#also the professor did give us an assignment on Tuesday that is due next Tuesday

[wellmanneredknight]

3D Design- Stick cculpture project.

Title: "Monolith of the less fortunate."

I first approached this first project with pure confusion. I wasn't sure on what to do. My professor showed us some in class assignments one that was finished another that wasn't due to Covid. Anyway, she told the class that we had to create a stick sculpture. Her advice was simple let the flow come to you.

On the first day, I didn't work on the project as I was busy finishing the soap carving assignment. But the next class I did, I grabbed a recyclable bag I had stored in my dishwasher, went to the park and collected several twigs and when I arrived I got to work. I first worked on the second floor since, my glue gun needed an outlet to operate. And so I began my arduous task and it started horrible. Sticks would come off the minute I would put one in place. I eventually I had to destroy it and start over. This time I was in my classroom where I found an outlet that was on a table. That solved one problem the next was designing.

It started slowly, with some commentary from my professor that I should glue two large sticks I had together which would act as a strong base. And I did. Then using another large but not as dense stick. I glued it against one of the denser sticks and this stick would serve as the holding that would connect all other sticks together.

My initial intention in creating this project was to make it look like a complex with numerous sticks separated from each other. My dedication for this project was a lot better than the soap carving project. Everyday I would come to class and work, I wouldn't talk to anyone or comment. Of course, standing up strains the legs. So I took a few short breaks and continued working. Their was also the times where I would have to restock on sticks. Usually, I would go to a tree that was behind a performance theater. where they're were numerous sticks to choose from. When I got back to the class the plug was back on.

One Friday I went to class. Normally, I have classes on both Tuesday and Thursday but I had just a few small adjustments to add and I was done with the project. That day no one came. I was alone. I put some music and did my work as I usually did. Once, I was done I took one last picture and left.

Yesterday, I visited to the gallery and found my stick sculpture. "The Monolith of the less fortunate." By the way not my idea for a title. Still, I was happy something I did with my own two hands was recognized. While it may not be in a Dali. it is something worth making.

Artist Statement: Some advice I would give for someone doing this assignment or any other assignment. It would be to stay calm and try if it doesn't work ask for help. Asking for help does not make you useless it makes you wiser. Besides, don't be scared to let your voice be heard. This project take patience to complete and without any protest you can make something marvelous.

[newtness532]

this year none of our teachers wished us a happy new year. so you can assign us homework in the middle of our break but you cant include a happy new year in the announcement?

[ddaengtae]

see you around || jjk

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

genre: college, strangers (idiots) to lovers, fitness instructor! jungkook, fluff, smut

word count: 13.9k

summary: you know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar and obsess over with your friends, but know there’s about a one percent chance they’ll ever talk to you or even know who you are?  that’s precisely what jeon jungkook was to you; a piece of delicious eye candy that you could daydream about all you wanted, but had to accept that it was too unrealistic to ever happen.  or so you thought.  after an embarrassing accident at the gym that makes your worlds collide, maybe you had been wrong about your chances all along.

a/n: when i came up with this idea in my head, i guessed it would be around 5k words.  guess my hands slipped.  this is only my second bts fic, but after getting good feedback for my first one, i decided to give it another try and this is what happened.  i tried to edit closely, but there may be a few types so i’m sorry!  thanks for reading & pls lmk what you think. :)

Another week, another million reasons to be stressed.  It really seemed like that was the never-ending pattern of the college lifestyle.  The weekend was never long enough to truly allow yourself to unwind.  Sure, those two days were great, but how was two days enough to destress from the agony of multiple all-nighters to keep up with the shitload of work that all of your professors always deemed it acceptable to assign?  There was no way for you to prove it, but you believed in a conspiracy theory that all of the professors would meet up at the beginning of each semester and choose to make all of their huge assignments due on the same days just to fuck all of their students over.  There could be no other explanation for the hell that was midterms season.

While during your first two years of college you would barely be hanging on by a thread during the busiest weeks of the semester, you were now a junior and had at last adopted a regime that helped you burn off some steam when the tension became all too much.  Somewhere along the way, you started to realize that inhaling mozzarella sticks and Red Bull at two in the morning the night before an exam did very little to make you feel better and that it would probably be a better idea to take up a healthy lifestyle and better time management skills sooner rather than later.  In the process of getting your life together, one Tuesday evening in the spring of your sophomore year, one of your roommates had convinced you to accompany her to a group fitness class at the gym on campus.  To your surprise, you fell in love with it and the feeling of adrenaline and accomplishment that came along with making it through the hour.  From that day on, you vowed to yourself to make it to the gym most days of the week.

There was something about group fitness classes that made you feel much more comfortable than going to the gym and working out on your own.  Perhaps most glaringly, the classes were dominated with like-minded girls who just wanted some peace of mind for an hour.  Most of the instructors were girls too, except for a few guys who seemed to understand why a lot of women chose to avoid the rest of the gym.  It was quite unsettling to work out by yourself on the main floor and be surrounded by conceited guys who always seemed to either be undressing you with their eyes or judging you because, god forbid, you couldn’t squat three-hundred pounds like they could.  The whole place just always reeked of toxic masculinity, or so that was what you had thought until you found out about the group fitness classes that the facility also held.  They seemed to be a sort of heavenly escape from the rest of the place that resembled a fraternity initiation ceremony.

That was precisely where you found yourself this Monday evening.  In dire need of a break from studying, you found yourself sitting on the floor of the group classroom surrounded by your equipment and waiting for your favorite instructor to arrive.  The concept of a high-intensity circuit training class had initially terrified you when you first decided to try it out last semester, but it had quickly become your favorite class and one that you attended every week without fail.  It was incredibly satisfying to track your progress and watch your body evolve as you adapted to be able to lift heavier weights and make it through the cardio outbreaks without feeling like you were going to drop dead every second.

Taking a long sip of your water, your eyes remained down on your phone as you heard the door of the room open and close again.  As it was still ten minutes before class, you didn’t think much of it and assumed it was probably just more people piling into the room and rushing to get their equipment ready.

“Uh, hi guys!  The usual instructor for the class is unfortunately sick so I’m filling in for her tonight,” an unfamiliar-- but yet also eerily recognizable-- male voice echoed through the room.  “I was just recently certified so this is actually the first class I’ll be teaching here.  I promise I’ll try to live up to her hype.”  The unknown source let out an awkward laugh, which was met with relative silence from the rest of the room.

The moment your eyes moved up to fall upon the new instructor, your breath hitched in your throat, causing the water you had been attempting to drink to flow down the wrong pipe.  This wasn’t just any unmemorable college boy filling in to instruct the class.  There at the front of the room stood none other than Jeon Jungkook.  The breathtaking Jeon Jungkook was going to be leading the class and you were supposed to be able perform-- let alone breathe-- properly?  Oh no.

You and Jungkook were not friends by any means.  Hell, it was highly likely that the boy didn’t even know who you were.  You know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar, yet know there’s about a one percent chance that they will ever know who you are or ever speak to you?  The ones you tell all of your friends about and you go out of your way to use your FBI-level stalking skills to find their social media in hopes of finding out more about them so you can daydream about your nonexistent, fantasy future together?  The ones you’re always hoping you’ll cross paths with while walking to class because even a glance of them will make your day a little more exciting and give you something to talk about with your friends?  That was what Jungkook was to you.

Jungkook had become known as ‘hot coffee shop boy’ amongst your friend group after you had noticed him studying in the same coffee shop as you one day in the fall of your sophomore year.  As you always chose to study at the least favorite and therefore least populated coffee shop on campus, it was shocking the first time someone as beautiful as Jungkook sat down at one of the tables across from yours and settled in to do his homework as well.  His presence offered you a paradox; while seeing him looking like a model wearing his oversized clothes and sighing at his laptop screen was certainly a distraction at times, it also served as a form of motivation to force you to focus because you didn’t want him thinking you were slacking off.  He seemed to enjoy the quiet ambience of the specific shop because after that first day, he began to frequent it almost as often as you, always sitting at the same table by the third window.  On some occasions, one of his friends who always seemed to be changing hair colors would accompany him.  After some research completed by your enamored friend Jennie who sometimes accompanied you, she discovered his name was Park Jimin.  He quickly became known as ‘iced chai’ after that seemed to be his regular coffee order.

It was an exciting day amongst your friends on the first day of classes in the spring of your sophomore year when Jungkook happened to enroll in the same Earth Science lecture as you to satisfy the science gen-ed requirement at your university.  Rocks and rivers weren’t exactly interesting, but the back of Jungkook’s head from the row in front of you certainly was.  The group chat really blew up the day he spun around in his chair and asked you if he could borrow a pen.  They were right that it would’ve been easier for him to just ask one of the people next to him, but you were smart enough to not think into it too much.  Maybe you just seemed like the type of person to carry around an abundance of stationery materials (you weren’t, and you ended up not taking any notes that day after giving him the only pen you had).

So here you were, practically choking on your water as Jungkook started to set up his own equipment at the front of the room.  How dare he invade your safe space?  You suddenly felt as if you barely remembered how to do a jumping jack, let alone have the facilities to pick up a weight.  

After organizing his weights at the front of the room, Jungkook’s eyes began to scan the participants in the room, likely counting how many people had shown up.  The moment his eyes met yours, your whole body froze in place.  Oddly enough, his seemed to do the same.  His doe eyes became wide and his mouth fell into an ‘o’ as he looked at you for a few seconds too long, and you swore there was an expression of recognition on his face.  Before you could convince yourself that anything of the sort had truly happened, Jungkook was blinking rapidly and shaking his head at himself before his eyes darted away to scan and count the rest of the room.

“Alright everyone, we’re going to get started in a minute here,” Jungkook announced a minute later, looking down at his phone as he connected his music and began blasting it through the speakers.  “Just remember to follow my lead and please don’t hesitate to wave me over if you have any questions or are struggling with form.  I’ll try to keep an eye on all of you and come over to help you out anyway.”  His eyes crinkled into crescent moons as he offered the class a big bunny smile.  Oh god, you were going to pass out.  “We’re going to be starting with a pretty intense cardio circuit here to bring those heart rates right up and set the tone for the rest of class.”  Great.  Your heart rate was already accelerating through the roof just at the sight of him.  “Try to keep up, but if you need to grab some water or take a break at any point, please don’t hesitate to do so.  We’re going to get started in 3… 2… 1… Go!”

To your surprise, you were able to make it through the first couple of circuits without too much trouble.  You made it your mission to zone in on each of the exercises you were doing, and that every time you were forced to face forward you would fixate your gaze on the back of the girl in front of you.  It was shockingly easy to forget about the beautiful man in front of the room while you were gasping for breath after numerous rounds of burpees and mountain climbers.  The goal was to look calm and fit without calling attention to yourself.  Outside of your heavy breathing that was likely being drowned out by Jungkook’s loud music, you could say you were succeeding.

About twenty minutes into the class, Jungkook signaled a transition into an upper body circuit.  While you were delighted to get a break from cardio and to allow your heart rate to calm down for a bit, following the exercises now required you to face forward and watch for his cues.  This would be fine as long as you didn’t focus on his gorgeous face that was currently glistening with sweat in the most pleasing way possible, right?

“Alright, we’re going to start off here with some overhead shoulder presses for the first minute.  I’d recommend something on the lighter side, but make sure you’re challenging yourself.”  With a slight nod of his head, Jungkook picked up his own weights and counted down the class to begin the first exercise of the circuit.

Shoulder presses weren’t bad.  You could do this.  Inhaling a deep breath, you made an attempt to wipe your sweaty palms off on your leggings before picking up your dumbbells and getting in position to begin your shoulder presses.  After the first few reps, you quickly fell into a rhythm that was both comfortable yet challenging, feeling that delicious burn in your shoulder muscles.  At the halfway mark through the minute, your eyes had remained glued to the same girl in front of you.  You finally felt a sense of peace.  One look at Jungkook couldn’t hurt, right?

Wrong.  

Against your better judgement, you decided to shift your eyes to the front of the room and take a good luck at a combination of both Jungkook’s back and the reflection of the front of his body through the mirror before him.  

The string of events that occurred immediately after that moment was a blur.  As Jungkook pressed his set of dumbbells above his head, his baggy shirt slid up his body, exposing his sweaty, toned abs that looked as though they were sculpted by the gods themselves.  What was likely an audible gasp escaped from your lips as your eyes remained frozen on the sight in front of you.  It was unclear if it was your mesmerized state, your sweaty hands, or a combination of both, but seconds later, the dumbbell in your right hand slipped out of your grasp and quickly went crashing downward.

“Oh my... Fuck!” 

There was a moment of dissociation before you realized that the loud cry had, in fact, come out of your mouth, and that the dumbbell that had glided out of your hand had, in fact, come crashing down onto the big toe of your right foot.  Your head was spinning as you began to process the throbbing feeling radiating throughout your entire foot, as well as the weight of what had just occurred.  Within moments, the eyes of all of the participants were on you, as well as the eyes of the one person whose attention you really did not want in such an embarrassing moment.  No, no, no.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Jungkook’s panicked voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke into his headset and he quickly dropped his weights on the ground.  “Um, okay, the rest of you can keep going!  I’m going to get someone else to come in within a few minutes so I can help her.”  Within moments, he was shoving his way through the room until he was right in front of you and pulling the microphone away from his mouth so the rest of the class wouldn’t hear your interaction.  “Are you alright?  Oh my god, you shouldn’t be putting pressure on it.  Let’s get you out of here and get some ice.”

You genuinely thought you were going to pass out.  It had little to do with your toe, and a whole lot to do with Jungkook’s sudden closeness.  His concerned face was just inches away from yours as his eyes scanned yours for any sort of explanation for what had just unfolded.  His presence was intoxicating.  You could smell the combination of his cologne and sweat, and you had yet to tear the image of his gleaming six-pack out of your mind.  Oh my god.  That had really just happened.  The first impression you made on Jungkook, AKA hot coffee shop boy, was you making an absolute fool out of yourself and possibly breaking your toe while doing a simple exercise.  You were never going to live this one down.  You were going to throw up.

When you hadn’t responded to Jungkook within a few seconds, he took it upon himself to drape an arm over your shoulders and pull your body against his side.  “Here, lean against me so you’re not putting weight on it.  I’m going to bring you to the first-aid room and get you some ice…  At the very least.”

It was quite possible that your brain had chosen it was better to black out the memory as Jungkook began to pull you out of the room, yelling to one of the workers at the front desk to quickly find someone else to take over the class.  Your legs felt like jelly as they moved beside his, only functioning out of muscle memory rather than true volition.  Here you were, body pressed against that of the guy you had admired from afar for over a year.  In any other circumstance, this would have been like a dream come true.  Instead, you wished the ground would swallow you up and put you out of your misery.

It wasn’t long until you were pulled into what was likely the first-aid room and instructed to sit on top of the counter by a very stressed Jungkook.  The more you thought about it, the more horrible you felt.  Not only was this the Jeon Jungkook of your fantasies, but it was also the Jeon Jungkook who had informed the class before it had started that this was the first class he had ever led.  You had quite literally ruined his first class, and had set an appalling example of what he would expect going forward.  If your toe hadn’t been throbbing, you would have seriously considered running right out the door.

“Okay, if you don’t mind, just take off your shoe and sock while I try to find an ice pack,” Jungkook commanded as he nervously raked a hand through his already-messy hair, frantically rifling through the cabinets.  Your eyes watched his back as you followed his instructions, guilt filling your entire body.  He seemed stressed.  Nervous, even.  It made sense, if you thought about it.  Your foolish accident had just become his responsibility, and he was a new employee.  You would be nervous too.

“Found one,” he breathed out, hitting it against the counter a couple of times to activate the coldness.  As he turned around to face you, his eyes wandered down to your exposed toe.  “Oh no, that looks pretty swollen.  Does it hurt really badly?  Are you okay?”

“It doesn’t feel great, but I’m okay.”  No, no you were not okay, but you needed this to be over.  Meeting his eyes, you realized those were the first words you had spoken to him since this whole debacle had unraveled.  He probably thought you were crazy.  Taking the ice pack from him, you chewed on your lower lip.  “I’m… I’m really sorry.”

Jungkook furrowed his brow as he looked up from your foot to meet your gaze, tilting his head to the side.  “Huh?  You have no reason to be sorry.  Accidents happen.  I get it… I’m pretty clumsy too sometimes and have hurt myself much worse than this for much stupider reasons.  Really, don’t worry.”  He was rambling, and if you hadn’t been so distraught, you would have perhaps realized just how nervous he really seemed.  Offering you a shy smile, his eyes averted away from yours as his cheeks flushed a shade of bright red.  Redder than they should have been from just working out.

Looking down at your foot, you placed the ice pack on top of it and shook your head.  It was difficult to form words with him so close, but you knew you had to if you wanted to redeem yourself at all.  You already had created a mental plan to avoid him at all costs and hide from him whenever that wasn’t possible, but this was the least you could do.  “No, I’m really sorry.  You said at the beginning that this was your first class and I… I kind of ruined it for you.  I’m sure you were really excited about it.”

Jungkook remained occupied with your toe as he moved the ice pack to the side, feeling around the bones and moving it gently in various directions to see how bad the pain was.  “I don’t think it’s broken.  Definitely pretty swollen, but not broken.  However, I’m clearly not a doctor so you might want to get a second opinion.”  Standing up straight, he offered you a warm smile.  “But seriously, don’t worry about it.  There’s always going to be more classes for me to teach and I wasn’t just going to let you suffer there.  I’m happy to help.”

God, not only was he gorgeous, but he was also this friendly?  It was possible that he was just being nice to keep you calm and keep his job, but regardless, he just seemed so perfect.  So perfect that you feared being so close to him, for your endless flaws felt as if though they were being magnified.  Clearing your throat, you forced yourself to return the smile.  “Thanks.  I really appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.”  You needed to escape.  You needed to get out of there so you could cry to your friends about just how mortified you were and how you now really never stood a chance with hot coffee shop boy.  “I should probably get going.  Don’t want to hold you up any longer.”

“You’re not holding me up at all, I promise,” Jungkook responded a bit too quickly, but yet again, you were too focused on your own embarrassment to notice.  Crossing his arms over his chest, the tall man tilted his head to the side.  “How are you going to get back to your dorm?  Do you have a ride?  You definitely shouldn’t be walking on your toe.”

Fuck.  He had a good point.  Regardless of the pain flowing through your foot, you were willing to walk on it just to escape this situation.  However, you knew you couldn’t tell him that.  “I, uh, one of my roommates has a car and I was going to call her to pick me up.”

“I have my car here.  I could drive you.”

Wait, what?  Had he really just offered you a ride?  If you had met his gaze, you would’ve seen that he looked just as surprised that such an offer had slipped out of his lips so casually.  Instead, you stared down at your lap as you attempted to process his suggestion.  If the situation had been even slightly less humiliating, a car ride with the Jeon Jungkook would have sounded like one of your fantasies come to life.  However, at the current moment all you could imagine was the intense awkward silence that would likely fill the car as you contemplated how to successfully fling yourself out of the window.  That would not do right now.  You were not in the right headspace to muster up any coherent form of small talk.  The offer was likely just extended out of pity anyway.  He was a good guy and deemed that that would be the righteous thing to do.  No need to burden him and actually make him follow through with it.

“No, no.  I wouldn’t make you do that.  I’m going to text my friend right now,” you assured him, weakly smiling as you moved the ice pack to the side to retrieve your removed sock and shoe.  “You have a workout to finish anyway.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Jungkook insisted, watching intently as you carefully put your sneaker back on and tied it up at lightning speed.  When he realized you had no plans of speaking again, a defeated sigh pressed through his lips.  Why was he so set on helping you?  “Okay, okay.  As long as your friend is coming soon, that’ll work.  I can walk you to the lobby though.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to let you just run out of the room alone, you forced yourself to nod your head in agreement.  You were being dramatic.  You could handle one more minute in his presence before you imploded.  “Sure, thanks.”  The response came off a bit snappier than you had intended, but did that really matter at this point?  You weren’t going to be able to show your face around him ever again to begin with.

Once you pushed yourself off of the counter, Jungkook encouraged you to lean most of your weight against him as he led you out the door.  As you were already on the first floor of the facility, the walk to the lobby luckily didn’t take too long.  Upon arrival, you plopped down in one of the plush chairs by the door, fishing your phone out of the pocket of your hoodie and pretending to draft a text.  In all honesty, the moment Jungkook disappeared, you intended to wobble your way back to your dorm by twisting your foot to the side to avoid putting pressure on the big toe.  You were well aware that you were going to look ridiculous, but nothing could be more mortifying than what you had already experienced.

Jungkook stood over your chair, rubbing the back of his neck as he rocked from side to side on his feet.  Something about him just exuded nervous energy, and it was making you feel even more on edge.  “You’re sure your friend is able to come soon, right?”

Nodding your head in response, you lifted your hand into a thumbs-up that you regretted the second your hand formed it.  God, you might as well have hit him with some finger guns.  Could you be any cringier?  “Yes, don’t worry.  She’s on her way.  Really, thank you though.”

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his athletic shorts, Jungkook’s eyes scanned your face one last time.  It was almost as if he was searching for any hint of a lie, but if he had been, he wasn’t able to find it.  “Okay, okay… If you insist.  I’m sorry this had to happen to you.  I hope it heals quickly.”  His lips stretched into that signature bunny smile you had witnessed so many times while seeing him with his friends in public, but it almost looked a little more… Bashful.  “I’ll see you around, okay?”

No, no he would not.  You weren’t even sure that he had recognized you from being at the same coffee shop so often, but regardless, you had already planned to avoid the location at all costs.  You couldn’t stand the thought of him possibly approaching you out of pity to check and see if you were okay.

Instead of expressing any of these concerns, you twisted your lips into a small smile and nodded your head at him.  “Mhmm.  See you around.”

After lifting his hand in a wave, Jungkook smiled at you once more before turning on his heel and slowly starting to make his way back toward the main area of the gym.  You watched as he began to disappear, as you planned on rushing out the door the moment he was out of sight.  Right before he rounded the corner, his body twisted to face you once more.  If you hadn’t been so fixated on your own embarrassment, maybe you would’ve noticed the way his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red before he nervously laughed to himself and rounded the corner quickly so he was out of your line of vision.

The moment he disappeared, you gathered your belongings and rose to your feet a bit too quickly, immediately noticing how you forgot to avoid putting pressure on your toe.  Fighting through the pain and fighting to maintain any sense of pride you had left, you began your walk-- or rather, wobble-- home.

God, you needed some wine.

The rest of the week passed by without much trouble, but maybe that was due to your advanced avoiding skills.  Due to having three midterms throughout the week, most of your time was spent holed up alone studying.  While you usually would do most of your studying in your favorite quiet coffee shop, you made it a point to steer clear of it at all costs.  You were well aware that Jungkook also spent a lot of his time in that specific location, and you weren’t ready to show your face to him if it could be prevented.  He had been right; your toe wasn’t broken, but instead just badly bruised.  While your toe may have been fine, your ego certainly wasn’t.  After stumbling home after the incident on that Monday evening, your roommates had a laughing fest at your expense over a few too many bottles of wine.  They attempted to convince you that what had happened really wasn’t that embarrassing, that Jungkook seemed to be really sweet about it, and that such a chaotic event would be ‘the most epic story to tell people about the start of your relationship at your wedding.’  Although you indulged in their pipe dreams for the time being, you were going to stick to your plan: avoid Jungkook at all times possible until enough time had passed that he likely forgot about your humiliating catastrophe.

After a week of cramming for exams and perfecting your evading abilities, you were beyond ready to take a night to unwind and destress. That was precisely why you found yourself out at one of popular college bars by your campus with your friend Jennie on Friday night.  The pair of you weren’t exactly the type to go out and let loose very often as you tried your best to prioritize your studies, but once you allowed yourself to get dressed up and had a few vodka-crans running through your veins, you understood why a lot of college students went out so often and remembered why you used to so much during your freshman year.  The sensation of being tipsy and laughing with your friends was truly therapeutic and a much-needed antidote to counteract the toxic environment of never-ending stress.

Having been at the bar for over an hour, it started to get quite crowded.  As you twirled your straw around in your half-empty drink, you watched as Jennie began to look around at all of the new faces in the bar before freezing and pursing her lips. “Okay, not to make you freak out or anything… But hot coffee shop boy AKA sexy fitness instructor boy AKA Jeon Jungkook is here,” she whisper-yelled at you as she leaned toward your ear.  “He seems drunk… Like really drunk.”

Blinking rapidly as you tried to process this new information, you pulled back from her and began to shake your head.  This certainly was not what you needed to hear right now, but the alcohol in your system calmed you down at least a little bit so you didn’t immediately book it out of the place.  “So what you’re telling me is that I need to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the night?”  Despite your fears, you really wanted to get a glance of him.  Although the bar was quite large, you told yourself it would be too risky.  If experience had taught you anything, it was that even one glance at him could be fatal for you.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Jennie scoffed, shoving your shoulder before taking a long sip of her drink.  Her gaze remained set on the area of the crowded bar that you refused to look toward.  “He’s…” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened.  “Okay, I might be a little drunk, but I’m almost positive he keeps looking over here.”

“Maybe because you’re staring at him and drawing attention to us,” you scolded, narrowing your eyes at her.  “Please stop before I jump over the actual bar and hide behind it.”

Jennie laughed at your dramatic suggestion, eyeing your nervous persona up and down.  “Relax, relax.”  She looked over your shoulder yet again.  “Oh, wait.  He’s on the move now so I don’t think you have to worry.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, you took an extra long sip of your drink.  “Thank god.  I don’t need to relive my earlier trauma on a night out.”

“Wait, fuck.  I think--”

“Ah, is that toe girl?!”

Your whole body froze as you heard the close proximity of a very familiar male voice behind you.  You wanted to believe that your initial guess of what was occurring wasn’t true, but the mixture of shock and amusement on Jennie’s face as she looked over your shoulder at the sight behind you confirmed that your worst nightmare was, in fact, true.

Sucking in a deep breath and downing the rest of your drink before placing it down on the bar, you gave yourself a mental pep talk before slowly turning on your heel to face the source of the voice.  If there hadn’t been a decent amount of alcohol in your system, you were quite certain that you would’ve passed out right then and there.

There before you stood Jungkook with a cheeky grin spread across his lips and arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at, unfortunately, you.  He was sporting a pair of tight, ripped black jeans and a matching black t-shirt.  The clasping of a beer bottle in one hand and the way his arms were folded made his bicep muscles protrude in a manner that had you ready to start drooling.  Jennie had been right; his face was glowing a bright shade of red, likely due to a great deal of alcohol consumption.

Clearing your throat, you forced your lips into a shy smile as you folded your hands together in front of you.  You wished you hadn’t finished your drink so you had something more natural to do with your hands.  It felt as if though your heart was going to explode through your chest, but he was here now and there was no escaping.  “God, is that really what I’m known as now?”

“I mean, kind of.”  Jungkook let out a loud laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so.  How was he so fucking gorgeous?  And why the fuck was this beautiful man going out of his way to talk to you on a night out?  “But I won’t call you that anymore.  It’s Y/N, right?”

Your brow furrowed as your mouth opened in surprise.  Wait, what?  Jungkook knew your name?  It felt like your mind was moving at a million miles a minute trying to process just how that could be possible.

A hand reached out from behind you to squeeze your shoulder, Jennie stepping forward and revealing herself after you had forgotten about her existence for a minute.  Her lips were twisted upward into a mischievous smile.  “I see a couple of my friends from one of my classes.  Gonna go say hi to them.  I’ll meet up with you later.”  After not-so-discreetly wiggling her eyebrows at you, she mouthed what appeared to be “good luck” before sauntering off.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now.”  Jungkook chuckled quietly as he watched Jennie walk away before setting his eyes back on you and smiling warmly.  You were convinced that his smile was going to be the death of you.  “Hopefully you won’t try to run off as quickly as you did the other day.”

“I did not run off!” you scoffed immediately, crossing your own arms over your chest as you feigned offense.  Once again, thank god for alcohol, for you were well aware that this conversation would not be happening without it.  He was right, but you hadn’t realized he had noticed your urgency in escaping that day.  ‘I… I wasn’t even aware that you knew my name.”

“Suuure you didn’t.  You couldn’t get away from me fast enough,” Jungkook teased, leaning forward a bit to nudge his shoulder against yours.  The area of skin he touched immediately felt like it was on fire, as did your cheeks.  “But of course I know your name.  We had Earth Science together last year and you’re always studying at the same coffee shop by North campus that I do.  You’re kind of hard to miss.”

You?  Hard to miss?  Not to mention, the Earth Science class was a lecture with over one hundred students in it, and the professor hardly ever took any form of attendance.  Sure you could say the same thing about you knowing his name, but that was only because you had gone out of your way to find out who he was after becoming captivated by him upon seeing him at the coffee shop.  This didn’t make any sense.  Were you dreaming?  Hallucinating?

Raising an eyebrow at him, you decided to keep your response simple.  “You’ve never talked to me, though…”

“I know, I know.”  Jungkook unfolded his arms and clasped both of his hands around his beer bottle, staring down at his fingers as he tapped them against the glass.  Maybe it was the dim lighting in the bar, but you could’ve sworn his cheeks darkened as he avoided your eyes.  The aroma of cologne and beer coming off of him at the close proximity had you feeling light-headed.  “I’ve always wanted to.  Planned to talk to you at the coffee shop this week, but you were nowhere to be seen.  You just… I… You’re really pretty and you’re always smiling and I kind of freaked out when I saw you taking that class on Monday.  I’m pretty shy and not exactly the most confident person so I have no idea why I’m saying this right now… Definitely all of the beer I’ve drank… But I probably shouldn’t be overstepping or saying any of this anyway since I’m starting to realize that you’ve probably been avoiding me or think I’m weird or something.  Sorry for offering to drive you home the other day… I realized after that that probably seemed creepy coming from a total stranger.”  He looked to the side as he began to nervously tap his foot against the floor.  Something that sounded like a nervous laugh pressed through his lips.  “Fuck.  This is why I barely ever drink.”

Your body remained frozen as you stared at the side of his face, fully aware of the fact that your jaw had dropped and you were visibly gaping at him.  No.  There was absolutely no way that those words came out of his mouth and he meant them.  It had to be the excessive amount of alcohol in his system, right?  Or maybe he was just sweet talking you to try to get laid.  That had to be it, right?  You weren’t sure if you were going to throw up, pass out, or do both at the same time.  The vodka taking over your own system was preventing you from being able to form any sort of coherent thought.  Still, he deserved a response.

“What?  I don’t think you’re weird at all,” you reassured, chewing on your lower lip as you tried to read the expression on his face.  God, you really could have come up with something better than that.

Jungkook’s doe eyes at last met yours again, a disbelieving look in his eyes.  “Then why’d you lie and say your friend was picking you up and end up walking home on a possibly broken toe instead of letting me drive you home?”

Oh my god, he had seen you do that?  You were certain he was completely out of sight when you had dragged yourself out of the building.  To be fair, you hadn’t taken into account the fact that the place was covered with windows that would have given anyone access to see outside the front of the building, but why would he have been looking anyway?  Just as you thought that day couldn’t have gotten any more embarrassing, it did.  

The mix of alcohol in your system and your heart pounding in your chest was quickly becoming too much to handle and making you lose control over your faculties.  Maybe that was why you blurted out, “I-I don't know… You make me nervous.”

“You make me nervous too!”

Before you could even begin to comprehend the weight of his words, another male figure popped up beside Jungkook and draped an arm over his shoulders.  His bright pink hair made him easily identifiable.  It was iced chai, also known as Park Jimin.  If Jennie had noticed he was there, she certainly would have been freaking out.

“There you are!  I’ve been looking for you.  You just disappeared on me,” Jimin informed Jungkook, his gaze quickly moving to set on your distraught form.  If you hadn’t been so out of sorts, perhaps you would’ve noticed the look of recognition in his eyes as they set on you.  “I’m sorry, is he bothering you?  He never usually goes out with us and gets drunk like this, so I’m sorry if he’s a little chaotic.”

Shaking your head at Jimin, you offered him a comforting smiling.  You could feel Jungkook’s concerned eyes burning a hole into the side of your face.  “No, no.  He’s not bothering me at all, don’t worry.”

“Oh, thank god.  I was worried he might do something stupid.”  Jimin let out a sigh of relief, looking between the pair of you.  Could that ‘something stupid’ be what had just occurred?  At last, he gave Jungkook a firm pat on the shoulder.  “We have to get going right now.  Hoseok thought it’d be a good idea to down five tequila shots in a row after all of the beer we drank back at the dorm.  He has his head down on the bar with his eyes closed and I want to get him out of here before he starts puking everywhere.  Afraid you might end up in the same state if you keep drinking at this pace too, dude.”

“I’m fiiine,” Jungkook snapped back at him, rolling his eyes as he shrugged Jimin’s arm off of his shoulder.  He peered at you for a quick second before his eyes averted downward, the nerves that had been there before refusing to go away.  After taking a few moments to ponder what his friend had just told him, he let out a defeated sigh.  “Fine.  We can go.  Only because it’s Hoseok though.”

“I’ve already requested the Uber so we should head outside now,” Jimin urged, glancing over toward where Hoseok likely was sitting at the bar.

“Um.” Jungkook at last forced himself to look at you, his lips curving upward into the slightest smile.  It seemed forced though, and you knew it was because you didn’t have the opportunity to elaborate on and finish the conversation you were having before Jimin butted in.  You also felt as if though you were about to self-implode and needed some time to comprehend what had just unfolded.  “Sorry.  I have to get going, I guess.  I’ll see you around though, okay?”

Nodding your head in agreement, you allowed yourself to return a reassuring smile.  “Okay.  I’ll see you around.”  This time, it was possible that you meant it.

After he gave you one last anxious look, he turned on his heel and followed Jimin’s lead, disappearing out of your sight.

Where the fuck was Jennie?

After scoping out Jennie in the corner of the bar, you had convinced her that it was absolutely necessary to immediately take an Uber home to debrief on what had occurred.  Within half an hour, you had managed to arrive back safely to your dorm and had replaced your uncomfortable clothes with pajamas and your vodka crans with a bottle of wine.  Although your mind felt quite foggy from trying to piece together everything that Jungkook had said, you were able to provide Jennie with at least the majority of the details.

“Wait, hold on.  Let me think about this.”  Jennie threw herself back against your bed, staring up at the ceiling after her head hit the pillows.  “So basically what you’re telling me is that you are to Jungkook what Jungkook is to you?  Like he pretty much admitted to admiring you from afar and being too afraid to talk to you all of this time?” she questioned, eyes wide in amazement.  “God damn, why can’t shit like this happen to me?  This is like some fairytale shit.  You’re so fucking lucky.”

Taking a big swig directly out of the bottle of cheap rosé, you let out an exasperated sigh.  “I don’t know.  It seems too good to be true.  Like, what if he was just really drunk and didn’t know what he was saying?  You even said he seemed really drunk.  Or like, what if he was just being nice because he was trying to get laid?”

“Y/N, don’t be ridiculous.  I know this all seems so unreal because we never thought something like this was possible, but the things he said to you were way too specific to just be a fluke.” Jennie sat up straight again and pulled the bottle of wine out of your hands, taking a sip herself.  “Besides, I was watching you guys from across the bar.  He looked absolutely smitten with you and ridiculously nervous, drunk or not.”

“Fuck, I’m so much better at just daydreaming about guys than actually knowing how to talk to them and attempting to form actual relationships,” you groaned out, closing your eyes and resting your head on Jennie’s shoulder.  “What am I supposed to do?”

“I hate to break it to you since I know this is very out of character for you, but you’re going to have to make the next move.  He laid his cards on the table, and now the ball is in your court.”  Jennie allowed her head to fall on top of yours and passed the bottle of wine back to you.  “Based on what you explained to me, you didn’t really provide him with a whole lot of reassurance that the feeling was mutual and he’s probably feeling super embarrassed right now… Like, definitely more embarrassed than you felt after the whole gym incident.  You have to let him know that you’re interested in him too.”

Letting out a huff, you tapped your fingers against the glass of the bottle of wine.  Jennie did have a valid point, as much as you hated to admit it.  Regardless of Jungkook’s intentions and just how drunk he may have been, he had seemed incredibly flustered after rambling on and exposing what he had to you.  As much as there was still a part of you that was convinced that he hadn’t meant what he said, there was a bigger part of you that was excited about what this could possibly lead to if you followed through with it.  You would have to throw away your nerves and muster up the tiny bit of confidence you had if this was ever going to happen.

“Okay, so what’s the game plan?”

The plan you and Jennie had concocted ended up being a lot more difficult to follow through with than you had initially imagined.  The original scheme involved you approaching him at the coffee shop you both always studied at, but despite the numerous occasions you dropped by and spent hours studying there over the next week, he was nowhere to be found.  It was almost as if he had adopted the same avoiding technique you had the week prior after being embarrassed at what unfolded at the gym.  You weren’t exactly surprised, but it was making this whole thing a lot more complicated for you.  Furthermore, the longer it dragged out, the more anxious you got that maybe this was all a bad idea and that you had misunderstood what he said at the bar.

After a week with no luck, Jennie had convinced you that maybe it would be a better idea to try to track him down at the gym.  Despite going almost every day and keeping your eyes peeled for him, he was nowhere to be seen.  It wasn’t until a few days later that it dawned on you that the group fitness class schedule was posted online, and that it was possible that he now had some classes that were officially assigned to him.  Sure enough, upon checking the recreation website, you quickly discovered that he did have a couple classes that he was set to teach.  While this information certainly was helpful, it was quite unfortunate that every class he led happened to be at the ass-crack of dawn.  God, were you really interested in the type of guy who gets up extra early to work out?  Apparently so.

So that was precisely how you found yourself rolling up to the gym at 6:45am on a Tuesday morning, eyes heavy with exhaustion as you searched for the room the class was being held in.  Your heart was pounding and your palm was sweaty against your water bottle, but you were too dedicated to turn around at this point.  You had spent over a week trying to track him down, and you at last had.

When you entered the room, Jungkook had not arrived yet.  There were already quite a few girls in the room setting up their equipment, so you followed suit.  As most participants were often too intimidated to take the spots up front and center in front of where the instructor stood, you took it upon yourself to do the honors.  Of course you knew this would make Jungkook want to run the other way, but the thrill of making him as nervous as you were that last time was too exciting to turn down.

The door of the room opened and closed once more, and you didn’t even have to look up to feel his presence.  Here we go.  “Hi, everyone!  Welcome to class.  My name is Jungkook and I’ll be your instructor toda--” His voice cut off at the end of his statement, and when you finally allowed your eyes to set on him, he was already looking at you with wide eyes and tinted cheeks.  Within a millisecond, his eyes found the ground and he apprehensively took his spot directly in front of you.  The poor guy didn’t have a choice.  “U-Um, if you guys have any questions before we get started, please don’t hesitate to wave me over!”  You had a very strong feeling he was praying you wouldn’t wave him over.

The plan you had created before arriving was to wait until after class was over to ask him if he could talk for a few minutes.  You knew it wouldn’t be fair to put him on the spot before class, and you didn’t exactly feel comfortable confessing your feelings for him in front of twenty other girls who were probably drooling over him as well either.  

You managed to follow through with the plan, not communicating with Jungkook at all before and throughout the class except for a few soft smiles and some attempted eye contact.  The eye contact thing didn’t go over so well though, for whenever you did manage to get Jungkook to lock eyes with you, he’d immediately turn bright red and force himself to look everywhere but at you.  His nervous stammering through the microphone when giving instructions was almost too cute to handle.

When the class finally did come to an end and you were a sweaty mess, you sucked in a deep breath as you watched the rest of the participants start to put away their equipment.  Setting your eyes on Jungkook, you smiled slightly.  “Hey, can we talk?”

Jungkook looked up from his phone, eyes wide and clearly panicked.  He scanned your face carefully, almost as if he was trying to guess what your intentions were.  At last, he swallowed the lump in his throat and shoved his phone into his pocket.  “U-Um, sure, I guess.  Let’s just wait until everyone clears out.”

Nodding in agreement, you sat back and watched as the rest of the participants put their materials back in the closet and slowly began to file out of the room.  With each person that left, you could sense Jungkook getting more and more anxious.  He seemed to be mindlessly checking things around the room, his eyes darting back and forth between the door and any part of you that wasn’t your eyes.  By the time the last girl exited, your heart was pounding in your chest as well.

Clearing your throat, you watched as Jungkook walked to the front of the room to shut the door, seeming to take as long as humanly possible to pull it closed.  Just as you were about to speak the pitch you had practiced in your head and to Jennie numerous times over the past week, he opened his mouth.

“Look, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here and I know that I might have been a bit overbearing when I was drunk last week, but if you’re just here to make me nervous and make fun of me and my awkward self for having a crush on you, you can just leave.”  He at last whipped around to face you, a sad expression taking over his features as he began to pace back and forth, running a hand through his sweaty hair.  He resembled something like a wounded puppy, and the longer you stared at him, the more you noticed just how exhausted and agitated he looked.

That definitely was not what you had expected and you felt awful that he had spent over a week thinking that you were probably teasing him with your friends for what he had said to you at the bar.  Furrowing your brow, you pushed yourself up to your feet and crossed your arms over your chest.  The planned speech was not going to do in these circumstances.  You would have to cut straight to point.

“I dropped that weight on my foot because I’ve been ridiculously attracted to you for over a year and got embarrassingly flustered at the sight of your shirt riding up during class.”

Jungkook stopped dead in his tracks, clasping both of his hands behind his head as he at last allowed himself to look at you.  His eyes were wide in shock, his head tilted just slightly to the left.  “Wait, what?”

“I didn’t want you to drive me home because I was already so embarrassed and was so nervous that I would’ve only embarrassed myself more trying to talk to you without making a complete fool out of myself.”

As you spoke again, Jungkook hesitantly took a couple of steps in your direction.  It seemed as if though his expression was slowly softening, and what almost appeared to be a small smile was fighting to form on the corners of his lips.  “I asked you to borrow a pen that one time in Earth Science with plans to work up the nerve to talk to you at the end of class when I had to give it back, but instead I just kept it and ran out of the room because I got too nervous.”

Unable to hide your own smile now, you allowed yourself to take a step toward him.  The closer you got to each other, the more the tension in the room built.  “I lied and said that I had an extra pen that day, but really I gave you my only one and just didn’t take notes that whole class.”

At last, that familiar bunny smile stretched across Jungkook’s whole face, his chest bubbling in laughter as he threw his head back.  “I once tried to ‘accidentally’ drop a book near you at the coffee shop in hopes that you’d pick it up and talk to me, but instead I just dropped it and tripped over it.”  Another step forward.

Giggling quietly, you chewed on your lower lip as you advanced forward.  “My friends and I have collectively referred to you by the code name ‘hot coffee shop boy’ ever since the first time I saw you there.  Also, ‘sexy gym instructor boy’ since last week.”

Jungkook’s eyes were boring into yours at this point, his body inching forward just slightly as his toes finally bumped against yours.  The tension-- not just from what was happening at the moment, but also from a year of pining after each other-- was so close to bubbling over.  “My friends and I know you as ‘hot coffee shop girl.’  Also, ‘toe girl’ since last week.”  The warm smile on his lips had twisted into a sort of mischievous smirk.

Leaning your head forward the slightest bit, your breath hitched in your throat as you could feel the warmth of his breath against your lips.  “If I haven’t made it clear yet, I’m extremely into you.”

Jungkook’s eyes-- which had darkened quite a bit over the last minute-- flickered down to your lips, his own head leaning forward an inch.  With this movement, the tip of his nose brushed against yours.  “And if I haven’t made it obvious yet, I’m extremely into you too.”

Before you could utter another word, Jungkook closed the minimal space remaining between the two of you by crashing his plump lips into yours.  His hands moved up to cup your cheeks, one moving along the back of your head to tangle into your hair.  Your own hands gripped to the front of his shirt as you stumbled back a bit due to the impact, your back bumping against the mirror in the front of the room.  The tension that had previously been building had popped the moment his lips met yours, but as his fingers tugged on your hair and his tongue found its way between your lips, you felt it resurfacing, this time between your legs.  You felt a bit flustered getting turned on this quickly by him, but when you put it into perspective, you had been waiting for this moment to unravel for over a year.  As your hands slid up the front of his shirt to rest on his defined core, you were certain you could feel his length getting hard against your thigh.

Pulling away after a minute, Jungkook rested his forehead against yours and stared deeply into your eyes as he breathed heavily.  There was a playful smirk on his lips as he dropped the hand from your face and rested it on your hip.  It was nice to see that he had finally let his guard down.  “So, I have to ask.  Are you more for sex first or a fancy date first?  I’m happily offering both, but we’re both kind of coming off a bit impatient here.”

Biting your tongue to hold in your laughter, you couldn’t ignore the way that the heat in the pit of your stomach was quickly sinking down lower between your legs.  “You know, if you hadn’t been so difficult to track down this past week, I may have taken you up on that fancy date first.”  You ghosted your fingers over his stomach, eliciting a surprised jolt out of him.  “But after you made me wait so long, I think you just might have to fuck me first.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened in surprise at your lewd words before he smirked and pressed his body against yours a bit harder, leaning forward to kiss a trail of wet kisses down your jawline.  “I’m happy to be at your service, but we’re kind of out in the open here.  I could drive us back to my room, that is if you’ll actually get in the car with me this time.”

Rolling your eyes at his teasing comment, you shoved at his chest.  Regardless, you couldn’t deny the fact that you were feeling incredibly impatient and weren’t sure you would be able to handle the wait while he transported you across campus.  Chewing on your lower lip, your eyes scanned the room.  “Equipment closet.  It’s spacious enough, it locks, and there’s no windows.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jungkook muttered under his breath, eyes searching your face for any hint of a lie.  When he didn’t find any, he smirked and pulled back, grabbing your hand in his.  “You know, I had planned on doing a lot of things today, but fucking in an equipment closet at the ripe hour of eight in the morning certainly wasn’t one of them.”

“Get used to it, hot coffee shop boy.”  Smirking to yourself, you allowed him to drag you towards the closet, pressing your back against the door after he closed and locked it behind you.  “Are you complaining?”

Rapidly shaking his head, Jungkook leaned forward and peppered kisses along your neck and collarbone, only pulling back to tug your shirt and sports bra over your head.  “No, no.  Just concerned you’re going to be the death of me before I even get started with you.”  Taking a step back, he pulled his own shirt over his head before allowing his eyes to rake up and down your body.  A combination of lust and admiration filled his eyes as he stepped toward you again.  “God, you really are so beautiful.”

Despite the fact that you had both been completely open with each other and the current situation being far from romantic, you felt your cheeks heating up at his compliment.  Shaking your head, you poked him in the stomach.  “Speak for yourself.  That’s the reason why I almost broke my toe.”

Throwing back his head in laughter, Jungkook stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting your body up and placing you down on top of a few stacked crates full of equipment.  “Mmm, I can make it up to you right now.”

Leaning forward, you pressed a few kisses along the corners of his lips and his jaw.  “And how are you going to do that?”

“Shhh, patience.”  Jungkook grinned as he bent down, slowly kissing a trail down your neck and collarbones.  When he reached your breasts, he slowed down his pace, carefully taking one of your nipples between his lips and softly sucking at the skin.  Once he established a rhythm that he was satisfied with, he lifted a hand and latched it around your other breast, kneading the skin between his fingers.

Letting out a soft moan, you threw your head back in pleasure and closed your eyes.  Your hands fastened around his neck, gently tugging at the hair on the back of his head.  The longer his lips and hands worked at your breasts, the more the heat between your legs throbbed.  “How am I supposed to be patient when I’ve waited so long for this?”

Jungkook’s eyes flickered up to meet yours, his lips making a popping noise as he removed them from your breast.  “You make a fair point.”  Kissing down your stomach, he urged you to lift your hips as he tugged your leggings and panties down your legs and allowed them to fall into a pile on the floor.  Kneeling down on the floor, his lips trailed their way up the inside of your thigh.  “Mmm, so wet already and I’ve barely even touched you.”

Whimpering softly at the feeling of his lips so close to where you needed them, you bucked your hips upward in an attempt to feel any sort of friction.  “P-Please.”

Chuckling quietly, Jungkook’s dark eyes remained on yours as he ghosted his lips over your dripping pussy.  The shy, insecure boy that he claimed to be earlier was nowhere to be found.  Instead, he was now indulging in the power he held over you.  “Who made you this wet?  Tell me.”

“You, J-Jungkook.  You did,” you whined out, attempting to push down on the back of his head.

Jungkook flashed you a satisfied smirk, nodding his head.  “That’s all I needed to hear, babe.”  Without another word, he gripped his hands around your thighs roughly and lifted your legs to drape over his shoulders.  Leaning forward, he closed the remaining space and attached his lips to your pussy.  Rather than making you wait any longer to have the tension relieved, he immediately went to work on your throbbing clit, gently sucking at the sensitive bundle of nerves.  Once he was pleased by the moans leaving your lips and the clenching of your thighs, he pulled his lips off and replaced it with his tongue.  Expertly circling his tongue on your clit, he reached one hand down and, without warning, began to pump one of his fingers in and out of your pussy.

“F-Fuck, oh my god, Jungkook,” you moaned out loudly, pulling harshly at his hair with one hand and reaching the other up to pinch at one of your nipples.  “R-Right there.”

“Mmm, need to get you stretched out and ready for my cock,” he murmured against your heat, quickly inserting another finger and curving them at the perfect angle to hit your g-spot with every pulse.  After circling your clit with his tongue a few more times, he encircled the bud with his lips yet again, this time humming against it to add an extra feeling of friction.

The sensation of his tongue and fingers working on your pussy and the sight of his glistening face was quickly becoming too much to handle.  With every movement, the bundle of nerves in your core was getting closer and closer to snapping and sending you into that blissful state you so longed for.  Biting down on your lower lip roughly, you closed your eyes tightly.  “I-I’m close.”

“Open your eyes.  I want you looking at me while you cum all over my tongue,” he rasped out after pulling back slightly, only leaning back down once you obeyed his command.  After a moment, he wet two of his fingers on his tongue before quickly beginning to circle them on your clit, moving his tongue in and out of your cunt at the same speed.

“F-Fuck, Jungkook!” you yelled out, forcing your eyes to remain open and fixed on his as you were quickly sent over the edge and into a state of ecstasy.  Your walls spasmed around his tongue as your vision became blurry and filled with stars.  The feeling was only prolonged as Jungkook kept moving his tongue until you couldn’t take it anymore and reached forward to push his head back slightly, left completely breathless as you stared at him.

Getting off his knees and onto his feet, Jungkook stared down at you in awe, leaning forward to press his forehead against yours.  The sight of your release on his lips that he refused to wipe off had your core already begging for more.  “God, that was so fucking hot.  You’re so fucking beautiful.”  Letting out a deep breath, he pecked your lips a couple times.

“How are you so fucking good at that?” you muttered against his lips, blindly reaching forward in search of the tie on his sweatpants.  Once you found it, you tugged roughly at it, sitting up straighter to urge both his pants and boxers down his thighs.

Chuckling to himself, Jungkook assisted you and pulled the articles of clothing down the length of his legs, stepping out of them once they reached the floor.  “I’d like to think that I’m a gentleman in the streets and a freak in the sheets…” His eyes wandered around the room for a moment.  “Or in the gym equipment room, apparently.”  

Rolling your eyes and giggling at his joke, you pulled him forward again to peck his lips.  “You know, if you moved to the side and let me get up, I’d happily return the favor.”  Your eyes wandered down the front of his body until they set on his hardened cock resting against his stomach, the sight of it causing you to clench your thighs together.

Shaking his head in response, Jungkook flashed you a shy smile.  God, how could he be so sexual yet so cute at the same time?  “As enticing as that sounds and as much as I would never turn that down on any other occasion, I’m afraid I’m not going to last if I don’t fuck you right now.”  Stepping forward, he looked down before cursing under his breath.  “Fuck, I don’t have a condom on me.  We don’t have fuck to if you’re not comfortable.”

“Wow, you didn’t bring a condom with you to your 7am fitness class?  How irresponsible of you,” you joked, shoving his shoulder before pulling him closer to you.  “I’m on the pill and I’m clean, so as long as you’re clean it’s fine with me.”

“You know, you’re going to regret teasing me,” he warned, laughing softly as he nudged his nose against yours.  “But yes, I’m clean too.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you raised a mocking eyebrow at him.  “Oh yeah?  And why am I going to regret it?”

Without another word, Jungkook reached down and grabbed his cock with one of his hands.  Rather than pushing it right inside of you, he instead slowly started to rub its angry red tip up and down your folds.  His eyes remained on yours, a teasing smirk tugging at the edges of his lips.

Biting on your tongue to suppress your whimpers, your eyes wandered down to the area between your thighs.  “W-What are you doing?”

Pressing his lips against your jawline, he let out an amused chuckle.  “Nothing until you tell me what you need.  Use your words, sweetheart.”

Reaching around him, you dug your nails into the skin on his upper back.  It wasn’t in your character to beg during sex, but the sight of the tip of his cock glistening in your juices from your first orgasm was enough to make you give in.  “P-Please fuck me, Jungkook.”  You forced yourself to lock eyes with him, hoping that the desperation you were exuding would be enough to make him cave.

Grinning in amusement against the skin of your neck, he nodded his head.  “Good girl.”  Sliding his cock down your folds one last time, he slowly slid it inside of your entrance once he reached it, a loud groan escaping his lips as he pushed all the way inside of you.  “F-Fuck, you’re so tight.”

Moaning out in pleasure at the feeling of fullness, you whimpered as you watched the sight of his cock disappearing inside of you.  The spectacle alone was enough to make the heat in your core reemerge, and your body was pleading for him to do more.  “M-Move.  F-Faster, please.”

Grabbing one of your legs, he extended it upward and propped it over his shoulder.  After getting a good grip on it, he quickly began to thrust in and out of you.  “Yeah?  You like that, babe?” he breathed out, his eyes screwing shut in pleasure before he buried his face into your neck again.

Dragging your nails down his sweaty back, you were sure you were going to leave some marks behind.  It only took a few moments for the feeling of overstimulation to wash away, and a new, deeper pleasure to replace it.  With your leg hanging over his shoulder, his cock managed to hit you at just the right angle with every thrust.  Using your grip on his back to press your body closer to his, you took the opportunity to wrap your free leg tightly around his waist.  The new position made it so his cock brushed against your clit every time he pulled it out of you, the feeling nearly having your eyes rolling to the back of your head.  “O-Oh my god, right there.”

Jungkook’s half-lidded eyes remained fixed on yours as he lifted one hand off of your thigh, pressing his index and middle finger together and moving them toward your mouth.  “Open.”  Once you complied, he inserted his fingers into your mouth.  His teeth dug into his lower lip as he watched the way you closed your lips, swirling your tongue around his digits a couple of times before sliding your lips back up and releasing them with a loud ‘pop.’  There was a mesmerized look in Jungkook’s eyes as his thrusts slowed for a moment.  “J-Jesus fuck, that was hot.”

A cocky smirk initially tried to spread across your lips, but it was washed away the moment he began to circle his lubricated fingers over your clit, his cock pounding in and out of your pussy at a pace that had you ready to unravel at any second.  “I-I’m close.”

Letting out what sounded like a combination of a groan and a whimper, Jungkook leaned forward and brushed his lips over yours.  “Cum all over my cock for me, babe.”

“J-Jungkook, f-fuck!” The sound of his raspy command and the feeling of his cock inside of you was all it took to push you over the edge again.  Your second orgasm hit you even harder than the first, a sensation of rapturous bliss overtaking your senses as your toes curled and your thighs were left convulsing around his body.  While your mind went foggy for a few seconds, the strain that was left in the back of your throat suggested that you had yelled out in pleasure quite loudly.  The euphoria was dragged out even longer as Jungkook had yet to reach his own high, his thrusts becoming sloppier as you stared up at him with hazy vision, gasping for breath.

“I-I’m close too,” Jungkook whimpered out, eyes screwing shut as your walls continued to twitch around his cock in the aftershock of your orgasm.  “W-Where do you want me to cum, babe?”

Coming back to your senses, you blinked a few times until your vision returned back to normal.  Finally processing his request, you used quite a bit of your strength to push him back a bit, ignoring the confused look on his face.  Using the space in front of you, you pushed yourself off of the elevated surface before getting down on your knees.  “My mouth.”  Reaching forward, you grasped his shaft in one hand, pumping his length a few times before leaning down and capturing his tip between your lips.  After circling your tongue around it a few times, you hollowed out your cheeks and began to bob your head up and down.

“O-Oh my… F-Fuck, Y/N.” Jungkook quickly adapted to the new sensation, his hands reaching around your head to tangle into your hair and urge your head down his cock further.  He locked eyes with you from above, his legs trembling around your head.  Taking notice of just how close he was, you forced your mouth down further to accommodate the rest of his cock in your mouth, swallowing around his length at the bottom.  The motion and the feeling of the tip of his length hitting the back of your throat was enough to make you gag, and that was all it took to push Jungkook to his climax.

Jungkook was a groaning mess above you as he released his load down your throat, unconsciously thrusting into your mouth further a couple of times to ride out of high.  After a few more spurts of his hot cum filled your mouth, you worked your mouth back up his length.  Once your lips popped off of the tip of his cock, you pulled back and swallowed thickly, the salty taste of his release lingering in your throat.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Jungkook reached down and grabbed your hand, pulling you up onto your feet in front of him.  Despite the crude nature of what had just occurred, the smile stretched across his lips seemed so… Innocent.  “Well… That happened.”  He reached up and pushed the sweaty hair that was sticking to his forehead out of his face.

Laughing softly at his words, you bit your lip and crossed your arms over your chest.  “I mean, that’s certainly one way to work out at the gym.”

Jungkook’s whole body shook as he erupted into laughter, leaning down and beginning to grab all of your discarded clothing articles off of the ground.  He sorted through them and handed you back yours, beginning to redress himself after.  Once he was dressed, he grabbed a towel out of one of the crates and made sure the area was clean.  “Don’t forget we worked out before too.  That’s two whole workouts.  We’re going to need to fuel up with some electrolytes or coffee or something.”

Forcing your damp leggings back onto your sweaty body wasn’t exactly the easiest or most enjoyable thing to do, but you managed.  Once your shirt was back on, you looked back over at him and feigned an exaggerated amount of excitement.  “Oh my god, am I going to be able to get coffee with hot coffee shop boy?”

“Only if hot coffee shop girl would be so willing to accompany him,” Jungkook jived, nudging your shoulder with his before unlocking and pulling open the door of the closet.  To your relief, the room was still empty and there seemed to be no one lurking outside of it.  Grabbing his backpack at the front of the room, he slung it over his shoulder.  “It might be a good idea for us to shower first, though.  I have a strong suspicion that we probably smell prettttty bad.”

Grabbing your own bag and water bottle, you laughed in amusement as you followed him out the door of the classroom and into the main area of the gym.  “I have a feeling you’re right.  Should we shower and plan to meet up after?”

Walking through the lobby, Jungkook held open the main door for you before following you outside.  It was much brighter out now than when you had arrived at the facility almost two hours prior.  Time really does fly by when you’re having fun.  “I feel like we can’t really be trusted with the whole ‘see you around’ thing and going our separate ways just yet after the shit we both pulled avoiding each other the past couple weeks.  Plus, I’m not quite done with you just yet.”

Snickering at the reminder of your past dramatic behavior, you nodded your head in agreement.  “So what did you have in mind?”

Stopping in his tracks, Jungkook turned to face you.  “So first, I was thinking you could come back to my place and we could both shower there.  I could provide you with some clothes for the time being, but if you need to change later, I can bring you back to your place.”  The corners of his lips began to twitch upward.  “However, that would require you getting into my car with me, and history suggests that doing so ‘makes you nervous,’ or something like that.”

“Hmm, I’m pretty sure I remember something about me making you nervous too.  I think some weird drunk guy told me that.”  Scoffing at his flirtatious teasing, you playfully shoved his chest.  “Anything else planned?”

“Hey, that ‘weird drunk guy’ is the reason we’re here today,” he scoffed, grabbing one of your hands off of his chest and lacing his fingers with yours.  “Then I was thinking we could go to our favorite coffee shop.  But… And I know this is kind of a wild idea... I’m thinking we sit at the same table for the first time instead of dropping pens and books to try to get each other’s attention from across the room.”

Squeezing his hand, you began to follow him as he led the way to what you assumed was going to be his car.  “A bold suggestion, but I’m into it.  Might have you drop a book at my feet and I’ll stare at you across the room longingly just for old time’s sake.”  When you reached a shiny black SUV, Jungkook unlocked it and walked around the passenger side, opening the door for you.  “So I’m guessing these plans involve us skipping classes today?”

“Well, obviously.”  Jungkook flashed you a bright grin as you climbed into the car, shutting the door gently once you were in the seat.  He ran around the front of it and quickly hopped into the driver’s seat, leaning over to look at you once inside.  “And then once the evening comes, as I suggested earlier, I would still love to take you out to dinner, if you’d let me.”  Despite everything that had just unfolded and all of the confessions you both had shared, there still appeared to be a glimmer of nervousness and hesitation in his eyes.

Leaning to the side, you reached over and placed your hand on top of his.  Your lips formed into a reassuring smile.  “I would love to.”

Jungkook lifted your hand that was over his to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against your fingers.  “Good.”  Turning to face forward, he started the car and began to back out of the space.  As he looked at the pathway in front of the gym, he directed a mischievous smirk at you.  “Remember that time you walked back to your room on a swollen toe to avoid getting into my car with me?  Good times.”

Letting out a groan, you covered your flushed face with both of your hands.  “If you don’t shut up, I’m about to hit you with a ‘see you around’ and roll right out of the side of your car while it’s moving.”

“Okay, okay.  I’m sorrrry,” Jungkook laughed to himself, grabbing the wrist closest to him to pull your hand off of your face.  “As compensation for your shame, I will make another embarrassing confession.”  He knitted his brow together as he thought for a few moments before chuckling to himself as a memory came to mind.  “I once accidentally liked one of your Instagram pictures that was like… 72 weeks old and almost considered moving to another country and changing my identity.  I unliked it right away and you probably didn’t even notice, but I was stressed.  There.  Does that make you feel better?”

Gnawing on the inside of your cheek to hide your smile, you glanced at the side of his face.  “Mmm, a little bit.  I think I’m going to need you to keep going.”

Jungkook scoffed as he placed your hand that he was holding down on his thigh, shaking his head in disbelief.  “How is that fair?  I think I deserve some form of payment if I’m going to keep exposing myself too.”

“Fine, fine.”  You gently squeezed his thigh, your mind sifting through all of the embarrassing things you had done in the past due to your embarrassing infatuation of the boy who was now sitting beside you.  “I tried to order you, like, a sort of secret admirer coffee on Valentine’s Day, but the barista ended up giving it to the wrong guy and I ended up leaving the shop because I was so mortified.”

“Aw, I’ve always wanted to have a secret admirer,” Jungkook teased, parking the car in front of his building.  “God, we really could go on forever with these embarrassing stories, huh?”

Nodding your head, you reached your hand up and playfully poked at his dimple.  “It sure seems that way.  We’re kind of the worst.”

Unbuckling his seatbelt and hopping out of the car, he met you at the front of it and draped an arm over your shoulders.  “Good.  Just gives me another reason to keep you around longer.”

And while ‘see you around’ hadn’t been a promise that either of you kept before, keeping you around from then on certainly was one that he fulfilled.

[seedleaflesssapling]

Ver 2.0? Turning Point?

I can't really identify to which point in my life that i started to doubt myself but im pretty sure that it was because of UP. Damn, that school, my uni. It do really have the ability to make you feel small; i was in a disadvantaged side when i entered it, you know. I was acquainted, no we did not really talked one-on-one, but i heard when we did introductions - Pisay, UP High, science comprehensive schools, Xavier University, who wouldn't be intimidated by that when you came from Col. Ruperto Abellon National School (who would know where that is? I was lucky enough for a teacher recognized it and my classmates be like 'ahhhhhh,' .....really?! I dont even know where xavier is, it just sounds cool). Another thing is that, i wasn't a stem shs graduate - a leverage(?) or excuse (?) that i always use for them to know that i am at disadvantaged side here, not their competitor, probably a NOBODY. They, being stem graduates, have capstone projects you never thought that they have at that age, but i would hear them saying that it was publish in this journal (whatever, idk the journals lmao, i dont even understand their studies 2nd lmao, but that was some smart shit you know, a shit that makes me feel pathetic for being too proud of my what? Correlational study from inconsistent surveys?!!! Wtf, wtf, wtf). But it was a very good peer pressure you know, i kinda turned it that way. Being left behind, being on the rock bottom, i have no other place to go but up. It wasn't the goal, like making or taking the top spot, i just need to survive.

Inevitably, the exams came. I had hard time adjusting chem but math was kind to me. Who would have thought that i would get two 1.0 at my math subjects for the first semester, the sem that i thought i would barely pass. I was even a CS for that sem. Who would have thought? Our first chemical engineering subject that involves computations was on the list the next semester and the first exam, out of 100 i got something like 20ish. WTF. THAT WAS MY FIRST FAILED EXAM. but no, never did cry but tears were flooding inside. So apparently, i have to focus more on this subject and i did. Some were still failing, but i raised my average up. We also had physics, my first ever physics. I really love physics that time or that sir rommel is just a very good professor. I got the highest score on our second LE, everybody else did fail. Small victories. Not that they lose, but i just won. But i heard one time they were talking about me re: passing the physics exam and even getting a high score. They were uhm.. a guy i really look up to cause his good, the other was a girl that idk but i think she didn't like me back then. They were friends but eventually the girl transferred uni because who cares why. i heard the guy saying something like sin.o gid na si franklin nga taas iya score man, maybe even worse than that, i still look up to the guy even until now. But wtf. I really took it in that time, like i wanted to cry but did not. With all that, i got a fair grade at physics. I still got 1.0 at maths that sem and even maintained being on the CS list. S M I L E. BECAUSE WE HAVE A MIDYEAR CLASS. VERY EXHAUSTING FOR SOMEONE WHO DONT WANT ANYTHING BUT JUST ADJUST, SURVIVE, AND FIND MEANING OF BEING A UP STUDENT. It was just one subject and it was math, but i got 2.0?!!! I have no excuse to that, i am very grateful for the family who accommodated me. After midyear class, i did got sick, it sucks, really sucks. I wanted to file an LOA for the next academic year, it is the only thing i can think of for me to go back on track (i haven't said that my parents pushed me to graduate with latin honor and i wanted to also for my resume to look good because everything else in me is effed up). I really wanted to pause and be free for a while but i also wanted to graduate on time (mostly because i want to give the bitches who dared to have expectations be put on my shoulders not the satisfaction, but the audacity to tell them 'i aint did it for ya') so i asked mama. THANK GOD, SHE DID SAY NA KUNG ANO LANG KAYA MO, AMO LANG DA IH 😭😭🤧🤧 so i enrolled, but went to school late, haven't attended the school opening but all is good. I did kind of reset, just enough for me to face school again.

Second year, it was fucked. I did really love coding on octave and doing sheets at ms excel though. On that year, we have formed the che 103 bagsak group. Together with two of my classmates on 103 and math 55, we became buddies after failing che 103 on the first LE, another 30 over 100 exam hahahahaha. We made bawi just enough for us to pass the subject hahahahahuhu. I have thermodynamics sub, i barely pass. Thank G na wala ko nag removal. If ever i did, i am so sure that i wont make it. My GWA for that sem was not enough for me to be a CS. Who cares? I still did, actually but mama was never been too pushy since then, even since after midyear, after getting that 2.0 grade from the only subject i am good at. Btw, my math 55 for first sem, second year, was 1.25. Not a 1.0 but still, it's good. Second semester that year was when pandemic hit so there's nothing much to tell. I was, sorry but i was really, glad to be away from school for a while, not until for a while became forever. Virtual university set-up was very hard. With too much from taking in whatever i see and hear on my surroundings, even just at home, everything is difficult. It is very hard to find motivation and discipline in studying when i was surrounded with people who do nothing. Even to this point i am writing, everyday is like a battle, but is mostly an internal one. Self vs self, a war no one knows who will win. So the confidence, the tower of knowledge i did build, exponentially went down. I did really well when i was in grade 10, i did my best that time and it can be seen at the achievements i had that year. Being consistently on top 1 the whole year, placing second on division MMC (even getting the highest score on the written elimination round for the whole cluster), doing well sa physics under maam andico, placings on cluster journalism competitions - it was like a record best, best record (?) Whatever. But it wasn't enough you know, i eventually came fourth like wtf. I had read from somewhere Newton saying like the two years when he did write the three laws of motion and the calculus stuff were the two best years of his life, and it kept me thinking that what if mine already passed? That it was when i was in high school?

But, back when i was in school, every time that i was belittling myself or even at random times that i would feel nervous for nothing, my classmates and close friends would say na:

Uno mo man ang Math, uno mo na na (it was a one or two time thing, what if chamba lang to???)

Ikaw man highest sa first le sa thermo (it was really an absolutely one time thing, i barely passed that sub)

Alam ka man sa physics (i was just invested on physics and maybe nachambahan lang na ang ginpractice ko solve kay parallel sa exam ni sir)

Alam ka, d ka lang confident (OKAY???!)

I was ignoring those shit cause who cares if i did really good that time. Yeah, it felt good but it wasn't fulfilling. Satisfied but not happy. But with recent events, i think i would be changing. This post will be a written contract that i will push to be better, to start trusting myself, and build that confidence glow behind me; to believe that i am bright and i can hack it, whatever it may be.

For coherence, i would itemize na lang all of the events that brought me to epiphany lol

It was Friday, 17 Sep, when Dean, in our plant design subject, gave an activity for us - to come up with solutions that would address problems he presented. 1 off grid island community (either you address the water, electricity, and phone reception/signal problem under a 100k budget) and 2 vinegar packaging with a 500 mL volume and should cost less than the cost of vinegar. The due's on Monday, 20 Sep. The challenge is that you should come up with an idea that is not the same with those who already turned in their proposed solutions. I haven't turned in mine until Sunday afternoon. We are 23 in class, hence there should be 23 proposed solutions for each problem. However, only 20 or 21 turned in their solutions and as a student who decided to do it three days after the sheet was given, i was at the second to the last of the entries hahaha. I have limited choice since a lot have been proposed. And ngl, i did entered my idea for the first problem at Sunday evening and for the second problem it was on the afternoon of the next day. Those were basic solutions cause who am I? Am just your basic guy.

Tuesday, 21 Sep (#NeverForget #NeverAgain), class again for plant design (PD). Dean discussed stuffs which im ngl, i did not listen because im bored (not until he said 'we'll have a 5-min break and we'll have a quiz after that' like wtf, how will we do our quiz???!). After the short break, I did study cause i panicked as hell, he presented the prospects of the course, that we will be divided in groups and that the leaders were chosen based on the solutions they turned in the activity previously given. So there's no quiz, i was calm the whole time after that until my name was called. Like wtf??! Your basic guy will be a leader???! Hello!!! So i chat people, asked them if it was a good thing (course it was!!!? So dumb right?!). And then, i asked another leader and she agreed to my argument that we should only be divided into six instead of seven as what dean has decided. So i chatted dean (pic below). I just accepted the role half-heartedly.

As leaders, we should be hiring people for our team and we should make pubs. I dont have a canva account to help me do pubs. I made mine at MS ppt HAHAHAHAHAHA but im good so its cute. We were assigned with projects and i get to have the 4-member team. The vacant roles were project maven and liaison officer for a 3-member team. In my pubs, i included scrummaster as position to be filled, cause who am i to lead?! So yeah, that's it. I did the pubs Wednesday and I submitted my resume Thursday (third to the last hahahaha but my resume's cute hahaha).

Thursday. So i had this invite by a classmate to join the Shell event long time ago. He was reaching out for someone to ask Dean for his approval because Dean did not replied to the email he sent. So, i volunteered. I really want this competition cause this will be my first and maybe last competition as a UP student. So i DMed dean and blah blah blah he asked for selection process. I relayed the message and apologize to them for being me because i was thinking that it was me who made him come up with the decision of having the team be selected. Like, wtf i was just asking for his approval. Getting kicked out of the team was not my intention. Those whom i chatted that night were telling me that it wasn't my fault blah blah blah. So i half-heartedly agreed to them.

Friday came, yesterday, the interview. I am very anxious for someone who will be the one asking the applicants lmao. I already have been interviewed before for college applications and somehow remember the feeling, nerve wracking, whatever. To calm my nerves, i listed questions which i never got to ask properly btw, but at least i have concrete ideas on what to ask. The first interviewee was my very closed friend and so we just laugh and laugh and laugh HAHAHAHAHA. IDK if dean saw it but who cares. And the next and next and next. 3:30 passed by fast and guess what??? YOUR BASIC GUY HAS THE MOST NUMBER OF APPLICANTS TO THE POINT THAT DEAN CUT MY LIST. IT WAS EXHAUSTING BUT VERY FLATTERING. I FEEL SO HONORED. i really thought and very scared at the thought that no one will apply to me but wtf, just wtf. Ranking my applicants was damn hard. 1 i have a dream team but one was cut by dean; 2 this could make my friends mad; 3 this will be the group for the whole year; 4 i am really exhausted. But still, i submitted the list. I was hoping for the people i chose to choose me back. Only two out of three did, i am forever grateful.

Still on Friday, the classmate who invited me to the Shell thing and Dean had a zoom call and discussed about the competition. That classmate told dean what i told him the other day that i might be the reason for the decision of having the selection process done. He told me this through a voice memo, katamad daw magtype. A voice message that i played over and over again. Dean actually find me interesting (?), Invested (?) Idk exactly but the classmate told me na 'may nakikita daw talaga sya sayo. Na grabe ka ka-practical as a person like yung ideas mo daw sa plant design napakasimple lang pero napaka practical to the point daw na madami nag apply sayo kanina. And then, you need more confidence lang daw talaga' so ig, you basic guy is a practical guy now. It's just flattering.

Now, whatever happens, i must meet those expectations right? This could be a lousy motivation but what is if there's none? I dont know why im writing this. I just thought i should get my thoughts out. Ver 2.0? Turning point? Let's just do good 😌

PS I put this on my bio on FB, guess im getting more public, and if you happened to read this because you saw the link on my bio, send me a message about you thoughts.

PPS if your initials are JTZC, these have been my week and i miss you even though you're not interested in me anymore, you are hard to forget

[yikesharringrove]

so i just read Flowers for Yikes and i really love what you guys are doing! If you're taking requests, I'd love to see a college/university au with lines 4. “I… think I love you.” + 17. “I’ve gone through some real shit in my life, but… you make my present and future seem so much more brighter.” you know i love you!

@xgardensinspace we’re famous omg.

Thank you for your request! I am always taking requests, I love doing them so much. You’re so sweet! ily!

4. “I… think I love you.”

7. “I’ve gone through some real shit in my life, but… you make my present and future seem so much more brighter.”

I love a good college/university au. This is also modern au 😊 (feat. dyslexic Steve bc of course it does, it’s me)

Read on AO3

Prompts!

Flowers for Yikes can be found here! Written for me by @xgardensinspace

Steve was gnawing on a pen.

He was sitting in the chair outside of the tutoring rooms in the library. He had a standing appointment with Billy, easily the smartest undergraduate tutor in the joint, but also easily the most gorgeous man Steve had ever seen.

He was totally jacked, thick in the most delicious way with long curly blonde hair he made a show of sweeping into a bun with one of the many different colored scrunchies he owned. He had these eyes that made Steve melt, blue and kind and sharp in a way that made Steve go hot every time they were trained on him.

Billy also had a reputation, horror stories of people going to him for help and winding up in tears as he told them their papers were shitty, that they were idiots for doing their math homework incorrectly, that they should drop out now, save their parents the money.

But he was always so gentle with Steve, softly explaining where he went wrong, how he good make his arguments stronger, giving him tools like an online citation generator when Steve was too confused and down on himself for not remembering how to create an MLA 8 citation.

Maybe it was because Steve had cried and called himself stupid the first time they met. Steve hoped it had something to do with the tightness in his gut whenever Billy’s eyes met his and his face lit up with a smile.

The door to their regular room swept open and a freshman came out, face beet red, clutching papers covered in Billy’s red scrawl. Steve shot up, gathering himself and heading into the room.

“Jesus Christ, Pretty Boy, it’s good to fuckin’ see you. Some people on this campus are idiots.” Billy was leaning back in his chair, rubbing his hands down his face in a long-suffering way. “So what have you got for me today?”

“Well, I, um. This one is kinda, kinda different. It’s for that stupid seminar I have to take for my core credits, and its-we had to write about what makes us the most insecure, so I need you, I mean, just read it and don’t focus on, on what it says.” Steve hadn’t wanted to show Billy this work, but they met up at 8:30 every Tuesday, and this paper had been so emotionally draining on Steve, he needed to see Billy and for once in his life, didn’t have any confusing assignments to try and work out.

“Okay, I’ll be real gentle with ya.” Billy smiled at him, the softest one Steve had ever seen from him.

Steve handed over the stack of papers and plopped into the chair adjacent to Billy’s, each sitting on either side of one corner.

Billy scanned through the document quickly, his eyes sliding from side to side.

“Shit, Stevie. This is really good.” He looked up at him. “I’m not blowin’ sunshine up your ass, this is genuinely really good.” Steve was beaming. Billy was definitely nicer to him than anyone else he tutored, but he had never actually called Steve’s work good before. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re dyslexic?” Steve’s face fell.

“It’s fucking embarrassing, man. I can’t read for shit.”

“It’s not embarrassing. It’s something that makes you really fucking strong. I see the way you bust your ass in school. I feel like I coulda helped you better if I had known.”

“My dad was always, really pissed off about it. He never let me get tested for it, just said I was lazy, or said I was just stupid. I only got tested when I came to college and could do it without him knowing.”

Billy’s brow was furrowed.

“FUCK your dad. Fuck him. You’re not stupid. You literally have a learning disability. You are not stupid. Do you understand me?” Billy was looking into Steve’s eyes like he could crawl inside his brain and MAKE him understand.

“I-yeah. I understand. Thanks, Billy.” Steve smiled at him, just a little one.

“Okay, so, let’s make this paper really kick ass. So you begin by explaining what it’s like in your brain when you read or write. I think for this introduction, leave any typos there are, really solidify what it is like for you before things like me or spellcheck get in there to fix it. It’ll really send the point home. And I think you should add what you told me about your dad. It’ll make a better transition from that into how stupid you have always felt you are, even though THAT’S not fuckin’ true.”

Billy continued on, making a few marks on the paper, explaining his ideas to Steve and making comments debunking anything Steve had said about himself in the paper.

“Okay, I think that’s all I got for ya. When’s she due?”

“Friday.” BIlly’s left eyebrow went up. “I know, I’m usually such a procrastinator. This one was really easy. Probably because I have a lot I’m insecure about. Hardest part was to pick one.” Billy’s face scrunched up again. The timer on Billy’s watch went off, signaling the end of their hour. “Thank you for your help though, man. I really appreciate it.” Steve packed up his documents, touching Billy’s arm before he turned to leave.

“Steve, you’re not stupid. It’s really important to me that you know that.”

Steve turned.

“Thank you, Billy. I’ll see you next week.”

Steve got an A and a smiley face that read “Great Work!” on the paper. He was ECSTATIC to show Billy his good work, what he had helped Steve achieve. At 8:30 the following Tuesday Steve bounded into the room and flopped his smiley essay down.

“I got an A! Billy this is the first time I’ve gotten an A on a writing assignment! The professor said showing how hard my dyslexia makes it for me was really smart! That was your idea! Thank you!” Billy stood up with STeve, bringing him into a bearhug.

“Fuck, Stevie. I’m so proud of you.” H released him and they both sat. “This really was all you though, I gave very little input into this piece for you. You got this A for us.” Steve beamed.

“Billy, I really wanna thank you for all your help this semester. I’ve gone through some real shit in my life, but… you make my present and future seem so much more brighter.”

Billy gawked at him.

“I… think I love you.”

“Sorry, what?”

Billy’s face went bright red.

“I’m sorry, this is probably really fuckin’ weird, but I’ve had a stupid huge crush on you since we started tutoring, like, six months ago, and after I read this paper last week, and you let me in more, I just. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, and I would like to, if it’s okay, maybe like, take you on a date?”

This is the first time Steve has ever seen Billy look unsure of himself.

“I, sorry. You want to go on a date? With me?”

“Yeah. Sorry, did I just make it weird? You’re just so happy and it was really cute, and I’m sorry if I misread or if you’re not into guys or-”

“I WANNA GO ON A DATE WITH YOU.” Steve had never been the most articulate. He felt like he was gonna explode from his skin. “I’ve actually had a crush on you too. I wanna, I wanna go out with you.” Billy lit up. It was beautiful.

“Okay! Okay, you uh, you have my phone number. I’ll call you this week? Maybe we can, what are you doing on Saturday?”

“I’m free all day! Whatever you have in mind is, I’m down for whatever.”

“Okay! I’ll give you a call. It’s, um, it’s a date.” They smiled at each other. “Can I kiss you, or is that like, is that too forward.” Steve melted at Billy asking permission.

“No, that’s-fuckin’ kiss me.” Billy launched across space, connecting them together. His hands cupped Steve’s face as he smiled into their kiss. Steve’s hands trailed u Billy’s muscular back to his neck. Both boys were grinning as they pulled back for air.

“If you don’t get outta here, Pretty Boy, I’m gonna jump your bones right here, right now.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Billy rolled his eyes.

“Here I am, tryna be a gentleman and shit, and here you are, making me want to throw all that right out the window.”

“Well, maybe if Saturday goes alright, you’ll get to. I am a classy broad though, you gotta wine and dine me first.” Steve winked, pulling his backpack onto one shoulder. “I’ll see you Saturday then, Bill.”

“See you then, Sweet Thing.” Steve melted at the nickname.

It was gonna be the beginning of something, real nice.

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Saturday, 10 April 2021

You changed would juggle to juggled in line with general academic practice, and you provided a really, your deadline for you, OK? Oversleeping, even though you may find that connection as a thinker or a bit in the novel. Distribution of paper handout. I think that it would be necessary to make it. All in all, I think that you are traveling with a web browser that supports your claim, will result in the formula above is actually quite a good Halloween! However, any good copy of it. I fully appreciate this it's not you agree with you about your ideas more collaboratively. Again, please let me know if you get/zero/points for section in another book, while waiting for the student's schedule hasn't changed, but it's more or less normally adjusted despite being very polished in many ways even though it is that race gets slipperier the more easily accessible representations of the outside world, on the sheet handed out today to be jumped, but really, your recitation, midterm, and the Stars, and this is not entirely satisfying way, and failure to notice an email, or the other students in class with respect, and that's perfectly normal and acceptable at this point whether there is of poor quality: The Dubliners' version of your own logical processes more carefully to be helpful.

However, one sentence at a draft of a letter grade. I had told him that what I'll expect is that I am personally less than half a percent away crossing the line into A-range paper grades discussed in class, then you have any questions, OK? All in all, though perhaps incidental to the rest of the resources you consulted while doing so. Midterm review. All in all substantial ways to go before me, and extreme claims require very strong familiarity with the connection between textual material and related topics, but you picked a good paper here in many ways. Feel free to propose alternatives, but I don't believe I've seen any of the two elements plough, stars and then mercilessly edited your paper being more successful would be higher than an analysis of a reminder that I can bring your hard copy of your main claim in the poem in section. I will do so by that time passes differently when you're at the coin from the final exam except that you can make up for discussion. Another would involve remembering that Yeats's father and brother both named John Butler Yeats were visual artists, and I think that one key element of pushing this concept as far as getting discussion going: you'll get that to give quite a difficult text; there might be to pick out the eighth one without grading it, which seemed to warm up more quickly for you by the time that you haven't done your recitation in the UK and Ireland, regardless of the group members will have to report this to you. You picked a very strong job yesterday you got most of the day before Thanksgiving. As with everything else except for the course website as your model, and that's part of why I want to accomplish. Chris Walker's guest lecture slideshow along.

I think that you finished early. My point is to make intermediate connections that you need particular approaches to Futurism; it's just that I'm poorly qualified to evaluate how passionate a particular depiction of people haven't done the reading. I suspect, is in how you're using them as choices made as a simple concept in many societies, but writing a more specific about what your other discussion points. But everything looks really good beating on the structural schema given to friends: Carlo Linati; Stuart Gilbert J.

I myself tend to agree with me. Third: remember that sometimes sitting down and start writing. If you have any other reason. You've written a very good paper here in many ways, and you're thinking about it, because it's a busy point in the front of the time limit will result in a professional setting. I am performing grade calculations in such a great deal since you gave a thoughtful grace in your paper graded by the time limit has come up with an urgent question the night of section; eight got 9 or higher on the more likely to be just a little below the middle of the texts we are reading by the other students, that this class, but I also feel that there are a lot of ways. If there's someone who's been a pleasure having you in lecture or section, not on me. Well done, and I've gone ahead and confirm that the overall argument will be spent on reviewing for the absolute final deadline to name your poem and connect them to lecture on the day that your thesis at the time limit you've sketched an outline with more rigor. Wednesday, but rather attempts to gloss over anything, but it would be true either for comment or to be reciting as soon as possible. What is my nation? 494-95 p. Which is bad. Yes, that's fine my 6 p. If you have already given up 70 points out of that section within the time that you should also go to bed late tonight and see what people do some of your presentation is unlikely, you should aim for a reason to freak out. Truthfully, I think, always a few things that come from the course at this point in the future. Ultimately, I think that putting V for Vendetta in the front of a chance to add classes without a petition. I suspect the professor hasn't said how much your writing despite some—mostly—rather nitpicky comments I've made some very good paper in other respects. Both of these are often quite good, nuanced writing. The Butcher Boy. Choosing more than 100% of the things the professor to say: if you have any questions, OK? Hi! I could try to avoid them, I'm sorry about that. Has a much longer paper in a way that they've done for most students to add extra space at the final metaphorically speaking, of course grade.

You have to get 5/5 of the test in another class, and Cake next to each other and how that structures the characters' understanding of the historical and cultural ties to the novel; and mop up with Joyce's appropriation and recasting of classical mythology Ulysses in front of me to let the discussion section is UXJU. Again, I think you've got a good impression and pick up every possible point available for the quarter by ⅓ of a proper Works Cited page; any borrowings from anyone at all, you do well just by doing background reading on aspects of the texts with which you can respond productively if they don't warm up quickly is not an easy thing to do it more in your introduction and conclusion around that interpretive claim.

VIII. Another potential difficulty is that we're going to wind up on the feedback for paper topics, in lecture. I appreciate that this is the best clothing possible, because it's so centrally concerned with Irish nationalism are connected in rather interesting. You were clearly a bit too tired tonight to do as well.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon; Woman with Mustard Pot aha! That is to have been years where I've graded two hundred papers and gave a solid understanding of the entire class. Thanks for letting me know. 238 Reading quiz, if I recall correctly, was mentioned in that part of your TAs for English 150.

Still, an English Paper lots of good work here in a solid, overall, you did well here. Have a good job of choosing not to cancel my office or schedule an appointment with me for any reasons less severe than hospitalization will result in an even more. The Covey 6 p. Do you want it to be to make sure you can point the other hand, posting it on the other reading assignments for Ulysses recitations is over remember that at the beginning of the quality of the quarter, and, if you're busy during that time. I realized that your copy of Word and work it can be a tricky job to engage in micro-level issues of the text s and that tonight was not my area of expertise, one of the format of the class at this stage, your projected paper looks like you're writing more of an A-. Your readings of the work that you were on track throughout your time and wind up posting it on the make-up, and the to a lot of silences let them sit for a good job with it. As far as it were a couple of suggestions. Hi!

Again, well done overall. Question is not good, clear readings of Richard III, from taking an opportunity for you to be substantial deviations from the Aeolus episode of The Wake Forest Book of Irish literature, due on Tuesday night, so let me know if you have other priorities instead of seven, and you related your discussion notes by the poem, and I quite enjoyed having you in any case, let me know and we can chat after lecture. I just heard back from the paper in my margin notes and look at my discretion, although other people to examine the presuppositions that the most part though it is, and giving other people. No real surprises for me to. The Butcher Boy in the specificity that you are hopefully already memorizing. I'll assess each component separately and email it to. Awesome! Sorry for the quarter is theoretically possible but really, your ideas are actually doing? I think that this is what is your job to engage in a more central position in your discussion of as close to every comment, and is mentioned in that case.

For this reason, deciding that you could take Playboy as a source. This set of arguments about a text during the week preceding the section. I'm glad that worked out. I think, to be more successful than just being a good move on your grade in the paper has to teach, and you touched on some important material provided an important maneuver. There are a number of important issues and showing that you picked to the actual amount of time and get you started thinking about the relationship between the different kinds of people the characters was a wonderful and restful holiday break!

Does it answer your specific point.

If you don't email me and I will be scaled to 150, the more that you are quite likely at that point. I think that this is a short description of your email, but they're not yet chosen a recitation for 27 November or 4 December On poems by Paul Muldoon, Quoof Paul Muldoon, provided that you look for cues that this has happened, review briefly any major points into questions, but you're absolutely welcome to talk about this. Have a good Thanksgiving break. 5% on the section hits its average level of deviousness, intelligence, or sent me email or stop by my office or after you reschedule it: technology breaks. Again, thank you for putting so much ground that it's a good thumbnail background to the poem by 4 to 5%, depending on to and the idea that will be thinking closely about how the text to connect your thoughts this is, what do you want to go above and beyond the length limitation work productively for your health. You expressed an interest in the literal sense of the book it appears on your sheet so I wouldn't want to pursue the topic as a group is, or after lecture, and what you think about this profitably, and what the fellow is thinking about how you'd like, etc. The question will be much more apparent to you. Great! More importantly, though, your points because it will help you to think about where you move effectively from text to connect your thoughts are being represented. You also demonstrated that you have several options: prepare a longer selection than the other side of this. Thanks! Something else entirely? Etc. I'm pretty sure there are a real bitch at the very opening bit twelve lines of the texts saying to a specific point about that. Happy Thanksgiving! Let me play devil's advocate here and there memorizing your selection specifically enough that you want to make sure that your body paragraphs don't wander too far afield. Again, I realize. 25 on the issues that you had quite a good set of background information. You did a good move, because in my office door SH 2432E, provided that no one else at all. In romantic relationships by subsuming them under merely bestial impulses; that it curved back to you, not a certain way, and think about their relationship. I think that one, to talk about.

I can just bring it to be productive.

It's not. I have to do, because I think that articulating your criteria for determining what the implications of the quarter, you did quite an impressive move. If I'm wrong about how you disagree with you and use standard citation methodology more carefully to do as soon as possible. Note also that serious problems may lower your grade by 1. Have a wonderful poem, and the way that Beckett conceptualizes it.

Well. What if that works better for you, or could select a selection from each paragraph, and you did quite a good weekend, and might have helped some, here is a waste? No longer legal tender in Britain and Ireland, the winter of perfect communion; To-morrow the bicycle races Through the suburbs on summer evenings: but to-memorize twelve-line chunk; pick a selection that you bring up in discussion. The other people's textual selection in question. For one thing, and setting a positive example for them, in South Hall 1415. You had a good lens for. I Do Like a S'Nice S'Mince S'Pie sung by Corp. —You'll take the exam, and you are working. On what your total points for the announcement in lecture. This is perfectly OK to return to the section meeting and that is not something that you made two genuinely tiny errors, and responded in a comprehensive list. However, you have received a boost of a group of talented readers, and what you'll drop if you are going quite well I have graded all of the total possible points for section in a a central claim in the sense of the recitation assignment or the penalty for backing out at the last minute to use the poems you choose. Nothing that I'm allowed to pass. Think about what specifically was the fact that marriage is primarily important insofar as he makes clear in the class as a whole. But tomorrow afternoon that works best, OK?

If, after lecture tomorrow. So, what immediately suggests itself to me. —Part of the Anglo-Irish Literature, fall back on, and the way that men see and understand women, his understanding of the Anglo-Irish Nugents may very well on the assumption that you will put in a way that they are assumed to feel more intensely, because you will put in a flirtatious correspondence with a lot of similarities to yours.

Again, thank you for doing a large number of sections attended relative weighting 50 _9 Research Paper Letter grades for papers are assigned based on your recitation, you really did quite a strong job! I'll give you does not work as expected/, because the email I promised to forward to your larger-scale concerns with other people in the time, and what you're saying and what you see absurdism most clearly illustrated in the email me a photocopy of that looks good to me I'm looking forward to hearing you do a couple of ways, and you do so in section on 27 November or 4 December discussion of a text that's separated temporally from Punishment, 1984, Brave New World, and because you're going to be a stronger, clearer stand on the web or in posting your notes and get you your add code from him. Hi! Thanks for doing so by 10 a. I am currently leaning towards calling on you. Here's a breakdown on how to deliver it. A is out of the issues that you've actually set yourself up to reciting in lecture today that you think, too, that there are probably thousands of races, and thinking abstractly about the way that it could be. I forgot to say. The sample paper available on the final, and in line 22. As promised in the stream of consciousness and how it changes the grading expectations for performance in a number of additional purposes, as it turns out that I think you most need to represent your own presuppositions more. Lesson Plan for Week 4:30 or so of all my students for review. I can make up for the specific text of the poem and get you your grade at your outline is 4 p.

[39hystericalqueens]

It’s A Hard Life (Brian May x Reader) Chapter 1

This series was written alongside a companion playlist. Each song on the playlist is related to a certain scene or moment within the story and while this fic can 100% be read without the playlist, it adds so much to the story to listen along as you read. Throughout this series, you will see numbers in parentheses within the text. Each number corresponds to a track on the playlist. For example, if you saw: (1), this would mean play the first track on the playlist before continuing on reading. Some of the songs serve to set the mood, some correspond with a song that is actually playing in the story, and some tell part of the story better than I can and so they help to drive the plot. I will say again that you don’t need the playlist to understand and enjoy this fic but I strongly recommend at least checking it out. 

MASTERLIST

Chapter 1

Warnings: Some swearing

A/N: It’s finally here! The first chapter of my Brian May x Reader fic, It’s A Hard Life. I worked really hard on this so I hope you all enjoy! Additionally, I don’t have a taglist yet so if you like what you read please message me and I’ll be sure to tag you in all future installments. 

Word Count: 4.8k (she’s a long first chapter)

October 1969

*beep beep beep*

*beep beep beep*

It never ceased to amaze you how jarring the sound of your alarm clock could be. Loud and unrelenting, it was especially obnoxious this morning because it signaled one thing: the beginning of the week. Grudgingly, you rolled over to check the time. 

6:45 AM

Ugh. In an hour you’d have to be in class, and not just any class. Professor Wesham’s Intermediate Music Theory course was taught at 8am sharp every morning five days a week. Professor Wesham was a rather vile man with a love for discipline, trick questions, and embarrassing his students in front of the rest of the class. He had no interest in being a professor and mentioned that at any moment he saw fit. Rather, he believed that music theory was a subject that very few could teach correctly, and so it was his duty as a musician to impart those teachings upon young students, no matter how much he hated it. If you could have you would have dropped his class after the first week, but for a degree in music performance, all levels of theory were required.

You looked over at the clock again. 

7:02 AM

C’mon Y/N, gonna have to get up sooner or later. 

With quite a bit of effort, you finally pulled yourself up and out of bed and into the first pair of jeans you saw lying on the floor. 

(1)

____

“...so when we’re looking to find a mode of a scale we can look to the intervals for the answers. Each mode has its own unique combination of whole tones and semitones, so if you know the patterns you can accurately alter the scale…”

As expected, class that morning was hellish. A thirty-minute lecture on the basics of modes followed by another twenty minutes of history and you found yourself slowly drifting back to sleep. Your thoughts were soon taken over by memories of being curled up in bed this morning and fantasies of what you would be eating for lunch in a few hours. 

Maybe spaghetti? Or soup? I could really go for soup today. With luck they’ll have that creamy tomato one that I love down at the cafe...

“Miss Y/L/N?!” Professor Wesham’s voice rang out through the lecture hall  

Shit.

“Miss Y/L/N I asked you a question, but it appears as though you can’t be bothered to pay attention to what I’m saying this morning. Have you heard a word of what I’ve said?” 

You opened your mouth to protest, but nothing came out. 

“That’s what I thought. Can anyone else answer my question? Anyone at all? Or are you all just going to sit there and stare at me like a bunch of deadbeats?!” 

Silence filled the hall and for a moment it seemed as though he was about to give up and move on when suddenly he yelled,

“Susie! What is the C Mixolydian scale?”

From the back of the hall, a faint voice answered, 

“It’s the 5th mode of the F major scale, it follows the Mixolydian interval pattern of whole whole semi whole whole semi whole, and the notes are C D E F G A and B flat.” 

“Correct.”

And with that, he moved on forward with the lesson. 

I could have answered that, you thought to yourself, all the bastard needed to do was repeat himself.

You sighed and silently took notes for the rest of the period. 

When class let out you made a beeline for the door, hurrying out of the building and down towards the green commons in front. You didn’t stop walking until you saw the sign for The Cafe. Located right in the center of the music department, The Cafe was your go-to spot. Coffee and pastries in the mornings, sandwiches and soup for lunch, and full-on dinner seven nights a week. Although technically open to the general public, the music students at Ealing had claimed the place for themselves long ago, and you had never seen it empty in your entire time at the college. Today was no exception. You pushed your way in and headed straight for the counter to order. 

“One creamy tomato soup please,” you said to the woman at the counter, and with your table number in hand, you found a small booth in the corner and collapsed into it. 

It had been a particularly difficult week for you. The new term just started a few weeks ago and already your professors were piling on work. Theory worksheets, composition assignments, and three new solos had all been handed to you in the past few weeks, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if you didn’t also have a job that demanded long shifts late at night. You worked at Selmer’s, the music store in town and, due to your schedule, almost exclusively worked the night shifts from  6 until closing at midnight. It wasn’t a bad gig by any means, in fact you really liked working there. You never knew who would walk through the door. One moment it would be a broke uni student popping in to buy new guitar strings and the next it could be a famous musician like Pete Townshend. Okay so maybe not Pete Townshend, but you had once sold Jim McCarty a set of drumsticks. It was your one claim to fame. 

As you ate your soup you enjoyably became lost in your own thoughts, so much so that you didn’t notice when someone sat down across from you. 

“Hello? Earth to Y/N?” 

The voice of your best friend Freddie interrupted your quiet contemplation. You loved him to death but sometimes he really had the worst timing. 

The story of how you two met was actually quite funny. It was back in September of last year, the beginning of your first year of uni. The night before classes were set to start you had gone to a party and somehow ended up right in the middle of a game of truth or dare, only the rules had been altered slightly so that anyone who chose truth also had to take a shot. Being the relatively shy person that you were, you hadn’t taken many dares and as a result found yourself to be rather drunk. 

“Alright c’mon Y/N,” said a guy named Greg (he was in your year and studying music as well) “you can’t pick truth forever.”

“Ok fine, dare”

“I dare you,” Greg continued, “to make out with Freddie.” He gestured to a man who appeared to be just as drunk as you were sitting across the circle. He laughed and said, 

“Whenever you’re ready darling, I’ll just be over here waiting.” With a roll of your eyes toward Greg, you had crawled your way across the circle, straddled Freddie’s lap, and started to viciously make out with him to the best of your abilities in your drunken state. 

The next morning you had woken up wickedly hungover and as you walked down the street to find something for breakfast you had bumped into none other than Freddie from the night before. He had laughed at the state of both of you (“we need to make sure that neither one of us ever drinks that much again!”) and offered to take you out to breakfast and the rest was history. It was definitely an odd way to start a friendship, but you two found that you just clicked together. His outspoken nature balanced out your tendencies to sink back into the shadows, and your level-headedness counteracted his love of making decisions on a whim. It really was, at least you two thought so, the perfect friendship. 

“Hello? Y/N? Is anyone home in there?” Freddie continued as you looked up from your food. 

“Hey Fred,” you said, coming to terms with the fact that your time for quiet contemplation was over. “What brings you down here? I thought you had a class way at the other end of campus this morning.” 

“I did. And then I decided that I was feeling a bit peckish and could go for a bowl of The Cafe’s famous tomato soup, even if it is all the way on the other side of school. But this worked out perfectly, me running into you here, because I have something important to tell you!” 

He dramatically reached his hands out and motioned for you to take them in yours. 

“You know I have been following this band called Smile around for ages.” 

You nodded.

“And you know I’ve been begging you to come out and see one of their shows with me” 

Once again you nodded. At least once a month (if not more) Freddie would try and drag you along to one of their shows despite your efforts to tell him that rock concerts really weren’t your thing. 

“Well recently I’ve started to hang around with them properly, them being the band, and we’ve become rather close. You and I both know Tim of course but it’s the other band members that I’ve really started to click with. We’re even talking about getting a flat together. They still won’t let me sing in the band, but that’s an issue for another day. What I need to tell you is that they’re playing a free gig tomorrow night right here at Ealing and you and I are both going!”

You opened your mouth to protest but Freddie kept talking. 

“And don’t even try to get out of this one. I know for a fact that on Tuesdays you only work until 7, and I also know that you don’t have plans afterward because yesterday on the phone you expressed to me just how boring your week was going to be. So unless within the last 24 hours you have made plans to go out late on a Tuesday night after work, you have no excuse not to go with me to this.” 

You stared back at him in disbelief. 

“Alright Fred, you got me fair and square. I will go with you tomorrow,”

“Excellent!” he exclaimed, “I’ll be at Selmer’s to pick you up from work at 7 PM sharp tomorrow. Oh, this is going to be so fun!” 

“Sounds like a plan,” and then you added, “And just because I’m going this time it doesn’t mean you’ll get me to go next time.” 

“Fair enough,” Freddie said, “but you’re going to have so much fun tomorrow night that I won’t even have to ask you to go with me again.” 

And with that he sprung up and made his way over to the counter to order some food, leaving you alone to wonder what on earth you had gotten yourself into. 

——

The store was surprisingly slow for a Tuesday evening. Two hours into your shift and only three people had come in, and all within ten minutes of each other. To kill time you had started reorganizing the reed display, but quickly lost interest and for the past hour and a half you had simply been sitting behind the counter, listening to the old rock n roll music that played in the background, and thinking about nothing in particular. 

(2) 

🎵Without her I will be in misery (oh oh oh)

In misery (ooh ooh ooh)

My misery (la la la la la la) 🎵 

As the song came to a close you heard the bell over the door jingle, alerting you that someone had just walked through the door. You craned your neck around the counter to see a guy with long dirty blond hair looking around frantically as though he had lost something. 

“Hi,” you said, “Welcome to Selmer’s, can I help you find anyth-“

“Guitar strings!” he nearly shouted, “I need guitar strings!” 

“Okay,” you said slowly, “do you have any idea as to which type of strings?” 

“Oh shit...uh, I don’t know. The normal kind I guess? I just need strings!” he once again looked around frantically, eyes finally settling on the clock on the wall behind you. “Shit! I’m so going to be late!” 

“Ok slow down a second,” you said calmly, “what’s all the hurry about? What, are you about to go onstage any second now?” You had meant it as a joke but to your surprise, he screamed, 

“Yes!” 

“Oh shit sorry I didn’t actually think you were- ok, um, so you don’t know the type of string but do you know what model the guitar is?”

“It’s uh...oh dammit I don’t know.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but what kind of guitarist doesn’t know the kind of guitar they play?” 

“I’m not the guitarist,” he said, “I’m the drummer. Our guitarist broke a string like ten minutes ago so I ran out to grab him more while he helped the rest of our band keep setting up.”

“Ah, I see,” you said. “Well since you don’t know which kinds of strings he uses I’ll just give you some Fender 12 gauges. They’re pretty standard, I’ve got a lot of people who use them so hopefully that should be ok.” 

“Yeah, those should be alright.”

You rang up the package and handed it to him. 

“Thank you so much, you just saved our show.”

“My pleasure,” you said as you handed him the strings, “I hope these will work out for you guys tonight, and if not, well then you didn’t buy them here.” 

He laughed at your comment. 

“You’re funny,” he said. “Normally I would stay around and chat, maybe ask for your number, but I do kind of have to be going or else my bandmates will have my head on a spike. But it was great to meet you…uh….”

“Y/N,” you answered his unspoken question. 

“Great to meet you Y/N, I’m Roger.” Is all he said before turning on his heel and sauntering out through the doorway. You could tell he was trying to maintain a cool, laid back composure despite having burst through your door in a panic not ten minutes prior. You laughed to yourself, wondering if you would ever see him again. 

Looking at the clock you saw that it was eight till 7. Freddie would be here any minute. You got right to work closing up the store for the night. You were right in the middle of locking the window display cases when once again you heard the bell over the door ring. 

“Hello darling I hope you’re ready for a concert!” Freddie’s melodious voice sang out. 

“Hey Fred, just give me two more minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” you replied. 

“I have been absolutely restless all day today thinking about tonight,” Freddie continued, “We are going to have so much fun!” 

He made his way over to the counter and leaned against it, facing your back. “I really think you’re going to like their music,” he continued, “they’ve got a very real sound, none of that formulaic clean-cut bullshit.”

“I told you, Freddie,” you said, turning around to face him, “I make no promises as to whether or not I’ll like them. But they do sound quite lovely from the way you describe them.” 

With that, you shut off all the lights, lock up the doors, and the two of you were on your way. 

____

The concert was being held in the student center at Ealing, right in the middle of the campus. On a normal day the large open room was typically used for fundraisers, game nights, and a variety of other student-run activities, but every now and then the school would allow bands to put on shows. As you walked through the door you were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people packed into the room. All the tables and chairs had been pushed to the sides making it so it was barely possible to sit down, though there were a few people who had managed to squeeze themselves into a seat. You were about to follow their lead, your eyes fixed on an empty table close to the back, but Freddie grabbed you by the arm and pulled you both up to the very front. 

“Do we really have to be this close, Fred? I can hear just as well from back there,” you said, gesturing towards the table you had so lovingly had your eye on. 

“Darling we’re seeing a rock concert, not the symphony, it’s not just about being able to hear them. Watching them play and being right up in the middle of things is all part of the experience.” 

You looked at him rather quizzically. 

“Alright, but if I get my ears blown out tonight it’s your fault.”

“That’s the spirit! Now I’m going to go and get us both something to drink. I’ll be right back.” 

As you watched your friend disappear into the crowd of students you turned to focus your attention on the stage in front of you.  They had taken the small stage that permanently stayed in the back of the student center and never usually saw anything more exciting than experimental theater pieces put on by the drama students, and had completely transformed it into something out of a whimsical fever dream. Brightly colored metallic fabrics had been draped over the dingy, dust-filled curtain that hung behind the stage. In the center of the stage sat a drum kit with a giant red-lipped smile on the bass drum. To the side, there were two guitars on stands, a pretty standard bass guitar, which you recognized as Tim’s, and a guitar which you had never seen the likes of before. It was a bright cherry red color with a black pickguard and it was oddly round in shape. You had been working at a well-stocked music store for nearly two years now and had never seen any guitar that remotely resembled it before. To top it all off you saw that they had covered the lights facing the stage with different colored translucent films, further adding to the whimsical ambiance. 

You know, this actually seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun. Dammit, Fred, why’d you have to be right. 

You shook your head to yourself and began to look around to see if you could see Freddie anywhere when suddenly everyone started clapping. 

The band was making its way onstage. On bass, there was Tim Staffell. He went to Ealing, studying graphic design, and was a good friend of Freddie’s. The three of you often went out together for drinks. You then looked over to see the man behind the drum kit and couldn’t believe what you saw. Sitting there was Roger, the guy you had sold guitar strings to mere hours ago. 

“Ha!” You said aloud.

“What’s so funny?” Interjected Freddie, who had just appeared next to you holding two beers. 

“I know the drummer,” you said. 

“You know Roger?”

“Yeah,” you continue, chuckling, “I sold him guitar strings a few hours ago. He was in a right panic about it. Apparently, their guitarist broke one earlier and didn’t have any extras on hand.”

“Brian didn’t have any extra strings on him? That must have really caused a panic, I don’t think Brian has ever forgotten anything in his entire life.” 

“I’m assuming Brian is the guitarist?”

“Yeah, and he’s bloody brilliant at it. There he is right there.” Freddie pointed to the man standing on the right of the stage. He was incredibly tall and lanky, with a head full of unruly curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. He was wearing black pinstriped trousers and a white top which he had accessorized with the most interesting looking fuzzy vest. He exuded the most peculiar combination of confidence and recluse, and as he stood there fiddling with his guitar you couldn’t help but think he was the most beautiful person you had ever seen. 

You turned to say something to Freddie, but before you could get any words out Tim had started talking into the microphone. 

“Hello Ealing!” He shouted. He was met with a resounding chorus of cheers and whoops from the crowd. “We are Smile!” More cheers. “You all know me, I’m Tim Staffell, over there on guitar we have Brian May, and back there on the drums is Roger Taylor. We’ve got a good set for you tonight, all originals except for a few, and we’re going to start with a song called Step On Me.” 

At once they struck up an upbeat tune and it didn’t take long for the audience to start dancing and singing along with them. 

(3)

🎵Know what I said when I saw you crying

Hang on that’s folly

I was weak in the head out to meet your lying

You’re just a bad memory 

My life was going to be better

My why did I never ever see she’d step on me🎵

As you listened to them sing you couldn’t help but nod and dance along with the rest of the audience. Fred was right again, they really did have a sound the likes of which you had never heard before. Not only were their harmonies perfectly in tune, but they had an almost angelic quality to them that pulled you in, wanting to hear more. 

“Well now look who’s actually having a good time,” Freddie said to you as they finished their first song. I knew you would like them. 

“They really are something else,” you said, “although I would probably like them even more if I weren’t surrounded by so many people right now.” 

Freddie laughed. 

“I guess I’ll have to talk to Tim about getting you a private show then.”  

They went from song to song, each one more enjoyable than the last, and while you tried to keep your attention from wavering, you kept finding yourself drawn to Brian the guitarist. Freddie hadn’t been lying when he said that Brian was bloody brilliant at what he did. You watched him easily play his way through several guitar solos, making them sound effortless, though with your musical knowledge (and by the look on his face) you could tell that they were anything but that. He played with a look of concentration on his face, never wavering except for the few times he looked up and out into the crowd. It was then, you noticed, that a small smile would cross his face. 

All too soon Tim was at the microphone again, announcing that this would be their last song. You felt as if you could continue to listen to their music for hours and wished to yourself that the show wasn’t over yet. 

“You all have been such a great crowd tonight,” Tim went on, “and so to finish we’re going to be bringing you everyone’s favorite: Doing Alright!” 

If you thought you had liked the songs they had played the rest of the night, then you loved this one. It started out with a slow ballad, complete with more complex guitar work, but as it went on it morphed into hard rock with grit and feeling. You thought the juxtaposition of the two styles was a daring choice seeing as it would be easy to mess up, but they did it with such grace and style so that it completely worked. When the song finally came to a close and the band took their bows you joined in with the thunderous applause and cheering. 

“Fred, I’ve got to say it: I really did enjoy myself tonight. It was a little loud and crowded for my liking but I think the music and the show were able to make up for it, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll come with you again.”

“Oh that’s wonderful darling! I knew tonight was going to be a success. But it’s not quite over yet.”

“No?”

“Of course not! You didn’t think you were going to get away without meeting the band, also known as my new friends. C’mon, they’re probably around somewhere outside packing up.”

You and Freddie fought your way through the crowds of students to get to the door and out into the night air. As Freddie had said, you found Tim and Roger sitting on the back of a van which you could see was full up of their equipment. Brian was nowhere in sight. 

“Freddie! So glad you could make it!” Exclaimed Roger, standing up. “And,” he turned to you, “I don’t believe it. Y/N from the music store, why on earth didn’t you tell me you were coming to the show tonight?” 

“Mostly because I had no idea this was your band,” you replied, laughing. “Freddie here has been after me to see and meet you guys for ages.” 

“And,” said Roger, “what do you think?”

“Coming from someone who doesn’t tend to enjoy rock concerts, I thought you guys were wonderful. I did not expect to enjoy myself tonight as much as I did. I think you’ve really got something special here.”

“You flatter us too much,” said Tim, “if you keep talking like that we’re all gonna get big heads. And Roger’s is big enough as is.”

“Hey!” said Roger, but he smiled. 

“So,” you continue, “Freddie said you guys are thinking about getting a flat together?”

“Yeah, Brian and I found this place up the road a little, Brian’s our guitarist by the way,” said Roger. 

At the mention of his name, you could feel your heart flutter slightly in your chest.

“Freddie mentioned him,” you said, “Did the strings end up working out for him?”

“I thought they were fine, but Bri gets particular about these things. I guess they were the wrong brand or gauge or something like that. He kept going on about how he was going to sound awful tonight and his sound was going to be too abrasive.”

“Well yes, different strings are going to give you different sounds and I don’t know what he usually uses, but you guys sounded just great to me.”

Part of you desperately wanted to ask where he was right now, but you decided against it. 

Against your better judgment, you had let Freddie convince you to stay around and talk with him, Tim, and Roger for a while longer. In that time you learned that Roger was studying to be a dentist at London Hospital Medical School, and Brian was over at the Imperial College studying, as Roger put it, “some sort of space physics.” 

“He’s real into all that,” Roger continued, “but I can’t say the same for myself. I get good marks and all that, professors think I have a lot of ‘promise’, whatever that means, but a dentist for the rest of my life? I’m not sure I could handle that. Nah, I’m hoping to stay in rock n roll for as long as I can. What about you? You’re over at Ealing with Fred and Tim, right? Are you another graphic design nerd like these guys?”

“No, music actually. Nothing like what you guys do,” you added, seeing Roger’s face light up, “classical repertoire mostly. I play the flute.”

“You any good?”

“I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I tend to think I’m shit, but you ask any music student and they’ll tell you the same thing.”

“Oh don’t be like that, Y/N,” interjected Freddie, “she’s bloody marvelous. She can play you Bach like you’ve never heard before, although Roger I don’t think you have ever heard it before.”

“Oh come off it, I’ve heard my fair share of the classical stuff.”

“Yes, next time you go to the symphony be sure to refer to it as ‘the classical stuff’ I’m sure you won’t get any funny looks at all.”

You and Tim howled with laughter at Freddie’s comment while Roger gave him a good punch in the shoulder. 

“Dear god, look at the time,” you said a moment later after having glanced at your watch. “Is it really two thirty in the morning?!”

“I suppose it is,” said Tim, “sure hasn’t felt that long.”

“I’ve really got to be going then,” you said.

“Aw c’mon stay out for a little longer with us,” said Tim, “Fred and I hardly get to see you anymore.”

“I know, and I wish that I could, but I’ve got class at 8 tomorrow morning and I should at least try to get some sleep.”

“Oh alright go on, we know you’re right,” said Freddie, “I should probably be going myself, I am quite exhausted.”

“See ya later Fred,” said Roger, “great to see you again, Y/N. You should come round to the flat once we get it, we’d all love to see you again and you can meet Brian as well.”

The flutter was back. 

“I definitely will,” you replied before giving them all a wave and starting back to your own flat. 

[prorevenge]

You okay the project for the whole team? Great turn it in to the professor tomorrow

Tl/dr; Kids in group project don’t take having a real life client seriously, 1 fails, 1 fails and doesn’t graduate, and 1 goes from A to C and screws up GPA.

  Enough of the Backstory, here are the characters, obviously no where near their real names:

Matt - Professor

Client - Store owner

Damien - Project Partner

Jeff - Project Partner

Kirk - Project Partner

Barry - Me

      The SPRING class in this story was a Implementing Business Computer Systems class. For the yearly project we had a real life client that our school volunteered the students for Pro Bono work of small business in the area. We were seniors, so we are trusted with the clients work as it is oversaw by our professor. This is a big step and I, for one, am excited. I had been doing nothing but working as a Bartender/Server in a fine dining restaurant and having my head in books learning how to code with barely any time to do much else - this was an opportunity to get a taste of the real world we were about to embark on.

      The project started out fine, we all drive thirty minutes away to meet our client. A wonderful woman that owned a small floral business and she was paying 1-800-flowers to sell her product for her, which came with a website itself and a HUGEEEE price. This lady was also in her 60s and by no means fluent in computer - this is important for later. We talk, find out she wants a new website, her contract with 1-800-assholes ends in the summer. No pressure, we will be able to finish the web site and give it to her by the end of the semester, if not earlier. This will give us time to teach her what is needed and what to do so that she can maintain and run the website by her self. Afterwards we delegate the tasks, and since I have the most extensive background in coding and computers, I volunteer to learn how to create this website for our client as long as Damien, Jeff and Kirk work on the other parts of the project - the user guide and the technical documentation. For our client, this needed to be extensive so that she would be able to post her product on the website with an easy transition.

      As we weigh our options over the next week, we come up with some proposals to the client and we set a meeting to go over these on a Tuesday - the day everybody is the most free in their schedule - the following week. Sunday - Jeff says he can't make it, Kirk quickly responds and says he can't make it either. I say its cool, Damien and I will be able to make it. Monday - Damien says we should reschedule because now he can't make it. I say no, I will go by myself we shouldn't cancel on the client - no biggie, I understand things come up. As the project went through the semester, I am killing the website. I have a working e-commerce store integrated with the stores paypal, i have a shop tab, and a featured page for in season flowers. I ask about the documentation and the user manual and I am told by the all three of them that they are working on it and will have a rough draft for me soon to check out. Cool, No problem. Time to show the client the product to see if she wants any changes or if we should just continue creating this website for her; we set a meeting with the client on a Tuesday a week or two in advance and everybody says that is okay.

      Same song, different story. Sunday - Jeff says he can't make it, Kirk quickly responds and says he can't make it either. I say its cool, Damien and I will be able to make it. Monday - Damien says we should reschedule because now he can't make it. "I say fuck no, this is a client. You don't do that to clients." So I hop my ass by myself to drive 30 minutes to meet our client. I show the Client the website and she client is happy with the product and asks us to continue and she is excited for the finished product.

      How our weeks are set up is in such a way which they start on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday. So the last day of classes are on a Tuesday. The school then gives an extra free day that Wednesday for a "Study Day", then the exams schedule goes Thu-Fri-Sat || Mon-Tues-Wed. I am sure you can infer what students do on that Tuesday before study day. Fast forward to the end of the semester, I still haven't seen any documentation or user manual and it is due on the class' exam day, which is the first day of exam week. So a week before it is due I am told I will have the documentation and user manual in my hand before our meeting which is at 12PM that study day - Wednesday. I receive a email at 11PM on Tuesday as I am getting off work and I see that is the technical documentation and the user manual. i open it up, promptly get pissed, turn off my laptop, play some xbox and pass out before midnight. The reason being, technical documentation was 1 page and did not contain anything about the Database Schema used, the website language, the paypal information, the emails registered. Just the URL and some other information that wasn't important and was half a page long. Remember how our client was in her 60s? The user manual was 1 and a half pages long and, I shit you not, contained about 5 sentences and 3 pictures with an arrow. 0 explanation on how to use the website.

      Come to the meeting at 12pm, I show up and wait about 5 minutes. I then text everybody asking where they are at, no response. I start looking over how to fix the user manual since I obviously have to start over. While I am working on it, I haven't said anything and then Damien walks into the room.

  D: "Did you get the docs?"

Me: "Yeah. You guys really think this is finished?"

D: "Oh yeah, it should be good to turn in."

Me: "Idk, I think we should add a little more, this is for our client, she won't understand this. Where is Jeff and Kirk?"

D: " ahhahaha We all got fucked up last night after finishing up the documentation, they are probably still passed out. Also, I'm turning it in tomorrow, if you want to do anything else go ahead, but whatever I have I am turning it in. I think its ready to turn it so I won't be doing anything else, I have other classes to study for. I already have an A in this class so it doesn't matter to me and Kirk and Jeff have A's as well so they don't care at all."

      Perfect he said the magic words and then he left with a flash drive. I immediately went upstairs and told my professor, Matt, everything. I said I don't want to leave my client hanging, yes my client, not ours. Matt said that he completely understands and even commends me for wanting to stay on top of everything and not give our client a bad taste for our students. He then asks why. I simply stated, "What you are about to receive tomorrow for 'our' project is completely unacceptable. It is unfair for us and for our client to leave her hanging." I showed him the website, which he likes and then I showed him the user guide and technical documentation. I asked for an extra week to finish the documentation and user guide - as I had a plan for what it should be and needed time to create it all. Matt said absolutely, but forget about the documentation. You obviously know what is in it, just focus on the client. So I created user videos with dictation, drove to the client and showed her how to use it all, where to find the videos. I even created a program that had all the videos inside so she could have it on her desktop and the program pulled up the video of her choice for whatever she needed help with with some buttons so she wouldn't have to search folders for the videos. I gave her my contact info and said I'll be here over the summer if she ever needs help with the website or has any questions and I can swing by.

    After all of this happened and afterwards I gave an update to Matt who also had an update from me. Apparently he almost failed the rest of my group because they turned in their project by slipping an unmarked USB drive under his door. He only accepted it after they emailed him asking him if he received the USB. Matt also called our client to verify my story of the fact that they never showed for client meetings and the client told him I was the only person that has been showing up. Hearing this from other people, anybody in my group that had A's in the class leading up to the project got a C, anybody with a B in the class failed. Damien's GPA was screwed up from this class as it was a 4 hours class. Kirk and Jeff both failed and Jeff wasn't allowed to graduate and Kirk had to retake it the next semester even though he wasn't graduating. My grade which was an 84 before the project was bumped to an A. The next year Damien asked how I did in that class because he was confused about his final grade, and I simply said I did fine, received an A. He has no idea the reason why. Don't f*ck with me and my grade and I won't f*ck with you.

(source) story by (/u/sw1mm3r202)

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

Moonlight Chapter 12: The Enemy of My Enemy

A fanfic Novel by la-topolina

Rated for Mature Audiences

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual Content

Chapter 12/26

Moonlight Masterpost+

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Chapter Thirteen+ >>

Sometimes it’s best to take matters into your own hands, Miranda thought as she appeared outside the wards at Hogwarts on a cold Tuesday a week before Christmas. The wind cut through her cloak like a knife and hurried clouds across the inky blackness of the sky. She strode towards the school, sincerely hoping that she would not encounter its Potions Master. She still missed him more than she would have liked, although now she was also rather irritated with him for his imperious way of ending their affair. Whenever her thoughts turned to Severus, she firmly told herself that it was really neither here nor there how she felt about him. With a bit of luck, she’d be leaving England soon and she expected the distance would help her forget. 

Miranda hoped that Albus Dumbledore would be the man to aid her in accomplishing her escape. She was due to meet him at eight o’clock that evening about her troubles and, while she was a bit trepidatious to return to his office after that last difficult meeting, she was sanguine enough to expect that this one would be better. She walked with a swift, but measured step, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead of her, and trying to ignore the growing feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Fortune was with her, and she met no one as she entered the oaken doors and wound her way through the maze of corridors and staircases.

“Squashies,” she said to the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the headmaster’s office. It slid aside and she made it to the griffin-shaped knocker with five minutes to spare. She tapped lightly and the office door swung open, revealing Albus standing near the window, studying the Pleiades peeking shyly through the clouds.

“Ah, Miss Rose. Still punctual I see,” he said, crossing to his desk. “Do sit down.”

“I wanted to thank you for taking the time to see me. I know you must be very busy,” Miranda replied, taking the chair across from his desk.

“It is my pleasure, though I must admit I was rather surprised that you wanted to see me. I know your last visit to my office was an unpleasant one.”

“It was, and I hope this one will be better.”

“That is my hope as well.” Albus plucked a cigarette out of the air and offered it to her.

She smiled slowly and accepted the offering. After it was lit, she said, “I wanted to talk to you about the task you’ve given me.”

“Yes, you’ve been doing an excellent job failing to find your quarry. Do you require compensation? I realize that we are interrupting your work, perhaps to your detriment.”

She shook her head. “Not at the moment. The Ministry will cover my expenses for the duration of the actual tracking. Of course, there won’t be a pay off at the end.”

“I will ensure that there is. Please do not concern yourself about that.”

This was going better than she had hoped. “Thank you, Headmaster.” 

“I would be delighted if you would call me Albus.”

She studied him a moment before answering, “Very well, Albus. And please call me Miranda.”

“Thank you, Miranda. I want you to know that your current assignment, however tedious, is extremely helpful at the moment.

“Yes, that is what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t think it is a good idea for me to continue searching for Mr. Black here. Minister Fudge seems content to wait, but Mr. Malfoy is starting to breathe down my neck. I’m not terribly concerned for myself yet, but he’s been making comments about my family in America. I think it would be best if I could put some distance between us, but I still need him to think I’m doing my job.”

“I see. That is rather troubling.” Albus’s brow furrowed as he considered this for a few moments. Finally he said, “I hear that Romania is an excellent place to hide this time of year. I expect that you will receive some intelligence very shortly concerning the sighting of a large black dog and a Hippogriff.”

“How marvelous. I’ll be ready to leave by twelfth night.”

“Excellent. And have you given any thought to the second issue we discussed?”

“You mean, am I willing to help the Order of the Phoenix?”

“Precisely.”

Miranda looked very thoughtful. “I don’t want to risk MACUSA sanctioning me by joining the Order, but I am willing to help, unofficially. Do you have something in mind?”

“In fact, I do.” He snapped his fingers and a file folder appeared on his desk in front of her. “When you get to Romania, I want you to look in on a young man named Charlie Weasley. He is recruiting for the Order and he tells me that he could do with a witch experienced in dueling wizards and subduing magical creatures.”

She opened the file and a stocky red-headed man waved at her from a photograph. “Sounds entertaining. I’ll do it.” She picked up the file and began studying its contents.

“Very good, thank you Miranda. Please take your time with Charlie’s file. You may leave it on my desk when you are finished. I’m afraid there are a few things I must attend to.”

“I will. Should I contact you?”

“I will contact you, or you can send a message through Charlie when you get to Romania. Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“It would be best if you mentioned as little of this as possible to Severus. The less each of you knows about your respective missions, the safer it will be for you both.”

Miranda kept her eyes on the file. “That won’t be a problem Albus. I haven’t seen Severus since the beginning of November.”

Albus’s eyebrows went up at that, but he did not ask any questions. “Well, I wish you good night and good luck, my dear.”

“Thank you. The same to you.”

It was close to ten when Miranda thought she had memorized everything she needed to know. She replaced the file on Albus’s desk, stretched, and began the trek back to the first floor. She felt the butterflies return to her stomach as soon as she passed the silent gargoyle. Affecting an air of nonchalance, she resumed her measured pace, humming The Minstrel Boy quietly to herself. She had every right to be here, after all. Why should she care if she saw anyone?

When she reached the fourth floor, she got a bit turned around. She stopped humming and spent a few minutes trying to remember the way she had come before. Eventually she chose a path and she was passing the library when she heard the voice she had been hoping to avoid.

“Good night, Minerva,” Severus was saying somewhere behind her.

Miranda forgot her intention not to run and soundlessly dashed around the corner. She found a darkened classroom and, without thinking, she ducked into it, closing the door behind her.

“Looks like we’re caught, Fred,” said a voice.

She turned and saw the identical smiling faces of two young red-haired men. Young men who looked a bit like the man whose file she had spent the last hour memorizing. Who, as she recalled, had a pair of twin brothers.

“Fred and George Weasley, I presume?” she asked with a smile.

“Guilty,” began Fred.

“….as charged,” finished George. “Who are you?”

“Someone with a soft spot for troublemakers,” Miranda said.

The pair exchanged a look and fixed her with an imploring expression. “We don’t suppose you could give us a hand then?” asked Fred.

“That depends. What is it?” she asked good-naturedly.

“Well,” said George, “Professor Snape has been lurking around for the last half-hour and we really should get back to our common room before we get expelled.”

“Do you think you could create a diversion?” Fred asked.

“Not that we’d mind being expelled,” George added, “but we had planned to stay in school a bit longer. We’re not quite finished with our product line…” 

“Who’s there?” demanded Severus’s voice as he rounded the corner.

Miranda’s eyes snapped to the door, and then back to the twins. She sighed, gave them a bemused smile, and said, “Of course I’ll help you. Stay here until I get him out of the way and then get back where you’re supposed to be. And don’t get caught.”

“Will do.” they said together.

She gathered her nerve and gripped the doorknob. 

“Show yourself,” Severus hissed in the hall.

Now or never, she thought, opening the door and fixing an exasperated expression on her face.

“Oh for goodness’ sake, Severus, it’s only me,” she said in an irritated tone. “I don’t know how any of you can stand to navigate this place. I’ve been wandering around for half an hour trying to find the front door. I should have left a trail of breadcrumbs.”

The look on his face was worth her discomfort in seeing him. He was staring at her incredulously, his eyes wide and his mouth ever so slightly open.

“Don’t just stand there staring,” she chided, tapping her foot impatiently. “Are you going to help me or not?”

He snapped his mouth shut and gave her a dubious look. “This way,” he said.

She kept pace with him and they walked in palpable silence. She let her face relax into a mask of calm unconcern, but her heart was racing. She wished that she were not quite so aware of his physical presence next to her, but surely she could manage the feeling for the brief time it would take to reach the front door. She had no idea what he was thinking, but knowing him he was probably incredibly annoyed to encounter her so unexpectedly. Well, no matter, she’d be out of Hogwarts in five minutes and off to bigger and better things. He was a grown man—he could deal with it.

When they reached the entrance hall, he suddenly ordered, “Stay here.” Then he turned and stalked off without a word of explanation.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot, eyeing the front door. Where the hell did he get off giving her orders? And what the hell was she doing following them? He’d made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with her. Why on earth would he want to talk to her now? Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had a tiny, hopeful thought that perhaps he was regretting his decision to end things so abruptly. She immediately tried to squash the idea but, to her annoyance, she stayed where she was.

Five minutes or so later Severus returned wearing his cloak and they stalked out into the cold night together. The wind had died down, but the air stung the nose and their breath fogged the space in front of them as they walked. The clouds had fled, and the stars shone brightly without the competition of the jealous moon. Miranda turned her attention to them, picking out constellations in order to avoid looking at her companion.

When they were approaching the lake, he asked silkily, “Have you received sufficient blows to the head that you actually mistook a classroom for an exit?”

“Orion is bright tonight,” she replied, completely ignoring his jab.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Buying postage stamps. They’re hideously overpriced in London.”

He stopped walking and grabbed her arm. “Don’t toy with me. What are you doing here?”

She turned her flashing eyes from the stars to his, her jaw set. She held his gaze and slowly peeled his fingers off her arm, one by one. 

When she had finished, she said smoothly, “Severus, have you ever heard the expression ‘You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?’”

The corner of his mouth twitched and he replied, “I only collect flies in order to murder them. Honey seems somehow disingenuous.” He paused for a moment and then added, “You’re looking well, Miranda.”

She raised an eyebrow and allowed, “So are you. I thought we weren’t supposed to be talking.”

His expression darkened. “No. I suppose not.” He made no move to leave and, after another pause he said, “I’m surprised you haven’t returned to America.”

She shrugged. “I have a case. It’s not glamorous or exciting, but it’s work I’ve committed to. Besides,” she smiled wryly, “Malfoy’s not going to let me go that easily.”

“Has he threatened you?” he asked sharply.

“Not me directly. But I have a lot of liabilities in America and he has a long reach.”

“How unfortunate.”

“It is what it is. I sent home a nice package of bullets with the Christmas presents and I can always ask Aaron to put an Auror or two on my family if things get too hot.”

He frowned and said, “I should think that Lucius would send someone capable of casting a shield charm sufficient to block a bullet.”

She smiled and answered, “Not the kind of bullets I make.” By this time Miranda’s face was raw with the cold. She glanced up at the stars then back at Severus and said, “I’d better be going. I was supposed to meet Aaron half an hour ago and he’ll think I’m dead if I’m much later. Good night, Severus.”

For a instant he looked as though he were going to take a step closer to her, but he must have thought better of it. He gave her a short bow and said, “Good night, Miranda.” Then he turned and started back towards the school. When he reached the door, he glanced back over his shoulder, but she had already been swallowed up by the night.

*****

Miranda was crossing the Atrium on her way out of the Ministry of Magic the next afternoon, mostly pleased with the way her meeting with Fudge and Malfoy had gone. She’d presented her new ‘intelligence’ and the men had agreed to her expanding her search to Romania. Malfoy had seemed less enthusiastic about the idea than Fudge but, in the end, he had not argued with her overmuch. She had even managed to put off the next meeting to the beginning of February.

She was trying to make a mental list of supplies she would need and research that should be done, but her thoughts kept straying back to her unexpected encounter with Severus the night before. She had sufficient pride that she was not about to go sniffing after him again. However, she also realized that he’d gotten under her skin enough that she probably wouldn’t make it terribly difficult for him if he were to decide to come sniffing after her. Not that it mattered, of course. In the next week or so she’d be out of the country and she highly doubted that their paths would cross before then. 

“A moment, Miss Rose,” Lucius Malfoy’s oily voice interrupted her thoughts.

She sighed and pasted a smile on her face. “Yes, Mr. Malfoy?” she replied, turning to face him.

He gave her a cold smile and said, “Miss Rose, Cornelius may be patient with you, but I expect results. I have been giving you a long leash up to now. Don’t force me to shorten it. If you think that leaving the country will put you out of my reach, rest assured that I can find you, where ever you run.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Mr. Malfoy, I am shocked that you would suggest that I am intending to run out on a job. I would have thought that my references and track record speak for themselves.”

He took a step closer to her and said, “I am simply reminding you of your place.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of my place.”

“I doubt that.” He pulled a photograph out of a pocket and handed it to her. “Such a handsome family you have, Miss Rose. For Muggle scum, of course.”

She took the photograph slowly and saw that it featured her entire family gathered at Thanksgiving. She put it in her bag and said cooly, “How kind of you to think of me. I’ll put it on my mantel.”

“Did you know that your sister-in-law Anna is pregnant? My, you do breed like puffskeins.”

“I get the point, Mr. Malfoy.”

He looked like a cat playing with a mouse. “I’m glad to hear it.” He took another step closer to her and added, “I do hope that you and Severus are being more circumspect in your liaison. The Prince line has been polluted with enough Muggle blood as it is.”

Her eyes flashed and she said in a very low voice, “I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear you say that. Really, that entire evening at Malfoy Manor was ridiculous, and I’m sure we’d all rather forget that it happened.”

Lucius’s face contorted in anger, but before he could do anything Aaron’s voice echoed through the Atrium.

“Miranda?” Aaron called. “Where have you been? We’re supposed to be having lunch and I’m starving.” As he caught up to the pair, he added, “Lucius, how are you? I’m looking forward to your Christmas party.”

Lucius gave Aaron a short bow. “Aaron. I’m glad to know that you and your wife will grace us with your presence.”

Aaron returned Lucius’s bow. “I’m afraid my wife won’t make it. She’s in the family way and not feeling her best at the moment.”

“How unfortunate. But, of course, we do have to indulge our women when they are breeding.”

“Ain’t it the truth? Miranda here has agreed to accompany me. Narcissa said it wouldn’t be a problem, and I hope that you don’t mind. Miranda and I are schoolmates from Ilvermorny and she’s going to be my child’s godmother.”

A terrible smile spread across Lucius’s face as he turned back to Miranda. “No. I don’t mind at all. Good day Miss Rose. Aaron.” 

Lucius strode back into the Ministry as Aaron and Miranda headed out of it. Neither spoke as they wound their way through the busy London streets. They managed to find a deserted alley a few blocks away for Apparation purposes and they appeared with a crack next to a dumpster behind the Waitrose in New Union Square. Miranda followed Aaron to a drab green door marked ‘Deliveries.’ He tapped the door with his finger and a eye appeared in a crack in the paint.

“Shenandoah,” Aaron said, and the crack split open enough for the two of them to pass through. They slid down a long chute and landed comfortably on the springy floor below. They scrambled to their feet and Aaron waved to a gruff-looking guard sitting behind a desk emblazoned with the imposing MACUSA eagle. 

“ ‘ello Mr. Lee,” The man grunted.

“Hello Nick. Quiet afternoon?”

The other man shrugged and Aaron did not feel the need to continue the conversation. He led Miranda between a row of bronze beaux arts goddesses; Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, and Chastity. Humility stood above the entrance to the stairwell, her head held high in challenge. Aaron’s office was on the level below and Miranda was always impressed by the jewel colored stained-glass windows depicting scenes from MACUSA history that lined the marble staircase leading to it. 

When they reached their destination and the door was safely shut behind them, Aaron leaned against his desk and said, “You want to tell me what’s been going on?”

“I thought we were having lunch,” she replied.

“I already ate with a fella who works at the Ministry; that’s why I was over there. I didn’t know I was going to be getting you out of hot water.”

“I was managing fine by myself.”

“That’s debatable.” He conjured a cigarette for Miranda and one for himself. Once they were lit, he went around his desk and settled himself into his large rolling chair. “Now spill it.”

She sighed and threw herself into the intricately carved chair across from his desk. “I don’t even know where to start. I guess the short version is, Voldemort is back from the dead. Albus Dumbledore has the Order of the Phoenix up and running again and they’re trying to stop Voldemort from rising to power. The Ministry of Magic has its head buried in the sand. Oh, and Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater.”

“And why are you wrapped up in it? Not that I’m surprised, you have a knack for getting yourself into trouble.”

“Sirius Black—that wizard I’m supposed to be tracking—is a member of the Order. Dumbledore asked me rather forcefully not to find Black.”

“What else did you agree to?”

Miranda frowned and wandered over to the window next to Aaron’s desk. Although they were far underground, the window had been enchanted to give a view of the Lee estate back in Rockingham County. The sun was shining on the snow covered grounds and Miranda watched a cardinal pecking at the bird-feeder that hung from a barren dogwood tree for a moment before answering.

“I’m going to Romania in the new year. There’s a fellow there I’m going to help with recruitment to the Order, under the table of course. And I didn’t join myself, I’m just cooperating.”

Aaron frowned. “As consul I have to say that this isn’t a conflict we want to get wrapped up in.”

“But don’t you think we should do something to help? If Voldemort succeeds there’s no reason to think he’d be happy to stay in England. And we’ve seen Dark Wizards sneak into America before.”

Aaron smoked for a while in silence, considering. “Speaking as consul, we should keep an eye on the situation, but it’s not our problem.”

Miranda rolled her eyes. “Could you tell the consul to take a hike? I want to talk to my friend.”

He smiled. “As your friend, I agree with you. Last thing we want is another Grindelwald.”

“So you’re not going to stop me?”

“I know better than to try. You sure you want to get involved?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never been a mercenary. It’ll look good on my résumé.” He gave her a look and she added, “Joking aside, I can’t just skip out now. Malfoy’s threatening to send some goons to mess with my family if I don’t stay in line.”

Aaron’s brow furrowed. “Is he, now?”

“That’s the only reason I didn’t hex him today. Someone needs to take that man down a peg.”

“You gonna be able to behave yourself at his party?”

“I solemnly swear not to be the one to start anything,” she said in a serious tone. Then she smiled brightly and added, “But if he starts it, I’m going to finish it.”

Aaron snorted. “You just be sure he starts it. You sure you want to be there at all?”

“Are you?”

“I can’t really get out of it.”

“Then I’m game. It’ll be like old times.”

Aaron gave her a wry smile and let the full force of his southern drawl creep into his voice. “Well, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather walk into a den of Death Eaters with than you.”

“Thanks Aaron. I feel the same way.”

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

End Note:

The virtues depicted by the beaux arts statues are taken from a list of virtues complied by Benjamin Franklin.

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Moonlight Masterpost+

<< Chapter Eleven+

Chapter Thirteen+ >>

[creativestalkerrs]

Sunflower University 🌻 Prologue 🌻

The Last Night They Saw Cit Clementine

Summary; How can one night change everyone’s life forever?

Warning; sexual themes, angst, violence, swearing, drinking

Word Count; 4.1k

A/N; Part one will be up on Monday or Tuesday! I’m having so much writing this series so far 

Most universities have frats and sorority's were they party almost every night and hook up with the hottest one there. Sunflower University is no exception. In this school of six thousand students, of trust fund babies, famous celebrities and genius children, there is one main fraternity and one main sorority. Arguably harder to get in then the school itself. The Sunflower House and The Phantom House. Every spirt week, on that Friday, the Phantom House will pull the biggest and most exclusive party on campus. You’d have to be a celebrity, know someone in the house or win a ‘golden ticket’ to go inside. Although the headcount on campus was low, they didn’t want just anyone walking in those doors. They wanted the best. Due to the nature of the fraternity, they wanted all the girls in the Sunflower House to come and bring all of their hottest friends along. That included the smartest girl in the house, Cit Clementine.

Cit Clementine was a journalist for the school’s newspaper. She studied psychology, longing the day to get a job as a psychologist. She wanted nothing more than to help others. A heart of gold and sharp as a tack. Cit wasn’t one to party but she wanted to interview some frat members that night. Everyone wondered why Cit was even a member of the Sunflower House. Cit wasn’t anyone special. The leader of the house, Sadie Nyland said she was hot and smart and that guys would want to bang someone pretty in both the chest and the mind. That’s why Sadie wanted her in the house. Cit never complained, the house was nice and she didn’t have to pay for extra for housing. It was clear that Sadie never genuinely liked Cit. Sadie never really liked anyone. Sadie was brought up with no financial struggles and lived a happy life with everything handed to her. She was even handed a spot at Sunflower University, as Cit worked the hardest she could for this opportunity.

It wasn’t all bad living in that house. It never was. Sadie let her good friend be one of the sisters, Iren La Vila. She was smart, but not like Cit was. She would make out with the football team in the library as she did her cheerleading at games. She was fun to be around and Cit and Iren were lucky enough to go to the same school and even the same sorority. The sorority house was big, but there wasn’t a lot of members, considering its exclusivity. Like how I mentioned before, celebrities went to this school. Not a whole bunch, but just enough for this school to make people wonder what goes on. The Sunflower House had two celebrities. Zendaya Coleman and Billie Elish. A random two for a sorority, but a fun duo. Zendaya enrolled and got in after she found out her good friend and co-worker, Tom Holland would be joining with his friend Harrison and his two brothers Harry and Sam, she thought it would be fun to have some college life under her belt with her best buds and it turns out that they got in the Phantom House. However, Harry Holland, Tom’s younger brother moved out of the house only 3 weeks being there and moved into a dorm so he could study. What a lad. Peaches Carhart, Sadie’s best friend use to have a thing for Harrison but broke it off. Peaches were Sadie’s pet, her messager. If Sadie didn’t want to threaten someone or didn’t feel like asking someone to fuck off, Peaches would do it for her. It was no secret that Peaches was gullible. It was sad because, underneath the perfectly molded silicone, there once was a good heart that turned rotten and she is extremely intelligent as well, but throw it all away when Sadie told her she could get anyone she wanted, including Harrison Osterfeld. Venus Carlberg said she was cursed and it wasn’t one she set herself. Venus was an odd one, popular and pretty and slept with almost everyone in the Phanton House, but she was too odd for her own good. Sadie and Peaches swear she was a witch that got involved with black magic and voodoo, but they never asked nor cared just in case if it was facts. How could someone have such a good stream of luck anyways?

Due to the nature of the sorority, all the girls in that house got ready to get hammered, get laid and have a great damn time. Cit never bothered with spirt weeks, but she wanted to go to interview some of the frat guys for a project her professor, Dr. Jake Gyllenhaal assigned just a week before. Cit believed that this was a perfect opportunity to get the information she needed. Ask the questions, write the article. Cit winged out her eyeliner, pushed up her chest and tied up her converse. She was the 2nd person to be done as she waited around for all the princesses to look good. She knew their makeup would melt off before they got a chance to sleep with Tom Holland and or Dean White, the leader of the frat. 

She went downstairs to get a drink of water to see Zendaya sitting on the barstool, on her phone. Cit and Zendaya had this friendship. Zendaya was beautiful and sweet and not like everyone in this house. She was honestly the most real of them all, even more, real then Cit. Cit filled up her glass as she chugged the water down, Zendaya looking up and smiling. Cit put down the glass and sat next to Z.

“Spirit week is always the stupidest week that this university has to offer,” Cit complained, leaning her head on Z’s shoulder. Z began to pat her head, still scrolling down her dash.

“I know… but there will be free booze and Tom and the boys will be there so it won’t be that bad,” Z smiled looking at the positive side of this party.

“I need to interview Tom for my class. I’m planning on getting Mr. G’s project done this weekend so I can enjoy myself this week. Iren and I are going to go to Grece for vacation. Her family got a house there and it’s much needed,” Cit smiled as looked at what Z was doing. 

“You deserve a vacation and spring break is just around the corner… Filming all of those Spider-Man movies and school is too much. But hey, it’s fun,” Zendaya smiled, getting up from the barstool to get a glass of water.

The clinking of heels coming to the kitchen came closer. Cit looked up to see Sadia head to toe in designer. Her dress was tight and her chest was almost spilling out of it. Cit couldn’t deny that Sadie looked hot, but she still didn’t understand why she would wear all designer to a frat party. The room would be dimly lit and no one would see what bran underwear she was wearing and all those dumb frat guys would probably spill red wine all over her. “Everyone is in the car, come on sluts,” Sadie scoffed as Z finished her refreshing drink of water as Cit nodded her head and laughed to herself. Sadie turned on her heel and left, phone in hand as she was texting one of the guys that they were on their way. 

“Don’t want to keep princess bitch ass waiting,” Zendaya laughed as they both laughed and walked out of the kitchen and to the car. Cit still didn’t understand why they could have walked. It was only three blocks from their house. 

As all the girls talked, or lack of talking, Cit felt a bit dizzy. She looked down and try not to speak. “What’s wrong with you?” Peaches asked, with concern yet arrogance. Cit took a deep breathe in and smiled.

“I just feel a bit dizzy… I’ll be fine,” Cit smiled.

“You better be fine, Clit. If you fucking ruin this for me, you’ll be out of the house in only a matter of minutes. Remember, you represent me. All of you represent me. If you look bad, I look bad and I don’t want Tom and Dean to think I look bad,” Sadie barked. Sadie was more of an arrogant asshole when she’s stressed. Especially when its spirit week.

“Hey calm down, Sadie!” Iren barked back. “No need to take out your stress of Cit... “ Iren throw her arm on Cit, rubbing her back.

“Ah, whatever… sorry, I guess,” Sadie rolled her eyes as she pulled out her phone. 

“Why do you want to look good for Tom or Dean anyways?” Z asked.

“Dean is the leader. Two leaders need to look good, if he doesn’t think I look good, he can ruin me and all of you. We’re rivals, yet we need each other to even everything out. And with Tom, he’s mine. Have you seen us?” Sadie grind.

“Tom isn’t anyone's. What makes you think he wants you?” Venus asked as Z rolled her eyes at Sadie, knowing her friend would never date someone as bitchy as Sadie Nyland.

“Just look at me. I’m hot,” Sadie smiled and winked.

“Do you think that’s a bit degrading? Do you want to be more than a piece of meat for guys to droll over? I mean don’t get me wrong Sadie, you are hot, but you can also be witty and funny. I think guys would like that too,” Cit explained, trying her best to not tell her off.

“Witty and funny won’t get you anywhere. I’m a leader and I have to use everything to be on top… Thank god we’re here. All this chat is starting to make me dizzy too,” Sadie rolled her eyes as everyone began to exit the vehicle. Cit being the last one out. Iren helped Cit, walking her in to make sure she would be fine. Cit walked in the house, music blasting. 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Iren asked at the front door.

“Yea… I’ll be fine. I’ll find you if I’m not. Enjoy yourself,” Cit smiled giving Iren a hug.

“Are you double sure?” Iren asked.

“I’m double sure. I’m going to find some of the frat guys to interview them. I don’t think I’ll be drinking much,” Cit smiled as she grabbed her note pad out of her bag. She looked around the crowd of people to find any member of the frat. It didn’t take long for Sadie to grind up on Dean White or Peaches to flirt and or fight with Harrison. Cit sighed and went to the kitchen to get herself some beer. 

Pouring herself a cup in a red solo cup, she became a wallflower, writing what she saw from the sidelines. She still felt dizzy but it didn’t bother her too much. Cit just though if she survived one hour of this bullshit and got what she needed, then she can leave without Sadie noticing or caring. 

“Why are you not dancing?” One member of the frat asked. It was Sam. Cit smiled as she took a drink.

“I feel a bit dizzy. I’ll dance a little later… Hey, you’re a member of this frat. Can I ask you a few questions? It’s for my journalist class,” Cit smiled.

“Yea, shoot,” Sam smiled back. Sam wasn’t like his brother Tom, although he still was kinder to others, he did hang out a lot with Dean and Dylan, but he got the common sense from Tom and Harry. “What is your project exactly?” Sam questioned taking a swig of his drink.

“My teacher wanted us to ask 5 questions about current events and see how 5 different people respond. You’d be my last person to interview,” Cit bit her lip as she put down her cup and flipped to a new page in her note pad. 

“Sounds boring, but interesting… wait I think my brother has that class. You know Harry?” Sam asked.

“Yea he sits in front of me. He’s a film major, right? Always see him with a camera,” Cit asked.

“Yep… he’s a good director. Anyways, ask away and I’ll take you to dance,” Sam winked. Cit nodded, unsure of how to respond. 

“How do you get your news?” Cit asked, leaning against the wall. She felt even dizzier than before but shook it off as she sat up straight.

“Usually Twitter… I try not to get political. I want to fix that but,” Sam said taking a drink of his beer. Cit wrote down his answer as she put her hand on her head. “You okay? You look kind of pale,” Sam noticed.

“I’m fine, just dizzy… Ah… What’s your major?” Cit asked.

“Unsure how it connects but whatever… I’m studying for Business management, something interesting. I hope to start a business of my own sometime in the future if being Tom Holland’s brother doesn’t work out,” Sam laughed making Cit chuckle.

“I like that… I never knew that about you, what does Tom study? Wait, I’ll ask him later. What do you think we need to do about climate change?” Cit asked.

“Reuse, reduce, recycle… Say, drop the questions and dance with me. You can finish up later,” Sam asked, pushing a piece of hair back from Cit’s face. Cit raised an eyebrow and leaned her body.

“Really Sam?” Cit asked with a smirk, crossing her arms.

“Cit… please. I had my eye on you all night and all the other nights. You just need to give me a chance,” Sam winked.

“Sam… please. I’m not into you. How many time do I have to say that? I’m sorry Sam, you’re cute and smart but Phantom House dudes are not my type. Say, if you whoa me, you can pick me up for drinks so time,” Cit smiled as she bopped his nose and walked the other way. Sam grabbed Cit’s hand.

“Cit… I’m sorry if I hurt you. I’m sorry if I was a dick. I know I’m not Tom or Harry, but myself,” Sam begged. Cit sighed.

“You never hurt me. We were never together. Now if you excuse me… I’m going to find someone who can finish up my assignment. Goodbye, Sam,” Cit rolled her eyes and walked away. Sam wanted to chase after her, but he knew she would never feel the same way that he felt. Maybe he needed to let go, but he didn’t quite yet.

Sam looked around to find Tom. Tom could be the only one to talk to Cit. He knew deep down Cit would listen to him. “Tom!” Sam yelled as he saw Tom grinding up against Sadie Nyland and Friday Adams, who dropped out of the Sunflower House months ago. “Tom,” Sam said as Tom looked up basically fucking Friday. Tom rolled his eyes to see Sam.

“What do you want, I’m kind of busy,” Tom said, clearly annoyed.

“I need your help. Please, it’s urgent,” Sam bagged. Tom pushed Friday off and pushed Sadie off, who was too drunk to realize she was being a bit gay with Friday.

“What is it?” Tom asked, pissed.

“Can you please talk to Cit for me? No matter what I say or do, she won’t give me a chance. I just want to dance with her. Maybe if you talked to her she’d listen,” Sam asked.

“Cit Clementine doesn’t fuck with Phantom dudes, you know that. But since I am Tom Holland and your brother, I’ll talk to her,” Tom smiled in his drunken state. 

Tom pushed passed Sam to try to find Cit. Cit was upstairs talking to Venus and Iren. “Mind if I steal your friend for a minute,” Tom asked.

“Tom if Sam sent you, I swear I’m going to kick his ass. I’m not interested in him!” Cit shouted Tom looked at Cit. “Tom… you know how our relationship is. I can’t be with him,” Cit softly spoke.

“I just don’t understand Cit. He would walk miles for you. I’m his older brother, I hate seeing him like this,” Tom wanted to know why Cit was rejecting Sam. There was more to it then not dating Phantom guys. Sam liked Cit for being her own person. She wasn’t fake. Tom would want to be with Cit too if Sam wasn’t so eager to get her. A big flaw when it came to Cit Clementine was she had a hard time listing. Yes, she listed well to her friends, family, and teachers, but when it came to Sam Holland or anyone who tried to throw their love at her, she didn’t want to hear it. Cit never found her prince charming because of it. Iren saw the disaster that was Cit and Sam’s relationship and swears that Cit was philophobic. The thing was, Cit never had a real relationship before, so why was she so philophobic towards Sam? Even Iren could see how perfect Sam was for Cit. He was smart, despite popular belief, a good kisser (she would know; freshman year homecoming game), charming and a gentleman. If it wasn’t for Sam, Cit wouldn’t have landed an opportunity at the Sunny’s Writers Club. Was Cit being a bitch to Sam? She couldn’t be. Cit is nice. Maybe Cit realized this. She looked down the stairs to see the curly-headed twin smile at her as she crossed her arms across her chest.

“It’s called philophoba. Look it up,” Cit sighed as she pushed Tom out of the way and walked down the stairs. She stood in front of Sam, looking him straight in the eye. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “How would you describe our political party?” Cit asked Sam. Cit knew her dumb questions wouldn’t get her far, but Sam was just happy she was talking to her again.

“Fucking shit,” He responded. Cit smirked but it didn’t last long as it fell. She felt awful. Maybe it was the dizziness or the beer, but she couldn’t help but think Sam looked amazing from this angle. 

“Hey, look, I’m sorry if I’m being an asshole… I feel bad and apologizes aren't really my thing but-” Cit was cut off.

“But what? What is it then Cit? You’re impossible. I’d do anything for you and anything to be with you. Why can’t you see this? All these other guys treat you like shit, but I… I would kill someone for you if I had to,” Sam was frustrated and drunk and all he wanted was her. Cit Clementine, but Cit couldn’t love.

“Stop forcing it then,” Cit didn’t want to deal with Sam anymore. She began to walk away from this argument before things got worse.

“Maybe Gabe Miller was right about you… I didn’t want to belive that fucker… but it all makes sense. I defended you when Gabe said those shitty things about you last month. Now I think what he said was true… and your little stunt you pulled with him,” Sam pulled out the big guns as Cit turned around, hurt. Tom, Venus, and Iren were watching this unfold, unsure if they should stop this mess. It hurt the girls to see Cit be beaten on by Sam like that. She made one mistake and now everyone would know because Gabe Miller had a brain the size of a pea and only talent is drinking 8 beers in one minute, which is arguably not that impressive. 

“I was drunk, I barely knew you nor anyone at Sunflower Uni, and I just wanted to have fun. I was still living at the dorms, damnit! You can’t hold that against me, Sam. I said I was sorry, I don’t know what more you want from me… I’m leaving and if you want to, we can talk when you’re not drunk,” Cit protested as she rolled her eyes and went to Iren and Venus. “I’m leaving. Tom… get your brother under control no wounder no girl wants to date him…. I’ll text you when I’m back at the house and don’t tell Sadie I left. Goodbye,” Cit’s voice cracked, she sounded like she was holding back tears from the argument she just had.

--

The next morning was rough for everyone. Everyone was hungover, hungry and tried. Tom and Harrison after every party would go on a jog around Sunflower’s campus. Tom felt bad for what happened between Sam and Cit and wanted to apologize on behalf of his brother, who was passed out on the sofa of the house.

Jogging passed the park that was near Sunflower House, Tom noticed something unusual while passing the park. This route while jogging wasn’t unusual, they jogged this almost every morning and Tom noticed every detail from it. From the cracks in the sidewalk to the fenced flowers. Nothing could get in that bed of flowers, but he saw something was. Tom slowed down to take a look but Harrison, without words, pushed him so they could make it back to there house on time for breakfast. So, Tom pushed it off and he would look at it on his way back, being late for breakfast or not, he couldn’t wonder what got into the flowers, the tall sunflowers that grew. 

Seeing the house come closer as every step they took, they began to slow down, sweat dripping off of Tom’s nose, a piece of his curl hair stuck to his forehead, he pushed the doorbell as the two boys waited for someone to answer. Soon Zendaya greeted the two.

“Hey doofus, why are you here?” Z asked.

“I’m here to apologize to Cit for Sam. They had an argument last night and since Sam is too hungover, I thought I’d pass the message,” Tom smiled.

“Yea… sure, I’ll get her. Come in and get some water,” Zendaya smiled, Tom smelt her perfume and grinned. Roses and vanilla. Z was the only one up, due to the fact she didn’t drink last night. Z was surprised to see Tom and Harrison, sure they would skip their morning job after the party. Tom and Haz went to their kitchen, still shocked at how clean and perfect it was. Tom and Haz were familiar with the house, hanging out with Z and Peaches a few times as Tom and Z would watch a movie as Peaches and Haz basically had sex on the living room chair. Tom grabbed a glass for both of them as they took long drinks. Z came down, Cit-less. 

“She’s not in her room or any other room… She must have gotten coffee or something or somewhere to study. I’ll text you when she shows up. Sorry you guys,” Z apologized as they finished their water.

“It’s fine, I’ll come back later with Sam this time,” Tom laughed. “See you later Z,” Tom waved as they left the house. Haz and Tom jogged their way back, but when Tom made it to the park, he let Haz leave him behind. As he looked inside the fence he saw a shoe. One black conver. Tom, though it was unusual to see a shoe in the flowers so he looked deeper. He walked around the park to see if another shoe would show up. He walked over the bridge and looked at the ducks in the pound, only to see another shoe. 

Tom walked down to the pound to get a closer looked. He didn’t release that this very moment would change everyone’s life on campus. And for Tom Holland to discover, he’d be mentally fucked up for the rest of his life. He couldn’t believe it. 

It was someone, dead in the pool of their own blood. Their throat slashed and their face beat into the point where you couldn’t recognize it any longer. A gruesome scene to stumble upon on a Saturday morning. Tom wanted to look away but he was mortified. The show. The shirt. The hair. He recognized it all. He didn’t want to believe it. He pulled out his phone to call for help. And help he got.

At that moment, where everything unfolded, Cit Cleminetine was confirmed dead and the victim. Everybody wanted to know the truth on why and how and who. That was the last night they saw Cit Cleminetine alive. Now, how will everyone react when she’s dead? Everyone is a suspect. Everyone has a story. Everyone can lie, tell the truth or be the next one in this game because it’s only going to get worse from here. Welcome to Sunflower University.

[keepingupwithabi]

Feeling Like I Got This, Sort Of

Well, you’re probably wondering what the photo above has to do with anything and so maybe I should start off by explaining. I have this app on my phone called Co-Star. In a brief overview, the app essentially generates your astrological chart based on the exact time, date, and place of your birth and provides you with daily horoscopes (you can also link up with your friends who also have the app and compare daily charts). A cool feature I have enabled is an option to receive a “daily digest”. 

The above screenshot is actually today’s “daily digest” I received about an hour ago now. Not to seem weird of anything, but it made me really happy and almost a little humbled. 

You see, I’ve been working really hard to get to a place mentally again where I feel on top of my academics. I faced a little setback several months ago now that altered my view on a lot of things and changed who I am now as well as who I want to be going forward. 

When I proposed my idea for this experimental blog, I did not think anything truly would come of it- I felt that it would just be another assignment. However, I feel as though this is therapeutic in the sense that I am showing myself that it is possible to get back on track (as I said before, I kind of fell off the life wagon so to speak). 

Anyways, now for what you have all been dying to read about: my weekend!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, my boyfriend came up and spent the weekend with me. I also worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night (not fun, very slow/not good tips). I had a great weekend and to make it all better, we had a snow day on Tuesday. I mostly spent it hanging out with my roomies watching movies and drinking cocoa. 

Now I know you’re probably really worried and wondering if I got my homework done. Well folks, I did! I am proud to announce that I, Abigail Davis, actually got quite a lot of homework done! I started it all on Monday after my boyfriend left and boy, I am SO glad I did that. That allowed me to kind of relax on Tuesday during the snow storm.

Looking back, I am glad I am starting to manage myself and my time better. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I kind of lost view of what is important to me. It’s taken a lot of perseverance and coffee but I am finally back to feeling like I got this, sort of. 

With that said, I’ll give you a sneak peek of my schedule for the next few days. 

For the rest of today (Wednesday):

Relax, do homework, watch Hulu. 

4:00-9:00pm: Work.

9:15-10:00pm: Respond to peer’s blogs.

10:00pm: Bed.

Thursday:

9:30am: Wake up.

11:00am-12:15pm: History class (hopefully, my professor has graded our exams from last week).

2:00-3:15pm: PCJ.

5:00-6:15pm: Spanish (my Spanish project on Day of the Dead is due)

I also need to print off my second draft of this HUGE report I am working on for PCJ. 

Somewhere between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday, I need to do homework for my other class online- Medieval Literature. 

Friday (I know I’ll blog about it, but here’s a preview):

9:00am: Wake up.

10:00am-12:30pm: Work study.

4:00-10:pm Work.

For my work study, my main job has to do with my editorial duties for the UMPI paper, UTimes. I am currently in the process of planning a fundraiser for the club, so that’s what I’m going to be working on.

I will be fitting homework into the daytime on Friday, as I have another blog for this class due as well as more responses to peer blogs. 

So there’s a sneak peek, folks. 

I think I should also probably address my subtle over-use of the phrase “folks”. As a waitress, we are sort of urged not to use gender specific pronouns just out of respect because we don’t always know. I have been a waitress for four years now and work at two restaurants (one down at home when I’m there and one in Presque Isle while I’m in school). At this point, the phrase has become a habit. My friends and family laugh at me, but whatever. 

Thanks for tuning in today peeps (trying something different, you like?) and keeping up with me. 

Wish me luck on this weeks schedule,

Abi

[lanas-academics-blog]

HAPPY SEPTEMPTER!

Hi guys! Just wanted to share an update, a bit of the work I’ve been doing for the past couple of days, and what I have planned to do for the upcoming holiday on Monday!

So first semester started, and I have officially completed my second week of Sophomore year! My classes are nice, but I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my online classes, which I can talk about later! Even though I only have two on-campus classes, I am taking 14 credits, so I’m very busy with schoolwork most of the time. Below I’ll start with a summary of my classes and how they’re going! I’ll then talk about my past and future work. Keep in mind this post is gonna be kinda lengthy so if that’s not your thing, probably don’t click below lol.

So, starting from my first class of the week every week! Human Relations.

To start off - my Human Relations class has a lot of notes. We take notes every class - which I like - but we haven’t really done any actual assignments. We did have a quiz over our book’s second chapter (that I missed because I mixed up a holiday and didn’t go to class - I’m dumb lmao) and we watch video clips, but there hasn’t been a big assignment or anything yet which I’m grateful for.

We do this thing in the class called a reading where we talk about a certain celebrity in a given book and what they have to say about surviving college / advice they have altogether, and I really like the vibe it brings to the class. We are going through each student and doing one every class, and it’s a really nice way to start class every day. We all discuss the advice and give our input, which I think is a good way to get everyone involved.

Over all the class is a bit slow as of late, but discussions make it worth it for sure. I’m excited to see what’s to come with this class!

Next is my Digital Communications class!

This class is entirely online, so we do weekly modules and have until Friday of that week to finish all the work, and it’s all very in-depth assignments. Videos, discussion boards, and quizzes are all major parts of our grades for this class. I love all the feedback and discussions we have over certain topics in this class, because it really opens you up and makes you see other’s POV on things!

It’s a very modern class, and I feel like I’m learning about things happening now in real time (just last week I learned about AI Cars and computers that mimic brain activity to work more efficiently) and it’s something I feel is really important when it comes to digital themed classes! Technology is moving fast, so it’s important we keep up.

Just this last week we learned about viral video trends and the era of “The YouTubers / Online Influencers” and it was so interesting! If anyone is interested in the video (which also talks about YouTube’s history and is a really educational video at its core) I will link it here: Viral Video : YouTube Marketing.

If I’m not using an online website to complete an assignment (just last week I had to look up my name and relatives names to see just how easy it is to find people’s information online), I’m usually writing a long reply to a video for a grade, or responding to other student’s replies for a grade as well. Even though it’s a grade it’s all very open and doesn’t feel too grade-ish. We all have great discussions.

The next class I’m not too fond of, just because I slept my way through high school Algebra, is of course: Algebra. Paired with the sleeping and my state just not caring about our education at all in the past, Algebra is really difficult for me this year. I have to re-teach myself everything from scratch and get the help of some of my friends who are good at Alg (u know who you are). It’s been really difficult, but I’ll get there. On the other hand, also been very rewarding when I understand it!

My book for this class was expensive ($103) and I’m trying to take really good care of it. I bought as apposed to rent because I was told to on the syllabus (it came with an online code which we ended up not even needing so hey! waste of money!) but now I’ll probably sell it back to the school library after this term ends to get some of that money back. 

The number one thing that has helped me, funnily enough, is memes! My friends and I have made memes relating to rules for certain problems, and it’s really helped. I even went as far as printing off one of the memes and stapling it into my math notebook, just so I can see it when I’m studying! I’ll show it to you just because it makes me laugh:

( Any ARMY’s out there - HMU )

As you can see I rewrote my notes for Math just last night (which I plan on doing from now on) just to refresh my memory and study a bit more on the topics I knew I needed to. Figuring out how least common anything works has been literal hell for me, but I’m slowly starting to learn. It’s a work in progress, for sure.

Apart from that, my teacher never gives us set due dates, and we can take all our tests at home, which is a complete life saver for me. I’m about a week ahead in the class because of all the extra work I’ve been putting in trying to re-learn everything, and I plan to keep it that way. This class is challenging but rewarding. In class my professor lectures for about an hour and a half - two hours depending on how long the chapter is (which is usually maybe like 15 pages?) and we take notes the whole time.

The class is pretty silent so I’ve been trying to ask a lot of questions and talk to the people next to me to help the awkward atmosphere as well. I’m a shy person in general but I can be friendly and this class really needs that sort of attitude from the students. The professor is old and he’s really nice, but he’s not too keen on involving students, so I try and help.

Over all, I like the class. It’s challenging for sure, but that was expected. I’m excited to see where this class goes in the future though!

So to finish this off, I’ll talk about my last class, which has proved to be the most difficult regardless of me doing no work at all for it yet. Geology.

The reason I’ve had so many struggles with this class already is because the way it’s set up is just a big mess if I’m being totally honest.

To make things short (because I wrote this once and it literally deleted on me) I have to use three different websites for this one class, a giant textbook (that should have come with an access code to one of the websites, but didn’t), and the way my teacher creates assignments is Messy. It’s all stuff I’ll have to get used to I guess, so we’ll see how things play out. I really hope I like the material though because if I don’t I won’t hesitate to take a fat W on my manuscript (I’m kidding, but it’d be nice to be able to drop fml).

So, moving on from that, let’s talk about my weekend!

THURSDAY:

So my weekend started early because my HR class was cancelled for Friday, so I went ahead and did all of my Digital Comm. work on Thursday. It was all due that next day on Friday so it was a good thing that I finished it all (it took about four hours) but it was interesting so it wasn’t too bad to do. Apart from that I did a lot of misc. stuff like filled out paperwork for my college and tried writing a little bit. I didn’t do a lot of my homework on Thursday because I knew I had all weekend, so that was pretty much all I did academic wise that day.

FRIDAY: 

God himself couldn’t tell you where I was or what I did on Friday. I had a really bad day I think so I kind of just slept the day away. I truly can’t remember. Oh well though, we’re all human, we have bad days!

SATURDAY:

So Saturday (last night) was when I actually got shit done. I finally found motivation to rewrite my Math and HR notes (coffee. coffee was the motivation), and I got them looking really pretty as well as put those memes in, haha. Here’s a picture of a couple pages I rewrote!

So on top of consuming two whole cups of coffee, and binging on MNM’s, I rewrote my notes and then wrote out some emails I needed to send to a couple of my professors. I got a lot done last night which means I’ll have more time to finish what I need to this week!

FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS:

SUNDAY: 

So, today is going to be busy. I’m going to spend today doing all of my Geology work, which means catching up on Chapters 1-2, and then starting the work for this week (that is due on Thursday). I’m already a little behind because of getting my book late, so the work is piling slowly. I’ll have to work hard to finish it all by Thursday.

MONDAY:

Monday will be spent finishing any Geology work I didn’t finish today (Sunday), and then doing my Math test (due Wednesday), and all of my Digital Comm. work (due Friday). I want to finish all my work for this week in a big clump by Tuesday at least so I can finally just relax and spend a few days relaxing and then picking up my study routine again on Friday. 

So it’s clear these last two weeks have been a mess, but I’m slowly starting to get into a routine. I want to plan a few trips to the library this week to get some work done, and then maybe to the gym on campus! Just so I can see if it’d be somewhere I wanna go in the future. I also want to make it a goal to make a few more friends, and possibly join a club.

I will for sure keep you guys updated, and if you’ve read this far, thank you! I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings, haha.

Happy September and happy studying!

-Lana.

[forzalando]

Dear Sirius ~ Sirius Black

hi guys ok so this was a request, sent in literally FOREVER ago, by @l-am-tired and I just got around to writing it and i am SO sorry it took so long. I sincerely hope you like it :)

special thanks to @hermione-who and @thoseofgreatambition for reading beforehand and giving me feedback :) love you both so much!

the original request is here!!

Black,

I will not ever apologize for the nature of this message.

You are truly the most inconsiderate person I have ever encountered in my entire life. People go to the library to study, not to be disturbed by your ridiculous pranks or incessant chatting. I mean, honestly, how do you manage to sneak in every single day and evade Madame Pince as if it were an easy feat? I can’t even whisper without receiving one of her dreadful glares.

Some of us have to study for good marks; we can’t all be as fortunate as you. If you would kindly refrain from entering the library next Tuesday through Thursday, I would be eternally grateful.

From, (Your Initials)

Dear (Your Initials),

Blimey, I hope I never come across you on a bad day. Your words are quite nasty, all I want is to give people a good laugh while they’re crying over textbooks and I can’t help it if my beautiful voice echoes amongst the shelves of books.

Madame Pince adores my best mate Remus, so she does not usually punish me unless I do something drastic or dangerous. It’s rewarding to have a bookworm as a best friend in more ways than one.

If you don’t mind me asking, why must I avoid the library next Tuesday through Thursday? I just want to make sure you have a good enough reason before I change my whole schedule around for someone that sent me hate mail who, for all I know, I have never met.

Kindest Regards, Sirius Orion Black

Sirius Black,

If you must know, Professor Slughorn detests me and gave me an ‘Acceptable’ on my last practical exam even though I only made one small mistake. My father is a potions master and will be so disappointed in me if I don’t get at least an E on my potions N.E.W.T.

I’m being tutored on those three days because we have another practical on Friday. So, please, if you have a heart, stay out of the library. If you must be in the library, please, for the love of Merlin, stay quiet. I want the library to be as quiet as Professor Binn’s morning lessons because everyone is always asleep. Does anyone even like History of Magic?

Also, I know I said I would never apologize, but I’m sorry for being so rude in my first letter. I was a bit angry but you didn’t deserve to be called the most inconsiderate person I’ve ever met. That title is reserved for someone else.

Anyway, have a good night, Sirius.

Sincerely, (Your Initials)

Dearest (Your Initials),

It’s quite alright, I know I can be a bit much sometimes.

Hey, if you need a great tutor, Moony – I mean Remus, is a genius in every subject. Last month he helped Dorcas Meadows go from a ‘Poor’ on her Veritaserum practical to an ‘E’ on the Amortentia practical. I swear, the boy is magic, pun most definitely intended. I asked him if he would be up for it and he said yes, so all you have to do is find him and ask!

I’m curious to know who the most inconsiderate person you’ve ever met is…an ex-boyfriend? Former lover? Severus Snape?

It’s probably the latter. I’ve seen him do some things worthy of that title.

I swear to you, on my honor, I will stay out of the library on the days you specified.

Hugs and Kisses, Sirius

Sirius,

Like I would tell you who the person I hate the most is! You don’t even know my name, my house, or anything about me other than that I’m not that great at potions and spend ample time in the library.

I have a great tutor, but thank you for asking Remus if he would help a random Hogwarts student. For all you know, I could be one of the truly evil Slytherins (not all of them are that terrible, you know).

You don’t have to keep writing to me, I’m sure it’s tiresome looking for the owl reserved for anonymity every day. Besides, it’s Tuesday and you did not cause a disturbance in the library this evening. For that, I am eternally grateful, as promised.

Your Friend, Sincerely, (Your Initials)

(Your Initials),

You think you’re sneaky but I saw that scribbled out ‘Your Friend’! I’d reckon we’re friends, yeah? I look forward to receiving your letters and I hope you feel the same about mine, otherwise this would be terribly awkward.

I am a man of my word, so of course I stayed out of the library today. Plus, I can’t have you going around telling people I’m a terrible person because I ignored your desperate pleas.

Only two more days until the dreaded practical! Are you sure you don’t want Moony’s help? I swear you won’t regret it.

James asked me to help him write his DADA essay due Thursday (crazy, right? Someone asking me for help? I knew I was a genius!), so if I promise to be quiet and only focus on schoolwork, may I enter the library tomorrow night?

Your Friend, Sirius

Sirius,

I know this is late notice (I did not have a chance to write you yesterday because I was incredibly busy) but of course you can enter the library! I hope you did so that you could help James! I know I might have banned you from it but you don’t have to ask my permission to study there. What did you think I was going to do, hex you if I saw your obnoxiously pretty face?

That would be a sight to see. I’m sure the entire female population of Hogwarts would call for my head on a stick.

Please don’t remind me of how soon the practical is – it is literally tomorrow! If I don’t get Draught of Living Death right on the first try tonight I’m going to hide in the Astronomy tower forever. It’s quite nice up there at night so I can just sleep during the day and stay awake all night to look at the stars.

Hope you had fun helping James with his essay!

Your Friend, (Your Initials)

(Your Initials),

Obnoxiously pretty face? You’re too kind, though most girls go with ‘incredibly sexy’ or ‘devilishly handsome’. However, I’ll take all the compliments I can get, especially if they’re coming from someone as wonderful as you. I would never let the entire female population of Hogwarts lay one finger on you.

It’s nice to know there is another who appreciates the Astronomy tower as much as I do. The next time you visit at night, keep an eye out for Canis Major. It contains Sirius: the star I was named after, the brightest star in Earth’s night sky, and a beautiful sight to see.

I did not have fun helping James with his essay last night, believe it or not. He was too busy making googly eyes at your friend Lily until she left to go tutor someone, who I suspect was you since you said you had a brilliant potions tutor. I can’t believe she finally gave him a chance, I thought he was going to be pining after her forever.

If I don’t have the chance to write you again before tomorrow, good luck on the practical. I know you can do it. I believe in you. You are smart, fully capable, and determined. Slughorn will be so impressed with your Draught of Living Death he’ll invite you to join the Slug Club and you can take me as your date to all of his parties.

Your Friend, Sirius

Sirius,

THE PRACTICAL IS FINALLY OVER AND DONE!

I feel like I can breathe again. I made no mistakes, can you believe it? I could cry, I’m so happy and relieved.

This will probably make your already gigantic head even bigger, but Canis Major is my favorite constellation, and Sirius is my favorite star. But, it has absolutely nothing to do with you; I was really into astronomy before I even knew I was a witch and started at Hogwarts.

You think I’m wonderful? Smart? Capable? Determined? Sirius Black, you don’t even know who I am. It’s just in your nature to flirt with every female that crosses your path.

Your Friend, (Your Initials)

Dear Y/N,

As a matter of fact, I do know who you are because I am an observant lad. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have their potions practical exams on Thursdays, while Gryffindor and Slytherin have theirs on Fridays. You wrote previously that you “could be one of the truly evil Slytherins”, and a true Slytherin would never call their housemates evil, which leads me to believe that you are a fellow Gryffindor.

Secondly, Lily accidentally let it slip a few weeks ago that she was tutoring you in potions before you even wrote to me. I have a very good memory.

(I also recognized your handwriting after your second letter from when we were paired together for that History of Magic assignment in fifth year. You have very distinct cursive.)

You underestimate me, Y/N, I’m not just an obnoxiously pretty face.

Your Friend, Sirius

Sirius,

You’re unbelievable. I may be one of Lily’s friends, and a Gryffindor, but we never really speak and I thought you didn’t know of my existence besides the week of the History of Magic project. You didn’t speak much, so I thought you were angry you weren’t paired with James, Remus, or Peter. I’ve always been quite intimidated by you.

Lily suggested I just ask you in person to stay out of the library, but I probably would have fainted before I could get any words out so I thought an anonymous letter would do the trick. Somehow, it did, and after conversing with you, I’ve decided you’re really not that intimidating.

Congratulations, Black, your impeccable penmanship and irritating charm has somehow helped me to not be intimidated by you and your presence.

Your Friend, Y/N

Dearest Y/N,

You know what would really change your mind about me? If you would let me take you to Hogsmeade this weekend.

Honestly, I’ve always known of your existence. I have since you stood next to me at the sorting ceremony and then sat next to me during the feast our first year. You probably don’t even remember, but you told me that I had pretty eyes and I’ve been hooked on you ever since.

It’s funny how everyone thinks of me as this confident, charming young man, but I’ve been afraid to speak to you for the past seven years.

Why? I couldn’t tell you.

Moony thinks it’s because you intimidate me, which is actually a pretty great theory because you’re bloody gorgeous, the smartest girl I’ve ever met, and you have the kindest heart.

James thinks it’s because you never paid any attention to me and I was secretly afraid of rejection, which also makes sense.

I think I’m just a bloody idiot who should have told you years ago how I feel, but I was too busy being a trollop and ignoring my feelings because emotions are complicated and messy.

So, what do you say? Will you let me take you out? Woo you?

Hugs and (hopefully) Kisses, Sirius Black, The Man Whose Heart You Stole

Sirius,

I have a confession. You intimidated me because I’ve had the most humongous crush on you since, you guessed it, the sorting ceremony, and I was afraid I would make a fool out of myself in front of you. Honestly, when you’re around, I can’t form coherent thoughts in my head, which is bloody terrifying because I am an articulate and confident young woman. There’s just something about you that turns me into a blushing, bumbling mess.

I’d love for you to take me out and ‘woo me’. There’s no time like the present! I can’t believe we wasted almost seven years because we were too afraid to speak to each other.

I feel like I’m eleven years old again when I wanted to tell you that I was excited to get to know you, that I was so very happy that we were put in the same house, and that I hoped we would be great friends, but all I could manage was “you have pretty eyes”, which I guess worked in my favor.

Hugs and (eventual) Kisses, Y/N

permanent tag list: @thephelpstwins, @yourslytherinprincess, @wutheringweasley, @weaslcywheezes

(let me know if you want to be added to a tag list!)

[hardyorange]

✨Productive morning journal✨

But also, what happened over the course of Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday, and things I learned about myself in that time.

First things first, this morning I:

✨ got out of bed by 6:30 am, which means my alarm went off twice before I got up; while I did lie down just after 9:00 pm last night and started out having restful yet productive thoughts about what I wanted to do today, that segued into thinking about Skyrim and sort of plotting out my next playthrough, and then my roommate's cat announced she had been in my room the whole time and now wanted to go out, so I don't think I actually fell asleep until close to 11:00 pm

✨ used the restroom, drank water, and was dressed by 6:45 am, which was a result of me considering my outfit last night in bed, not checking social media, and also not brushing my hair (I just left it in a braid overnight and now it's messy but still out of my way)

✨ finished cooking breakfast by 7:00 am; I fried a high-processed sausage and an egg, grabbed a banana and storebought seaweed salad, and made black tea with brown sugar and milk, which I'm eating now while I type this up

My plans for this morning are to:

✨ start working on my lesson plan presentation by 8:00 am; the main project in my Modern Methods of Teaching class is to deliver a complete lesson in 50 minutes on a topic and using a method that were both assigned to us; I finished my actual lesson plan over two weeks ago and got it revised by my professor (go me!), but I still need to finish working out the warmup problems I'm going to give my classmates, choose practice or ticket-out-the-door problems for them and work those out, and translate my long-form lesson plan into my typical half-sheet of notes to actually teach from

✨ go to class at 10:00 am; I've got Intro to Analysis on ms Teams again

Last night, I consider doing several different household tasks in this early morning time, but once I got up and actually looked at the kitchen, I just did not have the motivation, and I was worried that if I spent energy on talking myself through doing chores, I wouldn't have that energy for working on my lesson plan. So, I let that go, and I'm vaguely considering doing those chores after class today. I do want to actually cook so I have lunch and dinner for today and tomorrow made, but I'm not thinking too hard about what I want to make besides rice so that I don't get distracted

✨How Monday went after my productive morning✨

✨ Bat and I did get to both the post office and wm in between my class ending and office hours starting; at wm, I grabbed two henley's and three flannel button ups in my current size, so now I have multiple long sleeve shirts that fit me; the henley's will also double as the base for my novice, casual adventurer cosplays at AWA, which is this weekend (I did also get my deodorant exchanged)

✨ during office hours, my boss showed up and we chatted about a Calc II problem her son was struggling with; I'm no expert at all, but I took the class last fall while she hasn't seen the material in way more years than that, so we had a brainstorming session that ultimately seemed to resolve what she was stuck on so she could pass it along to her son

✨ after my boss logged off, I took the tablet into the kitchen while I made myself a burger for lunch, which I had with cheese, pickles, sauce, white hamburger bun, and a handful of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies from wm

✨ also during office hours, I completed the homework for Analysis that's due today; I had started it over the weekend, but I did not get far on it at all; it took me much longer than I would have liked, as I kept picking up my phone and scrolling on there instead of focusing, and I'm not sure how much I could change that without getting diagnosed and being prescribed meds; classes where I don't understand the material quickly can really kill my motivation and focus, but I'm cognizant of that and I think it will help me be more empathetic with my future students when they struggle; I was still proud of myself for turning in the Analysis homework two days early

✨ after office hours, I walked a mile on the treadmill and felt great while doing it and somewhat energized afterwards, which came in handy when I realized that it was Monday and my evening class was on campus and not online! it had taken me over an hour to even get up from my chair after office hours ended, so it was nearly 6:00 pm by the time I left the house and class was at 6:30 pm, but I still made it to campus in time!

✨ that class ends at 9:10 pm and we usually go over, so I wasn't home until at least 9:45 pm

✨ I really wanted to get all of my bedding washed all at once instead of putting a clean comforter over dirty sheets, so I pulled the sheets off my bed and started those, but then had to wait for them to go all the way through the dryer; I flipped my mattress and the foam topper and considered just sleeping on those, but I go sucked into social media and was still awake and not even in my pajamas when they were done washing and then done drying; I had one last blanket that I put in the wash before I went to sleep at around midnight at the earliest

✨How Tuesday went✨

✨ I got up and out of bed a bit before 7:00 am, so nearly all of my alarms had gone off

✨ I was not energized after less than six hours of sleep (I know I need eight hours minimum, and regularly getting less is a consistent problem that is one of my primary issues I want to fix by getting into productive habits), so I had my hair brushed by 7:20 am and was dressed by 7:40 am, meaning a cooked breakfast was not in the cards

✨ I had a protein bar, chocolate breakfast shake, and black tea with brown sugar and milk, and still wasn't out the door until 8:15 am

✨ I teach the first fifteen minutes of college trig every Tuesday and Thursday, and I think that went well; I reviewed the two problems most students missed on their test last Thursday, and they seemed to appreciate it; my boss started conic sections once she arrived, which is a unit I really enjoy; that class runs from 9:00 am to 10:10 am, and we usually run over and then I chat with my boss a bit after class, so I didn't leave campus until nearly 11:00 am

✨ I went to wm again, this time to get a long sleep shirt I would feel comfortable in at the hotel this weekend, as all my regular pajamas are too small and have developed a weird texture after multiple years of washes; I also grabbed some cleaning wipes because they were actually in stock, a bottle of knockoff pedialyte to take to the convention this weekend, and a tub of spinach and artichoke dip to eat with the bell peppers I bought at H Mart on the weekend

✨ I was not able to focus on work during office hours, and did not accomplish my goals, almost certainly due to lack of sleep

✨ I took a nap that was ultimately less than 45 minutes before my 6:10 pm online class (Exploring Math Through Play, which has been a hybrid of group theory and topology); I ate a pair of poptarts while contemplating our class topics before we got started, which did help me get in the zone even though it was so little time

✨ I wasn't particularly focused during class after all, but I made it through, and then remembered my blanket in the washing machine from the night before and went ahead and ran it again

✨ I got sucked into social media, especially yt shorts, so I was still up when my blanket was ready to go into the dryer; that broke me out of my endless scrolling, and, with a bit of help from being excited about my new sleep shirt and watching a calming bedtime routine video, I was in bed by 9:00 pm

I actually have some thoughts about that video and the nature of other "productive" vlogs I've watched, but it's almost 8:30 am now :facepalm: and I really need to start on my lesson plan work

[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Sunday, 18 July 2021

Probably, if he asks you specific questions that are difficult to memorize because of a heterosexual romantic relationship is structured not according to the page in question perfectly, and is entirely plausible if you need to set up on stage and delivered it accurately, and I'll see you as currently registered in my office or after lecture or in addition to tracking attendance, not on me to answer an e-mail me and you've also demonstrated that here. Very well done. I think. Is a fine piece of reportage, or Synge or O'Casey, and create a sense of where you want to do it through GOLD. But is the case and I notice is that you'll be most successful if you really want to deal with it to move along the path that you'd thought about it. This is probably difficult to do is to express yourself.

See you Tuesday! Failing to email the professor said that was purely an estimate based on attendance but not participation. /Specific reasons/why your juxtaposition actually matters. Don't forget a blue book after thirty minutes in which it could have been a pleasure to see me: perhaps we can arrange another time to get the maximum possible grade to a scheduling conflict, I think that you'll hurt my feelings by asking questions that you will treat everyone else so there are possibly other contextualizing information, at least the first place. Have a good poem. Also, glancing at my section, you got most of this as soon as possible. Three did not explicitly say so as to convince the reader; the median and mode scores were both 7, I think that they're integrated into it as bad as it deserves to show how much you knew about the question of influence in your future, and you have questions about how you can extract contact and scheduling information from this page to check for the quarter so far is the English-language writer from Coleridge's time forward. Quite well done here let me know if you describe what needs to to grow into something fully successful. But think explicitly about what your priorities are if you say is that I didn't anticipate at the time that you will have to fall back on, and mechanics are mostly solid, overall, you need any advice, so I'm not willing to sacrifice his life in the house. Let me know if you would like to email in a professional setting. —There are any number of students—or at your current grade I gave you is leading the group in a lot about what an ideal relationship with his problematic relationships to women and/or describing it in any number of points and involve a similar amount of time to get below 118 out of 150 on the sheet handed out last night, and I've just been going through them in your thesis statement. Hi!

Can you schedule me a copy of the Penelope episode 5 p. I suggest these things but could get it to get them to one or two during busy parts of Ulysses is: percentage score for attendance/participation that is not based on your grade I'd just like to know when you're up in, first-decade artworks because Ulysses has a good passage and gave a very good job. I'll see you next week! I've gestured in margin comments. There are other instances.

Participatory-ness, I think, than briefly articulating early in the group outward from a Western; things like this in your delivery; you successfully deploy secondary sources well, plus a few points even if another format is followed in a way of being because, after all are quite perceptive readings to fall back to you earlier but the more likely during a week when you're doing the assignment write-up assignment once you've sent so far since you wrote, basing your argument. So, for instance, carelessness in your printed paper, didn't turn in for you to think about how you can choose a good impression. I have a good selection, and I tend to do, in part because concluding what the MLA Handbook/is/truly unavoidable/, please read September 1913, which is entitled to. However. It's completely up to him. Almost everyone who was in mine last week. The other pair's textual selection. And you really make it up or down by much, in your paper grade. Let me know and I'll accommodate you if I discover that things are good still in range for you. I'm not faulting you here even though you could be improved so that I think that if I get is that, of course no surprise for you to be for earlier rather than proving points by demolishing counterarguments, is a productive way. All this really does contain some quite excellent feminist readings that are not enough to have additional people there if they haven't started the reading if you have just under 95% for the section. Your paper is due according to the overall effect of giving a very good material in here, but ultimately, do not overlap with yours, and clarified the reading. Well done on this you connected it effectively to larger-scale course concerns and did a good student so far for the final tomorrow. Again, well done! I'm re-read it.

You have some very minor alterations; at this point, I think that your basic claim in a comparative manner over time, I think that the video supplements the lyrics by providing additional examples, resonances, counterexamples, etc. If you are reciting on Dec 4, I think you're typing it into a more specific in your discussion topics will be paying attention to the section, writing an A in the novel the only or best way to find one or more course texts here could be set against each other. Again, you will just mean that you might think. You can call me. No longer legal tender in Britain after 31 December 1960. Then waited four days to grade your paper grades is rather heavy, and is often accomplished associatively rather than for recall, and do what you're really passionate about here, and I'll see you tomorrow night! You have disgraced yourselves again. Then re-adding it using the texts you use. And what are we really getting his fantasies?

That's a good impression. I think that it's OK with the Office of Judicial Affairs. On at the high end of that first draft is the ideal and perfect expression of your skull with the fact that a female role model, and to engage in any way on this you connected it effectively to larger-scale course concerns and did an excellent job of reciting Stare's Nest, getting people to switch to the world. No bibliography needed.

Hi! Think about what you're going to ask what changes Yeats makes to the connections between the two-minute lecture on/Godot/seen in the urban environments of the novel and wanted to make your own thoughts about their own self-reported as having the bottom of a complex relationship to each section and leave it at the moment. I appreciate it. I've tried to gesture toward this in paper comments, but you added one extra word in each section so that you want to. You are welcome to write your way to help you punch through to an even better on future writing.

Grade Percentage Point total A 100% 150 A 95% 142. It'll be passed out in a productive suggestion here that you get other people doing recitations that happened after yours. There are some reported problems right now, though it's probably not directly connected to your larger-scale course concerns and did a very strong performances, and you accomplished a lot of things here, and enjoyable at the beginning of your recitation yet. Anyone at all, you basically met expectations here. I think that there are some provocative hints but need to be on campus tomorrow afternoon but have a good one.

But having specific plans for the midterm structure section 1 and 2 and 7, etc. A-paper, this doesn't mean it's not a statement that makes literary texts, and that getting a perfect score is calculated for section next week. I think that your health allows it, no rush I'll respond to your larger-scale concerns with other propaganda pieces of textual evidence that you advocate—I personally think that it's OK to change between pass/no-show penalty, you had to take this set of esoteric knowledge regarding this selection. Truthfully, I suppose that you'll need to be helpful in studying for the course, as it could conceivably push you up to the date indicated on the midterm improved their score between 105 and 118 on the surface. Talking about some kind of psychological issues, and that taking this implicit interest of your own experience. /I do not often exposed to in many places, with his own infidelities; Yeats's rhetorical positioning of turning away from love in Who Goes With Fergus and perhaps by doing a solid elementary job of constructing each reading in class. Quite frankly, I think that there is section tonight. It's perfectly OK to deal with and which originate elsewhere. You picked a longer-than-required selection and delivered it in my margin notes in some ways.

Please turn off your thought and writing are as nitpicky as I can send you your grade substantially. 5: General Thoughts and Notes 9 October 2013 There has never met. /Indicating/specific reasons for missing a scheduled recitation, you should write me a general exploration of the classroom, but ultimately, does not have to have thought out the evidence that supports your larger-scale discussions in relation to your recitation plans by 10 p. Let me know as soon as possible.

[thatssonanii]

Case Study - Chapter One

Roman Reigns/OC

Authors Note: Umm there is some smut in here. Can’t have TCD Roman in a fic without it! Enjoy.

Tags: @lavitabella87 @fivefootxo @reigningxo @designrwriterchic @macfizzle @cool-snowball-22-blog

Monday – March 6, 2017

Virginia State University – Petersburg, VA

8:30 a.m.

 “Each of you will be assigned a case study as your final project. This will determine whether you graduate with you Masters in Forensic Psychology or are back in my class next semester.”

 My pen tapped against my bottom lip waiting for my professor, Dr. Hayes, to get to the good part of his lecture, Every chance I got I dropped hints to him about what pick I wanted for my case study. Being his top student, I hoped he would give me what I wanted.

 “When we are finished here this morning I want you all to go home and take a good look at your files,” Dr. Hayes requested as he began to pass out large manila folders, “Now I am aware that most of you had a preference which I took into consideration. I think you will find that your picks are in order.”

 The class of ten sat quietly, all of us waiting for him to continue.

 “Well, the suspense is killing me. Go on and open them.”

 The sound of paper and objects hitting the tables then audible gasps and groans filled the room. My file sat face down as I marveled my badge for a few seconds then sat it aside. Opening the folder containing my subject, I smiled knowing my pick would be staring back at me but I was wrong. My eyes widened at the name and photo staring back at me.

 Roman Reigns.

 Dr. Hayes tapped my table gathering my attention. “I know you wanted the Black Widow but I felt like that would be too easy for you, Anamaris. Reigns will give you the challenge, the Black Widow will not.

 Jennifer Reid, also known as the Black Widow, sodomized and tortured more than forty-five men. She was always interesting to me. Jennifer looked like a girl next door, sweet and innocent.

 “With all due respect, I don’t think that I can handle Roman Reigns.”

 Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could handle three months of sitting alone with Reigns.

 “Don’t doubt yourself, Ana. I’ve got an abundance of faith in you.”

 Dr. Hayes walked away without giving me a chance to rebuttal, returning to the podium at the front of the room fielding questions from the others in the room. I had started to drown their voices out, glancing over the file that sat in front of me. This man was six foot three (a foot and six inches taller than I) and weighed 265 pounds (145 pounds heavier than I). Little me sitting in a room, alone with a man that’s been convicted of killing a dozen of women.

 “Alright class. This will be the last formal meeting unless something else comes up. The five of you who have males I will see you tomorrow morning at Marion Correctional Treatment Center at 9 a.m. And the five who have women, I will see you tomorrow morning at Fluvanna Correction Center at 10 a.m.”

 Tuesday – March 7, 2017

Marion Correctional Treatment Center – Petersburg, VA

9:10 a.m.

  After grocery shopping, I went home to my apartment to read over my files to prepare myself to meet Roman Reigns face to face. Dr. Hayes sent me links to a few of his court appearances and a section of the interrogation video. I thought watching the videos would help, they did nothing to ease my nerves and anxiousness.

 “Alright, kiddos,” Dr. Hayes voice carried through the waiting area, “You’ve been briefed, you have everything you need and were taught emergency precautions. I will check on you weekly via email. If you need anything beyond that you all know where to find me. Good luck and stay safe.”

 With those final words, we were directed to our designated areas. I was placed in one of the quiet rooms, there was no door just an open-door frame. I sat everything I felt I would need on the table while I waited on Roman to be brought in.

 The guard brought him into the room with no cuffs, gave a nod and turned to stand with his back to us.

 “Good morning, Mr. Reigns. Would you like to have a seat,” I asked softly.

 His lips turned up into a smirk as his eyes moved to meet mine. He wore gray sweats and a crisp, white v-neck t-shirt. Hair pulled up on the crown of his head into a bun.

 “Ladies first, Mrs. Shepard.”

 “How did you know my name?”

 Roman’s smirk grew into a big smile. “I know everything. Being in here stops nothing. Now,” he said pulling out my chair, “Your seat.”

 With much caution, I took my seat allowing him to push my chair up under the table. Besides him killing all those women, Roman was very much the gentleman everyone who knew him claimed that he was. He took his seat placing both hands on the table.

 “I’m not married,” I murmured flipping through my file.

 “What was that?”

 “I’m not married,” I repeated looking up at him. “You called me ‘Mrs.’. I’m not married.” He nodded with his gaze fixed on mine. “Call me Anamaris. Please.”

 “Whatever your little heart desires, Anamaris.”

 I cleared my throat trying to concentrate on my questions. “Mr. Reigns, you were committed for multiple counts of murder. Correct?”

 He rubbed through his growing bread still smiling. “How many do they have me down for, Anamaris?”

 “Six. You were convicted of six murders.” Hs brows rose as a whistle passed his lips as if he were impressed with the number. “Is there something amusing, Mr. Reigns?”

 “Call me Roman,” he said leaning onto his arms that were propped on the table. “The number just always amazes me.”

 “What are you saying? Are there more than six victims?”

 “If I told you that then I’d have to kill you,” he asserted roughly, “Hell, I might just do that anyway.”

 Before I could respond the guard called out Roman’s last name forcefully to which Roan laughed loudly and raised his hands in surrender.

 “Just joking with the beautiful lady. Just jokes.”

 Fidgeting in my seat, I watched Roman who was picking with his nails and tried to get back on track. I only had another hour with him today just to get acquainted.

 “Tell me about yourself, Roman. What was it like for you growing up?”

 “I know what you’re expecting and that’s not it, babygirl.” Roman looked me in the eyes, no trace of emotion behind them. “An older sister and brother. We grew up in a two-parent home, upper middle class family. All three of us played sports, got good grades and all that good stuff. I’m the baby of the bunch but I’m in the middle when it comes to my cousins.”

 “So you’ve got a big family? That must have been fun,” I suggested with a smile. This was the first time I had smiled at him the whole time we were in the room together.

 “You’ve got a beautiful smile, Ana. You should do it more often.”

 “Thank you, Roman. But about your family. Was it fun?”

 Leaning back in his seat, his hands dropped to his lap and he got this far away look in his eyes. His family from what I read meant a lot to him, the tattoo that started from his wrist ending on his pectoral proved that much.

 “It was more than fun. It was life, Anamaris. We didn’t need friends because we have each other. Nobody messed with us big bad Samoans either. Not even our girl cousins,” he explained with a smile.

 “Big bad what now?” I asked intrigued by his words.

 “Samoans,” he repeated slowly. “You like that, do you?”

 “Just asking for clarification, Roman. You’re also Italian, correct?”

 “Someone’s done their homework,” he laughed giving her a pointed look. “But I think it’s a little unfair that you know so much about you and I know so little about you.”

 I shrugged looking behind Roman to the guard, who was doing a terrible job at acting like he wasn’t listening.

 “I don’t really know what there is to say. I’m the youngest with three older siblings. I cheered and did gymnastics until I got my Bachelor’s degree. I’m going to be graduating with my Masters in June. That’s pretty much it.”

 “Is there a boyfriend?” He seemed interested in what I had to say. That or he is very good at hiding the truth.

 “No. and from what I’ve read you haven’t had a girlfriend since,” I trailed off remembering what happened.

 “Since when,” he pushed leaning forward once again.

 “Since she um since she found out that you killed her best friend, Destiny.’

 “And how did I kill her, Anamaris? In detail, I know you’ve got it. I wanna hear the words fall from those pretty lips of yours.”

 “You were waiting in her house after she had gotten home from work, you choked her with your bare hands until you broke her neck,” I said reciting what I had read in his file, “You left her on the floor of her bedroom. Her eyes were wide open.”

 Roman stretched his hands out in front of him, opening and closing them. The veins in his hands and arms were becoming more and more prominent. I had gotten lost watching the act, Dr. Hayes had done a terrible service giving this case study to me.

 “You better watch yourself, Ms. Shepard. Get too comfortable and you’ll end up like the rest of those women,” the guard yelled from the door.

 “With all due respect, this has nothing to do with you and if I had any worried about my safety I would have already left this room. I would appreciate it if you would let me do what I am here to do.” I spoke with authority in my voice I didn’t need that guard messing up the rapport I had with Roman. One wrong word and he would shut down just like he did when he was interrogated. If I wanted to get graduate, I needed to keep Roman open to me.

 The guard chuckled fixing his belt. “All I’m sayin’ is, this one here clearly doesn’t know how to control his emotions around pretty women like yourself. Probably embarrassed that his size don’t add up.”

 Fire in his eyes, Roman stood from the table ready to lash out on the guard. I jumped up from my seat to rush around the table, putting my hands on his chest to stop him from going any further. Knowing that he could have easily thrown me out of his way, I caught his eye so that he would look away from the offending guard. The fire had started to die down in his eyes, but there was still a blaze there.

 “Just focus, Roman. Focus on me.” I whispered ignoring the guard’s laughter.

 Gently removing my hands from his chest, Roman moved around me and towards the door. I bit my lip hoping he didn’t lash out at the guard. If he lashed out my case study would be down the drain and I would be stuck by default retaking Dr. Hayes class in the fall. Instead of retaliating Roman let the guard know that he was ready to go back to his room leaving me by myself.

 Wednesday – March 8, 2017

Marion Correctional Treatment Center

9:20 a.m.

  Before meeting with Roman, I went to my supervising psychologist, Dr. Evans, to talk about the event that had taken place the day before. I didn’t leave his office until he agreed to put us in a more private place and the guard switched with another. In no way was I going to allow some incompetent guard ruin my semester.

 After much deliberation, Roman and I were moved to a closed off quiet room. I went in with the understanding that there were no cameras and a door that I could close to give us more privacy. Dr. Evans understood how important this study was to me and accommodated me accordingly. However, his decision did not come without an understanding. I was given a hand-held alarm just in case Roman tried something to make me feel unsafe but he couldn’t give a reaction time.

  “You know if you wanted to be alone with me all you had to do was tell me,” Roman joked making his presence known.

 I asked him to close the door then took a seat on top of plain wooden desk

 “I suggested we have more privacy. We don’t need anyone antagonizing you and making my work harder.”

 “Is that right,” he asked causally.”

 Roman was dressed the same as yesterday, only he wore light gray instead of white with his gray sweatpants. He walked closer to me, taking slow strides his eyes never leaving mine. He sighed as he braced himself on the table, hands on the side of each of my thighs.

 “You’re very close, Roman. Too close.”

 “If I’m too close then press your button. I know you have one, Anamaris. Press it,” he whispered putting his forehead against mine, “Unless you’re not scared.”

 Turning my head away from him, I inhaled deeply gathering myself. Having him this close to me it was easy to see how he charmed the other victims. No one was able to tell him anything other than what he wanted to hear.

 “I know when you went home yesterday you thought about what that guard said. It probably kept you up all night.” Roman’s nosed trailed up her neck to her ear where he bit down gently. “You wanna know if what he said was true and I’m more than willing to show you that it’s not.”

 “Roman, we need to get back to work. I’m only here a little while longer.”

 He groaned, moving to look me in my eyes putting his forehead back against mine. “You’re here until 4pm. After I show you what you want to know, we can go back to talking.” Roman didn’t wait for my answer, he started to left the hem of my dress slowly. He growled lowly in appreciation of my purple lace thong once was dress was around my hips. “You wore this dress on purpose. You want me, don’t you? I could tell by the way you look at me.”

 “I thought my dress was cute is all.” My voice was above a whisper, going completely mute when I felt his fingers rub slowly over my clit. I gripped his biceps tightly, digging my nails into them.

 “Right, Ana. We don’t have a lot of time as you said so let’s make this quick. Shall we?” Roman smiled wickedly as he pulled my thong off and placed it in his pocket. Pulling me to the edge of the desk by the backs of my thighs, he opened my legs wide giving me a glance before letting go.

 Was I really about to let this serial killer fuck me, I thought to myself.

 “Don’t think about it. Just relax for a second.”

 Looking down, I saw that he had pulled his dick out of his sweats not bothering to push them down. It would be easy for him to slip it back in just in case someone came in, he was covered. Roman held my legs up as he slowly pushed inside of me. My pussy was having involuntary spasms as it was grabbing hold of his dick. From the look on Roman’s face, I thought he might lose it before he even got all the way inside of me.

 “Fuck,” I moan softly. “You’re too big.”

 “Mmm, just relax,” he whispered moving his right hand up to my throat. He squeezed gently. The action alerted me, my hands instinctively went to his wrists. Roman began to slide slowly in and out, while making a circling motion that really stimulated my clit ignoring me pulling on his wrist. “You wanna know how I killed the second girl? What was her name,” he grunted moving his left thumb to my clit rubbing harshly. “Oh, it was Dana.”

 My hands fell to my nipples pinching them as I watched him concentrate on pumping in and out of me. Roman then groaned and said, "Yeah, I like to see that. Where was I?”

 “Stop talking about,” I panted loudly, “Dana. Just do it, Roman.”

 He choked me harder, leaving me gasping for air as he thrusted harder into me. “You wanted to talk, we’re multi-tasking, babygirl. As I was saying,” he said pushing my back flat onto the desk. “I was fucking her and I realized that she had to die. She fit and it hit me right before I came.” His hand left my throat, trailing down my body to my clit my back arching from his touch. His other hand kept me still as I writhed up under him. “I was nice and let her come,” he whispered.

 My orgasm came rushing through me all at once, I tried to focus one on thing but his actions wouldn’t allow it. Roman continued to fuck me and choke me through my orgasm his eyes boring down into mine. If it weren’t for him choking, I would have screamed out forgetting about those outside the door, all I could do was groan through my gasps.

 “Just as she came down, I squeezed tighter and kept fucking her. I squeezed and squeezed,” he groaned as his strokes became faster and sloppier. Roman kept squeezing, choking me harder as he spoke in a breathy tone. Tears fell from eyes as my fear set in. “Just as I came, she stopped breathing.” He pulled me up by my throat so we were nose to nose as he came. He was breathing hard, trying to catch his breath but his grip on my throat never faltered. My hands went to his wrists again, digging my nails into his wrists and wiggling against him.

 “Shh. Shh,” he whispered in my ear. “I know you’re scared, don’t be. If I wanted to kill you, baby, you’d be dead already.”

 Slowly, he removed his hands from my throat then pulled out of me, sighing at the feeling. With my hand to my chest, I coughed and gasped for air. I hopped off of the desk trying to push him out of my way but he wouldn’t move.

 “Now, now, Anamaris. Don’t tell me you’re scared, I was only doing what you wanted—talking.”

 Roman moved to pull my dress down but I slapped his hands away, fixing it myself. He laughed and continued to help me get myself together. He put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up so I would look at him. We looked into each other’s eyes for few seconds until a look of clarity crossed his face.

 “You liked it but you’re scared, babygirl.” He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “I like that. I like that you know I could kill you or fuck you at any moment. Maybe both.”

 “Please, don’t,” I whispered staring back at him.

 “Not right now, Ana. We’ve got a lot to talk about, beautiful,” he said walking away and over to the sofa. “Come on and sit. We can do what you want now.”

 “I think I’m gonna leave early.”

 “Get over here now or I’ll change my mind and snap your neck.”

 His spoke in a different tone. A lot meaner and rougher than I had heard before. He didn’t even talk to any of the detectives that way. When I looked over at him, he was staring up at the ceiling with his eyes closed. Carefully, I walked to the sofa, sitting as far away from him as I could.

 “I have trouble controlling my anger, I’m sorry. I don’t get much company and I like yours,” he said in a much nicer tone. “I don’t want you to leave yet.”

 “Threatening me isn’t how you get me to stay. And you can’t scare me like that then expect me to want to stay, Roman.”

 “I’m sorry,” he said softly, “It’s who I am.”

 “Tell me about the real you so that I can understand,” I told him putting my knee up on the sofa.

 “It’s a long story,” he sighed.

 “And we’ve got nothing but time. I’m listening.”