#Sarah Dessen How to Deal

[sarah-dessen-things]

Trent Ford played Macon Forrester in the 2003 adaptation of That Summer and Someone Like You called How to Deal.

Here he is at school listening to Mandy Moore's Halley Martin:

And later in the movie when he confesses his love to her on her dad's radio show:

In 2020 Trent was hospitalized for liver failure and was fortunate to receive a transplant before the end of the year.

After his recovery he and his partner, Natalie Cohen, founded the non-profit organization Relive to offer free support and resources to patients and caregivers during pre- and post-liver transplant surgeries.

Relive's facility and the couple's home was in Altadena, and they had to evacuate this January during California's Eaton Wildfire.

A few days later Trent underwent emergency surgery on his birthday to restore blood flow to his transplanted liver.

As a birthday gesture, Natalie arranged a Go Fund Me to help during the displacement and recovery.

Thank you for reading and for those that can share and donate.

[in-love-with-movies]

How to Deal (2003)

[espies-galaxy]

15 Incredible Quotes From Famous Authors

Dear World,

Sometimes we see things, feel things, listen, understand but never quite take a second to look at each of those to understand how we are experiencing those things. So take a minute and read and think... What does this mean for me in MY life?

" I like flaws, I think they make things interesting." - Sarah Dessen

"If something is wrong, fix it. But train yourself not to; worry fixes nothing." - Ernest Hemingway

"if we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for

the rest of our lives." - Lemony Snicket

"people generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for." - Harper Lee

"We need never be ashamed of our tears." - Charles Dickens

"But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." - George Orwell

"It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." - J.K. Rowling

"Living by faith includes the call to something greater than cowardly self-preservation." - J.R.R Tolkien

"Sometimes I'm terrified of my heart, of its constant hunger for whatever it wants. The way it stops and starts." - Edgar Allan Poe

"You'll understand why storms are named after people." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Just remember that sometimes, the way you think about a person isn't the way they actually are." - John Green

"And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live." - Stephen King

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." - Maya Angelou

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." - John Steinbeck

"It takes a great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it." - Oscar Wilde

Did you think about them? I did.

Sincerely,

A Girl Obsessed With Words

(originally written by me on September 27, 2016)

[ahleecollaborations]

Listen I’ve been a avid reader since I was about 11 years old. I got into fanfiction around 14. I studied Literature for over ten years in college/grad school. This has always been an argument and probably always will be.

YA is a very broad blurry defined genre of literature. That quite frankly no one can agree on what it is truly considered YA books. This is because the “concept” of teenagers is barely a century old. 14 year olds in 1924 dealt with very different things than in 2024. Childhood has extended with this concept.

It’s not just smut that has always been marketed to teens that’s just WTF. It was violence and trauma that was marketed long before social media. (Look at Lord of the Flies for example, WTF? Like what hell and that’s marketed towards 6th graders)

The concept of YA and what is appropriate for teenagers varies from culture to culture and household to household.

I agree that if you are YA author you should keep in mind your audience is in fact 10-20 year olds for the most part. But THAT’s WIDE Range of appropriate levels. I as a writer do not write YA because I know I want to write about topics that I believe a 12 year old shouldn’t be reading. Even if my main characters are 18, I would not label it YA.

Should Game of Thrones level smut be targeted towards 12 year olds in my opinion no. Yes, many of the characters are young. But they are not dealing with topics most 13 year olds can comprehend.

19? They are adults who can make their own decisions.

I think the problem that publishing houses have is If the main characters are teenagers they think it’s automatically YA and that’s not true. There’s a difference between young YA and older YA. I personally do not consider anyone younger than 16 to a young adult (especially if they have not had life experience that matured them).

example Sarah Dessen books and the Sisterhood of the Travel Pants series are both labeled YA and have sex scenes in them.

Are they appropriately labeled YA. Yes. The characters are High school and college age young adults who deal with problems that teenagers that deal with in real life. Should a 16-20 year old read them, sure! They are old enough to have those conversations. Should an 11-13 year old read them - no not in my opinion because they are not yet ready for that IRL.

But that’s my opinion based from experience and how I run my home.

Because at the end of the day…it’s the RESPONSIBILITY of the child’s PARENTS or Guardians to censor what they are consuming books, media, or otherwise until they are mature enough to have those conversations or legally grown adults who can make their own decisions.

——————————————————————————

Side note: those who reblogged to just calling OP a “fucking idiot” or make fun of them for having a specific fandom they like - that doesn’t make you better. It just makes you look a middle school jerk/bully.

Learn to disagree with some maturity, respect, and kindness. Like some grown ass adults.

@the-oddest-inkling I’m hope you know, you are NOT an idiot for having an opinion or having specific interests. While I don’t 100% agree with your opinion/statement around Booktok specifically. I do agree that people need to stop making kids grow up so fast by pushing adult content at them at a young age. Responsibility and better choices of adults should occur.

How fast smut has inflitrated books, mostly bestsellers aimed at young girls and young adults is very concerning. Back in the day it was mostly just to be found in fanfics and doujinshis and stuff like that and frowned upon by the public.

Now the consens has shifted to being completely fine with hardcore stuff put in fantasy books and the like with no warning whatsoever on the covers. This is absolutely irresponsible from the publishers.

I don't wanna name names, but it's definitely the fault of booktok and how smut has infiltrated any form of mainstream media.

Booktok was a mistake.

[charbear177]

10 Quotes About Acceptance

Life will throw you curve balls and how you deal with them is the real test. Sometimes things do not work out as we hoped they would or as we expected, but the ability to accept things outside our control is key to our mental and emotional well-being.

Acceptance is the action of consenting to receive or undertake something offered. Though challenging, accepting what is can be freeing. Once we accept something or someone for what it is or who they are, we can move on and be at peace.

Here are 10 quotes about Acceptance

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. ― Lao Tzu

Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.” ~ Gautama Buddha

“Letting go doesn't mean that you don't care about someone anymore. It's just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” ― Deborah Reber, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: 101 Stories of Life, Love and Learning

“The most confused you will ever get is when you try to convince your heart and spirit of something your mind knows is a lie.” ― Shannon L. Alder

“We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” ~ Carl Jung

“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

“Anything in life that we don’t accept will simply make trouble for us until we make peace with it.” ~ Shakti Gawain

“Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It’s a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it.” ~ Sarah Dessen

“If you cannot endure to be thought in the wrong, you will begin to do terrible things to make the wrong appear right.” ~ Sydney J. Harris

“Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It's about knowing and accepting who you are.” ― Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously... I'm Kidding

What’s your favorite quote about acceptance? Please share!

[autumnrory]

CANNOT BELIEVE i saw a couple gifsets of a movie called along for the ride and i thought hey that’s the name of a sarah dessen book and i finally checked AND IT’S THE SARAH DESSEN BOOK HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS COMING OUT

[passionforfic]

Something I wrote in 2012. . . It still holds true.

[beetnelson]

they need to adapt all of sarah dessen’s novels into movies and turn it into a cinematic universe ‘cause all those upper middle class white girls DO live in the same damn town (and vacation in the same random beach spot in north carolina)

[crymeariveronceagain]

a list of YA books i need to buy because they filled a hole in my chest when i was younger

One Small Thing, by Erin Watt

I hate books that start with one night stands because it's usually about falling apart or being slapped together and loving endlessly. BUT NOT THIS BOOK. THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. 10/10 RECCOMEND TO ANYONE WHO WANTS A GOOD ANGSTY READ.

The Falling Between Us, by Ash Parsons

This book was why Keefe Sencen was the popstar he was in TPaTP, just so you all are aware how much I thought about what this book talked about. Not a perfect book, but it was sad and it was a ride.

Talk Nerdy To Me, by Tiffany Schmidt

oh, ow, wow is that my gifted kid burnout coming back to yell at me silently? it IS?! wow how peculiar!

Once and for All, by Sarah Dessen

kajsdlkasjdlsakdjlskajdklsdjfldskgj

Glitter, by Aprilynne Pike

ah yes. addiction. pain. dystopia. forced marriage. drug cartels. slavery. marinate for three hours. add seven cups of Marie Antoinette's sequined shoes. Stir. Sip carefully. Order Shattered like you need to breathe again.

The Art of Breaking Things, by Laura Sibson

Absolutely freaking destroyed me. I cried over this book. I cry over so little. And this book... Ouch. Just, so much ouch. It deals with VERY heavy topics, so if you find a lot of stuff triggering, I suggest you look up those first, but this book left an imprint on my mind that very, very, very few other YA novels have.

Nemesis, by Brendon Riechs

Epically fricked up my mind!!! Absolute mind boggler!!! Enjoy at your own risk!!! You will never be the same! Sci-Fi Thriller, absolutely horrifying!

Valkyrie, by Kate O’Hearn

awwwww it's death <3 but for kids because it's a girl with wings and if you touch her you die <3 <3 <3 so she wears gloves and it's very complicated because she really do want that hug tho <3

Eliza and Her Monsters, by Francesca Zappia

hi so are you socially anxious. if so, you will find the main character of this book annoying but horribly relateable and there's graphic novel segments and it's about a girl who annonymously is the content creator for an entire fanbase and about her anxiety and it's honestly really great and it's a really good discussion of fame and privacy and yeah it's good

The Conspiracy of Us, the Map Of Fates, and The Ends of the World, all by Maggie Hall

hi these books were just fun to read, highly enjoyable, you will want to read it again.

[sarah-dessen-things]

Sarah Dessen Merch

Flyleaf Books is Sarah’s independent bookstore located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Besides selling books, trading used books, and accepting online orders from non-locals, one of the store’s services is offering signed copies from local authors and Sarah has her own author page.

Important to Know

You only pay for the book. The signing and personalization is at no extra charge. The only “catch” is orders are shipped based on availability of what’s in stock.

Hardcovers are priced higher and have to be special ordered.

Along for the Ride is available in paperback with or without the Netflix sticker on it (otherwise known as the “Movie Tie-In”).

There are also options to order the physical audio book CDs, e-books, mp3s, and some Spanish editions.

The more obscure (for lack of a better term) the edition the longer it may take to arrive in store, ship to you, and be received.

All of the paperbacks are readily available on the Flyleaf shelves at this time and while the prices differ, they are the cheapest option.

Shipping

All orders ship through USPS media mail. The first book has a $5.99 shipping charge and $1 is added for each additional book. Hypothetically, you could order all 14 Sarah Dessen books in paperback and ~only~ pay $18.99 in shipping.

Ordering

To get your signed copy/ies, search for the titles you desire and add them to the cart. Upon checkout look for the “Order Comments” at the bottom of the page. It will be below your payment and contact information.

Fill in your personalization request - a special note, your favorite quote, your name, someone else’s name, only her signature, the date, etc. - review the order, and submit it.

And that’s it!

You can order as many as you want, in any variation of signed and/or personalization, and Flyleaf will let Sarah know to stop by. 

The books will ship when she’s done and you’ll have an almost-direct connection to Sarah. 😉

Keep in mind that, while the service is offered throughout the year, Sarah usually travels with her family in the summer and if she’s on tour or it’s the holidays order completion times can vary.

[amarillokidding]

(I'm just gonna post it by itself but it was an ask by my friend Vojta about what books I like!!!)

***

Thank you for the question :D

To be warned, I don't read as much as I used to BUT I have started getting back into it since this past year.

For starters my favorite types of books and genres are adult and contemporary dealing with family dynamics. I love books about families and either how messed up stuff is and working it out or healing from it. When I say adult I mean just dealing with older characters as opposed to teenagers which young adult is abundant with. Other genres I like are high fantasy with like kingdoms and magic colleges and stuff. Its all bc of elder scrolls I guess🙄 I'm obsessed with like, ''''organizations'''' and how each person fits into its place and how characters work together in different ways. Waaahh😭😭😭 also a fan of coming of age but in a specific way I don't know how to describe. Its like, you're growing up and seeing things the way they really happened and you understand now. Its like everything is different but its still the same.

My favorite book is Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. I don't like mentioning it that much bc she has a sort of "reputation" for ya formulaic cishet books and yea I agree (sort of) but its the first book from her I read and therefore it was new to me. Its getting a Netflix film and its in post production rn (I'm keeping up with it on instagram by following the actors and director). Its about a girl named Auden, its the summer before college and she stays with her dad and his new family in a beach town for the summer and she meets this guy called Eli and bc they both dont sleep at night and she's never done a lot of stuff kids have done so he decides to help her experience her life for the first time. I'm obsessed with this book, Auden and Eli both have like traumas and stuff in their past that theyre both dealing with and it feels realistic to me on how their relationship evolves as opposed to just falling in love suddenly. The story isn't quite a romance as the description and everyone says. Theres a love interest but the story deals more heavily with Auden's family as her mom is super condescending and judgemental and her dad barely cares about her. Literally almost all scenes with Audens mom have me like:

Its just my favorite book ive drawn fanart for it before and even recently its that I just haven't posted it for no reason probably bc I'm insane. My audio tag is the shortened form "aud" as a reference to her actually lol. I definitely think of Auden as a comfort character and I see a lot of myself in her.

Another book I loved was "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart. This is a 'tiktok phenomenon' apparently lmao. Its about a girl called Cadence and two summers ago she was in an accident on her grandfathers ISLAND where her family spends the summer every year and now two years later she doesn't remember what even happened to her and everybody refuses to speak about it. Cadence spends the summer with her cousins and friend and she slowly starts remembering what happened that summer. I thought the twist was awesome and spine-chilling and I'm obsessed with the fact that the author made like, a family tree and a map for the island. I thought that was so cool bc samesies I do the same with my characters. Based on reviews for this book, it really is a hit or miss depending on the person. So many ppl hate this book bc of the twist and find the story stupid bc its about rich white ppl going through stuff but like 😔👉👈 I still like it....

Some more books I love are "Waiting for Normal" by Leslie Conner and "This One Summer" by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki (graphic novel) and "Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen all which also follow a similar theme in family stuff and include summer in some way. I also love graphic novels, 'this one summer' is definitely my fave one. Flipped is my best example of coming of age that I love and it has a film adaption I adore as well and has become a comfort movie.

Rn im reading Lost Gods by Brom, its pretty heavy and long and im just at the beginning so I don't know if I like it yet but I like the way the author writes so far.

So far we have like dysfunctional family, summer setting, trauma, and healing from the past as major things I enjoyed in these stories.😔

I dont have a goodreads or another book website I just put book links saved to my bookmarks and make lists in a binder about which books seem interesting. I was thinking of making an account but probably not on goodreads as I wanna move away from Amazon stuff but idk yet where. I used to have shelfari before it got discontinued/merged to goodreads back in middle school but I don't really remember if that's still active or not or what books I even had there. When I make an account I will let you know about it :D

So disclaimer again I do read and watch and play almost anything and I'm not always the best judge of stuff, sometimes I like things that are bad or poorly executed so idk if you'd end up enjoying the same things in the same way I do waaah😭.

[literaticat]

I got into a popular writing program, edited my book until my mentor was full of praise, did really well during a Twitter pitch contest, got lots of full requests but ultimately failed while querying, wrote a more polished book and queried it but failed. I know the publishing industry is subjective and competitive but I got such supportive rejections for my new book I feel frustrated by my marginalization. Is there any way I can make sure my next book does better?

I'd urge you first to try and re-frame these efforts -- you keep saying that you "failed" or your book "failed" -- but neither of you FAILED. Writing your book and garnering all that praise and everything else wasn't a failure. That's what taught you how to write a book. That... is important, and huge.

Most people don't sell their MFA book. A lot of the time, a person's MFA book turns into a sort of Frankenstein's monster sitch, in that it has been fooled with so much that it's a little chaotic and overworked (not like, it's afraid of fire and lives in the tundra, but maybe a little like that too, actually.) It was still worth writing. It's still important and valuable, even if it doesn't go on to be your debut.

(And actually - MOST people don't sell ANY BOOKS AT ALL - most people don't even TRY. So I'd say the fact that you have written and finished and queried two books to be quite a coup.)

I just don't think it's particularly useful to think of yourself / your books as failures. I'd consider you more of a "work in progress" and your books as signs of progress. Nor do I think that not selling a book makes you "marginalized" -- you aren't owed a book deal and somebody is oppressing you by not giving you one. Like "I paid X-amount for my degree, so now I get to be at the top of the heap" is not how it works. Which I know that you know, logically, I'm just spelling it out so you can see how it sounds. Which is not great.

Your degree and all that hard work DOES count for something - it probably made you even better at your craft. That's huge. But as you say, it's a competitive industry, and LOTS of really good writers are out there struggling. This is not to be mean, just like... cold facts.

[Sidebar, semi-related: I went to a very intense theatre school for high school. Many of my classmates went on to extremely competitive conservatory programs for University -- places like Juilliard and Carnegie Mellon, that only accept 10 students a year across the entire world for their acting programs, and some of the best actors in the entire world came out of those programs, and they have a world-class faculty, etc. Guess what? ZERO of those classmates currently make their living as famous actors. ZERO. It's actually intensely hard to be a full-time working actor, even if you have looks, talent, and literally the best education that exists. So.... should they not have bothered? I'd argue that those experiences they had made them who they are, and while they may not be doing exactly what they imagined they'd do before they went, the time spent was still valuable. Just sayin.]

So anyway, I don't know, friend. I'd just say that perseverance and positivity are key. The only way to find success at this is to keep moving forward. Write what you are passionate about, make it great, and most of all, KEEP GOING. Most people who are successful have a lot of "failures" as well -- but THEY aren't failures, and they don't let the supposed-failures hold them back or define them. Setbacks are just part of the process, most people have to put in a lot of time before their career takes off, and even finding success doesn't mean you ONLY have success!

(Like, I personally represent people who didn't sell their first book... or their second... but are now NYT bestselling authors. I know and represent people who are popular, award-winning authors, who don't sell every book they write. This is reality. I heard Sarah Dessen mention once that she has a "drawer" manuscript for every published manuscript -- that basically, she finishes and sells just as many books as she doesn't, and that's just part of her process. She is spectacular and her books are awesome, so maybe there's a lesson there.... )

[sasuhinasno1fan]

You see the real me

Hey @komorebirei, I’m your @lukadrien-winter gifter! Before we got our assignments, I had been rereading a lot of Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot books, so this is kinda based on Sarah Dessen’s book Just Listen. If you have read it, don’t worry, I made sure it didn’t have any of your triggers in it. I hope you like it. I based it off one of my favourite scenes from the book. Mentions of ‘the cult’ and Nathan are from Divergance by @depressed-teacup-inc and @sarcasticsparkles (TwiglightMaster15). Hope you enjoy!

Clara Nightingale played from the speakers of Adrien’s computer as he dialled the number for the radio station.

“MIRC Radio.”

“I wasn’t at the mall to see Clara Nightingale; I actually know her,” Adrien defended. He then realised Luka would just use it as an excuse to tease him more.

“That doesn’t exactly clear you of being there,” Luka said. God, he walked right into that one.

“I had a meeting for the fashion show? I’m surprised Rose didn’t tell you.”

“She was more focused on seeing you and getting all that stuff from the swimsuit store. Also, why is Paris’ biggest model doing a fashion show at a mall?”

“You mean, the biggest mall in Paris that holds a total of 30 different stores that sell my father’s clothes? Kinda don’t have a choice.”

“Woo of being a model. Any chance you get to choose what you eat?”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Lunch on Friday was a bag of chips. What do you think?”

“Fair enough. Come get breakfast with me. It’s a tradition after every radio show. Nathan’s paying.”

Adrien thought of the red-haired bundle of energy. “Sure.”

“We’ll be at your house in 20. See you then.”

Adrien hung up and closed the webpage that had the radio’s website on it. Usually, he would sleep in on weekends, unless he had any photoshoots. But like many things that changed after the summer, waking up to listen to the radio was a new thing. All Adrien wanted was to get through school without any issues. Not that a certain person would make that easy. And of course because he made stupid decisions that pushed away any friends he could have had, Adrien was alone. It was like when he started school again.

Then…Luka. After a confrontation he’d rather not relive, Luka came to check on him. Even after seeing him hide in the boy’s room and actually get sick, he was there with tissues and water, asking if he was ok. It had been so strange then. To everyone, Luka was the weirdly silent kid who hung out with a ‘cult’, but would apparently beat up anyone who looked at him wrong. Adrien still remembered when one of the seniors had tried lording over him. Luka dropped his guitar case, punched the guy in the face and then walked off. He should have been terrifying. But like people started to believe the rumors following Adrien about him, he realised he had been the same for Luka. Luka was just a guy so in love with music and had trouble expressing himself without it, so he’d done it with his fists. But Anger Management had helped and now he actually had words and Adrien just couldn’t help but feel stable around him. 

Everything else in his life was going crazy. The rumors, the actual truth behind said rumors, Felix and issues with his mom and Adrien’s father, his loneliness because he couldn’t just talk to the people he’d been friends with for so long, the pressures of still doing modelling, everything. Luka made sense and even with his incredibly odd taste for music and odd sayings pulled from Anger Management classes, Adrien felt happy. Of course the crush that was growing might have also added things. He tried ignoring it, and maybe ignoring Luka, but the idea of losing him wasn’t something he wanted, so he accepted it. Whether or not he’d act on it was the question, but who knew.

The mansion was quiet. His parents were still out of town, Felix was no doubt still asleep and Nathalie never got up before coffee was made. He did find Gorilla in the kitchen doing just that though.

“Hey, I’m going out for breakfast. A friend is picking me up,” he told the towering silent man, who nodded after miming at him to have his phone.

He walked outside, already finding two motorcycles sitting outside the gate. Luka had his spare helmet waiting for him, his own visor pushed up.

“Question, how do you feel about bacon?”

“Bacon?”

“You know, pork product? Smells amazing? Best part of breakfast?”

“I mean, it’s not usually one of my list of things I can eat, but I guess I can deal.”

“Excellent, get on.”

Adrien had gotten very used to Luka’s very fast driving and before he knew it, they were pulling up to a large restaurant. Nathan was bouncing in place waiting for Adrien and Luka to get off the bike before he darted off to the front door. The restraint was modelled after an American diner and it was freezing inside.

“Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot to mention how cold they have it in here,” Luka said, pulling off his jacket, which Adrien tried to wave off. “Trust me. They keep it cold in here so you don’t stay all day.”

He took the jacket, taking in how warm it was. Luka’s scent wafted up, almost covering up the heavy smell of bacon inside the restaurant.

“Why does it smell like a meat store in here?” Adrien asked, sitting next to Luka.

“Well this place has always been the place we get breakfast from after the radio show. Ever since the first one. But they got a competitor not too long ago,” Nathan started to explain.

“With crap pancakes and service.” Luka interrupted.

“Yes. So to counteract it, they made every day double bacon day. Whatever you order, you get a double order of bacon.”

“Which he of course has to pay for.”

Nathan pouted. “You try asking for what I want.”

“I have.” Noticing Adrien’s confused face, he explained. “We’ve got a friend who makes D&D characters and she designs all of ours. Nathan here has a specific look he wants but he thinks it’s too embarrassing to ask for. I told him if he asked, I’d pay for breakfast forever. If he doesn’t, then he will. We’ve had two redesigns in the past year or so and he’s still chickened out.”

Nathan stuck his tongue out like a child. “Leave me alone.”

Adrien shook his head. This was his life now, with a music loving former rebel and an overactive redhead. This he would gladly deal with.

While the others ordered large platters, Adrien played it safe with a waffle and bacon, though Luka let him steal some of his eggs. Funnily enough, if Nathan tried, he’d get a slap on the back of the hand. He tried not to preen at the special attention.

Nathan had to head to work, so it was just the two of them as they drove back towards Agreste Mansion. It was still quiet in the streets and it seemed like there was no movement in the house.

“Thanks for breakfast.”

“No problem. If I had known playing pop songs would get your attention, I would have done it sooner.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “No you wouldn’t.”

“Ok no cause I hate that music but still. You said you won’t be at school on Monday, right?”

“Yeah, it’s the only time an outfit fitting could be scheduled. So Tuesday then?”

“Tuesday. I’ll see you later.”

Adrien had already entered through the gates when he realised that he was still wearing Luka’s jacket. He turned to try and give it back, but Luka had already sped off. Adrien started to pull it off anyway as he made his way through the door when he felt something in the coat hit against his leg. Inside one of the pockets was Luka’s iPod. His pride and joy. Adrien couldn’t remember a time when Luka didn’t have it on him. 

That first day of school, when Adrien avoided the lunch room or any of the lunch benches out on the quad, he sat next to Luka against a wall. He had his earphones in, eyes focused on a book. Adrien still didn’t know him then. If he’d been told at that time that Luka Couffaine would become his rock, his best friend, his, well, crush, he would have thought that person was insane. But here he was.

Felix was leaving the dining room when he went inside, looking surprised to see Adrien.

“When did you leave?”

“Early this morning. I got breakfast with a friend.”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “Same one who delivered that pizza before?”

One of Luka’s jobs was as a delivery person for a local pizza place. When Adrien had tried listening to one of Luka’s many made CDs for him – so he could be educated on the right type of music – and fallen asleep, it led to Felix meeting Luka for the first time. Adrien hadn’t been looking for it but it sounded like Felix approved and that gave him a feeling of happiness.

“Maybe.”

Felix let out a hum before heading to the stairs. He was happy he didn’t say anything more. Adrien wasn’t sure what he’d say anyway.

He collapsed onto his bed, ready to fall asleep again. He couldn’t though, because of a certain item. Luka’s iPod. He was never seen without it. Luka said the silence made him itch, like everything was too much to handle. So the thing that helped him was never far out of reach. It turned on, still a half full battery available. There were many playlists, the names making no sense, but one caught his attention.

ADRIEN

He knew sneaking around on it wasn’t the best idea but…he couldn’t help himself. He pressed the center button and the list of songs that appeared where a mash of a lot of things. Things that looked very familiar. Because they were all the songs he and Luka ever talked about. Luka had a playlist of all the songs they talked about and it was a lot.

He wanted to know if the way he felt was the same. If he was making things up or wishing too hard. He wanted answers. It took all of his energy to not go running after Luka and asking. He fell asleep after several minutes of slowly scrolling through the list of songs Luka had under his name.

                                                 _______________

Adrien climbed out of the car, watching as Gorilla pulled out his phone. He meant to leave the house earlier. He distracted himself with homework before he went to ask Gorilla to take him to Luka’s house, when he was interrupted by a mighty crash from the kitchen. Felix was attempting to cook. Adrien stayed back to help and eat with him before he left.

He crossed the gangplank onto the deck of the house boat. The deck was empty, though there seemed to be music playing in the area above. He didn’t remember the whole look of it from the last time he was here, but he was sure that was a sitting area. He knocked on the door below the deck, which swung open. Rose, Luka’s sister’s girlfriend, let out a shriek when she saw who was standing on the other side.

“Adrien! What are you doing here?”

“Is that Adrien Agreste?” A girl with dreadlocks, some strands of different colours, looked at him in awe. There was another girl with red hair and glasses and another with a baseball cap and Juleka. They were all staring at him.

“Adrien is my friend! Oh, come in!” He was yanked inside where music seemed to be echoing on the walls and the living room was a mess. “We’re having a fashion show sleepover. You have to stay and help us with our looks.”

“Oh, well, you see.”

“Rose, are you ready yet? I have…” Luka walked in with a DSLR camera around his neck. “A show to plan? Adrien, what are you doing here?”

“He’s here to help us with our looks.” Rose said, pulling Adrien further into the house. He sent a pleading look to Luka who shrugged. He had a feeling that telling Rose ‘no’ was a hard thing. He was dragged to Juleka’s room, though Luka’s was separated with a curtain that was currently pushed back. Juleka’s taste in decorating was darker than her brother’s, but a lot of things seemed to be similar, such as the guitar and bass sitting in their stands and the posters of Jagged Stone. Some pictures didn’t really fit Juleka’s theme. Pictures of models, both male and female.

“Look, these are you.” Pictures from his father’s brand, from cologne ads, from sporting wear, even from that department store ad, with the tux for the dance, the perfect outfit and hair after fencing, the perfect outfit to study in the library. “I loved that ad so much and its story. You were so cool. You were like…”

“The guy who had everything.”

“Exactly!”

“Rose, come on. I have a show to plan. Are we going to do this or not?” Luka said, finally pulling her attention away.

“Alright, alright. Who has the order lists?” 

The girls started to leave the area, but not before the one in the baseball cap turned and quickly slapped the back of Luka’s butt, causing them all to burst into laughter as he let out a startled yelp. They quickly disappeared when he turned to glare at them. Adrien couldn’t help but stifle his laughter. It had been a high pitch squeak.

“Not a word out of you,” Luka ordered upon seeing him laugh.

“Course not. Here, I wanted to give this back to you,” he said, handing over the jacket.

“Oh, I could have waited until Tuesday to get this.”

“I know. I’m just sure you couldn’t wait for this.” He pulled out Luka’s iPod from one of the pockets, watching his face light up.

“Oh I would so miss this! Thank you.”

“I had a feeling you’d flip all of Paris to try and find it.”

“Very true. So what commercial was Rose talking about?”

Adrien pointed to the pictures from the different scenes of the ad. “It was from the department store for their back to school campaign. I’m the guy who has everything. Don’t feel like it though.”

“Doesn’t really look like you.”

Adrien looked over at him feeling a little insulted. “You don’t have to like it.”

“No, I mean, I’m looking at it and I see this picture-perfect person and think, ‘that’s not my Adrien’. It just doesn’t look like the real you.”

Before Adrien could ask him who the real Adrien was, Rose called from what sounded like above deck. Luka looked pained as he turned, heading towards the stairs.

“This is gonna end in tears. Just you watch.”

It took a while but it turned out Luka was right. Adrien had been in his corner of the sitting area on the deck above surrounded by mountains of makeup when one of the girls, Mylène, burst into tears.

“I don’t want to do this outfit anymore! I’m always in this one.” It was a beachy outfit; which Adrien guessed her dreads played a part in. Everyone else had changed a good number of times, but Mylène always seemed to be in different versions of the same outfit.

He quickly swooped in and took Mylène downstairs. She directed him to the clothes she brought over and it took a bit of prodding to find an outfit. He sent her off to the bathroom while he rooted through the pile of shoes to find a pair that would fit her. He looked up to see Luka leaning against the post that acted as the centre between his and Juleka’s rooms.

“You’re good at this,” he said, smiling down at Adrien.

“Modelling does lead to tears. Just find something to distract them and give them lots of chocolate after. Works every time.” Adrien finally found the shoes he wanted and stood up to see Luka pointing the camera at him. Covering his face with his hand, he said, “No. I don’t like having my picture taken.”

“But you’re one of Paris’ biggest models.”

“I know. Trust me, getting cameras shoved in your face is not as glamorous as it seems.”

“Oh, come on. Let me at least show you what I see.”

Remembering what Luka had said earlier about the ad pictures not looking like ‘his Adrien’, he brought his hand down and relaxed his body. He felt the smallest smile come to his face as Luka brought the camera back up and clicked the shutter. He walked over, leaning close to Luka as he brought the picture up. The lighting wasn’t the greatest and in the mess of helping Rose, his hair and clothes were a bit messy, but…he understood what Luka was saying.

“This is the real you,” Luka said, his words just brushing Adrien’s cheek, that’s how close they were. “This is my Adrien.”

My Adrien. It wasn’t weirdly possessive. It was comforting and with every insane thing that was happening in his life, to be picked by someone just for being himself, that made his heart happy. 

Maybe that’s why when he looked up and saw Luka staring at him, eyes moving down to his lips, he kissed him. He felt Luka kiss back. Adrien wanted to grab hold of him because the kiss made him feel weak in the knees, it felt that good, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

“How do I look?”

The two sprang apart, Luka hitting his head on the post. Mylène looked worried and a bit confused, but thankfully it looked like she hadn’t seen.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“Luka! We’re ready for group shots!” Rose called from above deck.

“He’s all good. Here, put them on quickly,” Adrien said, handing her the shoes and pushing her towards the stairs. He could tell she was confused, but thankfully she didn’t ask.

They didn’t get a chance to be alone until the photoshoot was done and Luka had gotten the call that his mom would be home soon and the house was a mess. Luka walked Adrien to the gangplank, still waving off his offers to help clean up.

“Don’t worry about it. The girls will take care of most of it. Thanks again for bringing my iPod.”

“Of course.” Adrien hesitated, wanting to ask if the kiss was a fluke or if it was real when he realised Luka was moving closer to him, gently pulling his fidgeting fingers apart and linking them with his own.

“This ok?”

“Yeah. Perfect.”

Luka was leaning down and Adrien started to go up on his toes when they heard Rose. She came bounding over with pictures in her hand. The one that Luka took of him was on top.

“Here, so you can decorate your wall.”

When she finally went back below deck, Adrien gave Luka the picture he took of him. “That way you always remember what I look like. I might be coming to school in a few makeup looks next week.”

“Bet you’ll still look amazing as usual. I’m very tempted to test my luck a third time, but I can wait. Would you be ok if I came and picked you up on Tuesday?”

Adrien nodded, taking everything in him not to pull Luka in for a kiss, no matter who was watching.

“Awesome. I’ll see you then.”

Adrien had to bite down his smile when he eventually pulled himself away and got into the car. Kissing his rock should make him afraid of messing things up, but how could he when everything felt so right? And if Luka came to get him for school on Tuesday morning and Adrien noticed that his lanyard that had his student ID on it also had the picture of Adrien, well. How was he supposed to argue with that?

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

Sarah Dessen's 'Dreamland' is a book specifically about an abusive relationship and how dangerous they are and easy to get into and honestly that really opened my eyes as a teen, so I do think YA can handle abusive relationships (and not just have to show healthy ones) AS LONG AS the characters/plot/world acknowledges that it is one.

Right, but my point was about the kind of romances that are portrayed as good or aspirational by YA authors. I'm not advocating for a blanket ban on dealing with subjects like abuse. It's about what kind of message the author is trying to sell to the reader.

[grittyreadsfic]

eye emoji what are your jackty fics about? if you’re comfy talking about them ofc

tbh if you wanna know i’m happy to talk about them! i do feel a little weird talking about my own fic on here since this is supposed to be for reccing (and shitposting, ig), but i also made this account so i wouldn’t have to talk about fic on main lmao, so i’m gonna stick it below the cut

so i have four that have various amounts done for them, and i give everything temporary titles to keep myself organized with planning docs and writing docs, so i’ll break them down by that!

a dizzy mess of everything: i will say that i’m almost fully certain i’m gonna end up actually naming this “the ocean grew hands to hold me” but it’s a summer boardwalk au i’m working on for the hockey rarepair summer fest-it’s very much got the vibes of a ya coming of age summer novel (if you’ve read any of sarah dessen’s beach set books). it kind of centers around the idea of coming to terms with the unknown/things you can’t control during a time when things in your life are changing (i am writing jack as nonbinary in it, which is fun for me, personally)

the sound under your tongue: this fic exists because of the maine releasing sticky and my personal need to have ty texting gally to ask if hooking up with a teammate is a bad idea. it’s very much a fwb fic where jack no homos his way into a romance

coffee shop soundtrack: this is an au where jack is a barista and in his senior year of nursing school and ty is still on the devils and frequents the coffee shop jack works at. i haven’t quite sorted out how i want to do it, and i have to look into the timeline of when exactly they played each other in world juniors, but it’s mostly a cute, sweet little coffee shop au.

if memory serves i’m addicted to words and they’re useless: i have like 2k of world building for this one but it’s a magical realism concept where if someone says something about you and means it, it can show up on your skin. it’s a split perspective between the two of them, and kind of deals with how you’re perceived and who you are and the distinction between those two selves. it’s also what i jokingly call my jack gender thesis because i like to write the hyper specific content i want. jack’s always had an abundance of words, and ty’s always been sparse, and it kind of is meant to explore how those different experiences shape them and their relationships to words. it’s uhhhh my most intense one so i’ve done very little actual writing but i think about it a lot and i’ve explored the narrative i wanna accomplish with some of the words