#even made a timeline for it once in a timeline app on my phone

[station-118]

I’ve always gone by S1 & S2 happens in the same year.

With the pilot being very early January because we don’t see any mention of Christmas in the first three episodes at all. Chimney comes back to work after the rebar the day before Valentine’s Day (which is S1E6, only 2 episode after the episode he was injured) and he was said to be out for at least a month putting the third episode solidly very early January!

Which also means Abby’s mom’s birthday is not in December since it happens in S1E4 the episode Chimney gets injured.

In the second episode Buck says he’s been on the job for like 4ish months. And last season they mention how Buck’s been a firefighter for 7 years (the amount of time the shows been running for)

They’re really bad at telling us how much time passes within each episode and between episodes. We get a little context when we see the characters on shift one scene, then next scene they’re off shift at home w/ family, and then the scene after they’re back on shift (suggesting at least a day or more has passed within the episode). But they never tell us how much time passes between those scenes. So I’m not sure when exactly the last episode of S1 takes place. It could have been sometime in March/April, or it could have been sometime in June or July.

We also have the fact that several episodes in S1 all take place immediately after the other. E3 takes place immediately after E2 with May’s suicide attempt being show at the end of 2 and her being taken to the hospital at the beginning of E3. And E5 happening almost immediately after E4’s events with E4 ending with Abby’s mom disappearing late at night/early in the morning (while it was still dark outside) and E5 showing Buck helping Abby look for her during the day after he gets off shift. And E8 happens pretty closely (maybe a few days to a week or so later) after E7 since Hen cheated in E7 and speaks to Athena about it in E8 and E8 is also when Karen finds out from Ava sending them custody papers.

I also wanna say S1E7 the full moon episode happens in March. Mostly because I googled when there was full moons in 2018 and got, January 2, January 31, March 2, March 31, April 30 and so on. Given we know E6 takes place on Valentine’s Day that would suggest (if we go with when the full moon happened in the real world) E7 happened on March 2!

In S2E1 they mention a heat wave suggesting it’s still summer (whether that’s middle or late summer is up in the air). But they do mention it’s been a couple months (and only months, they do not say it’s been a year or more, just a couple months) since Abby left (end of the last episode of S1) I’ve usually just said it was sometime late August maybe early September or even potentially late September going into October given my next point,

S2E7 is the Halloween episode which would be the end of October. With the first 3 episodes of S2 taking place all (save for the beginning of the first episode which takes place over at least three separate shifts {Eddie’s first shift, the next shift where Buck and Eddie bond over a grenade, and the last shift shown when the Earthquake happens}) within the same day. With E2-3 being the 2 part Earthquake episode. So we only have 3 episodes of time between the events of the first 3 episodes of the season and the Halloween special. Which is not a lot of time.

Also slight side note. Chim runs into Tatiana again in S2E4 (so late September early October ish) and she’s heavily pregnant. Given this timeline (with their breakup being early January) the baby def wouldn’t have been able to be Chim’s unless she was several weeks or more past due. Which also on a bit of a sad note for Chim means that she met, dated, and got pregnant by her husband only a month or so after leaving Chim given how heavily pregnant she appeared. (Honestly they could have def had her look a little less heavily pregnant. Like just enough to make it obvious she was pregnant but not very far along so as to give more time between leaving a him and finding someone new and getting pregnant and married)

Then we have the Christmas episode in S2 where Bobby and Athena get engaged.

All of this meaning all these events happened within the same year.

So really Buck and Abby only dated for a few months before she left him. Which honestly makes it much worse!

So I'm rewatching 9-1-1 and I've been obsessing about Buck-Abby relationship because while it isn't downright toxic, it doesn't feel very balanced to me.

They were dating since Valentine's day, so about a year... and yet she doesn't even discuss with him her plans to leave? If youre planning to be with somebody longterm, this should be something that is discussed. Doesn't have to ask his permission, but should ask his opinion. Not just... I'm leaving.

Abby doesn't seem to treat Buck as an equal in the relationship.

And I did the math, Abby's mom was 75 when she died, meaning she had her birthday in December 2017. Abby leaves in the season finale, which is tbe next episode.

There's usually a a few weeks between episodes, so even if we're very generous and say that she leaves in February, Buck decides to leave Abby's appartment during the Halloween episode. This means that more than 6 months have passed since she left (without discussing it with him before hand). She hasn't been in contact with him much as he says to Maddie.

Now, we are never told if she actually tells him not to wait for her at any point but from his actions next episodes it doesn't seem so.

Honestly, I think the relationship was good for Buck in the long run, but I still think that he should discuss Abby in his councelling.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Jason is a Teenage Dad

Woke up to see my phone open to my notes app and all it says on it is:

Jason is a Teenage Dad

- Jason is 15 and fucking dies.

- Clockwork shenanigans

- Jason drags his body out of the Lazarus

- Meets the eyes of a 3 year old Danny playing with the Joker’s decapitated head.

- Jason takes the child home. It is his now.

So, obviously, I gotta write about it. Enjoy this post based on the vision of delirious 4 am me.

……………….

Clockwork was bored. You would think the ability to see everything everywhere all at once would be overwhelming but it’s actually boring. There’s no suspense when you always know what’s going to happen. But that was all part of his job as the Ancient of time.

Every universe was scripted out. Each one was slightly different from the last, but it still had the same major things in there. For instance, there was always a Gotham in every universe. Sometimes the city itself, sometimes a comic book about the place as if it were fictional. The same with Amity Park except that one universe made it an anime instead of a kids show which was…. A choice.

Most of the time Clockwork just had to make sure that catalyst events happened no matter what the timeline. Like the adoption of Jason Todd. Or the death of Danny Fenton. The meteor that killed the dinosaurs. Stuff like that. Universes that didn’t have enough catalyst events like that tended to implode on themselves if some new event didn’t take its place.

Clockwork was looking at a universe at the moment that was definitely close to being expired. Could he let it happen? Sure. He could. But that wouldn’t have been much fun to watch.

In the universe he was looking at currently, Danny Fenton has all but disappeared at least according to the locals of Amity Park. Which wasn’t that bad. Easily fixable. However the much larger problem was that Jason Todd just died the wrong way. In most universes where his death took place, it always happened that same way as it was a catalyst event for that universe. Jason gets beat up by the joker and then dies in an explosion. Then he gets revived and healed by some assassins in a pit of really fucked up ecto. Standard procedure.

However in the universe Clockwork was looking at, Jason died due to the crowbar. There was no bomb. Infact, Batman didn’t even arrive to the scene until much later than he did in every other universe. The strangest part though, was that after killing Jason Todd, the Joker threw him into the Lazarus himself. There was no downtime or buffer. This kid was going to be alive again by the end of the week and unless Clockwork did some timeline adjustments, it was enough that the entire universe was inevitably going to fall apart.

Obviously fixing it wouldn’t be hard to do. If he did it the easy way. To rewrite Jason’s death. But that was kind of boring. So, Clockwork had a better idea.

…

Jason gasped suddenly and he felt liquid enter his lungs. He opened his eyes to see green. All around him. Shit, if he inhaled anymore liquid he could drown. So he started to try to swim towards what he thought was the surface. His body felt odd and disconnected from his brain making it hard to move but he kept going. He had to keep going. He didn’t want to die.

Finally, he felt his hand break the surface and latch onto a ledge. He pulled himself out of the green glowing Lazarus, trying to cough up as much liquid as possible.

Memories started to flood back to him. The fight. His mom. The Joker. The fucking crowbar. And most notably, no Batman. Batman never came. He was going to kill B for that.

Jason took a few deep breaths and let himself look around. His eyes immediately locked onto a child. Looked to be about 3. Pale with black hair and blue eyes. The boy was sitting with his legs crossed, covered in blood. He was playing with… something?

Jason couldn’t help but worry for the kid, hoping he did t fall into the pit. It was a dangerous place to be especially alone. Jason sat up to get a better look.

The moment he did, he saw the toddler’s eyes dart right into his own, the blue overpowered by a sudden glow of green. Lazarus green. A look of fear ran over the boy’s face as he froze in place.

Jason felt something in his chest churn, almost as if he could feel the fear dripping off of the child. He didn’t want to scare him. He didn’t want to hurt him. He wanted to get them both somewhere a bit more safe.

Jason stared at the boy, trying to not look menacing. He wanted him to know he could trust him. He felt whatever that new something inside his chest was also try to reach out. Jason didn’t notice when his own eyes turned green, but he did notice that the boy’s attitude shifted very quickly.

The toddler’s eyes went back to blue as the look of fear mostly washed out of his face. There was still some apprehension but it seemed that the two of them had silently come to an agreement of sorts that they were not enemies at least.

Jason looked down from the boy’s eyes and into his hands and whatever animosity Jason had within him was completely washed away. This kid had been through something horrific. In the toddler’s small arms was the decapitated and now decaying head of the Joker. Jason’s murderer.

Jason suddenly felt like this child in front of him was more important than anything else. Whatever he had gone through to land him in this place with that head was fucking over. Jason was going to protect this kid until the day he fucking died. Again. This child had gone through unimaginable things and Jason inherently knew that even though he knew nothing about this kid’s story, he was was going to be one of the very few who could really understand what he was going through.

“What is your name?” he asked as softly as he could.

The boy quietly responded in almost a whisper, “Danny.”

This kid was his kid now. To hell with wherever he came from. Jason was now a dad.

…

Bruce was distraught. Devastated. Completely inconsolable. Jason, his son, was dead. The Joker had confirmed it with a video of him laughing over the dead body. That was a week ago now. Bruce didn’t know what to do. He failed Jason. He wasn’t there when he should have. He couldn’t save him.

He had gotten delayed when he found out where Jason had gone and tried to go after him when a kid he’d seen at a few galas before, Tim was dropped out of the sky landing right on top of him with a post it note safety pinned to his back. He ignored it at the time as he was a little preoccupied.

After he got up again after the initial shock and realized it was just a kid, he tried to calm the nerves of young Tim who described watching his die and then being teleported into the sky and dropped. There was a chance that if Batman’s body hadn’t cushioned the fall, he would have been seriously injured.

He knew he couldn’t leave the young kid there by himself. And he knew that he had to find Jason. He didn’t want to bring him along either but the boy insisted that he wanted to come. Was it smart? No. Did he end up bringing Tim with him? Well yes. He was running out of time after all.

But Batman didn’t make it. The place was empty except for the dead body of Jason’s mother and a lot more blood that was undoubtedly his son’s.

Bruce was currently lying in his bed. He hadn’t gone out to do anything except for patrols. It was the only thing he could focus on. It was the the only thing he could bring himself to do. Bruce Wayne had the time to grieve for Jason Todd. Batman on the other hand did not have that. He had to remain vigilant and consistent. More importantly he had to find the Joker and send him away for killing Jason. Which would have been a lot easier if he hadn’t completely disappeared.

Bruce stared at the nightstand. It had the post it note that Tim had on his back when he fell. He had read it hundreds of times. But he didn’t want to believe it. It was just more proof that Jason was dead.

He took the post it note from the nightstand and read it again, hoping it was different. It was not.

Take this kid home. He’s Robin now :)

…

Tim didn’t really know what to do. His plans had come to fruition much faster than he had anticipated. After watching g his parents die, he had sworn to himself that he would find Bruce Wayne, the Batman, and convince him to let him help fight the evil of the city. But he didn’t expect that the moment he made that decision he would he plucked off his feet by unseen hands and then suddenly dropped from the sky.

That was over a week ago. Now, he was sitting on a large sofa in Wayne Manor. He was thinking. All he really had time to do was think. He had seen his first crime scene at Batman’s side and afterwards was brought back to the manor. He was left alone. He hadn’t seen Bruce hardly at all.

He wanted to do more. Go out and help with something. Anything. But Alfred wouldn’t let him go anywhere. So all he could do was think.

Did anything that had happened since his parent died make any sense? No. Joker deviated from his MO. But why? It was so different than anyone would have expected. There was no spectacle or epic battle with the Batman. He was just gone with a dead body behind. Nothing else.

And that was AFTER Tim was teleported into the middle of the sky. If he just had more resources, maybe a computer or some books that he could dive into to, he could figure it out. There had to be SOME reason. Right? But he had already checked the books in the manor library and Alfred wouldn’t let him into the poorly hidden Batcave. He only had his own thoughts.

He would grieve his parents with that time but he could also just as easily do that later. Besides, he had already decided he was going to become a vigilante and help the Batman. And most importantly, there was a puzzle in front of him that he wanted to solve more.

…

Jason knocked on the door the manor. He was nervous to see B again. Since according to newspapers he had been gone for a week. He knew his dad was gonna be mad that he went to see his mom. And mad he was gone so long. Jason knew he was going to get chewed out for it but he just wanted to be home. Especially since he was going to need help raising Danny. He didn’t know how adoption worked and Jason was only 15 but he was sure B knew how to do all that.

Danny was currently in his arms. He was so small compared to Jason now. Before he had died, he was wasn’t nearly this big. Jason had muscle sure but he was still relatively lean. Now, Jason was built more like a brick house. His shoulders were wider than a typical doorway and he was much taller, at least 6’4.

Danny was sleeping at the moment. He still had the Jokers head in his arms. He hadn’t been able to convince the kid to let it go. Which was fine. Jason didn’t really know what to do with it anyways.

Some shuffling was heard and then the door opened. Alfred was staring back at him.

“Hey sorry I was gone,” Jason said, not really sure what else to say.

Alfred looked from Jason to Danny to Jason, double take on Danny. His face was hard to read. Jason was kind of nervous.

Alfred stepped out of the doorway. Behind him was B.

“Jason!?”

“Yeah. Hi.”

Part 2 Part 3

[harrysfolklore]

growing family - verstappen!yn

pairing: verstappen!yn x boyfriend!charles, best fiend!oscar x verstappen!yn

verstappen!yn smau | masterlist | my patreon

You hummed along to the music coming from the speakers of your boyfriend's Monaco home as you stirred some pasta sauce for dinner.

Despite being to Monaco countless of times before, there was something different about being there with Charles for his home race week.

You enjoyed being alone in his apartment while he ran some errands or spent some time training, you felt at home and the company of Leo, the puppy you adopted together made everything better.

However, your time to yourself cooking dinner for you and your boyfriend was interrupted by your phone ringing.

oscar pastry 🥐 FaceTime Video

Frowning because you weren't quite expecting a call from your best friend, you answered.

"Hello mum," he said once his face popped up on screen.

"Mum?" you asked confused, "What are you even talking about?"

"Have you not seen twitter? I'm your kid now, Charles adopted me," he shrugged, "Where's my brother Leo?"

"Oscar are you drunk or something," you laughed at your best friend, "I haven't been on twitter since like, last year."

"Well log in, dumbass," he rolled his eyes and you flipped him off, "Hey! That's not the way to treat your son."

"Gosh stop saying that, we've been best friends since we were 15 it's weird," you shook your head as you opened the twitter app, luckily you weren't logged out because you certainly didn't remember your password.

And the first thing you saw pop up in your timeline was the banter between your boyfriend and your best friend.

"You guys are so annoying," you threw your head back in laughter as you read the tweets, "And you're both serious about it too."

"Of course, I'm a Leclerc-Verstappen now," he laughed along, "Shit, does that make Max my uncle?"

"It does," your eyes widened, "Are you sure you want that?"

"Well I wanted you guys to adopt me so you give me back the attention your boyfriend stole from me, I never consider Max would become my uncle," he teased, making you laugh.

"Come on pastry, we've talked about this," you gave him a serious look, "You'll always be my best friend and me being with Charles now would never change that."

"I know, I'm just messing around," a small smile played on his face, "You guys seem so happy and I love that for you."

As if on cue, you heard the front door open and your boyfriend's voice calling for you, Leo instantly barking and running to the door when he noticed his presence.

"Mon ange, I'm back," he said as he entered the kitchen, Leo cradled on his arm, "Missed you."

He pulled you closer y the waist and kissed the side of your head, making you smile and lean into him.

"Yikes, I didn't need to see that," Oscar's voice was heard from the phone screen, making you laugh.

"Oh hey son," Charles said to him, "How's my new favorite adopted child doing?"

"Hey dad, just calling to check in on my amazing parents and my little brother," he said, glancing at Leo who was now comfortably settled in Charles' arms.

"This is so weird, stop it," you cringed, making both of them laugh and Charles pull you to him again as you covered your face.

"We're a big happy family, mon amour. Ollie, Leo and now Oscar, the Leclerc-Verstappen family."

You smiled at him, pecking his lips a couple of times.

"Okay that's my cue, I don't want to see you guys making out," Oscar said shaking his head, "Good night, mum and dad, see you this weekend."

"Say bye to your brother too," Charles said, moving Leo closer to the camera.

"Bye Leo!"

As Oscar hung up, you couldn't help but laugh at the entire interaction, "So he's our son now?"

"Yes, and he seems to be enjoying it a lot," Charles chuckled, setting Leo down on the floor, "Who would've thought we'd have an adopted son before getting married or having our own kids?"

"Don't get any ideas, Leclerc," you playfully swatted his chest, "We're not adopting every one of my friends who jokes about it."

"Why not? We could build a whole team," Charles teased, wrapping his arms around you from behind and resting his chin on your shoulder and kissing it chastely, "We'd be the coolest family ever."

"It's your secret plan to make everyone on the grid your family? Dating Max's sister and now adopting Oscar, you're something else, Leclerc."

Charles laughed loudly at your words, throwing his head back and making you laugh along.

"Well, what can I say," he shrugged, "I'm charming and people love me."

"That you are," you smiled, kissing him gently.

That you are," you smiled, kissing him gently.

"Now, let me help with dinner," Charles offered, moving to the stove and checking the sauce. "It smells amazing, just like you."

"Smooth talker," you teased, handing him a spoon to stir. "Just make sure it doesn’t burn."

[zuyoo]

linger, one-shot. ﹙ nagi & gn!reader ﹚ 비애

CONTENT WARNING — clueless nagi, (open-ended) angst, misleading actions, images used are not face claims but rather used as a reference to visualize a scenario. enjoy reading !!!! :D

SYNOPSIS — you’re in love with your best friend, nagi seishiro, who is oblivious of your feelings but treats you well more than just a friend

ZUYOO’S NOTES — noOOoO 10 images limit on tumblr mobile app ( ꒦ິ ཀ ꒦ິ ) word count is probably a little over 1000 if not more than that.. ok ily enjoy reading MWAAA

p.s. i love u, everyone who leaves feedback and/or reactions with all my life :DD it just makes me feel so motivated in writing, thank you all sm!!

it started with one message, which lead to another… then another… then more. you two instantly clicked right after being attending the same club in your university. you’ve seen him before, and thought that he looked hard to approach—since he’s always on his phone, barely talks, and is always either practicing, in class, or out of reach (in his dorm)

you two grew close after talking about similar interests, and it didn’t take too long for you to develop feelings for him. i mean… how could you not when he has treated you way better than any other man who’s walked out of you life?

he messages you on a daily basis, doesn’t hesitate to come over and take care of you when you tell him that you aren’t feeling well, treats you to meals, drives you home, tries new hobbies because you told him you like those.

nagi has the looks, the talent, the brain, the skill, the body that a girl could ask for. you’re simply lucky enough to be near his presence—and oh boy how all the girls that see you two together makes you feel it.

their glares and side glances sharp as a knife, it gave you goosebumps all over. but you eventually paid no mind to their stares, the only thing that mattered at the moment is how you’d spend your day with nagi!

it’s been three years since your first interaction with him, and you two haven’t changed a thing. take it with a grain of salt. yes, you two still treat each other the same way, and no, he is not your anything—just a friend.

he’s such a fish to catch that you’re surprised why he’s still not seeing anyone at this point. maybe there was some point that you’ve thought about how there could be possibility that he could like you the way you like him, which is stopping him from seeing anyone else.

or maybe his actions has raised your hopes up and made you delusional. how could you know? you’ve been friends for three whole years now, yet you still can’t read him.

he left you on delivered? that’s new. well- it was bound to happen. it’s not like he’s obligated to reply or at least leave a reaction… right? right. you’re his best friend. nothing more, nothing less.

but what could he be doing? it’s a sunday. he doesn’t have practice, and the term just started. he couldn’t have had any assessments he needed to finish.

your questions were quickly answered once you’ve opened up your twitter app and found someone unfamiliar in your timeline.

“pfft—this happens all the time.” you say. “and they’re always fake.”

and how you wished you were right.

“oh.” was everything you could let out, as if that one tweet didn’t break your heart into pieces. you were glad he’s finally seeing someone—but at the same time, you had hoped that it was just a misunderstanding, that he’s actually maggy’s cousin… or something! just not her suitor. even though the signs are as clear as day.

it was petty, and this- this will hurt you, and it’ll hurt bad. so you had no other choice but to try and distance yourself away from him as much as possible, to save yourself and to respect who he’s been seeing. it was for the better… but—he was making it hard.

nagi’s completely clueless!

you didn’t know whether to laugh it out because of how oblivious he is. does he not realize what he’s doing to you?

at this point, you start to realize how none of it was your fault in the first place. you couldn’t control you feelings, and it certainly didn’t help that nagi treats you way too well.

even so, you could never blame him. it could just be in his nature, to be kind, lovable, and to be the pinnacle of a girl’s dream. and you were the one at fault because you’re taking advantage of his kindness to satisfy your curiosity regarding what it felt like being handled with genuine care, only for it to backfire—seeing that you actually fell for him big time.

still, that wasn’t your first train of thought when you met him. you genuinely wanted to be friends because he seemed like a cool guy. it just so happens that your heart begun to agitate more and more everyday when you’re with him.

or maybe it was maggy’s fau—oh my god, make up your mind, yn!!

“let’s not put the blame on everyone. whatever happened, happened. none of it matters now. i just have to get myself out of this mess… then i’ll be back to same, old me. right.” you thought to yourself.

you have been ignoring nagi for the past three days, leaving him on delivered, and practically scrambling away when you see him in the hallways—or everywhere, actually.

did you tell him why you’re doing this? no, why would you?

does he care? a lot, as a friend, most likely.

he’s been trying to reach you for the past 3 days, while you were off running everywhere but to the places you and nagi went to together, which is hard because you’ve both been to every cafe, every movie theater, every arcade, every mall your city could offer.

there was this one place you two haven’t been in yet. it was perfect for admiring the view below, or simply a place to just clear your mind.

you planned on going there after classes were over, and it made you quite excited. you were supposed to go here with nagi but… you know, things happened. nonetheless, you wanted to enjoy this, even if it meant not being able to bring nagi with you.

after class ended, you bid your farewell to your friends before getting into a cab and going to the rooftop lounge that recently just opened.

you opened the door that leads to the lounge and was surprised by what greeted you at the door.

it was nagi, with maggy. their hands intertwined as they admire the city.

ouch. seeing them like that felt like ten thousand trains running me over.

you were about to leave when you heard her call for your name. you froze on the spot, a course of thoughts ran through your brain on whether to run for it, or play a good face and not ignore her calls.

“y/n! come join us.”

you made the decision to turn around and approach them instead… she waved and smiled at you. god—how can you make such a lovely woman?!

it was too late to run anyways, you felt their eyes on you when you froze by the door, it would be far too embarrassing to just leave with them knowing that you heard maggy call for you.

“hey, i couldn’t reach you.”

nagi greeted. you briefly glanced into his eyes and gave him a smile before breaking eye contact. you could barely look into his eyes—you might burst out crying if you stare any longer.

“i was busy.”

you replied, dryly. you really were busy; busy with assessments, busy distracting yourself from your feelings, busy doing whatever it takes to forget about nagi… but if you two keep meeting like this—and if he keeps trying to talk to you, it will pose a challenge for you to fully move on.

why do you have to let it linger? you ask him in your mind as if he could read it. his constant concern for your wellbeing, his actions towards you, his daily messages checking up on whether you’ve eaten your meals yet—why does he have to let your feelings for him linger?

unknowingly, sure. but has he have not a single clue on why you’ve been distancing yourself? on why you haven’t been hanging around much?

you missed him, really. but this was the perfect distance for you both. he can keep reaching out until the day he gets sick of it; but as much as you want to respond to him, you can’t—you shouldn’t.

the following months were practically the hell. you’ve completely cut off contact with him (you ghosted him, basically) and was buried in a never-ending cycle of homework and projects, leaving no time for anything else.

when the semester ended, your friend, bachira, invited you to his party. he noticed that you were completely restless and said that you needed to loosen up a little.

it was 12 in the evening but the party has just begun—you could consider yourself a fan of staying at home in my comfy pajamas and old indie movies, rather than a party ‘til sunrise & drink ‘til you drop type of person… which lead you to excusing yourself out of the room with flashing lights and booming music to find somewhere else more peaceful to drink.

you found yourself on a huge balcony with a red cup on your hand. thank the gods that the doors muffles out the noise coming from the inside.

this was just right. and honestly what you needed. all that workload from the past few weeks has been killing you.

what you didn’t expect was for someone to break the silence you gave yourself.

“it was about time i saw you again. and out of all the places i thought i would see you in, a party was not one of them.”

nagi spoke nonchalantly. his sudden interjection jolted you out of your own thoughts. it’s been about six months since you’ve broke off contact with him. hell, you could barely remember his voice.

“oh fuc-… ah. i’m sorry- i should find another place.”

“no. stay. you owe me an explanation.”

maybe it was just you, but given where this conversation is headed… he sounded intimidating. his voice didn’t change much, perhaps it didn’t change at all, but you heard the sharpness of his words and felt the need to comply to whatever he says.

“sorry.”

“sorry doesn’t cut it, y’know?”

he lightly chuckled before mixing his drink around his own red cup that he brought.

“right… sorry. but, how are you? how’s maggy?”

“ah. it didn’t work out. she’s nice but it really isn’t working out for us.”

“oh. sorry.”

that was a surprise. you thought they’d still be all lovey-dovey with each other. maggy is a lovely girl, what could’ve gotten wrong?

“another apology and i’ll keep bothering you. you wouldn’t like that won’t you? considering how you’ve completely ghosted me for 6 months without an explanation or even a subtle hint of why you did it? right?”

“hey-!”

okay… maybe he hasn’t changed that much. he still holds his grudges. nagi broke eye contact and looked up to the moon with this… yearning look on his face—he looked so pretty, it was pathetic!!

a sigh left your lips before nervously starting to explain you side, since you felt like he really needed to know why. plus, it was a good chance to let go of that burden.

maybe a confession was nagi’s needed closure, and your way of letting go of the guilt of knowing you’ve randomly disappeared in his life without him even knowing anything.

“i like… liked. you, nagi. more than a friend should’ve.”

“what?”

his actions came to a halt. oh, he was THAT clueless

“aha—yeah… but then there came maggy. she was such a lovely person, and i know you deserved to be loved like that. i should’ve been happy for you, but i really couldn’t bring myself to. it hurts seeing my best friend whom i’ve liked for the longest time smile because of a person they’re romantically involved with, y’know?”

you weren’t able to find the strength to look at him as you explained, but it felt like a weight was lifted off of your shoulders after.

“i-”

“no, don’t say anything. i just really needed to let that out… for your sake, and mine. i also wanted to thank you. y’know—for everything. you’ve been a great best friend, nagi.”

“okay but-”

he didn’t get to say whatever he wanted to say because the door that leads to the party suddenly opened, revealing a tipsy bachira.

“y/n!! here you are~ and nagi too!!”

bachira gleefully said before dragging y/n back inside, leaving nagi alone in the balcony.

he watched your figure get lost in the crowd of people partying without end, saying:

“ah-… i liked you…too?”

© zuyoo — do not copy, plagiarize, or translate my work without my permission. i only upload my work in tumblr.

[s4bbatical]

YOUR GIRL | Part 2. Patrick Zweig x Female!Reader

Pairing: Patrick Zweig x female!reader, Tashi Duncan x female!reader (platonic)

Summary: After your parents announce their divorce, you're sent to New York to pursue your passion for the arts at NYU. Your cousin, the infamous tennis player Tashi Duncan, introduces you to her insufferable colleagues at a house party in the upper east side. Already a sore thumb from rural Canada, Patrick can't help but find interest in an untouched territory.

Word Count: 5,5k

Warnings: Sexual tension, profanities, mentions of cigarette use.

MINORS DNI

Notes: The timeline is inaccurate in comparison to the film, this is an AU. All characters introduced are barely in their early 20s, unless stated otherwise. No use of y/n.

Part 1. Part 3. Part 4.

CHAPTER TWO: “Everything is Embarrassing”

"Could've been my anything, now everything is embarrassing."

It had been two weeks since the house party scene had unfolded, and to no avail, you could not stop thinking of those green eyes. They watched you in the back of your mind no matter what you did, whether it was homework or taking a shower. They never leaved you alone.

The worst part is, you hadn’t even seen him since the gathering. The constant recollection of how he stared at you, haunted you more than the idea of his presence itself. It was embarrassing.

-

You found yourself walking into a coffee shop not far from your grandparent’s home, willing to perform in the corner of the space by convincing yourself that you’d get any of your homework done.

You ordered a black coffee, not in the mood to drink anything heavy as your stomach already felt uneasy with the deadlines you had waiting for you.

Tashi had agreed to sleep over, on the condition you’d be willing to meet her at the recreational space provided by NYU later that day. You two had a family gathering the next day, so it made sense. Plus, she loved you like you were her sister. She was more than happy to spend time with you.

Tashi was already training even though it was the off season. You envied her drive, but wouldn’t dare doing half the things she did. Your uphill treks to even make it to your classes were more than enough.

You stared at your laptop screen, feeling the blue rays burn your eyes into your skull. You read the first paragraph of your paper at least five times over, hoping you’d find a spark in you to write the second one. One would think that writing a paper on a topic you actually enjoyed would be a walk in the park, that is, if the park was burning in flames.

You end up scrolling on your phone not soon after, somehow ending up on Patrick Zweig’s Instagram page by diving deep enough on your cousin’s profile. You hated to admit that this wasn’t the first time you had done this within the past two weeks.

You feel yourself get worked up slightly as you scrolled past the photos of him on the court, sweat and lean muscle encapsulated perfectly within the professionally taken photos.

Your thumb slips as you attempt to refocus on your task at hand, accidentally liking a family photo from two years ago. You gasp quietly to yourself.

“Shit!” You whisper, removing your like from the photo before putting your phone face down on the table. Shockingly, you manage to find a jolt of energy to continue writing your paper in fear of looking at your phone once more. You heard your phone vibrate, but refuse to look at it.

An hour goes by, you've grown tired of looking at the words on your screen again. Without thinking, you pick up your phone to look at your notifications.

pat_zweig started following you.

Your eyes widen at the notification, hesitantly unlocking your phone and opening the Instagram app. You decide to follow him back, feeling as if your chest was about to explode by how fast your heart rate had gone up.

You watch as you receive a new DM.

pat_zweig: thinking of me are you?

You put your phone back down, shaking your head. You begin to pack up your belongings, seeing it was nearly time to meet up with Tashi and it takes nearly an hour to get there from your current location. Your face surely had gone red from the interaction, wanting to disappear into the hole of the earth and become one with the dirt.

You begrudgingly exit the café, walking over to the subway to get yourself to the West Village.

-

You approach the large recreational center, using your student card to get inside.

You notice students from different skill levels and sport backgrounds exercising in their own bubbles, paying no mind to each other unless necessary. You walk over to an empty bench, sitting down as you scan the room for Tashi. She was nowhere to be seen.

You remember there’s a tennis court in the next space over, picking up yourself back up.

You walk over to the next heavy set of doors that led to an outside lot attached to the building, pushing them open to reveal the court. You still don’t see Tashi.

You sigh, pulling out your phone to see if your cousin had texted you; nothing from her end. You scan the space again whilst walking into the bleachers. You set your bag down, deciding that she could find you here.

Off season apparently meant nothing to these people, watching them work up a sweat in the late September breeze. Your mind is so set on the schoolwork you left behind that you don’t even notice exactly who is playing until you begin to focus on faces.

Your eyes land on Patrick.

He was on the furthest court away from the door, which is why you hadn’t noticed him at first. He was playing a round against Art.

You watched closely as he smacked the ball, hard. His muscles moved with every decision he made, your eyes wandering down to his exposed legs, specifically his thighs.

You felt your face flush again, finding somewhere to sit before anyone could notice you fixated on the sight in front of you. You pull out your phone and text Tashi quickly.

where r u? i’m sitting by the tennis court

You look up right in time to watch Patrick begin to chase around Art after their game ends. As Art falls to the ground in a dramatic feat, this is when Patrick finally makes eye contact with you. He slows down, now only about 20 feet away from you. You could see that smirk from the top of the empire state building if you tried hard enough.

You knew he wanted to talk to you, and a part of you wanted him to, like a child playing with fire. Before he has a chance to approach you, Tashi appears from what seemed like thin air with her bag around her shoulder.

“Sorry, I was in the locker room.” She says, approaching you with a smile.

You snap out of your daze, looking up at your cousin. "Took you long enough." You force out.

“Let’s go, I am starving.” She says, signaling you to follow her.

You get up once more, moving your messenger bag across your body. The two of you climb down from the bleachers and make your way to the exit. You quickly glance back as Tashi opens the doors, looking at Patrick.

He was watching you closely, his eyes sizing you up. He waves at you with that diabolical smirk once your eyes meet again, just like he did at the party. You mentally kick yourself, despising the excitement you felt from this situation. Tashi would be immensely disappointed in you, to say the least. You look away.

“Hello, you okay?” Tashi asks, waving her hand in front of your face as the doors closed behind you two.

You blink repeatedly, coming to. “Yeah, sorry. My essay has drained me mentally.” You smack your cheeks lightly, attempting to straighten out your brain and rebuke any thoughts of that mischievous bastard.

Tashi laughs at you. “Okay you weirdo.” She says, linking arms with you. “I drove today, by the way. No shitway for us.”

Tashi has referred to the subway as such for as long as you could remember. She grew up better off than you, avoiding public transit whenever she could. However, she always willingly rode the subway with you when you visited. It was apart of the experience, you had always reasoned with her. Since you were now a local until further notice, the desire to do so wasn’t as strong now that you had to take the subway yourself nearly every day.

-

The car ride was long but bearable. Tashi had let you choose the music, also letting you complain when she apparently had no good CDs. They were her parents CDs, anyways. It didn’t matter to her.

You felt your phone vibrate on your lap, lifting it up to see what notification you got as Tashi droned on about her own studies.

pat_zweig: do you always look that hot and bothered, or is it because of me?

You gulp quietly, side eyeing Tashi to make sure she wasn’t taking notice to what you were doing on your phone as you continued to nod in agreement to whatever she was saying.

You: do you always speak to women like this, or are you just born this way?

You didn’t really want to put up a fight with Patrick, but you found it only fair to at least try to drive him away on your cousin’s behalf.

pat_zweig: only to the ones id like to see underneath me to be honest

You gasp loudly at the aforementioned text, causing Tashi to become concerned.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” She asks quickly, taking her eyes off the road for a second to look over at you.

“Nothing! Nothing.” You laugh nervously, holding your phone screen away from her sight. “I just uh, I realized I had something due sooner than I expected.” You say curtly, pulling gently at the neckline of your sweater. You stared at the message over and over, taken aback by his crass response. You quickly text back.

You: wowww you’re really ambitious! you should direct that energy towards your personal goals in life and actually make something of yourself

You knew that you were being rude, but you had a feeling he enjoyed being ridiculed by you. It was quite obvious that you couldn’t say anything that would make him leave you alone. Quite frankly, that’s the last thing you’d wish for him to do.

pat_zweig: what if my personal goal is to know what it’s like?

You hastily put your phone in your pocket as the two of you approach your grandparent’s home, your body burning to the touch.

“Do you need help with that assignment?” Tashi asks once she parked her car and turned off the ignition.

“What assignment?” You ask, confused by her question.

Tashi gives you a quizzical look. “The one you seem really worked up over. You’ve barely spoken for the last five minutes. You don’t do that.” She points out, gesturing towards you.

You laugh again. “No, it’s fine, sorry. My mind is just–“ You whistle, pointing your finger out the window. “–elsewhere today. Ignore me.” You say, stepping out of the car and closing the passenger door.

You retrieve your bags from the backseat, Tashi giving you a look like she didn’t fully believe you. Albeit, she did not question you further.

As the two of you have dinner with your grandparents, your mind keeps wandering back to the message. Your imagination gets the best of you as you thought about what it is like to have his calloused hands on your exposed skin, the same flames as before licking at your core. Deep down, you wanted to find out.

“Excuse me, I have to use the washroom.” You says suddenly, getting up to exit the room and run upstairs.

“Don’t be long! We still have dessert!” Your grandmother exclaims after you.

You felt your heart race as you closed the door behind you, sitting on the ledge of the bathtub as you unlocked your phone. You go to text back Patrick.

You: and what exactly is it that you’d do in order to find that out?

This was getting messy. You knew you were doing something you shouldn’t have, and it only enticed you more to the situation.

-

Patrick didn’t text back right away. In fact, he didn’t at all until you and Tashi were in your room a few hours later, staying up watching rom coms.

Tashi was laying beside you, her eyes barely staying open. Jennifer Hudson was meeting Matthew McConaughey for the first time in How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days when your phone buzzed again. You looked at it instantly.

pat_zweig: what are you doing rn?

pat_zweig: i’ll answer your question in person

Your eyes flicker between Tashi and the movie before responding.

You: i’m busy sorry

pat_zweig: not busy enough to be ignoring me though, right?

You don’t respond right away, your mind drifting off over the imagery he has given you. Patrick sends you another text.

pat_zweig: you’re thinking about it, aren’t you

You: about what?

You knew exactly what he was referring to, but something about trying to make him say it out loud made it even better.

pat_zweig: you know what i mean, you're smarter than that

pat_zweig: are you sure you’re busy?

You look over at Tashi. She’s fallen asleep without you even realizing it. You purse your lips in deep thought, weighing out your options. You respond back.

You: i can’t tonight

You watch as the typing bubble reappears then disappear multiple times before he finally messages you back.

pat_zweig: enjoy that dream world of yours in the meantime then

pat_zweig: goodnight

You feel your cheeks warm up, placing your phone face down on the bed beside you.

You begin to think about what would it be like; to be underneath him, over him, in front, his head between your–

You flip over to bury your face in your pillow, attempting to suffocate the thoughts out of your mind. Without trying, you end up falling asleep.

-

As the morning rises, you and Tashi busy yourselves with school assignments for the earlier half of the day.

"Stop moving or this portrait is gonna look disfigured." You state, Tashi readjusting herself in your desk chair once again. You had to paint a subject for your visual studies course, figuring your cousin would be a great example. Except, she could not sit still for the life of her.

"Sorry, the coffee is getting to me." She admits, keeping her face straight as you continue to paint the base of the image.

"Just let me get the color grade right, then you can get up." You say, sticking out your tongue slightly as you focus on the canvas.

Your grandparents and Tashi's parents liked to host family gatherings every couple of months or so, preferably when it was still warm outside so they had an excuse to use the barbecue. The entire house was expected to be in attendance, meaning you and your grandparents. Tashi explained that her parents were more than happy to do so, considering your appearance in their home of New York.

"Okay..." You lay down a few more strokes before humming in approval. "You're free to roam now."

Tashi gets up instantly, stretching out her back. "I'm grateful you asked me to do this, but don't make me do it again please." She pleas, groaning slightly.

"Noted." You say, putting the paintbrush into your jar of murky water.

"Girls! Are you hungry? I'm making appetizers for later." Your aunt Diane exclaims from the bottom of the stairs.

"Do you think she made pigs in a blanket?" You ask Tashi excitedly, who laughs at your facial expression.

"Coming, mom!" She yells back, exiting the room with you trailing behind.

The two of you enter the kitchen, seeing all kinds of ingredients laid out on the counter. Your grandmother was assisting Diane, your grandfather outside with Tashi's dad Mike as the two hovered over the barbecue. There were in fact, pigs in a blanket on the counter. You reach your hand out for one.

"Careful baby," Your grandmother warns. "They're fresh out of the oven. Wait a few minutes."

You nod, retracting your hand. "What time is everyone supposed to be here at?" You ask, sitting on a stool.

"About an hour, just a few more family friends is all." Diane explains. "I invited Michelle and her folks. I haven't seen her in quite some time, I'm very ecstatic." She muses, a smile forming on her face.

"Who's Michelle?" Tashi asks, taking a grape from a nearby bowl and throwing it into her mouth.

"An old friend of mine from college. Her son actually goes to NYU too, tennis player as well." Her mom says, pointing her knife towards Tashi before going back to cutting tomatoes.

"What's his name? I might know him." Tashi states.

"I honestly can't remember, honey. He's coming too though, I believe. You'll see then if you know him or not." Diane shrugs.

Your phone vibrates, pulling it out of your back pocket.

pat_zweig: any wet dreams of me last night?

You roll your eyes, turning your body away from the conversation between your family members.

You: that would actually be a nightmare. so no, thankfully

pat_zweig: you're really good at pretending you don't give a shit about me

pat_zweig: keep it up and i might get hard ;)

You scoff, putting your phone back in your pocket. Unbelievable.

Your grandmother says your name, earning your attention. "Can you mix up the caesar salad for me while I get these tarts going?" She asks with a drawl of her Brooklyn accent.

"Course." You say, getting off the stool and catering to your grandmother's needs.

-

The door bell rings. Not realizing it had already been an hour, your aunt makes a noise of excitement as she heads over to the front door. She begins greeting people you have either last seen when you were 14, or have never met at all.

You felt like your head was metaphorically hit with a large stone when you see a familar head of black curls step through the threshold of the front door. You hear Tashi choke on her water behind you.

"Grandma, what's Michelle's last name?" You ask quickly, turning away from the scene to face your grandmother.

"Oh, Zweig I think. Why?" She says casually, having no idea about the chaos that was about to ensue.

Tashi locks eyes with you, although you knew you didn't look nearly as pissed off as she did over his presence.

"I'm going to help dad outside." She says calmly, quickly walking through the sliding door that was already open.

You debate whether or not you should follow your cousin, but you didn't wish to create a situation. "Is Tashi alright?" Your grandmother asks.

"She will be." You sigh, turning back towards the guests. It would be rude of you to not say hi, after all.

Patrick looks at you, standing beside his mother. That's where he gets his looks from. You think to yourself.

"Michelle, this is my niece." Diane introduces you, Michelle stepping forward and engulfing you in a hug.

"Your Steph's daughter? Gosh, you are quite the stunner." Michelle says, rubbing your back briskly before stepping back. "This is my son, Patrick."

Patrick smiles innocently. "Oh, we know each other already." He says nonchalantly.

"Oh really? You must know Tashi then," Your aunt glances around. "I'm not sure where she went, though." She hums.

Michelle and Diane rejoice in conversation, wandering off to the backyard to join the men. Your grandmother had began bringing out snacks to the dining table, leaving you and Patrick alone in the kitchen.

He leans against the counter, a little too comfortably close to you. "Long time no talk." He muses, grabbing a grape from the bowl behind you and popping it into his mouth. A grin spreads across his face when he realizes how tense you are.

"Did you know I'd be here?" You ask with a flippant tone. "It's like you get off by making me uncomfortable." You suggest, crossing your arms.

Patrick shrugs. "Don't know," He leans in close. "you didn't seem that uncomfortable last night." He glances down at your lips before making eye contact once more. "Also, no, I didn't know. Pleasant surprise." He murmurs before stepping away, heading towards the backyard.

You let go of the breath you didn't realize you were holding, deciding to preoccupy yourself by helping your grandmother arrange appetizers on the dining table.

-

More family members arrived over time, nearly everyone either outside on the lawn or sitting around the dining table with drinks.

You had decided to stand on the balcony connecting to the master bedroom, having a cigarette so the smoke wouldn't be a disturbance to anyone. You watched carefully as Patrick entertained one of your younger relatives, trying not to laugh as the kid threw his stuffed animal at his face. He feigned being hurt, earning a hug from the little boy. It warmed your heart a bit, seeing this side to him. You hear the door open behind you, turning your head to see Tashi.

"I cannot believe he showed up, seriously." She scoffs, looking over the scenery. "He knew this was my family's gathering, it's like he enjoys being the piece of shit on the bottom of my shoe or something." She says bitterly, taking a sip of the diet coke in her hand.

You tilt your head side to side, somewhat agreeing with her. You blow out smoke. "At least he isn't trying anything," You attempt to reason. "But I get it. If I were you, I'd wanna kick him in the nuts or something too." It wasn't far from what your feeling yourself.

After a few moments of silence, Tashi speaks once again. "I think I'm gonna head home, I have an early day tomorrow anyways." She sighs, looking over at you. "Are you gonna be alright?" She asks, clearly referring to the threat down below.

"Oh, yeah." You reassure. "These bad boys?" You flex your arms as your cigarette hangs out of you mouth. You put your arms back down and hold out your smoke to continue speaking. "They'll protect me."

Tashi laughs quietly, nodding. "Okay then. I'm heading out." She pulls you in for a brief hug. "You smell like cigarettes." She comments, her nose scrunching up a bit.

"Hm, wonder why." You say, raising your brows as you inhale the cigarette once more.

Tashi smiles at you. "Okay, bye." She says, returning back into the house.

You put out the cancerous addiction into the ash tray on top of the side table to your right, resting your arms on the railing. You look back down, watching your relatives mingle with one another. You smile, yet felt heavy without the presence of your mom around. You were pretty good at calling her every other day, but it just wasn't the same.

You make eye contact with Patrick, who holds up a pack of his own smokes, gesturing to your current location. You roll your eyes. You knew it was best if he smoked where you were than anywhere else. You nod, watching him grin as he disappears into the house.

A minute later, he joins you on the balcony, closing the sliding door behind him. He doesn't say a word, putting a cigarette in his mouth. He pats down his pockets, looking for a lighter.

You flick yours and hold it up, allowing Patrick to lean in and light his smoke without you even looking at him.

You listen to him inhale then exhale, standing right beside you.

"Beautiful evening, isn't it?" He says, no indication of arrogance in his words. He actually might be genuine for once.

"Mm, yeah." You mumble, resting your chin on the palm of your hand.

He leans over the railing to make eye contact with you. "You okay?" He asks, noticing your lack of sarcasm.

"Yeah, it's fine." You say, looking back down at your family members. "It's stupid, I just miss my mom. That's all." You say nonchalantly.

Patrick nods, inhaling his cigarette again. "She's back in Canada, right?" He asks.

"Yep, unfortunately." You say, looking over at him as you purse your lips. "I'm surprised you haven't made a lewd comment yet." You remark, a small smile playing on your lips.

It was odd, there wasn't any tension to slice with a knife. The air was peaceful between the two of you.

Patrick chuckles. "I figured right now isn't a good time. Besides, there's children present." He gestures towards the young children running around the legs of parents who attempted to hold conversation while their kids yelled.

"I don't think they can hear you, nor would they know what you were even saying." You point out, debating whether or not you have another cigarette.

Patrick hums. "I suppose you're right." He says, putting his cigarette out in the ash tray.

You look at each other for a long moment, complete silence taking over. You clear your throat and stand up straight, running a hand through your hair.

"Can I ask you something?" You say, your stomach flipping over as he nods. "Why..." You struggle to find your words. "Why do you do the things you do?"

He furrows his brows at your question. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"How come you like flirting with everyone? You slept with my cousin over the summer and now you're going after me. Why?" You ask. You didn't have any cruel intentions behind your words, you simply just wanted to know why.

Patrick goes silent, his gaze looking down at the ground. "I, I don't know." He mumbles before looking back up at you. "I think I like knowing I have that ability over people." He admits, shrugging. "I'm not trying to achieve anything, I just can't help myself." He says, scratching the back of his neck.

You nod, looking away in thought. "Right, makes sense." You say.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He inquires, sounding nearly offended by your statement.

"Manwhore." You simply say, holding back a smile.

"Oh shut the fuck up." He quips, shaking his head. "You're really something, you know." He adds, looking at you with a certain fondness in your eyes. You were meeting his level, you knew it was entertaining to him.

"I'm something to Patrick Zweig? God bless America." You say sarcastically, placing your hand over your heart.

He mocks you in a high pitched tone, rolling his eyes. "Most women would've caved in by now, even Tashi did." He states, a shit eating grin on his face.

"Hey seriously, don't speak of her like that." You say sternly, clearly upset with his words.

His smile falls, wincing at your words. "Sorry, I'm sorry. That was a low blow, that wasn't cool. Sorry." He says. "I mean it." He adds, his words with a clear indication of regret.

You hum for a moment. "I guess I forgive you." You say, rubbing your arms. The breeze had gotten colder over the course of two weeks, causing goosebumps to rise on your skin.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He says, a half grin on his face now. "Are you cold? We can go back inside. I think the party is dying down anyways." He points out, grabbing ahold of the door handle.

"Yeah, I should get back to my homework anyways." You state, stepping inside once Patrick opened the door.

The two of you make it out to the hallway, hearing the faint commotion of family downstairs.

Patrick stands awkwardly in the doorway as you enter your bedroom, unsure of what he was allowed to do.

"You can come in, just don't try anything please." You warn him, walking over to your closet to find a change of clothes.

"Course." He says, entering the room. He may be a horny asshole, but he knew when to respect boundaries. "Do you, want me to close the door or...?" He asks timidly.

"Please." You request. "I need to change, so I'd also appreciate it if you stood and faced the wall in the corner." You add, gesturing him towards the other side of the room.

Patrick raises his eyebrow, closing the door before facing the corner beside it. "Go ahead." He says, muffled by the wall.

You watch him as you undress, making sure he doesn't attempt to sneak a peek at you.

"Okay, you may turn around now."

Patrick slowly turns to face you, your outfit now a baggy shirt and some worn out sweatpants. "Wow, what an outfit." He says sarcastically, going over to your bed to sit on it.

"I was trying to impress you." You say with the same amount of humor in your voice, walking over to your desk.

"Are you actually gonna do your homework?" He asks, leaning back against your headboard.

"Yeah, the fuck?" You remark, sitting down in your desk chair.

"Wow." He lets out a low whistle, resting his hands behind his head as he crosses his legs. "Shocking."

"What?" You ask.

You both knew exactly what the other was thinking, but your pride was too big and his ego was too inflated for either of you to say anything about it.

"Nevermind." He says, closing his eyes. "Your bed is comfortable, I might just sleep here tonight." He muses, opening one eye.

"Hm, sorry, there's no flames to recreate the heat of Hell where your apartment must be." You retort, turning to face your laptop.

"You're really funny, I like that." Patrick comments, smiling at the back of your head. "You ever consider stand up?"

"Only if I get to make fun of you on stage for two hours straight." You quip, looking over your shoulder with a smile.

Patrick laughs quietly, standing up from your bed to lean over you, watching your laptop screen. "I cannot understand why a research paper is more exciting than my presence." He says, placing one hand on your chair and the other on your desk beside your hand.

"You'd be surprised." You say humorously, looking up at him.

He looks down at you, his face illuminated by your desk lamp. God, he was one attractive idiot.

He smirked, leaning his face in closer. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." He murmurs.

"I was just about to say the same thing." You whisper. You both hesitantly move in closer, finding yourself slowly losing the battle.

Patrick was not an easy man to ignore, and you were rapidly becoming unsure of your ability to control yourself. His lips just barely graze yours, teasing you slightly. You're about to go all in-

Until someone opens the door.

You both pull away from each other. Patrick is now standing as stiff as a board, his hands stuck to his sides as he pretends to look at your laptop screen. You stared at Diane with wide eyes.

"Oh, sorry you two." She raises a brow. "Was I interrupting something?"

"Nope. She was just showing me her research paper. Boring as hell." Patrick states, walking over to the door. "Is my mom looking for me?" He asks.

"Yes, I was about to say. She just wanted to say goodbye, and if you needed a ride to your apartment." Tashi mom says, eyeing Patrick closely.

You begin to laugh, covering your mouth.

Patrick's ears turn red, laughing awkwardly at Diane's words. "She's so sweet, considering my crappy Volkswagen is in the shop right now." He explains through gritted teeth, making sure you knew he wasn't getting rides from his mom consistently at the proper age of 22. "I'll get going now, goodnight Mrs. Duncan." He says, then looks over at you. "Goodnight." He winks at you before disappearing from view.

She watches him go down the stairs, turning to face you again. "What an interesting man that Patrick is." She states, crossing her arms. "He wasn't trying anything, was he?" She asks cautiously.

"No ma'am, I wouldn't let him do such a thing." You assure her. Like mother like daughter. You think to yourself.

"Alright." She whispers, uncrossing her arms with a smile. "Mike and I are heading out now. Call me if you need me." She states as she quickly walks over and hugs you, placing a kiss on your head. "I love you a lot."

"Will do. I love you too." You respond, smiling.

"Bye baby." Your aunt says before she exits your room, closing the door slowly behind her.

You groan loudly a few moments later, dragging your hands over your face in frustration towards no one but yourself. You almost succumbed to the powers of Patrick Zweig, and it was pissing you off.

"Stupid motherfucking pretty boy motherfucker." You mutter bitterly to yourself, grabbing your makeup wipes off your desk to clean your face. "You will not win! Your charms don't work on me, you bitch!" You exclaim, pretending he was still in front of you. You rub the makeup off your face and discard the used wipes in the trashcan by your desk.

Your phone buzzes. You sigh loudly, rubbing your forehead.

"I swear to god." You mutter, grabbing the cellular device.

pat_zweig: next time there will be no interruptions

pat_zweig: goodnight ;)

You toss yourself onto your bed, grabbing your pillow as you scream into it.

You will be the death of me, Patrick Zweig.

-

i know i wrote this but why is he lowkey pissing me off too LMFAO

anyways, thank you for your patience everyone. A whole 24 hours.. blasphemy. I'll get right onto part 3, no doubt about it. also!! over double the amount of the previous word count because i am very grateful for the responses i got. much love you guys.

as always, let me know how you like it, and if you have any suggestions for future pieces lmk! huzzah

much love, isabel

[the-traveling-poet]

Headcannon no. 5

════════════════════════════════════════

Social Media

Modern!Levi very scarcely uses social media platforms. He prefers to stick to text.

And even then, he only texts when necessary.

If it weren’t for his job and his small group of friends, he might have even forgotten to take his phone with him when leaving the house.

One night when hanging out with Erwin and Hange at the former’s house, a drunken Hange had managed to convince an equally drunken Levi to lend them his phone.

Expect the look of confusion on Levi’s face the next day when he checks his phone and sees a plethora of new apps downloaded on his phone.

After much pestering from Hange, Levi finally made a FabeBook and Instagram account.

“No no no…You need SnapChat! Twitter! Tiktok!”

“Those all sound juvenile.”

His profiles are disappointingly blank. Just his name. No pfp, no bio, no posts, and no liked posts on his timelines.

He somehow gets 300 followers???

He only follows his closest friends, so under 10 people.

Hange steals his phone sometimes to use his account to like their most recent posts.

Levi pretends to not notice.

Eventually, he warms up to the idea of being able to check in on his friends via their posts, and gets encouraged to add a pfp of his own.

It may or may not be a slightly blurry selfie of his bored face.

He’s constantly tagged in posts by Hange, Erwin, Eren, Isabel, Petra, and Oulo whenever he’s in the background of their selfies and other photos.

He only ever commented on a post once, and it was to say “wtf is this” to one of Hange’s many posts.

I headcannon that he both is a dry texter and texts like a dad.

“You coming to the party tonight?” -Jean

“👍”

“You free to come help me out this evening?” -Eren

“Sure thing sport.”

Also frequently leaves texts on “seen” and “delivered.”

Sasha and Connie convinced him to download SnapChat in order to send him all the filtered pictures they’d taken of him at his place of work.

Levi secretly saved them.

Has ever only used text-to-speech once. He hated it.

“Send Eyebrows a damn message. I’ll be there by 5pm. Okay, send. What- Why didn’t it send? I’m driving I can’t- Oi, get the fuck out of the left lane if you’re gonna go 5 under the speed limit! Shitty drivers…Oi, Siri? Siri, quit texting my fucking words and sand the damn message.”

He needs help but he’s trying.

[ameliapples]

I see people on other platforms talking about cohost going down and I generally see the same few complaints being trotted out over and over as the reasons why it failed and was doomed to fail from the start. "It kept logging me out", "there was no app", "my timeline was always dead", "I got so little engagement", "I had to wait how long before I could post??". It's the stuff people have complained about with the platform forever, and while I think these complaints are generally a bit silly, they do arrive at what's probably the real reason we're all mourning the impending death of eggbug without realizing it.

A big part of what made cohost so different from other social media platforms is that it was the only platform where you had to actually want to be there. Every other platform is basically designed to hold you at gunpoint and force your attention and engagement 24/7. The gun in this situation being mostly fomo - everything is happening so rapidly, there's so much to keep track of, what if you miss something? what if it's something really big and you don't tweet about it within the first 5 minutes of it happening? what if you miss the next Main Character? there's a new one every day and they're forgotten as quickly as they arrive, but a month from now someone's gonna bring it up as a joke and you won't get it and you'll look lame and cringe! you don't want to look Lame and also Cringe, do you?

cohost never felt that way. If you were there, it was because you genuinely wanted to be. The site was designed to ensure that, even. You had to wait about a week after you made an account to ensure you weren't a spam bot before you could post at all. Once you could post, there was no algorithm. None. Nothing was fed into your feed that wasn't directly posted to a tag you follow or a person you follow. If you wanted to see something outside of that, you'd have to do the legwork browsing tags yourself. For budgetary reasons, there was never an app, so you had to either learn to set up a shortcut icon on your phone or else open it manually in a browser. It also logged you out every 30 days as a privacy and security measure. You had to want to jump through all these hoops to use cohost.

And what did you get for doing the effort? Peace. A social media environment that didn't feel like you were constantly stood in the center of Time Square with all the noise and marquees and heckling voices focused directly at you at all times. It didn't try to be a news site, or an advertising platform. No algorithm meant you only got what you actively chose to see, and nothing more. You could say in your head "lemme check cohost real quick", and you could be up-to-date on your timeline in under 5 minutes. It was a place you would willingly go to check in on friends or look at cool art or play around with html like it was 2004 again, not get sucked into for hours doom scrolling. Because there was no algorithm, no push for engagement, no numbers that publicly went up, no one was competing for attention or clout. No one I ever met on cohost was immediately antagonistic, or rude, or trying to dunk someone. People were chill, FRIENDLY even, in a way I have never seen on twitter or tumblr even back in "the good ol days". The adversarial, cliquey, petty nonsense we all expect from social media was almost entirely absent. It was peaceful, quiet. It was the only social media platform I've used to not give me anxiety, or a migraine.

So of course it fell apart. We live in a world where things require money to simply exist, and cohost was designed basically not to make any by virtue of having virtues. It refused to advertise, sell user data in any way, open a weird shop where you can put microscopic pngs next to your name, or force people's worst impulses in order to keep them on the site for as long as possible. It ran off merch purchases and cohost plus, which was meant to give you premium features but never got the chance to do much more than upping your file size limit on uploads. It was essentially a $5 a month donation. It wasn't enough, clearly.

So now it's going, but I don't really think saying it "failed" is right. If anything, it's made it clear what a failure the rest of the social media ecosystem is. Usually when a platform is dying, or looks to be dying (in the case of twitter, or tumblr post 2018), people immediately make plans to jump ship to a new one. But upon hearing that cohost was shutting down, my reaction, as well as that of a pretty large portion of the user base, was that we'd rather spend time on other things. Cohost was so different an atmosphere it seems to have had a healing property on people who used it. It wasn't perfect, moderation was spotty at times due to the limited staff, people had their blind spots and biases they sometimes struggled to work through. But it was better than what we've grown to expect. It made you realize how tiring the rest of the internet has become, and that you don't need to deal with it. You can better spend that time, doing things you enjoy with people you enjoy. Maybe even outside, if you can muster it. You might even meet some cool people out there, wearing cool patches, eulogizing a cool little website, with a funny lil bug shaped like an egg.

[rottenbrainstuff]

haha I love this game, but I don't even know what the point of posting these thoughts is anymore... I'm just mumbling into the void. I'm so far out of the target age range, the stuff the normal fans talk about is mostly not the areas I'm interested in myself, the few fans and authors I had noticed engaging with the story in a different way that I related to more seem to have all entirely disappeared over time, and despite the fact that AI in video games has become such a big concern that SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since fucking JULY 2024, people are still always tittering about the "mysterious anonymous voice actors", so, the void it is I guess. Even the one friend who got me on this game last fall has since lost interest and stopped playing.

I guess I will mumble about how the main story update is amazing. It conitnues to boggle me, being someone who played otome games back in 2010, the amount of content this game gives out for free, and how good it is. Like. I dunno guys. I really challenge you, Voltage still has an app, Voltage even has put some of their games on the Switch I've noticed, load up one of these and check it out. See how much it costs to read. See what kind of stories you get there. Then come back to LaDS and have a think. I know part of it is 2010 tech and phone capabilities vs 2025 capabilities but still!

Is it weird that I kind of like the unclear timelines? I like that the timeline of the main story is not exactly clear, I like that it's not exactly clear where and how all these cards fit in, I like that it's extremely unclear how the stories of these five characters fit together (or if they do even fit together at all). It's a weird ambiguous way to experience this story. It doesn't quite make sense. I don't really want it to make sense. I think it's interesting.

I don't really do the whole assigning songs to my blorbos or ships, really, but after that update I can't stop thinking about Exit Music (for a film).

And lastly, everyone always cries in my notes when I say this, but guys I don't have a sense of humour about this anymore, like I said SAG AFTRA has been on strike for almost an entire fucking year and part of that is because of concerns about AI content in video games, I have no tolerance for this anymore: no human credit = no human actor. Don't come in my notes with your weird (and sometimes straight-up disrespectful) excuses that you pulled out of nowhere or you heard from a friend or you think you read online once somewhere. I know, I admit, I do take for granted that over the years I have had a lot of friends and acquaintences who were various kinds of actors or worked in the industry in other capacities, and maybe I am more familiar with it all than a layman who may just honestly really not know. But guys that's on you, not me! If someone tells you that's not how the industry works, that's on YOU to go out and learn the info, instead of arguing about why you feel/suspect/assume that that's not true, and it's not my job to teach you that!

It's really not cool guys, so not cool. And I am not the only one saying this and being a big ol meaner to you, you can go on youtube and find video game commentators who are much smarter and better connected than me talking about the current issues in the industry, and repeating this: no human credit = no human actor. I don't care what you do with that info, I really don't, keep playing with the english audio if you like it, go for it, I honestly really don't care what you do. But every single "I hope those anonymous voice actors are being paid well" comment that I see just makes me aboslutely seethe. Stop doing that.

God I'm imagining in my head someone trying to talk to Neil Newbon about how they think a professional voice actor might prefer to work anonymously if they're just too embarassed about people possibly knowing that they recorded KISSING NOISES omg. (Or whatever other made up reasons people in my notes have argued) I'm trying to imagine his face if someone would dare to insult the professionalism of actors like that.

Sigh.

(and you know what. I know the Asian language tracks all have credited actors, but I feel like I don't even trust that anymore. It sounds like humans to me, but I am also probably not familiar enough with japanese to be able to tell when it's AI like I am with english, and who's to say Infold didn't decide to save some money and build AI models off their existing recordings, and stop paying the asian VAs? I have no clue. sigh)

Anyway. I feel like I would like to go back and rewatch/read/whatever these cards from the beginning, since the story has got so complex and it's clear they've been including clues the entire time. I also want to go back reread the Abyssal Chaos story. I wonder how many hours it would take to go back through the whole thing?

Love the update, happy to see a return of Main Story Sylus, excited to see where things go next.

[lloyd283]

I made a Trollhunters asmr idea about Jim gaining PTSD from the other 'timeline' and claire's trying to help him.

Here you go!

[Soft spoken on a rainy night]

Hey, i came down as soon as i could. Jim, is everything okay, or 'crispy'? Can't believe i said that.

(-)

So, i hear you can't sleep recently, can you? Well, whilst i was babysitting enrique, i found methods to help someone sleep or calm themselves in a book. Lovely artwork, isn't it? They worked on enrique, so hopefully i can do the same with you.

[Personal attention, caring]

Jim, you seem dazed, sad and a little tense in your hands. Did Steve punch you again, that brat? I always hoped he'd become a better guy, but only assistance may make that happen.

Right, just going to check your head like your mother does. Yeah, a fever like head and slightly faster heart rate. Everything else seems fine. We can rule out steve. Next is, a, massage. I hate doing this.

Could i check your arms and lower legs please. They are tense. Think of your phone, but the metal is your body. May i remove your jacket for a back and shoulder massage?

"Jim so owes me a massage one day, this is tiring." Not even that?

Wait, i heard you run at night in the forest from your mother, who's concerned. Is it because of your dirty trainers? I know how to shoe shine myself often, given i wear these boots often or in the 90%s of the time, or my trainers for gym class, heck i sleep sometimes in them (s3 e4)

Little fun fact: i had to make my own trainers with specialist help because i didn't like the concept of laces and not being able to lace any up or trainers in general. You could say a forger helped me.

Not even a nose boop? Why can't you tell me what's wrong.

[Claire, I'm remembering a reality which i rewrote and I'm panicking. Forgive me, I'm going outside.]

Jim, wait! Jim, it's slinging it down and I've no umbrella on me as my parents took them for tonight. I'm soaked, your soaked, could you please come inside.

[I know you believe me to be a kind fearless person but this, this is scaring me. In the other reality, i punched steve to protect my friends. I became a Trollhunter and battled trolls and monsters. Enrique was taken, and i risked everything to bring him back. I almost lost you and you almost lost me. My dad abandoned me, so my mentor became my father figure. You had shadow magic that almost killed you, claire but you were fierce and great. Douxie and merlin called you fair, and no one knows who that dress in the muesum belonged to. Toby died defeating a titan and i had to rewrite the story. I'm afraid that despite passing it to toby, it'll all happen again. And i don't want to lose anyone else!]

Jim, your mantle you had made you who you are today. It ain't that far fetched, i thought i remembered things in my dreams. Drew in my book. I love you, here and there, I'd change nothing if i could. Someone once told me, you aren't alone for someone else is feeling like you.

[Kiss]

We're soaked so much, it feels weird, but it feels good kissing you out here. I wouldn't mind kissing a while longer.

[More kissing, passionate in a way] [sitting under porch about 15 minutes later with a baby monitor app on her phone and a blanket covering them. Claire has her head on Jim's shoulder]

[You're the best thing that's happened to me, apart from probably Toby's support.]

Heh. That's about right.

[You're a fantastic girl you know and we're lucky to have each other]

Awwwwww, jim.

[lovesick-boyz]

hi.

well… after being stalked and harassed for the past couple of months, i am finally back!! stay tuned lol i got some fics lined up for y’all 😁

anyway if you read that first line and thought to yourself “WTF?!?”, here is the full story for my curious readers (just a warning, it’s long and i rant a lot):

a couple of months ago, i started getting tagged by random accs on tiktok and insta that posted vids accusing me of the most random and heinous shit. honestly, it just baffled me the first time i saw them bc they made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

when the first ones popped up, i just blocked them thinking it was a random troll and went on with my life.

but then i kept getting spammed by other accs with new posts where they not only involved me but also my friends, and accused us as a friend group of being horrible ppl.

i had enough (i can’t even remember how many accs i blocked) and deleted ALL my social media apps for a while (i.e. more than a couple of months, oops) and basically isolated myself from ppl so that i could focus on other things to distract me (i ended up making daily exercise a habit so ig that’s one good thing that’s come out of this lol, i also rewatched all the marvel movies in timeline order hehe). i wish i continued writing so i could’ve at least had more content to share by now, but i was feeling so negative and pissed that i couldn’t even bring myself to write anything (i even uninstalled notion from my phone and that’s where i keep all my drafts and fic ideas)

i only found out the full situation less than a week ago when i reinstalled tiktok bc i missed it, only to find more burner accs harassing me. i finally had enough so i reinstalled insta to rant about it on my spam acc for my friends to see and to my surprise a couple of them knew who it was and explained the whole situation to me.

it was my first time interacting with ppl outside of my family in months lol, when i tell y’all i isolated myself i really did mean it 🙃 my irl friends didn’t even know anything out of the ordinary was happening bc i’m notorious in my friend group for going off the grid for months at a time bc of how bad my mental health gets sometimes, they know to just let me be and let me deal with it alone bc they understand that’s how i work best. (they won’t see this bc they don’t know this tumblr exists but i wanna apologise to my dear friends for my disappearing acts, my bad, i love y’all for being so understanding and still being my friend after all this time 🫶🏼)

anyway, it turns out the culprit was this guy that my friend had rejected previously and he’s so bitter and hateful that he decided to harass me bc he knew i was one of her bffs (the ppl he targeted were the ones in her closest friend group which included me)

but here’s the kicker: I’VE ONLY TALKED TO THIS GUY TWICE!! AND EACH TIME WE TALKED FOR LESS THAN 5 MINS ABOUT IRRELEVANT SHIT!!! WHY AM I INVOLVED?? YOU DON’T KNOW ME!!!!

when my friend found out she was so surprised and appalled that he was harassing me too, bc him, my friend, and the other ppl he targeted all go to the same college together (and i’m the only one in the friend group that goes to a different college, so to reiterate once again: this guy barely knows me! the last time we spoke was at my friends bday party 3 years ago!! he’s literally insane!)

she knew he was harassing my other friends since they’re all in the same school and know him in person, she didn’t think i would be involved too and i couldn’t believe i was.

anyway, i just wanted to rant about this whole thing bc i’m having a hard time processing it tbh. i hope that guy rots in hell and also finds a job there bc he was acting hella unemployed like who has time for this? he made me feel so confused and paranoid for weeks and i hope he gets all the karma he deserves in the universe.

y’all wanna know something funny tho? i started writing a changmin stalker fic in june, way before this whole situation happened. life imitates art ig 🤪 anyway i finally finished it and i’m gonna release that fic next after i fine tune it, at least now it’ll be somewhat realistic lmaoooo

[dragonsarecool]

June of Doom Day 10 - Phone Call

A/N: Marty finds history repeating itself as he has to save the day once again…at age forty-seven. Set during the good timeline in 2015.

His shoulders sagged with annoyance as he set his guitar aside, his peaceful living room now disturbed by the godawful ringtone his kids had set up for him. "What now?!"

The irritation quickly faded, however, when Marty saw the caller ID and realised what time it was. "Junior?"

That's odd.

That's really odd.

Junior never calls…he's one of those kids who has to text everything.

Aw shit, was I supposed to do the school pick-up today?!

No hang on, it's Tuesday. They do the bus on Tuesday. So why isn't he home yet? It's after four thirty!

Realising he should probably answer the phone instead of staring at it, Marty tapped the screen and put it on speaker. "Kid, did you forget to tell me about another tutoring session, or-"

"DAD!" Junior blurted out, seemingly out of breath. "Dad, oh my God…please! HELP!"

"Junior?" Marty's mind was buzzing with a thousand questions, though he tried to push aside the initial confusion and uneasiness. "Junior, wh-what's going on?" He's never sounded this scared before…

"Dad, p-please! T-They're too…fast…for me!"

"Who?! What's going on, kid?!" Marty couldn't help the panic rising in his voice. "Talk to me, Junior!"

"Dad, Dad he-mmph!"

Junior's voice disintegrated into unintelligible mumbles, with the unmistakable sounds of a struggle sending chills down Marty's spine. "Junior! Junior, what's going on?"

The audio cracked as Junior's phone seemingly tumbled out of his grasp and slammed into the ground. Marty could hear muffled screams in the background, as well as a few people laughing and jeering. "Junior, are you there?!"

"What the hell is this?" A young male voice sneered through the phone. "Awww, did you try ringing daddy to come and get you? How lame is this butthead?!"

Butthead?

I knew that voice was familiar. "Griff!"

"Sorry, but, uh, McFly can't come to the phone right now. He's a bit wound up at the moment!" Griff mocked, laughing hysterically before hanging up.

It's 'tied up', you dork! That's what all the kidnappers on TV say!

The older McFly ran a wrinkled hand through his ever-thinning hair, biting back a barrage of curses he wanted to unleash. Why didn't he just call the police?! Why ring me first?

A grim part of him already knew the answer. The police don't care about dealing with Tannens.

And I was so hoping both of the kids wouldn't get caught up in this 'rivalry' bullshit…

He carefully placed his guitar back in its stand before snatching his keys from the dining table, racing to the car with a bigger stride than what he thought he could achieve at his age. Been a while since we've had a McFly-Tannen showdown…

****

At first, he'd been confused when Marlene had tried to introduce him to the Find My Friends app. "How does this thing find you friends? Don't you have to talk to people for that?"

"Dad, that's not what it means-"

"Well, what's the point of it then?!"

"Dad, it's just called Find My Friends. It's a tracking app, not a social media."

"And what exactly does it track?"

"You, us, Mom; whatever you want to track, really, but most people use it to track their family members and stuff."

Sounds a bit stalker-ish, but whatever. "Can't I just…email you if I need to know where you are?"

"First of all, Dad, that's texting, not email," Marlene rolled her eyes. "And it's so you can track us without having to talk to us."

"…So if you guys aren't back by curfew, I can see if you've been kidnapped or whatever?"

Marlene nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

He wished he hadn't used those exact words, but as he pulled into a parking space outside his old high school, he was now grateful for the newfound knowledge. The crisp evening air made his body involuntarily tremble once he left the cosiness of his Toyota, and he pulled the collar of his turtleneck sweater up further. No wonder the place is deserted, it's frickin' freezing out here.

Okay, so the phone reckons he's still near the school, so they must've grabbed him just after class finished. Marty tried to zoom in on the app, only to curse quietly as he accidentally closed the map. Screw this technology crap; I'll have to rely on old-fashioned detective work.

If I was an asshole, where would I hide my victim?…

The high school and its surroundings had barely changed in the thirty years since he'd graduated, still retaining the dated brick exterior and faded basketball courts. And while it meant his kids complained about how 'ancient' the place was, it also meant all of the nooks and crannies he used to employ to rid himself of Needles still existed.

He found himself strolling through a particular section of the car park that seemed oddly familiar, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why; at his age, all the memories he had of this place tended to blend into a murky haze that he had trouble deciphering.

It wasn't until he gazed at the nearby gymnasium from a certain angle that it clicked; this parking spot was where his father had laid Biff out sixty years prior. Although the lines had been repainted and the nearby trees uprooted, it was enough to give him a fresh wave of deja vu. And that's where the Packard was…and the band's car…Damn, this is heavy.

A faint chorus of laughter caught his attention, pulling him out of the spiral of memories. He listened for a moment before following the sound, fists poised in his pockets in case they were needed. Following the sound took him to the far corner of the school grounds, where the barbed wire fence disappeared and a gate to the maintenance sheds awaited him. The laughter grew louder as he passed through the gate, passing by a collection of narrow alleyways littered with graffiti and overflowing rubbish bins. This must be where Needles did all that crack-

A familiar chuckle startled him, as did the voice. "What, you think you could say no to us?!"

Swallowing nervously, Marty hesitantly peeked his head around the nearest alley corner, his jaw falling open at the sight. Holy shit! Junior!

If he hadn't seen what Junior had been wearing that morning, Marty wasn't sure he could've identified him. His son was thoroughly surrounded by four teenagers who obscured most of his body; all Marty could confirm from this angle was that his hands were restrained behind him, and that Griff was struggling with him in a headlock.

Marty found himself marching down the alleyway without taking the time to think of a plan or an escape route, and he decided he didn't care. This ends now. "HEY!"

His glare softened as the group of teenagers parted at the sound of his voice, allowing him to finally make eye contact with his son. Junior's right eye was now a black and bloodied mess, which complimented the bruise forming along his jawline. A dried trickle of blood extended from one of his nostrils, which Marty prayed wasn't from a broken nose.

The final straw that made his blood boil, however, was seeing the piece of bloodied tape firmly pressed over Junior's mouth. T-This isn't bullying! This is borderline murder!

"Do you bastards mind getting off my kid?!" Marty growled. Hang in there, buddy-

Griff looked up, his expression rapidly changing as he eyed Marty and gave him a disrespectful smirk. "Hey, piss off, you old fart! This don't concern you!" He grunted rudely, releasing the headlock and roughly pulling Junior's head back by the hair. The Tannen sniggered heartlessly at the muffled cry of pain from his captive. "Hey dork, looks like your grandpa is gonna come save you! How pathetic is that?!"

The other teenagers joined Griff in a chorus of mocking laughter, gripping Junior's body tightly as he made a fresh but weak struggle against them, eyes pleading for Marty to intervene.

The senior McFly's composure stiffened as he stormed towards Griff, fists ready at his sides. "For the record, Tannen, I'm his father." How old these assholes think I am?!

"Phhf! We're just having a bit of 'fun' with McFly here, aren't we?" Griff moved Junior's head in a nodding motion, grinning sadistically as the smaller boy gave a pained expression. "See? No need for you to hang around, old man."

Time to try this old nugget again. "Yeah, it's all good fun and shit, Griff, but you're forgetting one thing. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Falling for the bait, Griff turned his head away long enough for Marty pull his arm back and launch his knuckles directly into the young Tannen's jugular. All four teenagers lost their grip on Junior as Griff tumbled backwards into the alleyway wall, head cracking loudly against the bricks. "GAHH!"

Predictably, Griff's 'friends' took one look at Marty before they instantly turned on their heels and sprinted down the alleyway at a speed that would've rivalled the best Olympians, stumbling as they glanced back in fear of Marty pursuing.

Marty used the opportunity to swoop in and grab Griff by the collar, his eyes ablaze with fury as he prayed this would be the last time he had to be this close to one of Biff's relatives. "I thought I told you dumbasses to get off my kid?"

"M-Message received, loud and clear, McFly," Griff stuttered, the macho persona having evaporated completely. "P-Perfectly-"

Marty wasn't satisfied. He lowered his voice for dramatic effect, praying that it would work for him as it did for Clint Eastwood. "Do I need to make sure the police hear about this? I'm sure they'd love to put you down for kidnapping, assault…might even be able to get you for attempted murder."

The remaining colour in Griff's face evaporated "N-No sir, n-no need n-needed-"

"This isn't gonna happen again, is it?" Marty lifted a finger for emphasis, pointing towards Junior. "Or do I need to have a talk with your old man about how much of a gutless chicken his son is, picking on smaller men than him?"

"N-No, Mister McFly, i-it won't-"

"Good talk, Tannen. Water under the bridge already," Marty casually let go of the teenager's collar, watching with amusement as he scrambled away like a frightened chicken, disappearing around the opposite corner to where his goons had fled. "Say hi to your pop for me!"

The older man let out a quiet chuckle as he cradled his hand. God, that stings more than I remember. Still worth it though.

"Mmmhmm!"

Oh crap! "Junior!"

Marty made a dash to his son's side, ignoring the protests of his ageing joints as he knelt on the ground. He grabbed him under the armpits and hauled Junior into a sitting position, his heart breaking as he saw the mistiness brewing in his son's eyes. "Hey hey hey, bud, it's okay. It's all over, those bastards are gone."

His eyes were drawn to the ugly piece of black tape sealing Junior's lips shut, and he suddenly remembered the last time he'd come home with a suspiciously-red face. "Is this how they've been beating you?"

Junior sniffed quietly and nodded, eyes cast downward in shame.

I guess it's easier than holding him down, but still… "Geez, what a creep," Marty growled. "Maybe I should tell his dad that Griff's got a thing for bondage and see how well that goes down."

His spirits lifted as Junior gave him a muffled laugh. Good to know his sense of humour is still intact. "Right, let's get all of this of you."

He forced his fingernails underneath the adhesive and ripped it away before Junior had time to blink. Marty cringed as his son groaned, as well as the reveal of red, raw skin around Junior's mouth. Good thing he hasn't grown any facial hair yet. "Did they hurt you anywhere else?"

The younger McFly took a moment to regain his voice, stretching his newly-freed jaw. "…Holy shit, Dad! That was amazing!" Junior's face was alight with admiration. "I didn't know you could fight like that!"

He was surprised at his son's reaction, though he kept that thought private as he inspected the ropes binding Junior's hands. I only punched him once, but still… "Givin' your old man some credit, huh?" Marty quipped. "Told you I used to be good."

"That was so cool though!" Junior shifted his position, making it easier for Marty to reach the knots. "I've never seen Griff act like a whimp before!"

As heartwarming as it was to have his son praise him, Marty decided it was time for answers. "What happened, Junior? Why'd they gang up on you like that?"

Junior gazed numbly at his lap, cheeks blushing as red as his jacket. "Um, well…that's kinda the second time today they've jumped me-"

"What?! Junior, what's-"

"It was in-between classes! T-They wanted me to help them with this 'heist' or whatever. Said they'd make it 'worth my while'," Junior blurted out bitterly.

This is sounding awfully familiar. "…And I'm guessing you said no?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I-I told them to go to hell the first time, a-and to leave me alone the second, but, uh," Junior shrugged his shoulders, gesturing at his current predicament. "They, uh, didn't like those answers."

So even in this timeline, he says no! That's my boy! Marty allowed himself a private smile before voicing his thoughts. "You mean, Griff didn't like your answers."

Junior blinked for a moment. "Oh. Yeah. His friends didn't say much about it; it was all him."

Marty shook his head, muttering as he fumbled with the knots. "They never change…"

"Who?"

"Biff. Needles. Griff. Despite the age gaps, they're all the same: cowardly idiots who use intimidation and violence to get people to do what they want," Marty explained. "Even in my workplace there's a few guys like that, though we don't go fighting each other like teenagers."

"So there's always gonna be people like them?!" Junior's voice carried a hint of despair. "Then what's the point?"

"The point is," Marty undid the last of his son's bonds, shoving the coil of rope into his pocket, "that you stood up to them. You didn't let them bully you into something you didn't wanna do. And I'm proud."

Junior stopped scratching the rope burns on his wrists, gazing at his father in surprise. "R-Really?"

"Really."

"B-But I couldn't fight them off! I-"

"Physical strength doesn't matter when it comes to bullies, Junior," Marty said gently, tilting Junior's face towards him. "They may be able to physically beat you, yes, but the one thing they cannot fight against is a victim who won't play along with their delusions. That's how your Grandpa George manage to win against Biff, Griff's dad, despite having the muscles the size of a twig. And it surprised the bastard enough to stay off of dad's back for good."

Geez, do I sound like a preacher or what?

Junior thought quietly for a few moments before nodding his understanding. "…T-Thanks again, Dad. F-For saving me."

"All good, kid. Just you wait until Grandpa George and I pay Griff and his dad a visit," Marty snickered, groaning as he hoisted himself and Junior up from the freezing pavement. "He'll be sorry he ever even looked at you."

Junior adjusted his cap before giving his father a questioning look. "Are you gonna kick his ass too?"

"Who? Biff?"

"Yeah!"

Marty snickered, his thoughts taking him back to the night of the Under the Sea Dance. "Nah. We broke his nose once and that was more than enough."

"Wait, seriously?!"

Shit. Probably shouldn't have said that. He shrugged off his overcoat and tucked Junior's shivering form into it. "Come on, kiddo. Let's get you cleaned up and get some ice for that eye, and then you can help me figure out which chord progression to use for this song I'm workin' on."

"Sweet!…But how the hell did you break his nose?!"

Marty wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders, pulling him in fondly. "I'll tell you when you're older, Junior."

You're gonna need a few drinks to make sense of it all, anyway.

[singsys]

How Ravi Turned His App Idea Into Reality (With the Right Development Team)

Ravi had always been full of ideas. Some were small. Some were big. But one idea kept coming back.

But Ravi wasn’t a developer.

He didn’t know how to write code. He couldn’t design a user interface. And even if he could, he had a full-time job already.

So, like many people with a dream, he started looking for help.

The Search for a Team

Ravi began by asking a few friends. “Do you know someone who can build apps?”

He got all sorts of answers. Some told him to hire freelancers. Others suggested he learn to code himself. A few said, “It’ll cost you a lot.”

He even tried watching a few YouTube videos on how to build a basic app, but after a week of late nights and endless error messages, he knew he needed something else.

One evening, while scrolling through LinkedIn, Ravi came across a post from someone who had just launched a new mobile app for their bakery business. The post said:

“Huge thanks to the team at this amazing application development company who brought my dream to life!”

That was the turning point.

What Does an Application Development Company Do?

Ravi visited their website. He wasn’t sure what to expect. But as he explored, things started to make sense.

He learned that application development companies aren’t just about coding. They’re full teams—designers, developers, testers, and project managers—who take your idea and turn it into a real, working app.

They help with:

Planning and strategy

Designing the look and feel of the app

Developing it for Android, iOS, or both

Testing it for bugs and speed

Launching it

And maintaining it even after launch

This wasn’t a one-person job. It was a process. And he didn’t have to figure it all out alone.

The First Call

Ravi decided to book a consultation.

He was nervous. Would they laugh at his idea? Would they quote a huge price? Would they talk in tech jargon he couldn’t follow?

But the call was different than he expected.

They listened. Patiently. Asked good questions. Not just about the app, but about why he wanted to build it. Who it was for. What kind of experience he wanted users to have.

They explained things simply, using clear examples. No buzzwords. No pressure. Just real people having a real conversation.

By the end of the call, Ravi felt something new: clarity.

Step by Step, Block by Block

Over the next few weeks, Ravi worked with the team closely. The process was broken into small steps:

1. Idea to Blueprint

They helped him shape the idea. What features to include now, and what to save for later. They created a basic wireframe that showed what the app would look like.

2. Design Phase

The designers made beautiful screens that were clean, colorful, and easy to use. They even made a clickable prototype that Ravi could test on his phone.

3. Development

The developers took over and started building. Ravi didn’t need to worry about the coding. The team updated him every week with progress, demos, and timelines.

4. Testing

Once the app was built, testers checked everything—buttons, maps, user logins, and performance. They found a few bugs and fixed them fast.

5. Launch

They submitted the app to the Play Store and App Store. It was approved within a week. Ravi’s dream was now live for the world to see.

The First User

Ravi still remembers the first notification: “New user signed up.”

That small alert meant everything.

Soon, vendors started joining the app. People in the neighborhood began using it to find hidden gems around their streets. One vendor told Ravi, “I got 15 new customers in just two days because of your app.”

It was working. Not perfectly—there were tweaks to be made, suggestions to improve—but it was real.

And it was only the beginning.

What Ravi Learned

After launching his app, Ravi often got questions from others.

“How did you do it?” “Did you build it yourself?” “Was it expensive?” “Was it worth it?”

He always smiled and said:

“I didn’t build it alone. I found the right team.”

Here’s what he tells others now:

Don’t wait to know everything. You don’t need to be a tech expert.

Start with a small version of your idea. You can always grow.

Find a company that listens. The right development team feels like a partner, not a vendor.

Ask questions. A good team will explain and guide you.

Plan for growth. Apps change, so make sure your team can update and support it later.

Could This Be You?

Maybe you have an idea too.

It could be an app for your business. A tool for your team. A new way to connect with customers. Or just a side project that you believe in.

Whatever it is, you don’t have to do it alone. Like Ravi, you can work with a reliable application development company that takes the journey with you—step by step.

Looking for the Right Partner?

If you're looking for a team that can turn your idea into a working app, Singsys is here to help.

With expertise in iOS, Android, Flutter, web development, and custom backend systems, our team has helped startups, businesses, and entrepreneurs like Ravi bring their ideas to life.

Want to talk about your app idea?   Get in touch with Singsys today. We’d love to hear your story.

[uhlavender]

hey, hope youve been well! i had some dream or hunch or something to post this now. i'm sorry for the big delay, but maybe a monthly cadence is a good rhythm..? not sure. but i feel its best we should respond when we're most comfortable and not asap. my summer's been great so far. i think in general things have been great and i hope i can maintain this momentum! i forgot if i mentioned this last time, but i switched to a new medication and it's been very good so far. how was your switch?

if you have trouble journaling, you could try an app called daylio. i initially used it to only track my mood because im bipolar, but later down the line i started using its journal features. it reminds you every 8pm to do an entry. back then id only mark my mood, but during good times i would write down something. now everyday i write something and attach photos. it has cool features, you should give it a shot. once you reach a high number, you just want to maintain the streak. journaling really helps me maintain my mindfulness and be grateful. it also helps me reflect on progress and remind me how things change even though i sometimes don't feel it.

i believe in second chances too. there were times i wanted second chances. if i feel i should get a second chance, i should give others that opportunity as well. people are able to change and mistakes can be made when emotions are high. i think it's good that you know what you like/need though and you should always stand for it.

random thought but i saw the film 'Talk to Me' recently and it was super good, i highly recommend it. it's a horror flick though, but i feel it has great ideas and themes. other films i've seen this year was the new spiderman and barbie. those are like near perfect films to me lol.

anyway ill leave it at that and keep it shorter than usual. i feel we've been trying to match the energy of previous messages, and maybe it's gone quite lengthy (i take fault for that lol). might as well trim it now!

Hey Anon,

I'm sorry for responding so late. I'm gonna start putting down dates and times from now on so as to keep track for art's sake. You wrote this message on September 4th, 2023, 1:23 PM.

I read the message you sent me in November 2024 too. Responding to this one first so maybe you can read about this little time capsule from when you felt differently. Do you still use Daylio? I've been journaling more lately too. Mostly about anger, sadness, and grief but I hope to take myself on more self dates in the future. Just bring a book and a journal and have a nice meal somewhere. Journal more and learn to love my own company with no phone in sight.

On second chances: I think they must be earned, and I also don't think you owe anyone second chances. That's up to you and your own boundaries. People can grow but you don't have to stick around for it because you feel bad. I would hate for someone to stick around me because they felt pity or something like that. Not saying that's what you're saying, I'm just extrapolating.

I have to be honest, I'm not in the best of moods right now. The reason why I stopped replying for (wow) one and a half years is because I was going through a breakup late 2023. In 2024, I went through another painful breakup, and I just ended another 1.5 year relationship 2.5 weeks ago, which I'm still hurting from. (The timeline is confusing bc I tried doing polyamory)

It's been rough on my heart to say the least. But I'm committing to singlehood and reinvesting in myself and my friendships. I will become my own favorite person, and treat myself the way I'd want to be treated by friends and lovers, so as to attract that kind of love too. It's been lonely though, I have to be real. And heartbreaking when I found out my most recent ex went on a date a week after we broke up. Somewhere deep down I hope he realizes he fumbled, and how unfair of a relationship it was to me. I put in 80% of the effort, and basically carried our relationship, as I believed each empty promise, and fought for us on my own (he can attest). It was a slow painful dissipation of let down after let down. He made me feel really hard to love. Lol. He literally went on his phone and started replying to messages DURING our breakup convo. It completely confirmed I was making the right choice but wow was it brutal to see right after I told him I felt he couldn't prioritize me. Funny how he proved me right one last time. (I hear you universe, I got the memo!!!)

But I am cementing many lessons. (some for the nth time..)

I am so lovable as I am. I don't need to prove it or beg to be seen, known, and loved.

Curiosity and consideration are the foundation of love

Invest in people the amount they invest in you

Believe actions over words

Pay attention to your gut

No emotion is illogical. Get curious about yourself first and foremost.

How people treat you is a reflection of them. How you react is a reflection of you.

You accept the love you think you deserve

A good partner *wants* to show up for you

All the things you want from friends and lovers are things you should do for yourself. Get used to the standard you set for yourself. This way, you wouldn't accept anything below that standard.

De-center men. Prioritize true friendships over romance.

People can only meet you as deeply as they've met themselves.

If you are actively working on your growth and healing and you're with someone who is NOT prioritizing inner healing, they will slow you down and you will feel like a mother and therapist.

If you feel yourself dimming your self expressions and interests bc of your partner, investigate that.

Someone who really loves you will always make time for you

Only let ppl into your inner circle if they actually improve you and your life

A short term relationship is a drug, a long term relationship is a mirror. Not everyone can face themselves in the mirror. That's not your fault.

This is all I can think of right now, as I am currently sick and stressed, working on my thesis and juggling many things such as loneliness and friendship heartbreak. But I hope this was at least entertaining. I know I will look back on this and think, "Oh Belle, you were really hurting but oh how you've grown. I am so proud of you."

[coccyodynia]

things:

this one is gonna be all over the place bc there's a lot of things i haven't dealt with yet or even acknowledged but i need to do something with them so weird tumblr post it is!

i haven't slept well in months for a number of reasons (ornery cat, back pain etc) and its really catching up to me

my health is still very much in flux but i am very very broke and cannot afford my health insurance and/or co-pays so i've basically stopped pursuing any kind of treatment/appointments for now, just trying to deal with the pain as much as i can :/

i am still without a dayjob and thats gonna become a problem very quickly :/

im getting back into the habit of making art on a more regular or consistent basis, which i am happy about!!

since i quit my job i've had a noticeable improvement in my moods, overall outlook and depression symptoms. a lot of people around me (therapist, parents, grandma, friends) have made comments about how they've noticed this

i've been working really hard on my coping skills and other inner-work to improve my life and relationships and it's really working i think, so i'm happy about that

my apartment is looking a lot better, usually when my depression/moods are really bad my kitchen becomes pretty much unusable, but since i've been more free to focus on things in my life i've been keeping it cleaner and i'm happy about that too

the semester started a few weeks ago, and im enjoying my class/students! im really excited about the rest of the semester and to see what my students make

i had a tarot reading that kind of blew my mind last weekend and i'm still sort of reeling from it tbh

she spoke a lot about my inner turmoil and the past, and being content with a found family (at least that's how i interpreted it) in my future, while having a strong support system presently

interestingly she never said much of anything at all about relationships outside of that, which i took to heart

i've sort of always believed i would never have a life partner/long-term relationship, but instead the universe would continue passing people through my life on timelines appropriate to how these relationships serve me

i think people like lillian and kym will always be around for sure, but my life has shown a pretty consistent pattern of people being introduced to my life at a time when i desperately needed someone and slowly removing them from my life when i learned what i needed to learn (mannie, reid, michael, justin, henry, so on and so forth)

i know that this is what's happening with justin and on one hand i'm understanding of that, on the other hand i'm very upset about it

i really dont know where he and i stand right now, he's in a new job and trying to spend more time with his kid, so he's less available to talk/hang

it really hurts, because he really did save my life in some form or fashion, and to have that comforting presence slowly disappear has been incredibly difficult

i've really been avoiding talking about this with anyone, like my therapist and closest friends because i am not sure how i will handle the grief once i let myself really accept it/deal with it

last night Lil asked me "how are things with justin?" and i gave some weird vague response like "not sure, i'll tell you when i figure it out"

her followup question, after a slight pause, was: "are you okay?"

i had to laugh because obviously no i'm not okay with this but i dont have a choice, so i'm handling it as well as i can - but i told lil that i probably am not handling it as well as i should

i got very drunk the other night and had an incredibly bad time, sobbing hysterically and screaming basically, bc i am so tired of people just coming and going from my life

my notes app on my phone is just full of one-liners about this bullshit and i feel like a stereotype, moreso than usual

one-liners include:

"people would rather leave than extend the grace i offered them from the start"

"it only hits me sometimes, but i feel it every fucking day"

"found rotten at the root, i am being picked clean"

"people just move on, they move on and forward at a clip and im still here - still here still here still here - no matter how far i move, im still stuck here"

so im not in a great headspace about all of this

but i am at least doing better handling it than i might have been 6 months ago tbh

literally anyway...

last night i had a dream that featured reid and erin and cobb

we used to be the 'dream team' back in high school & college

the dream was weird and i don't fully remember the plot but i do remember waking up very sad and confused

i dont associate with them at all anymore and that might be for the best

but somehow reid keeps coming up in my dreams, i had one the other week where they asked me "is this separation working for you? it's not working for me" basically asking to come back into my life

my response in the dream was "i dont think about you at all anymore" which isn't entirely true obviously, but i've definitely moved on quite a bit

it's almost exactly 2 years since they left my life (sept 24), so i'm sure that's why this is coming up in my dreams

but that also means it's been almost exactly 2 years since i last self harmed (oct 3) and i'm glad about that

when i reached 1 year clean from SH back in 2022 i told justin that i wasn't sure who to talk to about it, since the person i usually told was the reason it happened in the first place

and justin was very very supportive, kind and reassuring

i'm really sad that i'm not sure he would be anymore

i have a little more capacity to handle these kinds of things now that ive quit my job that made me suicidal

but i still want to have that extra support, extra care and i don't know how to have that need met, if that makes sense

idk im just low-key sad underneath everything and all of the progress i've made. its just that im not using drugs or self-medicating to deal with it

idk bye

[luxsocialite]

Ways to reset for the new year!

Hello everyone!

2022 is just around the corner (thank God) and I want all of us to have very fun, happy, healthy and productive year.

So here are 10 ways we can reset and refresh for the new year:

1. Plan your year:

Start with a fresh notebook, something cute that you would love to write in all the time, and a pen.

First: design your life. What do you want your life to look like in 5 years, 10 years? What material things do you have? How much money are you making? Where are you living? How do you spend your free time? What are your hobbies? Where are you vacationing?

This video is amazing at helping you get started!

Also included in this is vision boarding especially if your a visual person. Make a collage of pictures of things you want to happen, put it as your phone/computer bg or do it on paper and put it where you will constantly see it.

2. Get your sleep schedule together

I am tired! All the time and it’s because my sleep schedule is trash lol. Definitely having a bedtime routine and sleep schedule will help with my mood levels and emotions.

Start by not using your phone in your bed because then you connect staying awake on the phone with your bed and then you’ll never sleep. Also, limit screen time after a certain time. Blue lights really aren’t conducive for sleep.

Start a night time routine. Make a sleep playlist, spray lavender spray on your pillow. Make sleeping interesting

3. Declutter

Leave everything that you don’t want following you into the new year behind. This includes clothes you haven’t worn all year, people you no longer want to associate with, texts, emails and apps you can’t be bothered with, old make up and honestly just things that don’t bring you joy (I’m in my Marie Condo era).

4. Self reflect

Going off of point one. Really ask yourself what you want from life and how you are going to get there. Recognize your coping mechanism and toxic traits, what can help you become a better you.

Therapy is great for this. I am a proponent for everyone going to therapy and working out everything with a neutral third party.

5. Start investing … in yourself

Look, I’m not about to tell you to start putting your money in the stock market because Lord knows I know nothing about stocks. But we should at least be putting any kind of money away for an emergency fund even if its $5 a month.

If you can put money in a retirement fund, the earlier you can, the better.

And not just money you need to invest. Time, emotion, etc.

Is there a business you want to start? Girl, it’s time to invest.

Beauty treatments you want? Invest

Designer items? Car? House? Relationship? Career? Experiences? It’s time to start investing in yourself

6. Show gratitude

I think it’s important to focus on the positive way more than the negative. I give myself at least 5-10 minutes a day to focus on the negativity of the day before moving on and pushing it out of my head.

I also think it’s important to write down or at least think about what I’m grateful for/what made me happy everyday.

7. Socialize

Make some time for the important people in your life. I’m not the best at texting my friends all the time. I’m a very low maintenance friend, but I do try to reach out every once and a while and keep the connection alive. We are social creatures, we are made to connect with other people.

And not just your friends, try to connect with as many people as you can. Network, be nice, you never know how that person could help you or change your life later.

8. Stop comparing yourself to others

I know this day in age, it seems like everyone is “successful” but the truth is we do not know what is going on behind closed doors or what that person had to do to get to where they are. Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone’s timeline is different and it’s never too late.

Compare yourself to yourself. Ask yourself what you can do to become the best version of you and what you can do to have the life you want, not the life you see other people with.

9. Do more things you enjoy

If the year permits, I definitely want to travel more. Life is too short to not do things that will make me happy. I want to experience anything and everything I can, while I can still do it. That means making time and spending money on experiences.

10. Give yourself a break

Give yourself some grace. You are only human. You cannot do everything and you’re not a bad person for achieving everything in a certain timeline.

Be nice to yourself, say affirmations, build your confidence, get to know yourself, perhaps even date yourself …

And make sure you take care yourself, eat right, drink water, move your body. Don’t push yourself too hard

And remember to take a breath and live in the moment.

Happy new year!

[whysojiminimnida]

When X CALLS ME SHRIEKING ... The Sasaengs Are At It Again

So my phone went off at a quarter to ungodly because

These pictures are NOTHING LIKE what was perpetrated on Jeon Jungkook at JFK International Airport yesterday.

These pictures are okay. The press was told - WE were told - IN ADVANCE - that Jungkook would be flying out early. What day, very nearly what time, it was public knowledge and JeiKei is not upset. Video from his departure shows a bowing, happy, relaxed man.

See? He looks FINE. But by the time he landed - not in Los Angeles, as we and the press had been told - but in New York, WHICH YOU WILL PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT DISCUSS ON THIS BLOG UNTIL NOW - the sasaengs were out in force. I had not seen the photos or video at the time I started this post, although I have seen them now. Jungkook WAS NOT HAPPY IN THEM. My guy had his own security team but it apparently also took airport security to assist in getting him to his vehicle. And even then we don't know if he was followed. What I am told happened, as nearly as anyone knows, is that some folks decided to track Jungkook's flight out of Incheon and beat him to JFK. It's not hard to track flight information and given that he was rumored to have been working on a track with Charlie Puth, who is currently also in New York, it doesn't take a lot of brainpower. OR MORAL FIBER OR ETHICS. Worse, I am told, this knot of hemorrhoids was overheard TALKING ABOUT TAEKOOK. I don't know whether it was yelled at him or he overheard it personally but MAN WAS NOT HAPPY. It's not bad enough to try to follow Jungkook into his vehicle, but trying to look for evidence of a hidden Taehyung is a whole other level of inflammatory bullshit that these guys never asked for. I was asked point blank if I had discussed any information regarding Jungkook's travel plans and I was very glad to be able to say that nope, not this lowly blogger, because EVEN IF I HAD PRIVATE INFORMATION I WOULD NEVER SHARE IT. And this is why, kids. This is why. So I woke my ass up from my late afternoon nap and went to the bird app to see what I could glean from it, given X's MASSIVE SCREAMING FIT and what I found was that my personal timeline had zero information. I had to go digging a bit and there it was, a bodyguard holding Koo's M&Ms while security was getting pretty annoyed and telling supposed "ARMY" to GET BACK OFF HIM. Y'all. I saw his face and I wanted to cry. I maybe did. Jungkook was angry. He was not the same smiling, finger-heart-waving man I had seen in Incheon just hours before. He was pissed and even frightened. THIS IS NOT OKAY. ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU IT IS OKAY TO CHASE DOWN SOMEONE AND PHYSICALLY HARASS THEM IS UNSTABLE AT BEST AND CRIMINAL AT SECOND BEST. And based on what I heard last night, it's going to be awhile before solo travel is publicized at all. Because apparently it's not enough to obfuscate the destination, now they're going to have to fly private to a whole other airport and that's not even going to be enough to stop it. As one very prominent Twitter user has said, "it's public record and the taxpayers pay for air traffic control" LIKE THAT MAKES IT OKAY. IT'S NOT OKAY. This is NOT OKAY (and it's happened more than once - this example is from last September but the same account published JK's photos yesterday. The stalker ones.)

It's one thing to photograph the guys when they are in public and have no reasonable expectation of privacy. From a distance. Without bothering them. But this time distinct efforts were made on Jungkook's behalf because HE DIDN'T WANT SPOILERS. FOR US. And what did he get for it? Crowded, physically harassed and probably a rage-induced anxiety attack. Jungkook doesn't love being mobbed. He didn't want to travel with twelve security when he thought he only needed four. He just wanted to show up and do some stuff without being stalked. Kinda like he did at home just days ago when he was out in a crowd and didn't get mobbed. I'm sad and angry for Jungkook and his staff. I'm embarrassed for those of us who would never do things like this. And I'm PISSED OFF AT HOW WE LOOK AS A FANDOM RIGHT NOW. It's time to stop giving sasaeng behavior a pass. It's time to stop giving high traffic accounts a pass when they move like this. And it's time to stop giving the bullshit this fandom ignores a pass.

I don't care if you have 300K+ followers and speak fluent Korean if you're an asshole who tracks flights and publishes that information but you can't remember Jimin's birthday.

I don't care if your rent gets paid by people who buy Taekooker bullshit so you need to keep 'em active to cover the bills. I DON'T CARE. You act like this you are TRASH, and I am done with you, whether you consider yourself ARMY or not - because I don't.