#and math too i guess but we don’t like calculus in this blog

[acrylicscore]

I promise that I’m working on my Lapis Swap AU writing, I am still working on Chapter 1.

I’m currently in the endgame of my high school year and have exams upcoming, so I’m going to be focusing on that for the next couple of weeks.

I promise that when exams are over I’ll work on Lapis Swap 🙏

[shoichee]

Hello! Can I perhaps ask for no. 28. “Make me” from your prompt list for my beloved Imayoshi? It's so nice seeing him here on your theme and avatar and that pERFECT url, it feels like I finally found my people.

HELLO HELLO, and YES I WAS SO SURPRISED THAT NO ONE TOOK THIS URL... considering that it was just an alternative spelling of shoichi and its a rlly short handle too mwehe // im sort of a particular person when it comes to how something looks, whether itd be outfits, drawings, coloring, and the UI of a blog, u name it.... i may have spent hours trying to have the perfect colors for this theme PLEASEEEE, but without further ado here is our man, our little shit, Imayoshi

@knb-kreations howdy! another new work posted here!

Imayoshi x Reader

28. “Make me”

Word Count: 2331

prompt list here

»»—————　☼　—————««

Imayoshi doesn’t exactly know how he feels about you.

Scratch that, he does know. He’s quite amused at the shenanigans you pull on others around you, and a lot of times, you actually elicit a few dry laughs out of the guy. Other times though, he’d wish that you would just shut the fuck up, especially when all he hears amidst his studying was your loud “whispering” and “hushed” jokes. How you were always nearby no matter where he is was still a mystery that he casually ponders about from time to time. Perhaps your natural tendency to project your voice creates the illusion that you were near when you really weren’t?

No matter, such trivial thoughts can’t occupy his mind when college entrance exams loom closer. Then again, they weren’t particularly difficult; they were simply a hassle to secure near-perfect scores, especially when his chances of admittance rely critically on how well he does.

“That’s an awful drawing of a samurai,” Susa comments, snapping Imayoshi out of idle thought.

“Ho? Is it really terrible if you were able to tell what it is?” Imayoshi chuckles. “The point of a drawing is to convey the right idea or emotion. It seems that my drawing skills hit a bulls-eye with this sketch, no?” He playfully spins his pencil around, patiently waiting for his reply to goad him.

All Susa does in response is to roll his eyes before he turns his full attention back to his notes. He knows better than to try a comeback against Imayoshi, who can easily make it backfire against the person with a pleasant close-eyed smile. Imayoshi, seeing Susa’s nonverbal resign from engaging further banter, also looks down back to his book of scribbled notes and chicken-scratch drawings before he exhales an inaudible sigh.

School just doesn’t cut out to be mentally stimulating for him. It’s a little too repetitive and mundane for his taste.

“Argh!! Oh no!” your voice rang out, despite your poor attempt to be reasonably quiet. “I forgot applications for the Coca-Cola scholarship are due today!”

Coca-Cola… what?

Everyone looks up to warily eye you, and your few friends, who are currently rushing to pull you down and slap their hands over your mouth to mute you, were panicking at the new attention you managed to garner. Even still, your mind seems more fixated on whatever was on the laptop’s screen, rather than what they were doing to you.

Imayoshi can’t help but stifle his audible mirth from how you manage to change the mood of the entire library within seconds.

“How do you even forget something as important as a huge scholarship like that?” Susa says in dismay. “Makes me kind of wonder how (l/n) would handle life after graduation, to be honest.”

“Well,” Imayoshi begins. “I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s best not to underestimate (l/n)-san. Surely we’ve learned our lesson with Seirin?” He toys with the pencil grip before he sporadically draws some lines loosely resembling another sketch.

“Drawing again?” Susa raises a brow. “Have you even been studying?”

“Well,” he replies. “There’s still plenty of time before exams—months to be exact. Could you even study with the current distractions in here?” At his own words, he nudges his chin in your direction.

“It’s not just any exams though, it’s—”

“Whether they have more importance or not doesn’t really concern me. After all, standardized testing isn’t worth stressing out for when we’ve taken essentially the same thing all our lives.”

“What most are worried about is the content inside the exams, Imayoshi,” he said, carefully treading into dangerous waters with Imayoshi’s tendency to take all replies as mind-game challenges for his own amusement.

“‘If you have been paying attention consistently throughout the year, you wouldn’t be having much trouble…’ that’s what you once oh-so-wisely said to Wakamatsu yesterday, hmm?” His mimicking tone drips a hint of arrogance. “Unless you mean to tell me my ears do not work? But by all means, please feel free to correct me.”

“That’s different,” he sighed, his face clearly evident that he was done with Imayoshi’s shit. “That exam only tested content for the past year, not your entire academic repertoire over the courses of middle and high school.”

“I’d like to think that the logic still applies the same way.”

“Well,” Susa heaves with a languid stretch. “You generally score better on the exams than me, so you’re probably right. Still, don’t neglect your studying.”

“Right, right, Susa-senpai~”

“... Please don’t call me that again.”

“... If you say so,” he said, but his smile blatantly showed his real intentions of never stopping his irritable quips. Susa gets ready to pack up his book bag before he heads out the door with a friendly wave. Imayoshi half-heartedly returns the gesture with a casual wave of his own. He immediately notices you also packed up and about to leave with a worried frown, and of course, while audibly mumbling your concerns and makeshift schedules to accommodate time for last-minute essay writing. By now, all of your friends have left for home.

“Ah, biology lab due next week, kanji worksheets due tomorrow, hmm, um, how would I finish this on time… ah, calculus test is tomorrow too, ah shit… should I ask someone to tutor?—ah, but it’s super last minute, and there’s still that scholarship… argh, fuck!” Your voice peaked in volume at the end, and the librarian immediately shot daggers at you.

“Shhhhh!”

“A-Ah! S-Sorry, sorry!”

Imayoshi was watching you with his chin on his arm propped up on the desk, unable to control the smile that escaped his lips. You really were entertaining to watch, and you never cease to bore him.

He turns away to crack his neck and roll it around before methodically packing up his writing utensils and notebooks. Soft shuffling filled the air as he rearranged the items inside his bag. As he turns to pack the last thing on the table, which happened to be the notebook filled with his idle doodling, his face slightly softens at the drawing he did after the samurai. Yes, the one Susa chastised him for when he could’ve been studying. Yes, perhaps he was right when he was terrible at drawing after all; your panicked face and wild hand gestures didn’t really translate well into paper, and it looked a little too much like a horror comic and less than a sketch of you. Still, he’s oddly proud of it.

Imayoshi promptly pushes the chair in and leaves the library, but when he rounds the corner of the adjacent hallway, he bumps into you.

“Er—hi! I mean, please, uhhh… if it isn’t too much to ask—canyoupleasetutormeforthecalculustesttomorrowbecausemyfinalgradedependsonthat?”

Imayoshi winces at the sheer volume of your voice and plugs his ears in out of habit to block out some of the decibels. Wakamatsu was eerily similar to you in that regard. Only difference between the two of you was that you were deceptively intelligent. Extremely so.

“My, my, if it isn’t (l/n)-senpai!” He fakes a surprised look, earning him an eye roll on your end. “You need someone like me to teach you the works?”

“I—what? We’re literally in the same calc class, Imayoshi,” you retort. “Besides, drop the ‘senpai’ honorific. It feels so slimy when you say it so disingenuously… Aren’t we both 3rd years too?”

“I’m so hurt,” he mocks. “What if I was really genuine with you?”

“Look, right now, no remarks from you, Evil Glasses,” you say. “It’s really, really urgent and I don’t know how to grasp the material for the class lately, plus my essay, ugh…” You rub your fingers against your temples in an attempt to make the stressful headaches disappear while Imayoshi simply watches with his eyes slightly open.

“... You usually do well on all your exams, no? Unless my eyes and memory fail me.” It was true; even though you were as loud-mouthed as Wakamatsu, you would often shock a lot of people when your name always appeared in the higher percentiles of exam results. Apparently most students and teachers associate your rowdy personality with an expected subpar academic performance. He has you to thank for when your score reports always cause reactions of utter disbelief from the teachers. You really do liven up the school and make it a lot more unorthodox.

“I guess…” you mumble. “But I really wanna do especially well for this one because math is my weakest subject, and you always score the highest for these types of exams, so…”

“It may be my best subject,” he says, leaning slightly closer to your face. “But I’m not the one with the highest scores in any math subjects throughout these years, and we both know that quite well, don’t we, (l/n)? Why don’t you come clean about the real reason why you’re here?”

“Oh my literal fuck—Imayoshi, you’re one of the best students in calc right now regardless of exam results,” you petulantly huffed, not backing down from his intimidation. Imayoshi notes your cheeks reddening, and he figured it was either because of the close proximity between your faces or the fact you were frustrated… perhaps both. “And you’re the only one around here on campus who I could ask!”

“Really now,” he chimes, moving closer to whisper in your ear. “Are you sure?” With incoherent stammers, you backed away from him, slapping your hands against both of your ears to protect them.

“W-W-What the fuck are you doing?!”

“Looks like I won this one, (l/n)-san,” he purrs, relishing the fact that only he could render you this quiet. “Ho? What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

“I—Shut up!” you lamely shoot back. “You can just say no if you really don’t wanna do this—urgh, I’m leaving, I’m not gonna waste any more time—”

“How hurtful,” he dryly remarks, standing up straight again after leaning for a quite a while. “It’s almost as if you’re rejecting me~” He knew you would always take his bait and quip back (unlike Susa), regardless of whether or not you tell him that you weren’t going to engage further.

“As if,” you snorted, making another exaggerated eye roll. “You’re the last person who would ever be hurt from this.”

“Dear me!” he exclaims. “Have you ever considered that perhaps I don’t help out people for free? Did you think I would be a gracious, selfless person who would help you like a saint?”

“Okay, fine! Perhaps I didn’t think that far ahead, okay? You just were the first person that came to mind, and I thought asking you wouldn’t hurt.” His smirk widens almost maliciously at your words, lips already opening to deliver another irritating quip before you immediately spoke again to stop him. “Okay, Imayoshi, you little shit, just shut up—I don’t wanna hear anything from your mouth right now.”

“I don’t see any reason why I should listen to you at all,” he muses. “Why don’t you make me?” He has a shit-eating grin plastered across his face, eagerly eyeing your next move, and as he expected, you let out a frustrated noise that prompted passerby students to shoot pointed looks towards the both of you.

What he didn’t expect was for you to take a huge step towards him, unceremoniously pull him down to your level, and press a reverberating smack on his lips. His eyes are immediately blown wide open to look at your embarrassed, but determined face. His fingers unconsciously move to touch his warmed lips.

“... That was quite romantic, wasn’t it, (l/n)?” he dryly says, recovering almost immediately from the shock. All the other students fled from the blatantly bold scene to save face. Not that Imayoshi really cared.

“Okay, you know what? Bye, I’m not gonna play anymore mind games with you,” you grumble. “Essays and studying aren’t gonna be done by themselves—wah!”

Imayoshi gently tugs you back to reciprocate back a kiss, meticulously slipping his hands behind your head and on your waist to accommodate you. Your eyes are completely open from the shock that the Imayoshi Shoichi was actually kissing you. You don’t close your eyes from the sensation, completely entranced when you make eye contact with his half-lidded eyes watching your every reaction closely. The kiss ended all too soon, and Imayoshi separates himself from you, secretly admiring your dazed look.

“That was quite a strong reaction to just a simple kiss.”

“I—that was not just a ‘simple kiss!’”

“Now would you like to tell me the true reason why you approached me?”

“You’re… insinuating that you know something.”

“Well we wouldn’t know unless you come clean,” Imayoshi purrs. “I can sometimes be wrong too.”

“Ugh, what the hell—fine, I am quite enamored by you, and uh, I… find it infuriating to be with you, but it also gives me butterflies… so I thought I could be with you more… if I asked you—don’t get it twisted, though! I still need your help to study!...” He covers his mouth to suppress a laugh at your honesty.

“Was it really so hard to say that in the beginning, (l/n)-san?”

“Okay, that’s it! I’m really, really leaving! Fuck off, Imayoshi, I swear to—”

“Ho? Just a minute, darling~” he tuts, reaching to hold your hand. “Perhaps if you offer more kisses as an incentive, I’d be more inclined to offer my expertise.”

“How quaint,” you dryly reply. “It’s almost as if we’re in a relationship.”

Imayoshi can’t help but bark out a genuine laugh. You even managed to pick up some of his mannerisms so quickly.

“That’s an interesting proposal, (l/n),” he murmurs. “Should we try that?” You tut at him irritatedly as you tug your interlocked hands while speed-walking ahead.

“Hurry up, or I’ll consider breaking up with you right now.”

“Ah ha!~” he chuckles at your attitude. “How mean, (l/n)-san! Too bad that we both know that���s not going to happen anytime soon.”

[cassieroo]

If you get this, answer with 3 random facts about yourself and send it to the last 7 blogs in your notifications, anonymously or not! Let's get to know the person behind the blog!

Okay, alas I am too lazy to send this to other blogs (you can tell cuz this ask is months old!!!! 😓), but!! 3 random facts:

I’m an artist!! I don’t post about it on tumblr very often cuz that’s just not what I use tumblr for, but I draw, paint, write, I do photography, I write and produce my own music, etc. :)))

You might’ve guessed from the math memes I reblog but I’m a HUGE math nerd!! I just finished a term of Vector Calculus and am moving onto Linear Algebra and Differential Equations in the following terms. I failed Calc in my junior year due to extenuating circumstances (and untreated adhd) so being so far into it and Loving it is a real victory!!!

I have two pets! A dog named Bennington (we call him Benny), he’s a cursed little rat terrier and is now very old (16!!!!) so he is going a little bind and deaf at this point and might be a little senile?? Sometimes he’ll just stare at walls Very intently and I’m like…. Buddy are you having flashbacks?? My other pet is a pigeon we rescued last June!! It’s wing was fucked up so we got him into a little box and tried to take him to a bunch of places but nowhere would take him cuz he’s an invasive species, so we just decided to take care of him! His name is Bubba :)))

[addierose444]

How I Got Into Smith: Part II

In part I, I wrote about my high school extracurricular activities. In this post, I focus on the academic side of my application. I’ll be honest that these posts weren’t as well planned as I would have liked and that ideally, this part would have been first. It was initially going to be a single post, but I didn't have enough time to finalize this part before my unofficial deadline of Sunday at 11:59. It worked out in the end as splitting it into two parts created a new blog post out of thin air. Furthermore, it turns out I had a lot more to add to this part. 

My academics were definitely a strong aspect of my college applications. For some additional context, I applied to Smith regular decision and was admitted with a presidential scholarship. To learn more about merit aid at Smith, click here. Smith was my first choice throughout the application process and I actually submitted my application before the early decision deadline. To read more about why I chose Smith or more accurately why it became my first choice, click here. For additional context, I attended a public high school in Vermont with a graduating class size of 106 with 65% of the class attending two and four-year colleges. If this post is interesting to you, you may also enjoy reading about my academic journey to engineering and computer science. 

I’ve always loved school and education has been a top priority. Between middle and high school, I took six and a half years worth of high school science classes. In addition to the advanced track of our regular curriculum, I took a marine biology class that included a research trip to Bermuda and three APs (chemistry, biology, and physics C mechanics). You can read more about my AP experience here. Of the three main sciences, physics is my favorite. As a class though, I think AP biology was the best. I won departmental awards my first and last years. I was really proud of the first science award as it was a special award created just for me (as opposed to for a specific class year). The crazy thing about taking all these science classes is that I have taken very few science classes here at Smith. Thinking about this irony is part of why I thought to write this post in the first place. Technically I have only taken two science classes (PHY 118 and PHY 210) during my time at Smith. (And to be honest, PHY 210 hardly counts as it's really just an applied math class that’s offered by the physics department). You can check out all of my Smith courses here. The reality is that I fulfilled the introductory chemistry and physics requirements of my engineering major with AP credits.

In addition to lots of science classes, I doubled up on math classes in ninth and eleventh grades. Granted I didn’t take math my senior year and retook calculus at Smith. I think there were some clear flaws in my math education as many of the courses were too easy and had too much overlap year to year. At the same time, we didn’t cover enough trigonometry and had other gaps in our precalculus course. I did learn a lot in my AP statistics class and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the content. It makes total sense in retrospect as I now see math as an interesting and useful tool. Back in elementary and middle school, math was my favorite subject and I loved it in isolation of other subjects and real-life applications. In ninth grade, I got a math award, but unlike the other departmental awards, a lot of people got them. 

My favorite class of high school was AP computer science A. In that course, I learned Java and the basics of object-oriented programing. In ninth grade, I’d been introduced to computer science through a semester-long Python course. In my senior year, I took an online website development course from my state university. I learned HTML, CSS, and some PHP. I also took a semester-long engineering course. It didn’t have math or science prerequisites, lectures, or structured assignments. What it did provide was a fun self-directed opportunity to learn how to use our new CNC machine and work with (mostly fix) the 3D printers.  

Four years of English were required to graduate, so I took our required ninth and tenth-grade courses followed by an advanced expository writing course and an advanced literature course called world authors. I’ve always loved reading, but English classes and literary analysis aren’t really my thing. To read some of my reflections on writing, click here. I managed to win an English award my sophomore year which was cool as I’d never really seen English as a strong subject of mine. Granted, I didn’t like my sophomore English class as it only had seven other students who clearly didn’t want to be there and didn’t do assignments well or on time. I also took French all through high school and won awards my first and last years. I was generally more engaged with school than my peers, but French is where my peers’ lack of engagement had the most negative effect on my learning. I’m not trying to brag about any of my academic awards, but I do genuinely believe I did stand out on my own merit. When it came to French, it was more just that there wasn’t much competition. 

Social science classes were the ones I generally avoided. Knowing that I only needed three years of social science to graduate and having already doubled up on math and science, I skipped the ninth-grade social science class. As a sophomore, I took the advanced version of our sophomore social science class called democratic roots. As a junior, I took AP U.S. history as U.S. history was required to graduate. The other AP courses were of actual interest to me and this was the only one I took for the AP designation. It was one of my least favorite courses, but I defend my decision to take it as the regular version was sort of a joke at my school. Furthermore, the APUSH teacher was also the advisor for the school publication and was able to write what I presume to be a strong letter of recommendation. As a senior, I took a semester of AP art history and another semester of art history through my local community college. The AP course was entirely online through UC Scout. I didn’t finish the AP course as the community college version was free due to my state’s dual enrollment program. The community college course was also fully online and was much more limited in scope.  

I was in the jazz band from eighth through tenth grade. I played the electric bass, an instrument I picked up because they needed a bass player. Jazz isn’t my kind of music, so I never really got into it. To check out some of my favorite songs and musical history, click the respective links. I “quit” the jazz band as it conflicted with AP chemistry. The bass is an integral part of the rhythm section, but rhythm doesn’t come naturally to me and is challenging even with deliberate practice. I was used to being in all of the advanced courses but was in the intermediate jazz band with eighth and ninth graders. Additional required electives included health, financial literacy, and three semesters of physical education. The only class I did over the summer was an independent study for physical education credit. The running I did for the self-directed course probably helped earn me a spot on the varsity field hockey team. I also took a weight lifting class which I absolutely hated. 

I wasn’t planning on sharing my actual stats, as there is so much more to college admissions than raw scores or even academics. What really matters is (in terms of academics) is the rigor of your courses in the context of the high school you attend. However, if you’ve read this far, I don’t really mind sharing my actual grades and scores. I earned straight As throughout high school and had a GPA of 4.26 (unweighted on a 4.33 scale). My school didn’t officially do class rank, but I am almost positive I had the highest grade point average. I do know that at the end of my junior year I had attained the “highest level of academic achievement” which I presume takes into account courses and grades. A lot of schools have gone test-optional due to the pandemic, but it’s worth noting that Smith was already test-optional. I don’t know exactly how merit scholarships work, but I am guessing that a strong SAT/ACT score would be necessary to earn one. My SAT score was 1500 (780 math and 720 verbal). I did study a lot over the summer before senior year and improved by almost 150 points from my PSAT. I also submitted SAT subject test scores of 790 for chemistry and 770 for math level II. 

[that-house]

Hey so I hit 100 followers today!

Buckle up, this is gonna be a LOOOONG post.

I quite honestly expected it (while my ego is a little smaller than my jokes make it out to be it is definitely present), I didn’t expect it to happen so fast.

It’s not an insane milestone, plenty of people have 100 followers. A hefty portion of my followers are bigger than me. But it’s still important to me. Knowing that there’s 100 people out there who enjoy my shit makes me happy.

First and foremost the credit quite honestly has to go to ahegao George Washington. No, I’m not joking. Until I posted on r/tumblr about my desire to draw that, I had 0 followers. I jumped to like 10 overnight, which was awesome. And then those new followers helped me spread my posts and get more attention.

Secondly I’d like to shoutout @imaverysadgirl and @themeaninglessjumble. You two were my first real tumblr frens. You were the first of my followers to really interact with me. Ember, I’m super happy you’re alive to see me hit 100 followers. Jumble (I don’t know your name unless I forgot it), your art and creations are great and you deserve way more attention.

To all the rest of you, you guys are great, too. Every new follower makes me happy. I’d say I don’t deserve you all, but my colossal ego says I do. Regardless, being nemesi and getting called out for being horny on main and sending and receiving asks has made this last month or so great.

Finally, for all the shit it gets, and for all the shit it pulls, [tumblr] really is pretty dope. I got to meet you all, and it’s actively making me a better person by exposing me to groups of people I’d rarely interact with in real life.

Why does it feel like I’m saying goodbye? I’m not, don’t worry. I plan to stay, and neither death nor pain shall drive me from this hellsite. I’m just saying thanks.

Now with the thanks out of the way, I want to talk about myself a little. Just the stuff that I’ve always wanted to say and never quite gathered my thoughts and found the time to talk about.

You’re gonna get to know me so well! This is like a mini autobiography!

First off, my mental health. This is something I don’t talk about much on this blog, mostly because it doesn’t need much talking about. I’m doing pretty well, to be honest. I have a smattering of anxiety and I’m maybe a little too introverted for my own good, but I’m not suffering from depression and the only time I ever even remotely considered suicide was when I just really really didn’t want to go to French class. COVID has been great for me, since I don’t have to see people. I suppose I’m not a great person to talk to if you’re struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, seeing as I can’t personally relate, but I’m still always here for you guys if you need me. Just because I haven’t lived through your experiences doesn’t mean I can’t try to help.

Next up I want to talk about my sexuality. This one’s a bit of a mystery. For the past 16 years of my life I’ve considered myself 100% straight. But lately (let’s be honest, following the release of Spirit Blossom Thresh) I’ve been wondering if I might be bi. How many times can I joke about wanting to smash sexy boys before it’s not really a joke anymore? And if I am, a lot of things would suddenly make a lot of sense. But every time I think I have it figured out it suddenly feels like I have no clue what’s going on. Regardless, my sexuality has honestly never been a massive part of my identity (though I’m definitely not asexual, my friends can attest I’m far too horny for that). I have no clue if I’m bi and for now it’s kind of a fun little adventure!

I guess I’ll talk about school and stuff now. Believe it or not, I’m kinda smart. I’m taking a shitton of AP courses this year. But I simultaneously feel like it’s too much and not enough. I’m smart, but I’m not a great student. Compared to my dad, who graduated college with a 3.98 GPA (and his only B being in History of Canada as an American) and now has a super well-paying government STEM job that he loves, I feel like even if I work my ass off I’ll never quite measure up. And my parents have had super high expectations of me, and it’s only recently that they’ve started to accept that I might get some B’s here and there. I’m worried about all the homework this year. I’m a year ahead in Math but I don’t feel good enough at math to be taking AP calculus junior year. I’m worried I’m going to get like a C. But for the most part school is alright, too. That’s sort of the trend in my life. Everything’s alright.

Time to talk about my love life! I have no love life! I’ve been single for 17 years and probably stand no chance of changing that until at least college! Haha I’m so alone! But I can live with it. Growing up an only child with a few friends means that I’m pretty good at functioning without a ton of social interaction, and, while I’d like a partner someday, I’m not desperate. I can wait until I find someone. Pretty much my goal is not to die alone.

Onto sports maybe? I played soccer for most of my life, and was always the worst player on the select team. I was too good for the normal team and not good enough for the select team (kinda like math). Soccer was really toxic, especially when you’re the worst player on a team of high school jock drug addict boys. So I quit, and started playing frisbee! It’s a lot better. The people are nicer! But my first season never happened because of COVID and now I’m in my Junior year and haven’t played much frisbee! So I kinda suck! But I’m physically fit and that’s good enough for me! On my own time I bike and run to stay in shape.

Are you still with me? Now I’m gonna talk about my hobbies and things!

I’ve been playing video games for a long time. I kinda suck at them to be totally honest. I probably have below-average reaction time, and my parents only let me play 15 minutes a day for most of my childhood, so I have a lot less practice than most of my friends. I’m pretty slick with Swain in LoL tho.

This next part is borderline shameless self-promotion, but since the Kickstarter isn’t live yet I guess it doesn’t count. I’m making a tabletop role playing game! I’ve been working on it for the past few years. My goal is to launch the Kickstarter prior to my college applications, because that’ll look sexy as fuck to potential colleges. It’s a post-apocalyptic sci-fi game where you play as supersoldiers trying to reconquer the wastelands of Earth for humanity. I’ll do a big post on it when I launch the Kickstarter, and I guess that’ll also be a full name reveal (kinda spooky since my full name is ENTIRELY unique and one-of-a-kind. More ego boost lmao).

And finally I want to talk about my art and writing. I’ll start with my drawing, and finish off with my writing, since that’s what I’d most like to be known for on here (but that’ll never happen because my caveman brain shitposts are too funny).

So I’ve been doodling for a long time. I briefly got formal art training but sacrificing my Saturday mornings to draw what someone else wanted me to make so that I could make better stuff in the future didn’t appeal to my 8-year-old brain. I draw in the margins of worksheets. I draw on random sheets of paper. Recently my parents bought me a drawing tablet, and I’ve been trying to improve at digital art. I’d say I’m getting better, but I don’t practice nearly enough. All in all my art serves its purpose. It makes people laugh and can sometimes creep people out. It’ll never go in a museum, and I’ll never make money off of it but whatever.

And finally, my writing.

How can I talk about writing without talking about reading? I’ve likely read more books than both my parents combined, and if not, it’s close (and my mom is a prolific reader too). I have three bookshelves in my room and books on every surface. You can’t follow me for long without seeing a post ranting about my latest read. I love to read and I read incredibly fast. Reading spurred my love of English class, which in turn helped me write.

And finally, we get to writing in and of itself. I’ve been writing stories since I was a little kid. I’d like to think I’ve improved a fair bit. I’m still no novelist, but I consider myself a fairly adept short story writer.

But I suppose where my writing really stems from is my bed. Every night while I’m lying in bed, I tell myself stories until I fall asleep. I work on a story until it’s done or until I get bored of it. Along the way, in the shower, on my bike, I build the world of the story, crafting the plot. Sometimes the stories are elaborate fanfictions of my latest reads. That’s probably how they started. Often, they’re unique worlds all of their own. My current writing posts are about the City of Mammon, but my current story in my head is about some vampires who hunt other vampires in Victorian England.

And now we get into the process of writing. It’s fun! I sit myself down with an idea in my head, and use all the fancy words I picked up from my books to convey the vibes I want. I honestly wouldn’t be a great writing teacher. It’s just a skill that comes naturally to me as a result of what I’ve been doing with my free time my whole life. And it’s beautiful. And every time someone compliments my writing or reblogs it, I love writing just a little bit more.

Well I guess this is it. The 100 follower special. I wonder how many of you guys will take the time out of your day to read this. Hopefully a lot!

James (or That House) signing off for the night!

<3 thanks guys

[nazariolahela]

Best Beloved: Chapter 2

A/N: Hey y'all! This is a PM AU I’ve been working on. It’s a bit different than my previous fic series and I’m really excited to try something new. I hope y’all enjoy it. This story is told in dual first-person narrative, from Kaia (F!MC) and Damien’s POV. The first half of this story takes place during Kaia’s freshman year and Damien’s senior year of college. The second half is two years after Kaia graduates. There will be sprinklings of canon in this fic, but we’ll try to step out of the box for the most part. Thanks for reading, and please leave feedback, and/or if you would like to be tagged.

Catch up here

Series Tags: @lady-calypso​ @irishwhiskys-blog​

Synopsis: What happens when you find yourself crushing on your best friend? For years, Damien and Kaia have been friends, while secretly harboring feelings for one another. Everything changes one night after a little too much alcohol and years of pent up feelings. Can they control their emotions and salvage their friendship, or will the feelings they hold for one another destroy everything they have?

All characters are the property of Pixelberry Studios. Thanks for allowing me to borrow them.

Chapter Summary: Nadia introduces the group to her new boyfriend. Kaia and Damien get paired up for a class project.

Kaia

“Kaia! Over here,” Sloane called out from across the dining hall. I waved to her and snaked my way through the tables of cliques that made up Hartfeld’s student body. Jocks. Greek Life. Musicians. Techies. Theater Kids. When you think about it, college wasn’t that different from high school.

I arrived at the table she held for us and set my bag down next to my chair. “Nadia just text me. She’s on her way and should be here any minute.”

Sloane nodded and her stomach made an angry growling sound. “Do you mind if I go get in line now? I only had a granola bar for breakfast this morning and I’m starving.”

“Nope. Go ahead,” I told her. She smiled and made her way over to the register. I watched her scan her meal card, then happily skip over to the pizza station. I pulled out my phone and opened up my text messages to ask Nadia where she was when a high-pitched voice rang out through the dining hall.

“Kaia! There you are!” my cousin shouted as she meandered her way across the dining hall. I stood up from my seat and greeted her with a hug.

“Hey, girlie. How were your first few classes?”

“Oh. My. GODS, Kaia! I am SO excited for this semester,” she squealed. “I literally have the best schedule. It’s all art classes!”  She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to me. “What’s your class schedule look like?” 

I pulled mine out and handed it to her. “Mostly Gen Eds. But I do have a 200 level course, which I’m kind of excited about.” I scanned her class schedule and my eyebrows dipped into a V. “You know you’re going to have to take your Gen Eds before you can take your upper-level courses, right?”

She waved me off. “I can do that next semester. College is all about having fun. Who wants to take a bunch of boring courses where stuffy professors drone on about things no one cares about?”

I shook my head and handed her back her schedule. That’s Nadia for you. She never took anything serious growing up, which both amused and worried me. She did the same thing in high school. Her advisor told her she couldn’t take all elective courses, so when it came to the end of her high school career, she had to backload a bunch of Math and Science courses just to graduate on time.

A few minutes later, Sloane approached the table, holding her lunch tray. She set it down and took a seat next to me. “You must be Nadia. I’m Sloane. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, extending her hand to Nadia.

“Oh, my gods! You are so pretty!” Nadia replied, leaning over the table and wrapping Sloane up in a hug. Sloane tensed up for a moment, then relaxed and patted Nadia on the back before they released from each other’s grips.

“So...Where’s this mysterious guy you’re so eager for me to meet? I’m starving!” I said to Nadia. At that moment, she jolted up from her seat and began waving her arms over her head.

“Steve! Come say hi to my cousin,” she said. “Guys! I want you to meet my boyfriend.” Sloane and I exchanged a glance and mouthed “boyfriend?” as a tall blond guy made his way over to our table. He was at least six feet tall and built like a tight end. I eyed the Berry High Letterman jacket he wore and was taken aback. I didn’t think that was Nadia’s type. His long locks framed his face, and he tucked a strand behind one of his ears as he approached us.

“You must be Kaia! I’ve heard so much about you ” he smiled as he extended his hand. I took it in a friendly shake.

“All good things, I hope,” I replied, side-eyeing my cousin.

She laughed, wrapping an arm around Steve’s torso. “Ignore my cynical cousin. She’s totally kidding. This is Sloane, Kaia’s friend.” He shook her hand and then he and Nadia took a seat across the table from me and Sloane.

“Sorry, I’m late. My marketing class ran late,” he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Nadia’s temple.

“No biggie, babe. You’re here now.”

Sloane and I gave each other amusing looks at Nadia's use of the word 'babe.' “So, Steve. What are you majoring in?” I asked.

His eyes lit up. “Econ & Finance. My dad runs an investment firm that I’m hoping to take over after graduation. That is if my NFL career doesn’t pan out. Got into Hartfeld on a football scholarship.”

“You play football? What position?” Sloane asked, shoving a bite of pizza in her mouth.

“Wide receiver. I was a five-star recruit coming out of high school,” he replied, pointing to the logo on his letterman jacket. “I’m hungry, babe. Ready to get something to eat?”

“Let’s go,” Nadia answered. “Come on, Kaia.” I waved to Sloane and followed Steve and Nadia up to the register. We scanned our lunch cards and Steve made a beeline for the carving station. Nadia and I moved over to the sandwich station. She decided on the Caprese Melt while I opted for the Reuben.

“Soooo...what do you think?” Nadia inquired as we stood in line for dessert.

“He seems nice. How’d you guys meet?”

“Funny story. We’re dorm neighbors. I was moving my things into my room move-in weekend, and I had some boxes piled up in front of the door. So, I’m in my room trying to set stuff down when I hear this loud crash. I run out into the hall and there he is, laying on the ground, my stuff scattered everywhere. I had set the boxes down in front of his door and when he came out of his room, he accidentally tripped over it. I thought he broke his ankle because he was rubbing it. I felt so bad. I grabbed a cold pack and brought him into my room to elevate it and put ice on it.  I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it up to him. He said, ‘Take me out to dinner and we’ll call it even.’ So I took him out Saturday night to this cute little restaurant. We got to talking. Hit it off immediately. We came back to the dorms, got a little drunk. One thing led to another, and, well…”

“STOP! For the love of gods, please stop. I do not need to hear the rest of that sentence,” I pleaded. She giggled and picked up a plate of blueberry pie, setting it on the tray next to her sandwich. “So you guys are official now?”

“As of last night,” she blushed, her eyes sparkling. Uh oh. I knew that look. I love my cousin, but she tends to fall in love way too quickly. The douchey theater kid she dated our sophomore year of high school comes to mind. They only knew each other for a few weeks, but she claimed they were in love. Her parents hated the guy and forbade her from seeing him, so she ran away from home so they could be together. Thankfully his parents found them at the train station before it took off. They shipped him off to some boarding school out west and she never heard from him again.

“Soooo...guess who I literally ran into this morning,” I said changing the subject. 

“Who?”

“Damien.”

Nadia gasped, nearly dropping her tray. I looked over at her and saw the frown on her face. She was the only one who knew of the “situation,” besides Damien and me. She was with me the days following his departure when I cried endlessly and refused to get out of bed.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, it was a shock seeing him, but I think enough time has passed where we can be around each other without shit getting awkward. Plus, I guess he has a girlfriend now.”

She sighed and reached out to touch my arm. “Let me know if you want to talk about it, okay?”

I nodded and we made our way back to the table where Sloane and Steve were chatting over their schedules.

“I heard Dr. Carson is a real hardass. I am not looking forward to that class,” she replied.

“What class is that?” Nadia asked, sitting down next to Steve. He slung an arm around the back of her chair and stuck his fork in her pie, stealing a bite.

“Calculus. Sloane and I have it at 2 today,” he said, licking the blueberry filling off his fork. Nadia watched him, eyes filled with lust and I cleared my throat to snap her out of it. “What classes do you have, Kaia?” he asked.

I slid my schedule across the table to him and he eyed it, then nodded approvingly. Nadia snuck a peek at Sloane’s schedule, then turned to me. “I’m kind of sad we don’t have any classes together this semester, Kaia. We’ll have to make sure we make time to hang out.”

“That’s your fault for not taking any Gen Eds, dork,” I replied, chucking a french fry at her. She swatted it away with her hand and laughed. The four of us talked through the remainder of our lunch hour. We discussed our majors, Steve’s football schedule, and any good parties coming up. Steve then invited us to watch the Bobcats play their first home game of the season on Saturday. Sloane commented that she had never been to a football game or a party before and we all gasped.

“Seriously, never?” Nadia questioned.

Sloane shook her head and took a sip of her Diet Coke. “I was too busy studying to participate in all that stuff. Plus, no one ever invited me.”

Nadia slammed her palm down on the table, causing all of us to jump. “That’s it, Sloane. I’m giving you your first real taste of college life. You’re coming to the Delta Mu Kappa party with us on Saturday. The quarterback on Steve’s team is a member and he’s extended an invitation to all the new freshmen. It’s kind of like a housewarming party for the new school year. You should come too, Kaia.”

Sloane looked over at me nervously. I smiled and turned back to Nadia. “Sounds fun. We can meet after Steve’s game and go together.”

“It’s a date,” Nadia said, clapping her hands together excitedly. We finished up lunch and headed off to our next classes. I made my way through the bustling crowd back to Clark Hall, where my noon class was held. Thankfully, I didn’t have to trek to the third floor this time. I arrived in room 210 for Dr. Ross’s Interpersonal Communication class. I scanned the rows of desks, looking for an open seat, and found one near the middle of the room. I made my way past the chairs filled with chatting students and claimed my spot for the semester.

I pulled out my MacBook and a bag of candy and prepared to take notes once class began when a familiar voice spoke. “Is this seat taken?”

I looked up and locked eyes with Damien. Oh. Shit.

***

Damien

“Is this seat taken?” I asked, hoping that it wasn’t.

When I walked into Dr. Ross’s classroom a few moments ago, I spotted her almost immediately. I noticed the empty seat next to her and thanked the Gods for my good luck. I moved through the rows of seats and approached where she was sitting, watching her type on her laptop. A bag of Skittles lay open on her desk. She always loved those damn things. Once a week we’d walk down to the convenience store just so she could buy them.

She looked up from her computer at the sound of my voice and her eyes immediately went wide, like she had just seen a ghost. She quickly composed herself and shook her head, motioning for me to sit down. 

I plunked down in the chair and drank in the sight of her. I couldn’t believe the girl I knew all those years ago looked like that. I was so taken aback by her bumping into me in the courtyard, I didn’t get a chance to appreciate her beauty. Her soft chocolate waves rested on her shoulder. Her deep brown eyes were the color of the earth after torrential rain. Her full lips pressed together as she chewed on the bottom one nervously. Her black and white collared shirt and A-Line skirt gave me some serious naughty schoolgirl vibes.

“Well, fancy running into you again,” I said with a laugh.

“Thankfully no humans or phones were injured in the process this time. But at least I can tell people you literally knocked me off my feet,” she quirked. Her comment drew a hearty laugh from me and several students turned around to look at us.

I winked and smiled back at her. “And no wardrobe casualties this time. My eyes traveled downward and I noticed she was no longer wearing pantyhose, giving me a view of her long legs. Down, boy I mentally told my dick. 

Her cheeks flushed and she turned away. “Yeah, I had to toss them. Can’t walk around on the first day with a run in my pantyhose. Know what I mean?” She replied, brushing away an invisible piece of lint from her skirt.

“Mmm, I know all about that. My freshman year, I went through so many pairs of pantyhose. Had to stop wearing them ‘cause I couldn’t afford to keep buying new ones. You have a lot to learn, freshman.”

She giggled, the melodic sound filling my ears. “So, what are you doing here?”

“I’m in this class.”

She burst out laughing but stopped when she noticed I wasn’t joking. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, long story. I’ll tell you about it later." 

At that moment, Dr. Ross strolled in and began the class. I pulled out my notebook, sneaking peeks of her from the corner of my eye. She was fully immersed in the lecture, typing furiously as the professor went over the syllabus. 

I remember being that eager on my first day. Taking note of every word the professor said, making sure not to miss a thing. Now, I just rely on the cliff notes and blind luck. I was pretty sure I still had my notes from the first time I attempted to take this class. I reminded myself to look for them this afternoon. I watched her for a few moments as the professor went over what to expect from this class. Her long, slender fingers glided over the keys as her lips pursed in concentration.

“Can I borrow a pencil?” I leaned in and whispered. I didn’t need one, I just wanted an excuse to talk to her. She reached into her bag and handed it to me, our fingers lightly brushing as I took it from her. Her breath hitched and she jerked her hand back like she touched a hot stove. The corner of my mouth tugged up in a small grin. 

Professor Ross moved on to discussing the series of semester group projects he had planned for us. Oh boy. Here we go again. I tried to avoid group projects for most of my college career. They’re fucking awful. One person in the group always ended up doing the majority of the work, while everyone else fucked off and still got the credit. I did, however, meet Alana through a group project, so I guessed they weren't all bad.

“Okay, class. I’m going to divide you into groups of four. When I call your name, pair up with the other members of your group and get started on an outline for your first project.” He began calling off names and students shuffled around the room to pair up with their new groupmates. “...Group 4 will be Brad King, Allison Page, Kaia Park, and Damien Nazario.”

I looked over at Kaia and she ducked her head. Well, then. I gathered up my books and followed her over to where Allison and Brad sat. My eyes involuntarily traveled down her back and landed right on her ass as her skirt swished with her movements.

Stop it, Dames. But it was no use. This was happening, and my dick couldn’t be happier. I moved my books in front of my crotch to hide the semi currently taking up residence in my pants. She took a seat where a guy with brown hair and glasses, and a girl with wavy blonde hair were sitting. I grabbed the one next to her and subtly adjusted myself.

Brad, the self-appointed group leader took one look at Kaia, making a show of slowly looking up and down her body, then held his hand out to her with a smirk. “Well, you look promising.” He glanced around the classroom, then back to her. “You’re obviously the hottest girl here, which means we definitely need to be introduced.”

“Uh...I’m Kaia,” she asked, holding out her hand for a shake.

He took her hand and drew it to his lips for a kiss. “The name’s Brad,” he replied. Of course, it was. And he was a textbook douchebag. I shot a look at Kaia and Allison, silently begging them to let me punch him.

Allison piped up. “Hi, I’m Alli-”

“Alright, let’s skip introductions and move straight to the part where you give me your number,” Douchebag Brad said, waving Allison off and wiggling his eyebrows in Kaia’s direction.

“Orrr...we could just stick to introductions so we can get on with this project.” she snapped. That’s my girl!

Brad winked at her then eyed me incredulously. “And you must be Damien.”

“Yep, that's me. Let’s get this over with so we can start assigning parts.” I said, rolling my eyes.

Douchebag Brad smirked then opened up the packet Professor Ross handed us. “Okay, everyone turn to page three, where you’ll see a list of topics for this project. I was thinking we could do the first part on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle.”

“What about the Johari window model for our first part? It’s a great method to enhance our perception of others. And it’s the perfect way to reveal information about ourselves to the rest of the group and learn about ourselves from their feedback,” Allison chimed in.

Kaia hummed and tapped her finger to her lips, drawing my eyes there. I thought back to the night of my graduation party and what they tasted like. “I like Allison’s idea for the first part. We could use it to get to know each other. Then we could use Brad’s suggestion for the second part of the project and move to Knapp’s Relationship Model for the third part,” she said, looking in my direction.

My body tensed. Was she taunting me? The rest of the group turned to me, waiting on my input. I quickly scanned the page of topics the professor gave us and picked the first one I saw. 

“Nonverbal communication seems like a good place to start,” I replied curtly, drawing looks of confusion and annoyance from the rest of my group.

Kaia sighed. “Well, it doesn't look like we’re going to agree on the first part of this project today. How about everyone pick a couple of topics that they like and we’ll compare notes in Wednesday’s class. We need to have the first part laid out by next Monday, so that gives us a few days.”

The others nodded in agreement and class was dismissed a few minutes later. We all exchanged phone numbers and Allison waved goodbye as she left the classroom. Brad extended his wrist and checked his watch. “So, Kaia. Are you doing anything tonight? We could meet at the library for a study session, then grab a bite after.”

“Uhh...I’m actually busy tonight. But I’ll see you in class on Wednesday,” she replied. He looked at me quickly in annoyance, then back at her.

“The offer’s still open,” he said, winking at her as he sauntered out of the classroom. I watched as Kaia packed up her things. She looked up at me and smiled softly, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked off. I trailed a respectable distance behind her, avoiding staring at her ass this time. When we exited Clark Hall, she stopped walking and turned to me.

“So, what’s your next class?”

A light breeze blew a strand of hair into her face and I had to shove my hands in my pockets to avoid touching her. “I’m done for the day. You?”

“I have College Algebra, then I’m done. You wanna get coffee after?” she asked. 

“I thought you had plans.”

She laughed. “I just said that so Brad would leave me alone. I was hoping you were free this evening. I could buy you a cup of coffee to apologize for brutally crashing into you this morning, and it will give us a chance to catch up.”  

Guilt slammed in my chest. You have a girlfriend, asshole. Remember? “Uh...I-I have plans... with my girlfriend tonight. But we can get together another time.”

“Oh…okay,” she said, not meeting my eyes. We both stood there in awkward silence for a few beats before she spoke up. “Okay, well I gotta get to class. Umm...I’ll see you later.” She gave me a quick wave before taking off in almost a dead sprint.

I knew I was doing the right thing by not leading her on, but I still felt like shit about it. I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Alana, seeing if she was free. I walked over to a bench near the center of the courtyard and sat down waiting for her reply. The afternoon sun lit up the campus with a warm glow as students moved from building to building, talking and laughing.

A few minutes later, my phone buzzed in my hand. I looked down and saw a text from Alana telling me that she had something come up and wouldn’t be able to meet me tonight. Fuck. I didn’t want to believe that she was mad, but here it was in black and white. I dragged my hand down my face and gathered my backpack before shuffling my way back to my dorm alone. 

[aquabluemoonbutterfly]

20 Things About You Tag Game

Tagged by @whitleyschn33 which is a pleasant surprise???? I didnt even know you knew I exist xD we should talk sometime!

holy shit the last time someone tagged me for one of these was freaking years ago

 Rules: Tell 20 facts about yourself and tag 20 people

Nickname: Aqua is what I go by on the internet, don’t really like to throw in my actual name in a blog full of trash

Pet Peeves: when people chew with their mouth open, when someone is shaking their leg or tapping something during an exam even though I’m guilty of this sometimes, not taking off shoes before entering a house

Zodiac: Cancer! I was born 2 months prematurely, so maybe I was supposed to be a Leo?

Height: 5′1″ I am short af and apparently don’t possess any mass or existence

Last Movie: Spideman: Into the Spider Verse with with my sister over our winter break! Great movie, it was really fun

Thing you last Googled: “158.8 in feet” because I work my height in centimeters, not in feet but meh ^^;; If that technically doesn’t count, then “Prove that if x > y > z, then xy + yz > ((x + y)(y + z))/2″ Yeah I was doing math and I couldn’t figure it out and If anyone knows how to prove it please help I can do multivariable calculus fine but I can’t prove anything to save my life

Favorite Musicians: AmaLee is what I exclusively listen to daily, she’s great

Song Stuck in Your Head: Right at this moment I have 7 - seven- from Nanatsu no Taizai blasting in my brain and I love it

Other Blogs?: um...so I used to run the @ask-hayamirinka blog...like about 4 years ago? I’ve pretty much abandoned it at this point. 

Do you get asks?: Nope! 

Amount of Sleep: On average is usually 5 during the week for this semester. Usually I would actually get less but this semester I have a couple days where I have no morning classes, hurray! On weekends I don’t even wake up until it’s exam season. I also nap more than I probably should. 

Lucky Number: Don’t really have one??? I’ve never really understood lucky numbers before

What you’re wearing: since I am home and it’s almost 2am you can bet I’m wearing pjs consisting of a gray shirt with a man swimming in a coffee cup saying ‘don’t wake me up’, blue pj shorts and my beige cardigan I use as a house coat. 

Dream Job: Undecided. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life so at this point I’m not even worried about my dream jobs, I just want to get my degree and as much part time job experience as possible to make my resume better

Dream Trip: Japan with my roommates! We decided we’re going to go after we get our degrees and graduate university. I travel a lot with my family, but never really by myself with friends.

Favorite Food: Ox tongue, ramen, pig’s neck....yeah I’m Asian and eat things that others may find weird but meh. 

Instruments: I played piano for most of my life until the second last year of high school when I stopped, and also played flute for a while too! Was in band in highschool, and I still play flute sometimes to de stress. His name is Julian and he is my emotional support instrument 

Languages: English is my first language, and I also speak Cantonese. My canto has gotten a little bit rough since going to university and I haven’t been speaking it to my parents everyday like I used to, but I know enough to work in a Chinese restaurant so that’s bound to count for something. It’s easier if I constantly speak it at work or at home. 

Songs: Have any of yall listened to the PQ2 soundtrack, it’s freaking amazing. Pull the Trigger and Invitation to Freedom are my absolute favorites. Those two tracks helped me plow through my exams I’m telling you. Also Touch Off from The Promised Neverland is my current obsession. 

Aesthetic: so. here’s the thing. I know what an aesthetic is but i’ve never applied it to myself? I guess my colour scheme is all blacks and greys with some purple and burgundy??? I like things that make me comfortable and feeling at home too. 

I’m supposed to tag 20 people but I don’t even have 20 tumblr friends so we’re just going to ignore that ^^; I’ll tag @wrenkos and @nagikitten for now :)

[savrenim]

Hey! Not sure if you answered this before, but what was your academic journey to grad school? Like in highschool did you take AP? Act/Sat? Did you need like A grades to get into college/uni? How's your undergrad years! What was your undergrad? If it's too personal/time consuming then you don't need to answer 🌸 but it would be really appreciated if you do! Good luck with all your studies! PS. I find kinship in the random anons on your blog. IDK why, but I guess it's like being in an egg carton.

No it’s fine, mostly my….academic journey is an outlier? like, it is by far above and beyond the things you need to succeed and get into grad school, and I have a lot of friends who didn’t have any sort of GPA or history like mine who are doing really well in grad school and have gotten into really good places.

I was a straight A student in grammar school and middle school; by the time I was in 8th grade, we got % grades instead of A, B, C, and I had a 99.875% but only because the 99 in math came from the fact that the teacher believed only Jesus was perfect so he didn’t give 100’s. My real percentage in math I believe was close to a 105, because I’d done a lot of extra credit.

I went to a private high school as well, pretty much entirely on scholarship, because my parents were paranoid about quality of education where I lived and I could. I tested out of Geometry despite the fact that I hadn’t taken it by bugging said 8th grade math teacher to give me a 2-month crash course, and then taking the Geometry Honors final from the prior year and getting….I think an 87? either way, it was enough to get me out of the course. I took AP classes the moment that I was allowed to; over my high school career, I took AP US History, AP European History, AP English Literature, AP English Language, and AP Calculus BC. I got 5’s on all of them. I also took the ACT and got 35/36 (and similar scores on all the subject tests…I think 1 34, counterbalanced by a 36?), although the ACT never really mattered to places I was applying. I was the closest thing our (non-competitive) fencing team had to a captain. I was in choir, and sometimes took on solo performances. I played fairly substantial roles in the musical every year. I also wrote a full draft of a novel that…I’ve still got, actually, and am trying to turn into an actual novel. I got straight A’s; I think my weighted GPA at the end of my high school career was a 4.63? 4.0 unweighted.

I’m also a high school dropout. Technically. But that was because I applied to college a year early, got in, got full scholarship, and the college said that they didn’t need a high school diploma or GED from me, so I went “peace” and then left home to go to college.

there was family drama going down at the same time and this was more a move to escape a hella abusive environment than me actually caring about going to college early, although also at the time I’d taken all of the math and physics classes my school had to offer, and didn’t want to spent senior year bored.

My first two years of college were fairly difficult for me because I was not aware of the fact that I was bipolar and started having more and more severe manic and depressive episodes, culminating in being hospitalized a week during spring semester of my sophomore year. You would not be able to tell any of this from my transcripts; while I was no longer getting straight A’s, it had gone down to an A- a semester, and I think a single B somewhere in there; my overall cumulative GPA was a 3.85. Still, I wasn’t particularly happy where I was at because it was small, in the middle of nowhere, and I’d just been through hell and wanted to start fresh, so I took my AA with highest distinction and applied to a whole bunch of transfer schools. I decided to go to the single one that gave me enough financial aid for that to be feasible.

(I am not going to say what my undergrad was, because I don’t like to post any sort of information on the internet that is specific enough for people to track me down. It was a very nice liberal artsy place.)

I stayed there for three years, as a combination of I wanted time to recover, I knew that I wanted to get into a hardcore serious graduate school and thus wanted professors to know me a lot better so that they could write letters of recommendation, and I wanted to properly joint-major in math and physics and needed the time to fit all of the classes in my schedule so that it would be slightly less hellish. Like, there was a semester where I was taking Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Classical Mechanics, and Modern Physics — with a lab — and acting as a course tutor/ta for Dynamical Systems all at the same time. I wasn’t really “taking it easy.” But eh, whatever. I got straight A’s in every single math class I took, and I think….one B in physics, and a couple of A-’s sprinkled in sometimes, but otherwise straight A’s. I did research during the summers, published three papers in both math and physics, and presented at two conferences. And thus got into a couple pretty good grad schools and some nice fellowship offers and actually got to make a choice and I could not be happier with the place that I ended up.

Which, like, absolutely everything about my life story is so much overkill, please do not try to be like me, not only is it not necessary but it literally nearly killed me sometime in the middle there.

[jjillekkot]

Rules: Answer the questions you’re given, write 11 of your own and tag 11 people.

I have had the pleasure of being tagged three (3) times for this sweet, sweet meme so brace yourselves, apparently you’re gonna learn a ton about me today! Placing it under a cut because.... you should really be thanking me, honestly.

1. it’s late in the afternoon and you’re in a new city. do you take the train, the bus, or do you walk to get back to your place?

Am I just moving to this town? Likely, I’ve probably visited before so I would have a sense of how to use the transportation. Or, Google Maps is pretty handy! I actually enjoy walking most places if it’s available to me; otherwise, I’m a train kinda girl. I’ll take the bus if I have to. I’m very positive towards public transportation and energy efficiency. Reduce that carbon footprint!

2. what’s your dream place to live (city or country? continent? in land or by the sea? cold or warm?)?

Okay, but... gonna go cheesy and say with my loved one. ‘Cause I’d honestly survive with any climate as long as I’m with them.

Assuming I’m single af and forever alone, or at least living on my own for a while? I’m definitely a larger city kind of girl, or near access to a large city. I wouldn’t mind living in a suburb and then commuting to the city, actually. I love nature, but I don’t want to be isolated in it for too long. I spent three months in a literal jungle. I’ve had my share of country times.

Also, having lived near Wisconsin-- I am way over the winter. I’m fine if I don’t see a lot of snow. I actually do enjoy rain, though. 

3. what’s one of your favorite threads across any of the muses you have ever played?

One of the earliest threads I’ve written on this blog was with @argentnoir​ & it was just kind of like a slow burn / pining kind of deal? Where Tseng acknowledges that Yuffie is up to be empress of Wutai and how inappropriate it is as one who has actively abandoned his nation that he would support her. So he tries to deny and reject any feelings which might surface for her, while Yuffie is  very much a “ forget protocol, I like you. ” I really liked that dynamic of how Tseng knew what was right for the nation even if he no longer belonged to it, and Yuffie was very “you belong to me, therefore you belong to Wutai.” 

I’m weak for Tsuffie okay like let me die with this ship.

4. five songs you’d love to share with people?

manzions // gorgeous. while my apartment was being renovated a few months back, i rented a room in an ex-friend’s house ( we were cool in high school but after that we grew apart ). anyway, the walls were paper thin & whenever i was depressed or crying or something, he would always play this song.

joji // will he. okay but a surprise twitter bop? also let him move on from his previous persona ok. yeesh. people are allowed heelturns. anyway, so this song is so mellow & i dig it, but also it just reminds me of the type of music a friend of mine used to send me all the time when we like... stopped being super close. that was their way of reaching out, was sending songs. and like. idk joji’s character / the lyrics super just make me think of that friend ‘cause that’s definitely what that friend would say to me, if he felt confident enough to ever use the words.

yakuza 0 // 24h cinderella. this is a guilty pleasure song. in case y’all didn’t know, i love rgg / yakuza almost as much as i love jojo ( that’s saying a lot ) & majima makes my life better okay. i am annoying & go around singing this. i’m pretty sure i’ve sang this like every week since release. i probably could use some help lmao.

utada hikaru // forevermore. don’t sleep on this song. idc if you didn’t see the show. i know everyone’s still screaming about omen / don’t think twice but i’ve been screaming about forevermore since she came back from retirement. bless hikki. also here’s a tissue for your eyeballs.

yumi kawamura // burn my dread. before we were shook over lyn inaizumi & shihoko hirata, we were all dying over yumi. who, by the way, is my literal queen ok. every time i see a persona concert online i sob profusely when yumi is on stage. i own the p4d soundtrack & i sobbed through her tracks on there too. honestly that was my most played music of 2016, that soundtrack. her voice is beautiful in every song, but i had to pick one, so why not the intro to p3 so we can all sob profusely. you’re welcome.

i would’ve put sono chi no sadame but i need to be tamed. i will, however, put the link to jojo’s first six intros performed live, though. that’s a real masterpiece that should go on the big screen. man, what i would do to go to a jojo concert.

5. are you good at math? (if so, why are you a nerd?)

i am rather proficient at math, actually. i wanted to go into medicine at one point, then psychology. you need a background in statistics to do that. but i also showed an interest in calculus, despite being terrible at physics and three-dimensional art. i studied it into high school, but gave it up in college to pursue language and fine arts instead. 

6. were you a goosebumps kid or an ‘are you afraid of the dark’ kid?

goosebumps. though i’ll admit i read the books more than watching either show.

7. how many tamagotchis did you own in the past, and what were their names (if you remember)?

i never had a tamagotchi. or a neopet. that’s a whole era that goes right above me.

8. what’s one situation you want to / wish to write your muse in? 

historical drama.

9. what’s one thing you’re really proud of, either in your portrayal or yourself in life? or both! actually yeah, list two things you’re proud of, one in your portrayal and one of yourself in life! ;)

i’ve survived a lot of tough things, so i guess i’m rather proud of that. 

i’m also like... happy that i’m able to pull off a yuffie that isn’t reduced to a sex object. it’s really nice actually to see people more these days seeing her for her maturity & respecting her for the amount she’s able to achieve. even square has backed off with making her such a heavy comic relief, at least in dffoo, and that makes me really happy.

10. pc or apple? (there’s only one right answer to this question, and it’s not apple)

i only own one apple product & that’s a iPad that was given to me during college. which, it was rather useful while i was in school, but i can say i’m not really a fan of the whole “apple slowing down your devices to make you upgrade” thing. also, it’s so expensive? i’d like to get into video editing and photography, & while i’m aware i don’t need an apple to do that, i like the simplicity and interface and hardware. but.. y’all these prices & these games are too much.

also, atm i don’t use either a pc or an apple: i’m on chromebook. & it’s really efficient if you’re into blogging or writing or really minimal things, like i am. c:

11. what’s the most embarrassing muse you have ever played :-)

maximillion pegasus. i wrote him as a joke in high school. i will not bring him back for anything lmao.

1. what season is your favorite in your most favorite running tv show?

i actually don’t... watch television... the last show i tried to actually pay attention to was designated survivor. ‘cause i’m weak for kiefer sutherland. and uh? idk i like it cause it has rising climax !

i also binge watched ghost adventures so.... maybe that counts. uh?? i would say maybe seasons 10-13 were my favorite because i felt bad for billy! always sending billy off on his own & his expressions about zak “can you stop summoning demons for a second?” is always great.

2. if you were apart of a trio like the three stooges, what would your names be (can’t be curly, larry and moe)?

actually, @lockedfighter​ & @crystarium-rose​ & i are the powerpuffs. i’m buttercup.

3. you’re a sailor scout, which one are you and why?

i love haruka for her ability to subvert gender roles. i’m really into androgyny & i don’t think my biological sex should limit my physical capabilities or interests. i also have short hair. however, people tend to liken me to ami, minako, & makoto.

4. what is your favorite mode of transportation and why?

jeeps with the doors off ! also tuk-tuk and motorbike. what a thrill !

5. what is a fruit you love but hate any byproduct made in its flavor (ie: grapes, love the fruit but hate grape flavored drinks or candies)?

cherry flavored things are always too strong for me.

6. you’ve lost one of your five senses, which one is it?

uh... smell? though tbh in the transition of winter to spring, it’s a combination of smell and taste because my throat closes off when lilacs bloom & i have to use throat numbing spray lmao.

7. you’re superman for a day, which one of his powers do you abuse the most?

laser vision. burn baby burn, disco inferno.

8. a favorite book you enjoy has comes to life and you are sucked into that world. what book is it and what character are you in that book?

that would be highly problematic considering my options would be the divine comedy or jojo. assuming i’m jojo.... i’d love to be caesar zeppelli when he first meets joseph. that’s quality.

9. do you have a birthday this month, when is it?

my birthday is july 23.

10. i just burnt your favorite dish trying to make it for you, what was the dish suppose to be?

if you burn pasta i’m kind of wary of you tbh.

11. you just got a very pretty parrot, what is the first word you teach it?

“ hewwo. ” i blame apollo entirely.

1. what’s your favourite comfort food ?

gummi bears !!! that’s not a comfort food? then mashed potatoes & gravy. surely that counts.

2. if you could physically go into a video game for a day, what game would you choose and why ? 

policenauts because i’m still weak for space exploration. that, or xenoblade chronicles 2 because i need to make friends with mr. turters & zeke stat.

3. what’s the first book you’ve fallen in love with ?

pretty sure it was an anthology of greek & roman mythology because i’m a nerd.

4. what’s gotten you into writing in the first place ?

i’ve been writing for like... ever. i’ve had diaries since preschool. it’s how i express myself.

5. what made you pick the character ( s ) you are currently writing ?

@lockedfighter​ “ asked ” me into writing yuffie & @kintsuggi​ asked me about writing paz.

6.  what do you cope with better : being cold or being hot ?

being cold. ‘cause i’ll just add socks and blankies & eventually fall asleep. i can only take so many clothes off. and i hate sweating. and drinking water helps to a slight extent but gawd.

7. what’s the one thing you love about your country ?

uh. can i talk about being first nations? great. i love how people who are ndn / first nations respect one another’s differences & how everyone is just “cousin”. that we’re all extended relatives of one another and support people in whatever they might need. i love that solidarity.

8. can you list five things that you love about yourself ?

i’m nice. i care about others. i help others the best i can. sometimes i can be cute. i’m smol & fit into places.

9. what’s your favourite tv show and why ?

24 because it’s action, espionage, justice & i’m weak for kiefer sutherland.

10. if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why ?

probably my body because it brings me a lot of unhappiness.

11. if you could become a mythical creature, what would it be ?

a fairy. i would love to be like navi. “ hey, listen! watch out ! ”

TAGGED BY: @smashkick​ & @fcragil​ & @re-no​ ( this is why people think i’m popular i betcha. )

i do not possess the concentration to ask people 11 questions BUT if you wanna just talk about yourself, feel free to tag yourself in that lmao.

[faces-in-unexpected-places]

This was only supposed to be a one-lined post (Life, College, Projects, etc.)

Earlier today, while I was deep in thought and studying for an exam next week, I just casually “biology is so fuckin cool”.

I’d just like to point out that I’ll be getting ready to graduate this time next year, so I’m pretty far into my degree, and I haven't come across a single class for my major that I didn’t find interesting. Even the ones that had really shitty professors. Even the ones that were extremely difficult (like o-chem OTL)

I’ve enjoyed the ride all the way up until this point, and I’m excited at the prospect of grad school. I’m just very happy with this and think that I’ve made a really good choice with this.

-----

Also, can I just say holy shit at how much time has passed? I’ve been on this meme-loving website since my senior year of high school. So much has changed since then. I feel like my perceptions of things and views of myself and others and the world have changed so much.

It’s just so much to reflect on and take in and understand. I never would have guessed I would be in the place that I am if you asked me back in high school. Of course, if you did ask me, I probably would have been like “did future me tell you to come back and ask me? So he’s still a debilitating nerd for time travel? Good.”.

Anyway, heh

Basically, I know that I don’t post a whole lot on here much anymore, huh? It’s really just because I’ve been dedicating a lot of my time to things outside of here, as I’m sure I’ve said before. Either way, for those who may still check in and might be wondering what’s going on, I’ll fill you in!

1.) I’ve just recently gotten past a very long writer’s block for music, and came up with a really awesome melody for a song that I’ve been working on for over a year!

2.) I work in biology lab on campus that studies oocyte maturation. I’m receiving credit for my degree right now, but I’ll be getting paid for it during this summer! And then I’ll be switching to a new lab in the fall studying ecological effects that some of the bacteria in our lake have on our environment.

3.) I’ve started drafting the main plot points for Do You Have the Time Episode 4.

4.) Abbey and I just had our 2 year anniversary a few weeks ago! She got me a humongous box of cookies that will literally knock you and your blood-sugar on your ass if you dare to eat more than one at a time. I got her a small box of macaroons and a card with a pop-up vase of flowers (she showed it to me once, and I remembered!). We’re probably going to see each other in May/June.

5.) I’m moving into an apartment with my old band-mates in the Fall. They both went to the same college as me, so we’re talking a bit more again, which is fun!

6.) I managed to face a person and situation from my past that has given me a lot of trouble for a lot of years. Our talk went very well, and she helped me understand a lot of things that I was confused about. It’s helped me feel better in myself and my future!

7.) One of the people that I work with in the lab is an INFP, and his views on the world are so Ne and positive it’s like looking into a fuckin mirror.

8.) I’ve found a Masters program that interests me a lot, and is also much closer to Abbey. There is a decent possibility that we’ll get to be together in a little over a year. (Nothing is ever guaranteed in life, but fingers crossed, you know?)

9.) My mom will be getting health insurance back once she graduates college and gets a new job with her degree (she’ll be an RN) and asked if I wanted to get braces. (??? I guess that’s cool?)

10.) My acoustic guitar is currently decommissioned because it’s too dry to replace the strings, so it’s basically unplayable right now. I got a humidifier for it, and I’m hoping that it’ll be well enough to play again because I miss it a lot. However, I’ve been giving my ukulele a lot more attention as of late.

11.) I recently had my mom drop off my old microphone because I’ve been considering getting back into making gaming commentary videos. My old friend who recorded with me also sent me a message the other day, while I was thinking about it, so that made me more interested in starting up the machine.

12.) I still tutor math on campus! Calculus 1 and below (so, algebra and trigonometry, basically). One of my students called me a genius the other day (unfortunately, that statement is a bit inaccurate, heh. But the gesture was very sweet) Another one has told me repeatedly “you teach me everything that I need to know in one hour, and my professor can’t even do it for an entire week that I go to class!”. Kind of an unfortunate compliment for me to receive from the perspective of the professor, but still, also a sweet gesture.

13.) Abbey and I watched that anime movie called Your Name for our anniversary, and it was really good! The music is great!

14.) Abbey also wanted us to get snapchats so we could send each other fun pictures throughout the day. We do, and it’s really fun! But now I also send pictures of the experiments that I run in the lab to my friends and family, and all of them are very confused. They just know that I’m doing science.

15.) Oh man, wouldn’t it have been cool if I could think of a 15th thing so this list seemed more planned and cohesive?

Heh, well, there you go!

I just thought I would say that I hope that everyone who still comes around and looks at my blog is doing well, and still find happiness from the things that I might do! I know that I’m not very active and content that I put out is probably few and far between. But either way, if there has ever been anything that I’ve shared that has made you happy or smile, then good! I’m so happy for that!

Regardless, I hope that life has been treating you all well. And I know that maybe it hasn't been for everyone. In which case, that’s not so great, I’m sorry for that, friend. But remember that for the bad that might be in your life right now, there is always good to counter it! Maybe it’s not there right now, maybe it will take a while, but it’s not gone. The good is never completely gone. Please don’t ever forget that.

Also, a quick thank you and shout-out to those who have read my little short story series Do You Have the Time! I know that I’m a slow writer/poster. And also that I can probably count the number of people who read it on one hand. But that doesn’t matter. I never expected for anyone to read it at all because I don’t put a whole lot of word out, heh. I just post once on tumblr and I’m done. I know that there are a lot of other ways to try to get my stuff noticed, but I’m not really concerned with that. I just like writing it. And even if only one person reads it and likes it, that is enough. That’s awesome! I can’t believe that those people exist and are so cool (looking at you @stormphoenix)!

Just, thank you for sticking around, despite my slow and infrequent process. I notice who takes the time to acknowledge it. And I appreciate it every single time!

Anyway, I just mean to say that I hope that everyone that I’ve ever come across on here is happy in one way or another. I love you all, have a good night!

[spideyboyholland-blog]

Red and Blue | Peter Parker

A/N: HI! So I’m hoping on that writing train for Spider-Man/Tom Holland because I literally spent like three weeks binge reading? the shit out of fics and wanted to write my own. Yeah, I know Christmas is over, but I started this beforehand and wanted to post it anyway. Oh, I also have another writing blog: @twenty-onedirections where I write for bands (mainly 1D & twenty one pilots). Whereas this blog is strictly for, well ya know already. ONE MORE THING before I shut up: All of my fics regarding Peter, I’ll be making him university age (like early twenties) cause I feel uncomfortable writing about a fifteen-year-old.

Gif not mine!

Summary: (Y/N) discovers a different color scheme while hunting for Christmas decorations at Peter’s apartment.

“A little to the left."

"This way?"

"No-no. My left, sorry." A slight pause. "And perfect! Right there."

May slides her hand across the large snowflake decal, sticking it against the glass of the window that overlooks the rest of Queens. The city lights begin to click on as the sun sinks into the horizon, turning the sky into a mixture of pinks, oranges, and reds. “Alright, let me see!” She hops off the back of the sofa that sits just in front of the window, then scurries over to my side, gasping in awe. “Oh, it looks great! I like how it sparkles in the lights we placed around the window.”

“Me, too! That was a nice touch, May.” She smiles at me with delight. “So what’s next on the agenda?”

Ever since around four o’ clock in the afternoon, I’ve been over at the Parker’s helping May decorate for Christmas since Peter was nowhere to be found. Initially, this wasn’t what I had planned. When I knocked on the door of their apartment with my messenger bag filled with notes and books over my shoulder, I intended to have Peter help me study for a calculus exam. There was only less than a month of my freshman year left, and I wanted to ace this final so I wouldn’t have to take any more mathematics for the rest of my college career. I wasn’t necessarily terrible at math, it was more trouble concentrating on what was on the page. All of those formulas, numbers, and symbols just deflate my interest right off the bat, so Peter acted more like a babysitter rather than a tutor.

As soon as May opened up the door, festive music poured out into the hallway, echoing down either side. She was outfitted in her pajamas with her brown hair all tied up in a messy bun and greeted me with a warm smile. “Pete’s not home, but you can come in if you’d like?” I thanked her with a grin, and she pushed open the door to allow my inside, the music reaching full volume once she shut the door behind us. Apologizing, she trotted over to the radio to crank it down a few notches, then joined me in the kitchen where I was setting my bag on a chair. “Bet you can guess where he is.” May challenged, picking up her mug that was either full of coffee or hot chocolate. The steam fogged up her glasses when she took a sip. I hummed sarcastically, leaning against the coffee table with my arms crossed like I needed to think it over.

"Let's see: either the library on campus or the Stark Internship?"

She held a small smile. "Although, those were great guesses, they were wrong, unfortunately." I tilted my head in confusion, causing May to giggle. "He's at Ned's, well, that's the story I got this time at least. He was supposed to home an hour ago to help me decorate.” She sighed then set the mug behind her. “That kid doesn’t know when to take a break, he’s always on the run and go. It worries me to death.” The corners of May’s mouth pull into a frown with spreads over to me. For the eight years, I have known the Parker’s, I’ve only seen May distraught twice. The first being when her husband, Ben, passed and the second when Peter and the decathlon team almost died in the Washington Monument elevator the sophomore year of high school. Other than that, she’s usually a ray of sunshine and one of the nicest people ever if they stay on her good side that is.

The very first time I had met May was when I was in seventh grade. Peter and I weren’t exactly fast friends since we were never in the same class together until that year. He sat two seats behind me in Chemistry, always engrossed in his notes and books never really talking to anyone, except for Ned, unless he had to. All in all Peter and I weren’t all that different. Sure we “belonged” to different social circles: myself being the artsy type, while Peter was the typical science nerd, but we both were shy, listened rather than spoke, and were loyal to the ones we love the most. It was toward the end of seventh grade, just a month before summer vacation, and our teacher wanted to throw in one final project. The Midtown Science Academy held a science fair every single year with many students participating mainly just for fun or if extra credit was rewarded, but this year our teacher made it mandatory calling it our final exam. Since all of us couldn't win, he graded us on presentation, creativeness, and originality. He didn't let us choose our partners either which led to Peter. We sat at four black tables with four seats at each of them; I was at the front while Peter sat in the third row. Instead of pairing us off with the person on our right like he usually did, he went to the person directly behind us, and consequently enough the peer behind Peter and the one behind myself were both out sick that day, so we were defined as partners.

At the start of it, our conversations were strictly about the project, then, a week later, it branched off later into related subjects like what are favorite classes were to extracurriculars, subsequently resulting in debating on what the best video game character was. All in all, it took the remainder of the school year for the two of us to warm up to each other, but we still weren't classified as best friends, just mere acquaintances. I remember Peter inviting me over to his apartment for the first time late after school the day before the science fair to go over some finishing details. I came to find out that we lived in the same complex on the same floor when he gave me his address. However, when I knocked on the door, an older woman answered instead of the brown haired boy. Immediately, all of my shyness came back when she smiled sweetly. May was super friendly that entire night always checking up on us, seeing if we needed anything. I didn't know if she was always like this or just thrilled that Peter had brought a new friend home from school. Either way, as the years went on, she's become the fun aunt that I had always wanted.

"I'm sure he's alright, May. This is Peter we are talking about. How much trouble could he get into?" Although, she was right about him slipping away all the time. He never did it before, but it's expected now ever since he started this Stark Internship, and the name of it is about how much we know about it. Peter never keeps secrets from the two of us, but he is definitely hiding something when it comes to this. Of course, I never ask because I don't want to feel intrusive, and May asked a few times, and all she received was the same blunt answer: "I can't really talk about it right now." So we just stopped asking altogether, hoping one day he would spill the beans.

She giggles at the statement. "I don't know. He did get a detention in high school once, remember?"

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?" I chuckled. "Seriously though May, I'm sure he's okay."

She sighed then pushed away from the countertop she was leaning on to walk back out into the living room. "Okay. I won't be such a worry wart, but since Peter is still gone, would you like the honor of helping me decorate? Christmas is only two weeks away!" She added an excited smile at the end that made her brown eyes sparkle with delight.

And the answer to that question leads up to now. Our bellies are full of eggnog, some spiked and some not, our voices humming to the sixteenth Christmas song in a row, and half of the apartment is sparkling with decorations. Needlessly to say after an hour and a half of snowflakes, wreaths, reindeer, and snowmen, I'd say we are making pretty good progress. The only thing left to do was the tree which May had already drug the large box into the living room and started to pull out the branches setting them in different sections on the floor. I picked up the entire bottom portion and placed them individually into the desired slots; then May followed behind by fluffing them out. It took another half an hour to finish fluffing the tree. The sun disappeared well below the horizon as the clock struck six and faint white stars began to decorate the sky. “Oh shoot,” May mutters, staring the at the strand of unlit lights in her palms.

“What’s up?” I ask, making a few adjustments on the branches toward the top of the tree, then I avert my gaze to her, answering my question a few seconds later. “Oh, do you have any more?”

“Yeah, I think Peter has some in his closet from some project he did forever ago. I have one good strand here, but I two for the tree.” She unplugs them from the outlet to begin wrapping them around her arm. “It's on the top shelf, I think?”

Nodding, I disappear down the hall toward Peter’s room. My socked feet pad on the hardwood floor before scuffing the carpet when I push open his door. It's changed so much since he was a little kid: no more bunkbed or clutter from all the toys he had, but he still had the same old desk and posters that covered the pale green walls, along with the books that lined the shelves just above it. As my eyes scan the room I've seen a million times, they fall on something just beside the lamp on the desk. Smiling to myself, I walk over and pick up the frame admiring the contents. It was a graphite sketch I drew a last year of the abstract spider that Spider-Man has on the center of his chest. Peter has been obsessed with this guy ever since the public discovered him. Anytime he does something, Peter knows about it and will gush about it for the next few days. So I thought as a little birthday present for the fanboy, I drew Spidey's symbol for him. Only I never framed the photo just gave it to him in a protective sleeve, so it warms my heart to see the gesture.

Sighing, I set the picture back down, then head over to the closet opening up the door and flicking the light on to browse the contents. I scan the top shelf but see no box of lights, so my hands slip across the wood hoping to find the strand at least. No luck. I let out of breath of frustration, then push all of the clothes hanging on the bar to the left to browse the small shelf next to it. A scent of musk and faint laundry detergent fill my nostrils when I move the clothes back to the right to search the last rack. However, something tumbles off a hanger and onto the floor right next to my left foot. Instinctively, I pick it up to put it back not even paying attention to what it was, but the rough texture immediately tore my focus away. It was red with black lines running in a pattern along the fabric. Flipping it over to examine it further, my brows come together not in confusion, but in bewilderment. Two white almond eyes with thick black outlines stare straight back at me resembling a specific face that's all too familiar. "You're kidding me..." I whisper, then avert my full gaze up to the last hanger holding a long suit that drags the ground. The iconic colors slap me across the face, but surely this can't be right... right? I mean Peter is a fantastic friend, but this is also Peter I'm talking about: the nerdy, awkward, shy, clumsy Peter Parker. Sliding the hanger back to reveal the front, I sharply inhale as the answer becomes more apparent. How is this possible? I rush back over to the desk, grabbing the picture to compare it to the symbol on the front of the suit and it... matches. My jaw falls open. "You're-"

"(Y/N)? May said I find you in he-" Peter says as he steps into his bedroom, but freezes in his tracks when he catches me holding the mask and frame. His brown eyes grow the widest I had ever seen them, then hurries and closes the door. "I- uh- can explain- this-" He tears the fabric from my fingertips as well the photo, placing it back on the desk. "a-and t-that." He closes the closet door, breaking my dead stare from all the red and blue. "I-it's not what it l-looks like, this is just a c-costume (Y/N) a-and..."

Peter’s excuses fade away as my mind trails off somewhere. As he stutters on, a little fire ignites in the pit of my stomach. How dare he hide something so huge, so damn dangerous and vital from May or from me! He could get hurt or.. worse. The word I refuse to acknowledge shakes me to the core because I cannot and will not picture a world without Peter Parker in it. Thinking that all of the laughs we’ve shared, heart-to-hearts, tears, and anything else in those long eight years would be nothing but a memory. Neither of us could handle that kind of devastation and to make matters worse, he's been lying the entire time to cover his ass. This Stark Internship is probably a bullshit excuse for him to run around and play a superhero. No internship would require someone to leave at the drop of a hat like that, or work a ridiculous amount of hours per week. Friends don't keep secrets from each other, especially big ones like this. With all this pent-up emotion, I expected myself to scream at him, but my responses are quiet and pained. "Just. Stop." I order through gritted teeth, and Peter does with a guilty expression written all over his face. His lips form a thin line as he looks down at the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me, Peter?" It’s hard to look at him without the feeling of punching him a thousand times or just bursting into tears.

"I-I didn't want you to worry about me-"

"Of course I'm going to worry about you! I do it all the time already!" My sudden rise in octave caused him to flinch, and look up. "How could I not when you disappear for hours on end, never return my calls or text messages during that time? I’d lie awake in bed wide for hours wondering what the hell has happened to you? And for you to show up in class the next morning acting like nothing was wrong? Do you know what that does to me, Peter? To Aunt May?" I began to pace around his room, my eyes starting to fill up with tears. His concerned eyes followed my shaking body back and forth, then trailed up when my hand came up to wipe away the wetness falling across my cheeks. The corners of his mouth turned down into a frown.

"(Y/N), please don’t cry." Peter steps away from the closet door, but I hold out my hand trying to prevent him from coming any closer, but he just brushes it away and engulfs me in his arms. I can’t help but lose my composure in his comforting embrace when my arms wrap around him. “I’m really sorry I hurt you. This is the last thing I wanted.” He murmurs into my hair.

“I’m mainly upset because you lied to me instead of telling me the truth. Sure, I would’ve still been angry with you risking your life, but... don’t you trust us?” I whisper, pulling away from him to find watery brown eyes, but not sad ones; they almost appear angry.

"It’s not that I don’t trust you two... It’s way more complicated than that.” A sharp knock on the door brings our attention to May’s voice asking if everything was alright. “Y-yeah, May we’re okay. We’ll be out in a second.” Peter calls out to her.

“Okay, well don’t be too much longer! I wanna get this tree finished!” Her chipper voice replies, then we hear her footsteps fade away before mixing in with the music.

Peter turns back to me with a frustrated sigh paired with a hand running through his soft curls. “Look (Y/N), I never told you because I don't want you interfering with this part in of my life.” That line felt like a knife being jabbed right into my chest. Weren’t best friends supposed to go through everything together, no matter how awful it was? And aren’t they are supposed to have each other’s backs? “It’s too risky and dangerous. There are people out there that would do awful things to you just to make me suffer, and that’s the last thing I want.” My rage started to fade at the biting words and was replaced with a pang of guilt and sadness. “I’m sorry that I made you worry so much, it was hard not to just explain everything right then and there, but I just couldn’t do it.” Peter bites his bottom lip, holding back the tears threatening to spill over. “Say something, (Y/N).” But I couldn’t, no matter how hard I wanted to, my mouth wouldn’t open nor could I find the right words to say. I love Peter so damn much, probably more than a best friend should and now knowing that there was a chance I wouldn't see him tomorrow just tears me up inside.

His name tumbles off my lips in the faintest whisper as a couple more tears escape. He perks up at the sound of my voice then falters at my next statement. "I-I just... d-don't know what I would do if I lost y-you."

Peter pulls me in for another bone-crushing hug without any hesitation. "Please don't think like that. I'm standing right here, right now... with you. And just know that I will always come back to you." Peter's warmth, the familiar musky scent, his big brown eyes, the shy smile, and quirky personality was wrapped around me like a comforting blanket that I never want to throw off. He's my best friend. The corners of my lips pull up into a small smile at the thought and grows even more at the next. And I love him.

[mathematicianadda]

A Compendium of Cool Internet Math Things

Here’s an experience I’ve had roughly six million times.

A mathematical topic arises.

“You know,” I say, “someone has a great tweet about this… somewhere…”

In order to find it, I am forced to read all of the tweets, ever.

I am reminded that “all of the tweets ever” is rather too many tweets.

So about a year ago I started a compendium. Tweets, yes, but also videos, apps, memes… anything stimulating or arresting that I can use to embroider my lessons. For a while, this document lived where all important documents live: as a gmail draft. But now I share it as a blog post, and I intend to continue updating it as new ones cross my ken.

NOTE: I will, where convenient, use screenshots and links, because WordPress’s embedded tweets sometimes take ages to load.

  NUMBER AND SCALE

A very strange pricing scheme:

A brilliant anagram from Colin Beveridge:

A gorgeous visualization of prime factors (from this Smithsonian blog post).

The timeless classic Powers of Ten, arguably the best film of 1977 (suck it, Annie Hall):

The mesmerizing interactive “Scale of the Universe” app (which requires you to enable Flash, but just do it).

Also, this black hole:

Science papers are always full of figures, but very rarely are they to scale, but in this astrophysics paper, which I’ve never heard of an astrophysics paper having a figure to scale, the authors included a 1:1 scale of a 5 Earth-mass back hole. Sick as hell. pic.twitter.com/HYhv005gTW

— a small rocket the size of a large rocket (@jaredhead) September 28, 2019

ALGEBRA

Four-story slides shaped like parabolas:

An ellipse as the maximum heights of a family of projectiles:

Throwing an object at the same speed but different angles defines an ellipse via its maximum height https://t.co/vQ8NMssCMf

— 〈 Berger | Dillon 〉 (@InertialObservr) July 22, 2019

Simultaneous equations “in the wild”:

Four place mats, arranged to make a quadratic identity at the dinner table:

Polar coordinates on pizza:

Putting sauce on a pizza. https://t.co/Oe9gsZaSjz

— Machine Pix (@MachinePix) August 28, 2016

GEOMETRY AND TRIGONOMETRY

Volumes of a cylinder, a sphere, and a cone:

Volumes of earth, earth’s air, and earth’s water:

Animated visual proof that any polygon can be rearranged into any other polygon of equal area:

(You’ve just got to click here, it’s amazing.)

For your trigonometric Halloween, the blood function:

Defining a radian with a wooden model:

Tragic Tweet Delete! -- I thought I would at least add it back : ) We are interested in sending these to folks, es… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

— MathHappens (@MathHappensOrg) October 01, 2019

Simple harmonic motion:

Beautiful shapes created by simple harmonic motion 🧐 https://t.co/ifsFX4nfN9

— Fermat's Library (@fermatslibrary) January 02, 2020

CALCULUS AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS

Riemann sums (comparing upper and lower sums as the grid is refined):

Concepts without words: Integration and Riemann Sums bit.ly/2E7iNU3 #math #science #iteachmath #mtbos… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

— Tungsteno (@74WTungsteno) August 11, 2019

A professor solves an optimization problem (“smallest surface area for a given volume”), writes a company that makes cat food to ask why they don’t use this solution, and receives an incredibly thoughtful and interesting reply:

A real-life butterfly effect:

In office hours, sophomore ⁦@JackSillin⁩ showed me this real world example of the butterfly effect. An unexpectedly… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

— Steven Strogatz (@stevenstrogatz) September 10, 2019

The exquisite sensitivity of the double pendulum:

50 double pendulums, whose initial velocities differ only by 1 part in 1000 https://t.co/3b75BDkwF1

— 〈 Berger | Dillon 〉 (@InertialObservr) September 30, 2019

PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS

Independence is a delicate and rare phenomenon:

What do probabilistic words really mean?

I see you Anscombe’s Quartet, and I raise you the Datasaurus:

And of course no thread like this would be complete without the datasaurus!

All of these clusters, including the dinosaur, have the same X- and Y-Mean, standard deviation and correlation to two decimal digits. (src: https://t.co/ppLwxtAxOo) pic.twitter.com/7sV8tHCc5m

— λTotoro (@lambdatotoro) January 29, 2019

A delightful game aptly called Guess the Correlation:

The dangers of using r^2 as an effect size estimate:

Why you shouldn’t use r^2 as an effect size estimate – it tells you a dime is “worth” 4 times as much as a nickel. Dan Ozer has one question if you insist on using r^2: “Want to make some change?” #arp2019 pic.twitter.com/okszDQXjtk

— Sanjay Srivastava (@hardsci) June 28, 2019

The normal distribution in action:

The thing I will miss most about teaching is not getting to use this pic of a weight machine to teach normal distribution pic.twitter.com/jNaChtm5tb

— Creosote, King of the Tar Distillates (@edburmila) July 6, 2019

MISCELLANEOUS

Moore’s Law, and the glorious improbability of that exponential growth:

Fascinating: Moore’s Law predictions vs actual growth in transistor count. by @datagrapha reddit.com/r/dataisbeauti… https://t.co/ZwN1dBGE1n

— Lionel Page (@page_eco) September 03, 2019

Quick sort, in an image:

Centrifugal force to restore a whiteboard marker:

I had no idea you could do this to take a dead whiteboard marker and give it life again! Source:… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

— Robert Kaplinsky (@robertkaplinsky) July 06, 2019

Voronoi diagrams (i.e., which national park is closest to you?):

Set theory (specifically, the power set), where each rectangle is one of the possible sets of these 4 elements (ranging from the empty set in the middle, to the set of all four):

Mathematics in nature:

Stumbled into reading about hermit crabs and wut: https://t.co/ERdEs8TwUK

— Derrick (@geekandahalf) November 29, 2019

from Math with Bad Drawings https://ift.tt/3ajXWeS from Blogger https://ift.tt/3apHWYI

[queerpontmercy]

lantern, amber, crow

lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other?

i love my friends and can’t decide who i wanna gush about so here we go here are three of my dearest friends in chronological order

i met bri in my first year of junior high, waiting for a musical revue audition. i was reading alanna: the first adventure, and they came and sat down next to me and started asking me how far i was in the book. i remember walking halfway home from school and immediately telling my mom i’d made a friend. (of course i lost contact with them for a year when they went to high school, but it’s been like eight years now so i guess we haven’t done too bad for ourselves. 

i met james through our mutual friend oliver, online, and he says he thought i was severe/intimidating, and i was really embarrassed because i hadn’t responded to his messages yet, and then finally we started talking more right before school started, and i pretended to know more about opera than i do, and desperately wanted to sound cool. the funny thing is that i almost ended up living with him but thought he was someone bri had been complaining about, and declined the offer. 

i met echo online too, and quietly admired their poetry and general presence long before i knew them- they had posted something on their old blog about contracting to make art for their calculus class, and tbh that was one of the things that made me start to seriously look into johnston. and then the first time i met them irl they were doing art and listening to the hazards of love and i’d never heard anything like that! it scared me a little bit. but in very little time they became one of the most important people in my life and now we are dating so just goes to show you can’t judge a book (or a friend) by their music taste. or maybe you just need to expand your aural horizons, baby sketch. 

amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have.

mayonnaise on french fries is delicious

i think being kind is an important facet of social justice work and it troubles me to see it completely abandoned. not everyone has to have the same boundaries as i do, of course, but i feel like being nice isn’t even seen as an option. discourse should be about more than who can shout the loudest. 

also i think that structural injustice/oppression is only a part of our stories and shouldn’t stop you from engaging with the people in your life as individuals. an example: not caring about your friends’ relationships because they’re het is imo kind of shitty friend behavior. feel what you will about strangers but like, support your friends wtf

crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for?

physics is so cool, i remember learning about optics and quarks and all sorts of fascinating things in my high school physics class, and i was really, really bad at the math. i just didn’t understand it. but it made me so fascinated by the universe, and i wish i understood. science in general- i don’t have the patience for many scientific disciplines, but i find them so enthralling and i feel like they’d give me so much inspiration for art. 

[nonevahed]

Outside

A lyric essay, this time, on the theme of loneliness

There’s something painfully beautiful about the edge of a party.  The shining light behind me, contrasting with a darkened wood or shaded houses.  Or the brilliant lights of the city, turning the clouds above shades of orange.  Ideally, it should be slightly cold outside, just enough to start a hollow chill in my bones without causing true discomfort.  The music is faint in the background, accompanied by the low murmur of people shouting and laughing.  And I, on the outside, looking in.  The ironic beauty comes in how perfect it is as an encapsulation of my world.

I have trouble remembering, matching names and faces.  People talk to me, and I don’t recognize them.  I want to call to someone in the hallway, but can’t remember their name.     My friends talk of classmates, and I can’t remember them.  I ask one about his Biology class, only to discover he shares mine.  I ask another about what they thought of calculus today, only to find they have another class.  I still don’t know the names of half the senior class.  It’s difficult to make friends when I don’t know who people are.  I’ve recently resorted to making flashcards of the members of the [Prep School] senior class, but I’ve still found learning them much more difficult than the Spanish vocabulary they’re mixed among.  is my difficulty with names the result of some strange mental problem, some kind of error in the face-processing area of the brain, some kind of “faceblindness”.  Or is it  merely that I don’t talk to others, think of others enough for the associations to sink in?  

I spend a lot of time reading blogs on the internet.  Philosophy, math, politics, history, literary criticism, mixed in with more than enough self-reflection, talking about one’s own problems.  I follow some obsessively, and other not much.  And yet, I rarely post at all, or “talk” to those I watch so intimately.  is this some kind of cargo-cult mimicry of closeness, these one-way relationships?

One of my happiest moments over the past year occurred during the weekend of the robotics team’s last competition.  During our last class, we found that we still couldn’t get the robot to reliably do what we wanted it to, and thus resolved to meet again during fifth period and work until we were done.  Only two others showed up, a freshman I’d worked closely with over the course of the year, and our team’s programmer, a fellow senior.  For three or four hours straight, we all worked together, trying different strategies to get the robot’s lift to work.  It was an intoxicating experience, working with people that I got along with, towards the goal that we’d been fighting for the whole year, for an extended period of time.  We worked, figuring out what was going wrong and trying different things, but also made jokes and talked about what was going on in our lives.  We adjourned for the big basketball game that was going on that evening, but returned Saturday morning, almost getting the robot to a functioning status.  On the day of the competition, the team managed to get the lift working by the third game. We still lost the competition, but the experience of really being part of a team is something that sticks with me.

I find social interaction easiest when there’s some kind of common goal driving the experience, like working on a project or playing a game together.  If I’m just sitting at the lunch table with people, I often run out of things to say, or can’t come up with anything fast enough to fit any gaps in conversation.  It’s all too easy to just fall into the background and listen, as if I were watching characters talking in a TV show.  But if there’s something we are actively doing together, that generates new things to talk about.  

Contrary to the stereotypes of social awkwardness, I find it quite easy to talk to new people, as there’s always the formulaic “what’s your name, where are you from, where do you go to school” stuff to talk about.  It’s the acquaintances that I have trouble talking with.  The ones that I know well enough that the standard conversation topics have long since been mined dry, that there’s no big news to talk about, leaving me hammering hopelessly against the bedrock of lack of shared experience and interests.

Family members and classmates alike compliment me on my studiousness, but that isn’t the real reason I spend so much time on schoolwork.  The real reason I appear to spend so much time on homework is because I procrastinate.  What was supposed to be homework that could be done in an hour multiplies into two, because I waste time chasing after random thoughts on the internet, avoiding doing my work.  The stuff I do while procrastinating is just little, silly stuff, looking up random articles, or reviews of stuff I’ve already read, or looking at threads about shows I follow or games that I’m playing, or low-quality blogs.  It’s stuff where I can say, “I can go back to working at any time I want,” even though I usually don’t.  I read summaries of books, instead of the real things, because books don’t have those quick natural stopping points.  And with all that time being spent procrastinating, I have that much less time to actually meet up with and hang out with friends and family.  

Isolation has a way of building upon itself.  In middle school, I spent the first year so focused on adapting to a very new school environment and workload that I didn’t have time to make friends.  Then, later, I found that it was difficult to make friends, when the groups of friends had already been cemented during the first year, and I didn’t know the names of most of the kids in my class.  I didn’t know what to talk to people about, how to try and fit into a group.  And, now deprived of that normal social growth, it became even more difficult to fit in.  I was almost completely isolated all through middle school. And so, I arrived in the social world of high school without having learned the usual social skills of middle school, like a child sent into a reading class without having learned phonetics.  I would sit down at a lunch table, and sit there in silence watching conversation and friendship go past me.  How do people “hang out on the weekend”?  I had, and have, no clue.  

So, how can the cycle of isolation be broken?  If I knew, I would have done it by now.  But I do have a few guesses.  I think the biggest thing is to find an activity that I like to do with other people, that will make it easier to be with people.  Maybe I could find some game that I like to play with people.  I should join clubs and attend consistently, to have that constant contact with a small group of the same people, unified by some common interest.  Maybe I should get involved in some social cause, maybe a tutoring organization, and meet people through that.  Or join a team, working together to complete a goal.  I think the biggest thing is just to force myself to go out there.  Instead of staying home all weekend, I need to try and talk to people, to meet up with people.   Part of it may just be time.  While in college, I’ll be living in a dorm in close contact with fellow intellectually active students.  It will be much easier to run into people, and to meet up with people.  There will be more people, so it’s more likely to find people who are interested in similar things.  So, maybe, the future doesn’t look quite so grim.  But, then again, it’s all hypothetical.

[fkyeahkpop]

EXO Reaction: they ask for another member’s help on a project

Request:  💜Hey💜 Just wanted to say that I really love your blog and I finally found the courage to make a request. Could you write about EXO getting jelous about the fact that you ask for help (for a difficult school project) to another member the group?

A/N: Hi there lovely anon, thank you so much for your request, I’ve been looking forward to writing this! Sorry if the wait was a little long but I hope it’s worth it!

Xiumin:

‘What do you mean you asked Jongin for help instead of me? Is he better than me? I’m older...’ he’d sigh, wishing you would have gone to him first. After all, you are his girlfriend, not Jongin’s. ‘Alright then, if you want to be like that, why don’t you try?’ you’d ask him, shoving a sheet of complicated calculations and equations under his nose. After staring at it for 5 minutes and squeezing the bridge of his nose, he shoved the paper back to you with a simple ‘go ask Jongin.’ ‘That’s what I thought’ you’d giggle before kissing him on the cheek and going to find Kai.

Luhan:

‘Who’re you texting Jagi?’ Luhan would ask peering over your shoulder. ‘Suho, he’s coming to an art exhibit this afternoon to help me do research for that really hard project I was telling you abou-’ ‘Why him and not me??’ he would ask, pouting and resting his head on your shoulder, giving major puppy dog eyes. ‘...I mean, you can come if you want...’ ‘I’ll get my jacket!’ he cried, rushing away excitedly. When you got to the exhibit, Lu realized he was in way over his head. Hearing you and Suho babble on about art made him realize maybe he should’ve trusted you and stayed home instead.

Kris:

‘Are you for real?’ he’d ask as he came in to see you and Tao hunched over a book together, scribbling notes onto a notepad. ‘What?’ you’d ask, eyes wide and brow raised, looking at him with a bemused expression as you noticed the familiar glint in his eyes; jealousy. ‘What are you two reading that’s just so interesting?’ ‘Calculus, care to join us?’ Tao would ask, smirking at his friend’s blatant jealousy. ‘No.’ he’d sulk, kissing you unusually intensely before giving Tao a pointed look and stalking off to his room.

Suho:

‘Whatcha doing?’ Suho would ask, plopping himself next to you and Kris who were listening to something on your phone. ‘Kris was just helping me with my Korean, it’s a little easier since he’s canadian and can help me translate stuff to English and all that, you ok?’ ‘So, you’re learning Korean from a Canadian, Mandarin speaking guy instead of your Korean boyfriend?’ he’d ask, pushing down the jealousy bubbling inside him as he saw you sitting so close to help the headphones reach. ‘Ok, teach her well Kris. Good luck Jagi.’ he’d sigh, trusting you and Kris.

Lay:

I think Yixing would try and study with you guys so there was definitely no funny business between you and Chen. Sure he trusted you both but Jongdae could be flirty without even realising. However, half an hour in he was really wishing he hadn’t let his jealousy and suspicions get the better of him as he absolutely had no idea what you were talking about. ‘Physics? Gravity? Molecules? Convex lenses? It was all a whole different language to him. ‘Baby are you keeping up okay?’ you’d ask, putting a reassuring hand on his knee. ‘Yeah Jagi you just keep going.’ he’d reply, internally scolding himself for letting this continue.

Baekhyun:

‘Baby, why are you studying with Chanyeol?’ he’d ask, pouting gently as he sat between you two in Chanyeol’s studio. ‘Because I have to get a final project in for music studies and Chan is helping me, I didn’t think you’d mind Baek’ you’d reply, absentmindedly running a hand through his hair to calm him down. ‘I don’t, I just don’t want my two favourite people hanging out without me!! So what have we got so far? Can I help? Budge up honey I’m too far from Chanyeol! Isn’t he just so talented?’ he’d gush, not wanting to miss put on you three’s ‘quality time.’

Chen:

‘What are you guys studying?’ he’d blurt out while you and Xiumin were chatting amongst yourselves on the couch. ‘Geography, Jongdae.’ You’d reply, barely even looking up at him, focusing hard on the tricky assignment so lovingly given to you by your tutor. ‘So why are you studying with Xiumin?? I know all about Geography, those rocks and how they’re so old and stuff... dinosaur bones too... T Rex’s are cool I guess...’ he’d mumble, desperate to say anything to get him your attention instead of Xiumin. ‘That’s geology honey...’ you’d say barely listening. ‘Alrighty then...’ he’d say, excusing himself to his room to sulk.

Chanyeol:

You were hard at work with Yixing when Chanyeol came home, wrapping his arms around your shoulders while you sat at your desk. scribbling away at notes with Lay nodding alongside you. ‘Wow look at my Jagi working so hard!... with Yixing...! And you’re studying... *squints hard* Psychopathy??’ ‘Psychology, babe’ you’d correct him matter-of-factly before shrugging him off to turn the page of your book. ‘Hmph, fine, but I’ll expect double cuddles later for that... don’t you two have too much fun now.’ He’d mumble before glaring at Yixing and going to his studio.

Kyungsoo:

Kyungsoo would be sat on the other side of the room while you and Luhan poured over how hard your algebra homework was, laughing when he told terrible jokes as after all, him tutoring you was doing you a favour. Every time, you’d see Kyungsoo roll his eyes or make some comment under his breath, jealous that you thought Luhan was super smart and that he was too thick to understand you two’s nerdy maths jokes. Lu would probably be the target of Satansoo for a while after that.

Tao:

‘Oh okay, wow that’s so interesting, who knew world history wasn’t the dullest subject on the planet!’ you’d say, making Suho laugh as you scribbled more notes in your textbook. ‘Yes Suho! Please tell me more about how interesting World War I is and how much you know! It’s just sooooo interesting and I’m so fascinated by literally everything you say!!’ Tao would interject, throwing his weight around and changing the pitch of his voice to imitate yours, exaggerating his movements and making himself look a right fool. You and Suho just laughed and shrugged it off before carrying on, to the reluctance of your jealous boyfriend.

Kai:

I think Kai would think that you thought less of him when he saw you studying with Baekhyun, I mean apparently he wasn’t smart enough to study with you, right? He would be determined to hit the books and impress you with his general knowledge so that in the future, it would be him you’d come to with your most difficult assignments with the confidence he could help you solve them, not the likes of Baekhyun.

Sehun:

‘What you two up to?’ he’d question when he saw you and Kyungsoo going over flashcards, laughing when you got it wrong or just started making it up. It was late and the midnight air and table of snacks had made you two go loopy. ‘Baby it’s late, he shouldn’t be keeping you up this late, come to bed.’ he’d say, grabbing your hand. ‘I can’t, i’ve gotta do this speaking assignment tomorrow but I’ll be in soon, ok?’. Feeling rejected, Sehun would simply mumble ‘fine, maybe next time you need cuddles you can ask Kyungsoo too since he’s so great’ before slamming his room door.

A/N: ugh this took so long to write >_< longest reaction ever im so sorry :P

[rugessnome]

One of the things I was tagged to do by stormphrax ; I'm also supposed to come up with questions and tag people but I rarely do. If you like, be my guest, though. 1. How do you feel about graphic novels? Uhm I don't really have a strong opinion, or probably that much experience, but I tend to find most (...so manga, comic books? I guess) hard to take in if they're at all well written. There's just so much information between the art and the words. (Contrast with some TOS comic omnibus I have that just. I don't think you watched the show. And oh, I hesitate to mention it here but iirc that one. much maligned. 4/13 four kids. I haven't read all of it... most of the art is um fairly conducive to reading for me) 2. When was the last time you felt like you belonged somewhere? ...there was a tension to it too, but that stargazing thing that ended in something I suspect might have looked like a double date from the outside (but nah. Though I would do romantic friendships w/ two of them if they were up for that and the other is totally a bro in a relatively Marius-like sense. Which might make that a Romantic friendship. (ba-dum-!)) 3. Werewolves or vampires? Aaagh vampires but not a huge preference? (I mean if we restrict things to HP then Lupin is 100% the only one of either I'm picking but. in general...) idk I'm probably too much of a sucker for style (groan)... and not exactly a huge fan of dogs honestly. (I think I can like some of them but they tend to be too much moreso than cats.) 4. What’s your favorite way to listen to music? I don't know if I have a favorite but doing so while driving is certainly nice. 5. Favorite social media site? ...here, honestly, not that it's all smiles. (The only possible rival these days is cooking blogs but that's not a unified site and I'm not sure they fit the question anyway.) 6. Have you discovered a new passion during the past year? ...physics, dear difficult beauty. (Also renewed my ongoing love affair with math and quite possibly smitten anew with chemistry. ...have I made you uncomfortable?) 7. Do you have irl friends on tumblr? ...no. Although I do have loooong term online friends on here. 8. Paper books, e-books, or audio books? All of the above, for different purposes. I really do like paper but yeah e books have some advantages (aand some disadvantages). I like audio books but would not want to subsist solely on them because they are so slow compared to reading (for me. in English.) 9. What does your name (or username) mean? Rugess Nome was a spaceship architect who hired a young Hego Damask as an accountant... ;) I have no idea where James Luceno came up with the name, but I strongly suspect that Baum's Ruggedo the Nome King was in the back of his mind. 10. Favorite food? Idek. I can't even decide on a favorite fruit. Or vegetable. Or even donut for heaven's sake. 11. Favorite sport to watch and/or play? I'm not much for watching sports but I don't play them either. The ones I'm most likely to pay attention to if say they're playing in a restaurant are: the world's beloved soccer/football, hockey, maybe skiing. I liked playing soccer in gym (one of the few) but don't really get to, also (but not recently) kickball. Questions if wanted: 1. Do you have a strong preference for eating breakfast foods at breakfast time? (and: cold pizza?) 2. If you were to go on a long trip under your own power (eg hiking the Appalachian trail, biking across the US, kayaking ?idek), what would it be? 3. What is a language other than Modern English that you find aesthetically pleasing? 4. What is your favorite garden flower? 5. Have you ever (or do you plan to) take(n) a calculus class? 6. What is your least favorite texture? 7. Which would be worse: everything you eat for a month is pureed or there's always a non-poisonous snake in your boot for that month, presuming you would want to wear said boot once a week? 8. How do you feel about multiple negatives in other languages (equivalent of 'I never did nothing') 9. Would you rather live closer to the equator or the arctic circle? 10. What color are the nearest curtains (or yours if there are none in sight)? 11. Which type of pie would you choose to accompany your next meal/serve as your next snack, if, no matter what fruit it was and the season, it was at ideal ripeness?