#and not worry about my photography assignment or math or anything

[silvercaptain24]

Me from this morning was an absolute fool

[seokstrivia]

Strawberry Milk | knj

Summary: At a young age Namjoon was taught not to cry over spilt milk, but he wasn’t taught how to speak to girls. 

Bet!AU | word-count: 4.4k

Kim Namjoon x Reader: fluff, pining, slowish burn, mutual feelings, clumsy namjoon, soft reader, photography student namjoon, painter reader, cute settings and again, fluff 

A/N this was my first request on this blog and I got excited and began writing ,,, haha !!! I hope it’s enjoyable reading as much it was writing ! have a nice night/day and stay safe !! ´･ᴗ･`

“You’ve had a crush on her for how long?”

The playful tone in Jin’s voice seemed to irk Namjoon, it made him want to throw his cupcake at the boy—but he also wanted to eat his cupcake, so he groaned instead.

It wasn’t his fault you were out of his league.

“Have you ever spoke to her?” Jin added with a smug face.

Namjoon rolled his eyes while fidgeting with the straw that came with his strawberry milk. Of course, he’d spoken to you before, exactly fifty-four times... in his dreams.

Okay, so maybe he hadn’t spoken to you in person, but dreams counted too, right? Ugh, it didn’t even matter, dream realm you was as close as he was going to get.

“Dude, look,” Jin chirped up again and Namjoon wanted to so badly shove his dessert into his friend's mouth. “Jungkook is speaking to her.”

Jin’s words were quick to make him turn around to see if he was telling the truth, and unfortunately, he was. Jungkook was so lucky, he was a freshman, he was good at sports and singing and dancing and drawing.

It made him envy the younger boy.

“Everything comes so easily to him.”

That was the first time Namjoon had said anything since he sat down at the table for lunch.

Even though his eyebrows were furrowed and lips puckered, he couldn’t bring himself to hate the younger male.

Jungkook was a sweetheart and he had a special place in Namjoon’s heart.

“You should use this as your chance to speak to y/n,” Jin spoke out with a mouthful of noodles. “He’d make a great wingman.”

Instead of responding to the wide-shouldered man, Namjoon stared at him and his puffed out cheeks in disgust.

He’d lost count at the number of times he’d told the older male not to chew with his mouth full. Jin didn’t listen, nor care.

Food was food, and it was delicious.

“Hey, Namjoon!” Chirped a cheerful voice behind him. “You know y/n, right?”

Namjoon choked on his strawberry milk at the sound of your name, he hastily grabbed a few napkins from his tray before turning around only to be greeted with a bunny smile and you.

You and your beautiful smile.

He felt his heart start beating fast, drumming his ears—getting louder and louder. It was beginning to get hard to breathe, he’d never been so close to you before.

Namjoon thought he was going to spontaneously combust.

“Hi, Namjoon,” you chuckled at the awe-struck expression on his face. “We have scie—“

“Science lab together,” interrupted the male—who now had pink milk drooling down his chin. “I didn’t think you knew who I was.”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion before you noticed the mess on his chin. There was no hesitation in your movements as you took a napkin from his hand and wiped the remaining milk.

Namjoon’s cheeks were on fire.

“How could I not know who you are?” You asked in a playful tone. “You’re one of the smartest kids at this college.”

Jungkook was now sniggering at the shock on his friends face, he’d been meaning to introduce you to Namjoon, he just hadn’t had the chance to.

Until now that is.

“Excuse my clumsy friend,” Jin commented with a shake of his head. “He’s not slept for a solid three days.”

Another laugh parted your lips, and it was music to Namjoon’s ears.

“It’s okay,” you told them, a soft smile spread across your rosy lips. “I just wanted to introduce myself to Namjoon before asking him about being lab partners.”

Honestly, Namjoon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was no way you wanted to be his partner, the guy who can’t even swallow strawberry milk properly.

Maybe he was dreaming.

However, that question was answered when he heard Yoongi call your name. Asking you to come back to the table to finish your lunch, Yoongi was another male he envied.

“I should go and stop stealing your free time,” you said, clasping your hands behind your back. “It was nice meeting you formally, Namjoon. I’ll see you later.”

You thanked Jungkook for introducing the two of you before leaving to go back to your table. There was a happy smile on your face and a skip in your step and Namjoon swore he died and went to heaven that day.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

“Will you help me with my maths assignment later?”

Taehyung. Kim Taehyung, your favourite cousin and best friend, was always asking you for help—even in subjects you didn’t take, for example, maths.

“Tae, you know I can’t help you,” the tone in your voice was sweet as always, but there was a hint of strictness. “I haven’t done maths since high school.”

A long and agitated groan parted Taehyung’s lips, he was close to crying—frustrated that he couldn’t understand a single thing he was being taught.

His mum, your aunt, told him that he wouldn’t be allowed to hang out with his friends if he failed another test. She was going to take away his freedom and you weren’t helping him from preventing that.

It broke his heart.

“Can you at least look at the problems?” He begged, eyes dewy and sad. “You do science! That’s got to involve some kind of mathematics.”

A chuckle left your throat when you noticed his quivering lip, it made you feel sorry for him. However, you weren’t saying no to be mean, you genuinely couldn’t help him.

“Honey, I’ve told you a million times that it’s just an extra class to make up for being an art major,” you reminded him while moving his fridge away from his eyes. “We make presentations about dirt, it’s nothing too challenging.”

Taehyung knew that he’d heard it a million times and still didn’t listen. To be honest, you were the only one he could ask for help—besides his lecturer, but she scared him.

A sigh parted his lips as he set his head on the wooden table, “I’m going to fail... Again.”

You shook your head at his whiny tone before continuing with your painting. The flowers in the vase were beginning to droop, it made you wish you’d taken a photograph of the still life beforehand.

Photograph...? Photography!

“Kim Namjoon,” you squealed making Taehyung jump in his seat next to you. “Namjoon, can help you!”

“Isn’t he a photography major?”

A lighthearted laugh escaped your lungs in excitement, proud that you’d thought of him all on your own.

“He’s the smartest person I know,” you gushed, cheeks turning red as you spoke about him. “Jungkook introduced me to him at lunch today. He’s such a lovely boy.”

Taehyung wasn’t sure if you were doing this for him, or yourself. Either way, he thought it was adorable that you had a crush on the biggest geek in school.

The geek and the painter. He smiled.

“Do you think he’ll help me?”

You hastily nodded your head in absolute certainty that Kim Namjoon would be able to help Kim Taehyung.

More so, the thought of being able to see him more often—instead of once a week, made your heart melt like butter.

Taehyung’s deep chuckle reverberated through the empty studio, drawing you out of your dream-like state.

“I’ll ask him for you in science lab tomorrow,” you smiled, mood suddenly growing more positive.

The flowers in the vase also suddenly looked more lively than before. Taehyung reclined his head on his hand and watched you begin to paint again, this time with rosy cheeks and a light heart.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

It was raining when you left your apartment, umbrella hoisted up, you tried your best to keep your art folder dry. However, it was a bit difficult when it was half the size of you.

Luckily, the campus was only a ten-minute walk away.

“Do you need a hand?”

You were startled by the sudden voice behind you, but when you turned to see who it was, your beating heart began slowing down and a smile crept over your lips instead.

Kim Namjoon, tall and as handsome as ever, was walking behind you with a broken umbrella. It made you laugh to yourself, yet it was so like him that it didn’t even surprise you.

The male was known for breaking his things.

“I would love some help,” you gushed, cold cheeks suddenly heating up with the proximity. “Thank you.”

Namjoon smiled in return, displaying his dimples for everyone to see, “don’t even worry about it.”

It made you smile, that you, out of everyone on campus, got to walk alongside Kim Namjoon. He was even better looking up close—not that you were staring or anything, that would be weird.

The broken umbrella, that he gripped so tightly onto, caught your eye once more and it made you curious.

“How did you break your umbrella?”

Namjoon visibly jumped at the sudden sound of your voice, he was kind of hoping you wouldn’t speak to him. Especially since his mind didn’t function normally around you.

It was embarrassing.

“Well... I pushed it open too hard and the top part just flew off,” he laughed in shame, eyes watching for puddles on the ground. “I decided to duck tape it back on. No point in a new one when it works perfectly fine.”

A soft chuckle parted your lips, Namjoon had a nice voice and it made you realise that you could listen to him talk for hours and hours.

“Hey, Namjoon?” You quirked back up, umbrella hitting against his every so often. “Can I ask you for a favour?”

It was silent for a few seconds, the rain became louder and the cars faster as the two of you focused back on the path ahead.

Namjoon took a deep breath.

“Of course, you can.”

To be honest, you didn’t think he would say yes, so his response caught you off guard. But only for a split second as you reminded yourself that you were helping Taehyung.

“My cousin, Kim Taehyung,” you began explaining, soft tone harmonising with the rain. “Is bad at maths and I was wondering if you could tutor him?”

Namjoon’s heart began racing once again, the thought of you thinking about him to help your cousin caused his insides to melt. It made him so happy he thought he was going to burst into a million, tiny pieces.

You peeked up at him from the corner of your eye and felt your cheeks grow hotter when you saw the huge grin across his lips.

“Yeah,” he squeaked, quickly clearing his throat to speak again. “Ye—Yeah, of course, I’ll help.”

A huge smile spread across your lips at his response, you would’ve hugged him there and then, but decided not to. Too afraid it would make him feel uncomfortable, so you thanked him over a hundred times instead.

Namjoon’s cheeks only grew redder.

“Thank you again, Namjoon,” you chirped, eyes disappearing into a breathtaking smile.

“I told you to stop thanking me.”

His voice was small and shy as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, eyes staring at the, now very wet, untied laces on his trainers.

“I know, but this time I was thanking you for walking me to my studio.”

Namjoon’s eyes snapped back up, he didn’t notice time had passed so quickly. It made him a little sad that he had to say goodbye and go to his studio, but really, he was over the moon that he got to spend time with you.

He handed you your folder with another smile before you bid him goodbye, reminding him that you would see each other later in the science lab.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

“You walked her to her studio?”

Jin was in shock, he never once thought Namjoon would grow a pair and spend time with you. He was even more shocked that you had asked him, of all people, to help your cousin.

Some would say he was in disbelief.

“C’mon,” Namjoon whined like a child being deprived candy. “Shouldn’t you be happy for me?”

The broad-shouldered man realised that maybe he was overreacting, he just didn’t think Namjoon had the guts to approach you. This, however, put an idea in his head take his new friendship with you a little further.

“I bet you can’t ask her out on a date,” Jin smirked.

Namjoon scoffed at his friends, offended that he thought he couldn’t do such a thing. His newfound confidence had gone to his head, but that didn’t stop him from arguing with his best friend.

“I bet I can.”

That was when Jungkook joined the table, he was confused to why Namjoon and Jin were having such an intense staring competition.

Luckily, before he could ask, Hoseok piped up, “Namjoon finally spoke to y/n today,” he bit into his cold and soggy chip. “Jin bet he can’t ask her on a date.”

Jungkook slowly nodded his head, eyes moving from Hobi’s cheery smile to Namjoon’s flaring nostrils. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Just ask her out without a bet Namjoon.”

The youngest male’s voice broke the intense competition, now with water eyes, Namjoon stared at the younger one in confusion.

“What’s wrong with a bet?” He asked, piercing his strawberry milk carton with his straw. “If anything, I think it would help me ask her.”

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders and remained quiet. You were a nice girl, not overly popular, but friends with everyone— he just didn’t want you to get hurt by Namjoon’s stupid bet.

“What do you get if you ask her and win the bet?” Hoseok asked, completely disregarding what the younger male had said.

“He gets the girl,” Jin answered. “If he loses, I get 20$.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes, the bet was nothing but a stepping stone— a challenge even, so he didn’t know why Jungkook was acting the way he was.

He would never do anything to hurt you.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Science lab was as boring as usual, a yawn escaped your lips as you began to pack your things away. Thankfully, it was the end of a long day, so you could finally go home and relax.

Namjoon, on the other hand, was standing awkwardly at the door, mind contemplating what to say and how not to utterly embarrass himself.

That didn’t go too well when you approached him.

“Namjoon, are you okay?”

The smile on your face was kind and endearing and he felt his heart get stuck in his throat. All be could manage out was an incoherent noise while nodding his head and turning a deep shade of red.

It made you laugh.

“Would you like to walk together?” You asked, hand clutching the bag on your shoulder while the other held your umbrella. “There’s a small cafe we can stop before going home.”

Were you asking him on a date? Had you beat him to it? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Namjoon sighed and the smile on your face fell when he hadn’t said anything.

“We don’t have to—“

Namjoon quickly shouted no to stop you from finishing that sentence, that only made you confused, more so, you had no idea why he was acting like this when he was fine this morning.

“I would love to go to the cafe with you,” he muttered shyly, hand rubbing the back of his neck while he stared at his trainers. “I just... I had kind of planned to ask you first.”

His words caused a smile to appear on your lips while your cheeks added a blush of their own.

“It’s okay,” you assured. “You can ask first next time.”

Namjoon gasped making you laugh, there was going to be a next time? Did you want to spend more time with him? He was so shocked that he didn’t even notice you started walking.

Of course, it didn’t take him long to catch up.

Unfortunately, it was still raining. It had been raining all day, but you didn’t mind, in fact, you always found the rain soothing and quite enjoyed the dreary weather.

“Hey, what happened to your umbrella?”

Namjoon stared at you in confusion before realising you were talking to him, “I broke it again. It’s the bin.”

You noticed how embarrassed he was, but you tonight it was cute, “it’s okay, we can share mine.”

The male was hesitant at first, he didn’t think he could handle his beating heart with you so close to him. With the scent of your perfume filling his senses and thoughts of you taking over his mind, he thought he would pass out.

Still, there was no hesitation in your actions as you handed him the umbrella and coiled your arm through his to keep him close.

“Shall we?” You smiled taking his breath away.

Namjoon simply nodded his head before leading the way like the gentleman that he was.

The walk was nice, it was peaceful, the roads weren’t too busy and the rain went perfectly with the whole romantic anime love scene he pictured over a hundred times.

But, let’s be honest, Namjoon watches too many anime romance comedies for his good. There was no way you would share a kiss in the rain or work in a maid café and then force him to keep your secret.

Although, that would be pretty cool.

“That’s the cafe!” You beamed when you spotted the small corner-shop building. “It’s my favourite place to go to.”

Namjoon smiled as he followed you inside, he was careful to close the umbrella and place it in the stand next to the door.

The cafe was small but cosy and comfortable, there was a strong scent of ground coffee mixed with caramel syrup and it smelt delicious.

Looking at the menu Namjoon noticed the variations on milkshakes they had, the strawberry sticking out, in particular, made him feel quite excited.

“What are you getting?” You asked.

Namjoon pointed at the menu, “strawberry milkshake.”

To be honest, you thought he would choose a coffee, but you thought it was utterly adorable that he decided to go for a milkshake.

“I think I’ll get the same—“

“No,” Namjoon interrupted. “Let me. My treat.”

You blushed at the sweet yet subtle endearment before shyly letting him know that you were going to find a table to sit at.

When Namjoon joined you, he had two tall glasses of pink milk topped with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry. It looked delicious.

“Thank you,” you smiled sweetly, before taking a sip and letting it melt down your throat. “It’s really good.”

When you glanced back up at the male across from you, you couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow he’d gotten whipped cream on his nose, he was so clumsy.

“Here,” you said as you handed him a napkin. “For your nose.”

Namjoon hastily reached for the tissue before cleaning his nose, very embarrassed that he’d made a mess of himself in front of you again.

Although, you didn’t seem to mind.

The rest of the time in the cafe was spent talking about interests, as well as, what Taehyung needed help with.

You learnt that Namjoon was a really good listener, you learnt that he had so much to say and so much going through his mind, you learnt that he wanted to know every little thing about the world that he could, but your favourite thing that you learnt about him was that, Kim Namjoon, loved crabs.

It was one of the nicest afternoons you’d had in a while, and it made you hope that there would be more to come as your feelings for the dimpled male-only grew.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

“So, you’ve already been on a date?”

Jungkook was surprised at how quickly everything was falling in place for you two.

“I don’t think it was a date,” Jin added truthfully. “I think it was more like two friends hanging out.”

Namjoon glared at the older male before sighing in defeat, he wasn’t wrong. Neither of you established what yesterday was, so it could have been anything.

It did make him wonder what you thought it was, maybe it was just a, ‘getting to know you,’ kind of thing. Other than that, he probably should have asked for your number so he could ask you out on a real date.

“This isn’t going as well as I thought it was.”

Jungkook chuckled at his older friends puckered lips and dewy eyes, “it’s going better than we all thought it would though.”

Jin agreed, mouth once again full of food, “yeah, it’s going well between you two.”

Namjoon seemed to lighten up by this statement, it was going well now that he thought about it. You’d even smiled and waved at him this morning while talking to your friends.

“I think he’s falling in love.”

Namjoon turned around to an unfamiliar voice, behind him there was a young male with long black hair, accompanied by another male with blonde hair.

“Kim Namjoon?” He asked with a boxy smile. “I’m Kim Taehyung, my cousin told me that you would help me with maths.”

Namjoon slowly nodded his head, “that’s right.”

Jungkook seemed to pipe up at the sight of the two boys standing behind Namjoon, he knew them from football and thought they were hilarious.

“Hey, Jimin!” He yelled seeing the short male standing quietly behind Taehyung. “Come sit.”

Jimin did as he was asked while Tae continued to speak to Namjoon.

“I’m free this evening and tomorrow,” he said, letting the boy with the box-like smile know when he would be able to help him. “If you give me your number we can arrange a time?”

Taehyung sighed in agitation, “my mum took my phone, said I can’t have it back until I pass my class,” he explained. “But I can give you y/ns.”

Namjoon slowly nodding his head, he would be able to get your number which meant he could ask you on a date, but also meant that he could text you every day and night.

“Don’t worry,” the young boy added before leaving the older male with your number. “I won’t tell her you’re in love with her.”

Namjoon felt his insides explode.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

It was another day in the studio, however, this time you had Yoongi as company. Taehyung said he was busy with tutoring after making plans with Namjoon—over your phone.

“So, when the two of you went to the cafe,” Yoongi piped up out of nowhere. “Was it a date, date or just a date.”

A light chuckle parted your lips before turning to stare at your bored friend, “it wasn’t anything like that.”

Yoongi clicked his tongue.

“We’re just friends,” you added.

But the male sitting on the tattered old couch didn’t seem too pleased with your answer. He’d spent days on end listening to you talk about this guy, and how you feel about him—it was ridiculous.

Yoongi groaned in frustration.

“Why not just confess how you feel?”

His remark made you drop your paintbrush, splattering little bits of green pigment across the already messy floor.

“I can’t do that,” you told him before picking up your brush and swirling it in water. “I don’t want to scare him away.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at your words before slowly getting off the couch. He wasn’t happy with you, you never stepped out of your comfort zone for anything and then complained about being bored.

“Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

You shook your head, trying to ignore what he was saying.

“Okay, listen,” he sighed, hands crossed over his chest. “If you tell him how you feel, I’ll buy you lunch until summer break.”

“Is that a bet, Yoongi?”

He nodded his head, “if you don’t, you can never talk about Namjoon to me ever again.”

You scoffed in offence before throwing the paintbrush towards him, “you’re on!”

A chuck parted Yoongi’s lips and he moved to sit back down.

“Hurry up and finish your painting, I want to go home.”

You rolled your eyes.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Spring was shortly coming to an end, Taehyung’s studies seem to be getting better and your conversations with Namjoon only grew longer.

It was going well so far, although, the bet you made with Yoongi lingered in the back of your mind. Should you tell Namjoon how you feel? Or should you just keep what you have now?

On the other hand, Namjoon was trying to figure out how to ask you on a date without stumbling over his words or sounding extremely desperate.

A sigh parted his lips and your ears perked up.

“Are you okay?” You asked.

The two of you were sitting under a cherry blossom tree at the park, not too far from campus, sitting on a blanket and having lunch.

It was Namjoon’s idea. He even bought strawberry milk.

“I’m fine,” he lied, bottom lip red from being chewed on from being nervous. “I—There's something I wanted to ask you.”

Out of curiosity you put your sandwich down and gave him all your attention.

Namjoon gulped.

“Wouh—Would you maybe like to go on a date?” He asked, cheeks turning as pink as the blossoms. “With me?”

A small chuckle parted your lips, “I would love to go on a date with you.”

The male let out a sigh of relief making your smile grow even more. He was so cute and it made your heart race that he gave you so much time and didn’t hesitate to help you.

Maybe Yoongi’s bet wasn’t a bad thing.

“I have something to tell you.”

Now it was Namjoon’s turn to perk up, his eyes widened in curiosity as he sipped on his strawberry milk.

“I like you, Kim Namjoon,” your voice was soft and soothing like honey drizzled in a hot cup of tea. “A lot.”

Namjoon let out a shy giggle, rubbing the back of his neck out of habit, he avoided all eye contact. At this point, his cheeks were darker than the cherry blossoms—they were as red as the cherries you brought along.

It made you giggle.

“I like you too.”

That was enough to have you smiling for the rest of your life. But then again, Namjoon was a good enough reason on its own.

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

“You placed a bet too?” You asked with wide eyes.

Namjoon nodded his head in shame, not hearing the word, “too,” after your question, until he replied it in his head.

“Wait! What do you mean ‘too’?!”

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

[mychemicalficrecs]

Hiya! Not sure if you do this, but would you be able to suggest some non-ao3 finished frerard fics? It seems I've read ao3's entire collection 😅 Thank you so much, you're honestly my favourite blog on here xx

Thanks for your kind words, Nonny! And... congratz on reading the entire ao3 tag, there are a lot of works there :D

Frank/Gerard is such a popular ship that I was actually able to find quite a lot from outside ao3.

Non-AO3 Frank/Gerard

Thing-Thing by sinsense, 43k, NC-17. When Gerard signed the admissions paperwork for the Fordhaven School for Boys, he knew he was signing up for four years of sexual frustration. No one was gay at Fordhaven. Gerard was all-too-aware that he would be a virgin until he graduated. In his senior year, though, this stupid gay freshman disproves Fordhaven's straightness, and throws Gerard's entire world off-kilter. Now, in between drawing, avoiding bullies, running an incredibly serious tabletop RP game, failing out of math, and hanging out with friends, Gerard is also busy kind of falling for this asshole who's way too young for him. It's not what he planned on, but it's what's happening. In conclusion: high school sucks.

I Think I Thought (I Saw You Try) by thatsfinewithus, ~3,000, NC-17. Welcome to some weird AU world in which Gee only does awesome comics and Frank is a vampire.

They Came From Outer Jersey! by thatsfinewithus, 25k, R. New London Fire is an elite fringe government force assigned the task of protecting the earth from some of its more interesting threats: those from beyond the atmosphere or even the universe. They've handled dangerous cases before, but they've never seen anything like...ZOMBIES FROM SPACE. Vampires, long hunted in lore and legend, are now the earth's only saviors. There is little information as to who sent the creatures until Mikey Way, head of the NLF, finds out more by being abducted. Is it too late for him? Is it too late for the earth? Find out how six vampires, one government general, and one frustrated comic book artist save the earth in...THEY CAME FROM OUTER JERSEY!!

I never told you what I do for a living. by not0_fuckin_kay, 60k+, PG-13 to NC-17. Frank Iero, male nurse at Pete Wentz's private hospital and possibly more to one new patient he can't keep his eyes off of. When a new pateint is brought in with amnesia, just days before Christmas, and with nothing but the clothes on his back and a strange drawing, it's left to Frank to find out who he is and what happened to him. When he does, it changes Frank's life forever, as he's thrust into love and health scares he never thought would complicate his life. This is the story of how he tries to make it through, juggling his job and his love-life and just trying to make things better. With Patrick the doctor, Bob the ward supervisor, Travis the unlikely therapist, and Mikey, the sometimes wannabe homicidal geek.

Of All The Hidden Corners by moneyes, ~44K, PG-13. An epic, adventurous tale filled with alternate universes, lords, mischief, magical powers, snark, boyfriends, and luck of the bad kind.

All We Are by lightisbreaking, 21k, R. Set in the future, where humans are on the brink of evolution. For the select few born with a special awareness of their own minds - an awareness which gives them abilities beyond the norm, life is suddenly a very dangerous thing. Frightened of what this could mean, the government set out to make this new race of humans extinct, telling the public that these people are mentally unstable defectives and must be kept under observation for the safety of the public. All of this brings together a rather odd troupe of people, hiding from the government and eventually having to protect one of their own when he's taken into custody. Superpowers AU!

Tell Us a Story by bexless, imogenedisease, 32k, NC-17. The world as these kids know it is ending, and Gabe Saporta is throwing the party. High school AU based on the movie Can't Hardly Wait.

Stay Right Here by idktbh, swagneto, 28k, R. Frank is involved in an accident which renders him paralyzed from the waist down. When Frank begins to withdraw into himself, his relationship with Gerard crumbles and the band faces the hardest decision they'll ever make: whether to continue playing or not. This is a story about how MCR copes with the biggest obstacle of their career so far.

Return to Spirit Lake by inpurity, 22k, R. Gerard Way has left Spirit Lake when he was eighteen to study to become a veterinary surgeon, and with no intention of ever coming back. Twelve years later he is back, carrying secrets of a life spent away from his family and friends, and the weight of a dark, painful sorrow. His old home town has not changed, but his life, and the lives of the people he will meet along the way, will never be the same.

These Friday Night Lights by faux-disco-sins, 21k, PG-13. Gerard is the head cheerleader and wears the cheer skirt, Frank is on the football team, Pete is the school mascot, Ryan is the school’s hobo journalist, Jon does photography for the yearbook, Spencer and Patrick are in the marching band, Gabe and Ray are AV techs who do a ESPN spin-off for the school, Bob is the big scary lineman, and Mikey tries to fit in while ignoring the fact that his older brother is wearing a skirt in public.

Of Love And Superpowers by mcrnut, 20k, NC-17. Seventeen year old Frank Iero is in his last year at Mutant High. He has a couple of good friends, is doing okay in school and even though he has some issues with his Mother, life is pretty great. That is, until one day, when he overhears some of the professors talking about the well-known Anti-Mutant organization HSA and how they have already broken into two Mutant Academies and are heading their way. Frank and his friends have to stick their heads together and try to solve the mystery, and as if Frank didn't have enough to think about already, he finds himself falling for his friend's older brother, Gerard.

Cypress Grove by slashxyouxup, 24k+, NC17. My Chemical Romance fight off a town of sperm hoarding, men hating, PMSing maniac women in order to save themselves from certain doom! Also, Frank and Gerard get closer than close while pretending to not be completely in love with each other. Mikeyway is not amused.

Sleepwalker by lyrical_tragedy, 73k, NC-17. Frank Iero is one of the best cops in New Jersey so it’s only natural that his boss dumps a seemingly unsolvable case on him and his colleague Bob Bryar. With no leads whatsoever Frank enlists the help of Gerard Way, a reclusive young man who experiences strong visions and dreams of events from the past and visions of the future. However, none of them could ever begin to expect the terrifying chain of events that come into play once they delve deeper into the unknown, questioning Frank’s very beliefs on what the world actually holds. A story of visions, sacrifices, over protective brothers and love all in the midst of the attempted destruction of the world. The devil’s got your number and he will come calling, until it’s nothing more than hell on earth.

Patience Is A Virtue (You Might Be Good Looking, But You Can’t Sleep With Yourself Tonight) by eflorentino, 22k, NC-17. Frank Iero’s biggest hero is Gerard Way; the outspoken, obnoxious lead singer of the multi-platinum selling band My Chemical Romance. His world changes completely when he finds himself suddenly shoved into the limelight, playing sell-out shows every night and earning more than his usual $6 an hour. However, the infamously homophobic frontman isn’t what Frank expects, and after mixed signals and unsolved revelations he learns that, with Gerard Way, things are never simple.

But Nobody Cares If You're Losing Yourself by red_ones_fly, 16k, NC-17. It took me a while to work out that there was something wrong with Gerard, he kept it hidden well and, really, he didn’t even know something was wrong with him. To him it seemed like normal, everyday stuff. He never found any of his behaviour out of the ordinary. To him it was just reality.’ After Gerard's grandma passes away his behaviour becomes strange. He becomes less outgoing and more paranoid. As Frank tries to work out what’s going on with his friend/love interest, between school, learning psychology and dealing with the jocks, he doesn’t realise just how bad it is.

Parks and Recreation by vinvy, 35k+, PG-13. Gerard Way is an art school drop out with no prospects, student loans to pay off, and a dead end job. His mother works too hard and his little brother Mikey is keeping secrets. His boss runs shady contracts and smiles too much. It's nothing special and he tells himself that he'll learn to make peace with that- in the meantime he's got to carve out a living that doesn't involve artwork. Really, he's going to be okay. Then a crazy homeless kid comes along and screws up Gerard's Adventures in Normal Employment with his hippie magic and soulless eyes. Gerard can't shake the feeling that this guy "isn't quite right" but he's too busy fending off the freak accidents that are following him around to worry about that particular winged freak.

Empire Boys by noctecaelum, 30k, NC-17. In the city that never sleeps, it's tough to get your foot in the door. While Gabe Saporta may find it easy to blend into the socialite scene; Gerard Way spends his day blending eyeshadow at Bloomingdales. As newcomer Frank triumphs in Women's Lingerie, Gerard sparks a bitter rivalry in the vicinity of Lexington and 59th; but there's no use crying over spilt coffee because things are about to fire up. Meanwhile, on the Upper East Side, Gabe Saporta is none too pleased to read a socialite-bashing article, but when confronting the writer, he doesn't expect to meet fresh faced, pretty-boy William Beckett, who turns out to be the biggest tease this side of the Downtown Dunkin' Donuts.

The Evolution Index by theficisalie, 32k, NC-17. In a world where superpowers are just another thing that can get you sent to boarding school, Frank Iero and his friends know what it's like to operate under heavy levels of stress. After all, they did spend their formative years under the wings of the United States Government's most widespread and successful initiatives; a program that was created to protect and train young Americans with superpowers to become functioning members of society. And, as a side-benefit, the government realized that not only were telepaths great at taking drink orders, but they could also be trained to be highly successful secret agents. Under the guidance of Frank's volatile and (literally) power-hungry boyfriend Gerard Way; Frank, Mikey Way, and Ray Toro are an accomplished team of super spies. When a handful of people from Frank's sordid past crop up during an investigation of rash Superhuman disappearances across the country, the team finds themselves challenged both on and off the field as they fight to solve the mysteries plaguing their beloved nation. Frank knows all too much about uncovering things that he'd rather keep hidden, but can he and his team unravel the intricate web of crime and kidnapping surrounding Chicago without losing themselves in the process?

A Good Ocean Gone Wrong by xoxxblitz7, 32k, NC-17. Titanic AU - The Way's are one of the richest families in America and sometimes being an artist requires the need to travel. On the doomed maiden voyage of Titanic old friends are found, new love is formed and put to the test and the most luxurious crossing of the Atlantic ocean becomes a fight for survival.

A Fanfiction (In Which Gerard Has A Secret Stash of Star Wars Fanfiction) by sparklefap, 10k, R. Frank finds Gerard's bizarrely erotic Star Wars fanfiction, and is both disturbed and aroused by it. Those feelings won't do for Frank. He seeks revenge.

[bignerdstudyblr]

I’m starting highschool (!)

The title says it all! I’m starting freshman year (9th grade) on August 14th. I’m going to be going to a public high school. In my city, two middle schools (grades 6-8) merge together and form the high school that I’m going to. I went to one of these middle schools so I know half of my class/year (the class of 2023). This is a pretty good thing because I’ll know about half of the kids in my classes. In this post, I’ll be discussing a few things that I’m worried about, things that I’m excited about, and some goals I want to accomplish. I’m also very open to advice for everything possible (highschool in general, freshman year, prepping for PSAT, SAT, clubs, anything!). 

What I’m worried about: 

I'll be taking the most amount of coursework possible for my year. The classes that I’m taking (in the order I have them) are Spanish II, Honors Biology, Adv Int II (math), Honors English, Honors World History, Mandarin I, and PE 9. That’s 4 honors and 2 languages. I know this isn’t the most work possible and I know some of y’all are taking 9 million AP classes or something, but I can’t help but feel a bit nervous for this all. I know I can most likely handle it all with very good organization and good time management, but it’s still a lot to handle. 

I’m worried about not having enough time to pursue things that I enjoy doing. With homework, clubs, and karate, I’m really not sure how I’m going to find time to do other things I enjoy like photography, advocating for feminism, politics, and future things. Does anyone have advice for this?

What I’m excited about:

I’m excited for a new chapter in my education. I’m a nerd (Woah, new information) and I can’t wait to learn all so many new things and study all of the interesting subjects that I’ll be taking classes in. I’m also excited for all of this because it’s a good opportunity to learn how to be a better learner and how to work more efficiently to get better grades and learn things quicker than I do at the moment.

I’m also very excited about clubs! I’ll for sure be in NAMI club (mental health) and in debate club. I’m most likely going to be getting a leadership position NAMI club as I led a smaller version of it in middle school. I’ll be very involved in debate as it is something I am very passionate about and hope to be even more involved in. 

Lastly, I’m very excited to meet new people (both new people in my grade and new upperclassmen). I want to make more and more new friends and have more connections in high school. I’ve been told from some older friends that this will happen naturally and I’m very happy about it!

What my goals are:

I obviously want straight A’s this year. I always want straight A’s every year but this year is sort of different. I’m usually very hard on myself for not getting A’s but this year I’m looking at it differently. If I don’t get an A, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a chance to learn something new and make sure I get a better grade on the next test, assignment, project, etc. I also want to learn how to balance things and efficiently work on homework. Overall, I just want to learn how to fix/work with things I said I was worried about.

That’s all, sorry for the long rant lol. Like I said, I’m very open to all advice from you smart hoomans who have been through this process. Thank you and wishing you all the best school year possible!

[legitlaur]

Golden Hour part 4 // p.p

Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: Cheesy, awkward social encounters, the occasional swears, not edited (very well)

Summary: You didn’t think having photography with Peter Parker would be of any significance to your life, that is until you found yourself alone with him at golden hour

PART 3

not my gif

You put your headphones on and began dreaded algebra. The music stopped momentarily. You checked your phone, there's a notification from Peter.

I can get tomorrow off if you wanna take pics

Before you answer you checked your planner. In red and underlined there is an algebra test the day after tomorrow.

I wish I could but I’ve gotta teach myself all the math before the algebra test

Getting back to your algebra you were struggling to find z in the equation. With so many steps, messing a single thing up meant the whole problem was wrong. When you got the x as a decimal you felt tears coming. Math was nothing short of your worst nightmare.

You grab your phone and lay on your bed, needing a break from numbers. You had another text from Peter, and quite a few from Jonah. You opened Jonah's first.

It was nice seeing you again.

Sorry about making you late to your interview.

Wanna hang out tomorrow?

I can pick you up from school.

I miss you :P

You blushed while rereading the texts. You thought of something witty to reply with.

Missing me already? I’ve got a math test I need to study for, but maybe after though.

Before he responded you checked Peters text.

Algebra? I can help you if you need. Not sure if you’ve heard but I’m kinda really good at math.

You laughed and remember Peter always getting top scores in math and science. He is perfect for Midtown, a school of science and technology. You on the other hand, english and history were more your style. No solving equations or numbers.

You text Peter and suggest a nearby coffee shop to study at.

Jonah still hadn’t replied. You took off your headphones and slid into bed.

Peter suggested that the two of you walk together to the cafe. You liked that idea, Queens can be a sketchy place for a teenage girl. You saw him talking with Ned and Michelle after school.

“Hey guys.” You slid into the small circle.

“Perfect timing y/n, we were just talking about the movie marathon.” Ned beamed.

You looked at Peter, “Oh ya. Um we. We are doing it at my place.”

“Okay sweet. Ready to go?” You asked.

Michelle turned to Peter, “Go where?”

“Peters helping me with algebra.” You answered.

Tightening the grip on his bag Peter nodded, “Yeah. Let’s go,” you grabbed Peters hand and began pulling him, “Bye guys.”

Together the two of you left Midtown and head into the busy streets of Queens.

You looked down at your torn up combat boots, “I don’t think Michelle likes me very much.”

“Don’t, don’t take it personal,” he paused, “Mj is a very cut off person. Once she really knows who you are, she’s super cool.”

“Ok,” you shrugged.

“She’s captain of the decathlon team this year, did, did you know that?” Peter smiled.

You shook your head, “No. I guess that makes sense though, with Liz leaving so abruptly and all. That must have really sucked. Could you imagine finding out your dad is evil.”

Peters face went pale, “No. No I can’t. He was a good guy, he just made some bad decisions.”

You could tell this was a touchy subject, so you dropped it.

Peter opened the door, walking into coffee filled aroma. You got into line, wanting something to eat. After ordering you found a place in the corner to work.

Peter sat down next to you, “Okay let’s see this algebra.”

You pull out your textbook and pile of assignments and quizzes.

“Woah.” He mused.

You grimaced, “I know it’s a lot. But we’ll go fast, so we can take photos.”

He was already working on the first problem, “Sounds good.”

Somehow Peter made the equations and numbers make sense. Unlike your teacher. He went over all your mistakes, redid your quizzes. You got almost all the questions right on the study guide, all by yourself.

“Peter you’re amazing.” You wrapped your arms around him.

“Oh! Haha.” He gingerly put his arms around you. You noticed his toned shoulders as they pressed into your slim ones

“Sorry. I’m, it’s just. It’s just that I finally understand math.” You said as you let go, a pinkish tinge spreading on your cheeks.

Peter slurped on his coffee, “I’m glad I could help,” He checked his watch, “Its nearly golden hour. If we want good pictures we should probably head out.”

You looked out the window, “Oh gosh. We should hurry,” you pulled your camera out of your bag and pulled it over your head, “Ready?”

Peter was already out the door. You gathered all your things and chased after him.

“When did you get so fast?”

He shrugged, “So what do you take photos of?”

Looking around the familiar streets you smiled. “Anything and everything I find interesting.”

Click

You turned to Peter, “Hey,” You tried to grab his camera.

He backed up, “Woah woah woah. We are supposed to try our partners style. I find you interesting.”

“Thanks?” You laughed.

“Come on. I wanna show you something.” Peter motioned the other way.

You walked side by side in the brisk air. Taking photos of the tourists with their maps and nick knacks. Peter kept saying you were getting closer, but you felt like it was a wild goose chase. When sirens came around the corner, Peter slowed down but you kept walking.

“Let’s get you home.”

Your eyes followed the cop cars, “Why? Peter I’m sure everything is fine.”

He was already pulling you by your hand around the block. You stopped in your tracks, “Peter what’s going on?”

He was distraught and jumpy. His grip was very tight and starting to hurt your hand. “Y/n please. I need to get you home.”

“What? No, let go of my hand,”

He did, looked back down the street where the cops drove by, then back to you, “I’m really sorry. I, I’ve gotta go.”

With that he ran back towards the sirens. You were left in the middle of the city with dark coming soon. You checked the street you were on, it wasn’t too far from home. However it would definitely be cold and dark before you got back. You texted your mom to let her know you were on your way home. Zipped up your jacket and began the enduring walk, fuming that Peter had just deserted you.

The sun set not five minutes later and you weren’t anywhere near home, you decided to call Jonah.

“Y/n? What’s up?” He sounded excited.

You cleared your throat, “I’m kind of far from home and it’s dark. Also, um well I’m alone. Could you if it’s not any hassle come get me and walk me home?”

There was a silence. You started to regret calling him.

“Sure. Send me your location, I’ll be there soon.” He finally answered.

“Oh my gosh really?” You jumped up.

He laughed, “Really.”

“I’ll see you soon,” You hung up and pinned him your location.

You looked around and saw a bench, conveniently it wasn’t occupied by a hobo. You slid your bag around to your chest and held it tightly. It wasn’t the cleanest of places but it was the bench or the ground. You sat down and waited.

Checking your phone every few minutes you were starting to worry. It was completely dark, and the city that never sleeps seemed pretty sleepy to you. Only a few stragglers trying to get home after one too many drinks at the bar.

The sirens finally stopped, helping calm your nerves. You looked up into the sky, barely able to see the moon. You saw something else, something exciting.

Spiderman swinging through the air. You pulled out your camera and fixed the iso. You clicked and clicked, hoping that they were gonna turn out. You unzoomed and realized how close he was getting.

“Hello, miss,” An obviously fake deep voice began, “What are you doing out here alone? You know it’s not safe.”

You stared at his masked eyes. You were face to face with the famous vigilante.

“Miss?”

“Oh sorry. It’s, it’s just. Wow, you’re the Spiderman.” You continued to stared.

The mystery man laughed, with a much younger voice.

“My friend left me. So I called my well,” you thought for a moment, “I actually don’t know what he is. But he’s coming to get me.”

Not a second later Jonah pulled up in a jeep.

“Hop- Is that spiderman,” He was already out of the car, “Can I get a picture?” He asked.

Spider Man nodded, you pulled out your camera, “Smile.”

“Thanks dude,” Jonah fist bumped the hero, “Let’s go y/n.”

You tossed your camera in your bag and climbed into the jeep, “Thanks Spiderman.”

Jonah took you home, he walked you too your door again. Leaning against the wall you brushed your hair behind your ear. Jonah was watching you as if you were the only thing until the world.

“Why are you staring?” You looked at your boots.

Jonah smiled, “I just can’t stop thinking about how much I wanna,” he paused and got closer, “How much I wanna kiss you.”

You’d never been kissed before but you wanted Jonah so you just laughed, “Then what are you waiting for?”

He gingerly lifted your chin, bent down and stared at your lips. You got on your tippy toes to help the height difference. Finally your lips connected. You imagined your first kiss being the most magical thing in the world, with sparks flying and music in the background. This was nothing compared to your dreams. It was short, and sweet. When Jonah pulled back you opened your door and slipped inside before he could say something.

taglist: tag list: @vicorianmycroft @irxnspxder @sassybisquit @laurrenhawker

TO BE CONTINUED

[bathalyon]

Super Junior as High School Students!

Leeteuk:

- The Best Class’s President of the year - aaaand nobody listen to him - loves to have a chat with the teachers, an attention-seeker - When the teacher is absent, he’s the one who would know it first, and ask for replacement task so everyone knows he’s in charge. - he sits on first row, beside Kibum and in front of Heechul  - LT: “Guys, Kim Seongsaenim can’t teach us today, I think he’s fall from the cliff or something, but I asked for assignment, YEAH!!” The others: “...” HC: “Let’s kill him.” - He has this one nerdy girl who always been crushing on him. He knows that but pretends to be clueless so he doesn’t have to break her heart. - Is on Charity club and Student Communication Center Club. - Wears white everyday. One time he wears all white from top to toe, and the school janitor thought he’s spirit of clean-ness - always bring wet tissue/? and handkerchief in his bag just to wipes something dirty (OCD alert)

Heechul:

- The Narcissistic Flower-Boy but has a LOT of fans - Supposed to be second-in-command but he can’t even lead himself - Trust me his personality it’s getting better every year, now people can look at him in the eye - rumored to be gay because... JUST LOOK AT THOSE FACE!1!1!1 - (un)usual things on his bag: comb, small mirror, asuka’s miniature, and marker for signing on his fans stuff - HC: *is doing something nice* HG: “What are you doing?” HC: “Uhhh, doing charity?” HG: “BUT YOU’RE SATAN!” - Sits behind Leeteuk so he can wake him up if he’s asleep in the middle of class, and beside Hangeng just because he needs translator. - Jealous of Eunhyuk since he’s the Vice-Class president. - is on Anime club and Drama-Improv Club - make a bet about whose the real gay in class, because he’s SURE he is not the only one....

Hangeng:

- The Exchange Student form China who happens to be stuck with other 14 idiots. - Lives in Students Dormitory with Zhoumi and Henry - is on Martial Arts club and Korean Language Club - Sits on Second row beside Heechul and Henry, Behind Kibum and In front of Zhoumi (Ha... good luck for imagining that...) - Teacher: *explains something* HG: “Henry, can you explain that again to me?” HR: “Idk hyung, I’m not Korean” HG: “Zhoumi, Can you..” ZM: “I’m not Korean either hyung...” HG: “Kibum, do you understand--” HC: “FOR GOD SAKE HANGENG YOU HAVE ME!” - the victim of language and culture barrier. One time Kangin was asked him what he has for a pet, instead of answered, “dog” he said, “crab” - still bring chinese lunch although it’s his third year on Korea - has the most blank faces in every classes. - his parents are rich because they are one of successor from China, but he prefer to be quiet about it than taking a risk to be robbed by his shameless friends (as in 13 of them, except Siwon)

  Yesung:

- The weird guy who makes you question things - his fashion style kinda emo but rebel/? - sits on fourth row, beside Shindong and behind Eunhyuk, all he do is sleep in class - is joining the school band as vocalist. Guess what their genre is... yup, EMO. - when he’s bored he goes to people on the second row to touch their philtrum. But he ends up getting slapped by Heechul. - Cass: *in chaos* YS: *humming in song* “Is there anything I could help?” KB: “Yes hyung, we need you to shut up!” - bad at math but good at art - is on School band and Musical-Drama club - has crush on his keyboardist but it goes away when he knows she doesn’t like turtles - client of detention because sleeping in classes - annoyed by Eunhyuk all the time because there is this ‘rivalry’ thing between dance club and musical club, but when it comes to class he just annoyed because Eunhyuk like to tease him about his voice - the others make him promise to not wondering around when there is school trip, because if we lose him, the world is the one in danger, not him

  Kangin:

- The one of those Unpopular High-School Jock - always wear his baseball uniform although there were no training that day - sat on the fourth row, beside Shindong and behind Sungmin - best-friends with Leeteuk since he has to persuade him to not tell teacher if he did something wrong - was a school bullyer since he has big figure, but rn he’s just lazy - mistaking Heechul as a girl ONCE, and he regret having a crush on him in the past - KI: “Hey Wookie, Can I copy your homework?” RW: “I don’t think all the answers of my homework are correct” KI: “Well, Is that what I’m asking for?” - client of detention because sleeping in classes.2 - is on Basketball Team and Video Games Club - He was bullying Sungmin in their first grade but now they end up in same class make him more sorry towards him - Don’t worry, Sungmin forgive him although he still can’t be 3 meters around Kangin, face to face. - He always treat the guys especially eunhae since both of them look pitiful

Shindong:

- The Class’s snack storage and Division of Documentation - He prefer to sat in last row, in between Kangin and Yesung, also behind Zhoumi - He’s a Mama boy, so if you wonder where all the foods he has came from, yep it’s his mother - this guy hates pizza and noodles and it makes all the guys love him even more - SD: *leaves the class with full box of pizza* HC: “Yah yah yah, fatso! Where are you going?” SD: “uh.. throwing these? wae hyung? wanna some? I don’t eat pizza” HC: “huh, I guess world is indeed fair” - he doesn’t like to take photograph, so he’s the one who works behind camera instead - is on Screen-writing Club and Food Club - people always treat him like a kid, HE IS KIYOWO THO - This boy doesn’t care basically love ‘jaeyuk’ more than girls - if the class is more crowded than the usually, there must be a ‘wrestling competition’ between him and Kangin - He has been the winner of that competition for 5 consecutive weeks

Sungmin:

- The All-Time High School Sweethearts - He always be that guy who stare at the window in classes, with earphone on both ears and calm looks on his face - speaking of window, he sit on third row beside the window, behind Heechul and in front of Kangin, Zhoumi in his other side. - Sorry girls, he has girlfriend on math class - He used to be nerdy with those big specs but puberty hit him hard - He became popular since his girlfriend is Vice-President of student organization - Heechul always think that he’s the true gay in class, but when he knows Sungmin got a girlfriend, damn tears. - is a genius on learning new language. He listen to Hangeng-Henry-Zhoumi convo and discover how to speak Mandarin immediately, also he watch anime hentai from Eunhyuk’s pc and know he knows how to speak Japanese - KH: “Hyung stop doing that...” SM: “Huh? Stop doing what?” KH: “Smiling, the fangirls outside are having trouble breathing...” - is on Psychological Club and Foreign Movie Club - He made out with Kangin on Group therapy themed “Jocks need Nerds, but Nerds can murder Jocks without leaving a trace”

Eunhyuk:

-The hyperactive Class Clown and Leeteuk’s right-hand - has been friends with Donghae since they were on Kindergarten - he sits beside him and Zhoumi, in front of Yesung and behind Henry. third row - is on Food Club too because he eats a lot, ppl always say that Shindong is the one who has large stomach, they are wrong - also in Dancing club, the foods he eat are burned there - SW: “I think Eunhyuk is handsome...” EH: “HAH! DO YOU HEAR HIM GUYS? HE SAID I’M HANDSOME! SIWON-AH SAID THAT AGAIN!” SW: “I think I have talent on lying, hehe” - he call himself ‘Jewel-boy’ but the boys call him ‘Sun Go Kong’ - spends his time too much with Donghae, he become the 2nd Pabo in class - that one guy who gives teacher random questions and random answers - is happy when everyone cracks up because of his jokes - is the real angel here, PROTECT HIM - although he’s kinda silly but everyone never doubt his leadership, even Heechul is afraid of angry Eunhyuk

Zhoumi:

- The Not-So-Chinese-Playboy - He’s Siwon’s cousin, no wonder they kinda look alike- he sit on third row, between Eunhyuk and Sungmin, behind Hangeng and In front of Shindong. - he knows he born with ‘handsome genes’ that’s why he’s known as the class’s player - at every lunchtime he would come to cafeteria to pick up girls - his success rate is 4/10, depends on how dumb the girls are - is on basketball team since he wants to see the cheerleaders, and on School Magazine club - KI: “Yeah, talk to you later nunna” *hang up the phone call* ZM: “Is that your sister?” KI: “Yep” ZM: “Is she pretty?” KI: “Do you wanna see her from hospital or graveyard?” - he’s the most ‘up to date’ person on class. His gadgets are in diverse. One time Eunhyuk was in shookt when he knows that Zhoumi’s toilet could lift the lid by itself - knowing a lot of people at school, kinda popular. And the boys make him gossip scouts and news notifier

Donghae:

- Class’s Crybaby and Beauty-Pabo - people said he’s handsome but he doesn’t believe it til now - he’s not stupid on common knowledge, he’s just stupid at doing his life - he sits beside Eunhyuk and behind Siwon - he loves poetry and photography, makes him joined Writing Club and Photography Club - because he friends with Eunhyuk, he also takes Dance Club. He kinda follow Hyuk everywhere.... - he’s spoiled by Heechul because he looks like lil puppy who needs its mama (or tamagochi) - Teacher: “How many world war has happen up until today?” DH: “ME! 6 WORLD WAR” EH: “Yah, not that many!” DH: “Jinjja? Is it 5 and a half?” - The others never let Siwon, Donghae, and Heechul walk together, the hallway would riven - he cried watching Bambi and Documentary of Crocodile’s Evolution - he has a lot of secret admirer, not fans tho, just the one who cannot talk to him because of his 14 overprotective brothers

Siwon: - The Real High School Prince and Church Oppa - His parents are on of biggest donors for school - Everyone who knows this immediately treat him like prince, (everyone knows tho...) - despite his handsome appearance, the boys always mock him because he looks older than he suppose to - always go to Church to pray or just refill his holy water for purifying Heechul - he sits on second row, beside Henry, Behind Ryeowook, and in front of Donghae. - From the first day of school, he always wants to be friends with Ryeowook, but Wookie can’t stand Siwon’s greasiness - KB: “Why are you so rich and Zhoumi looks like he always got nothing to eat?” SW: “Because I always thankful for what God’s ha given to me...” KH: "HEECHUL HYUNG! SIWON HYUNG IS GIVING HIS TRIAL TO KIBUM” HC: *slams table* “NOBODY PERSUADE MY BABY!” - He’s on Christian Club and Charity Club, holy shisus... - the boys crowned him as “the one who likely to become a president” and “the one who likely to become a sugar daddy if Heechul ask him to”

Kibum:

- The most normal among the freak - actually he’s not normal, he’s too quiet - despite the silent he does, he always get 1st rank at school. No, not class, at SCHOOL. - sometimes he would play with the other boys, ot be the one who split the fight with his intelligence - he sits in first row between Leeteuk and Kyuhyun. In front of Hangeng - tbh, his favorite hyung is probably Sungmin because he’s the next normal one - YS: “Kibum-ah, you’re too smart for this class, why are you in this class?” KB: “Hyung, If you want to look smarter you need to hang out with dumb people” - is on Science Club and Math Club - loves astronomy because he wants to go to somewhere more quite than this class - the only person who would fight him is Kyuhyun, but both of them are lousy so they just ends up crying and made up - Siwon’s companion going to church

Ryeowook:

- The Music Box and Class’s Chef - he sits on first row, beside Kyuhyun and in front of Siwon - he choose a song that suits situation of the class everyday - SD: *is eating* RW: *plays SJ - Cooking? Cooking!* DH: *is crying* RW: *plays Seventeen - Don’t wanna cry* HC: *is doing anything* RW: *plays Sunmi - Gashina* HC: *death glare* “really Ryeowook, really?” - he also the one who does commentary when somebody doing something, the most absurd thing he does is commenting on Yesung who just chewing gum - is on Radio Club and Cooking club - He won from category of “the one you wants to get stuck in deserted island with” and the reason is just because he can cook - admits that he has girlfriend, but nobody believe that. everyone wonder what kind of girlfriend who wants parrot as her boyfriend - once ask Siwon to buy him a GIRAFFE as his birthday gift

Kyuhyun:

- The Gamer with Mouth full-of Sarcasm - that one guy who never pay attention on class but always get the 2nd rank - Leeteuk would always be the one who snatch his phone or game out of his hand so he would interact with others - he sits in first row between Kibum and Ryeowook, also in front of Henry - there is one time when Kyuhyun made Donghae cry because he said Donghae is useless - HG: “I can’t believe you said that, I’m mad at you!” KH: “Hi Mad At You, I’m Kyuhyun! Nice to meet you” - is on Algebra club and starcraft club - the boys never let him goes into argument with Heechul, there would be no end - but sometimes Heechul is his companion on playing starcraft and mock the others in sarcasm - everyone call him “Evil Junior” - He almost killed Yesung’s turtle by giving it a camphor - Siwon’s second target of purifying soul

Henry:

- The one little bastard - he came from Canada but his soul is Germany - likes to hide porn inside Eunhyuk’s table, so he’s the one who get blamed - sits in seond row, between Hangeng and Siwon, Behind Kyuhyun and In front of Eunhyuk. - since his cheeks are chubby, the hyungs often pinch it so it gets red - SD: “I get nervous when you get silent in the corner of the room” HR: “Waeyo hyung?” SD: “Molla...” *look at Henry’s magazine* - is on Violin Club and DJ Club - his parents is Korean, but they lived in Canada for 7 years and now forget how to talk in hangul/? - his favorite hyung is Heechul since he’s always on his side whenever porn is involved - HC: “HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT MY BABY WATCH PORN, HE’S INNOCENCE!” LT: “HE FREAKKING NAMED THE FILE “TISSUE NEEDED”, HOW COME I’M NOT SUSPICIOUS!” - he sleeps on the same bed as Hangeng because he’s skinnier than Zhoumi

[archivepolarisornah]

“I cannot believe I broke my phone on my first day!” The girl was almost to scared to pick her phone up. She had this one for years, and now it was broken. I surely hope this isn’t some bad omen telling me my freshman year is going to be hell.

“Oh. Damn, I’m sorry,” Hallie said with a sympathetic frown. “Is it like … actually broken or is the screen just cracked? Maybe it won’t be that expensive to fix?” She wanted to suggest a thicker case, as well, but she wasn’t sure how well received that suggestion would be, knowing now might not be the best time. 

Lilo sighed before noticing someone had noticed her. Awkward. “Uh-yeah no I mean there is nothing to apologize for.” She rambled before starting to laugh. “I’m sorry, first impressions always are the worst with me.” She looked at her phone and frowned. “I think it’s just the glass I’m not sure.” Either way, she’d have to work a bit longer at the dance studio now. “Maybe, I’ll go to the store to see what they can do. Oh, right! My name is Lilo. Nice to meet you, as you might have guessed I’m new here.” 

“Oh! A freshman!” Hallie said with a friendly smile. “It’s really nice to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances.” She looked at the broken phone with sympathy. “I’m sure there’s like … coupons or something you can get for repairs. Maybe there’s a student on campus who could fix it for credit on an assignment or something.” She didn’t really know what else to suggest, she just felt bad for the girl and wanted to do something to help.

Lilo was quick to jump back on her feet and offer the other a handshake. First impressions were important after all, especially to upperclassmen, or well women in this case. She gave the stranger a weak nod. “I can try, I’ll first check at the store if it can be saved. Could you give me the time, I really have no clue now if I’m running late or not?” Moreover, the campus was far larger than she had pictured and she could see herself getting lost with ease.

“Oh, sure,” Hallie said, giving her the time. “Do you have summer classes?” she asked curiously, wondering if the freshman was taking extra classes before her school year officially started. It was a good idea to get ahead of the curve, and Hallie admired the younger girl for it. Hallie had never been able to take on extra work due to needing a job while she was in school, but she thought it was a good idea in general.

“I am.” She had been worried that she would end up being behind if she didn’t. “I mean I don’t know what is waiting for me, and I’m someone who gets lost quite easily. I thought if I attended summer classes then I can get familiar with the place and lower the risks of coming across as a big…idiot.” Well, she didn’t really have a world-class first impression now did she?

“I think that’s a good idea,” Hallie said with a nod. “Not that I think you’d come across as an idiot otherwise, but it’s always nice to go the extra mile and get an advantage.” She smiled. “I’m sure you’ll quickly get used to things and know this place like the back of your hand. Do you like exploring normally?”

“I don’t know, I’ve been a bit…” Well, could she call it bullied? “Having some issues with a girl I went to school with, she kept calling me out and since then I’ve always been a bit wary about my image.” Or what she represented. They were becoming adults and she wanted to be likeable, gain lots of friends and offer support instead of being the clutz that ended things in disaster. “I do LOVE exploring. you know how everything can seem mysterious with a bit of imagination. It’s a bit what I do when I look for a place for my pictures- search the magic of a location.”

“Oh, pictures? You do photography?” Hallie asked, latching onto that topic of conversation. She felt bad for the girl when she mentioned having issues with someone, and she didn’t want to dwell on any painful topics. Besides, she thought people with a gift for photography were really interesting. They saw the world in an entirely new way, kind of like how Wallace did. She wished she had the same eye for beauty in unconventional places like that. “What’re your favorite things to take photos of?”

“Yes, I love holding a camera and creating memories wherever I go.” It was her magic wand in some way and at the same time something she could hold on to. She regrets the lack of pictures of her parents, that’s why she held onto the pictures of other things in her life. “The world changes through the eye of a lens you know, you start to appreciate the rain, how light reflects on any ordinary object and with some artificial things, it’s like you create magic.”

She took a map out of her bag showing a recent picture she had taken. “I’ve been playing around with colour a lot lately.” She smiled. “And certainly people. People have something magical around them, especially their eyes. You can cover their mouth and you’ll still be able to read their emotion.” Lilo explained. “Do this with the eyes and you can fool the world.”

“Oh wow, this is really cool,” Hallie said with a nod, looking at the photos then up at Lilo with a faint grin. “I love color. Are eyes the thing you notice first about people, then?” she asked curiously. “I tend to notice their smiles, first. My best friend Wallace has the best smile. But eyes can be really expressive, you’re right.”

“Thanks.” Lilo smiled, watching her stare at her portfolio. “I love colour as well, and actually that’s not the first thing I notice. It’s more often their hands.” Do they tremble, where do they place it when they are with their partner, do their veins show, do they hold scars. The hands at time tell a story about the person, and how they treat others.

“Wallace is quite a unique name.” She smiled. “And they aren’t called the mirror to the soul for nothing.”

“Oh, hands,” Hallie repeated with an interested look. “I never would’ve thought to look at hands. Can you tell a lot about a person by their hands?” She tried to think if she’d ever noticed Wallace’s hands. Not unless they were touching her in some way, she supposed. She noticed a lot about Wallace in general, but not ever anything super specific, except for his smile.

“Actually you should be surprised how sometimes you can even read the profession in someone’s hands.” She smiled. “Like how sometimes a hairdresser still has dye on their hands, how a surgeon has two lines that indicate they stitch a lot. “But also age.” There could be spots due to age appearing. “Also their health can be indicated in the hands, example liver, lung and heart illnesses could be found in your fingernails.

“And the way they move their hands while holding the partner can even reveal if they are a great partner or a douchbag.” She shrugged.

“Oh, wow, I guess you’re right,” Hallie said, never having considered all those things, but once Lilo mentioned them, she could see how that all made sense. She looked down at her own hands and wondered what they said about her, before her mind went to Wallace’s, wondering what they said about him.

“That’s really insightful of you,” she said, looking back up at Lilo with a smile. “You could probably do a whole project on the stories people’s hands tell.”

Lilo nodded. “You learn some things looking at one’s hand, and eyes. People really are amazing.” It’s like everyone had a story, and some people just want to read the book without making someone else uncomfortable. She had the urge to twirl around but refrained. It still was the first meeting, so she couldn’t be too eager in expressing herself.

“Well, that’s something new.” She laughed. She was bullied before so she wasn’t used to being complimented, other’s just saw her as that weird kid without any parents. “I could, but I guess it depends on what the teacher assigns. I do want to include people in it.”

“I think you totally should. I know sometimes the professors will work with you on a certain concept if you really want to incorporate it into your assignments. They like it when you’re engaged and interested,” Hallie said with a nod and a smile. “At least, the ones I have always are. Some of them seem really tired and like they’d rather be anywhere else, but most of them like being there because that’s usually the subject they’re interested in too, you know? Not like in high school where you’ll get, like, the PE teacher also teaching math or something.”

She nodded toward Lilo’s phone. “I know of some really cute cases you can find at this kiosk at the mall. Once you get it fixed, you should check them out!”

“I really hope so, I’m curious to get to know my teachers. I’m still waiting on my schedule for when actual classes start.” Lilo tapped her feet, crossing it. “Ah, I wonder what I look most forward to, photography or dancing!” She clapped her hands, glowing with excitement, she was trying to go for classic ballet, so it was quite challenging with her hip hop background. “I understand what you mean, it’s a wonder some people are even allowed to teach, one of my math teachers actually spend his time on Facebook instead. It was horrible. He didn’t even have a textbook so most of it was self-study.”

“OH! I SHOULD!” It would lower the chance of her phone breaking as well. “Thank you.” Before she knew it she already hugged Hallie, but was quick to let go. “Woops, sorry I get a bit too excited sometimes, I hope I didn’t offend you.”

“Oh!” Hallie jumped slightly as she was suddenly in a hug and then not again. She smiled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “It’s okay. I like hugs,” she assured Lilo. “It’s cute how excited you are about starting school. Most people wouldn’t be.” She shook her head. “But I’m glad you are.”

“Sorry, I am known to be a bit of a ball of energy.” Lilo really needed to start and try to respect boundaries, she was lucky that Hallie didn’t mind. “Well, it’s a new start. I had a lot of problems in my previous school, so I wish to make lovely new memories now.” She wanted to link school to a positive experience. “Thanks.”

“Oh, I bet you will,” Hallie assured her. “You make really good friends in college. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of people with a common interest in photography and dancing and before you know it you’ll have your own posse.” She grinned. “I think it’s a lot easier to find your people in college than in high school.”

Lilo wasn’t that sure about it, but she wanted to believe she would meet some wonderful people. “I hope so, I love to dance and photography with every part of my being, it would be nice to meet people with that same love. Yet I also would like to get friends with people interested in other things as well.” She hoped that with her being open to the teachers about her anxiety, things would go easier now than it had been in high school.

“Well, I think I should go now, It’s very nice to meet you, Hallie. I don’t think I can postpone things too long without getting late for my class. If you want we can meet up afterwards, if not then who knows we might bump into school.”

“Oh! Yeah, of course,” Hallie said, realizing she’d held up the girl a lot longer than she’d meant to and the other had been on her way somewhere. “Sorry, I guess we got a little carried away.” She smiled, nodding. “I’d love to meet up sometime. Why don’t you give me your phone number? Then when you get your phone fixed I’ll text you and we can get coffee sometime or something?” She got her phone out and held it out to Lilo so she could put her number in.

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

What the Heck I Gotta Do?

*Justin Laboy (21 Chump Street) x Reader

*Summary: Reader is being questioned about what happened at Park Vista Community High School and tells the story of what happened when Naomi turned everything upside down.

*Warnings: As far as I know, none. Maybe some swearing, you never know with me.

*A/N: After promising it for forever, here’s that Justin Laboy fic! Anyways, there’s gonna be either three or four more parts after this, depending on how much I get done. Hopefully it’s not too difficult to differentiate what’s flashback and what’s going on in the questioning, but let me know if I should change it to make it an easier read. Feedback and other requests are always welcome!

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five

The room was small, almost bare, save for the table and three chairs set right in the middle of the room. The two-way mirror was stark, showing your tired reflection. You’d been here for hours, waiting for someone to come in and talk to you, letting you give your statement. You already knew what you were going to say, seeing as there was no point in lying about your situation. As you walked around the room, softly singing to yourself, you wondered where they would ask you to begin your story. As you stood in the corner, debating what to do next to alleviate your boredom, a man in a suit with shoulder-length hair and a goatee walked in, giving you a bright smile. “(Y/n) (l/n)?” He asked as he looked down at the file in front of him. You smiled back, watching as he went to sit at the table.

“That’d be me. You’re taking my statement?” You asked, moving to sit across from him. Your heart was racing, but you wouldn’t let him, or the detectives and DA on the other side of the glass, see that. You’d never been in big trouble like this, but you watched enough Law & Order to know how this worked.

“That’s right. Now, let’s get a few simple questions out of the way before that, shall we?” He replied, never giving you his name.

“Sure, ask away,” you said, remaining as nonchalant as possible.

“Your name is (full name), correct? And you attended Park Vista Community High School?”

“Sure thing, what’s next? My mom’s maiden name, first pet, all those other security questions?” You joked, leaning forward on the table. You saw him crack a small smile, knowing you were already breaking down his professional exterior. “I saw that smile, you thought it was funny.”

“I’ll admit it. You’re a bit of a joker, aren’t you?” he questioned, brown eyes searching yours for something. You just smiled and nodded, knowing you’d be closer to telling your story if you were agreeable. “Alright, let’s start from the beginning. When did you first become acquainted with our detective?”

“Second semester of senior year. We were in a class together and my friend Justin would not shut up about her,” you started, already brought back to that first fateful day.

“Justin, we’re gonna be late,” you called to your friend, your Converse thudding across the linoleum of the hall. It was your first day back from winter break and you were already going to be late for your first class. “This is why we don’t hang out before school, Honor Roll.”

“Shut up, (y/n),” Justin called back, running past you to make it to his math class, his curls bouncing slightly with each step. You had photography first period, so you weren’t as worried as Justin was. “I’ll see you in physics, alright?”

“Sure thing, now run, Forrest, run!” you laughed, turning to run up the stairs to your class. You heard Justin’s laugh, making you smile as you finally made your way into the class just as the bell rang. Photography had always been your favorite class, it was just fun to watch your simple pictures be turned into beautiful works over time. You heard talk amongst the other students about a couple new kids, seniors like you. You didn’t really pay that much attention, though. You figured you wouldn’t be involved with them, that your group would remain as it had since freshman year. You couldn’t’ve been more wrong.

“So, what was it that drew your friend to Naomi?” the man asked, jolting you out of your memories.

“Well, she used to fall asleep in class, and he thought it was oh-so-cute,” you replied, shaking your head slightly. “She was a light skinned, Puerto Rican-Dominican, long hair, and ‘mature in the body like woah’,” you said the last part mockingly, reminded of how Justin had described her to your group at lunch that day. “He said that wasn’t the only reason he liked her, though.”

“So, tell me how you actually met Naomi,” the man instructed, letting you launch back into your story.

The day seemed to fly by, and before you knew it, you were sitting in the third row of your physics class, Justin sitting beside you. “You know, the packet over the break was stupid,” you muttered, rolling you eyes.

“I helped you with most of it, what’re you talking about?” Justin laughed, taking his packet out of his backpack.

“I know, but there’s a reason it’s called a break, ya know?” you replied, sticking your tongue out at him. Justin laughed again at your childish behavior, making you smile. The teacher still hadn’t shown up, but you immediately noticed the new girl that walked into the classroom. You could tell Justin noticed too, the way he seemed to perk up and his eyes widening in realization making it obvious. “Who’s that?”

“Remember the girl I was telling you all about at lunch?” Justin asked. He continued once you nodded. “Yeah, that’s her. I’ll see you after class, alright?”

“What? Justin,” you nearly hissed, watching as he grabbed his things and went up to your other friend sitting next to the girl. You realized what was going on the second he nodded his head towards you, your other friend nodding in agreement and getting his things. Justin sat in the seat next to the new girl, waving shyly. “Please tell me Justin did not just do that,” you quietly fumed as Derek took the seat next to you.

“Oh, he did,” Derek said, pulling out his own work. “Andrew said he did the same thing to him in math.”

“No,” you said in disbelief, dragging out the word. “Hold up, why didn’t I hear about that?”

“He told me and Tevin, you were too busy swooning over Justin to notice,” Derek replied, rolling his eyes. “Your window’s closing, are you gonna make a move on him or what?”

“I don’t like him like that,” you mumbled, casting your eyes down to the desk as a blush started to overtake your face.

“Yeah, sure you don’t,” Derek teased. You were saved from replying as the teacher finally walked into the room, clapping his hands to get the attention of the class. The look Derek shot you let you know that it would not be the end of the conversation. You groaned, already knowing that Derek, Tevin, and Andrew would give you hell for this.

“So Justin and Naomi really hit it off, ya know?” You said, gesturing towards the interviewer. You still weren’t sure just who he was, but you dealt with it. “They start talking, like a lot. The next few weeks were hell, seeing him fawning over her like some puppy.”

“How’d they hit it off?” He asked.

“Well, Naomi moved to Florida from New York, just like me and Justin. So, Justin was all into that, talking about New York with her and just anything. Thing is, for a guy from New York, Justin’s pretty trusting. I always used to ask him how he survived out there, since you really gotta watch your back. You never know what’s gonna happen or who you can trust. Most New Yorkers know that, but I guess Justin never got the memo. Anyways, he’s basically going crazy for her, telling her all this dumb crap,” you replied.

“What did he tell her?���

“He starts saying this stuff like, ‘what the heck I gotta do to be with you?’ and who does he have to be to make her into him. It was dumb, especially since he didn’t know her all that long,” you replied, still somewhat bitter about that.

“He told her all this in person?” the man questioned, somewhat incredulously.

“What? No, he told her over text,” you said. “He wasn’t that stupid. At least, not yet.”

“‘What the heck I gotta do to be with you?’” You read out, handing Justin’s phone back to him. “Dude, what the heck?”

“Pretty smooth, right?” Justin asked, seeming proud of himself. You, Justin, Tevin, Derek, and Andrew were hanging out at a diner not far from all of your places, trying to work on small assignments while getting an early dinner in. You simply rolled your eyes, not even wanting to humor him.

“Hold it, look at this one,” Tevin said, passing Justin’s phone back to you.

“‘Tell me who I gotta be for you to be with me’? Bro,” you said, slightly judging Justin. “You’ve known her for like a month, isn’t this a bit much?”

“She just gets me, man. It’s like, she’s so mature and she listens to all of my problems,” Justin replied dreamily. That stung, you had to admit it. The way Justin was talking about Naomi just made you feel like he was describing you, but with added feelings for her. By the look Andrew shot you, you could tell he noticed it too.

“So, has she even replied to you?” Andrew asked, grabbing Justin’s phone from Tevin’s hands.

“Not yet,” Justin pouted. “She’s gonna reply though, I just know it.”

“Well yeah, she can’t just leave you on read when she knows she’s gonna see you at school tomorrow,” Derek pointed out.

“Five bucks she just sends an emoji or something,” Andrew joked. Justin’s dilemma was soon forgotten, the group falling back into the normal routine of joking and telling different stories from your classes. It made you feel like things were semi-normal again, back before Naomi had came and turned the routine around. It wasn’t until you had paid the bill and started walking out of the diner that Justin finally looked at his phone again.

“Yes!” Justin cheered, startling your group and other patrons of the diner. “Sorry!” He apologized, softer this time.

“What happened?” You asked as your group left the diner.

“She replied!” Justin said, bouncing as if he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Let me see!” Derek said, making a grab for Justin’s phone. Justin let him, still silently celebrating whatever Naomi had sent him. “Smiley face!”

“Bro!” Tevin cheered, high-fiving Justin. Andrew and Derek seemed to share their excitement, leaving you confused.

“What’s going on?” You asked, not sure how to respond to the celebration going on around you. Sure, you’d seen the guys get excited over girls before, but never to this extent. Maybe it was just because this was the first girl Justin was seriously interested in, but you didn’t know.

“She sent a smiley face to Justin flirting,” Andrew explained, unable to stop smiling. “That means she either wants him too, or is starting to be into him.”

“You guys sure are putting a lot of meaning behind one smiley face,” you replied, shaking your head. “It could just be that she didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to just not say anything.”

“Nah man, Naomi’s not like that,” Justin defended her.

“How can you say that, man?! You’ve known her for like a month!” You argued. Sure, you were glad that he seemed happy, but it was like Naomi had pulled a shade over his eyes and made him believe anything she told him.

“It feels like I’ve known her all my life! I don’t know what your deal is, (y/n),” Justin told you, eyes narrowing.

“You know what, screw this. I’m going home,” you fumed, stomping off in the general direction of your home. You could hear the general confusion you left behind, but you didn’t care. You didn’t trust Naomi for some reason, and you sure as hell didn’t like Justin getting that involved with her that fast. There had to be some way for you to make him see that.

When you got home, you had to refrain from picking up the phone and calling any of the guys. It took all of your willpower to just throw your phone to the side and work on whatever things you had left. You knew you’d need some time to completely cool off before talking to them, especially in this situation. Maybe you were being biased and Naomi wasn’t actually that bad. You’d liked Justin almost from the time you’d first met him back in freshman year, and maybe you were just upset that he was finally into someone that wasn’t you. You shrugged that thought off, letting yourself focus on your homework while your phone buzzed with notifications from the guys.

“So, anyways, a couple weeks after that whole mess, Justin finally decides to ask Naomi out,” you explained. “They’d been texting pretty much nonstop. During class, breaks, after school, you name it, you could find Justin with his phone in hand texting Naomi. He was head-over-heels for her, going to talk to her about all his problems, giving her all his homework, it was a mess.”

“And how did that work out for Justin?” The man asked, enthralled with your story. Sure, it might seem like it was just high school drama, but it was all part of the big picture here.

“She said no. Just like, ‘sorry, man, not into you’ level. I think it was like March when that happened. So, our prom was in April, and Justin decided to ask Naomi to prom, even though she’d already rejected him. I’m telling you, he fell hard for her,” you said. “So, during physics, he gets up in front of the whole class, and starts singing and freaking dancing. Apparently the other guys were in on it too, because they just appeared out of nowhere and acted like back-up dancers and singers. Anyways, after all that was done with, Naomi told him she’d think about it. Honestly, I had to get up and leave the room when I saw that crap. It was a lot, especially since I’d been warning Justin to be careful with her. Derek filled me in on what happened after I got back.”

The man looked at his watch after he jotted down a couple notes. He looked back towards the two-way mirror, as if it would suddenly reveal the people on the other side. “We’ve been talking for quite some time, I think it’s time for a bit of a break. Can I get you anything?”

“Yeah, can I get like some chips or something and some water? I’ve been in here for a while and I haven’t had anything to drink,” you requested, noting the man’s somewhat shocked look when you said that.

“Of course, and I’m sorry about that. I would’ve brought some water with me if someone told me,” he replied, shooting a semi-glare back towards the two-way mirror. “I’ll be back soon.” You nodded, watching as he left the room. That was definitely interesting, especially the way you saw him wildly gesticulating through the tiny window in the door. You could already picture the next part of your story, knowing exactly when everything went wrong. You leaned back in your chair, putting your feet on the desk and crossing them as you closed your eyes, figuring you’d get a bit of rest while you waited for the man to come back.

Tag List but Probably Don’t Even Remember Asking to Be Tagged: @pearltheartist

[jostylr]

What a year: 2017

This year has been a long year. Much of it centered on the national news. The anger and threats. The crumbling of icons to harassment. The feeling of powerlessness as the majority is ignored in the country. The non-stop desire to see what other embarrassment or trauma was in the news. None of that was good, but good did come out of it.

It was a year of endings for me and, in that ending, hope of new beginnings.

Apple

The only apple device I currently use that I used at the start of 2017 is my iPad Pro. In the spring of 2017, my 2009 iMac died (hard drive failure). It was a slow death which held the promise of maybe keeping it as a display monitor. I tried to use just my Macbook air and either use a dedicated external monitor or the 2009 iMac screen. Both ultimately ended in failure (the dedicated ones never looked good with the MBA while the iMac had catastrophic heat failure).

I ordered a new iMac in May, but they released a brand new version at WWDC. It was just within my return window so I returned the old new one and got a new new one. Been happy with it ever since.

My MBA died in November. It was working fine one moment and then it was dead the next. The repair would have cost more than a new refurbished one at MicroCenter (Apple no longer makes my beloved 11" MBA) and so I got that. Looked briefly at the Macbook but the keyboard felt like pounding on concrete.

iPhoneX came out and I just had to get it despite getting a lot of flack for paying so much for a new phone. I love it. I love the FaceID login flow, the smoothness of it all, the screen, and the camera is just fantastic. Low light, no problem. Crystal clear video. Cool zooming. I am not that much into taking pictures anymore, but this makes me wish I were. I might explore Halide a bit with it to learn more about digital photography. My daughter inherited my iPhone6; she was another motivation as her iPhone4S (my old one) died suddenly.

I bought the iPhoneX and the iPhoneSE for my wife using a tradeoff of a new carrier: Xfinity Mobile. We were paying $90 a month for AT&T. After our first month, we paid $25 for Xfinity Mobile, $12 for 1GB usage level (we used 200Mb) and $13 in taxes. The taxes are non-negotiable, but the $12 could disappear if we used less than 100Mb -- seems unlikely).

So in one year, I got a new iMac, MBA, and iPhone. If FaceID comes to the iPad and they redesign the Apple Pencil to have an eraser part, then I would consider replacing the iPad Pro too.

I also bought AirPods and absolutely love them. They can be a little slow to switch between devices, but otherwise, I am very pleased with them. Being wireless is incredible, and pausing when I take them out is a fantastic feature. I don't use the taps very much. The quality is fine for me and the range is great. Also, when they run low on power, I can charge one at a time. I don't often run out of power, but in the times I do, it comes in handy. I also enjoy sharing them with my wife when we are watching something together that is not intended for our daughter.

Apps

While speaking of Apple, there are a few apps that I find amazing to use:

Mac

Yoink. Drag and drop files onto the side, then find where to put them, drag them out. I find this works very well for me as I like to segment out my process in exactly this way: First find it, then figure out where to put it.

Grand Perspective. This is blowing my mind away. It can scan any folder (or the whole drive) and show in nested blocks the storage area. As one mouses over the blocks, it shows how much space and what file it is. This is a great way to get an understanding for where the space goes. Pretty too.

Magnet. Still early days for me, but this is a windows manager for snapping to a few specified areas using the keyboard. It seems to do exactly what I want though having a few more options would be very useful for me.

The indispensable apps I use all the time are, of course, MacVim, SourceTree (git), Terminal (ssh, literate-programming), 1Password, and the browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). Some storage programs and some math apps are listed below.

I also acquired AffinityDesigner. It looks awesome and I hope to use it, but I have not yet had an opportunity to really delve into it.

iOS

To be honest, I have tried a number of apps, but there are not that many that really captures my attention. I continue to use SafariBooksOnline, Reeder, Firefox Focus, all for consuming.

Love you to bits. This is a graphical game that reminds me strongly of text-based games. My daughter and I both enjoyed playing through it. It is the spiritual successor to the much beloved (and gone) Tiny Thief.

GrafnCalc83. A wonderful touch implementation of the TI-83. I have the actual calculator, but the iOS version is a joy to work with while being very faithful to what the TI-83 would produce.

Many of the apps I come across seem to demo nicely (IKEA furniture placement app, for example), but I simply do not use that many despite having a lot of them.

I do use Notability for writing out notes on my iPad. It was particularly useful in conjunction with Screenflow in doing videos of working out mathematics problems.

I have also used AstroPad for converting my iPad into a graphics tablet for my desktop.

Storage

With all the failures of my devices this year, backup has certainly been on my mind. I had pretty good luck with them all except for my daughter's iPhone4S though I am not sure that there was anything much lost on it. Right now, I am using iMazing to do backups to an external drive connected to my iMac. They do it wirelessly to all the devices and this seems to be working fine.

For the desktop and laptops, I use Carbon Copy Cloner 5 and back the laptops up once a month. I also have Arq which backs up the high use folders (desktop, downloads, documents, my repositories) to OneDrive. Additionally, I have a main external storage folder that keeps a bunch of stuff, such as the photo library and I back that up to another external drive.

I just finished sorting all the many "messy desktop" folders all around and consolidating all the materials. Saw some interesting memories along the way, including my Tiddlywiki experiments. I have my OneDrive sync folder with a variety of documents that I find useful. I hope to keep it in sync with the folders on the main Storage device, probably using rsync.

Storage is still a bit of a pain, but I am hoping to work at it.

Currently, I have Amazon Cloud Storage and OneDrive. They are both very nice. I opted to not go with iCloud because I could not understand how to control what was syncing where. It sounded like they try to stuff my hard drives full and manage it. I am a big fan of having control even if it does cause me headaches of organization.

Jobs

My jobs have certainly changed a bit this year. I quit one part-time online teaching gig because I did not like the direction it was heading. I also wanted to have more time for other efforts. But another of my part-time online teaching gigs has been going crazy with enrollment so instead of 2 semesters, it looks like I will be teaching 3 semesters in the year.

I also left the neighborhood association. I am quite pleased to no longer be going to meetings.

My Arts&Ideas job also expanded to include a summer camp for our students. It went well and we expect to continue it. It is a very different feel, much more relaxed, but it also takes up a lot of time. I did feel that having limited free time helped keep me focused on working on what I was concerned with.

Healthcare

We have used CareFirst since going on our own about five years ago. We initially had $300-500 in premiums per month, but last year it spiked to $900 and now this year it would be $1500. This is insane given our income levels. So we switched to KaiserPermanente for about $500 a month after subsidies. I worry about the stability of the health system, but I guess we'll take it one year at a time.

This year, none of us needed medical help, that I can recall. In previous years, I had sicknesses and a surgery, but this year was a healthy year.

I did get a FitBit which has helped me stay motivated to move around. My weight is not moving in the direction I want it to, but it does seem at least stable. My goal is to lose about 30 pounds from where I am now.

Shoes and Sandals

This is the year when my feet stopped wanting to wear shoes. Shoes I have worn for a long time became uncomfortable. Perhaps my feet have gotten wider, perhaps I just have transferred my claustorphobia to my feet.

In any event, I started wearing sandals. All the time. Even with socks. To deal with weather, I have overshoes. One pair ($10) is for rain and light cold or snow. Another pair is expensive ($100) but are built for heavy winter use.

I have used both of them, I find them amazing. They look a little dodgy, but I love to wear my sandals and this is a neat separation of the external needs. The foot size of these overshoes are very large, but my feet are securely placed inside thanks to the sandals.

Inside, I have the comfort of open-toed sandaling.

RPG

Pushed by the students at Arts&Idea, I have been working on a new role-playing system based off of D&D. I call it self-directed role-playing. It takes the classes and breaks them up into individual skills. The system is complicated for the assignment of experience points and requires a computer. I also revamped the magic system to open it up to characters in a more general way. The combat is largely opposed rolls of attack versus defense. The initiative system is also computerized to allow for a dynamic ordering based on trying to make everyone feel like they are participating more (the less well one does or the more minor the action, the sooner one gets to play again; also defending slows one down a little as defending is rolling dice).

One neat feature (I hope) is that instead of a d20 for everything, the skills start at d4 and work up to d20, gaining modifiers at each level. Since attack and defense are opposed, this should balance out, regardless of how it goes, but I am hoping to reduce some of the random swings of fortune while still giving the thrill of rolling. The damage is a multiplier based on weapon and other factors, multiplied by how well one does in succeeding in the attack.

The biggest question is whether we can run this at a fast speed.

I hope this deals with the problems I have with D&D. The material is very nice and thorough, but the system has always felt not quite right. I have done some playtesting with a brave group of guinea pigs. In a week, I hope to begin two groups working through the prepared D&D adventures of Out of the Abyss and Curse of Strahd.

Fifth Staff

We spent the year at school looking to hire a fifth staff. It was quite a journey. We learned a lot, had a lot of fun with the Hiring Committee, and we finally did find someone that we are all very excited to join us.

But it is tough to envision a fifth person. We have been a tight group of four, knowing each other quite well. We can anticipate how each reacts and we have the bonds to both care about the others while also being free to oppose one another.

I have confidence in the person we hired, but it will take time to adjust.

We also hired a professional cleaner for bi-weekly cleanings. This has also been an adjustment.

Development

I have found this year to be difficult to work on my projects. I have added some to literate programming. I entered this winter break with the intention of redoing it, using Promises or perhaps Observables. But on looking at the options, I realized I love my Event-When paradigm. So I have spent the vacation trying to improve that, which is still a work in progress, but I am pretty happy with some of the innovations. It strikes me as the mental model that works well for me: events happen, stuff reacts to it. This is a bit silly in terms of scientific or mathematical computations (maybe), but for user interaction stuff, it is perfect. Even in the realm of math and science, events can be a way to break problems into separate computations.

My goals are to finish the Event-When rewrite, incorporate that into Literate-Programming and update all of that. With luck, I could get that done by May.

Once that is done, or perhaps concurrently, I intend to finally get my own blog system going and MathPebbles. So much to do and I still need to do A&I internal web stuff.

I am captivated by the ideas of mathematics and physics. I have been taking breaks from programming this vacation and retreating to reading mathematics. There is so much to explore and understand. This is what I hope to bring to MathPebbles. I think one idea for the site is to thread some pebbles together as a kind of companion to some good math books. I used to think of writing a math book, but there are plenty of those in existence. What is needed is a platform for exploring mathematics in a way that is most helpful to those learning. I absolutely love GeoGebra, WolframAlpha, Desmos, but they all strike me as giving answers while skipping much of the journey. I want to remove the burden of the manual computations, but facilitate stepping through the process rather than shortcutting it.

Family

Family has been good. My daughter is growing up fast. While only six, she seems much older. She has just lost her two front teeth. She is into Legos this year, working diligently in following the instructions of the sets. While I always enjoyed the free form method, I have to admit it is pretty cool to see the constructions she makes.

My parents are definitely getting older. We have had some conversations in trying to prepare for the inevitable, but I get the sense that when disaster finally strikes, I will be completely unprepared. I can't help but continue to think that our society is most failing the young and the old. Our lack of neighborly community, shall we say, hurts them the most.

I do worry that I spend too much time working on my projects when I should spend more time with my daughter and my parents.

My wife is going through her own journey. The new year may see some significant changes to our lives as she takes on a new direction.

Future

I am hoping this year will be pretty stable in terms of my jobs, devices, and time usage. My hope is to get MathPebbles going full blast along with finishing up Literate Programming and Event When. There are some internal projects at A&I to do as well as the RPG to run.

Each year, I hope to get further into my many projects. There are books and other projects I want to do, but I think the biggest desire is MathPebbles. So let's hope this is the year for that!

Sunday will be a day to declutter, clean, and refocus each week on the upcoming week. Discipline is the call to action.

[deck16]

Alternity Beta Quickstart Guide: Feedback

For the background behind this, see here.

In this post I offer feedback from reading the 2017 Alternity Beta Quickstart Guide rules. In a later post I’ll relay feedback from playing the included scenario.

Let’s begin.

The Core Mechanic

2017 Alternity has gone with the Skill Score method spoken of in this blog post.

For that I am mostly grateful. I like that the goal-to-roll is set and it is the situation die that changes. It’s a brilliant system that makes modifiers easy to use. It also means players have a good idea of their chances of success at roll-time, which isn’t true with the D20 System, where the DC could be anything.

I am also glad success levels remain in-play. They’re an important part of Alternity that adds spice to the narrative and complexity (the good kind) to game mechanics.

Success Level Calculation

I do, however, have a problem with the way Success Levels are calculated.

In “low is good” 1998 Alternity a skill’s Good and Amazing scores were half and half again. An average example: 12/6/3. Roll a d20; 12 or less is Ordinary, 6 or less Good, 3 or less Amazing. An expert might have 20/10/5, a novice 6/3/2.

Notice the gap between the degrees of success become expanded or contracted as per the skill? The proposed 5-and-10 method doesn’t do that. I’m no math whiz but it seems to me that:

A 1998 Alternity hero with poor skill can still jag a lucky Good or Amazing success. In 2017 Alternity this is less likely -- in some cases those successes may actually become impossible.

A 1998 Alternity hero with great skill is still more likely to get an Ordinary success than a Good or Amazing one. In 2017 Alternity it may be the case that Good becomes more probable and even guaranteed.

Personally I prefer the old-school approach. I like the notion that fantastic results don’t become impossible, just improbable. I like the idea that the novice can occasionally pull a fantastic feat, and that the accomplished can’t take outstanding results for granted.

It’d make a perfect rule variant. It should slot in nicely:

Most of the rules care about your Success Level, but not how you determined it. Given that this variant would lead to the exact same Success Levels it’s not a messy swap.

Some tables list penalties and bonuses. This variant (if it requires low-rolling) would require people to remember to “reverse” these -- positives become negatives and vice versa. Simple enough.

An Aside About Low-Rolling

In 1998 Alternity, I used to get confused with low-rolling with regards to penalties and bonuses. I have been conditioned over years of gaming to think that +1 is a bonus, and -1 is a penalty. It’s hard to unlearn that.

Instead, I just started using different words. A -1 step bonus became “an easy one”. A +2 step penalty was “a hard two”. Worked a charm and soon the whole table was using that terminology. (Probably helped I was the GM.)

Success Level Nomenclature

Average, Excellent, Stellar? Not sure I like it. Was Ordinary, Good, Amazing off-limits for legal reasons? Or was something new desired?

Because I really like Ordinary, Good, Amazing. Not only is it immediately obvious what order they go in, but it paints a brilliant picture as to what to expect.

Excellent and Stellar? They seem about the same to me. Interchangeable.

I get it’s really hard to think up alternatives better than Ordinary, Good Amazing. I had a think and the best I could come up with was:

Pass, Credit, Distinction

Average, Good, Exemplary (or Excellent, or Exceptional)

Resistance Modifiers

The Core Mechanic is fantastic for the most part, but it places more emphasis on the “attacker” rather than the “victim”. It is just as easy to punch an scrawny economist as it is to punch a six-foot tall bodybuilder. And it’s just as easy to convince both to buy the Brooklyn Bridge off you. That’s not right.

(Sure, the GM can assign penalties or bonuses, but that seems arbitrary. How can a GM decide consistently between all sorts of characters?)

1998 Alternity solved this problem with Resistance Modifiers. Determined mostly (but not exclusively) from Ability scores, these were a “passive” modifier that would be applied to certain actions against a character.

The Dodge skill seems to be a replacement for the Dexterity Resistance Modifier. The Martial Artist Talent sort-of covers the Strength Resistance Modifier. Willpower and Deduction might do the job of the Will and Intelligence Resistance Modifiers, respectively.

I’ll be interested to see how the final rules handle this.

Skills

The skills listed in the Beta Test seem streamlined for the better. The choices here mix the “best of” Broad and Specific skills from the old game. Example: one skill for Athletics rather than a grab-bag of miscellaneous gym class activities. I also won’t miss those confusing ___ Knowledge skills which served only to give bonuses to other skills.

The way a skill can have two key abilities is a great idea. It gives a nice bit of flexibility in character creation while still keeping skills reliant on abilities in a realistic manner.

Skill Point Gain

One of the biggest problems my group had with 1998 Alternity was that the prices of skills started to get really expensive after a few ranks. Players were encouraged to be generalists: why spend 8 points to improve my Rifle score by 1 when I could get two or three new skills for the same price?

Optional Rule 2C was an attempt to redress this, but it went too far in the opposite direction.

The Quickstart Beta doesn’t mention how this will work. I eagerly await to see how the final rules handle this.

Modules and Skills

The Quickstart Beta doesn’t contain information about skills from different modules, as you discuss in this blog post.

For Alternity, we’re building our rules in discrete modules, and your character is fully effective in every module your game is using. In other words, when you make a character and level up, you gain full benefits in the game’s core (which covers ground combat, basic tech interactions, and simple interpersonal stuff) and in any modules you’re using.

I think that’s a fantastic idea, by the way.

Rolling up a wisecracking space-smuggler? You’ll pick up all the blaster-shooting and fast-talking you need from Alternity’s core. Then you’ll go to the starship module and get the piloting, gunnery, and improvisational repair skills you need to keep that tramp freighter flying.

Again, that’s a great idea. But I’d want an out clause.

What if I’m rolling up a space courtesan? Or the ship’s doctor? It doesn’t really make sense for these characters to get cocky on a laser turret; or to do any other spaceship-specific stuff.

It may be worth allowing such characters to forgo skill points in a module for some other advantage elsewhere. Probably the option to spend those points in another module, though at a very taxed rate. This is an option for advanced players who have a particular character in mind. In that way, it’s not unlike selling Free Broad Skills from 1998 Alternity.

“Non-Heroic” Modules

Modules prevent a character from having nothing to do when the game shifts out of their specialty. But it also does another thing: it makes it logically consistent for players to not spend points on things than aren’t relevant.

Go take a look at Doug Nichols from the Dark*Matter Fast Play guide. He’s spent valuable skill points on Creativity Photography. Good on his creator for wanting to role-play, but he’s hurting his character’s potential by doing this. (Well potentially. It’s very feasible for photography to play a big role in a world of cryptids and conspiracies).

With modules being a thing it’s not to hard to imagine a sort-of “non-heroic” module that is never used. Dr Phillip Akens may have been a chess master in college, but since that’s not going to come up in this campaign he doesn’t have to spend precious points on it.

Skills Without Abilities

Some skills don’t use their key Ability score. Dodge is a good example, where simply having it will improve your Dodge action, regardless of your Agility. Armour Operation is in a similar state, where you can mitigate movement penalties no matter how low your Strength is.

It may be wise to limit these “passive” benefits so they max out at certain Ability score. Or require Skill Checks for them to be useful.

Archetypes

The Quickstart Beta doesn’t tell us much about Archetypes, but there’s a blog post that does.

Right now, we’re developing five basic Archetypes: Battler, Expert, Leader, Striker, and Survivor. The Battler and the Striker (for instance) might have the same amount of weapon skills, but the Battler’s Archetype talents provide a little extra durability and the ability to protect allies by drawing enemy fire and keeping enemies focused on him. The Striker, on the other hand, has talents that help her evade enemy fire and pile on extra damage when she catches enemies off-guard.

Expert, Leader, Survivor. Sound like Tech Op, Diplomat, Free Agent. “Leader” is a better heroic term than “Diplomat”. “Survivor” makes me think of Bear Grylls, though; not so much of James Bond or Rick Deckard.

The Battler and the Striker worry me. Why are there two combat classes? Why do they sound suspiciously inspired by two edges of the holy trinity? I do not want 2017 Alternity to go anywhere near that Damage, Tank, Healer muck.

We think of Archetypes as the “narrative role” of your character. If most Alternity characters look like the heroes in a sci-fi action movie, what are the roles you’d like to explore?

This seems to go against the Battler/Striker divide. I feel those two Archetypes overlap significantly in a narrative sense -- much more than any of the others. For example: John Matrix from Commando. Is he a Battler, because he is tough, has big muscles and his whole motive is to protect his young daughter Jenny? Or is he a Striker because he likes to sneak up and use knives, and can hip-fire an M60? It’s not obvious and that -- I feel -- speaks to a problem.

Talents

Talents are not very detailed in the Beta Quickstart; we simply have a few as samples. There are some that seem a bit rough, a bit broken, but that’s understandable. It is a “known bug”:

The descriptions of your talents are simply concise summaries providing just enough information to use them in play—we’ll describe them more carefully in the Core Rules.

There are, however, some aspects of Talents I think I can safely talk about.

Rank Benefits

I liked Rank Benefits from 1998 Alternity. These were “special powers” that could be unlocked at certain skill levels. For example, skill rank 3 with pistol offered Quick Draw, where you could unholster and shoot in the same Phase without penalty. Armour Operation, Melee Weapons and Ranged Weapons also had great Rank Benefits.

I mention Rank Benefits because Talents seem to be doing the same job. The Quickstart seems to suggest that Talents come from Archetypes. That’s fine; but consider a Talent like this:

Martial Artist: Enemies attacking you hand-to-hand or with melee weapon suffer a –2 step penalty to their attack rolls. You gain a +1 step bonus to attack anyone who doesn’t have a hand-to-hand skill.

Such a Talent should be gated behind the Combat: Hand skill. Not tied to an Archetype. And maybe it is: the character with this Talent has 5 ranks in the skill.

There are other talents in the Quickstart that would make great Rank Benefits. Even if we just consider Combat: Firearms -- Dual Pistols, Pistol Expert and Double Tap are perfect.

My hope is that Talents are both Skill and Archetype things.

Archetype Talents should be like 1998 Alternity’s Profession benefits -- broadly useful but not stealing away something that should be related to a Skill. Defensive Stance and Inspiration seems good candidates.

I’d hope that Skill Talents are “cool optional extras” that can be purchased or not purchased as the player desires. Someone might take lots of ranks in Combat: Firearm but eschew all its Talents to make a straight-shooting Clarice Starling with impeccable aim but by-the-book technique. Or they might do the opposite for a tricks-galore dual-wielding gun kata menace.

Combat Talents

I notice that almost every Talent in the Quickstart Beta is combat-related. Even those that are not strictly combat-only would be useful in combat.

I hope the full rules will contain Talents to help with talking, science, repairing and everything else. It’s certainly doable. Here are some examples:

Low-Tech Lock-Picker. When bypassing devices with the Security skill your penalty for lacking proper equipment is reduced by 2 steps provided you have access to some kind of improvised tools.

Vox Populi. Gossip and rumours are your specialty. You gain a bonus to Interview checks when gathering information from a population. The bonus is +1 when talking with smaller groups, such as a crowd of witnesses on a city street. The bonus is +2 when you are able to canvas large populations.

Micromanager. You aren’t afraid to tell someone they’re doing something wrong. When you make a Command check, specify an Skill you are trained in. When your allies benefit from your Command check, they gain extra benefit depending on the Skill they use. If they are using the Skill you selected, they gain an additional +1 step. If they are using the Skill you selected and you have more ranks than them, they instead gain an additional +2 step.

Gamist Talents

I want Alternity to remain simulationist. I’m worried that a lot of these talents have gone too far gamist. Many of them carry the odour of the MMO holy trinity (with Talents seemingly designed for Tanks, Damage and Support). They don’t make sense in a realistic or narrative way. What I want is for them to make sense in the context of a story, not the context of a game.

Let’s start with a good example.

First Strike: Add 1 to the damage you deal with any attack you make against an enemy who hasn’t acted yet in the action scene, or an enemy who is distracted or not aware of you when you attack.

I can tell a story about that. A story of a cold-blooded killer. She’s got just enough knowledge of anatomy to hit her foes where it hurts when they are foolish enough to give her an easy shot.

Now, a bad example:

Deadly Reply: When an enemy hits you with an attack, you gain a +2 step bonus on your next attack against that enemy.

How does make sense in any way? How does being hit translate into a better attack? How would you write that into a Tom Clancy novel, and have a character use it repeatedly, without it sounding daft or contrived?

Suppose we change it from “an enemy hits you” to “an enemy misses you”. Now it’s making sense. I can tell a story of a sniper with a keen eye for muzzle flashes and a good ear for gunshots. Or of a master martial artist who specialises in exploiting openings caused by the enemy.

It makes even more sense if we have various Talents: for melee and ranged. Because I don’t see how a riposte is like a counter-snipe is like a Judo move. These are all “counter-attacks”, but they all are quite different.

Complex Skill Checks

The Quickstart Beta's included adventure has things very much like 1998 Alternity’s Complex Skill Checks. So I think it’s safe to assume they’ll be included in the full rules. I want to profess my love for them anyway.

As a GM, I absolutely love Complex Skill Checks. Basically they are a little “minigame” you play with skills: accrue n successes before you accrue 3 failures. The idea is they build “suspense and tension” -- which is true.

More than that, there’s an ongoing strategy not present with a single roll. For example: if things go badly and it looks like you might fail, you could cut losses and run (e.g. when defusing a bomb), you could call other heroes to help you out (e.g. when putting out a fire), or you might shift to a higher-risk/higher-reward strategy to snag a win (e.g. take off-road shortcuts when delivering cargo to a deadline).

I love that Complex Skill Checks are so flexible:

Their difficulty is very tweak-able: adjust the number of successes, alter the step modifier for skills involved and/or rule whether failure means start again or screwed forever.

They can span over moments to define a scene. But they also work with slower tasks over a whole adventure (e.g. researching a vaccine, fixing a large reactor).

They can involve many skills, and different heroes can contribute in different ways. This goes double with assisting actions -- even a brawler can help a scientist by holding a light or carrying equipment.

They can be tied with limited resources to add a layer of strategy (e.g. time, money, fuel or fatigue damage).

They can be interrupted. If the heroes come under fire while repairing their extraction hovercraft, who fights back and who keeps repairing?

They can tie into other elements of the adventure. If a private eye hero manages to convince the star witness to testify, the lawyer hero might get a significant boost mid-way through his Law Court Procedures complex skill check.

Combat

Durability Track

This blog post says it perfectly:

We like the system because it captures the notion of taking wounds, and lets big hits feel more substantive, especially early in fights — compare it to a traditional hit point system where a character (or foe) is at 100% until the numbers run out. It’s also somewhat lightweight, with no math involved for tracking hit point totals, which helps combats move more quickly.

True!

It scales nicely with NPCs/monsters as well, since we can make stormtroopers or other grunts that might go down with one well-placed hit or a couple small hits, but we can also create giant mechs with more wound boxes that satisfy a climactic encounter. We can even change the conditions for different foes — the 10-12 tier for a walking tank might reduce the tank’s movement or rate of fire, for example, instead of just applying a flat 1-step penalty.

Also true!

I loved 1998 Alternity’s stun/wound/mortal system, but I did find it complex, especially when compared to a generic hit point system. But what you’ve come up here with is about as simple as a hit point system while still keeping what made the old system great.

And what is that? The Quickstart guide sums it up:

A hero can usually shrug off a few small hits, but too many small hits--or one solid shot from an enemy--can seriously affect the hero’s actions.

Moreover it’s a system where it’s easy to become combat ineffective but difficult to outright die. Quite the opposite of traditional hit-point systems. That’s good news for a few reasons:

It reduces that ridiculous metagaming notion of focus firing a single target until it’s dead.

The gritty aspect of injuries actually mattering suits most modern and sci-fi genres.

It’s realisitc enough. Reality is more lethal, but this is getting plausibly close. It strikes a nice balance between being plausible and allowing for heroic action.

Might I make a suggestion? A variant where the 1-step, 2-step, 3-step penalties can be shifted up and down the bands. Such that a “realism” mode might start with 1-step at band 4-6 though to 4-step at 13-15. But a “superheroes” mode might only start with 1-step at band 10-12.

Armour

Armour is still useful, but it doesn’t render you totally immune. You’re still vulnerable to skillful hits, and lesser hits will accumulate to wear you down.

I do worry that this system lacks a bit of nuance, though. In 1998 Alternity, a battle vest gave d6-2 points of high-impact protection. You could roll a 2, and be totally unprotected, or roll a 6 and be well-protected: this reflected the high protection but low coverage of said vest.

I appreciate that one less die being rolled speeds up combat. Potentially by a lot. However I wonder if we could have two values. A die roll and flat-value number. Players can decide which their table uses and under what circumstances (e.g. the players might roll; the DM might use the flat value for the minor bad buys and roll for important ones).

Weapons

Things seem slightly less lethal in this beta. Dirty Harry could kill you in one shot in 1998 Alternity, if he got lucky (punk); now he can only hurt you real bad. But that’s probably a good thing: this system is a little bit more about going down from an accumulation of wounds rather than dropping from one lucky hit. Playtesting will reveal more.

I do miss the instant knock-out feature of Old Alternity; mostly for melee weapons, which are “underpowered” anyway. Knocking a thug out with an Amazing punch felt great. But the Quickstart Beta says more is coming along those lines, so I’ll wait and see.

Range is simplified. All weapons have maximum ranges, but they all share performance at ranges they can hit. It’s a -1 penalty to shoot someone at Medium range (10m to 50m) whether you use a rifle or a pistol. That’s less realistic than 1998 Alternity, but because the range brackets are non-linear and their penalties are steep I feel it’s not a huge problem. I feel far more is gained from the simplicity than lost from realism.

By the way. Thank you for using the metric system! Seriously.

In the blog on swords vs guns, you stated:

We think a rule that says something like “rifles and heavy weapons take a -3 step penalty to attacks if an enemy’s adjacent to you” is pretty reasonable.

I don’t see anything like this in the Quickstart Beta, but I hope such a rule makes it to the final version. Assault rifles should be the “best” weapon -- they are in real life -- but they should have some game-mechanic drawbacks. (Beyond game mechanics, outside of a war campaign, a wise GM should sometimes let the bulk and illegality of such weapons make them poor choices.)

I also am curious about Fire Modes. Firing fully-automatic was fun. The system with the one control die with three situation die was clever. Perhaps Weapon Speed can be leveraged to do this in some way? Hopefully this is just one of those things omitted for the Quickstart Beta, but still existing in some form in the full rules.

Toughness and Firepower

The Beta Quickplay rules don’t mention Toughness (man vs car vs tank) or Firepower (pistol vs bazooka vs ship cannon), but I suspect the full rules will.

There’s also no mention of Secondary Damage, though with the new durability track I’m not certain it’s needed.

Movement

Flat movement speeds? Why not base them on Ability and Skill scores?

Initiative

This is the only case I see where the 2017 Alternity rules are more complex than the 1998 Alternity rules.

We suggest using markers or tokens to keep track of when each character or adversary gets his or her next action in the combat scene.

A visual aid is going to be mandatory, I feel. Especially because order needs to be tracked within Impulses as well as between Impulses.

I am concerned by the complexity and fiddliness of the system. But I do like the way its granularity allows for special actions (Aim, Assault, Dodge) and makes weapon speed tangible.

I will really need to try it out before I praise or condemn it further.

For what it’s worth, I liked the 1998 Alternity Action Check system. I liked that there were two different ways to be fast: acting earlier and acting more often. I liked that the Core Mechanic meant that the advantages for being quick weren’t guaranteed (as it isn’t easy to roll Good or Amazing successes). And I had no problem with the concept of actions in the same Phase all occurring simultaneously.

Optional Rules

It is apparent you are keen on Modular Design for different genres.

I would humbly suggest you adopt a similar approach to the rules.

This would be nothing new. 1998 Alternity had two separate systems for vehicular combat (narrative or with miniatures), for example.

My advice would be to not hold back. Have heaps of variants. The littlest things can turn people away. (My fussy nitpicking in this post should be proof of that!) And that would be a shame if the critics could get what they wanted as a variant.

Concluding Thoughts

I’m excited!

I get the same general feeling from 1998 to 2017 Alternity as I got from D&D moving from 3.5e to 5e. That is: both systems are good but for the most part the new one is streamlined in that good way (not the “dumbed-down” way).

I also get a sense that 2017 Alternity has the same soul as 1998 Alternity. It is a “trad game” that fosters a healthy mix of narrativist, similationist and gamist elements.

I have a small worry that the streamlining erodes some simulationist aspects. But as I did with 5e D&D, I can overlook that if the streamlining is good enough.

I have a bigger worry that gamist elements erode the solid simulationist soul of 1998 Alternity, particularly with Archetypes and Talents. I do not want a game inspired by Tanks, Healers and Damage. I do want a game where everything that happens could make sense in a story.

After all, 1998 Alternity was inspired by fiction. Go re-read the Gamemaster’s Guide introduction. Or just note the terms used: Heroes, Sidekicks, Supporting Cast, Scenes.

I’m excited to see the game pushed by independent masters. Rightly or wrongly, I imagine Alternity was dropped for crass and callous corporate reasons. The same thinking that spawned 4e. (Not to hate on 4e, but it certainly was a radical shift in philosophy.)

I look forward to providing feedback on my playtest, which should appear soon.

[oceanicplanets]

It took me a long time to realize that included me. When I was younger, I could go hungry at a restaurant because I was scared to give the cashier my order, and then a few hours later, I would be on stage at my weekly drama class, strutting my stuff with my performing arts pals. My hand would often be the first to shoot up in the classroom, but I once burst into tears when I had to read an essay of mine aloud. I baffled my parents and my friends—the drama kids couldn’t figure out why I turned into a wallflower offstage, and everyone else in my life didn’t know what to make of me when I wasn’tacting shy.To put it simply, I was TERRIFIED of negative attention. I’d rather freeze up and not do anything at all than say the wrong thing and be criticized for it. At the same time, I was hungry for praise, and I structured my life around getting a lot of it. I was good in school, so I spoke up in class and took every extracurricular that I had room for. Teachers loved me and I won academic awards left and right. Drama allowed me to express myself without having to come up with my own words, and as long as I worked really hard to please the director, I couldn’t go wrong—at least not until I left school. My community-theater dreams were shattered by three failed auditions, and afterwards I stuck to classes and clubs, where I was always guaranteed parts.This anxiety didn’t end in the classroom. I’m a naturally shy person, and I used to want all my interactions to go perfectly, so I practically wrote them out in advance, always terrified that the other person would go off-script and force me to think on my feet. If I was ordering food, for example, I’d expect the waitress to ask what I wanted, I’d tell her, then she would leave. If she unexpectedly asked me what toppings or sides I wanted with my burger, I was rattled and took WAY too long to decide. Or, worse, she might be chatty and ask a completely unrelated question about my day, and now my whole narrative was off and I wouldn’t know how to answer. Do I just say “good” or do I give a full rundown, and then how do I segue back to my order, and oh no, I’m taking too long to answer and I look like an idiot, WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME? Basically, even the prospect of feeling awkward counted as negative attention, which made me more awkward, because now I was this creepy quiet girl who would turn into stone when asked to do ordinary things like order a hamburger.I can’t tell you how many times my parents cajoled me into doing something I didn’t want to do, like cash a check at the bank, and then I’d make a tiny little mistake, like writing down my routing number instead of my account number, and I’d stutter a little bit but pretend to laugh it off even though I was dying inside, because I’d made a stupid mistake and now that teller was thinking that I was a dumb teenager who didn’t know how banking works. I’d get outside and yell at my parents “DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED? You made me do this and it all went wrong and don’t you feel terrible?” And they’d just shake their heads wondering where they went wrong raising me.In those cases, my social anxiety was extreme and noticeable, but I think the more damaging stress I dealt with is something that many, many people experience: I was working so hard to be perfect that I took any sort of reprimand or critique or social misstep as a judgment on my character.As you can imagine, school was a minefield. When I was six or seven, I once got caught climbing a tree on the playground, and I’ll never forget how sick I felt after my teacher yelled at me to get down. It was like I’d done something very, very wrong and it could never be rectified. I couldn’t understand why all my friends, who’d also gotten scolded, were able to happily play somewhere else—it took me all day to get over it.In high school, I wanted to get good marks on all my assignments, because being an honors student earned me the praise I desired, but also because when I didn’t live up to my high standards, I’d be crushed. Math was my weak point, and the few Cs that made it onto my report cards stood out as black marks that would forever paint me as a failure. Even constructive criticism could shake me up, like the note I once got on a creative writing assignment to come up with a “punchier ending.” The teacher loved the piece, but the ending was mediocre and now that I was aware of it, I felt terrible for turning in that piece of crap.That same sick feeling I got as a kid after climbing that tree was triggered any time I did something wrong, like accidently hurt someone’s feelings or make a mistake at work. A gentle reprimand—“you did this incorrectly, please fix it, and don’t do it again”—sounded to me like someone screaming at me. I once forgot to return a book I’d borrowed from school before summer break, and I’m not exaggerating at all when I say it took me about EIGHT YEARS to be able to hear the name Nancy Drew without feeling shame. I was certain that the teacher who lost it harbored a grudge against me, so I hid the book in my room and spent the next decade or so fighting random spikes of anxiety whenever I thought about it.After high school, criticism becomes even more common, while praise is harder to come by. College professors don’t get excited just because you understand the coursework, and your manager at the big box store you’re working at on weekends probably won’t even notice you unless you screw up. It was a big change, and it forced me to make an important adjustment: I had to start looking to myself for encouragement. Was this essay/poster/poem something I could be proud of? Did I do the best I could? Did I have fun doing it? I started doing photography as a hobby, just so I could look at all my pretty pictures, and spent ridiculous amounts of time on projects that had no purpose except for the fun of creating them, like the time I started making wall art out of old sticky notes. And this was surprisingly easy—it turned out that pride in yourself for hard work feels just as good as praise from another person.Learning to deal with criticism, on the other hand, was much harder. My constant fear of failure was starting to interfere with my schoolwork, because I’d procrastinate to stave off the possibility of not excelling, and then I’d turn in less-than-stellar work anyway, because I didn’t give myself enough time to complete it. So my freshman year of college, I made the big decision to see a school counselor. And, man, I wish I’d done it a lot earlier.One of the very first things my counselor did was ship me off to a doctor for anti-anxiety medication. Once I was on the right cocktail of pills, I felt like a new person. Suddenly, talking was a little less scary, and the shame of failure was much more fleeting. (Not everyone who has anxiety needs drugs to cope, but if you feel it’s interfering with everyday life, I do recommend at least talking to your doctor.) I also started therapy, and my counselor really helped change my outlook on the world. In some cases, I just needed practice. She’d give me assignments to do things I found terrifying, like asking for a job application at a local fast-food restaurant, and I slowly gained more confidence in my ability to handle these kinds of interactions. Most of my fears of rejection were in my head—no one ever told me, “Wow, you really effed up that conversation!”I also talked about other things that were bothering me, and I got some clarity. Everyday schoolwork just wasn’t important enough for me to feel so stressed about it, and furthermore, it was OK to fail. I took this message in, and when I started to crash and burn in college biology, I didn’t force myself to stick it out. I accepted that biology and I were just never going to get along, and I dropped the course. Just a year before, I would have berated myself for weeks this for doing this, but now I only felt relief.A year or two after I graduated high school, I had a conversation with my old algebra teacher. I said something about being bad at math, and he told me that I was never bad at math—my other classes just came so easily to me that I didn’t know what it was like to struggle to learn something. He pointed out that many of my classmates celebrated when they got a C. My perspective had been so skewed that I assumed I had really embarrassed myself by not being the best, and that others thought less of me as a result.I realize now no one is thinking as hard about me as I am. That teacher on the playground was just worried that I’d fall, and she probably forgot about the incident five minutes later, while I’m still thinking about it 15 years later. My creative writing teacher just wanted to help me improve my story. Waitresses and bank tellers have dealt with literally thousands of small mistakes and awkward moments over the years.Earlier today, I made a rather large mistake at my day job, resulting in my having to send a correction email to several thousand people. It was really, really embarrassing. But instead of retreating in panic and begging my boss not to fire me, I calmly apologized and then wrote a self-deprecating Facebook post so that EVERYONE had an opportunity to laugh at me. It felt a lot better than mentally beating myself up.On the flip side, with the understanding that my failures were not permanent came the knowledge that most of my accomplishments have been similarly fleeting. My academic awards have done absolutely nothing for me apart from a few moments of pride and fodder for scholarship applications. Most of the compliments I got from my drama teacher are just fuzzy memories today.I’m not saying that any of this was worthless. Being a good student served me well, but not because my teachers loved me—rather because it gave me skills and opportunities to move on in life. It’s important to work hard and nurture ambition, but for the right reasons—not to escape criticism, but because it makes you happy. It’s better to learn from your mistakes than not to make them at all. ♦

[legitlaur]

Golden Hour part 5 // p.p

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Cheesy, awkward social encounters, the occasional swears, not edited (very well)

Summary: You didn’t think having photography with Peter Parker would be of any significance to your life, that is until you found yourself alone with him at golden hour

PART 4

not my gif and it doesn’t have to do with the story lol

Quickly you got ready for bed and texted Peter.

Everything okay? Also I’ve got news!

Plugging your phone in you slid into bed, then texted Mimi. She immediately called you, you gave her a full play by play until falling asleep.

Peter told you he’d explain in person. You got to school and found him in the common area.

“What happened?” You barked.

Peters face went white, “Y/n I’m so sorry. I never meant to leave you in the city alone at night. That was never my intention. I, I had. I had an emergency at home.”

When it came to emergency’s at home you’d found it easier to just go with it, no questions asked.

“It’s okay, Jonah came and got me,” you inched closer to Peter.

“Good. I felt so horrible, it. It was an emergency, I’m glad you got home sa- wait Jonah.” Peter rubbed his neck.

“I get it, don’t worry about it. Yes, isn’t it great?”

“So are you and him like, like a thing?” He asked.

You thought for a minute, “Well,” you jumped up and down, “he kissed me last night.”

Peters smile turned into a grimace, “Oh,” he put his hands in his pockets, “I told you everything would work out,” Peter smiled, “and well he, he seems nice,” there was an awkward silence, “you still coming over tomorrow?”

The movie marathon completely slipped your mind. You weren’t sure if your date with Jonah was tonight or tomorrow, and you didn’t know what time. Quickly you thought up a decent cover.

You wrinkled your nose, “I haven’t asked my mom yet. I’ll let you know when she tells me though.”

Peters head dropped,, “Ok cool. So about the photography assignment,”

The tardy bell interrupted him, he swore under his breath, “Can’t be late again. I’ll talk, talk to you later,” Peter ran off to the science hall.

You giggled and pranced off to math. You had a good feeling about this weekend. You texted Jonah and asked about the date. He said either day worked. You planned for friday so you could go to the movie marathon.

In photography you told Peter the good news, “I can come on saturday,” you rose your hand.

Peter smacked it, “Awesome. We can take photos in my apartment too, the lighting isn’t amazing but we are kinda behind.”

Your knees touched his, he didn’t move though.

“We could skip class next time to take photos,” You shrugged.

Peters face went pale, “Oh no. Mr. Stark sees my attendance.”

Your head flung back, laughter filled the air.

“You and your grades. Don’t worry we’ll get caught up.”

Peter blushed, “Quiet down y/n. We are still in class.”

Friday came before you knew it. You facetimed Peter while getting ready, there was something about his company that made you feel so happy even it was through a screen.

“This dress? Are you certain?” You asked.

Peter was messing with his watch, “Mmm.”

“Peter,” you barked, “Come on. He’s gonna be here in like 10 minutes.”

Finally he sat up and gave you his attention, “It doesn’t matter what you wear, you will always look beautiful. If Jonah can’t see that, well. Well then he’s definitely not the guy for you.”

Your heart swelled, “That’s so sweet, what would I do without you Parker?”

He chucked, “Not be in a relationship.”

The doorbell rang, “Okay he’s here. I gotta go. I’ll call you after,” you picked up your phone, “Love you bye,” after hanging up you realized what you’d said.

You told Peter Parker you love him. Before you could put much more thought into that you went to the door.

Jonah's luscious locks were covering his face, “Hey,” shaking his head his hair fell perfectly,  framing his face.

Your heart skipped a beat, “Hey.”

He wrapped his arm around you as you walked, the two of you went to a movie. One of those places with the big reclining seats. You weren’t sure if Jonah was planning on watching the movie so you popped in a mint. He led you up to the back corner, you sat down and smiled nervously. He practically sat on you, “You pumped for the movie?”

Swallowing hard you nodded, “Yup.”

The lights dimmed, your heart was racing. You were still on a high from your kiss last night but you  weren’t ready for a major makeout session.

Rather than kiss you Jonah snuggled up next to you, you could finally breathe. Getting close you laid your head on his shoulder. The two of you stayed that way the whole movie. When he parked in front of your building he leaned in. You smiled and kissed him, unlike last nights peck you opened your mouth. The whole time thinking you were doing it wrong, Jonah seemed to be into it. He pulled back, “Wanna get in the back seat?”

You nearly jumped over your seat, “Woah, ok.”

When you finally went inside you felt like you could conquer the world. You were on cloud nine. Obviously you called Mimi, her screeching nearly rubchared your eardrums.

“Y/n do you know what this means?” She squealed.

You wiped off your makeup, “No?”

“You’ve almost caught up to me.”

“What,” you pumped lotion into your hand, “Mimi we didn’t even go that far. Frankly I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Mmm they all say that until they meet the one.”

You talked until you fell asleep.

You texted Peter the next morning telling him you were leaving soon. He replied almost instantly.

Sorry I had to cancel, Mr. Stark gave me a huge assignment. Reschedule?

You sat down on your couch disheartened. You were looking forward to the movie marathon. Seeing Peter in his pajamas, watching some of your favorite movies, not to mention possibly cuddling with him.

You turned on the tv, the news was raving about some big fight that Iron Man and Spiderman were having in Pennsylvania with some dude with advanced weapons you’d never heard of.

You hoped Spiderman would be okay, you’d been meaning to find him and tell him thanks for looking out for you.

-

Peter wasn’t in class on Monday, which meant you actually could get your work done. You planned some places to take photos with him for your projects. You were beginning a huge project within the next week, you had only turned in your solo assignments. Anything with Peter was barely started, both of you were always so busy. Not to mention he was always sleeping in class. You were still trying to figure the kid out, there wasn’t a lot you knew about him. You’d never even been to his house. He didn’t talk about himself often.

After school you went out to take some more photos, then to the library. You had a major essay to write. As you typed away you couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. So you looked at the news.

You gasped.

Spiderman had been severely injured during his most recent fight. There were quotes from Tony Stark but only snippets because no one knows who spiderman is.

You texted Peter.

Missed you today.

TO BE CONTINUED

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