#accommodating to the minority group of students

[tainsan]

misfits (college!ateez x reader)

When your world comes crashing down, the only people who are able to comfort you are the notorious group, Ateez. You’ve heard rumour after rumour about the eight males who are ice cold, yet for some reason, they are the warmest people you know.

Please read me: {hello! so finally i have wrote enough for me to release the first chapter and i really hope it is good enough for the lovely people who have been patiently waiting. there will be more chapters to come in the future so please do look forward to them! just so you all know there is a few trigger warnings i have to go through so just in case you are uncomfortable with certain subjects to read with caution and with your own comfort in mind. at the start of every chapter i will put the warnings that correlate with the said chapter. in this story there are topics of swearing, depression, anxiety, ptsd, suicide, negelection and mental abuse. so if you are not comfortable reading these please either avoid this story or read with extreme caution. your wellbeing is more important than anything. 

Now like i said in my previous post, this is going to be a poly!ateez story so hence there will be future smut and suggestive themes (which i will also put in the warnings before the chapter starts) but the message in the story is very much about past trauma and finding people who can help, heal and love you despite your imperfections.

With that all said! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of ‘Misfits’ and thank you kindly for waiting. 

do not steal my work or repost on places other than tumblr. 

with thanks to @musicdork and @moraxology for the help and ideas shared with me. thank you <3

-----THIS IS AN 18+ FANFICTION MINORS DO NOT INTERACT-----

Misfits, Chapter 1

⇢ masterlist ⇠ 

⇢ next chapter

warnings: anxiety attack, swearing, mentions of a house fire.

word count: 8.8k

Heart dropping to your stomach, you attempt to make sense of the words that are displayed on the small illuminating screen sat in front of you. Devastation hits you like a ton of bricks as you realise once again, it feels like the world is trying to punish you. Reading over the email once again, you let out an exasperated groan and let your head fall down onto your arms relaxing on the table.

“You’re homeless?” Your best friend almost screeches, scanning over the email present on your small laptop screen. 

“Okay a little louder Jisung and the aliens on the Saturn will fucking hear you,” You react, your voice muffled by your clothes.

“What happened? I thought your place was in one of the nicer areas?” 

Looking up from the desk, you see Jisung peering at you with a concerned expression.

“Do you remember those new tenants that moved in below me?” you ask, causing Jisung to nod his head, "Well they accidentally started a fire, and it burnt down half of the place because the owners weren’t smart enough to install fire hydrants around the residence.

“Isn’t it illegal to not have designated fire hydrants in a building?” 

“Probably, I mean that’s what I get for going for the cheapest available housing I could find, they say it's going to take at least a year to repair the damage.”

"Are all of your belongings okay?" 

"Not really, I managed to save most things like my books and some clothes but everything else is burnt. They say they are going to give me some money back for the damage, but I doubt it’ll be much."

"Then where are you staying now?"

"Yeji said I could stay with her for a few days, but she has a roommate moving in soon, so I have to get out before the end of this week."

"You have to start looking for a place to live __, I wish I could help you," 

Jisung lives with his boyfriend and friends in great student accommodation, there are only four rooms, yet they manage to fit eight grown men in there. Sadly, there's simply not enough space for another person.

“I’m aware of that, but all the school properties are full, and I’ve seen no flyers from people searching for roommates. There’s no way I'm looking for housing outside of the area, I would have to sell both my kidneys to afford a month's worth of rent. This apartment was the only place that was in my budget if I didn't want a roommate. At this point, I should probably start looking for a nice cosy bridge to live under.” 

Jisung lets out a stifled laugh before quickly covering his mouth realising the two of you are residing in a library. Being in a secluded area, noise isn’t really a problem, yet three other people are sitting near you, resting on the opposite side of the large wooden table. Two huddled next to each other, sharing a laptop, likely watching YouTube and one with striking blonde hair resting his head on his arms, undoubtedly sleeping.

“How many days until you have to move out?” Jisung inquires, laying his head on his hand and gazing at you. 

“Uh, I think like a week,” 

“Oh, so it’s not like you have to move out right now,” your best friend replies, a calm smile covering his features.

“Yeah, but I doubt that somebody is abruptly going to need a roommate out of nowhere,” 

Then, you hear rustling, then suddenly the guy who was sleeping on your table abruptly stands up, grabs his things, and rushes out of the library. 

“Probably had a nightmare or something,” Jisung chuckles, lighting up your mood.

“When’s your next lesson?” You ask, hoping he doesn't have to leave too soon. 

Observing as Jisung whips out his phone and looks at the time, he lets out a sigh.

“Starts in seven minutes, it takes like five minutes to walk there. I better get going,” Jisung replies, grabbing his books and laptop.

“Must you leave so soon? You can’t leave me here to tutor for three hours straight.” You let out a fake cry and hang onto his arm, pleading for him to stay. 

“You're the one who wanted the extra credit, don't blame me!” 

Bickering for a minute more, you eventually let Jisung get to his class, the two others across the table departing as well, leaving you alone.

Grumbling to yourself, you wonder why you even offered to tutor people, the extra credit is little to nothing. Alas, it’s too late to back out now as you have two people arriving soon. Typically, you only take people who you know personally, but Jisung’s boyfriend, Minho, said two of his classmates requested him to ask you to tutor, telling him they really needed assistance in maths. You hope they are pleasant because you are not about to be spending the next three hours with two arseholes.

You also typically only take one person at a time but due to your current tight schedule, you decided to just do two at once. You need the time later to look for new places to live anyway. The unknown two needed teaching in the same subject at least, works out fine.

Returning to your laptop you start typing, trying to finish as much of your lab report as you can before they show up.

“No Yeosang said she was around this corner.” 

A hushed voice breaks you out of your concentration, yet you pay no interest and hurriedly get back to typing.

“You’re __ right?” A monotone voice speaks out from your left.

You turn upon hearing your name and see a guy standing next to where you are sitting. Quickly you scan over his face, noticing the way his cheeks display small dimples as his face shifts and the slit in one of his eyebrows.

“I’m San, Minho told you about us, right?” 

Noting the way he said ‘us’, you turn fully backwards and see a noticeably built man standing by San, his face holding little to no emotion as he stares blankly towards you. In your mind, you hope these aren’t the two you are tutoring, noticing how intimidating their presence is.

“We are here for tutoring lessons,” the unnamed person speaks, and you curse upon your luck.

“Oh right, you can take a seat where you’d like.”

You mentally cuss out Minho for not informing you about how intense and handsome his classmates were, you let out a scoff under your breath as you start to pull out your maths textbooks.

“So, what were your guy's names, I’m not too good with names so if I forget, please don't take it personally,” you shyly confess, hoping they are not going to take it the wrong way. You detect the way some sort of stunned expression goes across their faces, but it disappears as soon as it had appeared.

“I’m Choi San, good to meet you.” San nods in your direction, his emotions still unreadable, a subtle glare still present along his features.

“San, I see. You too,” You mumble, slightly scared by his strong character. You attempt a small smile and shake his hand, trying to ignore the way you feel his eyes boring into your skull. Moving your attention to the man sitting next to him, you smile gently, noticing the way his cheeks are dusted with a light pink colour.

“Choi Jongho,” He reaches out his hand and you gladly take it, feeling slightly less intimidated by the seemingly kinder man.

Replying with your own name, you realise they already knew it, making you curse yourself for the sheer awkwardness emitting from your body as you notice Jongho and San are neither looking at you.

Slightly glancing up at you, San notices your flustered state and a faint smile ghosts his face.

Shaking off your clumsiness rapidly, you start to focus on the task at hand.

“So, what are you two looking to go over today?” you ask, opening your notebook that was conveniently placed in front of you. What you don’t expect is Jongho and San immediately look at each other with wide eyes, almost as if they are taken aback by the question.

“You guys don’t know what you want to go over?” 

“No, sorry, we have been having problems with our two recent algebra assignments.” Jongho replies, his tough exterior cracking ever so slightly as he ruffles his black hair. 

“Okay then,” you answer, a little puzzled at the two's sudden and strange gestures, yet you pay no mind to it as you reach into your backpack to grab your mathematics textbook. You’ve seen much stranger things in this college anyway.

When you proceed with the session you are surprised by the two men sitting in front of you. Although being very intimidating, the two are very good listeners and attentive to everything you say or do. Writing notes and nodding at almost every word you say. After an extensive explanation, you let Jongho and San try to solve a practice question. During this time, you take the time to admire the two in front of you. You can see they are extremely close by the way their bodies face each other naturally, and the way they look at each other. Meanwhile, you can’t help but wonder why you haven't seen them on campus before. Certainly, you would've heard or seen something about these two very good-looking men, knowing how much the people here like to gossip. Well after all, you have never been one for gossip and fangirling over the popular campus heartthrobs. Brushing your thoughts to the side, you start to read over the same page for the fifth time.

After the second hour, it intrigues you how smart they are, only needing you to once go over something and they already have the answer or even occasionally you swear you see one of them write an answer without you describing how to find it. Perhaps they are fast learners? Due to the fact, they are so quick, it only takes two of the three hours for you to cover everything they wished to go over, and their assignments are almost finished, just needing the final touches.

"There we go,” you exclaim, stretching your arms over your head, letting out a content groan as you let your back straighten up, "if you need future help, you can always call me." Even though it’s perhaps pretentious to offer this to such tough guys, you’re happy to be able to have such good students who actually listen. Unlike your last session which you spent way too many hours on.

Jongho looks up from his laptop with a wide eye look, "that’d be helpful," 

"Can you take my number?" San holds his hand open, expecting your phone and you are shocked at his utter forwardness. Even though you know it’s not intended in a flirtatious way, your heart quickens at the gesture, never having been asked for your number before. 

Passing your phone to the male in front of you, you notice San observing the Sanrio stickers stuck to the back of it. The male lets out a short burst of air through his nose, and you don’t know whether he’s mocking you or scoffing. As you look at him to analyse his reaction, you see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, but it doesn’t seem in a taunting way. You continue staring at him as he puts his number into your phone.

Unexpectedly he looks up and straight into your investigating eyes, catching you by surprise, immediately looking away from him and at the open book in front of you pretending to read it, even though you know he knows you have already read over the page multiple times in the past ten minutes.

“Wait, what time is it?" Jongho asks San. Watching San pull out his phone, you see a glimpse of his phone case, it looks something like a character, but you can’t see it as he places his phone face up on the table.

"Quarter to twelve," San responds, his phone screen lighting up for a split second, you manage to catch a quick sight of his lock screen. It appears to be a group photo, with numerous faces smiling brightly at the camera. So, they have more friends.

"We have about thirty minutes till ecology, do you want to go to the canteen?" Jongho questions as he begins to put his belongings into his bag. 

"I could use a snack,” San answers, stretching back into the chair, his arms above his head just as you did earlier.

"Coming with us?" Jongho asks as he stands up from his chair and pushes it back beneath the table.

Bewildered by the question, you wonder as to why they want you to come when they have been nothing but distant this entire time. Glancing back at your unfinished lab report displayed on your laptop, you feel conflicted. Yet a break from the tedious work would be rather nice. There's no harm in pulling another all-nighter.

"I could also do with something to eat," Your smile is bright as you stuff your laptop into your bag, happy to have a reason to escape the tedious work on the small screen of your laptop. 

It is a rather fast walk to the canteen; it is conveniently on the same wing as the library. Expecting the canteen to be full to the brim of students getting lunch, you’re surprised to see the canteen completely empty. You are rather pleased with the serenity of the canteen, feeling at ease that there are no judging eyes watching your every move. Pacing over to the cooled section of food, your footsteps echo in the large room, then you notice San and Jongho trailing after you, looking quite lost. 

"Have you guys never been to the canteen before or something?" You inquire, chuckling at their antics before grabbing a carton of banana milk and an apple.

"It's not particularly our scene, we eat our meals at our place." San answers, staring down at the banana milk in your hand. So, they live together, it makes sense seeing how close they are.

“You guys don't live in student buildings?” You question, that does explain why you've never seen them around, knowing most people who reside in the student dorms. You resume walking towards a table to sit, you grab two more banana milk before sitting down and popping a straw into your drink.

"No, we live near the new park, Eastwood Drive," Jongho replies.

This information almost makes you spit out your drink. Eastwood is not only part of a huge real estate area but one of the richest areas near our school. Absolutely no students would be able to afford that. It's an area full of houses like mansions or condos bigger than a regular house.

"Are you okay?" Jongho asks, hurriedly rushing to your side and patting your back, San chuckles at the scene and passes you a bottle of water from his seat. 

"Yes, I'm fine," You say between coughs, "thank you," you take a gulp of water from the bottle before handing it back to him.

"Sorry it's just, how on earth do you afford that house there's no way you guys just have it. Did you have to sell your soul to the devil or something?" 

Both males let out soft laughs and for the first time you see something other than scowls on their faces, instead replaced by gentle amusement.

"No, we didn't, one of our roommates' mothers is the owner of the real estate and she lets us live there," San answers your question.

"We do still have to pay rent, which is above average, but it's not anything like the rent we would have to pay if we were actually living there," Jongho adds, "plus we have quite a few roommates, so it's spread out pretty evenly." So, they have multiple roommates.

"I see," you hum as you let the information in. Of course, they have several roommates, the house is big enough for ten people, most likely. 

"And you?" Jongho questions looking at you. His expression is back to his resting face, until he realises his question, eyes going wide he continues, “not in a creepy, I'm sorry please don't take it the wrong way!" he rambles on. 

Laughing out, you wave your hands in a friendly way to dismiss his thoughts.

"No no, it's okay," you chuckle, not really sure how to explain to them that your house was recently made into a fresh stock of charcoal.

“It's kind of complicated I'll be honest," you start, San and Jongho’s expressions twitch in curiosity, "Well I was living at Coast Lane," 

"Oh, the one near the shopping centre?" Jongho inquires. You nod your head back in confirmation.

"Wait but wasn't that place burnt down a few days ago?" San asks, looking at Jongho and then back at you with a worried look. Their hearts fill with worry for you.

"Yep," you say, popping the p at the end, "that's why I said I was living," you say looking down, chucking dryly.

"Where are you living now then?" San asks, his voice laced with something similar to worry. 

"I'm staying at a friend's house, but they are getting a new roommate at the end of this week, so I need to move out by then." 

"Have you found anywhere to live yet?" Jongho questions, looking sorrowful. You are surprised by the amount of worry you suddenly feel from San and Jongho. However, you shake your head as 'no' and proceed to take another sip of your drink. 

"I have an idea." San abruptly says standing up from his chair, catching your and Jongho's attention, "Excuse me I have to talk to someone, Jongho. Joong." 

Jongho's eyes light up with some sort of awareness and he also rapidly stands from his chair, leaving you even more confused, unsure where the sudden energy comes from, you also wonder who the fuck 'Joong' is and why do they need to see him so suddenly. 

"See you soon, __.” Jongho’s smile is warm and contagious, he then turns to leave with the taller man.

"Wait, guys!” You exclaim, "here," you hand them both a cartoon of banana milk that you grabbed earlier. "Drink these, you can't focus if you're dehydrated, " you say, heat rising up from your chest. 

Both of the men look at you shocked at the kind gesture, surprised someone actually cares about their well-being. Giving you a thank you, the two men leave with red subtly covering their cheeks, both trying to immediately force it away before someone sees them with a giddy expression.

 ----

"Then they just stood up and left," You replay the events from earlier today to Jisung, who is sipping on a mojito. After the busy day you both shared, Jisung and you decided to go to a bar that recently opened not too far from campus. It is small and cosy, not too full of people, mostly students from your school rewinding from the day, just like you.

"Psycho behaviour," Jisung jokes whilst you take a sip of your drink. Laughing, you push Jisung's arm gently.

"I don't know, they were certainly intimidating but I could tell they were okay people," you exclaim truthfully. If you said that the three hours you spent with the two weren't pleasant you’d be lying.

"Do you have a crush on them or something?" Jisung inquires, rather loudly, getting far too excited. Hoping that no one heard him through the low jazz music resounding in the small bar, you quieten down your best friend quickly by covering his mouth with your free hand.

"Ji the entire bar does not need to know about my personal endeavours, and no I do not have a crush on them, they are just simply cute," you say exasperated.

“So, you do find them cute! The last time you had a crush as back in high school, this is big news,”

“There is no news dumbass, they are just cute. I find kittens cute, and I don’t want to date them.”

Jisung’s face contorts into a mixture of disgust and humour.

"Wait, what are their names?" Jisung questions his voice back to a reasonable volume.

"Choi San and Choi Jongho, I've never even heard of them, to be honest. You'd think I would've seen these handsome men bef, what is with that look on your face?" you stop your ramble as you see the very obviously shocked look on Jisung's face. 

"Are you fucking serious?" Jisung says slowly.

Confused, you simply answer, "yeah they needed help with maths. it was your boyfriend who set the tutor session up."

"Yeah, because they probably threatened him?" Jisung says tensing up.

"What do you mean threatened, they were huge sweethearts," you say amused at Jisung. Your laughing momentarily halts when you see the serious look on Jisung's small face.

"What is it?" 

"___, Choi San and Choi Jongho are part of that group." 

Your baffled expression remains on your features, clearly unfazed by this information.

"What is that like a cult or something?" you joke.

"Girl, are you living under a fucking rock? Ateez, the group called Ateez. The super scary ones practically haunt this school. I'm surprised they talked to Minho. I'm pretty sure he's going to be scarred now."

Slowly but surely, your brain starts to put things into place.

"Wait, that group Sola told us about?”

As Jisung confirms your question, you feel the hairs on the back of your neck rise. A few months ago, you had been told by some classmates about them briefly, they were talking rather loudly about them. Apparently, they had done some terrible things when they were in high school then just disappeared for a few years. Most people thought they dropped out or moved abroad. The year they returned, they started this university out of nowhere together and have been a notorious group ever since, being known for staying foul and bitter towards everyone except themselves. Yet, nobody seems to know the reason for their ice-cold hearts. You never really bothered to keep up with the rumours or gossip, it wasn’t necessary for you to know, however you start to think maybe you should pay more attention due to your recent interaction with two of the people in the group.

"But they were nice?" your question, more to yourself than to Jisung.

"I don't know about you, but you probably got the wrong people." 

You don't believe Jisung is lying but at the same time… The two men you had tutored earlier today were definitely not members of the notorious group. 

Surely not. 

Yes, they were intimidating, but nowhere near as bad as anything people say about them. From what you've heard about the group, they are cold, heartless, selfish, and miserable. Staying only in the group of eight, others not even daring to look them in the eyes as they pass them.

"If they were the people that you were tutoring yesterday, you may have gotten yourself into something you can't get out of. They have hundreds of fangirls, who are very possessive over them and people who want them dead. I don’t know of a single person who is fond of them. It’s best if you stay far away from them." Jisung says with a nervous expression. 

Unexpectedly, his phone lights up and you see Minho's caller ID appear. Jisung glances back up at you with a questioning look, requesting if he can take it.

"Go ahead," you push your smile and watch as he leaves to find a quiet place.

Your heart beats heavily against your chest and you feel your throat tighten. ‘Come on’ you think, this isn't the best place for you to have an anxiety attack. Possibly, it's that the new information is far too overwhelming. You are barely keeping up with your classes, your apartment just burnt down, and now you’re somewhat engaged with an apparently dangerous group that has no good stories. Feeling your breathing getting jagged and your heart getting heavier by the second, you attempt to focus on your breathing. Trying to remember the breathing exercises your mother taught you when you were younger, you attempt breathing in deeply, but it doesn't work, leaving you to breathe in and out in a fast manner. It's okay, it's okay. You repeat yourself, in an attempt to comfort yourself, but your brain is yelling 'it's not okay, look how stupid you've been and got yourself into a senseless situation again. Fucking idiot'. You put your head in your hands and start gently rocking on the barstool, tears threatening to fall out of your eyes. Unexpectedly, a presence appears next to you and before you know it, their warm hand is rubbing up and down your back in a soothing manner. 

"Shh it's okay, it's all going to be okay." a deep voice speaks from your right. You don't care to look up, only basking in the way the figure's hand caresses your back in a comforting way. To your surprise, it works miracles. Your breathing is back to a reasonable state within the next minute. Only then do you look up from your hands, your eyes lock with a beautiful man. He wears a comforting smile, his eyes full of sympathy and something else you can't quite put your finger on, his hand not slowing on your back. Trying to smile back at him, you wipe the tears you didn't even know had fallen, with the sleeves of your sweatshirt before regaining the words to speak.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," you say, abruptly embarrassed that a very handsome man just had to see a small breakdown of yours. 

"It's perfectly okay. I've had enough anxiety attacks to know you can't control where you have them." the man admits, scratching the back of his neck with an awkward smile on his face. The voice of the man is deep, yet soft, making you feel awfully relaxed.

"You have anxiety?" you ask, sniffling your nose.

The man chuckles and looks down at his hands, "longer than I can remember, yeah," he looks back up at you, "rubbing my back is how my friends comfort me, so I hope it somewhat worked for you too." 

"It worked amazingly, it's actually how my mother used to comfort me," you express, still slightly ashamed to be sharing this information with a stranger, let alone such a good-looking one. Yet knowing he goes through the same things as you, comforts you more than you realise. The male looks around him, almost as if he’s worried someone will see him, he then looks back down to your smaller figure which is closer to him than he remembered. Clearing his throat, he steps away a little bit, concerned you would feel uncomfortable with the closeness of your bodies. 

“I do need to go now, but it was nice to meet you," The man says whilst leaving the barstool to your right. Not sure why, but you feel sad that he has to leave so soon. Feeling so relaxed around a stranger has you shocked, wishing you could stay with this unknown feeling.

"Thank you," you say, grateful to have him there for you.

"Anytime.”

"I’ll see you around." You return his smile.

Nodding his head, he gives one last smile before departing the bar's exit, a growing smile adorning his features as he exits the bar.

“Hey I’m back.”

Whipping your head to the left, you see Jisung sitting back in his stool. Opening your mouth to tell him about what just happened, you attempt to get the words out but for some reason, you are unable to find the words. Not wanting to worry your best friend with your sudden onset anxiety attack, you decide to stay quiet.

What are these unexplainable encounters you've been having with handsome men recently?

----

Climbing over bags and coats, you find a seat in a calmer area of the stadium you just arrived at. Spotting Minho in the field doing some warm-ups with his team, you feel relaxed to see someone you know. When he sees you, he waves happily. Smiling, you reach for your phone to quickly text Jisung asking where he is. All of a sudden, a rush of cold air gets swept in by the wind, causing you to freeze up. Never liking the cold, you debate heavily at this moment whether you should just leave. However, you travelled all the way from Yeji’s to here in the cold. It seems like a waste to just go back, even if it freezes you to death to stay. After all, you need to support Minho, him being one of your only friends, for the football game. Jisung is supposed to be joining you but you’re sure he's busy picking out a cute outfit to swoon Minho. 

Over the past few days Jisung has been trying to teach you the names of Ateez so you know to run if they approach you. Seemingly stupid, but you do need fewer distractions in the hope to graduate with honours. From what Jisung has told you, there are eight members, and they are all of similar age, the youngest being in the same classes as he managed to skip a year due to him exceeding the level of people his age. However, Jisung teaching you their names doesn’t really stick to you, never being good at names it doesn’t help that you don’t know what they look like. It would be much easier learning their names if you actually had photos so you can put a name to a face, but of course they don’t have Instagram accounts, and if they saw people taking photos of them, they’d likely murder you on the spot. Or that’s what Jisung says.

You are suddenly brought out of your thoughts when a voice sounds in your ears.

“Could I sit here?” a soft, yet deep captivating voice speaks out. 

Curiously, you look to your left to see who the owner of the voice is. Surprisingly, you see a blonde male with a mask covering his face. He is standing next to the seat where you have placed your bag, and you realise he is asking for the seat.

“Oh yes, of course, sorry,” you hurriedly grab your bag and place it between your legs, allowing the male to take a place next to you.

“Thank you,” he says, a very small smile on his lips. When he sits down, he takes off his mask, and you glance at him one more time, taking in his visuals. With his fluffy hair and red tinted cheeks and a small mark of pink next to one of his eyes, he is truly a work of art. Yet, for some reason, you can't help but feel like you've seen him before.

“I'm sorry have I met you before, you seem really familiar?” you ask inquisitively, not being able to match a name to a face.

“We may have run into each other once or twice,” the blonde male puts his hand out for a handshake.

Gladly taking his hand in yours, you shake with a small smile on your face.

“It is a small world, I'm __.” 

The male takes his hand away and back into his coat pocket, shivering in the icy air.

“Are you Jisung's girlfriend?” he questions.

Rolling your eyes, slightly annoyed at the question, you go to answer. It has been thousands of times that people have asked about your and Jisung's relationship, mistaking you for a couple and not just a couple of friends. After a while it gets rather irritating, the question being asked countless amounts of times.

"No, we aren't, we are just best friends, I'm pretty sure Jisung came out as gay like two years ago. Plus, he's literally dating the quarterback, Lee Minho." you chuckle slightly.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to offend you in any way." 

"No! It's really okay, it's just I get asked a lot, so it becomes annoying after a while. I mean look at Jisung, he has baby girl written all over him." 

“Cold?” he questions.

The blondie next to you lets out a small chuckle acknowledging the man you are always with isn’t your boyfriend.

Sensing a gaze on you, you turn back to the blonde male whose eyes are looking at the goosebumps on your exposed arms.

“I probably should’ve brought at least a jumper. I've been so wrapped up with exams and tutoring I’ve been forgetting everything,” you say, laughing slightly, embarrassed that you went outside wearing just a t-shirt in the middle of November.

The male lets out a laugh before speaking, “it’s okay, I understand. If I’m being honest, I've also been having so much struggle with studying, my stress is all over the place.” He wonders for a second why he even shared this with you, concerned for a second you will see him in a bad light.

“I'm sorry to hear that.” you contemplate for a moment, “Look I have these if you want,” reaching into your pocket, you grab some rescue drops. “These help me a lot,”

You place the small bottle in his hand, and a giant smile covers his face. “What? I’ve actually been looking for these everywhere and I can never find them! They’ve been sold out in every shop.” Blondie looks back up at you, “but you have anxiety you need these more than me,” 

Pausing for a second, you wonder how he knows you have anxiety, nonetheless, you continue “It’s perfectly fine, Jisung’s parents work at a pharmacy back in my hometown and they send me a few of these whenever they are in stock, you can keep them.” you inform him, his smile brightening your cold mood shockingly fast. You’re not even sure why you gave him them, it was your last bottle. You guess that’s what happens when you are a people pleaser. The smile on the male’s face only grows wider, his heart jumping at your kind action.

“Thank you so much __,”

“It’s no worries, if you ever need some more, look for the loud group of small guys acting like four-year-olds.” you laugh, and he chuckles along with you, making a mental note, even though he knows he will likely never approach the group.

Before you can focus back on the starting game, you feel a soft material cover your shivering body. It is a large zip-up that smells of rich, sweet perfume. Turning quickly to the blonde guy with confusion covering your features, you hurriedly dismiss the action, seeing his arms exposed to the winter air.

“I can’t take this; you’ll get too cold.” you stop your words as he pulls out another sweater from his bag. 

“I've got my friend’s sweater, you keep mine until you’re warm.” he turns to face the game, "or until Jisung sees and freaks out and tells everyone you have a secret boyfriend." he jokes.

“You seem to know Jisung?” you ask, wondering how he knows Jisung’s personality quite well.

“Well, we know each other, but we aren’t particularly friends,” blondie turns fully towards you, “are you sure you don’t know me at all?”

“I'm sorry but I really only have like two friends, I don't really go out.” 

“But Jisung is super popular, aren't you in his huge partying friend group?”

“Not really, his friends are lovely but I’m only close with him and his boyfriend, I'm not too good at making friends.” you quietly mumble the last part. You look over at the blondie and see he has slight confusion on his face.

“You are so kind, I’m sure anyone would want to be your friend." 

"You’d be the first to think that" you dryly admit, which causes the male to feel a twinge of pain and guilt in his heart, "I would rather stay inside all-day binge-watching television whilst eating away my stress,"

"Well, that’s one thing we have in common." 

Sharing a warm smile with him, you start to get lost in your thoughts again, but then you realise a question you never returned.

“I’m so sorry I never got your name.”

“No worries, I’m Yeosang.” he has the same smile on his face, making you feel warm despite the bitter winter air. Then his familiarity dawns on you.

“Kang?” you inquire, your voice rising ever so slightly.

“That’s me,” he smiles at me, and you don't know if your heart rises because of how beautiful his smile is or because you recognise the name from Jisung’s teaching session with the members of Ateez.

“Like from Ateez,” you question, watching your words, if Ateez is as bad as Jisung is saying then you definitely need to watch your words.

Yeosang turns to you, almost looking baffled.

“I thought you didn't know about Ateez?” he questions, shocked.

“What made you think that?”

“Just a guess I suppose, being that you don't really go out I assumed you weren’t really interested in the groups and stuff.” 

“Ah well not particularly, but recently I suppose I’ve gotten to know about it better.”

“You're not scared, are you?” you see Yeosang tense up a little, his eyebrows furrowed. He hopes for the best, not knowing how you will react. Surprisingly, your heart softens at this question, he seems upset for some reason, as if he doesn't want to be seen this way. You feel bad for ever acting stressed towards him.

“Don't worry, the only person that scares me is Jisung when he's hungry.” you joke out, relaxing the tension and calming him. From what you can see, Yeosang is just kind and calm. The only thing that's menacing about him is the fact he’s drop-dead gorgeous.

Yeosang lets out a small chuckle, “well I guess now I know I need to avoid Jisung if he’s hungry,”

You agree with the blonde man, whilst lightly laughing.

“Wait, but why are you watching? Aren’t you supposed to be on the pitch?” You ask him, confused, remembering Jisung informing you that Yeosang is a part of one of the school's football teams, along with someone else whose name you can’t remember at the moment. For a moment Yeosang’s chest fills with pride, knowing you know something about him.

“Someone is taking my spot today, I was told to analyse the opposing team to find out their habits and stuff, hence the notepad.”

Looking down, you notice the small notepad with doodles all over the cover, making your heart swell. Yeosang continues to talk,

“Don’t tell my tactics to Minho,” he jokes with a grin on his face, knowing Minho is on the other team.

“I would never betray you like that,” you place your hand over your chest acting offended. 

Both cracking up, you speak up again, “don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

“Sang!” You hear a voice call from the left, and your eyes lay on another attractive man, “Coach told us to sit with him,” this male also has a notepad in his grip. 

You know this guy. He works in a small café not too far from campus, it is down a narrow alleyway, covered by vines and moss. It was a very hidden spot and only locals really knew the place. Only knowing it because you walked past it every day for a year as the alleyway was a shortcut to your housing from the campus. Barely anyone goes there, the regulars being either old women or businesspeople quickly rushing in to get a coffee before work starts. Back at the beginning of the semester, you used to go to the café a lot because of the raspberry muffins, yet they stopped selling them thus forth you stopped going as much. It was also due to the fact you had barely any time to sleep, so you cut it out of your morning schedule to be able to sleep in a little. You think the guy’s name was Wooyoung if you can remember his name tag correctly. You notice he sees you sitting next to Yeosang, with his friend’s hoodie over your shoulders and a smile consumes his entire face. 

“Muffin?” he looks confused, yet somewhat glad to see you once again. The nickname extremely takes you aback. “Why did you stop coming to the café?”

As far as you can recall, back when you visited the café, this server was rather distant and limited to saying little to no words whilst waiting. Seeing him like this confuses you severely. Alas, you let out a giggle and both of the boys' grins widen visibly.

“You two better get going, I'm not sure your coach wants to wait any longer.” 

Yeosang stands up and straightens out his pants before turning to you,

“Hopefully I’ll see you around.” he smiles warmly. Smiling back at him, you nod. Yeosang starts to leave with Wooyoung before he turns around.

“I better see you at the café tomorrow! Plus, that sweater looks good on you, Muffin.” he winks and Yeosang slaps the back of his head.  You can’t help but giggle yet feel flustered. 

Yeosang and Wooyoung walk towards the coach’s section, Yeosang slightly more affected than the male next to him. Hopefully he will get his hoodie back, and hopefully it will smell like you. After this interaction, your mind was even more confused. If you remember correctly, Yeosang and Wooyoung have a very big reputation for being some of the rudest and coldest towards people. Yet they were so friendly when you were with them. Is everything all these people are saying about them true or maybe the group of eight is just deeply misunderstood?

Whatever it is, you need to talk to Jisung about this, but you will wait until the game is over.

----

The night of the interaction between Yeosang and Wooyoung, Jisung, Minho and you reside at their apartment, eating chicken and watching a shitty romcom for background noise. The rest of his roommates are out celebrating the start of the football season. You have no idea why it started mid-way through November but okay.

“I said I would come; they were too sweet to say no to!” You exclaim, throwing your head back against the couch, regretting saying yes. 

“It was definitely Yeosang and Wooyoung?” Minho questions, not believing any part of my story.

“Yes! Yeosang has the birthmark next to his eye like Ji described and Wooyoung was the guy who works at that one café I used to go to all the time,”

“Well, I never knew Wooyoung worked at a café, that doesn't really match the hardcore scary image they are going for, are you sure you’re not going delusional?” Jisung admits, chuckling.

“What are you going to do?” Minho questions, passing you a drumstick. 

You take a big bite, before speaking, “I should just go, if I don't show up, they might murder me as you two say. Which is very unbelievable seeing how fucking cheerful they’ve all been.”

“Well, you’ve only met four, the rest are probably a nightmare,” Jisung says, his mouth full of chicken, Minho humming in agreement next to him.

“You two are supposed to be comforting me.” you groan, throwing your head into your hands. 

“Okay, don't worry __, if they have been as nice as you’ve been saying then just show up and if they aren't nice then call Chan and Changbin and I’m sure they will gladly sort them out for you.” Minho laughs.

 ----

Keeping your promise, you showed up at the café the next day. 

Opening the painted door, the bell rings notifying your entrance. Immediately you spot Wooyoung relaxing against the counter, scrolling through his phone, visibly bored. There are only a few people in the café, mostly reading books or typing on laptops. You see a flash of pink hair in the corner, yet you lose focus as quickly as you had it as you continue to walk further in.

“Welcome to Veranda Café,” Wooyoung says unbothered, still staring at his phone as you walk closer to where all the cakes were on display. Much to your dismay, you fail to see a raspberry muffin on display.

“I see you still don’t have any raspberry muffins.” You speak out in front of where Wooyoung is standing, making his head immediately snap up.

“__! I was starting to worry you weren't going to show up.” He exclaims, a contagious smile wide on his face. Immediately putting his phone in his pocket, giving his attention to you. He leans on the counter. Extremely happy you showed up.

“I never break my promises,” you grin at the black-haired man.

“Oh, one moment.” He speaks out excitedly, like a puppy, and turns to where he was sitting. Opening up a small fridge, he brings out the biggest, most beautiful raspberry muffin you have ever seen.

“Yeosang and I made this morning for you.” he gestures over to the corner, and you see the blonde male from yesterday, he is sitting next to someone, yet you can’t see them from where you’re standing. Yeosang shyly waves and you smile and wave back. Heart beating faster and cheeks warming up, you take the muffin happily. Wooyoung smiles brightly at you, feeling prideful at the way your eyes light up from the muffin.

“We stopped making these muffins because the owner didn’t think anyone was buying them, it made me upset because I knew you liked them,” Wooyoung says, making direct eye contact with you, making you weak at the knees. Wondering how he even remembered you, you still feel thankful he thought of you, even if it was a long time ago.

“It’s a shame but I'm sure there are lots of other tasty things here too. Anyways, thank you so much, you guys are the best.” you say, sincerity dripping in your words. Wooyoung just shrugs like he doesn't care, but the big smile on his face and the redness dusting his ears tells a different story.

“How much do I owe you?” you ask, getting out your purse.

Swiftly, Wooyoung grabs your hand halting its actions, “it’s on us, for being so kind, Yeosang and one of our friends really needed those rescue drops.” He lowers his voice, “between us, their anxiety has been really bad recently, and the stuff works wonders. Plus, you were always my favourite customer anyways.” Wooyoung admits, smiling, his cheeks get a deeper colour of red. Your heart warms up once again, which is strange to you. You haven't felt this happiness in a very long time. Maybe things are starting to get better. Happily taking the muffin, you make your way to Yeosang who is reading a book.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” you inquire, repeating his words from yesterday, yet when your eyes meet the figure sitting next to him, they light up as you recognise him.

“I know you!” You exclaim, a little too loudly, causing people around you to glare in your direction. Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden attention, you quickly sit down in a shielded area, away from all the glares. 

“You two know each other?” Yeosang asks, intrigued by your sudden remark.

“It is you, right?” you ask just in case you’re mistaking him for another pink-haired male.

The tall male smiles widely, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m Mingi,” he turns to Yeosang, who is visibly confused, “we met briefly in a bar the other day,” 

Yeosang lets out an ‘ah’ in realisation, yet you fail to see the jealous look he points at the pink haired man as he turns back to his book. Reaching for a dessert fork placed in the middle of the table, Mingi quickly grabs it and hands it to you. Quietly thanking him, you start to cut your muffin into four pieces. You acknowledge a gaze on you, so you halt your movements and look up, noticing Yeosang and Mingi’s eyes on you. Suddenly feeling awfully small, you start to feel your heartbeat rise and your breath deepen, never really liking people watching you eat, the stares from the two make you anxious. Luckily, they seem to immediately notice your change in behaviour and start apologising.

“I’m sorry, we will look away. We were just wondering whether you were going to like the muffin,” Mingi explains, his voice stumbling over words.

“It’s okay! I’m sorry, I’ve always been kind of awkward when people watch me eat.” you confess, your cheeks heating up. The two males nod trying to remember this information for the future. Instantly, the two men completely look away and focus on their own things, not paying any attention to you. Their antics make you giggle slightly, and you look back down at your muffin. Slowly, you pick up a quarter and place it on Mingi’s empty plate in front of him. You then do the same for Yeosang. They both look up at you with wide eyes.

“This is your favourite, we can't take it,” Yeosang says hurriedly, trying to put the cake back on your plate. 

“Stop, stop! I want to. I want to share it with my friends!” You blurt out before you can control your mouth. The wide eyes on both Yeosang and Mingi, make you realise what you said. You have to remember that even though they seem normal they are very clearly part of a group who apparently can kill people with their stare. What the hell are you doing? Of course, they aren’t your friends, you met them both once for less than ten minutes.

“Wait, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that I didn't intend to push your boundaries, we have only met like twice I didn't just assume we are friends!” You start to ramble, scared they will take it the wrong way, trying to fix your words as quickly as possible so you don’t get on their bad sides.

Before you can say anything more, Yeosang cuts you off by taking a bite of the muffin, “it tastes amazing! Thank you,”

“Woo!” Mingi’s voice calls out, ignoring the angry glares of people around him, “come get some cake!” Watching Wooyoung jump over the counter towards the three of you, you smile to yourself, glad you haven't done something that would cause future problems. Yeosang feeds Wooyoung the cake and makes an over-exaggerated reaction, “the flavours are melting on my tongue!” he exclaims in a funny voice, making Yeosang and Mingi cringe but you just laugh at his amusing antics. You can’t help but imagine how the whole group is when they are together. 

For the remainder of the hour, you are just conversing with Wooyoung and Mingi, sometimes Yeosang if he wants to add to the conversation, but more focusing on his book, yet looking up intently whenever you speak. You are broken out of your conversation as you hear the bell of the entrance ring, notifying the entrance of new customers. Wooyoung groans and stands up from his chair next to you. It seems to be three girls from our school. You recognise one of them from your calculus class.

Then the next thing that happens confuses you more than any other thing that has happened. As Wooyoung reaches the counter to take their order, his demeanour changes almost immediately, you would've missed it if you had blinked. 

Mingi and Yeosang seem to notice your confusion but blatantly ignore it, their smiles quickly disappearing from their faces. The atmosphere turns from warm and friendly to cold and foreign.

“What do you want?” Wooyoung asks bluntly. You furrow your eyebrows, confused out of your mind as to where the sweet friendly Wooyoung disappeared to.

“You know you should be nicer to your customers, it would help with business,” one of the girls speaks out, looking smug as if she has immensely hurt the man’s feelings.

“You should probably focus on your studies rather than going to cafes, sitting with a random document open and pretending to study when we all know you are miserably failing all your classes.” Wooyoung says monotone, whilst scrolling through his phone, not even looking at the three girls who now have shocked and offended looks on their faces. Some curses are thrown before the girls end up storming out of the café without even beginning to look at the menu. As soon as the girls leave, Wooyoung returns to the table nonchalantly, acting as if nothing had happened. Opening your mouth to say something, it gets caught in your throat before you get the words out.

Are you going insane?

{feedback is always appreciated and i love hearing from all of you. remember you are loved.} 

part two is out now!!!

[helaelaemond]

TIPS FOR WRITING IN AN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY SETTING from someone who’s been through it!

This post is written with fanfic in mind, specifically about Michael Gavey as a Maths student at the University of Oxford.

University structure

At Oxford, you are there typically for three years. You’re not usually referred to as “first year”, “second year” or “third year/final year” as nouns, and are more likely to describe yourself as being “in my first year” etc. The only exception is your first few weeks at uni when you’re known as a fresher. Your first week in your first year is known as “freshers week”, and its lots of social activities around the uni and beyond.

OXFORD IS NOT A CAMPUS UNI. University housing and buildings are scattered around the city of Oxford, and so using terms like “on campus” are not applicable.

Term starts in early October, and most exams are wrapped up by June.

Housing

Oxford is one of four English universities that use the college system (the others being Cambridge - also called ‘The Other Place’ - Durham, and York) and for the sake of simplicity, you can think of this as a replacement term for ‘dorm’ (a term not typically used). You can find a list of all the colleges on the university’s website.

Within the college building, there are usually single rooms with en-suites, but some rooms have to share a communal bathroom.

University students do NOT have roommates - no one shares a bedroom. There are also some room types in a flat-like set up, with a cluster of a few rooms (2-8 typically) and a shared kitchen. This is less common at Oxford.

Students sometimes stay in university-provided accommodation for the duration of their studies, whilst some choose to live in private accommodation from their second year onwards. If they do this, they are still associated with their college, and by default their college does not change. Private accommodation usually means a regular house shared with a few other people - this is standard across all universities in the UK, not just Oxford.

Classes

Generally speaking, subjects that don’t require lab work have a pretty simple weekly structure of one lecture and one seminar per module. Lectures are observed silently, and seminars are for discussions. Even the boldest or more socially unaware individuals do not interrupt lectures (in my four years, I never ever experienced anyone interrupting or asking a question, and so if you’re going to write Michael doing that, be aware it is a huge taboo unless the lecturer has asked for participation). Students usually take 2-3 different modules per semester, and during the academic year, there are two semesters across three terms.

Reading week is a week of usually in late October/early November where there are no classes for a week and it is a time for self-study.

Most modules have at least one assignment (what Americans would call a term paper) due before the Christmas break in December, and then at least one exam after the break ends in January. Some modules on some courses have other assignments or contributors to grades (like group presentations) but this isn’t all that common. It is very rare for things like “extra credit” to be earned, if at all.

Unless reading a combined degree (like Politics and Economics), you only take one subject. There is nothing like a “major” and “minor”. When doing a combined degree, you take half your modules on one degree, and half your modules on the other, so it’s an even 50/50. You cannot choose any subject to do a combined degree for, and they are pre-set courses determined by the university. For example, you couldn’t do a combined degree of Maths and Geography just because you wanted to.

You don’t talk about what course you’re studying, you say what course you’re reading (which is why Michael says he’s “reading Maths” not studying it).

University culture

Nightclubbing isn’t much of a thing in Oxford. If you want a uni with great nightlife you go to Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, London - not Oxford or Cambridge. Instead, students are much more likely to spend time in one of the dozens of pubs in Oxford. College parties (I.e university accommodation parties) don’t tend to be much of a thing either unless they’re organised by the social events committees in those colleges.

Elitism is an enormous problem at Oxford. For example, in 2015, 45% of all freshers were from private schools, while only less than 7% of children in the UK are privately educated. Classism is an issue that is so unbelievably rampant in places like Oxford that I can’t even begin to explain. But like many forms of prejudice in the UK, it’s rarely overt. It comes in the forms of exclusion from social activities (think a working class student not being able to go on a ski trip with course mates), social rules only familiar to the rich being the order of the day (having the right type of suit for a formal dinner).

Oxford is a place where lifelong connections are made that spill into entertainment, business, and (most worryingly) politics, but best believe that if you’re not from the right background, those connections are not yours to make. In fact, the likelihood of you even know they’re going on in the shadows is high.

Obviously, classism and elitism are themes of Saltburn, but please don’t take them too seriously, as it’s crucial to remember that the writer/director grew up in these very private inner circles of elites. As such, her spin is wildly… wild. She’s an incredibly unreliable source for basing any kind of opinion about these issues on.

That’s all I can think of right now! I highly encourage other people who have been through English universities to add on with advice you think you would helpful to writers 😁🫶

And if you’ve got any specific questions, let me know and I’ll help if I can!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Greg Owen at LGBTQ Nation:

A new law taking effect in Utah bans the use of the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) in university programming. It will close student Pride centers and programs devoted to Black, tribal, and women’s groups. The closures come in the wake of Utah’s H.B. 261, a bill that restricts Utah schools from incorporating any and all DEI initiatives in their institutions — as well as the mere mention of the words.

LGBTQ+ resource centers at the University of Utah, Southern Utah University, and Weber State will be shut down when House Bill 261 takes effect for the coming academic year. The Black Cultural Center, American Indian Resource Center, and Center for Equity and Student Belonging at the University have all been closed and will be integrated into a reconfigured Office of Student Affairs. It’s unclear if the University’s LGBT Resource Center will be similarly accommodated.  Under the new law’s “Equal Opportunity Initiatives,” student services must be available to all students and not provided to individuals based on “personal identity characteristics.” 

The closure of LGBTQ+ resource centers in the Beehive State's universities and programs focusing on minority groups as a result of Utah #HB261 is yet another consequence of the GOP's anti-DEI paranoia campaign.

[chigirisprincess]

Good Luck Babe! - Chapter 2: Your Best Laid Plans.

— Aizawa Shōta

⊹ Details. 18+ minors dni, fem!reader (she/her pronouns used to refer to reader), sfw, reader has anxiety, mentions of past situationships ;), reader has lore, plot building, teacher talk. ⊹ Run time. 4.0k ⊹ Note. This is mostly plot progression, next chapter will be make exciting! Enjoy :3

❝Unpacking isn't always easy, at least the U.A dorms were nice.❞

previous part || masterlist || next part

The U.A dormitories were infinitely nicer than your university accommodations. The realisation strikes you before you’ve made your way across the green expanse of the newly built quad. It bristles your feathers and adds yet another reason why privately funded academies were far from your wheelhouse of experience. The Miyagi University of Education was a fine school, it had a small number of students which meant one on one time with their professors, and was built in the late 19th century making the campus as picturesque as a university could be. Sure, the accommodations were a bit dated especially in comparison to a brand new, state of the art building, but you couldn’t complain. Your university years were enjoyable, you wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.

And, Sendai was a lovely city. Costal, filled with enough greenery to never make you miss the quaint rural town you were raised in. There were a plethora of museums and cultural sites that kept you busy and when your close friend worked as an apprentice curator, affordable year round passes were suddenly far more accessible.

Friend, almost boyfriend. Situationship. You chuckle to yourself with a shake of your head. Almost something, almost, nothing. It was maddening when you were stuck within the pit, uncertainty wearing at you. Now, it just seemed silly. 

The lines were still blurred on where exactly your relationship stood. Not that the semantics mattered much when you moved nearly four hours away to a new city, with new people, and a new job. You hadn’t seen him in two months, not since you moved into Musutafu for work and he refused to answer any text messages you’d sent. Not that you cared, that chapter of your life was firmly shut and left in the past– in Sendai– and he was still a close friend, at least that’s what you liked to believe, and would until he said otherwise. Not that he would say otherwise. Still, he was a good friend to have even if he didn’t see you as a friend, or was pissy that you never made a move to clearly define what you were. It’s not like he did either.

Almost, he was an almost. 

You had a lot of those in your history books. Paramours who weren’t quite lovers but you could hardly call them a friend. Always feeling too attached to simply name them as a friend. Women who’s friendship was so intense you couldn’t call it anything other than something akin to love. An almost something that you were scared to commit to. Your heart locked firmly behind the fortress of your rib cage when you wished it could be freely given.

You think that’s why you took this job.

Aside from the clear résumé booster this would be, the pay, and the perks, and the fact that you’d be stupid not to take the job, it was a far leap from your comfort zone. Sendai was the safe choice for university, it was only an hour train ride from your family’s home, a handful of upperclassmen had already been in attendance and offered to shepherd you into this new era. Most weekends were spent back at home until you made a few friends. Even those came with a caveat and a safety net. Mister situationship with the spiky blonde hair and glasses was your lab partner and subsequently became the gateway to the group of friends you'd made. You didn’t dare to branch out on your own, beyond them.

You took the easy way out. If asked you’d say that made you sensible. Your elementary school teachers would agree. They all thought you to be well beyond your years, an old soul trapped behind a pair of chubby cheeks. Never one to act out or step beyond your comfort zone. Your assignments were predictably perfect and drawn directly from your wheelhouse of interests. Your arguments were well polished and you possessed an arsenal of peer reviewed resources that you shuffled around based on your topic of choice.

As a child the adults in your life fussed over you, shirking their misplaced dreams on your frail shoulders. A little leader in your own right, keeping your stuffed animals and friends in line. They told you that you’d make a great teacher, your voice was gentle and your touch was always soft. That or a mother. As if it were the middle ages and that’s all you could amount to.

But, you were predictable. 

You stayed the course they mapped out for you. Too scared for anything bigger. The figs that branched out beyond you had long since rotted and died, taking with it, whatever other paths and aspirations you might’ve filled your life with. 

And, in some fruitless attempt to extend beyond their expectations, you left home and took this job. In most lights it still existed within the realm of your comfort zone but in some it pushed you.

You decided, your one saving grace of the day was that you packed lightly and still managed to scarcely fill out your apartment. Though it may not have been half as fancy as the U.A accommodations, you learned from your university dorm that you probably didn’t need as much as you thought you did. Clearing out your apartment took an hour and the commute back to U.A only about thirty minutes. Foot traffic was much lighter now that the morning rush had subsided. It helped that you’d spent the last two months living out of your suitcase. The apartment was temporary, a placeholder until you found something closer to the school. Though you stupidly never thought to consider that you’d be expected to reside on campus grounds.

Perhaps you were a child like Aizawa accused. Your brain gnawed on his words, playing them on loop until it accepted it as fact. Wearing boots too big for your feet, your naivety glaring. Obvious to everyone but you. 

It was an easy fix. Pessimism was your middle name, though, you preferred to call it realistic. You would wise up in no time. Gather your bearings, plant your roots, and never stumble over the shock of the unknown again. Prove to them, to you, to anyone else who thought to question you, that you were meant to be here. Then, maybe you wouldn’t feel so sick with insecurity even as you tossed your things into your new lodgings.

Shōta stands with his back pressed against the wall outside of class 1-A when Yamada pops out of the classroom. Kayama would be there soon for modern hero art history, Shōta decided then that he’d prefer to keep whatever schemes Nezu was cooking up to himself. He scoffs to himself as he replays the conversation he has with you.

Concerned.

The ministry of education was concerned? Now? Of course they were. Shōta wasn’t stupid, he saw the uptick of distrust growing between the general public and the ministry– it went hand in hand with the near constant criticism that floated across the gaggle of paparazzi that sat outside the school gates everyday. They questioned the ethics behind U.A as an institute, wrote think pieces and created conspiracy theories to work out every move they made as if to catch the school in some lie. It was as exhausting as it was hypocritical. Shōta laughed at the mere thought. The general public had no problem fawning over his class during the sports festival, marvelling at just how powerful they had to be to stand against the League of Villains all on their own.

But sure, now there was a problem. It was serious now that a student had been kidnapped.

Stuffing his hand into his pocket, Shōta grabs the small plastic bottle of eye drops he keeps handy. His eyes sting with irritation, if that was even possible. His unkempt bangs slide away from his forehead when he tilts his head back, widening his eyes for a few drops of temporary relief.

“Hey” Hizashi calls, popping his head out of the classroom door, “Who was that you were talking to? Your students sure had a lot of questions but I didn’t have many answers”

“Irrelevant,” Shōta snips.

“Hm?”

There’s a stack of workbooks tucked in the crook of his elbow, the covers worn and the colours faded. The class must have finished their latest grammar unit. He tilts his head down, his bright orange glasses slip down the slope of his nose to reveal his inquisitive yellow eyes. He peers at Shōta with interest.

“I said, she’s irrelevant,” he repeats, with a frown, “At least to you.”

Hizashi chortles, “Oh? So what, only you get a special little helper?” he quips, with a smile, “Iida said she introduced herself to the class and Nezu was with her, it seemed like she was supposed to be there.”

Shōta hums, pushing off from the wall and away from his classroom, “Seems to me you’re pretty well informed already, Mic.”

“Eh, not anymore than your students.”

His laughter bounces down the hall as he bounds after Shōta, only pausing to adjust the stack of workbooks under his arm.

“C’mon, Shōta, spill!” He says, throwing his free arm over his shoulder, “No one’s losing their job are they?”

The teasing lilt dies quickly, “Right?” Hizashi asks, concern drips from his tongue. Concern for Shōta. He’s getting sick of it.

“She’s from the ministry of ed,” Shōta huffs.

There’d been concern after Bakugō had been kidnapped. Selfish ones. Some worried their positions were up for debate, others wondered if alumni and sponsors would pull funding. Of course, there was always the concern for bad publicity. This entire school year was bad for publicity. Not that it mattered. Bored, nameless nobodies on internet forums always had something to criticise even when the academic year was perfect, when U.A graduates continually climbed the ranks, opened their own agencies, and continued to keep Japan safe. Whatever concern they had now was purely bureaucratic to save their own skin.

“Oh?” Hizashi raises an eyebrow.

They share a look, “Apparently they’ve begun to worry,” he explains, thinking back to what you said. How much did you believe in the lines you’d been fed? Did you create them?

No. You seemed earnest, young enough that your naïvity was genuine and you were likely just a piece for them to move about the board as they saw fit. You couldn’t be complicit in whatever cover up scheme Nezu had allowed into the building. Your flighty, nervous demeanour told him as much. He was worried he might burst into tears if his voice dared to sharpen any further. The way you wilted like a sad, delicate flower beneath the uncomfortable heat of the sun reminded him of a few past students. The ones he expelled for being too soft and too thoughtful. The ones who weren’t cut from the right cloth, they’d never be able to hack it as a hero without that reckless drive most had. 

You were like them but somehow even more fragile. Even with the tenacity and sheer stupidity you had.

“About?” Hizashi questions, his eyebrow quirking upward.

“Our teaching capabilities,” Shōta shrugs, jabbing his thumb into the up bottom once they reach the elevators.

Hizashi leans against the wall, hitching his leg upward, “What does that mean?” His scrunches up in annoyance, “It’s deceptively vague.”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

The ride up the elevator is quiet. Hizashi keeps his lips pursed in a fine line while Shōta scowls in contemplative silence.

Concern?

If they were concerned they’d help implement mental health services for all students at U.A. He’s petitioned them relentlessly for years, they had the funding, Nezu was onboard but there was far too much red tape to navigate through and each thread led back to the ministry. Instead they wanted to throw you to the wolves. A peppy, fresh faced, anxiety riddled university graduate who had yet to experience much of the real world. You sparkled in the way most did before they got a taste of how monotonous their dream careers were. 

“I heard the minister of education is planning on campaigning for Prime Minister,” Hizashi comments, stepping toward the now open elevator doors.

Shōta clicks his tongue, “Hm, how convenient.”

“It could be worse.”

“How so?” He raises a brow to Hizashi.

“The hero commission and the ministry could be breathing down our necks,” he shrugs his shoulders, “I’m sure she’s harmless and her presence is merely a formality, a box to check to appease antsy civilians and overzealous journalists.”

“Right.”

Shōta gives Hizashi a tight, strained smile as the elevator door shuts between them.

A formality. 

That’s what you were. He didn’t often feel uneasy, but none of this sat right with him. His stomach churned at the thought of you. The same looming feeling of dread sat like a pit in his stomach most days when he stared directly into the bright eyed, determined faces of his students. You held the same look, though it was shrouded with an obvious nervousness that you couldn’t shake. Still, your dreams had yet to be jaded by the cruelties of this world, much like his students. It made him uneasy. They at least understood the gravity of their reality, he wasn’t sure you did.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Shōta sighed to himself.

He was growing soft in his age. That’s why he didn’t fight you. It had to be why.

Sauntering down the hall to his office, Shōta wonders if he made the right decision.

Aizawa finds an hour after the final bell has rung. The sun has dipped low in the afternoon sky, painting your lodgings a warm, comforting yellow. The walls are bare and the decor is sparse. Only a few polaroid pictures, a calendar and your two degrees occupy the space. It feels oddly big, too big for just you but there’s nothing else to cram in the nooks and crannies to make your new home a little less lonesome.

It’s a relief to see Aizawa’s tired face on the other side of your door. He’d offer you a reprieve from the anxious thoughts that relentlessly ping pong around your skull.

“Hi!” You chirp, opening up the door, offering him a nervous smile, “Did you want to come in?”

He hoarsely grumbles out something resembling a, “Yes”, pushing past you before you’ve fully moved out of the way. His eyes scan his surroundings, you suppose he’s taking in the little decorations you’ve set about the place but you struggle to follow his gaze from where it’s hidden beneath his fringe. You suppose it’s a learned trait. After a bit of googling, you found that his quirk was aptly named erasure and  manifested through his eyes. 

Aizawa settles on your sofa, his legs spread as he rests his elbows on his thighs.

“Did you uhm, want something to drink?”

All you had was a nearly empty tin of instant coffee and a box of tea that expired two years ago. You hoped he’d say no, so you didn’t have to go through the mortifying ordeal of scrounging something you. Your parents raised you to be hospitable when you opened your home to guests. So, you couldn’t help but ask.

He dismisses you with a wave of his hand, “Thank you but, I’m fine,” he says, resting his chin on his interlocked fingers.

“Okay!”

Scratching the back of your head, you flounder around the living space. The armchair was piled high with your winter coats and the only other space to sit was next to him. 

“I don’t bite,” he mutters, peering up at you.

You shift nervously from foot to foot, reminding yourself that he’s a pro hero– despite his tired disposition. He was likely trained to read body language. It wasn’t that you were easy to read but that he read others easily. There was no need to feel nervous, he wasn’t doing it purposely and you probably weren’t giving anything away. Shuffling closer to the sofa, you sit as close to the arm as you could without making your discomfort obvious.

“You’ve settled in?”

Nodding you nervously bite your lip, “I pack light so it wasn’t much work.”

Aizawa hums. His arm brushes against yours. You can feel how his chest rumbles as he speaks.

“Good,” he says, pausing for a moment, “Then, I trust you have the time to elaborate on why you’re here?”

A small sound of agreement passes your raw, bitten lips, “I sure can!” You smile, hoping the pep in your voice disguises the panic, “Uhm, well the ministry of education was worried that the repeated villain attacks and lack of consistent curriculum was negatively impacting their development.”

 You wrack your brain trying to remember what exactly their email outlined but all that comes up is the excitement you felt. The picture in your mind is hazy, the details sparse but you remember most of the key points they had. They’d stuck out to you and seemed reasonable enough once you started digging into the files they sent you.

“I think it’s fairly obvious that being the target of villain attacks would have adverse effects,” you state as if he didn’t see that for himself, “However in addition to the unique mode of learning employed by each teacher here, there has been concern that the lack of consistency is what’s causing their markedly low grades.”

Aizawa scoffs, staring at you in disbelief, “Their grades are fine, I would know.”

“Their grades are still above average; however, compared to their entrance exam marks and results from the previous year's standardised tests, the class's average has dropped by 5%,” you explain, pressing a finger to the tip of your chin, “I have the data sheets, I can show them to you if you want.”

Initially you hadn’t been concerned when looking over their most recent examination marks. They had done exceptionally well with material that far surpassed the curriculum expectations set in the prefecture, however the decline was clear. You presumed the several areas in which they hadn’t done as well in, had been lessons interrupted by villain attacks. It wasn’t their fault, and if anything they were still on track but still, you couldn’t help but worry.

“If they're above the country's average, I don’t see the issue.”

Narrowing your eyes at him, you sigh “Well there’s a clear pattern that indicates an issue that needs to be addressed,” a frustrated puff of air passes your lips, “These kids are meant to be above average, sure that’s why they’re here, however their emotional well being and emotional needs should also be met instead of being ignored because they’re so special!”

Clearing your throat, you sink deeper into your sofa’s cushion, cheeks warmed to the touch. Your voice had raised several octaves, progressively getting louder as you prattled. You’d always been passionate about mental health, but you didn’t know you were this passionate. Aizawa watches you, there's something in his eyes, you can’t name it. Not yet. You don’t know him well enough. He gestures for you to continue on with his hand.

 “It’s evidentially contributing to a class-wide decline,” you conclude, fiddling with your fingers, “It’s not your fault! I tried asking Principal Nezu about U.A’s guidance counsellor and mental health resources and apparently neither exist.”

He nods, seemingly knowing it all too well,“How do you propose we fix that then?”

“This isn’t something that’s cut and dry, I need to spend some time with your students, get to know them, and hear from them where they’re needing support.”

Aizawa laughs. He laughs at you, throwing his head back and letting out a full bellied laugh. You’re stunned to silence, blinking, half in disbelief and half in shock. His laugh was nice, rich even. Oddly befitting for a man like him, but still unexpected. At first glance you wouldn’t have expected from him. Though, you’re unsure what you had expected of Aizawa. He was nothing like the glamorous, larger than life pro heroes you grew up watching on television. Aizawa was far more relaxed, his dress casual, and seemed to proudly wear the dark circles that lined his tired eyes. It made him approachable, the lack of lustre and branding around the elusive Eraserhead. 

You liked that about him.

“Is something funny?” You asked with a quirk of your brow.

“It’s just rather amusing that you think any of them will ask for help,” he states, leaning back into the sofa, “Have you ever heard of a hero's pride?”

“Well, it’s a good thing they’re not heroes, they’re teenagers,” you hum, clasping your hands together.

“Try telling them that and see how well that goes.”

A joke, you think he was making a joke,“I’m well aware they think they’re more grown up than they actually are,” you felt the same at that age, you’re sure the responsibility of herodom only intensified it,“They kinda are compared to their middle school peers at the very least.”

Aizawa snorts, “Something like that,” he agrees with a shake of his head.

His gaze catches yours for a moment, it’s held for a few short seconds before you anxiously look away. Letting out a forced cough, you train your eyes on the television that sits across the room. 

“So I was thinking it would be a good idea if I could have a copy of your students' syllabus for each course they're taking?” You blurt, eager to continue the conversation forward.

“What?”

“The syllabus?” You repeat, “You know, the document that outlines their course expectations, assignments, and schedule for the semester?”

He scratches his chin, rubbing the stubble, “We don’t have those,” Aizawa says with a frown, “Is that standard practice?”

“Ah, mostly in University but many secondary schools are beginning to use them,” you explain, “It helps give students an idea of their semester beforehand.”

“It’s the beginning of the semester,” Aizawa comments, his lips pursed.

“That it is.”

Shrugging his shoulders, his eyes slide over to you, “We could make up a syllabus,” he suggests, “If you think that it’d be a worthwhile endeavour.”

“I think it is,” you sit a little straighter, a grin overtaking your lips, “Students seem to respond well when they feel prepared rather than blindsided, I can send you one of the research articles I’ve read!”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Giving your knee a pat, Aizawa offers you a strained smile.

You have to bite your tongue to stop yourself from asking if he was sure. Aizawa didn’t strike you as a man who did anything he wasn’t sure of. Your overly eager, zealous attitude could be a bit much. You didn’t want to come off any stronger than you already did. Whatever impression that you’d made to him likely wasn’t one you’d want to stick around for too long.

“Well, that sounds like a plan!”

“So, tomorrow you’ll observe my class,” he proposes, “We can regroup in the evening, if it should suit you?”

You find yourself nodding before he’s finished speaking, “Oh for sure!” You grin, clapping your hands on your thighs, “I can do that!”

Aizawa rises from your sofa with a small grunt, stretching out his spine before he turns to you, “I’ll see you then.”

Nodding in agreement, you watch as he walks out of your front door. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, flopping back onto the sofa as soon as the door clicks shut behind him. Tomorrow would be the big day then, the day you stepped into adulthood and kickstarted your career. Your stomach churned at the realisation. You’d spent the better part of two weeks preparing for this day, meticulously rehearsing what you’d say, how you’d say it, what you’d wear, and how you’d part your hair. 

You’d have to do it all again, tomorrow. This time, without any of your planning.

© all content belongs to dearbraus. do not modify, repost, or redistribute.

[bellysoupset]

burpy jonah at an important formal event who feels really nauseous and has to suffer through a bunch of unbearable small talk and shit but gets taken care of by leo when he gets home?

I got caught up with the bantering, so this might be long. Bonus Leo caretaker at the end!

---------

"Kill me now" Jonah said under his breath, while Wendy smiled brightly to the waiter, grabbing two different champagne flutes.

"And be without a date?" she whispered back, passing him a glass, "no way."

Jonah let out a minor snort, before shifting on his seat again. He had been really excited when they had bought the tickets to this medical congress, a month before.

Now, however, it had all changed. It was out of town and since students had a discount in accommodations, they had chosen to stay over the night between the two days of event, driving home on the second instead of making four unnecessary trips.

Jonah regretted everything. He regretted having lunch at the little cottage-turned-hotel where they had stayed at, he regretted RSVP to the closing night dinner, he regretted the overly fussy suit he had brought, he regretted the fact that they had closed their room tab when they left for the dinner, so he really had no choice but to endure the event until they were ready to leave and then drive home for two more hours-

"Hey," Wendy turned to look at him, "we can leave. You're clearly not feeling well..."

She was being nice, but Jonah knew the last thing she wanted to do was leave. An event like this only happened every two years and Wendy was vibrating out of her skin with every new researcher they met. It wasn't fair they both would have to leave just because he had overdone it during lunch.

"No," he shook his head, not bothering to try and force a smile, "go mingle, we can stay until the time we agreed."

"Are you sure-"

"Wendy get the hell out of my face," Jonah glared at her, only for his friend to roll her eyes fondly and get up, all smiley and unbothered.

He watched as she got tangled in a group of young interns from a different university, Wendy the social butterfly.

"Dr. Banks," a man sat on Wendy's now empty seat and Jonah turned to look at him, immediately regretting it as the turn made his formal pants squeeze his belly even more.

"It's Jonah Banks," he corrected, "I'm not a doctor yet..." a bubble went up his throat and he took a small sip of champagne to push it down, "and you are?"

"Dr. Denis Hopkins-" the old man offered a hand eagerly, "I read your paper on gender affirmative care."

Jonah's cheeks heated up. He was so used to being approached because of his surname, it was a nice surprise to have someone actually read anything he had written.

Except he didn't get to really enjoy the conversation. As Dr. Hopkins went on and on about his research group, Jon's stomach churned uneasily and he quickly was forced to stifle a burp every other word that he tried to speak.

Eventually it was to no avail. Swallowing the gas back down was making him nauseous and the champagne he was sipping to aid was certainly doing the opposite of what it should. Jonah shook his head, covering his lips with a fist, "I'm sorry- I'm sorry Dr. Hopkins, I'm afraid I have to leave early, but could- Can I get your email? I'd love to cont-" a burp pressed on the base of his throat and he swallowed it back down, feeling nausea flood his senses, "continue this conversation."

Something in the hasty manner he was moving was enough to cue the older man in, because he nodded, quickly grabbing his business card and handing it to Jon, who could barely say goodbye as he sprinted off.

He figured the abrupt ending was more polite than hurling all over the guy's shoes.

As he wiggled past the people, he paid no mind to where Wendy was. The car keys were with him, so Jonah all but marched to the parking lot, unlocking the car and immediately sitting down.

The parking lot was empty and he could hear the music coming from the conference building, laughter and chatter too. He unbuttoned his pants, letting out a sigh of relief when it stopped squeezing his stomach and leaned out of the passenger door, staring at the ground.

The leaning position pushed up a burp and this time Jonah didn't even bother trying to swallow it back down. He felt queasy enough that he knew if he didn't let it up he was going to revisiting his lunch very soon.

It tasted awful, smelled worse and Jonah recoiled, gagging against his hand as he leaned back and pushed down the zipper of his pants a bit more. It still felt like it was squeezing him.

He wanted to be home. He wanted Leo.

As if hearing him somehow, his phone buzzed and Jonah startled, the small jump causing hiccups to start. Big jostling hiccups that made his chest ache almost as much as the rotten burps.

There was a text, but not from Leo. It was Wendy.

Wen: where did u go??

He groaned and forced up another burp, trying to get a sliver of relief before typing back, "parking lot, not feeling well."

As soon as he hit sent, Jonah dropped the phone, vaguely hearing as it fell under his seat instead of the driver's seat as he had aimed, bracing against his knees as a thick belch slipped past his lips, bringing with it the taste of his lunch and a lot more spit than he could swallow.

He spat on the gravel and then repulsion ran through him, causing another heave and more spit to come up. Jonah hung awkwardly, legs spread apart and a small puddle of spit between his feet, his stomach still hurting and howling as gas swirled inside.

"Aw, Jon, what the hell..." Wendy's voice cut through his misery, "have you thrown up?"

"NoUUPE-" he burped the end of the word and groaned, rubbing his chest, "can we go home?"

"Of course," Wendy crouched down next to his knee, taking the car keys out of his hand, "do you need me to get a bag?"

"No," he shook his head, "I can handle, my stomach just really hurts."

"We'll be home soon," she promised, squeezing his thigh and getting up from the crouched down position. He felt awful for ruining her night. Jonah leaned back against the passenger seat, slamming the door closed and turned to look at his best friend as she entered the driver's side and immediately removed her strappy heels.

"I'm sorry Dee-"

"Oh don't stress about it, it was getting boring anyway," Wendy shrugged, throwing the heels on the backseat, "besides, half the fun was to be here with you. It's not fun if you're not enjoying yourself, Jon."

"I did yesterday," he pointed out, leaning forward and resting his forehead on the dashboard of the car, pressing on his bloated stomach, "and this morning."

"Then that's good enough," she shut the door and started the car, "what is this anyway? Food poisoning from lunch? I told you that puree looked sk-"

He gagged, burping towards his feet once more, "shut up, Wendy."

"Sorry," she said meekly, although he could hear a hint of amusement in her words, "tell me if you need me to pull over."

"Uhm," he grumbled, fingers digging on his stomach, "I'm just really bloated and crampy... Dr. Hopkins cornered me, did you see?"

"I did," Wendy's voice sparked up, eager to chat, "what did he want?"

"For me to work on his research project I-" Jonah groaned as a gurgle went up his throat, bringing with it more salty spit, "fuck I do need a bag."

"Shit, hold on, hold on-" he heard as she turned on the emergency stop alert and pulled over the car, pushing his door open.

"Okay, give me a second to find-"

Jonah interrupted her by retching, bringing up little more than a tiny stream of vomit and two big belches, that made his throat hurt. He squeezed the side of his stomach, pushing his fingers in and working over a painful spot, but his own belly rub was doing very little to help. In fact, Jon was pretty sure he was just making himself hurt more.

"Are you done?" Wendy asked, "I got you a bag."

"I don't think-" Jonah swallowed in, "it's just so much trapped gas making me nauseous, I'm not really sick-"

"Yeah, so you keep saying," Wendy rolled her eyes, pushing a big shopping bag in his hands, "Hang in there."

They spent the next two hours with Jonah hunched over, panting inside the bag, here and there bringing up a little dribble of vomit and spit, mostly just some empty, painful burps, punctuated by hiccups.

He was exhausted by the time Wendy entered his street. His stomach hurt like hell and his throat felt raw and irritated, his head pounding from all the empty heaving... And he felt dizzy from leaning forward in a moving car. In the past fifteen minutes his nausea had kicked up a notch, aided by the forced motion sickness of being folded in half, and Jonah was struggling to keep the food inside of him.

He really didn't want to throw up now, when they were so close to his house...

Wendy parked the car inside of the parking lot and turned to him, "Okay Jon, let me just put my heels back on-"

"No," he shook his head, "no, you don't have to stay. Leo's home."

"Are you sure?" Wendy squinted, "he could've gone back to the dorms, you didn't spend the night here ye-"

"No, he's home- He's always home now. He lives here," even sick and in pain, butterflies joined the mess in his belly. Wendy's eyebrows shot up and she slapped his chest.

"You prick, you never tell me anything!" she pushed his arm, "get out of my car."

Jonah chuckled, clutching the bag still as he pushed the door open, "we can talk about it tomorrow-"

"Get out, I'm not talking with you," Wendy had a childish pout on, but the annoyance was nonexistent in her voice, "go away."

"Bye Dee," Jonah snorted, "I'll text you tomorrow... And sorry again-"

"Bye, asshole," she gave him the tongue, squinting at him, "really, text me tomorrow."

"Will do," Jonah rubbed a hand over his face. He could feel there was a perpetual frown tattooed between his brows and although the nausea had eased a little bit now that he wasn't in a moving car anymore, the stomachache was still very present.

He ditched the bag inside a trashcan and then got into the elevator.

It was around eleven, so part of him didn't expect Leo to be up and Jonah let out a relieved sigh when he pushed the front door opened and met the living room lights still on.

"Who's there?!" Leo sounded terrified, his voice coming from the bedroom and Jonah muffled a chuckle.

"It's me-" he stopped himself short as his boyfriend came out of the room carrying the night lamp as a weapon, wearing just socks and Jon's own big sweater, "Leo, what the fuck-"

"Oh it's you," he lowered the lamp, clutching his chest with one hand, "why are you home? You said you'd only get here way later..."

Jonah shrugged, once again undoing his pants and ditching the blazer jacket on top of the couch, "wasn't feeling well."

"Oh..." Leo raised an eyebrow, putting the lamp on top of the coffee table as he joined Jon on the couch, "what's wrong? Do you have a fever? Did Wendy say-"

"No," Jonah shook his head, grabbing the front of Leo's sweater and forcing him to sit down on the couch, promptly leaning forward so he could melt against his boyfriend, "no, lunch messed with me. My stomach hurts."

"Aww, Jon," Leo sighed, but he sounded relieved, "did you throw up?"

"No- I mean yeah, a little, but it's not that, it's just-" he winced, taking Leo's hand and planting it on his stomach, "it's bloated and awful."

"Oh," Leo's cheeks burned, but he didn't pull back, instead moving on the couch so they could get more comfortable, Jonah's back pressing against his chest, "aw, babe, what the hell did you eat? It sounds upset," he sighed, fingers trailing the side of his boyfriend's belly.

"Some garbage," Jonah said sourly, "legit homemade cosine my ass."

Leo let out an amused giggle, planting a kiss on his temple, "don't you wanna get into bed and out of this tux?"

"Uhm, yeah, but-" Jonah turned his head, muffling a burp against Leo's arm, "hurts to move."

"Okay, in a little bit," Leo sighed, kissing the side of his head again, as his fingers pressed gently over Jonah's belly button, pushing up another airy burp, "how was the congress?"

"Nice..." his voice trailed off as Leo pressed his palm on his side, working on circles like Jon had attempted to do before, but in a much more successful fashion. He sat up straight, pressing a fist to his mouth to muffle a string of thick, wet belches.

"Your poor tummy," Leo cooed in a sympathetic manner, pulling him back against him, "hold on, let me-" he pressed on the opposite side, doing the same thing and Jonah couldn't even muffle the chest rattling burp that followed.

He gasped, clutching his chest, "fuck, Leo-"

"It's okay, let it up," Leo sounded unbothered, pressing the heel of his hand on either side of his belly, so they could meet at the middle, "hopefully it's just gas upsetting it."

"Uhm, hopefully," Jonah grumbled, although he wasn't so sure. His mouth still tasted awful from the little puking spell from earlier, "were you gonna hit an intruder with a lamp?"

"No," Leo squeaked, sounding offended and pressing a kiss on Jonah's shoulder, as he gently cupped his lower belly and pressed on it, "I was gonna throw the lamp at them to distract them and then body tackle the intruder."

"So-" Jonah burped towards his lap, coughing as some disgusting spit flooded his mouth. He swallowed it back down, "getting yourself killed was the plan."

Leo snorted, a chuckle rumbling inside his chest that Jon could feel perfectly with his back pressed to it, "I love the version of me that lives inside of your head and is 5'2 and harmless."

Jonah rolled his eyes, moving Leo's hand from his lower belly and back up, where the ache was bigger, "not 5'2..." he mumbled, wincing when his boyfriend's fingers dug in, "you're just not a viol-" he rushed to cup his mouth, as a thick belch turned wet at the end, "ew... you're just not violent, that's all."

"We played football together," Leo scoffed, "you've seen me tackle grown men," Leo brought up his free hand to Jonah's forehead, "you're all clammy, Jon."

"Yeah," he sighed, pushing Leo's hand deeper into his stomach, "just one more and we can go to bed... I- I can feel it-"

"Here?" Leo pushed his hand in, rubbing in circles. Jonah groaned as the pressure made him taste his lunch and he swallowed in air, trying to force up the big belch he could feel sitting in his gut, "here?"

As Leo's hand moved to the center of his belly, a huge belch came up along with a splash of vomit, too quickly for Jon to even swallow down. He coughed, gagging and burping again, forcing himself to open his eyes, "aw..." Jonah's voice was scratchy and fading from all the acid he had been burping, "fuck, Leo, your arm, I'm so-"

"Shut up," Leo snapped, slowly pulling back, "does your tummy feel better?"

"Ugh..." Jonah grimaced, letting out a small burp, "I think so... I think I just need to shower and take some medicine... Fuck, that was gross, I'm sorry."

Leo rolled his eyes, pushing them apart and offering his clean hand so Jonah could get up from the couch, "it's fine, it's my boyfriend's sweater, not mine."

[nothorses]

are you open to sharing the thesis/project results from the work you mentioned around parents telling or not telling their kids that they have [diagnosis] and wanting them to feel 'normal'? (not my area of primary research, just education background and lay person's interest!)

It's actually about the experiences of folks who's ADHD was undiagnosed in K-12! There isn't a ton of research into that specific issue for that age group, and minors in particular lack the ability to advocate for themselves, seek a diagnosis, and enforce accommodations the way college students (which are more heavily represented by research in this area) can. But the parent side specifically would be super interesting, too!! That sounds like amazing grounds for some qualitative research.

I've been thinking on my willingness to share it here, lol. I've been advised to get it published, which means I'd need it to be associated with my real-life identity, and I have really tried to keep that separate from my online identity thus far. We'll see!

[mariacallous]

Within days of Hamas’s massacre last month that left 1,400 people dead in Israel, a gas station near the southern city of Be’er Sheva was packed with Israeli soldiers. Convoys of beaten-up military jeeps were zigzagging in and out of the pump terminals, and the roadside cafe had stopped taking civilian orders, trying to reserve all available stock for troops preparing for the first ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in just under a decade. In the parking lot, Israelis manned a makeshift booth offering falafel to passing soldiers, playing patriotic songs. The gas station workers, meanwhile, leaned on stock pallets in a shaded corner—four Bedouins speaking to each other in broken Hebrew with thick Arab accents, staring out into a nation not quite their own on the brink of war. They must have been terrified of outing themselves as Arabs.

By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, there were roughly 156,000 Palestinians who found themselves within what became the official borders of the state of Israel. Almost overnight, they had morphed into citizens of Israel. As of 2020, they number almost 2 million (including East Jerusalem Palestinians who hold permanent resident status), comprising about 20 percent of Israel’s population. They had evaded exile, but their initial relations to the state were marred by resentment and confusion: Many had relatives settled in tent cities in neighboring Arab countries, and large swaths of their former agricultural lands had been expropriated. Almost two decades would pass until these Arab towns in Israel would be released from military rule.

Arab citizens began from a point of severe disadvantage. Much of the Palestinian population lived in farming communities with lower levels of literacy. On top of this, there were deep feelings of resentment associated with the establishment of Israel and the new necessity of navigating it in what then was the enemy tongue.

More than half a century later, these Arabs are intimately embedded in the fabric of Israeli life. All signs indicate that, over time, socioeconomic gaps have narrowed. Scarcely a single sector can function without Arab labor. Schooling and the domestic life of Arab Israelis are still largely conducted in Arabic, and members of this population tend to gain fluency in Hebrew only upon entering higher education. In academia, most material is taught in Hebrew, and then, in most professions, Arab Israelis invariably sit alongside Israeli Jews on a daily basis.

A degree of accommodation and understanding has formed, and as far as many Israelis are concerned, this is the gold standard of coexistence. Arabs, however, continue to face discrimination and hardship—along with their own internal divisions.

What am I? Too Israeli for the Palestinians and too Palestinian for the Israelis. Our identity is no identity, and we are born into confusion,” said Huda, an office worker who lives in the northern town of Kafr Yasif (she did not want her last name used because she is scared of reprisal).

Huda is a Christian Arab. Christians make up 1.9 percent of the Israeli population, while Muslims comprise 18 percent, and Druze, 1.6 percent.

This confused identity becomes more acute during times of war. “Unlike Israeli Jews, I hear the screams of Palestinians in my mother tongue and I understand them,” she said. “And yet, here, understanding them amounts to sympathizing with them.” (Interviews with Arab Israelis for this piece were conducted in Arabic and Hebrew, depending on the subject’s personal preference.)

Since the outbreak of the war, at least 110 Arab Israelis have been arrested for speech-related offenses, according to Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel. Separately, the group said 100 complaints have been filed against Arab Israeli students, 74 have been summoned for disciplinary hearings, and three students have been expelled.

Abed Samara, head of the Hasharon Hospital cardiac ICU in central Israel, was suspended from work for a Facebook post published roughly two years ago featuring a green flag with religious writing in Arabic and a dove symbolizing peace, along with a short text in Arabic that included the word “martyr.” The color green is traditionally associated with Islam. Samara said the flag was mistaken for the Hamas flag and the post was deeply misconstrued. “No one even bothered to consult me about any of this,” he said in an interview given to Hebrew-language media.

Dalal Abu Amneh, a popular singer and neuroscientist, was arrested and held in solitary confinement for two nights for posting a Palestinian flag with the caption, “There is no victor except for that of God.” These are just two examples of Arab Israelis who have had their reputations ruined after the events of early October—despite the fact that a recent poll showed at least 80 percent of Israel’s Arab population to be categorically against the massacre.

Fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza does not usually trigger violence between Arabs and Jews in Israel. But it did the last time Israel and Hamas fought a war in May 2021. Among the attacks on Jewish Israelis, synagogues were torched and hundreds of homes were looted—many of them in and around mixed Arab-Jewish cities.

The incident shook Israel enough that its military a few months later staged an exercise simulating scenarios of “domestic unrest” for the first time since the Second Intifada. On Oct. 4, just three days before the massacre, an Israeli headline featured talks among police officials to loosen open-fire protocols. As of Oct. 26, that motion has been set forth for voting in the Knesset and comes as Israel is especially attuned to signs of sympathy for Hamas among Arab Israeli citizens.

“I woke up that Saturday, saw footage of the massacres, and my first thought was: We’re done for,” said Hamada Mahamid, a 30-year-old Hebrew teacher from the Arab Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm, the third-largest Arab Israeli city and part of a cluster of exclusively Muslim towns and cities bordering the Green Line. “It was clear to all of us that this is no joke: People are holed up in their homes, my friends have stopped going to work, and we are even reluctant to chat over the phone,” he said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Arab Israeli politicians, who currently number 10 of 120 members of the Knesset. Even those who have generally assumed staunch positions against Israeli military operations in Palestinian territories, such as Ahmad Tibi, have urged their populations to keep a level head and avoid any actions that may risk their standing in Israel.

Hosni Sadeq, a restaurant owner from the Arab Israeli city of Tira, said he feels betrayed. Even during the quietest periods, a stabbing attempt on the other side of the country would leave his restaurant empty on the busiest day of the week—which tends to be Saturday, when Jews stream into the local marketplace for shopping and authentic Arab food. “Not only do I have to speak their language and never with a single mistake, but I have to forget my origins and never speak a word about their enemies,” he said.

For Huda, war exposes the wedge between the two peoples living on a single slice of land, which each side claims as its own. “We are not actually friends,” she said. “We exchange laughs at work, but when war breaks out, each rushes back into his own camp.”

Crime rates in Arab Israeli towns have skyrocketed in recent years. The Israeli police blame a lack of cooperation from Arab citizens for the inability to reverse the trend, but Arabs often cite a lack of initiative on the part of the authorities. “Just like in America, but a little different,” Mahamid said. “Here, no one cares when Arabs kill Arabs—if anything, it serves the state well.” Israeli politicians often refer to the danger of Arab violence seeping into Jewish communities— which Tibi called “condescending,” as it paints the Arab community as the “backyard” of Israel, where “anything can happen.”

Indeed, several months ago, Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai was heard on a leaked voice recording shrugging off the endemic violence, in a conversation with right-wing extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister. “There is nothing that can be done,” Shabtai said, according to reports. “They kill each other. That is their nature. That is the mentality of the Arabs.”

Now, as the Knesset is being called to vote on loosening open-fire protocols, calls among Israeli Jews to establish armed community-watch squadrons, and Arab officers in the police force languishing at just above 5 percent, Arabs are convinced that the police will never truly be on their side. Many have begun rethinking plans for the future.

Mahamid, who plans to marry in a couple of months, is for the first time looking into immigration options.

“The last decade of quiet is dead and gone—everyone knows it, even though some deny it,” Mahamid told me, echoing the words of Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, who, referring to Hamas in a recent address, said that “all of the terms of the past are gone and have dissipated.” Hanegbi’s words apply as much to homeland security as to the Israeli social fabric, which many Arab Israelis believe has been irreparably damaged.

“I condemn the massacre. I retched at the sight of what Hamas did. And I condemn the ceaseless bombing of innocent Gazans. If the Israelis didn’t know in advance about the massacre, how would the 2 million Gazans have known?” Mahamid said. “But when this is all said and done, we are going to be left alone with them here on the interior.”

Survivors of the massacre tend to note two things in recalling the horrors of that fateful Saturday: the sound of gunfire and the sound of Arabic. Almost every reference to that day includes a reference to the Arabic language, which as of 2018 was downgraded from an “official language” of Israel to one of “special status.” This shift came in the nation-state law, a controversial measure from the political right that sought to reaffirm Israel’s role as the “national homeland of the Jewish people” and left Arabs wondering what exactly they have been working toward over the last several decades.

“Canada is looking good at the moment,” Mahamid told me. “I can’t speak a lick of English, but I’d now prefer to babble than take my chances in Arabic on the Israeli street.”

[readyforevolution]

Black History Facts!!!

#Happy90th

#NAACP

Born Myrlie Louise Beasley on March 17, 1933, in her maternal grandmother’s home in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was the daughter of James Van Dyke Beasley, a delivery man, and Mildred Washington Beasley, who was 16 years old. Myrlie’s parents separated when she was just a year old; her mother left Vicksburg but decided that Myrlie was too young to travel with her. Since her maternal grandmother worked all day in service, with no time to raise a child, Myrlie was raised by her paternal grandmother, Annie McCain Beasley, and an aunt, Myrlie Beasley Polk. Both women were respected school teachers and they inspired her to follow in their footsteps. Myrlie attended the Magnolia school, took piano lessons, and performed songs, piano pieces or recited poetry at school, in church, and at local clubs.

Myrlie graduated from Magnolia High School (Bowman High School) in 1950. During her years in high school, Myrlie was also a member of the Chansonettes, a girls’ vocal group from Mount Heroden Baptist Church in Vicksburg. In 1950, Myrlie enrolled at Alcorn A&M College, one of the few colleges in the state that accepted African American students, as an education major intending to minor in music. Myrlie is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. On her first day of school Myrlie met and fell in love with Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran eight years her senior. The meeting changed her college plans, and the couple later married on Christmas Eve of 1951. They later moved to Mound Bayou, and had three children, Darrell Kenyatta, Reena Denise, and James Van Dyke. In Mound Bayou, Myrlie worked as a secretary at the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company.

When Medgar Evers became the Mississippi field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1954, Myrlie worked alongside him. Myrlie became his secretary and together they organized voter registration drives and civil rights demonstrations. She assisted him as he struggled to end the practice of racial segregation in schools and other public facilities and as he campaigned for voting rights many African Americans were denied this right in the South. For more than a decade, the Everses fought for voting rights, equal access to public accommodations, the desegregation of the University of Mississippi, and for equal rights in general for Mississippi's African American population. As prominent civil rights leaders in Mississippi, the Everses became high-profile targets for pro-segregationist violence and terrorism.

In 1962, their home in Jackson, Mississippi, was firebombed in reaction to an organized boycott of downtown Jackson’s white merchants. The family had been threatened, and Evers targeted by the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1967, after Byron De La Beckwith's release in 1965, she moved with her children to Claremont, California, and emerged as a civil rights activist in her own right. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Pomona College. She spoke on behalf of the NAACP and in 1967 she co-wrote For Us, the Living, which chronicled her late husband's life and work. She also made two unsuccessful bids for U.S. Congress. From 1968 to 1970, Evers was the director of planning at the center for Educational Opportunity for the Claremont Colleges.

From 1973 to 1975, Evers was the vice-president for advertising and publicity at the New York-based advertising firm, Seligman and Lapz. In 1975, she moved to Los Angeles to become the national director for community affairs for the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). At ARCO she was responsible for developing and managing all the corporate programs. This included overseeing funding for community projects, outreach programs, public and private partnership programs and staff development. She helped secure money for many organizations such as the National Woman’s Educational Fund, and worked with a group that provided meals to the poor and homeless.

Myrlie Evers-Williams continued to explore ways to serve her community and to work with the NAACP. Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley appointed her to the Board of Public Works as a commissioner in 1987. Evers-Williams was the first black woman to serve as a commissioner on the board, a position she held for 8 years. Evers-Williams also joined the board of the NAACP. By the mid-1990s, the prestigious organization was going through a difficult period marked by scandal and economic problems. Evers-Williams decided that the best way to help the organization was to run for chairperson of the board of directors. She won the position in 1995, just after her second husband’s death due to prostate cancer. As chairperson of the NAACP, Evers-Williams worked to restore the tarnished image of the organization. She also helped improve its financial status, raising enough funds to eliminate its debt. Evers-Williams received many honors for her work, including being named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine. With the organization financially stable, she decided to not seek re-election as chairperson in 1998. In that same year, she was awarded the NAACP's Spingarn Medal.

Sources:

Padgett, John. "MWP: Myrlie Evers-Williams". University of Mississippi. Retrieved October 20, 2011

Goldsworthy, Joan. "Gale - Free Resources - Black History - Biographies - Myrlie Evers-Williams". Gale. Retrieved November 22, 2011.

Myrlie Evers-Williams Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com". Famous Biographies & TV Shows - Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved November 22, 2011.

Davis, Merlene. "Merlene Davis: Myrlie Evers-Williams doesn't want us to forget". Kentucky.com. Retrieved November 22, 2011.

Jessie Carney Smith; VNR Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft (1996). Notable Black American Women: book II. p. 208.

University of Virginia (June 24, 2013). "Speakers and Guests Bios". virginia.edu. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013.

[gnwwkks2]

A Sweet Coincidence (Idol!Gunwook x F!Reader) 𝓘𝓷𝓯𝓸 + 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓼

Hi everyone! Ive always wanted to write a book on here since ive been on this site for years. I finally have enough motivation to write a story that I hope will satisfy some Gunwook stans on here as long as myself. Gunwook is literally the cutest cutie to ever be this cutieful, so I hope you enjoy. I have no clue how long this will run for, and I don't know how fast updates will be out, but I hope you'll be patient with me here. This is also a little thing to give myself some wook content on here. all punctuation errors and lowercase will mostly be intended, and there should be no triggering subjects unless I state otherwise in the notes before each chapter. I don't want to herm anybody, so if you cant read a chapter if it will make you feel bad, please don't, and I will try to accommodate, and possible even re-write if I have to. Now onto profiles!

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

-Park Gunwook

- member of kpop group ZB1

-loves his career and his members

- main love interest

- definition of 'big baby' 

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

-Y/n L/n

 [Insert Yourself]

- an art student

-loves ZB1 and gunwook (self claimed biggest fan)

- draws as much as possible on her tablet

- she loves to draw pouty gunwook

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

-Shen Ricky

- the matchmaker

- strawberry enthusiast

- literally the best hype boy 

- slowly becomes y/n's bestie

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

- The Rest Of ZB1  

- they mostly have no clue whats happening

- supportive

- minor roles but could possibly have a big impact later

- will get chapters with just them sometimes

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

I really hope that you guys will enjoy this, I should post the first chapter either today or tomorrow!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Debra Soh

Published: Aug 17, 2023

In the debate on childhood transition, one of the largest points of contention has been whether a minor’s wishes should override parental opposition. And, indeed, whether parents have a right to be informed about the process at all.

On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that a group of parents couldn’t challenge a Maryland school district’s policy regarding children who declare themselves to be transgender. The policy requires school employees to support a child’s preferred name, pronouns, and bathroom access and bars employees from disclosing these plans to parents without the child’s consent.

Gender ideology owes much of its success to the isolation of vulnerable children in every area of life. Children are currently being treated as though they have an equivalent mental capacity to adults, and this presumed ability to make sound choices autonomously should not be questioned.

These are not, however, benign decisions; in addition to potentially exacerbating gender confusion, failing to challenge a child’s beliefs about being transgender or "non-binary" can have implications for their future well-being in more ways than one. As my readers are likely already aware, a social transition isn’t without consequence and has been shown by research to be associated with medical transition.

As well, parents deserve to know if their child is being granted access to single-sex spaces that would otherwise be exclusively used by members of the opposite sex. For example, when it comes to bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations on field trips, a girl using boys’ facilities will be placing herself at greater risk. I also think all parents at a school deserve to know if a male student is being allowed to use facilities designated for girls.

Keeping secrets from parents is a hallmark sign of predatory grooming. This isn’t to say that personnel abiding by these policies are doing so with the goal of sexually abusing children, but the process of excluding parents from important decision-making shouldn’t be promoted by our society as healthy or safe.

Last week, the New College of Florida announced it would be defunding its gender studies program. Spearheaded by trustee Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, New College’s recent transformation should be emulated by every university and applauded by anyone in favor of truth and evidence. As our educational system continues to be overrun by gender zealotry, we should seek to excavate the rot at its root.

Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist and the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society.

[ Via: https://archive.is/Rwsu4 ]

==

https://cass.independent-review.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Cass-Review-Interim-Report-Final-Web-Accessible.pdf#page=62

Social transition – this may not be thought of as an intervention or treatment, because it is not something that happens within health services. However, it is important to view it as an active intervention because it may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning. There are different views on the benefits versus the harms of early social transition. Whatever position one takes, it is important to acknowledge that it is not a neutral act, and better information is needed about outcomes.

I still think it's fascinating that the same children who are deemed mature enough to make irreversible medical decisions that will affect their fertility, sexuality, biological development, and make them life-long medical patients...

... are simultaneously not mature enough to agree to a cellphone plan.

[the-tired-tenor]

Ron DeSantis: American Fascist

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has regularly starred in national headlines over the past few years thanks to a wave of conservative legislation, including the infamous “Don't Say Gay” bill and subsequent retaliation against Disney for speaking out against it. While this legislation has made him the hero of the far-right sect of the GOP, many on the other side of the political aisle have a different word for him: fascist.

Fascism is used to describe a totalitarian and discriminatory form of government - one which strictly controls what its citizens can say, do, or be, and backs those restrictions up with the threat of violence. In the Spring of 2003, Lawrence W. Britt published a list of 14 defining characteristics of fascism, which reads as follows:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism

5. Rampant sexism

6. A controlled mass media

7. Obsession with national security

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together

9. Power of corporations protected

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts

12. Obsession with crime and punishment

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption

14. Fraudulent elections

Today, I will be examining each of these characteristics as they relate to the political activities of Ron DeSantis, and using what we find to determine whether he really is a fascist.

First, we have “powerful and continuing displays of nationalism.” DeSantis regularly makes displays of Christian nationalism, telling his supporters to “put on the full armor of God” to defeat his political allies, as well as white nationalism. For examples of the latter, look no further than his suppression of materials as they relate to racial diversity in our schools, as well as his law that prohibits teaching lessons that “may cause students to feel guilty” about their race, such as lessons about slavery, Jim Crow, and reconstruction.

Next, “disdain for the importance of human rights.” The evidence for this point is truly overwhelming; highlights include his flight of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, where he lied about their destination and accommodations to coerce vulnerable minorities onto a plane, the infamous “Don't Say Gay” bill, and his latest catchphrase, “Florida is where woke goes to die.”

“Identification of scapegoats for a unifying cause” is similarly easy to pick out; for years, DeSantis and his allies have slandered teachers, gay and queer parents, and most recently transgender individuals, using rhetoric against those groups as calls to action for his base. More specifically, they have recently claimed that LGBTQ teachers are “grooming” students to become gay or transgender, despite there being not a scrap of evidence to support this.

“Supremacy of the military” has always been a Republican ideal, with trillions on trillions of dollars in funding going to defense each year while critical infrastructure and the state education system crumbles.

“Sexism” is harder to identify, as most politicians know at this point that openly saying “men are better than women” is political suicide. With that in mind, it is worth noting that DeSantis has frequently expressed support for and belief in “traditional” gender roles, especially in conjunction with condemning transgender people. See also the recent passage of ever more restrictive abortion bans in the state

Next, “controlled mass media.” There's a single recent event which I will highlight here, which is the recent introduction of a bill which would require anyone who writes about DeSantis or his cabinet members to register with the state government. This is the most mask-off attempt I've seen thus far to control the media, and while I don't think it will stand, it's deeply concerning that anyone is even trying it. Recent sweeping bans on school reading material also falls into this category.

“Obsession with national security” is another point common to Republican legislators. The last few years have seen a growing obsession with keeping migrants and immigrants out of the country, including the recent Martha's Vineyard stunt by DeSantis himself.

DeSantis often invokes the Christian God, as do most of his contemporaries, when justifying legislation or rallying followers, so “Religion and ruling elite tied together” is another easy check off the list.

“Power of corporations protected” might seem like an easy miss for DeSantis after his recent scuffle with Disney, but looking at the companies that don't dare to criticize him tells a different story, which goes hand-in-hand with the next point, “power of labor suppressed or eliminated.” Florida is a right-to-work state, which already removes some power from workers, but DeSantis has taken aim at unions over the last few years. Most recently and publicly, teachers’ unions have been a target.

“Disdain for and suppression of intellectuals and the arts” is also represented by DeSantis’ attack on teachers unions (and teachers themselves), but we can also look at recent restrictions placed on state universities, not least of which is the wildly unpopular and blatant takeover of New College. He is also the force behind expanding education jobs to favor candidates from law enforcement and military backgrounds via the lowering of standards and offers of special bonuses to those candidates.

For “obsession with crime and punishment,” look no further than the criminalization of abortion, ballooning police budgets, and the removal of an elected state attourney in Tampa who said he would deprioritize the prosecution of misdemeanors.

This is also an example of “Rampant cronyism and corruption,” as this attourney was removed specifically because he spoke out against DeSantis - despite this being a clear violation of his 1st amendment rights. We can also see cronyism in the recent takeover of New College, in which several high-profile allies of DeSantis were appointed to take over the once-liberal college's leadership. Whistleblowers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic were also persecuted by the state when they spoke out against DeSantis’ narrative that COVID was no big deal. We can also look to the recent hostile and unwelcome takeover o New College, where DeSantis installed political allies in positions of power at the college over loud and constant student and faculty objections.

Finally, we come to “fraudulent elections.” For this point, I would point readers to DeSantis’ blatant and unconstitutional gerrymandering leading up to the 2022 election - when lawmakers drew up a map that gave the GOP a modest advantage over state democrats, DeSantis threw it out and provided his own, which was so aggressively gerrymandered that he had to overrule his own party members, who balked at how aggressive - and likely unlawful - his map was in order to put it in place before the election. Additionally, see the recently introduced bill which would dissolve the Democratic Party in the state of Florida, effectively resulting in a single-party government with no competition.

Based on this examination of Governor DeSantis’ behaviors, as well as the overall behaviors of the party which he is a part of, I feel very comfortable saying: Ron DeSantis is a fascist. Specifically, he is a Christian Fascist who regularly justifies his decisions with religion, despite the intentions of our country’s founders to separate the church from political power. He is not the small-government defender of personal freedoms that he masquerades as, but an authoritarian bully who uses the levers of state power to enforce his bigotry, protect the power of his corporate donors, and force his religious views onto the citizens of his state.

Rather than use his power as a legislator to make improvements to the lives of the people he governs by doing things like fix infrastructure, fight inflation in the housing market, or protect vulnerable people from the whims of corporate interests, DeSantis is content to demonize vulnerable minorities in order to create infighting within the working class and distract from his immorality, hypocrisy, and blatant power grabs. Ron DeSantis is anti-liberty, anti-democracy, and anti-American, and should be removed from the levers of political power as soon as legally possible.

[msclaritea]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-document-that-reveals-the-remarkable-tactics-of-trans-lobbyists/?s=09

The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists

2 December 2019, 12:00am

Agreat deal of the transgender debate is unexplained. One of the most mystifying aspects is the speed and success of a small number of small organisations in achieving major influence over public bodies, politicians and officials. How has a certain idea taken hold in so many places so swiftly?

People and organisations that at the start of this decade had no clear policy on or even knowledge of trans issues are now enthusiastically embracing non-binary gender identities and transition, offering gender-neutral toilets and other changes required to accommodate trans people and their interests. These changes have, among other things, surprised many people. They wonder how this happened, and why no one seems to have asked them what they think about it, or considered how those changes might affect them.

Some of the bodies that have embraced these changes with the greatest zeal are surprising: the police are not famous social liberals but many forces are now at the vanguard here, even to the point of checking our pronouns and harassing elderly ladies who say the wrong thing on Twitter.

How did we get here? I think we can discount the idea that this is a simple question of organisations following a changing society. Bluntly, society still doesn’t know very much about transgenderism. If you work in central London in certain sectors, live in a university town (or at a university) or have children attending a (probably middle-class) school, you might have some direct acquaintance. But my bet is that most people don’t know any trans people and don’t have developed views about how the law should evolve with regards to their status.

So the question again: how did organisations with small budgets and limited resources achieve such stunning success, not just in the UK but elsewhere?

Well, thanks to the legal website Roll On Friday, I have now seen a document that helps answer that question.

The document is the work of Dentons, which says it is the world’s biggest law firm; the Thomson Reuters Foundation, an arm of the old media giant that appears dedicated to identity politics of various sorts; and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation (IGLYO). Both Dentons and the Thomson Reuters Foundation note that the document does not necessarily reflect their views.

The report is called ‘Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth’. Its purpose is to help trans groups in several countries bring about changes in the law to allow children to legally change their gender, without adult approval and without needing the approval of any authorities. ‘We hope this report will be a powerful tool for activists and NGOs working to advance the rights of trans youth across Europe and beyond,’ says the foreword.

As you’d expect of a report co-written by the staff of a major law firm, it’s a comprehensive and solid document, summarising law, policy and ‘advocacy’ across several countries. Based on the contributions of trans groups from around the world (including two in the UK, one of which is not named), it collects and shares ‘best practice’ in ‘lobbying’ to change the law so that parents no longer have a say on their child’s legal gender.

‘It is recognised that the requirement for parental consent or the consent of a legal guardian can be restrictive and problematic for minors.’

You might think that the very purpose of parenting is, in part, to ‘restrict’ the choices of children who cannot, by definition, make fully-informed adult choices on their own. But that is not the stance of the report.

Indeed, it suggests that ‘states should take action against parents who are obstructing the free development of a young trans person’s identity in refusing to give parental authorisation when required.’

In short, this is a handbook for lobbying groups that want to remove parental consent over significant aspects of children’s lives. A handbook written by an international law firm and backed by one of the world’s biggest charitable foundations.

And how do the authors suggest that legal change be accomplished?

I think the advice is worth quoting at length, because this is the first time I’ve actually seen this put down in writing in a public forum. And because I think anyone with any interest in how policy is made and how politics works should pay attention.

Here’s a broad observation from the report about the best way to enact a pro-trans agenda:

‘While cultural and political factors play a key role in the approach to be taken, there are certain techniques that emerge as being effective in progressing trans rights in the “good practice” countries.’

Among those techniques: ‘Get ahead of the Government agenda.’

What does that mean? Here it is in more detail:

‘In many of the NGO advocacy campaigns that we studied, there were clear benefits where NGOs managed to get ahead of the government and publish progressive legislative proposal before the government had time to develop their own. NGOs need to intervene early in the legislative process and ideally before it has even started. This will give them far greater ability to shape the government agenda and the ultimate proposal than if they intervene after the government has already started to develop its own proposals.’

That will sound familiar to anyone who knows how a Commons select committee report in 2016, which adopted several positions from trans groups, was followed in 2017 by a UK government plan to adopt self-identification of legal gender. To a lot of people, that proposal, which emerged from Whitehall looking quite well-developed, came out of the blue.

Anyway, here’s another tip from the document: ‘Tie your campaign to more popular reform.’

For example:

‘In Ireland, Denmark and Norway, changes to the law on legal gender recognition were put through at the same time as other more popular reforms such as marriage equality legislation. This provided a veil of protection, particularly in Ireland, where marriage equality was strongly supported, but gender identity remained a more difficult issue to win public support for.’

I’ve added my bold there, because I think those are very telling phrases indeed. This is an issue that is ‘difficult to win public support for’ and best hidden behind the ‘veil of protection’ provided by a popular issue such as gay rights. Again, anyone who has even glanced at the UK transgender debate will recognise this description.

Another recommendation is even more revealing: ‘Avoid excessive press coverage and exposure.’

According to the report, the countries that have moved most quickly to advance trans rights and remove parental consent have been those where the groups lobbying for those changes have succeeded in stopping the wider public learning about their proposals. Conversely, in places like Britain, the more ‘exposure’ this agenda has had, the less successful the lobbying has been:

‘Another technique which has been used to great effect is the limitation of press coverage and exposure. In certain countries, like the UK, information on legal gender recognition reforms has been misinterpreted in the mainstream media, and opposition has arisen as a result. ….Against this background, many believe that public campaigning has been detrimental to progress, as much of the general public is not well informed about trans issues, and therefore misinterpretation can arise.

In Ireland, activists have directly lobbied individual politicians and tried to keep press coverage to a minimum in order to avoid this issue.’ (Emphasis added).

Although it offers extensive advice about the need to keep the trans-rights agenda out of the public’s gaze, the report has rather less to say about the possibility that advocates might just try doing what everyone else in politics does and make a persuasive argument for their cause. Actually convincing people that this stuff is a good idea doesn’t feature much in the report, which runs to 65 pages.

I’m not going to tell you what I think of the report, or the agenda it sets out. I’m not going to pass comment on it or its authors. I’m just going to try to summarise its nature and contents.

A major international law firm has helped write a lobbying manual for people who want to change the law to prevent parents having the final say about significant changes in the status of their own children. That manual advises those lobbying for that change to hide their plans behind a ‘veil’ and to make sure that neither the media nor the wider public know much about the changes affecting children that they are seeking to make. Because if the public find out about those changes, they might well object to them.

I started my first job as a researcher in the Commons in 1994. I’ve been studying and writing about politics and policy ever since. And in my experience of how changes in the law are brought about, the approach described in that report is simply not normal or usual. In a democracy, we are all free to argue for whatever policy or position we wish. But normally, anyone who wants to change the law accepts that to do so they need to win the support or, at least, the consent of the people whose authority ultimately gives the law its force. The approach outlined, in detail, in the Dentons report amounts to a very different way of lobbying to get the laws and policies you want. Even more notably, it suggests that in several countries people have been quite successful in lobbying behind a ‘veil’ and in a way that deliberately avoids the attention of the public. That, I think, should interest anyone who cares about how politics and policy are conducted, whether or not they care about the transgender issue.

I’m going to conclude with an observation I’ve made here before, but which I think bears repeating in the context of that report and the things it might tell people about other aspects of the trans issue: no policy made in the shadows can survive in sunlight.

This was always about access to kids.

[university-dayz]

what I wish I knew about university : ONE

having completed the foundation year of my degree (and going onto my first year) I am now able to look back on the numerous minor inconveniences (although they didn't feel minor at the time ) and see how I could have avoided them. My aim with this is to help university students feel less alone if they were to encounter similar problems and to help people see that, more often than not, those inconveniences aren't as devastating as they feel in the moment

1) if you miss the deadline for applying for student finance its not the end of the world

Over the summer most of my time was spent visiting a member of my family who was in "end-of-life care" which ultimately led to a family bereavement. I was my family's main source of consolation as I was able to detach myself from the individual (it sounds bad I know but I wasn't exactly treated well by him) so applying for funding was not at the top of my list of priority's as I was more focused on ensuring that my family would be ok. in addition to this I had other extracurricular activities that required my attention, and presence. With all of this going on I just forgot about it

My initial feeling was panic. I had put so much effort in the previous weeks to join accommodation and class group chats and talk to people who would be in my flat and class and, when I realised id missed the deadline, I thought that I had wasted my time as I thought that I wouldn't be able to move into accommodation or start class. Luckily enough, that doesn't seem to be the case. After looking online I've found out that I could still apply for funding (although this is at the beginning of august I can't say for certain if you'll still be able to if you do it after August) but there would just be a small gap between starting university and getting the first payment

if you find yourself in a similar situation to this, my advice is to get in touch with the finance and accommodation team and explain what has happened. at the university I go to there is a student support fund that can help students whilst they are waiting for there first payment

[webdevelopment19]

AchieversIT’s Commitment to Diversity in Web Development Training

Introduction

Diversity and inclusion are essential to fostering innovation, creativity, and growth in the tech industry. AchieversIT is committed to creating an inclusive environment that welcomes students from all backgrounds, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in web development. This article explores how AchieversIT promotes diversity in its web development training programs and the benefits of a diverse learning community.

Why Diversity Matters in Tech

1. Fostering Innovation

Different Perspectives: Diverse teams bring a variety of viewpoints, leading to more creative solutions and innovative ideas.

Problem-Solving: A wide range of experiences enhances problem-solving skills and results in more effective and inclusive technology.

2. Meeting Market Needs

Global Audience: Creating technology for a global audience requires understanding and addressing the needs of diverse user groups.

User Experience: Diverse teams can design more inclusive products that offer better user experiences for everyone.

3. Driving Economic Growth

Talent Pool: Embracing diversity widens the talent pool, allowing companies to benefit from a broad range of skills and expertise.

Equity and Opportunity: Promoting diversity ensures equitable access to opportunities, driving economic growth and social progress.

AchieversIT’s Strategies for Promoting Diversity

1. Inclusive Recruitment and Admissions

Welcoming All Students

Open Access: Ensure that the admission process is accessible to students from all backgrounds, including underrepresented groups.

Scholarships and Financial Aid: Provide scholarships and financial aid to support students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

2. Supportive Learning Environment

Creating an Inclusive Atmosphere

Cultural Sensitivity Training: Implement cultural sensitivity training for instructors and staff to foster an inclusive and respectful learning environment.

Safe Spaces: Create safe spaces where students can express themselves and share their experiences without fear of discrimination or bias.

3. Diverse Curriculum Content

Reflecting a Global Perspective

Inclusive Examples: Use examples and case studies from diverse cultures and industries to reflect a global perspective in the curriculum.

Guest Lectures: Invite guest lecturers from diverse backgrounds to share their experiences and insights with students.

Empowering Underrepresented Groups

1. Women in Tech

Encouraging Female Participation

Women’s Programs: Develop programs specifically designed to support women in web development, including mentorship and networking opportunities.

Role Models: Highlight successful female role models in the tech industry to inspire and encourage female students.

2. Minority Representation

Supporting Minority Students

Diversity Scholarships: Offer scholarships aimed at increasing the representation of minority groups in web development training.

Mentorship Programs: Establish mentorship programs that connect minority students with industry professionals for guidance and support.

3. Accessibility for All

Ensuring Equal Access

Flexible Learning Options: Provide online and flexible learning options to accommodate students with different needs and schedules.

Assistive Technology: Use assistive technology to support students with disabilities, ensuring that everyone can participate fully in the learning experience.

Building a Diverse Community

1. Student Organizations

Fostering Peer Support

Diversity Clubs: Support the formation of diversity-focused student organizations that promote inclusion and provide peer support.

Events and Workshops: Organize events and workshops that celebrate diversity and encourage collaboration among students.

2. Networking Opportunities

Connecting with Industry Professionals

Diversity Conferences: Facilitate student participation in diversity-focused tech conferences and events to build professional networks.

Alumni Networks: Maintain strong alumni networks that emphasize diversity and inclusion, providing ongoing support and opportunities for graduates.

Measuring and Improving Diversity

1. Tracking Progress

Data-Driven Approaches

Diversity Metrics: Collect and analyze data on student demographics to track progress in promoting diversity and inclusion.

Feedback Mechanisms: Implement feedback mechanisms to gather input from students on their experiences and identify areas for improvement.

2. Continuous Improvement

Commitment to Growth

Regular Assessments: Conduct regular assessments of diversity initiatives to ensure they are effective and make adjustments as needed.

Community Engagement: Engage with the broader community to understand evolving needs and incorporate best practices in diversity and inclusion.

Conclusion

AchieversIT’s commitment to diversity in web development training is evident in its inclusive recruitment practices, supportive learning environment, and targeted programs for underrepresented groups. By fostering a diverse and inclusive community, AchieversIT not only enhances the learning experience for all students but also contributes to a more innovative and equitable tech industry. Enroll today and join a community that values and celebrates diversity, preparing you for a successful career in web development.

[evoldir]

Fwd: Job: CentreC_Kentucky.Two.EvolutionaryBiol

Begin forwarded message: > From: evoldir@evol.biology.mcmaster.ca > Subject: Job: CentreC_Kentucky.Two.EvolutionaryBiol > Date: 15 August 2024 at 06:29:30 BST > To: rdmpage@gmail.com > > > Two Tenure-track Biologists > > Centre College seeks a diverse pool of candidates for two tenure-track > positions as Assistant or Associate Professor of Biology, beginning August > 2025. A successful candidate will have the expertise to teach at least one > of the two following courses: Microbiology and Introduction to Genetics. A > successful candidate will also have the opportunity to contribute to > Centre’s innovative general education curriculum, study abroad, and > interdisciplinary programs. Collaborative research with undergraduates > is expected and supported. Competitive startup funds are included. > > We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment that celebrates > diversity in all its forms. We strongly encourage applications from > candidates who will contribute to the diversity of our faculty, support > our diverse student body, and utilize inclusive pedagogical practices. > The successful candidate will join a community of compassionate > teacher-scholars dedicated to excellent teaching and student mentorship, > equity and inclusion, shared governance, interdisciplinary collaboration, > global study and citizenship, scholarly achievement, and service to the > college and broader society. We offer a supportive community for faculty > from all backgrounds, mentoring for early-career faculty, and ongoing > professional development. > > Centre College boasts small classes and high academic standards, a > leading study abroad program, a world-class performing arts center, > and competitive NCAA Division III athletics. > > Qualified candidates will hold a PhD or terminal degree in biology or a > related field by the time of appointment, demonstrate their commitment > to excellence in inclusive teaching and mentoring, and show potential for > their own scholarly achievement and mentoring student research. Biologists > with interests across multiple subdisciplines of Biology or related > fields are welcome to apply. > > The College is located in historic Danville, Kentucky, offering a high > quality of life and easy access to Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati. > > To apply, please submit the following at > https://ift.tt/KclDMN4: > 1.     Cover letter describing your interest in and qualifications for >       this position > 2.     Curriculum vitae > 3.     Statement of teaching philosophy, experience, and effectiveness > 4.     Statement of research interests > 5.     Diversity statement that explains your lived experiences of the >       importance of diversity and inclusion, and how these experiences >       have helped you address issues relating to these topics > 6.     Letters from three professional references > > All written statements should highlight your own experiences of learning, > teaching, researching, and/or mentoring. Review of applications will > begin on September 15, 2024. > > Centre College is an equal opportunity employer and is committed > to recruiting a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from > members of underrepresented groups, including but not limited to > racial and ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and persons > with disabilities. Candidates with questions about access or requiring > reasonable accommodations for any part of the application or interview > process should contact the search committee chair Amanda Falk at > amanda.falk@centre.edu. > > For more information about Centre College, visit www.centre.edu. > > Centre College is a proud member of the Greater > Kentucky Higher Education Recruitment Consortium: www.greaterkyherc.org. > > "Megan B. Mazurek"

[icl-immigration]

Living in New Zealand: An In-Depth Look at Costs and Housing Options

Table of content - Introduction - Cost of Living in NZ - Students Cost of Living - Working Bachelors in NZ - Working Individuals Residing with Families in NZ  - Comparative Cost of Living Index for Major Cities  - Housing Options in New Zealand  - Final Tips for Moving in New Zealand  Food: The average monthly grocery bill for a family of four ranges from NZD 1,000 to NZD 1,400. Transportation: In major cities, public transport costs around NZD 150 to NZD 200 per month, and petrol costs approximately NZD 2.40 per litre. Utilities: The typical monthly costs for a standard household (electricity, heating, cooling, water, garbage) range from NZD 140 to NZD 280. Public healthcare is heavily subsidized. Private healthcare insurance costs between NZD 50 and NZD 200 per month, depending on the plan and age group. Public schooling is free, requiring only minor contributions for activities. Private schooling fees range from NZD 2,000 to NZD 20,000 per year. On average, dining out, entertainment and sports expenses are between NZD 250 and NZD 500 monthly. Accommodation: University halls of residence cost NZD 200 to NZD 400 per week, often including utilities and some meals. Shared rentals (flatting) range from NZD 150 to NZD 350 per week. Food: Campus meal plans or shared cooking typically cost NZD 50 to NZD 100 per week. Transportation: Public transport with student discounts costs about NZD 120 per month. Entertainment and Miscellaneous: Typically NZD 100 to NZD 200 per month. Monthly Total with Rent: NZD 1,120 to NZD 2,320 Monthly Total without Rent: NZD 320 to NZD 720 Accommodation: City centre one-bedroom rentals cost NZD 1,800 to NZD 2,500 per month in Auckland and NZD 1,500 to NZD 2,000 in Wellington. Food: Frequent dining out costs NZD 400 to NZD 600 per month. Transportation: Owning a car or using public transport averages NZD 200 to NZD 300 per month. Entertainment and Lifestyle: Spending on nightlife and cultural events averages NZD 200 to NZD 400 per month. Monthly Total with Rent: NZD 2,600 to NZD 3,800 Monthly Total without Rent: NZD 800 to NZD 1,300 Accommodation: Three-bedroom home rentals range from NZD 2,000 to NZD 3,000 monthly in Auckland and NZD 1,800 to NZD 2,500 in Wellington. Food: Grocery bills for a family vary from NZD 800 to NZD 1,400 per month. Education:Primary School: Public education is free; private education costs NZD 8,000 to NZD 15,000 annually. Secondary School: Public education remains free; private education costs NZD 10,000 to NZD 25,000 annually. Senior Secondary School: Costs for public education are still accessible with added extracurricular fees; private education ranges from NZD 15,000 to NZD 30,000 per year. Transportation: Expenses for owning one or two cars range from NZD 300 to NZD 500 per month. Utilities and Household Expenses: Typically NZD 250 to NZD 400 per month. Total with Rent: NZD 3,350 to NZD 5,600 Total without Rent: NZD 1,350 to NZD 2,600 2 Bedroom House (2 BHK): Prices generally start around NZD 700,000 and can go up to NZD 1,000,000, depending on location and property condition. 3 Bedroom House (3 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 1,000,000 to NZD 1,400,000. 4 Bedroom House (4 BHK): Prices range from NZD 1,200,000 to NZD 1,800,000 or more, particularly in sought-after neighbourhoods. Individual House: Large detached homes or those in premium locations can cost between NZD 1,300,000 and over NZD 2,000,000. 2 Bedroom House (2 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 600,000 to NZD 850,000. 3 Bedroom House (3 BHK): Prices range from NZD 850,000 to NZD 1,200,000. 4 Bedroom House (4 BHK): Prices generally range from NZD 1,000,000 to NZD 1,500,000. Individual House: Prices for larger or more luxurious homes start around NZD 1,200,000 and can exceed NZD 1,800,000. 2 Bedroom House (2 BHK): Prices range from NZD 400,000 to NZD 600,000. 3 Bedroom House (3 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 550,000 to NZD 750,000. 4 Bedroom House (4 BHK): Prices range from NZD 650,000 to NZD 900,000. Individual House: Detached homes in desirable areas can cost from NZD 800,000 to NZD 1,200,000. Location: Proximity to city centres, amenities, good schools, and public transport can significantly increase property values. Property Condition: Newly built or recently renovated homes command higher prices than older properties that may need updates. Market Trends: Housing prices are influenced by overall market trends, which fluctuate based on economic conditions and interest rates. Stamp Duty, also Known locally as transfer duty, is a tax paid on the purchase of a property. Legal Fees: Hiring a lawyer for property transactions is necessary and typically costs several thousand NZD. Building Inspection and Valuation Fees: A building inspection (around NZD 500 to NZD 1,000) and property valuation (approximately NZD 600 to NZD 1,000) are recommended before purchasing. Mortgage Setup Costs: These can include application fees and mortgage insurance, especially if borrowing more than 80% of the property's value. 2 Bedroom (2 BHK): Generally ranges from NZD 400 to NZD 650 per week. 3 Bedroom (3 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 550 to NZD 750 per week. 4 Bedroom (4 BHK): Often ranges from NZD 650 to NZD 900 per week. Individual House: Depending on the area and proximity to the city centre, prices can range from NZD 650 to over NZD 1,200 per week. 2 Bedroom (2 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 350 to NZD 600 per week. 3 Bedroom (3 BHK): Ranges from NZD 500 to NZD 700 weekly. 4 Bedroom (4 BHK): Ranges from NZD 600 to NZD 850 per week. Individual House: Prices can range from NZD 600 to NZD 1,000 per week, depending on location and property condition. 2 Bedroom (2 BHK): Generally ranges from NZD 300 to NZD 500 per week. 3 Bedroom (3 BHK): Typically ranges from NZD 450 to NZD 600 per week. 4 Bedroom (4 BHK): Often ranges from NZD 550 to NZD 750 per week. Individual House: Prices can range from NZD 500 to NZD 800 per week. Location: Proximity to city centres, amenities, transport links, and schools significantly affect rental prices. Condition and Age of Property: Newer and well-maintained properties tend to be priced higher than older properties needing renovation. Market Demand: High demand in major cities often pushes prices up, especially in areas popular with expatriates and professionals. Bond: Typically equivalent to four weeks' rent, paid upfront as a security deposit. Advance Rent: Rent is usually required to be paid in advance, often two weeks' worth at the start of the tenancy. Utilities: While some rentals may include certain utilities, tenants most often need to pay for electricity, water, gas, and internet services separately. Flatting: Popular in cities, with room rentals ranging from NZD 150 to NZD 350 per week.Short-term Accommodations: Options like Airbnb are prevalent in tourist areasPractical Tips for Moving to New Zealand Budget Wisely: Use online calculators to estimate living costs based on your lifestyle and family size. Understand the Market: Thoroughly research housing options before moving. Websites like TradeMe and RealEstate.co.nz are valuable resources. Legal Requirements: Familiarize yourself with tenancy laws and home-purchase regulations on the New Zealand Government's website. This guide offers a comprehensive view of what to expect financially when considering a move to New Zealand, tailored to various living situations and personal needs. About ICL ImmigrationICL Immigration, based in Auckland, is an established licensed immigration adviser and immigration consultant with over 20 years of experience and a remarkable 97% approval rate. We've helped over 1,000 immigrants realise their New Zealand settlement dreams.We specialise in various visa services, including student, residency, work visas and business-related services like employer accreditation. We ensure personalised solutions for individuals and businesses aiming to navigate New Zealand’s immigration landscape successfully.ReferenceSource: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livingDisclaimer: The data points provided above are for informational purposes only and are subject to change based on market conditions. We recommend conducting your own research or consulting with a professional to obtain the most current and applicable information Read the full article