#add that saluting half emoji here

[joeltheresa]

Future Days

I didn't cry writing this (lie)

WC: ~1k words

TWs/warnings: game spoilers, character death, suicide thoughts, survivor's guilt, violence, Abby is a warning in herself, Joel's blown off leg because that shit traumatized me

-

Joel thinks of her when he wakes from the first blow to his head. He thinks of her bright smile and the laugh that she must’ve gotten from her mother. He thinks of the countless hours he spent learning to braid her hair and the weekends they’d drive to the beach and hire horses. He thinks of her soccer matches on Thursdays and the blueberry pancakes with Tommy on Sundays.

He thinks of her last moments. He thinks of that damned soldier, of the fucking idiot he had been back then that thought anyone would care for her as much as he did. He thinks of her whimpers and cries and the way that he, somehow, must deserve this. His little girl died in pain, and so should he. 

At this moment, he wonders why he didn’t go through with it. Why he didn’t take Tommy’s gun that night, why he didn’t end it before it all began.

He knows the answer to that already before the thought has reached its end. 

Because it’s not what Sarah would have wanted for him. Because someone had to look after his baby brother. Because Tess needed him as much as he needed her. Because he was meant to take care of Ellie. 

Ellie. The thought hurts more than the golf club does, when the girl lands a blow to his knee. A grunt leaves him, and the girl (it was Abby, wasn’t it?) laughs like she has never had more fun in her entire life.

Maybe she hasn’t. The world isn’t as fun as it used to be, and Joel knows he’s a reason for that. The first few years…

Maybe it was foolish of him to think he’d ever outrun his past.

-

The second time he comes to, his mouth tastes of copper and salt. Abby’s talking, but he can’t make out any of what she says. There’s a pounding ache behind his right ear and when he moves his head, he can feel blood seep from an open wound there. He reckons it’s too swollen for him to hear anything.

Something wet lands on his face and it takes a moment to realize that she has just spit him in the face. When he reaches one hand up to dry it away, she kicks him so hard he can hear, more than feel, his knuckles break.

Joel lulls his head to the side. Tommy is still knocked out, but if he looks past the few scrapes and bruises everyone has these days, he looks okay. The bleeding from his forehead seems to have slowed, maybe even stopped completely. 

-

It’s impossible to tell how long has passed when he opens his eyes again. Darkness hasn’t fallen yet, which means it can’t be that long. Sun rises late and sets early in Jackson during winter.

He finds himself praying.

Tess used to pray. He doesn’t know why, it seemed entirely out of her character, but he supposes some habits are difficult to break. Sometimes, she would kneel by the bed like a child before Christmas and mumble to herself. Other times, she’d duck into an abandoned church on one of their runs. They never spoke about it. He wishes they had, now. 

His prayer doesn’t start with If you’re there, God or Almighty God, I beg you. It never does. He’s not a god fearing man, but there’s a broken record that plays whenever he finds himself in tight situations.

Let them be okay.

He couldn’t care less about himself, but he needs them to be okay. All of them. He can’t lose another one. 

-

Dina. 

Dina’s a good kid. Dina will take care of her. 

-

By the time he hears her voice, he has already accepted that this place will be his death. It’s not so bad, not really. The room is warm and the pain in his leg is mostly gone. He’ll be with Sarah, soon. He has to believe he’ll be with her.

A tiny, unwelcome thought strikes him like lightning. You’re not going to Heaven. 

Heaven isn’t real, he wants to say. Heaven and Hell isn’t real, it’s made up bullshit to make people feel better about themselves.

He still worries. 

Her voice. Ellie’s voice is somewhere far away, like the motor when he fell asleep in the backseat of the car as a child.

He manages to force one eye open and when he sees her, his heart picks up its pace in his chest until it physically hurts. It drums against his broken ribs like an animal trying to escape its cage. She’s not supposed to be here.

Her broken screams have a surge of energy run through him. He tries to move, wills his body to just fucking move, but he can’t. 

She’ll die. She’ll die and it’ll be your fault, old timer.

One of his fingers twitches as he reaches for her.

Joel wants to tell her that it will all be okay. He wants to tell her that he loves her and that he’s proud and that he’s sorry, but he couldn’t speak even if he tried to.

Instead, a quiet hum rumbles through his chest. Singing used to be the only thing that settled Sarah when she was still a baby. 

They may die but in us they live on

The sound is so quiet he’s unsure if she can hear it. 

I believe

He does believe. 

And I believe, ‘cause I can see

She screams again, and it breaks his heart that he can’t be there for her, that he can’t wrap his arms around her a final time.

Our future days

Why the fuck has he never said everything that he has wanted to say? Why the fuck hasn’t he told her how much he loves her, and how she saved him more than he could ever have saved her?

Days of you and me 

At least he doesn’t have to lose her. At least he doesn’t have to see it happen.

You and me

You’ll be alright, kiddo, he wants to say, but the words are stuck somewhere in the back of his throat. He sucks in a shallow breath and lets it out in a quiet hum. 

Days of you and me

[starrysmiling]

(threateningly) all the numbers

i have been threatened.

How many words have you written this year? published total on ao3 is about 33k, but if i add all the unpublished stuff the total is just over 70k! i sure wrote a lot of stuff i won't publish this year LMAO

How many works did you publish this year? 4 (salute emoji)

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? finishing steps v2...! it adds a lot of canon exploration and also fern character study which was fun to write and really satisfying to get out!

What work of yours has the most hits? from this year it's steps because i didn't publish anything that wasn't unbound but is it cheating if like half of its 600 hits were from last year. haha. haha

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? i actually didn't get that much feedback at all from anyone who wasn't already a friend so i guess i'll have to work harder for that. nobody new commented on anything that i published this year and i didn't get a single reblog note so... (shrugs) but there was a nice comment i got about steps taking liberties with the post-canon which made me very happy...!

Favorite title you used i'll post this later this month but 'one step at a time' as a half-companion piece to steps... if i can finish it in time.......

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? let's just take a moment to listen to acacia by bump of chicken the fucking song ever the everything the fax essay

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? 8 and 9 are the same. fax. i only wrote fax. fax the ever

What work was the quickest to write? respite took me about a day, which is insanely fast actually

What work took you the longest to write? steps took me like 8 months to rewrite. it turned out pretty damn good so we're winning here

How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year? surprisingly not a lot... i have bodyguard to work on, which is pretty much a constant, but otherwise i think i'm done most of my wips. i want to take a writing break once i'm done with my current fics because i'm just. tired. but i have a bunch of ideas (some basic ideas and aus, some about aros with jax... i have reincarnation sitting in my notes... promised to do something w crime boss and syndicate too...)

What’s your longest work of the year? stop making me say steps BUT it's 38.5k baby!!!!!!

What’s your shortest work of the year? actually this unpublished micro study of fern which i find really sexy. i'll put it at the end so you guys can read it too!

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? bodyguard (fernsleep) it's always bodyguard. augh

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? pov 2nd person because it's so fucking sexy but to be real it's probably fluff

Your favorite character to write this year? i literally only wrote fax. so uh. i guess jax ? he's easier than fern

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? SEE ABOVE. FERN IS HARD

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? not really pairing but once i get up to khux i have something in mind w ephemer! and also maybe some khml things because i can't just be faxing all the time (i can absolutely fax all the time and i will continue to if left unchecked)

Which work of yours have you reread the most? probably steps again but i think hook, line, sinker gets privileges too

How many kudos in total did you get this year? ao3 is telling me 27 on the fics i've posted this year of which like. 10 are from steps being from last year. let's do better next year. otherwise i get a ton from my old prsk works and occasionally from enstars but i haven't posted anything new for either for a while

Which work has the most comments? please i literally wrote only for a ridiculously obscure fandom. please give me a break (it's steps.)

Did you do any collaborative works this year? no :( i think it'd be fun to try but i'm kinda bad at working with people because of my specific vision and vibe for whatever i do (also perfectionism). i also literally don't have friends into the same things as i am

Did you write any gifts this year? mage i know you're here. i hope you enjoyed your 13k of porn

Did you receive any gifts this year? no. i don't expect to get any though

What’s your most common category? what does this mean . umm. m/m G-T usually i think releasing porn this year was a bit new but it was good and i liked it a lot so ,

What do you listen to while writing? whatever song i'm addicted to recently! this is how you get me listening to catchy idol pop while i'm writing about fern getting his sanity fucked out of him. the vibes don't really matter because the music is just there to stop me from getting distracted at everything

Favorite work you wrote this year? this ask game really wants me to say steps again but it's literally my pride and joy. i hope you all play unbound so you can read my 38k monster oneshot

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? "It's cute, in a way, how his dishonesty betrays everything he wants to say."

Biggest surprise while writing this year? i actually quite liked a lot of the things i did this year. they're not bad and i don't mind rereading them and i hope that means i've gained a bit more confidence in myself... also i wrote 13k of straight up porn that's new. i've never wrote that much goddamn porn before lmao

anyway that bit from (14) because i think it's really sexy thinking about fern in terms of his relationship with intimacy and how that relates to sex and romance in his view of things... y'know......

[charincharge]

Cruel Summer, Part 20

cruel summer masterlist

AN: This was supposed to be ready hours ago. SORRY. Only five chapters to go. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate all of you who read, reblog and review this? It has seriously brightened up a shitty time in my life.

Rowan feels like he’s barely slept when Aelin’s alarm goes off. He grumbles and pulls her closer, so he can bury his face into her shoulder, away from the thick rays of sunshine pouring through her window. “No…” he groans.

“Yes,” Aelin laughs as she turns over to face him. Her finger traces over his lips, and he kisses it softly. Her eyes lock with his, and he can’t help the warmth that blooms in his chest at her staring.

“What?” he asks, kissing her finger again. Her eyes flit across his face, observing him closely.

“You’re pretty in the morning,” she says, and Rowan narrows his eyes at her.

“Pretty?” he asks, incredulous. She nods and giggles quietly as Rowan climbs on top of her, pinning her hands beside her head on the mattress. “I’ll show you pretty…” he growls. His lips dive onto her neck, and he can feel her laughter against his chest.

They both hear her door open and slam at the same time. They freeze, their heads turning in the direction of the noise, praying against all odds that it isn’t one of Aelin’s parents.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”

Dorian stands with his back pressed against Aelin’s door, his hand covering his face again. Rowan sighs a breath of relief and rolls off the bed. He can’t believe how close that came to being a nightmare. They really need to be more careful. He grabs his work uniform, which is crumpled on the floor and pulls his pants on quickly.

“Dor?” Aelin asks from under her covers. “Why are you in my room?”

“I volunteered to wake you up,” he says, eyes still closed. “I had a feeling. Your entire family is downstairs. It’s Saturday, remember?”

“Shit,” Aelin mumbles as she rushes to her closet and throws on shorts and a tank top.

Rowan looks at the clock. Thirty minutes until works starts. And he has no idea how he’s going to escape this house with Aelin’s entire family downstairs. It’s not like he can climb out her window – he’d be spotted in a second.

Dorian finally cracks his eyes open and sees that everyone is fully dressed and relaxes slightly. He nods to Rowan, who nods back uncomfortably.

As they exchange hellos, Aelin heads straight into her bathroom and plugs in her curling iron. Rowan stands in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do. He shoves his hands into his pockets and watches as Aelin starts wrapping her hair around the hot metal rod. She examines her bruise in the mirror and dabs some makeup over it with her free hand.

“Dor?” Aelin calls from the bathroom. “Can you tell my family that I am curling my hair, but I will meet them at the park shortly?” She pokes her head out of the bathroom. “Just, get them out of the house quickly. Please,” she implores him with wide eyes, and Dorian salutes her and takes off.

By the time Aelin’s hair is curled, and her family has officially left the premises, Rowan has about five minutes to make it to work. He kisses Aelin and makes a mad dash for the park.

“See you there,” Aelin calls out after him as he takes off into a quick sprint. His cross-country skills are put to the test as his feet sink through the sand with every step. By the time he reaches the park entrance, he’s only one minute late. He’s impressed with himself.

Breathing hard, he slows to a brisk walk, making his way through the throngs of crowds lined up to get in.

Rowan pauses, his brain finally catching up to him, and looks around. The park is packed. Shockingly crowded.

The line of cars to enter the park is so long, it extends past the parking lot and onto the street, and at the front gate, a hefty crowd is gathered, waiting to get in.

“What the fuck?” Rowan mumbles to himself.

Inside the park, a very stressed out Lorcan mans the admissions booth with Fenrys. “Rowan!” he calls out. “You’re here! Come help us.”

Rowan apologizes for being late, but Lorcan just attributes it to the long line of cars and waves Rowan off. He’s just grateful for the help.

As Rowan starts handing out tickets and wristbands, he finally asks Lorcan what the hell is going on. Apparently, the park was featured on some big reality show called Hometown Hotspots earlier in the week, and the park is seeing the after effects. Lorcan has never been more stressed. He’s not exactly a people person, and these people are impatient, entitled, and anxious to get into the park. Rowan feels for him.

The overflow of people is never ending, and Rowan ends up staying at admissions until well into the afternoon. He barely has time to even think about missing Aelin, being kept so busy. Until, finally, he checks his phone during his lunch break and sees he has a slew of texts from her.

WHOA, what’s up with these crowds???

You were so busy this morning, you didn’t even see me come in! Luckily, Fenrys was far more cordial ;)

Rowan glares at Fenrys, who eats his lunch across the table from him. He can’t believe he didn’t’ even see Aelin enter the park.

Lys wants me to tell you that she knows this is not a curler burn. *facepalm*

Gavin heard your name and got excited, and now my family is insisting you join us for dinner.

You’re going to go down in history as being Gavin’s favorite person ever, just for buying him cotton candy that ONE TIME.

Rowan can’t help but smile at this phone screen, despite how tired he already is. He texts back quickly.

I’ll be there.

At the last second, he adds a red heart emoji and sends it. He’s never been an emoji person before, mostly using texting for utilitarian purposes only. But with Aelin, he can’t help himself. It’s silly, he knows. But the red heart sitting in his texts is his silent way of opening up more. Of silently insinuating the three words he’s tried to push to the back of his head and not let overtake his thoughts. He smiles when Aelin immediately returns his text with three kissing face emojis.

He must be smiling like a mad man, because Lorcan chuckles loudly as he takes a seat next to Rowan and asks, “How’s your girlfriend?”

Rowan’s smile disappears as Fenrys perks up from across the table. “You have a girlfriend?”

“Uhh… no… not really…” Rowan fumbles his words.

Lorcan senses his mistake and flashes Rowan and apologetic glance.

But Fenrys is undeterred. “I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me, Rowan,” Fenrys pouts, sounding all of his young age. “So… who is she? Townie? Someone who works here? Rich summer home crowd?”

“Someone way out of your league, kiddo,” Lorcan says, slapping his large hand onto Fenrys’s shoulder. His voice is gruff, but Rowan sees the hears the affection in his tone. He weirdly feels like he’s turned a corner with Lorcan. Maybe they could even be friends.

“It’s nothing,” Rowan assures Fenrys, who still looks on with hopeful eyes, begging for scraps of information. “It’s super low key, so we haven’t gone public, or whatever.”

“Then how come Lorcan knew?” His whining would be almost comical if Rowan didn’t want to exit the conversation so badly.

Luckily, Lorcan saves him. “Caught them in the break room the other night.” He pauses. “Which, no one should be doing, by the way.”

“What should we not be doing?” Elide asks, entering with a giant funnel cake in her hands. She’s followed by Connall and Vaughan and Gavriel, which means that Rowan’s lunch break is up. He groans. He’s not ready to deal with those crowds again. And if the group’s faces are any indication, nothing has slowed in the minutes he took off to eat. Elide looks exhausted.

“Making out in the break room,” Rowan laughs.

“Oh please,” Elide scoffs. “What do you think Lorcan and I do every night when you guys leave?” Elide wiggles her eyebrows at Lorcan, who turns bright red. His hands tug at his long hair, unsure what to do with himself. Rowan can tell he wants to be mad at Elide, but he thinks Lorcan is physically incapable of actually getting angry with her.

“Ellie,” he whines, but she just giggles as she stuffs a piece of funnel cake into her mouth. Her lips become coated in powdered sugar, and she purses her lips and motions to Lorcan.

“Come get some sugar.” She winks, and Lorcan looks conflicted as he looks at her lips and everyone else in the room. Ultimately, Elide’s lips win, and Lorcan leans down and gives her a quick kiss as everyone else in the room whoops. His entire body is flushed as he narrows his eyes at the bystanders.

“Not a word,” he warns.

Fenrys sighs loudly. “Man, did everyone get a girlfriend this summer but me?” he asks. Connall and Vaughan sit down next to him, and as the conversation turns to summer gossip, Rowan extracts himself and heads to the kiddie section of the park, where he’ll be on rotation all afternoon.

The rest of the day is even more miserable than the first half. Children are crying, upset with waiting for hours and missing their nap times; Rowan sympathizes – he’d love a nap, too. The crowds become angrier the longer they have to wait, and Rowan realizes the park is not equipped for this many people. They have no idea how to manage the crowds. And he almost witnesses a full on riot when one of the food stands runs out of ice cream bars. It’s a mess.

Somehow, he manages to keep his cool with the angry patrons, and he practically runs back to the Ashryvers’ as soon as the day is finished.

The entire family, plus Dorian, sits outside on their back patio as Emrys brings out platters of food, which smell absolutely delicious. Fleetfoot waits happily under the table, tail wagging, ready for scraps to fall. Rowan’s stomach rumbles as he approaches, seeing the spread of salads, biscuits and corn on the cobb.

“Wine?” Aelin offers him a large glass, and Rowan accepts it happily.

Gavin runs straight for his legs and wraps his tiny arms around them. He pats the top of the small boy’s head, unable to interact much more than that in his current state of exhaustion.

“Oh, sweetie, I can get you a beer, if you prefer,” Evalin says, but Rowan shakes his head and takes a large sip of the cold wine. “You look utterly exhausted.” She holds out a chair, and Rowan slinks into it without a second thought.

“The park was…” Rowan begins, but he stops himself short, not wanting to insult his bosses. Aelin sees it in his face.

“A nightmare?” Rhoe laughs. “We know.” He fills his own glass again. “We left early in the afternoon. We were not ready for those crowds.”

Evalin sighs. “The board is meeting about it tomorrow. We need to come up with some kind of solution other than hiring people to help with the parking lot. Luckily, this summer is almost over. But if this is how it is next summer… We need to get organized.”

Rowan thought the same thing throughout the day, but he’s unsure if he should bring up his suggestion. He knows his opinion likely holds no weight with this family, despite how outwardly friendly they are to him.

“Have you ever been to Disneyland?” Rowan asks, deciding to speak up after all.

“The competition?” Evalin raises an eyebrow, and Rowan becomes slightly self-conscious. He takes another sip of his wine. But Evalin cracks a smile, clearly teasing him, and Rowan relaxes. “I’m kidding. Yes, we’ve been there. But not since Aelin was nearly a baby.” Evalin smiles wider, staring at her daughter. “All Aelin wanted to do was to meet Mickey. It’s all she talked about the entire trip. We waited for over two hours to meet him, and when we got to the front, she screamed bloody murder. Just cried and cried…”

Aedion laughs loudly. “Oh my god, I remember that. She was terrified of him.”

Aelin frowns. “Okay, when you’re a toddler and you love Mickey, you expect him to be the size of a mouse, not a GIANT.” She shudders. “I still don’t like the characters.”

Rowan laughs and rubs her arm reflexively. He only realizes what he’s done when Dorian catches his eye. He pulls his hand away quickly, and prays no one noticed. Aelin seems unfazed as she sips more of her wine.

“A-anyway,” Rowan continues, “I know Disney is very different from Playland, but… the one thing they’re great at is crowd control.”

Rhoe and Evalin nod in agreement, so Rowan continues.

“Besides hiring people to direct car traffic and foot traffic, which, is definitely an important part of it – I think they really got a handle on things when they created their app,” he explains. “It’s an interactive map of the park where you can check ride wait times, see the daily schedule, preorder food, make reservations…” Rowan looks around the table and notices all eyes are on him, listening with rapt attention. “Playland isn’t big enough to need all of that, but it couldn’t hurt to have some of it. Everyone loves an app.”

“That’s not a terrible idea.” Evalin looks to Rhoe.

Lysandra turns toward Rowan and narrows her eyes. “Rowan, weren’t you telling us you used to work as a programmer for a start up?” she asks, and Rowan nods uncomfortably. He doesn’t like this many eyes on him. Especially when he’s talking about himself.

“You did?” Rhoe asks.

“Yeah. Not for very long,” Rowan admits. “The start up went under pretty quickly. Bad investors.” He pauses, then continues. “But I did computer engineering for the Army before then. I could make you a mock up, if you wanted?”

“That is very sweet to offer,” Evalin says, her voice sounding too saccharine to Rowan’s ears. “But I don’t think we’re anywhere near that step yet.”

Rowan smiles, but he can’t help but feel like he’s been blown off. He should have known they only see him as park staff. He does appreciate Lysandra taking him seriously, though.

The conversation dies down as Emrys brings out a large plate of brightly colored lobsters. Rowan can count the amount of times he’s had lobster on one hand. It’s a delicious luxury, one that Rowan absolutely loves, but is completely inexperienced with. He watches Aelin pull the claws with a slight twist away from the body and crack the shell, pulling the meat out. He mimics her actions, but somehow ends up crushing the shell into multiple pieces with his clumsy fingers.

As Aelin dips her piece into butter and drops it into her mouth, she sees Rowan’s struggle and leans over to help.

“Here,” she whispers as she takes her knife and cracks open the knuckles for him. He feels like a child. In fact, he notices Lysandra doing the same thing for Gavin and Evie.

“I can do it,” he protests, but Aelin has already finished cracking it for him. He sighs as she moves to twist off the tail, hoping his cheeks aren’t red with the embarrassment he feels.

His embarrassment fades quickly, though, when he sees Evalin reaching over to do the same thing to Rhoe’s lobster. Rowan looks at Aelin, who doesn’t seem to realize she’s completely mirroring her parents’ behavior and smiles behind the rim of his wine glass, which has been magically refilled.

Dinner is just as delicious as Rowan hoped it’d be, and by the end of the night he’s feeling sated and sleepy and buzzed on wine. Evalin tells him he should spend the night, since he’s not safe to drive yet, but Rowan can’t actually justify wearing his gross uniform again tomorrow. And as loathe as he is to spend a night away from Aelin, he knows he needs to go home.

“I can stay for another hour or so and sober up and then head home,” Rowan says, but his large yawn gives away his current state of fatigue.

“We can give you a ride if you want?” Lysandra offers, and Aedion readily agrees, but Rowan isn’t sure how he’d get to work the next morning without his truck.

“Fireheart, are you sober?” Rhoe asks, and Aelin nods. Rowan did notice she stopped drinking after her first glass of wine. He should have, too, but she just kept refilling it. It barely takes Rowan a second to realize that Aelin was trying to get him drunk, trying to get him to stay over. He shakes his head, sorry for her failed efforts.

“Why don’t you drive Rowan home, and then you can take an Uber back home?”

Aelin agrees, and says she’ll be quiet coming back in, in case her parents are asleep. After a round of goodbyes, Aelin and Rowan walk back to his truck where it’s still in the far corner of the Playland parking lot.

He tosses her the keys and watches as she moves her hand over the gears. As they drive, Rowan realizes he’s never seen Aelin behind the wheel before, and there’s something incredibly sexy about watching her maneuver his giant truck. By the time they reach Rowan’s street, Rowan can’t wait any longer. As soon as Aelin parks, he pulls her over to his lap and kisses her.

She squeals as he plants sloppy kisses on her face. Their kisses become more heated as it continues, so much that the windows start to steam up. His hands roam across her back and slide up her tank top, relishing in her bare skin. He just wants her all the time. Always.

Aelin pulls away and smiles. “I thought you were tired.”

“I am,” Rowan admits through another yawn. “That’s why if you come up, you’re going to have to do all the work.”

Aelin snorts, making Rowan laugh. It’s the cutest thing in the world. When she snorts. No other girl could make snorting cute, but Aelin somehow manages to.

“This is what you get for getting me drunk,” he says, letting her know he was well aware of her plan.

Aelin snickers as she opens the door and slides off his lap. She pulls on his arms, and Rowan stumbles out of the cab. And when they get upstairs, Aelin shows Rowan she’s more than happy to do all the work, and then some.

Rowan’s drunk heart feels like it’s going to explode as she moves on top of him, and he has to physically stop himself from saying the three words he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about all day. I love you, he thinks to himself. I never want you to leave. I want to be with you forever.

His resistance snaps. He’s too tired, too ready to put his entire heart into this thing. The lid he’s tried so carefully to keep on his feelings, explodes. The dam bursts, crumbling and cracking under the weight of his emotions, and he lets them tumble out, spilling everywhere, coating his skin where she touches him. He is lost to her, and he’s ready to burn.

~*~*~*~*~

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[dafukdidiwatch]

FoodFight (2012)

The origin story of Sausage Party and The Emoji Movie

I honestly don’t really know where to start with this film. Like I’ve heard of it, I’ve seen reviews of it, I was so sure I wouldn’t ever see this trainwreck because it looked and sounded so bad.

But honestly? This was an amazing film to watch. I don’t even know where to begin because I genuinely enjoyed this movie. This was a fun shitty trainwreck of a movie.

Let’s start with the obvious: The animation sucks. Like the designs are bad, the world building is bad, the animation is bad. Body movement? What body movement? The only body movement we need is arm waving and twirling and nothing else. And those are for characters they were trying for. The Humans, if there are any, are the literal worse with either being amusement park mascots at best or mountain troll monsters at worse. Yeesh they were bad to look at. In fact, a lot of characters in this movie are just, very ugly all the way around.

Celebrities: I feel so sorry for these people. Apparently it took 12 years to make this (like, wtf first off), so a lot of the “big names” they got in the day sort of faded away out of the public light. Not that I actually give a shit about it they got paid either way. I just think out of all of them, Wayne Brady was done dirty. He didn’t deserve to be in this movie, he deserves better than having his name listed in FoodFight. Tim Curry is a riot no matter where he goes, still bringing in his Dr. Frank-n-furter Vibes all the way around. And Christopher Lloyd wasn’t in for long, but by god does he leave an impression. A terrifying impression.

Why are actual food brands in this movie? Ms. Butterworth, what are you doing in here? Charlie Tuna, The Pickle Stork, Mr. Clean? I can’t tell if they did them dirty or not because they are barely in the movie anyway. The most screen-time of them went to Mr. Clean just for the bald clean jokes. It’s like playing Where’s Waldo in finding out where the notable brand icons are.

It’s also fun to play “Who the Fuck is that guy?” because there are a lot of brands being parodied here. Captain Crunch turned into Shitty Admiral Chip Peg. Chocola is a disco gay vampire bat. Some weird disturbing french cheese men....no idea who he is for but hey! That’s what the game is for! Trying to see what their ugly abominations were supposed to be in the light of day.

The only “decent” animated characters are the main one: Dex Dog-tective who speaks nothing but puns, every sentence. All the time. You want to start a counter on all the food puns he makes, but you also don’t because I’m sure it’s in the Hundreds. It also doesn’t help that he is like...furry bait? That’s the best way to describe him since he is like the Better animated characters they tried to make him handsome so...furry bait. Then we have Sunshine Goodness who is a terrifying uncanny valley creature which is just an anime catgirl that the animators decide to give up half way and hope her dead eyes give out the allure she has. But uh oh, watch out Sunshine, Lady X of Brand Ex is coming in with her twig-ass Dominatrix Barbie outfit trying to seduce your man...a talking golden retriever. Her dead glass eyes have its sights on seduction and world domination one fetish at a time.

I’m not kidding about the fetishes either, this movie is just throbbing with sexual tension. In the worst way. Like you think the food puns are a lot? Well the sex innuendos are giving them a run for their money. There is so many sex jokes. So many tension of the “oh the bad guy good guy flirt? Hwot” This is supposed to be a kids film and yet you are having jokes of raisins = nipples, chocolate = dicks, "I'll have you roll over and begging for mercy" is too sexually charged for this movie like.....AHHHHH. I fear for the children who learn their kinks through this movie. And that’s just the verbal! The visual is sexy dominatrix. Sexy plaid school girl. Sexy villain nazi-stand-in dominatrix. Sexy Tango. Sexy...sniffing?? God they were trying So so so hard and it pissed me off to no end: 50% in-credulousness because who the hell thought this was a good idea to have kids watching this, 50% anger because I’m somewhat pissed that some unfortunate lines had the gall to be actually good for romantic tension....if it WASN’T TIED TO A BAD FETISH FILM! Like, you can have sexual chemistry, but when sky planes fly out of someone’s vagina you know it’s a fetish film.

But hey, enough stalling, let’s actually talk about the plot of this movie.

It’s Casablanca.

Like dead ass Casablanca.

After losing the love of his life a grizzled detective man ends up running a club where he has to face off against nazis. This is deadass Casablanca where Rick had a dark romantic fling with a nazi at a grocery market. The decisions they went with like the bad rendition of the French National Anthem to be food themed that I could barely hear. Brand X having a nazi-like salute if someone misspelled YMCA with one letter. The...actual weird torture murder scenes? This movie was wild enough, you didn’t need to add in death to the mix. They even had the side characters from Casablanca being in here like the Moose guy being the piano player, and the weasel looking dude being the....weird ass dick weasel in this movie.

And now, some random lines that I liked:

"I just want to be loved"

"Whats the point if having luxurious hair if you can't look yourself in the mirror"

"Oh Yeah, sure, no prob, except I don't have a death wish"

"But you were recalled?! And butt ugly!?"

Overall: I honestly swear to god believe this could and should be the next Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is that level of just...badshit craziness where everything is wrong and beautiful that we can laugh at it all. This needs to have like, it’s own riff track, audience participation, SOMETHING because there is too many golden moments to let it fly by.

If you can get your friends and tell them NOTHING about this movie and see their reactions. Because that is what I’M going to do with mine.

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of Hyrule | Chapter 78

Link quite literally slept through the next two days, only getting up when his stomach demanded that he eat. When his phone alerted him to a call or text, he lifted his head enough to check to see who it was from. Unless it was Mipha, he mostly ignored these alerts. He would have slept through the rest of the summer if he had the chance, but there was still one last thing he needed to; return the Master Sword. The Triforce on hand was a reminder of that. It was dim, but it had been pulsing softly ever since he and Zelda sealed Ganondorf away. He knew he couldn’t waste any more time, but a part of him was sad to part with the sword. It wouldn’t be there waiting for him, leaning against the wall in the corner of his room. As anxious as he was to get back to his normal life, normal life seemed rather dull.

Still, Link finally pulled himself out of his bed, and without a word to his father or his friends, he left the house with the sword and made his way back to the forest where he had found it. If it were still there. The last time they tried to close the portal, the forest seemed to have mysteriously disappeared with no explanation at all. This time, however, the forest was there, just as he had remembered it, seemingly waiting for the return of the Master Sword.

There was no voice to call to him, but he didn’t need it to guide him like he had the first time he wandered through. It was as if he had navigated his way through the bizarre forest time and time again; he knew the path like the back of his hand, picking his way over the brush, weaving in and out between the trees. He was unfazed when a fog crept in around him, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, and soon the forest opened up into the meadow. In the center, in the light of the sun, was the pedestal that homed the Master Sword.

Link looked down at the ancient pedestal, covered in dirt and moss. There was a deep slit in the center where he had pulled the sword six months ago. And now, it was time to return it, though it felt as if he were saying goodbye forever to a very close friend. He turned his gaze to the sword in his hand and let his fingers run over the blade. He turned back to the pedestal and before he changed his mind, he placed the sword back into its hold, pushing it in until it would not go any further. He kept his hand on the hilt for a moment, then pulled upwards, but the sword did not budge. He let a light sigh escape his lips, then worked off the string of the charm his father had given him and slid it into his pocket.

“ Goodbye, Master... Thank you...”

Link looked down at the sword and smiled. He saluted it casually before turning his back on it and making his way out of the forest. Once he was passed the treeline, he looked over his shoulder, expecting the forest to disappear. Though it remained, he was sure it would be gone soon enough, protecting the precious weapon that now slept within.

*****

When Link returned, Daruk, Revali, and Teba were waiting for him.

“Where the hell have you been?” Daruk asked.

“Yeah, way to ignore our texts,” Revali said. “Now that you got a girlfriend you’re too good to respond to us?”

“Yeah,” Link said. “Because those group messages were so important.”

“I don’t know how I got dragged into that,” Teba said. He sneered at Revali. “Why the hell did you add me to that?”

“But if you weren’t in it,” Link started, “you would have missed all those gems like.” He paused and fished his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through the messages. He grinned and pointed at the screen, reading the text out loud. “When someone says ‘hold your horses’ they are telling you to be stable.”

“It’s true!” Revali said. “I just realized that!”

“Were you high?” Daruk asked.

“Yeah, probably,” Revali said with a grin.

“What do you want?”

“We are here to discuss the official disbanding of Hyrule’s Champions,” Revali announced.

“Excellent,” Link said. “Just in time. I just dumped the sword.”

“Aw,” Revali said. “Now you’re not cool like the rest of us.”

Link rolled his eyes.

“Do you think you can handle the city this year while we’re off being awesome?”

“Don’t be like that,” Teba said. “You know he’s gonna miss us terribly.”

“We are the only friends he’s got,” Revali said with a frown. “Poor Link.”

Link shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll survive.”

“He’s got a girlfriend now,” Daruk said. “He’s already doing better than you.”

“But does he get laid?” Revali said. “At least I got laid.”

Teba snorted. “When was the last time that happened?”

“Hey,” Revali snapped. “I’ve been a little busy saving the world.” He turned back to link. “Speaking of the Yiga Clan.”

“No one was talking about the Yiga Clan,” Teba said.

“Look,” Link started. “I talked to him, alright?”

“And?” Daruk asked.

“And,” he said slowly. “He told me not to worry about it.”

“That’s exactly what they say when we should be worried about it.”

“He has it under control,” Link said. “We don’t need to be involved.”

“Maybe he’s the one with the Yiga Clan,” Revali said.

“Shut it,” Link growled. “I’m staying out of it. I trust him.”

Revali nodded. “Alright. Fine. If Mr. Hero says it’s fine, then it’s fine.” He wiped his hands together. “Won’t be our problem, anyway. Just remember, you’ll be missing half your crew. Don’t get into trouble. Or killed.”

Link smiled. “You take the fun out of everything.”

“I’m going to miss this,” Revali said, then shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll find someone in college to pick on.”

Link frowned. “You’re replacing me? I thought we had something special.”

Revali winked and threw him two finger guns. “Come on, men” he said, turning away. “I still got some partying to do before I gotta ditch this city.” He turned to Link over his shoulder. “Not you.”

“It’s fine,” Link said. “I’m gonna go get laid.”

Revali threw his hand up in the air, half of a high-five. “Nice!”

Teba shook his head and lowered Revali’s hand for him. “Come on, Idiot,” he said. “Or I’m ditching you to get laid, too.”

Daruk followed them out of the driveway. “I can’t believe everyone’s getting laid except me.”

*****

The rest of the summer went just as Hyrule’s Champions hoped it would go. They stayed out late and slept through the mornings, more often than not in each other’s company in one way or another, and usually with three extra tagalongs; Aryll, Riju, and Teba. They spent their days roaming the city or keeping the local restaurants open with their bottomless pits. And from time to time, they dropped by their favorite arcade, only to be chased out by the owner an hour later after an unruly game of laser tag.

And everywhere they went, they were recognized. Children ran up to the for autographs. Teens asked for selfies. Even the older crowd seemed to regard them with a respectful nod, despite the varying degrees of gossip and arguments that had ensued following the first media outbreak. And when it got to be too much for them, they escaped the city to the countryside, returning to their favorite lake with a case of beer.

But the summer quickly came to a close, and before they knew it, Urbosa, Daruk, Revali, and Teba parted ways with their friends to begin their first year in college. Urbosa moved south to the Gerudo region to study law at a prestigious college. Daruk went to Akkala to a school known for their boxing and wrestling teams, which he decided to get into, proudly stating to his friends that he would have to hold back, otherwise there would be no challenge for him.

And despite his father’s refusal to help get into college, Revali managed to follow Teba to a school in Hebra, stating that he would have a babe on each arm and a suit made of ‘hundos’ when he graduated. As far as the group knew, he simply went in with the intent to get a degree in business, but whether he would actually graduate was an entirely different story, considering the college was known to be one of the biggest party schools in the kingdom. “Well, there’s nothing else to do up there,” was Revali’s defense.

The city - and their lives - were much quieter once their friends left for college. But senior year was quickly approaching for Link, Mipha, and Zelda, with promise of heavy work loads and one final push for college applications. It would be enough to occupy their minds and give them a normal life once more, but still, they couldn’t help but to miss the way things were a year ago when the group was whole.

But the night before their first day of senior year, they were all dragged into another group text message, courtesy of Urbosa.

My little babies are seniors tomorrow. Pack a healthy lunch and study hard! I’m looking at you, Link!

Revali didn’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity to tease Link. Let’s be real here. He’s not going to college. He’s gonna milk the hero thing for the rest of his life.

Teba’s response was next. Why am I a part of this…

Because youre our cheerleader, bitch, texted Revali.

Revali we’re sitting next to each other. There was a lull in the chat for a moment until Teba texted again. Revali punched me.

Urbosa responded with an emoji shaking its head.

You bitches are coming to my first fight, Daruk texted.

Link doesn’t condone violence, Revali said. Make love not war guys.

Dude, Link replied. Youre like a 3 days drive away.

Its a 4 hour drive, loser. Dont you miss me?

Link replied with a heart emoji. So much.

Why dont you stick it in his butt, came Revali’s mature reply.

Don’t be jealous of our relationship, Link said.

Does Mipha know?   Teba asked.

We have an open relationship, Mipha finally chimed in.

Does that mean youre open for business? Revali said.

Eat shit, Link quickly replied.

Link and Mipha sitting in a tree, Revali texted.

Oh shit, Link said.

Revali finished the song with a series of kissing emojis and various other symbols that suggested more than kissing.

Omg dont tell her that Link said.

Link, we’re dating.

He responded with two blushing emoji faces.

Where the fuck is Zelda, Urbosa texted.

After a moment, Zelda’s text came through. Hylia, why have you put me into this insufferable group of people.

You love us, Revali said.

Destiny,  Daruk said. Isn’t that kinda her thing?

We belong together, Revali texted.

Revali is singing, now, Teba said. I cannot believe I’m stuck with him for the next four years.

Welcome to my hell, Link said.

I’m muting you all, Zelda said. Some of us have school in the morning.

Suckas, Revali said.

Revali, you do, too, Teba said.

I didn’t come here to go to school.

Good night idiots, Zelda said.

Good night my precious lil babies, Urbosa texted. I love you all and i hope you have a good first day of school! Send mama pictures! And BEHAVE!!

What happens if we don’t behave? Revali asked, following that with a series of winking faces. Are you going to spank me?

Zelda left the chat.

Mipha left the chat.

Link left the chat.

Urbosa left the chat.

Ha.

Daruk left the chat.

FUCKERS.

Teba left the chat.

[todaysciencology]

- Now exchange money with message!

Ahmedabad. 9 November 2020, Monday

Earlier, as the days of Diwali approached, the elders of the house would take up a special task - to get fresh notes from a well-known employee of the bank. Then, during the festive days, when all the members of the household feel at their feet, they also get a crisp note with blessings!

Now if you send salutations to other elders of the family on WhatsApp on Diwali, the reply can be accompanied by blessings as well as money dripping, from WhatsApp's payment service, which is not new!

After a wait of almost two and a half years, WhatsApp has launched a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payment service. So now in this app, just like good morning images or emojis, exchanging money has also become very easy.

If you connect your bank account with WhatsApp's payment service then there is nothing to do to get the rupee in it, just tell the sender of the rupee your mobile number.

On the other hand, if you want to send money to someone and that person has also connected his bank account with WhatsApp payment service, we will only have to give our UPI PIN to send money to him. Then, in Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bachchanji says, "Just click and you're done!"

The banking system in India has undergone as many changes in the last four years as it has in the previous 40 years. Here, too, UPI and WhatsApp-to-UPI payments seem to be a huge game changer in the whole thing.

Like a message in WhatsApp, after knowing this news about rupee transactions, many questions will start playing in your mind, such as ...

WhatsApp is good for saying good morning to everyone and forwarding various messages, images, videos, but can it be trusted for rupee transactions? Will it be safe?

How to use payment feature in WhatsApp?

Well, what exactly is this UPI itself?

How many people are cheating in the name of UPI, how many fake, fake links are circulating in WhatsApp too - isn't it more dangerous if both UPI and WhatsApp are combined in this?

Here we understand the steps of how to use it in WhatsApp. All the remaining questions are answered in the box below.

Use of payment in WhatsApp

Before knowing the steps for this, let's discuss one more important question - why use payment in WhatsApp ?! In general, if you are familiar with UPI and use any other app, you will not need to use it in WhatsApp either. Your work will continue from another app. Other UPI apps like your own bank or GooglePay, Paytm or PhonePay are now more useful for mobile or other service recharge, ticket booking, online shopping, other bill payment etc. WhatsApp does not currently have specific explanations for payments other than person-to-person payments. Yes, WhatsApp payment is useful for you if you have to exchange money frequently in your WhatsApp contacts. Also, WhatsApp has the facility to scan various QR codes and make payment from UPI, so it is also useful in that way. So with such a background, let's understand the use of payment in WhatsApp.

(1) Turn on WhatsApp in your smartphone and go to its settings.

(2) Does the 'Payments' option appear in the settings? If seen, you are 'one in a million, not one in two million'! Over the last one-and-a-half years, WhatsApp has been able to facilitate payments to 1 million people. Now 20 million people have found it, but the total number of WhatsApp users in India alone is 400 million!) It is possible that you will have to update the WhatsApp app.

(3) After clicking 'Payments', you will see a button linking your bank account to UPI accepting your terms. It will see a list of banks involved in UPI. Select your account and mobile number with WhatsApp which is given in the bank. The system will verify the number by exchanging SMS.

(4) WhatsApp will become your UPI ID (it will be a bit confusing, but you don't have to remember it, people will only be able to send you payments from your WhatsApp number).

(5) In doing so, if someone else is sending us money, the money will be credited directly to our bank account through WhatsApp.

(6) Now if you want to send money from WhatsApp to someone from our bank account through payments, you will need a UPI PIN for that account. If you are taking advantage of UPI system in another UPI app from the same bank account and mobile number then no other procedure will be required.

(7) If you have previously set up a UPI PIN in an app for a bank account, payment can also be made using the same in WhatsApp.

(8) If you are connecting a bank account with UPI for the first time in WhatsApp, to set a new UPI PIN for it you have to state the last six digits of the bank debit card and the expiry month / year (some banks will also ask for the ATM PIN of the debit card). If all goes well we will be able to generate a new UPI PIN. This ritual has to be done once. After generating the UPI PIN, we just have to remember it forever. The same procedure has to be repeated when changing the UPI PIN.

(9) As it happens, our Payments account in WhatsApp is ready to take and send money!

(10) Now to send money to any person, just like everyday message find that person's name / number and click on attachment in the message box. It will show the payment option, select it.

(11) After typing the payment amount, you can add any message in the message box. At the top, you can see to whom and from which bank account you are sending money.

(12) Upon sending the message, UPI PIN will be asked. Given that, the amount will be transferred immediately.

(13) By clicking on the amount message in the chat, its status will be known and from which account you can send the amount to whom and on what date.

(14) Alternatively, you can also view your entire payment history and transaction ID in the Payments option in Settings whenever you want (if there is a problem it should be given to the bank).

(15) In this way, if you want to order money from someone in WhatsApp, you can send a request with the amount. In this case the person in front will accept our request by giving their UPI PIN to the app, i.e. send us the amount in WhatsApp, which will go directly to our bank account!

The number of transactions from UPI, on which WhatsApp payments are based, crossed the two billion mark last month.

for more details kindly go to https://ift.tt/3bgFIf3 go to https://ift.tt/3bgFIf3 for more details

[caramel-and-pine]

12 - Friends and Emotions

Max is leaving David’s house in the morning, after a good night’s sleep, and a big mug of black coffee.

“Can I ask something before you leave?” David asks at the door, and Max only nods in response. “Will you save my number and call me sometimes? Add me on Whatsapp or something like this so we can actually keep in touch?”

“I’m not really a fan of phone calls,” Max says but he reaches for his phone and unlocks it before giving it to David. “But if you swear not to send me lame good morning images we can talk on Whatsapp.”

David smiles as he enters his contact on Max’s phone, when he gives it back he makes the Camp Campbell salute. “I swear not to send lame good morning images!”

“You’re unbelievable,” Max says fondly and he leans up to give him a quick kiss. David melts a little. “I must go now, Christine said she wanted to discuss the new outfits and performances for the club today.”

“What is wrong with the performance and outfits you have now?”

“Nothing really, but she likes to create and Sid always gives her free reign of the ‘artistic direction’ of the club.” Max shrugs and smiles anyway. “Well, she enjoys it so it is okay to me.”

“Tell her I said hi, and that I’m curious about the new performance.”

Max grins and raises his eyebrows suggestively. “Do you want to see me dancing again, David?” To emphasize his point Max crudely grabs at his own crotch making an overly dramatic face.

A deep blush overtakes David’s face and he splutters a little before speaking.

“You are both very good performers, I am curious. That’s all!”

“Well, If I know Christine, and I do, she must have everything set up for next week. You should show up next weekend to check it.” Max’s demeanor is suddenly coy as if he isn’t sure David will accept his invitation.

“Oh, I will!” David says all too enthusiastic. “But just to make sure I don’t forget or anything, you should message me some time to remind me.”

“Loser,” Max says softly but he smiles as David leans down to kiss his cheek. “I really must go now…”

“Okay, I have some work to do too and I don’t want to keep you here too long. Don’t want to make Christine wait for you,” David says with a pleasant smile. “Take care, okay? And send me a message when you get home so I know you’re safe.”

Max is half annoyed, half endeared by David’s motherly behavior. “Yeah, mommy, don’t fret,” he says without much heat. “I’ll be careful,” he adds when he sees David’s smile turning into a little frown.

David is still pouting a little bit but Max quickly fixes it by kissing him, sweet and brief, before stepping out of the house. When Max reaches the gate he looks back and David is still at the threshold watching him with a silly smile on his face. Max waves him goodbye and David’s smile goes bigger as he waves back.

Max’s heart is full of fluttery feelings and he bursts into tiny fits of giggles as he remembers the previous day. He attracts a lot of attention on the bus home, but most people just look at him fondly - one old woman sighs dreamily once she sees his blushing and giggling. When he gets off the bus his ears are red with a strange sort of embarrassment.

When he arrives home he sees that Christine has taken the entire table in the kitchen as her workplace. There are at least three sketchpads, her laptop opened on a youtube video, and a box full of art supplies Max has absolutely no hope of ever learning the name and use for. She is deeply focused on the video but when she notices his presence she pauses it and practically tackles him as she makes a million questions in under thirty seconds.

“My god, Christine, don’t you breathe?” Max extricates himself from her clutches and makes it to the sink where he drinks some water.

“You’ve been keeping me in the dark on purpose, Max!” Christine whines and pouts as she sits back on the chair. “Seriously, I am so curious!”

“I know you are, let me enjoy torturing you a little longer,” Max says smugly which just makes Christine make pitiful little noises.

“Max, please, I am serious,” suddenly, her behavior turns serious and she looks at him with a worried expression. “Was he nice?”

“The nicest,” Max says as he takes a seat in front of her. “I mean it, Chris, he was absolutely… perfect?”

Christine raises her eyebrow slightly but the look on Max’s face is so soft when he speaks it placates her worries efficiently. She rests her chin on her palm as she studies him.

“He cut your hair,” she observes and Max makes a show of pointing to his shaved head.

“He cut my hair! And we watched movies together on the couch and he was so into the cuddling and watching TV he never realized I sat in front of him and not by his side because I was hard for him the whole evening…”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Max rubs his neck, a little self-conscious. “Can you believe it? And when he finally got hard he was so fucking cute! We were back at his room and he was still asking if I wanted it and he kept saying how good it was. But it wasn’t gross or condescending, it was just spontaneous, you know?”

“Max, you are so very much in fucking love,” Christine says, at last, a smile on her disbelieving face. “I’ve never seen you talking like this about anyone else before.”

Max doesn’t reply immediately. Is he in love with David? Surely he does feel something but he can’t call it love. Not yet. David has shown him much more respect, care and attention than he’d ever received in his life and maybe that’s why he doesn’t know what to do. He has never truly known affection, how can he properly gauge the situation when his referential is null?

“Do you really think I’m in love with him?” He asks in a small voice. Christine holds his hand across the table and squeezes it lightly.

“I’m sorry, Max, I shouldn’t have said it,” she says in a very serious voice. “You were very cute talking about him, and you looked very happy on the selfie you sent me yesterday but I have no right to label your feelings. David seems like a very nice guy but your feelings are your own and you have as much time as you need to figure them out. I’ll be here for you if you need but the conclusion is only yours to make.”

“He is very nice,” Max says defeatedly.

“He is.”

“I have to text him.”

“You do?”

“He asked me to text him when I get home,” Max picks his phone with his right hand, the left still holding Christine’s hand as if taking strength from her. “He told me to take care.”

“Isn’t it a little possessive?” Christine furrows her brows as Max searches for David’s contact on his phone. He smiles a little and turns the screen to her - the contact is saved as David *pine tree emoji*.

“I don’t think so, when he asked he had a genuinely worried look on his face,” Max types a short message and places the phone, screen down, on the table. “I think he still blames himself for losing me when I was a child, all that camp thing I talked about the other day, remember?”

“Oh, yes, when you were kidnapped by your own mother.”

“It sounds unnecessarily ridiculous when you say it like this, Christine,” Max frowns and Chris laughs.

“Talking about your mother, does Hannah know about him?”

“Not yet,” Max says pensively. “I’ve been meaning to tell her but I don’t know what to say.” Max makes an imaginary phone with his hand and talks on it with a nasal voice, “Hi Honeybear, there is this guy who took care of me for a while when I was a kid and now we’re maybe dating and I’d like you to meet him because he is amazing but the nuns would probably say we’ll both burn in hell.”

“Now who is making things unnecessarily ridiculous?”

Max groans and deflates. “I am sorry. I want Hannah to know about him but until I figure out what I feel for him I think it would be best to keep it to myself.”

Christine pats his shoulder sympathetically. “Take your time, darling. I am sure David can wait; and so can Hannah.”

Silence falls over them for a moment, both immersed in thoughts until Max suddenly stands up and starts to rummage around the kitchen cabinets.

“I’ll make lunch today,” he says, suddenly full of energy. “How was work yesterday, anyway?”

“The usual,” Chris says, turning her attention back to her sketchpads. “Guess who was there asking for you?”

Max groans. “Sam?”

“Ding ding ding! Right answer.”

“And what did you tell him when he figured out I wasn’t there?”

“Well, I’d have said you were home with a terrible virulent sickness that would make you untouchable for the rest of your life,” Christine says dutifully and Max thanks her. “Unfortunately, Ivan was there and he told him the truth.”

“Damn you, Ivan,” Max mutters with a frown. “And how did he react?”

“As well as you can imagine,” she says darkly. “He literally asked for the other client’s number so he could call and ask what time you’d be free and where he could pick you up.”

“Man, that guy is a lost cause,” Max shakes his head. “He acts all ‘oh look how manly I am’ and then he cries when he takes it up the ass!”

Chris snorts a little but she quickly goes back to a more sober demeanor.

“Ivan managed to calm him down yesterday and he left without incident but I swear I was a bit scared,” a cold shiver runs down Christine’s spine at the memory. “I hope he and David never meet.”

The same cold drips down Max’s back. “Oh, please, no!”

***

From: Gwen Hi David! Are you free tonight?

To: Gwen Yes *smiley emoji* Do you want to go out? We could go somewhere new.

From: Gwen Nah, I don’t want to go out *weary face emoji*

From: Gwen How about dinner in your place? I can drop by the supermarket after work pick wine and cake and then go to yours

To: Gwen Merlot and dark forest?

From: Gwen Of course

To: Gwen 8pm?

From: Gwen Deal

David smiles at his phone, it’s been a while since he and Gwen got to hang out together. Actually, the last time he’d seen her in person was when she took him to The Fruit Bowl. After that, they’ve only texted and talked a bit on the phone. Once again the urge to tell her about Max starts to itch but he steels himself and starts to make a mental list of topics of conversation that would lead away from dangerous subjects, like the bar.

It isn’t difficult to get a long list, he and Gwen still have a lot in common despite the different paths they’ve taken in life. They rarely ever talk about Camp Campbell, but they have plenty to talk about their jobs, their friends, Gwen’s pet snake, David’s travels… The list goes on and on.

It’s barely past noon when Gwen sends the first message, so David has a lot of time to tidy up the house and cook. David enjoys cooking despite knowing only three recipes, luckily Gwen likes all three of them. Since she offered to bring wine he decided to make salmon with vegetables, a good combination according to the fancy site he and Gwen liked to scroll through when they were still dating.

David has a meeting with an editor of a magazine in a few days so he works on his portfolio until about three in the afternoon. After some deliberation, he adds two of Max’s photos to the file alongside with many landscapes and some product images he produced in the studio earlier in the week. With a satisfied groan, David finally turns off his computer and goes downstairs to prepare for the dinner.

Being a naturally organized person has its perks. Tidying the house takes him very little time, some sweeping in the living room and a little cleaning product on the floor of the kitchen and he is done. He turns his attention to the food after this.

He prepares the fish and vegetables efficiently and cleans most of the utensils he uses in the process. Gwen will surely ask to do the dishes since he’s cooking and he doesn’t want to leave too much work for her. She will probably be tired from her shift at the clinic and the traffic across the city to David’s house, so it won’t hurt to take it easy on her.

David is satisfied with his preparations. He sets the table with his good plates and a pretty towel and puts the timer on the oven as he goes upstairs to take a shower.

***

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, trust me,” Christine smiles. “Sid said we’ll have a lot of bachelorette parties in the next month, so we think an all-male performance to open the nights will be a good idea.”

“Okay, it makes sense,” Max concedes. “But you know I don’t like dancing without you.”

“I know, Maxy,” Christine pinches his cheek. “It is adorable but I need you to work with the guys on this one. It will be a short number, just to open the nights, okay?”

Max groans. “Okay.”

“Good, now, pay attention here.”

Christine shows him a video clip with a group of four men dancing in some sort of prison corridor. The narrative of the video is confusing at best and nonexistent at worst but the visuals are very strong, the beat well defined and the choreography amazing. And insanely complex. Christine’s eyes shine with a touch of maniac glee as they watch the video.

“And this is what you want us to do?” Max asks, incredulous.

“Yes,” she answers decisively. “I mean, we’ll have to make our own version, but this is the idea, yes.”

“They are wearing high heels, you crazy bitch,” Max deadpans. “You want me to sprain my ankles? Ivan won’t fill in for me if it happens.”

“Oh, please Max,” she rolls her eyes. “Just give it a try, okay? I’ve learned to walk on them, surely you and the guys can too.”

“I’d rather not,” Max pouts.

“Don’t be a baby, Maxy,” she says rolling her eyes.

“I invited David to go to the club next weekend,” Max says pensively. “Do you think we’ll have it ready until then?”

“Oh, you want to impress your boyfriend!”

“Shut up, Christine!” Max pushes her away and she almost falls from her chair, but she is laughing all the while.

“I don’t know, do you think you can stop bitching and work with me?”

“Yes…”

“Good! So, pay attention again because after this we’ll go to the club talk to the guys and hopefully have it all set until next Saturday so you can make David’s heart throb. And hopefully, other parts of his anatomy too.”

***

“Sorry, David, the traffic was awful,” Gwen says as she hugs David at the door. She is barely fifteen minutes late but she knows how much David values punctuality.

“Don’t worry, you sent me a message so I knew you’d be late,” they separate and David takes a good look at her. “I hope you’re not too tired to enjoy the evening. You surely look exhausted.”

Gwen rubs her eyes lightly but shakes her head in a negative.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. It was the traffic, you know how much I hate those slow drivers who think they are on a field trip in fucking rush hour.”

“Yeah, I know,” he smiles a little and rubs his hands together excitedly. “But you are here now, and dinner is about to get ready.”

Gwen smiles at him and there is something off about it. It is small, so subtle he isn’t quite sure if it even exists. This is a rare occasion nowadays, after so many years David and Gwen are pretty proficient at reading one another. David can’t tell what is more alarming if it is the fact that he can’t immediately tell that there is something wrong, or that something happened and Gwen is trying to hide it from him.

They move onto the kitchen and David decides to put it aside for the moment. Maybe Gwen only needs some time to relax and gather her bearings before telling him what is the problem. Or maybe after some conversation, he’ll realize there was nothing wrong to start with.

In the kitchen, he busies himself with the fish and Gwen goes to the drawer get a corkscrew to open the wine. She pours two glasses and sets the bottle aside before putting the cake on the fridge to cool down a little, the hot weather had melted some of the frosting. David places the tray on a heat mat in the center of the table and Gwen brings the wine with her as she sits down.

“How you’ve been?” She asks, taking a sip of the wine.

“I’m very good,” David says with enthusiasm. “I’ve just set up a studio upstairs. It is small, just a background on the wall and some floodlights but it is mine and I am very excited about it.”

Gwen smiles benevolently at him. “This is very good! Are you planning on quitting the tour guides?”

David frowns a little as he serves Gwen a generous piece of salmon.

“No, I wouldn’t be able to quit the tour guides,” he says fondly. “You know how much I enjoy them, but I want more options and it is important to widen my repertoire.”

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“I’ll have a meeting next week,” he tells her. “It is a new magazine, focused on alternative fashion and culture. I am very optimistic.”

“What a surprise,” Gwen says with a little eye roll. She takes a bite and makes a pleased sound as she chews on it. “Oh, this is better than I remembered.”

“Thank you,” David starts to eat his own food. Gwen is right, it does taste better than the last few times he’d made it. His good humor might have infected the food.

They eat in silence for a while. A few times, David is certain that Gwen will finally tell what is wrong, but she just shakes her head slightly and continues eating. He doesn’t remember the last time they had such a silent meal. David’s plate is still half full when he gently sets his knife and fork down to look directly at Gwen.

Her eyes are sunken, and she is looking very tired. Not ‘tired from work’ or ‘stressed because of traffic’, but a deep kind of tiredness that David is all too familiar with. It is the exhaustion of a person being consumed by a problem that seems too big to face. David had had this look for ten years, but Gwen had overcome it when she started to work at the clinic and made her peace with Max’s disappearing. If she is back at this kind of mental space, something really serious might have happened.

David clears his throat to call her attention. Her reaction is slow, it takes a long second for her eyes to meet his.

“Gwen, is there anything you want to tell me?”

Gwen looks down and she tightens her grip on her cutlery. Silence stretches between them, dense and dark for a long while. Gwen gently places her knife and fork down before cleaning her mouth with the napkin.

“Did I tell you about Simone?”

David frowns. This isn’t what he was expecting.

“I am afraid not,” he says carefully. “Who is Simone?”

“Simone is an eight years old girl who was abused by an uncle,” Gwen tells him with a heavy expression on her face. “She was taken to the clinic by a social worker because they needed her testimony on the trial but she refused to speak. I’ve been working with her for a few weeks. In fact, the last time we met I had to leave earlier because they needed me to go to the court see her for the first time.”

“I am sorry, this is a very sad story,” David says, genuinely heartbroken.

“It took me a long time, but she is finally talking more freely with me,” Gwen continues. “Two days ago she said she wanted to talk on the court because she was worried about Bianca.”

“Who is Bianca?”

“Bianca is her ten years old sister,” Gwen explains and something happens to her face when she says it. Her expression hardens all of a sudden, but the vulnerability in her eyes becomes more evident by the change. “Bianca went on a trip with this uncle one year ago, but she didn’t return. Simone thinks the uncle might have hurt her sister,” the emphasis on the word make her meaning clear.

David swallows dryly, any trace of good humor gone. He knows this is the kind of reality Gwen faces on her work, and he wants to be there to help and support her, but it is so difficult. It is such an awful, terrible thing, and despite being a different situation he can’t help but think of Max and how close to this he was during his childhood. David’s throat close.

“So, two days ago I started to look for signs of Bianca,” Gwen says. voice breaking. “And you know that I have quite the experience with missing children. I still remember all the sites, all the forums. I still have all the usernames and passwords.”

Tears start to form in her eyes and David wants to hold her and comfort her but he is too paralyzed to act.

“And since I was there I decided to look our old topics looking for clues about Max… David, why did you close them?” Gwen’s tone is not accusatory, it is confused and somehow betrayed. She is shaking slightly, her lip trembling and her eyes glittering with unshed tears.

“Gwen… I….”

“I am sorry I gave up,” she says pitifully. “I wish I was stronger but I couldn’t keep up with that life. But I did it because I knew you’d be strong for the two of us. I knew you’d never give up,” her voice breaks in a big sob and David’s chair falls when he stands up to go around the table and hold her.

“I’m sorry I abandoned you,” she says between wavering breaths. “I’m sorry I left you alone on this, I’m sorry you had to give up too.”

“Gwen, Gwen, please stop crying,” David holds her in a tight embrace and she weakly holds the front of his shirt in reply. “Gwen, you were right, I’ve never given up.”

“But you close the topics,” she whines. “Now you’ll never receive new information, we’ll never find him!”

“I found him.”

Time seems to stop when David says those three words. It stretches like molasses, slow and heavy around them. David’s brain catches up with what he’s said a fraction of a second too late; at exactly the same moment Gwen processes the information.

She slowly pushes him off, her face a painful puzzle of feelings.

“You what?”

“I…” David takes a deep gulp. “I found him.”

Check this chapter on AO3.

[littlespoonevan]

every au you write i'm just like "dsjkhd i need more!" but i literally woke up thinking about your "even walks into the bathroom instead of emma" fic so here's my official request for a sequel to that! ❤

anon said: I hope you don’t consider this too forward, but would you please think about expanding that fic you wrote where they met in the bathtub? It’s precious.

aksjdhfdjskahf i’m so easily persuaded but people were so sweet in their tags i had to add a little extra!!!! i hope you enjoy it :’)

Part 1

*

When Isak is walking to school on Monday morning it’s with aburst of butterflies in his tummy every time his feet touch the ground.

He hadn’t seen Even yesterday because he had a hangover andhomework but they’d texted. A lot. And Isak had found himself even morehopelessly enamoured with Even by the time he went to bed last night. Even isso- funny and charming and interesting and so, so easy to talk to; Isak’scheeks had hurt from smiling all day yesterday.

When he’s around the corner from Nissen he fishes his phone outof his pocket to open the last text Even had sent him just before he went tosleep last night.

“Sleep tight, Cinderella. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”Complete with a heart and the bathtub emoji.

Isak’s reply had been an indignant, “I’m not Cinderella!!!!” buthe’d sent his own heart only seconds later.

Now he was at school and he was actually going to see Evenand he doesn’t know what to do. He hasn’t hooked up with someone at a partysince he’s come out and when he used to hook up with girls he’d usually berunning in the opposite direction if he saw them at school the followingMonday.

But this is different. This is Even.

Isak tries not to be too obvious as he scans the yard when hefinally arrives at the school gate but Even is nowhere in sight. He spots hisfriends though so he makes his way over to them after one last search.

“There he is!” Magnus crows when he arrives, raising his handfor a high-five which Isak accepts with a roll of his eyes and an exasperatedsmile.

“Halla gutta,” he greets, clapping Mahdi and Jonas’ hands andpointedly ignoring the matching smirks all three of them are wearing.

“So?” Jonasasks when Isak offers nothing else, gaze turning expectant.

Isak thinks he might play dumb just a little longer. “So, what?”

“So what’s the deal with Even?” Mahdi demands, shoving hisshoulder.

Isak manages to remain composed for about five seconds beforehis mind starts wandering at the name “Even” and a smile creeps onto his face.“We’ve been texting,” he admits eventually.

The boys let out a chorus of enthusiastic noises, all reachingover one another to clap Isak on the shoulder or ruffle his hair.

“I told you! What did I tell you?!” Jonas exclaims triumphantly.“I knew hewas your type.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Isak huffs, shaking them off, but the traitorouslittle smile still won’t leave his expression.

“Are you gonna see him today?” Magnus asks, looking around as ifEven might suddenly appear.

Isak wishes.

“That’s the plan,” he replies, blowing out a breath and shovinghis hands in his pockets to hide his nervous jitters. “I just don’t know whenyet.”

“Well it probably won’t be now,” Mahdi says apologetically. “Meand you have a date with Norwegian.”

Isak sighs. The last thing he can focus on right now is school buthe figures he can probably text Even later to make plans for lunch. “Alright,let me just run to my locker and I’ll meet you there.”

Mahdi salutes him and he says quick goodbyes to the boys beforehe hurries inside; he still has a few minutes before class. His lockerblessedly doesn’t jam when he puts in his combination and clicks open with easeas he pulls his backpack off one shoulder to put away the books he doesn’t need.

He’s about to shove his Biology book into one of the shelveswhen a piece of paper falls out of his locker and flutters to the floor.

Furrowing his brow, Isak crouches down to pick it up and unfoldsit. His breath catches when he does.

It’s a cartoon in the style of a comic strip, two panels side byside that show a text chat. The first panel shows his and Even’s texts to eachother last night; the second shows a new conversation:

“Lunch?

“Definitely

“Big windowsill on the stairwell?

Or would you prefer the bathroom?”

“You’re hilarious. Stairwell is fine :)”

“See you then

“

Instead of drawing the keyboard in the second panel Even haddrawn the Most Recently Used emojis section and Isak absolutely did not getjittery at the sight of the heart eyes, twelve different heart emojis and thebathtub.

Glancing around quickly to see if anyone was paying attention,Isak allowed himself a brief moment to press the piece of paper to his chestand have a mini internal freakout before he carefully folded up the paper againand put it in his pocket.

He gets his books and walks to Norwegian in a daze, barelygreeting Mahdi when he arrives. As soon as the teacher starts talking and he’ssure she isn’t paying attention to him, he slips his phone out of his pocketand texts Even.

“Nice drawing, you know you could’ve just text me?” He adds anemoji with its tongue sticking out because he doesn’t want Even thinking hedidn’t love the drawing. Even might not be able to tell when he’s teasing yet.

“I could’ve. But would that really have made you smile as much?

Also texts aren’t romantic, Isak. Let me woo you.”

Isak bites back a grin, typing out his response. “You reallydon’t have to try that hard. Consider me wooed.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop,” is Even’s reply. “So. Lunch?”

“Meet you on the stairwell

“

*

When Isak arrives at the stairwell Even isn’t there. He has justenough time to panic that he somehow got the wrong stairwell before he hears a shout of,“Oh Cinderella!” over the chatter of students passing through to get to thecafeteria.

He whirls around, eyes landing on Even a few feet away with abeaming grin on his face.

Isak rolls his eyes but his expression twists up in a smileanyway. He leans against the windowsill while he waits for Even to make itthrough the crowd, feeling his heart speed up as he gets closer and closer.

When Even is half a foot away from him Isak pushes off thewindowsill to meet him. The stairwell is mostly empty now and Isak feels giddy,standing close enough to Even that the tips of their shoes are touching.

“Halla,” Even murmurs, still beaming and just as beautiful asIsak remembered.

“Halla,” he mumbles back, fingers tingling with the desire toreach out. Even casts a glance around them like he can tell Isak is nervousabout the thought of doing anything in front of people but as soon as heconfirms the stairwell is empty he tangles their fingers together.

Isak heart soars and he didn’t know how much doing this soberwould affect him. Even’s smile softens as he whispers a hopeful, “Can I kissyou?” and Isak is done for.

He nods because he doesn’t think his voice is working anymoreand Even gives him this disbelieving little laugh as he reaches up with hisfree hand to curl his fingers into the hair at the nape of Isak’s neck to pullhim into a kiss so sweet Isak forgets to breathe.

Even pecks his lips twice before he pulls away properly and Isakhas to squeeze his hand to remain upright.

“Mm I like doing that,” Even tells him, tugging on Isak’s handto pull back towards the windowsill.

“What? Rendering me speechless with your mouth?”

Even’s laugh rings out and it’s definitely the most beautifulsound Isak has ever heard.

“Something like that,” Even grins, dropping his hand to haulhimself up onto the windowsill.

Isak climbs up after him, drawing his knees up to his chest andleaning against the opposite wall. Even looks stunning with sunlight shiningthrough the window making his hair lighter and his eyes bright enough for Isakto get lost in them.

Isak is expecting to feel awkward or nervous but he findshimself relaxing completely around Even. They eat and they talk and they laugh a lot andIsak feels the warmth in his chest start to spread throughout his entire body.

Even is just- god, he’s more than everything Isak could’vedreamed of. Nothing has ever felt right like this before.

Their bubble bursts when the stairwell suddenly starts fillingup again sometime later, signalling the end of lunch. Isak dejectedly moves tojump down from the windowsill but a hand on his arm stops him. He pauses,looking up and meeting Even’s gaze.

Even, who’s suddenly a lot closer than he was before. “Can wehang out after school?”

“Yes,” Isak says too quickly before cringing at himself.

Even smiles though, knocking their foreheads together, and Isakdecides he doesn’t care who’s around right now. He ducks his head and slotstheir lips together.

It’s chaste and soft andEven smiles into it which makes Isaksmile and then really they’re just pressing their smiles together but that’ssomehow even better.

He pulls away with thecorners of his lips still ticked up and finds a similar expression on Even’sface when he opens his eyes.

“What time do you finish?”Even asks, arm circling around Isak’s waist as if to make sure Isak won’t tryto get away. Like he would try in the first place.

“15:15.”

“I’ll wait for you,” Eventells him, ducking in to kiss his cheek and then his mouth before he finallyreleases him.

Isak lets him go with abashful, “Ha det,” hands lingering on Even for as long as possible until heslips out of his grasp to jump down off the windowsill and head up the stairs.

It isn’t until Isak’swalking to class a few minutes later that realises Even slipped another drawinginto his jacket pocket

There are four panels thistime: one of them sitting on what seems to be a bedroom floor eating cheesetoasties, one of them sitting on the same floor listening to music, one of themcurled up in a bed cuddling and one where he’s pretty sure they’re taking abath.

The title at the top says, “Evenand Isak’s after school date.”

Isak can’t wait for 15:15.

 *

[todaysciencology]

WhatsApp finally launches UPI based payments system - currently for 2 crore users

- Now exchange money with message!

Ahmedabad. 9 November 2020, Monday

Earlier, as the days of Diwali approached, the elders of the house would take up a special task - to get fresh notes from a well-known employee of the bank. Then, during the festive days, when all the members of the household feel at their feet, they also get a crisp note with blessings!

Now if you send salutations to other elders of the family on WhatsApp on Diwali, the reply can be accompanied by blessings as well as money dripping, from WhatsApp's payment service, which is not new!

After a wait of almost two and a half years, WhatsApp has launched a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) based payment service. So now in this app, just like good morning images or emojis, exchanging money has also become very easy.

If you connect your bank account with WhatsApp's payment service then there is nothing to do to get the rupee in it, just tell the sender of the rupee your mobile number.

On the other hand, if you want to send money to someone and that person has also connected his bank account with WhatsApp payment service, we will only have to give our UPI PIN to send money to him. Then, in Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bachchanji says, "Just click and you're done!"

The banking system in India has undergone as many changes in the last four years as it has in the previous 40 years. Here, too, UPI and WhatsApp-to-UPI payments seem to be a huge game changer in the whole thing.

Like a message in WhatsApp, after knowing this news about rupee transactions, many questions will start playing in your mind, such as ...

WhatsApp is good for saying good morning to everyone and forwarding various messages, images, videos, but can it be trusted for rupee transactions? Will it be safe?

How to use payment feature in WhatsApp?

Well, what exactly is this UPI itself?

How many people are cheating in the name of UPI, how many fake, fake links are circulating in WhatsApp too - isn't it more dangerous if both UPI and WhatsApp are combined in this?

Here we understand the steps of how to use it in WhatsApp. All the remaining questions are answered in the box below.

Use of payment in WhatsApp

Before knowing the steps for this, let's discuss one more important question - why use payment in WhatsApp ?! In general, if you are familiar with UPI and use any other app, you will not need to use it in WhatsApp either. Your work will continue from another app. Other UPI apps like your own bank or GooglePay, Paytm or PhonePay are now more useful for mobile or other service recharge, ticket booking, online shopping, other bill payment etc. WhatsApp does not currently have specific explanations for payments other than person-to-person payments. Yes, WhatsApp payment is useful for you if you have to exchange money frequently in your WhatsApp contacts. Also, WhatsApp has the facility to scan various QR codes and make payment from UPI, so it is also useful in that way. So with such a background, let's understand the use of payment in WhatsApp.

(1) Turn on WhatsApp in your smartphone and go to its settings.

(2) Does the 'Payments' option appear in the settings? If seen, you are 'one in a million, not one in two million'! Over the last one-and-a-half years, WhatsApp has been able to facilitate payments to 1 million people. Now 20 million people have found it, but the total number of WhatsApp users in India alone is 400 million!) It is possible that you will have to update the WhatsApp app.

(3) After clicking 'Payments', you will see a button linking your bank account to UPI accepting your terms. It will see a list of banks involved in UPI. Select your account and mobile number with WhatsApp which is given in the bank. The system will verify the number by exchanging SMS.

(4) WhatsApp will become your UPI ID (it will be a bit confusing, but you don't have to remember it, people will only be able to send you payments from your WhatsApp number).

(5) In doing so, if someone else is sending us money, the money will be credited directly to our bank account through WhatsApp.

(6) Now if you want to send money from WhatsApp to someone from our bank account through payments, you will need a UPI PIN for that account. If you are taking advantage of UPI system in another UPI app from the same bank account and mobile number then no other procedure will be required.

(7) If you have previously set up a UPI PIN in an app for a bank account, payment can also be made using the same in WhatsApp.

(8) If you are connecting a bank account with UPI for the first time in WhatsApp, to set a new UPI PIN for it you have to state the last six digits of the bank debit card and the expiry month / year (some banks will also ask for the ATM PIN of the debit card). If all goes well we will be able to generate a new UPI PIN. This ritual has to be done once. After generating the UPI PIN, we just have to remember it forever. The same procedure has to be repeated when changing the UPI PIN.

(9) As it happens, our Payments account in WhatsApp is ready to take and send money!

(10) Now to send money to any person, just like everyday message find that person's name / number and click on attachment in the message box. It will show the payment option, select it.

(11) After typing the payment amount, you can add any message in the message box. At the top, you can see to whom and from which bank account you are sending money.

(12) Upon sending the message, UPI PIN will be asked. Given that, the amount will be transferred immediately.

(13) By clicking on the amount message in the chat, its status will be known and from which account you can send the amount to whom and on what date.

(14) Alternatively, you can also view your entire payment history and transaction ID in the Payments option in Settings whenever you want (if there is a problem it should be given to the bank).

(15) In this way, if you want to order money from someone in WhatsApp, you can send a request with the amount. In this case the person in front will accept our request by giving their UPI PIN to the app, i.e. send us the amount in WhatsApp, which will go directly to our bank account!

The number of transactions from UPI, on which WhatsApp payments are based, crossed the two billion mark last month.

for more details kindly go to https://ift.tt/3bgFIf3 from Blogger https://ift.tt/36lBku7 via Youtube#Science #Technology