#bc i do get a lot of sunlight. god bless my beautiful apartment

[tumblasha]

vacation review: taiwan

overall rating: ★★★★/5

cities visited (chronologically): taipei, taichung, kaohsiung, taitung

the good parts

i got to see Moomf (micosu oomf)

i got over the "i can't visit a country if i don't know the language" feeling

nature everywhere

night markets were so fun!

at least half of the population wears a mask at all times (even outside of taipei where the air quality is nicer!)

every train station + tourist spot had a stamp area so now i have a lil booklet filled with taiwanese stamps :,)

food! especially boba and soups :DD -so much liquid.

traveling on the back of a scooter is so mind-numbing, i love being a passenger princess

the bad parts

taipei's air pollution is a lil sad but def not the worst

getting over the jetlag and post-vacation sadness T_T

they killed that duck that i saw in that one tumblr post

overall summary

i think that taiwan is an excellent place for people of all places to visit! especially if you know english, everyone is really nice to english-speakers and makes an effort to gesture-speak or google translate through every conversation

this may be insensitive, but i think that the "made in taipei" brand (country pride of having many ~cultural influences) really works for tourism. previously, i saw friends and co-workers take their japan trip and do all the kawaii things (sanrio store, snoopy cafe, studio ghibli museum, etc), and got sad. taichung really embraces manga, anime, and other kawaii-adjacent things, and it satisfied my desire to go to japan. i've been having a hard time with co-existing with appreciating the good side of japan (mostly art and media) and learning abt the bad sides (colonial history), so it was nice being able to get a positive experience with low "double-think"

on post-vacation sadness

idk why but this was the first time that i came back from a vacation and i was Sad. like, maybe it's bc i got my period mid-trip and it was some weird post-period hormonal thing?? but i doubt it

looking back, i think that i have never truly been Alone until this trip? when i solo traveled in sp+pt, i was able to talk to the people in the hostel and go out with them. i wasn't able to talk to anybody bc a majority of the tourists spoke either mandarin or japanese, and idk either of those languages. i think that i was alone with my thoughts for too long -> leading to being on my phone too much -> leading to random bursts of crying (?) that lasted through a week after coming back to the US. it was bad enough that i took off all my jewelry and almost cut my hair X|

also any instagram posts that mentions taiwan / east asia kinda ruins my whole day. i wanna go backkkkkk

lessons learned

it's okay to be lost emotionally and physically! being alone is a constant battle of self-love and The Void

i need more international friends bc visiting them in their free time + their country of residence in their work time is so fun

i need to take more pictures of myself! i think somewhere in this trip i convinced myself to download dating apps again and i have no good pics. i also can't post a "taiwan photodump" on insta :(

tl;dr: go to taiwan! but go with friends!!

[spxdeychelles]

Just Ask Her Out

In which MJ is popular and Peter is still a dork.

Inspired by a tweet and I’ve actually had this in my drafts for ages so I thought I’d bulk it up and turn it into a proper imagine lol. Super fluffy with pining!peter bc he really is a cutie

"Did you study for the Spanish quiz today?" Ned asked his best friend as they made their way to the cafeteria. It was a bleak Monday morning, sometime in early January, and Peter was still reeling from his full force encounter with a brick wall and the icy planes of the alleyway street while fighting a perpetrator last night. Even after practically tapping a bag of frozen peas to his side for the most part of last night, the area around his ribs was still throbbing, and he was grateful he could hide the deep purple bruises beneath a baggy sweater. His back screamed out in pain every time he bent over to pick something up and migraine would be an understatement to explain what was going on in his head right now. He had had to sneak out early this morning before May was up, because she’d know instantly he was hurt and he really didn’t want to worry her. By lunch time, he knew most of that would be gone due to the blessing of his quick healing capabilities but until then, he'd simply have to suffer and endure the agony. So just your regular, average Monday then. 

“No Ned." Peter snapped exasperatedly. "Sorry I didn’t the time have to go over my notes while I was getting my head smashed into an alleyway floor.” 

“Dude chill, I was just asking.” Ned raised his hands in surrender as they sat down. Peter laid his head on the table and groaned loudly, ignoring the loud protests from his muscles as he lent over his side of the bench and closed his eyes. 

"Hey Abe." Peter drawled with his shut, his fingers subconsciously rubbing at his temple. 

"Morning Peter." Abraham shot Ned a 'is-he-okay' look to which he replied with a 'don't-even-ask' expression and Abe nodded, understanding immediately. 

“What’s got him all beat?” A female voice joined the trio as she slid into the seat opposite them. 

“He’s down because he knows he’s going to fail the Spanish quiz today.” 

“Dude did you not study?” Cindy asked, hitting his arm playfully. The brown eyed boy winced lightly and glared at her. 

“Right, Spidey stuff." She said lowly. Out of the whole school, the only people who knew about Peter's alter ego were sat at that table, and they were all sworn to secrecy to keep it that way. "Sorry Pete. If you want we can study for it now?” 

Peter raised his head from the table and straightened out his jumper. 

“I guess it can’t hurt more than my head does right now.” He shrugged. He looked up and he wished he hadn’t because whenever his eyes met hers, that funny feeling he got in his stomach every time he saw her returned. Just one look at her and Peter felt the pain slowly ebbing away from his muscles. Cindy noticed him staring and studied him quizzically. 

“What?” She noticed his gaze wasn’t aimed at her so she turned around and rolled her eyes. “Peter you’re still on that?” Cindy laughed, taking a sip from the Starbucks cup she had set beside her bag earlier. 

“He’s been ‘on that’ since 8th grade.” Ned mocked. Peter elbowed him in the rib.  

“I’m not on anything. Or anyone.” He grumbled, placing his Spanish textbook in front of him. 

“So you ever gonna ask her out? Or you know, talk to her?” 

“That’s Michelle Jones, Cin. What do you think?” He looked back down at his textbook and began trying to recite the words he was supposed to have memorised last week. 

“Weren’t you guys friends?” Abe asked, reading over his notes too. 

“A long time ago.” Peter replied, the pen lid nestling between his lips as he highlighted parts of the textbook. They were once friends, best friends in fact. His aunt and Michelle’s mom had been like sisters since high school so Peter and Michelle had pretty much grown up together ever since Peter had moved in with Uncle Ben and Aunt May just before the first grade. She had been there for him through his parents death (even though she barely knew him at the time and she was only 4 so didn’t really understand what was going on, she was so kind to him), Uncle Ben’s death (she missed three days of school to allow him to cry on her lap and listened and soothed him the best she could, which to Peter, was a lot) and a whole lot of other things. However, when high school came, they’d drifted apart, Michelle being at the center of attention where she belonged and Peter pushed to the back of the crowd. Michelle had tried to stay friends with Peter but with their drastically different social lives, they eventually grew apart. Now they only ever shared nods or the occasional ‘hey’s in the hallway between classes. That did nothing to stop Peter’s ever growing crush on her to cease. The one he’d been harboring between him and Ned for the past 3/4 years and now Cindy and Abraham, as of recent. 

“We’re gonna be graduating soon Parker, you’re gonna have to do it sometime.” 

“Or never?” He didn’t even bother to look at her until he felt her presence leave the table. As he lifted his head from the book, he watched Cindy walk away from him and right towards Michelle. 

“CIN! CINDY!” He whispered/shouted, trying to get her attention. She snapped her fingers behind her back, as if to tell him to shut up, as she walked past Michelle's table of jocks and cheerleaders. She ignored the weird looks they gave her and made a beeline for Michelle, who was ordering a coffee from the lunch lady. 

“God, I hope she’s not doing what I think she’s doing.” Peter moaned, placing his head in his hands. 

“Well, you better straighten up because Michelle is coming over here right now?”

“Right now!?” Peter almost leapt out of his seat, forgetting all about his injuries. “Oh god, okay. Do I have something in my teeth? Is my shirt okay? This is a horrible colour isn’t it? I should’ve just worn the blue-” 

“Dude, breathe.” Ned nodded slowly. “She’s here,” he whispered. 

“Hey Peter.” Michelle smiled. Her soft brown eyes crinkled at the corners as her lips stretched into a grin. Her light brown skin shone in the sunlight like gold and her wild black mane was tamed into a high pony tail, exposing her sharp cheekbones. God, she was so beautiful. 

“Hey..hey, Mich-” Peter cleared his throat. “Michelle.” He said in a deeper voice. 

“Ned, scram.” Cindy hissed, grabbing her stuff and leaving the table. Abe made some sorry excuse about leaving his chem book in the lab and needing to find it before 2nd period while getting up from the bench also. 

“Good luck bro.” Ned spoke under his breath. They did their secret handshake under the table before Cindy dragged the small boy away from the couple by his ear. Peter could still hear him protesting and Abe and Cindy laughing as they left the cafeteria. 

“Erm, can I sit?” Michelle asked, gesturing to the space where Cindy previously was. 

“Yeah, um of course, feel free.” 

“Thanks.” She nodded, flattening the creases in her trousers as she took a seat. Peter doesn't think there's been a time when Michelle had worn a skirt, at her own will. He even remembers back to her aunt's wedding when they were nine she'd gone a hunger strike because she wanted to wear a suit to the wedding instead of a dress because she refused to be like every other girl because she was Michelle Jones and she was unique. Eventually, her mom gave in and Michelle walked down the isle with her aunt in a dark blue tuxedo and little nine year old Peter couldn't stop thinking to himself how beautiful she looked. The same thought came to him when she arrived to homecoming, their freshman year, wearing a strapless purple dress for the first time, with ruffles at the skirt and Peter felt so lucky that he'd arrived with her because she was easily the best looking girl in the room. Although, the year after that, she came with Flash instead and Peter was long forgotten on the bleachers, which is when he met Ned and they instantly became best friends. He somewhat filled the Michelle shaped hole in his life and Peter was honestly glad he'd met him. But that was years ago and this was now. 

There was an awkward silence at the table during which Peter stared at her as though she was art and Michelle fiddled with the hem of her jumper, looking down at her coffee. 

“So-” 

“Cind-” They both started at the same time and laughed nervously, realising they’d interrupted each other. 

“You go.” Peter nodded. 

“It’s been a long time huh?” Michelle spoke. 

“Yeah, it has.” 

“How have you been?” She asked sincerely. 

“Good. Keeping my head above water. Senior year and all. What about you?” 

“Same as you. My mom keeps pressuring me about Ivy League colleges.” 

“I’m sure you’ll get into any of them. You’re brilliant.” 

“Thank you Peter.” She smiled softly and Peter swore his heart stopped beating for a millisecond. 

“No problem.” 

“Umm, Cindy said you wanted to ask me something.” 

“She did?” Peter pretended he had no idea, he was definitely going to kill Cindy later for putting him under this much pressure.  

“Yeah, when she came over to me earlier. She said it was important.” Peter hated Cindy and her nosy busy-body self sometimes. 

 “Umm, well…I…I was wondering if..you’d..umm…if…you’d…managed to study for the spanish test today.” He rushed the end bit, chickening out last minute. He couldn’t ask her out, the words refused to leave his mouth. His palms were sweaty and it suddenly felt as though he’d been pushed into a fire - he was nervous. The smile resting on Michelle’s face dropped as she cocked her head to look at him, confused etched on her soft features. Peter wanted to lean over and iron out the little frown lines that were drawn across her forehead. Her skin look so incredibly soft, like the shea butter moisturiser she uses (though he doesn't know if she still uses it anymore) and her lips were- 

“The Spanish test?” She echoed, bringing him out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah," He shook his head. "I mean…I’d had no time to study and I was hoping I wasn’t the only one.” Keep digging Parker, just keep digging that hole. Maybe it’d be big enough to bury you in it. 

“Umm, yeah, I studied, sorry Peter.” Peter nodded. 

“Okay.” 

“Was that all?” NO, he wanted to say. 

“Yes,” he replied. 

Michelle got up and slung her bag over her shoulder. 

“Well, good luck Peter. It was nice talking to you again.” 

“Thanks, I’ll need it.” He laughed. “It was nice speaking to you too.” 

Michelle began walking away slowly, as though she didn’t really want to leave. Peter chewed on his bottom lip, internally slapping himself for blowing his chance like that. Was he really going to finish high school without asking her out. Once? It's not like anyone expected less of him, he was Peter Parker, a dork, a nobody, him with Michelle Jones? The most sought after girl at school, the brightest, smartest, most beautiful girl at school being with him, it was very laughable. Don't even bother, Peter, she'll never- 

“Umm,, Michelle, wait up.” Peter gathered his books and stumbled after her. 

“Yes?” Michelle turned around, a dim hopeful look in her eye, barely visible, but there nonetheless. 

“Actually, I was also wondering, if you…you’d wanna go out with me tomorrow night. I mean, you don’t have to, I know you’re very busy…not that I stalk you or anything, it’s not like I have your schedule memorised or anything-” 

“Peter, I’d love to.” Michelle interrupted, placing her hand softly on his shoulder. 

“Wait, what?” The hand on his shoulder was sending bolts of electricity shooting through his body and he's pretty sure if it wasn't for the fact that he was Spider-Man, he'd be fried from head to toe by now. 

“I’d love to go out with you tomorrow.” The girl smiled warmly. 

“Umm, great. Thanks.” THANKS?? 

“Should I take your number? So you can text me-” “Yeah, yeah, umm-” Peter dropped his books, looking for his phone in his pocket. He scrambled to the floor, picking them up as he handed his phone to Michelle. She punched and saved her number in his phone and handed it back. 

“I’ll text you.” Peter nodded, waving his phone at her. 

“I’m looking forward to it. See you in Spanish.” Michelle nodded before walking back towards the table with all her popular friends. 

I just asked out Michelle Jones and she said yes. He wanted to do a victory dance right here in the hall but he didn’t want anyone to think he was a bigger dork than he was. He left the cafeteria with a wide grin on his face and the beautiful smile of a brown-skinned goddess imprinted in his memory. His phone vibrated in his back pocket and he shuffled all his books to his left arm to pull it out. It was a text from Cindy. 

 You owe me ;)

*****

I may or may not write a part 2 or 3 to this we’ll see