#also i will pretend he’s in my mind hyping me up so it’ll be easy

[whumpy-wyrms]

GUYS i have to give a six minute demonstration speech for my oral/interpersonal communications class later AND. AND like two weeks ago when we were planning it i didn’t know what to do it on so my teacher said something art related since she knows i like to draw. so i chose to. to give a speech in front of like 20 other people in my grade on HOW TO DRAW ANTONNNNN AND I’M FREAKING OUT BECAUSE THAT SPEECH LS TOFDAY AND I HAVENT PRACTICED IT AT ALLLLLL LMAO IM SO FUCKED

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

caryl first date headcanon

i wrote a stream of consciousness caryl headcanon i was thinking about when i couldn’t sleep last night. no i did not proofread it. yes it is rambling nonsense. yes you can read it if you want: 

so i genuinely don’t know what the timeline for canon is gonna be now that we got bottle episodes, s11, and the spin-off, but just for a moment let us pretend that it happens during the bottle episodes and then we have all of s11 to watch caryl trying to figure out how to navigate a relationship with each other

cuz like, they gon fuck right away, bc things are gonna get heated, and tensions are gonna be high, and they’re gonna snap like a trip wire and fucking ravish each other, that’s without question

so the first little while of their relationship will be mostly getting intimately familiar with each other’s bodies down to every last freckle

but once they’ve simmered down some they’re gonna need to address the “oh shit, wait, how does a relationship work?” problem

cue: caryl’s first date

it’ll take place in commonwealth, and i’ve never read the comics and i know jack all about it outside of what i’ve skimmed, but we’re gonna ignore that for the sake of my fun post

i know enough about it to know that there are definitely places to have a date

daryl knows this too, tho he doesn’t rly think about it right away. at first he’s more confused and sort of standoffish about the whole place, bc he was always a forest-dweller even before the apocalypse, so seeing this new metropolis-like place after years of living like a gd pioneer is gonna throw him way off kilter

right up until he’s chillin’ with judith and she’s talking about how she’s excited to see her first concert, and they have restaurants, and things she’s only ever read about, and then out of nowhere she’ll pull out, “are you gonna take aunt carol on a date?” 

and daryl will stare at her

and she’ll be like “rosita was telling me about how father gabriel took her on a real date and how nice it was. you should do that for aunt carol” 

and daryl will stare at her

and then will hastily change the subject (she’ll see right through him, ofc, but she’ll let it slide)

but the thought will stick with him, and suddenly he’s looking at the schedule of upcoming concerts and plays and wondering if carol would care about any of it. does she like shakespeare? the most experience he would have had with shakespeare was ripping out a couple pages of his school copy of romeo and juliet to use to light some firewood

but maybe she’s into it???

eventually he’ll reach the inevitable conclusion that the only way this is going to work is if he actually asks her to go on a date with him, which should be easy, right? like, he was ball’s deep inside her last night and told her good morning by putting his face between his legs, so surely asking someone on a date is simple

it will not be simple

bc yeah, they fuck all the time, and obviously they’re head-over-heels in love with each other, they’re each other’s soulmates, yada yada, but also daryl’s extremely emotionally repressed and has the romance skills of a fifteen year old having his mom drive him and his date to his first homecoming dance, only worse bc he never even went to any school dances

but after Dwelling On It for ages he’ll finally get fed up with himself and will vow to stop being a pussy. he’ll ask her before the day’s over or he’ll shoot a bolt into his own foot, ok, no more excuses

so the whole day he’s jittery af

you’d think he’s trying to pop the question, but all he wants to do is go eat dinner with carol and then watch some people recite lines from a play written hundreds of years ago, like, what is his Deal(tm)??? 

(his deal is, ofc, that he waited so long to have her, and now every new thing feels tenuous, bc he’d rather die than lose her, and sure she knows him better than anyone, but never in this context, and plus her last dude basically bled passion and romance no matter how obnoxious, and what if she realizes just how fucking clueless he is and decides she doesn’t really want to be with a middle-aged man who still gets tongue-tied around a pretty girl?)

(but also she deserves a gd date, alright? she deserves it, and so he’s going to give it to her, even if going face-to-face with a walker horde is less intimidating)

carol notices something’s off with him right away, but she waits until after dinner, when the kids have gone to their rooms and the two of them are alone washing dishes to ask, “hey, so what the fuck?” 

and daryl will be like, k, it’s now or never

and he will 100% make a fool of himself by stumbling alllll over his words, like, “nothin’s wrong, i’m fine, everythin’s real fine, i was just wonderin’ if mb you’d wanna, y’know, i dunno, they got all these shows and shit that we ain’t had in forever and i didn’t know if mb you’d wanna go see one? and mb get some food? with me, i mean. like, together. like i’d take you there and we could do those things, like a, you know, a date. but it’s cool if not, no worries, i get it if it’s not your thing, but i just thought i’d ask, but no, you’re right, it’s stupid, forget i said anythin’, hey look at the time, well i’m beat, gonna go to sleep now, goodbye”

and carol will go, “hold up”

and she’ll take daryl by the wrist before he can flee the room (bc he definitely intends to), and pulls him close and kisses him all sweet, and she’s gotta stand on her tiptoes to do it bc she’s in a pair of knit socks and he’s got his boots on so there’s more of a height difference than usual, and after she’s successfully managed to keep daryl from falling straight into a panic spiral, she’ll whisper, “i’d love to, let’s go this weekend”

and then she’ll just turn back to doing dishes without another word on the matter 

(bc, as previously stated, she knows daryl better than anyone, and she knows exactly what all his insecurities are and how much it must have taken him to ask her that, and so she’s not gonna harp on it or tease him)

(daryl recognizes this and loves her desperately for it)

the actual date is way easier than daryl expected

bc he spent all this time hyping it up, but when it comes right down to it, he just gets to spend a night with carol where they don’t have the kids to worry about, or any council business, and they just get to enjoy each other’s company

she even dressed up a little for him, which was unnecessary, but he most certainly appreciates it and can’t wait to tear the outfit off of her later

(it does make him regret the fact that he’s only had one pair of pants for the past ten years, but she doesn’t seem to mind)

they end up seeing a shakespeare play

daryl understands like 2% at best, but carol holds his hand and rests her head on his shoulder the whole time, and apparently it’s a comedy bc she laughs a lot, and that alone makes it worth it

they fuck like crazy when they get home, obviously

but it’s different than it had been previously, bc now their “togetherness” seems more solidified

like, they’re officially a “couple” now

like the type of couple that gets a babysitter for the night so they can go to the apocalyptic version of dinner and a movie together and then have sex and then fall asleep right afterwards bc they’re domestic af

and like, deep down both of them knows that this isn’t the life that they’re meant to live in forever, a la commonwealth/domestic bliss, and he wasn’t kidding when he told her new mexico was still out there, and he can feel a shift coming sooner rather than later

but he also knows they’ll be together when it happens, and they’ll figure out their own version of “date night” when they’re out exploring

but for now he’s content to do it the old fashioned way, though

when she falls asleep on his chest that night he rubs her back and kisses the top of her head, and he’s already planning their next night out

he might pick a show with modern english, though

but it’s not required

just so long as they’re together

the end 

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

[wincore]

easy to love | na jaemin

pairing: jaemin x reader

words: 3.1k

prompt: animejaem sent: jaemin + organizing a valentine’s party together when reader has the BIGGEST crush on him 🥰

genre: college!au, friends-to-lovers!au, a whole lotta fluff

warnings: uhhh does pining count?

a/n: i’ll be posting the requests in between my larger projects !!

You think Valentine’s Day isn’t worth the hype. Simple things like chocolates and flowers are way more expensive than on literally any other day, the only movies on TV are the ones that make you gag, you can’t go out without feeling awkward and the holiday is just generally pointless. If you’re in love, why do you need a specific day to show your love, and why does it last for only a day? How do you even convert an act of love into material commodity? It doesn’t seem to have any personal meaning, neither does it seem to make a relationship any better. To conclude you are not terribly fond of Valentine’s Day, and your plans only ever consist of binge watching and consuming a higher amount of unhealthy snacks.

But sometimes you have an exception to not going out on this day, and that exception is Na Jaemin.

You wake up groggy to a text from Jaemin asking you to help him organize the Valentine’s Day gathering you have among friends (and ‘friends’ also include friends of your friends who will inevitably barge in and ultimately, the entire student body will be there) followed by a series of smile emojis and pleading eyes emojis. You’d make up an excuse to refuse, but it’s Jaemin—Jaemin, whose smile alone makes your cheeks red, who you can’t help but stare at during classes, whose voice, even if it’s over the phone, is enough to make your heart warm and jittery.

I’ll be there in an hour, you text him as your feet touch the cold ground beside your bed. You sigh deeply, placing your face in your hands and curse yourself. If it weren’t for your overwhelming affections, you could be enjoying a few more hours of sleep. Everything still feels hazy as you rub the sleep from your eyes and weigh the pros and cons of your decision. It’s far too early to walk to Jaemin’s place but clearly he doesn’t have any sense of time. And neither do you, apparently, as you walk sluggishly towards your washroom to get ready.

The cold breeze brushes your cheeks as you make your way towards Jaemin’s place, fortunately only a few minutes’ walk away. The clouds, painted with the colour of the night, follow your steps and you know that they’ll be a watery red soon, when the sun decides to peek its face into your corner of the world. The only times you notice these things are when you’re alone, or when Jaemin points them out to you. He’s more observant than people give him credit for and while you’re glad you’re the one who mostly gets to see that, you wish he’d share more with the world. In a city where summer is yet to come, you can only hope for the best as the usual thoughts plague your mind. Should you try spilling your feelings to Jaemin this Valentine’s? Maybe with some chocolates to further sweeten the bittersweet aftertaste they leave in your mouth?

Don’t ring the doorbell, Jaemin texts you when you’re standing outside his door.

You don’t have to wait long before the door swings open with more force than Jaemin probably anticipated as he cringes at the sudden ‘bang!’ and pulls you in wordlessly. He places a finger over his lips, lets out a soft ‘shh!’ and walks up the stairs, with you trailing behind him.

“I would’ve come over, but your roommates would freak out,” Jaemin whispers when you’re inside his room.

“Anyone would freak out if they spot someone knocking on their window in the middle of the night!”

“I didn’t mean to do that,” Jaemin grins, rubbing the back of his head.

The room is barely lit, but you can see his messy hair, the tip of his nose and the curved corner of his lips illuminated by the table lamp. He looks at you expectantly, as if waiting for some sort of response but you don’t know what he’s expecting. You don’t know the number of times you’ve found yourself in Jaemin’s presence when the stars are still shining bright in the night sky, but one of these nights made you realize where your emotions lie. The tempo of your heartbeat goes overboard if you look at him long enough, if you think about him long enough. That’s why you mostly resort yourself to acting as if nothing’s wrong, ignoring the unnecessary flow of thoughts and being a friend that didn’t make things awkward.

“Classes start in three hours,” you tell Jaemin, “Why couldn’t we discuss then?”

“Because there’s too many people then,” he complains, “And we barely have that many classes together.”

“So?”

Jaemin pouts. “So you don’t wanna help me?”

“Why should I, Na Jaemin?” your eyes crinkle as you lean back on his bed.

Jaemin hums, pretending to think. “Because of all the times I helped you skip class? Or because I give you my notes every time you ask?”

You sit back up, scrunching your eyebrows. Jaemin places a finger on his chin and continues his exaggerated acting.

“Also I helped you hide when you accidentally broke the window to the Dean’s office. Oh! Remember that time in high school when we first—”

“Okay, okay! I wasn’t actually asking for a descriptive essay,” you cut in.

Jaemin grins. You knew you’d listen to him from the moment you read his text, his winning smile means nothing to you.

“So what’s the plan?” you ask, tilting your head to one side.

“This year’s theme is,” Jaemin pauses to think. “Love yourself!”

You quirk an eyebrow. “Love yourself?”

“Yeah. It’s better for the kids who don’t feel loved or popular, you know?” he says. “Besides, I’m tired of couples making out wherever.”

“Okay, Mr. Class Rep. It’s all up to you,” you say, “But why do we have to plan at this ungodly hour and a day early?”

“They didn’t inform me earlier,” he frowns.

You narrow your eyes at him.

“And I had too much coffee so I couldn’t sleep, yeah.”

You smack your forehead.

“Jaemin, I warned you about your obsession so many times.”

Jaemin huffs. “We’re getting off course!”

“Jaemin—"

“There’s no time!” he presses.

“Fine. What do you want to do?”

Jaemin beams at you and you feel a soft drumming inside your chest. He starts to elaborate on his quick yet decent enough ideas for hosting the annual party ( “It can’t be worse than last year, Jaemin.” “Last year was Donghyuck’s fault. And Renjun’s.”) and while you’re planning a party which revolves around affections and love, you can’t get yours out in the open. It would be disastrous, no doubt.

You sleeping through your classes is entirely Jaemin’s fault. He promised he’ll make it up to you somehow, and you know he will because of the way he is. He’ll probably buy you ice-cream or take you to a café and while all that’s in good spirits, it makes you more frustrated, more annoyed at all the looks you get, all the assumptions that you wish were true.

“Why isn’t it in the dorms?” you ask Jaemin, following him into the student hall.

“Do you know how many people end up coming? It’ll be suffocating,” Jaemin says, his back turned to you.

“I mean, I’m not complaining,” you say, “But this hall looks creepy.”

“That’s why we have decorations!” Jaemin says, shoving a bunch of pink, golden and red streamers at you.

“Where- when did you even get these?” you ask, looking at the lively colours sprawled across your arms.

“Jeno bought them. Oh, and Renjun’s probably coming to help.”

“Okay.”

The occasion needs minimalistic decorations according to Jaemin (“Because love should be the main event!” “I’m not even going to tell you how dumb that sounds.”) and on the bright side, it reduces your physical workload. Jaemin rushes from corner to corner, your head following his movement as he gestures for you to give him the ribbons and garlands. The hall already looks a little brighter by the time you’re finished, all the little touches added by Jaemin standing out to you.

“I need those heart-shaped post-it notes,” Jaemin says, knitting his brows. His mouth is slightly parted and his eyes stare off into the distance as he looks like he’s processing all that he has to say. The sunlight that has snuck in plays on his cheeks and eyes and sometimes you wish you’d stop viewing him like that, like he’s a work of art. Sometimes you wish your miserable state of mind didn’t get any worse with each look, each word, each smile Jaemin gave you.

You end up telling Jaemin to make a shopping list and while he insists on going to the store himself, you tell him to sit there and wait for Jeno and Renjun.

You do the shopping, wanting to get out of the slow, smothering atmosphere, engulfed by your own leaking affections. You return not too long after, to see Jaemin leaning back on one of the chairs, his phone pressed to his cheek.

“What do you mean you’re not coming now?” his voice comes out in a low tone. “That’s not helping!”

Jaemin’s cheeks gradually turn pink at whatever the voice through the phone says. “No, you don’t understand. That won’t help!”

“Yes…I still get butterflies, Renjun- why are you laughing? It’s true- it’s not that cheesy!”

You think hard about Jaemin’s declaration, so much that you forget you’re holding a bag of stuff and almost trip into to the hall. Jaemin perks up at your sudden entrance and while you rub the back of your head sheepishly, Jaemin rushes to you and holds the bag.

“Turns out Renjun isn’t coming, after all,” he informs you.

“Oh, that’s okay.”

Jaemin adorns a broad smile as you try finishing up the extra details with him, and you don’t notice the soft looks he gives you every time you’re so focused, your tongue pokes out or when you try your hardest to scrutinise every corner of the hall.

“What’s this for?” you point at the stack of Valentine’s Day themed post-its in Jaemin’s hand.

“It’s for people to write what they love most about themselves. Or what they think is the best thing about them.”

“That’s nice,” you smile.

Jaemin takes out a pen to scribble something and sticks it on the wall beside you. You squint to read it (“My handwriting isn’t even that bad!”) but you only find your name written with a heart drawn beside it.

“Because you’re the best thing to ever happen to me,” Jaemin winks.

You hit your forehead against the back of your hand, and despite the cheesiness, your cheeks heat up at the look of glee Jaemin gives you.

Jaemin walks you home with the setting sun tracing your footsteps. You don’t speak all that much, like you do when you’re comfortable, but at moments like these, you wish you could hold his hand or do all the things you aren’t allowed. The shape of his lips change with each expression he makes, still rosy and looking soft despite how chapped they are, and his cheeks glow with a residual pink from running out of the hall and the honey in his eyes you get to see when faces you leave a sweet taste in your mouth. It’s difficult to not stare at Na Jaemin. Sometimes, you wonder how all his features came together to create something so incredibly lovely, something so Jaemin. When you reach, he thanks you, tells you to wear something pink, and runs back towards his own place after waving a quick goodbye.

You enter the party to find some additions by Jeno and Renjun like the fairy lights and a huge banner saying ‘Welcome!’ with a lot of unnecessary hearts. There’s also doodles which suspiciously resemble you and Jaemin which you wouldn’t have noticed unless Renjun specifically pointed them out to you. Oh, how you wish you could deck someone in the face in public.

It’s actually enjoyable being there, though. People did write the notes, you notice when you see the wall almost filled with fluttery pink notes, Jaemin’s one lost in the bunch. Most of the guests are engaged in their own little world or shoving snacks into their mouths—an accurate representation of what Valentine’s Day is like around the world. The place isn’t overwhelmingly pink, there are mostly different shades of it, sure, but they remind you of Jaemin and the effort he put in.

People have unanimously decided the dress code is pink and while you couldn’t find anything suitable in your wardrobe, you ended up with the pink beret Jaemin gave you for your birthday last year. Speaking of whom, you don’t see him anywhere for a good ten minutes after arriving, mostly following Renjun and Jeno around to help them set the chocolates at the snacks table, or eating said chocolates at the snacks table. Donghyuck makes a face at the old love songs playing as soon as he enters the hall and brings his phone to undoubtedly change it to some other weird playlist.

You find Jaemin in a pink corduroy jacket, surrounded by a bunch of people from uni, looking a little more than flustered. His hair looks soft albeit a little messy although he must have styled it before coming, and overall, his presence seems to be the core of the celebrations. He looks like an angel when he meets eyes with you, and the hearts your brain makes you see floating around him don’t help.

Jaemin excuses himself with a polite smile and jogs over to you, wreathed in smiles. You smile back and there’s an unexpected silence before either of you speak.

“You look cute,” Jaemin points to the pink beret.

“Th-thanks,” you manage to say through the sudden awkwardness.

Before Jaemin can say anything else, he’s pulled by the arm by some guy who points to a girl looking shy in the corner. You can already tell she’s going to confess her undying love for Jaemin and while you know he’s going to reject her with the sweetest no, you wish you had that kind of confidence too. If you tell him, would he laugh at you? Would he even grace you with his sweet ‘no’?

The ‘what if’s swirl around your head and you take a seat at the corner of the hall. Suddenly, all you see are people in love—people tucking flowers in their partners hair, or talking while holding each other’s hands, or showing affection in simple acts of kisses or hugs or feeding each other. They all have someone to belong to, someone to protect, to cherish, to experience things with.

“Hey.”

You look to your side to see Jaemin already sitting beside you, a curious look on his face. You push your feelings aside to shoot him a playful smile.

“Broke another heart, Jaemin?”

Jaemin’s cheeks turn as pink as the streamers and you almost instantly regret saying that.

“I felt bad,” he starts but trails off.

“I know,” you reassure him. Jaemin isn’t paying a whole lot of attention, though, and you think maybe you should tell him too. You should tell him that you’ve liked him since high school, when he found you hiding from your friends on your birthday to prevent getting caked in the face, you liked him when he offered to walk you home the first time, you liked him when he told you he’s relieved that you’re both going to the same college. You like him when he’s thinking quietly, you like him when he says something stupid to annoy you, and you feel like you’ll like him endlessly with every passing second you spend with him—every passing second that pronounces the voice of his existence.

“Jaemin.”

“Yes?”

“We’re friends, right? How would you feel about being more than friends?” you rush through your words, getting redder by the second. You’re not one subject to impulsive actions, but maybe, maybe Na Jaemin is an exception to this too. His lips are pressed into a thin line, pink with the chapstick you had bought him a long time ago.

“What?”

No. You’re not saying that again. If you have to, you’ll pretend this conversation never happened.

“You like me?” Jaemin freezes, his eyes scanning your face for a response.

“I- uh- yeah. Wow. That wasn’t how I was planning to tell you. I mean, there were chocolates in the initial plan.”

“Are you kidding me?” You flinch at the sudden rise of his tone. “We could have been going out all this time?!”

“Huh?”

“I wouldn’t have had to do all this.”

“What?”

“In my defence, this wasn’t my idea,” Jaemin makes a sour expression.

You didn’t expect planning for a party to be your friends’ grand idea to get you and Jaemin together, and you don’t know how that works either. While that was a total failure, the dawning realization that maybe you’re not spending this Valentine’s alone makes your heartbeat quicken and your face warm.

“Will you go to the café with me this Saturday?” Jaemin smiles the brightest of smiles at you.

“I’m not having your poison coffee.”

“You ruined a perfectly nice moment.”

You smile and lean forward to rest your forehead against his shoulder, both of you shaking with silent laughter.

“Let’s leave before Donghyuck shoots us another look,” Jaemin tells you, taking hold of your hand and glaring at the sudden change of music.

The skies are pretty (or are you saying that because you’re happy?) and even more so when the late afternoon paints it orange and pink.

“You’re mine? You’re really mine?” Jaemin asks when you’re outside the gates.

You nod as you try to process the words yourself, a slow red rising in your cheeks.

Jaemin smiles the warmest smile before leaning in to peck your cheek. It’s a simple gesture—couples do it often, but it leaves your cheeks burning red and hot more than ever. Calling yourself a couple doesn’t make it any better, neither does the way Jaemin looks at you, or his fingers playing with yours.

Jaemin leans in again, and right when you feel his breath on your lips, he pulls back, shaking his head. When you continue looking at him with doe eyes, he laughs.

“That’s for Saturday,” he says, “If I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop.”

There’s a lot to look forward to on Saturday, you think. Besides the fact that it’s a weekend, you’re going out with Jaemin, someone who you thought you’d never be able to ask out. Someone who makes your heart explode into stardust but someone who puts it at ease.

There’s a lot to look forward to on Saturday. Cheaper chocolates, your choice of coffee, Jaemin’s lips—all of them, at the top of your list of favourite things.

[fresh-outta-jams]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Part 9

Namjoon x Reader Author: Admin Mo Summary: You’re in college when your soulmate tattoo arrives, an address. Sending a letter couldn’t hurt, right? Note: Super sorry it’s been so long since my last update. Morgan and Morgan and I just got settled back into school with our new classes and everything, so I should have more time now that I have everything figured out. Warnings: Some swearing, soulmate fluff Word Count: 1.8k

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Epilogue

Your new film classes were kicking your ass. Most of them were three hours long, so one of your greatest challenges in them was not falling asleep at eight in the morning or late at night. Your...distractions the previous semester had prevented you from signing up for your classes on time and therefore, you had the worst schedule on the face of the planet. You woke up too early, got home too late, and barely had time for naps in the middle. However, you did have a window for talking to Namjoon, which was about all you could ask for.

Somehow, it seemed like he got hotter every single day. You more than dreamed about him now; his face floated around your thoughts during your classes, his voice filtered through your earbuds as you walked around the snowy campus. It definitely soothed your pain at least a little bit, that and getting to see your face every time you unlocked your phone or got a call from him. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled breathed the life back into the very drained half of your shared soul.

“Baby.” Namjoon waved his hand to snag your attention. Your mind had been wandering again. “You okay? You seem sort of distracted today.”

“I’m fine, Joon. Exhausted, but fine. What were you saying?”

“I asked you how our Sims are doing.”

You burst out laughing. When you had talked to him a few weeks prior, you’d made the mistake of mentioning the Sims game you’d been plugging away at, creating a perfect little life with your soulmate. Luckily for you, there were several talented Simmers who had uploaded their own Namjoons to the Gallery, so you could just download one that looked pretty close to the real thing. (Even closer with a dimple mod.)

“Joon is a scientist now.”

“A scientist? I thought he was an actor.”

“Well, he was, but I want to try to contact the aliens.”

“Ah. Understood. How are our kids?”

“They’re doing great. Added some new rooms on the house, got them a bigger TV, and I’m thinking about putting in a pool, but considering that they’re vampires, maybe that’s not the best idea…”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head at the absurdity of the little world you had crafted. “Yeah, maybe not, then.”

“Oh!” You blurted, sitting up straighter as you remembered what had been on your mind. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

Immediately, his eyes widened and his face reddened. Whatever this was, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be good. But then again, he couldn’t remember doing anything that would upset you. “U-um, jagi-”

“Uh-uh, don’t you ‘um, jagi’ me. You have no right. You have NO RIGHT...to go around looking this fine, what the hell, Namjoon. Your hair? So fine. Your face? SO FINE. How am I supposed to keep the girls off of you at this rate?”

“Jeez, you scared me. I thought something was wrong.”

“Also, don’t think I don’t see you lurking on my Twitter, you creep.” You laughed, causing his face to flush an even deeper red. “I have like twenty followers total, so someone with the username ‘rm_fan_94’ is going to raise some eyebrows.”

“Is it my fault you ReTweet all of the BTS Tweets gushing about how handsome you think I am? Sometimes a guy needs a little confidence boost from his beautiful girlfriend.”

That was new. You couldn’t remember him ever using THAT word before…

“Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no, you just, uh, caught me off-guard is all.” You coughed, cheeks burning probably the brightest red they’d ever glowed before. “Can I get that one more time?”

“What, ‘girlfriend’?” Namjoon smirked softly, his dimples prominent. “Well, that is what you are, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” You exhaled a sigh, something warm settling over your heart. “God, I really am, aren’t I?

“Shit, I never asked, did I? That’s a thing in the states, right? I’m supposed to ask you to be my girlfriend?”

“Well, I mean sometimes that’s how it goes, but not always.”

“(Y/N),” he suddenly got very mock-serious, “will you be my girlfriend?”

“Let me think about it.” You laughed. He pretended to wait with bated breath as you ‘thought about’ your answer to his very important world-changing question. “Yeah, I think I will.”

“Awesome.” He smiled. Namjoon was about to say something else before he was interrupted by someone walking into his and Tae’s room.

“Namjoon-ah, breakfast.” You recognized Hoseok’s voice as he entered, his face lighting up when he caught sight of what their fearless leader was doing. “(Y/N)!!”

“Hi Hobi!” You waved excitedly, hyped to finally meet him after watching him in videos for so long. “Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

“I’ll be out in a sec, alright?” Namjoon told him in Korean. Hoseok nodded and then waved one last time before leaving the way he came. He looked back at you and sighed, torn. Obviously, they were all really busy working on their next comeback, even though they were still coming back down to earth after the Christmas/New Year’s Eve rush. You knew time was tight, but you always ached when it was time to say goodbye. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too.” You blew him a kiss, and then he was gone, leaving you waiting for the next time you would get to see his beautiful face.

***

“Dear Namjoon,

I read your book. Cover to cover. Well, I guess because it was in digital format, from the top of the Doc to the bottom of it. And let me just say I am blown away. I’ve known you’re a good writer. You write the best letters ever, and also you literally write lyrics for a living, so obviously you’re good, but this was so much different than any of your songs in the best possible way. There’s so much character, so many heartfelt moments, but it’s also funny and lighthearted and then it tugs at your heartstrings. I ended up crying three times while I read it.

That said, there were a few phrasing things I noticed, and a few typos, but I think you’re way more fluent than you realize. I usually end up with waaaaay more mistakes in my NaNo books than you have in yours. I marked the ones I caught in pink and left some comments.

These new classes are killing me. My film analysis is boring and we have a pretty heavy workload. Not to mention it’s like three hours long. Draining isn’t the word. However, it’s not all bad. I still go to the K-Pop club and learn new things about you and the guys from all of my K-Pop-loving friends. One of them got me a Koya sleep mask for Christmas! They all know I’m super whipped for you (but they don’t know why, no worries!).

Did I tell you I have Moonchild set to my wake up alarm? Ironic, I know, but it’s my favorite song on Mono. You probably know that. I probably told you that. I don’t remember. I’ve kind of had a lot on my mind recently. I’m seriously counting down the days to spring break. My brain hurts so much, but hearing your voice and talking to you and looking at your face makes it a little bit better.

I love you so much,

-(Y/N)”

*** Namjoon had a plan. Granted, it wasn’t a very solid plan; he didn’t have all of the details worked out, nor anything scheduled, nor had he even asked permission yet. But, it was a plan no less.

Over the past few weeks, in your ongoing letter correspondence back and forth to each other, Namjoon had been collecting details, thinking through logistics, and going around to the camera crew and asking them some questions figuring that they of all people would have the answers to them. And for the most part, they did, and they were all very friendly and nice to talk to. Based on the conversations he’d had with them, it seemed like Part 1 of his plan would work out just fine. That left him to figure out parts 2 and 3.

Part 2, he figured, would be the second-easiest thing to accomplish. Actually, maybe the easiest, considering that Part 1 had required some digging and research. Whereas with Part 2, it was only the idea of it that was scaring him. In theory, actually pulling through with it would be easy.

So, once he had scraped together as much courage as he could manage, he went to the office of none other than Hitman Bang and knocked on the door.

***

“Dear (Y/N),

I’m sorry to hear your classes are so rough. I wish I could make it better. Thinking about you in pain pulls at my heartstrings in more ways than one. I really, really wish I could be there to comfort you somehow, but even then, I don’t think I would know how to fix the problem aside from supporting you and encouraging you to keep going because you’re almost there. Just a little longer and it’ll all be worth it.

As for my book...I’m super, super glad you liked it. Part of me was really afraid it maybe wasn’t as good as I hoped it was. We all have a tendency to look down on our own work, I guess, and sometimes we’re blind to our own mistakes. Thank you for helping out with mine, though. It means so, so much to me that you took the time out of your busy schedule to look over it and give me feedback. I’m also very sorry I made you cry. Thinking about that hurts me inside too.

I’m glad you’re having fun in your K-Pop club and making new friends and learning things! Just know that if you ever want to know ANYTHING, I would be more than happy to tell you anything you want to know. Also, I’m really sorry you have to keep me a secret, at least for know. Just know it won’t be a secret forever. Someday, you won’t have to hide who I am. I just hope that ‘someday’ comes sooner than it seems to be coming.

You definitely did not tell me Moonchild is your wake up alarm. God, you don’t know how happy that makes me. I’m glad you like it so much. Again, I’m so sorry this semester has been rough on you so far. And I’m sorry I couldn’t kiss you on New Year’s Eve. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you on Christmas morning. I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry we’re so far away from each other. I’m sorry it’s taking me so long to get to you. I promise I will soon, though. As soon as I possibly can. Every minute I’m without you burns, and I know you feel it too.

I love you to the moon and back,

-Namjoon”

Tagged:  @iie-wakarimasen, @ffantasylandd, @jooniefluff, @chimchimsauce, @mrs-saeyoung-choi, @theprinceoftheundead, @angyexoxo, @copenhagenspirit, @lovelylittlekittn, @lilgaga98, @iminlovewjjk, @feed-my-geek-soul, @loveandwitch, @recoveringflowerchild, @demonic-meatball, @maddieisaacs, @scissorsandtonfas, @carirosesg, @backtonormalthings, @local-mochi, @faliwi, @spoopyela, @nanie5, @ingenu--e, @undiscovered1personality, @andalos, @calspixie, @filtermono, @huhuehuey, @mikey-girl12, @lilliaflurr, @hypophrenium, @sitkafay, @spiicyari, @andeerwilson, @btswerewolfaus, @oyasumi7

[rainbowserenity]

On Friday, I got to go to the KH pop-up experience at Disney Springs!!! It was basically just a big room of merch and the demos and stuff, but I got to sit by a giant mural of the cover art so day made A++++ I also got pics of like EVERYTHING there, which is under the cut if you wanna see :D I got to play both demos (there was one for Olympus and one for Toy Story) and have a bunch of thoughts, but I’ll put that towards the bottom in case anybody’s avoiding minor spoilers (although I think these are the same demos they’ve been showing at a bunch of conventions so this might be ~common knowledge~ IDK I’M JUST TRYING TO BE CAREFUL)

I saw the sign pretty much immediately and was like LEMME IN OMG ALKSJF;LIWJE;FLIWJEF

THEY TEASE YOU WITH THE MURAL LIKE HEY LOOK AT ME IT’S AWESOME

I know everybody’s already seen it but YEAH JUST LOOK AT IT

I ran in there and took a bunch of selfies next to Aqua and the cast members were looking at me like I was crazy :(

BUT WHO CARES :D

and here’s the Destiny Trio looking fabulous as usual~*~

they also had these renders covering a wall, so naturally....

had to struggled to take a pic with Reekers~*~*~ (seriously, the cast members were staring at me like I was the only person to take selfies against the banners.....although judging from how many people wandered into the place asking, “What is this? A video game? Is it free?????” maybe they see it less often than I want to think lmao)

This area led to the demo area!!!

those screens played the trailers on a constant loop (and Dearly Beloved was playing in the background ;; it was a little hard to hear cause of the noise but STILL, THE FEEEEEEEEEEEELS)

better look at these signs~ I think it’s kinda funny that Sora/Donald/Goofy were only included on the posters if they had new looks lmao

Took this for @tensai-shoujo ;D They had an Olympus poster next to it, you could only see them when you were walking towards the demo area

HELL YEEEEEEAHHHHH

I like that they had those banners/murals/whatever up everywhere, as opposed to just setting up a bunch of screens lol IDK IT JUST MADE IT FEEL MORE SPECIAL

I just really liked that Sora art~*~

another view.......kinda wished I could’ve yoinked one of those banners lmao

BUT LIKE I SAID I played both demos and before I get into my thoughts on them, I shall show off the merch and stuff :D

WAIT FIRST THE KEYBLADES WHICH WERE LIKE....AS LIFE-SIZED AS THEY COULD BE I GUESS ALSKDJF;LIWEFJ I had to physically restrain myself from completely freaking out (y’know, besides the usual)

I feel like I should know what the second one is...?????? I though it was Starseeker at first glance, but it’s not so idr if it’s a new one......obviously the last one is the Toy Story one lol

They had a kiosk under here where you could preorder the game, but I was mostly just all THIS ART IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND SOON WE WILL SEE IT ON OUR SCREENS AS WE PLAY TT__________TT

and now for the merch!

the top shelf was the deluxe edition of the ACTUAL GAME, and even looking at the real case and stuff, it still doesn’t even seem real......like we’ve been waiting for 12 years, is ANY OF THIS FOR REAL OR NOT??? I kinda wanted those figures on the bottom and hey, there’s that one keyblade!!!

in case you can’t read the signs, the top shelf is a preorder bonus from ordering it from the kiosk....I kinda liked that lanyard lolol. the bottom shelf is bunch of awesome standees I vaguely recall seeing in the Squenix store (I’m not really up on all the merch lol I avoid looking at it too often cause it makes me WAAAANT it and I am poor, so I just don’t want to torture myself)

ngl I kinda want this......REEKERS MY LOVE.............

NEVER MIND I WANT THIS MORE LOL I’ve been wanting the Aqua play arts for so long, why do they have to be so expensive now?!? at least I got to see it in person lmao I SHALL TREASURE THE MEMORY FOREVER~

the KH3 Sora play arts~ THERE’S THAT KEYBLADE AGAIN WTF it must be a new one???

I had no idea there was a Roxas play arts??? or is this even released yet??? like I said, I’m not really up on merch news lol I guess his head must be interchangeable since you can have his hood on and pretend he’s super angsty about missing Axel and stuff

I’ve always thought these were kinda cute in a stupid way lmao

and I’ll unceremoniously end the images with lovely keychains and jewelry :D

Those are all the pics! now I’ll babble about the demos and my experience with the battle system, so stop here if you don’t want to know for whatever reason~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Like I said earlier, I got to play both demos! It was slow enough in there that I just moseyed back in through the line and I could feel the silent eyes of the cast members judging me 8))))))

I played the Toy Story one first cause duh, and I think it dumps you into the beginning of the world since poor Sora was all WTF WHY DO WE LOOK LIKE THIS??? And I started laughing when the “I’m Sora/Donald/Goofy” line came when they were introducing themselves, cause some things never change ;P

it took me a minute to get used to the buttons (especially since you obviously couldn’t customize anything but the camera directions) and I kept accidentally using Shotlock and stuff LOL. BUUUUUT it was really fun once I got a sense of what I was doing! it was very smooth and fast and fun~

to me, battling feels like a combination of KH2, Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance. the coolest thing was that you could do a command (like Thundaga), and a reaction command would pop up. If you kept doing it, you could chain them together into one big ol’ massive attack - in my case, it was summoning the Mad Tea Cups!!! I GOT TO KILL HEARTLESS WITH A DISNEY RIDE LOL

what was also really fun was that you can switch Keyblades mid-battle!!! I had no idea what they all did, but I’m sure in the actual game they have different abilities like they do in most of the games. now you don’t have to choose just one mwhahaha~

towards the end of the Toy Story demo, you had to fight against an evil toy and got to drive around a robot and shoot lasers! PEW PEW PEW

one thing I really liked was how SMOOTH the animation was. idk if I just read a lot into it, but Sora’s always felt kinda.....clunky when he runs? maybe it’s his big feet lmao but in this demo, he felt MUUUUCH easier to handle. talking to other characters didn’t bring you into another screen, either, you just turned them and talked in real time. IT’S PRETTY GREAT

The Olympus demo felt shorter, probably because it was mostly a boss battle, but the coolest thing is that YOU CAN RUN UP WALLS HOLY CRAAAAAAP!!! I think they’ve showed this in trailers so I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but it was awesome :D

they had different magic options, and this time I managed to SUMMON A GIANT TRAIN HELL YEEEEEAHHHH~ I also managed to get some kind of Goofy limit and he destroyed a bunch of Heartless instantly, so that’s why Goofy rules okay

since I had a little more of grasp on the buttons and stuff, defeating the Titan was sorta easy 8D;; I’m sure they gave you stronger magic/abilities/Keyblades in these demos so it’ll probably be more difficult in the actual game - however, they didn’t really have any tutorial in the demo. They basically had a screen telling you how to run up walls and that was it.....and yet, the reaction commands and new battle system were easy to grasp (especially if you’re a seasoned player lol). I mean, yeah, a lot of it was just mashing the triangle button, but there’s also a certain finesse to chaining them together so that’ll be fun to discover~

The demos made me EVEN MORE HYPED FOR THE GAME THAN EVER!!!!!!! and even though we don’t have too long to wait, IT’S STILL GONNA TAKE FOREVER ALKSDJF;LWIEJF;LWIEJFWE I CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY IT AND I FEEL LIKE WE’RE ALL GONNA LOVE IT!!!!!!!

IS IT THE 29TH YET AHHHHHHHHHHHH

....if you made it this far down, thanks for reading 8D I feel like I’m back in 2007 making a LiveJournal post, with what all the images and captions and babbling lmao

[nicolabarth]

Birthday Fic: Photo Shoot

Pairing: Lucifer/Sam Winchester, side Michael/Dean Winchester

Summary: When Sam agreed to step in for Castiel in Dean's band The Righteous Sons he had known about the band battle they were going to participate in. He hadn't expected there to be so much PR, though. Let alone a photo shoot where they're all dressed up as angels. And he definitely hadn't expected the devil himself to show up and tempt him.

Warnings: Rock Band AU, Band Battle, Photo Shoots, Making out on a throne

A/N: I wrote this for @brieflymaximumprincess‘ birthday. Happy Birthday!

Also, I want to thank my beta readers @coplins and @humongouscandycoffee

Read it on AO3

Sam looks at himself in the big mirror in the photographer’s studio they’re at and frowns a little. The big white wings are heavy on his back and he’s amazed that they hold without any straps showing. He isn’t sure if having them pose shirtless is such a good idea, though. The white jeans are pretty tight, too, and hanging low on his hips.

“You know,” he says to Dean, who’s still fighting with his wings. “For a band called The Righteous Sons and posing as angels, we’re going to look pretty inappropriate.”

Michael strides by, his wings in such a high display that he’ll probably have trouble getting through doorways. Dean stops a moment, just staring at his boyfriend. Well, he definitely does rock the outfit. “Come one, Sam”, Michael says. “It’s PR. The more the people talk about it the better.”

“I really hate that you’re probably right.” Adam is frowning at his reflection the same way as Sam.

“But why do I have to be part of this?” Sam tries again. “I’m just filling in for Cas.”

“We’ve been over this, Sammy.” Dean gets help from Michael with securing his wings on his back and straightens up. “Cas won’t be able to play for a while. Until then you’re an official member of the band. And we’re up against The Devils in the voting next week, so we need all the PR we can get.”

Sam sighs. He knows that and he agreed to do this photo shoot. But looking at his reflection now and knowing that pictures of him dressed like this will be in a big music magazine by tomorrow, it would have been a lie saying he doesn’t have any second thoughts. But of course there’s no backing out now.

On the far corner of the room a curtain gets pulled back and Raphaelle steps out. At least she gets to wear a top, a corset made from the same white denim as her pants. And the white wings make a nice contrast to her skin. But she looks as thrilled as the rest of them. “Let’s just get this over with,” she says.

Balthazar, the photographer, definitely does bring the enthusiasm they’re all lacking. He talks almost none stop while snapping pictures, and surprisingly, it helps. After a few minutes, Sam’s nervousness has faded and he laughs, when Dean starts goofing around. By the time each of them has to do shoots separately, the atmosphere is relaxed and it doesn’t seem too bad anymore.

The whole thing takes about an hour, then the Devils walk in.

Sam knows them, of course. Who doesn’t? There’s Meg, Ruby, Abbadon, and Lilith. They all wear red and black, pretty much as revealing as the Righteous Son’s outfits are. And there are little red horns on their heads. Sam’s eyes linger on Ruby for a moment, and she winks at him, but then the lead singer of the band steps in.

Lucifer’s wings look like they have been white once, but now they’re torn and bloody. He moves with them as if they’re a natural part of his body, strides in as if he owns the place. Sam only realizes that he’s staring, when he gets Dean’s elbow in the side. “Dude, at least close your mouth.”

At the same time, Lucifer grins at Sam. Great. Wonderful first impression. Sam clears his throat and looks away.

“Listen, everyone!” Balthazar calls. “I need shots of you facing each other, to symbolize the rivalry, if you get what I’m saying. The lead singers in the front, the rest grouped behind them. Try to look like you’re ready for battle. We want this as dramatic as possible.”

To his left, Sam can see Adam roll his eyes. “No one will ever take this seriously,” he says.

Balthazar grins at him. “You’d be surprised. People want that kind of stuff. Trust me. I know the business! We’ll get everyone so hyped for your round of the band battle, they won’t know what to do with themselves until next week. Come on now!”

Dean and Lucifer step in front of each other like the generals of two armies that meet at the battlefield before the fighting starts. Balthazar flits around them to adjust their wings to give them a more aggressive look. Sam has to admit, it’s pretty impressive.

The rest of the Righteous Sons is paired off with one Devil each. “Girls,” Balthazar says, “you’re taunting our angels. Or try and seduce them to your side, if you want to.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun.” Meg grins. She takes position opposite to Adam, hands at her hips.

Abbadon faces off Michael and looks him up and down. “Hi there,” she says. “Wouldn’t mind actually seducing you.”

Michael gives her a dry look, while Dean breaks eye contact with Lucifer to glare at her. “Hands off! He’s mine!”

Abbadon laughs, and at the same time Sam can hear the shutter of Balthazar’s camera, apparently he’s decided this is too good not to start taking photos already.

On the far end of the group, Raphaelle and Lilith are eyeing each other skeptically. “We’ll destroy you next week,” Lilith says with a pleasant smile.

Raphaelle huffs. “We’ll see.”

Sam gets Ruby, who scrutinizes him for a moment. “Think you can keep your eyes on me instead of Lucifer?”

Sam can feel heat rise in his face. “I just think his wings are impressive, okay?”

“That’s a pity,” Lucifer says. Of course Sam’s eyes flick to him at once. He’s standing with his arms crossed, looking at Sam in amusement. “I was hoping it was not just my wings and I could ask for your number later.”

“Hey!” Dean takes another half step forward. “No hitting on my little brother!”

That only serves as encouragement for Lucifer. He extends his hand in a beckoning gestures and sends Sam a look that makes his heart beat faster. “Come to the dark side, little angel, we have more fun.”

Sam is only distantly aware that Balthazar keeps taking pictures. For a moment he couldn’t care less. He has only eyes for Lucifer, who has a half-smile on his lips and a mischievous glint in his eyes that suits him very well. And why pretend he’s not interested? They may be rivals right now, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have to get along in private.

So he returns the smile. “If you’re still interested after we kicked your ass, I may give you my number next week.”

Lucifer laughs. “Confident. I like that.”

“As much as I regret having to be a spoilsport,” Balthazar says, “but if you could do me a favor and concentrate for ten more minutes, we could actually get the shoot done.”

It takes more than ten minutes, but eventually Balthazar declares that he has enough material and everybody files out of the room. Adam’s wings are dangerously drooping by now, so it’s about time. Still, Balthazar holds Sam and Lucifer back.

“I’d like to do another shoot with you two, if that’s alright with you.”

Dean stops at the door and shoots Sam a questioning look. Sam just shrugs. He doesn’t know what this is about either.

“I couldn’t help noticing the chemistry you have,” Balthazar goes on.

From behind Dean, Meg peeks in again. “We all couldn’t help noticing that.”

“No matter if we wanted to or not!” Adam supplies from somewhere in the corridor.

“Oh, shut up!” Sam calls to his younger half-brother. “At least I didn’t stare down Meg’s décolleté.”

Meg laughs. “Well, at least someone in your family has taste.”

“Anyway,” Balthazar raises his voice. “I’d like to do another shoot that we’re going to use after we know which of you won.”

“Well, that’s easy,” Dean starts, but is interrupted by Meg.

“Of course it is,” she says. “We are.”

Lucifer smiles fondly, before he looks at Balthazar again. “What kind of shoot?”

“Well, it’s actually two,” the photographer explains. “If the Devils win, I’d do a photo series where you seduce Sam to the dark side so to speak.”

There’s that mischievous glint in Lucifer’s eyes again. “I like that.”

“And if the Righteous Sons win, I’d use a  photo series where Sam makes you an actual angel again.”

“And there I thought it couldn’t get any more cheesy,” Adam says from the door. By now basically everyone is standing there watching them.

“I’m in if Sam is,” Lucifer says.

Sam isn’t sure. It’ll probably be more good PR, and it’s not like he’d mind doing a photo shoot with Lucifer alone. Still, he throws Dean a questioning looks.

His brother shrugs. “I would prefer, if this wasn’t about you chemistry with him.” He points at Lucifer. “But why not? It’s about time you got laid again.

Oh, why did he even bother? Sam rolls his eyes. But when he meets Lucifer’s again, the lead singer of the Devils is watching him intently, tip of his tongue visible in the corner of his mouth. Looks like this might actually happen, if they spend a bit more time together. “I’m in,” he says.

Balthazar shoos all the others out and then they start with Sam’s part. The photographer directs Lucifer to get on his knees in front of Sam, which he does with the most suggestive look possible.

“You know,” Balthazar says, “that’d be nice, if I was working for a porn magazine. Try looking a bit more defeated, though.”

That sends them both into a giggle fit and it takes them a while until they can continue.

Sam has to grab one of Lucifer’s horns and act like he’s breaking it off and throw it away. Then he has to put a hand on Lucifer’s forehead and look like he’s using his angelic powers or whatever. Balthazar explains that he’ll do some magic with photoshop that makes it look like Lucifer’s wings gradually become white again. “And maybe I’ll give you glowy eyes, too, Sam. Those are always nice.”

“I’m not too sure about that,” Sam says. Adam is right, it’s all pretty clicheed.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll look hot.” Lucifer grins up at him and makes actual butterflies flutter in Sam’s stomach. He really has it bad.

Then Sam has to pick Lucifer up, and for a while they stand very close, looking at each other, while Balthazar snaps picture after picture. Lucifer’s eyes are blue like the sea far up in the north, riddled with splinters of ice, and Sam feels like he could drown in them. Distantly, he can hear Balthazar talk. “Yes! Just like that! Now you can give me all the eye sex! Perfect!” It doesn’t really register. Instead, after a while his gaze drops to Lucifer’s lips and he sees them twitch upwards. He’d only have to lean forward a little bit …

“And, we’re done!” Balthazar’s voice snaps him out of the moment, and Sam takes a step back, clears his throat. Lucifer still looks at him with slight amusement. Does he realize what Sam had been about to do? Well, and what if? It’s not like he’d indicated so far that he would mind.

For the moment, there’s no time to think about it further, though. Balthazar ushers Sam towards one of the walls of the studio. He’s placed with his back against it, and Lucifer has to pin him by his wings. Again, they’re only inches apart, and this time it’s Lucifer who’s very slowly leaning in. His knee nudges against Sam’s and Sam adjusts his stance automatically, making room for him.

“Hey!” Balthazar calls. “If you have to make out, save it for the last picture, will you?”

“Spoilsport,” Lucifer mumbles, which makes Sam laugh.

They change pose again. Now it’s Lucifer leading Sam away, and Balthazar adjusts Sam’s wings to make them trail behind him. He even rips out a few feathers and strews them on the floor behind Sam.

“Disheveled suits you,” Lucifer whispers to Sam.

While Sam answers with a slight smile, he can hear Balthazar’s shutter click. “That’s it!” the photographer calls. “Give me more of that! You’re tempting him with forbidden promises!”

That makes Sam roll his eyes again.

Promptly, he gets scolded. “You have to look like you’re getting seduced!”

“You keep interrupting!” Sam complains, which makes Lucifer give a slightly startled, but delighted laugh.

Balthazar grumbles something. “Fine,” he says finally. “For the last picture, just do whatever you want to. I have a prop for you, though.”

He leads them into another room that looks kinda dungeon like with a big, black throne in the middle of it. “We built this for something different,” Balthazar explained. “But it’ll do pretty well, I’d say. Lucifer, why don’t you try your throne?”

“You don’t have to ask that twice.” Lucifer looks delighted while he strides towards the throne. Sam helps him sort his wings out, while he sits, so they’re splayed out impressively. It’s made harder by the fact that Lucifer can’t sit still for the life of him. He keeps changing his position until one of his legs hangs over an armrest.

“Not very awe inspiring,” Sam comments. It suits him, though. The way he’s sitting makes it feel like he’s actually at home on his throne.

“I’m always awe inspiring,” Lucifer says. “And I remember something about us being able to do what we want.”

Sam makes a sturgeon face to concede the points.

“You know what I also want to do?” Lucifer asks.

Sam looks down at him, smiling. “What?”

Lucifer grins. “You have to bend down for that.”

And Sam kinda hopes he knows where this is leading. He leans on one of the armrests of the throne, and then Lucifer grabs one of his wings to pull him down the rest of the way by it. Again, the chutter of Balthazar’s camera clicks, but Sam doesn’t mind. All he sees is the question in Lucifer’s eyes when their lips are only inches apart again. As if he’s trying to make sure that this is really alright.

“Yes,” Sam breathes. And then their lips meet. Finally!

The kiss is slow and gentle and makes Sam forget Balthazar even exists. Then Lucifer hooks his fingers behind the belt loops of Sam’s jeans and he drags him in front of the throne. He takes his leg off the armrest and sits properly for a change, so he can pull Sam on his lap. Sam grabs Lucifer’s shoulders for support and deepens the kiss. He can feel his already tight pants get even tighter, and that would be embarrassing, except he doesn’t care. Lucifer’s hands are warm on the naked skin of his back, and they slowly travel lower, until he grabs Sam’s ass to pull him closer. Sam gasps into the kiss, when he discovers that Lucifer has the same problem with his pants he has.

But wait. Balthazar. This is becoming something he doesn’t want documented. So Sam breaks the kiss to look around for the photographer. Just to discover that Balthazar is about to sneak out.

He sees Sam looking into his direction and grins. “I have all the pictures I need. You turn off the light, when you leave. And don’t make a mess of the props.”

Lucifer laughs and Sam can feel a puff of his breath against the side of his neck. “No promises.”

“You’ll pay for everything you damage!” Then Balthazar is gone.

“I can’t stay too long or my brother will start to worry,” Sam says.

Lucifer huffs. “Well, do I get your number then?”

“You’re not easily distracted from getting what you want, are you?”

The lead singer of the Devils wraps his arms around Sam’s waist. “I’d be stupid, if I let someone like you slip away.”

That fills Sam’s heart with joy. “I’ll give you my number,” he says. “And I expect you to call soon.”

The next week goes by in a haze. There are so many interviews Sam starts answering questions on auto pilot.

What’s it like to fill in for Castiel? - Well, it’s an honor of course.

Are the rumors about him and Lucifer true? - No comment.

How’s it like to work with two of his brother? – Annoying from time to time.

“Why is the band called Righteous Sons, if you have a woman at the drums?” That question temporarily manages to snap Sam out of his haze. There are seriously people that don’t know that yet?

Thankfully, Michael takes over. “Because when we named the band, Raphaelle hadn’t come out as trans yet. And she said she didn’t mind.”

Raphaelle shrugs. “Righteous Siblings sounds pretty stupid anyway.”

Then Sam spots Lucifer in the crowd and Dean has to drag him away. “Try to be a bit less obvious, will you? At least until the band battle is over!”

Finally, the day of the band battle arrives. Both bands deliver their best performance. Sam watches the Devils from behind the stage, and he can’t take his eyes off Lucifer. The way he sways his hips should definitely not by allowed.

Then they have to wait for the voting to happen, and finally they all have to step on the stage so the winner can be announced.

Gabriel, their host, makes a show out of pulling a card from a white envelope. “And the winner is …”

Sam holds his breath.

“The Righteous Sons!”

Next to Sam Dean lets out a big “YES!”. Sam pats his brother’s shoulder in congratulation and gets a hug in return. He gets a hug from Adam and Raphaelle, too. Michael is too busy, because his hug with Dean has morphed into them making out on stage.

Adam rolls his eyes. “Gross.”

Sam laughs, but stops when there’s suddenly a hand on his shoulder. He turns to look into Lucifer’s eyes. The crowd falls silent, maybe expecting a hostile move.

“You know what’s a real pity?” Lucifer says.

“You mean apart from you losing?” Sam teases him.

For a moment, Lucifer scowls, but then he starts to grin. “No, that there won’t be any pictures of us making out on that throne printed by tomorrow.”

Oh, that’s where this is going. “You think we should make up for that?” Sam asks innocently.

“Oh yes I do.” With that Lucifer pulls him in for a kiss.

The crowd goes wild.

Tagging: @askatosch@lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell@schizonephilim@coffee-queen448@little-boyking @solo-skywlker @talkmagically@whinywingedwinchester  @spn-you-idjits@samwise-the-true-hero @hooker-legs@consultingmooseintimeandspace@savagearchangelforthewin2-0 @me-fangirl@hardcorefangirlgroupie@thisisnotsteva@wearemykingdom   @cat-n-claw

[foolishheadstronggirl]

Served - Chapter 3

New chapter time! =)

I was going to post on Wednesday, but I just couldn’t bring myself to post anything on episode night and take away from that fun!  And then it was game night (I coach softball) and family days, so today’s the day lol.  But I have a couple of chapters pretty much ready to go I think, so I can send those out more frequently.  Thanks for hanging in there with me, and for all the encouragement!

As always, big thanks to the wonderful @13starbuck42 for the excellent beta work, cleaning up my crazy Southern vernacular!  Also tagging @today-in-fic

Catch up with Chapter 1 and Chapter 2!

A/N: I’m going a little off here and playing Time Lord - this museum didn’t actually exist IRL until 1983, but for the purpose of my story, I’m going to pretend it did!

Chapter 3 – Charmed

After a rather sweet first date, Dana Scully was pleased to say the least.  Whatever had been said about Daryl Worthington before was falling upon deaf ears now, because she truly believed he wouldn’t treat her poorly.  He certainly hadn’t so far; he’d actually been very attentive to her since they had officially started dating!  Carrying her books, walking her to class, driving her home instead of his buddies, spending Friday nights just hanging out.  He had kissed her goodnight at the end of their second date, and Dana was most definitely ready for it.  It had been a really great start, and Dana was happy.

While most of their dates had been casual meals and weekend movies, one date was so special it stood out from all the others.

On Saturday morning at ten o’clock, the Scully’s phone rang and Dana heard her mom answer.  Several minutes later, Maggie called up the stairs, “Dana, honey, can you come down here for a minute?”

Is something wrong? Dana thought as she raced down the stairs.  Is it Ahab?!  She tried desperately to calm down, her rational mind attempting to reassure her that if it was serious, her mother would have been upset; Maggie completely lacked the ability to remain stoic when it came to her husband and children.

Maggie smiled reassuringly.  “I can see you thinking way too hard, sweetheart.  Everything is fine.  That was Daryl.  And before you get jumpy, he called because he wanted to ask me if it was ok before mentioning it to you, in case I said no.   But I think it’s a nice idea, so go get dressed.  You have a date this afternoon.”  

Dana opened her mouth, ready to rapid-fire a barrage of questions, but her mother cut her off.  “No ma’am, I’m not telling you anything!  That’s the other reason he called me instead of you: this date is a surprise!  Go get yourself ready!”  Maggie said with a sly little lilt in her voice and a knowing smile.

Most people liked surprises, but Dana Scully was not terribly fond of them.  They rarely lived up to the hype, and quite often left her feeling at least a little disappointed.  But she was determined to enjoy whatever this turned out to be, because it was a sweet gesture.  Dana couldn’t contain the tiny smile peeking out the corner of her mouth.  She might not be like most girls she knew, but when a guy planned something special, it was hard not to feel pleased.  Dana dressed in a flowy tunic and tights, pulled her hair back (in case they were going to be outside, she reasoned), and headed back downstairs to wait.

When Daryl showed up a half hour later, Dana was glad that she had put on something more dressy than jeans.  Daryl was wearing a crisp button-down shirt and looking much nicer than he did for their typical Saturday night hang-out dates.

“So, you gonna let me in on this big secret?” Dana said teasingly.

Daryl chuckled.  “You’ll see.  I think you’ll love it.”  He turned toward Maggie as he directed Dana out the door.  “Thanks again, Mrs. Scully.  I’ll have her home by 10pm.”

“You kids have fun!”  Maggie’s voice carried through the door as it closed behind Dana.

Dana and Daryl chatted casually as they cruised down 163 to I-15, but when Daryl swung the car onto Highway 91, Dana was befuddled.

“Daryl, where are we going?”  she asked with an edge to her voice.  The excitement of adventure was giving way to anxiety over not having any idea where she was.

“Babe, I really wanna keep it a secret ‘til we get there, okay?  I know it’s killing you right now, but it’ll be worth it!  So let’s talk about something to take you mind off it.  Tell me what you wanna do when you grow up, young lady,” Daryl grinned at her.

Dana rolled her eyes.  “Ugh, Daryl, don’t patronize me!”  She laughed to assure him she wasn’t angry.  “Well, you already know, don’t you?  I’m going into medicine.  I’m not sure what specialty yet, but my father really wants me to practice.  I just haven’t found anything that lights me on fire, you know?  It’s weird, but sometimes I feel like I’m missing…something, but I have no idea what.  Missy keeps telling me that I’ve got plenty of time to figure out the future and that I should quit worrying about it. But it’s really not that far away, and the things I focus on now really do matter!  That’s Melissa, though.  Anyway, you knew all that already; what about you?  What do you want to do after you graduate?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Daryl shrugged, noncommittal.  Dana felt mild shock at the idea of someone a year and a half away from graduating having no concrete plan for the future.  He continued, “I’ll probably go to the community college and do some welding classes, maybe get on an oil rig somewhere.  I don’t figure I’m going to go some big college, though; I’m pretty tired of classes all day long.  I really want to do something with my hands anyway… you know, manly stuff,” he half-smiled, eyes on the road.

Dana felt a slight twinge of something like wistfulness, but shook it off quickly.  Who knows, she thought hopefully, it’s a long time until next May… I might be able to help him think more clearly about his future!  He’s smart enough to go to college; to really make something of himself!  Maybe we could study for the SATs?  Touring some college campuses together would definitely be fun!  

As they rolled down the California highway, Dana and Daryl enjoyed easy conversation, sandwiches and fruit, and early afternoon sunshine.  After a pleasant two-hour drive, they reached their destination: the San Bernardino County Medical Society.  Dana turned and quirked an impertinent eyebrow toward her boyfriend, whose laughing eyes found hers immediately.  Before she could ask him anything, though, Daryl’s attention was drawn to a door beyond her shoulder.

“Good afternoon, sir!  Thank you so much for your response to my letter; I’m very excited to show my girlfriend your facility here,” Daryl spoke gregariously to the well-dressed gentleman who had walked out to meet them.

The man shook Daryl’s hand, then extended his arm to Dana and clasped her hand warmly.  “Certainly!  We are honored to show off our wonderful facility to young people to further interest in our disciplines; that’s precisely why we’re here!”  He replied, then turned his attention to Dana.  “You actually picked a perfect day to come by; we are preparing for a visit from a school group later today, so everything is shiny and ready!  My name is Dr. Hamilton, and I know from my correspondence with your young man that you are Ms. Dana Scully.  It is my absolute pleasure to meet such a lovely young lady with an interest in the field.”

To say Dana’s interest was piqued was an understatement of the grandest proportion.  What is this place? she wondered, incredulous.

“And what field would that be, sir?” Dana asked slyly, slicing a glance at Daryl, who laughed out loud at her overt attempt to discover just what she was about to face.

Dr. Hamilton chuckled and offered his arm to the tiny redhead.  “Tell you what, Ms. Scully; why don’t you let me show you?”  The kind professor ushered Dana into the building, with Daryl following closely behind.

Inside, Dana was greeted by a neat reception desk and a sign reading, “Southern California Medical Museum.”  Bewilderment, then excitement lit her eyes as she realized what this must be, and she spun toward Dr. Hamilton and Daryl to make sure she understood correctly.

“It’s a collection of medical, dental, and pharmacy artifacts, such as surgical tools, antique bottles, unique devices that truly have to be seen to be believed, and a medical library.  We have really interesting items like bleeding bowls, invalid feeders, and all kinds of instruments used during various wars, including the Civil War.  Even if you’re not interested in becoming a medical historian, it’s interesting to see where we’ve come from, don’t you agree?” Dr. Hamilton presented.

Dana turned wide, animated, blue eyes toward Daryl.  “How long can we stay?”

___________

Dr. Hamilton had discussed most of the exhibits with Dana and Daryl, but left, albeit reluctantly, when the school group showed up for their tour.  He told Dana to write down any questions she might have and said he would be happy to answer them for her before she left, or in continued correspondence if need be.  Dana shook Dr. Hamilton’s hand firmly, promising to visit again soon.

Dana wandered the museum to her heart’s content, spending hours looking at anything and everything. She was fascinated.  Daryl walked beside her, staying close most of the time.  But occasionally, he hung back, leaning against a wall to watch Dana as she discovered and learned.  By the time Dana was ready to leave, she had filled two pages of a legal pad with questions about a series of exhibits featuring the progression of surgical tools and procedures, with an interesting sidebar about pathology and battlefield forensics.

The pair left the museum hand in hand, and when they were back in the car, Dana leaned over and kissed Daryl.  “That was wonderful, Daryl, thank you so much.  It was incredibly thoughtful of you,” Dana effused warmly.

“I’m glad you liked it; I wanted to show you I’ve been paying attention,” Daryl replied.  “Now, let’s go grab a bite to eat back at the bay before I have to whisk you home,” he said with a smile.

When Dana walked in the front door that evening, Maggie was reading in the armchair; she had been waiting up to hear all about the surprise date.  She immediately noticed that her youngest daughter looked a dazed, maybe even a bit distracted, as she hung up her jacket and ambled into the living room.

“So, did you have fun?  How was it?”  When Maggie spoke, Dana jumped slightly, as if she hadn’t even noticed her there.

Dana smiled.  “Perfect, Mom,”  she sighed.  “It was perfect.”

[kimjongdaely]

My TA

For the August Prompt Event: “Oops, I accidentally slept with my TA.”

You don’t remember exactly how it happened. You were at a fraternity party, and college fraternity parties meant alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Honestly, you weren’t the type to be partying all night. You weren’t a drinker. You didn’t like tightly packed spaces. But it was your first year in college, you were dragged into this fraternity and now forced to be here for the party.

So you thought, why the hell not? You studied your ass off most of your life, got through school, got into college and you deserve a little break.

You remember booming music, lots of bodies pressed against together. You remember dancing crazily, more so than you’ve ever done before. You remember drinking glass after glass of alcohol. You don’t even know what you were drinking, but it burned and it felt good and you were hyped.

You remember a man coming over to you with a charming smile. You remember a nagging feeling that you’ve met this person before but you also remember you ignored it.

You remember wrapping your arms around his neck and his hands on your hips as you swayed to the music, his breath fanning your cheeks and smelling of sweet alcohol.

You remember—

You don’t remember anything after that. Your mind goes blank.

So it’s obvious you panic when you wake up the next morning naked in a foreign bed. Your head pounds painfully, result of having too many drinks, and you feel so confused.

Where are you?

Something shifts next to you and you almost scream when you realize it’s a person. A man.

He shifts again and a groan escapes his lips. Your heart pounds wildly and you freeze as you watch him, too scared to move and too scared to wake him. His eyes flutter open and meets yours.

That’s when you realize why he looked so familiar.

“Oh my God…Jongdae?” You squeak, your eyes trained on the male next to you. He blinks at you, his face blank, before morphing into absolute horror.

“Wait—You—We—Oh shit.” He sits up, the blankets pooling around his waist and you flush, scooting away and pulling your side of the blankets to cover yourself fully and to cover your eyes. You hear him shifting, getting off the bed and picking up his discarded clothes.

“I’ll...uh...just go to the bathroom. Tell me when you’re done.” He says awkwardly, and you hear him shuffle to the bathroom, the door clicking shut.

You push the covers down and suck in a shaky breath. You hear the shower running in the bathroom. You scan the room, seeing your clothes lying in bizarre places. You quickly tiptoe over to gather your clothes, putting them on.

You wonder if you should wait for Jongdae to come out. You wonder if you should talk to him and figure out what to do. Pretend this never happened? After all, this kind of thing is pretty taboo.

In the end, you decide to just make an escape. You sneak out his dorm room and quickly scurry back to your own.

You take several deep breathes, giving yourself a small pep talk just to open the door to your classroom. Several people walking by look at you oddly. You clutch your books tighter before you just go for it, pulling the door open and entering.

You breathe a sigh of relief to know that he’s not here yet, and you quickly go to your usual seat.

Several minutes later the professor and the TA enters the room. You sink in your seat when you make eye-contact with Jongdae. He looks calm and collected, and his eyes doesn’t linger on you.

He’s perfectly normal throughout class, as if nothing happened that morning. It makes you relieved, but also slightly confused. Are one-night stands normal for him?

The thought of this happening more than once makes you sick.

Once class ends you quickly pack up your things and make your leave. The thought of being in the same room with the TA you slept with (albeit accidentally) makes you extremely uncomfortable.

That’s when Jongdae calls your name and you literally freeze in your spot. You turn towards him shakily, eyes blown wide. He flashes you an easy smile.

“Can you stay for a bit? I have something to talk to you regarding your grades.” He says, and you hope—pray—that the professor stays, but he merely gives both you and Jongdae a wave and leaves first.

The room is deafeningly silent once the door closes behind the professor and you stare at Jongdae in absolute horror. “Look, my grades are completely fine in this class and I’m definitely going to turn in that essay tomorrow so—” You ramble on nervously. You let out a high-pitched squeak when Jongdae traps you against the professor’s desk, his arms around you and his face dangerously close.

“That was rude of you to leave first.” He says, his voice low and deep and a chill goes down your spine.

“I-I’m sorry.” You whimper pathetically. It’s not the first time you thought he’s hot, but up close like this he’s gorgeous.

Kind of an odd thought when you literally slept with him.

“So?” He asks cheekily, a grin breaking out on his face. He leans back slightly, but his arms are still on either side of you. “What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean?” You spit. “Forget it ever happened of course! You’re my TA!”

“Bummer.” He chuckles lightly. “I was thinking along the lines of ‘let’s date.’”

You gape at him, utterly dumbfounded. “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe just a little.” He teases and you shake your head furiously. Seriously, this guy must be crazy. If the two of you date it’ll turn into a major problem. The both of you might get kicked out of school!

“Kim Jongdae, you are my TA.” You hiss. “Nothing happened between us and don’t talk to me again unless it’s school related!”

You stomp out the classroom with a huff.

“Be my girlfriend.” He pouts as he follows you through the hallway.

“No!” You snap, anxiety eating away at you as you keep glancing everywhere, scared people will see you with him. “Stop following me. People will get suspicious!”

“But,” he whines loudly and you shush him up harshly. “We had sex! Isn’t it normal for us to date?”

“Ever heard of one-night stands?” You glare and he gasps dramatically.

“Wow I never thought you would be the type.” He clutches his heart and shakes his head. “I’m disappointed.”

“And you’re not?” You turn towards him skeptically and he looks genuinely surprised for a moment.

“No.” He frowns. “Why would you think that?”

You shrug. “You seem like the playboy type.”

“If I was the type to sleep around I wouldn’t have become a TA. It really limits me, you know.” He grins. “For example, you.”

You roll your eyes at him, attempting to lose him in a crowd of students passing by, but he manages to grab your wrist, pulling you into a storage room.

It’s dark and cramped with only a single dim light at the top, so Jongdae is uncomfortably close to you, his warm breath against your face.

The proximity and the cramped space suddenly reminds you of his skin on yours. His lips against your neck and then kissing everywhere. His hands pulling you towards him.

You flush as you try to shake the memories away. “W-What do you want?” Dammit, your voice shook.

“Be honest. Do you like me?” His tone is suddenly serious, and you can see his eyes boring into you. “Come on, you can’t deny that you’re at least a little attracted to me.”

“Yes, I’m attracted to you.” You snap. “But so what? It’s just like admiration or like a small crush—” You don’t get to finish before he captures your lips in his. You squirm but there’s nowhere for you to escape to. He’s keeping the door closed so you can only stay still.

His lips are hot and inviting. You feel yourself melting against him, craving more. You don’t even realize it when you wrap your arms around his neck, your hands tangled in his hair.

He finally pulls away and you take in a deep breath, feeling the heat on your cheeks. No, you did not just enjoy that kiss. He’s your TA, for crying out loud.

“You like me.” He says smugly, and you can clearly see his smirk. “You totally like me. And not just as a crush.”

“Jongdae—” You start, wanting to argue but he kisses you again, tugging on your hair to kiss you deeper. He’s breaking all your barriers and you can’t help but give in. It’s impossible to resist him. You try to pull away, “Stop. Jongdae, stop.”

“I like you.” He whispers as he presses his forehead against yours, all playfulness gone. “I love you. God, I really love you.”

His confession shocks you. You never expected such words to leave his lips, especially not about you. He’s handsome and popular around the school, while you’re just another face in the crowd. You never thought he would like you.

He purses his lips tightly as he takes a shaky breath. “I liked you a long time ago. You caught my attention at the first day of school and I’ve been falling harder every day since then.” His tongue peeks out to wet his dry lips. “Last night…I was intoxicated, but I was mostly sober. I didn’t sleep with you because I was drunk, I slept with you because I loved you and alcohol made me bolder. I didn’t know what I was doing, but my feelings are true. Shit, I’m sorry if I made you hate me but I don’t regret it and I really love you—”

He’s rambling. You can’t help but find that cute, and his words are so sincere it’s impossible not to believe his feelings. He closes his eyes and hangs his head, almost embarrassed to look at you.

You press your palms against his cheek and force him to look at you.

“We can’t date.”

His face falls.

“I know.” His eyes flutter closed as he takes a shaky breath before they open again. This time, they look much sadder. “At least…please, just let me kiss you again.”

He leans in again. This time it’s slow and sensual. You try to memorize the feel of his lips on yours, how perfect he fits with you. It might be your last kiss with him, after all. He’s your TA. You can’t date. You don’t want to jeopardize anything.

This is for the best.

One month.

One month of ignoring each other’s presence. One month of avoiding eye contact when in class or when you pass by in the hallways. One month of agony.

Why does it hurt? You never really liked him, but since that day in the storage room you can’t stop thinking about him.

You only remember snippets from the fraternity night. Snippets you wish would’ve stayed forgotten. You probably didn’t drink enough to totally black out.

Everything only adds to the pain. He likes you, you like him. Why does he have to be your stupid TA?

Sometimes you get so frustrated you just scream into your pillow. It’s like every force in the world has made it so that you can’t be with Jongdae.

You poke absentmindedly at your food. You don’t really have an appetite.

“Hey,” your friend pokes you. “Hey!”

You finally snap out of your thoughts and groan, “What?”

“Isn’t that Kim Jongdae? Your TA? He’s coming over here.” She whispers to you and immediately to look up to find that Jongdae is indeed making his way over, his eyes zeroed on you.

Your mind goes into a frenzy. Why is he coming over? Did you forget to turn something in? No, you’re pretty sure you’re totally on track in that class. So why? And in the cafeteria where everyone can see?

He smiles once he reaches your table, coming over next to you and to your utter surprise, leans down to plant a kiss on the top of your head before sitting down across from you. “Hey jagiya.”

“You’re dating your TA?”  Your friend literally screeches and you are equally as confused. Jagiya? What the hell is going on?

“I’m not her TA anymore, actually.” He grins widely. “I quit.”

“You what?” It’s your turn to screech as your eyes grow wide.

“I quit.” He repeats. “So now I’m just another student. I can date you now, right?”

“You—” You stumble with words, trying to wrap your head around the fact. A huge grin breaks out on your face. “Oh my God, yes.” You exclaim and literally jump on him to give him a bear hug. 

He laughs before pulling you into a deep kiss. “I love you, jagiya.”

©kimjongdaely

Request and let’s love!

[jay-and-joy-write-naruto]

Heyy can I get headcanon SchoolAU Mada, Hashi, Tobi and Ino( + random characters) where their have crush on their future s/o? With Ino I want a male s/o :] Thanks💯💯

Gaaah, nice!! Thanks for this lovely request!! :D Also, thanks for giving me the opportunity to chose my own characters, I love it XDD

Hope you’ll enjoy this!

Highschool AU: Having a crush

Madara

Madara is the kind of guy who is at the same time super popular, but on the other hand nobody talks to him - and he doesn’t want them to, either. He’s distant, quiet, but super attractive and has got a sharp mind. Basically: one half of the school absolutely loves him and wants to date him, the other half hates him. There are going to be veeeery few people who don’t have such a strong opinion on him. He’s talked about, although he barely ever talks. I think for him it is most likely that he’ll fall for someone who is more or less of indifferent to him. I mean, he is probably a huge dick to those who hate him, and fangirls and fanboys annoy him, but if there is someone… who is interested but doesn’t freak out when they see him, he’d dig that.

Although not necessarily friends, there are some people he hangs out with. And they’ll notice right away, even if he doesn’t say anything about it. He won’t push it, won’t try and come close to you on school grounds - because honestly, you’d be the center of attention pretty quickly and Madara doesn’t want that for you.

Hashirama knows, Izuna knows, Tobirama suspects it.

It’ll surprise him, honestly? He doesn’t understand? He probably pretends for a while that they aren’t even that great, why am I so attracted? But he won’t fight it for long. He… wants this future s/o.

Observes them as much as he can. He won’t go out of his way to watch them in school, but he’ll sometimes walk around town too see if you’re hanging out somewhere, and he’ll remember those places. As much as he wants this crush to be his - once he accepted the fact that yes, he is crushing - he’ll be quite the jealous, curious admirer. He wants to know who you’re hanging out with. He wants to know you.

There will be a point, it might be quite sudden, where he realizes it’s more than a crush, and it’s something he needs to take seriously. And at this point, his withdrawn nature will vanish. He can be quite bold - a little bit too much sometimes perhaps - and he’ll make sure you know one thing: He is interested, and he has good reason to believe that so is his crush. He’s confident, almost cocky when finally approaching his crush. That calms down once he’s actually in the relationship he wants, but courting means showing himself off.

Very protective and jealous, even before you’re together he might treat you a little bit like you already are. He won’t let anyone come close to you, he’ll show up at places you are and basically demand you spend time with him. He’ll be busy protecting you from his fans, but he doesn’t shy away from putting his foot down and telling them to back the fuck off.

And he can be a smug asshole if he notices that you’re getting more and more interested in him.

Hashirama

what an actual angel. this is my first time writing hashirama and I lOVE HIM

Sunshine. Tries to be friends with everyone, probably school council or something! Some people don’t like him out of jealousy, but honestly, he is like the queen bee? So good so pure?

He really does try to be friends with everyone. And not just lets-talk-in-the-hallway-when-no-other-friends-are-around. No, he’ll get to know the people as good as he can, he’ll make time for everyone. Sometimes he slacks off a little and his grades are sometimes not thaaat good but that’s because he’d rather spend the whole night talking on the phone with a friend who’s going through a rough time than studying for a test. But luckily he has Tobirama XDDD

It would be so obvious if he had a crush. He is usually so open with everyone, but as soon as his crush walks by, he goes shy!!! Red face, stutters, the whole package! But the more time he spends with them and gets to know them, the more comfortable he will be around them. He’ll try to show off a little, too, but it’s all playful and sweet. Actually a lot of “dates” before you actually go out.

Wants to get to know everything about you, hence why he always does stuff with you. He will try to be your best friend!

He talks about you sooooo much it’s annoying to everyone else. Like, he just can’t shut up???? You’re so great???? He’s like a fanboy

Will probably try to wait for a good day like Valentine’s Day or maybe even prom to ask you out. He wants it to be special! Honestly, you’ll know it’s coming because as soon as the idea is in his head, he’ll get so giddy about it! Also, he IS very honest with his feelings and even before properly confessing he will tell you how amazing you are and how important you are to him.

Since he makes all potential fanboys or fangirls his friends, there is little jealousy from anyone else - they’re happy for him!! He is always taking care of others, now someone can take care of him!

Totally takes you to prom with a super nice suit, flowers and the sweetest smile! Your parents will love him immediately!

Tobirama

Grades, grades, grades, sarcastic jokes, grades, leave me alone, grades.

Without a doubt one of the students with the best grades. Even if there are some things he doesn’t know, he studies like crazy, so he aces practically every test or exam. Nerd.

He doesn’t like having crushes, honestly. It’s distracting, and he is a guy who has intense emotions, if he has them. Although, it’s gotta be someone special! Not necessarily someone expectionally clever or somethhing but… just someone who interests him. Someone who’s confident and sticks to what they believe might be a good match for him?

He avoids them for a while, so much that it becomes quite obvious to the people close to him aka his brothers. They would notice quite quickly how he grows all quiet and broody when his future s/o walks by

He will be quite cold to you when he first starts having this crush,but the more time he has to get used to it, the more he opens up. He’s still that straight-faced douche but he’ll try and help you out. Study with you, carry some heavy books, things like that. Never over the top because he feels awkward with the possibility of showing his feelings

But his crush is very likely to notice how much effort he puts into caring for them - for other people it might not be a lot, but everyone who knows Tobirama sees that he’s being careful with them

it will take him a while to confess, if he does at all. I think it would be good for his crush to confess tbh because this boy pretends to be SO cool but in reality…. he’s shy af. Don’t tell him I said that.

It’s a possibility that Hashirama sets you two up. Or tries to. Tobirama will hate him.

If he DOES ask you out, expect flowers, a blush on his cheeks and a very secluded place far away from school. If you accept his feelings, I feel he’d give you this really awkward but adorable first kiss. He isn’t touchy-feely by any means, but he does want to show you he’s serious. Because with his unromantic attitude he fears that his crush could doubt his feelings

Ino

Busy little bee. She is one of the popular girls, with a lot of fake friends and very few good friends. She can get along with anyone if she tries, but usually she doesn’t bother trying.

Definitely the one to get a crush on the popular guy, and will sometimes act like they’re already dating in front of her friends. But those aren’t actually true feelings. Yes, she is head over heels, but it’s not like her heart beats only for that person. People might think she only likes that guy because as the popular girl she should like the popular boy, right?

She has quite the mouth on her, so many schoolboys would be intimidated or annoyed by her. Even in this setting I could see her falling for someone like Sai tbh

But Highschool Ino is at heart quite open to people. She understands them pretty well and even though she has become good at manipulating people, she would be quite… shy around a guy she truly cares about. But she wouldn’t want all those fake friends to know. They’re likely to get hyped up over that person, following Ino’s example and having “crushes” on him themselves. And there would be some who would try and take hm away from her. She doesn’t want that, so she keeps those truly pure feelings to herself.

Actually admires intelligence a lot. Likes to be treated as an equal. Can have quite the temper. But… she is actually a very caring admirer, even though it will be outside of school, mostly.

If he really is quite smart, she would definitely try to get him to tutor her. And honestly, though she is constantly swooning on the inside, she does give her best to impress her crush - and her grades show it.

Yes, she would very much like to be asked out instead of doing it herself. But she isn’t a very patient girl. So if the crush just doesn’t say anything about it… she will do the asking out.

Probably in the heat of the moment. Maybe after a studying session?

Will expect want you to ask her to prom. She is one of the people who really want prom to be special, she wants to wear the prettiest dress and to dance all night with the boy she loves! So yeah, do that for her, even if you can’t dance!

Temari

I can see Temari as the sporty, cool girl. She’s got quite  temper, but she makes good friends and basically turns school into a fun time for herself and others! She isn’t the most popular one, but she doesn’t want to be super popular either! She has pretty decent grades, has some good laughs… and gets into some fights. So a pretty awesome girl tbh

It’s not easy to fluster her, or to get her attention if you’re not already one of her friends. But she can be bold with her affections. Although… it takes time for her. She doesn’t want to fall into a relationship unprepared! I can see her having a crush on someone who used to irrritate her. Someone who is bold and confident like her, someone who can keep up with her. But no matter who she falls for, she can be quite the tease.

She isn’t too obvious about it when she likes you, but she doesn’t hide it either. If you find out.. she’ll smirk and hide her emotions behind a confident reply. “Well, duh, I like you! Was about time you noticed!”

She tells her friends about that crush, and they help getting the crush into their group, too. So yeah, you’ll be her friends’ friend too. Which means you cann all hang out together and she can get to know you and swoon over you without anyone becoming suspicious too early on. Probably has some code like “no dating before you haven’t had your crush for three months!”

Actually, she really might do that! And after three months of crushing on you.. she’ll try to get more alone time with you.

Temari has two noisy brothers. Two noisy brothers who want to know what their sister is up to and why she spends so much time with this person.

Honestly it depends on her crush whether she asks them for a date or they ask her. She is bold enough, and honestly, that tiny blush will be so cute! But she’d also like to be asked out!

I didn’t want this post to get too out of hand, so I decided to only add one more character :3 Thanks though!! This was so much fun!!! :D

[junker-town]

7 things to watch in NFL’s Week 4: Tom Brady could set yet another record

Plus, a few heated rivals will go at it, and London-born Jay Ajayi finally gets to play in his hometown.

Tom Brady has already made NFL history this year. Seven months after setting almost every Super Bowl record ever, Brady added to his accolades once September rolled around: He became the first meme of the 2017 season, and he now has the most AFC offensive player of the week honors in league history, something we had no idea was even tracked.

This weekend, Brady could hold another record, this one a bit more celebrated than a weekly award. If the Patriots beat the Panthers on Sunday afternoon, Brady will tie Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most regular season wins by a starting quarterback.

If that sounds like a record Brady already owns, there’s a reason: He is the NFL’s all-time leader in career wins, which includes his (yes, record) five Super Bowl titles and (yes, record) 25 playoff wins.

Right now, Brady is sitting at 185 regular season wins:

Tom Brady is 1 win away from tying Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most regular season QB wins in NFL History NE hosts CAR in Week 4 http://pic.twitter.com/IJWylkwTPn

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) September 27, 2017

The only thing that stopped him from setting the record earlier was, well, his four-game Deflategate suspension last year. But barring anything unexpected, like an injury or a surprise second Deflategate suspension, Brady should hold the record outright at some point in October.

There are, of course, dozens of other records Brady doesn’t have. Favre has completed more passes (and thrown more interceptions) than anyone in NFL history. Manning’s atop the record books in passing yards and passing touchdowns.

But at age 40 and still breaking hearts and slinging the rock like someone born in the 90s, this won’t be the last record Brady sets.

Raiders vs. Broncos will separate a playoff team from a pretender

The AFC West may be the NFL’s toughest division. Sunday’s contest between the Raiders and Broncos will provide some separation between the two teams trying to catch the Chiefs in a race to the playoffs.

Both teams are struggling to manage expectations. Oakland came into 2017 with hope that a healthy Derek Carr could follow up on last season’s 12-3 record as a starter. Denver had more modest expectations — until a 42-17 rout of the Cowboys stirred Super Bowl hype.

Week 3 was a jarring wake-up call for each. The Raiders gained just 128 yards against an average Washington defense to lose their first game of the season. The Broncos unraveled in a 26-16 loss to a Bills team that’s doing a poor job of tanking for a premier draft pick. The end result was two surprising defeats — and Kansas City standing alone atop the division.

That leaves Week 4 as a proving point for each team. Carr will have to respond after a performance that was, statistically, the third-worst of his career. The Broncos’ offense will have to make a similar leap to even approach the level at which its all-star defense is playing. The winner gets a head start on its postseason dreams. The loser falls to .500 with a tough remaining schedule on the horizon.

What’s even better than a three fire-emoji AFC West matchup? How about football psychic Tony Romo calling the game on CBS. Romo-to-Denver was the rumored offseason flirtation that never came to light, as the veteran quarterback chose the broadcast booth instead. On Sunday, we’ll get to hear him analyze the team he maybe-kinda-sorta could have been playing for in 2017.

Will the Titans stake their claim on the AFC South’s top spot?

Tennessee’s revival fell tantalizingly short in 2016, when the Texans used their division record tiebreaker to win. the AFC South crown despite the two teams’ identical 9-7 records. After beating the Seahawks and Jaguars, the Titans are primed to end their eight-year playoff drought — and getting some revenge on Houston would be a massive step toward their goal.

Mike Mularkey’s team has used a run-heavy approach to grind down opponents, utilizing Demarco Murray and Derrick Henry in a thunder-and-lightning platoon that’s averaged 5.3 yards per carry. That’s helped the Titans overcome a slow start from Marcus Mariota, who has struggled to create big plays downfield.

Mariota won’t have much time to set himself in the pocket Sunday. The Texans are coming off a dominant pass-rushing performance against New England where they battered Tom Brady en route to five sacks. Surprisingly, none came from J.J. Watt, who is still searching for his first sack of the season.

If the Titans can hold off the Texans, it won’t just extend their lead atop the division. It will also put its biggest rival in a three-game hole, and deliver the added bonus of disheartening Houston on its home field. A Titans loss all but ensures another year of chaos in the AFC South.

Will Ben Roethlisberger return to form against his archrivals?

Roethlisberger hasn’t been bad, per se — he just hasn’t been Ben. The veteran quarterback has been held to fewer than 300 passing yards in his last nine games, his longest such streak since 2009. As a result, a Steelers team that features stars like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell ranks just 16th in the league in scoring offense.

On Sunday, he’ll try to get back on track against a familiar opponent, but the Ravens won’t make it easy. Roethlisberger is 10-9 against his AFC North rival. His 84.3 quarterback rating against Baltimore is more than 10 points lower than his career rating against the league’s 30 other teams.

He knows he’ll have to be better after last week’s surprising upset loss to the Bears.

"I didn't play well enough to win. We lost the game because of me, because I didn't play well enough," Roethlisberger told reporters after the defeat. "It's not on anyone else. That's how I felt, that's what you've got to do is you've got to own it. And I'll own it.”

Terrell Suggs, who has sacked Roethlisberger 17.5 times in his career, isn’t buying the idea the Pittsburgh quarterback will be anything less than his best on Sunday.

Suggs is on to Ben's tricks. http://pic.twitter.com/FtM3EOtCag

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 28, 2017

“He’s setting us up,” he told reporters Wednesday. “Yeah, you know, he’s playing mind games, the rat bastard. He’s setting us up. Tell Ben I’m on to his tricks. I know what he’s doing. I’m not going to let him fool me with trickery and Jedi mind tricks.”

One team (probably) has to win the Battle of Ohio

Both the Browns and Bengals are winless going into their intrastate rivalry. But when the clock ticks to zero in the Battle of Ohio, either the Bengals or the Browns will have their first win of the season. (Probably, that is. It hasn’t been that long since the Bengals’ last tie, after all.)

The Bengals' offense couldn't score a touchdown in the first two weeks of the season, so they fired their offensive coordinator, Ken Zampese, after Week 2. They jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the second quarter of the Week 3 matchup against the Packers. But Aaron Rodgers and Co. went on an offensive barrage in the second half and eventually won the game in overtime.

The Browns are giving it their all this year, but they have not been able to seal the deal. In a Week 3 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland went down 28-7 in the second quarter. The Browns' offense rallied in the second half but lost 31-28.

The Bengals and the Browns both consistently find ways to lose each week. But unless this game ends in a beautiful tie, one of them has to end their skid. Which squad will finally jump into the win column for the first time this season?

Jay Ajayi returns home to London for his first game in the UK

Jay Ajayi’s road to the NFL has taken some pretty wide turns, starting in England, swooping through Boise, Idaho, and finally coming to rest as a Pro Bowl tailback for the Miami Dolphins. On Sunday, for the first time in his career, he’ll get to play in front of his hometown crowd when the Dolphins take on the Saints at Wembley Stadium.

“It’s exciting, man, getting to go home,” Ajayi told the media on Wednesday. “My whole family is flying out. It’s a special thing. I think it’ll be even more special and I get there and it’s about to kick off and all that. I think that’ll be a great moment for me and my family as well.”

Ajayi was on injured reserve the last time the Dolphins played across the pond, and missed out on his team’s 24-17 loss to the Jets in 2015. He probably wouldn’t have had much of an impact, however — he gained just 187 yards his rookie season before breaking out with three 200-yard games in 2016.

He’ll have to hope for a breakout game in the city he was born in to put a disappointing Week 3 performance in his rearview. After torching the Chargers for 122 yards in his team’s opener, he was limited to just 16 yards on 11 carries last week against the Jets.

Will Cam Newton finally look like himself against the Patriots?

Through three games, the Patriots have yet to hold an opponent to fewer than 300 passing yards. In Week 3, they struggled to contain Deshaun Watson on the ground, as the rookie quarterback extended plays throughout the afternoon and eventually gashed the New England defense for 41 yards.

That’s great news for Cam Newton -- and it could be just the thing to snap the former MVP out of a slump. Newton has struggled for the second straight season, throwing for only 566 yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding four interceptions in his first three games. The Panthers have overcome his performance, and taken advantage of a soft schedule, to roll out to a 2-1 start anyway. But they’ll come crashing down to .500 if their offensive leader can’t step his game up Sunday.

He’ll have the opportunity to bounce back against a Patriots defense that’s declined without Donta Hightower and gotten middling returns from an all-star secondary. Bill Belichick knows just how dangerous Newton can be, and sang his praises in the lead-up to Sunday’s showdown.

“He makes good decisions, he can run, he’s strong, he’s hard to tackle,” Belichick said. He can do a lot of different things, beat you in a lot of different ways. We saw that in the game down there in ’13, so I would put him at the top of the list. Not saying the other guys aren’t a problem, because they are, but he’s public enemy No. 1.”

He shined the last time he faced New England — Newton threw three touchdown passes in 2013 to lead his Panthers to a 24-20 win over the AFC East champs.

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Hackers Stole My Internet site…And i Pulled Off A $30,000 Sting Operation To Get It Again

For numerous days no longer see you later ago, RamshackleGlam.Com — the domain name that I’ve owned and operated on account that March of 2010 — did no longer belong to me, however rather to a person who is going to the aid of the call “bad both” on an auction Website referred to as Flippa, and who turned into trying to promote off the website to the highest bidder.

 My Internet site

Hacker sites

I discovered that my website becomes stolen on a Saturday. 3 days later I had it Back, but handiest after the involvement of 50 or so personnel of six specific companies, middle-of-the-night time meetings with attorneys, FBI intervention, and what amounted to a sting operation that in all likelihood must have starred Sandra Bullock rather than…nicely…me.

Of route I’ve heard of identification robbery, and of cyber hacking, but honestly, my mindset closer to this stuff become very tons “it is able to in no way appear to me.” And even if it did…I did not exactly recognize why it was this type of massive deal. Could not you simply give an explanation for to humans what had taken place, prove who you had been, and type all of it out? We live in one of these exceptionally documented worlds, it appeared absolutely not possible to me that someone ought to actually get away with pretending to be a person else with any actual outcomes past a few cellphone calls and some infection.

I found out approximately the hacking from my father. His friend Anthony (who runs a web development and consulting corporation called ThoughtBox) have been browsing around on Flippa and had — in an impossibly lucky twist of fate — noticed that my site was up for public sale, with what regarded to be a fantastically suspicious list. Abruptly, I remembered the email I had gotten the day before — an electronic mail that I had ignored as junk mail — from someone “interested in the purchase” of my “blog.” I remembered the notification from YouTube that someone had accessed my account from a distinct region — a notification I had unnoticed, assuming that I had logged in on a mobile tool or that my husband had by chance logged into my account in preference to his personal. SaaS Vs Custom Internet site: You Get What You Pay For

If you are a modestly funded new commercial enterprise startup or a smaller commercial enterprise with no longer tons marketing enjoy in-house, you are most susceptible to falling into the trap of thinking that a glittery new Internet site gets your enterprise branded, observed, and humming. It is tempting to consider that you can simply sit down Returned and permit the Website to do its magic, and then presto, the cell phone rings! however, then it would not.

Recollect this: a shiny new Internet site without different advertising efforts isn’t tons one-of-a-kind than a shiny new commercial enterprise card that you by no means provide to anybody. It is right… You keep that container of 500 cards on the shelf just if you need them. And whilst you do need one you can’t discover them! That is in which most organizations fail to obtain access Website or e-commerce strategy. They fail to understand that a glittery new Internet site is only the first step of many that result in online success.

permit’s dive underneath the floor and have a look at the variations that are not so apparent however most probably will have a giant effect on the success of your Internet site, and yes, your businesses go-to-marketplace approach.

To begin with, I totally get the entire of “loose” and the attraction of paying “simplest” $$/mo for a Website that gets your enterprise up and going for walks on line. Those varieties of SaaS Website agencies have their vicinity in the world. sure, there are times when I propose Those offerings to clients.

I noticed lately that an average advertising and marketing message of most SaaS Website builders focus across the entrepreneur, characterized as the “get ‘r performed” kinds that pull up their sleeves and chart the waters of website design with a natural passion for his or her commercial enterprise. Reputedly, all these decided marketers need are a few beneficial on line equipment which can be apparently smarter than they are, and the Internet is theirs for the taking. No doubt, It’s an attractive message to all the ones Type-A’s, however lamentably, It is not that simple or easy to achieve success on-line for maximum businesses small or massive.

Internet explorer

As an advertising and marketing director for sixteen years within the excessive-tech enterprise, wherein I helped expand new B2B offerings designed and implemented as software program-as-a-service, I’ve experienced on each side of the fence. That said, this text is not a rant, however, an evidence of what separates a good virtual agency from an online service issuer. It is Those variations which can make a distinction between your enterprise, and once you already know what they may be, it’ll provide your fledgling business Internet site a combating chance for success.

Right here’s my message-in-the-bottle to those that were marooned on a deserted Website island, not able to make their SaaS (or template) Internet site successful with the aid of any measure, much less flip it into a thriving vicinity to generate sales leads as maximum commercial enterprise owners want.

The first lesson commercial enterprise proprietors need to learn about the Internet is that just having a “cool” website design (however you need to outline that) isn’t always really going to get you where you want to head. Thankfully, a fumbled Internet site approach will fee you lots less than this giant mistake: Consider constructing a lovely save in which no one is going because there are not any roads.

• A SaaS Internet site is a proprietary Website (usually) Caught on some other host without an easy way to switch. Expert websites use WordPress or different open-supply structures that give you limitless web hosting alternatives.

• Except you’re paying Big SaaS Bucks for digital skills (real human beings no longer just algorithms), you will most effective get a mild quantity of technical support and little advertising insight.

So through slicing via the advertising hype, some critical questions any enterprise proprietor needs to ask can be boiled down to… How is a great deal my time worth? And… How much expertise do I have within the predominant Website competencies a good way to be sufficient to set my business aside to reach brand targets?

Good enough, perhaps you are a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur often portrayed inside the SaaS Internet site promotions, and you virtually do have more than one skills a good way to create new leads or income on your business. We want you simplest the great. however, before you journey to deeper waters and make difficult-to-smash commitments of a SaaS/template provider, you would possibly Bear in mind a few extra information of Custom websites vs SaaS that you could now not have an idea of but.

A virtual corporation that develops websites offers lots more than a faceless DIY Website builder service, that’s the essence of what SaaS online builders are selling. For instance, a digital company presents professional branding, advertising, Seo, and programming know-how with on-going consulting a good way to craft the valuable message of your Website into a completely unique, differentiated consumer experience. digital businesses are commonly discovered for your location, they understand your neighborhood tradition, and that they have an intrinsic interest in your community because it’s where they stay and work, too. Backside line: Your achievement is their success.

Site definition

David Little is the proprietor of Little & Pals LLC that makes a speciality of advertising techniques that generate buzz, sales leads, and new business, respectively. David evolved a sturdy historical past in emerging digital technologies as a product engineer all through the arrival of virtual video before becoming concerned with marketing in the excessive-tech enterprise for the ultimate 18 years. Today, he enjoys making use of his advertising insight to overcome commercial enterprise stagnation, create boom answers, and enhance consumer stories. David is also a companion at Fox Web Creations, where you may view a couple of examples of ways Little and his team can help you.