flushing as he sat down after removing his costume. uniform? you forgot what Jason called it.

“you should see the other guys, then.” Jason muttered.

you began to work carefully, removing the dried blood. Jason watched you intently. you could feel his eyes burning into you as you continued to wipe away the blood from his wound.

“i bet you fucked them up, Jay.” you smiled, throwing away another paper towel, grabbing a new one. you doused it immediately in saline solution, doing the last passover of his wound with care.

“anyone else show up?” you hummed.

“no,” he mumbled, “Dick wanted to, but something happened that he needed to deal with. i told him he could come over and hangout soon.” he was still watching you, admiring the care you carried for him.

“well, he’s welcome whenever. was it just him patrolling?” throwing away the other paper towel, you reached for the gauze and medical tape you kept on standby for this exact reason - Jason.

“yeah. Damian’s patrolling tomorrow with Tim, which is destined to be a shit show. Tim’s only going because i’m staying in tomorrow.” he hummed, moving to make the dressing of the wound easier.

you responded to his movement with a small ‘careful’.

“staying in? what for?” you ripped the top of the gauze pads packaging off.

“you’re always telling me to take a break.” he muttered softly, his arms crossing over his chest.

“you’re finally taking my advice into your vigilante lifestyle? never thought i’d see the day.” you teased.

“and i’m regretting it already.” he joked.

you smiled up at him, wrapping the tape around the previously places gauze. Jason eyed the movements, how careful you were, and how lucky he was.

“movie night? i’ve been wanting to watch something new. we could try a romcom?” you suggested.

“i am not watching a romcom.”

masterlist — reminder that asks / requests are open!!

[midnightsnyx]

Matthew Tkachuk - All I Need

pairing: matthew tkachuk x reader requested: yes / no a/n: i haven't written a long one-shot in awhile but i really like this one! requests are open. word count: 1k

tw: bullying

masterlist ask box

You didn’t usually let it bother you; the whispers, staring, and anything else the other girls did. It wasn’t as bad when Taryn was at a game but those were far and few between lately so you had to endure it by yourself. It was different today though. Maybe it was because you had a fight with Matt before the game and let yourself dive into his comment sections on Instagram on any photos of the two of you. There were always nice ones, but the nasty ones were nasty. You know Matt spends hours reporting accounts and blocking them despite you telling him not to bother. People would find a way to criticize your relationship regardless of how many accounts he blocked. 

It was how your argument that morning started. He was eating breakfast while you fed the cat, scrolling through Instagram and frowning. You knew right away what he was upset about and walked to where he was sitting and put a hand on his arm so he would look at you.

“They don’t bother me,” you lied but he shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of "well it should”, so you dropped your hand and walked away. You went to sit down in the living room to watch something and heard him cleaning his plate a few minutes later before he joined you on the couch. He was quiet but didn’t have his phone anymore so you thought that he was done with it. 

“I could delete my Instagram,” he said suddenly, as if that was the solution to stopping the criticism. 

“That’s ridiculous,” you said. “Wiping yourself from social media doesn’t stop the mean girls. They’re at games too.” 

The minute you said it, you winced. You had been pretty good at not letting him know that the bullying was not strictly online. Taryn was nagging you to tell Matt exactly what was happening at games, but you didn’t want him worrying about it. You could ignore the things the girls said and just focus on the game.

Most times.

“What are you talking about? People are saying things to you at games too?”

You shrugged, ignoring his attempts at getting you to look at him.

“Girls like you, okay? They don’t think I’m good enough for you so they make comments.” You hesitated, but told him the same lie you always did. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“I’ll talk to them,” he said and you groaned in frustration.

“Yeah, like a parent confronting their child’s bully. I’ll pass, thanks.”

He argued with you for twenty minutes, saying that it would make things better if he confronted the other girls in the family seating area. It would just make it worse though, you knew it would. So in a moment of frustration, you told him if he talked to them, you wouldn’t go to anymore games. 

It was a lie, and you both knew it but the two of you were so annoyed with each other by that point, that he left for the rink early. He still had at least an hour before he should’ve left and it put you in a sour mood. Enough that you considered not going to the game that night, but in the end you pulled on your Tkachuk jersey and made your way to the arena. 

That brought you to this moment, listening to one of the girls purposely talking loudly about a bet they had placed on how much longer Matt would put up with you, despite the fact that the two of you had been dating for two years. You’d heard whispers about why he hadn't proposed yet multiple times, but you were able to ignore that because you and Matt had a serious talk about marriage and the fact that you wanted to wait a bit longer. 

“He can do so much better,” one of them said and you bite your tongue, knowing that saying something will just feed into their fantasy. You’re not sure exactly what it is, besides their wishes for you and Matt to break up. 

“Yeah, I mean just look at her.” 

It takes everything in you not to turn around and say something to them but the game ends so you get up and leave. You’re not sure if Matt knows that you came to the game because you hadn’t texted him so you go down to meet him near the locker doors. The security guy nods when you flash your ID but you come down here so often that he knows you. 

The Panthers lost, so you know Matt will be in a crooked mood but you still want to see him. While you’re waiting, the guys slowly trickle out of the locker room, nodding at you. 

Finally, Matt walks out and stops short when he sees you. He wasn’t expecting you to come to the game tonight at least because of your fight so you give him your best attempt at a smile. 

There’s a ten second pause before he walks over and wraps his arms around you and holds you gently. You’re pretty sure you stand there for at least five minutes before you pull away.

“I love you,” you tell him. “I love that you’d delete all your social medias, that you’d give the mean girls a lecture, and that you spend hours blocking and reporting accounts that say mean things about me.” You kiss him, smiling when he chases after you when you pull away. “But I promise, if it ever gets too much, I’ll tell you. I’m working on ignoring what everyone says, but in the meantime, all I need is you.” 

He runs his thumb across your bottom lip and nods. “Okay.”

He pulls you into another hug and you let your head rest on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. 

“Also, I was totally considering slapping one of them silly tonight,” you say and you can’t see his face, but you know he’s grinning.

[val-ritz]

GEMS

they're truly outrageous, and i just realized i can pin posts now

Hello! If you're here because I made an offhand remark in 2020 about getting a fistful of rubies for $20, I was simplifying very slightly. The lot of rubies that I got are now going for about ~$28, and you can find them here on gemsngems.com.

Do your own due diligence! I've had good experiences with them, I was able to corroborate those experiences with some other reviews online, but your mileage may vary.

FAQ

Q. What's the deal with this company?

A. Best as I can determine, gemsngems is a wholesaler operating out of Bangkok. They supply mass-produced lab-grown gemstones. Because they're operating out of Bangkok, note that international shipping times are probably going to be your enemy. I had to wait for my zircons for like six weeks.

Q. Hey, some of these ruby entries are looking more like $400 for one instead of $20 for ten. What gives?

A. The corundum this supplier has comes from three processes: flame fusion, hydrothermal synthesis, and Czochralski pulling. Flame fusion is cheap and easy, you cram some powdered aluminum oxide and some impurities into a plasma torch and bam, you've got rubies, or sapphires, or spinels, or padparadscha, or whatever. The resulting stones are good enough for me, which is why I bought them.

The hydrothermal process uses a big-ass autoclave to simulate the natural process by which these crystals formed. A saturated solution is put in and allowed to become supersaturated by slowly cooling it. Seed crystals are added to entice things to grow, and you've got pretty damn good stones. Notably, this can be used for things like beryl. It's more time and energy intensive, and that jacks up the price, but the result is basically indistinguishable from natural gemstone.

Czochralski pulling takes a seed crystal and puts it on the end of a puller rod that's dipped into a crucible of molten whatever. The rod is very slowly and precisely pulled upward, resulting in a monocrystalline "ingot" of that whatever. If you're trying to build a laser, don't, but that's kind of the only reason you'd need a gemstone with this kind of purity and structure.

Long story short, if you only need the rocks to look at like a dragon, you're fine with the cheapest option.

Q. Hey, why is there alexandrite listed in the corundum section?

That's simulated alexandrite. It's a corundum that's been doped with a colorant that changes hue from pink to green based on what angle you view it from. You can actually get true beryl alexandrite from this site, but since it's a beryl stone, a great big hunk of it's gonna be pricey, because of the above lecture.

Q. Do you actually have those rubies?

You bet your ass.

[soapoet]

PJO pick-a-card reading

Annabeth Chase; Your ideal career

01.

You would do best with a career that allows you to add your own touch. You could feel drawn to the prospect of entrepreneurship for a reason, and that is your inate ability to understand, follow, and set trends. You may rarely inspire neutrality, as you are either adored or disliked. This can cause you some hesitation in approaching anything self-made. Nobody wants to be put on blast or have their name dragged through the dirt the second they make a mistake, especially under circumstances where you are left alone to take the blame without a team to lean on, but you do have the benefit of forethought and diplomacy to avoid the worst of it. So long as you stay true to yourself and stay genuine, you have little to fear.

You inspire others, and thus you would do well in showcasing yourself and your lifestyle, your interests and your ideas for others. You would do well in business and in sales, as well as communications. You do well with people and are able to meet others with authenticity and really hear people. You could use your skills to promote important causes or rally people towards necessary changes. A career which allows you to travel and explore the world and write home about it would be very fitting. You can easily embrace different cultures and aren't afraid of trying new things, and your desire and willingness to learn new things is quite endearing and soften up your edges, inviting more warmth to how people perceive you. A chance to provide new solutions to problems or rework how things are done by inventing or designing something new could be really successful for you.

02.

Your best bet career wise would be to turn your passion projects into more than a thing you do on the side. You're creative and may really struggle when you feel unable to extend past limitations set by others. You enjoy variety and are drawn to more unusual concepts or ways of doing things. This creativity could lend itself to many things, but to name a few you would find yourself at ease within art and music, various online endeavours, writing and design. Though you may very well be introverted or simply a little, perhaps consider yourself a little socially awkward, you would do very well when involved with people. In any job, your clientele is met with a friendly and genuine demeanour as you try to meet people as unique individuals with their own stories and needs. You could be drawn to working with animals too, as your compassionate nature lends itself well to helping not just other humans, but animals, and the planet at large.

You could dread the thought of being in the spotlight, but the kind of following you would attract would feel quite familiar to you and rather easy for you to intract with when necessary. If you were to publish a book as an example, your readers would be drawn to your work out of the inherent mutual interest in its themes and thus make interactions fluid rather than awkward. You could even consider some anonymity to protect yourself. Fun will matter a lot in whether a career fits you or not. Work will always be work, but ideally it isn't all work and no play. Having a team of kindred spirits working towards a goal helps in this regard. Even if you wish to fly solo, you're collaborative and would benefit from teamwork and helping others, as well as allowing others to help you in return.

03.

Career wise you may want a little bit of a challenge, and plenty of opportunities for advancement and change. You're ambitious and cunning, and would do well in structured environments. To name a few, you could find it fitting to pursue academia, medicine, science, law, journalism, or anything else which allows you to use your wits and ability to learn and internalize new information. You are organised and steadfast, and a phenomenal problem solver. You could invest yourself in things that leave an impact on society, such as pursuing changes in the juridical sector, pedagogy and education, health care, or politics. Dissertations, articles, or other written works of you could prove very successful and provide objectivity in a world which is ever-increasingly divisive.

You're prone to stress, however, so creating a proper work-life balance is of upmost importance. Knowing when to step away and take a break is a skill that once mastered, you'll be able to wield it in favour of your productivity and take greater leaps in your career. Remember that you work best when you're not ill, aching, and burnt out. Due to your ability to multitask and see many things through, you could work on passion projects on the side. Ex. criminologist moonlighting as a poet or a songwriter. This duality would benefit you as a side hustle which aligns with what you may consider a mere hobby could end up providing you with extra income, which you can use to take good care of yourself and make sure you get to play too.

[anemoiashifts]

mental health check-in for reality shifting.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

as we all know, reality shifting is generally neural thing but tends to be glorified & romanized by a select few due to people wanting to have a better situation or a more desirable life.

that in itself is totally fine but this post is created with the intent to make sure the community has a healthy relationship with shifting & if not possible solutions.

if mental health is left unchecked it can lead to destructive behaviors & can worsen preexisting mental health concerns. for me personally, that’s not what shifting is about. you can learn about yourself & grow without even shifting. the expansion of your perspective & becoming more empathetic to yourself is something i believe is extremely important.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ how often do you think about shifting ?

while it’s fun to daydream & think about your desired reality — does it consume your life or take away from other tasks that need to get done in this reality? if you’re somebody who has maladaptive daydreaming disorder (like myself!) it can exacerbate the fantasy-like aspect of thinking about shifting.

if you’re someone whose mind wanders a lot do something productive. this could be finishing some homework that you’ve been putting off for a long time or rearranging your bedroom. stuff like partaking in hobbies while listening to youtube videos in the background may help too.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ why are you shifting ?

is it because you’re searching for something bigger ? maybe you’re looking for friends ? while you probably aren’t going to be able to meet your favorite characters here, you can meet lots of other people & make new connections at anytime. if it’s in person or even if it’s in an online space , i bet there are lots of people in this comment section or any shifting video who would love to be your friend.

defining why you want to shift can do wonders for uncovering more about yourself. 90% of the things people want to shift for are & can be found here & you’re more then worthy of them. just because you want something like love or a sense of belonging doesn’t mean you have to travel the multiverse for it.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ “i want to k!ll myself because i can’t shift.”

while i understand frustration, extremes that result in life altering & ending choices are never good and quite frankly, frightening for a creator to see in their comment sections. most sv!c!des are committed on impulse. we go through so many emotions on the daily & process so much information a day. taking a moment alone to think & break down thought process & long term effects your actions will have is a nice way to come back down to earth.

meditation is also a great tool to calm down. you can even use shifting guided meditations without the actual intention to shift. breath work has also been helpful to me.

i understand these suggestions aren’t long term fixes but if you’re someone who has echoed these words & truly meant it then i cannot recommend therapy & possible taking a break from shifting even more to focus on yourself right here where you are. this may not be the answer you’d like to hear but it’s the one that is possibly needed.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ timing.

there is no specific time frame that you have to shift. both children & adults do hold the capability to shift. if someone tells you, you can’t shift because ___ or that you’ll age out of something its simply not true. things take time & it’s okay if your journey doesn’t look like everyone else’s. there’s no need to stress yourself out. try to enjoy the journey as well as being excited for the outcome. essentially, a large part of the shifting journey is meditation & affirmations which are both beneficial to your mental & physical self. try to sprinkle in some self love affirmations or general positive thoughts too. even if you need to take a step away from shifting & pick it up at a later date, i encourage you to do so if it’s stressing you out or you’re only focusing on shifting or neglecting your life / responsibilities here.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ shadow & trauma work.

answering questions that are meant to make you think & deeply reflect are tools that hi light some issues you may not even realize you’ve had. i have a tumblr post here with some, but for tiktok, ill list some on the next side. these ones are specifically for shifting but i encourage you to venture out to discover some more personal ones to expand upon your answers to these.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

i should also mention, i’m not a therapist so take what i say as non-professional advice & mere suggestions & a starting point to truly expand what shifting has done for you, negatively & positivity. im a huge advocate for therapy & if you feel comfortable enough expand upon these conversations in sessions if you feel comfortable.

i understand my audience is varied in age but i do notice a lot of you are younger then myself. it’s hurts to see people who are so young stress themselves out this much over trying to shift. i really do care about you & want to see all of you happy — with or without shifting.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

get ya thinkin' (that you need me)

Fandom: Twisters Rating: T Word Count: 6028

Summary: Kate, Javi, Tyler, Lily, Dexter, Dani, and Boone—they're all one crew now, and they need funding. Trying to look more responsible on a grant application, they come up with an unconventional solution: two of them should get married. But which two? Javi and Tyler prompt Kate to consider what her friendships could become.

“I know it was me,” Tyler prefaces. “I know I’m the one who said our crew didn’t need PhDs, but…”

“But it might be nice to have one right about now?” Lily guesses.

There’s a collective sigh as they all stare at the screen together. Javi, controlling the touchpad, scrolls down and back up again, like the words might have changed, like this grant application isn’t punishingly particular and hopelessly intimidating.

“If we type it up in the wrong font it gets rejected?” Lily checks, jabbing a finger at the line she picks out of the blur.

Boone shifts and turns to Kate. “You’re doing your PhD, right? How soon you gonna be done?”

Kate gives him a look that asks if he’s shitting her. “Not by next Monday, which is when this application’s due.”

“Fuck,” Javi groans, rubbing his forehead.

“Well, hey, you gotta be good at this kinda thing, Storm Par,” Tyler reasons. “Your old crew had money comin’ out its eyeballs.”

“That was from investors. Highly unethical investors,” he clarifies, with a glance at Kate, who frowns sympathetically. “Private money. We never held a government grant.”

“We need more time,” Kate declares, like just saying that could possibly extend the deadline.

She shoves herself up and away from the motel bed they’re all gathered on the end of. If any of them were responsible adults, they’d be able to admit that they don’t need the deadline to be later, they need to have started working on this sooner. A lot sooner. The trouble is, they’re the furthest thing possible from responsible—at least, not in any way a government grant application would define the term (and, Jesus, does this application ever love defining terms—Definition of Terms is a whole section of the instructions, right at the top). They’re storm-chasers, risk-takers, and no, no one has yet seen fit to bestow upon them large amounts of money to fund their research, so it’s tough to prove they’re a safe bet, a good call, a fast horse.

“The only aspect we may be able to exploit,” Dexter pipes up, “is format.”

“It’s all online, I thought,” Dani says, seated beside him.

“Most of it is, but… could you scroll back up?” he requests of Javi. “Right… there. In the research proposal section, there’s an option for delivery method.”

“Thirty minutes or it’s free?” Boone quips.

Lily rolls her eyes at him.

“No,” Kate says, pacing. “No, it means we might have a better chance if we submit an audio recording of us explaining our research, maybe Javi talking through the data to make the significance really clear. Or we make a slideshow, or film a video.” She pauses to smile. “You guys would be great at that. The point is—”

“The point is,” Tyler picks up, meeting her eyes, “we could convince them on our own terms. No PhD necessary.”

“Though we’d still have to seem stable,” Kate stresses. Everyone nods back at her. “Professional.”

“Who says we’re not professional?” Javi demands.

“Do I need to bring up the pants thing?”

“…No.”

“Everybody in this room knows their shit,” Tyler says.

“Right,” Dani says slowly, “but you can’t say we aren’t… slightly erratic. Not that it’s a bad thing, for what we do. But Kate did say ‘stable.’”

“To be clear,” Kate says, “I’m not telling anybody to quit driving like a total jackass, or making up catchphrases that promote reckless behaviour—”

“Or shooting fireworks into a tornado,” Javi contributes.

“These non-criticisms feel oddly specific,” Tyler says tightly.

“Our roster’s not even stable,” Lily points out. She folds her legs on top of the bland coverlet and the mattress’s springs shriek. “Kate’s only been part of the crew a couple days longer than Javi, and that hasn’t been very long.”

“That is a valid point,” Dexter says.

Kate sighs. “It is. So, I’m asking honestly,” she finishes. “What can we do, by next Monday, to convince some government committee”—she slaps the back of one hand into the palm of the other as she lists criteria—“we are sane, we are stable, we are going to go the distance with this research?”

Into the silence that follows, Javi says, “We could get married.”

There’s another second of absolute quiet before Tyler asks, “Was that an open proposal, or is there a happy couple you had in mind?”

What Kate thinks they’ve probably all been enjoying about the new (or just newly expanded) crew is the lack of awkwardness. Javi’s Storm Par crew was rife with it. While having zero members with a PhD is sometimes a challenge, Kate saw how too many PhDs could be even worse; there was a hierarchy amongst those guys, and if anyone dared offer a suggestion, the rest of them would throw sidelong glances at one another. Kate figured a few of them could straight-up go to hell (particularly Scott), but she still doesn’t know how Javi stood it.

But even that awkwardness was clearly power-based. Javi’s suggestion is different, more personal, and definitely more awkward.

The vibe in the motel room is immediately screwed up. Some people look like they want to laugh, others are frowning in contemplation, and Javi’s just blushing, not looking anyone in the eye. Still, because he’s Javi, he doesn’t chicken out. He tries to make his case.

“You guys heard of Jo Harding?”

“Fuck yeah, I’ve heard of Jo Harding,” Dani announces. “Who in the tornado game hasn’t?”

“Well, she’s an Oklahoma girl, so I was just checking.” Javi shrugs. “Her husband was her partner when she chased.”

“Yeah, but she had a whole crew,” Boone says.

“Yeah, but she also had a husband.”

“Stop mansplaining Jo Harding,” Lily complains, flinging herself backwards on the bed.

“It’s not like having a husband made her a good scientist, or a good storm-chaser,” Dani says.

“I’m not saying that!” Javi protests.

“Yeah, dude, Jo’s husband isn’t the most interesting thing about her,” Boone adds.

“I can’t believe we’ve now spent more time talking about Jo Harding’s husband than Jo Harding,” Lily groans.

“They won the grant!” Javi bursts out. “They won the fucking grant!”

Tyler, who’s mostly just been observing the crew with amusement up to this point, looks at Javi and cocks an eyebrow. “This grant?”

“Yes! This grant! I’m just trying to say they’re a powerful team. Formidable. I’ve read, like, every article ever done on them—”

“Woah, woah, woah. You have? That’s intense.”

Kate glances at Tyler and explains, “He had a crush.”

“Sounds more like an obsession.”

“I admired their work,” Javi says defensively.

“Oh, is that what you were admiring in that one article where you cut across the text and just kept the photo of Jo?” Kate checks, smirking.

“What have I done to you, Kate? Goddamn.”

“Finish your point,” she prompts.

Javi sighs and braces his hands behind him, leaning back carefully so the laptop doesn’t slide from his lap.

“They always talk about how they make each other better. Not that the other person is why they’re good at their job in the first place,” he clarifies, shooting glances at Lily, Boone, and Dani, “but that they look out for each other, stop each other from making stupid decisions, keep each other safe. And yeah, a crew can do that too. A good crew. But a married couple just sells devotion and, and conviction in a different way. All I’m saying is it’s something to try.”

“It’s not an unreasonable proposition,” Dexter allows when it’s clear that Javi’s done. Dexter’s calm, steady voice giving the idea his tentative approval strengthens its merit for everyone in the room. Kate can see it. She exhales.

“Alright,” she says. “Well, we don’t have a lot of time to mull this over before the deadline, but let’s give Javi’s suggestion some thought. And any other ideas you guys come up with. Maybe reconvene on this tomorrow?”

There are nods and murmurs of approval.

The room they’re in is Lily and Dani’s, so the crewmembers not hanging around to chill file out onto the sidewalk that lines the motel. Kate’s just thinking about going back to her own room—well, hers and Javi’s, with matching twin beds in baby-blue coverlets that make her think of the Shining twins—and getting some sleep. They chased yesterday, then stayed up late last night going over the data. They’ve all been eating at weird hours, and now with the stress of the grant application… Kate runs a hand over her face. She can hear Javi and Tyler talking behind her, but she doesn’t think anything of it until she’s unlocked the motel room door and Tyler follows her and Javi inside.

“We need to talk,” Tyler states the second the door’s closed.

“‘We could get married,’” Kate quotes. (Sarcastically, but yeah, she’s beat.) “‘We need to talk.’ You’re both so dramatic today.”

“That’s what we need to talk about,” Tyler says, ignoring her sarcasm.

“What?”

“Getting married.”

Kate gives him a slow blink.

“We just did,” she says. “That’s what that conversation was.” She points in the direction of the other motel room.

“But we need to decide,” Javi says.

“We will. Everyone needs some time to think.”

“No, they don’t,” Tyler says.

“Uh, yes, they do. If they’d either thought it was the best solution or a total flop, they would’ve said right after Javi explained.”

“I know our crew better than you do, Sapulpa—just a fact. Trust me, they had an opinion.”

“Then how come nobody said anything?” Kate asks skeptically.

“Because it isn’t about them,” Javi says.

“What? Of course it is! The grant is for the team. We can put it towards a new drone for Lily and get Boone some more—”

“Not the grant. The marriage.”

“The marriage would be for the grant.” Kate has a bad feeling that she’s started talking to Javi like he’s an idiot, but she’s seriously just not getting it. Why isn’t he just saying what he means? She’s tired.

Tyler laughs. He laughs! She stares at him.

“Come on,” he says, “you have to know why they all clammed up.”

Kate looks to Javi. Javi, the guy she basically ghosted until he showed up at her workplace to drag her back here. Javi, who’s still her best friend, no matter what. Javi, who she really needs to make sense right now.

“They didn’t ask any questions,” Javi says gently.

“Most importantly,” Tyler cuts in, “nobody asked who this hypothetical marriage would be between. You catch that?”

“That’s just because we need to decide whether or not we’re doing it first,” Kate says, crossing her arms.

“You really think that’s why? And not that it’s because of the way Storm Par here looks at you, or the fact that he’s the one who suggested getting hitched? It’s not just a grant application, Kate. There are other stakes here.”

Kate flushes lightly, and when she chances a look at Javi, he is too. Tyler’s not exactly wrong, but he isn’t quite right either; she and Javi go back a long way. They care about one another—which is natural, especially after what they survived. Kate would also be lying if she tried to tell Tyler she hasn’t noticed those looks of Javi’s, that she’s blind to the way his steady brown eyes linger on her when she speaks, find her when she’s still, working out the math for their next planned chase. She doesn’t hate it, that way he has of looking at her.

Javi temporarily saves her from responding. Once he’s made his point, she’s not entirely grateful.

"Me?" he says to Tyler. “Those guys aren’t keeping their opinions to themselves because of some obvious claim I was staking on Kate. I’m subtle.”

The remark is so pointed that it’s no wonder Tyler reacts to it, even as Kate has a private, silent panic.

“I never staked a claim on Kate,” Tyler assures him.

“Sure you did,” Javi argues. “You stayed at her house. You met her mom. You basically poached her from Storm Par.”

“I didn’t need to poach her. She came willingly. And I bet you’ve stayed at her house and met her mom! You’ve known each other, what? Forever? That about right?”

“Well, what about you two?” Kate interrupts, gesturing between the men. “Old rivals, new allies. Some unresolved tension from chasing the same storms, maybe? How do you know the crew weren’t picturing you at the altar?”

While this seems to genuinely bewilder Javi, Tyler hitches his jeans and shrugs. “Wouldn’t be my first rodeo.”

“I just don’t think anybody’s thinking anything.”

“They might not all be thinking the same thing,” Tyler allows her, “but they’re all thinkin’ something. The two people getting married to give us a shot at this grant are standing in this room right now. I guarantee it.”

The three of them eye each other.

“If there’s going to be a marriage,” Javi says.

“Oh, there is,” Tyler says. “You made too good a case for it. Whole lotta money on the line. Seems too logical not to try.”

“Nothing about this is logical,” Kate decides, and goes to brush her teeth in the tiny bathroom.

When she comes back out, Tyler’s gone. She cedes the bathroom to Javi so he can get ready for bed too. They exchange a look as he passes her, but she waves him on, pats his shoulder as he passes. They can talk when he’s ready. Well, maybe not ready, but ready for bed. She goes to her squeaky twin and sits down to wait.

“It’s insane,” Kate says a little later.

They’re lying down, facing each other across the divide between their narrow beds. There’s an old movie playing on the perhaps equally old TV that sits against the opposite wall; they’ve turned the sound way down. The screen’s glow provides the only light. Kate thumps her pillow for emphasis rather than elaborating. She just doesn’t have anything smart left to say on this topic.

“It’s also not,” Javi counters. He’s run out of more sophisticated arguments too.

“So, two of us are really going to get married?”

“Hey, we do crazier shit literally every day. And it’s not, like, real. Whether or not it helps us get the grant, the marriage can be annulled, or they can get divorced, or whatever. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

Kate laughs, and then Javi laughs too. She likes watching him laugh; his smile hangs on for such a long time after he stops. It’s sweet.

“Who do you think it should be?” she wonders.

“I mean, I would do it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I suggested it, right? Gotta put my… I don’t know, my vows where my mouth is.”

“So rational,” Kate notes, sort of joking, though she does also admire Javi’s pragmatism. He’s thinking of the crew, how to look out for them, both by securing this grant and by sparing them the need to enter into this plan which is—regardless of what he says—a little insane. When she thinks of it that way… “I guess I would too.”

“You would get married?”

“Why not? Since it has to be somebody. You’re my best friend, anyway,” she says, sending him a soft smile. “It wouldn’t be like marrying a stranger. Besides, nothing would really change.”

“You don’t think so?” Javi asks earnestly. Which is not the easiest question to answer. But Javi has more to say before he’ll let her try. “You know… I mean, I told you…”

“That you would’ve done anything for me, back then,” Kate fills in. She sees Javi nod against his pillow. She exhales slowly. “Yeah. I didn’t really pick up on that. I just thought we were friends.”

“We were friends. We are. I just felt a little more for you than that. Not that I ever would’ve done anything. You and Jeb were great together. I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to try to come between you, and I didn’t want to. I just sort of quietly…” Javi grins like he can’t help it. “…had this thing for you.”

Kate returns his grin, amused because it’s easier to feel amused than to feel sad. She wants to be able to talk about Jeb, hasn’t let herself in so long, putting herself more than a thousand miles away from anyone else who knew him. Now, it feels so good to hear Jeb’s name in the mouth of somebody who cared about him too. With Javi, Jeb will never be forgotten. Kate will never lose the opportunity to talk about Jeb, to reminisce. Javi will be as respectful now as he apparently was then, keeping his own wants reined in so Jeb and Kate could be happy with each other. Who should she—should either of them—allow to make her happy now? With his caring, trusting eyes trained on her as the light from the TV flashes and shifts, Javi seems like a pretty good choice.

“It’d be more than practical for you,” she acknowledges.

“It would.” Javi sighs. “I thought you’d better have all the facts.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And now you can admit it,” he prompts.

“What?”

“That you got the hots for me too.”

They share another laugh. But Kate can only laugh so long as a reaction to his teasing tone, because, yeah, she kind of has started to think of him in that way since being back here in Oklahoma. She’s been trying to wait it out a little. Part of that’s fear; Jeb was her last serious attachment. She hasn’t been able to love somebody like that again (she hasn’t even really tried to date), too scared that something awful will happen. With Javi, it’s a real possibility that he could meet Jeb’s exact same fate, and there’s no place in the whole world Kate could move to that could get her far enough away from here if that happened.

The other reason she’s waited is that coming back, coming home, has provoked a swirling mess of feelings in her—an emotional tornado, if she’s honest, and it has taken honesty to let herself be hit by the force of those feelings instead of retreating to the mental bunker where she’s spent the last five years. Those winds are still calming. In the meantime, Kate hasn’t wanted to confuse the feeling of being home with a desire to be more than friends with Javi.

“Not then,” he says kindly, when she doesn’t reply right away. “I know you didn’t then.”

“Coming back,” Kate starts, her gaze drifting, “hasn’t been totally what I thought it would be. I’d be lying if I said you weren’t part of that. You’re the same as you were then, but different too. I’d never seen you lead a team before.”

“You surprised those guys listened to me?”

“No, I guess I just wasn’t expecting the way you made room for me. I saw that you were still on my side…

“I always have been.”

“I know,” she promises, meeting his eye. “And you trusted me again, immediately—”

“No reason not to,” Javi says easily.

“There were reasons not to,” she insists. Does she need to remind him of their first chase after she arrived? How she panicked? How she was the reason they didn’t get the third scanner set up and so couldn’t collect data that day? “But you vouched for me. Last time, with our team, you trusted me because I was the head of the project. It felt like you trusted me just as fully this time, even though it meant committing all those other people and all your resources.”

She’s surprised, while she’s being this sincere, that Javi laughs at her.

“I never trusted you just because you were the head of the project,” he explains. “I trusted you because you were you. You’re still you. You’re so you that Tyler’s ready to marry you too, and you’ve known each other less than a month.”

Kate makes a dismissive sound.

“You know there’s something between you,” Javi says. “That man is crazy about you.”

“I think he might just be crazy. It’s well-documented on the internet.”

“He’s always close to you.”

“So are you.”

“Exactly,” Javi agrees. “So I can speak to his motives.”

“We survived an EF4 together. He sheltered me with his body in the bottom of a swimming pool. Maybe we just shared an intense, near-death experience.”

“Is that all?”

Kate deflates.

“No. He is pretty hot.”

“That’s what I thought,” Javi says triumphantly.

There’s more to it than that, but Javi can obviously tell that already, so it doesn’t seem worth saying. Kate folds her pillow in half so she can sit up a little higher.

“Well, can we talk about the look on your face?”

“When?”

“‘Wouldn’t be my first rodeo,’” Kate quotes, badly mimicking Tyler’s voice.

“As if he meant anything by that.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s Tyler Owens! He just says shit for dramatic effect!”

Kate crosses her arms and stares at her friend with amusement.

“Probably!” Javi adds weakly.

“I could see you two married. Fake-married.”

“He is good at what he does,” Javi concedes, “when he’s not being a total jackass.”

“Is that all?” she teases.

She hears Javi’s deep sigh.

“I’ve watched a few of his YouTube videos,” Javi confesses. “He takes off his shirt sometimes.”

Kate sinks back down into bed after that. At some point, half-asleep, she hears Javi get up to use the bathroom. He switches off the TV on his way past, and the light quits flickering across Kate’s closed eyelids.

—

They aren’t chasing the next day, so they decide to stay in town for breakfast at the little diner. Because they’re together so much—hunched over the same screens, crammed into the same vehicles, bunked in the same motel rooms—it isn’t unusual for them to not eat together. Four of them practically feels like a family reunion, but Kate’s glad of the company. She, Javi, Tyler, and Boone grab a booth and flap open their cracked plastic menus.

Javi, seated opposite her and next to Boone, keeps looking at her. Kate can feel it without returning his gaze. When she relents and looks back at him while they’re eating, she sees (as she suspected she would) that he isn’t making eyes at her over his pancakes—he’s watching her with Tyler. She makes a face at Javi. There’s nothing to see! Tyler might be sitting beside her, but he’s intent on dipping his bacon into the yolks of his eggs, laughing across the table at something Boone’s telling him he captured in recent footage of the crew goofing around. Tyler and Kate aren’t looking at one another. They aren’t even touching. Yeah, maybe she can feel the heat of him because their thighs are almost close enough to touch on the seat, but it doesn’t mean any more today that it did yesterday. Javi’s just trying to make it weird, because of their conversation last night.

I could make it weird too, she threatens with her eyes. That makes Javi smile and go back to his pancakes.

After they’ve finished though, when Boone and Javi get into a discussion that quickly becomes so focused that it shuts out the other side of the table, Tyler nudges Kate’s arm with his elbow and jerks his head towards the door.

Outside, Kate takes a breath that doesn’t feel deep enough. It’s dry today. A field borders one side of the diner parking lot, and the wheat rustles crisply. Taking it all in is second nature, requires no thought at all. There’s the windspeed she can guess at when a breeze strokes across her arm; there’s wind direction, determined when a slightly stronger gush sweeps a strand of hair loose from her ponytail; she judges the atmospheric pressure with her sinuses; and she gathers all of this without even looking at the sky. When she does, it’s cloudless, flat as a blue tablecloth.

She looks at Tyler. He’s studying her.

“Just trying to pick up some tips,” he says, before she can say anything.

“And? What’ve you learned?”

Tyler just smiles mysteriously.

“You guys talk last night?”

“Me and Javi?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure,” Kate says. She knows it’s a vague answer, but Tyler will be bold enough to ask for the information he really wants. She’d bet on it.

She turns to face him fully, crosses her arms expectantly.

“Did you decide anything?” Tyler asks. He has his cowboy hat on, but the morning light slants low, making him squint when he looks at her. She circles him a little so he’s not staring into the sun.

“It shouldn’t really be a unilateral decision, should it?”

“Typically, yeah, it is just one person who decides to propose.”

“This isn’t about just one person,” Kate reminds him. “It’s about the crew.”

“I’m aware.”

“Well…”

“Well. Are you guys waiting on a group vote then?” he inquires facetiously.

“I didn’t say Javi and I agreed to get married,” she says, frowning.

“You didn’t say you didn’t either.”

She sighs at how frustrating Tyler’s being. He shifts his feet, making the gravel crunch under his boots. There’s a grit to him too—in how he only seems like he’s going along with this but obviously has something he feels he still has to say, something he hasn’t yet given up on. But Kate has a hard time with waiting. She likes making decisions quickly. Somehow, this—the prospect of marriage—is an exception. More complicated than it should be, if it’s just about securing the funding.

(It’s not. She knows it’s not, especially after talking to Javi last night.)

“I’m better at running,” Kate says quickly. “Lately.”

“What?”

“Than chasing.” She offers a weak shrug, not sure what to do with herself, with her body. Tyler’s so solid, standing here in front of her. So steady in his eyes.

“Do you wanna chase me?” He doesn’t sound surprised, exactly, but his words are less than a challenge.

“Seems like it’s my turn. You followed me to New York and all.”

“I didn’t follow you. Your flight got delayed and I had time to buy a ticket. I went with you.”

It’s true, he did. First, they waited out the delay together. The weather didn’t turn into what it might’ve, so it was only an extra hour. Tyler had time to call Boone about coming to get the truck, and Kate had time to call Javi about the storm warning. Javi hadn’t left the airport yet. Initially, he came inside. A tornado was about the only thing that could excuse there now being two trucks parked in the Drop-off Only zone outside. (That poor man.) They sat together in the chairs by the check-in desk, Kate and Tyler on either side of Javi as the three of them studied the weather data on his laptop, the hard-edged coloured shapes that scudded across dark county lines. As soon as they knew it was nothing, Javi said he’d drive back to get Boone himself, then bring him to the airport to collect the truck. Tyler said he didn’t have to. When Javi insisted, Tyler gave way. That surprised all of them. It was maybe the start of the new team.

In New York, Kate let Tyler come to work with her. Her coworkers were the weather-geek demographic Tyler appeared to have never even dreamed of; many of them were familiar with his YouTube channel. One of them asked if Dani was single. Kate grinned as she stood back and watched Tyler lean into his persona for the fans, into his accent—just the same as she had leaned away from her accent when she moved up here, not wanting questions about where she was from. Not wanting to think too often of home. She stood and watched, and then she went to her boss’s office and quit with as much grace as she could manage after taking a week off on almost no notice. Tyler urged the whole place into his trademark call and response on their way out the door.

“That’ll numb any hard feelings for a while,” he assured her as they took the elevator down to the lobby.

“What hard feelings?”

Tyler frowned at her.

“About losing you. They’re gonna miss the hell outta you, Sapulpa.”

“Too bad,” she said. She didn’t think it was true.

“Too bad is right. You belong to the South, and we’re takin’ you back.”

She wouldn’t let him help her pack up her apartment. What had once seemed fresh to her—the white walls and clean lines of starting over—now seemed barren and sad. She found she was glad to leave it. She didn’t want Tyler to see.

He spent his time in other ways. Took a ferry out to Liberty Island. Ate pizza in Brooklyn, pastrami on the Lower East Side. He got up to the Bronx to watch a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Kate didn’t know how he managed it all. They were in New York for three and a half days. Tyler just beamed and told her his feet were killing him. He still helped her carry all her boxes down the stairs of her walk-up while the train rattled by.

They drove back to Oklahoma in a rental truck. Somehow, Tyler made it take four days, when they probably could’ve done it in two. He bought her an ice cream in St. Louis, laughed as it melted so fast that it ran down her hand.

She guesses this, now, standing in a diner parking lot, is overdue. Even though, like Javi said, she and Tyler have known each other less than a month. It doesn’t feel like it.

“What about you and Javi?” she asks bluntly.

“That could be fun,” Tyler allows. “There are a few more buttons there I wouldn’t mind pushing. Think he’d go for ‘Javi Owens’?”

A laugh bursts from Kate.

“I think you’d be taking your life in your hands if you asked him.”

When Tyler smiles at her, pleased but gentle, she gets it. She got it from them both: they’d get married for the application, probably even find it a lark, but it wouldn’t mean much more than that. There’d be less danger in it. That should be a good thing—a reason for Tyler and Javi to be the ones—but Kate knows it’s also the thing that’s making them all hold their breath. They’re used to this type of crossroad, the three of them, used to tilting their faces to the sky to check the conditions. In the end, they’ll always pick the road that leads them into danger, not away from it.

They both want Kate.

“You don’t have to chase me just because you think you should,” Tyler says sternly. “You don’t have to chase me at all.” His face softens. “I’m standing still.”

She laughs and, incredulous, asks, “Since when?”

“You,” he says simply. “I like Javi, Kate. I do.” But I want it to be me, his eyes say when his mouth stops.

“Yeah.” She knows. She can see that he does.

She and Tyler leave it there, because Boone and Javi are coming out of the diner now. They came in two vehicles and Kate goes with Javi because she knows he’ll let her think.

It’s officially not about the grant anymore. It’s not even about getting married. This is bigger and smaller than that. Kate puts the passenger-side window of Javi’s truck down (an older truck, no Storm Par logo) and leans into the onrush of air. The marriage would be strategic, but a relationship with either Tyler or Javi would be completely real. Real feelings, real expectations, real mess if it fell apart and they kept working together. Which they would; they all love this job too much.

For just a second, Kate shuts her eyes and wishes this wasn’t happening to her. Then she feels silly because, after Jeb, ever falling for another human being seemed astronomically unlikely. She stuck to storms. Had crushes on cloud formations. Made lovesick eyes at the sky when it turned a spooky shade of green. That Javi and Tyler are both ready to be with her seems like a miracle. She’s grateful. She just doesn’t know how to choose.

Javi leaves her alone for the entirety of the short drive. They pull into the motel lot behind Tyler and Boone and drive to the end where the doors of the crew’s motel rooms stand in a line. Dexter, Dani, and Lily are there as they pull in. They’re excited about something; Lily’s practically dancing on the sidewalk and Dani says something to Boone that makes him yank her into a hug.

Kate and Javi spill out of his truck.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

Lily springs towards her, raising her hand to show off a ring that’s slightly too big, slipping up and down her finger as Kate tries to look. Kate’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Dani and I got married!”

“Congratulations,” Tyler says, butting in before Kate can blurt out another What? or When?

“It’s just for the grant,” Lily reminds him, laughing and waving off his sincerity.

“Never thought I’d say somebody married me for the money,” Dani remarks wryly. She’s wearing a ring too. Hers fits better. Kate wonders where they got them, and assumes the tiny antique store on the main strip.

Lily blows Dani a kiss.

“I went as a witness,” Dexter says.

“This just happened?” Javi asks, looking at each of the three conspirators in turn.

Lily shrugs and says, “Yeah.”

“You didn’t talk to the rest of us about it,” Tyler says. Kate doesn’t think it’s quite a complaint, but he seems thrown to have been left out of the loop.

“Oh, like the three of you let us in on whatever you’ve been planning?” Dani demands, pointing out Tyler, Kate, and Javi.

Tyler looks a little sheepish after that.

“Haste was the order of the day,” Dexter says. “It seemed efficient. We can move forward with our application now.”

“Yeah,” Kate agrees, still a little stunned. “For sure. Efficient. Thanks for taking one for the team, you guys.”

“No problem,” Lily says, and pulls her into a hug.

It’s not until later, out at a bar to celebrate the wedding (or the marriage, or their hopes to deceive the government for financial gain, or just their crew, really, who delight in one another’s exploits), that Kate, Javi, and Tyler find themselves at the same table. As if it’s a coincidence. Kate presses the rim of her bottle of beer into her smile.

“Lived to fight another day,” Tyler says over the vibrant twang of music, staring at the rest of their crew as they line dance to and fro across the floor.

It’s so typically dramatic of him that Kate and Javi glance at one another, and Kate has to pinch her nose shut so beer doesn’t shoot out of it when she laughs.

“Owens, I saw you talking to Kate outside the diner this morning,” Javi reveals. “Didn’t look like you were pleading to be spared.”

“You were spying on us?” Kate demands, rounding on Javi. She gives his shoulder a half-hearted shove as he laughs.

“Hey! I wanted to see how things were gonna turn out!”

“I’m pretty curious about how things are gonna turn out myself,” Tyler asserts, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He gives Kate a significant look. She dodges it, ducking her head with a smile. She can feel the both of them watching her.

Javi reads her right:  “Too soon to say, huh, Kate?”

She looks up, letting her eyes slide from one face to the other, incredibly fond of them both. Slowly, she grins.

“Guess you’ll just have to keep watching the weather,” she tells them.

Kate slaps her hands on the table and rises to join the others on the floor.

[clonerightsagenda]

Observing various takes and tags on the content warnings poll and while my initial response was 'I see their utility but have a kneejerk assumption that the work that follows will be very Online' I am increasingly persuaded that the ideal solution is a folksonomy system a la 'does the dog die'. Because, frankly, the author may not realize what's most upsetting about their work. If an author deliberately writes about sexism, for example, it's easy enough to warn for. But if the author unconsciously writes something sexist, they're not going to think to warn for it, are they? If there are content warnings for other things, that just means the reader will be even more blindsided. Author-generated warnings leave you at the mercy of what they think is most upsetting, and that's a personal judgment. If we were going to hypothetically make this a Thing, I think crowdsourcing is your best bet.

[jttwconfessions]

I want to read JTTW so badly. It’s been on my reading list for years, but LMK finally gave me the motivation to read it. Except…I can’t. Sure, I could get the abridged version. But I want to read the massive, four volume four version. The problem is they’re just so expensive! I don’t have any space on my bookshelf either. And even worse, my library doesn’t have them. Now, I could read them online. But I just hate reading stuff online. I need to be physically holding a book. Is that kinda ridiculous? Yes. But I’m guessing my best bet is to just wait until Christmas and ask for all the volumes or something…unless somebody has another solution. Ughhhhh

[tangibletechnomancy]

The reason I keep stressing that The Problem Is Capitalism isn't because I think we should all just give up on doing damage control with the worst of the ways new tech is abused and wait until Capitalism Gets Overthrown and solves all our problems; I think that's an incredibly stupid strategy for anything and damage control matters a lot-

I keep stressing it because ~98% of the proposed "solutions" are at best time-honored losing bets (e.g., "unmake these technological advances! Shove those worms back in the can NOW!") and at worst actively making things worse (agreeing with corporations that use of new tech is Mindless Unskilled Labor not even worth minimum wage) or even indulging in blatant trad and/or fascist ideology abstracted by the computer (if you have accepted the premise that degenerate art is a real thing and a great replacement is possible, you are headed for some DARK places even if you truly believe you're not fighting any human - you're already dehumanizing the people operating the "robot" you hate so much by extension).

We don't need copyright to devastate transformative art, we don't need to shove worms back in a can, and we DEFINITELY don't need to attack random hobbyists as Fake Artists; we need unions and automation taxes. We don't need to clamor for Real Art over Degenerate Art, we need to recognize the work involved in art that's been devalued for decades. We need to, for example, stop shitting on CGI because it's "lazy" and start shitting on the conditions that MAKE it unfairly cheaper than practical effects - i.e., corporate greed combined with the idea that the computer just does it for you and CGI is a cop-out rather than an art that we've been hearing since 1982; we need to push for VFX artists to unionize and recognize them as artists. We need improved unemployment protection as a foot in the door that can be upgraded into UBI, paid for with said automation taxes. We need online privacy protections so we have more control over who has access to personal things in the first place, as far as we can have privacy in a public space at all, and we need to undo Facebook culture and start remembering, and reminding others, that public websites ARE public.

Does it suck that the easy way out is anywhere from impotent to actively detrimental? Yes. Does the fact that it sucks suddenly make it untrue? No!

[nyxsealia]

When I was 17 and trying to figure out what the heck my sexuality was, the main, if not only, piece of advice I found online, even when I directly asked people, was to go out and experiment sexually with various people and see what gender I enjoyed sex with most. And years later, that still seems to be the advice most of us give when someone is trying to figure out their sexuality. And there's nothing wrong with doing that, and if that's what helped you, great. But I do think there's issues with this being the most prevalent advice.

There are a lot of reasons someone may not want to do this, various personal or religious reasons, comfort levels, a lack of interest in sex, not experiencing much or any sexual attraction, or simply being too young for this to be applicable.

I found the advice unhelpful for many of the reasons I just mentioned, and it left me feeling lost on how I was supposed to find out what my orientation was. It also left me with thoughts like how can I be a part of queer culture if I don't want to experiment sexually or be sexually active? Even looking at articles with advice on dating as a queer woman I saw bullet points like "It's okay to have sex on the first date!" there was so much emphasis on how it's okay to have very active sex lives that it left me feeling like if I didn't want that, I'd never be able to have relationships because there'd be an expectation of sex right off the bat. Don't get me wrong, sex positivity is important and we shouldn't shame people for their sex lives. But I feel like we don't don't talk about not being into that kind of thing enough.

I also didn't know at the time that I was asexual, and while I'm sex neutral and open to the idea of sex with a trusted partner, I don't have any desire to seek out sexual relationships. Not experiencing sexual attraction made figuring out my attraction a thousand times harder. I still don't know if I'm bi/pan or lesbian. I do refer to myself as gay or lesbian in some instances, but sometimes I say queer or just shrug and say "I like girls" or "I'm not straight" and some days I'm okay with the vagueness of that, but other days I feel the stress and pressure of having to pick an identity in order to have a community to belong to and be accepted. That stress and pressure doesn't get better when all the advice I can find on the subject just tells me to have sex and that'll clear everything up.

We put a lot of focus on finding out exactly "what" you are. And I don't think sex is the best way to do that. Lots of people have varying interest in sexual or physical intimacy, not just queers. My cishet friend told me she got a boyfriend but she wasn't entirely sure if what she was feeling was romantic, and that the idea of kissing made her uncomfortable. She doesn't identify as ace or aro, and she shouldn't have to. People can have a lack of interest in these things without a lack of attraction.

Another issue with this advice is that sexual and romantic attraction doesn't always line up for everyone. You may enjoy sex with all genders, but find you only have a desire to date one. So sexual experimenting wouldn't necessarily answer the question for you. Orientation is really complicated. I did mostly consider myself lesbian, but I occasionally find men aesthetically attractive, and I'm honestly starting to wonder if I'm actually bi but still feel uncomfortable using the term.

All this needlessly long and ramble-y text to say, this advice is simply useless to a lot of people. And while I can't speak personally for this part, I'd bet at least some people who enjoy sexual experimentation still weren't sure of their orientation at the end of it. This advice shouldn't be presented as the one size fits all solution.

If you're uncomfortable or uninterested in figuring out your identity this way, there's nothing wrong with that. There's also nothing wrong with not knowing. You don't have to know right now, or ever if you'd prefer that. It's okay to use vague terms. It's also okay to use whatever label feels closest even if it's not perfect. And remember, you're not locked into anything. You can always change labels.

There is no right way to determine your orientation. Everyone discovers themself in different ways and at different ages. It's not a race or a checklist. The most important thing is to be kind and patient with yourself and whatever you do to figure yourself out, be safe.

[edwad]

so i know this is sort of a question more for a therapist but i'll shoot it your way in case you have input, since you're sort of e-famous. how do you psychologically deal with being dogpiled with nasty disagreement online? it has happened to me multiple times now that i've publicly voiced an unpopular opinion online and gotten dozens, sometimes even hundreds of quote tweets or reblogs "dunking" on me and getting very personal with the commentary. some of their psychoanalytic insults (1/?)

will turn out to be accurate which is very hurtful (e.g. "i bet OP is X/does Y/has Z"). my solution has been to stop posting completely but the digs at self-esteem are still there, especially since a lot of the strangers psychoanalyzing me tend to say similar things. do you relate to any of this in your blogging experience? how do you cope? (2/2)

after more than a decade of this i simply don't let the opinions of internet losers get to me. my takes are incredibly unpopular and people come after me all the time, but that's just how it is. being dogpiled doesnt make you wrong or stupid and people who seek ideological legitimacy from the number of people agreeing with them online fail to remember that they are isolated freaks on the internet that are probably incapable of defending their positions in real life where they are surrounded by more people who would call them an idiot in a square mile than will ever find them clever on tumblr etc

[intothegenshinworld]

 🍂*₊“𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧”

wc: 1.2k (no beta, we die like the light in Childe's eyes) prompt used: "sharing scarves" for the falltober prompt 'event' of @astronetwrk! a/n: this post has been queued weeks in advance.

The sweltering summer days had given way to gloomy ones. From dusk to dawn, rain would fall down from the skies, the once bright colors of blooming flora now replaced by stale brown, further intensifying the bleak atmosphere.  

And just like the seasons, your clothes had changed these past weeks as well. The once short and breezy outfits had been replaced by sweaters and jeans, and it still left you defenseless against the cold winter zephyrs in Snezhnaya. Every breeze made you shiver, and the only solution was to clutch your jacket closer to your body and bury your hands as deep as you could in your pockets. 

You had been waiting for your boyfriend, Ajax, who definitely should’ve been back by now. He had told you to wait at one of the lonely benches out in the town streets while he’d fetch hot chocolate from a small cafe, but when you checked your phone, ten minutes had already passed, and you knew the lines couldn’t be that long. 

So here you were, idly watching other people pass by as you waited for his return.

If you knew Ajax (you did, you’d been with him for a while now), you’d bet money on the fact that he’d gotten distracted by the new Halloween decorations hanging everywhere in the town.

These last few days, Ajax had been rambling non-stop about ‘Halloween’ and how he’d bring his younger brother, Teucer, for trick or treating, something he’d done for many years now. He wanted to get matching outfits with him, but when Teucer threw a fit, saying; “I’m not longer a kid”, he turned to you instead.  

If he was taking this long, he’d probably be stuck behind a window, eying a decoration he hadn’t seen before and thinking of the next matching outfit to suggest to you.  

A ping chimes from your phone. It successfully throws you out of your daze and you grab the phone with a sense of urgency. The sooner you’d be able to put your hands back in the safety and warmth of your pockets, the better.  

After you unlock the screen with your numb fingers, you click on the notification from Ajax. It’s a selfie.

Half of his face is hidden behind his red scarf, his nose that barely peeked out from behind the fabric is dusted a soft shade of pink, it brings a nice contrast to the freckles coating his cheekbones and bridge of his nose. In his left hand, he holds a small flimsy-looking tray with two paper cups (the hot chocolate, you assume), and behind him is an adorable illustration of two ghosts.

 A puff of air escapes your lips. You can’t hide the smile that forms on your face. 

Quickly, another notification pops up and you send a message back before he has the chance to scavenge the internet for white sheets with cut-out holes.

The message is read, and his status turns from online to offline soon after. It only takes a few seconds before you see your boyfriend rushing to you through the streets. 

“Are you alright?” Ajax’s eyes glance up and down your figure. His face is scrunched into an expression of guilt and worry.

He moves his free hand to yours as he sits down next to you on the bench, frowning when he feels your cold hands. He gently rubs his thumb over your knuckles. “We’ll need to buy you gloves. I don’t think it’s healthy for you to get cold so quickly.”  

“I wouldn’t need any if my boyfriend would keep me warm instead of hunting ghosts on store windows.” You retort back with a cheeky smile. His mere presence is enough for you to feel warmer again. 

His worry falters for a moment, replaced by a smile before returning. “Here, —” He removes his hand from yours and wiggles one of the paper cups from the flimsy tray. “Drink up. It’s the best you can get in Morepesok” 

To your delight, the hot chocolate is still warm when you bring it up to your lips. You don’t need to wait for it to cool down, it’s the perfect temperature, and you sigh in content after downing half of it in one go.  

Ajax brushes the back of his hand against your cheek. “You can have mine as well. I’m used to Snezhnayan winters, I can handle it.”  

You roll your eyes as you huddle closer into your jacket. “It’s autumn, dumbass.” 

A snort escapes his lips. “You call those flimsy two weeks of ‘brown leaves’ autumn?” 

Fair enough.  

You scoff, and the puff of air that escapes your lips forms into a small cloud before it dissipates again.  

While you were both studying in Liyue, Ajax had often mentioned how gentle the weather had been compared to the conditions he grew up in. He’d talked about ice fishing, a thing he still does, and made fun of the foreigners coming to visit the Nation during the winter months.  

It’s ironic how you’re one of those people now. 

“Hold this,” Ajax shoves his own cup into your hands and removes the scarf from his neck. He seems adamant about keeping you warm and doesn’t give you time to question him as he wraps the fabric around your face in a delicate manner. 

With the scarf out of his face, you’re able to see how he purses his lips in concentration as he tucks the end of the red fabric into a loose loop, preventing any cold air from attacking your neck any further. 

It smells like him. You first catch a hint of lavender from the laundry detergent his family uses, but with the scarf right at your nose, you also notice how it failed to fully cover his natural body scent.  

In a way, the scarf comforts you. Not only is it warming you up and preventing you from the cold breezes, but it also reminds you of the moments spent in his arms.  

You look up into his eyes when he finally stops fussing over you. 

“But now you’ll get cold.“ Your voice comes out muffled.

Ajax bumps his shoulder gently into yours. “See it as payback for making you wait.“ 

He takes the paper cup he had previously shoved into your hands and drinks his own share of hot choco. “If you feel bad about it, you can always offer to share.“ He turns to you with a cheeky smile on his face. 

And while you know he wasn’t being serious, you urge him closer. 

Like he had done with you before, you shove your now half-empty cup into his hands before removing the fabric around your neck. With a little bit of help on his side, you’re able to wrap the scarf around the both of you. Admittedly, this doesn’t nearly provide as much warmth as it did before, but Ajax was already making up for that.  

His shoulder is comfortably pressed against yours, and when he turns his head to face you, your noses are but a mere inch away from touching each other. 

You smile. “Tell me about the diy ghost outfit?“ 

He lets out a chuckle as he hands you your half-full paper cup. “Couldn’t let me enjoy the moment for a little while longer?”

© intothegenshinworld. Do not copy, repost, translate or take heavy inspiration from my content. Thanks for reading.

[bil-daddy]

hi mr bildad um im just gonna dump this here since i have no one else to talk to

as someone who has always praised in their ability to be friends with anyone (i also need human interaction to survive btw) ive been feeling very lonely, especially since now are the school holidays.

my best friend (who is one year older than me) is barely online and doesn't take me seriously enough. and when i ask my friend group (with 2 other people my age) if they want to go out nothing happens. ive asked so many times but it's like they just don't want to hang out. and i keep seeing them post everywhere of them having fun with their OTHER friends (i don't know them bc they're from their primary schools; we are in secondary school now). and the obvious solution is to hang out with my primary school friends, right? well awesome news I DONT HAVE ANY.

and like ive just been feeling really really lonely especially today. i don't even text anyone except for my best friend, and even then she doesnt really respond properly because its like i dump a lot of messages and 4 hours later she skims through them, rinse and repeat.

(also side note i used to have another best friend but he ended up having a crush on me and didn't give me space so i kinda ended the friendship bc i wasn't comfortable with it)

during my entire TWO MONTH school holiday i haven't gone out with friends. not even once. while i see everyone else my age having so much fun and enjoying life while i just rot at home scrolling through tumblr.

so yeah im not really having a great time. hopefully when i get back to school in january things will be better

sorry for the long rant

Hey, kid (human). No need to apologize for the long rant. Actually, I've got a lot to say about this topic, too, so take a toilet break, grab a beverage and a snack, then sit down with your deal old Bildaddy (platonic, metaphorical) for a chat.

First off, sorry you're going through this. It hurts a lot when friends start fading away, and you realize they no longer consider you as close and you consider them. Feeling left out and like you don't have any real friends seriously sucks.

But it's actually something every single person goes through at some time or another--though most of us aren't brave enough to admit it like you have, because it feels embarrassing and shameful. Like there's something wrong with you.

There isn't.

There is nothing wrong with you.

Friends come and go, and 99% of the time it has nothing to do with you, or anything you've said or done. It isn't your fault. That doesn't mean it hurts any less, but it isn't your fault.

But that being said, I promise you, for every person you see pictures of having so much fun and enjoying life, there are twenty--probably even more--at home like you, scrolling tumblr, or tiktok, or reddit, or whatever the kids are scrolling these days.

And even those people you see posting pictures, that isn't their everyday life. They post pics of the good times, not the bad ones (well not usually) or the boring ones. Especially not the boring ones. I bet they do more sitting at home and scrolling than you think. They're just not advertising that for all their followers to see.

But that's not the point. The point is (dolphins! goats!) your current friends aren't fulfilling your need for socialization. And that means you need to find some new friends, anon.

You can still stay friends with your best friend and that old friend group. As in, don't send them a message officially ending the friendship, and don't delete and/or block them everywhere. You can still talk to them in school when you see them.

(Do unfollow them on social media if seeing them hang without you is upsetting--or better yet, pause on using social media entirely--except for tumblr, of course--until you're in a better place, mentally and emotionally. Bildaddy deleted instagram five years ago and never went back.)

But starting today, back off on asking these friends to hang out, and sending long text messages to your best friend that she only skims through. They're not matching your energy, so you need to start matching theirs. Either they'll notice the difference and start making more of an effort (no, not that kind), or they won't and they won't. But either way, you'll stop wasting your time.

Next, you take all the energy you were spending on your old friend group and start looking for new friends.

While you're still on winter break, there might not be as many opportunities, but there are some possibilities. Do you have any cousins around your age who might wanna hang out? Or maybe there are local events aimed at teenagers you can attend? Check libraries and community centers. Or on New Year's Eve, there might be some sort of Parents Night Out event you can volunteer for and help babysit a group of little kids, along with other teenagers that you could befriend?

Then, when winter break ends, look around your school for other students who might be in your same situation--and trust me there are others in your same situation. Is there someone who always sits alone at lunch? Or what about that kid in class who's too shy to speak up? Is there someone getting bullied or ostracized? Someone new to the school who hasn't made any friends yet? Look for the ones who might need a friend as much--or even more--than you do and try to befriend them.

It won't always work, no, cause nothing always works. But it will work sometimes. And you only need it to work enough times to make a couple friends. And if you make the right friend, they might have a friend group that you can join.

I know it's really scary to put yourself out there and make the first move. But you'd be surprised how receptive people are, especially the shy ones who are too scared to say 'hi' first, and rely on the braver ones, like you, for the human connection they need. Because we all need it. (Even me. Because I'm totally 100% human.)

Other ways to make friends are clubs, in school and out of school, which is probably what adults will suggest if you ask them, so I'm not going to spend much time on this. But they're right. If you're not already in clubs--academic, sports, art, books, music, anime, whatever your interest(s) is--join some! If there's nothing of interesting at your schools, churches and other local organizations might also have youth clubs and activities, too.

Shared interests in a sure way to make friends. I see it happening all the time on Tumblr. Those mutuals you wish didn't live so far away? Well, you can find mutuals just like them IRL! (Especially if you start or join a book club that reads Good Omens, or a tv show club that watches Good Omens)

Another option is getting a part-time job at a place other teenagers work. If this is something you can do without disrupting your schoolwork, try it. Fast food restaurants, cinemas, places like that.

You say you're someone who has the ability to be friends with anyone? Well, prove it! This isn't a threat, by the way. This is encouragement. I'm encouraging you.

Now go out there and make some friends, kid! I know you can do it! I believe in you, and everybody here is rooting for you.

And, as always, have an ox rib (platonic)

[matthew-gray-gublers-babygirl]

Long Distance

Summary: You and Spencer have to do long-distance for a moment due to work, and he comes up with a solution to satisfy both your needs.

Warnings: smut, phone sex, nervous Spencer, masturbation, pet names, subtle dom reader, Spencer becomes slightly dom, minimal use of Y/N,

Word Count: Less than 1k.

-> MASTERLIST

Even if you and Spencer both worked in the B.A.U. and were by each other’s sides almost all day, there were times when you were separated. Sometimes Spencer had to go to another city or state to get more information, or you used your minimal vacation days to visit your family, and Spencer had to stay behind to help while you were gone. It was difficult, but it worked out. But this time you couldn’t bear to be without him. Not only were you yearning for one of his warm hugs once again, or a statistical ramble just so you can hear his voice again, but there was also a throbbing sensation in your stomach that wouldn’t go away.

Spencer gulps slowly into the phone before he decides to break the silence. “So, um. Where do we start?” he asks. You let out a chuckle. “This was your idea, Spencer,” you say. “You said phone sex was an effective way to keep relationships solid during long distant times.”

“You’re right,” he says as he clears his throat. “What are you wearing?” he asks in a straining-low voice, and you have to hold back your laughter.

“Did you search up ‘how to have phone sex’ online?” you ask and hear a faint mouse click on the other end, presumably closing a tab. “No.” He lies. You laugh softly. “Well, that’s not a bad start,” you say, which eases his nerves slightly. “I can tell you that I'm wearing far too much.” You hum. “Do you want me to take some off?” You ask, almost teasing.

“Yes.” He says without a second to wait or think. You chuckle as you remove your shirt, looking at yourself in the large mirror across the bedroom to admire your physique, imagining Spencer’s hands along your curves. 

“I took off my shirt.” You tell him. “Good.” He replies, almost dominant. “Now take off your bra.” He instructs, and you laugh. “Hey, watch it. I’m not taking anything else off until I know you’ve at least taken off your shirt,” you explain. “It’s only fair.” You grin. Spencer sighs, painstakingly taking off his shirt at your orders.

“Is it off?” You ask. “Yes.” He says. “Good boy.” You just know he’s blushing uncontrollably, and that the erection in his pants, which was inevitable, was soon to be rock solid.

You unclip your bra, tossing it to the side as if Spencer is watching. “Bet you miss my tits,” you say as you knead one in your palm. “Wish you were touching them, sucking them.” Spencer whimpers at your words, his hand already palming his erection.

“I don’t think I can wait so long, baby.” He huffed. “Wait for what?” You ask. He gulps again, shifting his hips as the erection becomes unbearable. “Can’t wait to touch myself. To hear you moan- and come.” He says almost pathetically.

“Touch yourself, Spence. For me.” He wastes no time taking his pants off and slowly toys and his tip. He hums at the immediate pleasure. “Mmm… wish you were here, babe…” He whispers. You remove your pants as he spoke, peeling off your soaked panties as you slowly begin circling your own throbbing clit. “I am, baby. Imagine that your hand is mine.” You tell him.

You hum into the receiver, imagining Spencer's large, slender fingers rubbing you perfectly. “Spencer…” You moan softly, and he whimpered at your voice. “You sound so pretty.” He whispers to you as his hand gets faster, working on his entire length instead of just the tip. “So, so pretty…” He hums, letting out a low moan as he thrusts into his hand.

Your hand trembles on the phone as you struggle to hold it securely, the constant stimulation and pleasure washing through you like heat waves. “Fuck…” You curse. It felt so good. He felt so good. Spencer whines your name as he squeezes his hand around his cock, almost moaning fully as the pleasure sent alerts to the millions of nerve endings in his body, each one putting him in complete bliss as he chases his high like a mad man. He moans “Y/N…” as he moves faster and faster.

“I’m gonna- Fuck. Oh my god. I’m gonna come.” He says, almost screaming it as pregnant beads of sweat trickle down his forehead. “M-me too…” You struggle to say as another moan escapes your lips. 

“Are you gonna… gonna be a good girl for me? Gonna come?” He hesitantly says like stepping into unfamiliar ground, afraid it might crumble right from his feet. You nod over and over again as your head swims in ecstasy. “Yes, yes. I’ll come. I’ll come,” you whine. You never saw this side of Spencer. You liked it.

“Good- good girl.” You moan at the name, his sultry yet shaky voice was enough to push you right over the edge and fall into the everlasting pit of pleasure and bliss. You moan painfully. Just knowing that he was furiously stroking his cock and thinking of you, moaning your name and telling you to come. As you reached your high, Spencer was not far behind, finally feeling his release as his come shoots out from his tip, covering him in his mess as his body spasms from the overwhelming pleasure. 

No words were spoken before Spencer decided to break the wordless silence of faint whines and laboured breath. “Y/N…?” He calls out. “Yes?”

He smiled as he heard your voice, identifying the smile on your lips by your tone. “Did you… did you like that?” He asked, reverting back to a more introverted version of himself, as always. 

“Baby, I loved it.”

[kakairuficfinder]

Personal Favorites

These are the KKIR fics that really resonated with me. I hope you love them as much as I have.

The Last Mission by Flailinginlove [M, 69K]

When a badly burnt body wearing Iruka's dog tags is found just inside Fire Country's borders, Tsunade demands answers. Kakashi's tags are a heavy weight against Iruka's chest as he tells her about the relationship they've kept hidden for years, the one he'll have to start referring to in the past tense. It isn't until he gets home that he notices something engraved on the charred metal of his tags: a coded, one-word message meant just for him. It's the only clue he has, not much to go on, but that won't stop him from doing everything he can to bring Kakashi safely home.

Icha Icha Nights by Adelaida, anniemaar, flailinginlove [E, 50K]

A foolish bet is going to get Iruka and his friends killed if he can't find a way to save them from the ruthless king who has imprisoned them. Each night he tells the king stories to buy them more time, but in between the lewd tales he spins, he discovers that not all of his friends are what they seem and neither is the king.

Anata by TumblingTroublesomeTumbleweeds [E, 55k]

Kakashi has decided to stealth date his way into Iruka’s future. … Snapshots of Kakashi and Iruka being totally married even though Iruka doesn’t exactly realize that they’re totally married. Neither does the rest of Konoha. But Kakashi does.

My Yakuza Boyfriend by decaf_kitty [E, 55k]

Kakashi Hatake is a disgraced cop with no options left. So he joins the local yakuza family. His boss, Iruka Umino, is beautiful and dangerous. Of course, Kakashi falls in love with him the instant they meet.

The Shinobi Bachelor by PerfectNezumi [T, 66K]

The Elders want Kakashi to produce a heir to his bloodline, so Tsunade sets up a competition for him to find his soulmate.

Uncomplicated by wizardinblack [E, 63K]

After a rough break up Iruka turns to the world of online dating in a desperate attempt to get laid. He meets Kakashi and things are totally great and not complicated at all!

(Run) Far Away from Home by chuchisushi [T, 31K]

A Princess Mononoke AU: It's a long journey west for a cursed former-prince, and he finds nothing for his troubles except a bloody war, a beautiful man raised by wolves, and a new beginning.

Love, Karate, and the Things We Lose to Find Ourselves by nbdweeb [M, 49K]

After years of working as a child and family social worker, Iruka Umino decided he was ready to start a family of his own, and his college sweetheart turned husband Mizuki Touji was cautiously along for the ride. When an emergency case came across his desk one day, Iruka knew he'd met his son. That's how two year old Naruto found his way into their lives, and for a brief moment, Iruka held everything he'd ever wanted in the palm of his hand. Or so he thought. Before he knows it, Iruka has a rambunctious 7 year old on his hands. Parenthood isn't easy, neither is his marriage, but he always manages to maintain his carefully constructed life. But when Naruto starts acting out at school and at home, Mizuki's already thinning patience runs out and things take a turn for the worst. Caught between an angry spouse and a distressed child, Iruka is at a loss for what to do until he stumbles across a newspaper ad for karate classes. He thinks he's found the perfect solution; an outlet for Naruto and a reprieve from the trouble at home. When they enter Konoha Martial Arts Studio for the first time, Iruka has no idea how the handsome and kindhearted instructor Kakashi Hatake would change their lives forever.

Take Me Home by masc_malfunction [M, 44K]

Ask around, and anyone would tell you the same: Kakashi Hatake is bad news. He's cocky, he's brazen, and his gang is infamous for being impossible to take down. Rumors are always flying around town, about his age, his looks, his more unsavory behaviors…frequently, about if there was anyone who could be a match for him.

Tunnel Vision by demonofabove [NR, 24K]

Kakashi is asked to look after Iruka, who has amnesia. It would ordinarily be an easy mission; but things are much more complex than he expects… Because apparently, Iruka thinks they're dating.

Perfect Storm by aoiandplayer3 [E, 38K]

Stuck together because of a storm, two teachers fall for each other. Kind of fluffy.

Strange by decaf_kitty [E, 86K]

Iruka Umino is a lone werewolf without a pack; he spends most of his time working downtown cleaning hotel rooms and taking care of Naruto, a youkai fox. But he's recently started to notice a soft strange scent in the city, and he wants to know its source. After hunting it down, Iruka finds a silver-haired man with a scar on his face, and he unpredictably loses himself in lust.

You Are by OneSaltyLeo [E, 11K]

Iruka hasn't felt well in a long time, not since the scar was applied to his face. What he's contemplating has been building for years, but just when it all reaches its climax, just when he's ready to hit delete on everything, something strange shows up in his Inbox.

There You Are, There You Are by CountingNothings [M, 94K]

Sometimes, when you don't believe you deserve the good thing that’s coming for you, you spend a lot of time trying to jump out of the way. Kakashi and Iruka are shinobi. Evasion is almost second nature. (It begins with a long weekend onsen meet-cute, and then, as is only right for two people who love romance novels as much as they do, it takes ten years for them to figure out that they're in one.)

A Liar in Babel by surveycorpsjean [E, 35K]

Iruka narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. “Tell me why I’m here.” “You need the money,” Kakashi says, brunt and cruel. “And I need a sugar baby.”

I'll Fall, If You Do by ladyxdaydream [M, 89K]

College was rapidly coming to an end and Iruka had his whole future planned out. Or, well, at least he thought he did. But how could he account for the stranger who would veer him so desperately off course?

One More Light by tmo

How time traveler Kakashi met the love of his life. Romance Trope 5: A character is constantly misplaced in time, but still attempts to lead some semblance of a normal life with their loved one (source: The Time-Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger)

The Bijozakura Seal by megyal [M, 38K]

Kakashi and Iruka are bonded together, entirely against their wishes. While Iruka begins to deal with it, Kakashi still has… doubts.

I Kissed a Boy (And I Liked It) by My_private_tsukuyomi [T, 15K]

Kakashi Hatake was sixteen and never been kissed, a fact that, according to some of his friends, was a travesty. However, girls just never appealed to him, and he didn't know why. He finds out when an everyday act suddenly causes his entire world to tilt on its axis.

The culprit? A tube of cherry chapstick.

Catch A Falling Star by My_private_tsukuyomi [E, 44K]

After the things he's suffered, Kakashi was convinced that, outside of the dance that had always been his solace, feelings were something best left to others. Feelings, especially love, were dangerous and only brought pain. Then a chance encounter and a single dance with a handsome stranger threatened to tear all of his carefully constructed walls to shreds. Was it even possible to allow himself to trust after all this time? What is it about Iruka Umino that makes him want to try?