#and it’s Too much time to be stuck in this fucking house

[m1rotics]

Possessive

cult leader's son!hongjoong x fem!reader (however body isn't mentioned

this is literally just hongjoong being a weird little freak but this marks the end of her ability to be friends with anyone besides him. hongjoong is a HUGE red flag.

hongjoong is staring again, you can see him over yunho's shoulder, off in the distance, next to someone's house. you can see his wide eyes trained on you. you force your gaze back to yunho with his bright smile and kind eyes. he's cute. charming. the kind of boy that oozes happiness. you're pretty sure he bleeds sunshine.

yunho's a nice boy. he's fourteen just like you. he's so sweet, it makes your teeth ache. he's got an easy laugh, and he helps your neighbors out from time to time— hell, he's even helped your mom a few times. he's everything hongjoong is not, and that— that bores you. thinking too much about it feels like pressing on a nasty bruise, so naturally, you ignore it.

despite the realization that this is beyond rude, your eyes wander back to hongjoong. he tilts his head, and grins but it doesn't reach his eyes. it's not mirthful. it's lackluster, dull like a rusty blade. it's barely visible, and you barely make out the idents of it but somehow you see it. then, his mouth starts moving, "come here."

your eyes drift back to yunho, tuning back into what he's saying. something about his brother, whose name you didn't catch, and how the heat has been killing him lately . mundane stuff. immediately, your mind jumps to other things. you don't know what hongjoong wants from you because he hasn't talked to you since that time by the river, and you're not close, like, at all. (you choose to disregard how bummed out you were when he started keeping his distance again.) you're barely even acquaintances.

you look past him again, but hongjoong isn't there anymore. you don't think he's gone far though, he wouldn't have. he wants you to come to him.

and that's what you do.

looking at yunho, you cut off his ramblings with a small, "it's been so nice talking to you but I have to go."

yunho pauses, eyebrows knitting together. he scans your face like you're a puzzle, trying to understand. after finding nothing, he says, "um, okay."

you don't give him any time to ask questions, rushing off in the direction you saw hongjoong. it doesn't matter that he's gone, you'll find him somewhere in the area. once you make it, a hand tugs you behind the building. you stumble a bit, narrowly catching yourself on the wall. you turn around to face him, hongjoong doesn't say anything, simply looks.

"wha-"

"who was that?" he snaps, cutting you off.

"who? yunho?"

"you know his name" he says, terse "is he your friend?"

"kinda," you mutter, and hongjoong smiles again. it's sharp this time, threatening. he steps closer and you back up, "really? you two seemed close."

stunned, your mouth opens and closes. there's so many questions running through your head, that all your words die on your tongue. hongjoong inches closer, you back away as much as you can until your back hits the wall.

"tell me, is he your boyfriend?"

you vehemently shake your head. hongjoong laughs; short puffs of air through his nose.

"then you must be fucking him? is that why he looks at you like that? because he's been sticking his dick in you."

the words impale you, leave you stuck there, choking on air. they poison your blood, make your heart pick up. beating faster.

"why," you swallow, throat dry, "do you care?"

hongjoong's eye twitches and he sneers, borderline snarling; mouth curled like a wild dog. he looks feral. he looks mean. dead eyes staring back at you. they bounce around from your eyes, to your nose, to your mouth and back up. his hands settle on your arms, slightly below your shoulders, and squeezes. his grip aches. you can feel the bruises blooming beneath his fingertips.

"I care," he spits, his tone scathing, "because you're mine."

you blink dumbly. hummingbird heart pounding in your chest, beating against the cage of your ribs. you would've laughed at the childish decree if the situation was different, if anyone else uttered such nonsense, but it's hongjoong saying it that makes it difficult.

"do you understand?"

slowly, you nod.

hongjoong's grip eases up a bit, "good, but I want to hear you say it."

"I'm yours," you mumble. you can't tell if you're embarrassed or shy or nervous and this feels like selling yourself away. what you do know is that your stomach is flipping and eating itself from whatever it is that you're feeling and looking at hongjoong's surprisingly pleased expression, you think you might've gotten in over your head.

in a flash, hongjoong's back to normal like nothing ever happened. his face blank, eyes vacant, hands dropping to his side, "it'll be in your best interest not to forget it."

and with that said, he leaves.

[queenie-ofthe-void]

WIP Weekend WIP Snip Share!

Didn't have time to do any WIP games this weekend, but here's a bit I've written for my Steddie (-Jonathan) fic. Because I thought, "huh, you know what this steddie angst fic needs? A Stobin fight."

Enjoy (or... you know)

~~~

Context: As Robin finally convinced Steve to tell Eddie how he feels, they're shocked when they go back to the party and find Jonathan and Eddie making out on the couch.

“Everyone’s gone home,” Robin consoles, tone grating against his skin. He doesn’t need her pity, or anyone else’s. Besides, Steve wouldn’t even be in this mess if it wasn’t for her. Meddling in his love life has never worked out for Steve in the past, and he doesn’t understand why he convinced himself it would be different this time just because it was Robin.

Because why would anyone, let alone someone like Eddie, be interested in dating Steve Harrington, King of Assholes and Jocks. Compared to someone like Jonathan, someone who is so clearly a better match for Eddie, Steve brings nothing to the table.

He laments himself for believing anything she ever said about how Eddie apparently looks at him when his head’s turned, or how he always goes out of his way to make Steve laugh. None of it was real. It was all just lies. Bullshit.

“Then why are you still here?” It’s colder than he meant. Steve can already feel the crown sliding back into place. It’s sickening how much he misses it, an old, awful comfort he worked so hard to shed. And yet, it feels so fucking good to wear it again. 

If only it wasn’t Robin.

Heavy silence weighs against him. It’s not the response he expected. People always have a reaction when they meet King Steve– whether it’s disdain from the kids he tormented, pride from his asshole friends, or disappointment from people like Nancy. 

Steve still hasn’t turned around, his back to the door Robin had come through to find him. The inability to read her eats at his nerves. He denies the sharp urge to look at her– to consume and study every twitch of her mouth, every crinkle of her eyes– to know what she’s thinking right now. But that would mean giving her the same opportunity which is something Steve can absolutely not allow her.

The crown is a cold comfort if yet still a bit ill fitting. It’s been too long since Steve’s had to wield it as a sword and shield to fend off the people closest to him. He’s forgotten how. It wobbles on his head no matter how hard he clings to it. The heat of shame still stings behind his eyes. Steve hates it. So he clings to the anger, if he can’t cling to anything else.

He’s ripped from his seething by a firm hand on his shoulder. Robin’s next to him now, appearing almost out of nowhere. Steve wonders how long the silence lingered, if she said anything to him as he was stuck in the swirl of ruminating thoughts.

“Steve, look at me.”

Brushing her hand off his shoulder, Steve storms across the kitchen. She can’t look at him, she can’t see him. He can’t talk to her with all the shit clogging his throat. It’s all bubbling up inside him, the way it always does, thoughts and feelings he can’t name or pin down long enough to examine, not that he’d ever want to in the first place. Robin needs to leave before it bursts from him like a monster crawling through a hole in the ceiling, ready to hurt anyone in its path. Like a stupid, bigoted boy willing to throw a punch in an alleyway.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

🐕‍🦺1k 💜💜💜💜💙💙💙💙 ooo excited to see Eddie's POV in a cranberry story!

WOO! Let's go.

1k for the girlie (dog):

---

But the thing is, Cranberry is potentially one of the most perfect creatures in all of existence. He can’t say that out loud. Buck already says he babies her too much. As if she isn’t an eternal baby? She’s just easy to exist around. Happy, quiet, sweet. He doesn’t have to be anything around her, because she’s sort of obsessed with him for no reason, as is. So, yeah. As much as he’s grateful for Pepa and Carla, he’s sort of eager to see his dog. Buck’s dog. Whatever. 

“In the crate,” Chris grumbles, looking sour about it. “I knew you’d want to see her.”

“Christopher,” Pepa scolds. 

“We didn’t want her to jump or knock into you,” Carla explains. “We know she gets a little over excited about you.”

“Training goes out the window every time Eddie gets home from work,” Buck admits. 

“I want to see her,” Eddie says, feeling snappish. “Let her out.”

Pepa and Carla look surprised. 

He’s not usually… Well he knows he’s being short. He knows they did what they thought was right. But still. He wants the damn dog. Why is no one getting her? Does Eddie have to go get her? He will.

“Okay, uh… I’ll go get Cran,” Buck says, upon reading that Eddie is dead serious. “Eddie, why don’t you go sit down, okay? Or, if you need to go to bed…”

“I don’t,” Eddie says. “I’m just… Yeah, I’ll sit down.”

‘

Pepa looks at him nervously. “Can I get you anything, Edmundo? Water?��

Eddie shakes his head. He just wants the damn dog.

“I’m good.”

🦮🦮🦮

Cranberry comes tearing through the house towards him, squealing with excitement that he’s home. But right before she crashes into where he sits on the couch, she stops. She looks at him blankly for a moment. Eddie tenses. Chris is sitting beside him, watching both of them. Eddie doesn’t want to react to the dog acting differently, so he keeps very still. But why? Why did she stop? Can she sense that something is missing about him?

Cranberry takes a tentative step forward and starts to sniff his legs. 

“It’s okay, Cran,” Chris says. “Dad is okay. He missed you.”

Eddie keeps still. His throat feels very tight. He feels like he might cry. 

But then Cranberry wags her tail, licks Eddie’s knee, and hops up onto the couch.

“Careful!” Carla calls across the room. “Oh, be careful.”

Eddie ignores it. He uses his good arm to stroke Cranberry’s head as she lies across his lap. She stays very still, presses her head into his stomach. 

“Good girl,” Eddie whispers. “Thank you, good girl.”

Buck walks into the living room, pausing in the entryway. He watches them. Eddie pretends he doesn’t see. 

iii.

Buck takes even more time off work. 

He’s already been gone for a week to be beside Eddie in the hospital. He takes another week.

Eddie feels guilty about it. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Shameful. How many days did he take off when Buck lost his leg? None. How many days did he take when Shannon died? Three shifts. Three. What kind of fucking person is he?

Buck is such a good caretaker, too. Astounding really. Eddie has everything he needs, all the time. Never misses wound care or medication doses. He does it all while caring for Chris, the dog, and minding Eddie’s shitty mood. He’s a miracle. A force of nature. Eddie loves him. He appreciates him. He wishes he’d remember to say that more now. For some reason, the words are stuck on his tongue. Thank you. I love you. What would I do without you? Why can’t he just say it?

He just has to hope Buck knows while he tries to shake his brain free of cobwebs. 

Eventually, though, Buck does have to return to work. He does have to leave Eddie. Eddie dreads it. Quietly. He doesn’t say he’s terrified about being alone with his thoughts today. He doesn’t say he’s sore and miserable. He doesn’t say knowing Buck is in the other room, doing dishes, while Eddie sleeps, makes Eddie feel safer. 

On the morning Buck is due back at Emergency Ops, Eddie wakes up to Cranberry laying her head on his chest. He’s been having trouble getting up in the morning. The meds make him sluggish. Eddie insisted Buck wake him up before he goes, but when he opens his eyes, Buck is dressed and ready, trying to sneak out of the bedroom. Which doesn’t make sense. Because Cranberry is in bed. 

“Buck,” Eddie rasps, pinned in place by the dog. 

Buck pauses, then turns to Eddie.

“Hey, hon,” Buck smiles. “I’m just about to go. You need anything?”

“Uh, no… But, why aren’t you taking Cran?”

Buck frowns. “Um… Well… I put pull tabs on the fridge and some drawers. I put your meds in a velcro bag she knows to target. She can do other basic retrievals.”

“Buck…”

“She won’t be any work!” Buck interjects. “She’s been fed, done her business, and has enough water to get through the day. She’ll be fine if you can’t let her out until I’m home. She doesn’t need anything, but she can help you.”

Eddie sighs. “I know she’s not any work, but Buck… She’s yours. You need her.”

“Yeah, and today she can help both of us,” Buck says. “Because… Because I think you need her more than me. And knowing she’s here with you will put my mind at ease, okay? If you need me, drop your phone but can’t… She could get it for you, you know?”

And how the hell is Eddie supposed to say no to that? Because, honestly? He’d feel better with her here, too. 

“Okay,” he says. “Thank you, Buck.”

He manages to say it that time.

[oh-no-its-bird]

Yeah that sounds about right

Actually now I need Kaveh and Tsunade to interact solely so they can be blonde broke bitches together. I think Kaveh would be SO judgy about her gambling habits, it'd be funny

Blonde broke bitch alliance,,,

Ok actually yk what? I wanna see Kaveh accidentally kidnapping Naruto.

He's stuck in naruto land for some reason, but is kinda sticking to being on the road— looking for a way back home, or at least something hinting towards it. Uzushio sounds like a good place to investigate, with rumors of ancient seals and all that, so he's probably aiming for there.

And along the way yk, hes totally interested in the culture and architecture of this new strange land, so he's putting conscious effort into learning about things (and clans)

So he visits Kohona for a couple days, intending to hit the road soon after, and during his time there he finds Naruto and he's like struck by this sad poor little meow meow orphan and is like, "oh man you poor baby,,, come with me we can travel together on the road and I will take care of u,,"

And so Kaveh just kinda picks up Naruto, and Naruto is like, starry eyed and at the height of "I will imprint on anyone who so much as looks at me for longer than 5 seconds without disgust in their eyes" (let's say he's like. 6 or 7. Idk.) And ofc goes along with it

Naruto is like "I'm gonna be Hokage one day, believe it!"

And Kaveh is like "I dont know what that means but hell yeah kid! Chase ur dreams!"

And instantly Naruto is like "🥺 do u mean it"

And Kaveh is like "???? Uhh yeah, sure"

And Naruto is like "I changed my mind. When I grow up I am going to be ur architecture assistant and we will be family forever and build a big house for us and all of our friends to live in and—"

(Bonus points if Naruto sees Kaveh is a blonde and starts kind of wistfully daydreaming about them being blood relatives at some point)

So, yk, Kaveh entered the city as a civillian and they did the basic checks and he sees fine, so there's not much scrutiny on him. This is also during peace time so security isn't as crazy high as it might have been literally any other year he could visit. The fact that he's very obviously not a shinobi totally helps

So there isnt anyone really watching Kaveh?

And also security on Naruto is embaressingly weak, as evidenced by that time he broke into the hokage tower. So Kaveh leaves the village, and when Naruto tries to follow him— no one actually notices

I'm thinking. Kaveh left the village through proper channels, told Naruto he'd come back maybe. But Naruto was like "oh no my only friend is leaving and will NEVER come back :(" and decided to just. Follow him.

And when Kaveh notices him, Naruto begs to come with him. And hes already packed all his most important belongings too!! (It's an embaressingly small collection of things. And half of it is just packets of instant noodles)

Its the sad collection of 'all his worldly posessions' that especially hits Kaveh like a truck, and after a bit of deliberating hes like. Fuck it. You're a no one orphan and people in that village are SHIT. They won't even notice ur gone, and I can give u a better life. Come on kid, let's go to Uzushio together

And Naruto loses his mind celebrating and they set off into the sun hand in hand....how beautiful...

Meanwhile back in Kohona someone realizes Naruto is gone and the collective upper ranks of people lose their goddamn shit

THEY LOST THE FUCKING KYUUBI JINCHURIKI !!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fact that Naruto left of his own free will makes investigating who "took" him so much harder, but Kaveh was probably seen in his company multiple times by more than a few people (but disregarded as not a threat) so they eventually narrow it down to him. But like. It takes an alarming amount of investigation, unfortunatley

But like uhh. Kaveh and Naruto road trip to Uzushio,,, they are both learning about the Uzumaki clan together, having this great adventure exploring the shinobi world from the POV of civillians. Kaveh is teaching Naruto math and art and writing and reciting all this poetry n shit from the academy, and just in general giving him an honestly really good education. He's teaching Naruto the tools he needs to be an architect, since Naruto seems to be interested in it

(And then when they get to Uzushio they can maybe also have fun dissecting Uzu architecture and how seals interacted with it,,,)

They also have, just, NO fucking clue about the political disaster they've created. Both of them think Naruto is a nobody orphan and that legit no one will notice he's gone.

They are living in their fluffy found family road trip arc while they leave a massive fucking bonfire behind them.

Because of some sort of convolouted reason (possibly relating to how Kaveh's vision interacts with chakra maybe(?)) It is actually really hard to track them (don't think ab it too hard)

So Konoha is also freaking out bc they !! can't !! Find them !!!! This Kaveh guy must be an evil mastermind of some sort...this is awful...this is so fucked up...

Meanwhile, Kaveh is like half a mile from the konoha team sent to hunt him down and blissfully unaware of the looming danger as he uses his last dollar to buy Naruto some pork buns

Honestly I just want to see this kind of slapstick comedy of the anbu team continuously running into road blocks and coincidental decoys. And they keep going "holy shit this Kaveh guy is a mastermind, hes 5 steps ahead of us, this is so fucked up hes so dangerous" while Kaveh just. Has NO idea any of that is even happening. He and Naruto are living in their own little world rn

Konoha is also officially in a lose-lose situation bc there is little to no way to separate Naruto from Kaveh without irriversably damaging something.

God fucking help them if they try to kill Kaveh to get Naruto back— and understandable move on their part, with what little they know, but probably the WORST thing they could do here

Bad ending where they finally catch them and either kill or nearly kill Kaveh (which also, from Naruto and Kaveh's POV, comes out of FUCKING NOWHERE) and Naruto freaks the fuck out and goes full jinchuriki on them bc thats like. His older brother / dad figure who's basically adopted him at this point. And they just KILLED HIM !!!

They drag Naruto back to Konoha and try to "de-program" him from Kaveh's "brainwashing" but its too late and Naruto is officially deeply fucked up and traumatized by this entire thing.

By the time anyone even realizes the misunderstanding they can't fucking admit it because "sorry we accidentally killed that civillian u imprinted on, we probably should have just asked nicely for you back but I guess that was an oopsy teehee on us" sounds SO bad when ur trying to brainwash a kid into being loyal to the village again.

So literally their only choice is to just double down and commit to "no he was evil and we saved you from him" in the hopes that if they say it enough, Naruto will believe it

Thats the bad ending tho. Maybe Kaveh survived, who knows

Angry momma bear Kaveh coming back for his fucking kid ,,,,

Could a dendro vision be mistaken for mokuton? That could be fun to play with also ,,

Anyways ummm. I kind of also wanna see Kaveh adopting Gaara now too in his adventures, could be fun

Could be even funner if we continue the trend of "Kaveh keeps "kidnapping" important children without realizing they're important"

They go to Suna and Naruto runs into Gaara and they do the "Woah... ur just like me..." thing.

Then they get to talking and Naruto starts to share about everyone hated him but then he met Kaveh, who's special and taught him what a real family was like !!! And now they travel together and Naruto is so happy !!!

And Gaara hears "I have this special man who taught me what real love is like" and goes "Hm. Share perhaps?"

Long story short: Kaveh begins to be stalked by a creepy little 7 year old that everyone seems inexplicably terrified by. Which, like, look. He gets that the kid is weird but come on guys

Kaveh continues to be unimpressed by people in this world, smh

Naruto and Kaveh leave and Gaara trails after them and Kaveh is like "kid, I can't take you with me. You HAVE a family, you mentioned this to me already"

And Gaara is like, "teach me how to love or I will rend the flesh from your bones"

And Kaveh is like "Jesus fucking christ. First lesson on love: we do NOT threaten bodily harm on people we love, got that?"

And Gaara nods as internally he's going, wow I'm learning so much already

Kaveh, Naruto and Gaara road trip ,,, what could go wrong?

Kaveh continues to treat both Naruto and Gaara like the children they are, which blows both of their minds just a little bit. Especially Gaara, who had never had a normal human interaction in his life and is totally buying what Naruto said about Kaveh being "special"

Meanwhile, obviously, Suna is going fucking insane because they just LOST THEIR JINCHURIKI. you know, the KAZEKAGE'S CHILD?????

Gaara fully intends to go home. Eventually. Hes just gonna try and learn about this love thing first. His uncle will be very proud of how proactive he's being, he's sure

(Idk when his uncle was supposed to try and assassinate him and die bc of it, but for the sake of this timeline we are saying literally the same day Gaara fucked off with Kaveh. Unfortunate! Or fortunate, I guess)

On that note actually, Kaveh taking Naruto totally derailed the Uchiha Massacre btw. It was supposed to happen soonish, but the huge roar at the jinchuriki's dissapearence was a big enough diversion to put it on pause. Don't think ab it too hard, idk

Itachi ends up being part of the squad hunting Kaveh (team ro noises) and in the end, the Uchiha pull their coup when he's not looking and oops! They own the village now. Get fucked. Thanks Kaveh.

Anyways.

Kaveh starts complaining about how broke he is and how the kids are eating up his meager savings, and Gaara kinda goes "you should have mentioned this before. I could have taken something from father's treasury to help."

Kaveh, for the very first time: "did I... take the child of someone important...?"

Konoha and Suna join hands to try and hunt down the man who stole their jinchuriki's,,, alliance most ever ,,,

Idk where this is really going from here but just. Kaveh, Naruto and Gaara road trip. They still need to go to Uzushio. Learn some Uzumaki lore together, maybe unlock the secret of some ancient seals or two, idk

Kaveh eventually finds out these kids have literal actual demons in them and has to deal with that. But for a solid 90% of this he is none the wiser and thinks his kids are kind of freaks but overall harmless. No one tell him.

Doesn't Cyno have some sort of demon thing going for him? I really don't know much about him but I feel like I've heard that somewhere? But like, if he does, Kaveh potentially being somewhat normal ab the idea of demon possession or whatever

Tevat has some WILD shit in it, and Kaveh is a trooper. A loud, dramatic trooper who will lose his mind about the fact his kids were secretly vessels for demons the whole time, but a trooper

Kaveh and Kurama + Shukaku interactions,,,,, I need to see it ,,

Kaveh somehow interacts w Shukaku and his fear of a demon is overrided by motherly rage and they end up getting into a screaming match over parental rights over Gaara

Yk,, if theyre going to Uzu,, Kaveh somehow helping release the biiju anybody? Anybody? Could be fun.

Kaveh is such a genuinley good guy, this man is perpetually broke bc he keeps giving people passes on paying him for his work at every sob story (among other things, ofc)

I feel like if he learned the story of the biiju and had proper motivation + a method to free them, hed just do it. He'd just go for it. Hes a king like that. In Kaveh we stan.

Uhhh, as always, I have a couple more vague thoughts but I've been typing on and off as I work so a lot are escaping me. So Ill leave it here for now

Thank u thybirb for the jumping off point !! Ig I just needed smthn to kick the brain worms into gear.

Kaveh in Naruto,,, my beloved,,

I want to think about Kaveh (genshin impact) in Naruto but I haven't touched Genshin for longer than an hour in over a year now. I never even officially met Kaveh, I never hit his quests. So Idk if I can do him justice

But like, ,,, ough,,, Kaveh in Naruto ,,,, my babygirl most ever,,,

[seilon]

it’s kinda wild how quickly i start to spiral mentally and physically when i don’t leave the house for more than a day or two. remembering that this was just my everyday life not that long ago and for multiple years is absolutely wild. like it’s incredible im not in inpatient. or dead.

[caluski]

ive had a horrible fucking time this week and i keep trying to ignore it and telling myself its only bc my period is coming soon but like. my god wouldnt it be nice if it was true. if it turned out im only exaggerating and thats it

[obiwan-kenobabe]

I feel so weak and I've been pushing myself too far. I'm back to feeling weak and tired and fuzzy and lightheaded and constantly drained... I just want to feel okay again. I just want answers and I want treatment and I want to feel like myself...

[a-ikuoliver]

computer fastest way to the joker lair NO freeways..... puter?!

[kinnoth]

Ok but think about how fucking horrible Loki would have turned if Thor had managed to become king. Like, even when they were only princes together, there was basically nothing Loki couldn't get away with: bullying the patriciate, being a flagrant wizard, spending extravagant amounts of money on absolute tat. And then, he was only the third most powerful man in the empire. With Odin gone, and only Thor who could possibly curb him? Dear fucking god.

Bc when has thor ever showed an interest in curbing anything loki has ever wanted or done

[madigoround]

Some days it feels like I am just desperately trying to find reasons to live so I don’t jump off a bridge and it’s hardly even working

Edit: I have spent some very necessary kitten cuddle time and received some very sweet messages from people and I am feeling more sane, definitely recommend nice people and cats lol

[shwarmii]

it's just me and my Homegoods' autumn leaf print in black microfiber blanket against the world

[cosmiicfairy]

.

[tervenby]

for anyone out there that is in the minority of females who have like, legitimate, for example medical reasons to want to shave[for example, i have a lot of severe pain conditions and other unusual circumstances that legitimately make it better for my physical wellbeing, but i understand im just a fringe case] i just want to say like - if you feel okay with having bare blades in your house and dont want to dump thousands into supporting the female shaving industry, try a safety razor

you will genuinely save so much money in the long run and you deserve your money more than a predatory industry intentionally making shitty products does

x x

[linkware]

22k steps today. All of it is pacing in a roughly 30 foot little aisle and i fucking love it I GET TO SORT THINGS INTO BOXES FOR 10 HOURS AND ITS THE BEST JOB* IVE EVER HAD

*i cant listen to music tho...

Favs:

-sorting. This is my favorite

-if i have a question someone nearby will answer it

-NO CUSTOMERS!!!!

-scheduled breaks so i dont have to be nervous or track it myself. The bell tells me when to go out to the smoking patio

-its not too bright or too dark

-the time passes quickly!!

[ms-demeanor]

Kids, we know how interest works, right? A while back I made a post about how credit card interest can screw you, but we know how interest can be good for you too, right?

I suspect we don't know about this because on one of the posts I made about it someone said something about how it is evil that money can make money, but you know that's not just for the ultrawealthy, right? That is legitimately something that you can and should take advantage of in some kind of retirement/savings/investment account.

Let us say that you are twenty years old, have no money to put into a savings account, but have a job that pays you well enough that you've got twenty dollars to spare from each paycheck.

Let us say that you put that into a normal savings account; normal savings accounts have an average interest rate of .56 APY. Let us say you are going to be working until you are sixty, and that you will add forty dollars to that account every month (twenty bucks from each paycheck) for a total of $480 per year.

At the end of 40 years you would have about $21.5k.

That's a pretty good chunk of change! twenty thousand dollars is a lifechanging amount of money. But look at the total interest. In forty years you would have accrued only $2300 in interest.

Now, instead, let us imagine that you are a member of a credit union that offers you a free, high-yield savings account with a decent APY. Everything else being the same, but putting that money in an account with a 4% return does this:

Your total contributions that you put in stay the same, but the amount of money you have at the end of forty years more than doubles.

Let's say you have a thousand dollars to put in the account at the beginning and run it again.

Low interest account: you add $1000 at the start and have an extra $1200 at the end.

High interest account: you add $1000 at the start and have an extra $4000 at the end.

There are many, many very stable opportunities for savings that will grow your money. Fifty thousand dollars isn't a retirement plan, but it's a hell of a lot better than what you would have if you just stuck cash in a savings account or if you didn't save any money at all.

I know how hard it can be to save. I know it feels impossible to put money aside, but even if you start with no money and can tuck away five dollars a week you can get a LOT out of that five dollars a week.

This certainly isn't "you can't buy a house because you get coffee at the cafe," but it something that can HELP.

Now, let's suppose you're not twenty. Let's suppose you're in my boat, and you're (almost) forty and you're going to be saving for twenty years. You still don't have a lot of cash, but you know it has less time to grow interest, so you double your contribution and you put in forty dollars for each paycheck for a total of $960 a year.

That is extremely very much not the same thing as putting in forty bucks a month for twenty years. Instead of your interest being nearly one and a half times the amount of your contributions, it is around half.

If you are a young person (honestly even if you are not a young person) and it is in any way possible for you to start putting money into any kind of an investment account, you should do so as soon as humanly possible. The earlier you do it, the more interest you will have and the more money you will end up with when you are nearing retirement age.

This is how individual retirement plans work. This is what a 401K does, but sometimes it does that with matching contributions from your employer (so your employer matches whatever you put into the account up to a certain percentage of your pay). 401K accounts also often have higher APYs than high yield savings accounts, though they have more limitations on how and when the money can be pulled out.

If you are broke as fuck and never learned anything about investing or interest from your family because your family was broke as fuck too, now is the time to learn. r/PersonalFinance is a reasonable resource (and if you ever happen to have a windfall that's the first place I would point you for figuring out how to make the most of it) for learning about this stuff.

Thinking about money sucks! Being afraid you'll never be able to retire sucks! Having to figure out how to save sucks! But there are tools out there that even very fucking broke people can use to make that suck less.

[moth-mart]

Love-hate relationship ended with God she can do whatever she wants now forever